#ok time to drink with Carla

[irvingtwo]

🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🩸🩸🩸🌪️🌪️🩸🌪️🩸🌪️🌪️🩸🩸🌪️🩸🌪️🩸🌪️🩸🌪️🌪️🌪️

I DONT WVEN KNOW WHAT RVUS IS SUPPOSED TO MEAN, MAN

[try-set-me-on-fire]

Ooh how abut number '11. toothpaste kisses' for soft prompts! Love your writing

Send me soft prompts! Ao3 collection post here!

Eddie is going to make everyone late.

Look: he really thinks most of it isn't his fault. He'd covered for somebody on B shift Tuesday, so he'd only had 24 hours off and he'd had to sleep through a good chunk of it, so laundry went a little by the wayside, leading to him tossing a frantic load into the washer at 5 am when he realized he had no clean work clothes. And, again, he’d covered that Tuesday shift after a 12 hour on Monday, so it’s reasonable that he forgot how dire the toothpaste situation was. The look Chris had given him when he said they needed to run to the store right now at bright and early 6 am would have withered a lesser soul, so at 6:04 Eddie, still in sweatpants and wearing ratty old slides is running down the block solo to grab whatever they have at the nearest corner store. He winces as he grabs the baking soda kind (Chris hates it) and books it back to the house, trying to breathe through the waves of oh god I’m a terrible father who left my kid alone and forgot about dental hygiene.

The house is considerably more crowded when he gets back to it. First, Chimney is lugging a dresser up the front stairs.

“What- hey- what-“ Eddie grabs the bottom of the thing, hastily shoving the toothpaste in his pocket. “What’s this?”

Chim tilts his head at him. “We were getting rid of it and you said you could use a new dresser, remember? I texted you I was coming to drop it off.”

Eddie’s phone is probably dinging away uselessly on his bedside table. “Right, yeah, sorry. There was a toothpaste emergency. Uh, thank you, we can just-“

Before he can come up with some way to finish that sentence, Carla opens the door. He hadn’t even seen her car, shit, he hopes there’s no calls right away when they get to work because he’s clearly not slept enough and should lay down again as soon as possible.

“Oh!” She says, surprised and cheerful. “Why don’t you bring that into the living room. I put your clothes in the dryer, Eddie, I figured if you were running the wash this early it was an emergency.”

Well thank god somebody has a plan and knows whats happening. He and Chim set the dresser next to a wall someplace as out of the way as they can get, and then Eddie points at Carla. “Thank you,” he says, trying to put as much sincerity into the words as possible, before pivoting to head down the hall to find Chris. Its not a long journey, the kid standing right around the corner. Eddie hands him the toothpaste. “There you go.”

Chris scrunches his nose. “Baking soda kind. Gross. And I don’t need it, Dad, Buck brought the good stuff.”

“Buck?”

“Hey.”

Eddie pivots again to look in the kitchen, where the man himself is leaning against the counter drinking a cup of coffee out of his current favorite mug, the one with the squiggly little drawing of a frog and a chicken dancing together. “Hi.” Eddie supposes he isn’t exactly surprised he’s here, Buck is a feature of their household as much as the mug he’s holding is, but he is a little concerned about the amount of people popping out of the woodwork without him noticing. “Anybody else here? Why’d you bring toothpaste?”

Buck grins. “I think you’ve seen everybody now. And you were running out when I was here last, you’ve been busy, figured it might be helpful.”

Eddie nods, a little… wordless, maybe, a little bowled over. “I’m gonna…” he gestures towards the bathroom and limply leaves the conversation. By the time he’s brushed his teeth (it is the good stuff, the pricier name brand arctic fresh, Eddie usually goes for generic spearmint) Chris and Carla are ready to head out the door. Eddie is glancing at the clock and nervously calculating exactly how wet the clothes he’s about to put on are going to be as he says goodbye, leaning to kiss Carla, Chris, and Chim’s cheeks. “Ok, thank you, have a great day at school, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

It takes a few seconds of staring at Chimney’s trying not to laugh face, and listening to Chris’s not-trying-not-to-laugh-at-all guffaws before his brain catches up to his actions. “Oh my god.”

Chimney grins and Eddie shakes his head futilely against the oncoming barrage. "I always knew I was your favorite." He smacks a hand to his cheek and swoons, and Eddie rolls his eyes. "Everyone said it was Buck, but I knew the Han-Diaz love connection was just waiting to happen."

Buck is laughing somewhere behind him, and Eddie wants to see what look is on his face, but instead he rolls his eyes again, harder, and says "I'm going to check on the laundry," and shoos his son out the door before fleeing to the dryer.

Of course it's all still fucking damp. They're already pushing it on time though (maybe if all three of them are late they can unionize against Bobby?) so he shucks his sweats and shimmies his way into the unpleasant cool of his pants. When he emerges from his shirt, wincing, he finds Buck in the hallway with him.

“Chimney says we’re running late and if you don’t hurry up he’s leaving you for dead, no matter your new found love.”

“I know, I know, I just need to find my shoes-“

“I put ‘em by the door,” Buck smiles, and then the smile becomes a grin. “Hey, Eddie.”

“Yeah?” Eddie says with the right amount of apprehension for the situation.

“No goodbye kiss for me?” He tilts his head, grin thoroughly classifiable as shit-eating.

“We’re going to the same place, Buck. I’m probably gonna ride in your car.” He’s absolutely going to ride in his car, they both know it.

“Ah, so is Chimney, he got one.”

And Eddie could defend himself with the reasonable explanation that he just happened to be standing in a row next to the people he’d meant to press his affection onto, or the less reasonable explanation that he only gives goodbye kisses to people whose names start with a C, but instead he says “You want a kiss, Buck?”

And he’s moving before he loses nerve, and Buck is also moving, laughing at him, so again Eddie feels like it’s not entirely his fault when his kiss lands sort of on his cheek but mostly- it’s mostly on his mouth, which is soft and exhaling a little surprised sound against Eddie. They both pull back but maybe not as far as they probably should, if they weren’t them, if Eddie hadn’t spent the last few weeks or maybe years wondering how he could ask Buck to live on the shelf with all the mugs he’s cycled through as favorites. Then Buck darts his head forward, pecking another little kiss to his mouth, and Eddie chases him for a third, and Buck’s hand tangles in his shirt and he says “Oh” into Eddie’s mouth because the fabric is wet under his touch.

“Buckley, Diaz, I’m getting in my car, and I’m not going to defend you to Cap!”

Even at Chimney’s words they don’t entirely jump apart, just slide back a little, stand more firmly facing each other as the front door distantly opens and shuts.

“We’re gonna be late,” Buck says, an awed little smile pulling at his face.

“Yeah,” Eddie says, a little breathless. Maybe he can blame that on the cold clothes. “We should probably get going.”

Buck nods, and barely finishes the motion before Eddie puts his hands on his face and pulls him in for another minty kiss, firm, a promise. Buck is grinning when he backs off and Eddie is sure his face is a mirror image as he ducks around him to go find his shoes.

They’re late. But as Buck settles next to him on the couch, all pressed along his side despite the still damp clothes, Eddie thinks it was worth the wait.

[natalie668]

Hey i was wondering if maybe you could do something with the poly lost boys finding there mate right after they said that they can't find love? It can be for the boys or the reader. You don't have to ofcourse if you don't want to.

Here you go love, hope you enjoy this, I know I enjoyed writing it. I’ve been a bit stuck writers block wise and this helped pull me out of it ❤️ This is ModernAU! Hope that’s ok. 🥰

You sat on the edge of your best friends bed, you felt miserable; you had just finished college for the summer, and your supposed boyfriend had been cheating on you with your room mate, a girl you had to share dorms with.

“Just forget about it love, you told me his dick was small anyway.” She says laughing, pushing your shoulder after doing the finishing touches to your face.

You can’t help the laugh that escapes you, she sure knows how to cheer you up, which was why she was dragging you out 2 towns over to Santa Carla for a music fest on the beach, she’d gotten the two of you tickets weeks ago. You used to live in Santa Carla so you were happy to go back, if not to get away from your hoe of a dorm mate and the cheating prick of an ex. You guessed Love just wasn’t in the cards for you, and you believed that was okay.

“Right, get your sexy arse up, get your dress on, we’ll go downstairs order an Uber and we’ll get there in time to scout for hotties.” She says as she pulls her phone out, in minutes the Uber is on the way, and you’re both off.

It takes around 30 minutes in the car before the driver is dropping you at the board walk, the sounds and smells make you nostalgic for times of the past where you’d spend the days here with high school friends, and a lot of the times on your own.

Holding hands with your bestie, you both head towards the loud music, pulling her phone out she pulls up the QR code for your tickets and you’re let in and you’re making your ways through the crowd.

Bodies are grinding against one another, you try to avoid being stood on as much as you can, finding an open space you pull your friend into the spot, you dance together to the song playing. “Pacify her, by Melanie Martinez” is playing and you love the song so you’re singing along, your hands, a live band will be playing soon so you take advantage of the songs between acts.

You sing along to the song, dancing as if not a single person is their looking, you feel free, which is saying a lot as you haven’t felt free since you had began dating your ex.

As the two of you are so engrossed in dancing you don’t notice the four guys leaning against the nearest fenced off area. There eyes have found you amongst the hundreds of bodies in here and something clicks. Like they’ve been in the dark for the past centuries and seeing you has turned the light on.

You’re perfect as you stand their dancing, they eye you from head to toe, you’re like heaven and they have to stop themselves from running over to you throwing you over their shoulder and running. (Or flying) away with you.

David looks to the others and they turn towards you and all four of them stand their watching their angel, their soulmate. They couldn’t believe they’d found you, they had began to believe you didn’t exist.

As one, they approached you; your bestie spotted them heading towards you both, their eyes on you. With a smile she pushes you to check them out, with a grin she says she’s going to get you both a drink.

The lightest blond guy, settles a hand against my side, the moment he touched me it felt like my heart had a string attached to him, it was like when you read books on soulmates, I could tell this was it. I guess with the amount of books I read this was the closest thing to experiencing the real thing.

“I’m David, this is Marko, Paul & Dwayne,” he says as he points the other guys out who haven’t taken their eyes off me. Something pulls me into wanting their touch.

“Why do you all feel like mine,” i say unable to stop myself. They probably think I’m nuts, great job love.

“That’s because we are yours, and you my Love, are ours.” Bringing his lips to your own, you swallow your moan as you feel several pairs of hands stroke down your back, across your arms and your hand.

“You’re our soulmate, my sweet.” The dark haired one says his eyes seem to glow after saying that, you have no idea what they are or why you’re believing soulmates are true but you’re so glad you decided to come with your bestie.

Note: hope this was okay Anonymous ❤️ I know no smut but I can always try for a part 2 if need be :-)

[artyandink]

Light My Fire (Again) | beau arlen

Summary: “I thought I’d swore off love, Jenny.” I smiled, chuckling a bit as I looked down to my feet then back up the skies, taking in the twinkling lights. “God, I really thought I did, and I was doing such a good job at it too. But, well, I just… I couldn’t help it.” I wet my lips slightly, biting the bottom one. “It’s improper, but it’s true.”

SERIES MASTERLIST

MAIN MASTERLIST

(divider credits go to cafekitsune)

A/N - Feedback is my fuel ❤️

A/N 2 - This chapter is loosely based on birthday cake by Dylan Conrique, as it fits the theme really well :)

eight - birthday cake

PREVIOUSLY ON LMF:

I sat with Jenny in my garden, our feet on the grass as we were perched on my patio. I took a long sip of my bottle of beer, letting out a long and deep sigh through my nose while Jenny looked curiously at my side profile with a small smirk on her face. “So.” I smiled slightly as she took a swig of her own, also pretty pissed off at Harry. Mo had to hold her off from going after that ass.

“So.” She chuckled, head fully facing me now. “Beau seemed pretty riled up about Harry.” Jenny then took a sip of her beer with her eyebrows raised suggestively, making me nudge her, jolting her drinking aim off balance. “What?”

“You’re getting at me and Beau, right?” I deadpanned, letting another wave of the liquid soothe my throat. “I know you are.”

“What? He seems way too worked up for someone who’s ’just your sheriff.’.”

“Well, he’s worried, Jen.” I shrugged. “If it had been Emily in my place. Or Carla, even you, Cassie or Denise. Thank god I could defend myself, and I see where Beau’s coming from.”

“I thought referring to Beau for you was strictly limited to ‘Sheriff’ to keep it strictly professional.” She grinned cheekily, then her smile faded like a coin drop. “I’m gonna ask you something. And I want you to answer honestly. Are you… in love with Beau?”

Before I could say anything, the door to the garden opened, and Olivia walked out tentatively, a small package in her hands. “Aunt Isa?” Her timid voice spoke up, and my mouth opened slightly. “Can we talk?”

“Oh- uh, not the time, sweetie.” I gave her an apologetic smile. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“Ok. Uh, this came in the mail.” She handed me the package. “Just wanted to let you know.”

“Thanks, hon.” I took the rectangular box, glancing curiously at it as she left. Then I knew I needed to give Jenny an explanation. I couldn’t outrightly say yes to what frankly was the most difficult question of my life. Because this question was a promise. A declaration. A… decision. But it was one I couldn’t fight. My fingers fumbled with the tape of the box as I opened it unconsciously.

“I thought I’d swore off love, Jenny.” I smiled, chuckling a bit as I looked down to my feet then back up the skies, taking in the twinkling lights. “God, I really thought I did, and I was doing such a good job at it too. But, well, I just… I couldn’t help it.” I wet my lips slightly, biting the bottom one. “It’s improper, but it’s true.”

“So, is that a yes?” Jenny left the question hanging as I slid the object out of its cardboard packaging. A rectangular item wrapped in bubble wrap and a note taped to it. I could barely see the yellow of sunflowers on one side and the sky’s reflection on the other. I tore off the note, reading it.

Thought you might need this.

Tonya + Donno ;)

It was Lucy’s phone. I unwrapped it with trembling hands, watching and feeling as the cool surface stung my warm palm, the battery dead but the significance fully charged. My train of thought was lost, my teeth sinking to my bottom lip again.

“It’s hers.” I whispered, holding it up so Jenny could see.

NOW:

I was working on Lucy’s phone, typing every password that could come to my mind. The date of her marriage with Mark, or even Dean, Olivia’s birthday, my birthday, even hers- but I found zip.

Zilch.

Nada.

I let out a deep breath through my nose as I was locked out for the fiftieth time, the infuriating letters that spelled out ‘Try again in five minutes’. I was ready to smack this phone into oblivion, and I wasn’t in the mood for joking. I had a thousand things running through my mind and none of them helpful for my mental state.

I hadn’t answered Jenny’s question on whether I loved Beau or not. I pursed my lips as I thought about it. Beau was… everything I could dream of. A gentleman, with a handsome face, deep voice, a Texan accent and matching Southern charm and manners. He treated me well and made me feel even better, and I hated to pull an ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ but I had to. Compared to everyone, I was a rapidly unravelling piece of work. I drank coffee obsessively to help me function to the point where I felt I needed to switch to decaf as it was a borderline addiction to caffeine. Then there was the obsession with my job, my time spent taking care of Liv and making sure I was there for her at every turn or at every opportunity. I was broken from Lucy’s murder. I talked a big game about shielding my loved ones from harm but Cal was dead. And so was Lucy.

It broke me.

As I stared at Lucy's phone, frustration gnawing at the edges of my sanity, I couldn't help but feel a sense of hopelessness creeping in. No matter how many passwords I tried, no matter how many combinations I attempted, the screen remained stubbornly locked, taunting me with its impenetrable barrier.

With a frustrated huff, I tossed the phone onto the desk in front of me, the clatter of metal against wood echoing in the empty room. I ran a hand through my hair, the tension in my muscles a testament to the mounting pressure that threatened to consume me.

I couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom that lingered in the back of my mind, a constant reminder of the chaos that had consumed my life in the wake of Lucy's murder. And amidst the swirling chaos of my thoughts, one question lingered like a shadow in the darkness: did I love Beau?

The very thought sent a shiver down my spine, a flicker of uncertainty gnawing at the edges of my resolve. Beau was everything I could have ever dreamed of, a gentleman with a heart of gold and a smile that could light up the darkest of nights. But in the wake of Lucy's death, I found myself spiraling into a pit of despair, drowning in a sea of grief and regret.

I couldn't bear to burden Beau with the weight of my pain, to drag him down into the depths of my despair. And so, with a heavy heart, I made the difficult decision to push him away, to spare him the pain of loving someone who was broken beyond repair.

But even as I grappled with my own demons, a soft knock at the door shattered the fragile silence of the room, pulling me back to the present with a jolt. Olivia's voice, sweet and innocent, called out to me from the other side, her words a balm to my weary soul.

"Aunt Isa, can I talk to you?" she asked, her tone tinged with uncertainty.

I hesitated, the weight of my own turmoil pressing down on me like a leaden weight. But I couldn't bear to see the disappointment in Olivia's eyes, the hurt that lingered just beneath the surface of her innocent facade.

"Not now, Liv," I replied, my voice strained with exhaustion. "I'm in the middle of something."

There was a moment of silence, the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife. And then, with a resigned sigh, Olivia spoke once more, her words laced with an undercurrent of hostility that sent a chill down my spine.

"You're always too busy for me, Aunt Isa," she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.

I felt a pang of guilt shoot through me like a bolt of lightning, the weight of my own inadequacy crushing me beneath its suffocating embrace. But before I could respond, Olivia turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, leaving me alone with the ghosts of my past and the wreckage of my present.

As I stared after her retreating figure, a wave of despair washed over me like a tidal wave, threatening to pull me under with its relentless force. I knew that I had failed Olivia, that my own demons had consumed me to the point where I could no longer see the pain that lurked just beneath the surface of her innocent facade.

But even as the darkness closed in around me, I vowed to fight against the tide, to claw my way back to the surface and find redemption in the eyes of the one person who mattered most to me. For Olivia's sake, and for my own, I would not let the shadows of my past consume me any longer.

The moon hung low in the night sky, casting a soft glow over the deserted alley where Olivia and Tom had arranged to meet. Shadows danced along the walls, their movements like whispers in the darkness as Olivia waited anxiously for her boyfriend to arrive.

She glanced at her watch for what felt like the hundredth time, her heart pounding in her chest as the minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness. She knew she shouldn't be here, meeting Tom in secret behind her aunt's back, but the lure of forbidden love was too strong to resist.

Would he even show up?

Would he leave her in the dust?

Finally, just as Olivia was beginning to lose hope, she heard the sound of footsteps echoing down the alleyway. Her heart leaped into her throat as Tom stepped into view, a smile lighting up his face as he caught sight of her waiting for him.

"Hey," he breathed, his voice barely above a whisper as he reached out to take her hand in his.

Olivia's heart fluttered at the touch of his fingers against hers, sending a thrill of excitement coursing through her veins. "Hey," she replied, her voice trembling with nerves as she met his gaze.

They stood there for a moment, caught in the quiet intensity of the night, their hands intertwined as they drank in the sight of each other. Olivia couldn't help but marvel at the boy standing before her, his sandy hair tousled by the breeze and his brown eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Are you sure it's safe for us to meet like this?" she asked, her voice tinged with uncertainty as she glanced around nervously.

Tom shrugged, a mischievous grin playing at the corners of his lips. "Who cares about safe? I'd risk anything to be with you."

His words sent a thrill of excitement coursing through Olivia's veins, her heart racing with the intoxicating rush of young love. She knew they were playing with fire, sneaking around behind her aunt's back and risking everything for a few stolen moments together. But in that moment, all she cared about was the boy standing before her, his eyes alight with passion and desire.

Without another word, Tom leaned in closer, his lips brushing against Olivia's in a gentle kiss that sent fireworks exploding behind her eyelids. She melted into his embrace, her worries and fears melting away as she lost herself in the warmth of his touch.

As Olivia basked in the warmth of Tom's embrace, the taste of a mocha espresso and, hilariously, a breath mint, she felt a sense of bliss wash over her, pushing aside the worries and fears that had plagued her in the moments leading up to their secret rendezvous. In that moment, with Tom's lips pressed against hers and his arms wrapped around her, nothing else mattered.

Only the way his lips plied hers open, slowly, as if he was coaxing her to fall under his spell, which was a feat already accomplished. His hand sliding to cup her cheek while the other rubbed her back then curled around her waist, sighing through his nose when her fingers tugged on his hair. The movement of his lips were like an otherworldly chant, sending Olivia into a deep vortex of security and warmth that shielded her from the chaos and clouded her thoughts.

His mouth prying through her sweet mind. Shattering her defences. Claiming her now kiss-swollen lips as his.

But as they reluctantly pulled away from each other, a shadow of uncertainty clouded Olivia's mind. The nagging doubt that had lingered in the back of her thoughts resurfaced, tainting the euphoria of their stolen moment together.

"Why do you think my aunt is always trying to keep us apart?" Olivia asked, her voice tinged with frustration as she searched Tom's face for answers, gasping softly as he thumbed her bottom lip.

Tom's expression darkened, a flicker of resentment flashing in his eyes as he glanced around the deserted alleyway. "I don't know, Liv. Maybe she just doesn't want us to be happy."

The words sent a chill down Olivia's spine, a knot of unease forming in the pit of her stomach. She had never questioned her aunt's motives before, but now, with Tom's insinuations lingering in the air, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to the story than she had been led to believe.

"But why would she want to keep us apart?" Olivia pressed, her voice tinged with desperation as she searched for an explanation.

Tom shrugged, a calculating glint in his eyes as he reached out to take her hand in his. "Maybe she's jealous, Via. Maybe she's afraid of losing you."

The words struck a chord deep within Olivia's heart, igniting a spark of doubt that threatened to consume her from within. Could it be true? Could her aunt, the woman who had raised her since she was a child, be capable of such selfishness and deceit?

As the silence stretched between them, Olivia found herself grappling with a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. On one hand, she couldn't ignore the love and affection she felt for her aunt, the woman who had always been there for her through thick and thin. But on the other hand, the seed of doubt that Tom had planted in her mind lingered like a poison, poisoning her thoughts with suspicion and mistrust.

"I don't know what to believe anymore," Olivia whispered, her voice barely above a whisper as she turned to Tom for guidance. He only ran a tender hand through her hair, his following words like a hypnotising lull.

“Believe me, Via.” His expression looked keenly certain, a caring smile on his face that convinced her that he knew what he was saying. Her first love, Tom, knew what he was saying. He was smart. So was she, but she might have blind prejudice. “Wonder why I call you that? Because Via means ‘path’. You are my path.” He paused, letting the magic of his borderline poetry sink in. “You. No one else. And I-I can’t stay away from you. Your aunt? She doesn’t know what she’s thinking, trust me. She can’t even keep herself together. Her composure, her confidence… isn’t real. We’re real. You and I.” He took her hand, kissing the knuckle. “And I wanna keep meeting you, even if it makes us kinda like Romeo and Juliet.”

Olivia laughed, her pretty blue eye welling with happy tears, one falling down her cheek as she nodded. “Yeah. I want that too.” Tom kissed the tear away, his eyes glinting with mischief. As Tom's lips met Olivia's once more, a wave of giggles bubbled up from deep within her chest, mingling with the sweet taste of his breath against her skin. It was as if every touch, every kiss, was infused with the magic of their love, weaving a spell that bound them together in a tapestry of desire and longing.

With each brush of his lips against hers, Olivia felt herself falling deeper under Tom's spell, her senses overwhelmed by the intoxicating rush of passion and desire. It was as if time stood still in that moment, the world around them fading away into nothingness as they lost themselves in the warmth of each other's embrace.

Their laughter mingled with the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze, a symphony of sound that echoed through the deserted alleyway like a chorus of angels. And as they pulled away from each other, their lips still tingling with the memory of their stolen kiss, Olivia couldn't help but marvel at the magic that had brought them together.

"It's like you're casting a spell on me," she whispered, her voice barely above a whisper as she gazed into Tom's eyes, her heart pounding in her chest.

Tom's lips curved into a tender smile, his eyes sparkling with mischief as he reached out to tuck a loose strand of curly hair behind Olivia's ear. "Maybe I am, Liv. Maybe you're the one who's casting a spell on me."

His words sent a shiver down Olivia's spine, a thrill of excitement coursing through her veins as she leaned in closer, her lips brushing against his in a gentle caress. It was as if the world around them had faded away, leaving only the two of them entwined in a cocoon of love and desire.

And as they shared one final kiss, filled with laughter and joy, Olivia knew that no matter what challenges lay ahead, she and Tom would face them together, united in their love for each other. For in that moment, surrounded by the magic of the night, they were unstoppable.

“Alright, boys, we have a problem.” Remy paced back and forth in the dimly lit room, shadows covering half his face. Other members sat there, stony eyes focused on him and bloody daggers twirled between their fingers as they contemplated their next kill. It was an eerie sight, to say the least. “Isabelle Joyner’s our problem. She’s a royal pain in the ass to our client, and he wants to hit her so hard she won’t get back up.”

“It’s gonna be hard to take her down.” Another member, Rawlings, grunted, his .22 held tight in his hands like it’d run away if he let go, terrified of all the bloodshed even though it had been made for that purpose. “That bastard cowboy sheriff has a lock on her ever since we made that hit on her in her house.”

“Well, we might have to pop this bastard cowboy sheriff.” Jackson, another member, smirked. “Open the eyes of the law.” “Someone get him a new brain.” Remy groaned, slapping his forehead. “Kill the sheriff and we get the full weight of the law. We need something that’ll only draw the attention of the select few. Including Miss Elle Joyner.”

“Go for the girl.” The only woman in the room, Regina, said matter-of-factly, a smirk on her red painted lips. “Her niece. That chick goes all mama bear for ‘er. Her Liv is her Achilles heel. So send our guy in to go rein her in, and we’ll keep her here for the client until he’s less occupied.”

“But the client won’t be happy if we touch the girl.” Rawlings argued.

“He’ll be ecstatic. That’s all he ever wanted. The girl.” Regina chuckled darkly, her finger tracing the point of her knife. “Do that and Joyner will come running. Then she’ll meet a worse fate than our client’s poorly orchestrated hit and run six years ago.”

Remy laughed, the sound harsh and almost like the bark of a dog. “Oh, I remember that screw up. Read it in the papers.” His tongue traced his upper teeth as he spun the pocketknife between his fingers. “I’ll contact our guy, get him off standby. He’s been tabbing the family for a few weeks now, and he should have a good shot on getting our target alone.”

“We just need to pick a time where Elle Joyner’s busy.” Regina opened her computer, beginning to type with hands that were clad in fingerless black leather gloves. “Tap into security cameras, see who’s where. We need that Sheriff Arlen out of the way, so preferably a time when he’s railin’ the hell out of our favourite deputy.” She let out a sigh, inviting the others to gather around the screen. “We need to keep someone on the watch on these screens at all times. Get our guy off standby, tell him to hold Olivia Barlowe at gunpoint, otherwise she’ll never come with.”

“I want you in the van for the pickup, Gina.” Remy pointed his knife at Regina with a smirk and a wink. “Good thinking, doll.”

“Don’t call me doll, you sound like a pedo who hasn’t gotten much action in his life.” She deadpanned, propping her feet up on the table. “Only works if you’ve got a sexy accent. You’re from Missouri, not the South.” She paused to let the information sink in. “And you’ve got a whiny voice. Almost like a lil’ teenage girl.”

“Good one, Gina.” Jackson snickered, but earned a sharp glare from the female.

“Shut up, you’re no better. You sound like you’ve ingested helium.”

I had Beau, Denise, Jenny and Cassie over for dinner/outside bonfire, and I was lazily chopping some onions while my mind was in fifty different places. Mark was still insisting that he hadn’t hired the crime syndicate and killed my sister. I hadn’t deciphered the code to Lucy’s phone. Olivia was going out with her friends more often now, and I just felt… lost. I didn’t know where to go and why, and these onions were bringing out tears that I didn’t have the dignity to spill without. At least I have a cover for it.

I felt a sharp pang in my finger and quickly dropped the knife as blood dripped from a cut in my index. A soft curse left my mouth as the knife clattered to the chopping board, and in an instant, Beau was beside me. He set the things aside, quickly searching for a medicine cabinet and pulling out a pair of plasters and a soft tissue.

“God, Belle, darlin’, you’ve gotta be careful.” He muttered, my eyes fixated on his slightly furrowed brow and emerald eyes that were zeroed in on the slice in my finger. I felt my heart skip a beat and stomach do gymnastics like a lovesick teenager, making me attempt to swallow back the forming lump in my throat.

The scraping of chairs, hurried footsteps of Jenny and even more reluctant footsteps of Denise and Cassie were muffled as I could only focus on Beau. The way strands of his hair fell over his forehead in small wisps that framed his face effortlessly. The crinkle at the corner of his eyes, every line etched with maturity, charm, grace, care, everything I loved in him. Everything I craved from him.

He cleaned the cut with the tissue, folding it so it didn’t get stuck and tear. Then he pulled the adhesive cover off the plaster, carefully placing it over and smoothing it with his calloused fingers while his tongue rested between his lips in concentration. Those pouty, perfect, kissable lips.

“All done, sweetheart.” He murmured, looking up at me with a concerned expression. “It’s written all over your face, sweet girl. You’ve got too much in that beautiful mind o’ yours.” His hand reached up to carefully tuck a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. His eyes were searching my face and mine his. The air thick, heavy, with his cologne invading my senses like a parasite that I didn’t want to stop. “I hope it ain’t too much for me to ask, but… penny for those pretty thoughts of yours? Maybe even a pound? Dollar, more like.”

It made me chuckle, but my smile faded slightly. “There’s just been so much… change. I’ve gotten my ass kicked so many times over the past few weeks. Wakin’ up in hospitals, seeing my niece upset when I just can’t give her time, which ain’t something I’m used to, watching the man who married my sister and is most likely responsible for her death refuse the allegations over and over, Lucy left clues for me that I don’t even know how to crack. It’s way too much change for me.”

“Well, it’s true, you did get your ass kicked.” He nodded honestly, really thinking about his answer. His hands were fiddling with my fingers, unconsciously rubbing them as if committing every detail to memory. “But you’ve bounced back even harder every time, Belle. You took those hits and got back up, and that makes you a badass in every right. I mean, what I wouldn’t give to have your ability to get punched right where it hurts and always come back stronger. And more beautiful.” Beau’s fingers that weren’t holding mine traced my jawline tenderly. “And change can be a good thing, y’know.”

“Care to elaborate?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper and it made Beau fall hard all over again. And again, and again, because every time that his deputy opened that pretty, coral sunset peony coloured lips all he wanted to do was taste them.

“When I first met you, sweetheart, your work was all you had besides Olivia.” His words were sincere, well thought and versed in his head, or so I thought. Beau was actually speaking from the top of his head. “Your desk was messy with as many cases as you can find, and you solved all of ‘em, sure, but you worked nonstop. First time you actually got a break or some form of rest, you realised that getting back up after a day will hurt you more. You paid attention to yourself. You protect others with no regard to your own self interests, but now you’re keeping in mind just how bad you’d hurt if you reached out farther than you should. Not that, in any shape or form, I condone the senseless violence you were put through; I will kill those bastards when I find them.”

“I know you will, don’t worry.” I chuckled, too entranced by his words to say much else.

“My point is, Belle, you’ve grown. You’re stronger, smarter, you’ve learnt to fight jackasses off and make your own decisions. Darlin’, I look up to you.” The words made my head snap up, the air becoming heavier and heavier as his cologne weighed on my thoughts. I was going down like the freaking Titanic and I loved it. “More than anything. All this change you’ve gone through, I see good in it. Change ain’t so bad, right?”

“Yeah, change isn’t horrible…” I chuckled, shrugging as I looked up at him with a smile. Lord help me, I couldn’t stop myself. I took the back of his head, my fingers curling into his hair. “Change is…”

My words died off on my tongue, my lips meeting his in order to taste him on it.

There was a release of held breath through my nose, the concept of even keeping air in my lungs stripped from me as Beau’s hand pulled the elastic from my low bun, discarded it and tangled his strong, calloused fingers in my hair, the pads of them pressing to hold me there. His other hand rested firm on the small of my back, pulling me flush against him as he then bunched up my plaid shirt in an attempt to find purchase enough to ground him on Planet Earth. My hand buried into his own hair, feeling the soft strands cascade over my fingers as my other hand gripped his shoulder over his button-up plaid.

My back was pressed against the cool surface of the kitchen slab, burning a chilly line into my mid back that forced a gasp from my lips that was like heavenly sin. His cherry pie lips, tainted with the corrupting notes of sweet and sour first pried me open with gentle, slow, honeyed movements that even slowed down time before building, building, layering, devouring me with hot, passionate, demanding kisses that told me he’d been waiting for too damn long. His mouth burned me like whiskey on the tongue, had me tasting the tang, the variety he carried in one moment. Had me craving each and every one of his minuscule ministrations that had me eliciting sweet sighs, every kneading motion of his strong hand on my thigh and had me aching for those low groans of unadulterated pleasure that hung up stars behind my closed eyelids.

The aroma of hot lattes, cinnamon from Emily’s favourite buns and his cologne felt like a drug that I needed more and more hits of, and I’d break every single law in the book if it meant I could have this dizzying feeling again. His hand on my thigh guided me back and forth, pushing and pulling until I was completely dependent on him for support, to remain standing. Like I’d always been depending on him, the one raft in a never ending storm. I could feel the growing pressure underneath his jeans, and then on my neck as his hand in my hair tilted my neck to the side to light a slow trail of fire across my neck that I didn’t know I’d ever feel again.

The last time I felt that was with Harry, but it wasn’t as… intense as now. Harry didn’t make me feel like I was about to enter the last evolutionary phase of a massive star. He didn’t hold me like he wanted me to be his, almost like he was possessing me, but also as if he was desperate to be mine, timing his gravelly moans with mine until his lips reluctantly left my neck, his nose nuzzling my neck as he took in my scent, his thumb rubbing over my hair.

“I wanna go further, sweetheart.” Beau whispered, lifting his head and meeting emotional, heavy eyes with me. He thumbed my bottom lip, clearly fighting off the urge to sink into my embrace and get lost, no map, no compass. “I do. But…”

“Cassie, Denise and Jenny are outside.” I nodded with a small chuckle, and he mirrored the gesture, closing his eyes and letting out a breathy grunt.

“Don’t look at me like that, Belle. Don’t you dare.” He opened his eyes and gave me the most heart-melting smile, cradling my face in his large hands. “You’re gonna make me do somethin’ I regret.” His coarse thumb rubbed tender circles on my cheekbone. “God, you’re beautiful.”

“Aw, shucks.” I laughed bashfully. “That’s real sweet.”

“It’s true.” He chuckled, then pulled down my plaid’s collar slightly, sending me a heavy, hungry look. Almost pleading. I nodded ever so slightly, the breath stolen from my lungs when his lips descended and sucked gently in a way that had me whimpering, leaving a love bite that he soothed with a gentle stroke of the tip of his tongue and a chaste kiss before covering it up with my collar again. His lips brushed delicately across my cheek and grazed my lips with a low moan, the touch almost as light as a feather.

“M’yours, sweetheart. Remember that.”

LMF TAGLIST:

@nancymcl @deans-spinster-witch @hobby27 @thej2report @winharry @carpenterswife @xxannyxx @nesnejwritings @deans-baby-momma

Make sure to like, reblog with feedback and comment! Comment if you want to join the taglist!

[bonniebird]

Michael Emerson x Fem!Reader

Requested by @shadowcatgirl09

Make a request

Request: shadowcatgirl09 asked: The second one is with Michael Emerson; can I get Michael with a female reader and the prompt This time I'll protect you. Even though you're a vampire, you're still my friend. Reader was a childhood friend of Michael's

Read on Wattpad

Read on AO3

Michael sighed as he rearranged the blanket and hurried towards the house. He could see Sam and his friends hurtling towards the house on their bikes. 

“Did they ride all the way here?” Michael asked. Sam dumped his bike as he hurried up the porch and helped Michael inside.

“Nah. They hitchhiked. Couldn’t leave us hanging with a vampire problem.” Sam muttered as he hurried through the house. Michael headed upstairs while the two boys let themselves in and looked around. Alan followed Sam into the kitchen while Edgar followed Michael.

“You sure you want the bloodsucker in your house? You can’t be sure it’s a tame one like you were.” Edgar said in a grave voice. He’d grown taller since they’d left Santa Carla, and so had his brother. Sam too though he wasn’t as tall as the brothers. 

“You hurt (Y/N)...” Michael said dangerously. Edar threw up his hands in surrender and stepped down a few steps while Sam hurried into the hallway to give Edgar a drink from the fridge. 

“They won't do anything, Michael. They’re here to help with that vampire creep.” Sam assured his brother. Michael gave all three of them a hard stare and continued upstairs. He kicked his bedroom door open and hurried to put you down on the bed. He spent a few minutes making sure that no sunlight could get through the thin curtains and added a blanket from the airing cupboard on the landing to be sure. 

“Michael?” You said quietly. He turned to you and cautiously hurried to the side of the bed he’d put you on and crouched down.

“Are you ok?” He asked. You shook your head and sighed.

“My throat hurts.” You admitted. Michael winced and thought about the burn of hunger he could remember. 

“Yeah… but you know Sam’s friends are here to help. They were mildly helpful last time.” He said and you gave a weak smile.

“Didn’t they figure out you were a vampire? I’d say that’s more than mild.” You mumbled. He chuckled a little and you cringed as the door burst open which lit up the semi-dark room and caused you to wince, raising a hand to cover your eyes.

“Sorry!” Sam said. You glared at the group that gathered around you.

“Have you killed anyone?” One of them asked. Lowering your hand you found them all holding wooden stakes that were tapered into a point at the end.

“No.” You said firmly. They glanced at each other and nodded.

“Will you just leave us alone and find out who did this? We wrote down everything (Y/N) remembers.” Michael said as he pointed to scrap paper that the nurse from the hospital had given you so the two of you could note down what had happened. Michael had managed to get you out of the hospital while Sam spoke on the pay phone in the hallway to the brothers and hurried after him. Sam motioned for the brothers to follow him and they could be heard reading what Michael had written down for you through the door.

“You don’t have to do this.” You said quickly. Michael rolled his eyes as he got up to double-check that the curtains were blocking out enough light.

“Uhu. And you didn’t have to come to my house and fight a head vampire but you still did so you’re stuck with me.” Michael smiled at you and you huffed a little as he sat on the opposite end of his bed.

“I didn’t exactly do a good job at fighting though.” You said quietly. Michael chuckled and shrugged. 

“You still gave it your best shot. You protected me long enough to get the upper hand. I don’t think any of us expected my grandpa to come through the wall.” Michael smiled and glanced at you. His smile fell a little when he saw the way you squinted and pulled his blanket over your head even in the low-lit room. “This time I’ll protect you. Even though you’re a vampire, you’re still my friend.”

Tag list:

@the-caravello-post @killing-gremlin @aegonandaemondtargaryenslut18 @lchufflepuffcorn

[pardonmydelays]

"i don't think i'll ever understand musicals the way you do" is something i've heard from one of my friends a couple of days ago when i told him i'm about to cross the whole country just to see one of those (my favourite one!) live in theatre. and i can't blame him. if you'd have told me a year ago that i would do something like that, i'd probably have laughed in your face. life is so unpredictable. i guess i have changed a lot. and i could write thousands of essays about how musicals helped me get through the shittiest period of my life, but we are not going to talk about this today. today we are talking about in the heights, the first musical i got a chance to experience live in theatre, hopefully not last. so grab a cup of coffee and make yourself comfortable, this is going to be the longest essay you've ever seen, friends.

a little warning: spoilers. a lot of them actually. so if, by any chance, you haven't seen/heard it yet and you are going to, don't read it.

first thing i feel like i need to mention is that they had this mini bar inside the theatre and you could order a lot of different drinks there and one of them was called abuela's coffee. i heard one lady explaining to someone that it's actually coffee with condensed milk. my jaw dropped and i was like CAN I STAY HERE FOREVER, PLEASE? for those who don't understand why, here's a quote from the first song:

USNAVI: abuela, my fridge broke, i got café but no con leche ABUELA CLAUDIA: try my mother's old recipe: one can of condensed milk

so this was my first "OH! THEY GET IT!" moment (a little note here: i had a lot of oh, they get it moments, mostly because i don't have any people around me who understand musicals the way i do... honestly, you'd have to live inside my brain). that was the first time ever when i could actually be in the room where it happens with all those people who get it and care about it as much as i do (mostly actors and people responsible for the whole show tho, but we will get to this later).

let's get to the show. so when i finally went inside and i saw the stage, i already had tears in my eyes (don't judge me please). usnavi's store, abuela's door, daniela and carla's salon, all those puerto rican, cuban and dominican flags (one couple behind me was trying to figure out which one is which and it was funny because i knew and i wanted to scream)... listening and memorizing the whole soundtrack is one thing. being able to experience it all live is something else. all those things around me were so familiar and this was the first time in months (MONTHS! OR EVEN YEARS!) i felt really understood. after all, it was all like a little celebration of lin's story (the one i love with all my heart) and i truly felt like home. so that was another OH! THEY GET IT! moment.

i don't think i'm going to talk about every single song here, that's not the point. i will talk about my favourite moments, but also about things that didn't work very well in my opinion (again: this was a polish version so all the songs were translated into polish. and they did a really great job here, surprisingly. but it wasn't perfect, more about that later).

one thing you need to understand is that i will never be normal about musicals so of course i had to burst into tears at the very first song (i don't even know why, i think i was a little bit too excited). i was actually crying in the most random moments like when i first saw nina or at the end of carnaval del barrio because I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT (who the hell cries at carnaval del barrio when everyone is having the time of their lives lol, me apparently).

ok, so the first song. the choreography, oh my god. it was everything. the translation was also pretty good here, i need to say this was probably one of my favourite moments. imagine me leaving today giggling like a child when usnavi came on that stage and started rapping, i was in heaven. also, i have to admit, the cast was amazing. i could never imagine anyone better for this role (and again, i am talking about polish actors because everyone knows who's the best usnavi of them all). he was cute and charming and awkward and so adorkable and also really handsome. he was actually perfect in my opinion.

i kinda lost my mind when i saw nina for the first time. first of all: i already knew who was going to play her and let's just say i fell in love with this actress before i even saw her live on that stage. this was important to me, because (as some of you know) nina rosario is my favourite character. and oh my god, she was an absolute perfection. what a voice, sweet jesus. i'm being serious, this girl is so talented, give her every award (i honestly hope i will have a chance to see her again one day, i'm just crazy about her). and breathe was so good! polish version was amazing, i was so scared they would screw it up, but they didn't, so all's good (this song is very important to me, ok?). also, she's a phenomenal actress, i could feel all her emotions for real. and of course i cried, what did you expect?

i don't have that much to say about benny, except that he was really cute and he had amazing chemistry with nina, so once again, the casting was really good. i mean, he is not chris jackson of course, but i have decided i'm not going to compare all those actors because everyone knows at this point how much i love OBC, i was trying to have an open mind. vanessa was also pretty great, amazing voice and her dancing skills, wow, just wow. i could talk about all those actors for days actually, but i'm not going to do that, so i will just quickly mention that i absolutely loved daniela and carla, abuela claudia made me cry, sonny was the funniest character in the whole play and i don't think i will ever recover after piragua guy's performance (i was the only person in the audience who was laughing when he came on that stage, they don't get it, ok? polish people have no sense of humour and that's a fact). actually, there were a lot of funny moments (obviously) and i was the only person who was laughing, god help me.

so let's get to the first thing that was a little disappointing for me. you will not believe it, but it was actually... 96,000 (this is one of my favourite songs and i seriously can't live like this). it's not the translation tho (it was honestly fine), it's the voice overlapping part at the end (again, the best thing ever, just listen to we don't talk about bruno from encanto and non-stop from hamilton and you will understand why it works so well in every lmm's song). the thing is, you could actually only hear vanessa's part and i wanted to die, because EXCUSE ME. i always sing usnavi's part and you could barely hear a word from it. but apart from that, the rest was fine, the choreography was amazing and it's just something i needed to mention because i had thoughts about it.

paciencia y fe! ok besties, i have thoughts, again. abuela claudia was absolutely incredible, also, her relationship with usnavi is something that you can't see in the movie version (they were so sweet i wanted to curl up and die. i knew about it before, i saw slime tutorial with obc on yt, ok? i'm pretty sure lin would be mad at me for watching bootlegs lol. i just wanted to say this). the translation didn't work out at the very end of the song tho, because when in the og version abuela sings about the "winning ticket", everyone knows already she won the lottery. i don't remember polish translation exactly, but it was something with double meaning, depends on how you interpret it, and i'm 100% sure people who didn't know the plot just didn't catch it. the rest of the song was absolutely beautiful tho.

when you're home. i was so afraid of this one, because i am totally crazy about this song (did i ever mention lin wrote this one after one of his first dates with vanessa? no? yes? ok i'll shut up about this now). oh, they did a really great job with it and it's a relief. i have nothing else to say, except that i was crying like a baby, but this song always makes me cry so what did you expect exactly? one of the best moments for sure. again, nina and benny's chemistry was absolutely incredible.

as much as i loved the club, i was actually really disappointed with one part, which is usnavi's famous "jealous i ain't jealous, i can take all these fellas, wHaTeVaaaaa". i've been waiting so long for this! and they messed it up with their stupid cringy translation which i don't even remember at the moment but usnavi was actually mad at benny and he cursed? ANYWAY. the rest of the song was great and the choreography was absolutely phenomenal, oh vanessa! let me get the next one! (i love her so much, she was amazing here). a little note from me: no one was laughing at the "no hablo ingles" part, NO ONE BUT ME!!! THEY DON'T GET IT! WTF! i was so mad (i am aware of the fact that most people probably didn't even know this story before and they just wanted to see a musical, not THE MUSICAL, which is totally fine. but sweet jesus, where is their sense of humour? they left it at home or what?).

and blackout was that part where the voice overlapping effect worked very well, so all's good. actually, one of the best moments for me as well. people were actually so confused when all the lights went down, but that was just so amazing. all the panic! everybody was screaming, crying! WE ARE POWERLESS! THE END OF ACT I!!! oh, i had the time of my life.

i had this weird feeling that they didn't exactly know how to translate most of hundreds of stories so they just made this song shorter than it actually is. which is fine i guess. honestly, it's better than bad translation, so i can forgive them. what i absolutely can't forgive tho is that the audience wasn't laughing at US NAVY. polish people, you have no fucking taste. i said what i said. and then again, usnavi and abuela's relationship was so sweet this song actually made me cry (mostly because i knew what was coming but also, i was just this weird girl who was sitting there in the second row and was crying at the most random moments).

ok, guys, honestly. carnaval del barrio was the best moment from the entire musical. oh, how much i want to experience it again! daniela was absolutely incredible, carla was so sweet, piragua guy stole the whole fucking show for me (seriously guys! he was just so amazing!). also, those little details i have never noticed before? i can't even tell if the same thing happened in the original version (the quality of that bootleg is actually terrible), but benny dancing with american flag somewhere in the background was so fucking funny and i don't think i will ever get over that part where at the end they were all still dancing and celebrating and nina and usnavi just ran away as fast as they could because... because you guys know what just happened. also, this is the moment i started crying.

i was so scared of it. let me tell you one thing, i experienced abuela's death at least fifty times and i still cry every single time. so atención is something i have to mention, because all the emotions and kevin's shaky voice made me burst into tears right away, and this time i wasn't the only one because i saw a lot of people crying when they realized what happened (i also heard a lot of OHs when he said abuela passed away, so yes, most of them didn't know this story and they were surprised). and alabanza was something else. believe me when i tell you i am writing this with tears in my eyes, i have never cried so much in public. this was the moment i was the most scared of and i was absolutely right because holy fuck. i was a mess. all the actors with those candles singing alabanza a doña claudia! (yes, they didn't translate it, all the spanish parts were left like in the original version and i am so grateful for that), it was just so sad and so beautiful. and this time i was actually like oh, they get it now (everyone was speechless and people were crying).

everyone must know at this point how much i adore champagne and i wasn't disappointed (thank god!). once again, usnavi was absolutely adorable here and people were actually laughing this time (also thank god!). how do you get this gold shit off? (my favourite line from the whole musical) was translated really well and the moment when usnavi and vanessa kissed! with all lights on them! this was so emotional and the audience reacted so well! we were all clapping (it was so funny to pretend like i didn't know it was gonna happen haha i was just as excited as all of them and once again i was like OH! THEY GET IT!). 10/10, would recommend.

if you think i wasn't crying during the last song, think again. one thing i absolutely hate about the movie version is that they actually changed the graffiti that made usnavi stay in washington heights, but i'm not gonna talk about that and i'm not gonna talk about vanessa also being there in the movie. in the original version it was a portrait of abuela claudia made by graffiti pete and oh boy, i lost my mind (i knew about it but i still lost my mind because it was absolutely beautiful). i got the feeling it was a little rushed in our polish version, but i can forgive them because it still made me cry. also, at the very end, usnavi did not only finally acknowledge he's home, when the song was over he pretty much told the audience that we are all home right now and may i just say... i felt that. i was home. they made me believe for the first time in my life i was where i belong, and somehow that was everything.

one thing about me is that this is actually all new to me. this was my first musical i saw live in theatre (and also lin's first child, which is exactly how it was supposed to be i think), and believe me when i tell you i've never had this much fun in my entire life, not even at all the concerts of my favourite artists. it was worth every money. it was worth spending 11 hours on the train and 11 more on my way back home, which by the way we should normalize (people are doing crazy things just to see their favourite artists on the stage and it's considered normal, so why can't we consider THIS normal?). anyway, i don't expect anyone around me to understand it the way i do, but i feel like i really found my thing, and it's all because of lin-manuel miranda, our beautiful puerto rican genius. he made me believe musicals can be cool and i truly wish i could thank him for that one day.

and like i said, in the heights is my favourite story with my favourite characters and i listened to it so many times i have memorized all the little details. experiencing it live is something completely different tho and i think it's safe to say this was the best night of my entire life. even tho most of the people in the audience didn't really get it, i finally felt like i was a part of this world created by my favourite genius and for the first time ever i felt understood. so i think i can say that now: i found my island, guys, i'm there, i'm home!

[cult1970]

What is the diaboys favorite alcohol/ cocktail

Yahooooo new scenario! This time I’m gonna include everyone but not Carla and Shin ( because I still didn’t play their stories so I don’t know how they would react 😢)

Shu.

Shu likes the classics ;)

I feel that he would go with a cosmopolitan, classy but not too much, when he goes to a bar ( very rare) his first drink would be this.

But I sometimes when he feels a little bit more sparking he would get sparkling wine ( I just know that he know sooo much about wine)

Reiji.

Reiji he’s a whiskey man, I just know that in his free time he tries every type of whiskey possible .

Has a book that talks only about whiskeys and how to prepare them correctly.

But if he has to drink a cocktail he would choose a whiskey based cocktail, like an “Old fashion” cocktail.

Ayato.

Ayato, he drinks everything, like EVERYTHING, if you give him a beer he would say yes if you give him 6 shots of tequila he will just say “ I want some more, give me 10”, and everyone would look at him as if he’s crazy.

But now that I think he’s a tequila guy, he just want to get drunk, doesn’t care about the taste of the alcohol itself.

Raito.

Raito is a little bitch, so he would choose something sooo sweet like Mai tai.

He’s such a coloured cocktail guy, the more coloured the better.

Oh and super fan of fruity cocktails too, he just wants something fresh and sweet, that’s why every time he tries to make a cocktail he uses Malibu.

Kanato.

Now, Kanato likes sweet stuff and I have the perfect alcohol for him, it’s called Amaretto, is an Italian liquor ( and my favorite ☺️ I love sweet stuff too).

He would use this liquor everywhere even on some cookies or cakes.

He’s gonna go crazy if he can’t find Amaretto in the mansion ( he’s addicted, because me too 😛)

Subaru.

Subaru likes beer, simple but not that much because he likes very specific beer.

Sometimes he will fly all to Germany just to go to the Oktoberfest, he feels at home there, with all kinds of beers.

Ruki.

Ruki is the most red wine person ever, he only drinks red wine.

He likes the strong taste of it and has a whole place where he stores his old ass bottles, plus he has sooo many books about wine.

One time when he went to Europe in winter he discovered that some countries make hot red wine, that was a life change experience for him.

Kou.

Kou likes soju, he likes to do the tricks, and he likes the sweetness of the flavoured soju bottles.

But I think he likes even caipirinha, the sourness of the drink, I think he would do the cutest face when he drinks it ( like those babies that eat for the first time lemon).

Yuma.

Yuma for me he’s our Russian king, vodka.

All he drinks is vodka but not the vodka that you buy at the supermarket, he would make it in his house.

Or when he goes to Russia he would buy Russian vodka ( that is sooo different from European/ USA vodka)

But nobody outside of him wants to drink it (other than Azusa) because it’s too strong.

Fun fact: one time Kou tried and after 3 shots he got super drunk that he puked everywhere,

While Yuma was laughing his ass off.

Azusa.

Ok so as I said before Azusa is the only one that drinks yumas vodka because he LOVES Bloody Mary, he just loves to put sooo much Tabasco inside that one time when he was drinking it he was crying.

After that Ruki hide the Tabasco from him, but Azusa always knows where to find it .

[draguta]

.a court of ash and smoke | seventeen.

pairing: lucien vanserra x fem!reader

summary: five years before feyre archeron ever stepped foot in prythian, another human girl found herself in the spring court. but the trials and tribulations of her time under the mountain left her with nothing but a certain red-headed high fae emissary, who had once resented her entire presence, to help and guide her.

chapter warnings: ptsd

chapter word count: 3413

🩸 series masterlist 🩸

please remember to reblog, like, and share a comment if you enjoy this series - it is always appreciated by writers to see their hard work valued.

🩸 tip jar 🩸 🩸 tag list 🩸

Day Court

An hour or so passed by, and the pain subsided, leaving you with no more than a dull-ache in your chest, and two shaken, terrified hands. The redness in your eyes, much to your gratitude, also faded, leaving you with your own eyes once more. Feyre had pulled you toward the fire and hand draped a blanket over your shoulders. Carla had all-but run from the manor at the sight of you that morning - not that you blamed her - but Alis had appeared moments later with a cup of molten chocolate for you.

“Drink this,” she had said as she rubbed a calming hand on your shoulder. “I want to see all of it gone, ok? You’ll feel better afterward.”

You didn’t have the heart to tell her that you doubted you would ever feel better again.

Lucien got to work quickly, gathering the sentinels that he knew could winnow, which were only few in number, and preparing them for the journey to the Day Court. Tamlin made no move to object that Lucien went along, no now, when he had seen the power that still lurked under your skin. You were certain that had he not feared for Feyre’s safety should she leave the manor, he likely would have taken your himself.

“You know I can’t winnow her all the way there, right?” Lucien’s voice came in a muted tone from the doorway. You didn’t have to turn to know that he and Tamlin were watching you with nothing more than concern, or perhaps a little fear. “We’ll have to spend the night somewhere.”

“No,” Tamlin murmured. “You must take her straight there. I don’t care how much it drains you, I don’t care if it kills you. Get her to the Dawn Court immediately. No stops, no breaks.”

You shuddered at the thought. Lucien didn’t say another word, but asked Alis to get you dressed and ready to go, despite your still shaking form. Alis obliged and as the men left the room, she and Feyre hauled you to wobbling feet and pulled your nightgown from your body, slipping instead an old blue tunic with gold linings, and a pair of riding pants onto you. Alis braided your hair as you drank the remainder of your molten chocolate, and after you let the two of them lead you downstairs to where Lucien and Tamlin were waiting with three sentinels at their heels, Silas among them.

As you reached the bottom step, Lucien held a hand to you, and took you from Alis and Feyre’s grip. You were feeling better now - your hands had stopped shaking so much, muting to a slight tremor, and the pain in your chest was almost completely gone. But you felt so weak, with so little energy, and the shock remained, the fear, and so you didn’t argue when Lucien took you into his arms, wrapping one of your own arms around his shoulders and his other slipping around your waist, despite the glare and growl that his close proximity earned from Tamlin.

“Are you ready?” Lucien asked as he walked you toward the sentinels. You could do nothing but nod, and with one final glance at Tamlin and Feyre, you were falling through the air, a crisp wind whipping around your hair. Lucien’s grip on you held tight, until eventually you stepped forward onto solid ground once more. Only this time, you were no longer in the Spring Court. The place that you found yourselves in was bright and airy, just like the Spring Court, only it seemed more ethereal. There seemed to be light coming from everywhere, with large open gaps in the wall opposed to windows and balconies at every turn.

“Welcome to the Day Court,” Lucien whispered, but you could hear the strain in his voice, could hear the slight grunt that he made. You glanced around behind you; the sentinels were gone. “They likely stopped for a break, they’ll be here soon. It’s a long way to winnow.”

You opened your mouth to say that he had managed it, which made you question exactly how powerful Lucien was, when a voice called from somewhere behind you, and Lucien slumped against the wall, leaning over on his knees, taking deep exhausted breaths. “Lord Lucien, we weren’t expecting to see you so soon,” the voice said. It belonged to a dark-skinned man who approached us slowly, with long dark locks that he had braided around his head, and gleaming amber eyes.

Lord Lucien. You had never heard him referred to as Lord before. Perhaps that was his real title as the seventh son of the Autumn Court. It made your stomach swirl nonetheless.

“I’m afraid we need to see Lord Helion as soon as possible, Clyro,” Lucien explained, motioning to you. He was still panting, and you could see the exhaustion on his face; you were sure your own form was close to similar. The amber-eyed man - Clyro - followed his gesture and looked you up and down, a slight flash of recognition and perhaps remembrance falling over his features.

“Of course,” he said, bowing his head slightly. “This way, please follow me.”

Lucien’s arm was wrapped around yours in a moment, but whether it was to keep you steady or keep his own legs from buckling with exhaustion you weren’t sure. You followed Clyro out of the room that you had arrived in, which appeared more as a foyer now that you saw the remainder of the house. Up a winding staircase with even more of those wide, gaping windows that looked out on amber fields of grains and crystal water so blue that you didn’t think you had ever even seen the colour so bright before, until you hit a hallway at the top, and followed it along the final door. Clyro paused, and Lucien seemed to know that meant to wait, as the dark-haired High Fae slipped inside.

Lucien slumped again against the wall by the door. “Are you ok?” You asked. You weren’t feeling so great yourself, but Lucien looked far worse.

“I’ll be ok,” he huffed. “I just used a lot of magic. I’ll be alright in a minute.”

You raised an eyebrow sceptically, but then you heard Clyro’s voice from inside the room. “Lord Lucien and Lady Y/N to see you, High Lord,” you heard him say. You winced at the title he had given you.

A moment of silence, and then a low, smooth voice said, “Show them in.”

Lord Helion’s study was nothing like Tamlin’s. Where Tamlin’s study was lined with books and dark-wood tables, with only two large windows on one side that looked out onto the garden, Helion’s study was open and wide, home to plush couches and fluffed cushions. And there, lounging in one of them, a book in his hand, sat Helion, High Lord of the Day Court. He too had dark skin and dark hair, and those same amber-gold eyes that shone in the sunlight seeping through into the room. He glanced up from his book, letting a small smile play across his lips as you entered the room.

“I hadn’t expected you for another few days,” Helion said, closing his book and placing it on the table in front of him, his arm stretching out across the back of the couch. “Or was it so urgent that you had to winnow directly into your home without so much as knocking on the door first?”

You winced slightly. Helion looked familiar, and you assumed that he had been Under the Mountain; perhaps he had even seen the monster you had become that day. He motioned to the couch opposite, and Lucien all-but fell into the seat. You followed close behind. “There was no time to delay,” Lucien explained slowly, motioning to you. “There was an…episode.”

Helion’s eyebrow shot up in surprise as he stood and slowly sauntered toward you, looking you up and down. “What kind of episode?”

You glanced at Lucien, who only gave you an encouraging nod of his head, his red curls falling around his face, shimmering in the daylight. You swallowed fiercely, and allowed your eyes to meet the High Lord’s. “It was a pain through your entire chest, a burning and aching type of pain that wouldn’t go away,” you explained carefully. Helion nodded slowly, and flicked his wrist as if to tell you to go on. “I’ve never felt pain like it, right here, by my heart, as if something was clawing to get to it, ripping through the skin and muscle and bone just to reach my heart.” You placed a hand over your chest, rubbing slightly as the memory of the pain returned. “And then, my eyes turned red, ust like they did that day.”

Helion’s eyes narrowed slightly as he listened and bit the inside of his cheek. “Interesting,” he said, turning away from you. “It sounds as though what you have is dark magic running through your veins,” he explained, without looking back at us. Lucien tensed - that was exactly what you had feared, and likely what he had feared too. “Have you ever used magic before that day?”

“No, sir,” you replied quietly. He scoffed, looking back over his shoulder.

“You don’t need to call me ‘sir’,” he chuckled. “Helion will do fine.”

You winced, and opened your mouth to apologise, but Lucien got there first. “Do you think there is anything you can do?” He asked, face grim and firm as he awaited his answer.

“I’ve encountered something like this only once before,” he explained, flopping himself back onto his couch. He certainly wasn’t the High Lord that you had been expecting, so far from the proper way that Tamlina acted. “A maiden from the Summer Court who encountered a terrible power in the fields whilst out riding one day. She too suffered from terrible pains in her chest. Nostrus had her brought to me - apparently he was quite fond of the girl.”

“What happened to her?” It was an almost whisper. You didn’t know, or care, who Nostrus might be, only that there was a way to break free of whatever was hiding within you; dark magic.

“She died.”

Your knees shook, and you felt dizzy, falling back into the couch before Lucien even managed to reach for your arm. “S-So there is really nothing to be done?”

“Now Y/N, High Queen Killer, is that what you said?” Helion asked with a raised eyebrow. The sunlight glinted off the spiked golden crown that sat on top of his black hair, making your head ache. “She only died because she refused to accept or embrace her new powers, and that dark magic therefore destroyed her from the inside-out, and used her body as a vessel to find a new host.”

“I don’t understand,” Lucien said slowly, glancing between Helion and you and back again.

“I think your power is different, less of a virus searching for hosts,” Helion continued. “But I believe if I am right, then the only way to help you would be the same. For you to embrace your powers, otherwise you may end up just as dead as the Queen she killed.”

Lucien tutted his tongue, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Do you know how to do that?”

“Me? Oh no, I wouldn’t even know where to begin,’ Helion shrugged. “It’s something that is different with every person. The only one who would know would be the one wielding the power.” His eyes fell to you, and your heart began pounding in your chest.

“So, I have to…live with this power inside me?” You asked slowly, and Helion cocked his head to the side, narrowing his eyes as he studied you.

“No, not live with it,” he said slowly. “Embrace it, let it become a part of you. Learn how to wield it, and find the good that you can do with it, because even dark magic has its positives.”

“It’s definitely dark magic?”

Helion’s lips thinned. “I’m afraid so,” he said quietly.

“So,” you huffed out in a breath. “That means I am a monster.”

Helion sat forward in his seat in a second, hands clasped between his knees and eyes trained on you. “Not at all. It just means that the magic was made by someone with a hateful heart. It can still be used for good.”

“I don’t know how to control it,” you said quietly. If you couldn’t couldn’t control it, how could you possibly ensure that it was used for good? The image of Lucien wrapped in those red tendrils of smoke flashed before your eyes, and you winced at the memory from your nightmares.

“If you still had the spell book, I may be able to help more,” Helion suggested, leaning forward slightly, eagerly. “Do you? Still have the spell book?”

You took a long minute to answer, and Helion narrowed his eyes suspiciously as you thought back to what Rhysand had sent you, the note that had appeared on your vanity.

‘Keep it, and don’t let anyone know you have it. You might need it again sooner rather than later.’

“No,” you said eventually. “It was left behind Under the Mountain. I thought that would be the best place for it.”

Helion huffed out a breath, running a hand over his mouth in thought. “There is one other person I know who might be able to help,” he said slowly, eyes flicking to Lucien. “But you’re not going to like it.”

Lucien sucked at his teeth. “Who is it?”

“Rhysand.”

“No,” Lucien said firmly.

“Rhysand knows how to control dark magic,” Helion argued. “He might be able to help train her-”

“No.” It was a firm decision made by the emissary, and Helion raised his hands in defeat.

“Fine by me,” Helion said, slumping back into his seat. “You’re welcome to stay the night, if the journey back will be too much in one day. But I have told you everything I know. Sorry I couldn’t help you more. From here, it’s up to you.”

Clyro appeared by your side once again, a hand gently touching your elbow to escort you from the study. You turned slowly back to Helion as you reached the door. He had returned to his book, his finger trailing over the page as he read. “Thank you, Helion, for helping us as much as you could.” He glanced up, nodded once with a kind smile, and then returned to his reading, and you and Lucien were escorted from the room.

The sentinels that Tamlin had sent with you were waiting for you outside the room. Lucien turned to one of them as you followed Clyro down the hall. “Elias, please return a message to Tamlin,” he said, the voice of the emissary clear and commanding. “Tell him that Helion has not been able to help as expected, and that we will stay the night in the Day Court and return home tomorrow morning.”

The sentinel nodded and began to retreat in the opposite direction. You blinked up at Lucien. “So, we are going to stay the night here?” You asked, and he sighed, rubbing at his tired eyes.

“I do not have the power nor the energy to winnow us back home today,” he explained. “Very few High Fae have the ability to travel so far twice in one day.”

You nodded, not questioning him again. He looked tired, and you knew that the effort of bringing you here in the first place had all-but wiped him out. Clyro came to a stop at a door toward the end of the long, winding hall.

“These will be your quarters for the night,” he explained. He opened the large wooden door, and as you took a step inside you gasped. The walls were a clear sky-blue, little puffs of delicately painted clouds on the ceiling and walls. There was no far wall at the other end of the room, only an open archway that led to a long balcony overlooking those golden fields. On each side of the main room were other various doors that you assumed led to the bedrooms. Clyro bowed out of the room and left you to it.

Lucien made for a door on the right. You watched him as he went, but didn’t stop him - he was tired, and deserved to sleep.

“How did the meeting go?” Silas asked as the other sentinel wandered into one of the rooms to the left, likely grander quarters than he had been privy to for a long time. You shrugged.

“Helion wasn’t able to help us as much as we had hoped,” you admitted. “From here, I’m not so sure.”

“There’ll be a way, I’m sure,” he said lowly. “I was Under the Mountain, and I saw what you did. Something like that, I can’t imagine it would be a bad thing to have.” He bowed low and disappeared after the other sentinel.

And so, you were left to your own devices. Your feet took you to the balcony without thought, and you leant against the stone railing, looking out across the Dawn Court - the air smelled fresh and clean and crisp, and the noon sun beat down warm and soft against your skin. Your hands ran over the railing of the balcony, and to your surprise found that it was encrusted with geodes, thick, rough rock centred by bright amber crystals. You pulled at one, and it fell away in your hand - a souvenir to take home to the Spring Court. You let your eyes close and drew in a deep breath.

“It’s rather beautiful here, is it not?” A familiar voice sounded from somewhere behind you. You whirled around, finding Helion himself leaning against a second balcony to the right of your own, likely from another set of quarters. “Sorry to startle you, but I wanted to speak with you in private.”

 “Whatever you have to say to me, you could have said in front of Lucien,” you said quietly. In fact, you would have preferred it, especially if he began asking about the spell book again. Thankfully, you had hidden it away, in a locked box in Tamlin’s room of treasure where he kept his family jewels and heirlooms, a room that he rarely ever went to. Helion raised an eyebrow.

“You trust an emissary with this information?” He asked slowly, and then his face softened into a smirk. “Unless he is more than just an emissary to you.” It was difficult to hide the flush that lilted your cheeks without turning your head away. Helion chuckled. “I knew it.”

“There is nothing between Lucien and I,” you said pointedly, and Helion leaned further over the stone railing, his amber eyes meeting yours.

“But you would like there to be?” He asked. Apparently you didn’t even need to speak for him to know what your answer would have been. “I’ve had a few dealings with Lucien on behalf of the Spring Court over the years. He is a good man, but bears a difficult past. I think that, after all this time, he rather deserves some happiness.”

You gulped down your dry throat. Lucien had mentioned as much. “What happened to him…in his past, I mean?”

He cocked his head slightly. “You mean that no one has told you of Jesminda?” Your eyes widened at the name, but you shook your head firmly. “Then I’m afraid that is not my story to share.”

“But-”

“We all have our secrets,” he continued with a knowing glint in his eye. “It would seem that Lucien Vanserra has kept a secret from you, so why would you not be willing to keep one from him? After all, Rhysand could help you, I’m sure of it.”

“I don’t think Tamlin would allow it,” you said softly.

“And does your chosen brother always make your decisions for you?” He asked with a slight smile. But that smile faded as he said his next words. “The last person I saw with something like this died, and whilst I do not know you terribly well, I would not wish to see that happen to you.”

You glanced down at your fingers, picking at the skin surrounding your nails, and bit your lips. “I’ll think about it.”

“That is all I ask.” He offered one more kind smile, and then he was gone.

[winterandwords]

OC in fifteen (or less)

Thanks to @revenantlore for the tag!

These are for Freyja El Khatib, the knife-throwing bartender from Bridge From Ashes. I always imagine her as a cross between Carla from Cheers and Harley Quinn and I adore her...

01

“Sometimes it’s better that way, right? The details aren’t always worth remembering.”

02

“We’re not too busy tonight, so I’m going to drink this with you and we’re going to talk about whatever you want or nothing at all until you don’t have that look in your eyes anymore.”

03

“Old hurts still hurt.”

04

“One more fucking time, you guys, I swear to god. This is a classy establishment and—”

05

“That's the worst. When they're not alive anymore and sometimes you wish you weren't either because you feel like maybe you don't deserve to be.”

06

“Baby, if you weren’t the trouble, I’d think you were in trouble.”

07

“You OK, lovely? You look like someone’s walked over your grave.”

08

“You gotta stop needing other people to hurt you so much. You hurt yourself enough already, you know?”

09

“Mm, tingly.”

10

“Leave things as clean as you find them, and if you don’t find them clean let me know so I can break some hands about it.”

Tagging @andyswritings, @ashfordlabs, @authortango and @autumnalwalker if you'd like to do it, with an open tag for anyone else who wants to share fifteen (or less) lines of dialogue from one of your characters 💜

[david-powers-simp]

I apologize for being a inactive I an a student now so I have no time for anything but this has been siting in my drafts for months so here you go ■ NOT PROOF READ■ I am here with a lil imagine that the lovely @ria-coolgirl requested. I'm sorry but I can't find the original ask. To sum it up max invite the boys out for a drink as a way to "bond" but the boys just get wasted and max has to drag them home. Enjoy besties 💓

"Come oh boys, whataya say?" Max asked with a hopefully grin.

" am I understanding this correctly? You want to take us to a bar to have bonding time?" Marko replied visibility confused.

" im in free drinks!" Paul announced excitedly as he hopped down from his favorite spot in the cave,the water fountain.

David couldn't help but laugh a little. " you wouldn't be caught dead with us but now you want to have drinks with us?"

Max sighed " I know I haven't been to kind to you in the past years,but now I want to change that."

Dwayne rolled his eyes. " That's what they all say."

" ok, boys, let's get this over with." david exhales as he walks out of the cave, his vampire companions following close behind.

Max practically has to run out of the cave to stop the boys before they get on their bikes and leave. " wait, why don't we take my car so you all can fit."

" tha fuck?" Marko curse.

" Absolutely not hell no, I'd rather be staked through the heart." David dramatically replies.

Paul's jaw just drops to the floor, and dwayne gets on his bike and starts the engine. Before Max can protest anymore, the boys have all gotten on their bikes and left, max huffs in defeat, and gets in his car and drives to the closest bar on the boardwalk.

The boys beat max to the bar. However, they wait outside for max to arrive. The terror twins picking on one another and ruffling up each other hair. While dwayne sits back on his bike and observes david puffs on the cigarette he's had behind his ear. Max gets out of his car and approaches the boys.

" So, are we all ready?" He asks. And just as quick, all the boys got off their bikes silently and went inside.

The bar looked like most. It had a few tables nestled in the room, a cascade of pictures and sighs decorating the walls,and a middle-aged man behind the bar counter. He seemed to have sensed something as soon as the group walked in together. Once they all made their entrance, the bartender left the counter and went into the back room. This made david uneasy. Max, however, seemed pleasantly calm.

Paul, marko, dwayne, and david begin to take a seat at the bar in that order. Lastly, max sits in front of where the bartender was previously standing. After a few short moments, the man returns with an old looking bottle that's covered in dust and cobwebs. The man grabs a cloth and starts wiping the bottle off.

" ah Goodwin, its nice to see you old friend." Max says in a delightful tone.

" I can say the same max, it's been a long time." Goodwin responses

The boys sit in confusion.

" boys this is an old friend of mine Goodwin, Goodwin, these are my boys, the ones I told you about."

Paul breaks the silence " im Paul." He says in a awkward fashion.

" anyway to get to the point, max has told me about you boys and that's why I brought out this fine liquor, it's not like most. It's especially make for creatures like us." Goodwin tells them as he pops the cork to the bottle.

It finally clicks in davids head. " your a vampire?" He asks blatantly.

" Well, of course, how else do you think I've stayed in santa carla for so long?"

Paul chimes in " sweet."

Goodwin starts to pour the liquor. " This isn't normal liquor. It's made especially for people like us. Strong enough to get us drunk." He says

Dwayne immediately upon hearing that grab a glass and hold it over for it to get filled.

Goodwin sees and fills the glass for him

The other boy follow.

"See boys I knew you'd like this" Max says feeling accomplished.

" im just say don't you think the wind talks sometimes I know I can hear it." Marko thinks out loud while laying on the ceiling.

" I just want you to stop saying odd shit." David replies leaned back on a bar stool.

Paul is giggling on the floor " I think marko is right davie"

Dwyane on sat behind him braiding his hair. " Paul you really should let me do your hair more."

Max sighed unsure of what to do. " ok let's go." He says sternly.

David now smoking a cigarette and making smoke rings "id like to see you try, I like it here."

" yeah it's nice to have a chance of scenery." Dwayne says while he munches on the bowl of bar pretzels that sit beside him. Paul gets up from his spot on the floor and goes over and takes some of dwayne's pretzels.

"Woah man those are mine." Dwayne tells Paul.

" You gotta share bro." Paul tells him

"Fine here." Dwayne says as he throws the bowl of pretzels. Paul has a shocked

[rckflg]

Can u do a dating paul the lost boys hcs? If u have time

pairing: paul (the lost boys) x reader

warnings: fluff & smut

summary: dating Paul hcs that kinda turned more into general hcs but 🤷🏽‍♀️

a/n: this has been sitting in my inbox for a while, as have all of my other requests, sorry :/ i fucking love the lost boys though. it's one of my all time favorite movies so i'm excited to do this one.

a/n pt 2: yo im so sorry i did like a whole ass headcannon where yall meet and through dating and shit-- i hope you don't mind, i just started writing and went off

a/n pt 3: also ima have a post with nsfw paul headcannons as well but i decided to have them in two seperate posts so that everybody could read some general hdcs

paul is a fuckboy without a doubt

you can see it right away when you meet him

which speaking of, your family had just moved to Santa Carla and the whole family went out to the boardwalk after a few nights of unpacking and decorating the new house

you live with both of your parents, your big sister, and your little sister->not you being the middle child

but like your parents are great and don't actually forget about you like all those middle child jokes->for the most part

your parents are very trusting of you and your siblings so they let you go off on your own trusting that you aren't going to be doing anything dumb to get you in trouble or worse

when you meet the boys you're all on the carousel and the boys are causing a ruckus

you make direct eye contact with paul and he takes a moment to just stare at you and look you up and down with one of those smirks

eventually you end up in line at one of those little snack shacks to get you and your siblings some food and drinks and paul ends up striding right on over to you

he talks with you all hella flirty and throws his arm around your shoulders

you end up giving him attitude

it gets him even more hot and bothered

you not only looking hella attractive but also giving him an attitude

hes in love, like in love, he knows your the one

ima hdc that the lost boys have like soulmates or mates or whatever like in twilight

that's what you are for paul

you and your siblings meet paul and the rest of the boys

all of y'all actually get along like a forest fire

after some back and forth you and paul actually end up dating

your not sure exactly how it happened but somehow y'all end up going on multiple dates and end up actually dating each other

he's still a fuckboy and you make fun of him for it

but he's so in love with you and only you now

he takes you out on all kinds of dates but mostly takes you out to eat food

y'all definitely go on quite a few dates

and paul isn't afraid of pda, whether it be with the boys, your siblings, or in public in general

paul tends to sneak into your room in the middle of the night and just spend the night with you

ok ima halt here on these headcannons. i hope y'all like them if anyone wants more paul headcannons lemme know👀

[kayhi808]

Billy Mine - Act 2.1

Leaving Ray of Hope Children's Home felt so…final. It's what I wanted, but I had a hard time adjusting to family life all the same. I mised Billy Mine. He was like a drug in my veins and I was going through withdrawals.

My new parents, Patrick & Christina Ellis were wonderful. They were so patient and kind and loving. They are so much more than I deserved. Before I started high school, my father decided to throw his hat into the political ring. He went from local New York politics to becoming a US Senator. It made life more hectic. We were more in the spotlight. Of course being in the spotlight brings out a lot of lunatics as well. My father gets regular death threats that the Secret Service are aware of. Others are just threats from unhinged individuals.

A few days ago, I was attacked on my way home from work. Police think it was a potential kidnapping to use against my father. Luckily I was able to fend them off, but not without injury. I have stiches on my forehead, a black eye, a busted lip, bruised ribs & they dislocated my shoulder. Years of Muay Thai actually paid off. I don't think they were expecting me to fight back. I wasn't so helpless that they could have just plucked me off the street. I was causing too much of a scene and I'm sure some of them are in worst condition than I am. Bystanders came to my aide, and they took off. Mom & Dad were in NY not DC at the time, so when they found out, I got brought straight back to their place. Not that I complained too much, I felt like crap.

*****

"Baby, do you mind coming outside? There's someone I need you to meet. It'll only take a minute." Dad wraps an arm around me to help me out of my chair.

I couldn't hold back a groan. "I'm really not in the mood to see people," as he leads me out onto the terrace.

"I know, Jules. I swear, it'll just be a minute. I hired security for you and I want you to meet him."

"Daaaddd," I hiss and stop in my tracks but he keeps ushering me forward.

A man stands with his back to me looking out over the Manhattan skyline. Tall, broad shoulders, dark hair, bespoke suit…my skin breaks out in goose bumps.

Hearing our arrival, he turns around & greets my father, "Senator Ellis."

"Thank you so much for meeting here instead of the office." They shake hands. "My daughter, Jules."

He turns his attention to me & I'm lost in his obsidian gaze. There's only one other person who has eyes like that. I can hardly catch my breath. I feel faint and clutch my dad's arm tighter. "Billy Mine" I whisper. Billy's eyes widen with recognition before the darkness takes me.

******

"Sweetheart? Jules."

"Dad?" I open my eyes to find I'm still on the terrace, but on the chaise lounge not on the floor. Shit. Billy.

"You need me to take you back to the hospital? How do you feel?" Dad asked crouched down beside the chair.

"No. No. Don't do that. I'm ok." I look around. I couldn't have been hallucinating. Billy steps nearer. "Billy Russo."

Billy hands me a glass of water, "Here. Drink this."

"You two know each other?" I hear a protective tone in my dad's voice. Billy's eyes dart to mine.

"A..a long time ago. Ray of Hope. W...we were there."

Billy looked to be more in shock than I was. "Juliet."

"Bill owns the security company I've hired to watch over you, until the police or secret service find those men," reassuringly pats my leg. "Nothing like that will ever happen again."

Bill clears his throat, "We'd like to sit down and discuss your daily routine and schedule but we can arrange that for a better time," nodding at me & handing me his business card. I take it, careful not to touch him. "Please call my assistant to schedule something when you feel up to it."

He scans my face & injuries. His eyes are hard like the day he saw my bruises from Carla. Scary mad. "Of course. Thank you."

"Excellent. Thank you again for coming out here. I greatly appreciate it. Jules will set an appointment soon. She's still recovering."

"You're welcome, Senator. Completely understandable."

"Let me see you out."

"No, I can see myself out. Stay with your daughter." Turning to me, "It was good to see you again, Juliet, despite these circumstances."

I can only nod, my throat tightens with the sobs and cries I try to hold back. I haven't thought about him in over a decade but to watch him leave, I wanted to run after him. Have him take me with him.

"Jules?? What's wrong?" Dad brushes away tears that I didnt even know had fallen. "Are you in pain? I can get a doctor out here."

"No. I'm sorry." I start crying and my dad hugs me, "It suddenly feels overwhelming. But I'm ok. I promise." I lie to him. "Maybe if I just lay down for a minute." I kiss his cheek and squeeze his hand as he helps me return to my room.

I take some pain meds yet still sleep restlessly, tormented by dreams of Billy Mine.

@idaofinfinity @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @snowkestrel @ellooo0ooo @bustlingcrowdsxorxsilentsleepers @terry2227 @e-dubbc11

[fairytalk]

Hiro Mashima’s deplorable shtick

Topic of today: Wendy Marvell and Rule 34

As we know Wendy is a main cast member in fairy tail. She is frequently posted with Team Natsu and treated as an icon, which in itself is not a problem. The main issue arises from the publicity that comes with the trope of being an older character while still having the appearance of an underage child. Wendy canonically speaking is 400 years old, which is why artist including Mashima and Ueda get away with fetishizing her character. This gives other artists the ok to draw her under rule 34 soliciting her in a sexual nature. Mavis vermilion is in a similar predicament of age dysmorphia, the difference being that Mavis does not age but is treated like the much older wiser person that she is even as an apparition. Wendy however does age, but still has a youthful appearance because of the time bubble. She just doesn’t get treated the same way Mavis does because it isn’t clear that Wendy is from a relative time period and isn’t a spirit like Mavis. In the beginning Wendy was posted as being only twelve years old and was treated as such, from her appearance to other characters treating her as if she were the younger naive sister. Comments are thrown around about her growing into her clothes, or protecting her sight and hearing from mature situations such as; loke talking about sex, nudity of numerous characters, and even just talking about being in the same bed. They allow her to drink alcohol after all the fuss of protecting her “innocence”, but when things start to pick up in battle she is treated as a full fledged adult again . She deals with healing the heavily injured or fending off enemies that are triple in size compared to her physically small stature. Which in continuously being mocked and pointed out. Speaking of her stature, one of Mashimas infamous gags is to write about her chest size. It does nothing to drive the plot and even if it is a joke it comes off as creepy and derogatory. In one instillation of this moment about her being young and small during the Tartaros arc, pedophilic implications of Mest Gryder ( come on even his name feels like an arbitrary choice) being interested in young women appears as the main cast is shrunken down from a spell that was cast on Erza. He is blushing and appears during the statement of Jellal saying he is ‘not interested in little girls.’ This moment is also backed up by Mest being flustered again (during the Alvarez arc) while he sees Wendy and Carla helping children find there parents. He refers to her as an “angel”. It’s not set evidence of him enacting on any of his strange behavior but it is clear that Mashima used these moments as some nasty satire to make light on a serious topic like pedophilia, only for him to cover it up as if Mest and Wendy have a friendly close relationship, when really Mests subplot relied on him gaining his memories back after being inclined to erase them. Wendy being the one to help him get accepted back into the guild. It pushes the line between friendly admiration and uncomfortable attraction.

It is conclusive that Mashima should have the resources to help him write better story plots, he has bitten off more than he can chew coming up with Edenz zero, Ft100yq, illustrating characters for a game, as well as the recently released manga Dead Rock. Fairy tail is probably his most well known work and what boosted his career after Rave master. It deserves a better conclusion and more care and consideration put into the characters he created. It would not only lessen his workload, it would also help refresh the characters that we would like to see elaborated on considering they are important to his story.

[dantegreaves00]

Hero (Dead Island 2 Carla x Gen Reader)

This is for the lovely @brunos-wife360 who requested a Carla x Gen Reader and gave me some help with it, this is the first time that I have written for a female character and I hope that you all like it. I rushed the ending as I honestly didn't know what else to write.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

●●Carla's POV●●

Me and Y/N were on our way to the Sterling Hotel to meet with Dr Reed after helping Kai, Trent and Alex at the blue crab.

I was watching Y/N take down a crusher when we heard the shrieking cry of a screamer which caused all of the zombies in the area to swarm us.

"RUN!" I yelled as I grabbed their hand and started sprinting out of the area and to somewhere safe. As we ran a runner came out of nowhere causing me to let go of Y/N's hand so that I could bash its brains in with my bat.

It seemed as if the hoard was growing in numbers, rotting faces snarled and snapped at us from every angle and we found ourselves being separated from each other.

"CARLA!" Y/N yelled as they were being chased in the opposite direction by four runners and a burster.

"Y/N hold on I'll help you" just as I was about to go after them an inferno crusher blocked my path and I lost sight of Y/N.

Suddenly I heard them scream, it was like the world stopped spinning and I felt myself being kicked to the ground.

'They're dead' I thought to myself over and over again as I was forced to flee towards the military base in hopes that I could make it though and get to the Sterling Hotel where the Doc was waiting for me.

●●Timeskip●●

After escaping the death pits I found myself outside of the Sterling Hotel, making my way up the stairs and following the arrows pointing to where the safe zone was I knocked on the door, where I was met by a woman holding a gun to my face.

After meeting the doc I was left to explore the hotel when I suddenly stopped in my tracks.

Over by the bar sat Y/N, I couldn't believe my eyes. Turning to Jimmy who was stood by the wall near to where I was I asked him a question "Yo Jimmy, do you know anything about the person sat at the bar?" "Na all I know is that Tisha and her friends found them and brought them here" he replied.

Saying goodbye to Jimmy I made my way over to the bar and sat down next to Y/N who didn't seem to notice me.

"Y/N, is that you?" I asked them.

"Carla" the said as they got up and hugged me.

"I thought you were dead I heard you screaming, what happened?" "I screamed because I ran into someone holding a crossbow and I was scared that they would shot me, turns out it was Tisha the Docs daughter"

●●Timeskip●●

It had been a couple of days since me and Y/N were reunited. I had just come back from the peir, where I had to face a zombie clown.

During the time I’ve been at the Serling hotel, I have ran multiple ‘errands’ for the doc in order to help me get myself and Y/N out of this shit hole of a city. Speaking of Y/N, I've been hinting at them that I like them as more than just friends but I'm not sure if they have been getting the hints.

I should just spit it out but I'm scared, I'm scared that I could ruin our friendship and lose them when I've only just gotten them back. I've been in contact with the others, letting them know that I'm ok and so is Y/N and Sam told me to "grow a pair and confess" and "don't make the same mistakes he did" so that's what I'm going to do.

Y/N was sitting in their room (which was also my room) a bottle of whisky that I had managed to snag on my last outing was on the table and two glasses were next to it.

"Hey Carla I thought we could have a couple of drinks" they said as soon as they noticed that I had walked into the room.

"I have something that I need to tell you and if I don't tell you now then I might never tell you" I said quickly before taking a breath, "I love you, I've loved you for awhile now but I didn't realise it until I thought you were dead" I told them before I grabbed the bottle of whisky and poured myself a glass.

"Carla I love you too, when we got separated I was so scared that I would never see you again that I told myself that tonight I was going to tell you how I felt" Y/N said as they took my hand that wasn't holding the glass.

We looked at each other for a moment before I leaned in to kiss them. The kiss was unlike anything I could imagine, all the negative thoughts left my head as soon as our lips connected. Pulling away slightly Y/N smiled at me, and at that moment I knew that if I had to be a hero to someone, that I would be their hero.

[diabolikpersonals]

reiji cl endings!

euphoria end:

as they’re starving, reiji gets a brilliant idea. this is a chess game, right? if important pieces fall off the board, the game can’t continue. so reiji and yui agree to risk their lives and jump off the “board” to save everyone.

after jumping off the edge of the world, yui can only see darkness. socrates shows up and he’s like “well I didnt think you would do THAT.” if someone falls into the cracks of spacetime like that, they can totally cease to exist, but yui’s still confident this was their best plan. she’ll follow reiji wherever he goes. socrates admits that they truly love each other.

then yui wakes up in reality, and reiji and the others are awake too!! (well, all the non-sakamakis are snoozing, but they’re ok.) yui tells reiji that he looked cool when making that big scary decision to jump off a cliff lol. karl heinz shows up and he’s like “whoops, sorry for my friend there lmaooo.” kanato asks why he’s there, and karl heinz is like “this is my house ^^”

also, ayato accuses him of pulling the strings during this whole situation and karl heinz is like “nooooo! 🥺 my friend was just being so silly! I never knew he would question my judgement!” …laito calls bullshit, and subaru asks why he didnt SAVE HIS TRAPPED, STARVING SONS and karl heinz is like “well I thought it was an interesting experiment!”

then karl heinz announces that he’s ready to die and pass on his power to one of his sons. and of course, that son is reiji. reiji refuses, and says that shu is a better candidate. shu still has no intention of becoming king, so it’s simply not the right time to pass on the throne yet. when the time comes, reiji will do his part.

karl heinz hears all this and says that reiji has a very humanlike heart. then he asks yui to stay with her chosen adam and guide him as he continues to change for the better. of course yui accepts, she’ll stay with reiji no matter what!!

and we all go back to our daily lives. (yui is somehow still dropping plates. you’d think reiji would start securing them a little better, or yui would get a little more careful, but no, the plates continue to break.)

labyrinth end:

everyone’s sooooo thirsty. ayato even snaps at yui to stop smelling so good. kanato is talking SO fucking fast. ayato declares he’s gonna drink all her blood, and reiji polishes off the ol’ cockblocking techniques and he’s like “no you will NOT.”

shu complains that reiji’s, ruki’s, and carla’s meetings are going absolutely nowhere. ruki says that’s rich from the guy who just sleeps the day away. everyone’s real pissed at each other. some of em are starting to say that it’s fine if they drink her blood, as long as they don’t kill her…ruki even starts talking about dividing her blood equally lol

shu thinks it’s fine, because humans are originally prey anyway. reiji hates the idea, but shu tells him that it was HIS choice not to kill everyone, so he should take responsibility for keeping them all alive. yui doesn’t want to see reiji suffer, so she agrees. reiji starts calling her eve again instead of yui, and he declares they’ll all share her.

so yui becomes shared food. she’s covered in bite marks. (a few Real Ones like ruki and yuma seem genuinely torn up about it, awww) when it’s reiji’s turn, he says he wants to get her out of there, but she’s like “no, I’m fine, you need to find a way to get everyone out of this place.”

but there doesn’t seem to be another way out. and yui’s already gotten so used to this. she’s looking forward to who will suck her blood tomorrow ;-;

[carladuquette]

happy speak now tv day! a couple of years ago i wrote a little something based on speak now (the song) and it turned into a whole taylor x elite series. next chapter - no body no crime - coming when i my wrists/arms will let me type without pain again.

ANYWAY, Speak Now - Carla/Samuel

Carla pulled at the hem of her dress, then took another sip from the small champagne bottle Lu had pressed into her hand as soon as she had gotten into Carla's car.

"I'm really not sure this is a good idea," she said one more time. "Maybe we should go home."

"Carla." Lu took her hand and waited until Carla looked at her. "We've talked about this. We're going. You need this. It'll give you… closure or something? Anyway, you can't let that little hairdresser tell you what to do. And we look way too hot to turn back now, ok? Trust me, it'll be fine."

Carla smiled briefly. Whenever Lu said that, there was at least a 50 percent chance whatever they were up to would end in disaster. Hopefully today would be different.

She braced herself and took a deep breath in the back of the car. It wasn't like she was heading to her own execution. Weddings were a happy occasion. A couple expressing their undying love for each love. Two families united as one. A never-ending flow of alcohol from the open bar. Only that she and Lu would never get to the part with the alcohol. They wouldn't go to the reception because neither of them had actually been invited to the wedding they were about to attend.

Well. Technically…

It seems that I was uninvited by your lovely bride-to-be

Samuel had been dating Maria when Carla had returned from London and she'd been determined to be happy for him. They had gone on a few double dates, always with a different guy by Carla's side (and a girl once, Carla had learned some things about herself in college), but eventually they'd stopped.

Samuel had canceled a dinner first, then Carla had feigned a headache and bowed out of a movie she and Sergio (or was it Raul?) were supposed to go see with Samuel and Maria. When Carla had texted Samuel a few days later with the suggestion for another date, he'd said it was a bad time, that he was studying for the final exams for his Bachelor's and Maria was busy at work.

The mean part of Carla had wanted to reply asking what exactly Maria was so busy with at the salon, but she'd just texted him a "Sure, let me know when you come up for air." He never had.

Carla hadn't minded. In fact, she'd been grateful. Going out with him and Maria had been more painful than she had been willing to admit to herself.

They'd seen each other one more time after that, at Guzman's birthday. Maria hadn't been there - "She's visiting her mom on Lanzarote," Samuel had explained - and it had been the best night Carla had had since returning to Madrid. She and Samuel had been inseparable all night. They had talked for hours. His jokes had still been stupid, his dance moves had still made him look like he was having a seizure and Carla still hadn't cared one bit. The way he'd looked at her… No one had looked at her like that in years. Carla had felt like she was right back in high school.

It had happened when Guzman had finally kicked the last guests out at 3:30 am. They had awkwardly hugged goodbye in front of Guzman's apartment building. And then they had kissed.

For the first time Carla had felt like she was actually home again. Then she'd opened her eyes and had seen the guilt written all over Samuel's face.

"I'm sorry," she had rushed to say.

"Carla…"

"No no, don't worry about it. We're both drunk, this didn't mean anything." As if it could ever not mean anything with him. "You're fine. Go home. We'll just forget this ever happened."

A few months later she'd been out for drinks with Guzman, Ander and Lu. Guzman hadn't been able to look her in the eye all night, until Lu had kicked her ex's leg under the table and exasperatedly said "Will you just tell her already?"

Samuel, as it turned out, had apparently done exactly as she had suggested, forgotten all about their kiss and proposed to his girlfriend. By the end of that night, Lu had had to hold Carla's hair back as she threw up in the bar's bathroom.

The invite had been in the mail a few weeks later. "A July wedding, it'll be way too hot," Carla had thought idly as her legs had given out. She had fully planned to attend, with a plus one, of course. But before she'd been able to send her RSVP back, Maria had shown up at her office on a Thursday. It had been raining and Carla had just gotten dropped back off at the winery after a business lunch with a buyer from Italy when she'd seen Maria in the lobby. (She still remembered every single detail of that day down to the color of her shoes - bordeaux - and the overly sweet smell of Maria's vanilla-scented perfume.) Samuel's fiancée had made it very clear that she did not want Carla to show her face at the wedding.

I sneak in and see your friends And her snotty little family all dressed in pastel

They had actually sneaked into the church where her high school boyfriend was about to get married like it was Teatro Barcelo and she and Lu were 15. Carla took a moment to appreciate the absurdity of her life before she looked around. People were still arriving, so there was enough of a hustle and bustle that the two of them didn't attract attention standing off to the side next to a large shelf holding fliers about the church's membership drive, its Thursday night soup kitchen and the Alcoholics Anonymous group that hosted its meetings in the building's basement. The snob in Carla was appalled that no one had bothered to remove the shelf, or at least the fliers, before the wedding. Stop judging, she reminded herself. You shouldn't even be here.

Lu had no such qualms. "That has to be Maria's mother up there, right?" She scoffed. "Who wears mint green to a wedding? Honestly, that whole outfit is a disaster. I am itching just looking at the fabric from here. What is that, polyester?"

Carla nodded absentmindedly, looking for faces she'd recognize. Her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Nano already standing up front next to the altar, looking uncomfortable in an ill-fitting suit. "Look." She tugged on Lu's arm. "Samu must be so happy to have his brother here. I bet Nano is his best man."

"Yeah, he is." Lu chuckled. "Guzman was pretty hurt he didn't get the job. Oh my God, is that-"

Both of their mouths were hanging open as they watched a tall brunette walk past them at a distance, quietly cursing and pulling at the ruffles covering her torso. "Wow," was all Carla managed. She couldn't drag her eyes away from Rebeka in a pink tulle atrocity that she realized had to be a bridesmaid dress.

"She and Samuel must still be really good friends for her to be wearing that." Lu was laughing so hard she had to lean on the shelf and Carla shushed her. When she had calmed down she turned to Carla.

"So, I hang back here while you go find Samuel? I can text Guzman about where the room is that the guys-

"Are you insane?" Carla took a step closer to Lu so their faces were almost touching. "I am not going to talk to him! That is not why we came here!"

She was about to elaborate when a familiar voice made her freeze. "Nano!" Pilar shouted as she entered the church, cellphone in hand. "Did you tell the DJ it was next weekend?!"

Carla roughly grabbed Lu's elbow and dragged her along as she hurried behind the shelf and ducked.

Lu stared at her. "What the-"

"Sssshhh!" Carla covered Lu's mouth with her hand. Only when Pilar was far enough away they couldn't hear her shouting anymore did she remove it. "She can't see us, she'd immediately tell Samu I'm here."

The gentleness in Lu's eyes was a rare sight. "Carla, what are you doing?" she asked softly.

"Samu and I just missed our moment." Carla shrugged. She knew her hard work to look nonchalant was in vain, but that didn't mean she'd give up. "He's getting married, there's nothing I can do about it."

"Bullshit! Have you not seen a single romcom ever? Damn it, you are so clearly still in lo-"

"Shut up!" Carla could feel her face heat up. "You wanted us to come here, you dragged me to this even though I told you in no uncertain terms I did not want to go and I still very much don't want to be here! But you don't care because you thought this could be some fun little anecdote for you to tell down the road, right? 'How I crashed a working-class wedding.'"

"That's not true and I hope you know that," Lu said quietly.

Seeing hurt flash across her best friend's face and knowing she had caused it still came with the exact same mix of surprise and regret it did in high school. "I'm sorry," Carla said immediately. "No, of course I do. It's all of this, being here... It has me on edge. But you're right, it'll be good for closure. Let's just find seats in the back and get through it, ok?"

Lu smiled half-heartedly and hugged her. "If that's what you really want."

Horrified looks from everyone in the room But I'm only looking at you

The ceremony passed in a haze. Lu covered a laugh with a cough as Rebeka walked down the aisle, other than that the two of them were silent. Carla kept staring at Samuel, trying to decipher whether he looked happy, but they were too far back for her to really read his face. When Maria floated down the aisle like a pageant queen, Carla grabbed Lu's hand without taking her eyes off the bride. She was squeezing so hard that she thought she could hear their bones crack - she'd definitely have to buy Lu a drink or five once this was over. Once this was over… when Samuel would be married. Carla closed her eyes.

After what felt like hours, when the sickeningly adorable story of how Samuel and Maria had met had been told and a friend of Maria's had sung some 90s love song off-key, the pastor cleared his throat and declared: "Should anyone present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace."

"Carla." When she didn't react right away, Lu pulled away her hand and pinched her arm hard enough to hurt. "Carla! This is your last chance! If you don't do something now-"

It was a physical reflex. That was the only possible explanation, because Carla certainly didn't want to get up, but there she was, on her feet, hands shaking.

"Uhm." She cleared her throat. The effect would have been comical had she not been this terrified: Every last person in the church turned to look at her. And they clearly weren't happy. Carla took a deep breath and focused on Samuel, who hadn't moved a single muscle and was staring at her slack-jawed.  

"I… I don't usually do this sort of thing-" Here she could see Rebeka laugh, the only one in the bridesmaids line-up who didn't look horrified. "But I wanted…" What exactly was it that she wanted? What was the plan here? Carla was ready to just sit down again (or, even better, have the ground open up and swallow her whole), when she felt Lu squeeze her hand. Fuck it.

"I didn't want to miss my moment. Not again. Samu, we've done that enough times. I'm sorry I didn't say this earlier, right when I got back from London or even before that, but I love you. I love you." Carla was having an out-of-body experience, but she was still pretty sure the smile slowly spreading across Samuel's face wasn't a hallucination.

"So… You shouldn't be marrying the wrong girl, I guess is what I'm saying."

A collective gasp traveled through the pews. Maria threw her bouquet to the ground and looked like she was ready to tackle Carla, but Rebeka had taken a step forward and grabbed her by the arm. Carla felt like she was floating, like she had drunk an entire bottle of champagne too quickly. Nothing could touch her. She actually giggled. "I'll be going, but if you're not going to be saying any vows, come find me outside."

She turned around and made her way out of the pew. Lu was right behind her. Once they were outside, the enormity of her actions hit her in the face. "Oh my god." Carla had to sit down on the church's front stoop because the world was spinning. She had apparently forgotten how to breathe right and struggled for tiny gulps of air. "What did I do? What just happened? I never should have come! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my-"

"Hey!" Lu was kneeling in front of her, grabbing her face with both hands. "You were fucking fantastic. That was the bravest thing I have ever seen, really, Carla."

"She's right, you know?"

Carla's heart stopped. She didn't dare turn around, so when Lu got up with a wide grin on her face, Carla just kept staring straight ahead. A pair of tux-clad legs appeared in her field of vision. Carla's mouth opened without any contribution from her brain. "You can't wear sneakers with a tuxedo," she said, her voice hoarse.

Samuel's laugh rang in her ears. When she finally looked up at him, his dark eyes were serious.

"Did you really mean what you said in there?"

For the first time Carla allowed the hope that she had pushed down to unfold. She got up and grabbed Samuel's hands. "I just got up in front of all your friends and family and ruined your wedding. Of course I fucking meant it. Every word."

Before she could ask how he felt, Samuel pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. Carla moaned into the kiss and only broke away when Lu cleared her throat.

"You're welcome, bitch."

Carla practically ran the few short steps towards Lu and all but jumped into her arms. "Thank you," she whispered in her ear. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Her cheeks were wet when she pulled away.

"Any time." Lu wiped away a tear, too. "But can we get going now? I don't want to be here when the angry mob gets out."

They started walking towards their car, but Carla could feel Samuel tug at her hand. "Yeah?" She smiled at him.

"I'm really glad you came."