#oof lucy's got her work cut out for her

[aashiyancha]

[bronx-bomber87]

Good evening Fandom :) Gonna try and be more concise and mini this time haha Wasn’t so mini last time. Imma really try LOL Also the gif library just refuses to pull anything that's new and its driving me nuts. Guess all the pretty gifs will have to wait till summer when the library gets it's act together and I can be more in depth. LOL This is supposed to mini anyways. I'll do my best to make this brief but impactful haha This is a new gear for me.

6x02 The Hammer

Their first interaction is fraught af. Tim is radiating hurt still not that I blame him. He is trying to sweep it under the rug but the man is hurting. I do love Lucy trying to let him know not how healthy communication works. heh She's not wrong. You know I was so Tim in this moment before therapy. Surprise surprise right?

Deeply hurt but when it gets brought up I shirked it off. Try to put it in a box and bury it. Lucy is right it’s not healthy. But he isn’t in the place to receive that right now. I do love her saying they have stuff to talk about if she ever goes under. Yes.... yes you do. Lucy seems to have calmed down at this point and Tim isn’t there yet…

Credit to This post for this image

Lucy getting roped into the ring thing LOL Their tension is immediate as they sandwich Angela in their fight. Angela is the fandom as she watches them bicker. My goodness not hiding how they feel whatsoever….Tense af while they’re fighting. Could cut it with a knife. Sniping at each other. Tim saying he knew she wasn't really over it.

Which kills my 'calmed down' theory for Lucy haha Even though they're at odds Tim still offers his help because it's his girl. Lucy saying she will accept it even if she doesn’t need it. These two.. Angela's final words had me laughing. Wanting to come and enjoy their fight with popcorn. Tim saying she’s not funny on the way out hahaha Not in the mood for his bestie either.

Love Lucy reaching out to touch him and make a joke bout Hammer's real name. Tim full of sass asking if he can finish? Well I never Timothy. LOL He has a warrant out and it’s outstanding that'll make this easy.... Even worse he loves to fight cops. Oh boy. Ladies first lmfao oh Tim I love you so. Putting his hand on her back. She’s smiling though.

OMG I can’t believe Tim tried to get her to fight the Hammer. My love no.... Her argument is solid af that she has to look amazing. That no one cares what he looks like. I mean I care what he looks like but it’s true she needs to look hot at haha Tim caving because well it's Lucy. Like fighting the sun right now. heh Lucy telling him he’s got this. Oh my lord it's so cute.

Lucy wanting to jump in but Tim stops her. My heart. He’s getting his ass kicked at first oof. Tim launching off the bed to kick Hammer into the closet. Holy shit that was sexy. I hope this fight gets gif'd it was great. He wins though. Well done Tim that was fine as hell. Got my motor revving.

Oh my goodness him bending on one knee and looking at her. The looks are LOADED here. Especially on Lucy's end. Getting me all in my feels goodness. Especially Lucy’s face. Myriad of emotions going on there. Foreshadowing at it's finest Oh my. I have a feeling when do the summer review I'll have a novel on this. Tim passes the hell out shortly after. Getting asthma attack just looking at him.

Love the set up girls night/boys night and their talk bout their relationship. Celina asking Lucy to have less baking at her party HA! Naww love Celina thinking in those terms. Lucy saying that's way off. Seeming worried it’s not in their future. Heart clutch. Adore this back and forth between Lucy and Tim at the parties LOVING Chastity telling Lucy like it is. Calling her out really. Even she can see it. I mean feel like Lucy is scared and just won't back down from this path.

It's not just Tim. It's her too but she is digging her heels in. I can’t say I don’t agree with Tim on the projection. Lucy using Isabel as an excuse for that. I think she is using it more than he is IMO at this point in time. She usually is right on the money with Tim. This time doesn't feel like it. Almost as if she’s using Isabel as a scape goat for being scared more so than Tim. Lucy saying she’s fine. Lying liar my love lying liar.

Poor Tim wanting to show he’s not the problem my love. That he's not the only one. There is clearly still a lot to sort through for them. This scene is proof of that. Lucy gets a call from Tim to meet at the station. This has to be the lie detector test. Harper telling her to run I was dying.

Credit

How cute is Tim in his black shirt all wired up for her? I'm dying how precious it was. The way she crosses the room sweet lord. Eyeing her prey. She basically is straddling his thigh. Imma pass out. Getting as close as she can to him. Basically hugging his thigh with hers. I’m getting hot under the collar already. She is so ready to ask him anything but UC questions to start this off. Clearly wanting to ask him specific things on her mind since he's hooked up to the machine.

The bug question LMAO. The most Tim and Lucy thing ever. Of course that man doesn't release the bugs haha. Very her to ask him to do it though. God this was so cute I cannot. Small little insight to their relationship we don't usually get to see.

Then she went right after it with asking if he loves her? A question I think has been weighing on her mind for awhile. Knowing she can immediately see if he's lying. Gah look at him light up. The way he leans into her. Reminding of his posture in 5x09 when he asked her out again. Just as serious now as he was then. Saying he loves her ugh my heart. Our big softie in action in this moment.

Lucy couldn’t be happier with this answer. Same look she got whenever he complimented her in the past. They be beaming everyone. Then he get’s a big fact lie with the UC question crap. Now I feel this isn't fair. Because the man LIVES to support her but he is a struggle bus about this path. To me that 'lie' wasn't because he doesn't support her. To me just those damn demons that won't rest for him.

Credit

Tim looking fine af. Looking for his girl of courses sigh. Cool cool cool fun angsty glances. Damn you gif library was primo angsty looks. Even though they’re sitting next to each other it’s the most physical distance seen between them really in ever. Yeah their arms are touching but not much else. More angsty looks between them at the reception. Gah they’re intense as hell.

Credit

Tim coming to find her my heart. Being the one to break the distance. Asking her to dance and confronting this issue. So proud of him and what he tells her. What a man. He's owning the trauma he still carries. Which is HUGE for him. Lucy thanking him and saying they'll make it through. I love this. Always love us touching back on. 'Unless it is.' moment. Because yeah this is hard but they're worth it and they continually see that and show it.

Now do I love it squarely being just on Tim this UC Fight? No I don't. I do think she is still having doubts but love him laying it out there. I think the issue's Lucy is having just haven't been confronted yet. Their fight from 6x01 was about Tim's issues for most part. Her's were for sure in there just not as prominently. I'm hopeful we touch on her's later this season.

This still feel unresolved to me and imbalanced. Especially now that Tim has admitted some fault to their problems as of late. I feel like I have a really good grasp on these characters. To me my gut is telling me Lucy is scared, having doubts, worried about a long term assignment. What it'll mean for them. Her side of it still needs to be delved into. 5x20-5x21 shook her more than she is letting on. Truly think this just hasn't been explored yet. Because they both have things to resolve with this career choice.

Credit

Also wanna note in this lovely scene. Lucy has her hands all over her him and I’m about it my god. The intimate swaying and leaning into each other. That magnetic force of their's bringing them back together. Their bodies relaxing for the first time in this entire episode. Just happy to be near one another. They're glowing when they come back together in this moment.

Gah their chemistry is out of this world. Her hand on the back his head too phew lord and we get a return ILY. *heart clutch* Lucy's eyes searching his face hoping her saying as such soothes his wounds a little. The cute lie detector line I cannot. It’s was so precious. Their smiles have me on cloud 9. Couldn't be more in love if these two tried. *happy sigh*

Lucy and Tim leading the charge hot damn they pretty. Tim in formal wear and his badge? Lord help me. Phew this was a HEFTY one. So many things to sort through. Like I said in my OG post these are first thoughts. Should be interesting to see how they change come summer and we're in the hiatus.

Thank you to everyone who liked the premiere post. These are a different gear for me glad they're liked ha Imposter Syndrome is real ya'll lol Feel free to comment your thoughts I love chatting about them and this season best part of going through it together for first time. See you all next week!

~~~~

Side notes-non Chenford

Lmao the cold open. Daddy cop was always a fav one of mine.

Hey Henry is back sorta. ha

Love Luna checking in on Aaron. Then having a little ptsd poor love.

Oscar is back too LOL

‘Miss Cleo' nickname LMAO

Poor Aaron having a rough time of it. I was worried he was leaning on Celina too much tbh. Also that kiss yikes my man yikes...

[1littleshippergirl1]

Please don't leave me!

Single father!Percy

Warning of mentions of suicide. Nothing graphic. Just a dream.

Summary: Little Lucy has a nightmare and goes straight to her daddy for comfort.

~~

Percy covered his mouth to stifle his yawn. It was getting late, actually, it was late, now that he looked at the clock. Honestly, he should have been done with this report hours ago but time had simply gotten away from him, as it did most days. Right after work, he had to go pick up the girls from his Mum and Dad's, promising that one of these Sunday's he'd come over for dinner, agreeing with his Mum that it had been far too long since the last time and disapparated back to his flat.

Then, when he should have settled down to work on it until it was time to prepare supper, his girls begged him to partake in their game of princesses and cowboys, with him being the cowboy. He couldn't just say no; this was part of their developmental years, very critical from what he'd read in a load of those parenting books he'd read before each of them were born. After that, he cooked, they ate quietly, or as quiet as one could be with small children; they played some more until the dreaded bathtime where he had to wrangle them both in the tub without magic because he had the tiniest bit of paranoia that he'd drop one of them.

Somehow, Molly and Lucy made it to bed, despite their insistence that neither were tired whilst pleading with Percy for another five minutes. He'd stood his ground, instead placating them with a thousand hugs and kisses that they absolutely needed. It was just a ploy to ensure they would get their desired extra time, he wasn't that thick, but he wasn't going to say no to affection from his girls.

Once he made sure that they were asleep, or, in Molly's case, audibly counting her ceiling tiles but properly tucked in, he closed the door to their bedrooms and went back downstairs to the kitchen where he could try to finish that bloody report like the upstanding Ministry employee that he was.

Bugger. He wanted a drink, nothing too strong but a drink nonetheless.

It had been an excruciatingly long day, a long week, in fact. His job wasn't easy to begin with, add in the fact that he was constantly dealing with absolute tossers and co-workers who didn't belong there whatsoever, who barely lifted a finger which meant that he had to be the one to pick up the slack so as they would meet the deadline on time-or risk facing an irate Kingsley.

The Minister was fairly even tempered, good-natured, but when he had been provoked it was best to stay out of his way.

When he'd gone to drop the girls off earlier that morning, his Mum had taken notice of how worn he was. He hadn't acquired much sleep, his mind was on overtime trying to make sure they had everything for this project that Kingsley insisted he be apart of. His parents offered to keep the girls for the night so he could get some much needed rest and while the offer was nearly tempting, he politely declined. Purely because he didn't want to ever start to prioritize work over his family-he'd made that mistake once already.

And he wasn't going to repeat it.

Percy rubbed at his eyes, his palms pressed into his head Godric, his bed sounded nice right now. It was nearly midnight, well past when he should have slid into bed. But the report wasn't going to write itself and he had already procrastinated on it in favor of trying to ensure that his partners for the project were doing their work.

Sometimes, he scowled, he felt like he was back at Hogwarts. Trying to be the leader of the group and make sure that everything was getting done equally, even though he and everyone else knew he would just end up taking control of everything.

Which was exactly what was going to happen soon enough.

He'd just picked up his quill again, just about to touch the parchment when his ears caught the sound of footsteps that was coming down the stairs.

He sat the quill back down.

It must have been Molly, he figured, coming down for a drink that she thought she needed. Shaking his head, he slid his chair back with a slight screech, rising to his feet and making his way around the corner. He opened his mouth, ready to reprimand Molly for being up so late when the words he'd been going to say died on his tongue.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" Lucy's wailing reverberated off the walls, a startling noise at such an hour. But that wasn't what made concern pool in the pit of his stomach, it was the way she was looking at him-as if...as if he was going to disappear at any given moment.

Her eyes, tearstained, puffy, there was some emotion to her a sense of franticness that Percy had never seen them before. It was disturbing, to say the least. Something had given her quite a freight: her hair was disheveled, knotty. She was woken up abruptly-by what, that part puzzled him.

She was clenching that owl he'd bought for her the day she'd been born-brown fur, yellow bulging eyes; she hadn't trayed away from it yet and he dreaded to think such a day would come.

She was breathing in short, quick intervals. She'd been crying, too. He spotted a trail of tears and snot that was running down her face, her lips trembling that suggested she was going to burst into tears once again.

He hadn't ever seen her that way, so it was unsettling for Percy to witness.

"Daddy!" she cried out again and before Percy could open his mouth, to come up with a sensible response, his daughter lunged herself at his legs, wrapping her tiny arms around his knee, grasping it tightly, pressing her face into it.

He blinked in surprise. Wha-

Percy had to gently pry her hands away in order to bend down so he could be at her level. That proved to only make Lucy even more distressed; she didn't want to be pushed away, she wanted to be with right there with him now. And Percy, he couldn't think of anything that happened earlier that day for this to be happening. His Mum and Dad never mentioned anything when he went to get them-or had Molly said something to scare her sister? If that was the case, she was going to be very sorry come the morning.

"Lucy?" he said softly, taking a piece of her hair and putting it behind her ear. "Sweetie, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

She shook her head, her hair swaying as she did so. It did nothing to help the anxiety that was swirling around within him, imagining all sorts of horrible things that could be upsetting her. But, he exhaled slowly, reminding himself that getting worked up wasn't going to help Lucy any.

"Did something happen at the Burrow?"

Again, she shook her head.

"Okay," he said slowly, "did Molly try to scare you again?"

Another shake of her head. This left Percy feeling a bit stumped.

And, by the way she was looking at him, Lucy was growing further upset that he didn't know.

"Lucy, I don't-" He was cut off, barely suppressing an oof sound when she threw herself at him again, wrapping her arms around his neck-her stuffed owl still in hand-burying her face into his shoulder. He felt the vibrations, felt her tears dampening his skin.

She was still saying daddy, daddy, daddy over and over. Still being said through her panic. Still, he imagined, through her wide eyes, making the blue color more pronounced.

It took a moment, his brain was on overdrive, between his exhaustion and concern shining through for his daughter, but he, too, wrapped his arms around her; picking her up, he sat on the bottom step, where he adjusted her so as she was sitting directly in his lap-halfway, anyway. Lucy still held a firm grip on him, seemingly determined not to let him go.

"Shhh," he whispered, holding a hand to the back of her head. "Shhh. Everything's okay, Lucy-Lou. Daddy's here. I've got you."

He was doing what he'd done when Molly had woken him in the middle of the night, screaming. She'd been okay after a bit, after being held and reassured She would calm down, enough that Percy could take her back to her room and tuck her into bed again where she would remain until the morning.

But Lucy wasn't like Molly and she wasn't calming down. His words-words that would've been alright to use with Molly-did nothing to placate her. If anything, they seemed to worsen things.

"Lucy-"

"Don't leave, Daddy!" Lucy shrieked and the wave of astoundment he felt was keeping his mind from idly wondering if the noise had woken Molly up at all.

"What?" he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stared down at his daughter, unsurely.

"Don't leave," she repeated, pleading.

"Honey," he didn't know where any of this was coming from. His job didn't entail him to go on any trips, none at all and he hadn't planned on going anywhere. He reckoned it was either Molly's doing, for this idea being planted into her head; or an act by one of his nieces or nephews as some practical joke. "What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere."

"You won't?" He had to strain to hear her.

"No," he shook his head.

"Promise?" His daughter said anxiously.

"I promise," he reassured her, tenderly. "Now who told you I was going somewhere?"

Lucy ducked her head. "No one," she mumbled.

"No one?" Percy echoed suspiciously.

She didn't speak for nearly a minute and a half; when she did, her bottom lip was sticking out and she said, whispering, "I had a bad dream."

"You did?" he said sympathetically, finally understanding now.

She nodded.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

For a moment, hardly a second and if he'd blinked, he would have missed it-her eyes widened a smidgen, fear clear across her face. She hesitated, biting down on her lower lip. Finally, slowly, she nodded again. "You died, Daddy."

It was entirely unexpected, quite the opposite of what he'd been prepared for. A monster under the bed or in the closet, reacting to some story that she'd overheard Ron or George telling the older kids, or even something nonsensical that would later become something funny to tell a future boyfriend of hers.

But him dying?

That was far beyond anything he thought would come. He blinked down at his daughter, shocked but keeping a few, erm, more colorful words to himself.

"What?" was his less than eloquent response.

For the third time, she nodded, looking quite miserable. "It's true," she sniffled. "You died, Daddy. Uncle Goerge was there, too. He said you hurted yourself and fell."

"I...fell?" He said, confused.

"Off Grandmum and Grandad's house."

Then it became clear. Painfully clear. Percy looked down at his sweet little girl, unbeknownst to her how disturbed Percy was. She'd-she'd dreamt about him committing suicide, for Merlin's sake. How had something so awful come to her mind? He wasn't sure he wanted to know right now.

But it was hardly important at the moment, anyway. He would find out later (and hex someone into oblivion for making his baby girl cry); for now, he needed to make sure she was okay.

"It was really scary," Lucy told him.

"I bet it was," Percy subconsciously held her tighter, as if to shield her from it.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I don't want you to die, Daddy," Lucy said in the shakiest voice Percy had ever heard from her. His heart broke at hearing how distraught she was. She let out a sob, burying her face in the center of his chest. "Please don't die. Please."

"Shhh," he murmured, dropping a tender kiss on the top of her head. He rocked her a bit, ignoring the popping that was coming from his knees from being in a semi painful position. "Shh, don't worry, Luce. Daddy's here. Everything's alright."

She hadn't moved an inch and it was muffling the noise of her crying, but he could still make out what she was saying. "But what if something happens, Daddy? What if Uncle George was right?"

"Honey, you know Uncle George is never right," he tried to lighten the mood.

But Lucy was still crying, not finding his attempt at a joke humorous in the slightest. Percy sighed low under his breath, frowning. He'd dealt with the girls having nightmares before-Molly had woken him up a handful of times, wailing about a monster that she insisted was going to get her and it had been an easy fix. But this? What was he supposed to say or do to reassure her?

He wished his parents were there right about now, they would know. By the time they got to Ginny, his parents were an expert on that stuff-course, her nightmares were usually because of Fred or George-

His heart ached but he couldn't give into it right now.

Percy didn't quite know how long they sat there at the bottom of the stairs, report forgotten, his arms tightly wound around his daughter, murmuring soothing words to her. With his head resting on the top of her head, he closed his eyes, listening to the soft tick tick of the clock.

Lucy's crying eventually settled down and Percy suspected she was probably going to fall asleep soon enough. He was gently unclasping her hands from his shirt when she made a whining noise.

"Lucy," he said gently but was interrupted.

"No," she was shaking her head repeatedly, her resistance turning to panic. "No, no! Daddy, don't go!"

"Lucy," he tried to raise his voice enough so he would be heard over her cries, "it's okay, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere, I told you."

But it didn't console her like he'd hoped.

"Please, Daddy," she was peering up at him, her usually bright eyes were red again and he wanted nothing more than to never let her go ever again. "Don't leave."

"Never," he promised, squeezing her. "But Lucy, it's late. You need your rest."

"No," her lip was trembling again. "What if you fall, like Uncle George said?"

Percy took her by the chin, bringing her face up to meet his. He spoke firm but softly. "That will never happen. It was only a dream, sweetheart. It's not real. Everything is fine. I'm fine, see?" he took her hand and brought it up so she could feel his cheek. "Daddy's okay."

She was quiet, for a moment, mulling it over.

"How about I go sleep with you?" Percy suggested. "I'll be there the whole time and I'll even make waffles for breakfast. How's that sound, princess?"

"Okay," Lucy mumbled.

While keeping a grasp on his daughter, Percy stood to his feet, grimacing at the feeling that was shooting down his legs. He turned, taking Lucy upstairs, up to her bedroom. When they got there, he sat her down and took out his wand to transfigure his clothes into pajamas. He kicked off his shoes, crawling into the bed with his arm extended. Lucy immediately curled up next to him, his face momentarily splashed with her strawberry blonde hair.

"Is this better?" he asked her, running his fingers through her hair.

"Yes, Daddy," she said quietly.

He kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Lucy-Lou. Do you know how much I love you?"

"No."

He opened his arms-or as much as he could with her laying over his left forearm-wide for her to see. "Thiiiiis much."

She giggled.

"Love you, too, Daddy."

She was toying with the button to his pajama top when she let out a yawn.

He chuckled.

"Go to sleep, sweetie."

"Okay," she yawned again, snuggling closer. "Don't let go, Daddy."

"I won't," and he watched her, watched as her eyelids shut and her breathing evened out and her face relaxed. "I promise."

[startwithbrooklyn]

THE GREAT ND REWATCH OF 2021 / SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2019 // the bonny scot

posting this a day later than normal because this is one of the rare episodes that shows a passage of time from one day to the next yayy love that for them

-wonder what filming these beginning sexy scenes is like for them in real life

-sooooo can lucy see nancys sexy dream? is she judging? does this mean she likes nancy with owen or nick more? or is she trying to tell nancy that her sex dreams are irrelevant to the mystery at hand and she needs to focus?

-seeing people in the ✨prison chair✨: gomber, carson, karen (voting for josh s3 just saying)

-completely ignores carson's question about herself typical nance

-"or maybe i did stumble across a knife" its like hes trying to make the case against him look plausible while attempting to maintain innocence. this is a slippery slope for carson to try and encourage her to keep her pacified + hide the truth while also trying to keep her from getting involved bc hudsons

-"genetics gets you in the door" aaaaand then she walks in to everetts office to meet him and crashes their family dinner

-ok who tf is dawn and why is she in charge here

-this guidance counselor of nicks is my favorite person

-"i admire your allergy to pleasantries" bess and nancy both have reveals to big families but nancy does not have the graceful, accepting reveal to her rich family like bess does at this lunch. nancys reveal is messy, cold, bloodstained and sticky-fingered, not nice in any way whatsoever. and this little chat with everett (bit of a parallel to lucy's) just highlights how nancy is always bad at bargaining with her grandparents*- always trying to fight on their level but giving up her equal hand bc she doesnt know how to hide it when they bring up something she doesnt know. like confronting celia at the masque: she was so confident with her theory and what she knew, but then we got a "what does that mean?" like. the instant you say that, you lose. and she walked right into the "yes i do have someone, hes in jail" 🤦🏼‍♀️ even in the car with ryan at the end of s1, he literally just fucking leaves her there. like 🤷🏼‍♀️ what did u think was gonna happen sis?? for all she can predict how past things lead to present circumstances shes fucking awful at seeing the direct future *(grandparents except for patrice bc her dementia makes her inaccessable)

-lmaooooo this awko ass portrait...i get the empty space is for nance but who on earth thought this was a good pic??

-LISBETH 🥺💙

-"will u help the claw for me?" george struggles financially to keep her livelihood while nancy is somehow shown as being taken care of even when her parent is incarcerated; both nancy and george live in single parent homes now with mention of both medical debt and george being breadwinner yet nancy has no struggles while george does. (i wonder if ryan had been able to help george here how the story would have changed)

-"when it comes to following people around without their knowledge or consent i am somewhat of a repeat offender" 😂😂😂

-"he wasnt endgame after all" BESS lmaoooo

-"...okay." lmaoooo i fuckin love owen

-i was hoping the girls' faces would be more shocked like with a glance to owen but they just....werent

-"we're the good guys" <---- this statement is soooo interesting in terms of how they structure the show and how the characters see themselves (its an interesting contrast with the more definitive good vs evil with things that are both clearly good and clearly evil but theres also a lot of moral grey area here, the show is kinda swamped in it. are nancy and crew the good guys? are they the bad guys in someone else's story? concerns.)

-"i'd call it more than just stuff" like why did u concede that??? and then the shit about oof that didnt sound like a compliment lmaoooooo why does she suck at arguing?? she and owen wouldnt work long term bc theyre so similar (as mentioned later on)

-i LOVE george slowly falling in love with nick here- hence how upset she gets when nick bails on her for nancy later (which is totally justified!!!)

-i am LIVING for the little nod this driver guy gives bess when she turns back around all nervous 😂

-"i do like buying things" i would so say that too tbh

-"you'd have plenty to talk about" LMFAOOOOOOO SHE KNOWS "marvins dont marry drivers" so diana is totally fine with the gay its just the poor she has a problem with 😂💙fuckin love that

-love how nancy just casually ruins everything for nick/george lmaooo

-"i have seen you at your best, nancy, and there is nothing like it." 🥴😳 i love this still-in-love look nancy gives him thats so strong he had to change the subject

-so is haunting time 11 pm? from that clock of bashiir's?

-how do NO neighbors notice this fucking water and shit

-these are TOTALLY AWFUL fake screams from the bonny scot crew 😭

-"i know well enough not to get involved when he's in play" both carson and ryan avoid engaging with everett even though nancy is willing to do so armed with less info and more balls/ but "could i trust him" and ryan says yes lmaooooo NO honey + that makes ryan 0/2 for helping the girls when they ask this ep

-"find a project of your own" and he does, with his youth center 🙏🏻💙 what s2 foreshadowing!

-"god i wish i still drank" 😂😂😂

-"she is darling." 💙👌🏻

-okay wtf is mirror bay??

-i really wonder about the extent of celia x sebastians relationship here. did she truly care about him or was it just secret and exciting sex? also would love more hints of diana vs celia moments like these. celia doesnt even look upset. i mean shes had time to deal but like wtf. and who exactly is sebastian to diana? not her husband? like damn what if he was. somehow i doubt she'd talk about him diddling celia if diana was disrespected also

-i wonder if celia being so invested in dna testing nancy was bc everrett dna tested ryan to make sure he was his bc of sebastian / other men (which would be totally valid on his part!! but wouldnt it be funny as fuck if ryan wasnt his 😂)

-what a neat hiding place in this frame lmaooo who put that in for them tho? like how do u go about ordering that

-"you certainly are your fathers daughter" this quote is doubly ironic and foreshadowy bc theyre referencing carson here as being a useful hudson attaché but nancy is playing everett just like ryan played celia about putting his house up (but TRIPLY ironic bc carson pulls off the long con of hiding nancy from the hudsons right under their noses this whole time!) the one time nancy is successful against them

-that bess/lisbeth look while lisbeth does something badass (+diana reassessing now that lisbeth has been revealed to be useful)

-"almost as fun as a real fight" why do i believe him? lmaoooo a bit weird that he would enjoy a fight w a partner, but i also think this is an acknowledgement of nancy being an "opponent" who exists at his level. but i also love the "let me take you out" as a direct mirror of her relationship with nick, where she avoids the public acknowledgment/"going out" but prefers the more subtle/hidden arrangements of staying in. but as shown with later eps, owen is way more capable of meeting nancy where shes at, which is so important to her + the only way of getting close to nancy. (the only foil is ace who somehow is able to do both)

-"not always about a guy" <---- this could have been such a powerful statement if the show had thought having nancy end up alone/choose herself instead of pitting her between love interests (nick, owen, gil, even potentially ace, in only 2 seasons) was a more worthy stance to take ; as an aro/ace person i cant tell you how much i would kill to see just one female protag choose herself over a man. and its more realistic to end up alone than have a happy ending anyway, for all that these shows try to be as "real" and gritty grimdark as possible

-"is that what you want?" this is an interesting question to his mother- like maybe he senses her unhappiness? combined with his issues with his father- still trying to look out for his mom? either way it's sweet. (it could also potentially work as foreshadowing of something happening to her, but i think that was played with but then diverted when it was revealed who really killed her) "i think its time i steer this ship" still kind of patriarchal tho. i get that its him coming into his own as a dad technically but still. i also like how he calls her "mother" and not mom

-love that old white people thumbs up at george asking about his clams 👍🏻

-okay fuck dawn tho lmfaoooo

-"stressful dinner huh?" 😂 i fucking love lisbeth so much why didnt they bring her back (wouldnt it be Fucking Hilarious if they brought lisbeth back to bounce bess on her expired visa since the marvins kicked her out and didnt fix it lmaoooooo)

-BESS IS A TOP lmaooooooo i fuckin knew it

-nick says "you can pay me back" wonder if thats gonna come back in s3 considering their "marital problems" (also, those bonds are sosus lmfaoooo if any single person cashing those was looked at sideways they'd confess in 2 seconds that some random guy is handing out bearer bonds they dont even make anymore with absolutely zero proof as to how he got them)

-"you wanna finish what you started?" 👀 (dont mind if i do)

-"i need my dad back" parallels s2 when she asks him to come home

-parent politics: "you are taking your life in your hands / no, i'm putting it in yours" vs "i know well enough not to get involved when hes in play" both carson and ryan try to dissuade nancy from pursuing her pulling this con on everett but go about it different ways: carson is wildly concerned with nancys physical wellbeing but ryan appears to be leaning more towards weighing the odds for her/ like a "you cant win so cut your losses/dont try" scenario which interestingly might have more weight with nancy; its easy for her to brush aside carson's worrying like second nature but nancy has been established to be a determined winner, and ryan speaks to her here like shes a beginners luck prodigy at a blackjack table by encouraging her to keep her record clean by not dealing in this next round. of course she herself admits shes incapable of not dealing in ie "you know me better than that" but i have lots more thoughts on how effective ryans approaches to nancy can be sometimes (saving for the reveal ep 🙏🏻)

-wonder what all carson knows about the hudsons? + that look on his face when he hangs up... wonder if he was just lying to her about knowing anything or just ashamed at having to admit bad things hes done for them

-love nick & bashiir waiting together 🙏🏻💙+ nicks very strong and pointed "good night" as a means of ending his convo w nancy on his terms (gotta reinforce those boundaries man!)

and lastly

-celia + that gossip girl moment when she just throws the whole phone away 😂(wonder if she was just talking to "gus" or whoever that guy was. keep forgetting the bobbseys' dad is in prison too, wonder if he'll feature in s3)

[themanicgalaxy]

SPN 5X3 Free to be You and Me

huh oh right they're split up

boy I'm curious to see what's gonna happen

huh open on Sam

like yes, protagonist, but

JESSICA

man she hasn't aged

boy it's nice she's remembered tho

poor Sam and the constant violation of his bodily autonomy

see it's shot like that one lucifer thing

Oh simple man, ok wow

O H CUT TO DEAN

I like this one

Great American Loneliness

Dean canonically knows about twilight

goDDAMN THIS IS GOOD THO

OH MY GOD SAME WAY OF DEALING WITH MUSIC AND THE RADIO OMG

Bedlund started it and they all just liked it so much

CAS!! CAS CAS CAS!!

WHEN DID THEY TALK ABOUT IT

SKSKS HE CALLED BOBBY

O H RAPHAEL

teenage mutant ninja angel

OHDFSAO OH MY GOD

“are you flirting with me” “I’m fucking trying to”

IT’S A TROPE IT’S LITERALLY A RELATIONSHIP TROPE

Cas and his complete sincerity vs. Dean and quips :)

K E I T H ?

o h world peace oof

Sam the Slightly Off kid is SO GOOD

CAS THATS NOT A PLAN

AW HE’S TELLING HIM HUMANS LIE AWWWW

HE FIXES HIS TIE

A W W W W W

the president quip also feels pointed at the times

cas *stares*

THE BADGE THING AWWWW

IT’S THE DEMONS- no no it’s not

aww their dynamic is so good I love it

actual humor just by virtue of people oh my god I love castiel

BOBBY YOU SARCASTIC FUCKER

I do like the dichotomy of like…Sam liked hunting the most but has to give it up(established in the office au) like he’s growing into it

he fucking LOOKS ethereal

“you do” jesus cas

“last night on earth” I’m going feral what the fuck was this

NO HE’S FLIRTING HE’S 100% FLIRTING

S H Y C A S

they’re so fucking funny oh my god I’m cackling

BERT AND ERNIE COMMENT W H Y WHAT WAS THE POINT W H Y

listen…I get it…but also…apocalypse

Sam b ru h

although to be entirely fair, he might be more of a liability

aw I like Lindsay although she’s gonna be…dead probably

CASTIEL OH MY G OD

THE GAY PANIC

HE HAS BLUESCREENED SO HARD

HE IS CHUGGING THE BEER

THE FEAR IN HIS FUCKING EYES OH MY G O D

THIS IS FUCKING HILARIOUS OH MY GOD

HE LOOKED HER DEAD IN THE EYE AND BROUGHT UP HER ABSENT FATHER AHAHA

oh we’ve got themes of world weary in one way vs naive in one way and also knowledgable of the Universe vs the whole GED thing that gets brought up in fic and AAA

“years” oh no Dean :(

I do like the wandering archetype for him actually tbh

Aw she’s three years sober

“come and get me you little bastard” damn I LOVE HIM

WHELP IT WORKED!

IMAGERY WAS SO COOL

Also Dean hunches over they’re about the same height now

he deflects so Cas is ok aw

THE COMPOSURE CRACK! THE COMPOSURE CRACK!!!!

“It was his idea” * B I T C H *

gOd iS dEaD anD we have kIllEd Him

ah there we got to the lindsay death :(

the ages old “what do when god is gone, would he let this happen”

oH VERY NICE ABANDONMENT ISSUES WITH DEAN

“just cuz shit’s fucked up doesn’t mean you make it more fucked up” VERY NICE

“godless universe” and yeah it be like that

post office sksks

ooo it being lucifer is a Nice Touch

it’s not true but still cool

MY LITTLE BITCH

WHAT HE SAID AHAHA

ah JEEZ HE GOT FORCEFED THE BLOOD N O

and he does hulk out but like…human hulk out

AW DEAN CHECKED ON CAS

MISSING FATHERSSSS AW

“you gotta do what you believe” AWW

“we’re not so different you and I” type beat AW

Dean being happy without Sam is Ouch but also

it’s different with not being responsible for someone

aw he’s happy

nO CAS COME BACK NOT THAT ALONE

PEOPLE CAN CHANGE IS IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Ah it’s luci

whelp that must have been violating

heh vessel bros

“and I’ll just bring you back” IS H O R R I F Y I N G, and worse, it’s set up

sincere villain is so interesting though damn

okok wrap:

1. straining against budget. listen it’s painfully clear that Supernatural wants to be more than it is. Like the fact that they burn through a lot of really popular songs(budget) at the beginning is like. there’s a vision, and it can’t be reached. Although in some cases that constraint ends up for the better(I think my fav example is Misha’s crazy hair), other times it ends up well. But the idea that it wants to be more than it is? I go Feral, I want to Eat Glass

No wonder this is like the Most Fanficced Show

2. simple man. I really liked the mirroring montage. They lean TOO heavily on the radio gag(have it be a tape, have it be SOMETHING else so it’s not the same thing two episodes in a row) but I thought it was a good time passing/show the dichotomy montage

actually speaking of

3. dichotomy!! like we know from the office ep/season 4 Sam is down to fight(always more like John, always more taken in by revenge and pain and power etc etc), and Dean has been reticent, wants a normal life, in both Yellow Fever and office ep, and they had to do the other things. And “Weirder” still, Dean is happy! like yeah Sam is Burdened, but Dean is happy to just…vibe for the first time in his life

ok see it’s different cuz a younger sibling is still responsibility, it isn’t technically equal, so Dean was never able to relax because John’s an absent father. the younger sibling thing

but their dichotomy here was very good, and I liked the simple man was highlighted. Once again, Sam being miserable in a normal life(like he always prolly would have been) but Dean finding himself way from his family.

3. Sam I REALLY liked the wandering archetype for Sam. Him actually going to figure shit out would be interesting, but they never actually have the time, or leave the time, for people to go through with it and it’s a shame! Weird Kid Sam would be so cool to see around in a story

also sidetone, but once you notice how little agency Sam has like…ever…like wow, this kid never had a choice thanks to destiny, and that SUCKS

slowly getting more on the Sam Hype Train tbh

4. Cas listen. Not only is Cas’s grapple with his absent father cool, he’s genuinely funny to be around! Like him and Dean have a fucking fantastic dynamic, he Acts Different than Humans(thanks Misha Collins holy hell) so it’s incredibly clear something’s off and it’s just

like it’s so good to have a character like that, he’s just so cool.

Also…Dean was flirting. that was flirting. THAT WAS LITERALL-

WHY BRING UP BERT AND ERNIE LIKE THAT UNPROMPTED

THE CONSTANT LOOKING AT HIM

See I thought people were exagerrating! Like even Merlin I can kinda see what they were going for sometimes!

WHAT WAS THIS!? IT WAS SO CLEAR OH MY GOD

5. absent fathers. Ok listen. Dean sympathizing with Cas because of trying to find an absent father(ties into the beginning of the show, dad’s on a hunting trip etc) and giving him hope to find him is SO CUTE! Like Dean giving Cas hope because of similar situations! Cas letting Dean finally relax! GOOD

Also I mentioned it, but their dichotomy of like…I think streetsmarts(Dean) and booksmarts(Ig universesmarts tho, he knows a lot of Weird Things) IS SO INTERESTING and COOL and AHH

ALLONS Y

[petitprincess1]

Good Evening Ch11 (Fearful)

AO3 Link Summary: A week has went by and Alastor had been disappearing more and more. Charlie and Vaggie discuss their worries with one another. Words: 1,445 Warning: Implied cannibalism So sorry for the wait, I just had a lot going on last week, but I’m fine. Hope you all enjoy! I’m also working on another story based on yet another chat post. Be on the lookout for that ;3 ~~~ A week has passed since the unknowing death that Alastor caused, excluding the one dealing with the man that had a family, named Benji- with a name like that, Al did him a favor. Apparently, his wife had given a missing person’s report, which Alastor broadcasted, and had offered a reward. Well, unless she knew anyone that can clean out a furnace, Benji probably wasn’t going to be found anytime soon. The thought of the wife being in constant in distress made Al’s smile much more relaxed.

Charlie had gotten an earful from Lilith about her leaving the house, despite she knew that she wanted to talk to her. The girl had to make up a reason for being out so late. So, she admitted to being in the forest late at night and with Angel and Vaggie, but made up that they had to console Angel from an…incident with Valentino before the mob boss died. Charlie, of course, left out the detail of Alastor meeting him there…and him helping them hide Val’s body…and many, many other things. It seemed to have satisfied Lilith. In fact, she was so satisfied that she told servants to follow Charlie around the house, Charlie had to tell her where she was going whenever she left, and that her father had to visit the hotel every once in a while without warning. gReAt!

Plus, whenever Charlie was alone at home or at the hotel, Alastor would gravitate toward her. Sometimes it would be welcomed because she needed some advice for dealing with certain clients or even just needed her father to be distracted. Although, he would also get too close, like with wanting to mess with her hair or squishing her cheeks or just generally touching her. It never got too intimate, even though he had gently rubbed her lips with his thumb, but it still was a bit much for Charlie. She assumed that he did that because he was missing Angelo, so she didn’t have the heart to tell him to tell him to go away. …Vaggie definitely did.

“Would you fuck off, Al!? Go do something important that doesn’t involve groping!” The silver haired girl yelled at Al, glaring at him and putting Charlie behind her. Alastor stared down at the girl with a slightly tense smile and held his hands behind his back. Charlie had worried that he was going to snap or harm Vaggie, but he just chuckled at the girl. The creole booped the dark-skinned girl’s nose and grinned, “Goodness, Vagatha, no need to be so antagonistic! I was just merely showing my affection towards the little belle, but I can see when I am not wanted. I shall go help Niffty in the kitchen.”

Vaggie muttered loud enough for Alastor to hear, “There better not be any eyeballs this time, bastardo tonto…” The man stopped for a second and then started to walk into the kitchen.

Charlie moved out from behind Vaggie and rubbed her arm as she stared at the kitchen doors. She was about to speak, but Vaggie ended up dragging her out to the garden and sighed, “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to try to defend him, but Alastor is the last person that you should even bother making excuses for. He bothers you and-”

“I know all that, Vaggie, but I also don’t think it’s a good idea to bother him much either. He’s…been disappearing a lot more lately. I’m just worried about doing anything to make him upset,” Charlie admitted, while she hugged herself as she sat on one of the benches. Vaggie watched her expression shift into sadness and fear in a few seconds, causing the latina to feel apologetic for treating her like that. She plopped next to the pale-skinned girl, lightly stroked her golden hair, and sighed, “I’m really sorry, cariña. I don’t mean to pressure you into doing anything. I really just want to make sure that you’re safe. I don’t know what I would do if you…”

Vaggie trailed off as Charlie turned to hug her and the latina held onto her tightly, nuzzling her face against her love’s shoulder. She really didn’t want to manipulate the situation or make it seem like she was trying to be rude or anything, but…it made her heart stop at seeing Al near Charlie so often. It almost made her want to kick the man out, fire him, or even turn him into the police. Granted, Vaggie knew that wouldn’t do shit, but it definitely would be temporary satisfaction.

Charlie pulled away and stroked Vaggie’s silver hair, hoping to calm her down. She reassured, “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen to me, us, and anyone else in this hotel. I promi-”

She got cut off by a random gust of wind that caused the girl’s to shield themselves and caused the plants to get blown harshly, whipping the trees’ branches all over the place. The two looked around to find where the source was and their jaws dropped at seeing a helicopter hovering over the garden. 

A ladder dropped from the helicopter all the way down to the ground in front of the two. Not too surprisingly, Lucifer peeked out from the helicopter and called out, using a megaphone, “Oh, hi, Charlie and Vagatha!”

Vaggie mumbled her actual name under her breath, while Charlie questioned, “Dad! What are you doing!?”

Lucifer grinned as he joked, “I’m being a helicopter parent!”

The two girls just blinked up at him, while the man stared back at them. He tried again, still smiling widely at his joke, “I’m being a helicopter parent! …Do you get it? I’m-”

Vaggie huffed, “Yeah, we got it!”

Lucifer slid down the helicopter ladder and then gave it a tug when he landed on the ground. The ladder went back up as the helicopter began to fly away. Luci turned to the two girls and saw that their hair were an absolute mess. He chuckled as he winced, “Oof. You two are in a desperate need of a brush.”

Charlie groaned in annoyance as she used her hands to push down her hair, “Dad! I know that you’re supposed to be checking in, but you don’t have to be obnoxious about it.”

“Yes, I do. It’s the law that dads have to make their children regret their existence in order to reach fulfillment. Can’t break the law, sweetie. Now, what are you two gals up to?” Lucifer asked, raising an eyebrow. His daughter sighed, rolling her eyes, and replied, “Well, we were talking.”

The mayor then sat in-between the two and chuckled, “Oh, good! I would like to join. Love a good gossip.”

“Dad!” The two then immediately started arguing with each other, making Vaggie sigh as she got up to let them have at it. She could already practically hear Lucifer blaming her for Charlie’s attitude and she didn’t want to hear that…again. 

The silver-haired girl walked into the hotel and then immediately got grabbed. She quickly elbowed the person in the gut and yelled, “Al, you fucking- ….Husk, what are you- Ah!”

Vaggie yelped at Husk tossing a phone at her. She stared at the device and saw a wallpaper on the phone of Angelo and his pet pig, causing her to get instantly suspicious. She asked, “Why do you have this phone? Charlie was the last person to have that.”

Husk groaned at the hit she gave him and huffed, “I clearly used magic to make it appear in my hands- how do you think it got in my hands, dumbass!? I caught Alastor with it last week! Don’t know why anyone would allow Charlie to have it, since Al is always stuck with her.”

She raised an eyebrow and questioned further, “So…why give it to me?”

He answered, looking away from her, “As long as it ain’t with Alastor, I’m fine. I’m also sick of the constant buzzing from messages some bitch named Cherri and someone Angelo named weirdly keeps sending. I’m getting back to wo-”

“Wait!” Vaggie explained as she clutched the phone in her hand and let out a heavy sigh, “Tell me what all you know about Al. I know that keeping him in the hotel will make things worse and I wanna get back at him. At the very least, get him to leave Eden. Please, Husk.”

The greying man looked at the wooden floor and glanced back up at her pleading eyes. He grumbled, “Fine, I’ll tell ya. I better get some booze for this shit.”

[pjbehindthesun]

chapter 29: a one-night thing and a date debate

(hey hi hello, in the interest of clarity, there’s a new POV toward the end of this chapter. hope you enjoy!)

Tuesday, November 13th, 1990

“What?? I didn’t think it was that bad.“ 

It’s rude to gawk at her. I know it’s rude. Yet gawk I shall, when her hair looks like THAT and she’s got the unmitigated audacity to keep eating clementines standing over her kitchen sink like it’s a normal Tuesday evening. It’s been hacked off unceremoniously to several non-conforming lengths, all of which fall somewhere above her shoulders, and the ends are all sticking out sideways, free from the tyranny of the length that used to weigh them down. I never knew her hair could be this … how do I put this charitably… voluminous… she looks like she stuck her finger in a socket… 

"Not that bad?? What’d you, cut it with a bowl on your head?" 

"Hey, no need to be shitty!" 

"No, you’re right, that’s an insult to the bowl community." 

"Jesus, Lucy!” she exclaims, choking and looking deeply wounded, although whether at my snide remarks or the food lodged in her throat, I can’t be sure.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay, you just… you don’t even look like you." 

Cora beams at me. "Thanks!”

Maybe if I flatten my face into my palm hard enough, I’ll just pass out. Nope, no luck. And now my face hurts. “Okay, I get it, it’s the stereotypical post-breakup reinvention –" 

"Huh? This has nothing to do with… that." 

”– sure, right, and a cat might have her kittens in an oven but that doesn’t make them… I don’t know… biscuits or something… shit, I’m hungry, I skipped dinner…" 

Cora’s eyebrows draw together and we share a moment of silence for the metaphor that got away before we burst out laughing. I join her in the kitchen and she hands me an orange before picking another one for herself. She peels it straight into the sink, on top of a large existing pile of peels, and I follow her lead. 

“Okay, okay, you just wanted to look different. I get it." 

"Thank you.”

“And you succeeded,” I crane my neck to get a better view of the back of her hair, where the disparate lengths of the sides meet in one jagged scissor swipe. At its shortest, it’s a bit above her shoulders. I can work with that. It’ll actually be a cute length on her, if I can even it out… and get the ends to lie flat… and fix whatever those short pieces in the front were supposed to be… “but I’m contractually obligated as your best friend to ask you this whenever you do anything crazy: are you okay? Like, really okay?”

She nods, sending random pieces of hair bobbing wildly.

“I don’t have to take you into the shop for a tune-up, right? Because this little stunt, this kinda feels like a ‘check engine’ light… " 

"I swear, Luce, I’m fine. I just… I needed something different.”

“…because?” I ask, as carefully as I can. She takes her time answering, becoming overwhelmingly interested in removing every last string of pith from her fruit. 

“…because Alex called." 

Ah ha. Now we’re getting somewhere. Also, that bastard! "What’d you guys talk about?”

“We didn’t. He left a message.” I’m already making a beeline for her answering machine when she adds, “I erased it, don’t bother." 

"Okay, and that wasn’t cathartic enough, so you had to erase your hair too?" 

"I… I don’t know, he said he thought he spotted me at the store the other day –" 

”– creepyyyy –“

”– yeah. And suddenly I just didn’t want to be spottable anymore, you know? I mean, I didn’t change my hair one bit the entire time we dated, it always looked the same. And I just felt like I could make myself a little less recognizable to him, or maybe just make myself feel less like the person he recognized as his girlfriend, or… I don’t know, none of that probably makes any sense.“ 

"No, it makes perfect sense. How are you feeling now?" 

She downs the last wedge of her orange and reaches for another. "Fine. Scurvy-free, at the very least." 

"No, I mean about Alex… did he say anything else?" 

"Not really. I mean, he left me his new number. Well, her number, I guess. He’s at her place,” she wrinkles her nose at a distaste unrelated to clementines. The thought turns my stomach, too.

“And… are you going to call him back, or…”

“NO! Absolutely not. That’s why I fucking destroyed the tape, even hearing him in this room again felt like a violation. I just wanted to kill any trace, you know?" 

"Definitely. Definitely. Now, for the love of all that is good and holy, will you please let me fix… this for you?" 

I tug at a sideways strand of hair, maybe a little too hard. Setting aside the insanity of her actions, I admire her resolve. When Cora decides something, she really goes for it, whether it was to move across the country to start her life over, or to try to save the planet with her crazy genius brain, or to try and make things work with Alex even when any idiot could see that their relationship was already long over, or to cut him out of her life and cut off her own hair just for good measure, or even to ignore every ounce of evidence that she and Stone are perfect for each other. Smart or stupid, she really commits to her cause and sticks with it. I’m sure Jeff wishes I had the same kind of commitment capability. 

"Is it really that bad?" 

"Cora! You cut. Your hair. With kitchen shears!” I clap between words to stress the severity of her situation, but my efforts are undermined by both our cackling. “You’ve gone from a Daphne to a Velma!" 

"Hey, what’s wrong with Velma???”

“Y'know, the person we really need right about now is Patch." 

"Oh god, he’d disown me." 

"Yeah, but at least he’d be able to make you look like Molly Ringwald first. I think the best I can do is, like, Anne Shirley post-chop." 

"Hmm,” she muses, her face clouding, “no more pigtails to pull.”

“Huh?” 

“Oh… nothing…”

“Come on, Mess." 

She lets me snatch up her hand and start dragging her down to my apartment, where I have slightly more refined cosmetological implements than kitchen shears. But once we’re in the hallway she plants her feet, frowning in the direction of my boyfriend’s door like a bird dog. 

“Hey. What are you even doing here so early anyway? Weren’t you going to hang out with Jeff before the show tonight?” 

“Why don’t you ask a little louder, maybe he’ll hear you and come explain it himself?” 

Her face contorts quizzically. I tug hard on her arm. “Ow! Okay, okay! Walking now.” 

“Sorry,” I whisper once we’re in the stairs, “just… we’re still in kind of a weird place, we had a really dumb fight, and I should probably go talk to him about it, but…” I trail off, feeling even more undeserving than I usually do of someone as great as Jeff. What’s wrong with me? He’s my favorite person in the world! Why don’t I want to talk to my favorite person in the world?

“…but you needed to take a breather?" 

"Maybe? I don’t know, I just know that in the moment I needed to get away, and now I’ve probably fucked everything up." 

"Somehow I doubt that.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” 

“Well, nothing’s wrong with you, I can tell you that much.” 

“Reserve judgment until you hear the whole stupid story, woman. Bathroom. Now.” I open my door and point down the hallway. With a childish groan, she obeys, grabbing a dining room chair and stomping away. I grab the phone, tugging the cord so it’ll follow us. 

“What’s that for? Is there a hair disaster technical support line?” 

“Pretty much, yeah. I was gonna call your brother, I need reinforcements.” I steer her by the shoulders and shove her down into the chair, maybe a little too aggressively.

“Oof! Fabulous. Double the abuse, no waiting.”

“No less than you deserve,” I snicker as I glare at her until she recites his number, which I stab into the phone. “Hmph. No one’s picking up. Guess I have to fly solo on this one.” 

“Well, good, honestly, I don’t want to worry him.” 

“You should have thought of that before you hacked off your hair like a crazy person,” I scold as I start to comb it into submission and evaluate the job in front of me. 

“Enough about me, Lucy, what the fuck’s going on with you lovebirds?”

“We had our first fiiiiight,” I whine, “it was awful. And it’s stupid, and I’m stupid, and I need to just get over myself and let him win this one because I’m never going to find another person like Jeff so I’m crazy not to go along with him, and –" 

”– wait, is this still about you not wanting to move in together?“ 

"Yes! Or, no, it’s not that I don’t want to, exactly, I just don’t want to… yet, I guess. Which is dumb, right? I’m being dumb. Only the truly dumb among us would blow up an otherwise perfect relationship over something trivial like that." 

"Trivial?? Okay, (a), be nice, that’s my best friend you’re talking about, and (b), it’s not dumb or trivial, it’s how you feel, so why would that threaten anything?”

As I start trimming hair, the whole stupid story tumbles out of me. Cora listens solemnly, chewing on her lip, until I’m finally done with my tale of woe.

“It’s over, Cora,” I lament, “I just can’t imagine how he’ll still want to be with me after this, I mean, I’m basically rejecting him." 

"If he can’t handle a little rejection, he’s in the wrong business,” she sniffs. “And it’s not rejection. You love him, right?" 

"Of course!”

“So, you’re not rejecting him. If anything, you’re trying to hold onto him by not rushing into things." 

"Okay, EXACTLY!" 

"So, say that to him!" 

"I DID! But he wasn’t even listening by that point. He got all huffy because I didn’t want to take the leap or whatever. Hey, hold still, you trying to fuck up your hair even more?” I grab her head to keep her from shaking it in disbelief. 

“If he expects you of all people to carpe the freaking diem just because someone else told you to, he’s got a lot left to learn about you. And trying to guilt you about your career? That was bad, and he should feel bad about it.” She glowers at me in the mirror, stabbing the air with her index finger. “You do things in your own time and for your own reasons, because you’re a badass independent thinker, and anyone who wants to change that about you is gonna have to go through me first. He should love that about you the most, not try to overrule it.”

I have to pause what I’m doing and screw up my face to keep the tears pricking my eyes from falling. “Stop being so sweet, woman, it’s really fucking irritating." 

"Look who’s talking,” she mutters, her own eyes looking a little red around the edges. 

“I know you’re right, I’m just scared of losing this one. You know? I don’t exactly have the best luck in this department.”

“Oh, I know, when compared to Jesus freaks or fish pukers, Stinky Hat Man is a veritable dream come true." 

"His hats really aren’t that stinky, you know." 

"I’ll have to take your word for it. Anyway, uh… if we’re doing the whole ‘sharing is caring’ bit, then I have to admit that I didn’t quite tell you everything. Before.”

“About what?" 

"My answering machine. There was another message. Yesterday. From Stone.”

“Oh?” I struggle to keep my voice and face neutral. Truth be told, I’ve been feeling guilty lately about interfering and telling Stone to back off. Seems like he backed a little too far off, when all I wanted him to do was respect her mourning process and not rush her. I’m really 0 for 2 at this whole relationship thing lately.

“Yeah, it’s just… it was weird, he’s kinda been absentee lately, ever since… well, like a week, I guess… since Alex left. And it’s just a week, and it wouldn’t be a big deal if it were anyone else, I mean, we all have our own lives, but… it’s me and Stone, you know?”

“Uh huh.” Yup, confirmed, this is my fault. Shit. “Well, what did he say?" 

"Nothing special, really, he just wanted to make sure I was coming to the show…" 

Okay! Whew! A sign of life. I didn’t fuck everything up for them. "That was sweet of him." 

"Was it?” She frowns. “He probably called everyone he knows, right?" 

Is she fucking serious?? "He didn’t call me." 

"Of course he doesn’t have to call you to make sure you’ll be at their shows, you’re boning his bassist." 

"Jesus, Cora, real ladylike." 

"Ha! I love that you still blush about it, it’s been months. Look, all I’m saying is he has no reason to call you, but he probably checked in with a bunch of other people just to spread the word." 

"You’re crazy." 

She shrugs. "What other reason could he have?" 

Oh, I don’t know, he’s IN LOVE WITH YOU? But I can’t say that. I can’t interfere in their situation again. I obviously don’t know what I’m doing, not even in my own relationship, much less someone else’s. All I can do is send her to the show looking as cute and feeling as confident as humanly possible and hope Stone’s smart enough to take it from there.

"Beats me,” I sigh, tousling the ends of her hair after checking them one last time. “Well, I think I’ve officially finished working my magic. What do you think?”

***

“God damn it, I can’t believe I let you talk me into this shirt." 

"What! You look good!" 

"But we’re not even the same siiiiize,” I groan, tugging at the low neckline of the tiny borrowed black shirt to try and force it up into a more modest and familiar location. Ultimately I give up and burrow deeper into my giant cardigan as Lucy drags me into the Off-Ramp. This is my payback for the hour she spent salvaging my creative hairstyling skills, of course, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it. 

I suppose she did a fine job. Not that I particularly care whether it looks good or not. But she neatened up the ends and made it a little more even than I could manage by myself, and it’s shorter now than what I’d been going for, which is actually a plus. It hits right below my jawline, and she did her best to get the ends to lay nicely and for the shorter pieces in the front to look more natural. The problem now is that those little pieces fall in my eyes, so I’ve got them pinned over to the side rather than worry about them for tonight. There’s enough to worry about here already. Even setting aside the conundrum of Stone’s motivation for calling me, Lucy and Jeff are perfectly capable of producing enough drama for one evening. I can understand both of their perspectives, but if I’m being honest, I want to smash Jeff over the head with his own skateboard for being so self-involved. Can’t he see how much she loves him? Of course they’ll inevitably move in together and pick out china patterns and have a million beautiful little blonde babies and all that domestic bullshit, but Lucy is not a person you rush. I really admire that about her, the way she takes her time making decisions. I could stand to take a leaf from her book. So, Jeffrey, I love you and all, but get the fuck over yourself.

“Up front, right?” Lucy drops my hand and scans the already crowded room, looking for space near the stage.

“Uhm… I was thinking I was gonna hang near the back tonight… we could probably scrounge a couple of bar stools…” 

“Transparent much? Don’t act like you’re not trying to hide from Stone.“ 

"You don’t know me." 

"Come on, don’t you want to talk to him? He did call you and ask you to be here." 

"I… I don’t know, this is kind of a big night for him, I don’t want to make it about anything else… not that there’s anything else it could be, I mean, he obviously –" 

”–called everyone he knows,“ she drones in unison with me, "yeah, right. Ugh, come on, we’ll hang out over on Jeff’s side, Stone won’t even see you.”

“I figured you’d want a little distance from Jeff after today?” 

She shakes her head in disbelief. “One stupid fight doesn’t mean I’m not going to support him during something this big.” 

And as always, she’s a walking example of class and grace and bravery and being the bigger person, and I love her even more than I thought I ever could. “Okay, fair, you go be all supportive and whatnot, I’ll go keep one of those bar stools from floating away.” 

“Cora…!” 

“I swear, it’s fine, it’s not even really about avoiding Stone, I just kinda wanna… I feel like I’ll get a better feel for the whole thing back there. You know what I mean?” 

“No. Not at all.” But instead of arguing with me, my best friend pulls me into a slightly-too-rough hug and plants a peck on the side of my head before disappearing into the crowd, leaving me to hang near the edge of the darkened room and appreciate the show in my own way. 

Of course she’s right. Of course it’s about avoiding Stone. Of course I want to talk to him, but how? I still can’t figure out if the right thing to do is follow his lead and pretend we’re just friends and everything’s fine between us, or try to gently hint to him that I want to talk and see if I can get him to set aside some time, or just completely lose my mind and shake him and spill my guts and ask what the fuck is wrong with the two of us… nope, strike the last one, this is the absolute worst possible night to do something like that to him. And as the lights come up in the middle of the first song, just look at this room full of people who are here to see his new project, or to remember Andy, or just to have a good night. No matter what brought them here, tonight is clearly something special. Even if it’s just a one-night thing.

“Looks like Mr. Gossard busted himself a string,” Chris ribs after a while. He stalls for time while Stone messes with his guitar, but when he speaks again, his voice is halting and vulnerable. “This whole thing we’re doing was originally meant to be kind of a tribute for… for our buddy, Andy Wood, but… what it ended up being was fun, but this next song in particular was written about him, for him, and a tribute.” 

Just as the air in the room starts to feel too heavy in my lungs, Chris makes another 180 degree turn and teases Mike about his ridiculous blouse before finally starting the next song. I can’t remember when I’ve heard something more beautiful than the way Chris’s voice pours over the music, filling in all the cracks and broken places. Even my irritation at Jeff on Lucy’s behalf vanishes when I catch him leaning on Mike for support, and skipping over to Stone so they can play together over the end of the song. And for a while, nothing matters except how much I love these friends I’ve found and how much I wish I could keep them all safe from any more loss or pain. 

Of course, the show is absolutely amazing, and I’m embarrassed that I ever entertained the idea of staying home. I dutifully catalog every detail in my mind to tell Eddie when he gets back from San Diego, including Chris’s brief crowdsurfing stint during which I lose sight of him entirely, with the exception of his giant black boots. Maybe I don’t need to tell Eddie everything, though… he certainly doesn’t need to hear about the inconvenient heat that slides up my spine whenever I watch Stone play his guitar, or the shameless and hypnotized way I end up staring at his hands until a sharp inhale reminds me that I’ve been forgetting to breathe, or the way the light hits the angles of his face when his hair’s pulled back, although one disobedient piece keeps falling into his eyes, making him occasionally pause in strategic moments to sweep it back… but it’s more than any of that. It’s the geeky way he mouths along, not with Chris’s words but with his own chords. It’s the oddball, chattering riffs that only he would ever think up. It’s the resiliency that drove him deeper into songwriting as a coping mechanism in his grief. It’s the ethic that makes him work so hard but stay so grounded. I miss him. I miss him! What am I doing? This is bullshit!! Okay, maybe I don’t know exactly what words to say to Stone, maybe I don’t know the best way to get my point across, maybe it’s a bad night to even try, but none of that matters anymore. I just need him to know how I feel. I’ve got to talk to him as soon as I can. There’s a thrill that accompanies the resolve, like choosing to jump off a high cliff into the sea. I don’t know how I’ll fare on impact, but the inevitability floods me with excitement.

Before I can figure out my plan, their set is finished, and I watch as they step down into the crowd. Excitement turns back to panic. What am I supposed to say? How can I begin to tell him? But it’s irrelevant for the time being, because the first thing he does is shotgun a beer with a guy in the crowd. I don’t recognize the guy, except as the person who led a rousing chant of “Stoney, Stoney!” during the set. Chant Guy produces two more beer cans seemingly out of nowhere, and he and Stone disappear from my sight. Just as well. I’m still a mess of nerves. People-watching keeps me busy as I huddle up on my stool. Jeff and Lucy are absorbed in conversation on one side of the room. Mike and Selene are absorbed in each other’s faces on the other. I think I even saw Emily a little while ago, although I can’t spot her now, because there are some rowdy idiots in metal band shirts dominating the middle of the room like a bunch of territorial gorillas. One woman with curly, vivid green hair flits around them, constantly snapping pictures, just as she’d done during the set. I follow her with my eyes for a while, until a familiar sight appears behind her head: a baggily sweatshirted elbow, which is connected to a bony hand, which is fidgeting with a soft brown ponytail, which is pulled back from a handsome, angular face, which is deep in conversation with one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen. 

I take rapid inventory. She’s a lot taller than me, only a few inches shorter than Stone, with perfect dark hair and a build like one of those godforsaken Baywatch women. I compress my knees deeper into my chest to try to control the roiling in my stomach as I watch her deploy the classic flirty arm touch, and to my despair, Stone rewards her with a smile. Huh. They seem to know each other pretty well. Or maybe I’m just telling myself lies because the thought of him hitting it off with anyone is anguishing, especially someone so different from me. But I need to get the fuck over myself and admit it. I spent too long denying my feelings for him, thinking of him as my twerpy, obnoxious friend, when the fact is, he’s a catch, and I missed out. He’s brilliant, he’s funny, he’s sweet and caring, he’s talented, and he’s stupidly handsome. It figures that someone else would see those qualities too. And it makes sense that this girl with a supermodel build would be more his type than… whatever the hell it is I thought I had to offer.

“You cut your hair??”  

The familiar deep bellow draws my mouth into a reflexive quirk, all I can manage by way of a smile of my own, mostly because I’m still battling my nausea. When I avert my eyes from whatever fresh horror is happening between Stone and Big Tits McGee over there, I turn to find Kim staring bug-eyed at me and wielding three freshly opened bottles of beer. 

“Yes, it is I, of the shorn locks,” I concede. “Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” 

“I’m not fuckin’ scared,” he scoffs. “Wasn’t that long ago I had short hair too.” 

“File under: things I cannot picture.” In spite of myself, Kim has me laughing, and I’m so grateful for the distraction.

“Oh yeah! No beard, Prince Valiant haircut, I had this whole respectability phase. Fuckin’ terrible. Cheers! To not giving a shit,” he hands me a beer and holds up the other two for a clink.

“Oh, no thanks, I’m teetotaling tonight. Someone’s gotta get these degenerates home safely.” 

“Yeah, but not for a while. Don’t insult my intelligence, I’ve seen how well you hold your booze.” 

I finally accept the offered bottle and his toast before glancing automatically back at the crowd. Like picking at a scab, I don’t know what I expected except for it to be painful, because Stone and the brunette are still laughing it up. 

“OH! Crazy Caitlin! This night just got awesome!” 

Kim has followed my gaze and is pointing at the two of them, glee etched all over his features. 

“Keep your voice down!“ 

"Oh, I’m sorry, are we spying?" 

There’s a question I have no desire to answer. "What do you mean, Crazy Caitlin?” 

“Stone’s ex! Haven’t seen her in a while!” 

“Is… is that good or bad?” 

“Huh? I mean, she’s a fucking nightmare, she cheated on him a whole bunch and made him miserable.”

“I don’t know, he seems pretty happy right now.”

“Oh come on! Rookie mistake! Look at the poor guy, you can smell the panic pheromones from all the way over here. He’s not smiling, he’s baring his teeth like a cornered animal." 

"Who died and made you David Attenborough?”

Kim snorts, taking an enormous pull from one of his beers. I press on, trying to sound casual, “so, she’s crazy, huh?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s always a guarantee of interesting times. Melodrama on feet. Also, she’s dumber than a sock full of sand.” 

I hope I’m not just imagining things, but when Caitlin rubs Stone’s arm again, I think I see him tighten that side of his body ever so slightly. Is it just the lighting, or is he clenching his jaw when he smiles? 

“I can’t picture Stone with a brainless girl, how on earth did that work?” 

"Are you kidding me, did you notice her huge… tracts of land?” Kim swerves to a different vocabulary choice when I slice him with a glare. 

“Well, I declare you suitably corrupted, time to spread the happy,” he continues, clinking my bottle one more time and strolling off into the crowd without another word. I watch him clap Stone on the back and hand him the third bottle, and I’m mid-sip from my own drink when Stone’s eyes find me. The jolt makes me dribble some of the beer down my shirt. Fantastic. Even better that it’s Lucy’s stupid little shirt, and there’s not even enough fabric to mop myself up, so I’m gonna be sticky and reeking of beer for the next –

“RED!” 

Stone’s yelp gives me just enough warning to look back up before he barrels into me and wraps me in a lung-collapsing hug. After the shock wears off and he shows no signs of letting go, I allow myself to hug him back. But the longer he holds onto me, the harder it is to resist the horrifying urge to bury my face into the crook of his neck. I opt to wedge my chin up over his skinny shoulder to try to block out how good he smells.

“Mshohappierhear.” 

“What?” I relax my grip on him and he pulls far back enough to face me, but not far enough to let me go and certainly not far enough to be out of kissing range. I bite my lips in to stop them from doing anything foolish. 

“I’m so happy you’re here,” he slurs, radiating a lopsided grin. Oh Christ, he’s fucking wasted. So much for the idea of talking to him tonight. This isn’t right. He’s just happy to see everyone, it’s got nothing to do with me.

“Really?” 

"Of course. Called you, didn’t I?" 

"Yeah,” I force myself to laugh, “I’m impressed. You still sounded pretty genuine by the time you’d made it all the way through your Rolodex to Shaw." 

"Rolodex? Hang on, did you… do you think I called everyone I know?" 

"Didn’t you?" 

My voice is so small, it’s a wonder the words made it out of my throat to his ears. But he heard me. He drops his hands from my waist, steps back looking to the floor, and huffs out a little laugh through his nose. I could swear he gives the slightest shake of his head before looking out over his shoulder, suddenly paying attention to nothing in particular. It reminds me of the night we met, right here in almost this exact same spot, when all I knew about him was that he was Chris’s sarcastic friend who was trying too hard to seem cool by not making eye contact. Hope rekindles in my chest.

"So, you didn’t?" 

"Uh uh." 

"Not even Crazy Caitlin?" 

He looks back with a knowing smile. "You’ve been talking to Kim, huh? Nah, no way. Actually, I owe you one, you gave me an excuse to run away mid-sentence. You saved my ass, Red, how will I ever repay you?" 

Easy, I want to say. Tell me nothing’s changed. Tell me you still love me. Strike that, don’t tell me anything, just grab me and kiss me, you stupid smug little… 

“Hey, you cut your hair.” 

Damn it, can’t anyone talk to me about anything else? “Can’t get anything past you,” I mutter, but I’m no longer wishing for a change of subject when I notice how closely he’s studying me. My heart starts to pound and my brain feels like it’s been replaced with cotton balls and I could have sworn this room was full of people just a moment ago but it can’t be, because a feeling like this is so thoroughly dangerous it has no business being on display with so many witnesses… 

“I love it.” 

“That… that’s not the point,” I say weakly, willing my knees to stay locked in place and my cotton-brain to remember how to form words. His trademark smirk creeps back into place, albeit a little more crookedly than usual thanks to his level of inebriation, and I’m horrified at how cute the effect is.

“Okay, I hate it.” 

“Also not the point.” 

“Why don’t you throw a guy a bone and tell me what the point was, then?” 

“I just… I wanted something different, I guess… I got tired of being so…” I wave my hands around, like that’s going to help me become more articulate, “so… noticeable?” 

“Good luck with that,” he snorts derisively. “OH! HEY! Can I have this? Thanks!” 

In another dizzying about-face, he’s plunked his beer down on the bar and reached into my hair to remove the bobby pin holding back the shortest pieces of my hair, which now flop listlessly in front of my eyes. Before I can object, he’s already stowing it in his jeans pocket. 

“Hey…” he says slowly, "even better. You should always wear it like that. Really, I did you a favor.” 

“Uhm… much obliged.” What the hell’s gotten into him? How drunk can one idiot possibly be? Is it possible to sustain whiplash injuries from a conversation? “I’m really impressed at how shitfaced you are, Stoner, I think this is as drunk as I’ve ever seen you.” 

“Eh, people keep buying me shit, it’s rude to say no.” 

“How are you getting home?” 

He mimes holding onto handlebars and ringing a bike bell. “Ding ding.” 

“Is there a specific citation for that? Biking under the influence? Can you get a BUI?” 

“I hope not to let you know. I’m not that drunk, really.” 

“Mmhmm, sure. Anyway, you’re making me miss my bike, so shut up.” 

"Mmhmm,” he parrots, placing his hands on my shoulders and steering me a couple of steps to my right to make room for someone else who was trying to claim space at the bar. My cheeks flame as I remember that we’re in a crowd, and I shuffle to make more space, turning my back to the rest of the room. 

“Hey,” he says, his hands dropping from my shoulders to pick up my hands. 

“Hey yourself.”

“You look really pretty tonight.” 

“You… look really drunk tonight.” 

“My drunkness doesn’t negate your prettiness,” he chuckles, tugging alternately on my hands to start swinging us both slightly. 

“No, but it does make you a pretty unreliable narrator.” 

“Guess you’ve never heard of it referred to as truth serum before.” 

“Guess you’ve never heard to it referred to as beer goggles before.” 

With a groan that’s undercut by his smile, he lifts our hands up and laces his fingers in mine. “You’re really bad at accepting compliments. Like, really, appallingly bad.”

“I’m out of practice.”

“We should work on that.”

“Okay.” 

I hardly care what we’re saying. I’m busy watching our hands tangle together like they belong to someone else entirely.

“Hey, Stone?” 

“Yeah?” 

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” 

Without looking up, I can hear him smiling. “Whatever you tell me.” 

“Stop it, I’m serious.” 

“Me too. What are we doing tomorrow night?” 

Jesus, who needs beer to feel drunk? Stone asking about our plans like it’s the most obvious thing in the world is more than intoxicating enough.

"Uhm… hanging out? Talking, and stuff? With words." 

"I’m familiar with the concept, yes.”

“Shut up. I just… it’s been a while, since we… I kinda miss hanging out, without everyone else.” I feel impossibly jittery and have to pull my hands back to try and regain some composure, but when I look up at Stone, he’s beaming. 

“I’m all yours. Where? What time?" 

"M… my place? Eight?" 

“It’s a date.” 

A nervous laugh escapes me. "Haha, uh, our first date?” 

"WHAT! In no parallel reality is this our first date, Red, this is like date number twelve, minimum." 

"Twelve?! Now I know for sure you’re wasted." 

"Don’t make me embarrass you by proving you wrong in front of all these people.” He picks his bottle up off the bar top for a drink, waving aimlessly at the crowd around us that has absolutely no interest in our conversation. 

“Try me." 

"K.” His face oozes drunken overconfidence as he sets his beer back down and snatches one of my hands back up. “Okay, date number one…” he folds all my fingers down except for my index, waving it in front of my nose and fighting my efforts to fold it back in. “The basement. After our first big fight." 

"Nuh-uh, no way, not a date." 

"And your exclusion criteria are…?" 

"Well, for starters, a date is something you plan in advance. Loitering around in a basement after everyone’s ditched us hardly qualifies." 

"Even with me providing the mood music, huh?” he scoffs. “Fine. Have it your way. Date number one: ice cream." 

"You’re real slow, Stoner. We didn’t plan that either, we just ran into each other in the park." 

"Yeah, and then we planned to go get ice cream, so who’s the slow one here?" 

"But…” I cast around for objections, “but we each paid for our own, and…" 

"Okay okay okay wait,” he crows, “who foots the bill determines whether it’s a date now? It’s almost the new millennium, Red, get with the times." 

"Fine. I’ll let you have that one.” I stop trying to crane my finger back downward just as he begins to pry up another one. 

“Dirty penguin jokes are a time-honored courtship ritual, after all. Date number two: uhm… do phone calls count? Phone calls where intimate matters are discussed? Like sleepwear?" 

"NO!” A few heads turn around us, but they quickly turn back when they realize we’re both laughing.

“Alright, alright, easy. Then the next one was… dinner, your place, the robot show." 

"Denied. You just dropped by, it doesn’t pass the pre-planned test.”

“Haven’t had too many nights that ended cuddling on the couch that weren’t dates." 

"So what, first time for everything,” I wrestle my hand free long enough to flip him off before he resumes counting on my fingers. “If anything, the next night could qualify since I actually asked you over." 

"For sure. Halloween, date two. Which makes date three… that whole thing…” he eases up my ring finger and wiggles it back and forth, squinting at it thoughtfully. I hope he hasn’t noticed that my hands have started to sweat. Is it just my imagination, or is it getting louder in here?

“At… at the park, at your place, yeah." 

"So then what would number four be?" 

We both stare at my pinky finger, contemplating the options. 

"I can't… I can’t think of anything…” I lie. I can, I can think of one big thing, but we can’t talk about it right now, not when he’s wasted, not right now…

He scratches his nose with his free hand. “Yeah, I mean the whole moving day thing definitely doesn’t count…" 

Not right now, not right now… "no, definitely not…" 

"I mean, that was… that was just… anyone would have come over to help out, I just happened to be around when Lucy called…" 

I don’t know whether to cry or slap him. Would I have kissed just anyone who came over to help me? Is that what he thinks? 

"So, uhm,” he mumbles, “what about tonight, does tonight count, or…" 

But I don’t get to hear the other option, because a commotion behind me makes Stone grab my shoulders again and yank me out of the way. A few of the Aerosmith-shirt-wearing gorillas appear to have gotten into a fight with another faction of guys.  We turn around just in time to see Stone’s friend, Chant Guy, take a beer bottle to the face on the outside edge of the scuffle. 

"Oh, shit, Eric!” Stone recognizes his heavily bleeding friend and starts to head that way, “I should probably… uh…" 

"Go, yeah, go! I’ll see you tomorrow?" 

No answer comes back from him as he checks in with the group of people now surrounding Eric, inspecting his nose and debating whether he needs to go to the hospital. I duck past, spotting a glum-looking Lucy by the door. 

"You ready to get out of here?” I ask her, grabbing her arm to leave no room for argument. 

“Beyond ready.”

***

Okay. It’s official. I’m going to have to tell Marc that’s the last time I let him set me up with one of his Frisbee golf buddies. The dude had enough hairspray in his hair to single-handedly account for the hole in the ozone layer, and he was wearing a Whitesnake shirt. WHITESNAKE. I mean, kudos for letting it all hang out on the first date, but seriously? And he had the audacity to criticize MY hair?? Green is the new black, asshole. 

At least it was easy enough to lose him when people started arguing about the music. I thought the show was fantastic, but apparently Mr. W. Snake didn’t like hearing so many mellow songs in a row and started complaining loudly to anyone around us who would listen, which got everyone all fired up. On the bright side, his boorishness is my gain – I stayed long after he fled, and I think I got some really great pictures of the fight. Rowdy concert crowds and paramedics will make a nice bonus to my amateur photo collection. Like Seattle’s own little Altamont. With somewhat less stabbing, blessedly. 

I’ve just rounded a corner on my walk home when I spot another potentially interesting crime: a skinny dude kneeling on the curb, trying to pick a bike lock. Ordinarily I’d cross the street and avoid trouble, especially at this time of night, except that I recognize him as one of the guitarists from tonight’s band. The goofy-looking one. He doesn’t exactly strike me as a menacing guy. I walk right up behind him, but he doesn’t even notice. World’s worst criminal.

“Want a little help?" 

The skinny guy nearly jumps out of his skin, leaping to his feet and making an unholy racket against the bike rack. "JESUS! Oh, uh, no, my bike, it’s, uh, well, the lock’s stuck, so I was just…" 

Uh huh. "His” bike is covered in about a decade’s worth of rust, and he’s using a bobby pin to try and pick the lock. With terrible technique, I should add. And completely shitfaced. Meh. What’s it to me if he’s stealing? Whoever owned the bike originally obviously isn’t coming back for it. 

“May I offer you some constructive criticism?" 

"Uh… shoot.”

It’s a mighty struggle not to laugh. “You, uhm, you have to unfold the pin first… it’s not going to fit like that… here…" 

I crouch down and swipe the pin from his hand, going to work on the lock. "Hey, great show tonight, I love your band." 

"Oh, you were there?" 

"Yeah, my Neanderthal blind date started the battle royale." 

He laughs kind of like a mule, a weird braying noise. "Glad someone else’s date ended worse than mine.”

“Oh yeah? What’s your misfortune?”

“Nothing bad, just ended kind of abruptly. She got out of there after the fight. Well, after your Neanderthal started the fight, I guess. Been drowning my sorrows ever since.”

“You don’t say.” Chatty little fucker. Ugh.

“Anyway, I guess I probably shoulda recognized you from the show, the, uh, well, your…" 

”…my hair’s green, yeah, so I’ve been told.“ 

"It’s cool." 

"Thanks. It runs in the family.”

“Ha. You sound like someone I know." 

"And is it their bike you’re stealing?" 

"Kind of. Hey! No, I’m not stealing it, it's…" 

”…yours, right.“ I stand up and toss him the opened lock. "And you are?”

“Stone. Wow, thanks.” He drops the lock on the pavement and yanks the rusty bike loose.

“Child’s play. Well, I’m gonna do that whole 'leaving the scene of the crime’ thing, you might wanna give it a try. There’s still cops everywhere." 

I’m already putting the drunk skinny guy behind me when he calls out, "oh, yeah, hey thanks, uhm…?" 

"Tracey! Get the hell out of here, Stone!”

His stupid laughter fades as I break into a jog. Weird kid.

[joj-parisol]

The Monroes (John Lennon x Reader)

Summary: The Monroes are the only female band on the set list. Y/N likes Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and definitely does not like The Quarrymen. Especially not John Lennon. (shit summary I know)

Warnings: Panic attacks and vomiting (sorry) shitty writing bc I didn’t check this oof

A/N: hi sorry if it’s terrible but I’ve been coming back to this fic for about a week save me. Anyway. The panic attack is written through personal experience and I’m very sorry if it offends anyone so please don’t read of you might get triggered. I hope everyone who reads this enjoys! Imma go ahead and tag one of the best writers on this cursed site, the lovely @casafrass also that anon lol. -🥦

Get ready for some Teddy Boy John, bitches.

—————

The music courses through her veins every night. It became ritual that she would blast her solos. She had put her blood, sweat and tears into the songs they performed and Eliza put her heart and soul into singing them.

The rhythm of their own songs guided Y/N’s hips, accidentally thrusting her guitar towards the audience, earning a roar of delight. The audience was packed in every direction she looked. People were curved into archways and crowded every doorway or other persons lap. Some stood, resembling sardines in the way they were packed in with each other. They were unable to dance but they tapped their feet or swayed to the beat. It was the same every night.

Nobody could resist The Monroes. They, like their namesake, were each irresistibly beautiful. This made them exceptionally popular with their male audience. Their music was like a spell, enchanting anyone who heard it to hum, dance or sing. People were captivated by the girls, with their camp and flamboyant stage presence paired with their raunchy costumes. They were the only all-Female band and it made them popular among the younger generation of early feminists and the men who liked their ‘appeal’.

They had a friendly competition put in place with Rory Storm and his Hurricanes. They rivalled in their shock-value and Y/N once made a deal with Ringo to see who could get the most dates. Y/N has since refused to answer who won. Rory and Eliza took the competition a little too seriously. Everyday, a costume would be more dramatic or ‘dazzling’ or a new song would feature a longer high note. They had to one-up each other.

This rivalry grew tension and one night after a few complimentary drinks, Rory and Eliza stumbled out of the bar, eagerto rip the costumes off of the other. They both denied the accusations but The Monroes were staying in an old strip club and thin walls reveal all.

Though they tried, none of the Hurricanes could woo any other Monroes. Y/N loved Ringo and it was returned, in nothing more than a platonic way. The other two Monroes weren’t inclined to any Hurricane, platonically or romantically. Lucy, the drummer, only cared for the music, strippers and free booze and the bassist, Shirley, had her eyes on one of the Quarrymen.

Out of everyone in the world, she liked one of the awful, cocky assholes who played before The Monroes did. Every time they clunked off of stage, clad in leather, Y/N always felt the urge to throw something. But it was specifically John Lennon. He would stomp over in his flame patterned cowboy boots with a smug grin painted on his face.

“Try and beat that, sugar.” He would smirk at Y/N. Always her, never one of the others. He would often try to brush the hair from her face but with a sharp turn, Y/N would strut past him. He would whistle as she walked, grovelling on about how perfect her ass was. He would then slither his way over to her later that night when she’d be drinking her wages.

Y/N would chew up his lewd comments and spit them straight back in his face. Her quick wit and sharp tongue only enticed him further, much to her dismay.

Like every other day, The Quarrymen finished droning out a song about ‘Spiting all the danger’ or something, Y/N wasn’t really listening, and John sauntered off stage. His band mates poured backstage after him.

Y/N knew Paul, he was quite charming and had his eyes set on every girl that looked into his. Then there was Stu, a rather handsome man who seemed quite shy as she hadn’t ever seen him talk to anyone outside of The Quarrymen. George was the loveliest out of all five of them, he smiled at each of the girls and complimented Y/N on her solos. He shyly offered to but them drinks but he would then get bombarded with beers for being so cute. He was young and polite, with one hell of a talent for guitar. Y/N didn’t really know Pete. She just knew that once he had made fun of Lucy’s drumming talent and had received a black eye because of it.

They were headed for the bar after coming off os the stage, but when John trailed towards The Monroes, they all followed like obedient dogs. Eliza was mid way through her nightly pep-talk.

“And no matter what, I know we’ll all smash it-“

“I hear the shows aren’t the only thing you’re smashing, eh Liza? How is Rory by the way?” John interrupted, earning sniggers from his leather-clad cronies. Eliza flushed and spluttered, looking for the words that weren’t forming on her tongue. Her embarrassmentade the boys laugh harder.

“Just because Eliza is getting to shag Rory and you aren’t doesn’t mean you have to get jealous, Lennon.” Y/N spat, stepping infront of Eliza protectively and squaring up to the much taller man. The boys were stunned into abrupt silence. Y/n caught the small snort that left George. John raised his eyebrows at her.

“You’ve got me real scared, sugar, but if you keep lookin at me like that you’ll get me all worked up.”

Y/N scowled up at him and scoffed. “In your dreams, Lennon.” His dumb cowboy boots definitely added to his height. Her furrowed brows and folded arms made his grin stretch further across his face.

“Trust me, you’re in my dreams all right.” His hazel eyes gleamed with excitement. Y/N opened her mouth to snap back at him but Eliza caught her arm.

“C’mon, there’s no point talking to swine when we could be on stage instead.” Eliza glared at John and pulled Y/N away from him. She held her head up as Eliza led her away from the insufferable man.

Y/N found her guitar and checked to see if it was in tune. He didn’t have the right to say that to her. He deserved a smack in the face for even having the nerve to say that to her. He might be all high and mighty with his friends but he was actually just a big asshole who-

“Hey, Y/N, you might wanna stop before you break a string.” A familiar voice snapped her out of her thoughts. George stood in front of her smiling.

“Oh. Yeah, thanks.” The side glances she was receiving made Y/N realised she had been taking her anger out on her poor guitar.

George hesitated for a second, awkwardly crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m sorry about John, love, he’s always that much of an asshole.” He apologised for John and despite his attempts it made Y/N’s blood boil even more. But George’s hopeful smile melted her heart. She cracked a smile and nudged his shoulder.

“Who you calling love?” Y/N teased, raising her eyebrows accusingly. A light blush rose in George’s cheeks as he fumbled to apologise. A laugh fell from her mouth.

“I’m only playing, love.” Y/N winked at the blushing boy. “Unfortunately I had to be on stage four minutes ago, so I better go.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, the crowds pretty rough today so good luck, Y/N!” George called as she walked up the stairs to the stage.

“Thanks, love.” She shouted back to him, smiling as she heard his cowboy boots click as he ran off.

Y/N joined the rest of the band on stage.

“I’m glad you could join us, your highness.” Lucy called from behind the drums, getting flipped off in return. Y/N plugged in her amp and nodded at Eliza to begin singing.

Just like yesterday and everyday before that, their music worked like a charm over their audience. This usually seemed like a blessing but today it was more of a curse. George was right. The pubs were always crowded and rowdy but this was on a whole other level. This was more than claustrophobic. The amount of people was alarming.

People who didn’t have room to dance, danced. Person after person swept through the door. A sweltering heat encased everyone it could. It was strangling everyone it could.

The lights, the body count, the lack of space and windows. Not even Y/N’s short skirt and low-cut top could save her.

Much to The Monroes’ pleasure, they had a shorter setlist that night. But as the songs got faster and faster, everything rocketed down hill. The loud, rough song with a great deal of shouting and a great rhythm took control of the blundering audience. It was as if the melody had possessed them.

Bodies moved against each other and limbs were thrown around raucously. The chaos was amplified as a fight broke out. In the smoggy room, Y/N couldn’t see the cause of the commotion but the rickety stage shook at the amount of sudden movement. The excited shouts and shrieks drowned out their music.

Y/N couldn’t even hear Eliza, though she was a few steps away. The sudden smashing of glass seemed like an alarm that sent her heart racing. The shock triggered something in her before she could control it. The sudden noise made her jump, causing her guitar to fall from her hand. She tried desperately to control her breathing and play again but her sweat-slicked hands shook enough for the neck to slip from her grip. The cigarette smoke hanging in the air seemed to choke her. Her rapid breathing made her lungs burn as she inhaled more and more in an attempt to calm down.

She was unsure if she was pulled or if she had fallen of the stage but the sea of moving bodies soon swallowed her. Her arms felt useless as she clamoured away from the crowd that she was drowning in. Her guitar was pulled away from her but her fighting was useless as she screams were swallowed by the deafening noise. Waves of nausea hit her as pungent breath and beer stink were thrust upon her. Her mind felt detached from her body as she weaves her way through the people. Elbows jolted into her ribs and people stood on her feet. Falling out of the backstage door, her trembling knees gave out and she threw up.

The cold air pierced her face, like tiny razor sharp needles pressing through her skin. Sweat poured down her face like a river. The numbing cold pavement pressed into her hands and knees, the pins and needles battling for dominance over the cold. Her body lurched until all she could do was spit and cough, dry heaving occasionally as vomit burned her throat and her nose streamed. Shuddering, she crawled on her shaky limbs to as far away from her vomit as she could get.

Holding her knees, she wiped the few tears that had fallen from her cheeks. The taste stayed on her tongue and made her wince whenever she swallowed on her dry sobs. She was too tired to actually cry, but her body seemed to be happy hiccuping and choking. Her breath would catch in her throat, the taste bubbling up her throat again and she then had to resist the burning urge to break down and cry. She may have broken down and vomited in public but that didn’t mean she couldn’t keep at least a shred of dignity. She most definitely would not cry, no matter what her mind begged her to do. The only sound was the little spluttering chokes and sobs she released.

Until there was a sudden scuffle against the pavement and a harsh whisper of “Oh Fuck.”. Y/N’s head snapped up from her knees.

There was John Lennon, looking like a very disturbed deer caught in the headlights. One of his hands was on the door, which he had fallen into thus revealing his presence, and the other cradled a half drunken beer. There was a cigarette butted out against the floor opposite Y/N.

A wide-eyed grimace painted his face as he stood in silence. His eyes were connected with hers. She had makeup, sweat and snot smeared on her face. She looked so small and cold, sweaty and shivering despite her burning skin. The sheer look of absolute repulse on his face was what made her brain snap.

The loud, strained sobs interrupted with her shallow gasps for breath made John wince. He was frozen by the door, as if he was rooted to the very spot. He dropped the door handle. The soft thunk was barely audible over her sobs.

She willed more than anything for him to leave. He had no doubt seen her throw up all over the road and had heard her sporadic attempt at breathing. He would never let her live this down so she mentally begged him to just open the door without another glance and go tell Paul and Pete everything that had just happened. She didn’t need any mocking sympathy from him. Why couldn’t he just laugh and leave? Why of all people did he have to be outside having a smoke?

Her mental begging didn’t work. John hovered by the door for a few moments. He didn’t know what to do. He’d seen girls cry before, but never such a strong one like Y/N. She was usually so sharp and cold and independent. It pained something deep inside of him to see her so vulnerable.

Her sobs hit him especially. On once in his life, John Lennon didn’t know what to do or say. He decided that the only thing he knew would be better than anything. He shuffled over, hesitating before sitting in front of her. The sheer pain on her face he caught as her head lifted ever so slightly made his heat clench. He wasn’t used to this and was quite confused as to why he cared so much. Normally, he would have just opened the door and left, but seeing her so broken wasn’t something he could ignore.

“Fuck off John.” She choked out, straining her voice. John couldn’t help but smile. Of course you would still defend yourself, even in this state.

“I’m afraid I won’t.” He doesn’t want to leave. Even if you leave, he’d refuse to let you be alone until he knew you were ok.

Words form on his tongue but none of them seem right. A few minutes of silence had passed and John knew he had to speak. His eyes burning holes into the side of her head probably wasn’t helping. He quickly spat out the first sentence he thought of.

“What happened to you?” As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. She looked at him, dark eyes narrowed.

“Why do you care?” She spat at him, curling into herself even more.

“I care because whilst you may hate me, nobody deserves to be alone when they’re distressed. Especially not you.” He paused for a moment. He was shocked by the sentiment that had fallen from his lips. Her eyes widened in shock for a moment but she rolled them obviously.

“You are not getting in my pants, Lennon. No matter how many cheesy sympathy lines you drop.” Y/N sniffed and snatched the beer from in front of him. She swished out her mouth and spat it out through her teeth. She shoved the beer back in his hand and raised her eyebrows, gesturing to the door. “Just go on and get some other bird to shag. I bet you’ll have no problem finding one.”

Despite her stubbornness, John refused to give in. There was something seriously the matter. Despite his other attitudes, he couldn’t let this slide. So he awkwardly just stared her dead in the eye and shook his head as she continued to gesture to the door.

“You’re right. I would have no problem getting a shag tonight. But leaving you here isn’t right, no matter how long it takes. I’m going to sit here until you tell me what’s wrong and how to help. Even if I die trying.”

She snorted at his attempt to lighten the mood and let a small smile creep onto her face. He grinned at her smile. It made Y/N realise that maybe he wasn’t as much of a pig as she’d thought.

“Can’t have you dying, Lennon. Your replacement would no doubt be much worse.” Her voice was hoarse and weak but her light joke was like music to his ears. “And I really can’t tell you what happened to me.” John frowned. “I can’t tell you because I don’t even know what happened. I just get these things sometimes. It feels like I’ve lost control of everything and sometimes it feels like I’m about to die. Like just before.” Her voice broke and her face dropped, her own words upsetting her. Tears pooled in her eyes. The sudden change of mood forced John to make an irrational decision. He shot forward before she could encase herself in her own arms again. His arms held her tight. He knew that despite how awkward everything would be later, this was the right thing to do.

He rocked her against him. Tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably and John brushed them away softly. He rubbed circles into her back, hoping it would soothe her sobs. He relaxed and knew he was helping when he felt her sink and cuddle closer into his chest. Her arms went under his jacket and she breathed in the oddly comforting scent of John.

“It’s alright, love, just relax.” John muttered, holding her closer. She sniveled and rested her head just above his heart. The soft thumps timed with the rise and fall of his chest lulled her tears into drying. He continued to rub circles into her back and he began to hum one of his songs. She recognised the tune. It was ‘In Spite of All the Danger’. Y/N closed her eyes. She decided she’d listen this time.

[bluebird167]

Ever, Ever, After Chapter 8

Somewhere else in the park Natsu and Lucy were searching aimlessly for Juvia. They looked far and wide but could find no trace of her.

"Maybe she's down here." Natsu said.

He lept off of the bridge he was standing on and landed on his feet but was then trampled by a group of bicyclists.

"Oof! Ah! Ow!" He shouted.

"Oh my goodness!" Lucy gasped. "Natsu are you alright?"

"I think so."

When the bicyclists got off of him Lucy and Laxus went to help him.

"Sire!" Laxus gasped. "Sire! You've fallen on your royal-"

"I know! I know! Don't say it! There's a lady here! Ah!" Natsu stood up.

"Look at you, you have bruises everywhere." Lucy said. "Maybe we should take a break."

"No I must keep searching. I refuse top stop until- Ah! Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay maybe I could rest for a moment."

"Come on I'll take you back to my apartment."

Natsu and Laxus followed Lucy to her apartment and she set him up to rest in her guest room.

"Now listen I have to go back to work but I'll be back as soon as I can. Help yourself to anything in the fridge but don't make a mess and please don't cause any trouble you two." She told them before leaving.

As Natsu began to get comfortable in the bed in the guest room he accidentally sat on the remote which turned on the TV. But Natsu and Laxus having no TV where they're from confused it to be a magic mirror.

"Laxus check this out. This little box controls the magic mirror."

Natsu hit a button on the remote and the channel changed to a soap opera where a pretty woman and a strong man were talking about their relationship.

"I've always been in love with you Evergreen." The man said.

"Don't you have any self respect Elfman?" The woman asked.

"I don't need self respect. I just need your lips against mine."

The show caught Laxus attention.

"Wait sire go back! Please!" He panicked when Natsu changed the channel.

"How could I love a man who doesn't even like himself?" The character called Evergreen said when the show returned. "Get away from me Elfman, you disgust me."

While Laxus was distracted with the show Happy managed to escape the bag Laxus had trapped him in and tried once again to tell Natsu what was going on.

"Oh hey Happy where have you been?" Natsu asked him.

"Shhh." He hushed him and began to once again to pantomime Laxus trying to kill Juvia but like before Natsu didn't understand him at all.

"Happy you know that I was never good at charades. Man I wish I could understand what you're trying to tell me because judging by how you're acting it must be important. Hey Laxus do you know what he's saying?"

"Meow!" Happy cried as if to say No Natsu!

Laxus turned around and quickly silenced Happy by grabbing him by his tail.

"He's saying that while you stay here and rest we should continue to search for your bride." Laxus lied.

"Oh Happy you're such a good friend. I'll make sure to get you a really big and tasty fish for this." Natsu gave Happy a pat on the head then went to raid Lucy's refrigerator.

"I'll give you this you're a persistent little pest." Laxus snarled at Happy. "But you won't stand in Irene's plan to remain queen."

Happy hissed at Laxus and bit him hard on his hand.

"Ow! Why you stupid cat!"

Laxus angrily shoved Happy into another bag and locked the bag in a broom closet before leaving. Happy quickly used his claws to cut a hole in the bag and then he used his claws to pick the lock on the broom closet door. He wanted to tell Natsu what Laxus was up to but he realized that getting the message to him non verbally was a lost cause so he decided to go out and stop Laxus himself.

He lifted the latch on one of Lucy's windows and began to follow Laxus while climbing across rooftops and telephone poles. Determined to save Juvia from becoming a victim of the poison apple.

Speaking of Juvia at the moment she was trying to convince a worried Gray that sending Lucy flowers and invitations to the ball wasn't a bad idea.

"She's not going to think they're stupid. Trust me." She assured him.

"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure it's too cliche."

"Sometimes cliche works. Now tell me when do you plan to propose to her?"

"I haven't exactly picked a date yet."

"Well you better pick one soon because she won't wait forever."

"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves first she has to take me back and I'm not sure she's willing to do that yet."

Just then Gray's phone rang and when he answered it he heard Lucy on the other line.

"Lucy?"

"Gray thank you so much for the flowers I love them."

"You mean you actually got them?"

"Yes and they're wonderful."

"Well you're welcome."

"Listen do you wanna meet up later and talk?"

"Sure."

"At my work place?"

"You got it. See you there." He hung up. "That was Lucy apparently your flower idea worked."

"See what did I tell you?"

"Okay you were right this time. Anyway she wants me to meet her at her workplace to talk so please don't do anything that will possibly make her mad."

"I'll try my best." 

"You sure you like them?" Gray asked Lucy when they arrived.

"I love them! They're beautiful you know usually you only send me digital pictures of flowers but these are exquisite and where did you get the doves?"

"It's a long story."

"And these, we're going to a ball?" She asked looking at the invitations.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Are you kidding? That is so romantic and so unlike you. Oh we're going to have so much fun and I finally have a place to wear my mother's dress."

"Great so I guess you forgive me for what happened this morning?"

"Yes I do and if you say nothing happened then nothing happened."

"That's a relief because believe me nothing happened. So do you wanna have dinner tonight?"

"I'd love to but I gotta help some poor guy I met today who got into trouble with Erza."

"Uh-oh. What did he do to make her so mad?"

"Believe me you don't wanna know but after what he did she was ready to kill him. Right now he's resting at my place."

"Your place? Lucy you're not cheating on me are you?" He grinned.

"No, don't worry he's just a guy I'm helping out just like how you're just helping out that girl."

"Okay I see your point."

"Besides he is so not my type. Sorry that I won't be able to have dinner with you but we'll have dinner tomorrow night and then go to the ball and have the most romantic evening of our lives."

"I look forward to it."

"Me too."

They hugged and kissed.

"Say hi to Wendy for me okay?" She said.

"I will. See you tomorrow night."

"You too."

Juvia smiled as she watched the two make up. She loved seeing couples reconcile because it proved that no matter how difficult life was nothing could over power true love yet for some reason when Lucy kissed Gray it made her upset. Why? Shouldn't she been overwhelmed with joy that they were being so loving with each other? Maybe it was because it made her long for her true love wherever he was. She hoped that Natsu was okay and that he would find her soon. Part of her was afraid that he would never find her but her hope and determination for love and a happy ending overcame it.

[moeruhoshi]

I’m laying down in my hallway and had a cute idea

Seduction was easy for Lucy to achieve, she strived everyday to get good deals by using the curves of her figure and tightness of her clothes to get whoever she was tempting to fall into her trap. It, of course, worked almost every time and she would walk away having greatly fooled a dark mage she was battling or the cashier at some of her favorite boutiques. She, however, could not find the right possible way to seduce Natsu into noticing her, no matter how hard she tried.

The dragon slayer was rarely anything other than a goofy idiot unless he was provoked into acting out by the cheap words of a rival guild trying to rile him up or in battle against anyone that dared stand against Fairy Tail. They spent most of their time together, doing jobs or sitting around her house when she wanted a day off. Even when she wanted to concentrate on writing, he and Happy would preoccupy themselves with a game of cards at her table until she got up to cook them all a meal. The days with him were quaint and maybe too exciting, and somewhere along the line, she had fallen in love.

Now the celestial mage had a hard time accepting her feelings, after all Natsu wasn’t one too do anything near romantic for her. But the countless laughs she produced because of him, countless fights she won by his strong words, countless times they fought together as equals, and countless times he saved her with the blaze of his fire. And if it wasn’t any of those moments that stole her heart, it was the husky mumble of his good mornings to her in all his shirtless glory, the lopsided girl and tousled hair, her blush furious before she rightfully kicked him out of her bed.

She couldn’t trust any oof the girls with her secret crush, not even Levy because she knew Gajeel would be listening in on any of the blue-haired girl’s conversations. That being said, she took to the one power she knew could never fail, seduction. There was no way Natsu could resist her charms; he’d be drooling for her attention by the end of the day.

And soon the moon was high above them and Lucy’s eyes were glued to her ceiling, Natsu washing up in her bathroom as they were about to go to sleep. She should have known her low cut tops and high cut skirts would have exactly the opposite reaction she was looking for. She even bent over to pretend to pick something up or leaned into his view for a napkin, half the men in town sick with blood loss while he stayed oblivious to each of her antics. She was too prideful to go for the direct approach, eyes glancing over to his pajama shirt that he’d left out. One she bought for him but rarely ever wore.

“‘Kay, Luce, are you ready for bed?” He grinned as he walked out of the bathroom, eyes turning towards the blonde as she stepped out of her kitchen.

“Do you want any water, I got thirsty myself,” She hummed as she handed him her glass, swaying her hips a bit more and hiding her smile as his eyes followed her to the bed.

“Isn’t that mine?” He asked as she sat on her knees, battting her lashes playfully as he approached her.

“You never wear it,” She rolled her eyes, the pinkette snickering as she pulled slightly at the bottom of the shirt. “Doesn’t it look nice?”

“I dunno, it’s a shirt, weirdo Lucy.” He snickered, moving to smooch her over and settle himself under the sheets. “Let’s go to sleep already,”

She humphed as he pulled her down along with him, arm instinctively wrapping around her waist and pulling her against his chest. Lucy frowned as he began to snore, her day wasted; clearly he would never catch on to her advances.

“Natsu,” She slapped his chest lightly, the dragon slayer peeling an eye open to gaze down at her.

“‘Sup, Luce? Can’t sleep?” He gruffed, fingers threading through her hair, massaging the base of her head lightly.

“Do you really not get what I’m doing?” She pouted and he raised his brow in question.

“Trying to sleep?” He chuckled as she further creased her brow. “What? Is it a riddle?”

“No, idiot!” He winced and prepared himself for the kick that never came, Lucy instead crossing her arms. “I’ve been trying to seduce you all day!”

“Eh? Why? Do you want something?” She blanched at his question, smacking him again for his densness.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?!”

“You’re always seducing people when you want something,” He shrugged, smiling as she continued to pout.

“I wanted you to notice me,” She groaned, turning over to shove her face in a pillow.

“I see you all the time, what’re ya talkin’ about?” Natsu laughed as she threw him a glare.

“Gray got it right, idiot flame brain,”

“Oi, don’t you start callin me th-“ Lucy silenced him with a kiss, awkwardly scrunching her lips against his. His eyes were wide as she pulled away, taking off his t-shirt to reveal her own thinner nightgown and throwing it in his face.

“I like you, okay?” She mumbled with a blush, sighing as he tossed his shirt to the floor.

“I like ya too, Luce. I still don’t get what you’re gettin’ so worked up over,” He said as he dragged her back to his side, sweetly giving her an eskimo kiss to brighten her up. “You coulda just asked for a kiss y’know?”

[yukiwrites]

Renewed Vows, Overpowering Love

Thank you so much for the support and the patience as always, @breeachuu! I hope you like it! ;v;)

Summary: It’s been almost 10 years since Henry and Nidra came to terms with their feelings -- since they had married, so to say. They never actually gotten around into having a proper ceremony, but that was about to change if it depended on Henry and Nidra’s closest friend, Queen Robin.

Commission info HERE and HERE!

_______________________________

The sun rose shyly in the sky as dawn started to break -- the idyllic rays of light shone through leaves, windows and roofs alike, illuminating the small yet bright flocks of dust as though they were morning stars.

The air itself felt more clean to the lungs, result of the previous week filled with rainfall. The water had washed the land in such a way that it grew anew under the people's feet.

Waking up to such array of sensations, especially beside the man who had made all of her dreams come true for the past decade, made Nidra almost feel like crying first thing in the morning.

She woke up with the chirp of birds, with the song of the leaves dancing with the morning breeze -- with the sound of laughter of her own children trying to keep quiet so as not to wake their parents up. The manakete clutched her heart with emotion, watching as Henry slept peacefully beside her once she sat up on their bed. His hair had grown a bit over the last few years, but he always made sure to cut it at around the same length; not to mention that his complexion underwent very little changes in these past 10 years they've been together.

"Well, not exactly a round ten per se, that one is tomorrow," she mumbled to herself, taking a few strands of hair from her husband's eyes. "Still, it IS mind-boggling to see that you haven't changed a bit, or at least very little, in all those years, my love." She whispered more to herself than to her sleeping consort, but a smile growing on his lips betrayed his 'pretending to be asleep' act.

"I was born with this face, you know? Nyaha!" He chuckled, rubbing sleep out of his eyes before stretching his body. "You shoulda seen me when I was a kid -- oh wait, you already have! I had this same face too, see?" He pointed with both indexes to his smile, making the manakete giggle before closing in for a morning kiss.

"I do see it; it never fails to surprise me." She said by his lips, breathing the same air as he.

"I'm serious, you know? If we ever have another kid -- one who looks like me this time -- you'll see it! I'll bet I was even born laughing instead of crying, nyaha!"

"You buffoon," Nidra nudged his shoulder, leaning her forehead against his. "You've only been drinking your life-extending potion for less than two years, and still look as young as you did a decade ago-"

"ALMOST a decade, ey? We're having our anniversary tomorrow! Is the dragon age catching up to you, I wonderr?" He said playfully, slowly wrapping both arms around his wife's waist. She once again nudged his shoulder, but this time with more strength. "Oof! Hey! I didn't even call you old-"

"Not another word!" She squashed his cheeks with both hands, making him do a fish face as his lips open and closed helplessly between her fingers.

"Yu'roldjie aja gwanny buj I shtill wuv you!" He managed to say as his body shook with mirth, Nidra's increasingly red face making him laugh even harder.

"Who's old as a granny? I am older than those, as well!" She said with an odd sense of pride, letting go of her husband's face so as to flick his forehead. Henry fell dramatically on the mattress, laughing so hard he held his stomach.

"Nyaha! You're the BEST, Ni-Ni!"

The morning progressed slowly: since only Nidra, Henry and their youngest children were at home at the moment, they simply shared an early breakfast and went about with their business -- the kids to the yard behind their house to collect berries, the adults to enjoy a nice shade watching them.

Meliodas and Cynthia had gone to the palace the previous day to stay the night there, meaning to return the following evening. They had to be back for their parents' 10th wedding anniversary, after all!

Although that was the plan, Nidra felt her son approaching from the sky much earlier than intended -- it was barely past noon once her eldest child landed up on the hill and quickly made his way down.

"Mother, Father! I've returned, but this time as a high-end courier!" He smiled brightly, running towards his parents who sat each on their own rocking chair placed right outside, towards the hill. In his hand lay a letter with the royal seal, more specifically, the Queen's seal.

"Oh, from Robin?" Nidra lifted both hands to receive the message, a tender smile upon her face. She missed the timing whence Meliodas winked to Henry as she carefully opened the envelope. "My, she truly wrote this as official-looking as possible!" She mused, perusing the detailed calligraphy and high-quality paper.

"What does it say?!" Henry jumped behind Nidra's chair, accidentally rocking it before he held it by its armrests so he could read the contents.

"I'm so very curious, as well. She forbade me from opening it as she handed it to me, the seal still hot! May I read it with you?" Meliodas approached carefully, not knowing from which of his father's shoulders to peek from as Nidra never took her eyes off of the letter.

Her smile grew until her eyes burned. "That Robin, always so attentive." She sniffled, handing the letter upwards, to whomever wanted to read it. Henry snatched it from her hands, leaning on Meliodas so the both of them could read what they already knew. "She asked us to--"

"Ohhh, juicy! Spend the night at the castle so we can all have a nice wedding-anniversary breakfast with the whole gang!" Henry cut his wife off, his smile too large to contain. Suddenly, he frowned, pensive, and looked up. "Huh? Aren't those things usually celebrated during diner? Why a breakfast?"

Nidra ran her fingers through the carefully woven chair, smiling fondly. "Before you started working on a cure for my narcolepsy, I mentioned to her that I truly envied those who could enjoy a nice breakfast with their comrades since I usually either overslept and missed them or would fall asleep during the act and attend it only halfway. I truly did not think she would remember such a tiny detail..."

"Ohhh," Henry and Meliodas nodded concomitantly, exchanging meaningful glances. "You sure are loved, huh, Ni-Ni?" He smirked to his son as he patted his wife's head; the manakete boy almost giggled aloud, but managed to simply chuckle and take a deep breath.

"Shall we get ready to go, then, Mother? Father?" He opened both arms.

"We shall." Nidra got up, stretched herself and breathed long and hard. "Could you bring the children inside? I shall prepare their bags for the journey."

"Aye aye!" Henry smooched his wife as she walked past him (receiving a well-deserved kick on the shin) before following his eldest son towards the bushes the children were playing at. "Did Cynthia stay behind forr... something particular?"

Meliodas snorted. "Nay. She's beside herself with excitement; not a good secret-keeper like that."

"Nyaha, that sounds like our Cyn-Cyn."

The bush in front of them moved before a green-haired head popped from inside. "Me-me?" Little Cynthia smiled widely, her entire face smeared with berries.

"GYAHA," Henry threw his head back in laughter, "didja miss your mouth and spread fruit all over your face, kiddo?" He opened his arms so the little girl could jump into his hug. "Here, let Dad wipe it all for you." He said as he reached for a handkerchief inside his pocket, promptly cleaning Cyn's face.

"There're more this way, Cyn- Oh, big bro!" Meli was midway to pointing towards a further bush when he lifted his head to see his older brother. "There're sooo many tasty fruit there! Let's go pick 'em!" He smiled widely, one of his front teeth missing.

"No can do, Meli. C'mere with big brother, hmm? We're going to visit Morgs and Luci!" He said excitedly, pleasantly watching as the boy's expression brightened.

"We're going to the castle?! Yayy!" He jumped into Meliodas' chest. "Now? Today?!"

"Today, indeed!" Meliodas got up, securing his younger self in his arms. "When we get there, I'll have a very important mission for you..."

Since Cyn was still too young to fly (as was Meli, but he could already handle a short flight or two), the family went to the castle by foot; arriving at the late afternoon.

From one of the large windows, Cynthia watched them walk in. Her heart almost jumped out of her throat. "Luciiiii, let me go see them, please! pretty pretty please? I promise I won't say anything!" She paced around the room like a caged animal -- a very excited animal -- finally shaking her friend by her shoulders.

"You know I cannot allow that, Cynthia! Mother's words were clear: we've been planning all of this for MONTHS; we can't have a single thing go wrong -- nor can we let Aunt Nidra to realize everything we've been doing at the very last day! You are confined into this room until tomorrow."

"But I wanna see Motherrrrrrr," Cynthia dramatically fell onto the ground, holding her friend's skirt. "Lemme seeee herrrr, I wanna hug my Father tooooo," she cried, rubbing her face into Lucina's legs.

Weak to younger-sibling-slyness, it took everything Lucina had to look up to the ceiling, away from her wailing friend. "I shan't be swayed! Tomorrow is far too important to let everything go to waste now!"

"Grrr, I need to think up of a better way to--" she gasped loudly. "I CAN FLY! LEMME JUMP FROM THE WINDOW!" She quickly let go of her friend and ran towards the large stained glass window, but Lucina herself was quite fast, rapidly managing to immobilize her manakete friend.

"Don't make me tie you up to this bed, Cynthia! You stay here!"

"Nnnnoooooo...!" Cynthia lifted her hand upwards dramatically, then made it limp beside her lifeless body. "I won't be able to sleeeeeep..."

Sighing as she noticed that her friend seemingly stopped fighting back, Lucina relaxed her grip. "Just bear with it for a while longer, Cynthia; I beg you. Tomorrow you WILL be there to welcome Ni-Ni, um... Aunt Nidra, after all."

Cynthia kicked her feet in excitement, her body trembling with energy all over again. "I know! And I can't wait!"

In another corner of the castle, Robin had instructed all the staff to smoothly guide Nidra away from the east wing, which they did quite subtly -- the manakete was received so warmly like always that she barely noticed how she didn't even touch the eastern garden and got through the western one instead. Well, the living quarters were situated at the west wing, so she didn't have any reason to suspect not being shown the eastern side. What was odd to her was how Cynthia's presence remained upstairs despite them having arrived quite some time ago -- there was no way the young manakete missed feeling four other dragons entering the castle; especially not after Nidra taught her how to sense presences.

Still, she knew how her daughter could be -- once she put her mind into something, she would be so focused on it she would lose track of time and place, so it wasn't ALL that uncommon. Just a nudge at the back of Nidra's head.

Like it usually happened whenever they visited, Nidra went to Robin's study to talk, feeling closely at home at that familiar balcony where she landed the week after Robin married, almost twelve years ago.

Her friend had aged well -- she still looked young, but with a firm chin and a wise gaze to go with her poise. She had grown into a magnificent Queen, down to her mannerisms and habit to issue orders. It warmed Nidra's heart to watch her already wonderful friend grow into an even more impressive ruler.

During their conversation, Robin would find Nidra lost in thought more often than not -- lost into the memories of their times together, and how much they shaped who the both of them were today.

"How much you mean to me, my friend. How, how very much." Nidra commented all of sudden, her eyes welling up with emotion. "Thank you so very much for remembering such a tiny detail of what I offhandedly mentioned almost a decade ago... It means the world to me. To have someone remember something about me that's often lost into my endless existence... Ah, Robin, how much I treasure that!"

The Queen smiled softly, her expression lines shaping her face into a motherly look. She grasped her friend's hand, caressing it with her thumb. "I'll remember you for the rest of my days, Nidra. Even after that, as my children grow and keep mine and your memories alive -- as you watch over them and make yourself a constant within my bloodline. I'll always be with you, no matter how far you or I go."

Nidra blinked so as to shoo the tears away, holding Robin's hand with both of hers. "And be present I shall, Robin. As I've promised before, I shall say it again -- I will be there for your children, and their children. I'll watch over them for you."

It was Robin's turn to feel misty-eyed, but she managed to blink it away and smile. "Look at us, making promises for the future when we're a night of sleep's away from your anniversary. Let us not behave like old grannies and enjoy the present, yes? We have the rest of our lives to reminisce."

"Right you are, my friend. As always; right you are." Nidra chuckled, drying a few stray tears from her cheeks. The night had already covered the land like a blanket that waited to be lifted come morning.

Unaware of whatever machinations were going on inside the castle, Nidra went to bed with Henry a bit after midnight -- the children had gone to sleep with young Morgan and Luci in their rooms, so it was only the couple for the night, like it hadn't been for a long time. Henry made an off-handed comment about being alone to 'dingle-dangle', but received a very embarrassed slap on the chest before Nidra snuggled her face on his to sleep.

Well, Henry thought, not like I'm gonna catch a wink anyway, nyaha! He held his wife closely, caressing her back up and down ever so slowly, like a unspoken lullaby.

The manakete fell asleep right after, safe in her husband's arms.

Yet, when she woke up, they weren't there to welcome her to the waking world. Frowning as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes, Nidra yawned widely as she sat up and groggily looked around the room. Everything looked right in place, apart from a wooden mannequin placed right beside the old full body mirror at the back of the room.

"What...?" She squinted, her vision still a bit blurry from sleep. The light coming through the expensive window was as idyllic as the previous day's, but now it slightly blinded her to what was in front of her very eyes: it was a wedding dress.

True, it was not a frilly dress with a huge ball-gown skirt, no. It was made with a very thin and light fabric, trumpet shaped and strapless -- though it had very, very long sleeves, long enough to trail behind her as she wore it. Taking a closer look, she could see that there was a cut in the long skirt, allowing her more movement without being crass; her leg could be seen all the way to her thigh, but since the skirt had so much thin fabric, it would look as though she was flying-

"Oh, so that's why the sleeves are so long... my wings." She whispered as she touched the fabric, not realizing she had already gotten up to see the dress up close. It had so many little, hand-sewn details from the tube top to the waist, then all the way through the sleeves as well as on the intricate back. It was a true masterpiece, carefully made for Nidra herself. And only her.

Feeling like she was walking inside a dream -- her feet felt as though she stepped on cotton -- Nidra looked around the room once again, time moving much slower than before. She saw so much more color than before, though nothing had actually changed. It was as though the sun reflecting through the stained glass painted the entire room in rainbows and stars, bringing her so much emotion she couldn't help but sob.

So that was the reason why Robin had sent such a formal letter -- but that didn't seem like it was only her friend's doing...? Confused, overwhelmed and emotional, the manakete stood still, her hand never letting go of the dress as she tried to understand the rush of emotions going through her heart.

She failed to notice the careful footsteps by the door as it carefully opened. She failed still to notice when her husband slipped inside and opened his arms. "Phew, I gotcha still in your pajamas!" He huffed, his usually pale face bright red from running. "I had to fly back home to bring these! Can't have a manakete wedding without our jewels, ey?" He flashed the jewels Nidra had made him over a decade ago, carefully woven into necklaces. "I'm glad I got to be the one to put it on you, nyaha," his breath was still shaky, but he managed to smile as he walked to his wife and put the necklace on her. "Happy anniversary, Ni-Ni. I knew asking Robin to help with your dream wedding was the right thing to do."

Blinking, it took Nidra a full minute to tear her eyes away from the dress to her grinning husband. Once she took a full look at him, she realized he wore a tuxedo -- not a black or purple one as she was sure he'd prefer, but a dark green one, complete with a rainbow colored handkerchief by his chest pocket.

The male manakete color scheme; to call upon the females with his intricate scales and battle prowess.

Seeing how she eyed his outfit, Henry smiled and Nidra could almost see him being bashful. "I'm not a dragon (and boy do I wish I were!) but 'least I could borrow the colors to match my wife!"

Nidra opened and closed her mouth like a fish, making Henry remember the previous morning and giggle before wrapping his arms around her waist. "It's okay, take your time to take it all in." He patted her back, used to giving her space to digest things through.

A few minutes later, Nidra managed to mumble a "how" and a "when", her brain a complete knot.

"You won't believe how many people Robin got into this! It'd be better to show you, though," he smiled, his thin eyes showing a tiny bit of expression lines -- age and wisdom, the same ones she saw in her friend just the previous night.

So he did change a little bit in these ten years.

"Do you want help with the dress? I mean with the undressing part," he wiggled his eyebrows, sure to make her work after making a dirty remark.

It did wonders to bring Nidra back to reality, though it cost him an aching shin. "Worth it!" He said as she made him wait outside while she got into that wonderful dress.

The more she did, the less real it felt. It wasn't as though she had always wanted a wedding ceremony. Her memories of those usually meant that she would be left alone, or at least left aside. Back when she was young, she witnessed a wonderfully large party that's marked her for eternity. Then, there was Robin's, which also dug deep into her, though that time she could be open with her friend and tell her what she was feeling.

There were other parties the Shepherds threw for some of their members' marriages, but it wasn't as though Nidra wanted to have one for herself.

What she wanted were the memories and feelings conveyed in those ceremonies. She wanted to hear the promise from her husband's lips, a bit more official-like than what he usually did (though she could still live without it for the rest of her days since he already gave her so much), and to be congratulated by her friend and family... to announce her love proudly and show it to the world that she was happy.

She was finally, truly happy.

"Aw, Ni-Ni! No need to cry so early! There're so many opportunities for you to cry later!" Henry giggled as she left the room in tears, helping her with her wild hair before escorting her to the eastern side of the castle.

They all knew that although Nidra got used to being around humans, it wasn't as though she enjoyed large crowds, so they kept it all small: at an ancient chapel right behind the walls of a forgotten garden at the east wing, they would formalize Nidra and Henry's marriage for the first time in ten years.

The place overflowed with antique energy, the forest consuming most of the columns and arches, making it an ideal place for a manakete to roost at. Vines and multi-colored flowers sprouted naturally from the old stonework, complementing the floral decoration Cynthia and Meliodas worked hard at.

At the center of the altar, there laid a Naga's Bell, the largest one Nidra had ever seen.

Widening her eyes, she tried to take it all in: she saw her friends and family scattered about the natural garden, all wearing different degrees of smiles. She saw Cyn and Meli dancing with Morgs and Lucina right in front of the paved corridor as the girls carried small baskets full of flower petals while the boys shared a large velvet cushion.

Cynthia spotted her parents coming in first and let out a loud squeal. "Mother!! You look amazing! Happy anniversary! Happy marriage! Gods I'm so excited I- whoops!" She rambled on as she ran towards her mother, tripping on a nearby root and landing right in Nidra's arms. "Nice catch!"

"Oh, my darling child... you look stunning as well. A short dress much like a flower in bloom." Nidra managed to speak, her words outpacing her thoughts. "And your sister is wearing a miniature of the same dress, oh Naga, she looks so adorable." She clutched her chest, misty-eyed. Young Meli wore a miniature tuxedo to match with Henry while Meliodas wore a long, silver coat-tail with platinum ends to signify his wings. He welcomed his mother, father and sister with open arms.

"Mother! You do not know how hard it was to keep all of this a secret from you!" He laughed, squeezing them all in his hug.

Her mind slow, Nidra looked from her husband to her daughter, then to her son. "Indeed... How did you keep it a secret? Cynthia is not much of a secret-keeper..."

"I did my best!" She puffed her cheeks.

"So did Lucina and Robin, Mother. They received the brunt of Cynthia's excitement whenever she was about to blurt it all by accident." Meliodas chuckled, placing a tuft of hair behind his mother's long ear. In a smooth movement, he took a step back to reveal his godmother and god sister.

Both Queen and Princess smiled fondly as the children danced around themselves. "Happy anniversary, old friend." Robin took Nidra's hands in hers, squeezing under her silk gloves. "I got you this time," she winked.

"That you did, you old fox," Nidra's chin trembled, her feelings finally catching up with what was going on. "Oh, give me a hug, Robin! Thank you so much for this." She pulled her friend into a bear embrace, squeezing the breath out of her.

"N-Ni-Ni, you're going to kill Mother-" Lucina blurted out as Robin started turning blue, but Nidra let go of her right after, her entire body trembling.

"I- We better start this before I start crying for three hours straight." Nidra sniffled, covering her mouth with one hand as Lucina tenderly took her turn in hugging her godmother.

Henry nodded beside her, his expression comically serious. "She means it. She WILL cry for three hours straight if you let her."

Robin guffawed, throwing her head back. "Ha! And you think I don't know that? Let's take our places quickly before Cyn scatters all the petals in that same spot she's in."

"Mommyyy! Cyn'll make the path pwetty for you!" The little girl waved, obediently not leaving her post as she had promised aunt Robin earlier. Luci worriedly tried to keep her friend to waste more petals than necessary, stealing a strangled laughter from the manakete bride.

Nidra tried with all her might to keep her tears from flowing, but flow they did -- she walked down the aisle alongside her husband as their children opened the way for them, their friends and found family waiting for them at the altar, whence the Naga's Bell hung magnanimously. Under it, Tiki used herself as a proxy for Naga's voice to call upon her dragon children so they could celebrate such a love-filled and heartwarming union.

Nowi, Nah, Cynthia, Meliodas as well as their younger counterparts all felt a strong current of power coursing through their veins, as though Naga had descended amongst them for a brief moment to touch upon Nidra’s jewel with a kiss. Both hers and Henry’s shone so brightly the next second, they had to close their eyes, not realizing they intertwined their fingers in a strong handhold.

For a moment, there was only silence, as though time had stopped simply for Henry and Nidra to look at each other and smile. “I love you,” they said in unison, Henry’s smile the truest Nidra had ever seen in the past decade.

He had grown so much since they first met -- he got in touch with his feelings more often and hardly ever masked them with a snicker, choosing to convey them to his wife instead. And at that moment, everything that he felt meant only that.

Love.

Overpowering and true love.

Nidra couldn’t keep the waterfall of tears away any longer, so she finally let them flow as freely as possible, a second after she wrapped both arms around Henry’s neck so as to tenderly seal their renewed promise with a kiss. He reciprocated for a moment, then snorted over her lips as he felt her shoulders trembling.

“D-don’t laugh!” She protested weakly as she slipped into his shoulder to hide her crying face. Henry, on the other hand, trembled with mirth.

“You’re so funny, Ni-Ni! I’m glad I married you for realsies now.” He patted her back as she grumbled something under her breath, trying to hide the huge smile that went with her tears.

All around them, their family and friends celebrated, throwing petals and rice on them. The children started dancing at the sound of the band which started playing a peppy tune, while the couples hugged themselves so as to take advantage of the atmosphere of love in the air.

Truly, Nidra couldn’t have been happier than on that day.

In truth, ever since marrying Henry for the first time, her life had only gotten exponentially happier. That only made her look forward to eternity beside her beloved, more and more each day.

For the technically newlyweds, life couldn’t actually return to normal -- it was as though they had returned to the early days of their marriage, always enjoying each other’s presence more than with other people. Robin even volunteered to keep the children in the castle for a few weeks or so to let the couple, ahem, renew their vows privately, but Nidra only allowed it for a couple of days at most.

Despite being a blushing bride, she was also a very clingy and proud mother. She didn’t want to part with her children for longer than necessary.

Which was why that, a bit over two months after their ceremony, it occurred to Nidra that she hadn’t transformed to take a nap under the tree atop the hill in quite a while. The fact only came to her mind while she was entangled in her future children’s scales as all of them took a family nap, Cynthia and Meliodas interlaced around each other, with their parents and younger siblings in their midst.

Alone in her waking, Nidra looked down to her sleeping husband, softly placing one hand over her chest.

Could it be? Could it truly be?

The manakete looked around herself -- quite literally surrounded by her family, and yet the expectation of being actually, well, expecting another member to complement it. She bit her lower lip, her eyes welling up with tears. What a great news to wake up to, she thought, snuggling into Henry’s chest. I wonder how I should say it when he wakes up.

[farklelucas]

all about the lesbian sea pirate

ahsjdkflg okay im gonna do the first section above the cut and the rest under

send me an oc and some numbers pls!! | here are my ocs!

Section 1 - About:

1. Briefly Describe your OC: Appearance, personality, role in a story, etc..

okay so!! hana is half-japanese, half-german, she’s got short/spiky black hair and fucking Huge brown eyes. she’s the protagonist of a thus-unwritten pirate love story and i fucking love her. she’s superbly socially awkward (doesn’t get customs like politeness or like asking before doing things asdjkfl), she’s a Romantic romantic, she loves sword-fighting, she was raised by her father (alongside three older half-brothers, though she was chosen as the heir to his ship which hmm pissed two of them off), she’s very much butch/tomboy, she loves adventure and sailing so fucking much, uhhh yeah her.

2. Briefly describe their backstory/childhood

like i said, she was raised by her dad, who she idolizes, along with her three brothers on the sea; she never knew her mother, because her father told her that she died giving birth to hana (or did she….? hm. maybe hana’s dad is just shitty?). she was always super excited to play and go on adventures and fight, especially with her three older brothers (only one of whom actually like. liked her.), and by the time she was old enough to hold a sword, her dad taught her how to. eventually, her dad became ill, and named hana, who was only 16, his successor. her two eldest brothers planned a mutiny to overthrow her, killing the other brother who protested. hana fought them but they escaped with half her treasure, promising to come back and kill her, and she’s spent the past six years seeking them out to defeat them.

3. Describe their family life and friends.

i mean i pretty much nailed her family, but she’s very close to all the crew. i’ll give you a quick rundown: there’s caspian, her first mate/quartermaster (grew up on the ship with her, an orphan who was stolen in one of the raids, searching out his lost family but is also a big time goof), dover, her “advisor”/sailing master (wise, lazy, arrogant, bitchy, basically her pseudo-father because her father was usually off being captain), darya, her gunner (slutty bisexual aromantic queen, runs the artillery AND the under deck gambling ring, always drunk, loyal to a fault especially to hana), and zarya (we’ll get to her later ;)) and the other lower-ranking crew members.

4. What is the world they come from like?

hmmm very mystical and mysterious, very “pirates are bad and suck and we dont like them even though they’re not usually bad” but. you know. hana is still an outlaw of the land. there are mermaids and sirens and cracken and curses so it’s better to assume that if its magical it exists.

5. Are they original or exist in a certain fandom?

original!!

6. Are they an introvert or extrovert?

extroverted babey

7. Greatest fear?

being unable to sail but also, later on, (SPOILERS) being arrogant and greedy and malicious like her father

8. What’s their sense of humor like?

honestly just fucking. stupid. she probably likes puns and like dirty jokes.

9. Favorite pieces of fiction or genres they enjoy?

i dont think she can read???? but her third eldest brother bourne would usually tell her princess stories and she liked those

10. Favorite music genres?

folk ig

11. Describe their vision of a perfect spouse, if applicable.

a tall, beautiful, kindhearted woman, who sees past the pirate savagery and sees her heart beneath; a woman who can rule the sea alongside her and knows how to handle her and keep her in check. (looks at zarya meaningfully)

12. Largest regret?

not being able to save bourne

13. Something your OC would say?

my quote for her in her bio is “what am i without adventure?” but i also imagine her saying to zarya, “you are more celestial than the stars, my love, and twice as beautiful to behold.”

14. Whats their morality like?

technically lawful good but could be a roulette wheel depending on the day

15. Would they live in a city, rural area, or suburb?

oof none but if she had to probably rural

16. Which actor would you like to portray your OC? (Or a voice actor)

sjskdldldl my face claim is jen ruggirello

17. Sexuality? Gender Identity?

lesbian baby!!!!!

18. What inspired you to make this character?

honestly?? probably a lack of rep in romance and adventure novels. i just love her!!!

Section 2 - If…

1. If they existed in another decade, what would they wear? (Asker can choose what decade) (Bonus points if you draw them!)

hmmm ill pick… current day tbh, and i imagine lots of overalls and baggy sweaters!

2. If they were in a RPG, what would be their class?

i have to imagine somewhere between paladin and a fighter, im not sure which.

3. If they received a large amount of money no strings attached, what would they use it for?

i honestly think she would just. go into the nearest village and buy all the local hungry children bread. like she wouldn’t horde it or spend it on herself. she has everything she needs.

4. If they competed on a competitive TV show, how would they approach to winning? (the “mean” one, the one who makes friends, the one who’s there for fun)

hm… i honestly dont even think she would think about it like that dkdkflfl. probably the charming one, the leader, the adorkable one.

5. If they could change one thing about their past, what would it be?

i think she would choose to keep in contact with her mother. not necessarily live with her, because then she wouldnt have her first love which is the sea, but just like. talk to her. know her better. go see her every few months. write her from different ports about their adventures.

6. If you met them, what would they do?

i would honestly probably be so fucking charmed by her. shes got that way about her, a leadership quality you can’t shake, even if shes really incredibly awkward too.

7. If your character exists in another series’ world, what would they be doing/look like?

i kind of imagine her in harry potter as like. this half blood gryffindor who’s So Gryffindor it hurts. on the quidditch team, always screaming about house pride, everyone loves her. and then she goes and falls in love with this muggle born slytherin and shakes the whole school dkdkkrklr

Section 3 - Other:

1. What other OCs would they get along with?

oh… i think it’s kind of cheap to say jack, because they’re both pirates, but honestly i think they’d get on like a house on fire. other than that… definitely michael minkus, who would make an epic first mate, and lucy stilinksi-hale, who she would probably wanna smash.

2. What’s their singing voice like?

bad. comically bad. she tries to sing to zarya sometimes and zarya locks her out of their room.

3. Take a personality test as the character. Post results.

okay so ive already taken a couple for her in the past (ex: gryffindor, entj, the motivator, etc.) so im gonna take a completely benign one off buzzfeed and post the results. so if she were a song off of thank you next she would be “bad idea” skskkdkd

4. What would be their fighting style in a fighting game like Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Brothers, or Street Fighter?

to outsmart her opponent, think two moves ahead of theirs just like in real life. jokes on her no one else is ever thinking skdkkfkfl

5. What are some mannerisms/quirks?

putting her feet up on tables, walking into rooms without invitation, holing up in her cabin for days working, smirking instead of smiling, smoking, docking in random cities for the thrill of adventure, wearing her blouses nearly completely unbuttoned, just taking things and enforcing sharing bc. she’s always shared everything with everyone naturally and she doesnt know to ask djdkfkfk

6. Describe their favorite meal.

honestly she’ll eat anything but just like. a Nice leg of mutton and a glass of beer. that’s it. that’s the dream.

7. What do they do when they’re bored?

her favorite activity is to randomly attack caspian and have impromptu sword fights with him, but she also loves stargazing and telling stories to the town children.

8. How do they express love/affection for someone?

honestly she’s very. nuzzley. soft. like a little kitten. also waxes poetic. at least romantically. platonically, shes usually like a dad friend sjdkkrlr. like im talking “attaboy” and punches on the arm. pep talks. dad voice. the whole nine yards.

9. Most embarrassing thing that could/has happened to them?

honestly, she’s not easily embarrassed ever. i think she’s kind of just like meh over most things. the most embarrassing thing that could happen would be losing the respect of her crew. she would hate that so much.

10. Make a portrait sketch of them!

[ajoblotofjunk]

Z Nation re-watch: 4x08 The One With the Nun Zombies

The title of this episode makes explicit the theme of this season - "Crisis of Faith." I love it.

It's Kaya and baby JZ! And Zona has arrived, shooting at them.

HI NANA!

Moment of Kaya appreciation.

Sarge gets in an "OH, Canada" joke but I sincerely hope she's kidding about the 'cannabis country' thing because there is a GIANT SIGN that says "WELCOME TO CANADA" right in front of her. Or maybe she just never learned to read in the apocalypse. Reading isn't exactly a priority when zombies are trying to eat you.

10k: "Seems too good to be true." Doc: "I know what you mean kid. I remember when Newmerica was called California. It's just so hard to believe in anything anymore." This theme comes up a lot this season - especially from Doc, which is interesting because he's basically been their north star in terms of 'we can do this' - and it's explored a lot in this episode in particular. This is just the beginning.

It's a natural extension of seasons of show/years of in-show time to dealing with the apocalypse and one of the things I think Z Nation in particular is VERY good at: what happens when the apocalypse is just your regular life? You've fought and scraped and done terrible things and had terrible things done to you and now you're just living, what next? How do you hold onto your belief - your faith - that something better is going to come? (And if you don't think that's applicable to 2017/2018 US politics, well. Maybe consider it again.)

Murphy plans to keep on surviving but some day he has to ask himself why.

Warren will be especially interesting in season 5 with no mission at all - no saving Murphy, no being driven by Black Rainbow.

lmao the music using the Canadian anthem briefly as the Mountie zombies attack.

Sarge gets a little wild and inappropriate with the the crop and the Mountie zombie.

The scene fighting the nuns is funny mostly because I know several people who are ex-Catholic school raised and they would feel much the same way.

Warren saves Murphy and looks beautiful doing it. As a side note, though, this exchange between them is interesting. She's saved his life a lot of times, but it seems to mean a lot more here. I suspect it's because of the tension between them. It's actually a shame we didn't get one episode between last ep and this one with them just being awkward and mad at each other, because I think the payoff of this episode where he finally believes her would mean even more (though it's a pretty big deal anyway). I would've cut out the Mt Weather episode for that, but I'm not a showrunner, so. Hee.

Doc: "I'm going to hell even more than I was before." Murphy: "We're already in hell, Doc, it can only go up from here."

10k: "My dad said Lazarus was the original zombie." Murphy: "Don't count if you don't crave brains."

Warren to Murphy: "You were in Zona. You were awake. What did they do to me?" Murphy has no idea and I think he feels guilty about not knowing.

Just leaving this here. I'm going to do a lot of cap dropping for this next section because visually it's a LOT.

Could've called this ep "Warren's Wedding," ijs.

Murphy: *tries for 10 seconds* Murphy: This isn't working! lol u quitter.

Look at her little face when she tells him "come here" and holds out her hands.

Lordt.

I love this show and its sometimes hilariously bad CGI.

BUT on a more serious note - is this what it's always like for Murphy to get into people's minds? We've never seen it before, it's always seemed he more feels/hears them instead of any sort of visualization. I'm just curious. (I did appreciate that it was 10k who brought up this idea in the first place, and in an appropriately bitter voice.)

Doc: "What'd you see?" Murphy: "Nothing. I didn't see anything. I felt it. What she's feeling. It's excruciating." So maybe the visual was entirely for us as viewers. Hm.

He is horrified at what he felt, realizes that Warren has been feeling that the whole time that words alone couldn't do justice to how awful it is. Warren is the GOAT, and Murphy knows it:

<3

Warren's so thankful someone finally understands what she's been going through, he's validated her beliefs by feeling it, too.

Murphy: "What I felt...what you've been feeling. You been feeling that this whole time?" Warren: "Yeah." Murphy: "Whatever it is, are we going towards it, or away from it?" Warren: "I don't know." The crux of her problem.

I like the framing of this.

Sarge calls the zombies "a storm of skinnies" and "chicken and dumplings" and nothing makes sense.

Murphy, clean your sword before you sheathe it!

Sarge: "We get to interrogate him, right? I always wanted to interrogate somebody." She is way out in left field this episode, a bloodthirsty soldier spoiling for a fight. Her personality never really solidifies this season, IMO, and I hope she gets more grounded in herself next season.

But it does give Warren someone to react to to remember how to be herself. Warren is very sweet with Louis, and introduces herself as Lt. Warren of the National Guard again, something she is still holding onto.

Louis is a great one-off character and it's a damn shame what they do to him at the end of the episode.

Sharing a moment.

Warren: "Not many people still got religion in all this." Louis: *laughs* "I don't. I mean, old white man in the sky? But. If this relic can really cure people? People are gonna need healing, once all this is over." Gosh I want to have a long conversation about healing post-apocalypse, and how you know when it's time to focus on healing vs. surviving.

Warren: "You think this will be over? I call that faith." Louis: "That's just basic survival. You gotta believe this will end, right? If you don't, hug a zombie."

Warren needed someone to give her faith. She was running low.

Good lighting in this crypt.

Warren: "How do you know you're doing something good or you're just...delusional?" Louis: "I don't."

Oof, Murphy talking with Louis about his daughter is rough.

Murphy: "She wasn't a saint. She was a little girl." Louis: "Sacrificing yourself for someone you love, it doesn't get more holy than that does it?"

Mom and Dad looking at their little Lucy.

Warren heads back to the US again and the others follow. We're back on the trail of Black Rainbow. We’ll not speak of what happens to Louis.

[ladywinchester1967]

When Love and Hate Collide.

Summary: With her life in shambles; reader encounters Dean Winchester for the first time in years. When he makes her an offer to take the pain away and she gives in, will either of them make it out alive?

Pairing: MOC!Dean x Demon!Reader (mentions of a previous relationship)

Characters: Dean Winchester, Reader (Y/N= your name), Tommy (OC), Doug (OC), Abaddon (mentioned), Rowena (mentioned).

Rating/Warnings: R/ SMUT, mentions of cheating, drinking, language, blood sharing, blood drinking, cutting, unprotected sex (wrap your wacker kids). This shit is DARK; Like pits of hell dark. Unbeta’d all mistakes belong to me.

Trigger warning: this doesn’t depict a healthy relationship AT ALL. If reading that type of stuff upsets you in anyway, please don’t go any further. Also if I tagged you and things like this upset you; please tell me!

Author’s Note: I’ve been writing and reading fan fiction for a long, long time and haven’t mustered up the courage to post any of it. However, I decided to post this one and I hope you guys like it! It’s part of a mini-series that I’m currently in the process of writing, I’ll post updates as soon as I finish them. Feedback/ constructive criticism is appreciated but please be kind.  

TAGS *if you want to be untagged, let me know*: @sis-tafics @mrswhozeewhatsis @winchesterenthusiast @eyes-of-a-disney-princess @impala-dreamer @queen-of-deans-booty @evansrogerskitten @littlegreenplasticsoldier @salvachester @luci-in-trenchcoats @charliebradbury1104 @anotherwaywardsister @just-another-winchester

*Part 1: Sinner*

Bend me, shape me, misdirect me;

It's all the same to me.

You look at me but you don't see,

Understand I'm a sinner. - Drowning Pool

She strode into the bar and made a beeline for her usual seat.

“Hey Y/N,” the bartender, Tommy, greeted her. “The usual?”

Y/N shook her head

“Make it a double” Y/N told him. 

Tommy didn’t say anything, her poured the drink and slid it her way. She quickly downed it and asked for another. She slowly sipped the next one, zoning out into the white noise of her own head.

“Y/N?” a deep, familiar voice asked.

She looked up and nearly spat out her drink.

“DEAN?!” She asked, taking him in.

It had been years since they had last seen each other, his dark blonde hair was longer on the top and he had more scruff on his face, he looked like he had more muscles, but the one thing that hadn’t changed were his startling green eyes; they were like a forest in springtime.

Y/N slid off her barstool and gave him a hug. He felt the same, smelled the same; but something was different. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. He pulled back, his hands on her hips.

“What brings you to this neck of the woods?” She asked, her hands still on his shoulders.

“Just passing through,” he said “mind if I join you?”

“Not at all.” She said and they released one another.

They idly chatted while they drank; work and the weather, nothing too deep.

Until they started getting drunk that is. Dean had always been easy to talk to, he had always been honest and had actually listened to what she had to say.

“How’s married life treating you?” Dean asked.

A dark look came over Y/N’s face and she said

“Nothing to report.” as she knocked her drink back. Dean raised an eyebrow at her.

“Nothing to report?” He asked “I thought what’s his name?”

“Doug.” She said

“Doug was the greatest thing since sliced cheese?” He asked and she laughed. He’d missed that laugh; it brought back happy memories.

“He was,” she said and finished off the rest of her drink “until I caught him banging his secretary.”

Dean’s eyes widened

“And his yoga instructor,” she went on “AND our real estate agent.”

Dean’s jaw his the floor

“Seriously?” He asked

“As a heart attack,” she said “caught all four of them in our bed.” She flashed him a thumbs up. “Good times.”

“When did this happen?” He asked

She thought back and asked Tommy

“When did I find that out? Like six months ago?”

Tommy nodded

“Yep, right around the time Cindy gave birth.” Tommy said, referring to his girlfriend.

“So yeah, six months ago and there’s a nasty divorce ahead.” Y/N said and knocked back the rest of her drink.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Dean asked

“And say what?” Y/N asked and held up an imaginary phone “Oh hey Dean, I know we haven’t talked in 3 years by the way, I’m living my personal hell, how’s Kansas?”

Dean chuckled and said

“Always with the self deprecating humor.”

“Because if I don’t laugh, I’m gonna fucking cry.” She said

“You still could’ve called me, I would’ve at least broken his nose for you or something.” Dean said with a shrug.

“I beat you to that, sorry.” Y/N said with a satisfied grin.

“Or something else then.” he said looking over the rim of his glass at her, his eyebrows shooting up in a suggestive manner.

Y/N chuckled

“Yeah, okay sure.” She said

“I’m serious Y/N,” Dean said “THAT was always good with us.”

“Better than good,” Y/N answered “I remember the words “mind blowing” getting thrown around a couple of times.”

Dean shrugged

“Yeah, that did happen.” He said

How could she forget? Their time as a couple had been brief and worth forgetting, the sex; however, seemed to be permanently seared into her brain. When she needed some “alone time,” which was a lot since Doug barely wanted to touch her, she’d go back to those times with Dean and get lost in them. The memory of being bent over the hood of his 1967 Chevy Impala one starry night came back and she grinned.

“Yeah, I remember that night too.” He said.

“What night?” She asked, she hadn’t said anything out loud, or at least she was sure she hadn’t.

“In the field during the meteor shower?” He asked “I can see it, plain as day in your head.”

“How do you know what’s rattling around in my noggin?” She asked, shocked.

“Let’s just say that my hair isn’t the only thing that’s changed.” he said, his perfect mouth curling into his legendary sexy smile. He placed a hand gently on her knee and leaned forward, his mouth close to her ear.

“You wanna get outta here, wildling?” He asked, his breath sending little puffs on to her ear, making her shutter.

He’d called her by the nickname he’d given her because of how wild they could get together. She pulled back and grinned at him.

“Yeah.” She said and slapped forty bucks on the bar. “For me and him Tommy, keep the change.” Y/N told the bar tender as she and Dean got up. He took her hand in his, leading her out of the bar.

Once they were securely in Dean’s motel room, he pounced on her. He slammed her back against the door. He pressed his pelvis into her, his denim clad erection pushing into her stomach.

“Mh, you’re ready.” She commented.

“I’ve been ready for you since the second I saw you that bar,” he said, taking her wrists and pinning them above her head. “The last two fucking hours has been extended foreplay.”

She could feel the body heat rolling off of him, his familiar scent wrapping around her.

“Fuck it.” she decided and leaned in, smashing her lips against his. It felt like the Fourth of July, her birthday and New Years Eve all at once. This was what a passionate kiss was supposed to be, full of lust and heat. He opened his mouth and kissed her again, his tongue swiping across her teeth. She opened up and let him in, his tongue exploring her mouth. Her tongue met his and his hands gripped her wrists tightly.

“God damn baby,” he said breathlessly when the kiss ended “When was the last time you got laid?”

“It’s been a while okay?” She said as he released her and she looked away.

“How long Y/N?” He asked

She bit her lip and looked up at him.

“Like three months.” she told him

Dean grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the bed. He picked her up, her legs wrapping around his waist.

“I’ll fix that.” He said and laid her on her back, the bed dipping as she landed on it with a soft “oof!”

They were all hands and mouths this time as he was on his knees and elbows above her; his hands tangled in her hair and hers running up and down his back. She grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and off of him, throwing it aside. His bare torso looked better in person than in her memory, an audible sigh falling from her mouth.

“Your ex must be blind and stupid,” he growled in her ear as he laid half on top of her “if I had you waiting for me at home, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you, let alone look at another woman.”

“Show me Dean.” She said in a tone that she barely recognized as her own as he kissed her neck, her hand running through the hair on the back of his head.

He bit down on her neck and she cried out, squirming under him. He let out a dark chuckle, sat up a little bit and without warning, ripped her dress open. The ruined fabric fell away from her body revealing a black, lacy bra and pink panties. He groaned as he sat up on his knees and took her in.

“Better than I remember.” He said, his hand roamed over her curves, his calloused hands were warm and strong on her soft skin.

“Dean, please!” She begged as he flattened his hands on her sides.

“Be patient baby,” he said, his hands sliding over her hips and down her thighs, then back up again “I’m gonna make it worth your while.”

She knew he always made good on his promises, especially where sex was concerned, so she nodded. He opened her legs wide and groaned again.

“Fuck, you’re wet all ready.” he said and picked up one of her legs, throwing it over his shoulder. He kissed the inside of her knee and up her inner thigh, the stubble on his face scratching her sensitive skin, making her back arch. He picked up her other leg and did the same thing, when he got to the apex of her thighs, he quickly slid her panties off and tossed them aside. He laid down between her legs, his mouth inches from her dripping core.

“Mhhh,” he moaned and licked a thick stripe from her opening to her clit, making her squirm “you taste even better than I remember.” He said, his mouth closing over her clit and sucking on it. Her hands were immediately in his hair as she whined, his tongue flicking through her folds as she cried out

“Oh god, yes!”

“That’s it baby,” he encouraged her “yell for me.”

His tongue wound circles around her clit as he slid two fingers easily inside of her. His tongue flicked over her clit as he slowly pumped his fingers into her. He closed his mouth over her clit and sucked on it, making her writhe.

“Ohhhhh god, Dean, don’t stop, please don’t stop.” She begged him, the chord in her stomach winding tight as she started to get lightheaded.

“You want to come for me sweetheart?” He asked, his thumb sliding up and making circles on her clit, making a high pitched cry come out of her along with a stream of swears and his name. “Come on baby, come. Come for me.” He made the come here motion with the fingers inside of her, making the chord in her belly snap as a loud scream ripped through her. He worked her through the orgasm, drawing it out for all she was worth. She laid back, panting as he sucked her slick off his thumb. He held his middle and forefingers up to her mouth and said 

“Suck”

She grabbed his wrist and took his fingers into her mouth, sucking her own slick off of them, making him groan. She swore his eyes went black from being so lust blown, but her mind had been known to play tricks on her, so she ignored it. She swirled her tongue around his fingers and then sucked on them hard.

“Holy fuck.” Dean said quietly and pulled his hand away from her mouth. He quickly took his pants and underwear off while she unhooked her bra and tossed it to the side. With both of them naked, Dean crawled on top of her and laid her on her back.

“What do you want?” He asked, smoothing her hair out of her face.

“To forget,” she told him, her hands running up his strong, bare arms. “To forget my husband has been fooling around on me during our entire marriage. Help me forget Dean.”

Without a word, Dean placed a passionate kiss on her lips and easily slid inside her.

“My name is gonna be the only one you scream now.” He told her, holding his hips still inside her “I can’t get you out of my head Y/N, and I know you think about me when you’re all alone. You want me, I want you.” He slowly started to move his hips, slowly and deliciously. “You. Are. Mine.” He said and snapped his hips into her, punctuating each word with a thrust. 

Y/N screamed out, her nails digging into his shoulders.

“Say it Y/N.” Dean commanded and her eyes met his. 

His expression was full of dominance and lust, making a shutter run down her spine. “I’m-“ She stammered “I’m-AAAH!-I’m yours Dean, all yours!”

“Such a good girl,” he said and kissed her hard “You always were good for me.” He commented as he moved his hips faster. 

She dug her nails into his back and dragged them down, making him groan.

“Yes, yes,” he moaned in her ear and gave it a bite. She cried out and he moved his hips faster.“Oh fuck, fuck!” She yelled “Dean, I’m gonna come!”

“Come sweetheart,” he said in her ear and bit down on her shoulder, making her scream as she exploded around him, her nails digging into his back again and her vision going white for a few seconds. He gripped her hair hard and cried out loudly, almost sounding like a roar, as he finished inside of her and stilled. He rolled off of her and on to his back, his hand still tangled in her hair as they both caught their breath. 

“Holy shit.” She said quietly and he chuckled. He rolled over to his stomach and they lazily kissed. His free hand cupped her face as they kissed; she placed her hand over his and gave his lip a playful bite. He pulled back and gave her a panty busting smirk.

“Naughty.” He said and booped the her nose. 

They both tugged their underwear on and moved to lay under the covers, her head on his chest and her hand skimming over his skin. He had one hand in her hair while the other ran up and down her back. Her eyes drifted down and saw what looked like a burn on his inner right arm. It was in the shape of upside down L with hash marks next to it.

“What happened?” She asked and nodded to the mark.

“Remember when I said my hair wasn’t the only thing that was different?” He asked and lightly tugged on her hair so she was looking up at him. She nodded and he went on “to make a long, bloody and complicated story short, it’s the Mark of Cain.”

“Cain?” She asked “like Cain and Abel?”

He nodded “He gave it to me, I died and came back.” he blinked and there was no mistaking it now, his beautiful green eyes were pitch black. “As a demon.”

She furrowed her eyebrows.

“But, there’s no such thing.” She said “After you left, I stopped believing in that.” His eyes returned to their normal green and he said

“That was me, I did that to protect you.”

“I don’t understand.” She said and sat up, gathering the sheet around her chest. He sat up too and asked

“Haven’t you ever wondered why you can’t remember our relationship? Why the only thing that stands out is the sex?”

“Because it was that good?” She asked “we weren’t together that long Dean.”

“Yes we were,” he said “a year and a half.”

Her heart rate increased as she gripped the sheet. She thought hard, but nothing other than a few romps in the hay came back to her.

“You can think as hard as you want,” he said “but that’s all you can remember for a reason.”

She stared at him; confused, scared and hurt.

“What did you do to me?!” She demanded. 

He sighed, dragged his bottom lip between his teeth and then spoke.

“When I left, I was on a Knight of Hell’s shit list.” He explained “She was torturing anyone and everyone I cared about to get information on me. So, to keep you safe, I asked a witch who owed me a favor to cast a spell. Something that would change your memories of our relationship into what looked like casual encounters.” She stared at him and he continued “Haven’t you ever wondered why you never take the ring on your middle finger off?” He asked.

She looked down at her right hand; the thin silver band with runes engraved on it looked back at her.

“Because my Mom gave it to me for my sweet sixteen.” She answered and he shook his head.

“That’s the spell,” he said, tapping the ring with his finger “the witch, Rowena, enchanted it so even if Abbadon, the Knight of Hell, got a hold of you, all she would be able to see is what you could remember, which is just sex; nothing of use to her.”

She stared at him, she was somewhere between terrified and thinking that he had lost his mind.

“I know you think I’m crazy,” he said and tapped his temple “perk of being a demon, I can see what’s going on in your head. If you take the ring off, you’ll remember everything.”

“I can’t take it off.” she said instantly and he smirked.

“Another defense mechanism,” He said “gotta give Rowena credit, she knew what she was doing when she cast this spell.”

She chewed on her bottom lip, the memories of her relationship and marriage to Doug cycling through her head like a slide show. The loneliness, the heart break, the self doubt; it all started to hurt.

“Fuck.” She said and wiped away a tear that had fallen down her face.

“I can see everything that happened to you since I left,” he said “had I known then what I know now, I would’ve found another way to keep you safe.”

“I don’t want you to keep me safe.” She told him, her breaths coming quickly. “I’m tired of getting hurt, I let Doug walk all over me and where did that get me? Divorced at twenty-eight that’s where.” She said and Dean’s mouth curled into a smile.

“What if I told you there’s a way to fix that?” He asked “I can make you powerful enough where no one like Doug will hurt you ever again?”

She nodded

“I want it Dean,” she told him “whatever you’re selling, I’m buying it.”

Dean got out of bed and walked over to his pants that were laying on the ground. He fished around in his pocket until he found a small knife he kept on him. He walked back to the bed and sat down, facing her.

“What’re you gonna do? Kill me?” She asked him. He tucked her hair behind her ear, his expression softening.

“No,” he said “I could never kill you Y/N, I can’t so much as lay a finger on you. But I see someone else has.”

Dean could hear the sound of Doug’s open palm going across Y/N’s cheek, feel the sting that it left behind. Y/N’s eyes hardened, trying to push the memories down. Anger flashed across Dean’s face and he made a mental note to make that asshole pay.

“Demons can take mates,” He explained “mostly humans they use for sex or as shields when the shit hits the fan.” He held her face in his hand “but, when a demon takes another demon as their mate, it’s for life.”

“You can turn me into a demon?” She asked and he nodded “How?”

“I’ll feed you my blood,” he said “and we’ll do the binding ritual. That’s quicker than spending eternity in hell torturing souls.”

“Do it.” She told him

“Are you sure?” He asked “because once we do this, there’s no going back. No do overs, no restarts, nothing.”

She stared at him and then at the knife.“I’m sure,” she said “No one will ever hurt me again.”

He nodded, gripped her hair and passionately kissed her. When the kiss was over, he released her hair and held the knife to his wrist. “Wait,” She said, worried and he smirked.

“I can’t die sweetness,” he said “not with this thing on my arm.” His eyes flicked down to the mark. “Already worried about me,” he said with a note of tenderness in his voice “this is why you’re a perfect mate.” He quickly sliced his wrist open, blood trickled down his arm as he held it up to her. “Drink.” He commanded. She took his wrist into her hands, her eyes never leaving his as she pressed her mouth to the wound and began to suck. The iron taste of his blood filled her mouth as she swallowed. It felt like pure evil was seeping into every cell in her body. She sucked harder and swallowed, more blood rolling down her throat, the inky blackness traveling down her body as he gasped.

“That’s it baby, drink.” He told her as she continued. The metallic taste was less shocking by her third gulp, his lips slightly parted as he used his free hand to tuck her stray hair behind her ear. “Good girl,” he cooed “such a good girl for me.” His words, the intimacy of the act, the way he was looking at her; made her panties soak. He bit his lip as she sucked again, drawing more of his blood into her mouth and swallowing it down. Dean could see the change taking place; her posture relaxed, her hair seemed to shine more as her eyes slowly went from y/e/c to a darkened grey. Her tongue slid over his wound only to find that it had closed up.

“More?” She asked as he pulled his wrist away. 

She had some of his blood on the corner of her mouth, which he wiped away with his thumb and held it up for her. She licked it away with the tip of her tongue, making him growl.

“It’s a process baby, and we’re only getting started.” He said and kissed her forehead. When he pulled back, he gave her the knife and said “Your turn.”

“But won’t I-?” She asked and he interrupted

 “Not with my blood in your system,” he said “demon healing factor.”

She nodded and held the knife to her wrist. He stopped her and said

“Use this one,” and tapped his finger on her opposite wrist “I used my left, you use your right. It has to be opposites or it won’t work.”

She nodded and switched the knife to her left hand. Without warning, she was scared.

“Dean,” she breathed as she looked up at him. 

He held her face in his hands.“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said “I lost you once to protect you, I won’t lose you again. I love you.”

“I love you too.” She said and they kissed, hot and heavy. 

When the kiss ended, she pressed the knife hard into her skin and it tore open, dark red blood poured from the wound as she held it up for him. He took her wrist in his hands and sucked, her blood filling his mouth. He did as she had, drinking until the wound closed; when he was done, he smirked, his eyes flashing black.

“A couple more steps,” he told her “then you’re mine.”

Her lips curled into a sinister grin as his eyes returned to their normal green.

“Do it.” She told him.

He took the knife from her hand, put it aside and turned her left wrist so that it was facing up. He placed his right arm close to her left one and said

“I have to cut us both open,” he drew a line with his pointer and middle fingers down both of their wrists “and say the incantation, when I say, we’ll press our cuts together like this” he pressed his forearm into hers and gripped it with his hand “then we’ll kiss.” She smiled as his eyes then bore into hers “No matter what you hear, see or feel, DO NOT let go of me. Understand?”

She nodded “I won’t let go.” She told him

“Good girl.” He told her, he picked up the knife and began to chant in what sounded like Latin. She watched and waited as he closed his eyes, the words rolling off of his tongue like poetry. He continued to chant as he cut both of their wrists open and said 

“Now Y/N.”

Just like he had shown her, she turned her forearm into his and held it there as she closed her eyes. The air around them seemed to charge with electricity as he continued to chant, their blood mingled as it flowed from their cuts, leaving a tingling and stinging sensation in its wake. She gripped his arm tighter, the sensation going straight to her core, an involuntary moan escaping her lips. He stopped speaking and they kissed; she felt an invisible iron cuff snap over their arms, holding them together while they kissed. She gasped through their kiss and when it ended, he pulled back.

“You felt it too, didn’t you?” He asked and she nodded “that means it’s working.”

They shared a grin as she squirmed, her aching core begging for some kind of friction.

“There’ll be time for that,” Dean said “I promise.”

For a brief second, she could hear her own voice moaning his name.

“You hear that baby?” He asked and she nodded “You can hear what I’m thinking.” She focused on his face and could see into his mind; it was like watching a movie on an extremely dusty television. 

“It’ll get stronger when you’re a full demon.” He told her.

“What’s the last step?” She asked.

His mouth curled upwards into a sinister grin.

“You kill.”

[aion-rsa]

Sky Cinema: What’s New in November 2020?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

A batch of early Christmas presents will arrive on Sky Cinema in November! Time to look ahead at which movies are on the way…

Premieres

Ash is Purest White (2018) – 4th November

Cannes favourite Ash Is Purest White is a Chinese drama from Jia Zhangke, and the story is based on the leader of a gang from Zhangke’s childhood who he looked up to. It’s still holding steady at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, so we can confidently say it’s a winner.

Doctor Sleep (2019) – 6th November on Sky Cinema and the Sky Cinema Pass on NOW TV

A Shining sequel? Hm, could that ever really be any good? Ah, but wait, a Shining sequel from Haunting of Hill House’s Mike Flanagan based on an actual Stephen King book? We can confirm: it’s certainly a lot better than we thought it might be. In Doctor Sleep, little Danny Torrance has gotten old. Well, he’s ‘Ewan McGregor old’, and he’s got some pretty major personality problems, but a little girl who also has his beyond the veil power (Kyliegh Curran) could help him turn his life around, as the pair embark on a mission to stop a dangerous enemy.

Lucy in the Sky (2019) – 7th November

Natalie Portman plays Lucy Cola in Legion creator Noah Hawley’s Lucy in the Sky. She’s a badass astronaut who comes crashing back down to Earth psychologically when she returns to her humdrum life …and reality just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Fanny Lye Deliver’d (2019) – 11th November

Set on an isolated farm in 17th century Shropshire, this is a folk horror movie stars Maxine Peake as Fanny Lye, a woman who finds an interesting way to escape her crappy marriage. You’ll likely see every twist coming, but it’s not bad.

Jojo Rabbit (2020) – 13th November

Taika Waititi’s World War II satire sees him playing an imaginary Hitler friend for a young boy whose mum is hiding a wee Jewish girl in their attic. Divisive but charming!

The Hunt (2020) – 14th November

A gang of globalist elites get together to hunt humans for sport, but they should have chosen their prey more wisely, because Crystal (Betty Gilpin) is not having it! A bit like You’re Next but not as well executed (pardon the pun).

Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island (2020) – 20th November

Maggie Q, Michael Pena, Lucy Hale and Michael Rooker star in Blumhouse’s feature film version of the popular 1970s TV show. Messy.

The Photograph (2020) – 21st November

After her mum dies, a famous photographer’s daughter finds a secret picture in a safe-deposit box that turns her world upside down.

Last Christmas (2019) – 27th November

Paul Feig completists will want to get an eyeful of Last Christmas for the experience alone. This seasonal romance is inspired by George Michael songs and stars Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke as Kate, a terrible decision-maker who randomly meets the charming Henry Golding while working as an elf in a Christmas shop. Has to be seen to be believed, this one!

The Rhythm Section (2020) – 28th November

A revenge-themed action-thriller with Jude Law and Blake Lively. When Stephanie (Lively) discovers that a plane crash wasn’t an accident, she turns to a former CIA agent who might be able to help her uncover the truth.

Collections

Christmas – From 6th November

Christmas already? In November?! Yeah, ok why not. Time has no meaning in 2020, and Sky Cinema understands this perfectly.

Highlights: Love Actually, Last Christmas, Die Hard, The Polar Express, Gremlins, It’s a Wonderful Life, Black Christmas, The Holiday, the complete Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series.

Superheroes – 2nd November to 29th November

Superheroes never go out of style, so Sky Cinema’s superhero collection will live to see another month of POW! KABONG! OOF!

Highlights: Spider-Man: Far From Home, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Amazing Spider-Man, Bloodshot, Shazam!, Aquaman, Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Rises.

Best Of 2020 – From 30th November

This collection will spotlight some of 2020’s best movies, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Bdm’tsh!

Highlights: Jojo Rabbit, Doctor Sleep, The Invisible Man, Just Mercy, Judy, Le Mans 66, The Good Liar, Joker, Ad Astra, It Chapter 2, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Sky Cinema: What’s New in November 2020? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2HqLcu6

[lucyvaccaro]

parker-vogel​:

Parker smirked when she grabbed his finger and shook his head. “I see what you’re doing,” He said, clicking his tongue a few times. “It’s fine. I don’t mind having to work for it,” He smirked. “You’re not one of those people that does the face masks on the flight, are you?” He teased, giving her a smirk. Parker wouldn’t be opposed to doing something like a sheet mask after they were done. If it were in the service of getting laid, there weren’t many things that Parker wouldn’t do. And he was enjoying hanging out with Lucy, even if she barely wanted to give him an inch. “Lots of things make me happy,” He shrugged. “But you’re still dodging,” He said with a smirk. “I’ll let you have that one, though,” He winked. “Yeah, I’ll say,” Parker chuckled. “See? Now, was that so hard?” Parker smirked, then leaned down to kiss her. “No, because you’re being patronizing,” He smirked. 

“God forbid I try to know you,” Parker scoffed. “The girl that’s childhood friends with my best friends,” He teased, shaking his head at her. “But if you wanna be a mystery so badly, then I can pretend you even told me your name,” He offered, putting his hands up. Something about Lucy felt familiar to him, but he could chalk it up to her proximity to Lilah and Rory. He was glad that she cut him off with a kiss because he was sure that he could’ve argued the point until he was blue in the face. Funny, how not that long ago, Parker couldn’t even be bothered to remember a girl’s name while he was inside her. “That’s what I like to hear,” Parker chuckled. “Not that you would need to fake it for me anyway, clearly I know how to get you off,” He said with a smirk. “That’s good. Because I wasn’t planning on this being very quick,” He chuckled. “Such a good girl,” Parker murmured, smirking against her lips and letting his fingers skate down her spine. “Fuck, that’s so good,” He groaned, he could barely take the vision of her on top of him like this. 

“I think you like working for it,” Lucy teased. “If you didn’t you wouldn’t still be wasting your time,” she added. “Though I honestly don’t think I’ve been too difficult. According to you I practically jumped your bones back at your gig,” she pointed out with a smirk. “Oh, Parker, I wish I were a person who had their life together like that,” she said, shaking her head. “We’ll need something to do while we rest up before another round, won’t we?” she said, playfully wagging her eyebrows. Lucy sighed and roller her eyes again when Parker called her out for avoiding his questions. He wouldn’t like what he found if he kept digging. “Oof, finally. I was just about to make you go down on me again just to get you to shut up,” she snickered. “But I’m being serious,” Lucy whined, wrapping her arms around his neck and pouting. “Really. I am, I’m having a lot of fun and you are making me feel really good,” Lucy promised looking up at his face with a grin as he kissed him again. It couldn’t hurt to me honest about that she guessed. Especially if it meant that Parker would be encouraged to keep making her feel good for the rest of the night. 

“We’ll do that over espresso sometime, alright?” Lucy said, grabbing his cheeks in her hand and giving his head a little shake as she laughed. Of course, now that this was how their first meeting ended up going Lucy didn’t really intend to take things any further with him. If she got to know him better, there was always the risk she’d really like him. And that was the last thing she wanted. She was already flying a little too close to the sun with how good he was proving to be in bed. “You couldn’t forget my name if you tried. You’ve been saying it all night,” she pointed out with a smug grin. Lucy laughed, playfully running her hands through Parker’s hair. “Believe me, tigre, I’m grateful you do.” And she meant that, considering sometimes she couldn’t finish at all. But Despite knowing Parker for only a few hours, she felt very comfortable with him in a way she couldn’t exactly place. “For you, I’m trying to be,” she teased, though her voice was strained, and she hummed at the feeling of his fingers on her back. She pressed her hands flat against the pillow beneath Parker’s head on either side of it and moved faster on top of him, burying her face into the crook of his neck and letting out a groan.