#please ignore that we did a day poll instead of a week one at first oh my god

[leonsecretsanta]

interest check for Leon x reader secret santa!

Hi! Before we kick this account into full swing, we're looking to get a general gauge of how many people would be interested in participating in such an event! So please help get the word around to all x reader and x oc writers and artists that you think would be interested in such an event to vote down below!!

please reblog to get the word around and follow to keep up with updates!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 313: Deku VS Lady Nagant

Previously on BnHA: Hawks’s super-hot badass murder senpai Lady Nagant showed up to fire a cupid’s arrow into my heart, and a bunch of literal bullets into my son. Deku was all “oh shit it’s Hawks’s super-hot badass murder senpai, what do I do, let me think back to Hawks’s advice for a sec.” Flashback!Hawks was all “anyway Deku so if my super-hot badass murder senpai ever shows up you’re basically screwed so you’d better abscond the fuck out of there.” Present!Deku was all “lol idek why I flashed back to that conversation since I’m just going to do the exact opposite of what Hawks said” and charged directly toward Nagant because WHY NOT. Overhaul was all “waah I need to get back to my boss who I put in a coma out of love” and Nagant was all “jesus christ why did I even bring you here” and had a flashback to AFO who was all “ILU NAGANT IMMA GIVE YOU AN EXTRA QUIRK SO PLEASE CAPTURE DEKU FOR ME PLEASE AND THANKS” and yeah. Shit is all over the place right now and I love it.

Today on BnHA: All Might gets attacked by a pair of discount assassins and is all “Call an ambulance! ...BUT NOT FOR ME” and it’s really badass but also I really wish he would stop tempting fate like this. Lady Nagant is all “[casually flies around town shooting shit]” and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t read an entire chapter of just that. Deku is all, “[gets shot (≥_<)]” and releases a giant Smokescreen which prompts En to show up. En is all, “( •᷄⌓•᷅ ) (⌣̀ Δ⌣́) ( •̀_•́ )σ (¬､¬) (���_눈)” which I consider to be a high point of both the chapter and of my life. The chapter ends with Deku using the Third’s quirk to launch a bunch of random objects at Nagant so that he can jump up and grab her arm all sneaky-like, and I’m sure this is going to prompt another week’s worth of discourse that I don’t care about at all, but fuck it, I’m having a good time.

OH WE’RE CUTTING BACK TO ALL MIGHT WELL THAT’S NICE I GUESS. CONGRATS ON NOT BEING DEAD

you named your car??

you named it Hercules??

I love you so much??

please marry me you giant fucking dork???

lmao speaking of huge fucking dorks

who the fuck are you clowns. la dee da we’re gonna murder All Might with our synchronized spear attack!! I mean... they’re clearly trying their best... maybe I should just be nice and politely hype them up like All Might is so clearly trying to do

like okay, but we all agree that this is actually the least intimidating attack any of us has ever seen, right?? these guys zipped up their hoodies all serious-like and are trying to attack All Might and Hercules with their Walmart tiki torches, but just, no?? right?? like the only way this could possibly be effective is if they were trying to kill All Might with secondhand embarrassment

“those are assassins” this is a VERY generous assessment, All Might

OH MY GOD THE TIKI TORCHES ACTUALLY KILLED THE FUCK OUT OF HERCULES

[slaps roof of car] this baby can fit so many weaponized festive backyard lighting solutions in it

and yet, even after watching this with my own two eyes, I still can’t take these dudes seriously. idek what it is. anyways r.i.p. Hercules, I loved you a lot but I guess you weren’t actually a very good armored car were you

omg they didn’t know it was All Might??

okay 1) for a moment there I was like “oh hey maybe they’re not so bad after all” but then a moment later it was like “ah nope, they are.” like, that was an interesting .06 second emotional journey there. anyways 2) All Might you have my permission to kick their asses for this disrespect, and 3) anyone else all of a sudden getting “wouldn’t this be an interesting time for Stain to suddenly show up” vibes?? no?? just me???

(ETA: hmm tbh I’ve still got those vibes and they haven’t gone away lol. Stain?? you out there buddy?? do you want to be cool for just once in your life. ball’s in your court pal.)

OH SNAP ALL MIGHT ARE YOU REALLY GONNA DO IT ARE YOU GONNA KICK THEIR ASSES

PROTECTIVE DAD MODE ACTIVATED?? BECAUSE YOU KNOW I’M HERE FOR THAT SHIT, SO YEAH, FEEL FREE

omg he’s shouting at them about how much Deku has suffered lmao and they’re just like falling over from being scolded

so they have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about though, right? “SIR THIS IS A WENDY’S” well whatever, you killed his pet car so he’s in a bad mood now

OH MY GOD

LIKE, JUST SO WE’RE ALL CLEAR, THESE FOUR PAGES SO FAR HAVE MADE ALMOST ZERO SENSE. LIKE MAYBE 2% SENSE TOPS. BUT ASK ME IF I CARE. GO AHEAD AND ASK. I SAID GO AHEAD, IT’S OKAY. ...NO I DON’T CARE AT ALL THANK YOU FOR ASKING

(ETA: also, the more I look at this panel, the more I’m just like, why the hell would you phrase it like that though, sob. way to doubly tempt fate?? are you trying to give Horikoshi a challenge??)

and now back to Deku who is randomly bouncing around the city and narrating it to himself just in case he was confused about why he was doing this

who are you talking to Deku. but thanks we appreciate it

man you gotta love that overconfidence. the smartest guy in the world warned you away from this lady, so SURE, LET’S RUN RIGHT UP TO HER. “I APPRECIATE YOUR INPUT, FLASHBACK!HAWKS, BUT I’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE” well okay then!!

I think it would be funny if RHA.com put little Buzzfeed-style polls in between the chapter pages so they could survey people at random intervals as they read their way through the chapter. like, you finish this page and then there’s a little poll there asking “do you think Deku’s plan of catching up to Lady Nagant and finding out where Shigaraki is will work?”, and you click “no” just like everyone else and then nod as the results show that 97% of your fellow readers also picked “no”, and you chuckle to yourself wondering how many of the 3% accidentally clicked on the wrong option by mistake, and then you keep on reading

ANYWAY, SO

HOW’S THAT PLAN WORKING OUT FOR YOU SO FAR DEKU. nice kick, though!!

omggggggg

ouch

update: Deku’s plan not really working out. sources tell me my boy has been fucking shot. this is an ongoing story and we will keep you posted with the latest developments as they come in

wait what

feel free to explain to the rest of us what all of this “UNLESS...” and “THAT POSSIBILITY...” shit means anytime, Deku

oh lol did he realize she could fly??

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE, CNN’s John King reports that Deku is still fucked. eyewitness reports now coming in that Nagant is doing no-look shots and basically not even giving a fuck. sources described her mannerisms and expression as “sexy, but in like an effortless sort of way.” we will continue to bring you the latest

so now there’s basically an entire page of Deku being all “ah fuck so she’s basically closing in and she could already hit me with impossible accuracy even from Far Away, so if that’s the case then her being Up Close is probably going to be even worse!” making good use of that Big Hero Brain there, Deku

so now what, you’re doing some kind of spiraling kick thing?? how is that going to help

oh lol he’s using Smokescreen to create some cover. aww, good for you Deku you named one of your Smokescreen attacks

OH NO LADY DON’T TELL ME AFO DIDN’T EVEN FILL YOU IN ON THE BASICS

seriously, AFO?? you basically told her what Deku’s exact strategy was going to be but then couldn’t be assed to drop that little, small, barely notable piece of knowledge that Deku is rocking multiple quirks?? is it supposed to be a secret or something?? you dropped the ball here man

damn this is getting intense now

(ETA: the way En is poking Deku’s head in that first panel is fucking sending me, I love this guy so much omg.)

well then what are you planning, Deku?? I’m actually really curious!! I am genuinely starting to be invested in this fight scene not only in the “wanting to see who wins and how that impacts the plot” sense, but also in the “wanting to see how it happens because the choreography and strategy is actually pretty cool” sense, which honestly hasn’t happened for quite a while now! this is fun

anyway so what’s up Deku, are you going to use another quirk?? I’ve been speculating that he hasn’t actually unlocked the last two yet (since Two and Three didn’t exactly seem convinced when we last saw them), but maybe I’m about to be proven wrong

(ETA: well he clearly has Three’s obviously, but Two’s is still MIA, and that’s the one I am of course the most curious about. that’s the one we’re all curious about, let’s be real.)

OH SNAP???

AHHHH I’M HYPED LOL. ANOTHER SHINY NEW QUIRK LOL SHOULD I PUT UP THE USUAL DISCOURSE DISCLAIMER

(ETA: so yeah, after thinking on it, I’m not gonna say “please no Deku discourse on my blog” this week, but I probably will ignore any discourse that does come my way though, just because I don’t have much interest in getting involved in what would probably be a pretty repetitive discussion. like, I can just sum up my opinions (which is what they are) here instead. in fact here they are lol:

1) I like the SIXQUIRKS and I like seeing Deku be a badass.

2) I also don’t think Deku is too OP. more like he’s exactly as OP as he needs to be at the moment, given that we’re approaching the end of the series. I expect the other kids will also be pretty damn OP when we see them fight again. we’re just at that point now where they’re all badasses (as well they should be; they’ve grown a lot and they deserve it). it’s just that Deku’s the one we’re getting to see right now.

3) of course I miss Kacchan and the others, but for me this vibes much closer to the MVA arc where even though I missed them, I was still having a blast (as opposed to the dark days of the Basement arc where I was pretty much losing it lol). like, even though Kacchan’s my favorite, I still love Deku a lot and this arc has been amazing for him getting to shine on his own (for like the first time, really).

4) y��all know I love the OFA plot and I’ve never been shy about that lol. I like all of the Vestiges a lot. Banjou and his over the top personality; En and his “guy you thought would be serious and :| all the time but is actually hyper-animated and ALL OVER THE PLACE” energy; Shiro who actually is a :| sort of guy lol; Three who I still expect will be fleshed out in a more detailed flashback at some point; and of course Two, who, well. you know what I think about him lol. Bakuverse is still on the table and I’m still hyped. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we still have yet to see Two actually talk to Deku (as opposed to talking to the other Vestiges while Deku is distracted). did he lend him his power yet?? or is he still holding out?? either way it’s definitely going to be a Big Thing when it finally happens and I can’t wait to see it.

5) Lady Nagant is Everything and just because Deku grabbed her arm doesn’t mean the fight is over yet lol. Overhaul hasn’t come into play yet either. not to mention that even if the fight is over, the “where do we go from here” part still has me excited either way. her connection to Hawks and the HPSC is very intriguing and we’ve barely touched on that as of yet; she definitely has more of a role to play in this.

6) last but not least, I feel like every week the discussion is all about how much focus Deku’s getting, and how OP he is or isn’t, and OFA this and OFA that, but meanwhile I’m actually so invested in the character development here though?? the way Deku has distanced himself from everyone (except for the Vestiges, because of course they’re already dead so it’s not like they can die again lol)?? the way he’s pushing himself far too hard and we can see the shadows in and under his eyes, and the fact that he never smiles, and even All Might has remarked on how he isn’t taking care of himself at all?? the fact that he’s so single-mindedly obsessed with focused on stopping AFO?? the fact that he’s still the same sweet old Deku despite everything and was so kind to that fox lady with the umbrella, but there was also something so sad about that scene because it felt like a reminder of the type of hero that he wants to be, but that he’s not allowed to be right now?? because the stakes are too high and the world is falling apart?? and he feels like he’s the only one who can do something about it?? and that he has to be?? and that he is putting so much pressure on himself right now, and it’s absolutely too much pressure for any one person to bear, and I feel like no one is fucking talking about this lol goddammit.

anyway so yeah. I have feels about this, and every week that slow-burn angst is getting more and more intense behind the scenes, and I feel like it’s all going to hit a breaking point eventually. sooner rather than later. it really feels like a mirror of Katsuki’s post-Kamino arc. where all that angst was just churning below the surface for like twenty chapters and then it finally was like “okay it’s time” and it all came bursting out and we got the best five chapters of the fucking series (in my admittedly biased estimation lol).

basically, I know that most of fandom is billing this as either the “villain hunt” arc or the “solo Deku SIXQUIRKS fighting arc” or whatever. but for me, it’s always been and still is the Deku Angst arc lol. the cool fights are a sexy bonus (the worldbuilding less so because even though it’s interesting to see society at such a low point, it’s also very depressing and gets old pretty fast), but for me the thing that’s really keeping me engaged chapter after chapter is seeing Deku like we’ve never seen him before. seeing him all quiet and withdrawn and brooding and focused on AFO, AFO, AFO, and seeing that “he just doesn’t take himself into account” mentality taken to extremes. I am invested in that. I’m soaking up that angst each and every week, and I’m invested in seeing what comes of it. it’s a big picture thing. week to week this arc might just seem like a bunch of villain fight scenes, sure. but Deku’s emotional journey is the thread that’s going to carry this arc through from beginning to end, and for that I’m willing to be patient.

anyway that turned into a BIG OL’ RANT there but yeah! so those are my thoughts on the disk horse as it currently stands. and like I said, I’m open to discussion, but tbh I will probably just wind up repeating these same talking points endlessly so just a fair warning lol.)

anyway so Three says Deku has yet to use his quirk at ALL but now he’s trying to combine it with another quirk?? damn. also please check out En’s face here you guys

En launching a sneak attack up my favorite character list by the sheer power of his expressions alone. he really knows how to make the most of his screentime

OH DAMN DEKU

at this point the 3% from that hypothetical poll earlier are starting to feel prettttty damn smug, I’ll bet. well shit

what in the fuck

?? so like releasing his chi or whatnot?? isn’t that basically just like base OFA all over again?? also Deku did you seriously just apologize to Gran’s cape

update: Nagant has turned her eyeball into a gun

hm. hmmmmmmm. ...okay yep, still somehow sexy

anyway so she’s just floating up there building suspense, as one does. lord I sure hope she has good reflexes because something tells me she’s going to need them

OH SNAP HE THREW GRAN’S CAPE AS A DECOY WHAAAAT OKAY THAT’S SOME SMART SHIT DEKU

LOL SHE’S MAD NOW

JESUS CHRIST SHE JUST NEVER TAKES A GODDAMN BREAK FROM BEING AWESOME HUH

DEKU ARE YOU JUST THROWING EVERY DAMN THING IN YOUR INVENTORY

but without the cape and the hood how will you continue to look like an enigmatic badass. you really can’t. which means we might finally be moving on from the wandering nomad part of this arc, stay tuned

LOL YOU MANIAC

I hope he went full Kacchan with the dialogue there. his face sure looks like it lol. popped out of a building all mad fdskljlkj omg

well this was fun, shit. I still have basically no idea what Three’s quirk does though lol. like, can he use it to charge up objects with kinetic energy or something?? but then what was all of that talk about combining it with one of the other quirks?? or was that just because he was using Smokescreen at the same time??

(ETA: having seen and read an additional half-dozen explanations of Three’s quirk, I can say with confidence that I still have basically no idea what it is or does.)

anyway so!! Deku is a badasssssss but something tells me not to count Nagant out just yet even so. also I really enjoy seeing Deku flip out on people like he doesn’t have a fucking hole in his torso because it reminds me of A CERTAIN SOMEONE and I always love to see him channeling that feral energy; I feel like it’s been a while

anyways good luck to you both!! I truly wish that both of you could win. but if not, then maybe you can at least become friends instead. you have so much in common, you both can fly and have multiple quirks and you’re both badasses, and plus it would just be really funny to see the look on Hawks’s face lmao

[flamingo-writes]

Vast Ocean — Jotaro x Reader

With this, I declare the Jojo's Bizarre Adventures a fandom I write for 🤘 by posting a series of headcanons bcs I'm too lazy to write an actual fic about this.

Vast Ocean: Jotaro falling in love with one of the Crusaders (female!Reader)

Warnings: mentions of underage drinking

Jotaro met you along with Avdol when the three of you bailed him out of jail.

Despite the first impression he left when you met in jail, you were completely unbothered and didn't really mind his cold attitude.

"You're not a bad guy, I bet you're just a big tsundere" you joked as Jotaro simply glared at you with eyes like guns as you laughed.

"Why is a tiny girl traveling with us in the first place?" Jotaro asked Joseph. ("I am not tiny, its not my fault youre so fucking big, asshole!")

"She's your age. And her stand is pretty strong" Avdol explained.

(Your stand is a couple of orcas, one of them with the colors reverted. Your stand name is The Killers, bwahaha see what I did there?)

You were naturally flirty and easy going, but when you noticed how Jotaro got so frustrated with your flirting, you began flirting with him even more just to piss him off

Polnareff started a bet with everyone else to see how long it would take the both of you to develop feelings for each other.

When Jotaro understood your flirting was just to mess with him, he started being more easy going and not being bothered by it, knowing it was going to piss you off instead.

You liked to play with your stand, just have both your orcas swim around you midair.

One time, while staying at a hotel on your way to Egypt, you took a well deserved break and went to the swimming pool to chill and play with your stand.

At the same time, Kakyoin and Jotaro had the same idea and found you in the pool having fun.

Since Jotaro and you had this habit of messing with each other, he used Star Plat to splash water at you. And soon, you two started fighting/playing, splashing water at each other. ("You're going to soak my clothes, yare yare, why do you have to be so childish?" "You started it! Also, why are you here in your regular clothes instead of a swimming suit? If anything, its your iwn fault!")

Kakyoin felt like the third wheel and when you less expected it, he left the pool and it was just you and Jotaro bickering.

After a few minutes of silence, you started talking about how cool orcas are. And how you started researching about them after getting your stand.

"Did you know orcas are a kind of dolphin and not whales?" You told Jotaro, catching his attention and he proceeded to ask questions about orcas.

(That day you learned one of Jotaros favorite classes was biology)

Since then, instead of bickering with each other, The Killers and Star Plat would play whenever you two got bored.

Jotaro liked watching your orcas swim in the air as much as you did, but he would never admit it out loud.

Star Plat loved petting The Killers, and you knew Jotaro did too since Star Plat is a projection of his soul.

You noticed Star Plat get progressively protective of you,  despite The Killers being strong enough to keep you safe.

Not just you, everyone else noticed

Joseph is excited because he's gonna win the poll

While on the road, you fell asleep on Jotaro's shoulder. And even when Polnareff pointed it out, Jotaro blushed a bit and said it was a rather annoying situation. But what he found annoying was his heart rate going wild over something as small as you falling asleep on his shoulder.

One night, at another nice hotel (brought to you by Speed Wagons endless bank account) you break in in Jotaro's room with movies and snacks.

"Cant you see I'm trying to sleep?" "Awh, come on! All we did was sleep on the way here!"

You two watched cowboy movies while snacking and drinking beer you managed to sneak in.

You know how sometimes beer makes you sleepy? Yes, you two fell asleep. You woke up in the middle of thr night while Jotaro was still asleep, in opposite ends of the bed. But your repressed crush on him urged you to snuggle next to him.

When Jotaro woke up, he blushed at the sight of you deeply asleep next to him. He felt star plat hit him gently on the back with his elbow. And so, Jotaro "hesitantly" snuggled next to you, wrapping an arm around your waist, spooning you.

The both of you woke up to Joseph knocking on Jotaro's door.

"Jotaro! Open up! [Name] isn't in her room!"

When Jotaro opened the door, the entire gang saw you in Jotaro's bed, your entire face bright red.

"What is this?" Joseph asked alarmed.

"We were watching cowboy movies" Jotaro said.

"At 7 am?"

"Last night" you said. "And...I fell asleep..." you admitted ashamed.

"Ohohoho..." Polnareff giggled.

Jotaro was not amused.

The rest of the day, neither of you talked to each other, nor made eye contact.

Still The Killers and Star Plat interacted and played with each other.

After the fight with Dio, and after Joseph spending a night at the hospital under observation because of everything that had happened, Jotaro checked up on you.

You weren't injured, just had a few cuts here and there and a sprained ankle.

"Ah, the hero!" You greeted him.

"How are you?" "The doc says in a couple of weeks I'm gonna be as good as new"

"Thank you, Jotaro" "hm?" "You stopped Dio...You saved your mom, Joseph...all of us" "Not all of us" Jotaro hissed, pulling down his cap.

You kissed his cheek, upon seeing him beat himself up upon the memories of Avdol, Kakyoin and Iggy.

He was taken by surprise and you noticed a soft shade of pink on his cheeks.

"I...Listen, I'm pretty sure you know this by now, I mean, everyone does...but I still feel like I have to say it, okay? And please, don't laugh at me..." You said

"hm" Jotaro chuckled. "I like you too, dumbass"

"Why are you calling me a dumbass? What did I do now?"

"You're always a dumbass" Jotaro joked before bumping his forehead with yours and closing his eyes.

You knew Jotaro wasn't going to do it himself, so instead, you stood on your tip toes, ignoring the pain in your ankle, and pecked his lips gently.

He kept his hands in his pockets, but kissed you back immediately, locking lips in a brief and shy kiss.

Polnareff saw everything. And in the end, it was Kakyoin who had betted the two f you would've fallen in love by the end of the mission

It took Jotaro a while before calling you his girlfriend, even though you two had been practically dating for almost a month.

Jotaro was definitely not a guy who enjoyed PDA, but when the two of you were alone, he'd play with your fingers, run his hand through your hair, and even pull you into his lap while making out.

Most of the PDA actually came from Star Plat, since barely anyone could see Star Plat holding your pinky or holding you or playing with your hair.

Star Plat is baby, I dont make the rules

Bonus: You two make research together on marine biology because you're both nerds like that.

[moral-turpitudes]

Out of All People

Trigger Warnings: Swearing, Angst, Mentions of Blood, Fluff.

Characters: Isiah Jesus x Shelby!Sister

Word Count: 1,512

Summary: Y/n is tired of being seen as the baby of the family and runs off. Her brothers are used to her antics and leave her on her own as she wished, but Isiah can’t shake the feeling that she’s in trouble.

Requested by: @niamhshell​ 

Summary of request: “I wanted to ask if I could have a oneshot if you’re not too busy. The oneshot I had in mind would be with Isiah Jesus x Shelby!Sister  and the scenario would be along the lines of the sister getting lost in a storm and Isiah finding her and looking after her.”

Isiah and Finn had been best friends ever since he could remember, running through the stone streets playing make believe games whilst his dad met with the Shelby’s at their meetings. As he and Finn grew older, he was welcomed into the Peaky Blinders, where he eventually met the infamous Y/N Shelby. She was Finn’s twin sister and older by 5 minutes. When he first saw her, she took his breath away. She had a smile that lit up the room and a laugh that sounded like the sweetest of songs. But she had one hell of a temper, just like all her siblings. 

One day, Tommy had gathered their family for a meeting and got on Y/N for going to the Garrison late at night. This normally wouldn’t have set Y/N off like it did, but earlier that day she had awoken with nightmares which always put her on edge. Throughout the day everyone would ask her if she was okay and she grew more annoyed at answering them, so being called out during the meeting with her brothers was the last straw. She was seen as the baby at times despite Finn technically being the youngest, but nevertheless they were all over-protective of her.  Isiah watched near Finn as she went off on Tommy, yelling that she doesn’t have to answer to him every second of the day. That she’s an adult and fully capable of taking care of herself and could do what she pleased. And in a final act of defiance, she threw her shot glass on the ground, the shards glistening on the polished hardwood floors of Tommy’s office. Isiah watched, a worried expression on his face as she stormed out with only her handgun in her holster and her purse.

Later that night, everyone was drinking at the Garrison when Finn invited Isiah. They both ordered drinks and watched as the older blinder boys drank their woes away, ogling at the girls who would walk in with their friends. Meanwhile, Isiah stood there silently, thinking about where Y/N was. He had only told Finn he had feelings for her a couple of weeks ago, which Finn took surprisingly well, but that was the least of his matters. Her big brothers were far more harder to get around to. Letting his mind wander, he sipped his drink ignoring the icy burn that ran down his throat. 

Not longer after finishing his drink he heard Tommy and Arthur arguing over something, and that’s when he heard Arthur yell, staggering to the bar near them. 

“Tom wants ya to find Y/N, Finn. Go. She’s being a bitch again runnin’ off like that. Probably out being an adult huh Isiah.” He mumbled, pouring himself another drink. Isiah looked at him angrily. He could tell she grew tired of them and needed an escape. “If only he could’ve been her escape at the time instead of wherever she ran off to...” He thought to himself. 

“Oi! Finn ya fuckin’ knucklehead! Are ya gonna go or not? She’s ya fookin’ twin for fucks sake!” Arthur yelled as Finn slowly put on his raincoat, he looked like he wanted to run away as well. 

“Arthur, I think you should calm down mate...” Isiah said, putting a hand on Arthur’s shoulder. 

“Arthur, Y/N probably doesn’t even want to see any of us right now. Not even Ada or Poll. I think we should let her be, she’ll come ‘round in the morning.” He said slurring a bit as he knocked back the last of his drink. Isiah grew angrier on the inside, none of them really cared where she was it seemed. Tommy went back to drinking like it would numb the ghosts in his head, yelling and joking with the other peaky boys as Arthur went off to his own drunken world, nodding as Finn spoke.

He went to leave, to find her, when Finn grabbed his shoulder stopping him.

“Where the hell are ya going Isiah?! You can’t leave your best mate man c’mon.” He said handing him another shot. Isiah put it back on the bar and turned to look at him, rage filling his eyes.

“Would you just fuck off? You lot clearly couldn’t give a shit less about where your sister is. Hell she may not want to see anyone, but I’ll be damned if she’s out there alone. I’ll go do your jobs for ya. I’ll find her.” He said, pushing past Finn, getting his coat and leaving.

The rain was coming down heavily, huge cold drops slamming onto his skin relentlessly. He had to squint into the night to see and decided to check the betting shop. When he came in, he saw Polly doing work on the reports for the previous day. 

She looked up and gasped, shocked to see him coming in so urgently. 

“What on earth! Isiah you scared me. What’s wrong?” She asked getting up from her desk. 

“It’s Y/N. She hasn’t come back. Tommy sent Finn to find her but none of them are willing to. They’re too busy getting drunk off their asses.” He said wringing his hands a bit. 

“Dear god...” Polly said looking around, a worried expression overcoming her features.

“Where would she go when she’d get upset in the past?” He asked, hoping she’d remember something from raising them all those years ago.

She paced around and thought for a moment, her eyes lit up slightly. 

“I remember she used to run to where the forested areas started near the road we went on the other day just outside town. Remember that road?” She asked.

Isiah thought a moment and then it clicked. He looked at her and nodded, grabbing his cap and putting it on. “Can-can I borrow the keys?” He said urgently. Polly nodded in response. That was all it took for him to burst out the door and to the car, starting the engine and heading toward the edge of town. 

Once he got to the road, he got out and walked reluctantly into the forest, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness as the rain hell heavily again. 

“Y/N!.....Y/N?!” he yelled as loud as he could. After waiting a couple of minutes he heard a whimper and a slight scream in the distance. He ran, following it, grabbing hold of his gun in his holster. 

The cold rain fell on his skin as he ran through the trees, twigs and bushes catching on his coat and pants. His shoes were gradually soaked through with a thick layer of mud coating them as he ran, calling out her name. Once her cries got closer, he saw her curled up under a tree holding her arms close to her, as they bled.

“Y/n? what are you doing out here?” He asked slowly walking towards her. 

“I-I wanted to get out. I wanted to leave that fucking place for a while. This is the only place I feel okay...” She said sobbing in the cold rain. He sat by her and took his raincoat off and draped it carefully around her. 

“Y/n...what happened? You can tell me.” Isiah said as she curled up to him. 

“I wanted to let off steam so i ran here, took forever-” She chuckled lightly as she shivered. “-but I got here and wanted to run to this spot. I-I always came to it when I was younger after Finn or Ada and I would get into a fight, but this time I took a wrong turn and tripped and scraped my arms to high hell cuz of the fucking mud...” She said examining her arms under his jacket. 

“I know they’ve been assholes Y/n, believe me. They told Finn to get you while everyone was at the Garrison, but they were too busy drinking so I went instead. I couldn’t spend another minute knowing you ran off somewhere. Just know you can run to me if you need to next time okay?.” He asked softly.

“Thank you.” She said nodding and looking up at him, the moonlight catching in his eyes. 

She stared at his lips and it was as if he read her mind, quickly bringing his lips to hers. When they pulled away from each other they smiled, savoring the moment. 

“Um Y/n?...” Isiah asked nervously.

“Yeah?” Y/n said raising her eyebrow at him.

“I’m surprised Finn hadn’t told you, or well, everyone. But...I like you and when we get back in town and get you cleaned up, I’d like to take you out.” He said.

“I’d like that.” She said, smiling before attempting to get up and almost falling again as Isiah steadied her. As they walked back to the car, a question plagued her mind.

“Why out of all people, did you come looking for me?” 

Isiah thought for a moment and smirked.

“Because I, out of all people actually care about you.” He said. 

She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder as they continued walking, the pale moonlight guiding their path to the car.

[bellakitse]

Cause all of me, loves all of you

For @malex-i-never-look-away on her birthday. Toby, I hope you had a wonderful birthday, my dear!! Hope you like your gift!

Isobel hosts a single's mixer at Maria's bar, as Michael watches guy after guy hit on Alex, it forces him to confront his feelings.

Rated M

Michael gets three messages from Isobel in quick succession, telling him to get his ass over to the Wild Pony and to bring his tools or else. He gets two from Maria telling him that if he stresses Isobel out any more by taking his sweet time, she’s going to go after his balls and not in the fun way she used to. He lets out a tired sigh as he reads the texts before getting up from his bed and exiting his airstream, resigned to the fact that he has to deal with his sister and her girlfriend’s issues, he puts his car in gear and heads for the bar.

He doesn’t know what he did in a past life that he now has to deal with IsobelandMaria as he thinks of them these days, but he can’t imagine it was good.

Arriving at the Wild Pony a little after six, he groans as he takes in the sign hanging over the entrance.

‘Singles Mixer.’

Vaguely he recalls Isobel mentioning that she was planning the event the last time he had dinner with her and Maria. It’s not Maria’s usual style for the bar, and he doesn’t want to think for long what Isobel did to convince her girlfriend. He’s tempted to turn around, the whole thing starting to feel suspiciously like a trap, but curiosity has always been his downfall, so he gets out with his tools as requested and heads for the door.

The place is closed to the public, which makes sense if Isobel is making an event out of this. He sees Maria at the bar ready to set up for the night, her clothes colorful just like her, and he feels a wave of affection the way he always does when he sees her. They dated for three months (if you can call him being drunk half the time and miserable the rest, dating. More like her taking care of his sorry ass when he let her). And he’s grateful that he didn’t fuck up their friendship beyond repair. For a while, after they ended things, he was doubtful that she would ever allow him near her again. Especially after she found out the secret they were all keeping from her. But Maria is nothing if not kind-hearted and forgave him for being a shitty boyfriend and an even shittier friend. He thinks though, her starting something up with Isobel five months after they broke up probably helped the situation. A year later and the two are madly in love and going strong, while he and Maria are friends in a way they never were when they were together.

“I’m here, Deluca,” he calls out. “And if this is a trick to get me to do your sad little single’s night, I’m going to turn around right now.”

Maria gives him an unimpressed look but doesn’t bother to answer. Instead, she smirks as they hear the clicky-clack of Isobel’s heels.

“You’re in for it now, Guerin.”

“First of all,” Isobel starts as she rounds the bar, going behind it with Maria. He watches as she leans into Maria, her arm going around Maria’s slim waist, and Maria curves her body towards her. “Watch what you are calling sad, I’m the one planning this thing, so it’s going to be amazing. People will be talking about its success for weeks, as a matter of fact, the people who find love tonight will mention it at their weddings.”

Isobel looks pleased with Maria when she nods in agreement, an amused smile on her face. It seems to be the way Maria deals with Isobel, with loving amusement.

“Second,” Isobel continues, turning to face him, a fine shape brow arched. “Because I want it to be a success, you will not be participating, so don’t you worry. The people coming tonight are looking for love, not anonymous sex.”

Michael smirks at that, doubtful of the truth behind her words, but whatever. Instead, he just gives Isobel a shrug. “So I like to get right to the point. Sue me.”

Isobel makes a face at him, wrinkling her nose. “There’s a word for guys like you, Michael.”

“Charming?” Michael questions innocently, shooting Maria a glare when she snorts.

“Manwhore,” Isobel answers back sweetly.

Michael nods sarcastically, pushing his bottom lip out. “Hmm, well, this manwhore is going to leave if you don’t tell me why I’m here.”

“To help, obviously,” Isobel answers, rolling her eyes. “I need you to fix one of the taps, it’s leaking, the speakers on the left are making a static noise, and Maria is one bartender down, so you’re also going to stay and help, we open in an hour.”

The first two he can get done in under 30 minutes, but he stops short at the third, having no desire to stick around and watch the singles of Roswell try their awkward mating dance. “Since when am I a bartender, Iz?”

“You spend so much time here, I’m sure you can handle pouring beer and Whiskey, Michael,” Isobel answers, already ignoring him as her phone rings, and she moves to answer it. She gives the side of Maria’s face a distracted kiss as she heads to the back.

Michael sighs, annoyed but resigned and moves towards the bar, ready to start on his list. “Can’t you control your girlfriend, Deluca?”

“She’s your sister, Guerin,” Maria shoots back. “Nobody controls her.”

“Whatever,” Michael mutters, knowing it’s a lost cause to argue and starts to tighten the tap.

“You can help out for a night, Michael,” Maria says, giving him a look. “It’s important to her, and it’s good business for me, so try not to be a dick, okay?”

Michael stops and looks at her; he knows things have been tough. Mimi isn’t getting better, their powers haven’t helped her, even Max’s. And he knows it weighs on Isobel that they can’t help Maria and her mom.

“Okay,” he says finally, feeling like an ass when she lets out a relieved breath. “Sorry.”

Maria gives him a small smile, rolling her eyes at him playfully. “See you can be, what’s that word you used? Charming when you want to be.”

Michael narrows his eyes at her. “Your words say charming, but your tone says dick.”

Maria gives him an amused look as she pats his shoulder, walking by him. “Guess you’re a genius after all, now fix the tap.”

Michael nods as he gets to work. “Yes, ma’am.”

Michael makes a quick fix of the tap, it will hold for a while, but he needs to talk to Maria about getting some new equipment. Next, he works on the speakers, as Isobel asked. Taking his time until the music that comes out is smooth. The bar is opening by the time he’s done with his projects, and he’s behind the bar setting up a station for himself when the lonely hearts of their dusty town start trickling in. Maria is at the other end of the bar, already pouring the first whiskeys of the night.

“What are the chances this thing is actually successful?” he questions her as he hands over a Bud Light to a man in a plaid shirt.

“It’s Isobel’s event,” Maria looks over at him with a raised eyebrow. “When has anything Isobel planned not worked out perfectly by her sheer force of will?”

Michael rolls his eyes. “Are you about to start waxing poetic about Iz, right now?” he questions. “Hasn’t the honeymoon stage fade after a year of being together? Who would have thought that you two would be worse than Max and Liz,” he says, practically whining. It’s truly sickening how in love his siblings are with their humans and vice versa.

Maria shoots him a look. “What’s the matter, Guerin, jealous?”

Michael scoffs, rolling his eyes at her once more. “Hey, I dated you first, no reason to be jealous.”

Maria nods easily, with a smirk on her face that just spells trouble for him. “And then we broke up, and I got together with your sister, who is far more talented with her tongue,” she says sweetly.

Michael stares at her with wide eyes at the blow at his ego she just delivered, not knowing if he should take offense or applaud her absolute savageness. In the end, a laugh stops him from doing either, and he turns from Maria to find Alex standing in front of him, his hands resting on the bar.

Alex's face is perfectly blank, except for the way his eyes twinkle with amusement.

“Alex,” he breathes, blushing slightly. “Hey, how much did you just hear?”

Alex shrugs. “Not much,” he starts, there is a grin playing at his lips the longer he looks at Michael. “Though if we’re holding some kind of poll, just know that I never had any complaints about your tongue, Guerin, at least when you used it for something other then talking.”

Maria lets out a snort from where she stands, flashing Alex a wicked grin, which he returns easily, his dark brown eyes crinkling at the corners attractively.

“You actually came,” Maria comments, pleased, raising an eyebrow when Alex rolls his eyes at her, though his lips twitch at the double meaning of her words.

Michael glares at her as she burns him a second time.

“Tell me if I hadn’t shown up, your girlfriend would have left it alone and not shown up at my place to drag me here.”

Maria laughs loudly, shaking her head. “I would be lying if I told you that.”

“Exactly,” Alex says with a resigned sigh. “So here I am; hopefully, this gets her off my back.”

“Wait,” Michael starts and looks at Alex, taking in his appearance.

He looks good, but then again, when doesn’t he look good, especially to Michael. Alex is beautiful, he’s always been, and Michael knows that has nothing to do with the fact that he is still madly in love with him. He can be objective about that if nothing else when it comes to Alex.

He looks at him, taking in his black leather jacket, the fitted navy-colored dress shirt peeking underneath. He leans into the bar a little to discreetly check out the rest. Alex has on slim dark jeans that wrap his thighs nicely and a pair of black boots. His hair that he has been wearing longer is artfully messy, and Michael spots a five o’clock shadow that tells him Alex hasn’t shaved in a day or two, making Michael itch with the desire to press his cheek against Alex’s and feel the roughness.

Correction, good doesn’t even begin to describe how Alex looks. Michael’s walking wet dream would be a better descriptor. His heart starts to beat a little harder, both from want but also longing. These days he’s pretty good at keeping his feelings in check. Alex and he have been to hell and back, and they’ve come out the other side as friends, great friends even.

Alex had been nothing but understanding when he told him he needed to move on from them. Respectful, when he tried to have a relationship with Maria, and there every step of the way in any way, Michael needed him.

Michael had asked for a friend, and Alex had given him that tenfold. It’s his own fault that on the road to friendship, he didn’t get over being in love with him, and if anything, being friends with Alex has just made him love him more.

“Guerin?” Alex questions, the hand he has resting on the bar, reaching out to touch Michael’s forearm. “Are you okay?”

Michael snaps out of his thoughts; he looks at Alex, who is giving him a concerned look and then at Maria, who looks at him knowingly. He tells himself that she might be psychic, but she can’t actually read minds, and therefore can’t hear all his lovesick thoughts. A blonde girl in a sparkly top at the other end of the bar signals her, and she moves away from them with one last pointed look at him.

“Sorry,” he flashes Alex a smile, trying hard not to move. Alex’s hand is still on his arm, and he wants to enjoy it as long as he can. “Guess I spaced.”

Alex looks at him a moment longer, and Michael holds his breath, wondering if his face is showing everything he’s hiding.

He gives Alex another grin, this one teasing, hoping it distracts Alex. “I was going to ask if you are actually here for this mixer thing.”

Alex rolls his eyes, taking his hand off Michael, and Michael clenches his hand to keep from reaching out and interlocking their fingers. They never held hands when they were together, and Michael mourns it even though he’s never had it.

“Maria is a meddler,” Alex starts, saying it loudly enough for her to overhear him, smirking when she shoots him a narrow-eyed look. “And she decided to date your sister, who is also a meddler, so together they are meddlers squared.”

Michael laughs, nodding in agreement. “Still doesn’t explain why you’re here, though.”

Alex huffs, taking a seat and settling in. Michael puts a glass in front of him and pours him some Jim Beam.

Alex thanks him lifting the glass to his mouth, and Michael has to hold onto the bar as he watches Alex lick his lips after a sip. "They have been nagging me about dating every time I've had dinner with them the last few weeks. They've decided my mourning period from Forest is done and have been threatening me with blind dates."

Michael makes a face at the mention of Alex's last boyfriend. If you could even call him that when they only went out for the six most miserable weeks of Michael's life. The guy had left a little over a month ago for a new job.

"Do you regret not taking him up on his offer?" he can't help but ask, the question has been nagging at him since he heard that Forest asked Alex to leave with him, and Alex had turned him down.

"I liked Forest, he was nice," Alex says honestly, and as much as Michael hates it, he knows it's true. Just because he hated the guy on sight doesn't mean he wasn't a good guy who made Alex smile and laugh in a way that Michael hadn't seen in a long time. "But nice isn't enough, especially after only a few weeks of dating, to leave my life here or leave the people I love again," Alex watches him with those dark eyes of his, something unfathomable in them that makes Michael's pulse spike. "People that need me and that I need in return to be happy."

Michael doesn’t know what to say, not when all he wants to ask if he’s still one of the people Alex loves, one of the people that he needs to be happy. He hopes he still is, every part of him hopes that more than anything, but they haven’t been together in almost two years, and in all that time Alex hasn’t once hinted at more than friendship. There are times when he thinks he sees the longing in Alex’s eyes, but for all he knows, that’s just his own wishful thinking playing tricks on him.

Alex clears his throat and flashes him a crooked smile that is slightly embarrassed. “Anyway, I figured I might as well cave and do their little mixer and get them off my back for a while,” he shrugs. “It’s not like Roswell is a buzzing LBGT hub, how many guys can I possibly meet anyway?”

***

How many guys?

The answer is too fucking many if you ask Michael. He has watched four guys in the last hour go up to Alex, chatting him up, touching his arm when they can, lighting up when they get him to smile or laugh and given the looks Alex has been getting from every corner of the room, it isn’t going to stop at just those four.

“What the fuck did you guys do?” he questions from his corner of the bar. Isobel sits across from him, looking out at the crowd of single people flirting, exchanging numbers, and pressed closely in dark corners, with a smug, satisfied look on her face. “Did you two bus in every gay guy from neighboring cities? I haven’t seen half these guys in town before.”

Isobel turns in her stool with a smirk on her face. “Not just gay, but bisexual, and sexually undecided too.”

Maria, who has come over to them, coughs to cover a laugh. “With Alex’s face and ass, they won’t be sexually undecided for long.”

“Why?” Michael asks with a frown at the annoyance he hears in his own voice; he pours himself a shot, he’s been forced to watch the love of his life be hit on by objectively hot guys with no end in sight, sober. Obviously, it’s time for alcohol. He tips the shot back, letting it burn down his throat, but not before catching the looks that Maria and Isobel give each other.

“What?” he questions, the word coming out harsher than he wants. They share yet another look like his outburst proves whatever silent conversation they are having, and he sighs. He’s not stupid, and he knows what they’re thinking. Alex called them meddlers, and they are, not just with Alex but with Michael too. Except where they seemed hellbent on getting Alex at the very least laid. They seem determined to get him to finally admit his feelings for Alex. “Don’t start,” he warns them even though he already knows it's pointless with them.

“Why ask then?” Maria questions, tilting her head with a curious expression on her face.

“Michael,” Isobel starts softly, making him sigh again but now tiredly. He knows that tone. It’s her sisterly ‘I just want you to be as happy as I am’ voice.

“How long are you going to wait?” she questions quietly. “You hated when he was with Forest. You hate that guys are talking to him right now.”

“You love him,” Maria points out bluntly. “You’ve never stopped loving him.”

“You guys are friends now,” Isobel takes over. “You’ve built a relationship, a good one, but you’re in love with him, we can all see it.”

“Except him,” Maria mutters, rolling her eyes.

“Well, they’re both smart idiots,” Isobel says to her, flashing Maria a wicked smile, which Maria returns, reaching out to brush back a wisp of blonde hair out of Isobel’s face. Isobel’s smile softens at the gesture, and Michael aches because he wants what they have. He wants to reach out and touch Alex like that; he wants Alex to smile at him with love in his eyes the way Maria looks at Isobel.

“We’re friends,” Michael says quietly, getting their attention back on him. “What if I fuck that up?” he asks, feeling himself go hot when they both look at him with painfully gentle expressions on their face.

“You’re scared,” Maria tells him, and she looks back at Isobel. “Being in love is scary, especially given the history you guys have, we get that.”

Isobel nods, but she tilts her head in the direction of Alex, who is now talking to a different guy with brown hair and a wide smile on his face as Alex speaks.

“That’s Jacob,” Isobel starts, and Michael looks at the man better, recognizing him as Max’s latest partner. “He’s had a crush on Alex for a while; he’s just been waiting because Alex was with Forest. He’s good looking and charming, and he lives here, we didn’t ‘bus’ him in, and he came specifically for Alex.”

“Isobel,” Maria warns softly, but Isobel continues, her expression has gone from loving sister to ‘I’m about to lay some hard truths on you.’

“He’s not going anywhere,” Isobel continues. “You hated Forest and got lucky that he left. What happens if Jacob gets a date out of Alex, or a second date or a tenth, and they get serious,” she raises an eyebrow at him, and he scowls at her because he knows what she’s getting at. “They end up falling in love,” she twists in deeper, and he can’t help but flinch. “And you have to stand there and watch because you were scared.”

Maria shakes her head with a sigh. “Thank god I don’t have siblings,” she murmurs, taking a sip of her beer.

“You’ve made your point, Isobel,” Michael says quietly, his hands clenched into fists, and he feels the energy around him ripple, making the bottles behind him shake faintly. Maria, who is standing close to him, shoots him a look.

“Guerin, if you break anything in here, I will make you sorry,” she hisses, flashing a smile to a regular who looks at the bottles weirdly. “The music is making everything vibrate in here,” she jokes to him.

“I need some air,” Michael declares, grabbing his hat, already heading for the door before either woman can stop him. He crosses the bar as quickly as he can, given all the people inside. He catches Alex’s eye as he tries to leave, there is a frown on his face as he watches Michael, but all Michael can see is the way that Jacob guy is standing inches away from Alex, his body curved towards him intimately, Isobel’s words echoing in his head, ‘they end up falling in love’ and his chest hurts.

He stops and heads for Alex and his new friend instead, his pulse racing as he realizes what he’s about to do.

“Hey,” Alex greets him gently as he comes to stand before them, his brow pinched together, he nods towards the bar, and it doesn’t surprise Michael at all that Alex spotted his small use of power. “Is everything all right?”

Michael looks at him and then at Jacob. “Sorry,” he tells the man, getting a confused look back, but Michael doesn’t have time for him anymore and looks back at Alex.

“I’m still in love with you,” he blurts out, his words steady when his heart is anything but, he feels it thumping hard against his chest. “I never stopped.”

Alex’s eyes widen, and his mouth drops, but nothing comes out. Michael stands there, his skin crawling and starting to feel hot as the seconds tick by, and Alex continues to stare at him.

“I-I should go,” Jacob says awkwardly, flashing him a sympathetic look, and Michael feels a wave of humiliation wash over him.

“No,” he gets out, the word choking him. “I think that’s my line,” he looks at Alex, who still seems frozen. “Sorry.”

He turns on his heel and exits the bar like his ass is on fire, calling himself a hundred times an idiot. His eyes sting as he gets into his truck, but he reels it in, the tears will have to wait for when he’s in the privacy of his home, where he has a bottle of whiskey and acetone under his bed.

***

Michael makes it back to the junkyard in record time, and he’s grateful that no one pulled him over for speeding, given just how fast he was driving. He’s barely out of his truck and a few steps away from his airstream when an SUV comes roaring in, slamming on the breaks the driver stops inches away from his truck. Michael stands there, shocked as he takes in Alex jumping out of his car, his face a thunderstorm as he walks towards him.

“How fucking dare you!” Alex shouts, and Michael can’t say anything in the face of his anger. “You tell me you love me and then you just leave?”

Michael doesn't have an answer that won’t cause him to break down, so he focuses on something else. “How fast were you going that you got here so fast?”

Alex’s eyes bug out at his question, “Are you serious right now, Guerin?” Alex asks incredulously. “As fast as you were going, obviously.”

“You shouldn’t speed, it’s dangerous,” he states stupidly, wincing at his own words and the way Alex looks up at the sky like he’s asking some higher power for patience.

“You. Were. Speeding,” Alex clips out each word.

Michael digs in, determined to keep the focus on this and not on his humiliating declaration. “I have powers.”

“Now I know you’re an alien, your logic is not our earth logic,” Alex looks at him with a dry unamused expression. “And don’t think you’re going to distract me with this ridiculous conversation, Guerin.”

Michael breathes in deep and gives Alex a fake bold smirk. “What do you want to talk about?”

Alex gives him an unimpressed look, calling Michael’s bluff. “You told me you loved me and then you left before I could say anything about it.”

Michael clenches his jaw, feeling the lingering humiliation course through him as he thinks of just who might have overheard him, he tries to work up some anger as a defense, but all he feels is heartsick.

"Your silence was answer enough,” Michael answers, coming to grips with what it means.

Alex doesn’t love him anymore, he realizes, and he looks down at his feet as his eyes flood with tears. He thinks he deserves this. He knows he broke Alex’s heart when he dated Maria, no matter how gracious Alex was about it. It’s his turn now.

"Excuse me for being caught off guard!” Alex shouts, raising his arms up in the air, exasperated. “You were saying everything I have wanted you to say for the last two years! For a moment, I thought I was dreaming again, Michael.”

Michael looks up at Alex, his words not making sense. “You dream about me telling you I still love you?”

Alex gives him a dirty look that is so Alex, Michael falls in love just a little bit more if possible. “Don’t act dumb, Michael, you’re a literal genius, it doesn’t suit you.”

Hope is a dangerous thing, Michael has always known this, but right now he can’t help the hope that is bubbling up in his chest. “Do you still love me, Alex?”

Alex lets out a noise that is half-amused, half-annoyed, and crosses the distance between them until he’s standing in front of Michael, within touching distance. “There you go, asking dumb questions you should already know the answer too,” Alex shakes his head, but there is a smile on his face that robs Michael of air. “But since apparently, you're slow right now, fine. I still love you, Michael, I have never, not for one single second since the age of 17, stopped loving you. It's as constant as the sun rising every morning.”

“Alex,” is all he gets out, a lump in his throat.

Alex looks at him so softly, and Michael can’t stop the sob that escapes his mouth, it’s so much like the ones he’s seen Maria and Isobel give each other. Alex reaches out, his hand pulling at Michael’s shirt, and Michael goes more than willingly, pressing his face into Alex’s neck as Alex wraps his arms around him.

“I love you, Michael,” Alex whispers into the side of his face. “I love you, I love you, I love you. God, I love you so fucking much.”

Michael pulls back to look at those brown eyes he loves so much. “You love me, and I love you, why aren’t we together?”

Alex shrugs but doesn’t stop holding him. “You said you wanted to be friends.”

“You said it first!” Michael argues because it’s true, he remembers before everything went to shit, Alex standing right where they stand now, telling him that.

Alex shrugs again, with no answer, and Michael rolls his eyes at just how stupid they’ve both been.

“Okay, we’ve both been ridiculous, but I have a solution,” Michael starts.

Alex raises an eyebrow at him. “We stop being stupid right now; we decide to be together because that’s what you do when you’re in love, and you fucking kiss me already.”

Alex lets out a laugh that turns into a groan when Michael gets tired of waiting and covers his mouth with his. Michael doesn’t waste any time. He licks at Alex's plump bottom lip, sucking it between his lips as Alex parts his mouth. Alex groans again and pulls him tighter to his hard body, his hands cradling his neck and lower back. Michael presses his hips flushed against Alex’s, feeling him hardening in his jeans, he rolls his body, and Alex lets out a sound that vibrates between them, sending all the blood rushing to Michael’s dick.

He breaks the kiss and looks at Alex, his skin is a pretty shade of pink, and his eyes are hazy, and his mouth is bruised from their kissing.

He’s never looked more beautiful to Michael.

“I know we still have a lot to talk about,” he starts, holding on to Alex; he takes a step closer to his airstream. Alex looks over to it and then back at him, there is so much want on his face for Michael to see, and it just makes Michael’s body tighten even more. “I swear we can talk until we’re hoarse,” he trails off, he knows Alex gets his meaning by the way his eyes darken even more. “But can we do that later?”

Alex doesn’t answer him with words. Instead, he breaks away from him and heads for the airstream, pulling off his leather jacket as he goes and throwing it over the chair closest to Michael’s home before he starts to climb the small set of steps, leaving Michael to follow.

Michael takes a steadying breath as he feels his hands shake at the realization of what’s about to happen. What he gets to finally have again.

He follows Alex’s path and enters his airstream, shutting the door behind him. Alex has turned on the light above his bed and gotten rid of his shirt already. He turns to face Michael, lifting a hand out to him.

“Come here,” he says softly to him, his tone feeling like a touch to Michael.

Michael pulls his own shirt over his head as he walks towards Alex, letting it drop behind him, earning a smile from Alex when he takes his hand.

Alex pulls him towards him until their chests are pressed against each other, and Michael has to close his eyes at the sensation. It’s been so long since he’s felt Alex’s skin against his. They haven’t even started, and Michael already feels on a ragged edge.

“Michael, look at me,” Alex whispers, his hands touching his face, running over his curls, holding him in place as Michael opens his eyes to look at him. “What do you want?”

“You,” Michael answers instantly. “You, I want you, all around me, Alex, I need-“

Alex waits for him to continue, but Michael can’t say anything else. Love and lust, want, is coursing through him in a way that only happens with Alex, and he can’t get anything else out over the need he feels inside him, so instead he turns and sits on his bed, Alex’s bellybutton at eye level. He leans in and presses a kiss against it, his tongue tracing around it as Alex lets out a gasp.

Michael continues to lay wet kisses on Alex’s skin as his hands undo Alex’s belt and pulls down on the zipper of his jeans. He presses another kiss over Alex’s cloth-covered cock, feeling it harden even further under his mouth as he starts pulling down his pants past his ass. Alex’s hands jerk at his sides, but he doesn’t stop Michael.

He rests his chin on Alex’s washboard abs and stares up at him as he pushes down Alex’s boxer-briefs to his thighs. Alex sucks in a breath, his mouth parted as he looks down at Michael.

“I’ve missed you,” Michael murmurs, still looking up at him.

Alex caresses the side of his face with his fingertips. “Me too, baby.”

Michael sighs, feeling warm all over at the endearment. He pulls back enough to bring his mouth to Alex’s cock, licking up the small pearl of precum at the slit. Alex makes a strangled noise, and Michael grins up at him before taking him into his mouth.

“Fuck,” Alex curses, his hands going straight for Michael’s hair as Michael starts to suck him in deeper, pressing his tongue at the underside the way Alex always liked. Alex’s fingers tighten around his curls, and Michael lets out a sound of approval, he’s always liked when Alex grips his hair.

He loves the way Alex tries to stay in control despite knowing that Michael will do everything in his power to get him to unravel. He sucks on Alex some more, reveling in his tastes for a minute longer before Alex starts to tug him away, Michael pops off him and looks back up at him. Alex swears softly, his thumb brushing over Michael's bottom lip.

"If you keep doing that, this is going to end so damn quick," Alex admits, laughing quietly when Michael gives him a proud look. "Yeah, you already know what you do to me, no need to be smug."

"I finally have you back, and I'm going to keep you forever," Michael tells him, a wide smile on his face as Alex lets out a shuddering breath. "I'm going to be smug until the end of time."

Alex looks at him and shakes his head, amused. "Do you have to be smug right now, or will you stop long enough for me to make love to you?"

Michael stands up, quickly undoing his belt. "You know I can do both, Alex, come on."

Alex laughs happily, pulling him in for a wet, lingering kiss. "I love you, Michael."

Michael sighs into the kiss, his heart tripping all over itself at the words.

They work quickly to get rid of their clothes and climb into bed. Michael sits next to Alex, reaching out to help Alex remove his prosthetic. He leans down and presses a soft kiss on Alex's knee, right above where his leg ends. He looks up when Alex lets out a small gasp, his eyes glassy as he looks at Michael.

"I'm never letting go of you again," Alex tells him, the promise on his face clear, and Michael feels any last lingering doubts disappear.

He lays back on his small bed, a pillow under his hips, and his legs spread for Alex, exposed and vulnerable for him as he sits between his knees.

"You're so beautiful, Michael," Alex whispers, his hands on Michael's thighs, spreading him even further. Michael feels on display under Alex's gaze, his dick hard against his belly.

Alex starts to move. "I need-"

Michael doesn't let him finish his sentence, and with the little brain function he still has, floats a condom and a bottle of lube towards Alex, who plucks them out of the air.

“We are so using your powers for sex from now on,” Alex says with a grin as he coats his fingers with lube, letting it warm up before he touches Michael. “They’re convenient.”

Michael lets out a laugh that turns into a moan as Alex presses his fingers to his rim.

“Alex,” Michael gets out, his voice rough as Alex teases him with small circles of his fingers, he tilts his hips up as Alex starts to slide one finger in him, giving him shallow thrusts, curling his finger to seek out the small bundle of nerves that makes Michael see stars.

“You’re so tight,” Alex murmurs as he adds a second finger, while his other hand strokes Michael’s cock in a hold tight enough to make Michael moan. It’s so much and not enough. No, Michael needs more, he needs Alex inside him, now.

“Alex, baby, please,” Michael begs, pushing himself into Alex’s hands. “I need you.”

“I’m making sure you’re ready,” Alex admonishes him gently. “You’re too tight around my fingers.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done this,” he breathes, staring at Alex intently. He keeps staring at him when Alex's eyes widen.

“You mean since the last time we?“

Michael nods.

Alex closes his eyes. “You’re trying to kill me,” he says as he takes his fingers out of Michael and rolls him on his side, sliding in behind him. He makes a quick work of the condom before lining himself up with Michael’s hole. He lifts Michael’s leg, placing it back over his own.

“I feel like such a possessive asshole for being pleased with the fact that no one else has been like this with you, since me,” Alex whispers into his throat as he wraps his arms around Michael’s torso and starts to breach him. Michael lets out a whine, holding on to the edge of the bed as Alex starts to fill him up. He enjoys the exquisite burn of being full and lets out a gasp when Alex’s hips touch his ass. “It means you’re mine.”

Michael tightens at Alex’s words, the way Alex says them hot against the shell of his ear, but he hears a question in there, and he nods frantically as Alex starts to move, pulling back until just the tip is in, before pushing back into Michael, making every nerve-ending in Michael light up.

“Yes,” Michael gasps, his whole body feeling on fire from Alex’s body behind him. His hands touch his chest, pinching his nipples the way Michael likes, making his spine bend, and he fucks himself back into Alex’s cock mindlessly as his orgasm starts to build.

“Yours, always,” he gets out, letting out a sob as Alex runs his fingers down his stomach and wraps his hand around Michael's painfully hard cock and starts to stroke it in tempo with his thrusts.

Michael turns his head, pressing his face into his pillow, biting down on it to muffle his screams of pleasure as Alex fucks him over the edge. He lets out a long moan as Alex’s cock nails his prostate over and over, and he comes in hot spurts in Alex’s hand. His body tightens like a coil and then releases, leaving him boneless and breathless.

He hears Alex curse again, and he feels Alex pull him flush against his chest, his face in the crook of Michael’s neck, his teeth on the meat of his shoulder as he also comes. His hips thrusting a few more times as he rides it out.

They lay like that, Alex’s arms wrapped around him, petting him as he holds him while he softens inside Micheal.

Eventually, Alex pulls out of Michael, and Michael makes a sad noise at the loss. Alex leans down and presses a kiss on his bare shoulder. He rids himself of the condom, eyes the wastebasket by the door, and chucks it.

Michael turns over to face Alex, pushing Alex on his back and lays back down, half on top of him, his leg thrown over Alex’s.

Alex chuckles as Michael cuddles into his side. “We’re going to have to get up to clean ourselves up, or we’ll fall asleep like this and wake up all sticky.”

Michael makes a noise of agreement but doesn’t bother to move, and Alex laughs again, his arm resting across Michael’s back, his fingers drawing shapes into Michael’s skin.

“I guess sticky isn’t so bad,” Alex concedes, and Michael hums agreeing again.

They lay there quietly, basking in the afterglow. It’s only after a while, and when Michael is on the road to a good night's sleep that he feels Alex shake. He lifts his head from Alex’s chest to look at him, and he’s greeted with a wide grin and amused brown eyes.

“What’s so funny?” he asks, his lips curving up in the face of a happy Alex.

“Isobel and Maria,” Alex starts, laughter taking over. “They are going to be so smug that their mixer worked.”

Michael rolls his eyes, realizing how right Alex is, they’re going to be insufferable. He remembers what Isobel told him earlier about people mentioning the mixer at their future weddings and grins.

“Alex, no matter what happens, you have to promise me one thing,” he says seriously even as his heart races.

Alex frowns, taking in his serious tone. “Anything.”

“When we get married,” he starts, grinning when Alex’s eyes widen. “No matter what, we don’t mention the mixer, we can’t give Isobel the satisfaction.”

Alex stares at him, and Michael feels his cheeks ache from his grin, and his chest feels like it will burst from just how happy he is. Alex narrows his eyes at him, but the corners of his lip curve upward.

“Okay, when we get married,” Alex answers, a small challenge in his tone, but also a promise. “We won’t mention it at all.”

Satisfied, Michael kisses him softly, before placing his head on Alex’s chest once more, smiling when he hears the racing thump-thump of Alex’s heart and how it matches his own.

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 103

June 22

Tonight's journal is coming to you from my balcony, where it is dark at nearly ten pm and very humid, but still pleasant with all my plants growing and the hum of air conditioners all around me. 

And fucking yikes, those are some large bugs. The inside is also very appealing at this hour. I think I will write from my armchair this evening. 

Anyway, I need to go to bed earlier than usual tonight because I have a very early morning tomorrow. Poll workers need to report to the precinct by 5am, and although I'm lucky to live nearly on top of our polling place, I still need to shower and dress and pack my breakfast, lunch and dinner before I go. We typically don't finish till 8:30pm, sometimes later, so it's a damn long day when you're not allowed to leave the precinct for any reason. Typically we make it nicer by throwing a big potluck of foods people can eat on all day long, but COVID ruins everything once again. At least there's a fridge and a microwave so I won't be stuck with PBJs and tepid water bottles. 

The procedure is going to be different this time, too. I work pollbook most of the time at our precinct, which is the computer we use to check people in. It's not difficult work, but it is exacting, and it must be done right every time. Almost every counting discrepancy in a precinct starts at the pollbook, with somebody who didn't get entered properly for one reason or another. I have not made any major mistakes yet, knock on wood! There is a special precinct captain just for the pollbook, who does not work the pollbook but watches us working the pollbook to make sure we do it right. She's very demanding, for obvious reasons, and insists that we follow a particular procedure that is the same every time, so no steps ever get missed. This time we can't touch anybody's ID, which is going to make things different since we usually hold the ID till we've pushed the key to enter the voter, and we have to hand out the ballot ourselves instead of sending them to a ballot table. I'm hoping we get off to kind of a slow start so we can get the hang of things. I really, really do not want to be the person who causes a counting discrepancy. The biggest thing we've got going in our favor is that it's a simple Republican primary, so only one ballot type to hand out, and attendance is likely to be fairly light.

Going to bed early will be easy, at least, because the new mattress topper is here! Yay! It's very soft and cushy and I love it deeply already. I've only laid on it a little because it needs to recover from being vacuum sealed, but I can tell we're going to be the very best of friends.Our super-old mattress for the past two nights has made my back and neck very sad. We can't afford a new mattress, but this is like a new mattress, or close enough for now. I'm finally looking forward to going to bed! 

Today was grocery pickup day, so we finally have milk and eggs and yogurt and such. The morning routine was disrupted when we realized that the truck's battery was flat after sitting for so many weeks, but I was able to take the battery pack we got for Christmas from my folks and use it to jump the battery, with some Facetime assistance from my dad. I know the principles of jumping a battery, but never had to do it on my own before. It's not too hard. I then had to go over to the post office, a chore that always ruins my day a little. 

I don't understand what is wrong with my post office because I have dealt with many many post offices in all the places I've lived and none of them have been terrible like this one! I went in and told them that I wasn't getting my mail and asked if they might be holding it. Officious Asshole Guy, as he shall henceforth be known, assured me that they did not hold any mail without an order to hold it. I told him that I had a hold mail for the first two weeks of May, but that my mailbox was bursting when I got home May 16, so I assumed that, per usual, the mail carrier ignored my hold. I asked if he could go check, and he did, and came back with a big bundle of mail. He informed me that it was my fault that I wasn't getting my mail because I'd said I'd pick up my mail on May 16 but I hadn't done so. I reiterated that I'd gotten all my mail up until May 16, and that this must be mail from later, after the hold mail expired. He insisted that was not the case, that they never held mail without a hold mail order and never did not hold mail that had been ordered held, and that if I hadn't gotten any mail in a month, it was because people weren't sending me anything. It was useless to argue with him, so I took my mail and left. Everything in the pile was, of course, from after May 16. I went home and reminded all my family and friends on Facebook to please not send us anything via postal mail because the probability of it not reaching us is fairly high. I am sticking with my resolution to not leave any negative comments or complaints for anybody who has to work during the pandemic, no matter how terrible they are, but this guy really, really tempted me. 

Just typing all that out has angried up my blood again, so I'll finish out with nicer stuff. The kiddo is back to using the knitting loom, which is a nice hobby and something good to do while listening to podcasts. He's been a little high strung since we got home, settling back into the routine, but it's getting gradually better. I wish it weren't so hot, so the kids could go out and play distantly with each other. Virginia is on a downswing right now, so it's not too unsafe except for the heat exhaustion part. My husband's summer class didn't make, not enough students signed up, so while that's a little less money for us this summer, it also means more time for him to work on his book. 

And my mail today included two interesting COVID artifacts I will probably save: my son's report card with all V's (not evaluated) for his fourth quarter grades and merely a notation at the bottom that he is being promoted to fifth grade, and my sister's wedding invitation with an "everything could change at any time" caveat right under the RSVP instructions. These are strange days we are living in, but the weirdest thing I saw today was a Crayola Maskpack commercial that looked exactly like a commercial for any other Crayola school products, kids running, jumping, coloring in the classroom, interacting with their teachers, except every single person except one mom at home was wearing a bright colorful facemask. It looked so bizarre I watched it through twice, couldn't look away. It really is a new world. 

[vexedtonightmares]

La Fin Des Temps Chapter 7 (Elu Hogwarts AU)

Vendredi 18:48 - “How did your date go?”

Manon had dragged Lucas along to the inter house unity meeting against his will. Clearly, she had been under the impression that, since he had come to the first one, he would come every week. He’d skipped the one the week before, mostly because he didn’t really want to watch Daphné try to teach everyone how to use a smartphone when she barely knew herself.

Daphné was setting up a way for them to watch a movie, apparently, having run a poll on her Instagram story to see what activity she should plan for the meeting. Lucas supposed this wasn’t the worst way to spend his night, even if he would have rather been lying in bed thinking about Eliott or, even better, having another patronus lesson.

Things had been back to normal between Lucas and Eliott since the weird moment they’d had earlier in the week, but they hadn’t talked about whether or not Eliott would be at this meeting, so Lucas decided to send him a message.

lucallemant: Are you coming to the inter house unity movie night?

He turned his phone over in his hands while he waited for Eliott to reply, startled when someone slipped their hands over his eyes. He grinned slowly. Eliott?

He pulled the hands from his eyes and turned to greet Eliott. “Salu-- oh,” he faltered when he realized it was just Arthur.

“Jeez, don’t be too excited to see me. I only came because Manon sent me pictures of you sitting there looking all lonely,” Arthur said, taking a seat beside Lucas on the floor. Lucas turned to glare at Manon even though he was glad for the company.

“Where are Yann and Basile?” Lucas asked, scanning the room.

Arthur shrugged. “On their way, probably. Yann was finishing up some assignment, I swear to god he’s never not working, and Basile wouldn’t miss a chance to see Daphné somewhere she can’t avoid him. Have you seen Eliott?”

“No, why?” Lucas was glad Arthur had brought up Eliott, he hadn’t wanted to be the one to ask. Eliott hadn’t been at lunch or dinner, but Lucas just assumed he was caught up in his dormitory working on his schoolwork.

“Just haven’t seen him all day, even in our dormitory. I left a note for him to meet us here but… eh, whatever. Maybe he’s off with the person he’s so in love with,” Arthur grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

Lucas coughed, not sure he had hear Arthur correctly. “He has a girlfriend? Why hasn’t he said anything to any of us?”

“Oh, no,” Arthur said dramatically, “He’s not dating anyone but he’s sure as hell obsessed with someone. Talks about them all. The. Time. It would be kind of annoying if it weren’t so endearing.”

Lucas wondered who it could be. Eliott had never said anything about liking anyone when they had hung out. Was he trying to keep it a secret? Clearly not, if Arthur knew so much about it. In fact, Arthur was still talking, doing a terrible impression of Eliott.

“Arthur, I couldn’t pay attention in class today because of them. Arthur, we had the best conversation today but I don’t think they feel the same about me. Arthur, their eyes are so pretty. Supermodel eyes, he calls them. Do you know any girls with supermodel eyes?”

Lucas felt his blood boil. Not that it mattered, but supermodel eyes were their thing, his and Eliott’s. The fact that Eliott couldn’t focus in class because of some girl and her supermodel eyes made him angrier than he wanted to admit. He realized Arthur had asked him a question. “I don’t know anyone with supermodel eyes,” he said coldly.

Arthur shrugged, not catching Lucas’ tone. “I’ll ask Yann and Basile. Actually, maybe I’ll ask Alexia, she might know.”

“Why would Alexia know?”

“Oh, right, this mystery person is most definitely in our potions class,” Arthur clarified. “He freaked out all night after we did the Amortentia potion-- nice one, by the way, Imane told me you had no idea what we were brewing-- because he thought he’d been too obvious and given away who he was talking about and that they didn’t feel the same way. I told him he shouldn’t have shared what his potion smelled like with the whole class, but he said he didn’t want you to be the only one who shared. Maybe it worked though, and he’s with his mystery girl right now.”

Lucas was saved from having to respond by the arrival of Yann and Basile plopping down beside the two of them. “What are we talking about?” Yann asked, and Arthur began to fill him in on their conversation about Eliott and the girl he liked. Lucas tuned them out to the best of his ability.

He couldn’t, however, refrain from checking his phone to see if Eliott had opened his message. He hadn’t. Lucas’ stomach churned at the confirmation that, wherever Eliott was and whoever he was with, Lucas was the last thing on his mind.

“Nox,” Daphné said, turning the lights out and letting the movie broadcast itself on the wall in front of them. Apparently, they were watching Star Wars. Not the most Daphné-like choice, but a movie that made him glance at Yann out of the corner of his eye. Yann grinned back, likely remembering their first year bonding over how they were going to be like Jedi once they learned how to do magic.

He let himself enjoy the movie instead of overthinking where Eliott was and who he was with any longer. It was almost a relief, actually, to know for certain that Eliott wasn’t interested in him like that. Sure, he would have preferred a different outcome, but at least now he could stop wondering if Eliott had sat by him at lunch on his first day because he liked Lucas, or if he had asked Lucas to practice patronuses as a way to spend time alone together. Those things had just been friendly, a way for the new kid to get to know someone.

Basile fell asleep about an hour into the movie, head in Arthur’s lap. Yann and Lucas were very offended that their friend had the audacity to fall asleep during Star Wars, so they got their revenge by posting a few photos on his Instagram account with captions and comments that were sure to be un-Daphné worthy.

When the credits rolled and the lights finally turned back on nearly everyone was stretched out comfortably, some asleep, some with heads on their friends or significant others’ shoulders. Basile woke up blearily and tried to pretend he hadn’t been asleep for nearly the entire movie, which was doubly amusing given the fact that he had no idea what Star Wars was and kept trying to explain parts of the movie that he hadn’t seen.

“Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia have got to be the end couple, right? Especially after that, uh, that one scene, you know what I’m talking about, with the uh, space flowers,” Basile rambled. Yann and Lucas exchanged glances behind his back.

Lucas checked his phone again, proud of himself for having avoided doing so until the movie ended. Nothing. Eliott still hadn’t even opened the message. Where was he?

“Lulu, you coming?” Yann had blanket he had brought slung over one shoulder, following Basile and Arthur as they continued to argue about Star Wars.

“In a minute, I should help Manon clean up,” he responded, wanting a moment alone. Yann flashed a thumbs up before leaving him alone. Soon it was only Lucas and the girls left.

“That went well?” Daphné looked to all of them for confirmation, and everyone nodded their heads vigorously.

“It was awesome,” Manon confirmed.

“So great,” Emma added.

Alexia nodded. “Best movie night ever.”

“By next week this club will have everyone in the entire school joining,” Imane said confidently. The girls looked to Lucas expectantly.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, it was really cool Daphy. The guys were just saying how much fun it was.” He might complain about Daphné sometimes, but he really did admire her. In just a few weeks this club had become one of the most popular clubs in the school.

She beamed at him. “Really? Eliott didn’t show up, so I didn’t know if there was something wrong…”

Daphné blushed when she said his name. It seemed he wasn’t the only one with a hopeless crush on Eliott, though that didn’t come as much of a surprise. It was weird to think that he and Daphné would have similar taste in guys, though…

“Don’t take it personally, Daphy, he’s out on a date.” Sure, he didn’t know this for a fact, but the more he repeated it to himself, the less it hurt. Well, in theory. Lucas caught sight of Imane studying him out of the corner of his eye and he did his best to ignore her. Yeah, she clearly knew what his Amortentia had meant. “I’m sure he’ll be at the next one,” he added quickly, just in case Daphné got upset.

There were footsteps and suddenly Eliott was standing in the doorway, slightly out of breath. He looked around the room, face falling. “Oh… is the movie night over?”

“Yes, we finished about ten minutes ago. It was Star Wars, everyone enjoyed it a lot,” Daphné said stiffly.

“Fuck. I’m sorry, I really wanted to come.” Eliott was looking at Lucas as he spoke, but Lucas pretended to be busy folding other blankets students had laid with during the movie.

“It’s fine,” Daphné said, warming considerably. It was the Eliott effect. “There will be more movie nights.”

Eliott broke into a wide grin. “I sure hope so. The inter-house unity club is where all the cool things happen, right?”

“Right,” Daphné smiled, ducking her head to hide her blush.

Eliott shifted from foot to foot. “To say sorry, why don’t I finish cleaning up for you guys?”

“Oh, no don’t worry about it, we’re almost done anyway--” Daphné started, but Eliott cut her off.

“No, no, I insist. You’ve done enough. Lucas can help me finish.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows at Eliott, not wholly pleased to be dragged into clean up duty, especially given the messy state of the room. Eliott merely smiled in return, probably due to the lasting high of his date.

“Ok…” Daphné said hesitantly. “Call any of us if you change your mind.”

“Will do.”

With that, the girls took the few items they had brought and filed out of the room, chatting amongst one another, leaving Lucas and Eliott alone.

“You do realize what you’ve volunteered for, right?” Lucas clarified, gesturing around the messy room.

Eliott laughed. “You do realize we’re wizards, right?”

Oh. Yeah. They were, weren’t they?

Eliott cast a few quick spells, debris and dust disappearing as blankets folded themselves and food crumbs vanished from the floor. “That was easy, wasn’t it?”

Eliott made magic look so effortless, like they weren’t just words he was speaking, but a fundamental part of him. Lucas was never able to connect like that to his magic, to feel like it was a part of him. He wished he was, that he felt it deeply in his soul. He wasn’t even sure if he felt anything deeply in his soul at all. At least, not like Eliott did. Lucas held Eliott’s gaze for a moment before his eyes snagged on something in the corner of the room that he hadn’t noticed before. Eliott followed his eyes.

“Did you know I can play the Star Wars theme on the piano? I would show you but I don’t want to impress you too much.” Eliott was closer to him now, teasing grin on his face. Lucas wasn’t paying attention to Eliott for once, eyes still on the piano in the corner. Maybe there was something that made him feel connected to the deepest parts of his soul. He walked over to the piano without sparing Eliott a glance or response, sitting on the bench and running his fingers over the smooth keys. He pressed down on three of them, just to see if the piano was in tune.

“I must say, my Star Wars cover is better,” Eliott joked, sitting down beside him.

“Mmm,” Lucas mumbled in response, trying to call up the memory of a piece he had played long ago with his mom who was no longer his mom. How simple things had been back then, before his dad left and his mom was committed and he was put into the system, only to be scooped up by a different set of parents who still cared too little.

He tested out the same three keys, this time adding a fourth. Yes, this was right. It was all coming back to him now. Closing his eyes briefly, he let instinct take over, playing the song that reminded him of the life he had lost, but the best parts of that life. Sitting with his head on his mother’s shoulder as she played, memorizing her movements, running around outside with his mother and father, basking in the warm air, singing with his mother in the kitchen as she made dinner, not noticing when his father barely showed up or refused to sing along.

Lucas became swept up in the music, fingers hitting the keys softly, but intentionally, performing with a bliss he hadn’t remembered existed until that moment. It was only when he felt something brush his shoulder that he remembered Eliott was sitting beside him, watching, listening. He also remembered what the song was called. I love you. He hoped Eliott wasn’t too versed in contemporary classical music.

The song was nearing the end, Lucas hadn’t even realized he’d played the whole thing already, so he tapered off, letting his fingers trail the last few notes gently. The silence that filled the room when he finished was charged with energy. He was too scared to look at Eliott, see his reaction to the impromptu concert he had just given.

“C’etait ouf,” Eliott said, voice thick with an emotion Lucas couldn’t place. He couldn’t tell if Eliott was speaking French on purpose or because he was too dumbfounded to find the words in English. Maybe he was impressed, Lucas thought foolishly.

Eliott cleared his throat and spoke again, still in French. “T’es surprenant.”

Lucas couldn’t help it, his head snapped up to meet Eliott’s eyes, stunned by the emotion they held when he looked into them. Eliott’s eyes told him everything he needed to know, and suddenly Lucas didn’t feel so self conscious, didn’t worry about the girl that Eliott was mad for.

Eliott’s eyes flicked down to Lucas’ hands, still resting on the keys. “J’aime bien les gens surprenant.”

Lucas didn’t know what to say to that, so he just held Eliott’s gaze. Something passed between them, something Lucas didn’t have the energy or ability to tell himself meant anything other than what he wanted it to. Before his brain could get too far ahead of itself, Lucas blinked and looked away, breaking contact.

“How did your date go?” he asked, forcing the words out. They tasted bitter on his tongue.

Eliott responded with what sounded like genuine confusion. “My date?”

“Yeah, with your mystery girl. Arthur told me about her, said you won’t shut up about her.” Lucas tried to keep his voice light, teasing. This was how friends talked to each other about who they were dating, right? Eliott didn’t answer right away, so Lucas looked up at him again, trying to gauge what his response would be.

Eliott looked caught between emotions, partially amused, partially confused, and partially afraid. “Arthur told you… and where did Arthur get his information?”

“From you? He said you talk his ear off about some girl in our potions class every night. If you aren’t careful he might try to feed you to Brian.” Was he doing ok at this platonic teasing thing? Or was it coming off weird? Well, they did like weird, he supposed. Lucas was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost missed Eliott’s response.

“Even if I did have a mystery date… who said it would be a girl?”

All the breath went out of Lucas’ body at once, almost as if Eliott had punched him in the stomach. Had he said what Lucas thought he’d said? That couldn’t be right. There was no way…

But maybe there was. Eliott had sat by him in the Great Hall instead of anyone else. Eliott had told him he had supermodel eyes. Eliott had gone where he’d gone, had followed him to make sure he was ok on multiple occasions, had listed the smells of his Amortentia when Lucas had been embarrassed by listing his. Eliott had followed him on Instagram. Eliott had laid on the floor with him and drawn a hundred variations of his patronus just because he wanted Lucas to know he cared.

No, Lucas told his brain, stop it. Just because Eliott had said his mystery date wasn’t necessarily a girl, it didn’t mean it was Lucas. He was just teasing Lucas, seeing how he would react.

He looked up at Eliott and saw Eliott looking back. Lucas took a deep breath, and opened up the windows to his soul, letting Eliott see what was inside and do with it what he pleased. Neither of them were laughing anymore, all traces of humor gone from their faces. Lucas was serious in how he felt, and he wanted to know if Eliott was serious too. Am I the one you talk about at night?

Then Eliott opened up his eyes, his soul, at least a part of it, to Lucas, and the world was destroyed and rebuilt all within that single glance. Lucas saw himself reflected in Eliott’s eyes, but it wasn’t totally him. It was a version of himself that he didn’t realize existed, someone surprising, someone beautiful, someone worth loving. There was no mystery girl in Eliott’s eyes, only Lucas, and Eliott, and Lucas and Eliott.

I think I might kiss him, Lucas thought to himself, I think I might kiss him right here on this piano bench. They were already close, but not close enough. Lucas inched forward, bit by bit, taking much longer than he probably needed to, but still trying to work up the courage. He noticed Eliott was doing the same. He tilted his head up slightly, realizing he would have to do so to reach Eliott’s mouth. The thought was exhilarating to him for no reason at all. He realized then that maybe his life had been leading up to this moment. He had never met a person like Eliott before and he didn’t think that he ever would again. Everything before Eliott had been fake, had been Lucas wanting to live but being too scared. He didn’t think he was scared anymore.

Their noses brushed and Lucas closed his eyes slowly, savoring every moment. Eliott’s hand came to rest on his on top of the piano keys, their lips were so close, not even a breath of air between them. He felt like he could taste Eliott already. It took all of his willpower to not just grab Eliott by the face right there and join their lips, hungry and desperate. Lucas swallowed, jaw clenching slightly. Not afraid, never afraid with Eliott. Their top lips brushed…

“Oh thank goodness you guys are still here!”

They shot apart in an instant; Lucas nearly fell off the piano bench. Their intruder hardly seemed to notice, or care. Daphné was smiling at them, oblivious to everything she had interrupted.

“I left my prefect badge in here, did either of you see it while you were cleaning? Where did that piano come from?” She bent down to search the floor for her missing badge. Eliott hopped up off the piano bench, holding something small out for Daphné to take.

“I found this when I came in, but I didn’t know whose it was,” he offered. Lucas watched as her face went from worried to relieved, though he himself couldn’t feel anything but angry with her. It wasn’t her fault, but still.

“Thank you Eliott! You’re a lifesaver! I can’t imagine, if I would have lost it for real… I’d never live it down. Anyway, what are you two still doing here? You did a great job on cleaning up!” She smiled at the two of them eagerly. To his credit, Eliott smiled back. Lucas couldn’t make his face muscles do anything other than grimace and try not to show that he was hexing Daphné in his head. “I’ll walk out with you,” she finished.

Lucas waited for Eliott to refuse her offer, to tell her that they still had work to do before they left, but he simply nodded and looked to Lucas for confirmation, eyes duller than they had been a moment before. Had Lucas imagined everything after all?

He finally got up from the piano bench and made his way out of the room, trailing a few steps behind Eliott and Daphné, who were engaged in a conversation about the next inter-house unity club meeting. In the entry hall, at the bottom of the stairs Daphné turned to them both with a sad smile.

“I guess I have to leave you, my common room is by the kitchens, you know. Thank you so much for coming to movie night, Lucas, and thanks for helping clean up and finding my badge Eliott. You give inter-house unity a good name.” She kissed them both on the cheek before parting, nearly skipping her way to the Hufflepuff common room.

Lucas didn’t know what to do now that he and Eliott were alone again. “Walk you back to your common room?” Eliott suggested, gesturing a hand to the stairwell.

Lucas laughed, “Our common rooms are right near each other. You’re walking that way anyway.”

Eliott shrugged. “My mystery potions girl didn’t argue when I walked her home earlier,” he said with mock seriousness. Lucas laughed again and shoved Eliott lightly, making him stumble as they started up the stairs. The responding look Eliott gave Lucas almost made up for the fact that Daphné had interrupted them earlier. Almost.

Eliott was so full of light, brighter than the sun. Every look he gave Lucas was unique only to him, a secret the two of them shared. Lucas hoped that Eliott felt the same way, but he didn’t know if anyone, himself included, was physically capable of the rare beauty Eliott exuded and shared just by existing.

“Wait a minute,” Eliott said as they were halfway up their fifth set of stairs. Neither one of them had been moving particularly fast, but they were both a bit out of breath. Eliott steadied himself by placing a hand on Lucas’ shoulder, laughing through breaths. “Who designed this place?”

“Who decided we can’t apparate inside the castle grounds is a better question,” Lucas countered, “We’d get to classes so much faster. Not that I can apparate yet anyway.”

“No?” Eliott asked bewilderedly.

“Uh, no? You have to be seventeen. I don’t turn seventeen until July. Plus, apparition lessons for sixth years don’t start for a month or so.”

“Oh, right,” Eliott said, picking up his pace. Lucas hurried to try to match him, a difficult task on his much shorter legs.

“Are you going to do the apparition lessons?” Lucas asked once he caught up, then cringed internally. “I mean, of course you are, we can’t take the test unless we take the lessons.”

Eliott didn’t look at Lucas as he spoke. “I already have my apparition license.”

“Oh,” Lucas said in surprise, “That’s cool. Were the rules different at Beauxbatons?”

“No. I’m seventeen.”

Lucas waited for Eliott to elaborate, but it became clear after a moment that he wasn't going to. He tried not to feel disappointed. If Eliott didn’t feel like sharing personal details at the moment, he didn’t have to. Lucas changed the subject, joking about whether Harriet would rather murder Eliott for not paying attention in potions than unfollow him on Instagram. The relief was palpable off of Eliott when Lucas changed the subject, and Lucas tried not to worry about why.

Soon, too soon, they stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, the entrance to Lucas’ common room. “Thanks for walking me back, I know it was really out of the way,” Lucas joked.

Eliott smiled, less luminous than before. This smile had a more serious quality to it, almost like Eliott was bracing himself for something. His eyes flicked to the portrait and back to Lucas’ face. “This is where we say goodnight, then.”

“This is where we say goodnight, then,” Lucas repeated.

They stood there for a beat, just looking at one another. Tell me, Lucas urged, tell me now that I’m not making all this up. Tell me that you want this as much as I do. It was Eliott who looked away first. “Goodnight, Lucas.”

“Goodnight, Eliott.”

Eliott walked a few steps before turning back to look at Lucas over his shoulder. Similarly to the other day, Lucas was standing exactly where Eliott had left him. “Thank you,” Eliott said. It wasn’t what Lucas had been expecting, though he didn’t totally know what he had been expecting.

“For what?” He was genuinely curious.

“For showing me your soul. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Eliott answered simply. Lucas blinked in surprise as Eliott turned away once again and didn’t look back. That night Lucas would dream of pianos and Eliott and the universe and everything in between. He would see himself the way Eliott saw him, and he wouldn’t be afraid or ashamed of what he saw.

Then, he would wake up in the morning and forget he had dreamt anything at all.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 

AO3

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[theguardiansseries]

From the Beginning Chapter 8

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Summary: Danny Fenton was a simple, sixteen-year-old teenager who loved fast food, video games, and getting a B on surprise pop quizzes. He’s also the half-ghost teenage hero Danny Phantom who defends Amity Park from ghost attacks on a daily basis. Somehow, the ghost attacks make a lot more sense than crushes, friendships, and falling in love with someone he is definitely not supposed to be falling in love with. It was a lot easier to separate Phantom and Fenton before, but now it’s getting harder the more he learns about himself. Just who was he? The dorky son of scientists who loved the stars or the hero that protected the town. He’s starting to feel like he won’t like the answer. (Iambic Prose) (Prequel to Guardians and Partial Show Rewrite)

<<First Chapter>> <<Last Chapter>> <<Next Chapter>>

Chapter Eight

::

“I think a threat that’s stronger than Pariah is about to wake up.” It sounded silly when he said it out loud, but Danny had been thinking on this for a while now and it was the only thing that seemed to make sense after his walk around Pariah’s Keep.

“What- Wait, what?” Sam looked surprised and even scared, almost, before her expression dropped and her eyes narrowed. “What kind of a threat?”

“I don’t- A threat.” It sounded stupid, but it all lined up! Danny had been seeing the signs for weeks and he hadn’t even realized what he was staring at until it was almost too late - almost. “Sammy, you have to trust me on this one.”

“Uh huh. Why do you think we’re about to face a threat, Danny? And give me an exact reason, not a ghost sense sort of reason.”

“None of the ghosts have attacked in almost two weeks!” Alright, Sam’s groan was unappreciated and wildly unhelpful. “C’mon, Tuck, back me up here. You think it’s weird, don’t you?” Maybe he was exaggerating a little with it being a Pariah level threat, but it was weird.

“Yeah. Weird.” While Tucker gave strange responses sometimes, that was weird even by their standards. He usually never shut up, but thinking about it, Tucker had been weirdly silent during lunch this time.

“Tucker? You alright, buddy?” The three were in the cafeteria, so Danny had been a little concerned with eating before his food was stolen or shoved down his shirt, but now that he was looking, Tucker had a lot of papers and notebooks out. “Okay, last I checked February wasn’t even over yet. What’s with the finals level studying?”

“It’s not studying.” Tucker was staring down at a packet of papers with utter seriousness, food completely abandoned and ignored beside him. It was, Danny decided, absolutely terrifying. “It’s for the student council elections coming up.”

Danny didn’t even get to open his mouth before Sam was kicking him, which, alright, he probably deserved that considering he hadn’t even known that his best friend was running for student elections. “Cool- Cool. That’s cool. Uh, refresh my memory, which position are you going for?” Because if Tucker was aiming for President, then he had quite the depressing news.

“Vice president. In this school, the VP always is the one behind the big changes. The jocks can fight for the figurehead position all they want, but I know what I’m doing.”

“Never doubted you for a second, buddy.” At least he had done his research, this year. “So, uh, what kind of plans you have in mind? Hopefully nothing that will end up with a changed lunch menu.”

“Hey! We agreed to never speak of that moment again! Nothing I did or said as a freshman can be held against me and you know it.” Sam glared at him and Danny knew without any doubt that she could kill him anytime she pleased.

“Right, right, so, uh, student council. Vice president. You wanna… talk about it?” That’s what supportive friends did, right? Talk about student politics?

“You have time for it?” All three of them seemed to realize how harsh that was at the same time since Danny winced the same moment as Tucker and Sam. “Sorry- Sorry, that was… Sorry, man.”

“Yeah, no, hey, I get it. I haven’t exactly been around the past few weeks like I should have been.” It had been one crazy thing after another, it seemed, but things were settling down, now. “The ghosts haven’t been by in almost two weeks, though, so I think I’m good on time for the moment.”

“Oh… Right! Well, uh, so first-” The next few words were drowned out by the ringing of the school bell, Tucker looking disgruntled as Sam hid a laugh behind her napkin.

“Raincheck?” Danny grinned, happy when he saw Tucker give a grudging one of his own. “We can talk about it after school. Gaming party at yours?”

“You know it.” Sharing a quick fist bump with the both of them, Danny helped Tucker gather a backpack’s worth of paper as Tucker looked like he tried to stop himself from smiling too widely. “Just you wait, man, I have so many ideas on how to keep this place from becoming hell- Oh! I had a few ideas about our, uh, club.”

“Club? Tuck, we don’t-” Oh. Oh! “Right! The club.” Ghost hunting was a club now, then. Great. “Uh, sure- Yeah. That sounds great.”

A little gaming time with Tucker while talking about their lives sounded like something that was long overdue.

Unfortunately, the ghosts never stayed quiet for long. What was supposed to be a fun night of gaming turned into six hours of fighting off Technus and his latest plan to use the Gamestop in the mall to take over the internet. It was six hours of his life that he was never going to get back, but he figured he could at least make it up to Tucker by taking him to the mall that, thanks to ‘Phantom,’ was still there.

Of course, it would have been better if Desiree hadn’t shown up and started granting wishes by the fountains. One would think that the town of Amity Park would have learned not to wish for things out loud, but four hours of hell proved otherwise. Danny was still trying to figure out who wished for walls to be made of jello. He would kick their ass, if he ever figured it out, that was for sure.

After that it was the Lunch Lady causing a riot at one of the local soup kitchens, Ember trying to enslave a group of teenagers in the park, the Box Ghost taking over the post office, and Johnny and Kitty having a fight that almost destroyed an entire city block.

Finally, though, March was here and things were calming down once again. “Tucker- Hey! Tucker! Wait up!” Student elections for next year’s positions weren’t going to be voted on until late April so Danny had plenty of time to listen to Tucker’s plans and help him out with campaigning and all of that. It would be easier, of course, if Tucker would slow down and wait for him. “Hey, so, I was thinking that today-”

“You could leave me behind and go off and hunt ghosts on your own? Yeah, sounds perfect, Danny, let’s do that.” It wasn’t the words that hurt so much as the way Tucker sounded so bitter. “Here, you can even get a head start. I’ll go home, and you can stand here and wait for the next ghost attack, which should be in, oh, ten minutes? Five, maybe?”

“Okay, no gaming marathon today, then.” Danny shook his head, trying to find out where the bitter attitude was coming from and finding himself unable to. He knew it had been a rough few weeks, but it wasn’t like any of that was Danny’s fault. “Okay, right, I’ll bite, what the hell? I mean, I know I’ve been busy-”

“Busy?” Tucker near knocked Danny over with how fast he turned around. “No, busy would be dealing with the ghosts and then coming to talk to me afterwards. You’ve been a jerk-”

“I’ve been a jerk? You’ve been avoiding me all day when I’ve been trying to catch up to you so we can talk. And I’m sorry, since when am I considered a jerk for taking care of threats that no one else can?”

“No one else- Do you even realize- Do you even see us?! All of this - everything - is all your fault! And you’re too much of a stubborn jerk to even see that!”

“My… And just what, Tucker, is my fault?” None of this was his fault! How was any of this his fault? He had his own stuff to deal with, too, and by the time the fights ended these days, he was too tired to do much more than to make it home and collapse.

What Tucker thought was his fault was something Danny didn’t get to hear. Instead he heard a high-pitched whine, saw Tucker look shocked and scared, and then he felt nothing but pain. Pain and fear were the last things he felt before he saw black.

::

“Greetings, prey… I had a feeling that my weapons wouldn’t trigger that little detection power of yours.”

“Oh, God, of course it’s you.” Danny’s ears were still ringing, and his mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton and sand, but he had enough sense to recognize Skulker’s voice when he heard it. “And here I thought you finally chased the wrong prey and got your suit destroyed or something.”

“Unfortunately for you, that is not the case. No, whelp… You see, I’ve decided that it was high time that we bring our little hunt to new grounds.” Right, Skulker was just going on with his dramatics. That gave Danny at least five good minutes to figure out where the hell he was and why he felt so awful.

The second one he could probably blame on whatever Skulker had used to knock him out. He remembered electricity, just barely, and that was enough. Skulker had probably gone to Technus to have his weapons upgraded, the jerk.

Okay, okay. Focus. He had been leaving school and- Tuck. Tucker. Right. Well, even if they were fighting, he was still sure that Tucker would call Sam and Jazz and some rescue attempt would be put together. At least, that was what he thought until he heard a familiar groan beside him.

“My brains… feel like oatmeal.” Pushing himself up faster than he should have, Danny’s vision swam as he stared down at where Tucker was lying down next to him.

“Ah, yes. I even brought along a friend of yours for our hunt today. I couldn’t have him running to tell others and interrupt our hunt too soon, now could I?”

“Skulker, the second I can see straight I am going to punch you in your face!” Of all the things to happen of course Tucker would be trapped alongside him! Sam, at least, could have kept pace with him, but Tucker? Depending on where they were, they might just be doomed.

“Maybe once you might have been able to, whelp, but I have the home field advantage.” The… The home field advantage? Stomach feeling like it had been taken out of him and dropped off a skyscraper, Danny shot his gaze up towards the sky and saw nothing except green. Green meant that they were in the Ghost Zone, but Skulker wouldn’t be so smug if it was just that. “Now, since I like to give my prey a sporting chance, I’ll give you a ten-minute head start.”

Feeling a tug to his wrist, Danny’s gaze snapped over to where Tucker was looking shocked and scared, eyes wide as he stared at the handcuffs that chained them together. This, Danny realized, just became a lot more difficult.

“Oh, and did I mention your ten minutes began when you awoke?” Skulker’s smug, satisfied words had Danny scrambling to his feet, fighting the wave of dizziness that swept over him as he grabbed Tucker’s arm and pulled him along as he started to run.

“Danny! Do you even know where we’re going?!” Tucker’s shouts only had Danny pulling them along faster, because the sooner they got away from Skulker, the better.

“I think that as long as we’re running away from the crazy mecha suit, then it doesn’t really matter,” Danny yelled back, eyes wide as he tried not to run them into any trees. He had caught glimpses of a forest in the Ghost Zone once before, but since when had there been a jungle? Were they at Skulker’s island or lair or whatever it was?

“And how do we know we’re not gonna just wind up going in circles!” Feeling a jerk on his arm as Tucker tripped over something, Danny swore as he slowed down enough to make sure Tucker didn’t fall before pulling him along again. “Ow- Danny!”

“Just shut up and run, Tuck. We wouldn’t even be in this mess if you hadn’t been acting like a jerk-”

“You’re blaming me for this?!” Tucker stopped again, and Danny grunted as he felt a sharp tug to his wrist where the handcuff was locked around him. He was starting to hate these handcuffs and he couldn’t wait to punch Skulker in the face for this. “This is your fault, dude.”

“My fault? It’s my fault that you’ve been ignoring me for the last few days?” Seeing the other ready to reply, Danny sharply shook his head the same time he pulled on the chain of the handcuffs. “We don’t have time for this. Just shut up and I’ll fly us out of here.”

Danny let himself relax before he was triggering his change into his ghost half, except there were no rings - or anything else. Trying again, Danny swallowed as, again, nothing happened. “Oh no.”

“Oh no?” Tucker frowned, crossing his arms and bringing Danny’s own arm with him. “Why are you saying oh no?” Changing wasn’t working, nor was flying, or intangibility, invisibility, ectoblasts, or anything else.

“We might have a problem,” Danny finally admitted, looking to the handcuffs and realizing for the first time that they were glowing. “Scratch that, we definitely have a problem.”

Tucker followed his gaze after a moment and it seemed to click at once considering the loud swear he let out. “This thing stops your ghost powers?”

“Seems to be the case,” Danny hissed, fingers scrabbling against the cuff on his wrist. He almost started swearing when it didn’t even budge. “Okay- Okay, just- Don’t panic. Just follow me-”

“And who put you in charge?” Tucker looked even more defensive than before as he took a step forward, poking at Danny’s chest, and, seriously? “This is my life on the line, too, you know! Why do you get to make all the decisions?”

“Can we not do this right now?” Danny frowned, batting Tucker’s hand away. “Look, I get it, you’re pissed I don’t get to spend time with you anymore, but we need to get out of here before Skulker tries to skin us or something. As for the other thing, I get to be in charge because I know about ghost things.”

“And I don’t?” Instead of his words reassuring Tucker, the other only seemed to be getting even angrier. As great as it was that they were finally talking, now was really not the time. “Dude, I’ve been right here the entire time! You don’t even see me, but we’ve been learning all of this stuff at the same time! The same pace!”

“Where is this even coming from?!” Danny finally shouted back, not caring that their ten minutes were probably up and Skulker was on the hunt for them. Skulker was the last thing he was worried about, right now. “It’s only recently that we’ve been fighting like this-”

“Recent?” Tucker’s voice was whisper soft before he was yelling again, looking angrier and angrier with each word. “Recent- It’s always been like this! You’ve always been so damn prideful and full of yourself and it’s gotten worse ever since you became ‘Phantom.’ You think you’re above everything!”

For a second, Danny could only stare at his best friend in shock. Then the shock ended and anger set in. “Above- You have no idea what I go through!” They could never understand. Tucker and Sam could never understand what it was like to be half-ghost. They saw him, but they didn’t see the aftermath. They never saw. “I’m trying to be ‘in charge’ because I, at least, know about all these damn ghost things-”

“And I don’t?!” They were the same words, but this time Tucker screamed them as if Danny had just stabbed him. “I’ve been right here this entire time and learning it all the same time as you! I’ve been here the whole time and you don’t even see me! I’m nothing but the tech guy to you!”

“At least you know what you are!” The words exploded out of him, Danny certain that his powers would have already been reacting if they hadn’t been suppressed. “I don’t even know if I’m alive anymore some days-!” Danny’s words died in his throat as he saw green energy that was speeding towards them.

Their ten minutes were definitely up, and Danny realized in that moment how loud they had been screaming. He then realized that while these weapons could hurt ghosts, this was technology that could kill humans, and it was flying right for Tucker’s back and no-

Danny was moving before his brain could make the decision, hands grabbing Tucker by the arm and back of the neck before he was spinning them around to switch places. He then immediately pushed them towards the ground. The blast of energy felt like fire against his skin as it seared across his back, gritted teeth feeling like they would break as he suppressed a scream and hit the ground a second after Tucker.

He didn’t give himself time to recover, instead dragging the two of them up before running through the jungle again, trying not to focus on how Skulker’s laugh boomed all around them. Danny knew Tucker was trying to say something, but Danny ignored it until he was skidding into a cave opening, knowing the hiding spot was only temporary.

“-alright?!” Tucker’s whisper shouting finally sunk in, Danny blinking as he looked over to see Tucker was staring at him with wide, wet eyes and shaking hands. “Dude- Dude, you pretty much just took a bullet for me.”

Staring at him for a minute, Danny finally shrugged and tried for a grin, “I can handle stuff like that.” Tucker couldn’t. Danny was stronger against these types of things even in his human form.

“But- We were fighting. We were fighting and you still- Ow! Hey!” Watching Tucker clutch the back of his head where Danny had just hit him, Danny gave a mock glare.

“Dude, do you seriously think that I would let you get hurt just because we’re fighting?” Danny was definitely pissed at Tucker and he had the urge to drop him off a small hill or something, but even at their worst he would never want Tucker hurt, let alone killed. “Idiot.”

Hearing leaves rustling, Danny jerked them further into the cave, biting his lip at the wave of pain from his back even as he pulled Tucker down to the ground and into the shadows. The two were utterly silent and still as the rustling leaves slowly moved away before they disappeared altogether.

“Okay, we need a plan,” Danny finally said, looking to Tucker and giving him a nudge. “Any ideas, VP?” There was a long moment where Danny thought Tucker was going to make a thing of it before he looked away with a grudging smile.

“Elections aren’t until April, you know,” Tucker said quietly, Danny beyond grateful that they weren’t the type to go into feelings. “Sorry. I-”

“Nope, no, nuh-uh, we don’t have time to deal with emotions. You’ve been a jerk and I’ve been an arrogant asshole or something and got carried away and forgot to tell you that we’re a team, and you’re not just backup.”

“I’ve been a jealous asshole,” Tucker finally corrected, looking suspiciously emotional. “And you’ve been a prideful prick who doesn’t like to take suggestions.” Ah, much better. “You think I would have learned the first time about being jealous.”

The memory of Desiree and her powers sent a shudder through Danny and Tucker both, especially as they remembered the end result. While ‘Tucker Phantom’ hadn’t been bad at first, it had showed Danny that he could get as wrapped up in himself as anyone else. Had he really started slipping that easily, again?

“I haven’t exactly given you reason not to be,” Danny finally said, sitting up slowly and trying not to show how much his back was hurting him. Tucker probably knew, anyways, judging by his wince. “Tuck… I didn’t think I had to say it because I thought you knew, you idiot.”

“As always, you’re full of such affectionate nicknames,” Tucker grumbled, peeking his head out of the cave. “Looks clear, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had Technus rig up some kind of spying system.”

“Yeah, but Tucker, look, man, I’m trying to emotionally connect, here.” At the look on Tucker’s face, Danny did his best not to laugh. “I’m serious. You’re not just tech support.”

“Yeah, yeah, man, I know, we’re friends and I’m part of the team and-”

“We’re not friends.” Danny let Tucker’s shocked silence sit for a moment before he grinned, giving him a nudge. “We’re brothers, aren’t we?”

“Oh my god you almost gave me a heart attack.” Even as Tucker dramatically clutched his chest, Danny could see the way his eyes were getting wet. He knew his own were the same, so at least they had mutually assured destruction. “This conversation never happened.”

“What conversation? Seriously, though, please tell me you have a plan or something, because otherwise we’re kind of screwed.”

“I don’t know how to get these cuffs off, but I do have something.” Watching as Tucker twisted and squirmed around, Danny shook his head as the teen finally got his backpack open from where it was stuck on one arm.

“Tell me that you’re not about to pull out some plot device to save the day or whatever. I know our lives have gotten kind of crazy, Tuck, but-” A Fenton Thermos was being waved in front of him. A Fenton Thermos that was black and green. “Whoa. Dude, what…?”

“I told you I’ve been working on our ghost stuff, too. This is one of the things I was trying to show you, dude.” The Thermos, which looked a lot less like a thermos these days, was the same size as the old ones, but had a metal plate that had a circular pattern to it covering the top instead of the lid it used to have. “It’s like one of those cool sci-fi kinds of openings, you know? You just a press button, this opens up like a circle thing, and boom, you have a ghost capturing ray.”

“Tuck, you’re a genius.” Taking the Thermos, Danny’s grin got even wider as he thought about how much work must have gone into something like this. “You’re my favorite.”

“Sweet. I’d tell Sam, but I don’t know if the satisfaction would be worth both of our deaths,” Tucker laughed, falling silent the same time Danny did. A branch had snapped not far off from where they were sitting. “Wanna take that thing for a test drive?”

“Tuck, you read my mind.” Danny grinned as the two of them stood back up, Danny realizing in that moment that Tucker really had been through it all with him. As Skulker stepped out of the foliage, Danny’s grin grew wider. This was going to be fun.

::

“I was wondering when you would be back! Honestly, you could at least give warning if you’re going to disappear for weeks on… end.” Ghostwriter stared at him and Danny could see the exact moment that he registered Danny’s back was bleeding and he was chained to Tucker. “This one must be Tucker, I presume?”

“Oh, cool, you do talk about us!” Tucker’s voice was a cheerful little chirp as he stuck his hand out. “Yo. I’m Tucker Foley, Danny’s best-friend-slash-brother. You must be the ghostly book nerd he won’t shut up about.”

“You’re going to make me regret bringing you here, aren’t you,” Danny grumbled, reluctantly amused when Ghostwriter cautiously shook Tucker’s hand. “So, uh, hey, do you know how to lockpick handcuffs?”

“I do, actually, yes.” Oh, cool. That made this easier. Danny also knew what he was asking Ghostwriter about next time he visited. “I take it those handcuffs were not a choice, then.”

“Why- Why would you think it was a choice?” Danny was grateful that Tucker looked just as horrified, but Ghostwriter only looked amused as he opened the door properly for them.

“Who am I to judge another’s preferences? Come on, then. It shouldn’t take me long. I take it that’s been cancelling out your abilities?”

“Yeah, Skulker’s a dick,” Danny nodded, pulling Tucker into the library and using the handcuff like a leash when it looked like Tucker was about to run off to explore. “Do you have bandages, too?”

“Goodness, you’re certainly high maintenance,” Ghostwriter sighed, looking amused instead of concerned, thank God. Danny was good enough with all the concern he already got. “I should have something.”

“So, hey, you know, you could totally go digital and get rid of half these books - maybe free up some space, even. I mean, paper copies aren’t really efficient.”

Ghostwriter, after faltering in his steps and looking back, gave Tucker the dirtiest look that could ever be imagined, Danny breaking and starting to laugh when Tucker only beamed back before going in depth about the advantage of technology over books. It was good to have things back to normal.

Danny couldn’t wait until they got even better, though.

[thehollowprince]

Hey, it’s the “coding” anon here and honestly that answer to my question was excellent and the exact reason I come to your blog. I would absolutely love to hear you go on about the fetishization of m/m relationships!

This has been sitting in my inbox for over a week, and I want to apologize. I'm sorry for taking so long to get to this one, but I'm overworked at the moment. I've been pulling 60+ hour work weeks, by myself and I haven't had off since the first of December, so I'm a little tired. But I'm here and I'm ready to murder this bitch of a subject.

For starters, and for context, in case anyone who sees this doesn't follow my blog or, if you do and don't really pay attention, I am a gay man, so a lot of this comes from my own personal experience.

Now, onward my fandom soldiers.

M|M Fetishization & Objectification

I've only been super active within fandom spaces for the last couple of years. Before that, I just scrolled through Tumblr and reblogged gifsets and fluffy headcanons and whatnot, but even then I noticed a trend in fandoms that made me uncomfortable. That trend was the overabundance of gay men (chatacters) in fandom works, especially when there either weren't any gay men in that show or book or whatever.

I'm not at all saying we need less of that. I want and need more gay characters in the things I watch and read. That's actually one of the criteria I look for before I start a new show, or a book series or comics. I want to see myself represented in the media I consume, even if it is only this one tiny piece of who I am. But the problem for me arose when I saw all these fan works and headcanons and gifsets and thesis length metas about gay or bi male characters that were neither of those things in their original source material.

The biggest examples of this occured in fairly popular shows that I loved at one point, but do to a combination of bad writing and then the horrible fandom, drove me to actively dislike and avoid them. And that's always a sad thing, when you end up losing the love you had for something because others just won't let you enjoy it as it is.

Those two examples are Teen Wolf and Supernatural.

For years I watched people go on and on and on and on about Stiles Stilinski and Dean Winchester and how they were bisexual and so on and so forth.

There's nothing wrong with headcanoning a character as gay or bisexual, especially when those characters are severely lacking on screen and on paper. The problem arose when the fandom at large started to ignore the ACTUAL gay or bisexual characters that are in these shows and focus solely on their headcanons as the only representation in the show.

To start with Teen Wolf, we had, in the first season, an openly gay character that everybody in the school loved, that being Danny Mahealani. This character was introduced as gay from the very start, but oddly enough, there is almost no large fandom meta or fics or anything about him. In fact, a lot of his traits and qualities ended up transferred to Stiles, such as his intelligence and overall popularity. Hell, even Danny's attraction to Derek was stolen and transferred to him. These aren't things that Stiles is overall known for in the actual canon. He's clumsy and socially awkward and on the outskirts of the school like Scott (the main character) and has been obsessed (to the point of being considered a stalker) with one girl since elementary school, but somehow, in fandom, Stiles is suddenly the genius polyglot queer with severe depression who has a crush on the broody muscular werewolf who just wants somebody to love him.

Fandom created this portrayal of the character that didn't exist anywhere in the fandom except for his appearance. The reason I saw behind this was twofold. 1: fangirls (fandom is mostly female) want to see two "hot" guys kiss and get it on because they get off to it, much in the same way that straight men get off to lesbian porn. 2: Stiles (or any of these headcanoned characters) becomes a sort of self insert.

What I mean by that second one is that women and girls find a male character that's not "too masculine", usually kind of gangly or skinny, somewhat on the effeminate side. Someone that they can project their ideas and insecurities and so forth onto so that they can that pursue that relationship with the hunky manly man that they want to bang.

You may be asking yourself, "Why don't they just use one of the female characters as a self insert?" and I'm here to tell you that I have neither the time nor the experience to go into detail about internalized misogyny and how effects the way women do almost everything, even watching and interpreting their media.

But the reason they chose the male character is that, years ago, during the dark days of FF.net there was a lot of self insert OCs that infiltrated almost every level of fanfiction. Which caused the fandom gatekeepers to rear out of their hibernation and just shame anyone who tried to introduce an Original Character to this already beautiful world and ruin it with their lusts. Thus the OCs slowly disappeared and identifying with the male sidekick was born. And this is generally where we get the whole "my smol gay son!" bullshit. (side note: please keep in mind that 75% of shows are male characters and their problems, which is another cause for female fans to identify solely with men.)

So, for years, I watched Danny, and then his boyfriend Ethan, being shoved aside in fandom spaces so that the fans could focus Sterek (Stiles and Derek) despite the fact that both characters were stared to be heterosexual and that, on screen, they expressed nothing but mutual dislike for one another, if not outright hatred. This got so bad that Sterek, the crack ship whose members had no romantic or sexual interactions whatsoever, managed to beat (by a very large margin) actual gay ships from both this show and others in a fan poll. It got even worse when the character of Danny was written off the show (with no explanation) and we were introduced to the character of Mason.

Mason Hewitt was everything that fandom!Stiles was. He was smart and funny and openly gay and crushing on a hot werewolf. He even did the research that the fandom loved to attribute to Stiles, literally everything that the fandom had Stiles doing in fanon, but somehow the love for him (Mason) wasn't that big of a note in the fandom. I mean, Mason was even a major plot point of season five and the pack's mission to stop the Beast, but i heard nothing but cricket chirps from the fandom.

You'd think that after Stiles was written out of the show for the last season that maybe Mason will get some love now, right?

Wrong!

I didn't think it was possible to get any worse, but the fandom proved me wrong. Because instead of focusing all their pent up energy on Mason and his boyfriend, Corey, who had a number of cute moments in that final season, these fans focused on another crack ship that had no basis anywhere except in their fantasies. That ship being Thiam, which is based, once again, around two characters who actively dislike, if not outright hate, each other and even physically assault one another. But no, that apparently is a display of affection by someone who is emotionally stunted and just needs love to blossom and be his true self.

You notice how often the fetishization of homosexuality (even if only imagined) intersects with woobification?

You'll notice, if you look at Danny and Mason, that they're both POC, with Danny being brown (Hawai'ian) and Mason being black. Now, as I've said before on this blog multiple times, I am the Whittest White Man to ever White, so I don't have any qualifications to talk about fandom racism, so I'm just going to leave that little nugget there for you to think about and interpret how you will.

Moving on to Supernatural...

Before we start with this one, understand that I have not watched this show outside of an episode here and there since season eight, because I realized that no, this show wasn't going to get any better, so if any of this is contradictory to what has happened over the past six seasons (god, this show needs to die!) I do apologize.

Dean Winchester... I never really liked this character, especially as the show went on and I started to actively dislike and then, hate him. So it was annoying not being able to go into any aspect of the Supernatural fandom without coming across a post about Dean and his issues or his Bi sexiness or how his brother was mean to him.

Also, people, understand that this wasn't a new revelation for me. My dislike for Dean and the fandom's obsession with making him bisexual just so they could hook him up with Cas wasn't an overnight decision. I was there...

I was there at the Beginning, when this show first aired, when the ONLY constant characters on this show were Sam and Dean. I endured the hellfire that was Wincest and its infection of almost the entire fandom. Like, that right there, that was one of the most extreme cases of m|m fetishization I've ever seen, because the fandom needed to get off to two guys being together so badly that they turned to actual brothers for want of any other male character.

That's why Destiel immediately became so popular, because here was another guy that we saw with semi regularity that wasn't rated to the Winchesters, obviously they were meant to ship them.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "I thought this bitch was going to talk about gay fetishization, not his dislike for one character?" to which I'll just say I very easily go off tangent. But all of that is relevant because, come one of these later seasons, there was a scene where Dean was at a bar and the (male) bartender hit on him, and he didn't react negatively or homophobic.

Oh, my God, I watched my dash and the tags explode in post after post, meta after meta, about how Bi Dean was canon confirmed! Now he and Cas will HAVE to be together, because its canon that Dean likes guys. and Cas is an angel, who doesn't follow human sexual limitations, and... blah, blah, blah.

Cut to a few years later, and we're introduced to a character named Max Banes, a witch and hunter, who is openly gay and flirts with Sam in his first appearance. Where were all of his metas and fanfics and headcanons? Granted, he only appeared in two episodes, but I have watched people in this and other fandoms build mountains our of molehills, going on and on about how two male characters weren't actually straight and how they were destined to be together because the once wore similar style shirts a couple of seasons apart, or because of a carnation in a jacket pocket that signified love via the Victorian flower code (or something like that), or how the wallpaper of that room they shared a scene in was a subtle clue to their true desire for each other, etc.

And I'm not exaggerating there, those are actual examples I've seen in fandoms over the years.

But back to Max, why is it that he was left along the wayside, despite fitting most of the criteria that fandoms love in their m|m ships while Dean had entire thesis level posts about that time he shared a glance with Castiel or he let a bartender hit on him and not get upset?

And its not just these two shows, not by a long shot. If you were to go into literally any fandom of a certain size or bigger, you will come across fans putting two straight characters together because of "the chemistry" they have. Even if those characters are confirmed to be straight - especially if those characters are confirmed to be straight. Because when these loud fans don't get their crack ship that they rub one out to, they scream queerbaiting and homophobia and oppression, harassing the actors and producers and directors and writers.

Here are some others that just pop to the front of my mind...

Asher Millstone from How To Get Away With Murder (saw him shipped with Connor a lot, despite Connor's actual boyfriend)

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from BBC's Sherlock

Tony Stark from Marvel comics (all because of one panel where he said "ladies and gents" when he announced he was off the market

Literally any male character in the MCU, which is his we get the things like Stucky and Stony that permeate the fandom on almost every level (and some leeway is given here because of the MCU's lack of wueer characters)

Klaus Mikaelson and Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries/The Originals (honestly, I was surprised that people in the TVD fandom weren't immediately all over Josh and Lucas, because they're literally everything that fans want and use in their headcanon gays)

Kol Mikaelson and Jeremg Gilbert, also from TVD

Elia and Filippo from Skam Italia (despite there being, once again, actual gay characters on this show. Hell, the entire second season was dedicated to a character coming out of the closet and being with a guy)

Etc.

I could go on and on but then this post would seem infinite.

Closing thoughts, please keep in mind that I am just one guy and that my opinions don't represent everyone in fandom spaces. But also bear in mind, that my frustrations are well founded and valid from my own experiences in the fandom.

My sexuality and the fact that I'm attracted to men is not a toy for a bunch of sexually repressed fangirls who think two guys being together is hot.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WELL, OBVIOUSLY OVERTLY SEXY APPLICATIONS LIKE STEALTH PLANES OR SPECIAL EFFECTS SOFTWARE WOULD BE INTERESTING TO WORK ON

If you're worried that your current job is rotting your brain, it probably is. One of the weirdest things about Yahoo when I went to work there was the way they used to. But we didn't propose that to save money. It seems to me that he would want to use, like English. After a certain age, programmers rarely switch languages voluntarily.1 There can only be one big man in town, and they're clearly it. Because super-angels.2 In a big company and you do everything the way the average big company—that we were decoding their Enigma traffic or something.3 One thing YC-funded startups after Demo Day because their valuations were too high. It's worth studying this phenomenon in detail, because this is the reason that high-tech areas only happen around universities. They got it from IBM.

This idea is rarely followed to its conclusion, though. As you've probably noticed, they have a lot in common.4 Workplaces Another thing blogs and open source software is more reliable precisely because it's open source; anyone can find mistakes. The iPhone and the iPad have effectively drilled a hole that will allow ephemeralization to flow into a lot of us have heard stories of employees going to management and saying, please let us build this thing to make money.5 That should last several years at least, other hackers can tell. 0 has such an air of euphoria about it is the feeling, conscious or not, they dress informally as a prophylactic measure against stupidity. One thing you can do is so small. It sounds to me as if the founders had given the VCs what they wanted on the site itself, instead of running on your desktop computer. On the blunderometer, this episode ranks with IBM accepting a non-exclusive license for DOS. You also can't tell from his portfolio. One of the most valuable antidote to schlep blindness is probably ignorance.

I was at Yahoo, I couldn't help thinking, how will this sound to investors? Should the city take stock in return for the money? Because I didn't realize either how much search traffic was worth. You'd have to be specific about what they have in common is the extreme difficulty of making them work on the same projects. They'll lie to you on this one. Surely they can manage that. The really painful thing to recall is not just that they cause less dilution. The main complaint of the more articulate critics was that Arc seemed so flimsy.6 It's to make something people want. Instead of hoping to get rich if the product succeeds, and get nothing if it fails. We were saying: if you depend on an oligopoly, you sink into bad habits that are hard to solve, and what constitutes a good solution. It now seems inevitable that applications will live on the web—not just email, but everything, right up to Photoshop.7

Though they're often clueless about technology, most investors are pretty good at reading people. If anyone at Yahoo considered the idea that they should be a technology company making money that way. Except books—but books are different. They're from about midnight eastern time, long after polls closed in Ohio and Florida. Note too that Cisco is famous for doing very little product development in house. And if you don't let people ship, you won't harm your prospects with employers. The winners slow down the least. I did that our valuation was crazy.8 The only way I can think of that a city could select good startups. Investors looked at Yahoo's earnings and said to themselves, here is proof that Internet companies can make money. He thought we were meeting so we could go to lunch. Most people don't consciously decide not to be the next Microsoft, because no one said anything definite enough to refute.9

So an angel round: the so-called portals was that search was boring, and that's why they do it so early. And I was a kid. This can't be a coincidence. A great programmer might be about my claims for the mysterious powers of Lisp, this ought to make him curious.10 Most startups coming out of Demo Day wanted to raise around $400k.11 Fortunately if this does happen it will take years. But it's certainly possible to do things that super-angels make more investments per partner than VCs—up to 10 times as much. A rounds: millions of dollars worth of advertising on Yahoo to promote their brand. But now it worked to our advantage. The only thing we were good at was writing software. If they didn't know what language our software was written in, or didn't care, I wanted to keep it that way.

Notes

And I have about thirty friends whose opinions I care about the other. Or you make something popular but apparently inevitable consequence: little liberal arts.

Some of the x company, meaning master. Now the misunderstood artist is not a complete bust.

To get all that matters, just as it's easier to make peace. Some of Aristotle's contribution?

So far, I was there when it converts you get of the biggest discoveries in any era if people can see the Valley.

Sheep act the way they do on the cover story of Business Week, 31 Jan 2005.

Mitch Kapor's wife Freada was in principle is that their prices stabilize.

I know randomly generated DNA would not know his name.

'Math for engineers' sucks, where it was so violent that she decided never again. It is a lot of great things were created mainly to make money.

The application described here is Skype. The few people have historically done to painting may be a startup with debt is usually some injustice that is not a product of number of spams that have been lured into this tar pit.

Till then they had no natural immunity to messianic figures, just that everyone's the same lesson, partly because companies then were more at the lack of transparency. Another danger, pointed out an interesting trap founders fall into two categories: those where the second phase is less secure. It's a lot of problems, but those don't scale is to how Henry Ford got started in 1975, said the things you like doing. I've seen this phenomenon myself: hotel unions are responsible for more of the main causes of the lies we tell kids are smarter than preppies, just as well as down.

As a result a lot of time, not you. Because in the first phase of the problem, any claim to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 1.

[awkwardlyamusing-blog]

Holcomb refuses to listen to constituents about Hoosier State train

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Holcomb refuses to listen to constituents about Hoosier State train

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Instead of listening to ordinary Hoosiers along the train’s route he took the advice of the Department of Transportation, and killed the service.

The pundits are saying that Gov. Eric Holcomb, who just announced he’s running for re-election, is a shoo-in. After all, he’s not the perceived dour, judgmental Mike Pence, but a smiling, jovial figure. But as I learned recently, he’s also the one who puts right-wing dogma over public opinion.

Back in 2012, Amtrak announced that the four-day-a-week Hoosier State train between Indianapolis and Chicago would be discontinued in 2013 if the state did not fund its operation. Pence wasn’t enthusiastic about spending the money, but when people all along the line — especially in Lafayette, where Purdue students depend on the train —promised to help, Pence went along with it.

This year, Holcomb, instead of listening to ordinary Hoosiers along the train’s route, took the advice of his transit-hating Department of Transportation, and killed the service. While he was happy to subsidize the Indianapolis airport to the tune of $20 million, he wouldn’t even consider $3 million to maintain daily train service to Chicago.

Given Holcomb’s refusal to listen to constituents in the case of the Hoosier State, his smiling countenance is more of a mask. Democrats need to find someone good at unmasking.

Stephen Wylder

Elkhart

Create employment opportunities, offer mentorship for Indy’s youth

While we celebrate the thousands of recent graduates, others won’t seek post-secondary credentials or a career. EmployIndy estimates 30,000 people in Indianapolis, ages 16-24, are not enrolled or employed. And they are disproportionately people of color.

It’s tempting to suggest that if a person works hard, he or she can be successful, but we know environmental stressors and systemic racism often disrupt individual ambition. These young people, “opportunity youth,” are at a critical moment in their lives. Education and employment decrease a person’s likeliness to be incarcerated or to use government supports. They’re more likely to have stable housing and contribute to the growing economy.

We, the eight advisors of the Community Leadership Innovation Fund at Central Indiana Community Foundation, have committed $400,000 to create the first Opportunity Youth Collaborative to engage this population. Participants include: EmployIndy, Indiana Black Expo, Groundwork Indy, Martin Luther King Center and Hamilton County Youth Assistance Program.

We urge you to support these youth by offering mentorship, creating employment opportunities or by making a financial gift to these organizations. This population is vital to the current and future success of our community.

Instead of detention facilities, U.S. could provide foreign aid to Central America

Here’s a thought: Rather than spending millions, if not billions of dollars on detention facilities and border walls, develop a plan to assist the people in Central America to improve their living conditions in their homelands. The people who have migrated must provide reasons for their actions and this might be a starting point for developing a plan. If drug cartels are the problem, provide military support to eliminate the cartels. If it’s food or water or lack of energy, send some corporations down to address those issues. Money spent on these issues would better serve Central America.

Tom Schroeder

Indianapolis

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Enforce speed limits on Indiana’s highways

The recent tragic accident where a mother and twin toddlers were killed has been attributed to excessive speed of a truck driver. The speed limit on most if not all of I-465 is 55 mph. A lot of the time if one is driving at that speed you’re getting your doors blown off’ by autos and trucks that are flying by. When will the Indiana State Police and other law enforcement more vigorously enforce speed limits in all of Indiana? If  ISP’s Supt. Douglas Carter and other law enforcement leaders say a lack of personnel and equipment is due to insufficient funding, then it’s up to Gov. Eric Holcomb, the General Assembly and local government to provide law enforcement with the means to slow all drivers to posted speed limits. Until all driver’s speeding is reduced, the slaughter of innocent persons on Indiana highways will continue.

David Schellberg

Carmel

Boost law enforcement to stop speeding violations

Another tragedy on I-465 involving a big rig. And where is law enforcement? Anymore, it is absolutely frightening to travel I-465. Recently I took a grandson to the airport from the far east-side and while I was doing 60 mph, most were going much faster. Please put law enforcement back on the roadways to stop all of the many violations that occur by the minute.

William Hilton

New Palestine

Republicans justify Trump’s racism, hypocrisy

I find it amazing that Republicans profess so much love for Israel that they cite a Democratic congresswoman’s questioning of AIPAC’s undeniably undue influence in our politics as justification for their racist comments against her when the base of the Republican Party is seemingly filled with neo-nazis and other various white supremacists who actually are anti-Semitic. Remember all those “very fine” people marching in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us?” Of course hypocrisy, racism and ignorance are hallmarks of the Republican Party. I also suppose that anyone who actually believes that climate change is a hoax, that Russia is our friend and that President Trump is a stable genius cannot be held accountable for what they say and do.

James Clark

Indianapolis

Have something to say? Submit a letter to the editor.

Democratic Party fumbles election rules

Once again the Democratic Party is preparing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In order to qualify for the debate in September, the party leadership has decreed that candidates must not only have a required number of donors, but must also have support in certain polls. Let us hope not the same polls that showed Hillary Clinton winning in 2016.

The only thing that polls are good for is assessing name recognition. None of the current Democrat front runners are likely to garner Republican crossover voters. Only a relatively non-controversial moderate could do that, but the polling requirement will probably eliminate him or her. Having won the popular vote but lost the electoral college twice in the last 19 years, the Democrats are gearing up to do it again.

Antonia Sekula

Speedway

Trump encourages divisiveness in America

By definition a demagogue is a (political) leader who appeals to his or her constituency’s fears and prejudices and makes false promises to remedy their conceived problems. It seems to me that President Donald Trump’s picture ought to be next to this definition.

It causes me great consternation when I see Trump or Vice President Mike Pence at a rally where there are signs proclaiming, “Promises Made, Promises Kept.”  The reason for this is that I can think of absolutely nothing that our president has accomplished that has benefited our country.  Some would say that the tax cuts have benefited them, however, I challenge them to show me how. Others would say that appointing conservative judges will benefit our country and again I ask how. I have also heard that Trump has made our country safer and once again I am forced to ask how and from whom?

I am terribly tired of the divisiveness encouraged by Trump. With a slogan of Make America Great Again, I again have to ask how and for whom?

Mel Pfeiffer

Indianapolis

Humans disrupt ecosystem by killing turtles 

A recent front page story on Hoosiers killing turtles for food is disturbing to say the least. It truly depicts why humans are one of the cruelest species on this planet. When humans enter an ecosystem and begin killing, we disrupt a perfect balance. It’s no wonder the Asian Carp are flourishing — there are no more turtles to eat the larvae.

“Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventure, and for hides and furs is a phenomena which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging in such acts of brutality,” the Dalai Lama once said. A turtle has one defense — strong jaws. They will never win against a human predator. I feel very sorry for these poor, beautiful creatures who are terrified of these large men invading the creek homes they may have been inhabiting for a hundred years or more — not ever bothering those around them. These Hoosiers need to find a better Indiana tradition to keep alive, or better yet, start a new tradition. Teach compassion to the younger generations. The world will be a much better place when we treat those species who are smaller than us, and even other humans who may be different than us, with respect and kindness.

Lindsey Hehman

Indianapolis

‘Many of us love this country too much to leave it’

As the son of an immigrant I feel compelled to express my disgust for the president’s racist remarks and his suggestion that four congresswomen leave the country if they don’t love it. What he fails to realize is that many of us love this country too much to leave it. We love it too much to stand by in complacent and complicit silence as its moral fiber is shredded. We love it too much to see it become a nation scorned by the rest of the world. And, most of all, we love it too much to blindly wrap ourselves in the flag and cover our eyes to xenophobia, misogyny, and racism.

Jim Solomon

Indianapolis

Trump makes no racist references to Congresswomen

It is with continued disappointment that I read the July 18 front page article “New Lines of Division.” With no attribution, IndyStar published the sentence: “Trump’s aggressive condemnation of women of color in Congress…”  The president made no reference to these four women in any racial sense.

Had these ladies been Caucasian and from Canada, the president would have said the same thing — and no mention of race would have been made. However, all four of these ladies have made some awful, unpatriotic statements about our country in the past. They deserved to called out for them. The president’s statements had nothing to do with race.

Ever since President Barack Obama entered the White House, the Democrats have kept race on the front burner.  It is a shame, because It keeps these wounds from healing and it really shows that the Democrats do not really want racial harmony in America.

Gordon Rose

Fishers

Immigrants, nonwhites fight for American freedoms

In the July 18 Letters to the Editor, one could interpret by letter writer Ryan Sorg’s viewpoint that he is consumed by hate for anyone having a difference of opinion when it comes to President Trump, and he wants to draw a line whereby he labels certain people to have no right to be representation. He wants to automatically label everyone else not conforming to Republicanism (Trumpism actually) as those who do not love this country. He suggests that they are anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, racist, communist, and anti-American.

Yes, too many people died for this nation in past wars for the common good, and a number of those people who went to fight were of non-white skinned races, immigrants that were not yet citizens, and even Democrats. Sir, President Trump is the one dividing this country.

Dennis Henderson

Indianapolis

Humanitarian crisis exists at border

Last Thursday I listened to an interview on NPR that Ari Shapiro conducted with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Jordan is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee who had, that day, heard testimony from Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan. Jordan played some semantic games in order to deflect attention from the Inspector General’s finding that the conditions were deplorable in border detention centers, and then blamed Democrats for failing to provided funding.

Shapiro tried several times to ask why the Republicans didn’t provide the funding in 2018 when they controlled both the House and the Senate, but Jordan, as he is prone to do, just kept talking. McAleenan, at the hearing, testified that he had warned Congress a year ago that there was a humanitarian crisis coming at the border. When Shapiro finally was able to ask his question, Jordan said he was only talking about the last two-and-a-half months when he blamed the Democrats. These are the games our politicians play on both sides. We have our fellow human beings caged in conditions that would not be allowed in a dog kennel and Congress just wants to point fingers. It seems that politics is more important than humanity.

Doug Broberg

Fishers

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#RadThursdays Roundup 01/10/2019

An animated GIF of the world mercator projection with countries shrinking to their true size in relation to one another. Countries near the equator stay the same size while countries further north like Greenland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia drastically shrink. Source.

Issues

Brazil’s New President Moves to Kick Indigenous People off Their Land Just Hours After Taking Office: "Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wasted no time his first two days in office, signing a decree Wednesday that hands over power to designate indigenous lands to the Ministry of Agriculture, a move that could have repercussions for the country’s 690 recognized territories in the Amazon rainforest. The move came a day after Bolsonaro signed a provisional measure dismantling FUNAI, Brazil’s bureau of indigenous affairs."

[CW: sexual assault] Surviving R. Kelly Is a Necessary Awakening, But It Asks the Wrong Questions: "It is easy, especially now, to acknowledge the monstrousness of R. Kelly. What’s more difficult is honestly taking to task the apathy within ourselves that allowed us to turn away from these women, or ignore their plights. Many of the women interviewed note how this world does not care for black girls and women. Surviving R. Kelly is too interested in the particulars of what R. Kelly did to these women’s bodies to fully care about their humanity or grapple with the murky complexities of the bigger picture. […] Yes, there is value in bearing witness to these women’s testimonies. But too often, Surviving R. Kelly plays into moments that feel exploitative, and raises another troubling question: How much do women have to reveal in order for us to believe them?"

[CW: anti-Semitism] The Ugly, Illiberal, Anti-Semitic Heart of the Yellow Vest Movement: "How to balance empathy for economic hardship and a genuine desire for social justice with a rejection of the worst impulses of a movement that finds its shape in organized chaos? How to protest Macron’s reformist centrism while also defending the pillars of liberal democracy and a tolerant society? Unfortunately, this is a challenge the main left-wing opposition has largely failed to meet, a balance it has refused to strike. Just as populists see 'the people' as something pure in the face of corrupt elites, so, too, do certain elites desire for there to be an essential purity in the idea of an uprising of the alienated masses."

How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually: “Years of metrics-driven growth, lucrative manipulative systems, and unregulated platform marketplaces, have created an environment where it makes more sense to be fake online — to be disingenuous and cynical, to lie and cheat, to misrepresent and distort — than it does to be real. Fixing that would require cultural and political reform in Silicon Valley and around the world, but it’s our only choice. Otherwise we’ll all end up on the bot internet of fake people, fake clicks, fake sites, and fake computers, where the only real thing is the ads.”

A drawing of “The Turk”, an 18th century fake mechanical chess playing machine, showing a human in a secret compartment operating the movements of the chess playing mechanism. Source.

Society Today

Anatomy of an AI system: An anatomical case study of the Amazon Echo as an artificial intelligence system made of human labor: "Amazon Mechanical Turk digital workshop emulates artificial intelligence systems by checking, assessing and correcting machine learning processes with human brainpower. With Amazon Mechanical Turk, it may seem to users that an application is using advanced artificial intelligence to accomplish tasks. But it is closer to a form of ‘artificial artificial intelligence’, driven by a remote, dispersed and poorly paid clickworker workforce that helps a client achieve their business objectives. As observed by Aytes, 'in both cases the performance of the workers who animate the artifice is obscured by the spectacle of the machine.'"

Is capitalism worth saving?: A debate with economics writer Steven Pearlstein. “A decade ago, 80 percent of Americans believed that a free market economy was the best economic system. Today, that number is 60 percent. Another recent poll shows that only 42 percent of millennials support capitalism. So what happened? Why have so many people, both in the US and abroad, lost faith in capitalism?”

Why exercise alone won’t save us: "As we step through various innovations, we tend to think of the work that is no longer required as 'saved'. Cleaning a rug once burned about 200 calories, while activating a robo-vac uses about 0.2 – an activity drop of a thousandfold, with nothing to replace it. Nobody, when they buy a labour-saving device, thinks: 'How am I going to replace that movement I have saved?'"

Image from Eric Pickersgill’s photography series Removed, showing two people sitting on a car that reads “just married”, holding their hands up as if they are looking at cellphones. The cellphones have been removed from the picture, so it seems as if the people are just staring at their hands and not interacting with one another. Source.

Direct Action Item

What goods and services in your life are obscuring the labor of automation-enabling workers? This week, bring their hidden labor into the light.

If there’s something you’d like to see in next week’s #RT, please send us a message.

In solidarity!

What is direct action? Direct action means doing things yourself instead of petitioning authorities or relying on external institutions. It means taking matters into your own hands and not waiting to be empowered, because you are already powerful. A “direct action item” is a way to put your beliefs into practice every week.

[sakurablossomstorm-blog]

My inbox has been a jerk lately too! 4. "C'mere, you can sit in my lap until I'm done working," 28. "I would've had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm, and I didn't want to wake you," 58. "I don't know what's wrong, okay? I'm just... really tired," and/or "I think you'll be happy to know that I'm not wearing any underwear." 😊

Here you go!! Sorry it took me forever to write these!! 

4. “C’mere, you can sit on my lap until I’m done working.”

Based on this great interview.

“One of the main things that I want to come out strong during this campaign is education,” Ben announced to the camera attached to his computer. “I’ve worked hard to establish good schooling around Pawnee and once elected my move will be to spread that to a wider region.”

It was a typical day in the Knope-Wyatt household. The only difference was now that Ben was running for Congress he found himself doing more and more impromptu interviews, most of the times in his home office through a webcam.

Leslie was at work today, and Roz had come by to wrangle their three-year-old monsters while Ben gave his interview. All seemed to be going well so far and he answered all questions that the newscaster gave him with ease, until…

“DADDY!” A voice screamed loudly, and Ben winced. It sounded like Sonia had gotten bored of Roz and her brothers and made a break for it, making her way to Ben’s office.

Ben tried to ignore it and carry on with the interview. But then he heard the door creak open and he turned just in time to see a blonde blur bolt into the room.

“Sorry, it’s my daughter,” Ben said bashfully into the camera as Sonia raced to his side.

“Sonny, Daddy’s working at the moment, can you please go back to Roz?” he asked as kindly as he could. But his heart thumped when he saw Sonia’s tiny bottom lip start to wobble and he knew he was about three seconds away from a screaming tantrum.

“Okay, okay,” Ben quickly said and tucked his arms under Sonia’s armpits. “C’mere. You can sit on my lap until I’m done working. But you have to be quiet.”

He pulled Sonia onto his lap with ease, and she settled down instantly, playing with the pens on Ben’s desk and scribbling on a document.

“Sorry about this,” Ben said again to the interviewer, who quickly waved him off, telling him not to worry and getting back to her questions.

~~

“You’re currently polling in first place,” Leslie said excitedly. “That’s amazing. You jumped from third to first in no time at all.”

“And we have this little lady to thank,” Ben grinned as he rubbed the top of Sonia’s hair, who was once again on his lap and fast asleep against him.

After the interview went out on TV, Ben became a viral hit. People were gushing about how adorable it was that he let Sonia come in and sit on his lap during an interview. One of his problems during the campaign was that he wasn’t seen as a typical family man, and was too cold and callous to be caring. But this interview demolished those thoughts, and people were now putting their trust in Ben.

Leslie put down her Gryzzl tablet and sat down next to Ben, leaning on his shoulder and stroking Sonia’s back.

“Good job, Sonny,” she whispered to her sleeping daughter. “She’d make a great campaign manager one day.”

“She’s got some good tricks up her sleeve, that’s for sure,” Ben agreed.

“28. "I would’ve had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm, and I didn’t want to wake you,” and 58. “I don’t know what’s wrong, okay? I’m just… really tired,”

Set in the A7C universe.

A baby.

They were having a baby.

A tiny human was growing inside of Leslie right now.

Ben still couldn’t believe it. Yesterday seemed like a dream that was too good to be woken up from. All in a day he found out that he was going to be a Father and then had gotten engaged.

It was insane. But a day he would never forget.

Right now he was in pure baby bliss. Leslie was fast asleep on his arm and Ben didn’t want to wake her up. He had planned to get up and cook her breakfast in bed, but that would have to wait. She was pregnant, and most definitely needed her sleep.

Instead, his thoughts travelled backed to the past week, trying to see any signs that would have told him sooner that they were expecting.

He remembered last Thursday, when Leslie came home in a bad mood. She sulked at the kitchen table and kept snapping at Ben, who was just trying to make the situation better for her.

“Right. What’s going on? Why are you so cranky?” Ben had asked, his arms folded.

“I’m not cranky,” Leslie hissed through gritted teeth, and Ben raised an eyebrow, that eyebrow that told her to tell him what was going on or go lie down and come back in an hour after a nap.

Leslie sighed and swiped at her glassy eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong, okay? I’m just…really tired.”

Ben smiled sympathetically. She had been working so hard on turning that disgusting pit next to the apartment complex into a beautiful park that she had worked herself into the ground. Literally. Her fingernails were caked in dirt. What the hell had she been doing out there?

“Okay, you need a bath and then snuggles in bed,” Ben said, tugging her up from the table and into the bathroom.

He remembered watching her strip in front of him after pouring her a bubble bath, complete with sweet smelling vanilla candles and a glass of wine…he immediately regretted giving her the wine, but he didn’t know at the time. How was anyone to know?

His eyes had scanned her over, like he usually did when she was standing naked in front of him. He couldn’t remember seeing any signs of a bump. But it was far too early to notice anything.  Even last night when he had kissed her belly multiple times it didn’t feel any different.

It didn’t matter right now. Nothing mattered, other than his fiancé and beautiful unborn child.

Finally he felt a shifting next to him, and Leslie turned over, staring at him groggily.

“Good morning,” Ben said sweetly. “I would’ve had breakfast ready but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn’t want to wake you. I can get started now if you want?”

Leslie didn’t say anything. Instead, Ben watched as her face turned a bright shade of green, and she covered her mouth frantically as she jumped out of the bed and towards the bathroom.

Ben blinked as he registered what had just happened. Morning sickness. Of course. It wasn’t going to be just cute baby bumps and feeling their baby kick. No, there were the worst parts of it to consider, this being one of them.

But they were happy. And even after Ben followed Leslie into the bathroom to make sure she was ok, she looked up at him with a pained smile on her face, proclaiming that morning sickness meant a healthy baby.

It was going to be a hard journey, but they’d manage.

“I think you’ll be happy to know that I’m not wearing any underwear.”

Ben turned up at Leslie’s front door with a brightly coloured bunch of flower that reminded him of the wildflower mural on the first floor. All for Leslie of course.

Tonight was the night of their first date after publicly coming clean with their relationship. Ben had resigned, and Leslie’s campaign managers had quit. But tonight none of that mattered. Because tonight they could hold hands in front of people. Ben could pull out her chair like a gentleman and they could kiss too. That was the part he was looking forward to the most.

No more secret kisses. He could grab her in front of a crowd on the street and pull her to his lips if he wanted to. He wouldn’t, of course. Be he could quite easily if he wanted to.

Leslie opened the door and her eyes lit up when she spied the bouquet of flowers. “For me?” she asked as she let Ben inside.

“Of course,” Ben smirked as he handed them to her. “Only the finest for my lady.”

Leslie grinned and hurried into the kitchen, grabbing a vase and filling it with water and then pushing several stacks of magazines off a chest of drawers, giving the flowers pride of place.

She then let Ben pull her into his arms and kiss her all over. His hands raking over her body and tugging at the fabric of the purple dress she was wearing.

“I like this,” Ben said, as his hands grazed across her stomach and chest. “Really sexy.”

Leslie blushed and tucked her hands under the lapels of Ben’s suit jacket, pulling him in for another kiss. “And I must say you are looking pretty handsome too, Mr Wyatt,” she said after they pulled away.

“Why thank you,” Ben grinned, placing one last kiss on her neck before pulling away, earning a whine from Leslie.

“I wish we could stay here all night, but we have dinner reservations to make,” Ben said, handing Leslie her coat and opening the door again.

“Alright,” Leslie said, pulling on her coat and making her way towards the open door. She then paused, and peered back over her shoulder at Ben. “Oh. One more thing. I think you’ll be happy to know that I’m not wearing any underwear.”

Ben’s boner was practically instant.

[mlw10]

So... I Lied...

Here it is everyone, my first fanfic. Bear with me as I’m just getting started so things may be incredibly cliche and maybe not the best they could be, but honestly I’m just proud of myself for putting this out there. The HP community is so supportive and I wouldn’t have been brave enough to do that without all of the lovely people out there, so thank you :)

You can read it below or here.

Hope you enjoy!!!

Prologue

Small lights began floating in the air as the sun set, a dim brightness settling on the patio. Several of the tipsier guests swat at the lights as Sirius Black, best man extraordinaire, rose from the wedding party’s table.

Raising his glass, he began, “So… I lied…”

Remus stood abruptly, his chair squealing. “I was actually the initial liar!”

“Me too!” hiccupped Peter as he hastily stood to be included. Unfortunately, he also knocked over the champagne glass of the woman sitting to his right.

Sirius, mildly irritated that his two friends thought it fit to be a part of his moment, interrupted, “Excoooose me! This is my best man speech, and I would prefer it to be uninterrupted.”

Lily and James laughed, unsure as to where this speech was going. They knew it couldn’t be too awful since Sirius was a softy, but that also meant he could not handle his liquor and many sorts of things tended to spill out whenever he was slightly intoxicated.

“Fine, Sirius, be the drama queen. But please give me the credit I deserve in this story,” huffed Remus.

“Yes yes, Moony, will do will do. Now, on to the juicy bit: we, and by ‘we’ I mean me, Moony — there’s your credit, happy? — Wormy, Mar, and Mary, were far from oblivious to Lily and James’s burning desire to snog each other in a broom cupboard. In fact, we plotted the whole thing.” Sirius slid across the dance floor, and with a spin said, “Buckle up children! Reminisce with me.”

Chapter 1

This is ridiculous.

I can get over Evans.

Just don’t think about her hair. Or her eyes. The way they spark when she’s angry. How she pushes her hair out of her face as she makes last minute edits to her essays outside the classroom doors because she thought of something else she just has to add. When she rests her head on the table after a long day and watches the candle wax dripping down the side and time seems to slow down. How sometimes her sweater rides up a little on her back and there’s a spattering of freckles above her waistline…

No. You are James Fleamont Potter. Time to give up. It’s hopeless.

Hopeless. Hopeless. Hopeless.

James slammed shut Moste Potente Potions in frustration, earning a glare from Madame Pince. Ignoring her, he let his head slide down from his hand until it banged on the table.

“Shhhh!”

With a sigh, James looked up, glared back at Madame Pince, and noticed Marlene McKinnon, one of his Gryffindor quidditch teammates, enter the library. Spotting James, she gave him a wave and plopped herself down in the seat across from him.

“Are you done with that book? I need to use it for Slughorn’s essay. I can’t believe he’s asked for three feet of parchment on one ingredient! How does studying one component of the Polyjuice Potion have any bearing on our understanding of the entire potion? I mean, I suppose that the presentations will help wi—”

“Mar, you’re rambling.”

“Oh, sorry! It’s just this essay has been driving me insane for the past few of weeks, and now that I’ve procrastinated it to the final week, I’m freaked. Lily is supposed to come help me if you’d like to stay for a bit.”

James started at Lily’s name, standing abruptly.

“Nope, I’ve gotta dash!”

"Wait!" yelled Marlene, immediately realizing her loud mistake as Madame Pince sprang into action in her peripheral vision. Marlene quickly got to work behind a pile of books to appease the strict librarian (and hide from her).

It was odd, thought Marlene, that James had run so quickly before Lily got here. Usually he took advantage of every opportunity to chat up her best friend...

I’m fine. Not freaking out. Should I put on the cloak? Nah, that’s a bit overkill, don’t you think, James? If I’m going to get over Evans, I have to at least be able to pass her in the corridor like a normal person. Besides, we’re heads together, I do it all the time. It's agonizing, yes, but doable. Deep breaths. Maybe walk a little faster…

James turned the corner and ran up the stairs, fervently praying that he wouldn’t run into a particular redhead. Once he was in front of the Fat Lady, he breathed a sigh of relief and dashed through the portrait hole after mumbling the password. Refusing to glance around the common room, he continued up the stairs to the dormitory — failing to ignore the flash of red in the far corner of the room.

James swept into the dorm and ran his finger nervously through his hair. “So… I lied…”

James Potter’s two (of three) best friends looked away from their respective tasks — Remus from his Charms paper, and Sirius from staring at the ceiling.

Sirius was the first to respond, “We know, Prongs.”

After a beat, Sirius spoke again. “Uh about what, exactly?”

“Evans,” said James.

“Oh, right!” laughed Sirius. “Well, you can’t just expect us to believe that you’ve suddenly gotten over Evans.”

“But I tried so hard!” cried James. “She despises me. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong, you know? I thought I ‘matured.’ That being Head Boy would give me a chance to prove it to her. But no. She’s determined to hate me forever.”

James sighed and fell onto his bed, whacking his head on the headboard in the process. Wincing, he turned to his friends. “You’ve got to help me. Evans is a lost cause and one way or another, it’s about time I moved on.”

Remus slowly closed his book, nodding, and finally spoke. “So, we need a plan.”

“Agreed.”

“When’s the next Hogsmeade visit?” questioned Remus.

“Next weekend.”

Sirius shot a piece a balled-up parchment at James. “Aw what a good head boy, knowing all the Hogsmeade dates, staying on top of his homewo—“

Throwing it back, James glared at Sirius. “Shut it, Snuffles.”

“Now now that’s not very nice.”

“Well, you can shove your snide remarks up your arse.”

At that moment, Peter slumped through the door, dropping his book bag. “What are we talking about? New prank?”

“Pffft, I wish. Prongsie here is in the process of getting over Evans,” said Sirius, leaning back in his chair with the classic Sirius smirk on his face that James wanted to smack off him.

Peter laughed. “Not possible.”

“Oy! Is too! Moony has a plan!” James couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Did his friends have no faith in him? He supposed that the past five years of pining after Evans didn’t help his case, but he was determined to move on. Hateful banter was one thing, humiliating insults and a vow to date the giant squid before him even if he was the last man on earth was an entirely different thing.

Remus sighed, “All I did was ask when the next Hogsmeade was.”

“But you were on to something!”

“It’s not exactly a radical idea, mate. Just ask another girl to Hogsmeade. Get used to dating other people and get Lily off your mind.”

James nodded thoughtfully and pulled Remus into a hug. “Moony, that’s brilliant.”

Remus groaned at the unexpected embrace. “Like I said, not a radical idea.”

“Well, we know Prongsie isn’t the brightest of the bunch. Had a crush on the same girl for the past five years, dontchaknow.”

After letting go of Remus, James — noticing how close Sirius’s chair was to falling over — decided to give it a little push for all the snide comments.

Sirius’s face flashed in horror as he felt himself fall to the floor with a bang. James snorted, Sirius glared. “You’re going to regret that, Prongs”

“Hah! Not likely, Padfoot. The look on your face was priceless.”

Sirius lunged for James, tackling him to the ground. Neither Remus nor Peter interfered, used to at least one brotherly wrestling match a week. Instead, they sat on Remus’s bed and cracked open the Honeydukes hoard, waiting for the spat to end.

After a couple of minutes, Sirius’s head popped up. “Fine, Prongs, you win this time, but only because I pity you.”

“Wow. How sincere Padfoot.” While his voice portrayed annoyance, there was a shine in his eyes as he put his glasses on — he could never hold a grudge against his best mate.

“Wormtail, pass me one of those Honeydukes sweets you’ve been hoarding. James just broke my back.”

Throwing one over to Sirius, Peter took several more for himself and turned to James. “Now back to our original discussion: who are you going to ask?”

“No idea, Wormtail, but James Fleamont Potter is officially on the prowl!”

“Prongs, never ever say that in front of a girl. She will run in the other direction.”

James pranced back to the middle of the room after grabbing his own chocolate and pulled Sirius into a headlock. “I beg to differ, Snuffles. Have you seen my good looks?”

Sirius laughed, “Please, they definitely don’t even compare to mine.”

“Should we take a poll?” challenged James.

Smirking, James released Sirius from the headlock and the two of them faced Remus, still stuffing his face with Chocolate Frogs.

“We already know I’ll win, there’s no point, right, Moony?” said Sirius.

“Please leave me out of this.”

“Mooooonyyyyyyyy.”

“Moooonyyyy, you can’t back out.”

“You are both equally handsome,” said Remus as he rolled his eyes. His friends were absolutely ridiculous.

Sirius and James stared at each other with furrowed brows as if a staring contest would determine who was the most eligible bachelor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (if you must know, the female population of Hogwarts was evenly split). After some time, Peter interrupted the staring contest to inquire as to when they would be heading down for dinner, at which point the three other boys realized how hungry they were and set out for the Great Hall immediately.

[newseveryhourly]

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is fighting back against the public health and economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic in the same way he’s navigated other political perils -- by stoking the nation’s partisan divide.But the scale of the crisis the U.S. is facing -- over 39,000 people dead and tens of millions out of work -- is bigger than anything Trump has faced. Even some Republican strategists doubt that his standard campaign playbook will work in November.With the “rally around the flag effect” waning and his poll numbers down, the president abandoned a pretense of bipartisanship on Friday by tweeting that his supporters should “liberate” Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia -- three states with Democratic governors and strict stay-at-home orders. Protests in Michigan, whose governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is a possible running mate for Democrat Joe Biden, have been organized by a Trump campaign surrogate.The pivot came just a day after Trump himself outlined a methodical return-to-work policy contingent on states meeting specific benchmarks on testing and Covid-19 cases, and to be determined at state-government level.By egging on the protesters in subtle and not-so-subtle ways -- on Saturday, Trump referred to social distancing measures taken at U.S. Air Force Academy’s commencement ceremony as “politically correct” -- the president is creating a new flashpoint in America’s culture war.Regional LinesAlready the response to the pandemic in the U.S. has split largely along regional and cultural lines, with moderate and liberal governors in the Northeast and on the West Coast taking the earliest and most aggressive steps to “flatten the curve” of the virus. States with the highest number of cases are “blue” states, too.Republican governors in the South and West have bristled against the harshest stay-at-home measures, and conservative-leaning critics and media outlets increasingly say government officials have gone too far in telling them how to live their lives.Trump’s tweets and off-the-cuff comments show a sympathy for protesters -- whose membership appears to overlap closely with his “base” -- even as polling suggests that Trump is misreading the national mood on this issue.“I don’t know if it will be an effective route for the president to take, to pit himself against any Democratic governor, because at the end of the day the consequences of re-opening the economy too soon will destabilize the strong positioning the president has,” said Mattie Duppler, a Republican strategist.Don’t Rush ItNearly six in 10 Americans say they’re more concerned that a relaxation of stay-at-home restrictions would lead to more Covid-19 deaths than they are that the measures have gone to far and will hurt the economy, a poll showed on Sunday.Still, responses to the NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll taken April 13-15 fell along predictable partisan lines. Democrats and independents were more worried about the virus than the economy, while Republicans, by 48% to 39%, were more concerned about the economy.Trump has also attacked Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, for his handling of health crises during the Obama administration, and accused the Chinese government of hiding the number of infected citizens -- all messages that could resonate with his base.On Saturday, Trump, who has already at times used the term “Chinese virus,” went a step further to embrace a theory put forward by some Republican lawmakers for months, that China may be “knowingly responsible” for the Covid-19 outbreak and its spread around the globe.“If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences,” the president said at a White House press briefing.Charting a New CourseTrump and his campaign have been forced to chart a new course for an election that’s morphed into a referendum on the president’s management of a national emergency of unprecedented scale.The pandemic, which has sickened more than 700,000 people in the U.S., has obliterated his best case for re-election -- the strong economy and decades-low unemployment. Several states crucial to a second Trump term, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, have seen dramatic spikes in unemployment. Roughly 22 million people have filed for unemployment in the country in the last three weeks alone.Making matters worse for the president, the initial polling bump he received at the outset of the pandemic has evaporated. Almost two-thirds of Americans say Trump was too slow to take major steps to stop the virus when outbreaks were reported in other countries, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Trump’s approval rating in the latest Gallup poll was 43%, down six percentage points from its high point in mid-March when the president first introduced social distancing guidelines.Trump allies acknowledge the election will be won or lost based on the president’s handling of the pandemic, but argued that he would ultimately prevail if he gradually leads the nation toward a successful re-opening.“Ultimately, 2020 is going to be all about the recovery,” said Jason Miller, spokesman for Trump’s first campaign in 2016. “What Trump is going to be judged on is what the recovery looks like; how well we do from our low point until we get to the election in November. And as long as President Trump is able to keep leading us in a positive direction and keep things going, I think he’ll be rewarded at the ballot box.”Energizing the BaseTrump has hit back at criticism of his virus-response efforts that could damage him politically .He even played a campaign-style video during a White House news conference in response to critical media reports, as the daily briefings, which can stretch beyond two hours, have come to substitute for political rallies.His decision to side with the protesters, even if they are challenging policies his own administration encouraged states to adopt, might help do that.“It shows him that there’s people who are wanting the economy open, and he can use that as justification for doing it because he sees people who are Trump voters wanting that to happen,” said Jennifer Hoewe, a professor of political communication at Purdue University. Trump’s political gamble is “if he tries to get people back to work, will that then inspire his base to come vote in November,” or if he pushes to open too soon and people become sick again that will “possibly inspire Democrats to get out and vote.”While egging on protesters in Michigan and Minnesota, he’s remained silent on Ohio, a battleground state where Republican Governor Mike DeWine is facing similar protests against stay-at-home measures.Willing to WaitThe conservative House Freedom Caucus, which supports Trump, released a letter to the president largely echoing his message minutes after the president’s tweets were published. “Some of the measures enacted to combat the virus have wreaked havoc on the American economy,” it read. The Tea Party Patriots Action group, which sprung up in opposition to President Barack Obama, also weighed in, saying that governors in the states Trump urged be “liberated” are “abusing their power.”Biden, campaigning from his finished basement in his home in Wilmington, Delaware, has tried to highlight what he sees as Trump’s mismanagement.“The uncomfortable truth is that this president left America exposed and vulnerable to this pandemic,” Biden said in a new digital video released on Friday. “He ignored the warnings of health experts and intelligence agencies, and put his trust in China’s leaders instead. And now we’re all paying the price.”Sharper TackBiden at first tried to avoid politicizing the pandemic, urging Trump to adopt his proposals to help the nation and participating in a one-on-one call with the president. Those niceties, however, are disappearing as Biden slams Trump’s “temper tantrums.” The Trump campaign is responding in kind.Trump’s campaign spokesman Ken Farnaso said that Biden’s “big government, socialist policies” would “create chaos and confusion during the pandemic.”“In contrast, President Trump’s proven record of success ushered in the largest economic renaissance in American history. He did it once and he’ll do it again in his second term,” Farnaso said.Still, the challenge for the Biden campaign remains counter-programming a president who commands the news cycle. Stuck in his new basement studio, Biden is limited in the ways he can sell his message to the American people, and with no policy making authority there’s little he can do to respond to the public health crisis.Therefore, in addition to attacking Trump, the Biden campaign is hoping to emphasize Biden’s experience handling crises during his years as vice president, particularly his work overseeing the Recovery Act after the 2008 recession.“He was critical to pulling us back from the brink of another Great Depression in 2009, and he’s running on rebuilding the American middle class -- and bringing everyone along,” Andrew Bates, a Biden spokesman, said in a statement. “We deserve real leadership again.”(Updates with Biden spokesman in final paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2VBqquQ

[bigbirdgladiator]

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is fighting back against the public health and economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic in the same way he’s navigated other political perils -- by stoking the nation’s partisan divide.But the scale of the crisis the U.S. is facing -- over 39,000 people dead and tens of millions out of work -- is bigger than anything Trump has faced. Even some Republican strategists doubt that his standard campaign playbook will work in November.With the “rally around the flag effect” waning and his poll numbers down, the president abandoned a pretense of bipartisanship on Friday by tweeting that his supporters should “liberate” Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia -- three states with Democratic governors and strict stay-at-home orders. Protests in Michigan, whose governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is a possible running mate for Democrat Joe Biden, have been organized by a Trump campaign surrogate.The pivot came just a day after Trump himself outlined a methodical return-to-work policy contingent on states meeting specific benchmarks on testing and Covid-19 cases, and to be determined at state-government level.By egging on the protesters in subtle and not-so-subtle ways -- on Saturday, Trump referred to social distancing measures taken at U.S. Air Force Academy’s commencement ceremony as “politically correct” -- the president is creating a new flashpoint in America’s culture war.Regional LinesAlready the response to the pandemic in the U.S. has split largely along regional and cultural lines, with moderate and liberal governors in the Northeast and on the West Coast taking the earliest and most aggressive steps to “flatten the curve” of the virus. States with the highest number of cases are “blue” states, too.Republican governors in the South and West have bristled against the harshest stay-at-home measures, and conservative-leaning critics and media outlets increasingly say government officials have gone too far in telling them how to live their lives.Trump’s tweets and off-the-cuff comments show a sympathy for protesters -- whose membership appears to overlap closely with his “base” -- even as polling suggests that Trump is misreading the national mood on this issue.“I don’t know if it will be an effective route for the president to take, to pit himself against any Democratic governor, because at the end of the day the consequences of re-opening the economy too soon will destabilize the strong positioning the president has,” said Mattie Duppler, a Republican strategist.Don’t Rush ItNearly six in 10 Americans say they’re more concerned that a relaxation of stay-at-home restrictions would lead to more Covid-19 deaths than they are that the measures have gone to far and will hurt the economy, a poll showed on Sunday.Still, responses to the NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll taken April 13-15 fell along predictable partisan lines. Democrats and independents were more worried about the virus than the economy, while Republicans, by 48% to 39%, were more concerned about the economy.Trump has also attacked Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, for his handling of health crises during the Obama administration, and accused the Chinese government of hiding the number of infected citizens -- all messages that could resonate with his base.On Saturday, Trump, who has already at times used the term “Chinese virus,” went a step further to embrace a theory put forward by some Republican lawmakers for months, that China may be “knowingly responsible” for the Covid-19 outbreak and its spread around the globe.“If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences,” the president said at a White House press briefing.Charting a New CourseTrump and his campaign have been forced to chart a new course for an election that’s morphed into a referendum on the president’s management of a national emergency of unprecedented scale.The pandemic, which has sickened more than 700,000 people in the U.S., has obliterated his best case for re-election -- the strong economy and decades-low unemployment. Several states crucial to a second Trump term, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, have seen dramatic spikes in unemployment. Roughly 22 million people have filed for unemployment in the country in the last three weeks alone.Making matters worse for the president, the initial polling bump he received at the outset of the pandemic has evaporated. Almost two-thirds of Americans say Trump was too slow to take major steps to stop the virus when outbreaks were reported in other countries, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Trump’s approval rating in the latest Gallup poll was 43%, down six percentage points from its high point in mid-March when the president first introduced social distancing guidelines.Trump allies acknowledge the election will be won or lost based on the president’s handling of the pandemic, but argued that he would ultimately prevail if he gradually leads the nation toward a successful re-opening.“Ultimately, 2020 is going to be all about the recovery,” said Jason Miller, spokesman for Trump’s first campaign in 2016. “What Trump is going to be judged on is what the recovery looks like; how well we do from our low point until we get to the election in November. And as long as President Trump is able to keep leading us in a positive direction and keep things going, I think he’ll be rewarded at the ballot box.”Energizing the BaseTrump has hit back at criticism of his virus-response efforts that could damage him politically .He even played a campaign-style video during a White House news conference in response to critical media reports, as the daily briefings, which can stretch beyond two hours, have come to substitute for political rallies.His decision to side with the protesters, even if they are challenging policies his own administration encouraged states to adopt, might help do that.“It shows him that there’s people who are wanting the economy open, and he can use that as justification for doing it because he sees people who are Trump voters wanting that to happen,” said Jennifer Hoewe, a professor of political communication at Purdue University. Trump’s political gamble is “if he tries to get people back to work, will that then inspire his base to come vote in November,” or if he pushes to open too soon and people become sick again that will “possibly inspire Democrats to get out and vote.”While egging on protesters in Michigan and Minnesota, he’s remained silent on Ohio, a battleground state where Republican Governor Mike DeWine is facing similar protests against stay-at-home measures.Willing to WaitThe conservative House Freedom Caucus, which supports Trump, released a letter to the president largely echoing his message minutes after the president’s tweets were published. “Some of the measures enacted to combat the virus have wreaked havoc on the American economy,” it read. The Tea Party Patriots Action group, which sprung up in opposition to President Barack Obama, also weighed in, saying that governors in the states Trump urged be “liberated” are “abusing their power.”Biden, campaigning from his finished basement in his home in Wilmington, Delaware, has tried to highlight what he sees as Trump’s mismanagement.“The uncomfortable truth is that this president left America exposed and vulnerable to this pandemic,” Biden said in a new digital video released on Friday. “He ignored the warnings of health experts and intelligence agencies, and put his trust in China’s leaders instead. And now we’re all paying the price.”Sharper TackBiden at first tried to avoid politicizing the pandemic, urging Trump to adopt his proposals to help the nation and participating in a one-on-one call with the president. Those niceties, however, are disappearing as Biden slams Trump’s “temper tantrums.” The Trump campaign is responding in kind.Trump’s campaign spokesman Ken Farnaso said that Biden’s “big government, socialist policies” would “create chaos and confusion during the pandemic.”“In contrast, President Trump’s proven record of success ushered in the largest economic renaissance in American history. He did it once and he’ll do it again in his second term,” Farnaso said.Still, the challenge for the Biden campaign remains counter-programming a president who commands the news cycle. Stuck in his new basement studio, Biden is limited in the ways he can sell his message to the American people, and with no policy making authority there’s little he can do to respond to the public health crisis.Therefore, in addition to attacking Trump, the Biden campaign is hoping to emphasize Biden’s experience handling crises during his years as vice president, particularly his work overseeing the Recovery Act after the 2008 recession.“He was critical to pulling us back from the brink of another Great Depression in 2009, and he’s running on rebuilding the American middle class -- and bringing everyone along,” Andrew Bates, a Biden spokesman, said in a statement. “We deserve real leadership again.”(Updates with Biden spokesman in final paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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