#rusty nation

[nucarnivalincorrectquotes]

Dying also because Eiden took one look at Huey's clothes and said “that shirt is coming off”

[fishfearer]

the bride and the ugly ass groom

[aquavierra]

I think someone already made this.

[dinahdoeeyes]

My ideal production of Starlight Express.

I suppose I'll just get right into it. First the list of characters, then the songs (excluding little bits/non-songs like Taunting Rusty and the races), then the rest.

Cast:

Rusty

Pearl

Greaseball

Dinah

Electra

CB

Ashley

Buffy

Poppa

Belle, the Sleeping Car (called Memphis Belle)

Dustin

Flat-Top

The Rockies

Volta, Joule, Wrench, Purse, and Krupp

The original National Engines

Duvay and the Sleepers

Control

Setlist (* = will be addressed below):

Entry Of National Trains

Rolling Stock

Call Me Rusty

A Lotta Locomotion ('83 Workship version, but with Buffy added)

He Whistled At Me (Minus the Rusty/Pearl conversation)

*Dinah/Greaseball duet

Freight (With the girls bullying the boys)

AC/DC

Pumping Iron ("Trying to build my body, trying to lose my mind" and "Stretching my bullworker, heaving on my weights" switch spots because I just feel that it'd sound better that way.)

Sleepers moment

*Dinah solo

Hitching and Switching (probably original)

Crazy

*That was Unfair (extended)

That's Me/There's Me (duet)

Poppa's Blues

Belle's Song (Combo of OG & Broadway — especially "sniffing the coke")

Starlight Express

The Rap: Hey You

*Make Up My Heart

Pearl Twirl

U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D.

Girls' Rolling Stock

Wide Smile (Mostly the Broadway version, except he says the OG "...C.B." in the chorus instead of Broadway's "...the Red Caboose," until the ending after Electra & co leave.)

I Was Robbed

Right Place, Right Time

I Am The Starlight

Rusty and Dustin

*Dinah's Disco (extended)

No Comeback

One Rock & Roll Too Many

I Do and/or Only You (I really want "I Do," and it feels redundant to do both in a row, but I feel like "Only You" is important?)

*GreaseDinah reunion (extended)

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Starlight Express Megamix (of course)

Notes:

We are leaning hard into the 80's here! None of that trying to modernize StEx they've been doing since the 90's. It doesn't work, and the hyper-80's...ness is one of the best things about StEx!

This is about 60% the 1984 original, so keep that in mind.

Dinah & Greaseball look most like the original Dinah and Greaseball. (Though Dinah's hair looks like this. I'll get to her costumes below.) Greaseball looks completely like Jeff Shankley's GB.

Most of the costumes look like the Broadway versions.

However, Pearl gets 3 costumes; her pants outfit from the '84 previews (but with white pants), followed by her sleek Broadway dress outfit (w/ Electra), and then the fluffy dress outfit (w/ GB).

Dinah has 2 costumes; the first one being more Broadway (but I dislike the leggings, so different ones), and then, when she pairs with Electra, she changes to an outfit that is similar to her OG outfit.

C.B.'s look is very similar to the original, except his pants are black, and he has his later hat.

I want some of the choreography from the '83 workshop. ( x x x x )

Dinah & Greaseball banter a bit because "Incapable of feeding yourself, Greaseball?" Ohhh *chef's kiss* 2017 London Workshop did something right!

*Dinah & Greaseball get a couple's duet. It's a fun, cute, rock/80's pop mix song that touches on their love for each other and how they don't care about others' bullshit. ("Our Lips Are Sealed" kind of vibes, I suppose.)

Ashley and Duvay are sisters.

Greaseball pulls the girls during "Freight," like he originally did.

*Dinah gets a solo after "Pumping Iron" after the Sleepers talk their bullshit. It'd be about 3½ minutes long. If you've read my Dinah rants, you can get an idea of what it's about.

Greaseball, Bobo, and Espresso are part of the choreography during "Crazy" toward the end, racing around with Dinah, Ashley, and Buffy. (I promise this is FIRE in my head. Have faith. 🥺)

*Grease & Dinah have a longer argument before their breakup.

Dinah and C.B. have a duet. It's the Broadway version of There's Me combined with That's Me. (Dinah singing her solo part first.)

*Pearl sings "Make Up My Heart" about Rusty, Electra, and Greaseball. (Explanation here.)

*"U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D." is slower, sadder, and has more lyrics, like it was in the '83 workshop.

Buffy & Ashley are finally canon. It's Complicated™️, but they get it together by the end.

*"Dinah's Disco" is a bit longer, as is *Dinah & Greaseball's reunion/makeup.

Pearl is absolutely like original Pearl in this: A selfish bitch (who learns and gets better by the end); she is not "naive." ("Further from my vision" over "Sadder but no wiser.")

We actually acknowledge that Pearl is an asshole. But, like Greaseball, she learns and is working on herself by the end! 🙌🏽

Pearl apologizes to Dinah at the end. FINALLY. (During a break in LATEOTT.)

Control loves the engines/coaches/freight, and they love him. He's just a bossy little kid, but they're also actin' up. (I'm open to Control being a girl.)

Electra and the Components do come back.

I... think that's it. I hope didn't forget anything.

CHOO CHOO! 💋

[feltcreature]

RUSTY AIR GUITAR !!!!!! The extended intro is the cutest thing ever. thank you bluey team

[pnutsdotorg]

rusty venture be a good dad challenge difficulty: impossible

[spacecrabz]

It's a national holiday for matthew nation everytime we find a movie in which he doesn't die at the end

[bravevulnerability]

hey bv, you are so missed. if there's any chance you'd ever write again, please write something based on your favorite song.

A/N: set post season 4, after the events of Headhunters (4x21). Favorite song (of the moment): 'The Alcott' by The National (feat. Taylor Swift).

-

“I get myself twisted in threads to meet you at the alcott I'd go to the corner in the back where you'd always be And there you are, sitting as usual with your golden notebook Writing something about someone Who used to be me”

-

Her heart leaps to her throat at the sight of him, gunshot wound throbbing in time with her pulse. She’s circled back to their swings more times than she can count in the last year, but never did she expect to find them occupied. Not by him. 

“Castle?”

His gaze jerks up to meet hers, his eyes clouded like the skies overhead. The notebook open on his knee snaps shut and his spine straightens. 

“Beckett.” Her name scrapes past his lips, over heart abraded heart, and then he’s shooting to his feet. “Kate,” he amends, a tad warmer but still guarded. 

She swallows and takes a step towards him. “What’re you doing here?” she asks, her lips threatening to quirk at the mere sight of him, the simple fact that she’s interacting with him after over a year of… nothing. 

She lied, he left, and that was it. He stopped coming to the precinct, ignored the single call she made to him weeks after, and she took it as her sign to stop. To, for once, just leave it alone. 

He stopped wanting her. Somewhere between the blondes, the replacement cops, and the blatant chill of his silence, she got the hint. But her heart never really did. 

He arches his brow and she recovers quickly. 

“I mean, I thought you had a new book coming out today,” she explains, noting the flannel draped across his chest, the faded jeans clinging to his waist. Not at all dressed for a day of photos and glamor. 

“Ah, yeah,” he sighs, rubbing at the back of his neck, a sheepish expression claiming his face. “I may have played hooky. Phone’s on silent, so I’m not sure how much trouble I’m in.”

Kate gnaws on her bottom lip. “Mind if I sit?”

She watches his throat ripple, his eyes flicker to the empty swing beside him. 

“Of course not,” he replies, gingerly returning to his own swing, notebook pressed close to his sternum. 

He waits until she’s seated, swaying gently beside him. “How’d you know about the new book?”

She scoffs, digs the heels of her sneakers into the dying grass at their feet. Winter still has the park colored lifeless, naked branches and dead leaves scattered all around them.

“Just because we aren’t… I didn’t just start hating your books, Castle,” she chuckles ruefully. 

The corner of his mouth twitches, just barely. “Well, I’d recommend skipping this one anyway. Not worth your time.”

“What? New muse giving you trouble?” she teases, but he blows out a breath. 

“No new muses, Beckett,” he mutters, some of that familiar ice lining his words. “You should know that.”

“I should?” she echoes, tilting her head in askance. “Because we’ve really been keeping up with one another well enough for that?”

His gaze turns stony at that, any hints of blue gone and fading to grey. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Kate.”

“Me?” she snaps, incredulous, feeling that familiar pulse of a fire building in her chest. “You’re the one who disappeared. You’re the one who went radio silent on me before you even left.”

“Just taking a page out of your book,” he murmurs, the words cruel but his voice lacking the venom necessary to land the blow. 

Castle stands from the swings, his attention on the street ahead, and her legs follow, her hand reaching for him without thinking.

“I deserve that,” she states, fingers snagging the soft edge of his shirt. He stills, squaring his jaw against her. “But I also feel like I deserve an explanation.”

“For what?" he demands, but still fails to look back at her. "For trying to move on, for preserving my dignity?”

Her fingers tighten, refusing to let go. “This is what I’m talking about. Ever since the bombing case, you were so angry with me and then you left, you - you didn’t even say goodbye.”

“I couldn’t,” he growls, wiping a hand down his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I was in love with you, Kate. Is that what you want to hear? That I loved you so damn much, that I was stupid enough to think you might love me back, until I heard you knew all along - what I said when you were shot.” Her heart plummets to her stomach, sinking into the acid of her gut, shriveling to nothing. Castle finally meets her eyes, the anger she so fiercely remembers gone. Nothing but resignation left. “You lied to me. I don’t know if it was to spare my feelings, or because you were embarrassed - it doesn’t matter. Especially now.”

He gently unhooks the slackened fingers from his side. 

“So there’s your explanation,” he mumbles. “And here’s your goodbye, Kate.”

“No,” she rasps, clearing her throat. “Castle, no.”

But he’s already walking away from her.

“Do you want to know the first time I felt it?” she stutters out, clutching the v-neck of her shirt, clutching the thin material shielding her scar.

Castle’s back is to her, but he stops, waits, and sighs. Giving in to her.

“Felt what, Beckett?”

“That I might - that I was at risk of falling in love with you?”

His shoulders shift at that, not quite relaxed but lowering from their hunched defense. 

“The day Dick Coonan tried to shoot you,” she recalls aloud, willing her voice to hold steady. “There was so much at stake that day, but the idea of you getting hurt, especially over me? It scared me in a way I’d never felt before. And then, when you came to the precinct that night, when we sat at my desk and had dinner together, I just - I felt it,” she confesses, her fingers instinctively twining around the chain at her neck. “I just wanted you with me.”

Castle hesitates, but allows the sway of his body towards her, the subtle shift of his step to see her. 

“Since then?” he murmurs, the question barely loud enough for her to hear. 

“Since then,” she confirms, the tight coil of nerves in her chest loosening ever so slightly. “It was the beginning of me recognizing it for what it could be, but every morning you showed up, with a coffee for me, with a smile, I just - god, it scared the shit out of me how I started to feel about you even then, Castle.”

A strangled, breathless sound, something akin to a laugh, skitters past his lips. 

“I know the feeling,” he breathes, chancing a tentative step towards her. “Kate, I-”

“Richard Castle, I am going to strangle you!” The hiss of a woman’s voice breaks the careful words between them. Kate glances to her left to see his agent - Paula, she thinks - storming towards him in a bright fuchsia dress and platform purple heels that sink into the ground. “Do you know how many people have been waiting on you? Do you know how long? Hours, Rick. Hours!”

“Oh no,” Castle expels under his breath, eyes darting between Kate and his agent. “Kate-”

“Remember that brunch place on Greenwich you took me to once? That day we had a murder in the village?” 

He blinks, blue eyes sparkling with memory. “Elephants and Castle?”

“Yes. Meet me tomorrow?” she asks, letting the hope bleed onto her lips, into her eyes. “We can get coffee, maybe talk?”

“Yes, yes,” he agrees, stumbling over the single word. 

“Richard. Castle. I swear to god-”

“Paula, I am coming,” he growls, an impatience to him she almost forgot about, shooting the other woman a fierce look. 

“One. Minute,” she growls back, pivoting sharply on her heel and storming towards the sidewalk. 

“You okay with noon?” he asks hurriedly. 

“Yeah, noon’s perfect,” she murmurs, feeling her lips curling beneath the pin of her teeth. 

His face mirrors hers, the two of them smiling like little kids with crushes on the playground. And for a lovely moment, it's as if the past, the pain, never existed.

“Hey,” she breathes, reaching for his hand, squeezing his fingers. “Thank you. For giving me a chance.”

Those blue eyes trip down to their hands, staring in something close to wonder as his large palm engulfs her slim fingers.

He squeezes back, strokes his thumb along the heel of her palm as they part. 

“Until tomorrow, Beckett.”

-

I sit there silently waiting for you to look up I see you smile when you see it's me I had to do something to break into your golden thinking How many times will I do this and you'll still believe?

-

His heart is rabbiting in his chest, his knee bouncing beneath the cover of the table, shaking his chair. A few of the other patrons shoot him a look of annoyance, but he can’t help it. He hasn’t stopped thinking about her, writing about her in that stupid notebook dedicated to her, since their run in at the swings yesterday. 

He breezed through the remainder of his book release event, signing autographs and taking photos on autopilot. His thoughts spattered with images of her - both new and old. She implied she loved him, loved him back, and now the last five years are tinted in a new shade of optimism.

What if it isn't too late for them after all?

Castle glances hopefully to the entry when he hears the whoosh of the door opening. The weather is uncertain today - grey clouds imposing on the sky yet again, bloated and threatening rain to accompany the winds tunneling through the city. Kate shoves the glass door open with her shoulder, her hair windblown and long, whipping against her too sharp cheeks, the collarbones protruding through her sweater. 

He waits, watching her gaze eagerly take in the room, searching for him, setting alight once she finds him. It makes his breath catch. 

She strides through the quaint restaurant, sliding in across from him in the wooden booth 

“Hey, Castle,” she smiles, tentative, nervous. Not something he’s used to seeing on her, especially not for him. “How are you? And how have you been? I feel terrible for not managing to ask you yesterday.”

He almost teases her for the attempt at small talk, but her expression is so open to him, so beseeching. 

“I think yesterday took us both off guard. Who needs manners in the face of a reunion?” 

She chuckles. “Well, the question stands nonetheless.”

He hesitates, but proceeds to tell her bits and pieces of the last year - Alexis’s graduation, her move to California to attend Stanford, his mother’s persistent presence in his life and the new love interest that has her out of the loft more often than not. He leaves out much talk of his career, ashamed of the swan dive into despair his writing skills have taken. He goes to ask about her, about the Twelfth, but as if sensing it, she steers him away from conversation about her own life. 

“How’d the rest of the book event go?”

He winces. “Well, let’s just say I’m on my third strike with Black Pawn.”

“Third, huh?” She arches a single brow at him. “Been getting into trouble without me, Rick?”

The flare of teasing in her eyes, in the curve of her mouth, is so dazzling in its familiarity. It’s like a punch to the gut, realizing how many pieces of her he’s been missing. 

“Well, not legally. Just some missed deadlines and events here and there,” he muses, nodding to the waiter who catches his attention over Beckett’s shoulder. “I ordered us lattes.”

The steaming mugs are placed in front of them, menus left on the edge of the table. She glances down, pleased. 

“And if you’re hungry-”

“I think I’m okay,” she murmurs, chewing on her bottom lip in that maddening habit she apparently hasn’t dropped. “I just have a lot I need to say.”

He bridges his fingers beneath his chin to stop them from shaking. “Gonna tell me about another time in our partnership that I won you over?”

He’s teasing, but she purses her lips, as if bracing herself. Oh, she is-

“When my apartment blew up. A little before, actually,” she confesses on a chuckle that wobbles its way out of her throat. “But that day… while I appreciated the heroics, it was more so the way you were there for me afterwards.”

He watches intently as she lowers her eyes to the billowing steam of her coffee, lashes kissing her cheeks and hiding her eyes. 

“You had this way of knowing what I needed, how much to push, when to take a step back.” Her mouth softens into a mournful curve. “It bothered me back then. I hated how in sync we were.”

“Hated how much you liked me.”

“Yes,” she sighs, but there’s a smirk tugging at her lips. “I did.”

The rawness of her honesty takes him off guard. As far as he knows, Beckett has only actually lied to him about one major event, but regardless, she has always been guarded. Never one to share or let people in. He’s certain he was an exception in learning as much as he did about her. But to have her sit before him, answering his subtle teases and nudges of inquiries with directness… it's nearly enough to startle him. 

But it isn’t merely openness on her face, vulnerability in her eyes, it’s determination, too. 

“Is that why… Demming, Josh?” 

Her palms cradle her mug then, her head nodding softly. “Yeah. It was… easier. How’d you put it - one foot out the door relationships?”

“I’m guilty of them too,” he says, needing to ease the frown claiming her lips, the obvious discomfort his question evoked. “I mean, my entire relationship with Gina… just that summer alone, all I could think about was you. It was all only ever because I couldn’t have you.”

“Oh, Castle,” she sighs, his name such a sorrowful sound on her lips. “What’s done is done, but we both wasted so much time.”

He echoes her exhale and reaches across the table, presses his knuckles against hers. Her skin is hot, radiating warmth stolen from the mug, and he lets it seep into his own skin. 

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? To stop that?”

“I thought I was here to win you over,” she murmurs, tongue in cheek, and he can’t help the smile it elicits. The genuine smile that cracks his cheeks for the first time in nearly twelve months.

“You definitely set that in motion yesterday,” he chuckles, fitting his knuckles in closer against hers, letting the bones slot into place against hers. “The woman I loved for the last five years telling me there’s a chance? I couldn’t walk away from that.”

“It’s not a chance, Castle,” she says adamantly, her demeanor shifting, eyes glittering with resolve. “It’s a sure thing. You found out I heard you at Montgomery’s funeral.” And wow, she’s really just diving right into it, huh? “That’s what I’m assuming you mean when you accuse me of lying?”

His lips purse. “Yeah.”

Her hand abandons the coffee cup, disrupting his touch only to reclaim it, clutching his fingers with a gentle ferocity that she’s always owned. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, thumb stroking back and forth over his knuckles now. “I never wanted to hurt you, Rick. I hope you can believe that much.”

“I - my first thought wasn’t that you were doing it out of malice,” he manages, his mouth dry. “I just assumed you didn’t feel the same way.”

“Maybe ask next time?” she huffs before shooting him an apologetic cast of her gaze. “I didn’t feel like I was ready to love you the way I wanted to.”

He catches her thumb with his own, twining them. “In what way, Kate?”

He needs her to say it, to be as clear as possible. The last thing they can afford is another misunderstanding. 

Beckett shifts, her shoulders threatening to jump to her ears. Self-conscious, uncertain, scared. They were both so afraid of each other. 

“In a way that would last,” she breathes out, meeting his eyes with need in hers - the need for him to understand, to reassure, to reciprocate. “I didn’t want one foot out the door with you, Castle. I wanted to be all in. And I couldn’t do that with a hole in my chest and the PTSD flare ups, with Montgomery dead and my mom’s case feeling closer than ever, yet so far away at the same time.”

“You needed time,” he surmises softly, watching her nod grateful and slow. 

“I know we talked on the swings, but maybe we - I should have been more clear. But it all felt so raw, I didn’t want to touch it,” she confesses, squeezing his hand. “If I could go back… if I knew a year ago that this is why you were leaving me? God, Castle,” she rasps, lifting her eyes to the ceiling. “This past year without you has sucked.”

A laugh startles out of him, drawing a tiny smile from her own mouth to the surface. 

“Consider the sentiment shared,” he chuckles, tugging at her hand, but she winces - nearly gasps - at the movement. “Beckett?”

“Just sore,” she assures him, the smile on her lips waning. “Busy week at work.”

But her eyes have left him, falling back to the safety net of coffee growing cold. There’s something she’s not telling him, something she’s avoiding saying. 

“Beckett,” he murmurs, narrowing his gaze on her. “Kate, tell me.”

“Just… the guy who shot me.” She gently disentangles her hand from his. “We caught a lead last week and me and Espo went after him.”

He sucks in a harsh breath. 

“I ended up chasing him onto a rooftop. He - he threw me over the edge of the building, got away. Ryan found us, pulled me up before I could fall,” she explains, fingers knotting in front of her. He sees it now, the mottled bruising on her wrist, the stray cut along her throat, the purpling green hiding behind the layers of hair whispering along her forehead. 

“You… you’re never going to stop,” he realizes aloud, scrubbing a hand at his jaw, the stubble growing there. “That’s why they keep coming after you, Kate. Montgomery tried to ensure your survival with that package and you just-”

“Excuse me?” 

He blinks, realizing his error too late. They never had the chance to talk about this.

“Castle,” she says calmly, but he can hear the quaking of her voice. “What package?”

“Kate-”

“No,” she snaps, quiet but firm, a hint of interrogation in her voice. “You want open and honest, Castle? Well, so do I. Now what’re you talking about?”

It’s the worst possible thing he could do, letting this information slip, but it’s already too late. She won’t let it go. 

So he tells her. Tells her everything about Montgomery’s friend, Smith, and how the other man struck a deal with the people behind her mother’s murder, her own shooting. How there was only one condition to her maintained safety, her survival, how she was supposed to back off. 

For a long moment, there is silence, stillness, the sounds of the restaurant muted around them. 

She won’t look at him. 

“Are you a part of this?” she questions, her voice ragged and scraping along his sternum. 

“I just - I wanted to keep you safe.”

He feels the wall resurrect.

“You… cut a deal for my life, like I’m some kind of child,” she whispers, her jaw squaring sharp enough to slice. “Have the audacity to lecture me, to call me a liar, to walk out of my life for it, and all along…” The irises of her gaze have gone dark. “You were a liar too.”

-

I'll ruin it all over (Read my sentence out loud) And over like I always do ('Cause I love this curse on our house)

-

“Kate!”

She can barely breathe past the lump in her throat.

“Kate, stop!”

She keeps walking - practically jogging - down the sidewalk. She isn’t sure where she’s going, only that she needs to be away, away from him, from this damning new knowledge, from the hypocrisy of it all. It hurts too much.

She clocks the street. If she just crosses over to 7th Avenue, she can lose him at the next subway platform. 

But he isn’t keeping a bad pace. 

“This isn’t fair,” he calls after her, a lot closer than she hoped. It doesn’t matter now, though, because that has her spinning on her heel, slamming her fists into his chest when he smacks into her. 

“Fair?” she snarls, but he’s catching her wrists before she can shove him away. “That entire year, I needed a lead, and you kept it from me.”

“Kate, you need to listen to me,” he argues, walking backwards and jerking her along with him, off the public sidewalk and into a park. Perfect, she can abandon her heart in yet another playground.

“Listen to you?” she growls, ripping her hands from his grasp. “How am I even supposed to trust anything you’re saying to me right now?”

“How-” His chest heaves with a deep breath. “Because of everything we’ve been through together! You think you were the only one who was terrified of loving someone so much? You are the most… remarkable, maddening, challenging, frustrating person I have ever met and I have loved you damn near since the moment I saw you.”

His words batter her chest like a hammer to her ribs, splintering down her sternum, eviscerating the remnants of her heart. 

“When I was drowning in the death of Derrick Storm, with no inspiration, you came walking into my life like something I never knew I needed. Everything that followed, the four years of nearly dying on a regular basis, and - save for my child - there was nothing I wanted more than you.”

Kate scrapes a hand through her hair, paces towards a small garden in the park's center, a tiny pond of koi fish. Her bruises are throbbing with awareness, her fractured wrist aching, her brittle bones yearning for rest. The night before last, before she ended up finding her way back to a place she thought of as theirs and finding him by some chance that felt like a miracle, she should have died. It was enough to inspire her to reevaluate her life, to consider what she might want more than unattainable justice for her mother, for herself. To finally face just how much she wanted him. 

“I can’t pinpoint the moment I knew I was falling for you, Kate. But I knew when I was done for.”

“Castle, stop,” she rasps, swiping fingers to the paper thin skin beneath her eye, catching any moisture before it can fall. 

“The night Ryan and I were kidnapped by Tyson, when you burst through the door, sat with me out by the pool, I just remember thinking… this is all I need.” Kate glares up at the sky, willing away the stupid sting in her eyes, focusing on the darkening of the clouds instead. “And a few weeks later, when I kissed you… god, there was no going back. All I could think about was how I was going to do it again.”

“Stop,” she hisses, turning on her heel. But he’s watching her with such a striking ache in his eyes, mercurial and shimmering.

“The freezer, Montgomery’s funeral, the bank - all of it was some sick reminder from the universe of how much time I was wasting not being with you.” Castle advances on her slowly. She stands her ground, arms banded tightly at her chest. “Every time we nearly died, all I could think about was you.”

He stands a breath away from her now, towering over her by a few inches without her heels. 

“Tell me you didn’t feel the same.”

Her teeth clench as she forces a swallow down her dry throat. 

“I’m not going to lie again,” she admits on a rasp, holding the defiance in his eyes with her own. “But you left, Castle. And maybe it was for the best after all.”

His palms cup her shoulders before she can brush past him, anticipating her move before she can make it. 

“Did you fall out of love with me this past year? Because I’m damn sure still in love with you, Kate.”

-

I tell you the truth (Could it be easy this once?) It's the last thing you wanted (Everything that's mine is a landmine) It's the first thing I do (Did my love aid and abet you?) I tell you that I think I'm falling Back in love with you

-

“That - that doesn’t matter,” she whispers, the fight dripping out of her. Her fingers curl around his arm, ready to dismantle his hold on her at last, but his hands are already leaving her shoulders. Moving to cup her face. “Rick-”

He’s kissing her before she can think to back away, palms cradling her cheeks and mouth slanting over hers. Her body practically sinks into him, into his kiss, into the unique taste of home and reprieve only he has ever given her. The moan escapes unbidden and low, just like it did the first time, and her fingers fist in the sleeves of his shirt, pulling him closer. 

Her back connects with the nearest tree, spine arching, chest connecting with his. Castle hums and splays his palms at her shoulder blades, soothes her bottom lip between his. She rises on her toes, arms lacing around his neck as she kisses him back, deep and slow. Everything she’s wanted since he walked away from her.

“It matters,” he breathes against her lips, bumping his nose against hers. “I love you, Kate. Tell me that still means something.”

For a horrifying moment, she fears she’s started to cry, but the water on her cheek has Castle looking to the sky. 

“It’s starting to rain,” he sighs, his fingers scaling her sides, curling at her hip bones. 

“Then take me home,” she husks, unable to help the quirk of her lips when his gaze flashes back to her like lightning. She lifts her hand to his cheek, trails tentative fingers down his skin, tracing the angle of his jaw. She wants to learn every inch of him. “Because I want you to know just how much it means to me."

His hips bump against hers as he allows his hands to converge at the base of her vertebrae, arms coiling tightly around her and sealing her in close. 

She grins as she tilts her chin to kiss him once more, savoring the familiar heat of his mouth on hers, the perfect fit of his lips. The stray droplets are turning into a drizzle, but she doesn’t hurry the work of her mouth against his. 

“So take me home,” she picks up, glancing up to meet the gorgeous blue of those eyes she's missed. “Fall back in love with me completely.”

[roe-and-memory]

at 17, during the 2005 dinoco grand national series (xfinity) season, lightning is invited by harv to a meeting he really has no business being at.

its to discuss lightnings future, how rusteze plans on closing their dgns team and reopening it under the piston cup series, and what that’ll look like. the only people who really need to be there are rusty, dusty, and harv — but lightning, and therefore mack as well, get invited along for the ride.

however, its over a game of golf.

lightning has never played golf before as his dad wasnt a huge golf fan — and even if he was, the man wasnt a big lightning fan either, so it wouldn’t have even mattered.

mack parks in the overflow parking lot with the truck the night prior, informs harv of their whereabouts, and locks it down for the night. the next morning, the man is banging on the truck door at first light, and when lightning inevitably answers (after mack doesnt get up off the top bunk, continuing to snore away) harv thrusts a nice, red, rusteze polo into his hands, and points at the bag of golf clubs on the tarmac below.

“tee time is 7:30, meet us at the clubhouse before then. youre looking to impress them today.” he says, and hes off.

lightning wakes up mack and gets ready for the day, taking fashion advice from his brother-figure, because theres no doubt that mack has golfed before, and soon enough the group is down at the clubhouse with the bag slung over his shoulder and his stance as uncomfortable as ever.

lightning learns pretty quickly that theres a reason he’s a racecar driver and not a golfer.

he leaves divots in the ground, he cant hit the ball any farther than ten feet away from the tee box, and the entire time harv is glaring daggers into him.

lightning has no place in the adults conversation, he knows that — harv trained him well enough to know that he doesnt interrupt or speak, just put on a good enough show that rusty and dusty will be impressed and more inclined to give him his dream — but what harv left out is that lightning also has to be a god at golf.

the agent ends up pulling him aside while rusty and dusty walk back to their cart after putting. he looks him in the eyes and in a low voice hisses that he’s not impressing them by acting like an idiot, and another assortment of verbal reprimands for not being perfect. lightning is trying his best, but with the confirmation that hes supposedly disappointing the people who have his future in their hands, he starts trying his very best to be the best damn golfer they’ve ever seen.

it doesnt work. he still can hardly hit the ball. by the 15th hole hes given up on hitting and just sits in the drivers seat of his and harv’s golf cart, awaiting the mans return and chauffeuring him to his ball or the greens or the next hole.. its discouraging, and harv gives him shit every time for lacking the talent and skill to just suck it up and be a good influence on their opinions.

by the end, rusty and dusty are proud to announce their new cup team with 17 year old lightning mcqueen as the driver for them, harv has drilled it into his head that it’s only his “expert” negotiating skills that got lightning this, and lightning had dislocated one of his shoulders trying to swing as hard as he could and ended up making contact with the ground instead, spending the rest of the night sprawled across his bunk, masking that pain until mack figured it out after.

[strawberry-seal77]

SHOW THE HOMU OMG...........peace and love on rusty strawberry nation

HIIII I ALREADY POSTED HER HERE BUT UMM HERES A MADOKA FROM THE SAME FILE THAT I DIDNT POST HEHE

[cielfangirl1]

[rnoonjelly]

Neuvillette drinks... fountain water 🤢

[trainqueen379]

MORE KEYCHAINS!!

This time it’s Ruhrgold and Brexit!!

Plain drawings again

[snowfoxicedemon]

@dotflowweek Day 5: Restlessness

do you think robots have their own energy drinks that fake their battery state

[pnutsdotorg]

SHRIMP EATING FREAK CAUGHT ON FILM

[kitkat27]

A little snippet of the fic that’s currently in progress… UPDATE NOW POSTED !

Please let me know of what you think as I haven’t written for two years and first time writing for this fandom

————————

Her fingers barely grazing against her abdomen, scarred that if her fingers lingered too long it would confirm her fears, as if the two pink lines hadn't already.

This had been at the bottom of her list, hell after being with the syndicate for two years been erased off it.

And for finding out, a derelict safe house in rural Denmark was not the scenario she had thought of many years ago.

She had snagged the test when getting groceries the other week and let it burn a hole in her bag until she was going to pop under the pressure.

She'd finally given into the pressure at the safehouse with the safety of knowing the boys wouldn't be back for another couple of hours.