#sorry for taking so long i had two straight weeks of test and then three straight weeks of drawing art stuff for school

[cyrusbug]

Im not sure how GLaDOS would actually kiss Chell but looking at other peoples would be my best guess <3 love wins after losing twice

Felt like I should include a crow as last time I drew the lads I only did 2/3, here's Mr. Chubby Beak being an ass, as a treat.

I like to think Chell inherits Caroline's old neck scarf, symbolic of GLaDOS accepting and letting go of her old life but also I think its cute. I have a fanfiction planned for all these ideas I have I just plan and write slowly ^^💧. GLaDOS is Caroline but Caroline isn't GLaDOS, that's how I see it anyway, I think she would break down if Chell hugged her or told her she did a good job affection starved robot lady.

[cloudystevie]

scary my god you're divine

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pairing || bucky barnes x f!reader

word count || 3235

summary || he would do anything for you.

warnings || smut! dom! bucky x sub! reader, possessive! bucky, a little bit of subspace, choking, little bit of exhibitionism kink, minor pain play, daddy kink (only three times okay i'm sorry i am who i am), degradation, unprotected sex

author's note || 18+ ONLY. not proofread yet. my very first request in a very long time! Anonymous asked: Could you write a Dombucky x Subreader? And if you wouldn't mind jealous!bucky, already established relationship and his dog tags on reader? hope you enjoy nonnie! as always feel free to send in requests or any asks! feel free to reblog! enjoy!

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Today, a select few from the team are supposed to train the new agents, preparing them for the physical aspect of being an agent. Some made it fun or tolerable, like Steve and Sam, who were born leaders and charismatic. Natasha and Wanda enjoyed supervising the sparring sessions. Tony and Bruce enjoyed using technology to throw new obstacles at the agents.

Sometimes literally.

Unfortunately, your grumpy boyfriend, Bucky, just did not find any joy in training days. He didn’t like giving out instructions and praise unless it was you who was under him. He didn’t like supervising weak punches and miscalculated throws. And technology was just a straight-up no for him.

Usually, he could make himself useful with Steve, throwing out no-nonsense orders without making himself a massive part of the effort.

You were taking the elevator down to the gym floor. Fury had instructed you to check everything out and ensure everything went according to the itinerary. 

The doors open, and you glance around to ensure no immediate problems before letting your gaze fall on Bucky; his eyes are already on you. You offer him a bright smile, which he returns with a smirk, and your stomach flutters like it does every time you see him. You’re about 7 feet away from your boyfriend before you feel a hand on your lower back. You startle and turn around to face the newest agent. He has quickly climbed through all of SHIELD’s tests and proven himself to be of great value. He chatted you up last week at Tony’s charity ball, and you tried to let him down gently since you were already happily taken. Bucky was on a mission that day, and you didn’t want to add to his mental load by telling him about some punk who wouldn’t leave you alone.

Apparently, said punk, cannot take no for an answer.

“Back for more, cutie? You finally break up with your imaginary boyfriend?” Marcus teases, but really, he sounds more taunting than playful. You glance over your shoulder as you move away from his grip, and you already see Bucky glaring directly at the spot where Marcus’ hand was on your back. The stopwatch he was holding in his flesh hand shatters, and he doesn’t even flinch when Steve and Sam apologize for him, asking what was wrong as discreetly as they could but one glance over to where you were uncomfortably held hostage by the lean brunet man told them everything they needed to know. 

Bucky cracks his neck, rolling his shoulders up as he stalks towards you two. His looming presence is felt before you can see him in your peripheral vision. You glance up at him and take an instinctive step back toward his hulking body, breathing a sigh of relief because Marcus has to let up now.

He doesn’t.

“Oh hey, Sergeant Barnes, if you don’t mind I’m actually trying to talk to this chick so…” 

The way he talks about you as if you’re not right there makes you physically recoil. Bucky’s eyes harden; he’s not even squaring up to his full stature, and he already easily dwarfs Marcus. Bucky takes a step forward, and everyone in the room comes to a standstill. Everyone shuddering at the sheer anger rolling off of Bucky and the stupidity of Marcus.

Marcus huffs out a laugh. Maybe he gets a little pasty when he’s nervous because he seems to be digging himself a deeper hole when he says something about how many girls fall at his feet and Sarge, you've got to calm down. She’s not worth all that.

In an instant, Steve and Sam command everyone to return to their tasks, and the room begins to bustle again, but with a specific weary energy that was not there before. The very next second, Marcus is picked up by the collar of his black t-shirt and slammed against the wall, the room rattling with the force of it as all the recruits try to ignore the spectacle before them. 

“Touch her again, and I will kill you,” Bucky promises. “If you look at her, I will kill you. If you even think about her, I will fucking kill you. Understand?” His voice is a low grumble, the words resounding and reverberating as you watch Marcus sputter out panicked apologies and his flailing body while Bucky still looks so self-assured and composed. It's as if he’s not scaring a man to death while simultaneously making you drool.

You call out Bucky’s name, and he looks at you over his shoulder, pinning Marcus with one final glare and shove before letting him go as the agent does the walk of shame to the washroom. It’s almost like you’re frozen in your spot. You’ve seen Bucky get aggressive on missions before, but watching him be so willing to defend you, stand up for you when you couldn’t, not even hesitating for a second when he threatened to kill for you. And the worst part is, you were confident he was dead serious. 

Even worse, something about the principle of the situation was really doing it for you.

On the outside, it might have seemed like you were in shock or panic due to the agents’ actions, so Bucky whisked you away to a private interrogation room on the floor above the gym. The whole elevator ride there, his hand is protectively on your lower back, and you just watch the rigid set of his jaw and the anger and possessiveness written all over his features with unmistakable doe eyes. The air in the elevator is thick, and neither of you says a word. Before you know it, Bucky is easily lifting you and placing you on the metal table in the middle of the dull room, and his eyes are scanning yours for any hint of panic or if you’re upset. His hands cup your face gently, the cool vibranium soothing against your heated skin, and he finally breaks the silence. “You’ve gotta say something, baby. Are you okay? After this, that idiot’s going to be gone. I’m sorry if seeing me like that upset you, sweetheart-” Your rushed words cut off his ramble, “I thought that was really hot.” You say quietly and watch as Bucky’s face contorts from one of worry to one of confusion. 

“The way you stood up for me, you were so nonchalant about killing for me. I can’t lie, James. That kind of did something for me.” You continue, biting your lip and scanning him for his reaction, hoping he didn’t take your words in the wrong way. 

He’s silent for a moment. His chest moving steadily with each breath against yours. 

The next moment, his lips are pressed against yours, and you let a surprised squeak out. Your mouth slots open when his wandering hands roughly squeeze your thigh through your satin pants, getting dangerously close to the heat pulsing between your thighs. Taking advantage of your open mouth, Bucky slips his tongue inside your mouth and you buck your hips to seek some friction against your needy core. The kiss is passionate and renders your breathless as he consumes all of your senses. All you can think, see, smell, hear, and feel is James. 

His name falls from your lips in a gasp, you reluctantly pull away to catch your breath, letting your head lull to the side when he peppers sloppy kisses all over your jaw, trailing down your neck and biting and licking on your sweet spot. You swat at his firm bicep, “You’re gonna leave a mark James, stop it.” Your attempt at scolding him is weak, even to your own ears.

You feel Bucky smirk against your sensitive neck, his wandering hands cupping your ass and shamelessly groping and swatting at you. “Oh really? That’s too bad baby. Gonna be a pain to cover up.” He remarks, voice dripping in cockiness.

You scoff and bite back a whimper when he grinds his undoubtedly hard length against your clothed center. Your hands shoot out to stabilize yourself by holding onto his shoulders, a shiver crawling up your spine when a particularly slow grind nudges your aching clit. “You’re such a bad influence you know that?” Your voice lacks any real conviction. Your hips move in tandem with his, both of you sharing messy kisses and your bodies thrumming with lust and pent up energy. 

“I’ll kill anyone who even thinks about looking at you.” Bucky says assuredly, and you can’t help the mewl that escapes your lips at his words. Your hands shakily going to undo his black jeans as he messily pulls yours pants down, being considerate enough not to rip them considering there was still a little more than an hour until the SHIELD training day was over. “Bucky I need you, need you to please-” Your voice is shaky and desperate, as you struggle to unbutton his jeans. He shushes you gently, cooing at you sweetly as he easily unbuttons his jeans, just enough for you to promptly pull out his erect cock. Your mouth practically waters at his length and girth, and you spit onto your hand and begin rubbing his length, swiping your thumb gently over the tip making him hiss and push his hips into your hand. 

You bite your lip and look up at him through hooded eyes, and he slaps your hand away before tearing your panties in half, the top half covering your swollen clit and the bottom scrap of fabric falling limply against the cool table. You barely have time to scold him for ripping your panties before he’s shoving his whole length inside you in one fluid thrust. Your back arches, your legs wrapping around his waist as your buddy erupts in a shiver, a short scream escaping your lips. He swallows the noise with his mouth pressed against yours as he grunts into your mouth, waiting only a short second before he begins to thrust inside you. His thrusts are slow but hard, making the heavy metal table scrape against the floor with the force of each pass of his hips into yours. 

“You’re mine, mine to touch. Mine to have. Mine to take care of.” Bucky grunts out, his movements picking up in pace as emotion swirls in his voice, his metal hand covering your neck, forcing you to stay upright in a position that allowed you to feel all of him. You sob out, digging your nails into his bicep and nodding your head, already succumbing to that foggy feeling you felt when you were so close to your boyfriend. He tuts at you, swatting your face with his flesh hand with enough force to make you moan out and clench around his length. 

“Nuh-uh sweetheart, you’re not going dumb on me that quick. Use your words, tell me you’re mine. Tell me I’m yours.” His voice is commanding and you force yourself to look at him, pulling on his shirt and tugging on his dog tugs to get him closer, your foreheads pressing against each other as his thrusts continue to get faster. “I’m yours James, only yours. You’re only mine. No one else. Just you.” Your words are slurred as he groans out a good girl in approval and decides that he wants your shirt off. He skillfully manages to slip your navy blue long-sleeve off and unhooks your bra in one motion, freeing your tits to the cold air of the room, forcing the buds into sensitive peaks which Bucky is quick to take advantage of. His hands squeeze and pull at your tits, tugging and pinching cruelly at your nipples making you whine. 

Your bodies are pressed so close to one another, each pull of his hips making his pelvis rub against your aching clit, stray tears streaming down your face and your chest heaving and pushed up against Bucky.

If anyone were to walk in right now the picture would be nothing short of debauched. You completely bare on the table, Bucky completely clothed. Getting absolutely plowed if the screech of the metal against the floor was anything to go by. Your moans get higher in pitch and volume making Bucky grunt, another swat to your cheek making your brain foggy. “Shut the fuck up slut. You want everyone to see you getting fucked like the bitch in heat you are?” But if your moans and increasing wetness are anything to go by, yes, a deep and dark part of you does want that. Bucky laughs at you, shaking his head in faux disbelief and you wrap your lips around his dog tags, enjoying the soothing sensation brought by the cool metal. Bucky looks down at your lips wrapped around the dog tags he never seemed to take off and he let out a wrecked sound. You clench around him at the sound making his rhythm falter.

Before you can even process the loss of his proximity, your back is flat against the table and his dog tags are now around your neck, landing on your chest and glimmering in the dull fluorescent lighting of the room. Bucky slams himself back inside of you, the unmistakable squelch of your wetness filling up the room alongside both of your noises of pleasure. Your high-pitched and pornographic mewls and his low grunts and deep groans. You cry out his name as your head lulls to the side, eyes shutting in bliss as your fingers move to give your aching clit some attention. But Bucky lets out a disappointed grunt, grabbing your jaw in his hand and forcing you to maintain eye contact. “Look away from me again and I won’t let you cum for a fucking week stupid baby.” Bucky threatens. “You better fucking pay attention to who’s fucking you dumb. No need to close your eyes and imagine when you’ve got the real thing right here.”

Each of his words ignites a newfound purpose in Bucky as he pounds into you impossibly harder, his hand swatting against your cheek again and wrapping around your neck, keeping you in place to take all of his thrusts. He knows you always struggle to keep your eyes open and you don’t doubt that he will follow through on his threat. He has always enjoyed testing your weakness and pushing your limits. 

“Feels s’good. You’re so big Jamie. S’big, so good s’too good.” Your words are breathy and frail, your fingers rubbing quick circles around your aching button. A mean laugh rumbles in his chest as he watches the way his dog tags move with your tits, the sight is intoxicating and fuels Bucky to continue his torment. “There she is my dumb little baby. Couldn’t help yourself huh? Can’t help the way your brain goes quiet when I have my dick inside you.” His words should be humiliating but they only spur you on, your fingers on the verge of cramping but the jolts of pleasure are so overwhelming you can’t stop. “Jus’ need you. Need you to make it better. ‘M yours Daddy, only yours.” 

“That’s it baby, I know, I know it feels so good huh. Daddy’s here baby, Daddy’s gonna take care of his needy baby.” Bucky’s head falls back on a moan when you clench around him, your walls pulsing and a ring of cream forming around the base of his cock. Your orgasm was surely just a few moments away and Bucky’s lips curled up in a smirk.

He folds your legs at the knee, sliding you closer to him with the pressure he has on your throat, the angle making him rub against your sweet spot with each deliriously pleasurable thrust. You squeal out his name, getting even louder than before and he shoves his dog tags into your mouth, muffling your garble out unintelligeble pleads to cum. With one hand Bucky squeezes your throat, and with the other he pinches at your nipples, tugging the sensitive flesh before trailing his hand down your body and slapping your hand away from your clit, he moves his lips down to your ears, licking up your earlobe before whispering his command, “Cum. Cum right fucking now or you don’t get to cum at all.” His fingers pinch your clit and the sudden burst of pain has you tensing your legs up, squealing out nonsense around the dog tags in your mouth and reaching your peak. Your body shakes against the table as Bucky pounds you through your high, his words of encouragement falling on deaf ears as you teeter between consciousness and unconsciouness. His body overwhelming your mind and soul. 

His fingers release your throat and you look up at him with watery eyes, bringing him down to rest your foreheads against each other as he nears his own high. Your lips are pressing against each other, “There isn’t a single person in the world I wouldn’t kill for you. I would do anything for you. You are everything to me.” Bucky murmurs in a pussy-drunk stupor. But the words are true, he has said them to you before and will say them a thousand times again. You taught him how to live again, not just survive. 

A broken cry falls from your lips from sensitivity and Bucky’s impassioned thrusts turn sloppy as he moans out your name, pulling you impossibly closer as he fills you with his cum. At the feeling of being completely stuffed by him, your second release is triggered and you shake in his hold as he comes down from his high. He presses lazy kisses against your lips and rubs his hands soothingly up and down your body, easing you out of your submissive state. He gently pulls himself out, using the handkerchief he carries around to wipe your thighs clean, but letting his cum keep your pussy messy. He quickly wipes himself off and helps you dress yourself. 

A few more giggly kisses and you’re pretty much ready to go back down to the gym. Just in time to catch the final thing on today’s agenda: sparring. Bucky walks one step behind you, his hand back again on your lower back protectively as a path is cleared to the front of the ring where your friends are supervising Marcus and another recruit preparing for the second round of their match. Natasha and Wanda offer you knowing smirks and you roll your eyes with heat creeping up cheeks as you shyly glance up at Bucky through your eyelashes to find him already looking at you with a stupid smile. He presses a gentle kiss to your cheek and watches with intent as Steve and Sam coach their respective agents. 

“Looking strong, Marcus!” Bucky calls out and you swat his chest making him laugh. Marcus takes one look at you, Bucky’s dog tags now around your neck and falling on your shirt, teeth imprints on your neck, and swollen lips. Poor Marcus falters, and the other recruit takes advantage of his distraction and easily tackles him to the ground, winning the second round. Bucky takes a single step closer to the ring where Sam is helping Marcus up, and the smirk on your arrogant boyfriend’s face is adorable. “Better luck next time buddy,” he says supportively. Sam flicks Bucky in the forehead, unable to hide the smile on his face, “Dumbass.”

[zamiecmunson]

scooby snacks

eddie x reader

you accidentally eat some of eddie’s very special brownies

i love edibles. i love scooby doo. i love eddie. can you tell. warnings: weed obviously, vomit but no graphic description, wrote this a long long time ago been sitting in my drafts so not too sure what else sorryyyyy 🫶🏻

‘voila!’ eddie whispered to himself, beaming down with pride at his creation. he passed on doing a taste test as he knew the guys would get pissy if they turned up & he was already stoned. plus he didn’t know exactly just how strong they were. that was the purpose after all, stronger than usual. gareth had been complaining for weeks that he was ‘building a tolerance’ and wanted to ‘trip balls’ without taking the hard stuff. eddie scoffed at that of course but came through with some pretty sweet brownies anyway. he left them out to cool on the kitchen counter before jumping in the shower.

after knocking on eddie’s door and getting no answer, you let yourself in.

‘eddie?’ you called out clocking that the weird fuzzy noise was water running.

‘in the shower baby, i’ll be out in a sec’ he called back. both a pro and con of living in a trailer: thin walls.

‘ooh!’ you raised your brows excitedly at the freshly baked batch of brownies on the side. eddie bakes? who knew! you helped yourself to a small corner slice, after taking a bite you sorta understood why he’s never baked for you before. it tasted kinda funny. but the kind of funny where you had to keep taking another bite to figure out if it actually did taste funny or not. two and a half brownies later, eddie surfaced from the bathroom.

‘hey!- oh. oh god, babe!’ his face switched from a sweet smile to deer caught in headlights as soon as he locked in on the face full of brownie.

‘ ‘m sorry they jush looked shoh good and i’m tryna figure out what the shecret ingredient is’ you mumbled through heavy chews.

‘that would be pot’ his eyes stayed at full screen as he gently pressed his hands to the brownie, lowering the rest of it from your lips.

‘oh, i’ve had these before it’s fine! i thought they tasted kinda funky, i should have guessed’ you stayed blissfully unaware and calm, wiping the crumbs off the side of your mouth while eddie’s heart was going at 100 mph. his eyes darted from the tray, to your face, to the tray, to your face then back to the tray.

‘and you’ve had three of these?’ his nervous voice matched his face.

‘two and a half, technically’ you continued to grin innocently.

‘do you, by any chance, perhaps recall gareth complaining about how the usual stuff just wasn’t touching the sides for him anymore?’ eddie did this thing where he used a lot of unnecessary words when he was nervous. you chuckled at his little habit peaking through and answered with a subtle eye roll ‘yes’.

‘well… these were made with him in mind. extra strong. like, should probably just start with a quarter of a slice strong’ he delicately placed his hands on the side of your arms. there was silence for a while. a painfully long while. you focused on the feeling of it sitting in your stomach.

‘well this isn’t good’ you responded with a straight but calm face.

‘no, no it’s not’ you both continued to stand very still. you couldn’t tell if it was kicking in already or if you were just prematurely paranoid.

‘i should probably sit down’ you broke the statuesque silence, eddie guided you to his sofa as if you were his 89 year old grandmother.

‘i’ll get you some water’ he immediately sprung up again after sitting you down.

you probably should have been more nervous than you were. not eddie’s level of panic but somewhere in the middle. weed had only ever given you a slight buzz and the giggles, surely there couldn’t be irredeemably dire consequences. eddie was running around looking for a bucket just in case you were sick and anything else you might need while you stared into space.

after a while, you could hear eddie talking to you… but every other noise in the world appeared just as loud and 10x more important.

‘oh fuck here we go’ eddie caught onto your darkening eyes and droopy muscles. he’d looked after you when you were sick, drunk and stoned. this was about to be his ultimate test.

‘you know,’ you started but got cut off by how dry your mouth was. ‘your place has always smelled good. it smells like boy, but YOU boy. good eddie boy you’ you blinked what felt like 900 times but it really really wasn’t.

‘oh yeah?’ eddie smiled slightly, his panic dying down a smidge as he was amused. he handed you a glass of water recognising the signs all too well.

‘thank you that’s brilliant’ you took the glass and chugged.

‘slow down sailor you don’t wanna make yourself puke’ eddie suppressed a grin, pushing the bucket closer to your feet just in case.

‘do you think sailors get land sick? like, if they’re so used to being at sea would that make them get sick from not wobbling about on a boat?’ your brow knotted with concern as eddie’s shoulders bobbed up and down. ‘wobbling. wobble. wobbly wobbly wobble’ you started to amuse yourself with a slight slur of the pronunciation while eddie’s giggles turned into hearty laughter.

‘that’s an amazing question that i unfortunately don’t have the answer for’ he rubbed a brewing tear of laughter from his face and stared adoringly at your hazed state.

‘since when do you not know everything? you know everything ever, actually. you always have an answer’ you responded with upmost seriousness. on a normal day, that might have come off as condescending. but weirdly, it gave eddie a huge confidence boost as he could tell you were being completely genuine.

‘i know what goes on in your brain, not sailors i’m afraid. i’ll try do better in the future’ he petted your head like a dog and ruffled your hair. god, it felt amazing. like a head massage worthy of 10 million dollars.

‘what am i thinking right now?’ you continued to slur, smiling into his touch.

‘mcdonald’s probably, though it might be a bit early for that stage’ he continued to massage your head, fantasising about how good it probably felt from your perspective. you may as well have been purring like a cat.

‘mcdonald’s…’ you whispered not even almost comprehending what that word meant. until approximately 15 seconds after it sunk in. ‘MCDONALD’S!’ you attempted to spring up but in real time just un-slumped your shoulders and opened your eyes wide. eddie did his biggest grin yet and handed you back the glass of water.

‘i’ll get the guys to pick some up on their way over. stay right here’ he kissed you on the forehead and made his way to the phone.

‘uhhh gareth i’m gonna need you to bring one of everything from mcdonald’s on your way here’ eddie didn’t even wait for gareth to say hello when he picked up the phone.

there was a sigh.

‘…how many did she eat’ gareth’s spidey senses tingled.

‘enough. too much actually, i’m in for a long-‘

‘HIIIIIII GARETHHHHH,’ you appeared out of fucking nowhere. ‘NUGGETS?’ why use a full sentence after all? just saying NUGGETS at the man would obviously do the trick.

‘coming right up scoob’ eddie could hear his smirk through the phone. ‘and what would you like shaggy?’

‘drop dead’ eddie responded through a smile. ‘…cheeseburger and fries please’

by the time the guys reached eddie’s trailer, you were in silent mode. your vision was fuzzy, skin felt like velcro, cotton mouth was in full swing, there was a constant ringing in your ear and blinking was becoming an actual task. eddie was starting to get concerned but found comfort in knowing food was on its way. unfortunately eddie opened the door to an unwelcome surprise.

‘no’ was all he said when he met eyes with dustin & mike.

‘what?’ jeff asked holding 2 bags of mcdonald’s, slurping from a straw sticking out of one.

‘they can’t be here, they’re 12’ eddie spoke about the two as if they couldn’t hear.

‘we’re 15!’ they said in unison.

‘no!’ he said again, using his body to block the doorway.

‘nuggets?’ you attempted to shout from the couch but it came out as a dry whisper. only eddie heard.

‘hand over the food’ he compromised the barricade by putting one arm out.

‘idiot!’ gareth barged through the small opening using his bag of food as a battering ram.

‘nuggets!’ you said just as quietly but with a smile this time.

eddie clambered onto the couch you were sitting on to place the brownies on the top shelf before swiftly turning to dustin & mike, gripping their shoulders tight.

‘i’m not supplying class b’s to a bunch of freshmen. its bad enough that she’s out of action,’ without looking, he pointed behind to your melting body. ‘i actually wanna get out of this town alive and not shot dead by mrs wheeler, okay?’ dustin and mike stared blankly, wide eyed but blankly.

‘you do know i’m taller than you-‘ mike broke his gaze to point to the brownies on the shelf.

‘ARE WE CLEAR?’ eddie interrupted, gripping them tighter.

‘yes eddie!’ they stuttered together.

‘good’ eddie smiled, brushing them down.

‘NUGGETS?’ you actually shouted this time behind them, still slumped on the couch. eddie did an almost balletic 180 turn to face you, face softening immediately.

‘coming right up princess’

dustin & mike got a slap on the back of their heads for giggling at the pet name.

15 nuggets, a large portion of fries and half of eddie’s burger later, everyone was starting to loosen up a bit. gareth & jeff saved their food for later so they could feel the full effect, eddie wouldn’t even consider getting stoned before you’d got through the worst of it and the freshmen were just happy to be there. they thought eddie was soooooo cool, yet here he was. babysitting you. being responsible… he thought his street cred was over. but they admired him more, deep down.

‘feeling better scoob?’ gareth was starting to get giggly and watching you devour a milkshake without breathing definitely fuelled it.

‘who..’ you remembered to breathe. ‘is scoob?’ back to slurping with no remorse.

‘i don’t know lets ask shaggy’ he threw the screwed up bag at eddie.

‘does that make you velma’ eddie threw it back in return.

‘dustin is velma, i’m daphne’ he flipped his imaginary long ginger hair. dustin and mike shared a confused yet amused glance.

‘does… does that make me… fred?….’ jeff skipped giggle phase and landed straight in deep thought mode.

‘aww they’re girlfriend boyfriend!’ dustin and mike teased, making kissy faces at them.

‘OHHHH, SCOOBY DOO!! i get it now…’ you nodded into your milkshake. everyone laughed. you didn’t understand why. ‘dustin is totally velma’

everyone was arguing about lord of the rings when eddie noticed you’d gone quiet. not just staying out of it quiet, but not even going to laugh at how silly the situation was quiet.

‘hey sweet,’ eddie said quietly so only you could hear. you tried to move your head up to look at him but it didn’t work. ‘too many scooby snacks?’ he gestured to all the empty food boxes at your feet.

‘mmh’ was all you could manage. he then noticed you’d gone green. without saying a word he picked you up bridal style and carried you to the bathroom, telling dustin only with his eyes what the situation was. dustin suggested they all go to the park, gareth & jeff too gone to realise eddie had carried you across the room. eddie placed you down in front of the toilet and held your hair in a makeshift ponytail, rubbing your back. you were there for a while. eddie was impressed it took this long, he thought you were hard as fucking nails. when it was all out your system he hooked his arm under your shoulders and propped you up on the sink. taking your special eddie’s trailer tooth brush he cleaned you up with a smile. he always did everything with a smile when it came to you, no matter how gross it may seem from the outside. he knew you’d be mortified when you properly came round but seeing you this vulnerable, being your sole caretaker, was weirdly his happy place. you did it for him all the time, he loved, ADORED returning the favour.

picking you up bridal style once again, he carried you to his bedroom. after placing you down as carefully as possible and moving you onto your side, he ran back to the couch to fetch the bucket & water.

‘ez’ you attempted to call for him for the 0.5 seconds he was out the room. that was “ed’s” in your mind.

‘i’m here, i’m here’ he crouched down to face you after placing everything down.

‘ar ou g wa?’ you weren’t even sure what you tried to say then. but eddie deciphered it.

‘i’m not going anywhere sweetheart,’ he swiped his thumb over your sweaty brow. ‘close your eyes’ he whispered before kicking off his shoes and gently getting in bed behind you, tucking you into his frame.

‘ove ou’

‘love you too’ he kissed your ear and stroked your hair until you fell asleep.

the next morning you woke up to the smell of coffee right under your nose. opening your eyes, you discovered a steaming cup on the bedside table and a distant clatter that can only be eddie getting frustrated in the kitchen. rubbing your eyes you sipped from the mug and shuffled closer to the noise.

‘morning’ you muttered, feeling very groggy.

‘good afternoon!’ eddie popped out from behind a cabinet door, hair in a bun with a wooden spoon in his mouth. ‘do you know how many times i’ve reheated that? i kept having to check you were still alive!’ he giggled to himself, removing the spoon from his mouth to give you a big kiss on the forehead.

‘how long was i out?’ you grabbed eddie’s wrist to check his watch. ‘IT’S FOUR THIRTY?’ you tapped at his watch thinking it would tell you something different if you kept attacking it.

‘gareth woke up in the park today, you should be grateful you had a bed to sleep in!’ eddie tucked your hair behind your ears, laughing. ‘shit!’ he noticed his mac & cheese burning.

‘i’m never eating mystery baked goods ever again’ you thousand yard stared over the brim of your coffee

‘serves you right, doll!’ he winced at the too hot mouthful but continued to shovel more in. ‘anyway,’ placing the saucepan down, he climbed onto the couch to retrieve the brownies. ‘it’s my turn’ he grinned.

[wosoamazing]

Pregnant

Summary: Katie and Caitlin are pregnant.

Warnings: Morning Sickness (throwing up), negative tests, pregnancy.

A/N: This is the first fic in the new McFoord Baby Series, its not the best, in my opinion (but they do get better). I hope you like it, I have some other stories in the works for this, but if there is anything you would like to see in this series let me know.

“Katie, are you sure you want to do this?” Caitlin asked her as they stood in the kitchen preparing for their first step to being Mums. Katie just nodded, keeping her eyes closed, she hated needles like really hated needles. Caitlin gave the injection to Katie and then wrapped her arms around her.

“That’s it, that's the first step, we might get to be Mum’s” She said, placing a kiss on Katie's lips. “I’m so excited”

_____

The next month Katie was moody, getting mad more often than usual, receiving a yellow card in almost every game. Jonas pulled Katie into a meeting about her behaviour and that's when he found out they were trying for a baby, he forgave Katie but told her to try and control her temper.

_____

Egg Retrieval Day and Transfer Day had been successful, which is what had led them here, standing in the bathroom, waiting for the timer to go off, to see if they were pregnant or not.

“This is so painful, why do they take so long,” almost as if the universe had heard Katie the timer went off, the two giddy women quickly flipped over the three pregnancy tests, immediately the mood in the room dropped, all three were negative. 

“I’m sorry,” Katie said before she burst into tears, Caitlin quickly wrapped her arms around her and held her tight.

“There is nothing to be sorry for, this isn’t your fault, and anyway, it's rare for it to work on the first try, Mini told us that remember, we can try again, but only if you want to.”

Try again was exactly what they did, which is how they found themselves sitting in the Kitchen, of Mini’s apartment, Katie had been feeling unwell for the past few days but she couldn’t bring herself to do a test, especially considering when the IVF clinic did the blood test two weeks after the transfer it was negative, they decided to not start another cycle straight away, deciding to go on international break and then talk about how they felt and the steps forward. There was not really any chance at all that Katie could be pregnant, and even though they both knew the pregnancy tests would be negative. They both still couldn't bear to flip another set of pregnancy tests for them to be negative, joining the other four negative sets. However Mini told them to just do one, that mistakes can happen sometimes and sometimes the blood tests are too early and that it would be better to know for sure rather than just assuming Katie wasn’t pregnant. She even offered to be there for them and find out herself to then tell them, which was an offer they took up, hence why they were in her kitchen. They brought Kyra with them to make it seem less weird as to why they were both visiting. Kyra, Harper and Clara were sitting in the living room.

“You ready?” Mini asked the pair who sat in front of her, they both tentatively nodded. She flipped over the tests and a small smile appeared on her face. “You’re going to be Mum’s” “Wait what,” “Really?” She nodded showing the pair the tests.

“Oh my God, we’re going to be Mum’s Cait,” Katie exclaimed as she pulled Caitlin in for a hug.

The three of them walked out into the living room. “Sad” Harper said as she pointed to the pair, “They’re not sad Harper,” “But crying”

“These are happy tears, Harps,” Caitlin said as she went to sit on the floor with Harper and Kyra.

_____

A few mornings after finding out she was pregnant, Katie found herself feeling very sick, as the pair of them sat on the couch eating breakfast.

“Cait, I’m just going to go to the bathroom real quick,” Katie said as she stood up, walking to the bathroom, Caitlin was a little concerned for Katie as she had been acting differently that morning, she also had been blinking hard which Caitlin had discovered Katie did when she was in pain or unwell, so the Australian decided to follow her into the bathroom. She found Katie leant against the wall next to the toilet, she had her arms wrapped around her stomach, and her knees were pulled into her chest.

“Katie, Babe, it’s just me,” the Australian said before sitting down next to her, Katie’s eyes were shut and she didn't want to startle her, Katie moved closer to Caitlin so that their sides were touching, resting her head on Caitlin’s shoulder, who moved to put one arm around Katie, “What’s going on?”

“I feel like I’m going to throw up. I hate throwing up, I don’t want to be sick, Cait.” Caitlin started to move her thumb against Katie’s arm, in a gesture of comfort, placing a kiss to the top of her head.

“It’s okay, I know you don’t like it, but I’m here, and if you ever feel this way please tell me, I’ll come and just sit here with you. We’re going to get through this together okay.”

The pair sat there for ten minutes before Caitlin spoke again, “How bout we get ready for training and head off, maybe some fresh air will help.”

They were standing in the locker room talking to their friends when Caitlin saw Katie's demeanour change, it was ever so subtle and no one else would have noticed but it was something Caitlin could’ve spotted from a mile away. She walked up to Katie and wrapped her arms around her waist giving her a hug from behind before whispering in her ear “Let’s go to the bathroom.” 

Katie followed Caitlin into the bathroom, they both walked into a stall and locked the door before finding themselves in essentially the same positions as they were in at home, except the only difference was this time after a few minutes Katie threw up, Caitlin rubbed her back as she did, saying encouraging words to her whilst she also messaged someone on her phone.

Katie stopped throwing up, and returned to her previous position, “Do you feel any better?” “A little bit”

They both heard footsteps as someone entered the toilets “Cait you messaged?” It was Steph, Katie’s eyes grew in panic, Caitlin held her tighter as she explained “It’s okay, it's just Steph, she knew we were trying, she found me one day after a negative and I was having a moment, I explained to her. She won't tell anyone, and she doesn't know about this yet. I just need to go and talk to Jonas quickly, she will stay with you, she is good, don’t worry”

Caitlin stood up and walked out of the cubical, “Can you just look after Katie for me quickly? I’m just going to go talk to Jonas, I’ll explain later.” 

Caitlin came back from talking to Jonas to find Steph and Katie sitting in the locker room.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise the girls had gone out, thank you for looking after her though, but you can go out now, it's all good”

“No its no problem I’ll wait for you”

“Katie, Babe, I spoke to Jonas and we both agree that you shouldn’t do any training today, he said we could go home if we needed but I didn't think you would want to go home, so he suggested that you could lie down for a bit on one of the physio beds or that you could sit off to the side and watch training. It’s up to you, but if you do want to go home I can take you home, that isn’t a problem”

“No, I want to stay, could I maybe go lie down?” “That sounds like a good idea, do you want me to take you down, or-” “No it's all good, I’ll go myself, love you.” “Love you too babe.”

“So I hear congratulations are in order” Steph said as she sat next to Caitlin who was tying her boots, “wait did she tell you?” “No, I kind of figured, but I asked and she said yeah. But seriously congratulations, you are both going to be fantastic Mum’s” “Thanks Steph, you ready to head out?” “Yeah. But why don’t you want to talk about it? Is everything okay? You guys have wanted this for so long, I thought you would be more excited” Caitlin let out a heavy sigh, and looked down at her feet.

“Yeah, it's just that, it's been hitting Katie hard, and I just feel so bad. I mean we both wanted this but like-” “Caitlin, its okay to not feel 100% sure about this, it's a big change.” Steph said cutting her fellow Aussie off before pulling her in for a hug.

_____

“Um, so we just had something to tell you all, um well….” Katie said, prompting Caitlin to pull out a mini Arsenal shirt, which had Little Teammate printed on it.

“Oh my god are you having a baby?” “Yeah, expected mid November”

“Congratulations you guys, I didn't know you were trying,” “Thank you, but yeah we didn't tell many people.”

“Oh that's why.” Kyra said a little louder than intended to Alessia causing everyone to look at Kyra who looked like a deer in the headlights, not wanting to reveal what this announcement had just answered.

“Um well….” Kyra stammered.

“Kyra thought Katie was looking fatter than usual.” Alessia threw Kyra under the bus, which caused the Irish women to cry. Kim and Leah directed the team out quickly, to give the two women some space.

“I’m sorry,” Katie said as Caitlin pulled her in for a hug, this was a symptom of her pregnancy Katie hated, maybe even more than the morning sickness, she was so emotional and kept crying.

“You have nothing to apologise for, after all you are growing our daughter.” The two women sent each other beaming smiles, they were going to have a little girl soon.

[do-it-for-the-fandom]

Thursday September 6th, 2012.

Martha sat in stunned silence, her eyes darting back and forth between her son and Beckett.

Castle had decided to tell his mother before their planned family dinner this weekend. He figured he could use it as a practise run before having to break the news to his daughter. He also thought it would be helpful to have someone else there who would be able to help Alexis process the news. He still wasn't sure how she would react to his diagnosis but he wanted to be prepared for anything; that included having someone else that she could trust with her emotions there for her. Which meant allowing his mother a few days for herself to process the news.

"Well," the woman said with a long sigh. Then, she laughed. "That certainly wasn't what I was expecting when the two of you told me you had big news."

Castle huffed at his mother's amusement, but he sounded more relieved than perturbed by it. "Sorry."

"Talk about whiplash," Martha complained. "I was preparing to celebrate!" She leaned forward, digging her elbows into her knees. "Give it to me straight, kiddo. How bad is it?"

Castle shifted and mirrored his mother's position.

"It's a primary tumour," he started, as positively as he could. "Meaning it hasn't spread. And it's just the one."

"That's good, right?"

Castle nodded and turned his head. Beckett wasn't quite sure if he was looking for her, or simply trying to avoid his mother's studying eyes, but she shifted closer to him and placed her hand on his lower back. He sighed, placed his hand on Beckett's thigh and then turned back to face his mother.

"It's inoperable," he admitted. The silence that hung over them was deafening. "Dr. Abebe is hopeful that chemotherapy will shrink it enough to consider surgery in the future but, for now, it's not an option."

Martha nodded, processing the news. After several seconds she asked, "So when do you start chemo?"

"Monday."

For the second time, Martha was stunned and silent.

Beckett understood, completely. It was all happening so quickly, it was hard to keep up. It seemed like she was only just beginning to process the fact that Castle was even sick, meanwhile everyone else was miles ahead, discussing next steps and a million little things she just wasn't ready for.

Castle, to his credit, had seemed to be keeping up with his team of doctors just fine. After the initial hiccup of 'reacting badly', and then shutting down during that first consultation, he had been surprisingly level-headed with everything else that had been thrown his way. In the past week he had endured more tests and scans than he'd had over the course of his lifetime, and sat through hours worth of doctors spewing out medical jargon that would make anyone's head spin. Beckett had come home from work most days to find him sitting in his office, going over paperwork and medical forms or searching the internet for more information, jotting down questions to remember to ask at his next appointment.

It was like he had been filled with this renewed sense of optimism and determination.

She couldn't have been more proud.

"The plan is to hit it hard and fast," he explained to his mother. "Daily treatment for six weeks. Then they'll check to see if there's been any change to the tumour."

"Dr. Abebe said it could take two or three rounds to see a change," Beckett added quickly.

Castle nodded. "He seems confident in the plan," he assured his mother. "And I feel confident, too."

"Okay then." Martha slapped her palms against her knees. "What do you need from me? I can escort you to and from appointments. Or keep you company during chemotherapy. I had a friend who had sessions once a week for months, she said they can take hours-"

"It's okay, Mother." Castle smiled. "There's only one thing I need from you."

"Anything," she insisted.

"I need you to make sure Alexis is handling everything okay. I know it's a big ask but she's going to feel like she has to be strong for me and I need her to know that she can, I don't know, feel things that aren't necessarily positive. I want her to be able to be scared, or sad, or angry. And I want her to be able to express all of those things but I know she won't want to in front of me."

"Of course, Richard! You don't even have to ask, of course I'll be there for her!"

[batmenstrualcycle]

reflections; maki x reader

:"studying"

:master list

note: not my finest chapter lol, I'm SO sorry if maki's ooc </3

"The test isn't that hard, all you gotta do is go with your gut, but I know you don't have one, so I'm gonna be nice and help you."

"That part wasn't very nice," you rolled your eyes and plopped down on Maki's bed. Her sheets were so silky, it made you a bit jealous, and made you think your own sheets were incompetent in comparison to hers, seeing that you toss and turn every night.

Maki shrugs before she reaches into her drawer and pulls out a few sheets of paper, "These are the answers on that test," she says as she hands them to you. "They aren't hard to memorize, there's just quite a few."

"I didn't think this is what studying was," you mumbled as you looked at the sheets of paper. They were all the same test, each with different dates and scores no lower than a 92. Impressive, you would think, if you didn't know that Maki was already smart to begin with. She simply shrugs and sits down next to you on her bed. "That just proves you've never taken a test before."

"I have, just not a paper test," you begin to chew on your bottom lip as you look between the three sheets of paper. All the answers were the same, since they were all the same sheets just with different dates and such, and the spaces between the letters that joined to construct her name were obviously different, otherwise you'd think she's a robot. You wouldn't be surprised, with the way she walks: always in a straight line with seemingly perfect posture, her shoulders are always squared- or maybe that's just the small shoulder pads of her uniform; the way she trains, you've watched her do the same routine every day for two and a half weeks: waking up, breakfast, training, lunch, training, dinner, then it resets the next day. It's like she's in a circle and she doesn't realize it, probably because she lived that way back at the Zenin estate.

"Well, they're not hard, but there's a lot of questions so you might get confused on which answer is which," she sat up from her headboard which she previously leaned back against then looked down at the papers in your hand. Her sharp eyes switched from the paper to your focused expression, and kept switching for a moment before you let out a sigh. Then you narrow your eyes at the final question on the backs of each test, "Why the hell is Gojo trying to stroke his own ego?!"

"I ask the same thing every time I see that question. Imagine being that sad and lonely that you have to get the approval from teenagers about yourself," Maki shakes her head, a hearty chuckle leaving her lips as she does so. You follow, your shoulders shaking in sync with the giggles leaving the flesh of your lips.

"You could just take a sharpie and write down the answers on your hand, he won't notice," Maki leans back towards her nightstand then pulls a marker from the top of it. You looked up from the sheets of paper and found her holding the sharpie in between her fingers. "Take your time writing them down, I don't mind having you in here."

"I'll be as slow as I possibly can," you chuckle as you pop off the lid and set the tests down on her bed, flattening your hand right next to it and writing stuff down on your palm. You wondered how long the ink would last, but you figured since you wouldn't be doing much this weekend, you'd be able to keep them on your hands for that long.

"I wonder how Naoya would react to seeing this," Maki circles her finger in the air around her whole room. "Bet he'd have a stroke." she finished with a small chuckle before she looked at you, watching you write the answers down on your palms.

"Probably, he never liked seeing me interact with others," you shrugged before putting the lid back on the sharpie. You turned to her, handing her the sharpie, hanging it loosely between your fingers. She takes it back, setting it down beside her and staring at you, "Do you think Naoya had a soft spot?"

"Absolutely not," you frowned a bit with an embarrassed huff, completely ignoring the small warmth in your face. "I just know that man loathed me."

"You'll know he loathes you when he bullies you relentlessly every day," Maki hums as she scoots closer. Your face practically lights on fire when your arms and knees are touching. "It got boring after a while, but I got used to it. I remember I used to wake up thinking he wouldn't do it that day for a change, but he always found a way. Be it verbally or physically, he always found a way to bully the shit out of me."

"I don't get it, why did he hate you so much?" you ask as you look at her, now watching her lean back. She probably hit the marker that she set down, but she didn't care, there were definitely worse things to be hit with. She looks at you as she crosses her arms behind her head, "Because I don't have cursed energy. That marks me as a disgrace to the Zenin clan, let alone being born a girl," she shrugs afterwards. You hum before leaning back with her.

"I don't think you're a disgrace," you glance at her, sending her a grin which makes her blush profusely. She frowns, turning away from your radiant smile as she clenches her jaw. You keep a smug expression as you watch her turn on her side and listen to the curses she's mumbling under her breath. Despite the doubt that she's feeling, since you're a special grade and she's a fourth grade, you weren't lying, you really didn't think she's a disgrace. It's the clan that's the real disgrace, if it were up to you.

"Right, that's believable," she turned back to you, looking more confident than when she was looking away. You rolled your eyes and sighed, "It's true. I never once started to wonder, so this is the disgrace everyone's talking about? Her? Are they sure?"

"That's easy for you to say," she shrugs again. "I mean, you've had power sitting in your hands forever and you never used it, yet nobody bats an eye or looks your way." she looks at you, a blank expression present on her face. You sigh and chew on your bottom lip for a moment. That's true, you always had that power in your grasp- in your palms, even- but you never used it up until that mission (minus when Naoya would train you- that doesn't count), and nobody said anything. Maki on the other hand, was always harassed by anyone at the Zenin clan for not having cursed energy- you thought it was unfair. She's still a human, and you thought that's what matters, rather than cursed energy. Apparently that's not what they think, and they ridiculed her for that.

"Like I said before, I don't really care about it that much," you looked at your palms; you were having a hard time believing that the power is actually yours to use, you're starting to think it's all a fever dream. Maki frowned, her nose scrunching up and her eyebrows knitting together as she looked at you once again. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I mean I never asked for it," you shrugged. "And this stupid power is what landed me as a servant back at that damned estate."

"That's true, but you would've never met me," she replied; you didn't see the smirk since you were looking the other way, but looking wasn't necessary since you could hear everything smug in her voice. You sighed reluctantly, rolling your eyes since you knew it was true. "Whatever,"

The both of you stay silent for a moment, the only noise in the room is Maki's ceiling fan going 90 miles an hour, and it was already cold outside, so you were freezing in silence. Your body was shivering, and you were sure your fingers had locked up from how long you've been keeping them there. Doing anything with them wouldn't be of good use at all, they'd be moving too slow. The silence is loud- almost uncomfortable, if it weren't for the ceiling fan- you want to say something, but you can't think of anything to say after that. Unfortunately, Maki came up with something for you.

"Can I, like, ask you something?" she turned to face you, eyebrows slanted downwards as her sharp eyes stared at you, waiting for you to face her. Eventually you do, looking at her with hooded eyes, clearly tired since you two have been in her room for about two hours now, the time hitting 11:09 on her alarm clock.

"What is it?" you finally say, your words relieving the pressure building in her throat. Maki bites her tongue to keep herself from blurting out what she wants to say, so instead, she slowly leans in, resting a gentle hand on the bottom of your chin to hold your face in place, and her lips barely brush against your cheek.

Your eyes fluttered for a solid minute, sitting there in shock for another two minutes before finally contemplating what just happened. Your eyes glide over towards her as you watch her lean back as if nothing happened, then your lips parted. "Does that involve the question?"

"I was gonna ask first, but I couldn't find the words to," she looks at you with a relaxed look on her face. You simply nodded, not knowing what to say afterwards.

"Um...how long have you been hiding that?" you finally look at her, your eyes still blown wide from earlier. Maki shrugs, but tilts her head slightly and gives you a knowing look, one that sends butterflies swarming in your stomach. "Do you want me to do it again?"

"Please," you don't know why, but it felt like something clicked, like the universe fell into place when Maki's lips miraculously landed on yours instead of your cheek. The both of you breathing out your nose to extend the kiss for as long as possible, both of your faces warm enough to start a fire in the room, tongues colliding with one another and before you knew it, you ended up lying flat on your back.

"I wonder how your mom would react if she saw this," you panted, hands holding her red face. Maki chuckled then leaned in to press a kiss to your forehead. "I think she'd have a stroke if she saw us doing this," she hummed before going back to making out with you.

[skinnyazn]

Contact

Takes place before: In the Bleak Midwinter

Pairing: Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley x F!Reader (Jaguar)  Chapters: 1/4  Notes: Someone had requested Ghost and Jag fighting, I'm sorry I can't find who requested it, but this is their first time meeting, takes place directly before In the Bleak Midwinter

Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | AO3 | MASTERLIST

The flight from America was uncomfortably long as it always is when crossing the Atlantic. Laswell was kind enough to put the taxpayer’s money to use and charter you a direct flight from D.C.. Didn’t make the eight hour flight any more comfortable though. When you hopped off the plane with your heavy duffle slung over your shoulder, you were greeted in the distance by an older man with a strong beard and a floppy hat. Price, then. He squinted in the blue haze of the pre-dawn.

“Captain John Price, I presume?” You shouted over the cooling engines of the plane as you walked toward the man.

“You presume correctly. Laswell’s told me good things about you.” He extended his hand. You took it and gave a firm shake.

“She has solid judgment.”

“That she does. Kate and I go way back.” His eyes gave you a once over before he turned and started toward the base. You strode beside him. “Appreciate you making the trip.”

“Laswell’s a persuasive woman.” Price glanced at you from the corner of his eye. You smirked. “Flight wasn’t too bad either.” 

The Captain only grunted in response.

Once inside the complex, it was straight to business. Price had already gathered his team in the meeting room. Their chatter stopped when he opened the door, necks craning to get a good look at their special guest. It was a small team, but there was a sharpness in their eyes that gave you the feeling they knew what the fuck they were doing. You nodded at them as you made your way to the front of the room. You shucked your heavy duffle onto the floor, rolling your shoulders back.

“This is Gaz, Soap, and Ghost,” the older man gestured at each teammate respectively.

Glancing at each member, you paired the names with faces. Gaz looked young, with kind eyes and an even kinder smile to match. You couldn’t help but return it. Soap had a air of mischief about him as he looked you up and down; his fluffed mohawk didn’t help his case. And Ghost loomed in the corner.

You were used to men staring at you your whole life—some lecherously, others with curiosity or shyness. But the man with the skull mask looked at you behind half-lidded eyes. His stare was impassive. Bored. An intimidation tactic, you were sure. You let your own gaze trail the length of him before turning back to the center.

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet the 141 in the flesh. I’m sure your captain has already told you all there is to know about me, so let’s get straight into it.”

Price nodded.

The meeting was long as the team briefed you on all they knew about their illusive target. They had been tracking his movements across various countries for months, until two weeks ago when all traces of him disappeared. The task force narrowed it down to somewhere in Kazakstan. Which was all fine and dandy, except the country was over a million square miles large. Your tracking skills would certainly be put to the test. You started making mental notes of all the people you wanted to contact and press for information.

“Right,” Price finally said when the clock hit one. “I’m sure our guest would love a break. We’ll pick up again tomorrow at seven. Gaz, give ‘er a tour of the place. Dismissed.”

Though you had dozed a bit on the plane, the fatigue of traveling and the six hour briefing was catching up. Plus you wanted to process all the details discussed in the meeting. You grabbed your duffle and nodded as you left the room. Gaz walked you through the building.

“You can call me Kyle if you’d like,” he smiled sweetly. “This is the rec room, kitchen…”

“Look a bit young to be a part of a task force, Kyle.”

His smile broadened as he continued to walk. “Thank you ma’am, but I assure you I’m more than capable.” 

You looked at him. “Didn’t doubt it for a second.”

The facilities weren’t large, but there were other soldiers around the premise too. Kyle pointed out the ones he knew.

“What about the other two?” you asked after he showed you the training room.

“Harmless mostly. Johnny—Soap—is a sound lad. Will chat your ear off though if you let him. And Simon… ah well,” he shrugged, “he’s Simon.”

Simon…

He stopped in front of a door which you assumed was your room. “Talented though. And stealthy as fuck.”

“Noted,” you replied.

“Well, this is you. Hopefully you’ve gotten a lay of the place—it’s a bit of a maze.”

You smiled at the man. “Thank you, Kyle. You give an excellent tour.” 

“Of course, ma’am. Think we just missed lunch but I’m more than happy to make you something… Johnny says I make a mean sandwich.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. What a sweet kid. “A tempting offer, Kyle. But I need a few to decompress. Rain check it for tomorrow?”

He grinned. “Sure thing.” He saluted, “Ma’am.”

It was a small room: a simple bed in the corner, a tiny desk, a nightstand with a single drawer, and a sad light on the ceiling that emitted a slight hum. You let the duffle fall from your shoulder as you flopped on the bed. What a respite. Folding your hands over your stomach, you closed your eyes for a moment.

When you opened them again, there was a kink in your neck and your stomach was grumbling. The watch on your wrist read 15:48. You let out a groan. So much for a power nap.

You shoved a protein bar in your mouth as you unpacked your duffle. Surprisingly, you managed to fit most of its contents into the nightstand’s single drawer, zipping up the remains of the duffel and sliding it under the bed. 

You headed toward the rec room.

“Ayyy, the woman of the hour!” Soap exclaimed from the couch, putting down his phone.

“Hello Soap,” you rubbed the meat of your shoulder.

“Flight’s the worst, huh?” 

“Mmm no offense, but I think this was from the bed here.”

He let out a loud laugh. “Aye, I can believe it.”

You sat down next to him on the couch, relaxed. “So what your story?”

“Mine?” he straightened. “I make things go ka-boom.” His Scottish accent accentuated the vowels.

“Demo-expert, huh?” You gave a dramatic whistle.

“That’s right,” he puffed his chest a bit. “I’m also an excellent marksman. Graduated top of me class.”

“You came second to me, MacTavish,” Kyle had entered the room, grabbing a pool cue from the wall. The loud clack of the break filtered through the room.

“Ah come off it. Only by a few seconds.”

“Seconds still count.”

Soap ran his hands through his mohawk. “Still beat ya on being the youngest to join SAS though.”

“Got me there,” Gaz took another shot.

“Learning all about your personal grievances today, huh?” you smirked on your side of the couch, crossing your arms across your chest.

“What about you? Captain says you can hit a target from two clicks away,” Soap asked.

“Two and a half,” you corrected.

The boys let out a low whistle.

“Damn. Should have her face off Ghost,” Kyle spoke.

You shifted on the couch. “He that good?”

Soap just shook his head. “I dinnae want to be on the receiving end, let’s just say.”

You hummed. “What about sparring, anyone up for some? Could use a stretch of the muscles after the flight.”

Soap gave a wide grin. “You’re on.”

You got up from the couch and stretched your torso. “Perfect.”

Soap hopped to his feet as well, while Gaz put his pool cue back on the rack.

“Gotta see this…”

Soap lead the way as you followed, noticing the broad of his back under his fitted T-shirt. You studied the way he moved, strong strides with a straight posture. Gaz trailed quietly behind you. This was going to be fun.

There were a few other soldiers in the gym at this time, lifting weights, running the treadmill. And then there was Ghost, who was landing heavy hits on a punching bag. Each loud thwack of fist meeting bag permeated through the room. You wondered if he always trained like that or if he was particularly pissed off today.

Ever intuitive, Gaz spoke softly behind you. “He’s always like that.”

You smiled.

“These aren’t the right pants for sparring, but we’ll make due,” Soap spoke on the mats in the center of the gym.

“Always gotta be combat ready, isn’t that what they train you for?” You stretched your arm across your chest.

“Cheeky.”

In the background you heard the pummeling of the bag slow.

You danced around Soap, light on your feet. The Scot was crouched slightly, lowering his center of gravity.

“You have military training, darlin'?”

You watched his footwork; heavy and solid. “Nope.”

“Where’d you learn then?” Gaz chimed in from the side.

You glanced at him for a second. Soap took the opportunity to grapple your leg but you easily sidestepped him. “Various places,” you replied.

“Woman of mystery,” Soap retorted.

He hopped around you but you played the defensive; you had patience. His right fist reached out to land a blow but you blocked with your forearms. Your heart rate was increasing now with the warmup.

Getting more into it, Soap lunged forward to grab your torso, but you lowered your body and slipped out of his hold, pushing him forward on his hands and knees as you deftly maneuvered on top of him. You wrapped a leg over his arm, locking your foot behind his back, and leaned back to pin him.

“Christ,” he breathed as he tapped your leg. 

Gaz let out a whistle. “Damn Soap, that was quick.”

You hopped off the stocky man. Soap bounced back to his feet. 

“Just warming up,” he huffed. You grinned.

It occurred to you that there was no punching bag sound. You glanced around and saw Ghost leaning against some equipment with his arms crossed against his massive chest, watching; his gaze still as impassive as before. It brought out a wider smirk from you.

“Alright Soap, don’t hold back this time,” you said.

“Your asking for it,” he bounced on his feet.

This round, his blows came quicker and faster. Finally, he was showing himself. You blocked and dodged, playing defensive again.

“C’mon, land a few hits back!” he huffed. You kicked his side. Hard. He stumbled. “That’s more like it.”

A little crowd was accumulating now, with the other soldiers’ exercises long abandoned. You could feel their eyes on the both of you.

Striking a few kicks, Soap did his best to dodge and block. He swept his foot behind your leg to break your stance, but you took the opportunity to grab his arm and twist him.

“You’re not half bad,” he panted as he broke free. “Should apply to a position here.”

Sweat was beading at your skin now. “Thanks, but I like my freedom a bit more.” You aimed your kick for his head, but Soap grabbed your leg and slammed you to the mat. Ouch.

The Scotsman took the moment to move behind you, wrapping his elbow around your neck, pinning you close to his sweaty chest. His legs tried to wrap around yours, but you writhed away, brining them to your center. The man was strong as hell as you felt the uncomfortable pain in your neck. If this was on the field you’d be in serious trouble. Your eyes scanned the enthused crowd that had gathered. Ghost watched with sharp eyes.

“Tap,” Soap huffed in your ear.

But you were much more slippery than he. Pushing off with your right leg, you canted your weight onto him, feeling him tense under you at the instability. Taking the opportunity, you elbowed him hard in the ribs and rolled backward, breaking free of his hold. You wrapped your muscular thighs around his neck this time, locking your left foot under your right knee. He punched up at you but you held. Those were going to leave bruises in the morning. You tightened your legs. The soldiers watching were loud now.

“Fuuuuuck! Ok!” he tapped your thigh. You released, panting as you laid flat on your back. Soap’s head relaxed in the crook of your thigh as he gasped for air.

Your chest heaved as your tried to reclaim your breath. The crowd around you was clapping and all smiles, with Gaz’s beaming the brightest. But when you looked around for Simon, you found the man gone. Just like his namesake.

Soap looked up at you from your lap. You grinned down with amusement.

[laughingfcx]

OKAY ITS DUE TIME FOR ME TO SEND U A YAP ASK ‼️‼️😋 LINA SUGARPLUM MUFFIN LOLLIPOP HONEYPIE (by jawny???) HOW ARE YOU DARLING HOW WAS YOUR DAY GIVE ME THE RUNDOWN ‼️

so like im gonna yap about my week CAUSE IT FELT LONG AS HELL I PHYSICALLY TWEAKED OUT JUST REFLECTING BACK ON ALL OF IT‼️‼️

so as u know i was ill last week (was that even last week I CANT REMEMBER BUT IT WAS RECENTLY) and i was coughing up a storm at school on monday and tuesday IT WAS HELL ITSELF I SWEAR.

SO I HAD LIKE,, 7 TESTS? THIS WEEK? I THINK? a ton!! like wdym im getting a test thats not writing in journalism class? WHY ARE WE HAVING A HISTORY TEST IN THIS CLASS THATS SO WEIRD TO ME??? anyway... that and a spanish test and two math tests and two tests in my ap class and an english comprehension test i was not thriving this week

AND BY THE WAY, THE TESTS IN MY AP CLASS WERE LITERALLY RETAKES BECAUSE I WAS GONE REVIEW DAY CAUSE I WAS SICK AND HAD TO TAKE THE TESTS WITHOUT STUDYING AT ALL. THE TEACHER WAS LATE TO CLASS THAT DAY SO IT TOOK ME LIKE THREE ADVISORY PERIODS TO FINISH THE STUPID TESTS 💔💔

erm anyways all of that happened AND IM NOW THRIVING I FINISHED ALL MAJOR WORK AND MY GRADES ARE LOOKING UP SO YIPPEE!!! 

yesterday i went to the school football game with my friends!! our team kinda demolished the visiting team dude 😭😭 IT WAS LIKE?? 68-0???? LIKE DAMN OKAY LET THEM GET UP BROTHERS 😭

ALSO AT THE GAME THERE WAS A KISS CAM AND MY FRIENDS ENDED UP ON IT WE WERE ALL SCREAMING SOOOO MUCH 😨 IT WAS WILD LINA!!! BUT THE GAME WAS A TON OF FUN AND WE ALL HAD FUN SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF OUR LUNGS AND DOING RANDOM STUFF IN THE STANDS!!

SO THERES MY YAP! TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DAY AND WHATS BEEN GOING ON W U POOKIE 😋 HRU HOWS LIFE WHAT ARE WE DOING TOMORROW

HONEYPIE BY JAWNY !!!!! erm big yap under cut methinks..

HELLO HELLO MY DEAR SWEET LITTLE BIRTHDAY CAKE CARDBOARD BOX CARAMELIZED SUGAR STICK !!! iM DOING LIKE.. OKAY I THINK. SUPER TIRED OMW HOME FROM SCHOOL i slept 1.5hrs last night..

my freaky english teacher likes me. a h a h a anyways ive been getting into art moar >:3 again so i spent like half the time drawing and stuff help .. not when i needed to concentrate tho !!! i drew a fish person ish i will show u later. apparently everyone flunked the maths test so like i may end up on the news tho... my last three assessments were all straight A's but the highest grade in the entire class in this one is a B and idk man i might Die. also i think i did well in english bc.. the teacher seems satisfied w me.. SCHOOL IS CLOSED TMR SO I WILL LOCK IN AND WRITE MY SILLY SMAU METHINKS

my friend who i sat beside today let me draw my fish on her bandaid :33 she calls me fish too and i call her cat it's a long story basically but in eighth grade like.. back in 2022 we exchanged discords and my nickname was fishie and hers was neko so like .. fish and cat. oh and once a physics teacher referred to me as fish too help

im super eepy rn help.. started raining in the morning n i got hopeful that school would be cancelled but NO bc the universe HATES me

im going to change & pass out now i think highkey.

OK NOW !!! UR THINGS LETS SEE omg yes this week was so fkn long ewwww

IM SO SORRY AB UR STUPID TESTS <//)3 I HAD THREE ON SUNDAY ALONE LAST WEEK IT WAS SO BAD I FAKED BEING SICK ON TUESDAY (?) KIND OF.. LIKE I FELT BAD BUT NOT BAD ENOUGH TO NOT GO TO SCHOOL

IM GLAD UR GRADES ARE LOOKING UP !!! IF U LISTEN CLOSELY IM ACTUALLY CHEERING SO LOUD FOR U RN 😹

football game is insane (never seen one) 68 - ZERO ??? IS THE HOME TEAM THAT GOOD OR IS THE OTHER ONE JUST BAD PLS... ALSO LIKE WHAT !!!! kiss cam sounds like sm fun !!!!

okay pause to say that this ask is literally makign me so happy rn idk bro but im kicking feet i feel all warm n fluttery inside

OK BACK ON TOPIC im so glad u had fun <333 that experience seems so amazing like omg !!! ik youll remember it for a WHILE i long to experience that kind of fun again omg

OKAY ANYWAYS MY DAY RIGHT !!! i cancelled on my maths teacher + postponed his class to tmr bc i want to sleep and grind genshin and watch a movie or 2 !!! im thinking everything everywhere all at once ive wanted to watch it forever but never really had the independence to do so like i do now !!!! my big toe hurts for some reason idk :/// AND IVE BEEN HAVING SUCH BAD NAGI BRAINROT RECENTLY OMHHHH LIKE MY MAN.. MY MAN..... SAVE ME NAGI SEISHIRO SAVE ME..........

aaaaa where was i !!! oh yesyes so i was thinking moot tags right ... bc i need smth cute for u.... bc ur so cute....

UM YES THATS ALL FOR TODAY I HOPE UR SLEEPING WELL & DM ME WHEN U SEE THIS !!! not for any specific reason just say hi bc imy (we literally talked a few hrs ago) ily sav !!!! PS CONGRATS ON MAKING THE MAGAZINE TEAM IM SO PROUD OF U !!!!

[deliruousmistakes]

Let Me Take Your Pain Away (Pt. 1)

Missions don’t always go as planned, they rarely do, actually. Thing is, when they don’t, someone might pay the price with their lifes. 

But they won’t let that be Mikey’s case.

Based on @cokowiii’s ‘Just Another Day AU’

Part two here

Part three here

Supply runs are hard, it’s a slow process that tends to make easy objectives out of them, threatening to take the whole community down. Even now, after they’ve figured out how to be mostly self-sustainable, it’s very much indispensable, and each time they have to go farther and farther away in search of resources. However, every now and then, they’ll find something they overlooked in the past; this time, they seem to have found a goldmine (and a nearby one at that).

- “How come we’re only seeing it now? It’s super close.” – They were reviewing the last details of his mission. It’s nothing new and -thankfully- it shouldn’t take long: just a couple days, a week if he’s unlucky.

- “According to my research, something in there exploded, blowing up the roof and exposing the structure to the elements. The question is ‘why?’ though that I do not know, dear brother.” -Donnies eyes were shining, exited with the possibilities- “So be careful, extremely so. Now, regrettably, my current project is time-sensitive, so you go there first and scout the place. Then, if you deem it so, we’ll send a raid team.”

- “Yes, yes. I’ve done this before Dee. I’m a badass mystic warrior, I can handle it.”

- “One thing does not equate the other.”

- “Are you jealous because I’m stronger than you?”

- “Offended gasp, Michelangelo, you did not just-”

- “Cali!” - Mikey had interrupted and discarded his older brother in favour of giving a hug to his beloved husband. – “What are you doing here?”

- “A. I hate you. B. I asked him to come, as I need his help for one last test before you go.” - Answered Donnie.

- “Donieeeee.” - whining would stop neither of them.

- “Oh, well, maybe I wouldn’t have to do this if you didn’t murder my babies as a past time.” – retorted Donnie, though there was no heat behind his words.

- “It’s not on purpose, I swear.” -and it isn’t. Sometimes, his powers just aren’t compatible with his brother’s tech, making the trackers or monitors glitch or straight up die.

- “C’mon, Mikey, better safe than sorry. Let’s get this shit over with.” – persuaded Calimari as he drags a weightless Mikey to a chair. It was quick, have Cali take his vital signs and compare them with the ones on the monitor, the GPS function wasn’t so easy to test, and they’d asses it on the run.

- “Well, that’s it. You can go now. Don’t set on fire anything that isn’t a Krang.”

- “I’ll try.” – And then he stared at Cali - “Mari~”

- “What?”

- “I love you so, so much.” – A chaste kiss follows, but then their eyes don’t meet like usual; instead, Mikey is looking at their hands. Cali know he’s angsting about his death. Again.

The sight made his heart clench, so he got close in order to lick Mikey’s cheek. In response, the other let go, outraged, trying to clean his face with his hand, then proceeded to snatch the robe on Cali’s shoulders with a big, dumb smile on his face. – “Off I go.”

How he wishes he could go with him.

He marches back into the med bay, knowing that he has better things to do than wallow in self-pity. Leo and his team will be back soon, which always means an influx in patients. When they arrive, it’s shown that this time there is no exception, so he bussies himself with the work in front of him… Until he can’t.

It was sudden, from one second to the next. Something cold burned his hand, painful enough to make him drop the papers he was holding. Seeing what was wrong only made it worse. He saw the markings in his left hand. The white, form-fitting, and warm chain now was cold, loose, and had black patches all over it.

- “Cali,” -started Leo, worried tone, and getting closer to him – “what’s-” -the resistance leader froze in place, eyes wide open, but a second later he was leaving the place in a frenzy, pale and almost shoving people out of his way.

Cali figures there’s only one person he’d go to: Donnie.

- “Doctor Calimari, we need-.” - He didn’t get to hear what the request was. When he got to the exit, he could still see Leo at the end of the corridor, but he wasn’t fast enough to catch him, not anymore.

Still, he made a run for Donnie’s lab: his most likely location -and he will beat him if he’s not there-. He kept going even when he could barely breath, his muscles ached and his sight was going dark on the sides. Even so, he made it to the lab, but he couldn’t talk with how much his lungs burned and how he was about to pass out. Mikey’s remaining brothers were there, ignoring him completely.

Listening to them, he gathers that they will leave to search Mikey, who they lost contact with. Given the situation, they might agree to take him. Nonetheless, he won’t risk being told to fuck off. Thus, he plans accordingly.

Cali, waited for the right moment to hide into one of the trucks, from his place in the trunks he can’t see anything, although it shouldn’t take long for them to leave.

- “Oh, sweet Galileo, I finally get to-”

- “Donnie.”

- “Mikey, yes. Of course.” – He sets his horrid music on before flooring it, effectively launching them out of the base.

- “Puta.” – Thankfully, the noise drowned his voice. It’s even better when Leo turns turn the speaker off shortly after.

- “I just need you to keep an eye on it in case the signal comes back.” - Cali’s listening attentively, trying to collect as much information as he can.

- “Let me see if I get this straight: you two were talking, then ‘boom’, then nothing?”

- “Then you arrived, yes.”

Then they stayed silent, and Cali was left with his thoughts. He remembered talking with Mikey about their shared chains, he was right, this is agony.

- “Do you think he’s fine?” – asked Leonardo

- “Yes.”

- “But Cali’s chains-”

- “Just focus on the tablet. We’ll arrive soon.”

- “Okay…” – A pause – “Are you sure it’s working?”

- “Yes ‘Nardo, now stop talking.”

- “But it says Cali’s behind us.”

- “You put a tracker on me!?” – Shit.

- “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Cali!” - God damn it, he planned on staying hidden until they found Mikey. – “You know Donnie puts trackers on everyone! Where are you?”

- “Not everyone.” – Maybe they’ll start fighting and forget about him.

- “I stand corrected, he puts trackers on everyone he cares about. I know this, you know this, everyone does.” – He was blinded by a sudden light.  – “What were you thinking?”

- “Get closer and I’m biting your hand off.”

- “Good thing It’s a spare.”

- “It’s not. Leo, stop. I won’t fix it.”

- “Donnie, turn this thing around.”

- “Don’t you dare. Fucking hell, get you priorities straight, I won’t drop dead for going outside. Mikey needs me, or would you rather waste time, see if he dies!? Then what.” - He was screaming at the top of his lungs, as he pierced the trunk’s floor with his claws. They wouldn’t go back, they fucking couldn’t. He’d throw them out of the window first.

- “Okay. First, this -to quote you- “thing” it’s a state-of-the-art automotive engineering, have some respect. Second, the Doc’s right, we don’t know what condition Mikey’s in, its better if he’s with us.”

Leo retreated back into the copilot’s seat without talking, and after a minute Cali crawled out of the trunk into the backseats. With actual light, he could see the chain again, it was mostly black now.

None of them talked after that. Until - “The signal’s back”- said Leo, as he paled even more – “Can’t this thing go faster?”

- “Why.” – demanded Donnie, looking at the screen while driving at full speed.

- “Watch the road!”

- “Gimme that.” – Cali snatched the tablet from Leo’s trembling hands, and started reading… tachypnoea and tachycardia, but low blood pressure and low temperature… Is he bleeding out? Fuck, uh, Leo said ‘boom, then nothing’… So, traumatic injuries (fractures, stabbing), blast injuries (brain, eyes, ears, lungs, abdomen). What else, burns? Maybe he’s just really dehydrated, that might do too.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud ringtone.

- “Hey, Honey Bunny.” - Those two are disgusting.

- “Leo? Where are you?”

- “In an impromptu mission? We think Mikey’s in trouble.” – That’s downplaying it.

- “Shit, I won’t take long then. Do you know where Cali is?”

- “In Colombia?”

- “What? No. They say he ran out after you.” – A brief pause followed - “he’s with you.”

- “I didn’t know, Yui. We can’t go back now.”

- “Leo.”

- “I know, I’m sorry. I’ll pass him over,” -he passed his communicator to Cali, who turned off the speaker.

As he talked, a screech filled the air, and he dropped the device.

- “Cali, are you okay? What’s going on?”

- “I’m fine.”

- “Are you sure? I can go there, I’ll prepare the another car.”

- “I said I’m fine, stop fussing. Donnie just ran over something.”

- “Fine...” – Cali could hear his brother thumping his tail over the phone. - “Do me a favour, stick close to Leo, okay?” - He grunted in response. – “And tell him that, if anything happens to you, I’m filing for divorce.”

- “Sounds like a plan.”

- “Fuck you, but be careful.”

- “Yeah, yeah.”

- “Cali, you better come back, okay? Preferably soon, you left a mess behind. Also, call me if you need help, and send me a message every hour to let me know you’re okay.”

- “Whatever, bye.”

- “Bye…” -And he hung up.

- “Congrats on the divorce.” - Declared Cali as he returned the communicator.

- “He didn’t say that.” – Answered Leo, defensive. Cali didn’t answer, just stared at the damp stain in Leonardo’s clothes.

- “Are you bleeding?”

- “No? Ah, I forgot.” - Fucking idiot.

- “Hah? You ‘forgot’!? Y entonces qué, ¿mágicamente va a desaparecer?” - He went back into the trunk to take out a first aid kit – “Jueputa, porqué son así, se creen indestructibles, estúpidos es lo que son. El otro es igualito.” – Then he started disinfecting, stitching, and bandaging. - “Estate quieto.” – It pained him that the chain was getting in the way.

For a while after that either reorganized the first aid kit or stared at the screen with Mikey’s vitals.

- “We’re here.” – Announced Donnie, restless. Before stepping out of the car he threw a gun at Cali – “The tracker’s not working, but his last location is fifteen meters south-east from here.” – Donnie started flying, and Leo followed promptly, carrying Cali.

By now, saying that the chain was loose was an overstatement. Cali feared that if relaxed his grip, it would simply fall off. So, he held onto it.

Mikey’s ‘last location’ was barren, with nothing living on sight. Thus, they took different paths in an attempt to cover more ground. Donnie remained on the air, while Leo went underground with Cali.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for ‘forcing’ my dad to drive me home while I had COVID, and then cutting contact?

Sorry if this isn’t allowed, but it’s been weighing on me for the past year and a half so I want to get an outside opinion because I’m still afraid it’s my fault. Basically, my (22F) parents are split; it was bad and they both hate each other, call the other abusive, etc. I live with my mom, but we used to alternate holidays, and my dad had Christmas 2021. I don't get on with him; we're very different, he's very judgemental, he doesn't like that I'm very close with Mom, and we've fallen out in the past (I still regret coming out to him). I didn't want to go, TBH, but I did because my siblings wanted me there.

Christmas went fine but I was running out of energy to deal with him afterwards and that's where it started. He'd agreed to take me and my youngest brother home (2.5 hr drive) on the 28th, and we made plans around that, but two days before he announced that he wouldn't unless Mom agreed to meet him halfway; that's normal, but since he'd already agreed to drive the whole way, she had gone away and was flying home that day. He refused to take us home until she was free. We had an argument over this, and I decided I'd just get the train if he didn't want to drive me.

That day, however, my stepsister got COVID, and we all tried to isolate from her, but me and my youngest brother tested positive on the 28th. I'll be honest, at that point, I think I was selfish. My plans were already cancelled, but I was at my wits' end with Dad and I couldn't handle another week of isolation with him. My room at his house was also just one end of the kitchen, which everyone else has to use, whereas at home I have my own bedroom with a bathroom right next door, so I could isolate much more easily and safely at home. Our rules at the time were if you were visiting somewhere, you were allowed to travel home to isolate so long as you didn't use public transport; Mom still wanted us home.

We got into a fight about this; Dad said I had to stay there. I snapped at him it wasn't my home, and he'd get COVID from me anyway there. He put his foot down and said he wasn't taking me, and I thought that was the end of it. Until two hours later, when he told me to get in the car, and said he'd drive me and my brother home; I genuinely think that he was expecting me to back down then, but I didn't.

Twice on the journey he berated me for being selfish; I told him I didn't force him. After he dropped me off, he sent me three text messages of the same, including saying I was as bad as my Mom and ordering me to tell her she was a bad person. I blocked his number, so he sent me an email warning me to "be careful who I ally myself with" and threatening me not to side with Mom. At that point, I cut all contact and blocked his email.

As far as I know, he never got COVID. He's emailed me a few times since (blocking him just sends them straight to my bin, I still see them); he's asked me to meet up with him a few times, and keeps getting my brother to ask when I’m going to talk to him again. I’ve never had an apology or even a real acknowledgment of what happened, except an “I know you’re still angry” at one point, and he still sends me presents and stuff even though I’ve told my brother I don’t want anything.

IDK, I still just feel really bad about the whole thing. So, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[v3nusxsky]

🤒🥰❤️‍🩹lesso please

Let's say lesso had to go on this little trip(1-2 week trip) and came back to her lovely wife reader at the castle. In the morning she came in to see her sleep in her clothes right. Wakes her up and it's adorable until R feels a little off runs into the bathroom and throws up. Nora then asks if it was something like food poisoning, reader then says this been happening 2 days after you left. So of course there trying to figure out wut it is Clarissa and Emma comes in to see lesso but sees things are off. Emma then gets an idea, and asks a few questions and all the same things on pregnancy so they get a test and left lesso and her wife alone. Took test finds out pregnant kiss, cuddle, I love you so much party with the two.

Sorry this was long

A piece of you

*Authors note~ i know this is part of the Drabble game I did a while back but I couldn't help but turn it into a fic*

Trigger warnings~ pregnancy sickness

Prompt~ see ask^^^^^

You missed Leonora, but knew why she had to go. Still didn't make it any better easier to be without your lover for two weeks. And what made it even worse was that two days before she was due to arrive home you managed to come down with some strange illness. You woke up feeling nauseous which had resulted in you spending most of the morning in the bathroom, exhausted and empty you returned back to your bed where you managed to sleep a few hours. Vivid dreams plaguing your sleep of a red headed blue eyed little girl, Isla she was called and it felt so real. Sometimes the dreams were positive and others you and Leonora were fighting threats to the little girl. Occasionally successfully and others not.

So it wasn't surprising you found comfort in sleeping in Leonora's shirt. It was light and airy and was hers. So Leonora felt her heart swell with love and pride at the sight of you. Curled up hugging the covers like it was a lifeline. Lesso came to sit with you and ran her hands through your hair to wake you up gently. One minute you looked all peaceful, your eyelashes slowly fluttering open and a sleepy smile on your face. The next minute you were up and rushing to the bathroom, another bout of sickness hitting you like a freight train. To say Leonora was worried was an absolute understatement.

Lesso immediately hurried after you, concern plastered across your face. "Sweetheart, have you got something like food poisoning? Or a sickness bug?"she murmured to you while she scooped your hair back from your face as you groaned feeling exhausted. "Past two days Nora" you whined unhappily causing the red head to worry more. "You should've got a message to me darling, I would've come straight back here" she reassured you only to be cut off by more sounds of you throwing up.

Only when you were back in your room did you hear a knock at the door and two of your closest friends had come to see your girlfriend to be debriefed on her two week trip away. "Not right now, she's not well" she murmured hardly sparing them a glance as she placed her hand to your forehead to check your temperature. "Sickness? No temperature? Any other symptoms" Clarissa queried only to be answered by yourself explaining the vivid dreams you were having. That was when Emma chirped in with some information you hadn't processed till now.

Depending on your activities with Leonora you could very well be pregnant. After all you have all the signs. So they got you a test before leaving you and your girlfriend in peace to take it. You did just that with shaky hands, waiting for the three minutes to tick by felt like a life time was passing. But seeing the little flickering positive sign was one the best and scariest times of your lives. To say it was a shock was certainly an understatement but you both couldn't be happier with the news. You both sat on the bathroom floor in each others embrace sharing kisses as you took in the news, soaking in the happiness you both felt.

Word count~ 731

[starseneyes]

Chenford - Lucy Chen / Tim Bradford - The Rookie - Season 5 - Ep 19

"A Hole in the World" AKA Clothes Call Back Night

Folks, when that first sneak peek came out, I dissolved into laughter in the dining room, and my husband had to momentarily question my sanity (just like every Sunday afternoon). It hit on practically every discussion point from the Chenford Twitterverse over the past few weeks.

I had to sit here and give the world's smallest round-of-applause-by-one to the team behind The Rookie for putting that out there. Genius way to get a lot covered in a short amount of time.

SPOILER ALERT: If you want a spoiler-free take on what's going on in Chenfordland, I'm sorry, you're in the wrong place. Come back when you're ready to be spoiled. Or don't come back at all! You're welcome to do as you choose.

For those about to rock, I salute you! So, let's dive in.

Lucy studying with note cards, written notes, and likely a practice test is just so on-brand, and I kinda love that we start the scene with her in her element.

The domesticity of Chenford never fails. It's insane to remember that as of their first kisses in the midst of undercover preparation (and under covers, of course) was only Tim's third time in that apartment, and first time there out-of-uniform.

Less than a season later, he's practically living at her place (while I head-canon Kojo is doing a great job helping his nephews with the transition to Los Angeles and playing in their yard).

And is Tim wearing the 4x01 almost-sleepover (heh) hoodie!? It might be the same bottoms, too! If they dug those up (and God bless whoever either saved them or bought duplicates), that's just amazing. I had a mini-geek out, and I bet I'm not the only one!

And for whatever reason, Tim's wearing shoes with this outfit, and I can't tell if that's because he instinctively put them on, or someone thought we wouldn't be seeing his feet in the shot. But, it made me chuckle because I'm hoping it's the former.

And is Lucy's hair being held up by a pen!? Okay, I'm officially jealous. I'm of the "chopsticks in hair" generation, and I always needed two. My friends could stick a good ole Number 2 in their hair and be good for the day. My hair's so fine and straight that I just couldn't do it. Rock it, Lucy Chen!

"Hey." "Hey." "When did you get in?" "Uh, depends. What day is it?" "That bad, huh?"

We're getting the first-blush look at these long hours we heard so much about. Remember, Tim's predecessor was dead on his feet. Yes, he had triplets at home, but that was on top of the brutal Metro hours.

"Look, I'm 80% sure it's, it's Thursday." "It's Tuesday."

Yes, it is! And we're all cozied up to our couches, beds, floors, recliners, and dining room tables to soak up the Chenford goodness. And mmmm, does it go down smooth!

"I stayed up anyways. Thought maybe I'd get lucky and he'd turn himself in."

Girlfriend. Girl. Friend! Did you really just use an undercover Tim/Lucy-ism? Throwing me straight back to 5x01 and Lucy/Juicy wondering if they could get lucky three times in the same day.

Lucy definitely wants to get lucky. But Metro hours aren't the best for getting busy, it seems.

"Oh, babe."

And there we've got the long-awaited pet name!! We still don't know what Tim calls Lucy (could also be Babe), but I saw the Twitterverse start to spin in the opposite direction at this particular name-drop.

Lucy Chen, how can you slay an entire population with a single word? You so don't know your power.

Tim sits next to the love of his life at her dining area smiling. He spent so much time last week trying to prove to the camera crews that he wasn't a softie. But we all know the truth. Tim Bradford is soft for those he loves—especially the love of his life.

His eyes trail to the notes spread atop the counter as his hand trails to her thigh.

Can we completely see it? No. But there's enough anecdotal evidence based on the placement of Tim's arm in the two-shot to conjecture, so I'm rolling with it.

Last time I didn't roll with the evidence, y'all crowded into my comments to remind me I was very wrong. It was a fun time.

"What's all this?" "What?" *arm smack*

Y'all, Lucy is so me in this moment. And I only say that because I'm older and she's fictional. To say I'm Lucy would mean I'm fictional, right? And (as far as I know) I'm real. Unless it's a Deckard in Blade Runner situation... in which case... I'm already Rachel.

But the affectionate arm smack is a total Rachel move (as my husband would confirm).

"I'm studying for the Detective's Exam." "Since when?" "I didn't tell you?"

I've seen folks jumping all over Lucy for "not telling Tim about something life-changing", but it'd be great if that could stop. Have you ever loved someone so much that you shared everything with them? I have. I tell Matthew everything.

And, yet, there are still times I'm convinced I've told him everything only to find I imagined the conversation because our lives are just too busy.

Look, Lucy and Tim already have demanding jobs with demanding hours. Yes, her going Detective would constrict their off-time more, but they're already grappling with the realities of cops-in-love juggling duty to a profession they earnestly adore and investing in a still-fairly-new romance.

It's not a choice of omission on her part. It's the overwhelm of juggling combined with the fact that she does tell him everything, so she assumed he already knew.

Communication issue? Clearly! Completely normal? Absolutely!

For goodness sake, Tim didn't even know what day it was. Living in a constant state of exhaustion and somehow functioning is my normal, so I can tell you that try as you might, something might slip through the cracks.

"If I'm gonna work undercover, the best move is to become a detective in some division like intelligence or narcotics, right?" "Right."

First off, Lucy Chen promotion-time, baby! I know a lot of us have been waiting for the moment when she'd get to move up. Heck, Aaron made P2 before she got to move up, and it's driven me nuts.

Look, I have no idea what a realistic timeline is in the real world. But Nolan's Golden Ticket allowed him to move up. Nyla moved up. Angela moved up. Tim's moved up. It's about damn time my fictional bestie got her turn.

Second, Supportive Tim Supremacy for the Win! Like, once he's on the right page, he doesn't skip a beat. Since I am married to the most supportive man in the world, I'm grateful Lucy's gonna marry the most supportive man in The Rookie world.

"So you got the tap." "Harper and Lopez are backing me."

Look at the glee on our girl's face! And that little chuckle from Tim? Oh, swoon!! Yes, I am a sucker for a supportive partner.

If you knew the number of times over the last near-20 years that this man has had my back, you'd shake your head and wonder why he's stuck around with how many times I've leaned on that support. Supportive partners make my weary heart happy.

"All I have to do is score in the top 12, which-" "Which you will."

BAM! Because Lucy Chen can do anything. Tim once held her hand (yes, it was a handshake, go with me here...) and told her to never let anyone tell her she couldn't do something.

Translation: Lucy Chen can do anything and Tim Bradford earnestly believes that.

And Lucy feels that support. In all of her relationships—friendship, romantic, familial—she has yearned for support. Sadly, the most supportive of her friends is gone. Her parents are dead to me (I hope the Mother's Day flowers Lucy sent were dried and shriveled like her mother's heart).

And her last boyfriend tried to persuade her to walk away from her dreams. Contrast that with Tim Bradford who was willing to push her towards them, even when that meant pushing her away from him. And now, as they're together, Tim is still supporting her without question.

My husband is that way. I often ask him about things. Not because he rules me (nope. I'd never survive a relationship like that), but because I believe in communication. So, I'll talk things out with him, and before I offer him my reasoning he says, "Do it." That's been his general answer to me for nearly two decades.

So, seeing Tim mirror my beloved plastered a grin on my face so wide I was approached on the street to be in the sequel to SMILE.

Lucy's got a smile on her face, too, as she hums out her appreciation and leans in for the kiss.

Special Shout Out to the DP and Director for giving us that two-shot with push-in of the kiss with the loud LIPSMACK to counterbalance Chenford's last apartment kiss/near-kiss that left me wondering if coffee tumblers made kissy sounds as the hot liquid settled.

I feel like someone on the decision-making team was like, "They want to see lip locks? No fucking way they'll miss this one! This'll shut them up."

No way to miss Tim leaning on the counter with one arm (bringing him closer to Lucy's height, because this man is taller than her in both legs and torso). And we actually see lips-meeting-lips.

Though it's a simple-enough kiss, there's suction there, which helps imply action and intention rather than passivity. Wow, I'm a weirdo analyzing a kiss this deeply, but whatever. It's my Meta, I'll over-analyze if I want to. It's square-kissing versus Tim's top-lip-sucking action he reserves for more passionate moments.

And that's beautiful. Because not every kiss is about undressing. Some kisses are about being beautifully exposed and fully accepted and loved. That's Tim and Lucy in this moment.

Tim is the supportive lover of her dreams. Lucy is the supportive lover of his dreams.

In a world where both of them grew up feeling unloved and unsupported for one reason or another, they have found more than a safety net in one another—they've found home.

Tim's affectionately rubbing her arm, and she is completely relaxed in his love.

"Well, I guess we should get used to not seeing each other so much."

The Metro move afforded them more time together than Lucy switching stations would have. But this latest move for her will add to her hours.

It's not a reason not to make this move. But... there's another move these two could make together. *hint hint* The kind that involves one set of keys for two lives? *hint hint*

Lucy deserves this. Hands down. And Tim knows that. But he also has a lot of trauma where UC and working long hours with someone he loves. It ended in heartbreak.

Now, Tim doesn't believe that's where he and Lucy are headed... but I think a small part of him in the back of his mind fears it. And that's something the two of them need to talk out.

Also, can we note the interesting choice to use the kiss as an opportunity to change angles? We went from being behind the counter aimed toward the windows to being in front of the windows aimed at the kitchen.

I'm not sure of the motivation for the move, but the film minor in me made note of it. Fairly classic technique.

"Mm, right. Yeah. Between Detective Hours and Metro Hours..." "Well, it's okay. We'll figure it out."

Tim winks to her as he departs, echoing Lucy's words to Tamara when they were first confronted with the difficulties of navigating work and love.

"Is that the sign up list for the Detectives exam?" "Two weeks to go." "I'll be ready." "I have no doubt about that."

Nyla has been a champion for Lucy for a long time. She was the first one to see Lucy's aptitude for undercover, and she's the one who prepped and primed her for her first solo op.

Love seeing women supporting women. There are too many shows that pit woman-against-woman in the name of drama.

Yes, it happens. I had a coworker once who was the most backstabbing person you could ever meet. I once told my boss that I thought she was coming for my job. My boss, of course, told me I was overthinking.

Two weeks later my boss called me into her office to tell me that I was right. Yeah, I knew I was right.

But there were also really amazing women who I worked with—women who uplifted you, who helped you when things were tough, who excelled at the give-and-take of being coworkers.

It's nice to see that type of relationship amplified on a show like this.

"No way you make Top 12. One of the detectives has it out for you. No matter how well you do on the written, they're going to sink you on the Oral."

Smitty might be the unreliable narrator 90% off the time, but that 10% can be crucial, and Lucy's smart enough to be aware of that.

"So you won't be making detective. But, um, there's other career paths, right?"

Aaron can be direct, and that music cue made it seem like we needed to smile and laugh, but it felt pretty final, actually.

I don't want to see anything taken away from Lucy. She's put in so much work and watched as Nolan was promoted ahead of her. As her best friend was taken from her. She helped Tim get promoted.

But now it feels as if her own career is standing still, and I selfishly want more for Lucy than just Chenford.

I am not of the opinion that a relationship can fulfill your every need. In fact, I encourage my husband to go out with his friends and do things without me. I think it's healthy for us to have different interests, even though many overlap. He supports the fact that I love working and abhor the idea of being a stay-at-home mother.

Our relationship works for us. Everyone wants something different in their relationship. But I feel like Lucy really wants to do something more and move forward in her career. And if that's what she wants, I want it for her.

Ball Camera

Anyone else having a BB-8 geek out moment? Or is that just me? Also, we've come a long way from Tim pushing his chest camera into a room with his baton.

"Hey, Harper. Uh, Tim is still in with IA." "Look the Officer Involved Shooting Interview is very thorough. Tim's fine."

Tim is not fine, and his girlfriend wife knows it. Maybe he'll be fine career-wise, but Lucy's worried about more than that. She's worried about his state of mind.

"Hey, Chen. I've got news for you." "It's not a great time Smitty." "It's about the Detective exam. The detective blocking you is Prim."

Ohhhh, that name. I remember that name. From the five-player trade. Lucy tried so hard to be discrete, but as soon as it got out there, it was only a matter of time for the Cop Gossip of this bizarre High School extension to take over.

"I did warn you." "I know."

And we all knew that it was going to come back around, at some point. Is it wrong that I wish Lucy didn't have to deal with this fall out?

And much as this is Nyla's "I told you so" moment, she takes no pride in it. That's why we don't hate her in this moment. She is right and she doesn't like it any more than Lucy does.

"Hey. Let him talk to Grey first." "Yeah."

Lucy wants so much to go to his side. Her Tim Sense is tingling as soon as he walks by, but his brain is on the next thing that needs to be done. He's on autopilot, and she can see it.

Look, Tim's no stranger to having to pull the trigger. That doesn't make it any easier. Tim values human life, so ending one is never going to be a light matter.

And pulling the trigger on someone who wears the uniform? For Tim, that's gotta be even harder.

Remember, this is the guy who stayed inside the lines for years and stood by while racism ran rampant. He rationalized it away, right? But, then he started to really face and confront the darker elements and systemic injustices inherent to the Force.

This is another extension of that—a truly awful cop who used their influence, position, and authority to kidnap and murder little girls. Yes, Tim pulled the trigger because he was about to be the one buried if he didn't. But it doesn't make it any easier.

"Hey, you know you had to take the shot." "I know." "Just because he wanted to die doesn't mean he wasn't dangerous." "I know."

Even Grey can see that Tim's veil is slipping. He is a human being, damnit, and he feels this shit.

Grey stands, trying to make a connection, to get closer to Tim, to approach him man-to-man. But the words coming out of his mouth echo typical talking points of the Badge.

Grey sighs, dropping the list of "reasons". He tries another tactic. My favorite tactic—asking.

I worked for a humanitarian non-profit for almost a decade, and my favorite part of the work was our policy of "Ask, Don't Tell". We never walked into a disaster zone with a game plan. Too many organizations do that, and it doesn't address the immediate needs of the community.

Instead, we would ask what was needed. And I think in life that's also a damn good strategy.

"Is there anything I can do?" "Can I get back to you on that?" "Take your time."

This I love. Two men meeting in the middle. Acknowledging that sometimes shit just sucks and nothing you can say will change that.

But, also, Grey's abandoning the "just throw things at it until something sticks" tactic to earnestly ask what Tim would have him do. And that's so much deeper than empty words.

And the fact that Tim Bradford, who never asks for help, leaves it open ended? That's growth.

Yes, it's important that he lets Lucy in more and more. But it's also important that he lets others in. This isn't just about growing in a romantic relationship, but growing as a person.

Yes, I know I harp on this a lot. But I've seen too many good people backslide horribly because they invested all their growth in a relationship rather than in themselves.

Relationships are great. I'm in one. I'm in a damn good one. But my healing and growth are mine and have to be separate from Matthew. If he dies tomorrow, suddenly, my progress can't die with him. I have to be able to stand on my own.

And that's what I wish for Lucy and Tim. The standing on their own part, I mean.

"You're a badass. And I'm no slouch."

I need to do Wopez next. I keep saying that when I catch up on Chenford, I need to go back and do Wopez. And lines like this really make me wanna.

"How are you doing with everything?" "I'll be okay."

It's taken a while, but Tim and Lucy have worked their way up to light PDA in the workplace, and I love it for them. Likely, they aren't seeing as much of each other at home, so it's natural that it might leak out more when they're in public.

I love how Lucy briefly has both her hands on his arm. There's something resembling a hug, there, that I love.

She know Tim well enough to know he doesn't want to hug it out at the station. But she's still trying to find her own ways to let him know that she's there for him.

Also: Is this the episode of the comeback clothes!? Because that jacket is totally the one from Season 4, Episode 3 when Tim and Lucy were discussing how people might get the wrong idea about them if she became his aide, right?!

I know one of y'all will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm leaving it in, because I'm fairly convinced.

Also, Tim and Lucy, y'all didn't need to worry about people getting the wrong idea. We all got the right idea, and y'all are adorable together.

"I want to be helpful." "I know. Thank you."

Her little hand on his chest (right over his heart) is so sweet, but also a little sad. Because she knows that's the part of him that's really hurting right now.

Also, I love Tim thanking her. We're a long cry from all the times when Tim would tell Lucy she was overstepping in the past. Because, they're partners in life, now, and this is her place.

And his little arm tap? It's so cute to get to see them start to be more tactile.

Remember, this wasn't a typical transition. They went from being best friends—the most important relationship in each other's lives—to one-and-only. They had to transition everything over from a very intimate point, already, and add in the layers and figure out what felt right for them as a couple.

But, selfishly I'm loving the light PDA. Feels just about right for them.

Plus, it's more than either of them typically displays at the station with past love interests. Yes, I know there was one kiss way back with an ex of Tim's, but he wanted out of that, so it doesn't count.

"You need help studying? There's no way I would have have scored as well on the Sergeant's exam without you."

Oh, how I love a good call-back. This is going back to Season 2, y'all, and TO Tim era. And I adore the surprise on Lucy's face. She really wasn't expecting him to offer, and it's damn adorable that he did.

Lucy isn't giving up. She knows that Prim's got it out for her, but she's still going after this. And I'm damn proud of her.

"That's right. You owe me." "I don't owe you."

Ah, and there's Tim's bull-headedness coming back to remind us that he's not all warm and fuzzy. And, y'know, it made me chuckle. Because Tim didn't magically change over the course of the show.

Has he healed a lot? Yes. But at the core he was always a tough-outside, smoothie-inside... at least for his people. His trauma and pain caused him to wear that toughness as a roughly-patched-together armor.

And Look. At. Our. Babies. FLIRTING! Lucy even got the finger point in there!

"You owe me." "Okay."

Lucy gets a hand on his open shirt (wow, she has a thing for tugging at his clothing that's unexpected and yet totally in-character), and he's gone. Boy is gone for his girl.

Because Lucy probably wants to spend a little time studying up on other things before they get to the books. And Tim's totally onboard.

And has Lucy been wearing the Valentine's Day necklace most of the episode? It's so small that it's hard to tell, but I think she has. So, we're really owing some love to the Costuming Department this week. Thanks, y'all. We love you.

And I love you! Thank you for reading and taking this ride with me. It's been a really tough few weeks with illness and broken down cars (and bumped into cars) and juggling too many things. So, Chenford night is a nice respite for which I'm thankful.

Did it take Tim and Lucy a while to get comfortable? Sure. I posit this was the first episode written after we got a taste of post-coitus Chenford and folks started vocalizing what they wanted to see out of the duo, because I feel like about 12 boxes were ticked in that first scene alone.

I'm not going to get worked up about the promo for the next episode. If TPTB want to rip my heart out and stomp it, they wouldn't be the first. Actually, the wouldn't be in the first two dozen TPTB to do that.

No, I'm not kidding. When you dream of someday working in television, you watch a lot of television. Inevitably, I ship someone in every show.

But The Rookie's track record with core ships does give me some hope. A little. A microscopic amount. And that's enough, for now.

Stay kind, beautiful humans. I hope to see you on the next.

[ronnie-ratke]

Came on here to vent because I’m about to go end it all. It’s gonna be long one if you can read please do

Life has recently been one horrible monstrosity after another. I have three bottle baby lambs I’ve been taking care of around the clock for two months and they have been my biggest reason for living. They need me and I need them. No one else in my family can care for them and I live alone anyway so I’m the only one here 24/7 to care for them. Well one of them had been at the top livestock hospital for 28 days fighting off sepsis in his bones after an umbilical infection. He has just finally come home 12 days ago after being on the edge of life for so long. Then my blind lamb that I have formed an irreplaceable connection with went in for emergency bladder stone surgery, he had a bad blockage and hours left to live if he didn’t get the surgery. He has defied all odds for two months straight being born completely blind with only one physical eye which as I said is blind. I spent about 20 hours a day working with him to help him learn to how survive, get around and eat. Yesterday we got really good news that he was able to pass urine again and he was well on his way to coming home next week. Well this morning they called and said it looks like his urethra ruptured when they were doing the second test to make sure he could pass urine. This is a terminal injury if it’s not right on the tip of it. They are doing an x ray ASAP today to see where it is but there’s like a 95% chance he’s going to have to be put down.

He might “just be a lamb” but to me he was no different than a dog. He was my whole reason for living. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m completely alone and I’m just done. I’m done with everything. I can’t keep pushing through when life obviously doesn’t want me to. I’m done trying and hoping that “things get better” because they don’t. Nothing gets better. I’ve known this since I was 12 years old but I’m over it now. I texted my boyfriend who’s still asleep that I love him and I’m sorry and my mom and I spoke on the phone. All that I’m waiting on is the final call on the results of the x ray. After that I’ll know what I’m going to do.

Pictures of my baby because he deserves to be seen.

[marvelwitchergilmore]

I Can Feel You

Summary; Beau Arlen x Fe!OC (or reader if you wish) -> Agent Sandy Fletcher is brought to Montana to help on a case.

Warning: Swearing, Violence (crimial minds level - not a tie in), mentions of tortue, fluff (kinda) towards the end, angst.There is also an SPN reference if you can spot it.

They had plastered her as a rookie. Made it out that she didn’t know much but she knew just over the normal amount to pass every test in the field. 

By the gods were they wrong. 

Agent Sandy Fletcher arrived in Montana in the early hours of Thursday morning. She was picked up by Deputy Poppernak who kept her both entertained and up-to-date on the case at hand. 

She had been given her orders by her Chief. He wanted her away from town for a while. And, even though he wished that he didn’t have to, he needed to. Sandy needed out of Oregon. At least for a while. 

“Tell me, is your Sheriff as talkative as you?”

Popp blushed a little. “Sorry. I’m talking too much.”

Sandy smiled. “Oh, no. It’s nice. The people I’m usually with don’t speak more than two words a day.”

Popp went on to explain a few things about Sheriff Beau Arlen and his deputy Hoyt. “I’ve heard good things so far.” Sandy assured Popp. 

By the time she arrived at her home for the following however-many weeks, Sandy managed to grab a few hours of sleep before heading into the station at 8am. 

And they got straight onto the case. 

A double act. Childhood friends turned into a serial killer duo. They’d kidnap the helpless and weak, keep them alive for a few days but in the meanwhile make them wish they were dead until finally…they’d grant the victim one final wish. 

To let them die. 

It was better than going through the pain again and again and again. 

But it was two weeks after Sandy had joined the team and was with Beau, Denise, Cassie and Jenny that she was taken from them. 

The duo had been watching Denise’s house the entire evening, waiting for someone to come outside alone and be distracted long enough to be taken out. 

It just so happened to be Sandy. 

She had offered to take out the trash since Denise had cooked, Cassie and Jenny were handling the pots and Beau was clearing the dining room. 

But after 5 minutes, Beau popped his head outside from the backdoor to shout Sandy back inside. 

“She still not back yet?” Beau had smiled as he entered and Jenny took the stacked plates from his hands. 

“Wonder if she got lost?”

Beau chuckled and popped his head around the door. “Hey, Sandy! You get lost?”

But then nothing. 

Not a single thing. 

“Sandy?”

Beau looked back inside, the other three growing a little more concerned. “Sandy?”

Beau walked outside and around the corner cautiously. 

On the floor was the trash bag open, pouring its contents onto the grass whilst the lid was thrown across the lawn. 

“Hoyt!”

Jenny shot outside of the door and came to his side. “Where is she?”

Three sets of footprints. Sandy’s and two others. 

They’d got to her. 

Storming inside the station, Beau gave out his instructions to his officers, giving Hoyt things to follow up on and asking Cassie to keep Denise by her side at all times. 

“We don’t know how long they’d been watching us but I’m gonna guess the whole night.”

“Beau?”

“I need every officer reporting back to either myself or Hoyt. You go out in pairs. You do not-”

“Beau?”

“Separate from your partner-”

“Beau!” Poppernack shouted, finally catching his boss’ attention. “Look.”

Popp picked up the remote on his desk and cast the live tape from his inbox to the Tv screen. 

Sandy. 

She was out cold. A single lightbulb was somewhere, lighting her up just enough for them to all see the damage that had been done. 

She had blood dripping from her nose, cuts across her cheeks and collar bone. She had bruises around her eye but they’d hit her so it wouldn’t swell up. 

They wanted the station to know it was her. 

Everyone watched in silence, waiting for something to happen.

“It’s live, too. They’re streaming it but I can’t get a location.”

“Keep trying.” Beau was holding back every emotion he could so he simply sounded deflated. His eyes never once left the screen, even as he walked the few steps towards a desk to sit against it. 

Popp nodded and continued to try and find her. 

For a few moments, nothing happened and then a groan. 

Slowly, Sandy was coming around. Her head felt heavy and her neck was sore. How long had she been out?

Squinting her eyes due to the light, she finally managed to find some strength again and then she saw him. 

Sandy closed her eyes and groaned. “Oh, it’s you.”

“You’re still alive I see?”

“I’m guessing you were expecting a different ending.”

The guy behind the camera stood up. “Perhaps.”

“What is it with villain's being so vague in their answers?” Sandy questioned. “You never just get straight to the point. You have to make a whole song and dance about it and even then you don’t get to your point!”

A loud smack came across her cheek. Her hair covered her face but opened up the back of her neck for the camera to see yet another cut and taser markings. 

“Well, aren’t you just the perfect gentleman?” Sandy looked back up to him. 

Sharply, he yanked at her hair and placed another hand under his chin harshly. 

“I wouldn’t speak to me like that if I were you, Alexandra.”

“Don’t call me that.” Sandy gritted. “You’re not my mother.”

“It’s your name, though? Isn’t it? Alexandra Fletcher. Special Agent. Only child- well, that’s not exactly true. Is it?”

Sandy laughed. “What? You been looking through my family’s medical records again? Wasn’t smart enough to become a doctor to get them legally so you stole them? That it? Oh, your parents must be so proud.”

He sharply gripped at her throat again. 

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Didn’t know this was your angle. Always thought this was Ernie’s method.” Sandy continued. 

“What’s she doing? She’s going to get herself killed!” That was the main comment coming from the officers until Beau shushed them all. 

“Where is Ernie by the way? I thought you two were attached by the…” Sandy looked down a little. “You know? Everything.”

He placed more pressure on her throat but before she felt herself begin to pass out, Ernie walked inside. 

“Let her go. I want to have some fun with this one. She’s special.”

“Thanks.” Sandy steadied her breathing. “Last person who called me that was my 5th grade teacher.”

“Humor? Is that your distraction?”

“More of my entertainment than anything.” Sandy shrugged. “The Sesame Street writers have really gone down the drain since they replaced some of the acts.”

Ernie threw back his head in a laugh as he picked out his tools. “Ha! Let me guess? We’re Bert and Ernie?”

“Congratulations, you have fucking ears. You mom must have been so proud when you finally listened to her.”

“Oh, she was. She asked me to kill her neighbor for her. The dog kept shitting in our garden.” He explained before lowering his top half to be eye-level with her. “Just one thing? Why Bert and Ernie?”

“Well…I’ve read your files. And you both seem to have this…ooh, what’s the word?” It hit her. “Codependency. Well, one of you does.” Sandy whispered before gesturing over to Bert. 

Ernie smiled. “Is that right?”

“Yeah.”

Ernie’s face changed, no surprise to Sandy and he swiped his knife across her as he distracted her by punching her gut. 

“Your folks ever tell you it’s not nice to beat on girls?”

“Pops encouraged it, actually. Said women needed to know their place in society. Thinking. Having an opinion. It wasn’t right.”

“Do you believe that?”

Ernie shrugged. “Not really. I have met some extraordinary women along the way.”

“Who you’ve killed along the way?”

“Most.”

“What about him?” Sandy nodded over to Bert. 

“Oh, he'd be too afraid of them to try.”

“Seems pretty confident to me.” Sandy argued. “I mean, he had me shaking in my boots before you came in here.”

“I’m sure he did.”

Beau and some more of the officers continued to watch in silence whilst Jenny stood over Popp’s shoulder, trying to find a location on Sandy. 

Beau’s eyes stayed glued to the screen in front of him looking for any sign or hint for where she might be. 

She couldn’t be that far. She’d only been gone 3 hours - although it felt longer. 

And clearly, they’d had tied for a while. 

“Where are you, Sandy?”

“Do you have anything you’d like to say? Perhaps to that Sheriff of yours?” Ernie now asked as he circled her before finally leaning down behind her. “I saw how he was looking at you at dinner.”

Sandy rolled her eyes, “Oh, brother.”

“Now, I might not be the best expert but even I know when a guy is into you.”

“Why? Did you catch yourself in the mirror when checking Bert out?”

Ernie gave a harsh, fake smile. “Funny,”

“Oh, no. Please. Do continue.” Sandy’s voice was laced in sarcasm as she watched Ernie walk away. 

“You laugh, but I guess…part of you hopes I’m right.”

Sandy didn’t say anything but simply shot him a look of slight confusion for him to continue. 

“Because I also saw how you looked at him?”

“And how did I look at him?”

Ernie turned around and lent against his weapons table as another blade sat comfortably in his hands. “Like you’d do anything for him.”

Sandy thought about it for a moment. “Hhm, maybe. But he is my colleague so…maybe not anything.”

“Please, you were planning your wedding invitations.”

“Actually, it was our joint grave stone.” Sandy corrected. “Much like you with your very own partner in crime. I mean, there is a lovely plot of land for you out in the field. I mean, watching the stars from the little pond by that old willow tree? It would be very peaceful.”

“Sounds like you’ve found your own resting place.”

Sandy smiled, “Maybe.”

She could only hope that Beau or someone caught onto what she was saying. 

And he did.

Beau gave the order and after a final few minutes, they’d found the spot. 

For any main road, it would take just over an hour. 

“Okay, I need squad cars, Popp take Alpha,” Beau then pointed to a few more officers and gave them their orders. 

“Stream this to my phone.” Beau told Popp and the moment they got into Beau’s car, Jenny turned up the volume. 

“Is she okay?”

“I think.”

“You think? What do you mean-”

“Beau, she’s okay.” Jenny assured him. “She’s just sitting there watching them.”

“Okay.”

“She’ll be okay, Beau.” Jenny reassured him. “She’s tougher than we think.”

Beau couldn’t talk. He just nodded and pressed his foot on the gas. 

By the time they arrived, Beau and the others all switched off their headlights and sirens as they got closer to the barn. 

Once the SWAT and officers were surrounding the building, SWAT kicked down the door and they all entered. 

If Beau wasn’t so determined, the sight he was met with, he would have frozen. 

SWAT took care of the serial duo whilst Jenny searched the rest of the barn for evidence to further the conviction. 

Beau searched around the place before finally reaching Sandy, holstering his gun and leaning down. 

“Beau Arlen,” Sandy smiled in a weak laugh. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

Beau smiled as he quickly untied her and let her rest her weight against his arms as he helped her stand. 

“Could say the same for you, Sweetheart.”

Sandy smiled weakly as he took her in his arms and helped her walk outside to the medics. 

“Are you sure you can walk?”

“Beau, I have been through this a million times. I’m fine.”

As much as Beau would have once upon a time pushed her comment aside, he couldn’t. “What?”

“I’ll explain later, can we just..hurry?”

By the time Beau helped her out and got her to the medics, she was being rushed into hospital. 

“They haven’t cut too deep. I should only need a couple of stitches.”

“Try 30.” The paramedic said in response. “Maybe more.”

Beau gave Sandy ‘that’ look but she just rolled her eyes. “What?”

“How can you be so calm about this? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Beau, I told you I’m fine.”

And she said the same when he finally was alone with her in her medical room once her nurse had finished the final stitches. 

“You keep saying you’re fine-”

“Are you okay? Do you need to see a doctor?”

“Sandy.”

“Beau.” She copied his tone. 

Then he gave her that look again. 

And she folded. 

“Okay. So maybe the reason I was sent here wasn’t just to help out.” Sandy explained. “There had been a few incidences, back in Oregon. I worked a couple of cases in the Organised Crime Unit and - long story short - they found me. Tied me up in their grandmother’s basement and said if I didn’t join them I’d be…swimming with the fishes, if you will.”

“But this isn’t on-”

“My record? I know. It’s for highly classified officials to know, only.” Sandy nodded. “It was both for my protection, should any of the family somehow make their way into the databases and for any future employers I may have. Being tortured by a crime boss isn’t exactly something that would sell when trying to get a job in law enforcement.”

“When did it happen?”

“A few years back.”

“And have you-”

“Received counseling? Yeah. Just over 18 months and now we talk every couple of months.”

Beau nodded and hung his head. “Beau? Look at me?”

Beau looked up. 

“I’m here. I’m alive. And I’m okay.” Sandy assured him in a soft voice. She reached out and took his hand. “Can you feel me? I can feel you.”

Beau squeezed her hand lightly. “I can feel you.”

Beau then pulled her into a tight hug which she gave back just as tight. He almost lost her tonight and yet she had been acting like nothing had happened. 

But, just as Beau’s arms began to relax around her, Sandy’s arms tightened. 

“Not yet.”

It was only two words, but Beau knew. Beau knew she was falling. That she was about to collapse beneath the weight of everything that had just happened. 

Eventually, Sandy let go and moved back to wipe her eyes. “When these pain meds wear off, I might need your help. I love Denise but she scares me.”

Beau nodded. “Oh, me too.”

Sandy smiled. “Thank you for finding me.”

“Thank you for telling me where you were.”

[spicywhenspeaking]

The second to last touch-starved prompt with anyone in Bad Omens please 🙏 I love your writing so much!

Sorry this took me forever!!! Tbh I STRUGGLED! Lmaooo couldn’t decide if I wanted to get sad with it or fluffy. I decided fluffy because thinking about sad stuff was depressing….😵‍💫❤️

Prompt was Leaning onto each other, just being close, was enough and I did Nicholas x Reader

Anywhooooo! Hope you like it!!

Requests are open :)

I was all set to leave and join Nicholas on tour. I fit more clothes than physically possible in my bag and then the next day I woke up with a 103 fever and the worst body aches I’ve ever had.

I took a Covid test and when it came out positive I called Nicholas right away and it was probably a mistake because as soon as I heard his “hey baby, I’m so excited to see you tomorrow night. All packed up?” I busted out crying. “Baby, what’s wrong?” His voice was rushed and panicked.

“I’m sick!” I broke out in between quiet sobs, “I have Covid.” The both of us were devastated about not getting to see each other.

My life as a private chef takes me all over the place so we haven’t seen each other in over a month and a half because of our conflicting schedules. We talk on the phone and facetime, but it’s not the same and I miss being with him. Being immuno compromised I was sick for a long time, almost three and a half weeks with a nasty cough and body aches that made it difficult to get out of bed some days. By the time I finally recovered they only had two weeks of the tour left.

By some miracle the retreat I was supposed to cater was rescheduled at the last minute so I went straight into planning mode and repacked my bag to prepare for my surprise. I told Matt and the other guys about it so they all knew to expect me and knew not to say anything to Nicholas. I was hoping I’d be able to be awake when I saw him after all this time but after several flight delays I’m a day later than expected and haven’t slept in over 24 hours so when my head hits the pillow in his bunk and I’m surrounded by his familiar scent I am immediately out.

I don’t know how much later it is but I’m lightly awoken when I hear clanking and shuffling outside of the bus followed by the door opening and feet filling inside. “I’m exhausted dude, I’m just going to climb in my bunk and try to call y/n” I can hear my boyfriend’s muffled voice. “Why is my curtain closed? I definitely left it open” I hear him again before he pulls it back and he startles me at first with his initial reaction. “What the fuck?!” He yelps and I jump, my head flies up and hits the roof of his bunk “ow!” I cry out and he must immediately recognize that it’s me. “Baby!” He says and climbs in the bunk and tackles me back into the covers. “Oh my god, baby. You’re here.” He mumbles into my neck. I can hear him take a long breath, “god I missed how good you smell, these guys smell like ass.” I chuckle and hear Folio say “hey!” From his bunk on the other side of the bus.

Nicholas moves to quickly pull the curtain back to closed. “I thought you weren’t able to come” he continues to mumble his words into my neck, unwilling to let me go. I smooth my hand down his head and play with his hair. “The retreat was rescheduled so I got a last minute flight to see you” I say and he finally looks up and I see his eyes are glossy. “I missed you so much baby” he says and leans up to me to kiss me and it’s perfect. I feel everything that we want to say, all of the “ I love yous” and the “I miss yous” all reflected in the kiss. When we finally part he rests his forehead against mine and we just lay in comfortable silence. “How was the show? I’m sorry I missed it, I’m exhausted. Fighting to stay awake right now actually” I laugh out honestly. Smiling, he shifts us into a more comfortable position with me resting my head on his chest and his arms wrapped around me. “The show was great, but I think this is the highlight of my night. I’m so happy you’re here.” I rest my hand on his chest and feel the steady beat of his heart, “I’m happy I’m here too Nicholas” I say and as much as my body craves to be closer in every way leaning onto each other, just being close was enough.

[workingforitallthetime]

drawn arrows unseen

part 11 / previous installments/tags

Two days later, the coaches call them all down for a meeting, or at least all of them who haven’t already had a positive test. They announce that the tournament is canceled. Omicron wins. 

The room rumbles with disappointment and frustration. Next to Mason, Connor’s silent. His expression above his mask is typically impassive. This must be easier on him. He’s got so many more world Js ahead of him. Mason tries to count how many more years Connor will be eligible, but he stops when it starts to get depressing.

This might be Mason’s last shot, but he can’t even be mad about COVID fucking his life up yet again. Distantly, he hates the loss of any opportunity to compete, to win. But he’s holding his entire body tense at Connor’s scent seeping through the edges of his mask — he’s been doing the same thing for weeks now — and he’s wrung-out and exhausted and grateful just to leave, to get away from the terrible flood of want that Connor’s scent threatens to unleash.

He thinks it’ll get easier once he leaves Connor behind. But his flight to Ottawa is excruciating. He’s restless and sweating, tugging at his mask to try to get away from its bleached factory scent. When they land, the only thing that stops him from shouldering his way up the aisle to escape the stifling confines of the plane is the obviousness of the Team Canada gear he’s wearing.

In his billet bedroom, he tips his suitcase onto the floor and unzips it. The scent that wafts out, preserved all the way from their hotel room in Red Deer, brings him to his knees. He stays there like a supplicant at a Samsonite altar and gets a hand on himself, and when his knot swells he curls up on the floor to ride it out with his face in his dirty laundry, waiting for the relief that’s surely going to come when his knot recedes.

The relief doesn’t come. But Mason does. Again and again. After the next knot, he fumbles for his phone and bites down hard on the inside of his cheek to clear his head long enough to send a couple of texts. He tells the trainer from the Petes and his billet parents something about a positive COVID test. Then he locks his door for the next three days. He gets through his first rut alone, just him and his hand and the fading scent from his untouched suitcase.

After he emerges, they tell him he’s getting traded. Hamilton’s a contender. He’s going to have a chance to go for a championship, maybe a Memorial Cup. All Mason feels is relief that he’ll never have to see that billet room again.

“Welcome, brother.” Arber Xhekaj is one of the first guys in Hamilton to greet him, giving Mason a back-thumping hug.

Mason flicks his eyes around the room in a silent question, and Arber claps him on the shoulder and answers loud enough for everyone in the stalls around them to hear. “No, only one alpha on this team.” He gives Mason a wolfish smile. “Two now.”

Mason locks eyes with him and waits for Arber to look away first. Arber smells like cinderblocks, but Mason feels like an avalanche. He wants to fight. With Arber, against Arber, it doesn’t even matter. He wants to hit and take and howl, and that’s what he does all spring. 

He leans into the aggression that’s supposed to come with being an alpha, hunting every puck, winning every board battle, taking whatever he wants. Is he fearless because he’s an alpha, or because he just doesn’t care? There’s nothing for him here except to win, so that’s what he’s going to do. He barrels through everything in his way, straight to an OHL championship and the finals of the Memorial Cup.

After they lose, he gets a text from Kent. i know it fucking sucks, sorry. Mason remembers talking to him after the Frozen Four. Kent gets that going to the NHL doesn’t make up for losing when it counts. They’ve been in touch off and on since the aborted world juniors. Kent shit-talks USA Hockey with Mason and tells him how Luke Hughes keeps saying he wants to be a beta because he has one brother who’s an alpha and one brother who’s an omega (what is the deal with all Trevor’s friends, Mason wonders) and he doesn’t want to deal with all their bullshit.

Mason doesn’t ask Kent about Connor. But sometimes Kent tells him about something that happened in their training group or a sick roller hockey goal he scored off Connor’s feed. Keeping in touch with Kent feels like keeping alive Kent’s theories about Connor, about Connor and Mason. Like cupping that tiny spark in his hands, making space for the possibility, even as Mason keeps telling himself no and he’s sixteen.

In July, he texts Connor hbd, how’s the beard coming? and updates his mental refrain to “He’s seventeen.” Connor reposts another photo from his girlfriend. She looks like she smells like a pink macaron. Mason wonders if Connor’s into that. Then he reminds himself that Connor can’t smell anything yet anyway. He must date whoever he wants.

(next)