#sorry if formatting is wonky i fixed it best as i could

[lvnalovegreat]

some luna headcanons

In Icelandic lore, magic is primarily a woman’s art. Witches were called vísendakona - wise women, knowing women, women of science. Accounts by muggles call them by many names, as for much of history the existence of magic was not disputed or despised to the degree it was in Great Britain. Eventually persecution did send her mother’s ancestors into hiding, but that could not stop strong women from continuing  to breathe light and reason into their world. They simply learned to dole it out in more subtle doses. Luna learned from a young age that a soup can be another word for a potion, a walking cane can be a staff in disguise, a garden can protect a house from evil - that magic will flourish wherever a clever, tender caster may hide it. 

Luna’s journey into the earthy, patient magic of her maternal heritage made great leaps and bounds during her time as her mother’s assistant, and this time started in the garden. Luna learned to hum beautiful, mildly enchanting tunes to  plants every morning until they grew taller than her. She coaxed gnomes away from the dirigible plums and towards the ordinary plums planted as a decoy. Garden work was an idyllic task for a pensive little girl, but a talented witch cannot be crafted from purely idyllic circumstances. A large part of her mother’s work was kept hidden from Luna, and for good reason. It was unrefined and brutal, a terrifying counter to Sigrún’s sophistication and tenderness. As Luna grew older her mother entrusted her with more information and a more significant role as an assistant. It was at this point in Luna’s life that she learned the true power of knowledge. Luna watched her mother’s work consume her in a very literal sense of the word. Luna’s participation in these experiments forced her to wonder if perhaps she could have done something to prevent the day from turning as pear-shaped as it did. For years she chatted quietly about the possibility, among many other things, to Hogwarts’ thestral herd. Luna’s  heart aches for the the creatures. She wonders if, perhaps like her beloved thestrals, her lot in life as an outcast was determined from birth. She misses them dearly and hopes they aren’t suffering under the school’s new administration. 

As much respect that Luna has for her childhood hero Newt Scamander, her father obviously holds a more  tender place in Luna’s heart as a magizoologist and explorer. He met Luna’s mother while traveling around the globe in search of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, a supposedly breathtaking creature that neither of her parents doubted the existence of. Luna will wistfully tell the romantic story of how her mother and father conceived her in a tent in Northern Sweden beneath the winter sun in all its detail. All its glorious detail.  Xenophilius was (and is) a doting, intelligent father. He listened with great patience to all of little Luna’s eccentric theories about the world around her and she learned to do the same for him in return, and as a result raised an open-minded and respectful woman. He did not insult his daughter with dumbed-down speech or lies about Father Christmas, but instead included her in his work from a very young age. He painted the stars on Luna’s ceiling and showed her which she was born under so she’d know when she was most safe from Nargles. He wore his coat to the threads to buy Luna books to devour and crystals to protect her brain from wrackspurts.    After the death of Luna’s mother, Xenophilius took a break from his profession of growing potions supplies and took Luna to spend time living with his mother’s family in Brazil. Luna did not entirely appreciate being around so many relatives she wasn’t particularly close with, but she could tell it helped her father a great deal. When they arrived back in Ottery St. Catchpole, Luna named her father’s new piece of journalism the Quibbler. 

Luna suspects the Crumple Horned Snorkack doesn’t exist, but nobody else will know that she doesn’t believe strongly in such a key aspect of her father’s life’s work. She doesn’t want to discredit his other discoveries - because nargles do exist, as to a whole host of hidden creatures only her father has been dedicated and intelligent enough to learn of.  Luna’s keen intuition when it comes to those around her has also allowed her to see her father’s desperate search for what it is - a way to keep her mother alive, as Sigrún had been just as excited about the possibility of finding it as he had, and they had used up their honeymoon money looking for the legendary creature. And for that Luna finds the search an admirable cause even if it never bears tangible fruit. 

Luna had never minded being alone, and still she cannot remember a time when she could consider herself anything but an outcast. However, making friends changed her forever. Now that she knows the comfort that comes in caring for such a diverse and wonderful group of people, she also knows that returning to isolation would hurt her immensely. The thought of her friends losing themselves to this war scares her - will it turn Neville hard? Will it take Ginny’s youthful passion away? Will Harry be able to handle the mess he’s being thrust into?  Luna takes pride in keeping the peace. She finds people forget the spiritual aspects of self care, so she does her best to help them keep their souls healthy even when their bodies ache. The last thing she wants is pessimism and anger overtaking the Resistance. She detests the notion that a good fighter is hard and stubborn and cruel. Luna mourns the losses on both sides, and does not seek to do any more harm than is absolutely necessary. Luna has never killed and dreads the prospect.  All the same, her ability to detach from planet earth and plant the thinking part of her brain firmly in the clouds helps her get dirty work done. She’ll protect her friends at almost any cost. 

Luna’s father passed his talent for painting on to her and then some. Luna’s walls have changed dramatically over the years, from the star chart her father painted her to whimsical stories all the way up to her final piece featuring her friends intertwined in a protective golden circle. Luna does not always speak much, but she draws and paints almost daily, and often practices meditative painting. She loves how much emotion can linger in a single color and how easily her world is communicated in pictures.  When Luna hid in the Room of Requirement prior to slipping out of the castle, she used the steady hand her father blessed her with and the ancestral lore her mother taught her to make the bold decision to tattoo runes onto her skin. The tattoos are mostly hidden beneath her shirt and pants, but the two most prominent ones are located on her wrists, right above the hands. She genuinely believes they help her focus her magic and provide protection and, as demonstrated with placebos for Felix Felicis, sometimes belief is all one really needs.  It’s not her body’s appearance that matters. These tattoos help Luna preserve her soul. Like most things, Luna has thought deeply about her ink. She thinks about how she can look at them while she’s being tortured. How they will help identify her mangled corpse. How they will look sliced through with scarring. Luna thinks about all the grisly details with general indifference, but she hopes most of all that her tattoos will help her remain a good friend and protect her soul from decay. Are these things necessarily what the runes she chose were originally meant for?  As always, Luna thinks that’s up for interpretation. 

[courageous-she]

Needing You- Charlie Gillespie

Charlie x female reader

Summary: You’re having a rough day and go to your best friend for some comfort

Word Count: 3037

Author’s Note: I haven’t really written in a while but became a SIMP for this boy after watching JATP. Here’s something I thought up while I should have been working at work. Also the formatting may have gotten a little wonky so sorry for that. Um anyway, hope you enjoy!

**

You: Hey, are you home? Charlie: Yeah, why, what’s up? You: Can we hang out? I don’t really want to be alone rn Charlie: Sure thing! I can come over? You: Actually, can I come over? I don’t feel like being in my apartment rn Charlie: Of course, doors unlocked <3

You locked your phone, resting it on your chest and letting out a long sigh. Life had just been hitting too hard lately, so you texted Charlie hoping he’d be able to distract you and take your mind off of things. You simply needed some quality time with your best friend and to not think about everything going on in your life right now. Luckily, Charlie was always down to hang out and was always flexible on what the two of you would do.

You lifted your head just enough from your starfish position on your bed to glance over your outfit. You’d changed into your comfy clothes when you got home a few hours ago. These would be fine, Charlie has seen you in worse clothes, and probably in an overall worse state than this. Shrugging, you stood from your bed and grabbed your keys, making your way over to the bus stop at the end of your street. 

Quietly opening the door to Charlie and Owen’s apartment, you carefully left your shoes at the door. You looked up and noticed Owen and Jeremy sitting on the couch in the small apartment living room. “Hey, Y/N” Owen and Jeremy said at the same time, both giving a quick nod of the head. You waved back, making your way down the hallway to Charlie’s room. It wasn’t odd for you to come over to the boy’s apartment, so Owen and Jeremy didn’t question it. Owen was more used to your frequent visits than Jeremy because Owen actually lived there, but both boys knew how close you and Charlie are so it would be odd if you didn’t show up at some point during the week.

Charlie’s door was open a crack, a low light creeping out into the hallway. You pushed the door open just enough to slide your body through, and closed it when you were all the way inside. 

“Hey” Charlie said softly, sitting up slightly in his bed and closing his laptop. Instead of responding, you pulled the covers back on his bed and slid under. Charlie watched you, slightly confused, but lifted his arm for you when you began to crawl under it resting your head on his chest. His arm around you hugged you closer, while his other hand came around to rest on top of yours that was resting on his stomach. 

“Y/N? Is everything okay?” he asked, voice soft. You shook your head ‘no’ on his chest. “Do you want to talk about it?” Again, you shook your head. Charlie’s chest rose up before he let out a long sigh. It wasn’t often you got like this, but when you did it always broke Charlie a little inside. “What can I do to help?” “Is it okay if we just lay here for a while?” you finally said.

“Yeah, ‘course it is. Want me to put on a movie for background noise or somethin’?” Charlie asked, leaning over slightly to grab his tv remote. You simply nodded a ‘yes’ against his chest, knowing he would just choose a movie for the two of you. 

Charlie ended up choosing “Onward”, a Disney movie was bound to put a smile on your face, he thought. The two of you silently watched the movie, staying in relatively the same position. As the movie was coming to a close, tears began to make their way down your face, landing on Charlie’s shirt. He looked down when he began to feel the wet spot on his chest. Moving so he could see your face better, Charlie smirked at your current state.

“Are you crying?” Charlie asked, the goofy smirk not leaving his face. You lifted your head from his chest, glancing between his smirking expression and the puddle on his chest. 

“What? He never got to meet his dad! After all that!!” you said, pouting out your bottom lip so you didn’t start sobbing. Charlie chuckled before sitting back and pulling you back into him.

“Haven’t you seen this before? You knew this was coming” he replied while turning his attention back to the screen.

“Just because I’ve seen it already doesn’t make it any less sad, Char.” But he could tell by the tone in your voice that you weren’t talking about the movie anymore. He grabbed the remote, stopping the end credits. You started to sit up, wiping the remnants of tears from your face.

“Are you ready to talk about it?” he asked, voice soft and understanding. You hugged your knees to your chest, resting your head on your knees facing your friend sitting next to you.

“Everything is just so overwhelming right now. It’s like nothing can go my way and just keeps piling on top of me. I feel like I’m drowning and I’m so over it.” There was a comfortable silence between the two of you for a moment “I hate feeling like this” you whispered. Charlie put his hand on your back, rubbing small circles.

“Hey, hey, look at me” he said. Your eyes remained fixed on a random spot of his bed. “Y/N, please” he whispered. You shifted your gaze so that your eyes met his. “I know that things might be really tough right now, but I know you, and I know how hard you work, and I know that you will get through this. You have the weekend to forget about things and relax for a bit too, I’m here to get your mind off of the stress.”

You smiled at his reassuring words; he always knew what to say. You moved so that you could rest your head on his shoulder. “Thanks, Char, don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“I don’t know, probably die or something” he said casually. You punched his shoulder jokingly and laughing at the boy next to you. “You hungry? We can order some food” 

“I didn’t bring my wallet with me” you said, remembering that you’d only grabbed your keys on your way out. 

“Don’t worry about that, it was on me anyway.” Charlie said, scrolling through UberEats on his phone for something to order. “What are you feeling?”

“Char, I’m not letting you pay! At least let me Venmo you?” you asked, already beginning to feel guilty at the fact that he offered to pay.

“Y/N” he said, putting his phone down and turning to face you, “You’re not paying,” he placed both hands on your cheeks, squishing them slightly, “Do not. Worry. About it.”

“But Charlie,” you replied, turning your body to face him straight on, “I. Feel. Bad” you mimicked his position, placing both hands on his cheeks and squishing them. And there the two of you were, hands on each other’s cheeks, squishing them. That was until you heard Charlie’s bedroom door slowly creak open.

“Hey guys, Jer and I were just wondering if you wanted to order food?” Owen asked, walking in while looking down at his phone. When he looked up and noticed the way you two were positioned, he stopped dead in his tracks. “Uh, I’m sorry, did I walk in on something?” he asked concerned, but slightly amused. 

“Perfect timing Owen!” Charlie said, taking his hands off your cheeks and grabbing his phone again, “Y/N and I were just having the same conversation”

“I was thinking maybe Chinese?” Owen asked, resuming his scrolling on his phone. You and Charlie looked at each other, an unsure look on your face.

“Eh, not really feelin’ it” Charlie replied, going back to his phone for food inspiration.

“I was kind of craving pasta from that Italian place down the street” you said.

“Pomodoro?” Charlie asked, and immediately he looked at Owen and they gave each other the same look. “Yes!” They both said at the same time.

“I’ll go ask Jer what he wants, text me your orders.” Owen replied, leaving the room. But before Owen asked Jeremy what he wanted to eat, he explained in detail what he saw when he walked in on you and Charlie. The two boys grinned at each other, knowing how the two of you felt about the other, and knowing that neither of you would say anything to the other.

**

When the food arrived, the four of you sat in the small living room eating, joking, and watching a variety of YouTube videos. You loved hanging out with the guys, it was always entertaining and you definitely got a workout from how much you laughed. 

After everyone had finished eating, the four of you decided to put on a movie. You sat next to Charlie on the smaller couch, leaning into his side, while Owen laid out on the bigger couch and Jeremy had a spot on the floor with some pillows. 

You’re not sure how long into the movie you made it, but eventually you fell asleep on Charlie’s shoulder. He hadn’t noticed you fell asleep until Owen brought it up.

“Hey man, she out?” he asked, leaning up on the couch. Jeremy looked over too, noticing your sleeping figure resting against Charlie. Charlie glanced down at you, brushing your hair away from your face.

“Yeah, she must’a fell asleep” he said, eyes resting on you a little longer before turning to look at Owen. Owen smirked and looked at Jeremy, who matched his smirk before the two boys looked back at Charlie. “What’s the look for?” he asked confused.

“Oh, come on, Charlie!” Jeremy said, “You are head over heels for her!” he whisper shouted.

“And you have been since day one” Owen added. 

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Charlie whisper shouted back. The boys couldn’t see but underneath the blanket, Charlie was pulling you closer to him. He felt like he had to protect you despite there really being nothing to protect you from.

“Don’t avoid it Charlie, it’s so obvious” Owen retorted.

“The only question is, when are you finally going to tell her?” Jeremy asked.

As Charlie was forming his response, his felt you shift next to him. All three boys shifted their gaze to you, hoping you hadn’t heard what they were talking about. You shifted so that your face was resting in the crook of Charlie’s neck. He shivered at the feeling of your breath on his skin.

“Char?” you asked, too sleepy to open your eyes. Charlie squeezed your side to let you know he was there.

“What’s up? You alright?” he asked.

“ ‘m fine. What time is it?”

“Uh, it’s about 12:30” 

“Shit!” you said, quickly sitting up from your comfortable position and rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, “The last bus leaves in 30 minutes, I gotta go!” You started to stand up from the couch, but Charlie grabbed your hips, sitting you back down on the couch.

“Chill, Y/N! I’m not letting you get on a bus in the middle of the night! You can sleep in my bed, I’ll take the couch tonight” Charlie said, trying to calm you down. Jeremy coughed from the other side of the room, giving Charlie a look. Jeremy was crashing on the couch considering that he didn’t actually live there and had planned to spend the night. Charlie shot back a ‘not now’ look, returning his focus on you.

“I can’t take your bed. I’ll take the couch” you said, not wanting to put your friend out any more than you had tonight.

“Well, actually, I-I’m supposed to be sleeping on the couch” Jeremy finally spoke up. Charlie shot him a look, causing Jeremy to shrug and shy back out of the conversation.

“Then I’ll take the floor, but I’m not taking your bed” You said, bundling the blanket that was piled next to you. 

“Y/N, you are not sleeping on the damn floor. Either you sleep in my bed or we’re both sleeping on the floor. End of story” Charlie said, a little more stern this time.

“Well with that logic, why don’t we both just sleep in the bed?” you asked, shrugging. Charlie’s eyes went wide. Owen and Jeremy’s heads quickly turned their attention to you, smirks threatening to appear on their faces. 

“I-I mean, if-if you’re cool with that, yeah we could do that” Charlie stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He hadn’t expected you to offer to share a bed with him, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to pass this opportunity up.

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t cool with it, but now that we’ve settled that, I’m tired. Goodnight boys!” you said, standing up and waving.

“ ‘night!” Owen and Jeremy replied, waving as you made your way back to Charlie’s room. What you didn’t see was the two boys silently cheering Charlie on as he slowly stood and made his way to his room. 

You were already tucked away when he made it, closing the door softly behind him. He made his way through the dark and found his way to bed. He slipped in next to you, laying awkwardly on his back, not exactly knowing how to sleep next to you. He turned his head to look at you. Your back was facing him, breathing slow. He figured that you’d already fallen asleep given how tired you were, so he got comfortable and eventually fell asleep.

**

Charlie woke with a start when he heard you start to cry out in your sleep. He couldn’t make out what you were saying but he knew that you were having a nightmare. He immediately pulled your back close to his chest, arms wrapping around you. His cheek was pressed against yours as he whispered in your ear. “Hey, hey, you’re alright, I’m here, you’re okay” You woke up, heart racing, and hands grasping Charlie’s arms that wrapped around your middle. He loosened them enough for you to turn around and face him. 

“What would I do without you?” you asked, cuddling closer into his chest, eyes closing in comfort. Charlie took a deep breath, he felt like now was the time to tell you. Tell you how he really felt, how much he wanted to never be without you.

“Y/N?” he whispered?

“Yeah, Char?”

“Can I tell you something?” He was trying to keep his nerves down, knowing you’d be able to feel him shaking.

“Of course, you can tell me anything.” You replied, shifting to lean slightly over him. He mimicked your position, the two of you leaning to face the other. “I like you. Um, like more than a friend kind of like you. And I don’t want this to ruin what we have so if you don’t feel the same way that’s- that’s cool we can forget I said this.” Charlie rambled. You were taken aback by the sudden out poor of emotional truth. Charlie was beginning to accept that you didn’t feel the same way until you made a move. You leaned in and kissed Charlie, all of the bottled-up feelings coming to the surface. 

“I like you too, Char,” you whispered, hand cupping the side of his face, “God, I’ve liked you since the day we met” you laughed, remembering your first encounter on set with Charlie. Charlie sighed from relief from next to you.

“I was so scared you didn’t feel the same…”

“How could I not, Charlie? I literally couldn’t survive without you.” You spoke. A smile crept its way onto Charlie’s face before he leaned in for another kiss, deeper and more passionate than the first. The two of you spent much of the rest of the night like that, moving between sleep and giggly sleepy kisses. The next morning, the two of you slept in a little later than normal, and laid in bed cuddled up watching TikToks, sneaking kisses in between. It was a kind of bliss you didn’t think you’d ever experience. Both of your heads turned when a short knock was made against the door.

“Are you guys dead in there?” Owen asked through the door. The two of you chuckled from the bed.

“We’re fine Owen!” Charlie shouted.

“Are you sure? It’s like noon-thirty and I haven’t heard anything from either of you?” Owen shouted back. You laughed at the boys, moving to get out of the bed and answer the door. Charlie pouted at the lack of you next to him. You opened the door to see a concerned looking Owen. 

“Good morning, Owen” you smiled.

“Did I interrupt something?” he asked, noticing Charlie’s lack of shirt and a messy bed.

“No, you didn’t. We were just getting up to grab some breakfast” you replied.

“Oh, well I was going to ask if you guys wanted some waffles? Jeremy and I just made some” he said, still looking between you and Charlie, attempting to put the pieces together on what happened when the two of you went to bed last night.

“I’d love some waffles! Let me just grab my sweatshirt and I’ll be right there!” 

Owen nodded, leaving the room. You turned to look for your sweatshirt somewhere on the floor. Feeling two arms wrap around your waist, you giggled, placing your arms over Charlie’s.

“You know you don’t have to go out there.” He said, lips hovering just over your ear.

“No, I don’t have to.” You said, “But we need to eat.”

“There’s something right here I could eat.” Charlie replied. You spun around quickly in his arms, slapping him lightly on the upper arm.

“Charlie!” You couldn’t believe how quickly he responded with that!

“What!? It’s true!” he winked at you.

“Well too bad because that is currently not on the menu. I want waffles!” you said before breaking free of his grasp, grabbing your sweatshirt and skipping out of the room to the kitchen. Charlie was left standing in his room, mouth agape, but laughing at how you handled that. What would he do without you?

[onmywaytobe]

Dissidia Writeblr March 2021 Week 2

Ooo she do be late but she tried her best! Thank you @maple-writes for working with me and thanks @dissidia-writeblr for running this amazing event!

(apologies for any wonky formatting I’m posting on mobile and I’ll fix it tomorrow)

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

As Sichoris walks in front of Warren and Leo, he turns back with a smile. “You were summoned to this world from your worlds. But it’s only temporary. Normally, people who are summoned here are returned in a few weeks.” Leo doesn’t pay much attention, absently noting that his dreams weren’t usually this lore-heavy. “This world is facing a crisis,” Sichoris continues. “The magic in this world has gone out of control and is randomly changing people into beings of light or darkness who prey on humans. Some people want to find a way to change the beings back, but Ritania has faced the bitter truth that once changed, no one can change back. So, we are trying to find a solution to the problem that caused all this. Someone performed the summoning spell, and the leader I work for wants to see if the people who have been summoned have anything that can help us fight the beings. You’ll be meeting him soon.”

He sounds very serious as he leads them into the big city. The buildings loom tall and impassive, metal and stone against the clear blue sky. The soldiers standing guard watch them, but they don’t say anything. There aren’t many people walking on the streets. Leo is surprised to see the city so empty. From afar, it had looked like a bustling metropolis. Yet the majority of the inhabitants of the city seem to be hiding away, leaving the soldiers the only ones outside. Sichoris looks back at Warren and Leo. “Ritania is actually at war at the moment, so that’s why there are so many soldiers around.”

“War, huh?” Warren mumbles, taking a sip from their travel mug and seeming awfully casual about the whole thing. Maybe there’s something brewing under the surface. Or maybe they’re used to things like this.

Leo stares at them, wondering at how out of place they look here in their office attire. Probably not. “Magic, war... what is this, Harry Potter?” He rolls his eyes, a little annoyed with his own imagination. Maybe he’s been watching too many movies with Carter.

“Who’s that?” Warren asks, but Leo wasn’t in the mood to explain.

“Carter would love this,” he mutters. Now that he’d thought of her, he was sure that was the explanation, her influence on his mind.

“Who?” Warren asks again, looking concerned. Now Leo feels a bit rude. He doesn’t want to leave Warren confused, even if they were just in his mind.

But now he has to figure out how to describe Carter. “She’s...” Who is she to him? There isn’t one word for her, what she means to him. Their relationship isn’t exactly conventional. “A friend,” Leo eventually settles on. “She loves good stories.”

Trying to be friendly, even if they don’t understand, Warren gives him a small smile. “I guess whenever we wake up you’ll have a new one for her. Might not make much sense though,” they add.

“Doesn’t matter.” Leo sighs. “She likes them when they’re exciting, that’s all that counts.”

God, he misses her. Maybe the next time they meet he could tell her about this dream. He needs something to talk about, something lighter to take their minds off work. Everything is always so serious. Although this dream is starting to get serious too, with all the talk of soldiers and war. He can practically hear Carter’s voice, insisting that conflict is what makes stories interesting. She really would love this, Leo thinks. She’d probably be interviewing this guy Sichoris, trying to find out more about the politics of the country and trying to uncover the inside scoop about the war.

Something Sichoris said starts nagging at Leo. What if this isn’t a dream? What if he really has been transported to another world? Without his meds, who knows how long he’ll last here. He doubts he would make it the few weeks that Sichoris mentioned. Which means he will never see Carter again. The thought is almost too much to bear.

Apparently this distress is showing on his face, because Warren leans in close and says, “Is something wrong?”

Leo hesitates, trying to decide how much to reveal. “I’m in love with her and I can’t say anything, just show her as best I can and hope she gets the message,” he says, referring to Carter. “And it’s killing me,” he adds, sharing an inside joke with himself. He doesn’t want to worry Warren too much, so he doesn’t mention his illness. Leo is uncomfortable even sharing this much, so he tries to shift the attention away from himself. “What about you? All shiny like that, you’ve got to have someone back home.”

He wasn’t expecting much of a response, given how quiet Warren has been so far. Their face softens, smiling as they think of their special someone. “I do. We’ve known each other since we were kids.” Warren grows quiet as the three of them pass a few soldiers, glancing at them with a nervous laugh. Leo wishes they hadn’t stopped talking. It made it too easy for repressed thoughts of his own childhood love to flood back. “She’d probably be able to figure out what’s going on here a lot better than me.”

“Childhood sweethearts, huh?” Leo says, hardly listening to Warren. His mind is full of thoughts of Jules, his own sweetheart from long ago. This is far from where he’d thought this conversation would go. Asking about Warren’s love life had seemed like such an innocent question, not one that would bring up some of his worst memories. Desperately trying to stay on track, he asks, “What’s she like?”

“Oh, she’s lovely,” Warren responds immediately. “She’s clever and tough and talented... We don’t get to see each other as much as we used to before—“ Perhaps this line of questioning had been a mistake. Warren seemed to have their fair share of problems when it came to romance too. “Well, she got herself into some trouble and has been laying low for awhile, but we still talk as often as we can.” They sighed, smile wavering. “It’s unfortunate, but we make do. She does visit sometimes though.”

“She sounds wonderful,” Leo says, and he means it. He can tell Warren cares a lot about this woman. “I’m sorry you don’t get to see her anymore. There’s nothing worse than being separated from the ones you love.” He hopes Warren can tell that his sympathy is genuine, that he speaks from experience.

They look like they understand. “Thanks,” Warren says with a sigh, meeting Leo’s eyes. “And I hope for you things work out with Carter.”

They’re too kind, and Leo looks away. He’s not used to such kindness from strangers. Before he has the chance to think of a response, Sichoris leads them to a large building that looks like it holds offices. So they’ve reached their destination.

He shows them down an endless hallway lined with dozens of doors and knocks on one of them before letting himself in. Warren and Leo follow, and they are met with a man with short, black hair and pale gray eyes.

He also has angel wings, one black and one white. Leo blinks, not quite believing his eyes. And here he had been entertaining the idea that he wasn’t dreaming.

The winged man smiles at them and bows slightly. “My name is Tidis, and I am a humble servant of Ritania. You two must have been summoned here, correct?” Leo supposes this is what Sichoris meant when he said everything would be explained. Tidis sounds like he knows what’s going on and was willing to tell them everything.

“I can help you,” Tidis continues. “If you will just come with me and answer a few questions, I can heal any ailments you have and let you return to your normal lives.” He holds out his hand to shake. “Will you come with me?”

Leo doesn’t have to think twice. Even if this is a dream, the chance to heal any ailments is too good to pass up. If this Tidis has that capability, Leo would do whatever it took to make that happen.

He steps forward and shakes Tidis’s hand.

[qvill-s]

hi all !!!

sorry again for the prolonged absence from the blog. you guys deserve an explanation.

a week-ish after i posted the inigo imagine, my laptop died on me, big time. nothing i could do would get it to boot up to windows. i took it to a shop and they managed to get it fixed with a factory reset, which meant that all the drafts i had for the imagines here were lost. not gonna lie, that made me really sad (ooof), especially because i lost a lot of work i was proud of. i didn't really feel like writing after that.

my laptop worked fine until this week, when it died on me (again!!). unfortunately, it was much more drastic death and im probably going to need to get a new laptop. don't worry, ill thankfully be able to once my paycheck comes in next week, so this isn't a 'please donate to me' thing! i just felt that you guys should know what's going on and why i haven't been so active on here.

in any case, ill try my best to stay active. im still a little sad from losing all my work, but im slowly getting into writing stuff for the requests again — this time properly backed up on google drive so they can't be lost — through my phone. formatting will be a little wonky for a while, so please bear with me!

it's my hope to get this blog as active as it was before, and i wanted to assure you all that im working hard to achieve that goal.

thank you all so much for your continued support to this humble blog, and to your very unreliable mod :')

❀ mod l

[destielfanfic]

All The Nights

All The Nights by NorthernSparrow [ @northern-sparrow on tumblr] Rating: T Word count: 32,300 Summary: A ghost hunt goes wrong, and Dean ends up fighting for his life in an icy river. A certain angel somehow knows he's in trouble and shows up to help, but doesn't have enough power left to warm up Dean. It's just a simple cold night in the woods, but things can go wrong fast at night in the woods, and soon Cas and Dean must each decide what they'll risk to save the other. And they just might end up so exhausted that they accidentally start talking.  Canon compliant; focuses on the Dean/Cas breakup of S15E03, but takes place 2 months later. It's a couple weeks after "Golden Time", S15E06; Eileen has just been brought back; Cas/Dean breakup was 2 mos ago; short FBI phone convo was a couple weeks ago. Sam/Eileen implied gently in the background. Warning: NO SMUT and not a totally happy ending yet, but it ends hopefully.  (This fic will probably be rendered irrelevant by canon immediately, but I wanted to put a pin in the map right now, before the show ends, & think through my own take on the possible reasons for all the Dean/Castiel tension of the last two years. And see if I could make it all make sense.)

I think the summary and author’s notes do a good job in describing this fic and the canon milestones it is tethered to. As we are still waiting for season 15 to tackle Dean and Cas’ conflict head on, reading this fic this could be a very thought provoking or even cathartic experience, depending on your understanding of canon events. The author explores Dean’s inner turmoil and seeks to understand what provoked Dean’s actions and harsh words towards Cas. At the same time, the shadow of Chuck’s revelation looms heavily over Team Free Will and even Cas is lost in self doubts. The story doesn't offer an easy solution to their tangled relationship since that is the job for the show to do (you have one job, show, one job). But there’s some tender platonic cuddling and long needed heart to heart. This story is a perfect read while we all are trapped in current canon destiel limbo. 

If you enjoyed the fic, please drop by the archive (AO3) and let the author know with your comments and/or kudos! And if you found our recs useful, let us know by Liking and/or Reblogging our posts! <3

Suggested further reading - a friendly reminder that after DFF transitioned to an archive (February 2018), our canon fic reading declined considerably, and this review is rather an exception than the norm. Due to technical problems we also can’t create new tags and that’s why we don’t have season 13-15 tags on our Tags Page. Your best bet to find recent canon fic recs on this blog is to go through our SU (canon verse) tag directly. 

Who You Gonna Call? - fix it fic rec list to remember all previous Dean and Cas tensions and how fanfic writers resolved them. 

see this post about latest changes in our fic review format. And sorry if formatting is wonky on mobile, we blame tumblr!

[fangirl--of-everything]

The Boxer (Diego Hargreeves x Reader)

word count: ~3500

request: nope, not requested

summary: Diego and the reader box together, and the two have struck up a casual friendship over the last year. One night (y/n) is woken up by loud knocking on her door and finds Diego, who asks for a place to lay low and crash for the night. He doesn’t end up sleeping on the couch. 

warning: Diego gets a little beat up, swearing, I think that’s it

A.N. I just really like this angry knife boy. I hope you guys like it, and I apologize if the formatting is wonky, I can’t seem to be able to fix some of the problems. 

Alright, enjoy :)

(Y/n) slammed her fist into the punching bag, grunting as she did. Pain bloomed along her knuckles. The bag swung satisfyingly, and the deep burn in her arms showed her that she was getting stronger. She bounced on the balls of her feet, punching again and again, losing herself in the sound of her fists against the bag, the movement of her body as she executed the combination.

She tucked her fists tight to her face, bounced her weight from her left foot onto her right, and swung her left leg up. The loud thump of her leg slamming into the bag sent it rattling on its chain, and she laughed, hopping back and shaking out her arms. 

Her whole body was vibrating with adrenaline, and she smiled as she grabbed her water bottle, pulling an earbud out of her ear as she did so.

Now that her workout was done and her music was turned off she was able to notice that the gym had gotten busier and louder in the last few hours, and she sat down in front of her bag to people-watch. Most of the people in the gym were regulars, people whose faces she recognized even if she didn’t know their names. But there were also bodies that she didn’t recognize, people who looked lost in this space. (Y/n) checked her phone and saw that it was almost 10pm. That explained the crowd. The fight was about to start.

She pulled on a shirt and gathered her water bottle and phone before joining the rest of the crowd, nudging her way through the throngs of people until she was close enough to the ring to have an unobstructed view of the fight. She got there just in time to see the two fighters duck under the ropes and move into the ring. The first fighter she didn’t recognize, but the second caught her eye and shot her a wink as he hopped in place.

The fight started quickly, and the rounds moved fast. Diego was quick in the ring, but the real reason he won was because he was aggressive, taking risks that most boxers wouldn’t, putting himself at risk in order to get hits. It was self-destructive, and dangerous, and mesmerizing to watch. He took almost as many hits as he gave, but if there was one thing Diego Hargreeves could do, he could take a hit.

His opponent only lasted three rounds, hitting the mat after a flurry of punches that made (y/n) almost dizzy to watch. The crowd cheered, and Diego soaked up their praise. He walked around the ring with his arms held high, a triumphant grin on his face.

(Y/n) gave him a small smile that he didn’t see, and went to grab her things out of her locker. She was starving, and she wouldn’t be able to get his attention until the crowd had cleared anyways.

It was quieter in the locker room than it was out in the gym. She tucked her belongings into her gym bag and pulled her hoodie on, fished a snack out of her bag, and started snacking on the chicken strips she had packed. The food dulled the gnawing in her stomach.

She heard footsteps behind her, and she looked up to see Diego. He had a wet towel pressed against the split in his eyebrow, and it looked like he had gotten to clean some of the blood off his face. His cheek was already puffing up and his eye was darkening, but he was flushed and grinning with adrenaline.

“That was a really good fight.” (Y/n) said, holding out her bag of chicken. “But you were reckless. One day you’re going to get your nose broken or your teeth knocked in.”

He accepted the food, stuffing an entire piece of chicken into his mouth and smirking around it. “I was fine. I’ve taken harder hits than that.”

“I know you have. But you don’t have to. If you’re good enough, they don’t get the chance to hit you at all.” She gave him a smug smile. “I’ve never taken a hit that hard, but maybe I’m just a better boxer than you.”

He laughed, and she smiled at him, pulling her bag over her shoulder. “Walk me out?”

He nodded, catching the strap of her bag before she could get it settled and tugging it off her shoulder, slinging it over his. She caught the way he winced as it settled on his bruised shoulder, but she didn’t say anything. She knew he wouldn’t listen.

“So,” Diego bumped her side as they walked through the gym, “any plans for tonight?”

“No, not really. Probably gonna take a hot shower and watch a movie. I have an early shift at the store tomorrow.”

“At the bookstore?”

She nodded. “What about you?”

He shrugged. “I’ll probably just stay here. Have a quiet night in.”

“That sounds fun.” She shot him a look out of the corner of her eye and saw that he was smiling.

“Oh yeah,” he nodded. “Definitely fun. Relaxing.”

She didn’t buy what he was saying, and he knew it. But they had an unspoken agreement, one where (y/n) pretended that she didn’t know that Diego spent his nights as a vigilante. In exchange Diego pretended that she really did work early shifts at the bookstore, even though it didn’t open until 9:30 in the morning. 

He knew what she was really doing first thing in the morning was going to the nursing home to visit her father. He felt best first thing in the morning, when sleep had cleared some of the cobwebs from his memory. Some days he even recognized her.

They got to the doors of the gym, but Diego didn’t stop. He walked with her the entire way home, keeping up a string of friendly conversation the entire way. He asked her how her workout had gone, and she talked with him about the fight. They discussed tomorrow’s workout. When they got to her apartment they said a casual goodbye, and Diego turned and left with little  fuss.

They had been going to the gym together for almost two years, and Diego had been walking her home for the last year and a half. Their friendship had started out as just friendly smiles in the gym, but after Diego helped (y/n) out of a dangerous situation the two had started talking more. They spared together frequently now, and Diego always walked her home, and over the past year and a half they had each pieced together parts of the other’s life. But they were both private people, and they respected that about each other.

-----/--/-----

It was almost four in the morning when there was a knock on (y/n)’s front door. She was in a deep sleep at that point, exhausted after a good workout, but she was also a single woman who lived alone, and the heavy pounding on the door woke her up after only a couple of seconds. 

She was immediately alert, her heart pounding. She grabbed the baseball bat that she kept under her bed and moved cautiously towards the door on silent feet. She checked the peephole, and let the baseball bat drop from her hand.

“Hargreeves, what the hell are you doing here?”

Diego was dripping wet, and his nose was bleeding. There were fresh bruises darkening across his forehead and jaw, ones that hadn’t been there when the two had parted ways a couple of hours ago. A black mask was hanging loosely from one of his hands.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Can I come in?”

(Y/n)’s eyebrows shot up, but she stepped out of the doorway, letting him into the apartment. He had never been inside before, and he looked around the room from the entryway, taking in the small, but homey, one bedroom.

“Nice place.”

(Y/n) suppressed a yawn and tried to reign in her tired irritation. “Diego what are you doing here?”

He looked guilty when he say how tired she was, and he shrugged sheepishly, dripping water onto her floor. “I got in a bit of trouble and couldn’t make it back to the gym. Do you mind if I hang out here until the heat dies down?”

“The heat? Are the police after you or something?” (Y/n) was suddenly aware of the sounds of sirens outside. It was normally a quiet neighbourhood, and it was rare for police to pass through. “Oh my god Diego are the police after you?”

He scratched the back of his head nervously. “Uh, listen, here’s the thing. You know that vigilante guy that beats up criminals in the city and throws knives?”

“Yes, and I know it’s you. That doesn’t explain why the police are after you.”

“The cops don’t really love when I do their job for them. Do you mind if I just lay low for a bit here? They know I hang around the gym, so I can’t go home.”

(Y/n) wanted to tell him to get the hell out, but she couldn’t be mad. He had saved her life once not too long ago, it was time to return the favour. 

She sighed. “Fine.You can crash on the couch. I probably have some clothes you can borrow if you want to take all of that off, I’ll throw it in the wash. And you need to take a hot shower to help relax your muscles.”

Diego arched an eyebrow. He was still standing in the doorway, hair damp from the rain, and his lips were tinged blue from the cold. But he looked undisturbed by all of that and was eyeing the couch. “I’m fine, trust me. I deal with this all the time. I just need to sleep, I can crash on the floor it’s no big deal.”

“Well it’s a big deal to me. I don’t want you dying of pneumonia in my apartment, so get your ass up and go take a shower. And give me your wet clothes.”

Diego arched his eyebrows and gave her a nod and mock salute. “Yes ma’am.”

She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hold back a smile as he gave her a cheeky smirk. She pointed him in the direction of the bathroom went to get him a towel and some clothes to wear while his stuff was in the wash. The only things she had were a pair of oversized sweatpants and a large heavy-metal band t-shirt that she had won years ago at a concert with a friend. Still, it was better than nothing, and to be honest she was a little excited to see Diego in a shirt with a giant screaming Viking on it. She had to imagine he wouldn’t look too tough dressed like that, and she was prepared to mock him for it.

The water was running by the time she got back to the bathroom, but the door was still open, and Diego was still fully clothed. (Y/n) raised her eyebrows and put the clothes and towel on the counter.

“H-hey,” Diego scratched the back of his head nervously. “Could you do me a f-favour?”

(Y/n) nodded, surprised by the nervousness. He was normally really confident. “What’s up?”

“My, uh, my arm,” he gestured to his right arm and shoulder, “I ca- I can’t,” he groaned in frustration.

(Y/n) figured out what he was saying, and she nodded wordlessly. She took his arm gently and turned him slightly so she could get to the clips of his harness, undoing them and guiding the straps off his shoulders. He hissed as he twisted his shoulder to get it off, but he gave her a grateful smile as she put it down.

“Thanks.” He said softly.

“No problem. Do you need help with the shirt too?”

He nodded. She helped him get it off, her eyes catching on the dark bruises that were spreading along his torso. Some of them might have been from the fight earlier, but a lot of them looked new, blooming fresh along his ribs. When the shirt was off fully she saw how dark and swollen his shoulder was too. It looked bad.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” She couldn’t stop herself from reaching for his shoulder, her fingers hovering over the bruise.

“I’m fine.” Diego nodded, his voice low and hoarse. One of his hands brushed against her hip, and (y/n)’s eyes snapped up to meet his. His eyes were dark as he looked down at her, and his fingers tightened, pressing into her hip.

She couldn’t say she wasn’t attracted to him. She had been since the first time she had seen him in the gym, but she hadn’t been looking for a relationship, and he had too much baggage. He was reckless in his fighting style, and she knew about his night life, and it was too much for her to tackle. Plus she made a policy not to date anyone at her gym, because she liked the space and didn’t want to have to find a new one if things got awkward with someone she went out with.

None of that was going through her head right now though. She was looking at those dark eyes, and that kissable mouth. She was thinking about the way he had looked fighting at the gym today, the flush on his face when he had talked to her afterwards. The way his body moved when they sparred together. 

His hair was hanging low, weighed down by the rain. It looked the same when he was at the gym, and it was her favourite.

“What are you thinking about?” Diego asked, his voice husky.

She licked her bottom lip, hyper aware of how close their bodies were to each other. Steam was starting to fill the bathroom from the water running in the shower, but she didn’t notice.

She realized he was waiting for an answer, and she tried to say something, but the words got caught in her throat. She didn’t even know what she was going to say.

“Diego--”

His hand tugged on her hip, pulling her forward, and then his mouth was on hers. His good arm slid around her side so he could press it against the small of her back, pulling her even closer. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, fingers grasping at the short hairs at the back of his head.

Diego tilted his head and deepened the kiss, his lips parting slightly. (Y/n) gasped against his mouth and pressed her body closer to his. He shifted, lowering his head, and for a second (y/n) thought he was going to break away. Instead he managed to get his good hand under both her legs and lifted her up. She yelped, wrapping her legs around his waist and laughing into the kiss.

-----/--/-----

The music from her alarm pulled (y/n) out of a deep sleep. She turned it off within seconds of the melody starting, and was tempted to settle into the firm, warm body behind her. 

Even as she considered sitting up, the arm around her waist tightened, tugging her backwards until she was pressed tightly against the body behind her. She felt Diego’s face press into the space between her shoulders. His lips pressed warm and soft against the back of her neck.

She didn’t want to get up. If she could, she would have stayed there all day, but she had to get to the nursing home before her shift started.

She wiggled out of Diego’s arms and pushed to her feet. He stirred behind her, reaching out to grab at her wrist, but she was too quick, keeping out of his reach. He groaned and cracked an eye open.

“Where are you going?” He mumbled, his voice rough with sleep.

“I have to get to work,” she lied, swatting away his hand as he grabbed at her thigh.

“Don’t go. Come back to bed.”

She sighed and crouched down, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “There’s food in the fridge, help yourself. I’ll be back at four, if you want I can pick up a pizza or something and then we could head to the gym together.”

Diego gave her hip a squeeze and he reached up with his other hand to rub at his eyes, stopping and hissing as the movement shot pain through his shoulder. “Just wait,” he mumbled, “give me a sec, I’ll walk you to the train station.”

(Y/n) patted his hand and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for the day, a routine that she got though pretty quickly. By the time she left the bathroom, still naked but with her hair combed and face washed, Diego was unconscious again, his good arm draped over his eyes.

She chuckled at the sight of him sprawled out on her bed, shirtless and beautiful to look at even with the bruises covering his body. She almost couldn’t believe he was there. But the more she looked at him, the more she realized she would like to have him in her bed more often.

She grabbed him a couple of aspirin and a gatorade, which she left on the nightstand with a note that told him to take them, no excuses, and that she would be back at 4:30 with food. She pressed a soft kiss to his forehead before she left, and a warm feeling spread in her stomach when his lips spread into a sleepy smile.

She spent the whole day in a happy haze. Even when her visit with her father wasn’t quite as good as she would have liked, when she lost her seat on the subway, and when a kid spilled a huge glass of coffee in the bookstore, which she had to clean up, she couldn’t hold back a smile.

It wasn’t until she was on the trail home that she started to get a little nervous that Diego might have left. She knew it was reasonable to assume that he would be gone, why would he hang out in her empty apartment all day? But deep down she was hoping he would still be there. 

When she opened the door and found that her unit was empty she tried not to be disappointed. She dropped her keys and the box of pizza she had picked up onto the counter, and decided she was going to take a long hot bath, eat some pizza, and drink some wine. Maybe watch a movie. Have an early night.

She had just gotten into her bathroom and turned on the water when there was a knock on the door. Diego was standing in the doorway with a smile on his face and two boxes of pizza in hand.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “What are you…?”

“I sent you a text that I would pick up dinner.” He raised his eyebrows. “Wanna let me in so we can eat? I’m starving.”

She stepped out of the doorway and let him in. “You texted me?”

He nodded, dropping his food on top of hers. “Yeah, I sent a text about an hour ago saying I would pay for the food as a thank you for helping me out last night. Plus, I mean, the man should pay on the first date. Oh cool, wine. Where do you keep the glasses?”

“Date?” (y/n) stared at him in surprise as he navigated her kitchen effortlessly, grabbing plates from the cupboard. “Wait hang on, Diego stop.”

He froze, raising his eyebrows. “What?”

(Y/n) opened her mouth to try to ask one of the thousands of questions that were flying through her head. The thing she settled on saying was, “I thought you left.”

Diego’s smile fell and he looked serious. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No!” She sighed, embarrassed at how loud and fast her response was. When she saw that Diego was smirking she could feel the tips of her ears starting to turn red. “No, I don’t want you to go. I would like you to pour me a glass of wine, and pass me a slice of pizza, and you can listen while I tell you all about my crazy day.”

“Sounds perfect.” Diego smiled and handed her a glass of wine. “Have a seat and tell me all about it. But first,” he slid his hand into her hair and tugged gently, guiding her head forward and kissing her. His mouth was soft, and warm, and his thumb stroked the soft spot under her jaw as his tongue darted out and flicked across her bottom lip.

Her eyes stayed shut for a second after he pulled away, and she swayed slightly, taking a deep breath. Diego’s eyes were dark as he looked down at her, and he ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “I just wanted to say how much I appreciated last night. You letting me lay low here and everything. And, uh,” he smirked, “everything else that happened last night.” His eyebrows wiggled suggestively. 

(Y/n) laughed, and he leaned forward to kiss her again. When they finally broke apart he tapped his wine glass against hers and gestured for her to sit down. “Alright, tell me about your day. How was work?”

[eurydium]

home box office — stranger things

Pairings: Robin Buckley x Reader, Steve Harrington x Reader

Category: fluff

Summary: Being Robin and Steve’s co-worker at Family Video is pretty much the best thing ever, but it takes quite the toll on your gentle (and very much bisexual) heart. 

     Requested by: @the-desert-shewolf  !

Word Count: 1.7k 

Author’s Notes: This is best read on the website rather than the mobile app, the app flubs up the formatting of it all 

This is the first request that’s done with both Robin and Steve and I really liked the idea! Just in case, this trio of the reader, Robin, and Steve comes up again (it probably will) it will be found in both of their respective master lists with ‘stranger things’ as writing ‘s.h & r.b’ looks wonky to me. 

Also, I’m really sorry if this feels a little rushed/short/not splendid :// 

buckley master list || harrington master list

“I swear to God I’m gonna strangle Keith,”

     Steve muttered as he wandered back over to you and Robin while you both were perched on top of the counter. You laughed as you pulled out the board — one similar to the board from Scoops Ahoy. You hissed at you added a tally to the ‘Keith’ side of the board as Robin shook her head at the once teenage heart-throb. Thus far, Keith had a good tally of six women that he’s scared away while Steve had a tally of two that he won over — both of which occurred while Keith was sick.

    “You’ve lost your touch, Harrington,” You commented, chuckling as you lowered the board behind the counter once more. “Your body count is so unfortunately stagnant,” You puppy-frowned at him while Robin cackled next to you. 

    “Shut the hell up,” Steve rolled his eyes, turning around and leaning against the counter — somewhat perched but mostly standing. He sighed and leaned his head against you, closing his eyes for a few moments. 

    “Where am I going wrong?” Steve groaned exaggeratedly, running his hands through his hair. Robin gave a nice pat to Steve’s hand from across you, looking at him firmly. 

    “Didn’t you learn your lesson last summer, dingus?” Robin snarkily questioned, causing Steve to crack open his eyes and send a glare her way. “You gotta stop acting like you’re the most popular guy in school. If you couldn’t tell, we’ve graduated and working at minimum wage,” She added in with a roll of her eyes. 

    “Exactly, you don’t have to act cool anymore. Just be good ‘ol Steve,” You chuckled, ruffling his hair with a teasing grin. Steve rolled his eyes endearingly before standing fully, pushing off the counter. He fixed his hair again, making sure he was perfect and hot as can be. He glided away from you both and approached two women, once again reverting to his old ways. 

    “He’ll never learn,” Robin smirked. 

    “He really won’t,” 

—

    “You ladies down for a movie night?” Steve asked with a grin, looking between you and Robin. Robin gave a simple thumbs-up, and both of their gazes affixed onto you. You pursed your lips, brushing hair behind your ear as you glanced over at Keith. 

    “I kinda promised Keith I’d stay a little late to help clean up and organize,” You awkwardly drawled, looking back to both Robin and Steve with an upset gleam in your eyes. “It’s only for an hour, but you guys would probably want to start sooner and everything,” You added with a small, almost forced grin. 

    “Compromise. Steve and I will buy snacks and you supply the movies?” Robin suggested, looking to Steve for an ‘okay’ to the idea. Steve crossed his arms and nodded with a pleased smile, his gaze shifting from Robin and then onto you. 

    “We wouldn’t have a movie night without you for the world,” Steve commented. Your face flushed slightly, elated that they liked you that much. “We can wait an hour for you, don’t worry,” Steve winked, getting a hum of an agreement from Robin. 

    “We’ll come back around to pick you up,” Robin stated, causing you to grin brightly. 

    “Perfect,” You chuckled. Robin glanced down at her watch, realizing that it was time for them to finally clock out after quite an exhausting day. 

    “Be back for you soon, sweetheart,” Robin teased with a cheeky wink, pushing Steve out of the store. 

    “I’ll see you losers in a few. Wish me luck,” You saluted the two as they made their way out the door. You walked over to the Rom-Com section of the movies and began to re-sort them alphabetically, glancing over to see Keith fixing up the Sci-Fi section. 

    There was a pleasant silence between you both while soft music played throughout the store. You hummed along with the music, and it seemed that only now did Keith’s attention fall over to you —  as if you haven’t been there the whole time. He kept his mouth zipped for another minute, but you could sense him just staring you down for quite a bit. 

    “Yes, Keith?” You asked aloud, looking in his direction as he stared you down slack-jawed. 

    “Which one do you like?” Keith said pretty vaguely, causing you to raise your brows in a confused manner. 

    “Excuse me?” 

    “Robin or Steve, it’s obvious that you like one of them,” He pointed out with a roll of his eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. You paused from shuffling the movies, taking a moment to actually think about this. 

    You weren’t certain of yourself either. 

    Both Robin and Steve fueled most of the joys in your life, and almost every moment of bliss had been with both of them. The night at Lovers’ Lake was the one you reminisced about the most.

    “The stars look like little fireflies,” You giggled as you laid flat on your back — reaching your hands up to the sky and trying to grab at them. 

    “No, dumbass, they’re like, baby moon bits,” Robin countered with a drunken laugh, rolling over and resting in the crook of your next. 

    “You’re both wrong! They’re, like, stars,” Steve retorted loudly, staring both of you down with a serious stare. The moment of silence passed and you all collapsed in fits of laughter. Steve giggled and laid on top of you, causing you to laugh even more due to his dramatic fall. The three of you kept rolling around together along the edge of Lovers’ Lake — drinking, singing, and laughing to your hearts’ content. 

    That night: the alcohol was good, the music was better, and the drunken (but not forgotten) stolen kisses were the best. 

    Of course, there were your separate adventures with the two, but both were honestly an equal match and you had no preference of whom you liked more — whether platonically or romantically. You had your fair amount of 711 slushie runs with Robin and horror movie dates when Steve would be too scared to watch them, but you also had your long talks over the phone with Steve and your sporadic nights drinking and walking down the abandoned railroad tracks. 

    Really, you loved them both. 

    “I don’t have to answer that,” You responded after a short while of thinking, a sly smile on your face but paired with apologetic eyes. 

    “Ugh, whatever,” Keith groaned, upset to not hear your side of the juicy gossip. You giggled at his complaint and continued sorting for the next hour, the time flies by quickly as you and Keith exchanged the occasional quip about movies while you were fixing them up. 

    “Hey, we’re back!” Steve called through the store, noticing you in the back chuckling at whatever dumb comment Keith made about Star Wars. He sauntered over to you and swung an arm around your shoulders. 

    “Ready to jet?” Steve asked with a cute grin, glancing up at Keith for a moment before looking back down to you. You noticed Keith’s dropped expression (as he obviously still detested Steve), but it was followed by a little smirk. You hastily averted your eyes away from Keith. 

    “Almost, gimme a sec and I’ll join you in a bit,” You told Steve, shooing him out of the store for just a few more moments.

    “So it’s Steve, huh?” Keith grinned menacingly, but of course, you brushed him off and began picking up some movies. 

    “I told you I don’t have to answer to you, even if you are my boss,” You chuckled, picking up The Apartment from the shelf. 

    “So Robin?” Keith offered once more. You rolled your eyes and walked over to another section, picking up Hidden Fortress. 

    “No comment!” You replied in a sing-songy manner, finally picking up Children of Paradise. Steve wasn’t the best connoisseur of movies, so naturally, you picked up Robin’s favorites so he can watch some good fucking cinematography. 

    Before you walked out, you noticed one last movie from the corner of your eye. You smiled to yourself as Steve’s description of the movie rang through your memory. You picked up the movie without a beat and gave one last smile to Keith. 

    “See you on Monday,” You sweetly chimed before exiting the store with the four movies in hand, strolling to the car with a smile. You hopped into the back seat and immediately Robin turned around to you. 

    “Cherry slushie, your favorite,” Robin smiled before handing you the large drink. You graciously smiled and eagerly took the drink from her hands —  your fingertips gently grazing against her soft hands. 

    “We also got some gummy worms, chocolate bars, and jiffy pop!” Robin added in with a delighted smile, shuffling through the candies she had stored in the bag. She swiftly turned back around to face forward before shouting, “Drive Harrington! Drive!”

    During the car ride to Robin’s place, you couldn’t help but ponder on Keith’s words a little more deeply. You were somewhat bothered by his invasive question, but not in an awful way. You really liked both of them and you couldn’t decide, but that doesn’t mean that you had to choose. 

— 

    After Back to the Future, you all were already feeling a bit drowsy. It was an oddly cold night in Indiana, and the three of you were bundled in the largest and softest blanket Robin had owned. You claimed the middle spot for personal reasons of your own and felt completely content when Robin wrapped an arm around your waist and both of them laid their heads on your shoulders. 

    The night ran late and before you knew it, both of your companions fell asleep on you. Robin hugged your torso and Steve ended up lying in your lap. Both slept peacefully, and the sight of them both brought a joy to your heart. They had been asleep for an hour now, and in that time you came to your conclusion in regards to Keith’s badgering question. 

    You didn’t care for choosing one over the other. You were content with the sweet nothings, friendly holding of hands, and teenage bliss. There was a lot of life to live, and love to give — and it could only be properly spent and expressed with both of them prominent in your life. 

You loved them both, and you were content in that.

[rvblabyrinth]

the formatting’s a little wonky ‘cause i had to paste it from discord messages, but i tried my best, the analysis is under the read more

He asked me how to write Texas, I think I wrote like a full fucking paragraph in response.

& I was like. “Well, depends. Is it her pov or Church’s or someone else?” ’Cause firstly, it depends. Church’s pov? The easiest for me to write because you have to kinda put her in the center of that world because that’s their dynamic, they don’t have to be in love, or really on speaking terms, but they’re both gravitated to each other & that’s important to portraying the dynamic. If it is something where they do love each other, again, she’s the center of the universe & time & time again Church does stupid shit to keep her around.

Some people choose to write her as the villain in some fics, like "she BROKE church's heart. What a heartless, cold bitch" which isn't exactly right imo & it's kinda eh to read imo because I think it can be written better- giving her some sort of motivation in that rather than being quick to be like "fuck Texas. hate that bitch."

But then again, some people just don't like Tex & write her like that because they don't like her, which is what I do with characters that I don't fucking like. If you're writing her from someone else's pov that isn't Church. it's important to include the intimidated part, because like, she's scary. She deadass tries to kill like everyone I think. She is super strong, who would not be at least kinda scared of that?

If you're writing from her pov, it depends if it's Beta or Epsilon-Tex.

Beta is a bit more oriented to her own goals, saying "fuck you" to Freelancer, & killing/tracking down Omega in the beginning. She also knows she's an AI but has to pretend because no one else knows.

Epsilon-Tex is more angry at the fact she was brought back, & is a bit more open with that kind of thing with Church. & this is clear in canon because of:

Tex: I didn't ask to be paired with you. I didn't wanna come back. But I'm here now, so I'm gonna put an end to this.

Tex: You can't even help yourself. That's why you made me, Church. You made me to take on all the things you can't handle. Just like you always have. Well guess what, I'm gonna handle it. Wash and Meta will be coming now. I have some things to get ready.

She's quick to call Church on his bullshit & set it straight

It’s clear she hates the fact that Church is quick to the "we're made for each other." She hates it. She doesn't like being tied against her will, so she fights against it. She's programmed to care about him but that doesn't mean she can't be angry. In a way, she kinda hates him, for what the Director did, for bringing her back, etc. She hates being a "shadow" because she isn't just a caricature of what the Director saw in Allison- she's become her own person but time & time again she's dragged back to where people think Tex = Allison.

So yeah, it's important to highlight these kinds of things in writing, instead of simply brushing it off as "maybe Allison was a bitch. Texas is just aggressive & mean." She's guarded, & you can't necessarily just simplify her entire character because you're removing the depth that separated Texas from Allison & you're conflating them into one

I also think she likes the Reds & Blues more than anyone else because they don't really know Allison, which means they only know Tex & they're not holding up the burden of Allison.

The Freelancers were focused on the rankings, but they also couldn't really be friends with her through that because she was at the top of the leaderboard, too. Like, look at how Carolina acts, Carolina freaks.

Tex considered Carolina a friend at once, but Carolina couldn't see Tex as anything more than competition, something wedged between her & her father, & the favoritism tore Carolina to pieces, which is part of why I think when Carolina survives the fall, she doesn't go back to the MOI. There's nothing left there for her, especially not York, because she knows he's gone.

It kind of severs her & her father completely. I like to think she waited a little to see if anyone was coming. They had to know what happened to her. No one came. He (the Director) gave up on her, & she gave up on trying to salvage the once close relationship they had.

Okay, I headcanon like, after Allison. they got closer, because if he got distant, what would've kept her? She wouldn't have been as competitive in Freelancer. She would've hated her father. They had to have been close, & then the project started, so naturally, he offers her a place. She takes it because she loves her father. They're close.

Then, Alpha creates Beta, & he withdraws. He realizes he has Allison now. so he focuses on that & nothing else matters. Carolina is left in the dark because he doesn't tell her shit, so she gets to the top of the leaderboard- he has to notice her then. Instead, he uses it as a way to pit Tex & Carolina against each other, & that's why she stays. & she sees Tex steal her place, & takes York too.

Carolina doesn't consider York "her man" but they were exclusive. She takes it hard because he was there during the fallout with her father, so it fuels her. fuck Texas. Texas took everything from her. That's why she's so motivated to fight Tex. if she doesn't win, then what does that mean?

When the Director tells her that Texas attacked Wyoming for his AI & his equipment, she accepts it, because that makes sense. She sees a demonized version of Texas. Sigma inherently knows her, & sets her up for his meta thing. He convinces her to take both AIs. He knows she's going to go for it, & he knows that she's distracted with Tex.

I'd like to think he & Gamma & Omega conspired together, too. Sigma acts, in a way, that they're gonna be whole if they get the Alpha & the other fragments, but he wants to be the main personality or fragment or whatever. He doesn't care about becoming part of Alpha again, it's for him.

I think Carolina never exactly "knows" Texas is her supposed to be her mother, in a way? I’d like to think Church & the Director didn't exactly tell her, 'cause she's once like "Did I ever tell you about my mother?" & Church kinda knows because he's the memory of Alpha & the Director, but that's not the most important thing. What's the key here is that in my headcanons, Allison technically chose her work over her family.

Or, to the Director, that's what it seemed like, because you don't see Tex ever really stick around, in a way. She's gone a lot, which makes sense because Allison was in & out on deployments, but she doesn't seem sorry about ever going. So I'd like to think the Director was mad, because she was his everything but it seemed like the reverse wasn't the same. & then he lost her. He never tells Carolina, he's kinda like "Your mother loved you so much," because what the fuck is he supposed to say- "Oh your mother didn't really like us so she kept away until she died in duty," which isn't true but he sees everything in his own way.

They had different habits, & where he showed love one way, Allison showed it another, & he didn't quite understand it, so he & Carolina grow closer when Allison dies- Carolina is all he has left of Allison, & he loves her.

She keeps him grounded where he otherwise would've faded away, & he nurtures her so she can be her best.

It's Project Freelancer's fault. He thinks he can help turn the war with the use of AIs & super soldiers- lovingly taken from one of his colleagues. It's like the SPARTAN-IV program except butchered because that's not his thing. I'd like to think all of the Freelancers had augmentations in a way, like they're less human more something else but nothing like the SPARTANs. & like I've said before, Beta is what fucks everything up.

I'd like to think when he first comes across Beta, it's like Alpha & Beta chatting together. They're having some conversation about philosophy or something, & he has a fucking heart attack

probably drops his cup of coffee. He separates them immediately, has the Counselor rate Beta- Texas for active duty. She gets cleared, & there's something they do so she doesn't really understand she's an AI. However, they do put her in a robot body. They tell her she's a cyborg, which kinda makes sense. They tell her she lost certain things in the war, & it makes sense. It's not entirely right, & she knows it, but she thinks the Counselor is creepy & assumes that's what the bad feeling is. So she integrates successfully into the program, & she quickly rises through the ranks, which pisses off certain people- Carolina & South.

She's sent on solo missions usually before that, to judge how she works out on the field, but it's clear the Director would do pretty much anything she asked. She could ask him for all the AIs & he'd probably (with a bit of hesitation) give them to her. He falls in love with her. He thinks its Allison.

When she finds out she's an AI, that she's Beta, after CT dies, it severs anything that the Director had for her, in a way. He's more bitter, because she's just like Allison. She withdraws. She goes rogue. She takes Agent York with her. Both the Director & Carolina hurt from it, like father like daughter. Except at this point, the Director is kinda fucked up.

He's been torturing a version of himself, committing a bunch of crimes, he's kind of lost any sense of like... shame I think? Anything that's necessarily good.

He wants Agent Texas back, but he also, on the side, keeps trying to "fix" her. He wants his wife back, he wants her to stay this time, like he begged.

But that's never how Texas comes out.

She comes out angry, all fists & bitterness & he doesn't fucking understand. He gets really frustrated about it, & when Carolina "dies", he's more preoccupied. Maybe, in a way, he thinks that if he could make Tex, he could fix her & just as easily bring back a Carolina.

Or, her armor sends out a recovery beacon, but it eventually stops, when he doesn't send anyone for it 'cause the ship crashed & they need to get their shit together, & then they have to deal with the meta. They say Carolina's KIA, but somewhere, deep down, he knows she's not.

Carolina returns home from then, hides away on a little planet & recovers. She hates her father. She decides she's gonna take down Project Freelancer. She's not the only one. Washington knows everything, as much as he fucking wants to forget it. He buries any positive feelings he had for Project Freelancer, friends & everything gone. York looks for Carolina, but gives it up quickly.

York's not like the Director in many ways, & he moves on where the Director never could

& the Director never could because he never got to settle it. He was angry at Allison for leaving, he was angry that she didn't put him & Carolina first. He could never move on.

It's hard to get over something when you don't get closure, & that's exactly what he didn’t get. He got into an argument with Allison, a quick conversation before she had to go fight, limited because they're not allowed to have anything more than a few minutes since the Covenant can track human comms. She was angry at him. He didn't apologize. He thought he had more time., his last words were something like "I'll talk to you later. Someone has to take care of our daughter."

Allison hates when he does that kind of thing. She's a good parent, she can't help that she's a fucking soldier, can't he lay off? Their relationship is stressed in a way it wasn't before. The deployment was only good because it kept them apart, but it was also the main stressor.

Leonard tries to convince her to take a position closer to him & Lina. She denies it (in my hcs she's an ODST & there's nothing like being an ODST, so she'd have issues adjusting) & that's another thing they fight about. This dynamic also pops up in Beta & Alpha, because they argue quite a bit, but it's usually alpha instigating it.

It also comes up in Epsilon & his Tex, because she's honest with him. She's tired of being brought back, can't he let her rest? But epsilon takes it (at first) as an attack on him.

Why can't she do something for him, for once?

It’s only within the unit that he works through it. It's always been his fault.

[choices-binglebonkus]

The Best Worst Night of My Life (Tom X MC - NSFW)

Book: It Lives Beneath

Pairing: Tom Sato X MC (Harper Vance)

Rating: NSFW

A/N: This is my first fanfiction on Tumblr, and it’s been quite a while since I’ve written any, so I did my best.  Formatting may be a little wonky, but bear with me here, folks.

Summary: After losing his temper and saying something soul-crushing to Harper, Tom Sato is feeling something a little more than guilt...

Word Count: 5886

“For all we know, Elliot is already dead!”

 Tom’s words were fierce and shattering like a boom of thunder.  He had felt his stomach drop as soon as he realized what he had said. Imogen looked completely blown away and had a scowl on her face wider than Tom had ever seen.  Danni looked like she wanted to tear him to shreds right where he stood, and judging by the look on Parker’s face, he wouldn’t have stopped her.  

Tom had never felt more guilt in his life than when he looked at Harper.  Her eyes had widened—he swore it—for just a second, but her face remained blank.  He had just told her that her brother was probably nothing more than a lifeless body, chow for the fish, bobbing around in the lake, and she didn’t even look surprised by it.  She looked like she had even accepted it.  And fuck, if that didn’t make Tom feel worse than he did before…

Tom took his glasses off and massaged his temples.  He briefly glanced over the two new smudges—one on each lens—both smudges from the tears that had slipped past his ducts after earlier’s blowout.  Harper hadn’t done anything to him and he yelled at her like an angry customer chewing out a poor retail employee.  Imogen and Danni had berated him, and Parker sent him to an empty room to think about what he had done.  Tom wiped away some of the forming tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.  He deserved this.

Harper had been his friend and companion ever since she had moved to Pine Springs.  He would have been lying if he said he didn’t feel an immediate attraction to her.  She was hot, after all.  All Tom could do after their first meeting was sigh and try to push the wild butterflies in his stomach away.  What would Arthur think if he caught his employee making goo-goo eyes at his only granddaughter?

 As time went on, the two grew closer.  After a quick conversation in the garage, he had even managed to score Harper’s cell phone number!  The two traded numbers and sent texts to confirm that they had indeed gotten the correct numbers entered, and for the next hour or so, the only thought in his mind was cha-CHING!  He had even briefly forgotten the arrangements they made to meet by the lake that evening until Harper started texting him with a sense of urgency he hadn’t felt before.  By the time he realized he’d royally fucked up, he almost thought it was too late to go out and meet her.  Something in the back of his head told him to go out anyway though, so he grabbed his bat and headed out.

 And boy, was he glad he did.  

 Brutally slaying a terrifying bear…snake…whatever monster with nothing but a baseball bat was cool enough on its own, but saving Harper’s life in the process?  To Tom, it was the wildest night he’d ever had.  Well, since the all-night Mario Kart 8 tournament he’d had with Andy, anyway. Harper had looked at him with such uncertainty but with such unmistakable awe that night.  Tom truly felt like a knight in shining armor.  

 Their friendship progressed slowly yet surely, and aside from a few instances of casual flirting, nothing out of the ordinary happened.  Then, tonight…oh, tonight…

 Harper was injured from the Lake Day disaster.  After taking off her shirt for him (and, of course, causing his heart to scream out “YOWZA!”), she sat patiently on the edge of the bed waiting for him to work his magic with the contents of the first aid kit.  After disinfecting her wounds, Tom asked her how she felt, preparing to put everything back into the kit.  

 Tom couldn’t even begin to fathom what his face looked like when she asked him to kiss her better.

 He could feel his cheeks burning a brilliant red as he stammered his nervous reply.  Harper coyly smiled at him and gently cupped his jaw in her hand, and the minute her lips touched his, he could have sworn there were fireworks going off somewhere in his brain.  The kiss had ended all too soon, and all Tom could do was helplessly utter a quick question as to how she felt.  She responded by leaning back in, but this time, Tom eagerly wrapped his arms around her waist.  

 Up until that very moment, he had forgotten that she was topless, the only thing separating her supple chest from the cool air of the cabin was her black lacy bra.  And oh man, if that wasn’t the total package, Tom didn’t know what was.  The icing on top of the…er, package was that the two were on a bed.  Tom was praying that his lucky stars would have his back tonight and not reveal the growing tent in his pants.

 Thankfully, a few minutes later, they had stopped.  Tom cleared his throat and started hurriedly putting the medical supplies away.  He was thankful that his erection was calming down, but he was still terrified Harper would see it and call him a creep or a pervert or something.  He just couldn’t let that happen.

 In an effort to distract her, he made idle conversation with Harper about how he had been nervous before coming to see her.  When Harper gave him a huge grin after he expressed his worry about possibly being sick, his mind suddenly shifted and had him fully engaged in the conversation.

 “Haven’t you ever been in love before?”

 Tom felt his heart practically stop.  He confessed that he hadn’t, his hands suddenly covered in a slick layer of sweat. His heart, having just recovered from the fact that he had inadvertently just admitted he was in love with Harper, nearly came to another stop when she admitted she was in love with him too. After Tom had bounced back from his initial shock, the two kissed like they never had before.

 But now, here in Ned Mallory’s house, nothing between them would ever be the same.  He blew it.  

 You fucking IDIOT, Tom.  You fucking hurt her, you loser.  God, what a scumbag.  Astrid should’ve jabbed your eye out, you worthless prick.

 Tom sighed, drying his eyes. He put his glasses back on, but not before gently wiping away the dried tears on the lenses.  He had to apologize, but he doubted she would even listen to him. He basically told her to stop giving a fuck about going back to the lake because her little brother, one of her only family members left, was probably floating around in the lake in bits and pieces.

 He took a deep breath and let it go.  Quietly standing up and creeping out of the empty room he sat in, he poked his head out into the hallway, glancing downstairs.  Imogen and Danni shared a blanket on one of the armchairs, both slumped over.  Arthur sat in the other armchair, idly staring ahead, blinking only once in a while as if he were deep in thought.  Tom got worried when he noticed Parker’s absence, but he realized that he was probably still on watch.  

 With the coast clear, Tom tiptoed as quietly but as quickly as he could to Harper’s room.

 Knock.

 Tom panicked.  “Gah, fuck, fuck, what—who the fuck knocks once? F-Fucking…”

 Knock knock knock.

 Tom patiently waited at the door, nervously tapping his foot.  He knew she was probably sleeping.  She had almost drowned.  But he couldn’t help but feel just a little nervous. After all, “Nervous” was his middle name.  Uh, figuratively, of course.

 Without a second thought, Tom gently turned the knob and pushed the door open.  Harper lay on the bed, facing the wall.  Tom was about to turn back and leave when he heard the quietest sob come from the room.  

 Against his better judgment, Tom found his feet mindlessly scurrying over to Harper’s bedside after he shut the door behind him.  

 “Um, hey—”

 “Go away, Tom.  I’m not in the mood.”

 Tom cringed.  “Harper, please, I’ll only be a minute.  I’m not here to give you any more trouble,” he swallowed, looking down in shame as he mindlessly twiddled his thumbs.  

 Silence.

 “Uh, yeah…so…thanks,” Tom nervously shuffled a bit closer.  “Um, I…I just wanted to, um,” Tom cleared his throat.  “M-My behavior today…what I said was…was not cool, and—”

 “Go away.”

 Tom frowned.  He was starting to get annoyed, but he let his guilt extinguish the flames of his anger.  “Harper, please don’t let this change anything between us, I didn’t mean what I said,” he nervously shifted his weight to one leg.  “I was scared and angry and I was acting like a jerk, just like Parker said.  Just…GOD! I’m so fucking sorry, Harper.  I’m doing the best I can here, please—”

 Harper rolled over and planted her feet on the ground in a millisecond.  “I told you to leave me the fuck alone, Tom!” she snarled.  

 Tom was taken aback. “Harper—”

 “NO!  This has been the worst fucking night of my life, Tom. Don’t you fucking get it?! Tonight has been worse than any other damn night in my entire life! Worse than when my dad left my mom and I, worse than when I found mom and Todd dead in our apartment, worse than when I watched Kyle get dragged to his death inches away from me!”

 Tom felt his heart shatter. The worst night of her life?  “Well,” he sharply inhaled.  “I guess I was wrong to think what happened between us in the cabin meant anything, then.” He backed away, glaring at her.  

 Harper’s eyes widened, and a split second later, the fires of a thousand demons burned in her pupils. “You don’t get to say that,” Harper growled.  “You don’t have the fucking right to put words in my mouth, you fucking ASSHOLE!”

 “Keep your damn voice down, you’re practically screaming!” Tom hissed.

 “We wouldn’t even be arguing if you had just left me alone like I asked in the first place,” Harper spat, stepping closer to Tom even though he towered over her by a good four or five inches.

 “No, we wouldn’t be arguing if you weren’t so damn fickle,” Tom crossed his arms, his glare still fixed on Harper.  Why is she acting this way?

 “Well, maybe I wouldn’t be,” she made air quotations with her fingers and lowered her voice to match Tom’s.  “’so damn fickle’ if my brother hadn’t been kidnapped by a crazy skeleton monster, The Society hadn’t turned on us and sent all the authorities after our asses, and my grandpa hadn’t dropped the biggest fucking bombshell of the century!”

 In the heat of the moment, Harper put both her hands on Tom’s chest and shoved him backwards. Tom managed to resist most of the push, and when Harper moved in to shove him again, he firmly grasped both her wrists to prevent it from happening.

 “Let go, dammit!” Harper squirmed as much as she could to get Tom’s grasp to loosen up even the tiniest bit.

 “Hell no, you’re just going to push me again!” Tom grunted, tightening his grip on Harper’s wrists when he felt it beginning to slacken.

 “Then you’d better hope I don’t come free or it’s your ass!”

 Tom gave Harper a questioning look when she stopped struggling.  This has to be some kind of trick to get me to let my guard down.  His eyes ran up her body.  Her chest was heaving, her cheeks were flushed with anger, and her eyes darkened as a strange expression crossed her face.  The hostile atmosphere between them seemed to morph into something else entirely, and Tom could feel his heart hammering out of his chest as a strangely familiar feeling began to wash over him.

 “I…” Harper swallowed hard, briefly biting her lip.  Her chest continued to rise and fall erratically.  “Goddamn, I’m so turned on right now,” Harper growled, her voiced laced with a hunger that wasn’t there before.  

 Tom hadn’t even noticed his raging erection until Harper had made her comment.  His pants were absolutely killing him.  No sooner had he released his grasp on Harper’s wrists than her hands darted down to make quick work of his belt buckle.

 The next minute or so was a blur.  Tom had helped Harper out of her shirt while she had helped him out of his.  One of them had removed Tom’s jeans—he couldn’t remember who—and as Harper took a minute to look his body up and down, Tom suddenly recalled what had started the whole thing.

 “Shove me, will you?” Tom half-asked, half-exclaimed as he shoved Harper onto the bed.  She blinked away her surprise at the taste of her own medicine and grinned widely, her eyes half-lidding as Tom loomed over her.  

 “Come get me,” Harper teased, winking and sticking her tongue out.  

 “Oh yeah?” Tom licked his lips, looking over her with a mischievous glint in his eyes.  “Why should I do that?”

 Harper reached up and pulled him to her by the hair, causing him to wince a little.  “Because, Tom,” she began, staring right through him. “I’m the one who’s going to be in control tonight.”

 Oh.

 So she was going to be like that.

 Tom swallowed hard and nodded obediently, Harper’s grasp on his raven locks not faltering.  Instead, she leaned in a bit more and pressed her lips to his.  As Tom started to return the kiss, she stopped and pulled away.  She leaned in again and kissed him once more, repeating the same actions over again.

 Oh.  My GOD.

 Harper, gentle and polite as she might have been before, was teasing Tom.  She was trying to see how far she could push him.  

 And he loved every bit of it.

 Harper broke the kiss a final time and looked up at him through her lashes, a coy smile playing at her lips.  “So, what am I going to do to you tonight, Mister Sato?”

 Tom pleasantly shuddered at the sound of Harper referring to him by his last name.  “Maybe…s…sex?”  he managed to eke out, trying to stand a bit taller to regain his composure.

 Harper laughed quietly and gently ran her fingers through Tom’s hair, earning more pleasant shudders. “Well, obviously,” Harper stood on her tip-toes and pressed a quick kiss to Tom’s lips.  “But the real question we need answered is what I’m going to do to you before, during, and after.”

 Tom stood silently, watching Harper with rapt attention.  His palms were covered in yet another layer of sweat and his rapid heartbeat had no intentions of slowing down.  He hadn’t been this nervous in…well, ever.

 “Make no mistake,” Harper tugged on one of his longer strands of hair, eliciting an excited whimper from her companion.  “I’m going to be the one in charge tonight.  I promise I’ll take very good care of you, but if you don’t do as you’re told…” Harper’s eyes lowered as she tantalizingly trailed her fingers down Tom’s chiseled chest, down his stomach, stopping when she reached the waistband of his boxers.  “You’re going to be in a world of trouble.”

 Tom’s eyes were the size of saucers.  When he had gotten out of bed that morning, he had never, not in a million years expected what had happened that day to take place.  After narrowly escaping The Society, Tom thought the curveballs would stop coming.

 He thought wrong.

 Harper suddenly gave a harsh tug on another lock of Tom’s hair.  “We clear?”

 Tom nodded frenetically. “Y-Yes, clear.  We’re clear.  We are so clear.”

 “That’s good.  Now,” Harper smirked and snapped her fingers. “Help me out of my jeans, and make it snappy.”

 Tom would have laughed at her pun had he not been so entranced by the situation at hand. Before his mind had even processed what was happening, his hands were unbuttoning Harper’s jeans and unzipping them. Harper smiled and sat back on the bed, raising her legs, and Tom tugged each pant leg off until she sat before him in nothing but her black lace underwear and matching bra.  

 “Alright, that’s good,” Harper grinned wider.  “Get rid of those boxers.”

 Tom didn’t need to be told twice.  He had his boxers off quicker than a bride’s nightie.  His erection, freed from its cottony prison, gently slapped against his stomach for a moment.  Tom could feel searing heat in his face, another blush blooming across his cheeks.

 “Very nice,” Harper purred, admiring his manhood with a faint blush appearing on her own cheeks. “Now, lay down for me and play with yourself.”

 Tom froze.  He swallowed so hard he could have sworn a visible lump went down his throat.  

 She…wants me to masturbate in front of her?

 Nonetheless, Tom was hard as a rock, and the thought of Harper getting pleasure from watching him jack off was enough to obliterate his shyness.  Well, most of it, anyway.

 Harper moved a bit on the bed to give Tom enough room to lay down.  He sat on the bed and reached back, freeing his hair from the band that held it in the messy bun he fixed every morning.  Setting the hairband on the nearby nightstand, Tom eased onto his back, his hair splaying across the pillow.  He propped himself up slightly and took his erection in his hand, gripping it ever so slightly.

 Slowly and steadily, his grip firmed, and his hand slid up and down the length of his manhood.  It felt pretty good, but it would feel even better if he sped up.  But Tom wanted this for now; he wanted to tease Harper like she had teased him.

 Ignoring his burning cheeks, Tom looked over at Harper who sat at the foot of the bed.  She met his eyes and smiled, giving him a small wink. As awkward as Tom felt, he felt himself return the smile and give her his own clumsy wink, quickly looking back down to focus on what Harper had commanded him to do.  

 Tom autonomously bit his lip in concentration, his eyes half-lidding as his pace began to quicken.

 Down.  Up.  Twist. “Nnn…”  Down.  Twist. Up.  Down.  Up.  Gasp.

 Tom almost forgot Harper was in the room until he happened to look up for a brief moment.  He had also not realized that she had stopped giving commands.  She was just…watching.

 Only when he more closely paid attention to the position of her hands did he realize that one of them had dipped into her panties.

 A warbled moan from somewhere deep in Tom’s throat escaped him, a small globule of pre-cum beading on the tip of his dick.  It was just too much, but it wasn’t enough.  

 “Harper, please,” Tom panted, clumsily sliding his hand up and down his length.  “Do something.  Anything.”

 Harper gave a quiet gasp at the urgency in his voice, pulling her hand out of her panties and taking a deep breath to relax herself.  Her impish grin returned to her face a moment later.  

 “I suppose I’ll oblige,” she giggled, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face.  “But you’re not really supposed to be asking anything of me, so I’m going to have to punish you somehow.  You know how it is.”

 Harper’s eyes came to rest on something by the nightstand Tom couldn’t quite see because of his position on the bed.  She got off the bed and walked over to the nightstand, bending over to pick up the item in question, the pair of handcuffs the group had decided to keep after Imogen was locked into them.  As Harper walked back to the bed, Tom couldn’t take his eyes off her lovely waist and shapely ass.  Every swivel of her hips drove him mad.  Had he still been playing with himself, he might’ve cum right then and there.

 “Lay down all the way for me,” Harper ordered, Tom immediately slinking down to where he was completely on his back.  “Okay, now hold your arms back for me.”

 Tom lifted his arms above his head, and Harper looped the handcuffs through one of the posts of the headboard before putting Tom’s wrists in the restraining device, cuffing him tight enough so he couldn’t wriggle free, but loose enough that it wouldn’t hurt him.

 “Well, I guess I’m really at your mercy now,” Tom sheepishly grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively before his nervousness returned.  “I, um, I’m sorry if I don’t last too long.  I kinda got pretty far when I was, um…playing in…‘single player’ mode…”

 “Mmm, don’t worry,” Harper crawled up the bed, stopping at Tom’s erection.  He shivered when she gently took it in her hands, running her fingers over every inch of it, almost as if to memorize its shape and feeling. “I promise I’ll take good care of you tonight no matter how long you last.”

 Tom suddenly gasped, his fists clenching as Harper slowly licked all the way up his shaft. “H-Harper, hhaaaaahhh…please…”

 Harper smiled, repositioning her hand on Tom’s manhood.  She leaned in once again and gingerly dipped the head in her mouth, her tongue running over its surface area.  She gave him a gentle, experimental suck, earning another quiet gasp from her companion.

 “No more, g-gonna cum…”

 Harper gently released Tom and watched as he lay writhing beneath her, panting with sweat beading up on his forehead.  His face was beet red, probably one of the reddest shades of “Tom’s blushy-nervousy complexion” she’d ever seen grace his cheeks.  

 “Sorry…‘m sorry,” Tom rasped, his chest’s rising and falling beginning to slow down a bit.  “You almost finished me off just then, I don’t want this to end before you’re ready.”

 Harper gave a small smile. “Thoughtful of you,” she brushed a stray lock of hair from Tom’s face and reached down to straighten his glasses for him.  “Most guys probably wouldn’t hesitate to let their lady finish them off.”

 Tom’s heart did a little backflip.  Harper had just indirectly referred to herself as his lady.  His lady.  What did this mean for them?  Were they just a budding romance, or were they, dare Tom even ask, boyfriend and girlfriend?  The thought of them together as an official couple made Tom internally swoon.  But now, here, he had to focus on the matter at hand.

 And that matter at hand was getting laid.

 Harper bit her lip and looked down at her panties, Tom’s eyes following her hands as they slowly dragged the fabric down her legs.  She reached back and locked eyes with him as she fiddled with the clasp of her bra, Tom’s heart skipping a bit faster as soon as he heard the click of her bra being unclasped.  She shrugged it off and let it fall to the floor, her deliciously round breasts illuminated by the pale moonlight that crept through the blinds.

 Tom couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from her chest.  Had he not been restrained by the handcuffs, he would have sat up and reached out to touch them.  Just by looking at how round and supple they were, he could practically feel them in his hands.  

 Harper once again crawled high up on the bed, hovering over Tom’s pelvis.  “Is this okay?” she asked, looking him in the eyes.

 Tom swallowed and nodded, giving a hint of a smirk.  “Yeah, but you’re the one in charge here, remember?”

 Harper lightly chuckled, reaching down to stroke his cheek.  “I know.  I haven’t forgotten,” she murmured, her eyes darting downwards as she reached for him, carefully lining him up against her.

 The only sound in the room as the two of them became one was the quiet, almost inaudible gasp that escaped both their lips simultaneously.

 Harper lowered herself onto Tom until he was buried to the hilt.  He sincerely hoped she was enjoying this as much as he was.  He mindlessly reached for her hips, only to find his hands pulled back by the handcuffs.  

 “Let me do this for you, Tom,” Harper whispered, leaning down to kiss his collarbone.  She traveled upwards and planted several soft kisses across his jawline, stopping to gently nibble the crook of his neck. “I may be the one in charge, but I promised to take care of you, and that means giving you the ride of your life,” Tom gasped as her lips found his sweet spot, gently nibbling and sucking the tender skin of his neck.  Harper suddenly stopped and looked down at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “And I plan to deliver.”

  Harper firmly planted her hands on either side of him, slowly moving up and down.  Tom drank in the sight of her hovering over him, her gorgeous breasts bouncing with every movement she made.  He desperately wanted to reach out and grasp her hips, her breasts, anything, but the handcuffs kept him securely restrained. He would have complained had he not been completely entranced by the situation he was in.

 Tom would have never expected their relationship to turn out like this so quickly, or at all, for that matter.  He had never heard his boss mention anything about even having grandchildren, but when he stumbled upon the old man poring over legal documents entrusting him with Elliot’s care, Tom felt himself immediately bubbling with curiosity.  He simply had to ask what was going on.

 “Bah,” Arthur had sneered. “I’ve never met either of ‘em. I’m only doing this because my daughter would have wanted it.  If they so much as misplace one damn thing in this house, it’ll be their heads.”

 Tom found himself questioning who “they” were, as only Elliot was mentioned in the papers.  He inquired who else would be staying with Arthur.

 “Well, I have to take care of this kid, Elliot, and his older sister, Harper, will probably have to come stay here from time to time when she’s not in college,” Arthur replied. “I’ve never even met these kids, they’ll probably be a pain in my ass,” he spat.

 Tom had merely shrugged it off.  Arthur was his boss, not to mention cranky if he was bothered enough.  The last thing he wanted to do was piss the old man off by asking one too many questions.  Elliot and his sister, Harper, were going to be staying with Arthur, and that was that. Tom almost expected the pair to be an inconvenience to him as well, because Arthur’s mood would almost certainly go south.  He was a solitary man, only tolerating even Tom for a limited amount of time before shooing him off.  Surely two people living with him would wind up pissing him off, and fast.  What Tom didn’t expect was to come marching through Arthur’s front door one day to see a lovely young woman there.

 Harper suddenly gave a soft moan, her eyes closed and her movements quickening, which effectively pulled Tom from his train of thought.  “Tom…nnnnn…” He felt his lips quivering as he held back his own sounds of pleasure. She wasn’t making this easy for him; the sound of her moaning his name brought him to the brink of orgasm.    

 The day he had met her, he had called Andy up on the phone and yammered on and on about how he had hit it off with a pretty girl he had just met.  He knew she would probably end up in the arms of someone else in town within a week or month or so, but he never expected to be the one lucky in love.

 “S-So warm…” Tom blissfully mumbled, closing his eyes and bucking his hips to try and meet Harper thrust for thrust.  “You’re so beautiful…”

 Harper abruptly stopped moving, and soon enough, Tom felt the sensation of her lips on his.  He made a face to return the favor, thrusting his hips upwards as Harper gently parted his lips with her tongue.  Tom fiercely combatted her tongue with his own, managing to turn the tables and invade her mouth as her hands worked their way into his hair.  

 Tom felt yet another sensation, this time, a warm, contracting feeling around his erection. Harper, with her lips still pressed against Tom’s, moaned and sighed and grasped his hair as she hit her peak, riding out each wave of pleasure with a shaky thrust from Tom.  

 Harper gently pulled away, panting.  Her cheeks were even more flushed and her eyes were glassy with a post-climax look about them.  “Come on, Tom,” she seductively whispered.  “I know you’re almost there, you’re doing great, sweetie.”

 Tom threw his head back and groaned, Harper’s voice calling him “sweetie” replaying over and over in his mind.  The coiling spring in his abdomen was getting tighter and tighter by the minute.  She was right; Tom was almost finished.  Come on, Sato.  Just another minute—hnnn…another thirty seconds at least!

 “Just a…haaaaah…a m-minute longer,” Tom moaned, bucking his hips faster.  “N-Not ready…” He could feel his glasses about to fall off his face, but he didn’t care.  All that mattered was the beautiful girl he was making love with.

 “You’re so cute,” Harper giggled, tracing Tom’s jawline with her finger, earning a few pleasant shudders from him.  “Whenever you’re ready, Tom.”

 Tom slowed down his thrusts, instead exchanging speed for power.  He bucked his hips as hard as he could, sweat glistening on his forehead, and he felt the tension in his body start to come undone.  “H-Harper,” he groaned, his toes curling up as he began to come undone.  “O-Oh my G-God, HARPHPH!” Tom moaned into Harper’s mouth after she had pressed her lips to his once more, spilling his entirety into her warmth as he slowed his thrusts, slowly coming down from his high.

 Harper collapsed next to Tom, who was panting and gasping for breath.  She smiled and snuggled up against his chest, listening to his heartbeat, which still hadn’t returned to a normal pace.  “Sorry for kissing you so suddenly,” she began, prompting Tom to open his eyes and look at her.  “When you started to cum, you got kind of loud.  Didn’t want to wake the others up.”

 “Oh, right.  I kinda forgot there are other people in the house,” Tom replied.  “But whatever.  I, um, had a pretty nice time…” he looked away, suddenly feeling rather awkward.

 “A pretty ‘nice’ time?” Harper laughed, pressing a kiss to his chest.  “I’m going to go out on a limb and say you probably had a little more than just a ‘nice’ time.”

 Tom rolled his eyes and smiled, the blush in his cheeks still ever-present.  “I…y-yeah, I really had fun.  Do you think we can maybe do this more often once this is all over?”

 Harper giggled, leaning upwards to kiss Tom’s jawline.  “Absolutely,” she locked eyes with Tom.  “We’re going to get through this.  I know it.”

 Tom frowned, remembering the circumstances.  “I sure hope so, Harper.”  

 “Come on, we’ll be fine. It’s you and me against the world, babe.” Harper lay back down, resting her head on Tom’s chest once more.  

 Tom could feel himself grinning.  He was just so content—no, happy—with life right now.  Even with all the drownings and The Society chasing after them and all the undead monsters, he had Harper, and he would never let her go.

 The two lay in silence for a few minutes, snuggled up together.  The room smelled of fresh sex, the musky scent lingering in the air. Oddly enough, Tom found it kind of refreshing.  The pair continued their silence before Harper spoke up.  “I feel gross,” she muttered, looking down.

 “Huh? Why?” Tom asked, sitting up a bit.  

 “I mean, um…we just kind of had sex on a dead man’s bed.”  

 “Oh,” Tom slunk back down. “Ned, right?  Did…you know him?”

 Harper nodded.  “Only for a little.  I met him the morning after Kyle died.  When I showed up at his house and told him I was suspicious of what was going on in Pine Springs, he gave me an Omen Bracelet to help protect me. But…then…”

 A silence hung in the air between the two, an understanding passing between them before Harper cleared her throat.  “Anyway, I don’t want to ruin the mood.  Tonight, as bad as things have been, was pretty good, all things considered,” Harper admitted with a smile.  “And I know I said this was the worst night of my life, but honestly?  This has been the best worst night of my life, so…thank you,” she reached up to cup Tom’s face and pressed a long, heated kiss to his lips.  

 “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of smooching you,” Tom grinned.  “But for now, how ‘bout you grab the key to these handcuffs and let me go? My wrists are feeling gnarly right now.”  

 Harper went rigid.  “The…key?”

 “Oh, no,” Tom groaned, sensing immediately where this was going.  “Don’t tell me the key wasn’t with the handcuffs when you grabbed them earlier.”

 “Um, we still have the key, remember?  It’s just that…I’m pretty sure Grandpa has it…”

 “Can you get the key from him and bring it back up here?”

 “Well, yeah, but there’s two things right off the bat that I can see causing trouble,” Harper raised one of her fingers.  “First of all, he’s going to be suspicious of me asking for the key,” she raised another finger.  “Second, there are a ton of keys on that keychain, and they all look exactly the same, and if I know Grandpa, he’s just going to come up here himself and find you like this.”

 Tom sighed.  “Yeah, that does sound like him…” he perked up a second later.  “Okay, just in case he comes up here, can you put my pants and boxers back on for me so it’ll minimize the embarrassment I’ll have to suffer through?”

 Harper grimly nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”

 As soon as Tom’s pants were back on, Harper exited the room and gave Tom a sympathetic look before closing the door behind her.  He listened to her footsteps going down the stairs until they faded.  He strained to listen to the hushed tones of conversation going on in the living room, completely unable to make out any words between Harper and Arthur.

 Soon, Tom could hear footsteps making their way up the steps, but he felt a pang of terror shoot through him as he realized the footsteps weren’t Harper’s.  All he could do was lay there helplessly and wait for the inevitable.

The door opened, Arthur standing there with the keys in his hands.  He locked eyes with Tom, still shirtless and sweaty, bound to the bed in a pair of handcuffs with the sharp musk of sex still obviously present in the room.

 Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit…

 Tom forced a toothy grin, trying to look as casual as possible.  “Heya, boss! What’s shakin’, bacon?”

 Arthur stood there for a minute with a completely blank expression on his face.   Then, without a word, he turned around and left the room, closing the door behind him.

[hopevalley]

S6E8: Hope Is with the Heart (Episode Write-Up)

We’re in the home stretch, folks. Just two more episodes after this one and the season is over. Time flies, right? Unfortunately this episode ended up being kind of a dud for me, personally. The bones for good plots were there, and we had a couple of stand-out scenes, but overall the episode came running out of the previous hurrah and tripped flat on its face.

Unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. The editing had to catch up eventually. Remember, with the removal of Lori Loughlin’s character from the series, the length of a whole episode was lost. This was mainly the plotline she was supposed to get with Rob Estes’s Theo, but it stands to reason that when it was going to affect the series, it wasn’t going to do so lightly.

There’s no doubt in my mind that this is one of the episodes most impacted by the change; the plotlines are criss-crossed, motivations are confusing, stuff happens too quickly…

I don’t blame the showrunners directly for this; there’s only so much you can do when you lose an episode of space and have to spread plots out and make things fit. Some stuff gets cut that maybe wasn’t originally intended to be cut, and things get put in the same episode that were maybe spaced out better in the original iteration of the work.

They can only do so much, and they probably did the best job they could with the material they had. It’s a shame they just couldn’t have reshot most of it.

Episode Plotlines:

Jesse vs. Henry: FIGHT!

The Hope Valley Library

Lee and Rosemary’s Talk

Faith’s Father

Gentleman Johnny

Others: “Play with the other kids”, “Nathan vs. Lucas,” “Height of Fashion.”

READ THE FULL WRITE-UP AT MY SITE HERE.

I didn’t have time to edit it a final time, so if the formatting looks a bit wonky or anything like that, I’m sorry. Please let me know if you notice any typos or bad sentences and I’ll fix it ASAP!

Thanks!