#sorry to lou who seems lovely but i need that man off my screen

[maxanor]

and if i said many buddie fans don't even care about eddie and just want to see buck kiss a man?? what then??

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I’m sorry, but can I just go on a little rant about the Louis, clouis, and the Clem comic...? 

I didn’t really talk about Louis in my overall review of the comic because I wanted that to be more contained to the content shown on the pages, Clementine’s relationship with AJ, and her as a character.... but the more I think about these comics and Louis, the more frustrated I become thinking about what Clementine abandoning everyone would do to him. 

[... okay it’s not little anymore since I guess I can never just do anything simple when it comes to Louis, sorry my bad]

So, no surprise, we all know the comic’s bullshit by now. Clementine leaving everything and everyone behind because she’s not happy is dumb, AJ just letting her go is dumb, and Clem going to the mountains on crutches and a peg leg to find this so-called happiness is dumb. 

Now that we’ve established it’s dumb, I wanna talk about Louis because I got a lot of built up feelings about how bullshit this storyline is with how Clementine would not only abandon AJ, but also abandon Louis. 

Because let me tell you..... his heart would be broken beyond repair and I need to talk about why.

Sigh.... so.... muh boy. 

Before he met Clementine, Louis was this laidback, irresponsible, but caring and musical person who kept his head down to avoid conflict and never looked at the future. He was the kind of person who took things one day at a time, saw survival as a day-to-day task, and said that the future doesn’t exist, there’s only today. You get the point, he was never too concerned with things because they always seemed to work out, and if they didn’t, then that sucks and that’s why we should appreciate every day while we have it. 

Louis is shown to be charismatic and friendly, he spends his free time playing piano and card games, but no one really takes him seriously. Not even Marlon, his best friend for 8+ years. While he doesn’t seem to be on bad terms with anyone [including Aasim, they just act like people who disagree with the other’s point of view and have had the same argument many times, but that doesn’t mean they hate each other, y’know?] he also doesn’t appear super close with anyone outside of Marlon and possibly Violet, but even then. 

Marlon’s shown to have little faith in him with the way he talks about if Louis will even show up to hunt. He has a controlling grip on Louis that’s prominent during the confrontation scene when he uses intimidation to try to convince Louis to not interfere. Oh, and there’s the fact that Marlon’s been lying to Louis for the past year about the twins and then continued to lie to his face about what really happened to Brody... which isn’t great when you consider how Louis was the only one who had blind faith in him as a leader and, according to Marlon, was the only one who couldn’t see how pathetic he always was. 

Violet, while having a few more nicer moments with him than Marlon, still invalidates him and his feelings several times throughout the first half of the game which makes me wonder how close they ever were, or at least if Violet ever considered him a close friend to begin with. And no, a small monologue in the dorms doesn’t make everything better or confirm they were brotp the whole time... especially when once they’re on the boat, Louis might as well not exist because Violet can’t be bothered to acknowledge what happened to him or inquire about how he’s doing. I guess she just didn’t have time react while standing in her cell for several unbothered minutes-- no wait, it’s she already reacted off screen. Right. Good writing is good.

What I’m getting at here is that even though Louis is surrounded by people who he genuinely cares about, there is an argument to be made that he’s a lonely person. Hell, he’s aware of his loneliness when he says that no one hears past his music and jokes. I mean, how many nights do you think he spent by himself playing the piano because no one wanted to hear it? Are they like Violet and crack jokes about how he doesn’t have actual talent? Probably, given that someone literally carved “you suck at playing” onto the side of the damn piano. 

Oh, and let’s touch on that backstory of his. Louis grew up wealthy with two parents who loved him and each other, and they gave him anything he wanted except singing lessons. Louis says he wanted to be a real musician. But I guess his father didn’t like that idea and told him no, with the [as Louis puts it] dumb dad lesson of, “You get to be happy, or you get to be rich, can’t be both.” ...which is interesting given that Louis and his family were stupid rich but also.... were they not happy? well, that doesn’t make sense because little Louis knew that if he broke up their marriage, they would be hurt. 

So yeah, Louis was so upset that his father continually refused to let him take singing lessons that he broke into the man’s credit cards and faked an affair, which led to his parents divorcing... and then he spit his father’s words back in his face. 

Then they dumped him at Ericson. And the walkers came. 

There’s so much to unpack from the story he tells that it could be it’s own analysis, but basically.... Louis is aware of why what he did was fucked up, and he carries it with him every day. 

He regrets what he did, chews himself out for being such a “vindictive fuckhead” [and the amount of force used in that line tells you a lot, like how it’s not the first time he’s chastised himself like this] and he admits that he doesn’t even know the person he’s talking about. Yet, he still sees himself as bad, saying that they [I assume the staff] told him and the other kids they’re bad people. I don’t doubt that Louis internalized that which played a huge role in the confidence and self-esteem issues he has during tfs. 

Anyway, I’ll come back to this later, but when you take that amount of guilt and regret, and mix it with the fact that they dropped him off at this school that was supposed to make him better.... then the walkers came and those teachers, staff, and headmaster? Gone. Left a bunch of kids to fend for themselves, with the exception of Ms. Martin [but given how she looks when we find her I doubt she lasted that long] and I cannot imagine how horrifying that was for all of them. The dead are up eating people, and if you die you become one of them... and the people you thought you could rely on just fucking left you to die at this school. 

Every kid in that school has trauma and abandonment issues from before and after the world went to shit, every last one, and Louis isn’t the exception here. Over the years, a lot of kids died and they’ve all seen horrible shit. They all knew they were never going to see their families again, and as far as we know, no one came to get their kids at the beginning. They had to find ways of coping while trying to survive, and all they had left was each other. 

Louis copes with music and games and jokes. He’s built up this persona where it seems like he’s unaffected by the comments the others make, that the death and suffering he’s gone through is in the past, that he is confident and open to those around him.

But then Clementine and AJ show up, and Louis grows close with both of them. They had immediate chemistry upon first meeting, he was the one who looked after AJ since it seems like everyone else saw him as a little terror, and he went out of his way to be kind and make them comfortable. 

When they go hunting with him, Louis and Clementine have a moment after taking care of the walker where they lower their guards a bit-- Louis gives her more in-depth reasons for his views of survival, and going off her expression, it gets to her and makes her think.... but they’ve know each other a day and he’s not quick to infodump his life story or let her in, so he cuts the conversation short.

Then we have the Marlon confrontation scene that I have gone over so many times in the past. I won’t dillydally with it too long but..... Clementine appeals to Louis, who curls in on himself because of the control Marlon has on him. He wants to help, and hell, he knows this is wrong but he’s so used to not getting involved that he gets defensive.... plus, he’s known Clementine for two days, and he’s known Marlon for 8+ years.... he wants to believe Marlon but you can tell he doesn’t want this, either. It takes Clementine talking to him to give him courage to stand between her and Marlon’s gun and it’s a lot.

AJ shoots Marlon and everything goes to shit, and Louis is a goddamn mess. His best friend was murderer right in front of him, so add that to the trauma list, and he’s overwhelmed with all these feelings that again.... they keep getting invalidated by Violet because “Marlon was a liar and murderer, therefore you shouldn’t feel bad about his death. Get over yourself, Louis, you can be such a shithead sometimes.” 

Oh yeah Vi, I guess he should care more about two people he’s known for a total of two days rather than for the safety of the people [including you] he’s grown up with and cared about for 8+ years.... makes sense. 

So yeah, little to no support during this time. Alone again. 

And just because I have to make this clear so no one gets a hair up their ass-- both Louis and Violet are wrong here. Kicking them out isn’t the solution, but neither is acting like AJ was right to commit murder just because it was Marlon.

 But plots gotta plot, so they get voted out and you can see that Louis is conflicted about the whole thing. He wants them gone, but at the same time, he knows what kicking them out means. You can see it on his face that he’s not okay with kicking them out. He’s hurting when he’s there in the dorms telling them how the vote went... he literally doesn’t know what else to do. He just knows that everything hurts, Clem and AJ caused it, and he wants the pain to stop. He even tries to justify it to himself by figuring that they’ve done this before so they’ll be fine. Not a great thing to say, Lou. 

Anyway, we know the story, Clem and AJ come back and Louis once again sees the consequences of acting out of pain.... AJ is shot because Louis was hurt and he made a bad decision that he’s gotta live with.... something that he’s done before, and this affirms to him that he’s bad. He wishes he could take it back, and goes as far as to admit that to Clementine during the archery scene. 

By the way, credit to him for his apology to her. It’s rare in these games that Clem gets a genuine apology from someone who hurt her and doesn’t turn around to repeat the hurtful behavior, y’know? Plus, I can think of plenty of characters who owed Clem an apology in the past or if they did apologize, it was half-assed. 

You can feel how conflicted he is with this whole thing-- learning who Marlon really was and what he did, feeling something for Clementine before everything went down and not knowing how to handle those feelings afterward, caring about AJ and understanding why he thought shooting was the best choice but still hurting that his friend is dead.... 

And the thing is.... Louis forgives her for so much, as she does him, and through all of that bullshit, they manage to develop that strong connection that turns romantic. Louis lets himself be fully vulnerable with her and is honest about his feelings, how she listened when no one else did and seeing him for more than just the persona he put on. 

This works on Clementine’s side, too. Clementine has been through her own fair share of bullshit-- trauma, abandonment, loss, injury, you name it. She’s made mistakes, done terrible things, and has been in enough groups to know that romance usually ends in heartbreak.... and yet, she’s willing to open herself up to Louis and admit she feels a lot for him. 

Is it a little rushed? Yep. Could it have been handled better? Of course, most things this season could’ve, but what we got was pretty good. 

So Clementine and Louis are romantically involved now, the raiders attack, and she saves him... and boy does Louis feel guilty about that one, too. He feels bad enough that he questions why she would pick him because he can’t fathom his life being worth saving over another’s. He doesn’t see himself as useful, and even though Clementine is literally his girlfriend at this point, his self-esteem is so all over the place that he can’t understand why she would have him at her side. 

And when Clementine tells him that he’s too important to her, he’s too baffled to even give a response. He looks at her in disbelief like he wasn’t expecting her to say that.  But this shows that at the beginning of their relationship, he still doubts himself, and through her working with him, he begins to build up that strength in himself. 

He becomes brave enough to share what got him sent to the school with her, and he plays Don’t Be Afraid for everyone at the party and like.... for once, everyone is listening to him. Really listening to him. They’re not talking shit about his musical skills, they’re not ignoring him or the feelings he’s putting into the song, they’re sitting there with him and I just..... if you watch him, you can see that his eyes get pretty glossy throughout the song. The moment meant something to everyone. 

There’s also the fact that Clementine asked him to come with her and AJ onto the boat, and to be the one in charge of the bomb... that’s a huge responsibly and he feels the pressure of that. He starts to panic a bit about if he can do it, because what if he fucks up? What if he gets them caught and makes everything worse? What if something happens to Clementine and he can’t do anything about it? 

She’s there to reassure him that she believes in him, and that he can do this. They’re going to get everyone back, and he needs to focus... then he asks her to slap him which why would you? that’s dumb, so Clementine smooches him instead and like.... he physically relaxes into her because he’s comfortable and trusts her in this situation. 

Also, he loves her and cares about this mission enough to cover himself and his fancy jacket in walker guts.... sure, he complains while doing so but how else is he gonna cope with rubbing rotten guts on himself to blend in with a herd of walkers? 

Skipping ahead so that we’re not here all day, I wanna talk about the walk back to the school because it’s one of the most important clouis moments in the game and a huge reason that solidifies why the comic is bullshit.

Louis went off on his own to go out and find them. He didn’t know where they would be, he just knew that he had to go out and find them after making sure everyone was okay back at the school because he couldn’t bare the thought that he had lost them. And the way the AJ gets so excited to see him? and the group hug??

At this point, Louis has grown so much as a character. With Clementine by his side to support him, he’s grown stronger and more reliable. Remember how he never thought about the future? Well, now he is because his relationship with Clementine has given him a reason to long for a future. He talks about building this imaginary house with her, one he knows they can’t physically build... but it’s his way of saying we can build a home together, that he wants a future with her and AJ and everyone else. It’s such a personal conversation that flows so easy between them. Louis is more comfortable talking to her about things from his past, which is something he didn’t want to do back in ep1. 

He confides in her how he’s feeling after he shot and killed Dorian, he tells her that having a home means protecting it and I just.... it’s so good, okay? And from Clementine’s side, you can feel how at ease she is with him, too. Just the way she smiles at him as they’re walking? like he’s the cutest thing and she’s so happy to have him with her? 

But then we gotta deal with Minerva’s crazy ass on the bridge and well, AJ shoots Tenn and Louis is having flashbacks to Marlon and it’s not great. That’s a whole thing, and he ends up separated from them while escaping.

We don’t get to see Louis’ reaction to Clementine getting bit and losing her leg since I guess that puts a damper on the overly happy ending. But, going off of what we know about him and what I’ve explained [which isn’t even all of it, this isn’t a full Louis character analysis. if it was, it would be much longer and in multiple parts... believe it or not, I’m trying to not make this too long and only sorta failing...] we can get an idea of how he would react. 

Um, to say he was upset is an understatement.

Because remember, he had no time to think and climbed over the fence, thinking he could get them to climb over and they could get away, but it didn’t work. He ended up leaving them in order to save himself since walkers were closing in on him.

But you know that he’d blame himself for the bite. A lot of, “if I had just stayed” and “I should’ve climbed back over, I should’ve stayed with you.” I’m sure there were points where it looked like Clem wouldn’t make it and I can’t imagine how much hurt he went through watching her suffer and heal from losing a leg like that. 

Not only that, but knowing that AJ was the one to do it? And him thinking about what Clem’s death would do to AJ after all this? There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Louis would take care of AJ if she died. He cares about AJ, and he loves Clementine, so he be there for both of them, even if he’s still hurting from Tenn’s death. 

However, Clementine didn’t die. She survived the bite and amputation, and when we flashforward, she and Louis are still happily together. Louis is right there next to her at dinner, and he’s the one to help her with her crutches. He’s there to go over future plans to meet the traveling caravan, and Clementine wants him to be the one to go. 

Oh, and Louis once again forgives AJ for shooting Tenn, claiming that he understands that AJ saw something that he couldn’t. Like with Marlon, he’s not happy Tenn’s dead but he can see why AJ did it to save his life. 

I just..... happy ending. Clementine and Louis are together and she’s truly happy to have found a home for her and AJ with him at Ericson. 

....But then the comic thought it would be fun to say “nah.” 

The comic isn’t canon, I’m still insulted that it would ever consider itself as such, but even so I can’t help but feel so frustrated about how this would destroy Louis. 

He finally found someone he would consider his best friend, not just his girlfriend. She saw past that funny man persona and he trusted her enough to let her past this wall he built around himself. He let himself become vulnerable around her, he named his song after her. Their initials are carved into his piano with a heart surrounding them. He loved her. 

Clementine left him feeling loved, something he probably hasn’t truly felt since he was a little boy with his parents before their divorce. She loved him even after hearing his past because she knew that wasn’t him anymore, and she helped him build the confidence he needed to step up. Because of Clementine, Louis wants to enjoy every day while also looking at the future. He isn’t lonely anymore, he has her and AJ. He’s truly happy.

So to tell me that Louis would wake up one morning only to have AJ tell him that Clementine’s gone, she’ been planning an escape without telling anyone because she wasn’t happy...? I’m sorry, but if you think that wouldn’t leave Louis absolutely devastated, then you know nothing about him as a character. 

This idea is just.... look, Louis is perceptive. That’s a big part of his character, he’s perceptive of those around him. If Clementine was showing signs of being unhappy or depression, he would see it. He would notice a change. He would be able to tell if something was off, and he would ask her about it. Louis is the type of person to ask you what you need. What can he do to help? What do you need to feel better? And if you don’t know, it’s okay, he’ll help you figure it out in any way possible. 

Plus, the comic suggests that there are times where she went off on her own but came back [probably doing her escape prep ugh] and you expect me to believe that Louis wouldn’t notice that or wonder what she’s doing? Wouldn’t sense that something’s going on? 

After she’s gone, he’s going to blame himself for not being enough. He couldn’t make her happy and he was a fool to think he ever could. AJ lost the only family he’s known since he was born because Louis couldn’t help her, couldn’t do anything to stop her from leaving. 

And for him to realize that she didn’t love him? Clementine, the girl he thought the world of because of how strong and confident and in-charge she was, because she saw him for who he was..... she left him, abandoned him... and she couldn’t even be bothered with a goodbye.... that says that she didn’t care all that much about him in the end.

You KNOW that he would think he had this coming, too. How could the universe allow him to fall in love and be happy with someone who loved him back after what he did to his parents? He would feel so heartbroken that he would see this as some sort of karma for breaking up his parents happy marriage as a kid years before he ever met Clementine and before the apocalypse.

I fucking can’t.... I don’t have the words to fully explain how much I hate this. Louis wouldn’t be okay afterward, and I doubt he’d ever fully recover. I wasn’t joking when I mentioned before that Louis would stop playing piano. How could he sit there and play when I he can see is their initials and remember the night she confessed to him? When he named his song after her? Clementine left and took the music with her because Louis wouldn’t have it in him... something that he used to cope would be ruined and that’s just.... it’s fucking awful. 

Not only that, but now he has AJ who I assume is hurting just as much [though the comics inaccurately assume he would just let Clem go sooo... yeah] and he would be the only one Louis would really talk to about it, but then again.... what if AJ doesn’t wanna talk about it? What if AJ starts to act out and things just become terrible and Louis is just too overwhelmed? 

I just.... UGH. That’s how I feel. UGH. 

Clementine from the comic? Not her. She would never fucking do this to Louis, AJ, or anyone else at Ericson, and you would know that if you played the tfs. 

Sigh.... sorry, I just needed to get this all out. I haven’t seen anyone talk about how Clem leaving would affect Louis and I’ve gotten some asks/come across some posts about Louis that have left me incredibly annoyed.... well, I was annoyed before because of the comics, so my annoyances with those things were only heightened. So yeah... I wanted to talk about Louis’ character in hopes of explaining why he would be so hurt if this comic was canon. 

Which it’s not. So it’s fine. 

How are we all feelin’ at this point, by the way? I know I’m not the only one still annoyed with the comic, so I hope y’all are doin’ okay. Hope you’re stayin’ chill and thinking about your faves to help cope with this mess hahaha

[parkers-gal]

Being tom’s costar & him setting you up with his brother, Harry. Maybe reader keeps saying no because she thinks Tom is asking her out

hello

combined with another request (hope you don’t mind)

Reader is dating Harry & Nikki like doesn’t her because she’s tom’s love interest in a movie. Harry & Tom defend reader

wc: a fat 3k (sorry lmfao took this too far)

—

When you were first called in for a dry run through of a script that would later be your next movie, you didn’t expect Marvel’s very own Spider-man to be there too. Of course, he didn’t expect you there either, but you were still pleasantly surprised that the director had called in for willing or suggested actors. 

The two of you immediately hit it off, clicking on screen and off screen. And though you were playing lovers in front of the camera, your relationship with Tom was strictly platonic — and you were glad he was on the same page. 

That didn’t, however, mean Tom wasn’t completely involved with your love life. After returning to your trailer directly after a date, Tom was waiting for you — and wondering where the hell you’d been. You confessed you’d gone out with someone, but the date wasn’t smooth and they weren’t your type at all. The date went pretty badly, and Tom pointed out later. Ever since then, he’d ask you if you were going on another date. 

It had been a month and a half since then, and though you were ready for a relationship mentally, you knew it might be hard with all the press you and Tom would be doing around the world. You weren’t sure why you would be going on tour, though — it was a recreation of Sandra Bullock’s film While You Were Sleeping. Tom and you were popular enough as it was — a tour simply didn’t seem necessary. But, alas, you complied with your manager’s advice. 

“Sooo…” Tom followed you into your trailer. It was around eight o’clock, and he was using the voice he used whenever he wanted something from you. “Are you seeing anybody?”

It had been about two weeks since the last time he’d asked, and you were already rolling your eyes. “No, Tom. I’m not interested in whatever offer you’re about to make.”

“But Y/N!” He whined, pouting. “I know somebody who’s perfect for you!”

“As perfect for me as Andrew from the Uncharted crew?” You raise a brow, setting your purse down while Tom huffs. 

“He wasn’t that bad! How was I supposed to know that he doesn’t wash his beard?” “That seems like common knowledge to me, Tom!” You’re trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the conversation. “I could smell it from across the table!”

“Alright, alright.” Tom winces at the details. “I’m sorry about that one. But this time, I’m sure of it.”

“I swear to god if you pull some weird cliche shit and say yourself, I’m going to kick you out of my trailer.” You deadpan, pouring yourself from coffee from the brewer he’d just used while you were out. 

“It’s not me, Y/N/N.”

“Yeah, but you keep giving me dates with people that aren’t my type and then saying you have someone better. What if you’re buttering me up?” You smirk from behind the mug, sipping it smoothly. He rolls his eyes, but blushes nonetheless. 

“It’s not me.”

“Whatever you say, Spidey.”

He rolls his eyes again, sighing dramatically before heading towards the door. “See you tomorrow.”

“For what? Our date?”

“Quit teasing me!” He spins around, body halfway out the trailer entrance. “I meant ‘I’ll see you on set.’” You laugh wholeheartedly, waving to the brunette as he leaves you alone for the night. When you awake, you’re due early for a shower and straight to hair and makeup. You’re not sure why your character always wakes up so damn early just to work in a train station, but you comply with the director. 

“G’morning.” You greet the assistant director with a smile, bagel in one hand and your script in the other. 

“Morning,” He smiles before offering you some coffee. “Coffee?”

“Please?” You smile wider at the mention of the beverage, internally cheering as he makes your order — he’s memorized all of the crew’s by now, and it’s truly astonishing. You take up a conversation with him while you wait for your day to begin. 

Tom comes in through the double doors, spotting you immediately — with another boy. He races over as quickly as he can manage with his tired body and with what’s left of his dignity. He doesn’t want to seem too eager, but he really thinks he’s found a promising boyfriend for you. 

“Hey, Y/N.” He greets before his jaw clenches subtly. “Morning Conor.” 

Conor nods at him before pouring another cup of coffee for the Brit. You’re rolling your eyes at Tom — you know him well enough to know when he’s feeling anything but positively. 

“Excuse us,” You smile apologetically at Conor. “I have a part of the script I’d like to talk to Tom about before we start.” Conor nods understandingly, and you pull Tom aside, walking behind the sets while you angrily sip your coffee. “Y’know, you don’t have to be so dry to the crew that happens to talk to me.”

“I wasn’t dry!” Tom defends, shoving his free hand in his jacket pocket. 

“Then what do you call that?” You gesture behind you with the roll of your eyes. “I thought we were on the same page about our relationship, here. I don’t like you in a romantical way, and I’d prefer it if you’d keep that base of our relationship out of work.”

“Y/N, Y/N.” He’s wide eyed, hands gesturing for you to slow down and listen to him. “I don’t like you in that way. I just… think I know somebody who you’ll really get along with.”

You groan. “Tom, you’re a shit matchmaker. Y’know that?” He gasps at your response, feigning offense. “Look, I’m being real with you! Nobody you’ve set me up with has lasted more than a week. You suck at this job, Cupid.”

Tom rolls his eyes but stops you from walking any further, grasping your arm to turn you in his exact direction. “Look, just trust me on this one?”

You ponder the idea almost with your body, head tilting in unsureness. “I don’t know…”

“Please,” He’s practically whining now. “Please, just… one more date?”

“Fine.” “Yay.” He smiles in victory just as the two of you are called back onto set. With heavy feet, you drag yourself to set, but this time, you can’t help but feel a little hopeful. Don’t fuck this up, Cupid.

**

You’d wrapped up filming last week, and the director’s were quite positive you wouldn’t need to come back in later for reshoots. So, you were flying out of Chicago and down to Atlanta with Tom for the weekend. He was going to “introduce you to his next option.” You still didn’t trust him, but you didn’t have any immediate projects, so you agreed anyways.

Tom was due to start filming Spider-man 3 on the upcoming Monday, so you knew you’d be going to the airport alone on your last night — that is, if things didn’t work out with this new date. 

After receiving a text from Tom to be ready by eight o’clock, you’d showered and done your makeup. Settling on an outfit wasn’t as difficult because you had only what you brought with you. You were driving down to Tom’s rental home — apparently Marvel Studios always rented him that one — by seven forty-five. You were driving a rental car, and you mentally kicked yourself for not bringing a jacket in the middle of winter. 

Parking in the open driveway, you rang the doorbell. Tom swung the door open, hair slicked back and trousers fitted nicely. You rolled your eyes with a groan, and before Tom could even greet you, you complained. 

“Tom, I told you I’m not going on a fucking date with you- please ju-”

“No, no, no, love.” He laughed. “C’mon in, it’s game night with me and the boys. Your boy is inside waiting for you.”

You looked at him skeptically before walking up the steps and through the door. Tom led you through a rather modern-looking house, through an extremely large kitchen and into a back den room with a poker table. You rolled your eyes, but your facade dropped in the immediate moment where all eyes turned to you. 

“Guys, this is Y/N, my co-star in that rom-com we just wrapped.” You saw Zendaya smile and wave, Jacob greeting you with a cheerful “hi!” and then you saw a freckled boy with red hair and immediately felt butterflies tickle your stomach. “Y/N, this is Harry. The guy I told you about.”

You wanted to curse at Tom for practically keeping this guy a secret. You wanted to curse him for setting you up with all those other tramps instead of this gorgeous boy right here. You wanted to curse at Tom for-

“This is my brother, Harry. Harry, this is Y/N, the girl I told you about.”

Your eyes nearly bugged out at his words, for reasons being that this “Harry” is his brother and that he’s talked about you to him. Keep your cool, Y/N.

“Uh, hi.” You nervously laugh, stepping forward to shake his hand. Harry smirks at you, hand reaching up as his lanky fingers make contact with yours, shaking from his seat without even standing. 

“Hey.” His voice is deeper than Tom’s and it catches you by surprise. Tom had told you about his three younger brothers, but he never mentioned specific details like the ones you’re noticing now. 

“Right then,” Tom clasps his hands together. “Y/N, you can share the seat with Harry while I get the drinks.”

You nod and try not to come off as too flustered, heart pounding against your chest, palms sweating. They’ve pulled up a loveseat to the poker table, suitable for two people, or two lovers. You wince at your own self, wanting to kick yourself again. But you don’t, instead sliding in next to Harry. He smiles, removing the toothpick that was sitting on the side of his mouth, sticking out like a truck driver. He throws it, and it lands directly into the garbage bin. You bite your lip and begin the game. 

You end up staying in Atlanta for a lot longer than your two-day trip for the weekend. You’re there for a total of four weeks, and you’ve spent practically every hour with Harry. You were in a hotel for the first four and a half days before Tom had groaned at you leaving at one in the morning again, telling you to stay in Harry’s room and stop wasting your money on lousy hotels. The proposition made you giddy inside (and nervous, but they didn’t need to know that), and when Harry smirked at the idea, encouraging it too, you agreed.

So, you spent practically four weeks in Harry’s room, giggling at jokes and cuddling and watching movies and taking pictures. He’d taken you to set too, showing you around, talking nonstop about his cameras and their many different lenses. 

The Spider-man crew was dispersing for a two week break, and Harry had already decided that you were going with him and Tom back to London. 

“Love, are you ready?” Harry called for you from the bathroom connected to his bedroom. You shouted back your reply, zipping up your final suitcase while he walked back into the room. 

You knew that after your trip to London, Harry would have to go back to work and you’d have to go home before starting your next project. But you didn’t care — the two of you had already discussed long distance relationships before confirming yours; you could make it work. 

You would land in London by your two-month mark, you realized with a smile. Harry gave you a forehead kiss before talking both of your suitcases downstairs to the car. You grabbed the duffel bags and followed him out of the room where it all began. 

The flight was exhausting but nostalgic in a weird sense. You spent the latter half of it curled up into Harry’s side, asleep or watching a movie. When you finally boarded off the aircraft, you went straight to Harry’s flat without protest. Normally, you’d fight about checking into a hotel so you wouldn’t catch anyone unprepared, but you were too tired to care. 

Now, it’s been a day since your flight and you’ve promised Harry — and Tom — that you’ll go with him to their parents’ house for some lunch. You admit that you’re nervous and that it’s probably too soon to be meeting parents, but you pay no mind as you’re entering Holland's childhood home. 

“Mum!” Sam, Harry’s twin who you’ve just been introduced to, yells out. “They’re here!”

You hear excited squeals as Sam leads the three of you through and into the kitchen. Nikki’s back is turned when you enter, but she excitedly turns around to greet her sons. She’s taken off-guard at the sight of you next to Harry, but still leans in to tightly hug her sons, who she hasn’t seen in quite awhile. 

“And who’s this?” She inquires, gesturing in your direction. You’re a little taken aback at how unwelcoming she seems to be acting, but you shake it off as nerves. 

“Mum,” Harry smiles, a hand on the small of your back, nudging you a little closer to him and his mother. “This is Y/N, my girlfriend.”

The whisk in her hand seems to stop mixing the recipe in the bowl. Your smile falters slightly, but Tom fills the silence at Nikki’s ajar mouth. 

“Mum, she’s- uh, she’s my co-star in that rom-com I got casted for. Remember?”

“Oh,” She smiles a tight-lipped one, and you can tell it’s forced and fake. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Nikki.” She wipes a hand off on her apron before extending it for you to shake. You accept the offer with a hesitant but genuine smile. 

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” She hums but doesn’t respond, instead turning her attention to Tom. You make eye contact with Harry worriedly, and he shakes his head, bewildered. He kisses your temple before sending you in to meet Paddy and talk to Sam — somebody who actually welcomed you. 

The day goes on like this, and though the tension is most obviously present, you don’t touch the subject, knowing it’s not your place or your home, especially since you came almost unannounced. You don’t want to be angry with a woman you barely know, so you try not to mirror her feelings.

“So, Y/N,” She directs her attention to you for the first time all day. You look up from your intertwined hands with a smile. 

“Yea-”

“Did you just decide Tom wasn’t good enough based on his character and then move on to my next son?”

You’re shocked, mouth ajar as you blink. “W- what?”

“Tom told me about how many ‘date failures’ you had until you finally settled on Harry.”

You want to curse at Harry for offering to refill your drink, and you want to curse at Tom for spilling the secrets of your dating life. “I- I didn’t settle for anyone.”

“That’s not what my son says.”

Just then, both boys walk in together, laughing in conversation about something. You’re already crying, but the minute the door opens you stand abruptly, nearly knocking Harry off his feet. 

He laughs at you, “Love? What’s u-” But he’s cut short when he notices your red eyes and fresh tears. He sets the glasses down, wiping your cheeks and grabbing both of your hands. “What happened? Hm?” He’s shushing you, trying his best to calm you down. “C’mon, angel. Tell me.” 

“Your- your mom just said a few things.”

Harry’s eyebrows furrows, and so do Tom’s. They turn to look at the woman in the chair skeptically, questions flying out immediately. 

“Mum? What did you say to her?” 

You excuse yourself, not wanting to be a part of the conversation just yet. You run off to the bathroom to freshen up while Harry and Tom talk to Nikki. 

“Harry, I’m just being a protective mother, okay? I didn’t say anything that bad.” 

“Mum, you made her fucking cry.” Harry’s fuming, nostrils flaring while he glares at his mom. 

“Don’t talk that way with me.” She points her finger at her son. “That girl is no good for you.”

“Mum, I introduced them.” Tom says. “I know her; she is good.”

“Not if she has to settle for Harry.” She clicks her tongue. “I remember all those dates you told me she went on, Tom.” She sighs while he scoffs. “Anyone that tries that hard to find a boyfriend is out for other things.”

“That’s bullshit.” Harry interjects. “She’s an actress, of course dating is hard.”

Nikki purses her lips but doesn’t reply. 

“Mum, she’s crying.” Tom says softly, seemingly trying a different approach. “You haven’t talked to her at all, today. I think you shouldn’t have judged her too quickly.”

“Apologize.” Harry says finally before standing up. “Apologize or we’re leaving.” He walks out of the room, heading to the bathroom where you’re hidden away, sitting on the toilet while you catch your breath. He knocks, coming in with your permission. 

He pouts when he sees your tear-stained face, face puffy and eyes red while you sniffle. 

“‘M sorry.” You grumble the words while he kneels in front of you. 

“What’re you sorry for, baby?”

“For causing all this drama.”

“Hey, hey,” His thumb rubs across your knuckles. “You didn’t do anything wrong. She had no right to say those things to you.” You look at him as he finishes, engulfing him quickly, crying into his shoulder while he catches you with his arms, holding you against his chest lovingly. After a few minutes, there’s a knock at the door, and Tom’s voice rings through. 

“Mum says she wants to talk to you guys.”

Harry makes eye contact with you apologetically, thumb still moving across the skin of your hand. 

“Well,” he stands tall. “Shall we?” You wipe your cheeks one final time before standing with him, taking the hand he offered you as you head for the bathroom door. 

“Guess there’s no avoiding this part if she’s going to be my future mother-in-law.” 

Harry sucks in a breath, and as you make eye contact with a smirk, there’s a glint in his eyes that acknowledges that you’re feeling better. He smirks back, opening the door for you as you head back into the living room. 

Keep your cool, Y/N. You inhale a deep breath, emerging into the room. Keep your cool. 

[buckaroosboogara]

No Longer Feels Like Home

itsjust_soff

Read it on Ao3

Chapter 1: Manaʻo (Feeling)

Something was wrong with Buck.

Steve could sense it, because there was always some horrible sensation at the back of his head, screaming something he couldn't quite understand.

And it wasn't about his leg, nor the tsunami.

It was something else.

He had seen the news of the bomber in LA, and Danny had been his support while both saw Buck pinned to the road by that enormous fire truck in the news. Steve then had to explain what the kid meant to him, and some days later, he texted and called Buck to make sure he could count on him in whatever situation.

"Just text me and I will be taking the next plane to LA." Steve had said during a call.

Buck chuckled and thanked the former SEAL.

Five months later it was the pulmonary embolism.

Buck had texted Steve sometime before going over Athena's to have some 'celebration dinner' with Bobby, May, Harry, and her before his first shift after the accident.

Sometime later he received a message telling 'it was a party! :)' and a picture of him, Christopher, and Eddie.

He sent the picture to Danny, who had demanded that Steve told him about every news from Buck, although the detective and the firefighter didn't know each other.

'Are you kidding me? The kid looks like the Diazes had hung the moon for him.' Danny texted back.

Steve chuckled fondly, his mind free of worries until he unexpectedly woke up at 1 am, with a call from Buck's number.

"What the hell? It's 3 am in LA." He thought. But when he answered he noticed it wasn't Buck who called. It was a woman.

"Hi, um, am I talking to... Steve McGarrett?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Is Buck okay?" Steve had woken up completely.

"Yes... No..." The woman doubted, she didn't know if she could trust this person, although her brother told her it was fine.

"What happened? Who are you? I want to talk to him now." Steve demanded as he stood up and started pacing around his room.

"He had a pulmonary embolism. I'm his older sister, Maddie. He wanted to talk to you, but the nurses took him for a CT scan, so I told him I would do it." Maddie answered, alarmed. Steve could sense the worry in her voice. So he told her comforting words until the nurses brought an asleep Buck back to his hospital room. She thanked his company and promised updates from his brother before cutting the call.

Then, like a week or two later, it was the tsunami.

Everyone was at the Five-0 headquarters, bored between the Hawaiian constant heat and the paperwork when Danny appeared through the office's cristal doors with fast steps and a tablet in his hands.

They all peeked from their offices at the detective when he exclaimed, "Hey! Something happened in LA!"

Steve knew it was directed to him, and his mind immediately rushed to think of every bad thing that could have happened. He calmed himself down before stepping out of his office.

When Danny reached the computer, he slid his hand through the tablet, to move the image into one of the screens. The group had reunited around the computer table to watch it.

The headline was worse than what they could have imagined.

"Tsunami hits Santa Monica Pier in LA"

Danny locked eyes with Steve for some seconds. He knew that Buck had texted the Commander, telling him that he and Christopher were going to the beach after Eddie dropped him off at his apartment to cheer him up.

Everyone's breath hitched when they watched the phone recorded video on the screen.

"Oh my god," Tani muttered as she saw the first wave hitting the pier on the news.

"This video was recorded by a brave teenager who is residing at Ocean Plaza Apartment, near the Santa Monica Pier.." The news reporter spoke but everything was just white noise to them.

A giant wave appeared in the background. The people who were at the border of the pier started running to the mainland and giving advice to others in their way.

The wave finally hit the pier and in a matter of seconds, all the people disappeared into the salty water.

All of the officers' stomachs dropped to the floor, their mouths dry with no words.

It looked unreal, like a movie.

Steve immediately looked for Buck's number on his phone and frenetically tried to call him. Meanwhile, Danny started calling Mary, Steve's sister who lived in LA, and Adam tried to contact Kono, his ex-wife.

Junior, Quinn, Lou, and Tani just stood there worried, watching as the men tried to contact their loved ones.

Danny and Adam finished their calls, and a tense ambient settled among them as Steve was still trying to contact Buck.

After trying one last time, he hit the table with his fist before he placed both of his hands on the computer table and looked at the floor.

The Five-0 members shared a look before Danny asked, "Steve?"

"I can't contact him." He sighed.

The men and women in the place shared another look; everyone thought he was trying to contact Mary.

Only Danny understood who he was referring to.

"What can I do to help?" He asked, hating to see Steve in that state.

"Find a way to contact Maddie or Athena?" Steve replied unsurely.

"Okay, then," Danny replied and started typing on the table's screen.

He looked for Maddie Buckley in the interstate files and found out she worked at the 9-1-1 Emergency Call Center in LA, next to some other information like her contact number.

Danny passed her phone number to Steve, who entered his office to call her.

"Danny?" Tani was the first to say a word. "Can you tell us what's going on? Who is this guy?"

"Well..." Danny started.

Then he proceeded to tell them all he knew about Buck, which was that Steve met him years ago after the kid enrolled for the Navy SEALs and convinced him of dropping off because Buck hated to 'turn that emotional switch off', and how both stayed in contact throughout the years.

Everyone understood the situation. They even tried to joke at how easily Steve 'adopted' people, just to lighten the heavy, tense climate in the room.

Eventually, Steve got Buck's number from Maddie and found out about how he had survived the natural disaster, and his almost endless search for Christopher.

It was almost a month since the last event, and Steve had barely spoken with the fireman. He had a good excuse though. It seemed like May was the unspoken month for all kinds of murderers, robbers, kidnappers, terrorists, and even the Yakuza to come out of their caves and try to finish them.

It was one case after the other, sometimes they even accumulated, so Steve had to separate the group in halves, this way they could cover two cases at a time.

That was when the feeling started.

At first, he thought it was just stress from all the cases, but after May ended and the pile of unsolved cases started reaching an end, the feeling was still there. He tried to take some days off without connecting with the world, but it just got worse.

Finally, he spoke to Danny about this, and both reviewed Steve's life for the last months, to see if something was missing. Suddenly, Danny had an idea.

"Have you talked to Buck lately?"

And the pieces almost clicked in his mind.

"No. I think... You just discovered it Danno!" Steve said as he patted his grinning partner on the back.

Then he looked for Buck's contact and called. And... He didn't answer.

Steve decided to shrug it off and convince himself that Buck was in a long shift. So instead he texted him.

"Hey, Buck! I'm sorry I haven't talked to you, May was a crazy month

"I think something is wrong, Danny," Steve said to the detective after the man asked him about his recent anxious attitude.

"With what?"

"Buck," Steve replied, shifting on the couch.

"You still have the feeling, don't you?" Danny inquired, looking at Steve by his side.

The man sighed, rubbing his face with one hand.

"Yeah, I do. But I don't know what to do with it. It's driving me crazy, Danno."

Danny moved from the comfortable space he had on Steve's side to get the remote. He stopped the movie and shifted his body so he could face his best friend.

"Thanks, my arm was already falling asleep," Steve joked.

Danny rolled his eyes and his partner chuckled.

"Okay, serious talk now. I think I know why you have the feeling."

"Illuminate me, Doctor."

"Sometimes when Grace or Charlie is in danger, or not feeling well, I get that feeling too."

Steve leaned his head as his brows frowned, expecting an explanation.

"Like I know something is wrong and I need to talk to them, to know that they are safe and sound. And I know that you feel it with my children too."

Danny paused a moment to let his words make sense before speaking again, "It's like a fatherly feeling. You, my friend, care about Buck as you do about my children."

It made some sense in Steve's mind, but he still questioned it.

"So you are telling me that I care for Evan Buckley like he was my son?"

"Exactly. And let me guide you in this new parenting thing." Danny added. "Most of the time you are right and something happened. The last time I had his feeling, Charlie was being bullied in school by that Zach or whatever his name was."

Some seconds passed while Steve processed the information.

He had made a promise to Buck, and he always kept them.

"When is the next flight to Los Angeles?"

[gyll-yee-haw]

Would you be up for some Lou Bloom/reader smut? Reader as a new intern for his company and he overhears she has a crush on him, so he starts fixating on her and eventually invites her to his place. She’s more on the innocent side, but Lou hopes she’s a fast learner.

HI BABY OMG I’M SO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK A MILLION YEARS (but I made it extra long so you forgive me, hope you’re still around!)

Alright, I should give you a few warnings, cause this got a bit out of control, and you know Louis, this just can’t be cute, so here we go: this is a bit dark and dubcon on the start? A little bit of innocence and breeding kink (hope I didn’t go too far from what you wanted lol)

So, anyways, if you’re not into this stuff, please don’t read, I didn’t waste time writing those warnings for nothing...

---

Imagine that one day, on a break, you were sitting with a group of co-workers, and they started talking about your boss

"I'm kinda scared of him, tbh" one of them said, and almost everyone agreed

Not you, though… cause you had this ability of seeing good in everyone

"I don't think he's scary." You said. "He's absolutely the best on what he does. And I'm honored to work for him."

 Your co-workers didn't care much, they knew you

 Louis, who was listening to all of that conversation through the door, on the other hand…

 He started paying a little more attention to you

 Watching your every move while you worked, and giving you tips he didn't give to the others

 Everyone noticed how he was growing closer to you

 Everyone noticed how he got unnecessarily close to you as he helped you with the camera, or how he looked at your entire body and didn't even try to hide it

 And one of your friends tried to warn you. She told you to quit the job immediately, before he did something to you

 But you told her: "No. I like the special attention Mr. Bloom gives me."

 One more time, he heard everything. And a shiver ran down his spine when those words left your mouth

 He didn't waste his time, and on the exact same day he invited you to his apartment, so he could teach you about editing the videos and stuff

 You were BEYOND excited

 Hours later, you knocked on his door wearing a cute little dress

 Cause he specifically asked you to look pretty for him

 He told you to come in and sit on the couch

 He sat beside you and placed his computer in front of you

 Images from a car crash your team filmed a few days before were playing

 You were paying attention, but he didn't look at the screen for a second, his eyes were glued to your face

 But when you dared to look back at him, he said: "Keep your eyes on the screen. How will you learn like that?"

 "Sorry, Sir." You said before doing exactly what he said.

 You could see on the corner of your eyes that his hand was approaching your face, but you wouldn't dare to look

 Soon, you felt his long fingers caressing your cheek, and you couldn't help but smile (eyes on the screen the entire time, of course)

 "Why are you smiling?" He asked. "Do you like it when I touch you?"

 "I do." You told him.

 "Take your clothes off." He said emotionless.

 "What? Why?" You frowned, eyes glued to the scene that showed the police arriving.

“Why do you think I invited you?” He asked. “If it was anything work related, why would it be at my apartment?”

I mean... you were innocent, but you weren’t stupid. You noticed how he had been looking at you lately

You just didn’t expect him to go straight to the point like that

He didn’t give you much time to think, and closed the laptop in front of you, saying: “Look at me now.”

You turned to him with wide eyes, looking a little bit nervous

He’s a lonely guy, but a good observant. He knew he would have to relax you a bit before he could get you to completely submit to him

“I’ll tell you why I invited you.” He started caressing your cheek again. “You seem like a very good girl. Very efficient at work. Doesn’t talk shit about me behind my back like the others do, am I right?”

“No, Sir... I would never...”

“I know.” He cut you. “Bold of them to assume there’s anything happening in that company that I don’t know. I heard you saying that you liked my special attention.”

You blushed furiously and looked down

“That’s nothing to be shy about. That pleases me, in fact.” He told you, lifting your chin so you would look at him again. “Now, little girl. If you take your clothes off, I’m gonna give you some kind of attention you’ve never received before. Wouldn’t you like that?”

You thought for a second. It was incredible how much he was turning you on with that little game

So you nodded

He sat back on the couch and just waited

You stood up in front of him and removed your dress, still a little hesitant

He didn’t move or say a word of encouragement  

So you left your bra fall on the floor between you and him

He leaned forward and you froze

He placed one of his warm, big hands on each of your breasts and started to play with them

It felt really good and it didn’t take long for you to want more. You wanted to kiss him. You wanted those hands all over your body

You were so into it, but suddenly you felt him pinching one of your nipples and you gasped, taking a step back

“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay.” He whispered. “Come back here.”

You got back to your previous position and he placed a small kiss on the nipple that hurted

His mouth at such a sensitive spot turned you on more than you could describe

“I was just testing your limits.” He told you. “I know you’re not ready for all I want to do with you, but you will learn to enjoy the pain with time. I hope you learn it as fast as you learn at work. I’ll make sure of that.”

“I want to learn everything from you, Sir.” You pressed your thighs together and he noticed that you needed him just as bad as he needed you.

“Very good girl, as I suspected.” He chuckled. That was probably the first time in your life you saw him genuinely smiling. “Take your panties off, honey, you must learn your first lesson as quick as possible.”

You didn’t waste a second, and followed every word he said

While you did that, he took his shirt off and unzipped his pants, starting to stroke his length over his underwear

You almost drooled at how beautiful that scene was

He could see you growing eager, and added ‘patience’ to the list of things he still had to teach you. Not that night, though, he was too horny for that

He freed his cock and stroked it in front of you

God, it was so big

So fucking beautiful

“Come here, little girl.” He told you, patting his lap.

You sat on his lap, facing him, his cock inches away from you, and that kind of intimacy from someone you used to only admire from far was so exciting

“First thing you have to learn is to take my cock like a big girl. Take everything I give you and don’t you dare complaining.” He said, and at your state, you would agree with absolutely any condition. “You can cum as many times as you want, but so do I, and I get to choose where. Whatever the consequences may be, do you understand what I’m talking about?”

You nodded, and whispered: “Babies.”

“That’s right, fuck.” His cock throbbed on his hand when you said that in such an innocent voice. “If you stick around long enough, learn your lessons and I don’t get bored of you... it may happen. And you will look so pretty when it does.”

“I will be good to you.” You promised.

“I know, baby.” He pulled you closer, placing his cock on your entrance. “You accepted my conditions, so you are mine now.”

“Yes, Sir.” Was the last thing you could say before he entered you.

That man absolutely wrecked you after that. Fucked you until you were dumb

And you obviously took all of it, you wouldn’t give up, you were only getting started

I mean... who knows how many lessons there were, but you were eager to learn

Maybe it was because of the intensity of that moment, but suddenly, you didn’t simply admire him, you were in love with him, and that was terrifying

But as long as you were good to him, he would keep you around.

[lesbeet]

wait I would love to know what you think is wrong w oceans 8 I'm v curious I really loved that movie

i’m so sorry in advance but you’re basically getting the word-vomit version of the hypothetical script i would write for this hypothetical video essay so it’s gonna be long lskdjfksjd

but i mean don’t get me wrong i find ocean’s 8 entertaining and i’ve seen it a good number of times, but honestly i kind of consider it like. entertainment junk food lmao

i’ve never seen the original ocean’s eleven that the 2001 remake was based on, but i grew up watching the remake with my dad and i’ve always loved it (i’ve only seen ocean’s 12 and 13 once each and didn’t really care for them, though), so that’s also a factor, but not necessarily in the way you might think

most of the criticism i’ve seen of ocean’s 8 is either 1. along the lines of the criticism disney has (rightfully) been getting for rebooting/remaking/etc all of their older movies just to make money—except considering the 2001 remake is just that, a remake, i feel like that particular critique doesn’t really hold up in this circumstance—or 2. “why do we need a remake with women, this is just ghostbusters all over again, blah blah blah feminism bad” which again like. yes i think the motivation for making the film was more to jump on the trend of #girlboss remakes than anything else, but that doesn’t necessarily result in a bad movie, and i don’t think that was where the movie fell short. in other words, my problem with ocean’s 8 isn’t that it’s a remake, nor that it’s a remake with women

i spent some time this morning watching certain clips from both the 2001 movie and from ocean’s 8, and i think if anything the problem is that ocean’s 8 tried so hard NOT to be a carbon copy of ocean’s 11 that it ended up losing the emotional core that i personally think makes ocean’s 11 so interesting, and more than just a heist film  (ok from here on out i’m just gonna call them 8 and 11 bc the word ocean doesn’t even look like a real word to me anymore)

i like that 8 mixed up (some of) the characters’ roles and personalities in comparison to 11; i would’ve been really annoyed if nine ball, for example, had basically just been a female version of livingston, or if constance had been a female version of linus, etc. my biggest gripe in that department is that they clearly tried to make lou (cate blanchett’s character) the female version of rusty, and she just...does not cut it imo. debbie is hardly a female version of danny, but i don’t think they were as overtly trying to paint her that way, which makes their attempt at framing the debbie-lou friendship as analogous to the danny-rusty friendship seem lazy 

beyond the characters, the writers (et al) of 8 basically had two other aspects of 11 to evaluate, and to decide how similar or different they wanted their version to be: structure/style, and substance. i think they emphasized the former over the latter, and i think that was the mistake

i wouldn’t necessarily always classify structure and style as a singular aspect of a work, but i think in this case it makes sense, if only because those are (imo) the more recognizable aspects of ocean’s 11, and ones that are most readily available for someone wanting to make a parody or homage or remake or whatever—primarily, the plot beats and the stylistic elements like the visual editing and the soundtrack

in vague terms, the plot is almost identical (excluding the bloated ending of 8). the film opens with ocean convincing a parole board to release them from prison, where they’ve spent their entire sentence plotting the heist. then ocean seeks out their blond best friend and tells them about the elaborate heist, blond best friend tells them they’re crazy but is quickly convinced. ocean and blond best friend travel around to collect old associates and/or other recommended con artists. the group plans and prepares the heist. blond best friend finds out that there’s a hidden element of revenge in the plan and confronts ocean. the plan more or less goes forward as it’s been presented to the audience. then it turns out that there was a whole secret plan unbeknownst to the audience, and we get to see how it plays into what we already knew. the heist is pulled off successfully, including the secret revenge plot by ocean against someone who wronged them. (here’s where 8 departs into what i find to be a really slow-moving and unnecessary thing with james corden the insurance man who does nothing lol)

likewise, imo 8′s aesthetic comes across as a fair ~feminine~ met gala equivalent to 11′s vegas aesthetic, including some similar jazzy guitar/bass action in the score, and the screen wipe transitions 

but ocean’s 8 has no substance. that’s the problem.

i referred to a secret revenge plot in my summary, but honestly that’s less my own interpretation than the interpretation i think the writers of 8 were working from. debbie’s secret plot is revenge against whatshisface who wronged her, but danny’s secret plot is to win tess back. he obviously fucks over benedict both romantically and financially in the process, but his primary motivation for everything he does with his heist is to win back the love of his life. 

tbh i probably would’ve been annoyed if they’d made debbie’s secret plot an attempt at winning back an ex bc that’s boring and too on the nose for a remake, but in their attempt at not making a carbon copy of 11, the writers of 8 lost the heart of the story. debbie isn’t doing anything for love. (what i think they should’ve done is had it be related to danny somehow, especially bc they killed him off instead of having george clooney make a cameo for some reason). she’s done all this for money and self-satisfaction and revenge, which makes the emotional stakes more or less nonexistent. 

we want danny’s heist to succeed because we know how much he loves tess and how desperately he wants her back. we’ve seen benedict treat her like shit and even though danny wasn’t the best husband, he obviously truly cares for her and is putting everything on the line to prove it.

the audience has no reason to cheer debbie and her team on aside from like... #girlpower. the rest of the ensemble is made up of pretty flat characters—which is fine, imo, as long as SOMEONE is the emotional backbone of the story. but in ocean’s 8, there’s none.

like honestly i think community’s ocean’s 11 homage episode does a better job of referencing the structure and style of ocean’s 11 while still rooting itself in its own unique pathos (the study group realizing the dean had been kidnapped bc they realized the real dean loved them and would never have expelled them, and subsequently planning their heist to rescue him (and greendale as a whole))

so ocean’s 8 feels like junk food. it’s flashy and fun and entertaining to watch, but there’s no heart. there’s no reason to root for the protagonist and her team beyond the fact that...she’s the protagonist, and it’s her team. it’s empty calories.

[whumpiary]

shout out to that anon who sent the ask about Cass’ weird relationship with being high. this is low-key for you!

[content warning: drugs and drugging, victim blaming/self-blaming, betrayal of trust, implied noncon, emeto]

-

Cass is shaking so hard that his teeth are clattering together and his t-shirt is stuck to his back with the wet paper cling that comes with a cold sweat. Every few minutes his stomach lurches and either he spits up bile or he doesn't but either way his body convulses like it's trying to purge his whole fucking soul. 

"The fuck did you do to me?"

Tucker is leaning up against the wall, texting somebody or playing fucking Tiny Towers or some shit. Cass wouldn't have a clue. His minder glances up briefly and smirks. 

"You did this to yourself," he says, attention back on his screen.

Cass can’t even argue because he’s curling around the bucket again, throat burning, body shuddering.

“You gav-” he can’t even keep his fucking throughts straight he’s shaking so bad “You gave me something”

A chime goes off on Tucker’s phone, equal parts bright and mechanical. The sound makes something like rage flare in Cass’ head numbly, and he wants to slam it through the wall but honestly he can barely lift his hand to wipe his mouth.

“No, Ace, you took something,” Tucker says as he passes him a glass of something orange “I’m just here to get you clean. Now drink up”

---

Cassius raises his hand, his arm feeling heavy and not there until he sees it in front of him, trying to reach for the older man's face. His depth perception isn't quite right. Nothing's quite right. He can't seem to touch anything even as he tries.

He's swimming. Floating. Dreaming. Everything's a haze of soft and delicious and it would be so wonderful if his heart wasn't jack-rabbiting in a fear he can't place.

"Don't… i'dont feel right'" and his voice is thick and fumbling. Rubber marbles over a cotton tongue. He can’t reach Christopher's face until the man leaves forward to kiss his fingertips. That's nice of him. So nice of him. So beautiful. So wonderful, being here. He frowns as the memory of a half formed thought tugs at him "Why…?"

"You don't remember?"

The older man's voice is soft and warm. Like his hand is on Cassius' cheek, along his back, through his hair. He was asked a question and he doesn't know what. He shakes his head.

A low hum. Christopher does that when he's thinking. A low hum in his throat like he can speak without words. Cassius tries it out, feeling the vibrations along his own throat, against Christopher's hand, resting there.

"Would you like another chocolate?"

Cassius tilts his head back, parts his lips. Of course he does. Of course. The chocolates make him feel so, so good.

---

He crunches down on the little pellet without thinking and the taste is bitter and familiar and not at all what he’d been expecting. A smarter person would maybe spit it out but Cass just swallows it, stops in his tracks and waits for Tucker to turn around.

“Okay, so that wasn’t a fucking mint,” he says “What did you just give me?”

“A Skittle”

“That’s hilarious, you should go to the open mic down the road”

Tucker laughs like a jackal but doesn’t offer up any more info.

“At least tell me what the fuck it’s gonna do to me,” Cass says, trying for anger and irritation in the hope that it’ll cover the way his throat’s gotten tight with fear.

“New compound. Won’t know until it’s happening”

It’s probably a lie. Probably some kind of fucked up game that Cass isn’t privy to knowing he’s playing. Definitely, actually, considering they’re partially in public, out of town like this.

“When did I get demoted to guinea pig?”

Tucker shrugs, looking equal parts bored and very, very pleased with himself. It’s an expression he wears almost professionally these days. “When I realised how easy you are to test”

And Cass has a thousand responses, all lined up and ready to go, but he can’t seem to shoot any of them off.  Because normal people don’t swallow down poison once they know what it is.

Nah. That’s just him.

---

"Isn't this the little firecracker you had last time?"

"Hm?” Christopher says, barely even glancing up at his guest, fingers still stroking absently through his boy's hair. “Oh, yes. Probably"

Definitely, actually, but his guest doesn’t need to know that for certain. No need to make it obvious that Christopher’s developing a certain attachment.

"Couldn't even get the little bastard to shut up last time,” his guest says, amusement on his tongue. “What did you do? Lobotomize him?”

"Oh God, no. Nothing quite so permanent,” Christopher says, almost offended at the thought he’d blunt such a beautiful thing. “It'll wear off in an hour or so. But for now…"

He brings his fingers to Cassius’ lips, indulging in the way the boy sucks them into his mouth, the way his tongue curls around them, the way the happy hum vibrates against his fingers.

It’s not always that Christopher wants him like this. He usually quite prefers the eyes glinting like knives, the attitude of a serpent ready to strike, matched with a body so wanting that cusses turn to keens with a touch. But just occasionally he wants to see him just like this. Lascivious and soaring.

And, God, when he does— 

“So perfect, darling boy”

Dark eyes look up at him. Long gorgeous lashes. Flushed cheeks. A slow blink. Christopher pulls his fingers back. Cassius kisses the tips with a sigh, “You gonna hurt me now?”

Christopher smiles softly. There’s no fear there, no fury. Just the question, loose and curious, almost forgotten as soon as it’s asked. He glances to his guest and then back to his charge, knuckles grazing the boy’s cheek.

“Maybe. Maybe my friend will instead,” he says. “Does it matter?”

“No,” the answer comes so quickly, so sweetly that Christopher nearly gathers him up in his arms and takes him to bed right there “Just prefer to know beforehand.”

His guest chuckles, clearly amused by the exchange. Christopher looks up at him just in time to watch him lick his lips. “Little masochist, huh?”

“No, he just loves me,” Christopher says, only a little bit sardonic.

“He loves ya when you lace his food, you mean”

“Oh, I don't have to lace anything,” the older man says. "He’d be like this all the time if I let him.”

Cassius keeps trying to swim to the surface but the surface doesn’t exist when everything is fog and mist.

“Sounds like masochism to me.”

He wants to protest or at least make a sound but his thoughts are silver glitter and he can’t catch them as they fall, especially with Christopher trailing his fingers down his rib cage like that, trails of sparks and broken glass laying in the wake of his touch.

Maybe he would be like this all the time if he could be. Maybe he loves this.

---

Cass’ head keeps lolling to the side without him meaning to. He keeps barely catching it before it hits the couch cushions, before he hits sleep. He’s been awake a long while, he knows, but he’ll be fucked if he lets himself drift off now, he’ll be fucked if he lets himself let his guard down while it’s still not safe, while he’s still not sure, while he’s still so... while he’s so...

His head is full of smoke and it’s making all of him heavy… and heavy… and heav-

This time as his head snaps up, his eyes catch his mug, focusing on the tag of the tea-bag, still hanging out of it. The tea-bag. The tea. Even through the fog he realises he knows what this feels like. He knows this weight behind his eyes, and the white noise in his veins.

They’d had dinner and he hadn’t eaten it. Lou suggested a movie and they’d put it on. He was cold and Josiah suggested tea and like an idiot he’d taken it. 

He doesn’t just feel heavy. He doesn’t just feel tired.

He feels dragged under.

“Oh my god,” he says and once the words leave his lips, he’s not even certain anymore if he’s actually spoken “You… you fuckin’-... oh my god”

Josiah and Lou share a look, but they don’t look at him. They don’t look at him at all. He knows he’s right.

He knows, he knows, he knows.

“Oh my god,” he says. His voice isn’t his own. Nothing is his own. “What the fu…in my… in th’ tea. You were meant to be- you, you were mean’ta…”

“I’m so sorry, love,” Lou says, and her voice is too gentle for a viper. “I didn’t want to. We didn’t want to but... Cass, it’s been nearly four days. You need to sleep”

He pushes up from the couch and the world is tilting and his staticky limbs just barely keep him from falling to the ground, braced against the arm of the couch. He registers, too late, that Josiah’s at his elbow, holding him gently upright, and he shoves him away, not sure if his hands actually do the work that he wants them to or if the other man is just appeasing him by making distance.

“Don’ touch, don’ touch me,” but it’s weak and strained. He wants to sob. He wants to cry. He wants to scream. “You, you, you, you drugged me. You dru- oh my god. Oh my god”

He’s trying to move to the door but his legs aren’t responding and the world is falling down and so is he and oh my god, this was not supposed to happen, this was meant to be the place this didn’t happen. 

“This wasn’... You, you, you weren’t mean’to… oh m’god, …” and he’s fading and fading and fading and he can’t believe it’s happening again. He can’t believe it’s happening all over again. “You were meant to be safe”

[loveisfriendship]

It’s all about loyalty

Requested by @rahma29417 : Hey there👋🏻☺️ Can u write a fic where it is Steve McgarrettxReader ( using 3, 10, 24) and its where the reader is a prisoner and task force need her help solving a case, but steve does not like the idea and she ends up saving them all. Plus a happy ending please. Thank you 😊♥️♥️ Excuse my bad english😅🤦🏻‍♀️.....

Author’s Note: Of course love!! Thank you for the request and following my Leaving Breadcrumbs behind story <3 And your English is not bad at all!! It’s great, don’t apologize for that!  

I know it’s been ages, but I haven’t forgotten any of the requests that were send to me.  

This is quite long, so I’ll postz the second part some other time.

Enjoy your request and let me know if you like it 😊

Love,

Lis.

P.S.: Sorry it took me so long,…

3.  “Please refrain from shooting her, we need her for later.”

10.  “Run!”

24.  “Holy Shit! You’re bleeding!”

When you heard that the 5-0 task force wanted to talk to you, all you could do was smile and with it you entered the interrogation room in your handcuffs.  

“Commander McGarrett, Detective Williams, nice to see you again.” You smile smugly.

“What’s that smile for?“ Williams asks.

“Nothing. I am just really happy to see you two.” You say sitting down, crossing your legs, as best as you could with your cuffed ankles. You happily look at them both, but they don’t seem to be in a good mood. Rather really itchy and not happy that they have to be here.

“So what can I do for you two?” you ask sweetly, showing both of them your commercial smile.  

“Oh stop it, are you trying to make us blind?” Detective Williams complains but has a slight smile on his lips. During your case he was pretty fond of you, because you kept messing with Steve.  

“Okay, let’s stop with the small talk. I don’t like it, but we need your help.” Commander McGarrett interrupts and sits down on the chair the wrong way around. You uncross your legs and lean over the table and stare intently at him.

“And with what exactly do you need my help with, Commander?” you reply, the smile not failing to leave your face.  

“A case. Are you willing to help or do you want to stay here? As much as I don’t like it but the Governor said that he’ll loosen up your sentence if you’re really of help.” He stated annoyed and with an underlying hate in his voice.  

“And why exactly should I help you, McGarrett? You weren’t particularly nice to me, when you arrested me.” You scoffed and leaned back in the chair your arms crossed over your chest.  

“Fine. I don’t want your help anyway.” He growls, stands up and starts to leave as Detective Williams holds him back.  

“Now now, children. Play nice.” he says and gestures for Steve to stay and stand there while he will continue to talk to you. Steve grunts and looks at you with an angry face, crossing his arms in front of him and standing against the wall with his Navy SEAL posture. You try to hide your smirk, knowing your pissed him off already.  

“Listen…” Williams starts, turning the chair around and sitting down, folding his hands on the table.

“We need your help in this particular case, because you are the only one with the right connections to get us what we want.”

“You mean, to get you who you want. And it’s definitely not suspicious when I was arrested and sentenced for 10 years and get out a year later.”

“Your sentence was not long enough in my opinion.” McGarrett grunts.  

“And why is that Commander?” you look at him with a sweet but sarcastic smile.

“You killed a bunch of people, doesn’t matter that they worked for you, and you are the head of the biggest drug ring on this island.” He points out, getting pissed off with every word.

“Commander, you were able to get evidence on the connection between me and drugs. But nothing on the other things.” You smile innocently, making him huff.

“I’ll get the evidence on you being the head on the local Mafia as well.” He grumbles.

“Try your best, but I am not any of this.” you answer and turn your attention back to Detective Williams.  

“Detective Williams, if you don’t hurry up, I’ll miss lunch and I would hate to miss lunch.” You emphasize and gesture for him to continue.  

“Right. Ignore him over there, he hates that he isn’t allowed to do what he wants to do. So, we will only tell you about the case, when you agree to help us.” He explains.

“Tell me more about the part of loosening up my sentence.”  

“Yeah, depends on your behavior. But the Governor mentioned something about half the time. So you would be out in about 4,5 years.“ He offers, with a smile like he wants to sell you a new car or whatever. Thinking that it would make a lot of things easier you nod and agree to the terms. The two men leave and take care of the paper work to get you out. Meanwhile a guard brings you back to your cell and picks you up again, when everything is settled. They give you some clothes, a hat and sunglasses because you persist, to make sure no one realizes that 5-O has taken you out of prison. Arriving at the HQ, you smile at Officer Kelly and Kalakaua and they give you a sympathetic smile back. You liked the Task force, even though their boss wasn’t very fond of you.  

“Where is Lou?” you ask innocently, turning around yourself to get a better look at the whole Office.  

“That’s Captain Grover to you, Missy.” Lou says and walks in smiling.

“Oh Captain, my Captain.” you mock and salute. “I would stand up on a chair, but you people don’t seem like you sit, considering there isn’t a single chair in here.” you chuckle, getting a chuckle out of everyone else as well. Besides Steve who then throws everyone a very angry look.

“Would you lighten up, McGarrett? You asked for my help. Can at least fake a smile.” you grumble, leaning against the desk.

“Anyway. Let’s get this over with.” He grumbles and walks past you to stand at the other end of the desk.  

“This is the suspect.” He says and shows you a picture of someone you know very well.

“Donny?” you ask surprised.

“What?” Danny asks.

“Not DAnny, Donny. He is an old friend of mine and of my family.” You explain, taking a closer look at the files and everything that is on the screen.  

“We know, that’s why we need your help.” Kono answers and shows you everything about the file and what is going on. Reading through it you get more and more pissed at what you see.  

“That poor example of the man had the nerves to take over MY business when I got arrested?!” you yell and slam your hand on the desk.  

“Okay calm down, Missy.” Lou starts.

“No, I won’t calm down! He doesn’t know shit about this business, shows that you have been watching him since I got arrested. It took the police years to get a picture of me and he is all out in the open and not even trying to cover tracks.” You ramble on.

“Yeah, we figured that out as well.” Chin chims in.

“I want him. And I want his head on a stick.” You spit out, more and more anger coming out.  

“Okay, Queen of Hearts. Calm down. We want him alive and we want him arrested and that is what you are going to do for us.” Danny interjects, trying to calm you down.  

Taking a few deep breaths, you nod and ask them to fill you in on their plan. Soon you all are on the road. They let you out at a corner that you suggested, as you knew the way to his hiding. And as you are equipped with the best technology they can track you down and follow you later.  

You storm into the building with your most threatening death step making all of your old employees step out of the way and even show you the way to Donny’s office. More your old office. Bursting through the door you yell:

“DONNY YOU SON OF A BITCH.” drawing your gun and pointing it at his head. He is surely frightened and expects his men (your old employees) to help him. But they don’t. They lean back and smirk.

“WHY IS NOONE HELPING ME?” he yells.

“Because all of them know that you don’t have any worth for this business and for them. Why should they follow a scumbag like you are, who has ruined this business?” you ask, still pointing the gun at his head. But before you can move on, you are knocked out from behind and black out.  

Not knowing how long you were out, you wake up in an old, seemingly abandoned, warehouse.  

“How cliché...” you mumble, shaking your head, to get rid of the haze.

“Mi amor!” you hear, and you freeze.

“Papa?” you ask, trying to figure out where the voice came from.

“La mia cara figlioletta. Che cosa hai fatto?” (My dear little daughter. What did you do?) your fathers voice says. But as he says this you hear a glitch in his voice and know exactly what is going on.  

“Very good, Donny. Trying to mess with me, I see.” you chuckle.

“Maybe next time, you can find an audio recording that doesn’t have a glitch.” you smile smugly, figuring out, that he hid behind the door in front of you. As you hear his silent curse; you laugh and know that you were right all along.  

“You have always been pathetic. I don’t know what your mom saw in you. May that wonderful lady rest in peace. You were never able to get anything done right.” you chuckle as Donny shows up before you.

“Oh really? Then why are you imprisoned right now?” he asks, pretty sure of himself. But instead, you reach your hand through the bars and swiftly pull his tie, smashing his head against the bars, making his head bleed and him stumble towards the ground.

“You are never gonna learn the basics.” you sigh as you crouch down to be face to face with him. He curses again and stands up, leaves the room and you just hear him scream, that some guards are supposed to watch you. Alessandro und Mattia enter and burst out laughing.  

“Che idiota.” they mumble.

Taglist: @geeksareunique @fandomoniumflurry @rahma29417 @letsstarsfalling @fairchild21 @fungk17 @woodworthit666 @honestlyoriginalthing @evyiione @everygoodusernameistaken16 @littlewhiterose @reincarnated-ghost @princess76179  @damedoctoroftardis-blog @make-yourownmemories

[ibelieveinharrystyles]

Chapter Eleven: The Encore

Forever? Masterlist

30th October 2017

Since the confrontation on Daisy’s birthday Harry had gradually become more distant, of course there was the inevitable truth that he was on tour, meaning he was busier, but that hadn’t been a problem when he toured with One Direction, he always seemed to maintain contact. Normally when Harry was away for periods of time, he would make the effort to facetime or call Ashley, even if it was for five minutes, just to make sure she was alright, but in the last couple of months their calls had depleted in number. First came the excuses, that he was jet lagged or had soundcheck, but then as the calls stopped, so did the excuses, Ashley didn’t really think anything of it, she knew Harry was busy and he wanted the tour to go well, you only get to make a first impression once, as her mum had always reminded her. Matt had gone off the radar since Harry told him to stay away, for some time Ashley was worried Matt would go to the press, but clearly he had worked out that Harry’s lawyers were not the sort of people you messed with. 

“I see Mr Styles is back in town for his tour tonight, you going?” Roman asked Ashley as they made their way out of the studio and towards the kitchen after another morning of the breakfast show.

“Yep, Hammersmith Apollo, when the boys did their last tour together I went to about a third of the shows, but that was way back when I was on a gap year, but now I’m a working mum, so it's just night two in London for me.” Ashlley explained.

“Is Daisy going?” Roman asked.

“No, she’s too little, I think it would overwhelm her a bit, one of my mum’s friends is at university in London, so she said she would babysit.”

“That’s good, you’ll be able to let your hair down that way.” Roman replied, “Anyway I’ll leave you to it, I imagine you’ve got all sorts to do today.”

“Cheers Ro.” 

Gemma had agreed to meet Ashley before the show for dinner, they agreed on an Italian just around the corner from the venue, “So have you spoken to my illusive brother much in the last couple of months?” Gemma asked as the waiter placed their sharing platter of dough balls on the table.

“Not much in the last few weeks, I guess that would be down to jet lag, he’s a busy man,” Ashley explained.

“Not to forget he’s loved up at the moment, did he mention that to you?” Gemma replied.

“I saw it on the internet, all those update accounts on Twitter were going mad, especially after Nick did that thing with the heart rate monitor.” Ashley informed her.

“So he never told you about Camille himself?” Gemma asked.

“No, I guess it never really came up in conversation, I mean there was that one time he said he couldn’t facetime Daisy because he was going out for dinner, and then the following morning there is pictures of them out together,”

“He gave up the opportunity to facetime Daisy? That doesn’t sound like Harry.” Gemma replied.

“He has seemed more distant since what happened on the heath on Daisy’s birthday,I just put it down to being busy with his tour.” Ashley explained.

“Being on tour has never stopped him staying in contact with you, I don’t get why now all of a sudden it's a problem.”

“I guess you’re right,” Ashley sighed, “I might ask him about it after the show.” 

Ashley stood at the sound desk with Gemma, Anne, Lou, Lux and Nick waiting for the show to start, the audience’s anticipation was immense, when he finally appeared on stage the screams were intense, having been to so many One Direction shows over the years Ashley had become immune to the ear ringing effect it once had on her. Harry appeared on stage in a sparkly yellow suit, beginning with Ever Since New York, followed by Two Ghosts and Carolina  before he went on to introduce himself to the crowd, “Hi I’m Harry, thank you for choosing to spend your night with us, we’re going to sing some songs for you tonight,” He chatted to the audience, “Please feel free to be whoever you want to be in this room tonight, this is Sweet Creature.” As he began to sing Ashley got the same funny butterfly feeling in her stomach that she got when Harry told her he wrote it for her, she didn’t really know why but hearing him sing it live meant so much more to her than it ever did when she played the studio version, she felt closer to the lyrics, understanding what each one meant. She figured that what Harry meant was that matter what happened, no matter where he ended up, she would always be the one he could call upon to bring him back to where he needed to be.

“You alright sweetheart?” Anne whispered, she had noticed the tears that stained Ashley’s cheeks, she wrapped an arm around her as Harry continued to sing.

After the show had finished one of Harry’s security team led the group backstage where Harry and his band were celebrating the end to another successful show, they were led down a few dimly lit corridors of the theatre to the green room where Harry and his team were sharing drinks and talking about the show. Ashley stood awkwardly beside Gemma, not really knowing what to do, it was the first time she had seen her best friend in almost three months, but it all felt so different, he was different. “Are you okay Ash?” Gemma whispered to her.

“Yeah, it all just feels different, he seems different.” Ashley replied.

“Look, he’s standing by himself, just go and talk to him.” Gemma encouraged her.

Ashley crept tentatively to where Harry was pouring himself a drink, “You guys were incredible up there.” Ashley told him, leaning against the wall beside him.

“Thank you.” Harry smiled.

“How’s the tour gone so far?” Ashley asked, trying to forge some sort of conversation, it had never been like this before, with Harry it was always easy and the conversation would just flow.

“It's been good,” he told her, their pathetic excuse of a conversation was interrupted by Harry’s phone ringing, he pulled it from his pocket for both of them to see Camille’s name flash up on the screen, “Sorry, I’ve got to take this.” Harry said before quickly leaving the lively atmosphere of the green room.

“You’re right, he isn’t the same,” Gemma said, taking a place beside Ashley promptly after Harry exited the room.

“He seems so distant Gem, and I have no clue why, through all the years of our friendship I’ve been able to read him, I could tell when things were wrong, but this time,” Ashley placed her head in her hand, “I have no clue Gem.”

“When he gets off the phone I’ll speak to him, I don’t think softly softly catchy monkey is going to work for much longer.” Gemma assured her, putting her arm around Ashley’s shoulder. 

“Alright love, I’ll speak to you soon, bye,” Harry ended the call to his girlfriend to see Gemma standing in the corridor just metres away from him, “You alright Gem? Enjoy the show?” 

“Enough of the small talk, what’s up with you tonight?” Gemma asked her brother, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Nothing, what are you on about Gem?” Harry asked.

“You and Ashley, if this were two years ago you would be following her around like a lost puppy, but you barely muttered three words to her in there.” Gemma told him.

“Yeah, that was two years ago, we’re different people now.” Harry replied.

“What does that mean? Gemma asked, clearly confused by what her brother meant.

“We aren’t the same people anymore, she has Daisy, I’ve got the tour, I guess we’ve drifted recently.” Harry explained.

“Just because you’ve drifted it doesn’t mean you can’t make your friendship work, it doesn't mean you can’t make the effort.” Gemma told him sternly.

“Maybe I’m tired of making the effort.” Harry replied flippantly, sighing heavily.

“Well at least I know where I stand.” Harry turned to see Ashley standing further down the corridor, she wavered before turning on her heel and running down the corridor to make her way out of the venue.

“Phenomenal Harry! Fucking Phenominal!” Gemma wasn’t usually one to swear, but in this instance it felt appropriate, “Aren’t you going to go after her?” She asked, Harry standing there awkwardly, “For Christ sake Harry go after her!”

“Ashley! Wait.” Harry called, power walking down the dark streets of Hammersmith.

“What for Harry? So you can remind me what a pathetic excuse of a life I lead?” Ashley shouted as she continued to march towards Hammersmith station, she was past caring about the press seeing their altercation.

“It isn’t like that Ash.” Harry muttered.

“What is it like Harry?” Ashley asked, stopping to look at Harry, “What bullshit explanation do you have that could justify you not wanting to put any effort into our friendship?” Harry was left speechless, if he was completely honest he didn’t even know, “You know what Harry, we’re done, this, our friendship it's done, I am not going to wait around for you to fight for something that clearly means nothing to you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry? I’m sorry that when my daughter asks for her Uncle Harry in the middle of the night that I will have to tell her you want nothing to do with us, you know how important it was to me that she had a positive male role model in her life,” Ashley told him bitterly, “You are not the same Harry that I adored twelve years ago.” She looked him in the eyes as he showed little emotion, “Goodbye Harry.” She turned to walk away, she didn’t want him to see her cry, she didn’t want him to think he had in any way won, the bitterness of her salty tears stung her eyes as she made her way into the station, the overwhelming bright lights of the walkway making the stinging even worse.

Ashley entered her flat earlier than she or Ellie, her mum’s friend’s daughter who was babysitting Daisy had anticipated, “You’re back early,” Ellie said as she found Ashley in the hallway, taking off her shoes and jacket, she noticed Ashley’s tear stained cheeks, “Ashley are you alright? You look like you’ve been crying.”

“I’m fine, how was Daisy?” Ashley asked, desperate to  change the topic of conversation.

“She’s been an absolute angel, I can stay for a bit if you want.” Ellie told her kindly.

“No, you go home, here’s the money, thank you for tonight.” She handed Ellie some cash as she left the flat, once Ellie had left Ashley broke down, she slumped against the wall, her head in her hands, she thought about Harry, he was a few mere miles away, but he may as well have been on the other side of the world. Ashley’s distress was interrupted by Daisy’s babbling, she was clearly wanting a night time feed, Ashley found Daisy stood up in her cot in their shared bedroom of their tiny flat, “Hello my angel,” she lifted Daisy out of the cot, snuggling her close to her chest, “Looks like its just me and you from now on my love.”

and there we go the final part of ‘forever?’ I’m working on some other writing projects at the moment but something tells me this won’t be the last we see of Ashley, Daisy and Harry...

[lululawrence]

lululawrence’s Fics Posted in 2019

Master Fic Masterpost / Buy me a Coffee?

2019 was a bit crazy, but I’m so proud of the fics that I’ve been able to write and publish this year! There were quite a few of them, so here they are in order of when they were published. I hope you enjoy!

Hey Look, Ma (9k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

“I’m so sorry,” a deep voice said.

Louis made sure he’d only dropped his hat, reached down to pick it up, and was dusting it off when he finally looked up.

“It’s alright...mate…” Louis had seen this man before. He was gorgeous. He lived somewhere in the area, because Louis would often pass him on the street heading home from the tube or the nearest bus stop.

And now, here he was. Standing in all his fluffy, curly haired glory in front of Louis, apologising for nearly bowling him over.

“I really am sorry, though. Let me get you a coffee to make up for it?”

Or the one where Louis is a hybrid who agrees to go on a blind date with his neighbour's colleague's son the same night he literally runs into his dream man. Surely this isn't going to end well... or is it?

Charisma (5k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Harry was smiling, and maybe blushing a little as well, as he accepted the phone back. “Thank you,” he glanced down at his phone and then said, “Louis.”

Smiling happily at the way Harry had said his name, Louis watched him leave the room. The further away he got, the more confused Louis was. Yes, Harry was gorgeous, but how the hell had he forgotten that Harry was also the man who had caused him to almost have a major accident earlier because of his haphazard driving? How had he allowed Harry to distract him with his charm to the extent that instead of giving the man a lecture, Louis accepted the offer of a date?

Well. Whatever the reason was, Louis wouldn’t forget when Harry called. Louis would give him a piece of his mind then and see if Harry still wanted to go out with him at that point. Because yeah, Louis was not mad enough about his overreaction to Harry, both on the road and at the event tonight, to turn that opportunity for a date down. He wasn’t stupid.

Or the one where Harry feeds on awesomeness (possibly literally). Louis is awesome and also angry. They’re probably going to fall in love.

Drabbles for Harry's Birthday Drive 2019 (25k) - Various Pairings

Each chapter is a different drabble dedicated to a person who donated to Harry's birthday drive! The prompt requested as well as the pairing are in the author’s note for each chapter as well. There are multiple pairings due to various pairings being requested by the donors, so please pay attention to that information in each chapter! Pairings include Harry/Louis, Zayn/Liam,, Grimmy/Louis, Greg/Louis,  Zayn/Louis, and Niall/Shawn.

It’s the Climb (25k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Louis stretched out his back and turned around, startled to see the most beautiful man he’d ever encountered in his life riding towards him on a horse.

He had to still be asleep. This was one of those super weird dreams people had where the knight in shining armor (or in this case, red sleeveless flannel) literally rode up to them calling their name.

The Hannah Montana AU where Louis is a world famous punk rock singer with a stage name of William and Jay drags him back to Tennessee for the summer. In her attempt for Louis to get back to his roots, he just so happens to reconnect with Harry, and things never go quite as Louis expects them to.

It Was Only a Kiss (16k) - Various Pairings

I participated in a kiss prompt drabble challenge on Tumblr, and ended up writing thirty-three drabbles! Because of the amount all for one challenge, I decided to post them on AO3 to save them. Each prompt exists on its own without relation to others, so pick and choose as you like.

If You Want To Be Loved (0.5k) - Greg James/Louis Tomlinson

Greg can't sleep. For once, he doesn't really mind.

(Something’s Been) Hiding In My Heart (26k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

“My eyes must be deceiving me,” Harry said in his slow drawl. His voice was deeper than Louis remembered. Maybe some things had changed after all.

“They aren’t deceiving you. I’m here because I need you to finally sign these papers,” Louis said before he dropped the stack of paper on the hood of the car and held out a pen to Harry. “Just do it, Harry. Get it over with and then I’ll be out of your life forever, alright?”

Face blank of all emotion outside of a sneer Harry said, “You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

“God,” Louis groaned. Harry just couldn’t let this be easy. His pride wouldn’t allow it. “You know, I never really understood that phrase, but no. I am not ‘shitting’ you. Just sign the damn papers.”

“Ya know, I don’t think I will,” Harry said before turning back to the front door.

When the screen door slammed behind him, Louis realized Harry didn’t have anything else to say.

Or a Sweet Home Alabama AU where Louis comes home to finally get his divorce from Harry finalized so he can move on with his life. Alderford holds its own set of challenges when he returns, but by facing his past maybe he can find the healing he so desperately needs.

You Try To Be Everything (I Need) (36k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Wars, and rumours of wars, were nothing new for the world in the twenty-fourth century. The fighting had evolved over the years, and rarely did it involve traditional weapons. A group most widely known as the Southern Powers gained strength amongst portions of the western European continent and spread quickly.

There was a fight the Southern Powers didn’t expect coming from the north of England, though. Resistance came in the form of an organised underground; a group comprised of people with the Touch that did the best they could to enforce a line that would not be crossed. Slowly, that line was moved from the Channel to boundaries further and further north. It seemed only a matter of time before the Southern Powers took over everywhere.

Until that time, people did the best they could to live their lives in some semblance of normality. For Louis Tomlinson, that sense of normality was about to change when his best friend, Harry Styles, goes missing.

Louis embarks on the journey of a lifetime where he uses his newly developed abilities to search for his friend, even when it takes him to places he never thought he would see while surmounting trials he never could have imagined.

You Turned Up (Like a Friend of Mine) (10k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Louis padded downstairs, feeling incredibly thirsty. He filled up a glass of water and was about to take a drink when a loud knock sounded at the door accompanied by some yelling and ringing of the doorbell.

“What the hell?” Louis muttered, setting his glass on the counter and rushing towards the door.

As he got closer to the door, though, his mind stopped whirling because the voice was one that was etched forever in his mind, but one that he never thought he would ever hear again.

“Why’s the door locked? Did you seriously go without me? And who’s car is in the driveway? Lou, I knew you’d be late to get me. We’re going to miss-”

Louis whipped the door open, sure that he was just imagining things. There was no way…

Except there was. Standing on the front step was the curly haired, boy-faced Harry Louis had last seen ten years ago today.

Or the one where Harry disappears on graduation day only to show up on Louis' door looking exactly the same ten years later. Through a series of strange events, maybe they can finally figure out that they're destined to be together, no matter what.

Stealing Flowers (4k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

When Louis finally arrived, he walked in and grabbed an apron. Without even saying hello, he immediately approached Jesy and said, “Sexy Stranger steals flowers.”

She kept pouring the Tanqueray shots she had lined up in front of her, but her face screwed up in confusion. “I’m sorry, he what? Did you finally talk to him and that was what you learned?”

He nodded to another couple of tourists and welcomed them to the Way Station as they eagerly made their way to the Tardis restroom.

“No, I didn’t actually talk to him, but—”

“Then how do you know he steals flowers?”

She was wiping down the bar and stacking the empty glasses to take back to the dishwasher when Louis realized maybe he should help too. After all, he was there to work, not just talk to her about his maybe crush.

“I saw a poster.”

Or the one where Louis pines after the Sexy Stranger on the Subway and almost asks him out. That's when the strange posters start showing up around Brooklyn.

Yellow, Is It Me You’re Looking For? (3k) - Greg James/Louis Tomlinson

Standing in the mess Greg’s shift had left behind, Louis decided he would start small. He’d organise the paint colour cards that displayed the names and then get started on the sample tins. It wasn’t until he started opening the boxes of colour cards that Louis started to wonder whether Nick had been the one to name the paint after all.

Yellow, Is It Me You’re Looking For? was along the top left corner of a mustard yellow card. Nick was as big a fan of puns and music as anyone, so while it was unorthodox, Louis didn’t think too much of it. Part of the appeal of Annie’s Hardware was that they didn’t take things too seriously while always maintaining professionalism.

The names that followed did leave Louis to wonder if Annie knew exactly what the chosen paint names were, though. The Colour Of My Tears When ‘FRIENDS’ Ended for a soft white, Barneys Blood for a pale purple, and Blond. James Blond. for a sand tone had Louis convinced that it was a different co-worker who had renamed the colours.

Or the one where Louis has pined after Greg for what seems like ages, but when Greg renames the company's paint colors, something might finally be ready to give.

Like a Lighthouse On The Coast (I Need You) (19k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Louis placed his order with the server and was about to type up some possible lyrics when he heard the music being piped in go silent and a throat was cleared into a mic.

Oh God no. If Louis had known there was going to be live music, he would have chosen somewhere else. Why did they have to ruin what was truly the perfect ambiance for Louis with some sub-par wannabe singer-songwriter?

“Hello, I’m going to sing some songs for you tonight. I hope you like them.”

The voice was deep and smooth, slower than Louis had expected. It made him want to look up at the singer rather than cower into the corner of his booth.

So he did. The man didn’t look nervous at all, but he didn’t look like the cocky asshole Louis had been expecting either. Louis continued to brace himself as he took in the simple Ramones shirt and jeans the man was wearing, when something Louis hadn’t been expecting happened.

The man began to play his guitar, and he was good.

And then, the man began to sing.

Or the one where Louis has all the pressure of his sophomore album and none of the inspiration, but maybe all he needs is someone like Harry Styles to turn all that around.

Oh Honey, Honey (4k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Louis hated honey. He didn’t like the flavour, he didn’t understand why some liked it in their tea, he hated when it was put on sandwiches or cake or anything really. But, standing stock still in front of a rather large display of honey in that 24-hour Tesco, Louis found himself grabbing the largest jar of “100% pure London-local honey” and adding it to his trolley, simply because he knew it would make Harry smile.

Louis always wanted to make Harry smile.

Or the one where Louis pines after Harry, Harry is passionate about helping save the bees, and a late night shopping trip gone wrong doesn't end quite as horribly as Louis imagines.

You Don’t Care About Me (One More Night) (60k) - Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson

“Nick. You’re into guys. What should I do?”

Nick snorted. “You think just ‘cause I’m gay, I know what you should do?”

Louis blinked at him and Nick admired his eyelashes against his will. “Well. Kind of, yeah.”

“That is not how this works,” Nick said. “Besides, it’s not like you can just go and suck someone’s dick to be sure you like it the way I did. You’re too famous to try it my way.”

Louis’ expression changed to one of awe. “That’s how you figured it out? You sucked some random’s dick?”

Nick shrugged. “Yeah. Basically. I mean, I knew for pretty damn sure before that, mind you, but that did solidify the matter for me.”

“I need to suck a dick,” Louis said, turning to look at the wall of Nick’s room.

“You could suck mine, if it would help,” Nick offered before he could stop himself.

Or the one where Louis pines for Harry and Nick helps ease his way into figuring himself out through a friends with benefits sort of arrangement. Things quickly turn complicated.

A Taste of Honey (3k) - Greg James/Louis Tomlinson

Louis opened the door expecting someone with Deliveroo. Instead his gaze lifted so he could look at a very frazzled, incredibly fluffy haired Greg James who was inexplicably holding out a very large jar of honey.

“Hello, Gregory,” Louis said slowly.

Shifting around, Greg stepped forward and held the honey out towards Louis again. “This is for you.”

“Erm, alright,” Louis said before carefully taking the heavy jar from him. “Thank you?”

Greg flashed a wide grin, nodded, and then without another word walked back out the front door of the building.

Or the one where Louis has been pining after Greg ever since he started his job. Greg randomly showing up at his flat with a jar of honey might be just the push Louis needs to finally talk to the man.

Just Like Honey (3k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Louis opened the door and he looked so soft and beautiful. He was in a ratty pair of grey joggers and that was it. Harry had never seen him look so good.

When Harry finally raised his eyes from Louis’ chest, he realised Louis had likely said something.

“Uh,” Harry said, clearing his throat. “Sorry, what did you say?”

Smirking a little, Louis crossed his arms and popped his hip. “I said, ‘Hello, Harry. What brings you here so late on a Saturday?’”

Then his brain kicked in.

“Right, fuck. Hi, Louis. I just wanted to give you this.”

Louis’ brows creased as Harry held the honey out to him. Taking the jar from Harry, he said, “Honey?”

Nodding, Harry said, “Yep. Hope you have a great night!”

Fisting his hands at his sides in frustration, Harry left the building as quickly as he could.

Honey, Honey, How You Thrill Me (3k) - Greg James/Harry Styles

Harry knocked once more before coming to the conclusion that knocking for longer than that was rude.

He’d just decided to leave when the door opened.

“Fuck, you were asleep, weren’t you?”

“Well, it’s past 8, so yeah, basically,” Greg said with a yawn.

God, he’d been asleep for over an hour. Harry was the worst.

“I’m so sorry. Here. Take this and get back to sleep. I’m so incredibly sorry for waking you up,” Harry babbled, shoving the jar of honey into Greg’s hands.

Greg looked at the jar then back up at Harry, still not saying anything. Probably because his brain was still asleep just like his body would’ve been if Harry hadn’t been a fucking idiot.

“Sorry again!” Harry said before giving a lame wave and rushing off to the nearest tube station.

Or the one where Harry pines after fellow Radio 1 DJ Greg James but doesn't know how to start a conversation with him...until he gets the needed inspiration.

Our Love is Timeless (6k) - Niall Horan/Shawn Mendes

He rinsed out his shampoo and began to scrub at his body. Turning around to rinse his back and wash his front, Shawn was not prepared to be met with a cursing blond Irishman.

Letting out a rather loud, high pitched scream and covering himself as best he could, Shawn backed up into the wall behind him, which also turned off the shower.

“Thanks, mate. Was hoping not to get my clothes entirely soaked,” the man said as he began stepping out of the shower stall. “Say, what year is it?”

“I...what?” Shawn sputtered. “You just show up, fully clothed, in a stranger’s shower and your first question is what year it is? How the fuck did you get in here? Why my shower? Who are you?”

“Well, yeah. I guess so. I’ve not quite got a handle of the whole time traveling thing yet.”

Or the one where Shawn falls for Niall, who just happens to be a time traveler. The course of true love never did run smooth.

Like Honey to the Bee (3k) - Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson

Nick didn’t even remember knocking, but suddenly the door he also didn’t realise he was leaning on opened and he started falling inside Louis and Harry’s flat.

“Fuck,” Nick blurted as he tried to right himself. He was caught by Louis, which was great because he was exactly who he wanted to see and he didn’t really fancy dropping a massive jar of honey on his doorstep.

“Nicholas?” Louis asked.

Nick couldn’t help it. Hearing Louis call him by his full name made him shiver. He usually hated it, but there was something magical about Louis Tomlinson that made the usual negative association suddenly become an incredibly positive one.

“I brought you honey,” Nick blurted as he handed Louis the jar.

“I can see that,” Louis said, sounding confused. “Thanks?”

“Of course! It’s what friends do, yeah?”

Or the one where Nick has been trying to find a way to get past the banter stage with Louis for ages, and honey might be just what he needs to finally do so.

Rings and Things (2k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Niall: I know you’re a lesbian and all, but this is fast even for you

Or the one where Harry wakes up after a night of drinking to find her bed isn't empty and there's a ring she's never seen before on a very important finger.

The Only Thing That Keeps Me Grounded (28k) - Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

“Shit, I definitely missed the last train.”

“Oh no,” Louis lamented. “I’d offer a ride, but I’m part of a carpool and we’re full already. I’m so sorry.”

“Really, it’s fine.” Then, what Louis said sank in. “Wait, I thought you were here alone?”

“Oh, I am. I’m the only one dancing here tonight. The others were working. In fact, here’s Nick now.”

It felt like slow motion as a tall, lanky man with incredible hair came walking over towards Louis. He smiled before pulling Louis into him and giving him a quick kiss.

“Nick, this is my new friend Harry. He just moved to the area and he’s amazing at swing. Harry, this is my husband, Nick.”

Fuck.

Or the one where Harry moves to Washington DC to be a nanny and never expects that his past struggles with love will be brought to a head. He definitely never expects the solution to it all will be the man of his dreams that just so happens to be married to the other man of his dreams.

A Halloween M(ass)hap (1k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Harry was never going to forgive Niall. He’d been so distracted by his roommate’s cleaning and fussing while he had been looking for the perfect trousers for Liam’s annual Halloween fancy dress party that he’d not realised the black leather trousers he’d chosen to complete his vampire look were arseless.

Of course there was a no return policy, so he’d done the only thing he could do in order to not waste the money he’d already forked out online for the damn things: he added a cape.

Surely, nothing could go wrong.

I Wanna Love (Like You Made Me Feel) (28k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

By the time Harry and Louis are eighteen years old, they've known each other all four years of high school. Through those years, they never have a real chance to spend time together just the two of them. The summer after graduation gives them that chance, and it changes just about everything.

Ten years later, Louis returns home feeling like a failure after losing his job and not knowing where to go next. He never expects to run into Harry again, much less rekindle their friendship. Could this finally be their chance to finish what they started all those years ago, or did they really miss their chance at love?

Swipe Right for a Clean Flat (3k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

Harry was done. He was over this shit. He literally only asked his flatmate to do one chore, and that was the washing up. He couldn’t even handle a few plates and cups. Harry obviously overestimated him.

Louis wasn’t that bad. It was just that he only did the washing if he was going out to pull and wanted to bring someone home. If the dishes were put away, that was how Harry knew to vacate the premises. There was no way he was going to listen to yet another girl moan Louis’ name while Harry laid in bed and wondered what it might be like if only Louis liked men.

Glaring at the full sink and debating washing up himself - again - Harry finally turned and stalked to his room.

“Dire circumstances,” Harry muttered as he picked up his phone and unlocked it.

Or the one where Harry and Louis are flatmates and Harry is tired of Louis not doing the washing up. He figures signing up on Tinder as a hot girl might be just the fix for this issue.

You’re a Nightmare, I’m a Disaster (7k) - Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson

As Nick scanned the shelves, his eyes caught on a bright blue binding. Snooki, it read, A Shore Thing.

“Oh my God,” Nick mumbled, trying not to laugh as he picked it up. He’d watched bits and pieces of Jersey Shore way back in the day.

Without bothering to look any further around the store, he headed up to the counter where Blue eyes was watching him. Nick cleared his throat nervously and set the book on the counter and the man immediately flashed him a look of disdain.

“Seriously? Out of everything we have available, you chose the book we special ordered for a customer?”

“Well, it can’t be that bad if someone specifically requested it, right?” Nick said, trying to keep a teasing tone.

“Why do you think we still have it if it was a special order?” the man asked with a scoff. “They returned it after reading something like three pages.”

Nick frowned at the book. “Well that doesn’t seem very fair.”

Or the one where Nick is a writer, Louis works in a bookshop, and things don't exactly start off on the right foot, but they might just end on it.

The Goat Guy of Bethlehem (26k) - Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

“What a pretty little thing!” a voice cried, catching Harry's attention.

Harry looked up, assuming it was a merchant talking to Gemma or some other “citizen” of Bethlehem, but when he did, he found a woman with bright eyes and long dark hair walking over to him.

“Me?” He wasn’t sure what to expect from any of this since she wasn’t a merchant he had met before.

“Yes, you! I think you’d make a very good husband for my son. Are these your parents?”

“Uh, yes?” Harry said, almost like a question. Robin and his mom just watched on with amusement, much to his chagrin.

Turning to Anne and Robin, the merchant woman said, “I’ll give you six goats for the marriage of your son to mine.”

Or every year, Harry and his family attend a church festival called Bethlehem. Harry's freshman year of high school Bethlehem expands, bringing in new vendors, including one that just might change everything for Harry. But first, he has to see if Anne and Robin are willing to part with him for the price of a few goats.

[noladyme]

Skip To My Lou, My Darling - Chapter 5, Bloody Demons II

The road so far…

Lulu is reunited with Dean, when he, Sam and Castiel needs the journal Bobby left her. She lets Dean know that this will be the last time she will see him, as being in his presence hurts her too much. When a phone call from what she thinks is a friend in need, brings her face to face with The King of Hell himself, will she finally have a chance to break her bond with Dean?

Our story continues in season 8

Tag list (Let me know if you want to be added)

@edonaspanca​ @wonderlandfandomkingdom​

II

I made it to Pittsburg in a little over two hours. The bar I’d agreed to meet Tamara at was bustling with people; and I found my friend at the bar, wearing a very skintight dress and leather jacket; and fisting a pint of Guinness. “Drinking on the job, Tamara?”, I grinned. “Not like you!”. She turned around to face me, and her smile was broader than I’d ever seen it. “Lulu! You came!”, she smiled. “Told you I would”, I laughed, and gave her a hug. “So, what’s the deal here? Are we hunting, or drinking?”. “Bit of both, love”, she said. She leaned in close. “Vamps have been picking up girls from this place for a while”. I narrowed my eyes. “So we’re here to…”. “Pick up dates!”, Tamara grinned.

I groaned internally. The last thing I wanted was to play the part of wanton woman on the prowl for man-meat. Tamara caught darkness ghosting my face. “What’s wrong, Lulu?”, she asked. “Nothing… I’m just…”. I couldn’t finish the sentence. “On the rebound?”, she smirked. “Only one cure for that. Drinks!”. She ordered a round of shots, and I took a deep breath; downing the vile – and probably very cheap – tequila in one go.

“Let’s just get this over with”, I sighed. Tamara’s eyes lit up. “Oh! I almost forgot. Brought you something…”. She took my hand, and dragged me towards the restrooms. Once inside, she handed me a piece of flimsy fabric. “What’s this?”, I asked. “A dress…”, Tamara smirked.

I held up the garment in front of me. It looked more like a tank top with a little length to it. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”, I muttered. She raised a brow at me. “You look like a lumberjack”, she said. “Just put it on. Live a little”. I shook my head. “This is supposed to be a job…”. “These bloodsuckers have been going for the easy prey. Girls asking for it”. I winced at her words. The Tamara I knew was strong headed and feminist. “Asking for it?”, I grunted. She shrugged. “Sorry. It’s the alcohol talking”, she smiled. “But you know what I mean. Now come on!”. I slipped in to a booth, and shed my layers; before pulling the dress over my head. “I’m not changing my shoes”, I called out. “Fine, whatever. Combat boots it is”, Tamara laughed. “It’ll give you a rock star quality”.

Stepping back outside of the booth, I put my own clothes into my new bag. Tamara looked over my shoulder. “New equipment?”, she muttered. “Yeah”, I said. “Guess I have a guardian angel”. “Huh…”, she said. “Set me up with one of those, will you?”. I chuckled. “I’m not sure you’d like angels any more than demons”, I said, and closed my backpack; looking at her. Something dark ghosted her face. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to bring up…”. “Forget it, love”, she smiled.

I went to look in the mirror. I looked the part of a woman in desperate need of attention. My breasts were on display, and a small slit on the side of the red “dress”, made it so I could at least walk; in spite of the constricting fabric. “How am I supposed to hide a machete in this?”, I complained. Tamara lifted my hair, and put it in a knot on my head, with a hairband. “You’re not”, she smiled; and opened her jacket to reveal a large knife. “You’re the decoy”. I rolled my eyes. “Great. Thanks for the learning experience, Tammy!”, I sneered.

Tamara pulled out a red lipstick, and turned me to face her; so she could apply it to my lips. “It’ll be just like Ohio. Walk before you can run, love”, she said, wiped a stray smudge of lipstick from the side of my lip. She turned me to face the mirror again. “There we go!”.

The woman looking back at me reminded me of someone I hadn’t seen in a long time. She was myself, before the maren; before countess Erzebet – before hunting. I’d missed her, I admitted to myself.

“What’s this?”, Tamara asked, running a finger down my shoulder blade. I twisted my torso, and looked at where she was pointing. “My tattoo?”, I smiled. “Would have thought you had one… it’s an anti-possession tattoo”. Tamara pulled her hand away from the symbol. “Oh�� yeah, I should think about getting one of those”, she smiled. “Let’s go! Leave your bag in here”. I put my phone and the car keys into my bra – along with Sam’s number, for reasons I wasn’t sure of yet. It just felt right. We left the restrooms, and went to sit down by the bar. “Now?”, I muttered. “Now, we wait”, Tamara said; scanning the room.

A short man wearing way too much cologne came sauntering over to us. “Hey…”, he smirked, bobbing his head to the song coming from the speakers. “I’m…”. “Not interested”, Tamara said. I sent her a look. She shook her head. I looked at the guy. “What she said”, I shrugged. He walked away, tail between his legs. “Can you tell me what I’m supposed to look for?”, I said. “Someone colder”, my friend said. “Vamps are usually paler, and don’t smell like the cheap aisles of a drugstore”. “Okie dokie”, I muttered.

We sat for a while longer, before suddenly, Tamara pushed me between my shoulders. “Plump up the puppies”, she muttered. “We got one”. A tall, dark man had stepped into the bar. If ever I’d seen a vampire tv-show; this guy looked like he’d stepped right out of the screen. Tamara pushed at me. “Go chat him up!”, she hissed. “Tammy!”, I almost whimpered. “I’m not gonna…”. She patted my bottom. “Yes you are. Go!”.

I took a deep breath, and began walking towards the man. His eyes narrowed, and he seemed to be scanning the room; before his eyes fell on me. His lip twitched into a sly smile, and – swallowing hard – I returned the gesture. He walked over to me, and grabbed my hand. “Hi…”, he said with a deep voice. “What’s your name?”. “Uhm… whatever you wanna call me”, I tweeted. He leaned in close, to whisper in my ear. “Guess I’ll call you Honey then. How does that sound?”. I felt bile rise in my throat. “That sounds… hot”, I smiled. “What’s your name?”

The stranger pulled me out onto the floor, and slipped his hand behind my back; holding me against him, and swaying back and forth. His hand was so cold; and I shivered when it touched the bare skin on my back. “Does it matter?”, he smirked. “I like to know who I’m dancing with”, I said. I looked back at Tamara, who was giving me the thumbs up. She grabbed her phone from her pocket, and called up a number. She hadn’t told me we’d have partners, but at the moment, I was very happy we wouldn’t be alone. This guy gave me all sorts of creepy feelings. “Call me… Patrick”, he said, and dipped me. “Swayze?”, I fake giggled. He pulled me back up. “Sure”, he smirked.

We swayed back and forth a while longer, until suddenly the song changed. God, please not this one, I thought; when a sad guitar began playing. “Lying on your arms, so close together. Didn’t know just what I had…”. I cleared my throat. “I really hate this song”, I croaked. Patrick leant down again, and put his mouth dangerously close to my neck. “Do you want to get out of here?”, he said. “Sure?”, I said; my voice breaking. “I should probably tell my friend I’m leaving”. He looked into my eyes. “Go ahead, honey”, he smirked.

Prying myself from his grasp, I walked back to Tamara. “He wants me to leave with him”, I said. “Good!”, she smiled. “Go on. I’ll be right behind you”. “What? Are you crazy? I’m not leaving with him without my weapons!”. Tamara grabbed my shoulders. “You’re doing great, Lulu. I’ve got you, ok? Trust me!”. I blew out a deep breath. “If I die, I’m coming back to haunt you!”, I sneered. She rolled her eyes, and pushed me back towards Patrick.

Hooking my arm into his, we left the bar. Once outside, the chilly air hit me; and I shivered. “You cold, honey?”, Patrick asked. “A bit”, I said. “Should we take my car?”. “Sure”, he winked at me, and I led him over to the rusty Dodge. I got behind the wheel, and Patrick entered beside me. “I got a place a few miles out”, he said; his face suddenly dark. “Ok”, I said.

I looked out the rearview mirror, and saw Tamara exiting the bar, and halting to speak with a man I hadn’t noticed before. He was only a little taller than her, and seemed a bit to well dressed for a hunter. Tamara seemed perfectly at peace with his appearance though, and simply smiled in my direction; pointing at my car. The well-dressed man looked towards me; and his lips drew back in a large grin.

“Let’s go, honey”, Patrick said; and I started the car, driving us off the lot, and down the street.

---

We made it to a house a way outside town. The windows where dark; and when I stopped the car, my hands where shaking. “You look good enough to eat”, Patrick smirked. His hand found my knee, and squeezed it. “We should… go inside”, I said; and quickly got out of the car.

Where are you, Tamara?, I thought to myself. Patrick put his hands on my hips, and led my up to the front door. He turned the knob, and we stepped inside. In an instant, I was pressed against the wall, and Patrick slammed the door shut. He nuzzled my neck with his nose. “Smell so good”, he growled. “That’s nice”, I croaked; regretting every move I’d made since the moment I stepped out of bed the morning before.

Grabbing my arm, Patrick pulled me into what seemed to be a living room; though decked out like a ridiculous boudoir. I looked around, desperate for anything I could use as a weapon. Patrick smiled menacingly at me; before his lips drew back, and he revealed a second set of teeth. “Oh, crap”, I choked.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and Tamara came running in. “Lulu!”, she yelled. Patrick was distracted by the sudden change in his plans, and as he looked at her, I kicked him in the groin; making him topple over. “Kill him!”, I yelped. “Not yet!”, she said. “Where are your friends?”, she hissed at the groaning vampire.

There was a slamming of doors, and the sound of feet running throughout the house, and suddenly we were surrounded by five more hissing vampires. “All part of the plan?”, I snarled at Tamara; as we took a stance, back to back. “Please tell me you brought my stuff!”.

“She brought something better”, a gravelly voice said. The well-dressed man stepped into the room. He looked at the vampires. “One, two, three, four, five… six. Perfect!”, he counted, and clapped his hands together. He snapped his fingers, and what looked like black smoke filled the room – separating into six parts, and entering the mouths of the vampires.

The vamps all shook themselves, and Patrick got up from the floor. “What’s happening?”, I muttered. “What’s happening, is my best invention to date!”, the man laughed. “Vampire-demons. I can’t believe I never thought of this before… Thank you, Tamara”. I turned around, and looked at my friend. Her eyes where charcoal black. “You’re welcome, my lord”, she smiled.

I took a step back; falling into the arms of Patrick. “Tsk, pet. Where are you going?”, the man said. “We’re not done here”. Patrick pulled my head back, and leaned towards my neck. “Hungry…”, he hissed against my exposed skin. He was much to strong for me to get away from; and I was sure this was the end. “Hold up, Pat”, the man said. “I’ll serve you a nice dinner later. For now, me and this lovely lady need to have a conversation”. Patrick pushed me forward with a snarl, making me jump.

“Who are you?”, I croaked. “What are you?”. “Right… you’ve never actually faced one of us before”, the man said. “Name is Crowley. I am a demon”. I swallowed hard. “What did you do to Tamara?”. Crowley stroked my friend’s cheek. “Tamara is still in there. Struggling something fierce”. He slapped her hard, but Tamara didn’t wince. “I had one of my favorites possess her”. “She’s too strong for that”, I croaked. “Fight it, Tamara!”. “Cute”, Crowley smiled. “Not convincing”.

I slowly walked towards Tamara, and stroked her cheek. Her black eyes widened, and she grinned at me. “Oh, that feels nice, love. Keep going”. I sighed deeply, and let my lips tremble, as if I was about to cry. Demon-Tamara tilted her head and pouted – distracted just long enough for me to grab the knife from the inside of her jacket. “What do you think you’re going to do with that, pet?”, Crowley asked. I elbowed Tamara in the face; and shoved the knife into his chest; taking a step back, when he didn’t even flinch. “Rude!”, he growled. “This is Armani!”. He pulled the knife out. “You can have this back, when you behave”.

“What do you want with me?”, I asked, my heart in my throat. He smiled again. “It’s nothing, really. A mere trifle”, he said. “The Winchester’s have something of mine. I want it back”. I sighed. “Let me guess; you’re gonna use me to get to them”. Crowley laughed. “Sounds like you’ve been here before, hmm? I’ve heard they have a tendency to drop everything and come running, whenever you have a hangnail. What does Dean see in you?”. He gave me a once over, pausing at my chest. “Right… that”. He met my eyes with a slight smirk.

I decided to play his game, and rolled my eyes. “Ok. Tie me up, poke me with something sharp; whatever it is you guys do”, I said. “Well, you’re no fun”, Crowley frowned. “Couldn’t you at least… scream a little? Plead for your life? I mean, I made all these vampire-demons...”. I shook my head. “Too much effort”, I said. “I mean, I’m shaking in my boots, don’t get me wrong – but I know how this ends”. “And how is that?”. “Well, you torture me for a while – then Dean and Sam show up and fight you…”.

Crowley laughed. “It’s like you read my mind!”, he said. “Ok, let’s call them”, I croaked. “Just like that?”, the demon asked. “No Please Mr. Crowley, don’t kill my sweetheart?”. I swallowed hard, and looked down. “No? You two aren’t…?”. “It’s not like that”, I whispered. Crowley raised his brows. “Well, if I had a heart, it’d be breaking for you right now… What happened? Really, tell your uncle Crowley, pet…”. My façade broke, and I slapped him across the face. Crowley simply raised a brow at me. “That tickled”.

Suddenly I was on the ground, Crowley’s hand on my throat – squeezing hard. The demon-vampires all looked down at me; baring their extra set of teeth. “Now, you call Moose and Squirrel, and tell them to bring back my tablet; or I’ll snap this pretty neck faster than they can say where’s my flannel”. I nodded as fiercely as I could under his grasp, and reached slowly for my phone, and the note with Sam’s number. I dialed it up.

“Sam’s phone. Who’s this?”. It was Dean’s voice. “Dean…”, I rasped. “Lulu… What’s wrong?”, he demanded. I almost laughed. “Take a wild guess…”, I said. Crowley was starring into my eyes intently. “You’re in trouble”, Dean growled. “Surprise…”, I muttered. “What is it?”, he said. I looked at Crowley. “Hi, Dean!”, he said cheerily. “You’re friggin’ kidding me!” “You have my tablet. I have your girlfriend. Let’s make a deal”. “Now you listen to me, you son of a…”. “He’s not on speaker”, I said. “Too busy strangling me… and possibly serving up as dinner for a group of vampires”. I heard things being thrown around. Dean was pissed. “This isn’t the time for jokes! You’ve got the King of Hell with his hands around your neck!”. My jaw dropped. “The crossroads demon?”, I whispered. My eyes began flickering. Crossroad demons made deals.

Crowley’s eyes widened, and his lips drew back in a wide grin. He snatched the phone from my hand, and got off me. “Hello, Dean…? Yes, yes, I’m a son of a bitch, I know. I’ve met my mother. Now listen… No… Stop talking. I’ve reconsidered. Kevin, the tablet; I’ll have those soon enough. I have something much more fun in mind for now… Yes, exactly… Why? Because it’ll piss you off!”. I stood up from the floor, and began backing away. Patrick grabbed a hold of me again; putting his teeth to my neck. “Hold that thought”, he said into the phone, before putting it to his chest. “Lulu, love. Don’t go anywhere. We’re not done”. He lifted the phone to his ear again. “Yes, I’m still here… No. She’s fine. She’ll stay fine. At least the next 10 years. Don’t worry… Yes, you can have her back”. He handed me the phone. “His voice is so deep when he’s angry”, he winked at me.

I put the phone to my ear. “Lou, don’t do this”, Dean pleaded. “I don’t… Maybe he can end it”, I croaked. The teeth of the vampire were scratching at my skin. “He can’t!”. “If he can’t, the deal will be off. I’ll be fine”. I looked at Crowley, who nodded in agreement. “This isn’t the way. We’ll figure it out. Please!”. Dean was almost whimpering. I blew out a deep breath. “When this is done, you won’t care if I did it”, I said. “I won’t matter to you anymore”. Crowley narrowed his eyes at me. “I can’t live like this”, I whispered. Crowley pouted in mock sympathy. “Where are you?”, Dean asked. “I’m… I’ll see you soon”. I hung up.

Crowley clapped his hands together. “Right! What is it?”, he asked. “Pat, let the lady go. She’s not a meal… yet”. Patrick pushed me forward with a growl. “An std? A few more inches for Squirrel…?”. I frowned. “Oh, is he impotent?”, the demon said, grimacing. “No…”, I said. “I want…”. “Yes, yes, come on. I don’t have all day!”, Crowley sneered. “I want you to break our bond”, I said. Crowley looked confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”. I swallowed hard. “I was made for Dean… To be his. Angels put me on earth for him”.

The demon suddenly let out a roaring laugh. “You think you were put on this planet to be with Dean?”. “Yes…?”, I whispered. “It’s too… perfect. I’m his perfect companion. Our feelings aren’t real”. Crowley rolled his eyes. “Well you are perfect for him. You’re just as daft as he is! Give me that…”. He stepped over to me, and snatched the phone from my hand; hitting redial.

“Come one, come on… Yes, Deano! It’s Crowley again… Could you stop cursing and turn down your car radio, I can hardly hear my own thoughts… Right, deal’s off. She asked. Can’t help. Get me my stuff, or I’ll kill her… Pittsburg… Yes, exactly… Toodles!”. He hung up, and handed me back my phone. “Now, we wait”.

---

I was tied to a chair. Tamara was filing her nails on a couch against the wall; and the vampires were spread throughout the house – waiting for Sam and Dean to show up. Crowley paced the floor in front of me; taking phone calls from who I guessed were his minions.

Suddenly the door flew open, and the brothers ran inside; guns at the ready. Dean’s face was locked in rage; but when he stepped into the room, he wasn’t looking at Crowley with said expression – he was looking at me. Tamara sprang from her seat. “Hi lads!”, she grinned. “Long time, no see”. “She’s a demon”, I croaked. “Still alive inside”.

“Let them go!”, Dean roared. “No”, Crowley said; hanging up on yet another bloody wanker. He put a hand on my shoulder. “First; my things”. “You think we’d bring it here?”, Sam said. “Well, it’s simple. Then I kill the girl”, the demon said, and put a hand on the top of my head, and the other on my chin; as if to break my neck. My heart jumped into my throat. “Crowley!”, Dean snarled. Crowley leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Almost makes my knickers slide right off when he uses that voice”, he smirked. “Now, where is my tablet?”, he roared.

Patrick and his friends entered the room, and surrounded us. “I’m done waiting, boys. And so are my lads here”. The vampires bared their teeth, and let their eyes turn black. “What the hell is this?”, Sam yelled. “My best idea yet!”, Crowley snickered; letting go of me. “Vampire-demons! Aren’t they just the cutest thing…”.

The Winchesters both looked flabbergasted. “Oh, come on!”, Dean growled. “Vamp-demons?”. Crowley almost giggled. “I know. Sometimes my wit even surprises myself”, he said. “Now… my tablet. Give it over, and I’ll let it be quick”.

I knew I’d be dead within seconds if I didn’t act. “I know where it is”, I said. Dean narrowed his eyes at me. “It’s in a bunker”. Crowley let go of me. “Atta girl! Where’s this bunker?” “Lou!”, Dean growled. I shook my head. “It’s over, Dean”, I said. “I’m not dying for your cause”.

Crowley went to stand in front of me, narrowing his eyes. “Where, pet?”. “I’ll take you. But you have to promise to let me go afterwards”, I croaked. “You have my solemn word as a gentleman… or, whatever”, Crowley said. “Patrick. Untie her”. Patrick loosened my restraints, and I stood up. “There’s a good girl”, Crowley smiled. “Lads, you hold down the fort here. But no dinner until I return. I want to watch”. “We’ll take my car”, I muttered.

Dean’s eyes met mine. His gaze was pained. “You can’t do this, Lulu”, Sam said. “Sam… don’t. This is my decision”. “Please, Lou…”, Dean pleaded. I looked at him with hard eyes. “I have to let him get in that driver’s seat”. It was a strange sentence, but I hoped Dean would let it lie. He looked at me questioningly. “Bye, boys”, Crowley called over his shoulder.

Once outside, I opened the door to the driver’s seat for Crowley, and he got in front of the wheel. “Ugh, I hate driving lefty… Keys?”. I took a step back. “I have them”, I said. “Well, get in and give them to me”, the demon demanded. “No…”, I responded. “No…? What are you talking about? Get in the bloody car, or I’ll drag…”. He tried to step out of the car again, but couldn’t. I crouched, and pointed at the ceiling of the Dodge. The devils trap I’d made with a marker over the driver’s seat, was still there. “I hope you know how to hotwire a car; because that’s the only way you’re getting anywhere…”, I said; and closed the door on the cursing Crowley. Grabbing a bottle of water from the trunk, I went back to the house. Crowley was banging the window; the demonic seal apparently making him unable to break it.

I went back into the house, and into the living room. Sam and Dean where in the process of being tied up by the vamp-demons. Tamara looked at me. “What?”, she snarled. “Crowley wants you to come”, I said quietly; sending Dean a look. He narrowed his eyes at me. Tamara rolled her black eyes, and followed me to the porch.

“That’s a really ugly car”, she grunted, and began walking down the steps from the porch. I opened the bottle of water; and poured it over her. “Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te”, I said as quickly as I could, and black smoke left Tamara’s body; making her slump to the ground. I crouched over her, patting her cheek. “Please, Tammy. I need your help. Wake up!”, I whispered.

Tamara’s eyes blinked, and she looked at me. “Is it gone?”, she rasped. I let out a relieved sigh, and pulled her into my arms, hugging her tightly. “It’s gone”, I croaked. “But we’re gonna have to fight. Are you up for it?”. Tamara’s lips drew back in a snarl. “Hell yeah!”, she said. “Weapons?”. My eyes searched the area; and I smiled, when I saw a black Chevy Impala parked a little way down the road. “I know where to get some…”.

We ran to the Impala, and I opened the trunk, lifting the false bottom. “Bloody jackpot!”, Tamara smiled. We each grabbed a machete along with some bottles of water. I picked up a knife as well. “What’s that for?”, Tamara asked. “You’ll see”, I muttered. She grimaced in confusion.

I walked back to the Dodge, and opened the door to the driver’s seat. “Let me out of here you sodding… Ow!”, Crowley snarled, as I stabbed him again; before pulling the knife back out. “What was that for?”. I looked at the bloody blade. “Your vessel. He’s dead, right?”, I asked. “Of course he is!”, Crowley hissed. “Great. Bye, your majesty”. I slammed the door in his face. “Let’s go”.

We snuck back to the door. “Remember the exorcism I used?”, I whispered. “I taught it to you, love”, Tamara smirked. “On three…”. I put my hand on the doorknob. “One… two… three!”. We sprang into the house, threw water at the monsters holding the Winchesters captive; and chanted in unison.

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te!”

Black smoke poured out of the vampires. The beasts all looked confusedly at each other, before snapping their necks in Tamara’s and my direction. “Dinnertime, boys”, Patrick yelled.

One of the vampires sprang at me, and I slashed the machete across his torso. He instantly toppled over, rattling in pain; and I cut his head off. Narrowly escaping being taken down by another vamp, I threw myself towards Sam and Dean. “Lou, what are you doing?”, Dean yelled. “Saving your ass!”, I snarled, and cut the ropes holding him to the chair. “Here”. I handed him the knife, and slashed at another vampire trying to get me from behind. He grabbed my ankle, and pulled me to the ground; but Tamara cut his head clean off – spraying me with blood in the process. “Thanks”, I gasped. Dean cut Sam free, and they joined us in our fight. “Get out of here!”, Dean growled. “Hell no!”, I yelled, and got on my feet.

“Four left!”, Tamara yelled. One of the vamps was heading for the door, but I made it over to him just in time to cut the back of his knee; making him fall to the ground. The last thing he saw, was my face as I hacked his head off. “That’s two for me”, I grinned. “Leave some for me, Lulu! I only got the one”, Tamara laughed. I heard a crash as Sam pushed one of the vamps to the ground. He held the snarling monster down. “A little help?”, Sam yelled. “All yours”, I said to Tamara; who ran over, and cut the thing’s head off. Dean snatched the machete from Tamara, and quickly decapitated a vamp coming at him from a dark corner.

The house was silent. I looked around. “There was six of them”, I said. Dean looked at me; his eyes suddenly widening. “Lou, behind you!”. I twirled around; only to be caught by the neck, by none other than Patrick. “Hi, honey”, he smirked; before pulling me into his arms, and biting into my neck. The pain was excruciating, and I yelped out in pain - dropping my machete on the floor.

“No!”, Dean roared, and ran towards us. Patrick pulled his head back, and turned me around to face my friends. “Don’t!”, he snarled; my blood dripping from his mouth. “I’ll kill her”, he warned. Tamara went to step forward; but Sam held her back. I looked at the knife in Dean’s hand, and then at Tamara. She nodded, and snatched it from him – throwing it into the air. I caught it by the blade – feeling it cut into my stitched-up hand – before pushing it into Patrick’s side. The vampire laughed. “That won’t kill me, honey”, he said. “No, but the dead man’s blood on it will”, I rasped.

Patrick began letting out choking sounds, and loosened his grasp on me. I put my hand on my bleeding neck, and stumbled forward – Dean catching me in his arms. Sam walked up to Patrick, and cut his head off.

I let out a deep breath. “Ok… It’s over”. Dean gave me an angry look. “Try that again…”. I looked down, and pulled myself from his arms.

“Are you ok, Lulu?”, Tamara asked; and came over to examine my wound. “You did great, love!”. I smiled blushingly. “Thanks… I guess my vampire cherry is popped”. “Sure is”, she smiled. She looked up at the brothers. “Good to see you two again”. “Thanks for the rescue, Tamara”, Sam half smiled. Dean nodded at her with an insincere smile. “Yeah. Thanks for that, Tamara”. He made a point of shoving the brit his gratitude – not me. “Let’s get out of here”.

We went back outside. I was exhausted, and almost stumbled down the stairs. The door to the Dodge was open, and the seal on the ceiling of it was scratched at. Somehow, Crowley had gotten away. “Crap”, I muttered. Sam crouched down, and looked into the car. “Good thinking, though”. “Sam!”, Dean growled. “Lulu, get in the car”. I sighed, and went for the front seat of the Dodge. “Not that car”.

Tamara frowned at him. “Who do you think you’re talking to, Winchester? This girl just killed three vampires on her first hunt for those bloodsucking buggers!”. “I’m talking to the girl who almost sold her soul to the king of Hell!”, Dean snarled. “Stay out of it”. Tamara laughed sarcastically, and began rolling up the sleeves of her jacket. “Oh, I should…”. “It’s fine, Tammy”, I sighed. “I can fight my own battles… but thanks”. “You’re gonna let some boy talk to you like that?”, she sneered. I shook my head. “No, I’m not. But he has something of mine, and I want it back”, I said. “I’ll tear him a new one afterwards”. “If you don’t, I will”, she snapped.

I pulled her in for a hug. “I need to go back with them”, I muttered. “Thanks. For everything”. “No, thank you! Call me”, Tamara said. I handed her the keys to the Dodge. “Thanks. Might even make it back to my own car in it. The thing looks like it’s falling apart”. I kissed her cheek, and she got into the driver’s seat; turning on the engine, and driving away.

---

“What the hell were you thinking?”, Dean roared at me. “Demon vampires?”, Sam snarled. “You’re lucky Tamara was there!”. “She was a demon too, remember?”, I muttered. “I saved her ass, just like I did yours”.

The whole drive back had been quiet; and I felt like a teenager who’d missed curfew. We’d gone by the bar, and Sam has slipped into the ladies room to grab my bag for me; as I was covered in blood, and might freak people out. I was now seated – freshly showered, and once again stitched up and bandaged – in the library in the bunker; getting a verbal ass-whooping from both the Winchesters; while Castiel stood in the archway – sending me chiding eyes.

“You could have died!”, Sam yelled. “Worse; you could have gone to Hell!”, Dean growled. “Your soul, Lou? Do you have any idea…?”. “It’s my soul to do with as I want”, I said. Dean looked at me with enraged eyes. Sam’s gaze softened. “Lulu, you’re family… This wouldn’t just affect you”. “I’m sorry…”, I whispered. Sam sighed. “I’m gonna get back to Bobby’s journal; so you can get it back”, he said; and disappeared down a hallway.

I sighed, and shook my head. “I just wanted…”, I began “To get rid of me?”, Dean croaked. “Do you really hate me that much?”. “You know I don’t… that’s the problem”, I said quietly. “You know what? Cut the crap, Lou!”, Dean snapped. “This thing between us, angelic intervention or… whatever! You don’t make deals with demons”.

“What do you mean, angelic intervention?”, Castiel interrupted. I looked at him indignantly. “Cass, you know what we’re talking about”, I said. “This bond between Dean and me. It’s crap!”.

I stood up, and went to leave the room. “I’m gonna go get some rest. Let you finish your research”. Dean grabbed my shoulders, and held me in place. His eyes were welling up, and I felt my own tears approaching. “Listen… I’m letting you go”, he croaked. “Even though everything inside me is screaming for me, to hold on to you; because you’re mine. I’m letting you walk, because that’s what you want…”. “It’s not!”, I whispered. “I want to be here. I want to stay with you… But it’s not real!”.

Castiel walked over to us. “I don’t understand why you both keep saying that”, he smiled. Dean looked over his shoulder at the angel. “Stay out of this, Cass. You already said you couldn’t help, so just… don’t. Your kind has done enough to mess up this thing”. Castiel sighed. “I can’t help; because what’s between you has nothing to do with angels. I don’t even think a cupid hit you”. I looked at him, my breath bated. “W-what do you mean?”, I stammered. Cass raised his brows. “I didn’t understand before just now… You think Lulu was created for you”. Dean let go of me, and turned around. “She was… wasn’t she?”. I heard the angel chuckle. “Angels didn’t put you two together, Dean”, Castiel said. “Happenstance and probably lust did that. Maybe even love”. “So you’re telling me what we had… was real?”, Dean asked. “I think what you have is real”, Cass responded.

A jolt went through my body, and I suddenly felt cold. Dean turned to look at me; his eyes wide. “It’s real”, he breathed. I stumbled backwards, and ran out of the room, and down the hall. “Lou!”, Dean called after me.

My heart was beating so hard, I was convinced I could see my chest jump. It was real. All this time, I’d wasted it. This was why Crowley wouldn’t make a deal with me. “Lou, please, stop!”. I turned to face Dean’s pained face. “I’m… This is my fault… All this time…”. I shook my head. “Dean, I can’t…”, I whispered; tears streaming from my eyes. “Please… I did this to you. To us. I filled your head with lies that I made up myself, because I was arrogant…”. He let out a defeated breath. “I’m so, so sorry, baby…”.

“Years…”, I whimpered. “I wasted years I could have had, being happy…”. “Without me in your head, having a real life. I know”, Dean croaked. “No”, I shook my head. “With you, Dean”. I took a step forward. “I wanted you, all along. And it was real”. “You shouldn’t…”, he began. “But I do. Me – my own decisions, no manipulation – I want you”. Dean looked down; and my heart fell into my stomach. “But… You don’t want…”. Dean almost ran over to me. “I do, baby. I do”, he said; and his arms were around me.

I began sobbing for real. “Please, Lou. Don’t leave me. Don’t walk out of my life again”, Dean whispered into my ear. I turned my head, and looked into his eyes. “Give me a reason to stay…”, I said.

Suddenly, Dean’s lips were on mine. All that pent-up emotion – those intense feelings – they were all ok to have, because they were my own. And I let go; allowed myself to feel them, as my lips parted, and I breathed in the man in front of me. The scent of him overtook me, and my knees almost gave in, when Dean suckled at my lower lip. He tore himself from our kiss, and looked at me with pleading eyes. “Can I please take you to my room, now?”. I couldn’t answer; so I just nodded.

Dean grabbed my hand, and led me down the hall, to room 11. As soon as we were inside, he slammed the door closed; and his lips were on mine again. “God, I’ve missed you”, he breathed against my mouth. He shed his shirt, and I stepped backwards; suddenly strangely self-aware. Dean was about to lift the hem of his t-shirt, but stopped himself, when he saw my face. “I… We don’t have to”. “No. I’m just…”. I swallowed hard. “What if I’m not that girl you first met anymore? I’m different, now…”. “So am I”, he smiled softly. “Hell. Purgatory… all that crap. It changed me. I think the thought of you was part of what pulled me through…”.

I sat down at the foot of the bed. “That’s just it”, I said. “You’ve been remembering that first-grade teacher, who danced on a table to the Ramones. Who didn’t know anything about vampires or ghosts… And who didn’t hunt”. Dean blew out a deep breath. “I’m… I know things are different for you”, he said. “And that’s my fault. I got you into all of this stuff”. “No… I’m in this life, because I want it. You’re so dead set on me living a normal life”, I sighed. “That’s the girl you want. But this is the woman I am”. I gestured towards the bandage on my neck, covering the wound from the vampire’s bite.

Dean stood for a while, seemingly having an internal conversation with himself. “Well, I guess that’s the woman I’m going to have to get to know”, he concluded. “But that amazing girl, who sassed me even when she thought I was a fed… The one who got drunk, poked my ass, and called it firm”, he chuckled. “The girl who danced with me to a song that’s become kind of a guilty pleasure to me… That’s still you as well. And I think the woman is just an improvement on her”.

I blushed, and looked down. “Well, it was firm. Your jeans were tighter then, so I don’t know about now”. Dean laughed. “And there’s that smart-ass mouth again. She’s still there”. I stood back up, and walked over to him; putting my hand on his cheek. I narrowed my eyes, and looked into his. “And you still have nice eyes”, I whispered; before getting on my toes, and putting my lips to his again. Deans arm slid around me; holding me flush against him. I ran my hand up his chest, and relished in the shivers I could feel going through his body.

With a firm hand on my hip, Dean backed me towards the bed; and as it hit the back of my knees, I fell backwards. Dean leaned over me; but before our lips could meet, I tugged at his t-shirt – wanting it off. Dean obliged with a smile. His body was more toned than I remembered it being. Years of hunting and fighting had made Dean leaner – with sharper edges, and more scars – but no less gorgeous.

Sitting up on the bed – my feet still on the floor – I let my fingers trace over a slight scar down Dean’s abdomen. “Lamia”, he muttered. I traced another, down his forearm. “A friend… in Purgatory”. I pulled myself backwards on the bed; and Dean followed. With a knee between my legs, he was once again over me, kissing my lips softly; and pulling at my tank-top. I lifted my arms, and let him take it off. His eyes glinted from the sight of my mostly bare torso; up until he saw the tulpa scar again.

Dean ran his thumb down the mark; and while I was delighting in the sensation of him touching me again, I saw darkness ghost his face. “I’m ok”, I smiled. “I hate that you go out there unprepared… You don’t know what you’re doing”, he grunted. “Tell that to the three vampires I killed last night…”, I said. “Now, do you want to fight, or do you wanna take my pants off?”. Dean couldn’t help but smirk. “Well, that’s an offer I can’t refuse…”, he muttered.

Running his hand from my ribs, to the waistline of my jeans; he opened the button, and pulled down the zipper – instantly sending electricity through my warmth from his mere proximity to it. I let out a short breath, as his fingers hooked into the fabric, and he pulled my pants down – stopping, when he realized I was still wearing boots. I laughed as I kicked them off; and Dean smilingly completed his task – getting rid of my socks while he was at it. Then his face darkened again.

“What’s that?”, he said, and gestured towards a ragged scar on my thigh. “The leviathan…”, I muttered. His eyes widened. “The Pete leviathan?”, he almost growled. “He did this to you?”. “Yeah, right before I cut his head off”, I whispered; feeling a bit exposed in my undress, with an angry looking hunter towering over me. “Dean, you’re starring… and not in a way that makes me feel very sexy…”. His gaze softened. “Sorry”, he muttered, and sat down on the bed next to me. “How did you get out of that alive?”. I smirked. “Dumb luck”, I said. “I was washing the floors of the bar, when Pete came in; asking me to come back to Kansas with him… Then, his feet started melting, and I ran up the stairs, for my sword. When he finally came up after me, his feet were halfway gone, and he wasn’t moving very fast – so I just slashed, and his head came off… Adrenaline, I guess”. Dean grunted. “But he still got you”, he said. “Just the one cut”, I smiled. “I had a local vet stitch it up”. Dean let his index finger graze the mark. “They did a bum ass job out of it”, he muttered. I rolled my eyes. “Considering getting a tattoo to cover it up”, I said. “Yeah, you need one of these”, Dean retorted, and pointed towards his own anti possession tattoo. I grinned, and turned around – showing him the small tattoo just next to my bra strap. “This one?”, I jeered. Dean ran a hand down his face, and shook his head in defeat. “You’re something else”, he smiled.

I grabbed his hand, and pulled him down to lay with me. Dean put his one thigh between mine; and the friction between his jeans clad leg against my core, made me gasp slightly. He smirked at my reaction, and grabbed my thigh gently; pulling it around his hip – and pressed against me. I whimpered softly, and put my hand behind Deans head, to pull him in for another kiss. I ran my tongue over his upper lip, while he suckled at my lower one. I felt Deans beginning erection press against my thigh, under his jeans; and slid my hand down his back – over his taught muscles – and hooked my thumb into his waistband; pushing down. Dean got the message, and lifted himself off me; opening his jeans, and taking them off.

Hooking my leg around Deans, I invited him back between my thighs; and he returned to his former position – pressing his thigh against my core. With his face in the crook of my neck, he began nibbling at my neck on the opposite side of the bite-wound – probably leaving hickeys. “Marking your territory? What are you, 16?”, I giggled. “You taste nice”, Dean breathed against my neck. “And that vamp got to bite you. Why shouldn’t I?” He grinded his thigh against me, and I whimpered again. He let his lips, teeth and tongue travel down my neck, and across my collarbone. I swayed my hips to rub against his leg, and he chuckled softly. “I like that I can still do this to you”, he muttered. “And I love that it’s because you really want to”, I breathed; and pulled his face up to kiss him again.

Our almost naked bodies entangled in this manner, was heavenly. Deans soft skin covering his firm muscles, so close to mine – it was as if we were built specifically to lay like this, together. But we weren’t built for it; which just made it so much better. It was just perfect all on its own.

Kissing Dean deeply; my tongue demanded access to his. Dean didn’t take much convincing, and with a stifled moan, he brushed it against mine. I tried to pull him all the way on top of me, but Dean shook his head – continuing to press his thigh against my covered folds. It was as if he knew something I didn’t. Putting his hand on my breast, he squeezed it for a moment, before pulling down the cup under it – giving him access to my nipple. He rolled it gently between two fingers, sending shivers down my spine, and pulsating jolts straight from it, to my core.

I used all my strength to move my one leg, so that Dean would be all the way on top of me, between my thighs; but once again, he shook his head – and tweezed my nipple a little harder. “Please…”, I pleaded against Dean’s lips. He used his free hand to hold my leg in place. “Not yet”, he breathed. “Like this. I wanna see you…”.

He pressed is flexed thigh even harder against me; and began moving back and forth. He wanted me to come undone on his leg – without any skin to skin contact on my folds. The sensation was frustrating, and yet amazingly pleasurable. I wanted to feel him inside me, but all I got was this rubbing; this intense and hot friction.

Dean’s lips left mine, and he looked at me intently, as my breath grew ragged; and the warmth in my vagina grew into a pulsating fire. He put one hand around my back – grabbing on to my shoulder to keep me from pulling away from his leg – and the other dug into my thigh; forcing it to stay around his hip. “Move, baby. Don’t stop”, he demanded in a soft voice. I ground my hips back and forth, desperately – and suddenly the coil in my lower abdomen snapped; and I came against his thigh, with breathy moans and squeals.

Coming down from my high, my whole body almost shivering from the orgasm along with the frustration of not feeling like I actually finished properly; I looked pleadingly at Dean. “That wasn’t fair…”, I whimpered. He looked at me confusedly. “You didn’t…?”. I was still shaking. “Obviously, I did… But I wanted you inside”, I said quietly. Dean chuckled. “Baby, you think I’m done with you? I’m making up for lost time, here”, he smirked. “That was just prep-work…”.

I attacked his lips with a fervor, pushing him to lay on his back. Straddling his waist, I opened my bra, and took it off – throwing it over my shoulder – and earning a pleased smile from the man between my legs. “Touch me”, I breathed. Deans eyes widened, and his hands found my breasts – pushing them together, and massaging them. He looked at me like I was a delicious piece of pie he couldn’t wait to chow down on. As he ran his thumbs over my nipples, I carefully moved my bottom backwards; and felt his hardness against me again.

Dean drew in a short breath, when I began moving my hips back and forth on top of him – grinding against his penis, over his boxers. He moved his hands down to my hips, and tried to get me off him, so he could take off his underwear; but I just smirked, and shook my head. “Not so fun, when the tables are turned, is it?”, I said. “Lou…”, Dean said warningly, as he raised a brow at me. “You’re playing with fire here…”. “Am I? I thought I was playing with your…”.

Suddenly I was on my back again; and Dean pulled off my panties, and his own boxers. He laid down between my legs, and looked at me intently. “I don’t wanna play anymore. I just want you”, he breathed. I smiled, and nodded.

With a hand around his member, he positioned himself against my entrance; and pushed himself inside me with a muffled moan. For a moment we just laid there; looking into each other’s eyes. “Can I say it now?”, Dean breathed. I swallowed hard. “Only if you mean it”, I croaked. His brows furrowed, and he put his hand on my cheek, stroking my cheekbone with his thumb.

“I love you”, he said. My breath hitched. “I love you too”, I whispered; and our lips met in a soft kiss.

---

[horansqueen]

AM Conversations : chapter 51

A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA

CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12 || CHAPTER 13 || CHAPTER 14 || CHAPTER 15 || CHAPTER 16 || CHAPTER 17 || CHAPTER 18 || CHAPTER 19 || CHAPTER 20 || CHAPTER 21 || CHAPTER 22 || CHAPTER 23 || CHAPTER 24 || CHAPTER 25 || CHAPTER 26 || CHAPTER 27 || CHAPTER 28 || CHAPTER 29 || CHAPTER 30 || CHAPTER 31 || CHAPTER 32 || CHAPTER 33 || CHAPTER 34 || CHAPTER 35 || CHAPTER 36 || CHAPTER 37 || CHAPTER 38 || CHAPTER 39 || CHAPTER 40 || CHAPTER 41 || CHAPTER 42 || CHAPTER 43 || CHAPTER 44 || CHAPTER 45 || CHAPTER 46 || CHAPTER 47 || CHAPTER 48 || CHAPTER 49 || CHAPTER 50

NOTES:

-one chapter is her pov, the next is his. -4.2k -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.

- if you want to be notified when this is updated, please message me or leave a comment!

- note for this chapter: i hope its not too bad. you can see her friendship with Louis but also how much she loves Niall yea?

one request for this chapter but the camping scene will continue in the next chapter (along with i believe 2 more requests) and there will be sex AND drama :)

Chapter 51 : Her chapter

OLIVIA

I was slowly falling asleep after using half my tissue box when the doorbell rang. I jumped slightly and groaned before reluctantly getting up. My feet rubbed on the carpet as I walked nonchalantly to the door. I looked like a mess and it was probably because i actually was and when I swung the door open, I started yawning and my eyes filled with tears.

"Very fuckin' classy, Livi." Louis pointed out as I yawned again.

I raised my nose up as I blinked a few times and showing him my middle finger. He grabbed it quickly and I groaned again, pulling on my arm to get it back without much success.

"I'm siiiiick." I complained again. "Why aren't you nice with me?"

"Because i'm not a nice person, love." he  let out, raising his eyebrows as I turned around to go back to the couch.

"You like people to think that but it's a lie."

I let myself fall on the couch and Louis closed the door before joining me. He leaned against the side of the couch to face me and frowned, his elbows placed on the back of the couch. His eyes got smaller as he studied me and I brought my legs up, wrapping my arms around my knees as I felt a shiver cross my back.

"What does that even mean?"

The left corner of my lips raised up and I shrugged with a shoulder, feeling slightly dizzy probably because of the fever.

"That you play the bad boy card to scare people away but I can see right through you." I explained slowly, staring at him. "You are the nicest, kindest, sweetest and most sensitive person i've ever met. You think people don't see it... you don't want people to see it, but we all see it, Tommo, that's why everyone loves you."

He remained silent for a while, just looking at me, and I didn't drop my gaze, I wanted him to know it was true, that I meant it, and that I knew who he really was. He shook his head very slightly.

"Not everyone."

"She loves you too."

Louis trying to hide himself behind a bad boy facade became worse when he and Eleanor broke up. He was always out getting drunk and partying but for some weird reason, it seemed like I could feel his aura. I could sense him sadder than he ever was, even if he showed the world the total opposite. At the same time, I felt very selfish, knowing that I would never have gotten so close to Louis if he wasn't single, but if I wanted to be honest, i'd give my friendship with him up if it meant he and El never broke up. I wanted nothing more than him being happy.

Louis cleared his throat and moved closer, leaning his elbows on his knees and raising his eyebrows at me. I knew he was going to change the subject and it was okay with me. I didn't want to discuss anything he didn't feel comfortable sharing.

"So little Nialler just told me you were still sick."

I chuckled at the nickname and rolled my eyes.

"He's anything but little."

His lips curled into a smirk and it made me smile too. I pressed my lips together to stop myself from laughing and he raised his nose up.

"I know, i've seen."

We both burst into laughter and I grabbed an other tissue before blowing in it. Louis' face changed into a disgusted grimace as I sniffed.

"Good god, stay away from me."

I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed again.

"You knew I was sick, don't act so surprised!" I argued as he laughed again. "Why are you here, Lou?"

His facial expression changed and his gaze left mine. His eyes found the tv and he stared at it for a few seconds before shrugging and I knew that a lie would come out of his mouth.

"I don't know man, I was at the pub and Niall said you were still sick and I thought hey, Liv's alone so why not pay her a little visit, you know?"

I kept quiet until he finally turned to me and when out eyes met, I sent him a small smile.

"That's sweet of you." I replied, tilting my head slightly. "Now what's the real reason?"

His eyes roamed on my face and I held my breath as his gaze traveled on me. I didn't know why but it made me feel self-conscious and I was well aware of how disgusting I was at that exact moment. I sucked my bottom lip in and waited for what seemed like an hour but I pushed the air out of my lungs when I got a notification on my phone. I grabbed it quickly and realized someone had tagged me on twitter. It took a few seconds for the application to open and when the picture appeared, my lips parted and my heart shattered. I stared at it for a while until I felt Louis' hand on my thigh. I looked up, blinking a few times until his face was somewhat clear again, and that's when I realized I was crying.

"Love, what's wrong?"

The warmth of Louis' hand on my thigh seemed to penetrate through my sweatpants and it burned my skin. I didn't know how to explain how betrayed I felt as I squeezed my phone in my hand so hard it started hurting. The screen was black again but I could still see the picture of Niall with a flirty smile, leaning close to a beautiful girl in a bar. It was stuck in my mind, engraved on my retina, and I felt like it would never come off. I was doomed to see this every single time I was going to close my eyes.

"Olivia, talk to me." Louis added a bit more firmly but still with a soft voice as he moved closer to me on the couch.

I shook my head a bit and felt his hand on mine as he grabbed my phone, tapping on the screen twice to see what exactly had gotten me so upset. I shut my eyes tight not to see the picture again but it was useless. Like I thought it would, it was dancing in front of my eyes and twisting my heart in my stomach.

"Shit." Louis whispered, putting my phone away and moving as close as he could. His hands found my cheeks and his warm palms made my eyes flutter for a few seconds. "I'm so sorry you saw that, darlin'"

Without thinking, I reached for the front of his shirt and gripped it tight in my fists. I could feel his breath hitting gently my chin and I breathed in deeply. He smelled of cold cigarette and mint and for some reason, it was comforting.

"Tell me he didn't cheat on me, Louis." I murmured so low that I barely heard myself. "Tell me it was just an innocent flirt. Tell me he loves me. Tell me he'll always love me."

"It was just an innocent flirt I promise. He loves you and always will."

His voice made a shiver run across my back. I never thought he'd say what I asked but the fact that he did meant more than I could explain. I felt his thumbs brush my cheeks slowly as he wiped my tears before his hands pressed more around my face.

"That's why you came here isn't it?" I ended up asking after thinking for a few minutes. "You saw it and you couldn't do anything so you came here."

He sighed but kept his hands on my cheeks and licked his lips. "I just didn't want to witness that. I warned him, I swear."

"I'm not gonna make you responsible for Niall's mistakes, Louis." I explained, swallowing hard and realizing there was a lump in my throat again. "I just don't know what to do."

With a sigh, Louis pulled me closer and held me close against him as I kept crying on his sweatshirt. We didn't say a word for a very long time until something escaped Louis' lips, something I never thought he'd ever say about his best friend.

"I want to hit him." he whispered angrily.

I looked up, peeling myself away from him with a frown. He turned his head my way and raised his eyebrows.

"Wha?" he asked just as low.

My lips curled slightly at the way he was looking at me. I loved how he didn't pronounce his t's and I somewhat found it endearing, but not as touching as the fact that he was talking about hitting his best friend just for me.

"He's like a brother to you."

Louis stared at me and his lips parted a bit. I knew he wanted to tell me something but he just shook his head and sighed, leaning back on the couch. I felt like what he was about to say was important but clearly, he wasn't ready to say it.

"That doesn't mean he can make my best friend cry."

My eyes got wide in surprise and my expression turned into a bigger smile. I moved closer to him and kissed his cheek, brushing my lips against him and he groaned, making me chuckle low.

"Yea, don't ever do that again." he let out with a grimace before I kissed his cheek again. "Gross."

We laughed a bit and my smile turned into a sad one. I had no idea what i'd do without Louis in my life. It felt like since Niall and I started dating, the friendship I had with him was different, and although it was sort of normal, I missed having a close friend like that. Louis was there, he took that spot and I let him.

"I should go. He'll be there any minute and you may want to have a discussion with him." he proposed as I nodded. "Are you gonna be alright?"

I nodded again and he got up, bending down to leave a kiss on the top of my head.

"If you need anything just text me and i'll come back yea?"

"Mmhm, thanks Louis."

He opened the door but turned back at me to send me a smile before to walk out and close the door behind himself. I held my breath to make sure tears wouldn't fall again and I just got up and turned all the lights off before getting under the covers. The house was quiet and dark but I could still hear and feel the beating of my heart against my rib cage, making me slightly nauseous. I was scared of what would happen when Niall would come back and at the same time, I couldn't wait until he was back. There was also this tiny fear inside me that told me that maybe he wouldn't even come back, that maybe he'd spend the night somewhere else... with someone else.

It was a relief but also even more stressful when I heard the door open after over an hour. As usual, it didn't take him long to join me in bed and when he pulled me, closer, I shut my eyes tighter.

“I love you, Olivia.” he whispered as I felt him nuzzle my neck. “I’m in love with you.”

I couldn't believe he had the guts to say that after spending the night flirting with an other girl but I swallowed my harsh words and licked my lips before turning around in his arms. He jumped a bit in surprise and chuckled low. I looked at his face, the love I felt for him hitting me hard just like every single time, but stopped myself from touching him.

"How was your night?" I asked a bit rudely before he shrugged.

"Not bad, was fun."

I held my breath for a while and swallowed hard again.

"Who was there?"

"Oh you know, Louis, Deo, Willie, Mully... the usual guys night."

I frowned and shook my head again. I didn't want to fight but we had to talk about it. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep if I didn't know what exactly had happened. I needed to know even if I was pretty aware that it was about to hurt like hell but in the end, not knowing was just as bad... maybe even worse.

"No girls?"

He frowned and chuckled awkwardly. He didn't want to answer and I just decided to keep talking. I wanted him to admit it to me before I had to tell him that I knew. I wanted him to be honest with me the way he always used to be, or almost. I wanted him to confess to his mistakes so I knew he really did think they were mistakes.

"Pretty brunette, maybe?"

"Oh, yea, Heidi was there, but we barely talked."

My heart dropped in my chest and I blinked a few times again, seeing the picture of Niall with that girl behind my eyelids. It was clearly not Heidi.

"First of, I was not talking about Heidi." I pointed out, feeling suddenly pissed. "And second of, Heidi is not pretty."

We remained silent for a few seconds and he finally cleared his throat. His fingers played with the fabric of my shirt and I realized he knew exactly who I was talking about. I was not sure what stopped him from admitting it to me but the more he hesitated, the more hurt I was getting.

"Some girl randomly sat next to me and we talked. She was pretty and she flirted with me."

I felt my heart drop inside my chest and I swallowed as I teared up. I was glad the lights were off and that he couldn't see how hurt I was from his behavior. Even if he was flirting just for fun and had no intention to cheat, it was still painful.

"You flirted back." I whispered before licking my lips.

Despite the darkness in the room, I could see his traits softening as guilt appeared on his face.

"I flirted back." he admitted so low that I barely heard.

I swallowed again but couldn't stop the tears from falling on my cheeks. I ignored them and cleared my throat, hoping my voice wouldn't crack as I tried not to think of his fingers that had slipped on the skin of my waist.

"Why did you do that?" I breathed. "Am I not enough for you?"

His grip tightened on my waist and I held my breath as he tried pulling me closer. I didn't budge and he closed his eyes, swallowing too. Something was happening to us but I was not sure what. Maybe it was also my fault, maybe I was too intense, too insecure, too plain. Maybe dating me was not what he had imagined... maybe I was not how he expected me to be. No matter what mistake I made, though, nothing could make me think that what he did was justified.

"You are. This has nothing to do with you not being enough."

"Then why do you keep doing that, Niall?" I asked a bit louder. "Why do you need all that attention from other women? Why doesn't the fact that you keep hurting me stop you from doing that?"

"I don't know."

I heard him sniff and moved my head slightly closer but my heart jumped in my chest when I realized he was crying. He was clearly tired and a bit tipsy but I stared at him as he tried to keep his tears in. I saw his bottom lip shake and I closed my eyes with a frown as I tried to do the same.

"I don't know petal, I really don't know."

Without thinking, I moved closer and wrapped my arm around his neck. I felt him brush his nose on my skin and held him close as his arm slithered around my waist. He pulled me against him and my heart broke when I heard him sob, his mouth pressed on my neck. He held onto me like his life depended on it as my tears fell silently down my cheeks to his forehead. Watching him so sad and guilty about hurting me was some sort of relief even if it still hurt like hell. I didn't know how long we hugged each other tight but when he talked again, I started biting my bottom lip hard.

"I'm so sorry." he whispered as I felt his lips brush on my skin. "I don't know why I did that again, I don't know, at times I get so scared... so fucking scared, Liv."

"Please, don't ruin this. Niall i'm begging you, please don't ruin this. I love you so much, you're everything to me."

"I love you too." he murmured, his lips trailing on my jaw until my mouth. "I fucking love you."

His lips quickly parted mine as he turned us around to lay on top of me. I heard him groan in my mouth as I brought my knees up and my hands in his hair. I had no idea how this turned into a lustful moment but I wanted him so bad and I needed him to show me he wanted me too.

"I don't care about them." he whispered again in-between kisses. "You're my best friend, my lover, my girlfriend. It's you I care about."

I felt one of his hands get between us to pull my panties aside and I noticed he had pulled his boxers down already.

"Promise me you'll never do that again." I asked in a begging voice. "I need you to promise me."

I held my breath when the tip of his dick pressed between my legs and pushed my hips closer to feel it slip inside me. I bit his bottom lip but not hard enough to hurt him as I felt myself throb around him.

"I promise. I fucking promise, i'll never do that again. Never."

He bucked his hips my way and I let out a short but loud whimper when I felt him completely inside me. He didn't wait and started thrusting in and out of me as I gripped his hair tight, my fingers twisting some of his locks as my knees trapped him against me.  It felt amazing, my head was throbbing hard, and I knew we both wouldn't last.

"Petal, I love you." he whispered again before groaning. "Mm, fuck, I love you so much."

I started pulling on his hair and my whole body tensed when an orgasm reached me. I started shaking beneath him as he fucked me harder and I moved my hips against his in rhythm with his thrusts. I felt him quiver over me and the fact that he was cumming made me feel dizzy. His body finally relaxed and he buried his face in my neck again but after a few seconds, his mouth found mine. We were both panting, our parted lips brushing against the other's and It suddenly hit me. I believed him. I believed every single thing he said. I believed he loved me and I believed he was never going to do that again to me. I didn't know why he did that and I had a feeling that he did but it didn't matter, as long as he kept his promise.

"I swear, Olivia." he said, pulling away slightly to look in my eyes. "Was the last time."

I swallowed a lump in my throat, remembering the girl from the bar but my eyes never left his. I nodded and he sighed in relief before kissing me gently again.

"I love you too."

                                                ---

"I knew this camping idea was a bad one." I groaned when Niall handed me his scarf with a laugh. "Nothing funny! It's freakin' october, Niall! Who had this idea?"

"Your fuckin' Romeo that's who." Louis pointed out with a grimace as he looked through his bag. "It's probably the only camping site still open. They clearly only allow dumb fucks."

"That says a lot about you, Tommo." Niall joked with an amused smile.

"I was forced into this by your bloody girlfriend, who was forced into this by your stupid ass."

I laughed at his annoyance and took a step closer to him, putting my cold fingers on his arm.

"Like you're not happy you'll spend two days cuddling that cute girl you brought with you, what's her name again?"

I glanced at the girl I had seen at the bar who was a bit further, chatting and laughing with Harry's girlfriend while he was setting up the tent.

"Briana."

"Cute."

I sent him a smile and he rolled his eyes at me but I could see his lips slightly curled and it made me chuckle. Louis seemed happier and although I knew Eleanor was still on his mind at all times, I was glad he could enjoy the presence of an other girl in his life.

We set the three tents and Niall started a fire. I sat by it as Harry sat next to me while Louis was talking low with Briana and Niall was gone to get some food in our tent. I noticed that Harry kept glancing at me and I smiled a bit more before raising my eyebrows.

"What?" I finally asked as he smiled more.

"Nothing. You seem happy."

I shrugged and looked away without answering. After what had happened with Niall recently, I couldn't say everything was perfect, but I wanted this relationship to work so bad I was ready to make all the efforts needed to keep it and make it better.

"You seem quite happy yourself." I just pointed out without answering him. "What's your girlfriend's name again?"

"Carly."

I stared at her for a few seconds and licked my lips before nibbling on my bottom one.

"It's a good thing we broke up so you don't have to date a 5 like me, you can date models now."

He remained silent until I looked up at him and sent him a small smile.

"First, you're not a five." he explained, raising his eyebrows up in a way that told me I shouldn't argue with him. "And second, well that's not how love works, Liv, you know it."

A bunch of memories of us came up to my mind and I turned around to look at the fire again. Everything was so simple with Harry yet I couldn't stop thinking about Niall. Now that I was with Niall, nothing was easy but I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world. There's no one else I would want to be with. I looked up as Niall was coming back with a pack of cookies and felt the left corner of my lips curl into a sad smile.

"Sometimes, it feels like that's exactly how it works."

Niall sat next to me and instinctively, I moved closer to him. It was so cold outside, especially at night, and I was not sure I really wanted to be there but at the same time, I couldn't pretend it wasn't fun, just very fucking cold.

"Okay, let's play a game!" Briana proposed, making me lay my head back against Niall's shoulder.

"No no, no game, it always ends up into a real big mess."

I felt Niall's lips on my forehead and heard Louis laugh.

"Olivia has a bad history with games like that, darling, you don't want to go there."

I heard Harry chuckle next to me but just closed my eyes, enjoying the way Niall was holding me against him, his arms around me. I could feel his stubble scratching gently the side of my face and I turned to kiss his jaw, making someone around chuckle again.

"Okay then, tell us how you two met?"

I opened my eyes again to be sure they were talking to me and I smiled, turning to Niall who had the exact same amused expression as me.

"When I was four, Olivia moved in a few houses away and we met. She was six and she acted like she was so much better than me!" he related, still staring at me.

"I did not!"

"It was winter, she had the biggest french accent I ever heard, and she was annoying as hell so I threw her a snowball and it hit her right in the face."

"The shoulder! It hit my shoulder! You're not as good of a pitcher as you think you are!"

"Turns out our moms became close very fast and she was always home, so we sort of became friends like that." he added, ignoring my comments but still staring in my eyes. "And I feel lucky because she's the best friend anyone could ever have."

I felt my heart melt and sent him a fond smile.

"And Niall's the best person I ever met, he's got a heart of gold."

He smiled more and bent down to kiss my lips as I heard a few "aww's", some real and one slightly sarcastic, probably coming from Louis. Everyone started laughing and talking about how they met but all I could do was stare into Niall's eyes.

"You're my person, Niall." I whispered, licking my dry and cold lips. "You've always been and you always will be."

[undercoverwizardninjaturtle]

Shattered Part 2: A ROTTMNT Fanfiction

Summary: The Best intentions don’t always don’t always have the Best results.

Word Count: 2545

Pairing: NONE

Rating: G

A/N I base Donatello’s struggles and Autism on my own experience and those of my family members who also have Autism. Also don’t be too mad at Leo, he’s trying

also I tried for HOURS to make a link to the previous chapter. I gave up, i’m sorry. I can’t even edit this thing after I post it to fix it, so this is it i’m sorry

Believe it or not, a family of mutants can have a normal morning.

 For eleven year old Leo, that involved a bowl of Lou Jitsu Cereal, drowned in sugar (because the cereal was three years past its expiration date), and a morning of cartoons along his brothers. All crowded around the new projector Donnie had set up a few days ago. Which was a blessing, seeing as up until then they had to make do with an old rabbit antenna tv set that was always green.

Raph laughed loudly at the cartoons antics just as Donnie joined them, a plate of plane toast in his hands and his newly built tablet shoved under his arm, “Alright who has it?”

 ‘Has what?” Leo said without looking away from the screen

 “My headphones,” As usual, even though Donnie was only eleven he spoke as though everyone else was the biggest idiot in the world. Leo never took offense though, if anything he thought it was flattering to be considered that stupid, “It’s 10:00 which means its time for my Ted Talk hour. I need my headphones back.”

Mikey finally tore his eyes away from the screen before popping up to his feet, ‘Oops! Sorry D, hold on,” he put his bowl precariously on a stack of magazines before hurrying away.

“See? No worries D.” Leo gave his brother one of his smiles, only to be returned with a scowl

“Leo, he took my headphones.”

 “He borrowed them.”

“He took them without permission, I took me weeks to get all the parts I needed from the dump.”

 Leo knew where this was headed, and unfortunately Raph was a little too wrapped up In the Looney Toons to pay attention to them. He set his bowl down as well before walking over, “D,” he thought carefully about what he was going to say, “He took them, but he didn’t’ do it to hurt you. You know, that right?”

 Donnie glared at him, but Leo could see the anger and frustration slowly fading from his eyes. It had taken Leo a while to figure out how to calm Donnie down, usually facts did the charm. Information, something irrefutable, a word he had learned from Don, and thankfully Donnie was more forgiving of Mikey then the rest of them.

And it worked like a charm, Donnie took a deep breath,” Yeah…yeah, I know…” he exhaled a slowly breath, “he was curious…”

 “Only cause he’s never seen a set of Bluetooth headphones before. Or headphones at all.”

 Again, Donnie went silent, then nodded, “Maybe…I should make him a pair too.”

 “I bet he’d like that. And if you want to go ahead and make us a third official unofficial twin robot-”

For the first time Donnie smiled, “That would be a triplet, would you and Raph like a pair too?”

 “yes!’ Raph called from his spot without looking. Mikey hurried back into the living space, headphones in his hands with a guilty look on his face, “I’m sorry D, I cleaned them off with those wipes you like.” He held them out to him,” I’m sorry.”

 Donnie again took a small breath and Leo worried that maybe he hadn’t calmed down enough but instead Donnie took the headphones back, “Just ask next time.”

“I will.” Mikey glanced over to Leo before walking back over to their cartoon morning. IT helped that Leo knew Mikey was truly sorry, but out of all their family members he was sure Mikey understood Donnie’s situation the least. That was something he had to fix soon before he did something Donnie couldn’t forgive. Leo smiled back at Donnie, “See?”

 “Yeah,” Don’s eyes fell back on the purple headphones in his hands. Leo knew they were more than just a frivolous gizmo. They not only hooked up to everything electronic in the lair that had audio but also acted as noise filtering headphones when there was too much noise stimulation for Donnie to handle.  “I didn’t mean to get worked up thanks Leo.”

“No prob.” And with that the morning almost seemed redeemable. Until Leo gave Donnie a pat on the shoulder with a large grin, “See? Aren’t you happy I’m always around to defuse you?” before he went back over to his breakfast, enjoying a morning he would forget by the next morning.

 Leo didn’t notice the pain that filled Donnie’s eyes, or how Donnie stood completely still for several moments before scrubbing at his eyes and hurrying back to his room. Just like no one noticed the muffled sobs that came from his room for a few moments

 Just like Leo didn’t ‘noticed Donnie changed after that day

-now-

 Believe it or not, Leo did not like always being right. Well, he enjoyed being right most of the time. It was a sensation he never tired of. But sometimes being right wasn’t a great reward.

Especially after last night.

The red slider turtle squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on the sound of a gurgling coffee pot and overwhelming smell of the rancid bean drink. It wasn’t his favorite smell, but one of Donnie’s favorite things in the world. Responsible for many late nights, it was a personal joke for him to try and hide Donnie’s coffee maker wherever he could. Mostly to see his official unofficial twin tear the lair apart in a half-awake rage to find it. He didn’t’ much feel like laughing right now.  Right now, he just wanted to make his brother coffee.

 “-but I still don’t’ get how the Soup Minister found the Soup Princess- “

“You gotta pay attention Raph, Lou Jitsu was in a love triangle with Minister Minestrone and Princess Pumpkin - Yo Leo! What are you doing up this early? Are you putting dirt in Donnie’s coffee again? You know he hates that.”

 For a moment Leo couldn’t bring himself to turn around, instead he focused on the brown liquid dripping to the coffee pot, “I’m not putting dirt in it.”

“fertilizer again? Seriously? That made him sick last time- “

 Leo turned around, “I’m not making him dirt, or anything! I’m just making him coffee.”   For a moment, he felt better to see Raph’s face slowly fade into confusion. Satisfied, in a way he didn’t like, “you ok man? You look awful?”

 “Do I? Gee I hadn’t noticed, I was just up half the night with Donnie weeping in my arms then the other half cleaning up his room while he slept in my bed, so no Raphie I bet I do look awful.”

Raph blinked at him, others might have thought his inability to comprehend his words was because of a limited intelligence, but Leo knew better. Raph was capable but morning brain could take down anyone. Finally, it seemed to hit the largest brother, “Is Donnie ok?”

 “NO, he’s not, he came home trashed his room, and came to room in mumbling about some weird facts. When I tried to talk to him, he just fell apart.”

 “Where’s he now?”

 “Sleeping, he cried but after a while he just pulled away and curled up on my bed. I thought it was better to let him sleep there. I checked on his room, a breaking mess even by Splinters standards I picked up whatever I could. I only got done recently then I came in here.” Uh oh, he could feel the anger coming back, building in his stomach,” I told you something was wrong. I TOLD YOU something bad would happen! And now- “Leo paused, taking a breath, sometimes he forgot to do that when he was riled up, “Now he’s home, with a black eye, and I don’t know what’s going to happen when he wakes up- “

 “This isn’t’ dirt is it?”

 For a moment, Leo almost forgot whey he was so mad. In unison the three brothers turned towards the sputtering coffee pot to where said Donnie was standing, giving them all a confused if not suspicious look “Which one of you heathens made this?” Before exhausted eyes fell on Leo, “It was you wasn’t’ it? I got sick last time when you put fertilizer in my coffee- “

 “I- “ok shock over, “NO its just coffee I promise D.”

 Donnie narrowed his eyes at him, before looking back to his coffee mug. Sniffing it, “Ok I trust it for now, but if I end up getting poisoned again, I will NOT be happy. Now, if you will excuse me, I have A LOT of work to do.” Before exit the room

 For a moment, the remaining group could only stand there, before Mikey spoke up, “Um, yeah Leo he’s a total mess.”

 “I-He- “it wasn’t often he was at a loss for words, but it was known to happen. Instead he waved at Raph and Mikey, “Just give me a minute!” before running out of the room. By the time he reached Don’s bed room, Don had already set his cup down and was picking up one of the boxes, “I supposed I should thank you for cleaning this up, soooo consider this that.”

“No problem.” Back in the bed room and the remains of everything Donnie had destroyed last night. Now that he was more awake, he could see that, thankfully, the monitors and more complex equipment was undamaged, but Don’s personal computer anything else had been broken in one way or another. Don’s loft bed had even been knocked over, “I guess you had a rough night?”

 “I guess.” Donnie picked through the box before looking to Leo for the first time since he entered the room,” Have you seen my phone?”

 Leo thought back to that night before reaching into his satchel, “I found it in here last night, I’m sorta surprised you didn’t’ have it on you.”

“Thanks.” Donnie took the phone from him before setting it on his desk, calmly pulling out the head piece of his bust, and slamming the large piece of metal over phone a dozen or so times with such ferocity Leo leapt back to avoid the showing of metal and glass. He jumped back so far, he collided with the chest of his oldest brother who had come to investigate the noise, “What the hell just happened?!”

“Uh, “Leo wasn’t’ quite sure himself, “I think Donnie just destroyed his phone with his own face.”

 “Would you two calm down,” Donnie called from his spot, “I have extras and it backed up to my server.”

 Calming down would have been fun, except he had once seen Donnie yell at a kitten for looking at his phone. But instead he gave Raph a pat on the stomach, “I’ll take care of this go ahead.’” Except when he turned to walk back into the room, Raph grabbed his shoulder and yanked him out of the space hard enough to make Leo yelp in surprise. Spinning him till Leo was facing him, two giant hands on his shoulders as Raph glanced back into the bed room then to him, “Look I know you want to help Donnie, and that you’re way better at this then I am, but doesn’t it seem like you should leave him alone before he treats your face like his phone?”

“I know Donnie’s a little unpredictable sometimes, but I can handle him. It’s a twin thing, if there’s anyone who can help him chill out it’s Leon.”

 Raph gave him a look that clearly said, ‘do you REALLY have this or are you just saying that to make me go away’ but did so anyway. For a few moments, Leo stood at the doorway as Donnie puttered around the boxes. Donnie glanced at his direction with enough heat to stop him.  He probably would have stepped closer except Donnie still had a death grip on his bust and it was becoming more and more likely by the second. So instead he took a different approach, “Have you eaten yet Don?”

 “I’ll eat later, there’s too much work to do.”

 “I can see that.” He took a step deeper into the room again, “Do you want to talk about it?”

 “No.”

 That was about what he expected. Leo moved over to lean on Don’s desk. Without really thinking about it, he drifted his hand out to land on his brothers’ shoulder, “D, bro its me. It’s Leon Neon. You can talk to me ok man? Why don’t you tell me what happened at the Yokai Mart? Did you get mad at someone? Did you get lost- “

“I said no, now let it go. I went out, came back and now I’m working. End of story. Why don’t you go calm someone else down?”

A flush of shame filled him, of course Donnie had heard him say that. But he shook it off, “Come on you know I have to talk that way to Raph he doesn’t get you like I do.”

 “Yeah you get me, you can read my mind, you can defuse me. Now leave, I have a room to rebuilt”

 “Yeah it needs to be rebuilt because you destroyed it, don’t you understand that?!”

Don’s shoulder jerked free of his hand and turned to him, “I understand, Leo because I did it. I know what I did. If it had been or Mikey or even, you none of you would have given it a second thought. But because I have Autism, everyone’s freaked out. So, they have to send in the bomb squad.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to help, you’re the one who blew up- “

Before Leo could finish his thought, and to be honest he wasn’t sure wanted to before Donnie’s hands came up and shoved him hard in the chest. The red slider turtle stumbled back, his shell hitting the desk to his right with a crash before falling onto the ground. His head was spared any contact with the ground, but he looked at Donnie with shock, only to be met with the same shocked expression “Leo-I-I’m sorry are you alright?”

 “Yeah, just a little bruised.” He was about to climb to his feet when Donnie quickly took his hand and yanked him up hard enough to make him stumble. He danced for a little bit to keep standing before turning his attention back to Donnie, his eyes swimming in tears. “D- “

 “Can you please go now? I don’t want talk anymore.”

 “I- “Leo paused,” Donnie- “he wanted to argue. He wanted to stay. He wanted to assure Donnie that he was fine, that he was still here to help him. But now his brother was trembling so hard he was afraid he would fall apart altogether. And he knew if he tried to hold him like he did last night, it would only make things worst.

 Donnie didn’t want comfort, or a shoulder to cry on

 He wanted to be alone.

 “Ok. I’ll go. I’m sorry,” Leo took several steps back, unwilling to let his brother out of his sight incase he changed his mind and asked Leo to stay. But he knew better, “I love you bro.” he said before leaving through the curtain.

A moment later he heard Donnie burst into tears for the second time in twenty-four hours.

And he was left helpless

Part 1

Part 3

[boilerevans]

A Waiting Game

Summary: Carrington Price was a small-town girl with a big dream. She just didn’t think it could become real life. 

Pairing: Chris Evans / Original Character 

A/N: So this is the first fic I’ve written in a long time and it's taken me over a month to post. All comments are welcome. 

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: None

Chapter One  

Walking down the tile path, the young woman looks out the large windows to see a night sky, no daylight left. The closer she got to the terminal exit; the more people begin to appear. It seems much busier than one would expect for a Sunday night at… What time was it? She pulls her phone out of her jacket pocket.

23:36

Carrington sighs and begins to calculate the hours she has until she has to wake up for work. Thirty-five more minutes to the apartment. Which meant she wouldn’t be going to bed until after one to turn around and wake up at 4:30. She couldn’t complain too much, she was going to be taking to the first step to her dream career. It finally felt like the past six years hadn’t been a complete waste of her time.

Yes, bags get mixed up and things get misplaced. But being put in the wrong apartment and then getting moved up three floors, that was a major inconvenience. Now it was 2:30. ‘At that point, why even sleep?’ she thought. She has already been up for nearly 21 hours. What was two more right? She had just gotten out grad school, she could pull an all-nighter.

----

Carrington shifts quickly, waking up from a nightmare. She rolls over to check the time before falling back to sleep.

5:15

SHIT! Now there was no time to do her hair, no time for a coffee before she made it to set, and barely enough time to put on a real face. She throws on her best jeans and a plain white V-neck tee. She wasn’t worried about looking exceptional, she wasn’t trying to impress them with her looks. Dry shampoo and a ponytail would have to do. She was making very good time but of course, there was traffic and dumb drivers. The fact that she hadn’t called an Uber yet. Breathe Carrington, breathe. Then she hears her phone ringing from the nightstand. She leans across the bed to reach it.  

Cooper

“Coop, I really don’t have the time.” She complains, walking back into the bathroom.  

“Chill out and take a breath.” He says in a calmer tone than usual.  

“I am breathing.” Rolling mascara onto her lashes.

“Sis. Everything is going to be fine. Have they told you what project you’re on?”  

She trips trying to put both her shoes and jacket on at the same time.

“I still have only been told, Mary Lou. I’ll know in about an hour if you would leave me alone.”

“Well I see mom today and I didn’t know if you wanted an update?”

“I’m sorry. Yes, please. Thank you for calling but I really do have to go. I’ll call when I get back.”

“I love you, Carrie. You’ll be great.” He says and ends the call.  

She locks up the door and heads towards the elevator trying to send for an Uber. The one day she tries not to over plan and now the day is completely ruined. The elevator door opens and she enters, accidentally running into a man’s chest.  

“Ope, I’m sorry. Late start.”  

“No big deal.”  

She glances over at the man’s shoes. Sneakers. Hmm. Plain. Carrington looked back at her phone to see that there was an Uber upfront. The elevator doors open and she quickly rushes to the front door.  

“Have a great day!” The man yells behind her as he walks out behind her.  

The girl turns to wave with a small smile. She just caught a glimpse of him. Tall, beard, wide smile. He, on the other hand, paid attention to all of her. Dark brown wavy hair. Jeans that hugged all of the curves of her long legs. A V-neck that showed just enough of her chest. He couldn’t help but follow her.  

Her feet hit the sidewalk and the cold hits her face. She quickly zips up her jacket. Who would have thought Atlanta would feel like this? Like home? She opens the door to the black Toyota and shuts it behind her. Before she can scoot over, the door opens again. She looks down to see the familiar gray sneakers from not too long ago. She looks up at the man to see the familiar beard, but no smile.

Chris Evans.

“I think this was mine.” He says to her.

“I am so sorry.” She blushes.

“Oh. You uh, you can take it. You’re in a hurry.”

“Are you sure? I should have checked.” She says and swings a leg out of the car.

“You’re running late. I couldn’t.” He says, reaching down to put a hand on her leg.  

Her first reaction is to flinch away but leaves it for a few seconds before putting her leg back in the car. She starts to dig through her purse.

“Let me get you some cash to pay for the other Uber.”

“Hey, it’s really okay. You go.” He smiles and shuts the door.  

She looks out the tinted window to see him still smiling and running his fingers through his hair. She couldn’t help but smile herself. Carrington dug through her purse one more time to find her phone and to text Cooper. Every time she looked out the window all she saw was his smile. Who would have thought you could be grateful for a late start to a morning?  

Making record time, she finds the building that she had mapped out in her head to find faster. She could see the large filming studio in the background as she entered the small office. A man about her age sat behind the front desk.  

“Hello. My name is Carrington Price. I’m supposed to start on the Mary Lou project as a production intern today.”  

“Um. Let me call someone. I don’t know where exactly to send you.”

The timid man left the room and she glances back down at her phone.  

6:50

Yes, she was early but you’d think that they’d send someone, right? They don’t have many interns for what seemed to be a big production. But again, she reminds herself that this whole thing was much bigger than her. She was just one small part.  

“They’re gonna send someone to get you. Shouldn’t be too long.” The man says as he walked back into the room. “You can, uh, have a seat I guess.”  

Carrington looks behind her and saw no chairs except a bench outside in the cold. She turns back around and gave the man a dry look as if to say, ‘you’ve got to be joking’. The door opens, and she turns back again. A middle-aged woman stood there as she threw the hood of her jacket off.  

“Hello, you must be Carrington. I’m Jennifer. We’ve spoken on the phone.” She said, reaching out a hand to introduce herself.  

“Hi. It’s so great to meet.”  

“Come with me and I can take you to set.”  

The women step outside where a golf cart sits just past the door of the small building. The sky had become grayer than earlier in the morning and drizzling rain had started to fall from the overcast. Yet again she found herself feeling grateful for the late start and a simple ponytail.  

“I promise you it’s not always so dreadful here. Just give it a few hours and it’ll be sunny.” Jennifer chuckles as we drove to one of the larger buildings.  

“Just wasn’t expecting it to be so breezy. Feels like I’m home which is nice.”

“Boston, right?”  

“Uh, that was grad school. Indianapolis is home.” Carrington says, stepping out of her seat.

“We have some agreements you have to sign. Nondisclosures and stuff.” Jennifer says, opening a door and stepping into a long hallway.  

They make their way down the hall before Jennifer pauses in front of a large blue door. She reaches in her bag and pulls out her iPad.

“Now you just have to read and initial for now. We can do hard copies later this week.”  

Carrington’s eyes quickly skim the bright screen she’s been given. DISNEY. MCU. MARY LOU. Everything starts adding up. She looks up at Jennifer with wide eyes.  

“This is Marvel,” Carrington says, but also asking at the same time.  

“Yes. Is that a problem?”  

“No, ma’am.” She says and quickly initials the page.  

They walk through the doors and the lights get brighter. Green screens line a lot of the back walls. She follows Jennifer around the set and all she can think about is Chris Evans. What are the chances that she would meet him and then be on this set? When would she see him again? All of the cliché possibilities roamed her head.  

“So, you are going to be meeting a lot of people but you’ll mainly be working with me. I try not to make it like the typical internship with the coffee and the running around. We could really use someone like you on this set. It’s a big production and we need as many hands-on-deck as possible.” Jennifer’s voice brings her back to reality.  

“I’m here to help. I’m just kind of in shock I was picked for this project. Especially with the thesis, I presented for grad school and the application.”  

Jennifer stops walking. “What was that?”  

“The history of sexism across the superhero film industry.”  

“That’s exactly why we picked you for this set.” She says and keeps walking. “Over the next two movies, we are adding more and more female actors to the film. We need someone with your kind of thinking for the smaller details.”  

Carrington smirked slightly. “What’s on our agenda for today?”  

That’s when she heard him. Just behind her, a roar of laughter erupted. A laugh she could recognize from watching one too many interviews in college. Carrington couldn’t help but to turn around and then she saw him. He had just walked in followed by Mark Ruffalo. She now notices that he was wearing a hoodie and dark jeans. How could someone be that happy all the time?  

“You’ll just be with me. It’s the first day with a lot of the originals. Oh, Good morning Chris. Hello Mark.”  

And that’s when he saw her. For a second, it felt fake. Especially since he was just telling Ruffalo about the girl that stole his ride.  

“Boys, this is Carrington Price from Boston. She’s our production intern.” Jennifer introduced.  

“Uh. Indianapolis actually.” Carrington corrects.  

“Nice to see you again and officially meet you.” Chris smiles.  

“Evans! Get to the trailer!” Someone yells.  

“Oh, we can come with you. That was my next stop on the tour.” Jennifer says, making a slight step forward.  

“Actually, I was meaning to find you, Jenn. I had a few questions. I’m sure Chris can take care of this young lady.” Ruffalo says, with a cocky grin on his face.  

Both Carrington and Chris look at him, and then at each other.

“Well, uh. If you wanna follow me.” Chris says as he reaches his arm around her to the small of her back.  

They walk across the set. Weaving their way through the crowds. Once they made it outside, it’s quiet again. It was all a lot to process for both of them.  

“So, what did you say to Ruffalo?” She asks him.  

“It’s really not a big deal.”  He says and runs his hand through his hair.  

“Good deflection.”  

“So, Boston?” He asks.  

“I went to Emerson for grad school.”

“Grad school, huh? And you’re how old?” He asks, turning the corner.  

They begin to walk in between rows of dozens of identical white trailers. Each one having a different last name than the one before it.  

“Why does that matter?” She asks him.  

He stops walking and she runs into him.  

“You’re not very coordinated, are you?” He chuckles.  

She looks and sees “FITTINGS” on the door of the trailer.  

“I’m twenty-six by the way.”  

“Would you want to go out sometime?” He says as he takes a seat on the step.  

“Excuse me?” Carrington crosses her arms.  

“I mean, there’s obviously some attraction between us and you’re a beautiful woman.”  

“I don’t think that would be very appropriate.” She begins to walk away to make her way back to set.  

“Wait, wait.” He runs up and grabs her arm.  

“What?”  

“Just come out to drinks tonight. A bunch of us are going and it’s always good for the newbies to meet everyone. If you don’t have a good time, I won’t make another move, I promise.”  

“I’ll think about it.”  

As he watches her walk away, he smiles. The way she quickly flicked her long ponytail off of her shoulder. How her body moved as she walked away from him.  

----

The day was long, but that was a job. Carrington had a constant sweat on the back of her neck from running around. She felt good for the first time in a long time. Doing what she loves. While she was on cloud nine, Chris watched her from afar. How she talked. How she carried herself. It was unlike most movie set interns. Especially on a production this big.

When the day came to an end Carrington searched the room for him and found him quickly. As their eyes met, he smirked at her. They begin walking to each other, their eyes never leaving sight of each other.  

“So, where can I meet you?” She asks him.  

“Give me your number and I’ll send you the address.”  

“You’re a clever one aren’t you.” She says, taking his phone from him.  

They felt their fingers graze and their eyes locked.  

“I have my days.” He says.  

“Do you want to share an Uber back?” She asks, giving him the phone back. “Before I steal one from you.”  

“I’m actually gonna leave from here in a bit.”  

“Okay.” She turns from him.  

He took one step closer to her and whispered in her ear. “I look forward to seeing you.”  

She felt the connection but also felt very wrong. It was against the rules, no doubt. But the whole thing seemed so meant to be. And even thinking it, Carrington felt dumb.  

“You still up to sharing a ride?” Mark asks Chris as they walk off the set.  

The sun had set and a few bright lights lit the lot full of trailers.  

“Oh yeah. Definitely. I’ll shoot you a text when I’m cleaned up.” He says.

Chris splits away from Ruffalo and heads to his trailer. He quickly goes up the short steps and into the dark trailer. He flicks on the light and locks the door behind him. Stripping down and getting in the shower, Chris can’t help but hope that Carrington will come tonight. Never had he had an instant connection like that before. He didn’t want to take it too far too fast. And all of the consequences crossed his mind too. This job could be her big break and he didn’t want to ruin that for her. She was young, had a whole life ahead of her and he didn’t want to take that away either.  

He throws on his pants from the morning and a fresh tee. He grabs his phone off the charger and sends a text to Ruffalo. He runs the towel over his hair one last time before using his fingers to push it back from his face. There’s a knock at the door and Chris goes to open it.  

“Hey come on in. I’m nearly done.” He says, inviting Mark in.  

Chris heads back to the small bathroom to brush through his messy beard.

“So, did you invite her?” Ruffalo asks from the other room.  

He steps out and lifts up his shirt on he puts on deodorant.  

“Yes. And I think she actually might come.” He smiles.  

“Are you gonna make a move or will I have to work my magic?”  

“I think I’ve got it covered. You good to go?”  

Chris walks towards the door, putting his wallet into his back pocket. He grabs his sweatshirt off the counter and they make their way out of the trailer.  

As Carrington got ready, she thought of what to say and what not to say. She takes her hair out of the ponytail and massages her scalp. That was a mistake, too tight for the first day. She let her wavy hair fall past her shoulders. She rummages through her unpacked suitcase. Carrington picks a flowing, white tank that had small blue flowers all over it. She puts on white chucks and the dark grey jacket from the morning.  

When Chris and Mark get to the bar, they quickly realize that they are the last ones in the group to arrive.  

“Hey, Scarlett! You’re early for once huh?” Chris laughs as he walks through the bar to a set of tabletops.  

“Evans, I don’t really want to hear it okay.” She says and gives him a hug.  

Chris walks up to the bar.

“Could open me up a tab and for right now I’ll take a tall Stella please.” He says and then heads back to the group.  

Walking down the dimly lit street, Carrington’s heart began to race. She hadn’t had nerves like this since… Well since a long time. After a short walk, she made it to the bar. Smiling at the greeter, she walks in through the two sets of doors.

Chris knew the moment Carrington walked in but didn’t want to make it obvious. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her as she looked around the room trying to find him. He could see her smile as she started across the bar to the group. And that’s when he looked to her. They make eye contact and she stops walking to wait for him.  

“Chris? Hello? Are you listening?” Scarlet asks, waving at him.  

“Sorry. Um. Carrington’s here.”

He gets up from his seat and pulls up another for her. Right next to him. He then walks through the group of people to her, a smile on his face. When he reaches her, she looks up at him. He smiles at her and moves a piece of hair back behind her ear.  

“Hi.” She says softly.  

His hand reaches around her back and they start to walk towards the group.  

“I’m glad you came.” He whispers to her.  

Everyone’s eyes begin to move to the two of them as they get closer. And the conversation dies down.  

“Hey, guys. I’d like you to meet Carrington.”  

The group smiles and a few people gave a wave. Carrington smiles in return. She follows Chris to the two empty chairs near a table. It was a lot for someone to take in. Being around so many important people at once was extremely overwhelming. She glances over her shoulder at the bar. Carrington gets up and makes her way over to the bartender.    

“Hi. Can I get uh… a double of Crown and a tall draft of Blue Moon please?” She asks with a smile.  

“You bet. Give me just a sec.”  

As she waits, she turns back around to watch the group. They all seem to be having a good time. Maybe she shouldn’t have come? It was rather intrusive. She watched Chris as he desperately tries not to look over at her, but fails. He glances at her and again has a big grin on his face.  

“Here you go. It’s thirteen dollars.” The bartender says.  

She pulls out her wallet from her jacket pocket and begins to search through the cash. Before she can get anything out. A twenty is placed on the table next to her. She looks over expecting Chris and sees Mark Ruffalo.  

“Keep the change.”  

“Thank you.” She says to him.  

“Oh, no biggie. Just helping out my friend.”  

“What do you mean?” She asks and takes the shot of whiskey.  

“You know loosen you up a bit. You seem shy.”

“Just intimidated. A lot of important people. I don’t want to make a bad impression.”

“Just be yourself. Chris likes that girl already.” He says and makes his way back to the group.  

Carrington takes a minute to process what Ruffalo had said. She and Chris had barely talked, so what was there to like already. She quickly drinks the rest of the whiskey and takes her beer with her. When she sits down, Chris puts his arm around the back of her chair.  

“So, um… you’re an intern then?” Scarlett asks.  

“Yes.”  

“And you’re from?”  

“Indianapolis.”

“Indiana… That’s uh…”  

“Boring as hell. Corn, pigs, and basketball. Oh, the Indy 500.” Carrington says. “I was one of the lucky few that actually got out.”

A few people chuckle.  

“Well, now you’re lucky enough to be hanging out with us.” Chris smiles, rubbing her back softly.

“Damn Chris. You’re really laying it on thick huh?” Scarlett chuckles.  

Carrington looks over at Chris and gives him a reassuring smile.  

“It’s the most attention I’ve had in a long time. I’ll take it.” She says.  

They all talk for a long time. Movies, politics, family. Every so often Chris would give a gentle squeeze on her shoulder or rub his thumb up against her arm. She slowly found herself scooting in closer to him.  

It was a nice change of pace. Carrington was never the person that made friends. Her whole life the past six years was college. The room slowly got quieter as people started to leave.  

“Do you want me to walk you back?” Chris asks leaning into her.  

“I’d like that.” She nods her head.  

They get up from their seats and Chris says his final goodbyes.  

“It was really nice meeting y’ll.” Carrington smiles and gives a wave.  

As they walk away, Chris puts his hand around her waist. The street is dark. Many of the lights have shut off. Carrington shivers as a breeze.  

“Here do you want my jacket?” Chris asks, beginning to unzip his thick sweatshirt.  

“Oh no. Please. I’ll be fine.”  

Carrington moves in closer to him and grabs his hand. He gives her hand a squeeze and brings her in closer to him.      

“I’m glad you came.” He says and looks down at her.

“Me too. I had a good time.”  

Chris steps forward and pushes the door open to the apartments. He lets go of her hand as they walk to the elevators. Carrington felt as though she had done something wrong. When they got into the elevator, they stood in opposite corners.  

“Are you okay?” She asks him.  

He looks over at her. “Yeah. There’s just a lot of cameras. I just wanted to be careful. For you.”  

She looked down and smiled. The elevator doors opened and they both walk out. Chris follows behind as Carrington walks to her room. She fumbles in her pockets trying to find her keys. She finds them and opens the door.  

“Thanks for the invite. I had a good time.”  

“Yeah me too.” He says scratching the back of his head.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She says and quickly walks into her room.

Carrington shuts the door and goes to sit down on the bed. She lays back and her head hits the comforter. If only she could just talk to her brother. But telling him the slightest thing could get her fired. She sighed heavily. She missed her dad. She could talk to him about anything and he wouldn’t say a word. But Cooper was too much like Mom and would tell the first person he could find.  

She gets off of the bed and heads to the bathroom. As she walks, she takes off her jacket and throws it on the floor. She flicks the lights on and looks at herself in the mirror. Damn. She looked good? She pulled up her jeans and looked over her body.  

Carrington felt the urge to see Chris again. She goes to her suitcase and digs through trying to find a cute bralette to throw on under a white tank top that she had. She finds high waisted denim shorts and quickly changes into them as well. She goes back to the bathroom and looks in the mirror again. Even better. She runs her fingers through her messy hair to take care of the tangles.  

She opens the door to find Chris. He was now just wearing a light grey tee shirt and the same dark jeans. His arm lifted up, as though he was about to knock.  

“Hello there.” She smiles.  

“Where are you headed?” He asks.

“I was actually coming to see you.” She looks down and then back up into his eye.

A grin comes across his face and he moves in towards her. Carrington moves back and opens the door wider so that he can come in. She shuts the door and turns to find Chris exploring her small apartment.  

“This is pretty nice.” He says.

“So why were you coming here?” She asks him.

“Oh uh. I just wanted to see you.” He sits on the bed. “I like being around you.”

She sits next to him with one leg folded up onto the bed and the other hanging off the edge. He pivots to face her. He places his hand on her knee and gently rubs his thumb against her thigh. They look up at each other and the tension builds. Hair falls into Carrington’s face. As she reaches up to tuck it behind her ear, Chris beats her to it and pushes it from her face. His hand rests on her cheek and again his thumb brushes her skin.  

Her hand presses into his thigh as she leans forward to kiss him. As their lips meet, it feels so natural. His beard rubs up against her chin. They both lean in for more as their lips continue to meet each other. Carrington pulls back and looks at Chris.  

“Wow.” She says.

“You’re amazing.”  

Chris leans forward to go in for another kiss. Carrington pushes her hand against his chest.  

“Wait.”

“What is it?” He says, giving a concerned look.

“What do you want out of this? Us?” She asks him and scoots back.  

“I want to get to know you. Kiss you more.”  

“We can’t date.” She says.

Carrington gets off the bed and begins to pace around the room.  

“This job is a great opportunity for me and if something were to happen it would be awkward. I would have a reputation.” She rambles and quickly runs her fingers through her hair, shifting the part.  

“Hey. Calm down.” Chris stands up and grabs her arm. “Take a breath. We can talk it out.”  

She sighs and sits back on the bed. Chris sits next to her.  

“What do you want?” Chris asks her.  

“There’s just too much at stake.” She says, putting her face in her hands.

“No. What do you want?”  

She looks over at him. His eyebrows are furrowed, expressing a concerned look.  

“I want you.”  

“So, let’s start there and see where it goes?”  

“Okay.”  

“I’m gonna kiss you again now.” He smiles, leaning into her.

[ericsonclan]

You’re My Home Part 2

Summary: When Violet needs a place to stay for the weekend and Louis is out of town, Marlon tells her she can crash on his family's couch.

Read on A03: 

Part 1

“So my folks say it’s OK if you sleep down here tonight,” Marlon said as he made his way down the basement stairs. Violet followed a short distance behind him, looking around the den. A worn-out foosball table stood in the center of the room, the handles worn and some broken from repeated use. A brown couch that Marlon had informed her turned into a fold-out bed faced the TV with a table in front on which empty bowls and soda cans lay scattered. The room had that musty smell all basements do, but it was a pleasant space; lived in.

Marlon quickly swept all the trash on the table into a nearby trash can before setting it aide. “Sorry about the mess. My dad has his buddies down here every Sunday to watch the game and my mom’s been busy at work so no one’s cleaned up,”

Violet simply nodded. On one shoulder she carried her backpack, half-full of the few essentials she’d been able to grab before slipping out of the trailer. Her mom had shifts booked over the entire weekend, and from the set of six-packs her dad had brought home, Violet knew he had no intention of leaving for the next few days. Louis was out of town visiting his mom. He’d reached out to Marlon and asked him if Violet could crash at his place for the weekend. Violet had thought of turning the offer down, but Marlon had called her and insisted that he wanted to host her at his house, not just as a favor to Louis, but as his friend.

Now here they were, awkwardly standing in his basement and wondering what to do. They’d hung out plenty of times over the years, but always with Louis around. He was the one who’d introduced them and he was the reason for almost all their get-togethers. Without his bubbly presence constantly coming up with new ideas, they both felt rather stand-offish, unsure what to do.

Marlon broke the silence first. “I’ll get us some drinks,” He hurried over to the mini fridge that buzzed steadily in the corner. Immediately his eyes darkened. “Damnit!” he slammed the door shut. “My dad must have figured out I’d started sneaking his booze and moved it somewhere else,” He looked to Violet, and immediately realized his mistake. Her shoulders had tensed and her eyes looked elsewhere. “Shit, Vi, I’m sorry. Should’ve realized you wouldn’t want to have any alcohol near you anyway,”

“It’s OK,” Violet murmured. It was actually the noise that had scared her, the force with which Marlon slammed shut the fridge, but she didn’t bother sharing that. She didn’t want to insult him when he’d opened up his home to her. Marlon had insisted it wasn’t for Louis’ sake, but still…

“I think we have some soda-pop upstairs. Hopefully they’re not flat. And there’s some leftover meatloaf in the fridge as well. Sorry we can’t order out. I’m broke till next Friday,”

“That’s fine,”

Without another word, Marlon bolted back up the stairs. Violet looked around the room. She’d been here a few times before when Louis invited her over. There was a cabinet full of old VHS tapes and some miscellaneous DVDs. Old sports trophies and medals covered all available display spaces in the room. Some were for Marlon, others for his dad. She’d heard before that Marlon’s old man was quite the athlete in college before a bum knee took his out of the running for a professional career. It felt like such a cliché, but then again Marlon always did seem like an all-American boy.

It was only a few minutes later when Marlon barreled back down the stairs, a bag of Cheetos in his mouth, two large soda-pops with one under each arm and a huge plate of meatloaf in his hands. He spit out the Cheetos bag and dumped down the drinks before handing Violet the plate. “My mom always says a good meal’s the first place to start when trying to feel at home,”

Violet silently took the plate. It was a nice gesture, but she didn’t know how much of an appetite she had right now.

Marlon walked over to the cabinet, perusing the family’s movie collection. “You wanna watch anything in particular? I know Lou said you like horror. I think I have a copy of Scream that I taped over Teletubbies so my mom wouldn’t find it and throw it out,”

“We don’t have to hang out, Marlon,”

Marlon looked up in surprise at Violet’s words.

Her gaze remained steady. “I’m just crashing here. That doesn’t mean you have to entertain me for the whole weekend. I’m sure you’d rather be outside playing basketball with Mitch or driving around town or anywhere else,”

“I actually thought it’d be nice to hang out together,” Marlon said with a simple shrug. “We’re usually a trio with Lou, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have things in common. Fuck, we probably have more in common with each other than with Louis. We’re blonde, both go to the same high school, both like girls…” Marlon got distracted by something on the cabinet. He grabbed it with an excited cry, displaying it proudly to Violet. “Now this we’ve gotta see! Have you watched it before?”

Violet simply shook her head.

“You’re gonna love it,” With that Marlon walked over to the TV and popped in the DVD. The Predator theme began to play on the home screen. Violet settled into one corner of the couch while Marlon sat in front of her on the floor, reaching for the Cheetos immediately.

It was a good film. Marlon was right about that. The over-the-top action sequences and special effects came together to form a great popcorn flick. Violet found herself enjoying it, even more so thanks to Marlon’s excitement and non-stop commentary. This was obviously one of his favorite movies ever. As she listened to Marlon go on about how the original design for the Predator was scrapped mid-production and how green glowsticks were used to make its blood, Violet took a few bites of the meatloaf he’d heated up for her. It was surprisingly good. Before she’d even realized it, Violet had eaten about half of the enormous portion Marlon had given her. She could honestly live off of that meatloaf all weekend if there was enough of it.

Once Predator finished up, Marlon tracked down his copy of Scream in the Teletubbies case and got that started. As high school students were viciously murdered onscreen, Marlon and Violet chatted a bit about life at their own school.

“Think you’ll invite anyone to homecoming?” Marlon asked before letting out a loud belch from all the soda-pop he’d been drinking.

Violet shook her head, waving a hand to clear out the smell. “Not like I’ve got anybody to ask. Plus, the whole night would probably suck. Nothing to do there,”

“You could dance, spike the punch bowl… steal the title of prom queen,” Marlon smirked.

Violet rolled her eyes. “God, can you be any more of a walking 80’s cliché if you tried?”

Marlon shrugged. “I know what I like. I’m thinking of asking Stephanie, at least giving it a shot. She’s good friends with Therissa. I bet you could convince her to go with you. Then we could make it a double date,”

“The only way Therissa would go to homecoming is ironically, and going to things ironically is stupider than going at all,” Violet slouched back on the couch. Maybe she’d go for it if she thought she actually had a chance. But she didn’t want to go to a dance as a joke or to make some sort of social statement… she just wanted to go with someone she actually liked. That was never going to happen, so there was no point dwelling on it. She stretched out her legs without thinking, immediately withdrawing them when they bumped into Marlon’s shoulder.

Marlon glanced back at her. “Oh, you can put your legs up there if you want. My mom uses me as a footrest all the time,”

“Ok, weird,” Violet did let her legs stretch back out though, resting on the edge of Marlon’s right shoulder.

Suddenly Marlon let out a noise of disgust. “Holy mother of God, what is that smell?” He turned his head slightly, immediately whipping it the other way. “Is that your socks, Vi?”

“What? No! They’re not that bad!”

“No, those things are an abomination,” Before she could react, Marlon got a hold of her feet, tugging off the socks and marching away with them.

“You’d better give those back!” Violet called after them.

“Oh, I will. Just as soon as I run them through the wash,” Marlon disappeared up the stairs, apparently headed to the laundry room. He hadn’t bothered to pause the movie, so Violet continued to watch as one of the girls met her grisly demise. When Marlon returned he took a seat on the other side of the couch, immediately reaching for the Cheetos once more.

“Did you seriously start an entire load of laundry for two socks?”

“It was worth it. Those things were a safety hazard,”

Violet rolled her eyes, but a part of her appreciated the gesture.

---

Eventually it got to be past midnight and both of them were feeling too drowsy to start another movie. Marlon helped Violet set up the fold-out bed, grabbing some extra pillows and blankets from upstairs. After checking that she had everything she needed, he wished her a goodnight and headed up to his own bedroom.

Violet lay awake for some time. She wondered how her mom was doing. She was always exhausted after pulling graveyard shifts over the weekend. Hopefully her schedule would lighten up a bit throughout the week so she could rest. Of course, that would also require Violet’s dad to be out of the trailer and who knew if that would happen. Her phone buzzed. Violet reached out to grab it, the light from the screen seeming to illuminate everything around her in the pitch darkness.

It was a text from Louis. He was on the West coast right now at some kind of resort with his mom. Violet hoped it was going well. Louis always got nervous before visiting his mom, wanting to make sure he made the time count. He’d sent a photo as well, one of a gorgeous, sunny beach. The text read Next time I come here, I’m sneaking you into my luggage.

Violet quickly texted back. Beaches suck, too much sand Her phone pinged again. How are things going with Marlon? Pretty good. Watched Predator That’s Marlon’s all-time favorite. I could tell I’m glad it worked out for you to stay with him. Thanks for setting it up Sorta wish I was there too. Things not going well with your mom? It’s complicated. Violet paused, unsure what more to say. She was definitely the winner out of her friends for suckiest home life, but that didn’t mean she had any sage advice to give when she saw Louis struggle. You’ll be home soon Yeah… miss you. Same. I should let you sleep. Talk tomorrow? OK

There were no more texts and Violet’s screen went dark. She hoped Louis was OK. He’d really been hoping this trip with his mom would be something special. Once he was back, she’d have to make him drive her to McDonald’s. He’d treat her to nuggets, and she’d listen to how his trip went. Until then, they’d both just have to hold out. It wasn’t so bad here though. Tonight had actually been pretty nice. Violet felt herself drifting off, her thoughts becoming fuzzier and fuzzier. Maybe tomorrow Marlon could help her figure out a text to send that would cheer Louis up. For now, it was time to sleep.

[five-wow]

i finally watched 10.10! here are some thoughts. you might maybe not want to read this if you really enjoyed adam’s plot in the episode, because i, uh, have some reservations.

i started laughing during the “previously on” flashbacks when adam told tamiko that she could get free of her yakuza ties because “look at me. i did.” are you sure, adam? are you sure you’re sure? because every single subplot you’ve ever had over your nine or so years on this show seems to contradict that, fjdkfd.

oof, poor adam has to fight his attackers utterly butt-naked, which is not the way you’d want to start your day. also, i mean, they have tamiko. double bad.

fdjkfd adam wakes up to tamiko’s dad’s men cleaning up the signs of struggle in the apartment and the dad standing over him, and adam’s been covered up with a sheet (very thoughtful mob men!) but that’s, uh, a very awkward position to be in with your girlfriend’s dad.

“we’ll leave five-0 out of it.” no adam, bad. bad idea. [sprays him with water bottle]

tani being the voice of reason in the face of junior and lou wanting to keep a tiny pink kid’s bike that samantha will have zero use for anymore is a thing of beauty, even if i do understand junior’s position.

fjdkfdjkf lou: “that’s right. [the victims are] all male, all in their early forties.” steve: “ooy. prime of their lives.” quinn, quietly but not so quietly steve won’t hear her: “guys in their forties love saying that.” haaa, i love her. so far, this is a GOOD episode for the women, omg.

steve talking about his health and getting older, even if it’s just that he’s a little down about it because his doctor says he can’t eat steak anymore (the horror!!!), is kind of very wonderful to see on screen, gosh. that’s the kind of content i want.

adam: “i came down with a bug or something.” yes, the bug is in his brain and it’s called i-have-a-stupid-need-to-tackle-my-problems-on-my-own. many people in five-0 are familiar with it, so you might want to ask their help, adam.

so. so here’s the thing: i never really liked adam for kono, and then i warmed up to them as a couple, and shortly after that they got divorced. i never really liked adam on the team, and then i started warming up to him as a member of it because he was being a genuinely good guy, making friends with a homeless man etcetera (and his last big yakuza plot was finally wrapped up), and now he’s going rogue and assaulting an informant and acting behind the team’s back, and he’s probably about to do worse things and get deep into yakuza business again, idk, and honestly, i just. i just don’t really care. i started to like him when he was kind and now he’s suddenly Bad Adam out of nowhere again (i mean, it’s because his girlfriend was kidnapped and that makes some sense, but we don’t really know her and i have zero investment in her or their relationship and she’s more of a prop than a person and it’s all just kind of whiplash-y and i wish i cared but i’m afraid i just don’t. they keep flipflopping between making adam a really sweet good guy and a violent, bad one and i wish they’d just choose, or at least make the seesawing more understandable and interesting. his motives and the stakes are too undefined to me, i guess. it doesn’t carry any weight.

quinn obnoxiously and loudly eating a malasada in front of steve while refusing to share for steve’s supposed health is wonderful though!!! i mean, steve almost gets into a car crash while trying to snatch a malasada, which shows slightly skewed priorities, but at least the desire for a donut is something i can relate to. that’s a good plot. (i kid, but not entirely.)

aha! duke finds out about adam’s activities for the day.

the adam plot is coming to a head and they have tamiko back but her dad’s been shot, and i know i just said i don’t really care and i still don’t for the most part, but my god, tamiko, that poor woman? she’s been kidnapped and drugged while naked and then there were people shooting over her head and just when she thought it was over, her father is dying, and doing a lot of violence to a woman is not the same as building a character or plot that makes me feel something (do! not! confuse those two!), but it does still make me feel something.

h50 is generally a fairly black and white show (the bad guys are bad and the good guys are good, and people who are in prison deserve to be there and worse), far more so than in any way fits into my own moral view of the world, so i really like seeing this plot in which a guy gets to be freed from incarceration by our main cast because it turns out he didn’t commit any crimes! it’s a nice turn around from viewing all prisoners as irredeemable bad guys - here’s a man who claims he’s innocent and actually is innocent. (even though his story also makes my heart hurt because he’s already been in there TEN YEARS and jfc, he’s going to need more therapy than tamiko.)

we get lou on the phone with samantha and it’s really cute! and then he also talks to tani and junior about how will’s gone now too, and it’s good to at least know that (i mean, we could guess, but we’d never gotten any kind of confirmation before), but it also puts into stark contrast that we still don’t actually know for sure where grace is this year, fjdkfd. we can infer that she went to college, but like. mention it. (hashtag don’t let grace be the next female character that disappears on this show, please.)

dsfjdkfjdkfjdfjdk right SO. adam has realized that the guy who now inherits tamiko’s dead dad’s power probably plotted to murder tamiko’s dad, and then the guy is like “let’s finish our business” and essentially, it boils down to adam having kidnapped and tortured a guy for information and now that man is about to get killed while adam’s there and very definitely guilty of a number of things and i’m screaming because this gives me extreme déjà vu feelings to the time adam killed two guys in the woods and that time he tortured another guy, i think? both also after he’d finally gotten onto the right path, and then he ended up in prison. i guess they want adam off the show again, so they had to make him do ~bad things~ that were definitely totally absolutely against his will for [cue dramatic music and wind machine] The Woman He Loves! [dramatic zoom on Adam’s face or something, idek, eagle cries in the distance]

now adam is being threatened by New Baddest Guy and i am genuinely confused, because i think we’re supposed to feel sorry for him when the guy says adam’s career with five-0 will be over? but i kind of, um. kind of think that might maybe be a good idea? not even just because he did bad things, but also like, adam keeps getting drawn into this yakuza shit and he just really, really needs to move states and start a new life from scratch that doesn’t involve law enforcement but accounting or painting or modelling or what have you, because this is like an addiction that keeps pulling at him and it’s good for no one, least of all him.

dude gets shot (the one adam abducted and hand delivered), adam looks shocked. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT, ADAM.

and then steve calls adam and asks him to come to hq and we get a little scene showing us that duke brought steve all the evidence against adam, and the episode ends. oh boy.

so i liked some things about this episode! all of tani and quinn’s lines, lou talking about how he feels about his kids moving out, tani and junior’s interactions, steve’s health being a topic that gets brought up even if it’s jokingly, the general substance of the case steve and quinn solved. i feel like i’m being very negative about the adam plot and if you’re someone who does like it, obviously that’s cool, and i’m happy for you! i’m glad you can enjoy that. i just. personally, i’m so tired. this makes very little sense to me in ways that aren’t “i don’t understand this” but rather “this doesn’t logically work for me” (and i’m also simply not very interested in it, i’ll admit) and if this is a thing leading up to adam leaving, then if this is the version of adam we’re going to get for the forseeable future, i honestly wouldn’t mind. i liked good, kind, found-a-good-place-in-life adam! but oh dear lord, i’m tired of watching him slide back into yakuza drama over and over and over again because the writers don’t seem to want to think of a different storyline for him that might not involve... whatever this is. (also, tamiko absolutely failed the sexy lamp test in this episode (as in, she could have been replaced by a sexy lamp and the plot would have been the exact same) and it makes me sad.)