#still crying over this scene 8 years later!

[drrav3nb]

ANNA POPPLEWELL as Lola Fleming CRAIG PARKER as Stéphane Narcisse

When I shared my fondness for this particular situation, my plan was to seduce you, that was before I came to care for you as I do.

[thebeast-dennis-etcetera]

Boo

Prompt: You end up taking Jack and your daughter trick or treating while Aaron is stuck at work.

Note: I know this Halloween inspired prompt is a little belated but the amount of fluff is worth it. 🥰

“I want that one!” your daughter yelled, grabbing the bigger candy bucket from Jack’s hands. A frown appeared on his face but he seemingly held himself back from acting out. The little 8 year old had way more patience than you did at his age, clearly taking after Aaron’s constant calm and controlled demeanor.

“Hey,” you spoke, crouching down to her level. “Jackers is your brother and you need to be nice to him. We don’t yell and take things away from each other.” She looked back and forth from him to you, an expression of disapproval evident. “Why don’t you try asking him nicely if you can have the bigger bucket, ok?”

You and Jack waited as she stayed silent, clearly struggling with the idea to be polite. Finally, she turned to Jack and spoke. “Can I have Jack?”

He looked over at you and then to the smaller identical bucket by her feet. “Yeah, ok.”

You sighed in relief and gave them both a big smile. For a second, you thought there was gonna be a tantrum happening before you even got a chance to trick or treat but luckily Jack came to your rescue, being the bigger man.

“See, wasn’t that nicer than yelling at Jack?” She just nodded, avoiding eye contact, probably embarrassed that she was in the wrong. “Ok, now let’s go get some candy!”

Like a switch, they were both back to being happy and excited as they ran to the door. You grabbed both of their jackets that you knew they were gonna want later on as well as your little tumbler of wine. That was your treat for the night.

Before leaving the house, you came over to Jack and plopped a king sized Snickers bar in his bucket, giving him a wink and smile once he noticed. He pretended to zip his lips shut and throw away the key, making you laugh.

The first couple of house went smoothly, your daughter clutching onto Jack most of the time, not convinced with the suspicious looking decorations outside of some of the houses. You sent a picture of the two of them to Aaron, knowing he’d want to see how they were doing even if he couldn’t be there.

Aaron: They look adorable. How far have you gotten?

You: Still on our street, but making great headway. Jack is excited to get to Wicker street where he knows they give out the bigger candy.

Aaron: Smart boy. I see he let his sister have the bigger bucket.

You: Yeah, he handled it very well. Reminded me a lot of his father. (;

Aaron: Love to hear that. Gotta go but I love you.

You: Love you too.

You put your phone away just as you heard your daughter scream and watch as she made a beeline for you, leaving Jack in the dust. "Sweetheart, what's the matter?" you asked bending down. She looked absolutely terrified as tears began streaming down her face and the little tiara on her head struggled to stay attached. Instead of answering, she just pointed over to the porch that she had just ran from. You knew then what she was referring to when you saw the dog dressed as a big spider. It took everything in you not to laugh out loud.

"Oh honey, it's a just a doggy. He's dressed up for Halloween just like you." You brushed the hair out of her eyes while she continued crying, completely unconvinced that the dog was not a gigantic spider there to eat her and waited as Jack came back over. He inspected the scene before him, obviously aware of what happened and proceeded to pull a pack of gummy worms out from his bucket of goodies.

"Here. I got you worms," he offered, forcing the candy into her hand. Just like that, the crying stopped immediately as she played with the package, trying to figure out how to open it.

"That was so nice of your brother. Can you say thank you sweetie?"

"Thank you," she repeated. You gave Jack a ruffle on his head and pulled him in for a hug. He was literally the sweetest boy you knew.

"Alright, Jack. You want to lead the way to the next street?" He shook his head in excitement and wasted no time in showing you the way.

After walking up to the first house and receiving two big chocolate bars, he was practically racing to the next house for more.

"Not so fast Jack, stay close." you told him, scanning your surroundings, knowing anything could happen. Your daughter followed in step with you, busy gnawing on some gummy candy that you were sure was gonna end up keeping her up all night. Just before you all reached the next house, someone caught your eye. The tall figure was a bit far away but became increasingly clearer, the closer you got. Jack was the first to identify him.

"Daddy!"

You watched him run ahead and into the arms of your husband, who was still dressed in his work attire. In that moment, you were entirely grateful to the Bureau for their strict dress code. The dress pants, FBI windbreaker, and holstered weapon had you thinking all kinds of dirty scenarios in your head you'd like to play out with him but for the sake of your toddler children, you decided to indulge your fantasies later.

You and your daughter walked over, a gentle smile on your lips as he set Jack down to give her a hug. "Well this is a pleasant surprise." you greeted, giving him a kiss once he came back up.

“Case wrapped up sooner than expected. Figured the team could use an early night considering the occasion."

You pulled him in for another kiss, this time, a slightly longer and deeper, earning a curious hum from him. "What was that for?"

Absentmindedly, you played with his tie and looked up at his boyish expression. "I just really like your Halloween costume."

Being the ever observant special agent he was, it didn't take long for him to understand what you meant as a knowing smirk played on his lips. "I see."

"Daddy, up," your daughter demanded while pulling on his pant leg, interrupting the moment.

“Of course sweetheart.” He propped her up on his hip and gave you one last look before turning his attention to them. “Lead the way Batman,” Aaron spoke to Jack in his costume.

All of you followed after the young boy, it not taking long for both of their candy buckets to fill up and their sugar high to come crashing down. Your daughter had fallen asleep in Aaron’s arms on the walk back and Jack walked hand in hand with you, his pace a lot slower than earlier.

Once in the house, you helped Jack separate his candy while Aaron put your daughter down for bed. "The Twix are my favorite. Dad can have the pretzels and you can have the lollipops," he offered, pushing the less interesting candy towards you.

“Alright. I’ll keep all of your candy in a very secure safe place,” you reassured him, putting his little pile into a ziplock bag. “Why don’t you go get changed into your pj’s and brush your teeth.”

He listened without a fuss, a tired yawn making its way out of his mouth as he shuffled down the hall, passing by his dad who gave him a high five.

You watched him make his way over to you, a playful glint in his eye, his arms snaking their way around your waist before he placed a gentle kiss against your neck. "I thought I could run us a bath. Maybe give you a massage afterwards." His murmured words sent a shiver through you, your body reacting immediately. You turned to face him, your hands slowly pulling down on his jacket zipper, your eyes locked with his.

Leaning in, his lips met yours with a burning passion you loved. Like that was the last kiss he'd ever have. His hand cradled your head, fingers entwining in your hair and as he stepped closer, the faint smell of cologne from that morning still lingered on his clothes, overstimulating your senses. Your hands rested themselves on his torso, grabbing at the fabric, wanting nothing more than to rip it right off his body as his breath hitched, telling you he felt the same way.

"Daddy!" Jack called from down the hall, bringing the both of you back down to earth. He was probably waiting for his nightly bedtime story you made sure to give him, all cuddled up in his bed, surrounded by his numerous stuffies and dressed in his Batman pajamas.

You pulled away from Aaron, his eyes dark and filled with desire.

"Wait for me," he spoke lowly, stepping back from you before heading towards Jack's room, ready to give the shortest bedtime story ever.

[velvetydream]

꒰ :🥀 [ War is over? ] ”♡ᵎ꒱ˀˀ ↷ ⋯

❝ Request! ᵕ̈

Summary : The hotel was in shambles and a certain radio demon was missing from the group. Worried for him, you start your way down to the destroyed radio tower, scared of what might await you.

Pairing : Alastor x Doe! Gn! Reader

Word count : 2962 Words

Genre : Angst, Comfort

Warnings ➵ SPOILERS FOR EP 8!! Crazy Alastor, Out

of character? , Swearing, Blood

a/n : Thank you sm for this request! I love the idea and trope sm for Alastor! Also that scene- oh my, it was insane! I just love what a crazy and complexe chara he is!

Rly going into the crazy Al spectrum here, make him go crazy over almost dying saving his > friends <

Also added the reader being a doe! Hope that was okay! Despite it being a doe reader, I still only used gender neutral prounouns / only used > you < as for describing the reader!♡

Request by : @alastorsdarlingdoe

┌───────────────────────── ·  ·  ·  · ♡

Your eyes wander over the lights of Pentagram City down below, a breeze moves your hair, raising your hand to push a loose strand of hair behind your ear. Sighing, a hand runs over your forehead now, slightly pinching the bridge of your nose while leaning on the railing of the balcony. The music and chatter from inside could be heard, everyone was trying to enjoy this night before the battle, but you couldn't help but worry. Worried something might happen or that someone might die, even though you tried to push these thoughts to the far back of your mind, trying to be positive, trying to see the best, and telling yourself everyone will make it out alive and safe.

"Damn it.." Rubbing your fingers over your eyes softly, trying to remove the tears that were building up. Sniffing a few times, your foot taps the floor anxiously while your ears are slightly pressed back. Body noticeably tense and nervous. To many things going through your head, you loved everyone in this hotel so much, that if anything were to happen to someone you would be devastated. Especially if something were to happen to Alastor.

Alastor was one of the first sinners you got close to in hell after Rosie had introduced him to you years ago. By now you two were a darling little pair, as Rosie liked to call it. It did take a while for both of you to grow close and accept these feelings, but in the end, you did. Even though it was sometimes hard with an Overlord as your partner, he made sure you were safe and taken care of all the time, so you had nothing to worry about. You can still remember the day you met Alastor like it was yesterday. Sitting in Rosie's boutique, sipping on some tea, as she squealed in excitement before pulling the red-haired demon over. Of course you knew who he was before you even met him, no one goes through hell without hearing about the radio demon, who overthrew the old Overlords, sooner or later. Ears straight up and turned to his direction, your ears were slightly wide, visibly alert of the dominating and dangerous presence of Alastor. He though simply smiled at you, took your hand, and pressed a kiss to your knuckles, introducing himself to you. It was a beautiful memory. Not so beautiful was his disappearing for seven years, but you forgave him, which brought you to where you are right now, on the balcony of Charlie Morningstar's hotel. Worrying your head off over the ear against heaven and the exterminators.

"A penny for your thoughts darling?" Shrieking together at the voice behind you, you hadn't noticed Alastor joining you on the balcony, too deep in your thoughts. Quickly rubbing over your eyes, before turning to the man you love with a smile on your face. This caused suspicion to rise in him, were you crying? "Oh, Al! It's nothing important! Why aren't you with the others." Watching him slowly approach you, he softly places his hand on your cheek, watching you close your eyes and nuzzle into the palm of his hand. Alastor could see right through you and you knew that, he always knew when you lied, just like you did right now. "Oh my little doe, how can I be inside when my darling is outside here crying and overthinking all by yourself?" His voice was soft, it was only for your ears, he only used this tone with you. Opening your eyes again, gazing up at him with tearful eyes. He couldn't help but coe at this sight, his little doe darling looking at him all teary-eyed, though he preferred a different time for this sight.

"Now, now~ Why don't you tell me what's bothering this pretty little head of yours?" Wiping away the tears on your face and at your eyes with his fingers now, carefully to not accidentally cut you with his claws. Watching as your teeth sink down on your lip, another habit you had when nervous, making his finger trail softly over your lips, letting your teeth release the lip before you could bite it bloody. "It's just.. I'm.. Ugh.. Worried, what if something happens? What if someone dies? What if.. you die?" Tears were building up in your pretty eyes again, making Alastor chuckle slightly, not that you were crying, but that you were even thinking of him dying. He was the radio demon, no one would kill him, and no one would even get close to killing him. "Oh sweetheart, don't worry your little head over nonsense like this, nothing will happen to any of us and especially not me! Haha! Trust me dearest! Everything will be fine." Fingers softly swipe over your cheek, as he pulls your body closer to your face, leaning down slightly and planting a soft kiss to your forehead, before nuzzling his nose against your hair between your two flickering ears. Not being able to suppress new tears, your arms go around his waist, pressing your face into his chest. Alastor tensed for a second from your touch, but quickly melts into it himself, laying his arms around you, one hand softly playing with your hair.

He was right, everything would be all right, at least that's what you thought..

It was as if everything went by in a flash, the exterminators were flying down to the hotel, and everyone was doing their best while Alastor protected the group with a shield, to make sure no new angels could attack while the first ones were being taken care of. But that was quickly taken care of by Adam himself, breaking the shield which made your eyes grow wide, he was able to do that? This was not good at all. Doing your best to help the others, fighting back to back with Angel, shielding Husk from an attack with your spear, and pulling Charlie down from an attacker just in time.

This was truly hell. And it even got worse when Adam suddenly started targeting the rest of the group, where was Alastor? Looking around wildly you couldn't see him, Charlie speaking your exact thoughts that if Adam is here he must be... "WATCH OUT!" Husk smashes into you, pulling you to the ground to the side, where you stood seconds before now an angelic spear piercing the ground. "Get your shit together! That motherfucker isn't dead! So till this is over get your act together and make sure you're not the one dying, 'cause if you do that fucker will have my head for that!" Husk was shaking your shoulders violently, everything that was a blurry mess before slowly coming back to you. He was right, you need to survive this, if Husk said he wasn't dead, it must be true, he would probably feel it if Alastor died through his soul contract.

The fight continued on, after Sir Pentious brought his sacrifice, Charlie was facing Adam by herself, Vaggie was somewhere in the hotel with that one exterminator fighting, while the rest took care of the angels outside the hotel, keeping Charlie and Vaggie's backs clear. It was exhausting, you got a few injuries on your body too, but nothing too bad, the fight soon ended with Lucifer showing up to save his daughter and Niffty stabbing Adam herself.

After collecting your thoughts and hugging Charlie for a while, you started to look around. The hotel was completely destroyed, but with everyone around, there was new hope, with Lucifer leading the group and especially Charlie to not give up on this. Eyes wandering over the debris the hotel was now, over everyone around, keeping your eyes open for a certain demon. A thought pops into your head, making your way to the cliff, looking down, at the radio tower lying at the bottom of the cliff. Slowly and carefully to not trip, you make your way down, scared of what might or might not await you. Would he be there? Would he be hurt? Alive? Dead? Maybe he had gone again like those seven years ago, leaving everyone and everything behind.

Blood on the floor leading to the radio tower made your eyebrows raise, so someone or something for sure was here and injured. You just hoped it was Alastor and that he wasn't beyond getting stitched up.

Reaching the hatch to his radio tower, you notice it standing open. Reaching your arms out, you carefully pull yourself up and pull your knee up to enter the room. Looking up already while entering, you see Alastor standing at his desk, his back facing you, yet you could see the way his whole body was tense and clawing at the desk with his hands. Finally in the room, on your knees you slowly get up to stand, looking at the man you love worried.

"Alastor..?" His ears turn to you before his head snaps in your direction, making an uncomfortable cracking sound, his body turning to you fully now. His eyes looked like nothing before, blown wide, crazy, crazier than they had ever been. This wasn't Alastor, but the Radio Demon before you. "Darling.. You're hurt.." Looking down at his chest to the gushing wound, crimson red painting his already red clothes. Laughter echoes through the space now. "HURT?! AHAHA! You're funny dearest! I'm not hurt! I cannot be hurt, did you forget who I am?!" Blown red eyes were staring right back at your own wide eyes, your eyes wide out for different reasons than his. "I know darli-" He took a step towards you, making your ears stand alert, you didn't fear Alastor, yet the Radio Demon scared you right now. "OH DEAREST! What a fight that was! Me?! Great Alastor, altruist, dying for his friends?!" His ears were parted, flat to the sides, while his hands were slowly tearing at his hair, pacing in a circle now, before slamming his hands to the desk. Shadows dancing around the two of you in the red light. You didn't dare whisper another word, even your breath stocking in your lungs, not sure if you should even breathe right now.

Alastor was going crazy, the fact of him almost dying being seen as a hero fucked with his mind, did he care about dying? No, he couldn't care less, but being seen as a good person, a redeemed sinner, or a hero?! No.

"You know what?! Now! After all this, it made me hungry! Hungry for the freedom barely out of reach! Never have I felt this before, can you believe this?! I was.. AM! so close!" An insane monologue continuing, he talked as if he was rather talking to himself than to you, did he even register you being there fully yet? He was driven by adrenalin, by a close death. Raising your hand, you were about to reach out for him, trying to pull him out of whatever spiral he was caught inside right now. "I'm so close! These constraints must have a backdoor right?! This deal!" Fingers pulling at his locks again, your own hand stilling in the air, as you watch him pace around, his eyes darting everywhere, when looking at you, they looked through you, he did not even realize you were here.

His whole body was trembling by now, the smile was strained on his face, making you worried to the core. Never had you thought you would ever experience such a side of Alastor, it shocked you. Now that his monologue stopped, you took cautious steps toward your lover, your finger barely grazing his arm, his eyes now snapping to you, his ears following. He was looking at you finally, not over or through you, he realized you were there and that he wasn't alone. "You're fine Al, you didn't die, you proved it." You knew to get to him, you had to reassure him, even if it was probably a bad idea, but for now, this would probably be the only way to get to him. "You're right dearest.." His hands slowly lowered from his hair, a few hairs tangled in them from how hard he was pulling on his poor hair. Eyes trailing down to the wound on his chest now, feeling your own tighten at the sight of Alastor injured. This was something you didn't think was possible to happen till now.

"Let me take care of this.." Pulling him to the desk softly, you make him lean against it, as you push his coat off his shoulders and start to unbutton his dress shirt, laying them to the side carefully. Ears pressing to your head now as you take in the wound on his chest, you knew his eyes were following your every move, so you tried not to keep on that for too long. Gathering everything you would need to somewhat clean and stitch him up, the things you had would have to do. The air was thick when you got to clean his wound, Alastor was watching you with his smiling face, while your own was adorned with a frown. It scared you knowing he could've died if he didn't disappear mid-fight, he would be dead now if he continued. Those thoughts make your hands shake, your view getting blurry as tears fill your eyes. Looking up when his hand softly encloses around the one holding the needle. "My poor little doe, I'm sorry for worrying and scaring you." Lips press softly against the knuckles of your hand. Pulling yourself together, you quickly finish the stitches up, then you would have all the time to get emotional and cry. Helping Alastor put on his dress shirt now, he slumps down to the floor, his back leaning against the wall, he was probably exhausted. It would take a while for him to heal entirely and be the old himself again.

"Come here beloved." Alastor was holding his arms open for you, finding a place between his legs now, your head leaning on his shoulder, opposite of his injury, making sure you wouldn't touch the freshly stitched-up wound. "I'm sorry.. I was just so worried.." And before you knew it, the tears were streaming down your face, while Alastor softly held you in his safe embrace. "I know dearest, I know...But worry not, I'll be back to myself in no time, don't you worry." His hand was rubbing up and down your back, while his chin rested on the crown of your head. His words were true and you knew that, he would be his old self quicker than you would know, still, it scared you to know he wasn't unharmable and could die. Hiding your face in your hands now, your body violently shaking with sobs. "Now, now my darling doe, you know I hate to see you cry." Pulling your hands away from your face, he looks at you for a second, before your arms already go around his neck as you straddle his thighs now, body shaking with sobs while he feels your tears wetting his shirt. His eyes were slightly wide, a silent wince from his wound flashing through his eyes for a second, but he suppressed any sound for your sake. "There, there, it will be all right my little doe." One of his arms was going around your waist now, pulling you even closer to him, did his wound throb from you pressing against him? Yes, yet he couldn't seem to care. The other hand was moving its way into your hair, rubbing to bottom of your ears softly.

The two of you stayed like that for quite a while, the violent and loud sobs, soon subsiding to small whimpers before completely quieting down to soft tears silently running down your cheeks. Alastor shoulder was by now entirely wet from your tears, yet he couldn't care.

"Calmed down now, have been darling?" Feeling Alastor's lips press to your temple, you finally raise your face from his shoulder and look at him. Eye bloodshot from crying for so long, cheeks wet from all the tears and your throat sore from sobbing. "There is my beautiful doe, look at you, even after crying you're beautiful as ever dearest." Nuzzling against his hand that was now resting on your cheek, your eyes look up into his. Your eyes were something Alastor always loved, they looked so innocent and soft, something not often seen down here in hell. His eyes cast down to your lips for a brief second, you noticed and closed your eyes, inviting him. Feeling his soft lips on yours quickly, as his arm around your waist softly presses you against him, while the other hand still cradles your face. The kiss was soft, yet full of passion, it was all the feelings you two felt poured into one kiss. Which lasted longer than you thought. Pulling apart soon, puffs of air falling from both of your lips.

"I love you my beloved and I'm sorry for worrying you so much, but trust me, once this is over and I'll be able to roam free, watch me reach everything for us." Smiling at you, he softly rubs his thumb over your cheek before your head rests on his shoulder again, face in his neck. "I love you too Al.. I can't wait for you to be finally free again.." Pressing a soft kiss to his neck, giggling softly at him slightly tensing up from it before relaxing again.

You two took your sweet time together, was that what both of you needed right now, before eventually getting back and reuniting with the group. A new hotel and new goals waiting for everyone.

┌───────────────────────── ·  ·  ·  · ♡

Taglist :

@chewbrry @rinalouu @mysticwitchcraftco

[tip-top-cloud-surfer]

The Forgotten Nest - Rooster

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw / Mitchell!OC (Cora)

Word Count: 3.1k

This work, all my works, and my entire blog are 18+ Only

Warnings: Past Unplanned Teenage Pregnancy; Angst; Absent Father Figures; The 'He Didn't Know About the Pregnancy' Trope; Repeating Trauma Cycles (Teen Pregnancy, Absent Parents, etc.); Crying; Carole Would Be Disappointed; Named Mitchell Daughter OC (Cora) and Named Mitchell-Bradshaw Son (Nickie)

Summary: Years ago, Rooster left Cora Mitchell's life when her dad pulled his papers. And, unknowingly, he left behind something other than just his toothbrush.

A.N. There are references to a previous unplanned teenage pregnancy (between two eighteen-year-olds) in this fic. There won't be any flashback scenes to the pregnancy, but the references are still there, so if that makes you uncomfortable, please do not read.

Master List

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Epilogue

Rooster walked out of the admiral’s office with his new orders clutched carefully in his hand. He kept his head held high as he walked through the narrow halls of the USS Gerald R. Ford, heading for his quarters to pack his bag and prepare to fly back to US soil. To Top Gun. To Miramar.

The Californian town had a lot of memories—some of the best and some of the worst of his life. It was the town where he lost his dad before he truly understood the gravity of it all. It was also the town where he spent his later years of high school after his mom died. Where he learned how to drive, where he graduated high school, where he had all of his firsts with a girl—now woman—whom he hadn’t seen since he stormed out of her life.

Cora Mitchell. Maverick’s daughter.

As a result of some poor decisions at nineteen, Maverick ended up with daughter only a few months younger than Bradley. Cora’s mom wanted nothing to do with her and even though Maverick was far from fit to be a father, he would have preferred falling down 100 flights of stairs than letting his child go into foster care.

Carole quickly offered to help raise Cora and help Maverick out. And as his mom used to call them, they were built in best friends. And in the later years of high school, they were a lot more than that. Sneaking into each other’s beds and spending the nights together was fairly regular and easy for them to pull off with Maverick’s bedroom on another floor.

Of course, then Maverick pulled his papers and then he left that life, and Cora, behind completely.

Rooster entered his room and shut the door behind him, heading for his bunk. His roommate wasn’t in, still doing drills with the rest of their squad, leaving Rooster alone with his thoughts. He opened the folder again, reading over the orders once more before he found his gaze shifting. Pulling out his personal bag, Rooster reached into one of the smaller pockets and pulled out a small photo preserved in laminate.

It was from a photo booth at Bradley’s senior prom. Cora sat on his lap, beaming at the camera as Rooster pressed a kiss to her cheek.

It was stupid to still be this curious about what Cora was doing with her life. After all, he was the one who broke up with her and stormed out of her life, saying all kinds of nasty things that he regretted the second that he said them. And he had to admit that he had scrolled through social media, trying to find a glimpse into her life, to no significant results.

All he knew was that she took some time off after high school and eventually graduated from nursing school. He assumed that she was still working as a nurse. And he knew that she now lived in or around Miramar. He didn’t have the guts to try and contact her when he was in town for Top Gun the first time around.

But maybe this new, and probably highly dangerous, mission would finally give him the kick in the ass to try and make things right with Cora. Even if it was just a simple apology, like a small ‘sorry,’ it would take away some of the guilt that ate away at his stomach every single time that he remembered her crestfallen expression and calls for him to come back.

Tucking the photo back into his bag, Rooster stood up and started to pack, letting his mind wander to what Cora’s life looked like now.

~~~~~

“Nicholas Peter Mitchell!” Cora thundered, marching towards the stairs, still dressed in her scrubs from work. “Get your butt down here now!”

Cora was only partially pleased to hear her son scrambling around, undoubtedly in the middle of some kind of panic due to her tone. She tapped her foot, able to picture her son’s exact expression of fear. She would have preferred that he simply told her ahead of time because then they could deal with it together, but he forced her hand by hiding it.

The sound of a door opening and a soft pattern of footsteps caused Cora to pick her head up. Her eyes narrowed when her son, Nickie, poked his head out from behind the wall with a sheepish smile. She shook her head when his expression gave away the fact that he knew exactly why she was upset. And that only caused her migraine to intensify.

“Hey, Mom. Did you have a good shift?” Nickie asked kindly, stepping out from behind the wall. “And did I mention that I love you and that you look more beautiful than usual today?”

Nickie, or simply Nick to his friends, was far from her twin. His hair was a light brown and curled at the end. His eyes were big and light brown, like someone she knew well in the past. The shape of his head and his cheekbones that were starting to emerge from the baby fat came from her side of the family, but the slope of his nose reinforced his father’s influence on his features.

But his sheepish, mischievous smile was definitely a Mitchell trait. Undoubtedly.

“When were you going to tell me that you got a speeding ticket?” Cora questioned, eerily calm despite her earlier yelling. “Today? Tomorrow? Next week? Never?”

“Mom, I already paid it off—”

“—When were you going to tell me?” Cora demanded, not amused. When Nickie fumbled for a response, Cora straightened up. “You have had your license for a month and you’ve already gotten a speeding ticket, Nickie. That’s not funny. You clearly do not understand that your car and your license are privileges, not rights.”

“It was at that speed trap under that highway pass on the way to school,” Nickie tried to explain, but Cora was not going to give him an inch of the moral high ground.

“I do not care where you got the ticket. I care that you were reckless behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. I care that you got a speeding ticket and now it’s on your record. And I care that you hid this whole thing from me.” Cora sighed, placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head at her son. “How much was it, Nickie?”

“Thirty bucks,” Nickie replied quietly.

“Well, then I think that thirty is an appropriate number of days to not need your car. And a good number of days to think about the importance of following traffic laws,” Cora stated, folding her arms over her chest. “Where are your keys?”

Nickie sighed and walked downstairs to grab his keys from the countertop. He quickly returned to his mother’s side and placed them into her open hand without a fight. Cora closed her hand and shoved the keys into her pocket.

“I’m serious, Nickie,” she stated softly, causing the teenager to turn back to her with doe eyes. “I don’t want you getting hurt. And speeding around, especially on these roads where there’s a thousand pedestrians and everything—it’s not safe. For you or anyone else.”

“I know, Mom. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for having the maturity to realize that it was your bill to pay,” Cora offered her son in return, her tough exterior cracking just a bit. She rubbed her face tiredly. “And that’s probably what I get for letting your grandfather teach you how to drive.” Letting out a sigh, Cora dropped her hand from her face and turned back to Nickie. “How’s your homework coming?”

“Mostly done. I’ve got a test tomorrow.”

“Good.” Cora set her purse and the mail down on the countertop. “I’ll get started on dinner after I take a shower. Work on your homework and I’ll call you when I’m done.”

Cora walked into her bedroom and made a beeline for her on suite bathroom. Throwing her scrubs into her specified scrubs laundry bin, Cora quickly washed up from a long day at work. She changed into some comfortable clothes and a Navy sweatshirt before heading to the kitchen to start on dinner. The sun started to set in the distance as Cora waited for the chicken to cook.

The distinct sound of a Kawasaki caused her to look up from the oven, frowning with surprise. Walking over to the front windows, Cora was shocked to see her dad pulling into the driveway.

“What the—” Cora walked over and opened the front door, stepping out onto her front porch. “Dad? What are you doing here?”

“I thought that I would drop by since I was in town,” Maverick replied, setting up his kickstand and getting off his bike.

“Why are you in town? Not that I’m not happy to see you,” Cora added on, walking down to greet him. Maverick picked up the bag that he strapped to the back of his bike and pulled his daughter into a hug. But when she felt him wince, she instantly pulled back with a sharp, knowing look. “What happened now? What did you do this time?”

“Is that dinner that I smell?” Maverick asked, redirecting the conversation.

“You’re not getting out of this conversation,” Cora warned him, turning for her home and pulling the door open. “How many times do I have to tell you that you’re not twenty anymore? And could you at least wear a helmet once in a while?”

“Mom, who are you talking to?” Nickie yelled from upstairs.

“Your grandfather decided to drop by. Randomly,” Cora called back to her son.

A second later, there were a set of rapid footsteps echoing down the hall before Nickie appeared at the top of the stairs. His grin was immediately wide, showing the likeness between him and his grandfather, before Nickie hurried down the rest of the stairs to greet his grandfather.

“What are you doing in town?” Nickie asked, jogging over to Maverick.

“Well, I thought that it was a good idea to visit my favorite kid and grandkid once in a while,” Maverick joked, pulling Nickie into a hug despite his aching ribs

“Pops, I’m your only grandkid,” Nickie pointed out, frowning slightly.

“Still counts.” Maverick stared up at Nickie, jokingly inspecting him. “Did you get taller since the last time that I saw you? You look taller.”

“Maybe you’re just shrinking,” Nickie quipped, causing Maverick to turn to Cora.

“Don’t look at me,” Cora replied, gesturing to her own short stature. “Nickie over here got about three generations worth of height.”

Or, rather, he just had other genes to pull from when it came to height. And the men on the other side of Nickie’s family were all at least six feet tall, like Nickie was quickly shaping up to be. But not a single Mitchell in that household was going to bring that up.

Once dinner was finished cooking, the three Mitchells set the table and sat around, chatting and catching up since the last time that Maverick was in Miramar.

“I thought that you said that you wouldn’t be done with that project for a while,” Nickie stated, turning to his grandfather.

“Well, plans change,” Maverick replied noncommittally, glancing down at his plate.

“Because they were actually changed or because you felt the need to change them?” Cora deadpanned, cutting into her chicken.

“There might have been some . . . minor scheduling changes.”

“So, you’re not just visiting then,” Cora deduced, reaching for her drink. How she wished that it was wine instead of water.

“How long are you in Miramar for then?” Nickie asked excitedly, reminding Maverick painfully so of Bradley as a teenager.

“A few weeks. Somewhere around a month.”

“For what?”

“That’s classified,” Maverick replied, causing Nickie and Cora to roll their eyes in seemingly practiced sync. “I’d tell you, but—”

“—But then you’d have to kill us, yeah, we know, Gramps.”

“How’s school then? Still swimming and everything?” Maverick asked Nickie, changing the subject.

“It’s good. Swim doesn’t start for a few more weeks, but I’m trying to train before it. But I think I’m going to have to focus on running.”

“Why? Something wrong with the car?” Maverick questioned, looking concerned.

“No, just the driver,” Cora replied, setting down her utensils. “Nickie got a speeding ticket.”

“How bad?” Maverick asked, earning a sharp look from Cora. “I mean, that’s bad, Nickie. Don’t do it again. You have to get a little bit more driving experience before you start speeding.”

Cora sighed, holding her head in her hand for a moment as Nickie hid a smile behind his mouth. Maverick shot Nickie a joking smile before straightening up in his seat.

“But you’re doing good in school, Nickie?”

“Pretty well. Pre-calc is kicking my butt, but I think it’s supposed to get better.”

“Well, don’t be afraid to enjoy your teenage years a bit. Don’t go rushing off to try and grow up before your time,” Maverick replied, glancing over at his daughter for a moment. “Besides, I thought that you were going to try out for the surf team.”

“They want me to,” Nickie agreed, taking a bite of his dinner. “Mom’s a little scared to let me do it.”

“I just think that baseball is safer,” Cora replied softly, reaching for her drink. “Besides, between swim and water polo, you’re going to turn into a prune, Nickie. Not to mention that you go out sailing with Penny and Amelia all the time.”

“I just like the water, Mom,” Nickie stated, missing the pained expression on Cora’s face. “And besides, the baseball coach is an asshole.”

“Language,” Cora stressed, causing Maverick to chuckle.

~~~~~

After dinner, Nickie excused himself to finish up his homework. Cora and Maverick worked together to clean up after dinner and to set up the spare room for Maverick to sleep in while he was in town. But after the finished up the housekeeping, the father and daughter sat out on the back porch. Cora poured herself a glass of wine for the conversation and brought Maverick a beer.

“So, why are you really in town?” Cora asked, sitting down.

“Ice called me in,” Maverick stated, causing Cora to grow more serious instantly. “It’s a mission.”

“And not just any mission . . . is it?” Cora questioned, though she already knew the answer.

Ice wouldn’t have called Maverick in for just your run of the mill mission. This was a serious mission, that was certain. And that instantly caused Cora’s blood pressure to spike in an instant. Ice wouldn’t have called Maverick in unless it was something bordering on a suicide mission.

“No, it’s not,” Maverick agreed, nodding solemnly.

He looked away from his daughter for a moment, a rock settling in his stomach. It had been sitting there since a familiar face flashed on the screen in that conference room. But he knew that he had to unload it sooner rather than later.

To say that Maverick’s perspective on Rooster was complicated did not quite do it justice.

On one hand, as Cora’s father and Nickie’s grandfather, there was nothing that Maverick wanted to do more than to grab Rooster by his ear and give him the lecture of the century about responsibility and putting his personal emotions to the side to be a man and a father. Hell, if it was any other boy who did that to Cora, Maverick would have strapped him to the outside of the Darkstar and done a couple laps around the Earth.

But, on the other, as Goose’s wingman and the man who tried to raise Rooster, Maverick wanted Rooster nowhere near Miramar or this mission. Hell, Maverick did what he could to make sure that Rooster stayed as far away from a cockpit as possible. And that side of Maverick just wanted Rooster back in his life, safe and far from danger.

But being Cora’s father and Nickie’s grandfather was always the side that won out in the end.

“There’s something else,” Maverick began, causing Cora’s eyebrows to furrow with concern. “He’s involved in the mission.” Cora noticeably tensed up as Maverick added, “He’s here.”

“In Miramar?” Cora asked quietly, earning a nod from her dad. Sighing, she held her head in her hands for a moment. “Fuck.”

“Did you tell Nickie—”

“—No,” Cora interjected, cutting Maverick off. “No, I didn’t.” Not . . . not the whole story." She stared out at the backyard, out at the little swing set that Maverick and Ice built for Nickie on a warm afternoon so many years ago. “He’s supposed to be out in the middle of the Atlantic right now.”

“And I’m supposed to be in the Mojave.”

Nickie sat with his back to the wall, silently listening in on his mom’s conversation with his grandfather. He knew that it was wrong and he knew that he was already on thin ice with the speeding ticket, but he knew that his mom and his grandfather went outside to talk where he couldn’t hear them. But his mom always seemed to forget that the bathroom window was right above the patio.

“Have you seen him yet?” Cora inquired quietly, causing Maverick to nod slowly.

“Yeah, I did. Briefly. At the Hard Deck.”

“Did he see you?”

“I don’t think so, no,” Maverick replied, shaking his head.

Cora let out another sigh and held her head in her hands again. Maverick quickly got up from his seat, setting aside his beer and pulling his daughter into a tight hug. Cora latched onto her dad, trying to calm herself down and not shed anymore tears over Bradley Bradshaw.

But she failed. Just like she did the last thousand times.

Nickie clenched his eyes shut and curled his hands into fists. His mom was the strongest person that he knew. Life threw a thousand things at her and she somehow always managed to keep herself and him on their feet. But the second that anyone brought up his dad, she always flipped a switch.

She always broke down or went into absolute survival mode until something else snapped her out of it.

Nickie stopped asking about his dad when he overheard his mom sobbing to Penny in the middle of the night about how his dad still wouldn’t return her calls. It happened years ago, nearly a decade now, but it was still fresh in his mind. Burned there for the rest of his life. And, well, if his dad couldn’t even give his mom three seconds of his life, then Nickie wouldn’t give him an ounce of energy either.

And, hell, Nickie was a mama’s boy. And anyone who made his mom cry was dead to him. Dad or not, the fucker who never showed up for him or his mom was dead to Nicholas Peter Mitchell.

Whoever the hell he was.

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Epilogue

[localplaguenurse]

Falling Head over Heels (Pantalone x Male Reader) pt 8

WE ARE FUCKING BACK! (I immediately started hacking my lungs after typing this, I'm sick :P)

To make a long story short, for the past few months I've either been really busy, really depressed, and usually both. Also for some reason chapter 8 was already hard to write and I don't know why.

ALSO before we get into the fic, @your-local-furby drew some absolutely lovely fanart of MC apologizing and seeing the library from the previous two chapters. I think it finally kicked my brain back into gear lmao.

Without further ado, please enjoy!

@thedeimoshimself @eli-chris

It feels like the ground beneath me is sucking me in.

I feel myself sinking,

I wish the ground would swallow me whole.

Embarrassment washes over me and swallows me whole. I feel the air leave my chest I want to break free but I feel like I’m drowning. 

You take the page you’re scribbling your notes on and crumple it into a ball. You’ve reread your rough draft and decided the arranged wedding scene you had planned wasn’t tragic enough. The blind musician is tasked with performing for the prince’s wedding, but his heartbreak causes him to mess up his performance, which causes everyone to notice he’s crying, including the prince. You’re trying to convey the feeling of knowing every single person in the room is watching you during the lowest point in your life, but it’s just not coming together in a way you like. You’ll run it by Alik later.

Technically, Alik is no longer your editor as a result of your deal with the Yae Publishing House. Still, they’re one of your few friends, and their workload has lightened since your previous publisher terminated all of those other book deals. Now they’re acting as your beta reader before you send off the next draft to the editor at the Yae Publishing House. It’s actually making progress go a lot faster, so much so you might only need one final draft of the whole story before it’s finally published, as opposed to multiple drafts. 

I do not need sight to know everyone in the room is looking at me. I feel it in my broken notes that trail into nothingness. I feel it in the resulting silence. I feel it in the quiet murmur spreading through the room.

I feel tears in my eyes as I drop my head down, praying no one sees me crying. If I could, I would sprint out of the room, out of the palace, so no one is witness to my heartbroken embarrassment. I’d run so fast, the prince would have no time to chase after me. It would be for the best anyways. He deserves his perfect and beautiful bride, and I am no bride, I cannot verify if I am beautiful, and in this moment, I could not feel anymore flawed as a person and human. 

A knock on your door breaks your concentration. You’re dreading whatever is on the other side, but know it’s better to get this over with. 

“Yes?”

The door opens, and your mother pokes her head in through the gap. She offers a smile. “We have company. Come say hi, please.”

“I’m… kind of in the middle of something,” you reply, “and I’ve told you that I’m going to see Alik when I’m done writing.”

“How is she, by the way?”

“They’re fine.”

“And Maria? How’s she?”

“She’s alright, I think. I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Well, tell them both I say hello. Anyways, if you have a minute, I would like you to come downstairs. There’s someone I’d like you to talk to.”

It takes you a moment to recognize what this is, mostly because it’s been a while since she tried pulling this off. When you realize what’s happening, you just shake your head and look at your mother. “Which family friend is this?”

She gives you a very unconvincing look of confusion. “My dear, what do you mean?”

“Mother, please.”

“... Ana. Anastasia.”

Anastasia is your younger sister Adéla’s friend. Much like your sister, she’s only a year younger than you, but unlike your sister, she actually likes you. Adéla and you have butted heads throughout your lives, as siblings tend to do and especially with such a small age gap, but Adéla has taken it a step further saying that it’s your fault her childhood was so “miserable” as she puts it. She claims that your diagnosis made you the centre of your parents’ attention until your youngest sister was born, and then they focused more on her than Adéla. Conveniently, she’s never had any sisterly drama with her, only you. You feel for her, but there was only so much you could do at the time, seeing as you were eight years old.

“Absolutely not,” you tell your mother.

“But you two got along so well when she would visit,” your mother insists, “and she’s become a fine young lady since the two of you last spoke! Don’t you remember reading together when you two were little?”

“I’m sure she’s beautiful,” you say, “but Adéla will throw a fit if she finds out you set me up with one of her friends.”

“You don’t know that.”

“And I don’t want to find out,” you tell her, “and I told you I don’t like being set up on dates.”

Your mother lets out an exasperated sigh. “I’m just worried about you, okay? I want to make sure my son is happy, healthy, and I want him to find someone he can settle down with. Your brother was already married at your age, and Adéla’s going to be having another baby soon.”

“Yes, but I’m not Pavel or Adéla,” you say, “the dating scene is different for me, and playing matchmaker isn’t going to make me feel any better or help me.”

Your mother just looks at you. That sad, pitiful look you know all too well. It stopped pulling on your heartstrings long ago, but sometimes it’s just easier to indulge her than it is to fight her on it. Besides, she means well, you think, it just can’t be helped that she doesn’t know her son has no interest in women.

You sigh, and stand up, much to your mother’s delight. “I’ll say hi, and that’s it.”

She grins, and she motions for you to follow her.

----

“... and she just happens to be single, too.”

Alik sets their glass down. “Interesting. So when’s the wedding?”

“It’s not happening,” you reply, “thank the Tsaritsa for that.”

“I’m honestly surprised your parents haven’t put you in an arranged marriage yet,” Alik comments.

“How many viable marriage candidates do you think there are that would be thrilled to marry someone who’s not only going blind, but could pass it on to their children as well?”

“Depends on how much the family is getting paid.”

“And it would not be much.”

The tavern is surprisingly quiet tonight. You chalk it up to it being the middle of the work week, not as many patrons willing to get drunk if they have work early in the morning. Currently, you and Alik are sitting at a table in the corner of the room while a few older patrons mill about, chattering on about their own lives at the bar. It’s actually rather nice, you think.

“What would they try to sell your bride to be on?” Alik asks.

“Um…” You look into your half drunk glass, trying to think of something funny. You clear your throat, straighten your posture, and put on your best business smile. “Here’s a fine young man who has no real work skills, and it’s not like they would do him any good since he’s considered legally blind and has between thirteen and fifteen years before he is fully blind. His only profitable skill is writing, though he doesn’t make enough to support a household. His blindness is also genetic!”

“By the Archons, at least say one nice thing about yourself,” Alik teases, though there’s a subtle sincerity to their words.

“I think I’m decent,” you say, “I think I might even make an okay husband, but I don’t think I’d be the kind of husband Pavel or my father are.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Alik replies, “there are plenty of families and couples where the husband isn’t always a provider. Besides, you’re not really a ladies man to begin with.”

You shake your head. “It’s not even that, it’s just… you know I try not to make a big deal of me going blind, but it’d be naïve of me to pretend that it’s not, and especially if I was in a relationship. Whether I like it or not, whoever I marry is going to inevitably become my caretaker. There will come a day where I’m going to need help, and I’ll rarely be able to return that favour.”

“That’s why it’s in sickness and in health,” Alik comments. They reach across the table and take your hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “For what it’s worth, I think you’d make a good house husband, before and after you start seeing the world how Maria does.”

Maria is Alik’s cousin, and one of your few very close friends. She has been a big help to you in writing your book as her blindness is similar to the main character’s. While he was born blind, she actually had vision when she was born. Unfortunately, she suffered a very severe head injury when she was very young. She has little to no memory of her life before she lost her sight as a result, as well as having some developmental problems growing up. These days she’s doing much better, though her eyesight is still gone. At most, she can detect if there’s light, but that’s the extent of it. 

“Do you have permission to make jokes about her being blind?” you ask.

“I not only have permission, but that’s not even the worst joke I’ve gotten away with.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“For the best.”

Your table goes quiet as you and Alik take a moment to drink. You try not to cringe at the taste of whatever the hell Alik recommended you try. It’s a beer, and you can taste that, but it’s a lot more bitter than you like. Still, they bought it for you, it would be rude to spit it out.

“You don’t have to drink that, you know.”

“It’s an acquired taste, I’ll get used to it.”

You see a smile twitch onto Alik’s lips, and even if they try to hide it, you can see a shit eating grin from miles away. 

“Okay,” you say, “out with it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You thought of something terrible, I want to hear it.”

Alik glances around the room, assessing how audible their comment would be. You take a sip of your drink, and they grin.

They lean in. “I’m sure Pantalone would be happy to hear that.”

You immediately sputter, spraying Alik in the face. They yell, swiping at their face as if they were sprayed with acid. You cough as what was left in your mouth goes down the wrong pipe. “Fuck, w-why’d I take a drink–”

“Did you have to spit that in my face?” Alik asks.

“Shut up,” you wheeze out. You give one more hearty cough, your throat and chest burning, and you can breathe again. You sit up, rubbing your chest through your shirt while Alik wipes their face and the table with napkins. You look around, and see the few patrons staring at your table. You painfully chuckle, and turn back to your friend. “S-Sorry, I should know better by now.”

Alik shrugs. “I’m not wrong, am I?”

“I told you that in confidence,” you whisper.

“You actually told me before the tea party,” Alik tells you. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s starting to show in your book.”

You feel your face flush, and you narrow your eyes. “I think I would know if I was writing about him, thank you.”

“The prince was a lot more arrogant in your first drafts,” Alik explains, “but in more recent iterations, it’s been toned down a lot. He’s also a lot more understanding of the musician’s blindness.”

You’re confused. “Well, yes. My first drafts are years old, so I’ve had to make some adjustments to better fit my writing style now. Besides, I’ve read too many stories about asshole love interests that don’t really learn anything, they just get tragic backstories that authors think justify their shitty behaviour. I’m not adding my characters to that pile.”

“No, I agree on that,” Alik says, “but even then, he was still a solid character, arrogance aside. He was just a spoiled prince who had to actually think about other people for the first time in his life. Like he’s never had to deal with someone with a disability, and doesn’t know how else to feel other than annoyed. In the more recent drafts, he still doesn’t know how to deal with it, but he’s a lot more willing to make up for the disrespect, where the old version did it, but complained the whole time. It just so happens that this change happened right when you met him for the first time.”

“That’s… hm.” You take a sip and don’t spit it in Alik’s face. “You’re on the right track, but I don’t think I was writing all of that because of a crush.” You feel your face flush warmer again. “He was a bit of an ass at the party, but since then he’s become one of…” You take a moment to count names on your finger. “... six or seven people that aren’t patronizing about me going blind. I’d just been putting up with most of my family either coddling me or being inconvenienced by me, but he’s a rare instance of someone making accommodations, but not making a big show of it. That’s why the book was like that until I met Pantalone.”

You stare into your glass. “And… a-and it’s why I enjoy his company so much…”

Alik doesn’t say anything. You look up, and you see their expression has softened a little bit. They lift their drink up to you, and you smile and lift yours up.

“Cheers.”

You both take a swig, and somehow the disgusting drink tastes sweeter going down. Your face feels warm, and you wonder why you’re still blushing when you see you’re already halfway through your drink. Alik has a similar glow in their cheeks. 

“That’s really sweet and cute,” Alik says, “but I do have to ask you something.”

You feel whatever warm feelings you’re feeling lessen when Alik’s softened expression gains a hint of concern. Their smile looks awkward by comparison, before they sigh and lose it altogether. You’re already dreading what they’re about to say.

They hesitate for a moment, and when they speak, it’s in a whisper. “Do you like him, or do you like what he’s done for you?”

“W-What?”

“I wouldn’t ask that if we were talking about anyone else,” Alik clarifies, “but I have to ask when it’s him. I don’t want to rain on your parade, I’m happy you like someone, but… he’s a harbinger. One of the more likeable ones, but not without flaws.”

“I know…”

Alik sighs. “Look, if it were some other handsome rich man, I’d say go for it. The fact it’s a harbinger specifically makes me a little worried, I won’t lie.”

You sound like my mother. “It’s a crush, not an engagement,” you tell them. “We enjoy each other’s company while he works with my father and sister. I just enjoy it differently than he does.”

“Still, even as friends, I’d be cautious. If not for what he’d have planned, then for what others might have in store for him.”

You take a swig. “You want to know what’s funny? You’re the first person to bring up his enemies as a point for why I shouldn’t get near him.”

“I am not.”

“No, seriously. My mother doesn’t want me near him because he’ll probably, I don’t know, kill me or sell me or steal my ideas, depends on the day. My father thinks I’ll ruin everything those two have built together, which I still don’t know why Pantalone is working with him.”

“Maybe your dad’s indebted to him or something.”

“...”

Alik notices your silence. They say your name in a soft voice, seeming worried by your expression. Your father’s not in debt, is he? The business isn’t as prosperous as it was when you were little, but job markets change all the time, and the economy is ever fluctuating. It’s purely the result of what happens when a business runs for as long as it does. Sometimes an empire doesn’t crumble, but rather dies slowly.

“Hey, are you okay?”

You snap out of it. “I’m, uh, I’m fine.” You push your seat back and stand. “I’m just, um, I’m going to go to the washroom for a second.”

“... Okay? Just watch yourself.”

“I’ll be fine,” you call out over your shoulder before immediately bumping into someone. Unlike with Pantalone, you actually manage to catch yourself before you fall. You know that Alik is holding their head in their hands, possibly stifling laughter too for a little extra salt in the wound.

“Archons, sorry,” you immediately blurt out, “I didn’t see you there.”

The ginger haired man laughs. “Oh, no worries comrade! Just be more careful next time!”

You stare at the man, eyes widening. His smile grows, almost reaching the dull blue of his eyes.

“Why the surprised face?” he asks jovially.

You sigh and shake your head. “I have got to stop meeting harbingers like this.”

[buff-muffin]

Random little One piece modern AU thoughts and I guess scenes I had about mainly Luffy

1. Luffy is the best guy to take to karaoke. While he isn’t the best singer he’s also not the worst. However he sings with his whole chest and heart and will sing duets with anyone no matter how lovey or metal. His energy always brought everyone out of their shells he just has a bad habit of singing when it’s not his turn

2. I feel like in a modern AU Luffy would still be friends with a lot of the people he met in series just under different conditions. Like water 7 instead of the mayor almost being assassinated he just. Met him. Like on good terms. idk, maybe Luffy saved tyrannosaurus and now they just exchange animals pics and the occasional “hey I’m heading to insert place where should I go to eat” and Luffy just introduces the Baratie with no heads up to Zeff and Sanji and when Sanji spams the group chat freaking out he just says you’re welcome :D

3. Luffy keeps the contacts of everyone he’s met and keep them under their nicknames. Monster granny, hammock, split head ect. It’s the only way he can remember them after all. When nami had gotten nosy and decided to go through his contacts she obviously asked who tf ice pops was. Imagine her surprise when Luffy confidently answers that it’s the mayor from a few towns over.

4. In a modern AU the ASL brothers were totally still bush kids. Like. Dadan’s (probably community house) was right by the woods and they would have a similar childhood to canon with less killing wild animals. But they also a thousand fucking percent had a Nintendo Wii. Like Ace and Sabo fought tooth and NAIL for player one and Luffy was banished to player three with the dingiest controller known to man (not even the safety strap could protect that thing from getting tossed at the tv) And speaking from my own experience as a younger sibling Ace totally spent a whole summer trying to unlock every character in Mario kart.

5. Law met the straw hats in collage at 2 am when they got kicked out of a bar and he was trying to mind his own business. While they saw him in their intoxicated state and said “you’re my friend now :)” Law was genuinely worried half of them had alcohol poisoning. An hour later he found himself in one of their apartments two of them passed out. One of them throwing up. All while he makes a grilled cheese for Luffy, the so called infamous man on campus who is crying sitting on the floor cause he’s starving. Law stayed the night to make sure none of them drowned in their own vomit and like imprinted baby ducks they have not left him alone since.

6. Luffy has been going to riots and movements for years. He started going with Sabo and Ace growing up when they were teenagers and hasn’t stopped. He also never thought to mention it to any of his friends until they saw him on the news at a protest absolutely fucking SENDING a tear gas canister back at the cops

7. I kinda wanna believe while devil fruits don’t exist in modern AU the character still has quirks semi related to their fruit. Like Robin is just, double jointed everywhere and could bend her arms and fingers in all the worst ways. Luffy can either contort his body to hide in tiny places OR he has stretchy skin. It’s nothing more then party tricks but it is cool

8. Luffy was definitely a gymnastics kid. Not in like. The competing sense. But in like the, one of the adults in his life would drop him off there twice a week for an hour. Did he participate with the other children and learn how to roll? NO! He was flinging himself full speed into giant foam mats and climbing rock walls without a harness. He was a menace to society and he was only taken to blow off some energy and it WORKED. Until he was kicked out.

[saturnine-saturneight]

Here Comes the Sun

Being that I'm now on hiatus from posting Reburial to work on Act 2, it feels weird not to post anything on Sundays at all, so I'm going to try and keep up the posts with behind the scenes and other material that I already have lying around. Hope you all have fun it.

To kick that off, I thought I'd post the very first version of Chapter 5 :) I wrote this 8 years ago now, in 2016. This and the other short drabbles I wrote back then have been the basis for countless drafts and rewrites, but this chapter specifically is close to my heart because it was the very first one. A lot of it is very different, and some things stayed very much the same. I think it's a very fun comparison.

If you'd like to read this, I would suggest you read at least up to Chapter 5 first. Consider this heavy spoilers, it covers the same ground. All content warnings that apply to the most recent version of Reburial apply to this as well.

1.

You spot the first mushroom while washing yourself in the bathroom of a fast food chain—brightly colored plastic chairs, the queen's face plastered everywhere, glory to the Empire—and Ron dashes into the room so fast he almost slips on a puddle of cheap hand soap. 

He asks you why you screamed, your face in both of his hands; so you show him the memento you got from Cherie, a small, bright blue patch on your tan skin right where your first rib starts. The two of you more cling to each other than you hug, and then you both take antifungals at opposite sides of the grody bathroom and try to work out a plan of action.

“I didn’t think this would happen”, you say around the small white pill under your tongue. You want him close again, but you sit on your hands instead. “I never would’ve done this if I knew. You know that, right? That I didn’t know?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah”, he tells you and rubs his hand over his head, “calm the fuck down, I know you didn’t go spore fishing on purpose.” Then he stares at a suspicious puddle on the tiles between you. “Fuck, though." 

"Yeah”, you admit, “Fuck.”

2.

The next one pops up as you’re unloading boxes from a van you stole, trinkets and tidbits and two pounds of liquor, and when you heave the last box up the steps that lead to your customer's house and go to wipe the sweat from your forehead, there’s a bright blue patch on the back of your hand. You scream again until you cry, and don’t stop until Ron soothes you down from it (he never holds your face like that) and you can barely see him through all the tears. He tells you it’s going to be okay, but wears a mask around you from then on. 

He’s scared, you think, but you’re not sure if it’s for you or for himself.

At least it’s quiet for a while after that. The mushrooms don’t go away, but neither do your flowers, and you regularly make sure that they’re still there, push them upright, pick the dirt off them. You have to count your blessings after all.

3, 4, 5.

The third mushroom brings a friend, two cerulean blue fans that bloom up from your torso, right where your binder starts. They itch, but not as much as the fifth one that follows two nights later. It turns out that scratching them off doesn’t do anything.

Your best friend hasn’t touched you since you last shared a bed, almost two weeks that you’re really not trying to count—eleven nights, exactly eleven—when usually, you’re almost always in some kind of contact, feet in his lap or head on your shoulder or wrestling him in the dust. It’s good that he’s staying away. He split the antifungals up for you right before he split up the rest of your belongings, his side and yours, and that’s good too. You can’t actually see his face now, but the crease between his brows reads terror. That’s not so good.

6, 7, 8, 9—

After that, it all comes in waves. First more mushrooms, sprouting up in a big, technicolor patch right under your sternum, one all the way up your arm, a few single ones on your forehead and your cheek (Cherie’s still burns cold against yours), all as blue as the sky on the worst days. They leave your beautiful blossoms wilted and brown and you cry some more. Ron starts chewing his nails again.

Then comes the fever, bright and hot (like the sun? No, like a fire, or—like something that’s hot), and you’re almost grateful because it makes you forget yourself so much that you barely even notice that you can’t bind anymore.  

Next comes the thirst. You don’t have a metaphor for that one, all you know is that you could drink the sea if Ron let you. His face reads something milder now. Worry again, maybe. (He’s not giving up on you, is he?)

End.

What really knocks you out is the hunger, though; two, maybe three nights after the thirst sets in. Your legs go weak under you, your stomach is hollow, even the crusted up red you left in your wake before Ron made you trim your nails is starting to look appetizing, even if you’re vaguely aware of how disgusting that is. He feeds you jerky, beans, and canned fruit, but it’s just not enough.

There’s nothing on his face now, nothing in his body language. You know this boy like the back of your hand—bright blue patches not included—and you can read him like a book. He’s going to leave you. Of course he is, no normal person would ever love a zombie.

So the next time the moons go down, you don’t sleep. It’s not like you would want to miss a single ray of sun anyways, but this time, you won’t lie down in the grass.

He sleeps in the dark in your backup tent, curled around his dog, hood pulled over his eyes. There’s fine, brown fur all over his clothes when you come closer, and when you crouch over him you see that his hair has gotten way too long. 

You’ve barely reached out to brush your fingers through it when something stops you mid-motion—he’s awake. “Nat?” Then, again, “Natalie?!” It’s way too loud for such a beautiful day, such a bright day, such a—you find that your mouth works in vain when you want to express that, so instead, you growl. He calls for you again, turns his head towards your tent—he thinks he’s hallucinating, so, like the good friend that you are, you show him that he’s not.

You aimed for his throat, but caught an arm instead, you discover when your teeth hit his ulna with a satisfyingly wet crunch—or his radial bone? In any case, you get a mouthful of blood. You just want to bite down again to make short shrift of this one when you discover that he has a second arm, the faithless friend, the fucking traitor—the dart in your neck won’t budge. Fuck him for looking so clueless while carrying elephant-grade tranquilizer with him. Fuck him and fuck his crocodile tears. 

Your jaw goes slack almost instantly, but at least you get a second bite in. On a shoulder, you note, hazy but not unhappy, before the world tilts and you go down hard.

Hi Reburial taglist 👋

@tragedycoded @cowboybrunch @fairytaleinagem @marlowethelibrarian @gioiaalbanoart

@davycoquette @cometkov @writingrosesonneptune @innocentlymacabre @noblebs

[vytels]

Rex Raises Luke AU Part 4

So, as I’m sure some of you have noticed at this point… the “scene #” has nothing to do with the chronological time. It’s just the order of how I wrote things out 😂

So yeah, there are a good number of scenes!!

Also, I wanna add some more context when I post these lol…

So for this one, Rex and Cody reunite after a bloody fight with imperials on a snow covered planet. Rex is still get a handle of being a parent.

Later, Rex “sics” Cody on Obi-Wan and of course, years pass of Codywan falling in love again and having a sickening sweet domestic life…

Luke is probably around 8 to 10 years old in the second scene. He hasn’t met Obi-Wan yet, but he will…

Previous - Next

Scene #4

“Cody,” Rex wheezed. He slapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder and clenched his fingers around the pauldron, before dragging the man up to his feet.

“Rex,” his vod’s voice broke, “I’m so sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, ner ori’vod.” Rex crumbled and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the bloody gray armor and burying his face into his brother’s neck. Armor pinched at his cheek, but he didn’t care as he lifted a hand to clench into his brother’s finely cut, regulation curls.

Another choke left his brother’s throat, but then his head shifted and his chin pushed over Rex’s temple. Arms wrapped around him and squeezed him tight, a hand cupping the back of his neck and another wrapping fingers around edge of his cuirass. The cold dipped away as his brother turned into the wind, blocking the onslaught of bitter ice that cut through his body

Tears soaked his eyes as warmth flooded him, filling from his feet to his fingers, and Rex refused to let go of the one brother he had mourned the most.

“Su cuygar,” Rex gasped, his lips pulling into a smile.

A laugh jolted from his brother, ruffling them both. “Elek, I’m alive and you are too… you’re alive.”

“I am.” Rex leaned back and caught the tears on his vod’s face, knowing that his face reflected the same.

“What happened? Where did you go?” Cody looked down at him, hands moving to grip his shoulders.

“Well,” Rex began but a piercing cry ripped through the air.

He whipped his head around and caught onto the sight of his ship, the ramp down and the gathering snow. Another cry pierced his ears, desperate and louder, the exact opposite of happy.

“Rex?” Cody asked.

He looked back at his brother, sighing and smiling. “I have someone that I want you to meet.”

Scene #5

“Ba’vodu!” Luke slammed into the orange-armored man, staggering them toward the edge of the ramp.

The man let out a grunt, enough to bring an amused smile to Rex’s face as he watched the two, and then sighed as he looked down.

“You’re getting too big for this,” Cody said as he rested a hand over the boy’s hair. “Su cuy’gar, Lu’ika.”

“Su cuy’gar!” The boy smiled. “I missed you.”

The man chuckled and ruffled the boy’s hair, smirking down at him before looking back to the ship. “I’ve got presents for you, care to step inside before you see them?”

“Yes!” Luke slipped away from his uncle and waved him inside, his chatter and gestures filling the air. “I rearranged my room, I have to show it to you!”

Over the years, the inside of Rex’s ship had changed away from the sterile military-class design. Lights had been replaced to create golden glows over the painted walls, detailed in designs of creatures and stories. A few places had children’s handprints pressed into the edges, steadily growing bigger and taller. Further down the corridors, two storage rooms had been stripped clean and refitted with bunks, creating bedrooms next to each other. Each was decked out in their own fashion, one with crisp sheets and military plans laid across desks, and the other with toys scattered and an endless supply of blankets.

While Luke couldn’t move the bunk in his messy room, he did spend hours every few months rearranging the desks and platforms, the chests and buckets, to fit whatever scenarios were running through his head. It scratched noises into the air and softs sounds of music, but Rex didn’t mind, not when his son would fly into his arms moments later and ask him to see the changes made.

As the ramp of the ship closed, Luke pulled Cody to sit on the singular L-shape couch. The boy squeezed himself between his father and uncle, before pulling himself up to lean against the raised center table. A smile gleamed across his face as his head swiveled between the two of them, before his whole body turned and his eyes set back onto his uncle’s form.

“What did you bring me?” Luke asked, eyes wide.

“Udesii,” Rex said and reached out, patting his son’s back.

But his son didn’t seem to notice as he leaned closer to his uncle.

“Listen to your buir, ad’ika.” Cody smiled, but his hand was already reaching into the satchel at his side. “Have you been listening to him?”

“Yes!” Luke replied. “I’ve been good, I promise!”

Cody glanced across his nephew’s head, an eyebrow raising as he smirked and leaned against the center table. Rex met his brother’s eyes and smiled, giving him a small nod in return as he rested in his hand on Luke’s back.

“Alright then,” Cody said as he turned back to Luke, “Here you go.”

He pulled out two items from his satchel and set them on the table. Both of them were small, wrapped in cloth, and had scribbled aurebesh across them. One was disc-shaped, as if hiding a puck underneath its wrappings. The other was larger and took up a wide portion of the table, but the shape of the item inside was hidden by the obvious box that held it.

Luke leaned over the table, reading out the words on the smaller gift, “From Master Kenobi?”

“That’s right,” Cody said.

“My father’s master?” Luke asked and sat taller in his seat, his hands reaching toward the present. “That Kenobi? Obi-Wan Kenobi?”

“Elek,” Cody replied, “I’ve been spending some time with him, he wanted you to have this.”

The wrapping cloth fell away as Luke pulled out the true gift. The puck was completely black with a few protruding buttons along the side and a sheet of silver metal across the top; a hand-held holoprojector with only a few features. When Luke pressed a button, a list of items jumped into projection: meditations, lightsabers, the Force, shielding, form I, form II, form III and so on.

“He wants you to learn about the Jedi,” Cody explained as Luke stared.

“Really?” The boy asked and pulled his gaze away from the projection.

Cody nodded and a light grew in his eyes. “Only if you want to, but this is the knowledge he is offering you.”

“Wizard,” Luke exclaimed and then turned to Rex, a plea crawling onto his face, “Can we add this to our training?”

It didn’t take much to break down Rex’s will, not when it came to the way his son smiled and his eyes lit up. Every ounce of happiness and excitement reflected in his smile and the rising of his shoulders, the way that he clutched the holoprojector closer to his chest. Already, it was a treasured item that his son would protect.

“Yeah,” Rex sighed, “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yes! Thank you, buir!” Luke cheered and then looked back down at the holoprojector, fingers scrolling through the various items listed.

“Hey, don’t forget the other present.” Rex nudged his son and then nodded to the table.

“Oh, yeah!” Luke turned back, setting the holoprojector aside and then reached for the larger present.

Once the cloth fell away, his son ripped into the box and pulled out what was hidden inside. The item sparked Rex’s heart and his eyes widened as his son held onto it.

The cuirass set, missing pauldrons but still carrying the chest and torso piece, had been reworked. It was smaller than the regular clone set and inside flickered with silver, a secondary metal lining. The white surface was wiped clean, reflective and shiny.

“Ba’vodu!” Luke gasped as he held the cuirass up. “My own…?”

Rex gaped over at his brother, at the satisfied smirk across Cody’s face.

“That’s right, ad’ika,” Cody said, “Reworked it myself, it should fit you for the next few years.”

“I’m going to paint it orange.” Luke’s words cut straight through Rex’s chest.

“Ha!” Cody smirked, eyes alight as he looked over at Rex.

Then Luke added, “And blue!”

“Oh,” both Cody and Rex sighed.

[rainintheevening]

Suddenly realizing there are a bunch of movies I have watched this year and not really talked about them to anyone.

Let's see...

The Mummy (because of tumblr). 7/10. Funny, good solid characters. Creepy enough that I won't be watching it again.

Pride and Prejudice 2005 (because of Kiera Knightly) 5/10 Mr. Bingley and Jane were once again my favourites. Also Lizzy and Jane, and the rest of the family dynamics were quite good. Did not like Mr. Darcy in the least, and had to see far too much of him.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (because of @kingofattolia) 7/10 Quite enjoyed the younger versions of the mutant gang. Fascinating concept with the one girl's power and the way they do 'time travel'. Wolverine is still my favourite.

Belle (because of @smhalltheurlsaretaken) 10/10. Fantastic acting, solid representation of a variety of relationships including a very sweet romance, beautiful historical drama, inspiring, hopeful, uplifting.

The Fall Guy (because of someone at church) 10/10. Roller-coaster of a ride, delightful twists and turns, very funny at times, solid friendships, sweet romance, Emily Blunt being Emily Blunt, wonderfully over the top, as befitting a 'love letter to the unknown stuntman'. Also learned a lot about filmmaking.

My Neighbour Totoro (because of @novelmonger) 7/10. Funny, sweet, quite delightful. Weirdly the presumed-drowned scene contributed to a nightmare two nights later.😶

Kiki's Delivery Service (because of @sailforvalinor) 10/10. Made me laugh, made me cry, made me slow down and breathe. A beautiful story that teaches a beautiful lesson, particularly poignant for creatives like myself.

Ordinary Angels (because of the trailer) 8/10. Classic feel-good story, made me bawl.

Unsung Hero (because it's For King and Country) 9/10. Cried, laughed, loved all the heart and effort they put into telling their family's story. Great music too.

Ever After (because of tumblr) 10/10. Loved, loved, loved it. Beautiful in it's down-to-earth-ness.

... can't think of any others right now.

[stilldancewithyou]

What are your thoughts on the carnival scene both in the book and the show? Was Conrad really interested in the girl from the ring toss or do you think his sole purpose was winning Belly Junior Mint?

There is this weird dynamic between them where they kind of assume that the other knows how they feel because they do have a great understanding between them but that's where the problems arise because they put too much weight on the silent understanding between them & forget to communicate their actual feelings. I think he thought she fully understood the significance of the original Junior Mint moment (and she clearly DID kind of get it bc she held onto Junior Mint all this time and the bear was really important to her, and everybody knows/recognizes how much she loves Junior Mint, although it's heavily implied at least to me that no one else actually knows how she got him or what he REALLY means).

My book girlies know this, but it comes to light in Conrad's letters that not only does he vividly remember the day he won her the bear, but he also spent $40 (at like 14 years old!!!) trying to win her the bear because he paid attention to her all summer and saw that she badly wanted it and had been eyeing it all summer (he actually says "remember how you used to go over to the ring toss and just stare at the polar bears?"). I think he got confused when Belly got all standoffish about it but also didn't know what to do about his feelings at that point in time (which is why he said that the girl said Junior Mint was the best prize they had. it was easier & less vulnerable than saying "I think I might have romantic feelings for you too and I just spent hours trying to win this for you because I know how much you wanted it and I wanted you to spend time with you") so he didn't try to explain it to Belly & ended up hanging out with ring toss girl that summer as a distraction in a way. But then the present scene...he wanted to remind her of that memory and he wanted her to know he remembered it and that it mattered to him & he wanted her to know he still thinks about her and loves her and wants her back. And Belly is in the mindset she was in in the 2nd book where she still loves him but doesn't want to & is tempted to go back to him but feels like she has to prove a point to herself and everyone else that she is over him and doesn't need him. I also think she spent so long being in love with him with everyone knowing & teasing her about it and it made her feel like it was the child like and immature thing to be with him, so she wants to show that she has "outgrown" him, and she's not a dumb 13 year old kid with a crush anymore.

I think Conrad probably did think the ring toss girl was cute, he was a 14 year old boy so you can't really fault him for being a little interested in her and hanging out with her, and also Belly got upset and he probably didn't understand that he had inadvertently hurt her feelings. He wanted to win her the bear he knew she had been wanting and make her happy, and it backfired (Which probably fed his anxiety and feelings of not being worthy and always fucking up and disappointing people but especially Belly). I think that moment would have been different if Belly had stayed there while he was trying to win her the bear- she made an assumption to start out and ran away without ever actually knowing what really happened (kind of like the prom moment). I think the fact that Conrad still remembered and thought about winning her Junior Mint even 8-9 years later kind of says it all. And the way he boops Junior Mint in the show in season 1...that man knows it was never about the ring toss girl.

Also it just occurred to me that maybe he had spent time noticing the ring toss girl because he had already spent a lot of time noticing Belly go to the ring toss and staring at the polar bears and also maybe he had already spent time trying to win Belly the bear during that summer. ok I'm gonna go cry because that makes it SO MUCH SWEETER.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. 47

I do believe this is the longest fragment of the bunch. Just a smidge longer than A invitation to an end.

Leftover fragments pt. 3

You know, I don’t think it’s really fair for Akasaka to kick himself this hard over not protecting Rika. Yes, it sucks that he wasn’t able to protect her like she wanted, but to be fair to Akasaka, his wife did just die. I think it’s fair that he was kind of focused more on the death of his wife and his newborn daughter than on some random girl he met once on the job.

If Ooishi hadn’t gotten in touch with Akasaka after the events of the Great Hinamizawa Disaster I wonder if Akasaka would’ve even remembered the conversation with Rika? If this were one of the timelines where Ooishi died like Tatarigoroshi or Minagoroshi I wonder if he would’ve remembered Hinamizawa at all. Much less Rika.

I like the implication that Hanyuu sort of exists regardless of whether or not Rika is alive or if Hinamizawa exists. Since this fragment is set after the Great Hinamizawa Disaster where basically everyone outside of Ooishi died I guess Hanyuu was just sort of wandering around the ghost town of Hinamizawa. Which again makes me wonder about how far Hanyuu can go outside of Hinamizawa. She was able to manipulate events to make it so Rena transferred back to Hinamizawa, but I was under the assumption she was only really able to do that because at the time she still had most of her power. Whereas in the last sections of Minagoroshi she said her power has weakened considerably.

Or is Hanyuu able to go far beyond the confines of Hinamizawa because of the power of belief Akasaka seems to possess in what I assume is Tokyo in the year 198X. Similar to the beliefs that Rena needed to have instilled into her back in 1981 in Ibaraki. Please note that for the remainder of the playthrough, Saikoroshi does not exist.

Also I know it won’t get into it, but I do wonder how that works with Akasaka in the future? Did he just disappear one day when he got spirited back into 1983? Is there an Akasaka running around in the future being the ace super cop? Is that the version of Akasaka who shows up in the post-game TIP in Tsumihoroboshi? Does it matter? Probably not, but it’s a fun mental exercise.

A Fragment of Matsuribayashi

Regardless of what you do that shattered fragment remains shattered. Probably to represent the complete and utter defeat the gaming club experienced at the end of Minagoroshi.

I had to retroactively apply some formatting on a previous statement. Can you tell which one?

I don’t believe I have such poor reading comprehension that I didn’t notice this statement about how either Hanyuu or the entity that exists outside of the fragments, who most definitely is not Rika has been struggling against the fate of June 1983 for hundreds of years. The observer who isn’t Rika may very well have been secretly behind the scenes trying to aid the Rika we know for these past centuries, but if that’s the case why didn’t it let itself be known to Hanyuu? Throughout Minagoroshi and Matsuribayashi Hanyuu mentions that outside of her life in the far past of Onigafuchi she’s been living a lonely isolated existence. Unable to interact, or speak with anyone for a thousand years until Rika’s birth.

Rika then mentions that she’s been living through the fragments/time loops for a hundred years. Which I believe is fair to take at face value. So at some point during one of the Watanagashi 1983s Rika was killed by Takano, and then Hanyuu was able to use her power to restore Rika back to life, sticking her in the loop. Which does raise the question of how Hanyuu was able to do this in the first place. Later in the chapter there’s the implication that in order to transport someone’s consciousness back through time both Hanyuu and the person have to be aware of the others’ existence and agree to the transportation.

It goes against what I literally just said, but looking at the screenshot as it is written, the implication here is that Hanyuu has been bringing Rika back from the dead for at least a hundred years minimum before informing Rika of this. Or she has indeed been colluding with not Rika for just about as long before telling Rika about her endless June.

The other implication, and this one gets summarily ignored for the rest of the chapter, is the idea that Rika has herself been resurrected throughout the hundreds of years. This explanation actually makes more sense given Rika’s despondence about how fate was turning out in Minagoroshi. Her willingness to let her consciousness fade away into oblivion makes more sense if she’s been living the same existences repeatedly for centuries. However, this idea goes largely ignored because Rika mentions multiple times over the remainder of the chapter, and earlier that she’s only been going through this endless June for a hundred years. I feel it’s reasonable to assume this includes the times that she was reborn a year or more before June 1983.

You have no idea how badly I want to tie this in to some statements that are made in Umineko. But for now we’re focusing on chapter eight as it was released.

As an aside, I just want to say that I know this is going to sound dumb, but so much of Higurashi reminds me of Umineko. Please try to act surprised that the spiritual prequel reminds me a lot of the visual novel I read first. But so much of the plot in the eighth chapter here in Higurashi gives me strong Umineko vibes. The two are very interesting contrasts to one another.

Ninety-nine percent of all believers become pessimists right before hitting it big. I don’t think that this gambling metaphor really works, but whatever helps you live your life I guess.

Continuing the oddities from earlier it now seems that everyone can see Hanyuu. Until her appearance goes unremarked upon by some of the other characters at any rate.

It’s a rather fitting description.

What luck that everyone in the gaming club seems to be getting along instantly with Hanyuu eh?

[cutedisneygirl]

Love Online

Chapter 19

Warnings: a little language, a brief fight scene, nothing major and then fluff

Finally, it's July. Merida realizes it's been a year since she and Chris got together. They are face timing each other, Merida is lying in bed.

            "Hey beautiful."

            "Hi."

            "Babe? You, okay?"

            "Yeah, I'm okay."

            "You sure? Looks like something is wrong."

            "No, I'm fine. I'm tired and just miss you."

            "I know I miss you too."

            "I also realized it's been a year since we met."

            Chris smiles. "Yes, I was thinking that today too. I was hoping to be able to see you, but I won't be able to."

            "Oh," she frowns.

"I'm sorry babe. I still have some meetings that I won't be able to get out of I don't think. I promise soon."

            "Okay."

            Then Merida hears a knock on her door.

            "Chris hang on second someone is knocking on my door."

Merida sets the phone down and heads to the door.

            "I have a package for you. Sorry it's late. I took some wrong turns and missed your house."

            "It's okay. Thanks."

Merida takes the package. She heads back to the room.

            "Chris?" she asks picking up her phone.

            "I'm here babe. Who was at your door?"

            "It was the delivery man. I have a package."

            "Oh?"

She looks down at the box and sees the return address.

            "Chris, you sent me something?"

            Chris smiles. "I did. Open it."

            Merida tears into the box after some struggle and then almost cries. "Oh Chris! Wow, this is beautiful! Oh my gosh!"

 "You like it? Really?"

            "Yes, I love it! Thank you."

            "Welcome babe. Since I can't be with you, I wanted to send you something. And I thought about flowers but decided on that because it will last forever."

            "I love it, Chris." She says smiling and crying.

            "I love you babe. Hey why are you crying?"

            "I love you too. Because you make me happy, and you're so amazing."

            "Aww babe. You're the amazing one. I need to go. I will talk to you tomorrow."

            "Okay, goodnight, Chris."

            "Night beautiful. Sweet dreams."

They hang up and Merida lays down and is asleep within minutes. She dreams of what life would be like if she and Chris got married. The next morning Merida wakes up and looks over at her clock. It's almost 8 am. She has not slept in this late in a while. She didn't have to work since it was Saturday. She gets up and heads to the kitchen and gets herself a cup of coffee. She is about to grab a bowl of cereal when Dixie starts barking.

            "Okay girl. I'm sorry. I'll feed you."

Merida grabs the bag of food and pours some in her bowl.

            "Dixie, it's strange I haven't heard from Chris yet. He always texts me good morning. I wonder why he hasn't texted me yet."

Dixie looks up at her then back to her bowl and keeps eating. Merida eats her cereal and then takes her coffee to the couch and grabs her book and curls up and reads while she finishes her coffee. Later she gets a shower and then sits back on the couch with her book. Dixie is curled up at her feet. She is on her last chapter of her book when she hears a knock on her door.

            "I wonder who that could be Dixie. I'm not expecting anyone."

Merida sets her book down on the table in front of her and walks to the door. She opens it to find Chris.

"Chris! Oh my gosh!" Merida exclaims throwing her arms around him.

            "Hey beautiful!"

            "I didn't think you were coming!"

            "I wanted to surprise you."

            "Well, you did! I've missed you so much!" she says wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

            "I missed you too."

Dixie then runs up to Chris and barks.

            "Looks like someone else missed me too."

            "Hey Dixie! How are ya girl?" He says squatting down and petting her.

            "How long are you staying?"

            "A few days. I can't stay long. But I had to see you on our one-year Anniversary."

            "Oh Chris." Merida smiles. "Well excuse the mess. I wasn't expecting anyone so..."

            "It's okay babe." Chris says walking towards the couch. "I will put my stuff in the room. I'll be back."

            Chris leaves the room and Dixie follows him. Merida laughs.

            "Looks like someone missed you a lot."

Chris looks behind him and sees Dixie following him. He laughs. Chris sets his bag on the floor next to the bed and turns towards Dixie.

            "Did you miss me, Dixie?"

Dixie barks. Chris squats down and rubs her. Dixie then rolls over and Chris rubs her belly.

            "You have really spoiled her. She loves you."

Chris looks up at Merida and smiles.

            "I guess I have a way with dogs."

Chris stands up and walks towards Merida who is standing the doorway. He wraps his arms around her.

            "I've missed you so much babe."

            "I've missed you too."

            "I want to go out tonight."

            "Go out? Where?"

            "I want to take you out to eat."

            "Oh, okay. Where?"

            "Not telling you, but I will say, dress nicely."

            Merida smiles. "Somewhere fancy?"

            "Yes."

            "Chris you..."

Chris puts a finger over her lips. "Babe, we are celebrating. It's our one year and I want to make it special."

            "Okay, but I don't know what I will wear. I don't have many fancy dresses."

            "Wear the one you wore to the premiere of Red Sea Diving Resort. I loved that dress."

            "Okay. What time did you want to go?"

            Chris looks at the clock on the side table.

            "It's 12:30 now, 5:30?"

            "Alright."

Merida gets ready to leave the room, but Chris stops her, "Babe?"

            "Yeah," she says turning back around.

            "Before you go, I have something for you."

Chris goes to his bag and pulls out a small, wrapped box.

            Merida opens the box.

Authors note- what is circled are the stones that are in the necklace.            "Oh Chris! It's beautiful!"

            "It's our birth stones."

            "I see that. It's beautiful. Thank you." Merida says wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

            "I'm going to go get ready." Merida says pulling away from Chris and starting to head out the door.

           "Now?"

            "Well, you said you want to leave at 5:30."

            "Yeah, but it's only..." he glances over at the clock. "1:00."

            "I know but it will take me a while to get ready."

            "It will take you 4 ½ hours?" he says raising his eyebrow.

            Merida laughs, "Well no, but..."

Chris grabs her and wraps his around her once again. "Don't leave."

            "Chris."

            "I haven't seen you in months."

            "I'm not going far. I just..."

            "I know, but you have time. I will make sure you have plenty of time to get ready. Please." He frowns.

Merida laughs. "Okay fine. What did you have in mind?" Chris grins. He takes the jewelry box from her and sets in on the bedside table and then wraps his arms around her again. He kisses her then starts kissing down her neck.

            "Chris."

            "What?"

            "Is this really a good idea?"

            "You told me a while back you wanted to, and I told you we would wait."

            "I know but..."

            Chris stops and looks at her. "Babe, I would never force you, you know that. I would never do anything you're not ready for. I just thought..."

            "I do Chris. I do. I want to, but..."

            "You're scared."

            "Yes. What if we can't stop? What if?"

            "Babe, I would never go that far. I promise. I know you want to wait, and I respect that. I only want to make out with you."

Merida smiles. "I would love to I really would but..."

            "Babe, you don't have to be scared. I'm right here I will not hurt you. If I do something, you don't like you can stop me."

            Merida nods her head. Chris takes her hand and leads her towards the bed. He sits down and pulls her towards him. She is standing in front of him, and he has his arms wrapped around her.

            "I love you Mer, so much."

            "I love you too Chris."

Chris leans forward and kisses her. They continue to kiss each other and make out for the next hour. Merida is shocked at how comfortable she is with Chris. She has never let anyone get close to her before. She knows Chris would never hurt her, and he is very patient and gentle with her. If she tells him to stop, he does and doesn't push her. They lay on the bed cuddling afterwards.

            "Thanks Chris." She says with her head on his chest.

            "For what babe?" he asks looking down at her.

            "For being patient with me, and not pushing me farther than I wanted to go."

            "Babe, I would never do that. I love you. I would never force you into anything."

            "I know you wouldn't and that means a lot."

Chris kisses her head. "I love you so much babe. I could just lie here with you forever."

            "I know me too. I've missed this so much."

            "I've missed it too."

            They both get quiet and then Chris looks down at Merida who has fallen asleep on his chest. He smiles. He takes his phone off the table and sets an alarm to wake them both up. He then falls asleep himself. Two hours later Chris's phone goes off. Merida groans. Chris turns off his alarm and looks down at Merida.                    "Babe, you need to get up. It's 4:00."

            "What! You let me sleep that long!"

            "I set an alarm on my phone. You have plenty of time." He kisses her head.

Merida gets up andheads to her room. She doesn't take a shower since she already had one earlierthat morning. She finds the dress Chris asked her wear in her closet. She thenputs on some make up and fixes her hair. She brushes it and leaves it down. She knows Chris likes her hair down. Then she is looking for her shoes when she hears a knock on her door.

            "Babe?"

            "Yes?"

            "Can I come in?"

            "Yes."

Chris walks into the room and sees Merida on the floor in her closet.

            "Babe, what are you doing?"

            "Trying to find my shoes. I can't find them. I know they are here."

            "Want me to help you look?"

Merida turns and sees Chris in his suit.

 "You look hot! I mean handsome."

Chris laughs. He walks closer and squats down on the ground.

            "Where did you last have the shoes?"

            "Here in my closet. I haven't worn them since the premiere."

            "What do they look like?"

            "They are silver."

            Chris helps Merida look for, but they didn't find them.

            "What am going to do? I don't have any other shoes to wear. They are the only ones that go with this dress."

            "How about these?" Chris says holding up a black pair.

            "I don't think they will look right."

            "Sure, they will. We will get you another silver pair."

            "Chris..."

             "Babe, I know what you're going to say. It's okay. I don't mind. Come on put these on and we can go."

            Merida takes the black shoes and slips them on then stands up. "Do they look okay?"

            Chris stands up. "Yes, they look fine. Your beautiful babe. Let's go."

Chris takes her hand, and they walk out of the room.

            "Oh, my necklace! I left it in your room."

Merida heads to the room Chris is staying in and gets the necklace from the box beside the bed. She struggles to get it on. Chris walks in and helps her then goes to his bag and takes out a wrapped box.

            "Before we go. I want to give you this."

            "Another gift. Chris!"

            "Just open it."

Merida opens the box and finds perfume.

Merida smells it. "Wow this smells amazing! Thanks Chris."

            "Welcome babe."

            "I'll be right back. I need to grab my purse."

Merida heads back to her room and grabs her purse and is about to leave but decides to put on some of the perfume. She dabs a little behind her ears and then sets the bottle on her dresser. She finds Chris waiting for her in the living room. Chris helps Merida in then climbs into the driver's side.

            Chris pulls out of the driveway. "Where are we going?"

            "You'll see."

            "You won't tell me?"

             "Nope."

Merida turns and looks out the window. Chris reaches over and grabs her hand. "It's a surprise. You will love it I promise."

            Merida turns and smiles at him. Chris lifts their hands and kisses her hand.

Finally, a few minutes later Chris pulls into a parking lot.

            "Oh my gosh! Chris! Really?"

            "You surprised?"

            "Yes! I've always wanted to come here, but never have."

Grove Park Inn-Asheville, NC

Chris walks around and helps Merida out and takes her hand and they walk in and head to the dinning area. A young man greets them.

            "Do you have a reservation?"

            "Yes, Evans."

The man checks his list.

            "Yes, follow me."

Chris and Merida walk hand in hand to the table outside set for two.

"Your waiter will be right with you, enjoy."

            "Wow, this is beautiful!" Merida says looking out at the view. Chris pulls out her chair for her then takes the seat beside her.

            After their waiter comes and takes their drink orders, they begin looking at the menu.

            "Wow, I have no idea what to get."

            "Get whatever you want babe."

After the waiter returns with their drinks, he takes their food orders then leaves. Merida looks out once again at the amazing breath-taking view of the mountains. Chris reaches across the table and takes her hand.

            "Babe?"

            "Yeah?" She says turning and looking at him.

            "You, okay? Your quiet."

            "Yes, just enjoying this beautiful view."

Chris rubs his thumb along the back of her hand. "I love you Merida, I love you so much."

            "I love you too."

A few minutes later their food arrives, and they eat. After they finish Merida looks at Chris.

            "That was amazing, but I'm full."

            "No dessert?"

            "I can't I'm too full."                                                                                                             

            "We can have that later." He smiles. "Oh, I almost forgot. I have one more present for you."        

            "Chris! You have done so much, you..."

            "I love spoiling my girl." He says reaching into this coat pocket and pulling out a black box. He sets it on the table.

            "Chris, what..."

            "Just open it."                                                                                                                        

Merida opens the box.

"It's beautiful. Thank you."

            "You're welcome."

After the waiter returns Chris pays and stands and holds out his hand. Merida puts the box in her purse then takes his hand and they walk outside and head to the balcony.

            "Want to walk a bit?"

            "Sure."

Chris and Merida walk hand in hand around the grounds.

            "It's beautiful."

            "So are you." Chris stops and reaches up and caressing her cheek.

            "Oh Chris."

Chris leans forward and kisses her. "Man, you smell good. You're wearing the perfume, aren't you?"

            "Yes."

            "Fuck, Mer."

            "What?"

            "This is makes me want you so bad right now. You smell so good." He says then kisses her and kisses beside her ear then her neck.

            "Chris! Stop. Not here!"

Chris reluctantly pulls back then grabs her hand and leads her back to the car. He opens the door for her and then climbs in the driver's side. He turns towards her and caresses her cheek.

           "God, you're so beautiful!" He then leans forward and kisses her. He continues to kiss her and gets more passionate.

            "Chris!"

            "What?"

            "Not here."

            "What? We are in the car."

            "But someone could still see us."

            "Babe, you're killing me."

Chris pulls back. "Fine. Where would you like to go now?"

            "Anywhere. You planned this, so you choose."

            "Well, we haven't had dessert yet. We can get something and take it back to your place."

            "Sounds good."

            "Where is a good place?"

            "Well, there is the cheesecake factory."

            "Now you're talking."

Chris pulls it up on his GPS and it takes a few minutes. When they get there Chris and Merida head inside and they each order a slice and head back to her place.

            Merida opens the door, and they head towards the couch. Merida takes off her shoes as she sits down, and they fall to the ground in front of the couch. Chris takes off his jacket and lays it on the back of the couch. He slips out of his shoes then joins Merida on the couch placing the cheesecakes on the coffee table. He turns towards Merida.

            "Oh, I forgot. I have something for you. I'll be right back."

            Merida heads to her room and grabs the wrapped present from her dresser. She walks back to the living room and sits back on the couch next to Chris and hands him the present.

            "Babe, you didn't have to get me anything."

            "Open it."

Chris tears into the wrapping. "Mer! Holy fucking shit! How did you? This must have cost you a fortune! You.... babe!"

    "You like it?

            "Babe, I love it, but you shouldn't have. I can't imagine how much this cost! How did you even..."

            "I got some help."                                                                                                  

            "How much?"

            "Chris, I'm not telling you that. Don't worry about it. I wanted to do this for you." Merida says reaching up and placing her hands on either side of his face.

            "How did you even know that I..."

            "Scott told me."

            "Scott? Really? Did he help you?"

Merida smiles. "Chris, I'm not telling you."

            "Babe, come on tell me. I know this was lot more than you can afford."

            "Chris."

            "Merida please. I wouldn't ask...but I want to know. How much?"

            "Chris, I can't."

            "Why?"

Merida bites her lip and looks down. Dixie is curled up at the end of the couch.

            "Babe. Look at me."

Merida slowly turns and looks at Chris but keeps biting her lip.

Chris takes a breath. "The fact that you're biting your lip tells me your afraid to tell me. I know it cost a lot. I want to know how much."

            "Chris, come on that's not fair. You spent..."

Chris gives her a look. "I know you're not going to say what I think you are!"

Merida continues to bite her lip and look down.

            "I can afford to spoil my girlfriend! I make more than you!"

Merida stops biting her lip and looks up at Chris with a mean face.

            "You did not just say that!"

            "It's true. I do. I know you don't make that much and you're also going to school. I know you struggle at times. You have refused for me to help you, when I have asked."

            "Because I don't need your help! I have been doing fine on my own! And I will keep doing it! I don't need your money! I save a lot! I wanted to do something special for you, to show you how much you mean to me. You have done so much for me, and I just thought..." Merida pauses holding back her tears.

            "Babe, I appreciate it, but really you shouldn't have. I can't imagine what this cost you, since you won't tell me. You don't have to buy me anything to show you care about me. You're enough."

            "But I wanted to. You have gotten so much for me, and I just thought I would do something for you. How can you ask me that and even say that me! How dare you! I have never once asked you what you spent on me."

            "Now Babe, that's not fair. You know I can afford it. You can't!"

            Merida reaches up and slaps Chris on the cheek then stands up and runs from the room. She heads to her room and slams the door and plops down on the bed and cries. Chris takes a few deep breaths. He looks down at the book in his hands. He begins flipping through the pages. As he is flipping through a piece of paper falls out. He opens it to find a receipt. He sees the amount

$3,000.00

            "Holy fuck! Shit!"

He stands up and places the book down on the coffee table hard. He walks loudly towards her bedroom. He stops at the door.

            "Merida!"

            "Go away Chris! Leave me alone!"

            "I want to talk to you!"

            "I said leave me alone!"

            "Open the door!"

            "No!"

            "Merida! Open the door!"

Merida doesn't answer him. She has never heard him this angry and he never says her name like that. Chris takes a deep breath.

            "Please open the door. I want to talk to you."

            "So, you can yell at me some more? No!"

            "I won't yell at you."

            "Promise?"

            "Just open the door."

Merida leaves the bed and opens the door. Chris sees her eyes are red and blotchy from crying. Merida goes back to the bed and sits. Chris follows her and sits down next to her.

            "I found the receipt. I know how much you spent."

            "What?"

            "It fell out of the book."

Merida glances at him but stays quiet.

            "Babe, I appreciate it I really do. But you shouldn't have spent that much. I know how much you struggle at times and..."                                                                                                    

            "Chris, I wanted to. I have been saving and I told you I had help."

            "By who?"

            "My dad, Tiffany, my boss and Scott."

            "They all helped you?"

            "Yes. I told them what I wanted to get you and they said they would help me. Please don't be mad at me. I..." Merida starts crying.

"Oh babe," Chris says reaching for her and wrapping his arms around her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get mad and yell at you, I just...I'm not use to anyone doing something like this for me. Especially when I know you can't..."                                                                                                                              

            Merida looks at up at him. "Don't say it again. Chris." Merida says placing her hands on his cheeks and looking into his bright blue eyes.

            "I love you; I love you so much. I wanted to do this for you. I promise it's okay. I'm fine. If you want to know the truth, Scott and my dad helped me the most. Please don't be mad at me for this."

Chris sighs. "I love you too babe. I'm sorry." He says placing his hands on top of her and leaning forward and kissing her. "Thank you. I appreciate it I do."

            "You're welcome."

            "Just please, don't ever spend that much on me again. Okay?"

            Merida looks at him but doesn't answer.

            "Babe, promise me."

            "Okay, I promise."

Chris kisses her again.

            "Did we just have our first big fight?" Merida asks.

            "Yeah, we did."

            "I hope we never fight like that again. I hated you being mad at me and yelling at me like that."

            "I didn't like it either, but I hate to say, it probably won't be our last fight."

            "Probably not, but I hope they aren't anything like this one."

            Chris smiles. "I will always love you babe; nothing will change that. No matter how mad I get, I will always love you and I'm not going anywhere." He says caressing her cheek.

            "I do hate we had our first big fight on our anniversary." Merida frowns.           

            "I know. I'm sorry babe. But at least we made up fairly quickly, right?"

            "Yeah."

The next few days go by much too quickly and then it's time for Merida and Chris to say goodbye. Merida kisses Chris goodbye early Monday morning. He leaves just before Merida leaves for work. He promises her he will FaceTime her later that night. The next few months go by. Chris and Merida text and FaceTime each day. Chris stays busy with meetings and conferences. He spends a lot of time in Washington DC. They are not able to see each other again until November. Merida is not sure exactly when she will see Chris again. He has not told her a date. She just hopes it is soon. She misses Chris like crazy. Then one Sunday night Merida has just hung up with Chris and lays down that night and dreams that Chris proses to her.

taglist:

@cevansbaby-dove

@sarahrogersevans

@hollybee8917

@willowsages-blog'

@nescavaneck

@lizette50

@nicoline1998enilocin

@angelbabyyy99

@krissy25

@tess-love

@bookishtheaterlover7

[corishadowfang]

Do you have any notes or extra details about the most recent chapter of Fallen Stars that you’d like to share? (If not, any clues for what’s to come?)

YES LOTS ACTUALLY but the big chunk of that is going to be shared after the next chapter, haha. Basically I like...had A LOT of foreshadowing and setup for the whole "Brain becomes a Darkling, dies, and is resurrected" thing, and I wanted to create a post kind of going over everything that I can remember (there's...a lot, and my memory is sometimes fuzzy, aha, so there might be things I miss). Buuuut some of that stuff ALSO relates to next chapter, so I can't talk about everything yet. (Though if you want a hint...I kind of jokingly nicknamed chapter 8 "Foreshadowing: The Chapter," and some of that is more for stuff next chapter...)

THAT SAID--I CAN still give some little tidbits about some of the behind-the-scenes stuff for this chapter:

Brain's death scene has actually been written for...a couple of months, I think? Which is weird to say, because I wrote it during one of the other climax chapters, so story-wise it hasn't been that long since it was written...

(You know that post where it like...has this picture of a writer crying and then grinning evilly as they inflict a scene on their readers that also made them cry? That's me with this. I've been sitting with this in my head for over a year and with it in a document for a few months, and now I finally get to make it everyone else's problem, haha.)

There are three lines that hit pretty hard when writing them. The first two are from Brain's death: the almost "Love you" and Skuld's "Please don't die" after he's already dead. The third was "What am I supposed to do if it's not my fault?" which is the third time I've written something for this story, felt like something slammed me in the chest, and just had to sit with it and go, "Alright, we're unpacking that later."

For this chapter, I specifically left out end notes/opening notes (beyond the content warnings and summary) because I was trying to make everything feel very...quiet. I wanted to let the impact of the moment kind of sit with people, so I tried to pull myself out of the chapter as much as possible.

I decided to get a little meta with this chapter, haha. So stories are kind of a Big Thing in Fallen Stars--how people become legends, and how those legends affect and control people (including those they were based on), and how Brain's and Skuld's stories have kind of already been written. Except, of course, Skuld changed hers. Brain's death was planned from the beginning, so both in and out of universe he was doomed by the narrative. And then Luxu comes in--who is both the narrator, and a character in the story, and kind of like...a bridge between the two. So when he asks Skuld if she wants to change fate as the narrator, he's basically giving her the ability to affect the narrative like...in general. I kind of wanted to show that through additional "Content Warning" at the end; it changes from "Major Character Death" to "Temporary Character Death" to kind of signify that Skuld is actively taking back control of her own narrative.

Kind of less a note on the chapter itself and more a kind of funny post-canon thing, but I like the idea that eventually Brain and Skuld get to the point where they're able to like...make jokes about the situation, i.e. stuff like:

Skuld, frustrated because Brain stole the last cookie or something: "I'm going to kill you."

Brain: "You did that already."

Onlookers don't know if they're joking or not.

[melrosing]

GOT low-points for Jaime

ok I don’t like complaining about GOT too much cos it gets boring and I am here for the books. but this is kind of fun so

Telling Brienne the one secret he has never told anyone, the biggest secret of his entire story…. and then telling Qyburn shortly afterwards just to have a comeback

Getting essentially murderered by pound shop Euron Greyjoy bc….??? the actors are both Danish??

Hearing Cersei has tried to kill him and going back to her approx. 10 mins later to raise a child w her x

Hanging around Dorne with Bronn in the most Naruto filler episodes of all time

That scene where he and Tyrion are making fun of their disabled cousin crushing beetles by imitating his voice for like a painfully long period of screen time. Yes I know the backstory as to why this ‘joke’ got written but I honestly don’t care, I only saw it once back in whatever year it aired and it was just excruciating

‘I never really cared about the innocent’ - absolutely iconic

Pursuing Brienne cos he heard she’s a virgin (A: obviously B: you literally already knew that), then never saying another word to her onscreen before dumping her in the snow and forgetting she exists x

Hearing Cersei is replicating Aerys’ worst instincts, going 🫤 and then hanging around King’s Landing for another season fucking Cersei and building IKEA furniture for a baby bc what else is he supposed to be doing I guess

Angrily crying over the fact Tyrion murdered Tywin as Tyrion explains in the background ‘you remember how he abused me and tried to kill me too right’

Planning atrocities till Brienne physically appears to say ‘hey remember your entire story arc? aren’t we supposed to be making more complex decisions now?’ Then jaime looking briefly inspired before explaining to Edmure he’ll kill his baby because he likes to fuck his own sister so don’t push it

Getting fired from the Kingsguard and then never thinking about it again

Killing his cousin for no real reason in season 2, then forgetting how he even did it when citing his list of sins to Brienne in season 8

Telling Joffrey there’s still time for him to fill the White Book with his deeds in season 4, then shoving it off the table to fuck his sister later in the same season

Brienne completing his entry in the same book desperately trying to frame a single act of Jaime’s as having had a point

[tip-top-cloud-surfer]

The Forgotten Nest (Part 8) - Rooster

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw / Mitchell!OC (Cora)

Word Count: 4.7k

This work, all my works, and my entire blog are 18+ Only

Warnings: Past Unplanned Teenage Pregnancy; Angst; Absent Parental Figures; The 'He Didn't Know About the Pregnancy' Trope; Repeating Trauma Cycles; Crying; The Uranium Facility Mission; Named Mitchell Daughter OC (Cora) and Named Mitchell-Bradshaw Son (Nickie)

Summary: The uranium facility mission commences.

A.N. There are references to a previous unplanned teenage pregnancy (between two eighteen-year-olds) in this fic. There won't be any flashback scenes to the pregnancy, but the references are still there, so if that makes you uncomfortable, please do not read.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Epilogue

Master List

Cora stood at the window of her home. It was barely light and she was still dressed in her pajamas. Wrapping her arms around herself, she stepped out onto the front deck of her home, and closed the door behind her. Stepping further out onto the deck, she stared in the direction of the Naval Air Base, trying to hold herself together.

She hadn’t slept last night. Not after her talk with Nickie and her discussion with her dad. Glancing down at her fingers, she tried to rub the blue ink out of her finger pads. The ink was still wet when she handed that photo to Maverick for the transfer. He shot her a look that she didn’t have the stomach to return and pulled her into a tight hug before he was gone.

Letting out a shaky breath, Cora turned back to the Naval Air Base to see an F/A-18 take off. And then another. And then another. Slowly sinking onto the front steps of her home, Cora watched them fly off before slowly lowering her head down into her hands as tears streamed down her cheeks.

~~~~~

Bradley rifled through his small bag, moving to grab his sleep clothes. Omaha was already in his bunk behind him, but Bradley’s mind was racing too fast for him to fall asleep quite yet. The mission was set for tomorrow and they were simply getting into position tonight.

Reaching for his toothbrush, Rooster paused and frowned when he felt his hand brush against a thick piece of paper. Pulling it out of his pack, Rooster paused when he realized that it was a photo. A photo of him and Cora at their senior prom.

How did that get into his bag?

Flipping it over, Rooster’s eyes quickly landed on the blue ink on the back of the photo. It was slightly smudged and the letters were written in haste, but it was clearly Cora’s handwriting. He knew it all of these years later.

Nickie told me about your meeting. Come home safely and we can talk.

Rooster flipped the photo over again, remembering that night vividly. He and Cora spent the whole night together, never wanting to leave each other’s sides, and caught up in the kind of love that only teenagers seemed to experience.

And bile rose in his throat when Rooster did the math in his head.

Cora was probably already pregnant in these photos. And it might just be the closest that they would ever get to having a photo of all three of them.

~~~~~

Maverick stared out at the assembled aviators in front of him with his hands folded calmly behind his back. This was the moment. He knew that someone wasn’t coming back from this mission and now he had to pick the pour souls who would be on the chopping block, all of which had families and friends back home waiting for their return.

The foxtrot teams were a simple choice. Speed and accuracy and ability to react quickly were his main criteria for that. Picking the single flier was the difficult choice. The one that would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. However long that might be.

Hangman was the answer on paper—he flew the fastest and the most aggressively, which was what the mission called for. But no one trusted him to cover their backs. Coyote was out. The G-LOC incident grounded him. And between Fritz and Rooster, Rooster had the better stats and repertoire with the foxtrot teams. So, the answer was there. He just had to make it.

“Rooster,” Maverick called after Cyclone’s prompting.

The initial shock that Rooster wore on his face was clear as day, though he quickly shoved it behind the mask that all of them were wearing during the briefing. The mask that all aviators forced themselves to put on before every mission.

Rooster and Maverick locked eyes for a moment, a silent conversation passing between them. The more sheepish, guilt-stricken side of Rooster stood out more than Maverick had seen since the incident seventeen years ago. And from what Nickie said, Maverick knew that it was genuine. He just wished that it happened sooner.

Then Nickie and Rooster could have actually talked and learned about each other. Rooster could have made it up to Cora and that stress could have been off of her shoulders years ago. And then they could have been just like any ordinary family of three.

But things were never simple in the Mitchell family. Nor were they easy in the Bradshaw family.

Maverick nodded to the gathered aviators before making his way to the locker room, leaving Rooster standing there, a bit lost.

~~~~~

Rooster stepped out onto the flight deck, gripping his helmet loosely and clearly lost in his thoughts. He wasn’t expecting to be chosen. Not after everything that he and Maverick had put each other through over the years, and especially in the last few days. Not after he coasted his way through the training runs, never quite pushing it like Hangman did.

He didn’t think that he was good enough for this mission. And yet here he was.

Picking his head up for a moment, Rooster paused when he found Hangman standing on the deck in front of him, a serious expression on his face. Gone was the arrogant edge that made Rooster want to knock his teeth out ever since he met him. No, for once, Hangman actually looked like a team player. Like someone who cared if everyone came home.

“You give ‘em hell,” Hangman yelled over the roar of the engines, before making his way to his plane.

Rooster barely even acknowledged Hangman as he walked away, too caught up in his emotions. Nickie wanted to see him. Cora wanted to see him. Maverick chose him out of the line up of the best aviators in the country. Hangman was actually believed in him.

Rooster was so lost that it was a miracle he didn’t fall off the side of the ship.

Righting himself, Rooster turned and walked over to the plane adjacent to his own. Maverick was running through the pre-flight checks on his own aircraft when Rooster approached him, a bit more frantically than he intended.

“Sir? Sir?” Rooster called, causing Maverick to turn around to face him. “I . . . I just want to say—”

The orders over the comms cut off Rooster’s apology and automatically snapped both aviators into action. Maverick, seeing the shakiness to Rooster’s expression, took charge.

“We’ll talk. When we get back,” Maverick assured Rooster, who nodded curtly in return.

Maverick watched Rooster turn around and head for his own plane. Letting out a breath, Maverick looked to the ground, shaking his head before moving around to climb into his plane. Maverick didn’t want to lie to Rooster. But he wanted to protect him even more.

And, so, he lied.  

~~~~~

Nickie sat out on his surfboard, staring out into the Pacific Ocean with a far-off expression in his eye. The waves passed harmlessly under him, tickling his calves, but not pushing him hard enough to snap him out of his daze. Maverick was somewhere out in the Pacific in that direction. Bradley was somewhere out in the Pacific in that direction.

And Nickie hated waiting. He hated not knowing.

“Hey, Mitchell!” one of the other surf team boys called, breaking Nickie out of his trance. “Let’s go!”

“Right,” Nickie breathed out, blinking rapidly.

Turning to shoot one last look in the direction of the Pacific, Nickie paddled forward to catch a wave, ignoring how his stomach was knotted uncomfortably with stress.

~~~~~

Maverick signaled to the deck crew that he was prepared for launch before grabbing the handle. Forcing himself to take a breath, Maverick closed his eyes for a moment, picturing Nickie and Cora back home, safe and sound and taken care of, before he opened his eyes, completely focused on the mission directly in front of him.

“Watch over ‘em, Ice,” he murmured, before his plane was launched into the air.

~~~~~

Cora stood on the sand with Penny, watching Nickie surf with the other surf team kids. The two women had barely talked since Cora arrived, both caught up in their own thoughts. Cora wrapped her arms around herself, watching Nickie surf through the waves, though not as well as he normally did. He was distracted, she could tell, and the realization made her heart ache.

“He’s doing well,” Penny commented, causing Cora to nod slowly.

“But he’s not in it,” Cora stated softly, turning to face Penny. She gestured to the open ocean in front of them. “His head’s out there.”

“Can’t blame the kid,” Penny replied, just as Nickie wiped out.

Cora held her breath until Nickie resurfaced, completely unharmed, but just a little sheepish. Settling back down, Cora pursed her lips together and stared out at the setting sun in the distance. Penny reached out and wrapped an arm around her, giving Cora some support.

They didn’t need to discuss it. They both saw the look in Maverick’s eyes when he said goodbye.

“I think I’m going to take Amelia on a sailing trip,” Penny suggested, causing Cora to nod in return. “Did you and Nickie want to come?”

“No, thank you though,” Cora replied softly, turning back to her son. “I’m worried that Nickie would go tumbling off the side at this rate.”

“You know that I’m always here for the two of you.”

“I know, Penny. Thank you.”

Cora turned back to the waves of the distant ocean, unable to help the tears building in her eyes. Silently letting them drip down her cheeks, Cora let Penny pull her into a tight hug as the two women tried to hold themselves together for the sake of their children. And, frankly, for themselves.

~~~~~

“Dagger Two defending!” Rooster called out, spotting the SAMs behind him. Slamming his fist into the flares button, Rooster cursed when none popped out. “Shit! I’m out of flares!”

“Rooster, evade, evade!” Maverick yelled back, quickly turning around to help.

“I can’t shake them! They’re on me! They’re on me!” Rooster warned, going through evasive maneuvers.

Maverick didn’t hesitate. He just moved.

A thousand thoughts were flying through his head as he sped towards Rooster. Goose’s face. Carole’s face. Cora’s face. Nickie’s face. Oh, God, Nickie. Racing to protect his best friend’s son and his grandson’s father that he barely knew, Maverick hurried to get into position.

Rooster had to live. He had to live. He had to make it right with Cora. He had to make it right with Nickie. He had to live. He had to survive.

The sensors in front of Rooster started to beep aggressively, warning him that the SAMs were getting closer. Maverick yanked back on the joy stick, using the cobra maneuver to fly up above Rooster. Slamming his fist onto his flare button, Maverick released the flares behind Rooster, protecting him from one of the SAMs.

But Maverick’s own sensors started to blare as the second SAM flew forward.

“Mav!” Rooster screamed out in a panic.

Maverick grunted as the SAM hit him directly in the back of his aircraft. His plane broke apart and he started hurtling towards the ground in a great ball of fire. Sensors beeped all around Maverick as he released the joy stick, submitting to his fate.

And just before it all went back Maverick swore that he heard Nickie’s voice calling out to him.

~~~~~

“Penny said that she’s taking Amelia on a sailing trip,” Cora told Nickie softly as they packed up his gear to head back home. “Did you want to go?”

“No,” Nickie replied quietly, shaking his head. “I think that I just want to stay home.”

“We’ll do whatever you want to do, okay?” Cora assured Nickie, forcing a small smile.

“Do you think we could get those burgers at the diner that Gramps likes?” Nickie asked as he opened the passenger door.

“I thought that you hated those burgers,” Cora replied quietly, staring over at her son. “You always said that they were too greasy.”

“I know, but . . . Gramps always like them,” Nickie returned softly.

Trying to not let her lips wobble, Cora forced a smile and grabbed Nickie’s hand, giving it a small squeeze. Turning on the car, she faced forward to try and get control over her emotions.

“We’ll get some burgers then. For your Gramps.”

~~~~~

Maverick sprinted through the thick snow, powered by sheer determination. Every few steps he took, Maverick did a quick calculation about how much farther Rooster was and about how long it would take to get to him. His first aid training ran through his brain too.

Was Rooster hurt? Did he land safely? Did he eject safely? Maverick didn’t have the answer.

Spotting Rooster upright and kneeling in the snow, shoving down his parachute, Maverick felt new energy course through his veins. Rooster was alive. And he wasn’t hurt too bad based on the way that he was kneeling. He was alright. He was going to survive his ejection.

“You alright!?” Maverick yelled, hopping over a snow bank.

“Yeah, I’m good. You alright?” Rooster called back, right before Maverick pushed him straight into a pile of snow. “Jesus! What the hell!?”

Rooster yanked his helmet off and shoved it into the snow. Maverick slipped his off as well before turning to give Rooster the scolding of a lifetime.

“What are you doing here!?”

“What am I doing here!?” Rooster squawked back indignantly as he stood up.

“You think I took that missile for you so you could be down here with me!? You should be back on the carrier by now!”

“I saved your life!” Rooster snapped back.

“I saved your life! That’s the whole point.” Shaking his head incredulously, Maverick turned back to Rooster. “What the hell were you even thinking!?”

“You told me not to think!”

Maverick didn’t have a response for that, simply breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. Rooster nodded sarcastically, throwing his arms up in the air, before slamming them back at his sides. Both Maverick and Rooster breathed heavily, looking around the forest for any hostiles, before turning back to each other.

“You were supposed to go back to Cora and Nickie,” Maverick sighed, staggering a bit. Squatting in the snow, Maverick looked up at Rooster, who stared back evenly at him. “You were supposed to go back and make it right.”

“I am going to,” Rooster vowed, straightening up. He looked around the forest again before returning his gaze to Maverick. “But it wasn’t going to work without you.”

Maverick let out a breath, dropped his head down onto his hand. Rubbing his face as he tried to catch his breath properly after sprinting a couple miles at his age, Maverick picked his head up to find Rooster already offering him a hand. Taking it, Maverick accepted Rooster’s help up and dusted some of the snow off of his flight suit.  

“She’s going to kill us when she finds out,” Maverick stated, glancing around the forest.

“If she finds out,” Rooster suggested, causing Maverick to nod in agreement.  

“Well, it’s good to see you,” Maverick replied with a small smile.

“It’s good to see you too,” Rooster returned, setting his hands on his hips. “So, what’s the plan?”

~~~~~

Cora looked up from her computer when one of the nurses at her office rushed into the room that she was charting in. Immediately assuming that something was wrong with one of the patients, Cora leapt to her feet, ready for action.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“You have to come see. Room 22.”

Cora quickly rushed down the hall, overtaking the junior nurse. Opening the door to the patient room, Cora stepped inside, expecting to see a swarm of doctors and nurses, but all she saw was her dad, dressed in his flight suit, waiting for her on the patient bed.

And in that moment, Cora wasn’t thirty-four. She was a little kid all over again.

Letting out a choked sob, Cora raced across the room and threw herself into her dad’s waiting arms, completely unaware that her coworkers were filming the whole thing. And she was even less aware that there was another surprise guest waiting for her in the corner. Unable to help the tears of relief, Cora let her dad rock her back and forth.

“I’m alright,” Maverick chuckled, hugging his daughter to his chest. “Just a few bumps and bruises.”

“I know that you’re hiding injuries from me, but I don’t even care right now,” Cora sobbed, unwilling to let go of her dad. “You’re home. You’re home.”

“We’re home.”

Releasing her dad, Cora wiped some of her tears away and turned to see Rooster standing in the corner, also dressed in his flight suit. It took her a second, a painful second where Rooster wondered if she was even happy to see him, before Cora took off again. Running into his arms, Cora buried her face into Rooster’s shoulder, and Rooster quickly returned the hug.

Wrapping her arms around him tightly, Cora breathed in Rooster’s cologne, soothing herself just a bit more. They were home. They were safe. They were alive. There wouldn’t be a funeral. There wouldn’t be a burial. They were here.

“You came back,” Cora whispered shakily, causing Rooster to hug her tighter.

“I wasn’t going to leave you guys. Not again.”

Cora nodded against him, letting out a shaky breath. Maverick smiled at Cora and Rooster’s embrace as he stood up. Cora and Rooster broke away, both turning to Maverick.

“So, how’re we going to surprise Nickie?” Maverick asked, wearing that iconic mischievous smirk.

~~~~~

Nickie walked up to the side door and unlocked it, heading inside after taking the bus home from school. He locked the door behind him and went about his usual after-school routine as if it was a normal day. Dropping his backpack onto one of the chairs, Nickie turned for the fridge to grab a snack. He opened the fridge door and frowned when he found a note waiting for him with his mom’s handwriting.

“Turn around?” he read aloud, confused, before doing as the note said.

Nickie had a split second to register who was standing behind him before sprinting the last few steps over to his grandfather. Maverick laughed as Nickie had to bend a little to give him a hug and rubbed his back as Nickie quickly sobbed into his shoulder. Cora held a hand to her mouth, happy tears coming to her eyes as Nickie reunited with his grandfather.  

“You’re alive,” Nickie croaked out, hugging his grandfather just a little tighter.

“Well, apparently, I refuse to die,” Maverick returned, causing Nickie to laugh a bit shakily.

“Does Mom know that you’re here?”

“Yeah, she’s right there.”

Nickie looked up from his grandfather’s shoulder to see his mom standing there with tears in her eyes. Cora waved to Nickie before he looked beyond her and spotted another figure standing there. Rooster stayed back, knowing that Nickie didn’t exactly view him as a dad but more of some kind of random stranger that bumped into his life unexpectedly.

But after Nickie gave his mom a quick hug in greeting, Nickie turned to face Rooster on his own. Rooster stood a bit nervously as Nickie stopped a few paces away from him. He wasn’t sure what Nickie’s reaction was going to be to his presence. But after what seemed like a century passed, Nickie reached forward and gave Rooster a hug.

Rooster froze for a moment before hugging Nickie back even stronger, far too emotional to do anything else. It was the first time that he held his son. His kid. And his son willingly hugged him. Rooster couldn’t help but let a few tears out during the moment. And Nickie, for his part, didn’t seem to want to let Rooster go either.

Amelia was right, Nickie realized with some apprehension. He really would have beat himself up for the rest of his life if he didn’t talk to Rooster before he left on the mission. Not that it mattered now, because Rooster was here. And based on the way that Rooster was hugging him back, Nickie had a feeling that Rooster was around to stay.

Cora shared a smile with Maverick as they watched Nickie and Rooster embrace for the first time ever. Maverick squeezed his daughter’s shoulder as she dried her eyes again.

~~~~~

There was a cook out on the beach with the whole Dagger crew in a post-mission celebration. Penny pulled out a grill from somewhere in the Hard Deck and Maverick was nominated to do the grilling for the whole team, which he didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

The rest of the Dagger Squad and their guests were spread out over the patch of sand, talking and chatting with each other and simply enjoying the San Diego sun. Cora stood to the side of the volleyball court a short walk from the grill, smiling to herself while she watched Nickie and Rooster work together to try and beat Harvard and Yale.

“Ms. Mitchell?” a voice called from her left, causing Cora to turn.

“Admiral Simpson,” she returned, straightening up subconsciously as Cyclone stood beside her.

“It has come to my attention that your son, Nickie, wants to become an aviator,” Cyclone began, causing Cora to pause for a moment.

“Yes, I believe that he does,” she replied quietly, fiddling with her necklace.

“Well, if he’s anything like his family members before him, he will one day make it to Top Gun.”

“That is his dream,” Cora echoed softly.

“Can you do me one favor, Ms. Mitchell?” Cyclone asked her after a moment.

“Sure,” Cora responded, turning to face Cyclone fully.

“Please inform me the second that your son gets his wings. So that I can immediately put in my retirement notice,” Cyclone emphasized, causing Cora to bite her cheek to not burst out laughing. She simply nodded instead, trying to hold it in. “Thank you.”

When Cyclone walked off, Cora let out a quiet laugh to herself. Shaking her head, she turned back to watch the volleyball game. But it seemed that between being Maverick’s daughter and the mother of Rooster’s secret love child, she was a popular person around the Dagger Squad.

“You must be the lovely Cora that we’ve heard so much about,” Hangman drawled, walking over to her.

“And you must be Hangman,” she returned, gazing at him curiously.

She didn’t get much of the details about the mission—considering it was top secret and all that—but the way that Maverick talked about Hangman led her to believe that something happened on the mission that fixed Maverick’s and even Rooster’s perspective on him.

But that grin that Hangman only told her one thing—he was trouble. Luckily, Cora was a Mitchell. She was natural at being trouble. It was in her genes.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he stated, offering her a hand to shake.

“Likewise,” she returned, shaking his hand politely.

“You know, I have to say that you are far more beautiful than anyone described you as,” Hangman flirted, causing Cora to cock an eyebrow.

“How badly do you want Rooster to lose this game?” she asked, tilting her chin up a bit.

“About twenty bucks worth. Forty, actually,” Hangman replied, waving over to Coyote and Phoenix.

Phoenix shook her head in disbelief, probably waiting for Cora to knee Hangman in the balls, while Coyote seemed to be struggling to contain his laughter. Remaining poised, Cora turned back to Hangman as he continued with his explanation.

“That is, if Rooster comes and tries to rip my head off,” Hangman replied with a wink, causing Cora to smirk to herself.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about Rooster.”

“Your dad’s all the way—ow!”

The volleyball smacked right into the back of Hangman’s head, causing him to whirl around, rubbing his head. Nickie, who was originally wearing a look of death, immediately put on an innocent smile when Cora and Hangman turned to him and waved sarcastically.

Nickie, after all, was a mama’s boy. A mama’s boy who knew that men liked to lurk around his mom.

“Sorry!” Nickie called over.

“It slipped because of the sunscreen!” Rooster covered for Nickie, holding a thumbs up.

“Sure, it did,” Cora replied, shaking her head. Turning back to Hangman, she offered a smile. “I think that means that you only get twenty.”

“Great shot, Nickie!” Penny praised, clapping loudly for him.

“Any chance that you’d like a drink?” Hangman asked, trying to make just a little more money.

Up until Rooster hit the volleyball, which had rolled back to him after hitting Hangman in the head, into Hangman’s back, causing Hangman to roll his eyes. Rooster waved innocently, not unlike his son did moments before, as Cora shot him a look.

“Sunscreen again!”

~~~~~

Eventually, the teams broke for food. Cora sat on the beach chair that she brought along, chatting with Bob and Phoenix, when Rooster slowly approached her. Phoenix nudged Bob in the side and they both made lame excuses before heading off, leaving Cora and Rooster alone.

“Is this seat taken?” Rooster asked, gesturing to the seat next to her.

“It looks like it’s about to be,” Cora replied, nodding towards it.

Rooster sat down and the two of them shared a small smile for a moment. It was still a little awkward between them, and there was no way really around that, but it was getting better. It was getting more and more like old times. Bradley was reminding Cora more of the Bradley she knew before Carole died, and that in of itself made her so happy.

“They asked us if we had a preference for where we wanted to be stationed,” Rooster began, causing Cora to sober up a bit.

“And?”

“I talked to Cyclone about it. He couldn’t guarantee North Island, but he said that he would make sure that I was in California,” Rooster explained, causing Cora to smile and nod. “And I know that you have work and Nickie has school, but we could drive out to where we grew up and show Nickie all of that and . . . my parents and that sort of stuff.”

“I think that Nickie would really like that,” Cora agreed, smiling softly.

“And you? Would you like that?” Rooster asked quietly.

“I’d love that,” Cora stated, causing Rooster to grin.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I would,” Cora repeated, smiling over at Rooster, who beamed right back at her.

Maverick watched Rooster and Cora chat over by themselves, relived that the two of them were talking and seemed to be getting along again. Penny nudged him with her arm, causing Maverick to turn to her. She pointed over at the volleyball court, where Nickie was holding up the ball.

“Hey, Gramps! One more game?” Nickie asked, grinning mischievously.

“Easy game!” Fanboy heckled, causing Maverick to laugh and slowly get to his feet.

“Alright, one more game, Nickie,” Maverick replied, jogging over to his grandson. “But we can’t go easy on them, okay?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Nickie agreed, smirking that iconic Mitchell smirk.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Epilogue

A.N. So, that's it! The main part anyways! Epilogue is inbound, and should be posted soon! Thank you to everyone who read this series and especially those who reblogged and commented on all of the different chapters! I hope that you enjoyed it!

Tags: @xoxabs88xox @eternallyvenus @mygyn @kmc1989 @thegoddessc @midnightmagpiemama @badasspizzalover @praline357 @oatmealisweird @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby @abaker74 @avengersfan25 @yogabigooby @daisydaisygoose @sgt-barnesveins @angelbabyange @percysaidnever @artemissunn @indiestrashfire @kidd3ath @luv4kani @lt-spork @brooke-stinson

If I forgot you in the tags, don’t be afraid to ask again because I’m definitely scatterbrained when it comes to that but please have a reference to your age somewhere on your blog (bio, pinned post) or just message me because you will not be tagged otherwise.

[amailboxlemur]

Three years ago today I watched Young Royals for the first time.

Story time/long post incoming. I wasn’t in a great headspace at the time, but let me try to set the scene.

Spring of 2021 was still pretty deep in the pandemic. My province had been on lockdown (number 3) since the beginning of April and I hated working from home. Partly because teaching online piano lessons sucks. But also I live alone, and lockdown is too much alone time no matter how introverted you are. I think that spring I went about 6 weeks without speaking to someone in person who wasn’t like a grocery store cashier.

I decided to go stay with my parents for a few weeks so I could get some human interaction. At the time, I was mooching off my former roommate’s Netflix that was still signed in to our living room TV, so I didn’t have Netflix access.

I also love Red White and Royal Blue, and all of a sudden in early July the fandom got flooded. There were gifs of two unfamiliar teenage boys all over my dash. Fanart of two boys who looked like Alex and Henry captioned “Wilhelm and Simon”. There were a bunch of crossover fics popping up on AO3. I was curious, but mostly I just wanted to get a feel for the characters so I could read said crossover fics.

July 12th was my first day back teaching in person. (Side note: the health precautions we had in place for those lessons were WILD). I came back from my parents place in the morning, taught in the late afternoon/evening and returned home around 8 pm. I made supper and figured I’d try watching an episode of this “Young Royals” thing. I started it and remember groaning when I realized it was in Swedish so I’d have to focus and read subtitles instead of watching mindlessly (I’m too pretentious to watch the dubbed version, but it had been a long day)

“Oh that’s a beautiful boy with a beautiful voice singing… I can keep going…”

“Ohhh they’re about to kiss… wait what? How does episode 1 just end there??? I have to watch another episode!”

“Yay they finally kissed!! But how will Wilhelm react?? It’s not even 11 yet, I think I can watch one more”

“Erik is dead. I knew this was coming because I saw the “beta read but Erik’s still dead” tag on AO3 but totally forgot! How will this affect my boys?? One more episode, just to see if wilhelm pushes Simon away again”

“Ok good, they’re together. August sucks though, I can see where this is going and why there seem to be so many comparisons to rwrb. But it’s past midnight so I’ll have to keep watching tomorrow… wait there’s only two more episodes?? Might as well finish”

Before I knew it, it was 2 am and I was crying on my living room couch. I NEVER get into new shows, I have tons of things I watched 1-3 episodes of and then quit, so I couldn’t believe I binged the entire thing. It was late so I went to sleep.

In the morning I woke up and the rabbit hole began. I read all the fics on AO3, I started following young royals stuff on tumblr. I googled the actor who played Simon and found out he’s an actual Swedish pop star? I think he was among the first artists I followed using my then brand new Spotify account. I followed both Omar and Edvin on instagram, along with Lisa (other actors followed later). I watched all the young royals promo videos on YouTube, including the Hillerska choir performance. That entire summer was spent diving down Omar’s back catalog of Foo vlogs. Some of them are in Swedish, but I remember watching them intensely, as if I would magically understand if I tried hard enough. I started learning Swedish on duolingo.

When season 2 was released, I fully quit all social media for WEEKS to avoid spoilers. I spent 3 days carefully messing up my sleep schedule so I could wake up and watch it at 3 am. When season 3 was released I was such an excited puppy dog that I didn’t sleep at all. I watched it at 3 am and spent the whole rest of the day amped up and on tumblr.

I remember all kinds of fun and significant days in the fandom: Rockbjörnen 2021, musikhjälpan 2021. The lead up and release of Mi Casa Su Casa. The release of OMR. Omar gave me a birthday present in 2022 when he performed “breathe” on Nyhetsmorgon on my birthday. Gay gala 2022 but especially 2023. Both boys have done incredible sommarpratar. So many other galas and performances and photoshoots I’d be here all day listing them all out.

Becoming an Omar fangirl was also surprising. I don’t listen to or follow pop music (my definition of which is incredibly broad so yes, Omar’s music qualifies). Like, I’ve never had a favourite artist before? One who’s work I actively follow and whose releases I know about in advance and look forward to?

Omar announced his concert at Cirkus in November of 2023 and it fell at the end of a semester break from work. I could go without needing to refund or makeup any missed lessons. It felt like a sign. That week was genuinely one of the best in my life, words can’t even describe it. A transatlantic flight, a week in Europe. I got to see Kaggeholm. I met Omar at Lyko. I stood in general admission 3 rows back from the stage and heard Omar sing live and sang along with other fans. It was surreal. Shout out to @yrblogbaby @the-words-we-sung @crownedwille and @omarsimp, wow you’re all amazing. There was a queer joy to hanging out with y’all that weekend that I don’t get too often irl.

Since then, I’ve tried to internalize a little bit more the idea of community in fandom. I’m still not super out there, but I try to interact more. I lurked in this fandom (and so many others) for years. I made this account in something like 2011 and until recently I probably had less than 50 posts.

So yeah… saying this show changed my life feels dramatic but also accurate. Hopefully here’s to more years to come, and more good memories when I head to New York this fall!