#stupid ass kid crying about his parents divorce. i feel like nothing

[seithr]

no 1 i regularly chat with is on tumblr so im shouting at the wall here where im Not As Seen But Feel Someone Can Hear so I'm not talking to myself in a depression hole manner tjat is mildly even more depressing than screaming in a corner. Sorry im not sure what this is

[yourmomsgranddad]

— 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃

— CHAPTER FIVE: You'll change your name, or change your mind and leave this fucked up place behind but I'll know, I'll know

— SUMMARY: The last day of summer and the trouble that followed it.

— WARNINGS: part of it told through reader's pov (sorry this is the last time i'm doing this promise), might be the longest chapter so far, sexual themes, no actual smut, the title has a curse word in it?

"And you're sure you want to know?"

"Positive."

You were now sitting in Kate's room, she figured you should be in private for this story.

"Alright. It started on the morning of our last day."

I had woken up early because I wanted to get a start on the day. We had so many things to do and not a lot of time to do it.

I went downstairs and my mom was not having the best time, considering my dad was on his way out. I went up to her to see what was going on but she brushed me off, going back to her drink.

I was worried about her but not enough to stop her. So I moved on.

I went over to your house, we went to the arcade, and completed the end of the list. The day was great. Everything was going to plan and we were so ecstatic about school.

But then I went home.

I was just going to grab my jumper so we could ride bikes. But when I returned home, everything was everywhere. All of the drawers in the kitchen were pulled out, all of my mom's clothes were on the floor and she was sitting in the middle of the floor, crying.

She told me my dad filed for divorce. He didn't want to be with her anymore and he blamed it on me. Said it was because he saw me and you kissing that night.

She got so mad at me. She said she wasn't ashamed but she didn't like the way my dad was looking at me different. I didn't notice, they were good at hiding it.

She kept pretending like she didn't blame me but I could tell, I was a kid but I wasn't stupid.

Then she dropped the bomb on me.

In less than 2 hours, a moving truck was going to come to my house and pull me away from you. She didn't care. She wanted so desperately for us to be apart. I mean, we broke up her marriage.

It was only fair.

And you remember what happened after that.

You came over, looking for me, my eyes were geysers. And my mom shoved me into the car before I could give you a true goodbye.

"All of that happened? How come I never noticed?" She was stunned, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"We were kids. And I didn't want to pull you into it. Just because my parents blamed you doesn't mean I did. I love you, Kate. And nothing my parents say could ever change that. My dad was gross anyway."

She wanted to laugh at your joke but you dropped a big ass bomb on her, she had to process it, little by little.

And you definitely looked like you didn't want to laugh. You had been carrying this with you forever, by yourself. Before she could stop herself, she reached forward and wrapped you in a tight, warming hug.

You wanted to cry but you just felt numb. It happened so long ago, you couldn't cry now. You already let it all out that day.

"I am so sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. You didn't cause it."

You meant that. Sure, your dad claimed he didn't want the two of you making out, it grossed him out. But you didn't care. He was out of your life and that's where he was going to stay.

You wanted so bad to go home, bury yourself in your own blanket, and be completely mad at your mother for a reason she didn't remember.

But Kate insisted you stay. She didn't want you to be by myself at this time. And she was right.

Having Kate by your side did kind of help all the bad things you were feeling inside. You kind of went back to that moment, trapped in that car with your mom who didn't care that you had tears running down your face. But Kate sat there, made sure you stayed in the present.

She was very good at that.

You decided to stay quiet for the night, no television, just listening to each other's heartbeats. That's happened before.

It was like you did jump back into the past but you two were so close and in your own world, you couldn't be hurt by any of the outside that was trying to hit you.

You could be like this forever.

Your little bubble bursted in the morning when Kate woke up and you were no longer there. She was about to be sad about it when she realized, you're an adult. You didn't need to tell Kate where you were going.

But luckily you did.

Hey, thanks for the comfort last night. I really needed it. You're the bestest friend any girl could ever ask for. Sorry for the abrupt leaving, had to get to work. Thanks again. P.S, this is Y/n by the way.

Something about that note burned in Kate's insides. She liked that you left a note but she somehow didn't like the contents.

Bestest friend? Why was she so broken up about these words? I mean you were best friends, then why did it hurt? There was a twinge in her brain, like a migraine was already forming.

Great.

And that's not the last she heard of those words today.

Later on in the day, she was trying to enjoy her lunch when all the sudden, a grating voice had to come out of nowhere.

Wow, best friends? That's what she thinks of you. It's like she could never see you in a romantic sense. That must burn, dude. That. Must. Burn.

She wished she could stop her brain from going there but here she was, in the middle of lunch, looking like a crazy person who was talking to herself.

Things could not get worse.

Oh, but they can.

She went to pick you up from work, like she normally did and she did not expect to see what she saw.

She found you at the receptionist's desk, giggling and all over closet guy. Her stomach curdled at the sight and she almost wanted to barf. Nope, she definitely wanted to. But she had to keep it in.

That would be the second most embarrassing thing to happen to her in this office.

She was about to escape, tell you she wasn't going to be able to make it today but sadly, you saw her and her plan was thwarted.

"Kate! There you are! I want you to meet someone." You grabbed her hand, pulling her over to where you were currently standing. "This is my boyfriend, Zack."

She didn't think she could find a pair of words she hated more than best friend. Turns out she could.

Boyfriend.

Gross.

She wants to bring it up, more than anything. She has so many questions on her mind. How did you meet? What made you want to date? Was it serious? I mean it had to be if you were introducing him to her.

Luckily, you brought it up first.

"So you've been extra quiet since we got here. What's going on? Do you feel weird about Zack? I shouldn't have introduced him to you this early. I don't think it's that serious yet."

There's one question answered.

"It's just I didn't know you guys were on the dating stage. I thought it was just a meaningless hook-up, you know, the way it looked."

"It looked meaningless?"

She noticed the look on your face, down and confused, kind of disappointed. She wanted to take it back immediately. "No! I didn't mean it like that."

"But that's what you said."

"No! I-"

"I think I should go."

You slipped off of her bed and were gone quicker than she could stop you. She felt like this was all her fault.

It was, Bishop. Her brain could not stay out of this conversation, no matter how hard she tried to turn it off.

It was a few days after the fact and Kate still felt like shit. She didn't want to ruin your relationship, she wanted you to be happy. Even if that wasn't with her.

But for some reason, she couldn't get in touch with you. She texted, no answer. She called, no answer. She showed up at the office, you had just left.

You were basically avoiding her.

And she had just realized.

So she stopped bothering you, maybe it was for the best.

However, that didn't last long.

Kate was chilling, working out in her sort-of living room when she heard a banging on the door. She was stressed, she went to grab her bow, what if it was a bad guy? Wait, why would he knock?

"Kate, open up! It's me!"

She dropped it so quickly, sprinting to the door. You didn't even give her a greeting before bursting in. "So what's going o-"

"I broke up with him."

Well, that came out of nowhere, Kate thought.

And now her brain was chiming in. Wow, breaking up your best friend with her boyfriend? That's a new low.

"Why?" She tried to shut the voice out as much as possible, not give it the satisfaction of bothering her. "Turns out I was plummeting into a relationship that I didn't care about. I didn't even know his name."

"But-"

You shook your head very slowly, giving her the hint. "Ohhh."

"Yeah, wasn't the best girlfriend."

A sudden silence fell upon the two of you until Kate just bursted into laughter. "How long were you calling him Zack until he corrected you?"

"A long time!"

You joined her in her laughter. "I feel bad! He was so patient."

It wasn't long before you both retired to Kate's bed, stuffing your face with gummy worms and watching Game of Thrones. "I still don't understand this show." Kate mentioned, squinting as if she couldn't see.

"Isn't that Ellie from the Last of Us?"

"Yes I think it is."

You snorted, going to pause it. "Why do we watch this show? We don't understand what's going on." You wondered. "Because, Y/n, this is the show of our friendship."

"And it's the show that was playing when we made out."

"How do you do that?" Kate shouted out of nowhere, causing you to look at her with a crazy smile. "Do what, Katie?"

"Go into my brain and find out what I'm thinking about."

"Two reasons. One, I'm your best friend, it's my job. And secondly, it's a core memory. When you have your first kiss, you remember everything about the moment forever. What you were wearing, what the other person was wearing, what was playing, how it felt, and what you did afterwards. Also who you told. But I had no one since you were my best friend."

She was taken aback for a second, she didn't think you thought about it as much as she did. I mean she did remember the comment you made about it being the best kiss you ever had but she didn't think you knew all that.

"And do you know all that stuff?" She was cautious, moving into uncharted territory but as prepared as possible.

"We were both wearing pajamas, Game of Thrones, and we went to sleep afterward." You shrugged it off, as if it wasn't sending Kate for a whirlwind.

"You forgot something."

"What's that, Kate?"

"How did it feel?"

She hadn't finally realized how close you were, your breath were basically fans on her cheeks. Which she definitely needed since she was burning up. And your eyes were going down, toward her lips.

Oh. She finally understood.

"Well I wouldn't know. It happened so long ago. Maybe we should recreate-" She didn't even let you finish before her mouth was on yours, pushing you down into her bed.

Kate knew what she was doing. She knew you two were kissing but it took a few seconds for her brain to catch up.

Kate, what is wrong with you?! What are you doing?

All of that yelling made her break off, sitting back up and going back to relish in the awkwardness.

"Sorry." She muttered.

You sat up and looked at her, but not with the look she was expecting. You had a smirk on your face. Huh?

"Kate, you don't have anything to apologize for."

You slowly started leaning and all of Kate's thoughts were going all at once. But one thing she did know for sure, she definitely wanted to kiss you again.

It felt like forever but you finally let your lips touch hers. It was the softest thing ever, you were very delicate. It was almost like you didn't want to break her.

But before you knew it, the kiss got rougher, most passionate. You found yourself on top of her.

Things happened so fast, Kate couldn't grasp them.

Clothes went flying, blankets started moving, and Kate knew for sure her neighbors hated her.

As soon as it ended, you knew what happened.

"Woah," was the first thing Kate said as you both laid back down, calming down.

"Yeah." You replied, completely unsure what was going on.

"Did we-"

"Yup."

Nice one, Kate. Nice one.

[beepinout]

ENCANTO HEADCANONS Part 3

-You know those mall Santa's that have kids say "I wish my parents don't get a divorce" or "i wish my sister doesn't die of cancer" or "i wish I dont die of cancer" or "I wish that someone dead in my life comes back to life"...yeah Bruno has to deal with that time to time and he feels TERRIBLE every time

-(in her own way) Julieta used to be a bad ass, she used to refuse to give people her food if they hurt her family or her

Someone: Julieta I need help

Julieta: Oh ok... wait, I remember you, you cheated on Pepa the other day!

Someone: So?! It's your job to help me, would you just do your fucking work already

Julieta:...Oh right, of course of course, let me make you something fresh right now(never returns)

- Abuela had to set her straight after complaints

- Dolores had the most embarrassing gift ceremony (I mean I know what happened to Mirabel but that was more sad than embarrassing)

- Her gift ceremony started as normal, then she got her gift and she could not stop crying, the party had to end early

- When Dolores first got her gift she just stayed in her room all the time, Felix and Pepa had to gradually let Dolores out of her room for a curtain amout of time

Felix: Come on Dolores, can you come out for five minutes, we'll count

Dolores:...

Pepa: We'll stay with you the entire time mi amor

Dolores:*Dashes out of her room and hugs her parents and doesn't let go for the exact 5 muinute*

- Every gift door picture was taken the day after the ceremony except Dolores whose was taken a few week after because she needed time to adjust

- When people heard that Pepa was pregnant they got sooooooo much weather equipment, the umbrella bissnes was booming

- Bruno as an uncle is like a more concerned and anxious grunkle stan

Camilo: Hey tio Bruno, can you help us with this potentially dangerous thing?

Bruno: I dont know, your mom would be upset and you know how she-Just kidding lets go!

-(he will try to end whatever there doing early if it gets serious)

- Isabela is very clumsy and is extremely embarrassed about it

- People pay Dolores not to tell others about something they did, she wasn't going to tell but she'll gladly take there money

- Dolores is very close to Bruno, before, during, and after he lived in the walls.Before she'd go to him about her gift since like him it was unwanted and she hated it, during she would beg Bruno to come back, mostly when she 12 but would occasionally ask him to come back when she was older too, also for 10 years she had amazing telanovelas, after she would just go to him to talk about things she heard through out the town because he can keep a secret and she would also help him with telanovelas

- When Bruno did his telanovelas in the wall Dolores would write reviews for them on paper and stick them on the inside of the walls

- Abuela was a menace when she was young, and that why her kids are too

- Abuela's mom was strict with her so Abuela vowed to not be that strict when she had kids and said all the ways she would be beter then her mom (unfortunately she didn't account for having to leave her home with nothing but the clothes on her back, watching her husband die, having to take care of a village and her 3 kids all at the age of like 20...so that backfired)

- Bruno had 1 girlfriend his whole life in his early teens and guess who it was.....FISH LADY, they where in puppy love city and everyone in a 10 mile radius was annoyed by them, she broke up with him the day her fish died

Young fish lady infront of a crowd of people holding a fish tank of water: YOU CURSED THEM ON PURPOSE DIDN'T YOU!

Young Bruno: All I said was those types of fish don't last long

Young fish lady: You didn't need to say anything, everyone knows whatever you speak out of your STUPID MOUTH ends up being true no matter what

Young Bruno: IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU CAN'T TAKE CARE OF ANYTHING

Young fish lady:*Dumps the entire fish tank on Bruno's head* THATS IT! WE ARE DONE MADRIGAL!

- To this day Bruno still cringes at that moment

[bestkindofbeehive]

Smile for Me Week, Day 1: Secret

happy smile for me week!!! for my first trick, have a fic I wrote after thinking about my dad too hard. it ends well and it was pretty cathartic for me, but it does get a bit emotionally intense re: feelings about having to stay closeted in front of your parents for years, so fair warning. but it does end well I promise!!! I’ll probably post this on ao3 soon too, so look out for that!

-----

Never in a million years would Parsley have ever expected that being stuck in the same slapdash “mental health” retreat as his dad would end in anything other than frustration. And, to be fair, that was how things went for a while. But then that weird florist handed him one of his dad’s terrible dishes, and before he knew it he was getting drunk off his ass and actually talking to his dad for the first time in... years, probably. Somehow it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. The Kahlúa and birthday cake flavored vodka probably helped.

And then he’d been woken up in the middle of the night and suddenly urged out of the giant front gates with very little reason why— something something carbon monoxide poisoning. Not that Parsley really needed convincing to get the hell out of there at that point. Even a constant flow of free alcohol probably wouldn’t have kept him there for much longer. Those last PSAs were getting pretty creepy and, well, incredibly specific and aggressive towards one particular person. He had hoped that chicken te- flower vendor made it out alright, but he saw them a few days later in town. So things couldn’t have ended too badly.

The most astonishing thing, though, was the fact that he and his dad actually kept talking once they got out of that place. And he somehow didn’t wind up wanting to tear his hair out by the end of every conversation, even. Of course his dad frustrated him plenty of times, but it never got bad bad like it used to. Things between them were... good. Not good good, but just. Good.

So good, in fact, that Parsley manages to somehow metaphorically vomit up the words necessary to tell his dad he wasn’t attracted to women. He wasn’t even drunk— tipsy, certainly, but he was painfully in control of all his faculties that night.

It went... well. He knows the night ended on good terms, and he knows his dad didn’t get angry. He’s pretty sure his dad told him he loved him at some point, which is a good sign. It only happened a few weeks ago. He isn’t really ready to think about it very hard in any capacity. He’s scared that he’ll go looking for some specific sign, or a phrase, or a look— something that definitively tells him that his dad doesn’t look at him and wish he had another son— and come up empty.

Parsley takes what he can get, until what he can get isn’t enough anymore.

The tension finally breaks one evening; almost six months to the day they both left the Habitat. They were watching the end of some melodrama that was airing right before the hilariously disorganized cooking show they both enjoyed. And the stupid thing is that Parsley can’t even remember what his dad said that set him off so bad— but, god, his dad would know just the right string of words to tick him off enough to say something. It was something about keeping secrets. Something about how he didn’t understand why some people keep harmless stuff so close to their chest for no reason. Which is rich coming from him, the man who has to bluster his way through every emotional conversation he’s ever had. Parsley would be seeing red if his eyes weren’t already that color.

“See, I mean, like with your whole, uh, situation— Not that I’m tryin’ to rag on you or anything, sprig, but I just don’t see why you didn’t just go on and tell me! I wouldn't've been mad at you or nothin’,” Jimothan says, gladly shoving his entire foot in his mouth for the sake of scolding Parsley, just like old times.

Parsley, to his credit, doesn’t immediately blow up. “You didn’t exactly make it the easiest thing to do,” he says, his voice clipped and his jaw tense. His dad makes a bewildered noise next to him; a noise that wouldn’t be out of place in a sitcom.

“Now what’s that supposed to mean? I always told you that you could talk to me about anything, didn’t I?” Jimothan asks. The look of genuine confusion on his face almost makes Parsley want to drop it and just keep watching tv, but the fuse has already been lit.

“Sure, if you forget about all the times you showed me that definitely wasn’t true,” Parsley scoffs, pretending to focus on the tv again. The melodrama is still going. The character on screen is crying big, unrealistic tears. Parsley can’t make out what they’re crying about over the blood starting to rush through his ears. Every neural pathway in his brain left over from his teens is yelling at him to just let dad think that he’s right so the lecture that hasn’t even started will stop.

“What’re you— Parsley, what the heck are you talkin’ about? I’ve never— When have I ever said somethin’ that would make you think I wouldn’t—”

Something in his dad’s tone immediately sets Parsley’s blood to a boil. He sounds like he doesn’t understand; like he doesn’t even know where this is even coming from. He has no idea. Fuck, would it hurt less if his dad tried to justify himself instead? If he sounded angry instead of confused? Because this means that he just doesn’t know. Decades of hiding and bullshit and being afraid and he just didn’t know.

“Are you KIDDING ME?” Parsley fires back, eyes wide open and blood red. Jimothan almost jumps, having not been witness to his son’s temper in a while. “When HAVEN’T you said something that would make me think you wouldn’t approve? I wouldn’t— I couldn’t go a day without you making some comment about how I needed to get a girlfriend, or- or- how you couldn’t wait to have grandkids, or some other stupid thing about me “finally” getting a wife someday—” Parsley rants, his voice stuttering with the anger flying around in his chest.

Jimothan at least has the decency to look a bit stunned. “But— Oh c’mon Parsley, that was just me tryin’ to give you a little push! I thought you were havin’ a tough time talking to girls, so I figured I would just give you some pointers—”

“No! That’s just it! You just had to build up and build up this— this idea of what I was supposed to do! Every time you just had to make a comment like that it was another bullet on the fist— LIST of all the things I wasn’t doing right,” Parsley flusters. At some point in his rant his hands find their way to his head, and he tries to run his fingers through his hair to calm himself down, but they keep catching on tangles. “A-And you wanna act like I shouldn’t have been scared to tell you, but you—!”

“Scared?” His dad’s expression breaks a little, which just makes this awful situation all the more difficult. Shit. Shit shit shit, this wasn’t how this was supposed to happen. It shouldn’t even be happening, but the fire in Parsley’s chest isn’t dying down and he can’t keep his traitor mouth shut.

“Sprig, you didn’t have any reason to be scared, it woulda been fi—” Jimothan tries to start.

“Ugh, you’re not LISTENING!” Parsley feels like he’s seconds away from tearing his hair out. God, he sounds like such a teenager. “It wasn’t that easy! Of course I was scared! How the hell could I have explained— I just—!!” 

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU I WASN’T THE SON YOU WANTED?!” Parsley finally screams.

The room gets quiet frighteningly fast. His dad just stares at him, his face slack with a cocktail of confusion, surprise, and what Parsley wants to hope is sadness.

Suddenly, all the anger and half-hearted bravado flies out of Parsley’s chest. His arms fall to his sides, and he’s left panting with the exertion of having just spilled out a flood of emotions that have been building since he was in elementary school. He doesn’t feel relieved. He just feels tired.

And then he starts crying. Which is just... great. As if this night needed some extra turmoil to really polish things off. Like most times, he can’t even stop himself; he was never good about not wearing his heart on his sleeve. Not his anger, not his disappointment, and definitely not his heartache. It’s not even a “dignified cry”, as his dad would put it— he’s hiding his face in his hands, and he can’t stop his shoulders from shaking every time he tries to suck in a stuttery breath.

He probably looks pretty pathetic right now, Parsley thinks. And in a few moments he’ll hear his dad get up and walk out of his apartment while mumbling something about seeing him later. And then in about a week’s time, Parsley will answer the phone, hear his dad’s voice, and both of them will never speak of this night ever again.

But something different happens.

Instead, he feels his dad’s sturdy hands take him by the shoulders and pull him into a firm hug. It’s an awkward thing; Parsley’s hands were still covering his face, so now they’re kind of pinned to his chest, and his dad is squeezing him just slightly too hard. They’re both out of practice, really.

Before Parsley can manage a “whuh” in response, he hears more than sees his dad take in a big, faltering breath while his shoulders start to shake. Parsley has only seen his dad cry a handful of times in his life. Most of them happened around the time the divorce was finalized. But after that... Nothing.

Jimothan makes a wounded noise of a sob. “Y-You’re— God, sprig, I would never...” he starts, but can’t find the words to finish. Parsley manages to find it in himself to forgive his dad for that pretty easily. He’s never been the most eloquent when it comes to emotional outbursts. Parsley manages to wriggle his arms free, and wraps them around his dad. The older man lets out a little sniffle in response, and then starts to run his hand down his son’s messy head of hair. It only catches a few times.

“You’re all I got, Parsley,” his dad mumbles through the thickness in his voice. “You’re all I got.”

Parsley lets himself cry just a little bit more, his chest finally starting to feel lighter than it has in years. The two of them exist like that for a while— clumsily hugging and crying and mumbling little fragments of things they’ve both been meaning to say. At some point they’ll have to break apart, and at some point the night will have to end. They’ll part ways with slightly stilted goodbyes, and very likely won’t speak of this night for at least a few months. But for now, they both let themselves have this moment. 

And it’s not much, but it’s enough.

[navalcriminalimagines]

Being Gibbs’s wife and fighting with their daughter/son

Having a call from your kid’s school in the middle of the day is never a good sign. You answered, worried that something was wrong. Indeed, your 12 years old got in a fight at school and he got kicked out for 5 days.

You picked him up, the director of the school nor the teacher had no idea what the fight was about, Liam is refusing to talk. Instead of going to your house, you stopped by the Navy Yard and parked in front of the NCIS building. You turned off the engin and took a look at your son.

“Care to explain?” You asked.

“I fought, it won’t happen again, end of the story. You don’t need to tell dad,”

“Hell yeah I’m going to tell him. Your father and I have no secrets for each other. And he’s going to give you much hard time than me,”

“Once I tell him the truth, no he won’t,” Smart ass. Liam definitely got this from his father.

“Why would you tell him and not me?”

“Because it’s better you don’t know!”

“Liam Jethro Gibbs, don’t raise your voice on me! You got in fight at school, and by the way, your classmate has a split lip and a black eye, you are telling why.”

“That asshole isn’t my classmate,”

“Liam, watch your month!”

“I’m only talking to dad,”

“Good, cause here he is,” you pointed at your husband who was walking straight to the car. You got out but Liam stayed inside. When Jethro got close to you, you sighed defeated. He briefly pecked your lips.

“Do you know what happened?”

“Only talking to dad,” you sighed again, “I’m gonna get some coffee,” you kissed him again and left your two men together.

Jethro got inside the car, and took a look at his son to see if he had any bruises or cuts, but nothing. “I’m listening, Liam,”

Your son didn’t want to look at his father. He didn’t want to see whatever he would see in his eyes. Liam has always been a great kid, loving, caring, and funny. He is the not the kind of child to fight, for no reasons. “I’m sorry, dad,” he whispered.

“That’s a start, but you are getting grounded anyway. You better explained. This is not a stupid mistake, LJ. You started a fight, that’s not how your mum and I raised you,”

Instead of talking, Liam took his phone, unlocked it and gave it to his father. But Jethro looked at him, puzzled. “You know I don’t know how to use those things,”

Liam sighed, and opened his text messages. The ones from his classmate he had a fight with. “You may need your glasses,” he said to his dad. Jethro grabbed one pair of his glasses you always keep in the gloves compartment. Cause he always forgets them.

Then he started to read.

“Ur mum is hot, Gibbs. Can I get her number? 🔥”

“Taking your father to daycare?”

“No wonder you’re a single child, your father probably can’t get it up anymore”

“Ur mother must be so frustrated, poor thing”

“Shit, that dress she had today🍑🍆”

There was so many more of them, but Jethro got sick. How teenagers can talk like that? Some people definitely don’t do the parents job. But they are kids, can he be mad at them? Ever since he met you, the age difference has always been a concerned somewhere in his head, even more when you got pregnant. That’s the kind of stuff he’s been worried about.

You got home without knowing what was the fight about and it was passing you off.

“For once, can one of you Gibbs boys actually talk?!” You exclaimed, with your hands on your hips, waiting for explanations. Your husband told Liam to go upstairs. Gibbs made you sit on the couch.

“Jethro, I’m panicking here. Tell me,”

He handed your son’s phone, “We will have to get him a new number,”

“Why? Is someone bullying him?”

He let you go through the phone. You knew your way with technology and you found way more stuff than what Liam showed to his father.

The rest of the night was pretty silent. After dinner, you knocked at your son’s door and found him laying on the bed. You sat next to him. “Why didn’t you say anything when it started, baby?”

“Because it’s embarrassing mum,” he said, his voice muffled by his pillow.

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about! The stuff you received isn’t not on you—“

“I’m not talking about what the others send me,”

“W-what?”

“I love you and dad so much, but yeah it’s embarrassing when people think you’re my sister and dad is our father. Or sometimes, my grandfather.”

“Your father and I only have 16 years difference, come on, it’s clear I’m not his daughter,”

“Trust me, that’s what people think,”

Neither you and Liam noticed that Jethro was standing at the door frame. “And didn’t we teach you not to care about what people think?” Your husband said. “Because if we did, your mum and I wouldn’t be together. And you wouldn’t be here,”

Right now, you were very thankful for your husband to handle this conversation. Having your child telling you he’s embarrassed by his parents is tough, you wanted to cry right here on the spot.

“We are both here for you, we love you more than you can imagine and your mother and I love each other like it’s the first day. I’m not sure your classmates can all say the same things about their family,”

“Most of them have divorced parents,” Liam admitted. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said to the two of you but mostly you. Liam was smart and an observer, he noticed the tears in your eyes a few moments ago.

“You may have 5 days out of school, but you’re definitely not going to stay at home. There’s a lot to do at NCIS,”

Jethro smiled at you and took your hand. Liam buried his face under his pillows, “dad come on!” He complained.

There was a lot of things to talk about that night, but Jethro brought up something you didn’t expect, “What does a peach and an eggplant mean on the text?”

You couldn’t help but laugh. And immediately the two of you heard “DAD!!!” coming from Liam’s room. He heard it.

TAGS : @kittenlittle24 @diaryofafan17 @littlemiss3ma @sleepylunarwolf

I’m not a big fan of my work here...and that feeling sucks. 🙃

[puppypeter]

Bringing you all a sad ass fic rec this fine Thursday... prepare the tissues!!🥺These are all Peter-centric (some could be in an irondad list too tbh), but the focus is Pete going through some shit cause apparently I like reading about my fave suffering 😞 Please please remeber to READ THE TAGS/TW!!! (There’s quite a few Skip fics). 

PS: do not link any of these fics to the actors or anyone associated with them. Fics are from the fans for the fans, and they should stay within the fandom!

I’d say happy reading! but....

Countdown | Teen & Up | 26741 words

When May gets a new boyfriend, Peter is glad for her. But nothing can ever go that well for Peter. At first Peter thinks maybe he just doesn't like him. But then it gets worse. And Peter just wants May to be happy, at any cost.

or

The classic 'May's boyfriend abuses Peter' trope.

Will you let me, lead you even when your blind? | General Audiences | 3526 words

It all started as a normal day, a normal patrol. It was simple. It was something he had done at least a million times. Stupid bad guys.

Or

Peter goes blind after a problem on petrol and the chaos that follows.

what is stronger than the human heart which shatters over and over and still lives | Mature | 6977 words

Whumptober Day Sixteen - Pinned Down

Nothing matters. He can’t breathe, can’t sleep, can’t eat. He’s an empty shell of broken fragments, whatever’s left of himself.

He’s nothing.

Vacant eyes and a blank expression, pliant limbs and empty words.

He’s gone.

All because of Thomas.

All the pretty pictures in my head are faded | Teen & Up | 1770 words

Whumptober Day Seven - Isolation

Everything was lost in the fire.

Peter’s suit, all of Peter’s belongings, everything of May’s, everything that used to belong to Ben.

May.

Peter lost everything that day.

Your heart will lead you home | Teen & Up | 4591 words

Whumptober Day Fourteen - Tear-Stained

He hates fighting with Tony. He hates the disappointment on his face. He hates the sadness and the pain, hates the way he called this his home and not the cabin. Hates how he left without saying goodbye. Hates the lack of closure. Hates himself more than he normally does.

He hates the insecurities that crawl through his head like vines, entangling him in the thoughts of alienation. Of Unbelonging. Hates the anxiety like acid, like a rope around his neck cutting off his breathing. Hates the desperation to call Tony, to ask him to come back, to ask him to wrap in a hug and take care of him and the thoughts in his head, to convince his head that it’s wrong.

Everything. He hates everything.

But he doesn’t bother trying to fix it. He simply pulls the blanket over his head and wishes the world away.

hold on, i still need you | Teen & Up | 1797 words

He looked about as messy as he felt. A mess of probably greasy hair from having gone one too many days without a shower, strands of hair in every direction. Pimples on a pale face like mountains on a landscape. Picked at scabs leaving marks of dried blood. Dark circles beneath his eyes like someone has stepped all over him, leaving behind dark shoeprints and sunken skin. An emptiness behind dark eyes like an abyss hiding too much underneath for someone so young.

Post-Endgame and Peter's struggling to deal. Morgan can't lose her older brother.

Hitting Every Red Light | Not Rated | 12776 words

Happy Hogan does a lot of annoying stuff for Tony Stark, including driving an annoying spider kid places. But when Peter stops talking so much, Happy starts to think maybe he enjoyed the talkative kid’s company after all. Or A whump story about Peter crying a lot after being punished by Nick Fury for messing up on a mission. Peter feels lots of guilt for messing up, and he fears his favorite mentor will be disappointed. Luckily Happy is there to help.

You wouldn’t understand | Teen & Up | 2926 words > Read the tags!

‘Come on Einstein, it’ll be fun!’ Peter hears echoing through his head as he stares at the familiar face in front of him.

The pale blue eyes that are looking back at him make Peter feel nauseous. He feels his body moving, all but stumbling backwards towards the exit. His vision goes blurry, and all he can hear is the pounding of his own heart thudding in his ears.

Appearances can be deceiving | Not Rated | 3269 words > Read the tags!

Alternate ending to 'You wouldn't understand'.

Peter's doing what he does best - saving people - when one of the people who needs saving is his childhood rapist.

If reality were a nightmare | Not Rated | 4334 words > Read the tags!

When people say sleep paralysis is one of the worst things a person can experience - they aren’t lying.

Peter Parker is no stranger to sleep paralysis.

Except this time, for Peter, it isn’t a dream. This isn’t something he’s going to wake up from in a cold sweat trying to catch his breath.

Repeating the past | Not Rated | 5584 words > Read the tags!

“Why me?” Peter asked, pulling back to look at Tony with red rimmed eyes. “Why do bad things always happen to me?”

Tony pulled Peter tighter against him, never wanting to let go. “I wish I knew, Pete.” Tony admitted. “You don’t deserve this.”

Green Turning Purple | General Audiences | 6239 words

Peter knows he can't fight back with his powers. So he doesn't. He lets whatever he's "earned" come at him. This time is a fucking bat.

Suit of Armor | Mature | 18230 words > Read the tags!

Peter Parker finally had a friend...

...but Skip Wescott was no such thing.

OR:

Peter deals with being a survivor post Skip Wescott. (Based on the PSA comic released by Marvel)

When You Hand By A Thread of Sanity | Not Rated | 87355 words > Read the tags!

Peter Parker has a good life. He has an Aunt that loves him more than anything and now a father-figure, Tony Stark, who would do anything to protect him. Despite losing his parents and his Uncle at such a young age, Peter’s life is good. But will all that change when a teacher at Peter’s school decides to take advantage of him in the worst way.

The New Normal | General Audiences | 24854 words

Life has a tendency to throw curveballs, and this one that's thrown at Peter Parker is one that he and his family never, ever expected.

Some curveballs are temporary, ones that are thrown to make life "interesting" and keep people on their toes.

But some are permanent...and the only thing left to do is adjust, regroup, and move on.

Move on with the new normal.

Don’t Leave Me Now | Teen & Up | 26524 words

Peter wakes up to white noise, static, a weight in his head that makes him feel like he'll never stand up straight again. His whole body is a wreck and every breath he takes is full of nails and pain. He can barely move.

Tony's face is the first thing to come into focus. If the blurry outline of him can be called focus.

"Tell me before May gets in here," Tony says, gravely serious. He rests his hand gently on Peter's shoulder. "I'm giving you that chance. What's going on?"

Peter knows he can't hide it anymore. He wants to sigh, but it hurts too much. Everything hurts too much. It shouldn't hurt this much.

"I think I'm losing my powers."

The Third Option | Mature | 220962 words

Homecoming A/U.

Ben and May divorced before Peter’s parents died, so when Ben is murdered Peter goes into foster care. It takes just a tiny taste of superpowers for Peter to decide he doesn’t want to put up with his horrible foster father anymore—the streets are infinitely more appealing. All he wants is to be Spider-Man anyway.

So he leaves.

Simple.

Simple, that is, until Iron Man needs Spider-Man’s help. Peter isn’t about to turn down an opportunity to fight alongside Tony Freaking Stark, but he also isn’t going to let his hero know that his recruit is a fifteen-year-old homeless dropout. So they strike a deal. Peter will help Tony. In return, the mask stays on.

And that’s when things get complicated.

Always Silent, Peter Darling | Mature | 116135 words

After a traumatic experience at age 6, Peter Parker hasn't spoken a word. Most blame it on the fact that he witnessed his Uncle die in a horrible fire, this is only partly true. Now, almost 10 years later Peter is given the chance to finally speak, but will he take it? Or is the fear of his Aunt to much for him to take that chance?

Either way, Tony Stark can tell something's not quite right about the kind hearted May Parker.

Downfall | Mature | 5307 words

Peter is being abused. Tony finds out in the worst way possible.

...more will be added! Feel free to inbox me any suggestions!

[moreotpsplz]

Nicknames my mom has given me

Idiot

Stupid

Bitch

Bitching

Resting Bitch Face

Lazy-ass

Puts me down by comparing me to my brother; “Oh, at least someone’s using manners.” wink, wink, nudge nudge

“You have no social skills! Learn to communicate! Talk to me!”

“I don’t like one-worded answers!”

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” Yes.” DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” Yes, Mom.” DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!”

She kept repeating that, over and over again. I responded with yes, yes mom, okay mom, I understand. I obviously didn’t give her the response that she wanted and she kept yelling, only louder. Even after she stopped, I never understood what she wanted. She never explained it to me. While she was yelling at me, I was crying loudly but still trying to give her the right answer. A few hours later, she came to my room and apologized saying that she only said that because she loved me and that I should never doubt that she loves me.

Whenever I would vent to my dad or my aunt, they would say that she was only doing it because she loves me and that she’s trying to express her love for me.

Years later, I finally found out after she was yelling at my brother, that the understanding thing was supposed to be responded with “yes, I understand.” And then to summarize what she said and what we understood.

I feel like for me, it’s mostly verbal and psychological abuse while with my brother, it’s physical abuse and emotional abuse. I often hear her slapping him and throwing things at him. She yells at him when his handwriting is incomprehensible and when he is having trouble with homework and therefore hasn’t finished it yet. She also yells at him when he does something wrong as throwing the gutsy in the recycling bin instead of the trashcan.

With me, it’s mostly yelling at me about my grades. Over the years, I have mastered the neutral-to-hostile look, apparently. My face normally doesn’t show emotion around her. As a narcissist, my mom gets angry when she yells at me and I don’t show emotion outwardly. Apparently, my face is called the Resting Bitch Face. I have been told by my dad once that I was being bitchy because I wasn’t thanking my mom for the dinner. My mom, under her breath, has called me a bitch when I did something that she didn’t know I was doing and didn’t ask permission even though she probably would've said yes otherwise. She has called me an idiot or stupid even though I have really good grades. My ‘lack’ of social interaction is troubling to her apparently. Whenever i don’t talk to her or act a little ‘disrespectful’ to her, she rhetorically asks me if that was how i talk to my friends (who I CHOOSE to hang out with and actually understand me) and that she was family and that family is the first one that you should act nicely to. As siblings, me and my brother often fight. Sometimes, he is being an idiot and I'm telling him that he needs to do something or it won’t work. I may raise my voice or tone a little bit and she hears it. She yells at me that i am his sister, so i need to act as the reassuring big sister and that she is the parent and that she is the only one that is allowed to talk to him like that. As the big sister, I’m supposed to guide him but I can't tell him what to do. Even though she never contributes to family events and she is already a terrible mother to both of us. As the big sister, I’m not allowed to ‘act like a parent’ but I'm also supposed to cook food for him, clean his room, do the dishes, clean the house, clean his room, help him with his homework, etc. My mother does literally nothing and locks herself in her room all day. She sleeps in all day and wakes up at night for a midnight snack. Dad is the only one who raises us. She reads her books on her phone all day. I’m supposed to be the parent who does all the stuff while Dad Is away but also the big sister that is supposed to support my little brother. My brother is four years younger than me. My mom can’t, my dad can’t, and I can’t control him. He steals candy from the top of the fridge and makes messes. He puts the gutsy in the wrong dispenser. He can’t help it. How am I supposed to stop him from doing those things while resisting the urge to raise my voice a little (In an authoritative tone)? I have no authority over him. I can tell him to do something and he will bluntly say no. Only my parents can tell him to do something and he’ll do it. If he disagrees with me, he will yell and scream and throw a tantrum. When my mother hears it, she blames me. When he does something wrong or something happens to him, I take the blame because I’m the big sister who’s supposed to watch over him 24/7. From the abuse, my brother is polite and insightful, I am ‘emotionless’ and distant and a bitch, apparently. I dread the months when my dad is away and I’m left with my mother. I lock myself in my room or in the basement to hide from her. She has this ‘out of sight, out of mind’ sort of brain, so if I stay away from her most of the time I can avoid any arguments. In the past, like with the understanding situation, she has ‘apologized’ and tried to tie up loose ends. Now, she doesn’t even approach us. She yells at us and makes us cry and makes us angry and she doesn’t take responsibility or apologize. The next day or a few hours later, she doesn’t even mention it and goes on with her day as if she didn’t just make her children cry. She would open our doors saying that dinner is ready and expect us to forget the event. I have had thoughts where I wanted her to die. I wanted her gone. I would imagine divorce papers or a magical disappearance. I can distinguish my family members by the sound of their footsteps and I have learned to hide when I hear hers. She has this ability to immediately ruin the mood whenever she walks into the room. I feel self-conscious when she’s in the room, thinking that she is judging me. I used to cry and get so angry when she would laugh or talk brightly with other people just after she ruined my day. She would always ask me to brighten up and that my face looked like my dog just died. I hate it when neighbors or people that just met my mom say that she is an amazing person. That admire her ability to order us around with just a word. They look at our obedience compared to other kids that just started cleaning the dishes every week. One guy that just met my mom told me that I was lucky to have a mom like that. I hate it. She’s able to completely change her attitude and demeanor around anyone outside the household. My dad, aunt, grandma, and brother all know her true self. A lot of arguments would start because my dad was informed of something or he wanted us to do something. My brother might whine a little bit or something. My mother, who would be sitting on the sofa in the living room on her phone, would immediately butt into the conversation and start yelling at one of us. Even if she didn’t know the whole story or she didn’t know what we did, she would yell at us. My dad would stand at the side and my aunt would probably enter the kitchen wondering what all the yelling was about. Both of them would just stand there and maybe take a sip of their coffee. After we would go to our respective rooms, my aunt would try to soothe us by saying that my mom loves us no matter what. I remember thinking that it would be better if she hated me. If I knew that she hated me, I could hate her too. If I wasn’t told constantly that she still loves me or she’s doing it because she loves me, I would know for certain. Being told that she loves me while also being on the receiving end of her tantrums sends conflicting messages. I don’t want her to love me. I don’t love her. I want her to hate me from the bottoms of her soul and I want her to come out and say it. It would be better if she came out and told me that she hated me instead of her indirect hints. I hate all this uncertainty.

I AM polite, just not to her. I can’t help it. I say please and thank you and sorry almost immediately, but not around her. My dad is the one who mostly does this but it’s still worth putting on here. Whenever he finds candy wrappings or evidence of doing something we’re not supposed to do, he summons both of us. It is always my brother. But he doesn’t admit it, ever. Over the years, i have either tried not to have a reason to get in trouble or I do it so secretly that nobody ever even notices it. My brother is not like that. He leaves evidence of his crimes everywhere. He can’t admit his crimes either, but he is also terrible at lying. My dad asks us which one of us did it. I tell him no, which is the truth. My brother lies and says no, too. My dad gives us time to confess and if neither of us confess, he punishes both of us.

Sometimes when she would see me after a few days while we were in public, she would reach over to hug me(An air crushing uncomfortable hug). I don’t like hugs. I don’t like physical forms of affection or even physical connection. Especially from her. I would pull away and she would remark, “Oh. Rude. I’m trying to hug you. Nevermind.”

I remember looking at my friend's moms and wishing I had a mother like that. I know their mother’s are probably different around me compared to my friends, but I want someone kind enough to not yell at me but not overly protective. I have talked to therapists and school counselors but i can’t find the courage to tell them what happens at home. I tell them the bare minimum, which still ends up telling them enough for them to get the general gist. They tell me that I should start family gatherings or talk to my mother privately to tell her what’s going on. They tell me that I should start family game night or something to help the family socialize better. I don’t know about my brother, but I don’t want that. It’s gotten to a point where I don't want her forgiveness. I don’t believe that she can be forgiven. She can’t and won’t change. When I turn 18, I'm leaving the house. I don’t want to talk to her ever again. I’d prefer no interaction to ‘positive’ interaction. If I stay in my room or avoid her, the arguments won’t happen. She is a toxic person that I have no obligation to spend time with.

My dad has said that she is suffering a few mental illnesses but that doesn’t excuse her treatment of us. He said that her mother was very strict and that she’s just trying to be a better person than her mother and that she’s trying to be less strict than her mother. I don’t care if she has a mental illness. I don’t care if she was emotionally abused. That does NOT excuse her treatment of me and my brother. I don’t care if she’s trying the best she can.

I have had thoughts of death from a very early age. I wanted to die. I would imagine dying and then becoming a ghost. As a ghost, I would witness her reaction. In some versions of my imagination, she was indifferent. In others, she would cry for months and she would suffer. I mostly thought of killing myself to make her pay. I wanted to see what she would do if something were to happen to me. One time, in a hotel, we had an argument and I got upset. Instead of returning to the hotel room (they were eating breakfast) I hid in the ice room. (Just to clarify, this room is used to dispense ice for the rooms. It’s not a life-sized freezer) I hid in that room for a while. The ice room was next to our room and I could hear them when they went to the room and couldn't find me. I stayed there for a while before deciding to return to the room. My mom hit me. She wasn’t crying, only frantic. She told me how close she was to calling the police and how dangerous it was to disappear. She asked what the hell I was doing and why I disappeared. I didn’t respond. That was enough proof.

I have learned that showing vulnerability is a weakness that she can exploit. If I show that I am hurt from her words or if I cry in front of her, she can use that against me. I try to keep a ‘strong’ face when she yells even though the slightest sign of anger causes me to cry. When I can finally retreat to my room and ‘freely’ cry, I use a hand towel to muffle my cries. I stick it in my mouth and bite on it and I don’t make a sound.

I never ask for anything extravagant anymore since I learned from my mother the horrors of money and debt. Even if we are driving through Starbucks, I won’t ask for anything. I am silent and excessively obedient.

I would always wonder if something was wrong with me. My mother has stated multiple times that I’m unlikeable and lazy. I can’t do things properly and I forget things. I sometimes don’t listen and other times I do exactly as she says. I was always the Quiet and Mature One. The one that Doesn’t Cause Disruptions. I was sworn to obedience from a young age and never grew out of it. I have an internal urge to defy my mom and do everything opposite of what she says but I also am afraid of what she’ll do if I defy her. I procrastinate and my grades are slipping. Whenever I interact with people around her, she always jokes that I ‘Finally joined us.”

My mother is a terrible person. I often wonder why my aunt and dad can even stand her. I want her gone from my life. I want her to disappear. I remember one Christmas, I had on my wish list for her to be a better person to me and to act nicely to my brother. I don’t want to reconcile with her. I don’t even want to interact with her. I don’t tell anyone this because i am aware of how terrible that would sound. To anyone that doesn’t have her as a parent, to anyone that hasn’t had to grow up with terrible parents, they wouldn’t understand. I have depression, anxiety, ADHD, and I am a maladaptive daydreamer. I haven’t told anyone this, at least in person or to anyone I actually know. I am also a Biromantic Autochirosexual who hasn’t told anyone.

I also don’t remember most of the abuse I underwent. I can only remember the major ones and the ones that went over and over in my head.

[ziracona]

The tendency in fandom to take every white girl with short hair, regardless of the status of their canonical interest or lack of interest in women and explicit interest and/or sexual history with everything but, proclaim them a lesbian queen, and then ignore or absolve them of every single horrific act they take in fiction because of this. Is not doing feminism. Women. Lesbians. Or anyone. Any favors. It’s just bad.

Somehow. Some people really do apparently need to hear that...being any specific sexuality...is not a personality trait.

And also. Women aren’t inherantly less vile than men (or anyone non-binary, agender, fluid, etc, else), and whatever bad deeds they do should be judged based on just that—on the deeds, and their context. Not their sexuality, imagined sexuality, or their gender. Becuase none of those things effect whether committing murder is bad. At all. Not even a little. And none of them. Is even a personality trait. Affecting the character’s value as a person.

It’s cool, and good, to see characters with minority identities. And it’s real nice. When it’s whatever you are. But them being whatever. Is not a personality trait. Just a fact. And sometimes. People of any type. Are not good. Pretending any minority status—gender, sexuality, race, disability, neurotype, etc—is a get out of jail free card? Is not. Doing them. Or anyone. Any favors. Personality disorder. Doesn’t make you bad. Also doesn’t make you good. Your actions do. Acting like Amy from Gone Girl did nothing wrong when she date rapes her boyfriend & then frames him for doing that to her & ruins his life, then blackmails her husband who is terrified of being murdered by her into staying with her for the sake of the child she made at a fertility clinic with his sperm without his consent, bc she’s a woman. Isn’t good. Men aren’t more deserving of violence than women. Neither is anyone else. Jane. Left an infant child in an unheated car in subzero weather in a snow storm with zombies around that easily would hear it cry and go eat it. So she could lie and say she already let zombies eat it to bait a man with easily triggerable PTSD who had just lost his family to zombies for the second time into starting a fight. Because he was injured, unarmed, weak, down an eye, and 50, while she was fit, mid 20s, healthy, and armed with a hunting knife. Because she wanted an excuse to kill him without looking bad, because she wanted the 11 year old girl she was co-parenting with him, all to herself. And her immediately responding to the dude throwing a punch by stabbing him in the stomach to escalate the fight from brawl to life or death, then losing her knife, and instead of telling him the baby was alive & she’d made it up to start a fight which could have at any point ended the fight, begging the 11 year old child to gun down her oldest surviving friend with her own hands in cold blood so that she’d get what she wanted? Is evil. As is crying on the 11 year old and using pity as a weapon to get her to stay with her if she gets mad and wants to leave when she realizes Jane staged the whole thing for an excuse to murder, and so is after realizing like a month later that she is pregnant, committing suicide, and leaving the 11 year old that she just manipulated into killing her oldest surviving friend/completely isolated on purpose so she could have her to herself, totally alone in the apocalypse to care for an infant. Jennifer’s Body? Is a fantastic film. And Jennifer didn’t deserve any of what happened to her. But not one single boy she kills during the course of that film deserved it—and explicitly so. Even the guy who could easily have been a meathead jock bully is outside alone crying becuase his best friend just died and he loved him before she decides to lure him off and eat him alive. And acting like it’s totally fine & Needy should have just let her keep eating boys instead of killing her? Is fucked up. None of them deserved to die. And no one deserves death innately more because they are or are not something that is just a factual designator of their makeup as a human. The exchange student was scared and alone and nice, the catholic kid was sweet and Needy’s friend, Chip is a bad boyfriend but he meant well and being stupid doesn’t mean you deserve to die. And this girl ate them alive. That’s not funny. Or cool. Or fine becuase they were dudes. Gertrude Robinson? Chose again and again to betray people who loved her, or trusted her—sold out victims of awful trauma to their worst nightmares. Killed friends in the worst possible ways, like it was nothing. Michael loved her, and trusted her, and tried to care for her, and she without faltering fed him to his worst nightmare and forced him to become it. There is nothing excusable about that action.

Jude Perry? Has 0 redeeming features. Didn’t even stay faithful to her poor gf & was creepy obsessed w Agnes. Literally murdered her co-worker friend just because he was happy, and she wanted to destroy things: that’s it. She didn’t even dislike him. Murdered him because he had a wife and kid and house and it seemed fun, then burned down his house, took his wife’s money, and now checks in on his kid every so often in case he ever recovers from the trauma she inflicted enough to be fun to kill. There is literally nothing good about this woman. Yes. I mean that. Because being a lesbian? Is just a thing. There is no g/b tag, there is no tag at all. Amanda Young? Got kidnapped and tortured and forced to choose between killing a man who couldn’t resist but was conscious to watch her, and letting herself die, and she killed him. Then, instead of responding to that trauma with guilt or responsibility or anger at her captor, joined up with him and started helping him kidnap people just like her. She was not forced, she was not lied to. It does not matter if John was manipulative; she is a grown ass woman and like all grown ass adults, responsible for her own actions and choices. She did not get manipulated pitifully into this—she did not go unwillingly. She volunteered, with a happy vengeance, became obsessed with John and in love with him, despite his complete lack of interest. And she did not even just do what he did. She decided on her own that no one deserved redemption, & she killed them for fun in traps that wouldn’t let them go even if they did whatever awful thing the trap demanded as a price for life, just for the fun and power trip of watching them die helpless & in agony. That was all her, & her alone. She sat in a house full of people slowly dying from organ decomposition over the course of a few hours, for no crime worse than drug addiction—the thing she of all people should have been most sympathetic to—knowing full well at any time she could have saved them and stopped the game, and did nothing. She held a woman in her arms and stroked her head lovingly while she let her die in one of the most inhumane ways possible for the crime of having not been able to break an addition. She got saved by a 16 year old child multiple times, who had done nothing more than shoplift, and stood by while he had to watch a man get his brains blown out, another burn to death in an oven. As his organs slowly dissolved too. Watched the kid kill another human being & massively traumatize himself to save her life. And responded to that by attacking & knocking him out, tying him up, locking him up for days in a tiny safe bound and gagged with an oxygen supply to keep him alive, to be a piece in another game. Left his father, who had shown up to try & save him, to starve to death in chains in a horrible abandoned rotting room, & never even told him his son was alive. Let every other addict die horribly, let that kid sustain permanent damage to his organs that will kill him young, antidote taken or not, took his dad from him, & went back to torturing without a second thought. Kidnapped a woman whose worst crime was being a doctor & dating someone while maybe separated instead of divorced from her husband, put her in a trap that would take her head off with shotgun blasts, threatened her for fun, & then killed her even after she did everything she was asked, because it was more important to her that the old man she was obsessed with think she was special and great, than for the other woman to get to stay alive another day & go home to her daughter. There is nothing sympathetic about Amanda. She’s just not only evil, but too spineless to take responsibility for her own choices & actions, & tries to hide behind a “UwU I am sad & lonely & damaged & having trauma means I can literally torture people to death to feel special & it’s really tragic and sympathetic about me, not evil. Uhm. Some people??? Commit torture-murders?? To cope??” And acting like she’s somehow a victim in this becuase she is a pretty white girl with short hair? Is fucked. Up.

But every. God damn. Time. I see this. Please. It needs. To stop. People go: “UwU pretty girl short hair want” & I go “Ok. I see where u. Come from. Indeed.” But then. They go. “Girl pretty I like. So she was blameless. For this atrocity.” Those words...

Every day. I wake up. Thinking of Janic saying. Iconically. “At least me and Regina George know we’re mean,” and I weep inside. Because I cannot fathom. Or stomach. The lack of responsibility. I will kill. Characters who cannot admit they are bad. Myself. But somehow. They become. Flames. To moths. Of the “UwU pretty white girl short hair. We stan. Victim. Queen. Love her. Never done wrong.” Boy. We all done wrong. Even all my faves. At least once. I think. ...not if we count dogs probably, but people, yes. Ok. Anyway. All this is to say. Characters. Should be judged. Based on what they did. And why. And the aftermath. Not a grouping tag. I don’t mean any of these. Make bad characters. At all. Amy is a great character. So is Jennifer. So are most of them. I have quite affection even. For Jeneffer specifically. But you can like. Character. Without proclaiming. Them perfect humans. Who never did a thing wrong. Or their acts somehow. Justifiable. And ok. And you better stop saying. Ok. Because done. To men. Men do not. Deserve violence. Any more. Than anyone else. No one deserves violence defacto for factors. Outside their control. Wtf. Really people. It’s ok too. For character. To do much bad stuff. And still like character. Villains. And often just complex characters. Sometimes just characters. Do stuff. That is bad. It’s not supposed to be not their fault. Or ok. Also. Women are not a sisterhood. Of flawless beings. Who never hurt anyone or do any bad stuff. They can. And are. Often purpotrators. Of awful acts. And when they are. It is still. Very bad. Still. An awful act. Same level. Even. Of awful. Wild.

In conclusion.

Having short hair. While a girl. Doesn’t make her a butch queen. Who is absolved of all responsibility for that murder she committed. It just makes her a girl with short hair. That did a murder. I’m gonna. Kill someone. Too. And if I chop my hair off. I guess I can get away with it.

[fourangers]

Fate and Choices (ch. 02)

Summary: When Naruto discovered who was going to be his soulmate, he jumped straight at this opportunity, looking forward to spending the rest of his life with his better half. Sasuke well…he was less eager in this regard though. NaruSasu. Soulmates tattoos. M-rated.

Content: AU!Office, Romance, Comedy, Drama, it’ll get a little too philosophical in some parts talking about free will Vs fate, basically Sasuke is a cynic ass and Naruto is an idealistic moron (great amirite), Anal Sex, tattoos soulmates

Chapter 01 here

AO3 link

--.--

“Hey! Jackass!”

Sasuke stiffened, bracing himself from the incoming impact.

“Fucking bastard thought you were gonna get rid of me, ‘s not going to be that easy you know!”

Sasuke was rubbing his legs with a wince; good gracious, years have passed and this idiot continued to be the same loudmouth dumbass. He turned back to Neji. “Please fire him.”

Neji blinked. “It’s my company and I’m the one who hired him Sasuke.”

“I know, but I’m saying that you should fire for our sanity’s sake.”

“Wow, that’s so mean.” Naruto grumbled, widening a grin. “You haven’t changed one bit Sasuke. Plus, there’s no way Neji would fire me when I’m the best social media manager you ever met!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes then threw a significant glance towards Neji.

Neji shook his head. “Yes, sorry to say but Naruto is pretty good. He is one of the few I know that can build a good number of followers organically in a short time. I guess you’ll have to deal with it. Just use this opportunity for some catching up ok.” He patted Sasuke’s shoulder and stared at Naruto in deadpan. “Please don’t destroy the office.”

“C’mon Neji, you really think we’re gonna get back to fighting as if we’re twelve? Give me some credit will you.” Naruto’s grin became so wide that it reminded him of a cheshire’s cat.

“...right.” Neji looked around, and picked an antique vase on the way out.

Sasuke stared at Naruto and his winsome beam, then gazed at the door knob.

He turned around.

“Oh? Ignoring me and fleeing again? The coward's obvious choice.”

Turning back with a venomous glare, Sasuke approached Naruto. “Well, I suppose there’s no point delaying any longer. What do you want from me?”

The caustic tone dissolved Naruto’s grin into a frown, so he mumbled. “What the hell did I do wrong for you to act like an asshole around me?”

Sasuke inhaled, taking some seconds to recompose himself as he retorted. “You’re right, my attitude was wholly unneeded, but I can’t help it. I still need to know why on earth you decided to reappear in my life when I made pretty clear that I don’t want you around.”

“Good God, I can’t believe that you don’t want your soulmate after this many years⏤”

“Don’t go there.” Sasuke growled through gritted teeth.

“Ugh, fine.” Naruto rolled his eyes. “You know, after what we’ve been through, I thought that at least you would bother yourself to give me an explanation or at least keep some kind of contact.”

“I can’t believe you took seriously our summer fling.”

Naruto stared, and then quirked an eyebrow. “Three years is not a summer fling.”

“Whatever, but it happened while we were young and stupid, so it is a fling no matter how long it took.” Before Naruto could protest, Sasuke interjected in. “Everything was going fine in my life back when you left me alone in peace, so why did you decide out of nowhere to get back in bothering me again?”

Naruto curled down his mouth, examining Sasuke’s indecipherable face as graphite eyes focused glowering at the ground. He knew that Sasuke wasn’t going to be cheerfully welcoming his return though he expected at least some positive reaction.

Scratching his blond head, Naruto sighed. “Sasuke, back when your parents divorced” He could see Sasuke tensing on the corner of his eye but he continued nevertheless. “I really wished you could rely on me to share your feelings about it but you just decided to throw me out of your life. But I respected that this was your way of coping and later I also get why you did that⏤”

“If you got it, why are you here now?”

Naruto blinked and declared with strong assurance. “Because I’m your soulmate.”

“We only have matching tattoos dumbass, nothing else.”

“Only matchin⏤” Naruto groaned. “Oh c’mon, gimme your hand in case you forgot about it.”

“No.” Sasuke held his hand closer to his chest, dodging away from Naruto’s grasp.

“You stubborn bastard⏤”

“Dumbass, get the fuck away⏤” The young men wrestled in the conference room, stumbling through chairs and knocking down assorted papers and pens.

“Sasuke, goddammit, just for a few seconds, I swear!” Naruto yowled, arms stretched out in a vain attempt to reach Sasuke’s hand.

Sighing, Sasuke lowered his arm. “I’ll humor you for once, I guess.” He raised his palm, showing his moon tattoo.

Naruto broadened a victorious smile, interlacing his tanned fingers with pale ones. When their tattoos touched, a warm ball of light grew till it lit up the whole room, but Sasuke dropped his hand, cutting off its connection.

"You felt that right, once again. That wave of happiness, the comfort, contentment. We complete each other.” Breathing heavily, remnants of those emotions overwhelmed him, soulful blue eyes attempted to reach his soulmate.

Sasuke averted his gaze, crafting a blank expression and shrugged. “I disagree with this. Those feelings are probably some kind of animalistic instinct to preserve our species and I’m beyond all that. Why do people keep claiming that they need to find their other half? I’m already one whole person, I’m against the notion that you need someone else to feel complete.”

Raising his eyebrows impressed, Naruto hummed pensive, conceding. "Alright…that's a very fair point. But no matter how complete you are, you need relationships to sustain yourself. Family, coworkers, friends…we're humans that need other people all the time. And isn't it great that nature gave us this tool to find the best companion that will share his lifetime with you?"

"This system is flawed and imperfect Naruto. You know it as well as I do." Sasuke retorted. "And I'd rather not waste my life blindly relying over something that might fail in the long run."

“You're selling a technology that lets people find their own soulmate.” Naruto muttered incredulously.

“I sell the tool, not the satisfaction nor its promise for happiness." Sasuke offered with a prim sniff, chin raised. "And whatever might be my business, it has nothing to do with my personal opinion, in which is that I'm fine not needing a soulmate."

"Why? I thought we were in agreement back then!"

"Which goes back to the talk that we were just young and naive, that's all. I changed my mind."

“Honestly, why are you going so against it, it’s like one of those obvious laws of nature. It’s inevitable, like…" Naruto paused for a second, trying to come up with valid examples. "Like gravity, physics, and everything like…babies would always cry…um…dogs are angels and cats are evil…”

“How dare you, you take back that last sentence right fucking now.” Sasuke growled.

“Alright, maybe cats are also nice, I’ll let you adopt one when we live together!”

“No, thank you. And for every supposed law of nature, it’s never entirely universal. You can use aerodynamics to fly above gravity, cats can save kids and dogs can bite⏤”

“And babies crying?” Naruto chimed in.

“...tiny baby lizards don’t cry.” Sasuke regretted it the instant he uttered these words, he knew that his IQ would just drop if he’d spend one minute more with this dumbass, Naruto is just this infectious. "That doesn't matter. I thought I came here so I could talk about work, not engaging in those childish conversations that go nowhere."

"...so." Naruto smacked his lips and grinned. "I am your social media manager then."

Sasuke stared and narrowed his eyes. "My company's social media."

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. You have my phone number and Line? It's⏤"

“I know your number, I just have to unblock you.”

Sasuke half-expected Naruto bristling in indignation when he got the confirmation that he was indeed, blocking him out over those years. A crestfallen despair flashed through Naruto’s eyes, before blossoming to a warm smile.

“I’m just glad we’re talking again, that’s all that matters.”

Sasuke wanted to tell him that it’s only work related. That it won’t change his mind and once the contract would be over, they would part their respective ways. Caustic, sharp words had to be uttered so he could end this nonsense at last, but somehow it died on his throat when his whole soul ached to reach Naruto’s face and kiss the pained frown away.

Thankfully, a knock from the door broke their stupor, and Naruto opened to meet Neji and some of Sasuke’s coworkers.

“Well, it seems that their meeting is over. Anyways, Hoozuki-sama, Yamato-sama, Uzumaki Naruto-san here will be in charge of Shinrei’s whole social media account, as well as strategy and planning.”

Naruto and Sasuke’s coworkers shook hands and exchanged name cards, bowing politely as they began the meeting. Suigetsu quirked his eyebrow, noticing how Sasuke always averted his gaze whenever he talked with Uzumaki-san, even though the blond man stared as if Sasuke was the only man in the whole room.

Those were intense, covetous azure eyes that somehow weren't much tainted with lust. Curiosity piqued, Suigetsu dragged his friend to the side while Naruto was talking with the other coworker.

“So…from all the interactions I witnessed, it seems that you and that blondie have some history together right. What happened?”

Sasuke glared. “Nothing.”

“Oh c’mon, just tell me! It’s the first time I ever saw you being so nervous around a guy, whatever happened has to be something big.”

Sasuke sighed, shutting his eyes. He uttered in the most bored tone he could muster. “Naruto is my soulmate.”

Suigetsu blinked. “…huh?”

“My soulmate.” Sasuke repeated. “He’s my soulmate.”

“WHAT?!” Suigetsu shouted, switching his gaze back and forth towards Sasuke and Naruto. “You lucky dog, you found your soulmate this easily?! And he’s hot too!”

“He is?” Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, then turned around for a quick check. No, that’s the usual dumbass, stupid grin Naruto, there’s nothing new about that.

“God, the fact that you don’t want a soulmate makes even less sense now! I want a hottie like him riding me till tomorrow for the rest of my life.” Suigetsu noticed the black eyebrow twitching in annoyance and curled a saucy grin. “I better get first in line if he’s interested.”

“Whatever suits you best.” Sasuke grumbled, as they all moved back to the entrance, as the meeting was over.

Someone poked his shoulder. “Hey hey. Sasuke.” He turned his face, glare activated but halted at once when he felt moist lips touching his skin. “Have a nice day.” Naruto beamed.

He furiously rubbed his cheek with his hand, growling. “I’m going to kill you.”

“So testy, I just gave you one innocent peck on your cheek.” Laughing, Naruto patted his back while he returned to the office.

Neji observed the grin that stretched from ear to ear and muttered. “Oh dear me. It’s been a while since I saw you smiling this much.”

“Well, duh. Obviously.”

“Hm. You’re satisfied with the arrangement then?”

“Yeah! Thanks for everything Neji.”

“Likewise. I hope whatever conclusion you two will reach, it’ll be satisfactory to you both.” Pearly eyes peered in earnest intensity, so Naruto offered a half-grin back. “But I would like to remind you that Sasuke is our client, right.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Naruto appeased him.

“Don’t go too far.”

“I won’t!”

“Please don’t annoy Sasuke too much, okay.”

There was a long silence and then. “Uh. Sure!”

Is it too late to change his own mind; Neji wondered with a sigh.

⏤.⏤

Six hundred, forty three. That’s the number of times Sasuke had to suppress the urge to throw Suigetsu out of the car, whenever his friend nagged wanting to know more details about Naruto.

He hoped once he arrived in his office, all this nonsense would be over so he could concentrate on his work. Promising gruesome bloody murder if Suigetsu ever dared to gossip about his love life, he strode to Itachi’s room.

“Nii-san.”

“Oh, welcome back otouto-kun. How was the meeting? How is Neji-kun?” Itachi acknowledged him with a quick nod, eyes still focused on the laptop.

“Neji is fine, his marketing plan is really well planned and he is just going to make us cover the basic costs, nothing else.” Sasuke paced around, and said. “Nii-san, you won’t believe who is going to take care of our social media.”

“Oh, Neji told me. I’ve heard that he’s a really bright, young man…” Itachi raised his eyes to meet with Sasuke’s, a knowing beam broadening his lips. “Blond, blue eyes, who has an exquisite sun tattoo that fits with your moon tattoo pretty perfectly…”

“What the f⏤!” Sasuke tamped down the urge to scream, throwing his hands to the air. “I can’t believe you all! You, Neji and Naruto all planned this?! I can’t believe that you would betray me. You’re my brother!”

“And as your older brother, I agreed with Neji-kun that you avoiding Naruto-kun is damaging you in the long run, but considering your stubbornness I thought that it’d be better if I nudged a little in the right direction.”

“Unbelievable. I thought that you, of all people, understood me the best considering the experience we suffered with mother and father.”

Sighing, Itachi stilled in commiseration, picking his tea cup. He sipped the warm beverage, murmuring. “I considered these memories for a long time, but I concluded that I shouldn’t let them deter my life. It’s specifically because of them that I’m determined to find the perfect companionship with my soulmate.”

Sasuke scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, big words from someone who didn’t bother himself to find his own soulmate. You know really well that he or she lives in the Netherlands but you kept delaying buying the plane ticket.”

“…I have…other priorities for now.”  Itachi argued with a clipped tone.

“No, you just share the same trauma as I do but since it’s not your problem, you thought you could manipulate however you liked about my own life. It is your loss though, because even if our parents’ divorce may had influenced my opinion about Soulmates, I have valid reasons to reject it.” Sasuke declared, tightening his hands into a fist. “I’ll do this damn job with Naruto just to prove you, and then we’ll go on our own goddamn different paths. Just you wait.”

“…” Itachi studied his younger brother’s agitated state, eyebrows knitted, resolute.

Honestly, Sasuke had already grown old enough to be in any need of his guidance, but above all, he wasn’t really accepting any of it even if Itachi tried to drill any word in his hard-headed mind. From now on he guessed he’d leave it up to Naruto, and he hoped the young man would have enough patience handling his younger brother.

⏤.⏤

Naruto was being…strange. At first, Sasuke expected that the dumbass would use the opportunity that he unblocked his contact to flirt with him, or engage inane conversation or send dick pics. The blond man was oddly very considerate nevertheless, using their chats for strict professional subjects, not one thing out of line.

On the other hand, they had a lot of physical meetings. At first it was only once per week, not arousing his suspicion as Sasuke considered that Naruto probably had a lot of questions that it’d be better clarified with these kinds of meetings. The following week they had twice per week and then thrice. Also, whatever professional courtesy Naruto had respected in chats, was thrown out of the window when he saw Sasuke, trying to start off-topic conversations, sitting really close to him and generally being a pain in the ass.

(Sasuke didn’t want to admit that he was enjoying those meetings)

When Naruto called, ready to schedule another meeting, Sasuke rebutted. “A meeting? Online meeting, you meant.”

“Oh no, like a meeting, meeting. As in, me going to your office or you going to mine and…”

“For someone who only uses online tools for your everyday work, you oddly prefer a face to face meeting for no particular reason.”

“What can I say, I’m a people’s person after all.” Naruto chuckled. “Well, if you’re too busy we can reschedule if you want.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. This really felt like some sort of measured chess game, when one man was carefully choosing which pieces to sacrifice or to keep it alive. He expected that since Naruto was so impatient he’d prefer a direct approach instead of slowly luring him in.

“Then again, I haven’t seen him for over seven years, who knows how much he had changed since then.”

⏤.⏤  

UGH.

This is so fucking hard.

What Naruto really wanted was to drag Sasuke to some secluded room and have his way until they were both satisfied. But nope, that stupid ass bastard is just too stubborn and suspicious of everything that if he did any sudden move, Naruto was afraid that Sasuke would disappear to some far away country, like Canada or Argentina or something like that.

Was he asking for too much in wanting to have his soulmate back? Was he? He just wanted life to be easier for once. Stupid Sasuke. Why. Uuuuugh. Now Sasuke was already getting suspicious that they were having way too many meetings and Naruto wanted at least some compensation for using all his remaining patience to let Sasuke dictate this fucking slower than slug pace.

He heard the familiar ping, unlocking his phone.

Sorry, just finished a meeting now. I’m going to arrive 15 minutes late.

Oooooh?

Grinning, Naruto noticed Sasuke typing some response but he was quicker.

Uchiha-sama is going to be late? My eyes didn’t deceive me just now, did I really read that?

Moron.

Naruto laughed, thankful that his typing speed was faster than Sasuke’s. I mean, Uchiha Sasuke-sama is actually going to be late for the first time in his life. Wow, it’s going to rain knives today.

It’s not my fault dumbass, the sponsor I was talking with wanted more details about my software. And he’s an old man it was difficult to explain in layman terms.

Ah, yeah…sounds tough. Don’t worry about it, I can wait while I’m working. Thanks for the heads up.

Sasuke snorted, relaxing his shoulders on the taxi seat while he stared at the buildings passing by. Opening a new company was so hard, so many people to visit, so many potential sponsors and clients to sell your product. There were also many annoying obligations to register your company and documentation to smooth things through too. His father gave enough initial investments to help them open the business but aside that, they were really green, unsure what steps to proceed in a shrewd market.

Thanks to Naruto’s strategies their brand is getting recognition between specialists for now, some well-known influencers tested their technology, aiding him to show tangible successes in the effort to convince people. But although they were impressed, few signed the deed, not wanting to risk their precious capital over an infant company.

Exhaling a tired breath, he went to the conference room after he greeted Neji. The moment he opened the door, he immediately picked the nice fragrance of fresh cooked rice.

“Hey. I’m just gonna finish retouching some reports and we’ll start the meeting right away.” Naruto said.

In front of him laid a neat porcelain plate with three onigiris, then a tomato salad inside a plastic package and even Caramel dark chocolate from a fancy brand.

“Oh yeah, feel free to dig in, I bought this for you.”

At this admission his stomach growled and Sasuke licked his lips. “How did you know I was hungry?” Sharp graphite eyes narrowed.

“Well…if I’m not mistaken, you usually eat around 12:30 or something right? Unless you changed your habit, I mean. But it’s already 1 pm, and you didn’t mention stopping a little to eat lunch, so I thought it would be best if I bought something for you.”

…Naruto still remembered all his favorite foods. Warm beats expanded in his chest and Sasuke forcibly tamped it down. This is just residual instinct caused by this soulmating system, it had nothing to do with his feelings. He savored each bite in silence while Naruto gave the monthly report.

Hmph. Dumbass.

--.--

Chapter 03

[xbreezymeadowsx]

200 Questions

No one asked me to do it but I made @sharpiewashere do it so it’s only fair I suffer through, too.

200: My crush’s name is: Zach because husband but also... Tommy motherfuckin’ Flanagan

199: I was born in: New Hampshire

198: I am really: horny and annoyed

197: My cellphone company is: Verizon

196: My eye color is: Brown

195: My shoe size is: like 10.5W I think.

194: My ring size is: I think it’s a 9.

193: My height is: 5’ 3”

192: I am allergic to: cats and crop dust

191: My 1st car was: old ass shitty Jeep Grand Cherokee

190: My 1st job was: at a stand in a city mall where we had an inflatable slide and two bounces houses and served sno cones, smoothies, and novelty ice creams

189: Last book you read: Fangs by Sarah Andersen

188: My bed is: fuckin’ broken and uncomfortable and clearly not big enough for myself and my bedhog husband.

187: My pet: 1 old black cat.

186: My best friend: Yuki (that bitch is my best best best friend and I miss her to pieces)

185: My favorite shampoo is: Garnier Whole Blends: Honey Treasures

184: Xbox or ps3: Fuck both. Switch.

183: Piggy banks are: cute

182: In my pockets: nada at the moment

181: On my calendar: is scribbles from my kid

180: Marriage is: Don’t marry a redneck!

179: Spongebob can: stop. Give me the early Bob but that’s it.

178: My mom: loves Unicorns

177: The last three songs I bought were? Wap metal version, Room with a Zoo, Shoop

176: Last YouTube video watched: GabSmolders playing Control

175: How many cousins do you have? technically only 2 by blood and actual familial connections. 6 if you count some others. 9 if you count step-cousins.

174: Do you have any siblings? 1 big Seester!

173: Are your parents divorced? Yeah

172: Are you taller than your mom? Maybe? IDK, we’re both shorties

171: Do you play an instrument? sadly, no.

170: What did you do yesterday? Slept and worked

[ I Believe In ]

169: Love at first sight: yes

168: Luck: yes

167: Fate: yes

166: Yourself: HA, you’re funny.

165: Aliens: no

164: Heaven: these are...

163: Hell: ... kinda loaded...

162: God: ... questions

161: Horoscopes: maybe

160: Soul mates: yes

159: Ghosts: yes

158: Gay Marriage: yes

157: War: yes

156: Orbs: yes

155: Magic: yes

[ This or That ]

154: Hugs or Kisses: hugs

153: Drunk or High: unfortunately neither.

152: Phone or Online: online

151: Red heads or Black haired: black

150: Blondes or Brunettes: brunette

149: Hot or cold: cold

148: Summer or winter: winter

147: Autumn or Spring: autumn

146: Chocolate or vanilla: chocolate

145: Night or Day: night

144: Oranges or Apples: apples

143: Curly or Straight hair: straight

142: McDonalds or Burger King: McD’s outta these choices but I’d take Steak’N’Shake over either.

141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Milk and Dark.

140: Mac or PC: PC

139: Flip flops or high heals: flip flops

138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: Zach can be sweet (he certainly isn’t ugly to look at) and we’re definitely on the poor side.

137: Coke or Pepsi: Pepsi (anybody remember Pepsi Twist? That was the best!)

136: Hillary or Obama: Obama

135: Buried or cremated: Buried I guess. Though, if I’m cremated, my ashes need to be spread in one place and no separating them.

134: Singing or Dancing: singing

133: Coach or Chanel: I am a redneck, these things don’t mean anything to me.

132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: who?

131: Small town or Big city: small town

130: Wal-Mart or Target: Either? I shop Wal-Mart all the time out of convenience but I do like Target

129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: I am overall not a fan of either barring a select couple movies (like Heavyweights and Little Nicky)

128: Manicure or Pedicure: no thanks.

127: East Coast or West Coast: east coast

126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Christmas

125: Chocolate or Flowers: chocolate

124: Disney or Six Flags: Can I go to a Zoo instead?

123: Yankees or Red Sox: I’ll say Sox because New England but I don’t particularly care for baseball.

[ Here’s What I Think About ]

122: War: there’s a time and place

121: George Bush: he’s an idiot?

120: Gay Marriage: yay!

119: The presidential election: tearing families apart because people are stupid and vote for Trump

118: Abortion: this is a bit of a grey area for me. While I firmly believe in “my body, my choice”, I do not accept that argument if you are constantly getting them as if it is a form of birth control. Use proper contraceptives you slut.

117: MySpace: does that even exist anymore?

116: Reality TV: certain ones can assume me.

115: Parents: love them even when you don’t like them.

114: Back stabbers: pussies.

113: Ebay: never used it

112: Facebook: is reserved for pictures of kids, pets, funny videos and memes, and gifs.

111: Work: shitty... literally

110: My Neighbors: I’m just glad they aren’t the cousin-fuckers or the Methicans anymore.

109: Gas Prices: it takes like 20 bucks to fill my tiny car gas tank so whatever.

108: Designer Clothes: never fit me

107: College: didn’t go.

106: Sports: HA. My fat ass play sports? Maybe Badminton or Tetherball but that’s it.

105: My family: lives too far away.

104: The future: needs to be better than now.

[ Last time I ]

103: Hugged someone: like 20 mins ago when my kid was trying to suck up to me to get a sip of my frappe.

102: Last time you ate: two hours ago.

101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: Zane’s first day of school this year. Miss Angie came over to see him off in the morning.

100: Cried in front of someone: probably a few weeks ago.

99: Went to a movie theater: Twilight Breaking Dawn pt 2.

98: Took a vacation: three years ago.

97: Swam in a pool: probably close to 8 or more years ago.

96: Changed a diaper: 4-5 yrs ago.

95: Got my nails done: professionally? never. By Zane? last weekend.

94: Went to a wedding: three years ago.

93: Broke a bone: never. dislocated shit though.

92: Got a piercing: over a decade

91: Broke the law: probably frequently without realizing it.

90: Texted: couple mins ago.

[ MISC ]

89: Who makes you laugh the most: oh I’m a funny bitch

88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: nothing? fuck this house. fuck this town. fuck this state. I wanna go HOME home.

87: The last movie I saw: Smokin’ Aces 2

86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: my nephew’s birth and the vacation we plan to take to see him!

85: The thing i’m not looking forward to: the travel for the vacation stated above.

84: People call me: a lot of things. most of them true.

83: The most difficult thing to do is: wake up

82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: nope

81: My zodiac sign is: Taurus

80: The first person i talked to today was: my husband

79: First time you had a crush: I had a massive crush on Shawn Micheals as a kid.

78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: my Seester

77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: probably someone in the Flanaclan Chapel

76: Right now I am talking to: the Flanaclan on and off

75: What are you going to do when you grow up: I’m supposed to grow up?

74: I have/will get a job: yes

73: Tomorrow: is Halloween

72: Today: I’m horny and annoyed

71: Next Summer: is a long time away

70: Next Weekend: work

69: I have these pets: already answered

68: The worst sound in the world: right now I’d have to say it’s Zane clucking his tongue.

67: The person that makes me cry the most is: myself? or more specifically my anxiety brain.

66: People that make you happy: my Flanaclan friends, my bff, my sister.

65: Last time I cried: a few weeks ago

64: My friends are: on the internet and/or mostly too far away

63: My computer is: a hunk of shit laptop

62: My School: never going ever again.

61: My Car: looks like the car emoji.

60: I lose all respect for people who: beat animals

59: The movie I cried at was: recently? Up

58: Your hair color is: brown

57: TV shows you watch: SOA, SVU, SWAT, wrestling, Wynonna Earp, Van Helsing, Supernatural

56: Favorite web site: tumblr and youtube

55: Your dream vacation: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, all that.

54: The worst pain I was ever in was: dislocating my knee

53: How do you like your steak cooked: med rare

52: My room is: some boring off-white

51: My favorite celebrity is: Tommy Flanagan

50: Where would you like to be: New Hampshire

49: Do you want children: I have 1 and that’s 1 too many.

48: Ever been in love: yup

47: Who’s your best friend: didn’t I already answer this?

46: More guy friends or girl friends: girls nowadays. guys around here suck.

45: One thing that makes you feel great is: reading Chibs fics, staring at Flanagan

44: One person that you wish you could see right now: Flanagan

43: Do you have a 5 year plan: hell no

42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: no

41: Have you pre-named your children: I did not.

40: Last person I got mad at: me

39: I would like to move to: for the millionth time, New Hampshire

38: I wish I was a professional: dog sitter/walker

[ My Favorites ]

37: Candy: Sour Patch Watermelons

36: Vehicle: 90′s Ford Ranger, Jeep Renegade, Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Gladiator, Ford Shelby GT350R 

35: President: certainly not the fuckin’ current one.

34: State visited: Massachusetts

33: Cellphone provider: Verizon

32: Athlete: Aleister Black, Drew McIntyre, Luchasaurus, Sonny Kiss (and fuck you if you try to tell me they aren’t athletes)

31: Actor: Tommy Flanagan

30: Actress: Millie Bobby Brown

29: Singer: Ville Valo

28: Band: HIM

27: Clothing store: don’t care.

26: Grocery store: don’t care.

25: TV show: Law & Order: SVU (as much as I’d love to say SOA, Law & Order was my first real love)

24: Movie: 10 Things I Hate About You

23: Website: tumblr, youtube

22: Animal: dogs, wolves

21: Theme park: Zoos

20: Holiday: Halloween

19: Sport to watch: professional wrestling, football, hockey

18: Sport to play: nothing that requires that much energy

17: Magazine: don’t read them much

16: Book: the House Of Night series and sequel series by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast (I don’t care that I’m probably too old for them now, I love them)

15: Day of the week: Saturday

14: Beach: Hampton Beach, NH

13: Concert attended: 69 Eyes headlined (opening with Night Kills The Day, then Fair To Midland which were fine but also Wednesday 13!!!!!)

12: Thing to cook: fajitas

11: Food: apple fritters/apple cider donuts

10: Restaurant: Panda Express I suppose.

9: Radio station: WGFA

8: Yankee candle scent: Midsummers Night

7: Perfume: don’t wear perfume so much as body spray and it’s usually something like cucumber melon or some baked goods scent.

6: Flower: Tiger Lillies

5: Color: Green- specifically Forest/Hunter

4: Talk show host: idk I used to watch Maury all the time, does that count?

3: Comedian: George Carlin

2: Dog breed: Pittie mixes, mutts, labs, medium to big short haired breeds

1: Did you answer all these truthfully? Yes I did.

[prorevenge]

Kicked out of the family

So this is something I've witnessed and heard about. My family were the ones that got revenge.

So for some backstory, the people include my Nonna (grandmother in Italian), and her three kids. The kids are my Mum, my Zia (Aunty in Italian), and my Uncle. My Uncle has a girlfriend, which we'll call S. And my Zia is married and has 2 kids, my Uncle has 3 kids, and my Mum is married and has me and my sister. S has 3 kids of her own. The story also kind of involves my Nonno (Grandfather in Italian), but he passes away at a particular point of the story. In real time, he passed roughly two weeks ago now, so this is recent.

So, it is 2 years ago in 2017, and it's my cousin's Confirmation (Catholic tradition of confirming their faith in Christ). This cousin is my Zia's oldest child. We're all sitting in the mass, and I'm sitting away from my parents at the time. S is talking to my Mum, and mentions how she doesn't like one of my Uncle's children (the oldest), we'll name him J. My Mum is shocked, but doesn't tell anyone about it, as at the after party of the Confirmation, she goes into the car with a migraine, to keep away from the noise. S then talks to my Dad, and says how she doesn't like this particular cousin, which is J. My Dad is surprised, and leaves it.

After the Communion, when my Mum is feeling better, she talks to Dad and explains how unbelievable it is that S said that. My Dad replies and says that he thought he was the only one she told. This is when my parents decided they didn't like S very much. They decide to call up my Uncle and let her know what she said. He said he'd ask S about it.

He texts back a response, calling my parents liars, and saying "how dare you say that about my girlfriend" and "you are disgusting for making up lies". This got my paren†s furious, and they tried to explain that it is true and so on. S also text my parents, calling them liars and a bunch of insults.

This was the beginning of the family breaking apart.

My Mum is very close with my Zia, and they talked about it. My Zia didn't want to choose sides, but she didn't really like S either.

My Uncle decided he wanted a "round table" with my parents, himself, and S to discuss the trouble. My Dad was all like "Stuff that! He'll just yell at us some more!", so they said no. They also discovered S was manipulating my Uncle to do everything she says. When my Dad once asked for a normal catchup, my Uncle responded with "I'll have to check with S first." and he revolved everything around her. He even skipped my youngest cousin's birthday to go to S's great Uncle's or someone's birthday he's never met. He didn't even schedule another time to see her, or didn't even get her a present, or with her a happy birthday. She turned 9 at the time.

A year passes, it's 2018, and I hadn't seen S, my Uncle, or their kids since. I missed seeing my cousins (my Uncle's kids. I'd never consider S's kids to be my cousins. They're not very nice either), and I wanted to see them again. It's now my other cousin's Communion (Communion is receiving bread and wine in the Catholic Church for the first time. This is my Zia's other kid, and she's the youngest), and my younger sister has decided she's had enough of their arguing and never seeing part of her family. She organises Mum and my Uncle to meet outside and talk, at the after party. They talk, and my Uncle still doesn't believe her. My Mum is crying and trying to say "Why don't you believe me? Why would you choose your girlfriend over your family that has been there for you for years?" and my Uncle still wanted none of it. Unfortunately, from the crying, my Mum got another bad migraine, so she went in the car. After an hour rest, she felt better, and got out to socialise again. My mum told my Zia what happened, and the hatred for S increased. So on the way home, my Dad and my Mum were yelling about how S is the worst person ever, and how they wanted to boot her out of the family.

My family still cut off seeing My Uncle and S. My Zia and her family couldn't see them as often either. My Nonno was in the nursing home, and unwell. My Uncle never bothered showing up, except for maybe a couple of times that year. My Nonna was very angry at my Uncle, as he never made an effort to see the family.

This is where her actions turn disgusting.

Another year passes, it's now 2019, and my Uncle and S got engaged 2 weeks before my Nonno passed away. We were all invited to their engagement party, but they both live about 2 or so hours away from my home. My family didn't want to go, cause we didn't want S to be apart of the family. My Zia, and her 2 kids went, out of feeling bad. My Nonna didn't want to go, as she didn't want to see S, as she didn't like her. My Nonno was still in the nursing home, and just got transferred to the hospital that day, so my Nonna couldn't even go to the engagement party anyway, as she was helping take care of Nonno. My Nonno also got diagnosed with pneumonia and had cancer in his bones, so he was reeeeaaaally unwell.

2 weeks ago from now, my Nonno passes away. Everyone is devastated, as he passed in the most painful and awful way possible. He passed on a Sunday night, at about 6pm, and he passed half an hour after my sister, Mum and I left the hospital. While at the hospital when he was still alive that day, when my Mum, sister, Zia and I go the nursing home to pack up Nonno's things, and then pickup lunch, S organised something stupid. She asked a nurse to shave his face, to make him feel "more comfortable". At this point, he couldn't move, and had 0 strength. He couldn't even keep his eyes open, and his mouth was open wide, as he couldn't breathe. He had unnecessary cuts on his face and he was curled into what seemed like a ball, as he was already in so much pain. My Mum only glared at her, and that's it.

When my Nonno passed, my Nonna was really upset, as was all of us. She got super depressed and wasn't physically or mentally able to prepare the funeral. We planned it 4 days after the passing, meaning we needed to hurry, as that was the only closest time we could do. I took a week off from school, to help prepare. I was also at my Nonna's house, helping too. My Mum, my Zia and my Uncle wrote the eulogy in 12 hours, with input from myself, my sister and my youngest cousin who was there at the time. 12 hours was a long time to write a eulogy, and everyone was exhausted, as we left at 10:30pm from my Nonna's house. While the adults wrote the eulogy, I took my Nonna aside to find photos she'd like in the funeral, as I could put them in the funeral to make a powerpoint. I took heaps of photos, retouched and cropped each one. There were 67 photos. I also wrote prayers, downloaded music for the funeral and read at the funeral. There was so much preparation for everyone involved, and it felt overwhelming for everyone at times.

At the gathering after the funeral at my Nonna's house, S goes off to my Uncle in private about why she wasn't included in the eulogy, and how she helped out oh so much. S did nothing to help, and she's only been around for 2 years, so who cares if she wasn't included. My Dad and my Zia's husband were included, cause they've been there for Nonno around 15 years, and my Mum, Zia and Uncle were mentioned, cause they're his kids. And all the grandchildren got mentioned, cause we're the real family. After my Dad, Mum, sister and I go home, my Uncle yelled and screamed at my Nonna and Zia, for not having S in the eulogy. He yelled like a madman, and the neighbours had to call the house to see if everyone is safe.

After the gathering, my Mum got a message from my Zia saying S went off at her about not having her name in the eulogy. Everyone got pissed.

My Zia and Nonna came over a few days ago, my Mum showed messages S sent her, and my Zia showed messages S sent her too. She said things along the lines of "It's not fair that I wasn't included. I've done so much, and been there so much. You didn't even include my kids, how dare you. I am (Uncle's name's) fiancee, and I am a part of his life." My Nonna was very angry, and my Zia replied to her saying "This was Nonno's funeral, not yours. How dare you make this funeral about you, you selfish woman. We worked hard to make it about him, not you. None of this has to do with you. None of us like you, because all you do is lie and manipulate (my Uncle) all the time. You are the most selfish woman to walk this earth, and you did not help out at the funeral a single bit. My husband and my sister's husband have actually been there for 15+ years, and you've barely been around. All you do is talk about yourself, and I've had it. Enjoy your life away from us, because none of the family want you around every again. We're disowning (my Uncle) too, because he believes you over his real family who haven't controlled his life as much as you. He's a fool, and when he divorces or breaks up with you, and comes running back, we're not accepting him anymore. Because he's already chosen his new family; a bunch of liars. Get the f away from the family. Enjoy your life."

My Nonna, who is very nice, quiet and sweet, then said to my Uncle, "Get S out of the family. Go away. I never want to see you, or that cow again. I created you, so don't treat me like crap. Never disrespect my family."

​

Best revenge ever, cause S has shut up and stopped whining, and I haven't heard a thing from them since, or seen them. I no longer want to see them again. I forgot to mention she also went off behind my back about me not including photos of her on the slideshow I worked so hard on, and I started yelling curses to her, saying "That cow wants to make the funeral all about her petty ass." She's nasty. My Uncle also went off about me too. I hope their marriage turns to shit.

(source) story by (/u/UnusualCatto)

[starkatana]

I Want You (Part 2)

~Part 1~

Summary:

Your mom stops by to visit and makes a deal.

Angst

Dabi x Reader

Note:

I was in the mood to write something angsty, so using this prompt list by @gvgvdans . I tried my best to incorporate most of them into the story.

Also I listened to a lot of Alison Wonderland when writing this!

I Want U – Alison Wonderland

Hope you enjoy it!

The next day, you arrive at the coffee shop at the time your mom agreed on. Going inside, you see that your mom is talking to someone at the table.

“Hi, mom.”

“Honey! Good, you're here! This is Greg." She gestures to him across the table. "Greg, this is my daughter that I've been telling you all about!”

“Hi, I've heard so much about you.” he gets up and extends a hand to you.

“Hello.” You shake it a bit confused.

“Your mom showed me your pictures, but they don't do you justice.”

“Uhm?”

“Please sit what would you like to drink? It's on me.”

“Uh?” Your eyes shift between him and your mom. “Just surprise me.”

“You sure?”

“I trust you.” You give him your best charming smile. He walked away, and you faced your mom with a fury in your eyes. “Mom.”

“Isn't he cute?”

“What the fuck?”

“Dear. You can't be single forever; you have to start dating.”

“Mom.” you grab the bridge of your nose. You never told her because you and your parents have never been on the best of terms that you didn’t even see the need to tell them anything. “I was dating someone, but we broke up last night.”

“Oh, well, isn't this just awkward.” She didn’t sound surprised. “Nothing like a rebound to bring you back!”

And she didn't look surprised, and that made you uneasy. “You didn't want to get coffee with me.”

“That's not true.”

“Then why is he here?”

“Two birds with one stone I wanted you to meet him he's one of your step dad's coworker's son, and I thought it'd be cute to set you two up. He's nice, is fabulously wealthy, comes from a well-respected family, and has a quirk that lets him manipulate DNA of viruses and with your healing quirk you could have babies with the ultimate healing quirk.”

You roll your eyes. “Are you serious?”

“Please do this for me dear I'm not getting any younger I just want to see you happy in a successful relationship, just trust me on this one.” She goes to reach for your hand, and you quickly get up from the table when he comes back with your drink.

“I got you a dirty chai if that's okay?”

“Thank you,” you begin, “but-”

Your mom kicks you from under the table and gives you a stern look.

You shoot her a glare from across the table, and when you look back at him, you try to be kind because it wasn’t his fault your mom was a nightmare.

“Greg, I’m sorry, but I’m not really looking for a relationship, my boyfriend and I just broke up yesterday, and I’m not just looking to date right now.”

“Y/n!” your mom, whines.

You give her a disgusted look.

“Oh! I’m so sorry to hear that.” He says, obviously uncomfortable, “I’ll just see myself out.”

“I’m sorry.” You apologize.

He nods and waves good-bye before leaving.

“Y/n!”

You sit back down and lean across the table and in a menacing whisper say, “Never pull that shit again.” You sit back and continue in a normal voice and tone. “It's rude and annoying. You have no right to set me up on a blind date without my permission.” You tap the cup in your hand. “I'm pissed, and this is why we don’t talk.”

“Honey.” Your mom rolls her eyes. “You need to stop working so much, settle down, have some kids, etc. etc.”

“Yeah cause that worked so well for you the first time.”

“Y/n!”

“What? It's true you and dad divorced and remarried because you both wanted to ‘settle down,’ but being heroes got in the way of you ‘settling down.’”

“That's where we're different. You don't want to be a hero. You're doing it right. Just go on one date with him.”

“No! Dammit, mom. Are you even listening? My boyfriend and I broke up yesterday! The last thing I want to do is start dating again!”

“What you think Dabi could love you? A fucking criminal, y/n?” she spat. Her eyes got wide, realizing her mistake, and she covered her mouth.

There is no way she would or should know about Dabi. How did she?

“What did you just say?”

“Nothing.” She had nothing left to say as she tried to gather her things up.

You get up and block her from getting up. “What the fuck did you do?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Are you the reason why we broke up last night?”

She paused and then smiled, “Honey no but did you really think you would be happy living a life like that forever? I mean c'mon?” she gestured to you, “you’re young and beautiful, your quirk is amazing, anyone would be lucky to have you, and he couldn’t see that. He can’t love you.”

“Stop it. Just stop. I'm Sick and tired of listening to you: I'm going home and please don't contact me. Stay out of my life.”

“Where do you think you're going?”

“To find Dabi and to make things right.”

“He's a villain y/n you're lucky he hasn't been caught think about my job your families' job.”

“What if he's not? What if he's just a puppet and I'm the one pulling all the strings.”

Her eyes grew wide and was taken back.

“Tch. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all.” You shrug, and you left the cafe. Your mom was a pro hero she could get into so much trouble for that, but it wasn't true, and you needed to fix things with Dabi before it was too late.

You found yourself on a bridge where you could see the city lights. Standing next to the side, you'd recognize that silhouette anywhere.

“I knew I'd find you up here.”

“Y/n?”

He looks up and over at you cigarette still hanging from his mouth. You couldn't see his face but the fact that he acknowledged you and turned towards you it felt like it was enough.

“You shouldn't be here. You should go.” He said looking back over the edge

“No Dabi I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you.” You started walking towards him. “I know what happened I know you, and my mom must’ve made a deal, and it's bullshit. She’s manipulative and crazy. She’s had years to make things right between us, and this isn't it. I'm not going to let her ruin my life. Dabi I love you, and I'm not letting you break up with me.”

“Dollface. I was never in love with you. I was just using you."

“Tch.” you roll your eyes. “That's not true. That's not who you are.”

“And who the fuck do you think I am!?” he turns to face you. You can’t see his face, but you can hear his voice. It was shaking, and you could see his breathing was shallow and short. You knew you were right, and you weren’t going to stop.

“I know you're Dabi, the hard-ass villain who has his beliefs and hopes to change this society for the better. I know you like to do puzzles in the paper. You like to bury your nose in a crime book. You like stupid humor movies. I know you wouldn't spend your time on someone you don't think is interesting you wouldn't spend so much time with me if it weren't for my quirk and if it weren't for the fact that you cared deeply for me. I know you Dabi. You changed me for better or for worse I feel something with you something different, and I know you feel it too.” You put your hand on his bare arm where his sleeves were rolled up and the fact he didn't flinch away. “I don't know what you and that witch talked about, but I'm here, and I'm not letting her get in the way of us.”

“I want my life back. ”

“Excuse me?”

“When you're with me I have too much to lose. If I'm with you, it's not just my safety. It's yours. I can't always protect you and don't say you can protect yourself. I already know that, but there are some villains that are just merciless. Truth is y/n I don’t know if I can love you.”

You closed your eyes and felt tears form.

“Then that's it Dabi. If that's how you feel, then say the words again, and I'll leave you alone. I just want to hear you say it and have you mean it. And not read the script that my mother made you say. Tell me you want me gone and out of your life and we're done.”

The silence was tense; you were nervous, but in your heart, you knew you were right. Dabi loved you. There was no way your mom was right. There was no way, and then in a quick sweep, Dabi had you in his arms, and his lips were attached to yours. Warm tears hitting your cheeks he was crying. You kissed his back, pulling him close keeping things light while wishing they could get hot and heavy.

“I hate you, Doll Face.”

You smile and caress his face, “I know, but I love you.”

“I love you too that's why I left you and let your mom-“

“My mom doesn't know jack shit she doesn't run my life I do and Dabi I want you in my life, and I'm not scared of my mom and neither should you big bad Dabi oh god you laugh I can't believe you.”

“Can we start over? ”

You laugh. “No. But we can pick up right where we left off and only get better from here.”

He holds you tighter than ever. You take in his light cigarette mixed with autumn scent. Even if he was a villain, this felt so right.

“Let's go home.”

Flash forward to the present time your mom is outside the apartment door again.

“Get out.”

“Excuse me.”

“I said, ‘get out’ you're not wanted here.”

“We had a deal.”

“Yeah but your daughter isn't as easy as you thought she'd be to control. She's not a little kid anymore she can make her own decisions, and if anyone stands in the way, her happiness is going to have to answer to me. Do you want to have to answer to me?” Dabi cocked en eyebrow at her, as blue flames came off the tips of his fingers. “Bitch.”

She snarled and left your apartment Dabi closed the door.

“You do like me.”

“So? What about it?”

You shrug nothing, and you go back pretending like you're busy with something else. Catching one more glimpse of your boyfriend when he catches you starring you stick out your tongue, and he gets up and forcibly gives you a deep and longing kiss.

“I was wrong-”

“Wait, wait a second, say that again?”

“What?”

“I want to hear you say that again.”

“This is childish-”

“Say it or no sex.”

“I was wrong.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s the stuff.”

[whatevenismyaestheticidk]

Things I’ve heard high schoolers say pt 1

-Person:I don't want to go to college. I want to join a rock band.

-Person 1: A dangerous pogo stick

Person 2: Do you mean a jackhammer?

-Person 1: I only have five minutes, what can I do in five minutes!?

Person 2: Masturbate

Person 3: Dab

-*Person 1 snaps fingers in a Z formation and points* No.

-Person: It's the computer Jesus.

Person: I’m okay with being the human embodiment of a cookie recipe.

-Person: Her eyes were as blue as... the color blue.

-Person: angrily clicks pen

-Person: Fight me *said while dabbing*

-Person: Did you just assume the gender of that table?

-Person: How does that child have popcorn! It's Wednesday!

-Person: Yo no speako Shakespearean Englisho.

-Person: I AM looking at an AC! *shouted across campus during finals week*

-Person: You fancy English tomboy! *shouted during an argument*

-Person: The salt the salt it burns! *followed by horrendous screaming and someone collapsing on the ground*

-Person 1: It's spiky.

Person 2: Depression?

Person 1: No a porcupine.

-Person: I don't know what fake tan you put on, but you’re not brown. *Indian girl to another Indian girl when one thought a food was spicy*

-Person: Thicce. When she thicc but she French. *pronounced thick-ay*

-Person: Everything's breaking and falling apart. *cue a chorus of 'my life' and 'same'*

-Person: I searched up the word 'search'. Nailed it!

-Person: *to the tune of making my way downtown* Make a meringue right now.

-Person: Legiterally. *legit +literally*

-Person: See, the problem is, I don’t want to.

-Person: We're boycotting Amazon. Siri play despacito.

-Person: Dishwashers are just machines from the evil overlords. You don't do the dishes, the dishes do you.

-Person: It makes me want to dig my own eyeballs out of my sockets and eat them but I'm fine.

-Person 1: Is this strawberry jam?

Person 2: Yes

Person 1: Ehhh I'm allergic but it's fine.

-Person: You human bobby pin.

-Person: Technically, Fire trucks are just giant water guns.

-Person 1: But what happens if you take helium and sulfur hexafluoride at the same time?

Person 2: You die.

-Person: I want to breath fire like the dragon that I am.

-Person: (girls name)! Stop trying to graph life!

-Person 1: Great I’m a pterodactyl with 3D printers for ears.

Person 2: Oh my god it’s me!

-Person: I will consume your soul!!!

-Person 1: Did you just fall and accept it?

Person 2: Yes.

-Person: Dang. Life is just crunchy.

-Person: I relate to that shoe, because I am also alone in this world.

-Person: Being alive is to0 much of a commitment. TBH I have enough commitment issues as it is and I’m just not fully committed to this whole life thing.

-Person: Swiper no swiping! *shouted as another student tried to steal their water bottle

-Person: (persons name), you either have to solve the problem, or you have to stop whining and ignore it. That’s how life works.

-Person: I want an emotional support komodo dragon to emotionally support me by killing my enemies.

-Person 1: Move the table by (mans name).

Person 2: What? Physically?

Person 1: No, mentally… of course physically (person’s name)!

-Person: What do they speak in Brazil? Brazilian?

-Person: I’m  not going to have five kids fuck you buzzfeed.

-Person: How many calories are in a Pringles container? Cause I just ate all of them.

-Person: I could listen to him say penguin forever. If someone ever says penguin as good as he does I’ll just….

-Person: And then his reply just savaged me yeah!? I just want him to like me.

-Person: Me watching my life fall apart like ‘that’s a shame’.

-Person: Carry yourself upstairs! For gods sake (person’s name) it’s not that difficult!!

-Person: Do I look like the basic gluten free white bitch? Okay I thought so.

-Person: How could I give up on life when I never even lived it in the first place?

-Person: Have you ever gotten into a TED talk spiral? Like just a spiral of knowledge and inspiration?

-Person: You don’t know true fear until you almost drop your laptop without its case.

-Person: So they just yeet you into the water when you die.”

-Person: And in that moment she made four very straight girls turn gay for five seconds. That’s how fine she was.

-Person 1: Why is the sky screaming?

*thunder*

Person 2:It probably has cramps.

-Person: I’m here, I’m queer, and I shall be scoping you my dear.

-Person: You. 20-20. Vision. Person. Gah!

-Person: I guess I’ll just phase through the walls.

-Person: He has the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair.

-Person 1: Not even sarcastically though, why do you care more about my life and health more than I do?

-Random Girl walking by: same though

-Person: Wait are potatoes a fruit?

-Person 1: Come on (person’s name), chop chop!

Person 2: I’m chopping!

-Person: I thought I ran into (boys name) but it was actually just a bench.

-Person: Are streptsils supposed to burn?

-Person: Does static electricity work here?

-Bro 1: Close your eyes bro

Bro 2: Okay bro

Bro 1: What do you see bro?

Bro 2: Nothing bro

Bro 1: That’s my world without you bro

Bro 2: Bro

Girl: I swear to god if you two do that again… *insinuating that this wasn’t the first time they had done so*

-Person 1: And how do you exactly get to the sketchy parts of London?

Person 2: Google maps.

-Girl in a dark room to roommate: Well you know what? *Turns on light* well fuck you I hope your eyes burn.

-Person: Oh my crapety crap crap.

-Person: Oh yes, we love a spiky shistar

-Person: Tbh no one else can hate me as much as I hate me sooo yeahhh

-Person: So I guess I’m just gunna dab and pretend like everything’s okay then cry later.

-Person 1: Well you’re... fricking... stupid.

Person 2:Wow language.

Person 1: I’m 15 I can do whatever the frick I want!

-Person: *shouting*I don’t have energy for this today!

-Person: I didn’t know the lady was not wearing garments.

-Person: That went from getting water to doing drugs. That wasn’t a jump at all.

-Person: I am a bright and colorful piñata and god is a 13 year old birthday boy whose parents have just announced their divorce.

-Person: Oh my god I just got a message! *pause* Never mind it’s just my cellular company

-Person: I only know how to express love in either dramatic, multi-page, 19th-century-style love letters or single memes presented without commentary so jot that down

-Person 1: As a member of the stop the bull community I kindly request for you to cease this activity.

Person 2: Oh yah? Well as a member of the START the bull community I wanna ask you to umm BACK OFF.

-Person: I’m feeling very third wheel. You and (boys name),  (boys name) and (girls name), (girls name) and 8-ball.

-Person: My entire life is the ‘awkward YouTube phase’.

-Person: Sliding into (girlfriends name) dms like *proceeds to perform a giant sock on hardwood floor style slide*

-Person: (Teacher’s name)’s voice just puts you to sleep. If you need to take a nap, just listen to a recording.

-Person: And then there’s me, having a mental breakdown over a water bottle.

-Person: Like girl, I know you’re thirsty but just drink some soda.

-Person 1: I’m sad lemme have some.

Person 2: Who broke up with you this time?

Person 1: HEY!

-Person: Excuse you, I’m always ashy.

-Person 1: 3/8 people on this group chat aren’t straight. That’s 0.375. Quick maths. Who needs to pass the math final when you can calculate the amount of gay in the group chat?

Person 2: Politicians use statistics to argue their points anyway so you need it in life.

Person 3: That was intelligent, (Person 1) you’ve been outplayed.

-Person 1: YAY WERE ALL GOING TO DIE

Person 2: Me in the face of the apocalypse.

-Person: God I miss Lagos, even the bumpy ass roads. at least Lagos had LESBIANS.

-Person: Does anyone else want to pretend their okay with me? No?

-Person: 8-Ball Bitches!

-Person: I’VE GONE BACK SO FAR INTO THE CLOSET I’M IN FUCKING NARNIA NOW

-Person: Attack! *Squeals as she’s squirted wit a water-bottle* Ahhhh you fricking fudger!

[fan-dumb-trash]

For your consideration: Remile Friends-to-Lovers featuring highschool theater shenanigans and self growth

Part Two Sis Part Three Part Four

Remy and Emile are friends, best friends in fact, but fate has a couple tricks up her sleeve to tear them apart, only to bring them back again. 

This got longer than expected but theres more to the story after this oh yes indeed so buckle up cause part two is gonna be typed tomorrow when it isnt one in the morning so HERE YA GO @happiness-is-regret

Warnings: Divorce, parents fighting, mild panic attack, self depreciation, if there's more let me know!

So its seventh grade aka awkward central because puberty and acne and awkwardness and it's just awful all around and theres lil Remy who is NOT confident at all by anyone's standards

His parents argue a lot and he learned staying quiet is the best way not to get involved or yelled at in the crossfire so yeah

And then you got Emilie who kinda knows what's goin on but not really. He wears tie dye shirts and aviator glasses sometimes until he had to get actual frames over the summer but it was no big cause he was used to glasses anyways

But Emilie is wiser than the other kids and thinks cliques are stupid and he just loves cartoons and english okay stop teasing him for being a lil bit awkward okay STOp

But yeah he doesn't get friends easy and he tries to squirm in other friend groups but it doesn't feel right. Until Remy. Who is incredibly shy believe it or not! They have no classes together but somehow Remy mustered the courage to compliment Emilies pink hair and BOOM FRIENDSHIP

They eat lunch together. Some days it's in comfortable silence and other times its complaining about teachers or PE miles or this brat kid who vandalized a bathroom stall

And Remy starts warming up and realizing maybe the whole world isn't against him. Just because his home is a literal war zone doesn't mean being friends with Emile is doomed.

At the end of seventh grade the duos lunchtime friendship is going great! Emile is starting to get into cartoons and their convos are “OMG OKAY SO VOLTRON SEASON 2 IS OUT AND IM SCARED REMY I WANT TO CRY FOR MY SPACE CHILDREN ZARKON CAN YEET HIMSELF OFF A CLIFF AND-” “Woah their Em, slow it down sis”

As Remy gets more comfortable there is more teasing and nicknames and laughing but they dont hug and Emile isn't super affectionate but hugs are a thing for friends right???

One day on a weekend it's pretty bad for Remy at home. His parents are yelling and its loud and his breathings picking up and his eyes are shut and he's crying because is it his fault??? Why can't they stop stop stop STOP!

And he has to get out because he cant take it hearing they two people who he loves most fight with each other when they are supposed to love each other and his little brother Janus is sleeping thank god but he needs OUT right fucking now

So he hops out his window and runs. Two houses down and around the corner there's an open field that should probably have a house or a park but low income neighborhoods be like that sometimes ya know?

He runs in the field but then there's trees and a little path but wheres the end and the sun is setting now so he sits and looks at the sky and cries

Emile likes his peace and quiet. Hes and only child but his house gets cluttered with his parents (DOT AND LARRY FITE ME) and their thespian friends on the weekends especially around showtime and tec week so he walks in the field.

So when he comes across Remy he screeches and cusses and they're both apologizing and it's a mess but wait was Remy crying?!?!

So Emile is concerned and sits him back down and they talk. Remy says his parents are probably going to get a divorce and how they've been fighting and all that and Emile starts to understand why he's so sheltered

Remy's crying again so Emile asks “Hey, You can say no but can i hug you?” And Remy nods so they hug and they melt right into itm and they stay there for a while and watch the sunset.

From then on they are attached to the hip. Nothing can separate them. Emile invites Remy over for dinner and out to see his parents shows at the community theater and its fun! Remy kinda gets to be a kid and he has sas now! He sees its okay to be a bit absurd with Larry and how jokes are fine with Dot.

The boys are in the field again after dinner and Emile is talking about Dot and Larry, and Remy cant help but be envious. They're all so happy and perfect and he’ll never get that. He goes home and the glitter fades and he sleeps with music to drown out the shouting but its still there.

Remy says “I wish my parents were like yours. I wish I had that. It's not fucking fair Em”

Emile says “I wish I knew how to help… but I can't. All I can do is offer you a slice of normal and hope you aren't allergic” To which they both laugh. But the insecurity sticks. Remy wonders if he's just going to mess things up later or if him and Emile stop being friends what will happen

And it haunts him. Its summer and his parents get a divorce, but the yelling in person is replaced with battles in court and over text. He has to go to mediation a couple times and Emile is there the next day with icecream and steven universe

Emile starts to notice things. The way Remy's eyes are filled with fire as he banters with Larry or when he rants about things he's passionate about. The way he runs so fast in field like nothing can catch him not even the wind itself. The way his whole face glows when he laughs or how when it's silent with them and the sky, he closes his eyes and hums a song he doesn't know.

And he realizes he's in love and he's so scared because Remy doesn't need romance he needs stability. His world is crumbling and he needs his best friend. And Emilie hides it and surprises himself. Remy doesn't notice the way Emiles hugs last longer or the way he sighs as he walks away. He doesn't notice the stars. His mind is on other things. Remy doesn't have time to feel the same or explore feelings so he doesn't.

Eighth grade things go as normal. Emile is still hopelessly in love. Some nights he cries and some nights he thinks his feelings are finally gone. Some nights Remy sleeps over and they sneak into his moms room and but on stage makeup.

Emile almost kissed him when Remy made him a Jake and Finn card for his birthday. And it was hella cute and cheesy and had “love u babe” on the inside and “happy birthday, bitch” on it and it was classic.

But yeah he totally wasn't disappointed it wasn't Bubbline on the card what???

But then things just… stopped.

Remy stopped going to the field on weekends. He was busy when Emilie wanted to hang out. Em was worried at first that something was wrong at home and that he was lying until he saw Remy around at school with other kids. He was growing his hair out and had a leather jacket and when Emile said hi Remy smiled tight, nodded, and continued to talk to his new friends.

Then he noticed how they were the kids who liked sports or girls or always laughed loud in the cafeteria. He noticed how Remy's sass grew into straight up ego and how his confidence wasn't just with Emile it was with EVERYONE

People waved to him as he walked by. Everyone was “babe” “hun” “sweetie” and “sister” and Emilie felt less special.

And not Eighth Grade was nearly over and Emilie had lost his best friend to the rest of the world. Yes he was happy that Remy was confident and Yes he was happy he made new friends.

But back when Remy needed him, back when they dazzling smile was meant for him, back when the problems were so big you needed two people not just yourself- Emilie could hang on to Remy

But now that Remy didn't need him, he was left for trash. Emilie was heartbroken. He swore to himself he wouldn't let another boy break his heart to the point where cartoons couldn't even cheer him up. He cried when Ruby and Sapphire got married and when Bubbline kicked ass and he prayed for the day when he would have that.

Summer was torture and he never saw Remy in the field. Little did he know Remy was there, just in the trees or wandering at nights when his mom came home yelling and cussing. Emile thought the pain of the divorce was over when Remy was going to court once every 6 months and to family counseling weekly but did it help? No.

Highschool came and Remy climbed to social ladder. He hid the bags under his eyes with sunglasses and kept his pep and sass with starbucks coffee. Combat boots to make him taller.

And Emilie was still alone until Patton came along with Roman. They sat together and then Logan and Virgil joined. Sloane and Corbin who are juniors swung on by. Kai and Elliot would join them the next year and together they became the theatre troupe.

Emilie felt whole with this diverse group of many passions and interests and he couldn't help but smile more. He didn't feel so alone. But part of him still longed for that old friendship he has lost- but there was enough going on to forget it.

Emilie didn't notice Remy staring at him with his fiery eyes when his own friend group were so loud they didn't pay him mind. Remy started to see how the tie die pink haired boy grew up and moved his children with dignity and didn't take their tomfoolery. He saw how he would catch conflicts and mediate them. He saw his goofiness shine through all his actions. And he started to care for this new Emile, but also remember when it was just the two of them. New thoughts lead Remy to think it was him holding Emile back from this all along.

He began to think Emilie was better off without him dragging him down with his million problems. So he too began to embrace to noise and forget.

Next it was Sophomore year when the universe threw them back at each other...

[polygamyff]

25. Part 4

I feel all sad, nobody is here and I am having to eat hospital food. Not even stupid Malik came to see me, and where is Shawn. I would have been there for all of that and that what hurts, I am actually awake so early too, well it’s this place. They are constantly doing shit to me, I can’t sleep or rest. I just want to be out of here, I am wondering where Shawn is now. Why is nobody here but my family said they was all here to watch me die, this is terrible. My life is terrible, least I got to see Reign. It’s kind of amazing how I made that, I can actually make beautiful ass babies and I am proud “morning” I groaned out, that voice “what is it now? I am sick of the IV, how many times you want me to pee?” I am beginning to become annoyed at this shit “soon, maybe in the afternoon. Once Domonik as seen you, also we need to make sure we get rid of the bad blood too” sighing out “ok” I mumbled “so we just need to give you some tablets, the tablet you should have been having” well this teaches me “you seem very sad today, you’re usually in the mood to annoy people” I shrugged “just nobody is here, I thought my best friend would be here but he’s not. My family are still angry with me so now I am on my own bored” which I am “there is a lot of family here for you though, we banned them. There was a lot of fighting going on, it got to a point where we said no so that could be the reason why nobody is here” I guess but it’s still bullshit, how you not going to see me when I am awake.

I have no mobile phone, just these walls and I refuse to think of things right now “Marquis’ boy, you look better than your father but then again he has a bodyguard outside his door, saw him from the window” looking up from my hands, when I asked for people to come I didn’t want him “Hakim” I said feeling very irritated already “I didn’t bring your wife, we need to talk without her around” staring ahead of me and not at Naomi’ dad, why is god like this and now I am stuck on this bed “son in law” staring at his hand, holding my hand up and and shaking his “I am glad you’re alive, Davenport hotels could never last without you” he sat down, made himself comfortable “did my daughter come? She was here” shaking my head “didn’t see her at all” which is true “lots have happened while you was not around, things I have heard and seen. You know, I could kill you right now. I could even get someone to kill you” mean mugging him “I wasn’t around so why kill me?” I said all confused “because, the world knows my only child is infertile, now I know it’s been one your people. You have a child with another woman, oh I have seen her. I have seen it all” scratching my forehead “your daughter being infertile is not my fault, you all lied to me. I just did what I needed to do” Hakim laughed “I did nothing, how am I supposed to know my daughter can’t have kids? The contract wasn’t just for you to have kids, how about making vows about actually taking care of her” shaking my head “I was high when I said those, why don’t you leave me alone and take care of your daughter. All she wants is love, she is scared of you” he sniggered “she is useless, I die, then she dies. We have nobody to take over the business, useless right? But you bought shame on my family, made us stupid. Whatever me and your dad have is gone, you will divorce my daughter and you will pay her a good amount or I will come for you and your little family. I know where they all live. Can’t hide now can you” Hakim got up from his chair “may the best man win” I said to him, I won’t go down.

Placing Reign on my bed “thank you mom” she helped me with bathing Reign, I got the hang of it now so I am proud of myself. These are the things I should be doing anyways but couldn’t, I was bust at the hospital with Maurice “it’s ok baby, she loved it. Not a single tear” my mom touched Reign’ cheek, smiling down at Reign “she has such long eyelashes, such a pretty little thing. Can’t wait to get back to normal, to get back home. Lose this weight and just be back to normal with things” my mom passed me the diaper “you didn’t say, how did it go when he saw her? We fell asleep so we didn’t know what time you both came back” my daughter is just staring around, ever so quiet “you know, I realise something. She is so much more at ease when you are around, she didn’t cry all night?” shaking my head “but I did have her in bed with me, she cried once but then slept well but yeah. Maurice was happy, I saw him, the man I love. He was crying, he saw what he could have lose, he was so close to losing the moment with her. She didn’t cry which was good, she was just staring at him. Probably thinking where the hell have you been, my heart felt so full watching them together, the way she looked at him. She loves him so much, he fed her the bottle. He was showing emotion, you was right mom” my mom smiled at me “see, look at her. She was made from love, you told me” my mom is right.

I am such a proud mother, I didn’t think I would taken to parenthood like this. I got pregnant and the pregnancy was not the best but my bond with my daughter means everything, just everything about her. She makes me happy, I am at peace with her “the best gift daddy gave me is you, and you give me the best cuddles. You do, but I think you’re going to have daddy’ eyes which is not a bad thing, you got to have something of him” I giggled, Reign upper lip flinched up, like her attempt to mimic me “you trying to smile for me?” Pressing a kiss to her cheek “can’t wait until daddy is showing you so much love, he wants all these cuddles too” my dad sighed out as he sat “I’m going to be sad when she goes Robyn, who is going to keep me company?” Khaleesi walked in after “get a dog” my bright idea “she is a good dog you know” shaking my head “you’re not having her dad, sorry. She is mine but I do think you both should get a dog” Khaleesi jumped up on the couch “don’t you start wanting some attention, Reign has got all of my attention girl” she is trying to figure out how to lay on my lap and find space “sorry girl, my daughter got this space” Khaleesi whined out, I need to give her some hugs.

My mom took Reign from me so she could put her in the crib, which knowing her she will wake up and not like being put down “when are you planning to go back to work anyways?” I asked my dad, he actually took time off for this “Wednesday, I have to go back in. Hopefully Maurice should be back by then, was he ok last night?” my parents are always cute asking about him “he is ok, he cried holding Reign. That is all I wanted, to see he was still there and he was. I am going to see him today, see if I can just speak to him. He did say he wanted to speak to me too” unlocking my phone “that is good, he is used to not showing emotions. I remember that” Damon is checking up on me, bless him “yes I know dad” I have so many messages but I don’t answer them anymore, if you my parents I do but forget my nosey ass family “on today show on Access, an update on the billionaires Marquis and Maurice Davenport and what else we know about the Davenport family” my mouth fell open “oh wow” my dad said “this has to be a joke right? Why is he even on this, I don’t get it” this is trash “if they mention my daughter I will sue them myself” dropping my phone to the floor, what is this mess.

“Maurice Davenport, heir to the Davenport empire stunned the world when he was taken into hospital for an on going illness he has since he was a child, his father Marquis thought thought to have had an heart attack when he knew of son being on that bed, Scott what is the latest” I don’t find this amusing one bit “he is well and fine, speaking to his father in law Hakim, and this what he had to say about the situation” everyone is selling out Maurice, he doesn’t even know it “how is Maurice right now?” he is walking out of the hospital “he is fine, he will be out in no time” placing my hand over my face, this is a mess. The camera switched back to the studio “what do we know about him Scott? How has he made it onto the ladder of being known to us” a video played on the screen and it looks like he was high as fuck walking with a whole bunch of people “he became a socialite with his dad’ money, moved to the Hollywood hills. He is friend with the likes of Beyonce and Jay z, his celebrity friends have all passed on their thoughts of him but it’s not just him becoming a socialite that made him well known, it was his habit of his drug use. Which then made him not worthy of the title, it was then his dad took over his life. He is a changed man now, I have met him once. He is very sociable and I wish him the best” they haven’t mentioned anything else “but he is a polygamist, he has a wife and another female. He left his wife because she couldn’t give him kids, that is just cruel” I am in shock right now “he does have a daughter, which was born beginning of this month in a private hospital, from what we know of her she is just a regular girl that lives in Anaheim. We did try and catch up with her” covering my face, that was only just last night “they was going to see him, he has hired her a bodyguard so things are pretty serious with them both. He had his wife and his mistress there” lifting my head up “we will keep you updated on that story” my dad turned the TV off “I wish you did that beforehand” I breathed out “if I hear the word mistress, I will murder Maurice!” my dad shouted.

I used a different entrance to get inside the hospital, I didn’t ask for no Jay I need Maurice to get out of the bed and sort this out. The only reason I don’t go this way is because it’s alike an extra five minute walk to get there, it’s easier going through the main entrance. This is just getting sickening, I don’t like this. My face being shown to the word like that, all I am saying is everyone is a snake as soon as Marquis and Maurice both got ill, it’s like they kept shit at bay and now everything is coming out. Pushing open the door, I didn’t bother to knock but I wish I did. Maurice’ mom, sister, lawyer and another female “Robyn” Maurice shifted up on the bed, his excitement made me happy that I couldn’t help but smiling back at him “hi” I said sheepish “where is Reign?” he looked behind me as I closed the door “with my parents, it’s best that way” I feel awkward now “is this the girl?” the unknown female, she looks like Joy anyways “yes auntie it is, this is Robyn. This is who I want to be with, she is the one that saved me” Maurice spoke up, Nalah hugged me “nice to see you, I have been trying to talk to him about the things going on and he said he wants you here. You was telling him, Wade wanted to see him” that is the man I love.

Maurice’ mom, sister and auntie left, Wade stayed behind for what ever reason. The awkwardness left the room anyways, I know Joy is trying to see my daughter but no “why are you still here?” Maurice said to him “because we have business to deal with but Robyn, you have things you want to speak about” walking over to the bed, I don’t care if Wade is here “how you been? Miss me?” I asked him “you have lost weight” placing my hands at the side of his face “I missed you a lot, I woke up with nobody here. I haven’t seen Shawn, where is he” pressing a kiss to his lips “I am not sure, he was here but as soon as you was ok he left. I don’t know where he went” Wade cleared his throat “if you can give Robyn and I like ten minutes, then you can come back. Buy a me a drink too” Maurice held my hand which stopped me from walking back to my seat “fine, I will be back. Would you like a drink?” he asked me “it’s fine” smiling at him “sit on the bed, like here on the edge. Don’t sit far” shaking my head “I really can’t, I am supposed to be resting my stitches still. I will stand here” the door closed “ok, I wanted to say I am sorry and also thank you for saving me. I just hear it from everyone, they all taking about it. She saved your life, I am just speechless. I woke up and I was brushing things off but at that moment you do, I was scared. Maybe I was stuck in a dream” that word dream “you was in my dream that night” I interrupted him “what do you mean?” I hate speaking on it “I was asleep, but it felt so real. You was there, you was telling me you was free. You loved me, you called me Bonita and you walked off. I reached out to you but my hand went through you. I woke up and it was a wake up call. You died on me, in that moment I treated you like I would anyone coming into the hospital I had too, but I gave it more. Every strength in me, I broke down crying after. You was gone, you left me” Maurice put his head down.

“I don’t think Malik was really paying attention, I was in a state. Like my breathing was going. I was losing oxygen and I could feel it, little breath’s but it was too late. I went. I was in so much pain that going in that state was better but I didn’t tell you that. I was declining rapidly” I hate hearing this “he called me that night, and took his mother off and put you on as power over his life. It was late, he said that to me. I was like I haven’t met this woman, are you sure? And then I hear this” Wade came back quick. here I go crying “why didn’t you tell me? I was there, right there and you didn’t say it?” this what angers me “you just had the worst birth ever, I didn’t want to burden anyone” shaking my head as tears fell “burden me, why do that to me. You know how much shit I have been through, ask him” I pointed at Wade “I had to meet your family, seeing these guys in suits saying is this what will killed him off, I had to beg Damon to help me. He got me there with you, then I had an argument with Kellen. Malik got blamed for you, he didn’t even do shit. Kellen was counting on you dying, you’re dad calling me a mistress, disrespecting me in front of my family. Then he had a heart attack outside the waiting room, Shawn punched Kellen because he called me the secret bitch. Now I am on the blogs looking like a bitch, they out there attacking me. I am the bitch that sought you out, I got pregnant on purpose. My face is everywhere and Naomi looking innocent as fuck. Now I am on Access Hollywood, everyone disrespecting me. Getting my family involved, I don’t feel safe anymore. I look like the bitch that stole you away from Naomi” Maurice’ mouth fell open, he stared at me in terror.

He didn’t expect what I have just said to him “someone has also taken a picture of you in this bed asleep, it’s on the blogs. What Robyn has said is true” Maurice looks extra stressed and I feel bad now “who exposed Robyn, Wade? What is my publicist doing, what is she doing?” Maurice said to Wade “we got word of TMZ and we did allow it to go through but it was nothing about Robyn, on the paperwork it was about you. To say you’re ok, everything that was put on there was not by me on the team” Maurice let my hand go “Wade, give me your phone. I need you to remove Robyn’ face off the internet, sue any blog, TV that uses it. They have to blur her face out. I want you, come here” Wade got his phone out from his side pocket “here” Wade held his phone out to him, Maurice gripped his tie on his suit “Maurice!” I spat “you fucking find out who has been talking about me Wade! You earn your fucking stay, you should have done this without me instead of sitting fucking back, you get that bitch publicist and you tell her do her fucking job! You fucking use that phone and find out” Maurice pushed him back “creasing up my shirt, thank you” Wade fixed his tie “I can do that, you need to clear her name. Once you finished peeing in the bag that is, I have your best interest so please. I do have a feeling on who it is anyways, I think I lost count on who. Your whole family but I will proceed with that. Shawn is in New York, you gave him that power. He is dealing with Dubai, get better Maurice, and quick” Wade walked out.

Maurice is ever so quiet, it’s weird because he is thinking and plotting “is things still being said?” Maurice finally said something “yes” I said in a whisper “my dad is in hospital, he is too ill. Where is Malik, Robyn. I need you to get my phone, I’ve not seen him all day. I am looking after him. I am just working out who is doing this” I am not about to give his phone “no, you’re going to rest. I am going to get Jay here, you have him here with you. Someone is also taking pictures of you like this. Just relax please, your mind is working overtime and I understand but your health. For me, just relax ok? Let your lawyer do what he needs” Maurice punched the bed at the side of him “fuck!” I wanted him to know but I don’t like seeing him all angry “Maurice, listen to me. Once you are better we will come back bigger and better, I will never let you fall like this” he is devastated “I am so sorry Robyn, I didn’t want this for you. I didn’t want you to be exposed in this way” Maurice is stressing and I feel so bad.

[junkyardlynx]

You like scary stories? Good. I’ve got one. Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, or whatever. Who fucking knows. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t just one shared fever dream between seven stupid kids. Except the part where the dream was real. Has to be real now that I think about it. Anyway. I’m rambling. About all I can do, right now. Haha. How sad. 

The year was 1998.

Good year.

Goldeneye came out in 1997, so it was really the year 0001 AG to me and my friends. We fucking loved Goldeneye.

I was seventeen and I lived alone in a small town in northwest Indiana. It’s farm country’s farm country. I’d been orphaned and bounced around since I was ten, but being nearly eighteen and relatively well-behaved was reason enough for the state to turn me loose with my inheritance. Quitters. You could stand at one edge of the town and spit to the other end. We had one bar, an elementary school, a post office, a vet, and a corner store. It sucked, but it was cheap and somewhat near the only living family I still had. I lived just above the post office and vet, which was probably the only really neat part of town, so I guess I had something going for me. Add a shitty 1988 Ford Probe bought at cost from a frustrated dealership into the mix and I was up street.  

My uncle Mike lived alone too, a forty minute drive away out by the county line road. He had a pretty nice farm house to himself after my aunt Sherry filed for divorce due to her own extramarital affair. I guess when you’re surrounded by woods on all sides and the only things to keep you company are a host of chickens, a couple turkeys, a goat, a dog, and a...fucking peacock, you kinda get antsy for some excitement. I suppose a two story barn and a grain silo aren’t exciting enough. Anyway. They hadn’t taken me in after my parents died because they had their own problems and I understood. Couldn’t force a kid on someone who wasn’t going to take proper care of it.

Mike was headed into the city for the weekend to shack up with this girl he was into. He did this from time to time, too awkward to ask her to move in with him and too shy to accept her offer, so they just had their trysts. Wasn’t really my business. He called me after I got home on Friday from classes and immediately launched into his request.

“Hey killer, I’m going to see Mary this weekend. Can ya hold down the fort for me? Just feed the animals once a day and don’t let Garfield eat anything dumb.”

“Uh, sure.” 

Garfield was the goat’s name.

I watched him eat the license plate off “Uncle” Van’s...van, once. His name was Van, he was a friend of Mike’s aaaaaand he owned a van. I guess life works like that sometimes, predictable and all. Anyway, Garfield would eat literally fucking anything near his big dumb idiot mouth, like most goats. 

“And uh, I think there’s a bunch of beer in the fridge that’s gonna go bad. Could you do me a favor and get rid of it, bud?”

I could hear the wink through the receiver. I grinned as I pinned the receiver between my shoulder and ear, rummaging around through the cupboards to find my little book of phone numbers.

“Oh yeah, sure thing. Wouldn’t want to have bad beer hanging around in the fridge.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. It better all be gone when I get back. Love ya, kid.”

“Love you too, man. Have a good weekend.”

With an audible click, the other line hung up and I was already dialing people’s numbers. Robert was first, as he was my best and most radically tight brother-man. 

“What’s up, Dingus Kong?” 

Ever since he was twelve, he had the voice of a full-time, carton-a-day smoker. I was honestly a little jealous.

“There’s a beer leak at my uncle’s and we have to plug it up. Call Louis and Alex and make their dumb asses come out. You know the address?”

“Hell yeah, dude. Can I invite Jay?”

“What do I look like, a cop? Of course you can. Saves me the trouble.”

“Cool, later dickless.”

“Peace.”

It wasn’t long until I’d roped Robert, Louis and Jay into things, along with Alex, Laura and June. Alex and Louis had been dating forever and were pretty much attached at the hip, while I had a thing for June. A very quiet, subdued thing, because I operated under the assumption that no one was ever interested and that any thought to the contrary was pointless and asking for trouble. 

We met up at my uncle’s house around 9. They’d pitched in and brought a shit ton of snacks but no one brought any actual food, so our diet that night was going to consist of...Natty Light, snack cakes and chips, pretty much. High school kids eat worse on a daily basis, so no one really cared. I remember being shocked at just how packed the fridge was with shitty Natty Light. Good thing I had good friends.

It was a pretty relaxed atmosphere - Louis and Alex were touchy in the corner of the living room, already a couple beers deep. Robert, Laura and Jay were playing Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 in the den. They had a penalty game where you had to drink when you died and if you were that fucking prick that picked Oddjob, you both had to take a drink at the start of the round and two when you died. It was fair, believe me. Fuck people who pick Oddjob. 

That pretty much just left June and I. We relaxed in the kitchen, shooting the shit and laughing at each other’s bad jokes. Sometimes we’d look out over the kitchen counter and down into the den / living room - the farm house’s design was always kind of odd to me, but I liked it. The whole house was a one story with a basement. You could come in through the glass sliding door and be right in the living room / den area, then turn right and go up four or five stairs to reach the bedrooms and the turnoff into the kitchen / office area where the front door was. The kitchen had a very open structure, with the sink looking down on the den, and you kinda felt like a commander if sat there and just watched everyone. So I did.

“Hey, Charles?” 

“What’s up?” 

I turned back towards June, taking another sip from that honestly kinda shitty beer in my hand. Ah, the taste of youth - cheap alcohol obtained through immoral or subversive means, like a really cool uncle.

“We should go out to the barn.”

“Why the hell and fuck not?” 

I put on some bravado, but honestly, my uncle’s farm creeped me out. I’d stayed here for the summer once and I swore I could hear things swaying in time with the tall grass as the sun started to die. An animal would go missing every now and then, but my uncle always shrugged it off as coyotes. Never really felt like coyotes, but who was I to disagree when he was the one that lived here all the time?

“Hey, everyone! We’re going outside, time to get up in the hayloft and be stupid.”

I heard a chorus of replies and the click-whrrr of a tube television being powered off, followed by a rowdy collection of feet stomping up carpeted steps. Everyone poured into the kitchen, grabbing things like twinkies and cold hot dogs and new beers. It wasn’t long before we took the party outside, flicking the floodlights on the house on for comfort as much as visibility. We ambled as a drunken mass, slowly making our way towards the faded red barn. 

I have no idea why the barn was so fucking huge, given that less then ten animals lived there. The space was equipped for a sizable amount of large livestock like cows and horses, but all that it held was a collection of idiot birds with too much love and not enough sense. A ladder leading up to the hayloft poked through a square, and we began our inebriated ascent. 

It wasn’t long before we settled into a circle, talking about nothing in particular on the warm wooden floor of the loft. June had taken a seat next to me, so of course, I overthought absolutely everything before determining there was no way she was into me because why would she be? She was way too cool and cute. It was obvious. 

Somehow, we got onto the topic of scary stories. Spooky scary skeleton time. I made up some dumb thing about a cannibal cult in the woods, but it wasn’t very thought out, so everyone gave me shit. Robert just thrust his beer into the air and yelled “WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE, IT’S ALIENS”, which got a laugh out of all of us. It finally came around to June, who began to tell us about La Llarona, a crying ghost lady in Mexican folklore. 

It was actually pretty spooky until you realized June was like, four foot fucking eight with the voice of an adorable church mouse, and then you were unable to take it seriously. 

We swapped a few more before silence descended on us, slow and natural. The workman’s lamps that I’d lit with a long trigger lighter burned, casting shadows along the walls and illuminating our faces. I smiled as I realized June’s head had come to rest on my right shoulder, feeling not unlike someone blessed by the attention of a regal crow.

“Dude. I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry, Illberto.” 

I waved him off with my left hand before looking around. Something was bothering me, but I couldn’t put my hands on it. Honestly speaking, it was kinda like someone had some bodacious body odor going on and tried to cover it up with some sort of perfume. I took as...well, as discreet a sniff as possible, trying to see if it was one of us. 

I don’t think it was, because the more I smelled it, the more I realized it smelled less like body odor and more like that strange stench of death. Sickly sweet, putrefaction rendering the body of something no longer alive into components for bacteria to consume. I kinda wrote it off as dead mice somewhere since I was an idiot at 17. (I still am an idiot, but I was a bigger idiot. Harder head. More impressively stupid. Anyway.) The smell was bothering me though, so I gently pushed June’s head off my shoulder and stood up.

“Since Mr. Crunch and Munch wants some food, I’m gonna run back to the house and grab some chow and booze. Anyone want anything in particular?”

No one really had an idea of what they wanted, so the group just started chanting “FOOD AND BOOZE, FOOD AND BOOZE, FOOD AND BOOZE” at me. I laughed and nodded, giving a sort of half-wave to June who just smiled at me the whole time as I went to climb down the ladder.

Too bad the ladder was gone.

I groaned in annoyance, turning around to address everyone.

“Very cool, who fucked with the ladder?”

“What are you talking about, brother-man?”

Louis piped up, head resting on top of Alex’s. I gestured dramatically at the square hole in the floor, then pantomimed the act of climbing the ladder.

“There was a ladder here. It’s gone now.”

“It probably fell, Charlie.” 

There went Laura, being the voice of reason. I shrugged in assent. Stop making sense, god damn it.

“I’ll just pull a Spidey-boy and jump down. It’s like, ten feet.” 

Something in my head kept telling me that people can die from slipping and falling on ice, but I ignored it. I just had to brace myself, land on my feet and not hit my brain cage. Really simple. 

I walked back over to the hole in the hayloft, sitting down and scooching to the edge. That fucking smell punched me right in the nose once again, pungent and sweet. I almost stop then, but I don’t really wanna look like a goon in front of June. Uh, June and everyone else, that is.

So I stuck my foot down into the oddly deep darkness of the barn below. 

Something wet and hot smacked against it, nearly wrapping around my exposed ankle.

I yelped perhaps the most pathetic sound known to man and physically extricated myself from the hole by leaping up and jumping back. Everyone laughed of course.

“What’s up, penis pump?”

Fuck off, Robert.

“Either the turkeys have really long and slimy necks now, or something down there just grabbed my fucking ankle.”

“Very funny, Charles.” Alex fixed me with a stare, assuming I was taking the piss out of everybody. Holy fuck, I wished I was.

“I’m serious, you assholes.” I’d thrust my right leg out, showing everyone my ankle and foot. A reddish brown goop clung to it, thick and viscous. The smell was emanating from it, and everyone seemed to have taken notice to it. Unless they started retching for a different reason, like my ankle being particularly abhorrent.

“Brother-man, dude, what the fuck is that?”

You’re asking me, Louie Louie?

“Yeah, that’s a negative Ghost Rider, I have no idea. I’m gonna chill up here for a bit, if someone else feels like Rambo, they can go down.” 

I took off my button up and used it to wipe the goo off of my ankle, but the smell seemed to have set in. I noticed a burning sensation on my skin that increased in intensity as I wiped, but it soon faded to a dull throbbing, becoming the least of my worries. In that time, Louis got up to check out the hole.

 He returned to where Alex was, face pale and stiff. 

That’s when we heard it.

“veerrrryfufufufu-”

The sound stopped, then started again. Almost like someone starting a sputtering car engine.

“Verrrrry cocococococo-cokkkkkkkkkhhssssh. Wshooo fufufufufuf. Wshoooo fufufufuckt wishlatter?” 

You ever have someone come up to you and say “hey, we need to talk” and you feel your stomach drop out of your body and onto the floor? 

Yeah, that. That’s the feeling I felt, but way worse. After all, someone wanted to know who fucked with the ladder. Someone who couldn’t string together two words if they wanted to, and they desperately wanted to.

We’d all crammed ourselves into the back of the hayloft, the seven of us together. Oppressive darkness clung to the places not illuminated by the lamps, and the long lighter lay a good ten feet away from us. No one moved to get it. We heard it again and again, some twisted mockery of a voice continually asking who fucked with the ladder. Then it asked again, in my voice.

“Very cool. Who fucked with the ladder?”

Everyone’s eyes were on me, and I shook my head wordlessly as it asked again, perfectly, matching my rhythm and cadence and tone. 

“Hey, if this is a joke because you thought the Goosebumps books were high literature, we’re gonna string you up by your earlobes dude.”

“Fuck off. It’s not. You think I got bored and recorded me fucking around before you all got here? With the tape recorder I don’t fucking own?”

I was hostile.

We were all on edge.

“I don’t know, were you man?”

“Don’t start with me, Robert.”

“Yeah, whatever, you’re a lazy piece of shit. I know you wouldn’t do this.”

“I swear to god.”

The tension was almost lifted until we heard that wet smacking again, like someone slapping a steak on pavement. It was hilarious until you realized it was probably either something dead being slammed around, or some part of the mysterious thing’s anatomy. The smacking persisted as it mercifully ceased it’s questioning, realizing it’s bait wasn’t working. Slowly, the wet squelching of flesh against concrete grew quiet and far away and the stench that pervaded the air began to thin.

I appraised everyone and jerked my head back at the hole in the hayloft.

“Okay. Okay. We’re gonna drop down and run to the house.”

“Is there any better option you have that isn’t ‘jump down and say hi to the crazy stinky murder rapist’ below us?”

“Not really, Alex. Sorry.”

“Alex and I can stay up here,” Louis offered, but she looked at him with her mouth agape.

“Are you dumb, Louis? I’m not staying in that barn alone with this thing. No, really, are you an idiot?”

I looked at Louis with a kind of knowing glance, knowing he was just trying to help out and allay her fears. Couldn’t really blame her, though.

“He’s just looking out for what you want to do. Anyway, we should all go. I’ll go down first and keep a look out while everyone comes down. C’mon.”

I honestly don’t know where I found the balls of steel I was now equipped with, but I was thankful. I think it was just this overwhelming sense of “we have to go now or something bad is going to happen.” Without giving anyone a chance to reply, I broke away from our little heard and took a running start at the hole, leaping down it before my rational mind could catch up.

I let my legs hit and then tucked myself into a roll to rob the fall of it’s momentum, coming up unscathed. I glanced around, greeted by deadly...nothing. Just silence. It wasn’t until I looked at the ground that I noticed it was covered in a thick layer of that reddish-brown goop, and it stunk horribly. I started to gag but I had the sense to bite it down. No point in putting more disgusting fluids on the floor.

“Jump down! C’mon!”

I shouted up and June practically leapt into my arms, so I caught her and set her down, giving her a tender smile. She was all of four foot eight and ninety pounds, so it wasn’t really a feat of athleticism. Of course, Robert came next, and my knees buckled as his six foot frame met mine with that peculiar rapport we had. 

“No smile for me?”

“I swear, dude.”

I swore a lot, apparently.

The rest followed in suit until eight of us stood in the barn, devoid of animals as it was.  I hoped they’d just run off or sought shelter, but another part of me said that wasn’t the case. I exhaled roughly and looked at our group before nodding.

“Okay, we gotta run. I don’t know when that thing’s coming back, but I can already smell that weird stink getting stronger. I think we’ll be safe in the house since we can look the doors and call the cops.”

“Wait, cops? Dude, we’re doing a little thing called underage drinking.”

Thank you for stating the obvious, Louis.

“Oh, yeah! Way better to get murdered and eaten. You’re right.”

“Point taken.” 

We all murmured our assent before taking one last look around. The lamps burned, slowly dimming as their fuel began to run out. I think we left the lighter up there. Not that it mattered, I guess. I reached out and took June’s petite hand, tugging her gently towards the house.

“Let’s go.”

We began to do an awkward sort of power walk, too scared to run and draw it’s attention but not intent on going any slower than we had to. Our group of seven began to cut across the field, towards the shining lights of the farmhouse. 

A horrific wet SMACK from behind us broke that fragile discipline that kept us calm. A plaintive sort of gurgling howl, like a tiger braying it’s dying cry inside of a charnel pit spurred us on, and I roughly pulled on June’s hand. Her fingers slipped from mine for a moment, but her strong and lengthy fingers found mine, slick with what I assumed was sweat. I didn’t bother looking back as the warm porch lights flooded my vision. I let go of the hand I was holding and turned around to regard our group of eight, making sure everyone was there.

Wait.

Eight?

June, Robert, Louis, Alex, Laura, Jay, and myself. Seven. I glanced at my hand, realizing it was slick with that peculiar fluid. I kept the gorge rising in my throat down, somehow.

Swallowing both vomit and my fear, I began to inspect everyone before herding them inside, one by one. There wasn’t a face I didn’t recognize, but there was an extra person here. I got June, Alex, Robert, Laura and Louis into the house before I realized it. 

There were two Jays.

“Hey Jake, come inside.”

Jay kinda gave me a weird look, wondering if I was actually an idiot. The right Jay, anyway. The other one just slowly started to walk forward.

“Hey, I said Jake come inside man. Practice your manners dude.”

My stare was insistent on the real Jay’s, begging him to come in and not make a scene. He shrugged and stepped inside, and only a moment later I was behind him, slamming the sliding glass door so hard I thought I’d shatter. 

The Jay that wasn’t Jay pressed it’s face to the glass and that fetid liquid began to pour from it’s nose as it’s now-malformed hand began to tap lightly on the glass. What looked like clothes began to slough off in thick puddles of what looked to be flesh, pooling on the patio.

“Come inside. Hey. Manners. Come inside. Hey. Come inside.” 

Robert had noticed what was going on and yelled in what I’m sure he’d want me to report was a very manly and commanding shout. Basically, he screamed like a little bitch. Everyone else noticed and booked it up the sort little landing to the second tier of the house, not willing to look at what was happening anymore.

I couldn’t look away. It gently tapped at the glass,  as a second figure approached from the darkness, eventually pressing it’s face to the glass.

My face.

I watched my own face melt away into nothing, forming a featureless expanse of skin with two unseeing and empty eye sockets. The me that wasn’t me tapped politely on the glass like a door-to-door salesman, asking to be let in.

That sure wasn’t fucking happening. In a haze, I waddled backwards, reaching for the phone that sat on the coffee table by the sofa in this 70′s decor mess of a living room.

It wasn’t there. The cord lay neatly on the table, but the entire phone was gone. It looked deliberate, which means that...well, it meant that my uncle took it with him.

Something clicked in my mind, but I buried it as I pedaled backwards slowly, approaching the display cabinet that held my grandmother’s prized compound bow. I heard from my uncle that she’d been an avid hunter into her 90′s and only passed due to the ravages of...well, a car wreck. I was never more thankful to have a badass relative I’d never met than when I pulled that compound bow out of the display cabinet and nocked an arrow.

Never mind the fact that the last time I went bow hunting was when I was like, twelve.

I stared down the two creatures, still begging to be let in in my voice. My hands trembled even as I began to draw back the heavy string. God damn, grandma, how strong were you? What the hell. 

I strafed up the steps, muscles in my arms screaming for release, but I told myself that they couldn’t come in unless they were invited. It was just a glass door, and these things weren’t dumb, apparently. I don’t know what they were. I’d met strange things in the woods around the house, but never anything like this. Obviously. The surreality of it all made it seem absurd to even question what they were. 

It wasn’t until I reached the kitchen with everyone else that I could slowly release the tension and lower the bow, though I kept the arrow nocked and ready. I gave everyone in the kitchen a wary nod as they huddled together, staying deathly quiet. Looking over the kitchen counter and down into the den, I could see one still tapping on the glass. The other was gone.

A soft knock at the door by the office let us know where the other had wandered off to. It repeated a broken string of words in my voice, asking to be let in, saying it was very cool. It’d be humorous if it wasn’t fucking terrifying. 

Wordlessly, I huddled everyone back into the hallway and lead them to my uncle’s room, unlocking it with the key I had. It was the furthest bedroom away from everything else and had a clear line of sight to the hallway, so if they somehow broke their self-imposed rules, I could at least take a steady shot. The door creaked open and the bedroom lay before us as I flipped on the light.

My uncle’s room was surprisingly sparse and barren. No personal effects remained and you could tell where the furniture had been moved in a hurry, like someone was looking for something. It gave the feeling of someone that wasn’t coming back, and the discontent in my heart grew. 

“Yeah, think he’s been moving stuff over to his girlfriend’s place.” 

I said to no one in particular, placating questions before they could come out. A barren mattress lay on a box spring in the corner.

“Let’s stay in here tonight. It’s not gonna be comfortable, but a couple of people can take the bed and the rest of us can take the floor. I’ll keep watch.”

“Charles...”

Robert sounded concerned for once. I laughed. I glanced back and his face soured before he smiled.

“Nevermind, you’re still a penis pump.”

Everyone, still slightly drunk and nervous, began to occupy their own space in the empty room. I sat against the open doorframe, bow laying on my lap, trained down the hallway. Minutes slipped into hours, and everyone began to pass into a light sleep.

Everyone except me.

The sight of the flesh sloughing off their mutable frames was burned into my mind. Not much sleep to be found after that.

Throughout the night, I heard taps all around the house, like a diligent inspector checking for termites in wood. If I strained my sleepless ears, I could hear my own voice rattling through the walls. The deathly sweet stench of the barn had returned, permeating my brain and setting up residence there. 

Once or twice, I thought I heard tapping and murmuring at the single window in my uncle’s bedroom, but surely that wasn’t possible. It was a good eight feet of the ground, as the room sat on the second “tier” of the house. I dozed for a moment and the tapping seemed to grow more and more furious, so I shook myself awake. I began to dig the bowstring into my finger, rubbing it up and down, fraying my own skin until it bled. 

I felt like I was going to go insane. 

A few long hours later and the sun began to rise, banishing the tapping noise with it and the scent after that. I rose, looking around at the sleeping faces of my friends, relieved. I looked around the empty room once more and went to close my eyes before I realized there was reddish goop smeared on the window of my uncle’s bedroom. 

I’d been watched, all night.

All of us had. 

How many had there been?

Enough to replace us?

Did it matter?

Adrenaline flooding my exhausted body, I crept around the house and checked every window, every door. They were all smeared with handprints, fingerprints, imprints of faces traced in that corpse-goo. My stomach roiled heavily, the beer and junk food of the night before threatening to come up.

We were supposed to be a sacrifice, weren’t we?

The copious amounts of beer. The lack of a phone. My uncle’s personal effects all gone from his room. I suppose the rest, even grandma’s bow, was replaceable to him. Including me.

I woke everyone up and told them we should leave. No one fought it, considering we’d survived the night by listening to me. It was a sort of hollow and empty accolade, but I’d take it. 

As Robert and June piled in my Ford Probe outside, I snuck a peek at the barn. Dark red stains and the remnants of feathers, fur and flesh stained the outside of it’s semi-dilapidated structure, as if the animals had been killed by being thrown at the walls in anger. I swallowed dryly, realizing what those wet thuds and smacks had been. 

We spent the rest of the weekend together, all seven of us. One night at Robert’s, the rest of the day at June’s. I tried several times to contact my uncle, but his girlfriend’s landline was disconnected and his emergency cell phone wasn’t picking up. 

Abandoned twice by the family that wouldn’t even take me in, I guess. 

I never found out what those things were. My uncle’s house was marked as abandoned and reclaimed by the bank, eventually being sold at auction for dirt cheap. I didn’t care. I’d stayed away from the forested areas and anywhere approaching natural, and even took to a vegetarian diet for a few months. 

Eventually the memory faded, and years later I had almost forgotten about it. Life went on, and I remained in that cozy little apartment above the vet’s office and the post office. 

Until tonight. 

When I smelled something sticky-sweet, like what the insides of a pitcher plant must be.

Where something tapped at the door to my apartment, begging to be let in. 

Where my own voice begged me to be let in.