#the one that particularly grabbed my attention and made me think hardest about the future of technology was the Google Glass article. Befor

[rhenuvee]

PDA (Fred Weasley x reader)

A/N: So I’ve seen a lot of headcanons for Fred that he is big on PDA with his s/o, so here is a fic about it. Lightly based on the song PDA by Scott Helman- WOW who would’ve known. 

Warnings: If it wasn’t obvious already- a l o t o f M A K I N G O U T, and George being done with your BS x5

*I realized I’m an idiot for not doing this sooner so tell me if you’d like to be tagged in my future fics. I write for 3 fandoms so please specify which one!*

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It was your seventh year at Hogwarts and you had mixed feelings about it. Last year was overwhelming with the events of the Triwizard Tournament, you hoped that this year would be better (aha sike bich). The thing you did look forward to however, was seeing Fred.

The two of you actually just started dating after he asked you to the Yule ball. In fact, he was a little overwhelming himself... in a good way though. He was never shy to show affection, even when others were around which was embarrassing sometimes.

He would hold you close by wrapping his long arm around your shoulder while walking together in the hallways, cuddling in the common room, give you hugs that would squeeze the life out of you, and good lord- the snogging especially made you red-faced. The hot intimacy between the both of you did not leave room for keeping your hands off each other.

Or as George corrected, your faces.

You walked down the hall with the destination of the entrance of the great hall fixated in your mind, surprisingly not noticing the two redheads sticking out of the crowd of students, until-

“WHERE IS MY GORGEOUS GIRLFRIEND?! I CAN’T SEEM TO FIND HER, (Y/N) DARLING WHERE ARE YOU?!” yelled your boyfriend being obnoxiously loud and attracting weird looks and giggles from other students. Your eyes immediately found him and started marching towards his and his twin’s direction with both your hands covering the sides of your face, like a horse with blinders. As if that made the situation any better.

“Fred..!” you whisper scolded him. You already predicted the mischievous smirk that appeared on his face. 

“Yes love, what’s the problem?” he said rather neutrally trying to sound naive. You deadpanned. 

“You were just a tad too quiet there.” you said sarcastically.

“Really, should I say it louder-”

“No Fred-”

“Well what did you expect, for him to shut up?” asked George scoffing and earning a hit to his arm by his twin. You giggled. 

“Not like you could do any better,” retorted Fred. “Go in already.” George shook his head in annoyance as he was shooed away into the great hall. You were about to head in as well when Fred’s hand stopped you and turned you around back to face him.

“Not going to leave me hanging without a kiss are you?” he asked with his hand on your waist. You subconsciously walked closer to him, it felt warm in his embrace. You pecked him on the lips trying to be cheeky, but when you were about to pull back quickly, he was faster and brought you back to his lips with his hand lightly on your cheek.

You gave into the kiss, you really had missed him. And you could tell he did too by the way he was kissing you. He deepened the kiss, his lips tasted like chocolate. But you could feel that almost everyone was in the great hall already, and that you were going to end up with bruised lips again and tardiness. 

You were running out of breath- but that’s just how Fred liked it. Kissing you until you’re completely breathless and had to lean against him for support. 

“F-Fred...” you said in between breaths trying your hardest to resist the urge to kiss him more. He pulled away slowly with a huge grin on his face, still holding you close to him. He chuckled at how much you looked like you needed an inhaler. 

“Fine, to be continued then.” he said grabbing your hand and walked with you to the Gryffindor table to sit. 

The table looked full from the view from the entrance, but once Fred spotted where his twin was, there was an empty space saved for the two of you. It wasn’t long before you and your boyfriend were immersed in the conversation and laughter with your friends around you. It also wasn’t long before George lost his appetite after seeing you and Fred getting all mushy. 

Everyone paused their talking and eating when Dumbledore came up to announce the new changes in staff. The lady in pink who you now know was Dolores Umbridge. She seemed... interesting...

“-I’m sure we’re all going to be very good friends.” she said with her hands clasped.

“That’s likely.” the twins said rather loud enough for it for others to hear it. You hit them both lightly at the same time while shaking your head, as if scolding them. They giggled at your reaction.

-------------------------

Your high hopes that this year wouldn’t be chaotic really did you a bamboozle. You tried your best to remain positive, and that maybe Umbridge would turn out to be a good teacher but she really did prove you wrong.

On the particular day that you got the lines etched into your own skin, you felt a mixture of anger and sadness. Before, you could feel your grades getting lower, your assignments and classroom performance getting sloppier and just overall not like you at all. The blood quill was just the cherry on top.

The thoughts worsened when you thought about how Fred would react. You knew he would be furious, seeing as he was already frustrated when many others close to him had to write lines with the blood quill.

“Just tell him (y/n), you can’t keep something like this from him.” said Hermione putting a hand on your arm. You shook your head and covered the hand with the scars by pulling your sleeve up. Harry and Ron were also there to comfort you while the common room was bustling with the people still up.

Not much longer, Fred, George and Lee walked in from the portrait hole. You tensed up and suddenly felt stiff. Hermione gave you a reassuring look to try and ease your nerves. The trio then went to do their own things so they wouldn’t be pressuring you.

“Hey doll, why the long face?” he said plopping right next to you and tilting your chin with his index finger to face him. You smiled attempting to mask your real feelings.

“It’s nothing Freddie, just tired.” you said pecking his cheek. A frown appeared on his face as his hand moved to run through the bunches of hair that came loose.

“I can tell when you’re lying love, please tell me what’s wrong.” he pleaded. How could you say no to those eyes?

“I-It’s just that I’m not doing too well on my schoolwork, and I don’t feel like I’ll get my dream job and I don’t know maybe I’m just not working hard or doing enough-“

“Darling.” he said sternly interrupting your rambling. You could feel tears prick at the corner of your eyes.

“I don’t want to hear that you think that you’re not enough or any crap like that. Umbridge’s stupid rules and methods aren’t worth a single tear from your pretty face. So please love, don’t be so hard on yourself.” he said sweetly, wiping the tears away with his thumb. You wiped your face with your sleeve, but that’s when Fred saw it. He felt better knowing that he cheered you up somehow but it went back to concern as he saw the lines on your hand as your sleeve stretched up.

“What did she do to you.” he said not drifting his gaze away from your eyes. Uh oh. You gulped and pulled your hand away quickly, not wanting him to observe your hand any longer. He grabbed your arm back, pulled up the sleeve, then stood up like he was about to leave. You felt nauseous, your boyfriend was nothing but wrath.

“I swear I will-“

“Fred, no!”

“And why not?!” he shot back quickly. People’s attention were now at the two of you.

“Because there’s no way to fix it Fred! It will only make things worse, and I don’t want you to get hurt!” you cried, grabbing his hand trying to prevent him from doing something he would regret. You winced at the memory of the day he had to write lines.

Fred hated to admit but you were right. There wasn’t anything he could do. He especially did not want to make you upset. He messed up his hair with his hands stiff in frustration and sighed.

“You’re right darling, I’m sorry I got mad. It’s just I can’t stand Toadface hurting you...” he trailed off, sitting back down with you.

“If it makes you feel better, you look hot when you’re mad.” you said in his ear getting closer to him. He was surprised at your words, but it didn’t take long for him to get cocky again.

“You really think so?” he asked smirking and running his hand through his hair again. He always knew how to get you riled up.

You could tell that was not the end of it. His mouth opened and you knew he was about to yell it out. You covered his mouth with your hand and his announcement came muffled. Both of you laughed before Fred removed your hand.

“What was that for darling? I wasn’t gonna say anything.” he said.

“Yeah right, knowing how much of a clown you are I really don’t think so.” you said.

“You wound me darling, really.” he said putting his hand to his chest. He then remembered the scars on your hand and frowned at the sight of them. He rubbed his thumb on them lightly as if to soothe them.

“Hey, why don’t we just cuddle here tonight.” you said trying to distract him from your scars. A grin appeared on his face.

“That might’ve been the best idea you’ve had all day love, cmon then.” he said opening his arms for you to dive into.

———————————

You were really sad the day Fred and George flew out of Hogwarts. Yes, you were over the moon to see Umbridge’s face running away, and you were especially proud of the twins. But you couldn’t help but for your heart to feel empty without Fred.

They’ve told you first when planning the prank. Fred was particularly upset at himself that he had to leave you, but you reassured him that you wanted him to follow his dream, and that you wanted so bad to see the shop. The long lasting kiss you had before he left was his motivation to make the shop a success.

Finally, the day came when you were able to see the shop of the first time. Ginny, Hermione, Harry and Ron agreed to go with you.

“(Y/n), slow down!” Shouted Ginny from the distance. But you couldn’t- you couldn’t wait to see Fred much longer. You ran the whole way to Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, not caring that you were running out of breath quickly.

You swung open the door and took in the view of the shop- it was amazing.

“(Y/n)!” a familiar voice called out from the top of the stairs. Your eyes were immediately fixed on the bright figure- your Fred.

You both began to run and dodge through the crowd to find each other. You missed him, and he missed you.

“Freddie!” you called out, able to see his fiery red hair moving quickly. Like in those muggle movies, you both ran towards each other and Fred twirled you around before kissing you. It was cheesy, but you didn’t care anymore, you were together again.

You almost crashed into each other when you embraced and had a passionate kiss that was long overdue. It was sloppy, and his hands were everywhere. But that was just how he liked it- kissing you until you were breathless and leaning on him for support. Suddenly running was not such a good idea.

“Oooookay ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the minor inconvenience, if everyone could just take a precaution and swerve away from the lovebirds, you will be fine.” announced George to the people.

Both you and Fred pulled away with lips very bruised. Customers made weird faces, and parents steered their kids out of your way. I mean, you were kissing in the middle of the shop.

“Sod off, mate.” said Fred, his voice slightly quieter since he was out of breath. George only shrugged.

“I will, don’t want to throw up in the middle of the store do I?” questioned George. You giggled and Fred rolled his eyes.

“Oh, and (y/n), it’s really good to see you,” he said hugging you. “We missed you a lot, not sure if you could tell.”

Your eyebrows raised at Fred who looked the other direction and whistled pretending not to know again. And with that, George winked and turned on his heel to leave.

“Well, for once he wasn’t wrong.” admitted Fred. Looking at the way your lips were puffed in the middle of the shop, he definitely wasn’t.

“Now where’s my grand opening gift?” he asked playfully. You realized that you hadn’t prepared anything. You felt embarrassed that you didn’t get your boyfriend a present for his shop that was clearly a success.

“I’m kidding love, just a kiss will do.” he said bringing his large hand to rub the side of your neck. Getting a closer look at him, you could see slight differences from the last time you saw him. His hair was messier, and the red really stood out from the colours of the shop. You could see his freckles and dimples much clearer now.

Fred was about to lean in to kiss you again when George purposely bumped shoulders with him with a flimsy piece of cardboard in his hands.

“Oi, George what the hell?” asked Fred. George said nothing but turned and flipped the piece of cardboard to reveal the words ‘NO PDA’ on it. Oh, it was a sign specifically for you two.

“No need to be such a party pooper, Georgie. This is Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, not Wealsey’s Wizard Gheezers.” said Fred earning a hearty laugh from you.

“Your constant lip-locking is making the customers disgusted, and honestly I am too.” he grumbled.

“Maybe he’s feeling lonely...” you whispered to your boyfriend.

“I’m not lonely!” George protested. Oops, he heard you.

“(Y/n) does make a good point, maybe we should contact Angie-“ teased Fred. You smiled at the thought. You remembered back then when George was swooning over her, but never acted upon it.

“Don’t you dare.” said George with this eyebrows crossed but a light pink evident on his cheeks.

You felt giddy as you watched your boyfriend and his twin bickering. You could only imagine how happy you’d be hanging around the shop-

However, you’d have to find a way out of that ‘NO PDA’ sign.

———————————————————

Link to pt2: Part 2

[thewayshedreamed]

Secrets Don’t Make Friends— Feysand AU

Prompt submission by Nonnie— Reverse fake dating au where everyone thinks you’re dating and you’re keeping it a secret, but you’re not.

Thank you to whoever sent this one in! I had an idea for Nessian, so I may post that one as well if y’all are interested! 

——————————————————————————

It was another beautiful day in Velaris, and Feyre couldn't seem to focus on her newest project assignment for anything. She found herself gazing out of the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the Sidra's soothing flow and mentally mixing her various paints to capture the unique color.

Unfortunately, her firm's newest client didn't care much for river paintings since they were paying for a full digital marketing overhaul. Truth be told, she didn’t hate her job as a creative director for the largest marketing firm in Velaris. It allowed her a steady income, let her flex her creativity to some capacity, and definitely kept her on her toes. She had started as a design team member with the firm several years ago upon graduating from Prythian U, and after several largely successful projects, she started to gain more responsibilities within the team. Once her team’s creative director, Amarantha, had moved on to another firm, Feyre had been promoted to her position.

She turned back to her computer screen, willing the motivation to hit her. Any moment now.

This was a typical pattern for her. Initiating a new project was always the hardest part, but once she got started, she tumbled down the proverbial rabbit hole. She just had to... start.

“Ughh,” Feyre lamented. “I wish I was halfway through this proposal already. I’m way better at that point in the project.”

”You are pretty worthless right now,” Lucien joked. Feyre offered a vulgar gesture in return, earning a hearty laugh from her friend.

Lucien left the marketing side of the firm about a year ago, itching for a different opportunity that would allow him to express himself more freely. He felt stifled by the business side of things; the numbers, the politics, the marketing director he worked under. Tamlin hadn’t been the absolute worst to him, but his leadership style didn’t align well with Lucien for the long-term. He had ended up as a member of Feyre’s team and seemed to fill a void they weren’t aware they had.

“I can’t be that mad at you, to be honest. You’re not wrong,” she replied. “Maybe I need caffeine to get out of the post-lunch slump.”

”Someone say caffeine?”

Rhysand Vila approached, perching on the corner of Feyre’s desk. He was wearing dark khaki slacks with a black button down, rolled up to the elbows. At some point, he had ditched his tie in favor of an open neckline, likely free of meetings for the rest of the day. His casual appearance didn’t readily identify him as one of the firm’s most successful marketing directors, but his authenticity was one of the things that extended his influence the most.

Rhysand’s marketing team often collaborated with Feyre’s creative one, and they managed to create some of the most well-balanced projects within the firm. They worked so flawlessly together that they were starting to become almost exclusively paired, much to the chagrin of some of the other teams. Not only were their proposals solid, their presentations were engaging and convincing. Their perspectives on the projects, combined with their mutual respect of the other’s contributions, presented a solid, united front that built trust with their clients.

Through long work hours and multiple business trips across Prythian, Rhysand had become one of Feyre’s dear friends. When they’d originally started working together, his cockiness had grated her nerves to the nth degree, but she realized over time that it was mostly in jest. In truth, Rhysand was kind-hearted, cared deeply for the people in his life, and an incredibly supportive partner on client projects.

They’d fallen into a comfortable kind of friendship, and they’d only gotten closer with time. He’d confided in her about the toxic relationship he and Amarantha had foolishly found themselves in, and he’d listened to her never-ending rants about her brief coupling with Tamlin, nothing but understanding all over his face.

“I think a coffee run is a necessity,” Feyre said, playfulness dancing across her features.

“I left my wallet in my desk. I’ll go grab it. Meet you at the elevator?” Rhysand asked as he walked backward toward his office.

“Sounds good!” she replied. She turned to Lucien. “You coming?”

He had an odd look on his face, smirk included. She gave him a questioning look, and he let out a low chuckle. “Nah. But if I give you my card, will you grab something for me?”

”Why wouldn’t you just come? I’m not your coffee bitch, Vanserra.” That earned a full laugh.

”And I would never assume you to be. If I’m going to take a break, I don’t feel like being third wheel, is all.” The confused look returned to her face, and he continued. “Feyre, stop. It’s not my company either of you want on this little coffee date. You and Rhysand can go about your charade with anyone else, but you’re not getting that shit by me. It’s fine— you two are great together. I just can’t figure out why you insist on the secret.”

Feyre’s expression morphed into a stunned one, and it took her a few seconds to decide on a response. She and Rhysand had never crossed any lines beyond platonic, so all of this was news to her.

”Luce, I’m not sure who your source was for that little nugget of info, but don’t trust them with anything incredibly important in the future. They’re way off,” she assured him. “Text me your coffee order.”

She made her way to the elevator, finding Rhysand propped against the wall on his shoulder. He was scrolling through his phone, stray black hair falling across his brow, looking as if he couldn’t be bothered by the work day. Once the elevator made it to their floor, they stepped inside and found themselves sharing with Morrigan Reina. She was head of Human Resources, absolutely stunning, and Rhysand’s cousin. She had to admit, their genetic pool was quite impressive, all things considered. She was his opposite in every way with her brown eyes and blonde hair, but they shared immaculate bone structure and a certain elegance. Objectively speaking.

“Well, hi! This elevator ride just got way more fun. How’s is going, Rhysie? Fey?” Her dark eyes sparkled, dancing over Rhysand’s face. She raised her eyebrows at him slightly, silently communicating with him in that way only family can.

”Oh, come off it, Mor. We’re on a coffee run. Care to join?” Something in his tone seemed oddly like a challenge. She realized she hadn’t yet answered Morrigan but felt like a response of “Doing well” would seem out of context, since Rhys had already transitioned away from greetings. She deciding on standing there awkwardly, pretending not to feel incredibly intimidated by this woman in the elevator.

“So sweet of you, but I’ll have to take a rain check. This is my floor actually. Unfortunately, I have a termination meeting to attend. Have some for me!” She brushed her cheek against his in a mock kiss. “Good seeing you, Feyre!” She disappeared so quickly that Feyre started to doubt if she was ever there in the first place.

“Awfully prickly with your dear cousin this afternoon, Rhysie,” she teased.

”Well, dearest Mor can be quite the busy body and likes to think she knows all of my secrets.” He gave a small eye roll, but the smirk on his face gave his affection away.

“You have my attention. I think it’s only fair that I’m let in on this little secret.”

She swore the tops of his bronze ears turned slightly pink. “I assure you I’m not that interesting, Feyre Darling.”

As if on cue, the elevator chimed, and they were walking into their building’s lobby. The coffee shop was right next door, so they made their way there quickly. Within 10 minutes, they had their coffees in hand and were sharing an elevator with a small crowd on their way back to work. Feyre regretted that she wasn’t able to press Rhys for his secrets anymore but supposed it was for the best.

He took the long way to his office in order to drop her off at her desk. She set Lucien’s coffee down on his desk with just enough force to startle him out of his work, earning a laugh from Rhys. Lucien simply glared at her before mumbling his thanks and taking a long pull of coffee.

“Well, Feyre Darling, this is where I leave you.”

Lucien eyed her over his coffee lid, lowering it slowly as he paid full attention to their exchange.

Feyre chuckled, ignoring Lucien altogether. “Thanks for returning me safely. I fully intend on pulling at least one secret from you on the next trip, though. You’ve been warned.”

His violet eyes bore into hers, amusement all over his face. “Do your worst,” he replied, winking at her as he sipped his coffee and walked away.

——————————————————————————

Coffee seemed to be just the inspiration Feyre needed to hit her creative stride for the afternoon. She finally managed to land on a prospective theme for the new account, and she was busy making some rough sketches on her drawing tablet. A booming voice called out to her from down the hall, and she recognized it immediately as Tamlin. Of course he would recruit her attention once she was finally feeling productive.

“Feyre, could you come down as soon as you’re free? I’d like you to do a consult with Ianthe.”

She forced herself to refrain from rolling her eyes, trying her best to be diplomatic.

“Sure, Tamlin. Be there in a bit.”

He hesitated at his office door, poorly masking his impatience when she didn’t immediately jump out of her chair. Typical.

She was already annoyed at his loud declaration across the office that he was asking her to give feedback on another creative director’s work. She didn’t feel particularly protective over Ianthe. It was just poor form, and it set the tone for resentment with no true reason.

Finally, she stood and made her way to his office. He was in his office chair, Ianthe pointing to various items of interest on a flat screen mounted to the wall. She greeted Feyre politely, but it didn’t seem like she was all to keen on getting her feedback.

“What can I help with?” Feyre offered.

“I wanted to see what you thought about the account we’re working on. Considering that you’ve been monopolized by Vila for months, I thought I could at least get a brief consult,” he explained.

Feyre decided to mentally count how many underhanded comments she’d endure over the course of this meeting.

One.

”Sure. What’s up?”

Ianthe launched into the cliff notes of her project, Tamlin contributing nothing the entire time.

“I’m sure you’re probably swamped with whatever you’re working on Feyre, so I appreciate you taking time to look at what I’ve put together.” Ianthe seemed genuine enough. She wasn’t sure if she trusted her, but she felt bad for her all the same.

Before she could respond, Tamlin inserted himself. “Oh, she’s definitely seems busy. Just not sure how much of it is work-related.” Her head snapped toward him, eyes blazing. She steadied herself and turned her attention back to Ianthe to try and keep this meeting on track.

Two.

”Honestly, Ianthe, I think you have a great proposal overall. My only suggestion is that you consider a different color focus. Your primary color for the logo is red, and that happens to be the main color of their largest competitor’s logo as well,” she stated, ignoring Tamlin entirely.

He started to say something about her input, but she quickly interrupted him.

“How unfortunate that the person responsible for doing the relevant market research into any competitors didn’t think that to be relevant intel to bring to the project,” she finished, eyes gravitating back to Tamlin’s face.

”Good catch,” Ianthe said simply.

“It’s happened to me before, too. Don’t create too much additional work for yourself. Maybe see about pulling one of your coordinating colors forward instead, and see how that plays out. No need to reinvent the wheel.”

”I’m not sure how you’ve managed to convince Vila to do all that extra legwork on your behalf, but it sounds like you’re awfully convincing,” Tamlin seethed. He couldn’t help himself, it seemed.

Three.

It was quiet for several uncomfortable seconds. As if on cue, her savior himself appeared in Tamlin’s doorway, a friendly smile on his face just for her. He knocked with his knuckle as he glanced around the room.

“Sorry for interrupting. Feyre, could you stop by my office before you head out today? Nothing big. Our last account sent an email asking for some minor changes, and I wanted to get your input before I tell them anything,” he said.

“Of course, Rhys. I’ll be there in a second,” she replied. He gave her one of his dazzling smiles, that rogue strand of hair kissing his brow yet again. When he walked away, she immediately felt compelled to follow him, as if he took the light straight out of the room when he left.

“You may go, Ianthe,” Tamlin stated dryly. She quickly excused herself, repeating her thanks to Feyre on the way out.

“You realize you two are partners— she doesn’t work for you.”

“Our dynamic is hardly your business, Feyre.” He wasn’t exactly wrong, but she hated the way he spoke to people who worked with him. It had always bothered her.

“Says the guy who all but insinuated that I’m putting out to get Rhys to be a good partner on projects. You’re unbelievable.”

“All of the speculation that circulates around this office regarding you and Rhysand, and you’re caught on what I’ve said? Feyre, sweetie. I thought we were past this.”

”It seems as though the lot of you aren’t busy enough if you have all this time to discuss whether Rhys and I have some secret affair happening under your noses. Maybe if you put half that effort into your job duties, you’d be an almost decent partner to Ianthe,” she snapped.

“You shouldn’t concern yourself with me and Ianthe. We’ll work together in whatever way works for us. Plus, you basically belong to Rhys now, so you won’t have to worry over having to work with the likes of me.” The way he mockingly said Rhys’ name made her want to punch him in the throat.

She turned on her heel to leave, so angry that she didn’t trust herself to respond professionally. Once she got to the doorway, she found the words rolling off her tongue without a conscious thought.

“I ‘belong’ to no one. Your problem is that you see people as assets rather than building relationships. You should consider incorporating a little humanity into your leadership. You may find yourself a little less miserable to work for or be around. From now on, Ianthe can address me directly if she needs me. You, sir, can fuck off.”

——————————————————————————

Feyre made her way directly to Rhysand’s office, still fuming. She probably needed a quick break on the roof to clear her head, but it was already 4:30. She didn’t want to make Rhys stay late so that she could pout properly. Although, he’d probably do that for her if she asked.

She approached his door, knocking lightly when she saw he was on the phone. He waved her in as he finished his call. He let out a polite chuckle at whomever was on the line, and she wondered how even his contrived laughter sounded almost musical.

“Absolutely. I’ll see you for lunch tomorrow. Bye.” He placed the receiver of his office phone into the cradle and faced her fully.

“Hey there, Feyre Darling. Thanks for saving some time for me today. I hope I didn’t overstep, but I wasn’t sure when if I’d be able to catch you later.” He leaned back in his chair, propped his elbow on the arm rest, and cupped his large hand to run it over his face. So he was tired, too.

Feyre let out a low chuckle. “You’re my hero, basically. Your timing was absolutely perfect. Never hesitate to interrupt if Tamlin is the person I’m talking to.”

His bright, violet eyes seemed to linger on her face. “I wouldn’t mind hearing you laugh again,” he mused. “It’s become one of my favorite sounds, I think.”

She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face, and she found one mirrored on his own. She cleared her throat, unsure how to tame the butterflies she was experiencing at his words.

“Shall we?” She motioned to his computer, and he nodded. She pulled her chair to his desk so that she could see, but he forced her to switch with him, insisting she take control of moving through the project.

She wasn’t sure if she was reading way too much into the weird comments she had heard today about her and Rhys, but she was acutely aware of his thigh so close to hers. It was far enough that they weren’t flush, but she could feel the heat radiating off of him in the most distracting way.

He already had the project pulled up on the screen and asked her to move through the document to the place of the proposed changes. He reached across her slightly to point at something, and she was instantly immersed in his scent. She found it oddly comforting, if she was honest with herself.

“So what do you think? Is it a simple fix? Or would this be something beyond the originally contracted rate? If it’s going to take you some time, I think it’s appropriate that we negotiate an additional fee, especially considering we’ve just initiated another large account.”

”Mmm. It’s been a while. Mind if I play with it for a minute?” she asked.

”Yeah, for sure. Take your time,” he said, leaning back in his chair as she worked.

Several minutes passed in excruciating silence, causing Feyre to break out in nervous laughter.

“You can talk to me, you know. It’s eerily quiet in here,” she joked.

He huffed a laugh. ”Hmm, okay. Anything particularly interesting around the office today?”

She thought immediately of her conversations with Lucien and Tamlin, and she couldn’t help but include their interaction with Mor in the elevator on the list. It really was such a weird day.

She worked for a couple of seconds before she replied. “It was quite the day, to say the least. I learned a lot about myself via the grapevine.”

”You mean to tell me there’s gossip in this office?”

”This very one,” she replied through a laugh.

“This is the part where you tell me what’s been said about you, Darling.”

She big her bottom lip, nervous of how he would react. “Well, it’s not exclusive to me. It has to do with you, too.” Her eyes never left the computer screen as she spoke.

“I like how that looks,” he said in regard to her edits, jumping straight back into their original conversation. “Now you have to tell me, especially if I’m involved.”

He offered a small poke to her ribs, laughing at her jerking away from him and the glare it earned. “Spill, Archeron.”

Before she could chicken out, she described her interaction with Lucien prior to their coffee run. He went entirely still as she spoke, eyes trained on the screen. When she finished, he said, “I see. I bet Lucien thinks he’s quite clever, then... Oh wait, I like that better.” He pointed to a small change she made.

He seemed so indifferent, and despite her attempts to the contrary, it bothered her that he was acting so cavalier. She had to check herself, remembering how ridiculous she had found the comments only a handful of hours ago. It was certainly unfair to have expectations of him being that she had barely finished processing this afternoon’s events.

“Yeah, I guess he’s pretty proud of himself. I don’t know how much he believed me when I told him he was off-base, but time will tell, I guess.” She immediately launched into her interaction with Tamlin, outlining the full interaction for him.

His jaw was tense throughout the story, and she could see his shoulders tighten when she would share a particularly tasteless thing Tamlin said. They tended to stay out of each others’ ways, so sometimes it was easy to forget how much animosity existed between the two of them. She finished the entire story, and decided to wrap up everything in a brief summary.

”So yeah, according to Lucien and Tamlin, you and I are hiding a super secret little office affair. But apparently we’re really bad at it, because everyone knows.” She let out a long breath she wasn’t aware she had been holding. His response was swift.

“Well, that’s fucking ridiculous.” He stated, so matter of fact. “Go back to that one really quick— if you don’t mind.” His eyes never left the screen. All business, all of a sudden.

Okay. Now, his indifference stung. She thought she knew Rhysand well enough that he would cushion the blow better than this if he were totally shooting her down. She didn’t like how detached he was, and come to think of it, it’s not like she had offered herself to him anyway. For all he knew, she could find the idea of them dating totally repulsive.

“You could do a lot worse for yourself, you know,” she said, anger bubbling to the service. She saw his head snap toward her, but she refused to look at him.

”What?”

”I know you could walk out of this office and take your pick, but you could do worse for yourself than me. It can’t be that ‘fucking ridiculous’.” She clenched her jaw to force herself to stop talking and breathe.

He sat there looking at her, his attention to the project entirely derailed.

“Feyre...” he started.

”It’s late. I’ll finish looking at this tomorrow. Could you save the changes and upload to the cloud? I think I can make quick work of it.”

”Would you look at me, please?”

She let go of the computer mouse and covered her face with both hands. She rubbed her face roughly as she spoke.

“I’m just tired, Rhysand. I didn’t mean to snap at you. Just forget I said anything. Really, I’m okay.” She didn’t want to see the pity in his face or listen to any explanations. She just needed to get out of there.

She felt one of his hands grip softly around the wrist closest to him as he turned the chair to get her to face him. She kept her face covered, leaning forward, and he had the nerve to laugh softly at her.

“You are such a stubborn, difficult woman sometimes, Feyre Darling.” He gripped her other wrist with his free hand and pulled her hands away from her face. She was too tired to fight him on it, so she let him. She fixed her gaze on his thighs, not entirely prepared for what his expression would show.

“Please look at me,” he whispered. She melted at the tone of his voice, imploring her to make eye contact, and raised her eyes to meet his.

He rubbed slow circles on the sensitive underside of her wrists as he spoke. “In no way, is the idea of me being with you ridiculous. What is so ridiculous to me, Darling, is the idea that I could ever be with you and delude myself into thinking I could keep it a secret,” he murmured, the sincerity in his expression overwhelming her. She saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, readying himself to finish. “Cauldron, Feyre. If you ever let me love you... I wouldn’t have it in me to contain it.”

She was frozen in her chair, in total disbelief. Once she finally regained control of herself, she reached her hand up to smooth his hair back into place. His eyes fluttered shut at the contact.

“That piece of hair has been driving me insane all day long,” she whispered. She was closer now, so much closer to him than she had ever been. She dropped her hand back to her lap to find his again.

His eyes popped open, traveling across her face and landing on her full lips. She watched his tongue dart out of his mouth slightly to wet his own before she regained eye contact. She leaned forward a little more, his hand coming up to brush her hair behind her ear. He cupped her face, running his thumb across her cheek.

“Feyre?” It was barely a whisper, but it was everything.

She subtly nodded her head, and his lips were on hers. He was slow, near reverent as he kissed her, and she leaned in to him, craving more contact. He slid his hand a little farther back so that his fingers could find their home in her hair, just behind her ear. She braced her hand on his forearm, and he pulled her face into his, only slightly, to deepen the kiss.

She let out a quiet whimper as Rhys angled himself to better capture her mouth, and just like that, she was gone. She no longer registered that they were in Rhys’ office or that his door was still open from when she arrived. As far as she was concerned, the world began and ended with them.

They both missed the quick footsteps as Lucien passed by on his way back to his desk from a meeting. They were entirely unaware of his halt as he realized what he’d witnessed and his prompt back peddling. It was when they heard his quiet rasp that they startled, breaking apart only millimeters.

”I fucking knew it!” he whisper-screamed, obviously pleased with himself.

True to Rhysand’s nature, he seemed totally unfazed by Lucien’s discovering them. He brushed his nose over Feyre’s, a grin spreading across his beautiful face.

”Fuck off, Lucien,” he crooned playfully.

His mouth was on hers yet again, neither of them noticing the soft click of the door as Lucien backed out of the office.

——————————————————————————

Just a bit of Feysand fluff for y’all! Feel free to keep the prompts coming, and let me know if you have a particular pairing or mood in mind ☺️

If you’d like to be added to my tag list, you can comment, shoot me an ask, or reblog! I’ll be happy to add you!

Tags (Masterlist):

@polireader // @justgiu12 // @hizqueen4life // @sis-it-dont-add-up // @b00kworm // @bookstantrash // @gisellefigue08​ // @maastrash​

[rosesanthology]

Escape Plan | Matsukawa Issei x F!Reader [mafia!AU]

This took me SO MUCH TIME to write aaaaaah it's not surprising that it's so long :0 i just have many many feelings for Matsukawa Issei ALSO im begging y'all to listen to the playlist before/as you read please !!

Im kinda pissed that i cant add a "read more" option since im on mobile tho :\

(Also ngl at first i planned to get one of the 2 shot but i didn't have the heart to go thru with it)

Warnings : Fluff, it starts with humor but at some point it gets angsty ???? Idk y'all tell me

- Au that could be considered as a ennemies-to-lovers type of situation

[Tags] : @raevaioli and @haikoo like i cannot stress this enough @haikoo this your main manz

- if you could only use one sentence to describe your job to a Karen it would be : stealing from the rich in order to trick other rich people

- you had been what the people would call a spy for most of your life now, the Tokyo based Nekoma Organisation being something close to a family

- you worked with both of your very good friends, Kuroo Testurou and Kozume Kenma

- Kuroo, the leader of your little squad, had been the first one to open up to you when you joined

- he was a gifted chemistry genius and you were sure he could make any poison or soporific out of the most random stuff

- he also had insane combat and physical abilities which made him fit to act in a lab as well as on mission grounds

- Kenma was a little more reserved at first, he was the same age as you but still was really reluctant to accept you as one of his own at first

- when he saw how much Kuroo trusted you and how interested you were in his work he slowly but surely found himself caring for you

- to put it simply Kenma, better known as "apple pi" was a hacker. His job ranged from creating computer viruses to full on enabling the security of whole museums

- despite his cute appearance and shy demeanor he was probably the scariest of you three

- finally, you Y/L L/N was the infiltration and weapons expert of the group, you could weild literally anything from guns, to swords to,,,,,metal rods (but you don't wanna talk about this one) and you were of great help when deciding which infiltration angle was the best in missions

- Kuroo, under the orders of Boss Nekomata, quickly taught you the dangers and ways of the job during your first months working with them, the organisation specializing in outsmarting rich bastards and stealing their precious ressources in order to make "better use of them"

- if they were hoarding a particularly efficient brand of medicine, your goal was to steal it all, and sell it to people in need for free or a low price

- if they were in possession of some important object like let's say,,,,,the construction plans for the emperor's new vacation house, you stole it, made copies to sell at a high price to the highest bidder and your good affiliate, the Fukurodani Corporation would keep an eye on the original as part of their personnal collection, you were fine with that

- yeah they were others organisations like that in Tokyo, your friends from the Fukurodani Corp of course but also the Shiratorizawa elite crime group with who you had worked a couple times before

- ah and there was the Yakuzas too....honestly they were the only group in Tokyo with whom you were still on dangerous terms with

- they didn't like Nekoma in their affairs and you didn't like them in yours, but you tolerated each other

- your boss had established a truce with the representant of the big Yakuza group of your area, Kondo "the viper" Takara, a truly scary woman who had blasted her way to the one of the top positions of the hierarchy

- she even had a cool nickname ヾ(｀ε´)ノ

- but you knew better than to mess with them

- all in all y'all kept doing your jobs well, not bothering anybody

- except for one remaining rivalry with some Miyagi group

- the Aoba Johsai Institution.

- well, rivalry would be a strong word because you kinda got along with that Iwaizumi guy, he was a great hand to hand combat fighter and you respected that

- the others however ? Trash. 👁3👁

- they seem to act like Tokyo will be their territory in the next 5 seconds flat like ??

- THEY DON'T EVEN GO THERE ????

- "they be acting like they can just swoop in and eat OUR rich" you had told Kuroo and Kenma one day over ramen

- spoiler alert : it was a bad idea cause Kuroo snorted and almost made the noodles go up his nose

- no but seriously they always seemed to take advantage of YOUR missions to attract attention

- how did they even know which missions you were on anyway ??? (Kenma and Kunimi are actually good friends cause they play video games together but he'd never tell you that)

- it's like that one time you infiltrated a business company's heir's residence and then you came across a dude named Hanamaki and you had the HARDEST time whisper shouting to him how blowing up the whole place was a bad idea to retrieve one (1) diamond

- at the end you felt so tired that you gave it to him anyway ಥ_ಥ ("just take it ffs" "really ??" "Don't make me regret this")

- they also had the single worst person ever on one of their teams.

- Matsukawa Issei

- just thinking about it made you want to take your metal bat and break something in your shared room with your two other friends

- seriously that guy was like the epitome of clownery

- he's also supposed to be his team's gun expert except that's not the best task for someone who refuses to take anything with him but his freaking FISTS

- the first time you had met y'all ended up being on the same case to assassinate some guy who had kidnapped some cute freckled kid from a place in Miyagi called Karasuno

- EXCEPT HE WAS IN TOKYO SO IT WAS YOUR DUTY !!! NOT HIS !!!!

- you had Kenma on the earbud telling you about the guy's position in the club you were currently one street away from. You were posted on the rooftop of a building with a sniper rifle ready to get done with it and go save the kid but GUESS WHO COMES IN FISTS SWINGING WHEN YOU LITERALLY HAD THE TARGET IN SIGHT

- and he had the nerve to look straight toward your rifle's aim and flip you off while smirking

- sir you're about to catch these hands🚶🏽

- he had knocked him out alright and he got the young boy out but you were NOT ready to let that slide so you quickly got down and crossed path with him at the back exit of the club

- "what exactly do you think you were doing in there ?" Listen. You may have sounded confident enough saying that but you had NO idea that this dude was like a whole ass giraffe

- and he knew he was tall so he had the audacity to say

- "sorry can't hear you so well from down there midget, i was just doing my job (▰˘◡˘▰)" if it weren't for the karasuno boy being right there you would have stabbed his kneecaps on sight

- anyway after that y'all just seemed to run into each other wayyyy too often

- insults were shared just as often tho

- "well butter my buns and call me betty broker if it isn't my sweet little midget shooting people !"

- "stfu before i choke you"

- "kinky but can you reach my neck ?"

- "you've sunk low enough"

-so yeah f u n  t i m e s

- aside from that, business was going great but Kuroo had had news of a very important mission for you but he insisted on letting Boss Nekomata tell you about it himself for some reason

- he'd never done that :(

- you were kinda hurt that your best friend was hiding stuff from you tbh :(

- and Kenma did not seem to know more than you for now

- so you spent a whole week just mopping around

- sometimes you would go and poke fun and the newbie Lev Haiba but it wasn't the same

- Kuroo and Kenma kept working on missions while you were left waiting for that one assignment that Nekomata seemed to keep you for

- until today when Kuroo finally told you that the boss was requesting you in his office

- ngl you were EXCITED

- maybe you would have to zipline down the Tokyo tower (σ≧▽≦)σ maybe he was going to let you take a chainsaw with you this time (σ≧▽≦)σ

- maybe he- "oh" you deadpanned, stepping foot into the office and seeing none other than your arch nemesis, Matsukawa Issei in all his pisces clown glory

- "why tf are you there shitty eyebrows"

- "i had a good day too Y/N ! thanks for asking :D" today was the day. You were 100% ready to kill him and the knife that was attached to your thigh strap seemed like such a good option rn-

- "stop it you two. Y/N take a sit" Nekomata gestured, as you didn't hesitate to listen to your superior even fully aware of Mattsun's eyes annoyingly following your every movement

-"Okay so. Y/N i know you may be wondering why Matsukawa's here but to put it simply we've been informed that a rich family have gotten their hands on one of Aoba Johsai's rarest item : a gold engraved katana that belonged to their first boss"

- "so what do you need us for ?" You didn't mean to use "us" but you knew better than to piss off your boss, he was like a parental figure come on

- "i need you guys to infiltrate an auction held by said family and steal it back in the span of one week. It's up to you to work together or not but keep in mind that our arrangement states that we're autorised to make copies of the katana for future sells."

- you guys nodded, after all you were professionnals before everything and you were about to leave when Nekomata put something on the table

- "here are the keys to your appartment near the auction site it'll be your hideout !"

-.....now this had to be a cruel joke-

- "id rather sleep under a bridge then live with her for a whole week"

- "wow this is the first time we agree on something Mattsun" the oh so familiar nickname dripped in venom as you said it, unsure of what was supposed to happen

- "oh yes you could but i suppose that you don't have the supplies and tools that you will definitely need during that mission :)"

- you locked eyes with the brunette for a minute before reluctantly stomping to the table and grabbing hold of the keys and adress written on a paper, storming out of the door,  letting out a loose "come on shitty eyebrows we have data to collect" to your new....partner ? Ugh it was about to be a long week

-  it turns out the appartment was a lot smaller than you hoped for, with two single person beds, a computer post and different storing purposed furniture

- it was a common thing however, because the last thing an undercover spy would want is to draw attention with a flashy hideout

- the first step was to gather information on who would be at the auction which shouldnt be too hard

- "hey ill take the lead and contact my friend so that he can determine who is going to be here" you said as you sat on the chair in front of the computer

- "mm yeah you do that ill check what kind of weapons have been provided to us" Mattsun had no difficulty finding them as the drawers well full of them....this was very promising

- Kenma had just sent you the list of people that had been invited to the event, and you recognised many names as being members of the powerful Yakuza group lead by Konda Takara, of course.....the infamous viper herself

- you called out to Mattsun to show him and briefly explained what they were up too and how they usually fonctionned

- the auction was to take place the last 3 days after an opening party, leaving the rest of the week for preparations

- they usually took their time in comitting their crimes so you thought that stopping them mid plan by taking advantage of it was the best way to get the sword

- Mattsun didn't have anything to say for the moment, seemingly thoughtful about the whole situation

- "just so you know" you started, already regretting the decision of talking in your head, "i don't plan on being friends with you anytime soon but i feel like for this we should at least try not to rip each other's hair out"

- "i never planned on that second option"

- "huh ?"

- "i hope you know that we've never had a single conversation without insults of some kind before so for the sake of both of us it would be better to actually get to know each other since we're supposed to work together"

- you hated to admit it

- but he was right

- however you didn't comment on it, opting for throwing him a dry "let's sleep" before plopping yourself on your own bed on the other side of the room

- this is about to be one hell of a week

-3 days had passed in the crammed appartement both you and Mattsun struggling to inform yourself on each specific individual that was going to be present at the auction

- right now, you were both sitting on the floor, wearing simple oversized shirts and pyjama pants and shorts, cheese pizza box laying on top of the document covered surface

- "Mattsun, pass me the paper about Okuda Takeda please" :000

- Matsukawa froze, because he knew that in 2 days of living together y'all had establised that you wouldn't be at each other's throats

- but hearing you using his nickname unironically and saying please ???? That was still something he had to get used to

- "what are you staring at ? Give me the paper shitty eyebrows >:[" ah there she was

- "thats my girl" he thought, handing you the document and resuming his own reading

- here's the catch : Mattsun was head over heels in love with you since like day 1 that Hanamaki told him about this pretty girl who let him take the diamond from his mission. He tried to repress his feelings as he had noticed that you seemed way closer with your friend Kuroo who he had seen on missions with you

- maybe you liked him

- he would understand, he seemed way more confident than him and he was also probably way smarter since he was a genius and all

- also the way you were always soft to him and not Matsukawa kinda got to him

- he wanted you to hug HIM after a mission too and NOT insult him

- but he judged it for the better as he still got to be close to you in his own way with the playful fights you always seemed to pick with him

- it was easier than confronting his feelings or rejection

- this mission proved to make things so much harder for him tho

- like yeah he saw you being a badass plenty of other times but now ?

- he got to see you being all clingy and grumpy in the morning (he never knew being called a dumbass while you were falling back asleep on his shoulder was his thing but hey) , got to see your nose scrunch up when you were focusing on mapping out the position of the vent system of the venue

- he could go on for hours about how much he loved you and your plan was not making it easy.....profiting off the yakuzas' plan took way too much waiting and he understood that you wanted it to go as well as possible but he just couldn't keep living like this until then

- it felt like torture

- and he did not want to see you in that gorgeous dress that you were supposed to wear at the auction during the infiltration

- he knew that a couple more days could drive him crazy and make him do dumb shit like kissing you

- he had thought about that a lot of times but never brought himself to do it because je knew it was pointless

- he had to take action now

- the night of the opening ceremony, the day before the Yakuzas would start their scheme

- both of you were laying in your beds, awake, that was a habit you had developped over the past nights, you were just, aware of each other's presence and then sometime you would ask him something about his life, his friends, himself

- it made his heart beat too fast everytime and he could feel himself falling even more by the second when he heard you giggling talking about the time you pulled a prank on your friend Yaku with Kuroo

- he knew that you were already very sleepy from the way you were slurring your words

- "Y/N do you hate me ?" He said, abruptly and he heard a strangled laugh coming from you followed up by the question

- "what's that for dummy ?"

- "please answer" he asked in a whisper, sounding almost desperate

- you took a second to think about it

-you had grown quite close to your tall partner in such a short period of time, even letting your guard down and stopping from being so defensive

- "i don't hate you....i could never" you said the last part more to yourself tho but Matsukawa didn't miss it, he wished he did as he heard the soft sighs coming from your now sleeping form

- his heart ached as he got up, putting on his black coat over his mathing turtleneck shirt, taking his gun and spare map of the auction venue

- you were totally going to hate him now....

- and then he left for the opening party

- the rain was pouring outside

- for some reason you couldn't sleep well that night

- that only happened whenever Kuroo was out on a mission at night or Kenma was working in his office

- you hated sleeping alone, you couldn't do it

- being alone was the one thing you dreaded the most in your life, death was nothing if nobody knew where you were, if nobody aknowledged your existence you weren't alive

- but Mattsun was there and you trusted him.

- yeah you were kind of an ass to him during like 90% of your interactions with him but you just didn't know how to talk to him ??? He was so strong and good at what he did so you couldn't help but feel admiration but also intimidation

- yet you've felt probably more comfortable with him than anyone in your life (yes even Kuroo and Kenma weirdly enough)

- it was a nice feeling

- maybe it was because you saw him differently than them...

- but anyway

- you felt like yourself around him

- and yet

- why couldn't you sleep ?

- "Mattsun ?" You called out to him, voice cracked from not having used it for a while

- no answer

- maybe he didn't hear you over the rain....?

- you had a bad feeling about this

- "Mattsun ?" You called out a little louder, sitting up

- yep definitely

- you turned on the light and to your surprise, Matsukawa was nowhere in sight

- your heart sunk at the realization

- you were alone

- what about the plan ? Ah its true that he never said anything about it

- did he not trust you enough with it ? Did he think you were too assertive ?

- you wanted to cry but it seemed as if your brain wasn't working, your body rushing on its own to check the date and time on your phone : past 10pm on thursday night.....

- the opening party !

- "shit shit shit he must have gone there to take them by surprise wtf is he thinking doing this alone?" You thought aloud, maybe it would trick your body into not being scared

- at this point you were terrified, rushing to get the red dress on as well as putting your 2 guns under each of your thigh straps

- is he alone ? Surrounded by highly trained and dangerous Yakuzas ? What if....you were too late ?

- you didn't have time to think too much about it as you knew that this kind of thoughts led nowhere.

- you had to infiltrate that party the fastest you've ever done in your life and see for yourself, luckily, the venue was only a few crossroads away from your appartment

- truth was Mattsun's plan was not so bad

- after all you had insisted on making him find info on every staff member there too so it's thanks to you if he just so happened to know what type of guy that one waitress liked in order to flirt with her and convince her that he had forgotten his watch in one of the closed off aeras of the venue

- the place was absolutly gigantic, after all it was a mansion bought will illegal money

- he hated this, he just wanted to get it over with, retrieve the sword, gtfo and go back to Miyagi forever so that he wouldn't feel the pain of the illusion of being by your side when you were clearly far ahead of him

- you'd always been anyway

- he had finally reached the generator room and opened the vents with much difficulty as the room was a mess of cardboard boxes and storage shelves

- he was just going to cut the power, which would take about 15 minutes to get back, allowing him to go thru the vents to the main hall that was right thru the wall to his side, retrieve the sword and just make a run for it

- hopefully the rain would cover most of the sound he made so that was even better

- see that would have been great if he hadn't felt the icy cold metal of a gun at the nape of his neck as he was fiddling with the generator

- he had been caught.

- it was the end.

- shit he fucked the whole mission over and now even you didn't have a chance to-

- "what exactly do you think you're doing Mattsun ?" You said coldly even tho the hurt in your tone didnt go unnoticed by the taller man

- "haha Y/N whatchu doing here on this fine night ? You look stunning btw"

- "Cut the crap shitty eyebrows i asked you a question"

- you finally lowered your gun allowing your harsh glare to show how upset you truly were

- damn, Matsukawa really felt shitty :\

- he'd never seen you like that- well not soaked from the rain but....so vulnerable to him

- all your feelings talks happened in the dark of night in your hideout, he'd never seen your face look so pained before

- "I did what was best for both us..."

- "bullshit." He wasn't sure that he believed himself either to be honest

- "what the fuck are you even doing anyway ? I thought you and i were in this mission together ?? Did nothing matter to you ? I finally think that i found someone who i could trust other than my fucking family and that's what you do ? Ditch me for your own profit ?? You did what was best for your damn self Matsukawa"

- you were upset. He got it really, his insecurities had gotten the best of him like they often did....except he didn't have the strength to confront them, to confront you about it. So he got it and he didn't retaliate.

- "so what ?? You're not even going to say anything ?? Not even TRY to fucking apologize ? Do you really don't care ?" You searched for his eyes, but little did you know that he just....couldn't talk nor maintain eye contact with you right now

- "Mattsun...i thought you and i had...something ? I don't know maybe i hallucinated or some shit but i thought we were at least friends you know ? D-did you ever tolerate me at all ?"

- your voice cracked, it got lower and it cracked, and at that moment he was sure his heart broke right at this instant too

- he wanted to tell you that that was the farthest thing from the truth

- he wanted to tell you that he loved you

- but you were too far. Once again, you were miles ahead of him, more than ever

- and the sound of voices coming from the corridor did NOT HELP

- you could not afford being found here so with the professionalism left in you, you pushed your feelings away and pulled Mattsun behind a shelf, crouching and waiting

- you were so close he could feel you shivering from the cold and he felt so so bad

- but now was not really the moment

- "didn't you hear shouting ?" Shit. Maybe you should have waited until getting out of here for your heart to heart because this guard was definitely not trippin

- there were 2, luckily they didn't have the idea to split up to search the room, all you had to do was move low and close to the walls in order reach the door and well....the katana literally could not matter less to any of y'all rn

- at this moment you really regretted going out in such a hurry completly forgetting to contact Kenma, he could have hacked into the camera system and told you were they were so easily.....

- anyway, despite that you guys were stealthy enough to get out if the room

- now the problem was getting out of here.....

- you held Mattsun's wrist loosely as you ran thru the corridor of the building, thunder raging and labored breathing filling the silence

- "Y/N we could get out from the rooftop !" Right....if you could only get there then maybe you could just parcour your way out of this by getting on other rooftops....damn you were glad Matsukawa always thought of every escape plan possible

- you didn't really mean what you said earlier

- yes, you were disappointed but, you were also scared for his dumbass

- and rn may not be the best moment to realize it as you were most likely in a life of death situation but....you loved him

- fuck you loved him so much that you were running in a goddamn dress right now

- "i truly hoped it wasn't you" said a voice from the end of the lobby

- of course it just had to be the Yakuza boss you dreaded so much

- Kondo was just standing there, arms crossed but you knew better than to take her lightly

- "did you come to retrieve it ?" Its funny how her voice seemed to dominate even the full on storm outside, the occasional lightning bolt shining light from the huge windows into the corridor

- "No....let us pass please we just want to leave" Mattsun felt how tensed you were and immediatly rested his hand on his gun handle under his coat

- "yeah sure sweetheart but only if you tell your guard dog to calm down unless he wants me to cut his fingers clean off" she threatened nonchalantly as her hand met the handle of her own katana strapped to her belt

- Matsukawa was deadass glaring at her so hard you didn't recognise him

- he honestly looked like he could take her on but...you didn't feel like testing this theory tonight

- "hey hey, it's alright" you soothed him, putting your hand on his arm and squeezing slightly

- it seemed to work because he quickly let go of his gun even tho he was still glaring

- "let us go" he said firmly

- she pushed herself out of the way and motionned with her arm as if to say "go on~" in the most theatrical way

- you passed her without issues and soon found yourself on the roofs as planned in Mattsun's escape route and made it safely to the streets, rain still pouring

- you were finally letting out a breathe you didn't know you were holding all this time

- you were alive and most importantly, so was he

- you turned around and were ready to say something when he cut you off by grabbing your arms and pulling you into a kiss

- it was short but it managed to get his point across very well as well as warm you up when he wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his forehead against yours

- "i love you Y/N....i swear i didn't mean to hurt you and put you in danger like that....if i knew i would have done things differently i-"

- "i love you too Mattsun and it's never been a problem to me, i've done way more dangerous things in my life than rescue my boyfriend from getting killed dummy"

- in the end, you weren't alone

- somehow he had become, your escape plan from it

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 52

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  We have a pretty fun chapter today, so I hope you all enjoy it.

Also, we have another cameo from a character who was submitted to the character contest. @dierotenixe, I hope you like it!

Speaking of, I am currently at 408 followers, which is mindblowing. I love you all and I appreciate every note I get on these chapters, especially the comments and reblogs. You each keep me going every single day with this story.

Alistair showed up, not bright-eyed but at least early the next morning to discuss the results of the festival. I was barely out of bed, stifling a yawn as I greeted him at the door and shooed him inside.  Not having been allowed entry on the one occasion he had previously ventured to my quarters, he glanced around as though cataloguing the contents. A snore erupting from the bedroom sent his attention whipping that direction with wide eyes.

“Coffee?” I offered calmly, refusing to be embarrassed or laugh at his incredulity.

“You allowed me inside your quarters while a gentleman caller is still here?” he hissed in reply. I took that as a yes and staggered toward the kitchen. “That is incredibly uncouth, Sophia. I expected better of you, at least.”

“Not a caller,” I yawned again, handing him a steaming mug. “They live here, and they don’t have to be on duty for another two hours.  Figured I’d let them sleep in.  It’s been a very eventful few days, they deserve it.”

He scowled at me in disdain. “You could have simply asked me to come back at another time.”

I waved his objections off, gesturing toward the armchair. “It’s fine, I swear. I would have still been in my pajamas, and GK and Lyric would have been here, most likely.  They usually swing by for a few hours if I’m going to be home alone all day.”

A particularly loud snore prompted a sleep-husked objection and a grunt before the snores got much quieter.  I ignored the eyebrows that threatened to leave Alistair’s face in favor of the ceiling and flicked open my data pad instead. “How did the numbers from yesterday look?”

“What? Seriously? You really expect me to just ignore – “

“Alistair,” I interrupted sternly.  “I told you I would be in my quarters, working, for the next several days. I don’t know what you expected, but you probably won’t find it.  I’m staying home so I can recover from handling the festival, which means I’m not getting primped for work, my partners will likely be here, and yes, one snores.”

“Partners? Plural?” he nearly shouted, redder than embarrassment could account for.

“Oh, bloody hell, you posh wanker,” Conor’s voice bellowed from the bedroom. “Some of us are sleeping!  Either pipe down, or feck off! Jesus…”

Instead of the reaction I expected, my assistant was immediately mollified. “Ah, well then.  Messers. MacMaoilir and Okima, I’m guessing?”

I quirked an eyebrow curiously. “Does it really matter?”

“I believe it quite matters.” He actually sounded offended. “Those two are clearly smitten with you, and good men, besides. I was worried you had some other dunderheads here.”

“You do realize it could have been a woman?”

“If a woman snored like that, I would have much graver concerns about you and your taste in partners, I assure you.  Such as a female what? A warthog, perhaps?  While we may no longer be on Earth, I do believe that is still illegal.  Or at the very least should be.”

“Well, then. Now that I have Uncle Alistair’s approval…”

“Bite your tongue.”

“Can we please work, now?” I begged wearily.

Getting down to business, Alistair provided a summary of the data he had spent the previous day reviewing.  Mostly, it confirmed the early reports: Overall, the festival had been a rousing success with minimal complaints reported.  The low-stimulation session was viewed highly favorably, with a note to include it in future events, accompanied by requests from those who had been able to attend a ship-wide social event for the first time.

Tyche’s suspicion about natto was partially confirmed, as well.  “Can you please explain to me why the food festival as resulted in a sudden increase in rotten soybeans from the food consoles?” Alistair asked, drily.

I shook my head and held up my hands. ���For starters, they’re fermented, not rotten. Second, please tell me it is not programmed in the consoles under that term?”  I shut my eyes and mentally crossed my fingers in vain hope.

“Of course not,” he scoffed, prompting a whoosh of breath from me. “However, I was curious what dish was so popular, so I searched the database from Earth.”

“I think it ended up being the single most-popular dish we could track,” I admitted. “But it’s still decidedly not rotten.”  I always tried to be impartial to foods I didn’t like, and I was trying the hardest I could remember with what was decidedly my least favorite food.

“Fine. Controlled rot.”

I sighed and pinched my nose. “Lots of foods are fermented, Mr. Worthington, including several I am sure you quite enjoy.”

“Alcohol is not a food, Miss Reid.”

“Bread. Cheese. Sour cream. Yogurt,” I ticked off on my fingers. “Miso. Fish sauces. Kimchi. Just about any hot sauces or anything with vinegar…” I glanced at him pointedly.

“Bread is not fermented,” he grumbled.

Behind us, a sleepy voice interjected. “Leavened bread is, especially sourdough.”  I turned to see Maverick scratching his bare chest and stretching, his hair sticking out at angles from sleep.  “Was the natto really popular enough to make it into a report?”  Without asking, he gathered our coffee mugs and shuffled off to the kitchen to refill them.  When he returned, he had one for himself. “Besides, you left out pickles.”  He dropped a kiss on top of my head before collapsing on the couch next to me.

“It was either that popular, or that disgusting,” Alistair confirmed before taking a grateful sip of hot caffeinated heaven. “Either way, people are requesting enough that poor Noah has asked if we need their services to augment the atmospheric scrubbers.”

“People could be using it for pranks,” Maverick warned as he slung an arm around my shoulders. “Granted, some people probably actually like it, but still.”

I wrinkled my nose and thought for a minute. “If that’s the case, I’ll suggest to Xiomara that we check the sensors to identify who did it and make them eat the stuff.  Not a fresh server of it, the actual server they used for the prank.”

“She would never agree to it,” Alistair warned.

“Au contraire,” I smirked. “She likes the taste but hates the smell. And the medbay can fix food poisoning. To her, it would be a very solid case of the punishment fitting the crime.”

Hands flung in the air with exasperation, my assistant surrendered. “If you get that policy passed by the Council, I will…” He thought for a moment. “I will learn to swim.”

“From the mermaid,” I insisted, inciting a yelp from Maverick.  How Conor was still asleep, I had no idea.

“Fine. From the mermaid,” Alistair agreed, sticking his hand to shake.

Laughing, I shook my head and took it. Maverick shook me slightly. “What mermaid? I thought mermaids were made-up. Please tell me they’re real. I wanna see one.”

“Kinda real?” I hedged, glancing at him. “Nixe is the beginners’ diving and swimming instructor.  I don’t know what happened to her before coming on the ship, but her file shows she suffered an incredibly significant brain trauma. Like, she should be dead kind of serious.  Our best guess is that she was a professional mermaid performer at some point, because she has an amazingly detailed memory of a life that didn’t exist and a swimming tail that ended up being some of the most expensive nanotech anyone on the ship has ever touched, let alone seen.  Even Noah was somewhat impressed by it.”

“That’s sad but kinda cool,” Maverick admitted, only slightly disappointed.

Alistair scoffed before ending up on the receiving end of my best death-glare. “And she’s nice and patient,” I asserted, somewhat angrily.

“She’s barmy,” he argued.

“And I don’t care,” I ground out. “She is on this ship, so she needed a task.  Teaching swimming makes her feel useful, and she is incredibly. Good. At. It. Grey and Noah cleared her psych eval – she’s no crazier than anyone else on this ship.  And anyone who can swim in over forty pounds of gold gets an automatic lifeguard certification from anyone on this ship who can swim.  Believe me, I ask frequently.”

Alistair opened his mouth to respond, but discovered one of the virtues of having a conversation that included Maverick. “Wait – how much weight? And gold?” my partner asked, astonished.

“Forty pounds,” I confirmed. “They’re actually diving weights, but tests show they really are solid gold. And they could be made of paper for all that they slow her down.”

“She could at least have her memories restored,” Alistair begged, trying to get me to see his version of reason.  Before I could snap a response, Alistair’s gaze snapped up over my shoulder on the opposite side from Maverick.  Apparently Conor hadn’t been able to sleep through our argument.

“They can’t be restored,” he stated, quietly but factually. “Asked Grey about it once, Charly did. The brain tissue was regrown, but without an exact scan of her brain – down to the molecules – those memories are gone.”

“But Miss Reid has her full memories from before she was attacked,” the argument came.

“Cause our brains are scanned every sixty seconds we are on board,” was the response. “Only exception is when we’re asleep or bathing.”  Maverick squeezed my shoulder at hearing this, before grabbing Conor’s hand to reassure him.  It was still, and probably would always be, a sensitive topic.  “On top of that, we are constantly being healed of minor ailments and even aging.”

That was news, even to me.  I chanced a crick in my neck to look up at him. “Why aging?”

He stared down at me, pointedly.  When I still did not understand, Alistair gasped softly. “Children,” he nearly whispered. “So there are people who can carry and raise children.”

I swore under my breath at my stupidity. “Of course,” I groaned. “With the exception of Derek, everyone on board is old enough that we would be largely middle-age by the time we reached the colony.  Hell, a lot of us already are.”  I tapped my knuckles on my lips, brain firing on all six processors to calculate the impacts.  Absentmindedly, I handed Conor my coffee and ignored Alistair’s curious glance as I heard it gulped down before footsteps headed to refill it. “Do we know how much of the aging is being ‘healed’?  Are we staying at the age we were when we came on board, or are we getting younger?”

“I’m not sure,” Conor admitted as he walked back in and returned my mug, shoving me and Maverick over so he could sit in his usual spot. “Noah?” he called out. He didn’t ask the question on our minds, as we were all aware that Noah was listening to everything in my quarters.

“Good Morning, Conor,” was the reply. “To answer your implied question, any environmental factors that cause humans to grow old are consistently being repaired, along with damage due to cellular senescence.”

“How?” I asked. I was absolutely floored.  Human…. Terran scientists had been trying to figure that out since recorded history.

“Food and drink additives to limit telomere shortening, along with therapeutic chemicals in the bathing system,” was the slightly chagrined reply. “Everyone brought on the ship was treated for progerial genetics and non-superficial environmental damage that would lead to premature aging.”

“Are we getting younger?” Maverick whispered.  Given his childhood and mine, I couldn’t blame him for the fear in his voice, and squeezed him back just as hard as he grasped me.

“Only marginally,” Miys clarified. “By the time we reach the colony planet, only five Terran revolutions of aging should be reversed from when we left your planet.”

To my surprise, Maverick looked horrified. “Noah.  Does that apply to every person on the Ark?”

“Only those who are outside of their maturing period.”

“So, not any humans who were under the age of twenty…five?” Alistair ventured suspiciously, seeming to pick up on what Maverick was suggesting.

“No, Administrator Worthington.  Only humans whose aging exceeded the equivalent of thirty Terran revolutions of standard aging are provided telometric and progerial treatments.”

“Thank you, Noah,” Maverick sighed, running his free hand through his hair and nodding at my assistant.  “And thank you.”  To myself and and Conor, he clarified. “Derek is only seventeen. Sam is not even thirty, and Zach is twenty-six.  It wouldn’t be fair for them to barely get out of puberty – or in Derek’s case, stare down the end of it – and have to go back.  Can you imagine?”

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[slouchyslouch]

Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush and the passing of time

It’s been a long five years since Tame Impala released Currents, the record that pushed the band to mainstream stardom. It’s amazing to see Kevin Parker’s evolution from 60’s guitar psychedelia prodigy to pop-song writing wonder with a reputation to his name. On The Slow Rush, everything circles around the concept of time. Now into his 30’s, Parker attempts to embrace his own ego as a Coachella-headlining act. Taken as a whole, the album sounds like playing Mario Kart on the Rainbow Road map. There is still the Tame Impala sound that is psychedelic and effects-heavy in nature, but this particular record has the feeling of driving through an intergalactic world with a deliberate caution of not leaping into the void. It’s as if Parker is on cruise-control, only wanting to take risks once he’s sure of a straight path ahead. That’s not to say that this record isn’t good. It’s still going to be one of the most polished records this year — enough for anyone to watch their reflection on it with its tighter-than-ever instrumentals and flawless production.

Although his past three albums were much more interesting sonically, his aptitude for perfection at album number four might just be why it doesn’t stand out as much as any of the past records. Mastering all the techniques of recording and production must have put a damper on a lot of the interesting sounds that Parker pursued in the past. It could be that this album might just be too perfect-sounding. Parker’s songs previous to this record would go one direction and then take you by surprise from one moment to the next — moments that would grab you by the shoulder and divert your attention to his genius. Nevertheless, Tame Impala’s evolution into this new decade has produced a record still worthy of a spin.

With each sound level and each parameter calibrated to perfection, opener “One More Year” contains a sound in what he refers to as his Gregorian Robot Choir — a manipulated to precision sample providing the backbone to a mellowed-out track to ease you in to The Slow Rush sound. From the get go, the Tame Impala vibe already feels different from previous iterations of the band. It’s a little laid-back without the grandeur usually offered on a Tame Impala intro. He sings: “Do you remember we were standing here a year ago? / Our minds were racing and time went slow.” It sets the tone of looking into time as an inescapable concept, yet the weak opener might fail to catch anyone’s attention.

Despite leaving the realm of psychedelic rock, at least there are still the relentless grooves of The Slow Rush. “Is It True” gets into funk territory with some bongos (an instrument more prominently used in a lot of the record), and a thumping bassline reminiscent of “The Less I Know The Better.” Halfway through the track, the song transitions into a spellbinding disco groove. Multiple times throughout the record a lull might transpire, but Parker seems to always nudge you back with an attention-grabbing post-track breakdown.

Meanwhile, “Instant Destiny” feels like it can veer into chillwave textures exuding Caribou and Four Tet-like production. Moreover, the hook of “Breathe Deeper” might be one of the catchiest bars Parker’s ever written. “If you think I couldn’t hold my own, believe me I can,” echoes Parker in a mesmerizing turn of phrase. On the track’s outro, just when you think the song’s over, Parker dives into this nasty synth part as if realizing he’s at an acid techno club. On the album’s Spotify feature, Parker muses that the track was influenced by Mariah Carey, Pharrell, and his first time taking ecstasy, which some of The Slow Rush ultimately feels like — a slow rush, if you will, of serotonin flooding your brain and stimulating your senses. It’s a very sensory experience that triggers slow motion club dancing, with Parker’s vocals passing through you like a mist to cool off the heat emanating from your drug-induced body.

Something to note is the more traditional lyric-centred songwriting compared to previous records. Parker’s gone from Zappa guitar freak-outs to added gloss; grandiose synths provide a particularly uniform environment instead of guitar leads transporting you to a wealth of fantastical worlds. Parker never really focused on his vocals and lyrics as much as the instrumentals but there’s more contemplating here when Parker gets into some balladry on songs like “On Track.” It’s a heartwarming song that slows down the album’s dance-centric vibe. Parker laments, “The world ain’t routin’ for ya, nothin’ to lose it over / We’re just a little older, the rest gets easy.” It’s a reminder for us trying to realize our dreams that we’re going to come out of this in the end, as a synth whirls behind Parker’s modesty.

On “Posthumous Forgiveness,” the track might draw a yawn with its slow tempo in the intro, but on closer inspection, Parker provides more depth to his songwriting, musing about his failed relationship with his father. It’s really only in the second half of the track (as usual) where things get interesting: a warbling synth plays as Parker’s mesmerizing falsetto sings a tuneful hook to his deceased father: “I wanna tell you ‘bout the time / Wanna tell you ‘bout my life / Wanna play you all my songs.” Interestingly, the second half of the song wasn’t even supposed to be part of the track according to Parker, in an interview with Zane Lowe. Parker reveals a moving revelation to let go of his spite towards his father. It’s a tender sentiment that reveals more of vulnerable side to Parker’s lyricism.

It’s funny seeing someone succeed as much as he is, coming from the world of DIY indie rock — writing songs and collaborating with artists with the likes of Travis Scott, Theophillus London, Lady Gaga and getting covered by Rihanna, — and still feel the kind of insecurity and doubt he faces. On “It Might Be Time,” he muses about losing his touch: “It might be time to face it / It ain’t as fun as it used to be.” Parker’s self-awareness only brings up our own share of nostalgia for the past, yet is ultimately a distraction for the present. Its chorus can be reminiscent of Lonerism’s psych rock leanings where the track’s drums are hit at the record’s hardest. Despite his insecurity, I can already suspect that he’s going to be nominated for a few of Grammys, as well as possibly winning Best Alternative Album for this record next year, considering the hype and persona he’s built over the five years since Currents. I can even see Parker fitting in as a Grammy-nominated producer in the future as a result of his budding reputation, to the chagrin of many older Tame Impala (myself included).

Long are the days of the “Half Glass Full of Wine” version of Tame Impala. Some can argue that The Slow Rush sound might have started on “Feels Like We Go Backwards,” but now “Glimmer” might portend dance music conductor on future records. Just look at Thom Yorke’s IDM musical stylings at the age of 40, Kevin Parker DJ sets abound. It’s only inevitable for any musician’s career to evolve her sound and style, but the traces of Parker’s to arrive at The Slow Rush have always been there. He’s made three almost perfect albums, so you can’t really give him any shit for a relatively weaker, but solid record. Currents soundtracked a whole camping trip full of fond memories for me. The Slow Rush might just soundtrack the longest periods of our lives in quarantine — a chance for us to dwell on the nature of time and pause for a brief moment.

[tassium]

#TAYLOR SWIFT APPRECIATION LIFE

PART 6 - reputation

(part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5)

Listen. This was by far the hardest review for me to get going into properly. I love every single track on this album without exception, and it was SO HARD for me to come up with coherent comments to make on all of them.

But I think I managed alright, and we’re finally about to embark on the wild ride that is @taylorswift‘s 6th studio album, reputation.

Hang on tight, and please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times.

1. ...Ready For It?

No, Taylor, none of us were ready for this, not even a little bit.

Can we just talk about that introduction? like. What a way to kick off an album. This track grabs you by the hand and just pulls you along for the ride, like “get in losers”. That little throat clear at the beginning! the beat that drops off and lets her voice go all light and ethereal! This song is a wild ride from start to finish, and I love it. “Let the games begin” indeed.

And that MUSIC VIDEO!!! I want the rest of that movie, please.

I made a reaction video to this track/video and if you wanna check it out, click here

2. End Game

I love the synths at the beginning of this song, but I’ll be honest that Future’s verse took some time to grow on me. Ed’s verse and Taylor’s on the other hand? Boy. Those grabbed me from the start, as did the harmonies that are laced all through this track.

Is it just me or was this the first time she used the word enemies for the people she’s clashed with? I feel like that’s a new thing. 

I also reacted to this one when the video dropped, click here to watch

3. I Did Something Bad

Okay so first and foremost. Taylor Alison Swift, in the year of our lord 2017, swearing on a track out there in front of god and everybody. I feel like if there was any remaining ‘oh she’s just a sweet young thing’ attitude from anyone, this album shattered it to pieces in the best way.

The production on this track, I can’t even. This is an explosive track, it just hits you like a train and drags you along for the ride. There’s a bit on the way out of the track where she says “I did something bad” in a straight spoken voice and it is. Too much for this weak swiftie!

4. Don’t Blame Me

This sacrilegious hymn of a track. I swear. That almost broken electronic wavering synth behind the chorus. The choir effect on her voice. The stripped down beat-driven verse. The lyrics in general? My dude. I can’t. Also anyone who still thinks she has no range can physically fight me after that note after the bridge. That’s power is what that is.

Also can we talk about that behind the scenes clip of her filming the angry distant vocals for the chorus? I’m weak.

5. Delicate

Another thing I’m weak for is use of vocoder. And that beat that comes in for the verse! AND THAT LITTLE ‘delicate’ IN THE CHORUS!! kills me every single time. I’ll be honest here and say that the video for Delicate didn’t really grab me as much as some of the others, but the song itself certainly did.

Can we just. Talk for a second about how sad it is to think about that concept of ‘wow. you must really actually like me if you’re hanging around through all this mess.’ 

One of my favorite things in this track is the descending harmony behind “sometimes when I look into your eyes”. I always want to sing along with the harmony instead of the melody on that part because I find it so compelling.

6. Look What You Made Me Do

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN! that building drumline is absolutely gorgeous and I can’t not air drum to it - I don’t even play drums!

Also, yes, I am fully aware that I JUST SAID on the 1989 review that Out of the Woods was too repetitive for me, and here I am raving about this song which... honestly. Is just as repetitive if not more so. But this song just grabs me so much more and so instantly that I really get into the repetition (And maybe that has something to do with the familiarity because of the sampled melody).

That plinking lead line thing, and oh my god, the percussion on the second chorus. I can’t.

The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now CAUSE SHE’S DEAD. And I feel like with lover about to come out, maybe we’re killing off yet another “old taylor”

click here for my reaction video

7. So It Goes...

I read somewhere that the tracks with the ellipses on them mark out the edges of the “side A” part of the album, and it’s the spot where things shift over to a different feeling, and I believe it.

Again, this track has absolutely outstanding production on it, the softness dropping into the driving beats, and the bridge. Oh my god. I’m still not over that whispered “1 2 3″. And that line “i’m not a bad girl but I do bad things with you’ reminds me of blank space and that “I can make the bad guys good for a weekend” it’s like the inverse of it.

Also welcome to the first track on this album that I refuse to let my dad listen to - “scratches down your back” indeed t a y l o r

8. Gorgeous

Adorable baby voice!! This song is so great, I love it to pieces. I love the sort of bitter quality about it and the way she’s taken how tumblr and twitter fandom talks about celebrities and made it just a mainstream piece of her song.

Also is that a bell like the kind they put on counters to get the attention of the person working? because I can’t help but hit the bell (air bell!) when it comes in and that’s what I always picture when I do so.

I can’t come up with anything more coherent so .... guess I’ll just stumble on home to my cats.... ;)

9. Getaway Car

More vocoder! I love. The wording in this song is so evocative and brings up such perfect, crisp mental images for me, and she applied that to perfect metaphors for the situation in question. I love the idea of how.... like. It’s a rebound relationship, right? but it’s the getaway car from the previous relationship. And really, you can’t be surprised when something like that doesn’t last as long.

Also that outro beat? Be still my heart!

10. King of My Heart

THIS SONG!!!! More gorgeous vocoder use, of course, but then also. So many little things about the lyrics that get me! “Salute to me, I’m your American queen” and “jag-u-ars” and the way she sings “luxury” and just!!! so much!

As for the musical side of things, I absolutely adore that really subtle acoustic guitar in the chorus, and the DRUMS in the post-chorus (or whatever you want to call that bit). They’re so full and almost feel-it-in-your-chest even just in headphones! (I’m still not sure I survived that concert)

11. Dancing With Our Hands Tied

Early on I had a half-baked theory that this song is about John Mayer, but the timeline doesn’t work at all, so... definitely not. Still though, think about it. “slow dancing in a burning room”/”swaying as the room burned down”

That aside, though, this song makes me think of the Halsey track Bad at Love if ONLY because of the theme of melancholy looking back at relationships that felt doomed from the start (or didn’t, as the case may be, I don’t know)

But also just. Taylor’s vocal performance on this song. Those ‘ad libs’ in the background of the final chorus have so much power in them.

12. Dress

And here we have the other Taylor song I won’t let my dad listen to. He would be scandalized to death by this song.

I love that lyric about the golden tattoo. I can’t really explain what it is about that line that gets me so much.

More beautiful production - something about the tracks on this album feels so grand for lack of better word. Plus there’s that moment in this song “say my name and everything just STOPS” and the whole thing goes silent... I will never forget the feeling of that line coming out and the way the whole stadium went dark.

13. This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Ahhhhh I love this song. Gotta love a nice sassy Taylor style clapback, right? Beautiful.

“Feeling so Gatsby” is the best line for getting her point across. You don’t even have to be particularly familiar with the work that references, it just brings the opulence to mind effortlessly.

That laugh in the bridge though, and the tumbling low piano crash afterward, I love it so much. Again to reference the tour, it was such a great extended moment of laughter. So great.

14. Call It What You Want

This... Is probably my favorite track on the album, if I were pressed to name one. I adore this song so completely. I still get just emotionally overcome if I take the time to really pay attention to this song when it comes on. I love it so much, and it’s such a beautiful hopeful song. Like, yeah, my life’s been a right mess but it’s better now with you in it, and just.... this song fills me with feelings like that one animation in the lizzie mcguire movie. 90s kids, you know the one I mean. (lover, the song, gives me those same feelings, just amplified like 30x)

The smile in her voice on “yes” can almost bring me to tears all by itself.

my reaction video can be found here

15. New Year’s Day

Speaking of beautiful mushy-feelings-bringing tracks... The fact that these two are paired back to back like this is just bringing both barrels to my emotions. Gosh.

At the show, I’d taken my shoes off literally two songs prior - I was the girl carrying her shoes in the lobby.

I love so much that it’s just her with a piano and then a little bit of guitar, and those soft self-harmonies on some parts - “please don’t ever become a stranger” reminds me of Enchanted.

This song will without fail make me cry because it’s just so soft and I’m so happy for her. I can’t believe how long it’s been and she’s so happy and in love and. Even when this song came out. Gosh.

We did it, yall. We’ve made it up to date, and it’s almost time for Lover to come out! I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready. My emotions aren’t ready. Gosh.

Anyway, thanks for coming along with me on this ride. See you on the other side of the release!

[ardentmuse]

Past, Present, and Future - Part 4

Harry Potter - Percy x fem!Reader, Past Fred x fem!Reader

Wordcount: 2.5k

Warnings: angst, swearing, pregnancy and childbirth talk of death

Masterlist // Series Masterlist

A/N: Yay finally getting this out! I had a hard time with this because I wanted to spend more time with the entire Weasley family, but I eventually cut a lot of it, wanting to stick to the meat of the story here. We will be getting more of the Ginny-Reader friendship soon. Note that any descriptions of labor are based on my own pregnancy. Photo not mine. Credit to creators!

DECEMBER, 1998

Christmas Eve breakfast started out as a lovely meal. Light contractions had you up before most of the house so you had helped with a bit of the cooking. You would estimate that you’d been in early labor for ten or so hours now, though you tried your hardest not to make a big deal of it. It was inconvenient, yes, but you wanted to spend as much of the holiday as a family before your labor overshadowed everything else.

So as you ate your pancakes, you caught up with Ginny and Molly. Percy had joined you as well, providing a lovely distraction with silly stories from the Ministry’s holiday party.

As you discussed Ginny’s quidditch tryouts over the remaining eggs, you felt a strange tightness in your hips. You grabbed sharply onto Ginny’s arm. She could do nothing but look to you in panic.

Within a moment, Percy was by your side, helping you to stand.

The pain that rippled through your stomach was damn near excruciating. And it seemed to have come all at once. One moment, you were fine, a small tightening in your lower abdomen distracting you every now and then. And now you could hardly breath, digging your nails into Percy’s arm as though he were your only lifeline.

“Sweetheart, you have to breath,” Percy whispered as he stroked your hair. But breathing seemed near impossible at the moment. Breathing took the work of your muscles and you had no control over any of them. You knew you were still standing only thanks for Percy’s strong hold on your waist.

But as the pressure moved towards the front of your stomach, you felt the pain slowly dissipate. You smiled and looked up to see Percy peering down at you with the softest expression you had ever seen. You knew your grip had to hurt him. But he was looking down on you like you were some goddess of fertility, some beacon of light that only brought joy to the world.

“Thank you, Percy,” you whispered up to him.

“Don’t say that too soon, love. You have a long day ahead of you,” he said with a gently stroke of his hand across your forearm. The feeling was a soothing one that, when accompanied by the calm icy blue of his gaze, gave you strength.

A rush of feet down the stairs snapped you from the spell Percy had cast on you. A flush spread through you at the realization that he could captivate you so.

“Is it the baby? Is the baby coming?” George frantically asked as he screeched to a stop in front of you.

“What do you think?” Percy said, letting go of you and taking a step away.

George took his place beside you, held your hand, and said, “I’ve got you, princess. And we’re going to get through this together. I’ll be beside you all day.”

With that, he took you by the waist and began to lead you out of the kitchen towards your room. But before he could get further than the kitchen, Percy intercepted you.

“George, you have no idea how to be helpful with this. I’ll take her. You wait down here for her healer, okay?” Percy took your hand in his and began leading you away from his brother. You saw George clench his jaw at his dismissal and found yourself worried at the already growing tension between the two brothers.

“Actually, Molly and I have a plan. We need hot water and towels and --” you began but George interrupted you before you could finish, saying, “I’m on it!”

You sighed to Percy as he held you. He chuckled at his brother’s enthusiasm, though you saw a tension in his jaw that let you know his laugh was not genuine.

Percy led you to your room as George, Ginny, and Molly carried up supplies. You stood outside the door, instructing the group when a second real contraction took hold of you body.

Like clockwork, Percy was holding onto you again, though George was only moments behind.

“Perce, stop. It’s my responsibility,” George said, taking hold of your hand and tugging you gently away from his brother.

“Your responsibility? Just because it’s Fred’s baby?”

“Yeah. I stick by my brother,” George huffed, adding under his breath, “unlike some people.” He was still holding you, though ignoring the fact that you were doubled over and labored in your breathing.

You tried your best to stop their bickering with a roughly breathed, “Enough,” thought neither boy seemed to hear you.

As your contraction got worse, you heard nothing of what the boys were saying, your pain eclipsing any noise. Ginny came and took you by the shoulders, pulling you forward and into her as the boys continued to raise their voices, each sentence more heated and cutting than the last. Neither seemed to notice that you were no longer in their grasps and that broke your heart a little. Neither of them cared about you and the baby, you thought. They only cared about what it meant for themselves.

“Enough,” you shouted as loud as you could once your contraction eased and you regained breath, forcing both men to turn to you dazed.

“Yeah, Percy,” George snapped to the man beside him, somehow thinking he was on your side on this matter.

“Enough from both of you!” you shrieked before letting out a long calming breath, “This baby is Fred’s, but what you both seem to be forgetting is that this baby is also mine! And right now I don’t want her near either of you. Molly. Ginny.” You motion for both women to enter your room. Molly entered, shooting daggers at her sons before working to prepare the bed. Ginny refused to leave your side.

“And?” you heard George ask.

“And nothing,” you said coldly. “One of you please send up the healer when she arrives. I don’t care which.” And with that you entered your room, slamming the door decidedly in their faces.

Both men stood staring at the closed door for several minutes.

“Great job, George,” Percy muttered under his breath.

“Shut up, you fucking wanker,” George spit before turning on his heels and fleeing downstairs.

Percy made to say something but swallowed his words, letting out a huff in their place. This had gone terribly.

When he finally made his way downstairs after much pacing outside the door of your room, Percy found George on the couch, cheeks stained in tear lines, curled in on himself and covered in blankets like he used to do as a child when he’d fought with Fred. With caution, Percy sat down beside him on the couch, not too close but within arms reach.

Neither said a word.

Finally, Percy broke the silence. “We really screwed up, didn’t we?” His point was emphasized by the faint sound of you screaming from the floor above them.

George winced before he let out a sigh. “Why do you ever care, Percy?”

“Because that baby is my family, George. I want to be here for him or her, especially since they won’t have a father to take care of them.”

“They’ll have me,” George whispered through gritted teeth, “And what about everyone else, huh? I’m your family. Fred was your family. Ron, Ginny. Mom. Dad. We’re all your family, too. And you didn’t give a rat’s ass about any of us--” Percy cut him off with a quickly uttered, “That was different.”

“How?” George asked, his volume rising, “How was that any different?”

“It was war,” Percy responded with raised pitch as well before steading himself with measured breaths. “I was young. I was stupid. I wanted to make something better for myself than what we grew up with, alright? I’m trying to do better, I really am. But it’s too late. I can’t repair what I’ve lost with you. But with Y/N-- George, with her, I have a fresh start. I know I’m being selfish, but I just wanted someone in this bloody family to look at me like I’m not a fucking monster.”

George didn’t respond for a long time, but the silence wasn’t as tense as it had been before. At least they were talking.

After a long while, George muttered to himself, “You aren’t a monster.” “Pardon?” Percy asked, his mind and attention having been pulled to the hushed sounds coming from your room.

“I said you’re not a monster,” George responded, lifting his eyes to meet his brothers. “And it’s not too late. I mean what did Fred and I do but exactly what you said. We were young and stupid and ran off to make something of ourselves. We were just lucky our dreams didn’t involve an arsehole boss who refused to believe Harry.”

That made Percy laugh. The boys simply looked at each other, sharing a silent understanding.

After a moment, George added, “But our dreams did involve Y/N. She cares. She always has.”

You let out a particularly loud wail, which pulled Percy’s eyes up the stairs. Both men hurt at your pain, but stayed seated. George waited for Percy’s full attention before continuing, “Percy, she’s my sister and she’s my friend. I just don’t want her to get her hopes up that you actually care about her when you’re just here because you’re trying to make up for the past.”

Percy turned and leaned his face into the cushion. He thought back on the past few months, of bringing your treats and sitting on the couch listening to you explain all the details of the latest story you were reading, you falling asleep on his lap as he read the last few chapters of each book out loud to you, all the times he was able to take your hand to help you walk or hold you against his chest as you tried to relax, and more than anything the look on your face when you thought no one was watching, looking down at your child still within you and singing soft lullabies. A perfect image of beauty and love.

“Between us, George,” Percy whispered, “I think I may care too much.”

Their heart-to-heart was interrupted by a sound from the fireplace. Within a moment appeared the elderly blond woman who had been making weekly visits for the past two months. She didn’t miss a beat before asking, “Has Y/N been placed in her birthing bed already?”

Percy stood. “Yes, I’ll take you,” and with a curt nod to George, a tint of blush still on his cheeks, he led the healer upstairs.

When the healer was allowed entry, Percy caught the quickest glimpse of your face. Your brow was furrowed in concentration, your hair stuck to your forehead and your eyes locked on his. Just as the door was closing, he thought he saw you smile.

At first, his spirit lifted. But after a moment, it sank again. Here you were in some of the most excruciating pain the world can place on a person and still you were providing him more support than he was providing you. How were you always so sweet? How come it warmed his heart so to see you show the tiniest bit of affection to him. He felt guilt deeply at not being there for you, but also a lightness at your care. He returned downstairs and sat beside George and waited gladly. It was all he could do. Slowly, the still sleeping members of the household joined them until a large group of Weasleys and their partners were assembled in the living room awaiting the news.

Three hours and much pain later, they were informed that the child had arrived, a girl, small but mighty, with thin red tufts of hair. And an hour or so later, the family was allowed up to see you both.

Despite being told to be calm, George rushed into the room and took a seat on the bed. You sat looking exhausted, your eyes sagging and your hair mussed, holding your little girl stomach-down on your chest, skin to skin. While it made it hard for everyone to see her face, it was best to help the baby feel calm and help you create milk. She was curled up, butt in the air, fast asleep as you looked down at her.

George’s words pulled you from your baby’s beautiful face. “What’s her name?” he asked.

You looked at him and then to the rest of the room, about ten people crowded around the door waiting for your answer.

Stroking your child’s head, you said, “Violet. Violet Winifred Weasley.” You looked to George, hoping to see approval on his face. He beamed at you, reaching out the stroke the auburn hair atop your baby’s head.

“Violet like--”

“Like the ones that grew out of my ears third year every time I said Fred’s name, yes. Violets were our way of saying, ‘I’m thinking of you,’ and I want to look at her every day and think of him,” you explained.

George let the tears run down his face. You cried too, reaching out to hold his hand in your own, putting your anger with him aside to feel this thing together.

After everyone made their way over to peer down at the tiny head on your chest, Molly ushered everyone out, urging you to sleep and telling everyone else they could have a better look at the baby tomorrow. A Christmas present to the family.

Just as the door closed, you heard a knock and saw Percy peek his head inside.

“Yes?” you asked, trying your best to let your anger at him pass.

He took a hesitant step into the room, wringing his hands in front of him.

“She’s beautiful,” he said from the edge of the bed.

You looked at the man and smiled. You were finding being angry at him was not easy. Every part of you wanted to let him back in. Not having him beside you during your labor was your choice but you still missed the softness of his hands, the tranquility of his gaze, the gentleness of his voice, and the warmth of his company.

After a moment, he added, “And so are you.”

You flicked your eyes up to meet his, shock apparent on your face. You watched as the red crept up his neck and over his cheeks. He broke your gaze to look at the floor before taking swift steps toward the door.

“I’m here if you need me. I’ll help in any way I can,” he said before quickly shutting the door behind him.

As you looked down at the precious, soft face of your child, you smiled, not just at the beautiful life you had created, a reminder of the great love of your past that you had found in Fred, but also at the future, one which you were beginning to believe could also be filled with a great love, though not one you had ever expected.

[jobethdalloway]

Sapphic September Challenge! Day 4: ““Look, I might be evil but even I have standards.”

Pairing: Hevelyn (The Incredibles 2)

Someone disposable. Something harmless. Nothing that would call too much attention to her or her plans.

The paper boy looked like he might’ve been walking around wearing kooky glasses he’d sent away for, courtesy of a comic book ad. It took him less than ten minutes to walk to the drugstore, steal a box of Good & Plenty, and return to Evelyn’s new apartment. When he knocked on the door to give them to her, she took the glasses along with the candy and sent him on his way.

This was her tenth successful venture with hypnosis. She hadn’t wanted to get her hopes up the first few times, sure that a mistake had to be coming, but it was all going like clockwork now. Vengeance was finally within her grasp, if not in the immediate future. Evelyn chuckled at her own genius, throwing herself onto her bed. Now it was time to formulate. She should’ve had more faith in her own abilities; it hadn’t occurred to her to start planning this far ahead because she hadn’t been sure the mind control would really work. But it did. And now she could make those damn skippy Supers pay. 

At times during her experimenting, a doubtful voice would prick its way into her mind to tell her she was crazy for thinking her plans could work. Now the voice was going at her a different way, attacking a far more sensitive spot:

You know what you could do with this, don’t you? 

Yes, obviously. End Supers for good.

Or...you could take back the worst mistake you ever made. You could bring her back, and make sure she never left you again. Make her yours, forever, and you could make her give up the superhero act, too...

Evelyn sat up. Goosebumps were prickling her skin as she thought back to her first encounter with Helen Parr--well, Helen Truax back then...

New Year’s Eve, 1955. 

It had been Winston’s idea to host a party while their parents were out of town. Not that the Deavors’ would’ve minded some kind of soiree, but Evelyn was sure he felt freer to be more loud and obnoxious in their absence. As far as Evelyn was concerned, there was far too much pressure to enjoy oneself on that holiday, and if she had her way she’d have just stayed in her bedroom all night long. She just wanted to be alone, but the sounds of the raucous party downstairs made that difficult. Going out was another option, but she doubted she’d be able to find a place where she could be left alone. 

It was around 11:00 when she thought it might be quieter outside, at least. She made her way to the second story balcony, a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. She took a drag on the cigarette; it was much more peaceful out here. Music was still wafting her way but at least she couldn’t hear the partygoers. 

At least, not until--

“Phew! Mind if I join you out here for a sec?”

Evelyn turned to say she minded very much, but then she saw who the drawl belonged to and fell suddenly mute. The girl sauntered towards her in red slacks and a silver top, wearing a dazzling yet unassuming smile. She sat herself down next to Evelyn, mimicking her posture: legs dangling between the bars of the rail, leaning back and resting her weight on her palms. Evelyn was aware that she was staring and felt her heartbeat starting to race, but she couldn’t will herself to look away. 

“You’re Win’s sister, aren’t you?”

Lord have mercy, at least she could still speak: “How’d you know that?”

“Oh, he’s very fond of you, y’know,” the girl said. “Also, your picture’s up all over the house. Your folks must be fond of you, too.”

“How do you know Winston?”

“Let’s call him a fan. I mean, a friend. I’m Helen.”

Evelyn raised an eyebrow but decided not to push it. “Helen...hello. I’m Evelyn. Um, happy New Year’s.”

“Same to you! So, what’s got you out here instead of dancing the night away with all the other cool cats at this party, huh?”

At this, Evelyn scoffed and could finally look away. “Did Winston send you up here to get me?”

Helen sounded genuinely surprised. “What? No! Truth be told, I needed some space myself. It was gettin’ too crowded down there for my taste and I needed a breath of fresh air. This is quite a place your folks have got! I didn’t see this balcony was occupied until I opened the doors. And now I’m sitting here and I’m thinking, what’s a pretty girl like you doin’ all on your lonesome up here?”

For the life of her, Evelyn could not remember the last time she had blushed- or, for that matter, the last time someone had called her pretty. She’d been told her hair wasn’t short or cute enough for a pixie cut, and that it made her look mannish. Her mother severely disapproved not only of the hair but of her taste in clothes, which was none too feminine, and which Mrs. Deavor strongly suspected was one of the reasons Evelyn had graduated with an MRS degree. 

“Mom, I know your heart is in the right place but Smith is a women’s college!”

“I know that, I know, but there are some courses open to students from other schools nearby, some of which do in fact allow men to register! Please, dear, just keep an open mind.” 

“Oh, trust me, my mind’s plenty open already.”

Helen’s voice drew her out of her reverie. “Evelyn? Hey, anyone home?”

“Yeah, sorry, um... yeah. Winston’s much more of the social type than me. Throwing the party was his idea, and I’m not enough of a killjoy to have stopped him. Although trust me, it was tempting.” She nodded at Helen. “What’s your deal, square? You a party girl?”

Helen laughed, and Evelyn hated that she had been cursed with the propensity to fall in love and fall hard at the drop of a hat. “Square? You think I’m square? Check out that hog down there.”

The lights from mansion’s windows shone bright on a line of partygoers’ cars, and Evelyn followed Helen’s gaze to a motorcycle sandwiched between two Buicks. “The Indian?”

“Fire Arrow, newest model.” 

“Is it your boyfriend’s?”

“Ha! Now I’m starting to think that you’re trying to insult me!” Helen chuckled, and Evelyn grinned. “The bike is mine, and incidentally, I’m flying solo these days.”

Evelyn gasped for dramatic effect, but her surprise was genuine. “Well! What’s a pretty girl like you doing single?” 

The response was another airy laugh, but Evelyn was watching closely for the smallest signs of betrayal - hollowness, tenseness, a brief widening of the eyes that would indicate Helen had been asked this a lot and was tired of hearing about it. Maybe Evelyn was projecting, but she could swear she saw her own tiredness reflected in Helen’s lovely face. 

“Listen, you find a guy who wouldn’t mind taking the backseat on my bike and maybe then we’ll talk.” 

Evelyn scoffed and mashed the cigarette on the balcony. She wasn’t drunk, but she’d had enough of the whiskey to get brave - reckless, in someone else’s words - and she had talked her way out of enough scrapes barking up the wrong tree that she felt it was time to throw caution to the winds again. 

“I leave finding guys to other women. It’s not something I care to take up my time with.” She took a sip of the whiskey, emboldened by the way Helen was looking at her. “If you’re interested in finding someone to ride behind you, though, I could maybe think of someone.”

Helen drummed her fingers for a moment before inching them closer to Evelyn’s hand. “Ever ridden a motorcycle before?” 

“Mm-mm. Always thought it looked neat, but learning to ride a car seemed easier.” She sighed and took another sip for bravery. “That’s human nature, I guess. Bet you get a more satisfying ride on that bike than you would a car, huh?”

“Oh, top quality,” Helen said fervently. 

“Now see, that’s the trouble with most people. We choose ease over quality. I did that for years before I...” Evelyn paused when Helen’s hand covered her own. “Before I had a particularly persuasive roommate who made me realize life is supposed to be the other way around. The good stuff is sometimes the hardest to get. You know what I mean?”

Helen nodded. “I’ve never been a girl for taking the easy way out. Whaddya say, Evelyn? Wanna ditch this party and go for a ride?” 

She moved to stand up at once, her legs weak. “God, yes.” 

They made their way back downstairs, where Evelyn’s main goal was to avoid being seen by her brother. Fortunately the party had gotten crowded and rowdy enough that it was very easy to avoid being detected. Evelyn ducked outside while Helen went to track down her jacket. 

But it seemed Evelyn hadn’t gone quite as unnoticed as she’d hoped. She was zipping up her own jacket when she heard a young man from the party call out to her. He’d followed her down the front steps, probably intoxicated, and not at all deterred by the look of disgust on her face. He stumbled over to her, putting a heavy hand on her shoulder. 

“Hey, baby, you gonna ditch the Deavors’ already?”

“Buddy, I’m giving you to the count of three to take your hands off me. One, two...”

“Aw, c’mon, be a good sport, honey!”

He’d been warned. Evelyn whipped a lighter from her pocket- but instead of igniting a flame, it sent an electrical zap through the man as soon as it made contact with his arm. The mild electrocution sent him flailing to the ground, and Evelyn tried not to laugh. The device still needed work, though, if it was to be as thoroughly effective as she wanted: he was still able to get to his feet, shaking his head but ready to go for her again. 

All of a sudden a fist came flying out of nowhere, punching the guy square in the jaw. He swung on the spot, trying to grab his bearings, and an arm with stunning elasticity wrapped itself several times around his neck and pulled hard, spinning him like a top back up the steps to the open front door. And there was Helen, kicking him over the porch railing where he lay sprawled out in a small pool of his own vomit. 

“Are you okay?” Helen asked, hurrying over.

Evelyn felt winded. “Christ! Y-you’re--but--”

“I know! Doesn’t it look cute in these slacks?” Helen asked, twisting around, but that did little to change Evelyn’s stunned expression. The jig was up. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I��m a Super. Your brother invited a few of us to the party; I hope that’s all right. You looked like you were ready to handle that guy all right yourself, maybe I should’ve left you to it! What’s that gizmo, anyhow?”

It took a moment for Evelyn to regain her powers of speech. “Oh, well, it still has a few kinks to work out, I guess. I call it the Zippo Zapper. Made it myself.”

“You made that?”

“Wow, did I really impress Elastigirl?” 

“Don’t get too cocky. I’m still amazed by the concept of an electric mixer.” 

It felt good to laugh. “Well, I’m amazed that there’s a superhero here who didn’t show up in costume.” 

“Eh.” Helen shrugged. “Making a scene just for the sake of it isn’t, well, my scene. Truth be told, I think your brother and your folks are a little too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when it comes to Supers, but I suppose ...well, never mind. I’m flattered by the attention but I don’t do superhero work to get fans.”

“Why do you do it, then?”

Helen slipped into her leather jacket and started walking towards her motorcycle. “Because I want to help people! I want to do good with the powers that I have. Y’know, my mother just about wanted to disown me when I said I was gonna get the mask and the gear and all that to fight crime. Can you beat that?”

“What? Why? Isn’t she a Super, too?”

“Nope, but my old man was. Mother figures superhero work is a man’s job. Thought I should just find the right guy and settle down.” Helen scoffed, straddling the bike. “Settle down, are you kidding? I’m at the top of my game! I’m right up there with the big dogs! Leave the saving of the world to the men? I don’t think so!”  

Evelyn’s form of teenage rebellion had been to distance herself from her parents’ worship of superheroes, but by her twenties she’d grown nothing stronger than indifference towards them. But Helen, wow, she was really something else... 

She took the few remaining steps to the bike, but didn’t climb on just yet. “I may not have superpowers of my own, but I still like to take jobs now and then that are typically prescribed to men.”

“Oh? How’s that?” 

Helen’s heart seemed to skip several beats when Evelyn leaned down and kissed her. Evelyn was daring; she took Helen’s face in her hands and deepened the kiss. She liked the idea of catching a Super off guard, almost as much as she liked how clearly Helen was into this kiss. Helen’s instinct was to break it off so she could stand up and properly take Evelyn in her arms, but the tiny part of her mind that was still cognizant of the world beyond Evelyn’s surprisingly soft lips knew that making out in full view of the mansion’s windows wasn’t the best idea.

“Did you have any... particular idea of where you might like to go?” Helen asked between heavier-than-normal breaths. 

Evelyn smirked. “It was your idea to bust out of here. Not mine. Where does Elastigirl like to spend her nights out on the town?”

Helen patted the bike. “We’re staying in and going to my place.”

That relationship had lasted almost two glorious years. Well, glorious in retrospect, maybe; it was easy to glamorize the past. Evelyn sat up, scowling. That kind of romanticization was Winston’s thing, not hers. She and Helen had had their fair share of arguments, which had ultimately led to Evelyn breaking things off because she couldn’t take the stress of dating a Super. They’d had a shaky reconciliation as friends that had weakened enormously when the Deavors died, and Evelyn had become a recluse. 

And now here she was, primed to tell Winston they could get going on their plan to get Supers out in the open again... all so she could ensure they stayed buried forever. But part of her wanted so badly, so desperately, to use her newfound gadgetry for something that might’ve been even worse.

You know the last time you were happy? With her. You can have that again. Put some goggles on Helen and she’ll be and do anything you say. None of the superhero drama, just the two of you, all the time... it’d be so easy.

Easy.

The word reached out and hit her like a slap to the face. Scary easy, but no quality. Nothing that really mattered.

Taking Supers down forever was going to be hard enough, and dodgy enough, too, but at least it served the greater good. At least she could tell herself she was ultimately helping others to become self-reliant by ridding them of these costumed crusaders. Yes, this was a noble goal. Someday history would look back and smile on her for restoring America’s can-do spirit and rejecting so-called saviors. Some people might look at her as wicked, but she chose to see it as a necessary evil.

Contrarily, using her device as essentially a high-tech love potion for purely selfish reasons was depraved. She may have hated Helen for what she became, but romantic agency was not something she would ever take from her.

Sure, I might be evil...but even I have standards.

[first-lady-barnes]

A Royal Wedding

A/N: So this is my very first fic on Tumblr. If you guys ever want to submit a request, do it! Male, female, or anything in-between :)

A Royal Wedding: The wedding of the century is around the corner. The world awaits eagerly for Prince Sebastian Stan of Romania and the well-known movie director Y/N Y/L/N to tie the knot. But no one is more excited than the bride and groom.

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x Female!Reader

Word count: 1845

Warnings: None

(Not my gif) 

* = Romanian ~ = Icelandic None = English

The sky was bright blue in color as the sun shined onto the people in front of the St Ghadenie Chapel in Bucharest, Romania. The chapel that had been standing in that very place since the fourteenth century never had this many people standing in front of it, admiring it. Many had camera in their hands, as well as phones, flowers and even a printed out picture of the pair in unlikely chance it will get signed.

Three blocks away in the most prestegious five star hotel of the country sat the woman of the day, staring at herself in the mirror. Her make-up was already done and perfectly so, as was her hair. She looked fairly calm on the outside, but her nerves were eating her up from the inside.

She blinked when someone knocked on the double doors behind her, bringing her back to reality. She cleared her throat and called for the person to come in.

Both doors opened and one of her many security guards stood tall in the doorway.

*“The Queen is here to visit you.”* He announced.

Y/N’s eyes widened and she hastily stood up. She hadn’t expected the Queen, her soon to be mother-in-law, to visit her. She thought she would only see her when they arrived at the chapel.

A tall, brown-grey-haired woman came from behind the security guard, dressed in a pale blue Angela Kelly dress.

*“Leave us alone, please,”* Queen Georgeta said, walking past the security guard.

*“Yes, Your Majesty.”* He answered and stepped back and closed the door, leaving the two women alone.

*“Your Majesty,”* Y/N greeted, her head bowed.

“Y/N,” Queen Georgeta said with a sigh, a smile painted over her aging features. She sat down and Y/N followed. *“How are you feeling?”*

*”I’m nervous,”* Y/N answered honestly. *”With all of it being broadcasted on TV and such...”*

*”I understand,”* Queen Georgeta said understandingly. *”As important as it was, I vaguely remember mine. The day went by in a flash.”*

Y/N nodded, smiling slightly.

*”You look beautiful,”*  Queen Georgeta complimented, her dark eyes raking over her future daughter-in-law. *”Sebastian is very lucky.”*

*”I am too,”*  Y/N followed immediately afterwards.

*”Anyway. I’m not here to inform you about your beauty,”*  she said, standing up. Y/N did the same. *”I actually have a present for you.”*

As if on que, the double doors opened and a different person came out, holding  a quite large black velvet box. The man bowed at the Queen before turning to Y/N and nodding towards her. Y/N gave him a small smile.

The man gently opened the box and Y/N’s mouth fell open slightly when she saw what was sitting gently on the dark blue velvet pillow.

*“This is my wedding gift for you,”* she said, smiling at Y/N’s reaction.

*”It’s mine?”*  Y/N asked, completely shocked. She quickly composed herself. “Thank you, Your Majesty. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”*

*”I’m glad you liked it,”*  she smiled even wider. *”I would like you to wear it at the ceremony.”*

*”I’d be honored to do so,”* Y/N replied. “Again, thank you so much.”*

Queen Georgeta smiled. They spoke for a few more minutes before they bid they goodbye’s and Queen Georgeta left. Y/N was alone again and instead of staring at nervous face in the mirror, she stared at the gorgeous tiara in her hand.

A couple of months into dating Sebastian he told her that only married women wore tiaras, but the little plastic tiara he bought for her to tease her didn’t count.

She didn’t even notice the smile on her face as soon as Sebastian entered her thoughts. They begun dating on January sixth in 2016. Two years and four months later they were getting married. She smiled even wider when she thought of the day they met.

She’s been in the film industry for a few years already. When she was fifteen she directed her very first film, a low budget indie film, but it got a lot more attention than she expected. She was well known for a few months before her fifteen minutes of fame was over. She, however, wasn’t done yet. Over the years she directed, and even produced, a few movies here and there, others fairing better than the other. When she was twenty-four her movie, Sylvia, appeared in the Cannes Film Festival.

“I’m freaking out,” Y/N muttered, taking her lipgloss out of her clutch. “

“Don’t be,” her best friend, Scarlett Johansson, said, tracing her lips with red lipstick.

Y/N stared at her motionlessly through the large mirror, wondering how in the hell that was going to help her.

“Nice dress. Which designer is it?” Scarlett asked, trying to distract Y/N.

Y/N smoothed the dress over her stomach, thinking. “Uh, I don’t remember.”

“Jesus,” Scarlett muttered, laughing.

“Stop it. I’ve never been this nervous,”

“Take a deep breath, okay? Yeah? Let’s go.” Scarlett ushered them out of the bathroom and back onto the carpet.

“Hey Y/N! It’s so nice to see you!” Melania Rinder called, surging forward to hug her. Y/N hugged her back for only a second before pulling back, a fake smile painted onto her face. Melania and Y/N went to the same high school and both made it into the film industry. They were friendly towards each other, but not particularly friends.

“It’s nice to see you, too, but I have to go.It was nice seeing you,” Y/N said when she saw Scarlett waving her over.

“Who was that again? She looks familiar,” Scarlett said, glancing over her shoulder.

“Melania Rinder,”

“That ‘friend’ you talk to once, ignore for a year, then meet up with?”

“Coincidentally,” Y/N added, sighing.

“Y/N! Scar! Look over here! Smile!”

“Over here! Here!”

“Hand on your hip, Y/N!”

The last flash caused her vision to go black for a second before she blinked furiously.

Scarlett walked a little behind Y/N as she talked with Cate Blanchett while Y/N spoke with the famous Steven Spielberg, trying her hardest not to torpedo a bunch of questions at him. She was talking to a legend.

Half an hour later Y/N was standing in a circle of people, quietly sipping her drink while pushing down her anxiety. She’s done this so many times before but every time it felt like the first time.

Someone tapped her shoulder, she turned around and nearly choked on her drink when she saw who it was.

“Your Royal Majesty,” Y/N greeted quickly before her silence became rude. She lowered her drink while bowing her head.

“Miss Y/L/N,”  Prince Sebastian of Romania greeted in return, a smile on his face. He nodded towards the people behind her and his gaze returned to her.

Y/N didn’t quite know what to say and it seemed like neither did he. Sebastian opened his mouth, but then everyone was called inside the theater.

Y/N sat down on the front row with a sigh, wishing she had brought more wine with her because her anxiety was gnawing at every corner inside of her. She gave a quick smile at the man who sat down on her left and grabbed her phone out of her clutch.

She didn’t look up when the man next to her stood up and walked away and remained looking at her phone when someone else sat down there.

“Phones are supposed to be turned off, right?” A teasing voice from her left said and she finally looked up only to be met with the bluest of eyes.

“That rule doesn’t apply when it’s my mom,” Y/N chuckled, shutting off her phone. Sebastian laughed.

“I’m excited to see your movie,” he said after a few moments, the only sound behind them was the theater shuffling.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. It’s the only reason I’m here for,”

Y/N’s eyes widened momentarily. “That’s great. I’m happy to hear that.”

For the entirity of the movie Y/N kept stealing glances at the handsome prince behind her. She still couldn’t believe that her movie was the only reason he was here. He must have high expectations then, she thought. Normally the opinion of another person didn’t matter to her when it came to her directing or screenwriting, but she found herself caring a lot about his opinion.

Which is why she asked him about it as soon as the lights went on and the clapping calmed down.

“I think your movie’s a masterpiece,” Sebastian answered, his eyes glowing. “There’s only been a few times in my life that I truly felt in awe with something and I’m not surprised you’re the one that brought it on.”

Y/N smiled widely at those words. “Thank you, sir.”

“Please, call me Sebastian.” He grinned.

They were friends for a while before they decided to start a relationship with each other. He proposed on December 18th. They were laying on the couch in their shared house, watching Netflix. Sebastian had been fidgety all day and was kind of annoying Y/N. Until he popped the question and Y/N was left speechless.

Even when she sat in the car on the way to the chapel, her dress on her body and Queen Georgeta’s, now Y/N’s, tiara on her head, she still l couldn’t believe that she was marrying Prince Sebastian of Romania. And down the years... she would be the Queen of Romania.

The chapel came into her view and she patted her heart to calm it down. The car stopped and Y/N turned her head to the left to smile at the crowd cheering and clapping, but they all became silent when her car door opened. Many people helped her step out, being careful with her 16.5 foot long veil and dress.

As she stood on top of the stairs, her back turned at the audience, the people cheered upon seeing her again. She smiled and waved at the crowd while the assistants arranged her veil correctly so it wouldn’t get tangled into each other while she walked down the aisle.

Two little boys held her long veil up as Y/N walked to the entrance of the ancient chapel. The music began when she stepped inside and she smiled a little bit. Her eyes found her mother at the front with her hands clasped over her mouth, tears in her eyes. She then found the Queen and curtsied her before she walked down the aisle.

Sebastian was smiling as he looked at her, blinking rapidly, as if he couldn’t believe he was standing here. They were getting closer and closer to each other. Both were smiling widely when their hands finally touched, love and promises shining in their eyes and the music continued to ring. They could barely avert their eyes from each other, even when the ceremony officially began. 

Nothing but Sebastian and Y/N mattered right now. Not the broadcasting, not anything.

~��My love,”~ Sebastian murmured in Icelandic.

*”My love,”* Y/N murmured back in Romanian, squeezing his hand. 

Fate had already decided that Y/N and Sebastian spend their lives together, for no argument, disagreement, jealousy or anything in between could tear them apart.

[words-are-my-medium]

Post-S2 ST Headcanons

This started out as headcanons I was writing down and then it just got so out of hand it turned into a semi-fic? It’s long and probably not great writing I’m sorry but I wanted to keep track of it here for myself at least so here (please don’t take this as an example of my actual writing quality because I would format this so much better if it wasn’t just a heacanon dump)

El-centric, pre-Byler/Byeler, Byers-Hopper family feels and headcanons galore, (probably overuse of commas galore too), kind-of a fic?

-So El is like… super not into studying. I mean she had a dictionary in her house for almost a year and she didn’t know the word “compromise”; girl’s been watching TV all day and learning words slowly and not entirely accurately through context. After the Snow Ball Hopper starts cracking down–she needs to start school (high school no less) in the fall of ‘85 and she’s got a lot of catching up to do.

-She HATES it, and the Party quickly realizes this, so they try to study with her and help whenever possible. Unfortunately they don’t succeed much: whenever Mike’s over El never wants to study; Lucas gets too impatient with her; Dustin makes a valiant effort to introduce her to the joy of curiosity voyages but it doesn’t work. Max, after being unfairly given the cold shoulder for quite a while, finally becomes friends with El and then becomes a HUGE distraction; El’s only friend who’s a girl (even if she’s not into pretty things like playing with makeup), why study when you can have special girls only friend time?

-So the Party’s pretty stuck, when surprisingly Will steps up and like magic, El tries super hard to be attentive and they start making progress! Mike is pretty sure there is some kind of guilt on El’s part regarding Will that’s contributing, but hey, whatever works. Will is actually a pretty good tutor it turns out, he’s really patient and intuitive, observant to what seems to work and what doesn’t, if not particularly gifted at teaching, and while El will probably never be an amazing student, she starts getting the hang of the basic subjects. (Except math, which she is shockingly good at–Max is convinced that her brain is actually a calculator, but El explains that math was easy because it was so exact: no complicated answers, just right or wrong, not a lot of words to get in the way. She’d quietly admitted to Mike once with a wry smile that numbers just made sense to her.)

-Hopper takes Will out for his birthday because Lonnie sucks and the kid loves his mother obviously and hey, Hopper doesn’t care if he’s sensitive or different or something else, he’s Joyce’s boy and a good kid, but it wouldn’t hurt to spend some time with a positive male figure again after Bob. In early May Joyce and Hopper start… not quite dating but everyone knows it’s just a matter of time. Jonathan and Will have already discussed what it might be like having El for a sister someday. They’re not sure if/when that might become official, but to the brothers she’s already joined their family and they’re both happy. (Jonathan immediately had a fondness for El, she’d saved Will and her “papa” was super shitty too, and his protectiveness and compassion kicked in and he was able to start bonding with her pretty quickly, to his surprise.)

The weekend after the 4th of July they are all hanging out at the cabin, trying to cram in as much as possible as the fall and upcoming school year draw nearer. They’re eating leftover watermelon and Max is teaching them her patented seed-spitting technique, though Will is still helping El finish the part of the lesson they’re on and he loves that he can help, but he wants to kinda hang out too and El realizes this, of course.

El leans in to kiss him on the cheek and thank him because she genuinely appreciates his patience with her so much and she knows it’s taking time away from other stuff he could be doing to tutor her, he’s such a good friend and a sweet person and El is so happy having him in her life, in her family even, but at that exact moment Dustin nails Will in the side of the head with a watermelon seed and Will whips around to face his attacker, and El ends up planting it right on his mouth.

Everyone gasps and freezes and El breathes in sharply and tenses, but Will just kinda sits there wide-eyed for a minute before bursting out laughing. El’s face is a mix of fear and shame and she’s turning red, and everyone else is kind-of hesitantly looking at Mike. He isn’t sure how to react because yeah, his… girlfriend(?) just kissed his oldest friend but it was completely an accident, obviously not intended, and rather than being mad he’s kind of having a sudden anxious realization that wow, okay, that was not something he ever expected to see but uh, it wasn’t… wasn’t bad because El is pretty and Will is cute and he–um, okay yes he did just think Will is cute?! He’s having a violent bi awakening panic attack and omg why is Will laughing this is so awkward Mike’s turning into a tomato to match El why–

“Will, is… are you okay?” Dustin asks carefully, afraid he’s just set into motion a chain of events that made his friend go insane, because Will is practically rolling on the floor by now, and Will manages to stop just enough to gasp “I’m going to have to tell everyone who ever asks for the rest of my life that my first kiss was with my sister,” and Lucas spits his drink out all over Dustin and Max and then there’s an uproar of laughter and yelling and El is apologizing frantically and Will is wiping tears of laughter from his eyes and Mike is just standing there frozen and beet red and kind-of?? more than a little upset that El kinda just stole Will’s first kiss?!

-When everyone finally goes home Will and El stay (because Joyce and Hopper were out somewhere together so she’s picking him up when they get back), and they both kinda sit for a while comfortably in silence until Will knowingly asks if she’s okay and El admits she’s sad because Max explained that apparently first kisses are important and El’s sorry she ruined Will’s. Will assures her instantly she didn’t, it was an accident anyway and then goes quiet for a moment before “I’ll tell you a secret, El, don’t tell anyone else, but I don’t wanna kiss girls anyway, so it doesn’t count, it was only a technical first kiss, my official first kiss has to be with a boy so you didn’t ruin it at all.”

And El is so relieved because she never talks about it to anyone but she knows, knows everything bad that happened to Will is her fault, but now he’s her brother and her friend and she loves him and her new family and though she hates it, the truth is she wouldn’t take it all back, opening the gate, even if she somehow was able to, so she just has to try her hardest to make sure he’s happy and safe from now on.

-This is how Will Byers comes out (because confirming with Jonathan what Jonathan has always kinda known doesn’t count, he’s never had to hide who he is from Jonathan so it’s not “coming out”, he was never “in” when it comes to his brother). El is the perfect person because she doesn’t know how to hate, not for reasons like this; she accepts him immediately and that’s what he’s been so worried about, after everything Lonnie and the kids at school have ever said he’s been too scared to even tell his mother, let alone the boy he likes. And suddenly Will’s crying in her arms and El’s become a sympathetic crier so then they’re both crying and El starts crying harder because maybe she was wrong again and it’s not okay, obviously, if Will’s still sad? And that’s how Hopper and Joyce find them, hugging and crying their eyes out and the adults are so bewildered.

-The Byers get in the car to go home after they finally calm down (and Will assures El everything’s fine several times with hugs), and Joyce doesn’t even have to ask, she just gives him a concerned look and Will looks out the window to hide his face and takes a deep breath before he quietly admits, “I was crying because I told Jane I’m gay and she didn’t bat an eyelash, she just accepted me.”

-Joyce immediately pulls the car over and unbuckles her seat belt and leans over and hugs Will so tight, and he screws his eyes shut so he doesn’t see her face but he can hear her murmur “Sweetie, I have been waiting for you to accept yourself,” and suddenly a weight he didn’t even realize he’d been carrying is gone.

The remainder of the summer Will and El become closer than ever, while Mike strangely becomes frequently absent to Party events. One day in mid-August Mike visits El alone while the others are out seeing Back to the Future for the second time (because Dustin and Lucas started an argument about time travel mechanics after the first time and forced Will and Max to come again while they rewatch for research) and he’s only there 15 minutes before she quietly asks “Are you mad I kissed Will because I’m supposed to kiss you?”

Mike shakes his head furiously like a wet dog and assures her of course he isn’t, it was an accident and he’s over it, it’s been over a month, El, “I practically forgot about it already”, but she just looks at him thoughtfully and then her eyes widen the tiniest bit and she asks again, “Are you mad I kissed Will because you wanted to kiss Will?” and Mike’s face drains of color so fast it’s like he’s in a cartoon.

“What?! No, I–” he starts unconvincingly, his voice raising into a panicked shrillness, but interrupts himself, “Steve told you, didn’t he, or I mean he told Dustin who told you, or something, whatever, somehow it was that douchebag, wasn’t it? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him, ‘master of romantic advice’ my ass!”

El is very confused but lets Mike rant about Steve Harrington being an untrustworthy jerk for a full five minutes before finally grabbing his hand and shaking her head. “Nobody told me anything. You seemed mad. So if you’re not mad about me then it’s about Will, right?”

And then Mike is very embarrassed because obviously Steve wouldn’t have said anything, he’s practically Dustin’s older brother now, but he can feel the “friends don’t lie” coming so he’s screwed anyway.

“Okay, fine, maybe I might have thought about it a little but… it’s because I think I might like boys too.”

“Like? Like you want to kiss?” El’s mental gears are turning and Mike nods, “Yeah, I still want to kiss girls but maybe boys too, Steve said it’s… that I don’t have to pick only one. Some people like both.” (Bisexual is much too complicated a term and Mike’s still not entirely convinced Steve didn’t make it up.)

-A light bulb goes off in El’s brain and she thinks hard for a minute before she says, “If you want, we don’t have to kiss anymore so you can try to kiss a boy,” and Mike’s eyebrows almost shoot clean off his head, but he looks at her carefully and sees she’s sincere and not upset, and for the first time he sees her solely as the girl she’s become, not the Eleven he first met nearly two years before, so quietly he just says “If that’s what you want, El.”

She nods but then narrows her eyes at him, “You’ll still like me as a friend?” and he smiles warmly and nods, “I’ll always like you as a friend, El, no matter what, even if it’s not the kissing kind of like,” and El’s heart jumps because maybe it is possible, maybe she’s really this lucky, she can keep all the good things she’s gained and still make Will happy too.

“But don’t tell anybody else I like boys, okay El?” Mike adds suddenly, and El nods, a smile creeping onto her face. El keeps her promises and tells nobody anything, but for the few weeks remaining in the summer, she occasionally wears a satisfied little smile, the cause of which even Max can’t get out of her.

-In the fall of ‘85 the kids all start high school, El a little nervous but feeling prepared thanks her friends and family (especially Will), and Will finally confident, at least a little, because he’s accepted himself and he’s got the best family ever and if anyone gives him shit, his future step-dad is the chief of police and his sister can break arms (and worse) with her mind and they all accept him too and love him no matter what. (He’s pretty sure the rest of his friends will too, but he promised himself that he wouldn’t tell them he’s gay until he told Mike first, because Will’s realized that’s been a long time coming and now’s as good a time as any since El told him vaguely about their “breakup”; Will knows he’s single and hasn’t had a chance to develop a crush on anyone else yet. He owes it to his best friend to be honest, and well, if Mike breaks his heart, [which he’s mostly expecting, tbh] Will believes at least he’ll still be his friend, and he’ll move on. Eventually.)

El is so happy when the complete Party meets for the first time in front of the school on the first day, finally all together in the open, and she doesn’t miss how her two closest friends look at each other. This will be a good year, El thinks.

[sucaritra]

Bāṛi - Chapter 14

Word Count: 1766

Warnings: language, anxiety, Negan

Summary: what the hell was that bang?

A/N: we’ve finally moved and slowly getting settled in so updates shouldnt take so long now. also, it’d be nice to hear from some of you cause i tend not to get comments on here, let me know how im doing or youre still reading xo

Masterlist

“James is out there. You think he's caught up in that?” you’re very aware of the increased thudding of your heart as your eyes refuse to stray from the thick plume of smoke in the distance.

As soon as Negan was positive that there was no immediate threat or danger, he’d left the boudoir with nothing more than an order to all the wives and yourself to stay put. You barely registered his exit as your mind turned a million miles a minute trying to come up with a plausible motive behind the explosion.

“He's a survivor, I’m sure he's fine,” Kira’s words did little to calm your nerves, though her comforting hand on your shoulder was a nice touch. “Besides, even if he is caught up in that, you never know, he might’ve been the one to set it to distract some walkers or some other threat. You never know.”

You didn't think of that. It was a tactic you’d used yourself in the past whenever you had found yourself trapped by the dead with no escape. Sure, you’d never caused massive explosions to distract the rotting hordes, but you didn't have the supplies that the Sanctuary and it’s Saviors had. Maybe this was a particularly large horde that needed maneuvering away from the Sanctuary?

“That's not a bad idea, but it is wrong.”

The sudden, distinctly male voice in the room full of women was enough to bring your guard up and immediately tear your gaze away from the window, only to land on Mason. He smiles warmly at you before his attention is drawn back to a slightly offended Kira.

“And how do you know that? Hmm?”

Mason slowly makes his way towards you as he replies, “because, he and the rest of his crew have no business being anywhere near whatever the hell that was.” Once he was standing in front of you, Mason turned you back around to face the window, reaching around you and pointing in the opposite direction of the fiery mess. “There. That's where they went scavenging. I organised their route myself. They're nowhere near it.”

The relieved sigh that escaped your lips caused Mason to squeeze your arm in reassurance as you smiled up at him, wholly grateful towards him for lifting the suffocating weight from your shoulders.

“Not that it’s not nice to see you, but what are you doing up here?”

“Negan sent me up here to watch over you ladies, make sure nothing big goes down.”

“You mean bigger than a giant explosion that rocks the entire building and can be seen for miles?” you can't help but raise your eyebrow at him, slightly incredulous.

Huffing out a laugh as he shakes his head, Mason concedes your point, “alright, little Miss Snark, what do you ladies do to pass the time around here?”

You shrug your shoulders, not bothering to tell him that this was your first time in here, before turning towards the closest wife, who just so happened to be Tanya.

“Well, usually we've got Negan to bounce on to pass the time, but that probably won't work now.”

“No, probably not.” You couldn't help but grimace slightly at that lovely image in your head now.

“Uhm… I think we've got some cards around here somewhere?”

With Mason watching his girls, Negan could direct all of his attention on the fucking shitshow that decided to interrupt his dinner. He stood out on the balcony of the first floor, giving his Saviors time to gather in the games room down on the ground floor. No matter where he turned his head, the opaque column of smoke always lingered in his peripheral, seemingly a constant in the scenery surrounding the Sanctuary,

Negan’s gloved hand clenched around Lucille at the sound of heavy footsteps coming up behind him, only to relax seconds later as he recognised Simon’s gait.

“Everyone’s ready boss.”

With one last long look at the blemish in the distance, Negan turned on his heel and made his way inside to address his people.

The plan was simple, they’d done this many times before. The explosion was a clear sign of survivors, how many, he didn't know. As with the discovery of survivors in the past, Negan will send out a group of Saviors to locate the group and “recruit” them to join the network of employees providing for the Sanctuary. If there are refusals to bend the knee, then some sorry fucker’s brain matter painting the ground should do the trick. If the stupid fucks still refuse, well, then Negan gets to have his fun.

Once the crews chosen to venture out and hunt down the culprits of the eyesore had been briefed and sent on their way, Negan decided to head back upstairs where he can wait for news on the expedition in the comfort of his wives.

And future wife.

Entering the boudoir, Negan spots his wives, minus Sherry and Amber, sat around a table with Mason playing cards. You watch as he searches the room for the other two wives, quickly taking notice of them through the open bedroom door before his sight finally lands on you lazing on the chaise lounge. You scooch over and make room for him as he makes his way towards you and drops down next to you with a heavy sigh.

You know it’s going to be a long night for your leader, so you sit in comfortable silence, leaning ever so slightly against his arm and watch the highly competitive game of Go Fish taking place in front of you.

“Last we heard from ‘em was four hours ago.”

“They would've been close to the source back then. No communication for four hours is not a good sign.”

“Well, shit, Einstein, ya fucking think?!”

Negan’s smartass retort to Fat Joey was enough to rouse you from your sleep, though you kept your eyes closed as you registered Simon getting the discussion back on track.

“We’ve probably got another Alexandria situation, thinking they can kill us off and it’ll all be fine and dandy.”

“If that's the case, then another big show should put things right.” You weren't sure exactly what ‘big show’ Mason was referencing, though you could guess it would be something you'd rather be ignorant of.

“Taking that many men would leave the Sanctuary vulnerable. Luke’s crew are most likely walker chow at this point and taking the amount of men you're suggesting will leave this place virtually defenceless.” the obvious challenge in Simon’s voice would've been enough to show the shock on your face if you weren't being a sneaky little eavesdropper right then.

“I’ll stay behind. If so much as a scratch befalls the Sanctuary then Negan can take it out on me. Hell, he can demote me if he wants but nothing’s gonna happen. All of the communities are, for once, in line. And it’s not like we haven't left the Sanctuary like this before, we always come back to her. You need to relax Simon, the stress is showing on that pushbroom you call a ‘stache.”

“Alright, ladies, put the claws away. These pyro-fucking-maniacs clearly need to be shown who the big dicks are around these parts. Mason, you're in charge while we're gone. I want updates at the top of every hour through the long range talkies. I couldn't give two shits about anyone below this floor, but if I hear there was anyone up here that shouldn't be? Well, getting demoted will be the least of your fucking worries.”

The clear threat brought goosebumps to your skin. Through his charming grins and carefree attitude, it’s easy to forget the brutality that's contained within Negan, the savagery which establishes Negan’s position as leader of the Saviors.

“Right, get the fuck out of here. We leave in twenty.” waiting until the door was closed behind his men, you're slightly mortified to find Negan addressing you, running a gentle hand over your hair, “So, what should I do with sneaky little eavesdroppers?”

Opening your eyes, you find that you're still on the lounge, though now you're leaning heavily on Negan’s arm where you undoubtedly fell asleep. Feeling somewhat chastened, you smile sheepishly and mumbled an apology as you lift yourself off of him.

Negan’s signature smile tells you that there are no hard feelings, though you feel your heart drop to your stomach when his heartbreaking smile is quick to vanish, replaced by a more serious expression. Reaching for your hand, he gives it a light squeeze as he looks you straight in the eyes.

“You still have that knife I gave you?” at your nod, he asks, “you got it on you?”

“I left it in my backpack, I didn't think I’d be allow to carry it.”

“As soon as you get a chance, you're gonna go get it and come straight back up here. Don't let anyone see that you've got it.”

“I don't understand. You think something will happen while you're gone?” You figured Simon was just being paranoid, making sure all bases were covered, but Negan was really starting to scare you.

“No. But I’m not willing to take that chance. I wouldn't be where I am today if I disregarded shit like that.”

“Okay, I’ll be careful.” You watched him carefully as he relaxed at your words, before softly uttering, “Come back soon, yeah? This place feels a lot safer with you here, surprisingly, and you've got me all paranoid now.”

“Baby girl, I’ll be back before you fucking know it. I've still gotta make you mine.” There's that killer smile of his that manages to bring heat to your cheeks and make you try your hardest, and fail, to not smile back.

“If you had mentioned how good the food was up here back when you first proposed, you might be speaking to wife number six right now rather than just your secretary.”

“Oh, sweet girl, you're not just anything. You are so much fucking more.”

Before he could elaborate any further, a voice crackling through the walkie signaled that it was time for Negan and his men to leave.

After taking in your features for a few seconds more, Negan rose from his seat, grabbing his jacket and Lucille.

You watched in slight awe as he wore his cocksure leader personality in tandem with his jacket, gripping Lucille tight and heading for the door.

Throwing one last cheeky wink your way, you watched Negan leave to unquestionably bash in a couple of skulls, recruiting more worker bees in the process.

tagging: @neganisking @backseat-negan @jdms-network

[exo-waithowdidigethere]

Happenstance - Chapter 1

A/N: This is the first chapter in my first ever series! Please enjoy I won’t talk to much on it here. This series was inspired by Parties and Sleeping with Strangers by Jake Miller so give those a listen if you like! I hope you all like it!

Genre: Fluff/Angst (future smut?)

Word Count: 2149

Tagging @exo-resistanceisfutile as a massive thank you for helping me edit this and listening to me talk about it all the time. @exoismyentirelife thank you for all your support homie. I love you. And all of my lovely other supporters @whyisexolikethis @trinitysroses @out-thereinparadise I love you guys so much and thank you for supporting me!

Friday, 10:00 PM – Incoming text from Jongin

Hey Kyungsoo, I know you haven’t been out since… well… since you guys broke up. But last week you said maybe next week. What do you say man? You ready to come out tonight? I’ve got an address for you if you do, and I can pick you up if you want.

He read the text over three times, setting the phone down in between each read. Each time he typed a different response.

1: Hey Jongin, no thanks. Still not ready yet. Maybe next week. (No you said this last week. You can’t say it again this week) 2: Hey Jongin… I don’t think I can yet man. I’m still afraid to see her out with some one else. I want her to be happy. But I’m not ready to see it yet. (Aish, too deep. No) 3: Hey Jongin! Sure man. I’ll come out. One condition though. We’re getting drunk and you’re not going to try to set me up with anyone, alright?

A sigh escaped his lips. He still really didn’t feel like going out. What if she were there with that new guy she was supposedly seeing? What if she looked happier? What if she were there in general? He still wasn’t sure he could handle seeing her. They had been together for so long and it had been a rough break up. God, he hoped she wouldn’t be there. But with his luck lately, she probably would be, on some one’s arm nonetheless.

He began to get ready opting for a dark blue half sleeve button up that had cream-colored polka dots and black pants. He wasn’t one for make up so he didn’t bother with it.  His brown hair was long on top again so he had to style it a little. He chose to swoosh it back and to the side. Hopefully it would stay out of his face. He smoothed his eyebrows into place and grabbed some comfortable shoes. He hated standing for hours at parties in uncomfortable shoes. His phone buzzed again.

Jongin: You ready? I’m on my way we can pregame a little before heading to the party. It’s close to my house so we can just walk there. Kyungsoo: Yeah I’m ready, see you when you get here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11: 00 PM

“Honestly Jennie, you act like we didn’t go out just last night. Aren’t you tired? Do you ever get sick of going to parties?” you were trying your hardest to convince your best friend that you didn’t need to go to that party later, but it seemed that it would be to no avail. And of course, girl code, not to mention best friend code. You would be accompanying her.

“Oh come on ____! It’ll be fun. Aaaaand, I’ve heard that the hot guys were invited, they’re supposed to be there tonight!” It’s not that you didn’t always have fun when you went out with Jennie, it’s just that well… to be honest,  it was starting to get old. You guys always got way too drunk, you usually ended up at some random guy’s house. Not that that wasn’t fun either. It was just getting old. You were looking for something a little more stable. And something in you told you that a party, especially the parties you and Jennie usually found yourselves at, was definitely not the place for something stable. Nevertheless, yours and Jennie’s plans were the same for tonight as they had been for as long as you had been friends.

You both began to get ready. Jennie was straightening her hair today and you opted to curl yours. The both of you usually went for opposite but complimentary looks. She was bold last night, so it was your night to be the bold one and stand out more. You pulled the top section into a high half up half down. You liked your hair this way because it exposed your collarbones and made your neck look longer and slimmer. As you began to do your make up you did it more dramatic than usual. A colored ombre and a dramatic wing adorned your eyes. You even put some fake lashes on to make yours look fuller. You decided to pull out all the stops and put a metallic charcoal colored lipstick on and a glitter gloss over. You certainly were making a statement and you hadn’t even picked your outfit or jewelry yet. You opted for a white faux high neck cropped shirt with decorative straps across the front. It dipped low enough to show the perfect amount of cleavage. You paired it with your favorite high-waisted ripped black shorts. You put on your strappy black heels that came about halfway up your calves. Since your shirt was high necked you couldn’t wear your normal necklace, so you put on your little leather choker. Completing the outfit with a loose fringy cardigan you were ready to go. Jennie had gone for a simple smoky eye with a mini wing, a cute flowy top with off the shoulder sleeves and some ripped black jeans and some heeled booties.

You had both been drinking a mixed drink while you got ready. As a final preparation for the party you both threw back two shots each. Tequila for you and vodka for her. Neither of you liked the other’s choice of drink so you could never take shots together. You both grabbed a couple snacks to throw in your bags so that you could keep drinking but your stomachs wouldn’t be full of just liquids. You were starting to feel the slightest tingle in your limbs and you knew that the alcohol was starting to affect you. “It’s going to be a good night” you thought to yourself as you followed Jennie out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11:00 PM

As Jongin pulled up to the house Kyungsoo let out a bracing sigh. Jongin just turned to look at him. He knew not to ask, he also knew what the problem was so he didn’t really need to ask anyway. Jongin planned to get him drunk and hook up with some one. He figured it would help. At least a little, and at least for today. Plus, he missed hanging out with Kyungsoo, he hadn’t really seen him since the break up.  It was early and the party wasn’t supposed to start for another hour or so. So they were going to play drinking games with the rest of the guys before they all went to the party. They started with a few rounds of beer pong, tournament style, getting warmed up to play at the party later. And those that weren’t playing or that had lost were playing flip cup. The house rule of flip cup was if you lost you had to take a shot for every cup left on your side of the table. Jongin was playing with Kyungsoo against Minseok and Jongdae. None of them were particularly good at the game but Jongin made a point of being a bit worse that usual so he and Kyungsoo had three cups left on their side when Minseok flipped his and Jongdae’s last cup.Kyungsoo knew that Jongin threw the game so that he would have to drink more. He was starting to feel the alcohol a bit so he wasn’t sure he really minded anyway.

After they had finished their three shots each the group decided that they were tipsy enough and ready to head to the party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12:13 PM

You and Jennie were just walking up to the house that the party was at. You could hear the music coming from inside. And as you looked through the door you could see the lights dancing on the walls, cups were already scattered everywhere. Your walk from Jennie’s house was long enough for the alcohol to have hit you and just short enough that you were still feeling pretty tipsy as you arrived. But of course your first stop inside was the drinks table where you mixed yourself a drink, Jennie still next to you. As you both grabbed the drink you made you turned around coming face to face with a group of nine extremely hot guys. You practically ran into the one coming toward the drink table as you turned to leave it. He took the cup from your hand, took a large sip and looked over his shoulder to his friends and said “They really went all in, they even have pretty girls serving drinks!” He looked back at your still confused and shocked expression, fixing you with the most piercing eyes you think you’d ever seen in your life. They were gorgeous and cat like, but terrifying at the same time. You were drawn into them and you couldn’t bring yourself to look away. That is, until a guy appeared at his shoulder with the most cat-like mouth you’d ever seen. You swore if you put the two of them together you would end up with an actual cat. The second one, with the kitty lips grabbed the cup out of the first one’s hand, looked at it for a second, then laughed a beautiful laugh that you could hear clearly even above the music and said “I wonder if they are any good at mixing drinks” before taking a large gulp from your cup. Jennie’s cup had been taken from her by a tall broad shouldered guy with orange hair of all colors.  You scoffed at the absurdity of his hair, but found yourself drawn to it none the less. You instantly kind of hated him for being able to pull off orange hair. Four more guys walked up during the time it took you to look from the two guys holding your cup and the guy that was holding Jennie’s. You looked back to Jennie, both figuring you weren’t going to get your drinks back so you may as well make yourselves new ones.

A hand on your shoulder alerted you to some one trying to get your attention. “We need seven more drinks, and it’s kind of crowded over here, can you hurry?” You wanted to be mad at how rude he was being, but you could tell he was already pretty drunk, and the smile on his face was just so sweet and innocent that you couldn’t be mad at him. You shared a look with Jennie, both of you realizing that these guys were drunk and wouldn’t understand that you weren’t bartending. So you planned to use this opportunity as a flirting advantage. You mixed four drinks while Jennie mixed three. You turned around with the first two, handing one to the boy with a sweet smile and the other to the guy with cat eyes whose drink had been taken by the loud laughing guy with the cat mouth. Cat-eyes smiled, which threw you off a little. He was adorable when he smiled and you wondered how you could have been so threatened by him just moments ago. You turned to grab the other set of two drinks, handing them to another guy who smiled as you handed it to him. A deep dimple graced his face when he smiled. He took the cup from your hand and took your hand in his bending to kiss it “Thank you pretty girl,” he said as he released your hand, and just like that he was gone among the crowd. 

Looking at Jennie you noticed her hand a cup to a tall guy with rather large ears, he was cute, and both he and the boy next to him reminded you of puppies. The smaller of the two had a large smile plastered on his face. His hand was on Jennie’s arm. You made eye contact with her making sure she was good. Her silent stare told you that you didn’t need to intervene. As you turned back to hand your last cup to the last guy you bumped into him spilling some of the drink on him. A hiss escaped his lips and s small squeak escaped yours. You set the cup back on the table reaching for a couple napkins to hand him to clean up. He grabbed them roughly out of your hand, a scowl forming and deepening on his face. He reached around your side for the drink and started to disappear into the crowd. He enthralled you. He was gorgeous, his hair was perfect and in your favorite style, he smelled wonderful from the brief whiff you caught as he grabbed the drink, and his lips. Well, they were heart shaped, and looked perfect for kissing.  You quickly turned remaking yourself your drink, heading into the crowd not bothering to look for Jennie who had already disappeared.

[ruffoverthinksthings]

Can you do JayxJordan for the ship meme?

1.Whois the most affectionate?:

Jay.Jordan is reluctant to show affection most days due to having beenburned by failed relationships and “falling in love with people toofast;” being new to physical affection and how great it feels togenuinely love someone and be loved back, Jay has no problem“binging” on hugs, kisses, and hand-holding.

2.Bigspoon/Little spoon?:

Jayis big spoon, Jordan is little spoon, always. “He’s got muscles,he uses them.”

3.Mostcommon argument?:

Playfullyspeaking, it’s whether or not Jordan can use her minor, non-wishmagic to solve a small inconvenience for Jay, like a loose thread.

Seriouslyspeaking, there’s Jay’s antics as he grows up, because it takeshim a while to get out of his “reckless teenager with nothing tolose” phase, and Jordan is getting spotlight with the scandals allthe while, getting the bad sort of attention to her channel.

“Idon’t know what you’ve been told, but here, bad news is stillbad news.”

4.Favoritenon-sexual activity?:

Workingout together.

Jaygets a spotter who can easily handle whatever weight he’sattempting, and someone who can easily match him or up the pace forhis training regime without need for complex machines, Jordan gets toenjoy seeing her man sweat and show off those muscles of his, and heher in form-fitting yoga pants.

Really,no one loses!

5.Whois most likely to carry the other?:

Jaywith Jordan.

WhileJordan is more than capable of carrying Jay by virtue of Faestrength, “there is no way I’m hauling your unconscious, drunk,and/or lazy ass down the street, to bed, or across the room, unlessyou’ve broken one or both your legs, or are bleeding out—and asfar as I can see, you’re neither.”

6.Whatis their favorite feature of their partner’s?:

Jay’shands for Jordan. “It’s all the care and attention of Royal, withthe strength and texture of a Greenback, with all the tricks andspeed of a VK—what’s not to love?”

WithJordan, it’s her eyes, no contest. “Prettier, shinier, and deeperthan any jewels I could steal in the whole wide world.”

7.What’sthe first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings forthe other?:

Jaygets even more flirtatious than usual with Jordan, being morespecific and direct about his compliments and suggestions to her,along with making concrete suggestions for dates and hanging out,rather than vague promises.

Jordan,meanwhile, gets evasive and paranoid with him, as oh goodness, it’shappening all over again, will Jay just dump her eventually like allthe VKs do with their relationships, or will it just be for thewishes, or will it be a happily ever after?

Doesshe even want to find out…?

8.Nicknames?& if so, how did they originate?:

ForJay, there’s “JJ” as Jordan’s personal nickname for him, tobe different from the rest; “Red Robin,” a pun, and a referenceto one of the future teams he signs up for, the Avalor Jaquins;“Sly Guy,” used insultingly, when Jordan has figured out whatmischief he’s gotten up to this time; or “Jasim” if shewants to use his real name.

ForJordan, there’s “Jean,” a play on “Djinn,” “Mistress”whenever she’s ordering his lazy ass around to go and do somethinghe’d rather not, “(My Most Beloved) Treasure” when he’s beingparticularly affectionate or alternatively, he KNOWS he has fuckedup—using it like that issupposed to keep Jordan onher toes, but she knows.

Shealways does.

9.Whoworries the most?:

Jordan.

Jayhas a very laissez-faire view of the world because of how out ofcontrol of anything he’s been all his life, but Jordan has both thecapability of understanding all the many forces at work that makelife as it is, and the infinite energy stores and lack of mortallimitations that let her worry basically whenever, wherever, forever,if she wanted to.

10.Whoremembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant?:

Jordan,thanks to her infallible Fae memory. Jay makes it a point to try andremember or guess what Jordan would order as a matter of pride,though.

11.Whotops?:

Jay.“Just keep in mind that who I am in the bedroom isn’t who I amelsewhere, alright?”

“Butwhat about when we do it in an empty supply closet somewhere?”

“JAY,I SWEAR…!”

12.Whoinitiates kisses?:

Jay.

Again,more affectionate, he comes from a very “love-starved”background, and Jordan takes a LONG while to get used to the factthat someone CAN in fact love her for her, the wishes are WAY loweron the perks list.

13.Whoreaches for the other’s hand first?:

Jay.Is it really a surprise at this point?

14.Whokisses the hardest?:

Jay.Man’s a demon, a devil, a doll, and the both of them know it.It also helped that he has had a lot of experience making good,delirious kisses to rob people discretely.

15.Whowakes up first?:

Jordandoesn’t really sleep, but when they do, it’s always Jay. “Gottaget picking when the picking’s good.”

16.Whowants to stay in bed just a little longer?:

Jordan.“Jay, this is not the Isle, you can probably get that shiton A-bay, or wait and grab it before they recycle or throw-away allthe excess stock!”

“ButI wouldn’t have it NOW!”

17.Whosays I love you first?:

Jay.

Hesays it casually and early as a manipulation tactic, as part of hisvery Spanish inspired “hot and fast” methodology, but changes hismind when Jordan has an incredibly negative, distressed reaction toit.

18.Wholeaves little notes in the other’s one lunch? (Bonus: what does itusually say?):

AsJordan doesn’t really need to eat, Jay usually gets coffeeand other snacks for her from time to time. She has no use forcaffeine nor sugar because of her unique, magical physiology, but shecan derive pleasure from eating, and she likes the notes Jayscribbles on the back of receipts or containers.

“It’slegally bought with my own money, I promise.” - J

19.Whotells their family/friends about their relationship first?:

Seeingas it’s much more convenient, Jordan does, with the caveat thatit’s with Jasmine and over Skype, because she is still one heavilyactive and involved Royal Consort. (Aladdin is no slouch himself, butlet’s face it: the man wasn’t made for sitting in for long,expansive meetings, nor ferocious verbal debate where you can’t infact challenge your opponent to a duel with swords and slander.)

20.Whatdo their family/friends think of their relationship?:

Jasmineand Aladdin raise eyebrows—they’re well aware of Jordan’s lessthan ideal experiences with romance, and even though they do trustJay as their honorary son, they’re well aware that monogamous,loyal “street urchins” like Aladdin were the exception ratherthan the rule.

Genieand Eden are highly supportive of Jay and keep teasing them aboutwhen they’re going to be able to call him “son” for real,something Jordan does not appreciate, as they had done thisbefore with relationships that didn’t work out, and Jay is thefirst real boyfriend she’s had in a LONG while.

Azizsays, “Jay, I respect you as a teammate [later on, “as a man”],and I will support you and help you be the best boyfriend you can beto Jordan. But I swear to Goodness, if you break her heart, I willfucking end you.

“… Also,for the love of all that is Good and Holy, try not to fuck while I’mat risk of discovering you two, please...?”

TheVKs are very nonplussed about it. “So what, Jay’s had dozensof girlfriends, that it’s Jordan just adds a new square to thebingo card.”

TheAKs are much more concerned, especially Ben as they’re all raisedwith the idea of monogamy and long-term relationships as thestandard, with casual, short-term relationships as the outlier, andare aware of how ugly break-ups with Jordan can be.

21.Whois more likely to start dancing with the other?:

Jordan,because she dances with everyone, and “there’s something in myessence that makes me want to show everyone these hips don’t liewhen the music really gets going.” It doesn’t really get overtlyaffectionate until she starts getting MUCH more comfortable beingaround Jay, and gets over her paranoia.

Afterthat, you start to wonder why Jay’s pants never catch fire from allthat friction. (They’re proofed and insulated, after the firstincident with a leather pair Jay is never wearing again.)

22.Whocooks more/who is better at cooking?:

Jordan,by virtue of having a cooking instruction series to her channelwhenever she’s feeling bored; cooking is one of those creative,endlessly novel, and time-consuming hobbies that are a great way topass the time when you’ve got all of eternity to spend, and yourperception of it is at a constant speed.

23.Whocomes up with cheesy pick up lines?:

Jay.“Someone call the museums and the art galleries, we’ve got apriceless treasure just out here in the open...”

24.Whowhispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear duringinappropriate times?:

Jay.

Jordandoes this for the people she has “Dangerous Liaisons” games withsuch as her other full-Fae friends and other immortal Fae (“age ofconsent” doesn’t really MEAN anything when you live forever, andare fully matured mentally at time of creation), but with mortals,she’s learned to tone down the sexiness and the seduction by a goodbit, as it’s more temporary and fleeting than they might think itwill be.

Aftershe accepts Jay will be her “Ever After,” the tables turn, andyou better BELIEVE that Jay has mastered the art of casually,discretely hiding inappropriate erections from said inappropriatethings whispered in his ear during inappropriate times.

25.Whoneeds more assurance?:

Jordan.

She’sgot serious self-esteem issues from all the time she’s been burned,along with the capacity to process paranoid thoughts faster than thespeed of light; meanwhile, Jay has long learned how to stop worrying,but Jordan is still at that phase where she hasn’t lost anyone dueto old age, or seen civilization completely change around her, so shedoesn’t really understand how little all of this means in the grandscheme of things.

26.Whatwould be their theme song?:

“Nobody’sBetter” by Z (feat. Fetty Wap)

Jordan’shad more than her fair share of guys who have been incredibly simpleand upfront about their feelings like Jay, but she finds she can’treally trust him as a mix of her own personal issues, and the factthat Jay’s being serious with Jordan does not preclude him “windowshopping” and playfully flirting with others.

27.Whowould sing to their child back to sleep?:

Jordan.She has the better singing voice, and Jay keeps filling them up withballads of his daring adventures.

“ButI cut out all the bad parts!”

“You’restill teaching our damn kids that it’s GOOD to be a thief stealingfor personal profit!”

28.Whatdo they do when they’re away from each other?:

Jordanworks on her videos, as usual, but she also spends a lot more timereflecting and thinking over things with how incredibly SIMPLE and tothe point Jay is. It’s the classic Philosophical issue of “Maybethat’s all that there is,” and unlike my blog’s point, it’sbest not to overthink it and just accept that the simple solutionreally is all there is to it.

29.oneheadcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart:

WhenJay proposes, it’s not a happy moment for Jordan—up untilthat point, it’s just been them dating exclusively, having anofficial status, and defenses on social media, but there’s neverreally been anything so concrete and legally binding as an actualring on her finger.

“I’mscared, alright?! What if things just go downhill from here? What ifwe end up getting divorced, and we have to fight over who gets thatring back?! What if…” she starts tearing up. “What if we’renot really an Ever After…?”

30.oneheadcanon about this OTP that mends it:

Jaywipes the tears from her eyes, kisses her, and gently says, “Jordan,I’m going to be honest: I don’t know the answer to any ofthose questions. But I what do know, I was willing to spend a stupidamount of cash, set up this whole date, and work up the courage toactually show this ring, than keep thinking to myself, ‘Next time,when there’s a better opportunity.’

“Ilove you, and I want to find out if we’ll work out. Do you?”

Jordansniffs. “… I love you too, Jay, but I don’t know…. I needsome time to think… a LOT of it.”

Jaynods, and puts the box safely back in his pocket. “Go ahead, I’llbe waiting—besides, the store had a no return policy, so it’s notlike I can do anything with this thing, anyway.”

Jordanpunches him, before she pulls him in and kisses him.

Yearslater, she gets back to him:

“Yes.”

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[mypersonalrambling]

Photo Shoot

Opening your eyes you felt around trying to find the warmth that normally consumed you. Instead of finding him you felt the empty side. Letting out a sigh you decided to get up and get breakfast. When you walked into the kitchen the glint of something caught your eye.

Walking over you looked down to find Harry’s face on the cover. Actually you found three different covers. Picking them all up you made your way to the living room. You remember him talking about the photo shoot but didn't know it was published yet. You opened all three to find them the same, so you took one and began looking through it.

The photos were beautiful. Harry was very photogenic, although he hated taking them. He wanted to be the one behind the camera. However after his friend Matt passed, he lost interest. It's been a difficult time for him lately. Photography used to be an escape, but now it was a reminder of how short life is.

Flipping through the magazine it was hard to choose a favorite picture, until you came upon the one of him lying in the field in huge sweater with a huge smile on his face. This was the Harry you were used to seeing. The one who was happy and wouldn't let anything get to him. It'd been a long time since you'd seen him like that. You began to ache. If only he'd feel like this every day. You don't mean to sound selfish but you wanted your Harry back. Not the one who only pretended to be happy, but was really in pain.

The photographs were amazing, however they couldn't compare to the interviews and letter from Gemma. The letter from Gemma was first. If you'd known what she'd written you would have tried to prepare yourself for it.

After reading Gemma’s letter you had to set the magazine down to not get tears on it. You couldn't fathom why you were so emotional, she'd told you those stories many times. But for some reason seeing them written down for the world to see hit you a thousand times harder. Now the world would have a glimpse into the Harry anyone close to him knew.

When the tears finally stop you pick up the magazine to see what else it had in store. Harry's interview with Paul McCartney. Even though they weren't face to face you knew Harry was probably a little nervous. He's a very confident person but every once in a while he was self conscious. Most of the time it didn't have to deal with other people, but just how he felt about himself. It didn't happen very often,  it when it did, it took a great deal of persuading to convince him otherwise.  On a few occasions you had to reassure him that he didn't need to change in anyway. He always wanted to tone his stomach because the ‘pudge just wouldn't go away.’ You were thankful he wasn't a self conscious person because being one yourself, you knew no one should experience that feeling. The interview seemed like it went smoothly and you hoped it did for Harry's sake. He looked up to Paul and it would have been a shame it something had gone wrong.

Harry's interview with Chelsea Handler was next. You expected it to be an amazing interview, but you had no idea that it would end up being your favorite interview that he would ever do.

CH-You’ve been dating Y/N for a while. How’s that going?

HS-It’s going very well; I can’t believe such a marvelous woman puts up with me. She’s the nicest, most generous women I’ve ever met.I never would have thought a simple chance encounter would turn into this.

CH-How did you two meet?

HS-We meet in a coffee shop. I was waiting for my drink when she walked in. She came over asking for a picture and was so polite. That was the first thing that caught my attention. Most fans are polite but when she asked she said it was okay if I declined. That was the first time someone had said that. I could tell she was nervous, but she hid it relatively well. She told me how much of an impact One Direction had on her life and that she hopes we keep making music for a very long time. By that time my drink was ready and I had to leave to get ready for the show.

I thought about her all day as crazy as that sounds. I went to the coffee shop the next day to grab something since we had another show. And she happened to be there. I bit the bullet and asked if she'd like to come to the show tonight. She did and well now here we are.

CH- That almost sounds like you took it out of a movie. When was the moment you realized you were in love with her? Are there wedding bells in the near future?

HS-I believe so. We’ve been together for a long time now, and it’s been the happiest time of my life. She puts up with my bullshit, which can be a lot at times. She’s the light of most of my days. Waking up next to her instantly puts a smile on my face. Her face being the last thing I see at night makes any appalling event melt away.

Not to sound cliché, but I feel like I walk on cloud nine with her. I don’t think there was a specific moment that made me fall in love with her. Every moment that I’ve had with her has made me fall in love. The longer we were together, the harder I fell. I never knew it was possible to love this much. She has my heart and is my home. And hopefully she feels the same way. Y/N will you marry me?

Wait, did that just…The two of you’d never talked about marriage. It was something that you both wanted. Lost in thought you failed to notice Harry come into the room. The look on your face must have given away what you'd just read. Ahem, you look over to find Harry down on one knee, tears in his eyes. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. “I…well…” he said using his head to point at the magazine still in your hands. No sound would come out. Of course you wanted to marry him. The thought made you giddy however the shock of not expecting it made it hard to comprehend. “Y/N?”

Jumping on him causing the both of you to fall. Being on top of him gave you the perfect advantage to attack him with kisses. You kissed any place on his face you could reach, finally landing on his lips for a long passionate kiss.

“I'll take that as yes,” he laughed.

“Yes. A thousand times yes,” you exclaimed. He took the ring out of the box, sliding it on your finger. When you brought your hand up to look at it closer the ring fell off.

“Oops. Looks like we'll have to get it resized,” he pouted.

“What’s wrong?” You ask not understanding why he was upset. This should be one of the happiest moments of your life.

“Just wanted everything to be perfect.” He looked like he was about to cry. He must have wanted it to go a certain way and this wasn't it. You couldn't fathom why. It was perfect to you.

“N’ it was. Wouldn't have changed a thing,” you smiled down at him. Pulling your head down he took your bottom lip between his. You didn't realize you were grinding against him until he moaned into your mouth.

“Fuck,” he groaned. He pulled your shirt off, tossing it across the room. It was slow after that. Harry kissed his way down your body, leaving marks where only he could see. “Jus for me love,” he said, his hot breath against your skin. It felt like he was taking hours and all you wanted was to feel him, every long, veiny inch. Suddenly you felt his breath against your inner thigh. “Soaked right through you panties kitten.” You didn't have to look to know he was smirking.

“Please Harry,” you whined. He was dragging this on so long. You weren't sure how much longer you take this. Placing a soft kiss, just enough to cause you to moan. He nudged your panties with his nose, making you gasp. Slowly he pulled them down with his teeth, until they were with your shirt.

Your eyes were closed, the anticipation of waiting for his touch killing you, but it didn't. Opening your eyes you saw him admiring at you. “Pretty, love.” His breath hot against your core. All you could think about was how he'd feel, you tried to grind down on him, but he put a hand on your hip to keep you in place. “Patience, darling,” he smirked.

The first lick had you gasping for air. He was taking long, wide licks. They were slow and with purpose. You weren't prepared when he wrapped his lips around your clit. He was doing small licks barely touching it. You tried to grind down on him, but his hand was keeping you firm in place. When he finally takes a firm hold around your clit, the moan you let out is low and long, coming somewhere deep in your throat. This encourages him to suck harder and longer, seeing how much he can push you.

“Harry…Harry please,” you plead. You want to feel him above you, the way his weight presses you into the floor. He complies without much hesitation, knowing that teasing isn’t the point of tonight, he wants to make love to the women he’s going to marry and be with for the rest of his life.

Harry flipped you over so you were on your stomach with his chest was to your back. He entered you in one swift thrust. Not giving you long to adjust, he set a slow pace, not wanting this to end quickly. He intertwined his fingers in yours. “I love yeh. Best thing that's ever happened to me,” Harry whispered.

“I love you t…” a particularly hard thrust cut you off. “Fuck,” you groaned. You were pinned beneath him, but you tried your hardest to grind against him.

“You're so beautiful. God. Can't. Believe. You're. Mine,” Harry said punctuating each word with a kiss. One of his hands slipped underneath you, finding your clit. This causes you to buck into the floor. “Harry…oh god,” you moan, clenching around him.

“Not gonna last much longer, love.” He’s groaning into your shoulder, biting when you clench around him. His thrusts are getting sloppy, signaling he was close. “Fuck, love, please cum.” His fingers began rubbing faster. The combination of his fast thrusts and rubbing your clit you were approaching your high quickly. Reaching your high you spasm around him, this causes him to reach his high. He doesn’t move off of you, not wanting to separate from you. When he slides out of you he can’t help but watching both of your highs trickle out. “I love you Y/N. Can’t believe you’re mine forever,” he said lying on the floor next to you, pulling you over to him.

“Harry I love you. There are no words to express how happy I am,” you say into his chest. The two of you lie there for a sometime before deciding to get up and have dinner. You never would have guessed this morning that you would be engaged to the love of your life.

[hailey-halstead]

Pink Stripes

hey guys!!! i think this is the longest brettonio one-shot i have ever wrote! definitely plan on writing more pregnancy stories in the future:-) i have to write one where he finds out about her little incident that happens in this specific story.....a direct sequel :-) hope u all enjoy! Happy Chicago Fire day!!!!! hopefully there will be an antonio mention tonight😍😍as always i don't own anything! (Ps i know NOTHING about natalie manning from chicago med so just a warning if she seems OOC or whatever she was just a filler character haha) ——————— Fuck. Was the first word that ran through Sylvie's mind as she viewed the two light pink stripes on the plastic pregnancy test she was clutching in her hand. The first one that she had taken was on top of the toilet paper dispenser. This couldn't be happening at literally the worst time in the entire world. Was this a joke? A scam? No it's not. She told herself, still staring at the test. You're having a baby. It was only a few days prior that Matt and Gabby had made the hardest decision of their lives to return Louie back to his birth father. The emotional turmoil would stick with them forever, but the wounds were still fresh. Gabby had only started back at work yesterday. She was dealing with the loss of her child, and now Sylvie was going to have this news thrown in her friend's face, that she was pregnant? How could this get even more terrible? Gabby would be happy for her, she definitely knew that. But it would naw at her insides, reminding her of the boy she had just given away. Sylvie didn't want to be that for Gabby. And then there was Antonio. The father of the baby she was know carrying. Yes, they were pretty serious. She had just met his kids a couple weeks ago. That has to be the biggest sign of 'we are in a serious relationship'. However, they haven't reached the subject of kids yet. Yeah, he already has two kids, but does he want more? Personally she had always wanted kids, but honestly hasn't been thinking of them during her relationship with Antonio. It has just been so new, different. They had a considerable age difference, plus he was divorced with two kids. She continued sitting on the toilet, staring at the test. Yes, she had to worry about how she was going to tell Antonio and Gabby, as well as if she would continue working as a paramedic during her pregnancy. The job wasn't as dangerous as being a firefighter, however it wasn't a safe desk job. She had a lot of things to be cautious about. Most the important thing of all, she was going to be a mother. And when she thought about it, she technically already was, to this little bean who was living in her body. Sylvie lifted up her shirt halfway, gingerly resting her hand on her stomach. She knew it would be months before she will feel her baby kick, but just the realization that there was a human growing in her was enough to bring her to tears. The opening of the bathroom door brought her back to reality. She wiped her tears away and brought her shirt back down. She then stuffed both of the tests into her pocket, making sure they were deep enough so no one would see them and they also wouldn't fall out. She exited the bathroom, trying to ignore the strange feeling that was taking over her entire body. She then realized that 'strange feeling' she was trying to suppress: pure joy and excitement. She was going to be a mother! "What the hell is up with you?" Her thoughts came into a screeching halt when she remembered that she was no longer alone. Cruz was sitting at one of the tables, giving her a puzzled look. "Did you just get some really good news?" He pressed, leaning his chin on his hands. "If you do, you should share it. We could all benefit from hearing good news." "Er." Sylvie dumbly stared at Cruz, not knowing what to say. Ultimately, she did not want him to know before she told Antonio. "Uh, my sister had a baby." Not a total lie. Her sister did have a baby. Three years ago. For some reason Cruz bought her terrible lie. "Oh, cool." He said, looking a little disappointed by her news. He returned his attention back to the newspaper in front of him. Sylvie quickly left the room, her mind still whirling. She couldn't keep this to herself for forever. She wanted to tell someone so badly. But she was only in the middle of her shift, and wouldn't be able to see Antonio until tomorrow. In her distraction, Sylvie ran into Stella. "Oof!" She began to fall back, but she was able to maintain her balance. However she immediately grabbed hold of her stomach, thinking of the human life she was now carrying. I have to be more careful. She reminded herself, returning her attention back to Stella, whose eyes were staring at her stomach and the hand that was resting over it. She resisted the urge to quickly take it off and instead just kept her hand there. "Stomach ache." She explained, hoping Stella wouldn't be suspicious. "Cramps?" She asked, a sympathetic expression on her face. "Had mine last week." It definitely wasn't cramps, but Sylvie went along with it. "Yeah, my time of the month." She pretended to look annoyed and also let out a little sigh. "Sending prayers." Stella squeezed Sylvie's shoulder as she passed. "Thanks." She mumbled, trying to keep control of her nerves and excitement. How was she going to keep this secret? She never was good at keeping them anyways. But it was like God had just answered her prayers when the alarm went off above, calling for Ambulance 61, Truck 81, and Squad 3. Hopefully the distraction of work would keep her focused and preoccupied. Gabby was already in the driver's seat when Sylvie arrived to the garage. "I hope you don't mind." She told her, starting the engine. Sylvie shook her head, she never particularly cared if she drove or not. "It's fine by me." She responded. She sat in silence as Gabby pulled forward, leaving the firehouse and entering on the main road. The address that the dispatcher gave turned out to be a location of a lake, which was now frozen due to it being the middle of January. And in the middle was a trio of three teenagers, one already in the water and the two others struggling to stay on top of a block of floating ice. To Sylvie's dismay, they also were clearly intoxicated, at four in the afternoon. "Jesus." Gabby sighed next to her, as they observed Truck and Squad getting to work. "I know." Sylvie commented, anxiously watching as multiple members of 51 carefully walked on the frozen ice. She wondered how thick, or thin, it was. "You have the blankets ready, right?" Gabby asked, before becoming quiet when she realized that Sylvie was holding them in her hands. "You're one step ahead of me." She complimented, grabbing one of the blankets. "Sylvie!" Sylvie squinted her eyes, trying to visually find out who was calling her name. She noticed Herrmann waving his arms in the air. She handed the blankets in her arms over to Gabby, approaching the frozen lake with caution. "Yeah?" She raised her voice so Herrmann was able to hear her. "Can we pass the victims to you?" He asked. "You're the smallest, it would be the safest way." Sylvie ignored how her stomach was now twisting at his request. It would be fine, she was only going to be going about ten feet out onto the ice, and this was her job. And not only was she helping the victims, she was helping her fellow 51 members as well. But her mind couldn't help but immediately begin thinking about her child residing in her.... But she shook that thought away. She would be fine, she had nothing to worry about. She had to do her job and in order to do that she had to push those type of concerns away. Right now she had to focus on getting the three teenagers safely back to land while also making sure she wouldn't fall through the ice herself. "Sure." She gave in, taking a tentative step forward, visibly cringing when she heard the barest of crackling of the ice below her. "You good?" Sylvie nodded, trying to keep her anxiety at bay. "Yeah, I think so." She kept taking cautious steps towards Herrmann, unable to hold back a sigh of relief when she was able to grasp onto one of the teenagers. Sylvie realized that he was the one who had fallen in, as he was soaked and wouldn't stop shivering. Sylvie retraced her steps, and once she reached Gabby, she wished that she didn't have to go back on the ice. But without a second thought, she headed back onto the frozen lake. The second trip went as smoothly as the first, but halfway through bringing the last boy back to safety, the ice began to split. "Jump!" She screamed at the boy, pushing him forward. Somehow she was strong enough to cause him to move decently forward, only one of his feet went into the water, but he was able to pull himself out. Sylvie has been out in the coldest weather during various work calls, feeling like she had achieved the ultimate level of coldness. Living in the Windy City she thought she had felt it all, the hot weather and the cold. But when she fell into the subzero water, she knew this was an experience that she has never gotten close to. She felt like she was in the cold version of hell. Time felt like eternity in the frozen water, but it was actually only seconds later she was pulled out by Severide and Capp. She was feeling slightly delirious, still in shock from what had just happened. A blanket was thrown over her shoulders. Gabby's face was suddenly in front of her, her glove-clad hands clutching her cheeks. "Are you okay?" She demanded. Sylvie nodded, her body unable to stop shaking. "J-Just a little cold." She tried to reassure her friend, but when she spoke her teeth wouldn't stop chattering. Gabby grabbed Sylvie's arm, pulling her towards the ambulance where the three teenagers were residing, all huddled up under blankets. Sylvie tried to protest, but Gabby wasn't having it. "Get in there." She demanded. Sylvie complied, knowing that fighting against a stubborn Gabby would be a lost battle. She sat down next to one of the boys, bringing the blanket tighter around her body to try to warm herself up. But she new that until she got her soaked clothes off, she wouldn't be helping herself much anytime soon. Horror filled her body when she realizes that she isn't the only person that she should be worrying about. She has a very, very small human being growing inside her, one that is certainly more fragile than she is. Yes, Sylvie logically knew that the few seconds she spent in the subzero water probably wasn't enough to hurt her baby, but she was a mother now. And a mother's job was to worry. Her own mom used to tell her that all the time, but now she finally understood what she had meant. "Hey, you okay lady?" The boy next to her spoke up, words slurring together. Sylvie tried to appreciate the concern, but he was breathing directly into her face and it was making her feel nauseous. She tucked her head down towards her chin. "Yeah," She muttered, trying to keep her composure. When she got to the hospital, she could ask them to check her baby. Just for a precaution. The stress of not knowing wasn't good for the baby as well. She lifted her wet shirt slightly, just to reveal her stomach. Her blanket was covering the majority of her body, so she knew she was having a private moment between her and her child. She pressed her hand to her skin, and closed her eyes. She leaned her head back, wondering why this was the longest ambulance ride of her life. The next thing she knew, she was being shaken back and forth. Sylvie's eyes flew open, and blinked a couple times before finally seeing Gabby come into focus. "Here." She handed Sylvie an extra pair of their paramedic uniform. "I'll get them all situated inside, but text me immediately if you need anything, alright?" Sylvie nodded. "I'll be in right after I change." She reassured her. Gabby began to get off of the ambulance, but then stopped, unzipping her jacket and throwing it at Sylvie. "We don't have an extra jacket, so you wear that." Sylvie opened her mouth to complain, but Gabby didn't let her. "No arguing. You just fell into a frozen lake in the middle of winter. Now get dressed." She then finally left, shutting the vehicle's doors behind her. Sylvie had a little difficulty removing her wet clothes, they were sticking to her skin, but felt relief when they were finally off. To her disappointment, there weren't any spare bras or underwear, but decided to just go commando for the time being. She was only going to be in the hospital for a short time, and then would be back at the firehouse to put on clean undergarments. After pulling on the jacket Gabby loaned her, Sylvie opened the doors and stepped out of the vehicle. She shivered, her body still cold from earlier. Picking up her pace, she entered the hospital, sighing with relief when she felt the warm air hit her skin. "Are you better?" Gabby questioned, examining Sylvie with concern. "You could go sit down and rest for a couple of minutes." Sylvie spotted Natalie Manning a few feet away. "Actually, I'm going to go to the bathroom." She told Gabby, keeping her eyes on the pediatrician. "I won't be long!" She then made a beeline for the doctor, making sure she sped up her pace once she was out of Gabby's line of sight. "Natalie!" She managed to grab a hold of her lab coat, getting the woman to stop in her tracks. She let go quickly, not wanting to seem rude. "I'm sorry for disturbing you..." Her eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong?" Before she revealed anything, Sylvie wanted to make sure that Natalie wasn't busy. "Do you have anywhere specific you need to be right now?" She asked. "Not particularly—" "Good!" She blurted in relief, and then took a deep breath to try to calm herself down. "Good." She repeated. Natalie grew more concerned. She grabbed Sylvie by the arm, pulling her into an empty room. "What's going on?" Sylvie's hands began to cradle her stomach as only just began imagining herself telling her the news. She realized that she didn't even have to speak out loud, Natalie's eyes followed her movement and widened. She realized what was going on. Sylvie wasn't surprised, the woman was a doctor after all. "Wow, congrats!" She wholeheartedly told her. Sylvie now had a permanent smile on her face, she had someone else to enjoy her news with. Natalie wasn't the ideal first person to tell, they weren't really even friends, merely acquaintances, but with the circumstances she knew that she had to let the cat out of the bag. "Thanks." Sylvie warmly told the doctor. "I'm actually here for a specific reason, though..." And she explained her situation to Natalie, that she had fallen into the lake, only briefly, but wanted to make sure the baby was okay. "Sure, I can do that for you." She gestured for Sylvie to take a seat. She explained herself as Sylvie sat down in the chair. "Total coincidence that this is a room with an ultrasound." "As quickly and efficiently we can do this, the better." Sylvie couldn't help but squirm when the fluid was placed on her stomach. "I need to head back to work. Gabby thinks I'm in the bathroom." "When are you going to tell her?" Natalie asked as she moved the device over her stomach. "Are you waiting?" "Not really, well not in that sense." Sylvie admitted. "She just gave up a child that, while wasn't biologically hers, was hers in every other sense. Letting her know I'm pregnant would be a slap in the face." "So....." "So I plan on not letting her know for at least a couple more weeks." Sylvie explained. "It's for the best." "Are you able to continue working as a paramedic while in your condition?" "I was planning on just for the next couple of weeks, but then today happened. And I don't know anymore." She confessed, letting her head rest back against the head cushion. But Natalie was looking at the screen above her. Sylvie's eyes followed, as her heart began pounding faster than it ever has when she viewed her tiny bean. "Wow." She breathed, staring with amazement. "That's.....that's amazing." She was finding it hard to accurately voice how she was feeling. "And the baby looks perfectly healthy." Sylvie couldn't hold back a grin when Natalie told her the news. "You're at 8 weeks, I think." "Could I get a picture?" Sylvie asked. Natalie nodded, heading out of the room briefly. "Actually, could I have two?" She called out. Antonio would probably like one. At this, Natalie turned around, an own smile on her face. "For the father?" Sylvie nodded. "Yeah, for the father." She repeated, but the smile on her face stretched from ear to ear. When Sylvie headed back to the front of the hospital, Gabby was sitting in one of the chairs, looking impatient. Sylvie gulped, wondering what kind of excuse she could use to explain why she was apparently 'in the bathroom for the past 20 minutes'. "Sorry I took so long." Sylvie apologized as she approached her. But to her surprise, the annoyance on Gabby's face cleared up right when she noticed her. "It's fine, you probably needed the few extra minutes to yourself." "Yeah, I feel a lot better." But what Gabby didn't know was she was feeling better for an entirely different reason. Knowing that her baby was okay, and getting to actually see it has totally flipped her mood around. However Sylvie knew she couldn't let her emotions show, Gabby would certainly become suspicious. They left the hospital, preparing for more calls once they got back to the fire station. Luckily for Sylvie, the rest of the shift went by smoothly. She didn't have any risky situations like the frozen lake scenario, and was able to put all of her focus into her job. Sylvie had just changed out of her work clothes and was grabbing the remaining stuff out of her locker when Stella appeared over her shoulder. "Molly's tonight?" She questioned. "After that hellish experience earlier today, I think you deserve a drink." Too bad she couldn't for another nine months, Sylvie sadly thought to herself. "Another night." She promised the firefighter, shutting her locker door. "I think I want to go home and get a good night sleep." Thankfully Stella didn't push any harder to try to convince her to go out. "We will miss you." She told her, leaving the room. "If you change your mind, come straight down." Sylvie laughed, following her out. "It's eleven at night, I don't think I will be changing my mind." She wasn't planning on telling Antonio about the pregnancy until tomorrow, but with today's events and the two photographs carefully tucked away in her purse, she couldn't wait. He was probably getting ready to go to bed, or could be already asleep, but he wouldn't be mad when he hears this exciting news. At least Sylvie kept telling herself he was going to be excited. She wouldn't let herself go down the path of negativity. Stella seemed to have guessed where she was heading to. "Going to your boy's place?" And laughed when Sylvie's face started to turn red. They exited the building, heading to their respective cars. As Sylvie got into her car, she hears Stella call out one last thing. "The offer still stands!" Sylvie stuck her head out of her window, laughing. Stella was super persistent. "I'll tell Antonio you said hello!" She didn't wait to hear Stella's reply, or maybe her friend didn't hear her at all. Either way, Sylvie started her car, trying to control her nerves as she headed to Antonio's apartment. She had both pregnancy tests and the two sonograms in her bag, definitely planning on using at least one of them when she revealed to Antonio that she was pregnant. Or she was going to use both. Honestly, she had completely no idea what she was going to do once she got to his place. Would she say a long speech, or just blurt it out? A part of her was worried her emotions would take over and she would start hysterically crying. She probably was going to end up winging it, but trying to have multiple backup plans was helping lessen her anxiety. She refused to let herself come up with a plan if he didn't want the baby. She wouldn't let her mind enter that territory. There was no reason to freak out over something that might not even happen. Still, Sylvie knew the knots in stomach wouldn't be untangled until she would see Antonio's reaction. After pulling into the garage of Antonio's apartment complex, Sylvie took a couple minutes to herself to try to calm down and collect her thoughts. "I can do this." She told herself out loud, the overwhelming silence of everything else making her focus just on her voice. "Everything will be okay." After allowing herself a moment of silence, she took a deep breath and stepped out of her car. The walk to his specific apartment seemed longer than usual, definitely because of the added anticipation she was feeling. But she soon made it to the elevator, and then finally was on the floor his apartment resided on. "Well here goes nothing." Sylvie muttered, taking one more deep breath before knocking on Antonio's door. He had given her a key, but she honestly felt like she was still barging into his apartment with it, so she preferred knocking. Minutes passed, which made Sylvie realize that he had to have been sleeping. Good going, Sylvie. She thought to herself, bouncing her weight back and forth between her legs. She knew if she had to wait any longer she would between pacing the hallway. But the door opened. And unfortunately she was right, Antonio was in his pajamas with bed-head hair, looking exhausted. Sylvie racked through her brain, trying to remember what day of the week it was.... "Oh no!" She cried out, her free hand going over her mouth in shock. "It's Wednesday, isn't it?" Her tired boyfriend nodded, letting out a loud yawn. "Yeah, it's Wednesday." He repeated. Wednesday's were his worst days at work, for no particular reason. He always seemed to have the hardest cases with the most difficult of families. And countless other obstacles seemed to show up. A couple weeks ago, his coffee maker broke on a Wednesday. And a few weeks before that, he got a flat tire. Sylvie had no idea what happened this particular Wednesday, but judging by his exterior appearance, it was exactly the same as the others. "I'm sorry, Antonio." She gently grabbed one of his hands, allowing herself into his apartment. "But I have news that couldn't wait until morning." She directed the sleepy man to the couch, eagerly awaiting his every move. "It's fine." He yawned again. "Is something wrong?" "No. I mean, you could possibly think it will be wrong, but I don't think you will—" Sylvie was realizing exhaustion was getting to her, as she was finding it difficult to articulate her words accurately. "Sylvie, just tell me. We both won't know how I will feel until I know what the news is." "I think it might be better if I show you." She told him, bringing her bag into her lap. As she searched through, trying to find one of the pregnancy tests and sonograms, she could feel Antonio's confusion grow. "What do you mean show me?" Sylvie didn't answer him, her attention on her bag and what was inside it. She unzipped one of the side compartments, gingerly pulling out one of the sonograms. She removed it from the bag quickly, yelling "don't look!" to Antonio, who claimed he wasn't, but Sylvie knew he was trying to get some kind of clue. She tucked the piece of paper underneath her thigh, making sure she wasn't going to crinkle it. She found the pregnancy test a few seconds later. This was it, the moment of truth. There was no reason to delay it for any longer. She reached for the sonogram, making sure the plastic test was in her other hand. After taking another deep breath, she plopped but of the objects into Antonio's lap. She dug her nails into her thighs, trying not to freak out over the anticipation of his reaction. She doesn't remember any other moment she has felt this anxious and excited. He picked both objects up, one in each hand. But Sylvie was intently watching his face, wanting to see every emotion that came across his face. The first she was able to distinguish was shock, which Sylvie was able to understand. Hell, that was the first one that she felt herself. But then Antonio directed a question at her. "Is this–Are you really–" His eyes were wider than she had ever seen them, and his jaw was on the floor. He was completely caught off guard. Not sure if she could trust herself from having an emotional breakdown, she only nodded her head. She let out a shriek when Antonio suddenly pulled her forward, bringing her onto his lap. "The sonogram—" She warned him, not wanting to damage it. "It's on the table, it's fine." He mumbled into her hair. He kept his hold on Sylvie, but brought his head back, making eye contact with her. "This is real? One hundred percent real??" "It's one hundred fifty percent real." Sylvie reassured him, resting her hands on his thighs. "You're going to be a dad again, old man." She couldn't resist the tease. At the beginning of their relationship, she knew their age difference was a sore spot to him, but now he only rolled his eyes and scoffed when Sylvie decided to throw in the rare dig. "I'll keep that in mind when you're 9 months pregnant, begging me to go out to get you some specific kind of ridiculous food." Antonio dryly told her, shutting her up. "I won't be able to go out, my joints will be aching." But even he still had a big smile on his face, letting Sylvie know that he wasn't serious. "So you're happy?" Sylvie couldn't resist asking, wanting a confirmation. "Hell yes I am happy!" He told her, reaching over to pick up the sonogram. He stared at it in amazement, tracing his fingers over the picture of the tiny fetus. "Holy shit." He mumbled, only awe shining through his eyes. "Holy shit, indeed." She echoed his words, as love filled her heart while silently viewing Antonio examine the paper, one of the most amazing sites she has ever witnessed in her life.