#then my sister is gonna come stay with me in da big city

[l0std1adem]

just found out this weekend is a 4 day weekend LET’S GOOOO

[purplesurveys]

1871

Everything: Categorised survey by xflirtykaosx

Z o o s

What's the first animal you go to see at the zoo? Well I've never really...looked forward when it comes to zoos. As a kid I found it cool to see eagles I guess but that's it?

Which animal[s] don't you ever go to see at the zoos? I've never avoided any animal in particular.

What's the strangest or rarest creature you've seen at a zoo? Nothing comes to mind. I've rarely visited zoos all my life.

What animal is at a zoo that really, in your opinion, shouldn't be? All of them, I guess. Zoos just rub me off the wrong way.

Have you ever been to a zoo with an aquarium/water creature section? I've been to places that are aquariums/ocean parks on their own already.

Do you like zoos or aren't you bothered? I am very bothered by zoos, yeah.

Y e s O r N o

I offer you a cigarette, you say... Sure.

I offer to buy you an alcoholic drink and you reply... That's very nice of you, thanks!

I have some Weed, do you want any? Nope.

Got some harder stuff too. Interested? Nope.

I offer you $5,0000 to kill a world leader. What's your response? 5000 or 50,000?

You sleep with me and I'll get you a record/modeling deal. Yes or No? That's creepy and neither of those sounds appealing.

W h e n . . .

Did you last cry? Last night. Just came across several posts that hit too close to home and unlocked feelings that I buried long ago.

Do you normally laugh the most? When I'm with my sister or with Angela/Hans; or when I watch BTS videos that are funny.

Do you forget things more? I have my forgetful moments at work.

Do you usually get up during the weekend? Anywhere between 7 to 9:30 AM. More or less the same time I wake up on weekdays since my body is used to the habit already.

Do you usually go to bed during the week? On weekdays, the latest I allow myself to stay up would be 2:30 AM. Any later than that I'd be fucked in the morning.

Did you last forget something important? Can't remember tbh. I forget a lot of little things, but rarely if it comes to big big big significant stuff.

Do you feel the most secure? Just whenever I'm on my own. I like and find comfort in my own company.

Do you ask for advice? When even my own pep talks or solutions don't work anymore.

W h y . . .

Do you think you see the world the way you do? What a deep question, sorry I'm gonna give such a basic answer lmao. Just my experiences and the stories I hear from the people around me, I guess. My perception of the world is shaped from the way I've encountered it.

Do you think you were put on this earth? I don't think there's a real purpose to it. I think of it as I'm just a cell that managed to be formed, and it's up to me to make the most out of the life I've been given and do it happy.

Do you favour your favourite colour? It reminds me of BTS.

Do you like the clothes you are wearing? It's CM Punk's WWE return shirt, and it personally means a lot to be able to own it because I've stuck around long enough to have been with him throughout his entire journey, and him coming back to the place we all thought he'd never come back to continues to be such an unbelievable feeling haha.

Do you lose your temper at people? I cannot handle stupidity, laziness, or slow people, and that's when I tend to be the most impatient.

Can or can't people empathise with others? Differences in the way we've lived life.

W h e r e . . .

Do your grandparents live? My father's parents live somewhere south; my grandma on my mom's side lives nearby.

Do you want to visit this year? Just anywhere abroad, really; and I should be able to tick that off my list soon as we're headed for Vietnam in a couple of weeks. We'll be visiting Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang.

Do you feel the most complete? Museums.

Did you go yesterday? I went to North Caloocan for the first time for work, and what a shitshow of a city. I'm so glad I live where I live.

Can you go when you're in trouble? Not sure what this is asking...? I'm 26. I never really...get in trouble anymore lol.

Does your best friend live? Just nearby.

W h o . . .

Could you tell anything to? Angela.

Has hurt you the most in life so far? My mom and my ex.

Has made you laugh in the last 24 hours? My sister.

Has made you question something in the last week? Ange, for being a terrible coworker and for making me ask myself why I ever agreed to work with her given the warnings everyone gave. Idk, I just wanted to give her another chance and I was genuinely rooting for her...

Idk. I typically have infinite patience at work because I know everyone's doing their best and the last thing I resort to is to be pissed at any one of my own teammates. But she's clearly not doing her best and is checked out as all hell and it's making the rest of the team who are doing their best look bad, so I've given myself the go signal to be a little harsh on her.

Do you think, outside family, has made the biggest impact on your life? My ex.

Never fails to cheer you up? Angela.

Gets on your nerves the most? Ange, clearly. And my brother.

W h a t . . .

Age do you wish you were? I don't really think about this. I'm fine at the present, where I am and how old I am currently.

Colour is the nearest book to you? There are no books near me. I'm somewhere up north now for a bit of a staycation, and I meant to bring The Midnight Library with me but ultimately forgot about it since I was rushing this morning :(((

Memory sticks out the most? There isn't one in particular. Different memories pop up for me depending on my mood or what my brain feels like remembering.

Subject did you dislike in school? Chemistry, calculus, trigonometry, and philosophy.

Dish/meal would you like to eat right now? Tuna sashimi would be great.

Sense of yours is the strongest? Touch.

Book has impacted you on an emotional/psychological level? None.

Word do you always misspell? Rhythm.

Decade were you born in? 90s.

V i o l e n c e

Is it ever okay to hit a child? When is this? Never. I dislike kids lol, but realistically I hate the idea of physically harming them. That's how every Filipino kid until the 2010s grew up and I will be the first to tell you it doesn't fucking work. I've seen my cousins get lashed with belts, whipped with sandals, or harshly slapped and 100% of that bullshit was ineffective.

Do you think violence is a huge problem in the world? Sure.

Are you afraid of going out at night incase you get attacked? Yeah. I'm a woman in the cat calling capital of the world. You'll never see me walking at night.

Do you live in an area with a reputation of being violent? Fortunately, no.

Do you think violence is appropriate when someone gives you verbal abuse? Not always; things like this are never black and white. But, say, someone's endured abuse for a time and finally decides to snap back – situations like that, I would understand and empathize with.

Someone hits you, what do you do? Ideally I would hit back but it really depends on the situation. I could always freeze – which has happened before.

Have you ever been "beaten up"? Did you report it? Nope.

Do you think violence in rap music influences the nation to violent acts? No, the same way violence in video games does not necessarily mean those acts are carried over to real life. I was 5 when I first learned how to go up parking lots on GTA and go on rocket launcher killing sprees to everyone walking below; I turned out fine lol.

If so, list a few songs you feel show an example of this:

Do you think violence in video/computer games influences the nation also? No.

If so, list a few games that you feel show an example of this:

Do you think that violence in films influences the nation? Example[s]? No for me, because I feel like in shows or movies they add inaccuracies on purpose anyway so that no one can imitate stupid shit. Like how they purposely fucked up the scene order of making meth on Breaking Bad so that anyone who tries to copy it in real life will turn out wrong.

U n d e r n e a t h I t A l l

Do you truly think you are better than someone else? No. If anything I feel like everyone can do at least one thing better than I can. But I've learned to be alright with that; it's made me learn how to live a calmer life while not losing my competitiveness.

Is there something you fear above anything else? What is it? Losing my loved ones to death. Because where do they go? Were they in pain? Are they watching over from another dimension that I just can't perceive, like I like to believe? things like that I hate thinking about but can't stop thinking about either.

Are you in any shape or form, racist? I am wary of the mainland Chinese, but that also comes in the context of those people being bullies to Filipinos, those people infiltrating my country, and from personally experiencing their rudeness.

Are you in any shape or form, sexist? Nope.

Are you discriminative in any other way? Elaborate. I try not to be, but I'll sometimes encounter one too many booboos or annoying tendencies of a particular group that I can't help but lose my trust and neutral impression of them – Christians.

Can you honestly say you've got a good heart and mean well? For the most part. I'm not a saint, and that will sometimes show intentionally or otherwise. Other times, others are the first to be mean and I typically like to respond to that with the same meanness. So, not a saint LOL.

Are you more selfish or selfless? Idk, a little bit of both.

Do you believe you make life what it is? Yes. Sometimes I make it beyond what I think it's giving me at the moment, because life is short and you gotta learn how to be extra and do everything you wanna do and not be shy. But for the most part I've been more accepting of life and do what I can with what is around me.

Is there someone you truly hate? Why do you hate them? Not anyone in real life but I'm pretty sure I'm capable of physically harming animal abusers. I almost got started with a dude 9 years ago but my parents restrained me because they thought I was making a scene.

Do you feel comfortable around the opposite sex? How about the same sex? Guys are fine as long as they are not creepy. I'm comfortable around women.

Do you consider yourself wise/intelligent/knowledgeable? Booksmart, I guess. I'm not very confident in other areas lol.

Do you respect other peoples choices/right to freedom of speech? Sure...it just becomes annoying when this becomes the excuse to be a gigantic asshole. Aka Filipino Christians and their agenda to always be the Main Character in every narrative because it's Their Beliefs That Always Have To Be Followed.

Are you afraid of getting older? No.

Do you know what drives you in this world? Money.

Can you honestly say you'd risk your life for someone else? I would.

Are you a children/animal/people person, or not at all? Animal. I don't care much for the other two, hah.

Do you have any hormone problems? How do these affect you? No.

Do you take things people say on a personal level? Sometimes! I can be sensitive but this is a Me thing. I need to learn and I've also been told to learn how to not always take things personally.

T r a v e l

Have you ever been to England, if don't live there? No.

Any other part of the UK? No.

Have you been to more than 5 US States if live in the US? No.

Have you visited any country in Africa? Name the ones you've been to? No.

Have you visited any country in Australasia? Name the ones you've been to? No.

Have you visited any country in Europe? Name the ones you've been to? No.

Have you visited any country in Asia? Name the places you've been to? I live in the Philippines; but I've also been to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, Japan, and China. Vietnam in the next two weeks as well.

Have you visited North/South America? Name the places you've been? No.

Do you like travelling? Where is the best place you've been? Yes. I really enjoyed Bangkok – it felt like being back home, but with MUCH more shopping and a wider variety of street food so it was like, a lot of fun without the whole culture shock adjustment haha. Japan was nice too because the weather felt great and everyone was very very kind.

The worst place visited? Calling it the worst is a BIG stretch since it was nowhere near that state, but maybe Shanghai is the closest fit? I liked the urban-ness it offered, but tbh I don't feel like it was meant to be a tourist city. It's great for shopping and if you specifically set out to buy high-end stuff, but if you're not there for that, I'm not quite sure what you can do there. Then again we also weren't there for a long time so it's also on us for not having the chance to explore the place further.

Do you prefer to backpack, stay in a hotel, a cabin or summerhouse? A homey condo Airbnb in the middle of the city is the way to go! I find hotels too fancy, but I also don't want to be in a cabin in the middle of nowhere in an unfamiliar place. If I was traveling in a different country, I want my essentials to be just a short walk away.

Who do you normally take with you travelling? Phone, laptop (just in case I need to bring it out for work lol), power banks, chargers, wallet, Airpods, basic makeup, toiletries, and if I'm going overseas then obviously my passport.

T e c h n o l o g y

Do you own a laptop computer? Yes.

PC? No.

XBox? Never had one as we've always preferred Playstation.

Nintendo DS? My sister had one. I borrowed it sometimes but I was never hooked since I much preferred to play with the Wii.

Wii? Yes, spent hours on that thing.

Playstation 2? We did have one, yeah.

Mobile/Cell? Yes. Kind of need to treat it as an essential these days.

House Phone? We still have one since we have a few relatives who still prefer to talk using the house phone + some businesses will still use your landline as a means of communication.

What's your favourite form of technology? I mean, the lengths the smartphone has come has been pretty mind-blowing to watch. What do you mean this tiny thing can hold tens of thousands of photos, can be used for vlogging, can accommodate Powerpoints, and can carry all the app versions of programs that for a very long time you could only use via computer? I would be nowhere without my phone; I definitely use mine for everything.

Do you have Bluetooth on any of your devices? Yeah, they all do.

Wireless connections on your PC and/or laptop? Sure.

Coloured or black and white ink in printer? Are you asking what I prefer or if our printer has these features lol? In any case, our printer has both and I prefer colored.

Do you spend a lot of money on technology? I do when I do buy new gadgets, but it's not often at all.

Do you understand basic technological language? It depends on what you mean by basic technological language lol...

T e l e v i s i o n

What's your favourite show? Quality-wise, Breaking Bad. Rewatch-wise, Friends.

What's your favourite type of show [soap, talk show]? Sitcoms, since I appreciate an easy watch. For K-dramas, I like romcoms or those that take a crack at social commentary.

What about your list of favourite shows? At least for my top 5, it would be Breaking Bad, Friends, Descendants of the Sun, The Crown, and BoJack Horseman.

Least favourite type of show? Crime, mystery, fantasy, scifi.

Why don't you like the above type of show? In the grand scheme of things they're the least likely to be realistic.

Did/do you watch Friends? What's your opinion? I did! And I continue to rewatch it consistently. It's no secret that it's one of my favorites – I've enjoyed most episodes, the cast's dynamic was consistently great, and even after 10-20 rewatches for some episodes the same jokes still make me laugh.

Did/do you watch Smallville? Verdict? I did not watch it.

Did/do you watch Family Guy? Verdict? I watched it sometimes when it was on, but it was never a favorite. I think the biggest factor is that I was too young for the jokes, but even if I watch an episode today I still don't think it'd make me laugh or that the humor would be something up my alley.

What's your favourite talent show? None of them since they're all highly scripted anyway. I do want to get into Street Woman Fighter, though.

What's your favourite sitcom? Friends.

What do you refuse to even bother watching? Game of Thrones, Bridgerton, 13 Reasons Why, HIMYM, Doctor Who.

What TV package do you have? We have a smart TV now, hahaha.

How many channels do you have? Aww.

Do you subscribe to any packages? Which types? Welcome to 2024, survey-maker! Most TVs are smart now lol. That said I'll *kind of* answer this with some of my most frequently used apps instead – YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, Disney+, and Prime.

Do you prefer TV, films or radio? More on vlogs, tbh.

T h e E n d

How do you think the world will end? However the scientists have calculated it to be. Idk there's a lot of legs to it lol so it's hard to summarize everything in one sentence, but I've watched a few visual timelines about this question and I'm pretty much on the same boat.

How far away do you think that will be? Billions of years from now.

Do you see tragedy in the near future? Possibly.

T h o u g h t P r o v o k i n g

Do you believe in aliens? Yes.

Can you imagine a world without music? Being technical I see how that can be possible, but what a miserable prospect that is. Music is its own language, music has been used to express feelings and culture, music has quite literally saved lives. It'd feel like a very big hole if we suddenly lost all music.

What colour would you paint the stars if you could? I'm fine with how they look like from here.

If you were a superhero, what would you call yourself? I dunno. Just my name, I guess. I don't want to draw attention lol

What natural phenomenon do you find the most beautiful? Auroras and eclipses.

What age do you think you are old enough to vote? I'm fine with 18 being the legal age here.

Does the characteristics of your starsign reflect you? Some of it does and some of it does not. Same as with any other sign.

Do you cry usually because you feel hurt, confused, happy or angry? It can be any one of these things. I'm a big crier hahaha.

Would you kill someone who killed a child? No.

How about YOUR child? I think so.

Does learning someone is a different religion to you change your opinion? Like, of them? I have a very complicated relationship with religion. Most beliefs I 100% have no problem with and I embrace the chance to learn from them and hear their culture; but given my consistently negative firsthand experience with Christians, I am wary every time I meet someone who is very serious about that faith.

What is the most beautiful word in the English language? I personally like the word 'poignant.'

What emotion do you feel the strongest right now? Nervous-but-trying-to-run-away-from-it would be most accurate.

The last film you watched - how did it leave you feeling? Excited. (The last movie I saw was The Menu, haha)

Love of a Partner or a true friendship? Friendship.

[purple-compromise]

Brain craves categorization so instead of doing something properly constructive, I will be grouping songs from my fic playlist according to why I selected each track.

1) Referenced in the Fic

Live and Let Die by the Wings

House of the Rising Sun by The Animals

I Forgot to Remember to Forget by Elvis Presley

Fist City by Loretta Lynn

I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) by Four Tops

Suspicious Minds by Elvis Presley

Too Marvelous For Words by Bing Crosby

The Wonder of You by Elvis Presley

I'll Always Love You (Day After Day) by Dean Martin

2) Specialist

Green Green Grass of Home by Tom Jones

That's Life by Frank Sinatra

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize by Pete Seeger

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted? by Jimmy Ruffin

Blue Moon by The Marcels

Sunshine Go Away Today by Jonathan Edwards

We Saw the Sea by Fred Astaire

It's Only a Paper Moon by Ella Fitzgerald and The Delta Rhythm Boys

Doctor My Eyes by Jackson Browne

3) Medic

I'm Alive by The Hollies

(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You by Louis Prima

Lili Marleen by Marlene Dietrich

Curse Me Good by The Heavy

Wooden Heart by Elvis Presley

Liebling, mein Herz lässt dich grüßen by Lilian Harvey and Willy Fritsch

4) Specialized Medicine

Old Devil Moon by Frank Sinatra

Komm gib mir deine Hand by The Beatles

Come Rain or Come Shine by Billie Holiday

I Concentrate on You by Frank Sinatra

Sie liebt dich by The Beatles

"Murder," He Says by Dinah Shore

Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin

Leave My Woman Alone by Ray Charles

Let's Misbehave by Cole Porter (performed by Trevor Ashley)

Something's Gotta Give by Bing Crosby

Bei Mir Bist Du Schon by The Andrews Sisters

Have I the Right by The Honeycombs

I Get a Kick Out of You by Frank Sinatra

The River is Wide by The Grass Roots

Too Late to Turn Back Now by the Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose

Poetry in Motion by Johnny Tillotson

I've Never Been in Love Before by Shirley Bassey

Come Go With Me by The Del-Vikings

Sh-Boom by The Chords

Das gibt's nur einmal by Lilian Harvey

I Feel the Earth Move by Carole King

5) The Team

People Are Strange by The Doors

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood by The Animals

Strike Up the Band by Ella Fitzgerald

Everybody Eats When They Come To My House by Cab Calloway

Momma Tried by Merle Haggard

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On by Big Maybelle

Trouble by Elvis Presley

We Gotta Get Out of This Place by The Animals

G.I. Blues by Elvis Presley

6) Heavy

Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford

Big Bad John by Jimmy Dean

Doctor My Eyes by Jackson Browne

7) Soldier

G.I. Jive by Johnny Mercer

Sound Off by Vaughn Monroe

Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army by Rosemary Clooney, Percy Faith & His Orchestra, and The Mellomen

G.I. Blues by Elvis Presley

8) Engineer

Mister Sandman by Chet Atkins

Where Have All the Average People Gone? by Roger Miller

9) On Engie's Radio

There Stands the Glass by Webb Pierce

(Is This the Way to) Amarillo by Tony Christie

Walk on By by Leroy van Dyke

Dang Me by Roger Miller

10) Spy

Green Onions by Booker T. and the M.G.'s

Boum! by Charles Trenet

Tonight You Belong to Me by Nancy Sinatra

11) Scout

Do You Love Me by The Contours

Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire

Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy by The Tams

12) Pyro

Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows by Leslie Gore

Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams by the Boilermaker Jazz Band

13) Demoman

Shine, Shave, Shower (It's Saturday) by Lefty Frizzell

Nobody But Me by The Human Beinz

14) Sniper

Walk, Don't Run by The Ventures

15) Thematic

Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane

Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash

Turn, Turn, Turn by The Byrds

Are You Sure? by Timi Yuro

We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn

Sooner or Later by The Grass Roots

If It Hadn't Been For Love by The Steeldrivers

Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day by The Monkees

Happy by Nancy Sinatra

Live For Today by The Grass Roots

16) The Vibes

In the Mood by Glenn Miller

Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks

Mean Old World by T-Bone Walker

That'll Be the Day by Buddy Holly

Stay by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Come On, Let's Go by Ritchie Valens

Runaway by Del Shannon

Ich tanze mit dir in den Himmel hinein by Lilian Harvey and Willy Fritsch

Bring it on Home to Me by Same Cooke

The Letter by The Box Tops

Heu' sollte Sonntag sein für meine Liebe by Lilian Harvey and Willy Fritsch

Ain't That a Shame by Fats Domino

St. James Infirmary by Frances Faye

Gimme Three Steps by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel) by Roy Orbison

[marvelousell]

The Agreement (Part 6.)

Pairing(s): frat boy!fwb!Tom x reader, frat boy!Harrison x reader

Summary: Tom is a typical frat boy, his love for partying, drinks and girls are bigger than his ego. Y/N is a whole different dimension, she keeps her circle small, and even though she knows her best friend Tom is a total douche, she can’t say no to the little deal that was sealed between the two of them.

Word count: 3.1k

A/N: My heart is beating for Haz rn but Tom is my fave so I’m confused af ok😫. Also who tf is Emily🤡? I hope you like this chapter and I would appreciate it if you leave a comment, reblog or send a feedback!❤️

My tag list is open for this series!

Warnings: flufff, swearing, mentions of alcohol

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5.

Masterlist

“Ready?”

Monday came quickly honestly. Probably the constant overthinking during the whole Sunday and Monday morning distracted you pretty well.

And here you are now.

Fresh out of the shower, with your robe around your body staring at Anna in front of your door who was ready to ‘glam you up’.

“I don’t know, I think I’m gonna puke if we’re being honest.” You spoke, exhaling the air from your lungs.

“It’s totally normal to feel like that! That means you like him.” She winked, marching to your bedroom.

“Well I do like him and that’s why I’m worried. What if I mess everything up? I’m so awkward you know that.” You began to panic, chewing on your bottom lip nervously.

“Just be yourself, he is already smitten. Believe me, what could go wrong?”

Maybe the truth about Tom, I don’t know.

“You’re right, but I’m still sweating and I feel sick.”

“Can’t wait for you to return from the date and say to me ‘oh I was so stupid for worrying it was amazing Ann I love him!’” She mocked you, laughing along with you.

“I really hope that will be the end product after tonight’s date.”

“Harrison is a really great guy, you will have the best night with him I’m sure.”

Your mouth curved into a smile at the thought of him.

At the thought of his blue eyes and his contagious laugh that was ringing in your ears since Saturday.

Maybe he really is the one for you?

If only Tom didn’t come that night at your apartment, everything would be fine.

The thoughts were eating you up, but you tried to remain calm.

“Just remember Tom’s words. Maybe this deal won’t last that long.” You said to yourself.

“So what are we doing for tonight?” Anna spoke resting her arms on the chair, looking at your reflection in the mirror.

“Nothing extra, keep it casual.” You replied, not wanting to look like you’re going to a red carpet.

“Keep it casual got it.”

“Did you spoke with Tom yesterday?” She asked curiously, making your heart skip a beat when she mentioned his name.

You were trying your best not to react.

“No, he didn’t call me. Why, did something happen?” You asked, trying to look worried.

“No, no. Just asking I thought that he maybe apologized or something, but it seems he is still acting like a total douche.”

You kind of forgot the scene from the party, Harrison being on your mind practically every second.

But now that she reminded you, you were pissed. He could at least call and say a stupid ‘sorry’, however he was too proud. Tom would never admit he was wrong even when it was a small, unimportant thing.

“You know he is like that when he is around a girl that he wants to shag, but still I don’t approve that, I mean we’re his friends.” You responded.

“That’s absolutely right. Gosh I don’t know how could someone sleep with him? I know he is hot and all that but c’mon Tom just thinks with his thing down there and that’s disgusting.” She spoke bitterly while your face turned red.

You don’t know a thing Anna, but you’re definitely right about that.

He just knows how to make a girl say yes straight away, that’s the problem.

“U-uh yes, I agree.” Your voice coming out as a whisper.

“Let’s not ruin our night with him, we love him although he is like that so it’s not important. Did our prince charming say where you two are going?” She changed the subject, focusing on your hair that was the last thing that needed to be done.

“Didn’t drop a single clue, he just said he will pick me up at seven.” You chuckled, glancing at the clock.

Thirty minutes and he will be here.

-

“Oh shit he is outside.” You whisper yelled, heart almost jumping out of your chest.

“Listen. Don’t worry, just relax and be yourself. Harrison is fantastic and not a pompous dick like others.” She put her palms on your shoulders giving them an encouraging squeeze.

You closed your eyes, inhaling deeply to calm your nerves.

“Thank you so much Ann, I owe you big times. I will call you when I come home or you can stay here and make yourself comfortable whatever you want.” You said, hugging her tightly.

“Thanks for the offer but I will go home, and I will be waiting for your call. And you miss have fun.” She smiled like a proud mother, hugging you back.

Your hands were shaking, and your stomach lurched when you saw him leaned on his black car waiting for you.

You both immediately smiled at each other.

Harrison was as nervous as you were. He spent his whole day rambling to Harry that tried his best not to laugh at his friend who was totally excited to see the girl that couldn’t leave his head the whole weekend.

He was finally ready to find a girl. Someone who will be here even when things went downhill.

“Good evening gorgeous.” Harrison greeted, flashing you a broad smile.

“Well good evening to you too handsome.” You greeted him back, standing now in front of him with a shy smile plastered on your face.

“You look stunning tonight love.” He half whispered, with his eyes still on yours.

“Thank you, so do you.”

“Ready to hop in?” He asked, opening the door for you.

“Of course, how could I not be with a gentleman like you by my side?” You flirted shamelessly, making him laugh.

“Eager to know where I’m taking you?” He asked, starting a conversation.

Your eyes were glued on the road and everything around trying to guess where you were heading to.

“Definitely, hope you’re not gonna kill me or something already.”

“Too much criminal series love.” He chuckled at your response.

“And I would still want the place to remain a surprise, but don’t worry nothing will happen.” He added.

“It better not Harrison I trust you.” You continued to joke, enjoying the rest of the drive.

-

“And we’re here beautiful.” He parked his car, opening the door for you again.

Holy fuck.

The view was mesmerizing. It was like a hill, with a view on the whole city that was glowing now.

Your whole face lit up, not only because he was creative and didn’t take you to a classic restaurant on the first date but because you had such a great person next to you to enjoy the breathtaking view with.

“This is truly stupendous Harrison..Gosh.” You were so dumbfounded at the sight that you didn’t feel the warmth of his body behind you.

“I’m so glad you like it, I wanted to take you somewhere special the first time.” He spoke into your ear, sending shivers down your spine.

“I appreciate that a lot, and you really left me speechless here.” You giggled, turning your face to his.

Harrison put a lot of effort in this, wanting to show you how much he fancied you.

This wasn’t just an ordinary place that he googled up or something.

This was Harrison’s special place ever since he was twelve. He would often come here when he needed some time for himself or when he wanted to sit and relax looking at the whole town that was in a rush as always.

The place was unique in Harrison’s life. His gut told him he could trust you and that this was a brilliant timing to share it with you.

He hoped maybe it will be your special place by the end of the night, because he was sure you were the girl that will change his life.

“It’s actually my secret place or whatever they call it nowadays.” His eyes lit up looking at the two most beautiful sights in front of him.

“Oh no sorry, now I ruined the whole secret place thing for you.” You grabbed his hand, feeling bad in some kind of way.

“Don’t be silly love, if I thought you weren’t noteworthy I wouldn’t share it with you.” His fingers stroked your skin carefully, making your heartbeat go wild at the feeling of his gentle touch.

“Happy to hear that you think I’m that special.” You whispered, noticing the small blanket positioned on the grass behind him.

“C’mon let’s sit and enjoy the real magic from here.” His hand took yours, rubbing his thumb against your palm.

-

“So you study English Literature?” He asked, pouring the sparkling wine in your glass.

He sure planned this all well, and you weren’t complaining. In fact you loved it so much that you could sit like this forever. Just you and him.

“That’s right. Does it sound that boring?” You asked, the nervousness now long gone.

“Absolutely not! Mr. Phillips must be your favourite professor I assume?” He rose his eyebrow asking sarcastically.

“Are you like in my class or something because that would be awkward as hell. And no c’mon he is a total ass.”

“If I was with you in the same class I would definitely ask a beauty like you out a long time ago, don’t worry. My sister is taking his classes, she started her first year so you know heard some stuff.” He chuckled, sipping his wine.

“I’m sorry for her, he can be an idiot towards students but that shouldn’t discourage her at all.”

“Totally, every college has someone like that.” He added, receiving a nod from you.

You two were talking like you knew each other your whole life and that was something you craved for a long time.

Harrison couldn’t keep his eyes the whole night away from you.

It was something about your irresistible smile and how your head would fall back when you laughed that got him love-struck.

He really liked you and your sweet soul that was full of tenderness.

That was something he could never find in someone ever since Emily.

“Tired?” He gave you a half-smile when he felt your head resting on his shoulder.

“No, just loving this atmosphere and your presence. I could do this every day for the rest of my life if you ask me.” You said softly.

Harrison thought that this was the perfect timing to wrap his arm around your waist, caressing it carefully.

He was sure he wanted to kiss in you that exact moment. Even though he was distracted by his heart that was a beating mess and by his sweaty palms, he couldn’t wait more. He reminded himself if he waited and didn’t speak to you that night nothing of this would happen, so what could go wrong now?

He didn’t want it to be forced, it should be memorable for the both of you.

What’s the point if he doesn’t show you how much he liked you through the kiss?

So his hands leisurely traveled to your arm and shoulder. Your skin was landscaped with goosebumps, and you were sure he could see how your cheeks turned red although it was dark.

You relaxed in his hands, leaning your face into his neck inhaling his scent.

The grin on his face was growing bigger when he felt your body on his, he would trade anything just to be always like this with you from now on.

His fingertips brushed the skin of your hot cheek while his eyes were admiring your body that was illuminated by the moonlight.

Eventually his large palm cupped your cheek, bringing you close to his face.

His nose bumped into yours, his eyes now focused on your sparkling ones.

“Is this okay?” He asked for consent.

“Yes.” You whispered back, wrapping your hand around his wrist.

“God you’re so beautiful.” His lips were ghosting over yours, still testing the waters.

Harrison was exhilarated at that moment, closing the small space between your lips. They were moving against yours delicately. He could taste the sweet wine from your lips mixing with the taste of your cherry chapstick and it was a combination that he will always associate with you.

Your heart fluttered, and the only thing you could think is how his lips were soft against yours.

Harrison would break the kiss, opening his eyes to ensure himself that you were real and that this wasn’t a figment of his imagination before pulling you in for another short innocent kiss.

You both stayed close to each other after the intimate moment, with Harrison’s thumb still on your cheek.

“I really like you Y/N, I want to be around you more.” He spoke in your ear, nothing but the truth.

“And I like you more, hopefully this will be something more.” You responded truthfully as well.

“Thanks for the wonderful evening love, and thank you for giving me a chance to finally find and enjoy the time with someone as pretty as you, inside and out.”

“No, thank you for everything. You were the first who showed some love and interest for who I really am, not just for some fun.” Your voice getting smaller when you said the last part.

“Love, if someone doesn’t see your true beauty behind that graceful face, he doesn’t deserve a single look from you, let alone something more.”

Oh how right you were Harrison, you don’t even know.

You were a grinning mess after his statement, the only thanks you could give him was a small peck.

-

The car stopped in front of your apartment, silence now filling the space in his car.

His hand rested on top of yours through the whole ride back to the apartment.

Harrison was beaming, glancing every now and then at you, memorising every feature of yours.

“Here we are.”

There was just a little bit of sadness that could be heard in his voice, because the night was over and he was already missing you in his embrace.

“Thank you for this beautiful night. You really made it special.” You spoke once again, caressing his hand that you refused to let go.

“Please love, I already said what I really mean. You are a wonderful person and no one could prove me wrong.”

“You Y/N made this night one of my favourites and thank you for that.” He admitted, kissing you passionately.

This one was a much longer and caring. The kiss was like a perfect match and it made you smile during it.

“Thank you.” You murmured as he pulled away.

“I’m going to call you love, I can’t wait to see you again.”

“Not if I call you first.” You answered.

“I won’t complain.”

“Have a good night beautiful.” He added, pecking your lips.

“And you as well handsome.”

It was like you forgot how to walk when you stepped out of his car. Harrison’s vehicle not leaving the driveway until he was sure you entered the house safely.

The smile on your face was genuine and the whole night was repeating in your head non-stop.

It occupied your mind so much that you didn’t even notice the light being turned on in the living room.

Until a loud groan finally caught your attention.

“Who’s there?” Your voice trembling.

“Fuck, just me.” A male voice responded, mumbling the words.

Just me?

“Are you normal? How did you even enter the apartment?” You relaxed immediately when your eyes landed on a half drunk Tom.

“Key behind the flowerpot, not a brilliant hiding place if you ask me.” He laughed while his eyes remained closed.

“Yeah..right, forgot about that. What do you want?” You spitted, clearly annoyed at the realisation that you will probably not spend the night alone.

“Gotta see my favourite girl, but looks like she was busy.” Tom slurred, resting his hands on the back of his head.

“Tom if you’re drunk you can crash on the couch.” You stated, making your way to your bedroom.

“C’mon babe, wanted to spend the night with you.” He rushed next to you, grabbing your waist.

“Thought you didn’t do that.”

“I meant as friends love, but I can always make an exception for you.” Tom whispered as the smell of the strong alcohol hit your nostrils.

“Are you going to talk to me and say why are you here or?” You tried again.

“I was with Sophie today ya know. It kinda went well I guess? Or not? Because she said I’m gonna regret that decision and that tone but hey I don’t care at least her annoying ass is out of my face.” He smiled, receiving an eye roll from you.

“I told you to talk politely, now she is going to get all crazy.”

“I was polite! But she just doesn’t understand what it means I don’t want anything with you. That’s the problem.”

“Okay, you have a point here, she can get pretty hard to handle.” You believed his words knowing she was a special case.

“Thank you. Also I came to apologize for my behaviour.” Tom added, mumbling the last words.

“Oh really? Why?” You crossed your arms, waiting for him to speak.

“Because I was tipsy, and that was a shit move, you know I didn’t mean that.”

“It was.” Your mouth set in a hard line.

“I’m sorry love okay?”

“You’re forgiven, apologize to Ann as well.” You weren’t in a mood for a fight, and he at least said sorry so all good.

“Not happy to see me love?” He turned his attention to you, squeezing your hips.

“I’m tired Tom, but I appreciate your apology and everything, feel free to take the couch.”

“Where were you that late on a weeknight anyways?” Tom asked curiously, eyeing your body and how pretty you looked tonight.

“On a date.”

Date?

Oh yes Harrison.

That dolled up for him?

Why does he even care about that, you two were nothing?

“Looks like you had fun. Tell me more.”

“You really won’t let me sleep tonight am I right?” You asked, trying your best not to smile but he was making it so hard already.

“Nah, let’s make ourselves comfortable on the couch and spend the night like that hm?” He smirked, pulling you back into the living room.

“Why can’t I say no to you? You need to stop that.”

It was so hard, switching thoughts about two boys every minute. One second it was Harrison only and then Tom just shows up out of nowhere and makes everything go wild inside of you.

You didn’t want to lose Tom nor Harrison.

However you were aware that someone in the end will get heartbroken no matter what, and that was your main concern.

-

Tag List

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[everyhowlmarksthedead]

❛ ROJO ❜

Songfic with ‘Rojo’, J Balvin.

Translation of the lyrics.

with Nestor Oceteva.

Request #1: Can you maybe do a Nestor imagine where you're Emily's cousin or half sister and you're living with Emily and Miguel temporarily. You've been flirting and teasing him and it finally comes to a head. Smut involved please?

BY ANON.

Request #2: hi hi! I have a steamy request~! (If it's not a bother, of course) Nestor + reader are at a club and they keep teasing him,, maybe you can include lines like “shit, mami, you made a mess” and “you just want the others to hear me fuck you, huh?” 😗👉🏼👈🏼 thank youuu c:

BY @glitchinqhoul.

Warnings: nsfw, smut.

Word count: about 3.6k

Aurora says: this writing hasn't been edited, you may find some grammar mistakes, I'm sorry about that!

Gif credits: to the author, I found it on google.

Masterlist.

A quién le mientes si en tu soledad quieres verme otra vez. Por ti respondo lo que tú me das, lo que nadie sabe…

Being Emily's half—sister hasn't been easy. She was a good student, the modelic daughter, always being kind, correct and polite. You used to be like the day and the night. But you supposed that this has to be with the fact that your blood isn't the same. She's american, and you're half—mexican. Different cultures, different cities, different people… Different lifes. But that wasn't a problem to adore each other. Emily and you have been best friends since ever, and even if you're the wild side she doesn't have, you admire her temperance.

When your college in Mexico told you that you could do the MIR at Santo Padre, you both were screaming by the phone for two minutes non-stop, until you heard Miguel telling you to stay at his home. That wasn't a bad idea, keeping in mind that you also could see Nestor every day, for the next six month. That man drives you insane since you met him, and he isn't very sane either.

You're checking the hour on the clock of your car, almost reaching the border with California, checking again that your passport and your papers signed for the University are on the copilot seat. So, when you stop at the frontier, you just have to roll down the window and offer them to the agent. Once that you're actually in American territory, you speed up by the empty road a little confused from not seeing any cars. Actually, you're just tired after almost two days driving. Because yes, you could have flown to San Diego, and rented a car. But you like your old Mustang. He has been with you since seven years ago. Coming back to reality, you see through the rearview two big black SUVs coming closer until one of them places itself after you, making you a signal to stop.

Stopping by a side, you step out of your car as Emily does, both running to each other to collide in a happy hug, screaming again and almost jumping.

“Look at you, doctora!” She says laughing and holding your hands, pulling herself away some seconds, before hugging at you again. “C'mon, let Frankie drive your car, so you can rest a little in ours”.

To your surprise, Nestor isn't the one who is driving, supposing that he's in the other black car before yours. But you're sure he's as excited as you are, waiting to have five minutes alone.

Me decido por ti, te decides por mí, a la misma hora. Me dan ganas de ti, te dan ganas de mí, a la misma hora.

Miguel has organized a party with his sober friends. And you're not in the mood to partying, but the tequila helps a little. You're jumping from senators and other politicians, to lawyers and other rich men, just because your brother-in-law is proud of you. And that makes you feel good, but it's kinda boring. So, when you find a space to disappear, you do it at the speed of the light. Finding shelter in the big garage between expensive cars of different sizes and kinds. Resting your back against the classic red Porsche, you light up a smoke among your lips to take a deep drag. You appreciate all the love that Mikey feels for you, and all the help he always gives you, but you're not the kind of girl who has these kinds of parties.

Turning around for an instant, when you hear the door getting opened, to watch Nestor walking towards you. Rolling your eyes, you smirk at him.

“Ay, ya, no me digas que te pusieron en modo perrito guardián, flaco”. (C'mon, don't tell me that Miguel made you be a guard dog). You laugh shaking your head.

“Más o menos”. (More or less). He says taking you off the cig to smoke from it.

“Okay, ládrame, ándale”. (Okay, bark at me, go ahead).

“Soy más de morder”. (I'm more into biting).

“Mírale… Isn't too early to start with that game?”

“Nah”. He replies bowing to the floor to leave the cig, before placing both hands on your ankles, pulling up the long white skirt of your dress too slowly.

Your eyes are fixed on his, getting somewhat darker as his fingertips touch slightly your skin, until he's able to settle between your legs, that you have been opening for him unconsciously. Soon, his lips find your neck, twisting it enough to give him all the space possible. Your hands go to his head, uttering a soft moan when he nails his hands on your ass under the dress. This is your game. You have it since you met, and it's one of your favorite things. A tug of war to see who gives more.

“Fuck, Nestor”. You mutter biting your lower lip, at the same time his teeth catch your skin, putting himself somewhat closer.

Te quiero sentir aquí. Me dan ganas de ti, te dan ganas de mí, a la misma hora.

“Hey, teens in heat, we're going to serve the coctel!” You can hear Emily's laughs from the other side of the door, making you feel your cheeks burning.

“We're going!” You reply a little loud, with Nestor chuckling against your neck.

Pulling him away to put on your dress well, you arrange your mane behind your shoulders before starting to walk back to the house. But when you're about to open the door, he grabs your wrist to make you turn around. Crashing your mouth with his, the man kisses you trying to hide how much he has missed you after five month without seeing each other. Even so, it becomes softer, slow, as if you have all the time you need. His arms surrounding your waist, and yours the back of his head. You're sure that he has never kissed you like that, but it feels too good. Nestor's touch has been ever so warm that could melt the coldest heart, actually, more or less like yours.

Tres y cuatro de la mañana, ven, mata estas ganas. Vamos a llegarle a mi cama, que todo lo he ignorado por ti, todo ha sido por ti. Mi cuerpo sin saber te llama.

You like to eat. You enjoy eating, and that coctel wasn't enough for you. So, waiting by reading some emails until the family is already sleeping, you step out of your new room silent like a cat. Going downstairs, you walk towards the kitchen to assault the freezer.

“Bendito Miguel”.

You whisper finding all the chocolate ice cream he has bought for you. Grabbing one of the tubs and a big spoon, you sit at the island in the center of the kitchen, with the lights off. And you were so concentrated on your task, that you didn't hear Nestor coming. Not even noticing his presence until he nails a second spoon into the tub.

“Shit! Nestor! Fuck… You're gonna fucking kill me one of these days”. You mutter, placing both hands on your chest, with the covered inside your mouth.

The man chuckles almost in silence, having some ice cream.

“Seriously, you need to stop of being this fucking silent”.

“Yeah, I know you like me being loud”.

Raising your eyebrows, you finally shake your head before such an occurrence.

“What about the kiss?”

“What kiss?” He asks a little confused. “Oh! Ya. What happens with that? It was just a kiss?”

“Yes, for sure”.

“I was just happy for you being here. We're friends, it's been five month since we met last time”.

Right in the friend-with-benefits zone, while you were thinking that finally he was catching the same feelings you have for him.

“Cool”.

“Cool?”

“What?”

“It sounded as if I just stabbed you”.

“Why would my friend like to stab me?”

Y estas no son horas de llamar, pero es que el deseo siempre puede más. Podemos pelearnos y hasta alejarnos, pero cuando llega la hora.

You didn't know that Miguel was a friend of the director of the hospital you're going to work at. And he settled a dinner to meet him. Another boring one, and you start to think that your brother-in-law wants to kill you and doesn't know how to do it. You love your work and what you do, but the work stays in the hospital, and you were too distracted about Nestor's words last night. You have been avoiding him the whole day, not even looking at him in the dinner, placed some meters away from the table studying the perimeter. And you know that he's getting more nervous as the hours pass by.

After finishing the meeting, you finally can breathe again inside the big car, checking some messages from your father asking how everything is going. You better don't reply. Keeping it inside your small bag, before leaning towards the front seat with both arms on them.

“Hey, Cartel daddy”.

Your sister breaks into laughs because of the sophisticated name, while Miguel turns at you frowning.

“Listen. Why don't I pull out the stick inside your ass and we go to a real party, ah? There's a new club some minutes ago from Santo Padre, and looks cool”.

“Did you ca—”.

“Hey, Pocahontas, that's the address”. You say to Nestor, offering him your phone to grab it.

Emily is drowning with her own laughs by your side, making you laugh too, when she remembers that you're not allowed to drink red wine because of this. You have the mania of giving funny names to everybody around you.

“What? Cartel daddy and Pocahontas. Sounds like a bad netflix tv-show I would watch”.

Tratan y se caen de la mata, quieren comprarte siempre con plata, pero ese tesoro tiene pirata. Me voy a toda por ti.

While the men prefer a reserved, watching the whole dancefloor from there, and talking about business and appointments, Emily and you enjoy a bunch of mimosas among the crowd jumping and having fun. You really needed it. And you're aware that she already knows that something is happening between the head security and you. Something bad. She doesn't have to be the most intelligent person of the world.

“I would tell him what I feel!” Your sister says, trying to make you hear her above the noise.

“He kicked my ass to the friend zone last night!” The blonde wrinkles her nose confused, seeing you nodding and drinking by your straw.

“Are you kidding me?! He was super excited to see you again! Like super excited!”

“Yeah! He kissed me! But he kissed me like Miguel kisses you! Then he told me it was just a kiss!”

“He's in love with you!”

“No, sista! He's only in love with your husband and with himself!”

“Tell him you don't want to be just his friend!”

“Me?! Oh, no, darling! I'm not gonna humiliate myself like that!”

“C'mon! You fucking pendejos!” She pouts at you.

“You just want Nestor to have a girlfriend, so you can spend more time with your husband! Bitch, I know you better than anyone!”

“I want my little sister to be happy!”

“You want your Cartel daddy!” Breaking into laughs, you place an arm on her shoulders to come back to the reserved.

“What's so funny?” Miguel asks pouring some champagne on two glasses.

“Your wife wants to settle me on a blind date”.

Me decido por ti, te decides por mí, a la misma hora. Me dan ganas de ti, te dan ganas de mí, a la misma hora.

“I'm not going to let you go on a blind date”.

You were refreshing your nape and wrists with water, when you heard him coming closer after locking the bathroom door of the reserved Miguel rented. Looking at him through the mirror, you give him your back to grab some paper and dry your hands. Throwing it into the bin, you turn around to face him.

“Why?”

“It's dangerous”. He just says, tangling his hands on a fist under his abdomen.

“You stabbed me last night, and I survived. I'm pretty sure I will survive to a blind date”. Good point, taking the advantage to pass him away.

But he stops you with an arm surrounding your waist. His chest meeting your back, while his free hand wraps your throat. You're feeling the characteristic heat that Nestor produces in you being so close, running up your legs to your low belly. His thumb caresses your skin, over the jugular vein, leaning towards you to kiss the line of your jaw. Biting your bottom lip, wrapping his wrists letting the free hand goes down by your stomach with a clear destiny.

“We are made for each other”. Nestor mumbles into your ear with a horse tone of voice.

“Yes, to be friends”. You tease him, grabbing his wrist to make him stop, wanting to hear the reality coming from his mouth.

“To be together”. He corrects you then, without a single doubt hitting his vocal chords and turning you under his hands.

Crashing his lips on yours, he makes you walk backwards until your body finds the cold wall. He's as eager as you are, lifting up a leg to surround his waist, while his hand toures your skin until being able to squeeze your ass with a warm growl dying inside his throat.

“I want you in all the ways possible, (Y/N)”. He mutters, trying to hide the anger he feels imagining you with another man. “I want you with me. Only with me”.

Pulling him to the black and golden velvet armchair, you watch him undoing his belt and his pants zipper, noticing the rock under his clothes. Seeing him rolling them down his legs to his ankles, while you take off your dress to leave it over the sink, to sit over his lap with his body between your legs. You haven't taken off the white lace panties, because you know how much he likes the friction of them in every move he does, on a side of his sensible skin. While one of his big hands massage your breast with some strength, the ringed one strokes his needed cock, lying back on the couch.

“Do you wanna fuck me?” You whisper into his mouth, unbuttoning his shirt to stroke his bare chest.

“You don' know how much I need your pussy, cariño”. He just says, looking at you with parted lips grabbing his erection between your fingers.

“I don't think that's enough”. Teasing him, you guide his throbbing and warmth glans to your folds, pressing it against your wet clit and swinging softly your hips.

“I've been waiting five months for you jumping over my cock, mami. You know I am fucking desperate for your soaked pussy suffocating me and pushing me into the limit”. Nestor almost begs, placing his hands on both sides of your waist. “Ride your cock, baby. Look at how hard it's because of you. It fucking painful”.

“And what if I punish you about what you said last night… putting my clothes on again and leaving you there alone, ah?”

“Don't do that shit, (Y/N). I fucking implore you”. He quickly complains pecking your lips with short kisses. “You're already fucking killing me”.

Leading a little back his hardness between your legs, you dig it into you slowly, feeling every inch of his erection pressing your tight walls. He's thicker than you can remember, having passed too much time since the last time, needing some seconds to mold your body to his. A soft moan escapes from your mouths when his glans pushes your g-spot, urging you to spread more your legs forcing you to feel him completely. And you can't describe that sensation.

“Tell me you didn't miss my cock…” He chuckles, erasing that fancy smile from his lips by swinging your hips just one time.

His growl echoes throughout the bathroom, before catching your lips between his to bite them, making you dance on top of him. The pleasure is immeasurable, bouncing over his hard rock once and again. Once and again, arching your back under his arms, while his mouth now devours the skin of your neck, wetting it with his saliva and marking every inch with his teeth. The pace becomes rough and faster, slapping your ass with both hands to squeeze your buttocks so needed that you're desiring to feel his cum filling you up. But you like his cock pounding you.

“I'm going to make the others hear you being fucked by me, mi amor…” He bellows, making you beg when pulling out himself from you to get up.

Guiding you quickly to the sink and giving him your back, placing a hand on your nape, he makes you lean over the sink before putting aside your panties to thrust his soaked cock back to your pussy. The scream you utter when his pelvis hits you so rough, isn't normal. Being sure that your sister and Miguel already heard you. His hands nailed on your hips make each lunge deeper, watching him through the mirror the pleased look on his face, while his gaze is fixed in your. He enjoys seeing you bite your bottom lip and closing your eyes, every time he slaps you with his ringed fingers, knowing that this pleasure it's going to fuck you up tomorrow. But you love the way he has to uninhibit himself, after being the whole day following orders.

“Shit, baby… I want you all my fucking life”. He gasps leaning his head back with closed eyelids, impaling you against the marble counter of the sink.

Maybe you should have taken off the heels to not lose the balance, but you didn't think about it, and now you're fighting against your shaky legs.

“Look how good you take it all… my fucking god, (Y/N). You're fucking drenching me”.

Yes, you can feel it. You can feel your juices and his slipping down your thighs, producing a soaked dirty sound every time his body collides with yours so hard. Urging you to incorporate your chest from the sink with a hand grabbing your throat and the other arm surrounding your waist, Nestor arches your back, placing his face on your shoulder.

“Drown my fucking… dick with your cum, mi amor…” He begs you, biting your love, without removing his darkened orbs from yours, through your reflections.

“Shit, Nestor…” You're not sure when you start to cry because of the pleasure, needing more, needing to reach the orgasm. “Fuck me harder, I fucking beg you… Por favor”.

You can't barely breathe when his finger finds your clit, stroking it with the same pace he's embedding you against the furnishing. Your moans dance all around the bathroom, while he's gasping over your ear how much he wants to fuck you for the rest of his life, everywhere, at anytime you want it. And by crying out his name and clinging to him, a lash of heat evolves you, making your pussy twitch uncontrollably as the tears fall down your cheek. Your palpitating walls clenching his cock, making his vocals get louder as long as he continues diving his warmth hardness into you, closer from his own ecstasy.

You don't need to tell him that you want him to cum inside you, mixing it with yours, because he already has other plans. Pulling himself out and jerking off his dick, he spills his seed over your wet panties, bathing them on it as his throat collapses because of the pleasure. But don't waste time putting them to the side again to pound you again, pressing his body against yours as much as he can, holding your anatomy into his arms.

Te quiero sentir aquí. Me dan ganas de ti, te dan ganas de mí, a la misma hora.

It's four am and you can't sleep thinking about what he said to you. Sighing, you sit up on your bed, curling your knees against your chest and surrounding them with both arms. He already told you that he wants you, but was he talking or his jealousy? You're doubting about going to his house, or texting him, or doing anything. Grabbing your phone from the nightstand and a cig from the packet, you step out of your dorm to walk downstairs towards the terrace. Sitting on one of the sofas outside, you light the smoke to have a drag, unlocking your phone. Your trembling fingers touch the screen over the keyboard; writing and deleting, writing and deleting. But you're unable to send any message. Feeling stupid, you finally write him that you can't sleep, listening the ding of your own notification so close that makes you frown confused.

“Me neither”.

With your lips pursed and a leg curled over the sofa, you turn ashamed towards him. Nestor is wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a white big shirt. You're sure that you have never seen him before without wearing a suit. And you are falling loudly for him much more than ever. Putting out the cigarette, you stand up on your feet to lead them towards you.

“Stay with me, at least tonight”. You mutter, tangling your fingers with his.

“But move with me tomorrow”. Nestor asks you then, before hugging you as close as he can.

“Deal”. You reply, placing your chin on his chest to look at him, receiving some short kisses all around your face that make you laugh.

✨ Tag list:

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[kessielrg]

[DA+KH] It Will Get Better

Summary: An experimental fic for @chibi-mushroom‘s Dragon Age AU for the Kingdom Hearts series. Exploring a HumorousHawke!Xion, sedatephobia, mild trauma, bunny children infiltration, and hope. Mild spoilers for after Act 2 of Dragon Age 2. I want to apologize now for how easily startled Xion is, it’s not intentional. ^^;

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,978 words

If you liked this story, please reblog!

---

The estate was just too quiet. Of course, anything would seem quiet after the Qunari uprising. A few months after, and life at Kirkwall was back to its usual chaos. And yet, Xion found herself staying at home away from the business of the city. Even more so, it gave her time to think about a lot of things.

The Qun. Her mother. Her siblings. The Fifth Blight. Events and experiences that have passed but still insisted on festering in the darkest part of her mind. Was it all her fault? Did she make any good choices in the past five years?

Silence made it worse. Silence made Xion want to hide in a corner, cover her ears, and scream ‘you can’t find me’ like when she was a child. She couldn’t keep doing this. Today she’d go for a walk. Not a long one, but long enough to redirect her thoughts. At first, just getting out of the house had been the harder part. After that, she just followed her feet. Her mind was numb to her surroundings as she walked. It wasn’t until she reached the edge of Kirkwall  -to where the walls surrounding met the outside leading into the Free Marches- that she stopped.

Run.

Run as fast as you can and never turn back.

Xion shook her head. No, there were still things in Kirkwall that needed to be sorted out. She was the city’s champion, after all. She had to stay. If not for the city, then for what family she did have left. Her uncle was debatable, but Cloud? Cloud was… safe. Safer where he was than in being here with her.

But she didn’t want to stay. She wanted to get away from this draining city before it ate her up alive. No, she'd rather die than stay to help the people here. They didn’t need her. Knight-Commander Sephiroth was doing a decent job at keeping peace. Kirkwall didn’t need a champion. It did not need her. If anything, things would probably be a lot more peaceful if she just-!

The sound of a small squeak caught her attention. Blinking (and quickly wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye), Xion looked around for the source of the squeak. She looked down to give a jolt of bewilderment. There, almost at her feet, was a small blue rabbit. The blue creature looked back up at her with wide, almost completely black eyes. Despite its odd appearance (and Xion’s own questioning if it was mortal or not), it didn’t seem to be much of a foe. It just looked at her with its big eyes and wide smile. Nothing else of real note beyond that, really. When it finally decided to bound away from her, Xion jumped back in surprise.

“Wait!” she found herself saying, “Where are you going?”

The blue rabbit paused for a moment before turning back to her. It titled its head from side to side in thought. A grin came across its features again as it waved for her to follow it.

“You’re not serious.”

She was given another grin before the creature started back on its original path again. Xion could feel the hairs on her arm stand up. Something about this wasn’t right -she’d seen too much in Kirkwall for it to be anything but- and yet…

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” she mumbled to herself before finally taking the steps outside Kirkwall’s walls.

That little bunny had been very sure that Xion would follow it. It would go a certain distance before pausing, looking back at her (sometimes even jumping to make sure she knew where it was), then starting back on its trail again. Something about this little game felt surreal; like a part of her was just sleepwalking and she was actually back at home, and still in bed.

She didn’t stop following that bunny, though.

The two of them travelled further and further away from Kirkwall. The imposing walls around it fading from view as they went on. They did keep to the established roads, though, so that was worth some amount of hope to work off of. Eventually, they started to see a caravan along the roadside. Seeing it made the little bunny hop faster- Xion was still too numb in her senses to match its speed. Outside of the caravan were more of the blue bunny children; three were playing some card game where one bunny was being absolutely smug about winning, another two were trying to feed the caravan’s horse a carrot, and one other was with a human young man. It was in noticing the young man that Xion paused.

He didn’t look much older than Cloud- maybe a year younger, but not by much. His clothes made her think he was a lesser noble that ran away from home, with his cleaned black jacket, vest, and pants. Not a wrinkle to be seen. Something about him seemed faintly familiar, as if Xion had seen him around Kirkwall, but not for long periods of time. Was it the hat? It certainly was a style all its own, featuring a long white and red feather for accent. The brim was long enough in the front to hide his upper face when needed, and at the moment it was hard to tell just what kind of face he was making as the bunny child vied for his attention.

The bunny child that had been guiding Xion let out a very loud shout of “I’m ba-ack!” that nearly scared Xion out of her wits. The noise also brought about the attention of the young man. He adjusted his hat a bit before giving a wide grin.

“About time.” he replied. “Did you find Sabi or not?”

The blue bunny just let out a happy squeal before continuing to the young man’s side. Xion had started to come forward again, her feet guiding her to be within arm’s distance of the young man. The two looked each other over- the feeling that Xion had seen this young man before was even more prominent than before.

“Well, you’re not my baby sister.” the young man noted, tilting his hat up a bit to get a better look at Xion. To the bunny child, he got down to about its height before saying, “And did you forget what Sabi looked like? Our sis has brown eyes, not blue ones.”

The bunny child looked back up at him, crossing its arms and giving him a stink eye.

“You are a bit too short to notice that, huh?” the young man then mused before ruffling the top of the bunny’s head. “Don’t worry, I still got a treat for you. It’s in the back of the caravan.”

The small creature gave a sound similar to an ecstatic squeal before heading toward the aforementioned caravan. This just left the two humans to themselves -for the most part- and the silence was starting to weigh on Xion again. If it wasn’t for the sounds of the bunny kids in the card game apparently picking a fight, Xion would have backed away from this odd caravan and straight back to Kirkwall. But did she really want to make that walk back up alone?

“Are you looking for someone?” Xion finally asked, if only to distract her own thoughts. “I could help if you really needed it.”

“Nah.” the young man said with a wave of his hand. “If Junior can’t find Sabi, then Sabi doesn’t want to be found right now. She’ll show up in her own time. Always does.”

“And Sabi is…?”

“My baby sis, of course. Don’t worry- she’s human too.”

A moment of confusion hit Xion, but then it rolled over into good humor.

“Oh good,” she mused, “For a moment I thought she was a Behemoth.”

“With that tenacity of hers, it wouldn’t surprise me if she was part darkspawn.” the young man cheerily replied, tipping his hat toward her in goodwill. “But that’s younger siblings for you; get in all the trouble and think us older kids are gonna bail them out. Not that my sister needs the help, truly. But it’s nice to always be there. You know?”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Xion told him with a smirk. “I was the youngest in my family.”

“Pardon if I’ve offended you, then.” the young man replied. “But you know it’s true. I’m sure your older siblings are down right jealous of how often you get away with things.”

Despite herself, Xion let out a small chuckle. “That’s what my brother would say.” she agreed. “Our father was a mage, and my brother was the only one of us siblings that wasn’t, so he didn’t get to spend much time with him.”

After saying this, Xion froze. Maker, being Kirkwall’s Champion or not, she had forgotten that there was a prejudice against mages. The young man didn’t seem to notice her bluff, or even indicated he thought of it as one, instead giving her a light laugh.

“Now I’m jealous.” he said. “Our old man left sometime after my fifth birthday. He probably never even knew my sister existed.”

Still recoiling from her mistake, and realizing that she had not been listening to him, the news gave Xion a small jolt. She fumbled over her words as she mumbled, “Must have been hard for her. Your sister, that is. There are still days when I wish I could have my father by my side.”

And the rest of my family. It’s too quiet. Too lonely. Too… too…

“Mom was sweet on her.” the young man said, taking Xion out of her thoughts for a moment. “Definitely had a solid reason why she gave her a name meaning ‘princess,’ that’s for sure.” But then a frown appeared on his face. “I think she gave her too much affection, actually. Sabrina doesn’t realize that the version of our mom she saw wasn’t the whole thing. She wouldn’t listen even if I did tell her.”

“Why can’t she see it in your mother herself?” Xion wondered, thinking back to her own father and the times he did something slightly worrying her mother didn’t approve of when she found out about it.

The young man’s expression only darkened. “Mom died when Sabrina was 11, and I was 16. How old were you when you started to question the image you had of your parents?”

Admittedly, it took her a moment to consider it.

“It was probably when my sister’s magic started to manifest,” she carefully decided. “We moved to Lothering to protect (or, I guess more accurately, hide) her. I must have been…?” That was when a realization hit her, and she looked back up at the young man in mild surprise. “I wouldn’t have been much older than Sabrina. Maybe even younger.”

“Exactly.” he affirmed. He let out a long, conflicted sigh before giving a small shake of his head. “But where have my manners gone? We’re talking about family, and we don’t even know each other’s names yet.”

The young man adjusted his hat once more, pushed up his sleeves a bit, then held his hand out to her. “The name is Brain, madam.”

For a moment, Xion just blinked. Her thoughts went on pause from this young man’s change of topic.

“Xion.” she carefully agreed. “Xion Hawke.”

“So that’s why you’re familiar.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve seen you in Kirkwall.” he explained, as simple as day. “I used to operate a pop up store in Lowtown, then moved out to the Gallows by request. Well, it wasn’t so much a request than it was to help out a little wallflower. Either way, I come around every now and again. Circuit around Orlais, Ferelden, and the Free Marches to get the word out.”

“I do recognize you, then!” Xion marveled, speaking more of a thought out loud than actually talking to him proper.

“Nice to know I’m recognizable.” Brain mused, tilting his hat toward her. For a split second, he looked like he was going to say something more, but decided against it. Instead, he gave her a soft smile. “Things have gotten a lot better for us since then. Since Mom died, anyway.”

Returning the conversation back to the original topic made Xion’s heart stop for a moment. “They have?” she carefully asked despite this.

Brain gave her a confident nod.

“Sabi won’t admit it, but they have. Months after our mother died, we were adopted by an Orlesian merchant. He and his wife had been trying to have kids for years, but never could. (And it’s particularly hard to tell for how long they’ve been trying, since they’re one of those who are not quite human, but not quite animal. For some reason the Maker decided those folks could outlive us normals for at least a solid age or two.) So now I pay my dues helping him operate the most successful business this side of Thedas. Sabi also has her own little mission to repay the old rabbit. Although I must warn you- if you ever see a pretty girl with a rabbit mask on; run.”

“Noted.” Xion agreed with a little chuckle.

Brain gave a smile of his own before joining in the laughter. The sound echoed through Xion’s heart and filling her with a relief she didn’t know she needed until now.

After awhile, Brain collected himself to gently slide a finger across the brim of his hat.

“Things will get better for you too.” he then carefully told her, jolting Xion out of her joy. Not for the first time, the sudden shock feeling more like a slap to the face. It was rather concerning that this young man had that kind of power. “It might be something small- like buying yourself something nice, or meeting someone new. Maybe it’ll happen ten years from now. Who really knows? It’s hard, but it is possible to focus on the good coming, rather than the bad that’s already happened. It won’t be easy, but you seem the type to never back down.”

“Like your sister?” Xion asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“A lot like my sister, actually.” he laughed in return. His sincere humor toward the topic was enough to send Xion in a light laughter as well. 

Not wanting the small joy to end, Xion let her laugh naturally die down before looking him over again. Brain only stopped laughing because a bunny child was biding for his attention. As he talked to them, Xion further studied the young man. You couldn’t tell it at first glance, but Brain did have a genuine worry for his little sister. He hid it well behind clever remarks and an unbridled confidence. She wondered for a moment if Cloud felt the same way about her. It didn’t cross Xion’s mind that she had been staring for too long until Brain brought his attention to her. He didn’t say anything, but he tipped his hat in goodwill.

“It’s getting late.” Brain noted, taking half a glance up at the sky before looking back at Xion. “Would you like an escort back to Kirkwall?”

Xion smirked. “It would be the smarter choice, wouldn’t it?”

Brain offered back a rather bemused chuckle. He then let out a shrill whistle. Not long after, a blue bunny child came out of the caravan and happily bounded over to them. The bunny kid nuzzled against Brain for a moment as he likewise gave them a pat on the head.

“Junior, do me a favor and take Xion back home.” he said with a smile. “It’s getting late.”

The bunny child looked up at him with a wide grin, nodded in agreement, then happily went to Xion. It happily bounded into her arms, looking up at her with an innocent gleam in its eye. A thought came over Xion- one that she spoke out loud in mild bewilderment.

“That’s… not the same one from before.”

Brain raised an eyebrow in time with tilting his hat forward a bit. “Wow, I’m impressed. How’d you guess?”

“A hunch.” Xion carefully admitted. A comment from before came back to Xion in that moment. Brain had mentioned that his adoptive caretaker was a rabbit, right? And these blue bunnies were likely from him, right? She felt a bit dumb in just now asking the question. “Didn’t you say that your adoptive parents were not able to have children of their own?”

A rather mischievous glint flickered in Brain’s eye for a moment. “That’s still correct.”

“So how’d this little fella come along?”

Brain smirked. “Their luck changed, just like yours will.”

For a moment, Xion didn’t know what to think about that. She idly looked back down at the bunny child. It looked up at her with a wide eyed curiousness that only children knew how to pull off. The raw innocence of the creature almost made her recoil. At the same time, something in her clicked.

There was still hope.

Xion hugged the bunny kid for a second before waving Brain goodbye. The walk back to Kirkwall wasn’t filled with heavy thoughts. If anything, she was almost skipping. Once she and the bunny child got back to Kirkwall’s gates, they waved good bye and Xion made the walk back to Hightown. She saw a lot of blue bunnies on the way there. Each time she saw one, she remembered what Brain told her. When Xion got home, quietly shut the door behind her, and started to make a cup of tea. She slept incredibly well that night. It felt nice.

After that day, Xion started to notice just how many blue bunnies hung around Kirkwall. Each time she would see them, she’d smile and remember Brain’s advice with clarity.

It will get better.

[handlewcaare]

When one read the comic books, being a teenage hero was a helluva lot easier than it was.

Spiderman didn’t have to watch his grades gradually plummet with each “emergency” meeting the Avengers set up for him. Nor did he have to turn in half finished homework because he forgot to do it when he ran off to handle a Behemoth of a beast. It was smooth sails for the likes of some friendly neighborhood vigilante.

Badd wished it was that simple.

He couldn’t complain it was all that rough. Kids at school knew of his devestating strength, so much so that a few would text him about a monster nearby. At times, he’d handle a monster in exchange for a free tutoring session for a class he was struggling in. It was a fair exchange, a life for a decent test grade.

Some people at school would greet him, but he was hardly popular. If anything, he was just as good as company as a cardboard cut out. Someone to briefly pause what he was doing to stoically pose for a photo-op. Though, some people just assumed he wasn’t as friendly as the stature he put on.

“Badd, right?”

His brow arched, momentarily breaking the signature snarl he naturally adorned (it wasn’t a scowl, it was just his face). The voice came from a girl who’s face was speckled with a constellation of freckles. He knew of her, that she was a new transfer student from H-City, but he never got to know who she really was.

“Ya know anyone else that looks like me?”

“Yeah,” the girl remarked, “hate to say it but a pompadour isn’t exactly a unique feat of yours.” Despite his frown, she went on to resume, “I was gonna ask if you had a spare hair tie.”

Out of all the things she could have asked him to do, she asked for a meager hair tie. She might as well have asked a practical mountain of a man to do her makeup. What an odd thing to ask, “how the hell do ya know I even have one??”

What should have been a snide remark about how he always had a spare hair tie for his little sister was accented with a shrug, “The girls in my track team say you do. I don’t mind using my shoelaces though—!”

“Ya can do that??” He implored as he surrendered the hair tie that was nestled within his pants pocket, “wouldn’t it be flying out of yer hair or somethin’ ?”

“You just have to know how to tie it,” after she briefly gave her thanks, she secured her dark hair within a high-ponytail. After a beat, she made a full presentation of the bun atop of her crown. “Ta-da! How does it look?”

“Like a pineapple.”

What insult would have made girls scoff or bark out a bigger insult at him only prompted a wrinkle from the girl’s nose as she laughed. Her grin radiant, almost contagious for a guy renowned for his intimidating glare. It didn’t take the girl long to skip back to her team—‘thanks Badd!’ She would chirp over her shoulder—and he offered a small wave of goodbye to her.

To say it had been the last time they spoke would have been a blatant lie. The girl, who’s name was revealed to be Hikari, would be variant in her greetings. Some days would just be utter small talk: ‘how are you?’ ‘Fine, you?’ ‘Could be better,’ and other days would be exclusively full of excitement. Most notably were they the days that she had just finished her track season or after practice:

“—what I’m saying is that Ayame started acting funny when she dropped the baton,” Hikari said as the two of them sat along the edge of the rooftop during lunch. Her brows furrowed as she plucked a piece of grilled salmon out of her bento box and set it over for Badd to eat.

“Ya still won though, right?”

“Yeah, but it was like something startled her? I can’t say what exactly, but she got a little frazzled after the tournament,” she hummed as she pursed her lips, “maybe ‘m overthinking it.”

“Ya gotta bad habit of that,” he quipped as he took a bite of the surrendered salmon, “she prolly jumped cus she dropped it.”

As it turned out, that wasn’t wholly the case.

The more he talked to Hikari throughout the months in school, the more exposure he got from Ayame. How she often would ask for one of her friends to come with her to the bathroom or how she would stay longer than an hour or two after practice. He wasn’t a psychologist, but Hikari’s concern became more understandable.

Once he was invited to eat lunch with Hikari and her track team, that was when he met Ayame.

As always, Hikari was rather jovial with introductions. Her excitability practically lightened the mood, even when some girls felt a little unnerved to be around a guy who could easily crush a monster’s skull with an indestructible weapon. Those girls he left very well alone for their comfort. The others were met with his gruff nature, he wasn’t sure whether Hikari told them he had a soft spot or not, but Ayame was the one who stood out the most.

The girl was kind and soft-spoken. She loved talking about her cat named Sakusa and she couldn’t help but find pictures of Tama to be an absolute delight. Though, Badd couldn’t lie, Sakusa was just as adorable.

The thing was she couldn’t afford to look him in the eye, nor could she barely manage a tone beyond a small murmur. When Badd would growl out a ‘huh??’ over a mean jest, she would flinch instinctively. Such a response evoked a small ‘sorry’ from the bat-wielding hero.

Lunch became rather awkward between them after that. Fortune came in Hikari’s emotional intelligence, otherwise Badd would have tried to make some means of dramatic compensation. He picked up a giant bouquet of roses for Zenko’s concert when he missed her piano recital once.

It wasn’t until school was no longer in session that he caught a glimpse of Ayame retreat to an older man. Her arms folded across her chest, though the heightened bark of the man made her flinch once more.

The man could have blended in well with the white collar types: nicely trimmed suit, slick back hair and an expensive pair of gloves that would have made Amai Mask green with envy. Their insignia was rather reminiscent to a bamboo lily.

He didn’t just have money, he had money to buy himself out of consequences.

By now, the grip around his signature bat became rigid in a white-knuckled grasp. His storm merely accented with a twirl of his instrument to rest atop of his broad shoulder.

“—and I told you to do the dishes!” The older man exasperatingly barked, “the hell were you doing??”

“I just...” Ayame paused as she shuffled closer to the masonry, “I h-had practice okay? It’s not a big deal—“

“It is a big deal!” His voice was now a tornado that swam tension within the air. His face was beet red and his fists practically quivered from the intensity of his own storm, “I had my fuckin’ brother over and—!”

Without a hint of hesitance, Badd rammed the hilt of his bat directly into the man’s diaphragm. The sheer velocity of his strength evoked a shriek from Ayame and a wheeze from the stranger. Had he known he shattered a rib or two, he probably would have offered a menacing simper.

“Do Yer own damn dishes next time,” when the man attempted to scramble to his full height, Badd hadn’t hesitated to step in front of Ayame. It wasn’t everyday he handled an abusive shithead, but they were marginally easier to handle than a stray papermache volcano come to life.

As the man scowled, his glare dripped over to Ayame, “this isn’t over—!” Once the threat had seeped, Badd simply let his metallic instrument slam into the concrete. A cobweb of weight bloomed under the strain.

“You bet Yer ass it is,”

This was a monster, no doubt, but he had heard from Daichi that some monsters liked to isolate their victims. Norte dam syndrome or something like that. As soon as the man retreated, Ayame began to present signs and symptoms of that.

“He wasn’t going to hurt me,” her voice was distant compared to the staggering man who retreated with a very polite warning. “He was just being an ass, okay? You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know what bein’ an ass is,” Badd scoffed, “and that wasn’t it.”

Being an ass meant Hikari poking fun of Badd crying in the middle of Zenko’s piano performance or Badd poking fun of Hikari not knowing how to do algebra, but being able to chemistry. Neither of them would have dared to clench their fist at the other, let alone make the other flinch in response.

Ayame only shook her head, “no, he just... he didn’t mean it.”

“ ‘s that what he tells ya?”

“Of course not, I—“ she sighed, her small shoulders slumped when she practically hung her head, “look, I know you’re supposed to be a hero, but he’s just a guy. You must have bigger priorities, right?”

Bigger priorities meaning bigger monsters; nothing like the abusive asshole nextdoor. Badd couldn’t help but wonder if that was really what being a hero meant to these people, that they were just as fictional as their comic book alternatives.

Whether the answer was blatant or not, it didn’t matter, “I don’t want ya gettin’ hurt, so call Hikari and stay with her, alright?”

“W-What are you gonna do??”

Badd simply unbuttoned his uniform jacket and let it draped over his shoulders.“ ‘m gonna go be a hero.”

It was a slow day at the notorious deadman detective agency. The gentle hum of the fan being the only company the detective had, among the various files of cold cases he tried to decipher in his day off. He didn’t mind the breaks, rather he milked them as often as he could, but they could be rather tedious at times.

Fortunately, his answer came in the form of his phone vibrating against the table. The caller ID consisted of a simple “Badd”. Chances were that the kid needed someone to pick up his sister or ask about homework he didn’t understand.

“Well, good afternoon to you too,” Daichi hummed leisurely.

“Ay, real quick!” If Badd hadn’t been huffing so much, he wouldn’t have assumed the intensity of the situation required a running start, “ya know anyone who’s got a flower on their gloves?”

There was a pregnant pause when Daichi tucked the phone along his shoulder. What sprawled evidence files had been tucked into their respective cabinet drawers, yet there wasn’t anything that could have resembled a nondescript flower. Aside from the insignia a murderer had carved into the wood of his victim’s furniture.

“What kind of flower was it?”

“Iunno??” Badd grunted, seemingly vaulting himself over a fence from how the chains rattled under his weight, “like a Lily or somethin’ ??”

Had his blood not been lethargic like tar, it would have ran glacial through his veins. He never quite noticed how reminiscent it was to a lilac flower, only that it was scrawled and messy. Though, it would have been a bold assumption to make Badd would keep him alive, “You’re planning on going after him, aren’t you?”

“Yep!”

He figured.

Hastily did Daichi retrieve his beige coat and slid his arms through the sleeves, “don’t do anything like kill him. I’ve been looking into cases like—!”

“Ah, I gotta go. I think I see him!”

“Badd, wait-! Wait, did you hear—?!” When the line was cut off to evoke a triad of monotonous beeps, Zombieman hissed a curse under his breath when he rushed to grab his keys and head to C-City. He didn’t even bother to shelf his evidence back when he bolted out the door.

Kids, he swore...

[mirandagoing4baroque]

Agrippina at the Met

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, back in the before times, I traveled to New York to see Agrippina. I saw the last production in the show’s run, and one of the last operas performed at the Met this year. I returned from that trip on March 9 and entered social distancing March 13, when the guidance came out that people who had been to New York should self-quarantine. I say the above partially as an excuse for why this review is so late, and partially for some context. Agrippina was supposed to be the highlight of my season this year. Instead it was the end.

My father and I bought our tickets for Agrippina as soon as they went on sale, over a year before the night we intended to attend the show. The plans were made, the train tickets to New York booked, the arrangements to stay with friends made. Dinner reservations made. A week before the appointed hour, we got a text from our friend “are you still planning to come? People here are freaking out about the coronavirus.” We talked it over, and determined that if the opera was on, we would go. The opera was on, so we went.

After a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant (also my last meal in a restaurant) on the way to Lincoln Center, we made our way to the opera house. Both my father and I had been to the Met before (I had a particularly memorable trip to see La Donna Del Lago), but we had never been together. We took a tour around the various levels, admiring the history and art, before taking our seats. The curtin was bedecked with a giant painting of a wolf with engorged teats, upon which two human infants were suckling. It was clearly a depiction of the twins and the founding of Rome. 

For you see Agrippina is a story of Agrippina the Younger and her attempts to get her son Nero (in this opera called Nerone), on the throne of Rome. I usually try to race through these, but when there's a lot of distance to cover, there's only so fast you can go. The story begins, she has just received word that her husband the emperor Claudius (here Claudio) has been drowned at sea. She plots to seize the opening to have her son named emperor by popular acclaim. The senate consents and Agrippina and Nero begin to ascend the steps to the throne, but this is only like half an hour into this opera, so there’s no way this is going to work. And sure enough, before they reach their (well Agrippina’s, Nerone is a little more conflicted) goal, a messenger arrives saying that Claudio has survived, saved by the general Otho. The two men arrive in the city and everyone except Agrippina rejoices. 

It is announced that Claudio has named Otho his heir. Agrippina is furious. But then Otho lets it slip to Agrippina that he loves Poppea and cares more for her than the throne. Agrippina uses this info to manipulate Poppea into rejecting Otho, by telling Poppea that Otho gave her up in exchange for the throne. You see Claudio also loves Poppea, though unlike Otho, his love is not reciprocated. Agrippina further tells Poppea that she can get revenge by telling Claudio that she can’t see him anymore because Otho said so. Claudio storms off in a huff. I swear I am trying to do this quickly; I’ve cut several subplots already.  Otho’s coronation day arrives. Claudio, angry about the Poppea thing, disavows Otho. One by one, all the other characters turn their backs on him. He despairs. 

Poppea is moved by the despair and wonders if her beloved might be innocent. She sets up a trap, and discovers Otho’s innocence. Agrippina convinces Claudio that Otho is still plotting against him, and implores Claudio to abdicate in favor of Nerone for the Emperor’s own safety. Nerone declares his love for Poppea because why the hell not. In a scene in which three people (Nerone, Claudio, Otho) are hidden in the closets of her bedroom, Poppea rejects Nerone, and convinces Claudio that Otho is not plotting against him. Nerone, in a fit of rage forswears romantic love in favor of political ambition. Claudio calls everyone together and announces that the throne will go to Otho and Poppea will wed Nerone. Everyone freaks out, as this is the opposite of what everyone wants. Claudio changes his mind. The end. (Deep breath).

Agrippina was the first major operatic work that Handel wrote, and it definitely shows. I mean, that plot, am I right? But there is a lot to like, musically, here. The orchestra was excellent, though frequent readers of this blog will not be surprised that I lament the lack of period instruments. But Harry Bicket can do no wrong stylistically and the orchestra acquitted themselves admirably. I found the second act much stronger than the first. I think this is just that the first act is mostly set up (it takes up more than two thirds of the summary above) and the emotional pay off mostly comes in the back half, which is where Handel can truly shine.

I was a little nervous, because the reviews of this production had been mixed. It appeared that the staging was a “strong flavor” and the reactions had been intense, with some loving the somewhat madcap, updated staging, and others finding it distracting. I was somewhere in the middle. Overall, I think the staging was a value add. The director seemed to be on a mission to see how far he could stretch the original libretto to accommodate new situations. There were times when it worked (turning the racing clouds in Nerone’s final aria to cocaine), and times when it did not (setting Poppea and Otho’s reconciliation in a bar). The secondary mission of the director seemed to be to make things as difficult as possible for the singers, who by and large rose to the challenge with aplomb.  Kate Lindsay was given a particularly hard row to hoe, and my lord she triumphed. 

The cast not only surmounted the acting challenges laid before them, they were all quite capable vocally.  As I have mentioned before, when it comes to roles originally written for castrati I am generally in the camp of sisters (mezzos) before misters (countertenors). Sorry guys, it’s not personal, some of you are quite lovely. And with respect to the thumb headed henchmen, I would have rather had mezzos in those roles. But Otho was played quite capably by Iestyn Davies. I had the great fortune of hearing him sing Eustazio at the Lyric Opera almost a decade ago, and he was an exceptionally winning Otho. My heart broke for him when he was rejected by all his friends one by one and was left alone. It was one of the most moving moments of the opera for me.  Matthew Rose was a capable Claudio, neither particularly distinguishing himself, nor giving me any cause for complaint.

The true standouts of this production were the women. As you may remember from my trip to the Lyric opera over a year ago, Brenda Rae is not a new name to me. She was a highlight of Ariodante, so I was very much looking forward to her performance as Poppea. Her voice was lovely, but at times seemed too small for the house. I quite enjoyed her interpretation of Poppea though: a savvy, good hearted woman who is doing her best. Hashtag relatable. (Especially in the scene where she eats a whole box of chocolates in an oversized sweater).

I’ll get to Joyce DiDonato in a minute, but you all already know that I’ll think she was awesome. I want to talk about Kate Lindsay. Who took every curveball the director threw at her and said “Yeah I can do that; I can make that awesome.” Her tatted up, bad boy Nerone channeled Beiber, and did coke, and moonwalked up stairs while singing arias. And after all that, when most of us mortals would be curled in a small ball, she sang an aria WHILE HOLDING A PLANK. Sang the aria beautifully, loudly, as if she were standing in her shower. I don’t know what supernatural creature got bored and decided being an opera singer on earth would be fun, but I’m super glad one did. I had heard of Kate Lindsay, but I had not heard her, and, friends, I was missing out. Her voice had pop. It had feeling, it had control, it had everything. She is doing Sesto next season (god willing and the creek don’t rise), and I am ready to cry my eyes out when she sings Cara Speme.

Joyce DiDonato. I don’t have a lot to say I haven’t already said before. To quote Hamilton “Look around, Look around, How lucky we are to be alive right now.” Right now being the time when we have the privilege of hearing Joyce DiDonato sing Handel. I am so, so, grateful to be able to type the following: this was not the best Handel I’ve heard her sing. The role is just not as good as some of the roles in his other operas. But Joyce DiDonato singing Handel is like pizza. It’s just gonna be good. And this was. As always, she had the highlight of the show for me. It wasn’t one of the big showy arias though. It was the small quiet moment Agrippina has with her husband at the very end of the show. She sings:

“Se vuoi pace, oh volto amato, l'odio reo fuga da te!...

“If you want peace, my love, Banish hate from your mind!...

[My best attempt at a translation aided by three years of Latin and Google Translate]

Yes, as per usual, Agrippina is manipulating him. But Joyce DiDonato is such a master, and she paints such a lovely and peaceful image that it’s hard not to want to live there. May everyone who wants such a place be able to find it in these trying times.

[heyyyharry]

My Girl Series: Chapter 7 - Birthday Blues

…in which Harry tries to make it up to Y/N for all the birthdays he has missed.

Series description: Y/N falls in love with the older boy next door who doesn’t feel the same, years later they meet again at a funeral.

AU: actor!harry, older!harry, younger!y/n; (4-year age gap)

Chapter 6: This Time - Y/N needs a wedding date, and this time Harry’s not giving up.

wattpad link

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After Harry had left Holmes Chapel, every spark of joy in Y/N's life slowly died out with the part of him inside of her. The day she turned fifteen was also the first time she'd spent a birthday alone. Celine was abroad for a three-month exchange program. Her grandma, who lived in Brighton had just passed away, so both of her parents had to go there for the funeral. Since she refused to come along, they left her home with her mother's younger sister, aunt Lynn, who was only twenty-two at the time and didn't even bother to remember her name.

"Sweet baby, do not tell your parents that I invite some friends over, okay? Your mum is gonna be so mad," the young woman said, holding Y/N by the shoulders and the teenage girl could only pay attention to the sound of her aunt chewing bubble gum. For some reasons, Lynn always had something in her mouth. If she wasn't chewing gum, she had to make sure her mouth was kept busy by eating something, or someone. Y/N had met her three times before but each time she was snogging a different guy. Sadly she was the only option for a 'babysitter', just because Y/N's parents didn't believe their fifteen-year-old daughter was capable of staying home alone.

"But today is—"

"Shit!" The woman exclaimed, holding her head. "You're right! It's Friday night, I should throw a party. Play with your dolls, baby. Your aunt has adult stuff to take care of."

"My dolls?" Y/N muttered under her breath as the bedroom door was slammed shut in front of her eyes. Putting on her favorite song and turning off all the lights, she lied down, staring at the spinning fan above her head.

All the kids her age probably spent their fifteenth getting drunk and making out with their crushes, or losing their virginity without their parents knowing. But there she was, locked in her room while her aunt was having all the fun she was supposed to have. For the first time in her life, she found herself alone. She'd always been a loner, yet she had never actually felt it until that night. She stayed utter still in silence, holding Thumper close to her chest. The stuffed animal could probably hear every sound of her heart cracking open. Her mother wasn't there to tell her what a woman she'd become, nor was Harry to sing her the birthday song. It was just her, alone in the dark, with a purple bunny that still smelt just like him.

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Celine always said that working in the library was the worst decision Y/N had ever made, because there was no job more boring than organizing dusty old books. But the thing was, Y/N loved her boring job. She mainly got paid for sorting and shelving books according to their categorization, which wasn't really hard work, not to mention that Ms. Florence, the librarian, was really easy-going. Y/N got to spend most of her time in the fiction section, avoiding her responsibilities to read and write as much as she wanted. Besides, she really liked her co-worker, whose name was Alice.

Alice was a year younger than Y/N. She liked to talk and Y/N liked to listen, so they were pretty compatible. Finding a drinking buddy in university was easy, Y/N had plenty of them; the hard part was finding a buddy you could trust. So even though Alice wasn't what Y/N would consider a close friend, she could be someone to count on.

"Why is it that every time I see you, you're reading something?"

Alice's voice pulled Y/N's attention away from the novel on her lap, as she looked up and found the tiny brunette smiling at her. Y/N leaned back against the bookshelf, crossing her legs so there was room on the floor for Alice to sit down as well.

"I have a surprise for you, big sis!" Alice said, making Y/N roll her eyes and chuckle.

"You've found another porn book, haven't ya?"

"No! An actual surprise!" The younger girl giggled, then finally showed Y/N what she'd been hiding behind her back. "Ta-da! Two tickets to see Heathers!"

"Heathers The Musical?" Y/N dropped her jaw when the other girl nodded. "I love Heathers!"

"I bet you do! You seem like someone who enjoys dark comedy with tragic endings."

Alice's comment made her laugh, but she couldn't say it wasn't true. Her life itself was already a dark comedy.

"Are you giving me these for free?" She asked, pointing to the tickets and Alice's lips curved into a smile as she nodded fast in response.

"I bought these to go with a friend next week, but we're both gonna be busy that night. So just consider this as my temporary birthday gift to you. I'll buy you something else tomorrow."

"How do you know today's my birthday?" Y/N's eyes went round as her mouth fell open, yet the grin on the other girl's face only expanded.

"I was cleaning Ms. Florence's desk this morning when I found your CV. I didn't have time to actually get you something so—"

"Alice..."

"I know you hate birthdays, but please accept these tickets or else I'll die!"

Y/N rolled her eyes, chuckling a bit at how dramatic that sounded, but eventually, she accepted the birthday gift from her co-worker, and thanked the girl for being so thoughtful. "By the way, there's really no need to get me something else," she said, making Alice snort.

"Don't be silly! You're getting a proper birthday gift from me." Alice barely stood up when she flopped onto the floor again. "Oh, and one more thing! Do you wanna go out tonight? I know this pub that's—"

"No, thanks. I've got a lot of work to do tonight."

"But it's your birthday!"

Y/N gave the girl a shrug, lifting a corner of her mouth as she replied, "I never celebrate it."

"Boo, you suck!" Like a child, Alice blew up her cheeks, eyebrows knitted together. "But if you change your mind, ring me up, big sis!"

Y/N tried to contain her laughter as she watched Alice hop away and almost fall head first when she tripped over a stool. It was only when her clumsy co-worker had gone out of sight that Y/N finally checked her watch and realized her shift was just over. She rose from the floor to place the book back on the shelf, then put the tickets into her bag before heading out. Usually, she would always be the last person to leave, but since it was her birthday, she still wanted to do something special for herself, even if it was something as simple as going home before Ms. Florence.

Instead of taking the bus, that day Y/N decided to walk home. For the first time in two years living in that city, the girl finally paid attention to what was going on around her; it was also the first time she had realized how boring London had always been. The grey color of concrete dominated the entire city; it was hard to spot a hint of green anywhere, unlike Holmes Chapel, her home.

Y/N missed that place so much, now more than ever.

She missed the meadows behind her house at springtime, when all the wildflowers added vibrant colors to the fading green. She missed the tall pine trees surrounding a field full of white poppies. She used to run across that field, imagining herself in the opening scene of The Sound of Music, and she could still hear Harry's voice calling out "Bambi, wait for me!" as he tried to catch up with her.

He was the green that she missed the most.

The sound of her ringtone cut right through that thought, causing the vivid images before her eyes to fade back to monochrome. His name showed up on the screen, as if he knew she had been thinking about him.

"Hello?" She answered, standing close to the wall on her right so she wouldn't get in the way of the other pedestrians.

"Are you on the way home?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I'm just a few blocks away. Why?"

"I'm coming over."

She snorted, pursing her dry lips. "I'm busy tonight, remember? Birthday dinner with Isaac?" That lie was as smooth as melting butter coming from her mouth, yet her insides were heating up and her hands started to shake. She was glad he couldn't see the way she shut her eyes and pressed her lips into a firm line after lying to him.

"I'll see you in five."

"Wait, I said—" Y/N began, yet couldn't finish. Harry had already hung up on her.

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The sun was sinking fast now, turning the sky to grey tinged with purple and pink. Harry was already waiting by his car outside the building when Y/N returned, standing with his back facing the ruby-red skyline. With golden-rays casting down upon him, Y/N thought Harry glowed even brighter than the sun itself. But of course, he didn't have to know.

"Happy birthday." His voice was husky and deep as he handed her a white poppy. "Just like the ones back home," he said, and the reluctance from her expression made him feel the need to add, "I didn't buy it. I stole it from a flower shop on the way here."

Y/N didn't know if that was true, but his slop-sided grin made her doubt every single one of his words.

"Headline: Harry Styles stole a flower for a mystery girl!" She said, swiping her hand across the air like she was presenting the idea to him, which only made the beam on his face grow twice as big as he pointed to his car. "Get in, kid," he told her. "Before what you said become reality."

"Where are we going?" She asked in hesitation.

"To your birthday party."

"My birthday party?! But I'm—"

"I'm sure we've got a lot of time before Isaac returns from Italy to take you to dinner."

That one sentence got Y/N tongue-tied. The girl couldn't make a single sound, instead, she was gawking at him like a fool. What did she expect though? He would find out sooner or later because he was still friends with Isaac. So all she could do at that moment was try to come up with an explanation, in case he asked her to tell him why she'd lied. However, he didn't ask her anything. Harry flashed a smile as he walked back to his car and told her to come along. But Y/N refused. She couldn't just follow him blindly without knowing exactly where they were going.

"You're not taking me to a fancy restaurant, are you?"

"Bambi, the last thing I want is for the paps to eat you alive." Harry chuckled and opened the car door for the girl. "Don't worry, kid. It's just gonna be the two of us."

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The loud music and laughter from downstairs made it almost impossible for Y/N to even hear the voice inside her head. The birthday blues made it hard for her to stay awake, yet she couldn't sleep either, and there was no way she could talk her aunt into ending the party. Lynn was probably drunk off her ass right now, so Y/N knew the only place for her to be alone with her depressing thoughts was the treehouse. She hadn't gone back there since the night she last saw Harry, but she guessed it had become such a big part of her that she couldn't stay away no matter how much she'd tried.

Still in her pajamas, the fifteen-year-old climbed the rope ladder to get to her childhood spot. The floor was still wet from the rain yesterday, so she leaned against the doorway and stood there to ponder on her own. However, it didn't take her more than three minutes to burst into tears.

Y/N hated crying, it was physically and emotionally painful to cry, and when it was over, what was left was just...nothing. Emptiness. Nevertheless, crying was how Y/N understood herself best. When she cried, she knew who she was. And she had always thought, just like a heartbreak, though crying left her feeling empty when it was over, she would still sigh in relief, because, at least, she knew it was the end.

"Y/N!"

When she heard that voice, the girl stepped closer to the edge of the treehouse and looked down at her neighbor's garden, where she found Harry's big sister with one hand behind her back and the other waving in the air. Y/N quickly wiped away the remaining tears on her cheeks, feeling thankful because if Gemma had come earlier, she might have already seen Y/N bawling her eyes out.

"Gemma! When did you get back?"

"Just a couple days ago. I'm home for two weeks to work on my thesis." The other Styles chuckled. "Glad I found you out here, I was just about to come over."

"To see me?" Y/N lifted both eyebrows, pointing to herself and receiving a nod from her neighbor.

"Yeah, come down here. I have something for you."

The teenage girl hesitated a bit because she couldn't figure out why Gemma wanted to see her and had something for her. Even though she used to hang out with Harry, she was never that close to his older sister. But she climbed down anyway, curious to know what Gemma had behind her back.

"Happy birthday," said the 23-year-old as she handed Y/N the birthday gift she'd been hiding that whole time.

A snow globe.

It didn't have a snowman and a Christmas tree like the ones you normally found in souvenir shops. The one Gemma gave her had colorful glitter inside instead of fake snow; and it was a miniature London, with tiny versions of Big Ben, the London Eye, and the Tower Bridge.

But all Y/N could see, was a person.

"You remember my birthday?" The younger girl asked quietly as she received the gift from her lovely neighbor, who was smiling from ear to ear.

"Of course," Gemma said. "I came to your birthday party every year. But I guess you don't like them anymore, huh?"

"Yeah..." Y/N faked a laugh, hoping her awkward eye-roll didn't give away the fact that she was just lonely.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat but I must get back to work now."

"Sure. Thanks for the nice gift," said Y/N. "Where did you get it by the way?"

"Bought it when I was in London last week."

Y/N didn't say anything else and just watched the older girl walk back to her house. Of course, she wanted to ask Gemma about Harry, but it was so sad to even think about him right now. His sister remembered her birthday and even got her a present, yet she hadn't heard a single word from him since the day he left. He was supposed to be her friend, or was it just another thing she had fooled herself into believing?

Holding the little London between her palms, she thought that maybe it was time to let go of the London inside her heart.

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"Don't peek!"

"I'm not peeking!"

Y/N giggled, holding the hand that was covering her eyes as Harry carefully led her up the stairs, giving her directions so she wouldn't trip and cause them both to fall over. She extended her arms once they had reached the top, feeling the cold metal surface in front of them. The creaking sound caused her to flinch, so Harry quickly reassured the girl that it was just him opening the door. She could feel his other hand reaching around her waist to pull the handle, and a cold breeze blew right through her thin shirt. Y/N immediately took a step backward and bumped into Harry's firm chest. She felt the pressure of his fingertips on her hip as he gently pushed her forward, for the third time that night, telling her to trust him.

"If I didn't trust you I wouldn't have walked up all these floors with my eyes closed." She giggled, and his soft laughter sent shivers down her spine.

"Sit," he ordered, holding the girl by the arms to guide her into a chair; and when she was finally seated, Harry leaned in so his lips were close to her ear as he whispered, "open your eyes."

Y/N did what she was told.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

The girl had begun to envision her surroundings ever since the cool air hit her skin for the first time as she stepped out, yet what she saw was far from her imagination.

They were sitting on a rooftop of a tall building somewhere in London. From her spot, Y/N could see the entire city spread below, tiny vehicles rushing along tangled roads. The city lights looked like stars dropping to the Earth, making her feel as if they were being squeezed between two galaxies. There were no words magical enough to describe what she was seeing, so Y/N didn't say anything, and just took in a deep breath to let it go with the biggest smile on her face.

It was windy on the roof, so Harry took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. They sat side by side on two wooden chairs, staring at the city and the sky above, completely mesmerized by such beauty, which had completely changed Y/N's opinion about London. Maybe from a different and higher view, it wasn't plain and dull after all.

"Almost like Holmes Chapel, huh?" She heard him speak and turned to look at him. Harry was gazing up with a beam on his face as he pointed to the sky, and told her the names of the stars he knew, not aware that she wasn't really listening. She was too busy looking at him, and thinking, maybe somewhere underneath that man was still the little boy she used to know.

"Oh, I forgot!" He suddenly flinched and turned to pick up the box at his feet. "I made this for you. But...the rest of the batch...already ended up in the trash bin."

He opened the box and revealed one single cupcake with a candle on top. It didn't look terrible, still, it wasn't a very pretty cupcake either. But if that was the best out of the whole batch, Y/N couldn't help but snort as she tried to imagine what the other ones looked like.

"Hey, don't laugh at me! At least I tried!"

"Okay, okay." Y/N bit her lip to hold back a smile. She didn't know why it was so endearing that he'd exerted himself to make her one cupcake. Even if he'd got it from a store instead, she would still be overjoyed.

"Can I eat it now?" She asked, but he quickly shook his head no.

"You have to make a wish first."

Y/N giggled, eyes bored into Harry as he looked around to find something else. "Shit!" His jaw went slack. "The lighter! I forgot the lighter."

"Relax, lemme check," Y/N mumbled, reaching inside the inner pocket of his coat to search for the object, and she felt something like a little triangle box, assuming it was the lighter. But when she took it out, both of them froze as they saw what it really was.

A pack of cigarettes.

Y/N's mouth fell open, she was speechless, and so was he. "Harry..." Her voice was quiet when she looked at him. "Do you smoke?"

"No." He shook his head fast. "N-Not anymore."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie?" A blush crept up his face as he made eye-contact with her. "If I still smoked, I would have a lighter with me, right?"

That sounded like a good enough reason for her to believe him. Moreover, he didn't smell like someone who smoked, and she'd never seen him with a cigarette between his fingers before. So apparently he was telling the truth. Y/N inhaled deeply as she nodded, squeezing his hand for more assurance.

"Smoking could kill you. So don't...don't go back to it..." The way she could barely maintain eye contact while saying that to him made his heart flutter somehow. He took her other hand, linking their fingers together as he asked, "are you worried about me?"

"Of course I am," she said without pause. "I can't bear the thought of losing you."

The corners of her mouth turned down and her whole face contorted so he knew she was serious when she said those words. After all this time, he still mattered to her; and knowing that was like getting a heavy weight lifted off his chest.

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Harry sank into his chair, holding the mini calendar above his face. "It's already April," he mumbled to himself, but his roommate Isaac assumed Harry was talking to him, so he replied, "yeah, almost time for finals."

It wasn't finals that came to Harry's mind when he thought about April, it was a birthday actually. He rarely remembered birthdays, and sometimes he forgot his own; but for some reasons, he always remembered hers. He hadn't spoken to Y/N since the night he left, and he could never forget the way she looked at him when she asked him to kiss her. It was awkward, yet it was sad. She truly cared about him, and he could never repay the same kind of feelings because she was too young. So he didn't know how to talk to her again after everything she'd confessed. The last thing he wanted was to lead her on and lull her into believing that one day he might feel the same. He knew he could never like her back the way she wanted him to.

However, it would be a lie to say he didn't miss her. He missed her a lot. How could he forget about his little Bambi? She was the only girl he'd spent the best years of his childhood protecting and looking after. She was something more than just the girl next door, and he kept the image on her face on the treehouse that night in his memory as he left Holmes Chapel with no intention of coming back. Every time he thought about her, a part of him wanted to pay her a visit, but he was glad he didn't change his mind. But now her birthday was coming close, and he knew she wanted him to be there with her. He wanted to be there with her. But he couldn't.

"Isaac," Harry broke the silence in the dorm room, turning his head to look at his best friend who was lying on the bed. "What should I give a fifteen-year-old girl for her birthday?"

The sudden question made Isaac lift an eyebrow. "I thought you only had a big sister?"

"Uhm...it's actually for my...my...cousin."

"Well, I'm bad at this stuff. Why don't you ask Niall?"

Harry rolled his eyes and scoffed. "He would just give me crazy ideas."

"Then ask the birthday girl herself." Isaac shrugged, sticking out his bottom lip. "I mean, try to be subtle and find out what she likes without giving away the fact that you don't know what to get her."

If only it was that easy. Harry shook his head and put the calendar back down. He used to be the one who knew about her more than anyone else, probably only second to her mother, he should be able to know what she liked, but right now he didn't. He knew nothing about her anymore. It was only then that he started to feel bad for all the time he didn't spend with her. But had he not kept his distance, their goodbye would've been much harder.

So he tried to think, swirling the pencil in his hand for a couple seconds. And finally, an idea came to his mind. Maybe there could be a way for him to come back to her after all.

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For the rest of the night, Harry and Y/N sat in their chairs, eating pizza for dinner while discussing irrelevant topics like the existence of aliens, strange kinds of flowers, as well as their favorite movies, songs, and books. Soon both grew tired so they fell back to silence. He was staring at the city, and she was taking in the sight of him.

"Are you mad that I lied to you?" Her sudden question made him turn around with an eyebrow raised. "You know, about Isaac."

"I'm not mad at you, kid. But I'd like to know what happened..." Harry couldn't say he had heard most of the story from Niall because he wanted Y/N to tell him herself, if she trusted him enough, and of course, he didn't expect her to. But somehow she did. She ended up telling him everything.

"I didn't want Isaac to turn down the job offer for a relationship that would probably never work." She sighed with her chin on her knuckles, hooded eyes staring blankly ahead. "I liked him a lot. And I thought to myself that if he asked me to be his girlfriend, I would say yes immediately. But when it happened, I got scared. I couldn't let him in because I was afraid that if he knew too much about me, he wouldn't like me anymore. I guess I'm just not ready to fall in love again, and I don't want him to wait for me to be ready. My first and only relationship didn't end very well. So I didn't have the heart to let the same thing happen to us." Holding her breath, she said, "He's too good for me anyway. I'm better off alone."

"Nobody is better off alone," Harry spoke at last, a line appeared between his brows. "Everyone needs someone."

"Not me." She shrugged, and the look in her eyes broke his heart in a million pieces. "I'm sorry I had to lie to you...I didn't want you to do anything for my birthday. I've troubled you enough already."

"But you're not troubling me, love. I did all of this because I wanted to. I...I care about you."

She couldn't remember the last time she heard him say those words, or if he'd ever said them at all. So to hear them now made her feel happy and sad at the same time. If there was one thing that she'd learned from their 'relationship' it would be, Harry's words weren't always credible.

"How did you find this place though?" She changed the subject, putting on a smile to lighten up the mood, which had gotten a bit blue since Isaac was mentioned. She could see it from the look on his face that he was also glad she'd brought up something else.

"Niall's uncle owns this building. They're doing some reconstructing so it's closed for a couple months. It might be the only place we could be together without people bothering us."

"Thank you." Y/N took in a long breath as she smiled. "I've never seen London so beautiful."

"Agreed." Harry nodded fast. In this bad lighting, his dimples seemed even deeper than they actually were. "But my favorite is the winter time. The city looks best when it's covered in snow."

Those last words made Y/N's head turn as her eyes went round.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she cried out, causing the man to jump in shock. He was meant to ask, but she didn't even let him have his chance. "The snow globe! You asked Gemma to give it to me, did you?!"

"Ouch!" He yelped when she smacked him hard on the arm. The girl didn't look very sorry when he rubbed the sore spot and his brows drew together in utter perplexity.

"Why did you ask her to lie for you?! I was so sad, I thought you didn't remember my birthday!"

"I thought it was for the best if you forgot about me, after..."

There was a pause, a gap for her to fill in.

"Our first kiss...I know," she mumbled at last.

It was weird to talk about it now, since both of them had been pretending like the kiss she'd stolen from him when she was fourteen had never happened. After all, she was fourteen at the time, he couldn't blame her for acting so impulsive. But recently he'd been thinking about it and wondering if her feelings back then had been all true.

Her eyes darted as she whispered under her breath, but still loud enough for him to hear, "why didn't you send me anything on my birthday next year or the ones after that?"

"I...I wanted to...I almost did." He swallowed hard while fidgeting in his seat. "But Gemma said you were seeing this boy, so I thought I should stay away from your life and let you forget about me for good. Then time passed and I actually didn't think a lot about you, until..."

She nodded without waiting for him to finish, her lashes fluttered as sadness overtook her face. After a moment of thinking, she asked, "if you could turn back time, would you come back to see me?"

"Yes," he answered. "Without a second thought."

Y/N had seen Harry in a lot of different situations, yet she'd never seen him like that, all flustered and ill at ease. She loved the way the rings on his fingers sparkled as he was nervously toying with the hem of his shirt. She loved it when even under the dim lights surrounding them, she could see a blush creep up his face. She knew better, that it was never good when she felt so drawn to him, yet she couldn't stop, so she released a slight laugh, which got his attention.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked.

Shaking her head with the grin still remained, she said, "nothing."

.

.

.

As he walked with her five floors up to her flat, Harry struggled to find something to say so the silence carried on until they reached her front door. He couldn't explain why he was at a loss for words every time he stood in front of her. He knew her well, he'd grown up with this girl. But deep down inside he knew it wasn't like that, not anymore. He knew his heart had more to say about her than it should, and the way it began to race whenever she was around had him frustrated most of the times.

He watched her unlock her front door and turn to say goodbye. But just when she was about to leave, he stopped her by taking her hand. It wasn't the first time they'd held hands, still, he let hers go after about two seconds like it was hot coal burning his skin. Maybe it was, maybe she was, yet he couldn't stay away because he enjoyed the burn. With round Bambi eyes, she stared at him, slightly puzzled by his strange behaviors. Harry asked her to wait. He searched in his pants pocket, finally pulling out a silver locket necklace.

"Your birthday present."

"Harry—"

He shushed her right away, telling her to turn around as he took a step closer to put the chain around her neck. His fingers brushed against her collarbone only once, but it was enough for both of them to flinch at the contact. Y/N gently touched the heart-shaped locket now lying on her chest, then opened it to find a tiny photo of her mother.

"So you could always keep her by your heart," he whispered, his voice was low and hot against her ear.

Slowly, Y/N turned around, but Harry didn't pull away so they were just one step away from pressing against each other. She meant to just thank him and go inside her flat, but as she parted her lip, not a single sound managed to escape. Her cheeks turned pink, her bottom lip was quivering as she batted her lashes. She had never looked into his eyes for that long, and the look he was giving her made her pupils dilated. It was the same look she'd seen him give that blonde haired girl on the treehouse when he was seventeen. He had never looked at Y/N that way before, and now he did. If only she could read his mind, she would know he was also trying to do the same.

Harry knew it was wrong, but he couldn't resist. The last time he had the same feeling, he wasn't thinking straight so he went for it by instinct. Now he knew exactly what was happening, and still, he didn't stop it. He leaned in a little closer, their foreheads touching. He expected her to pull away or even slap him for making that bold move, yet she stayed exactly where she was, chest heaving with anticipation. Her scent was flooding his senses, and the second he finally found the courage to place his hands on her hips, it was she who decided the next move.

Her lips brushed against his. Not innocently, but hot and passionately, he wanted to pull away before he lost control, but like a magnet, she drew him in more and now he was stuck. "Harry," she whispered slowly, making his heart flutter as he clasped his hands on either side of her face.

That kiss wasn't like the first or the second, this time it was an open-mouthed, almost sexual kiss. He pushed her against the door, loving the way her body melted into his as their lips fitted perfectly like they were made for each other. She held his hair and he held her so tight as if he was afraid it wasn't real, and she would disappear the moment he loosened his grip. They broke away after what seemed like ages, and from the look in her eyes, he could tell she expected him to run, just like he had before.

But he didn't. Even if he wanted to, he knew his trembling feet wouldn't let him. She stood with her back against the door, him with one hand on her hip, the other fisted to rest beside her head. He inhaled sharply and she was still trying to steady her breathing. It took almost five seconds for either to open their eyes and look at the other person.

"Goodnight," she mumbled, reaching behind for the doorknob and the next thing he knew, she had fled inside and shut the door right in front of his face. Harry was left standing in the hallway like an idiot, not knowing what to do next. He lifted a fist, about to knock because there were still many things that he wanted to say to her, an apology was one of which. But he thought again and decided that he should probably go.

Harry left the building, stepping out on the street with his head still on the cloud as he kept touching his lips, trying not to smile so big or else people would think he was insane. But maybe he was, because he was too happy to act differently. He got into his car and sat there with both hands on the steering wheel, head tossed back, smiling contently. His whole face was red, but he didn't really mind. He was soaked in the scent of her perfume, and all he could think about was how he could possibly fall asleep with every trace of her lingering on his body.

His phone lit up in the dark, notifying a new text from Bambi which got him to sit up straight at once. His heart could've exploded when he read the first line, if the next one hadn't come on in less than a second.

⌲ Bambi: That kiss was a mistake.

⌲ Bambi: You're gonna have to earn it next time.

⌲ Next time? :)

⌲ Bambi: Don't be smug about it!

⌲ I'm not! But wait, on the scale from 1-10, how great was tonight? (minus the kiss)

⌲ Bambi: 7/10 (including the kiss)

⌲ Heeeeeey!

Sitting at her working desk, chin resting on her palm, Y/N cracked a smile. The birthday surprise, as well as the kiss they'd shared in the hallway,  were definitely 11/10. But she couldn't give it to him that easily. She placed her phone down, leaving his latest message on read as she touched the chain around her neck once again.

The London snow globe was still sitting on her desk, and she hadn't touched it in so long that it was a bit dusty now. She kept it there so it could remind her of the terrible birthday she should already forget, but she didn't want to. It was a way of telling herself that sometimes the people you loved would leave you behind, and that was just a cruel fact of life that one should just accept and carry on. But now that she knew it wasn't all true, the way she felt about the snow globe had also changed.

Quickly, she typed down 'Thank you for the locket' and sent it to him, then while waiting for him to reply, she sent another text right after.

⌲ I have two tickets to see Heathers The Musical

⌲ H: Yes.

⌲ I haven't even asked?

⌲ H: Whatever you're gonna ask, it's a yes.

⌲ Have you even watched Heathers?

⌲ H: There's always Google! Send me the date and time, my assistant will get back to you shortly.

⌲ Haha funny.

Y/N rolled her eyes and giggled as she snapped a quick shot of the tickets Alice had given her and sent it to him.

⌲ H: Wednesday night! I'm free!

⌲ You sure there's not another award show that night? I'm gonna kill you if you skip another one for me.

⌲ H: Nah I'm not supposed to attend any event next week. If you don't believe me, google it!

⌲ Oh God.

⌲ H: Say that instead of my name 'next time'.

Y/N's face turned scarlet when she read that line. She sucked in her bottom lip, face-palming herself with her eyes shut and wishing she hadn't moaned his name into the kiss. That couldn't have been more embarrassing. She typed down a few words, trying to come up with a reply that would save herself from the humiliation, yet she kept typing and deleting for three times or so. Then came two new messages from him.

⌲ H: It's late. Go to sleep Bambi. Good night.

⌲ H: Once again, happy birthday! :)

The twenty-year-old smiled to herself as she sent him back a goodnight text. Y/N knew she should get to bed now if she wanted to wake up early for a class in the morning. But she also knew it would take forever for her to fall asleep. This time, fortunately, it wasn't gonna be the birthday blues that kept her up all night.

[raywritesthings]

Sheriff, Hood and Maid

My Writing Fandom: Arrow Characters: Quentin Lance, Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, John Diggle Relationships: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen (Hinted/Unresolved) Summary: Long before the Hood arrives in Starling City, Detective Lance relaxes his loyalty to the law. His daughter must take on a double life of her own to redeem her family legacy. / AU What-If of Season 1 *Can be read on my AO3 or FFN, links are in bio*

It had been a moment of weakness. After losing Sara, seeing the bodies of all those young girls pile up one after the other, with stiff limbs and sightless eyes, it was too much. He’d have done anything to make it stop, to catch Mathis.

Anything, as it turned out, had meant selling his soul.

He’d received a call tipping him off to a location Mathis was supposedly using to conduct his sick experiments. When he’d arrived, there was no Mathis and no equipment. Just a mid-ranking member of one of the local cartels.

Quentin had been angered and then infuriated when the thug had proposed his deal. Immunity for him and his side in exchange for information. He had stormed out of that warehouse and not looked back.

Then another girl had turned up dead. And another. Before he could think it through too many times, he was dialing the number that had called in the fake tip.

What else could he have done? It wasn’t like people weren’t going to buy the drugs anyway if he refused to play ball with the cartel. He’d gotten a location and led a raid to catch the Dollmaker in the act. A serial killer behind bars.

“Just remember the favor you owe us, Detective,” he’d been warned. “Or your pretty daughter with the fancy new law degree is gonna wish it was Mathis that got to her.”

Okay, so one cartel was going to walk the streets knowing he’d look the other way. So what? They didn’t have the manpower to bring them all in.

The funny thing was, once one deal was made, it didn’t seem so bad to make more. It was like they could sniff him out all of a sudden. Maybe there was talk. He didn’t know.

Quentin found himself with a lot more convictions under his belt and a lot more friends in low places. His tab was always paid at his favorite bar before he even made it there after a shift. It wasn’t like he was letting all the criminals walk. There were still bad people getting put away.

How was it any different than Nudocerdo hobnobbing with the big wigs in their ivory towers? How was it any different than Moira Queen or Malcolm Merlyn paying all the right people to get their kids off the hook for crimes they ought to be serving sentences for?

Whenever he happened to be in a charitable mood, which he rarely was, Quentin could admit it wasn’t very different to all the wheeling and dealing he’d done behind the scenes to keep Sara’s record clean.

If he had one saving grace, it was Laurel. She alone was untouched by all the dirt and corruption their city was swimming in. He was prouder than he could say, and it burned at him more than he could stand sometimes the way she would remind him of all the things he had once taught her about the law and doing what was right. He snapped at her more than was warranted for it, and he knew she just couldn’t understand.

He never wanted her to. If she ever knew…

But it was pointless to even worry about that. The associates he’d acquired over the last few years would ensure he was never ousted, so long as he kept up his end of the deals he’d made. And he would, for her sake. This city was rotten to the core, and if all he could do was save one person from it, it damned well wouldn’t be the rich elites who could bribe their way through anything or the teens with rap sheets already a mile long. It would be his own flesh and blood, all he had left of it in the world.

With enough drink in him, most nights he went to bed with a muddied conscience. But it was enough to let him sleep.

---

Laurel had had a bad feeling for a long time. Various bad feelings, she supposed, but it was hard not to when her sister and boyfriend died while screwing each other, her mother left and her father fell into drinking. There weren’t many good feelings left in the wake of all that.

But this specific one had more to do with her work. Ever since she had started at CNRI, things had felt a little… off.

At first she hadn’t noticed, too caught up in the high of winning her first official case, saving a man’s son from prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Other little victories here and there. 

But then, every time she tried going up against something big, the systemic forces truly plaguing their city, roadblocks constantly sprung up in her path. A judge threw the case out, witnesses disappeared, evidence went missing from the police lockers and, lately, her boss had been getting very particular about handing out or approving assignments.

If she’d talked to her father about it once, she must have talked to him about it a million times. He’d been a sympathetic ear at first, promising to keep an eye on things at the precinct, but as time wore on he did little more than sigh and tell her that she couldn’t expect to change the world overnight. Joanna did him one better and suggested Laurel do something with all that pent-up frustration, which had led Laurel to seeking out boxing lessons at a gym not too far from their office.

While letting her anger out through her fists did wonders for her emotional self-control, it did little to fix the rest of her problems. Laurel’s mind chased itself around in circles night after night, wondering just where the trouble was starting from. Was there some kind of leak between their office and the DA’s? Was it Kate Spencer herself? Or was she being spied on?

Laurel started meeting her clients outside of the office and off the books. For a while, it seemed to help as she was happy to note to her dad. But gradually, whatever force was conspiring against her seemed to catch up to her new methods. It didn’t matter if she worked with Joanna or alone, if she wrote her files in plain English or in the secret code she and Sara had developed during a particularly boring winter filled with school cancellations due to the wind chill, making playing outside impossible. She was reaching her wit’s end with this enemy who seemed to know her as well as she knew herself.

Just as she was starting to wonder if everything was hopeless, an unexpected ally of sorts emerged from seemingly nowhere: an archer dressed in green. He’d appeared on the scene as suddenly as Oliver had stepped back into her life after five years of him being presumed dead, taking in Adam Hunt and his security team before Laurel was slated to lose her case against him thanks to a bought Judge Grell. Then again, he took on Martin Sommers and the Triad after they attacked her home while Oliver was visiting.

It was exhilarating seeing someone finally stand up to the untouchable in this city. She couldn’t help to wonder why no one had thought to do it before, couldn’t help but feel inspired...

Laurel kept these thoughts to herself while staying at her father’s that night. The police were still processing the crime scene that her apartment had become the other night thanks to the home invasion that she suspected was meant to have been an assassination if she hadn’t been able to take down one of their attackers and Mr. Diggle hadn’t shown up to confront China White. The bodyguard himself might have been killed had Oliver not been extremely lucky with his knife throw. She supposed he must have gotten very good at that sort of thing while hunting for food on the island.

Laurel’s dreams of a figure moving through thick, green overgrowth stalking the Fortune 500 were interrupted by the low snarl of her dad’s voice. Laurel startled awake, looking around in confusion.

“...don’t care that he got away. Sommers overreached, and that’s his and your problem, not mine!”

Light shone through the cracks around the bedroom door. He was still awake? Laurel slid off the mattress as quietly as she could, sneaking in her socks to the door. She opened it a centimeter and peered down the hall.

Her father was pacing back and forth, crossing in and out of view as he spoke into a phone. “My daughter comes first. The minute you agreed to his contract, that’s the minute you turned your back on me. I wasn’t gonna do a damned thing to save that bottom-feeder from some vigilante.”

Laurel’s mind raced. If this was about Sommers, and her father was talking to a person who had accepted a contract that had to do with her…

“Yeah, I know. I know what you have on me. I’d rather we continue on business as usual, too, but we can’t do that unless I have your word that the next time Laurel is in your sights, you let me handle it. Alright? She’s my responsibility, not yours. And you can tell that to China White herself.”

China White. The Triad. Her father was on the phone with the Triad.

She watched him hang up and rub a hand across his forehead. “Should’ve just let her go to San Francisco…” he muttered under his breath.

She couldn’t keep watching. Laurel shook her head and backed up into a dresser with a muffled bang, too loud for him not to have heard. “Shit,” she whispered.

Sure enough, she heard his shoes coming down the hall. Rather than comforting, they sounded loud and heavy and like a threat. What did she do? What did she say?

The door opened before she could make up her mind to flee, and Laurel looked up at her father.

“Honey?” He asked, sounding just as concerned as always. His gun rested on his belt.

She had to play this off. She couldn’t risk him finding out she knew. She couldn’t trust he wouldn’t hurt her — she didn’t know who this man was anymore.

“Uh, sorry. I was getting up to use the bathroom, and I couldn’t see where I was going in the dark,” she explained, hoping the strain in her voice could be attributed to the pain from hitting the furniture.

He nodded. “Okay. Lamp’s on the table there for it you need it.”

“Uh-huh. Are you going out?”

He looked down at himself. “No. I just, uh, was finishing up some work at the table. I’ll get to sleep soon, promise.”

Laurel forced a smile that was more a nervous twitch of the lips as she slowly moved past him into the hall, shutting herself in the bathroom. She let out a breath then drew it back in, forcing herself to focus on that and prevent herself from hyperventilating.

Her father was a dirty cop. How long had he been? Since she got her degree? Since the Gambit sunk? Since always?

He was the source of the leak. For three years, she’d been watching herself and who she spoke to, dedicated herself to nothing but work — and the one person she had felt safe in confiding to, the one person she’d thought understood her relentless pursuit of justice, had betrayed her.

She sat on the lid of the toilet and willed the tears that wanted to spill from her eyes back. There wasn’t time to feel sorry for herself. She’d unknowingly been helping the other side by giving them ready access to information. What was she going to do now?

The first thing was stop talking to her dad about her cases and make sure to lock up her notes even in the safety of her home. And then… what? That didn’t feel like enough.

What could she do to help the people who had suffered for her ignorance? The people who would continue to suffer thanks to this corrupt bargain her father had made? Or even, maybe, possibly, her father himself?

Was he just doing this to protect her? Maybe someone had made threats. Maybe he thought it was the only way. They were both semi-public figures. It wouldn’t have been hard at all for organized crime to make the connection between them and decide to exploit it.

If she could figure out how deep this went, how far this web of alliances stretched, maybe she could free him from it.

But she couldn’t do it as herself. It was clear that either her father would be forced to stop her or the Triad and whoever else would take matters into their own hands, and she didn’t want to test her luck a second time. Prosecuting them publicly would mean damning her father, too, and despite everything she had just learned, she didn’t know if she was prepared to do that.

She had to work independently of the law. Any misgivings she might have felt about that a month ago melted away now that she knew her father had abandoned his own credo a long time ago. This wasn’t some idealized mock trial in school. This was reality. And there was someone out there already proving that the only way to get justice in this city was to get it yourself.

Laurel stood and flushed the toilet to sell her story, washing her hands in the sink as she stared herself down in the mirror. Her eyes were dry and determined.

She would do what needed to be done.

---

Oliver was at a crossroads in many ways. Diggle was on the fence about joining him. Lance was hot on the trail of evidence he’d planted to set himself up for exoneration. And he still didn’t know quite where he and Laurel stood since his return in both of his personas.

He knew as Oliver he was making things difficult, wanting to atone for his actions yet also wanting her safe. He couldn’t be the man she saw in him in his public life because he was needed as the Hood. And while she seemed far more receptive to the Hood, his first encounter with her had proven… odd.

“How do you decide?” She’d asked him unexpectedly in the dark of her apartment. The little light come through the windows made her eyes look overbright and earnest. “Who gets hospitalized and who lands in the morgue?”

“It’s not a decision,” he answered eventually. “Not a conscious one. This city is in a fight for its life. In those kinds of struggles…” He had found himself struggling then to articulate what it was to be driven by the need for survival in the heat of battle, how everything else faded away.

But Laurel had nodded as if she understood. “Then it’s not a question of targeting.”

“Is there someone you wanted targeted?”

To his surprise, she did not dismiss the question, but rather hesitated. “I don’t have everything I need yet. And you’re right that Declan’s case can’t wait if he really is as innocent as you think.”

He’d let the subject drop, and there had been no time to address it in any of their subsequent meetings. Certainly not at Iron Height, where she had pulled him out of the fog of battle through her touch and voice alone before he could make yet another kill. He didn’t know how to thank her for that. Especially when the next time he saw her, it was because she was representing him against her dad, and he couldn’t exactly thank her for something he wasn’t supposed to know about as Oliver Queen.

It helped that Laurel was convinced there was no way he was the Hood. At least, he thought she was convinced until the polygraph test. Until he revealed some of the truth about what had happened to him there. The look in her eyes… he had fled before she could ask him anything, back to the party he was having Tommy plan at the house.

Oliver walked around the main room, making sure he was very visible as Diggle prepared to head out in the Hood’s suit. While he didn’t exactly enjoy himself in this type of crowd anymore, he didn’t truly tense up until he noticed something.

Outside the glass doors to the patio, someone was watching.

The strobe lights from the party illuminated her for a moment — he thought it was a her, though he couldn’t make out her face beneath the dark shawl she wore over her head and wrapped around her shoulders. The patio went dark and then light again, and in that time she had turned her back as she dropped something in one of the potted plants.

Oliver sucked around people as he made his way to the patio and the far edge, but he could make out no one in the darkness of the grounds. None of the attendees seemed to have noticed anything, either, thought that likely was due to their inebriated states.

He went back to the plant and pulled out what she had left behind.

It was a manila envelope with a note scrawled on one side in almost exaggeratedly bad handwriting.

For the Hood, if you know him.

Oliver’s heart thudded in his chest. This woman had clearly decided to believe Lance, or at least believed he had some role in the Hood’s appearance in Starling.

Did he open it? Ignore it to avoid proving this woman’s suspicions? But then, what did she want?

Oliver took the envelope back to his room and opened it, spilling the contents onto his desk. Pictures printed on computer paper. Typed notes. It was rudimentary and low-budget, but he was looking at a dossier. A dossier on Nudocerdo, the Starling City Police Commissioner. From the looks of it, he was in far too many pockets to be doing anything good for the public.

Take him down without death and I’ll tell you everything, was written at the bottom of the final page.

Now he was truly at a crossroads. If he acted, this woman would clearly know he at the very least had a connection to the Hood. But just what was “everything”?

Oliver found himself attacked by a hitman before he could ponder that much further, and only the intervention of Detective Lance saved his life and his identity from being exposed, as much as the detective looked like he might be happy to shoot Oliver as well. Long after the party had been cleared out and his family had gone to sleep secure in the knowledge that he wasn’t a vigilante was Oliver able to discuss with Diggle the woman who seemed to think he might still be the vigilante.

“I think you were visited by the Maid.”

Oliver’s face scrunched up. “The who?”

Digg shrugged. “She showed up a couple weeks back. Folks in the Glades say they’ve spotted her trailing gangbangers and cops alike. And the rumor is she’s had to fight her way out of a situation or two. That’s part of what made me realize I needed to join this fight,” Diggle told him. Folks are getting restless, desperate. You’ve shown them a new way, and they just might take it.”

Oliver frowned. He hadn’t been trying to show anyone a new way. This was just the most effective way for him to complete his father’s mission. “Why ‘the Maid’?”

“You said she was wearing that shawl over her head? Hoodette didn’t catch on, so people started looking to your namesake: Robin Hood.”

It hit him a moment later. “Maid Marian.” His uneasiness grew. Oliver knew, of course, that the whole point of what he’d just done was that the Hood and Oliver Queen were separate identities. But he didn’t like the idea of being associated, and romantically at that, with another woman. Not when he was meant to be proving himself to Laurel. If she could only know.

Unless she did? Why exactly had she wanted to know how the Hood chose his targets and what happened to them? What had she meant by not having everything she needed yet? Was she gathering information? And if she was…

It was a theory. The same kind of theory that this woman was working off of regarding his own identity, but if he was right it changed everything.

If he was right, he needed to know what Laurel knew. And he had a feeling he’d only find that out once Nudocerdo was out of the picture.

---

Once again, he found himself at the bar and, once again, he found his tab was already covered. He wasn’t drinking anything strong, though. Not tonight. Not when he’d screwed up bad enough.

He’d been so sure it was Queen. Locking up the Hood would’ve helped smooth over the ruffled feathers caused by the vigilante’s interference in Hunt and Sommer’s operations. Would’ve made his job a heck of a lot easier. And would’ve gotten the bastard far and away from his daughter.

When he’d been sure of the archer’s identity, it had all made sense. Queen returned from that island and thought he could slide back into Laurel’s good graces by putting his thumb on the scales of justice, so to speak. That was clearly why Hunt and Sommers had been attacked coincidentally as Laurel was mounting cases against them, and she had been picked out of all the lawyers in the city to help him clear Peter Declan’s name. Only now, it apparently was a coincidence, and he didn’t know anything anymore.

The Hood needed to be caught. No matter what good other people thought he was doing, he was a menace that needed to be off the streets the same as any thug. Just because he was stealing money and giving it away didn’t make him better than the likes of a kid jacking a car for a joyride. It made him worse, because he was causing unrest with the criminal elements who, like it or not, were woven into the very fabric of Starling. Had been for longer than Quentin had wanted to admit before he’d finally given in.

A man in a fine suit took the barstool next to him. “Evening, Detective.”

Quentin blew out a breath. He was not in the mood for another deal right now, not when he was still on shaky ground with the Triad. “So, which boss do you work for?”

The man pursed his lips. “Hardly. My name is Carl Ballard.”

Ballard? One of the big-wigs? Quentin sat up a little straighter.

“What’s a guy with all the money and success in the world doing in a hole-in-the-wall like this?”

“I’m here on business. I assume you haven’t heard since you’re clearly off duty at the moment, but reports have come in that Commissioner Nudocerdo has been attacked in his home by the Hood.”

“That son of a bitch,” Quentin swore. It wasn’t enough that the guy had to prove his Queen theory wrong tonight, but he had to go after the police department?

“I agree,” Ballard said lightly. “And so do some associates of mine who were fond of Nudocerdo. Given his imminent fall from grace, we want to see that things keep running smoothly. That’s why I’m letting you know you have the full backing of Tempest to fill the position of Commissioner.”

He reeled back a little in shock. “Commissioner? Me?” His eyes narrowed. “Just what is Tempest?”

“A group of like-minded individuals who want the best for our families and our city, like yourself,” Ballard told him. “We all feel you would be the best candidate in these uncertain times. Your commitment to catching the vigilante is unmatched, and you understand the way this city works.”

He knew what that last part meant underneath. Business as usual. It was hardly what he would have envisioned all those years ago as a beat cop with his head full of ideas about changing things for the better. He’d forgotten about that dream a long time ago.

“Say I accept. What’s in it for me?”

“A number of powerful allies. More if you prove effective.”

“Effective at what?”

“Tempest wants to find out the source of the Hood’s information. What he’s basing his crusade off of and how he obtained it. These are things you have to be wondering, too.”

He had, and he’d thought for a worrying moment that it might be Laurel. For the first time tonight, he was glad he’d been wrong about his assumptions on Queen.

“I’ve been in the Glades recently working on a gentrification project, and my security tells me they’ve heard rumors of a spy. A woman. They’re calling her his Maid Marian. We’d like you to start there, tracking down this young Maid.”

An informant for the Hood? That was something solid, something real at last. What did he have to lose?

“I’ll get on it — or, guess I’ll put my best men on it, since your people want me in the Commissioner’s chair so badly.” Quentin stuck out his hand for Carl Ballard to shake.

It wasn’t the worst deal he’d made.

[goddamnmuses-a]

Dan Watches: Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

I’ve done this for these Episodes so far:  Episode I Episode II Episode III Episode IV So here’s the one for Episode V:

Gotta love Remote probes. 

Star Wars has the best ships. 

Tauntuns make weird ass noises. 

How do those binocs work, they have one eye hole on the one side but when he looks through them it’s two.. magic.

Damn Luke you just got jumped. The force is with you, how’d you let that happen?

Engineer Chewie.. I approve. 

Was that a white C3PO

Okay so Han is leaving to pay off his bounty which is fair and Leia is like PFFT FUCK YOU! STAY! Alright lady, chill, maybe just let him go pay off his bounty and then ask him to come back when he has? 

Also lbh he’s only leaving because he’s a big sap and in love with Leia but she’s not giving any love his way. 

Han just covering C3PO′s mouth is glorious.

Also sometimes i question if its PO or P0 but im pretty sure it’s PO.

Tauntans are kinda cute. 

Why does it hang Luke? Like... what? 

Truly a scary yeti thing, i cant remember the name... Wampa?

Force pulling the lightsaber, iconic. 

First time a lightsabers been shown to cauterize the wound? I think? Maybe?

Chewie being upset about Han not coming back truly is the greatest sad moment. 

More focus should be on bro friendships than love interests. 

Ben doesnt even doubt for a second that Lukes gonna die. He’s just like “Luke, I know you’re cold but you’re gonna go to Degobah and you’re gonna meet Yoda and he’s gonna be a crazy little guy but its gonna be sweet.”

Also “The Jedi master who instructed me” makes it sound like Obiwan is Yoda’s padawan but i guess he’s just referring to how Yoda just instructs all the younglings and jedi and stuff. 

Why the fuck did that Tauntaun just die? 

Ew guts. 

Man these speeders bring me back to the games and taking down the walkers and nostalgia goodness. 

Good Job Rogue 2. The true hero of Star Wars. 

Cool Bacta tank.

Chewbacca looks good. Like the effects on how he looks for the time, impressive. 

Uh oh. I know this scene. 

Incest, it’s in all your favourite media, Game of thrones? Check. Star Wars? Check. Back to the Future? Pretty much check. 

Luke looks so happy he made out with his sister. 

Das one big boi ship. 

Darth vader doesnt even need to look at the camera to be intimidating. 

The fact they explain why they don’t just bombard Hoth is brilliant.

Luke still has that boner from kissing Leia. 

Man the cable scenes good stuff. 

Why dont the walkers just shoot at the generator instead of walking all the way over to it? 

It’s crazy how much of this film is Hoth. 

There goes the power generator.

Did C3PO just do a turn to camera?

Hoth has like 3 moons just casually no biggy. 

I like that R2 basically texts Luke. 

Asteroids never seem as deadly as people make them out to be. 

I kind of want Degobah to be one of the planets you go to in Fallen Order 2. More so for what cool lifeforms could be there and the cool enviroment than to actually see Yoda. 

Good thing R2 can swim. 

Leia asking to be let go of.. this whole things a bit.. yikes. 

Cool a Snake. 

YAY YODA

That Ration box looks interesting, you can actually buy it at Galaxies Edge which is insane.

Yoda is such a little shit. 

I keep doing this thing where i watch and then go “Oh shit I haven’t made a comment in a while” guess that just shows that its good. 

Holy shit that hologram dude just died. 

WHAT IS THY BIDDING MY MASTER. It’s a disaster skywalker we’re after! .. Anyone? Just me? okay. 

You know what if you didn’t get wtf that last this was.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4w7ChpuaM

“Was I any different when you taught me?” Well.. yeah yeah you were Obiwan. .. Unless we need a prequel to the prequels. 

He’s been training Jedi for 800 years? Does that check out? 

That bat thing is cursed. 

Mynocks can gtfo with their gaping anus mouth.

I think Yoda helps cause the vision in the cave. 

Casual Komodo Dragon. 

Bossk you sexy son of a gun. 

I played Star Wars Galaxies ages ago as a Trandoshan Jedi. 

Yo Mark Hamill is sexy. No homo. 

Do or Do not there is no try. Cool line.. not a very good lesson to teach kids. 

Yoda is the best. 

Being an Imperial is dangerous you never get fired, just killed. 

How did nobody notice the Falcon get there? 

I love that they just turned C3PO off. 

Also how come Han and Leia haven’t questioned whether Luke is okay or not at all. 

Lando could be a system if he wanted to be, don’t hold him back. 

Casual look into the future, shame no Jedi saw Order 66 coming. Well i’m sure some did but like.. not enough to do shit about it. 

Cloud City is pretty looking. 

Landos the best. 

Donald Glover was such good casting for young Lando. 

Not even other C3 units like C3PO

RIP C3PO

These Ugnauts are little shits. 

Okay I can accept a lot but how the fuck did Vader just block blaster fire with his hand, c’mon. 

Lando’s rude but tbf i get why he did it.

Un-RIP C3PO

How come he’s just in Chewie’s cell?  I know theres a comic where Vader recognises C3PO but.. why put his parts with Chewie? 

Torture in Star Wars is always electricity. 

Awwwh Han and Leia moment. I know. 

C3PO is actually the worst. 

Freezing in Carbonite is such a cool idea. 

I forgot they only freeze Han because they want to freeze Luke. 

How did Luke get onto Cloud City with no issue?

Lobots cool. 

Leia just stole Ackbar’s line!

I love that Jedi just seem to be able to feel the force and how strong people are with it I want a scene where a jedi is like “OH SHIT YOU GOTTA FUCK TON OF FORCE!”

Chewie. Let him go you eejit.

R2 just casually rolling around and bumps into them. 

Holy shit that Vader glide, majestic. 

WTF was that jump

Luke just knocked Vader down and i cant believe that. 

Why does this place look like the Death Star. 

Man Leia is hot. 

That surprise Darth Vader attack

We’re at the location of the reveal. 

Man Vaders not as good at fighting as any other Star Wars media makes him seem. 

The reveal! 

Fun fact: He doesn’t say “Luke, I am your father” 

Vader is just like “Oh ffs” when Luke falls. 

Anddd here we see that Leia also has the force. 

Man Luke looks like shit. 

I like that Vader actually cares about Luke and it’s shown. 

So that was a pretty good film, it’s not a complete story which is always bold for a sequel to do because you never 

[askdawnandvern]

Yuri: Well, first off I'd retire immediately, then I'd buy me a bunch o' classic motorcycles. One fer every day of the week and then some. Then I'd just spend my days cruisin' around the back country in Meowntana, just seein' the sights and drinkin' in the cool,crisp montain air.

Val: Now there's a guy after my own heart. Maybe I hooked up with the wrong wolf eh Kodi?

Kodi: I like motorcycles! I mean...I like trucks more but...I mean, hey, you can store my motorcycles on my trucks an-

Val: Relax Fluff, I'm just kidding.

Ada: Bedda be. Dis mammal here is mine! Got dat fox goil? And where am I in all dis ya mook?

Yuri: You'll be ridin' with me babe. You'll be my biker bi-er...gal.

Ada: Keep talkin'...

Yuri: Just you and me, cruisin' through the back hills, wind in our fur...it'll be perfect.

Ada: Heh, I like da sound a dat actually.

Dawn: I honestly don't know what I'd want to do if we won the lottery.

Vernon: Me neither...I mean, I don't exactly want to up and quit my job. And movin' anywhere outta city would make it that much harder to do my job.

Dawn: We could always move to a fancier place in Downtown Savannah Central then we already have now, but I mean...it seems kind of pointless to use it for that.

Vernon: Dawn's book money keeps us purty comfy, and keeps the pups well cared fer. Not spoilt o' course....but eh...well enough off. Anythin' else I can think of just feels like an exercise in pointless excess...

Dawn: Oh! I've got it! A vacation home in Scottram! And maybe another in-oh...wait...

Vernon: Yeah, family is banned from Norwulff after the whole 'Ully' incident. Although with lotto winnin's burnin' a hole in our pocket we could probably persuade them to let us in.

Dawn: I just figured it might be nice for the kids to be able to get a regular dose of culture around their heritage. But the Norwulff thing would be a big issue.

Vernon: It's a good plan Honey Lamb. And hey, the kids could even relocate if they wanted when the got older. And hey, between the money and yer social status they'd be bound to let us into Norwulff someday.

Dawn: As long as we promised Ully would never visit.

Trenton: Yeah, way to go on that one Ully.

Ulric: Hey! I made history! I'm going to be remembered for what I revealed to the world! And if I had those lotto winnings I'd take those bastards to court for wrongfully expelling me from their country!

Dorian: Y'all are lucky I was able to talk them outta jailin' y'all fer two decades over their desecration laws! The gods know they wouldn't have been as merciful to y'all if it had been in Scottram!

Audrey: Lottery winnin's fer us wouldn't change much. I'd still be farmin', and we'd still live here.

Dorian: I'd retire right now if we won, and put in a good word fer either Zach er Vanna to take my spot, dependin' on what y'all wanted to do.

Zach: I mean, I guess I'd be fine either way. I think most of the folks in the North Meadowlands want me to take up the reins when y'all retire...but Vanna might be a better sheriff than me.

Vanna: Goofball stop, you don't mean that...

Zach: Course I do! I'd say between the two of us yer way better at stickin' to procedure. I'd just mess things up.

Audrey: Well regardless of what y'all decide, you wouldn't have to worry about yer property. If we had that money I'd probably have a house built fer all of y'all, with enough space to have yer privacy and then some. That way y'all would always have a place to stay fer extended visits, or if y'all ever wanted to move back to the Meadowlands.

Vernon: That's sweet Ma.

Xavier: I think I'd go ahead and form my own practice, and help Mally expand his business.

Malcolm: Like I need a chain? Pft...I'm fine where I'm at. If my place was any bigger it would loose that personable charm it has. I wouldn't know all my customers, and be able to handle customer service stuff personally, which despite the occaisinal' headache I love to do.

Xavier: Well then, a fancier apartment. Perhaps a penthouse suite with a nice view of the bay.

Malcolm: Now that I wouldn't say no too...

Trenton: I'd quite bein' a patroller and probably move somewhere colder. Maybe get myself a nice, big cabin in Vanhoover, or even Alceska. Spend most of my days snowboardin'.

Qali: And what about me?

Trenton: Yer comin' with me o' course. What, y'all think I was gonna leave my little snowball behind?

Qali: But I can't leave my family's farm...I'm the only one of my sisters who actually wants to take up the family buisness! If I leave, Dad would probably have to close it!

Trenton: Alright fine, So it'll be an offseason vacation home then. That way I can get my snowboardin' in offseason....and never have to endure another Tri-burrow summer...

Qali: Ugh....yeah....I could do without that myself!

Wade: I'd stay in Zootopia, but I'd quit the ZPD. Probably start collecting killer snowmobiles and taking them on all the back mountain trails in Tundratown. Oh, I'd also have a custom house build that could actually accommodate someone of Giselle's size so she didn't have to live with her neck almost constantly bent at a 90 degree angle.

Giselle: Oh thank you luv', that would be a gift from the gods!

Kodi: I'd miss having her as a neighbor though...and that little trap door in the floor wouldn't have any use if she left!

Giselle: Oh you know I'd still come visit you and connah', I'd just have to get my whole body in your house instead of just me neck.

[ainarosewood]

Prompt 10 Foster  Heritage

@sea-wolf-coast-to-coast

Rhonar wiped his brow as he paused in forking another bale of straw into the chocobo pen.  Silver kwehed her thanks to him and began adjusting the straw in her nest meticulously.

“Well looks like she’ s gonna be nice n comfy when she gets around to laying that egg o hers.” a gravelly voice said from behind him.

The young Hrothgar turned to the voice nodding at the elder hyur that it belonged to.

“That’s the last o yer chores aient it Rhonar?” the old man asked.

“Aye da, its Belar’s turn to water em and Rina should have the greens for em any moment.” 

The old man nodded then and said, “Then saddle up Softfeather n Axebeak.  Thers somethin  I want to show ye.  Something its bout time ye see.”

Rhonar did as he was bade curiosity burning. He had lived almost his whole lofe on this small chocobo ranch and aside from the birds they really did have anything special.  So what could his father possibly need to show him.

A short while later both he and his father were astride the two chocobo he’d readied and riding through the wintery forest surrounding the ranch.  They rode in silence for a while the brisk breeze and a few winter animals their only company.  

Suddenly his fathers voice broke the silence, “I think you figured out long ago that I didn't sire ye right?”

“Aye, its never mattered if that's what your worried about I know you've always loved me as much as you did Belar and Rina.  Didn't matter that I wasn't your own flesh and blood,” Rhunar said reassuringly

The old hyur took a breath then said, “Course it didn't yer ma and I took ye in an ye were our kith no matter what anyone else wanted to say.”

Rhunar just nodded he well knew his adoptive parents had gotten no end of grief and jeers at raising a ‘beastman’ like him.  They along with his brother and sister had vehemently defended him over and over.

“The damn villagers forget all too easily what they owe some folks sometimes.” he father added, “Were here son dismount.”

Rhunar dismounted from the chocobo looking at where they had arrived it was a little ways up the mountain right before one of the main paths that led through.  Off to one side were two mounds of earth buried beneath a fine layer of snow.  Between the wall of the pass and the mounds were two stone pile cairns rimed with ice.

“Here lies Lornar and Rina Ovasch.  Yer birth father n mother.  They died here protectin the villiage from the Zagnohl.  It was a fearsome beast that was killing folks left n right for quite sometime.”  his father said

“They fought it?” Rhunar asked.

“Aye lad ye see they were a pair o adventures that had taken up residence in our village.  They did odd jobs here an there for folks sometimes traveling for a time fore returning.  They were well loved n respected by folks cause they helped everyone they could.”  The old man closed his eyes in grief for a moment before continuing, “Then the beast stalked out o the mountains killing everyone that ever came near this pass.  As ye know this is the main trade path that leads to the larger cities.”

Rhunar nodded knowing full well that often they had travelers looking for chocobo come though this very pass to go to their ranch.

His father then said, “Folks first tried to petition the Imperial Viceroy to send some aid. But all o their petitions were ignored our village just wasn't important enough.”  He paused a moment looking at the carins then continued, “Suffice to say this did not sit well with either o them but they weren't about to just go right away.  Ye were about three summers old n they didn't wanna take a child with em to deal with that dangerous o a beast.”

“That’s when you n ma?”

The old man nodded, “We offered to let you stay with us so they could hunt down the Zagnohl and put an end to its rein o terror since the on highs couldn't be bothered.”

He closed his eyes then said sadly, “Bout a week after they left a traveler came through and informed everyone they’d succeeded in slayin the beast but had paid for the deed with their lives.  He had buried them feeling it wasn't right to just leave em and brought back what little they’d had with em.”

He gave the Hrothgar a smile then, “So yer ma an I found ourselves with a young cub to raise and not much knowledge as te how to.  Thankfully yer birth mother, Rina had been a bit o a historian o sorts n she had volumes written bout the traditions o the Lost, that's yer clan lad, in their house in the village.  Yer father had plenty o journals bout their journeys too so we didn't want for knowing bout them.”

“Da why are you....”

The old man’s smile broadened, “Yer restless son.  I’ve been seein it.  Don't get me wrong I know ye love the birds and ye work hard. But I know its not what ye want.”

“I...I don't know what I want to be honest,”

The old man nodded solemnly, “I’ve noticed that too lad.  Truth is I know I’m not gonna be around much longer.  Yer ma has already taken her journey to the lifestream n I wont be long te follow.”

Rhunar looked alarmed his sea green eyes filled with worry was there something his father hadn't been telling them.

The old man gave the Hrothgar a smile, “I aient dyin yet boy! so calm down. Its just accepting my mortality.  Now why I bring it up is you n yer siblings are gonna hafta figure out what ye wanna do with yer life.”

He walked over an placed a hand on Rhunar’s shoulder, “Now ranch life will prolly be more n enough for yer brother n sister so I got no fear that the birds aren't gonna ‘ave anybody. But you, “ he gave him another big smile, “yer itching for something more n I want ye to figure out what that is.  Figured ye cant do that without knowing where ye came from.”

“Da I....”

“Its alright lad, I want ye to know one very important thing.  The thing it seems everyone in the village wants to forget.  The man and woman that lay ‘neath those cairns were brave and kind folk.  The kind that ‘elped their fellow man no matter what.  Ye are cut from the same cloth I’ve seen it time an again.”

Rhunar felt his cheeks warm with embarrassment he knew his father had referred to some of the times he’d helped the people of the village even when they hadn't asked for it.

The old man stretched grimacing as his joints protested both the weather and the movement. “Lets get back to the ranch now lad. Yer mother n fathers effects are in the basement take some time n look through em.  Get to know where ye came from.  Then ye can figure out were ye wanna go from there.”

He then remounted Axebeak and waited for Rhonar to get astride Softfeather.  As he did and they began to return home the old man finished, “Know no matter what path ye choose Rhunar you’ll always be my son n I will always be proud o ye.”

Rhunar nodded in response his throat so tight he dare not trust his voice his cheeks blazing.  It didn't take them long to get back to the ranch and the Hrothgar made his way to the basement and brought up the books his father had spoken of along with a worn lance.  He then sat at the table and began reading them eager to learn of his past for from there maybe he could figure out his future

[dailyaudiobible]

05/28/2019 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 13:1-39, John 17:1-26, Psalms 119:81-96, Proverbs 16:6-7

Today is the 28th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today as we take the next step forward, settle into this week. Yesterday in the book of second Samuel, we read of Nathan, the prophet's confrontation of David for the matter of Uriah the Hittite having him killed and taking his wife Bathsheba to be his own wife. And we mentioned yesterday that this is the turning points in David's family. It's like he's lost respect at this point and we’ll begin to see things spiral for David as we begin to move forward. So, we’re reading from the New International Version this week. Today, second Samuel chapter 13.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we can see a clear distinction between life before Bathsheba and life after Bathsheba in David's story before David took Bathsheba and her husband killed. And, so, in today's reading from second Samuel some pretty terrible things happen in David's personal life, things that no one, like no father would ever want to experience. His daughter, Tamar was raped by her brother Amnon. Amnon was then killed by his brother, Absalom, in revenge. Absalom was then exiled in Geshur for three years. And this is fascinating. Absalom's mother was the daughter of the King of Geshur, which is in the north on the Sea of Galilee. It would later be known as Bethsaida, which is a city that some of the disciples of Jesus made as…called home and that Jesus did ministry in Bethsaida. So, we covered some ground, several years in today's reading. And Absalom had been staying in Geshur and Amnon, of course, lost his life for raping his sister. And, so, after several years, David began to long to see his son Absalom again. And that's where we leave the story. He will see Absalom again but things…things are not well between them and we will carry on with that story tomorrow.

And then in John's Gospel, I mean, we’re nearing the end of the Gospels and where we’re situated now is the Jesus is having the last conversation with his friends at his Last Supper and we concluded this conversation today with a prayer. Jesus prayed a prayer over his friends, and it's one of the most heartfelt prayers in the Bible and one of the most engaging things Jesus ever said. “This is the way to have eternal life”, Jesus said, “to know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” It's just simple. The way to eternal life is to know God, not to know about God, not to gather more information about God, not to get more the theology, not to get more doctrine, not to do more things on behalf of God, but to know God. The study of God and work for God, these are important, this is what we engage in everyday, it's a natural outpouring of a life with God, but it's not the other way around, right? Like, all of our activity for God isn't necessarily making us closer to God. We actually draw near to God and all this activity is a byproduct. So, fundamentally, foundational, like bedrock in our faith, we must understand that knowing God in an intimate relationship and friendship is our primary purpose on the earth and leads us into eternal life. And then Jesus as he’s praying, and this prayer is known as His high priestly prayer, he says, “I'm not asking you to take them out of the world. I'm asking you to keep them safe from the evil one”. So, Jesus prayer wasn't to ask the Father to remove his friends from planet Earth but instead to send them into the world armed with the truth of God's word and the Spirit of truth within. And notice what Jesus said, “just as you sent me into the world I am sending them into the world.” Think about it. According to Jesus we are commissioned and sent into the world in the same way Jesus was. So, don't listen to that…or don't go back and reread that and diminish that as a metaphor for something that's lesser than it really is. We are sent into the world as the Father sent Jesus. So, are we living from that place? Do our lives reflect that reality? And unless we think that this high priestly prayer is something that Jesus prayed over his disciples, and so that was like that put them in a different place and they have a different status and they got a commissioning and they got like a better version of the Holy Spirit than we can ever have, we just have to listen to Jesus, His own words. “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in Me through their message.” Jesus was praying for you. He was praying for me. We are them. And here's what Jesus prayed over us. “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one as you are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in Us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory You gave Me, so they may be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” I mean, are we getting what…this is our Savior here speaking…like are we getting what he is saying because we subtly diminish the reality that Jesus is praying for all of the time. Most the time we look at this prayer for unity among us, like this is a prayer of unity, and it is. This isn't just about getting along and playing nice together, this is about union. Jesus gave us the glory given to Him by the Father. That is mind boggling, but it was for a reason so that we could have union with God through Jesus. This is how Jesus said it, “as you are in Me, Father, and I am in You, I am in them and you are in me”. This is what being intertwined looks like. This is what union with God looks like. This is what collaboration and friendship and relationship looks like. This is what a relationship with God looks like, and it leads to eternal life. So, I mean, we’ve been examining what Jesus had to say at the Last Supper from the Gospel of John in depth over these last couple of days because this is the last time we’re gonna cover this territory and because it covers some of the most iconic verses in the Bible. After this, as we’ll see as we go forward in this week, Jesus will go to the garden of Gethsemane, He will be arrested, and we know how that story goes. So, this isn’t a bad time to, maybe on your own time, just go back and read John 13 through 17, reread this…all that Jesus has to say to His friends before He goes into His time of suffering in its entirety because the implications of what Jesus is saying here should irreversibly change us from the inside out. Like we should never look at the world the same again. It's that big of a deal in our faith. And we should also consider the gravity of this conversation. This was the last time Jesus could have an intimate quiet conversation among friends. This is what He chose to say with the last moments of freedom He would experience. And what He had to say changed everything for them and we are included in it and it should change everything for us.

Prayer:

Jesus we take these things to heart, that You are in the Father and the Father is in You and the same is true for us because You are within us, that we are commissioned to go do what You did, to be Your hands and feet in this world, to be Your body in this world, to be operating in this world as You did, one body multiplied over and over and over encompassing this world becoming the body Christ. Allow us to get the eyes and the ears of the kingdom on this and begin to allow it to settle inside of us, who we really are and why we are really here. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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And that is it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey guys, this is Amy from Arkansas. I was just listening to some of you…to some of your prayer requests coming in and so many people are…the enemy has and with depression and anxiety and loneliness. And, you know, we just can’t let him win. We just gotta stand up and do what he wants us to do. I’ve been there before and the other day I was talking to somebody about credit card or something __ and I said, “I just want to tell you the Lord loves you so much and has great plans for you.” And they said thank you and hung up and then a few minutes later my phone call...my phone rang and I answered it and they said, mam did you say that to me…da…da…da” And I said, “yes.” And she said, “I had to go to the bathroom you just don’t know what that did. I was praying last night and you answered…oh my goodness. Ahhh!!!” She was so happy. And that me maybe probably feel better than her. I mean, it does your heart so good when you minister to others and help them realize __ the Lord. So, I just want to encourage you all to go out and pray for people and tell them how much the Lord loves them. Sometimes you get a word and sometimes you’ll get a prophetic word, which would be awesome. And that will bless so many. And I just pray, there’s so many people hurting and that there’s so many people. And I just want to know…want you to know how much…how important you are and how much I am praying for you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family, this is Homeward Bound, God bless you all, God bless you all so much for your prayers and for your requests and for how the Spirit of the Lord moves through all of our combined prayer. It’s just glorious. I would like to ask prayer for my daughter-in-law. On Mother’s Day it came and announced they were pregnant. They’ve been waiting for five years to have a baby and the news was just so overwhelming, it was such a once-in-a-lifetime celebration. The next day when they went to the doctor they found out the baby wasn’t getting blood flow and a week later the doctor said the baby had died. Anyway, they’re doing pretty good, the Lord is giving them strength, but she’s still carrying the deity and hasn’t miscarried it yet. It’s been two weeks and the doctors waiting for that to happen. So, could you please pray for my daughter-in-law. She’s still working full time and we live in…we all live together and we all move in two weeks. And nothing, she’s having no signs of miscarrying. Thank you for praying for her. I know it’s an emotional time and physical time for her as well. Thank you so much for your prayers. I know the Lord will work it all out for good. And with your prayers, I know that His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God bless you all. This is Homeward Bound. Thank you. Bye.

Good morning my Daily Audio Bible family, my name is Isaiah, I’m from New Jersey and I’ve been listening for a few years now, called a few times, but I’m just calling in reference to the woman that called in on Sunday, March…I’m sorry…May 26th about her grandchild that was born premature. And I just wanna let you know that I was born premature. I was born a few months early and I also was 2 lbs. 2 oz. having been my mother’s first child. So, I want you to know that we serve a God who works miracles. And I am 36 years old. I am very healthy. I live a great life. God has definitely blessed me. So, I want you to know that I am a testament of, you know, that you being born premature and, you know, just the prayers of the saints and of my parents and just declaring the scripture over me that I shall live and not die and I shall declare the works of the Lord and that is exactly what I am doing. So, right now Lord I just pray for her grandchild Lord, that You have brought her grandchild into this world for a reason, for a purpose Father God. And we know that the grandchild has a great destiny to be fulfilled Lord. And I pray that You just bless the mother, bless the Father, bless the family Lord in knowing that the child’s life will come to pass and will come to fruition. But we thank You for the life Father God, for the pro-life Father God. We thank You for giving her this child Lord. And Lord, we offer the child up to You Father God with thanksgiving and with praise. And we love You and we thank You and we praise You. Be blessed Daily Audio Bible family. I love you guys. I continue to listen and pray, to intercede on your behalf and have a blessed Sunday. Take care. Bye-bye.

Rising up early seeking your favor today is a very important day So I ask you my father to strengthen my hand and bless me as I go on my way I’m going to the lift you up father glorify your name and that the whole world know that I’m no longer is the same you’ve blessed me completely and even though I’m blind you’ve given me a new life with a totally made up mind a mind that wants to serve you and do only your will standing on your promises my calling fulfilled glorify me father strengthen my hand let the world know that I’m truly a man the message I bring is one of salvation an escape from the world with its vile degradation so many doctrines so many beliefs so much hatred so many griefs no one seems willing to seek a higher better way the insanity only escalates day after day help me my father to represent you well let your world know that I have a story to tell a story of mercy a story of grace a story where everybody everywhere has their own place open honest and seriously trying without grief and guile treachery and lying so help me today father to let my little light shine and also let the world know that it’s your light and not mine so I’m seeking your favor as I start my day please bless me my father as I go on my way

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Lee from New Jersey and Viola. Haven’t heard your voice lately. Know that you are in my prayers daily and I pray God’s blessings upon you continually. Once again Brian in the Hardin, family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. Oh also…

[jordmacwriting]

Oblivious-{d.j. x kelly!reader}

Author’s Note: here’s a little fic where Davey meets Jack’s little sister and is instantly like in love with her and Jack’s a bit protective at first, but then gives Davey his blessing and fluff and all that jazz...

Masterlist

Requested: no

Warnings: nothing

Word Count: 1950

(Y/N) Kelly, Jack Kelly’s infamous little sister. You had always wanted to be a newsie, to go sell papes and have fun with the boys Jack loved so much. Jack had always been really protective of you, and the strike had just ended, so it took a little bit of convincing….but here you were, about to start your first day.

The boys all knew about you-Jack was always proud of his kid sister, so when you showed up with him, the boys all surrounded you. You had already met Crutchie, as he was one of Jack’s best friends, and you had seen the boys around the city, just never connecting names with faces.

Crutchie introduced you to every single boy that was there, except for the boy staying out of the crowd. He was tall, much taller than Jack. He had dark hair and hazel eyes.

Crutchie noticed you staring at the boy.

“That’s Davey, go talk to him.” he said, nudging you with his crutch.

You walked up to Davey and held out your hand.

“Davey, it’s nice to meet you,” you grinned. “I’m (Y/N), but I know you knew that.”

“Nice to meet you (Y/N),” the brunette said, shaking your hand with a firm grip.

“Davey, will you be a pal, and be (Y/N)’s sellin’ partner for da day? Show her da ropes and such...I’d do it myself, but….” Jack’s voice drowned out.

“Of course Jack.”

You bought your papes and Davey showed you where he usually selled.

“I’m really surprised Jack wasn’t more protective of me...I’d expect him to keep me away from all da boys.” you told Davey.

“Well, I’d understand if he had asked Race or Romeo to be your selling partner. But I’m a good friend of your brother’s, he probably trusts me enough to make sure you’re safe, and not to flirt with you.”

The two of you sold until lunch, when you went to lunch with Les.

Davey was ordering while Les talked to you.

“I’m surprised Davey is so calm around ya (Y/N). He’s really….how do I put this kindly, he’s awkward around girls. He gets all red, and stutters a lot. Pretty funny if we’re bein’ honest.”

You laughed at Les’s comment as Davey returned with some food.

You finished the food and then continued to sell papes until late. Davey walked you to the lodge, where Jack said you could stay know that you were an officially selling papes.

“Thanks for walkin’ me back, Davey. Jack’ll be grateful that ya made sure I had no run ins with da Delancey’s.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Davey responded.

Under the faint light of the moon, you could see a light flush on his cheeks. Maybe that’s what Les was talking about.

You arrived at the lodge, and it was quiet. Davey said nothing, and quickly walked off, leaving you at the doorstep by yourself.

You decided to go up to Jack’s “penthouse” and to talk to him about Davey.

“Good evenin’ (Y/N). Have a good first day sellin’, doll?” Race said, taking your hand into his and pressing a kiss against your knuckles.

Romeo ran up and took the other hand and did the same.

“Racer! Elmer! Leave my sister alone.” Jack said, making the boys jump and leave you alone.

“Thanks Jack.” you stated sarcastically, walking over to Jack and lightly punching him in the arm.

The two of you went up to the rooftop, where Crutchie already was fast asleep.

“Jack, are Davey and ya good friends?” you asked.

“I’d say we are...why?” he asked suspiciously.

“I just...I think..”

“(Y/N), I know where this is going. Davey’s a great guy, but I’d prefer that if you got feelins for any of da boys in da group, not him. In fact, not any of da boys. Just stay away from boys. They’re awful.”

“Jack, you’re a boy….”

“I know and I’ve been livin’ with a lot of boys for a long time. I know how awful these boys can be. I just….I don’t want ya gettin’ hurt. Imagine how that’d be at work….I feel like that if any of these boys hurt you, I couldn’t be friends with them.”

“Jack, I won’t get hurt I promise…..but Davey, doesn’t seem like da kind of guy that is a heartbreaker.”

“Well, Davey’s a different form of heartbreaker. He can’t express his feelins that well...he gets really uncomfortable around girls, especially ones that he likes. I could tell that he liked you from da minute you walked up. His eyes lit up, (Y/N), I’ve never seen him like that. It’s obvious, he couldn’t even talk to you the first five minutes you were there.”

“Jack, you’re crazy. There’s no way that Davey likes me. He was so comfortable with me, and held some good conversations.”

“(Y/N), you’re da crazy one.”

As you tried to sleep, Jack’s words rang through your brain. There’s no way that Davey liked you….you’re just a girl, a normal girl...who’s older brother was very protective. And he really did hold the conversation well, not blushing and stuttering like Les said….

There’s no way Jack was right.

The next morning, Jack set off early to meet with Davey. You were fast asleep, and he didn’t want to wake you. The circulation bell could do that, or Crutchie.

He got dressed and walked over to the Jacobs, knocking on the door softly.

Davey opened the door, half awake.

“Jack, what are you doing here?”

“You like her don’t ya….don’t ya Davey?” Jack smirked.

“Who, Jack?” Davey started to turn pink.

“My kid sister, who do ya think? C’mon, you can tell me.”

“I…..I...Jack, please don’t hurt me.” Davey started to flinch, and looked down at his feet.

“Why would I hurt ya Davey? Ya just have to promise me one thing, don’t hurt her,” Jack welcomed himself in. “Davey, she’s so oblivious to ya. She definitely likes you.”

Davey looked up from his feet.

“She...you think she does?”

“I think. She asked me about ya last night. I personally told her, don’t go for it. Don’t go for any of da boys. I can’t have her getting hurt. Promise me...promise me Davey, if ya tell her that ya like her like that, that ya won’t hurt her. Promise me ya won’t let her get hurt. ‘Cause if she does, than I might just have to hurt ya.”

“I promise Jack. I would never do a thing to hurt her or to put her in harm’s way.”

Jack left the house and started towards back to the lodge, knowing by the time he’d make it there, you’d be mad that he left without a word.

Meanwhile, Davey smiled and thought of how today at work would be different, now that he had Jack’s blessing.

“Jack Kelly! Ya can’t just leave without a word like that. Ya know, da boys told me ya do that a lot. Just leave! Like when ya didn’t come visit me for days after da strike started! Ya can’t do that to people!” you yelled as you saw Jack walking towards the lodge.

“I’m sorry (Y/N)....” he said smirking. “To make up for it, I think you’ll like work today.”

“What did ya do? Do I even want to know?” you questioned.

“You’ll see.”

You walked with the boys and Jack to the paper stand, where Les and Davey stood waiting. The minute Davey saw you, his eyes lit up and he smiled ear to ear. Les looked up and started to say something, and immediately Davey covered his mouth and glared at the boy, causing you to snicker. All the boys noticed something, Davey liked you, and you liked Davey. As they all realized this, they got the same collective awe in their face, gasping a little bit one by one.

You however…..you were oblivious to everything and didn’t even notice all the boys reactions.

You bought your papes and waited for Davey to get his.

Les ran up to you with a toothy grin on his face.

“Davey said that he thinks you’re a doll.” he said, then ran back to Jack, who was selling with him.

You were confused and in awe, but smiled at Les’s joke.

“What’s got you smiling, (Y/N)?” Davey said as he approached you.

“Nothin’, just Les.” you replied.

You looked up at the tall brunette, who was wearing the same smile as before. His cheeks were pink and his eyes glittered a bit.

“Ah Les, always putting smiles on girls faces.” Davey said.

You smiled and walked with Davey to his selling spot, and worked for the rest of the day, yelling fake headlines like Jack had taught you. Jack had taught you the perfect way to sell papes, saying that Davey had too much integrity to fake a headline and lie to the people...and after meeting Davey, you had to agree.

Hours passed, and it was time to go back to the lodge. Davey said that he would walk you back again.

The walk back was quiet, but a different kind of quiet. Halfway through the stroll, you felt Davey started to move closer to you, slowly moving his hand towards yours, and finally, you felt his fingers intertwine with yours. You looked up at him, but could only make out his silhouette.

While this was a big deal to you, you believed it meant nothing to Davey. Maybe he wasn’t as quiet and awkward around girls as Les and Jack said. Maybe this was something that he did a lot.

You approached the lodge, and silently wished for more time with Davey. At the door, he stood, holding your hand in his.

The door opened and Elmer, JoJo, Race and Albert popped their heads out.

“We’ve been waitin’ all night for ya to come back with our darlin’ doll (Y/N). Ya treat her good, make sure no Delancey’s were after her?” Race questioned, getting in between you and Race.

“Yes Race, I made sure no Delancey’s were going after her.” Davey said, exasperated.

“Well then….ya gonna kiss her or what?” Elmer said.

In the dim light, Davey went red, and you couldn’t deny that you were equally as red.

“Are you that oblivious (Y/N)? C’mon Davey told likes ya.” JoJo said.

“And (Y/N) feels da same way ‘bout you Davey.” Albert said matter of factly.

By some miracle, Jack showed up, stopping the four boys from heckling you any longer.

“C’mon ya four, get outta here. Leave ‘em alone!” Jack said.

The four boys walked back into the lodge, and Jack closed the door, leaving you and Davey alone in the dark.

“Is...is that true Davey?” you said.

You looked up at him, not seeing him as well as you did when the door was open, but you could see him moving closer to you.

“Yeah...it is,” he replied. “Is...is it true...for you?”

“Yeah, it is.” you smirked.

He looked down at you, and you felt his hands on the small of your back. You stood on your toes, knowing that you’d have to make the move if you really wanted anything else to happen. Your face got closer to his, and pressed your lips on his, quickly pecking him, then opening the door and rushing in, closing it fast.

Jack was on the other side of the door, waiting for you to come back in. You leaned against the door and smiled.

“You chose a good one, (Y/N).”

tag// @ben-cook-can-cook @maiawakening @infinity-fandom-trash @broadwayandbookblog @and-a-snip

[pinktacofury]

She’s scary... maybe scarier than Gemma....

Hey guys and Gals, I haven’t been able to get anything out lately... freaking A dude the Creativity duck didnt work out too well... Here’s a SOA imagine.

Warnings- lots of language, violence, gore, blood, fluff maybe, detailed images. DOES NOT REALLY FOLLOW THE SHOW... ONLY PARTS.

Summary- Half Sacks twin sister is on lockdown at the club when Gemma, Tara and her brother take off to do some errands, never one for patience Azalea gets antsy pacing around the place, what happens when Jax and the others come back with news? Bad news? The delicate flower withers leaving a ball of rage and unpredictability.

A/n- I only own Azalea, I own none of the people, places, things and images in this imagine.

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

        Azalea was a sweet, delicate girl, much like the flower she had been named after. She like her twin Edward Epps, or Half Sack as the boys called him, was filled with a life giving light that filled the room she was in with endless joy no matter what had happened, the rest of the group needed that now as they were under lockdown in the club house. Tonight however since her brother had gone with Gemma and Tara with Abel she had been pacing non stop around the clubhouse nibbling her nails, biting her lip, running her fingers through her hair, anything to keep herself moving. Deep down inside her gut she had a feeling something was terribly wrong, her brother wouldn’t leave her this long without a phone call especially since he knew she was going to be worried about him the entire time. The door slammed open admitting the guys who looked glum, all eyes were on her as she looked over their heads hoping to see her brother following suit behind them..... he wasn’t there.

“Where’s Kippy? Where’s my brother?” She asked looking directly at Jax who she knew wouldn’t lie to her, he couldn’t look her in the eye, he couldn’t even lift his head, he looked defeated.

“Yer gonna wan’ tae be sittin’ down for this‘n lass.” Chibs murmured, his accent too thick, as he gently pressed on her shoulder leading her to sit at the bar where he knelt down infront of her taking her hands into his.

“Where is my brother?” She demanded as she tried to get back up from the seat only to have Tig move over and place his hand on her shoulder gently to hold her in place.

“He’s gon’ Lass, Yer’ brother got attacked, Cameron took Abel an’ tied up Tara in tae nursery.... He died protectin’ them....” Chibs watched as the emotion drained from Azalea’s face, she went completely blank before she reached down patting the older man on the shoulder murmuring a thank you before she walked out the club house door.... the guys didn’t know what to do until they heard the roar of Chibs’ bike coming to life and peeling out of the parking lot, Azalea had stolen his keys.

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

      Jax spent every waking hour looking for Azalea after she had stolen Chibs’ bike, the older man didn’t hold it against her of course, how could he? The girl had just lost her twin, Jax was beyond worried especially when he had gone to her house and found it utterly destroyed, her guns were gone, all of her ammo as well... the girl was carrying around an arsenal and a broken heart, the guns cut out the chance of her taking a plane and a call to Clay confirmed she had an in with the Irish that could get her on a ship to Scotland before night fall, she had been around gangs all her life... she knew what she was doing but that didn’t make it any easier. By the time Jax was able to get a ride out of the country she was long gone, confirmed by the shook up Irishman left behind at the docks.

“Clay I’m on her tail, a few hours behind her. She’s gone on her own to get her revenge... She’s lost it man.” Jax murmured into the phone as he stared over the side of the ship.

“She’s lost her twin Jax, she’s not going to just lie down and take that kind of hit with ease.” Clay stated sounding like he had resigned himself to the fact that the girl was likely as good as dead.

“I’ll bring her and Abel back... Alive.” He promised before hanging up the phone and trying to call her cell again.

“City Morgue! Psych! Leave me a message!” Her voice mail chimed at him and he would have chuckled if he wasn’t so damned worried.

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

        “I’m going to give you to the count of three to give me the kid or I’ll shoot you in the face, Ready?” She asked with a sadistic smile playing across her delicate shell pink lips.

“One.” She grinned a little as the man shook his head vehemently shooting her a glare as she raised the gun a little further from her side like the arm of a clock.

“Two.” She stated in a sing song tone lifting the gun once more a little higher now pointing it at his chest, the man continued to shake his head though he looked like he was ready to give up.

“Three.” She chirped lifting the gun to his head and pulling the trigger sending his brains splattering all over her and the wall behind the man, the blood dripped off of her in sticky rivers but she didn’t care. 

     Azalea had nothing left to lose, nothing left to live for and therefor one of the most dangerous creatures in the world, making her way through the gang was easy but she didn’t expect her mark to be sitting in his office.

“Well lookie here! I find the big fat rat that easy? What luck!” She laughed as she stalked into the room covered in the various blood types and grey matter from the gang members she had run into.

“And who da’ hell are’ yoo” The man asked as he rose from the desk his hand going for the gun in the back of his pants, a shot rang out seconds before his arm dropped to his side useless, blood springing to life from the material of his suit covering the ball joint of his shoulder.

“Listen here you stupid son of a bitch because there are three very important mistakes you made. First, you killed my twin. Second, you left me alive. Third and likely most important of all, you took something important from me.” He went for the gun again with his working hand only to cry out in pain as she shot through his shoulder again leaving him with two useless arms, the man screamed bloody murder but Azalea didn’t have the time for that right now.

“Yoo fyking cunt....” The man growled between clenched teeth and pained gasps for breath as she stalked closer to him, a feral look crossing her face as she pressed the gun to his stomach pulling the trigger twice, the sound vaguely muffled by the man’s flesh.

“I didn’t bring a knife Cammy dear, I really hope the gun is a good substitute... now we are going to have a nice little chat while you bleed out, it may take a bit, after all I am pretty sure I missed anything vital.” She shoved him into the chair behind the desk and perched on the edge of the dark wood, a small smile playing on her lips as she batted her long dark lashes at him.

       Azalea made her way back to the docks carrying a little black box, her heart hurt, her soul deteriorated the more she realized she was going home to nothing, her beloved brother, the last of her family was gone and she was alone... Completely and utterly alone for the first time in her life. She was met with confused looks from the crew that had brought her in as she walked onto their ship drenched in blood and in a dark mood with a black duffel bag over her shoulder shouting orders at the captain to take her home... the captain jumped a little and ordered the men to obey, she didn’t however see Jax hopping off the ship next to her and ripping off into the city as fast as his legs would carry him.

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

“I couldn’t find them anywhere Clay.... Cameron is very, very dead and it looks like ninety percent of his gang too... She’s gone and so is Abel, they were both there.” Jax stated as he walked with the man into the Teller Morrow parking lot, Gemma ran out to them running her hand over her face.

“You’re going to want to see this boys.” She stated as she took their hands and lead them back towards the clubhouse, as the door opened Jax ran to the bar where a very angry Azalea.... still drenched in dried blood..... sat fiddling with an equally bloody knife, Jax had been gone for months, Clay hadn’t seen Azalea since she left to kill Cameron and it looked like Azalea hadn’t cleaned up in any of that time.

“Zal.....Zal, sweetheart look at me.” Jax murmured as he stepped closer to the tiny (Rather terrifying) woman, she didn’t look up.

“He wasn’t there Jax, Abel wasn’t there.” She let her head fall forward as she slouched on the bar stool, Jax wrapped his arm around her shoulder while the other went behind her knees lifting her to his chest.

“Let’s get you cleaned up Zal, get you clean, fed and in bed.... we can talk or whatever when you wake up.” He stated getting a blank stare as he lead her to his dorm and into the bathroom, he ran the water in the bathtub and helped her out of her clothes. This was maybe the first time in his long time knowing her that he wasn’t checking her out.

       Jax had to rerun the water several times in order for it to stay clean, the amount of blood on her body perfectly matched the amount of head shots he had seen in Cameron’s gang... she had massacred every single member in the building taking the body count to thirteen including Cameron himself, the guys were no doubt talking about her as he gently ran the rag over her skin, he lathered her hair with her favorite shampoo, rinsed then massaged her conditioner to her scalp letting it soak in as he shaved her legs for her.

“What do I do J?” She murmured as she looked up at him for the first time since he had put her in the bath water, she had been almost comatose the entire time.

“All you can do is keep going, Half Sack wouldn’t want you to give up living just because he’s gone, stay with the club, help us out and we will help you keep going. We all will.” He stated looking down into her eyes, his heart breaking at the helpless, hopeless, broken look in their ocean blue depths.

      A few weeks later Jax sat with Azalea, who had started talking again, making flower crowns like she and Half Sack had done at the bar for hours laughing and talking only she barely gave him a hint of a smile as he successfully made his first flower crown, out of fake flowers bought at walmart by Clay and the guys who had gotten a ton of every flower there. 

“Azalea, I would like you to come to Church with us in about ten minutes.” Clay stated giving her a soft smile despite his gruff tone, Azalea followed Jax who placed his flower crown on her head murmuring that she didn’t look like herself without a crown.

“Now the boys and I have been talking, we think it’s time the Sons finally had a daughter. If you accept the Patch, you’ll get your brothers Kutte and you’ll get your own, considering you are the first daughter we will skip the prospect year. What do you have to say?” Clay asked tilting his head and steepling his fingers under his chin as he looked at her.

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

      It had been years since her brothers murder, she now wore her Kutte over her backless wedding dress, she wore the Teller Crow proudly across her collarbone, her sons Abel and Edward Kip Teller smiled happily up at their parents as they kissed after whispering ‘I do’ and atop her head she wore a delicate flower crown made with love by her brother’s own hands with the promise that he would hand her off at her wedding. He wasn’t there but this was almost as good, life was good.