#they never do remember how they arrived in the metro

[worldsewage]

"much to Valentine’s dismay." oohhg can I know more...I got a bowl of rice to offer

Valentine is an Octarian elite who has no interest in abandoning her role as such, she is undyingly loyal to the Octarian Army and excelled in military school and was placed in a school designed for elites, she was constructing weapons for as long as she can remember and has ZERO thoughts of ever abandoning the domes. She has made something of herself here and she has issues with communication and comes off blunt and aggressive at times so she struggles keeping/making friends, so the approval of her superiors and the trust the army puts in her is a love good enough for her.

Until Satua, at least.

Valentine, also, has no idea how they found themself in the metro, she woke up with a sense of urgency and a few strange blank memories that made her piece together— with Craig telling her he needs help— that she (probably) needs to act, and help the people around her in order to save something. She has no idea what, and has a building frustration inside her that she can’t name. She thinks she’s doing something bigger than herself. She acts, for a moment, as a hero— an agent 8 in the metro, she plays into this role and feels angry and needed and vital, then more of her memories come back and she gets hit with the Guilt… feeling like a bystander who is trapped inside their own body, watching themselves do and say things they can’t control as her memories idly return, clueing her into the person she is, or was.

[arina24]

Winters with Winter

Aespa Winter x M Reader

3.6k words

Tags: SMUT, some fluff, blowjob, missionary, virgin

There was a nip in the air. Winter's arrival was faster than expected. You realized this was going to be yet another winter you were going to spend being a little more lonely than you wished. It wasn't all too bad. Winters weren't completely horrible. The opportunity to snuggle with a hot cup of coffee or chocolate was comforting. You just wished you were snuggling with someone, that's all.

It was yet another chilly morning as you made your way to work. That particular morning, winter had carried with her some generous showers, and fortunately you didn't forget your umbrella that day. In fact, you had two. You forgot an umbrella the previous day and bought an extra one from the store, and now you just travel with 2 umbrellas, because why not.

As you got off from the metro train, you fidgeted with the tight button, trying to open it, before a young woman catches your eye. She was maybe a couple years younger than you, it was hard to tell her age with how strikingly cute she was. She was in a simple blue tee, with a hoodie for protection from the cold. Blonde hair flowing down her neck, and bouncing off the shoulders of her petite body.

She was extremely beautiful and all, but the reason she caught your eye was because she seemed to be extremely nervous, biting her nails as she kept looking outside at the pouring rain, as if she could wish it away to go from 100 to 0 in 2 seconds. You didn't know what it was for, but she clearly needed to be out there. Something made you walk up to her. "Hey, need an umbrella?" You asked. She looked up to you, freeing her nails from her mouth.

"Umm, Yeah! Yes I do! OMG I've got an interview and I was so stupid to forget my umbrella." She paused for a moment, seeming to get over the initial excitement of getting hope. "Wait, if you give me yours, what will you do?" She looked even cuter close up, her hair almost magical and making her look like some sort of angel.

"It's alright, I've got another one. Yesterday I forgot mine and bought an extra." You replied, for some reason wanting her to take it and almost pushing the umbrella in her hands.

"Thank you, I wish I could thank you more but it's already really late for the interview. How do I return this to you?" She put her hands in her handbag. "Maybe I can pay you something..."

"No no, just go do well in your interview. Don't worry about all this."

"Thank you again, I hope you get all the good things in life." She replied before rushing away into the rain with your umbrella in the air.

The small interaction made you feel better. You lost an umbrella. You might never see her again. But it made you feel good. In fact as fate would have it, you would see her again. But not the umbrella.

A few nights later, as you were going home in the metro, couple of fingers tap your shoulder. You look back to see the same girl, in a pretty pink dress this time, surrounded by a thick hoodie. The dress only came down to her thighs, and you were wondering how she went out in this chilling winter with exposed legs.

"Hello, umbrella man. Do you remember me?"

"Wha- Umbrella ma-? Miss I've got a name."

"I bet you do, but you haven't told me it."

"Y/N" You offer your hand, covered in gloves. Unsurprisingly, her legs weren't the only unexposed skin, and her bare palm meets your gloves.

"Winter."

"Yeah, it's cold. That's why I've got them on."

"No, my name's Winter." She replied, giggling, making the cutest noise.

"Huh? Cute name. No wonder you seem to be handling it so well."

"Yes I was born with the powers to handle winter, which my parents sensed so excellently." She joked, giggling again. "Oh wait your umbrella, let me return it." She shoved her hands in her hand bag, searching for a solid 2 minutes before she looks up at you with a dejected face. "Sorry... I forgot it again."

"That's alright, I didn't hope to retrieve it anyway. How did your interview go though?"

"It went great, I was offered the job. The least I can do is return it for you. Which station do you get off on?"

"Antarse Street"

"Oh that's my stop too. My house is a 3 minute walk from there. If you come with me, I can return your umbrella." She replied, excited at the possibility.

You weren't sure if you wanted to go. It was late in the evening and you didn't really want your umbrella back, it was an old one which you would have thrown away in a while anyway. You hesitate to reply.

"I'll even make you some coffee. Though I can't attest to how good it is. No one else has had my coffee." She continues, hoping to win you over with coffee.

The thought of being the first other person to have Winter's coffee was enough to convince you. You continue talking with her till the stop comes. She yaps a lot. You listen. She likes that. She talks about how she’s been so desperate for a job, until she finally found one at the interview after your chance meeting. She had just graduated college and was more or less alone in the city, which made you a bit sad, but also made you feel she was in a way, like you.

She's clumsy, but endearing. Her hair was tied up today. The hoodie covering up most of her dress. You wonder how she'd look in just her pink dress and her hair flowing free again. She would look like spring flowers, you thought. Winter.... an ironic name for her. You step off the station with her, and start walking with her. She begins blowing into her hands as the chill gets a bit more intense, late in the night.

"You alright?" You ask, a bit concerned. She was clearly not a very forward thinking girl.

"Yeah... maybe I shouldn't have forgotten my gloves as well." She replies meekly.

"You can have mine if you want. I'm not very cold."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah your hands seem to be freezing."

"Alright.. maybe you deserve a bit more than just coffee." She said with a smirk.

You weren't sure what that meant, but you removed your gloves, tapped it off a couple of times to get rid of any dirt and offered it to her. She put it on and smiled. It felt intimate. It was your gloves around her hands and not your hands. But it felt just as intimate as holding her hands. The look in her eyes said she felt the same.

Her apartment was more than a few blocks away, more than the 3 minute walk she promised. But it felt nice to be walking in this weather with her. It’s been a while since you’ve walked alone with a girl like this, even though the cold made her less talkative. Soon, the two of you reach her building. The apartment building wasn't anything to speak of, and her house less so. Things were a mess, even the living room.

"You live alone?"

"Yeah, it's a 1 bedroom, recently moved here for the job. Sorry for the mess... I just forget things." That much was clear to you already. She continued sheepishly, "You see, I wasn't expecting visitors."

"Yeah? Bet it would have been spic and span if you did." You reply, mocking her.

She stares at you, pretending to be offended, and hits your shoulder. "Meanie. Now wait here as I go make your coffee." She says, shoving some clothes off a seat in the couch to create space for you. You sit there awkwardly and look around the rest of the room.

There’s a table and few chairs, but not where they’re supposed to be. Table in one corner, and chairs in the opposite corner, also filled with clothes. The table has a strewn collection of random items, among them a picture of what looks like a younger Winter with her parents. She’s posing cutely for the camera near a Mickey Mouse cutout, with her parents standing behind the cutout.

“Do I look cute in that pic?” Her voice calls out, catching you surprised.

“What- I mean yeah, yeah, baby you is a cutie. These are your parents?”

“Yeah.. they passed away in an accident last year. I’ve had this photo on my table ever since.” She replies in a silent tone. “Oh I’m so sorry Winter..”, you reply. It made you wonder how she really was doing, she mentioned she didn’t really have any friends in the city, and with her parents not being here either.... must have been rough. She really didn’t show it if she did, always having a cheerful and playful tone, except for this one instance. You wondered how well you were hiding yours.

“Enough being sad, you came here for coffee so let’s have it.” She breaks the silence, and presents two cups with generous amounts of coffee. Actually, you came here for your umbrella, but you decide not to remind her of that fact and just accept her coffee. “So moment of truth, let’s find out if my coffee is actually good or I’ve just been gaslighting myself for the past 2 years.” Both of you take a sip of her coffee.

“Well... it’s certainly coffee.” You reply, then immediately wondering if you should have just lied. “Huh? I didn’t expect that.” She says, a bit dejected, but continues, “Well, you’re gonna have to make do with it.” The two of you finish drinking down the rest of your cups.

“Let me remove my hoodie, it’s already hot enough in here.” She says and takes off her hoodie in front of you, and frees up her hair, now in just her pink dress and flowing hair like you were imagining earlier. She looks more angelic than you were expecting somehow, even with minimal makeup after what seemed like a long day at her work. You couldn’t help but stare a bit too long.

“What are you looking at? Want me to get you one of these dresses? I think you would look good in this too.” She teases you, as you break away from staring and reply to her. “Why not just give me this one? I gave you my gloves and umbrella after all.” She moves closer to you. “How about I give you something else in return?” She says, in a low whispering, almost erotic tone.

“Hmm, like what?”

She leans in even closer, and her lips catch yours in an expected kiss. You are taken aback, as she pulls away. “Wait... was it not okay? I’m so sorry...” she stumbles, before you reply to her by kissing her back, erasing all suspicions from her mind. The kiss is innocent initially, but quickly turns lewder. Your tongue entering her mouth as her lips part, your tongue playing with hers in a lewd dance, as you taste all of her.

She tastes like sweet honey, and makes you let out a soft moan as you throw an arm around her neck and pull her in even closer to you. Her hand begins at your chin, and travels down your chest, slowly caressing you, before finally resting on your bulge, which was quickly growing harder and harder for her. Your other arm travels down her back, then catching her cute ass, which you squeeze softly, making her moan.

Pulling away from the kiss, you ask her, “You like that baby?”

“Yes I do.” She replies in a very soft, submissive tone, which turns you on even more.

“If you’re gonna give me the dress, we’re gonna have to take you out of it."

“That seems logical.” She replies and begins to fidget with her zipper, before you help her and get it all off her and throw it on the chair, adding to the already big pile of clothes. She’s in a soft pink bra, matching her dress, and black panties. You bring one hand down to her panties, and can see that it’s already dripping in her wetness.

With your other hand you tease her boobs over her bra, before unhooking her bra and throwing it off into the unknown. You circle your fingers around her nipple, and then bring your mouth near it. You start softly sucking on her nipples, as the slightest touch seems to stimulate her a lot, making her moan loudly and suppress various curses.

“Let’s head for your bedroom~ Look like we’ll defenitely be needing one tonight, and not just for sleeping.” That makes her giggle, and she grabs your hand and pulls you towards her bedroom. Entering, you lock the door, and the room is somehow even more of a mess than her living room.

You just push away the clothes, then softly push her on the bed. She tugs at your shirt, indicating she wants you out of clothes too. With her help, soon you’re out of your shirt and pants, with your cock almost wanting to burst out of your boxers already with how hard it is. She rubs her hand over your boxers, teasing your cock.

“My my~ You’re so hard already.”

“All because of you, baby.”

“Yeah baby? Why don’t you show me exactly how turned on I’ve gotten you.” Even the way she said baby in a sing-song voice made you feel like it was laced with honey, or maybe it was poison, but it seemed to make you addicted to it either way.

She continued rubbing your cock over your boxers, almost wishing it would come out like magic if she did. You fulfill her wishes and pull down your boxers swiftly, as your cock pops for her.

“It looks very pretty.” She says.

“Since when do cocks look pretty?” You laugh.

“Since today.” She says and wraps her fingers around your cock slenderly, and begins softly stroking you up and down. It was clear she didn’t have much experience with this, as she seemed to be doubting herself while doing so. “You’re doing well baby, you can hold it tighter if you want~” You encourage her. That instantly makes her more confident and her face brightens up.

She responds so cutely to praise, you think. She starts stroking faster and holding you tighter. She spits on her hands, and gently rubs it all over your cock, making sure not to miss a single spot. Her hands just glide over your cock now, making you feel even better as you begin moaning for her softly.

She brings her mouth closer to your cock and starts licking you with her tongue, going up all the way from your balls to your tip, spreading her saliva all over your cock. You place a hand on her head, caressing her hair, which makes her release another cute moan, and she places her lips around your cock. Firstly sucking on your tip, before taking the entirety of your length inside her mouth.

It hits the back of her throat, making her gag a little, although she quickly recovers. She bobs her head up and down on your cock, her tongue swirling around it as you moan louder and louder. Every moan you release and every time you caress your head it makes her more confident, as she sucks on you faster and faster.

After sucking for a while, she releases her mouth from your cock and stops for a pause, catching her breath. “You’re tired already baby? The night is just starting.” You tease her. “Not a chance.” She replies before taking your cock back in her mouth, for another round of sucking.

Her spit now drips out from her mouth, dripping down to her chest, making a mess. Her face and your crotch are both wet with the same thing now. She takes a break for the second time, more out of breath now as she takes heavy breaths with saliva still stretching out from your cock to her mouth.

“That’s enough babe~ Let me return the favour now.” You say and push her down with her head on the pillow. Your fingers reach her panties, and now they have no semblance of ever being anything but a wet dripping mess of her juices. You slide those panties down, exposing her pussy which looks just as cute as her, glistening with wetness.

You slide one finger in, as her juices coat your fingers. You shove the finger in your mouth and taste her juices. “It tastes like sweet nectar.” You tell her. “Don’t you want more of that where that came from, baby” She teases you.

You do, so your mouth goes down to her panties, and you spread your tongue across her pussy. Licking all across, getting a taste of her juices directly, as it makes her moan. “Fuck.” You slide a finger in her pussy at the same time, and start fingering her pussy, your fingers slick with her juices.

You reach her clit with your tongue, and every lick on it stimulates her to the point that she’s screaming. “Fuck! You’re doing so good! Don’t stop... Please don’t stop...” You can feel the neediness in her voice. Her neediness to cum for your mouth. You insert one more finger, and you’re alternating between sucking and licking on her clit, with two fingers sliding in and out of her pussy.

You could tell she was getting close with how she was twitching and basically grinding her pussy on your tongue faster than you could lick her. You don’t stop, listening to her desperate moans begging you to keep going.

You insert a third finger when you sense she’s about to cum. She begins squirting as she finishes, her liquids bursting out from her pussy and making a mess on your face, and wetting the sheets of her bed and the clothes around with her liquids. She holds on to your hair indicating you to keep going, and you do it till she’s made the entire bed wet with her juices.

“Fuck... you are so good at that...” She remarks, breathless. “Seems like you wanted to make an even bigger mess on my face than my cock did on yours.” You tease her. She just giggles before replying. “I hope we’re not done yet though.... I still need to feel your cock somewhere else.”

“Yeah? Where do you need to feel it?”

“You know where.. dont act silly” She says, blushing and looking down.

“Winter miss I think you’re well beyond the point of acting shy. Say it or you’re not getting it.”

“I need it in my pussy. I need it deep in my pussy. I wanna feel every inch of your cock in me.”

Hearing her say the thing you wanted to do most to her made you gather all your energy for perhaps the last round of the night. You get on top of her again. Lining up your cock with the pussy you just made squirt all over. She looks in your eye with lustful desire. Her eyes conveying all her deepest wants with nothing hiding it. Yet she somehow managed to look like the cutest girl in the universe. You weren’t sure how. You move your hips forward. She was so wet that your cock slipped right in.

Her pussy was tight, and she wraps her legs around you, not willing to let you go till you give her what she needs so badly. You comply, beginning to move your hips with a rhythm. She places one hand on your chest and pulls your body closer to her. She wants your body close to her. She wants your body ON her.

You catch her lips with yours as you continue thrusting. By this time both your faces and mouths are messes, but neither of you could care less, and the kiss is more intense than last time as you continue fucking her pussy.

She moans through the kiss, her moans escaping into your mouth and she gets loud for your cock in her. As you pull away from the kiss you can hear just how much moans she’s been suppressing. The sounds of your thighs clapping against hers was loud, but her moans easily blow over all of them.

“Fuck baby, your cock feels so fucking good.” All the honey in her baby is now gone. This one is driven by pure unadulterated lust.

You could listen to her moans for years. But you couldn’t keep going for years. All good things come to an end, and you could feel you were close to cumming. “I’m close Winter.” You let her know. “I want it IN ME. Please. Please.” She begs and wraps her legs tighter around you. Not willing to let go either way. You wanted to cum in her anyway.

She intertwines her fingers with yours and holds on to your palm tightly. “Cum in me baby. I want you.” She clenches her pussy around your cock tightly, which makes you release. Your load flows into her pussy filling her up, cumming more than you thought you could cum. As you move your hips back you can watch how much you came in her, with it now dripping out of her.

The two of you try to clean up (as much as you could after that tiring session) and cuddle into each other’s arms trying to fall asleep. You remember what she told you at the end of your first meeting. “I hope you get all the good things in life.” You think you already did.

[canonicallyobserving911]

“I’m still in love with you but... I needed to learn how to love myself too!”

Fanonwriter2023 on AO3

Where CANON and FANON collide!

Season 7 FANON Speculation: Buddie Multi-Chapter Fanfic - Hiatus Reading: “I’m still in love with you but... I needed to learn how to love myself too!”

Chapters 24 & 25 are now available on AO3.

Please note: Chapters 24 and 25 were posted at the same time.

This is an EPIC LOVE STORY!

“I’m still in love with you but... I needed to learn how to love myself too!”

Currently 25 chapters completed: 973.1K Words; Rated: Mature

One chapter will be posted at a time.

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Two snippets are included below, one from Chapter 24 and one from Chapter 25. Both chapters are available on AO3.

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Here's a snippet from Chapter 24 on Christmas morning that's taking place inside of the Diaz Family's hotel suite in London, England.

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“Chris!”  Buck exclaims but his voice is still just above a whisper.

“Read it aloud so we can all hear it.”

Buck’s still trying to blink back his tears but he’s having a hard time doing it, so he just lets them roll down his cheeks.  He uses his forefinger and thumb to wipe them away and clears his throat then says, “Petition to adopt minor child Christopher M. Diaz” but that’s as far as he gets.

He hiccups on a sob, lowers his head and cries but they’re happy tears.  Eddie wraps his left arm around Buck’s shoulders, pulls him close and Chris moves from sitting on the ottoman to the sofa on the other side of Buck.  He wraps his arm around Buck shoulders the same way he did after Eddie was shot and the feeling makes Buck break.

Eddie rubs circles on his back to console him then he leans in and whispers into his ear, “My love, you’re already Chris’ dad and you have been for years.”

Buck nods and takes a few moments to compose himself.  Once he does, he looks at Chris and asks, “You want me to be your dad too?”

“Yes, I do.  Will you adopt me?”

How will Buck answer Chris' question?

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Here's a snippet from Chapter 25 of an emotionally angsty discussion happening on New Year's Eve after Buck, Eddie and Chris arrive at Maddie and Chimney's house.

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After they make it to the front door, Buck knocks at 8:54PM and after a few seconds, Chimney opens it.

“Welcome back guys, how was your trip?”

“It was great.”  Chris replies as he enters the house.

Buck and Eddie smile and Eddie says, “Exactly what our son said.”

Chimney raises his eyebrows but he recovers quickly because he knows they’re close but Buck’s never admitted Chris was his son before so he shrugs his shoulders and says, “Come in”.

When they enter the house, several voices yell, “SURPRISE!”

Buck and Eddie look at each other then they scan the room and they see everyone from A-shift along with Linda, Josh and some other people Eddie remembers from Metro Dispatch present.

Buck asks, “What’s all this?”

“It’s your engagement party.”  Maddie replies.

Buck and Eddie look at each other and other again and the only sound in the room are Chris’ giggles.  Everyone else is still and quiet because they can’t figure out why Buck and Eddie aren’t celebrating with them.

It’s so quiet that it’s starts to feel awkward so Buck raises his eyebrows and exclaims, “Uh… guys… we’re not engaged…”

He doesn’t get to finish because Maddie gasps and loudly asks, “What do you mean?”

What's going to happen next?

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This is an EPIC LOVE STORY!

Fic Summary: Months after Buck and Eddie were hit by the same lightning strike; they’re still struggling with the aftermath of it.  But before they make their love confessions, they’ll spend time getting to know themselves as individuals first. Eddie learns to enjoy the simple things in life as he participates in activities on his own and with new friends while Buck learns the rest of the 31-year-old deep dark family secret about his conception and birth. Their journey to forever is still a work in progress but once they finally admit they’re in love with each other, everything that follows their love confessions will be cataclysmic.

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Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Eddie makes a new friend while Buck receives devastating news regarding the sperm donation he made for Connor and Kameron.

Chapter 2 - Buck does a lot of research to learn more about the abnormalities found in his red blood cells and Eddie starts a new therapy journey that’s all about him and not the traumas he’s experienced.

Chapter 3 - After more than a month, Buck and Eddie finally spend time together outside of work but it doesn’t end well and they part with a lot of uncertainty regarding their places in each other’s lives.

Chapter 4 - Eddie has a few realizations about his life which causes him to consider moving back to El Paso, TX while Buck continues to be reminded of his past which causes him to take an impromptu road trip across America.

Chapter 5 - Both Buck and Eddie have difficult conversations with their parents and Buck finally learns the truth behind the reason why his mother despised him while Eddie finally tells his mother about the way she tries to control him.

Chapter 6 - More than two weeks after Buck pushed Eddie away after suggesting they needed a break; Eddie decides to try again. Eddie’s there for Buck when he’s at his worst just like Buck was there for him when he was at his worst and he won’t let Buck give up.

Chapter 7 - After Buck’s mental breakdown, Eddie has his back the same way Buck had his when he had his own breakdown more than a year ago.  They share several vulnerable and emotionally intimate moments with one another and they begin to realize their small, sweet and caring gestures matter just as much if not more than any grand gesture ever could because these are the foundations of a long-lasting love relationship.

Chapter 8 - Buck, Eddie and Chris all have their own therapists and during their sessions, they reflect on their pasts while they’re in the present so they can prepare for their future together as a family.

Chapter 9 - Buck and Eddie are there for each other when Buck has to testify as a witness during the trial.  But by the end of it, they’ll both realize their individual and shared traumas are going to keep resurfacing until they talk about them, deal with the fact that they’re in love with one another and face the fact that they can’t live without each other.

Chapter 10 - As Buck and Eddie finally begin to confront their past traumas, they realize how much they need each other to fill in the gaps of their memories.  Additionally, the universe screams at them for what appears to be the one hundredth time so Buck can realize he doesn’t have to ‘find it’ because he already ‘made it’ and Eddie’s reminded tomorrow isn’t promised and he doesn’t have to die alone if he doesn’t want to.

Chapter 11 - A “virga” or dry thunderstorm is in the forecast but once the rain starts, the thunderstorm happening outside won’t be able to match the storm brewing inside between Buck and Eddie.  It’s the universe’s final scream and when the tumultuous winds begin to blow, they’ll have one last chance to hold onto everything they’ve built over the last six years or they’ll lose it all forever.

Chapter 12 - Buck and Eddie have always shared a deep physical attraction and an emotional intimacy that’s unmatched but now that they’re in a relationship, they’re learning how to navigate the romantic intimacy they’ve been waiting for six years to explore. The love they have for each other is a once in a lifetime, soulmate, love of their lives type of love that transcends space and time.

Chapter 13 - While navigating the newness of their romantic relationship, Buck and Eddie take advantage of every moment they spend together. As their individual lives, people from their pasts, time constraints and the possibility of losing each other again make attempts to interrupt and interfere with their journey to forever, they love, care for, support and hold onto each other even tighter to withstand it all.

Chapter 14 - Buck and Eddie can see the lights at the end of the tunnels regarding the results of Buck’s Cancer Screening along with everything else they’re dealing with. But are the lights they see exits to the tunnels or are they headlights on different runaway trains that are speeding towards them in an effort to interrupt their forever?

Chapter 15 - Buck and Eddie have known they were exactly who the other one wanted in a partner since they met six years ago when they agreed to have each other’s backs. They’re in a romantic relationship, they’re both preparing to ask the other one to spend forever with them and by the end of the seventh week into their relationship, together they will plan their most important and greatest adventure for their future.

Chapter 16 - As Buck and Eddie begin to prepare for their marriage ceremony that will take place in Rome, Italy in December 2023, they start planning their first international adventure as a romantic couple. Even though Chris is still the only person they’ve told about their relationship, several people who know them have already witnessed the love they share and as the days continue, others will witness it too.

Chapter 17 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to departing Los Angeles for their international adventure, a moment in time will remind them; life is fragile, tomorrow isn’t promised and every second of everyday should be cherished because everything can change in an instant. The result of that realization will cause them to hold onto each other even more.

Chapter 18 - As Buck, Eddie and Chris prepare for family gatherings before and during the Thanksgiving holiday, the “Santa Ana Winds” start to blow and all sorts of expected and unexpected familial drama ensues.

Chapter 19 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to their wedding day, the universe begins to align everything so that some of their parent and children's relationships are strengthened while others come to an abrupt end.

Chapter 20 - With only 14 days remaining until Buck, Eddie and Chris depart Los Angeles, CA traveling to Rome, Italy, for their first family adventure, an early morning conversation about “tying up loose ends” helps Buck and Eddie realize there are still several things left unfinished on their ‘To Do’ lists. The question is will there be enough time to complete all of them?

Chapter 21 - Buck, Eddie and Chris are finalizing their ‘To Do’ Lists, double checking their itineraries and packing their suitcases in preparation for their trip to Europe so they can board their flight that departs Los Angeles, CA on Friday, December 15, 2023 at 3:25PM.

Chapter 22 - While Buck, Eddie and Chris spend the first 8 days of their European family adventure in Italy, their primary reason for going will be fulfilled as well as several others they hadn’t considered or anticipated.

Chapter 23 - As the Diaz Family continues their Italian family adventure, they’ll say, “Ciao” or hello and goodbye to a lot of things almost immediately after they become an official and legal family.

Chapter 24 - After Buck, Eddie and Chris arrive in London, England on December 24th; the Diazes immediately start preparing to spend their first family Christmas together. During their stay, each of them will hear a few choice words that will be the life raft to get them home to complete their searches to be seen and to be found.

Chapter 25 - After spending more than two weeks in Europe, Eddie, Buck and Chris are back in Los Angeles and they’re getting ready to attend Maddie and Chimney’s New Year’s Eve party. During the event, they have plans to make two surprise announcements but the question is, who’s really going to be surprised, the Diaz family or their found family at the 118?

Chapter 26 - Will be posted soon.

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Read chapters 1-25 are available on AO3.

Continue reading on AO3

[centralperkchenford]

Chenford + based on the promo today, Tim and Lucy say 'I love you' at the wedding after a tough shift

Chenford + a dance, an I love you and a talk

This is soft, this is softer than soft. This is the softest fluff. Based on the one second promo of a Chenford kiss

If the whole world was watching, I’d still dance with you.

“Hey.” Someone comes up behind Tim, and taps him on his shoulder. He spins around to find Lucy looking at him with nothing but concern in her eyes. She reaches for him then grabbing his arm and pulling him towards her.

He had arrived late to the wedding, almost missing the ceremony but he was able to catch the last few minutes of it. He had sat down next to Lucy and she had given him a once over her eyes going to the cut on his head.

But he hadn’t been able to explain what had gone down right then so he just gave her a soft kiss on the side of the head and muttered later.

He looks down at her, wrapping his arms around her waist. “How are you?” He asks because he hadn’t seen her all day, they had planned to get ready together but that hadn’t worked out and it was a crazy day all together.

“I’m worried about you.” She replies. He gives her a smile smiles, one that he knows she won’t buy. She runs her thumb across his face, gently and slowly like she’s me memorizing it. Her eyes dart to the cut again.

“What happened?” She asks. Tim blows out a breath, it’s a long story really too long to tell her at their friends wedding.

“Just got into an altercation with some men that thought they could take metro officers and Grey.” He says. There’s a pause. “I’m okay.” Lucy ghosts her fingers over the cut, and then kisses it just below it.

“I was worried when you didn’t show up.” She says. “I knew something was going on but—”

“I know I meant to text you and tell you I was going to be late.” Tim says and he feels guilty for not telling her, he feels guilty because he hates when she worries. Especially about him. Even though he gets it, he gets worried about her too. Sometimes it consumes him when he doesn’t know where she is after shift or if a call comes in over the radio.

It’s nerve wracking to have someone you love put on the lines. Trying to make this world a better and safer place.

“It’s okay.” Lucy reassures him and Tim suddenly realizes they are swaying slightly. They are so pressed together, he’s not sure where he begins and she ends. It’s like they are one. Together. “I know you would get here or tell me if you couldn’t come.”

Tim nods and Lucy’s hand once again cups his face, just below the cut. She brushes her finger over it and then whispers three little words that have been on the tip of his tongue for weeks. Three little words that he wished he had told her after the fight with masked assailants. Three little words, that he wished he was brave enough to say first.

“I love you.” She whispers. He brings her in and then spins her out. She smiles as he does and he just watches her as he pulls her back in.

He loves her too, there’s no doubt about that. He thinks he has loved her for a long time, longer than he even realized. He never thought he would actually get the pleasure of being loved by Lucy Chen.

But she does love him and it feels so so so good. She stands on her toes and gives him a soft kiss. He closes his eyes and her hand is still cupping his face so delicately and softly and lovingly.

“I love you too.” He whispers. Lucy drops her hand and he misses it immediately. He wants it back, calming him, grounding him.

He pulls her closer and they move more gliding across the floor, Tim doesn’t take his eyes off her face for a minute. And her eyes don’t leave his face, he remembers when he told her to save him a dance at Angela’s not wedding and then they did dance at Nyla’s.

He felt free when he was dancing with her at Nyla’s wedding, like he could do anything because she was in his arms.

But she wasn’t his and he wasn’t hers.

Unlike now when he knows his heart belongs to her fully and completely. And he has her heart too, because she loves him.

“What are you thinking about?” Lucy asks. Tim smiles and spins her out again making her giggle a little, a sweet sound he will have memorized.

“This the second time we have danced together.” He says. Lucy’s eyes twinkle in the low light of the room.

“It better not be the last.” She says softly and she reaches up to cup her face again as if she can’t get enough. It’s like she just wants to touch him.

He smiles back at her as they move and at this point he doesn’t know what song is on or who is on the dance floor with them. All he sees is her, he sees her in her pretty blue dress that she didn’t let him see until earlier today. But she had somehow found a matching jacket for him. He sees her in her own wedding dress, and he’s in a black suit and they are dancing their first dance as husband and wife.

He sees her as they move into their first house, have their kids and watch them grow up. He sees her with grey streaks in her hair but she’s just as pretty and she still looks at him with stars in her eyes.

He snaps back to the present when he feels a poke to his chest. He looks down and sees her staring up at him. He thinks of the ring that he got a few weeks ago, not because he was proposing soon but because he wanted to have it. Just in case the perfect moment popped up.

“This is definitely not our last dance.” He says and she smiles so big he wonders if the same thoughts are going through her mind.

“I’m gonna hold you to that Bradford.” She says. He smiles. Maybe next they dance she would be a Bradford too.

It’s a good thought, an excellent thought, he may have had a rough day but this and Lucy and the future ahead of him makes it so much better and worth it.

He spins her around again and then pulls her to him, just looking at her like she is the sun, the moon and the stars.

He repeats the words they said earlier just because he can and he wants to. And she deserves to hear them for the rest of her life. No matter what.

“I love you.”

[ramayantika]

A goodbye needed

From being born in Hyderabad to living in the northern part of India, that is Gurgaon and then the Western side, Maharashtra to Vishakhapatnam in the south and finally in the eastern states of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Odisha, I do get to say that I covered eighteen years of my life in the four main directions of India. But my favourite city has and will always be Kolkata.

To be honest, my brother desperately wanted to live in Kolkata because of Eden Gardens in our GK book. I wasn't that interested until I arrived in Kolkata in 2016 to appear for the written test in my school. The exam went well and so did the interview. I remember my father lived in a small bachelor's one room apartment in Ruby Park. My eleven year old eyes were stunned as they took in the grandeur of the old buildings from the British era to the modern metros and malls of Kolkata. When I came back to Raipur, all I knew was Kolkata would be life changing for me.

And in 2017, I did come home. To Kolkata. A small roadside apartment facing a canal where you don't have crystal clear water but drainage water. Somehow the water wasn't stinky until the arrival of the monsoon showers. I lived there from 2017 to 2020. I was supposed to stay there until 2022 but fate had other plans but that's a story for another day.

I always call Kolkata home even though I am from Odisha. It was the only city that embraced all shades of me. I spent the first two years of my teenage there. The damp roads leading to my apartment have heard my songs above sweet love and true friendship. On quiet midnights, my tiny balcony knew the whispers of my soul, and the questions it asked about fate and the world. The monsoon rainfall told me how to appreciate nature and beauty. I learnt to dance with storms, and dream of stories that I now write and desperately wish to be a part of.

I met a teacher who told me in a tone akin to a whisper in front of the class that I am like a small pandora box, hidden from view but having the most wonderful and beautiful things to offer the world. The next month I danced for a school event and God since then I never looked back. Kolkata connected my soul to literature and culture.

I am no longer in Kolkata but each time my calendar notifies Rabindranath Thakur's jayanti, my heart goes to the old tunes of Rabindra sangeet; the beauty and tenderness of his songs that captured my heart and caused me to spill some of my poetry in the last page of my rough notebook.

I visited kolkata again in December 2021 after first term examinations of class twelve. My connection with kolkata broke like a plant uprooted from its soil. It felt as if I had been banished from home. All the months that passed, and all the seasons that changed showed me memories and dreams of what could have been in kolkata. But when I visited kolkata, I saw how some things had changed.

My home appeared....... different? I always say that my young soul blossomed in Kolkata. The same soul turned sad at the emotion that the city showed me. Perhaps that's how growing up is. To see that things around you change, people, roads, hearts everything but somewhere there still lies a calling that says, 'hey, I know things are different. But I am still here. Look at me, embrace the new me. Embrace yourself. You are changing too.'

Where it once used to be wonder, nostalgia filled my heart as I met my friends after two years. I passed through my apartment again and smiled at the balcony, my small corner for solitude. I saw a few towels hanging there.

Going back from Kolkata felt a little sad. I could not accept the change. I had been uprooted from my roots, and when I come back I see new flowers springing up. Without me?

Then after a year, I visited Kolkata again in July 2023. I had grown so had the city. When I passed by the same British era buildings and Howrah bridge, the same wonder struck my soul. I saw a few flowers growing on the pathway, getting their nourishment from the July showers. The empty space in my heart too was filled with flowers. My friends who are now in their respective colleges, doing their own things with their own friend circles now but somehow we come together. Just like old days before.

Home is always home no matter how far you go or how long you stay away from it. Home will always welcome you back. The fragrance of wet earth filled my soul with a warm blanket, as if telling me that all this while, I waited for you. I am different but I am still your friend.

Era sukher laagi chahe prem, prem mele na.

Shudhu sukh chole jaye emoni mayar cholona

This song will always remind me of Kolkata, the warm monsoon nights that were filled with a longing of love, friendship and magic. It will take me back to dreams and whispers of a fantasy that my heart still believes in that I would one day bring forth the wonder and beauty of my Self to the world. It will remind me that there must be tender days to be spent in reading poetry on a cool evening.

The day I boarded the train to Durgapur, my heart hummed the tune of Era Sukher Lagi from Choker Bali. As the train left the station, I waved at my young self through the window. It was farewell. I would come home later for my dance work, a thread that shall tie me to this wonderful city forever but I would never come home this way ever again and for the first time I was happy. And perhaps to witness an end to a heartwarming journey of nostalgia, acceptance to change and farewell, the clouds showered rainfall against the window just like the cool monsoon nights years ago.

All was well....

[daifukumochiin]

Summary: Sasuke's orderly life at elite Sairiumu Academy is disrupted by the arrival of Hinata, a timid transfer student whose obvious crush on him, a young man dedicated to his craft and his current relationship, stirs unease. (Initial SasuSaku with SasuHina endgame, modern Norse myth AU, high school, angst, romance, photography, postmodern-ish fic). Rated T

LIGHTS,

BOWS, and

MISTLETOES

an entry for SasuHina Month 2024, Day 27 : Forget and Remember

(for peachy-hina, since December)

@sasuhinamonth

ffnet: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14369143/1/Lights-Bows-and-Mistletoes

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57030778

Part 1: Lights

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vii

As it turned out, there weren't many Hyuuga families in Metro Konoha including Neji's family of three, formed from the union of a self-made millionaire and the scion of the long-term mayor of Metro Konoha. As a result, the private investigator Sasuke had hired had managed to call back earlier than expected.

"She's not listed under any Hyuuga family here," said the PI, handing Sasuke the files.

The office reeked of cigarettes. Every so often, the door would open, making the bell ring, and a sheepdog would wander in. Sasuke had never hired a private investigator before—this was more up his brother's alley—which made him anxious, knowing that anyone he knew could easily walk into this office and pry into his business.

"Do you mind?" Sasuke gestured to the door.

The PI waved his hand indicating he was free to do so, and Sasuke quickly locked it.

When he returned to the report, Sasuke's mind raced as he scanned the PI's findings. A mix of frustration and curiosity gnawed at him. "What could this mean?"

"Hyuuga is not a common name around here. She must've hailed from somewhere else, another country perhaps—"

"Can you check immigration records?"

"Sure, but it'll cost extra."

Sasuke clicked his tongue in scorn. He'd rather spend it on software or equipment.

"Rich kid like you, why so stingy?" The PI laughed.

"Rich." Sasuke snorted. "Just my old folks."

"Sounds the same to me."

"Is that really the only possibility? That she's here on a visa? But if that's the case, why is her family background confidential? Don't you think there could be other reasons?"

"People can come up with all sorts of things. In one of my past cases, a woman discovered that the lady applying to be her son's babysitter was her husband's illegitimate daughter. At first, when we started digging, we found out she wasn't listed in any family registry. The wife had only gotten suspicious in the first place because the girl had a port wine stain on her forehead that looked just like her husband's. So, we sent in DNA samples. Turned out, she was right.

"Now, in this Hyuuga girl's case, she's studying at Sairiumu and renting an apartment at Hashirama Park for 500,000 ryo a year, all paid in cash. It could be that she got this far with missing documents because Dad—or whoever—could pull the necessary strings. Just not any unsavory gossip that could hurt their reputation. That sort of thing…"

Sasuke stood abruptly, his chair creaking. Goosebumps covered his arms. That must be it. Hinata Hyuuga was a hidden mistress's daughter. No wonder Neji seemed appalled.

"But these are just theories," the PI added, lighting another cigarette. "The truth could be a whole lot different once we try to find out."

Sasuke covered his nose. "I've heard enough."

In the wake of this conclusion, Sasuke felt it justified when the results of the qualifying exhibition came out with no mention of Hinata Hyuuga. Whispers circulated among the recruitment committee about how entry number sixty-seven could have fallen short of the top fifty despite its popularity during the exhibit. But that was all. No complaint has been filed by Hinata either.

It wasn't until Sasuke saw the two together that the intricacies of the truth about their situation truly hit him.

The school had already quieted then, with only a few stragglers lingering as the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the empty pathways. After returning some books to the library, Sasuke circled to the back of the building to take a shortcut to the studio when he heard a familiar voice—Neji's—talking to someone by the plaza with the antique bronze drinking fountain. Curiosity drew him closer. He peered from behind a cypress and realized that the other person had been Hinata.

"Didn't I tell you? There's no place for you here. Go back to Yukigakure—"

Hinata kept her head down, her eyes glued to the granite pavers, silent.

"—Or would you rather I tell the school head how you're actually psychologically ill? You think I can’t see through you? You're not here for school or the photography club. You're here because of Sasuke—leave him alone. Drink your meds and don't leave your room until you start thinking straight. He's not who you think he is, and you're not who you think you are."

Frustrated that Hinata hadn't responded, not with even as much as a glare, Neji spun away with an offended huff and strode off. When Hinata lifted her head, tears dripped down her cheeks, and just as silently as they fell, she tried to wipe them out of her eyes. But they only kept coming, the devastation in her war-torn expression not making a sound. The layers of grief that she tossed with a look to the sky budded only to die at her feet.

For some reason, Sasuke felt cemented to the grass and couldn't walk away pretending that he heard and saw nothing.

So, the day after, when it happened that their paths crossed, that their gazes met—when she made a slight bow and timidly carried on with her pace—Sasuke made a decision. With jaws set and hands balled tight, he called:

"Wait."

Hinata stopped.

"I liked your entry," he said.

Her mouth stayed half-open—it didn't immediately register, it seemed. Gradually, as it did, her eyes widened, her face lit aglow. Her unassuming reaction to just a few simple words caught him stunned and faltering. He glanced elsewhere, his ears burning, his heart pounding loudly.

"Don't stop taking pictures," he urged after clearing his throat, though what he wanted to say was: I think you have something special.

If only their start hadn't been that time at Hashirama's bridge and her stalking, perhaps he would've been interested in working with her.

When he arrived at his office, on his desk was a book that didn't belong to him nor had he borrowed a copy from the library: The Poetic Edda by Jeramy Dodds.

He searched the front and back covers and the edges for any identification to no avail. One of the pages had been dog-eared, and when he opened it, a wild chamomile flower fell off. Highlighted in yellow on the page was the passage:

As though a switch had been turned on, the words transported him back to his research for the qualifying exhibition the previous year, bringing to the fore in vivid recall Longfellow's "Tegner's Drapa" and the bits he'd read off C.S. Lewis's Surprised by Joy; a memory that worked like his would store anything that caught his eye like clockwork, categorized and filed away until he'd found some use.

Line by line, the words connected, popping off; images formed like ant trails in his mind. Realization surged within him like lightning coursing down his veins, gathering into his trembling fists, fingers squeezed near breaking point. Having maxed out all charge storage capacity, he screamed muted air out, emptying his lungs.

He finally found the theme.

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[thehuntss]

LOST IN THE FIRE

Hi guys!

I got so inspired today and I wrote you this wee AU, because I wanted to remix a bit of the storyline, much more to my taste. Hopefully you’ll like it, let me know what you’re are thinking about !

Enjoy, xx

*

In this story Doyle is dead and Emily is in Paris because she hadn’t come back yet to the BAU, unable to arrest him herself because of her bad injuries. Aaron is in DC and can’t stop thinking about all the times he missed his chances to tell Emily how perfect she was.

Dave was fed up.

•

She had set a routine to feel better. Metro, boulot, dodo.

And she didn’t like it. She didn’t feel home in this city, everything was remembering her the unhappy childhood she had. Everyday was pretty much the same, she had to go to therapy, then the physiotherapy and after that Emily was too exhausted to do something else.

She would pour herself a glass of her favorite wine and then enjoy it silently in the living room, observing the city through her windows, missing her life in America and all the persons she considered as friends, as family. She missed them so much. Usually she would fall asleep for a bit, and once woken up the hardest part of her day was crawling to her bedroom to sleep, or at least try because nightmares were still very active in her mind.

But tonight her routine was about to change forever and she had no ideas her life in Paris would change.

•

Aaron was soaking wet, he had been walking in the rainy city still trying to figure out why he was here. Because you were worried about her you dumbass. Because Dave forced you to take this plane. Because you’re an idiot and you’ll die alone if you never tell her. He shakes his head, yes he was worried about her but did it really justified a 10h flight ?

He had always heard of Paris as the city of love and it was ironic because since Haley he had been too afraid to tell his feelings to the woman of his heart. Aaron could almost hear his oldest friend David Rossi telling him to stop thinking because they were made for each other, because he had seen how they were flirting together. Aaron couldn’t remember a day passing by without Dave telling him the only person who didn’t know he was in love with Emily, was Emily herself. And same situation for her. But yet he couldn’t tell her, she was his best friend and he couldn’t ruin this. As destroying as it was, he was ready to have her as a friend only than being rejected and not having her anymore.

Get it together Hotch!

When he arrived at her door he felt anxious, suddenly wanting to go back to the airport and leave like nothing had ever happened. But his body made the physical move his mind couldn’t do and before he could realize he had already knocked at her door. Aaron heard some steps behind the door, swallowing hard. When he saw her he couldn’t but think she was beautiful. Her hair was longer, her curtains bangs falling on each side of her face, her cheeks were finer than they were few months ago. “Hi.” He whispered, not knowing what else to say.

She took seconds before realizing he was standing in her doorway. “What the…Aaron…I…” she shook her head, letting him in. “You’re soaking wet, let me help you with it..” she said as he took off his coat, still unable to speak.

He observed her, she was leaning on a cane and he cursed himself one more time for what happened in Boston, for not protecting her from this bastard. And from a moment he saw them back them back there when she was bleeding on the floor, thinking she was dead.

“Do you want some wine?” She asked, taking him back on earth.

He blinked, rapidly nodding and following her in the kitchen, feeling more guilty when he saw the way she was walking. “It’s good to see you.”

She turned and smiled to him. “It’s good to see you too Aaron.” And the way she told his name made a knowing feeling grows inside of him, she was still dissociating Hotch from Aaron.

Back in the living room they silently cheered, Emily still couldn’t believe he was here in Paris, sharing some of her boring routine. She awkwardly broke the silence, looking deeply at him. “What brings you here Aaron, don’t tell me you came all this way just to drink some wine with me?” She tried to joke.

“I’ve missed you.”

He wasn’t looking at her, he was staring a the beautiful Paris skyline but she knew he was being honest with her. Because she had missed him too. Emily slowly turned his head so he could look at her, letting him know it was a mutual feeling. He looked so broke that it made her heart falls in pieces. “I’ve been thinking about you, you know. A lot…”

He was about to speak but she continued, like she couldn’t just stop. “I kept thinking of you because it was the only memories I could focus on, and not only during therapy. I remembered it from the day we’ve met, to the day I’ve almost died in Boston.” At this point he could hear her voice breaks, but she continued. “I couldn’t stop thinking of all the times we’ve been hanging out together, with Jack, the zoo is so far my favorite day. I don’t remember I’ve been that happy in my entire life, on this day I’ve felt normal, I never had a normal family time and I don’t know, it made me feel like I was finally fitting somewhere. And when I arrived here everything fall appart, because I was on my own and..”

She broke into a sob, feeling pathetic and stupid. But when he slowly pressed his lips against hers, she couldn’t not answer, and their salty kiss finished her speech, letting him know she felt the same he was feeling about her.

“I too couldn’t stop thinking about you, and Jack always tells me how much he loves you. We miss you.” He couldn’t tell her he was missing her more than his little boy, that would be a lie and Emily was still a profiler, she would definitely recognize a lie.

“Is he going well ?” She can’t help but smile, remembering this sweet bundle of joy. And as Aaron showed her the pic he always kept in his wallet, she felt like the nostalgic leaving her body.

“I missed him too.” She simply replies, almost able to hear his sweet and innocent laugh through the appartement she almost shared with them back in DC. And as memories crossed their mind, Emily buried her hands in his hair, smiling when she smelled his cologne, the same since day one.

“You never changed it.” She whispers in his ear, kissing his sensitives spots. “You did not change…”

At this point he’s not sure if she’s speaking of his cologne or all the little things that made him love her more than anything. “Never.” He simply replies lowly, curling his fingers into her dark and soft hair. She was intoxicated by him and when she curled up against him, Aaron released his breath, allowing him to finally enjoy this time with her. They always used to have naps like this when she used to come at his place to spend some time with them. But then had never kissed before, because they both didn’t want ruin to their friendship.

It’s only an hour later he woke up, carefully picking her up and making his way to the bedroom. She was so precious and seeing her hurt made his heart breaks because Emily didn’t deserve it. At this very moment Aaron realized all he wanted was to care of her, and be here for her. He then quickly fell asleep next, not wanting to think about it now.

•

Emily woke up in the middle of the night because of the usual pain in her body. She was used to it, it has been a few months but her doctors were thinking it was normal, that she needed a lot of time to recover. She quickly got up and made sure not to wake him up, he looked so peaceful. On her way to the bathroom Emily realized how lucky she got, she didn’t expect Aaron to come over and especially in Paris. They hadn’t always been this close but after Foyet and Doyle, their relation grew up very quickly. They both had their traumas and stories and having each other definitely helped them recover mentally, their bodies were still bruised but with time it was easier to accept it. However Emily wasn’t sure she was ready to show her news scars to Aaron, even if she knew he wouldn’t mind because he had his owns, and she had been the one helping him accept them.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear him arrive behind her. It’s only when she felt his bare torso against her back and his arms curling around her that she shivered, softly turning her head to look at him.

“Why are you up sweetheart ?” He whispered to her ear, making her shiver one more time. “Is everything alright ?”

“Yeah, we should go back to bed don’t you think?” She turned in his embrace, slowly kissing him. It was a new sensation, something she had wanted to know since day one when they met. She still wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do, but they were here together for now and it’s all what mattered.

He guided her to the bed, helping her so she could take his arm instead of her cane. And when she curled up against him none of them spoke, because they wanted to appreciate the moment, tangled together in Paris, the city of love. She listened to his heart beats, noticing how relaxed he seemed and he just looked at her, playing with her hair.

“Does it change something ?” She whispered shyly, unable to look at him, unable to be disappointed if he was telling her otherwise than what she wanted the most. “Between us?”

The seconds he took to answers were the longest ever. “No, it just changes in a better perspective. If that’s what you want.” He replies with a soft voice, kissing the top of her head.

“I do. Do you ?”

“Yes.”

She smiled against his torso, trying to get as close as she could from him. For years she had been in love with him but always thought it would be unprofessional. So she tried to set her barriers so neither of him or her would be hurt by something they couldn’t have.

“Since the first day we’ve met, I always had a soft spot for you.” He confessed, knowing she would understand. Back in times he was still married to his high school sweetheart but Emily had made something fo his heart, she was different, and everything about her turned him on.

“And now you have a soft spot for me?” She lifted her up a bit so they could look at each other. He nodded simply, pressing his lips against her, feeling already the desire grows inside his body.

She definitely felt it too because her eyes went wide for a second. She softly chuckled, pressing soft kisses on his neck and torso. He closed his eyes, sighting. “Don’t make me want you more than I already want sweetheart..”

She traced some circles over his torso, not stopping what she was doing, making him shivers, definitely feeling his hardness against her core. She wanted him so bad, they had been waiting too long and tonight they would make love for the first time, showing each other how much loved they needed to be.

“I want you.” She simply said in between kisses.

“Fuck.” He groaned as he felt her fingers curled around his shaft. He couldn’t wait more and slowly pinned her on her back, trying to move carefully so he wouldn’t her hurt. The look over her face made him know she didn’t care because she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

“Make love to me Aaron.”

It was almost a pleading and how could Aaron Hotchner could turn her down when he was dying for her. “I’ll make you come so many times you won’t be able to walk for real sweetheart.” his voice low and dark, his eyes turning darker they originally were, his whole body reacting too much at the sight of her against him.

They slowly made love that night, ending curled up naked again each other. Aaron was rubbing her back with his hand, unable to find sleep, it had been too extraordinary. She was perfect. And he knew that no matters what, it was better for them to be extraordinary together than ordinary appart.

“Come home with me.” He whispered, covering her so she would get cold. “Come back to DC to Jack and I.”

She simply nodded, almost fast asleep and Aaron couldn’t help but smile, only realizing that without this Italian bastard he would still be in DC, with his feelings and frustration buried inside of his heart. He owed Dave a good one.

•

Back in DC, the team was having some time off waiting for another psychopath to come out. As he poured some coffee for him Rossi looked over to JJ who seemed particularly happy.

“What’s going on that make you so happy?” He gave her a cup, the blonde smiling to him with this I-have-a-good-feeling.

“Did Hotch left for Paris ?” She just asked ta randomly, knowing he knew the truth.

Rossi eyed her, almost forgetting this whole office was full of profilers. He shrugged at her, trying to figure out how he could get away from this and cursing Hotch for making him promise not to tell everyone. “I don’t know, why?”

“Oh come on Rossi!” She chuckled. “We all know he went there and even bet on it, you’re the only one who didn’t participate and we’re about to close it, so if you could just say yes we would be really happy.”

And as she told so, the Italian looked over her shoulder to see that Morgan, Penelope, Reid and even Alex were eyeing on them, waiting for his answer. “You’re definitely not taking this from young lady!”

And he left before she could convince him otherwise so.

“Well, I told you he wouldn’t say a word.” Derek said when she came back to their desks, looking disappointed. “He’s a grave, and loyal, even with the best scotch bottle he wouldn’t have said a word.”

“I’m sure Bossman really went to Paris, nobody saw the signs or am I the only one to noctice?” Pen added, looking too joyful and involved in this story.

“Signs? Like what ?” JJ asked with curiosity.

“Hotch is very secret we all know this. But since Emily had been transfer to Paris, he’s acting different. He has this little hope in the eyes whenever his cell phone rings and sometimes when he walks in the corridor thinking no one is watching him, he looks at the pic we took last year, when Emily was still in DC. And I’m not even talking about all the times they were flirting with each other, pretending we were being paranoid and saying that nothing happened. He had been in love with her since day and the only person who didn’t know it was Emily herself.” She recited quickly, not bothering to speak very high. “Did I tell you what I saw 6 months ago when we were at the bar in Dallas ?”

“You’re about to tell us baby girl…” Morgan teased her, all of the members listening while Rossi was watching them from his office, apparently speaking on the phone.

“You have to come back. I’m serious, I always forget how brilliants these profilers are.” he said to the phone, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Seriously, get you ass here and tell them the truth.”

All he heard was two laughs from the other side side of the line.

“These kids are going to kill me I swear on my nonna’s head.” He mumbled fo himself before hanging up.

[internetreadingpanda]

April 11, 2024

dear moon, my drinking buddy,

Isn't it weird how I start writing about all the best things of my life when they come to an end? And I never thought I would start writing to you again but here I am, after two years, ranting about life (yes there is this girl and she is magical).

So for two years, I've been living a strange yet wonderful life. I met so many new people, cried for a few, laughed a lot, went on dates, and worked my ass off at a debt collection company, but the point here is that in two years I met the most amazing human beings along with the unbearable pain and those people helped me get through it. Nothing I can say will ever be able to appropriately appreciate them.

The problem I have right now is not really a problem, it's just a girl. On 8th March it was Mahashivratri, and like a random Friday, I woke up sad. It was Moksha Day 02 and we were supposed to attend this fest in NSUT; when I say WE, I mean Me, Nikhil, and Aakash. However, in the morning Nikhil called and informed me that he is not coming and I'll have to go with Aakash because he is participating in some speed dating thingy and he needs moral support. I got frustrated and did not wanna go because you know it is Aakash, he's annoying at times but I knew this is the only fest I'll be going to because I have this shit job to focus on so I decided to let it be, it is just about a day. I reached Nikhil's place and I told him how he was such a bastard for not coming along.

Do you remember how I said this girl is magical, now here comes the magic (you won't get it but it'll make sense later) when we are in the metro and Aakash shows me the Instagram account of this girl named (let's call her) Omen and he asked me if I would like to talk to her and I was like we'll see.

We reached the college, friendless, feeling left out but still there was a sense of excitement, a feeling that something good will happen, I won't be me today, I'll change. We went for the speed dating thingy and it went down into flames for him. My man doesn't know how to speak to a woman. Moving forward, he told me he wants to ask a girl out and I was like just go and speak to someone but he was just too scared. Near the food stall, I saw a girl and I was like I wanna talk to her. She was so pretty with her crop top and tangled hair. So we waited there, for the right moment. The moment never came but magic happened and Omen arrived, that too, out of nowhere. Can you believe it????? What sort of a coincidence is this????? She just ran into us and she took us with her. I was experiencing this kind of human interactions for the first time where these college kids are making friends this easily and I was so intrigued by it. So we went along with her to find the rest of her friends. It was a hassle to look for other people in that crowd and desperate Aakash could not resist but ask if there are any girls in her group and Omen was like yeah but she has a boyfriend. The moment Omen finished the sentence, her girlies arrived and I looked at her for the first time and all I saw was poetry. The faded color of her hair, wrists filled with bracelets as if they conceal a secret, her fingers had all the classy rings as if she is planning some sorcery which is somehow correct because Omen introduced us and she said she's pursuing BA and Black magic from DU. I was like WHAAAAATTT???? Let's name her Ameera because the meaning of her name is Indian Princess and that's what exactly she is, a princess. She said that and a friend of her interrupted between us ( I hate guy friends).

Aakash and I looked at each other and we both had the same thought: SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND. By the number of guy friend she has, it was impossible to find who is the main guy so we were judging her every interaction and based on the pattern of physical touch we would predict who is the guy and FINALLY a guy won. His name was Jacob and he was just THERE like all the time.

Anyway, I realized there is nothing that can happen between us but I was really fascinated with the Black magic that she told me about so I was curious to know more, that's why I stayed (I swear I stayed for the black magic only). We were in the campus, clicking pictures, and they were laughing on weird jokes which I found really weird that's why I maintained some distance from them because obviously my humor would make them cry. I found a batman mask and I wore it, suddenly everyone started looking at me. Stupid things I do to gain attention, but I liked it, they were curious to know what's behind the mask. Even Ameera clicked pictures of me with that mask on and even if I take the batman mask off there's still gonna be a mask because I lied to them, I lied how I am in NSUT, I lied about my schools, my friends and everything. I told them what they wanted to hear and the plan was just to enjoy the fest with them and never show them my face again but I don't know what kind of a magic she has done on me that I am craving her every second and it sucks it sucks so bad that I feel ridiculous to be alive for someone's attention.

By the evening, I couldn't bear there jokes so we slowly took the exit from that group of friends without even thinking about Ameera. The concert started and the artist came on the stage, everyone is hooting and I and Aakash are running towards the spot for the best view and that moron took us at the back. The weather was just like my skin, cold and dusky, someone would wanna eat it. I was thinking how, this music fest will end and I'll return to my boring life, where I have to work in the night shifts and play cricket in the day with two week-offs which I spend with some household chores.

So I made a decision, I will enjoy. I will go deep in the crowd for the best view, I will kiss random strangers and I will dance with my friends. With that decision I ran into the crowd and found a perfect spot to vibe. I lifted Aakash on my shoulders and enjoyed the most. But still there was a sense of emptiness, I don't know why, it was just there and then again the magic happened. Naman (Ameera's bestfriend) bumped into us and took us with them. I clearly refused because they all are really weird. He didn't even acknowledge my refusal and took us both. Then there was the whole group of friends, the lover, the best friend, the jealous angry bird, the rival in love and what not. Then there was she, I won't be exaggerating f I say I am writing this with tears in my eyes because I knew this will happen, that evening was so precious that it haunts my soul to realize there will never be a moment like that. And even if there will be a moment like that, she won't be there. What is it if not a curse? To have her seen roaming under the same sky with people who are not me.

Aakash lifted me on his shoulders and Ameera made a video of that where she called out my name and I was like HEYYY!! I went up to her and asked could you please send me this video and she said sure and took my number. I was so happy because I got one picture clicked, just one and in that moment I realized why friends are important and especially good friends because your lovers don't come to click your pictures while you are being a complete weird-ass in a music festival.

Then Omen suggested we should go deep in the crowd (from where we came) so we all sort of got in a trail and followed it till we were in the middle. All that time she was really close to Jacob, and I accidently touched her shoulder and I apologized, to which she said why on earth would you be sorry for that?? its okay?? The weird part here is, I usually don't do this; it's just with her. They all vibed with the artists, there pretty enlightened face and weird pictures got clicked. I was still maintaining a distance because I knew I don't belong to them. Then again the magic happened, Ameera came up to me and asked "why are you so depressed?"

I nodded my head and tried to speak but she looks so pretty that I did not know if I should waste a second telling her about my feelings or just use it wisely to admire her because I am never gonna see her again. So I remained silent and smiled. She took my hand and danced with me, in front of her friends (those lovers, rivals, besties, jealous birds) and they all hyped us up. Perhaps they were right when they said a woman makes a man attractive because nobody noticed me until she was there twirling me with the sweet melody, where my world actually spinned.

Later, Jacob also came in to dance with her, all of a sudden and he gave me the phone to click a picture of them and the way he did that was not very "could-you-please-click-a-picture-of-us-?" of him so I handed over the phone to Aakash just to show that I am not gonna do that because I am not like you people I cannot stay around her knowing she is not mine and still keep a hope that one day something bad will happen to her and she'll realize my worth?? Nah.... We don't do that here. I will bleed till death for her, in secret, but I will never ask her to come back.

Damn- I made it sound a little too cringe.

After that, Aakash asked Ameera if Jacob is her boyfriend and she laughed it off saying I don't have any boyfriend. Now I got the green signal to make any move. Aakash might not know how to speak to the love of his life but he clearly knows all the bro codes.

I always wanted to lift a girl on my shoulders during a concert (it was on my fuck-et list) and I gathered all my courage to ask her this and she said yes. In a few moments she was on my shoulders, my head between her thighs and I could feel how I do not wanna put her down. I did not know it was last two songs of the night and the concert came to an end. The crowd started leaving and she was still up there and I was like what now? can I take you home like this ? please?

Now there was no music, just a few friends, her and I. The energy she gives in unmatchable. You cannot cage her, you cannot ask her to be yours, you'll have to be hers. She who moves like a river, how can you even think about controlling her? You gotta surrender in front of her and use her flow to move along. I mean, she was literally running here and there and I did not feel like catching her. I enjoy looking at her too much that I don't even need her to love her. She asked me if we wanna hangout with her for a while and I wanted to say no because I knew it'll harm me (which it did) but I just said yes because the warmth and the flirtatious energy her words carry are magical.

We went to a cafe, followed by her few friends (inc. Jacob). She sat by my side and I could feel all the eyes were on us and I loved how Aakash was completely a part of her group now and they can't really talk bad about me because my man is there to defend plus he got me so much useful information (we love male friendships). She showed me pictures we clicked today, she told me how she has friend zoned almost everyone on this planet. Which I somehow knew because you can look at her and see she's being admired and boys are gonna love her and she is not someone who would commit so yeah I was so fucked.

I enjoyed talking to her so much that I lost track of time. It got late and I decided to take the pink metro line because Ameera has the same and I thought I would talk to her and it'll be just us but but but no, a friend decided to join us. The worst partis, I can't even show my frustration. However, luckily, he vanished mid-way somewhere and I got happy again but then, unfortunately, her another friends group bumped into us????? WHAT IS THIS HAPPENING?? CAN"T A GUY SIMPLY TALK TO THIS ONE GIRL HE LIKES??

She met all of them and when I say ALL I mean eight to ten human beings. During the interaction her station arrived and that's when I, out of nowhere, expressed how a little confused I am for my station since I don't travel via pink line and she said fine I'll come with you. In that moment, I got embarrassed because her friend knew that I am playing and maybe he also knew that she's playing along too because nobody gets confused for two metro stations???!! So he gave her a look, that's all I know and we reached my metro station. She clicked a picture of us on the reflection over the metro' gate. She asked me if I am coming tomorrow and I said I will because you want me to but tomorrow might not be that fun since we've already reached the peak of all the things I wanted to do. She refused and told me how there's so much left to explore. I did not believe her, at all. But now that I look back and think I see how she was so right, she has always been so right.

Love&Lights

Yushie♡

[moonogre]

Hello T! I would like to write to you with good news, if I can remain coherent enough.

It’s another absurd summer Friday in Montreal. My cousin J touches down for the first time in the city after the sky bursts open with the heaviest showers from the season. When I see J at the bus terminal I burst into tears, which I am prone to doing when I am often overcome with positive emotions. We swap tales: J tells me about an eight hour pedestrian lay over in New York City that is a skin crawling fever dream of grimy labrynthian metros, super sized rats, and escape routes predicated on the kindness of random strangers. They had also narrowly avoided some manner of altercation at Jamaica Station involving panhandlers and cocaine. My story is that I hadn’t finished tidying the apartment for their arrival because a last minute first date had devolved into a tousled half day of bed pleasures. My latest lover had left and came back and I had mostly tried to flirt my way past the strange things I revealed about myself over sweet cocktails and hand rolled pasta in my neighbourhood watering hole: how I had moved around a lot as a child, how my family had succumbed to the strange collective hypnosis of a religious order, how they had came focus on my quirks to an abusive extent, how my mother had hit me for the umpteenth and final time before I had pushed her down the stairs, and how all that business had come to an end only after that. We had laughed and I tried to assure her that I’m more sweet than creepy and it works despite my knife collection, shibari paintings and preserved organ specimens.

B picks up J and I and we go to a place where we can drink cocktails from a golden swan. We holler and laugh over mounting absurdities: are we meant to dress in leather for a fetish party we had been invited to tomorrow? Is B having another threesome— his second in a fortnight— with a charming gentleman that looked the splitting image of Mac DeMarco? We drink tequila in B’s jeep which has been affectionately termed the “car bar” for the evening. We go to another location: a basement speakeasy filled with smoke and hot with all the dancers sweating it out to disco. Our bartender looks like a runway model and makes us drinks: B has a Rusty Prick, J has an Apple a Day and I ask for “a fruity cocktail that is perfect for a basic bitch,” which turns out to be something sweet and delicious. We dance and are joined by a gaggle of girls, and one makes eyes at me and tells me that we should twerk together all night and make men buy us drinks. I laugh and my phone is dead, as per usual, and I cannot take her number; which is a shame because of our escalating flirtations. Her friends take J and B and I to another hidden bar within the speakeasy that is a tiny affair and there are hundreds of eucalyptus bundles handing from the ceiling. We are five rounds of tequila shots deep when we decide that it’s time to call it a night: during our hasty exit we run into B’s threesome prospects and I bend over cackling from the enjoyable stupidity of the night. We can’t leave now, so we go back in and I tell B that I am here to babysit this threesome into existence. There is a man break dancing and waving around a cane. Another man moved to me on the dance floor and holds me in his arms and whispers that he thinks I am the one for him and that I won’t ever break his heart and I laugh and agree despite knowing that none of these things are true: this is a ploy to get me, J, B and B’s potential bedfellows free alcohol. I am a lesbian and have no intention on remembering anything about this man past my letter to you. B sees this all unfold and laughs at me from across the room, and rescues me when my dance partner becomes too insistent in his necking, which may have been fine had I been awarded with the drinks I had asked for. But they never came.

B makes good progress getting to know the folks for the ménage-a-tois. J and I stumble back outside and I insist we retire for the evening. I abandon B to his machinations. J and I cackle the whole way home.

We miss you. We love you. We are happy! We promise 🥰

[ladyaislinn]

Rufus Sewell, metro uk 2019.

Question & Answer

Can you do any magic tricks? RS: I used to have a magic trick which involved a bit of fag ash. I’d drag it out as a last-ditch attempt to get the attention of a girl I was trying to impress. It involves depositing a small amount of ash about her person and then revealing it later on – hey presto – as if it had just arrived there. I don’t remember how I did it. I never did it sober.

Do women find being covered in cigarette ash irresistible? It was slightly more successful than you’d imagine but not very much.

Did you have a nice time making The Illusionist? Yes, surprisingly, seeing it’s the sixth film I made in a row in Prague. After months on end there, the announcement ‘we’re filming it in the fabulous historical city of Prague’ didn’t have me leaping for joy. Once I got over the shock of having that ridiculous beard glued to my face every day, it was enjoyable

Have you got any tourist tips about Prague for our readers? You’re picked up by someone speaking English, you go to work where everyone speaks English and then you get dropped back off at the hotel where everyone speaks English, so you become lazy and don’t see the city. After doing six films there, I only learned the words for ‘beer’ and ‘horse’ and I’ve forgotten the word for ‘horse’. When I was doing The Illusionist, I cleaned up my act and concentrated more on the architecture than the bars.....

[swirlngthghts]

Sep 2

Brain Spill:

Reflecting my relationship, and how to make ours better.

We had a huge fight on Friday, during dinner I didn’t want to talk about it. I focused on my food, and my bgm to him talking was him nagging and telling me off about how everytime we fight he feels like I am very hostile towards him everytime we fought. I didnt understand why he had to act that way because the restaurant was closing at 9pm and by the time we got our food there was only 30 mins left and all I wanted to do was finish my food before the restaurant closes. We had a long walk towards Da’an forest park and had a very long talk about everything. I felt super overwhelmed and I didn’t really understand what he is saying towards the end. There were two points I remember from the convo;

1. He doesn’t compare me to anyone, as for me I have people I compare him to, either it’s people from my past relationships, or my girl friends boyfriends, etc. So this is unfair to him.

Tbh, I know I do it, and I try not to compare, but it’s hard not to. Like my coworker said, it’s like eating nice sushi, and not being able to go back to regular sushi. I mean, this is over-simplifying it A LOT, but it makes so much sense, I am trying to see past it, and I definitely need more time to figure out how to cope with it or see past the first stage.

2. He mentioned when I talk to him, I am very discouraging and very hostile towards him. This is a first. He wants me to encourage him more, and its hard for me to do so.

I told him what I’ve been feeling satisfied about, and I wanted to write down why I am not feeling taken care of and really think about the reasons behind it.

1. Sending me home: We’ve been dating for four months, and he’s never offered to take me home, or escort me home. So he doesn’t know where I live. He doesn’t even know where my home is. I live like 15 mins away from taipei city hall by bus. And sometimes on metros, I ask him to stay with me on the metro till my stop. It is probably 10-15 mins further than his stop. I had asked him several times, almost every time we take the metro, but never once did he do it. Sometimes it’s late, sometimes I am super tired and sleepy. Sometimes I just wish he could spend more time with me since my commutes are always longer than his from where we hang out and most of the times I get home later than he does. Like he literally has the time to shower and lay in bed by the time I arrive home, so I never understood why cant’ he spend an extra few minutes with me. He mentioned before he couldn’t come upstairs so why would he take me home. Sometimes its just about the thought behind it. Like, I’m not asking you to do it everyday, I ask every time now because it never happened and I want to see if he will be willing to. And… do you expect to enter a girls house everytime you send her home…? umm… isn’t it very normal for the guy to take the girl home safely after a date. I know he doesn’t have a car, so maybe even riding a few metro rides with me would be nice, but yea, he is just not willing to.

2. Not appreciating my efforts and my ideas. I gave him an example of when the time I realized the importance of it and the feeling it gave the other person and how appreciated it made me feel. I told him about this one time in university when Bernard played this song and I was like omg I love this song and he said: “Yea you showed it to me.” And I said omg you remember and he said “I remember, I remember everything someone else recommended or showed me”. So that stuck with me till today and after that day I tried to remember what other people has showed me or introduced to me so I don’t take it for granted. I noticed he often thinks a lot of them are his ideas, or he just doesn’t recognize the efforts that go behind it. You may say I’m petty and I am.

I have been reflecting what he said and I think omg maybe I am toxic asf. Like this isn’t the first time I’ve had this feedback, but i think I am already very very understanding to him, he also gives me a lot of comfort and makes me feel secure in the relationship, but idk, I want kids in latest two to three years so I need someone that can show me he is ready and can protect me NOW!!!!

Anyways, I am just did an AMH test and I hope my ovaries are healthy and everything is.

[rygoespop]

The King of Street Fighters: Terry vs Akuma (Chapter 18)

Terry: So, you wanna test my strength, do you Akuma?

Akuma: Yes, prove me that you are strong

Terry: Tch, I had my fights with Geese before

Akuma: Geese? Now that’s a name I haven’t heard of in years

Akuma began to have a flashback to the time where Geese showed up and interfered his fight with Heihachi Mishima (Yes I am aware that events that Akuma remembered was in Tekken 7, now Street Fighter 6 has yet to add a Guest Character from the Tekken universe in the game in the future, so I’m just using Tekken 7 as a reference, so go along with the story)

Terry: So, ya ready?

Akuma: I’m ready, ready yourself! *gets in a stance*

Terry: Hey come on!

Akuma began to throw Punches to Terry

Terry: *stumbles* Is that all? I’m impressed

Akuma: Show me what you got

Terry: Power Wave! *uses Power Wave on Akuma*

Akuma: *stumbles* Weak, but impressive

Terry: Power Dunk! *uses Power Dunk*

Akuma: Goshoryuken! *uses Goshoryuken to counter*

Soon, both the Power Dunk and Goshoryuken clash, causing both Terry and Akuma to slide back

Akuma: Well, it’s time we finish this! *prepares his move, Wrath of The Raging Demon* Die 1000-

Terry: Buster Wolf! *uses Buster Wolf to stop Akuma and defeat him*

Akuma: Ugh aaaaaaugh! *defeat*

Terry: Phew, that was.. Intense

Akuma gets back up

Akuma: I am impressed with you, Legendary Wolf

Terry: Heh, thanks for that

Akuma: And with that, you have earned my respect *walks away*

Ryu: Hey! Where are you going?

Akuma: Off to see an old friend..

Terry: Friend?

Ryu: What are you talking about?

Akuma soon jumped up and left Nayshall

Terry: Well that was… Odd

Guile: Yeah, we may never know about Akuma

Ken: Well, time to head back to Metro City

Juri: Ah, before you get to Metro City, how about dropping me and Ed off in London?

Ed: Me and you?

Juri: Yeah, we need a talk

Guile: Very well

Soon, the Street Fighters, along with Juri, Ed, and Terry all head back to the Carrier Byron Taylor and the Carrier sailed off to London first

Ed: Soon, what do you want Juri?

Juri: You and I are gonna form a team

As the Carrier Byron Taylor arrived at London, Juri and Ed got off

Juri: Thanks for the ride

Chun-Li: You may have helped us Juri, but remember, we got our eye on you and Ed

Juri: Whatever!

Ed: So, what do you wanna talk about?

Juri: You’ll see

Juri and Ed left

Guile: Now then, back to Metro City

Later, the Carrier Byron Taylor arrive at Metro City, and the Street Fighters and Terry got off

Terry: Phew, that was an intense tournament, but I’m glad it’s all over

Guile: Indeed

Cammy: So, what do you say we have a drink to celebrate our victory again?

Terry: I like your thinking, but where?

Rashid: We got a surprise

Terry: A surprise?

Ryu: Follow us

Soon, Terry followed the Street Fighters to the surprise, and to Terry’s surprise, there was a Pao Pao Cafe built in Metro City

Terry: Is that, the Pao Pao Cafe?

Guile: Yes it is

Terry: I thought it was exclusive to South Town, how did you?

E. Honda: The people of Metro City knew you saved us and the city from Shadaloo, so we thought of building a Pao Pao Cafe here in Metro City

Manon: As a token of our gratitude to you

Terry: Dawh, thanks guy

Dee Jay: So, how about we all go inside and celebrate?

Terry: I like your thinking Dee Jay!

Soon, Terry and the Street Fighters all head inside to celebrate in the newly opened Pao Pao Cafe in Metro City, all except Ryu and Ken

Ken: Hey Ryu, you seem quiet, what’s wrong?

Ryu: Ken, I felt like there was something we missed doing

Ken: What?

Ryu; You know what I’m talking about

Ken: What are you- Oh I see what you mean? You wanna fight like old times

Ryu: Like old times my friend

Ken: I know where we can settle this

Scene cuts to the Macho Ring, as Ryu and Ken enter the ring

Ryu: Ready when you are Ken, come at me with everything you got!

Ken: I’m on it buddy!

Ryu: Shoryuken!

Ken: Hadoken!

Scene cuts to black as Ryu and Ken’s fight continued

But where did Akuma go?

Scene cuts to Kenya, at Elena’s house where she and Mai were having tea

Mai: This tea, is amazing, what is it?

Elena: It’s herbal healing tea, it replenishes your strength

Mai: I see

Soon, came a knock on the door

Elena: I’ll get it

Elena heads over to the door and opens it

Elena: Hello?

Akuma: Hello, old friend

Elena: I knew you came to visit me after all these years, come on in, we’re having tea

Scene cuts to black

To be continued

[sealifewatersportsdubai]

How it is Possible To Save Money As Tourist in Dubai

We generally associate Dubai with luxury, adventure and excitement. We also feel that it is costly to have a vacation there. Would it not be wonderful if we know a few tricks to save money during our vacation in Dubai? We are exactly going to do such today. We will discuss a few tips to save money as a tourist in Dubai.

Plan an off-season vacation

Dubai's pinnacle travel season is between October to March, when the weather conditions are at its ideal and the city is humming with action. Yet, the summer months are the best opportunity to visit if you're on a budget. You'll track down extraordinary arrangements on hotels, lower airfares and discounts at top malls and attractions. Summer is likewise the ideal opportunity for the year's second greatest shopping festival, Dubai Summer Surprises, which is normally held during July and August.

Travel in public transport

You can set aside some money by jumping on the Dubai Metro, which covers key region of the city including the airport and well known vacationer destinations. Most significant malls like Mall of the Emirates, City Centre Deira and Dubai Mall are along the metro route.

The most affordable choice is to buy a 'Nol' card, which can likewise be utilized to get to the tram in Dubai Marina, the Palm Jumeirah monorail and public transports that arrive at each area in the city. Nol cards can be purchased and topped up at all metro and bus stations, and a few malls and stores across the city.

Stay cost-effectively

Close by the numerous luxury resorts and hotels are a few more reasonable hotel choices. Pay special attention to Airbnb arrangements or hotel apartments in key areas, particularly if you're going as a family or gathering and need some more space. Condos or villa accommodations typically accompany a completely stocked kitchen, so you could in fact cook or request takeout to get a good deal on feasts. Moreover, pick a more reasonable hotel outside the downtown area that is situated on the metro line for additional savings. Fortunate for explorers, Dubai is home to numerous wallet-accommodating hotels with advantageous admittance to the city's best attractions, so you never feel left out. Make certain to likewise look at hotel deals for a few fantastic proposals for yourself and the family.

Dine on a budget

You can experience Dubai's blend of cultures in the Karama, Bur Dubai and Deira neighbourhood, where a line of hole-in-the-wall bistros and restaurants offer flavorful chomps for just AED10. Our top choices incorporate Pakistani fare at Ravi's and Iranian kebabs at Al Ustad Special Kebab. Mall food courts likewise concoct cheap food and tidbits that won't place a scratch in your wallet.

If you're staying at a condo with cooking facilities, stock up on basics at a nearby supermarket, where you can likewise get a few snacks to push you along as the day progresses.

Buy a Dubai Pass

A little exploration can reveal a perpetual series of discounts and deals for food and drinks, spas, amusement parks and traveler encounters. Plan your fantasy bargains centered agenda with Dubai Pass and get pre-paid, discounted admittance to a portion of the city's best attractions, tours and touring packages.

You can likewise track down deals on sites and applications, for example, Groupon, Cobone or The Entertainer, which lists many 2-for-1 discounts at restaurants, spas and more.

Shop with Duty Free

Dubai International Airport's Dubai Duty Free has developed into one of the greatest travel retail administrators on the planet, offering designer stock, aromas, beauty care products, gadgets, food and toys. There are a lot of exceptional discounts and packages offers across different item classifications that can be an extraordinary deal in contrast with what you'd pay outside the airport.

The airport likewise has a unique segment for vacationers to recuperate VAT on their costs in the UAE, so remember to keep your shopping bills and food charges ready to get a tax refund before you leave the country.

Moreover, if you wish to enjoy water sports paying at an affordable price do contact us at Sea Life Watersports. We are a reputable water sports rental organization arranging water sports to the entire satisfaction of our clients.

[cato-of-blamesociety]

32 Weeks Tracklist/Song Picks pt. 4 (weeks 25-31)

How/Why did I choose/chose to use the songs I did

*Full breakdown, updated in real time(weekly)*

25. Mood 4 Eva x Beyonce ft. Jay-Z, Childish Gambino, Oumou Sangare

Yooo!! We have arrived to the final videos of the project. I don’t know how you feel, I hope that you feel…well idk understood?? If you are of my flesh and blood family, I hope you feel heard, validated, celebrated, and overall loved. If you are a follower, I hope you feel connected to me and my work. If you are a person who just happened to stumble upon this…(yeah right), but if so 😉, I hope you visit, and revisit all the aspects of this project and find that you are just like me; human AF!! I had to do one for my mama y'all. So this will sort of a shout out to film by Beyoncé, “Black is King”. Now for those that don’t know, or haven’t had a chance, the movie is basically like it’s own telling of “The Lion King” but with amazing colors, outfits, nod to spirituality, highlights of life, and more. I fell in love with the story/narrative that we are “Simba” finding our way, and even though we get lost, our ancestors, loved ones, and elders are guiding us, covering us, and wishing the best for us. On a another level, I view it as Beyoncé's love letter to her son, but I also interpret it as a metaphor that the Divine Black Goddess(not Beyoncé) but the spirit of life/love/nurture/nature, BIG feminine energy is here for me and always has been. Each visual has amazing imagery, and the music is phenomenal. The African artists, and influences make the album feel like its our DNA. With that being said, I knew after writing to “Cuff It”, I would return to another Beyoncé track. I was leaning towards something off "Renaissance", "EVERYTHING IS LOVE", or "The Gift". "Renaissance" had so many picks, but really, none that I really attached to, and could write something meaningful. "EVERYTHING IS LOVE", well….actually, never mind that for now. We will be back to talk about it in about 5 more posts (I really didn’t think I was going write to anything on that album). “The Gift” had so many bangers. Initially I attempted to create something to “BIGGER”. The actually song moves me to tears when I think about; how much my wife does, and more recently, how I’m endlessly exhausted being in this process. I hummed some sh*t, but nothing actually stuck. “Find Your Way Back” was another that I could freestyle to, but nothing that I thought I use for #32weeksMixtape. OMG…”Already”!!?? I couldn’t…I just couldn’t disrespect that mf like that haha. “Waters”, “My Power”, and “Scar” are all inviting but for whatever reason, “Mood 4Eva” just felt more like me. As soon as I gave myself to idea of it, the words came to me. I knew it would be about my amazing mother. She has gotten even more full of grace over the years, more understanding, and I would dare say, more loving. Anyway, Mama, I highly doubt you will ever see this, but I want to say it again just in case. I love you so much. I sincerely appreciate your guidance, your light, and commitments to the development of your children.

26. Calling x Metro Boomin ft. Swae Lee, NAV, A Boogie wit da Hoodie

Sooo, just a reminder and to avoid redundancies, please 👉🏾check out the blog posts for weeks 17-24, specifically week22👈🏾 to get background info on my search throughout the "METRO BOOMIN PRESENTS SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDERVERSE SOUNDTRACK". I want to jump right in. "Calling" was written after my youngest sister, Neisha, confided in me about a dilemma. I want to say(can't remember for certain) she was very embarrassed or at least wanted to keep that dilemma confidential. I thought based on prior info, that the situation had changed for her, but basically she made it known that it never did. I wanted her and my other sister, Deonna, that I was one that can always be trusted with any info, because I know the value of being that special ear, and heart for others. That's really what the track is about. The original line opening the verse was; "I'm your brother, your motherf*cking brother...' but I felt that was too aggressive and since it was a spider track, I wanted my children to be able to hear it. When I say, "I truly get it, I get to my core..." it's a reference to understanding how hard it can be to tell the people we love the most, the truth about who we are. For me, it was telling my mom after over 20years of going to church, that I no longer believed /followed Christianity. It was big deal for Mama. She thought she did something wrong but as a person who is seeking truth, and wanting to find freedom in this life, my beliefs and journey took me down a different path. The line about wearing a mask to cover shame...whew chile!! That one carries so much weight. Shame is something we all try to avoid, and as a fellow(rather former) mask wearer, I know when people have those barriers up. We think they protect us(THEY DON'T), but really embracing that shame, or confronting it(by being open, honest, and vulnerable) we learn to let it go. When we let shame go, we become stronger. Gwen Stacy takes off her mask(honest, confronts shame) and it literally saved her and her father's life! As a person who is trying to become a better version of themselves, I recognize that it takes time for folks to attain that level of honesty. Sh*t, there are things I still need time for as well. I think I touch on this in the video description, but, I wanted the video to show Peter B. Parker as the 'brother'. Gwen bonded with him and Miles (and the other spider people) in the previous movie. Peter is the OG, who taught Miles, but in the end, learned from him. He becomes a father, he is a great friend( to even Miguel, who is obviously hurt in ways that can't be seen) and overall when Peter enters the room, you feel the sigh of comedic relief. I see myself as Peter and my sisters as Gwen. Peep the video where I say "I'm the one that you can trust" and it's a quick reminder that Peter has felt the same way Gwen does. At the end of the film, Gwen appears outside of Peter's window...she is literally "Calling" him for help. Deonna and Deneisha, if you see this, I hope you know you can call me WHENEVER, for WHATEVER! I hope you enjoy the visuals and the song!!

27. Rebuke x KAYTRAMINÉ

Ok, so I will attempt to keep this one brief! Going back to phase 1, I lay out how Kaytranada was new to me(week5). Well after writing to "Grey Area", I knew I wanted to use another Kaytranada instrumental. The issue was, I didn't know where to go. I put it on the back burner...and then..some time went by and I find out that Kay and Aminé teamed up for a collaboration album; self-entitled: "KAYTRAMINÉ". Aminé is cold in so many ways. For me, I think his voice and the way is vocals come out to crispy clean get me each time. One of my favorite tracks he did was "Invincible" for the "Into the Spiderverse" Soundtrack. When that song comes on, and I am actively listening...I get goosebumps and teary eyed as f*ck. Needless to say, a full album by him and Kay had me amped. Even the first track "Who He Iz" comes in hot. Kay's production is so catchy, but makes you move, but is always f*cking weird...idk how to describe it. I just know I love it. "letstalkaboutit" is another one that I had on repeat...lets see; here is the last of my favs: "Westside", "Master P", "UGH UGH", and of course "Rebuke". I think "Rebuke" stuck with me due to its lightness. I originally had been in a place (while writing #32weeksMixtape) where I wanted to write more about my wife and I's relationship. That verse ended up in week 17: "Don't Let The Devil". The original opening lines to "Rebuke" were "Giving up? I refuse/I'm not enough? I rebuke/Letting in those types of thoughts will only sink the cruise". I go on a run about the Rugrats movie, Tom(Tommy) Crusie/Nicole Kidman and religion...and then compare our relationship to Bey and Jay....Then something at work or life in general wasn't moving as planned and I really needed to talk to my homies. I outline in the description of "Rebuke | remix" video how for a week no one I contacted picked up, called back, or responded to my texts. I know that seems dramatic, but literally I took that feeling and began writing what now is Week 27; "I been trying to keep a plus sign, but these minuses keep adding up..." Side note: During the process of recording #32weeksMixtape I did have strep. I want to say that's when this verse was written. You can hear the strain/change in my voice on week 20: "RUN | remix". This verse was so much fun. The singing of "f*ck you" just has so much power in it lol. Anyway I hope you enjoy! I hope that the video gets remixed and memed up.

28. Wings x Mac Miller

Before I starting typing this week's blog post, I wanted to go back and revisit week 9's post first. Week 9's message, the song and the post, are fairly identical to this one. At this point you should know I am a big fan of Mac's and still bump is music on a healthy rotation. I mentioned before that "Faces" was very cringy for me but has become sort of a pacifier for my panic attacks of being overwhelmed in this process; seemingly not receiving any recognition for the work/effort/time/vulnerability I put in this project. The intro to "It just doesn't Matter", which is Bill Murray's monologue from the movie Meatballs, makes be tear up each time. The idea that I can do all this work and possibly reach that level of satisfaction I have been searching for (finding financial freedom from the music I create), or remain a broke artist that no one cares about...doesn't even matter. It really has become my mantra when I feel myself judging myself for not getting enough likes/listens/views/f*cking attention for a post or track! "Cato," I tell myself, "none of this sh*t matters anyway!". I then... and please understand this literally happened on the day I released week 28(1/18/24)...write a post on here reminding myself that I am my favorite rapper and that is a huge accomplishment. I then threw on my visuals on my tv and watch the beautiful work I had took time to create. I cried...like ugly cried. But it felt so good to remember what I have done so far. Today(1/19/24), sitting in my car before walking into work, I record a message reminding *myself* that I am dope, and that the validation is from within, not external (added to the aforementioned post). Y'all, I had to release that negative burden! Let me tell you why. Again, 28 was written to remind the homies that them not helping me out/supporting(which is all perceived through my own perspective making this feeling a distorted thought; who knows how they were actually supporting/helping me?) and that I was at the point to say "If you don't/won't/can't be here with me, for whatever reason...i am ok with it. I won't push you, I won't argue, I won't beg. Like I get it, you have other priorities." Soooo...as you recall, week 9 drops, and leading up to that release P passes. I had agreed to continue my project because I know he would appreciate the work. P understood my craft, he knew how dope of a writer I am, just like I know how dope he is. I made it a mission that when I hit week 28, I would dedicate to him. It only makes sense because once he died, that mf song sounded like I wrote it on his personal behalf. So with all that mind, I used as much footage as I could find/that I had/and others sent me. I f*cking cry while putting it all together. I post it, and...wow, crickets! I felt like on social media especially, I wasn't getting any digital love. I thought for sure that this video and subsequent snippets, because of its sentiment would at at least attract more attention because his family and friends would want to see it...right? 🤷🏾‍♂️ At this moment, I was wrong. So back to "It just doesn't matter". I froze in my tracks(1/18/24) and remembered that my brother appreciates this and that's who it was made for. That's when I re-watched my prior videos, starting with week 28. I can get swept up in the addictive feeling of being validated through social media just like the next person. Today, I know to feel what I need to, but then get my ego/pride/self out of the way. I told myself I will not drop another teaser for this video....at least for awhile, so that I can be sure my selfishness of wanting to be recognized as an artist doesn't take away from the fact that a man has died and his family/friends will never be the same. P, I love you. I'm sorry that my hat didn't come soon enough for me to wear it at your ceremony like we talked about. I wore it in the video for you. ~LLP🕊💙💙

29. 2010 x Earl Sweatshirt

So, spoiler alert (not really) I am fairly new to Earl. I never got on board with Odd Future back in the day. I didn't understand the vibe, and felt they were too weird. So far, I regret that narrow-mindedness because I mess with Tyler for real now, and I have (listened to The Internet, Steve Lacy, and Frank Ocean) and realized I missed an era. &lt;;<I just watched "Oldie" and now I get it. That last verse sums it up>> Either way, my intro to Earl I believe came from Mac Miller's Watching Movies. Earl is featured on "I'm Not Real"(one of my favs from that album). I then heard "Wool" I think slide across my Spotify when I had Vince Staples on random. For some reason Earl's line about " Fifties in my pocket falling out like fucking baby teeth..." had me hooked. Earl's feature on Faces: New Faces v2 is what really had me feeling like I needed to check him out seriously. The homie Brandon was also invested in my Earl education. I believe that during the #32weeksMixtape writing era, I did actually vibe through "Sick!". I don't think I had any issues with it. Earl's flow is so strange to me. It lowkey reminds me how Nas' skills are. You think they are going to rhyme a certain way, but then the bar is syncopated, or the rhyme/word you thought they would use doesn't come immediately, or at all! Earl even has this, almost slur type of delivery that I did have to get accustomed too. I got into Frank Ocean about a year and a half ago (I know...leave me alone) and that was hugely due to Dissect Podcast that I have mentioned before. Anyway, the host goes into detail about Earl's perfectly delivered verse on "Super Rich Kids". This was another reminder that I needed to check him out. Back to Sick!, On the Podcast...I can't remember which episode, it could be in the Mac Miller (s9) when they breakdown "2009". They tell the listeners that Earl and other friends of Mac's had made songs in the same manner as 2009. Earl's was 2010. SICK! by itself is fire but given the reason behind the track, and the challenge of attempting to rhyme on a weird Earl beat fired me up to write to 2010. This one is special to me, and I know I say that about all the songs on 32weeks, but this was another one I played for Paris that last day I saw him. He was f*cking with it. I had fun coming up with the string of metaphors...and my favorite one is the lines about going to outer space. I start it off with "on a rocket ship.." heading to build a colony...which is my way of saying B.L.A.M.E. will be what I said it would be. I then relay that to setting a table and even though you may not be here with me right now, it's ok if you join later..."I will save some space for you..." This line really is for Tyson. He really doesn't/didn't believe after all the times I told him, I want him apart of the movement. Take ya time, I have a place for you, and a plate for you [at the table]. "Imma add another leaf[as in add another section to the table to extend/make it longer], to make room for some New Faces. Cause back in '09..." This is what makes love this track. I tie in Mac's New Faces v2 from his Album Faces...which of course features Earl...but I also bring up 09...which is from Mac's Swimming which is why 2010 was inspired...you see the layers...but also notice that in Earl's 2010, and Mac's 2009, they are reflecting on how life wasn't as great, it was darkness before the light and the same relates to me. I was arrested in 2008, and due to how it went down, I was banned from school campus and activities. I couldn't attend my prom or my graduation. So taking all of that frustration and using it to move forward is a form of strength to me. Anyway I hope you enjoy the track and visuals.

30. ADHD x Joyner Lucas

Ok first off, It's been a hell of a week. I have literally felt like sh*t since dropping week29. Like all the symptoms that I list in the song hit me like that morning! Like n*gga, I was sick on my mf day off! On top of that, I am writing this on a Saturday afternoon vs my Friday evening because my younger son also got sick. I express on week 24 how Elijah is energetic af. He never stops moving. When he gets sick though, he is still as a rock, and it f*cking breaks my heart. I hate when anyone in my house gets ill, but Elijah with no energy is just depressing. Today(this morning), my elementary school's basketball team I was coaching, season ended. We made it to the 2nd game of the tournament but didn't win and couldn't move forward. We ended the season with 3W-4L. I really hoped they would push all the way to the championship...there is always next year. Lastly, I have been meaning to find a way to work in updates about weight....I know "Cato why tf would we want to know that??". Truly it's for documentary purposes. I believe I already shared that #32weeksMixtape is just a leg of the process. Next project with 32weeks is the book. Everything that happened in these 32weeks is up to be discussed, my weight included. Around September, I noticed that my weight was going up...slowly but increasing nonetheless. I usually hang around 215lbs as my baseline. My true goal weight is 200lbs(which, may be impossible lol but I refuse to quit). The closet I have gotten to that goal was 207lbs. As we rolled through 2023's cold season holidays, I realized my workout regiment wasn't as consistent and I wasn't giving my all when I did workout. I definitely wasn't getting enough sleep, and my eating/snacking was out of balance. By 1/1/24, I was up to 233lbs. That's a big jump in a small amount of time. I started freaking out the first week of the new year, but then I reminded myself, "We have done this before!" I have. I started to chill with the snacks, getting back to upping my water intake, lowkey ate an apple every morning, and a granola bar for breakfast/morning snack, and have been packing my lunch with filling but low cal foods (i.e. homecooked leftovers(that hasn't changed), carrots + mini naan breads with hummus(delish), and a smaller portion of my salty bbq chips with a fruit cup/applesauce. Today, 2/3/24, I am at 223lbs! Yeah, that's right, I am down 10lbs. The last change I did was actually weighing myself each morning, and recording it. Tracking my weight is like a reminder, "Bro, we have a goal, lets not deviate."

----Ok now back to the music! This song was written when I didn't know what to write. I had already mentioned that in week 25, Joyner's ADHD album is filled with bangers. This one, just had the vibe that pulled me in. The singing I do at the beginning, "I think my pen is like eyes..." wow! That was what came to me quickly. I know I had to use it. I really did shed tears while writing alot of these songs, and the idea like Jay's "Song Cry", where he is telling you he can't see himself crying, so he has to make the song cry for him, is the premise. In the visuals I utilize Master Jiraiya because he is a renowned legendary ninja, who plays a significant role in inspiring his village and his mentee. In the end he writes his last message which is a warning for his village. That to me had me tears. RIP Master Jiraiya. I start the verse by saying, "Maybe it's my nerves, wrapping up these verses. The most I've ever written. Lately, feeling more coerced." This is truly how I felt. I felt like I had given all that I had, and that at this point I am pushing out bullsh*t. But nevertheless, the process is the process. There is a hint about my album to come in the song, "I been talking about magic, alchemy, and how I've changed, love is magic, making gold bars outta spare change". The album is inspired by my favorite novel, but I use the concept to show that we can change our world/life with love and introspection...among other things. The string of lines where I say I'm not trying to make a hit....everything in those lines tell you that type of artist I want to be to you. Allow me to be the soundtrack that drives you. Lastly, I want to end this post with a shout out to Joyner. I still don't know how involved he is with his visuals, but they are so cool. Check out his video for ADHD, and then look at how they made that sh*t. I respect Joyner's hustle out here. To the person reading this right now, I hope you know that you are loved, and I hope you never give up, no matter what your goal is!

31. LOVEHAPPY x The Carters (Beyoncé + Jay Z)

Man...we are one away from being all done! Ok so how to describe what is going on in this song. 🤔Well, let's start with the concept. First off, this truly was the last verse written. I was thinking and reflecting on what instrumental to use. I was playing with some ideas like; Rich Flex x Drake & 21 Savage, Crazy Mood x Grind2Hard Osh'a, East Point Prayer x Vince Staples, like 3 tracks off of 'Kids See Ghosts', and Dreaming of the Past x Pusha T. But then something crazy happened. Just as the week 31's verse says, I was meeting with Tyson. It was a long drive to him but it was worth it. I was able to see his face, chit chat, share some of the new tunes (esp the last track/32). We were discussing the importance of connecting with people and having accountability for what we do. We talked about goals, and the project. I leave, and literally about 1 exit away from home I change the song on my phone(it was clicked into the phone holder on the dashboard). I look up, my exit is coming up and I was about to miss it. Had I been thinking, I would have stayed on the highway and turned around hopping back on the highway at the next exit.---Mind you, there had been a lot of construction on this portion of the highway and so there were a lot of those tall/skinny orange/reflective white cones lining the road. I swerve to make my exit. I turned too hard, and then overcorrected hitting one of those cones. It caused my driver side mirror to close into the the driver's window. The mirror shattered, the casing broke, and there was other slight damage.

The first thing I want to say is I am grateful that I didn't roll the vehicle, hit another vehicle, or injure myself. Here's the sad part that just shows how ridiculous my thinking was. Erin had been reminding me over and over for weeks to stop engaging with my phone while driving. I ignored her warnings. This happens, and I began to freak out. I don't want to let her down, but what I do next was a lame a** move. I began looking up estimates to fix the mirror...because we were supposed to take my car to Chicago for a couples getaway and to see Beyoncé live in concert(Renaissance World tour) like within the next 3 weeks. During my freak out I call her to see where she is. She says she isn't that far. I know that I was supposed to make dinner. I realized that some of the ingredients I needed, weren't in the pantry. I ask her if she could stop and grab some black beans. *I know stupid and hella manipulative*. She denies and tells me to pivot to a different meal. I couldn't tell you what I ended up making. I should have told her right then what happened...but I didn't. Fast-forward, she gets to the house and immediately begins asking what happened. I tell her then and that's how the final verse was thought up. We had a long talk about other areas I was slacking in around the house. The reason was mostly because I was deep in writing, recording, and building the concept of #32weeksMixtape.

I am so grateful that I was able to find a damn near matching full mirror and casing for under $100(and that's with the express shipping), grateful that Big Bro Dave was able to install it for me, and especially grateful that Erin still saw my heart. The line about her saying she would leave me is true. It would either be from me not listening to her(as in taking her warnings for me/her/our safety serious) or for constantly making expensive mistakes that lowkey re-traumatize her. With all the other references to us being like The Carters(week 17 for instance) I knew this verse would be written to a "EVERYTHING IS LOVE" song. There were a few contenders: "SUMMER", "BOSS", "FRIENDS", and "713". I love them all, but the way Jay Z is still lamenting about his mistakes, and tells how he had to make things right, plus the tempo and style of "LOVEHAPPY" had my brain spilling out the lyrics. My favorite lines are the quotes. Those were my takeaways; Listen and apply, just communicate when sh*t happens, make better choices or lose it all(my family or my actual life), and family comes first. I hope you don't make silly, careless, and dangerous choices like I did. I pray that you take care of yourself and live your life fully with a person whom you call your soulmate and the you experience LOVEHAPPYness. If no has told you today, I love you, and always will. Thank you for taking the time to read this. 💙💙💙

[hazygrains]

September 3 – 4, 2022

This trip finally pushed through after planning it for quite a while! We, bisprins, wanted to spend our time together away from the city, but I honestly couldn’t remember how we all ended up agreeing to go to the inflatable island. Can I just say that this was one of the most exhausting yet, at the same time, relaxing trips I had experienced? First off, the weather was already bad, days before this trip. The southwest monsoon being enhanced by the tropical typhoon and some unforeseen circumstances made us almost back out, but screw it, we still pushed through, rain or shine. So the day before our trip, we decided to just meet up at the office. Most of us were scheduled to work from home that day, so we all just went to the office after our shift. We also wanted to meet up with the tech team that was in the office and celebrated our officemate’s birthday.

September 2, 2022 – Friday | Ry‘s birthday celebration + office Friday socials

We spent a few hours bonding with everyone, then around 8 pm, we decided to go ahead and travel to Zambales. On our way out of the office, Ems decided to go out with us and go home. It was funny because we were supposed to just drop her off at her place, but then she asked us where we were going and if she could also come, and we all agreed. We accompanied her to her condo to pack for like 5-10 minutes. It was way too sudden and crazy! We love spontaneity!

We arrived around 2 am at Jhaey‘s place in Zambales. We were all drained from the travel, so after we freshened up, we called it a day. We woke up around 6 am because the time slot we booked for the inflatable island was the earliest, 8 am. We still needed to travel from Zambales to Olongapo, which was like an hour’s drive away. We were all regretting our life decisions at this point. Lol! We arrived past our scheduled time, but the management agreed to move it to 9 am. The weather was gloomy, and it was raining every now and then. The downside of this weather was that the rain turned the sea water brown and murky, and there were trash strewn about. Srsly gross! Anyhoo, we took the Sprinkle pass, and that was an hour access to the floating island. Thank goodness, we took just the hour pass because dannnng, it felt like we were there for so long. We wanted our time to end already. It was fun, though. We all slipped and fell in the water. But yes, never again.

After the exhausting activity, Jhaey brought us to this authentic Korean restaurant somewhere in Subic. We were all famished! And that moment was the highlight of my day. It was by far the best k-restau I’ve ever been to! Super yummy, reasonable prices, and large servings. Can’t wait to go back there! We went back to Zambales after that scrumptious brunch. We caught up on lost sleep, and since it was raining nonstop that day, we decided to just rest, spend time together. We didn’t even bother drinking, but we still played question card games for deeper conversations. And talked about everything and nothing ’til the wee hours.

Our itinerary wasn’t followed due to the weather. We were supposed to try the new pizza place near Jhaey’s and also visit Mapanuepe Lake, but oh well. We just stayed at the beachfront and grabbed lunch/celebrated Marnie‘s birthday before we went back to the jungle. We still made the most of our time, and I was happy to spend my weekend with these beautiful people. ♡

P.S. We had work the next day and most of us called in sick. This trip was definitely one for the books.

The following days after this trip were tough for me and my family. I had an emergency when we were on our way home from Zambales. I went straight to the hospital when we arrived in the metro. Mama’s heart wasn’t doing well, and she was brought to the hospital. She underwent an angiogram procedure, and the doctor suggested doing a bypass operation because she has three clogged arteries. She’s still recovering and is doing somewhat okay now. My siblings and I are still asking for politicians/government’s financial help. A lot has already helped, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Her coronary bypass operation is scheduled for January next year. I hope everything goes well.

[jmreyes9]

"BUT WHERE ARE THE 9?"

A Parable of the 10 Philippine Beauties

By Jesse Reyes 

A certain tycoon in Chicago, a  philanderer, with the initials of B.G., invited 10 beautiful ladies from different provinces of the Philippines including Isabela, Cavite, Laguna, Mountain Province, Pampanga and also from Metro Manila, to come to Chicago, Frank Sinatra's "My Kind of Town".and Carl Sandburg's "City of the Big Shoulders, Hog Butcher for the World, Stacker of Wheat, etc."  This was before President Rodrigo Duterte was elected president of the Philippines.

The ten ladies all gathered together in one group, looking their best (for how often do you get the privilege of being invited to the United States by an American tycoon?!) and met him at his office on the 55th floor of the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower which rises to a height of 1450 ft. and has 108 stories (some of which have never been told!) as stipulated in the invitations.

After interviewing each of them, he gave each lady $10,000 dollars to be spent only at the Oakbrook Mall in Oakbrook, IL, and to limit their shopping to Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom and Tory Burch.  He instructed them to come back to his office after they had spent all the money and show him their “captures"!

So the ten lovely Filipino women were taken to Oakbrook Mall in the tycoon’s limousine.  They then dispersed but with the understanding that they would meet and have lunch at Antico Posto (an Italian restaurant, Antico Posto meaning "The Old Spot" in English).  Unbeknownst to the tycoon was the fact that these ten ladies knew each other and had planned earlier to celebrate the October birthdays of three of the ladies in the group.

After their shopping spree, the ten ladies went to Antico Posto in the Oakbrook Mall and celebrated the birthdays of the three Octoberians and after lunch, sent the youngest lady in the group to go back to B.G., the tycoon, and "tell him that we want to thank him for his generosity, hoping he would get wealthier, so he could invite us again in the future, preferably to New York!”

When the youngest lady arrived at B.G.'s office, the tycoon queried her, "Were there not ten of you ladies that I invited?  But where are the nine?"  He was quite indignant.  ”The nerve they have,” he blurted out in his ire.  "But sir, we were hungry and so we ate lunch at Antico Posto and celebrated the birthdays of three ladies in our group.  Then they sent me to relay their message to you."   And she told him all their good wishes for him!   In a fit of rage, the tycoon picked up a glass ash tray and threw it at the glass window, then keeled over and died of a heart attack.

In the meantime, the nine ladies had loads of fun and laughter during lunch, telling story after story of their shopping adventures and cracking some funny and not-so-funny jokes!   One of them, during the course of their conversation, asked, "What was the name of the guy who invited us and gave us the money?"  Nobody could remember his name!   All of them had instant Alzheimer’s Disease due to a salvo of endorphins that flooded their systems after the fun and laughter and shopping to their hearts' content!

All the ten ladies got married later, some to Filipinos living in the United States who they met or to men they knew back in the Philippines and others to Americans or Asians they met in Chicago.  

And they all lived happily ever after!!!

Note: This parable was written as an adaptation of the story of the ten lepers in the Bible as recorded in Luke 17:11-19, who were healed by the Lord and only one of them came back to thank him.

P.S. The above parable is based on the story of the birthday group of Hinsdale Fil-am that includes: Grace Consignado, Aida Menes, Estelita Abasolo, Nona Tham, Lillian Tuazon, Beth Reyes, Beth Lacson and Emma Carreon.

Written in Chicago, IL.  Posted in FB 2019 and reposted in 2023. Other writings and poems of Jesse Reyes can be found in his blog: anadventurecalledlife.com. Posted in my blog 7/23.