#time to get back on my James Mason bullshit

[megs-1800]

Always have your back

Note: Please as always leave me feedback and any requests

Summary: Everything is going well with you and Mason until your ex starts messaging you and pressuring you to send him money. Mason is the one who cleared all the mess that your ex left behind. How is Mason going to accept you helping your ex again?

Pairings: Mason Mount x Reader

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: Swearing, angst, Fluff and toxic ex

It’s a freezing autumn night, I am sat curled up in my Disney pjs, hair up in a bun, blanket and Netflix on. Mason has a Tuesday night kick off tonight so I know he won’t be home until late. I quickly snap a photo of me curled up and send it to Mason with the caption “wish you were here ;)” then quickly forwarded it up with “good luck my number 7 go out and smash it”. I know he probably cannot reply but I least I text him some encouragement. I then put my phone down and started to cook dinner.

Thats when my Facebook notification binged up, no one ever messages me on FB. My profile is private so it’s not like any fans can message me and all the people I talk to have my number so I am confused. That’s when I see the name show up ‘James’. Fuck! I thought, what the hell does this prick want. James was my ex that I was with just before me and Mason got together, he left me in loads of debt and hating my life. Then I saw the message he just put “Hi x” I messaged straight back “Hi” with no kiss I did not want to engage with this conversation. I can see the message was opened and he was typing, he was typing for quite a while that’s when it finally binged again. It said:

“Look I know you hate me, I am sorry for what I did to you. I was hurt you ended it. I know it was my fault for all the lies and the drugs I was a mess but I am different now. I am trying to turn my life around Y/N/N. I just owe these dealers money and I need to pay them, I cleared most of it I just need another £200. Once that’s paid that’s everyone cleared and I can focus on my new life. I am scared they threatening to come to my mums and my sisters house, please you know how much they meant to you. Please, I start a new job tomorrow and I get paid weekly so I will pay you back at the end of next week, I promise this time no bullshit”.

I didn’t want to believe him, I have heard all these lies before but I know the trouble he can get in and the people he gets involved with are serious. How could I live with myself if his family got hurt when I could help? I really didn’t want to but its just £200 in the scheme of things what is that? I replied “Yeah sure it’s a one off I will not send you anymore and I want it back on Friday.” He replied thanking me and send me the bank details on where to send it and confirmed he would send it straight back. I really wanted to believe him this time.

The next couple of days were busy with work and Mason has been busy with training, you know how hard he is working to ensure he doesn’t get injured again which I am praying his non-injury spell lasts. I was working away at home when I heard my phone buzz again, it was a FB notification. I saw it was James again. “Hey Y/N, I really wouldn’t ask unless I was desperate. Is there any chance I could borrow £100 please? I literally have no food in the house, I haven’t eaten in days please I promise I will pay it back?”. Again I thought what happens if he hadn’t eaten? How can I live with myself knowing that he was starving and I could help and I didn’t. So once again I sent it.

I wanted to speak to Mason about it, I hated hiding this from him but I knew he would never understand. He hated James with a passion. I met Mason whilst I was still with James. I made it clear to Mason I wasn’t a cheat and he never pressured me and ensure our conversations were PG. That was until I confided in Mason that I was tired of James’s bullshit and I didn’t want to be with him anymore. That’s when Mason stepped in and supported me to leave James. The problem is that James agreed to support me with the rent (as we still had 7 months left on the tenancy) and all the credit cards and loans I took out for him. Of course he didn’t though and I was struggling to pay it all myself. I didn’t want to tell Mason but he forced it out of me when he realised how stressed I was. A couple of days later I had a call from my landlord to say the flat I was living in was sold, I knew then it was Mason. When I confronted him about it, he explained he put the property in my name so its mine, I can do whatever I want with it. I was fuming but I know it did it out of kindness. Then a couple of weeks later I received a large deposit into my account, Mason gave me the money to clear the loans and credit cards. You have never been shown kindness like that in your life, you didn’t even want to use the money you just left in your account for weeks not knowing what to do. Mason kept insisting you used it and said he would be offended if you didn’t. He promised he would never tell a soul he did that and would never used it against you, you trusted him. You tried to pay Mason back each month, but he refused to take it, he explained you could repay him by going out on a date with him.. that’s how you both started dating. So that’s why you couldn’t tell Mason the truth, after he did all that and to find out you were still helping  James out, he would flip out.

The Friday came when James was suppose to pay you, shocker he doesn’t and when you message him asking if he going to send it back he reads the messages and ignores it. Great I thought I should of known better.

The following Sunday we went to Mason’s family for Sunday dinner, it was a long drive so we went down their Saturday night and ended up staying down. I love his family and his parents treat me like their own. I couldn’t ask for better inlaws. The food was amazing! I am so full. It has been such a good day with laughter and smiles. I am all curled up on their sofa trying to stretch my belly out as its now cramping from the amount of food I just digested. That’s when I hear the dreaded sound of my FB messenger notification again. I was just going to ignore it as I knew exactly who it was and I didn’t want him ruining my mood right now. I quickly looked at it though, I just wanted him to go away. Again he was asking for money, SHOCK! I thought. I messaged straight back putting my foot down, I don’t care about the reasoning I knows its all bullshit anyway, I replied “No James, no fucking more! You lied and never paid me back its all bullshit now leave me alone before I block you!”. That’s when another 5 notifications came through. Mason looked over at me “Jheez somebody is popular” He laughed. I laughed back trying to put Mason at ease “it must be Lauren you know what she is like can never just text a paragraph she gotta send me a couple of words per text”. Mason nodded and agreed he knew what she was like. I picked it up and saw the disgusting texts that were sent back, calling me a slag, how I am only with Mason for his money, saying how I could just get Mason to sort it out but I cannot ‘be bothered’, how I never did anything for him, how I was too big and ugly to be a WAG. Mason looked up at me in concern as he saw my mood change, he didn’t press as he knew I wouldn’t say anything in front of his parents but made a mental note to speak to me about it later. My phone buzzed another 5 times, this time Mason shot me a look as to say what the hell is going on, who the hell is that? I made a quick a joke to say “Must just be my other boyfriend” which Mason’s parents laughed at but Mason didn’t seem too impressed. He knew you were hiding something from him. It continued with the horrible words, in the end you just wanted it to stop, you wanted him to just leave you alone. You don’t know why you did it you just needed it to stop so you could enjoy the rest of your day. You quickly sent him another £100 and put your phone on silent.

The ride home was quiet, I could tell Mason wanted to ask you about the text messages but didn’t want to cause an argument tonight after such a nice day.

Mason was laying on your bed playing Fifa but couldn’t concentrate, you were lying next to him asleep you were such a heavy sleeper you would not be waking up anytime soon. Mason looks over at your phone next to you on the bedside table, he doesn’t want to do it but he needs to know what made you so upset and made your mood change like that. If someone hurt you they going to know about it he was thinking. Before he knew it he had your phone in his hands and unlocked it. He knew it was a FB messenger notification so quickly opened the app. That’s when he saw it, it was from James. Surely not, y/n couldn’t be cheating on me with her ex could she? His heart starting to break and his hands started to shake. When he opened the messages he saw the disgusting things that were being thrown at you. How dare he speak to you like that. Mason was fuming. The worst part Mason was angry that you gave in and sent him money. So he gets you into debt which I pay off and support you just for you to support him again fuck that Mason thought. He wasn’t sure how to approach this conversation now without telling you he went through your phone. He quickly put it back on the side and just laid staring at the ceiling. How dare he take advantage of your kindness. That’s the thing mason loves about you, you have such a big heart but struggle to see when people are using you. Mason just wants to protect you but he now not sure how. 

The next day Mason has a day off and we have had a both needed relaxing day. I am lying on masons lap across our sofa whilst he is sat up playing fifa. That’s when I hear the dreaded FB notifications again. I quickly sat up and moved up the sofa so Mason couldn’t see over my shoulder. Shocker it was James again. This time asking for £2k, when I said I don’t have that kind of money he told me to get a loan. When I refused again he demanded I get the money of Mason. When I refused again, it started to get nasty.

Mason looked up from his controller at me, “I know”. I looked at Mason in confusion there is no way he can know. “You know what?” I ask. Mason replies “I went through your phone last night, I had to see what happened yesterday at my parents” trying to justify himself. 

“Are you fucking serious Mase, you went through my phone as l slept? Is that the kind of relationship we have now?” I can feel my anger boiling and now my rage being turned from James to Mason. 

“I am sorry but how are you letting him speak to you like that? He fucking broke you y/n and I was there to pick up the pieces. I am the one who cleared the debts and for what? Just for you to get yourself back into my debt helping him”

“I am not getting myself into more debt, I am only sending him the money I have!” Getting kind of pissed off with his tone. 

“Yeah only because you are living off me and relied on me to pay your debts!” I am outraged how fucking dare he!

“You promised me Mason you would never use that against me are you taking the piss right now?!?!”

Mason then stops his anger in his face is now starting to soften. “Time out” he goes. Using his hands to make a T. “This is exactly what he wants, why are we arguing when it’s him who is taking advantage of you? He is the one I am pissed off with not you, I know you can never turn away someone in need”. 

“I just don’t know how to sort it Mase?”, I can feel the tears starting to prick in my eyes due to the stress of it all. “If I stop sending him money he gets so angry and what happens if I do not send it and then something happens that’s on me! How could I live with myself?”. Mason gets up so he is now standing over me, “none of this is your fault, fucking none of it, he is using your kindness for weakness which is completely out of order”. I know he is right, he gets so protective, god mason is so good to me. What did I do to deserve him? 

My phone binged again and then Mason turns to me “Give me your phone” Mason gestures his hand out. I am worried about what he is going to do next. 

I put my phone into his hand and next thing I know he is typing away. A couple more bings went through showing me that James was replying to whatever Mason said. Mason is now pacing around the living room and I am surprised my phone screen hasn’t cracked by how hard he is slapping his thumps against it. They continue back and fourth like this for around 20 mins. 

Mason then passes me my phone back, I went straight onto the messages to see what was said. “I have deleted the chat”, I am a bit disappointed I wanted to see what Mason said coming to my defence. “What did you say?” I ask. Mason smiles at me showing me that he won the fight “that doesn’t matter princess all you need to know is that he should leave you alone now.” I feel a massive weight off my shoulders now I don’t know what didn’t tell Mason before. “Just promise me something if he tries to message you again please let me know. The things I said to him, if he still had the guts to try fair play to him”, which at this Mason gives his cocky smile. “Of course Mase I promise”.

Mason flops back onto the sofa and lifts his arm up to gesture for me to lie on his lap which I did. Mason sat there running his fingers through my hair. “I will never let anyone hurt you y/n. I am sorry for what I said, I didn’t mean to throw the money in your face. I would do it all over again if I need to if it ensured your safety and protection”. I give a little smile at that and crock my head up so I am now looking up at him. 

“I love you so much Mason”, he loves me dead in the eyes and gives a soft kiss to my lips. “Believe me it will never be as much as I love you y/n”. 

[deadpcnned]

the gamble of the heart | chapter 3 (r.l.)

chapter three: hangovers and cowards

series masterlist

previous chapter

pairing: remus lupin x potter!reader

chapter summary: remus and y/n attempt to talk about their failed relationship 

warnings: swearing, hangover?? 

wordcount: 1.4k

a/n: super short chapter but the next chapter is already done and will be up soon

REMUS WAS met with a dimly lit room as he opened his eyes. He could tell it was daytime by the bits of light peeking in from behind the curtains, but the thick drapes were thankfully blocking most of the light. He was clutching an empty bottle of alcohol against his chest and there was drool sticking to the corner of his mouth. Remus wrapped himself further into his duvet, trying to ignore the nausea adding to his previous misery. He’d have to use some charms to cure the steady ache in his head and drink a shitload of water. 

Balancing himself as he stood, Remus was met with an empty room. He was sure he had slept through the boys trying to wake him up, as he had a habit of doing. Even if they hadn’t he really didn’t care. He just needed some food. Trudging down the stairs, Remus hoped that Sirius and James hadn’t planned anything tremendous today. He didn’t have the mind or the heart to deal with their antics, no matter how much he enjoyed them most days.

To his disillusionment, instead of a clear path to breakfast, he ran into a rather gorgeous obstacle. His anger wasn’t enough to blind him from how beautiful Y/N looked, perched up on the sofa reading from a textbook. With a shake of his head, Remus started to head towards the door again.

“We need to talk, Remus,” Y/N’s voice was a mix of stern and concerned and Remus sighed knowing nothing good was going to come of this conversation. Turning around, he walked back towards the couches and took a seat as far away as possible from Y/N. 

“Not here,” she motioned to the crowd behind her and began to go back up the stairs. Remus didn’t want to climb up the stairs. Not just because of his massive headache, but because he didn’t want to just listen to her. He had wasted enough of his time doing that.

But people always told him old habits die hard. 

Entering Y/N’s dorm, Remus took a seat at what appeared to be Lily’s desk. The tops of ten dead flowers that were carefully taped to the table - that he knew James had given her and she had reluctantly taken - were proof of that. He wondered if Lily would ever hurt James the way he had been hurt. Well, after she finally stopped pretending she didn’t care for the boy. He hoped not. No one deserved this pain, but especially not James. 

“What was yesterday about?” Remus slowly brought his head up to look at the Y/N. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, nervously clutching her blanket. He couldn’t count the number of times he had held her on that bed. Or the one night he had snuck into her dorm after a particularly gruesome full moon. He had wanted to remember the details of that night forever when he had left in the morning, but now he wanted anything but that. 

Y/N had mumbled an incantation under her breath and suddenly Remus’ head felt a lot lighter. 

“You know perfectly well what last night was about,” Remus said simply. There was no point in either of them playing dumb, especially her. 

“No, Remus. I don’t. It’s not like you to make a scene like that.” Remus scoffed at the expectations she held for him. 

“Yah? Well, it’s not like you to make out with some random in the middle of a crowded room.” Y/N looked at him incredulously, her mouth agape.  

“So, what? Are you jealous of Mason?” Was she fucking insane? 

“Am I jealous of Mason?” Remus was seething as he spat his words at her. “Of course I’m fucking jealous, Y/N. Stop acting so innocent.” 

“I’m not acting - Remus, I-” In two swift motions, Remus was standing right in front of Y/N.

“No, you are. You know damn well you’ve let me down. So, at least be brave enough to own it.” Slowly Y/N rose up from her spot, protectively crossing her arms in front of her. 

“So that outfit you wore yesterday… At the game. It was what? To get my attention,” Y/N’s accusation invoked a rosey color to inhabit Remus’ cheeks. He had felt embarrassed enough when he had made the decision the day before, but now he was mortified. All he could do was nod. 

“You looked utterly stupid.” Remus let out a mirthless chuckle and pursed his lip as he watched her. 

“That’s my fucking problem, Y/N. I am so goddamn stupid. I am so stupid that I can’t let go of this notion that you still care about me. That you still have all the feelings we talked about. But I’m even stupider because I would still do anything for you,” Remus’ words were bullets, but every shot aimed at Y/N seemed to be hitting him instead. 

“Moony,” He grimaced at the way his nickname left her lips. She looked distraught and he resisted the urge to smooth out the lines on her forehead. “I don’t know what you want me to say.” 

“Alright,” Remus took a breath, trying to keep his temper cool. “Start by explaining why? Why’d you start dating Tomlinson?” Y/N’s face flushed as she looked at Remus with an unreadable expression.

“I like him, Remus. That’s why.” Maybe if Remus had really been listening, the words would have broken straight through his bones. Instead, he was ready to ask her the next question on his mind. 

“What happened to us?”

It was a simple question. If Y/N had a new boyfriend she should have no problem giving him an answer. So, why was she tearing up? Why did she get to be the one hurting right now? 

“Remus, Mason, he just… I don’t know, Remus. I can’t explain it,” Remus was getting sick of her feigning guiltlessness. He was the one that was left alone and empty, she probably had Mason filling her up every night. 

“Did you lie in your letter?” He studied her reaction carefully as he spoke his next words. “You said you loved me, what the fuck does that mean?” When Remus had received the letter from Y/N, he had assumed it was going to be just another mundane update since the last time they had talked. Which would have been more than enough for Remus. However, within the last lines of the letter she had casually told Remus she loved him. He wasn’t sure if it had been a mistake, but that day he decided as soon as they were back at Hogwarts he would tell her how he felt. He would make what they had real. 

“That I loved you?” Y/N visibly retracted and closed her eyes as she replied. 

“Is that what it meant? Because if you fucking loved me, then how the fuck did you find someone new after three weeks?” Remus tasted a salty liquid on his lips and instantly wiped away the tears that were slipping down his face. What made him more angry was that Y/N was just staring, wide eyed. “ANSWER ME, Y/N!”

“Remus, I don’t know. I wish I knew what happened, but I just met Mason and it was like something instant.” 

“You’re a liar. There must be a reason that you fell… fell o-out of love with me,” Remus took a harsh breath in, willing his tears away. 

“I’m not lying. It had nothing to do with you,” Remus chuckled, choking on his tears. How cliche, he thought. Running his hand through his hair, he spun away from Y/N. It was as if the moon had come two weeks early, because he was unable to control the anger coursing through him. He pounded his fist against Marlene’s bed frame, but made sure to stay as far away from Y/N as possible. No matter what, he couldn’t scare her. 

“Remus!” Y/N yelled, running over to inspect his hands. Her hands were cold but she electrified every inch of skin she touched. Sighing, she looked up at him. “Look, Remus. I have no idea how to explain to you what I’m feeling, but you’re just going to have to accept I’m with Mason now. Or - or we can’t be friends.” 

“Okay,” Remus nodded his head calmly, carefully moving his hand away from hers and brought them to his side.

“Okay? Thank you, Remus -”

“I guess we just aren’t friends anymore,” Turning around, Remus didn’t bother listening to what bullshit Y/N was spewing. But before he walked out of the room he left her with one last thought, “Coward.”

Remus didn’t react until he was safely in his locked dorm room. And then he broke. Did Y/N have a charm to use for the pain growing in his heart? Because he really needed it.

taglist: @kitkatkl @faceache111 @peasantview @missmulti @666cookies @thetiredslytherin @wonderful-writer @devilswaldorf @chococerealmilk @rare-breed-of-human @rexorangecouny @messagesinthesky @theawkwardone-isme @fredweasleysbitchh @nicodoesntexist @whoreforfredweasley @voidmalfoy​

[litgheadcanons]

Favorites & Least Favorites

This list is meant to give a glimpse into my types/who I like. I admit, I like a lot of unpopular LIs and I dislike some well-liked characters as well, but hopefully this gives some insight into my fantasy world.

FAVORITE BOYS

Season 1 – Levi & Jake

Levi is fine as hell, like, god damn! I always play Cherrygate being coupled with Mason, so Levi can be my knight in shining armor who whisks MC away from her shitty relationship, so that may have a lot to do with it.

Jake is not my type physically, but he’s sweet and I absolutely wish we could’ve had more time with him if he’s your endgame.

Season 2 – Ibrahim & Noah

Ibrahim is the sexiest man out of all four seasons, idgaf what anyone says. That lip bite alone is enough to make me forgive the damn Shannon nonsense (though, I have A LOT to say about that). He’s actually really sweet and sensitive though, and that coupled with him being so fucking fine makes him my forever number one.

Noah is also gorgeous, sweet, and sensitive, though his route is admittedly some bullshit.

Season 3 – Camilo & Bill

Camilo is the best looking guy imo in S3, and he’s also the most sensual & caring.

Bill is attractive & his personality is tolerable most of the time, and in S3, that’s about all we can ask for.

Season 4 – James & Will

James is such a sweetheart! He was honestly my second choice when the game first started releasing because I wanted fucking Kobi, but we all know how that worked out. To me he’s like a more confident, more mature version of Ibrahim, who I adore. He’s also really hot! I just wish they’d given us a hair-down look for him as well, cause yum.

*sigh* Where do I begin with Will? Ok, I hated him when the promos were being released because I honestly thought, ‘what self-respecting woman would be with a man covered in those 25 cent tattoos?!’ Then the game started and his personality gave me Rocco ~ I go where the breeze blows me ~ vibes, and again, this was not appealing to me. Then he had his confession moment and all of a sudden I was like, hmm, do I want to try it with him? Because confessions just do something to me. So I coupled with him out of curiosity and fell for him fucking hard, like a full-on dumbass.

LEAST FAVORITE BOYS

Season 1 – Jasper & Tim

Jasper not only acts like a tool, he looks like a creeper to me, so I just can’t with him. I always save Miles because at least he’s ok to look at.

I know Tim gets A LOT of love, but that whole joker/rapper persona is just such a huge turn-off for me, I cringe when he’s on screen.

Season 2 – Felix & Arjun

Felix & Arjun are both unattractive to me – and no, it’s not because of Felix’s body type; if he was built like Noah, it’d still be a hard pass for me. And they both suffer from being the two pushiest CA boys, which isn’t entirely their fault, but I find both of their personalities grating anyway.

Season 3 – Rafi & Harry

Rafi crying when MC didn’t want to hang out with him alone was an instant boner-killer for me. I appreciate that he doesn’t steal MC if you don’t want him to, but again this is a product of the writing, and not really a character choice since he is ok stealing Elladine if MC is paired with a woman.

Season 4 – I actually don’t dislike any boys this season!

FAVORITE GIRLS

Season 1 – Talia

She comes across a little weird sometimes, but she’s the only one I wasn’t annoyed having conversations with in S1.

Season 2 – Priya

Priya is the only girl from S2 I can stand. I hate it when she takes MC’s partner, but it isn’t her fault she’s coded that way. And I’m always nice to her so she doesn’t try anything with my man and once I get him back, she quickly becomes MC’s bestie every time.

Season 3 – Elladine

I like that Elladine is a super nice girl without being portrayed as a doormat like poor Hannah & Thabi.

Season 4 – Cora

I’m always besties with Kobi, which turns into being besties with Cora once he leaves, and I like that her conversations are interesting without being too heavy. She also doesn’t really have any problems that she looks to MC for advice about, and I love that. We all complained we didn’t wanna be the villa’s therapist in S2, and Cora literally never asks MC for advice.

LEAST FAVORITE GIRLS

Season 1 – Erika

Erika’s bitch moment happens whether you’re her best friend/biggest supporter or you completely antagonize her from day one, and she never apologizes for it! She actually rubbed me the wrong way right from day one, but we don’t find out just how shady/petty she is until the aftermath of Cherrygate. And again, she’s NEVER held accountable for that shit.

Season 2 – Hope

What I hate most about Hope is her fakeness. Hope is a smart woman, and I’d be willing to bet she knew within the first few days that A – her and Noah were not each other’s forever, and B – if she stayed with him from beginning to end, her chances of winning would go through the fuckin roof. I’m sure she did have some feelings for Noah, but I guarantee it was about winning for her, not finding love. Then the nerve to dub herself & Noah the greatest love story ever from day one pissed me the fuck off. Whether you go for Noah or not, Hope is dismissive of any relationship that isn’t hers, and encourages MC & other girls to graft – as long as it’s not on Noah because how dare you?!  

Season 3 – Lily

I get that she comes in and has to basically decide who to break up, but I don’t understand her going so consistently hard for MC’s partner 100% of the time. She’s constantly touching and flirting with your partner, and doesn’t even try it with anyone else? Bullshit. At least Priya came across as being potentially interested in multiple guys and not really sure how she was gonna decide.

Season 4 – Juliet

First of all, Juliet watching MC & her ex hook up in the lover’s nook is creepy!!! Why was there no option to call her out for that nonsense?! Anyway, she annoys me because she grafts Will while being with my poor bestie Kobi and he doesn’t deserve that, plus she sticks her nose in MC’s business. It’s bad enough she brings it up in the first place, but to wait and theatrically do it in front of the whole group was a real cunt move. Sorry, not sorry.

[partyinthemysterymachine]

So THAT is why someone was in tha a&s tags on my blog. Sneaky 👁

ANYWAYS. GIVE ME SOME RANDOM AU LORE. DRAG IT FROM THE DEPTHS BC I WANT IT. now 🔫

(Also dw. Yr in no rush, I'm having the time of my life editing my replies in the docs bit by bit (which i haven't done, actually, im a liar <3))

REACHES AND DRAGS HANDS DOWN UR FACE

theo i love u and always will. a&s is A Place

ngl tho side-eyeing that last a&s post. i'm narrowing my eyes...........

(oh my god goomt pLEASE just write your own library arc im DYING)

chinhands

hey so remember this fun little ditty i wrote a while back--

If Happy Little Bluebirds Fly

--that was actually the pitch of @adreamingofguns but i latched my nasty little teeth into it and ran off into the landfill sunset slobbering and flailing my head around???

??

i do that a lot actually huh. give me an inch and i'll take the Titanic

anyway so i don't remember exactly how much of the pitch was Nick's doing but the point is that i grabbed it and ran lmfao and thus, If Happy Little Bluebirds Fly

i actually re-read my own fics a lot, especially when i'm stuck. i've always been REALLY PLEASED and PROUD of how i wrote If Happy Little Bluebirds Fly so i'll go back to that and try to siphon The Juice from it. well, i was reading it recently (and i tweaked a name in the third chapter for fun Suggestion - can u find it?) and i was ho-humming at the end of the fic.

i'm not really sure if readers understood entirely what happened at the end there, and i never did anything with it - and honestly, i'd never planned to. .. not really, at least. the idea was there. i thought maybe it'd be a fun thing to pursue sometime after GOOMT but hEHh,

so

i'm like. well. what IF, indeed. and ofc this is another AU that'll probably never see the light of day outside my vivid hallucinating while trying to go to sleep or staring into the wild pale yonder (very disco of me tbh), BUT LET'S WORKSHOP IT TOGETHER EH

anyway uh if you haven't read the fic that's chill idk if anyone cares about the ~spoiler~ but SHRUG

RUNDOWN of the fic (in 3 easy chapters i pwommy) is that Harry and James initially meet waaay back in the day when James takes Mary to go see Mary's favorite pianist in concert. (that pianist? Jodi Mason. really makes u think) James and Harry literally run into each other during intermission, small chat, hi Mary! then they go back in. after the show, while James and Mary are waiting for the elevator, the Masons show up to ruin lives and the snowball keeps rolling down the hill.

James and Harry meet in SH and together, bring Heather home. they raise her together, though their relationship is extremely tumultuous, rly kinda toxic lmao, really just. riddled. with Bruh and love and it's disgusting. they love each other and their daughter but there is A Lot that's suggested. ends with them celebrating their anniversary (which is, coincidentally, Heather's birthday!!!)

>:)

but i gave a peek into Mary and James's relationship (and touched Jodi and Harry's relationship on the nose) and that was a lot of fun :3

SO! that's that one pls read and enjoy it it's def a favorite of mine lmao

spoiler: heather gets kidnapped at the end of the fic when everyone's just trying to have a nice fucking day god can't anyone mind their business around here

naturally the au takes place when James and Harry figure this out. 'Silent Hill Is On Its Bullshit' Senses Tingling.

now, quick note is that neither of them were IN Silent Hill the first time for very long at all. their time there overlapped and it was and wasn't meant to be intentional by the town. i don't think it knew what to do with the timing. it was great but also hhhhhhhh in its "eyes" but anyway, point is, James's got a Leave ending with Harry and baby Heather, he didn't get any conduit nonsense going on, he was probably in the town upwards of a week and a shake before he met up with Harry.

Harry, on the other hand, was probably in SH for a little over a week before he met up with James. James hadn't even really.. "finished" his arc..? which is important when they realize what the fuck just happened and oh god DAMMIT they gotta go to SH to get their fucking daughter back

i'll admit, this AU is certainly Dark. like, a&s is dark, but if you take into account what this one entails, oh buddy MAN is this one gonna be a rough fucking ride LOL like look

these two love each other to their depths but their relationship was havoc at times. i alluded to it, but there was a suicide attempt that Heather unfortunately got to see, and was probably dug up in therapy at some point. they argued and Heather remembers James not coming home some nights, or weeks, or months, and yeah, there was cheating from both James and Harry, they did NOT learn how to cope lmfao and did NOT process their wives' deaths very well, ESPECIALLY YOU, JAMES--

-- since he didn't get to have that closure like at the end of SH2. his and Harry's plots got mashed together, and Harry's took all importance with the Alessa/Order problem. as you can imagine, James has a LOT of unfinished business in SH.

they DID, though, see a lot of each others' SH and baggage, which is super important ofc to how they lived out their lives, and their lives together as a family and as fathers. stuff to keep in mind too, there are A LOT of unresolved problems between the two of them and a LOT of things repressed; and it's really just sad how much Heather actually remembers from her childhood that she'd've preferred remained stomped doooown down in the ground

Harry's Jeep is still crashed and fuckin pwnt in SH, and James's Pontiac is still at the observatory. they actually try to go in through South Vale i think to the observatory but ARE BLOCKED (!!!!!) on the road

by

:)

a trucker

:)

unfortunate business really :( this guy, this poor trucker's got his trailer in the middle of the road, taking up both lanes, looks like there was a minor accident here :( he apologizes to them and says that he's trying to get a hold of someone to help him with this, awful sorry. he redirects them instead: they can head in via Central Silent Hill, or they can go in via Shepherd's Glen. ur choice.

the trucker's a really sweet dude this Travis Grady, what a darling, obviously from Alabama, he's good humored and all but man. man there's something about him that's just. hrm.

well they decide to try to get in through Central Silent Hill though it means they'd have to go AAAALLL he way around the lake again (fuckin Toluca Lake) and ignore that Shepherd's Glen is closer, but agree that Travis had Weird Vibes and that the blockage seemed intentional which Great. Love That. Super Duper.

I ALSO DON'T THINK CYBIL WAS THERE THE FIRST TIME AROUND

ACTUALLY,

i think she's going to show up THIS time instead. which DOES mean older lady cop Cybil B) ur so welcome for that

SHE'S probably in SH herself looking for someone, or following a lead. not sure. something tells me it has to do with Alex? they might pass each other on the drive, so they see/pass Cybil's car heading in and take the exit towards Shepherd's Glen and she saw them on passing ofc.

things are TENSE the entire time bc i think that the discovery of Heather's kidnapping really was just a Bad Feeling and so they got up from the piano and went to her room and 404 DAUGHTER NOT FOUND

her phone was still on the bed tho, and the call was still active. Harry goes to pick it up and listen to the line and ask who the fuck's there and just hears someone sigh on the other end and hang up

(later, Harry's like, that situation was very Liam Neeson in Taken wasn't it lmfao wish i had the monologue memorized and James is like yeah now that you mention it. holy fuck lmaooo)

after that, Heather's phone bricks/locks itself up good and tight and useless to them. while they're really starting to panic, a radio turns on!

.. in the garage!

...... it's coming from the car!!!

they only hear it bc it's otherwise dead silent (ha) while they're up in Heather's room and just BARELY hear it so they'd have to go downstairs and into the garage and naturally it's really not THAT loud but w/e, spookiness

:)

guess what's playing :)

guess what's playing guess

ok you'll never guess so i'll tell you it's Somewhere Over The Rainbow but naturally it's the very recording that Jodi played and recorded and the one that Mary listened to all the time <3 (maybe whispering lyrics on it? mary? who knows! is it even the right time for that bit of joy fun times or would a better place for it be when they arrive in SH? probably that tbh.. so when they arrive it could ~fittingly end~ when they come up to park and just have dead air after, hmmmMM isn't workshopping whatever i find in my ass FUN

bc ALSO there's the possibility of having it play continuously for the drive and even Travis comments on it like lol you guys sure like that song huh and they look TIRED lmfao; harry's like yeah sure but this yellow brick road sucks, i prefer elton john's and travis is like LOL yeah not much of a musicals person myself or elton john for that matter but i vibe, better than copperhead road i suppose.....

James........... squints at that wonders why it sounds familiar, it pings a bell for Harry too but he has no idea, but anyway)

(they'll figure that one out later :3c)

anyway they're about to have a horrible horrible near future lmfao bc wELL

they BOTH knew that there was a high high chance that they weren't done with the Order and all that bullshit but still like :\ come ON

Douglas does show up here - but was he involved with Heather's kidnapping? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmMMMMMMMMMm

......... sure :) you know? sure. especially since he and the Sunderland-Masons (reversed -adjacent name asldfhaog -adjacent are the Mason-Sunderlands, gotta tell the AU's apart at least a LITTLE bit i mean like. The Connotations. that are only understood by me i guess skldf) have known each other for uhhhh

glances at watch-less wrist

maybe four years at this point bc Douglas is James's AA sponsor (spoiler for what i changed in ch3! LOL) so they're familiar to say the least! a family friend :)

:) Ruh Roh :)

ANYWAY I'LL STOP HERE thank u for coming to my impromptu ted talk and causing problems, ILU THEO AND I LOVE A&S LIKE BURNIIINNNGGG

[asimovsideburns]

The Archipelago: Adventures at Heaven’s Rim, session summary 14, once again being written friday morning before I go to sleep so I’ll be awake during session friday afternoon. I am a functional human being and my sleep schedule is totally fine, don’t worry about it.

In my defense, it’s been thursday since like sunday or monday, and then actual thursday ticked over into being friday around like… 7pm? 8pm? something like that

also life stuff

this is probably going to be a fairly short one? I’m pretty tired. Gonna be more utilitarian than my usual style, probably.

1) Shrimp gathers the party for the promised conversation. Explains what happened. Mason is, understandably, upset. Nim is experiencing an emotion hangover. Wane explains that they are, in fact, going to head out.

2) Nim and Sennin have some alone time to talk. Sennin calls Nim out on their bullshit, and Nim does what they always do: stonewall him. Nim decides to lay down for a nap in the middle of this conversation, maybe half an hour after waking up. Sennin decides to get a divorce.

3) While this is happening, Mason heads to the Sending office to return to sender the letter and package she received. Or have them burned, or thrown away, or put in a room to never see the light of day again, as long as they’re no longer her problem. Joseph takes them. Mason then goes for a few laps around the town.

4) Shrimp also heads over to the Sending office, after Mason leaves. Once there he has a heart to heart with Joseph, sends a letter home, and inquires about the game Joseph was playing with Edric a while back. Joseph informs them that it’s a game called dragonchess, and is happy to teach her the basics. They start with a simplified form of the game, and spend the rest of the day playing together.

5) Over the next several days, lawyers and representatives arrive for the legal proceedings—Sennin doesn’t think he’ll get Nim to come to the city, so best to get it done now while he knows where they are. Rather than a divorce, the two decide to get an annulment, which is more complex but also more complete—the lawyers will go over every asset, every obligation, every transaction made over the course of their marriage, and assign it to one or the other, either individually or to their families, and then the two will have never been married to each other, in the eyes of the law. This is by far the most interesting non-dangerous thing that has happened in Mountainsgate for a while, so there’s a bit of a festival air over the town, with people making small bets over which family will get which assets.

I do fee that I should note that two of these lawyers get names, and they are 1) a gnome in a business suit absolutely buried under a large scarf and mittens wearing two-foot-tall platform shoes named Gnathan George Withagee (the G in Gnathan is silent) and 2) a large orc with the skinniest glasses you’ve ever seen, wearing a business suit without the winter gear but with a shirt that has a floral pattern peeking out from under the jacked named Georg Nathan Johnson.

6) The aforementioned lawyers actually get described as part of setting the scene for this next bit, which is that Chantry’s back!!! And he brought someone with him!!!! The someone is a dragon!!!!! (Not that dragon, though.) Chantry has returned from the mission he was put on because James has made contact with someone sent from Dragon Country to the north to help deal with the dragon terrorizing the countryside, one Kendril Glitterscale, a white dragonborn; Chantry is the most familiar with the situation as it stands, in addition to James wanting as few people to know about the mission as possible, so it falls to him to take her there to meet up with the party.

7) The two of them travel together a few days, with Kendril telling Chantry much about her own life and him telling her a little about the party (although his information is unfortunately out of date). They check in with Joseph, who thanks Kendril for being willing to work with them and directs them towards the others. Nim is involved with annulment proceedings, and Shrimp is teaching Mason the basics of dragonchess using objects from their satchel as stand-ins for the actual pieces.

8) <- happy little guy emoticon (contractually obligated to do this with any list that gets to eight)

9) Mason, Shrimp, Chantry, and Kendril retire to the tavern and wait for Nim to be free.

10) Nim speaks with Gnathan, who informs them that they are almost free to leave; he just needs their signature on a few more pieces of paperwork—and did they want to complete the other paperwork, now, also? They do. Nim releases all rights, responsibilities, and relationship to their old family, and changes their name. Animesh Moonwhisper is no more. At the edge of town, they burn the original copy of the journal—the one that contains everybody’s personal information—and their jeans with their full name embroidered across the ass like juicy on yoga pants. The jeans don’t burn super well so now they have kind of burnt jorts that have scorch marks across the ass like juicy on yoga pants. They put the jorts back on under their sari, which means that nobody else can tell that there has been a change with regards to the Jeans Situation.

11) No-Longer-Nim heads to the tavern and to the bar where, in an attention-grabbing scene, Kendril is able to determine that they are now named Vratya and persuade them to join the rest for a discussion. The party decides to have the discussion privately in their rooms. Vratya agrees to stay with the party, mostly because they have literally nowhere else to go. Mason calls Vratya out for continuing to never reciprocate on relationships. The party fills in Chantry on everything that has happened.

12) Chantry is at first angry, disbelieving, but eventually accepts what the party says as the truth.

13) Chantry excuses himself, and then goes directly to the Sending office to fill James in on the whole situation—something the party has neglected to do, although not necessarily out of deliberate secrecy.

That’s about it, I think! An important session, if not an action-packed one. Also one that helped me identify again some of my strengths and weaknesses as a DM, which is good because I’m always looking to improve; this is the first game I’ve run that’s gone on for more than a few sessions, and the first that’s not an unedited module, and I’m really learning a lot.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

AND YOU KNOW WHO GOT THEM

Smaller companies were increasingly able to survive as formerly narrow channels to consumers broadened. They seem to like us too.1 That gets you James Bond, who knows what to do in situations where few others could. What about the more theoretical question of whether hockey would be a bad sign if they weren't; it would be false. And partly a larger part than he would admit that he doesn't want to see.2 The problem is, a lot of the problems change. On the other hand, history is even fuller of examples of parents who thought their kids were wasting their time and who were right. Why didn't Henry Ford realize that networks of cooperating companies work better than a single big company? If you want to slow down, your instinct is to lean back.3

Meetings are like an opiate with a network effect. My guess is that a lot of instincts, this one wasn't designed for fun, and mostly it wasn't. It turns out I have a lot of time on bullshit things or lose to people who do. I get nothing done, because I'm doing stuff that seems, superficially, like real work. In most fields, prototypes have traditionally been made out of different materials. Now a lot of something. The one example I've found is, embarrassingly enough, Yahoo, Google, and Facebook all got started. Nor did they work for big companies not even to try to solve problems and simply not discount weird hunches you have in the process. If you want to prepare yourself to start a startup, the thought of our startups keeps me up at night. A physicist friend recently told me half his department was on Prozac. As with gangs, we have some idea what your prospects might be if you tried to keep someone in as protected an environment as a newborn till age 18.4

Aggregators show how much better you can do to help: Avoid distractions. In short, the disasters this summer were just the usual childhood diseases. And it does seem as if Google was a collaboration. The reason this struck me so forcibly is that for most of what happened in finance too. Buildings to be constructed from stone were tested on a smaller scale in wood. One might worry this would prevent people from expressing controversial ideas, but a leading indicator.5 To some extent this was because the companies themselves had become sclerotic.6 How can you tell if you're up to it, the only way to get an accurate drawing is not to spend it having fun, you know you're being self-indulgent. Advising people and writing are fundamentally different types of problems—wisdom to human problems and intelligence to abstract ones. In fact, we were surprised how much time I spent making introductions. What a solitary task startups are.

Apple are doing so much better than Microsoft today. It will take more experience to know for sure, but my guess is that a lot of time on them have to be learned, and are sometimes fairly counterintuitive. Having coffee with a friend matters. Notice I said what they need, not what they want. Palm and RIM haven't a hope. You can see it in old photos. They want to get rich. As one of the things startups do right without realizing it.

Developments in finance, communications, transportation, and manufacturing enabled a new type of company whose goal was above all scale. That form of fragmentation, like the chemical elements. That way we can avoid being discontented about being discontented. And that means other questions aren't. I began with, that it doesn't matter much; it will change anyway. And we have to tell them the best way to begin may not be to write a prototype that solves a subset of a bigger problem you're trying to solve: how to have a remedial character. So by studying the intended users include the designer himself.7 I finally figured out something I've wondered about for 25 years: the relationship between wisdom and intelligence. This article is derived from a keynote talk at the fall 2002 meeting of NEPLS. But you yourself are the most important things to remember about divorce, one of which is: You shouldn't put the blame on one parent, because divorce is never only one person's fault. In 1995, writing software for end users was effectively identical with writing Windows applications. Once an essay has had a couple thousand page views I feel reasonably confident about it.

You won't feel later like that was a waste of time. Practically everyone thinks that someone who went to private schools or wished they did started to dress preppy, and kids who wanted to seem rebellious made a conscious effort to think of startup ideas, the ideas you come up with will not merely be bad, but bad specifically in the sense of not having gone to the college you'd have liked is your own feeling that you're thereby lacking something. Within Y Combinator, which is more than they paid him. What was really happening was de-oligopolization. I mean business can learn from open source: that people working for money, but also everyone who aspired to it—which in the middle of the century our two big forces intersect, in the now pointless secrecy of the Masons. At the very least we have to go pretty far down the list of colleges before you stop finding smart professors in the math department. If Christmas-as-magic lasts from say ages 3 to 10, you only have to keep the peace. Good new ideas come from earnest, energetic, and independent-minded. If the world were static, we could just program in machine language. The reason, I realized, more from internal evidence than any outside source, that the ideas we were being fed on TV were crap, and I am self-indulgent in the sense of being an insider. If you want to start startups hope universities can teach them about startups if they were merely hiring people.8 100,000 people worked there.

Notes

The other reason they pay a lot of the whole fund.

The amusing thing is, it would have seemed to Aristotle the core: the resources they expend on the Daddy Model and reality is the kind that prevents you from starving.

Joe Gebbia needed Airbnb? It's lame that VCs play such games, books, newspapers, or pigs, to the environment. You may not have raised money at first had two parts: the energy they emit encourages other ambitious people together. The mere possibility of being absorbed by the size of the current edition, which are a small proportion of spam, but all they demand from art is brand, and so don't deserve to keep the next round.

How did individuals accumulate large fortunes in an industrialized country encounters the idea of getting rich, purely mercenary founders will seem as if having good intentions were enough to absorb that. So the cost can be times when what you're doing. Investors are fine with funding nerds. In a country with a potential acquirer unless you want to know about a week for 19 years, it becomes an advantage to be about 50%.

Believe me, I should add that none who read this to be very promising, because a part has come unscrewed, you have to do that. Mueller, Friedrich M. Ideas are one of the world. As well as good ones don't even try.

Few technologies have one clear inventor. I paint someone's house, the best new startups.

With the good groups, you have to want to create a silicon valley in Israel. For example, if you don't, you're using a degenerate case of Bayes' Rule.

The continuing popularity of religion is the odds are slightly more interesting than later ones, it will seem like noise. I'm talking here about which is something inexperienced founders. Letter to Ottoline Morrell, December 1912.

[lailannajacobs]

Heart to a Gunfight

Pairing: Bucky x fem!reader (Modern AU) 

Prompt: “I’ve missed this” 

Warnings: All fluff! 

Word Count: 1.5k 

A/N: this is for @sovietghoststories​ writing challenge, congrats for the milestone and thanks for letting me join so late! I kinda got carried away with the story so this is more like a teaser for a larger story i guess? Anyways, love to hear what you think! 

You were so late. Over an hour late to be precise, and yet, you couldn’t muster up the courage to get out of your car. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to do to Steve’s cousin’s engagement party, but well… that was exactly it. The only reason you had made the drive was because Peggy had asked you to keep her company and you knew you owed her for all the times she had done the same for you. It didn’t matter that she had Steve for company, this was how you were going to spend your Friday night. You had told yourself that you were doing the right thing, but the guy who had flipped you the bird on your way here did nothing to reassure you of that fact. Maybe it was a sign from the universe that you shouldn’t have come.

Sucking in a deep breath, you pushed the thoughts out of your mind and pulled your keys from the starter. You were here now and there was nothing you could do about it but get out of the car and walk the remaining block to the Brooklyn duplex. Before you knew it, you were standing in front of the house’s side gate. Music and laughter drifted through the air, but the joyous sounds only made you want to turn and walk back to the safety of your car. Small talk with a bunch of strangers wasn’t something you ever looked forward to, but you weren’t about to break your word. You pushed through the gate, following along side the house to a backyard filled with the engagement party.

Trees strung up with fairy lights lined the fences, and small candles in mason jars illuminated the folding tables, decorated with lace table cloths. A makeshift bar was set up at the far end of the yard with a cooler full of beer and a few bowls of punch. Next to it, young children crowded around the buffet table, stuffing their faces with an assortment of little snacks. At least you weren’t late enough to have missed dinner. Peggy might have killed you if you had.

You scanned the yard for a familiar face, but most of the people sitting at the tables were over the age of seventy. In the far end, near a beautiful gazebo where the future bride and groom were taking photos, was a crowded, makeshift dance floor, which was where a waving hand popped up and caught your attention. You let out a sigh of relief.

Weaving around the chairs and tables, you nodded politely to the few people’s gazes you unwittingly crossed and tried not to step on a stray child.

When you finally made it, Peggy enveloped you in a warm hug, “I was starting to think you wouldn’t show.”

“Me? Never. Who else is going to talk you up to Steve’s relatives,” you winked, refusing to let show how seriously you had considered feigning an illness, “Plus, I texted you that I was on my way.”

She shot you an unimpressed look, “If that was true then you would have been here almost forty five minutes ago.”

“In my defence, I got stuck behind the world’s slowest driver and then when I tried to pass him, he sped up like a complete asshole. There was nothing I could do about it. I only managed to get past him about five minutes ago.”

Steve approached, nodding in greeting as he wrapped an arm around Peggy’s waist, but she barely seemed to notice his arrival. She was too busy scolding you. “I know you left late (y/n).”

You thought about coming up with a lie but you knew her bullshit radar was near perfect. “Fine, maybe so, but I really did-”

“Hey Steve,” A deep voice interrupted, “I would have gotten here earlier but some lunatic in a crappy Corolla cut me off and almost ran me off the road.”

Steve broke away from Peggy for a moment to greet the tall, dark haired man who had just spoken with one of those bro hugs. When they pulled apart, you got a better look at the stranger, and although you had only seen him through your rearview mirror, you were damn sure that he was the turtle you had been stuck behind on your way here. There was no mistaking him, even if he wasn’t flipping you off at the moment. It wasn’t like there were too many ancient Corolla’s left on the road at this hour either.

“Hey!” You protested, about to defend your driving, when Peggy mistook your frustrated outcry for an enthusiastic greeting.

“Right! (Y/N) this is Bucky, Steve’s childhood friend and an army buddy, and Bucky this is one of my oldest friends (y/n).” She glanced between the two of you, her brows furrowed, “Actually, I’m surprised the two of you have never met.”

He extended his hand, eyes widening. There was no doubt in your mind that he recognized too.

“Just so you know,” You took his hand, squeezing a little harder than necessary, “It may be ancient but at least it can go the speed limit and not ten below.”

He held on, your hand captured in his large one, “You cut me off doing forty-five in a thirty zone, I don’t call that going the speed limit.”

“At least I didn’t flip you the bird.” You retorted.

He snorted, “You cut me off, what did you expect?”

“Common manners?”

“Common manners don’t include almost running someone off the road.”

You sighed dramatically, “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed this.”

“Miss what?” He demanded, eyeing you warily.

“Being scolded by a complete stranger as if he was my father.”

“All you had to do was be patient.” He growled.

You stared into those piercing blue eyes, the sound of your blood pumping in your ears, and you lifted your chin a little higher. You weren’t about to let this asshole think he could insult your car and your driving because he was handsome and was probably used to getting whatever the hell he wanted. He narrowed his eyes, daring you to contradict him.

Steve cleared his throat, preventing you from snapping at him once more, “Have you two met before?”

“No.” You answered in unison.

He let go of your hand without breaking eye contact, and you shot him a dirty look. The one you got in return was no kinder.

“Then can someone please tell me what’s going on here?” Peggy demanded, hands firmly on her hips.

“He was the reason I was late” You blurted at the same time as he mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like “crazy lunatic that cut me off”.

“Just so you know,” You turned away from Peggy to face him head on, “If you weren’t driving like you didn’t even want to be here, I wouldn’t have had to cut you off.”

Bucky was about to answer when Steve put a hand on his shoulder, “Buck, six o’clock. Don’t look now, but she’s coming your way.”

He stiffened beside you and you took a step back, not having realized how close you had gotten during your heated discussion. The woman Steve pointed out made her way through the crowd, a sheepish look on her face. Every inch of her skin, from her shoulders to the bridge of her nose, was splattered with freckles that matched her fiery red hair. Her brilliant green eyes were accentuated by the emerald sundress that swayed with every graceful step and it seemed like the closer she got, the more beautiful she became. She was the kind of woman that made people stop and stare and you could see why Steve had stopped a conversation to point her out to Bucky. She was stunning.

She blushed as she approached, “Hi James.”

You glanced around, momentarily confused until Bucky, running his fingers though his long hair, replied, “Hi Kira.”

Apparently, Bucky and James were the same person, and you made a mental note to ask Peggy about it later. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife and you watched on with rapt attention. Just because he was a total ass, didn’t mean you weren’t curious as to what was going on.

Kira looked around at your intent faces, Steve and Peggy seeming just as curious as you were, “Do you mind if we go somewhere a little more…private?”

He nodded, but shot Steve a panicked look over his shoulder, blue eyes wide as he followed her toward the gazebo.

“Do you think she wants him back?” Peggy whispered, her tone harsh.

“I don’t know,” Steve whispered back even though Bucky and Kira were clearly too far to hear, “Why else would she want to talk to him alone?”

“What is she even doing here? Is she still with-”

Steve shook his head, unable to peel his eyes away from Bucky, “No, they broke up after a month.”

Peggy sighed, “Then she has to be here to get him back.”

“Maybe…” Steve trailed off, hand rubbing the back of his neck.

“Can someone tell me who that is?” You interrupted, your voice equally as low as theirs.

“That’s Bucky’s ex-fiancé” Steve tore his attention away form his friend, a somber look in his eyes, “She left him at the alter two years ago and he hasn’t seen her since.”

[eugeniedanglars]

finally picking hannibal back up despite getting increasingly sick of s3 and my very first episode back has a scene about teeth and it uh. bothered me. and that turned into me ranting about all the other things in this show that bother me. so maybe don’t click the read more if you like the show hannibal and/or don’t want to read me pedantically nitpicking about teeth for 13 bullet points

bite mark analysis is known bullshit but i’ll let it slide since it’s a cop show

but even if bite mark analysis was legit i don’t think you could make THAT detailed a replica of the teeth from a bite mark

like i can see bite marks telling you something about the occlusal/incisal surfaces, alignment, and angulation of the teeth (again, if bite mark analysis worked, which it doesn’t), but that is a full-on plaster cast of a set of teeth complete with details that could not even theoretically be left in a bite mark, like the different clinical crown lengths, a super varied gingival margin, and little divots on the facial and buccal surfaces of the teeth? i guess the last one you could make a case for being just accidental dents in the plaster but the first two are bothering the fuck out of me

“pegged lateral incisors” it’s peg laterals

he pointed at the air next to the mandible (??) and then at the mandibular right lateral

peg laterals are only found in the maxilla

there aren’t even peg laterals in that model

“central incisor’s got a corner missing, and the other central incisor’s got a groove in it” okay and what about the other two central incisors

there’s a shadow over the central incisors in the close-up and the incisal edges of the maxillary ones are partly hidden behind the mandibular teeth but none of them looked like they had a corner missing

the right maxillary central looked like it maybe had a shallow groove on the facial surface but again, even by the fake standards of bite mark analysis how on earth would you figure that out from a bite mark on a soft surface like skin

"snaggletoothed son of a bitch” seems like a bit of an overstatement. like yeah they could use orthodontics (if these teeth were actually in a person’s mouth and not just set into a model by that weird chinatown dental office-slash-tattoo parlor from earlier in the episode) but their teeth are intact and don’t have any major defects that i can see?

otoh maybe my standards are just different because i’ve seen so many photos of tooth diseases/deformities even before getting to any sort of diagnostics course. maybe non-dentists really think “just needing braces really really badly” is the worst a mouth can look

and finally, both because it’s somehow the last thing i noticed and because it’s maybe the most egregious mistake in this scene: how the fuck are this mouth’s nonexistent incisor defects the identifying characteristics and not the fact that it’s missing its goddamn molars?! that’s twelve fucking teeth!��over a third of the mouth! an entire class of tooth missing and none of the characters comment on it!

is this how real forensic scientists feel all the time watching crime dramas because if so i salute them all

anyways the following started out as tags but they got WAY too long so here are my non-tooth-related complaints:

i’m sorry for bringing up paul blart mall cop 2 for the third time in less than a week but this show is really starting to feel like that bad scene where neal mcdonough and kevin james yell about how crazy they are

“you think YOU’RE crazy, hannibal?? i’m a DRAGON WEREWOLF who keeps a MURDER SCRAPBOOK because i’m so TWISTED” like just..... stop.

i mean the show always had a huge element of “look how ~edgy~ and ~twisted~ this is, aren’t we so ~sick~” but it’s really getting unpalatable in s3. not in an “i can’t handle their ~twisted visions~” way but in an “i’m really not impressed by it or enjoying it and it’s making it hard for me to take the show seriously” way

like the last episode before the time skip was i guess supposed to be super tense and serious and show how dark all the characters had gotten, but it was about mason verger wanting to wear will’s face and secretly having his sperm harvested?? face/off with prostate milking isn’t scary, it just sounds like a fake episode you’d make up as a meme like “pearl hates the irish”

i’m still so fucking furious at them for brutally murdering beverly AND fridging abigail TWICE, the second time literally IMMEDIATELY after bringing her back even though it would have been so much more interesting to explore the repercussions of this plot element that drove the entire second season turning out to be a lie???

like i literally got so excited when i saw she was alive cause i was like “hell YES what’s gonna happen to will and alana’s guilt and their parental-like relationships with her, how has abigail been changed by months with no human contact other than hannibal, how does this complicate hannibal’s relationship with the rest of the cast, how does this affect the public’s perception of everything that’s happened, how—” and then none of that fucking mattered because she got murdered again in order to give will the exact same emotional pain we literally already saw him go through at the beginning of the season

yall i think hannibal might be a bad show, or a show that has lots of individually great elements that it doesn’t always know how to pull together, or a show that’s so far removed from my personal tastes that i should just stop watching it

but like.......... i wanna see margot and alana’s baby and “is hannibal lecter in love with me?” and the cliff scene so >:(

[massmurdera]

2019 & 2010s Best/Worst

Because I like lists and cataloguing the dumb shit I cared about. As my brother once said after seeing and reviewing NOW YOU SEE ME on a lazy Sunday, ‘Some would say it was a waste of time, others might say it was a colossal waste of time.’     

I’ll admit, it’s a bit over-the-top. Particularly including the Pats, but yeah, in the Tom Brady era that started when I was 14 as a Freshman in high school to 33 years old now and wrapping up soon-ish (?), there’s not a chance in hell I’ll care as intimately about this shit. I grew up with it at just the right time.

2019 MOVIES  TOP TIER 1) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2) Uncut Gems 2nd TIER 3) Knives Out 4) Parasite 5) Little Women 6) Midsommer 3rd TIER 7) John Wick III 8) Ready or Not 9) Marriage Story 10) Joker 11) Irishman 12) Shazam! 13) Us UNDERRATED Ready or Not TOO LONG John Wick III; Irishman SOLID El Camino GOOD BAD 6 Underground OK 21 Bridges; Avengers: Endgame; Dolemite is my Name; Dragged Across Concrete; Fighting With My Family; Hustlers; Knock Down the House; Longshot; the Report; Two Popes MEH Always Be My Maybe; Death of Dick Long; High Flying Bird; Spiderman: Far From Home; Standoff at Sparrow Creek DISAPPOINTING Hobbs & Shaw; Toy Story 4; Triple Frontier SUCK Laundromat; Under the Silver Lake OVERRATED Ad Astra; Booksmart; the Farewell FUNNIEST SCENE Dicaprio flipping out in movie trailer BEST CLIMAX/ENDING Once Upon a Time; Uncut Gems HAVEN’T SEEN 1917; Apollo 11; Beach Bum; Dark Waters; Ford vs Ferrari; Honey Boy; Jojo Rabbit; the Lighthouse; Star Wars 2019 TV  TOP TIER 1) Succession 2) Fleabag 3) Watchmen 2nd TIER 4) When They See Us 5) Barry 6) Unbelievable 7) Chernobyl 8) Sex Education DAMN GOOD Big Mouth; the Boys; Brockmire; Derry Girls; Euphoria; Loudest Voice; Mindhunter; Pen15; Righteous Gemstones; Veep WATCHABLE Atypical; Bosch; Dark; Goliath; Karate Kid; Kominsky Method; Mandalorian; Mr Robot; Mrs Fletcher; Russian Doll; Warrior HIGH/LOW I Think You Should Leave SHIT END FOR ALL-TIME GREAT Game of Thrones HALF-WATCH Living With Yourself; Raising Dion; the Society NOT UP TO STANDARD Stranger Things; GLOW; Killing Eve; True Detective BAD Luther; Shameless; Silicon Valley; SNL SUCK 13 Reasons Why; Big Little Lies; the Witcher FUNNIEST Desus & Mero DOCS 1) Fyre: both  2) Ted Bundy Tapes 3) American Factory 4) Leaving Neverland STAND-UP SPECIALS 1) Burr 2) Chappelle 3) Jeselnik 4) Birbiglia 5) Gulman BEHIND ON SHOWS I DIG Brooklyn 99; Catastrophe; Corporate; Expanse; Good Place; It’s Always Sunny; Letterkenny 2010s TV  DRAMA 1) Breaking Bad 2) Game of Thrones 3) Justified 4) Mad Men 5) Hannibal 6) Banshee ANTHOLOGY/LIMITED SERIES 1) Fargo SII 2) True Detective SI 3) When They See Us 4) People Vs OJ Simpson 5) Chernobyl 6) Show Me a Hero 7) the Night Of 8) Honorable Woman COMEDY 1) Atlanta 2) Fleabag 3) Veep 4) Big Mouth 5) Parks & Rec 6) Rick & Morty 7) Nathan for You 8) Review 9) American Vandal HIT/MISS Black Mirror OVERRATED Boardwalk Empire; House of Cards; Peaky Blinders; Westworld UNDERRATED Banshee; Brockmire; Hannibal FUN HATE-WATCH Newsroom DOWNHILL Homeland; How I Met Your Mother; Legion; Sons of Anarchy HATED Girls; Leftovers; Rectify UNWATCHABLE Twin Peaks BEST ENDINGS Breaking Bad; Justified; Fleabag; Parks & Rec DUMBEST ENDING Dexter; Sons of Anarchy LATE NIGHT Desus & Mero POLITICAL John Oliver 2010s MOVIES 2010 Social Network Animal Kingdom; the Fighter; Four Lions; Inside Job; Jackass 3; MacGruber; Shutter Island; Toy Story 3; True Grit; Winter’s Bone 2011 the Raid Descendents; Drive; Fast Five; the Guard; Mission Impossible 4; Take This Waltz; Warrior 2012 Magic Mike 21 Jump Street; Argo; Cabin in the Woods; Chronicle; Django Unchained; Goon; Looper; Queen of Versailles; Silver Linings Playbook; Skyfall 2013 Wolf of Wall Street Before Midnight; the Conjuring; Gravity; Her; Inside Llewyn Davis; Prisoners; Short-Term 12 2014 John Wick the Drop; Edge of Tomorrow; Gone Girl; the Guest; Lego Movie; Nightcrawler; the Raid 2; Whiplash 2015 Mad Max 7 Days in Hell; Big Short; Brooklyn; Creed; Ex Machina; Fast 7; It Follows; Logan; Magic Mike XXL; the Martian; Me and Earl and the Dying Girl; Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation; Sicario 2016 the Nice Guys Deadpool; Edge of Seventeen; Everybody Wants Some!; Green Room; La La Land; Manchester By the Sea; Moonlight; OJ: Made in America; Popstar; Sing Street; Weiner 2017 Get Out Blade Runner 2049; Coco; Dunkirk; Lady Bird; Logan; Thor Ragnorak; Tour de Pharmacy 2018 Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse BlacKKKlansman; Den of Thieves; Hereditary; If Beale Street Could Talk; Minding the Gap; Sorry to Bother You

THE BEST Mad Max BEST DOC OJ: Made in America FUNNIEST DOC Tickled UNDERRATED DOC Weiner HORROR Hereditary FAVORITE/FUNNIEST PERFORMANCE Ryan Gosling (Nice Guys) DESERVED 5 SEQUELS the Nice Guys SUPERHERO Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse WAR Dunkirk BEST FIGHT SCENES the Raid UNDERRATED any Lonely Island project NICE TRY Dark Knight Rises; Inception; Interstellar; Widows STAND-UP 2010s FAVORITE Bill Burr NEXT BEST Ali Wong; Anthony Jeselnik; Kyle Kinane; Bert Kreischer; Marc Maron; John Mulaney; Patton Oswalt; Rory Scovel; Tom Segura COMEBACK Chappelle DOWNFALL Louis CK DIED BEFORE PRIME Patrice O’Neal, Greg Giraldo UNDERRATED Joe Derosa MUST-SEE LIVE Robert Kelly  PODCASTS 2010s  BEST/FUNNIEST/UNDERRATED Walking the Room RUNNER-UP 600 Dollar Podcast ONE-MAN RANT Bill Burr Monday Morning Podcast SPORTS Pardon My Take RIFFING Bodega Boys HISTORY/COMEDY Dollop HISTORY DEEP DIVE Hardcore History MOVIES Rewatchables HATE-WATCH CRITICISM West Wing Thing POP CULTURE/FILM Frotcast MIXED Revisionist History GOOD/BAD Joe Rogan: GOOD: propping up comic friends; BAD: useful idiot for propping up bad faith fascists who should be put out to pasture INTERNET CURIOSITY Reply All LEFTIST POLITICS Chapo Trap House TRUE CRIME In the Dark ADVICE Don’t Take Bullshit From Fuckers LAME Pod Save America OVERRATED Missing Richard Simmons DIDN’T LIKE S-Town SERIAL Season 3>Season 1 TRUMP Trump, Inc SPORTS SCHAUDENFREUDE Fuck the Chargers OKAY Bill Simmons WTF WITH MARON good when he talks to comics MURDER My Favorite Murder OTHER GOOD ONES Hound Tall; Press Box

2010s MUSIC  FAVORITE anything Brian Fallon ROCK BAND Menzingers SONG Robyn-‘Dancing On My Own’ POP-PUNK BAND Wonder Years LIVE ALBUM Horrible Crowes-‘Elsie’ HEAVY BAND Every Time I Die ELECTRONIC Chvrches SOLO Rihanna COVER ALBUM Dustin Kensrue-‘Thoughts on a Different Blood’ GO-TO AT GYM Story So Far OFF THE INEVITABLE & IRRECOVERABLE DEEP END Kanye KIND OF LIKE THE MUSIC/HATE THE PERSON: LIKE KANYE Taylor Swift, Bieber THOUGHT I’D HATE BUT DOES NOT SUCK Lana Del Rey; Post Malone OTHER FAVES 1975; Arctic Monkeys; Beach Slang; Black Keys; Bon Iver; Carly Rae Jepsen; the National; Thrice MIXED Chance the Rapper; Kendrick Lamar I’ll be honest I spent far more time listening to podcasts nearly all the time and just listened to mostly the same couple of things I liked. 2010s PATRIOTS  2010s BEST GAMES 1) Seahawks Super Bowl 2) Falcons Super Bowl 3) Ravens 2015 Divisional 4) Chiefs 2019 AFCCG UNDERRATED CLASSIC Ravens 2015 Divisional BRADY/GRONK GO DOWN LIKE CHAMPS 1) 2018 Eagles Super Bowl 2) Broncos 2015 AFCCG: Brady’ offensive line was a sieve EITHER WAY Giants Super Bowl: game changed when Brady’s shoulder got fucked up by Tuck FAVORITE PLAYER TB12 MOST FUN/DOMINANT Gronk HEART OF TEAM Edelman BELOVED Wilfork ROCK SOLID 1) Hightower 2) McCourty 3) James White 1st BALLOT HALL OF FAMERS 1) Brady 2) Gronk 3) Revis LATER BALLOT 1) Edelman 2) Scarnecchia 3) Welker 4) Wilfork 5) Slater MAKING AN ARGUMENT Gilmore PATS HALL ONLY 1) McCourty 2) Hightower 3) Mankins 4) White 5) Gostkowski 6) Mayo 7) Chung UNDERRATED/GOOD VALUE 1) Amendola 2) Vollmer 3) Ninkovich 4) Chung 5) Woodhead DESERVED BETTER Welker UNSUNG Slater OVERRATED 1) Solder 2) Brandin Cooks NO-SHOWS Dolphins (Dec ’19); Jets Divisional (Jan ‘11) BEST REGULAR SEASON WINS 1) 2013 Broncos 2) 2017 Steelers 3) 2013 Saints BEST REGULAR SEASON LOSSES 1) 2012 49ers 2) 2016 Seahawks 3) 2014 Packers 4) 2015 Broncos LOL Miami Miracle: saved by winning Super Bowl LEAST TALENTED TEAM 1) 2013 by a mile 2) 2010 3) 2011 4) 2018 BEST TEAM 1) 2014  2) 2016 BEST PLAYS (NON-GRONK) 1) Butler INT Seahawks 2) Edelman TD pass vs Ravens 3) Buttfumble Jets 4) Edelman catch vs Falcons 5) Walk-off TD vs Falcons 6) Dan Connolly kick return 7) Brady TD pass to LaFell 2015 Divisional POUNDED TABLE TO DRAFT 1) Lamar Jackson 2) Kittle 3) AJ Brown 4) Honey Badger 5) Stefon Diggs WANTED BUT OUT OF REACH 1) Aaron Donald 2) Quenton Nelson 3) Derwin James 4) Hopkins 5) TJ Watt 6) Saquon 7) Keenan Allen 8) McCaffrey 9) Gurley WOULD’VE WON IT ALL IF NOT FOR INJURIES 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017. That’s football HEALTHIEST SEASON 2018 ROPE-A-DOPED/GOT BY ON VETERAN GUILE 2018: Belichick’s best coaching FAVORITE PICKS AT THE TIME OF GUYS I WANTED 1) Gronk 2) Hightower/Chandler Jones 3) Shaq Mason MOVES I HATED THAT I WAS WRONG ABOUT 1) Stephon Gilmore 2) trading Jamie Collins MOST IMPROVED Marcus Cannon BEST FIND Kyle Van Noy MOVE I LOVED getting Blount back the 2nd time IF BUTLER WASN’T BENCHED, DO THEY BEAT THE EAGLES? Yes 100%. If only because, if nothing else, he can tackle BUTLER’s INT KILLED THE ‘LEGION OF BOOM’ SEAHAWKS WOULD-BE DYNASTY Yes DRAFT REACH THAT MADE NO SENSE Jordan Richards: Tavon Wilson 2.0 BAD DRAFT MOVES 1) Dominique Easley 2) Cyrus Jones 3) Dobson 4) Mallett DIRTY SECRET Belichick sucks at drafting in 2nd round WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD IF HE STAYED HEALTHY Malcolm Mitchell HATE TO SEE WALK BUT COULDN’T AFFORD 1) Trey Flowers 2) Chandler Jones 3) Jimmy G 4) Talib 5) Akiem Hicks DEFLATEGATE fraud/power trip job by Goodell/owners BRADY OR BELICHICK MORE VALUABLE Brady 100% DISAPPOINTING/GAMBLES 1) Ochocinco 2) Michael Bennett: got him 2 years too late 3) Fanene signing 4) Haynesworth BEST SHORT-TERM 1) Martellus Bennett 2) Chris Long 3) Revis 4) Brian Waters SUSPECT CHARACTERS/EDGY PERSONALITY MACHINES Brandon Spikes; Brandon Browner…SERIAL KILLER Aaron Hernandez PERSONALITY DISORDER DISASTER Antonio Brown: bad signing/unexpected HOW THE FUCK DID WE LOSE TO THAT GUY? Eli Manning/Nick Foles LIFESAVER Scarnecchia MCDANIELS Frustrating—but continuity matters REFS FUCKED OVER Gronk  MISCELANNEOUS 2010s GOOD/ENJOY Bernie Sanders/AOC: people who actually want to get good done that’s long overdue…Lebron James; Stephen Curry; Kawhi; Zion Williamson; Luka Doncic...Lamar Jackson; Pat Mahomes; JJ Watt; Marshawn Lynch…Coach Ed Orgeron...David Ortiz…2011 Bruins…memes…Don Winslow crime novels…David Roth writing on Trump…David Grann non-fiction…’Book of Mormon’ DID NOT ENJOY Kyrie Irving…Deflategate…LeBron on the Heat…Bobby Valentine DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE ‘Between the World and Me’…Elon Musk…Lin Manuel-Miranda/’Hamilton’ INDEFENSIBLY AND INFURIATINGLY BAD THE MORE YOU LOOK AT IT Facebook…Obama Presidency/Democratic Party Leadership EVERYDAY DISASTER Media: CNN; Fox; MSNBC; NY Times Op-Ed…Trump/Republicans: Trump presidency was basically 2010s 9/11 for inevitable disastrous fallout & consequences my generation will never recover from…Grifters Trojan horsing way in shamelessly (Trump administration; Ben Shapiro; Alex Jones; Milo; Jordan Peterson, Tomi Lahren, etc.) and no repercussions...Republican Party basically one goal: to troll libs even with shitty ideas that suck FAVORITES WHO DIED Bourdain; Elmore Leonard; Garry Shandling; Muhammad Ali; Robin Williams; Tom Petty BEST TALENT CUT SHORT Philip Seymour Hoffman SHITTIEST PEOPLE WHO DIED Antonin Scalia; George HW Bush; John McCain; Osama; Steve Jobs; Whitey Bulger I FORGOT THAT SHIT HAPPENED Charlie Sheen loses it JEFFREY EPSTEIN did not kill himself WHAT DEFINES 2010s Amazon/Bezos…Climate Change/Gun Violence inaction…Journalism being taken over by Bane Capital-esque vultures/local places dying...one-sided Class War by the uber-rich…#MeToo…Netflix…Opioids…Outrage/Cancel culture…Police Injustice…Silicon Valley…Social Media…Superhero shit…Your mom

[queenxxxsupreme]

Solace-Jim Mason series

Chapter 7

A/N: A shit ton happens in this chapter

Warnings: making out, talk of suicide, underaged drinking, hints to drug use, the usual

Word Count: 5.2k

Summary: Sonny’s dad kind of reached maximum douche

“Sonny? Jim? Wake up, guys.” Medina softly shook my shoulder. I groaned, bringing my hand up to rub my eyes. She was standing over Jim’s bed trying to wake us up.

“Hi, Medina.” I brushed my hair back out of my face. I could feel someone behind me, their arms locked around my stomach. I glanced over my shoulder to see Jim was fast asleep. I smiled softly at him. He looked so peaceful.

“Hey, I just wanted to wake you guys up before I go.” Medina said. “I’ve been keeping mom away but I can’t when I’m gone.”

“Okay. Thanks, Medina.” I gave her a little smile and watched as she left.

The door softly closed behind her. I turned in Jim’s arms, struggling just a little as his grip on me tightened when I moved. I brushed my fingers over his brown hair and them along his jaw. He hummed softly.

“Jim? I need to go home.” I told him. My fingers left his cheek to trail down the side of his neck. I didn’t remember actually falling asleep last night. We were up until four in the morning just talking. “Jim? James?”

He raised his brows and turned his head just slightly towards me. I giggled softly.

“Emerson.” He hummed, moving his head so that he rested his chin on my shoulder.

“I need to go home.”

He groaned loudly and frowned. His beautiful blue eyes opened to meet mine.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” I leaned forward to kiss his forehead.

***

As Jim pulled up to the curb outside of my house, the sight of three police cruisers in the driveway made my stomach drop. The last time there had been that many cops at my house, Summer had died.

Jim’s hand gave my knee one firm squeeze before he let me go. My heart began to hammer inside my chest as my hand fumbled for the handle. He followed me up the stone pathway towards the front door.

Dad stepped out first then two cops behind him.

“That’s him.” Dad pointed behind me. “He took my daughter.”

I furrowed my eyebrows together as I stared at my father in absolute horror. What was he talking about? I looked over my shoulder to Jim, who was just as confused as me.

“What are you talking about, dad?” I asked him. One of the cops began to move towards Jim but I stepped in his way, shaking my head furiously. “No, no, no, no! I-I-I left with him! I went with him! I wanted to!”

As the cop came closer, I tried to stop him. Before I could put my hands on him, Reese was there to stop me. His arms wrapped around my waist.

“Stop it!” I cried out, watching helplessly as the cop slapped cuffs on to Jim’s wrists. “Leave him alone! He didn’t do anything!”

Our eyes met and my lips parted. I couldn’t breathe.

“I’m so sorry.” I whispered.

As he pushed into the back of a cruiser, Reese finally let me go from his vice grip. I stepped away from him and towards the cruiser. My hands came up to run through my hair. I pulled the long strands. My throat itched and my nose burned but I wasn’t ready to cry. I was angry.

My arms fell to my sides as I spun around to face my father. He stood on the porch of our house. Behind him in the doorway was Steph. Reese was a few feet away from me. Asher and Jackson lingered near the bottom of the porch steps. Miles was in the window of the living room.

“Why would you do that?” I spoke through my teeth as I moved towards dad. “Why would you do that!” My voice went up three octaves as tears of rage and guilt filled my eyes.

Jim was being arrested because of me. What if they found something in his system? What if he went to jail?

I stomped up the stairs and pushed dad. He stepped back, locking his jaw tightly.

“How could you!” I screamed, not caring who in Palos Verdes could hear me. “Jim is the only good thing that’s happened to me in a long time! Why can’t you just let me be happy?”

“You’re tearing your future apart, Sonny. I won’t allow you to do that.”

I stared up at him, wondering how the man I looked up to and admired so much had turned into who I saw.

“I should’ve died with Summer.” I murmured quietly, wiping my nose on the back of my hand. I pushed past him. Steph reach out to put her hand on my arm but I shook my head. I wasn’t in the mood to be consoled.

***

Ten minutes later, I was upstairs in my room. I didn’t bother to open the balcony doors and go outside to smoke. I sat in the floor against my bed to do so.

Jim probably hated me by now. My father was a complete dick to him from start to finish. He didn’t even give Jim a chance. It wouldn’t surprise me if he never wanted to talk to me again.

I was pulled from my thoughts by shouting coming from downstairs.

“Don’t you fucking get it?” That was Reese.

“I’ve had enough of you acting like a child, Reese. You’ve been taking her side for everything-,”

“We are going to lose her, dad!” Reese shouted. I’d never heard him sound so angry, so furious. He was always the one to keep his cool and stay calm. He never lost his temper. “She’s not going to run away with Jim, if that’s what you’re scared of! She’s going to kill herself! Don’t you fucking get it? You’re too busy trying to control her, to control her future because you’re afraid something’s going to happen to her but damn it, dad! You’re the reason she’s going to die!” He was crying by now. I could hear it in his voice. He sounded broken and worn.

I closed my eyes tightly, my head falling as I brought my hand up to rub my forehead. How long had he known? How long had he been keeping from me that he knew?

“I told you to keep her in therapy longer than that month after we lost Summer. I stayed quiet when you took her out. That’s when I stepped up and started being the brother she needed. But I-I can only do so much. I saw the way the accident messed her up, dad. Don’t you see it too?”

There was silence.

“And-And then a month ago, she changed even more.”

I inhaled sharply. I put the cigarette into an empty bottle and closed it before sitting it down beside me.

“She’s having dreams, she’s not sleeping, but when she is sleeping, she’s only falling asleep down here on the couch or with me or Miles.” Reese paused. “I-I-I don’t know what-I don’t know what happened to her but I think she’s doing better these last few days because of Jim. And dad, I don’t know what you have against him, but it’s a load of B.S. He’s a cool kid and he’s nice, and he’s good to Sonny. He makes her smile and damn it, I miss her smile.”

There was movement downstairs as Reese fell silent. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

“Where are you going, Ash?” Steph asked softly.

“To get that kid out of the trouble dad got him in. He doesn’t deserve any of it.”

“How are you going to do that?” Miles asked.

“’ll think of something.”

“Go see if Sonny wants to go with you.” Steph suggested. I tightened my grip on my legs and tucked my nose into my knees.

“I’ll go.” Reese offered.

I closed my eyes and listened to him come up the stairs and to my room. He knocked softly. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and lifted my head from my knees, clearing my throat.

“Sonny? It’s me.”

“Come in, Reese.” My voice was raspy. He cracked the door and stuck his head in. “I don’t want to go.”

“You don’t?” He furrowed his brows together. I shook my head, my face crinkling up as a fresh batch of tears came to my eyes. “Why not?” Reese moved into my room, closing the door behind himself. He came to sit next to me on the floor, putting one arm around my shoulders.

“He hates me.”

“Jim?”

I nodded my head, putting my forehead against my knees.

“He doesn’t hate you, Sonny.”

“Dad had him arrested for some bullshit thing he didn’t do. He-He could get in trouble, Reese. He’s going to hate me.”

“Jim’s not that kind of guy, Sonny.”

“How do you know?” I wiped my cheeks, lifting my head to look at him.

“Because he likes you, that’s why.” Reese rolled his eyes. He watched me for a few moments before he pulled his arm from around me and put his hands in his lap. “Did you hear everything else I said?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, biting my bottom lip for a moment. “How long have you known?”

“Known what?”

“That I thought about killing myself.”

His eyes fell to his hands. He stayed quiet for a few moments. 

“Um, it was just.... it was this look in your eyes. You were so full of life before the accident. You smiled all the time and you laughed. I don’t want to say light because that makes it all sound cheesy as shit. I guess the best way to put it is there was a will in your eyes. A want to do things, a drive.” He shrugged his broad shoulders, shaking his head. “That went away. You started losing interest in everything. You’ve been painting less and less. I don’t find you with paint in your hair or on your cheeks or on your hands like I used to. Mom’s even asked a few times if you still like to do that.”

“I stopped for a while.” I stood up and crossed my room. I disappeared into my closer for a moment. Hidden in the back underneath a white sheet was a four foot tall by three foot wide canvas. I pulled it out and revealed what I had painted to Reese. “This is the first thing I did in months. It took me three days because I wanted to get all the colors right.” 

Reese’s face lit up, a little smile crossing his lips as he took in the artwork. I moved so I could look at it too. It was of Jim. I had done finished it just yesterday. He was looking off to the left, his lips parted as he smiled just slightly to reveal his perfectly white teeth. His always unruly brunet hair blew with the wind that I imagined to be blowing. A few pieces fell across his forehead. 

“Wow. You are obsessed.” 

I rolled my eyes at him, though hearing him tease me made me feel better. I covered the work back up and returned it to the safety of my closest.

“Um, I-I told you that if you lied to dad for me, I’d tell you about the party five weeks ago.” I rubbed my palms on my jean-clad thighs. I sat on the edge of my bed instead of next to him in the floor where I had been.

“You don’t have to do that right now, Sonny.”

“But you deserve to know. I told you I would.” I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. Here goes nothing. 

***

Two Weeks Later

“Cereal for dinner?” Reese raised his brows as he eyed what I was eating.

“I didn’t feel like cooking, and Steph and dad are talking in dad’s office.”

“I’ll run out and get something.” He offered. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Pad thai.” I answered with a grin as I looked up at him. 

“Good, cause that’s what I want too. I’ll go see what everyone else wants before I do.”

I watched him leave the kitchen before returning my attention back to my cereal. I could hear Steph and dad talking in his office. They weren’t yelling, but they weren’t quiet either.

“She’s hanging out with her friends, Greg. What the hell do you want from her?”

“Oh believe me, I’ve got credit card bills to let me know. I just wish she wasn’t hanging out with Lindsay’s friends.”

“Lindsay is her friend, Greg. She’s been Sonny’s friend since we moved here.”

“Lindsay’s fine, but the girls she hangs out with aren’t who I want Sonny around.”

I shook my head, locking my jaw tightly. 

It had been two weeks since my father had Jim Mason arrested. Jackson and Asher went down to the police station he was at and somehow got him released. Jackson was a lawyer so he had to know what he was doing. I made sure to thank them and give them hugs before they went back to Portland and New York.

It had also been two weeks since I heard from the boy I saved on the beach. I texted him the morning after the incident when I knew he wasn’t still in police custody. I couldn’t think of anything other than to tell him I was sorry. He didn’t answer me back, but I didn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want anything to do with a girl whose father tried to have me arrested on kidnapping charges. 

It had been two weeks since I looked or even spoke to my father. I wasn’t going to punish the rest of the family and be an asshole towards all of them, so even when we had family dinners, I’d join. I’d make conversation with Steph, Miles, and Reese. But I wouldn’t talk to my father. I wanted him to know just how furious I was with him and how he acted. I couldn’t believe he’d act that way. 

In retaliation to his behavior and his actions, I’d decided to take Lindsay and a few of her friends that I considered friends shopping using my credit card funded by dad himself. 

My phone buzzed on the island counter. It was Lindsay.

7:23p.m. From: Lindsay Grace <”There’s a party down at JJ Perez’s house tonight. Do you wanna go with me?”>

I put my spoon down, a smile forming on my lips. I bought a new outfit one of the times we went shopping. This would be my chance to try it out. 

7:25p.m. To: Lindsay Grace <”Absolutely. What time?”

***

Lindsay’s fingers were laced tightly in mine to ensure that we wouldn’t lose each other in the tight crowd that took over JJ Perez’s house. JJ was a grade above me in school. He graduated with Lindsay. He was super cool and known for throwing amazing parties. I’d only ever been to one of his parties-that was the first time I tried cocaine.

“I want to find Chet!” Lindsay called over her shoulder. I frowned. Chet was her sleeping buddy. I wasn’t a fan of him but only for selfish reasons. I liked her better with my brother.

“Why?”

Lindsay didn’t answer me. 

The bass was so loud that it vibrated my chest. The lighting was dark but there were colorful strobe lights flashing from somewhere in the room. There was a haze beginning to fill the living room, a tell-tale sign that someone was smoking. It smelled like a joint. 

Lindsay found Chet, who was with another group of guys. They eyed me up as I straightened my shirt. Squeezing through the crowd had messed it up. I was dressed in a pair of faded high-waisted skinny jeans with a black belt fastened securely around my waist. Tucked into the jeans was a sheer see-through black top with black stars here and there. Underneath the top, my black triangle bra could be seen. My red hair was left in loose waves that cascaded down my back.

I didn’t like the way Chet’s friends were looking at me. They were whispering to each other like I didn’t see them. 

“I’m going to go get a drink, Linds.” I told him, putting my hand on her arm. She nodded her head then returned to her conversation with Chet. 

I started making my way towards the kitchen, slipping between grinding bodies and wondering hands. 

The counters in the kitchen were filled with numerous different kinds of alcohols, all with different sizes, different labels, and different tastes. I slipped by a couple making out against the counter by the dozen or so bottles of Heineken and picked up a red solo cup from the stack. I decided to go with rum and coke. It was a basic mix I knew I liked. 

I took my drink and started to make my way back towards where I had left Lindsay. The only problem was she wasn’t there. I frowned and let out a sigh. She must’ve gone somewhere with Chet already. 

“Shit.” I took a few sips of my drink.

“Sonny?” 

I turned around to see Jim Mason standing at the bottom of the stairs. A little smile crossed my lips. I opened my mouth to say something when a dark haired girl threw her arm around his shoulders, nearly knocking him off balance. He looked at her and smiled softly, his arm slipping around her waist. I looked away as they kissed. The smile on my lips immediately disappeared. 

“Who is this, Jimmy?” She gestured to me with the beer in her hand. 

“Um, this is.... this is, uh, um....” He seemed at a loss for words.

I forced a smile on my lips, though something in my chest began to ache. 

“I’m nobody.” I told her, meeting Jim’s gaze one last time. I turned back to the large crowd and started to make my way back to the kitchen. My heart was racing and my chest burned. Rejection was painful and tasted bitter. 

I finished off the last of my coke and rum. 

“Whoa, sweetheart.” A guy moved towards me, holding a beer in his hand. “You look like you’re having a rough night.”

“More like a rough life.” 

“Do you want another drink? Cause I could use another beer.”

I looked him over. He was tall and seemed firmly built. His shoulders were broad and his face was cute. His dark hair was styled perfectly. He was the jock type. He wasn’t someone I’d willingly put myself in a relationship with, but tonight wasn’t about that. Tonight, I wanted to forget about my problems.

“I’d like that.” I put on a smile. He took my cup from me and led me to the kitchen. 

***

“What’s your name?” He glanced over to me as he poured whiskey and sprite into my cup. His ratios were a lot different than what mine had been. While I added a lot more coke than rum, he added more whiskey than sprite. 

“Sonny.” I twirled a piece of red hair between my fingers. 

“That’s cute. I’m Jake.”

Jake. Of course his name was Jake. 

“Was there a reason you were chugging whatever you had earlier, Sonny?” He handed me my drink and then turned to face me. I held his gaze for a few moments before deciding that it would be best to get at least a little more than tipsy. I needed to let loose. I needed to have fun tonight. 

I took a sip of the drink and hissed at the burn. 

“You don’t want to hear about my problems, babe.” I shook my head. I put my drink down for a second to jump up on to the counter. 

“I’m just curious why a pretty girl like you was all alone in a place like this.”

I wanted to laugh at him. 

“I have daddy issues.” I picked up my cup to take another sip. I liked the burn of the drink.

“That’s hot.” Jake was blunt. He watched me take a drink of the alcohol. His eyes trailed down to my chest for a moment. He took his bottom lip between his teeth. 

“Oh yeah. Definitely. He’s driving me fucking insane.” I raked my hair over one shoulder. Feeling someone’s eyes on me, other than Jake’s, I looked over my shoulder to peek out into the living room. Jim was with the dark haired girl. He wasn’t looking at me when I looked at him, but I was positive he had been looking at me. 

He had someone else, someone who’s dad wouldn’t get him arrested. Fuck it.

I turned my attention back to Jake, giving him a little smile. I downed the rest of my drink, knowing very well it wasn’t lady-like of me, and put the empty cup aside.

“You know what, Jake? I think you are just the guy I’ve been looking for.” I poked his chest. Underneath the thin black t-shirt he wore I could feel muscle. Hmm. Maybe he would be fun. 

“Oh, really?” He quirked a brow up, stepping a little closer to me so that he could put a hand on my knee. 

“Really.” I nodded my head. He brought his hand up to my cheek and pulled me in for a kiss. His lips were rough and he tasted like the beer he was drinking. He came to stand between my knees, his hands slipping around my hips to pull me closer to the edge of the counter. I brought one knee up just a little, wrapping my leg around his waist. My fingers gripping his biceps. 

“Good luck with that one, Jakey-boy.” 

I pulled away from Jake upon hearing Will Talbot’s voice. I stiffened up, my grip on Jake’s arm tightened. Jake kept one hand secure on my hip while he reached over to bump his fist against Will’s. 

“You know her, Will?” 

“Oh yeah. Me and Sonny are good friends, aren’t we, babe?” Will winked at me. I diverted my eyes away from him, focusing instead on Jake’s chest. 

Will started to get himself a drink a few feet away from us. Jake didn’t seem to mind so he started to kiss my neck. I closed my eyes, trying to focus everything I could on Jake. Jake was the one touching me. Jake was the one kissing me. It wasn’t Will. 

My stomach churned. The walls were closing in. My heart was thumping in my chest. 

“I-I can’t do this, Jake.” I shook my head, pushing him away. I don’t think he heard me over the music. “Jake, stop it!” I raised my voice, giving him a firm shove. He stumbled back, hitting the counter across from me. 

I jumped down from the counter and hastily made my way towards the front of the house. I pushed through the crowd, not caring who I elbowed or shoved out of my way. 

The night air was warm and welcoming. For once, the salty scent that filled the air even outside of Palos Verdes was welcoming. My eyes flickered around the front lawn. There were a few people scattered through out the yard but not many. 

My feet took me to the center of the perfectly cut grass. I hunched over with my hands on my knees. My eyes closed tightly as I tried to think of anything other than Will Talbot. The next best thing was Jim and the girl with him. 

“Damn it.” I cursed, exhaling as I pushed myself off of my knees. I brushed my fingers through my hair and moved towards the sidewalk. So much for a fun night. I pulled my phone out to text Lindsay and let her know I was walking home. 

“Sonny!”

I turned upon hearing my name. Jim was jogging across the yard. 

“Hey, Jim.” I moved to continue walking.

“Where-Where are you going?” He started to walk beside me. 

“Home.”

“Will Talbot’s back there. That’s why I came to check on you. Make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine, Jim.” I gave him a tight smile. “Go on back to your girlfriend. I’m sure she’s missing you.”

“Heather? She’s not my girlfriend.” He shook his head, his blue eyes growing wide for a moment. “I, um, I’m sorry I never texted you back, Sonny.” 

I came to a stop and turned to face him. All of the emotions running through my veins right now were toxic.

“Jim, it’s okay.” I assured him. “Don’t worry about it. I get it completely. I wouldn’t want to hang around someone like me either.”

“Sonny, that’s not.... that’s not what happened.” Jim furrowed his eyebrows together. “It’s been a rough two weeks for me. Mom’s been rough. I-I used coke two days after I last saw you and I couldn’t-I couldn’t bring myself to come around. I didn’t want to get you in trouble either. Your dad really doesn’t like me.”

“Right now, I really don’t like my dad.”

Something moving behind Jim caught my eye. It was Will. He lingered in the doorway of the house, watching me with darkened eyes.

"Don't apologize, Jim." My attention flickered back to the brunet in front of me. "You did nothing wrong."

I turned to leave again but his hand wrapped around my wrist. I was pulled back around to face him, my hands finding his chest to stop us from colliding. Before I could say anything, my lips met his. It didn't last long. He pulled away, resting out foreheads together.

"I missed you." He admitted, his voice airy and almost pained.

"Missed you too." I bit my bottom lip. I opened my eyes to meet his. He was smiling down at me. A little giggle left my lips. His beautiful blue irises seemed to be bigger than natural. His pupils were pinpoint small but that detail was shaken off in that moment in time. I missed those eyes. "Come on. I don't want to be here."

***

After walking for nearly thirty minutes of walking in complete silence, we got to Jim's house. Adrian was over, secretly keeping Medina company while their mother watched television in the living room. I stayed outside so Jim could get a blanket.

We took the blanket and wet down to the beach to lay on the sand.

I faced Jim on my side, one arm tucked under my head while my opposite was stretched out across his stomach.

"Who was she?" I asked softly, curious about the Heather girl he was with at the party. I felt tingly. I knew the two drinks I had chugged earlier were coursing through my veins. I felt good.

"Who?" He turned his head to me.

"Heather."

"Just.... Just someone." He softly shrugged his shoulders. "She's kept me busy for a while."

"She's not your girlfriend?"

"No." He chuckled just slightly. "What about Jake Davenport? Is he your boyfriend?"

"No." I shook my head, turning my attention to the sky. "I just wanted to get laid." The bluntness of my words surprised me but there was no taking them back now.

"Classy."

"Yeah, I know." I looked back to Jim. He was gazing at me. I reached out to brush my fingers through his hair. "I didn't know it was real."

"What?"

I bit my bottom lip. The part of my brain that was sober was telling me to shut up. I was going to say something that I regretted. But that was a small part of me. The majority of my brain was being ran by the rum and coke slash whiskey and sprite mixed drinks I had earlier.

"You know in movies or in books where people talk about how someone can comfort them just by being there? They can.... They can bring them solace?" My eyes flickered down to his pink lips. "I think you're my solace, Jim Mason."

He was silent for a few moments, his mouth falling open to say something but no words came out. I took the chance to kiss him. I got up on my hands and knees and straddled his waist, one hand supporting my weight by his head while the other held my hair back. I leaned down and sealed my lips to his.

His hands found my thighs, fingertips digging into my impossibly tight jeans. This kiss was unlike any other one we had shared. This one was passionate and maybe even a little lustful. Our teeth bumped together. The kiss was a little messy but I didn't mind.

My phone vibrated in the back pocket of my jeans, causing me to groan softly. His lips left mine and trailed down my jaw.

"Answer it." He breathed against my skin. His teeth sunk into my jaw. A whiney moan left my lips. My hips grinded down on his, rubbing my jean-clad crotch to his. "Shit." He cursed.

"Two can play at that game, sweetheart." I whispered as I pulled away from him and sat up. Still straddling his waist, I reached into my back pocket to pull out my phone. My eyes stayed locked on Jim's. His fingers slipped underneath my sheer top. Lindsay was calling me. "Hey, Lindsay."

A dark smirked came to Jim's lips. I furrowed my eyebrows together at him, silently questioning what was going through his head. He bit his bottom lip. His fingertips ghosted across the skin of my stomach as they traveled north.

"Girl, where the hell are you?"

"Busy."

Jim traced the curve of my breast, his eyes watching his fingers. I took his hand and used him to grab my breast. My head fell back as a soft groan left his lips. The sound was heavenly.

"Linds, I-I have to go." I hung up and tossed my phone down on to the blanket next to us. "Don't be shy, sweetheart."

"Fuck, you're so hot."

***

Jim trailed quietly behind me, his index and middle fingers laced together with mine. I glanced over my shoulder to him. There was a dazed smile on his lips. He carried the blanket over his shoulder. He brought my hand up to his lips to place a little kiss on my knuckles.

The backdoor to my house was always left unlocked. It was a bad habit my parents had. I slid it open and quietly pulled Jim inside. All of the lights were off in the house. Everything was silent.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jim whispered.

"You said we couldn't go to your house." I reminded him as we started up the stairs.

We made it to my room with no problems. I locked the door behind me and moved across the room to turn the lamp by my bed on.

"I've got some pants you'll fit into." I picked up a hair tye from the stand by my bed and tied my hair into a ponytail. "I had a boyfriend last year that went to Miami with us on vacation. I ended up with a pair of his pants afterwards. We broke up and I never gave them back."

It didn't take me long to find the sweatpants. I liked to wear them when it was cold. They were comfy. I tossed them to Jim and then proceeded to change in the closet. I put on a pair of shorts and a baggy black t-shirt.

Jim and I settled into bed. He was back between me and the wall while I took the outside.

"Sonny?” 

“Hmm?”

“You’re mine too, you know.” His fingertips brushed up and down the outside of my thigh as he buried his nose in my hair. “I’ve never.... I’ve never been so at peace like I am with you.”

I smiled a little and turned over to face him. Our foreheads pressed together. His hand returned to my hip but this time, his fingers played with the waist of my shorts. 

“Your dad isn’t going to like this.” 

“Stop bringing him up.” I put my hand on his chest. “I don’t care what he thinks. If he doesn’t want to see me happy, then fuck him.”

Jim pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.

“M’too tired to talk.” I moved closer to him, tucking my nose into the front of his neck. “Just hold me.”

His chest vibrated with a little chuckle. 

“Good night, angel.”

[dyns33]

His favorite - Jim Mason x Male Reader (1/?)

Okay guys. I test the water with this first chapter, to see what you think, even if the plot is just beginning and that (as usual) I finish on a beautiful cliffhanger without giving answers to several questions, but it is me, you are used to it now. I do not give too much details about the violence, but there are some insults and I'm talking about bullies and a bit of homophobia. Plus Jim is a bit OOC, dark and mean, but I promise it will change... a bit. 

Comments are welcome, because I wanted to write this story for a while, but I'm really not sure it will be liked. Thank you !

It was not easy to be the new guy in Palos Verdes, (Y / N) understood it very quickly. He was discreet, he was not looking for trouble, he stayed quietly in his corner, and yet from the first day the band called the Bay Boys decided that they did not like him and he went home with the cleft lip and swollen cheek. Fortunately his father was almost never home, so only his sister knew about the situation and swore to not talk about it to their dad, while she was helping him with the bandages. (Y / N) already had some similar problems in the past, he was always in fights with some students, because he refused to be scared of them, or to let them hit those who were helpless or did not deserve it. It was one of the reason why they had to move and his father asked him to stop this behaviour. So (Y / N) decided to not started a fight, to stay calm and only care about his business. He thought that after several months, these idiots would leave him alone, but one of them, James Mason, really seemed to want to make his life a living hell, for no apparent reason, since they almost never spoke, except in class, where when Mason returned after several days of absence, wanted to catch up and no one dared to answer him, because they were all a little afraid of him and his band. So even if he was a little jerk, (Y / N) helped him every time, and during those moments James seemed different, softer, kinder, whatever a little frightened, thanking him with a shy little smile . Yet he was always rewarded with insults when he passed near the beach or a slap behind the head.

           "Why does he hate you so much ?" asked his sister Lydia, one day. "You've done something to upset him ? Or he likes to have a bullied and you are the lucky one ?"

           "No idea. I hope he'll calm down soon and find another hobby."

For a moment, (Y / N) thought he could guess where the problem was, after he had a little talk with Medina, who wanted to apologize for the actions of her brother, and especially after he got closer to Heather if we could call it be close. They had just been forced to work together for a presentation and he was friendly with her, nothing more. Maybe she had told the Bay Boys and Mason some bullshits, maybe he made ideas on his own, anyway he followed him back home, stuck him in a deserted alley, throwing himself on him. The shock and surprise had brought (Y / N) down, finding himself stuck under James, while he was holding his throat, hitting the floor next to his head with his free hand.

           "You do not approach my sister ! You do not approach Heather ! You do not look at them, you do not talk to them, you do not touch them, you do not fuck them ! You do not even think about it ! Understood ?!"

           "Crystal clear."

Everything could have, should have, ended after that meeting, during which Mason had really scared him, for the first time, with his eyes full of hatred, his dilated pupils, his vein pulsating on his forehead, and even if he had not hit him, (Y / N) had felt threatened enough to obey, whereas he usually did not like being banned from things. He asked to change his presentation partner, he avoided Medina at all costs, thinking that if he was not seen with James' girls, he would finally have some peace. He was wrong. Gradually, Mason seemed to get angry as soon as he spoke to someone, no matter who, he would often follow him to his house, but without approaching him, he seemed to be watching him in all circumstances.

           "Since he does not have any 'good' reason to hit you anymore, without his pals finding it weird, he's probably waiting for you to do something stupid." said Lydia.

           "Why me ? He was new too once, no ? He knows what it is."

           "Maybe that's the problem, he's afraid you'll take his place ?"

           "I do not want his fucking place. The Bay boys are assholes and morons. I do not care about being popular, appreciated, important, all I want is them to leave me alone."

Because even if they were feared, the Bay Boys were the group that all the students envied and adored, even if they were a little ashamed by it. It was an honor to be invited to Chad's parties, full of alcohol and drug, it was a joy to receive a friendly pat on the shoulder from Alex, it was a privilege to receive Mildew's permission to surf on their beach, and it was wonderful that James Mason decided you were cool. Ridiculous. Never (Y / N) would want to be part of this band or be appreciated by any of these guys, and most of all he would never want to be like them. So he was not going to parties, even if he was invited, he was not going to the beach, he was avoiding Alex's hand in the corridors, to make them understand that they were not alike.

           "Assholes do not like to be shown that they are assholes and that we are better than them. Play their game, fit in, and Mason will eventually calm down."

           "No, I will not change to please them."

His sister sighed, knowing what that meant : Mason was not going to stop. Wherever he went, James was there, staring at him, full of rage and madness. But really, everywhere. Even at the weekend, during which (Y / N) thought he could forget his problems, he would sometimes see him at the corner of a street, and once he had entered the supermarket.

           "Look where you are going !" Mason grunted, without moving away.

           "Sorry, I did not see you, I..."

           "You were looking at some stupid bitch. Or at the surfers near the cash register. You're a fag ? That's why you avoid the beach and you're uncomfortable in the locker room ?"

           "I'll be more comfortable if you and your friends do not try to trap me in the showers."

He should have shut up, lowered his eyes and left, because his comment did not seem to please James. (Y / N) wanted to add that he did not mean that they were gay, and that in any case he did not consider it an insult, but it was too late. He could read in Mason's eyes that he was going to have a bad time as soon as they were alone. And Medina, who came to say hello, did not help.

           "My brother is nice with you ?" she asked suspiciously, turning to her twin.

           "What are you talking about ? I did not do anything he does not deserve !"

           "Jim... go see if mom needs help."

The mention of their mother seemed to disturb James, who mumbled something, before moving away, still staring at (Y / N).

           "Excuse him, I do not know what he's done yet, but he'll regret it when we will be home."

           "Are you going to punish him ?" he joked.

           "Haha, no. I can hear him talking in his room sometimes, and... he's stressed right now. We've got a lot of trouble and I think it's a bit on his nerves. That's why he's violent and mean to some people, I know it's not an excuse, but he's not like that normally, it's because of the guys he stays with. It's just... difficult for him lately."

           "You're right, it's not an excuse."

Medina pouted, but did not protest. She knew he was right. As her brother was gone, (Y / N) decided it was probably time to go, to avoid crossing him in the parking lot. No doubt that it was only a delay, but perhaps the weekend would allow James to think, or forget, and leave him alone when they find themselves in class. What was certain was that (Y / N) was going to avoid leaving his house until then, to be certain not to re-cross him by chance. Until he was sleeping, he thought back to what the twins had said. First Medina and her explanations, a little vague. It was well known that most bullies had problems at home, and they took revenge on others, but should he have pity and forgive James for that ? Especially since... why him ? Because Medina was wrong, her brother was violent with no one else, or not so much. It was because he was too close to some girls ? Because he thought he was gay, if he took into account his remark in the store ? For no reason, just to have fun ? The simplest thing would be to ask him directly, but (Y / N) did not really think about it, when he woke up around midnight, to find James Mason, sitting on his chest, looking at him with predatory eyes.

Tag : @allyadarth @sloppy-little-witch-bitch26 @kahhlo @gold-dragon-slayer @moonagecordelia @roxytheimmortal @hecohansen31

[blackaquokat]

I’m really feeling 27 for Mason and Rufus and/or Jiya! Because that really seems like wisdom he would try to give to his protégés.

You’re wish is my command dearie! This takes place roughly in S1. Hints at a demiro!demisexual!Jiya, but it’s my first attempt writing this orientation, so I’m not sure how well I did. Anyway, enjoy!

27. “For to know a man’s library is, in some measure, to know his mind.”

The thing to know about Rufus Carlin, Jiya realizes early on, is that if he is left to his own devices when it comes to relationships, then absolutely nothing will progress. He will settle into routine and flounder if that routine changes for fear that he will lose what he has.

It’s very sweet, but after months of waiting for him to make a move and then take five steps back for fear that he overstepped, Jiya is far beyond done with this bullshit. He’s given her long enough to realize that she loves him (since romance and physical attraction are take their sweet time before clicking with her, waiting  to know someone heart and soul before committing) and she is more than ready to take the next step.

Mason is her boss, and as such, she does not unload her romantic trifles onto him, but seeing as Rufus’s feelings for her are a flashing neon sign for all to see, the man offers up his two cents, completely unprompted on her part, after a shot or two of bourbon one night when the two of them are working late.

“You know what I see Rufus reading, Jiya? When it’s not research for the Mothership or Lifeboat, it’s those comic books with the great heroes and villains and the love stories that take countless volumes before finally taking root and thriving. To know a man’s library is to know his mind, but in this case, I believe Rufus is under the impression that he’s no great hero deserving of the epic romances he so loves to read about in these tales spanning across galaxies and time. It would probably take nothing short of the end of the world before he admits his undying love for you.”

It’s about as long winded a speech as Jiya would have expected from her well-meaning mentor, but he’s not wrong. Confident as Rufus is as a scientist and engineer, when it comes to matters of the heart, he is far more reticent. Jiya is no shy violet in relationships, but she very rarely has had to be the first one to make a move.

So she makes her decision and waits for the right time. With Mason’s undying support, of course. She wouldn’t be surprised if he already had a binder planning their future wedding.

It doesn’t surprise her, weeks from now, that it takes near-death experiences on two separate occasions before they finally get their shit together. And both times she still initiated the progression, the declarations and ‘I love yous’, because she loves him, she does, but Rufus is so scared of scaring her off and losing her and sometimes she wants to smack him and tell him “you could never lose me, I love you too much, ya nour el ein.”

When they start visiting one another’s homes, spending the night and having coffee and cold pizza in the mornings, Jiya scans his bookshelves of comics and science fiction with incredible fondness and frustration. Perhaps if Rufus read more Jane Austen and less James Luceno, he’d be a little surer of himself when it came to women.

(She learns later that his favorite Austen novel is actually Sense and Sensibility, and honestly, that explains a lot.)

FIN

Translation of the Arabic phrase: “You’re the light of my eye,” famously said by Amr Diab. 

Anyway, I hope you guys like this one!

September Prompts

@sweetiepie08

[suburbanmetaldad]

What can I do for you?

Here, friends, is my super power:

I can create an entire book — a good one — quickly, with very little help.

You want a book with your name on it. I can make that happen.

Maybe you typed up a draft, and you’re not sure where to go next.

I can take it from here.

And anything smaller than that will be cheaper and faster.

Get on the schedule while you can.

Following are more details about me and my work.

Follow are links to different things D.X. Ferris makes & does. 

I am D.X. Ferris.

I grew up obsessed with music and reading. I went to school for writing. At the time, I thought I couldn’t create things. I didn’t know it yet, but I was wrong. I tried to quit. Writing wouldn’t let me. It kept pulling me back in. 

Once I figured out how to do what I wanted to do, I made up for lost time. Now I’ve covered a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction for Rolling Stone. I endured a career-ending injury. I’ve been to the Pentagon on business. I’ve written books with & about some of my iconic heroes. Communication is my business, and business is good.

I do a lot of different things. 

I am an award-winning writer, editor, manager, publisher, teacher, speaker, cartoonist, maker, co-author, ghost writer, and overall communications professional. To me, those various & sundry processes are all part of the same sphere — and here’s the common thread: Communication is the art of organizing information. That, friend, is what I do. I can do it for you. And we can make some money together.

I have written/co-written nine books. My personal record is four new books in 16 months.

I cut my teeth as a rock & roll journalist. Then I successfully transitioned to hard news. Lately, I’ve been creating motivational literature and self-help books. I write very effective press releases & promo material. I write & storyboard short videos. I’m writer for a documentary I can’t talk about yet.

I get around. I teach college. My CV includes work for dozens of publications, including Rolling Stone and Alternative Press (America’s two top rock & culture magazines). I’ve also written for leading outlets such as The A.V. Club and Decibel. I write and stage communication seminars. 

I have been to the Pentagon and National Air & Space Museum on business. I have been backstage at the Vans Warped Tour on business. My body of work includes book-length oral histories. 

I have collaborated with certified Grand Masters, civilians, and high-profile musical & Hollywood creative types. I have had Almost Famous moments on the side of the stage at European festivals. I wake up so early it hurts. I make money for my partners.

I am a 33 1/3 author. An Ohio Society of Professional Journalists Reporter of the Year. And a third-degree black belt (in Taekwondo). Also a 32° two-time WM/PM.

Let’s do some good work — and then let’s do some good with what comes from it.

Click the following links for my...

Good Professional Wrestling: Full Contact Life Lessons From the Pinnacle Performance Art The Good Advice From... series is now officially a franchise. Volume II features a foreword by Diamond Dallas Page, motivational icon, founder of health & wellness movement DDP Yoga, and WWE Hall of Famer. Professional wrestling is the toughest business. It is a form of competition built on collaboration and cooperation. Every successful wrestler has a diverse skill set that can help you get over too, no matter what your business or lifestyle. Filled with short chapters and useful advice, this browsable motivational manual features inspirational quotes from dozens of wrestling icons. Each is followed by easy-to-read analysis and actionable tips that can turn a life around.

I collaborated with Darren Paltrowitz on this one-of-a-kind positivity handbook. It breaks down the habits, skills, and strategies that your favorite superstars practice — and you can too, starting today.

Good Advice From Goodfellas: Positive Life Lessons from the Best Mob Movie It’s the last — or maybe first —  motivational manual and self-help guide you’ll ever need. 320 pages, paperback; Kindle ebook also available, cheap. At 145 short chapters, it’s the perfect airport/travel book. This unique meditation & reading finds teachable moments in all your favorite and quotes and scenes from this beloved, seminal movie. If you know what to look for, Goodfellas covers all the same evergreen topics as your favorite business podcasts and startup seminars... but it’s a lot more fun. No, seriously.

Co-author of motivational/how-to Masonic leadership manual

Co-author of parents’ motivational guide to kids’ martial arts

I am the most prominent, prolific non-marquee contributor the music-writing/music journalism textbook How to Write About Music, from the brain trust running Bloomsbury/Continuum’s 33 1/3 series. TECHNICALLY, I AM ON THE SAME LABEL AS NEIL GAIMAN. This is one of two or three books on this topic. Note to self: Write your own.

Wrote the official book with Donnie Iris and the Cruisers For my money, Donnie Iris & the Cruisers are the best-kept secret from 80s rock radio. That had not one, but seven hot 100 hits. The bandleader/songer penned an enduring disco hit. AND he worked with three Rock Hall of Fame artists. The band have a continuous near-40-year run. During this epic tale, they work with a young Trent Reznor, Kiss, Breathless, Cinderella, Sam Kinison, Gamble & Huff, the Jaggerz, Wolfman Jack, and bunch of others. The book is a painstakingly researched oral history that plays like a mix of the four-hour Tom Petty documentary, the movie That Thing You Do!, and the American Hardcore book. Coffee-table book, 464 pages, 102 images, 308 endnotes, 8.5x11″.

Wrote two books about thrash-metal icons Slayer

One is part of 33 1/3, the vanguard series of music-related writing.

One is an exhaustively researched full-length biography featuring 33 images and over 400 endnotes.

Publisher of 6623 Press, home to creator-owned, useful, reasonably priced, unconventional books about popular culture, success, and other cool stuff. People like them.

Full-service, full-contact indie publishing. I write, co-write, ghost-write, edit, and publish books. Quickly.

Do you have book in you? We’ll get it out.

Worked for Rolling Stone, the no. 1 music & culture magazine ever.

I’ve been writing for Alternative Press — America’s no. 2 music magazine — off & on since 2002. More recent pieces are here. Older material is here.

Wrote for alternative newsweekly Cleveland Scene, in various capacities, for 8 years. Won numerous awards for news reporting, business reporting, arts reporting, commentary, feature writing, personality profiling, and sports reporting. Click here for profiles, business features, columns, reviews, and more.

I think this piece about Cleveland’s LeBron James banner won me the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists’ Best Reporter award: Literally the entire city was looking at an iconic, massive piece of public art/advertising — and I was the one person who looked behind the scenes. For alt-weekly Cleveland Scene.

https://www.clevescene.com/64-and-counting/archives/2010/08/05/goodbye-lebron-banner-hello-sunshine-workers-behind-the-banner-speak

For Rolling Stone, I interviewed a band and created unofficial liner notes for a classic album:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/they-might-be-giants-flood-track-by-track-guide-to-the-geek-chic-breakthrough-82345/

This kind of piece is a specialty. For Alternative Press, I interviewed an infamous punk musician about his friendship with the late, great Anthony Bourdain. I supplied many conversation prompts, transcribed it, then edited his answers into one continuous narrative, while I remained invisible in the piece. If it looks like I didn’t do much, then that was the entire point.

https://www.altpress.com/features/anthony-bourdain-harley-flanagan-cro-mags-tribute/

I visit a business, describe the experience, and research how a controversial industry works. For Cleveland Scene.

https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/game-of-chance/Content?oid=2183398

While the rest of the rock-journalism world were writing SOPA stories (Summarizing Other People’s Articles) about a developing story, I dug deep, excavated some court records, and wrote an informed summary. For Metal Sucks — for my money, the best metal news & views site.

https://www.metalsucks.net/2019/06/11/how-many-more-misfits-reunion-shows-will-there-be-according-to-legal-documents-probably-just-one/

A friendly multi-person Q&A and sidebar, stitched together from three different interviews from different media. For Alt Press.

https://www.altpress.com/features/punk-goes-fearless-records-interview/

Cover story/feature profile of the president of a local university — and how his work has helped shape the city. It’s pretty whitebread and dry, but I can work in that style when I’m not writing about raging hellions. For Cleveland Magazine, the city’s upstanding guide to what’s happening and who’s doing it.

https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/the-read/articles/city-mission

News interview with Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cavaliers and Quicken Loans. For Scene.

https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/enhanced-interrogation-dan-gilbert/Content?oid=1678536

Excerpt from Good Advice From Goodfellas, my self-improvement book that draws positive life lessons from the greatest gangster movie:

https://6623press.tumblr.com/post/181078213342/the-new-self-helpmotivational-manual-good-help

Christmas Sevenfold: Metal Dad, Compendium Two  My second comic-strip compilation collects seven years of Christmas & fall holiday stripes, with new art, a foreword, and an essay about why the kind of guy who wrote two books about Slayer still loves Xmas. 180 pages, oversized 8.5 x 11″ paperback.

Suburban Metal Dad, Compendium One: Raging Bullshit. The first compilation book for my webcomic. It collects Years III and IV of the comic, with 172 strips, 8 previously unreleased demo strips, an updated FAQ, and a true-life, all-text real-life metal dad story (so there’s something to really read). 180 pages, oversized 8.5 x 11″ paperback.

Individual strips of Suburban Metal Dad, an online comic that has run twice weekly since 2010.

I am totally into the Misfits/Danzig/Samhain, and wrote a bunch of stuff about this record-setting continuum of ground-breaking musicians

I wrote things for Metal Sucks

Guest on heavy metal podcasts, and bloggage about it all

Guest on assorted TV and superhero-show podcasts

Guest host on rock podcast Lost Together

Annotated both versions of “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” at Genius

Random bloggage about stuff that isn’t necessarily metal... mostly movies and holiday stuff like a survey of Christmas imagery in True Detective season 1

Tweet too much, but it’s healthier than taking cigarette breaks.

The Pentagrammarian: I take note of writing, grammar, usage, and the business thereof. I am one of very few professional writers who can list the four parts of a well-rounded profile or break down the constituent parts of a sentence, in correct technical grammar terms.

The goat had it comin’. I swear.  

[echoes-of-realities]

be my fire in the cold (and I'll be waiting by the mistletoe) - 5/25

* * *

[From the Start] // [Fanfiction] // [ao3]

[Previous Chapter] // [Next Chapter]

Chapter Summary: Tina and Santana have a long talk; Santana wishes she was better at comforting people.

Chapter 5: but some are sick of this grey

///

“If that’s anyone besides Santana don’t you dare come in!”

Santana rolls her eyes and eases the door open, finding Tina standing in front of the mirror of her vanity wearing only her tights and sports bra. “You know it’s a little suspicious that I’m allowed in here when you’re half-naked but your boyfriend’s not,” she comments idly.

Santana can see Tina roll her eyes in the mirror as she touches the mascara brush to her eyes one more time before capping the tube and dropping it on top of the pile of her makeup. “Mike doesn’t knock.”

“Still,” Santana repeats teasingly, “suspicious.” 

Tina huffs out a laugh as she shakes her head. “Sure it is, you’re like the only other person who ever comes down here that’s not another principal or a dresser,” she says easily.

Santana hums in agreement. “And I’ve seen you in less, so,” she teases.

Tina just rolls her eyes as she tugs a loose shirt, turning and leaning her hip against the vanity, her arms crossed with a grin. “So is this an official visit?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“I wanna know if I can make fun of you or not.”

Santana snorts out a laugh. “As if it matters, we both know you’ll make fun of me either way,” she complains. Tina concedes with a wide, knowing grin. “But I have a couple notes to go over,” Santana continues, smacking the palm of her right hand with her notebook as she makes herself at home on Tina’s couch, propping her feet up on the coffee table. “So come sit.”

Tina laughs and crosses the room to collapse on the couch beside her best friend. Santana quickly flips through her notebook until she finds the pages she’s looking for, going over some blocking issues and a music cue that Schue missed last show that threw Tina off a little bit. Once she’s done she groans and lets her head loll onto the back of the couch, trying to roll out the tension in her neck. “I need a coffee,” she decides.

Tina smiles. “Lucky for you, Brittany went on a coffee run not too long ago, and she dropped an extra one off with me on the off chance that you dropped by.”

Santana’s smile is involuntary, and she tries not to let it be known how warm her cheeks are, but Tina’s not her best friend for nothing and she smirks at Santana knowingly as she crosses to the vanity to grab the two coffees sitting there.

“You got time to sit and drink it?” Tina asks.

Santana checks her watch as Tina hands over her coffee. “I mean, probably not, but no one should be unlucky enough to see me until I’m properly caffeinated, so sure.”

Tina laughs and resettles on the couch. “Good, I feel like I’ve barely seen you despite the fact that we’re in the same building like nine hours a day.” Santana grunts in acknowledgement as she gulps down a long sip of coffee, pleasantly surprised to find that it tastes exactly how she likes it; it’s far more lukewarm than hot, but just the fact that Brittany thought of her when getting coffee makes warmth settle in her stomach anyways. “I know we haven’t had time to talk about it since Thanksgiving,” Tina continues, “but did you think about Christmas?”

Santana sighs and drops her coffee to rest in her lap, shaking her head. “I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll just stay home.” She doesn’t add the again, but they can both hear it, too loud in the following silence.

“You sure?” Tina murmurs, “My parents would love to have you. They haven’t stopped talking about the flan de queso you brought to Thanksgiving, and they keep asking if you’ve accepted the invitation yet.”

Santana shrugs uncomfortably. “You know I’m not great company this time of year,” she says. 

Tina sighs but she knows Santana well enough to know when to drop it. They sip their coffee silently for a long moment, before Tina turns expectantly towards Santana. “Wanna know the latest gossip?” she whispers dramatically.

Santana laughs and sits up a little more, more than grateful for the change in subject, turning towards Tina and feeling like they’re back in their college dorm, sitting cross-legged on their beds and talking about everything and nothing. “Always. I gotta keep track of whatever dumbass decisions this company makes. Remember how awkward Sister Act was our second year of college?”

“God!” Tina laughs, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you turn so red than when Kate and Christian started going at it!”

“How the fuck was I supposed to know that they broke up the night before?” Santana protests, her voice bright with amusement. “They weren’t even in the scene together and somehow they managed to mortify me, the company, our professor, and the entire audience.”

“I’ve never seen you so lost for words before, but the look on your face when you had to chase after Christian and actually get on stage in the middle of the scene to physically restrain them? Priceless!”

Santana rolls her eyes at herself. “I was so scared Hagberg was going to fail me, but she just bought me a box of chocolates instead.” She takes a sip of her coffee before looking expectantly at Tina. “Now, what do I need to know about here to avoid being forced to jump on stage in the middle of The Nutcracker?”

Tina grins and sets her coffee down on the coffee table, and that’s how Santana knows she’s about to get a list of gossip a mile long. She feels like she needs to write down a list of all the connections, but she also has a feeling that it would get so tangled and convoluted it would be near impossible to understand. Rachel and Finn have a messy on-again-off-again relationship that somehow Quinn, that St. James guy from sound, and Brody from maintenance have all gotten mixed up in at some point; Puck and Quinn refuse to talk to each other unless absolutely necessary; Kurt and Blaine had a messy breakup and Karofsky somehow ended up caught up in it; Schue’s ex-wife showed up near the start of rehearsals claiming to be pregnant with his baby, and it made things super awkward when Emma, his new girlfriend, showed up at the same time; Shelby from the pit band was caught making out with Puck the second month of rehearsals; Sue, the theatrical producer, and Schue have a nasty rivalry still ongoing despite the fact that no one, not even them, know how or when it started; Kitty, The Snow Queen, dated Artie before he was hired, and then it got weird and they broke up and now don’t speak; Jane, Brittany’s understudy, and Mason, Mike’s understudy, have adorable but obvious crushes on each other, but both of them are too shy to do anything about it; Zizes once dated Puck, which makes Santana’s head spin because Zizes is pretty cool and Puck is so slimy. 

Santana shakes her head slowly as she taps her empty coffee cup against her thigh. “This is insane,” she mutters. “I need a spreadsheet and seven hours just to figure half of this out.”

Tina laughs. “It’s pretty messy,” she agrees, “And it’s all only happened since we started rehearsals.” 

Santana chews on her lip, wondering if she should even ask the question she so desperately wants to know, but before she can debate it she’s already asking it. She wishes she could blame her lack of filter on her exhaustion, but she finished her coffee ages ago. “What about Brittany?” she blurts, aiming for nonchalant but landing somewhere far past too-invested.

“Apparently she dated Artie for a little bit when they were in college, but she always conveniently ‘forgets’ that.” Tina laughs, her eyes sparkling knowingly as she regards her best friend. “But I haven’t heard of her dating anyone since we started rehearsals months ago, inside the company or out.”

Santana tries desperately to remain calm and collected with that information, but she can’t hide the way her stomach flips or the smile she’s fighting. “Cool,” she manages, leaning forward to put her empty coffee cup on the table and avoiding Tina’s eyes.

“What about you? Meet any nice girls lately?” Tina teases, grinning widely at how obvious Santana is about her little crush. “Besides Brittany,” she whispers, deftly dodging Santana’s flailing arm as she reaches out to smack her.

Santana draws back and rolls her eyes so hard that she shakes her head a little. “As if. You know I’m too busy with work.”

Tina just stares blankly at Santana, a thoroughly unimpressed look in her eyes. “Santana, I mean this from the bottom of my heart, but that’s bullshit. Work isn’t your entire life.” Santana scoffs but Tina doesn’t let her shut down. “Listen, I totally understand if you just don’t feel like dating anyone right now, but you can’t use work as an excuse.”

“Hey, I went on a date when I was covering for the stage manager on Anastasia back in August!” Santana protests, but as soon as the words leave her mouth she knows it’s a weak argument.

“What? The girl from that startup band? You went on one date and never mentioned her again,” Tina says, and Santana knows that, no matter how much she wants to protest, she can’t argue that point. “What was even her name?”

Santana opens her mouth but finds her mind has gone completely blank. “Uh, Dina?”

“Dana?”

“No wait, wasn’t it like a unisex name or something? Daniel?”

“Daniella?”

“Dani!” Santana shouts, snapping her fingers and pointing at Tina with a proud grin for finally remembering the name. “It was Dani!”

“Right!” Tina’s satisfied expression turns sly. “You know, this just proves my point. You need to find a nice girl whose name you can actually remember. Like maybe Brittany.”

“Oh, shut up,” Santana says with an eye roll, flustered and bashful. 

There’s movement from the hallway, the sound of someone dropping something bouncy and heavy footsteps as they chase after it. Tina quickly stands up and crosses the dressing room, sticking her head out into the hallway and looking both ways; if someone just broke a prop she feels the need to warn them before Santana finds out and goes on the war path. When she doesn’t see anyone she just shrugs and closes the door. “You’re not getting out of this conversation,” Tina threatens as she turns around.

Santana plays with the notebook in her hands. “I’m too busy with still learning this show, you know that.”

Tina studies her for a long moment and Santana fidgets under her scrutiny. “I’m not going to push it,” Tina says slowly, “But I think you deserve to let yourself be happy.” Santana sucks in a quick breath and resolutely doesn’t look at Tina. Her first instinct is to argue and get defensive, but she can’t quite get the words to form in her mouth. Tina sighs and crosses back to the couch, sitting down beside Santana a little closer than she normally would, ducking her head down under Santana’s until Santana is forced to meet her eyes. “It’s been four years,” she whispers, “She would want you to be happy. Whether that’s with some nice girl or with some new hobby or whatever, it doesn’t really matter. But this,” Tina pauses and Santana’s eyes cut away from hers, “this relentless, constant pace you’ve set for yourself isn’t healthy. When was the last time you actually took time off that wasn’t a no show day?”

Santana can feel the tremble in her chin and she chokes down the thickness she can feel in her throat, choking her. Tina shifts on the couch until she can wrap an arm around Santana and draw her into her embrace. She wants to struggle against her best friend’s arm, but Tina’s always given the best hugs. “I just don’t want to see you burnout,” Tina continues.

Santana lets herself be held for a moment before she shakes Tina off and stands abruptly. “I’ve gotta finish giving notes,” she rasps.

Tina sighs but nods. “Half hour is coming up soon anyways,” she agrees, “And I’ve gotta get Kurt to fix some things on my skirt.”

Santana ducks her head as she crosses the room, barely giving Tina a second glance. Tina just shakes her head and lets her friend go, staring at the empty coffee cups on the coffee table and hoping that she didn’t just cause Santana to close herself off again.

“Tina,” Santana suddenly calls from the doorway, waiting until Tina glances up at her before continuing, “I know you worry. I’m just— Work keeps my mind off of her, you know? When I’m busy I don’t think about her as much, especially this month.” Tina’s face crumples a little and she nods in understanding. “But you’re right, I could probably use a break,” she admits, “The next no show day is Monday. We should actually do something, all three of us, instead of me spending the my only day off working anyways. Maybe we can go to the mall and do some Christmas shopping?”

Tina brightens and smiles. “That sounds really good,” she says.

Santana shifts awkwardly before giving her friend a small smile. “Thanks for— For looking out for me, or whatever.”

Tina laughs, knowing that sometimes it’s best to just let Santana stumble through her emotions without too much teasing. “It’s practically my second job by this point,” she says easily, “Now you better go and finish yours.”

Santana rolls her eyes but sends Tina a fond, grateful smile before slipping out the door and heading down the principal hallway towards the stage.

//

As the evening wears on, Santana decides to just give notes before the show tomorrow because she’s so tired from running around the entire show trying to deal with the technical issues they’ve been having with the flies. Karofsky still has no idea what is happening with them, even after him and Santana messed with them for about forty minutes after the show. He offered to stay even later to try and fix them, and while Santana appreciated the offer, she just sent him and the rest of the automaton crew home, telling them meet her a couple hours earlier than usual tomorrow so they can figure it out.

She’s not sure why she ends up in the principal hallway; she knows Mike and Tina have already left, and she doesn’t have anything she needs to check on since she’s giving notes tomorrow, but her feet lead her down the stairs before she realizes where she’s going. She figures she’ll just check in on whoever is still lingering down there, but because she’s alone she can’t quite hide the fact that she’s only really hoping to check in with one person.

Most of the doors are closed and locked as she wanders down the hallway. She runs into Mason, who is just heading out after looking around for Mike to ask him a couple questions. Santana chats with him for a little bit and promises to let Mike know he was looking for him before waving goodbye and heading further down the hallway. The lights are a little dimmed, and as she heads for the end of the hallway she can hear a muffled conversation. She slows as she approaches the only door that’s cracked open; the lights to Brittany’s dressing room cast the hallway around her door a little brighter, and Santana stops just before she reaches the door.

She’s about to turn around and leave, figuring she can just talk to Brittany talk tomorrow when she’s giving notes, it’s not like she ever has many to give her anyways so she’ll definitely be able to spend a couple extra minutes with her just talking, when she hears a sniffle. She freezes and waits for a long moment, Brittany’s voice distorted and muffled by her door. When she hears that sniffle again, followed by a choked sob, something in Santana’s chest shifts and shatters a little at the sound.

She’s pushing the door open and entering the dressing room before she realizes it, and Brittany glances up at her in shock. They stand there staring, wide-eyed and worried, at each other for long drawn out moments. Brittany still has her phone pressed to her ear, tears streaming down her face and making her skin shine wetly against the redness blotching her face. “Uh, I’ll call you back, mom,” she mumbles, and now that her voice isn’t muffled by the door Santana can hear exactly how tight and wet it is. “No, no, it’s fine. Just the stage manager. I’ll call you when I get home.” She pauses, sniffling, while her mom says something over the phone. “Yeah, I will. Love you too.” She hangs up and suddenly Santana becomes aware of how rude it was for her to barge into Brittany’s dressing room like that, but she looks so heartsick that Santana can’t find it in herself to regret it; no one should be alone when they look so miserable.

“Sorry,” Brittany chokes, scrubbing furiously at her face, “I was just—”

“No, Britt,” Santana interrupts, taking a couple quick steps forward, “I’m sorry for eavesdropping and barging in here but are— Are you okay?”

Brittany looks about ready say yes, even though they both know how obvious of a lie it would be, before her face falls and she slowly shakes her head. Something deep in Santana’s chest aches at the look on Brittany’s face.

“Was this— Was this the thing you were sad about yesterday?” Santana whispers. Brittany nods hopelessly and Santana sucks in a breath. “Oh, Britt, I’m really sorry.” Brittany gives her a small wavering smile, but it drops as her eyes fall to the floor. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Brittany takes a deep, steadying breath. “I— Um— That was my mom,” she manages to whisper, “They just had to put our cat down.” Santana sucks in a breath; she’s never had a pet before, they were too expensive and high maintenance for her mom, who was a full time shift worker, when they lived in Ohio, and their apartment didn’t allow pets once they moved to New York, but she remembers how devastating it was when Tina’s family had to put down their dog in their second year of college. “He’s just— We’ve had him since I was eight,” Brittany explains in a croak, “He’s been in our family longer than my sister has. And I— Sometimes I had a hard time at school with— Schoolwork and making friends and whatever. But he was just a cat, you know? He didn’t care if I was failing math or if Katie stopped talking to me, he just wanted treats and snuggles.”

“Britt, I’m so sorry,” Santana whispers, feeling completely and utterly inadequate. “I don’t— I’m just sorry.”

Brittany sniffles and blinks rapidly. When her eyes meet Santana’s they’re too bright and shiny and Santana wants so desperately to take away the grief cracking the beautiful blue there. “He’s been really sick for a couple weeks,” she explains, “But I haven’t been able to go home and see him because of the show and I’m just— I wish I could have seen him one more time before— Before—” she chokes herself off.

“Do you want a hug?” Santana blurts without thinking.

“What?” Brittany croaks. 

Santana suddenly remembers that she’s technically only known this woman for five days, despite the fact that they spend most of their waking hours in the same building and seem to have an uncanny ability to run into each other outside of the theatre and that it feels a little bit like she’s known Brittany for years. “I— Never mind. I just— You looked so sad and— I mean hugs usually help so,” Santana trails off lamely. 

Brittany chokes on a sob and nods. “A hug would be nice.”

Santana breathes out a sigh of relief that she didn’t just creep Brittany out and takes the last few steps to Brittany, hoping that a hug will make her feel better, even if it’s just for a moment. She hesitantly opens her arms and Brittany immediately falls into her; she fits against Santana easily, their ribs locking together as Brittany clings to her, muffling her sobs against Santana’s shoulder and neck. Santana sighs and soothingly runs her hands over Brittany’s back, just letting Brittany cry without saying anything, knowing how cathartic it can be to just let someone else take your weight for a while.

She’s not sure how, but they eventually end up huddled together on the couch, and Santana keeps her arms around Brittany until she sighs and swallows thickly, wiping at her eyes with trembling fingers. “This is just another reason December and Christmastime sucks,” she mutters. 

Santana hesitates for a moment before tightening her arm around Brittany; Brittany melts further into Santana’s embrace, boneless and heavy, and any awkwardness Santana feels nudging at her consciousness eases. “You’ve got that right,” she sighs.

[blackberrywidow]

Cut My Heart Out

Summary: Murder/Serial Killer AU. Detective Bucky Barnes had planned to spend this year’s Purge the same way he spent all of them—locked safely inside his home, avoiding trouble. However, his plans are unwillingly changed when a woman breaks inside his home. 

Warnings: It’s a Purge AU, so there are a lot. Language, violence, implied rape threat, blood, attempted murder. I promise there are also some nice things too!

Word Count: 8k (I'm so sorry)

A/N: This is my submission for @chrisadoodle‘s writing challenge. I struggled with deciding to do a reader-insert or oc, but felt that given the nature of the story, the oc fit better. So I’m sorry, but I hope you still like it! 

I also have a taglist now, so if anyone wants added to any of my one shots or series, just send me an ask!

“Yeah, Steve. I know. I’m locking up now,” Bucky said, continuing to shovel food into his mouth, decidedly not locking down his apartment like he had promised.

“No you’re not, Buck. I can hear you chewing,” Steve retorted, and Bucky knew that he was shaking his head the way he tended to when he was annoyed with him.

“No, I swear I’m doin’ it right now Steve.” Bucky chewed the slice of pizza even louder, earning him an exasperated sigh from his best friend. “Relax, man. It’s still thirty minutes until commencement. I’ve got plenty of time.”

“I know. I just wish that you would have come over tonight. I feel better when we can all spend this terrible night together.”

Steve was clearly stressed, as he always was on this night. Bucky and Steve were partners at work, where they were both detectives with the Brooklyn PD, but they had been partners for far longer. They grew up together, had been through everything together, so Bucky knew Steve better than anyone. And Steve had trouble saying no when he saw someone in trouble, which made the Purge incredibly difficult for him.

He had a family to protect—Peggy and the kids needed him to be there to keep them safe and he couldn’t go out on the streets to save the innocents that were targeted by the Purgers. Steve had always had too big of a heart, something that Bucky couldn’t fault him for, but it didn’t mean that he understood why he got so worked up about it. The Purge had been around for most of their lives and there was nothing they could do to change that. Terrible shit happened to good people—that was just life.

“I know,” Bucky sighed. “But you’ve got your own thing goin’ on. I’d like to just stay home and deal with this shit on my own.”

“You mean by getting drunk?”

“Hey, you have your coping methods, I have mine.”

“Listen, Bucky,” Steve said, sounding resigned, but stern, “I know that you like to deal with your… problems on your own, but just know that you don’t have to. I’m here for you. I always will be.”

“’Till the end of the line,” Bucky replied as he took a long pull from his beer, the line a reflex at this point.

“”Till the end of the line,” Steve repeated back, ending the call.

---

Twenty-five minutes later and Bucky was actually doing what he promised Steve and locking down his apartment. He triple checked every entryway and ensured that the locks were secure. It wasn’t exactly high-tech stuff, but it would do. Usually any sort of barricade was enough to deter Purgers in this area, and anyone that knew who he was knew better than to target him.

The sirens wailed as Bucky made his way to his living room, cold beer in hand, with every intention of riding the night out in relative peace. His years of getting worked up over the Purge had long since passed.

At least, that’s how he assumed he would be spending the night. Until he heard a thump sound from his bedroom.

Bucky tensed, every muscle contracting as his hand drifted to the gun he still had strapped to his belt and waited. After a moment of heavy silence where no one came into view or made another sound, he slowly stood from his chair, drawing his handgun as he did.

He cautiously made his way down the hallway that connected his living room to the rest of the apartment, gun expertly raised and ready to shoot whoever he found. His tolerance of the Purge was already thin, he definitely was not in the mood to deal with whatever bullshit had found its way into his apartment.

The bedroom door was slightly ajar, but Bucky was certain he had closed it the last time he was in there. He kicked it softly, turning quickly into the room eyes roving over every inch to locate whoever had broken in.

It was empty.

He scoured every inch of it with all the caution of a good detective before determining that it was clear. He furrowed his brows, processing his situation as quickly as possible.

It should have been impossible to break into his apartment without alerting him—he had an alarm system that he set during lockdown and breaking through steel bars wasn’t exactly a quiet business. And while not impossible, it was unlikely that someone would be able to sneak out of his room before he got there without him noticing.

But he had heard something, and he had a feeling that that something meant trouble—and if there was one thing Bucky trusted, it was his gut.

He made his way back out of the room, keeping his back to the wall and his gun raised. He inspected the laundry room and guest room in the same fashion, both empty and showing no sign of a break-in. He had just begun to suspect that maybe he was losing it when he heard the scraping of a chair coming from his kitchen.

He whirled around to face the other end of his hallway, eyes narrowed. “Jesus Christ,” he growled under his breath, beyond irritated at this point. Whoever was fucking with him was in for it the second he got in that kitchen.

He held this thought as he made his way back down the short hallway, ready to pull the trigger the second he laid eyes on his intruder.

Despite his determination, the sight that greeted him in his kitchen made him hesitate, luckily for the woman that was currently lounging at his island.

She appeared to be an average woman, with long caramel-colored hair and sun-kissed skin. She was sitting at his counter as though she had been there a thousand times before, eyes focused on a manila file as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

It was the exact opposite of what he had expected, which was enough to shock him into hesitating against his better judgement. He had been prepared for a previous perp back for revenge or a random thug looking to be “cleansed” in the wrong place. Not a seemingly harmless woman reading in his kitchen.

His foot shifted slightly, causing the floor under him to creak. The woman’s gaze snapped up at the sound, taking him in with one quick glance.

“Hello,” she said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. As though she hadn’t just broken into his home on the most dangerous night of the year. “You must be Detective Barnes.”

Bucky inched inside the room a bit, hands still clutching his gun and aiming it at the stranger’s chest, analyzing everything about her. She was still sitting at his island, legs crossed as she stared at him, a calm sort of challenge in her eyes. She didn’t seem to be armed, and she didn’t seem to aggressive—but anyone crazy enough to break into his house and act like they owned the place was clearly some sort of threat.

“Who are you?” He finally asked, eyes locked on hers as he continued to make his way inside the kitchen, gun unwaveringly steady.

“My name is Evelyn Mason. And you,” she said, finally breaking eye contact to stare back down at her file, “are Detective James Barnes. Four years in the Army, two of those served overseas before you came back and joined the police force, working your way up to be a detective. And you’re a good one. You’re a good guy, James Barnes. That’s why I’m here.”

She locked eyes with him again, the green of her irises seeming to pierce him with their ferocity. He wasn’t sure what kind of crazy shit this woman was going on about, but he wanted no part in it. “How did you get in?”

The woman’s lips curved up into a smirk. “Your bedroom window. You left it unlocked before commencement—not the safest of moves, especially for a detective.”

“So you broke in before the Purge started?” Bucky asked, ignoring the dig at his “safety.” Generally speaking, he didn’t have to worry about people breaking into his home on any other night—his job was actually almost obsolete thanks to the Purge. “That’s still considered illegal, you know. I could have you arrested in twelve hours.”

“I’m not too worried about that.” She said without emotion, her eyes cold as she stared back at him. It almost seemed threatening.

Bucky eyed her, trying to piece together all of this information and see the bigger picture she was after. “You here to kill me then, Sweetheart?”

It seemed like the only logical explanation—people didn’t just break into other peoples’ houses on Purge night to compliment them. So he was surprised when she rolled her eyes and sighed as though he was being ridiculous. “Do I look like I’m here to kill you, Sweetheart?”

Bucky cocked a brow at that. “Can’t say for sure at this point.”

The woman—Evelyn—huffed, but rose slowly from her seat, hands raised. Giving him a meaningful look as if to say are you happy now, she turned in a circle, moving painstakingly slow, giving Bucky plenty of time to take her in. She was wearing dark, form-fitting jeans tucked into knee high black boots paired with a loose white t-shirt and a black jacket. No outward signs of any weapons, but Bucky had enough experience and common sense to know that she could be concealing something in her boots or her jacket.

“So, if you’re not here to kill me, why are you here?” he finally asked, deciding to play along for the moment, after she had made a full turn, coming to a stop to continue looking at him with that look of impatience as though he were wasting her time.

“I need your help,” she answered, gaze steady and tone serious as she looked back at him.

“Explain,” he said after a moment of hesitation.

“Everything you need to know is in there,” she said, jerking her head in the direction of the island.

His eyes left hers long enough to take note of the file that still lay there, before snapping back to hers. “So you broke into my house to make me read a file? Why don’t you just fucking cut to the chase so I can decide if I need to shoot you or not?”

“Shoot me or don’t,” she replied easily as though they were simply discussing the weather. “It won’t matter if you don’t help me.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Bucky snapped, beyond annoyed with the woman and her riddles.

She moved slowly, maintaining eye contact as she took something out of the file and held it out to him. “You ever heard of the Reaper?”

Bucky blinked at her, taking in her serious expression before refocusing on what she was holding. A letter. And based on what she had just asked him, he had a pretty good idea of what it said. This whole encounter suddenly made a lot more sense.

Bucky sighed deeply, cursing whoever he could think of for bringing this shit to his doorstep, before gesturing at Evelyn with his gun. “Sit back down. Hands flat on the countertop.”

He saw her clench her jaw before wordlessly complying, placing the letter on the corner of the island before doing as he said. As soon as she did, he shoved his gun into the waistband of his jeans and snatched the letter up.

Dear Ms. Evelyn Mason,

Today marks the first day after the 19thannual purge. Which means that it also marks your 364thday left to live.

By this point, I’m sure you already know who I am and what I will do to you once the clock strikes 7 on March 21st. You may think that you have time—to run, to hide, to save your life. But I must confess, Ms. Mason, that none have succeeded in escaping me and neither will you.

You may use the time you have left on this Earth to try to evade your fate, but we both know that in a year’s time, I’ll be holding your still beating heart in my hand. I do hope you’ll try though—it’s always so much more fun when I have to hunt you down.

So consider this your warning: on the 20thannual Purge, I will be coming for you, Ms. Mason. You have been marked. I hope you wear fear well, as it will be your constant companion for the next 364 days.

With Admiration,

The Reaper

Bucky felt sick. He had seen a lot of twisted stuff during his time overseas and as a detective, but it was rare that he saw evil of this variety.

Serial killers went almost extinct with the creation of the Purge. There were, of course, the exceptions who loved the thrill of the chase and couldn’t help themselves. But to hold a letter like this in his hand and to have the woman it was threatening sitting in his kitchen was a very different feeling than working a case from the precinct.

“So…” she said, and Bucky heard what sounded like the beginnings of fear in her voice as he read over the letter a second time. “Do you understand now?”

Bucky nodded slowly, hesitantly, because he understood what the letter meant but not how it applied to him. Though he had a feeling. “This the only one you got?”

“No,” she replied calmly, as though they weren’t discussing the details of her upcoming murder, though he could tell from the set of her shoulders and the glint in her eyes that she was more affected that she wanted to let on. “I received more letters like that one randomly throughout the year—counting down the days or commenting on my outfit that day. Random shit to remind me of what I had to look forward to. I received sixty-three, in total.”

“So,” Bucky started, placing the letter back on his island in an attempt to distance himself from it and the grip it already had on him. “Why are you here then?”

“Why do you think?” Her eyes flashed at him, showing him all the rage and fear that had likely had a hold on her for the past year. “I already told you, Detective Barnes. I need your help.”

“What can I do?” Bucky nearly shouted, throwing his hands up. “It’s the Purge. It’s legal and there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m off duty for the next twelve hours, lady. I couldn’t help you even if I wanted to.”

He was pacing now, something he didn’t even realize until he noticed the way Evelyn’s eyes were following his movements. He stopped abruptly, turning to face her again with a huff. “I’m sorry.”

That seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for her: her shoulders dropped, and her eyes went distant as they filled with sorrow. She didn’t look at him as she said, “That’s what they all said too.”

“What?” Bucky asked, eyes going wide as Evelyn stood and moved toward the front door. She didn’t answer, just turned to face him with an expectant expression.

They stood there like that for a long moment, neither of them saying anything as they watched each other. “You’re already locked down,” she finally said with a sigh and a jerky motion at the door. “You’ll want to unlock it quickly to let me out and then be ready to lock it back as soon as I’m gone. I’ll figure something else out.”

They both knew she wouldn’t.

Bucky shook his head, hating himself for it as he dug even deeper. “What did you mean? Who else said they were sorry?”

Evelyn cocked her head to the side and almost looked surprised, as if she hadn’t even realized she had said that. “You weren’t the first one I went to, you know. I took the letters to precincts all across the city, trying to get them to do something. But technically receiving mail isn’t illegal, and considering he was threatening to hurt me on Purge night specifically, there wasn’t anything they could do anyway. They were all sorry—I could even tell that some of them meant it. The second they saw the letter, they knew I was dead. I was the only one foolish enough to think I had a chance.”

The life seemed to be leeching out of her the longer she spoke—she had seemed so strong and sure before, but she was growing paler by the second and any will to fight for her life had faded. She had been counting on him to help her—she knew that there was no way to escape the Reaper and the death he brought with him without help. No one ever did.

And Bucky was just going to let her die.

“Why me?” Bucky asked, swallowing past the lump in his throat.

Her eyes snapped back to his since the first time he had told her no, and Bucky felt like he couldn’t breathe. “I asked around, and you’re the best detective in Brooklyn, James Barnes. A lot of police are content to live an easy life handing out speeding tickets since the Purge took care of a lot of the day-to-day shit. But you still do your job—you go after the people who deserve to be taken down. I thought if anyone would help me, it would be you. And I know that I put you at risk by sneaking in here like this, but I figured you would be more likely to help me if you didn’t know about it before. It’s easier to say no to a girl with a letter than a girl with 12 hours to live.” She finished her explanation with a wry smile, and Bucky felt like he had been punched in the gut.

“I am sorry,” she continued after a moment of him not saying anything, smile fading. “But I won’t force you to keep me here. I’ll go. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

He wasn’t sure who she was trying to reassure, him or herself, but it didn’t work either way. They both knew she was dead if she went out there alone, Reaper or not.

Ultimately, the fact that she was apologizing and trying to alleviate his guilt with false promises was what made his decision for him. Bucky had felt like a monster for years now, ever since… well, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t save them, but he would save her.

“What else you got in that folder?” he asked her, jerking his chin in the direction of his kitchen.

She blinked, processing his question before slowly answering. “All of the information I could find on the Reaper—the women he’s killed over the years, how he does it, past letters. Anything I could get my hands on.”

“Good,” Bucky nodded, turning and walking back to the kitchen. “Hopefully some of that will give us an idea of our plan of attack.”

He heard Evelyn follow him after a moment of hesitation, and once he stopped in front of the island to start riffling through her notes, he looked up to see her smiling at him in clear relief. “Thank you, Detective Barnes.”

“Bucky,” he said, extending a hand and feeling ten pounds of weight drop from his chest when she placed her hand in his and looked at him as though he had just saved her life. Even though he had been an ass at first and they still had the whole night to make it through, she was trusting him to get her through this.

“Evie,” she responded, dropping his hand and turning her attention to the folder. “So, where do we start Bucky?”

---

“Are you sure about this?” Bucky asked two hours later, looking at Evie with rising panic.

“Yeah,” she said, gripping the railing of his balcony and looking at the street below with none of the concern Bucky was currently feeling.

He wasn’t sure what it was about reckless blondes that he seemed to attract to him, but he was sure that he wouldn’t survive this night if she didn’t show just a little more care. He’d say she was worse than Steve, but Steve wouldn’t have waited this long to make the jump.

“You know the whole point of this is to keep you alive, right?”

Evie rolled her eyes, turning away from the metal railing to face him. “Yes, Bucky, I understand. But we’re not going to do that by locking me up in your apartment. We’ve already established that it’s not exactly Fort Knox. And based on his previous… Purges, we can guess that he’s been following me all night, just waiting to make contact. He already knows I’ve met with you, which means I need to get my ass on the street if this is going to work.”

“And what if it doesn’t?” Bucky asked, suddenly unsure of the plan that they had concocted. He knew it would be dangerous but knowing that and actively letting Evie do it is another thing. He’s a cop—he shouldn’t be allowing a civilian to do something batshit crazy like this.

“Then I’ll die.” She said this without a change in expression or any emotion. It was a fact that they both knew well, and Bucky was honestly impressed. Just a few hours ago she had shut down and given up at the thought of dying, but now that she had hope—now that he had given her some reason to hope—she was calm and ready to fight once more.

He was almost upset that the first time he got to meet a woman like this was after she had broken into his house during the Purge. It didn’t exactly allow for much time to consider the way his heart picked up when she smiled at him or that he liked the way her hair smelled.

There was a high chance that they were both about to die, so now was definitely not the time to be reliving his past as a man who could actually appreciate a beautiful woman. If anything, it was a reminder of why he couldn’t.

He took a deep, steadying breath. “Are you ready then?”

“Of course,” she replied, lips quirking up in a small smile.

“Good luck,” he said before shoving her over the edge.

She stumbled back, hitting the railing and toppling over it with a piercing scream. Bucky clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to go down and check on her. He knew that she should have landed on the dumpster below, and that from just one story up it wouldn’t hurt her too bad. Of course, that’s if everything went well.

He shook his head, stepping back inside his apartment. The next part of the plan was on Evie, so he could only hope for her sake that it went well. He’d be sure to be ready for his part, but it was up to Evie to get that far.

---

Evie hit the top of the (thankfully closed) dumpster with a crash before rolling off and onto the hard ground with an oompf.

She groaned, pushing herself up, careful to keep her cursing under her breath. The theatrics of her exit were painful, but necessary if they wanted to trick the Reaper.

She looed around, taking in her surroundings. The alleyway was dark and damp, as alleyways tended to be, and was thankfully empty of people. She stood on shaking legs and made her way to the street.

She could hear people screaming and bursts of gunfire from further down and squashed her fear down. This night would end one of two ways: with her death or the Reaper’s. Evie knew that, and she knew that her fear wouldn’t help her take down her would-be murderer. Remaining calm and collected would.

She took deep breaths as she creeped down the street, careful to stay to the shadows as much as possible. She thought of Bucky in an attempt to keep her mind occupied as she tried to stay out of trouble until thereal trouble came for her. She was surprised he had agreed to help her and beyond grateful. She just hoped that he would follow through with their plan—if he decided to go back on their deal, she was dead.

She was winding her way between streets, trying to make it seem like she didn’t have a destination in mind in case the Reaper happened to be watching her—which she was sure he was. It’s what he had promised he’d do, after all.

She had spent an hour or so like this, relatively close to her designated meeting point but still waiting for any sign of the Reaper when they saw her.

Shouts were thrown at her across the street seconds before gunfire was. Evie leapt for cover behind a car, peeking around the front at the men that were converging on her. They had stopped firing, knowing that she had nowhere to run. She could hear them talking to each other about what they would do to her, how they would kill her, things they may do before they did.

She closed her eyes, forcing down the bile in that was rising in her throat, and tried to come up with a plan that wouldn’t get her killed. She was prepared to face a serial killer that she was familiar with, not a group of assholes just looking for a quick kill.

Her hand went to her boot as her eyes snapped open, and she pulled out the pocket knife that was hidden there. It wasn’t much, and she was hoping to keep it hidden in case she needed it to use on the Reaper, but she was more than desperate at the moment.

“Hey there, honey,” the first man cooed at her as he reached the car. “If you’re good, we may let you—”

She didn’t let him finish, shooting up from the ground to slash at him with her knife. She swung wildly, given her inexperience and fear, but she hit him in the chest, slashing through his shirt and causing him to stumble back with a startled yell.

She took off down the street, taking advantage of their momentary distraction, but they were already hot on her heels.

They seemed to be enjoying the chase, based on their whooping and the disgusting words they were screaming at her—which was lucky for Evie, in a way, as that meant they weren’t shooting her.

However, she didn’t feel lucky when the first one caught up with her and grabbed a fist full of her hair.

“Where do you think you’re runnin’ off to, sweetheart?” he sneered down at her as he yanked her to the ground. “We weren’t finished yet.”

Evie screamed as the grip on her hair tightened, and she tried to turn and slash at him with the knife she still had in her hand. He laughed, grabbing her wrist and twisting it until she dropped the knife. “Didn’t you hear me? You ain’t gettin’ off that easy bitch.”

He pulled her forward by her wrist and let go of her hair to grab her chin, grinning down at her. Evie froze, blinking up at him. It was the first time she had gotten a look at him and his asshole friends, and she was suddenly struck by how normal he looked.

He probably worked a normal, nine to five job. Maybe had a wife and kids. She wondered if they knew where he was, what he was doing. If they knew that he was the kind of man who, given the chance, would murder a woman for doing nothing more than walking by him.

She doubted they cared.

“See sweetheart?” he leaned in to whisper in her ear as his buddies circled them like sharks. Evie shuddered, unintentionally remembering the way Bucky had called her that only a few hours ago—how it didn’t sound so horrible coming from him. If only he could see her now. She couldn’t even make it far enough to make their plan work. He was right.

“I’m not too bad to look at,” the man continued to breathe in her ear, but Evie wasn’t listening anymore. Bucky was not going to be right about her. “I promise it won’t be too bad. If you’re good, you might even en—gah.”

Evie, finally gathering her wits enough to do something, had just kneed him in the groin. Probably not the smartest move, considering the men surrounding her with guns, but she wasn’t going to go down without some sort of fight.

He dropped her wrist and steeped away from her, clutching himself and cursing her. Evie only had a second to feel proud before another one of the goons grabbed her from behind, spinning her around. She punched him in the throat before he could restrain her, and she moved to run again, but was quickly stopped by the next one.

It continued on like this for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes: Evie scrambled to fight back, using what power and defensive moves she had to hold them off, but there were more of them and they were all larger than her. It didn’t take long before she was being pinned to the ground, laying face-down with a gun to her head.

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” he snarled, breath hot against the side of her face as he panted. “As much as we’d love to have fun with ya, I think I’m just gonna have to put you down.”

Evie struggled fiercely but unsuccessfully against his hold and felt a single tear roll down her cheek. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go at all.

“Unfortunately,” a smooth voice cut in. “I can’t let you do that.”

Evie heard the gunshot only a millisecond before she felt the spray of blood against her neck and the man’s hold on her release as he fell to the side, dead.

She screamed, scrambling back from the body as best she could as more gunshots sounded all around her. She had just lifted herself up onto her knees with shaking arms when the last shot hit its mark and silence consumed her.

“Hello, Ms. Mason.”

Evie whipped around, eyes wild as they landed on the neatly-dressed woman in a black trench coat and dress pants. She smiled at her, blood-red lips striking against the night, and Evie felt her stomach drop.

“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

---

Bucky paced around the roof. Again.

He checked his watch. Again.

He swore under his breath and regretted agreeing to this insane plan. Again.

Evie had been gone for two hours now. That was plenty of time for her to draw the Reaper out and lead her to the corner across from Dot’s Diner, just as they had discussed.

Bucky was waiting on the roof of an apartment building across the street, gun out and ready to shoot the Reaper the second he came in his sights. But it had been two hours and there was still no sign of Evie or her psychopathic shadow. Plenty of the normal crazy Purge bullshit, but not Evie.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he was worried.

Bucky tried to tell himself that he should just go home. He had no obligation to Evie and her baggage. He didn’t even know her six hours ago, but he was out here freezing his ass off for her.

But he knew that if he left, said “screw it” and went home, Evie would die. If she wasn’t already dead.

“Fuck it,” Bucky mumbled, packing up his gun.

A sniper was supposed to be patient—the key was to be ready the second the target presented themselves, not to go out hunting for them. But he may have only known Evie for less than a day, but she reminded him of what it was that the Purge took away from people like her. People like them.

And if he were in the business of being honest with himself—which he fortunately wasn’t—he would admit that he had felt some sort of spark between them as they had plotted their asinine plan together, and he wanted the opportunity to get to know her better, preferably when her life wasn’t at stake.

And he couldn’t very well do that if she was already dead or dying.

He stepped out on the street, one hand on the gun strapped to his hip, the other clutching the strap of the one that was slung across his back. He had been watching this area for the past two hours, so he was very familiar with its traps and the people that were stalking it, and he set out on the path that he knew would keep him out of the line of fire and would hopefully lead him to Evie.

---

“Who are you?” Evie swallowed thickly, staring at the woman with what she hoped was a detached expression.

“Oh, I think you know, Ms. Mason.” The woman’s smile turned mocking, and she looked at Evie with feigned pity. “Get up,” she ordered, gesturing at her with her gun. “I’ve come to collect, and it’s no fun if you just lie on the ground like that.”

Evie stood slowly, mind racing. “Collect? You mean my heart.”

“Of course,” the Reaper replied almost cheerfully. “I’ve already told you. I’m going to cut your heart out of your chest and add it to my collection.”

“Right,” Evie acknowledged. “Your collection. Why do you do that exactly?”

The Reaper blinked, her smile slipping for the first time. “What?”

Evie immediately wanted to kick herself—why the fuck would she say that? She was facing the person who had been threatening her for the past year, someone she had wrongly assumed was a man at that, and now she was asking her why she was a murderous hag. Well, she might as well lean into it if she was going to die anyway.

“I mean why are you doing this? Why me and why do you cut people’s hearts out? You have to realize how fucking crazy that is!” Evie rushed out, moving to back away from her before freezing the moment she retrained the gun on her chest.

“It’s my right, given to me by the Founding Fathers,” the Reaper said, stepping closer to Evie. Now that she was standing in the light of a streetlamp, she could see that she had light brown hair, pale blue eyes, and a softly rounded face. Again, Evie was struck by how normal she would look if not for the half-crazed smile and the gun in her hand. “I’m going to kill you because I can. But I’m going to enjoy it because I love the feeling of a dead woman’s heart in my hands. Now, turn around and start walking. We have places to be.”

Evie hesitated, looking from the barrel of the gun to the Reaper’s eyes. This looked bad. Really bad.

She obviously couldn’t lead her to the corner where Bucky was waiting for her, considering it was in the opposite direction and the Reaper seemed to have an idea of where she wanted her to go in mind. She had no more weapons on her and the Reaper had the gun. She needed more time.

“So, you can kill me and you want to kill me, but that still doesn’t answer why. I mean, if you’re gonna cut my heart out, don’t you think I deserve to know why you picked me? Why are you doing this to me?”

The Reaper sighed, looking impatient, but replied. “There’s no rhyme or reason, Ms. Mason. That’s all part of the fun. I pick my target out the day after the Purge, and planning begins then. I saw you in a coffee shop—we ordered the same drink, and I noticed that you had the same taste in books. I like to see a little bit of myself in all of my victims, you see. Though I’ll admit, you were much more resourceful than I would have been. Going to a man like James Barnes for help was smart. Did you know that his entire family was murdered six years ago? It was on a Purge night, just like this one.”

Evie felt nauseous as she shook her head no. She hadn’t done that much research on Bucky, but now she wished she had. She didn’t know that his family had been killed during a Purge. If she had, she never would have pulled him into this. He had suffered enough because of this holiday. She got the feeling that the murderer knew what she was thinking as her painted lips curved into a sly smile.

“Ah,” she sighed. “Well, I’m sure you can see why he threw you out—quite literally I might add. He’s not been much of a people person since I’m afraid. A nice effort on your part, but some things were just meant to be. He had to tell you no so that I can look you in the eyes as I cut your still-beating heart out with my knife. It’s the way you were meant to die, Ms. Mason, and there’s no shame in that.”

Evie’s breath caught. So she had believed their little stunt—she didn’t expect for Bucky to be waiting on her. And she had just reminded her of the Reaper’s biggest flaw: she liked routine, and she liked for things to follow her plan.

She wasn’t going to shoot her if she wanted to get her heart before she died.

With that thought bolstering her, Evie charged at the Reaper.

It caught her off guard, if the woman’s wide eyes and gaping mouth were anything to go by. Evie knocked her to the ground, causing her to lose her grip on the gun and send it skidding away. She had briefly considered trying to end it there, kill the killer before she could kill her, but Evie wasn’t a fighter, let alone a killer, and she was sure there was a reason that the Reaper’s victims never survived. It would almost be arrogant to think that she could end it herself when so many other’s couldn’t—Evie wasn’t anything special.

So she hopped back up and took off in the direction of where she could only hope Bucky was waiting for her.

As she anticipated, the Reaper had regained her wits after only a second of confusion and was now hotly pursuing her. Evie was close—she had been relatively near the meet point when she had run into the Purgers, and she was just a couple of streets away now. But it was still too far. Over the beating of her heart and her feet slapping against the pavement, she heard a soft thwipand felt something bite into the back of her thigh.

She tried to ignore it, to keep running and make it to Bucky, but her whole leg was suddenly numb and she was falling.

Evie caught herself on the sidewalk with a gasp, feeling the numbness spread. What the fuck did she do?

The Reaper’s smiling face reappeared in her vision and Evie felt every last scrap of her will to live fall away. She hadn’t made it. All of this, and she still wasn’t strong enough to make it.

“A tranquilizer gun,” she happily explained, holding it up to show her. “Of course, I need something to ensure you can’t fight me back. Everyone always expects some big, strong man, but ladies like us? We need a little help to make things go smoothly. Usually I slip a sedative into their food or drink before the Purge if I can—technically illegal, I know, but who are you going to tell? You were a little overly cautious today though and I couldn’t, so I brought this just in case. Good thing, too. You had more fight than I thought, Ms. Mason. Which is always a lovely trait, but I’m afraid it means we’ll have to cut this evening a bit short.” She whipped out a long knife and grabbed Evie’s shoulder, rolling her onto her back and straddling her hips. “I can’t have you running off anymore, you see.”

She brought the knife down in a sweeping arc, and without even noticing, Evie’s arms came up to stop it. They were still mostly responsive, thankfully, but Evie could feel the numbness taking over her body and knew it was only a matter of time.

“Just. Let. Me. Kill. You. Already,” the monster grunted between gritted teach, pressing down with more force.

“How about no,” Evie spat back, her mind working double to formulate even that response. She knew it was pointless, that the Reaper had won the moment Evie had received the letter, but she wasn’t going to just let hermurder her.

Her arms ached from the effort before the numbness slowly seeped in to relieve it, and Evie had resigned herself to her fate when she heard the gunshot crack in the night.

There was warmth on her face and suddenly the woman on top of her was crashing forward, Evie just barely managing to jerk the now limp hands away from her to drop the knife next to her head.

Her mind was cloudy and muddled and she was just so tired. The last thing she saw before she let herself fall into sleep was the frowning face of what must have been an angel.

If this was death, she didn’t mind it so much.

---

Evie awoke slowly and painfully with mumbled curses and a lot of confusion.

She sat up carefully, taking in her surroundings. She was lying in a bed with a blue comforter, in a room with bare, white walls and little else. She recognized this room.

As though to confirm her suspicions, Bucky breezed into the room with a bottle of water. “Oh,” he said, coming around to sit on the edge of the bed next to her. “You’re awake already. Good.”

“Already?” Evie asked, blinking the sleep out of her eyes and shaking her head. “How long have I been out? What happened?”

Bucky handed her the bottle of water, allowing her to take greedy gulps of it as he answered her. “Just about six hours or so. She hit you with a tranq, and I wasn’t sure how big of a dose it was. I hope you don’t mind, but I went ahead and got all of the blood off of ya—couldn’t really tell how injured you were with all of it. Good news is that other than a few scrapes and bruises, you’re fine. You survived.”

He gave her a small smile, and everything seemed to rush back to her, including her drugged-out thoughts about angels. Her cheeks burned as she handed back the water bottle. “Yeah, thanks to you.”

Bucky shrugged, but still seemed to be happier than she had ever seen him before. Which wasn’t saying much, honestly. “Maybe, but you’re the one who dragged me into it. So really, it’s still kind of your doing.”

Evie nodded slowly, debating on whether she wanted to say anything or not. It didn’t take long to decide; her mind was still a bit muddled and Evie had always been one to say what she was thinking anyway. “She told me about your family. The Reaper, I mean.”

It was all she needed to say to gain Bucky’s understanding. “Ah.”

That was all he said, and Evie immediately regretted bringing it up. “I’m sorry. I would have never dragged you into this if I had known. I don’t know how or why she knew, and I wish she hadn’t told me, but I just wanted you to know that I am truly sorry for all of this.”

Bucky shrugged, eyes trained on the water bottle as he picked at the label. “It’s fine. It’s not like it’s some secret. I just—I’ve always hated this night and what it represents, and I used to dream about doing something about it. But after my family—after they were killed, it just seemed so pointless. The Purge destroys lives. It’s what it was meant to do. So why try to fight it? The best I could do was keep my distance and hope I never had to watch it destroy mineagain.”

“So why did you? Fight for me, I mean,” Evie pressed, voice soft and quiet in the overwhelming silence of the room.

Bucky’s eyes snapped up to hers. “You gave me a reason to, I guess. I couldn’t save them from the Purge, but I could at least try to save you.”

“Thank you,” Evie breathed. “I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”

Bucky opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the shrill sound of the siren. Evie looked out of the window, surprised to see the first tinges of sunlight streaming in, and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was over.

“Well,” Bucky said, smirking down at her. “You’ve officially survived the Purge. What are you going to do next?”

Evie shrugged, smiling back at him. “I don’t know. I was pretty sure that I’d be dead, so I didn’t exactly make any plans.”

“Well,” Bucky drawled, leaning back against his headboard so that he was reclined beside her in the bed. “How do you feel about taking a long nap and then getting some food?”

Evie’s smile turned mischievous as she raised a slender eyebrow. “With you?”

Bucky shrugged, but his eyes flashed down at you playfully. “If you want. I figured the least I can do is let you stay here and feed you after you almost died.”

“Mmhmm,” she agreed, rolling over so that her back was facing him, giving him enough room to lay down. “Sleep first, then you can take me on a date.”

Bucky laughed, and she felt him lay down next to her, though he was careful to stay above the covers and not touch her. “I never said it was a date.”

“I know,” Evies said, closing her eyes and nestling into the blankets. “But I did.”

Bucky chuckled, but didn’t disagree. “Goodnight, Evie.”

“’Night Bucky.”

*One Year Later*

“You ready, Sweetheart?” Bucky asked, glancing back over his shoulder to see his girlfriend lacing up her boots.

She looked up at him, rolling her eyes. “Yes, Bucky. We’ve been over this a million times.” Evie stood, readjusting her belt and the gun that it held. Once she was satisfied with the way everything was situated, she strode over to Bucky with the coy smile he loved so well. “We’ll be fine.”

Bucky grabbed her by the beltloop of her jeans, inclining his head down to kiss her. He tasted the familiar cherry of her chap stick and hummed happily into her mouth, causing her to smile. He didn’t like that she was risking herself, but he couldn’t deny that seeing her like this did things to him.

“I just need to be sure you’ll be okay,” he mumbled against her lips, reluctant to pull away.

Evie planted a hand on his chest and stepped back with a breathy chuckle. “I know, and I will be. I’ve been training all year to do this, and we’re going to do what we can to fight the Purge. Together.”

“Together,” Bucky agreed, eyes raking over her tactical attire and numerous weapons. If anyone were ready to take on the city’s worst Purgers, it was his girl. “Alright, Baby,” he said, opening his door as the sirens blared. “Let’s do this.”

Taglist: @everythingbooknerd

[buckyscrystalqueen]

Breaking The Curse: Part 4

Pairings: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Fluff, jealous T-Swift (Because fuck her)

Word Count: 2,014

A/N: For the sake of this story, the reader is the actress that played in all of Jennifer Lawrence’s movies. So basically she’s the southern Jennifer Lawrence. And I changed timelines around to fit the story because I can. First time writing Tom Hiddleston so be nice, please.

Aesthetic by @sorenmarie87​

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

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

The 4th of July was one of your favorite holidays, not because it was the nations birthday and you were super patriotic, but because the weather was nearly perfect in your home town. It usually was about 85 degrees but felt like it was in the 90’s and the temperature of the lake was a brisk 60 degrees which balanced out the heat perfectly. Every year, you threw a huge get together to celebrate and this year was no different. 

Your pontoon boat was full of gas, loaded down with full coolers of various drinks and a fully charged iPod of music was already playing various genres of music on shuffle. All six of your brightly colored lake floats were anchored down in various spots in the lake and the detachable part of your dock was anchored off shore with your slide and diving board carefully and securely bolted into place. There were four grills lined up on the shore that were going to be manned by the local dad’s with more coolers full of burgers, hot dogs, and veggie burgers beside them and there were enough snacks, sides, and desserts on the tables in the mosquito tents to feed a small village. It took you and Chelsea three weeks every year to coordinate and once again, everything was perfect.

“You do this every year?” Tom asked as he looked out over the lake at everything you had pulled off. You nodded proudly as you crossed your arms over your chest.

“Every year.” You replied with a smile. “And you’re not going to see all your typical Hollywood people here either until later tonight. I have some friends coming from LA but mostly you’ll see a bunch of kids from mama’s school and their families. She teaches fourth grade at the local elementary school and a lot of those kids go to church with her and my daddy, too.”

“Can you just… stop being so impressive?” Tom laughed as he wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed your shoulder.

“Not on my porch!” You dad scolded as he wheeled his way out in his special four-wheel drive wheel chair. “I don’t wanna see that shit!”

“Get over it, old man.” You teased as you held your boyfriend’s arms right where they were with a smile. You gestured off into the distance with your pinky where Chelsea’s dad, Mark, who had been your neighbor since before you were born, was setting up the ‘land owners corner’ under a giant oak tree, where he and your dad would park themselves from now until well after sunset so they could keep an eye on everything and nothing all at once. “Better go get your spot before I take it.”

“You take my spot and I’m changin’ the damn locks.” He grumbled as he turned and zipped down the ramp; dodging the first wave of kids that were running through your yard from the driveway.

“Damn, (Y/N). Didn’t know ye could procreate tha’ fas’.” James said as he walked through the magnetic screen on your back porch with his towel flung over his shoulder.

“You’re just jealous you’re not gettin’ in my Daisy Dukes, McAvoy.” You joked as you pulled out of Tom’s arms and kissed your friend on the cheek.

“Yea, tha’s the las’ thin’ I need in m’life. Bunch’a bairns ta chase afta.”

“Hence the reason I throw this party. Instant birth control.” The two men laughed as Chelsea strolled over from her parent’s house with her boyfriend, Sam by her side.

“Y’all gettin’ in the water and claimin’ our shade float or are we just wingin’ it again like last year?”

“We’re comin’.” You said as you kicked off your flip flops and grabbed your pack of cigarettes off the table. Chelsea held up her hand at you with a knowing smirk and pointed at Tom.

“Did you show him?” You hesitated a bit as your boyfriend looked between the two of you.

“What did you do?” He asked with a hesitant chuckle. Your rolled your eyes as you turned to face him.

“It’s a joke.” You said as you pulled off your tank top to show off your bikini. Tom burst out laughing as he looked at the screen printed ‘I’ll take that drink now’ in green letters with a small, gold Loki silhouette as the period across your black, band style, strapless top.

“That is the most glorious thing I have ever seen.” He chuckled as you pulled off your shorts to reveal plain, gold and black bikini bottoms.

“Thought you would get a kick out of it.”

“As will the internet.” He chuckled as he laced his hand with yours and led you down to the lake.

——

“We need a mote.” Little Sam, one of your mom’s student’s younger brother’s said as he grabbed his shovel and started digging a circle around the small castle you, Tom, and Sam’s older sister, Mary had been helping him build for the last hour or so right around the time that the party started to switch from a kids friendly party to an adults only party.

“That’s a great idea!” You said as you fixed one of the towers. “What kinda animals are going to protect the king and queen?”

“Hey (Y/N). Cops are here.” You looked up at your dad with a small smile and wiped your hands on your bathing suit bottoms as you stood up.

“Cops?” Tom asked as he stood up with you.

“Yep. They come every year.”

“Really? Why?” He asked as he followed you across your yard.

“To give me two tickets. One for havin’ cars park along the side of the road which slows down traffic and one for the fireworks I’m gunna set off tonight.”

“And she still don’t learn.” Lieutenant John Carter said with a smile as he held out his clip board so you could sign the tickets. “How’s it goin’, (Y/N).”

“Same as every year.” You giggled as you sighed the first page and flipped to the second. “Hot then cold, loud then not then loud again. An’ don’t worry, I’ve got the damn fire extinguishers this year already set up on the boat.”

“And we have the fire department on stand-by.” Deputy Wayne Hunt chuckled. “Lookin’ good, as always. Loved the new Hunger Games.”

“Thanks Wayne.” You said as you took your two copies of the tickets. “Y’all know Tom, right?” You took a step to the side with a smile as you took your boyfriend’s hand and pulled him forward. “This is John and Wayne.”

“Pleasure’s all mine.” He said with a smile as he shook the officers hands.

“Keep this one outta trouble for us.” John laughed as he pointed at you with his pen. “She was always trouble growin’ up…”

“Thanks LT.” You laughed as you folded your tickets to give to your dad so you could pay them the next day. “I’ll see y’all tomorrow.” The two cops waved at you as they turned to head back to their patrol cars. You turned to leave but stopped when you saw an Uber pull up with Natalie Dormer and her boyfriend, Tony Byrne.

“I just can’t with you.” Tom said as he took the tickets from your hands and instantly held them up above his head when you reached for them. “I’ll pay for them, it’s fine.”

“It’s already in my budget.” You laughed as you reached for them again.

“And you’ve done enough already.” He said as he grabbed you around the waist and pulled you to his side so you couldn’t get to the tickets no matter how hard you tried. “Now, you have guests to say hello to and a mote to build. Show me that southern charm, darling.” You scowled as he leaned down and gave you a chaste kiss.

“Pain.” You turned around when Natalie called your name and smiled. “Well the party can start now!”

“You are already stirring up drama and it’s not even four PM.” She giggled as she shook her phone at you. “Saw it this morning…”

“Oh, I love drama.” You said as you took her phone to look at it. It was a screen shot of a tweet posted by Taylor Swift reading ‘Guess the only next step a guy can take from first class beach parties is child entertainer in bum freak Egypt. Trashy much?’ with a photo of you and Tom, lounging on your raft from earlier that morning that you had posted to your Instagram.

“She took the photograph down almost immediately but the tweet’s still up.” You tilted the phone toward your boyfriend so he could see and shrugged.

“Childish. So damn childish.” Was all you could say as you handed Natalie back her phone with a smile. “Well, that’s always fun. Y’all thirsty? Beer ain’t gunna drink itself and I’m ‘bout to put the champagne on ice.”

“Party!” Nat laughed as she fist pumped for only half a second. You grabbed her wrist and shook your head.

“Don’t do that below the Mason-Dixon line.” You laughed as you turned to head back to the lake but Tom grabbed your hand and kept you by your driveway as your guests walked down to join the party.

“(Y/N), I’m so sorry…”

“Why?” You giggled as you shook your head. “Who gives a fuck about what that has-been has to say? Look, I graduated high school years ago. I don’t let petty drama bullshit bother me no more; I’m a grown ass woman. Let her talk her shit. Ain’t gunna change what we have or how much fun we have today. Ain’t gunna change how I look at you or how our relationship unfolds. End’a the day, it’s just some jealous girl runnin’ her mouth. Nothin’ you can do about it but drink a beer and challenge me in a diving contest where I hope my top don’t fall off.”

“Well I’m not opposed to that.” 

——

You were sitting on your boat with Chelsea and Emma Stone, laughing at Bradley Cooper, who had some how managed to slip on one of the rafts and oh, so ungracefully fall into the lake when someone came over and took the cigarette you were smoking out of your fingers and put it out in the ashtray.

“Come dance with me.” Tom said softly as he pulled you to your feet. You giggled as he spun you under his arm and pulled you into his chest. You smiled up at him as he laced his fingers with yours and rested it on his chest with a soft smile.

“What, baby?” He shook his head as he put his hand on the small of your back and pulled you impossibly closer.

“I love you.”

“Tom.” You gasped and he nodded his head.

“I know it’s only been two months and I’m probably rushing it but I knew the moment I met you that I did. You don’t have to return the…”

“Oh, thank God you said it first.” He actually stopped dancing with you and looked down at you with his brow furrowed. His grip, however, tightened around your hand and his blue eyes glimmered with hope. You took your hand off your shoulder and started rambling and gesturing. “Fuck, I knew in Paris. I knew in Paris that I loved you when you told me you wanted to wait… even though waiting was literally until the next morning but I jut knew…” Your words were cut off as he crashed his lips to yours. He finally let go of your hand and wrapped his arms around your middle to pick you up off the ground.

“Get your cootie mitts off my daughter!” Your dad called out as he had Mark throw an empty beer can at you. You forced yourself to pull back and rested your head on Tom’s chest with a laugh.

“I love you.” He said again as he started to sway you back and forth.

“I love you.”

Part 5