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afictionaladventure16 · 4 months

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The Longest Night (Tim Bradford X Foster!Teen!Reader)

The Rookie Masterlist

Word Count: 3,832

Warnings: Mentions of death and blood

Summary: It's towards the end of Tim's shift when he gets a call on the radio about a nearby car accident, but when he arrives, he doesn't expect his world to turn upside down.

The day began like any other, Tim got up before sunrise and prepped a quick breakfast before getting himself ready. By then y/n was up and dressed and eating her breakfast. Over the past two years, they had a routine that they strictly followed. At first, the life of fostering a young teen was challenging for Tim, especially with his schedule but he was determined to help the young teen. He saw so much of himself within her.

Getting y/n to open up to him was another challenge. It took a while, but eventually, she learned how to trust Tim and now she felt like Tim was the father she never had. There were times when she had to stop herself from calling him ‘dad,’ even though she knew he wouldn’t mind. She felt like it wasn’t appropriate since she knew that one day she would only be a distant memory.

Towards the end of his shift, Tim was over it. He was ready to go home and start his weekend. More importantly, he was excited to go to y/n’s soccer game tonight. He knew he was going to be the loudest one in the crowd, cheering you on as you gave it your all in the field.

He loved watching you play, loved seeing the passion you had for the game and if he could, he would do anything so you could play whenever you pleased, but the world didn’t work that way.

The plan was for you to drive to the field with some friends after school, you would grab something to eat with them on the way there. Fortunately for you, you were able to get out of class early to grab a bite and head over to the field. Later on in the evening, Tim, Lucy, and Angela will meet you at the game.

“All units,” the voice came over the radio, “we have a major collision at the intersection of Sepulveda and Fifth. Possible fatalities. Paramedics en route.”

Tim’s heart quickened, something about this call felt different from the others. A chill ran down his spine, he knew that intersection too well. It was one of the intersections he passed on the way to drop y/n off at school.

“Dispatch, show 7-Adam-100 responding,” Tim announced on the radio as he drove off from where he was parked. The scene of the accident wasn’t too far, it was only ten minutes away, but with the way Tim was driving, he made it there in five.

When he arrived, paramedics were already at the scene, a couple of paramedics were assisting some firemen help get a passenger out of one of the cars. Just with one look at the scene, Tim already knew that the impact of some of these cars was deadly.

“Tim,” Lucy hurried towards him, she had arrived at the same time as the paramedics.

Tim was too distracted by the scene of the wreckage in front of him to even notice the look on Lucy’s face, “Jesus, what was the cause of this?” he asked.

Lucy’s expression was tense, her eyes had widened with something more than just professional concern, “T-Tim,” she whispered, a hand gently touching his arm.

Tim quickly diverted his attention towards Lucy, taking in the expression she was giving him, “What’s going on?” His voice is tight with worry.

Lucy hesitated, she had no idea how to tell the man she loved, the man who was standing right in front of him the news that could cause his whole world to come crashing down. Her gaze flickered over his shoulder to where the paramedics were working frantically on someone who was lying on the pavement. “I need you to promise me you’ll stay calm,” she began.

There was that feeling again, the one Tim felt when he heard the call over the radio, “What is it?”

Lucy took in a shaky breath, “It’s y/n,” she said softly. Her mouth quivered, she rose her hand up to her mouth quickly before putting her hand back down and continued, “The way the car hit– She–” She let out a small sob.

“Where is she?” Tim felt a cold knot of dread forming in his stomach, “Where is my daughter, Lucy!?”

“The paramedics are doing everything they can,” She managed to choke out.

Tim felt as if the ground beneath him had been pulled out from under him, he followed Lucy’s gaze behind him, his whole world narrowed to the sight of the paramedics working on his daughter. His heart sunk at their grim faces as they focused at the task at hand. He pushed past Lucy, any call for him went in through one ear and out the other as he rushed to Y/n’s side.

“No, no, no,” Tim shouted, his voice breaking as he took in her pale and bloodied face. “Come on, baby, you got to wake up,” he cried as he knelt beside her, gently holding her head in his hands.

“Clear!” A paramedic warned as he held the defibrillator paddles in his hands, Tim quickly let go of y/n, his eyes darting to the small portable screen beside them. The paramedic let out a small groan as he continued to administer CPR, “Another round of EPI!” The paramedic ordered.

Tim’s heart shattered with every single millisecond that passed. Reaching out with a trembling hand, he brushed a strand of hair from y/n’s forehead, “Please,” he begged, “Don’t take her from me.”

Lucy knelt beside Tim, offering anything she could to support him.

“Clear!” The paramedic announced again.

“Come on, baby girl,” Tim whispered as he lifted his hands up, allowing the paramedic to use the paddles on y/n.

Tim waited, watching the straight lines on the defibrillator, “Come on!” He shouted, tears streaming down his cheek.

“We got a pulse!” The paramedic called out as a small pulse showed itself on the small screen in front of him. Tim let out a breath of relief, overwhelmed with a wave of emotions, Y/N was alive, but barely.

“You can meet us at the hospital,” the paramedic informed Tim as they loaded Y/n onto a stretcher.

Tim watched as they wheeled her into the ambulance, His attention was directed to another stretcher that was covered with a sheet. His heart sank as he noticed a familiar charm bracelet that was barely showing through the sheet. He quickly stopped the paramedics from moving the stretcher.

Tim glanced over at Lucy, she gave him a nod, confirming his fear without words.

“Fuck!” He exclaimed as he took in a shaky breath.

“I was on my way to inform her parents.”

Tim shook his head, “No, let me.”

“But y/n.”

“Y/N would want me to tell her best friend's parents that their daughter… she would want me to do this.”

Lucy nodded, “I can go with you if you would like,” she suggested.

He gave her a small nod. Lucy followed Tim in her patrol car, to the small house that was only a few blocks down.

Tim dreaded giving the news of the death of a loved one, but this was different. A knot of anxiety turned in Tim’s stomach as he knocked on the door with shaky hands. Mrs. Garcia, Jenna’s mother, answered the door with a beaming smile, but it was short-lived once she saw the look on Tim’s face. Her smile quickly faded into concern.

“Tim? What’s wrong?” She asked, her voice laced with concern.

“Can we come in?” Tim asked gently. Mrs. Garcia’s eyes darted between him and Lucy before she gave him a small nod and stepped aside. Her eyes widened with worry.

“Heeey, Tim!” Mr. Garcia sung as he watched Tim walk into the living room, “Ready for that game tonight? Don’t tell me one of the girls called you to come grab something,” he rambled on, “Leave it to our girls to always forget something.” His voice slowly faltered as he noticed the look on his wife’s face.

“Tim has– Um, he’s here because of work,” Mrs. Garcia stuttered as she sat beside her husband on the couch. The look on Mr. Garcia’s face now mirrored his wife’s as they looked at Tim.

Tim took in a deep breath, his mind searching for the right words today, but he knew there were none. For a moment, he wanted them to take in these last moments, the last moments of them being oblivious to what was going on. The last moments of them believing that their daughter was still alive and with them in this world.

Tears began to well up in his eyes, “There was an accident,” he began. “Y/N and Jenna were involved.”

Mr. Garcia let out a small chuckle out of disbelief, “But they’re okay, right?”

Tim felt his stomach turn as he continued, “Y/N is on the way to the hospital, they were able to resuscitate her.”

Mrs. Garcia gasped, as Mr. Garcia took his wife’s hand, “and my Jenna?” His voice shaking as he asked.

Tim could feel the tears in his eyes threatening to make themselves known, “I’m so sorry,” he said with a shaky voice, “Jenna didn’t make it.”

Mrs. Garcia shook her head, “No, no, no! Not my baby!” She yelled as she collapsed into her husband’s arm, her body wracked with sobs. Mr. Garcia held her tightly as tears fell from his eyes. Tim felt helpless as he stood there, wishing there was something he could do to ease their pain, but he knew there wasn’t.

“I’m so sorry,” Tim repeated, “Jenna was more than just Y/n’s friend. They were like sisters. You guys were–are like family to us.”

Mr. Garcia looked up towards Tim, his eyes red and overwhelmed with grief, “Can we see her? Can we see our baby girl?”

Tim nodded, “I’ll take you to her. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

The Garcia’s followed Tim’s patrol car to the hospital. Tim felt like he could understand the pain they were going through, seeing as he had just seen his own daughter almost be taken from him, but he knew his pain couldn’t compare to the pain they were about to face.

He guided them through the quiet halls, it was a part of the hospital Tim rarely went through. A part of the hospital not a lot of people wished to see. The room in which Jenna’s body was in was filled with an overwhelming aura of sadness. It’s like the walls knew the pain of those who held her close. Tim stood at the door as he watched them walk up to the bed where their daughter lay motionless.

In the midst of it all, Tim felt guilt. Guilt that his daughter lived and theirs didn’t and mixed in with all the guilt, he felt angry.

He wasn’t sure if he was more angry towards the drunk driver or god himself for taking Jenna away from her parents.

Lucy walked up to Tim, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, “Hey,” she whispered, gesturing for him to follow her.

He let out a deep breath, following Lucy down the hall.

“They’re wheeling Y/N into surgery now, they’re saying it was touch and go there for a while, which is why it took them a while to get her stable enough to go into surgery,” Lucy explained. Her eyes gazed towards the door at the end of the hall, “How are they holding up?”

Tim shook his head as tears quickly welled up in his eyes, Lucy didn’t hesitate to pull Tim into an embrace, “I almost lost her and I was a mess, I can’t imagine the pain they are going through,” he said shakily as he returned Lucy’s embrace.

“I know,” Lucy whispered.

“I almost lost her,” Tim repeated. Taking in the words he had just said.

“But you didn’t,” Lucy said as she let go of the embrace and held Tim’s head in her hands. “She’s alive and she needs you right now, she needs you more than ever.”

Tim nodded, “I don’t know what I would do if I lost her.”

“You didn’t lose her, Tim.”

“I can’t lose her,” he repeated.

“You won’t.”

“But I still can,” tears welled up in his eyes, “they can take her away as easily as they brought her into my life and I can’t bear to lose her. She’s my kid.”

Lucy couldn’t help but smile, “So, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I want to adopt her. I need to.”

Lucy beamed, “About time.”

Tim and Lucy stayed in the hall, while the Garcia’s said goodbye to their daughter. A small amount of words were exchanged as Tim watched the Garcias walk out of the hospital, he promised them that Y/N would come over from time to time, but they still wanted her presence around even if their daughter wasn’t there. He knew it was because their home would be missing that light their daughter gave off, the light that y/n gave off when she came into any room.

Tim let out a deep sigh as he moved in his seat for the hundredth time, “would you quit it?” Lucy asked.

“My belt is beginning to become uncomfortable,” Tim commented.

“I know,” Lucy said as she looked up from her phone, “that’s why I called Angela to bring us some spare clothes from our lockers,” she said just as Angela walked out of the elevator.

“How’s our girl doing?” Angela asked as soon as she walked over to Lucy and Tim.

“The doctors came about an hour ago to update us, it was touch and go then,” Tim said.

“Fuck,” Angela sighed as she took a seat beside them, handing off the bag of clothes to Lucy.

Lucy quickly stood up, “I’m gonna go change,” she said as she grabbed her clothes from the bag before handing it off to Tim.

Tim watched as Lucy walked away to the bathroom, “How are you holding up?”

“I just wish I could get to the part where this is all over with and Y/n is back home and she’s safe and healthy.”

“Don’t we all,” Angela whispered.

The sound of the corridor doors opening caught Tim’s attention, his eyes diverting to the doctor who rushed through the doors and was walking towards him. Tim instantly recognized him as he stood up, “How is she?”

“She’s stable,” Tim let out a breath of relief, “she did sustain significant injuries and the road to recovery will be a long one, but what’s important is that she is stable for now. We want to keep her in the ICU until she’s off the ventilator.”

“But she’s okay,” Angela reassured.

“She’s stable,” the doctor repeated. “I would count that as a win.”

Tim nodded, “Can I see her?”

“Of course, I’ll take you up there myself.”

Tim glanced at Angela, “Go! I’ll let Lucy know.”

Tim nodded, grabbing his bag of spare clothes before following the doctor to the elevator.

“I do want to warn you, that what Y/N endured is traumatic. She had multiple fractures, extensive bruising, and some severe lacerations,” Tim was aware, but when he saw her, all he noticed was his little girl. He saw the blood, but only kept his eyes on her face, taking it in as much as he could.

“She will be swollen and it may look scary along with all the bandages and lacerations,” the doctor continued.

Tim swallowed hard, “I just want to see her,” he whispered as he tried hard to maintain his composure.

“And you will, I just want you to keep in mind that it may look bad, but trust me, it will heal and she will recover,” the doctor turns to face Tim, “your daughter is lucky to be alive considering the damage.”

The doctor stepped out of the elevator once it had stopped, and Tim followed him to one of the rooms in the ICU. “Let us know if you need anything,” the doctor said before leaving to give Tim some space.

Tim paused outside the door for a second, taking in a deep breath he walked into the room. The sight in front of him was worse than he had imagined, taking in a shaky breath, Tim hurried to the y/n’s side. He took in all the bandages and wires that were connected to her body, the tube that was coming out of her mouth that was to help her breath.

He gently took her hand in his, “I’m here,” he whispered as he placed a gentle kiss on her hand, “dad’s here,” he whispered again.

Days went by and Tim remained by y/n’s side. His anxiety was getting the best of him every day that passed, especially since there was no change. Things weren’t getting worse, but they weren’t getting better either. Every day the doctors and nurses came in to check on y/n Tim was hopeful that there would be some change or something new for them to say, but it all remained the same.

But today felt different. While Tim was holding y/n’s hand, he felt a small movement. He could have swore that she tightened her grip, he took that hope and ran with it. Getting any nurse that was available to show them what he saw. The doctor was quick to run some tests.

One of those tests in particular came back with new results, “It’s a risk,” the doctor commented.

“But there’s a possibility?” Tim asked. The doctor nodded, “Then let’s do it.”

Tim sat by as the doctors removed the ventilator, it was a risk. There was a percentage that Y/N could breathe on her own without it and that’s why she’s beginning to show movement, but then there could be a possibility in which she can’t yet breathe with out it. It was all risky, but Tim was willing to take the risk if it meant him knowing where she is on the road of recovery.

They waited for a few minutes, watching the machines carefully as the ventilator was now completely out.

“Is this good?” Tim asked.

“So far,” One of the doctors commented. “It looks like she is breathing on her on, we’ll continue to keep an eye on her.”

Slowly the few nurses and doctors that were in the room began to file out, leaving Tim alone with Y/n. He watched throughout the day as y/n breathed on her own. He took it all as a good sign.

Soon Tim felt his eyes growing heavy as he let the darkness consume him allowing sleep to enter his body. It was hours later when Tim heard was awakened by a soft groan.

At first, Tim didn’t quiet understand where it was coming from, his sleep overtaking him again and ignoring the groans. When he kept hearing them, his body quickly reacted, sitting up in his seat, his heart pounding as he looked over at y/n. Her eyes squinting from the brightness of the room, she groaned again.

“Hey, hey,” Tim rushed to her side.

“It hurts,” she groaned.

“I know, I know,” Tim softly said as he pressed the button near the bed, alerting the nurses.

It wasn’t long until a few of the nurses came rushing into the room, examining Y/N and giving her more pain medication. One of the doctors was alerted, he quickly came and ordered some tests before leaving.

“How are you feeling?” Tim asked as soon as they were alone.

“Like shit,” Y/N responded.

Tim chuckled, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, “you were out for a week,” he commented.

“I barely remember anything,” She confessed.

Tim sighed, “It was bad,” he began.

“I just remember… I remember hearing screams.”

Tim nodded, “Joey and Lisa made it out with a couple of broken bones. The people in the other car only had a couple of scratches.” He let out a deep sigh, “the driver that caused everything died upon impact.”

“And Jenna?”

Tim didn’t know how to muster up the words to tell y/n. He wish he could say that within the past week he figured the words but he didn’t.

Y/N didn’t like the silence she was receiving, “Tim, what about Jenna?” she asked again.

“They did everything they could,” Tim began to say, tears welling up in her eyes.

Y/N shook her head, “No.”

“Y/N, honey, I know-”

“It should’ve been me,” She cried out.

“Don’t say that,” Tim raised his voice.

“Her parents,” She cried, “It should’ve been me.”

Tim let in a deep breath, “I almost lost you too, Y/n,” letting out a shaky breath, “I had to watch the paramedics bring you back to life. There was no saving Jenna when they arrived, but they were able to save you.”

Tears welled up in y/n’s eyes as she watched Tim break down in front of her, “I know that’s not what you want to hear and I am sorry about Jenna, she meant everything to our little family, but seeing you lifeless on the floor… It broke me. I don’t think I could ever recover from that.”

Y/n never imagined to hear those words come from Tim, she knew he cared for her, but she didn’t imagine that he truly cared enough that if she were gone he would miss her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Tim mustered up a smile, “No, I’m sorry, this was a experience I wished you never had to experience, but I am here for you. We’re going to get through this together, okay?”

She gave him a small nod, Tim sniffles, “I wanted to wait until the paperwork came in, but I think you need to hear this now.”

Y/n gave Tim a confused expression.

Tim sighed before he continued, “I want to adopt you.”

“What? Are you serious?” She asked with a surprised expression.

“As serious as I ever could be, you have been my daughter since the day I took you in, there is no changing that, So what do you think? Want to officially become a Bradford?”

Tears began to well up in y/n’s eyes, “You want to adopt me?” She asked.

Tim chuckled, “Of course, I do.”

“Then I guess I should start calling you dad now, huh?”

Tim smiled, placing a small kiss on y/n’s forehead, “that’s up to you, hon.” Tim knew that the road from here on out wasn’t going to be easy. It was long and bumpy, but he knew that he could take the challenge one day at a time, especially since the risk of loosing you wasn’t as high as it was before. That’s all that mattered to Tim.

#Tim bradford #tim bradford x lucy chen #tim bradford x reader #tim bradford x you #tim bradford x teen!reader #tim bradford angst #tim bradford x y/n #tim bradford x teen!foster!reader #tim bradford x daughter!reader #tim bradford teen!reader #tim bradford teen!reader angst #tim bradford x teen!reader angst #tim bradford imagine #tim x lucy #chenford #tim bradford the rookie #the rookie imagines

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ferrstappen · 5 months

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mónaco l Carlos Sainz

(a/n): this is a very short piece based on one of my favorite songs of all time which, by coincidence, is called Mónaco by Lagos and Danny Ocean. If you listen to it you can picture yourself having a summer romance with Carlos, true story. I'd love to dive deeper into it, but idk I just needed to get it out fast for some reason. hope you like it, feedback is always welcomed<3

summary: pero si algo que nos quedó es todo lo que pasó en Mónaco (but if there’s something left in us then it’s everything that happened in Monaco)

no sé si te acuerdes, de la vez que nos perdimos en septiembre

she'd never forget the warm september night when Carlos took her to the casino for the first time. He still wasn't very familiar with the principality and she was just a fleeting person for a couple of weeks, months, and he couldn't count on her of all people to know the streets of the heavenly Monaco.

As the flutes of Don Perignon continued to flow, he became more and more animated, trying his best to explain the intricate science behind poker and the true meaning behind each card. But despite his best efforts, she found herself unable to concentrate on his words. Instead, she was deeply lost in his eyes, taking in every detail of his sparkling hazel hue.

As she continued to stare, he finally noticed the piercing gaze, causing a warm flush to rise in his cheeks. A shy smile appeared on his lips, and she couldn't resist the urge to lean in and place a gentle kiss on them and when she pulled away, his smile grew wider making her fall deeper and deeper in this announced tragedy.

Everything was good until Carlos realized he was drunk, couldn't drive and didn't remember his address, eyes growing comically large as he came to terms that his alcohol-consumed brain really couldn't remember the name of his street, meaning someone had to drive him and his companion through the beautifully and carefully lit streets until one of you started to recognize his complex and as unusual and absurd of a situation they were in, she couldn't stop giggling as the streets kept passing by in a blur and watched Carlos still trying his best to remember.

tantas veces que tomé tres escalas para verte, creo que me acostumbré a tenerte como si no fuera a acabar.

her time in Monaco was over and Carlos' career in Toro Rosso was steadily climbing, he couldn't afford to take his mind off the track and she understood, she was willing to fly over just to see him.

but it started to fade away.

she was still willing to deal with three layovers to see Carlos, and his caramel eyes still sparkled when he saw her, but there was something missing, this wasn't like their late nights in strolling around Monaco, drinking cheap wine even if they could afford a way nicer bottle.

they weren't stupid, this wasn't meant to last any longer than a couple weeks in autumn, a simple memory, one of those people you can close your eyes and feel their scent, mind playing tricks that maybe if they closed their eyes long enough they might get a feel of the soft skin of each other, running her thumb through his cheek while he tried to fall asleep.

yo sé que para volver ya es tarde, y nuestro plan nunca fue quedarse, no sé si habrá una segunda parte, pero si hay algo que nos quedó es todo lo que pasó en Mónaco.

she stopped flying over, Carlos stopped asking her to spend the weekends off in his apartment, just the two of them

Both reminded themselves this wasn't meant to last, wasn't supposed to create one single string, but they both failed.

chances were, they would find each other again maybe on another holiday, another masters degree, PhD, Grand Prix; a part two, a proper goodbye to te September walks in heels she couldn't take off in order to not get a fine, pouting so Carlos would carry her on his back, as if they knew each other their entire lives.

it wasn't important now.

all they had left was what happened in Monaco.

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translations <3

no sé si te acuerdes, de la vez que nos perdimos en septiembre: i don't know if you remember about the time we got lost in September.

tantas veces que tomé tres escalas para verte, creo que me acostumbré a tenerte como si no fuera a acabar: so many times i took three layovers just to see you, I think I got used to having you as if it was never gonna end.

yo sé que para volver ya es tarde, y nuestro plan nunca fue quedarse, no sé si habrá una segunda parte, pero si hay algo que nos quedó es todo lo que pasó en Mónaco: i know it's too late to come back and staying wasn't our plan, i don't know if there's gonna be a second time, but if something's that's left in us is everything that happened in Monaco.

#carlos sainz x you #carlos sainz x reader #carlos sainz imagine #carlos sainz fanfic #carlos sainz fluff #carlos sainz blurb #carlos sainz au #carlos sainz angst #f1 fluff #f1 fics #f1 imagine #f1 fic #f1 fanfic #f1 x reader #f1 x you

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mountsmase · 6 months

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okay so let’s imagine this isn’t an ice bath but a hot bath 🛁

you’ve had a rough day or maybe even a rough couple of days at work or just in general, it’s Friday night and you’re home and ready for a weekend of relaxing with Mase because it’s international break and he has a free weekend, meaning no training or any need to be at carrington and you’re both looking forward to spending some quality time together. You have a dinner arranged with his family the next day but you have no plans for tonight other than to have dinner at home and then chill for the evening. You cook together and then sit and binge watch a few episodes of whatever series you’re currently watching before tidying up, locking up the house and heading upstairs to get ready for bed.

You mentioned to Mase earlier in the evening about having a bath tonight because you just want to sit and soak after a stressful couple of days so he takes it upon himself to run it for you whilst you put a few things away in the bedroom. He adds all of your favourite bubbles and bath salts and makes sure that the temperature is right before dimming the lights a little bit to make it a more calming atmosphere.

You had assumed that he was getting ready for bed and that the running water was just him showering so you’re surprised when you walk into your en-suite and find him leaning over the bubble filled tub to turn off the taps. He’d place a little peck to your forehead and go to leave the room so that you can have some time to yourself but you’d grab his hand and ask him to join you, and he’d of course say yes. Not ever wanting to say no to you but also loving the idea of joining you.

He’d get in first, sitting himself back in the tub and watching you with that big smile on his face as you quickly remove your makeup, tie your hair up into a loose bun and begin undressing. He’d have to try his hardest to keep his eyes on your face, letting them drift a few times as you strip in front of him before stepping into the bath. He’d hold his hand out for you to steady yourself as you lower into the water and settle between his legs, laying back against his chest and resting your head against his shoulder as he wraps his arms around your middle and pulls you impossibly closer to him.

You’d stay like that for ages, his fingers tracing patterns over your tummy as your hands rest against his thighs that are either side of you, and you’d just talk about whatever comes to mind, with him dipping his head into your neck and brushing kisses over your skin whenever your speaking whilst still listening intently to everything you say.

You’d only get out when the water starts to go a bit colder, having a quick wash before climbing out and wrapping yourself into towels that are warm from where they’ve been sat on the heated towel rail. Then you’d go about the rest of your night time routines, doing your skin care (which he joins in on), brushing your teeth and changing into a fresh pair of pjs before climbing into bed and straight into his arms where you fall asleep almost instantly with your head on his chest 🥺

#I need this #this was meant to be a tiny little concept but…#I would’ve made this more detailed but I already have a fic which includes this sort of idea and it would’ve just been the same thing anywa #🫶🏻#mason concepts #mason mount imagine

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 4 months

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hii! I had a couple questions that may seem a little silly, but I came back to play (after like 2 years I think?) last weekend do the new characters (Rollo, Gidel, Fellow Honest) really join NRC? and do they have playable cards?

And when do you think Playful land would come to the en server? (I actually came back to play after seeing Fellow honest so I'm excited abt the event)

Oh no... Another Fellowife/j Hello, hello, and welcome back to Twisted Wonderland~ ^^ TWST JP had a limited time banner for a Rollo SSR in fall 2023; this is roughly one year AFTER the initial release of Glorious Masquerade in fall 2022. TWST EN just had Glorious Masquerade localized in fall 2023, so it is likely that the playable Rollo SSR will be coming to EN in fall 2024 (also 1 year after the initial release of the event in this particular server).

I want to stress that Rollo does not officially join NRC; he has a voice line which implies he is visiting to temporarily study there. Please consider his card another "AU" which is not canon to the main story, similar to other limited cards. While there has been no formal confirmation of a Fellow Honest and/or Gidel SSR, many players are assuming that there will be one since Rollo, the character introduced in the previous Halloween event, got a SSR. JP had Stage in Playful Land for its 2023 Halloween event, so the playable Fellow/Gidel will probably be coming in fall 2024 along with a Playful Land rerun + a new Halloween event. This would follow the same pattern of release as the Rollo SSR. For EN, they will likely get the localized Stage in Playful Land in fall 2024 and the (theorized) SSR Fellow/Gidel in 2025. (The Halloween events are staggered about a year apart between the two servers!)

I’d like to point out that, at the end of the event, Fellow and Gidel are invited by a student to try and join NRC. Fellow explicitly turns down the invitation and says he would rather start his own school which teaches important life lessons, not necessarily magic. So if he were to get a card, it would probably also be an “AU” thing, not canonical.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst en #twisted wonderland en #Fellow Honest #Rollo Flamme #Gidel #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #notes from the writing raven #question #stage in playful land spoilers

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hp-hcs · 11 months

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(Fine, I’ll do it my damn self: part 6 of my silly lil mlm stories <3)

love triangle — rival! ron weasley x male! reader

solving a love triangle in the only correct (and gay) way

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“Hey, Hermione,” you said with a cheeky grin, sitting across from her.

She glanced up. “Hey, Y/N..?”

“D’you wanna go to the Yule Ball with me?”

“Oh! Uh, that’s very sweet of you to offer-”

“-but I’m sure Hermione would much rather go with someone else,” interrupted the annoyance that was Ron Fucking Weasley.

You glared at him. “But of course, going to a dance with a platonic date is rather pathetic, wouldn’t you agree, Granger?”

Ron opened his mouth to snap back, when Hermione interrupted the both of them. “Boys, boys, you’re both pretty, stop fighting. I’ve already got a date.”

You turn to look at her quizzically, saying at the same time as Ron, “Who?”

“Well, if you must know, Viktor Krum.”

~~~

The Ball crept closer, Hogwarts’ halls alive with excited whispers and laughs. It seemed like everyone had a date except for you. And Ron, you supposed.

(And Ron’s friend, Harry. Although you had sneered in passing to the ginger, “looks like he’s got eyes for your sister, Weasley,” which had almost led to a fight breaking out in the halls as he hollered for you to “shut your bloody mouth!”)

((Sure enough, within the week, Harry Potter had a date to the Yule Ball—Ginny Weasley. You took great pleasure at smiling smugly at Ron whenever you saw him.))

Hermione’s rejection hadn’t deterred either of you though. Ron seemed determined to outdo you. When you gave her a tiger lily you’d picked in Herbology, Ron sent a bouquet of flowers to her dorm. When you split a Chocolate Frog with her, Ron took her to Honeydukes. Anytime you saw each other in the halls, you glared daggers sharp enough to make the paintings rattle on the walls uncomfortably. It was all-out war.

Even the teachers seemed to notice, for better or for worse.

“I’m taking your girlfriend to Flourish & Blotts this weekend, Weasley,” you whispered casually under your breath to your elbow partner in Potions.

“I swear to Merlin, L/N, I’ll-”

“Mr. Weasley, Mr. L/N, if you’d care to pay attention rather than chatter about your meaningless weekend plans,” Professor Snape drawled, glaring his beady little eyes on you both. “Ten points from Gryffindor.”

You stifled a giggle under your breath, accidentally making eye contact with Ron, whose embarrassed expression and red-tinged ears made you just absolutely lose it. You had to clamp one hand over your mouth to prevent any laughter from escaping.

Then, much to your surprise, Ron started chuckling quietly too, cheeks still flushed from the reprimand.

“Pay attention,” he drawled under his breath in a mocking imitation of Snape. You snorted, clearing your throat to disguise the noise when the Professor in question whirled around to see who dared disrupt his class.

~~~

After class, you elbowed Ron in the hall. “Man, Snape’s such a dick, right?”

“Totally. He’s got it out for me, I swear.”

“I think he’s just got it out for Gryffindors in general. Remember when he antagonized Longbottom so bad that he was his boggart?”

“Yeah, that was brutal,” Ron shook his head, as you both walked to your next class together. “Hey, look, I just wanted to say like, sorry? I’ve been kind of an ass to you this whole year…” Ron trailed off.

“Nah, it’s fine, man. I haven’t been much better. I think we both kind of got caught up in the competition of asking her out,” you shrugged. There was no reason to clarify who her was. “Truce?”

“Yeah,” Ron smiled. “I’d like that.”

~~~

So here you were, alone at the Yule Ball, your friends having left you to dance with their dates. You leaned against the wall, watching the couples twirl around with a mild tinge of jealousy. Sipping your drink, you surveyed the crowd, appraising everyone.

When your eyes landed on Hermione, who was being lifted up and spun around by Viktor Krum, your first thought was not one of envy, but rather, she would’ve looked much better in blue. Your gaze drifted to her date, and lingered on Krum for a moment too long.

Damn, he looks good, you thought to yourself, blinking quickly at the thought. Where did that come from?

Ron sidled up to you, looking rather smug for someone wearing such an ugly outfit. “She’s having the time of her life, isn’t she?”

“Huh? Oh- yeah, yeah, I guess,” you mumbled, your gaze drifting back to Viktor.

How can someone look so hot? That ought to be illegal.

Ron’s eyes narrowed, and he followed your gaze. “Merlin, dude. Are you staring at Krum?”

“What? No! S-shut up!”

He snickered, patting your shoulder patronizingly. “S’alright, man. I’ve been watching Diggory all night myself.”

Your eyebrows raised in surprise. “You’re-”

“Yeah,” he cut you off, lips thinning a bit. “That bother you?”

“Not a hypocrite, Weasley.”

He glanced at you, clearly taken off guard. You kept his gaze for a long moment, finding the way his blush matched his hair to be rather cute.

“Care to dance then, L/N?”

“If you can keep up, Weasley.”

You two took to the dance floor, twirling around like idiots and laughing loudly. Neither of you noticed your respective friends, and the teacher chaperones, watching on in morbid fascination.

And when you kissed at the end of the song, neither of you noticed Harry scowling as he handed both Ginny and Hermione a galleon each.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

#harry potter #hp #fuck jkr #hp x male reader #x male reader #these bitches gay good for them #ron weasley #ron weasley x reader #ron weasley x male reader #i love him #hes just so babygirl

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mostlysignssomeportents · 7 months

Text

Brinkwhump Linkdump

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TUCSON (Mar 9-10), then San Francisco (Mar 13), Anaheim, and more!

Once again, I find myself arriving at the weekend with a giant backlog of links, triggering a linkump, the 15th such dumpage, a variety-pack of miscellany for your weekend. Here's the previous editions:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Let's start with the latest incredible news from KPMG, the accounting and auditing giant that is relied upon as a source of ground truth for a truly terrifying share of the world's economy. KPMG has a well-deserved reputation for incompetence and corruption. They first came on my radar in 2001 when they sent a legal threat to a blogger for linking to their website without permission:

https://memex.craphound.com/2001/12/05/reason-4332442-not-to-ask/

The actual link was to KPMG's corporate anthem, which remains, to this day, a banger:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040428063826/http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/uknewsita/http://anthems.zdnet.co.uk/anthems/kpmg.mp3

Don't miss the DJ remixes (and the Nokia ringtone!) that the internet thoughtfully provided when KPMG decided that it didn't want the world to know about "Our Vision of Global Strategy":

https://web.archive.org/web/20011128153057/http://corporateanthems.raettig.org/

Now all this is objectively very funny, a relic of the old, good internet from one of its moments of glory, but KPMG? They were already enshittifying, even in 2001, and the enshittification only intensified thereafter. Nearly every accounting scandal of the past quarter-century has KPMG in it somewhere, from con-artists selling exhausted oil fields to rubes:

https://www.desmog.com/2021/06/03/miller-energy-kpmg-auditors-oil-fraud/

To killer nursing homes that hire KPMG to audit its books – and to advise it on how to defeat safety audits and murder your grandma:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/09/dingo-babysitter/#maybe-the-dingos-ate-your-nan

They're the architects of Microsoft's tax-evasion plot:

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-irs-decided-to-get-tough-against-microsoft-microsoft-got-tougher

And they were behind Canada's dysfunctional covid contact-tracing app, which never worked, but generated tens of millions in billings to the government of Canada, who used KPMG to hire programmers at $1,500/day, plus KPMG's 30% commission:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/31/mckinsey-and-canada/#comment-dit-beltway-bandits-en-canadien

KPMG's most bizarre scandal is literally stranger than fiction. The company bribed SEC personnel help its own accountants cheat on ethics exams. The corrupt officials were then given high-paid jobs at KPMG:

https://www.nysscpa.org/news/publications/the-trusted-professional/article/sec-probe-finds-kpmg-auditors-cheating-on-training-exams-061819

I mean it when I say this is stranger than fiction. I included it as a plot-point in my new finance crime novel The Bezzle (now a national bestseller!), and multiple readers have written to me since the book came out a couple weeks ago to say that they thought I was straining their credulity by making up such an outrageous scandal:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

But all of that is just scene-setting (and a gratuitous plug for my book) for the latest KPMG scandal, which is, possibly, the most KPMG scandal of all KPMG scandals. The Australian government hired KPMG to audit Paladin, a security contractor that oversees the asylum seekers the country locks up on one of its island gulags (yes, gulags, plural).

Ever since, Paladin has been the subject of a string of ghastly human rights scandals – the worst stuff imaginable, rape and torture and murder of adults and children. Paladin made AU423 million on this contract.

And here's the scandal: KPMG audited the wrong company. The Paladin that the Australia government paid KPMG to audit was based in Singapore. The Paladin that KPMG audited was a totally different company, based in Papua New Guinea, who already had a commercial relationship with KPMG. It was this colossal fuckup that led to the manifestly unfit Singaporean company getting nearly half a billion dollars in public funds:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/24/incredible-failure-kpmg-rejects-claims-it-assessed-the-wrong-company-before-423m-payment-to-paladin

KPMG denies this. KPMG denies everything, always. Like, they denied creating "power maps" of decision-makers in the Australian government to target with influence campaigns in order to win contracts like this one. Who knows, maybe, this one time, they're telling the truth? After all, the company whose employees gather to sing lyrics like these can't be all bad, right?

The time is now to lead the way, We share the same the idea That may win by the end of the day. Our strength is here to stay. Identity, one energy, One strategy, with sympathy. These are the words that will lead us into a new world.

https://everything2.com/title/KPMG+corporate+anthem

You may find it strange that I'm still carrying around the factoid that KPMG once threatened to crush a blogger for linking to its terrible corporate anthem, but that's just my "Memex Method," which helps me keep track of literally everything that seemed important to me through most of my adult life:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/09/the-memex-method/

One of my favorite quips from the very quotable Riley Quinn is that "leftists are cursed with object-permanence" – that is, we actually remember what just happened and use it to think about what's happening now. The Memex Method is object permanence for 20+ years worth of stuff. A lot of those deep archives never see use, but there's a surprising number of leading indicators buried in the stuff that happened in years gone by.

Take James Boyle's 2014, XKCD-style comic about the experience of driving a notional Apple car:

https://www.thepublicdomain.org/2014/11/07/apple-updates-a-comic/

Apple, it turns out, spent the next decade working on just such a car, and while that car has now been canceled, Boyle's comic correctly anticipates so much about the trajectory Apple's products took. It's uncannily accurate – real "don't invent the torment nexus"/"cyberpunk was a warning, not a suggestion" stuff:

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/torment-nexus

But no matter how many times we insist that the torment nexus shouldn't be created, the boardrooms of end-stage capitalism continue to invent them. Take HP, the poster-child for enshittification, edging out even KPMG in the race to turn everything into a pile of shit. After years of tormenting people to punish them for wanting to print things, HP has announced a new service that so mustache-twirlingly evil that it lacks verisimilitude:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/hp-wants-you-to-pay-up-to-36-month-to-rent-a-printer-that-it-monitors/

Here's the pitch: HP will sell you a printer that you don't own. In addition to paying a monthly fee for your ink – which you pay no matter whether you print or not – you will also pay a monthly fee just for having HP's printer on your premises. You are absolutely, positively forbidden from using third-party ink in this printer, and must use HP's own ink, which sells for about $10,000/gallon.

But while you aren't allowed to use this printer in ways that are bad for HP's shareholders, HP is absolutely free to use the printer in ways that are bad for you. When you click through the signup agreement, you grand HP permission to surveil every document you print – and your home wifi network more generally – and to sell that data to anyone and everyone.

What's more, HP reserves the right to discipline you with punitive credit-card charges if you disconnect this printer from the internet, on the basis that doing so makes it harder for them to spy on your printer.

I'm sorry, this is just more torment nexus shit, the kind of thing you'd expect to drop on Apr 1, not Feb 29, but I guess this is where we are. I can only conjecture as to whether HP's businesses strategists are directly taking direction from my novella "Unauthorized Bread," or whether they're learning about it second-hand from a KPMG consultant who converted it to Powerpoint form and charged $1,500/day for the work:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

All of this cartoonish villainry is the totally foreseeable consequence of a culture of impunity, in which companies like HP and KPMG can rob, cheat, steal (and sometimes even kill) without consequence. This impunity is so pervasive that the exceptions – where a rich criminal faces real consequences – become touchstones: Enron, Arthur Anderson, Theranos, and, of course, FTX.

FTX was arguably the largest-scale corporate crime in world history, stealing more than $10 billion dollars, mostly from rubes sucked in by hype and Superbowl ads. When news that FTX founder and owner Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and was in for a lengthy prison sentence made a huge stir, because criminals like SBF usually walk away from the wreckage with their hands in their pockets, whistling a jaunty tune.

One of the very best commentators on cryptocurrency scams generally and FTX/SBF in particular is Molly White, whose Web3 is Going Just Great feed is utterly indispensable. White's newsletter, "Citation Needed," dives deep into the wrangle of SBF's sentencing:

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-52/

Bankman-Fried's parents – prominent law professors at top law schools – helped brief the court this week on their son's punishment. According to them, SBF faces 100 years in prison, but should be sentenced to 5.5-6.5 years at the most. Why? Because he is a vegan, who is not greedy, and feels remorse, and cares for individuals (recall that SBF presented himself as the avatar of the batshit "effective altruism" philosophy while privately admitting that he used this as a smokescreen).

The most bizarre note in the 100-page filing is SBF's mother declaring that her son is an "angel of mercy," apparently unaware of the grisly meaning of that term:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_mercy_(criminology)

America's prisons are a travesty and I wouldn't wish them on anyone, but that's not the argument SBF's parents are making; rather, they're arguing that their special boy doesn't deserve the treatment America metes out to poorer, less white people who merely steal hundreds or thousands of dollars. A crook who steals ten billion should be handled the way a casino handles a whale – with concierge service.

The problem is, there are so many of these remorseless, relentless crooks that there's no way we could scale up that white-glove treatment when we finally round 'em all up and make them pay. Writing for The American Prospect, Maureen Tkacik tells us about the ransomware attack that shut down America's pharmacy system last month:

https://prospect.org/health/2024-03-01-zoomer-hackers-shut-down-unitedhealthcare/

The attack brought down Change Healthcare, part of the monopolist Unitedhealth, which serves as the "pharmacy benefit manager" to a vast swathe of American pharmacies. PBM is one of those all-American finance scams, a middleman garlanded with performative complexity put there to make you feel stupid for asking why independent pharmacies all have to pay rent to this malicious, unaccountable – and now, manifestly incompetent – gang of crooks.

Tkacik's breakdown of this scam – and how it rendered Americans' ability to get the drugs they depend on to go on breathing – is characteristically brilliant. Tcacik is fast emerging as my favorite Explainer of Scams, a print version of John Oliver or Adam Conover. You may recall her work from my post last week on how private equity has taken a wrecking ball to America's hospitals:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/28/5000-bats/#charnel-house

I always try to finish these linkdumps with some upbeat news to carry you through the weekend, and this week brought two genuinely wonderful – and totally underreported – pieces of amazing news.

The first is that Starbucks has sued for peace in the war against its workers' unions. Hundreds of Starbucks stores have unionized in recent years, but not one of them had a contract. Instead, Starbucks had waged dirty war on their own workers, from denying gender-affirming care to unionized employees to simply shutting down whole stores after they voted to unionize:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/14/starbucks-union-company-threatens-that-unionizing-could-jeopardize-gender-affirming-health-care.html

But the workers held fast and after years of this, Starbucks has caved, promising contracts for all unionized stores and an end to its campaign of terror against workers seeking to unionize more of its stores. In a postmortem for Jacobin, Eric Blanc rounds up "seven lessons from Starbucks workers' historic victory":

https://jacobin.com/2024/02/starbucks-sbwu-contract-bargaining/

This is the kind of listicle I can get behind. According to Blanc, the Starbucks unions won by deploying worker-to-worker organizing, a tactic that many of the new unions that are shaking up formerly impossible-to-organize jobsites are using (Blanc has a book about this coming from UC Press called "We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Unionism Can Transform America," so he should know).

Other tactics that made the difference for Starbucks unions: new digital training and support tools and partnering with established unions for support and infrastructure. Blanc also calls out the success of "salting" – the venerable but largely disused tactic of union organizers applying for a job at a non-union shop in order to organize it.

Blanc also mentions government policy, including the outstanding work of NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a shrewd and committed tactician whose understanding of the technicalities of labor law have let her push for bold measures. For example, in Thrive Pet Care, Abruzzo is arguing that when a company refuses to bargain in good faith for a contract with its union, she can step in and order them to honor the terms of a contract at comparable unionized competitors until they produce a contract of their own:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

Abruzzo is one of several smart, competent tacticians in the Biden administration who are working to kneecap corporate power. Another is Rohit Chopra, chair of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, who just announced another bold, important initiative that will help Americans fight corporate corruption and get a fair deal:

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-03-01-public-option-credit-card-shopping/

Chopra is taking aim at credit-card comparison sites that purport to show you where you can get the best deal. If you're an affluent person who doesn't carry a balance, this might not matter to you, but if you're an average working stiff, high interest rates can gobble up a massive share of your paycheck. What's more, credit card margins are higher than they have ever been:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/credit-card-interest-rate-margins-at-all-time-high/

The most expensive credit cards come from the big, monopolistic banks, but you wouldn't know it from the leaderboards produced by Credit Karma, NerdWallet, LendingTree, and Bankrate. All of these sites take bribes from the big banks to list their credit cards above those offered by credit unions – who are typically 10% cheaper than the big banks' cards.

The new CFPB rule prohibits this fraudulent ranking, but the Bureau is going even further. They're using their administrative powers to force banks to report their rates to the Bureau, which will publish them on a publicly funded, neutral website – what David Dayen calls "a public option" for shopping for credit cards.

This policy makes a perfect bookend to the last CFPB initiative I wrote about here: a rule that forces banks to allow you to transfer your account to a rival with a couple of simple clicks, importing all your history, payees, and everything else you need to switch to a better bank:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/let-my-dollars-go/#personal-financial-data-rights

Combine that ease of switching with reliable information on which banks will give you the best deal and you get something that will directly transfer millions and millions of dollars from giant, wildly profitable banks to low-income people who've been tricked into paying them punitive interest rates.

So that's it, this week's linkdump. I promised you I'd end on a high note, and I did it. The world may be full of all kinds of terrible things, but workers and regulators are scoring big, muscular victories in battles where the stakes are real and important. Have a great weekend – we've earned it.

And remember!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/02/macedoine/#the-public-option

Image: Stacy (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/notahipster/4402860361/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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tgmsunmontue · 1 month

Text

Saga of Solitude 10/21

Nepo!Baby Bradley and his life at USNA and afterwards. DADT fully in force. IceMav AU. (Begun prior to 'It's not who you know' - the non-angsty version). (Side Hangster, which is ALSO angsty).

PROLOGUE (He remembers)

HANGSTER FIRST MEETING (Lonely Nights - set 2009)

PREVIOUS CHAPTERS

ONE (2000) TWO (2001) THREE (2002) FOUR (2003) FIVE (2004) SIX (2005) SEVEN (2006) EIGHT (2007) NINE (2008)

CHAPTER TEN - 2009

“I think I might be done.”

Tom almost drops the phone and he sits up straighter, knuckles tight.

“What?”

“You heard me. I think I might be done. Not with flying. Just… active duty. Think I might try out for that test pilot program you keep leave lying around. You’re not subtle.”

“Mav…”

“Best of both worlds right? I still get to fly, but I’m not on the other side of the world. I feel like I’ve been lucky so far, but I don’t want to…”

He doesn’t finish whatever it is he’s thinking, but Tom can fill in the blanks with a multitude of endings. There’s Bradley of course, but he’s twenty-five. But Tamsin is only twelve and Petra is ten. He knows Mav doesn’t want to leave any of them. He could add himself in there, if he thought that maybe he was enough for Mav to consider giving up active duty. He’s never been enough before, and he’d never be a fool enough to ask Mav to stop doing something he loves, no matter how much Tom worries.

The days tick past and he hasn’t felt this settled or optimistic since Mav briefly took a break and simply remained in reserves when Carole got sick. Just the knowledge that he won’t be on active duty in a war zone makes him feel ridiculously pleased, even if at the same time he worries about Bradley. Lord he’s glad that the girls are local and he doesn’t need to worry about them other than standard parenting worries. He hopes they pick nice quiet and safe jobs, because as he gets older, he’s not sure his heart is going to take it if it has the same series of shocks it’s experienced with Maverick.

His next phone conversation doesn’t happen until a couple of weeks later and he finds out the Maverick has requested all the paperwork necessary and submitted an application. He doesn’t let his shock bleed through, but he definitely feels it, accompanied by the realization that when Mav gets home from this deployment he won’t be leaving American soil for a mission again, not if he gets any say in the matter. And he knows someone will ask. He may love Maverick, but he also isn’t blind to any of his faults and his peers know that at least.

“I’m 48, they probably think I’ve calmed down enough in my old age to give me a shot right?”

Ice keeps his mouth shut, because he’s made it a rule to try not to lie and he doesn’t think anyone in the Navy will ever assume Maverick has calmed down.

“You’re definitely qualified for the position. They’d be lucky to have you,” is what he settles on instead.

… … …

“Can we have a movie night daddy?”

“Of course. As long as the two of you can both compromise on one movie and not argue over it,” Tom says, because listening to them bicker gets exhausting. He knows he’s giving Melissa and Sarah a break most weekends by having them come and stay with him, and he wouldn’t have it any other way, but he finds himself admiring parents who do it all the time with no break in sight. He is so grateful that he has them, but he’s also certain that they enjoy Bradley’s company over his, with them all sharing equal levels of energy.

“Kung Fu Panda!”

Tom looks between them and they’re both nodding vigorously; he feels like he’s been set up, tempted to message Sarah and check in to see whether this particular movie has been vetoed for any particular reason. It seems completely benign and he watches it, entertained by the different characters and enjoying having his daughters curled up on either side of him. Tamsin is drifting off, clearly not quite as engaged with the story as Petra, but he’s not going to rouse her and tell her to go to bed, happy to have her slumped against him. It’s not until later, when he’s carried Tamsin, still asleep, up to her bed and come back down to find Petra chopping at the pillows that he realizes his mistake.

“Daddy? Can I have kung fu lessons?”

Of course, the warning was right there in the title of the movie. He should have known. She is such a daredevil and so full of energy and god she reminds him of Pete with every smile. He knows he can never say no to her, the best he can do is delay and hope that either she forget (unlikely), or someone else will tell her no.

“We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

“Okay! Love you daddy. Good night!”

“Love you too peanut. Good night…”

… … …

He swings his bag over his shoulder, feels buoyant as he walks toward the spot where everyone is disembarking. He knows he’s got his family waiting and he’s got four more weeks before Mav finishes his own deployment, has spoken to him about his plans to withdraw from active duty if his application for test pilot training is accepted and Bradley knows they won’t be turning someone with Mav’s experience down. But there are two golden weeks where all seven of them will be together and he cannot wait.

“Expect your wife is going to make you shave that off before she lets you within five yards of her…” Bradley calls out to Flipper, who just laughs and gives him the finger.

“Like you can grow a better one!” Fin yells back and Bradley laughs.

“I can grow a better moustache in my sleep.”

“Photos, or it didn’t happen!”

“You’re on!”

… … …

“I’m not a baby Bradley…”

“You’re not even half my age,” Bradley replies, trying his best to keep his amusement from his tone. Tamsin will be a teenager at the end of the year, something he’s sort of in denial about, can still remember his early days of being a teenager himself and Sarah carefully placing infant Tamsin in his arms.

“Which makes you ancient.”

“If I’m ancient, what does that make your dad?”

“A zombie. Have you seen him?”

Bradley snorts, because Ice definitely looks half-dead, but he’s putting that down to his worry over Maverick, who is in the Middle East, but he should be home in about a week. Not soon enough judging from the dark circle under Ice’s eyes. Although the fact that Ice is for some reason now letting Petra try out a variety of martial arts may also be part of his worry. But it means he gets one-on-one time with Tamsin, who definitely seems to have something on her mind.

“Bradley.”

“Yeah. Sorry. I’ll stop changing the subject. Hit me with the serious question you wanted to ask me.” God he hopes it isn’t about sex.

“Do you think my parents loved each other?”

Fuck. Sex would be easier. Maybe?

“Uh… Why do you ask?”

Shit. He is not equipped for this conversation at all.

“I just… they seem to love each other. I don’t get why they got divorced.”

Oh. Okay. Maybe he is equipped to answer this after all.

“Well, you know your mom is a lesbian right?”

“So getting married and having me and Petra was a mistake?”

Double shit. Reverse. Undo. Back track. Fuck.

“No. I’m pretty sure it was anything but a mistake. I think you and Petra are both very wanted and much loved. Uh. Have you talked to any of your parents about this?”

“No. I don’t want to upset them.”

He’s trying to remember how old he was when they told him, how old he was when he figured it out. He knows Ice and Sarah won’t be upset, that they’ve probably been prepared for this conversation for years. And yet she’s having it with him.

“I just wonder sometimes because I look at Petra and she looks so much more like Papa than she does dad. I look like dad. Petra looks at least a little bit like mom.”

“Uh. Yeah. I noticed that too. That’s very observant of you.”

Where the fuck is Ice when he needs him?

“Do you think my mom had an affair?”

“No. I know she didn’t… shit.”

“You’re not meant to swear.”

“Yeah. I know. This is just… I really think you need to talk to your mom and dad about this.”

“Why? What’s so bad that you can’t tell me?”

“Fuck…” Bradley breathes out.

“You’re really not meant to say that word…”

“Yeah. Okay. I’m going to tell you. But I’m going to be telling your parents, all of them, that I’ve told you. So you can go and talk with them and ask questions, because… I was your age when your parents got married. I do not have all the details.”

“Okay. So tell me, what happened?”

He gives the bare bones, explains, as best he can, about DADT. Agrees with her when she calls it stupid. Talks about his own parents and how both Ice and Mav married women, his mom being one of them, Sarah being the other. He ends up getting a picture of his parents from his room to show her and then holding her as she cries, realizing that he’d lost both his parents when he’d been her age.

He explains how and why Ice and Mav hide their relationship, that he also won’t be bringing a girlfriend home anytime soon. Isn’t planning on having a relationship anytime soon because it’s simply in the too hard basket. Then he brings up the fact that she is very observant, that Petra does indeed look like Mav, and that’s because Mav is her biological dad. Her eyes are wide, mouth open in surprise and he wonders if he’s said too much. Hopes like hell that trusting his gut is going to have been the right thing to do, that Mav and Ice letting him know about his own mom’s wishes and then letting him make his own decisions about his own life. That they’d want Tamsin to also know the truth of the matter, especially as she’s asking questions.

“Can I swear?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

“Holy shit.”

Bradley throws back his head and laughs.

… … …

Knowing that this is his last time is bittersweet. He walks over the deck and lets his fingers trail over the railing. He didn’t join to live his life on a carrier, being on a carrier is just a necessity for somewhere for the planes to land and refuel before they can get back into the sky. He misses the sky every time he’s on the ground, needs the wide open spaces which is why he likes going out to the hangar so much, the sheer amount of space around him makes it feel like he’s close to being in the sky. As he disembarks he can see Bradley standing and waiting, Tamsin and Petra beside him and his throat works, because he’s home, and safe, and he won’t have to leave them again wondering if he’ll not make it home.

… … …

“Jesus kid, you look like you dad.”

“Uh. Sorry. Do you want me to shave it?”

“No!” Pete says, vehement. “Shit Bradley. You’re allowed to look like your dad. You do that without even trying. Just took me by surprise. He’d be tickled pink and so proud of you. Your mom would be too, scared shitless every time you were out of sight, but she’d still be so proud. We’re proud of you too you know. All of us. Ice, Sarah, Melissa. You’ve turned into this amazing capable man and I’m immensely proud to call you my son…”

“Uh. Thanks. I think you all had a lot to do with how I’ve turned out…”

“We tried to help point you in the right direction, but you’re the one who put in the hard work.”

“And you and Ice taught me all about hard work.”

“I guess we did.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, you can ask me anything.”

“When you taught me how to shave… did you feel old?”

“Old? No. Not old. But… a little sad I guess?”

“Sad?”

“Well, that your dad wasn’t the one teaching you. That you weren’t this little kid anymore. I was glad I got to be there for it… You planning on keeping that caterpillar?”

“No. Just growing it for a dare. Why?”

“I have something of your dad’s. He was ridiculously proud of his moustache, had this little kit that your mom bought him, little comb and brush, little pair of scissors. Been keeping it safe, if you end up needing it for your own then I guess I better get it out of storage…”

“I… thanks Mav. I’ll be shaving it off before I report back though. Too annoying to maintain and keep tidy.”

“Okay. Well, you let me know if you change your mind.”

… … …

“You want to do my hair?”

“Yeah! Can we but bows in it?”

“Have at it,” Bradley says, so glad they’re both still willing to be a little silly with him. He knows with the current state of the US military he’s never going to have kids, not unless he figures something out with Natasha and he doesn’t think she’d put her career on hold and he wouldn’t expect her to. So he will make do with what he has and enjoy it as much as he can in the moment, knows Tamsin is very much on the cusp of not doing this again, is simply

“Why don’t you always let it grow long?”

“Navy doesn’t allow us to have long hair.”

“They Navy is dumb,” Tamsin says, pouting as she runs a sparkly purple comb through his curls, and Bradley bites down on his lips to hide a grin. She’s been quite vocal to him about how stupid she thinks the whole institution is, although very careful not to say it within hearing of either Ice or Mav. Although Mav has just appeared in the door, eye bright with mischief as he takes in the scene.

“You look very pretty Bradley.”

“Thank you. They worked very hard to make me look this good.”

“Papa! Come sit!”

Bradley laughs at the expression on Mav’s face, but then he’s sinking to the floor beside him and Petra is putting bows in his hair as well and he’s pretty sure he’s never seen Mav look happier. The dark circles under Ice’s eyes have also gone so Bradley is pretty sure everything is right with their world.

… … …

Tamsin looks miserable and Bradley isn’t sure what he can do, needs to immediately fix whatever it is that is making her look like this. They’ve grown closer during this leave period, with their conversation making her feel more like an adult, at least with him. Fortunately he’d been commended for how he’d handled the conversation with her, the approval of all his parental figures had hit him hard and unexpected, not aware how much he still wanted and needed it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Uh. You look sad though.”

“I’m allowed to be sad!” Tamsin snaps and Bradley’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Can you tell me why you’re sad?”

“I can’t go swimming…”

Bradley blinks, confused.

“Um. Why not?”

“Because I have my period.”

He rears back, the shock of the fact and the straightforward statement taking him completely by surprise. Sure they were like brother and sister, but this was new.

“Since when?”

“Since this morning. It’s not contagious. Stop looking at me like that!”

“Um. Sorry. Just, uh, I kind of… you’re growing up I guess and that’s just…”

“Making you feel really old?”

“Yeah, little bit. Shit.”

“You think it’s shit for you? You’re not the one that has to have it every month…”

“I apologize on behalf of my entire gender.”

“Good. You should be sorry.”

He bites his lip and nods his head, holy hell she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with and he really should have invited Natasha home with him. Next time.

“How about we go ice skating instead?”

“Oh! Yes! But don’t let Petra bully you into playing hockey. She can wait until the season starts again.”

“Petra is playing hockey?”

“Duh. She tried field hockey but then complained it wasn’t fast enough. I think mom is a little worried she’s going to steal the car and take it for a ride.”

“Ha. Hahahaha,” Bradley laughs nervously, because hold shit if he didn’t already know she was Mav’s kid, hearing that she likes things fast and a little dangerous. “How is her skateboarding going?”

“Good. She’s managing some really cool things now. We should go to the skatepark so she can practice.”

“You’re a good big sister.”

“Thanks. I had a good big brother to show me what not to do.”

“Hey!”

“Kidding! I love you Bradley.”

“Love you too Tamsin.”

… … …

With a sense of dejavu he reads the news. Gay marriage has been legalized in Iowa and also Vermont. That’s four different states now. It’s like a domino effect and after decades of hiding.

… … …

“Sir.”

“Aubrey. What is it.”

“Sorry sir. Nothing.”

From experience Tom knows it is definitely not nothing. Aubrey takes her breaks with all the other support staff and has some convoluted but incredibly invaluable way of hearing of things before they become issues which he then finds he has to deal with.

“Clearly it isn’t nothing. What have you heard this time?”

He hasn’t told her about his little note-book, but he suspects she has something similar, even if it’s only in her own head.

“You’ve known Captain Mitchell for a long time sir.”

Inwardly Tom groans to himself, wonders what the hell he’s done now.

“Yes. Over twenty years.”

“A good friend then sir.”

“Yes. My best friend.”

She looks torn then and he frowns, wonders what she knows that he potentially hasn’t already heard about from someone else in the Navy. Maverick is not known for being quiet or passing unnoticed, which is why he suspects that their relationship has gone unremarked upon for so many years, many people assuming Maverick could not keep something like that secret.

“Maverick was seen going into your ex-wife’s house… at nearly midnight.”

He doesn’t let his surprise show, because while he knows there is gossip he’d never expected to hear it from his assistant. Also this is something he knows about, because Maverick took his car, because the bike would have been far too noisy at midnight.

“Okay. Just to be clear, you think that Maverick is having an affair with my ex-wife?”

“Isn’t he meant to be your best friend sir?”

Oh. Wow. There goes the idea that she had clocked him.

“Okay. Yes. He is my best friend. In fact his late-wife, Bradley’s mom, introduced me to Sarah. However Sarah and Maverick are grown consenting adults… However, if we’re talking about last week, well Maverick was there because Melissa was working a night shift, Sarah and the girls were sick and I couldn’t risk getting sick and Mav is on leave…”

“Oh.”

He swallows nervously, because he’d sort of assumed that she had put everything together, that he and Mav were more than just friends. However the fact that she thinks… well, thought. Until he just cleared that up.

“Melissa? The woman Captain Mitchell brought to the dinner last year?”

“Yes. My ex-wife’s… wife,” Tom provides, and this is potentially where all his well-craft duplicity comes undone, however he’s never been wrong yet with where he’s laid his trust.

“Oh. Oh. Sir.”

“Was there a question in there Aubrey?”

“No sir. Not at all. You have a very lovely family.”

“Yes. I consider myself very lucky to have them all in my life.”

“Just so sir.”

… … …

(LONELY NIGHTS FITS HERE - Bradley and Jake hook up the weekend before they both report to Corpus Christi.)

… … …

He’s known in the pit of his stomach that he and Jake were reporting to the same base, however he hadn’t realized that Jake was also a naval aviator and that means their circles of interactions are overlapping too much for his own liking. He doesn’t speak with Jake directly, doesn’t let any sign of recognition show on his face as they’re introduced. Jake is fresh from USNA, bright and eager and smart and also so fucking talented that Bradley can see why he’s here. Without even being aware of it he finds himself tracking Jake’s movements and god, he needs to get it under control and figure out a way to be more subtle otherwise he’s going to bring them both down.

He wonders if he’d still have slept with him if he’d known.

He needs to talk to Ice and Mav and figure out how they keep it hidden, because he’s worked too hard to get where he is to let it all crumble apart now.

… … …

“Sir. Captain Mitchell is here to see you.”

“Of course. Thank you Aubrey. Captain Mitchell, nice to see you again.”

“And you Admiral.”

He doesn’t miss the fact that she makes Maverick a cup of coffee.

… … …

Bradley’s normal Saturday afternoon phone call is usually with Mav, and he’s just about to offer to go and get him when it becomes apparent that Bradley maybe wants to talk to him first, words exploding out of him.

“How do you do it? Have your relationship with Mav and settle for… this weird half-life?”

God he hopes Bradley is somewhere he can’t be overheard.

“When it’s that, or the option of not having him in my life at all? It’s an easy decision.”

On the other end of the line Bradley sucks in a breath, Tom isn’t sure how to take it. Wonders what the hell Bradley has gotten up to when he’s not even been gone two weeks.

“He’s a rank below me.” It’s Tom’s turn to suck in a sharp breath, but a single rank isn’t unsurmountable. Not when it’s low and there isn’t a large differential of power. “I didn’t even know he was Navy when we hooked up the first time.”

“The first time?”

“Well, the first time rolled into the second and then… a couple of days and nights together.”

“Jesus Bradley. Are you sure he’s not going to make a complaint against you?”

“I’m not completely sure, but I don’t think he would. He might not like me very much right now, but I don’t think he hates me and would want to implode my career.”

“Shit Bradley. Look. It’s going to be hard either way. Being with him, not being able to tell anyone, spending months apart, having to pretend you don’t care about him anymore than any other of your shipmates… But that type of hard can be worth it when you come home to each other. Or you make a hard decision now and cut your losses, walk away from it and then always wonder what might have happened…”

“Yeah. I’ve already cut my losses.”

“Okay kid. Okay.”

… … …

“Hey Mav.”

“Bradley. You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just… you know that moustache kit of my dads?”

“Yes.”

“Could you send it to me?”

“Of course buddy. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I just… figured I’d try keeping it for a bit. Someone told me I suited it.”

“Well, they weren’t wrong.”

… … …

On Monday when Tom gets to work he asks Aubrey to collate a list of all current personnel going through flight school at Corpus Christi. Knows one of them is going to be Bradley’s maybe unwise hook-up.

He also asks her to get him a new note book.

CHAPTER ELEVEN (2010)

#Saga of Solitude #IceMav #Top Gun Maverick fanfiction #Hangster

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unkat · 4 months

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More drabbles on the Chilaios ems au. (please see Psiroller's beautiful Stop Smoking, We Love You!)

Takes place after Chilchuck's bad call and talk with Laios.

Rating: M for content, nothing spicy yet

contains non-graphic discussions of pregnancy complications, death of children, cancer; backstory things

----------

When Chilchuck returns to the station after his long weekend and hike with Laios, the sense of dread he had about losing his job has abated, but his guilt over the meeting and anxiety of how his coworkers might react still lingers. He puts his uniform next to his bunk and hovers in the room as he builds up energy to go back into the main areas.

As he steps back into the living room, the whole crew is piled in front of the TV watching some show; no chairs available for him to join in quietly. His palms sweat as all eyes turn on him, leaving him at the mercy of the jury of his peers. Trapped by his employment contract to interact with the men he hasn't spoken to in days after rolling his eyes and scoffing at them for debriefing a call.

Plenty of reason to cause a scene in a lull between the action.

Laios gives a smile from the far seat on the sofa, looking up from his work phone. Someone else speaks to Chilchuck before Laios can open his mouth.

"I saved you the best seat in the house." Isaiah remarks and pats his lap, making no move to shift. Chilchuck can see Laios tense as he tries to decide if he needs to intervene. But this is something he can handle himself.

He saunters over and drops into his lap, shifting a little until he is comfortable. "Thanks, sweetheart." He winks and the other guys jeer at the two of them. He stretches out, and drops his feet onto Dan and head onto Laios. "You really know how to make a guy feel at home, please don't let me interrupt your show."

Dan snickers and grabs his legs to make sure Chilchuck doesn't fall off. He can see Laios covering his mouth with his hand as his chest shakes and he looks away from the rest of the room. Isaiah plays along, "Anything for you, gorgeous." And he pats his stomach before settling back into his seat. The tension that was in the room before has dissipated and the lull returns as they continue to watch King of the Hill. Chilchuck turns his head to see and his hair flops into his face. Laios tucks it away before he can do anything about it.

They make eye contact before Laios has to look away, grin still trying to get onto his face, not that Chilchuck is any better at this point.

Almost at the end of the program, the radio goes off. "Dispatch to Station 9, house fire at address 589 South Pierre Creek Road. Sounds like a backyard barbeque getting out of hand, and the neighbors want it checked out. No injuries reported."

Dan sighs and keys up his radio, "Station 9 to Dispatch, we copy your call for address 589 South Pierre Creek, we will notify you when we are en route."

Chilchuck lifts his legs vertically to let him get up, and Isaiah uses them as a handle to tip him further back and stand up himself. "Sorry gorgeous, but I need to drive the engine."

Chilchuck flops back onto the couch. "Listen, I do more medical only calls than you, I'm doing my job here!"

It gets a few chortles as they leave to gear up. A few minutes later, Isaiah get on the radio as the sirens start and fade into the distance.

It's only him, Senshi, and Laios still in the room after they are gone. Chilchuck looks up at Laios, still not moving from his position laying in his lap. "Hey. Can I talk to you about something?"

Laios looks down at him. "Sure. Do you want to go to the office?"

Chilchuck shakes his head. "Nah, it's not related to this job. It's something someone told me might be good for me to talk about." He shuts his eyes.

"Back when I first started, I was thinkin' about being an EMT for a couple of years before going to paramedic school."

"But then…is this about you not driving?"

"Shut up. Yeah." Chilchuck chuckles. "My work partner and I had a deal, she wanted to keep going with the EMT driving stuff and I had already crashed the truck twice-- never with a patient in the back, stupid shit like backing into a pylon and getting stuck over the curb. I got banished to the passenger's seat, but it worked for us. Gave me practice doing patient care, writing reports, all that shit."

His brows furrow. "I had only just started working when my wife told me she was pregnant, and we got married. We found out we were having twins and I saved all my PTO, all my sick time, talked about taking a leave of absence with my chief, all that stuff. We had a c-section scheduled for 37 weeks, which is pretty good for twins. Pregnancy was rough for her, and it was tough-- it was a high-risk pregnancy, and they were keeping an eye on their size the whole time."

He waves his hand. "There was something called twin-to-twin transfusion that we kept worrying about. Their placentas were too close, and they started getting connected." He meshes his hands together as an example. "The doc hadn't ever seen it like that before, it's only supposed to happen with identical twins who share the same one. Mei was getting bigger than Fler and the docs kept saying it was just something we had to keep an eye on, something we had to watch, come back in two weeks, my schedule isn't available then, Chil can you take a couple hours off to come with me?"

He sighs.

"I was doin' all sorts of overtime with my partner, offering to stay late a couple extra hours to make up for it. And I had other guys who I went through orientation with who were willing to let me ride along without having to do too much driving. We did nights as first on scene emergency BLS, transported if it was BLS appropriate, waited for the paramedic otherwise."

"We were at 29 weeks with the girls, a month and a half out from being a new dad, when we got a call for active labor in our zone. Dispatch asked me if I wanted off the call, because of my wife, and I said are you fuckin' crazy? This is practice for the real deal, send me in."

The room is quiet. Chilchuck speaks again. "We got on scene, and baby was already on his way out. They had been going for a water birth with a midwife, who called us. We had backup coming, but I radioed that in--if the midwife is calling, that means something went wrong."

Laios brushes his fingers through his hair. "They hadn't cut the cord yet, but he was going blue and wasn't crying. I am the medical guy, so I was the one who suctioned his nose and mouth, turned him upside down and slapped him on the back trying to get him to breathe. Then we bagged him, on oxygen, notified dispatch and the medical director. She said to transport. We were less than ten minutes from the nearest women's hospital and waiting for the paramedic wasn't going to make a difference."

He can't speak and Laios says nothing, continuing to pet his hair. Chilchuck opens his eyes. "I was doin' everything they taught us in school, the stuff we always joked would never happen, two finger CPR and pediatric AED and everything. I didn't know if I did something wrong or not. But I lost pulses quick, and the hospital couldn't get them back."

Laios lets him go quiet. "I'm so sorry."

Chilchuck shakes his head. "Don't be. You didn't even know me."

"No, I mean I wish you didn't have to go through that. I'm feel sad for you."

Chilchuck huffs a laugh. "Thanks."

He exhales, relaxing into Laios. "They had another call while we had a smoke outside the hospital, and asked me if I could take it. My crew chief called after it went out and asked me if I needed to come back to the station instead. I said duty calls, we're on it."

He laughs. "Nobody asked if I needed to talk to anyone, I just want home and went to sleep. Afterwards, I didn't know what to say to my wife about it-- I watched someone else's baby die and now I thought our babies were gonna die? So I sat on it, but I was gonna tell her. Then she went into labor two days later, and I had to leave work."

Laios pauses. "How old were they?"

"Twenty-nine weeks and three days. They were so small, less than half the size of the one from my call. It left my heart in my mouth, holding them in my hands, I thought they were going to stop breathing the whole time. Their lungs weren't fully developed either, they had to be tube fed, and they had vision problems."

He squeezes his eyes shut. "All my planning, my saving of my PTO, it was was for nothing, you know? I took a few days off to stay with my wife, we'd go to the NICU in the morning, stay there until it was time to do home, sleep, and do it again. Then I couldn't handle it anymore."

"I went back to work. We brought women to the hospital all the time, but I never told my wife we were there. I felt like I was gonna contaminate them, and bringing money in made sense when she suddenly wasn't working for an extra month. Mei came home after seven weeks, and Fler after nine. Those two weeks was the worst time, cause she had to go back and forth to the NICU to bring milk to Fler while taking care of Mei."

Laios hums his understanding and encouragement. "Did you get some days off then?"

He opens his eyes again. "I didn't offer to take days off, and she didn't ask. We weren't really talking then."

Laios swallows. "That sounds awful."

Chilchuck laughs. "I don't think she ever forgave me for leaving them like that."

Chilchuck goes quiet, throat bobbing as he swallows, opens his mouth, shuts it again, and shrugs, face flushing in embarrassment. Laios keeps his hand in his hair. "You know, I didn't get into EMS right out of high school. I worked at a mechanic's shop where this side of the county brought their trucks for a couple of years. I'd learned a bit from my dad, fixing our car and tractor, but there was a lot of learning I ended up doing on the job."

He smiles softly. "Nothing like Falin. She was good in school, but really good at biology. You know, she was trying to go to med school and cried when she saw an open heart surgery, not because it was scary but because she thought it was so beautiful?"

He looks down at Chilchuck who nods back, listening. "She came out here to go to school, giving up a position at John Hopkins because she wanted to be closer to me, and make connections at Regional. I'd moved out here as soon as I graduated, bought and slept in my car for a couple of months before I could get a job and afford an apartment. I don't regret it, but it was pretty stupid."

He laughs looking to the side, almost wistful. "When she was getting bloodwork done, as a part of her yearly school physical, they found that she had really high, like really high white blood cell counts along with abnormal weight loss. She called me at work and said she had just started an oncology seminar and these were cancer symptoms, that she might have some kind of blood cancer."

"She was so proud of herself for the self-diagnosis, and I was the one freaking out on company time. So, I told my boss it was a family emergency and left. While I was there, I saw the same trucks we would get in the shop at the hospital. It planted the idea in me, you know, that I could do a job I liked rather than one that just put a roof over my head. And maybe I could get some kind of insurance for Falin and I."

He smiles. "So I enrolled in community college EMT classes, got a student loan, and struggled my way through all the classroom bullshit, until I could get on the road. Everything got a lot easier after that for me, but Falin had to take a medical leave halfway through the semester because she was too sick to do her studies. She stayed with me at first, and I would drive her to her appointments and take care of things around the house. Until we went to one of her chemotherapy appointments, and they said she should stay for a couple of nights, to monitor bloodwork. She didn't stay at home much after that."

Chilchuck carefully grabs Laios' hand from its spot tangled in his hair and squeezes it. Laios squeezes back. "That's when I got my job, pretty much. I got my national license and kept pushing ahead, claimed Falin as a dependent on my insurance plan, and worked. I was doing the same thing you were. Bringing people to Regional, thinking I would go see my sister, and realizing I just didn't get the time, and after a point, I wasn't allowed in the same room as her, especially during a shift. Her immune system was too weak, and I was exposed to too many sick people."

Laios rubs his thumb against Chilchuck’s, more of a nervous tick than intentional contact. Chilchuck lets him, opening his mouth to speak.

"She's doin’ better now. What changed?" Laios squeezes his hand.

"She needed a stem cell transplant."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm. Uh. It's a part of what brought Marcille out here. I saw her on Falin's facebook and saw she worked at a cancer research lab, and I emailed her. We talked."

"And you helped her?"

"Sorta. I was the donor for Falin. Marcille kept talking about our HLAs, protein testing, immunity, medications, experimental therapies. It started going over my head, and she had these medical journals as sources that were. Just. I didn't get it, even when she tried to make it easier. All I cared about was if she could help, what they needed from me. She's amazing, Marcille-- she got Falin and I into clinical trials and took over talking to the oncology team. I don't know what we would have done without her."

Laios gaze wanders off to one of the corners of the room and he goes quiet, the smile having drifted away, replaced by a furrow between his brows. Chilchuck lifts and drops his head back into his thigh. "It all worked out?"

Laios looks back at him and the corners of his mouth perk back up. "Yeah, she's doing better now. And with Marcille here, I don't even hear if there are any problems because she is right there with Falin, and they take care of it. Falin moved in with her after she recovered. Marcille lived closer to the medical school and they were always really close."

"That's good."

"Mhm." Laios lets a moment pass. "I still was worried for a while afterwards. I ended up using the EAP too after Senshi said it might be a good idea to talk to someone about it. I was having dreams and waking up freaking out that she wasn't there, calling her and Marcille way too much. Things are a lot better now."

Chilchuck is the one to squeeze his hand. Laios' smile grows and he squeezes back. "Things work out. They have to."

Chilchuck gives an affirmative hum in response. They should probably move and work on other things, but there is an ease in tension that Chilchuck never realized he had carried into the station, had been carrying for many years alone and coiled in his chest.

He closes his eyes, and Laios does not ask him to move, does not try to slide away, does not untangle their hands. Chilchuck can feel his breath, a silent fond laugh, against his face and can't help it when the corners of his own mouth twitch upwards.

Glossary *BLS=Basic Life Support. Referring to training that is for Emergency Medical Technicians only. BLS trucks have x2 EMTs and no paramedics. *CPR and AED= cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator. Used when someone's heart has stopped. *NICU= Neonatal Intensive Care Unit *EAP= Employee Assistance Program. usually provides some sort of counseling/mental health coverage.

#unkat rants #dungeon meshi tag #chilaios #chilaios ems au #abbreviation glossary at end #this was pre written and I forgot to share it #guys is it gay to hold hands and talk about past medical trauma

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otomiyaa · 5 months

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Love Is Hard for a Broke Otaku

Narumi x Hirotaka

A/N: In wave of inspiration I drafted 3 new fics yesterday and THIS WAS NOT ONE OF THEM. This one just spawned today and it's the fault of @dokidoki-muffin and her amazing art that inspired me🤭

Summary: Narumi and Hirotaka continue dating with the golden rule: no otaku talk during their romantic outings unless you would like to contribute to the piggy bank. A great rule for those who have money. (Also on AO3)

Word Count: 2.2K

Such a beautiful spring day! It was the perfect Shoujo scenario date. A stroll in the park, a swan boat date surrounded by couples, a romantic picnic for two while enjoying the beautiful sunset...

"We're being so romantic, Hirotaka! Seeing us together like this, I ship us harder than Dr. Ratio and Aventurine, which says a lot! Their chemistry is really off the charts!"

Without a word, Hirotaka instantly held out the otaku-off-limits piggy bank. Narumi gasped. Where did he get that! As if the damn thing just spawned in his hands like a video game item!

"Too bad, Narumi. You held out for so long without breaking the rule," Hirotaka said dramatically.

"You brought Bernard?!" she shrieked.

"I still disagree with that name. But yes. Penalty time, you geeked out," Hirotaka said. Narumi sighed and covered her face with her hands.

"Geek out, geek out? H-how did I geek out?"

"You talked about Honkai Star Rail, again. On top of that, a BL couple. It is against our dating rule."

"You're so mean, Hirotaka! Besides, Honkai Star Rail is a game. You should geek out with me then."

"That's not the rule. Besides, I already told you it's not my kind of game. Pay up," Hirotaka said, and he shook the piggy bank. Narumi listened to the sound of the coins inside and she sighed.

"Can you forgive me this once?" she asked, feeling her pockets. Not even a 1-yen coin was left.

"Why? You know it's our date-rule. You made me pay too, the other day. Twice."

"But that was because you wouldn't stop bringing up Monster Hunter. Paying twice was the ultimate minimum compared to how much you geeked out."

"I also recall you made me pay when we went to Disney Sea too, last weekend."

"But you wouldn't stop doing these unnecessary raids in Pokemon Go!" Narumi whined. Hirotaka glared at her.

"I don't see the difference. So, rules are rules. You pay. That would be 500 yen, miss." He held out the piggy bank. Narumi fiddled with her clothes.

"Then... can I pay later?" she asked. Hirotaka cocked his head.

"I don't see why. Don't tell me you're broke?"

.... Narumi hesitated for too long, so Hirotaka gasped. "You are broke!" he yelled, and Narumi quickly grabbed his hands.

"No no no, I'm not broke! I'm just out of cash! Don't forget I bought us drinks and ice cream for our date today! That was everything I had with me... today! I have money at home, a-and on my bank account!"

Narumi felt her cheeks getting red knowing that was not true, especially when Hirotaka gave her this judging stare.

"Do you really?" he asked. "So when we go to your home now, or to the bank, you can pay?"

Narumi blushed and bit her lip. Nooo! "M-maybe?" she said. Hirotaka sighed.

"Just what did you do with your money this time?" he asked. Narumi nervously played with her clothes.

"Well... T-there were tickets on sale for Comic Con..."

"Ah, Comic Con. I remember you asked me to go. Those tickets are expensive," Hirotaka said.

"Hmm yes, you turned me down. S-so I still bought two tickets, for Hana-chan and me."

Hirotaka frowned. "And...?" he asked. Narumi lowered her head.

"I a-accidentally bought them twice."

Hirotaka jumped up again. "What! Twice? How?"

Narumi shrugged. "Well you see, these things happen. They were on sale on the website, and you have to be there soon because they sell out fast - a-and there was also a special sale that included a meet & greet with my favorite seiyuu on another website. I wanted to make sure to get at least one of them! I was in the online queue on the two websites and, actually ended up getting both! I didn't expect I would. It's a miracle."

"...A miracle that cost you a lot of money. So, you can just sell one set, right?"

"I can't. One has the VIP package and the other has the special meet & greet! They're different! I have to keep both!"

Hirotaka groaned. "Are you serious right now? You can't just pay entrance fee once and the special packages separately? Sounds like a scam. So anyway, that's why you're broke?"

"It's not a scam, just my mistake! Hana-chan didn't want to sell hers and I I kind of said I could keep mine too... And yes now I am broke, but only for the weekend. Hana-chan will pay me back her share when we are at the office. I have food at home too. I'll be fine."

It had really not been Narumi's intention to spill the truth about this unfortunate money situation to Hirotaka. It all went so well, with her just offering the little money she had for the least expensive treats today, such as drinks and ice cream, while Hirotaka paid their lunch, picnic snacks and boat ride like a true gentleman. He originally wasn't going to find out about the her blunder, and about her greed.

To think that her geeking out about one of her favorite BL pairings was the cause of this.

Speaking of...

"That's a shame. You do owe me then," Hirotaka said. Narumi jolted, sad that he was really returning to the penalty topic.

"Y-yes! I'll pay later!"

Hirotaka shook his head. "I mean, it's not about the money. You know that. More like, the small punishment for breaking the rule to keep our dates romantic." He smiled, and Narumi's heart fluttered.

"Romantic.." she mumbled with a blush, remembering why they had installed the rule in the first place. It wasn't always easy to be the friends-to-lovers couple after all.

"I think I can let you off, if we change the punishment. How about that?" Hirotaka suggested. Narumi cried out in delight and nodded.

"Yes. Yes! What should I do?"

Hirotaka stared into the distance. He pointed. "Run up and down those stairs."

Narumi stared at the huge ass stairs, leading to the shrine they didn't visit today for the exact reason of those stairs being too damn long.

"...Twice," Hirotaka said with a smirk. Narumi looked at him in horror.

"You might as well just kill me then," she said dramatically.

"Or... You'll let me tickle you. For..." Hirotaka said, taking his phone and tapping something. He then held up the timer.

"...Six whole minutes."

"Six? That's specific. Not five?"

"Six. So, would you agree?" Hirotaka asked. Narumi nodded.

"Sure, let's go home first."

Hirotaka shook his head. "No, we'll do it here." Narumi gulped and looked around the park. There were couples everywhere. Families... Dogs. People.

"Why, are you embarrassed? It's not like there's anyone we know here."

"B-b-but!" Narumi squeezed Hirotaka's hands and she shook her head. Did he really think so lightly of getting tickled in public? Someone as ticklish as her?!

"M-m-my dignity!" she stuttered, and she grabbed Hirotaka's shirt and tugged it repeatedly.

"You have to spare my dignity!"

"Hm? What dignity?" was Hirotaka's cold reply. Oof! Meanie! Narumi let out a whine and leaned her head against his chest.

"Is there really no third option?" she asked. Hirotaka chuckled.

"No, it's either stairs or tickling." The villain. He obviously knew Narumi couldn't even run up and down those stairs twice, having the stamina of a wanky banana peel. She'd strand in the middle and gasp for air like an old woman on her dying bed. Now that might even be more embarrassing than getting tickled.

"F-f-fine.... Tickle me then," she finally sighed. "But if people laugh at me, you have to stand up for me and tell them I'm beautiful."

Hirotaka smirked. "Don't you worry. You'll be doing most of the laughing here. Let's not mind other people."

That made Narumi blush, and she repositioned herself on their picnic sheet, shuffling awkwardly.

"S-so what do I do?" she asked while Hirotaka put his phone down.

"You come to me," he said. He turned on the timer and spread his arms.

"Come here," he said gently, and for a moment he really looked gentle, welcoming his precious girlfriend for a hug. But the moment she moved closer, she could already see his expression change. This wasn't Hirotaka being gentle, this was her villain boyfriend who was way too smug as he lured her into his tickle trap!

"Gotcha," Hirotaka said when she was so flustered she tried to move away again, and he locked her in his arms, bringing one hand to her side while the other moved up, immediately aiming for her underarm.

"Wawawa-wahahhaait Hirotakahahaha! Spahahare me a lihihittle!" Narumi whined when his fingers began to wiggle around their chosen tickle spots. She wriggled and squirmed in his arms, but Hirotaka reminded her he wasn't as weak as he looked - no offense, but it was the truth! And she couldn't help but love him for it.

"It's better to not mind them," Hirotaka said when Narumi couldn't help but turn her head to watch the judging couples in the distance. So embarrassing! It wasn't as if her getting tickled was the worst that was happening out here! Look, there were people kissing over there! Aaah!

"Buhuhut- aahaha! Wait no- not thehere!" Narumi laughed. Hirotaka had moved the hand on her lower side further up and tickled her ribs, while the other continued to gently wiggle its fingers under her arm. Narumi grabbed Hirotaka's jacket and she shook with hysterical laughter.

"I'm gohohonna ehehexplode!" she howled dramatically. Hirotaka chuckled fondly.

"No you won't," he said, and she gulped when he suddenly pushed her down on her back. He towered over her and grabbed both sides of her ribcage, his fingers racing up and down as if she was playing a game. Narumi squealed and tried to grab his hands and pry them off her as a reflex, but to no avail.

"Aaaahahaha nohoho it tihicklehehes!" she whined.

Hirotaka even captured both her hands and only needed one hand to pin them above her head. With the other he clawed and poked her ticklish armpit that was now helplessly exposed.

"HIROTAHAAKAAAA!" Narumi kicked her legs, messing up their picnic sheet. Despite everything she was very aware of the people staring at her and the way it made her blush - but even more aware of her boyfriend's fingers tickling and making her blush even worse!

"Three more minutes. We're halfway there," Hirotaka informered her, and Narumi shook her head wildly.

"Bwahahaha I cahahan't take ahahanymohohore!" she cackled. The fond smile Hirotaka showed her was so unfair.

"I'm sure you can," he said. He released her hands and continued the tickle attack by wiggling his fingers all over her tummy. Narumi screeched and tried to curl up. Reluctant to hit her precious attacker in the face, she pounded the picnic sheet like a madwoman.

"Plehehease! Hahahave mehehercy!" she shrieked. Hirotaka glanced at his phone.

"I will. After two minutes and fourteen seconds."

"Gahaahha I wihihill dieeehehehe!" Narumi wailed. She weakly tried to crawl away, but Hirotaka only needed to tickle her underarms again to make her collapse. He then settled with wrecking her socked feet for the remaining minutes. Hirotaka was pure evil.

"Nyaahhaahaha I cahahan't breheheathe!"

"You're doing just fine."

Narumi was sure he cheated. He must've secretly extended the timer or something, because no way had it actually been six minutes by the time he stopped. It felt like it was way longer. Narumi wrapped her arms around her stomach and wheezed.

Hirotaka looked at her with a charming smile.

"Game over, right? Well, I must admit this was way more enjoyable. If you like, we can just stop paying to Bernard and tickle-punish you instead, anytime you act like an otaku during our dates."

".....Pffffthehehe," Narumi giggled, muffling the sound with the back of her hand.

"Hmm? Still feeling ticklish?" Hirotaka asked teasingly. She shook her head.

"You called the piggy bank Bernard."

"Oh. Yes, I guess I did."

"And, introducing the tickle punishment as a permanent penalty means I get to tickle you too."

"....Oh. I guess so?" Hirotaka said, suddenly sounding a lot less smug and confident.

"And I will claim my six minutes right away, because you just said a gamer otaku thing."

"Huh?!"

"You said 'game over', that counts."

"Eh? It's a general phrase! Anyone would say 'game over'. Non-gamers would say it too."

"No, let me tickle you. Six minutes tickle punishment coming right up!"

"That's way too long for- aaaahh!" Narumi was suddenly no longer tired now that she chased after Hirotaka who was acting way more flustered all of a sudden. He tried to get away but she pounced on him and immediately began to tickle.

"Ahahahah! Nahaharumi! At leheheast tuhuhurn ohohon the tihihimer ahahaha!"

"Naah, you can keep count for me!" Narumi sang teasingly, and she enjoyed the sound of Hirotaka's cute laughter. She kind of agreed with him now. This was a lot more fun than the piggy bank.

And what was also a lot more fun: at the end of their park date filled with embarrassing tickle punishments, Hirotaka came with the sweetest suggestion. He'd buy the extra ticket for Comic Con from her, and convince Kabakura to join Hanako as well. They would attend the event with all four of them, while Narumi and Hanako could experience all of the extras as they wished. Woohoo!

Evil tickle monster tendencies aside, he really was the cutest boyfriend ever!

#wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii #wotakoi #tickling #tickle fic #lee!narumi #ler!hirotaka #narumi momose #hirotaka nifuji #love is hard for otaku #otomiya!writes

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cantstoplovingjude · 3 months

Text

Underneath the Black Veil: Jude Jazza Ch.1

This is from Ikemen Villains EN, Cybird owns everything.

Victor: "Hey, Jude. What do you think about marriage?"

Jude: "Huh? Gettin' hitched?"

(Please, can't you discuss that topic without me?)

Some time had passed since I began working as Crown's Fairytale Keeper.

One day, I happened to run into Jude in the palace library.

He was clearly ignoring my presence, so I tried not to make eye contact with him while I chose a book.

But then Victor showed up and started asking Jude weird questions.

(I'll apologize to Victor later, but I'm going to make my exit now before I get into any trouble...)

I already knew well enough that Jude was a bit of a sadist.

I quietly began to sneak out of the library, hoping to escape before Victor brought me into it.

Victor: "That's right, marriage."

Jude: "Any lifetime contract that can't be canceled's foul."

Jude: "Ain't got a clue how anyone'd do somethin' like that willingly."

Victor: "Hm, I see!"

Victor: "Well, there's something I need to discuss with you, actually."

Victor: "I'm going to need you to marry Kate, Jude."

Jude: "Huh?!"

Kate: "M-me?!"

Victor: "Shh! This is a library, you two!"

According to Victor...

He and William had been investigating a religious cult called Amour, whose leader claimed he could bestow eternal love on his followers.

It was currently a hot topic here in London among couples.

However, according to rumors, around half of the followers never returned home.

Victor: "We suspect that someone in Amour is murdering the couples. William and I are 100% certain that this is an evil organization."

Victor: "However, the police are having a difficult time getting any evidence, as they're located on private property belonging to a noble."

Kate: "And that's where we come in."

Victor: "Precisely! So, I want you two to go there this weekend."

(I know I agreed to work with Crown, but isn't this asking a bit too much...?)

Victor: "Your mission is to capture the leader and take care of him so that no one else dies."

Victor: "Oh, and to avoid any suspicions, you'll have to act like you're an engaged couple that's madly in love."

Kate: "Engaged couple..."

The extra request he added on was so ridiculous I was left speechless.

Jude: "Yeah. I ain't doin' that. Gonna hafta get someone else to marry the bird."

Victor: "You know. I don't hate the fact that you always refuse the first time I ask you to do something. It's rather charming, actually."

Jude: "Ya wanna get buried?"

Victor: "I'd actually love to be the one who goes on the mission pretending to be Kate's beloved companion."

Victor: "But I'm asking you because Her Majesty nominated you for the job herself."

Victor: "She thought with your superior negotiation skills and various other talents, you can lure the leader out and dispose of him quickly."

Jude: "Sounds to me like Queenie's off her rocker."

Kate: "Wh-what an utterly disrespectful thing to say about the queen!"

Jude: "What, ya want in on this lunacy? Then quit your yappin'."

Victor: "I'll arrange everything. I'm counting on you!"

Victor gave me a cheerful wink and practically skipped out of the room, leaving me dumbfounded.

(Jude and I are going to have to go undercover together...)

It was an order from the queen herself, so there was no way I could say no.

But honestly, I was more frightened of the person standing next to me than of some murderous cult.

Jude: "Tch... Thought you'd cry or yell more. Disappointin'."

Kate: "What?"

Jude: "Maybe if ya put up more of a fuss, he woulda talked Queenie outta it."

Kate: "Hey, don't blame me for not saying no to an order!"

Jude: "Yappin' 'bout it now ain't gonna do nothin'. What a useless princess."

And so, a very difficult undercover investigation began.

==========

Follower: "Welcome to Amour!"

We stood in front of a church on the outskirts of London as one of the followers welcomed us in.

(I can't believe this is really happening...)

The whole way here, Jude just silently read through documents with a cigarette in his mouth.

We hadn't discussed how we would pretend to be an engaged couple at all...

(Seriously, what should we do?)

Follower: "First, we shall conduct a test to see if you two are truly in love."

Kate: "A test...?"

Follower: "Yes, it's quite simple. All you have to do is embrace and kiss."

Kate: "... What?"

(Embrace and... kiss? With JUDE?!)

I didn't even want to repeat that sentence in my mind, let alone actually do it.

Jude: "......"

Meanwhile, Jude didn't even raise an eyebrow.

Jude: "First off, lemme make somethin' real clear."

Jude: "I ain't gonna lay a finger on her till the ceremony."

(Huh?!)

Follower: "P-pardon me?"

Jude: "She likes bein' ignored. That's what gets her goin'. Real into it, this one."

(What?!)

Jude: "Ain't that right, princess?"

(I guess this is the story he's going with to avoid having to do anything physical?)

Jude: "Why're ya bein' so quiet for, huh? Oh, I get it. You're poutin' 'cause ya wanna get punished again."

Jude: "Sure love it when I'm mean to ya, huh."

Kate: "...Y-yes, I do."

(Wait, I didn't really mean to say yes to that.)

(But... if I don't go along with his story, the followers will get suspicious. I don't want to be the reason we fail the mission.)

When I nodded, Jude snorted with laughter.

Jude: "Nasty lil bird."

(You're the one who's nasty!!)

Jude: "Anyway, that's the story. Got it?"

Follower: "Um, well... I must say, this is the first time we've had a case like this..."

The followers were completely bewildered, but also intimidated by Jude's forceful attitude.

Jude: "Huh? Anyone can go 'round touchin' each other to try 'n prove their love."

Jude: "But this gal likes it when I bully her 'n I like exploitin' all that for her. So we're perfect for each other, yeah?"

Follower: "I-I see...?"

(He's actually convincing them...)

The followers looked confused, but quietly began consulting with each other.

They turned toward us, still looking mildly skeptical.

Follower: "We will allow you to enter, but will be keeping an eye on you for a while."

Follower: "While you're here, you must prove to us that you two are truly in love."

Follower: "And if you do so, our leader will grant you the honor of swearing eternal love to one another."

End Ch.1

#jude jazza #ikemen villains jude #ikevil jude #ikemen villains

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rwby-encrusted-blog · 2 years

Text

(Sh)Arc en Seal

Do you pronounce Ciel as Seel or Se-el? I say Se-el

Ruby: Ah! The Beach! Do you Jnpr's already here, yeah?

Yang: 'Course they are, we're a bit late, Which means there's No Time to waste! Let's Put up the Net, Get in the Wet, and watch the Sunset!

Weiss: Ugh, why didn't you let me put sunblock on Before coming here! Let's set up the Umbrellas and Towels first! We've got all day to play! It'll be annoying when we want a break and have nowhere to sit.

Blake: I'll help. besides, I'd rather wait a bit before facing you, Nora, and/or Pyrrha in Volleyball.

???: oh! Ruby! Sal -

Ruby: Huh?

???: -U-

WBY: *step off to the side*

Ruby: Aw crud.

Penny, Moving very fast: -TATIONS! *tackle Hugs Ruby*

Ruby: Hi! Penny! I should really be expecting that by now! Okay! Wow! *Breathes* Okay! What are doing here! How are you?

Penny: I am doing Quite well Ruby! I am here because my Partner Ciel was invited by a friend of hers, who turned out to be Jaune!

Yang: Jaune's friends with Miss "time is of the essence"?

Weiss: Forgive us me for finding that hard to believe. Jaune isn't the first to come to mind when it comes to scheduling.

Penny: There is much more to Ciel than her desires for Timeliness, and Jaune is more often than not Schedule oriented than the rest of you is he not?

Blake: THinking about it I guess he is. He always wakes up at six,

Ruby: He never turns assignments in late ...

Yang: He takes a power nap after class and his Training sessions with Pyrrha always happen at the same time.

Weiss: Yes, yes, we can all name his schedule off the top of our heads, but this stuff is getting heavy and I'd like to sit down. Where'd all the Energy about the beach go?

Ruby: You're right! Come on team (and Penny!) Move out!

~~~~~

Pyrrha: Hello again~ Glad you finally made it! We're set up over there, and we got our own net set up.

Weiss: Thank goodness. I'm worn out from the car ride. I'm gonna go rest a bit.

Ruby: Where's Jaune and Ciel?

Penny: They have gone Fishing!

Blake: really!?! Where!?!? Have they caught any fish yet!?!?

Penny: Out there! *She points to the sea*

Yang: ... Are they on a boat or something?

Nora: Nope! They're swimming! Ciel's REALLY fast! she's so cool! eh, mostly, She can be a real stick in the mud when it comes to timing, but she's still really cool!

Blake: I really want some fish! When ill they be done?

At that Moment Jaune stepped out of the water, Carrying a sizable net of fish.

Jaune: Guys! You finally made it! What happened?

Blake: FISH!

Ruby: Traffic. That and our alarms were ... Messed up.

Jaune: Hmm., Well you're here, and You know Penny and Ciel are here too.

Yang: Where is the time-keeper anyways

Seal!Faunus Ciel: Hello! Penny time!

Ciel swam on her back, sunning while staying in the water

Penny: Fishing has completed three minutes and 42 seconds before expected time! You managed to hold your breath thirty-two seconds longer than your previously recorded time, One minute and twelve point four seconds less than your personal record!

Ciel: Excellent!

She dove back under the water, before returning to the beach. She shook the water off her fur and wrapping arms around Jaune.

Ciel: That gives me three minutes to relax with you.

Jaune: Ciel! Not in front of our friends!

Ciel: They can waste their time worrying, Let's spend ours together! *Mwah*

RWBY: *Shock*

Jaune: Aw, Ci-ci! You're -ow- Claws! Your claws!

Ciel: Sorry! I got excited!

Jaune: I know. I love you~

Ciel: You're quite dear to me as well.

Blake: So? Uh, fish?

Penny: It is the scheduled time to begin Grilling!

Ciel: Then beginning to Grill we shall.

Ruby: How long has that been going on?

Jaune: Eh, couple weeks. We met at the Weekend Run of the "Return to the Past" Trilogy the theater was running.

#rwby #jaune arc #ruby rose #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #nora valkyrie #blake belladonna #pyrrha nikos #arc en ciel #ciel soleil #shark!faunus jaune #seal!faunus ciel #rwby shitpost

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cherrycola27 · 1 year

Text

Sick Day

Hey loves! I wrote this one shot for @emma8895eb

Summary: You and Jake finally have a weekend together, only. It doesn't go as planned

Warnings: Mostly fluffy, mentions of being sick and vomiting

...........................................

The smell of bacon and the sound of nineties country music playing pulled you from your slumber. It was Saturday at the start of a long weekend, which meant you had three uninterrupted days off with Jake. You sat up and stretched your arms, and that's when it hit you.

The ache, so deep you could feel it in your bones. You groaned before swinging your legs over the side of the bed. You shivered as you stood up, no longer cozy in plush duvet of your bed. Goosebumps rose up on your skin. You made your way into the en suite bathroom and grimaced when the light hit your eyes.

"No, not this weekend, this can't be happening." You groaned as you took stock of yourself in the mirror. Your face was pale, save for your cheeks, which were flushed, a deep crimson. And even though your body was freezing cold, sweat lined your hair. That coupled with the aches and light sensitivity could only mean one thing—you were sick. Damn Trisha for coming into the office with the flu on Wednesday.

You splashed some water on your face in an attempt to cool the redness. You couldn't let Jake know you were sick. The two of you rarely had this much time off together, and he had made plans for the two of you for the whole weekend.

You rolled your shoulders back and put on a brave face before putting on one of his your shirts and some leggings and heading down the stairs.

"Morning, Jakey." You rasped as you walked into the kitchen. "Good morning, darlin. I hope you're hun—" Jake paused mid sentence when he turned around and saw you. "Honey, are you feeling alright?" He asked as he set your plate down.

"I'm fine, never better." You lied."You sure about that? You look a little pale." Jake asked as he made his way to you. "I'm fine, Jake." You assured him. "Mhmm." Jake nodded as he pressed the back of his hand to your forehead. He shook his head before going to retrieve the thermometer from the first aid kit.

"Open." He commanded before placing it under your tongue. After it beeped, he swiped it before you could read it. "Just as I thought." He said. "100.2. You have a fever. You're sick." He proclaimed.

You sighed, and your shoulders slumped. "It's all Trisha's fault! She had the flu and came to work. I'm sorry Jake, I know you made plans for us for this weekend. It's not fair! We hardly ever get this much time together, and I'm sick, and it's ruined the whole thing now!" You cried.

"Aww, baby. It's fine." Jake said as he pulled you to his chest. "We can go hiking another time. I don't care what we do this weekend as long as I get to spend it with you." He says as he presses a kiss to the top of your head. "Now, why don't you go lay back down, and I'll bring you up some breakfast in bed." He smiles at you.

You reluctantly agree and trudge back up the stairs. Soon, Jake brings you some pancakes and bacon and a glass of orange juice. While you're eating, he goes into the bathroom and rummages through the cabinets to look for some cold medicine.

"Honey, think you'll be okay while I run to the store to get you some medicine?" He asks. "I'll be fine." You tell him. He gives you a quick kiss before grabbing his things and leaving. You shift on the bed, trying to get more comfortable when you feel a sharp pain in your lower right side. You wince before trying to settle. By the time you get settled and relaxed, the pain has transformed into a dull ache. You close your eyes, hoping you can sleep it off.

You try to relax, but your body is tense, and you just can't quiet seem to rest. After fifteen minutes of tossing and turning, you give up. You sigh before reaching for your phone to entertain you. You were scrolling through social media when the wave of nausea hits you.

You dart into the bathroom, trying to make it to the toilet before you throw up, but you're unsuccessful. Your breakfast comes back up, hot and fast all over your clothes and the bathroom floor.

You dropped to your knees, and tears stream down your cheeks, but you can't move. The world is spinning. You curl up on your side, too weak to stand.

Jake had just walked through the door when he heard the sound of you crying.

"Honey?" He calls up the stairs. When you don't answer, he bounds up them to your shared bedroom. When he rushes through the door he sees that you aren't in bed, but notices that the bathroom door is shut.

"Honey? Are you okay?" He asks as he presses his ear to the door.

You shoot up from the floor. You're still covered in puke, and you don't want Jake to see you like this. "Honey, I hear you crying. I'm coming in." He calls out.

"Jake, no, don't." You weakly protest as you prop yourself against the shower door, but it's too late. Jake opens the door and takes in the sight in front of him.

"Jake, please, go away. I don't want you to see me like this." You cry.

"Baby. It's fine." He assures you as he comes to sit beside you, avoiding the mess on the floor. "I tried to sleep, but my stomach started hurting, and then I felt nauseous and I couldn't make it to the toilet in time, and then I was so dizzy." You mumbled through the tears.

"It's okay, love. I puked on myself more times than I care to count back in flight school." He laughs.

"How about I help you out of these clothes and get you set up in the shower. Then I'll clean up the floor and start some laundry, and after that, I'll wash your hair, and then we can cuddle. Sound good?" He asks you. You nod your head in agreement.

Jake helps you up and turns on the shower. He helps you out of your clothes and gets you situated on the shower bench. He takes your clothes to the washing machine and starts the laundry before grabbing some old towels and the Swiffer and cleaning up the bathroom floor.

He gets your favorite shirt of his and some sleep shorts for you before stripping out of his clothes and joining you in the shower.

He carefully washes your hair and face and body while whispering soothing words.

Once you're clean, he helps you out and wraps you in a big fluffy towel. He steadies you as you brush your teeth and take some medicine. He then carefully dresses you and brushes your hair before scooping you up and tucking you in bed.

He slides in beside you, and you curl up next to him.

Thank you for taking care of me, Jakey. Sorry, I ruined our weekend plans. You mumble. "It's fine, darlin. Now get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up."

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thislovintime · 6 months

Photo

The Monkees with CFUN DJ's Terry David Mulligan and John Tanner in Vancouver, April 1, 1967.

“Regina: CKCK’s Terry David Mulligan claims to be the first Canadian air personality with an interview with the Monkees and he has a tape to prove it. Anyone wishing a copy can take Mulligan up on his boast by sending him a blank tape and he will return a dub to sender. Terry also did a 30 minute Christmas show with Peter Tork, his sister and brother. They sang cuts from the Monkees new LP (Mulligan sings too)[,] sang a few carols and just chit-chatted in a relaxing mood.” - RPM Canada, January 28, 1967 (this Christmas 1966 anecdote was previously posted here and more about Christmas 1967 here)

“History records that The Monkees played their first Canadian concert in Winnipeg on April 1/1967. What never gets mentioned is that the first time all four Monkees set foot on Canuck soil was many hours earlier, in Vancouver, while en route to Manitoba’s capital city. Top 50 radio station CFUN assigned two deejays—Terry David Mulligan and John Tanner—to meet Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork at Vancouver International Airport. A photo op ensued in a private waiting area as the lads waited, shortly after sunrise, to board a connecting flight. 'If you study that picture, you could tell two of the guys (Davy and Peter) were really into it and the other two (Micky and Mike) didn’t really want to be there,' recalls Mulligan (second from right in photo). 'They weren’t pissed off at us. They were just tired and weren’t particularly into having their picture taken that early in the morning.' Nevertheless, all six exchanged pleasantries. Despite the early hour, Davy Jones seemed friendly and 'Mike Nesmith was so whip smart, while Micky Dolenz had this interesting Hollywood vibe about him,' remembers Mulligan. Terry and Peter got the opportunity to renew acquaintances. The previous year, when Mulligan was spinning discs at CJME Regina, 'who should walk in but Peter Tork. Of course, I asked: "What are YOU doing here?" And Peter answered: "My dad (Halsten John Thorkelson) teaches at the University of Saskatchewan and I dig your radio program."' Peter would take a couple of additional breaks from Monkees commitments to visit his family. Each time, he’d visit Mulligan at CJME. 'We’d always have really good off-air chats, in between as I was playing records.' For his part, CFUN deejay John Tanner (second from left in photo) boarded the plane bound for Winnipeg with The Monkees. 'I remember being at the tail of the plane while The Monkees and their entourage were much further forward. I walked up there at one point and noticed some of them were sleeping. So I went back to my seat as I didn’t want to bother anyone.' Prior to the late afternoon Monkees concert at the Winnipeg Arena, Tanner said he killed some time walking 'what seemed to be the coldest streets in Winnipeg.' Indeed, band insider David Price would mention the frigid 17 degrees Fahrenheit daytime temperature when he subsequently wrote a four-page article titled My Life With The Monkees—That Wild Canadian Weekend for 16 magazine that detailed the April 1 concert in Winnipeg and the ensuing show in Toronto on April 2. Price, who also served as a decoy for Davy Jones (in addition to other band duties), claimed The Monkees came to Canada aware of rumours that attempts might be made on their lives during the two concerts. In the 16 magazine piece, Price wrote: 'Mike asked me and his friend Charlie Rockett and Mike’s wife Phyllis’s brother Bruce Barbour to make sure that any packages that landed onstage were thrown off again, because one of them might contain a bomb.' In the end, the only ‘bomb’ at the Winnipeg show was a water bomb hurled at Micky Dolenz atop the seven-foot high stage just before opening song Last Train To Clarksville. Seconds before, the four Monkees burst out of phoney amplifiers on either side of the stage, with the boys having hidden themselves within when the house lights were momentarily turned off. Likely backing up The Monkees onstage was Candy Store Prophets. If so, that band’s members—including guitarist Tommy Boyce and keyboardist Bobby Hart—had played on many early Monkees studio tracks that Boyce and Hart produced. Winnipeg-based Electric Jug & Blues band opened the show. Press reports later revealed that before the concert, rambunctious fans charged past about 30 police officers as the band left the Hotel Fort Garry for the arena. Monkees publicist Don Berrigan described the incident as a 'near riot' adding 'Mike and Davy were knocked down. It was really nasty.' There were apparently well over 400 police and security inside the arena. Perhaps it was the security concerns that resulted in Winnipeg and Toronto fans receiving slightly shorter concerts than about a dozen previous American shows in late 1966 and early ‘67—13-song setlists, three less than south of the border. The Winnipeg concert marked the first time Peter Tork-sung Your Auntie Grizelda, was played publicly. 'He really dug it, and so did the audience,' wrote Price. [...] Back in Winnipeg, after final song I’m A Believer, the band rushed to limos to return to the hotel, before taking an evening flight to Toronto. A subsequent Canadian Press article noted that one policeman was taken to hospital after a wire retaining fence collapsed on him when 'thousands of fans surged towards the rear exits in an unsuccessful bid to catch a glimpse of their departing idols.' The officer was treated for cuts and abrasions and released. The official capacity of Winnipeg Arena was 11,800. But Price claimed that several hundred additional tickets were sold just before showtime, resulting in an attendance closer to 12,500. Later that Saturday night, The Monkees checked out of the hotel and headed to the airport in what Price described as near-blizzard conditions. For his part, CFUN deejay John Tanner got a kick out of the 'wild and crazy' show he had just witnessed. 'It was kind of a thrill being there.' The photo taken back in Vancouver earlier that day would be published in the April 8 copy of the C-FUNTASTIC FIFTY survey given away at Greater Vancouver record stores. Part of the photo ID read 'They said it couldn’t be done' — likely a veiled reference to doubts that The Monkees would trek north for concerts so soon into their existence.” - Richard Skelly, Facebook, April 1, 2022 [x]

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