#whatever who cares. love you becky

[beckybarnes]

SHE’S SO CUTE HII BECKY

[yumeka-sxf]

After the previous long arc and then a month break for Endo to work on volume 14, it's so nice to finally have a chill Forger-focused chapter! I missed my fake family so much 😭

This above spread is lovely ❤️

Hilarious Anya and Loid antics right from the get go - I missed that too!

JUST LOOK AT BOND INSTEAD 🤣 This guy...

He also calls her "baka" ("idiot," "dummy") in this panel in the Japanese version 😅

But despite her little kiddy tantrums and demands, I love that Anya still does what's best for Loid by giving up on a TV appearance.

The below scene between Loid and Yor is yet another example of how well they complement each other; how Loid is so intent on his mission that he can't accept any moments of being idle or "goofing off," but Yor is there to remind him that such things are okay...that you don't have to be constantly looking for trouble and it's good to be at peace every now and then.

That thought continues during their conversation at the riverbank. No matter how much he tries to put on a stoic spy face, Yor can tell that he's constantly on edge and needs to relax sometimes, for his own good.

Her comment that he constantly has wrinkles on his brow and needs to be careful about that - that is such married couple talk, just get REAL married already!

Then we have Becky being enamored with Loid again (and calling Yor her "master" 😂) At least she kept herself much more under control. Good girl.

Bond's first meeting with Weisel! And the tear in his eye when Weisel left 😥

This panel of them together is so cute~

As usual, despite this being a cute/funny chapter, Endo slips in some darker forboding...in this case, another hint about Project Apple still being an active threat.

Between this and the short mission about Anya's name, I wonder if Project Apple is indeed connected with whatever lab Anya came from, and if Endo is planning something really big from all this gradual build up about it. Looking forward to it, whatever it is!

And I know some people must be wondering why we didn't continue the "Anya tells Damian her secret" bombshell from way back, but I saw that chapter as ending with Damian not believing her and Anya not pressing on it further, at least for the time being. But it will definitely get brought up again.

EDIT: Thanks to @xxscarletxrosexx and @mika213 for pointing this out! There's a mistranslation in this scene: the English version has Yor telling Loid to be careful about wrinkles, but in the Japanese version, that speech bubble belongs to Loid, who's confirming he will be careful about it (hence the blush mark and sweat drop).

Bonus: It was just confirmed that Henderson will be on the cover of volume 14, which releases on September 4th!

[storiesfromafan]

She's A Spitfire - Benny x Reader

A/N: I can't help myself. This one's a little different, readers sassy haha. And this one is a long one.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think. Also, feel free to send requests :)

Boys and their toys, you always think when it comes to your boyfriend and his other biker club buddies and their motorcycles. Or anything with wheels really. And for their love of them, you found your Saturday out with the boyfriend, and his boys, at what started as a car show. But now also sported motorcycles, from a few different clubs.

Troy and his friends were discussing who’s bike was better, or what car looked the best. You didn’t know, it was all so boring. So you and three other women, partners of other bikers, were sitting around on blankets, taking in the sun and gossiping. Leaning back on your arms, one leg stretched out while the other propped up, you tilted your head back, eyes closed taking in the sun.

“Jeez (Y/N), do you need to be more on display!” Becky said with a chuckle.

To her words you popped your chest out more, smirk crossing your red lips.

“Better hope Troy don’t see ya” commented Danni.

“So what if he does? I do what I want, not what he wants” you remarked, making them all cackle with laughter.

“Can’t believe the other clubs here” Pam said rattling off names. “...Rogues and Vandals” she finishes.

“Just more bike wired men, who enjoy vibrations between there legs, and have drinking problems” you said offhandedly, making the women laugh more.

You always say what you want, making people think you were born with no filter. And that was fine with you. Even if it does get you in some trouble from time to time. The last time it was between you and another woman at the clubs bar, she had been mouthy and flirting up a storm with Troy. You called her out, she ignored you. So, you gave her some truths from her choice in clothes to her hair and skin care routine. She wasn’t a fan of you after that, going straight to slap you, but you caught her hand and gave her a serving of her own.

After that no woman in that bar messed with you, or your boyfriend. But that didn’t stop Troy from messing around on you. His taste seemed to have changed to cutesy, good girls who wore sweet dresses and heels. Even with this knowledge you still put up with him. But his time was coming, you could feel it. When the time was right you’d get your revenge.

“Sweet lord and Jesus’s!” Breathed out Danni, looking across the way, her glasses pulled down her nose, eyes looking over the top of them. “He should be illegal!”

You rolled your eyes at her words. After all her taste was – excuse the language – in her ass about eight out of ten times.

“Oh my” Pam said moving to swing her body around to face where Danni was looking. “Is he real!?”

Alright, now your interest was piqued. Lolling your head to the right, you searched for what those two were gawking at. And boy did you find it. He was tall, strong build. Dressed in a black t-shirt, jacket, dirty white jeans and matching dirty boots. He had messy blonde locks that one could run their hand through, or as you like, to pull on. Of course he was a Vandal, as his colors said when he turned around to take a beer from another Vandal. Then he took a swig of it, making the simplest of actions make you think not so clean thoughts.

“Someone serve me a slice of that”  Becky said with a dreamy voice. You all agreeing with her.

You moved a hand to draw down your sunglasses, needing to see him in the days full light. Glare be damned, you needed this. Without the glasses tint, he looked even better. He was talking to the man that gave him the beer, nodding his head to whatever said. Another two men walked over, one with his arm slung over the other in an attempted to keep standing up, possibly from a little too much to drink. They laughed, talking to blondie before the one holding up his buddy slapped him on the arm, head gesturing in your direction.

All four of you froze, like a deer in headlights as blondie turned his gaze to you all. His friends continuing to talk and laugh, no doubt mentioning you four staring. Maybe encouraging blondie to come over. But he didn’t move, eyes locked on you all, or was it you? You weren’t sure. He took another swig from his bottle, yet never took his eyes off you. Feeling the butterflies swarming your stomach, you put your sunglasses back on, before lolling your head back to where it had been. You had started to feel exposed by his staring, so you had to cut it off, and get back your bad bitch energy.

Benny had made his way over to Johnny and Brucie after taking a leek. They were in deep conversation about an upcoming picnic, discussing the finer details. Johnny had handed him a beer, which he thanked him for before taking a long swig.

“Some of the women think kids shouldn’t be attendin’. Saying too many men are getting stoned or drunk, doesn’t set a good example” laughed Brucie.

Johnny shook his head. “It’s a family picnic, kids have to be there. What ya think Benny?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah kids should be there” Benny said not really paying much mind.

It didn’t matter to him much if kids were at the picnic. But knowing how Johnny likes to bridge his family and club life. It was a small thing to let him enjoy both, even for a small time. It was then that Benny spotted Wahoo and Corky making their way over. Corky had his arm over Wahoo, using his counter part as a crutch from drinking too much. When they finally made it over, Johnny asked them the same question he asked Benny. They both attempted to make a few jokes about it, but they weren’t funny.

“I don’t care if there’s kids, as long as they stay out of my way” Wahoo said, Corky nodding his head.

Johnny nodded his head. Decision made, tradition will stand and its a full family friendly picnic. With that decided Benny listened to the two new comers talk about Zipco going on about Pinko's, before Wahoo's attention moved to across the way. A smirk formed on his lips before he turned back to Benny.

“Seems ya got an audience” Wahoo mused, slapping Benny’s arm and head gesturing to across from them.

Confused, Benny looked to where Wahoo had been looking. There on a blanket sat four women. Three of them were sitting up right and gawking, while the fourth was lounging back. Out of all of them, she was the one to catch Benny’s attention. The position she was in, her chest sticking out in her tight sweater, was a pleasant sight to the masses. Dark slacks covered her slender legs, making him wonder what they’d be like straddling his bike, or his lap. Over all she was a vixen, no doubt a spitfire, if the air she gave off implied.

Wahoo and Corky kept talking, making comments about the women. But then they talked about her. Voicing Benny’s thoughts. Yet he didn’t like it one bit. He thought those words and thoughts should just be from him, no other man. Feeling his mouth dry, Benny brought the beer to his lips and took a drink. But made sure to keep his eyes on her. The cause for needing that drink.

“You should go over there Benny” Johnny stated, watching the younger man. “Go introduce yourself”.

Benny thought it over, maybe he should. What’s the harm it could do? What’s the worst that could happen? You would say no, that’s nothing. Feeling confident Benny watched as the focus of his gaze put her glasses back on, turned her head, and go back to enjoying the sun. He handed Johnny his half full bottle before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up, the only time he took his eyes off her. After taking a drag, Benny looked to the women again, slowly releasing the smoke from his mouth.

“I’ll be back” was all Benny said before putting the cigarette back between his lips.

You listened to the sounds the girls made, Pam gushing over when blondie took a drag of his cigarette. You had to stop yourself from turning to look at him, you had to remain calm. You never give a man power over you, and by jumping at any little thing would do that.

“Oh lord! He’s coming this way!” Becky said slapping Pam’s arm. “Do I look alright!?”

“You?! What about me?!” Retorted Pam.

You sighed. “Calm down girls, he’s just a man” you sighed.

“A fine man, yes” muttered Danni.

Once more you sighed before turning your head slightly, watching blondie slowly walking your way. You reminded the girls to stay calm. But part of you was trying to tell yourself it too. Blondie continued to smoke his cigarette, which now you understood the girls reaction. He really did make anything look good. Finally reaching you, blondie came around to stand beside you, before squatting down. He took the cigarette from his lips and flicked it away, done with it.

“Hey” came his gravelly voice. “I'm Benny”. A beautiful smile crossed his sinful lips.

You did your best to keep breathing as you pulled down your sunglasses, looking Benny in the eyes, beautiful baby blues watching your every move. “Hi Benny, I’m (Y/N)” you replied sweetly, smile gracing your lips.

“Hmm, pretty name for a pretty vixen” Benny mused, making you chuckle. “Hey ladies” Benny added looking to the women sitting around you.

They weakly said hi back, unsure of their own voices.

“You know how to get women to quiet down, huh?” You mused pushing your sunglasses back up.

Benny laughed. “Don’t know, never taken notice before”.

You smiled at his honesty.

“But it doesn’t seem to work on you, aye?” Benny asked teasingly.

“Unfortunately, nope” was your simple reply. But in your head you were gushing.

“I like that” he stated looking you up and down. “You got a man?”

You smirked. “Yeah I do. Why? Think you could handle me?”

Benny chuckled, “more could you handle me, baby?”

“I can handle anythin' Benny. I’m not afraid of anythin’”. That was a lie, but you couldn’t back down. Nor could you stop yourself. His attention was electrifying. But part of you feared Benny could make you go weak, could even fall for him and his baby blues.

“Oh is that so?” Benny asked, smirking at the banter between you both.

“Yep” you replied tilting your head back and sighing, knowing full well you were teasing the biker.

And what about Troy? All you thought was Troy who? He had his fun with sweet girls, even though he had a sultry woman. If he was having his cake and eating it too, you could tease another biker. And if Troy hears about it, you didn’t care. You were done with his crap.

“Shame you have a man, as I’d love to take you for a ride on my bike” Benny said, with a sad face. “But, as you said, you have a man...”

You almost caved, melting at his words and sad look. But you stayed strong. It couldn’t hurt to give him some hope, right?

“Hmm, I guess it is for ya. But you never know, play your cards right and you just might get me on your bike”. You pulled down your glasses, shot him a wink before putting them back in their place.

Oh how Benny wanted to groan from your flirty ways, and that wink. Cherry on top. Licking his lips, Benny took a moment to focus. You were clouding his head, but in a good way.

“Alright baby, when you’re ready let me know”.

With that Benny stood up, and took his leave. He walked back to the guys he’d left. You watched him walk away, loving the view. All three women did, was just as good as him walking over. Then they turned their sights on you, all in a state of shock and awe.

“What?” You asked innocently. Though far from it.

All three began to talk, questioning you what just happened? If you were crazy? What about Troy? Could you to teach them your ways, and so on. You ended up laughing with every question. Laughing to the point you ended up laying on the blanket on your back, a hand coming to cover your mouth while sticking the other out in an attempt to stop them.

“Alright, alright. Enough!” You exclaimed, out of breath.

“Seriously (Y/N), what was that?” Asked Danni with confusion.

You shrugged, moving to rest your hands behind your head. “Dunno, but it was fun. Benny is quite the dish, am I right?”

“What about your boyfriend?” Inquired Pam.

Again you shrugged. “He doesn’t have to know”.

Becky scoffed. “Yeah, if you weren’t out in the open, surrounded by people. He’s gonna hear about it”.

“Oh well” you sighed. “Will make things interestin’”.

All three women shared a look. “Maybe. Or cause a brawl”.

You looked to them. “No doubt a brawl will happen. Whoever wins can have me”.

And with that you turned your face back to the sky, closing your eyes and trying to remain calm. Your heart was racing with the thought of Troy flaring up, you enjoy a verbal fight because it would lead to a hot make up session back home. But after learning the truth of what your boyfriend has been up to, you really didn’t want to have words with him. You thought about ending things, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. So, this could be your chance to drop him.

And Benny. Where do you begin with Benny. The man was gorgeous, dangerously tempting. Plus he was just as taken with you, as you were him. Or else he wouldn’t have been flirting. You’d gladly get on his bike, and let him take you for a ride. Take that anyway you want. Now you would sit back and see what happens.

Benny made it back to his friends, Johnny holding out his beer with a smirk. “Pleasant chat, hmm?”

He smirked taking the bottle. “Yeah, she’s a spitfire”.

The men laughed, Wahoo clapping Benny on the back. The men joked and talked, all about watching Benny and the spitfire. Benny took a swig from the bottle, chuckling at his friends. Glancing back over to her and her friends, Benny noticed that she was now laying on the blanket. It didn’t help him one bit. The things he was thinking he could do to her.

“So, when you taking her for a ride?” Corky asked wiggling his eyebrows, double meaning to his question.

Benny shook his head looking to the male. “She’s got a man”.

“When has that stopped you?” Laughed Wahoo.

Benny laughed at his question, he had a point. “She did say if I played my cards right and I just might get her on my bike”.

Corky and Wahoo hollered and hooted, Johnny just shaking his head with a smile on his face before taking a sip from his beer. Brucie clinked his beer bottle with Benny’s, showing his praise. Benny felt like he was on his bike, riding down an open road, the rush of freedom. But he wasn’t on his bike, or riding the open road. It was because of her. The spitfire, vixen with red lips and sultry presence.

“I take it the boyfriend is here?” Johnny suddenly asked, breaking Benny from thought.

He shrugged. “Probably”.

“I’d expect he’ll hear about you talkin’ to his girl, ya know?”

“Yeah. I can handle him” Benny said without a care, drinking more of his beer.

“The boyfriend should be the worried one” laughed Corky.

They know he was right, but didn’t voice it. They all know Benny was ruthless when it comes to a fight. To the point he has to be pulled off the other guy. Past brawls have proven that. Johnny having to wrap his arms around Benny and drag him back, which is hard when Benny sees red.

“Cross that bridge when it comes” Benny said, ending it there with him walking off.

It was later in the afternoon when Troy finally surfaced, after leaving you with your friends for hours. By now you sitting on the blanket, deep in conversation with the girls. But always keeping an eye on Benny, and seeing he did the same. You might have even kept teasing him, which got the desired effect; want. Yes, you continued to fan the flame, fully knowing that could or would it engulf everything.

Back to Troy; he came stomping over, a couple of his friends behind him. Troy had heard gossip through out the day of some biker hitting on a stunning woman. Gradually all the pieces coming out and he found out that woman was you. Furry filled him. His girl talking to another biker, another biker having the guts to speak to his girl.

“Oh shit!” cursed Danni. “Here comes the consequence”.

Not quiet getting what she meant, you looked over your shoulder to see your boyfriend heading your way. “Well, it took him long enough” you sighed, moving to stand.

Once on your feet, you dusted your legs and behind. Then you fixed your top, not even showing a care in the world. On the inside you were uneasy. Questioning how he was going to react. Would he yell and jump up and down? Would he quietly yell at you? You’re about to find out.

“(Y/N)! What’s this I’m hearin' about some Vandal talkin' to ya!?” Troy questioned, seething with anger.

You raised your bored gaze to him. “Just that, talkin’ to me. And?”

That didn’t help. Troy’s anger rose to furry. He grabbed your arm – tightly – and pulled you close. “What was that! Tell me now what happened or so help me”.

Your straightened up, keeping your face calm, as you tried to pull your arm free. “Troy, let go of my arm. You’re hurtin’ me!” Your voice raised in volume, but fell on deaf ears.

“Tell me if you’re whoring around” he yelled, starting to catch the attention of others.

“Ha. I’m far from whoring around Troy” you gritted out, still trying to free your arm. “Unlike you, of course”.

He growled, shaking you, grip only getting tighter. “What ya sayin’, huh!?”

Before you could think or say anything, you saw a fist come flying and make contact with Troy’s face. His grip finally freeing your arm as he staggered back a few steps. You held your arm, moving back from the man. Finally processing what happened, you turned to see Benny standing there, breathing heavy with tightly clutched fists.

“She asked you to let her go” Benny heaved. “No man should ever grab a woman like you did”.

Benny had just gotten back with Cal, after taking a walk to check out some bikes. Upon his return he witnessed a man, hell bent on reaching his destination, with an anger that only spelt trouble. And when he stopped before you, Benny knew what was to come. A verbal altercation or a physical one to defend you. As soon as he grabbed your arm, Benny began to slowly walk over, Cal and Johnny right behind him. Benny heard everything said. Accusing you of whoring around and his grip tightening to the point you were trying to get free, was what did it. And he swung his fist.

“You alright spitfire?” Benny asked looking over his shoulder at you. Choosing the new nickname over his favorite; baby.

You were putting on a brave face, he could tell but didn’t say anything. “I’m alright. But gonna have a nice bruise”.

Holding his cheek, Troy watched you both. A sneer on his face. “Take it you’re the Vandal this whore was flirtin’ with” he spat.

It only stoked the flame in Benny. How dare this man so easily doubt you, call you a whore. “If anythin’ I’m the one who talked to her” Benny defended flexing his hands, itching to connect them to his face some more.

Troy laughed. “No need to lie for her. She ain’t nothin’ but trouble”.

You felt anger rising, replacing the unease. “Other way around baby” you spat out.

Troy’s laughter died, eyes narrowing in on you. “Stay out of it sweetheart, the men are talkin’”

“Man” you corrected, “I only see one and he’s defendin’ me”.

That got under his skin, and Troy made to go for you but Benny grabbed him before pushing him back. “I wouldn’t even try it”.

Troy laughed dryly. “Might straighten her out”.

That was it, last strike. Benny lost it, fist connecting with Troy’s face again and then again. The first time Troy copped the full hit, but managed to get a half block in. Then he returned Benny’s fists with his own, getting a hit in. You moved away from them, calling out for them to stop but they weren’t listening. Troy’s buddy’s went in to helped their friend, but Cal and Johnny made sure they were taken care of. A full on three way brawl was taking place, with so many on lookers.

Troy managed to dodge Benny and step away from him, but unlucky for him Benny charged at him, tackling him to the ground and waling on him. This was when Cal and Johnny noticed the anger of their friend. Troy’s buddies just watching, afraid to step in to help him. Johnny was the one to grab Benny, but he couldn’t pull him away, until Cal helped him. They were telling Benny to stop, it was enough. Sitting on the grass, both men with him, holding an arm. Benny saw the damage he’d done, to Troy and his own hands. Spitting he went to stand, his friends moving to help him.

“Don’t ever say those words about or too (Y/N) again, or to anyone. Ya hear!?” Benny’s voice was breathless and more gravelly.

Troy just nodded his head, making noises in pain.

Benny turned to you. “Sorry about that spitfire, just don’t like a man disrespecting a woman”.

You nodded, offering a small smile. “Thanks for coming to my rescue”.

He chuckled, “always” and winked. Yet it hurt from getting clocked in the eye.

“Alright, come on. Let’s get ya cleaned up” Johnny said patting Benny on the back, and starting to uncomfortably walk back to his spot.

Cal also patted Benny before walking back too.

Benny looked back to you. “Ya comin’ baby?” He asked, not caring anymore and just calling you what he wanted.

You smiled grabbing your bag and stepping up to him. “Sure Benny”.

He wrapped his arm around you and you both moved to pass Troy, before he grabbed your slacks. “What about me? Ya boyfriend?”

You looked to Benny, before moving from his arm and leaning down to Troy. “It’s over. Plain and simple”.

He sputtered. “Huh!? Who’s gonna look after me!?”

You smiled at his sweetly. “I dunno, maybe ask Anna or Stefanie or Doris to take care of you. Because this whore ain’t ya girl anymore”.

With that, you put Benny’s arm around you again and you both headed over to his friends. You helped clean up Benny’s hands and face. He liked having your attention on him, liked how careful you were cleaning and wrapping up his hands. Once done you took a seat next to him with a sigh, head leaning back against the car you were both sitting beside.

“Sorry you had to step in back there” you said softly. “I didn’t expect that to happen”.

Benny chuckled. “It’s my fault. I struck first, talk later. It’s my style”.

You laughed, a genuine laugh. “Well, how about we both say sorry then”.

Benny nodded. “Sounds good to me”.

A comfortable silence fell between you too. You looked over to your friends, who were glancing at you both occasionally. Were they still your friends? After all they were with other bikers in Troy’s club. So, where does this leave you, with such a public break up too. Only time would tell.

Feeling restless you sat up and turned to Benny. “Your offer still stands for a ride on your bike?”

He looked at you with a raised eyebrow.

“I feel like I need a change of scenery” you gestured to your friends, as well as Troy and his boys further behind the girls.

He nodded before standing. Benny held out his hand and you took it carefully, before he pulled you up, not caring about the pain. You wanted to leave, go anywhere from here and what happened. Leading you to his bike, it didn’t take long for him to get on and start the bike up, the roar catching people’s attention. Without trouble you got on behind him, hands wrapping around his body, hands resting against his firm stomach. Then Benny took off, heading out and onto the road. Letting his bike take you both wherever, and enjoy the freedom it gives you both.

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.

The Nine Worlds series (Hands of the Emperor)

nothing less than the world by ariex09

At least there wasn’t an audience for the look Ludvic turned on Kip and the too neutral way he said, “Tor?”

Kip could feel himself flushing - in Astandalas this was the kind of thing that had lost him jobs before - but he had the excuse of, first of all, amnesia, and second of all, “He didn’t give me any other name!” Kip hissed. “He deflected me off the topic twice!”

-

AU where the landslide at the Liauu happens several years earlier, and the younger Kip has a rather different experience of the future.

diving for a flame pearl by ariex09

It took me an appalling three hours and thirteen minutes to even realize that Kip was gone.

Ah, but that was too charitable. Once we had a timeline together, we discovered that Franzel had seen Kip last, turning in for bed at twelve minutes before midnight, and it was not until Shoänie went to wake him at dawn that anyone knew he was anything but asleep in bed. This meant that by the time the knock on my study door came, shortly past the third hour of the morning, Kip could already have been missing for more than nine hours.

-

In which Cliopher goes missing midway through The Hands of the Emperor. Fortunately, he has friends and family willing to do whatever it takes to bring him home.

A nap at the feet of the sun by SunInGlory

Prompt: Cliopher somehow falls asleep on HR’s robe, and rather than wake him, HR has one of the guards cut that part of the robe off of him. Just looking for something soft and sweet here, but of course go in whichever direction you’d like. Bonus points if Petty Treasons era.

---

Cliopher decides to take a nap. Okay, perhaps decides is too strong of a word.

Stranger Things

Robin's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Your Newly Adopted Former Mean Girl by formosus_iniquis

She extends a hand, ignoring the laugh it gets her, “Welcome to Hawkins, I’m Robin, occasional Dustin babysitter.”

The girl’s smile pulls lopsided at her mouth, kissed with a bit of irony and undeniably charmed. “It’s nice to meet you Robin,” her voice is soft, and a little unsure. Wavering like Becky Simpson’s tone deaf oboe playing, unsure of what pitch and timbre to land on. “I’m Stephanie Henderson, Dustin’s cousin.”

The bit crumbles immediately between Robin’s fingers.

“Stephanie? You went with Stephanie? Are you kidding? We workshopped so many names!”

Marvel

Three Kinds of Learning by luchia

Erik intends to recruit Raven's supposedly amazing, all-powerful older brother. Instead, he finds himself dealing with Charles Xavier, a weak, tweed-addled professor who seems to think powers don't matter nearly as much as personality. Erik's misconceptions are blown apart when Raven goes missing.

SVSSS

In Durance Veil by Mikkeneko (+ podfic)

Right, the villain's beautiful daughter, who had caught a glimpse of the Protagonist from afar and, naturally, fell madly in love at first sight. She'd used her knowledge of her father's lair to sneak into the dungeon where Luo Binghe was being held and eventually proved the key to his escape, betraying her father for love. "So, you want to try to find some random girl who's willing to sneak in past the guards to Luo Binghe's prison and..."

"What random girl could we possibly trust? I'll do it myself!"

"You know what," Shang Qinghua said. "Somehow I feel like I should have expected this."

---

Shen Qingqiu self-detonated at Hua Yue City, but he didn't die. Instead, he wakes up to a world where Cang Qiong is victorious and Luo Binghe has been imprisoned beneath the mountain. What's a poor transmigrator to do? He has to find a way to free the Protagonist before he breaks out and razes the Sect to the ground! Clearly, the best way to do this is to pretend to be one of Luo Binghe's future wives.

Clearly.

Harry Potter

A Place That Fits by BitchesLoveAngstImBitches

Harry had been prepared to save Sirius’ life, no matter what the cost. Harry put himself in danger, and Sirius had come running, and it was the last thing he ever did.

And then it turned out Harry’s life wasn’t even worth saving: Neither can live while the other survives.

At the rate of Voldemort’s rising power, Harry would be lucky to survive the year.

Sirius had died trying to help Harry. He’d died for nothing.

-

Harry is struggling in the aftermath of the Ministry battle to come to terms with Sirius' death. His isolation and mistreatment at Privet Drive only make things worse. Remus Lupin checks on him in Surrey, but with both of them grieving, his assumptions about Harry might only hurt him more.

[blamebrampton]

Books talk to each other. Mostly because practically every writer is also a voracious reader, but also because books arise out of times and places and we share a lot of our worlds these days. So it’s unsurprising that several novels I have hugely enjoyed over the past few years share the theme of the antiheroine who is past all giving of the fucks. Naomi Novik’s powerful dark sorceress kept on her own tight leash in the Scholomance books was a joy to follow; Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow slashed her way into my heart and now Sarah Rees Brennan’s Long Live Evil has added to a list of beloved antiheroines that probably started for me with Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair.

Coincidentally, when considering how to describe Long Live Evil without significant spoilers, I realised that it shared several major themes with Vanity Fair. Young woman unfairly treated by fate decides to embrace her slut era to survive a war zone – both very accurate and wildly inaccurate for both. LLE opens with main character Rae in a hospital bed, teasing her sister about a book series they both adore. Rae is taking refuge in the story they have shared over years because it is one of the few things they have left: she is losing her fight against cancer and has been losing parts of her life, family and memory as that fight has progressed.

My personal hospital experiences have all been to do with major traumas rather than illness, which I vastly prefer because if you don’t die in the first couple of days, you usually start mending and you can immediately make plans to make the best of whatever you’ve broken. Rees Brennan, however, famously wrote a very funny, very horrible, ‘Kids, you won’t believe what shenanigans your girl’s been up to now, it’s only stage four Hodgkins lymphoma!’ post on her Tumblr or LJ (someone who has been hit in the head with taxis fewer times than me will doubtless factcheck that in the notes) about seven or eight years ago and then faced the very serious business of trying to live. The hospital scenes are painfully authentic, as are the stories of people who have left Rae as she slipped further out of everyday life.

For Rees Brennan, a loving family and peer group were there to hold her as close as they could. For Rae, only her beloved little sister, Alice, and Time of Iron, their favourite fantasy series, remain. They read the books together, remember adventures cosplaying and watching the musical, they wonder about the final instalment; for Rae it’s a joy she can still share (even if she doesn’t remember as much as she should), for Alice, it’s her two greatest loves. When a strange woman offers a door into the world of the book and a possible magical cure to Rae, she wants it as much as she disbelieves it.

Stepping into Eyam, the land of Time of Iron, Rae finds herself in the body of a villain doomed to die the next day. No worries! She’s thought and fought her way out of worse scraps than this in her past as a head cheerleader, let alone while battling cancer. She can use her knowledge of the plot to change things! If only she remembered more of the books…

Portal fantasies are common enough, but not all play by the same rules. This isn’t Narnia, where the magical world is more real than our own, for Rae, the world of the book is nothing more a tool to get her hands on the cure. She doesn’t need to care about any of these people, they’re not real. Most of them speak in a formal language that relies on the conventions of fantasy literature (there is an ongoing, warm-hearted skewering of all Game of Thrones-esque texts running through both the story and the in-text ‘quotes’ from Time of Iron) and half the characters are known more by their descriptions rather than their names. So she will play the Beauty Dipped in Blood, with her questionable morals, impractical clothes and centre-of-balance-distorting boobs for the weeks that will pass until the cure is available. Whoever she has to shuffle in the plot to secure a place beside that cure, she will shuffle. While she’s not out to kill anyone, it’s not as though they were ever really alive. Not like her. If she has to be the villain to survive, she will be an impeccable one. The people will cheer evil on!

Obviously, little goes to plan. Rae’s illness has taught her cruelty, but she hasn’t forgotten what it is to be kind. Even as she manipulates her role into ongoing main character, she realises that’s not how anyone gets a happy ending. That’s not how she can live with herself. As she comes to think of the other people in the story as real, they become more so, both in how we read them and in how they impact the story. Rae remembers what it is like to make friends, which she never meant to, but, oh, the luxury after years of watching people slip away!

As in previous novel In Other Lands, Rees Brennan has a long list of fantasy tropes to embrace and undermine, and her deft touch with humour is as evident as ever here, but her publishers call this her first adult novel and there is a shift in tone from her previous works. Anger is more real and lasting. Consequences are more significant. Understanding is reached for, even if it’s bitter. One of my favourite things is that she lets her female characters rage, but never judges those who can’t, whether because they’re too powerless or just too tired, and her male characters are allowed to be people if they choose to be — which all but the most vainglorious do.

I hadn’t paid much attention beyond checking the release date for the book, so didn’t realise it was the first in a series. For me, it worked perfectly as a standalone novel, even with the unended threads, which would have perfectly balanced Rae’s unfinished life. That said, I am very happy to know we will spend more time with these characters in the future. I want more. I do want to know if there is a hope for Rae, if this is the fever dream of a fading life, if this is the story Alice has told to ease her sister from the world or something else. There are a dozen characters I hope for, at least three happy endings that would bring joy. But don’t wait for the next books: sink your teeth into this one and believe what it says about the importance of listening to stories rather than just falling in love with characters. Though if you find yourself cheering on Rae, or her servant Emer, the elusive Eric, Horrible Hortensia or almost any of the others, I am the last person who will judge you.

[queenie-ofthe-void]

A Desperate Fool - Part 9

Part 8

Last time: Eddie finds out about Becky

~~~

"How can he lo–" he coughs to clear the word from his throat. "The person you're marrying's supposed to know everything about you. How can she just, not? And apparently everyone’s just ok with that?"

Nancy's moved to lay down on the floor next to him. Her face even with his, and when he tilts his head to look at her, she reaches out to hold his hand. The warm, yellow lighting softens her features, reminding Eddie of all they have in common despite their own fathers. Curly hair, big brown eyes, an angled jaw and high cheekbones. A flair for the dramatic. Strong, driving passions for their careers. They're two people who get what they want, if they want it bad enough, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it. Even if it means breaking Steve Harrington's heart along the way.

Nancy smiles at him, gentle and small, like she can read exactly where his thoughts have taken him. "She's really good for him, Eddie. Becky loves sports, wants kids. She's patient when he's having an off day. Doesn't poke fun at him when he loses track of the conversation, and explains what he's misunderstood. She takes care of him. She loves taking care of him and isn't that something he deserves?" Eddie squeezes her hand when the first tear slips from the corner of her eye, tracing her cheekbone until it drips onto the dark green rug beneath them. "After his parents, you and I, and every other shitty hand he's been dealt– doesn't he deserve someone like that? Like her?"

“Then why send Max?” he asks in a last ditch effort. “Why send her and Lucas saying Steve wants to talk to me, when he’s finally happy with someone else.”

She frowns, guilt radiating off her in waves. “He does want to talk to you. I just wanted you to talk to me first, so you could really understand what we all went through– what you put him through. I love you, but I need you to think hard about what would happen if you walked back into Steve’s life right now.” Nancy wipes a tear from his eye as she cups his cheek. “Eddie, he’s happy. If you walk through his front door, he could lose everything you know he deserves.”

As Eddie releases a deep, cleansing breath, he nods again. Not hollow, but clogged with resignation. She squeezes his hand before standing. She reaches out her hand again and he takes it, only to be pulled up and into her small arms in a crushing embrace. Nancy rubs soft circles into his back, until they're both breathing just a bit easier.

The rest of the night's a quiet affair. Nancy shows him to the guest room where he unpacks the small duffle of clothes he brought with. For his rockstar sleep schedule, the night's still young. But the wear of the day drags him under the covers. He's thankful she's letting him stay when he didn't even expect her to answer the door. Except that's Nancy Wheeler, isn't it? A woman willing to push through any obstacle for the people she loves. Never letting them fall when they trip, and always there to offer a steady hand. Eddie drifts off to sleep wrapped in the comfort of knowing, without a doubt, that that includes him.

~~~

Part 10

Tag List!!!

@sadisticaltarts @5ammi90 @blacklegsanji21 @jaytriesstrangerthings @thewickedkat

@stripey82

[little-annie]

In This Lifetime

---

Vecna's dead and the gates are closed and life is finally back to normal.

Well except for one thing.

Eddie's entire view of Steve Harrington has been tipped on its axis, shattered, booted off a fucking cliff. Whatever you want to call it. Because, well, the guy's not an asshole. He's strong and passionate and so goddamn caring. He's probably the kindest, most giving person Eddie's ever met and although he'd like to say he doesn't know what to think of it, we'll he does. And he thinks he's in love.

Steve Harrington is like fucking sunshine and unfortunately for Eddie's fragile heart, that glow of light doesn't fade.

They become friends. Best Friends. Nearly inseparable. Attached at the hip throughout the years.

They move to Chicago together, rent a shitty two bedroom apartment that maybe as well be one because they still have nightmares and being plastered next to one another seems to calm those terrors.

They laugh and they sing and they dance around the kitchen while they smile and cook and inevitably burn whatever meal they had planned, opting to order pizza instead.

Eddie's in a band and Steve never misses a show.

Steve's in school, planning to become a Guidance Counselor and Eddie's by his side quizzing him with the reward of candy in hand.

It's perfect, living life together in domestic bliss. Even if all they are is only just friends.

But it's still perfect all the same and if it was up to Eddie, he'd spend the rest of his life in these years. Repeat them again and again, if only to fall asleep at Steve's side and wake up to honey-brown eyes every morning.

But he knows it can't always be like this and that's why this is the hardest thing he's ever done.

This is the hardest thing he's ever done, and he's done some difficult shit. Like surviving a near death experience in literal hell being the main contender. But sitting across from Steve Harrington as he turns a little golden ring between his fingers and goes over his proposal plan, yeah that's pretty fucking difficult.

And it shouldn't be, he should be excited, he should be cheering for his friend but there's a gnawing feeling in his gut that's telling him it should be him. It should be him that Steve drops to a knee for, it should be him that Steve professes his undying love to, it should be him that'll one day get to call this man his husband.

But it's not. It's not because even though he's known this ragtag group of monster hunters for years now he's never been able to come to terms with telling them that he's gay and he sure as shit hasn't come to terms with telling Steve Harrington that he loves him and loves him in a very much not 'just friends' kind of way.

So that's why when Steve asks him what he should say to this woman [Becky, who quite frankly could double as Eddie's twin] he spills the beans. In a very subtle way he supposes. He doesn't come out, doesn't outright tell Steve he loves him, but as he's telling Steve what to say to his future fiancé, he's letting his emotions come out like word vomit, only wishing Steve knew he was talking about him.

"I don't know man." Eddie huffs, shuffling uncomfortably in his chair, eyes avoiding Steve's as he contemplates his words.

But it's hardly more than a few seconds before they come tumbling out, Eddie sucking in shaky breath before he stares into the carpet and begins to speak, "Tell her she's like sunshine, beautiful and bold and the source of life. That she's like the blood in your veins, forever present in the most beautiful way and the only thing that keeps your heart beating. Tell her that even on the most difficult days that she's the one you want to see, the one you want to hold, the one that makes you take the breath you need and steady your heart when it's beating out of control."

It's a building thing, slowly growing out of control, he can feel his pulse thrumming in his veins and he's beginning to think he might just do something crazy. He pauses for a moment, gauging Steve's expression. He'd gone to get them beer and hasn't bothered to sit back down since Eddie began talking. There's an indecipherable expression on his face and he's stood still, in front of the couch, beers on the coffee table and he's silent, waiting for Eddie to continue.

And you know, if Eddie was a normal man he'd stay in his chair, talk to his friend from an acceptable distance away and not profess his love, but he's not. He's a showman and as his acting skills get the best of him, he's moving, shuffling across the carpet, taking Steve's hand in his own and kneeling before him. Because why not make this a harder interaction for himself. Christ, it nearly feels like the real thing as he looks into Steve's eyes and shuffles the littlest amount closer.

Eddie shudders a breath, taking a single second to appreciate this moment, even if it'll never truly be real and then he continues, "You get down on your goddamn knee Steve Harrington and you say, ' Sweetheart you're the only thing that keeps me alive in this crazy fucked up world. Having you in my arms and my heart keeps me steady and breathing. I've been through some shit, but I'd go through it all again to find you in the end. The blood, the sweat, the tears, nearly fucking dying to be by your side for the rest of my life. I want to grow old with you Darling, I want us to grey and weather together. To find ourselves fifty years from now watching our kids and our grandkids; all the life we've brought into this world. All the love our life together has brought into existence."

Eddie's crying now, because of course he is, he's confessing his love to someone he knows will never hold the same emotions for him, but through a watery laugh and a sniffle he carries on, tightening his grip on Steve's hands.

"I want you in this lifetime and the next, in any way that you'll have me. I can't bear the thought of a single day without you let alone an entire lifetime. I'll find you, I promise I will Sweetheart, but for this lifetime, I ask that you spend the remainder of it with me."

It's cheesy, he knows, but it seems to take effect because as he looks into the eyes of the man above him he sees the swell of tears gathering along thick dark lashes.

The room's suddenly silent, save for the pounding of Eddie's pulse in his ears and the hope that Steve didn't see through his actions or words. That all he saw was his rather expressive friend acting out as per usual.

But a tear finally escapes and rolls down Steve's tanned cheek and a rather aggressive sob breaks past his lips.

Eddie's to his feet in seconds pulling Steve to his chest, one arm firmly around his waist while another wraps around his shoulders and cradles a head of mousy hair as close as he can. Steve's sobbing, short shaky breaths and surely there's snot and tears staining Eddie's shirt, but it's not like he can say much, what with silent tears streaming down his own cheeks and dripping to Steve's hair.

Steve hiccups around a sob, voice shaky and muffled against Eddie's shoulder, "I can't do this."

God, that's not what Eddie wanted to do, he didn't mean to scare Steve away from his impending engagement. No matter how much he wished it was him. He loves Steve, but if he can't have him, he just wants him to be happy. He deserves happiness. He deserves love.

Even if it's not with him.

Eddie cards his fingers soothingly through Steve's hair as he speaks, "Yes you can. I know you can. Steve, you love her, you're just scared. You can do this."

Another sob heaves against Eddie's chest while Steve continues to shake in his arms, "I can't Eddie."

"Why not Sweetheart?"

Steve's knees give out as a pained nose escapes his throat, dropping to the floor, taking Eddie with him, he doesn't answer, only continues to cry and burrow into Eddie's chest upon settling into their new position on the ground.

He's verging on a panic attack, Eddie knows this, he's seen it many times before. The way Steve's fists clench in his shirt and his breaths are short and sudden, gasping for air that's not filling his lungs, he's flushed white and Eddie knows it's only a matter of time before he gets sick.

"Stevie, come on, you gotta settle down. I'm sorry if I said anything wrong, I didn't mean to if I did. We can talk about it later. But right now you just gotta breathe for me okay." Eddie grabs Steve's hand, tight fist and all and holds it against his chest, allowing Steve to feel his steady breaths, "Breathe in with me, come on Big Guy. Take a deep breath in." Eddie takes a large lungful and holds it for a second, waiting for Steve to do the same and even though it's shaky and raspy he manages.

They repeat this process ten times over, Steve's head and hand now resting against Eddie's chest, their backs to the couch, the rooms fallen silent enough that only muffled sniffles are audible aside from the hum of electricity and the joyous screams of children outside.

After a moment, Steve wiggles himself closer, if even possible and again states, "Eddie, I can't do this."

He's not quite sure how to answer, really. Should he push or should he allow Steve to call off the engagement before it even happens. Lord knows where his own wishes lie. "You wanna tell me why you think you can't do this?"

Steve's breathing picks up again, but before he can reach hysterics Eddie's fingers card through his hair and he soothes Steve back to baseline.

"You," Steve whispers after quite some time of Eddie waiting for a response. It's a quiet thing, Eddie wouldn't have even heard it if he wasn't intentionally listening for Steve to say something.

It's a pain in the chest to know he may be the reason for Steve not to propose, sure he wished it wouldn't happen, but not like this. For him to say something so stupid that makes Steve call the whole thing off, "I'm sorry if I-"

He doesn't have time to finish his sentence before Steve's speaking, "No, not like that, you have nothing to be sorry for Eds. Its just- fuck- I wish I could tell you."

Combing his fingers through Steve's hair, Eddie reassures, "Steve, you can tell me. Please. I want to help."

Steve shakes his head, wrapping an arm tight around Eddie's waist, tucking his head in close, "It's nothing you can help with Eddie."

Nosing against the side of Steve's head, hair tickling his nose, Eddie whispers, soft, gentle, scared to frighten Steve off, "Try me."

And then it's silent. Dead quiet and for quite a long while. He knows Steve will answer, he knows he's just gathering his words, sorting things out before he speaks. It's obviously something big, something important to have warranted such a reaction from such a strong man.

It's with a sudden movement that Steve's sitting upright, turning to face Eddie with the appearance of confidence and sheer fear on his face. He looks fucking terrified. Working his jaw, eyes darting all over Eddie's face before he finally settles on his eyes and speaks, "I love you, okay." The words are far from gentle, they're sharp, rushed, sudden, like if he didn't get them out they'd burn a hole in his throat, but before Eddie has a second to even process those few words, Steve's barreling on.

"And when you were down on your knee infront of me, I wanted nothing more than for that to be the real thing, for those words to actually be directed towards me because I love you so fucking much it hurts. And I get it, I do. I know you're straight and we can never be a thing or really even get married but Eds, fuck, I love you so much and I can't marry Becky knowing I feel that way about you. I was going to try because I knew this could ne-"

He knows what Steve was meaning to say, but Eddie had to cut him off before those words could be spoken into existence because they're wrong. It can happen. Holy fucking Christ, Steve's loves him. It can all happen.

"I love you too," he says with such haste, taking Steve's face into his hands as he speaks with so much passion it nearly hurts, "-so much."

Cheeks squished in Eddie's grasp, Steve's eyes begin to well with tears once again, but now, now a smile is fighting its way to his lips, only growing with utter disbelief as Eddie quietly says, "and I meant every word of it. Every fucking word Sweetheart."

Steve's eyes search Eddie's own for only half a second before their lips crash together. It's a feverish thing, years of pent up love and need crammed into a single embrace, but their lips move as if they've met a million times before. And maybe they have. Maybe through the thousands of years this little rock in space has been turning, they've never left one another's side. Maybe they do find each other in every lifetime. Maybe they fall in love against all odds. Maybe this lifetime is no different.

Many Years Later

Turns out, it's not different at all.

When the time comes, so does the real proposal. It's been planned for years and when word of legalisation reaches Eddie's ears he's running to Steve. Dashing through streets, shouldering past strangers and dropping with a painful thud to the hardwood of Steve's office floor. In those few short moments to follow, the life he wished to have so many years ago becomes a reality.

Steve's his fiancé.

Soon to be his husband.

In this lifetime and the next.

---

[antheia]

Chapstick Steddie brainrot

Steve actually likes that Eddie smokes. Robin says it’s gross and he’s gross for liking it, but whatever. Robin isn’t the one kissing him. 

He likes that Eddie smells like tobacco and leather and sweat and motor oil (and sometimes weed). He likes sharing a cigarette with Eddie in bed late at night, wrapped in cheap cotton sheets, an ashtray perched on one of their chests. He loves the way Eddie’s eyes shimmer in the flames when Steve lights a cigarette for him.

Really the only problem Steve has is the way it dries Eddie’s lips out. And this is a totally solvable problem. Steve knows it’s solvable. He himself has solved it. But maybe Eddie never had to play Seven Minutes in Heaven with Becky Molinczek in the eighth grade. Which was more like ten seconds of awkward kissing followed by five minutes of Becky lecturing him about the importance of lip care in making out while digging around in her purse for chapstick only to produce a cherry lip smacker she then demanded he put on if he wanted any more time in Heaven. 

That was the first time he’d touched an honest-to-God boob. Her left one. He was pretty sure it was mostly boob and only a little tissue. He still gets a semi when he smells fake cherries. 

—

He figures he’ll start subtly: making sure to put on some chapstick in front of Eddie after they stub out their smokes to head back into the Wheeler house. He smiles at Eddie, who leans in and murmurs “mmm, shiny” before stealing a kiss. Completely ignoring the black and white plastic tube Steve has proffered. 

—

For two weeks, Steve leaves chapsticks everywhere he can think of. There’s one currently melting in Eddie’s glove box. Another one is gathering dust on Eddie’s nightstand. He’d held his breath hopefully when Eddie’s hand alighted on the one in his guitar case, but he was moving it aside in search of a pick. Hell, Steve had even tucked one in the pocket of Eddie’s denim jacket when he kissed him goodnight last Friday. 

Eddie was impervious to subtlety. It was time to go full Molinczek. 

— 

Steve had Thursdays off, so he and Eddie had started having movie nights on Wednesdays. He honestly couldn’t remember the end of a single movie they’d chosen. The doorbell rang just as Steve is putting popcorn on the coffee table. 

Steve waits until Eddie is settled in, then climbs into his lap. Eddie holds him by the hips and grins. “Okay, Harrington. I guess we’re not gonna watch the movie after all.” 

Steve ignores him, leaning in for a kiss. While he’s got Eddie distracted, he reaches into the pocket of the jacket Eddie had haphazardly thrown across the back of the couch and produces a small plastic tube. Opening the lid, he breaks away from the kiss. 

“This, Edward, is Chapstick.” Eddie looks at him like he’s deranged. 

“Uh huh.” 

“It’s for your lips,” Steve continues, applying it to his own lips liberally. 

“I’m familiar.” 

“And you know, smoking really chaps your lips,” Steve levels a look at him, holding his eyes for a moment before leaning in to plant a deep kiss on Eddie’s mouth, spreading the balm across Eddie’s lips. 

When they finally break apart, Eddie grins up at him. “Please, for the love of god and my mouth, wear it.” 

“Only if that’s always how I get to apply it.” 

Steve rolls his eyes and starts to say something, but it’s cut off when Eddie yanks him forward and kisses him again. 

The point’s probably been made. 

[lunarmoonheart]

HFFF day 3: gay awakening

Summary: linda finally excepts the fact that she's gay after seeing sheila at a gala.

Title: honey honey ship: sheilinda prompt: gay awakening

Tonight was the night of the annual hatchetfield boating society christmas gala. Linda was in the master bedroom of the Murray mansion finishing the last few touches of her makeup. Freshly divorced Linda Murray was ready to have a night out without her children without her ex and with plenty of wine and champagne. So once her makeup was finished linda got into her limo and went to the hatchetfield boating society headquarters.

Pulling into the parking lot linda smirks. She can finally do whatever she wants without gerald looking over her shoulder. When she walks in she immediately looks for some champagne and just for her luck theres a waiter a few feet away. She walks over snatches a glass of champagne and walks over to start mingling with some random rich people.

On the other side of town sheila young is getting ready for the annual hatchetfield boating society christmas gala. She slips on her favorite crimson gown, fixes her hair and walks down the large steps of her mansion. At the bottom she sees her son sherman.

“Sherman dear im leaving now. Be good for marco ok darling”

“Yes mother. Will you bring me a new daddy?”

“ we'll see sherman. goodbye my dear boy”

At this sheila leaves the house and starts driving towards the boating society. She arrives a few minutes late but she doesnt really care. She gives her keys to the valet and walks inside. Sheila hears many gasps as she walks in none louder than that which belongs to linda monroe.

As linda is chatting to her “friends” she hears the door open and turns to see who could possibly be here so late. But when she turns her breath gets caught in her throat. She looks to find the most gorgeous woman shes ever seen. Immediately a heat burns her cheeks and linda finds herself unable to look away as the woman walks towards her.

Sheila of course knew of linda Murray. She's the queen bee of hatchetfield after all everyone had heard of her. Sheila was different in many ways. She was a mystery in this town and she enjoyed that.

Linda was confused to say the least. A woman she doesn't know who just walked into this gala like she owns the town just made her feel more flustered than anyone had. Not gerald not Gary nobody had ever made her feel this way. Linda always thought she might be gay but she was never sure. Her father said it was wrong and she always tried to please him so she pushed any feelings or doubt far away. She had never actually kissed a woman or been with one but the thought was always there. Then she met becky in highschool and the thought made itself known again which is why she hated becky.

Becky got to have the perfect boyfriend. She was the perfect cheerleader and her parents loved her. Linda didn't have that. She had gerald but she never actually loved him. Linda was shit at cheerleading so she tried theater and loved it but her father didn't so he never came to her shows and her mother left when she was young so of course her father didn't love her. She always thought she envied Becky. Maybe she did, maybe she felt more than just envy.

So linda decided to see what would happen. She let sheila flirt with her and tried to flirt back. She let herself feel whatever she felt and at the end of the night she came to a conclusion.

Linda Murray likes women. And for once she wasn't so worried about it.

[misseviehyde]

NOT PART OF THE EQUATION

Beckie had never felt so fucking turned on and powerful as she did right now. Her perfect new body felt so horny - she was impossibly beautiful, she looked more like some dream Goddess than a real woman and she loved it.

The equation had helped turn her from dweeby Rebecca into her new and more powerful form. Now she was perfect and she had diminished anyone else who could get in her way, all thanks to her skill at using the equation.

Not that she had invented the equation... the all powerful equation had been created by her best-friend Laura. It was just a shame that Laura had not been strong enough to realise the full potential of what she had discovered.

It was Laura who had translated the mathematical formulae from the old text book they'd found in the library. It was Laura who had discovered the pleasing symmetry of the equation, how it was possible to move reality about with the precision of a few well placed mathematical operators.

Beckie still remembered how turned on she had felt when she had grabbed the pen from Laura and having been taught the equation herself made use of it for the first time.

"Hey what are you doing?" gasped Laura in alarm as Beckie had written, Rebecca Jones boobs > Emily Grey's boobs.

"Relax," grinned Beckie. "We can use this equation to finally have our revenge on our bullies. It's just an added bonus that to make the equation balance out, we get to keep whatever we take from them."

Emily had the biggest tits at school, but she would no longer as the equation began rebalancing. It reduced Emily's tits and made Rebecca's bigger - ensuring that she was greater in tit-mass than her victim.

Beckie groaned as her flat chest began to swell and grow with Emily's stolen breast flesh. Her buttons popped and her bra ripped as her tits swelled up, bigger and bigger. She now had cleavage for the first time in her life and she liked how it felt. She giggled pushing her tits out proudly. "Oh fuck yeah, that feels great."

"No Rebecca," gasped Laura in shock. "I don't think we should use this equation to try and get our own back on people... it seems like a bad idea. Please don't do that again. It could be dangerous."

Beckie had just laughed and advanced on her friend, using her massive new tits to passively intimidate her. "Of course babe - I'll be careful, but there are a few more attributes that should be redistributed. If you don't want them - I'll take them instead."

Slipping the book into her satchel she had turned and headed home, her head spinning with the possibilities.

*****

The next day at school Laura had gasped as the clip-clop of high heels had rung through the halls and the bitchiest, sluttiest, most beautiful girl she had ever seen strode confidently down the corridors.

Beckie had taken it all. She'd drained every bully - not just of their physical beauty, but their personalities and confidence as well. Beckie was now a Goddess - the combined power of every bitch from school flowed through her body. She was now the perfect expression of every spoiled girl, every bully. She had become truly evil and hot.

"Oh hey loser," Beckie had purred as she'd seen her former friend. "Maybe you were right about the equation - perhaps it is dangerous to take so much, I think I ended up as a bit of a bitch. The good news is though that soon you'll be too dumb to care. I'm going to use the equation to suck out all your intelligence and leave you as my dumb little slave."

Laura had just grinned.

"I knew you'd be too eager to use the equation and end up corrupting yourself," she smirked. "You always did lack self-control Beckie. Which is why I prepared this little trap. If you look at the equation you have used, it only balances out one way. Everything has to transfer over to me. I get to become Beckie - queen of the school and you end up as a nobody loser with no memory of these events."

The satisfied grin fell off Beckie's face as she looked down at her pages of equations and realised Laura was not lying. With a laugh of triumph, Laura spread her arms wide and moaned as she took everything from Beckie - including her identity.

Laura gasped as she grew taller, her tits swelled out and her features became Beckie's. Her tight new pussy tingled as her designer dress formed around her and the new Queen wiggled her pedicured toes inside their high heels.

The dumb and amnesiac Laura had staggered away with no memory of who she really was and what had just happened whilst Beckie strode away to begin her life as a bully and a bitch.

"Sorry loser," purred the new Beckie, "But you're not part of this equation after all..."

[rhondafromhr]

More ideas/headcanons for the ‘Nerds Corruption AU’

Link to the original post for those who aren’t familiar: https://www.tumblr.com/rhondafromhr/738012368733356032/dont-get-me-wrong-i-love-max-redemption-arcs-in

-The LIB adopt their human forms after the first time Max, Steph and the nerds summon them and RELENTLESSLY make fun of their true/eldritch forms. “our real forms would melt your minds” yeah sure whatever you need to tell yourself Pokey

-Tinky tries to use having Ted in the bastard box as leverage against Pete, but he just doesn’t care because that’s not his brother, it’s some other Pete’s brother from another timeline so it’s not his problem.

-Once everyone in the group starts acting like an agressive bully the way Max does, Grace finds herself attracted to all of them and has a crisis over it.

-At some point Max tries to apologize for before (“sorry for bullying you guys all these years, you never deserved that, everyone we’re currently bullying does but you didn’t.”) Now that they’re all literal monsters too they just dismiss him like “don’t apologize, we get it now, the power trip is fucking awesome!“

-Max’s signature move of using anti-bullying slogans to justify and get away with bullying is their favorite. They always tell Max how smart he is for coming up with it.

-They decide Kyle can date Brenda now but plot twist! Brenda leaves him for Ruth. Ruth taunts him for this every chance she gets and purposely makes out with Brenda in locations where he’ll have to walk by. Cue Kyle sobbing in the bathroom while Jason comforts him, leading to one of very few sweet, wholesome scenes we get in this universe.

-Ruth is confident enough to perform now, which obviously means they need to sabotage the lead in The Barbecue Monologues so she can take the role. They either just straight up intimidate them into quitting or frame them for vandalizing the school and get them expelled.

-One day Pete randomly remembers the time Brad Callahan pantsed him and he and the rest of the crew just drop what they’re doing to go beat him up. When they get called into principal Blim’s office they tell him they did it because Brad was picking on Hannah Foster earlier (“what do you want us to do? Stand by and do nothing? Being a bystander is just as bad as bullying, we learned that at the anti-bullying assembly!”) Brad has been known to do that so he believes them and lets them off with a warning. When word gets around people actually do mess with Hannah a lot less.

- (already mentioned this in a separate post but I’ll put it here too) after graduation Max, Steph + the nerds run an anime/comic book store together and Richie’s the only one who knows or cares about any of it. He’s rude and condescending to customers, everyone else is not knowledgeable and completely unhelpful, Grace tells every customer they need to go read a bible instead. They have like 1.5 stars on yelp but stay in business because the next closest similar store is in Clivesdale so nobody’s going to go there

-At some point Linda Monroe comes in and sees the gang being rude to Becky Barnes, so of course she takes an instant liking to them. She becomes an investor in the store and sort of a mother figure to all of them. She encourages their bad behavior, giving them tips for manipulating people in a more sophisticated way. Max and Steph get especially attached to her (the three bond over their dad issues) and they go to her house once a week to drink wine and and hear all the hot gossip about Linda’s rich frienemies.

-When Roman finds out about Linda’s new investment he comes to check out the store and he’s as icy towards her as usual. True to form, Max, Steph and the nerds say the rudest, most out of pocket stuff to him (Richie goes after his appearance HARD, not realizing the irony that he looks pretty similar) and eventually he storms off. Linda’s touched that they stood up for her. She cries and tells them how proud she is. Max and Steph cry a little too because this is the first time a parental figure’s ever told them that. After this they become obsessed with impressing Linda so they can hear it again.

-Grace babysits Linda’s kids sometimes and Linda pays her an outrageous amount due to being so out of touch with regular babysitting rates (“it’s one banana, what could it cost, ten dollars?” energy). Grace refuses to babysit for Tom anymore because he can’t match these rates. One night he can’t find any other sitters, so he tries to cancel on Becky but she suggests they spend a night in with Tim instead, leading to some nice family bonding (okay there can be one more cute wholesome moment, I’ll allow it.)

-They’re rivals with Frank Pricely. They hate him because Toyzone cuts into their merch sales. He hates them back for stealing Linda, who used to drop thousands per week at his store. They always scheme to screw each other over. Black Friday doesn’t happen in this timeline solely because they pay Lex to destroy the entire shipment of wiggly dolls. This is also what gets them on the LIB’s radar, Wiggly is absolutely furious.

- (This one relates to the popular “Paul is Richie’s uncle” headcanon) At some point, Paul is at his wit’s end with Richie and makes him move out in the hopes it’ll force him to reevaluate his life and stop being so awful. He doesn’t just throw Richie out, he gives him a timeline and helps him find a place. But he’s not sure if he did the right thing. He mentions this to Ted at work and Ted says his parents did the same to him and he’s totally well-adjusted. Paul just gives him a look and says “Ted…no.” This is the catalyst for him getting involved with the group and eventually getting his own corruption arc.

-After moving out, Richie becomes roommates with Max and Ruth. Steph and Pete have a luxury apartment together downtown (Solomon pays for it because he can’t deal with her anymore and wants her out of his house). Grace has a two bedroom apartment to herself - she had a roommate at one point, but they got fed up and left. Luckily she can afford it with her cushy babysitting gig.

[jahayla-parker]

Hi!! Just here to see if you could write pin x f! reader (doesn’t rlly need to be f!) where is the scene where he passes out from being sick, but the other way around and it’s the reader instead. And like maybe the reader is super loved by the town and they’re concerned, but specially pin cause they’re dating. Totally ok if not!

Thanks i’m advance!

Fallen Low : Pin Hawthorne x Reader

Description: 6.6k wc, reader is Pin’s girlfriend and during her audition she passes out. Pin and the town rally to make her feel better.

Warnings: mention of hospitals, doctors, fainting, blood sugar complications, minor injury concerns, and related. But overall fluffy!

Notes: y/h/n = your horse’s name

“He’ll be here y/n, just relax,” Zoe reassured, rubbing Y/N’s upper back.

Y/N nodded but regretted it as her vision blurred even more. She took several desperate breaths as a tingling feeling set into her muscles.

“Even if not, you have to go out there, it’s your turn,” Mia remarked, gently pushing Y/N closer to Y/H/N.

Y/N closed her eyes as she tried to get her body to stop whatever it was doing.

It was like she didn’t have control over it; everything felt overwhelming and chaotic.

Her limbs felt tingly and heavy despite the spinning in her head making her otherwise feel as if she were loose and floating.

She could barely see through the fuzzy coating her brain was claiming was before her eyes.

Something was wrong, really wrong.

But, y/n was so confused and fatigued that she couldn’t place what it was.

She felt as if she was forgetting something, but couldn’t figure out what.

Y/N had gone over her routine countless times in the last 24 hours.

Mia was sure to check Y/N’s uniform for any imperfections.

The others had all offered her their encouragement prior to taking their seats in the arena.

Well, everyone but her boyfriend Pin.

That’s what she figured was causing this.

Pin was always there for her.

Or he had been.

But she hadn’t seen him today.

She knew he had work to do, and they’d had a disagreement yesterday afternoon.

But she assumed he would still be here.

He told her he would be.

Yet, he hadn’t shown.

Several of their friends had gone off to find him, trying to reassure Y/N that her boyfriend would never intentionally miss this.

While she was anxious and disappointed he wasn’t there to help, it was more than that.

The couple was always good at keeping each other level headed and ensuring they took care of themselves, even when things were difficult or important.

Perhaps if he were here she’d be able to pinpoint what was causing this feeling.

She was fairly certain she’d had enough water today; something Pin always got on her about.

Y/N couldn’t recall how much she drank, but Jade had brought her a water when these symptoms first set in.

Besides, she was used to anxiety; this was more than that.

“What she means to say is, you’ll do great, you have us here for you!” Susie smiled, resting a hand on Y/N’s arm as she took her place next to Y/H/N.

“Thank you, I’m just…” Y/N whispered breathily, feeling lightheaded, “whew… okay, we’ve got t-this, huh Y/H/N?”.

Gaby and Zoe cheered and nodded, pointing towards the arena.

Y/N mounted Y/H/N in a very atypically shaky manner.

Becky ran in, her hair covered in dirt and leaves, glancing up at Y/N and giving her a thumbs up as she caught her breath.

Pin was here?

Y/N felt her anxiety lower, but her symptoms remained.

She forced a grateful smile, but Jade, who Y/N hadn’t seen enter behind Becky, gave her a questioning look.

“Are you okay?” Jade questioned her friend, rubbing the muzzle of Y/H/N.

“Y-yeah, I think I’m just…” y/n mumbled, gripping the reins in her hands tighter.

“Pin is here, that’s what you wanted. Now, get on with it,” Mia huffed in annoyance.

Susie chastised Mia for that statement, reminding her of her own nerves moments ago.

Meanwhile, Y/N tried to focus on the friendly comments from the others.

But, she was having a hard time even hearing what was being said, let alone processing that information.

Y/n believed she mumbled a ‘thank you’ before signaling for her horse to start making their way to the arena.

Y/n instantly regretted the movement.

The even and rhythmic bumping of y/h/n’s trot that was always a relief, was now making her feel even less focused.

She wasn’t even aware she’d made it to the main center of the arena until she heard her name being announced.

Y/n moved her heavy eyes left, seeing what she believed to be a blurry Pin.

If she’d been able to see clearly, she would’ve seen the concern in Pin’s eyes; and the way his father, Ted, was holding him back from rushing over to her.

As the judges asked what y/n and y/h/n would be doing for their audition, she opened her mouth but nothing came out.

Pin shot a look over at Marcus, who had already turned to look over at Pin.

Neither one had seen her like this before.

“Miss Y/L/N?” One of the judges called out, the question echoing in Y/N’s head.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Y/N forced the words out of her lips.

Only, unbeknownst to her, the words weren’t audible or intelligible enough for anyone to be able to comprehend.

Pin removed his father’s hand from his chest as Ted had continued to hold him back from rushing towards the course.

Pin stepped closer to the barrier, his face etched in fear and confusion.

Y/N pleaded with herself to stop panicking, needing the spinning and shakiness to stop.

In an attempt to steady herself so she wouldn’t fall off, y/n squeezed y/h/n slightly with her calves.

But it was enough for Y/H/N to take it as a sign to begin.

As Y/H/N took off, the audience fell silent.

Y/N however could hear every faint sound echoing loudly in her mind, her vision now gone, brain only visualizing a blank space with static and pulsing sounds reverberating inside.

Pin yelled for someone to stop Y/H/N the second he saw Y/N’s eyes close, body starting to go limp.

It took Marcus a moment to realize she wasn’t closing her eyes of her own volition, rather she’d passed out.

Marcus rushed into the ring, right behind Pin.

But they weren’t fast enough, as y/h/n had understandably attempted to continue the routine and therefore leapt upwards to jump over a bar.

Y/h/n would have stopped earlier but y/N’s body had slouched forward some, which helped her stay on.

Pin shouted as he watched y/N’s feet slip out from the stirrups as her body went completely limp and she fell off of y/h/n mid-jump.

The whole fainting incident lasted less than one minute, but Pin saw it in slow motion.

Y/N’s eyes opened just as her body slammed into the ground.

Marcus rushed to guide y/h/n back to the stables while Pin dropped to his knees beside her.

“Hey, hey,” Pin panicked, his eyes scanning her for an explanation.

She blinked slowly at him, confused as to how she ended up in this position.

“No, don’t” he said, holding her down so she couldn’t sit up, “we need to figure out if you’ve hurt your spine first”.

She squinted slightly, wiggling her arms and fingers in hopes of fixing the numbness and tingling sensation in them.

“Do you remember your name?” Pin questioned, staring intently at her.

“Y-y/n” she answered, her confusion as to why she was being asked was evident.

Pin relaxed a little as he brushed some fair from her face.

“Why am I on the ground?” She whispered, gazing into his eyes.

Pin stroked her cheek, fingertips unclipping her chin strap as he held her head in his hands, “You passed out”.

She stared at him in confusion as she tried to understand what he was saying to her.

“Y/n, love, what happened? Did you feel something before it happened?” Pin questioned, slowly moving his hands as he checked the nerves in her neck and upper back.

Y/n let out shaky breaths as she tried to respond without crying.

She wasn’t even sure why she was wanting to cry, but she just knew she felt horrible.

“Shhh okay, don’t talk yet, it’s okay” Pin promised, “we’ll figure it out, you’re going to be okay..”

Y/n slowly moved one of her shaky hands to grab Pin’s arm as more people started crowding them.

Pin gave her a sympathetic smile despite his concern and kept checking her nerves.

“I - I don’t feel good” she let out weakly, “Pi-Pin, something… something’s… wr-wrong. Some-“.

He nodded rapidly, moving his hands to her face “I know babe, I know. I’ve got you. We’re going to help figure this out, I promise”.

Y/n attempted to squeeze his arm, but it felt more like a tap due to her frail muscles.

Pin looked up at his father, who nodded and pointed to his phone to signal he’d already begun calling for help.

Pin turned back to y/n and caressed her check, “do you want to try sitting up?”

She whispered a pathetic yes and dizzily began to lean forward.

He quickly supported her back, helping her to sit up.

“What are you feeling, y/n/n?” He asked, holding her up.

She squeezed her eyes shut with a small groan , “I’m -re-really dizzy, like… ver-verti-“.

“Vertigo?” Pin offered.

“Yeah” she whimpered, eyes watering.

Pin frowned, arching his body around hers so he could still hold her up in a sitting position but could look into her eyes.

“Y/n/n sweetheart, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay” he soothed, his eyes checking her pupils for any signs of a concussion.

“It doesn’t…, I’m not…it doesn’t feel- it’s not…right… I’ve never-“ she mumbled incoherently.

Pin nodded, understanding that even if she had a concussion, that wasn’t what she was predominately experiencing.

He knew it didn’t explain her fainting suddenly.

But, given her hard fall, he wanted to make sure she didn’t get a concussion as a result.

“Okay love, that’s okay, you’re okay,” he rambled, “Here, head down towards your lap, yeah?”

She silently obeyed as he guided her to arch her back until her head was lowered, helping the blood flow easier.

“Is she okay?” Someone asked.

“Does she look okay Maddie?” Someone else responded.

Y/n squeezed her boyfriend’s free hand as she tried to mentally silence all the voices talking about her.

Pin’s eyes finally left y/n when Marcus began asking people to step back and stop recording.

His eyes turned from worried to silently furious as he noticed how crowded it had gotten.

He felt guilty knowing the crowd and voices he now picked up on likely made her vertigo worse and yet he was just now seeing it.

His mind had been so focused on helping her and seeing if she was physically okay that he hadn’t even noticed or heard the spectators.

His father sighed and tried to give Pin a look to signal for him to calm down, but to no avail.

Pin squeezed y/N’s hand once before briefly diverting his attention.

He glanced over Marcus and their friends who were trying to shield her so she could have space and privacy.

“Marcus!” Pin shouted over his shoulder in frustration; feeling slightly guilty for yelling.

“I know, working on it mate” Marcus responded as he increased his attempts to push the crowd of spectators back.

Pin took a stiff deep breath as he worked to keep his frustrations in check.

Once Marcus was able to get a few people to start moving away, more followed suit.

Pin sighed in relief before looking back at his girl.

“Hey, hey, head down, love” he said, frowning when he saw she’d looked up and over towards where he’d been staring.

She hummed in agreement as she slowly lowered her head back to her lap, trying to grip his arm to relieve the weird feeling in her fingers.

“I’m here darling, medics are on the way, just stay with me…, can you do that?” Pin asked, rubbing her back softly.

“Yes” she said, her right hand palming the ground as she tried to get rid of the sensation still lingering on that side.

Soon, Ted noticed his son’s concern over what she was doing and joined her other side. “You’re alright kiddo, just keep breathing,” he encouraged shyly as he held her right hand.

She let out a sigh of relief now that she had something to grip in order to make the feeling return to her fingers, ceasing the tingling sensation.

Pin gave his father a thankful nod over y/N’s back as he tried to think of causes. “How much water have you had?” he asked, looking towards their friends.

“She said she had some throughout the day, and I made sure she got a bottle when she started feeling off,” Jade informed him.

“You’ve been feeling off? For how long?” Pin asked, concern lacing his voice.

“J-just a.. bi-bit” she answered, wiggling her toes in an attempt to return feeling to them as well.

“Do you want a pillow?” Susie asked, seeing how y/n was craning her neck.

“Where are you going to find a pillow?” Mia responded.

“I don’t know, I-“ Susie argued but stopped when Pin abruptly stood.

Their friends watched in confusion as he stripped off his jacket.

He folded it up into a pile and placed it on her lap, adding some support below her head.

“Thank you P-Pin” she softly spoke, voice muffled by his jacket.

He nodded, “‘Course love. Shouldn’t be much longer okay?”

He looked over at his father who merely nodded and pointed towards the side door.

The medics had finally arrived.

Pin sighed in relief as he waved them over.

Marcus jogged to meet them and explain what they knew so far.

“Love, they’re here. Everything’s going to be fine,” Pin promised, squeezing her hand.

“Alright miss y/l/n, I hear you’ve lost consciousness?” One of the medics asked.

Y/n merely hummed in agreement as she felt a small bead of sweat roll down her forehead towards her nose.

“Keeping your head down was the right step to help, but I’m going to need to see your face now, okay?” The medic asked.

Y/n slowly lifted her head, Pin helping hold her neck steady.

He unintentionally let out a sigh of relief at how much better she already looked.

“She’s got color back in her face,” Becky said happily.

Y/n glanced at Pin, who merely smiled softly at her and nodded.

“Has this ever happened to you before?” The medic wondered.

“No, I- … oh… wow I’m sorry babe…” y/n said looking at her lap, “I didn’t realize I was sweating so much”.

Pin shook his head, not bothered in the slightest by the dark spot on his jacket, “I don’t care about the jacket darling, you’re okay”.

She gave him a half smile before looking back at the medical staff.

“This hasn’t happened?” The medic repeated.

“Not like this, I’ve… I’ve gotten some of it before but not this bad” she tried to explain, still foggy, “never fainted. Did I really faint?”

“You did love. I’m not sure why though” Pin informed her, his fear still running through his voice.

“Oh” she whispered, staring straight ahead, trying to make sense of it all.

“When this has happened before, albeit not to this level, what was the cause, do you know?” The man asked.

Y/n didn’t even hesitate as she answered, her voice showing she was clearly still in a haze, “my blood sugar.”

Pin froze, her blood sugar?

How long had that been an issue?

And why wasn’t he aware?

He could’ve helped.

The medic looked up at him for an explanation, and Pin felt even worse.

How did he not know this about his girlfriend?

What if she hadn’t woken and he couldn’t tell the medics how to help her?

“Do you have diabetes?” The medic asked.

“No” she said, blinking as she tried to focus back on the moment.

“Let’s test her levels” another medic suggested, getting out his pack.

“I have a gluc- a test thing” she supplied, unable to think clearly enough to form the word she wanted, “in my bag”.

Pin was even more confused.

How long had it been acting up that she had to carry a meter on her?

And why hadn’t she told him?

Maybe if he hadn’t fought with her the other day, she would have told him.

“That’s alright we have one here” the medic responded, reaching for her hand.

Pin’s father let go of her right hand so Pin didn’t have to release his hold on y/n.

As one of the medics cleansed her finger tip, the other continued to ask clarifying questions.

“You’re not diabetic? So what type of blood sugar issues is it?” The second medic questioned.

“Hypogly-“ she mumbled, groaning as she pulled her hand from both Pin and the medic as she began to hold her head, “hypoglce-“

“Hypoglycemia,” Pin cut in, concluding her attempted statement.

“Is it starting again?” Pin asked, holding her head still.

“I.. I'm just still dizzy,” she whispered.

The first medic medic interrupted and instructed, “Let’s lay her down, she’s less likely to pass out again if she’s horizontal.”

Pin frantically helped lower her to her back, then onto her side.

The first medic grabbed her hand and initiated a finger prick.

Pin shut his eyes tightly as he waited for the meter to beep that her results were back.

It was only a few seconds, but he felt them drag on and on.

“Bloody hell,” One of the medics huffed, dropping the meter and reaching back into his bag.

Pin squeezed y/n’s hand in his as the medic drew a bright orange case from his bag, withdrawing a needle and vial from inside.

“This will help for now, but you’ll feel a pinch,” he said as he dispensed the dose before leaning over her arm.

The medic inserted the needle and administered the medicine as the other checked her vitals again.

“Let’s head out, she's good to transport now” the man said.

Y/n squeezed Pin’s hand tightly.

“I’m not leaving you, I’m here y/n, I promise” he swore, squeezing it back.

“We’ll check in with you guys soon,” Mia stated.

“Yeah, good luck,” Jade added.

“Keep us updated “ Becky pleaded.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Pin’s father found his son pacing the halls of the hospital.

“What is it?” He asked.

Pin shook his head, looking up to see his father had arrived.

There was only room for one person in the transport, so Ted followed behind in his personal vehicle.

“They’re still running tests,” Pin mumbled.

“Okay, son, she’s alright” his father tried.

“She- she could’ve! She-” he panicked, running his hand through his hair, “why…? Why wouldn’t she tell me?”.

His father sighed, “I don’t know Pin. Sometimes people keep things private for reasons that aren’t related to us.”

Pin scoffed and shook his head as he continued his pacing. “I should’ve known, if I’d have known-“ he argued.

“Pin, even if you had, you couldn’t have stopped this” his father consoled.

“I might’ve if I was there. But I wasn’t.” he scolded himself, “I was too upset that she’d been focusing so hard on this that I didn’t even see what it was doing to her! Not to mention if I had shown up earlier today I could’ve made sure she was eating and drinking and-“.

“Pin, we don’t know that that had anything to do with it”.Ted tried.

Pin shook his head, “I ca-I can’t lose her”.

His father saw the well of tears in his son's eyes and frowned.

Ted squeezed his son’s shoulder, “I know Pin. But you won’t. She’s just on the other side of that door, she will be okay”.

Pin nodded slowly, aggressively scrubbing his hands across his face, “it was really low… I… she looked so so sick, even after she came to.”

Ted stepped closer, pulling his son to his chest. “She’s going to be fine. You both will. She’s going to need you though, so try to stay calm”.

Pin let his tears roll down his face as he nodded, “You’re right”.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Pin?” Y/n’s tiny voice croaked out as her eyes landed on her boyfriend seated beside her.

Pin sucked in a breath of air as his lips curled into a small smile, “hey love”.

“Ar-were you crying?” She asked, her hand squeezing his.

He gave her a soft smile and nodded, “I jus-… I was worried”.

She frowned and sighed, “I’m sorry”.

Pin shook his head, “I just needed to hear your voice and see those eyes.. you’re alright?”

Y/n smiled and nodded slowly, reaching out her free hand to stroke his sharp jawline, “I’m safe, and healthy again, I’m okay”.

He let out a breath of relief and held her hand against his face, kissing her palm, “Good”.

“I really am sorry baby, I-…” she sighed, sitting up.

Pin stood, moving closer to her head, “don’t overdo it, please”.

“I won’t. I just wanna sit up though” she promised, smiling at her boyfriend as he adjusted the hospital bed to allow her to do so.

Once she was sitting, Pin sat back down beside her, not letting go of her hand.

“I didn’t know I was going to pass out,” she whispered, looking at the IV tube in the back of her hand.

Pin sighed softly, stroking her hand with his thumb, “It hasn’t happened before?”

Y/n shook her head and gave him a small frown.

“But you have had blood sugar problems before?” he questioned.

Y/n sighed and nodded, “I get hypoglycemic crashes randomly. It’s not because of diabetes or anything. It’s just how my body is”.

Pin bit his lip as he listened to her explain, his mind running through any possibly relevant medical information he knew.

“Do you know why you have these crashes?” He asked.

“Not really. Hormones impact it of course, so does stress. But, stress increases one’s blood sugar so I shouldn’t even have had a hypoglycemic crash today” she groaned.

“Is that why you pushed through it?” Pin wondered.

“Maybe? I don’t know. I think by the time I noticed it was happening it was too late; I was already foggy and confused. I think the stress just made my confusion worse when I thought of other reasons for my symptoms” she told him.

Pin hummed and stared into her eyes as he tucked her hair behind her ear, “I should’ve been there”.

“Pin-” she sighed.

He shook his head, “If I had, you’d have less possible explanations to blame, and we could’ve figured this out together-”.

“Pin Hawthorne, stop. You were there when I needed you to be,” she said softly.

“No I wasn’t. I was selfish and jealous that you’d been spending time with Marcus. I know it was for training, but I still got jealous and we fought. I shouldn’t have let my insecurities impact us-” he rambled.

Y/n interrupted, “That’s not how this works, love. We talk about these things, we don’t let them simmer. Okay? You have nothing to worry about with Marcus; I’m in love with you and only you, Pin. Jealous or not, I was prioritizing my audition over everything else far too much. I’m sorry, but we’re okay now. Right?” She asked, blinking at him.

He nodded rapidly, “of course. We already were, I was just stubborn”.

She chuckled and smirked, “nothing new.”

Pin laughed and shook his head, “You’re not mad I wasn’t there? ‘Cause I am. Sick or not, I wish I’d been there”.

She squeezed his hand, “You will be next time. I’m just glad you are here now and that you were there when it happened”.

Pin nodded, leaning closer to lay his head on her shoulder as he took a deep breath, “I am too”.

“I’m sorry you had to see it, I’m sure it wasn’t … enjoyable. But, I was so scared, Pin. I-I…I… I’d never felt like that before and-“ she sniffled, resting her forehead on his head, “it was a lot. I didn’t know what to do. But as soon as I saw you it was like it didn’t even matter. Despite all the chaos in my head, I knew I would be okay, because you were there”.

Pin tilted his head back to look up at her, eyes watery as he gave her a smile, “I will always be there. Why haven’t you mentioned this before?”

“I had it under control… or I thought I did,” she whispered.

“You told me I couldn’t hide things just because they might dampen the mood, I need the same from you, y/n/n” Pin requested.

“Okay” she agreed.

“Next time, if you feel it dropping at all, you call me okay?” Pin asked, thumb running across her bottom lip.

“Alright, I’m sorry” y/n told him.

He shook his head softly, thumb still playing with her delicate lips, “We’re okay. You’re okay. That’s all that matters.”

She hummed and pulled him back down to her, lips pressed to the crown of his head as he hugged her.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“How are you feeling now y/n?” Ted asked as he entered her hospital room.

She smiled softly up at him before looking over at her boyfriend, “I’m good, thank you sir.”

Pin shook his head, a small smirk on his lips, “You don’t need to keep calling him sir.”

Ted laughed softly, “He’s right. Regardless, I’m glad to see you both doing better.”

Y/n hummed, squeezing Pin’s hand lovingly.

Pin smiled at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead, pleased it was no longer clammy. “Any news from the doctors?” he asked, looking over at his father.

“Did they say when I could leave?” Y/n followed up, hoping it was soon.

Pin glanced at her and shook his head faintly in amusement before turning back to Ted.

“Yes, they will be in soon. And no, they didn’t say when,” Ted answered, sitting down in the chair at the opposite side of the room.

It was then that y/n saw the crowded countertop.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion, “What is all of that?”

Pin chuckled, “You had a lot of us worried, people wanted to share their support.”

Ted nodded, “There’s more at the castle, too. Pin suggested we start moving the new deliveries there so it would be easier when you are cleared to leave”.

Y/n smiled, nodding as she turned to look at Pin who was biting his lip.

“Honey, why the castle?” She questioned knowingly.

Pin blushed and rubbed his neck, “It’s away from everyone, and Arthur will be there to help me take care of you.”

Y/n smiled softly, reaching out to cup his face, “That’s not necessary, handsome. Very sweet, but not necessary”.

Pin pouted slightly, “I know it is probably overkill, but I’d really appreciate it if you would stay at the castle with me for a few days my love.”

Y/n leaned to the side, pressing a tender kiss to his lips, his hand finding her hair.

“I will, you know I’d follow you anywhere, I just don’t want you thinking I need that, or that life. I’m not with you because you have a castle or a butler, I don’t need that” she reiterated, peering into his eyes.

“I just need you, Pin” she confessed, tracing shapes on his cheek, “I don’t need a duke. I need my moody horse boy.”

Pin blushed deeply, delicately pulling her face back to his, his lips pressing against hers, “you have me, my darling. But, you are resting in the castle, it’s much warmer and safer”.

She giggled and kissed his nose before laying back against the hospital bed.

Ted smiled to himself as he watched his lovesick son and his son’s equally lovesick girlfriend comfort each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, in sum, your blood sugar was dangerously low,” the doctor explained, “but, it was a whirlwind of events that caused you to faint. While the blood sugar eventually would have done it had it not increased, you experienced what we call a vasovagal response”.

Pin pursed his lips as he closed his eyes, making y/n confused.

She squeezed his hand, holding it to her chest.

“Essentially, your heart rate and blood pressure dropped too suddenly. This is often caused by stress” the doctor added.

Y/n then understood why Pin was acting the way he was at the explanation.

“Pin, it’s not your fault,-“ y/n softly spoke.

Before he could argue, the doctor agreed, “Given the details surrounding the event, I must agree. While impossible to determine precisely the trigger, things like standing for too long, heat exhaustion, overworking or straining your muscles, dehydration, etcetera, can cause responses like this.”

“See, “ she argued.

Pin huffed slightly, still feeling as if he were slightly to blame; he could’ve prevented most of those factors.

“Now, take those factors and add in malnutrition and/or low blood sugar, such as you had, and it is easy to see how this happened,” the doctor said.

“What do we do from here?” Pin asked, staring intently at the man.

The doctor set his notepad to hand Pin a pamphlet, “Miss y/l/n must maintain healthy levels of blood sugar as much as possible and limit the factors we discussed. She’ll be just fine, but her body needs to rest for a day or two in order to bounce back. Should you feel faint again, lie down promptly to avoid losing consciousness again. Other than that, it’s unlikely to happen again if the factors are mitigated,” he assured.

“Thank you sir,” y/n said.

“Yes, thank you. Is there anything else we should know? She’ll be staying with us for the next few days at least” Ted informed.

Pin held up the pamphlet in his hand as a response to his father.

“That handout will discuss hypoglycemia management and treatment, should it drop again. Other than that, just ensure she rests, and it’ll be over soon,” the doctor answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“We should update your emergency contact while you wait for your discharge forms” the nurse instructed as she disconnected y/n’s IV line.

“Oh yeah, probably” y/n laughed, looking over at Pin.

“I called your mum, but it went to voicemail. I can try again” Pin said softly.

Y/n shook her head, “She’s probably still asleep.”

Her mother had returned to America after the summer but allowed y/n to remain.

Zoe’s mum had offered to check in on y/n and watch over her, even offering her a place to stay.

After much debate, y/n’s mom let her stay with them.

However after Gaby moved in, things became tense in the house between Zoe and Gaby; making y/n feel uncomfortable.

As such, she’d been staying at her late aunt’s house; the house her mother had traveled to the area to make arrangements with upon the passing of y/N’s aunt.

That’s how y/n ended up meeting everyone at Bright Fields, having joined her mother that summer.

They settled on keeping the house as it was important to her aunt and her mother found it a distant connection to her recently lost sister.

Y/n had begun to repair, with Pin’s help, the house upon leaving Zoe’s.

By now it was completely functional and safe, but that didn’t mean her mother would be pleased to learn of the change in her residency.

Nor did it mean Pin wanted her to be sleeping somewhere alone after today.

Even before today's events, Pin worried about her living alone as they were all still fairly young.

He tried to arrange for y/n to room at Holloway, since she’d declined to move in with Pin and his father, but she’d rejected that idea, saying Callum made her uncomfortable.

It had only been a few weeks, and she assured Pin and Ted that Zoe and Gaby would sort things out soon and she would then return to their home.

Pin nodded at his girlfriend, rubbing her hand.

“I see here that the last time you were in was nearly a year ago, in the summer…, and I show your mum is listed as the emergency contact. Is that still correct?” The nurse asked.

“Uh no, that wouldn’t be very useful,” y/n admitted with a small laugh.

The nurse nodded, “Okay, who would you like as a primary emergency contact?”.

Y/n stared at Pin, who blushed and smiled softly.

“Is there an age restriction or any other rule?” Y/n questioned.

“Yes and no. You can have whomever, but you will need an adult to agree with the discharge plans,” the nurse explained.

She glanced over at Ted.

Ted nodded kindly, “Of course. You can list me, or I have Maggie’s number if you want to put her.”

Pin smiled at his father over y/N’s shoulder in appreciation.

“Thank you, s-Ted” y/n chuckled, “I’ll put Pin and you down, then”.

Pin blushed and kissed her hand, honored to be chosen.

Ted nodded and helped the nurse update the contact information.

“You didn’t need to do that love,” Pin whispered, playing with her hair.

“I know, but I trust you two the most. And I want you there if something were to happen. I’d need you” she shyly admitted.

Pin chuckled softly, tilting her head up so he could place a tender kiss on her lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“I know it’s been a lot today,” Pin whispered as he guided her to the main bedroom of his castle, “and I don’t want you to feel like this is me pressuring you into staying here, or like I see it as moving in or anything, I just need to kno-“ he said, opening the bedroom door.

“Pin, babe,” she smiled, bracing his bicep, “it’s okay. I don’t feel pressured. And I’m glad to know I have you here with me”.

Pin blushed and nodded, grabbing her hand as he pulled her inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Pin” y/n giggled trying to grab his hand as he continued to fluff her pillows.

“Pin, Pin, honey, hey, come here,” she said, pulling at his wrist, “sit down.”

Pin complied, sitting next to y/n and brushing hair from her forehead, “What is it, sweetheart?”

“I think you’ve poked and prodded those pillows enough, just come lay down with me, hmm?” She asked.

Pin smiled and blushed, “In a moment darling, I need to grab a few things.”

Y/n pouted but nodded, letting Pin tuck her back under the blankets before he excused himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is that Elvis I hear?” Y/n asked, looking across the room at the window as Pin entered.

“Elvis and y/h/n, yes” pin answered, setting a tray on the bedside table.

“Is (s)he okay?” Y/n pondered, “I didn’t even think to check on him/her, (s)he's pro-“.

Pin shushed her kindly, “Darling, don’t fret. Y/h/n is perfectly fine. Tomorrow morning we can walk out and see him/her, let him/her know you’re okay too”.

Y/n hummed and smiled over at him as she looked away from the window.

“What’s all of that?” She questioned, eyes scanning the variety of items he’d brought in.

“Arthur made some tea, he’s much better at it than I am,” Pin chuckled shyly, “but I also got you some water and these lollies should help if your levels drop.”

Y/n smiled and nodded, “That sounds perfect thank you, handsome.”

Pin blushed, “My dad went to get some more test strips to check your levels since your kit was running low, and Arthur is working on dinner.”

She grabbed his hand, “Thank you for managing all of that. Now, your highness, please join your girlfriend as she’s in need of cuddles.”

Pin blushed and gave her a soft glare, “Don’t call me that.”

She chuckled and rolled her eyes, “Fine, but I do need cuddles.”

Pin grinned and slid in next to her, “Anything for you.”

“Please miss y/l/n, stop thanking me,” Arthur requested as he cleared her and Pin’s plates from the dinner he’d brought them.

Y/n bit her lip and nodded, snuggling into Pins arms as the butler left.

“How are you feeling y/n?” Pin asked, looking down at her as she rested against his chest.

“Sleepy, but in a good way,” she explained as she saw Pin begin to panic.

“Are you wanting to sleep?” he wondered.

She nodded, sinking down under the covers more.

“Did you want to change first?” he asked, pointing towards the closet where Arthur had hung the clothes Ted picked up from her house earlier.

She shook her head with a yawn, but then paused, “Wait, a sweater sounds nice.”

Pin nodded and promptly raised from the bed, heading to grab the sweater.

“Better?” he asked as she sipped on some tea, her hands now covered by the sweater material.

“Much” she sighed as she set the tea back down, a smile on her lips.

Pin grinned, pleased she was doing better.

“Good, now it’s time for you to rest,” Pin said, pulling the blanket up to her chest.

“Aren’t you staying in here with me?” she asked quietly.

Pin blushed and rubbed his neck.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted- yeah, of course.” He smiled.

She beamed and snuggled back into him as he laid beside her, “My moody horse boy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Nope,” Pin laughed, shaking his head.

Y/n frowned. “Why not?”

“We said relaxing and low stress activities, love,” he reminded her.

She nodded, “I could read for a bit, but I didn’t think to have Ted grab my book when he stopped by my house”.

Pin hummed and kissed the top of her head.

“I can check the castle’s library, or there are plenty of letters addressed to you that you could read.” He offered.

Y/n raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

Pin nodded and laughed, “I told you, the whole town was concerned. They started sending them to the stables where my father picked them up. Want to see them?”

She nodded and pulled the blanket into her lap as she adjusted her posture.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“These are so sweet” y/n whispered, holding yet another kind letter up for her boyfriend to read.

Pin smiled as he quickly read the note, his attention more on y/N’s happiness than the letter itself.

“They love you, “ he said, rubbing her arms.

She shook her head shyly, “I didn’t even finish my audition.”

Pin kissed her ear, “Doesn’t matter. They know how talented you are. And more importantly, they know that you have a huge heart.”

Y/n blinked up at him through her eyelashes, “Thank you, Pin”.

He hummed, kissing her nose, “I know you’re disappointed with the outcome, but I’m sure you’ll get it next year. What’s important to me - and the town, clearly - is that you’re okay”.

She turned in his arms, moving until she was straddling him.

“I am Pin, and it’s because of you. I'm sorry I worried you so much, but I appreciate you taking care of me” y/n whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day the couple went on a short ride around the castle’s yard.

She’d barely tied y/h/n to the post when she felt arms around her.

Y/n smiled to herself and turned around, wrapping hers around Pin in response.

“Hey what’s wrong?” she asked, seeing the glassy look in Pin’s eyes.

He shook his head with a dorky smile of his lips, “I love you, you know that?”.

Y/n giggled, pulling him in for a kiss “Yes Pin, of course I know that. It’s be impossible not to,” she said as they parted, “I love you too”.

“No more close calls okay? My heart can’t take anything else happening to you,” he said seriously.

“Ditto,” she stated, pulling him back in for another kiss.

Pin Hawthorne Navigation/Masterlist

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Main Navigation/Masterlist (All my works)

[part-timewonders]

#TWIYOR: the story started when you first said hello

For @dailytwiyorprompts: middle-aged

(read on twitter or ao3)

“When they told me that having a child was integral to Operation Strix, this was not what I imagined,” Loid mutters under his breath as he fixes his tie in the suite’s full-length mirror. The suit he wears is perfectly tailored, a deep black with a maroon tie and pocket square to match. He tugs at the tie again, trying to straighten it out.

Behind him, Yor chuckles. “There’s always more than one way to accomplish your goals. I’d say you were quite successful, actually. Spies across the world would weep to achieve the miracles you’ve pulled off.” She comes over to him so they can stand together in the mirror.

The past two decades have been kind to her, Loid thinks, and no matter how much she complains about it, he thinks her graying hairs and laugh lines are quite attractive. And her floor-length gown, with matching ruby earrings, is lovely on her. The tailors did an excellent job matching his accessories with the garnet shade of her dress. They look like a distinguished middle-aged couple, the kind that used to be their targets in their respective careers.

“Yes, but…” Loid sighs. He watches their reflections in the mirror. Yor, an ever-steady presence next to him, even in his most anxious moments. “Forgive me, my love. I just can’t seem to put my worries aside. It’s one thing to say, ‘whatever it takes to finish a mission’. It’s another to watch our daughter marry into the mark’s family.”

“Your work is over. Damian Desmond is not his father,” Yor begins gently, wrapping her strong fingers around Loid’s arm. She squeezes it reassuringly. “Just like Anya is not a carbon copy of us. I believe Damian when he says he loves her and will protect her from harm. I also know our Anya is strong, and clever, and she knows she can always come to us, or Sylvia, or Yuri, or Franky, or any of her own friends, if anything goes wrong. Do you think Becky would refuse to help her best friend since childhood, if asked to?”

Yor makes several good points, Loid thinks. And it’s not as if the daughter of a retired spy and retired assassin wouldn’t know how to take care of herself. “She could always punch him in the face again,” he considers, brightening up visibly at the prospect. The first time it’d happened, he’d thought that was the end of the mission. How quickly things can change.

“Yes, and you know I’ve taught her all of Thorn Princess’s tricks over the years. Really, Damian should be the one who’s afraid,” Yor laughs. She pushes herself onto her toes so she can kiss his cheek. Loid can’t help but smile at the feeling of her soft lips against his skin. “Now, finish getting ready, Mr. Forger. We can’t be late to our own daughter’s wedding.”

[docholligay]

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Nonspoilery: This is a super fun read that is very much in keeping with how I like my fantasy. I wish it were slightly more on the con man side, but I recognize that those are very difficult to write because one needs to actually be clever enough to come up with the insanely clever plan that unfolds, and, you know what, I'm not there either. But it absolutely is a fun crimey fantasy novel, well written that expects you can actually follow a line of description and maybe even look up a big word, that tries very hard not to bore you with needing to refer to a glossary or map.

I will say, and I'll talk about this more below: There are basically no women in this novel. it's a little disappointing. I still overall think it's worth it if you like this sort of thing though.

SPOILERS BELOW:

THIS is the kind of thing pitchless draw was made for. You could not have talked me into reading this book. Unless you possess an incredible skill--I'm not sure *I* could have talked me into reading this book, and supposedly no one knows me better.

But I did really enjoy myself. This is a flat out FUN novel, that doesn't mind being long but never feels long. I LOVED the long bits of description in this book, I BEG for flavor in some many modern novels that strip away anything that isn't an immediate moving of the ball. Actually, one of the things I would say that's not a criticism so much as a preference, is that I feel like this book, and probably this writer, remembering his short story from Rogues, is more plot-driven than character driven. I am a girl who loves a really interior novel, and this isn't that, but it did not stop me from having a GREAT time. It's a romp.

I like Locke, and his whole backstory. I wish he were a woman. Specifically, I would love to see a femme con artist, second coming of Minako Aino, Becky Sharp ass bitch. THAT would be my dream for Locke Lamora. And I know my friends who have read this book all want butch Locke and I love that for you, and I know y'all have known me long enough to know I love a butch, but I deserve a treat as well, and I LOVE con artists, and goddamnit, if I could change one thing about this novel, Locke Lamora would be a femme lesbian and I would change NOTHING else. You wouldn't even have to. One fo the great things about Lynch not being a real interior writer is literally any of the mains could be a woman and it would change nothing.

This does segue into the big problem here--there's no women in this novel. It's a 700 page book and I could condense the lines said by women into like two or three pages. I actually DO get it. I think we're reaping a little bit of what we've sown, as a community, with the requirement for perfection in our representation that leads to very boring and safe choices. Everyone is a man. We're only swarthy at best. Can't be criticized for bad identity writing if you don't write them at all! ANd this isn't me being salty, I get how that happens, I have also sometimes fallen into making any character of identity boring as fuck or not writing them at all to avoid any criticism. And no one cares about ME, I'm not a best seller. I do think, maybe, people will get better about this. Pendulums and all. I miss the awkward, good faith 90s where you had the United Colors of Benetton and one character who randomly celebrated Hanukkah. We'll see.

ANYHOW NOT RELEVANT. But I do find it irritating that because of this, we don't see women in this huge story at all. None of the gang, even though it would have been easy as fuck to make, say, Bug a girl. Even doing something like making Nazca Barsavi the actual heir apparent, and to have her marrying Locke because she knows he won't try to be Capa, and she'll let him do whatever the fuck he wants, can play the henpecked husband while being the Thorn of Camorr, could be really fun and would do more for Nazca and also play up their friendship. It could make her death mean a lot more, if they were running their own little Barsavi con.

Anyhow, the really fantastic behind the scenes worldbuilding was how I wish more fantasy novels did it. It didn't often try to explain things to me, it spoke as if I mostly understood them, or had cahracters say them in ways that made sense to the story (In this capacity, Lukas Fehrwright is fucking BRILLIANT as Someone That Must Have Camorr Explained). So I didn't feel like I was being sat down and told the history of a place I barely know, while having stupid fucking vocabulary words thrown at me. We never define any physik or magic beyond what needs be done because fuck you that's why. I love it. Thank you for not telling me what alchemical botany can or can't do. Thank you for dropping literally only what I need to kjnow about wraithstone into the plot. You have a crown in heaven.

Or I know I said I wish it would have been more con-ny and less "kill the new mob boss" at the end there, but oh my fuck, how much did I love the whole job at the counting house. I SCREAMED. It was so good, I had no clue where it was going the whole time and I would never have gotten there, but I LOVED it. What a great time.

One...weakness, for me, I guess I'll say, is that lack of interiority makes it hard to really feel the weight of some things. We don't get enough about Galdo, Calo, or Bug to feel anything for them, and I knew Bug was dead from the time he showed up. Actually, I thought we were going to kill jean Tannen, because that was the only relationship REALLY laden with emotional weight in the book. Didn't bother me enough to not recommend the book, as I'm mostly recommending it on fun, but I did notice.

ANYWAY, uh...any specific questions I'm happy to take!

Unfortunately, this means that @verbforverb nabbed me again. So, I had a great time reading the book but at what cost

[simp4strongwomen]

You’re in my Seat.

Y’all this is my first fic, pls go easy on it it’s my baby. I literally fell in love with Becky Lynch so quickly and I’m constantly on her X reader tab just to find new stuff so I thought ide try my hand at writing. The bold is the dialogue prompt I found. All credit goes to the owner, though I’m not sure who it is because I found the prompt in a random google doc and thought ide use it. So if you know who owns it pls tag them. Lots of Love.

Becky Lynch x Reader “What's that look for?” Becky Lynch looked up at you, after seeing your shadow block out the light.

“...You’re in my seat.” You replied, slightly scared of the fiery wrestler.

“Well I’m not moving, so either stop being a little bitch about it, and get another seat, or sit in my lap.” The red headed Irish woman took you by shock with her reply.

You have had a crush on the champion for quite some time. Actually ever since you joined the professional wrestling world three years ago. Once you had finally moved up to Raw, you tried your hardest to be friends with her, the only conversations you would have with The Man would always end up in her flirting and you flustered. You never thought that she would ever reciprocate the feelings you have for her. But maybe she did, but who are you kidding? That was just her personality, there is no way she would like you. Not when she is the Women's Champion, and you’re just a newer, younger, protogé. Little did you know though, that she enjoys the conversations you both have, and notices the effect she has on you. You have been the reason for some of her sleepless nights, just wondering what life with you could possibly be like. She enjoyed your nature and the aura that surrounds you, likening how it’s so different from her commanding fiery spirit.

“What?!” And once again, Lynch has been able to cast you flustered with one simple sentence.

Becky, not wasting any time, responds so coolly, yet panicking on the inside. “You heard me. I don’t care what you chose, but hurry it up, we don’t have all day.” At that point in time you're pretty sure your heart just pushed your brain out of the way, all thoughts about what could possibly happen in the future with this decision. Yet you pushed away all the negative and focused on the positive that came along, when you sat down on her lap.

Becky was in shock, she didn’t expect you to actually go through with that choice.  Reeling her head back in shock she asks you one question,” You comfortable lass?”

You, just deciding that whatever happens from here on out happens, so fuck it. “Quite actually. I think I should sit here more often. Though I think some people here might get a little jealous.” Wrapping one arm around her shoulder and messing with a strand of her curly orange hair, you busy yourself with looking anywhere but in her brown eyes.

“Oh well, that’s their loss they ain’t it. A pretty girl like you should just be sitting on anybody's lap, not unless they deserve it.” Her hand reaches around you back to squeeze your waist, watching the affect her touch has on you.

Finally looking into her deep brown eyes, you bite back,” Oh and you think you deserve it?” Messing around with the necklace around her neck helps your fidgeting calm down so you could hopefully keep up your badass attitude.

“Oh yeah I deserve it. You know why?” Shaking your head no at her question, you shiver when her free hand comes up to rest on your cheek. Becky pulls your face close to hers, you can smell her minty breath, her mouth just a couple inches away from yours. “Because I can get you to throw all cares out the window, and because we both know that we’re the only ones with our eyes set on each other.”

“So what you're saying is that we’re destined?” You both slowly get closer to each other, that is until The Man finally pulls you into her for a deep kiss. A kiss filled with all the words left unspoken between each other. Finally breaking apart after the need for oxygen became a necessity Becky spoke in a whisper as you two weren’t that far away, your lips still brushing when either one speaks.

“What I’m saying is that you and I are going to go on a date, after our matches are over, and not only that, but I’m going to be redoing our first kiss, because as much as I love the whole kissing you while you sit on my lap thing, we can save that for another time,” she smirked at the blush that crept up your face,” because you deserve the perfect night, with the perfect first kiss.” Sitting in silence for a few minutes thankful that one has walked past, or became witness to the very intimate moment.

That silence was broken when you spoke up,” So you’re telling me that you like me? Like actually like me.”

“Yes I actually like you, might I dare even say I love you.”

[nicolewoo]

Cub: Chapter 21: Taking care of business

Chapter 21

Pairing: Roman Reigns X Reader

Synopsis: Roman, Seth and Dean are a pack of werewolfs. Protecting their city from the scumbags of the world ends up with a surprise when a victim left for dead imprints on Roman Reigns.

Roman’s POV: I caught Renee in her bedroom folding laundry. “Hey!”

She turned to see me. “What’s up?”

“I’m wondering if you can do me a favor?” I said as I walked farther into the room.

Renee nodded, turning back to the pile of clothes in front of her. “Whatcha need?”

I folded my arms in front of me as I leaned against a wall. “Cub needs a dress for Saturday night. Do you think you could take her shopping? Buy a dress, shoes, purse… whatever she needs? I was also hoping you’d spoil her with like a mani, pedi, spa day. She deserves a massage.” I mused.

“Of course, I’ll take her shopping, but the spa is a bad idea while she is still adjusting to her wolf senses.”

I hadn’t thought of that. “Makes sense” I answered.

“How spoiled should I make her?” Renee asked.

I knew Cub was listening to the conversation through our link, and I didn’t want her to hear this part, so I blocked her for a second. I hated to do that, but I knew she’d protest what I was about to say, “If she likes it… buy it…. All of it.” I unblocked my mate.

What are you doing? Cub asked through our link.

Just spoiling my sweet Cub. I laughed when she got frustrated.

“You’ve spoiled me enough already.”

“It will never be enough.”

She came down the stairs in a very simple, very sexy Red Satin dress. The shiny material sliding over her curves as she glided down the stairs. I couldn’t help but think how I couldn’t wait to slide my hands over those same curves.  Her makeup was perfect. Becky had done an amazing job with her hair too.

I greeted her as she came to the bottom. “You look like a goddess. Absolutely beautiful.” I held my hand out to her as she reached the last step.

“Thank you.” She was embarrassed by my compliments. She definitely needed more spoiling. “You look amazing too.” She raked her eyes over me hungrily, and I couldn’t stop the growl of desire that came out.

“Whoa! Cool off Ro. You’ll end up missing the whole night.” Seth said as he came in, fastening a cufflink. I could think of other ways to stay entertained tonight, but she’d gone to all this trouble to look so stunning for me. She didn’t need the dress, the hair or the makeup to look stunning in my eyes, but I did appreciate the effort.

Dean came in the room now scrolling through his phone. “Cub, you look gorgeous!” he said when he looked up. She smiled slightly and thanked him.

Once Becky and Renee came down, we left for dinner.

The Crow’s Nest had a view of Anchorage from above, and I’d reserved us a private room with a view to the East.

“Dr. Reigns, Dr. Ambrose, Dr. Rollins, Dr. Lynch and my favorite, Miss Renee.” The maître de was really pouring it on thick for us. He took Renee’s hand when he said her name and kissed the back of it. “Oh, but who is this beautiful young woman? Could it be the Cub we’ve all heard so much about?”

Cub sniffed, confirming her suspicion that the maître de was a wolf. “Yeah baby. His name is Kordon.”

“It is a pleasure, Cub.” Kordon shook hands with Cub.

“It’s nice to meet you.” She answered.

Kordon turned back to his job, grabbing menus and leading us through the restaurant. “Your special table is ready for you.”

“Thank you.” I said.

She loved everything from the décor to the rich food to the company. We laughed at stories from our past and tried to get her to talk about her past, but she didn’t want to, and that was fine. Not tonight. Tonight was about spoiling her, and as she laughed along with us, I could feel that she felt loved. She felt appreciated. She felt joy.

After dinner, we stopped at the condo so everyone could change, and Dean picked up his equipment. Seeing Cub slip off her shoes, I came to unzip the back of her dress; allowing my fingertips to graze across the soft skin as I slid the zipper down.

This time, she was the one who growled. “In a couple of hours.” I assured her. “Gotta support Dean.” She agreed.

We found our seats right in the front row. She took in the sights and sounds of the arena with the same enthusiasm as at the restaurant. It was all so new to her, and I loved being the person who got to show her.

Seth and Becky had stayed behind to get snacks, and now they came toward us with popcorn and drinks. “Hope you like butter.” Becks said.

“OOOhhhh Yes Please!” Cub said as she took the offered popcorn bag. We settled into our seats. Seth quickly handed Cub some ear plugs and sunglasses.

“What would I do without you?” She thanked him.

“Probably get a headache” He chuckled as she put the plugs in and the sunglasses on. I felt her relax as the ear plugs expanded, blocking more noise.

Wrestling was new to Cub. Her parents hadn’t allowed her to watch it growing up. Even with the ear plugs and sunglasses, I was afraid all the lights and sounds would be too much for her new senses, and as I scanned her, I felt the pain and tension they caused, but Cub was determined to support Dean. Becky had some Ibuprofen, and I gave Cub some to help, but it would burn off soon. It’s all I could do for now.

Cub watched the show enthusiastically, admiring the athletes and what they could do. When Dean started making his way through the crowd and into the ring, Cub was the loudest cheerer, and Renee wrapped an arm around her happily.

“It might get scary. Dean can do some crazy things. Just remember, he’s a wolf, and he’ll be fine.” Renee said to reassure Cub.

Cub nodded her agreement, but still had a bit of hesitation about it. I leaned in close to her, kissing her head for reassurance.

Dean and his opponent, Drew, brought the house down. By the end of the match, both wrestlers were bloody and bruised. Dean had broken his ankle, and wrestled the last 5 minutes in terrible pain, but he looked out into the crowd, scanning until his eyes met Cub’s. Quietly, he whispered “I’m ok. Just need to morph, and I’ll be fine.”

Cub took a deep breath and tried to relax. It still bothered her, but once Dean had been helped backstage he morphed into wolf form and healed. His relief helped Cub to relax too.

Why does he do that to himself? Cub asked through our link, but she knew. She and Dean had developed a special bond….. a bond that comes from growing up in dysfunctional homes. A bond that comes from never being shown love and acceptance. For Dean, that included physical violence as well as emotional. In fact, having Cub around had helped him feel more accepted and loved. Like, only someone who’d been broken as a child could understand his darkness.

Cub thought to herself that she wanted to ask Dean how a wolf ended up getting abused. Foster homes? Addicted parents? The family unit was so strong in wolves that abused children almost never happened. Dean was different though. Dean had fallen through the cracks.

It’s his story to tell, baby girl. He’ll tell you when he’s ready; just as I suspect you’ll tell him your story when the time is right. She hadn’t really thought about that. We knew my pack wanted to know about her childhood, but it wasn’t until now that I realized she’d have to tell them about it. It made me anxious just thinking about it. There’s no hurry. When you’re ready.  I kissed the top of her head again.

“Roman?” Filemu’s voice chirped from my phone. “How are you? How is Cub?”

“Tribal Chief, we are doing great. How can I help you?” I asked.

“Given the circumstances, you having to leave Samoa so soon, I was wondering how you two would feel if a few of us came to visit. We were not able to teach Cub as much as we wanted. Now that your airports are open again, we can come to you this time.”

I hesitated. I had Tuesday and Wednesday off work and was hoping to run away for a romantic trip. Cub needed peace and quiet.

“Roman? Is something wrong?” Filemu asked.

I sighed. “I was actually hoping to get away with Cub for a couple of days. She’s been surrounded by people for weeks, and I think she could use a break.”

“OH! That sounds like a good thing for her. What days were you thinking of going?” Filemu asked.

I quickly focused on Cub’s mind to see what she thought of all of it. She was still adjusting to her senses and her new strength. I looked down at my arm where she had clawed it open in the throes of passion last night. It had healed, but she’d felt so bad about it. Add to that the fact that she was going to be changing without being sedated soon. She wanted the tribe here for that. She resigned herself to putting off our little get away until next week. Thank you, sweetie. I told her.

“Cub and I will get away next week.” I answered.

“Are you sure?” The tribal chief asked.

I agreed. “She’d like her tribe to be here when she does her first change without sedatives.”

Filemu sounded excited. “We thought she would have already done that. We would love to be there to support her. We’ll get a flight lined up and be there in a few hours.”

“Thank you Tribal Chief.” I said.

Roman had set the meeting for lunchtime, and Paul was quick to offer to bring lunch. I had caught glimpses of Paul through Roman’s head, but nothing clear. Now, as I opened the door, I wished I knew.... I wasn’t prepared....

He looked like a walrus! He was short, stout, balding, and a skin condition discolored parts of his face. I had assumed he was a wolf until I saw him, but the man in front of me was obviously not a wolf, and a quick sniff confirmed it. “You must be Ms. YLN. It’s an honor to meet you.” He said, shaking my hand. “How are you?” Everyone asked this question, but this man’s sincerity and ample smile made my thoughts of his looks flee my mind.”

“I’m good. Come on in.” I opened the door wide to let Paul and someone else in. I motioned to set the bags down on the counter. “I’m Paul Heyman. This is my associate, Michael Cole. “

“It’s a pleasure.” Michael said with the same sincerity as Paul.

A quick sniff confirmed that Michael was a wolf. I was a little surprised, and Roman thought “talk about that later.”

“But Paul isn’t in the best health. The tribe won’t let him become a wolf?” I thought.

“He doesn’t want it.” Roman replied. “I’m coming down now.”

A second later, Roman joined us and greetings were exchanged. There was some light chit chat about sports as we went to the dining room, and our guests started laying out the food.

Once we were all settled and started eating, it was Michael who started. He handed me a manila envelope. “So, what we have here is your paperwork and your cards. When I pulled the contents out, he began to explain. “We replaced the driver’s license you lost in the mugging. We also updated your address with the state of Alaska. You now officially live at Roman’s hunting cabin.” I was impressed by what they’d done without needing my help. Michael reached for the next bunch of papers; revealing a passport. “Here’s your passport.”

I was even more shocked. Were they forging federal documents now? “Don’t you need my signature or something?”

Paul and Michael smiled in amusement, but Roman answered. “They used the signature on your last drivers license.”

Oh. Ok. “Is that legal?” I asked out loud; eliciting new smiles from our guests.

“Baby,” Roman cooed as he put his hand on my leg “with enough money, everything is legal.” Now everyone laughed. “Ok. Lets keep going.”

Michael moved the passport aside, revealing a thick stack of cards bound together “these are your credit cards.” He’d said it so offhandedly I knew this was no big deal to these guys, so I just said thanks, but I thought “all these?” Roman chuckled.

“Here are your bank accounts,” Mr. Cole said as he flipped through the papers. “This one is just yours. I almost fainted when the balance came into view. 10 million!!!! “This isn’t my bank account.”

“No. I hope you don’t mind, but we closed your account, and consolidated your money with the tribal money and some of Roman’s money.”

“Tribal money?” I asked.

Paul was the one to answer now. “Every member of the tribe inherits $4 million from the tribe at birth. That money is put in a trust. At 16, tribe members begin receiving a small stipend each month. At 18, that stipend grows, and at 23 they receive full control of their money. Now, usually, the tribe members have earned interest while they grow up. We calculated the interest we think you would have earned and included it in your account.”

“And I threw in some mad money for you.” Roman added.

I….. me…. The girl who grew up poor as dirt. Me, myself had $10 million. But then again, it wasn’t my money really. It was the tribe’s money and Roman’s.

“It’s yours now, baby. You earned it.” Roman thought as he kissed my temple.

We ate, casually talking about vacations we wanted to take, the location of our dream home and family. Mr. Hayman didn’t start his portion of the meeting until after we’d finished our amazing lunch and cleared the table. Paul had taken the time to set up his laptop.

“Ok, I guess I get the fun part.” He smiled at Mr. Cole. He turned to me. “Ready to see your assets?” He was excited. I just nodded. “Your net worth,” He pointed at the screen “Is right here.”

I couldn’t talk. Couldn’t think! I had expected a few million. To find that Roman was worth 3 Billion floored me.

Heyman continued. “These are your joint assets. As you can see the total net worth is $3,577,476,875.68. Let’s break that down for you.” He continued to direct our eyes over the information. “Here we have the business portfolio. I’m happy to report that most of your business ventures flourished this quarter. We had one poorly performing IPO. This is…” He paused to put on his glasses and pointed at the screen again. “This was an up and coming computer security company. The owner’s wife died. In the aftermath, the company suffered.”

Roman interrupted Paul’s thoughts. “Do you have faith in this owner?”

“Absolutely,” Michael said. “You have been a silent partner on 3 other businesses he runs.”

Roman nodded curtly. “Do me a favor. Call the owner. Ask him how I can help. If he needs a manager, or time…. If you guys believe in him, I do too.”

My heart soared. My amazing mate cared more about the person than the money!

“I’ll take care of that today.” Michael assured and wrote himself a note.

“So, you profited $12 million this quarter from your business ventures.” I was never going to get used to this kind of money! “Your investment portfolio did fairly well; going up 3%,” Roman nodded casually. Paul continued. “Your liquid assets are currently at $5,892,446.93. Your non liquid assets add up to….”

He pointed back to the  net worth of $3 BILLION!!!!! Roman was a billionaire! “So are you baby” Roman thought.

“I don’t know how to be a billionaire.” I meant to think it, but ended up saying it out loud.

All three men laughed lightly. “We’ll teach you how.” Roman answered. “How about retirement?”

The mood of the room changed quickly. “Well… see….” Paul started stammering. “We have started the process, but the Yupik pack is still on their tour.”

Michael jumped in now. It was obvious he wasn’t as afraid to give us bad news. “As it sits now there are already four packs on their tour. That’s usually the max we can handle and still have the staff we need at hospitals.”

“

The meeting went on. Roman had to decide which non-liquid assets to sell so that he could have enough assets to build our dream home and go on our world travel. He was selling 5 boats, 3 houses and a boat load of land around the world and 5 of his businesses. By the end of the meeting my head was swimming with impossible numbers. Real people didn’t talk about BILLIONS. Normal people thought in thousands… maybe millions. Hell, in my life I’d never had over 3 thousand dollars at one time, and that included tax refunds.

Our guests went back to their offices once the meeting was done, but Roman invited them to join us for family dinner at the hotel Sunday, their families too.

Note from the author: Part 22 is already partially written!

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