#while going through the choices i was like HMMMM not sure how this is gonna go!

[wishfell]

how do you need to be loved?

YOUR RESULTS: like the burn marks on my hands

you need to be loved gently, taken care of. you need to let yourself be taken care of. you deserve the KINDNESS. you deserve to have fingertips pressed to yours, you deserve soft smiles and quiet laughs. you need to be kissed in the middle of the night, you need to be told it’s okay. you’re used to AGGRESSIVE love, you need it gently.

TAGGED BY: @mathcs ( tysm for tagging me ily ) TAGGING: @eiikyuu, @kismetkiss, @fcurheavens, @hiircgi, @starsgifted, @writelives

[snakegorl212006]

The “Little Things” they do(Savanaclaw)

--------------------Jack------------------------ I assumed he ran out of energy again. The gym was a mess. Weights everywhere,water on the floor, even bars. Almost like a hurricane passed though. Not wanting a mess I began cleaning. Putting weights in the correct spot and order, bars on handles and water cleaned up. While finishing up i felt a cold heavy weight on my back. Although I was a bit startled, I had a feeling it was jack behind me. I sighed slightly and began walking him out of the gym and to his old room. Surely ghosts need rest. I plopped him down on the bed even though he's barely visible. He looked like some miserable dog with his ears down, almost defeated expression. I felt bad. "I’m gonna leave so you can chill” I said as I stood up and began to leave the room “I'm sorry” jack mumbled. I turned around to see he'd faded out. Wonder what he’s sorry about. ---------------------Ruggie----------------------------------- “Ok this is getting ridiculous” i mumbled. “Ruggie” I called out the ghost “yesss” he answer as he peeked through the door “have you been rearranging or stealing my clothes” i asked “hmmmm… maybe” he replied “seriously?” i asked “nope” he smiled and i sighed “can you just give them back” i asked “what would you give me” he smirked mischievously “i have nothing of interest unless you want me to make you food” i offered “hmm.. Donuts and your attention for a day.” he said “ok fine just give me my clothes back” i huffed he smiled widely and disappeared.

The day has gone by and as promised, Ruggie would give my things back by tonight. Once I returned to my room, a large pile of clothes and other miscellaneous things layed on my bed. The more I sifted through, the more disturbing the items got. Cloths to my underwear to missing soap bottles to my chapstick/lipsticks. What was he doing with all this --------------------Leona--------------------------- “Chess? Sure I doubt I remember how to play” i stated “don’t worry about it just sit down” leona said. I shrugged and sat on the table across from leona. There on the table was a classical chess set. “You go first,” Leona said. We committed plays back and forth. We barely spoke so the birds in the gardens occupied the focus atmosphere. “It’s kinda random you invited me here” i said as i placed down a pawn “ghost around here invite you all the time. How is this any different” he replied playing down his rook “well.. You barely acknowledge my presence nor care to move out the way when I’m cleaning the wing so i assume you want nothing to do with me” i replied “well you suddenly appeared in my manor how else was i supposed to react to you” he scoff “should i just leave then” i teased as i placed down my piece. Suddenly he grabbed my wrist and twisted it forcing me out of my chair “leona what the-” i was interrupted by coughing. My body felt weak and dry causing me to cough violently “leave then i have no choice but to kill you” he spoke calmly as he moved his pieces “checkmate” he started dropping my wrist . my body regained normal functions and that dryness faded away although that didn’t stop the coughing. I looked down at my hands and the floor to check for signs of blood,fortunately there was none�� when i turned back to the table to scold even yell at this guy he’s already left the scene. What even was that?

[charlottedabookworm]

I think I saw Styx with Nyx Ardynson somewhere, but about Regisson au? How would that one turn out?

(because I can't imagine Styx just standing there while her brother is slowly burned by his own magic)

(Wesk might get a phone call)

hmmmm so

styx defo wouldn't do nothing

course she wouldn't this is her brother and she's already decided she's going to fucking save him, her brother and her sister are gonna live fuck the canon of another world, so like hell is she gonna let him burn under the pressure of his own magic

but like, she isn't gonna go behind nyx's back

cos if she tells her dad, her dad will tell regis, and the thing is that nyx doesn't want regis to know. and styx, with memories of another life, understands that their mum shoulda told regis

regis has a right to know about his eldest son (probably)

(oh no, styx thinks, is he his eldest son?)

(she's gonna have to check damn it)

yet nyx is old enough to have that choice. and her brother, her brilliant bright loving brother, doesn't want him to know. and like- styx knows why

of course she knows why, when whispers of mors and what he did to every possible child of lucis caelum blood not of the blood still echo through galahd (where better to hide but the endless jungles of the islands?). how can she not know why, when everyone knows how lucian nobles treat their bastards

styx is pretty sure king regis won't react that well but in the end, she knows the king from the story in which he dies very quickly (in which he sacrifices all of his people for noctis, including her brother) and from her father (who is noble himself)

so yeah, styx isn't going to force nyx to tell anyone

what she will do is smack her brother around the head and tell him, very slowly, that her dad lives in the city with the biggest library in the world and that she asks him questions about everything

asking him about lucian magic is literally nothing. she has a tome about the magic of the oracle sitting on her desk ffs nyx he won't even notice

anyway styx grills her dad and takes everything he says, including what it feels like when he uses regis' magic, back to nyx and between them and selena and their mum they figure shit out

nyx is never gonna be as controlled as a lucian prince but that's fine, because nyx is an ulric, he has lightning in his veins and the forest in his bones

(and then, when they get wesk to explain how the whole magic sharing shit works, styx convinces her brother to give her magic because magic (she's going to keep her brother alive and she needs this)

(nyx, being a protective big bro, gives them both magic once he's sure it won't hurt them)

(selena just likes the ability to set anyone who looks at her siblings wrong on fire)

(yes they're all as bad as each other))

[openupforme]

on my study break tehehe. in the library rn. told myself this would be my reward for finishing my tasks + emailing my advisor. i look so fucking dumb rn fyi. i'm just smiling ugh i'm so gayyyy.

do you know those chipmunks that have like huge cheeks and their gathering their little hands to hold an acorn so they can munch on it? yeah that’s gonna be me with my mouth stuffed full of your cock 🥰😇 but also i just have chipmunk cheeks and they get bigger when i smile lmao.

i'll let u know how it goes when i masturbate :) i’m so excited ugh. i love playing with my pussy, while thinking about hot butches like yourself <3

i will personally become your biggest fan if you ever did an audio with your voice. i'm not joking. i would never lie to a butch with an accent and a slow and rapsy speech. if the other anons, won’t beg, i fucking will: please please please please please!!!!! please post an audio, handsome 🥺 (but only if you want <3 no pressure)

enjoy your book!!! and juice!!

- kneeling femme

last night was hectic and sleepy, but here i am (kind of late because? well sleepy). BUT hi kneeling femme, i hope your study break yesterday was fulfilling. you did so much yesterday i’m very proud of you. good girl deserve all the rewards, and you deserved to reach out for finishing your tasks. which is exactly why i hope you were able to get some you time after such a long day. also i’m glad i could put a smile on your face yesterday, that’s the plan.

mhm i have seen them, and i cant wait to watch your cheeks bulge out for me. you’d look so pretty with your mouth stuffed to the brim with my cock. your mouth would be so full that drool would have no choice but to leak through the corners of those pretty lips. it’d be dripping all down my cock making it more slippery (perfect because i don’t want any resistance when i take your mouth). your head would be bobbing up and down on it, and fuck think about the noises your throat would make because it’s eagerly trying to accommodate my cock. if you’re serious about taking me in your mouth i want it to be sloppy and i hope you’ll be a good girl and clean up your mess after i cum in your throat.

i’m sure you’ve been aching, so it’s going to feel extra relieving when you finally give that pretty pussy some attention. i’m excited to learn the details on how it goes, i cant wait to hear about how hard you came to the thought of me.

gonna think about how good it feels when i stretch you open? or are you gonna think about how good it feels when i bottom out in your throat? or maybe even how good my fingers feel when they reach that special spot inside of you? hmmmm i like a good mystery.

i love when we use our manners, good girl that’s right. hm look at you leading by example. BUT since you asked so nicely, all i’ll say is you might be gaining a new favorite because i might be putting out a little teaser soon…. WHO SAID THAT??

(to add i truly did enjoy my book and my juice. i had some really enjoyable quiet time yesterday)

- 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐦 🦭

[fandom-trollbooth]

Baby Girl

Explicit/18+ Only

“Come on, baby girl.” You shiver as you hear his low baritone use that phrase. A pause and then the phrase is repeated, just as low but with a bit more inflection in his voice as he tried to set the scene in his mind.

It shouldn’t affect you this much, but it does. That dulcet tone crooning the words. He knows how effective that voice is. How many people think it’s sexy. He claims he doesn’t but he does, he wields it effectively.

The scene is almost comical. Sitting in a chair in shorts and a t-shirt with the script binder open, feet propped up on the coffee table as the new drones quietly in the background. Those damned glasses perched on his nose as he tapped the pen in his hand on the arm of the chair idly. Thinking for a moment before scrawling a note in the side for himself, or maybe the director.

You don’t bother him while he’s reading the script, although you want to. You want to crawl up his lap and have him say that phrase about a hundred more times in your ear. Preferably after stripping down and while he was inside you.

There hadn’t been much thought to how that phrase would sound. Any time you had thought about it, you had always teased that it was his character Jack Daniels that would say it. That smooth southern accent, or maybe Ezra with that almost dandified cadence to his voice.

Now with this new role, you knew that thousands of fans were going to practically melt when they hear Pedro deliver this line in his new show. You had heard the collective reaction of the fandom when he had uttered “Take it off. Or I will” during season two. Although you could attest to how hot that phrase was. Especially when he is toying with the edge of your bra and smirking at you. Your clothes came off instantly.

Turning back to the stove, you check the temperature to make sure everything was coming along like it should. If you had it timed right, he should be through the first read through by the time dinner was ready. Letting him take a break and eat, even though he would be done for the night.

You don’t hear him close the binder, set it on the coffee table or get up with a quiet groan. Too busy humming to yourself as you finish up the meal. Barefooted, he’s quiet as he makes his way into the kitchen, making you jump when his arms slide around your waist.

“Come on, baby girl.” You pant at the voice in your ear, several octaves lower just like he likes to use when he is being seductive. “Dinner can wait.”

Flipping off the burner, you shudder when he bites your earlobe. Panties were definitely going to drop when they hear him say that. Yours were already being pulled down your thighs. Thick fingers sliding through your lips to find you slick.

“I knew that would turn you on.” He whispers in your ear, sliding his fingers father back and pushing them inside you easily. He gives a teasing laugh when you tighten around his fingers, working them slower than you want. “You liked when I said baby girl?”

You gasp out a soft cry, pinned against the counter as Pedro finger fucks you, talking into your ear and peppering your skin with kisses. Getting you right to the edge of bliss before pulling his hand away and making you whine at loss of him. “Pedro-”

“You want me to fuck you right here?” He asks, hand squeezing your ass and pulling your cheeks apart. “Or do you want to eat and then go to bed? Hmmmm? Your choice baby girl.”

Damn him. Damn him and using that phrase. You push back against the hard length beneath the shorts, rubbing your ass up against him and smirking to yourself when he groans. “Fuck me now and after dinner.”

He hrumphs at you, muttering to himself and no doubt talking about how you are greedy as he shuffles both of you off to the side, away from the heat of the stove. Thankfully you hear his zipper being lowered and the rustling of clothes behind you. His feet nudge yours apart, widening your stance and you feel his cock slide around your folds. The thick tip of him wet with your slick and pressing against your entrance. “Ready?” He croons teasingly.

“Just fuck me, Pascal.” You demand, impatient to feel him inside you.

“Yes, madam.” He grunts, pushing forward and filling you, making you forget everything but the feeling of him inside you. “So good baby girl.”

He was going to kill you with that phrase. You just know it. Your walls tighten around him as he stretches you out. Making you gasp out as he pulls back, thrusting back into you hard enough to make your hips hit the counter. His hands on your hips holding you steady as he rocks on the balls of his feet. Grunting as he picks up the pace and the sound of skin slapping against skin fills the space.

You moan, panting out sounds every time he drives back into you. The sucking noise of his cock dragging against your walls loud and lewd, his fingers digging into your flesh, gripping and pulling you back against him.

You brace your arms on the counter, rocking back against him as much as you can. His hands slide down to you thighs, lifting them up and raising you to your tiptoes as he groans when you flutter around him, giving a shriek when he drills against that spot that makes you come every time.

“Fuck, baby.” He hisses and rocks into you harder, one hand sliding around your thigh to rub your clit, his body curved around yours as he gives short, hard thrusts up into you. “You’re gonna come for me, right?” He pants against your neck. “You’re gonna be a good girl for me?”

You can’t even answer him, white hot pleasure slamming into you and your cunt clamps down around him, tight and hot as it soaks his cock with your come. The ragged cry you give out screams for air, broken and high pitched.

“Fuck.” He grunts, his pace frantic as his hips stutter. Fucking into you with abandon as he edges closer to his own end. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He moans, driving deep into you and letting out a cry as he comes, rope after rope of his seed painting your walls.

Whining when he pulls out, too early in your mind, you feel him pull your cheeks apart so he can see the come dripping from your fluttering hole, still clenching around nothing in the wake of your orgasm. He pats your ass and you can hear the smirk in his voice, even if you aren’t looking at his face.

“Come on, baby girl.” He tells you, shuffling his shorts and underwear back up. “Let’s clean up and eat. I’m hungry now.”

You nod, dumbly, your body filled with pleasurable endorphins. He needs to stop saying that phrase. Or maybe not, maybe he needs to say it more.

[mozak-hh]

Genshin impact A-Z smut alphabet:

Kaeya:

As Requested! hope u enjoy xx 

NSFW- You have been warned~

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after):

This man can’t get enough of your body, even after sex. He’ll let you rest your head on his chest, and will slowly run his hands through your hair while you tangle yourselves in bedsheets. He’ll give you hazy looks of love and affection, tell you how this will definitely put a spring in his step at work tomorrow.  “hopefully this becomes a common occurrence~”

B = Body part (They’re favourite body part as well as their partners):

On him, his mouth. There’s nothing more erotic to him that love bites. Grasping your small neck in his hands and softly biting down. leaving little nips on your thighs and hips. he’ll even look up at you as he bites the lower parts of your body, gliding his tongue over the teeth marks. 

On you, your breasts. Soft skin great for moulding in his hands. Especially when doing doggy style. Kaeya has a pretty big build (its canon that he’s the tallest out of all the genshin boys), so he’ll mould his body into yours from behinds as he hungrily thrusts into you, grabbing your breasts and kneading them slowly. 

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum):

Kaeya loves your cum. When he goes down on you, he’ll make sure to drink your juices after you orgasm. This man likes cumming himself, and he’ll cum as many times as he possibly can. His seed spilling out of you as he continues to ram you into the early hours of the morning. Without question, always inside. Unless you’d like to drink it instead~

D = Dirty secret (Dirty Secret of theirs):

He’ll never tell you, but when Kaeya spends those lonely night doing night shift at the night’s headquarters, he’ll stroke himself beneath his desk while looking at pictures of you. Why not? there’s no one he and he misses you dearly. More importantly, he needs his throbbing heat inside you folds. 

E = Experience (How experienced are they):

Very Experienced. He’s probably slept with every single women in Mondstadt. So he knows how to please his woman.

F = Favorite position (Basically says it in the title):

https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sex/comfortable-sex-positions

The duo. He wants to make sure your comfortable, and not in too much pain. This also gives him great access to touching your breasts and thighs.

G = Goofy (How serious are they? Do they prefer joking?):

Hmmmm.. I wouldn’t call it particularly “goofy,” but he’s not afraid to laugh and joke during the zone. He’ll snicker if you make cute expressions and stuff, and if he messes up or does something stupid he’ll laugh it off.

H = Hair (Does the carpet match the drapes? Are they groomed?):

Indeed it does. He would keep it well trimmed too. I’m not sure if he’d take it all off, there is a chance that he probably has. Just cus he doesn’t like the feel of it. He’s bedded enough women to know how to keep it clean.

I = Intimacy (How they are during the moment):

He gets worried about you easily. If you’ve gone for quite a while or haven’t talked to him that day he’ll get a bit scared. So when he finally sees you he wants to please you so you don’t go away again. If you want him to go rough hell definitely go rough, but most times it’ll be very intimate.

J = Jack off (Masturbation headcanon):

Yes. Before you, he would just pick up some random girl from the tavern, so he wouldn’t need to fulfill he’s needs himself. However, After you caught his interest he couldn’t sleep each night without letting off steam. When you two decide to become a couple, he’s finally able to quench his terribly high sex drive. Those pathetic months of stroking himself were horrible.

K = Kink (One of their kinks):

So, so many

Bondage

Orgasm denial

Hickeys

Hair pulling

Face sitting

Lingerie

Edging

Overstimulation

That’s just the basics really. Pull his hair and he’ll groan. He’ll tie you to the bed and blindfold you as he goes down on you, edging you until he slams his big cock inside. And when you grow tired. He’ll place you on top of his face and eat you up till you start rocking against his tongue

L = Location (Favorite place):

Any place in his house. Kitchen, lounge room, bedroom, shower. He’ll fuck you just about anywhere. Just as long as it’s not in front of anybody.

M = Motivation (What turns them on):

What wouldn’t get this man going? You being horny is probably the biggest turn on for him though. Grab his collar and bring his in for a kiss. Moan when he rests his hand on your back. Pull his hair and whine. Call him daddy... he’s going to give you what you want.

N = No (Something they won’t do):

No side hoes, public sex, knife play, blood play, or anything that’s going to hurt you. If you really wanted to, he’d probably be down for a threesome, just depends on who *cough cough diluc*

O = Oral (Giving or receiving):

Omg you would not regret it if you gave this man head. He looks so hot when his cock is in your mouth. Moaning and biting the back of his hand, the other hand wrapped around the back of your head. Thrusting into you in a rhythmic pace.

P = Pace (Are they fast or slow):

Unless he’s reading you or trying to savour the moment, he’s probably gonna go fast.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies):

How else is he going to get his daily fix of you? There’s multiple times where he’s fucked you in the supplies closet in the Favonius headquarters just because he couldn’t wait to get home.

R = Risk (Will they be down to experiment in risky locations):

Yes yes yes yes. In the headquarters, behind the tavern, secret halls in the church. Just about anywhere private.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go):

Oh many, many rounds. Till the sweat soaks the sheets and tears run down your face. If he has the chance, he won’t stop till he knows you can’t stand up.

T = Toy (Do they own toys and if they do, will they use them):

Probs not in the genshin world girlie- besides, he’s all you really need.

U = Unfair (How much will they tease):

Why of course he’ll tease. If you’ve been a naughty girl, he’s gonna get you on your knees begging for him.

V = Volume (How loud are they if they even are):

He can be loud if he lets go. But he only really does low moans and heavy breathing. The type of moans that rumble the throat. He’ll press his mouth to your ear so you can here them too.

W = Wild card (Headcanon of choice):

One time he had to stay late at his office so he could get all his work done. You wanted to surprise him by stripping in front of his desk. Safe to say he was a very happy man in the morning, and you couldn’t look at Jean without getting embarrassed over what you two had done.

X = X-Ray (What’s going on down there):

8.5 inches . Any bigger and he’s gonna break you. He’s got a bit of an upward curve too. Some veins as well.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive):

He’s sex drive is off the charts. Probably the highest out of everyone in Mondstadt. This mans got stamina, so he will fuck you when he gets a chance.

Z = ZZZ (How quickly do they fall asleep):

He’ll always stay up till you fall asleep since he thinks it would be impolite to ignore you afterwards. But after you’re out, he’s out.

Thanks for reading! x comment who you’d like to see next ;))

[wicked-hg]

Love, The Weasleys || g.w.

Day 12 of @jamilelucato and @whack-ed Very Harry Potter Christmas.

George Weasley x muggleborn!reader

Prompt: Writing Christmas cards

Summary: George never knew about Christmas cards until you.

A/N: This ended up being more about Christmas cards in general than writing them. Hope you all enjoy! I’m thinking about maybe writing more.

WC: 2.3k

Y/H/C- your hair color ; Y/L/N- your last name ; Y/H- your house (except Gryffindor. Sorry. I didn’t realize my mistake when writing this. You’ll understand at the end. Forgive me.)

First year George wasn’t expecting anything from you during Christmas break. You were a muggle-born he had met one day running away from Filch after getting separated from Fred. You two became friends as you became a silent partner and helped with their escape plans. George didn’t realize you had an owl. 

George opened the envelope and stared at the strange letter that had a picture on the front with reindeer pulling a fat man in red robes in a red cart. The front read “May all your wishes be granted”. George curiously opened the strange letter. A still photo of your family stared up at him. He moved it to the side. Printed inside was “Happy Christmas with lots of joy!” Signed underneath was The Y/L/N Family. On the opposite side was a note from you. 

George,

I hope you have a Happy Christmas with your family! I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything in time. I promise to have something for you on the train. Miss you lots dear friend!

Sincerely,

Y/N

“Mum, Dad,” George asked. “Do you know what this strange letter is? My muggle-born friend sent it to me.”

“That’s a Christmas card,” Charlie piped up. “We learned about muggle Christmas traditions before break. Muggles send cards out to family and friends during the holidays. Sometimes they send pictures and longer notes to catch up with people. It’s just a way to celebrate the holidays. Professor Quirrell didn’t really understand them.”

George nodded and stared at the card. He looked over at the picture of your family. You were in the middle with a giant grin and a red sweater. Peeping up from the bottom of the photo, he swore it was the beginning of a gold G. “I like these strange letters. Christmas cards you say, Charlie?”

———————

George stared out of the window in hope. Fred watched his twin while he sat on his bed and worked on pranks for their shop. “She doesn’t even know we’re here, Georgie. How can you expect Y/N to send you a Christmas card when she doesn’t know where you’re staying?”

“She will!” George argued. “She always does.”

“You didn’t tell her, did you George? It doesn’t matter that she is finally your girlfriend after you both finally got it through your thick heads.”

George shook his head. “I didn’t tell her. She knows we are not at the Burrow. She thinks we’re staying with Aunt Muriel. I told her to send the letter to the Burrow. Errol is there waiting for the trade off. Told her it was too far for Sova to fly the whole way.”

Fred shook his head. “You’re letting Errol deliver your happiness? Oh Georgie. You’re doomed.”

George stuck his tongue out at his twin before turning back to the window. Soon, he thought, Errol should be here soon. As if by magic, the shadow of Errol appeared in the distance. George scrambled to grab the owl treats he had waiting on the window sill. 

“Cmon, you stupid old owl. Come get the treat and give me that letter,” George almost shouted. Fred shushed him. The last thing either of them needed was for someone to wake up and discover what they are both up to. “Incoming, Freddie! He’s coming in hot!”

Fred quickly stumbled out of bed and grabbed a pillow as George made the window wider and grabbed another pillow to go under Fred’s. Errol blasted through the window and hit the pillow at Fred’s chest before falling onto the pillow George held underneath. George laid the treats next to the owl and snatched the letter. This year glittery snowflakes adorned the front with “May your life be full of flurries of happiness”. The inside read similar like every year with something about having a happy Christmas, the family signature, and the family picture. Just like always too, there was a note from Y/N. 

Darling George,

Give my love to your family. I do hope your father is okay and recovering well. I also hope that the hag of an aunt you call Muriel is treating you all well too. It was a bummer to end term without you, but alas I know I’ll be doing it once more. One of us has to have a diploma, even if I will end up working with you. Don’t throw a fit, my darling George. I know I can do more with my life, but this is what I want. I already made that clear to my parents. They’ve accepted my choice. Back to end of term. It was okay. It would have been better if Umbitch wasn’t there. She did leave me alone though...unwillingly. Somehow she kept getting fed your nosebleed nougats and lost quite a bit of blood. Hmmmm. Who knows how that happened. I certainly don’t, and neither do Peeves or that elf Dobby your brother knows. Mum and Dad and those idiot brothers of mine say hello. They’re all glad I finally officially have you as mine. Apparently they’ve always known too. Perhaps I should tell them the truth about our Yule Ball last Christmas and we went as much much more than best friends. I’ll give you your present on the train back. Take care, darling. Do enjoy your break. Miss you tons, but I love you more. 

Love always,

Y/N

George grinned at the card. “She’s brilliant, Freddie. Absolutely brilliant.”

——————

George was nervous as he handed Fred the card. It was still early in the morning. The Hogwarts express had gotten back the day before, which meant the holiday rush will be hitting soon. Y/N was managing the store with Verity while George and Fred were going over some inventory in the back. Fred stared at the envelope before gingerly opening it. He smiled at the card with a fireplace wishing him a warm and festive holiday. “Well finally, Georgie boy,” Fred grinned. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to tell the Y/L/N to include me in their list of Christmas card receivers.”

George didn’t say a word and just motioned for his brother to open it. Fred opened the card. Staring back at him was a muggle photo of Y/N and George. Both were grinning in the midst of pine trees. George’s arms were wrapped around Y/N and she was leaning into his chest. Fred moved the picture to be greeted with the typical Y/L/N family picture, but he very quickly noticed his twin was a part of the family photo. Moving the photos he saw the card was signed by The Weasleys, but it was in Y/N’s handwriting. On the left side of the card, Fred was greeted with the familiar sight of George’s writing. 

Forge,

Y/N told me I didn’t have to write you a note updating you on my life because we live and work together and see each other every day. But where is the fun in that? I want you to have a true Christmas card experience! We’ve been through so much this year, Freddie. I’m just glad I got to experience it with you along the way. As you can see, I’m a part of the Y/L/N Christmas cards now. Y/N is my everything. I have to thank you. Thank you for giving me the pushes to make her mine. It’s no lie written in the card, Forge. She’s gonna be a Weasley. Will you be my side as I celebrate my new life? There’s no one else I’d want. Let’s celebrate Christmas with a bang. 

Gred

Fred immediately looked up. “You serious, Gred?”

“Absolutely, Forge. There’s no one else for me, and with the war and her being a muggle-born. It’s just going to be a quick muggle ceremony. Once the war is over, we’ll do the real thing.”

“Why muggle?”

“She’s read about wizard tradition. She wants to experience that and have her family see it too. Besides, if we did a quick magic ceremony, her family wouldn’t be allowed to come. With a muggle ceremony too, if anything happens she can easily blend right in and be taken care of.”

“You sure about this, George? I’m not talking you out of it. I know she’s perfect for you, but I want you to be happy.”

George smiled and hugged his brother. “I am, Fred. I have everything I want right now. Her. You. The store. I just want to make her as permanent in my life as you are.”

Fred chuckled. “Well I am amazing. It’s only a given. But George, have you told mum and dad yet?”

“They’re getting a Christmas card from Y/N and I. All the family is. They also got one specifically from her family.”

“I meant do mum and dad know you and Y/N are getting married?” George stayed quiet. “Oh Gred. What have you gotten yourself into?

————————

George found you at the kitchen table writing a list. “Making a list and checking it twice, darling?” George joked. 

You smiled and kissed him. It was good to hear those little quips from him. When the war hit hard and Fred was killed, you worried he wouldn’t laugh again or joke. You feared the store would stay closed and layers of dust would settle over the products. It took George a few months, but they got the store up and going again. You knew he wouldn’t be the same without Fred, but it was good to see him somewhat the same again. “It’s what he’d want, Y/N,” he told you when working on cleaning up the store. “He wouldn’t want me to give up everything we’d ever hope for.”

“Very funny, George darling. I’m making a list of who we need to send Christmas cards too. My mum called and said the prints were in. Which reminds me, you need to make a list of which friends and extended relatives you want cards to go to and get their addresses.”

“We’re still doing this?”

You gave him a funny look. “Of course, darling. Why else would we have taken pictures with my family and gone to Selfridges to buy cards and some decorations?”

“Well I knew your family would still send cards out and that’s why they needed us there,” he answered. “They haven’t gone through a war.”

“But isn’t that why we should do this?” You asked. “So many people have gone through pain and sorrow this year. Let’s give them something to smile about, George darling.”

George gave another weak smile. “Fred loved the cards,” he whispered. “He always got excited when I got them and started bugging me 3rd year that he wanted to be in on it. He was so excited when I gave him his first card. I don’t know what I’ll do this year.”

You brought George closer to you. “You can still write him a Christmas card, George. The box is down stairs that you guys started your business out of. You can keep all the Christmas cards you write to him in there. It might sound weird, but I think it’ll be good for you. Include the pictures too. What do you think, darling?”

George kissed your cheek. “You’re an angel. You know that? You don’t think it’s weird?”

You shook your head. “I wouldn’t have suggested it if I thought it was. I think it’ll be good for you, George. It’ll be therapeutic in a way.” You pushed a card and envelope towards George. “This can be his. Why don’t you go grab your coat. We can go pick up the photos and then grab some lunch at the fish and chip shop down the road.”

“Maybe on the way back we can stop at that bakery by Flourish and Blotts,” he suggested. “I saw you looking at those cauldron cakes and strawberry trifles the other day.”

You grinned and kissed him. “Of course, Georgie darling.”

———————

“Y/N!” George shouted. “Where is the box? I have Fred’s card done.”

“Check the office, darling!” You answered. “I put it there so we didn’t lose it. I’m off to the station now. I’ll be back in a half hour.”

George entered his office and found the orange box he stored Fred’s Christmas cards in. A mouse wearing Christmas tree sunglasses and a Santa hat. He stuck the picture inside the card before putting it in the box. No longer was the photo of Y/N’s family included when sending out cards. Instead the photo was of George and Y/N wearing their Weasley sweaters. In front of them were two smaller red heads and a light haired Y/H/C also wearing their Weasley sweaters. 

George smiled as he put the box back on the book shelf. “Until next Christmas, Forge.”

———————

Dear Forge,

It’s been a crazy year. The last of this Weasley clan has joined Hogwarts. It’ll be interesting to see if the twins follow in our footsteps. Anya is in Gryffindor and Fred is in Y/H. Part of me is glad Fred isn’t in Gryffindor. It would’ve been cool, but this way I hope he will be able to forge his own path. Forge. Hah! Get it? Clara is studying for her OWLS this year. I found some of our old charms, defense, herbology, transfiguration, and potions notes. I let her into our little secret that we are quite smart but just never turned our assignments in. She was thankful. She’s definitely my daughter. She acts like me so much, but she’s definitely loud like you with that Gryffindor bravery. I miss you, brother. Y/N was right though; this has definitely helped me. Hopefully you get these wherever you are. Happy Christmas, Freddie!

Love, Gred and his Weasleys

[atlasbarnes]

helicopter ; bucky barnes

based on maisie peters’ song, “helicopter.” also inspired by this lovely message i got from a sweet anon, ily! i’m now obsessed with this entire album, ty for the recommendation! tws: strong language, mentions of blood, injury and mortality.

masterlist.

You’re always doing a hundred things a minute, or at least that what it looks like to Bucky. One minute you’re organising a party for Tony’s birthday, the next you’re surprising him with his favourite breakfast for no reason. You always look like you’re in the middle of doing something, but you always have a spare second for Bucky. Sometimes, he feels like a helicopter. He’s always hovering near you, to make sure you’re okay.

It was another day, another mission. Or that’s what you told Bucky, you told him not to worry, it was a simple extraction plan and that you and Nat would be able to handle it. So he tries not to worry, emphasis on the try. The entire time you were gone, he spent it in the gym with Sam, trying to occupy his mind.

When Fridays tells him that your jet just landed, he makes his way upstairs to greet you and ask how it was. He wasn’t expecting to walk into his living nightmare.

Natasha is panicked, speaking a hundred miles a minute to the medical team and doctors who were wheeling someone - not just someone, you - into the medical wing. All Bucky can see is blood, blood where blood shouldn’t be. Bright red, staining your hands and face and skin.

“Bucky.”

He hears his name, but all he can see is you. Barely alive, fading away.

“Bucky!”

Turning, he sees Natasha beckoning to him. When he looks back at you, you’re gone. He can hear the doctors and nurses in their hushed tones down the hall and he has no choice but to follow Natasha.

“What happened?” He asks, collapsing onto the chair across from Nat. She was holding her side, wincing in pain as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

She sighs. “It was supposed to be a simple extraction. We were meant to go in, get the fugitive and leave. But, there was a hostage. A girl, we don’t know where she came from but the hostage was screaming and Y/N did what she thought was right, she rolled the dice and traded places with the hostage. He shot her but didn’t stop there. I didn’t even know she needed help, her comms went down. I found her, bloody and bruised.”

Natasha stops and takes a breath and Bucky thinks he’s heard the worst of it. But she carries on talking. “When I found them, I heard him break her ribs. She stopped screaming then. I shot him, he was dead before he hit the ground. But I had to drag her out of there.”

Bucky can’t see straight. He’s never been this angry before, his hands are shaking, his breathing is uneven and he can’t think of anything apart from you.

“She told me to tell you that she was sorry,” Nat whispers.

-

The first thing you feel is pain. The pain that erupts across your middle, spreading to your arms, legs, head, every part of you feeling heavy.

“Fuck,” you mumble, slowly opening your eyes.

Bucky was half asleep in the chair next to your bed, snapping into action the second he heard you. “Hey,” he whispers.

“Hey,” you mumble back, unable to speak any louder.

You wince, the pain in your torso increasing each time you took a breath. “Lemme guess, broken ribs?” You ask, having seen so many of your friends go through similar injuries, you knew what the signs were.

“Broken ribs, concussion, sprained ankle, broken wrist and about a hundred bruises and flesh wounds,” he answers, not meeting your eye.

“Yikes, guess I’m not gonna be up for our morning run tomorrow,” you joke, smiling at him. He doesn’t smile back. “What is it, Buck?”

He sighs, his hands in fists in his lap. “Why’d you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Trade places with the hostage.”

Sighing, you ignore the pain in your ribs. “She was so scared, Buck. It was an easy decision.”

He shakes his head, still not looking at you.

“I’d rather it be me every time than an innocent victim.”

“But that doesn’t mean you’re expendable!” He exclaims. “I know you were doing the right thing, and I can’t blame you for that, because I like to think I would do the same thing. But you act like you’re immortal, you throw your mortality around like it’s nothing.”

“Bucky, I-.”

“You don’t see how many people are affected by you. Everyone in this tower, Nat, Sam - me - you’re not expendable. Not at all.”

Bucky hadn’t had an outbreak like this in a while.

“James,” you breathe, voice tired. “I don’t think I’m expendable. Every time I leave this tower, my only thought is coming back to you. How I can come back in one piece and together. But leaving that hostage behind, letting her die, I wouldn’t have come home in one piece. Not mentally at least. I did what I had to do, believe me, getting beaten half to death was not in my plans for today.”

Bucky finally draws his eyes up and looks at you. “You’re just, humans are so fragile. You don’t regenerate cells like I do. You take one bad hit, one bullet, and that’s it. That’s not fair.”

Reaching for his hand, you slowly intertwine your fingers with his metal ones. “I know. I know, my love. It’s not fair, but I promise you that I will always do everything I can to come back home to you. And I am here, aren’t I? I’m back home?”

“I just - I can’t lose you,” he whispers.

“You won’t.”

-

Bucky likes to act careless. Or, at least, to you he does. He doesn’t cross at crosswalks, he doesn’t always wear his seatbelt and he likes to walk around in the middle of the winter with no jacket. Maybe careless is a bit of a strong word, but he does scare you sometimes.

You’re walking with him down the street, hand in hand. He goes to cross the road and for once, you don’t let him cross in the middle of the road. Gently pulling his hand, you shake your head and indicate for him to cross at the crosswalk a little up the road. He doesn’t argue, he follows your lead.

Later that day, you see him flipping a knife in his flesh hand as he waits for the coffee machine to brew. You know that his hand is covered in little scars, ranging from knife wounds to worse. Carefully coming up behind him, you take the knife from his hand and place it on the counter, kissing his cheek and leaving him confused.

By the time you crawl into bed, you’re convinced you’ve spent the entire day hovering over Bucky. You had never noticed before how many times during the day he does little things, small things that scare you.

“You were acting a bit weird today,” Bucky observes, his hand mindlessly tracing circles on your skin.

“Hmmmm, I never realised how nonchalant about things you were,” you reply.

“Nonchalant?” He repeats, confusion apparent in his tone.

“Yeah, you don’t always look before crossing the street. And you play with knives like you don’t know how sharp they are. It’s like your fight or flight, your sense of danger, is rusty.”

“Well, I am over 100 years old,” he laughs. “I never noticed before. No one’s ever noticed before,” he adds, almost as an afterthought.

“I didn’t mean to act weird, I just worry about you,” you shrug.

“No, no, it’s okay. I’ll try and be more careful, I should be more careful.”

“It’s because I love you, that’s why I hover too close sometimes. I want you to be safe,” you whisper.

Bucky, in his 100 years of living, had never had anyone care this much about him. Love him this deeply. Someone to watch his every move, to notice things like this. To pick up on his habit of playing with knives (something he himself had tried to do less of, he was sick of the constant nicks in his skin), or to notice how he often didn’t cross the road in the right place. He had never been this important to someone.

“I love you too. I am safe, I promise. I’m always safe with you,” he replies, his voice heavy with emotion.

“Good. You’re my favourite person,” you mumble, voice thick with sleep. Bucky hears you fall asleep, your breathing even out. The words ‘favourite person’ bury themselves in his heart, threatening to overwhelm him with emotions.

So this is what it felt like to be loved.

[dawn-of-tomorrow]

shoutout to @punishing-gray-raven-ocs for this ask game!! (didin't expect to be tagged with one so soon lolol but i'm overjoyed~~ ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡❤️❤️)

1) What made you even think of trying Punishing Gray Raven? What made you stick with it?

Funny story actually-- I've long heard about PGR, way back when it was first released even, but I just didn't give it a chance back then mainly because it was in CN and I couldn't understand shit (rather ironic given how I am now lmao).

As for why I decided fairly recently, a couple of months give or take, to give PGR a shot? It's mainly due to the fact that I heard that the Global version would be out very soon, so I thought why not dive into what I've missed so far... not knowing that I'd become THIS obsessed with the game, aha~.

The most obvious thing that made me stick to this game are the interesting cast of characters, the "fun" story, the amazing yet simple game mechanics, and etc. etc.

2) What problems, if any, do you have with PGR?

Honestly speaking, the thing that most VEXES me at the moment about PGR, specifically PGR Global, is the wonky translations. It feels like a group of half-assed fan translators and one official translator who's not doing a good enough job with reigning everyone in instead of feeling like a group of professional translators who know what they're doing. Hell, I've seen better translations from some of my twitter mutuals!

3) Who is your favorite Construct, and why?

Lee. There's no question about it, Lee is my most favorite Construct at the moment (and forever perhaps ohoho~). As for why, god, hold that mic for a bit, I'm gonna go on a fucking rant. Ehem.

First of all, let's start with the most basic of things, like his appearances; As Palefire, he looks like this suave, very aloof, super serious, unapproachable, and "gets shit done efficiently" type of person, and while that description certainly isn't wrong, it's also hiding more layers of Lee's overall personality; as Entropy, he certainly looks and feels bit more casual than before, along with feeling somewhat more, even if a tiny bit, more honest with his feelings and easier to approach than before.

Despite being a serious, no-nonsense, grumpy guy, he's prone to occasionally quip and snark at anyone at their own expense especially if they get on his nerves (see his interactions with Kamui, not even the Commandant is spared from this!). He's also not as cold and distant as he may come across, given that, early on, he quite literally jumps in front of Liv to take a hit that was meant for her with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, he's almost always the first person to make comments on the Commandant's state as well as express his undiluted feelings (though not without hiding it on occasion behind anger/annoyance, thus making it a case of "anger born from worry").

You can also easily tell if you pay close enough attention to his dialogue and actions that he's not good with expressing his true feelings even to the people he cares about (thankfully Murray, Skk, Lucia, Liv, Kamui, etc. can usually pick up on what he really wants to say), is the type to often be misunderstood due to him being the kind of person who believes in "actions speak louder than words", that he's used to taking care of others instead of prioritizing himself even to his own detriment; while making it clear that he prefers to think and act in a logical and practical manner, he's not exempt to having emotions/feelings, as such, he can be pretty empathetic towards other people even if he doesn't look like it (he's even the first one in the Gray Raven squad to point out WHY EXACTLY the people they come across in Echo Aria refuse to leave their homes even with high risk of the Red Tide washing everything away, and fully understanding as well as getting it).

Alrighty I'm gonna cut that segment short now before this becomes too long for anyone to read through, ehe~!

4) What made you think of designing PGR OCs, instead of making yourself into a self-insert?

.... Actually, truth be told, both of my Skks are, in some way, self-inserts~. It's just that they start out as one before eventually developing into their own characters with only hints/traces of their self-insert origin. Though my Construct OCs are definitely not self-inserts, that much I can certainly say so!

I made them mainly because I really enjoyed the official cast so much I wanted to make characters that would get to interact with them somehow, though I take great care in making sure they aren't TOO out of character with how they're canonically portrayed.

5) What's your thought process behind creating your OCs?

Honestly, it usually starts of something like this--

"lol wouldn't it be funny if I made this type of character? Oooh, what if they interacted with this character? Or this character? Or that character? Let's see, what's missing... Backstory and profile, check. Appearance, I'll sketch one in a bit. Hmmm... I know! *drowns the OC in mountains load of angst*"

6) What's your favorite chapter from the main story?

If I'm limited to talking only about the main chapters currently released on Global then it would have to be Fallen Star, mainly because it's Watanabe's time to shine~. (*´∀｀*)

However, if we were to look at the overall chapters, then, I would have to say Imprisoned Sight.

7) What do you think of the new Liv shown in the latest stream? Where do you think the story is going with her? What do you think happened to Gray Raven?

With Liv, I have a really bad and somber feeling about what Kuro Game has in store for her, given how she looks almost complete different than what she's looked so far, as well as the vibe her new look gives off.

Fuck, I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to thanos snap her memories away as well like they did with Lucia, or worse, infect her with the Punishing and turn her into an actual enemy (for a while before we get her back).

As for Gray Raven, considering what happened at the end of Evernight Beat, wherein the Skk is in a fucking coma with a chunk of the Mother Structure lodged in their abdomen, while Lee and Lucia are in repairs along with Liv, and, if I recall correctly, the Merciful One managed to reach Babylonia and is now onboard the space station as well-- I have a feeling that the despairing Liv will be approached by her and be given a new frame.

8) Have you seen the animated shorts? What do you think of them?

If you're talking about the Panini anime then yes, I've watched them already! Still ripping my insides open from laughter everytime I watch them lol. Favorite episode has got to be the toilet episode, next to that would be the episode where Chrome takes Kamui to Karenina and Liv for training.

9) So do Constructs eat or not? (I'm really confused, especially since I saw Karenina sipping a drink in one of the shorts)

Oh they most certainly can! Fuck, it's even explicitly stated that Camu likes to eat and sample foods whenever he can (revealed in his secrets, as well as his affection stories).

As Camu explains, while they don't get nutrients from human food, they most certainly can still enjoy them and use them as a type of fuel.

10) Do you think Kamui and/or Camu will be a really pivotal plot device at some point, considering how the information on Kamui is so top secret?

Hmmmm.... unless the story at that point is revolving around Kurono Ops and how shady they're being, then personally speaking, the chances are slim.

11) Do you think, at any point, any of the Gray Ravens will die off?

Naaaaaah. They won't do that. Sure, they TECHNICALLY killed off Lucia, but she's still "alive" in a sense, so it both counts and doesn't count.

Besides, sometimes death isn't the worse thing you can inflict on someone/a character~.

12) Who is your least favorite Construct, and why?

I don't really hate/dislike any of the Constructs if I'm being honest. Though I hate how shitty of a unit Sophia is, and that it's kinda pitiful that she's become even more useless now that the new S-Liv is here; but I am in no way saying you should stop using her, keep using Sophia if you really like her! It's your choice after all, and I'm not about to contest you on that part, after all, everyone's enjoyment is subjective.

13) What part of PGR's lore really holds your attention?

The part of the lore that really holds my attention are the characters, and seeing how they react and act to the situations happening to and around them, especially concerning the Punishing and forces out of their control~.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Reasons Lee was the Best

Lee Everett is one of my favorite playable protagonists in any game I’ve played. Weirdly enough, I feel like he is somehow super loved yet under appreciated?? because sure, everyone says that they love Lee and talk about how he was just the best but like.... most times, they rarely go into details of why they love him and think he’s the best. 

Well, with today’s list, I wanna go into details about why I think Lee was the best. I tried to stick to more non-determinant things, but plenty slipped through, soo... it’s fine. I just wanna talk about Lee and why I like him so much.  

Also just wanna say thanks to @pi-creates​ for helping me out with these Top 5′s once again! We discussed a lot of these points and it was a huge help! :D

5. Lee is just... so funny sometimes. 

Not gonna spend too much time on this one because it’s more of a minor reason why I think he’s the best compared to the others but...

Lee is hilarious.

Like, even from the beginning, Lee knows how to make me laugh with his little “I’d fill that teacup with some bourbon if I could” line, and the fact that he is constantly falling down. The poor guy has to have at least three concussions by the end of ep1 alone. 

Also, his flirting skills...? Amazing. I’ll never get over, “You’re small.” 

He just has such a strange sense of humor about him that feels very dad-like... which makes perfect sense, but y’know. But even when he isn’t even trying, he still manages to get a laugh outta me for being such a weirdo.

Who goes up to a fence, looks at it, and is just like, “Hmmmm. Pointy.” 

Even after he’s bit, he manages to get a few painful laughs outta me when talking with Ben... though that laughter quickly dies when we reach then end of ep5 but..... y’know. 

4. His willingness to help those who have wronged him. 

Larry is a garbage man-- I think the mass majority of us would agree to that. From the moment we meet him, he’s all huffy and puffy, accusing Duck of being bitten and wanting to throw him out while taunting Kenny. 

But, no matter what, Lee is always the one to help Lilly break into the pharmacy to get Larry his medication. Because really, Lee could’ve said “Nope, not doin’ any of this, someone else help the asshole,” but he doesn’t. 

This is just a bigger example of Lee going out of his way to help people, even if they shitheads like Larry. Hell, even after Lee gets them the pills, Larry gives him a big thank you by punching him in the face and leaving him for death. Lee can hold a grudge about this, or he can let it go and do his best to get along with Larry for the better of the group. 

Another example with trying to help Larry despite him being the worst is, of course-- the meat locker. Now, this is determinant, but I feel bringing it up is important. 

Lee choosing to help Larry, even though Larry was just taunting him minutes before and Kenny’s being a real shitbird, says a lot about him as a person. 

Another example of Lee willing to help others he may not get along with would be Kenny, depending on your choices. When Kenny’s going through the hardest day of his life, Lee can take it upon himself to take care of Duck and comfort Kenny. 

Shit, what about Lilly? After she kills Carley/Doug right in front of everyone, he can still take pity on her and not leave her at the side of the road. 

I think because I have a really hard time helping those who have wronged me, I can look at this as an admirable trait that I wish came easier to me, y’know? 

3. Mourning the deaths of people he barely knew/didn’t know at all. 

This is an interesting one that Pi brought up, but there are several points within S1 where Lee will take small moments to mourn the deaths of those he either barely knew, or didn’t know at all, showing he has it in him to be really empathetic to other people's struggles and sufferings. 

Like, think about the woman at the motor-inn, the one you can give the gun to. Lee will stay behind no matter what to be with her, and you can see it on his face. He didn’t know her, didn’t get her name or anything. 

In Jolene’s camp in ep2, when Lee looks into the tent, he can find a stuffed animal and a picture of Jolene and her daughter and again, you can see it all on his face. He gives a sigh, and a moment of silence for them. 

Oh, the woman that Kenny wants to leave alone while they’re on a run to the drug store? This one is determinant, but if Lee chooses to shoot her, he does so to put her out of her misery-- he doesn’t want her to suffer anymore than she has to just so that they can grab an extra candy bar or two. 

Another big one would be the boy in the attic. Y’know, that chilling scene of the boy who starved to death/died of dehydration, became a walker, and then couldn’t even walk because he was so weak? Yeah, that one-- Lee carries that boy out to the yard and gives him a proper burial. He didn’t have to, but he did. 

Hell, he even mourns Brie when talking to Vernon in ep4, and that Anna woman that you see on the tapes after it’s revealed that she’s pregnant and has to give up her baby. 

Oh, and Chuck in the sewers? That one you can’t skip, and no matter what, Lee will stop and tell Chuck that he deserved better. 

Last example, but the dead couple in ep5-- this is one that everyone stands around in silence because it really is a chilling sight. 

This to me just shows a lot about Lee, especially in a setting where it’s easy for these characters to gloss over the deaths of those they didn’t know or to let others hurt for their benefit [y’know... Kenny with the bitten woman]. I’m sure there are even more examples, but I do have three other things to cover.

2. Taking responsibility for Clementine.

Okay, these last two are to be expected, but we’re gonna talk about them anyway. 

Listen, when Lee found Clementine alone at her house after she saved him from walker Sandra, he didn’t have to take her with him. He could’ve left her behind so that she didn’t “weigh him down” or “become a burden” since y’know, having a child in your care isn’t easy. 

But Lee didn’t do that. She saved his life, and he knows her parents are dead and not coming back. There wasn’t even a doubt in his mind-- he was taking this girl with him to ensure her safety. If he hadn’t, she could’ve ended up just like the boy in the attic, or worse. 

I also love that moment when they’re leaving the house and Clementine takes his hand. It’s sweet and shows us that they’re in this together now, and when Clementine shares her fears of leaving, he reassures her that he won’t leave her alone. 

Lee does his absolute best to care for her and give her what she needs. Hell, you can play as Scumbag Lee and most times, that doesn’t even matter-- he still expresses his care for her. 

Like... I don’t think game would work if the relationship between Lee and Clementine didn’t work, y’know? It’s strong and one of my favorite parts of S1 when I go back to it. I love seeing them grow from Lee being Clementine’s protector to Lee teaching her to survive and protect herself. 

Again, he didn’t have to do any of that. He could’ve pawned her off onto to anyone at the motor inn and called it a day, but he didn’t, and I love that about him. 

Lee goes through so much for a child that isn’t even his blood, but considers family nonetheless... which brings us to #1... 

1. Saving Clementine from the Stranger despite being bitten by a walker. 

Sigh.

Okay. I’m sure you’re tired of me saying this but... after Clementine is kidnapped by the Stranger and bitten by a walker, he could’ve given up. He didn’t have to go after Clementine-- he’s bit, he’s dying... he’s not gonna survive this, so why bother?

Because even though Lee knows he’s not going to survive the bite, he’s going to use the last of his time and energy to ensure that Clementine is safe. He’s gonna do whatever it takes to get Clementine the away from that madman who took her, make sure she remembers everything he taught her, make sure she’s armed, and make sure she knows where to go after he dies. 

Again, Lee didn’t have to go through this. He fought like hell and suffered plenty in making it to her. His last moments were agony for him, I’m sure. 

But he did it and you can tell he has no regrets because Clementine’s alive and going to make it. 

And y’know... that last damn scene in ep5 is just... a lot. 

I love it but I also hate it, and I believe I’ve mentioned this before but I’ve come to really love the ending where Clementine leaves Lee to turn. I know everyone gets upset because that means Lee will become a walker and [?] Everyone HATED that... but, I dunno... it shows something about Lee when you pick that choice. He’s more concerned about her than himself, y’know? Don’t waste the bullet, don’t risk the noise, don’t force her to physically kill him, let her walk away so she can remember her for what he was and not what he’s going to turn into... it’s reeeeal bittersweet. 

Then, of course, you can do the other choice and have Clementine shoot Lee which is just as great at making me cry, soo... thanks. 

Lee just goes through so much during this game-- he gets a second chance and everything he did, he did to ensure Clementine and his group’s survival and just... what a man. 

Lee Everett, you are the best and I love you. 

---

Honorable Mentions

-Not dropping Ben. Again, determinant, but I love a Lee who doesn’t drop children to their death because the mustache said so.  -Struggles with doors. Relatable.  -Is voiced by Dave Fennoy who gives a fantastic performance.  -Awkward flirt. Again, relatable. 

---

So what do you think? Do you agree with these reasons, or do you have any to add? Lemme know, it’s always fun to have character discussions. 

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

Next week’s T5F Top 5 GOOD Things About Season Two

[aceavatar]

Star Crossed

Oikawa x Reader

♡ A COLOSSEUM VALENTINES DAY COLLAB ♡

warnings: Swearing, fluff, angst, meanie kageyama :(

word count: 4,006

“Good morning, y/n,” Suga said, ruffling my hair. 

I blink up at him, a soft smile on my face. “Good morning. How’re you?” I ask, handing him a coffee. It’s become routine to bring him one when I go to morning practices. 

“I’m doing well, thanks. And yourself?” He gladly takes the cup, warming his hands and taking a sip. 

“I’m fine,” I blink tiredly. 

“That’s good. Is your brother here yet?” He asks.

I hum, shaking my head. “No, he’s racing Hinata or something. Not quite sure. I gave up trying to keep up with those two a long time ago.” 

He laughs at my remark, shaking his head. “Understandable.” He looks down at me. “So, are you going to play today, or do schoolwork?” Suga asks. 

“School,” I roll my eyes, “I’ve got a quiz today.” He nods, wishing me good luck, and I head to my usual spot on the bleachers, putting in my airpods along the way. Once settled, I pull out my math homework and start factoring. 

After a bit, I hear distant yelling so I glance up, seeing the gym is fuller than it was a while ago. My brother and Hinata were being idiots, and so were Tanaka and Noya, while Suga busied himself with something in the closet. So much chaos. 

My eyes lock with Noya’s, and suddenly all of his attention is on me. “Kags!” He shouts, running towards me. 

He said that “Kageyama” made him think of my brother, but “Kags” for me was more fitting. Because “It’s shorter, like you.” And, “It’s cute! Like you!” (Noya’s words, not mine).

“Noya, good morning.” I say, smiling and waving at him. 

“Mornin! Watchya doing!!” He asks, plunking himself next to me. 

“Just doing homework and listening to music.” I smile at him. He’s always been a friend of mine. I’m not sure why, but we just seemed to click. Not romantically or anything, but just, our friendship didn’t make sense but it was right. 

“Oooh gimme.” He holds out a hand, and I take out my left AirPod and place it in his. We usually pair ours to my phone or his and listen together, but since he was just playing, he didn’t have his. 

“I’ll turn it up.” I say, clicking the button on the side a few times. 

Noya and I nod along to Crazy in Love by Beyoncé. “Nice choice.” He says, whacking my shoulder. 

I laugh, thanking him. 

Then, it happens. 

The music gets quiet, and there’s a melodic chime. 

<Message from T red heart. It says: Good morning baby. Thanks for that. You look beautiful. Winking face emoji.> 

The music returns to the previous volume.  I stare ahead, avoiding Noya’s now prying gaze that’s boring into me. 

“Uhmmm. Miss lady. Is there something you wanna tell me?” He asks, sass laced in his voice. 

I meet his eyes, and he’s smirking. I blush deeply, raking my fingers through my hair. “Shit. Fucking Siri announcing my damn messages, shit.” I mumble, face hot. 

“Looks like Noya’s picking up your sister.” Tanaka says loudly, and I look up to see him and Tobio looking at us. 

“Shut it jerks!” Noya shouts. “I just found her secret Spotify playlist! It’s like all death metal, it’s really weird. I-“

“Noya!” I squeak, tackling him, making the other boys laugh and/or shake their heads. Tobio just rolled his eyes. 

“Thanks.” I say quietly, still wrestling with Noya. 

“No problem, Kags.” He smirks, shaking his head. “But you owe me.”

“What do you want?” I raise my eyebrows. 

“You to tell me everything. What’re best friends for?” He says with a grin, finally pulling himself away. 

“Okay, okay. Your advice will probably be helpful at times. I haven’t told anyone, like, anyone.”

“My lips are sealed.” He mimics zipping his lips and locking it, throwing away the key, making me laugh. 

“Thanks. Now go practice, idiot!” I shove him towards the court and he speeds back.

“So, are ya gonna tell me?” Noya asks. 

“Oooh tell him what?!” Tanaka exclaims, making me roll my eyes. 

“It was supposed to be a secret, Noya.” I squint at him. “But I guessss I can tell you.” I look at Tanaka, a playful grin on my face. “Will you explain?” I ask Noya and he nods excitedly, I knew he’d wanna break the news. 

After Tanaka heard, he slammed his hands on the table excitedly. “NO WAY! LITTLE SIS HAS HERSELF A LOVER.” He says excitedly.

I blush and look away. 

“Yeah and I wanna know WHO!” Noya says, “I know it starts with a T, so I thought maybe you Tanaka, but you didn’t have your phone and plus I’m sure you would’ve told me.”

“Oh sure thing dude.” Tanaka nods. “Maybe it’s Tsukkishima?” He suggests. 

“Hmmm, maybe, but the nickname was T, and she calls him Tsukki. Hmm, Kuroo? His first name starts with a T.” 

“How do you know he plays volleyball?” I say with a smirk, teasing. 

“OH.” Tanaka says, laughing at himself.

“He does though.” I mess with him, making him shove my shoulder. 

“YAMS?” Noya asks, eyes wide. 

I shake my head. My phone buzzes, and I look down at it.

T❤️: hey babyyyy. i miss you

me: i miss you too!💓

T❤️: can u come over tonight🥺 i don’t have practice 

me: hmmmm yeah sure :)

me: noya and tanaka found out that we’re a thing. they don’t know it’s you but i bet they’ll cover for me lmao

T❤️: bless

T❤️: well i gotta go baby i’ll text you later

me: okay bye!!💓

T❤️:😘

“Is it Takeda? If it is, we won’t judge.” Tanaka says quietly, making me laugh loudly. “No no no!” I shake my head.

“Tendou!?” Tanaka exclaims. 

“Takeru?” 

“Goshiki?”

I shake my head at all of their attempts. 

It dawns on Noya, and he leans across the table, Tanaka copies him, and whispers, “Is it Oikawa?” 

I bite my lip with a small smile. 

“NO. WAY.” Tanaka gasps, jaw dropped. “That’s like, illegal!! You know who your brother is, right?!? Dude. That’s ballsy.” 

I laugh at Tanaka’s ramblings. 

“Wow okay, get it I guess.” Noya says, grinning. “What’s he like?” 

“He’s sweet. Nothing like his on the court persona.” I say honestly. “And I really really really like him.”

“You haven’t told Kageyama, I assume?” Tanaka asks, and I shake my head. 

“I just don’t know how, honestly. I’ve been dating Tooru for a little over a year now. Things are great, but just, he and my brother don’t get along. Tooru wants to try, though. But every time I even mention his name, Tobio shuts me down.” 

Noya nods, eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Hey, we’re always here to help, you know.”

“Yeah, feel free to say you’re staying at my house with me and my sister or something, Kageyama knows we wouldn’t ever do anything weird. Gross.” Tanaka pretends to gag, and I laugh. 

“Thank you guys.” I reach out, grabbing their hands and squeezing them.

“No prob, Kags.”

——

Later that night, I found myself in the arms of the man that was causing such a stir in my friends’ minds. 

His soft lips against mine, doing exactly what made me feel warm inside. He runs his hands up and down my back, settling on my hips. My arms rest on his shoulders, and eventually move up to run through his hair, messing it up. 

I sigh, pulling away to look at his face. His brown eyes gaze up into mine, and I smile gently, resting my forehead against his. 

“I’m so lucky that you’re my girl.” Tooru says, eyes closing. I hum and kiss his nose, cuddling into his chest, closing my eyes as well.

“Babe. Wake up.” A soft voice says, rubbing my arm. I open my eyes to meet soft brown ones filled with love. 

“Hi, darling.” I say, stretching and yawning. 

“Sleep well?” He asks, pulling me closer to him. 

“I did. You?”

He hums and nods, closing his eyes. “It’s early still, but I wanted to be with you before you leave.” He pouts, pressing a kiss on my temple. 

“Thanks for waking me up.” I smile, putting my hand on his cheek. He turns his head, kissing my palm before going back to look at my face. 

We talk about random things for about 30 minutes, like how shocked Noya was when he heard the message, and how Iwa hit him in the back of the head with a ball again.

Sadly, time passes, so that means I have to go to school. 

“Bye, baby.” He says, telling me farewell at the train. 

“Bye. I love you.” 

“I love you too.” He smiles, kissing me quickly before I get on and head to Karasuno.

“Hey, kid.” Daichi says as I walk into the gym carrying my bag. 

“Hi!” I say with a grin, hugging him. 

“Thanks for coming in today.” He says, hugging me back. 

“No problem. I’ve got some time to kill anyway.” Today, a bunch of people are coming to Karasuno to practice together, it’s really informal but fun and useful. I wave bye to Daichi and walk over to my friend Yui. She’s the captain of the girls team. I wasn’t able to play this year, but next year I’m going to join after basketball season.

“Y/n! Hello! Thanks for coming!” She gushes, hugging me. 

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss it.” I smile at her as we start to leave the gym to change. 

“Y/n! Good morning!” My brother shouts at me, and I turn around and yell good morning right back with a wave. 

With that out of the way, I walk out of the gym with my friend. 

In the empty club room, we change into shorts and a tshirt and head back, mindlessly chatting along the way.

“Y/n! Hello!” A familiar voice stops me outside. 

“Iwa!” I grin, “Hi! Welcome to my school.” I jokingly bow, making him laugh. “You can go on Yui, I’ll be right there!”

She nods and heads into the gym, probably to see Daichi. 

“Yyyyy/nnnnn,” the smooth voice of my boyfriend rings out, making me laugh.

“Hi!” I smile sweetly at him. “I’d kiss you but there are, ya know, people,” I say quietly. 

He nods his head in understanding. He wasn’t going to ask for one anyway, he didn’t feel like dealing with the secret today.

“Are you going to play too, Y/n? You’re wearing athletic clothes.” Iwa notes.

“Yeah, a bit.” I say, and the three of us walk into the gym. 

“That’s great.” Iwa says, patting my head. 

“She’s the most pretty setter.” Oikawa says quietly, making Iwa and I both chuckle and roll our eyes. 

“The great king!” Hinata exclaims, making a few heads turn in our direction. 

I can sense my brother’s icy stare, and my boyfriend sends him a smirk. 

Oh no, this is gonna be trouble. 

I sigh, pushing my hair back. I walk towards Suga, but turn around and mouth the words “be good” to Tooru, then I do the same to Tobio. 

Oh god oh no oh god oh no, repeats in my brain as I walk wide eyed to the grey haired boy for some kind of comfort. He looks somewhat out of place due to third wheeling Daichi and Yui, so when his eyes meet mine, they flood with relief. 

“Y/n,” he says as I approach him, “today’s gonna be a long one.”

“You’re telling me.” I sigh, putting my hands on my head. I glance back to check on the two boys in my life, and thankfully they’re on opposite sides of the gym. 

“Something the matter?” He asks, concerned.

“Just worried about my brother and Tooru.” I pause. “Oikawa.” I correct myself, and Suga eyes me. 

“If he’s the mystery man I overheard Noya and Tanaka talking about, I feel sorry for your situation.” He says honestly, making my face heat up.  

“Yeah.” I admit. Maybe Suga could help me if something goes awry...

After a moment of silence, he smirks at me, giving me a knowing look. “Does he really hit it till it breaks?” He teases. 

“Oh god Suga!” I exclaim, shoving his shoulder, my cheeks turning red. 

He laughs at my flustered state. 

“He does, but so do I.” I whisper to him, making his jaw drop. It’s his turn to be speechless. I giggle, covering my mouth. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” I say, shaking my head. “Unless...” 

He whacks my shoulder, “You’re too young for lewd jokes like that, young lady!” He teases, giving me a soft whack in between the words. 

“You started it!” I laugh, holding one hand up in surrender, the other on my stomach from laughter.

——

At lunch time, I opt to sit with Noya and Tanaka. 

“The tension between the two is so,” Noya says, waving his hand in the air. 

“Thick.” Tanaka finishes for him, and we all nod. “I don’t like it.”

“Me either. And Tooru has been good, it’s Tobio who’s trying to rile things up.” I frown, pushing my food around with my fork. 

“Yeah, he needs to calm down.” Tanaka agrees. 

“You know what? I’ll go sit with him.” I say, pushing myself up. 

“Go get em!” Noya cheers, making me laugh. 

I walk over and sit down next to him, brushing his shoulder. “Y/n, hey.” He says. 

“Y/n!!!” Hinata beams from across the table. “How’re you!”

“I’m fine, how about you?” I smile at him. He tells me he’s good and rambles for a bit about volleyball. 

“It’s fun.” Tobio admits. “I want to go up against Oikawa, though. Haven’t had the chance yet.” He grumbles, shoveling food. into his mouth. I roll my eyes. “Oi, what was that for?” He demands, nudging me. 

“Nothing, nothing.” I wave him off.

Hinata squints at us, wondering if we’ll start fighting. It happens occasionally, and in front of Hinata a good amount because Tobio “feels like he can be himself” around the orange haired boy (his words, not mine).

“Don’t fight, let’s just focus on learning from others today!” Hinata begs. 

I nod, smiling at him. 

“Now, I’m gonna go.” I say, standing up. I whack Tobio on the head, mumbling “behave” before walking away, waving bye to Hinata.

———

I found myself sitting in between Oikawa and Suga, kicking my legs while I drink my chocolate milk. The two boys chat with each other, making me smile. I look at my boyfriend and he ruffles my hair before continuing his conversation with Suga. Next, I look up at Suga, who’s nodding along to my boyfriend’s words. He looks down at me, fixing my hair before meeting Tooru’s eyes again.

I feel so content, two important guys in my life are getting along. 

“Hey, Y/n, I- what? OH!” Tanaka says, bounding up to the three of us, Noya hot on his tail. 

“It’s nice to meet you, loverboy.” Noya says, stepping from foot to foot in excitement.

Instead of lashing out, Tooru blushes a bit and looks down, acting out of character. This makes Noya grin even wider. “You’d better treat our Y/n right, and I know you do, but I need to say it, and-“ the small boy rambles, making me laugh. Suga shakes his head, whacking Noya to get him to shut up.

“We’re baaaack!” Hinata shouts, “Let’s play!”

“Y/n?” A voice I didn’t want to hear says. 

I look up to meet the hard blue eyes of my brother. 

“Hey, Tobio.” I offer a smile. “Why are you with him?” He folds his arms, making me roll my eyes.

“It seems like you’re ignoring the fact that I’m also with Suga, Noya, and Tanaka.” 

“Still.”

“Okay, you know what, fine,” I say, taking a deep breath. Holy shit, I’m doing this. I’m doing this now of all times. Okay okay okay, get the words out, “He’s my boyfriend.” 

Tobio’s facial expression changes into confusion. If his face could be a punctuation mark, it would embody “?” perfectly.

“Okay, don’t get mad-“ Tooru starts.

“No, okay, I, just,” Tobio stutters, blinking hard.

“Listen.” I tell him, putting my hand on his arm, “I love him, okay? And he’s treated me so well, and I just-“

“Give me a minute.” Tobio says, shaking his head and storming out of the gym.

“Babe,” Tooru says, gently taking my hand in his.

“Take a breath, he’ll come around.” He whispers.

“But what if he doesn’t?” I ask, trying not to tear up.

“If he doesn’t, then oh well.” Tooru rubs my back. “He’s not part of our relationship. It might even take years of him seeing how much I love and care about you, it’s not going to fade. He’ll have to see someday.”

“And,” Suga adds, “we all approve, if that helps things.”

“I can’t believe you’re dating the great king!” Hinata gushes, hugging me. “I’ll go talk to Kageyama.” 

“Thanks, Hinata.” I smile, hugging him back before he runs off.

“At least he didn’t punch me.” Tooru mumbles, making me and the boys around me laugh.

———

At the end of the day, all of the guys are tired and sweaty, walking slower than they did in the morning. I walked between Iwa and Tanaka (admittedly, two guys I never thought I’d walk in between) while listening to chatter amongst the volleyball boys.

“Hey, do you think I can hang out at your house now that your brother knows?” A smooth voice asks me.

I smile, nodding. “Yeah, I think so.” 

“That’s great.” He grins, lacing his fingers with mine. “Plus, I need to prove to him that I’m not actually terrible.”

“Yeah, he’s really hard headed.” I shake my head. 

After a bit, we all get to the train and it’s time to say our goodbyes and go our separate ways.

“It was nice talking to you, loverboy.” Noya says, socking Tooru in the shoulder.

“Yeah, you too I guess.” He rubs the spot that got punched, jokingly wincing.

We break off from the group a bit, and I hug him. “Thanks for acting right.” I say, somewhat jokingly.

“Hey, I’m not a dick when things are important to me.” He shoots back, squeezing me closer to him.

I stand on my tiptoes and he leans down, meeting me halfway. His warm lips are against mine again, and I smile, closing my eyes. 

“Hey, uh,” My brother’s voice interrupts our moment. We pull back and look at him. “This is so weird. I hope you understand how in shock I am. Y/n, we’re going to have a talk on the way home. I don’t know if I can accept this.” He scratches his neck in discomfort.

Tooru stiffens, jaw clenched.

“Tobio, I-“

“No, Y/n. Just, no.” He shakes his head, glaring at the ground.

“At least let me tell you how good he is to me. Let him show you, please Tobio.” I beg.

“I, I can’t, I just,” 

“You’re too fucking stubborn.” I snap. “This is why I didn’t tell you. I knew you’d be a total dick and ruin things.”

“I don’t mind ruining things if it has to do with him.” He folds his arms.

I look back at my boyfriend, who’s obviously trying to hold himself back.

“What the hell, man?” Tooru finally says something. “I’ve literally treated Y/n well for more than a year now, and I could never hurt her. I love her, so much, and I don’t hate her for being your sister, I don’t hold idiotic grudges,”

“You do against me.”

“It’s an act, stupid. You play into it all just as much as I did.”

“Don’t start that, Oikawa.” 

“Hey, Tobio, Tooru,” I butt in, “Please stop.”

“I’ll stop arguing when you dump his ass, Y/n.” Tobio says.

I shoot him a glare, then look to Oikawa, whose eyes swimming with emotion.

“I am not breaking up with Tooru. I love him, Tobio. A lot. Just, accept it, would you?”

“No. I can’t. See him for all I care, but you won’t have me.” He storms off, leaving the two of us standing there in silence.

———

Two months later, I’m sitting in my last period class. I head out of school as the bell rings, arms folded and eyes down. I don’t like admitting that my brother’s words affected me, and I especially don’t like that he made me choose between the two. 

I chose the one who wasn’t a dick. The one who loves me, the one who would do anything to make me smile. The one who looks at me like I put the stars in the sky, the one who holds me at night and gives me his jacket when I’m cold. The one who sneaks my favorite candy in my backpack before I leave his house, the one who lets me pick which anime we watch. The one who kisses each of my fingers, the one who makes my heart stop, the one who supports me no matter what.

Yet my heart aches for my brother, the one that would put bandaids on my scraped knees, the one that would laugh at me when I fell, right before he’d give me a hand up. The one who helped me get ready for basketball tryouts, the one who always forgot his bag at home. The one who refuses to look me in the eye, the one who’s giving me the silent treatment, the one who makes my home life miserable every day. Why do I miss him when he’s so mean?

I kick rocks along the sidewalk, walking past the volleyball gym. I hear familiar squeaks of shoes and slamming of volleyballs on the wood floors. I peek in, praying that my brother isn’t there.

“Y/n!” Suga says, noticing my presence. I squeak and jump back, stumbling a bit. “Sorry to scare you!” He says, jogging up to me, reaching out a hand to help me up.

“It’s okay.”

“How have you been? It’s been ages!” He throws an arm over my shoulders.

I shrug. 

“Not good, huh?” He frowns.

I shake my head.

“I’m sorry. You’re always welcome at my place. I know it’s closer than Oikawa’s.”

“Thank you.” I smile gently, hugging him. “I’d better go before Tobio shows up here.” I laugh lightly, pushing my hair back.

“Hmm, all right then. Don’t forget to text me though, all right?” 

“I won’t. Bye, Suga.” I wave and walk away, heading to the train.

He waves bye back, heading back into the gym.

I glance back, remembering when I’d run Tobio his bag that he left on the counter.

I shake the memories out of my head.

Once on the train, I put in my earbuds, nodding my head along to the first song that came on shuffle. I look out the window, thinking. 

Once I’m at the house of my boyfriend and his family, I truly feel at home. I feel warm, I feel loved, I feel cared for. In fact, I am warm, loved, and cared for here. His parents let me stay over, and I cook dinner for everyone multiple times a week. 

It’s 8:00 pm now, and I’m spinning in Tooru’s desk chair while he folds his clothes.

“Hey, c’mere.” He says, sitting down on his queen sized bed, patting the empty space next to him.

I nod and stand up, then plop myself down. 

“I love you.” He takes my face in his hands, moving closer. “So much.” He kisses my lips firmly. “Don’t you ever forget, missy.”

I laugh, scooting closer to him and nuzzling my face in his chest, sighing in contempt. 

“I love you too, Tooru.” 

‘Star crossed lovers, doomed from the start, huh?’ I think to myself, a small smile on my face, ‘What do ya know? I made it work.’ 

[phantomphangphucker]

Ectober Day 6: Year - A Warriors Body

The (half)lifestyle Danny (half)lived was bound to affect him in many ways; some more visible than others. He was a fighter after all, and with enough time a fighter is gonna look like one.

Tucker pats Danny as they begin walking to school, “man it’s gonna be so weird being back huh?”. Making Danny chuckle, “tell me about it”, sighing and rubbing his neck, “and what with the lack of classes there’s been so much more time for hunting ‘n stuff. I’m gonna be so jittery just sitting in pointless classes for hours on end”.

Tucker laughs and grins like an idiot, knowing that was an understatement. You’d think the kid would take it easy when given a break, but no. Instead he basically fell face-first into fighting everything. And if there weren’t any fights then he went off training. “You just don’t know how to relax anymore I think”.

“Eh, you might have a point there. Jazz says I’m becoming an adrenaline junkie”.

Tucker gives him another pat and deadpans, “she’s right”.

“Fuck you”.

Tucker just laughs at that before poking Danny’s bicep, “though all your fighting sure has done you some favours”, attempting at flexing himself but just looking kinda ridiculous, “now if only I could pack on muscle that fast! Then the ladies would be all over me!”.

Danny rolls his eyes with a small smile, “you would if you actually did literally any physical activity outside of when you absolutely had to. Plus, you know my body’s more manipulatable”. Which was a blessing and a curse... and also the reason he was going to wear exclusively baggy clothing for the foreseeable future. He’d rather not have the fact that he rather looked like he low-key lived at the gym be on display. After all, he was supposed to be the weak little loser that blended into the background and slacked off; there was no logical reason to an outsider for him to pack on muscle, especially as much as he had. But hey, at least he hadn’t hit a growth spurt on top of it; though that would probably happen sometime in the future. Ugh.

Tucker rolls his eyes and puts his hands behind his head, “still man. You probably look way better naked than me”.

Danny actually pauses on the sidewalk at that and stares at Tucker, “Ancients, you’re such a pervert”. Tucker just looks back and winks at him, making Danny shake his head and start walking again. Smacking Tucker’s stomach as he catches up, “maybe you should focus less on how big your arms are and more on how big your stomach is, Mr. Eats Five Burgers In One Sitting. You’re gonna wind up like my dad... just shorter”.

“Ouch, low blow. But what can I say? All that tasty juicy meat is just begging to be devoured. How can a guy say no to that?”. Tucker digs in his pocket and flips out his PDA, “oh and Sam's still not gonna be back today”.

Danny groans, “great, so first day is gonna be even more shit. Wonderful. And don’t we have gym first block? Zone, the Universe just hates us, huh?”.

Tucker grins, pocketing the device, “like that’s anything new. But hey, at least you probably won’t die this year”, pointing at him, “and you’ve got some bully protection now too”.

Danny quirks a very confused eyebrow, “huh?”. Making Tucker roll his eyes disbelievingly, “dude seriously? There is literally no way you fit in a locker now. Sure your horrible clothing choices-”, tugging on the mustard yellow sweater with a little green puppy pin on the bottom, “-makes you seem small, but Dash isn’t that stupid”, laughing and tilting his head, “sure is close though. As soon as he picks you up he’s gonna notice something’s off, even I know muscle weighs a lot”.

Danny blinks at him, pausing his walking again, “Tuck pal, just how heavy do you think I am? I’m barely a-hundred pounds”. Tucker pokes his arm, “bullshit. I think you need a new scale”.

Danny rolls his eyes, “dude, most of my muscle and stuff is ectoplasm-based. Just my built-up ectoplasm storing itself overtop of my bones and fleshy muscle. And ecto’s weightless, remember? Heck, it can be anti-weight or whatever; me having more ecto muscle makes me weigh less not more”. Tucker blinks, “huh, didn’t think of it like that”, and decides what the heck and promptly wraps his arms around Danny to lift him up. Easily noting that yeah, Danny really doesn’t weigh much. A-hundred might even be being generous.

Danny shoves him off as Tucker puts him back on the ground, “so ha, no Dash won’t notice”, looking at the ground a little worriedly, “though yeah, I probably won’t fit in a locker anymore. Maybe I could...”, glancing at his arm before shaking his head, “hmmmm yeah no, that’d just make me look fat”.

Tucker chuckles, “what? Trying to redistribute the ecto? Hate to break it to ya, but you’ve got way too much to be a skinny twig again”.

“Hey”.

Tucker points over his shoulder at the school, “it’s true and you know it. And it’s not like I was any better”, both of them chuckle at that before Tucker continues, “anyway, welcome back to Hell I guess. Ready for another year of suffering and Highschool inequality”.

Danny snorts, “and suitably started off by the worst class of all, which will probably involve both of us getting rubber balls to the face”. Tucker just snorts right back as they climb the steps to the doors that both of them kinda wanted to never see again. Especially Danny, not like he was ever going to actually need or make use of the crap the teachers shoved down their throats here. If he was more of a delinquent then he’d just drop out here and now.

But hey, at least the whole quartets lockers -yes, even Valerie’s- were all together this year. Small miracles.

Danny groans as the two boys push in the gymnasium doors, making a be-line for the locker room and hoping to continue successfully avoiding the entirety of the football team. At least in the locker room they wouldn’t be total jackasses, since they had some weird level of respect for the ‘sacredness’ of the locker room. Probably some weird sports guy thing.

Pushing? Fine. Ass slapping? For some reason, fine. Hiding someone’s clothes? Sometimes fine. But actually shoving someone into lockers, or giving someone a swirly in the locker room bathroom, or actually wrecking the gym clothes? Off-limits; and messing with the showers was only cool if someone was taking waaaaaay too long. It was weird but hey, at least it made the locker room something of a semi-safe zone. So long as you were cool getting mocked for changing in the showers or out in front of everyone. Chance to show off for the jocks, chance to get mocked for everyone else.

Tucker chills against the wall, waiting on Danny who always took stupid long to change. Dude had bandaging and scars to cover after all. Whistling and inspecting his nails, being the only one still actually in here besides Danny; as per usual. It was kinda weird, felt like they had just finished freshman year days ago and yet here they were again. Back in the same routine. Danny’s voice breaks through his thoughts, “uh, I think we -or more so I- might have a slight problem”.

Tucker sighs, at least Danny’s tone wasn’t serious which meant less ‘danger/ghost fight incoming’ and more ‘mild inconvenience or some general halfa weirdness’, “what?”.

Danny gives a very awkward chuckle, stepping out and holding his arms out to the side before looking down at his shirt, “I may have updated my wardrobe, but I think I may have forgotten something”.

Tucker blinks before sputtering and laughing, bending over a bit to wheeze, “dude, haha, that so doesn’t fit you anymore!”. Tucker absolutely forgot that Mrs. Testlauf was super serious about wearing fitting clothes, pretty sure Danny had too. She always went off about how it ‘showed the value and worth of a person and their progress’ course she’d always add on ‘and shows who the weak pipsqueaks are’. Laughing some more, “how did you even get that on? I get that the underaumour is, like, super-duper stretchy, but the shirt? Looks like it’s gonna burst apart at the seams!”.

Danny huffs, “again, more manipulatable. I’m ‘squishy’ remember?”, and crosses his arms. Both of them still and stare at the air at the sound of ripping; proving Tucker right.

Tucker falls on his ass laughing after a beat, “guess you have to ask for a new one now! Ha! Testlauf’s gonna be pissed”.

“Fuck you man”, Danny starts laughing himself though and glances around before just phasing off the shirt; yeah, he wrecked the sleeves. Stupid Testlauf and her stupid ‘wear your proper sizes or it’ll be detention for the rest of your life’ rule. Least the shorts were supposed to be a bit loose, not that they currently were.

Both boys’ jump a little at hearing a rather masculine female voice shout, “where the Zone is Fenton and Foley! Those two slackers better get their butts out here! Or they’ll be running laps all class!”. Danny and Tucker both panic a little at that, and justifiably so because talk about harsh. Promptly bolting out of the locker room, Danny with his ruined shirt in hand.

Unfortunately, though obviously, everyone is pretty much staring at them as they run out. Most looking to be partway through rolling their eyes but stop. Dash -because of course Danny would get stuck having gym with Dash- is the one to actually point shit out though, “Fenton? What the Hell happened to you?!?”.

Danny quirks an eyebrow, “huh?”, while walking over to Testlauf and speaking rather awkwardly, “I, uh, need a new gym shirt”.

Testlauf blinks, “like Hell you do”, and snatches the shirt. Holding it up and looking from it to the boy, clearly seeing that it’s torn and stretched out. Then giving Danny an almost happy appraising look, “well I’ll be, Fenton, so you do”, and gives him a clap on the arm that is absolutely a pleased one.

Danny blinks, confused, and looks to Tucker, who also looks confused, “what the Zone is happening here?”.

Todd blurts out, “what do you think? You have a bloody six-pack and the arms of an ox. Did you take steroids or something?”.

Danny and Tucker blink, then look to Danny’s chest. Danny instantly blushing a bit and attempting to cover up, belatedly remembering that Testlauf actually took the shirt, “uhhhh. No?”. Tucker has to turn away from everyone to laugh at Danny’s expense. Danny shoves him over for that; Tucker just lays on the ground laughing, not bothering to get up.

Testlauf tosses a larger shirt at him, “get that on and let’s see what you can do with those new muscles. Glad to see you ain’t no bloody wimp anymore”, huffing to herself as she walks off to get the balls, “to see youths shaping up, nothing makes me prouder. I couldn’t give a damn how he did it, kid’s not the type to go to unhealthy measures”. Danny, actually being able to hear her, blushes a little.

In the meantime, all Danny’s fellow classmates rush up and start trying to poke at him. He, of course, bats them off erratically; Tucker springing up to also try shooing people off from his best friend. The fact that Danny’s shirt is still practically skin-tight honestly doesn’t help; less so than the underarmour at least.

Dash scowls at Danny, while aggressively snatching up a ball, “seriously, the goddamn Zone Fenton. Weaklings ain’t supposed to bulk up”.

Danny glances from side to side before steeling his expression and meeting the bully's eyes, effectively deciding screw it, “not my fault you were too busy stuffing me into things to notice things were changing”.

Jesse blinks at him while joining the side Danny’s on, “so wait, you’ve been working out or some shit for a while and straight up no one noticed?”.

Danny shrugs, “it’s also not my fault no one cares to really pay attention to me and besides, I like being left alone”.

Testlauf blows her whistle, which of course results in Dash instantaneously whipping a ball straight at Danny. Which again, makes Danny decide fuck it, and just catches the ball nonchalantly. Dash scowls as Danny smirks, Dash walking off to the side.

Everyone on Dash’s side pauses for a second and glance at each other, before all silently agreeing to bombard the boy. Todd speaking while whipping a ball at him just like everyone else, “so this is why you always wear such baggy clothes huh? Can’t say I understand why or how though!”.

Danny just choosing to dodge with a sidestep this time, “because you people are dicks honestly. And my mom’s a black belt and knows more fighting styles than I can shake a stick at. How the Zone do you think?!?”. More than a couple nod to themselves while running around throwing and dodging.

Mikey, who just so happens to be trying to hide behind him, readjusts his glasses, “and don’t they want you to be a hunter like them? That’s a pretty physical job”. Emily shouting, “and Jack has totally tossed an RV through a wall before! So packing on muscle easily must be in your DNA!”. Danny isn’t about to argue against that, that might actually have something to do with it after all. Even if it was more his ghost halfs fault.

The rest of the game devolves from there, becoming more wild throwing and teenage shrieking than pestering Danny. Which Danny’s perfectly content with, though that results in someone getting practically thrown into him after getting blown back by a ball to the stomach. Which then results in Danny getting flipped over and throwing his ball way harder than he meant to. The entire gym pauses at the ball hitting the back wall and actually cracking the fake brick a bit.

Tucker bends over wheezing with laughter from the sidelines, looks like someone might have gotten a little too used to chucking round -though usually glowing- balls at beings that could handle being rammed by semi’s. Least he didn’t hit anyone and break their arm!

Danny blinks at the wall, “heh heh, whoops”. The few people still remaining on the other side honestly just look impressed rather than the more reasonable reaction, which would be fear and concern for their own safety; but Amity Park and CasperHigh were crazy like that though.

Mrs. Testlauf blows her whistle, “at that I think it’s a good time to wrap this up, before Fenton murders someone”, Danny rubs his neck at that while she points at him and continues, “learn self-control boy, these walls see enough damage as it is”. Which gets quite a few people to start snickering at his expense; Danny just nods awkwardly and blushes a bit. Learning self-control was generally pretty high on Danny’s priority list as it was.

Tucker snickers at him as everyone goes to clean up, “guess someones gotta relearn they’re surrounded by meek little regular old humans huh”, with a cheeky grin plastered on his face. Danny smashes his face into the wall, not hard enough to do actual damage though, “shut up, Tuck”; making a few people around chuckle.

Tucker grumbles a fake, “ow”, as he pulls his face off the wall after Danny let’s go of his head. Then turning to him and smirking meanly, pulling out his PDA. Danny eyes it and Tucker’s grin, “oh don’t you dare”.

“You started it”, and jabs him with the device, giving him a mild electrical shock.

A couple other teens blink and watch the two boys pretty much beat each other up slightly. Emily muttering, “I think I don’t actually want to know what the Zone the defect quartet gets up to in their spare time”.

Todd snorts, “you’re just weak”. She glares back at him, “I don’t hear you asking”. He waves her off, “now why would I waste my precious energy on that”, earning a few snorts from the rest of the class just as the bell goes off.

Jesse runs up to Danny as everyone’s walking to leave, pulling at the ugly yellow sweater, “what I don’t get, is why you dress like such shit if you've got it going on under there”. Danny shrugs, “just don’t care”, he did care, he cared that people didn’t notice literally any of his weirdness. But obviously that wasn’t working out here. Especially with Dash giving him a weird look and clearly choosing to not go and bug Danny. But maybe, judging by how no one really seemed to care beyond being impressed and he had had fun, maybe that didn’t matter.

After all, it had been a year since he died. Since he started fighting day and night practically every other waking moment. Since he started Highschool. Things had changed. He had. And try as he might, people were going to notice that. He wasn’t that same kid anymore. The little living weak wallflower Danny Fenton didn’t exist anymore, and there really was no point in trying to pretend that he did.

End.

[jeeperso]

D&D Quotes Without context

Miscellaneous Edition, for those quotable lines from between sessions

"All I wanna do, is fork a giant woman! A giant woman!" "Jonni, I'm pretty sure she is some type of undead, probably a vampire. Are you sure that is a good idea?" "If I don’t get turned into a blueberry it won’t be my worst date." "Okay, but if you have to defend yourself just don't burn the place down for once." "Oh, Nyx. Sweet summer child. I never make promises we both know I won’t even try to keep." "Jonni, if I wake up to my bed surrounded in flames again I'm short-sheeting your next bed every night for at least a month." "I know you're trying to score here, but Lady Dimitrescu's daughters are literally vampires AND bugs. I can overlook one, but as a Paladin, it is my sacred duty to burn this place to the ground and stir the ashes."

"We don't let Marshall make breakfast anymore." "Those waffles are well-fortified." "I'm going to be charitable and call it hardtack." "We can use these waffles as melee weapons." "Well if we need to deflect siege engines they'll be good to have." "This is still carbon based and digestible by human systems without any poisons." "I can't serve this. It'll cause ... death." "Marshal we've been over this. This Pizza has 10% less of a lethal amount of grease." "Plus they signed the waivers when they bought a ticket. It's fine." "And don't forget to push the Cakeon." "Cakeon being slices of cake wrapped in bacon." "The special sauce is a mixture of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, ranch, horseradish, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and anything unfortunate enough to fall into the mixing vat."

"You do have a copy of the legal code I requested in my letter? As landed gentry you should actually have legal avenues to... I'm sorry did you say Burning child?"

"First I'm going to nail a crossbow bolt through your heart. Then I'm going to mount your balls to walls on opposite sides of this chamber." "I need Three Barrels of Butter" "Are you serious? Those Claws could crush an elephant in full plate!" "You're Right!" *Turns to first person* "We might need more than three barrels of butter."

"So Ioun is the patron of poor college kids. that scans "

"its hardtack or a mug of molten cheese-fried... something in a woven mug of bacon. your choice."

"Welp, all this coke ain't gonna snort itself..."

"Right hand me that dress and the bail money. I'll get Jonni." OOC: Well I mean they allow men in the city. Its just no men live in the city. "I stand by my statement. I'm allowed to look pretty every now and then." OOC: And dragons are the most unprejudiced lovers of anyone after bards.

OOC: Well I mean come on, its Ravenloft: saying a place is of death and madness is like making the observation the day ends in y. "Going out. Getting laid." "Jonni, she’s a werewolf." "Going out, forking a werewolf." OOC: Well Lycanthropy isn't usually sexually transmitted. Its just that Mercedes is a biter. OOC: ...I don't have an appropriate response to that.

"You seriously think I’d turn on my friends for a pile of gold?!?" "sigh I’ll show you my tits. "Hot damn, let’s get these murders done!" "No, Jonni, stay good. Besides, there are plenty of other girls who will do that without asking you to murder us." "Hmmmm… this is the moral quandary of my life…" "I’ll give you five bucks." "Scales tipped!" "Phew, I thought I was going to have to cover her next trip to the topless bar." "No, no, I have the bail money right here."

Nyx: So what’s the inside of Jonni’s head like? Edmund (with thousand yard stare): Imagine every ladies only smut magazine you’ve ever heard of going on forever into infinity while everything is on fire. Food was good though.

"It’s cool. They stole it." "And you know this how?" "Magic." “90% of Ravenloft deaths are mysterious vanishings.” "Why does everything come out covered in glitter and … is that …" "Lube. I’ve got a few theories." "Please don’t share them."

OOC: This is a plan that ends with Strahd having fewer brides, his castle is in flames, and he’s lost his cape.

OOC: Our team consists of a horny pyromancer, a gnome who can fillete you in five seconds, an HP lovecraft protagonist with actual magic backing them up, a literal slab of iron with a face, and a guy with a "I went to the eternal city of Ryleth and all I got was PTSD and this lousy T shirt". Gorbash smashing his shield into their face: "Have! You! Considered! Therapy!" OOC: Good news is you guys will no longer be the most conspicuous guys at the masquerade now. Jonni: Challenge accepted! "Nyx, the bounty on stealing his fake mustache is still on."

"Vanilla is the king of flavors. What does it say about society where vanilla is considered just 'regular'?" "That they have a lot of vanilla." Lash: "Don’t you want wishes?" Jonni: "Do I need wishes to get to see you naked?" Lash: "No?" Jonni: "Fuck ‘em." Vesh: "Oh dammit its my arranged fiance." Pit Fiend: "Milady." Vesh: "An extra wish to whoever punches this douchecanoe in the nards." Jonni: "I wish…for Bigby’s clenched fist of nard punching."

Soth: "Oh, gods, why am I on fire and why is Immigrant Song playing?" Jonni: "Take a guess." Hazlik: "Okay, so its a partridge, stuffed inside a chicken, stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey, and the whole thing is fried on a stick. Congratulations, that's the most horrible thing I have ever seen, and I once crossbred an elephant and an owl." "I give him the 'itis, and we run like we stole something." OOC: ...weirdly Curse of Strahd has stats for Strahd zombies but not Strahd Skeletons. Or Strahd's skeletal Steed. Strahd once went to a branding seminar hosted by Bane and it changed his life.

"Are we on a high enough floor that if I throw him through the window he'll be killed by the fall?" "Oh, but when I say stuff like that it’s all 'Jonni, murder is wrong.'" "When they say pick your battles they don't mean to pick all of them. That's too many battles Jonni. Put some back." OOC: He's technically already got a symbiote. OOC: They can get married. Gorbash: "I'm increasing the rent." Venom: "Can I keep the pool table?" Gorbash: "I'm not a monster." Giant Brain: "Jonni… I have summoned you here for… WHY AM I ALREADY ON FIRE! PUT ME OUT! PUT ME OUT!"

"Hello We're the party-crashers. This is Jonni, she's here to steal your women and burn your shit down. That's Nyx, she's going to repatriate certain items from the premise. Marshal over there, is here to studiously ignore our shenanigans. This is the New Guy. He seems pretty chill. I'm Gorbash... and I have been distracting you."

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said a spider to a fly. Jonni: "Hold up. Trying to sex a spider." Nyx: (throws her hands up) And then Jonni wakes up with a spider venom hangover webbed to a wall waiting to be eaten. Jonni: "Eh, I’ve had worse one night stands. I’m not a fucking blueberry." OOC 1: Hey, where does your weed elf grow [her] crops? OOC 2: She probably just grows them in the room she hasn’t paid rent on. OOC 3: Because I was also considering a circle of spores druid tortle. OOC 2: We could be partners! We could turn this into road to el dorado staring Cheech and Chong. OOC: Wait, I just realized five people are hanging out in a pirate bar, and none of us are rogues. We are gonna need someone to get thieves tools. OOC: We have a barbarian with a big stick.

"Are we Foxhound now? Blunderbuss Octopus." OOC1: You want to put the stoner in charge of food. OOC2: Eyup. OOC1: I see no way this can go wrong! OOC3: We need the four basic food groups. Beans, Bacon, Whisky, and Lard. “We pray to Almighty Darkseid! Give us a sign! Thumbs up, for the triumph of the human spirit! Thumbs down to begin the everlasting reign of darkness!” “Where did you find this guy?” “Me? I thought you hired him.” OOC: Yup, nature, arcana, history, investigation and religon at +6. MJ got baked and watched the Discovery Orb a lot. Tordek: "But we have a cleric, Jozan, over there." Strahd: *sigh* Snaps fingers, and suddenly one of Strahd's brides sucks Jozan out the window, cue screaming. "Oh look, you suddenly have an opening, how fortunate." Tordek: "We also have a druid...." Vadania: "SHUT UP, TORDEK!" Edmund: "I think the first order of business may be to discuss your Human Resources strategy..." Strahd: "I have a guy for that too."

"When someone as smart as him talks with himself, it's not crazy...They call it monologing." "I thought it was soliloquy?" "No, soliloquy is when you're talk at someone else when your talking to yourself." "Most people would run from a demon, you run towards it to study it." Professor: "THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING! A FROGHEMOTH, AND RIGHT UP CLOSE, IT WILL BE AMAZING TO SEE THIS PERFECT KILLING MACHINE IN ACTION." OOC: Also note the Professor is Lawful Good, Archie is Chaotic Good, so collectively they balance out to Neutral good. OOC: That's good. "The incinerations will continue until morale improves!" “You never incinerate the women!” “Because I’m fucking them!” “I… was not expecting you to be so honest about that…”

"You got what you wanted....but you lost what you had...." "Yes, I'm familiar with how capitalism works."

OOC: Dragons are like, “That’s Krandor the shiney. He only fucks other dragons. Weirdo.”

Gorbash: "D'awww, so tiny... perfect size... FOR PUNTING!" *boots tiny mind-flayer into the horizon*

"Dracula hasn't been spotted in almost recently. Whats he gonna do, destroy all we know and love like he definitely can?" "... my god you people are too stupid to live." "What are you doing in my house?" Gorbash: "...well Edmund has been reading your books, I've been sorting through your armory, Nyx and Irost has been going through your other shinies, Marshal has been cleaving anything monstrous that gets too close, and Jonni has been lighting things on fire to stave off boredom." Gorbash: "Okay Marshal, Jonni. Rock, paper, scissors over who gets [to kill] the bishop."

Jonni: "Did you really think this would make up for what you did?" Nima: "I… killed everyone you grew up with." Jonni: "Yeah, and I’m still not forgiving you for what you did to Eddie." Nima: "I am missing some key context here…" Nima: "Also I committed identity theft on you by having my new undead army tell everyone you are running the show." Jonni: "Oh, no. You’ve fooled the boar tribe. Who still haven’t figured out shitting in a hole." Nima: "Yeah I noticed that. I ruined two pairs of shoes attacking their camps."

[grahamcarmen]

Hi! I think that you should listen to the song Distant by Tate McRae & Sean Lew and Renegades by X Ambassadors, they just fit Red Crackle so well. Please take the time to listen and understand the lyrics. Thanks.

Ok so i ended up getting it but idk if its in the way you get it you get me but i can’t believe how perfect distant is for them ommmmmmmgggggg

I stay away, cause there's a part of me

Knowing that I need that space to be

Create my path into the unknown

Circle and back into what means most

This totally reminded me of gray choosing to not complicate her life after the whole fiasco as he goes on to make a new path and even reminds me just how getting a forced VILE timeout did end up clearing up his head more to accepting that he doesn’t want to hurt carmen , or even following the VILE route with evil! Carmen did end up with him going. Nope, actually don’t like that. Not worth it. CARMEN! who... is making her own path as we speak and she prioritizes it

I keep a distance, for my own purpose

And I can tell you feel the same

The expectations and situations

Are driving me insane

This batch reminded me of carmen “big oof face” keeping her distance to help protect him in opera and all the weird situations she’s always so grumpy about lol. but also how she forges ahead on path she’s chosen and how they lowkey wear on her [never got a doctor and wow she needs at least one]. Honestly her taking the time to explain to gray why she’s no longer with VILE and asking him if she was seeing it through his eyes, that she wanted him on her side after he gives her personal reasons for returning that she refuses because its not the right thing to do. Only to be greeted by gray obviously not being happy about it. he too has a “big oof” face lbr

And it don't matter cause I push right through

Do you understand I'm just like you?

All the doubts that I have ever had

Were never built to last, that's why we’re distant

I really love how similar they are [have something queued for that but for now just !!!] and that's why they work so well together and end up across from each other so many times anyway. like pushing and being pulled into each others lives. and like all those doubts carmen has that gray cared about her at all because he totally cut her off at first being blown away because he like cleared that up in the himalayas[ i feel like there’s a bit of different context within the song because it flows into being the reason “why we’re distant”? Syntax wise? But that was my first thought] so i guess it could also work with the idea that with the amnesia plot it just wasn’t gonna last with carmen always fearing that VILE was gonna take him away or gray knowing that its not really her [even tho they both want to SO BAD] or even just them working throughout the doubts they've had in their own lives about their own journeys?

It's hard to know if these thoughts are true

If I'm drifting I'm shifting my point of view

Cause I've been told I need to separate

Get away from the crowd and carve my way

….amnesia plots, making their own paths because thats the type of people they are, questioning their paths [carmen on even thinking of giving him a chance and gray on if his way is worth it in the end], eventually breaking away from VILE for carmen, and in carmens case breaking away from her team red leader position for her year off to pursue the past she’s always wanted to know more about, both of them making parallel journeys while peeking at the other to make sure the other is ok? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm reminds me of gray towards the end re-evaluating hmmmm

I keep a distance, for my own purpose

And I can tell you feel the same

The expectations and situations

Are driving me insane

I keep a distance

For my own purpose

That's why we're different

T.T yo they’re always so close and so far ayayso bittersweet that line how they’re different even as the song repeated twice that’s why we’re the same themeing….I’m sooooooooooooooooo they want SO BAD TO WORK TOGETHER AND ITS ALWAYS A MESS

Again i’m spiraling. aaaaaah this is such a good song choice [even if i probably got something way different from it since i’m in rc clipping mode a lot? Maybe? Idk] i do really like how much the song recognizes like similar but different and changing and collateral distance while still being soft if that makes sense? >.< i liked it i mean!

Along with renegades!

I really love the troublemaker vibes overall which fit gray and carmen so well [running wild and free, 2 kids you and me] and the chorus here

[Its our time to make a move/make amends/break the rules

Lets begin]

Both of them are really good songs thank you!!!

[anniesocsandgeneralstore]

Your Power Over Me: Two - motivation

Summary: There are more reasons besides loving New Orleans for Frank Shaver to want Power out of his city. 

Pairing: Frank Shaver x OFC (Michelle Shaver) 

Word Count: 6k

Warnings: gun fire, violence, blood mention, hospital mention, gunshot wound, general angst

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

The weird calls never stopped coming in. For two weeks Frank was working later and later. Sometimes not coming home until the early hours of the morning, absolutely exhausted. Claudia cried for her dad the first few nights, going until she wore herself out and fell asleep with tears drying on her face. But after a while she finally understood. Her dad was out there catching bad guys — making New Orleans safer — just for her.

It wasn’t until the last few nights that Michelle cried for her husband. Silently, into the darkness of their shared bedroom, as she tried to wait up for him to come home. She was sure it was the pregnancy hormones that were making this harder. This wouldn’t be the first or last time that Frank would have to work ridiculous hours in order to get to the bottom of something. Michelle prided herself on being the strong detective wife that she was. Never crying, always positive, always supportive. But some nights were harder than others.

Some days too.

And that morning was one of the harder ones. Frank left the day before around nine to start his shift and hadn’t been home since. He texted to let her know that he was okay — just following some leads on this new pill on the streets of New Orleans. Claudia didn’t have daycare that day. They could only afford for her to go about three times a week.

Home alone, taking on the world, the Shaver women.

Michelle had set up Claudia in the living room with a paper craft and her favorite tv show while she tried to throw together some lunch for the two of them. She really needed to go shopping. Hopefully Claudia wouldn’t be too put off by the idea of bologna and cheese sandwiches and cucumber. Again. For the third time that week. Eh, she was three. She would eat the same thing every day if she had the choice. Michelle just wasn’t giving her any.

“Hey, baby,” Michelle called to her daughter from the kitchen, “You want juice or water with lunch?”

“Hmmmm juice!” her tiny voice called back.

“Juice what?”

“Juice…pea!”

“Please — all right.”

Michelle gave a thumbs up as she grabbed a juice box from the fridge. It was the last one. She put the juicebox on the bright purple divided plate and brought it out to the living room. Claudia had already set aside her craft and sat patiently at the coffee table, little princess chair pulled up to the side as she watched her show. Michelle set down the plate in front of her and stabbed the straw into the juice box.

“Remember, don’t squeeze.” Michelle handed the box back to Claudia then brushed her fingers over her dark hair. She hoped the next one got her bright copper locks.

“Tank you, Mommy,” Claudia said as she set the juice box by her plate. “I love you.”

Michelle smiled down at her. She really was a great kid. She threw her fits and was struggling with her speech — but every kid was different. She would admit, being a mother was hard. Having a little person who didn’t ask to be born be fully dependent on her was scary at times. Some days Michelle felt like she was failing Claudia in some way. Other days she felt more like a caregiver than a mother, being drained and worn down by the end of a day spent with her daughter. But Claudia would never know that. Never.

“I love you too, baby.”

There was a noise coming from outside. Like someone was hitting something with a hammer repeatedly. Under that was a squeaky car engine and shouting. With a furrowed brow, Michelle moved to the window to see what was going on. They lived on a pretty quiet street. She parted the curtain in time to see a blue van with the side door slid open barreling down the street. Two men were hanging out of the door — each of them with a gun pointed at what looked like a person running faster than the van.

The men in the van were firing right at the houses as they drove past, trying to hit the one running outside.

“Claudia!” Michelle yelled as she quickly turned from the window.

In a moment, she scooped Claudia up into her arms, just before the first bullet broke through the front of the house.

Glass breaking. Wood splintering. Bullets whizzing through the air. Claudia screaming into her shoulder. White hot, burning pain in her upper thigh as she ducked behind the kitchen counter for safety. Just in time for all of it to stop.

Michelle lowered herself down onto the floor. Claudia was still screeching and crying as she clung tightly to her mother’s shirt. Michelle adjusted Claudia in her arms and could already see the red pooling onto the floor beneath her left leg. The pain was gone — but it was getting hard to breathe. Had that really just happened? Her entire leg now felt numb. Her fingers shook violently as she pulled her phone from her pocket. It was a struggle to dial the correct number.

“911, what is your emergency?”

“Gun — there was a driveby — I’ve been shot.” Michelle looked down at her leg again. Her jeans were soaked in red, it was getting on Claudia’s bare feet.

“What is your address?”

“1492 Clermont Dr, New Orleans.”

“Okay, paramedics are on their way. Is there anyone else with you?”

“Yes — my — my daughter, Claudia. She’s okay — I think.”

There was a pause from the dispatcher. Then she asked tentatively, “Michelle?”

“Yeah.” She leaned her head back on the lower cabinets as she tried to gain control of her breathing. “Frank Shaver’s wife.”

“Oh, God.” There was a clammer, the dispatcher speaking to someone else in the room. “We’re trying to get a hold of Frank now. Where have you been shot? I can give you some instructions on how to slow the bleeding.”

Michelle looked down at her leg again. Claudia had quieted down but refused to let go of her. There was a sizable amount of blood pooled beneath her. A water glass lay broken on the floor beside her. A bologna sandwich was spread all over the ground at her feet. Her head felt lighter than it should.

“In — Upper thigh.”

“Okay. I need you to get a towel or a t-shirt and wrap it tight around your leg. Can you do that?”

“I — I don’t think I can get up.” Michelle set the phone down on the ground and switched it to speaker-phone. Then she pulled Claudia’s head up to look at her. “Hey, Cloudy, I need you to do something for Mommy, okay?”

“No!” she cried, clinging to Michelle’s shirt tighter.

“Hey, hey.” Michelle forced her to look at her again. “I know you’re scared, baby. I’m — I’m scared too. Do you think you can be brave for both of us, though? Just for a few seconds?”

It took her a moment, but Claudia finally sniffed back the snot in her nose and nodded.

“That’s my girl.” Michelle smiled. “I need you to go to Mommy and Daddy’s room and grab one of the t-shirts off the floor, okay? Can you do that for me?”

Claudia nodded again and let go of her mother’s shirt. She put her feet down in the small pool of blood that had formed. Then she ran off down the hallway.

“Is your daughter getting the towel or shirt?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yeah. What should I — ?”

“You’re gonna take the shirt and wrap it around your leg where you think your wound is. Make sure to tie it tight to the point that it hurts. That should slow the bleeding down enough until the paramedics get there.” There was a pause. “Michelle, how far along are you?”

“Almost twenty-one weeks.” She could feel the sweat that had gathered on her brow, the way her eyes couldn’t seem to focus on anything. “We find out if it’s a boy or a girl soon.”

“Which are you hoping for?”

Michelle swallowed thickly. “Frank wants another girl — but I think it’s a boy.”

Claudia came running back into the kitchen with one of her dad’s t-shirts in her little hands. It was one of his old band t-shirts from the 90s that he loved. Michelle quickly took it from her and stretched it into a thin strip.

“Do you have something?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yeah. T-shirt.”

Michelle lifted her leg to get the t-shirt under it and felt a stabbing pain go down her leg and up her spine. She cried out at the feeling but quickly slung the t-shirt under her thigh before lowering it back down to the floor.

“Michelle? Can you hear me Michelle?”

“Yeah — I’m here. Hurts to — Hurts to move.”

She knotted the t-shirt at the top of her leg and pulled as tight as she could. The blood that had soaked into her pants squelched out as she pulled. She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut tight as she let go of the t-shirt. Her breaths came out in ragged pants as her entire leg was consumed in burning pain. When she opened her eyes, the world was rimmed with black spots that she knew weren’t a good sign. Her insides heaved. Her head swam.

“I think I’m gonna…” Michelle trailed off as she reached for Claudia.

“Hey, stay with me Michelle. Keep talking. Michelle, the paramedics are almost there. Stay with me…”

The dispatcher kept talking, but the longer Michelle listened, the further the sound of her voice got. The kitchen titled, blurred. The last thing she saw before a blackness overtook her was Claudia crying.

_______________________________________________________________________

Frank pulled up to the house with a screeching of tires. He killed the engine as fast as he could. Crime scene tape had already been put up across his front yard. Neighbors were gathered to see what was going on. He practically jumped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him.

He should have been there. He should have been there. He should have been there.

“Out of the way! Out of the way!” Frank called ahead as he ran through the small crowd of people towards the house.

Michelle. There she was. Being wheeled out of the house on a stretcher. Oh, God, she looked so pale. She wasn’t awake. Frank’s heart stopped inside his chest. Came to a screeching halt as he ducked under the police tape and jogged over to his wife. This couldn’t have been happening. They lived in an okay neighborhood. Their neighbors were kind and weren’t involved in anything. He had checked and double checked before they even thought about moving into that house. That house that was now littered with bullet holes, the two windows in the front broken and the large potted plant Michelle had on the porch shattered.

Frank had seen some disgusting things during his time in the police force. Gunshot wounds, severed limbs, OD victims, grossly decomposed bodies. But nothing compared to seeing Michelle lying on that stretcher. Her jeans were soaked red. She had a t-shirt tied tightly around her left thigh. Her hands, limp at her sides, were coated in blood. Her skin was ghostly white. Frank felt like he was on his first case again. Sick to his stomach, far away yet right there at the same time. There was a ringing in his ears.

Claudia crying for him broke through all that though.

Frank watched Michelle get wheeled by and looked up to see his little girl in the arms of one of the paramedics. Squirming and reaching for him.

“Daddy! Daddy!”

“Claudia!” He sprinted across the sidewalk and pulled her from the paramedic’s arms. She immediately buried her head into his shoulder and squeezed him tight. He looked to the paramedic. “Is she hurt?”

“No, your daughter is fine.” The paramedic gestured for them to go over to the ambulance. “Your wife has a gunshot wound to the thigh — we think the bullet hit her femoral artery. She’s lost a lot of blood.”

“She gonna be okay?” Frank asked.

The paramedic looked back at him when they reached the ambulance. He was used to seeing that kind of face at a crime scene. That look that spelled bad news but a hopefulness if only for the family’s benefit.

“We just need to get to the hospital as fast as possible.”

Frank nodded before climbing into the back of the ambulance, Claudia still cradled in his arms. He kept his eyes trained on Michelle as he sat down. Her hair was down and brighter than usual in comparison to the dullness of her skin. She was wearing one of those headbands she had made herself out of one of Claudia’s old, ruined onesies. He should have been home. This never would have happened if he had just let the wild goose chase go. If he had just listened to his partner Landry. But there was something about this pill…It had to be connected to all the strange calls they were getting. The people who could do ubelievable things. It all had to be connected somehow. Somehow.

“Alright, let’s check on baby, shall we?” The paramedic sitting across from Frank grabbed a portable fetal doppler from one of the compartments.

Without even thinking, he reached out and took hold of Michelle’s hand. They were always so warm — motherly in the heat they produced. But now they were cold and slightly clammy. The dried blood on her fingers was coming off at his touch but he wouldn’t let go. Couldn’t let go.

He tried to ignore the thought as it invaded his mind. But he couldn’t help it. Fear, like a hand of ice, gripped his heart. Black tendrils of some frozen deep sea monster curled around his spine, his neck, cutting off the air in his lungs.

What if I lose her?

“Okay, heartbeat is a little slow. You’ve gotta real fighter coming, Frank.” He smiled at Claudia. “Just like big sister, I bet.”

That’s right — he knew this paramedic. He always seemed to be the one to show up to his crime scenes. They exchanged witty banter and discussed the Saints. His name was Brandon. Frank looked up at him now, unsure what expression was on his face. Did he look as scared as he felt? As lost? As pleading for them to do something to make his wife not look like that? Brandon smiled reassuringly.

“She’s gonna be okay, Frank.”

_______________________________________________________________________

He only asked her to senior prom after his best friend, Clayton, practically begged him to do it. She was friends with his date and girlfriend Melissa, so it made perfect sense for them to go together. Frank, who went solely by Frankie back then, had begrudgingly gone along with it. He didn’t even know her. Sure he had seen her around, they went to a small school, it was hard not to recognize someone in the hallways.

She was cute, he supposed. Bright red hair with a yellow tinge. Catcher for the softball team. Pretty quiet in the few classes they had together over the years. He’d never talked to her before. Then again, that didn’t mean she was anything special. He didn’t talk to any girls that weren’t dating his friends. Frankie was terribly awkward and shy around girls. Constantly fumbling over his words and running his fingers through his hair he would never admit he showed a picture of Leo Dicaprio in Titanic to get.

Frankie was shocked by the smile that overcame her face when he asked her. Stuttering and trying to sound as disinterested as possible cause he thought it was cool. She only nodded in agreement then ran off down the hall with Melissa. He stared after them with furrowed brows. Girls were so weird.

Then the night of prom finally came. Frankie and Clayton came to pick up the girls at Melissa’s house in Clayton’s dad’s brand new Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG. That was such a cool car and Clayton was terrified to get even a single scratch on it. Frankie rented a tuxedo for the evening, with a bowtie that he hated and his mom tried but failed to sit straight. He held the corsage he had picked up in the plastic box at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the girls to come down from getting ready.

Melissa came down first. Frankie could hear Clayton sigh dreamily at the sight of her. Which made his face bunch up in disgust. She was wearing a green and yellow floral print dress with a matching shawl. Her hair was up with little wispy pieces framing her face. Frankie watched as the longtime couple met with anxious smiles and mumbled you look greats.

Michelle came down the stairs next. And Frankie had never seen someone so beautiful in all his life. She had left her hair down, seemingly untouched by any pins or curling irons. He liked it that way. Her dress was pink, floor length, with spaghetti straps holding it on her shoulders. When she got closer, he could see the little beads on the bodice of the dress and the way she had simply done in her makeup. In comparison, it made Melissa look like she was wearing a lot. It unnerved and awed him at the same time, her natural beauty and shy smile.

“Hi Frankie,” she said when she got to the bottom of the stairs.

“Hi — Hi Michelle.” He nearly dropped the box with her corsage in it. “You look — You look perfect.”

That wasn’t really the word he meant to say. But he stuck with it anyway. She did look perfect. Why hadn’t he talked to her before again?

She seemed to glance at Melissa and Clayton, too preoccupied with each other to notice anything else that was going on. Then she looked down at the plastic container in Frankie’s hands. “Is that for me?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He popped open the container and pulled out the corsage. “Melissa said you like flowers a lot — so I uh — got something different.”

Was her face always that red?

The band of the corsage was made from a couple of those stretchy bead bracelets all stuck together and the flowers were fresh. He wasn’t sure what he was doing when he stepped into Donna’s Flower Shop that afternoon. The kind woman behind the counter had smiled at his discomfort and asked him about the girl he was taking to prom. Donna knew Michelle. She apparently came in all the time and took a few of Donna’s bouquet creating classes. Donna whipped something together in a matter of minutes.

White and pink magnolia blooms, these blue thistle looking things, and little pink flower buds. Frankie had never cared about flowers much, but he thought it looked pretty enough. He was already wearing his boutonniere, his mom having asked to pin it on his lapel herself.

“Do you like it?” he asked as he handed the corsage to her.

She smiled up at him and he could have sworn his heart beat faster in his chest. “I love it. Magnolias are my favorite, you know.”

The four of them took the customary pictures on the stairs and outside in front of Melissa’s house. Frankie made sure to give Melissa’s mom his own mother’s phone number so pictures could be shared once they were printed. Then they were off to the dance in the Mercedes-Benz.

Melissa and Clayton sat in the front while Michelle and Frankie sat in the back. It was about a twenty minute drive to the hotel the prom was being held at. The theme was enchanted forest.

“So, you’re on the wrestling team, right?” Michelle asked after a few minutes of sitting in silence.

Frankie cleared his throat awkwardly. “Uh, yeah.”

“Is — Is it fun?” she asked with a skeptical face.

“No.” He laughed. “I’m glad the season is finally over.”

“Not gonna do it in college?”

He shook his head. “Nah. No.”

“Can’t blame you.” She shrugged. “The weigh-ins, the scrambling to gain or lose weight…Doesn’t sound very fun.”

“What about you — you gonna play softball in college?”

Michelle flushed and began to fidget with the band of her corsage. “Uh, no — I’m not going…I have an apprenticeship at Donna’s Flower Shop lined up.”

“Oh. That sounds cool.”

“Wish my parents thought so.” She turned her gaze towards the window almost in shame.

Frankie, on gut reaction, reached out and touched her leg reassuringly. But instantly retracted his hand once he felt the fabric of her satin dress. She didn’t seem to notice. “Hey, they’ll come around to the idea eventually.”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” she sighed, “They don’t think my life is gonna go anywhere — just because I don’t wanna go to college. That I’m squandering my potential.”

“Well, I don’t think that.”

She looked away from the window and smiled at him. A small, genuine smile that brought a grin to his face. Michelle seemed cool and easy to talk to. Why hadn’t he talked to her before?

When they got to the dance, half of the school was already out on the dance floor. The lights were dimmed, high heels and suit jackets abandoned at tables. The photo station was set up in the corner of the hotel ballroom. Sprinkled with fairy lights and fake foliage to make it look like the enchanted forest that the night was supposed to be themed around. Melissa gave out a squeal of delight at the photo station that made Frankie jump, then she dragged Clayton in that direction so they could go take their photo. Michelle and Frankie trailed behind them, unsure of where else to go.

Melissa and Clayton took at least ten pictures together. Each one of them posed together holding each other close and smiling at one another. Frankie could feel his face get hot as he watched them. He glanced over at Michelle then behind him to the people forming a line. Would he have to hold her waist like that? Part of him wanted to, the other part of him didn’t know if she wanted him to and wasn’t willing to ask.

The photographer ushered them up to the station while Melissa and Clayton flipped through the automatic print outs.

“You guys want digital or polaroids?” he asked.

“Uh — “ Michelle looked at Frankie and he shrugged. “Polaroid is fine, I guess.”

“Hey, easier for me.” The photographer picked up the polaroid camera and pointed it at them. “Alright, sir, if I could have you stand behind your lovely date there — there you go and then put your hands on her waist. That’s it. And, ma’am, just put your hands on top of his. Great.”

Frankie felt hot everywhere. He was certain that the camera would be able to pick up how red his cheeks are. But Michelle, she felt relaxed in his hold. Leaning back into him with an air of casualness that made his breath hitch. Like she was meant to be there. He smiled, closed lipped, for the pictures. His hands strayed around her waist and hips as they walked off the enchanted forest set. Michelle smiled over her shoulder at him in a knowing way and he coughed as he fully let go of her.

The photographer handed them two polaroids that weren’t yet fully developed. Michelle shook her’s as they walked over to where Melissa and Clayton were waiting for them. In the photo, Michelle had her head tilted to one side, a smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. A piece of her fire-like hair was caught on his shoulder. He swallowed thickly as he stowed the polaroid in his suit jacket pocket.

For the majority of the night, they stood around and bobbed their heads to the music. A few other friends joined their circle, but it stayed relatively small in comparison to the pile of people closer to the DJ. A few slow songs came and went. Melissa and Clayton danced to every single one. Holding each other and pressing their foreheads together — kissing at the end of each song. Michelle and Frankie would give each other a knowing look, Michelle at one point wiggled her eyebrows which made Frankie burst out laughing. They talked and laughed throughout the night.

And Frankie had to ask himself, yet again: Why had he never talked to her before?

She was radiant, warm. Kind and humorous in a quiet way that often went unnoticed by people who weren’t looking for it. She was quiet in a way that complimented him well and she listened when he spoke. Something he couldn’t even find at home.

“Alright, this party is almost over,” the DJ announced which made the majority of the room break out into a chorus of boos, “So let’s play one last song for all those little lovebirds out there.”

The opening beats to “All My Life” by K-Ci & JoJo filled the ballroom. Frankie glanced over at Michelle. They had somehow split apart in their friend circle for the first time that night. He was on one side of the group with some of his friends from the wrestling team, while she seemed to be hovering on the outside of a group of girls he recognized from a few of his classes.

He took a deep breath. If he was going to be a police officer one day, he needed to have the courage to ask a girl to dance. She whipped her head around when he tapped her on her bare shoulder. Red hair smacked him in the face. He ignored it though.

“Do you, uh — You wanna dance with me?” Frankie jabbed his thumb over at the dance floor.

Michelle smiled and even in the dim light he could see her cheeks redden. “Sure, Frankie.”

“Cool.” He smiled and took her hand.

Their arms were stiff at first. Holding each other out at length and not daring to look one another in the eye. Okay, so maybe he didn’t have the courage to ask a girl to dance for a reason. But somehow, in a way that he couldn’t explain, it felt right. It felt good to be awkwardly dancing to “All My Life” at the senior prom with Michelle Richards.

Frankie felt her take a deep breath and her hands soften on his shoulders.

“Can I admit something?” she asked, eyebrows pinched together in concern, “And — it’s okay if you feel uncomfortable and wanna…Like, never talk to me again or something.”

“Uh — Okay, I’m scared now,” he chuckled nervously.

“So, I’ve had a crush on you for like, a year.” She rolled her eyes and stared down at his crooked bowtie. “And I…May have convinced Melissa to convince Clayton to convince you to…Ask me to prom.”

Frankie didn’t know what to say for a second. He didn’t think anybody would ever have a crush on him. He was awkward, gangly, a bit of a hothead, his ears stuck out funny (though his mom told him it was an endearing feature). But Michelle Richards, softball catcher and future florist, liked him.

“I wish you would’ve told me sooner.” He smiled and pulled her closer. “I’m glad you did that.”

_______________________________________________________________________

There was a beeping in her ears that annoyed her into being awake. Her face scrunched as she listened to it for a moment, her eyes still closed. God, that really was an aggravating sound. Did the fire alarm need it’s batteries changed or something? She could ask Frank to pick some up on the way home. Wait — was she just asleep? Was Claudia still sleeping from her nap? If she wasn’t, what kind of mess had she made? Michelle sighed as she opened her eyes just a crack, enough to see a blurred white tile ceiling.

That wasn’t her ceiling. But she didn’t pay much attention to that. She needed to check on Claudia. She moved to sit up and a dizziness, but not just in her head, in her whole body, took over. It kind of reminded her of the first time she and Frank smoked weed.

There were hands on her shoulders, easing her back down.

“Hey, baby — lay back down, alright? Try not to move too much.”

She pulled her eyes open more. Frank was standing over her. He had dark circles under red rimmed eyes.

“Mm — Frankie?” Michelle complied with laying back down, if only to make that weird feeling go away.

“I’m gonna go get the nurse, okay?” He let go of her shoulders and left the room.

Michelle was left to stare up at the ceiling, pondering. She was definitely in a hospital. Had she had the baby? She didn’t even know what the gender was yet. That was unfair. She didn’t even remember the last, and arguably usually the longest, weeks of her pregnancy.

Then it all hit her at once. The van. The running man. The shooting. Broken glass. Pain in her leg. Blood on the kitchen floor. Claudia crying.

Michelle sat up, her head swimming, and looked around the room. She couldn’t see Claudia. Only an empty bag of McDonald’s and an NOPD duffle bag. She continued to look around the room lazily, brain only half processing what was going on, until Frank came back into the room.

“Where’s Claudia?” she asked.

“My mom came and picked her up a few hours ago,” he said, moving to stand by her side.

She stared down at her lap for a moment. “I — I got shot.”

Frank’s head dropped and he seemed to take in a deep, pained breath. When he looked back up at her, there were tears in his eyes. He reached down and took her hand. “Yeah, babe, you did.”

“Is the — “ Michelle reached down and cradled her belly in one hand. “Is the baby okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He sniffed. “Yeah — the baby’s fine.”

“Alright, Mrs. Shaver.” A young blonde nurse came into the room with a clipboard. “I’m Haley, I’m your on-call nurse. Now that you’re awake I’m just gonna do a check that everything is okay.”

She grabbed the clipboard from the end of Michelle’s bed and stacked it on top of the other one. Frank helped Michelle lay back down as he moved the bed to a sitting up position.

“Do you feel any pain?” Haley asked.

“No.” Michelle shook her head. “I feel weird…Like I’m a little high.”

“That’s the painkillers. The feeling will wear off in a little while. We’ll make sure your next dose isn’t as strong.” Haley scribbled on the clipboard. “Do you need any water or food?”

“Um, water would be nice.”

“Okay. I think that’s all I need. Your surgery went well. We removed the bullet and repaired your femoral artery. If all looks good tomorrow you should be released the following day.” Haley replaced the clipboard at the end of her bed and smiled. “I’ll be right back with that water.”

Michelle watched her leave with an absentminded stare. Two days in the hospital? What were they supposed to do with Claudia during that time? Who would take her to daycare? Would Frank have to take off work? She sighed heavily as she adjusted the blankets over her legs.

“No, no — I know that face.” Frank pulled a chair up beside her bed and sat down. “The fidgeting. Don’t worry about all that, babe.”

“But who’s gonna take care of Claudia?”

He gripped her hand earnestly. “I will.”

“But we can’t afford for you not to go work, babe.” Burning tears hit the backs of her eyes and in seconds they were dripping down her cheeks. “Especially with the new baby coming and now I’m here and you were so close to finding the source of that pill — “

“I actually wasn’t,” Frank mumbled, head tilted down, “That lead I had was a dead end. Landry said it…But I wouldn’t listen. I should’ve been home.”

“You being there wouldn’t have changed what happened.”

He looked up into her face then. A kind of intensity in his eyes that she rarely got to see. “I could’ve protected you. Made sure you were safe.”

“But I am safe.” She squeezed his hand and gave a soft smile of reassurance. “I’m safe now — with you.”

Frank sighed and dropped his head again. Pressing the backs of her fingers into his forehead. “I was so scared, Meesh.”

Michelle didn’t know what to say. She had been scared too. Was still scared even now. But Frank had never been one to get scared. Even during horror films he sat through them straight faced while she shoved her face into a pillow to hide from the monsters. When he came home from grewling shifts that she would hear about on the news he didn’t show an ounce of fear. Even though the reporters were talking about gunfire and chases, busts of massive drug rings where he could have easily been killed. Frank was a steady rock that reassured her that everything was always going to work out. That no matter what happened, they were going to be okay.

But to see her steady rock shaken in this way made her realize that maybe it had always been the other way around instead. That she was the thing that kept him standing in spite of his fear.

_______________________________________________________________________

Michelle fell back asleep after a while. Frank sighed long and hard as he watched her, listened to the heartbeat monitor reassure him that she was alright. He rubbed his hands over his face. God, he was so tired. He hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. His entire body felt heavy and worn down to the bone.

Just as his eyes began to slip shut of their own accord, his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. With a soft groan he pulled it out and saw that it was Landry calling. He took the call out in the hallway so as not to disturb Michelle.

“Hey, Landry, what’s up?” he asked as he slipped out of the room and moved down the hall to the vending machine.

Might as well get a snack while he was up.

“Hey, man, how’s Michelle doin?”

“She’s alright. Surgery went well. Resting now.” He surveyed the snacks available and decided he didn’t really want anything.

“Alright, cool, cool. Just let us know if you guys need anything.” There was a brief pause on the other end. “We found the van — crashed into an abandoned warehouse.”

Frank took a deep breath. “Any survivors?”

“Not that we can tell. Driver of the van died on impact and there was one other guy inside. Then — man, this is the crazy part — there’s one guy outside the van. Coroner says he died from severe blunt force trauma. Based on evidence collected at the scene this dude — this dude he ran through three walls, man. Brick walls.”

“He ran through them?”

“Yeah. Coroner also found some crazy shit in the guy’s system he’s never seen before.”

“Were there any of those pills on sight?” He leaned against the wall with a furrowed brow.

“Yeah — yeah. A few in the van. They don’t look like anything we’ve ever seen before, Frank. Something crazy’s going on. Want me to put this on hold till you get back?”

Frank could feel his jaw set. His fist clench at his side. If his years as a detective taught him anything, it was that these pills were the reason his house got shot up. The reason his wife was laying in the hospital with a bullet wound. He needed to get to the bottom of this to keep his family and New Orleans safe.

“Yeah. I’ll be back in a few days,” Frank said, “Let me know if you find anything else.”

And with that, he hung up.

[pandora15]

Okay okay so I'm STILL mind-blown over KOTF because I'm currently looking down the barrel of a long fic that I want to write but I'm like how am I going to do this so, for you, what was the hardest part of writing such a long fic? What parts came easiest to you? What unexpected challenges did you come across while writing it that you may not come across in a shorter fic or one-shot?

Love you, my friend!!! 💕

Spoilers for Keeper of the Force below

Hi Katie! Thanks for the ask; I'm really excited to talk about this stuff :)

Okay, so for me, the hardest part of writing KOTF was probably writing specific scenes that were well out of my comfort zone. I had to write a good amount of action sequences, which is definitely something I still struggle with, even now. I also struggled with writing scenes with more than three characters, just because it was so complicated to keep track of what each character was doing, saying, and thinking (even if the POV character doesn't really know about the latter). So yeah, I'd say the most difficult parts came down to writing things I haven't really tried writing before.

The easiest part, much to my own surprise, was the ending—specifically, the last two or three chapters. Maybe it's recency bias, maybe it's the sprint bot, maybe it's the fact that I thought about the ending of this story for literally years, but it all came together so beautifully. I also really enjoyed writing the whump and angst, as I always do xD and the suspense was surprisingly really fun to write as well! It kinda makes me want to write a more suspense-heavy story one day, but we'll see ;)

Unexpected challenges! Whoo boy. Okay, so we're gonna dig deep into spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled for exactly what happens in this fic, look away now and don't click below.

Okay.

So, I did plan out a lot of the major plot points ahead of time, including what ultimately happens to Obi-Wan. I was really scared of actually writing it though, especially when I was posting and getting comments for the first half-ish of the fic. For a while, I was on the fence about it, and I really wasn't expecting to have that internal conflict. I even thought of alternate ideas for what could happen to Obi-Wan, but in the end, I stuck to what I originally planned.

And I think that was the right choice because I'm a believer in going with your gut, and I think it made the story and its ending a much more powerful one. Or at least I hope it did?

I guess what I'm saying is that facing internal conflict about the ending of a story doesn't really happen with shorter fic, but it definitely can happen for longer stories, especially if you're like me and posting it as you write (which uh. is risky but here I am LOL).

Hmmmm, so my favorite part to write? Oh my goodness, I'm not even sure I can choose. There's just so much that I really, genuinely enjoyed writing from this fic. I will agree with you that Chapter 18 is definitely up there, just because I finally had the chance to actually reveal what was actually happening, and to allow Anakin and Obi-Wan to have their closure.

I also really enjoyed writing the last scene of Chapter 17! Before writing that scene, I was legitimately terrified of actually writing it, just because it felt so abstract and weird, but it was such a fun thing to write, and I think it came together really well!

And Chapter 15 as a whole is probably one of my favorites too, especially that ending. I think I was screaming while writing it. Honestly, it's all a blur, but. yeah. Man, do I love that chapter.

And even the epilogue, I just—ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

Okay, so yeah, as you can see above, I literally cannot choose a favorite LOL.

Anyways, writing this fic was such a joy and a journey from start to finish. I enjoyed the whole process—from the very beginning, with me just writing a random Whumptober prompt, then coming up with a background and adding more and more, until there's a literal AU with all these things that came from my imagination.

And I mean, a part of me was so scared because I was like "I have literally no idea how I'm gonna write any of this, but I am gonna try like hell to do it." And it worked out, I grew so much as a writer through it all, and I am immensely proud of this story (and honestly a bit in awe of myself, because like. I wrote this????? What??????)

So yeah! I rambled a lot here, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that writing a long fic can be a rewarding experience! It definitely requires a lot of planning and thinking ahead of time. One of the things I wanted to do with KOTF in particular was really challenge myself as a writer—so I would suggest thinking about what you want to accomplish when writing your long fic.

Like: what's the point of your story? Not just the theme, moral of the story, etc. but for you, as the writer, what do you want to get out of this experience?

Also, when I was in the planning stages for KOTF, I had a lot of stream-of-consciousness blurbs throughout my document, a whole bunch of reference links, lists, timelines, and I think I even ended up drawing a diagram somewhere (but I have no idea where it went oof). So if you have like any potential ideas/thoughts/etc for your story, just get it down on paper somewhere! You can always come back to it and remove it or change it later on.

Okay, I rambled a lot more than I intended to, but uh. yeah! I guess I had a lot of thoughts about writing KOTF and it all came out right now. Hopefully it makes sense.

Thanks so much for the ask, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions about writing long fic! This goes for anyone who wants to know more about how I write, if that sort of thing interests you :)

(ask me anything about KOTF)