#whoo finally wrote this up

[nichoskittycorner]

Whoo- Finally getting to pt 2 to this:

So... a random drabble thing I wrote. Like you know that trope about adopting a pet and it shifts into a hot person? Yeah it's like that except it's a werewolf and a wolf plush. This isnt complete and only like a lil nsfw but yeah-

Part 1

>> Not proofread, gen!reader×male werewolf, 18+ typical werewolf sex things

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

As the werewolf in your bed continued to caress your skin, your mind was flooded with thoughts. Too many and too wild to focus on a single one.

It was only when the hot and rough tongue of the wolf grazed your bare shoulder skin did you come back to reality.

As you tried to formulate words, the rest of your clothes quickly came off. The wolf you had unknowingly in your care for quite some time changed your position so you were on your back.

Spreading your legs apart and resting his snout on your tummy. Your hands hesitantly rested on his fluffy and massive head. His eyes closed and you could already see his tail wagging.

"W-wait. I dont get it-"

A deep chuckle left him before his long tongue licked from your navel up to your neck, sending chills all over your body. "You dont need to get it. Just let me thank you."

Whether you wanted this thanks didnt matter, his head was once again nestled between your legs. This time finding your hole and teasing your entrance.

Swirling it in tight circles before poking inside. Your back arched as he pushed his tongue in deeper, tasting you as best as he could. Flicking and thrusting his large tongue against your walls before adding one of his thick fingers inside.

Stretching you out with slow loving strokes, alternating between his tongue and fingers. Adding another digit until you were prepared to take his cock. He was admittedly excited, not only from your beautiful moans and the swirling of your hips but everything really.

He had been dreaming of the day he'd be able to take in your delicious scent with his wolf nose and fuck you properly on his dick. Filling you up and claiming you as his as you both melted into bliss in his strong embrace.

His body felt strained and trapped in that plush form, especially after so long. So once you had managed to break the spell, he was sure you were the one. His destiny, his love, his mate. And he was beyond ready to show it.

Once he felt you loosen up around his thick fingers, he pulled them out of your hole. A drawn out moan escaping your lips as he licked one of your nipples to tease. Licking up until he was at your neck and suckled on the tender flesh.

Nibbling down with his teeth carefully, but still leaving his mark on your skin. His warm body pressing into yours as he stroked your hair with his free hand.

"Are you ready my mate?" You could only nod eagerly and kiss his snout. He sat back and presented his cock between your legs. It was thick, long and begging for you.

His tip pressed against your entrance, and with a swift movement, he was inside of you. Even with the prep, he was still huge and stretched you out. Almost breaking you in half and making a tear slip from your eye.

"Shh, just hold on my little mate. You'll feel good very soon." He whispered sweetly as he pushed his hips a little more, filling you up little by little.

Once you were stuffed full of his wolf cock, you could finally start to ease up. He reached further than you could've ever expected and his slow movements were much appreciated until you were ready.

It took every ounce of self control he had to not just fuck you wildy, abusing your hole and body to his feral heart's content. He kissed up your neck slowly, dragging his tongue with careful precision. Maybe if he stayed slow, he could keep his control.

But with the moans that kept leaking from your mouth, your hands tangled into his fur and pulling, your chest pushed flush into his- Oh it was too much.

You could feel him holding back. His shoulders tense as he moved painfully slow in and out of your hole. He was determined not to hurt his love, even if his body didnt care.

It was such a sweet gesture, you pulled him into a kiss and started grinding your hips. Encouraging him to not hold back so much anymore. You were ready for him to let loose.

He groaned against your lips, not quite convinced you were ready yet. "Come on, please! I need you, give me all of you please-"

A low but powerful growl rumbled throughout his chest as his claws dug into your hips. Barely piercing the skin, not enough for blood but leaving imprints for sure.

You didnt have time to dwell on it though, as he started to jerk his hips harshly into you. His pace inhuman and the power of his thrust was breathtaking. Unable to hold back, a loud cry of pleasure escaped your lips as your eyes shut.

Tears of pleasure quickly took over as he continued to pound into you, burying his cock into your walls over and over again. Stretching you out and sending shockwaves throughout your body.

Drool leaking from his loose hanging tongue landed onto your chest and face. His mind already too drunk on your body to wish to stop. Even as his hot cum shot out and filled you up, he needed more.

He needed to ravish your body until all you could think about was him, until his cum flowed from your throughly bred body like a river. Until he knotted you up and claimed you as his so his scent would never leave your skin.

On and on, orgasm after orgasm, he continued to fuck your smaller human body. Oh how foolish he was to have thought you were frail and easily breakable. But you persist, begging for of him more even as your stomach swells up with his seed and your eyes roll back from the intense pleasure.

Soon he starts to feel it- his knot begins to swell up as he continues to beat up your swollen cum filled hole. He nips at your nipple once again, causing your sensitive body to squirm.

"One more for me mate, have to knot you up." From what little you could still process, you nodded anyway. You werent 100% sure what a knot was but from the growing feeling you felt slipping in and out of you, you're sure youd love it.

" Yes yes please! Knot me please!" You plead through breathy moans and pants. And of course, it sends him over the edge. Pushing his cock harshly into you several more times before settling deep into your body.

His knot grew to completion, securing you both tightly as he filled you with another load of cum. He shook widely and howled as his mind went blank. Your own orgasm making stars flash into your vision as you came.

Body quaking and holding onto your fluffy partner with everything you had. Grounding yourself as the pleasure drowned your mind. Nothing else mattered but how amazing you both felt.

Coming down from such a high felt almost unreal. Your body stung from how on edge your nerves were as your vision started to clear and you caught your breath.

Your wolfy partner... who probably had a name other than Muffin, was resting on you. Flopping his whole weight on you and hugging you, tracing soft circles into your skin. Licking your cheeks, face, and parts of your hair to comfort you.

His touch was so gentle in comparison to how roughly he had fucked you earlier. Even with his knot still resting inside you. He purred lowley, the sound soothing you even further.

Your hand lazily pet his fur, as you tried to put your mind back together fully. But it could wait. This was too blissful to ruin with thinking.

"You're mine, right my love?" He spoke softly as his eyes started to flutter close, nose buried in your neck and taking in your scent.

"Yes. I'm yours."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Whoo sorry that took so long! I kept having "my WIP list is a joke" syndrome but I'm glad I finally got to finish this! It was fun, who knows, I may write more things like this in the future :D

Taglist : @immortaljai @sunnyhokyu @jaiuneamesolitaiire

[emmyrosee]

lol Brandon Farris and Maria Gloria wrote this 💅🏼

——

You don’t film specific videos with Kenma often, but when you do, it’s usually at his expense.

For this installation of his quarterly stream, he’s got you set up with an eye tracker just beside him. Naturally, you’re decked out in Kodzuken merch, and he can’t stop looking at it as he explains the rules.

“So- there’s gonna be two sides. One side is gonna have one picture, the other of another one-“

“Revolutionary, Kenma.”

“-Shut the hell up. Anyways, your going to look at one of them; if you look at the one of me, or the picture on the left, it’s free. If you look at the right one, I have to give 5 subs. Got it?”

“One question.”

“Sure.”

“Why do you set yourself up for failure?”

Kenma looks you up and down, “because I already settled for you.” You jaw drops in faux offense while he sets up the pictures. “Okay- cover your eyes.” Your hands come up to childishly cover your eyes, and Kenma is quick to set up the first set of images.

One of him in a compression shirt, post workout with sweat making the fabric cling impossibly closer to his muscles.

The other, of Maesi at just a small 8 months old.”

“Alright babe. Open.”

Your eyes do, and they small orbs tracking your eyes dart to your child.

“Awww, my baby,” you coo, hands coming up to your mouth as you look at the picture of Maesi while he pouts next to you.

“Wow… thought you would look at me, not gonna lie,” he snickers, adding five gifted subs to his total. In his monitor, he sees your eye tracker finally dart to his picture, fixating on his abs. “Yeah no, that one glance of our infant cost me 25 damn bucks, let’s try again.” You laugh next to him and gently clutch his arm affectionately.

In the next slide, there’s a picture of him in a worn out nekoma hoodie, and a picture of Bokuto in his MSBY jersey-

Inconveniently, your eyes dart to Bokuto’s hair.

“Babe.”

“I’m sorry!” You cackle. “His hair is just stupidly exciting, it’s a habit.”

“You see my luscious hair every day, and you pick his?”

You suck in a breath and Kenma glares at you. “Luscious?”

“Im gonna leave you.” He tacks on another five subs, and he looks over at you in playful offense. “I’m letting you know now; this next one is Toppo and Appa snuggling. If you look at them, this stream is over.”

“Why on gods decaying earth would you tell me that?” You whine. “Now I wanna see my little kitty and puppyyyy.”

“I am your Kitty. So shush.” With that, Kenma’s index finger clicks onto the next slide, and he’s gotta give you credit, your eyes dart to his side finally, then immediately dash to the picture of Appa sleeping in a ball, with Toppo curled on top in an extremely similar fashion. “At least you looked at me first.”

He adds one gifted sub to the total, trying to ignore your snickering next to him.

“But look at how cute they are-“

“Don’t try to save yourself,” he says, clearly trying to hide the smile in his voice.

“Okay,” You giggle.

This continues for more than Kenma would like- as amusing as he finds it.

One look at him. Another look at him. One look at an anime poster. Another look at a random picture of a panda bear.

He’d love to pretend that this is annoying him; but his teasing of you and your laughter and rapid explaining have him cackling to his own self.

The last picture is, naturally, the biggest test, and Kenma gives you a look before clicking the next link. It’s a picture of him, asleep with a newborn Maesi on his chest and hair sprawled everywhere- it’s one you took of him when you first brought her home. On the other side, is a stupid picture of the stupid actor you stupidly like so stupidly much.

Your eyes dart to him and Maesi. And he immediately leaps up, cheering and thrilled as you laugh at the reaction. “SHE LOVES ME, CHAT! WE FUCKIN’ DID IT! WE RIIIIIIDE!”

“Dramatic ass!” You snort, laughing in your hands while he celebrates in the background. “It’s because you had Spawn in your picture.”

“Worth it. Whoo!” He sits down next to you and leans over to kiss your cheek, arm tossing around you to keep you close. You titter and try to shrug him away, “the only woman to exist ever. The love of my life. Beautiful mother of my child.” The chat floods with donations and cheers, but all he can focus on is your playful bats against him. “Game over. I’ve won. Next task chat.”

“You’re annoying.”

“And you looked at me.”

[ash5monster01]

i saw you wrote for randall pink floyd and i RAN to your inbox

could you please write a best friends to lovers confession with our dear boy randall? and i’m not sure if you do smut or anything like that but if it could be just slightly smutty that would be wonderful!!

Always You

Pairing: Randall ‘Pink’ Floyd x FemReader

Warnings: 18+, language, drug/alcohol use, jealousy, emotional struggle, foreplay, implied smut, fluff, no use of y/n

Summary: You’re in love with your best friend and on accident he finds out.

word count: 2.9k

Masterlist

You wait in the dark, eyes cast out the window, watching for your best friend who would appear any second. You both had done this every Friday night for the entire year, it was a system by now. Just in time you see headlights flash out, the sound of a rumbling engine cutting off, as his El Camino rolls to a stop in front of your house. You wait a beat to ensure your parents didn’t hear before you scurry out the front door and across the dark lawn to your best friend.

“That’s never gets old” he says as you jump inside. He’s shaking his head in amusement and you just roll your eyes at him as he starts up the engine and drives away before anyone can spot you.

“It’s getting pretty old for me, I’m lucky I haven’t been caught yet” you tell him as you pull some lip gloss from your bag and drop it to the ground. Pink’s eyes glance over at you as you pull the mirror down and apply the product. He tries to ignore the way his throat dries as he watches your plump lips pucker at your reflection.

“You won’t get caught, our system works pretty well” he tells you, hands flexing over the steering wheel as he drives to the Emporium since Pickford just had to get caught and cancel his party.

“C’mon Rand, I’m so over sneaking out. I wish we didn’t get too big for sleepovers” you pout, arms crossing over your chest, and lifting your breasts in the process. The series of actions and words has Pink shifting in his seat, trying to hide the way his pants have tightened. If only you realized what you had just suggested.

“Sorry sweetheart, but if you still aren’t gonna admit to your parents that you party then you’re stuck with our plan” he tells you and you finally eye him up and down, the nice purple shirt on his form and the tight cream bell bottoms.

“Who you all dolled up for? Simone?” you ask as you wiggle your eyebrows, your teasing and suggestive tone making him roll his eyes at you. You ignore the jealousy that burns in your stomach, the desire to be the one he actually dresses up for. Little did you know, it was you.

“No not Simone, we’re just talking” he says and it sounds unsure, like that might even be the wrong choice of words for the little blonde girl he had somehow obtained. In fact he had quite forgotten about her until now, not even remembering he said they’d meet up at some point tonight.

“Either way you look handsome Pinky, I’d swoon” you tease him, digging in your bag for the joint you had stashed away earlier. Your words are true but he doesn’t know that.

“Please don’t call me Pinky. I prefer Rand or Randall even over that” he begs, you being the only one to still call him by his given name. Comes with the territory of being best friends though. You knew him long before he was ever Pink.

“Oh little Pinky is grumpy” you tease in a sing song baby voice, poking his shoulder and scooting closer along the front seat. He chuckles, knowing you’re only messing.

“You gonna light that joint or what?” he finally asks and you giggle, hands retrieving your lighter before flicking the ignite. Pink watches as you wrap your glossed lips around the end and light it in the dark of the car. The flame illuminates your face bright enough to remind him how gorgeous you truly are.

“Whoo, that’s a strong one” you say, voice thick with the smoke and Pink smiles as you pass it to him and he puts his lips where yours just were. He’s certain this is the closest he’ll ever get to kissing you.

You pass the joint back and forth the whole ride to the Emporium, each pass getting you closer and closer to him on the seat. By the time there’s only a roach to share between you, your thigh is pressed tightly against his own. His whole body buzzes with the sensation of you against him and the weed. He’s actually disappointed to see the Emporium come into view while he pulls into a parking spot.

“You want a beer?” you ask, head turning to face him and the closeness doesn’t go unnoticed by either of you. Pink takes a moment to study the deep color of your eyes before nodding.

“Sure, let me give you some cash” he says, digging in his pocket and you finally spot the remnants of your sparkly lip gloss stuck to the corner of his lip from your shared joint. As he frees some bills you giggle and use your thumb to brush it away, causing him to freeze.

“I guess I should’ve waited to apply my lipgloss after we shared a joint, wouldn’t want our friends thinking we were hiding something” you say, chest tightening and wishing he would admit his feelings for you. Tell you he didn’t care what his friends thought and kiss you for real. You wished you never dared to cross the best friend line.

“Maybe I just decided to start wearing makeup” Pink finally says when he realizes it’s taken him too long to answer. Why could he be confident around every girl but you?

“I’ll go grab some drinks, don’t start a game of pool without me” you tell him and in a flash you’ve slid out the car, waving and smiling at your friends who cheer and greet you. Pink waits till you’re inside the liquor store before taking a few moments to collect himself.

“Hey man” Wooderson is the first to greet him as he steps out the car. Pink smiles, greeting him with a handshake before leaning up against the wall beside him.

“Man that girl of yours has gotten real cute” he grins, eyes still cast in the direction of the liquor store where you had just disappeared into.

“Not my girl” Pink mutters despite everything in him going against it and the older guy snorts, foot wedging up to press against the wall behind him.

“Still cute” he says and Pink chuckles, hoping it’ll mask the jealousy he carries over other men being into you. He knew Wooderson would leave you alone, he wouldn’t dare mess with a girl he knew Pink cared for so much. It still didn’t change the fact it made his chest burn.

As if on cue you exit the liquor store, smile wide on your face, as you carry two cases of his favorite beer. Pink’s stomach flutters at the sight, watching as you cross the parking lot and dump both cases in the truck bed of his car. You’re so gorgeous, and you knew him better than anyone, a girl hand crafted for him. If only he wasn’t so afraid of losing you.

“Thirsty?” you ask, hands freeing two of the beers and holding them up for him to see.

“You got one for me doll?” Wooderson calls out and you laugh, shaking your head at your overly flirty friend.

“Depends on how much Pink likes you?” you call back and Wooderson pouts at Pink almost instantly. Your bestfriend just sighs and gives you a nod which makes you grab a third beer before approaching them both.

“Thanks” Pink says, arm coming to wrap around your shoulders and pull you against him. You don’t fight it, leaning into his embrace as you open your beer and take a swig.

“Can’t believe we’re officially seniors” you say as another load of classmates pull into the parking lot and hop out. Pink smiles, knowing all day he felt like a King about everything but one. You.

“Enjoy it” is all Wooderson says and you both nod, accepting these words and knowing there was only one shot to embrace this moment as it was. That’s why in your head, you’re certain you’ll tell Pink how you feel before the end of summer, hell maybe even tonight.

As always the chaos of the night ensues and without fail you manage to still find a way to party. You’re unsure how much alcohol you’ve consumed, you just know it was a lot. At least enough to give you the small buzz you were currently sporting. It was the very reason Pink had laid down a blanket in the bed of his truck and had laid you in it with the promise of returning. He holds up his end of the bargain when the suspension of the Camino dips down with him lifting his body weight into it.

“Sorry, had to say goodbye to Simone” and maybe it’s the alcohol, you want to blame the alcohol, when your face scrunches up with something he can only read as disgust.

“If you wanted to take her home you should’ve just left me with Cynthia, I can handle myself” you say, voice clipped and eyes cast on the bright stars of the Texas sky above you.

“I’m not leaving you, besides I didn’t want to take her home” Pink assures you, heart racing at the idea of you being jealous. If it wasn’t for the alcohol in your system he’d swear it was.

“Yeah okay” you snort, shaking your head and trying to ignore the cool night air on your skin. The sounds of engines starting and rumbling away surrounding you both.

“What’s your deal? I thought you liked Simone?” Pink finally asked, rolling to his side to face you and you smile despite not being amused.

“I do like Simone I just don’t like her for you” you say, a bit exasperated and a little tired of keeping all these feelings at bay when they’re begging to burst out of you.

“Why? Why not? She’s a good girl, just like the rest” he argues back and the fire ignites inside you, annoyance and anger bubbling over.

“Because Rand, because no one is good enough for you. No one would ever deserve to love you, not even me-” your mouth snaps shut, words moving faster than your mind and it reels as you try to comprehend what you just said to him. What you may of just admitted.

“What?” Pink says, blinking as the words you just said sinks in. You instantly start shaking your head, panic spreading over your entire body, realizing your plan came true without being planned.

“I didn’t mean, I- I’m sorry-” you blubber, words suddenly not coming to you or forming, much different than how they had just spit out of you. Yet it doesn’t matter because Pink’s hand is falling on your cheek, holding your head to face him. His expression is unreadable and the panic makes you want to flee.

“You deserve me, just as much as I deserve you” he says slowly, wanting you to understand what he’s saying. Your eyes are wide and when you can’t get your mouth to open and say anything, he’s leaning forwarding and pressing it against his own.

You gasp lightly but he keeps you close until you realize this is really happening. Slowly you kiss him back, realizing in this very moment you’re actually kissing your best friend. The excitement hits you all at once and you grasp at his shoulders tightly, kissing him feverishly. When Pink notices your eagerness he glides his tongue along the seam of your lips and you let him in without hesitation. The second his tongue curls against your own you find yourself climbing into his lap, searching for a better and more controlled angle to make out with him.

“Careful baby” he warns against your lips as you grind down on him. Yet the confidence from the alcohol and the desire for him is controlling your actions.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” you muse as his lips travel along your jaw and down your neck. He smiles against your skin, grunting when you grind down on him again.

When his lips find that sensitive spot on your neck you trail your hand down his chest, fingers grazing his bare skin in his shirt that had been further and further unbuttoned throughout the entirety of the night. When you reach his abdomen his stomach jumps and finally he pulls away from you.

“Wait, is it true? You really have feelings for me?” he asks, wanting to make sure he hadn’t misinterpreted or worse taken advantage of you in your tipsy state. You smile as you admire the sparkly lip gloss that now covers his own lips shamelessly.

“Yes Pinky, for a long time. I just never had the courage to say anything” you tell him, hands stabilizing yourself on his chest. He grins wide, hands tightening on your hips and the action makes you grind against him again.

“Me too” he admits, a soft blush covering his cheeks and you don’t fight the urge to lean down and kiss each of them. Yet the new angle has you able to feel his length perfectly in those tight pants of his. You use the opportunity to kiss his lips as you grind against him again. His hands tighten somehow even more on your hips and you love the idea of being able to see where his hands had been tomorrow.

“I didn’t know you liked me this much Pinky” you say using the embarrassing nickname he hadn’t felt the need to correct with you above him like this.

“You have no idea” he mutters a little breathless and a little nervous. This is all he ever wanted and now he didn’t possibly want to screw it up.

“How have I never noticed?” you muttered, not looking particularly for an answer, before kissing him deeply again. You shiver when his hands push up your shirt, large palms gliding against your bare back. When he reaches the clasp of your bra you grind against him, indicating he had full permission to take it off. He doesn’t waste a second, the material loosening and slipping down your shoulders.

Realizing you don’t want to get caught without your shirt you slip the straps off your arms and pull it out of under your clothes. Pink watches as you toss it up by his head and he gulps, his hands moving from your back and under the fabric that laid over your chest. Your lips meet his own again when he finally grasps your breasts and you realize fairly quickly you need to get him out of his pants as soon as possible.

Pink lets out a small squeak, your mouth muffling the noise, as your hands reach down and start fumbling with the button of his pants. He grips tighter at your breasts and it makes you whimper against him. You’re both so lost in each other you can’t believe it’s taken you this long to ever admit your feelings for him. As soon as you slide his zipper down you feel his length twitch against your palm and you grin against his lips. Slowly you slide your fingers against him, dipping into the pants you hoped to get off of him.

“Hey we’re going to the 50 yard line to smoke, you guys in?!” Don’s voice bellows out, hands slapping against the bed of the truck. You jump off of Pink quickly, hand sliding out of his pants, as Don rounds the back of the vehicle. A sly grin cracks along his face as he notices the heavy breaths Pink lets out and the open fly of his pants. When he spots you with glazed eyes and swollen lips it only confirms his suspicions.

“Yeah we’ll come” Pink answers, eyes glancing at you and back at his buddy. Don chuckles, a finger pointing between you both.

“Best friends my ass” is all he says before he starts walking back the way he came, probably in search of Shavonne.

“We’ll meet you there” Pink calls out and Don waves a hand, amusement covered his features as he stalks away from you both.

“You think he knows?” you ask in a joking tone and Pink laughs as he falls back against the bed of the truck, eyes cast to the sky.

“Yeah, he knows” Pink confirms before turning his head and looking you in the eye. All he can think about is how beautiful you are, eyes full of adoration knowing he finally has you the way he has always wanted you.

“Guess we better go to the 50 yard line” you say softly, hand coming to brush some of the long hair out of his face and Pink smiles as he turns his head and kisses your palm.

“I guess so, sleepover at mine after?” he asks, a smile he struggles to hold back tugging on his face. You laugh as you remember the conversation from earlier and slowly nod.

“Yeah, I like that plan” you agree and he grins widely before capturing your lips in a kiss then hopping out the back of the truck. He holds a hand out for you to join him and you don’t hesitate in taking it as you both slide into the car.

In this moment, your life was everything you wanted it to be.

[goldfades]

✮ 𝐜𝐨𝐰𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞, quinn hughes

♡ ─ word count | 3.2k

♡ ─ summary | you and quinn were destined to fail from the beginning.

♡ ─ warnings | unedited LOL, so much angst (are we surprised), drinking, mentions of a stupid bet (pls don't come for me ik it's a cliche but it works), asshole!quinn (so sorry for this), break-up's, lots of fighting and just overall asshole-ry, unloyalty (not exactly cheating but idk), lmk if i missed anything LMAOOO

♡ ─ taglist | tbd (check out link in navigation!)

♡ ─ ev's notes | whoo, finally i wrote something for my celly!!! i'm not very proud of it .... idk why i lowkey hate it but i hope i did this song justice, i love this song and evermore in general. this is also very out of character quinn, LOLOL because he would never (in my head, at least...). ANYWAY!!! please let me know your thoughts and i would love to hear some respectful critiques for my general writing/plotting, i would appreciate it! anyways, enjoy this angsty ass story lol

As you stared into Quinn's eyes, under the flurolenst lights of the parking lot, you knew that it was over. The distant hum of traffic and the occasional flicker of the overhead lights were the only sounds breaking the stillness of the night.

Quinn's expression mirrored your own; a mixture of sadness, resignation, and regret etched across his features. His lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but the words remained trapped, unspoken, as if even he couldn't find the right ones to mend what had been broken.

In the quiet of that desolate parking lot, you prayed, as you hadn't in a long time, for Quinn to say something, anything, that could mend the gaping rift between you. The silence between you two was deafening, heavy with the weight of unspoken words, unfulfilled promises, and a shared recognition of the inevitable.

As you stared into his eyes, his beautiful eyes, the eyes that still somehow showed admiration, you knew that this was the end. And in the depth of that painful realization, you also knew that, somehow, it was for the better. The love that had once bound you both was still there, but it had transformed into something unrecognizable, something that no longer served the happiness you both deserved.

──

ONE YEAR AGO

──

"You come here often?" were the first words that came from the unknown beautiful man's lips. The beautiful stranger's confidence and charming smile were hard to ignore, and his well-worn pick-up line had almost made you laugh.

You had experienced countless encounters with men using the same old pick-up line, wearing that familiar confident grin, and creating a typical atmosphere. Yet, there was something about this particular interaction that stood out.

You responded with a gentle smile, shaking your head in acknowledgement. "No, I just moved here." Well, that wasn't exactly true ─ you had lived here almost a year now but you were still new.

The corners of the beautiful stranger's lips curled up even further as he chuckled at your response. "Well, that explains why I haven't seen you around," he said, his voice carrying a playful undertone.

He kept turning around with a smirk and you noticed his group of friends and you suddenly understood what exactly what was happening ─ he was trying to prove something to his friends or win some kind of bet.

Sure, you first found his charming approach somewhat appealing, the growing suspicion that this might be part of a playful dare or a friendly challenge from his friends left you feeling intrigued and slightly amused. Nevertheless, you decided to go along with it, maintaining a friendly smile, eager to see where this interaction was headed.

He glanced over at his friends once more, who were now watching the two of you with amused expressions. It was becoming increasingly clear that this was more than just a chance encounter.

You decided to keep the conversation fun, playing along with his playful undertone. "I guess I've been flying under the radar," you replied with a grin. "But now that you've found me, what's your next move, mystery man?"

He laughed at the nickname before he leaned in closer, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret, playfully. "Well, I could offer you a drink and continue this intriguing conversation, or I could simply disappear back into the crowd, leaving you with the mystery."

"I like mysteries," you replied with a flirty undertone. Now this was something new ─ he was actually engaging which made you even more interested. "I'm Y/N."

"Quinn," he responded and extended his hand with the same smirk he's had on the entire night. "Quinn Hughes," he repeated, emphasizing his name in a way that made it clear he wanted you to know it.

"Good to meet you, Quinn Hughes." You replied playfully. "Now, where's my drink?"

Quinn's grin widened as he held onto your hand for an extra second, making sure you knew he appreciated the introduction. "The pleasure's all mine, Y/N," he said with a wink before releasing your hand. "What are you like feeling tonight?"

"Bellini, please."

He looked at the bartender who was cleaning the glasses and nodded his head, "Two Bellini's, please."

The bartender soon returned with two frosty Bellinis, each garnished with a sweet slices of peach. You took a sip and savored the fruity and bubbly flavors.

"Cheers," you said, raising your glass to Quinn. "To unexpected encounters and intriguing mysteries."

Quinn clinked his glass against yours, his eyes locked onto yours. "To new beginnings and unforgettable nights," he added, his tone suggestive.

──

What started as a one-night stand quickly became something more. Nights spent together soon became a weekly thing that excited the both of you. Quinn found himself smiling at mere thought of your presence, and that was when he knew it was over for him.

Sweet words exchanged as you fell asleep together, talking about your dreams and hopes, your worst fears and nightmares, building something that could only be described as perfect. Everything that you had ever wanted was Quinn.

He was a gentlemen, he opened doors and made sure you got home safe. He gave you forehead kisses, treated you like a princess, paid for everything and respected your boundaries.

But nothing is meant to last forever.

"You told me you blocked her!" You yelled in frustration as you threw the phone on the bed.

Quinn's face flushed with anger, his eyes narrowing as he retorted, "Well, what about you, Y/N? You promised me you'd stop bringing up the past every time we argue!"

Your anger flared in response as you threw your head back in anger. "This isn't about the past, Quinn. This is about you lying to me!"

He clenched his fists, his voice rising with fury. "And what about your constant need to control everything, to question every little thing I do? It's suffocating!"

The room seemed to crackle with tension as the argument escalated. Voices raised, accusations flying, both of you venting the pent-up frustration that had been building over time. It was a clash of emotions, a heated exchange that left no room for compromise.

Quinn's face was red with anger as his usual calm demeanor broke, his voice laced with frustration. "You never trust me, Y/N! It's like you're always waiting for me to mess up, to prove that I'm not good enough for you."

Your own anger burned hotly, and you shot back, "Maybe if you didn't lie to me, I wouldn't have reason to doubt you!"

"Lie to you? Y/N, come on, I never said-"

"Don't you try and twist your words, Quinn!" you interrupted him, your voice sharp and accusing. The hurt and anger in your eyes were unmistakable as you continued, "I saw the messages, Quinn. Don't insult my intelligence by denying it."

Quinn's jaw clenched as he realized there was no way out of this argument. His own anger surged, and he retorted, "Fine, I lied about blocking her, but it's not what you think."

Your heart broke truly for the first time that night as he said those words. Your lip trembled as you continued, "Then what is it, Quinn? Why couldn't you just be honest with me?"

He let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't want to upset you, okay? I knew how much it bothered you, and I thought I could handle it on my own."

Your anger began to mix with a sense of betrayal. "So, you thought it was better to lie to my face instead of talking to me about it? Is that how you see our relationship?"

Quinn's shoulders slumped, realizing the gravity of his mistake. "No, Y/N, that's not what I meant. I messed up, and I'm sorry."

Silence enveloped the room, heavy and suffocating, as you sat back down on the bed. The tears you had been holding back finally began to flow, tracing a path down your cheeks. The pain and betrayal in your heart were almost too much to bear.

You felt Quinn's presence beside you on the bed, his touch warm on your shoulder. His voice was filled with regret, and you could sense the genuine concern in his words.

"Wait, baby, please don't cry," he implored, his voice soft and tender. He moved closer, his arms encircling you in a gentle embrace. You laced your arms around his waist as you let the tears freely fall.

Despite the anger and hurt that still lingered, you couldn't help but feel safe in his comforting touch. His embrace offered a sense of solace, a reminder of the love you share.

"I'll block her, okay?" He hummed softly as your cries paused and you nodded in his arms. "I'll block her," he kissed your head as he mumbled those words.

Those weren't the last lies you both would ever mutter. More lies would follow, weaving a tangled web of deceit between you both.

──

You had never been one to care, before Quinn. It was always one after the other, leaving no room to heal. No one had ever taken you like Quinn, no ever felt Quinn. He was one in a million, he was your equal.

Maybe that was the problem, he was too much like you. You should've known it was a bad idea once you realized how similar you two were. You were both fiercely independent, with strong-willed personalities and a desire for control over your lives. While these traits had drawn you together in the beginning, also fueled moments of conflict and clashes of wills.

Perhaps it was the old adage of "too much of a good thing." The intense passion and stubbornness that had drawn you together now threatened to tear you apart.

Arguments that once seemed passionate now felt exhausting, and you found yourselves butting heads more often than not. Quinn's stubbornness mirrored your own, and instead of compromising, you often clashed fiercely over minor disagreements.

Amidst the commotion, you couldn't deny the depth of your feelings for Quinn. He was, and would always be, the love of your life. You realized that love was not about finding someone without flaws, but rather finding someone whose flaws you could accept and embrace. Quinn was not perfect, and neither were you, but together, you were something good, something worth fighting for. Something good was something that was hard to find nowadays, and something you had never experienced, something that you now relished in.

So, you made a choice. You chose to ignore the problems, at least for the time being. It wasn't the healthiest decision, and deep down, you knew it. But the love you felt for Quinn was powerful, and you were willing to overlook the cracks in your relationship, hoping they would somehow heal on their own.

Now, in hindsight, you realized it wasn't the best choice.

"Jesus, Y/N! Give me some room, I just won the best game of my life and the only you wanna talk about is something you heard from someone you know is a shit-talker, Y/N." Quinn shouted as he walked away from you, into the kitchen. It was obvious he was avoiding the topic, you'd try to bring it up multiple times but now you just wanted answered.

Your frustration boiled over as you followed him, your voice sharper now. "Quinn," you snapped, "this is important, and you can't keep brushing it aside like it doesn't matter. We can't keep avoiding our issues."

"There aren't any issues, you're making them out of thin air Y/N." He replied sharply as he opened the fridge. "Fuck, I lost my appetite. Thanks, baby." The sweet pet-name sounded like an insult now as he glared at you.

His dismissive attitude only fueled your anger further. You couldn't let him brush this off any longer. "Quinn," you said firmly, "I'm not making this up, okay, this is just something that has bothered me from the beginning and I can't keep trying to ignore it. I want you to be honest with me."

Quinn let out an angry groan as he slammed the fridge making you jump as you leaned back from him. He noticed the change in atmosphere and he sighed. Tonight was supposed to be about celebrating his win and now it just felt like another night where you two fought.

He slammed the fridge door shut, his frustration boiling over. "You want honesty? Fine. I'm tired of you constantly questioning me, doubting my every move. It's suffocating, Y/N!"

"Quinn, what happened the first night we met?"

That statement made his face pale. Quinn shifted uncomfortably, his eyes darting around the room as if searching for an escape from the conversation. The air grew heavy with the weight of unspoken words, and for a moment, it seemed like he might try to evade the question.

But then, with a resigned sigh, he finally relented. "Fine, let's talk about it." He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture of nervousness that you had come to recognize. "It was a stupid bet, okay? My friends dared me to approach a beautiful girl like you and get your number."

Your heart sank as the truth spilled out. It confirmed your suspicions, but hearing it from him still stung. "No, but there's more. What about her?"

He knew who was "her" was, as he swallowed.

Quinn's discomfort was palpable as he reluctantly began to share more about that fateful night. "It wasn't just the bet," he admitted, his voice filled with regret. "There was this girl, one of my friends' exes. She was there that night, and she dared me to take things a step further."

Your heart sank even further, a mix of anger and hurt bubbling up. "You slept with me because she told me to?"

He nodded, unable to meet your gaze. "Yeah, I did. I'm so sorry, Y/N. I should've been honest from the beginning, but I was stupid, and I wanted to impress her."

The room seemed to close in around you as Quinn's confession hung in the air. It was a heavy blow, and your emotions swirled in turmoil. The pain of betrayal and humiliation washed over you, making it hard to find words.

"You used me," you finally choked out, your voice trembling with a mix of anger and sadness. He tried to touch your hand but you moved it, "Don't touch me."

And now it all made sense, the texting, him insisting she was blocked (when you knew she wasn't), the glances back from his friends on the night you met. It all clicked, like a switch.

But as you looked back at him, it hit you like a truck. Your sweet boyfriend, the whole foundation of your relationship had been because of a bet and an ex. "You still talk to her?"

The silence answered your question and you felt your stomach turn in disgust. The room felt suffocating, and you couldn't bear to stay there any longer. Pushing past Quinn, you rushed out of the kitchen, the weight of the revelation heavy on your shoulders.

──

You and Quinn faced each other as you both laid in bed, smiles hanging on your lips as you exchanged sweet whispers of "forever."

The room was bathed in the soft glow of the moonlight streaming through the curtains. It felt like a moment suspended in time, where the worries of the past and the uncertainties of the future faded away.

Quinn gently brushed a strand of hair from your face, his soft eyes filled with tenderness. "I love you, Y/N."

Your heart swelled with affection, and you caressed his cheek with your fingertips. "I love you too, Quinn."

As you lay there, wrapped in each other's arms, you both knew that the path ahead wasn't easy. But for now, in that moment, you held onto the hope that love would prevail, and your story would continue, marked by its ups and downs, but bound together by a love that refused to fade.

──

Forever was the sweetest con. Promises of the best future were mere phrases, no literal meaning behind them.

As you stared into his eyes, his beautiful eyes, the eyes that still somehow showed admiration, you knew that this was the end. And in the depth of that painful realization, you also knew that, somehow, it was for the better. The love that had once bound you both was still there, but it had transformed into something unrecognizable, something that no longer served the happiness you both deserved.

In the midst of that silence, you could almost hear the echoes of all the beautiful moments you had shared with Quinn. The laughter, the whispered promises, the warmth of his embrace – they all seemed like distant memories now, fading into the abyss of what could have been.

Finally, Quinn's lips moved, and he let out a heavy sigh. "Y/N," he began, his voice tinged with sadness, "I wish things could have been different. I never wanted to hurt you like this."

Your throat tightened, and you fought to keep your composure. "I know, Quinn," you whispered, your voice trembling. "It's just too late to fix what's broken."

The words hung heavily in the air, a painful acknowledgment of the damage that had been done. You both knew that there was no turning back, no magic words that could erase the pain and mistrust that now defined your relationship.

The pain of parting was excruciating as you took a step back from each other, the unspoken love still lingered in the space between you. It was a love that would forever remain a bittersweet memory, a chapter in your lives that had come to an end.

With one final, longing look, you turned away from Quinn and walked towards your separate futures, leaving behind the shattered remnants of a love that had once felt like forever.

You would never love again, not like you did with Quinn. No would ever make you laugh like he did, or touch you like he did, or make you cry like he did. And maybe in some way, that was a good thing.

Maybe, in time, you would discover new forms of love, different from what you had known before. You didn't know if you even wanted that, you just wanted what you once had with Quinn, before any of the shit hit the fan. At the same time you knew you were destined for failure the moment he had come up to you at that shitty bar, the foundation was destined to break into a million pieces for you to pick up.

Maybe, in some other universe, it would've worked out. Quinn would've come up to you willingly and bought you a bellini and maybe, he wouldn't have been so hung up on his ex. And then, your promises would've been fulfilled; the big house in Michigan, with two dogs and a big family and an even bigger heart. Two boys and two girls, like he'd promised. So that the son had a brother, and the daughter had a sister, just like the both of you had.

It was a beautiful vision of what could have been, a dream woven with the threads of love and real commitment. And maybe, in this reality or another, there were still beautiful moments and dreams waiting to unfold and that brought you some kind of peace.

-> make sure to check out my navigation or masterlist if you enjoyed! any interaction is greatly appreciated! <-

thank you for reading all the way through, as always ♡

[jeannereames]

How many love interest did Alexander have in all of his life? I just recently found out he had an affair with a prostitute named Camaspe and apparently she was the one who was the first to have a physical relationship with him although not for long.

Love your work! 💕

Alexander’s Reported Lovers

Just an FYI … Kampaspe (Campaspe in Latin, also Pancaste) is a character in the second volume of Dancing with the Lion (Rise), as I wanted a second female voice and also a slave’s perspective. Even better that she was born to privilege, then lost it. She was reportedly a Thessalian hetaira from Larissa, which was handy as the Argeads had a long history of ties to the city of Larissa. I wrote about her before in a post from the blog tour the publisher had me do when the books first came out. You can read it HERE.

That said, she’s probably a Roman-era invention, mentioned only by late sources (Lucian, Aelian, and Pliny) all with one (repeated) story: Alexander as Super-patron. Reputedly, he gave her to his favored painter Apelles when, commissioned to do a nude,  Apelles fell in love with her. Alexander kept the painting, Apelles got the girl. You bet I’ll have some fun with that. Kampaspe will remain a major character throughout the series…but not as Alexander’s mistress.

When trying to figure out how many sexual partners Alexander had, we must ask which were invented—or denied. Remember: ancient history wasn’t like modern (academic) history. It was essentially creative non-fiction. It inserted speeches, dialogue, even people and events to liven things up and/or to make a moral point. Or it obscured people and events, if that worked better.

Modern readers of ancient sources must always ask WHO wrote this, WHEN was it written, and what POINT did the author intend? Also, especially with anecdotes, look at the wider context. People are especially prone to take anecdotes at face value and treat them as isolated little tales. Yet CONTEXT IS KING.

A lot of our information about Alexander’s love life comes from Plutarch, either in his Life of Alexander or his collection of essays now called the Moralia. Another source is Curtius’s History of Alexander. And finally, Athenaeus’s Diepnosophistai or The Supper Party (really, The Learned Banqueters). All wrote during the Roman empire and had tropes and messages to get across.

Of the WOMEN associated with Alexander, I’m going to divide them into the historical and the probably fictional, or at least their relationship with Alexander was fictional.

Of the certain, we can count one mistress, three wives, and one probable secret/erased liaison.

Barsine is his first attested mistress for whom we have ample references across multiple sources. Supposedly, she bore Alexander a son (Herakles). Herakles certainly existed, but whether he was Alexander’s is less clear to me. As the half-Persian, half-Greek daughter of a significant satrap, she had no little influence. Monica D’Agostini has a great article on Alexander’s women, btw, in a forthcoming collection I edited for Colloquia Antiqua, called Macedon and Its Influences, and spends some time on Barsine. So look for that, probably in 2025, as we JUST (Friday) submitted the last of the proof corrections and index. Whoo! Anyway, Monica examines all Alexander’s (historical) women in—you guessed it!—their proper context.

Alexander also married three times: Roxane, daughter of the warlord Oxyartes of Sogdiana, in early 327. He married again in mid-324 in Susa, both Statiera (the younger), daughter of Darius, and Parysatis, youngest daughter of the king before Darius, Artaxerxes III Ochus. Yes, both at once, making ties to the older and the newer Achaemenid royal lines.

Out of all these, he had only one living son, Alexander IV (by Roxane)—although he got his women pregnant four times. If we can trust a late source (Metz Epitome), and I think we can for this, Roxane had a miscarriage while in India. Also, Statiera the younger was reputedly pregnant when Roxane, with Perdikkas’s help, killed her just a few days (or hours!) after Alexander died.

That’s 3 …who had baby #4?

Statiera the Elder, Darius’s wife. Netflix’s proposal of a liaison between them was not spun out of thin air. Plutarch—the same guy who tells us ATG never even looked at her—also tells us she died in childbirth just a week or three before the battle of Gaugamela, Oct. 1, 331. Keep in mind, Alexander had captured her right after Issos, Nov. 5, 333. Um … that kid wasn’t Darius’s. And if you think ANYbody would have been allowed to have an affair with such a high-ranking captive as the Great-King’s chief wife, I have some swampland in Florida to sell you. More on it HERE.

Now, for the probably fictional….

Kampaspe, I explained above.

Kallixena was supposedly hired by Philip and Olympias (jointly!) to initiate Alexander into sex, because he didn’t seem interested in women. (Yes, this little titbit is also in Rise.) Athenaeus reports the story as a digression on Alexander’s drinking, and how too much wine led to his lack of sexual interest. But within the anecdote, the reported reason for his parents’ hiring Kallixena was because mommy and daddy feared Alexander was “womanish” (gunnis).

Thaïs was linked to him by Athenaeus, almost certainly based on her supposed participation in the burning of Persepolis…which didn’t happen (or not as related; archaeology tosses cold water on it). Thaïs was Ptolemy’s mistress, and the mother of some of his children.

Athenaeus also mentions a couple unnamed interests, but all illustrate the same point: Alexander is too noble to steal somebody else’s love. Two are back-to-back: the flute-girl of a certain Theodoros, Proteas’ brother, and the lyre player of Antipatrides. The last is a boy, the eromenos of a certain Kalchis, a story related apart from the women, but with the same point.

Even more clearly fictional are his supposed encounters with the Amazon Queen Thalestris and Queen Kleophis of the Massaga (in Pakistan). Reportedly, as Onisikritos was reading from his history of Alexander at the court of King Lysimachos (who’d been a close friend, remember), Lysimachos burst out laughing when Onisikritos got to the Amazon story, and asked, “Where was I when this happened?”

Now, when it comes to his MEN/BOYS, the ice is thinner as no names are definitively given except Bagoas (in a couple sources, chiefly Curtius and Athenaeus). We also have a few generic references to pretty boys, as with Kalchis’s boyfriend mentioned above, and some slave boys offered by a certain Philoxenos, who he turns down, a story told by both Plutarch and Athenaeus.

Curtius alone suggests two more, but at least one is meant to show Alexander’s descent into Oriental Corruption(tm), so it’s possible Curtius made them up. At the very least, he used them for his own narrative purposes. Sabine Müller has a great article on this, albeit in German. Still, if you can read German: “Alexander, Dareios und Hephaistion. Fallhöhen bei Curtius Rufus.” In H. Wulfram, ed., Der Römische Alexanderhistoriker Curtius Rufus: Erzähltechnik, Rhetorik, Figurenpsychologie und Rezeption. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2016, 13-48.

Romans had a certain dis-ease with “Greek Love,” especially when it involved two freeborn men. Fucking slaves was fine; they’re just slaves. Citizen men with citizen boys…that’s trickier.

Curtius labels two youths “favorites,” a phrasing that implies a sexual affair. One is mentioned early in the campaign (Egypt) when Alexander is still “good”; the other after Alexander begins his slide into Persian Debauchery. These are Hektor, Parmenion’s son (good), and Euxinippos, described as being as pretty as Hephaistion, but not as “manly” (bad). Curtius employs Bagoas similarly, even claims he influenced imperial policy for his own dastardly goals. Gasp!

Yes, of course I’m being sarcastic, but readers need to understand the motifs that Curtius is employing, and what they really mean. Not what 21st century people assume they mean, or romantically want them to mean. (See my "Did Bagoas Exist?" post.)

What about Hephaistion? I’ve discussed him elsewhere in an article, but I’ll just remind folks that it’s nowhere made explicit until late sources, in large part because, by the time we meet Alexander and Hephaistion in the histories, they were adults, and any affair between them would be assumed to have occurred in the past, when they were youths. (See my “It’s Complicated” and a reply to them maybe being “DudeBros.”)

This is why we hear about Alexander’s interest in youths, not adult men. It would be WEIRD to the ancient mind (= Very Very Bad) if he liked adult men. In fact, by comparing Hephaistion to Euxinippos, Curtius slyly insinuates that maybe he and Alexander were still…you know (wink, wink). That’s meant to be a slam against Alexander (and Hephaistion)! Therefore, we cannot take it, in itself, as proof of anything. Alexander’s emotional attachment to Hephaistion, however, is not doubted by any ancient source.

So, all those people are attached to Alexander in our sources, but over half may not be real, or at least, may not have had a sexual relationship with him. There may be (probably are) some that simply didn’t make it into the surviving sources.

Yet I’ve mentioned before that we just don’t find sexual misconduct as one of Alexander’s named faults. Even Curtius and Justin must dig for it/make up shit, such as claiming Alexander actually used Darius’s whole harem of concubines or held a drunken revel through Karia after escaping the Gedrosian Desert. (Blue Dionysos and drag queens on the Seine at the Paris Olympics got nothing on his Dionysian komos!)

Drink, anger, hubris…he sure as hell ticked all those boxes. But not sex. In fact, a number of sources imply he just wasn’t that randy, despite his “choleric” temperament. Some of the authors credit too much drink (bad), others, his supreme self-control (good). He’s more often an example of sexual continence—as in the stories from Athenaeus related above. He also didn’t rape his captives, etc., etc.

Make of that what you like, but I find it intriguing.

[notsoattractivearenti]

Family Day Out (Christian Pulisic x Fem!Reader)

WC: 1.1K

Warnings: none

A/N: wrote one to feed dad!puli nation 🤭 didn’t proofread this and since i wrote it pretty quickly it may not be that good, so apologies in advance 🙂 hope you guys enjoy and i’d love to hear your thoughts thru ask/reply/reblog 🫶🏻 apologies for any grammatical errors! feedbacks are highly appreciated ��

—

On a Saturday afternoon, Christian brought your little family to the Pulisic Stomping Grounds. Your children, 6 year-old Luca and 1 year-old Lucia, were wearing their USMNT home kit with ‘Daddy’ and number 10 on their jerseys – Christian customized those jerseys and chose Daddy instead of Pulisic because he thought it would be cuter, and he was right.

Luca and Christian – and sometimes you – play all the time at home. Your house has a small football pitch in the backyard – sometimes Luca would bring his friends to play there. Luca already said he wanted to follow his dad’s footstep to be a professional football player, and both you and Christian are very supportive of his dream – especially Christian, he cried out of happiness the day Luca told him.

Luca is taking every advantage he has of having a professional football player as a father. He loves to watch every game Christian has played in and practices his techniques whenever he can. Christian is very proud of his son and tries his best to help him reach his full potential – no matter how tired he may be, if his son asks him to train him, he will do it in a heartbeat.

When he built the Pulisic Stomping Grounds, not only did he want people – especially kids who love football – to put the stomping ground to good use, he also envisioned him bringing his kids there and happily playing football together. Now the day he has been waiting for has come, and he couldn’t be more excited.

—

Luca was so excited to finally play football with his dad at the stomping grounds. Because your family doesn’t live in Miami, you didn’t get to visit it so often. Luca was the one who decided to wear the kit because he wanted to make it feel like actual training – he even begged his parents to wear the jerseys too, so you and Christian did.

“Come on, Daddy! What is taking so long???” Impatient Luca shouted from the front door.

“Okay, okay,” Christian grabbed the car keys and calmly walked towards the door, “let’s go, buddy.”

—

Finally arriving at the stomping ground, Luca immediately got out of the car and ran into the field. He had been holding his favorite ball all the way to the stomping ground, and once he got on the field, he started running and kicking the ball around.

“Mommy, Daddy, Lulu, let’s go!”

“Hey, don’t start without me!” Christian ran towards Luca and started playing with him.

Lucia saw her dad and brother and immediately went to join them. You were behind her and were ready to catch her – she just started walking so you were being cautious. Christian saw little Lucia was coming and as she reached his legs, he picked her up.

“Lulu, do you want to kick the ball?” Christian asked her, and she said “ball” in response.

He then held her close to the ground and walked her near the ball.

“Look, it’s the ball… Kick it around sweety!”

He then swung her little by little, made her feet touch the ball and was able to move it.

“Oh good girl! That’a a great kick!” He sounded proud.

You filmed it on your phone, and Luca was cheering at the back.

“Great job, Lulu!” Luca clapped his hands.

—

“Mommy… While Daddy’s with Lulu, do you want to play with me?” Luca asked you.

“I would love to! Come on!” You accepted his offer.

You love to play football – not professionally like your husband does, but you can definitely play – and you did some touch and passing exercise with your son.

Christian couldn’t help but pay good attention to what you were doing. He would throw some compliments and advice once in a while.

“Whoo, Mommy, nice touch honey!” – when the kids are around, he calls you “Mommy”.

“Look at that pass! That’s my son!”

“Try practicing more on your left foot!”

—

“Daddy!” Luca called his dad.

“What’s up, buddy?”

“I want to play with you now!”

Christian looked at you before agreeing – he wanted to play with Luca but only if you were okay with taking over Lucia during.

You nodded, letting him know it was good.

He grinned. “Of course! Let’s go, pal!”

He then handed Lucia to you, ran towards Luca and started playing right away. You and your little girl were watching the boys playing from the side, cheering them on.

—

That afternoon was a lot of fun. No one was around but four of you – your little family spent a really nice time there.

Luca and Christian were screaming and laughing a lot during, and they played for quite a while – they seemed to truly enjoy the game. Luca got to nutmeg his dad a few times and Christian would act like he was annoyed by it.

“Bud, stop doing that to me!” He jokingly protested.

Luca giggled – he was very proud of himself.

Not only that, Luca would tackle Christian and Christian would playfully fall to the ground.

“Ouch!” Christian groaned as he fell.

“Daddy!” Luca laughed. “Get up!”

When Luca finally scored a goal against Christian, he was beyond happy. Christian pretended to be disappointed at the goal, then praised him for it.

“Mommy, look, I made a goal!” Luca shouted at you to proudly tell you about the goal.

“What a shot! Good job, baby!” You cheered him on.

Christian came over to him to give a high five, but Luca ran into a corner flag and kicked it just like his dad did when he scored a goal against Mexico in Nations League semifinals. You and Christian were surprised then laughed it out.

“Hey, that’s my move! I taught you that!”

—

After spending some time there, it was finally time to go home. Your kids were exhausted but they had a great time.

On the way home, the kids fell asleep. Christian looked at the rearview mirror and smiled, admiring his babies.

“You had a lot of fun today, yeah?” You said.

“I mean, I got to spend time with my family at my stomping ground. Of course I had fun!” He excitedly agreed.

“So, what do you think of Luca?” You asked him.

“He is about to be a great player, even better than me.” He answered.

“That kid has a huge potential, honey. I’m very proud of him.”

“Right? Well he learned from the best.” You winked at him.

He chuckled. He then grabbed your hand and kissed it.

“I love you. And I love our family. Thank you for our wonderful and perfect kids, Y/N. They are amazing because of you.”

—

taglist: @pulisicsgirl @neverinadream @masonspulisic @swimmingismywholelife @chelseagirl98 @bracedes @lovelynikol16 @thoseboysinblue @lizzypotter14 @mortirolo @masonsrem

[hurlingsupport]

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (Gender Neutral Reader Insert)

Chapter 5: Things Fall Apart

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It was a bright morning when you awoke from a restless slumber. Your sleep felt as if it only lasted a few minutes before your body unwillingly thrust you into the day.

Your hand immediately went to the nightstand beside you, seeking your glasses. When the search proved fruitless, you finally opened your crust-filled eyes to seek them out with your less than average vision.

It was only when you recognized Darius’s soft snores did you remember what happened to your glasses. Thinking about it now, perhaps you could have kept them? Though you quickly shoved those thoughts away with logic. 

Not only would the cracks strain your vision and lead to headaches, but it also risked the pieces loosening and falling straight into your eyes. It was the safer option to just throw them out. After all, you weren’t blind without them or anything. 

Rubbing the crusts out of your eyes, you made your way to the bathroom. Doing your daily routine of washing your face with a clean washcloth, before pushing any stray hairs away from your damp face. 

Staring at the mirror with half-lidded eyes, you decided it wouldn’t hurt to take a shower. You were still wary of the mud beneath your fingernails, and possibly elsewhere. Of course, you took a shower not long after your conversation with Darius; although it was a quick one filled with thundering thoughts.

It’d be nice to have a shower with music and not just your thoughts to fill your mind. Though you’d have to ask Brooklynn if you could borrow her phone if you wanted to listen to any music. And though you had grown closer to her, you still wouldn’t speak with her of your own free will.

And so you had a shower with nothing but your thoughts to occupy your mind.

By the time you finish your shower, it seemed Darius had finally woken up. Given the fact he had just barged into the lounge while shouting a greeting. He sure slept in a lot despite being a so-called dinosaur enthusiast.

You sat next to Ben, who offered a crayon to you. With a confused glance, you took it before your eyes lowered to what was taking up his attention. He was coloring in those kiddie drawing pages. You joined him with a shrug.

“Not in a ‘whoo-hoo’ mood this morning, Darius.” Kenji addressed him as he leaned back in a wheeled computer chair. “Not after yesterday. Trekking through a rainstorm will do that.”

Ben momentarily stops coloring to argue, “We only had to walk because you crashed our gyrosphere.” 

When Kenji meets his eyes with a glare, Ben squeaks before leaning backwards behind Darius’s standing form.

Darius ignores the obvious tension and instead focuses on the positives. “But today’s a new day! Kayak day!” He said excitedly.

As he passed by Sammy and Yasmina, he continued to rant about how exciting it would be to kayak alongside dinosaurs. Though you weren’t too excited considering how riding along with them in the gyrospheres went. 

Darius pauses his ranting as his eyes search the lounge room. “Wait, where are Dave and Roxie?” 

“The babysitters took off early and left this,” Kenji says angrily as he uses the chair to glide over to Darius and slap a sticky note onto his chest.

Darius reads the note aloud. “BRB. Gotta go. Boss-talk. BB. Later. Smiley face. Is that a dinosaur emoji with a thumbs up?” It was quite apparent who wrote it. 

“It’s Dave talk. Roxie translated on the back.” Kenji huffed.

Turning the note around, Darius read the note once more. “We have to go talk to our boss. Stay inside until we return. Draw, bond, whatever. The radio’s set for channel six in case you need us. Stay inside, stay inside. Do not leave. Kenji, looking at you.” Darius chuckles.

“Sorry for the kid’s menus, it’s all Dave had...” Darius finished as he turned around to stare at the kiddie menus. 

Kenji complained about how the counselors didn’t consider how old they all were.

“I mean, when was the last time you saw a crayon?” Kenji questioned no one in particular. 

Ben happily turns the paper he was working on around to showcase a crude drawing of him and Bumpy. You barely held back a snicker at his proud smile. 

Yasmina hummed pointedly, “I have notes.”

“Yasmina!” Sammy shoved her playfully with a giggle.

The double doors draw everyone’s attention as Brooklynn aggressively slammed them open.

“What’s new on the internet, superstar?” Yasmina addressed her. With her crossed arms and scowl obviously present on her face, you couldn’t help but grimace at whatever was to come.

“I wouldn’t know. Because when I went to get my phone from its charger, it wasn’t there!” She said, her voice a touch away from a shout. Scratch that, she was definitely shouting. Damn. The things technology does to society…

“Someone stole my phone.” She declared. 

Yasmina dismissed her accusation with a sigh. “Brooklynn, who hasn’t had your phone?”

“I-I needed to check the weather last night…” Ben stuttered.

“Dr. Sattler posted a new column on microfossils yesterday…” Darius held his hands behind his back.

“... too good to miss the selfie opp, but I haven’t used it since then, I swear!” Kenji admitted with a smile. His words mixed with Darius’s as everyone scrambled to defend themselves.

Brooklynn rolls her eyes in disappointment, though her gaze ends up locking onto Sammy.

“I… haven’t seen it either.” Sammy said nervously when Brooklynn’s stare didn’t waver.

“Really?” Brooklynn almost growled.

Darius stepped in before the fighting got out of hand. “Hey, hey, it’s okay! Since we’re not kayaking till later, we’ll have plenty of time to look for the phone.” 

However, it appeared his attempt at defusing the situation didn’t satisfy Brooklynn in the slightest. 

“Oh, I think I know exactly where to look.” She spoke with confidence as she strolled up to Sammy.

“I also think that whoever took the phone might be trying to hide some of the things that are on it.” With a single brow raised, she glowered at the girl sitting before her. “What do you think, Sammy?” 

“Um, what?” 

Yasmina jumped to defend her. “What is your deal? Sammy said she didn’t touch it! Ever think you might have just lost the stupid thing?” 

While it was really none of your business, you sided with Sammy too. Brooklynn wasn’t making any sense, and despite you becoming closer with her yesterday, you felt that logic overpowered that closeness. 

“Yasmina’s right. What reason would Sammy have to steal your phone?” Ben briefly distracted you by snatching the crayon you were holding. You didn’t mind, you don’t feel like drawing anymore.

A flash of betrayal crosses Brooklynn’s face, while a prideful smirk grows on Yasmina’s. 

“See? You’re just making random accusations over a phone, of all things.” 

Brooklynn’s brows furrowed as she hummed sarcastically. “Well, let’s check her bags and test that theory out.” She made her way towards Sammy’s belongings before Yasmina blocked her pathway.

“You do not get to go through anyone’s stuff. I don’t care how famous you think you are!” 

Sammy held a pained face as she tried to talk to Brooklynn. “I didn’t-” 

Darius, once again the peacemaker, interrupted before a full-on fight could break out. “Brooklynn, guys, come on! We can’t be this upset over phones. Let’s make the most of this incredible opportunity! This is Jurassic World! It’s—it’s—”

A roar interrupts him before he can finish. The camp goes still in silence as everyone processes what they all just heard.

“What was that?” Brooklynn’s eyes bounced around the room as if the roar had come from within it.

“Um, a T. Rex?” Kenji guesses.

Darius shakes his head. “Mm-mm. I don’t think so.”

“Then what kind of dinosaur does it sound like?” Ben asks, though it’s in vain considering everyone is running to the balcony to see the culprit of the roar. 

He says something else, but you’re not sure what it is as you rush towards the balcony to get a look. 

“Where’s it comin’ from?” Sammy pushes her dark hair out of her face. She’s outright avoiding Brooklynn’s death stare by looking at everything but her.

“Can’t see anything from here. The trees are blocking everything.” Yasmina answers.

“Maybe they’re moving a new dino from the lab to another enclosure.” Darius gasps. “We can probably see it from the observation tower! Could be cool.” He grins.

Sammy pushes herself away from Brooklynn’s hard stare and grabs hold of Darius’s forearm. “Wow, that’s a great idea, Darius! What are we waiting for?” 

With Sammy rushing the lot of you into the elevator that leads to the bottom floor, you can’t help but feel uneasy. 

There’s just too many things going on. First Brooklynn accuses Sammy of all people of stealing her phone, and now there might be a dinosaur out and about the camp? 

The second one you’re less surprised about. It was plain to see with the compy on the first day that these people obviously didn’t know how to handle these prehistoric creatures. Although you hoped no problems would arise during your stay, it seems you really couldn’t hope for anything these days.

The first, however, you’re still confused about. If you were going to accuse anyone of stealing Brooklynn’s phone, it would be Kenji. And even then he’d probably do it more so in a teasing manner, like those boys who shut girl’s chromebooks in school and such. You didn’t think he’d outright steal it or anything. But you truly couldn’t understand how Sammy made her way to the top of Brooklynn’s suspect list. And with the other things Brooklynn said, you were even more confused. 

With a sigh, you decided that thinking about it with such little context would go nowhere. For now, you could only hope to satiate your curiosity about one thing; the roar. And then, hopefully, Dave and Roxie would come back and scold you all for leaving, despite their instructions. Then you’d all either kayak anyway, or you’d all be sentenced to staying within the camp grounds. Which you didn’t really mind. But like you said, you couldn’t hope for much nowadays. 

That statement echoed inside your mind as you watched the two (supposedly) strongest campers struggle with the blue gate blocking your guys’ entrance to the observation tower. 

Your disappointment grew with each time Yasmina and Kenji shoved their weight into the metal gate. 

“It’s locked.” Kenji stated, and you couldn’t help the snicker that escaped you. Kenji’s gaze snaps to you, and you turn your head away with a deadpan expression.

Luckily, Ben draws his attention away from you before he can get too offended. “Oh, wow. Guess we can’t get in. We should all go back before someone comes along and we get in trouble.” 

While looking at Ben’s retreating form, Kenji seems to notice the lack of the security. “Wait, where is everybody?” 

Everyone spares a glance around as he continues. “Uh, there’s usually someone around.” 

For once, Kenji is right. And your chest tightens in unease. Something was going on, yet without the camp counselors that were supposed to be responsible with you all, you had no means of knowing what was going on.

Your brows furrowed, and you remembered something. Wasn’t there a walkie talkie that Roxie and Dave left your group to communicate with? That would be really helpful right about now. You could tell the responsible adults (who never seemed to fit into their role) what you all heard, and also find out what was going on. 

As you solidified your reasoning, your shoes did a 180 as you turned around to head back to camp. You guys weren’t getting into the observation tower, no matter how big Kenji said his muscles were. Might as well get some info. 

“If we’re doing this,” Brooklynn says as she pulls out a Bobby pin from her hair. “Then we might as well do this.” 

Wait what?

In a matter of seconds, Brooklynn swings the metal door open. “Ta-da!” 

Why did Brooklynn have to be so good at everything? It was times like this that you wished you could’ve gone back to a time before your parent’s pity parties. If it weren’t for their lack of responsibility, you wouldn’t even be here right now.

“You coming, Dino-buddy?” 

Darius’s voice pulled you away from your thoughts, his hand resting on your forearm. He seemed hesitant to grip your arm with any actual strength.

“Maybe they’d rather go back to the camp? Y’know, it’s just the safest option. I bet they understand that.” Ben dragged you into his anxious precautions. 

You could go back and get in contact with some adults, but where have adults gotten you so far? On a dinosaur filled island with a bunch of people you have nothing in common with. It’s a little too obvious what your choice was.

“No, I’m coming.” You forcefully tugged your arm out of Darius’s grip and began trudging towards the now open observation tower gate. 

Darius and Ben shared a look before following your form.

At the top of the observation, everyone panted out of exhaustion, admittedly even you. Now, you didn’t run or anything like that; you don’t enjoy putting in more work than necessary. Let’s just say that Jurassic World needs to consider adding a lift to this tower of theirs. 

Your group’s panting paused as a rumbling overtook the silence of the island. It almost sounded like footsteps.

“There’s something out there,” Brooklynn whispered.

“Something big.” Darius added.

You all stood in anxious anticipation as the crashing footsteps got closer and closer. It was only when a brachiosaurus came into view as it bellowed that you all let out a relieved sigh. Some more out of disappointment than relief.

From his previous crouching position on the floor beside you, Ben stood up. “Ooh! Mystery solved. Guess we should head back now.”

However, Darius seemed less than satisfied. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Brachiosauruses don’t roar like that.” 

You had to agree on that one, both from what you know and research you’ve done. Brachiosauruses only let out those low bellows. There was another dinosaur, but where?

Your lips pursed in agitation as Darius gave a bad impression of a brachiosaurus bellow to prove his point.

“Didn’t quite catch that. Uh, one more time?” Kenji razzed. 

The sound of shouting from below immediately took your guys’ attention. Two men ran up to the base of the observation tower and yelled nonsensical words at your little group.

They were little blurs to you, because of the distance, but you could tell they were upset. 

“We should probably get down. Roxie’s going to throw a fit.” You didn’t include Dave because he didn’t seem to mind much when you all were in danger. 

Darius glanced at you and nodded. “Yeah, but they seem really adamant about something.” 

Your jaw clenched as your gaze met his. “What do you think they’re adamant about, Darius? We’re not supposed to be up here.” 

His eyes widened at your tone. “Okay, what is up with everyone today?” 

“I told you we’d get in trouble!” Ben wailed, gripping the railing as he stared down at the men.

“You’re gonna have to speak up!” Kenji shouted at the men. You wondered why he thought they could hear him when your group of 7 couldn’t hear a single word they were saying.

With a screech that only vaguely resembled its usual bellows, the brachiosauruses suddenly fell behind the trees it was grazing. 

Your heads snapped to the sudden movement, and varying cries of surprise rang out across your bunch. Only a heavy silence followed.

Despite the event, the men below were undeterred. Instead, they kept yelling. If it weren’t for your blurry vision, maybe you could’ve expected what happened next. Or maybe you should have, despite it. After all, it’s a bad idea to make so much noise after a humongous dinosaur like the brachiosaurus got taken down.

Either way, the men’s bodies ended up as stains on the ground below. The only indicator that they didn’t just suddenly implode was the blurry white, almost gray blur hovering over their corpses. 

You couldn’t even identify the creature. You wanted to blame that on your lack of glasses, but you’ve never seen, nor heard of a dinosaur like the one beneath you. 

It didn’t even eat them. Their mangled corpses were still visible. At least the red of their corpses was. That was the biggest blur out of all. Just red. 

“What is that?” Yasmina muttered, her voice barely audible against the wind.

Ben grabbed your shoulder as he screamed, “It got him! It got him!” His eyes were wide with terror. 

You could hardly imagine what this scene might look like to those with better vision. To the rest of them, these aren’t blurs, these are living creatures. Or at least two of them were living creatures. 

“Dr. Wu’s lab!” Brooklynn gasped. “There was a dinosaur. In--”

“Indominus Rex.” Sammy whispered.

Brooklynn turned to her with raised brows. “How do you know that name?” 

Sammy stayed silent. 

Darius stammered. “But there’s no dinosaur named--”

“There’s no time. We need to leave.” Sammy said with a serious voice. Which you never expected to hear from someone like her.

“Now, now, now! We have to go!” she hurried.

Kenji pushed against the stair railing as he leaned away from the edge of the tower. “Up here is safe, down there isn’t. Besides, this high up, it’s not like Whatever-Rex can even see us.” 

The so-called Indominus Rex certainly had better vision than you, because once its head turned towards the tower, it let out a roar as it came stomping closer.

Kenji just had to say something.

With a flick of its head, the blue gate that you all had been stuck in front of became a maimed jumble of metal bars. 

The tower shook as the creature attempted to climb up with terrifying intensity. You all yelped and grabbed a hold of anything around you to keep your grounding. Apparently, for Ben, your left leg appeared to be quite grounding. 

If it weren’t for the situation at hand, you’d have asked him why he trusted you enough not to kick him off and leave him to the wolves. Or dinosaur, in this case. Was it even a dinosaur, though? It couldn’t be anything else, especially with Brooklynn and Sammy’s little exchange.

Dr. Wu’s lab? Indominus Rex? What the hell was going on today? You couldn’t think on it any longer though, because the very structure keeping your group safe above the ground was crumbling from the weight of this monstrous dinosaur. 

Normally you wouldn’t call any dinosaur a monster, a circle of life and all. But this one was a special case. 

Screaming filled the air as you all tumbled about, balance thrown off by the constant motion of the tower. In only a few seconds, Sammy had fallen over the railing, her savior being Yasmina’s quick reaction. 

“Sammy!” she yelled. 

Seeing her vulnerable state, the creature briefly paused its climbing and opened its jaws impossibly wide. Mouth snapping with each desperate swing of Sammy’s body. It even jumped a bit to meet her halfway, as if she was a little toy dangling just out of reach. 

You pulled yourself out of these thoughts as Darius grabbed ahold of Sammy’s forearm and reminded yourself that one of your fellow campers was literally dangling from the edge of the observation tower. 

You grabbed her right arm, and not too soon after, you all pulled Sammy from the railing with the help of the rest of the camp. And though she almost fell back because of the creature below ramming itself into the tower, she quickly regained her bearings as she pulled herself up and over the railing. 

“The zip line. Go, go, go!” Darius pointed. 

Brooklynn and Kenji shoved Ben into the seat first. Ben yapped at the sudden push. 

With another swing of its head, the tower shook again because of the dinosaur’s assault. 

“I can’t! I can’t! I can’t!” Ben wailed as he relentlessly attempted to buckle the zip pine belt across his torso. 

With everything going on, you knew it was only natural to panic over little things such as this, especially someone like Ben. But you couldn’t help but get a bit agitated at his continuous whining. 

“Here!” you barked, grabbing his hands and forcing them together as the belt let out a satisfying click. With the belt locked on, the seat automatically turned and moved at an excruciatingly slow pace. 

Kenji, seemingly at a similar level of doneness as you, pulled Ben’s chair backwards and shoved it forwards with a force that you’re ashamed to say impressed you. 

Ben screamed the whole time, but he appeared to have a safe descent. However, you couldn’t say the same to the rest of your group. 

With the dinosaur’s relentless attacks on the tower, the rest of you were hurrying to get into the zipline seats. Sammy, Kenji, and Brooklynn’s seats all bumped into Ben’s as he suddenly came to a stop. 

You could hear them all yelling, and it only got louder as your seat came at theirs at full speed. You gripped the seat bar tightly and held your head away so you wouldn’t bump it against the bar like Kenji. 

You and Brooklyn yelped as you two collided. 

“Sorry.” You whispered. She only looked at you with conflicted eyes.

“Ben, what did you do?” Kenji accused.

“Nothing! It just stopped!” Ben cried out.

Hearing more shouting from behind you, you turned your head and immediately regretted it.

Darius was hanging off Yasmina and her seat, and they were coming at you all, full throttle. 

You would’ve screamed if the collision didn’t happen sooner than you expected. Luckily, Darius and Yasmina’s risky decision making got you all moving again. 

“It’s working! It’s working!” Darius shouted.

So this was one of those crazy plans of his? You had to admit; they came in clutch. 

You quickly took back that statement when the wire you all were zip lining on went slack, and the chairs detached from it. However, the chairs weren’t the only things that had detached, the seat belts keeping you in the seats had automatically released as well. Leaving you all to plummet to the ground below.

Though in retrospect, that was a good thing, at least now your bunch won’t break any bones under the weight of the seats.

At least that’s something you’d think about if you didn’t black out before you could even hit the tree line. Suppose it was a convenient thing to happen, since you didn’t get to feel the way your body aggressively hit the ground. 

Or at least you believe it did. You could’ve gently floated all the way down like some sort of holy being for all you know. But you know fully that something like that isn’t possible. Mercy isn’t something granted to those on Isla Nublar.

You’re certain that’s true when you come to and all you can feel is pain. It’s almost a guarantee that you’re gonna have some bruises later. Possibly a concussion if you’ve run out of your bit of luck. 

You’re still trying to recover from the rough fall when your body is violently shaken by no other than Ben. Not only that, but he’s muttering your name in this pathetic tone like you just died. You almost wish you did if it stopped you from experiencing this nightmare.

“I’m fine.” His hands don’t move from their place on your shoulders and you’re forced to shrug them off. “And stop that.”

He huddles closer to you as you look around, noticing the rest of the group conversing. 

“Stop what?” Your head turns, and he’s right in your face. 

With a jolt, you bring your hands to his chest and force him away from you. 

“Being so touchy!” 

With eyes like a kicked puppy, he apologizes. However, he doesn’t stop despite your complaints. He still keeps himself uncomfortably close to you, shoulders hunched and eyes searching for the monster from earlier. He shows some understanding and stands farther than he was before, at least. 

Although even as you walk over to the rest of the group, he refuses to be more than half a foot away from you. 

“The observation tower was that way? Or was it that way? I…” Brooklynn sighs. 

A hand grabs your shoulder and you’re just about at your limit with Ben. Though when you turn around to scold him once more, it turns out to be your alleged dino-buddy, Darius. 

“Are you okay?” He asks, eyes searching your form for any visible injuries from the fall. 

“Yeah.” You say curtly. You watch out of the corner of your eye as Darius chews his lips anxiously, and you almost apologize.

Before you’re able to, Darius is patting his chest for something, and then his eyes widen and he searches his clothes for something unseen. 

“Where’s—No, no.” He whimpers. “My necklace, I left it in my bunk!” 

A roar rings out across the forest, causing your group to huddle together in fear. 

“We’ve got slightly bigger problems than—”

Another roar, this time sounding closer than before. 

“We have to run now!” Sammy warns.

You wish you had picked up exercising as a hobby. Maybe then this whole experience would be easier on you. 

“Everything will be fine when we get back to camp,” Darius huffs as he runs.

You wish you could agree, but when you all finally get to campgrounds, it’s all just a pile of broken wood on the ground.

There’s a solemn atmosphere surrounding you all as you explore the wreckage.

“Dave, Roxie, the other workers, they must’ve all gotten away!” Sammy says positively.

“Not all of them.” Ben gasps as he retreats from a flipped jeep.

With a grimace, he returns to your side shakingly. It’s easy to assume that he regrets his attempt at searching the debris. 

When he reaches out to hold your arm, you don’t stop him this time. Only because you’re sure whatever he saw wasn’t pretty. 

“Hello?” Yasmina talks into the walkie-talkie left for you by Roxie and Dave. The same one you almost came back for. 

You’re not sure if you’re happy that you didn’t come back to camp or not. On one hand, you might’ve been able to call for help. On the other, you’re not sure when the dinosaur from before had wrecked the place. 

It could’ve been right after you all left, which would’ve left you and Ben at the dinosaur’s mercy. And based on what it did to the brachiosaurus and those men, you’re certain it has none. 

Or it could’ve destroyed camp after you guys fell. You’re not sure how long you were out for. You just can’t help but wonder if you’ve made the right choice or not. Could you have called for help? Or would trying to do so only put you and Ben in danger? 

Well, the what-ifs don’t matter. Either way, the fact is, you and your fellow campers are on their own.

“Give me my phone!” Brooklynn suddenly shouts as she runs up to Sammy

The girl in question raises her head. “What?”

“I don’t care about you sneaking into Dr. Wu’s lab, I don’t care about whatever you did with the skin samples you took from the sinoceratops—” Brooklynn’s rant is cut off by the rest of the confused campers. However, she ignores the rest of you in favor of continuing her tirade. 

“I don’t even care that you stole it now! All I want to do is call for help! Where is it?” She cried in exasperation.

Sammy was silent for only a second before she shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.” She walked away from Brooklynn and towards the rest of the group as she continued. “Skin samples? Sneaking into labs? You made up some crazy thing in your own dang head!” 

“Back off!” Yasmina yelled. “Not everything revolves around you and your phone!” 

The two came face to face as the arguing carried on.

“It isn’t Sammy’s fault you lost it!” 

 Ben intercepted worriedly. “Would you guys please keep it down?! There’s a big--”

“A big, scary dinosaur?” Kenji cut him off. “Of course there’s a big, scary dinosaur! There’s always a big scary dinosaur.” 

“Don’t get mad at him just because he’s right!” You didn’t mean to, but you jumped to defend Ben from the likes of Kenji. 

“You’re always such a big-mouthed jerk!” Ben adds with furrowed brows.

“Give it back!” Brooklynn yells at Sammy.

“Back off!” Yasmina shouts.

Kenji fumbles for a comeback. “Yeah? Well, at least I don’t play with crayons!” 

“With your maturity level, I’d expect you to!” You can’t help but shout.

“What is your problem with me? I’m trying to get us all out of this mess!” Brooklynn asks desperately. 

“I didn’t lie to you about it!” Samny defends herself.

“Just stop!” Brooklynn screams. 

“Well, my dad—” Kenji’s interrupted as Ben yells.

“Money isn’t going to help us out of this! No one’s getting out of here! We just saw people get eaten!” He says, weariness overtaking him. “We’re alone, we’re defenseless.”

He brings his knees to his chest and holds them close as he finishes. “We’re dead.”

The rest of the group scoffs and walks off. And while you wished to do the same, you couldn’t bring yourself to.

Instead, you sit next to Ben and put a hesitant hand on his back. He doesn’t react verbally, but you can tell that he appreciates it. 

“We’re not giving up.” Darius says firmly. 

Everyone’s head turns to look at him in bewilderment. 

“I get it. It’s scary. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.” He sighs. “Things aren’t always gonna go your way. Life is messy and sometimes…” 

Everyone comes closer as Darius goes on. 

“... things fall apart.”

He smiles. “But that’s okay because when that happens, we pick up the pieces and keep going. And we never give up.” 

Your companions stand in silence before Brooklynn breaks it reluctantly.

“What about your necklace?” 

“It’s not important. I’ve got the memories right here.” Darius touched his chest as he beamed.

“What are we supposed to do?” Yasmina asks.

“Go south to the park. Get help. And the only way we’ll make it is if we do it together.” He asserts. “We’re a team or we’re nothing at all.” 

Ben holds up a finger as he argues. “Or, you know, we don’t go back into the jungle.”

“You can wait for the negligent babysitters, but I’m with Darius.” Kenji states.

“Wait, really?” Darius raises a brow.

“Dude, there’s no way I survived a dinosaur attack…” 

Ben yelps when a board of wood falls right in front of Kenji.

“... only to be taken out by cheap camp debris. Kenji ain’t goin’ out like that.” 

Kenji walks, dragging Darius along as he concludes. “We’re going south. The rest of you coming or what?”

“I’m in.” Brooklynn decides as she begins to follow the two.

“We’re in, too.” Yasmina makes the decision for her and Sammy as she slings an arm around the girl.

“Me too.” You say tersely. 

Ben holds his hands up to argue, but with your added contribution, he just whines and runs after you lot.

“It’s just one dinosaur.” He utters continuously. Whether it was to console himself or to remind you all, you couldn’t be sure.

And so your horrible Jurassic adventure begins, or maybe Cretaceous would be more accurate. Either way, something new is starting and you’re not sure you’re going to like it.

[wantonlywindswept]

fox & rex ficbit

finally wrote some tcw! whoo.

tbh not entirely sure where this is headed (a lie: i know exactly where i want this to end up, and it is with alpha-17 storming coruscant in a fit of protective rage and also murder) and atm it’s just a lot of exposition ideas because...i still have no real solid feel for the characters?? so i’m kind of working through that.

it is exhausting. star wars fanon you are exhausting. why can my brain not just write with the tropes and be done with it

anyway basically rex and fox are alpha-17′s feral children/brothers/students/?? because all three of them are competent chaos gremlins. set vaguely after geonosis but before the GAR is actually properly structured, bc if star wars doesn’t know what its timeline is then why the hell should i

---

Growing up on Kamino, Rex and Fox had three things in common: a taste for the popularly-loathed blue carbohydrate cubes, an unstoppable compulsion to always be the best at anything they did, and the extremely dubious honor of being Alpha-17's favorites.

Fox was one of the earlier Command Class clones decanted, the eldest of a batch that boasted Wolffe, Gree, Bly, and Cody: possibly the strongest CC batch that Kamino would ever produce. He came out with a massive chip on his shoulder and left his tact in his tube, and made a sport of talking back to every single trainer in the Cuy'val Dar--which was why he once spent two weeks in Medical with broken ribs, a punctured lung, and Dred Priest's bootprints on his chest.

On the other hand, Rex came from a CT batch that was nearly flushed for genetic deviation, and of the original five, only he and Crys made it past cadet training. He clawed to the top of all his training modules fueled by fear and spite, and did everything by the book to avoid any kind of attention that might further mark him as defective: he kept his head down and his mouth shut, no matter what he actually thought about things.

Alpha's ARC training was good for the both of them, in the end: it taught Rex how to speak his mind, and it taught Fox how to shut the fuck up.

"15 - 5," Alpha announced cheerfully, leaning on his training staff without even the slightest indication of being tired. Fox, flat on his back at Alpha's feet, wheezed something that might have been a curse.

"I'm starting to think that those 5 were a fluke," Rex said blandly. 

Fox's next growl was definitely a curse, and he lifted trembling hands to sign something insulting and anatomically improbable in Rex's direction.

"Go on, stop whining into my mats," Alpha said, nudging Fox in the side with his foot. "It's time for me to beat the other little brat into the ground."

Rex watched, snickering, as Fox very clearly struggled to keep from offering Alpha a similar insult. 

It was good that he was finally developing a sense of self-preservation.

It was just the three of them left in the gym, long after most sane troopers retreated to lick their wounds and get some kind of rest before they did the same thing all over again tomorrow. Even Fox's certifiably unhinged batch had abandoned them after a couple hours of extra training; most of the CCs had been tagged for the ARC classes, but some were taking to it with a little more enthusiasm than others.

Fox peeled himself off the floor, using his staff as a crutch as he staggered to the deceptive safety outside of the training ring. He passed Rex along the way; his encouraging pat on the shoulder turned into more of an uncoordinated smack to the side of the head, which Rex magnanimously decided to forgive on account of knowing he'd probably need Fox's help standing up later. 

Alpha was brutal, and relentless, and more than a little bit of a dick, but he wasn't cruel. He pushed them hard, taught them everything he knew, and if sometimes Rex caught him looking at them like he was worried they'd vanish the moment they left his sight, well. 

The campaign on Geonosis had been a hell of a debut. They'd lost thousands of brothers, and now they were all on edge waiting for their official postings. There was no telling where they'd end up next. 

Fox would undoubtedly be deployed where the fighting was the heaviest; he came off Geonosis with a dossier of accolades and a near-spotless string of victories. The rest of his batch had done equally well--all save Cody, who'd been unwillingly left behind on Kamino with a grade three concussion and a broken orbital bone, courtesy of one of Isabet Reau's battle circles.

Rex was probably destined for something similar. He'd performed well enough that he was guaranteed an officer commission, and he'd been all but adopted into the Command class after taking control of a battalion that had lost their commanding officer. It would be an absolute waste to not send him to the front lines.

Once ARC training was over, once they got their assignments and shipped out, it was entirely possible this would be the last time that Alpha saw them both alive.

With that cheery thought in mind, Rex spun the staff in his hands, met Alpha's grim expression with a sharp nod, and launched himself into the ring.

(Later, after Alpha dumped them both in the showers and ordered them not to drown, Fox gave him so much shit for only managing to win three matches out of twenty. But he also hauled Rex into the closer barracks that he shared with his batch, shoved him into the empty bed, and immediately passed out on him, which was enough of a comfort that Rex figured he could put off his vengeance for later. 

Maybe in the morning.

Maybe after they came back from the war, and they could prove to Alpha that he hadn't just sent them off to die.)

[coulsons-fullmetal-cellist]

A Drop of Golden Sun

(Joel Miller x singing teacher female)

Words: 3, 692

Summary: Ellie takes up singing lessons and Joel reluctantly joins in. Singing teaching is my profession and this is what I actually do! I would love some feedback on this story as I need to know if it makes any sense to non-musicians. I’m writing an educational paper on the teaching of singing so if anyone also wants to read that, let me know!

Warnings: a bit of a slow burn between two adorable people, some swearing, lots of singing, a grown man being embarrassed, I’ve only seen the TV series so forgive me if my knowledge is lacking

Check out my crazy masterlist here

“How can you tell if someone is tone deaf?”

That was a question you haven’t heard in a while. You weren’t sure how the teenager in front of you would think to ask you, but her eyes were full of curiosity, and you were eager to explain.

“If someone was tone deaf, they wouldn’t be able to recognise the melody of a song. It’s very rare for someone to be tone deaf.”

“It is?” You knew this was Ellie, a newcomer to Jackson. You’d seen her around the school, sitting in the back of music class, not quite wanting to join in, just taking in the strange new atmosphere of singing along. You’d seen her being picked up by what you supposed was her father Joel after school. The two were adorably matched in surly attitude and clashed heads but you felt the love between them. It took a while for them to be properly introduced to everyone, but Ellie seemed more eager to know the towns music teacher, Joel standing closely behind the questioning teenager.

“Can you tell the difference between these two notes?” you started humming a very familiar two notes, a knowing smirk crossed the Joel’s lips. Ellie nodded, unaware of what was to happen. You hummed the same two notes again, then progressed in a faster rhythm, finally you opened your mouth to belt out the final bit to the Jaws theme. Ellie’s eyes opened wide in surprise.

“Wow! That was amazing! Did you write that song yourself?”

You and Joel shared a silent laugh, “Yes, I totally wrote that song myself.” The sarcasm seemed to be lost to the teenager.

“Would you be able to teach anyone to sing? No matter how terrible a singer they are?”

“Oh yeah, if someone has the enthusiasm and is willing to put in the work, then yeah.”

“So how can you tell if someone is a bad singer?”

“Well then, I’d have to hear them sing first. Do you know the lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?”

“Isn’t that a kid’s song?”

“Yes, which means it’ll be an easy song.”

“Well, I don’t know the song. They didn’t really teach us that stuff in basic training.”

“That’s okay, I can sing it for you if you want?”

Joel mumbled out, “I know the words.” He scratched the back of his head, hoping his words would be lost but you heard him well.

Ellie looked shocked, “You do?”

“Well, I was a dad, so I know all those kinds of songs.”

You brightened up, “I’d love to hear it.”

He sighed deeply, knowing what he’d have to face. He gave Ellie a death glare before he started off on the nursery rhyme. He started off quite confidently but soon realised all eyes in the room were on him, so he sang the last few lines quickly and let it fade away. You applauded his performance enthusiastically and Ellie joined in.

“Whoo! Real crooner there!”

To say Joel’s glare was a death glare was an understatement, but then he looked at the happiness on your face and softened, his embarrassment replaced by bashfulness.

“That was really good!” You swore you saw a bit of blush crawling up his neck.

“I want to try it!” Ellie then started her own version of the nursery rhyme. Her enthusiasm was almost infectious even if she didn’t get all the words or notes right. You applauded her performance almost before Joel did.

“Do you do private lessons?” the question from the man who just sang a nursery rhyme was one you haven’t heard in a while, “I know you do music at the school and all…”

“No, I mean yes, I can do private lessons. I just have to find the time between stuff.”

Ellie interrupted with a casual shove to Joel’s shoulder, “If you need anything fixin’, this guy’ll do it for you. He was a contractor.”

The laugh that came out of your mouth left her confused but you nodded to the man, agreeing to make an arrangement later.

*****

The story of how you survived an outbreak, and the collapse of society was probably put down to luck. You were managing the dull humdrum of surviving each day, becoming numb to everything you once took for granted. Finding the Jackson outpost became a glimmer of hope. Soon, your frozen heart defrosted with the melting snow. Soon word floated around of your life before everything changed and Maria approached you about setting up a music class in the school and now you came back to your old profession in some form.

How they managed to find a piano, let along a functioning piano at the end of human civilisation was nothing short of a miracle. Soon after, you had the luxury of paper to which you could write down some music which somehow didn’t leave your brain after all these years. You spent countless hours with a pencil and ruler making lines of music before you could start writing musical notes.

Things that were once an unnecessary luxury now became a needed break from the insanity that is the world ending. Jackson had settled into a routine for survival but once life settled a gentle harmony of peace and quiet hummed in the atmosphere. Ration cards were now being used to recreate childhood comfort foods and things that were once forgotten gradually crept back into life. Time could now be spent on things such as reading or randomly humming a song that became stuck in your head. Not having to survive a night in the freezing wilderness or worrying about where your next bite would come from could do that to you.

*****

A knock at the door of the school music room brought you back to when you first started teaching, the nerves came fluttering back. Ellie came sauntering into the room, closely followed by Joel.

“You’re both here for a lesson?”

“Well just me,” said Ellie, “He’s just here for moral support.”

You smiled at his surly face, “You can join in anytime you want. I want to see how you breathe, so I’d like you to take a nice deep breath and recite as much of the alphabet as you can on that one breath. Do that make sense?”

Ellie nodded and took a deep breath, raising her shoulders and managed to do the whole alphabet. You stood up and put your hands under your stomach, “That was good, but you were raising your shoulders, which only uses and eighth of your lung capacity. Put your hands under your stomach,” she copied you, “Now imagine your stomach is a balloon: when you breathe in, you inflate the balloon and when you breathe out, you deflate the balloon.” You demonstrated, letting your stomach go right out and in. Ellie eagerly copied you while Joel casually followed along, he took to the technique more easily than Ellie who was trying to wrap her head around this new way of breathing.

“How are you feeling?” you asked her.

“It feels weird. How’d you pick it up so quick?” she asked Joel.

“I’m older, I’ve had more experience with breathing.”

“You’re old you’d think you’d have trouble with breathing.”

“I’m not that old!” You couldn’t help but chuckle at this exchange.

“Let me know if you start feeling dizzy because lots of oxygen will be getting into your brain.”

“Maybe your brain will get smarter from all that oxygen,” Joel mumbled.

You went and sat at the piano, everything coming back to you now. “We’re going to do some warm ups, get the vocal muscles going. I like to talk them out before singing them. Now, imagine that some freshly baked cookies just came out of the oven,” you paused as you weren’t sure if Ellie would have ever experienced something such as freshly baked cookies.

“How about bread? Just out of the oven?” Joel suggested and that helped bring you back on track.

“Okay, so imagine the smell of freshly baked bread, that lovely smell,” you closed your eyes, “and you just…mmm” you hummed, imagining the taste of bread dancing on your tongue. Ellie and Joel closed their eyes and joined you in this dance of humming. You opened your eyes, “So you know how that feels? We’re now going to add music to it.”

Your fingers graced over the keys as if you never stopped teaching. All twenty years of hardship forgotten and felt like you only did this yesterday. You played up three notes and then went back down.

“I’ll demonstrate what we’re going to do. So hum along to this,” you played the sequence and hummed along, “And when I play the next bit,” you played the next note up to start a new sequence, “This is when you’ll breathe, and then we’ll hum along again,” you hummed along with the next sequence, “Then we’ll keep going up. Does that make sense?”

Ellie nodded but hesitantly looked to Joel for reassurance. “You can do it together or I can do it with you if you like?” She nodded for you to join her, so she hummed along going up the piano.

“How did that feel? I’m going to be asking that a lot.”

“It felt fine. Still weird.”

“Well it’s going to get weirder. That’s how singing goes. So, now we’re going to do what I call yawn singing. Yawning helps get that nice, relaxed feeling in our throat which is important to singing,” you gave a big dramatic yawn to demonstrate, “Let’s try that.” Ellie felt a little awkward yawning along with you, knowing it was something that had always been the source of scorn among others and yet here you were encouraging it. “Okay, let’s put that to music.”

You played the same musical sequence as before, Ellie yawn singing along with you. Joel was just the quiet observer in all this. “How did that feel?”

“It was definitely weird!” Joel just hummed in agreement.

“Now, have you ever laughed so much it hurt your stomach?”

Joel snorted, “Not with her bad jokes.”

“Hey, my jokes are excellent!” You saw the hint of a smile between the two of them.

“Well laughing gets our diaphragm muscles working so what we’ll do is take one tiny breath and go ‘ha ha ha ha ha’. Okay?” You all put your hands on your stomachs and did a few little laughs before adding the music. Instinctively your hands reached up as if to pop little bubbles of music, another memory from before. You realised and became slightly self-conscious of it. “How did that feel?”

“It felt good.”

“Good. Now we’ll actually get to a song!” You got up from the piano stool to place a piece of handwritten music in front of Ellie and Joel. He gave a knowing nod to the title of the song: Do Re Mi from The Sound of Music.

“That brings me back,” he mused.

“What? Back to the time of the dinosaurs?”

You gave Ellie a cheeky look, “So are you saying I’m that old?” That caused a smile to cross Joel’s face, and you joined in, and you continued with the lesson. “The way I like to approach a song is to do the tune, the melody, by itself; then we do the words by themselves; then we put the two of them together. Does that make sense?” Ellie nodded so you returned to the piano and started playing the tune which was one you always started new students on. “Feel free to hum along.”

It took a little while for her to get used to the tune which you knew was completely foreign to her, but she was determined to get the tune on her tongue.

“Alright, we’ll tackle the lyrics now,” You stood up and made your way to Ellie’s piece of music. You picked up the pencil that was on the makeshift stand. “The way we pronounce our words when we sing will be different to how we say them normally. I like talking out the lyrics in the rhythm so we can focus on the words and how they should feel when we sing them. Again, it’s going to be weird, but it’ll make sense once we add the music.” You used the pencil as a pointer and tapped out the rhythm to get syllable.

“When we get to a long note, we have to make sure the end of the word is heard clearly. If you do the long note but fade off then no one will know what word you just sang, so we have to emphasise it, almost making them two separate words. So, ‘Ray, a drop of golden su nuh’” you underlined the n in sun to make your point. “Let’s talk this out.”

Ellie followed along with you quite eagerly, sometimes looking to Joel like an eager puppy learning a new skill. You fed her with enthusiastic praise and her energy was bouncing in the air.

“Okay, let’s put the words to music,” you sat back down on the piano stool and started up the melody again, “Don’t worry, I’ll sing along with you.”

You started singing at your normal volume but softened it once you heard the confidence building in Ellie’s voice. “How was that?”

She shrugged, “Pretty good.”

“Okay, we’re going to get weird again. We’re going to yawn sing this. So imagine you’ve just come out of the dentist, oh wait. Just imagine your mouth has stopped working.”

“Like you’ve been drunk?”

“When have you ever been drunk?” asked Joel.

“I’ll sing this with you,” You started playing the song again. Ellie was trying hard not to giggle at the absurdity of the exercise, Joel once again quietly observing. “How did that feel?”

“Fun! Weird but fun.”

“Good. Now we’re going to laugh sing this. We won’t do the words, every one will be a short little ‘ha’.” You played the song again and Joel joined in softly on this one.

“Now, we’ll go back to singing with the words. When we get to one of the long notes, we’ll imagine we’re yawn singing it. And when we get to any little notes, we’ll imagine we’re laugh singing it. Does that make sense?”

Ellie nodded, eager to sing again. This time around, the change was obvious. “Did that feel any different?”

“A little bit, the higher notes felt better. Can we do it again?”

“Yeah sure, we can go as many times as you want.”

You played the song a few more times, you didn’t want Ellie to tire herself out in her first lesson. Before you knew it, the time had flown by, and the lesson had ended. Her poor face sunk in sadness but lit up when you said you’d see her next week. Joel nodded his thanks as he led her out the door.

*****

Sure enough, Ellie came by the following week followed by Joel. She told you she had practiced, and you believed her. You had started introducing a method you created where the singer uses their hands to sort of direct their voice forward. You mainly created the method to help singers with their breathing as a lot of them tried to breathe before finishing a musical sentence. It also helped make sure a long word ended strong. It was always fun to get students to imagine them poking the end of a word. Ellie took this literally and tried to poke Joel while singing and claiming she was practicing.

Soon word spread that you were teaching privately and more people in the community wanted to take up lessons. A lot of them were ones who remembered music from school and wanted a return to childhood. Others were told that they couldn’t sing which was a common thing with adult students. This encouraged several of the children to start lessons and word of forming a choir was now spreading. You would hope to get it up and running in time for a community talent show. A talent show was something that hadn’t happened in the world for a long, long time.

You found yourself playing on the piano more in your spare time. You fingers remembered how to play certain songs. That corner of your mind letting you play so freely, getting lost in the music. This song was one you hadn’t sung in a while.

Summertime, and the living is easy. Fish are jumpin’. And the cotton is high.

Oh, your daddy’s rich. And your ma is good lookin’.

So hush, little baby don’t you cry.

You sensed someone was watching and you nearly fell off the piano stool. Your heart being left behind to where it jumped out of your body. Joel rushed over to stop you from falling over like a complete fool.

“Shit, m’sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“I didn’t want to interrupt; your singing was just so lovely.”

You paused, “Oh, thanks. Hadn’t sung that one in a while, put my guard down.”

“I’m not able to let my guard down yet.”

“Give it a few years. Was Ellie having a lesson today?”

“No, no,” he scratched the back of his head, “I actually had a question about a song I’m doin’.”

“You’re singing at the talent show?”

He sighed, “I was convinced.”

“Convinced?”

“Well, strongly convinced by Ellie who went and told everyone I was singin’.”

You laughed, “Yeah, she’s very convincing. So what song are you doing?”

He almost had trouble getting the words out, “Can’t Help Fallin’ in Love with You.”

“Oh lovely, is that for anyone special?”

He coughed out a maybe, but you didn’t question him further. “There’s a part I have trouble with, thought I should ask the expert.”

You went and sat back at the piano, “I’m more than happy to help.”

“Most of the song is fine, it’s just the middle part, ‘the only to the sea’ part.”

You hummed the part, looking to Joel if it was the correct part and he nodded. “Well, “there’s a few reasons why you might be having trouble with it. Sometimes it’s the notes, sometimes it’s the words and sometimes it's both,” you let out a contented sigh, “We can take it apart and see, well hear, where it’s giving you trouble.”

“Normally trouble is Ellie.” You joined in the laugher, noting how his eyes lit up.

“Let’s sing the part on doo.”

“Like that laugh singing?”

“You were paying attention?”

“I have to, to make sure Ellie practices.”

“It will be a little like laugh singing. We only have to lightly touch the tops of the notes. And we barely need any energy for these small notes. Most people tend to punch every note,” you gestured you hands to emphasise your point, “We only have to ‘boop’ them.”

“Boop?”

“Yes boop. I told you singing gets weird. But we’ll go with doo.”

Joel went through the sequence on doo, then dee. He seemed less uncomfortable with the strangeness of the exercises from accompanying Ellie to lessons over the weeks but having to do them himself was a lot different.

“Let’s try them with the words now but imagine lightly touching those notes.” He tried them but you heard he would hesitate on the top notes. “Would you be willing to use your hands?”

He sighed but gave it a go, following your movements. They were less elegant than yours but it did seem to help him with those notes causing him issue.

“Just try them by yourself and hopefully your brain will get used to it.”

“Thanks” he hesitated, “So I’m guessin’ you did all this teaching before,” he waved his hand, “everything?”

“I did. Ellie told me you wanted to be a singer but became a contractor.”

“I’m gonna have to tell her to watch where her mouth runs, but yeah, I did want to be a singer.”

“What stopped you?”

“Life I guess. And more than one person tellin’ me I couldn’t sing.”

“Were they experts?” he shook his head, “Then they had no right telling you.”

“Kinda wish you were around to tell them that.”

“We’re here now.”

“I’m glad we are.”

*****

“That will bring us back to do! Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do!”

The applause was rapturous for Ellie’s performance. She did a low bow and made her way back to the audience. Tommy, acting as MC, got up to the assigned performance area. “Another round of applause for Ellie! And now, finally making his debut, let’s welcome my brother Joel!”

After a pause, Joel reluctantly made his way to the front. He sat on the chair provided and placed the guitar on his knee. After a false start, he started strumming the guitar. His voice was softly coming through to the audience, he never once looked out to see how many people were watching him sing. Joel got to the part where he would hesitate, and you hoped your worry wouldn’t mentally pass on to him. The exercises you put him through must have worked because he passed through that part without any issues. Normally, most people would rush towards the end, their brain wanting to finish the song, but Joel didn’t speed up and fade off like he did all those weeks ago with that nursery rhyme.

“Take my hand, take my whole life too. But I can’t help fallin’ in love with you,” suddenly he lifted his head and looked straight into your eyes, “But I can’t help fallin’ in love with you.”

Oh. Oh…

The applause seemed to wash over the thrumming in your head. Surely, he wasn’t singing this love song to you. He was probably just looking to you for reassurance, that’s all it was.

“So, did he win you over with his singing?”

You were lost for words, “He what?”

“What better way to confess his feelings than through a love song?”

Joel had to butt in, “I kept sayin’ she’s a much lovelier singer so it wouldn’t work.”

You had to correct him, “Well it did work.”

“Oh. Oh.”

Ellie was practically singing, “I told you!”

Lovingly tagging @chaithetics @meveispunk @cevans-is-classic @tessa-quayle @boliv-jenta @ellenmunn @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi @myloveistoolittle @brilliantopposite187

[xxwithlovefromfaexx]

YOU and HIM

I’m out here bringing my shooters for mc, fuck adam

I actually wrote this before looking back at the YOU and HIM fandom before I posted this and WHOO this one is like...the even worse end for that angst ask that was sent into the vn page imo. This is not a peace offering to adam sjkdbfebfk

Also I’m sorry if Adam seems sort of ooc??? I wrote this purely from a YOU perspective, so if it’s not quite in canon its more bc its how YOU percieve him (at least in this fic, and for the purposes of this one)

WARNINGS: violence, physical abuse (mainly threat of, but you are holding him down here), sadism, guilt, kinda reads like a revenge plot villian arc ngl??? DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT!!

Finally, you held the power. After humiliating yourself to him, servicing the man that held your mind captive for so long.

After giving your sanity to the man that took you from your normal life, stole away your freedom, tore a hole through your regular life just to carve himself into it, you could finally be free.

You could taste it on your lips. It felt liberating, and part of you wished to leave him at merely that. Just to walk out of his life in an instant, as fast as he’d gripped onto you and pulled you into his storm.

But you knew you wouldn't be fully satisfied with that. How could you?

That freedom felt more than liberating, to you. It was intoxicating. And for the amount of pain that he had rattled into your numb bones, this was a feast to your starving eyes. The look of disbelief and shock in his eyes sent you spiraling. You were far from finished. Far, far from satisfied. You wanted more of him.

You wanted his fear to ripple through your body and swarm your insides, coating you in a liquid pleasure. His tears would be a lovely touch, you thought to yourself as you licked your lips at the thought.

You wanted to see him break, just as he'd broken you. You wanted to bridle him and train him just to break him all over again, for daring to think he'd figured you out. Just like he did to you.

“I could forgive you, sure. But, I don’t know if I want to give you that side of me, y’know?” You could hear the smile creeping into your words as you dangled the words so carelessly in front of his calculating eyes. 

Nothing could stop the grin forming on your face now, splitting into the sides of your cheeks. You could tell why he so loved, adored, putting your through this pain.

This feeling...above him now, holding the power he would hold so closely to your throat. The otherwise silent and quick way out- one that he had teased and prodded at you for weeks, months, however long this cat and mouse game had gone on for. 

You had felt so helpless, scrambling for an exit, useless to whatever he had planned for you around the corner. And within it all, you had truly felt yourself give up. You had all but left your body in those moments. It was the only way you could've survived it, in hindsight.

Somehow, your body persisted. It had held strong for that one precious moment, where he finally let his guard down, enough for you to take control. 

For you to allow your mind to once again be present. 

To piece yourself together after every time he broke you. 

Enough for the glint in his eyes to glean with hints of a weakness, that weakness that he would silently admit to you within your most intimate hell. 

That one precious moment that you finally, finally grasped in the palm of your hand. A moment of control.

This feeling, it was...exhilarating. Overwhelming. Consuming. Your body was humming with energy, and you needed to expel it from you somehow.

“You...please...” the soft wobble in his tone was something you shouldn’t have picked up on, had you not been so close to him to hear it. And you wished you didn’t.

You should have been prepared for him to unearth some part of empathy you held for him in you. 

The look of shock had waivered into a look of...regret? As if he should’ve never plunged that knife into you long ago. You should have cackled at that. The two of you were truly past that by now.

It really wasn’t like you to be this...hateful. Resentful. You always tried to understand, regardless of the pain somebody put you through. Because even thought it would never take the pain away, it would make it a far easier burden to bear. Right?

That’s what you had told yourself. Time and time again. From traumatic experience to the painful memories of your past...maybe this was your breaking point.

If he was regretful, if he held shame on the pain and fear he’d caused to you ever since that fateful day...so be it. You wanted to cherish at least some part of that for yourself.

After all, it was him who made you this way. He'd thrust you into this. He thrust you into...this decision...into the actions you’d made, into the person you had become but could barely recognize. He did that to you.

Didn’t he?

No, you realized.

He wasn't capable of that. 

This was a person that you'd let him push you into. 

It was necessary, you'd admitted to yourself. There was no way your weakened mind could handle all of this before his incessant meddling. The high that you were on now was only something you'd achieved through letting yourself break to his will.

So you laughed. You let loose, embracing the shrill, howling laughter that echoed through you, that shook your body to your core. You could feel the vibrations it sent through his body. 

You pushed yourself deeper into his skin, deep enough to bruise. You pushed yourself down onto his elbows, and he let out a grunt in pain. You tutted at the sound, as let your voice drop to nothing but a sweet whisper in his ear.

“Maybe things could have been a whole lot different. If you never thought to put at knife into me, for one,” The growl that followed through with your words made him flinch at the sound. You smiled.

“If you’d never thought to hunt me down to the ends of my sanity. Maybe I’d even try to understand you. To love you,” Your eye twitched as you leaned down close to his, so close you could feel his shallow breath on your skin.

“I suppose I can forgive you. After all, you've given me nothing but time already. Don't worry, darling. I've been through your hell. Now, I think it's time I showed you mine,” You let out a dry chuckle, and sat back for a moment with a deep inhale.

That feeling of power was overtaking your senses, and your legs pushed him into a vice like grip. You couldn't get too cocky now; it would be embarrassing if he knocked you off of him when you were only just getting started here. You knew too well that even this was a vulnerable state to be in.  

You could get lost in it-just like he had, not even moments before.

Back when the tables were turned, when it was you fighting for your life and everything that you held dear seemed to be escaping your grasp like falling sand in your fingertips.

This time you weren't helpless to Adam’s unforeseen desires. Now it was you who held everything. And you didn't want to lose that. You wouldn't fall for the same tricks you played on him.

So where should you hurt him first?

[gallifreyshawkeye]

Chapter 8 of Reclaimed. I actually wrote an almost 11K chapter in a week, y'all! Boom! 😄

Summary:

Aziraphale accidentally discovers inconsistencies with the A(a)rchangel rosters and that there are potentially multiple archangels that have simply vanished. He also gets a message from Furfur who wants to meet, and the message is brought by an unknown angel who reminds Aziraphale so much of a certain red-haired angel that it can't be coincidence. Meanwhile, Crowley is pushed beyond his limits to the absolute brink by Satan and remembers a secret experiment he had worked on shortly after the Fall and that he had kept hidden in case he ever needed it. He hadn't for so long he had completely forgotten about it. Until now. And it might save his life.

Excerpt:

“Supreme Archangel! Sir!” 

Aziraphale turned around to see a breathless angel dressed in… khaki trousers with a black belt, a button-up sea-foam green shirt with rolled up shirt sleeves, a black tie, and dark grey shoes?! waving his hand to get Aziraphale’s attention while finishing jogging up to him from the opposite end of the long corridor. The angel leaned over as he reached Azirapale and rested his hands on his knees, catching his breath before standing back up and arching his shoulders back while taking a deep breath and finally settling into a normal posture.

“Whoo I should probably run more,” the angel said, “Hate running though. Frightfully boring. And so awful . I do not understand the humans and angels who do it on purpose. I mean, the idea sounds nice, especially the endurance running stuff. You know what I’m talking about? It’s where humans go for, like, 50, 100, 200 miles on purpose through, like, deserts and wilderness? Now that would be an accomplishment and super cool. But the training for that?! No. Couldn’t do it. Not in a million years. I bet demons don’t run on purpose. Ever. Or maybe they do because it’s awful. No, wait! I bet it’s, like, something they’d wager for the loser in a bet like, ‘I bet you 50 laps around the Infernal Pit that….’ uh, I’m not sure what demons would bet on. Maybe that one of them didn’t know that Beethoven actually did write a 10th symphony? He did, you know. Did you know that? But you get the idea. That’s how terrible running is.” The angel grimaced and took another deep breath like he needed to fill the very bottom of his lungs. “Whooo, that’s better!”

Aziraphale was staring in utter, boggled astonishment. Never in his existence had he met another angel like this one. Well, aside from Crowley-ish. When the demon was devoid of carrying the fate of the universe, this was not remarkably dissimilar to how Crowley could get on those rare occasions when he felt safe and uninhibited and got going on a subject he was passionate about whether it was passionately negative or positive. Who was this angel?! 

“Can I help you?” Aziraphale asked at last when the unknown angel in front of him didn’t say anything further and simply stood there, rocking back and forth from the balls of his feet to his heels while absent mindedly swinging his arms and… humming? something under his breath.

“What? OH! Right! Yes!” The angel’s eyes jumped back from wandering around the large corridor to focused on Aziraphale’s vicinity like he’d completely forgotten that he’d been the one to grab Aziraphale’s attention in the first place.

[joyce-stick]

I didn't like Scott Pilgrim Takes Off all that much. I feel like elucidating on why, a little bit. so. Anyway.

First, letterboxd review I wrote within a few hours of finishing the show (read this first please):

So, I read all of the comic (finally) prior to watching Takes Off. Having seen the movie several times before, I found the comic interesting in how it develops its characters further over a longer timeframe and ties up a few loose ends that the movie sort of left open in weird ways that don't make sense. Ramona has more agency, Knives shows more maturity, Scott and Ramona are more explicitly on equal footing and make for better foils for each other in the comic than in the movie. Scott regrets his life choices and runs away for a while. Ramona regrets her life choices and also runs away. They both come back and beat up Gideon together with, y'know, mutual agreement that they both kinda equally suck and deserve each other and are going to both try to get better for themselves and one another and it's fine

It's not like, groundbreaking feminist storytelling, but it sure is a lot MORE gender equal than the movie which just goes like. Ramona is mind controlled! Scott must save her! Scott beats up Gideon sorta unilaterally (with a little bit of help) and then gets Ramona because he does! It's okay. It's fine. I mean, both the movie and the comic are fine. The movie is a hyperinventive visual feast and a stellar adaptation as far as faithfully replicating its source material in the target medium. I love it. Anyway.

Both the comic and the movie are fairly complete stories which really don't need more elaborating on. They're done. They exist. People either like them, or hate them, and have been discoursing on them for years. People discuss how bad of a person Scott is or isn't, or how transgender of a reading you can apply or not apply to Scott.

(I mean, you can! You're allowed to!)

It's all well-worn. And stuff. I don't know that Scott Pilgrim is a trans girl. I mean, it's plausible fanfiction. You can do it if you like. I wish that Takes Off had played with that idea, instead of what it did do, or, in addition to what it did do? And what it did do is just. Weh?

Weh.

Okay where do I start. Um.

spoilers for Takes Off below this point

Takes Off starts by taking Scott out of the picture. He is assumedly presumably made dead. Coined. Whoo.

Okay so obviously Scott isn't actually dead, he comes back later, but him being presumed dead for a bit does open the door to the rest of the cast to get some attention. Which you'd think would be good. Alright. So, we have Matthew Patel, still here. He's an incel, it turns out. Beats Gideon in a fight being like "man I got the bigger dick here." Wins totally! Okay! The league of evil exes is all either like "wow good going Matt" or "man screw this shit" and leaves. That's amusing for a minute.

Roxy shows up for an episode, fights Ramona, and is like "YOU LEFT ME RAMMY! I HATE YOU!" And we get some delicious flashbackiness to their relationship, and they kinda reconcile. Then Roxy kisses Kim, and is like "nah I don't care Kim" and dips. Yay.

The fight between Ramona and Roxy is well animated and fun to watch. I enjoyed it. It's alright.

What else... Um, Gideon has a backstory! Gideon isn't even his real name! And he's become the mega incel that he becomes because he got rejected by some girl in high school and this turned into his supervillain origin story. Okay

Lucas Lee does skateboarding and skateboards some paparazzosi to coindeath! Go him! That is genuinely a fun sequence and I enjoyed it, I guess

Wallace Wells seduces Todd Ingram and they have a lot of hot gay vegan sex! He and Envy Adams sorta fight about it! How wacky! Okay

The Katayanagi Twins get some speaking lines in this show! Their robot (which appeared in the comic but not the movie if I remember right) is around. Um.

Julie! Julie is an old school friend of Gideon. She lets him stay at her house. Gideon/Gordon and Lucas Lee do some bro shit. Cool man

All of this is like, fine, and fun, and stuff. I'm fine with it. I liked it. I enjoyed it. Oh and I guess there's a meta subplot about the Scott Pilgrim movie becoming the Scott Pilgrim movie but failing to become the Scott Pilgrim movie because the actors keep having too many video game fights on the movie set

Okay so this is all stuff that Ramona finds out or sorta bumbles into while looking for Scott, who she's surmised has disappeared and is not actually dead. Of course, Scott is not actually dead. He's just been kidnapped and displaced in time by an older version of himself, who is having a midlife crisis because his relationship with Ramona is going badly and he wishes that it had never happened, so he kidnaps young Scott to make it so that it never happened. This does not really work. Also future Ramona does some of her own intervening in the past to counter the plot of future Scott. She has Delorean rollerblades that time travel at 88 miles per hour *rolls eyes*

Anyway, then older older Scott has a fight with younger younger Scott, future Ramona intervenes and merges with younger Ramona to become a super form Ramona and they're just like "my beloved Scott, please, just go back to the future and sort out our marriage, like a responsible adult," he is teleported back to the future, all the exes are not coinexploded, and we get a final scene implying that Julie and Gideon/Gordon are planning something which will lead into a second season, and I don't know why

Why is any of this?

I could analyze it. I could try to tell you why any of this is. But like. I really can't. I don't know.

None of this really advances or develops the characters in any way that wasn't already adequately explored in the existing material. Like, Roxy's hangup over Ramona is fleshed out a bit more, sure, and that's the part of the show I really liked, but... is there anything to that? Does it add anything to Roxy's character that we didn't already know? Not really. We could already pretty easily infer from the comics that Ramona left Roxy, just like she left all her exes, and that Roxy is mad about it. Is it nice that they talk about it? I guess. Sure. It's nice to have a version of that conversation without Scott being the third wheel. But does it meaningfully change her character?

...No

And this is the same for all the characters. Our understanding of Matthew Patel and Gideon Graves is not particularly deepened by their incel dickmeasuring fight, or Gideon's origin story about getting rejected in high school. Our understanding of Lucas Lee is not especially enhanced by the newly revealed detail that he's a headache for his agent because of his reckless wild free devil may care skater dude attitude causing PR risks. Our understanding of Wallace Wells is not amazingly additioned by seeing him seduce Todd Ingram and piss off Envy Adams. Our understanding of Knives doesn't change when she learns how to play music and gets along with Kim and Stephen... And such and so forth.

And our understanding of Scott does not meaningfully change, either. There's really no radically new character interpretation to be drawn from "Scott divorces Ramona and then tries to undo his past". That's just kind of a thing you'd figure he'd do. And of course Ramona would try to set him straight! And look for him! And. Yeah

So yeah, Takes Off feels like, almost, the definition of that phrase that Dan Olson used in that one video

"No meaning, only lore."

I cannot fathom why this show exists other than that Netflix wanted a Scott Pilgrim show, and Bryan Lee O'Malley decided to pitch one because he's sure as hell not got any other big hit comics being cross-media franchises right now, and the plot that ended up being there feels like his end of the entire writing process was spent wracking his brain, fighting for his life to come up with a reason, any reason, to write more of fucking Scott Pilgrim

And the best he could come up with was, I guess, Scott has a midlife crisis, and also more superfluous character detail, and the fanservice angle of getting to see Ramona fight Roxy, or Gideon fight Matthew, or Lucas Lee skateboard more

I had a lot of fun seeing all that but I don't know why I watched it. I don't know who wanted this. And I definitely don't know who wants a second season of this. Who would want more of this? The season we do have was already grasping for straws to do more with this setting and these characters as it was. What would they even do?

Anyway. If I was gonna rewrite this and write this smarter. I'd probably tell y'all about the moment when Young Neil is trying to write a screenplay, and some mysterious figure (later revealed to be future Ramona) shows up in his room and types up the screenplay for the Scott Pilgrim movie for him. And then he wakes up, the screenplay is on his desk, and he's like "WHOA I don't remember writing this! I totally wrote this!"

And I'd say, if I were trying to be smart and write some smart video essay analogy in a better more polished review, that Takes Off feels like Bryan Lee O'Malley wished that the script for the show would similarly emerge fully formed from nowhere from the future for him.

Or something.

Anyway, thanks for reading this impromptu, review rant something. If you liked whatever this was, and want to see us write more, better things, then, giving us money would be cool.

Patreon | Ko-fi

[fritextramole]

Bombshell

a gossip girl musical episode

late season 2 Early college acceptances are coming in and Serena’s been accepted at Yale, where she plans to attend with Dan. Blair and Chuck decidedly aren’t a couple, but she’s still upset that Dan and Serena will be together for the next 4 years... at her dream school Jenny’s back at school after leaving her job at Eleanor’s and the minions seem to have nothing better to do than torment her while they coast towards graduation Lily and Rufus have recently started dating, and Lily is forced to confront her parenting style

tracklist under the cut

Let Me Be Your Star

the fire and drive that make dreams come alive they fill her soul she's in control

Characters: Blair & Serena (+Dan, minions)

Early admissions decisions are coming in, and everyone is eager to see where they got accepted. Serena got Constance’s Yale slot.

Dig Deep

i'll finally get to use my mind's interior and not only just my bust and my posterior

Character: Serena

Serena’s glad to feel like she’s being taken seriously for once.

Let's Be Bad

tonight the (whoo!) will hit the fan!

Characters: Penelope, Hazel, Iz, Nelly Yuki

The minions didn't get the early acceptance slots they wanted, and make that everyone else's problems to cheer themselves up.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

people who use their kitchen each night who'd never been in toots shor

Characters: Dan & Serena; Rufus & Lily

Rufus and Lily are getting more serious. Dan’s excited that he and Serena can go away to Yale together. We cut back and forth between both couples to drive the point home.

At Your Feet

it's showtime, let the dream begin!

Character: Lily

Lily finds out that Serena got into Yale and is excited her daughter is amounting to something. Serena isn’t actually sure if she wants to go to Yale but feels pushed out the door.

History Is Made At Night

no one here to disapprove as we review the lessons you've been missing

Characters: Chuck & Blair

Chuck crawls in Blair’s ear about how Serena got the Yale spot. He pushes her to scheme against Serena. They consider crawling into bed

Never Give All The Heart

as the wise men once wrote never give all the heart

Character: Eric

Eric giving advice to Jenny after a run in with the mean girls. Overhead by Lily.

Public Relations

"any advice for a girl in the city?" if you're two-faced, at least make one of them pretty

Characters: Serena (+ Blair)

Blair’s using gossip girl to scheme against Serena (unsuccessfully.) Blair’s up to her usual slut shaming.

Don't Say Yes Until I Finish Talking

she thinks she's queen and calls the shots as she sits on a throne she needs to learn she's only skin the next girl's waiting for a spin

Characters: Blair, minions

Blair is in full scheming mode against Dan and Serena (and Jenny, just for fun.)

I Never Met A Wolf Who Didn't Love To Howl

a wealthy wolf likes to buy his toys but he really is just one of the boys

Character: Serena

Serena leans into her charisma and sex appeal to thwart Blair’s scheming attempts.

They Just Keep Moving The Line

i handled every corner each bump along the track and when I saw the ribbon, well there was no turning back i won the photo finish i posed for all the men but before I got my trophy well, the race began again

Character: Jenny

After a run in with the minions. Frustrated about how her year has gone.

On Lexington and 52nd Street

hurry all you faceless men, and catch the end of a match of the century, you're just in time for the final round, 'cause i know when i'm beat

Character: Dan

Dan when Serena has gotten pulled into scheming against Blair. “I thought you were better than this! I thought we both wanted to get away from this world.”

Second Hand White Baby Grand

oh, the words are still unspoken now that mama's not around but that secondhand white baby grand still has something beautiful to give

Character: Dan & Jenny

Both in a low point, Dan and Jenny come together to reminisce about their childhood and comfort each other.

The Right Regrets

where he can find the strength to say what those he loves should hear and just erase mistakes she's made then make them disappear

Characters: Dan & Serena

They talk about the future of their relationship. She was acting out because she doesn’t want to go to Yale. He lashed out instead of hearing her out.

Hang the Moon

you'd reach out and there'd be my hand

Character: Lily

A sit down with Serena and Eric after Rufus has given her some perspective on her parenting.

(Let's Start) Tomorrow Tonight

let's climb together to reach that peak then baby, we'll shoot the moon

Characters: Blair & Serena

The girls agree to let Yale decide who attends, and go out to celebrate making peace.

[thenotebookwizard]

Notes from Driver's Ed

From the Notebook posts are things that I wrote in my notebook and decided to share with you. You're welcome. And I'm sorry. (No. No, I'm really not.)

In late 2023, I took Driver's Ed. Gotta get those insurance rates down.

I took notes. Just - not the notes the people who wrote the class probably wanted me to take.

Seriously. Who has time to to delay leaving, leave early, etc

Not talking to friends in the car? Rude. And not going to happen.

...control the actions of passengers, children, pets? Have you met the people I know? Control them? What the fuck, class. What the fuck.

Also have you met dogs?

Passengers are serious distraction. Sure.

Keep children 'occupied' with a 'quiet activity' - do you know kids? Like, at all?

Don't groom yourself. Who does that while driving? (If you know the answer to that question, are the answer to that question, or want to be the answer to that question, please don't tell me. Ignorance is bliss.)

Be careful of high profile vehicles height - including in your own garage. Umm...if it doesn't fit in my garage, and I can't figure that out, I have bigger problems than this class can solve.

How many times has this happened to be included in this class?

Animals needs to predict what I'm going to do when driving? That's - a thought, right there.

Elk and moose? In a Texas driving class? Have you been to Texas? Where are the note about coyotes, wild boar, rattlesnakes, and rednecks? (Esp. Drunk Rednecks.)

Don't drive tired. Sick. Sore. Sleepy. Frustrated. Grumpy. Etc. What the fuck kind of world are these people living in?

I am old enough I am now in the 'not as likely to die' category of men. I am not yet old enough to be in the 'more likely to cause an accident' age range. The sweet spot! Finally!

Replace your mirrors with better mirrors. Who has money for that? I'm taking this class to save money every month on insurance. Because I'm poor.

'Active scanning' Bitch, if I had sensors, I would be a lot safer about driving. What is this, Star Trek: The Next Highway?

Don't wear sunglasses at night? I was raised in the 80s. This is my birthright.

Dirty headlights may cut the amount of light - this sounds like a good plan to me. Have you *seen* (been blinded by) the power of some of these headlights at night? For fuck's sake, you want to see, not blind the other drivers for some kind of tactical raid.

Don't smoke while you drive? Back when I smoked, it was much safer for the other drivers if I did smoke while I drive. Trust me.

Don't drink and drive. By now, if you don't know this - oh. Wait. I live in Texas.

Host? When I host? When I host what? I don't get invited to parties. I don't host parties. I don't mix drinks for people. Yet again, public safety information directed at extroverts. Correlation? Extroverts are scary. I already knew that.

Chocolate is included with caffeine, cocaine, and nicotine? Whoo, boy. Y'all playin' with fire, there.

Write down make, model, license plate info of dangerous drivers? While I'm driving? ...um, no.

Circadian rhythm = not everyone is diurnal or a morning person, you fucking morons. Morning person bias needs to stop.

Control your emotions. Use a technique called 'emotional regulation' - what the fuck, people? (What about mental illness. Also: have you *met* people recently?)

You want me to drive unmedicated? Look, there are *some* people you *want* to be fully drugged up before they get on the road. *Trust me.* (Example the first: My mother, god rest her soul.)

Don't use hand signals to direct other traffic? This is Texas. People will be telling each other to go first until time ends.

If you get bored, practice 'what if' driving scenarios? Really? Because *that* won't cause anxiety. Not one bit.

[sublightsleeper]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

@willowmckinley tagged me!

1. How many works do you have on ao3? 74! Man it really doesn't feel like I've written that much.

2. What's your total ao3 word count? 227,559!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Justified and wrestling most often. Then one offs for things that made me crazy.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1) Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot (MCU, Starker). 2) Every Animal Has Rules (Nope, Angel/OJ) 3) I Try To Picture Me Without You (Moon Knight, Steven/Marc) 4) Six Years (MCU, Starker) 5) Fine By Me (Ted Lasso, Isaac/Colin)

It's hilarious to me that that 35 of my fics are Justified and not a single one cracks the top 5.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to! But currently my inbox on Ao3 is 400 deep so uh. I'm working on it! Sometimes I get overwhelmed, sometimes I just don't know what to say in response. But I greatly appreciate every comment I get!

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? So I personally think it's It Matters Where You Live. It's MCD and grief and I went Through It writing it. But if I go with the emotional trauma I've caused on the server, it's Buttermilk.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I had to think really hard about this, because mostly I write smut and sadness. But if I had to pick one, it's probably Every Animal Has Rules because it leaves it on a note of hope and happiness.

8. Do you get hate on fics? So...not directly on Ao3? I've gotten a deluge of 'kill yourself' messages on tumblr in the past, but it mostly just made me more nonchalant about the gross shit I write. But yeah thankfully no mean comments.

9. Do you write smut? Hell yeah I do.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I enjoy them immensely! Haven't written a lot. I think the only one on Ao3 is And Having Been Set Free which is Justified/Supernatural. Because I am a cliche.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I am privileged I guess because I was not even aware that was a thing.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Someone asked once I think? Probably on an MCU fic.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope! But I share the 'Out My Back Door' series with @itookyoudown!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? Oh lord. I cannot do all time. Recency bias my beloved. Currently enjoying Sanji/Luffy/Zoro. Long time loves are Malec, Alfie/Tommy and Givenson.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? A Malec fic based very, very loosely on Crazy Rich Asians. I had big plans and an outline and the final season just took the winds right out of my sails.

16. What are your writing strengths? Oh boy, I am not good at saying nice things about myself. My visuals, maybe? I'd like to think it's my ability to portray emotion, but who knows.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Finishing things. Being hyper sensitive to things most people wouldn't even call criticism. If I write a gift fic (which whoo boy learned my lesson on that one) and it doesn't get the exact range of response I want, it really kicks me in the emotional balls. Which isn't fair to me or anybody else. So I'm really working on 1) finishing things before I post any. And 2) writing for myself so I don't end up disappointed.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I am monolingual. I might slip a curse word in another language but beyond that, I'll go with the tried and true italics.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Oh Jesus. Uh...Dragon Ball Z, I think. Self insert fic at like 12. Yikes. I printed it on fancy parchment paper too.

20. Favorite fic you've written? And Everything Went Black - Wrestling fic, MoxEddie. To this day it's probably my favorite thing I've written. (Stefon voice: It's got everything!) Demon possession, weird visuals, dreams as metaphors and two dudes in love. Nowhere near a popular thing but my beloved.

@fourtacosandaburrito @blizzardsuplex @batboymilo @theaerialassassin @hoodyhoo

[blood-mocha-latte]

oh my god ur speirton fic got me feeling and thinking and crying!!! its so amazing!! would u ever write more for them??

darling beautiful wonderful nonnie know that this is one of the most lovely asks i have ever received. i have giggled and read and reread it at least five times it is Beautiful.

as for speirton, it depends!! in the 'verse i wrote them in, their story is wrapped up :). i have a couple of aus on the backburner for that same universe, but speirton would not, unfortunately, guest star.

as for speirton in GENERAL, whoo boy. whooooo boy. i have.. 2 wips dedicated Soley to speirton right now? both are canon verse, and i love them So Very Much.

finally, in the Esteemed Loosely Based Hunger Games AU, there IS a speirton element to it, which is very... interesting, to behold. my beautiful boys

thank you for such a lovely ask! speirton my beloveds