#whoops sorry about the million line long tags ->

[rjcopeseethemald]

Responding to a few times Elsie tagged me for tag games because I haven't responded to them at all before

(also guess who's back into posting)

Whoops, sorry @elsie-writes, it appears I've accidentally ignored every tag game you've tagged me for. All of them over several months ago. Better late than never though!

Below are responses for a Character Voice Tag, OC in 15, and Find the Word:

Character Voice Tag

My line: "Is it supposed to be green?"

Lia: "Hey, is that thing supposed to be green? Lioko: "Uhh... guys? There's this, uh– green thing, and I'm not sure if it's supposed to be green or not!" Maiolo*: "That's supposed to be green, right? This'd be a bad time for me to start going colorblind..." Hydrogen: "Hang on..." Adjusts their eyes... then adjusts them again.... "Is that thing supposed to appear green like that?

*Originally named Miilo and then Maiilo before I settled on Maiolo.

For this one, I'll tag @eccaiia, @melpomene-grey, @vesyl, @elmachetecriollo, and leave it open! Your line is "We have to get the power back on." or, if your setting doesn't have electricity, "We have to get it working again.""

OC in 15: Hydrogen

A lot of people seem to love Hydrogen, so I'll sample 15 of their lines for you all:

The wisp slowed down in mid-air and floated towards the re- emerging twins, but stopped briefly to glance at the massive hole in the wall. “Oh,” they said, only mildly taken at all. “I told the novices to keep their sparring outside…. Anyway!"

“So! Am I to assume the age of the Cadrian Empire is long gone? –Actually, I’m taking your near total confusion as a ‘yes’–”

“[Crafting] the stars?” Lioko repeated, incomprehension in his voice. “How’s that not godlike?” “Oh, they were going to form anyway,” Hydrogen dismissed, with a several little waves of their hand. “I just made the first few. It took me a million years for each one, several failed attempts, and I can’t even do anything larger than those boring red ones that just…” they rippled their fingers in the air. “–fizzle out.”

“Okay, this is great and all,” Lioko interposed. “But… how can we trust you?” “It’s simple!” Hydrogen giggled. “You can’t!”

“Oh, I’ve got thirteen billion years on both of you. I know full well how suspicious my whole… deal– might sound,”

“This world is not mine to hold dominion over. I'm an Elemental! Not a supreme being!” said Hydrogen. “…So, anyways: May I accompany you home? Or shall I be relegated to waiting outside?”

“You know, Hydrogen…” said Lia, cracking an appreciative smile. “I like the way you think.” “Well, now you’d just be making me blush if I was able,” they quipped.

“Sleep really is the most… unnecessary necessity, isn’t it?” said Hydrogen, not looking away from the sky. “Yeah, I guess it is,” Lia answered, hoisting herself all the way up onto the roof. “Hmm… sorry about that,” they quipped, holding their hand outstretched and shutting one eye. “Blame… the laws of physics, or something.”

“Why even get so close to us humans in the first place?” asked Lia. “You’re so… far above us, on a basic level.” “On a basic level, maybe,” Hydrogen answered, pushing off the roof to float cross-legged in the air. “But I don’t consider myself to be above you. I’ve got feelings, too; I’m far from perfect; and I have opinions and tastes. Sure, I might be– well– me, but really; that’s where our differences end. And, you could still learn to mimic a sizable fraction of our power. Not so far above you now, hmm?”

“Well, of course I’m willing to guard you against threats to your lives,” Hydrogen clarified. “Just… don’t personally ask me to kill anyone.”

“Might I remind you that atomancy can give you parity with regular weapons,” Hydrogen imparted, floating down from the driver’s bench. “Yes, even these fancy new ones.... I talked with the village toolsmith, they’re not that impressive.”

When dawn broke the next day, Hydrogen was right there on the kitchen windowsill, casually lying back in waiting. They had a pleasant little smile on their face, a look of satisfaction or contentment. “You’re finally awake!” they greeted, flitting up into the air. “I’ve been wanting to tell you the good news since midnight.”

“Well, let me just say, I’m delighted there’s some Elemental already doing this!” Hydrogen responded, bouncing up to float at eye level.

A titanic golden eagle– whose feathers appeared to be made of real gold– landed on the steps. Hydrogen was like a mouse to him. “Well!” said Hydrogen, recovering back to a standing float. “You’re certainly new!"

“Ah. Hydrogen, you’re back,” said Bromine. “What did you find?” “A lot,” Hydrogen answered, frankly. “But that’s all I’m going to say!” they tried to lighten up once more.

For this one, I'll tag @lanawritesalittle, @late-to-the-fandom, @oh-no-another-idea, @njnetails, and leave it open

Find the Word Tag

My words: Blonde, Hall, Know, Drug, Girl Blonde:

And– the early hour had almost made [Sandrine] forget– regulation dictated that long hair belonged in a single bun. She quickly consolidated her platinum blonde locks at the back of her head into a swirling sort of shape, and with that, headed off towards the Joint Command building.

Hall:

Molau’s seat of government was quite meager in comparison to the Visselan House of Congress, but the Assembly Hall made do with what it had.

Know:

“Atomic fusion!” Hydrogen proclaimed, sheathing their sword with a little spinning trick. “Only a few Elementals’ atoms are light enough for it. And… want to know the best part?” Lioko went “Wait, uh–” but not before Lia could jump in with “–Ooh, tell us!”

Drug:

No instances

Girl:

“Police!” the irate Visselan shouted over to the J. Miller building, catching the attention of a couple loitering officers. “That Native girl and her brother stole my dyes three months ago!”

Sending this one out to @mk-writes-stuff, @eddie-roo, @marlowiswriting, @moonsbetween, and leaving it open; Your words are Head, Hunt, Silence, Steal, and Witness.

This was fun, and hopefully I'll keep my word and get back into posting! And please remember that all tags are no pressure!

[cerealandchoccymilk]

out of all the things i could hyperfixate on i didnt expect my next one to be a 200+ year old form of storytelling

[nagisasstunningpersonality]

TINSITOGS, a retrospective (happy birthday)

(yes I’m like two days too late I know I’m sorry) 

Why hello followers and ass class fandom, nice to see you there. I’m sure MOST people know about this, but in case you don’t, hi. On AO3 I’m better known as livixbobbiex, writer of maybe one of the most infamous Assassination Classroom fics. 

Which I mean like, if you haven’t read it yet you totally should it’s fanlore at this point I promise- 

Shameless plug that I don’t need aside, I felt that, on its first birthday since actual completion, I just wanted to share some things about it. Some tit bits about writing it, fun facts, maybe even some author advice TM. I appreciate that it’ll be super annoying if I do that in the tags, though, so that’ll all be under the cut. If you don’t want to read the whole post, then no matter what, thanks for the support in general! 

I also want to take the opportunity to announce that I’ve reopened my discord, so if you want to talk about my fics with me (and others), you’re more than welcome to join! (the link is here) 

The origin story 

I’ve stated this many times, I think, but TINSITOGS was never supposed to be a serious story. Taking you back, quite a long time, it actually started in a facebook DM with a friend. We used to come up with “head canons” with each other, which were basically just very condensed fanfiction plots over a multitude of text messages. I believe I was trying to cheer her up, and I tried to come up with some kind of plot line. 

At the time, I was fairly fresh to the Ass Class fandom, and I was joking about how there were no teen pregnancy melodrama fanfictions. It wasn’t that I wanted one, I just thought it was strange for a school centric anime with a bunch of ships to NOT have one. And, back then, I only really cared about karmagisa. So I just decided ‘right it’s happening’. The reason I decided to make it ABO was due to ‘it making sense’. Fun fact: it was almost written as AFAB trans Nagisa, but I decided against it as I didn’t rate my ability to handle it well back then. Looking back on it, I’m glad I made that decision. 

Over around two months, writing out the plot of this story took over my life a little bit. I had no idea where I was going with it, but I was having so much fun with the drama that I decided that Karma and Nagisa shouldn’t get together soon at all, and I had a lot of fun teasing my friend with the ‘will they won’t they’. It was only when I got bored that I invented this intense drama plotline to finish it all off. 

That period of time was a lot of fun. And whilst that friendship didn’t end well, I still have a lot to thank her for. She chose Daichi’s name because I had no idea, and she wanted to annoy me because I didn’t like Haikyuu. When I couldn’t decide on his hair colour, the purple was her suggestion because ‘why logic?’ Daichi speaking Korean was because of how much she liked Kpop. She even helped me choose the title of the actual fic, so there’s a lot you can thank her for, honestly. 

After I finished that story, though, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Whenever I daydreamed, I used to think about that damn Daichi Akabane, and how much I wanted to tell his story. I’d even come up with extra stuff to fill in a lot of the gaps, and developed his character in my mind. I decided that I was really desperate to write it down. Usually that worked when I had an idea I wanted to work through. 

I wrote the first chapter in late 2017, and then the next two as well. I just, kept going, and realised that I could go further still. TINSITOGS was never something that was supposed to be shared, but I decided I may as well. After all, that fated ‘teen pregnancy drama’ fic still didn’t exist, and I thought it would be funny to make it happen. 

Yes, as I’ve stated publicly a few times, TINSITOGS was a crack fic. If I wanted attention from it, it was infamy. We even joked about me cursing the fandom if it ever became the most popular fic (whoops?). What I wasn’t expecting was a bunch of people, in a fandom where at the time there were NO ongoing karmagisa fics and it was pretty dead, to really seem to enjoy it. It was enough to have me keep writing it, at least. I still don’t know at what point I actually started taking it seriously, but somehow I did, and the rest is history? 

The reception 

In my wildest dreams, I never thought that I would be the author of one of the most popular fics in the fandom. To this day, the amount of views TINSITOGS has is insanity to me. For the record, across all platforms it’s on today it has 238,000, which is literally a number I can’t even visualise anymore. Almost quarter of a MILLION. To this day on AO3, it’s the most viewed Ass Class fic that’s an ACTUAL ass class fic (the others are multi fandom compilations). So yeah, I achieved the original goal, I guess? 

Now you might be wondering, “omg the karmagisa fandom is fujoshi trash”. And, considering the origins, it is kind of funny. The thing is, though, TINSITOGS was written at incredibly good time. It was written when there were, essentially, very few long form Karma/Nagisa stories. If any other fics did get posted on occasion, they were usually just oneshots. I was also, at that point, writing very fast. A symptom of ADHD is becoming obsessively productive over certain things. Since I was able to get a 3k chapter out every few days/once a week, TINSITOGS was consistently bumped to the top of AO3′s default view. And some of those first few chapters were altered canon, and transcribing the canon dialogue didn’t take very long. The more views it got, the more people would read it out of sheer curiosity. 

I think it also helps that, at least after it started getting some positive feedback (which was honestly after the pre written chapters), I purposely tried to make it ‘not terrible’. I mean, I personally think the first chapter is pretty weak and if it wasn’t somewhat iconic to a lot of people I’d rewrite it. But in general, I purposely tried to make the world of ABO my own, to make it more accessible to those who don’t like that genre, and stay away from the inherently grosser stuff as much as possible. I genuinely do get comments about how I introduced people to the genre as a whole, still not sure if that’s a GOOD thing but hey, it happened. 

TINSITOGS turned into a lot more than just a joke. It turned into my favourite hobby. It turned into a research project (honestly, you would not believe the amount of mummy vlogs and legit scientific articles about child development I consumed). It turned into something that, at least I believe, was widely loved. 

Meaning 

I think it might be wrong to say that I don’t have AN idea of when I started to take the fic super seriously. For me, it was around the time someone commented something along the lines of saying my writing meant a lot to them, that they’d spent all night reading it and had been unable to put it down. 

Not to get too dark here, but I do have a past in writing a very long, somewhat popular fic (it’s still on my fanfic net profile if anyone’s interested, but I don’t recommend it). However, in the latter part of my teenage years, the depression struck. Writing was the love of my life, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it anymore. Maybe I’d be able to muster an idea or even a chapter at the best points of that, but I’d never completely finished any story. Starting to write again was a huge step in my recovery, and one of the reasons I convinced myself that life was worth it was being able to impact someone’s life somehow. Even to this day, I still remember the fics I read when I was, like, thirteen. How much I still remember them, and how much they meant to be at the time. I wanted to be that writer for someone else. To be honest, it was actually Yuri!!! On Ice that got me out of the super bad, but I still never wrote anything of real consequence. TINSITOGS was the first time in a long time I actually committed to something. 

And, to be completely honest, there were a lot of times I was tired of it, and wanted to just quit. But, the thing was, I felt like people depended on me in a way. I got so many comments that were just FILLED with support, telling me how much they looked forward to every update. It wasn’t just empty words, either, a lot of the times these comments would be super engaged with the actual writing. I can’t even describe just how much they meant to me, how much I would look forward to reading everyone’s opinions. And then discord happened, which was a lot of fun. 

TINSITOGS went a lot further than I ever thought it would. There were comments, discussions, fan art, fan FIC (which is honestly incredible to me). Someone even added it to TV Tropes, at one point. Not to mention the Cards Against Humanity deck and quiz It makes me so unbelievably happy that I could inspire that much creativity, but it’s a two way street. It was all of that which inspired me to write, too. 

Writing 

The only real goal I actually had was aiming for around 3000 words per chapter. I had a whole facebook log of plot points as planning, and I was mostly just trying to expand on them into prose. I honestly thought that, at its completion, the entire fic would be around 100k words, if that. Not, at one point, being literally the longest ass class fic on AO3. 

There are a lot of aspects that were directly adapted from the original messages, and I tried to stay faithful to it more so at first, even if I later removed some of the pure crack. But the style was also vaguely similar, with the story being told mostly from Nagisa’s perspective with swaps to Karma when it made sense. All the main plot beats, too, are pretty much identical. The plus to this was I was able to add a lot of really fun foreshadowing, and I feel like it’s a fun reread because of it. 

Honestly though, if there’s a demand to release those OG message logs, I will. Mostly because it’s kind of funny, and interesting to see. Isogai and Nagisa were engaged at one point, even. 

Obviously, it changed somewhat. 3000 was the minimum length, and the time to completion was whenever it felt right. One of my big concerns was about pacing, so it took a lot more fleshing out and maybe ‘filler’ content for some of the main arcs to work. 

There’s parts of TINSITOGS I don’t think aren’t written that well, and some that I’m still super proud of. I think you can definitely tell there’s a gradual shift in style, and I get a lot more comfortable with writing them as characters as it goes along. To be honest, my pride for the fic overall is what it represents. 

It is funny to think about the places it got written in, though. I started it when I worked at McDonalds with no life direction, then it went through my first year of university with me. It’s been written in at least four countries. Aeroplanes, night clubs, long haul buses, a train through the Japanese southern coastline. Even the start of covid. TINSITOGS managed to see a lot. I even turned a scene in (the boat scene during the India chapter with altered names) to my university as a legitimate assignment. 

There were also a few messages I wanted to achieve, once I realised I had the platform to put them across. One of them was, obviously, ‘use protection kids’. It was important to me that I didn’t glamorise it too much, and I think that came across. I also wanted to dispute some of the issues with ABO, and subvert the consent issues as much as I could. An arc I really ‘liked’ writing was how abuse doesn’t always look the same way, and that it can be a drawn out change in behaviour. How the most important part of ‘being a good parent’ isn’t perfection, but genuinely loving and doing the best you can for your kid. How love doesn’t solve everything, and effective communication can take a very long time to learn and build a functional relationship. I mean, there definitely was a lot I tried to put in, and you’re free to interpret it all how you want. But, I like to think some people learnt some of these things, at least. 

Daichi 

Honestly, Daichi developed almost of his own free will. I had a good idea of his appearance, and that he was smart. Writing him from birth until around nine years old (older if you read the sequel fic) pretty much allowed that fluidity. It was really fun to explore a nature vs nurture development, and let his own characteristics speak for themselves. 

He’ll always have a special place in my heart. 

This is the first image I ever made. When I was trying to figure out what Daichi looked like, I honestly just edited Karma’s hair (pretty well, actually? I’m impressed with my past skill). That’s where the ‘he looks just like Karma’ meme kind of came from. 

This was the first image I actually created of Daichi. I THINK it was on rinmaru games mega anime creator or something, but it’s literally not available on the internet anymore as far as I can tell, so I can’t double check. This was in the pre-piccrew days. His eyes are closed because they didn’t have the right tone of goldish/silver.  

His sister, Kaguya, didn’t even exist originally, even though I decided on that ending pretty early on. Actually, she was going to be called ‘Irina’ due to some hijinks. Initially, when Karma found out about Irina’s pregnancy, she was going to get super emotional and mad at him and basically force him to name his first born daughter after her. Karma agreed to shut her up, never intending to have another child, so when the surprise second child later came along they had to live with the pain. However, to be honest I just forgot to write in the actual scene that set it all up, and I decided against adding it anywhere else. The name Kaguya was a very last minute decision, and it was a chance for me to explore some ideas that didn’t fit with Daichi’s character. 

Interestingly too, Daichi and Nao were never intended to be a thing. I only decided that towards the VERY end. Even though the reason I named Nao that was because of a ship I had in a J Drama (Good Morning Call). It just kind of ended up happening because I won myself over with imagining the cute. 

The music 

I used to write with a lot of background music, though not all the time. Particularly towards the start, there was a lot that didn’t really make sense thematically, yet I would write to a lot. 

Here’s a link to the spotify playlist if you want it it’s basically all the ones I noted I’d listened to a lot. Not including the smut ones, though, I have a whole playlist for that. 

Some of the notable ones: 

Five String Serenade - the first scene I wrote of the entire fic, in Chapter 25 New Year Time where they fell asleep cuddling. 

Cosmic Love - when I wrote Nagisa’s love confession scene in hospital (I also wrote this pretty early on) 

Northern Downpour (though it was actually a cover by Emma Blackery) - The chapter after Daichi’s born (30) 

When The Party’s Over -  Confession Time Third Period, Chapter 69. I literally listened to this song on REPEAT when I planned and wrote the kind of ‘break up’ scene, and it’s one of the few parts that made me cry writing. 

Turning Page - I know I said no smut, but this song actually gave me the idea to have the “I love you” in chapter 108 be less on a whim and actually more built up. In the original plan, Karma really did just say it without thinking. I’m glad I changed that.  

Bury Me Low and Numb - pretty much all I listened to when writing the last few chapters, because Evil Nagisa core. So much so that Bury Me Low was in my top 2020 songs rewind. 

As for the title, there’s actually quite a funny story. I had no idea what to call the fic, and when that happens I usually just try and find some song lyrics. I really wanted to use something from ‘October’ by the Broken Bells. Not only because it’s my favourite song (has been for years), but thematically it really worked. The issue was, it worked as the WHOLE song, there were no individual lyrics that captured everything. And, if they did, they didn’t flow very well. And naming the fic ‘October’ would have been weird for a lot of reasons. There Is No Sweeter Innocence That Our Gentle Sin really was just plucked randomly, in a desperate search to find any snappy lyrics from any song that had some kind of meaning. After a bit of discussion, we settled that it kind of worked... if Daichi is innocent and they committed a sin or something. It also wasn’t the most obvious lyric from the song (Take Me To Church if anyone doesn’t know) so I just went with it. It works out, I think, because TINSITOGS turned out to be a pretty good acronym and pronounceable word in its own right. 

The merch  redbubble drama 

It’s a well known fact that I’m not very good at art. However, I decided to try pixel art because it seemed the easiest to not mess up. I made Karma and Nagisa, before deciding to also give Daichi a try. 

This, to this day, is the only good quality art of Daichi that I actually own. The only one I’m actually happy sharing and thinking it doesn’t look terrible. As much as I love people sending me fanart, it’s not ‘my property’, right. 

So, I was kind of joking about TINSITOGS having merchandise. At first I just made two funny quote things, and uploaded it to redbubble. I was never intending to actually make money from this, and I’d agreed to myself that if I did, I would just donate it to charity. I was joking with the quotes, but since I had this artwork I figured I may as well uploaded. Separately, there was also an image that had pixel Daichi next to pixel Nagisa and Karma (which I also created). 

Aside from showing up in a few people’s adverts across the internet, there was no real harm with this. In fact, I didn’t make money anyway. It was just... more the joke of it existing. I did, however, buy myself a Daichi phone case, which is one of my favourite possessions. 

The funny ‘drama’ comes in when they got taken down due to copywrite. Sure, the one with Nagisa and Karma, I understand. But the other three literally had no mention or anything to do with Assassination Classroom, aside from being from a fanfiction. So basically, someone who owns those rights claimed my OC as theirs. Which makes Daichi canon? Whatever the case, I found this hilarious don’t worry. 

How has TINSITOGS changed my life? 

This is quite a strange thing to think about. Because, in a lot of ways, it really hasn’t. As I’m sure a lot of people know, I don’t really consider myself to have any real ‘fame’, despite the impressive numbers. Whenever I tell people in my personal life, they seem to think I’m some sort of internet celebrity, but that’s never been the case for me. I mean, it’s hardly a cultural phenomenon. 

In a lot of ways, I’d much rather befriend someone than have them admire me. Possibly because being someone’s inspiration is kind of weird... I’m just an awkward duck who likes to write after all. I don’t mind it, though. I genuinely find it an honour, even if I don’t necessarily agree. I also want to take this time to say that if anyone ever wants to talk or message me, you’re more than free to do so. I’m usually super casual with people who do that, I promise. 

TINSITOGS was the first story I ever finished in the way I truly wanted to. Start to end, a full narrative. And it took a LOT. There were so many times I almost felt like quitting, or took super long breaks. For me, ADHD queen, actually finishing something was a huge deal. And I know I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t owe it to everyone who read it, and myself, to see it through. You know like, if I were to die tomorrow, at least I’ve left something behind. 

In a lot of ways, it’s changed me for the better. It’s helped me develop my writing styles, and way of thinking. It encouraged me to become more active in the fandom, and develop some important friendships. I always feel like my Tumblr and Fanfiction ‘known’ factor is separate. I think most of my Tumblr following is more to do with my theories/Japanese context research if anything, for example, but I know I wouldn’t be so interested in that if TINSITOGS hadn’t lead me to deeply examine character and really look into analysing source material for clues. I also think there’s just... a lot of myself in it. 

I was 17 years old, when I first came up with the idea. I finished the story when I was 20. Now, at the time of writing, I’m 21. That time has seen some pretty significant changes - just in general life facts and my own personal human development. For me at least, a lot of that was pretty turbulent, and TINSITOGS stands as a time capsule for that, in a way. 

I know I gained a lot of confidence, and it affirmed to me that writing is what I love. Telling stories and sharing them is what I love. 

Conclusion

Do I think TINSITOGS is an outstanding piece of writing, or the best fic ever? No. I really don’t. It’s strange to say because I definitely spent a lot of time on it, but it’s not like I put my full unbridled efforts into the story. I don’t fully plan, use a beta, or even read through on my own. And that’s okay - that’s not what I write fanfiction for. Fanfiction is my place to have fun with characters and stories I like, without the pressures of having to stand on my own complete originality. Yes, I’m fully confident that I can write at a “higher quality”, if I really wanted to. I’m also aware that some authors put their full effort into their fics, and that’s just as valid! 

It feels odd to say this about my own writing, but I honestly think there’s just something in this story. It might not be written in the best prose ever, and the premise might be kind of dumb for a lot of people. But, I think, there’s some part of this fic that managed to grab people. Somehow, at some point, many readers get captured into the emotions and so drawn in that ‘they just have to finish it now!’ Again, I’m not sure myself how I actually achieved that. Of course, that won’t apply to everyone, but I do feel there’s some truth in it. And it makes me happy, to have caused that. 

If TINSITOGS is your favourite fic, or if you genuinely think it’s the best story you’ve read, then thank you. I really appreciate your support, and I’m happy to have been a part of your life, I guess. I know how much fanfics can mean to a person, and that’s why I’m not going to take it down, or edit it at all. And it’s fine too, if you loved the fic for a while and moved on -i t happens. Whatever the case, I’m very honoured to have been able to occupy a moment of your life. Or if you find this fic in 10 years time, even, I still wholly appreciate you. 

This story was incredibly important to me, and thank you for reading if it was ever important to you too. 

You may ask, what now? Well, this is only intended to be a detailed look back for whoever’s interested, and it’s likely the only one I’ll actually do, a year after completion. Of course, if you ever want to ask me anything or just discuss the story, you’re honestly good to contact me in whatever way I have available. 

I’m still writing my ongoing stories, of course, despite taking a small break due to the university work load. I fully intend to complete the stories I’ve already started to tell, at least. After that... I’m not sure if I’ll still write fanfiction. Don’t panic, this isn’t a ‘I’m quitting writing’ thing. I may, however, have bled the Karmagisa genre a bit too dry at that point. Who knows? I am pretty interested in writing something original for once, so maybe that’ll work out. 

For now, at least, thank you to anyone who read this fic. To anyone who commented, liked, or interacted with me over it. To anyone who created or learnt from it. I’m really glad that I got to share this story with you all, and ultimately left some kind of mark, no matter how big or small. 

Happy birthday, TINSITOGS. I had a lot of fun writing you. 

[sasskarian]

First Line Meme

I was tagged by @asaara-writes. Thank you, my dearest! <3 

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

My Heart and I -

If there’s one thing about Evelyn Swann that the entire Commonwealth knows by now, it is her love of music. Silence does not mark Evelyn’s arrival anywhere— instead, the soft tones of Billie Holiday do, crooning about mountains moved for love. Or the sultry voice of Lady Day herself, Ella Fitzgerald, floating around her and the companions like a bubble of the past, dreaming on into the future. Heavy footsteps beat out a tempo contrasting Butcher Pete and his big old ‘knife’ and everywhere she goes, she trails ribbons of jazz and cheer.

Like Afterimages - 

The settlers call her a survivor. Sanctuary calls her a savior. Codsworth cries when she returns from the wastelands, dragging in another minute— heh— victory for the Minutemen, or another rescued synth she doesn’t tell anyone about. But Mama Murphy just calls her a ghost.

That’s what she is, after all. Just a two hundred year old ghost. Like a mirage, superimposed on the darkness, burned into immortality by nuclear fallout and tragedy. Evelyn is only sometimes here, those dark gray eyes a pair of rain clouds on the distant horizon, drifting on invisible fronts. The thunder is inside of her, too, a raging storm swirling in her chest, beating fists made of babies crying and gunshots rimmed in frost ringing out against her ribs.

The Thrill of Your Hand - 

Danse has been a soldier too long to be a deep sleeper.

That’s the first thing the Brotherhood trains you out of. The indoctrination comes later, because only a good soldier can be indoctrinated, and a good soldier has to wake up at the first hint of danger. So when he hears the first whimper from across the room, his eyes snap open.

Paladin’s Bubble - 

The Commonwealth is quiet tonight.

It’s not silent, by any stretch: Evie can hear the hounds in the distance, their mutated throats sending their boofs echoing through the streets of Boston even from a long distance, and somewhere— a mile or more— the whoop of a raiding party rises over the station’s lookout, too far away to do anything but pity the poor prey they’ve caught. Dogmeat grunts, his paws pushing against her armored thigh as he stretches. His ears are perked, though, so he’s just catching some rest while he can. Even the thwomp-and-hiss of her partner’s power armor is missing from the darkness, the red light of his scope the only thing highlighting his face in their little bubble of quiet.

After the Glitter Fades - 

“If there is a future to be had,” Fenris murmured, his lips hovering near Hawke’s, “I will walk into it gladly at your side.”

His gorgeous green eyes were fixed on hers and Hawke fumbled for a moment, a half-smile playing across her mouth as her fingers played with the crumbling stone behind her. Silly, but part of her almost wanted to believe him. With the smallest sound, Fenris leaned in, his gauntleted fingers sliding through her hair as he kissed her— it started out soft, a chaste brush of warm lips and warmer breath, but within a couple of heartbeats, it deepened into something that promised wildness and fire.

Glitter: Marginalia - (E)

She can’t remember what dragged her awake— only that it left a sour, desperate taste in her mouth like old coppers and the cheapest bottle of whatever would get her drunk enough to sleep.

Waking up with nightmares is nothing new. The Amell curse, as most of the Kirkwall film crews call it, has yet to hit Hawke directly, but it had taken her father (a stunt gone wrong) and her mother and uncle (an unlucky intruder)– had struck Carver, too. She and Garrett and Bethie are safe, so far, but it's only a matter of time until it circles back around. The curse is a generations-long predator, still and patient, and it will hunt them down one at a time if it has to  

Ah, Kirkwall, she thinks, some blend of annoyance and fondness and adrenaline mixing uneasily in her heart. You fuck with us again and again and still, here we are.

He Might Like That - 

“So. Let me get this straight.” Greef lifts his bad knee with a groan, settling it over his other leg so he can sprawl a little more indolently. Din’s HUD focuses in, shows the elevated temperature in the joint in a dark red, and he turns it off with a flicker of his eye. Greef lifts his glass again, takes a sip, and gestures with it before continuing. “You two. Not together?”

Where I Can’t Follow - 

The day Geralt of Rivia dies, he hears the whistle of the sword which almost kills him. There’s a series of tiny holes stamped along the spine of the blade, keeping weight down and adding a sinister shrill hiss through the air on each pass. The raiding party - if it can be dignified with such language - are nearly all armed with similar steel, with hunting horns, rattling chime-spangled shields, and bullroarer slings wailing and droning like an oncoming swarm of giant wasps. The effect is deafening, overpowering all efforts to coordinate the various companies on this mission.

Malicious Compliance - (M)

So this is how it feels to have a galaxy tremble at your feet.

Not just the galaxy, though— millions of lives shuddering under the weight of your boot on their necks cannot compare to the half-lidded gray-blue eyes drinking you in like you’re his salvation and damnation both. No, there is power in this, in these stolen moments with him, that rivals nothing else you’ve found anywhere among the stars.

He’s a brave man, your Captain.

Counting the Days (since Exegol) - 

“That’s good, Finn.”

Rey smiles, feeling the Force ebb and flow around Finn as he manages to lift himself a few inches off the ground-- along with the meditation mat, two glasses of water, and the plate of snacks they keep for anyone who comes to visit. Finn cracks an eye open, smiles back at her, and lands with a thump. For half a moment, she almost expects him to be disappointed that his training is progressing slowly: hyper-competency is a Stormtrooper trait he’ll never outgrow.

Star by Star - 

The galaxy looks different now.

It’s not just the cautious celebrations still happening, weeks later. And it’s not just the way people step back from her now, too much reverence in them for her comfort. It’s in the way she looks at the sky and sees the color of Luke’s eyes, and the gentle wind that feels so much like Leia’s hand, she cries. The way that Poe’s back straightens at the podium, broadcasting Republic news to everyone, and Finn’s hand clutching his under the table, their life forces bright and right in her senses.

Stardust and Memory (and a little bit of romance) - 

“Wow.”

Jaal chuckled against her ear, hands firmly on her waist; a good thing, probably, or she’d be on her face on the floor. “It is… a lot, I know.”

“No!” Sara protested, only wilting when Jaal tilted his head at her. “...okay, maybe a little. There’s just— a lot of them?”

Scars and Holes and Broken Things - 

Whispers follow him wherever he goes.

What’s left of the crew whispers in the halls, the mess, on the bridge, and conversations trail off when his ghost walks through, haunting the only place that's ever felt like home. Whatever they’re saying doesn’t matter, though—he doesn’t care. He’s too tired to care. He hasn’t slept more than his body demands in weeks. Tali’s immune system has already begun to destroy itself, and even though the Normandy is stocked with more dextro rations than it’s ever carried before—

Almost like Shepard knew. Always prepared, that’s my girl.

Heart of the Woods - (E)

You left the Templars, but do you trust mages? Can you think of me as anything more?

Less than a fortnight of sweet words, gentle touches, and stolen kisses are the only weapons she could levy against the trauma that shaped a man’s youth. And for a moment in time, Isera hoped.

Common Ground (isn’t so hard to find) - 

“Skkut! Ryder!”

“Sorry, Enroh— oh!” Sara tried to stop, bounced into a low bench, and crashed into a pile of bruised, groaning Pathfinder on the other side. At least this time, she remembered to shield her head as she skidded to rest against the wall. Lexi would be pleased. Another concussion would get her put back under the scanner and that just ruined everyone’s day. “...ow.”

A Language Reserved for Lovers - (M)

The first time you touch him, his skin flushes red; the first time he touches you back, he trembles. Interesting, since if there is a word to describe him, it is steadfast. But there is more beneath the easy surface, beneath the deadly grace and unflagging stamina. He is loyal, and good, and so fascinating under the burden of his name. But nineteen is a young age, even if you're only a little older, and he seemed so young at first, unsure and innocent— then he gave you that crooked little grin, and stole your heart with it.

Every Beautiful Thing - 

I would prefer to be Mary Shelley. She died a widow.

Despite a foolhardy counter, thrown in indifference and pride, Edith never really thought she would be a widow. Despite her foolish quip so many years ago, she is no Mary Shelley. And despite moderate success as an author and teller of stories, the only thing she and Shelley have in common is a belief in a world outside of the everyday, and widowhood.

Yesterdays - 

He’s always thought she was invincible.

Sure, Morrigan told them the truth of the Archdemon’s death, an account more grisly and heartbreaking than the one Riordan gave; just the sort of tale that might ensnare a young boy’s heart, give him delusions of grandeur, while an older man might look upon it with resignation. But the truth doesn’t sink in until now.

If You Ever did Believe - 

“There are people dying,” Isera repeated slowly, as if she could make her advisers understand what she'd seen. As if giving her memories voice might lift some of their weight in her heart. “We couldn’t even get to Redcliffe because of the fighting.”

Three days of being stuck on a horse, only to have to turn around after three skirmishes— their first mission to the Hinterlands had been a remarkable experiment in failure. Isera had learned her skills at the hands of the best of her clan, had fought alone for years, and yet the shock of tripping over Varric and accidentally hitting Cassandra with a ball of ice had made their first fight a near loss.

Some saviors, Varric had laughed afterward, staggering around like baby nugs.

Glitter: Velvet over Veridium - 

If anyone had ever accused Marian Hawke of being a reasonable adult human being, she might have laughed at them. No, she'd have pointed and then laughed at them. But under all her bluster, and all her immature jokes, her dirty one-liners and cheesy pick-up lines, there was an adult hidden in there somewhere.

Okay, maybe I put more than one opening line, but I have a thing for context, dammit! 

This got so long -- mobile users, I’m sorry omg. 

Forwarding the tag (no pressure as always!) to @mayihavethisdanse @athreehundredthirtythree @thebisexualmandalorian @natsora @loquaciousquark @valdomarx @theggning @cullywullycurlywurly @systlin and @third-rail-vip 

[buckymorelikefuckmebarnes]

Fortunate Pt. 10

Masterlist

a/n: its been forever so its totally cool if you hate this now but i have to finish my brain baby. also i lost my tag list so if you want on send me a message...

A few weeks in - A few weeks out

You and Clint had been dating for a few weeks and had spent almost every day of the first week together. But that had cooled down considerably this week. Several days had passed since your last date with Clint. He had texted you a few times but had a potential client from the west coast flying up with their daughter and had been busy with meetings off and on. You and Bucky were falling back into your old routines. He gave you a ride home from the shop on Monday and by Thursday the air around the two of you had completely cleared. You were kicking a bolt across the garage floor as you paced and texted Clint on your phone when Bucky came in carrying lunch. 

“Hey. Head out of the clouds Missy. I have food.” Bucky said with a grin spreading on his face.

He tossed a brown paper sack your way and you snagged it before it could hit the ground. “Oooh burgers and fries?” You said with a knowing look on your face.

“Yeah. And a milkshake you ungrateful gnome.” Bucky pulled the drink from behind his back. “Also, don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what Bunky?”

“Like you are in on some kind of secret.”

“Like the fact that this food is from Danvers, the restaurant your girl works at.”  You winked at him. “Did you get a special discount?”

“I told you a million times already. It’s not like that. Anna Marie is a friend. The date didn’t turn out the way I expected but she’s great either way. So yes I got a discount but no it's not for what you’re thinking.”

You unwrapped the burger and took a bite. “Mhhohmygod.” You moaned around the food as you chewed. “Mthisisofuckunggud.” 

Bucky blew his straw paper into your head. “Don’t talk and chew. It’s disgusting.”

You swallowed and stuck out your tongue . 

Five hours later you were holding on to Bucky as you wove through traffic to your apartment. He was going to drop you off, give you both time to change and then pick you up so you could meet with everyone for Nat and Steve’s engagement dinner. You had invited Clint but he was still entertaining his potential clients and promised to text you through the evening. 

Bucky held the bike's weight as you slipped your leg over the seat. “Thanks Blocky. See you in an hour?”

“Your nicknames are terrible but yes I’ll be back in 60.” He twisted the throttle and wove down the street to his own apartment.

You ran up the steps and unlocked the door. Your apartment was warm and inviting and you could hear the siren call of your bed. It took all of your strength to ignore it and get into the shower. You set a 15 minute alarm so that you wouldn’t lose track of time within the hot water. Your phone buzzed from it’s spot on the window sill next to the shower. You reached out and checked the notification bar.

Hey babe, I think I might land this deal. Got a few things to nail down but yeah. What are you up to?

Oooh… so I'm babe now? I'm getting ready for dinner.

Too soon? Whoops? Bucky giving you a ride? 

Nah BABE youre fine. Yeah Bucks taking me

You wash your body, careful to keep the soap out of your hair and eyes. When you are clean and smelling like your vanilla soap you get out of the shower and start getting ready. You are going to a very fancy restaurant, a place that would require you to dress up but you weren’t about to put on a dress just for it to wrinkle on the back of Bucky’s bike. You opted for a pair of black slacks and a satin navy blue dress shirt that complemented your skin in the best possible way.

You were slipping your heels into your purse as Bucky knocked on your door.

“Just a minute, I’m putting on my boots!” You yell from the couch in the living room.

The door opens and Bucky is standing next to the couch before you get the zipper pulled up on your second boot. He looks… good. You check him out from toes to head. He was in fitted dress pants and a black dress shirt with a dark blue tie. His hair was pulled back into a loose bun at the base of his neck. His Blue eyes sparkled with excitement and his smile was breathtaking. 

“You are the perfect woman, you know that?” He asked as he helped you stand and took in your outfit. “Did you bring your heels with you or are you going to stay in these shit kickers all night?” He pressed, kicking you boot softly with the tip of his.

You patted the purse on your shoulder that was bigger than you normally carried due to the cargo inside. “All packed up and safe right here.”

“Awesome. Lets go.”

You walk in and Steve and Nat are practically sitting on each other's lap, You walk up and make a gagging noise that gets their attention. “You guys are so cute, it makes me sick.”

“Thanks.” Nat replied, scrunching her nose and eyes up as she smiled. Steve popped up to give you and Bucky a hug over the table. Nat followed suit. 

“I’m glad you made it. Where is Clint? I was excited to give him the intentions speech.” Steve said with a gravelly chuckle.

“He’s with a client. Has been most of the week. Apparently it's a huge opportunity for him. If he lands an instructor gig with Mr. Stark he should be able to open his own gym.”

“Wow, sounds exciting.” Sam’s voice startled you as his hand came down on the back of Bucky’s chair.

A cheer of “Sam” came from all around the table as everyone was excited to see he was able to make it. 

“I’m happy for you, man. You got your girl.” He said kissing the top of Natasha’s head but his eyes flitted to Bucky long enough to make you question what he meant by his words. “So… How’s engaged life treating you?” He asked as he shuffled around Steve to the open seat next to Bucky.

“Good man, We’ve been looking at venues and doing all that planning stuff.” Steve replied with a huge grin.

“Which brings me to my first bullet on the wedding checklist.” Nat interjected. She grabs both of your hands and pulls you closer. “Will you be my maid of honor?”

“You let out a little squeal and nodded. “Of course Nat! I’d be honored!” 

“I don't want to put either of you on the spot about the best man thing and make the other one feel like I love them less so you guys can arm wrestle for it or something…” Steve trails off. Bucky’s mouth popped open in shock and Sam let out a little huff. 

“You’re kidding right?” Bucky asks. “We’ve been friends since forever!”

“Yes but only because I knew you’d freak out enough to ease the heart breaks for Sam. Sorry bud. It’s gotta be Buck.” He said turning to Sam. “I’d still be honored if you would be my other groomsman.” 

Sam smiled and hugged Steve. “Duh, man. But that means Buck has to plan your Stag night.” He said, making a face of disgust.

Everyone laughed and the night continued on with smiles and stories from everyone at the table.

By 10 pm you were totally exhausted and ready to hit the hay. Bucky turned to you with a sad smile, “Time to head home, Sugar?” You nod.

“Alright guys, me and little bit here have to get going. Work in the morning.” You give your friends a hug and put cash for you and Bucky’s dinner in the little black book that the server had dropped off.

When you got out to the bike you sat and waited on Bucky to exit the restaurant. 

“You think you’re pretty slick, huh?” Bucky asked, sliding on his jacket and throwing his leg over the bike.

“Huh?” You ask, kind of tired and kind of confused.

“I went to pay the check and it was gone.”

“Oh yeah. Well you got lunch and gave me a ride… I picked up dinner. It’s fair” You replied sliding in behind him and wrapping your arms tight around his waist. You could almost feel him roll his eyes before he turned his torso to look at you. Whatever he had planned to say died on his lips when his eyes met yours. 

“Fine. Lets just say it's payback for drooling on your favorite shirt during movie night.”  

Instead of continuing to argue he just shook his head and turned back to kick the bike to life.

You hopped off of the bike and hugged Bucky tight. “Night Buck. See you in the morning.”

“Night doll.” 

You skipped up to your apartment and promptly fell asleep in all of your clothes.

The next morning you work up to a text from Bucky and two from Clint. Bucky’s was the usual safe message he sent any time he dropped you off, he knows you worry about him but also doesn’t expect a reply. You open Clint’s next. 

Good morning beautiful. 

I have good news call me when you wake up.

His dinner must have gone well but you weren’t sure what the urgency could be about.

You quickly brushed your teeth and washed your face before dialing his number. It only rang twice before he picked up. He was panting and you could hear the sounds of people training in the background. 

“Hey babe. How was dinner?” he said, you could hear the smile in his voice.

“Pretty great. Had a lot of fun. Looks like I get to be Nat’s Maid of Honor which is really exciting.”

“That is amazing! Well, Do you have lunch plans today?” He asked, “I guess I could have just texted you that. “ 

You giggle at him over the line and assure him that you are free for him to pick you up at noon.

When you get to the shop the strong smell of coffee and motor oil hits you and you can't help but think about how much you love your job. Peter pops up from behind his desk. “Morning. There is coffee on the counter and Bucky just ran to grab doughnuts.”

“Thanks Peter. Anything new in today?” 

“Not for a few hours. Mrs. Sledge is due in around 1230 for an oil change and tire rotation.”

“Cool.” You make your way through the reception area and into the garage. The radio was already on and playing classic rock from the speakers as you set yourself up to reorganize you and Bucky’s tool boxes. 

You rolled your chair over to your box first. It wasn’t too messy and you felt a bit of pride in actually being able to keep it halfway decent looking. You wiped off all of your wrenches and put them in order before turning to Bucky’s box. The tall, silver, rolling cabinet was covered in greasy handprints and stickers and you shuddered. You opened the bottom drawer to find little to be upset over. His screwdrivers were all clean and orderly. All the drawers that followed were the same, which was odd. Bucky was very neat at home but his toolbox was usually always some form of disorganized. When you popped open the top drawer you couldn’t help but smile. Pinned to the corner of the lid was a picture of the three of you at prom. You laughed at the three kids playing dress up. 

The bell above the door let out a high pitched ding and you carefully shut his toolbox. 

“Hey Peter. One chocolate glazed sprinkle doughnut. Is she in already?”

“Yes she is.” You say as you lean against the door jam.

“Oh hey. So I got us some breakfast,”he said opening the box in front of you, “I got your favorite.” 

You grab the doughnut and bite off half of it, “Fanks.” You say around the half chewed bread.

“Gross.” Peter said, leaning away a bit. His crush must be wearing off, you thought idley to yourself. 

You start walking back into the shop and Bucky follows, leaving the almost full box on Peter’s desk. “So apparently we don’t have anything planned until after lunch. I was going to clean up the boxes but that’s already done so… what do you want to work on?”

“Let’s do inventory for a bit. I’m sure there is something that needs ordered or replaced.” 

And so you did, actually you worked on inventory between singing off key and showing Peter how to order from your supplier. At around 1130 Bucky leaned back in his stool and yelled to the front desk. He wanted to know if Peter wanted anything for lunch. He kindly declined saying something about lunch with his friends.  Bucky turned and asked you the same thing. It was at that point you realized you had forgotten to tell him that you had plans with Clint. You let him in on the plan and he blew a strand of hair from his face and stood up. 

“Cool. I’ll start Mrs. Sledge’s car without you then.” He looked a little irritated. “Bet I finish it before you get back too. But first, I'm gonna get lunch. Text me if anything comes in.”

You stared after him for a few minutes, totally confused. You finished with the last of the fluids inventory about twenty minutes later and washed up in the shop's bathroom, Bucky wouldn’t be back until you were gone which would leave Peter alone in the shop for half an hour. You hoped nothing would come up in that time.

You quickly ran the brush you kept stashed in your tool box through your hair and threw on a coat of mascara and eyeliner before Clint showed up. 

The bell chimed above the door and you ran to the office area. Clint was standing in the door with a bouquet of bright flowers. 

“Hey babe.” He said kissing your cheek. 

“Hey. Are these for me? They are really pretty.” You reply as he hands you the flowers.

“Yeah. You might want to get them in some water. The yellow ones wilt really fast.”

“Already on it!” Peter called from the supply closet. 

“Thanks Pete!” You yelled over your shoulder.

“So what’s for lunch?” You ask as Clint wraps his arm around your shoulders.

“You’ll see.” He replied with a mischievous smile. 

You were stretched out on a picnic blanket in the shade of a big oak. A sweet smelling fall breeze blew through your hair and Clint tucked a stray strand behind your ear. It was sad and wistful and beautiful.

“So it’s only for a few weeks. A month at most.” Clint had planned a lovely lunch and had listened to you gush about the engagement dinner before he dropped the bomb. He had landed the deal but he had to go to the west coast for the job to work out. Apparently Mr. Stark is adamant about having Clint show his daughter how to use a bow and is willing to pay good money for his services. Still, you were sad to see him leave for any length of time.

“When do you leave?” You asked, not masking the sadness in your voice.

“Monday morning. I have an 8am flight.” Clint kissed the side of your mouth where your lips had curved down into a pout. “It'll be fine. A few weeks and then I’m back here with you and we can see where this new adventure takes us.”

 Clint walks you back to the shop with your hands tangled together. When you get to the door he leans in and leaves a soft kiss on your lips. “I'm gonna be to your place at six Sunday and we are going to go on one hell of a date, okay?” He asks, trying to make you smile before he leaves. You nod quickly and try to hold back any sadness left in your voice

“Sounds great.” He leans in and steals one more kiss before you push through the door of the shop.

Bucky stood up as you made a beeline for the bathroom. “You okay, doll?” he asked through the locked door. 

“Yeah.” You called back, your voice cracking slightly.

“Sounds like you’re upset. Wanna talk about it?”

You wipe your face off and take a long look in the mirror before answering. So what if the first boyfriend you have had in ages is leaving for weeks? You have a job and good friends and he’ll be back before you know it. You open the bathroom door and Bucky stumbles a little. He had obviously been leaning on the wood before you yanked it open. 

“I’m fine, Bucky. Really.” You smile at him and he visibly relaxes. “Did you finish Mrs. Sledge's car yet?” 

Saturday at the shop was, well, a regular Saturday if you were being honest. Bucky had gotten in early so he could leave in time to get to Sam’s for poker night and you had zero plans even though your boyfriend would be headed across the country in less than two days. You hadn’t said anything to your friends yet, focusing mostly on your feelings without outside input. Plus they would all know soon enough, Clint would be sure to tell the guys since he was headed to Sam’s as soon as he got off as well. You moved around the garage aimlessly picking up tools and wiping of counters as you went.

“Hey. You okay? You seem a little out of it.” Peter called from around the reception area’s wall. 

“I’m fine. Ready to get today over with.” You replied with a shrug. You had just finished with the last car on your list and the owner wouldn’t be back for another hour so you were left with some idle time. Idle time was the last thing you wanted though. You were going through your mental checklist of everything you needed to do before you closed up shop when the bell above the door rang and the reception area was filled with young voices. You walked to the door way and saw Peter’s friend, Ned and a new girl with curly brown hair and a fuck off attitude. You looked over at Peter who seemed to have frozen with his fingers glued to the keyboard.

You kicked the wall and he snapped out of his daze. “Hey Ned. Hey Michelle. Wha- What are you doing here?” He asked as he worked to smooth down his hair. 

“I was bored after class and Ned said we should come bother you.” Michelle said, almost sounding sleepy. 

“I did no- OW!” Ned started to talk but Michelle kicked him in the ankle. You tried to cover your laugh with a cough.

“Oh, yeah. This is Michelle,” Peter said turning to you.

“Hey.” You uncrossed your arms long enough to wave before tucking it back against your body. “Well, I’ll let you get back to whatever this is. When is Kevin due back for his car?”

“Um…” Peter pulled up the calendar on his computer, “In about 40 minutes.” 

“Okay. If you can get his paperwork done and your desk ready you can head out early if you want. I don’t mind closing shop.” You said walking back to your work area.

“Everything is on my desk. Thanks for covering for me.” Peter said about ten minutes late while you were checking that all of the bolts were tightened.

“No problem Peter.” You replied without looking up at him. “Hey wait… Just before you go” 

Peter’s sneakers squeaked against the shop floor, “Yeah?”

“Michelle. I can tell you like her. You should definitely make a move before someone snatches her up.”

“Wha- Me and MJ? We’re just friends. Been friends since high school. Tha- That’s all.” Peter stumbled through the excuse and your heart ached a little for him.

“Look kid. She likes you too. Take the chance.” You said with a sad smile.

“Thanks. I think I might. And you know what, The crazy thing is… Mr. Barnes said the same thing to me the other day.” Peter said before he took off for the office.

Nat called you some time into your third glass of whiskey and second episode of some cooking show that hates its contestants to yell at you.

“Why the fuck didn’t you say Clint was leaving?” You had to pull the phone away from your ear as she yelled.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? He’s the first guy that you’ve gone out with more than once since I’ve met you and he’s leaving. How is that ‘not a big deal’?”

“It’s only for a few weeks, maybe a month. I’ll survive.”

“Me and Wanda are already on our way to your place.”

“Nat. No. Just stay at home. I’ll be okay. I’m getting ready to head to bed anyways.”

“When’s he leaving?”

“Huh?” 

“When is Clint leaving?”

“He’s got a flight out Monday morning. We are going out tomorrow.”

“Fine. Me and Wanda will be over first thing.” She obviously couldn’t tell how irritated you were getting with the whole conversation.

“Why?” You appreciate her concern but you were really fine. You pinched the bridge of your nose.

“Well, one because we are your friends and we care about you and two so we can have a girls day and get you ready for your date.”

“Jesus. We aren’t getting ready for prom, Nat.”

“I know but we want to go out anyway so breakfast, nails, and shopping. Deal?” Wanda Chimed in from the background. You hadn’t realized that you were on speaker phone.

“Fine guys. But I’m really okay.”

“We’ll see you at 11. Love ya” With that Nat hung up on you.

Your friends were really annoying sometimes. You cleaned up your living room table and washed the dishes before crawling in to bed, apparently you had a big day tomorrow.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Weird “Empty Eyes”

So, someone recently asked for this, It has more to do with the overall story-line than the humans are Weird tag, It’s mostly for background context from Vir’s Mother’s perspective because I want you to understand something important if you are interested in the overall story-line. 

So, feel free to ask questions and request prompts or Ideas. 

Light streamed in through the open window and past the gently rocking gauzy curtains. Martha Vir stood at the sink absently washing dishes and watching the sunlight glitter across the wet grass of her front yard. It smelled like summer.

The screen door at the front of the house opened, and then crashed closed almost violently making her jump and spill soapy dishwater all down her front. “Shoot.” She muttered drying her hands and turning her head towards the door, “Adam?” She wondered, but all she saw was a discarded backpack by the door.

She set the dishrag down on the counter and moved back into the house peering past the doorframe and into the last room on the left.

The small, skinny, blond boy wearing tan shorts and a black T-shirt lay flat on his bed face in his arms. His oversized sneakers hung over the side of the bed. His shoulders shook softly.

Inside she felt a twinge of anger knowing what this might be about, but she kept her composure and sat down next to him resting a hand on his back, “Adam, sweetheart what’s wrong.” He didn’t answer immediately, but he never did, so she waited. Adam never liked showing emotion in front of anyone, so it would take him a minute to calm down enough for him to speak. She looked around the room, at the Star-Wars, Star Trek, Alien, Predator, Battle LA, Interstellar, and a multitude of other posters new and VERY old covering the walls. A big white telescope pointed out the window, and a big-headed stuffed little green alien sat slumped on the bed.

Eventually a mumbled voice.

“What was that?”

The boy sat up angrily chest heaving with the occasional after-sob. He turned his head away quickly, but his big-green eyes were wide with tears. “I-I don’t w-want to g….go to school a-anymore.”

“Those other kids being mean to you again.”

A slight nod, “They s-said I’m stupid b-because aliens aren’t real. I t-tried to explain how b-big the universe is and s-so their m-must be aliens but, but they just wouldn’t listen,”

Martha shrugged, “So, Guess this just means you’ll have to prove them wrong.”

***

“If I start taking classes early, and then graduate, I can have my Bachelors in Aviation. Plus Staff Sergeant Jackson said that if I join the ROTC program, the army will PAY for everting, and I might be able to get my pilot’s license.” The lanky teen bounced on the balls of his feet scruffy blond hair bouncing with him, she very much wished he would cut it. The way he had it now made him look like a boy band reject. “And then if I become a fighter pilot, they’ll have to let me into the Space Corpse.”

Across the room Thomas snorted from where he sat watching TV, “Good luck with that little bro. You gotta pass a PT test to join the army, and you get blown over in a strong wind.”

A loud SMACK, and Thomas yelped, “Shut up, Adam can do whatever he wants.” David grinned at him from across the room, “Go for it kid, you’ll do great.”

Martha Smiled David and turned to Adam again, “David’s right Adam, we believe in you, and if this is what you really want than we have no doubt you can do it.” She glanced at her second youngest son, “Even Thomas.”

***

“I Adam Allen Vir having been appointed a Lieutenant in the United Nations Space Corpse, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend planet Earth against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter.”

Martha Vir felt her eyes fill with tears, which she wiped quickly on her sleeve. Her boy stood tall in his sharp black uniform, white gloves, belt and cap. When had he gotten so big! About 6. 2 and 180 pounds he had really come into his own, and that serious face. She watched as the other young men and women took the oath as well before the ceremony broke, and she watched that same characteristic smile split the young man’s face. He waded through the crowd pulling off his cap and hugging her as she hugged him back.

Tears in her eyes she straightened out his uniform as his father and brothers swarmed them clapping him on the back.

“I’m proud of you.” she whispered quietly

***

She thought she was going to be sick watching as the jet roared over the staging ground one taking right the other veering left, and the last one tipping into a stomach churning vertical climb spinning upside down and then plunging towards the ground with a distant roar She covered her eyes.

I’ll be in that middle one.

At her side, her husband cheered with all the strength he had in his lugs, clapping and whooping like a madman as if their son wasn’t piloting that 30 million dollar flying metal death trap. Her daughter and her oldest son stood close by keeping her granddaughter, Kimber, entertained in the hot afternoon sun.

 She was relieved standing on the tarmac watching as the fighter-jets powered down, and their occupants stepped down from the cockpits. Adam came down the ladder wearing his jumpsuit, oxygen mask hanging off to the side under his helmet. Upon seeing them, he came jogging up pulling off his helmet to hang under his arm.

“Seven Gs!” He chimed enthusiastically, “Better than any rollercoaster ever.” He was grinning in that way he did only when super excited about something, and why shouldn’t he be?

She put a hand to her head, “Don’t sound so excited about being close to death, Adam, it worries me.”

He laughed walked over and hugged her, “Sorry mom…. but…. I didn’t just call you here to see my fly.”

Jeremy stepped forward, still holding Kimber, “Yeah, woo wanted us to see the Enterprise launch.”

“Well yeah….. I, because I got onto the crew. I’m going with them.”

And she had to watch him go….. Knowing that he might never come back, but she kept quiet. If he did vanish, he would do so doing what he always wanted.

***

She still remembered the day she got the call, before the news outlets, before the neighbors, after the government. It was full of static, barely audible, but she would have known her son’s voice anywhere. “Mom-we-found-them! I-found-them…..”

She felt her body go cold and warm and then just shock.

He actually did it. They actually did it.

***

She got updates from him regularly, from all across the universe. It felt surreal, but then the pictures started showing up. The crew of the Enterprise standing on an alien planet taking selfies with….. with CREATURES, Adam always in the middle with a thumbs up for her and a big grin.

***

And then a video call. A video chat of her boy sitting there wide green eyes staring solemnly into the camera.

“The Galactic Assembly has asked Earth to offer some assistance with an upcoming conflict. The Drev made contact about the same time we did, but they are warlike, they are dangerous, and they could potentially bring the Galactic Assembly to its knees, if we don’t help…. There’s nothing else to do. “He shifted nervously in his seat, “We are heading out tomorrow….. I really don’t want any of you to worry, but, the ash clouds will be too dangerous for our jets, so they are putting me in with the infantry. The captain said my unit would probably be well back from the main fighting, so, it should be ok…. I love you guys, stay safe.”

And then they lost contact. She kept her eyes closely on the news looking for any clue as to the infantry divisions and the positions watching as the red dots changed weak by weak, and then watching as her son’s position was supposedly overrun.

She remembered talk of the Steel-eye division, but still no contact.

She remembered when they won, and she remembered when they received the call, to pick up their son because he was coming home.

***

She remembered watching him limp from the terminal doors on crutches….. and a metal rod instead of a leg. Her heart had frozen. She looked into his face and saw the emptiness in his wide green eyes. The wonder, the joy, the fun snuffed out like a candle. All she saw was emptiness, and pain. He had been hurt, betrayed by the one thing he had most loved.

She had never understood what hatred was.

They had cried together that first night, and for the first time in almost a year she held him in her arms, and then…. Nothing. He wouldn’t let her touch him, he wouldn’t talk, he lost weight, and he gave up on living trapped in a continual state of fear, paranoia and emotionless apathy.

She had never understood hate, until she knelt outside his door , tearstained, desperate hoping and begging that he would be alive come morning. Pleading that he would just unlock the door, just let them in.

She had never understood hate until she watched him struggle from the hole those alien bastards had put him in dragged from his misery by a real good girl, an angel with four legs. She watched the spark come back, watched him smile for the first time in months, watched him gain back the weight, watch him run for the first time on the shiny new prosthetic, and she had cried when he made his decision to return to the stars.

And despite all his recovery, his promotion, the christening of his own starship, and his first voyage as captain, she never totally forgot the hatred that she felt on that day, let it burrow inside her and fester.

When he brought home the little Doctor alien, Krill, she had been so relieved. Finally someone sensible, logical, with enough fear to keep her son in check, someone who might be able to take care of him. An alien friend that was safe, that would make him smile.

***

And so she sat, harboring that hatred from so long ago as she stared out the open back door and into the night. Watching as that THING sat with her son. The thing that called itself Sunny, a cute happy little name like it wasn’t a war machine, the killer that had stolen her boy from her, stolen pieces of him.

The creature lay on her back gazing at the stars as her boy walked up nudging her arm with a foot Krill trailing behind in a warm June night, “Come on, Sunny, make some room. Least you can do is give me a pillow for an hour.”

She felt her blood go cold as the creature moved an arm, and her boy made himself comfortable in the cook of its arm. The same arm that had caused him so much pain not so many years ago, her like she was a pillow.

“See that Sunny, Pretty sure your planet’s in that system if I have my astronomy correct.” The creature hummed as if in pleasure.

A soft set of footsteps behind her, arms around her, and the soft voice of her husband, a man who never spoke, “You need to let it go. Can’t you see what you’ll do to him if you don’t?”

The empty green eyes stared into her soul from the past.

“I don’t know how.”

[hoopdiddies]

I'm Not Over You // Ben Hardy x Reader (Part 8)

A/N: Ayoooo. Hey guys, here's part 8 and I'm so sorry if the previous chapters kind of frustrated you. I didn't really mean for it to but I hope you enjoy this one. I'll be posting 9 tomorrow or the day atfter. Thanks again for your feedbacks, y'all motivate me a lot ^^ ♥ (My Wi-Fi has prejudice against tumblr rn)

Summary: You had always loved Ben ever since you two met in university and became the best of friends. That feeling went out like a candle flame when the two of you parted ways until he re-entered your life...but this time with someone who has already occupied his heart.

Warnings: Angst, bois. ANGST (I cried like a sucker during one part I wrote 😔) mention of blood, yet again drinking, some speckles of fluff, and unnecessary dialogue if you look closely enough :^ I feel like a terrible writer today

WC: 4k I think?

Tags: As always my taglist is always open uwu

@haendel-me-with-care

@mrsdoradominguez-barnes

@mickmoon

@lakef

@mrsmazzello

@valeriecarolinaw

@queen-turtle-boiii

@hardzzellos

"You look...beautiful." Ben's comment is indeed one thing to start the night. It's not like he's never told you that before–it's just the tone in which he has said it in is...different. A foreign tone never been released from his lips until you. You look up at him through your lashes, giving him a slanted smile accompanied by a bubbly chuckle. "Thanks. You smell nice too."

The corner of his eyes crinkle as his curving lips push them up. As expected, Rosy chimes in between you and Ben almost too quickly, the blurry speed in which she has arrived in making you gasp. "Excuse me, babe. You got interviewers on your tail and I- oh," her brows shoot up upon seeing you, seemingly haughty eyes flicking up and down your outfit in mild contempt.

"Surprised to see you here as well." The smile plastered on her face couldn't be any more forced than it is.

Girl, chill. Anti-aging soaps are not easy to manufacture these days. You begin holding your breath to prevent yourself from bursting into a fit from hearing that thought ring in your head. You shrug, garnering the guts to shift on your heightened stance and lean in an inch close.

"You're not the only one with a celebrity date."

You turn around too early to gauge her reaction, finally exhaling from holding your breath too long. You can finally conclude that she's had an effortless transition from being benign to far from being benign. The smoothest one-eighty you've ever witnessed. You remember her clearly being downright considerate of you the first time you met her yet now is a whole different story. You wonder if she was actually ever considerate.

As the boys and Lucy indulge in brief interviews, you stand behind the scenes and get the first-class chance of conversing with Brian. He's readily the coolest person in the house right now, bantering with you every once in three, fascinating topics. How fortunate are you to be in the spot a million Queen fans would die for but of course, you don't want to leave out Roger who - by a landslide - makes you wish you could wheeze and snort all you want if you weren't in a luxury event such as the Oscars. He seemed intimidating for you at first but as he joined in your talk with Brian, things escalated real quickly.

With the pre-ceremony interviews and the clinking of champagne glasses dampening, you begin hunting for your seats in the theatre.

Before you know it, you are informed that only a specific line of people are given exclusivity for the seats. And it shocks you that Joe, Allen, Ben and Gwilym are not given that card when in fact they were part of the very film that brought forth a new generation of fans.You shake your head disappointingly albeit contented that Rami, Lucy, Brian and Roger and their wives are part of the exclusivity.

Utterly determined to know the results - by Joe's 'sovereign' vote - the rest of you hang around in the waiting area, focusing on the ceremony rights shown on TV. Quietly sitting through the results, you all whoop and applaud at the mention of Bohemian Rhapsody obtaining three awards straight– your cheers amping up a notch as Rami brings home the 'Best Actor' award. Joe begins filming your reactions for Instagram, zooming into Gwilym, Ben and Allen's faces for most of the video. You throw your head back in laughter at how goofy the boys look; a bunch of men in their 30's bouncing up and down with one of them documenting the entire episode. At one point, Gwilym yanks as you in for a group hug, mercilessly crushing you in between their muscles– the disorienting experience now being something you wish you would never undergo again.

As Rami's thank you speech unfolds, you pay attention closely. The sentimentality of him lovingly thanking Lucy for being his anchor after dedicating his award to Freddie Mercury is just overwhelming and you wish you could tear up but your mascara would be waste. You're certain that made Brian and Roger emotional as well.

An hour after the ceremony, you all head down to the Vanity Fair after party in the same limo you had arrived in with every single person in the group eager to get the night progressing. Regardless of saying that these type of parties are not up to your speed, you try to get along with the evening and revel in what you know would be your last night with them. Sadly enough, Roger and Brian had to skip out on this with rough schedules on their hands. The moment they walked out of the place, they spent nearly half an hour congratulating the boys and having other celebrities congratulate them.

As you are seated across Ben and Rosy, you can't help but notice him acting a little distant from her. She's all nuzzled up against his arm and he is nowhere close to returning the favor. He's just...lost in thought, staring out the tinted window. It's still early to assume that in all the hours you were within a close range to them, Ben only ever acted aloof, giving her attention when the situation required it.

Perhaps a lover's tiff took place?

"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing too." Mimicking your position, Joe calling you back to Earth makes you gasp a little. You close your eyes and look at your fingers blankly after recovering, sighing. "I think we should end all this pretending. It was simply a cop-out in the first place."

"I know," he whispers audibly enough for only you to hear, running his fingers through his fiery, red hair, "you should probably come clean soon enough before you leave."

And that you will. At least, you'll try.

In your defense, you thought the after party would host a fancy banquet but seated around with celebratory drinks -considerable with something classy - and attendees breaking down on the dance floor is a rather okay scene as well. As long as you don't end up like the night you were invited out for a drink with your colleagues, you should be fine for the most part.

The boys and Lucy have fully immersed themselves in the beat of the music while you've decided to remain stationary with one glass of wine, the only glass you'll be having for the rest of the party.

The entire time you gawk at them amusingly as they break out their dance moves, your eyes always find their way to Ben, who makes you snort painfully from all his antics as he moves along with Joe. They're a mess with their ties and buttons undone from all the movement and the sight inspires you to stay put.

But oh dear lord, can Ben dance like an uncle.

Keeping your attention on them, a descending weight sinks down next to you. You pay no mind to whoever it is but do as her voice interrupts your thoughts. "I hope your eye is on the right person, honey." You click your tongue in exasperation, turning your body towards Rosy and her developing, bitchy tendencies, scoffing as you place your drink down to set things straight with her. "First of all, what did I ever do to you to deserve this kind of talk?"

She smacks her lips together at you, simpering. "You didn't think I'd notice?"

"What are you talking about?"

Her almond eyes narrow as if she's trying pin you down with a warning. "Please, don't act like I never noticed. You're overstepping that boundary between you and your best friend- my fiance." Okay, so she's noticed. But your neutralized expression is not going to be giving away anything.

You incline your head to one side in hopes that the facade you're pulling would decompress her suspicion. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Ben is like my brother. "

Grabbing her drink from the table, she sighs and stands up, hands firm on her hips and face silhouetted under the beaming light nevertheless giving you a transpiercing glower in the manner of seeing through the makeshift barrier you've pulled up. "He better be. Try backing off every once in a while when I'm around."

To your dismay, you snap inside, whipping your head up at her and replying sharply to make the message crystal clear. "Rosy, you have no idea." Unable to withstand the atmosphere you're in, you put great emphasis on your words and snatch your drink, walking out to the mini garden to finish what's left of your wine without having to bear being around her.

The question is unadulterated and obvious– bold and italicized if you wish to give it a stretch and clarify it.

Why is Ben still with her?

Is he that clueless not to realize it?

You don't want to pry the answer out yourself but ruminating on it, Rosy pulling off a full one-eighty only when Ben's at an appropriate distance for her to squeeze you between her fingers is just about good as a reason as anything. Your unwavering feelings for Ben are clearly perceived by her– from the way you had reacted the day he introduced you both to each other to not so long ago.

You wonder if Ben ever took heed of her growing attitude towards you.

Finishing your wine in one, immediate, swig, you place it down on the marble surface before you with your fingers cradling the stem of the glass– relishing the spicy liquid flushing down your throat.

At the extent of overexerting themselves, Joe and Gwilym flop down back on their seats like jelly, tuckered out from the unconventional combination of alcohol and unsteady movement. Panting like a dog who had just participated in a marathon, Joe shrugs out of his blazer and tosses it over his shoulder, silently wishing the ice in the bucket that held the bottle of wine would save him from the grinding heat of the wine he had just about five minutes ago.

"Mate, you're deep in the heat." Gwilym comments as it is followed by a gentle laugh on how Joe's glistening in sweat under the dimming lights. He hands him a partially bland look before wiping his forehead with his handkerchief. Lucy and Rami are situated at other end of the place enjoying a chat with another party of people meanwhile Ben and Rosy are nowhere near any of them. Until, of course, they reappear from God knows where and Ben suddenly asks Joe where you've gone.

"I-I don't know." He says after a hefty sigh. Somewhat eager to find you, Ben begins excusing himself from Rosy whom which he has spiked a bitter reaction from for sharing his supposed time for her with you. Fed up and jealous in the slightest, Rosy snaps at him.

"Okay Ben, why do you always have to skip in between minutes to hang out with her even when we're together?"

He pauses from turning around completely and sighs. "She's my friend, babe."

Unwilling to accept his statement, she claims. "Well your friend is getting in the way of what was supposed to be our time together! Can't you set aside a limited time for her?! " This has alarmed Joe and Gwilym but it isn't their business to butt in and stop a quarrel from breaking out. Unless it turns physical, which is doubtful to happen. Ben, a little frustrated but still tolerant of her ongoing skittish behavior, tries to reassure her. "I know that, alright? But something's been bothering her for days and I just want to make sure she's doing alright."

"Can't you leave the worrying to Joe? He's her bloody boyfriend anyway!"

Wagging his forefinger at Rosy, Joe grumbles as he is not having any of her talk, scrunching his brows at her.

Grabbing her shoulders gently, Ben tries to relieve her of tension and assures her once more, but with a well-known fact she obviously still doesn't accept. "Joe's a little drunk. She's like...a sister to me," it really took him an abrupt pause to say 'sister', "besides, you're my fiancee. There's nothing to be jealous about."

"Why does she still have to be a part of your life? Our life?" Now that's a question that has just shifted Ben to a farther side. His brows knit together in momentary disbelief, unable to take her words in a good light. "God, Rosy! She's been around for so long! At least make an effort to accept her!" Like a slap to her conceitedness, Ben turns on his heels and walks out to find you. Leaving Rosy a steaming mess of insecurity.

However slightly drunk, Joe mutters to himself as he makes sure neither Gwilym or especially Rosy hears his words stumble out in a whisper. "You've grown a pair, Ben. You've grown a pair."

You've been outside for nearly half an hour; wine glass empty and your hair, along with the skirt of your dress, drifting along the harmless breeze and the waning moon spilling some light from behind the shaded clouds. Though there were a couple of people that found their way here to get some respite not too long ago, you're just glad to have this space to breathe in from the draining background of the party.

As you lose yourself in thought, a certain voice brings you back to reality.

"Nice night out, huh?"

Turning around slowly, you are met with the cool, forest green irises that you've grown to never tire of seeing. "I'm surprised you're still well-kept in that suit despite the scene back in there. " You give in to a chuckle, your smile pulling Ben to approach your side leisurely. "It's my Oscars suit. Something worthy of protecting."

"Hah!"

As he rests his elbows on the surface next to you, the distance between your skins makes you a tad bit anxious. Comfortable silence falls upon you both– for Ben at least, it's tolerable however you're not taking it well, not even in the slightest. You rub your hands together and sigh, prompting Ben to finally ask you.

"You alright? You've been tensing up lately."

You nod, closing your eyes and opening them afterwards. "This dress is just depleting me of bodily warmth." Half a lie told by you. Acting on his thoughts, Ben begins taking his blazer off but you stop him mid-shrug. "Keep it on. You look better with it on."

"This would look better on you, you're obviously freezing." He's really keen on keeping you warm but you're just as so in letting him keep it on. "I'm serious. Keep it on. I'm fine."

What can he do but just give in? When you're serious, you're serious. He lifts his shoulder in half a shrug, ducking his head as an idea flickers in his head like a bulb. He wants to relive something that has been lost through the years and it's only right that he does...now that you have less than a day to disappear from his life completely.

"Y/N..." He muses gently. You raise your brows at him in question, taken by surprise that he has his hand held out to you. Bewildered, you raise your finger to ask what on Earth he's doing. "What- what are you doing?"

He licks his bottom lip and the smile on his face becomes bashful but certain. "What else does it look like I'm doing, silly girl? Asking you to dance."

You're sorry that you couldn't keep a snort at bay. "Pfft. Ben, I think you're asking the wrong girl."

"Just let me dance with my best friend."

"Wow! That's noble of you," your chuckles can not be contained, even so much as restraining yourself from letting the blush spread throughout your face. But he has the fragments of what was once your heart, so why wouldn't you? You slip your hand in his and the grin on his face widens. "There we go. Easy does it." He breathes out, his voice getting gravelly. You hit him softly on his chest for cooing, at the same time realizing that his voice becomes that way only and only when he's nervous– something uncommon between you both. As his hands find home on your waist, you throw your arms around his neck, laughing at how awkward yet funny it feels. What a huge nod to how you danced with him on Homecoming.

"You're so weird sometimes. You got your fiancee, why don't you dance with her?" Getting used to the sting of referring to Rosy, you question anyway. He initiates with a sway before responding. "I already have. But, " he diverts his heavy-lidded eyes from staring off the distance to yours and suddenly, it feels like you're home, "I want to finish that Homecoming dance."

You find yourself speechless as you shift your unflinching gaze at him and he at you, your bodies swaying along the concrete and in perfect sync, coincidentally to the sudden change in music from inside, compared to the bittersweet night you had before the day that parted you both. Thin silence hangs in the atmosphere but only because you are looking at each other in a way you never have in your entire lives.

Instinctively, you break your gaze from his and rest your head on his chest, your hair falling into your face as your eyes screw shut. You hear his heart skip a beat, unusually in the same manner yours always has. Feeling your head follow the rise and fall of his chest tickles you inside– temporarily making you forget about the pain of soon letting him go and producing a sense of safety.

Maybe it's because of exhaustion? You wonder. He doesn't hesitate to stroke your hair and revel in the moment as well, easing you in closer to his body without breaking the sway. "You'll be there on my wedding day, right?" He asks nervously, his question pulling you back to the harshest reality.

You open your eyes slowly, your lips trembling as you let out the saddest sigh, feeling your chest tighten from the anxiety of soon telling him the truth.

"Y/N?" Your tensed-up body alarms him and so he breaks away and lifts your chin up lightly, being met with glossy and regretful eyes. His messy brows drawing together in slight worry. "What's wrong?"

Everything.

However uneager to push him away, you do, escaping his warm embrace. "Ben, I..."

He's dreading for your answer, painfully anticipating for the best or the worst to the point where his hands are lubricating with sweat.

You swallow the lump that has hardened in the back of your throat, pressing your lips together to prevent a sob from escaping and shunning his prying stare. "I can't..."

Joe's half-assed predicted, worst case scenario is slowly unfolding.

"What are you saying? You're not- you're not going...to be there?"

You bite down on your lip hard enough to make it swell, shaking your head and casting a sideways glance.

"Why?"

Tell the truth. Just tell him and you're either getting a support or another jab to the heart.

"Y/N, please! Tell me why!"

"I'm leaving, Ben!" The words didn't seem to stumble or carelessly flop from your lips, in fact it speared through him clean thereby catching him off guard. His eyes have fallen gravely, lips parted due to shock.

"I got into a medical school I had previously applied for. And I'm leaving," you snap your eyes shut and open them in tears once you've looked up at him, "on your wedding day."

"Why didn't- why didn't you ever tell me?" He's pleading for your explanation, barely clinging on to the belief that you would always tell him things.

You don't answer as you are battling to muster up the courage to say it.

"Y/N, please! You never tell me anything these days! And this- this news, it's important! You're leaving on the day I need you the most, and you never bothered to squeak a word about it! Not a single, bloody word! Why?!" He's racked up with disbelief and apparently, anger. Eyes rimmed, clouded with mixed emotions and face full-blown red from the pressure.

He grabs you by the shoulders and pleads heartbreakingly, his lively voice reduced to but a whisper. "Why..."

"I-" You're still holding back.

"Say it! "

"You'd soon forget about me, Ben!" You inhale sharply as you add, croaks present in your voice while you take two steps further away from him as you lament. "I'm hopelessly in love with you, you idiot! I've always been. I try- I try to brush off every single prick that stems out every minute I realize that you already belong to someone else..."

"Y/N-"

"I figured not telling you would help me let go. And it's the only way I can...because screw you for being a clueless, irreplaceable bloke! I can't imagine my bloody life without you in it! I don't think I can ever love anybody else...but you, "

"Y/N..."

You don't let him finish and achingly throw your hands to your chest as a gesture, pounding your chest thrice as you're finally wearing your heart on your sleeve. "I can't blame you for being oblivious to my feelings. You're committed to Rosy...and as much as I want to see you happy, I don't want to stand idly by and- and feel this way when you've pledged your heart to her...I want to forget and for you to forget me," As the warm tears you've held back for so long roll down your cheeks, you hug yourself through the pain, "I want you to be happy without worrying how I'd feel. And disappearing from your life, is the only way I know how..."

"Y/N, please, don't say that- don't do this...you can't do this...you c-can't..." With hands shaking, he strides towards you to haul you in back into his arms but you take an agonizing step away, stopping him in his tracks. "I have to. I...I want to. It hurts so much, Ben. It always has but promise me," even if you have taken a step away, you take it upon yourself to take those steps close to him and cup his cheek with a cold hand, "promise me you'll revel in that happiness. It's going to hurt being away from you. But it's going to hurt even more if I stay. And watch...my best friend grow old with someone else." Finally rendering him wordless, you shake your head and whisk past him back into the party which has died down a bit, leaving him a pondering mess out under the bleak sky.

"How could I be happy without you..."

You'd gladly do anything to go back home right now. The weight of what just took place is crushing you and the need to escape is fuming. But the thing is, Ben was never one to let you go easy.

He never did and possibly never will.

He sniffles and inhales sharply, jogging in after you and calling out your name amidst the constant noise and chatters. "Y/N, wait!"

You reach your table just in time to see everyone still gathered around with drinks raised and laughs released but you have to excuse yourself deliberately. "Y/N? Where have you been? What's the rush?" Lucy notices your hastened movement and places her hand on your tense shoulder. You snap your head at her with your purse in your grasp, shaking your head and apologizing that you have to leave, forgetting to rid your eyes of tears; the sight of you amping up Lucy's concern therefore leading you into her embrace. "Oh my god, are you okay? What happened?"

"Y/N!"

Ben's distant but audible voice echoing through the place just sends you panicking inside. "I'm so sorry, Luce. I have to go."

"Y/N, wait! What's wrong?"

Just as the rest could react to Lucy calling out for you and Ben dashing past them to catch up, you've already disappeared into the crowd, headed out the theatre to take a cab ride back to the hotel. Relentless to let you go, Ben follows your trail, spurring a quick frenzy from the rest and having them pursue Ben in return. Once you reach the outskirts of the pavements, you don't think twice before crossing the highway with your focus hardened before you.

Gasping for air upon exiting the theatre, Ben glances around in haste and finally spots you marching down the street oblivious to your surroundings despite treading along the pedestrian lane. His eyes widen in dread and acting on a fight or flight reaction, he yells for your attention as he speeds down the street to pull you in or rather save you from a possibility of getting hurt with all the rushing vehicles and careless drivers. "Y/N! Y/N!"

The boys, Lucy and Rosy arrive outside just in time to witness Ben race towards your direction and in a moment of feeling time slow down, you feel your heart in your throat at the late flash of nearing headlights, to add a heavy force propelling you off your feet and onto the other side of the road. What gets you up from the ground are the mixed screams of a familiar bunch and the sight of a bloodied man in white laying unconscious on the cold surface of the road.

White noise suddenly fills your ears instead of your own voice as you scream out his name.

[magic-owl]

i wish these had numbers to not take up room but alas: what is your absolute favorite ship? what’s a ship you like that most people don’t? what is the most underrated ship, in your opinion? (choose any of your fave pairings for the following bc I'm curious about all your faves) rate [pairing] from 1-10 and explain why. what’s your favorite headcanon of [pairing]? what’s your favorite canon moment of [pairing]? favorite AU ideas for [pairing]? what song(s) remind you of [pairing]?

Thank you my dear! You are my Star Wars Friend so I’ll keep it SW focused (if you wanted to ask this to solely find out what else I liked BESIDES SW sorry lol just let me know and I can redo it). This got long because turns out I have a lot to say about my ships so answers under the cut!!! xD

Absolute favorite ship: This one’s kinda hard but I’m gonna have to go with Obi Wan/Anakin! I also like them a lot as a trio with Padmé, but overall I gotta say these two are just my faves? Why? Because they are such a M E S S and gosh I just love them so much. Ppl say they don’t like each other very much but come on, have you watched the TCW, have you watched RotS, they’re the greatest team there ever was, they’re constantly fretting and worrying about each other, they’re always teasing (the constant banter omg boys pls) at each other and hyping the other up and believing in each other and Ahsoka literally calls them her adoptive guardians in the Ahsoka novel, that’s how much of a family they were and ugh they’re just so married. And they’re such a TRAGEDY and it breaks my heart and it’s delicious to watch because in the final fight it’s just heartbreaking betrayal because through it all they love each other so much and that’s WHY they’re so furious with each other because to them it feels like the ultimate betrayal. Even after (when after everything, Obi Wan still loved Anakin too much to kill him himself) they’re constantly on the other’s mind, and ugh the pain hurts but in such a good way, and how in the end Anakin did the right thing and Obi Wan was RIGHT THERE to help guide him back to the light in spirit and now they can rest happily together for eternity (with some spare stressing about, ya know, Kylo Ren and the impending return of Sidious, but never mind all that). and on top of that, it’s my fave because I also absolutely love their relationship platonically as well, as much as I LIKE to see them together, it’s not necessary for me because they have such an enjoyable dynamic. *coughs* Sorry, so yea, they’re my disaster faves! 😅

A ship I like that most people don’t: See above lol. I get aspects of the Obikin ship can be problematic in the whole power dynamic and age difference thing, but I’ve only ever shipped it after Anakin was knighted as an adult when there’s literally not a problem with it (it was weird for me because I watched the prequels totally out of order. I actually saw the TCW cartoon FIRST and then I saw RotS and then I didn’t watch the first two for a while after that because I was a fool and listened to prequel bashers who said the first two weren’t good, so when I started shipping them as adults that was all I saw them as). To be honest, for the most part the PT fandom is done with the drama since ya know, like a good half of the SW general fandom still hates us, so no one’s really vocal about not liking it and our shipping community is mostly left to ourselves, but every once in a while I’ll come across a joke post/fanart of the two and OP will be all snarky in the notes like “tag as a ship and I’ll come after you with my spiked bat” (someone’s exact words btw) and it’s like ok jeez, do not interact then, was minding my own business dude...

My most underrated ship: Hmmmm....... Gonna have to go between Luke/Ezra and Satine/Padmé. Skybridger I understand since they’ve literally never met in canon, but come ON, they’d get along like a house on fire and argh they should have met, it would be great. I honestly don’t get why Pads and Satine aren’t more of a thing (THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE AN OFFICIAL SHIPNAME ;_; ) cuz c’mon they’re the subtler explosive yin to Obi and Ani’s wildfire yang. They get along great and work together really well, and they both seem to have a type. I am doing them a little better in my new OT4 fic, and I hope ppl like it!!! Ya know what, I’m also gonna add Kaeden (cute girl from the Ahsoka novel!) and Ahsoka because even if a lot of ppl actually ship them, they hardly have any content and neED MORE DANGIT THEY WERE SO CUTE!!!!!!!

Gonna go with Obikin for all the following ones cuz I haven’t had the chance to gush about my boys in a while and you’ve opened Pandora’s box

Rate them from 1-10: 10, plus a hundred more points because I love them, then subtract that hundred again cuz Anakin is an gotdang idiot who ruined it and now they both make me cry. My scoring reasons are that they make me feel all the emotions and I love them Ever So Much and argh.

Fave headcanon: Oh boy, I’ve got a couple actually!

Whenever they’re talking/arguing over the phone, they’re always subconsciously mirroring each other’s actions even when they can’t see what the other is doing. It’s kinda creepy because you’ll hear yelling and it’ll look like one of them’s talking to an invisible person in front of them when it’s actually each other.

There has been multiple instances of them both getting injured in battle because they were distracted watching the other be a total badass (not that either will admit it)

Neither of them are morning people. AT ALL. Obi Wan actually has self-discipline and is able to get up with an alarm and crankily drag them both up, but both are almost impossible to deal with until they’ve had caffeine in them, and it’s been established that unless you want to risk murder, neither of them talks in the morning until caffeine has been provided.

There has been many, many cases of accidentally taking the other’s robe and not realizing it but thinking to themselves that said robe feels more comforting than usual today.

A mutually drunken arm wrestling match absolutely turned into a mutually drunken makeout once. Neither can remember it, and they wonder why some of the clones have been acting funny all week.

Half of the Temple thinks they’re already dating.

Ok I’ll stop it here

Fave Canon Moment: Ughhh, this is HARD. I really like the “any closer and you’d be kissing it” line in TCW, basically any moment in TCW when one of them refers to Ahsoka as “OUR padawan”, the extra long stares and unnecessary touches they give each other in TCW, the elevator scene in RotS movie (THE NOVEL MAKES IT A MILLION TIMES BETTER), also in RotS the way Anakin is half-ready to straight up fight Palpatine when he suggests leaving Obi Wan behind to die, the RotS “No loose wire jokes” bit, the RotS “Roger. Roger.” bit (OKAY JUST THE WHOLE FIRST HALF OF THIS RIDICULOUS MOVIE), the way Vader built his big stupid castle where they had their breakup, the way he’s constantly mentioning Obi Wan when the convo wasn’t even about him, seeing them together again at the end of RotJ (whoops you asked for one, you get MANY SCENES)

Fave AU ideas: Again, there’s a couple!

Superpower AU: Can’t decide whether I’d put this in canon or modern. Most powers in this AU are stolen from inspired by X-Men, DC, and other popular media, so I’m torn between Anakin having Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix style powers while Obi Wan had a variation on Rogue’s with additional energy manipulation. OR it would be a thing where Anakin could commune with the dead a la Klaus from Umbrella Academy while Obes had sort of Avatar-style wind/flight powers. (Both are relevant for different plots).

Sith AU: I know these are far from unpopular in the SW fandom, but the way I’d do it would be to try and write two stories at once, update one every other week so one update a week total. The stories would what would happen if either of them became the Sith Apprentice after the events of Episode 1, and how their dynamic would be during Ep 2 and The Clone Wars with one of them on the other side. It’s funny because the way I’ve plotted it, the Sith!Ani fic would have very big Good Omens vibes, while the Sith!Obi one would have very strong Under the Red Hood vibes, so two VERY different dynamics going on xD

WWII Spies: This is one I 100% plan to write someday, even tho it is a very long time from now. It’s basically following Anakin as an American naval pilot who got injured in a crash and discharged. He still wants to serve and eventually his talent gets him into the intelligence end of the war and sent to Europe where he meets Ben, who’s been working with British intelligence since it broke out, and sparks fly. I’m kind of cheating here cuz as of now this is an Obianidala story, not just Obikin, but it’s one I’m very excited for

Phantom of the Opera AU: This idea I had when I realized that Anakin as Vader is kinda a Lot like the Phantom, but he’s also a Lot like Christine too. So it turned into Anakin as a talented ballet dancer getting preyed on by Palpatine!Phantom (there is NO romance there, Palpy is a total creep and will be treated as such) with Obi Wan as a combination of Raoul and Madame Gery and I have a bunch of ideas and idk if it’s gonna be an actual thing, but I want it to.

Shapeshifter AU: Canon, not very complicated but they can all shift into animals. Obi Wan is a kind of cougar panther cat with a fluffy ginger tail, and Anakin is a big grumpy black Krayt Dragon with a stump for a front leg.

Not A Jedi!AU: One in canon in which set like the Sith!AU, two different stories exploring how their dynamic would be if one of them wasn’t found by the Order. As of now, I’ve got Anakin as the warrior pirate prince of Tatooine, after having grown up and staged a slave rebellion, then promptly put his mother on the throne, and Obi Wan’s there to negotiate something during TCW and things happen. For the Obi Wan one, he’s a political journalist and war correspondent who keeps on running into Anakin’s assignments and popping up where he’s stationed and Anakin has to keep this idiot from getting himself killed/stop asking me annoying questions that criticize the Jedi and the government.

Dark!AU: A kind of morbid canon divergent fic where Padmé dies early and unexpectedly (Palps didn’t plan it). Anakin goes off the rails and Obi Wan agrees to go with him on a murder vengeance roadtrip to try and keep him from Falling or the Sith from getting to him. He kinda fails and they both Fall in a way and it ends with them hunting down Sidious’ players one by one. I’m not entirely sure I want to continue with this tho because it plays strongly on the Fridged Woman trope, which I can’t stand. I’d have to figure out how to give Padmé some sort of active role after her death...

Songs to describe them: There’s a couple (I could have very well gone cranky but I decided to do (mostly) serious))(also my music taste kinda stinks)

Icarus— Bastille

Anna Sun— WALK THE MOON

Animal I Have Become— Acoustic cover by Vitamin String Quartet (original by Three Days Grace) (seriously y’all listen it’s sooooo gooooood)

Warriors— Imagine Dragons

My Demons— STARSET

Ignorance— Paramore

Set Fire to the Rain— Adele

Stubborn Love— The Lumineers

How to Save A Life— The Fray (yes i am aware it is stereotypical angst song leave me Alone it FITS)

Viva la Vida— Coldplay (tbh this fits like the entire PT but I liked it)

Raised by Wolves— U2 (another more PT-centric, but this one works dangit)

Bonus Broadway Song! : Confrontation from Les Miserables (now that ya think of it, that would be a pretty good AU too.....)

Bonus Broadway Song! : The Tango Maureen from Rent (I always imagined this one as Obi Wan and Padmé about Anakin, but it would be about something other than cheating cuz canon has established Anakin views cheating as a worse crime than murder, so yea)

Bonus Broadway Song! : Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better (aight this one’s mostly a joke but come ON don’t tell me that’s not completely them xD)

[neverplannedonnewsies]

Tire Swing

This will surprise no one that it’s a Davey x reader pairing, I just love my boy. Pure fluff, newsies having fun with a tire swing, pretty straightforward. Based off the tire swing my brother and I had growing up. Trying to get back into writing, I’ve got a requested fic coming soon as well! Enjoy <3

Warnings: none. Davey x reader pairing.

------

“Y/n, you’ll never guess what we found!”

You halted in the middle of hawking your papers, smiling at the sight of Les running up with Davey trailing along behind. “You’re right, Les, I’ll never guess – what’d ya find?”

“A tire! Me and Crutchie found it down an alley, and Romeo helped us roll it back to the Lodgehouse. We’re gonna make a swing with it!”

“Really?” you asked, glancing at Davey for confirmation.

He nodded and said, “You should join us when you’re finished selling for the day. We’re going to put it up in the trees near the pond on the far side of the park; figure it’s less likely to be seen there.”

“So will you come, Y/n?” Les asked, impatient to spread the word to the other newsies.

“Can’t wait.”

---

Watching Race and Albert argue about the best placement for the tire swing, you asked Davey, “Why do you think that tire was tossed down the alley? It’s gotta be worth something.”

He shrugged, “It’s got a tear on the one side. Probably whoever tossed it decided it wasn’t worth trying to fix.” Glancing at you, he smiled ruefully, “What a different life they must lead compared to us, huh?”

You nodded, slightly glum thinking of the boys who stuffed old newspapers in the soles of their shoes to make them last longer and wore clothes too small because they couldn’t afford new ones. Shaking off those melancholy thoughts, you smiled at Davey, “Well their loss has certainly worked out for us, ain’t it?”

“Definitely.”

The sounds of arguing pulled your attention back to the boys. “For the last time, Finch is gonna be the one to climb the tree cuz the rest of ya’s will bust your legs if you try it,” Jack stated authoritatively.

“I’m always impressed how well Jack handles all those kids,” Davey commented as you watched Finch shimmy up the tree and begin tying the rope. “I’ve just got Les to look after and I constantly feel like I’m not doing a good enough job.”

You looked at him in surprise, “Davey, what are you talkin’ about? You’re the best big brother I’ve ever seen.”

He smiled ruefully and shrugged, “Thanks, but I don’t always feel like it. I think Les would’ve preferred someone like Jack as his brother.”

You turned to him fully, “Davey, I’m sorry but that’s ridiculous. Les adores you! Yes he admires Jack and all the other newsies, but he loves you.”

“Really?” Davey asked, looking more worried about the answer than you would’ve expected.

“Of course! And not doing enough? I can think of a million things you’ve done for Les, including what we’re doing right now – I’m guessing the rope came from your place?”

“It did,” he admitted, looking at the ground and prodding at a stone with the tip of his shoe.

“See? So quit beating yourself up, you’re the best.” He quickly looked up from his inspection of the ground at your words, causing your face to flush a little and for you to stutter out, “T-the best brother.”

A whoop from the direction of the tire swing caught your attention and managed to break the suddenly charged atmosphere between you and Davey. Les was given the honor of going first, with the other newsies quickly lining up to go next.

“Y/n, you want to try it?” Jojo called over after most of the other newsies had gone once already.

You did very much want to try it, but trying to keep your cool in front of Davey you simply said, “Sure.”

Davey smiled at you, sensing your excitement behind your nonchalant words, “Come on, I’ll push ya.”

Buttons hopped off, and Davey held the tire still as you got in. When you were settled, Davey asked, “Ready?”

You nodded, smiling eagerly. Davey began pushing the tire back and forth, slowly getting it up to a speed where he could let it go and just give you a push when the tire reached its peak on one end of the pendulum swing. You whooped a little with delight, loving the wind rushing through your hair and enjoying the novelty of going so quickly. Suddenly Race appeared opposite Davey with a rather concerning grin on his face.

“Race…” you started in warning, not certain what he was planning, but fairly confident you didn’t want to find out.

“Spin test!” he cried, grabbing the tire when it reached him and pushing with all his might on one side. This sent you and tire hurtling in the other direction, spinning like a top. You let out a shriek that quickly dissolved into giggles as you held on for dear life. Fun as it was you could only stand a few rounds before you pled with Davey to intervene.

As you extracted yourself from the tire you became aware of just how dizzy you were, and only took a few steps before you completely lost your balance. As you began to fall Davey caught you, laughing right along with you. Your giggles subsided as he held you for what felt like a very long moment. Looking into his green eyes you wondered if it was the dizziness that suddenly had your stomach doing flips.

“Let’s get you somewhere you can sit for a minute” said Davey. He led you slightly away from the others to sit under a tree where you flopped down and waited for the world to stop spinning. Through the branches you could see the sky above was a beautiful blue, fading into the orange and pinks of a perfect summer sunset, and for a moment you were so glad that you were sharing it with Davey.

“Thanks for saving me, Davey,” you said, still slightly out of breath.

“No problem. I couldn’t just let Race do away with you, I need you around too much.” He suddenly stopped like he said too much, and went back to watching the newsies play with the tire swing. You sat up to see Albert on the swing now, sitting on top of the tire rather than in it as you had.

“You know, I meant what I said before. You really are the best,” you said, keeping your eyes on Albert.

“The best brother?” he asked, turning slightly to you.

“Well that. But also… just the best. Best person I know.” You suddenly found it very difficult to breath, waiting to see how he’d respond to that.

He leaned over and gave you a soft kiss on the cheek, then settled back to watch the sunset, both of you sneaking glances at each other with ridiculously goofy smiles for the rest of the evening.

Tag List

@my--little--happy--place

@thebroadwayaesthetic

@king-of-newyork

@bennie-badeend

@seasickdolphin

@backgroundnewsies

@buttons-in-the-refuge

[spidermando]

“Best Friends” Pt. 7

Pairing: Peter Parker X Reader

Word Count: 1000+

Warnings: None I think

A/N: If you want to be added to the taglist then let me know (-:

Masterlist

[Prev] [Next]

“Previously on ‘Peter screws the pooch’ I told you to stay away from this. Instead you hacked a multi-million-dollar suit, so you could sneak around behind my back-“

Mr Starks words dulled into the background, as I looked at the city around me. When I got my powers I promised to protect it, to look over it and all the people who lived in it. Now here I sat, after cutting a ferry in half and almost killing all the people on it.

“Is everyone okay?”

My voice was so soft, so… broken.

I remembered Y/N falling, dropping through the split in the floor and tumbling to a certain doom. I remembered how helpless I felt. She was so far away, there was no way I could reach her in time. By the time I’d swing over, her body would slam into the water, definitely killing her. Then the image of her soaking, lifeless body sitting in my arms haunted me. She’d probably have a few broken bones, and there would be plenty of blood spilling from her mouth and nose. I blinked a few times and pushed the thought to the back of my mind, for the first time in a while I was happy to see Mr. Stark.

If it wasn’t for him, that clouded image would’ve been a reality. Y/N would be dead, her mother weeping as she looked over her deceased daughter. He’d lose his best friend, the girl he had feelings for.

Oh god, what had he done?

“No thanks to you.” Mr Starks voice was hard, filled with anger and disappointment.

Still, I didn’t dare turn to him. “What about y/n?”

“Is that the girl who was plummeting to her death?” His voice contained a different emotion, one I couldn’t quite make out. It was a mixture of sadness and confusion, but there was still something more.

Not trusting my voice, I nodded my head.

Mr Stark let out a sigh, “yeah. She’s okay. I dropped her off with her mum.”

Although I already knew she didn’t die, I still let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. She was okay, safe and sound. Oh god, what was Mrs. l/n like? She must be a total reck, after seeing her daughter almost die and all.

“Thank god.” My voice was soft, filled with regret and relief.

“It wasn’t God, kid. It was me.”

Mum let me stay home for the rest of the week. Although I insisted I was okay, she commanded me to stay in bed and watch reruns of Friends on TV. The look on her face still stayed with me, appearing every time I closed my eyes like it was printed on the back of my eyelids. I’m pretty sure I’d never forget it.

Seeing adults cry always felt weird. When you’re young you’re convinced that your parents are these bullet prove people, who never cried because they had no reason to. I’d only ever seen my mother weep twice before, my dad once. But that day my mum had broken down. Loud sops escaped her mouth as she held me tight in her arms. I was sure she’d never let me go again.

I’d stayed off social media for the next few days, sleeping most of the time and too lazy to open my laptop the rest of the time. As I’d had my phone with me when I fell, it slipped from my back pocket and plummeted to the body of water below.

In the rush of everything, I didn’t even realise it was missing until the next day.

It was Saturday morning that I felt myself leaning over to my laptop and pushing it open. First, I checked my school emails, receiving a few ‘get better soon’ notes from my teachers. I don’t even know how they knew, someone at school must have told them. Next, I opened my facebook.

I had the usual amount of notifications, with people tagging me in posts and videos. But it was my messenger bar that surprised me. It read 99+, so I opened up the tab.

There were messages from serval people I’d never really talked to before, wishing me the best. Then there were the messages from MJ. I read through them all, typing out my reply and informing her of why I haven’t been messaging and what I had been doing. She was currently inactive, so I knew I’d have to wait a while for her reply.

Last, but certainly not least was Peter Parker.

Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I clicked on the tab. Opening them up, I scrolled to the top and read down.

‘I heard what happened, are you okay?’

‘y/n?’

‘Please reply.’

‘How long will you be missing school?’

There is serval more along this line, before the messages got longer.

‘Look, I know we didn’t leave on the right foot and I’m sorry. I didn’t talk to you because I was too scared that I would say the wrong thing. I know that’s not acceptable and I know how disappointed in me you must be. I’m disappointed in me too. But I want you to know that I’m here for you now, and I’ll never leave you again.’

‘well, unless you ask me too.’

‘please forgive me’

The messages stopped for the day, but picked up the following morning.

‘I don’t know what has happened to our friendship, I don’t know how I let us grow apart for this long without doing anything about it. But I do know that I want to fix things.’

‘do you want to fix things too?’

‘I’m going to come see you this afternoon, is that okay?’

‘I messaged your mum and she said you weren’t seeing anyone yet, let me know when you want to meet up.’

‘Please reply’

‘Your mum just informed me that you lost your phone… whoops.’

It was another few hours before he messaged again.

‘I miss when we’d spend Friday nights eating pizza and watching movies. I miss passing notes in class. I miss pranking Ned with you.’

‘I miss you.’

After that the messages stopped. Without typing a reply, I slammed my laptop shut.

Part 8

Tag List:

@hoponthefandomtrain @sassykitten13 @jvghead-jones-iii@gabrielad16@lyssamorgan @arachnidscosmopoliton @geeksareunique@petah-parkah-and-potahtas @xxangel-babexx@ccaammbbaallzzeerr@gaiasambuci@scorpiostunner1027 @fortheloveoflamp@timelord-lost-in-the-impala@fandomscombine @sammy-holland@musicnowandforever661@tmrhollandkay@fuckitilldecidelater@4ydan@purple-storm@emmatrashforfandoms@huggingholland @ownri @will-write-for-love @amillionfandoms-onlyoneme@pasteltreefuccer @bit-bot0711  @superwholocked221 @rose-coloured-me @trashy-jalen @rockagurl @spidergirl2017 @lookclosernow@smolbean-hoo-har-har @rmillerartemis@stilesxlydiaxshipper  @obscureowl@huggingholland  @gryffindorwithagedweyignasia  @harrys-bae1996 @morgannope @qtest-trash  @rose-coloured-me  @antisocialshipper@humorwitch @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @xoxcat101  @fazedphan@rebloggingtrash @steves-slut  @purplekitten30 @popluckbih

[royalrastafariannaynays]

Skulls

this is a davekat christmas present fic of dave harley and karkat rustblood! for my friend @bigbadsharkdad!! i hope you like it dear, and have a happy holiday!!!!!

“So if I was the difference between a human tooth and an ape tooth, what the actual fuck would I be?” he asks.

And you grin, take a deep breath, and open your mouth.

“No! No no no,” he says, interrupting you, “What am I thinking here? If I ask you one simple question, I’ll be shuffling through pages and pages of historical anthropology texts from your primordial culture, up to the prongs in your useless diatribes about the intricacies of hominid testicles.”

Karkat’s little beady deadened eyes flit over every piece of bone from your last excavation on… some kind of dream bubble planet.

There’s not a whole lot to feel guilty about when it concerns digging up skeletons, anymore! That’s for sure.

The troll’s teeth grit, and you see his little rusty tongue smash between his teeth before he relents, and finally turns to you.

“Okay, fess it up, I admit defeat,” he growls. “How do I know these are actual human skulls?”

You snort a laugh and slouch even further down on your section of the sofa. “So we found these under a pyramid, right?”

Karkat scowls at you.

He’s dead, but he still manages to convey so many emotions with his eyes.

“No shit, Troll Sherlock.”

“Well, apes weren’t buried in pyramids,” you tell him.

And he looks just about ready to pull his hair out.

This happens every so often after you go on an adventure into a dream bubble to pass the time, or explore yet another corner of the meteor that only has what you’ve been informed are not paint stains, riddled in the cracks of tiles. Rose thinks your exploring is ridiculous, but you’ve always had a fascination for the old and extinct. And with Karkat, the angriest undead burgundy troll in the multiverse?

It’s fantastically entertaining.

Being raised on an island by yourself landed you with incredibly awful people skills and zero capacity for empathy(and a really huge immortal pet macaw), but you know one thing. In his incredibly short mortal life, Karkat would have spent every second of it trying to make the next big anthropological breakthrough.

On a planet with no competition.

And no nostalgia for the past.

He would have been trying to be the best.

Karkat’s tattered shirt rustles as he exhales, hard.

Rusts don’t live very long, he’s told you. Not long at all. He can never get over the bitterness in his heart that in order to survive, he has to be dead. And he spends all of the time that you’re busy being asleep, trying to crack the code of his planet. It’s a real Indiana Jones kind of mess in his room, old tables full of papers and scrolls and notes.

You try to help, but mostly just end up tagging along and leaving clues.

Being the knight of space also helps. You’ve got his little planet in the palm of your hand.

“Did you feed me all of that hoofbeast shit with the intention of making me take three extra days to understand why there were primates buried under seven MILLION TONS OF ROCK?!”

You just start laughing.

Karkat is just…. Jesus christ. To be fair, that was a mean joke. But now Karkat is sitting, face slat on the table, massaging what he can reach of his scalp.

“Okay. Look, Dave,” he says.

And the tone of it is so serious that your laughter comes to a screeching halt.

Sure, you’re capable of being sincere. And you might be autistic, but that doesn’t mean you don’t know how to try to understand what he’s feeling. And right now, Karkat is at his most serious.

“Sorry, man,” you tell him.

And Karkat lifts his head.

“Can you help me solve this piece of the puzzle?” he asks.

And you nod.

“I just… I’m scared.”

And whoops.

Record scratch.

You almost physically recoil, not ready to enter the realm of sobriety of thought for long enough to remember all of the downsteering bullshit headed the way of your group. And just… everything in general.

And, contrary to the inner wishes that you definitely neglected to share with the room, Karkat starts talking again.

“I’m scared that when we get to the new universe, I’ll die,” Karkat almost whispers.

Somewhere along the line, you figured that out.

No amount of ‘but you’re already dead, bro’ jokes could possibly make him feel safe. It’s two years he’s got to go godtier, and if he doesn’t get it before then? He might just…

“I don’t want the game to delete me.”

“We’re really close to getting to the end, okay?” you tell him.

And Karkat winces. It’s something he’s heard a lot.

You look back at the table.

“We’ll find it.”

Your hands shift, and you move pieces around, and you look at his notes over and over, and… huh?

You pause.

Karkat is still sitting there, hands folded in his lap and whitened eyes cast down. But there by his left foot, just under the couch… that’s a piece of white. Paper? It’s yellowed. How did you misplace that one?

You reach down to grab it.

And under the paper is…

A coin.

A single gold coin. It’s been pressed with the emblem of the Troll Empire, but on the little planet in the middle, the pattern is off.

You look at it carefully, holding it up to the light, rubbing a smudge off of it with your finger. But the pattern doesn’t change.

And if you didn’t know better, you’d say that pattern looked like…

Earth.

Karkat takes in a hard breath next to you.

What?

You thought it was weird that there were human things appearing on his quest planet. But you didn’t know why. And so far, it seemed like a mere coincidence, and that the two species were meant to be followed separately.

But this coin…

“Is that?” Karkat’s whisper is full of wonder. His hands reach out and snatch the coin from you.

“I think so,” you reply.

And Karkat turns to you.

“They’re together!” he exclaims, “They’re supposed to be examined together!!”

And he.

His lips are hard on yours, sticky from the last cup of coffee he’d poured down his aesophagus, and all eight of his fingers clutch your jaw desperately.

“We found it!” he shouts, throwing the coin into the air and catching it before it could get lost in the mess. And he scampers from the room.

And you’re dumbfounded.

[ackackh]

WIP Meme

Rules: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on.

This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets - anything at all!

I was tagged by my darling @spoondragon, thank you, my guy!

I really need to talk to you guys about some of these and make sure they make it to ao3! Turns out school and my job have taken up most of my valuable writing time, so these are all slow coming, but they’ll get there!

okay let me pick the biggest ones atm…

1. My PBB which is currently titled SPACE BOYS

okay so since I haven’t talked about this in a million years, here’s the gist. Sometime far in the future, Earth’s sun has died (the science behind this is closer to if the sun just disappeared, rather than totally obliterating the planet) and most humans left and found a new planet, but some stayed. Now, Eugene Sledge is a part of a crew of five (Andy, Eddie, Bill, and Sidney) tasked with going back to Earth to see wtf happened to it.

the story begins here, the crew comes to Earth expecting a barren wasteland and instead finds… Snafu. Well, they find a huge colony of people who live inside this protective structure and underground.

Eugene meets K co, Sidney meets H co, and Andy and Eddie meet something of a surprise (read to find out, ooooh). There is science (so much nerding, I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself), culture comparison, angst, falling in love with someone you thought was an ass, grief, heartache, found-families, and a decent dose of existentialism.

There is so much to this au guys, I think the hardest part is that I’ve thought of enough to fill a novel and that’s… a lot to write. I’ll also have a playlist for this for ultimate ~~vibes~~

2. My Baseball AU! (most likely to be titled Hartford Eagles)

okay okay, this au has been painstakingly outlined, chapter by chapter, it is seriously just down to writing it, but writing takes so much tiiiime! No matter what tho, I’m in love with this story.

So easy co is a (very fictional) MiLB team called the Hartford Eagles and they have just taken on the first lady to play with an all-male team in the minors, Renee Lemaire! She’s a pitcher and she kicks ass, I’m so proud of my daughter.

baseball teams are like 25 people deep so I was able to include basically the entire co. Dick is the Manager, Nix the pitching coach, Harry the hitting coach, and Ron the conditioning coach. Buck is team captain, pretty predictable stuff there. I have an excel sheet with all the boys and their positions and jersey numbers, even their walk-up songs. 

okay so plot. The story takes place over one season and focuses on two main plots as well as five (5) romances, but not all of them are as in-depth as others. The first plot follows Renee during her first season with easy. Dick wanted her on the team not only because she’s stellar, but also because he knew his boys would treat her well. So she’s dealing with all the stress of paving the way for other women and having a successful season, but she’s also finding brothers in all the boys. I focus on a lot of different friendships in this, here she has the medic crew (mostly Gene and Spina) and she becomes really close with Toye and also Nix to a lesser extent. 

The other plot follows Joe Toye, their closer, who is gearing up to get into the majors. Lots of different teams are scouting him but nothing is set in stone when the story begins and, because Joe is Joe, he works his ass off to prove he’s worth it. He’s very close with Bill, becomes a big brother to Renee, and has a growing friendship with Luz, which may turn into something more, hmmm, read to find out!

there is lots of SPORTS! brotherhood, the ot5, slow burn that might kill me, love confessions, (so many) boys who don’t know how to express their feelings, CHUCK GRANT CONTENT, winning, losing, crying, singing, tragedy, and recovery.

bonus: references to Undrafted

3. Wintergaard

so I made a post about this a long time ago, but it’s developed a lot since then so let’s go. I basically accidentally outlined half a novel and there’s so many OCs I might die, but it’s a fantasy au.

I made an entire lore but we’ll skip that and check into the present. Dick is a Prince in a Kingdom (Wintergaard) that has four lines of kings. So four rulers share power equally among each other and Dick’s mother happens to be one of those rulers. He’s the youngest, birth order doesn’t matter as far as assuming the throne is concerned, but Dick is pretty unlikely to take the throne anyway b/c his brother is like the perfect candidate. besides, Dick doesn’t want it.

So he’s got a wonderful mother, a brother who’s kind of perfect tbh, and a sister who’s super kickass, like she became a captain and later becomes a commander in the royal army just because she wants to. 

And then there’s Dick. Who is great, obviously, but when he’s 18 he gets crowned (as is custom in this universe) with a crown meant to symbolize the soul, and his is really…soft. Feminine and sort of sweet. He was given the title The Gentle as a child and all of this adds up to lots of whispers and rumors. because like “uh…he could be in charge one day and he’s nOT MannLY??” but it’s w/e to Dick. He likes his crown a lot. 

Lots of time goes by, lots of OC drama, and turns out, whoops! there’s a civil war between the Kingdom and the citizens who live in its borderlands. (I’m not saying I put in heavy references to the Confederacy in here but.,,yah I absolutely did). In the very first battle Dick gets seriously injured and becomes MIA, later assumed dead.

But guess who’s not dead! Guess who gets found by some farmers who are looking for their brother! That’s right, Prince Richard the Gentle. So, Speirs’ father owned a farm and passed it to him and his brother (an OC) and Nix is Ron’s half-brother, a bastard son. Carwood worked for Speirs’ father and now works for Speirs. They’re super in love, don’t worry they’ll figure it out. 

So, Dick gets rescued by these strangers who know who he is b/c like,,, he’s royalty. He heals under their care, they all become very close, and eventually they all journey back to the capital so Dick can go home.

Well, a lot has changed since he’s been gone and shit’s only gonna get crazier. I’ll stop there, but I will say that soon after this, the gang runs into Shifty who is very important for… reasons. Not to worry, all will be revealed. 

Okay, so we got way to in-depth lore and history, royalty that’s actually kind of great, a civil war, lots of love, pain and injury, healing, angst, a journey, lots of magic, SHIFTY HAS A DAUGHTER, Winnix, Speirton, and Luztoye, familial bonding, important life-altering choices, and a meeting with the big man himself: Death. 

Sorry, I know this got way too long, I’m just excited to be writing these! Please let me know if you’d be interested in reading the first chapter of any of these, or some other kind of teaser! I’m starting to realize that I need feedback to write, lol

Uh, like everyone’s been tagged I think, lol. But I’ll go with @hoosiersblanket and @gingerwerk because I always love hearing about what they have cookin

[hornsbeforehalos]

Hunter And Arrow-Part Two

Part One Here

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x OFC Warnings: Language, the fact that I wrote it. A/N: I do not own TWD or any of it’s characters besides the OFC’s I’ve created. Do not repost my work anywhere without my permission. Sanja wanted a part two and then an Anon made me think about why Daryl would’ve left her out there and all that good stuff. Prolly be a part Three With some smut in it.

TAGS: @make-things-beautiful2 @reigningqueenofwords@srj1990 @jesbakescookies @aquivercactus @daddy-kink-confirmed @kellyn1604 @reedusteinrambles @dragongirl420@addiction-survivor25 @through-thesilver-lining

Daryl hadn't let the little girl out of his grasp the entire way back to Alexandria. He sat in the back with her in between him and Hunter, the little girl's pretty crystaline eyes staring up at him with such warmth his heart swelled like the Grinch's. She was asking a million questions and babbling her baby talk, "Daddy, what's that? Mama, What's that? Where are we going? Who's there? Monsters?"

Rick just stared back into the rear view almost the entire time, stunned by his brother's sudden lightness. Sure, he'd seen Daryl be kind and sweet to Judith, but never though in a million years he'd see him with a little girl of his own. "So, uh, how long you two been married?" He asked, clearing his throat and adverting his eyes back to the highway. "'round five years, I thank now." Daryl grunted, eyes shifting from his daughter to his wife. She looked at him and smiled at him, shaking her head at his forgetfulness. "Been married 6 years, got married on my 20th birthday." "Gettin' old." Daryl snorted, arm coming from around Arrow's shoulders to tease at the woman's hair, poking her in her ear playfully before she swatted his hand away. "Not as old as you, Gramps," She grumbled back at him, jaws snapping at his finger tips still poked at her cheek. Rick couldn't' help but chuckle at Daryl's antics, he'd never seen the man actually playful before. "So, uh, you know how to use that crossbow, I take it?" Rick asked, straightening his face. "Who you thank taught this idiot here?" She answered sarcastically, jabbing a finger over their daughter into Daryl's chest. "Now, wom'n, Don't lie." Daryl grumbled back. 

"Lyin' a sin, Dare, you know me better'n that." "Broad if you ain't the lyin'st ass bitch right now, I swear on my brother's-"

"Don't call my mama names!" Arrow suddenly shouted from her spot, little fist hitting Daryl in the thigh. "Sorry, darlin', we's jus playin'" Daryl cooed, moving his hand from her mom's shoulder back down to ruffle her fiery locks. "Well don' play like that, Daddy. 'S not nice." she continued to scold, pointing her little finger up at him. "Yes 'mam. Jeeze, ya really are like ya mama, ain't ya?" Daryl grumbled, looking back to his wife with a quirked eyebrow. "You have no idea, babe. No fuckin' idea." Hunter promised, laughing as she took her daughters hand in her own. "Wow mommy, look, a gate!" Arrow suddenly squealed, rising up in her seat to stand in Daryl's lap to see out the window better. Eugene pushed the gate open as quickly as he could, and Rick pulled the car in towards the settlement. 

"It look like the books!" The little girl screeched, pointing at the rows and rows of houses and kids and the playground. "Yes, baby, it does." Hunter agreed, staring out her own window in amazement. Rick pulled up to Daryl's house for them to get out, Daryl throwing Arrow into his arms onto his hip before helping Hunter pull out their bags. "I'mma go unload the supplies, meet me at my house tonight fer dinner." Rick announced from the driver's side window, Daryl acknowledging with a grunt and a nod. "This is your house?" Hunter questioned, looking up to the big two story home with over grown weeds and unkept lawn. "I mean it ain't no Better Homes And Gardens." Daryl grunted, shrugging his shoulders as he made his way up the steps to unlock the door. "This is fuckin' amazing, baby." She assured, stepping through the doorway to marvel at the safety she was surrounded by. That her daughter was surrounded by. That her family was surrounded by. "I'mma go put her in the playpen I got upstairs. I'll be righ' back." He ascended the steps quickly, the thud of his boots sounding through the ceiling as she wandered over to the large kitchen. She was literally amazed at everything. She opened the refrigerator, unable to help herself and her eyes went wide at the little light inside of it, then at the multiple Tupperwares of food inside. She opened the freezer next, stuck her hand in the coldness to make sure it was real, then poked at the frozen meats inside for a moment before she heard Daryl come back down the stairs. "Ya okay?" He asked, seeing her stare around her and then to him as if her surroundings, as if he himself, weren't really there. 

"This is real?" She whispered, eyes darting to his as he approached her slowly. "Yeah, Hun. 'Sreal." He promised. "Yer real?" She begged. "Yes'm. Real as ever." She flung herself at him again, and her of course willingly caught her into his strong arms. She wound her hands into his hair as his hands held her up by her ass and thighs. He carried her to the worn couch, kicking the few articles of fabric off as he laid her down and settled on top of her between her thighs, head on her chest. "God, Dare, you're really fucking real." She sighed, arms wrapping around his neck and squeezing the side of his face into her cleavage. "So're you. Though I'd never see ya 'gain." He mumbled, enjoying the feeling of her warmth. "Why'd you leave me?" "I couldn' find ya!" He promised, lifting his head to look her in the face, voice straining at the memory of him and Merle searching for her for days before finding Rick's group, "Then Merle....Merle said he'd seen ya walkin' with the dead ones... som'bitch told me he put ya down... I.... I thought..." He broke off, voice choking him as he tried to contain the emotions welling up inside him. "Shh, okay. Fuckin' Merle... I shoulda known." She soothed, pressing his head back to her chest. "He's dead now." He muttered. "I assumed. Good riddance." She nodded her head and stroked his hair. Daryl nodded his head too and looked back into his wife's gorgeous green eyes. He'd almost forgotten how beautiful she was, how vibrant her hair was or how soft her skin felt. "How'd ya survive?" "You know I can take care of myself, husban'." "I mean havin' the baby. You have others with ya?" "For a little while, yeah. I found a group with a doctor, stayed with them for while, they helped me have her." "That's good....They'res 'nother baby here, Judith. Her mama didn' make it." "That's horrible." "It was Rick's wife." She nodded her head at his solemn tone, letting her fingers slip through his oily strands. "She's a peice of shit, but Carl, their kid, shouldna been the one to have to put her down. Kid was barely ten years old." She furrowed her brow, "That's fuckin' wrong as shit." "Ya. Thas what I's thankin' too." "Ya'll got hot showers 'round here?" Hunter asked, feeling the oil accumilate onto her fingers from her husbands greasy locks. "Ya sayin' I stank, wom'in?" "Naw, I'm sayin' I could fry a chicken with that grease in yer hair." "Well I could prolly catch a buck with them fer'mones comin' off that snatch of yer's." "Excuse me, Daryl fucking Dixon, I haven' had the pleasure of hot water in almost four fuckin' years and it ain't like I had a man 'round I needed ta impress." She snorted, smacking his shoulders for good measure. "Well, come on then, girl." He whooped, crawling off of her and pulling her up before throwing her over his shoulder with a smack to her ass, "Le's go get that ass clean so ya can impress ya man."

[suit-lady]

Look, I’m sorry that y’all gotta see this again but fuck tumblr tbh I wanted the post to actually work so here it is in link form love you xoxo

A huge thanks to the lovely Kenzi, @tomfooleryholland. This is our brainchild together, so bless her. Also, I am so sorry for the length. Also, the title is from the one scene with Childish Gambino when he goes, “I think I know what a girl sounds like.” We thought it was cute. I know you probably don’t care about all of this, so… Intro begins at 00:32, Typical Accent Stuff begins at 00:50, Get to Know Me begins at 03:22, and Tom Holland Stuff begins at 07:12. Anyways, I hope you enjoy listening to my voice for ten million years. xoxo

Also, I’m putting everything under the cut bc this post is a year long

 Intro:

What’s your name?

Url?

Age?

Where you’re from?

 Typical Accent Stuff:

Pronounce: Aunt, Roof, Route, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Alabama, Underoos, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Croissant, Pajamas, Caught, Larb Gai, Naturally, Aluminium, GIF, Tumblr, Crackerjack, Doorknob, Envelope, Tomato, Potato, Waffle, February, Human, Surprise,

What is a bubbly carbonated drink called?

What do you call gym shoes?

What do you call your grandparents?

Choose a book and read a passage from it? (Maybe own writing if they write?)

 Get to Know Me:

How long have you been on Tumblr?

What are you usually doing when you aren’t on Tumblr?

Any hobbies?

When is your birthday?

What’s something you don’t think your followers know about you?

List some of your favorite (not Tom Holland or Spider-Man related) things.

Coffee or Tea?

How many hours of sleep do you usually get?

 Tom Holland Stuff:

When did you first discover Tom Holland?

Favorite Tom Holland role?

Favorite scene/line in Spider-Man: Homecoming?

Is there a specific role you’d like to see Tom in sometime in the future?

Favorite thing about Tom?

If you ever met Tom, what do you think you’d say to him?

End:

End the audio post with any three words you’d like!

 Tags and caption under the cut:

Sorry that those of you I’m tagging are getting another notif ily

Okay, this was a brainchild in the underoos group chat, so they’re technically all tagged, but I’m gonna try to tag a bunch of you right now. @hufflepuffholland, @peterandchurros, @peterfuckinparker, @peterfightmeparker, @spideytingles, @lgbt-avengers, @softnerdypeter, @thebucckybarnes, @homecunnings, @hollandaised, @parkery, @petersyoink, @infinitypeter, @thomas-tom-holland, @notahug, @tomsh0lland, @penlsparker, @babyparker, @softspidey, @sixtiesholland. That’s all I got off the top of my head. I’m so sorry if I don’t have your user memorized I promise I love all of you. Not in underoos, I wanna tag a couple of other people because I’m a nosey ass bitch and I wanna know what your voices sound like. @bbparker, @parkrpeterr, @padfootparker….? It’s so hard to make friends if you aren’t forced to in a groupchat rip. I love you guys. Also, I know voice sharing is weird so like 100% don’t feel like you gotta. This is just a fun lil thing you can do if you want. Also, if you aren’t tagged and would like to, please do this! Just tag me please please please. Thank youuu

Captioning this took fucking forever, but whatever. I left out the majority of my thinking words because I really didn’t wanna type “um” ten thousand times. I also omitted the book passage because I figured none of you wanted to read through it. Anyways, caption below.

Hey everyone!

Okay, I’m gonna do my best to go through this as quickly as I can because it’s really long, but, before I do that, I’m gonna let you know what I’m doing. Okay. A little bit ago, I saw the regular, typical accent challenge circulating tumblr a little bit, and a friend of mine, Kenzi (@tomfooleryholland on tumblr), and I, we talked about it a little bit, and we decided it would be kinda cute if we did it as a little “get to know me” thing, and made it special for the Tom Holland/Spider-Man fandom. And, so, this is what we came up with. Alright, let’s get started!

Intro: (begins at 00:32)

What’s your name? My name is Jamie, and, on my about, it says “Jamie Rhea”… Rhea is my middle name! Url… My url is suit-lady with a hyphen in the middle! Age? I am nineteen, and I am from a little suburbian area in Indiana.

Typical Accent Stuff: (begins at 00:50)

Pronounce: (I wrote these by sounding them out because that’s the point of saying these words.) Awnt, roof, root, thee-ay-tur, eye-urn, sal-mon, care-a-mel, feye-urr, wah-tur, new oar-lans, pee-kin, bohth, uh-gan, prah-buh-blee, al-uh-bam-a, underoos, lawh-yur, coo-pawn, man-aise, cruh-sawnt, puh-jah-mahs, cot, lap guy, nat-ruh-lee, uh-loo-min-um (I actually read this as al-yoo-min-yum even though that’s not the conventional way to pronounce it in the states), jif, tum-blur, crack-er-jack (how do you what), dawr-nob, on-vel-ope, toe-may-toe, poe-tay-toe, wahh-full, feb-you-air-ee, hue-man, suh-prise. (This was weird)

What is a bubbly carbonated drink called? It’s called soda, and I will fight you on this, okay? Originally, it was called sodapop as a full name, and, if you call it pop, that’s like having a friend called Johnathan and nicknaming him Than. Ya just don’t—y—don’t do it. No. Hm-mm. It’s soda. Soda. Or call it sodapop. No.

What do you call gym shoes? I call them sneakers.

What do you call your grandparents? Okay, I was the first grandchild, so I got to name them when I first learned how to talk, and I took inspiration from what I called my parents, mommy and daddy. And so, my grandparents on my mother’s side are Mi-Mi and Pappy, and my grandparents on my father’s side are Monie and Pacaw.

Choose a book and read a passage from it. This is one of my favorite books, I read it back in highschool. It’s called Kill Me by Stephen White. (It’s most of page 13.) Alright.

 Get to Know Me Stuff: (begins at 03:22)

The fun stuff!

How long have you been on tumblr? This blog is about two weeks old, I think. And then, I’ve actually been on tumblr on a personal, main blog since I was in middle school, so five or six years..?

What are you usually doing when you aren’t on tumblr? As of late, writing…for tumblr, because I post a ton of writing. When I’m not doing that, since it’s the summer, I’m just hanging out at home a lot usually. I haven’t done very much this summer (whoops). When I’m at uni, I’m usually hanging out with my uni friends, cos, once you get to uni, you’re gonna have a lot of friends that live really far away from you, so it’s really hard to hang out unless you’re at uni, so I’ll usually be hanging out with my uni friends or doing homework and studying for engineering school because it’s…it’s rough.

Any hobbies? Writing, obviously, but I like writing all kinds of things, including poetry. I really like poetry. And then, I like reading a lot. I don’t read as much as I used to, cos I don’t have as much time anymore, but I still consider it a hobby. And then, I really like fancy writing and writing letters and stuff like that. I do a little bit of modern calligraphy. It’s nothing special, but I have a lot of fun doing it, so I do it a lot…So, I consider it a hobby.

When’s my birthday? The eleventh of May.

What’s something you don’t think your followers know about you? Okay, this is something that I use for my professors at uni, because one of the “get to know you” things that they’ll always ask you is “tell me an interesting, unique fact about yourself” and so, this is something that I figure they don’t hear from many kids. Anyway, when I was in fourth grade, so I was, like, ten?ish?, I tripped over a dog leash, and I ended up hitting my head really hard on the pavement, and I ended up having head trauma for about a month, which is not a great time…So, I hope that you never experience that cos your brain has to reprogram itself, and it’s…it’s very strange.

List some of your favorite (not Tom Holland- or Spider-Man-related things). Okay, I really like sweaters, I really like stripes, and I really like plaid and flannel shirts…I have, at the very least, a dozen plaid shirts. I really like boots, specifically Timberlands and Doc Martens. I really like Converse shoes. My favorites are my white optic white high top Converse, which have not been white for months, but that’s beside the point. And then I also really, really like the really soft fleece blankets? I currently own four, and, last weekend, my mom and I went out shopping and I tried to convince her to let me purchase another one (because it may or may not have had Spider-Man on it). She refused to let me because she says I have too many. I disagree.

Coffee or Tea? I prefer tea 100% because I’m very sensitive to tannins, which is what makes coffee bitter. I actually don’t like red wine either because of the same reason.

How many hours of sleep do you usually get? When I’m at uni, I get between six and eight. At home, I’ll either say “fuck it” and just not sleep at all or get, like, two hours of sleep (which is terrible), or I’ll get between six and eight when I know that I’m doing something the next day, or I’ll get, like, more than ten. I’m really bad about sleeping for, like, fourteen hours sometimes.

 Tom Holland Stuff: (begins at 07:12)

When did you first discover Tom Holland? I first discovered Tom Holland when he was in the Civil War trailer that introduced Spider-Man to the MCU, which… Since I was a little kid, like, as long as I can remember, Spider-Man has been my absolute favorite superhero 100%. So, when the trailer came out, and I found out that they were finally introducing Spider-Man to the MCU, I literally flipped shit. I was so ecstatic, oh my goodness! So, then I had to find out who this guy was, right? It’s like, “Okay, who gets to play Spider-Man in the MCU? I have to know!” So, that’s how I discovered him.

My favorite Tom Holland role? Okay, cos I’m fake, I have only seen him in Civil War and in Homecoming because I’m trying to convince myself that it’s worth it to buy them all and binge them all because instead of pirating them I would rather support him because I’m that much of a stan. It’s terrible. But…I feel like, even after I watch all of those, I’ll still have the same opinion because of how much passion Tom has for Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Not only is he so similar to Peter Parker, like, as a person, but, since Spider-Man has been his favorite, y’know, for, like, his whole life, he just has so much love for the character, and that’s really evident in the way that he portrays Peter Parker. Y’know, actors always try to their best in portraying the characters that they’re given, but there’s something different with Peter Parker, and there’s always gonna be something different with Peter Parker for Tom…So, I have a feeling that it will stay my favorite.

Okay, favorite scene or line in Spider-Man (Homecoming I got carried away lmao). Okay, I went over this so that I would have something to say, and I got really excited during this part, so I’m gonna stick to one specifically (meaning I could not choose and talked about the movie forever…this one has just been on my mind recently). When they’re practicing for nationals for the decathlon, and Peter is telling their team advisor that he’s not gonna be able to make it to nationals, and Liz is standing up front and she’s like, “Okay, so, what’s the heaviest naturally occurring atom (element, whoops)?” and the one guy slams on the bell and goes, “Hydrogen zolitus! (colitus? I have no idea what the FUCK this is, but I can’t find it on Google. I have looked) That was not the question.” That is SUCH a mood. Honestly, that is SO me. That happens to me all the time. Y’know, you’re doing something, and you’re like, “This is 100% what they want. This is exactly perfect. This is everything that they’re asking for.” And then you do it, and the you’re like, “No. That was not even in the same realm. Nice.” So, that’s one of my favorites because that is a constant mood for me, so me. Alright.

Is there any specific role you’d like to see Tom in sometime in the future? Yes! I’m going to make a reference to his Nerdist interview that he did a while ago, and I’m assuming that you’ve heard it. In the intwerview, he talks about his brainchild of a potential movie, The Advisor, and he has so much passion and love for this little idea that he’s had for…who even knows how long he’s been formulating little details and pieces of this potential film. So, I’m just really excited see him be able to make that movie come to life?? So, it’s not a character role, but his role as the director. I’m just so excited for him to be able to direct that movie in the future and see it on screen rather than just in his mind’s eye. Alright.

Favorite thing about Tom… Physically? My favorite thing about Tom is his eyes because I’m the biggest sucker ever for brown eyes. I love brown eyes with my whole heart. I know that there are so many of you guys that have brown eyes, and you claim that they look like shit. No they fucking don’t. Your eyes are fucking gorgeous, and I hate you. I hate you when you say that your eyes look like shit because it’s not fucking true. (Somebody’s passionate.) Anyway, my favorite non-physical thing about Tom is, like I said earlier, is how passionate he is just about, like, everything that he does, and he’s not afraid to show his emotions and stuff, which is really hard for most (or like some w/e) guys because of hypermasculinity and all that dumb shit. But…He is not afraid to show how he feels, and, in interviews and stuff, his joy and his excitement is always so genuine and real, and that just makes me really, really happy. And, like, the one gifset (I’m assuming that you’ve seen it), when him and Jacob Batalon see each other at a premiere, and they run up to each other and give each other this huge hug, and they’re both so happy and excited to see each other because it’s been forever, and it’s just… -heavy sigh- It’s…it’s very precious. I… Anyway.

 If you ever met Tom, what do you think you’d say to him? Okay… The way that Tom portrays Peter Parker is very special to me. Spider-Man has always been my favorite, and I’ve always really related to Peter Parker, but, especially the way that Tom portrays him… Like, I can’t relate to him as much because I’m getting ready to be a sophomore at university, but, if this movie would’ve come out when I was beginning high school, everything that Peter does, I would be like, “Holy fuck, that is so me. That is 100% me.” Y’know, “big fucking mood” to everything that he does in this movie (aside from being Spider-Man, of course). –sigh- Y’know, so… If I told him anything, that would probably be what I would tell him, is: the amount of passion and love that he puts into Peter Parker means a lot to me because I have a similar amount of passion and love about Peter Parker and Spider-Man, and just… The way that he shows Peter Parker on screen is just, like…it’s really special to me… And I really would like to let him know that if I ever got the chance to meet him, and it makes me really emotional, and my chest is contracting, so I know that I would cry in front of him, but that’s fine, cos he deserves to hear it. Oh my goodness. Okay.

 End: (begins at 13:42)

End the audio post with any three words you’d like. Okay, I’m actually gonna end it with these three words, so I’m gonna go ahead and say this before I end it. Thank you so much for listening to this for fourteen fucking minutes. Ohhhh my god. I knew this was gonna be long, but, like, holy shit! Thanks for listening to my, like, disgusting voice for that long. I’m so sorry?? Okay, I’m gonna tag people after all of the text. I’m gonna put in under a cut so you don’t have to scroll past a bajillion names, and then I’m also gonna caption this underneath (aye). So, if you’re like, “What the fuck did she say?”, you’ll be able to tell, cos I’ll write it down. So, anyway, again, thanks for listening, and… That’s a rap!

[stylessemantics]

11 Questions Tag

Rules:

1. Always post these rules. 2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you. 3. Write 11 questions of your own. 4. Tag 11 people.

I was tagged by 3 cuties and I’ll be answering all their questions. Under the cut cause it’s 33 questions. Also I’m reposting my same questions cause not a lot of people have answered them, and I want to tag different people and have them answer the same 11 questions I came up with the first time I was tagged so... Let’s go! :)

@fairylightsstyles​ aka T’s Questions :D

1. Who is the person you admire the most? I’m going to go with my mom. cliché I know but she’s amazing. I also admire Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Emma Watson, etc etc etc.

2. If you could be in any television series what would it be? The Flash. I want to have super powers lol. Or maybe Sherlock Holmes or some comedy sitcom.

3. Best childhood memory? I’m going to go with going to New York for the first time ever. It was a long flight for 9 year old me (assuming i was nine, i can’t remember. Have to ask around)

4. Favourite song at the moment? Escuela De Calor by Radio Futura. It’s old and I’ve loved it for a while but recently I made a Guitar Hero 4 playlist with all the songs I loved to play when my brother and I jammed out and I was reminded of this hit. Play it first when I go to take a shower or whatever and put on that playlist. It’s such a dance-able song I’m very in love and know every beat and drop to it and always dance it very sexily.

5. Where is the place you feel most at home? Home. I wish I had some awesome thing I can say like some tree house or some hill or whatever but we don’t do those things here or live close by to one. Also I was never a leave my house walking to go over to some hangout place with my friends type of person. No one in this country is really. Specially when young. So I’m saying home feels like home. In my room. I hate being home though. Also my cousin’s place in Miami feels a LOT like home. Second home it is really.

6. What is the country you want to travel to the most? *brain from pinky and the brain voice* Same as it’s been the past 11 years, lovely: England.

7. What plans do you have for the summer? Summer? What is that? I go to college, I study in the summer :P  But the plans are hopefully London in June or July. The opportunity struck and I’m almost fainting at the thought.

8. 3 guilty pleasure songs? No Reason Boner - NSP (i know all of it i’m sorry. Any NSP song really is... god damn. Also Dan I love you.) Persona 5 OST. (my brother’s fault. Completely) Undertale OST. (specially metaton’s theme, Bonetrousle and asgore’s theme... Oh and Final Sans fight theme... SORRY THIS GAME IS GENIUS) whoops.

9. If you could say something to the whole world, what would you say? LOVE LOVE LOVE. SPREAD LOVE IT’S NOT THAT HARD AND IT MAKES THINGS SO MUCH EASIER!!! TREAT OTHERS HOW YOU WANT TO BE TREATED. ALSO STREAM SOTT AND BUY HARRY’S ALBUM.

10. What is the best meal you’ve ever eaten? OMG I don’t know if it’s the best meal but it was the one that popped up the quickest, and technically I didn’t eat it, it was my mom’s plate; but there’s Peruvian place here and UGH! Apparently Perú has like THE best cuisine (according to my parents that have travelled quite a lot) and jesus lord everything we have eaten there is so good. Mom had... this amazing Salmon in fucking PASSION FRUIT SAUCE OMG PASSION FRUIT SAUCE GOES WITH EVERYTHING GUYS UGH NOW IM CRAVING IT.

11. Do you believe in ghosts? yes and no. if they are for real well then i don’t think i’ve done something wrong to anyone enough for them to spook me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be moving into some “rumour has it this house is haunted” place. If they aren’t real then good, but I’m not gonna go testing the theory and getting myself into some dark magic/spirit shit or using some ***** board (I’m not even saying the name of it)

@cheshirepuddin‘s questions <3

1. Who’s your role model? My Mom, Harry, Ed, Emma Watson, My Cinematography Language teacher, My Concept Art teacher, My Art Direction teacher.

2. What’s something you want to accomplish in the short term? Is losing weight a short term thing? Let’s go with that or finally finishing some of the million and one fics I’ve got collecting dust in my files.

3. What would you like to ask Harry? WOW uhm... On the spot I can’t think of a good enough question. I would ask him to recommend me one thing for every branch of art. A book, a song or artist, a movie, a painter or painting, etc etc etc. I would also ask him if he’d like to hang out later on and teach me things. Get your heads out of the gutter I mean it in the sense of teaching me art, writing, something he loves, something he thinks is his expertise. To spread knowledge with me. If he’d allow me to be with him as a little grasshopper for a while.

4. If you could travel through time once and then come back, would you prefer to travel to the past or the future? Why? Neither. I have a lot of things I would love to change but I also am kind of a believer that every single decision, no matter how small, makes you who you are. And although I could be a lot better, this is my life and I guess it’s not half bad. Also seeing the future scares me and I would hate to spoil my own ending to myself. Based on that thing about decisions, today my future can be one thing but tomorrow, based on what I do, it could be another. Also FLASHPOINT PARADOX GUYS. LORD TIME IS SO INTERESTING. Is there even a past to go back to? You’re telling me the past is happening RIGHT NOW in some other time and I can go to it? Or the future? Then why isn’t it happening now? What defines past and why can or would we be able to travel to it? 

5. Where’s your favourite place you’ve been to? None of the places I’ve been seems to catch my eye enough for me to call them anything close to a favourite. That’s so sad wow.

6. Would you like to get married and have kids someday? yes yes yes. Would love to marry. Would love to have (3?) kids. Would love for one of them to be adopted. 

7. Do you have a motto you live by? I thought I didn’t but I like to think I go with the treat others how you wish to be treated thing. Also I’m always telling my friends that emotions demand to be felt. That’s like my line. Emotions demand to be felt; even bad ones. What I will not allow you is to feel the bad ones for any longer than you have to ;)

8. Have you ever been in love? Are you now? I don’t think so. Unless we consider Harry and even I - with all my hopes that maybe someday we will meet and he’ll find me interesting enough to keep me around - can’t call this love. I don’t know him to be able to love him like... proper love him. So I don’t think I have been, and I don’t think I am now.

9. Which song reminds you of some time/someone/something very important to you? Any old song that my mom has ever shown me reminds me of her, cause she has amazing taste in music. Same with my dad or my mom or my best friends. There’s a song that reminds me of something important that has yet to happen though. My wedding. There’s a few songs I know I NEED to have at my wedding, and when they come up they make me think of me dancing them on that amazing day if it ever happens.

10. Do you pay attention to fashion trends? yes and no. I’m not up to date with fashion in general. I just see something I like and would love to try and I try to do it. I never rock anything so I go back to what I already know and call my comfort zone. I pay attention to them to some degree. They look great on other people and I never quite get to try them or buy anything similar, and when I do I don’t rock it so I don’t keep trying.

11. If you could change anything about your life, what would it be? Everything. Goes against my travelling in time answer but lord would I change it all. whoops. I would change a lot of it. Not all of it. Specially bad things.

@legend-waitforit-harry aka J’s Questions :P

1. What’s the name of your autobiography if you write one? I think it’d be a guide on how to laugh at yourself both because you’re a pity and because you have to let go of things. And I’d call it something like “Do as I say, not as I do. A guide to living with your damn brain.”

2. One incident you will never forget. STORY TIME! When I was a kid, around 6 years old maybe less maybe a bit more, no more than 8, I used to take afternoon english classes at the same school I went to in the morning. After classes were over we would run around and play with the rest of the kids that were in tutoring or english classes that were also out of their class already and waiting to be picked up. There is of course a “no running in the hallways” policy in pretty much every school. While playing something silly like tag or something we were chasing someone and I took the empty hallways as route. I had sandals that were slippery and I was running very fast. Right as this guy Ivan - who is a year younger than me and the principal’s secretary’s son- walked out of the classroom he was at. I can still remember it went in slow motion. Me putting my arms out and trying to stop running, him looking at me and going wide-eyed. Both of us screaming. My feet slipping and being unable to stop. And then black. LITERALLY. BLACK! You could have added the little hit signs they add to cartoons when people crash into each other. I opened my eyes and my vision was blurry and a teacher was helping me up. I was ok. I don’t quite remember how or where I landed. Ivan was crying and in pain. He had fallen on the very edge of the little step that divided the cement hallway from the actual court where we could play. I only had a scratch, a bit of pain in my arm that I think was what collided with him. I was fine and wondering why Ivan didn’t get up and continued to cry out “ouch ouch please”.

Ivan had split the back of his head open on the step. Just a bit. I think he had 10 stitches total. His mom arrived short after; like really short after. I think she was on her way to pick him up when it happened and arrived to the school to find his child wallowing in pain on the ground and with a cracked skull bleeding out. I hid. God I hid. I was so scared of my parents finding out, of Ivan’s mother finding out, of my parents having to pay Ivan’s then seemingly difficult operation (i was like 6 I thought the guy would die cause of me) 

Ivan knows I guess, and his mom is the absolute sweetest woman ever and she never resented me for it, if she knows it was me. If they know it was me; they never showed. To this day my parent’s don’t know. Or I think they don’t. Ivan and I get along good and we were friends while we were in school. Don’t know if he even remembers it was me who accidentally crashed into him. The next day at school all of the kids that were there that afternoon (we all went to the same school the ones who took classes in the afternoon there) were called to the principal’s office and I remember my principal asking “who crashed into him?” and the second grade teacher legit pulling my by the shoulder shoving me in front of the group and I was almost weeping. I don’t think I got any punishment other than a warning and an obvious lesson.

Do not run in the hallways.

3. Lyrics that means a lot to you. Que todo tiene su hora, debajo del sol naciente, ya viene tu amor bendito de nada vale ser impaciente. Juan Luis Guerra’s Todo Tiene Su Hora

You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky. You look pretty good down here but you ain’t really good - Harry Styles’ Sign Of The Times

It’s alright to cry, [...] It’s alright to die cause death’s the only thing you haven’t tried [...] So live life like you’re giving up, cause you look like you are. - Ed Sheeran’s Even My Dad Does Sometimes.

4. You’re winning a Nobel Peace Prize. What’s the cause you worked for? Nothing lol I’m definitely not winning one of those. I’m thinking equality. Gender equality, race equality, culture equality, respect for human rights. That or some psychology topic I expressed in some book (NOT SELF HELP I HATE THOSE) in a way that makes it relatable and everyone laugh. Like why be happy when you can be normal? (that is an actual book)

5. If you are given all the money in the world but need to have a new identity, who are you and where are you? I’m still me and I live in England. Don’t ask.

6. Mountain or ocean? Both. Never been to a mountain tho but I want to go and I’m not sure it will mark a significant decision over these two. I’m always going to like something that is not staying home.

7. If you were asked to do something out of your comfort zone, what would it be? Definitely Model. Whatever it is, taking photos of me, my face, my body, my hands, my feet; whatever it is you could model... Just no. I’m terrified of the thought and I would be so uncomfortable knowing the results would be awful and everyone would hate them or that at least I would.

8. If you can kill anyone without any repercussions who would you kill and why? No one. I don’t think I will kill anyone. You can joke all you want about someone being very nasty and whatever but I would never. If you give me a repercussion-free bullet, I hope and pray I never have to use it. I only would in defence of my family and loved ones. 

9. Any childhood nightmares? My parents suffering some accident in one of their many travels. To this day I think that’s the biggest nightmare.

10. A song that makes you cry. Even My Dad Does Sometimes - Ed Sheeran Fall - Jonas Brothers. Supermarket Flowers - Ed Sheeran Cuando Te Beso - Juan Luis Guerra.

11. Recommend me: a song, a book and a movie. (Sorry, Iv! Stole your question) YOU THIEF! No jk, it’s fine. Uhhh. A Song: look at my song rec tag I don’t think I have a good one right now. I love too many songs. Let’s go with Harry’s unreleased tracks. I recommend those. Also To Die For by the Bohicas cause it just came up.

A Book: My teenage-self is screaming at me to recommend you Elizabeth Scott’s Bloom, or Heather Brewer’s The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod (THAT I STILL HAVE TO FINISH, GOD DAMN)

A Movie: it’s sad to admit but I don’t have a good movie to recommend you. Maybe The Green Mile if you want to cry and have your life shaken up, watch it. It shattered me. That movie fucked me up. I still have flashbacks to it and fucking weep.

I’m tagging: (different people than i did the last time): @team-styles @honeyskins @moonchildstyles @stylesprimes @yeshaddy @weeklyfangirl @stylesunchained @a-butterfly-on-his-tummy @secret-rendezvous1d @cuddlemusclestyles @whoopsharrystyles 

My questions: (once more):

Do you have a favourite pet name? What is it and why, and if you don’t have/don’t like pet names; why?

Tell me a Joke:

Are you a plant inside the house person? If yes; fake or real plants. if not: why?

Take me down memory lane and tell me a first. (first tattoo, first kiss, first time you saw the colour pink idc, just take me with you)

Pick one of Harry’s 8 unreleased songs and give me a prediction. What does it sound like? What is it about? Get creative and write a verse of the song if you want. Just for funsies!

You’ve just won a Grammy/Oscar/Emmy/IDK. Thank you speech? Go:

Fill in the blanks: I instantly smile when _____ because _____

Favourite Harry Trait? #AHarryLovePlatform.

What don’t you understand? (besides this question, come on, be creative) ((example: IDU how people don’t like Harry Styles))

If a sandwich was named after you, what would it be called (your name or something else)? What did you do to earn that honour? What’s in it? (taken from my 1 page at a time daily creative companion book)

Recommend me: a song, a book and a movie. (they can be Harry inspo or not. Just give me art!)

[supernaturallymarvellous]

My Renaissance Man

Author: @supernaturallymarvellous

Word Count: 

Warnings: None

A/N: This is my entry into Mimi’s Trope Challenge.  We all loved a good trope and mine was “Brother’s best friend”.

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I’ve known Dean Winchester for longer than I would care to admit.  We’ve been best friends for many years now; I know what he does and as long as he keeps doing it, I’ll be there to provide a safe haven whenever he needs it. He stops by every once in a while, takes a few days out of monster hunting and world-saving to stay with me and live a somewhat normal existence for a short time.  But, in all the time I’ve known him, I’ve never met his brother.  When Dean and I first met, Sam was off at Stanford doing his own thing, trying to have a regular life.  Then, after their dad died, they took off together, travelling the county, doing what he had trained them to do.  I barely saw Dean during that time.  We kept in touch of course – text messages, emails, phone calls – but it was a long time before he came back to me in person.  But he did and since then, we’ve gotten into a routine…it just so happens that said routine has never involved Sam.

So to get a string of texts from him asking me to meet him and Sam in a random location and bring a dress was weird to say the least.  Still, I trusted Dean with every fibre of my being – he had never steered me wrong before - so I didn’t hesitate to head out in my battered old truck and find out what exactly he was up to.  And he didn’t let me down…….the email I’d received set out details of what was sure to be a brilliant weekend, although not knowing Sam, I wasn’t sure how he would react Dean’s plans or whether he was even going to enjoy the time we’d all be spending together.  

****************************************************************************************************

A few days later saw me driving for a few hours and finally reaching my destination.  Pulling into a wooden area just off the main road, I jumped out of the truck and was immediately met with a cacophony of sounds.  Shouts and battle cries filled the air, along with the clanking of metal on metal and what sounded like the distant thundering of horses’ hooves.  Trust Dean to pick something that seemed a million miles away from anything he would usually be interested in.  But Dean…..well Dean is a man of hidden depths and as much as he tries to hide it, eventually he just has to let his inner geek free and where better to do so than at a Renaissance Fair.  

Quickly changing into the dress Dean had requested I bring along, I made my way towards the main entrance gate.  I knew the boys were already here as I had spotted the Impala a few spaces away from where I had managed to park.  You can’t fail to spot that car; she’s a thing of beauty and was certainly attracting the attention of everyone that walked past it.  Flashing my e-ticket at the attendant, I scooped up the trailing length of my dress into one hand while trying to manoeuvre across the mud-sodden pathway and shot a quick text off to Dean to let him know I’d arrived.  I soon got a response letting me know that he and his brother were currently watching the jousting event that was taking place in the main arena.  

Pushing my way through the crowds, I realised that finding them was going to be a little difficult than I had first anticipated.  The place was heaving and to add to the problem, I didn’t even know what Sam looked like, not even a vague description.  As I walked through the vaulted archway that would lead towards their general direction, I found myself scanning the throngs of people, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of my friend.  It was at that moment that my phone pinged, alerting me to the fact that Dean had sent another message.  It simply stated “under the red flag just left of centre. I’ll keep a look out for you”.  As I’d already started to head in the opposite direction, I turned on my heel and walked towards where Dean had said he was.  

When I found him just a few minutes later, I could barely contain myself.  I hadn’t seen him in months and practically threw myself into his outstretched arms.  

“Hey sweetheart, it’s so good to see you.  And you wore the dress as well – god, Sam is gonna love you even more now, especially since you’ve got the whole princess vibe going on.”

“What?! Why is he going to love me even more? I thought this was about cheering him up, not setting me up a date with your brother…..who I’ve never met!”

“Well……slight ulterior motive.  What better way to cheer him up than a date with a beautiful maiden?  Don’t worry, I told him all about you and he’s psyched to meet you.  You’ll be perfect for each other.”

Jesus, if I didn’t love him so much, I would have slammed my fist straight into Dean’s face. I wasn’t looking to start dating anyone, let alone someone in the same line of work as Dean.  I was just about to put up a fight, to start reeling off all of the reasons why this was a terrible idea, when a voice from behind me caught my attention.  

“You must be (Y/N).  I’m Sam.”

Spinning around, I was expecting to see a guy that was at least as attractive as Dean. Now don’t get me wrong, just because he’s my best friend doesn’t mean that I couldn’t see how good-looking Dean was – it’s just that he’s not my type.  He’s too sure of himself, too cocky for my liking and I know that it’s pretty much just a façade but I’m attracted to guys with a little less swagger about them. So when I turned and saw the man standing in front of me, I was knocked for six.  He was tall, taller than Dean, and while I could see a family resemblance, there was something there that I had never experienced with Dean – there was an instant attraction.  I don’t know how long I stood and stared at Sam but he was doing the exact same thing to me. It wasn’t until Dean said that he was going off to find “some typical medieval man-food” and walked away with a dumbass smirk on his face that Sam and I actually started speaking.  

“So, you’re Dean’s best friend.”

“And you’re his brother.  I can’t believe this is the first time I’m meeting you – I’ve known him for so long.”

“Me neither.  Seems like he didn’t want to share.  I’m sorry that he got you here under false pretences although I have to admit he was right – you being here has cheered me up.  Do you want to take a look around, find something fun to do?”

****************************************************************************************************

Sam and I had fun for those few days.  Our days were spent at the Fair, while nights were spent at the bar near our motel.  Every evening we stumbled out of the Fair laden down with souvenirs; I spent way too much money on replica dresses, while Sam bought me the most exquisite necklace.  In fact, we spent so much time together that we barely saw anything of Dean.  

It wasn’t until we were standing beside my truck ready to leave that one of us made a move.  As I went to climb up into the driver’s seat, he offered me a helping hand and as I sat down, I couldn’t resist going in for a kiss.  It was sweet, with a hint of an underlying passion that I started to desperately crave by the time the kiss ended; in fact, the only reason it ended when it did was because of Dean cheering and whooping from the Impala. The sheer embarrassment of that moment caused Sam and I to start giggling, me burying my face into the front of his shirt in an attempt to hide from the world.  

We hastily exchanged numbers and said our goodbyes.  As I drove away, glancing in my rear view mirror to see him standing there watching me leave, I knew that I would be seeing a lot more of Sam Winchester in the future.  

Tagging: @deansdirtylittlesecretsblog