#will i EVER be over this it's been literally 12 years (and a day damn i should have posted yesterday for the anniversary)

[wistfulwatcher]

EMILY & HOTCH DANCING in 7.24 RUN

[restinslices]

LKBS W/ A Quiet Kid

Finally getting back to requests :D. I put more focus on certain parts so it's not a copy and paste for each brother. Reread The Hunger Games recently so I imagined the kid being similar to Rue in behavior. Here you go @notbojack

He so fucking fine, omfg-

Back to the topic at hand, Tomas wasn’t the only kid his father took in

Shortly before his death, his father brought you home - a 12 year old kid who clung to him like wet tar

How did this come to be? Um, I’m imagining a situation where you were sent to kill his dad but he was like “naur, join us” and you did. Idk gang. It’s 11/6, I’m discombobulated

As we know, his father died. Now, Bi-Han is an asshole but he has limits. He wasn’t just gonna throw you out on the streets

Honestly I think he doesn’t mind how quiet you are

He’s not much of a talker either, so ya’ll just sit by each other

It’s kinda hard for him to understand your situation at first. After all, he’s a trained assassin. He’s been training since the day he could walk. To him, an assassin’s life is normal

Once his father is dead, taking care of you becomes his responsibility. This means that now he really has to be face to face with you during your worst moments

He’s woken up one day to the most awful screaming he’s ever heard. He can hear the strain on the vocal cords. It leads him to your room and he sees you screaming your head off in your sleep

He immediately wakes you up, expecting you to relax. Instead, you try to fight him off and claw yourself away from him. Only after reminding you who he is and a lot of convincing you that you’re safe and at home, you finally relax

You tremble next to him while apologizing profusely and that’s when he realizes something

This is the first time he’s ever heard your voice

I think this is when it'll really hit him how fucked your situation was. He was trained to be an assassin, yeah, but he still had free will

He's not the best at emotions, but I think he'd try for you

I wouldn't expect some long and deep talk about your past, but he'd watch over you more. He becomes very observant and takes note of your triggers

He's still strict, but he doesn't yell at you

I can see you jumping after he accidentally yells at you and he's like "ykw? I just might be the problem-"

Doesn't do it again

You have random spasms because of electrocutions. I can see him trying to find a way to help

He lets you trail behind him like you're his shadow

He absolutely will NOT say your trigger words

He thinks having your skills is something you should keep and improve on, even if they came about in an unpleasant way

You gotta fight for the Lin Kuei but I don't think he's ever like "go kill for me soldier!"

It's more like a... A uhhh "hey! We're going on a field trip! :D"

Idk if he'd ever ask if you'd like to sleep in his bed (he likes his space. "I GOTTA PUT ME FIRST LUCIOUS!") but I can see him being fine sleeping in the same room

Bi-Han and Sektor are your new parents

Overall, I think Bi-Han would be the best when it comes to handling triggers. You don't have to be a 10/10 social person to be helpful. He's just really observant and contrary to popular belief, isn't a complete evil dick head.

Y'all that's literally me next to him

"Aren't you black?" mind your business

Speaking of marriage, Kuai Liang meets you because you're a kid Harumi took in

I can see Harumi trying to introduce the two of you and you are NOT having a good time

He tries to introduce himself to you, but the second he steps close, you take off

He knows some kids are shy but this catches his attention. This ain't just shyness

"WHO THE FUCK FUCKED UP THIS HOUSE LIKE THIS? GOOD GOD!”

Harumi gives him the scoop thankfully

He's glad Harumi found you but damn, he wishes that never happened to you

He continues to try and be nice to you, but you either don’t say anything or take off

He isn’t really sure what to do at this point. Ya’ll are making no progress

This changes when one day he sees you sitting somewhere, scribbling in a book

You jump when you see him, dropping your book. He goes to grab it for you and that’s when he sees the amazing sketches inside

He’s not the type to flip through without permission. He looks at the open page and compliments that

“You like drawing?” *Nods* “These are really good!” *Shakes head* “Hey, I mean it. These are great”

He hands you your book back and you actually smile at him

*Hacker voice* I’m in-

You still stand behind Harumi, but you don’t look as scared of him as you did before

He notices you staring at him a lot, but he doesn’t say anything

Then one day you come up to him, book in hand

Which really surprises him because you never approach him

His mouth drops when you show him the drawings you’ve done of him

Your relationship continues to grow from this. He’s not sure how complimenting you on your artistic skills made you less afraid of him, but he’ll take it

He’s constantly encouraging you to keep being creative

He won’t look through your sketchbook without permission. He likes when you both look at your drawings together

Best believe he’s putting your drawings up like a proud father (if you let him)

I can see him learning basic sign language for you. Otherwise he speaks and you write things down

Ya’ll know that TikTok trend where two people paint portraits of each other? That but with Kuai Liang

His is awful but you put it up in your room anyway. This really squeezes at his heart

If you have other creative hobbies, such as writing, he encourages that too

Reads anything you’ll give him

I don’t think Kuai Liang is an artistic person in the sense that I don’t think he draws or writes in his spare time, but I think he still appreciates art

The father that stepped up

I don’t think he’d ask about your past much either. He doesn’t wanna push you. Whenever you’re ready to share, he’ll be there to listen

The little pieces you do share, he definitely remembers

Overall, I think Kuai Liang would handle the quiet and artistic aspect really well. He’s patient enough to continue trying to make an effort with you. Once you’ve opened up, he doesn’t take it for granted

My favorite white man

Pls make more gifs of him. Omg

I can see Tomas meeting you through a mission

It was supposed to be a simple “kill bad guys” mission but oh shit, there’s a child here

Now how he gets you outta there? Um… he beats your ass :D

Just a lil beating, then he takes you to Liu Kang in hopes that he can fix whatever is going on in your brain

Liu Kang is able to free your mind because god shit, but he says you gotta stay at the academy so he can keep an eye on you

Tomas should’ve been able to let you go, but for some reason he just couldn’t

He asks Liu Kang for updates on you, then eventually he just decides to visit in person

Now, considering Tomas is the one that saved you, and the academy isn’t a torture dungeon, I don’t think you’d be super alarmed when you see him

You just kinda stand there

He introduces himself, then tries to start small conversation and let you know that you’re safe now. You write you responses down on a notepad, which is odd but he’ll take it

“Do you have any family?” [No] “There’s gotta be someone out there missing you right now. You sure you can’t remember where they are?” [They’re dead. All of them]

Do I smell twinsies?!

Tomas knows the pain of losing loved ones and feels sad for you. He shares his story about how he lost his family. He doesn’t expect you to share what happened to yours, but he wants you to know that you’re not alone

This is where your bond starts. Maybe feeling safe in someone because of shared trauma is a bit wonky, but who cares?

He continues visiting you and chats with you. He tells you more about his family when you ask him to

Then comes the reveal

[I’m a bad person] “What? Why would you say that?” [I’ve killed people] “So have I” [I killed my family]

You write this long explanation, explaining that your first mission was to kill your immediate family

He’s shocked for sure, but he doesn’t blame you

He reminds you that you were just a child. Hell, you still are a child! You were also tortured and mind controlled. You didn’t want to do any of the stuff you were forced to do

[I miss them but I don’t think I’m allowed to] “Yes you are”

He couldn’t imagine carrying that much guilt around. Sure, he feels guilty about his family, but he didn’t kill them. He couldn’t imagine having memories of him killing the people he loves, and being forced to live with it

Tomas is very open with you about his own guilt and how he works to move on

It won’t be an easy journey, but he’s never giving up on you

Tomas becomes a friend, a mentor, an older brother (or father) all wrapped in one

When I tell you he’s never going to abandon you, I mean that shit. He’ll be by your side in everything and refuses to leave

He shares tips on grieving and guilt

Once you’re ready, he even takes you to your family’s gravesite

He lets you take all the time you need because he knows how badly you need this

Recovery is never an easy road. Tomas knows this from first hand experience. Doesn’t matter though because Tomas is always gonna be there to lift you up when you fall

Overall, Tomas would handle the guilt aspect the best. He has his own experience when it comes to losing family and guilt, so he’d understand how you feel

I feel like I keep giving Tomas the least amount of words, and that is not on purpose. I just be tired by the time I get to him😭. I still love you pookie

[daenysthedreamer101]

TVD - Season 4 Ep 12

"A View to a Kill"

Do I even have to say it? Elena and Jeremy killing Kol was the stupidest, most nonsensical thing I've seen on this show so far and that's saying a lot. There is no way in hell that Kol, an Original, was killed by Jeremy, a 16-year-old human (I know he's a hunter but still), and Elena, a baby vampire who's been a vampire for a couple of months at most. Kol is over a 1000 years old!

How? Like....Ughhhh! He didn't even want to kill Jeremy, just cut his arms off (ok not saying that's good but he said "I'll heal you with my blood" so...). He easily could've killed Elena, but he didn't. When he stabbed her, he stabbed her in the stomach, not the heart.

Also, it just felt OOC for Elena to be so willing to kill someone. Like "Oh yeah let's just kill him and by killing Kol we'll kill thousands of other vampires" ...Wasn't Elena supposed to be this really compassionate person because I don't see her anywhere. 😒😒😒

.....NO! THIS SHOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE! There's no way Elena was able to hold Kol for that long. Also, very convenient for her that she saw that Kol had the white oak stake with him cause his jacket was open (smells like plot convenience to me hmm...). And ofc they put vervain in the water system the day Elena decided to kill Kol...🙄🙄🙄

DAMN IT, I LIKED HIM! I know they bring him and Finn back for TO but that's irrelevant rn. Ever since they introduced him back in s3 they just kept on nerfing tf out of him. He's an Original damn it, he is more powerful than all of them. It shouldn't be possible for Damon to snap his neck and it should definitely not be possible for a human teenager and a baby vampire to kill him!

What tf was the point of making the Originals so powerful when a baby vampire and a human were able to kill one? Like who wrote this nonsense? 💀💀💀

Klaus and the others better take some revenge! Like, there need to be some repercussions for this!!! We saw Bekah cry when Stefan told her but like, that's not enough? I need revenge!

Also, Bonnie is kind of annoying me? Ever since that stupid professor showed her expression or whatever it's called she's been on my nerves idk. Literally, everyone rn on this show is annoying me lol 😭

Why didn't Kol compel Elena to stay put when he stabbed her? Like, don't tell me she was on vervain? There's no way she drank the water or did she? Or he ofc just didn't think of it.

Klaus's reaction to seeing Kol's body on fire and the way Elena flinched when he yelled "He was supposed to suffer on MY TERMS! "...yeah someone pls give my man Joseph an Oscar cause that was acting! Klaus better keep his promise and burn their stupid house down!

Where is Elijah? PLS COME BACK WE NEED YOU SO BAD! 😭😭

RIP MY BABY I'LL MISS YOU! YOU WERE SO CUTE AND SASSY AND CHAOTIC I LOVED YOU! 😟😟💔 (also how do we feel about the bangs lol)

[mysticpear]

running list of my favorite moments from Paris 2024

the rapper who now sponsors women's wapo

stephen from penn state and everyone being obsessed with pommel horse now

SIMONE BILESSSSSSSSS literally eating after tokyo and at age 27 (dont fact check me im not doing google searches)

jade carrey's grace after her quals on floor

womens gymnastics having qualifiers on every event in the top 3

womens gymnastics leading all teams by FIVE WHOLE POINTS and the 2nd/3rd difference being 2 TENTHS (aka 5.0 vs 0.2)

synchronized diving bros tm

the new womens gymnastics commentators who are focusing on the incredible skill of the athletes and their resilience and safety rather than a single flexed foot like in the past

aly raisman is there love

waiting for track events bc i just want to see hurdles and sha'carri richardson

womens rugby absolutely demolishing great britain

con't:

12. snoop memes 13. simone's response to reporters asking about hezly, simone's caption under the team gold win, simone's response to aly raisman asking what the team nickname is 14. stephen from penn state again for becoming an overnight national hero 15. the main woman on the rugby team (ilana?? not sure) whos fully an icon and a beast and knows it as she damn well should 16. my friends and coworkers tolerating my gymnastics infodumps

con't part 2:

17. SIMONE GETTING BLOCKED BY MYKAYLA LMFAO 18. continuation of stephen memes i love them keep it up 19. just saw that apparently martha stewart is joining snoop for equestrian events bc "he's afraid of horses" 20. ILONA MAHER MY ICON MY LOVE 21. tom daly's sweaters and children 22. simone biles' husband (no he will not have a name) sitting with her parents and keeping their scorecard. v wholesome 23. aly raisman asking the team what their name is and simone fully glitching on how to not say "fuck" at a press event

WAIT SAME DAY BUT I THOUGHT OF MORE

24. pregnant fencer winner, can u imagine growing up like "yeah i technically medaled at the olympics bc my mom had been growing me for SEVEN MONTHS already" that kid is gonna have incredible stories 25. simone and her biggest competitor Rebeca Andrade cheering each other on even tho they're both going to all around medals on different teams. they FUCKING GET IT that's girlhood 26. katie ledecky eating it up year after year

part three of the day:

27. the gymnast who's sponsored by cheese?? jealous 28. the swimmer whos obsessed with the muffins so true king chase your passions 29. i found my favorite meme, allow me to quote: "gay men thirsting over the lithe sun-kissed swimmers' bodies of Team Italia and lesbians thirsting over a woman in a backwards hat and severe bob doing shooting - this is what those people at Stonewall died for" with a gif of the pistol icon queen (do not know her name) (also this is obv dramatic, we know Stonewall is a deep and complex history, don't @ me) 30. a clip of synchronized divers from (i think) china and the commentators were talking about how they had to come up with a new term to describe their water entry and it was something along the lines of splash disappear magic or smth. crazy

I'm back and worse than ever 31. HAPPY SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON IS RUNNING DAY 32. Alice Bellandi, who i just found out about. LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GOOOOOOO 33. i just.. something about the olympics exposing how much progress there is to be made in the world. year after year. from women's rights to gay rights to trans rights to racism to sexism and on and on and on. some dumbos were like "yay international competition" and instead got lesbians celebrating their gold medals w their gfs and women sharing about how they had a therapy appt right before they competed. its kind of a beautiful testament to the validity and worldwide nature of these issues 34. simone sharing that she met w her therapist the morning of her all around gold win 35. once again SIMONE'S FAMILY AND THEIR SHIRTS IM CRYING 36. im kind of obsessed with seeing noticeable mistakes intermixed with perfection 37. PIN TRADING specifically the clip of ilona maher trading w simone

anotha one

38. Jade Carrey medaling on vault 39. Suni medaling on AA 40. stephen again. SLAY individual PH medalist!!!! one of my best friends texted me to make sure i'm also obsessed with him and i told her about my deepdive into his gf's NCAA career lol. PS stephen you should come visit ur alma mater because you genuinely seem like one of the coolest people ever and i wanna meet you. 41. shoutout to frederick richards (also men's usa gym) for tearing it up all the damn time. i think he posts a lot on social media and the men's all around gymnasts should be getting a whole bunch of hype 42. Sha'Carri Richardson. so beauty so grace. she didn't even look like she was trying for the last quarter of her 100m qual. 43. related: im obsessed with the purple track like hello???? iconic 44. video of the camera man for trampoline. just up down up down up down 45. honestly every new thing i find out about the shooting events (incl the post about america not medaling at all but phrased as a clear dig at our firearm policy) 46. how (and maybe this is just me) women are fully dominating the news cycle in terms of what i hear about the olympics. the only men i've heard about are stephen and the Dad energy guy shooting for turkey, everything else is THE GIRLS 47. katie ledecky holding so many consecutive spots on every event record list she's on

hello again

48. Snoop ACTUALLY with martha stewart and both of them in full esquestrine (??) fits 49. WOMEN HAVE WON THE V A S T MAJORITY OF USA INDIVIDUAL MEDALS YAAAAA 50. ilona maher still shes just. ugh. (as i write this i get a post w a pic of her and stephen captioned "asking a bisexual woman to explain her type" lmao) 51. KAYLIA (?) AKA ALGERIA'S FIRST GYMNASTICS MEDALIST 52. proposal 53. the mixed doubles couple in ?? badminton?? who broke up to focus on their sport then won together and got back together <3 love is real 57. not only the pregnant fencer but I also just saw about a pregnant shooter??? again these kids are gonna have top tier bragging rights. also women are sick as hell 58. maybe already said this but im not reading the last fifty seven entries to check so any of the women's gymnasts and their just proud af smiles when they hit an incredible stick. like the way they just stand there for a sec and slowly bring their arms down bc they previously accounted for an extra beat while landing. chefs kiss ugh 59. whoever the hell made stephen an american flag cape 60. omfg saw a post with a bunch of people talking about stephen and one of the connections was "so and so who is in the pommel horse specialist group chat" because a) that is a thing that exists??? im so delighted and b) what he was saying was that he usually logs on to see that stephen is playing some NERD ASS VIDEO GAME (i am not that direction of nerd so i dont remember which it was). obsessed 61. IMANE KHELIF. get angry yall. saw someone say "all it took was the other woman saying she had never taken a hit that hard. but girl ur in the hit people hard sport. at the most elite level." like ya. reading up on the "transvestigation" which is a term i just learned and genuinely needs to be cut tf out because the implication that ALL men will be and are biologically stronger than ALL women is absolute bs. 62. Noah Lyles: "America. I told you. I got this" so true king 63. the medal counter that added a ring category for the couple that got engaged lol very wholesome 64. jade carrey coming back to the olympics simply because she didn't perform up to her standards at Tokyo 65. omg the pic of simone touching up her lip liner SO iconic 66. oh the other name for the womens gymnastics team (other than fuck around and find out) being the golden girls because they're the oldest team to compete maybe ever? for usa 67. the owner of stephen's former (? current?) gym saying the phone has been ringing non stop with parents signing their sons up for classes 68. DID I ALREADY SAY LAURIE HERNANDEZ COMMENTATING + HER W ALY AGAIN??? 69. as the sixty ninth entry this feels appropriate. the paris pole vaulter who didn't win bc his dick caught the bar. 70. also sha'carri richardson's silver but also her in team USA and a ponytail... idk if i love or feel a Type of Way bc shes so known for her own style but also this feels super affirming that she's competing for team USA but not in a way thats something she needed, more like we needed. does this make sense

[ashintheairlikesnow]

hey hey hey I have had a hell of a day (Actually Hell) because I did too many fun things (a problem apparently) and then also we put up the christmas tree leading to the inevitable christmas tree installation arguments (they pop up every year like clockwork!)

anyway i have been overstimulated and stressed (just want to emphasize that there is NO pressure here whatsoever! id like to avoid any semblance of that actually and I know you're already working on 12 days so take your time) and it would be very cathartic to see chris dealing with similar issues (the Wonderful guy. we are pretty similar.) thanks a lot for reading this, even if you don't write anything !

Sorry this took so long, Anon! I swear I've been trying to get this written for literally almost two months now

CW: Some references to Chris's past, overstimulation, anxiety

"Hey, where did Chris go?" Laken blinks and looks around, but the living room of the house they rent - filled with laughing, happy people - shows no sign of Chris's telltale lavender hair with its new-penny copper roots.

One of Brit's friends just shrugs at them and gestures, vaguely, in the direction of the kitchen. "Dunno. He wandered off a while ago, maybe that way?"

"Oh, okay. Huh." Laken steps back, the circle of laughing people closing up tight as soon as they do. Their dark eyes scan the room, but there's no sign of him.

He'd been doing great - all but holding court, one of the most popular people at the party. He's sort of famous, since the Olympics, and people had been peppering him with questions and compliments, crowding around wanting nothing more than to be friends with the ex-pet who stood up to the bad guys on live TV. They'd seen him dancing, too, the music loud enough to nearly make the walls shake. The easy, unselfconscious dancing they loved in him the most.

He'd seemed to be enjoying himself, at the time, but...

Where has he gone?

They weave around people, stopping to pick up an ornament that has fallen off the tree. The scent of pine is subtle and ever-present, and they carefully work the ornament's little loop back over a branch, ruefully watching a couple of pine needles come loose and drift down. The damn thing is already starting to turn a little brown around its edges, thanks to Laken's roommate having insisted on buying it literally the day before Thanksgiving.

Laken doesn't even celebrate Christmas, not since they stopped going to Mass on Christmas Eve years and years ago. Still, in a house they rent with three others, they're the only one who doesn't at least pay lip service to the holiday.

And even if they don't give a fuck about Christmas, they do like having an excuse to throw a party.

The tinsel wrapped in spirals around, over, and below the ornaments glitters in the light, and the look makes them think of Chris, and how his eyes have always looked just the same, to them, when they're out at night and the moon hits the green of his irises just right.

Their search leads them to Ben, contentedly sitting on the couch, a drink in one hand and his phone in the other, quietly reading something there while the party is in full swing around him. He glances up and then instinctively, immediately, uses a finger to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Hey, Laken. What's up?"

"Is Akio not coming tonight?"

"Oh... no." Ben blushes - it's adorable, and Laken can't help the smile playing around their lips. "He's got some kind of meeting with the gymnastics team, or his coaches? Or... something like that. He said sorry, though."

"Nah, no problem. But, hey, so. Uh, have you seen Chris, like within the last ten minutes or so??"

Someone puts Christmas music on and Laken shudders as they hear that damn 80s pop song start up again. If they have to hear that fucking song one more time...

"Nope. Not in a while." Ben shrugs, taking a drink. Whatever he has in that cup is pinkish-red and probably far more alcoholic than it tastes. Laken's roommate had insisted on a signature cocktail. "You could check outside? Sometimes when there's a lot of people, to Chris it's... too much."

Laken nods, still scanning the crowd, but their stomach knots a little with the first hit of real anxiety. Ben is right, Chris can get overwhelmed by too much noise and movement, but also he's been drinking tonight - they saw the same red punch in a cup in his hands earlier - and he has a tendency to get... hazy, when he drinks. Flirty in ways that aren't natural to him. Willing to let people hug him that he doesn't like, unable to bring himself to stop them. Sometimes his stammer smooths out, which makes people who don't know him feel more comfortable and people who do know him nervous. He starts tipping his head to the side in a way that makes the sweep of his growing-out hair hide the scar on his forehead, biting his lower lip when he smiles. It makes Laken feel a little sick to see it happen and realize Chris doesn't even notice when he's doing it.

The last thing they need is to have to come up with an explanation for Chris losing track of himself again, or why he's eating olives off the charcuterie board Brit brought knowing damn well he'll just go to the bathroom and get sick all over the place again, or... fuck, what if somebody hits on him and he's too drunk to stop it?

That hasn't happened since college, but...

They pull their phone out, uneasily checking for a text, but there's nothing. If he went outside, he'd text, right? He does, he always does. Texts can be easier and Chris is always a little nervous about being outside alone.

He insisted on coming tonight, said he was feeling good lately, but-... what if-...

They flinch when fingers touch their arm, only to see Ben must have stood up when they weren't looking. He slips his own phone into his jacket pocket and looks Laken over more closely. "Hey. It's okay, he's probably fine. You know he gets weird when parties are really going. It's like a light switch, enough to too much, I totally get it. It's why I'm on the couch fucking around on Kindle instead of, you know... talking to people." Ben says it like talking to people is literal hell, and... okay, Laken can see how that might be the case. "He probably just needed to get away from it and wandered off."

"Uh, yeah. I know." Laken rubs at the back of their neck, fingers moving through the soft, shorn undercut beneath their longer black waves. "I'm sure that's it. Just... you know, sometimes he... when he gets nervous..."

"I got you." They adore Ben, sometimes, for how often they don't have to finish the sentences they don't want to say. He knows what words haven't yet spilled, unwilling. Sometimes he acts like he belongs to us, not like he loves us. Sometimes I can't trust him to find his way back on his own. Sometimes I feel like Jake, and I hate feeling like Jake.

Words die in their throat.

Ben squeezes their arm, gently. "Let's split up and search around. I'll go outside, you go around the house, okay? We verify how he is, then whichever one finds him tells the other. Sound good?" Ben smiles, and Laken relaxes a little, finding a smile for him in return.

"Yeah, sounds good. Thanks, Ben."

"No problem." Ben has always understood Chris, thanks to his little brother being similar in some ways. He understands Laken's worry, too, because better than anyone else here - he knows how Chris sometimes gets lost in his past, especially if he's drinking, worse the maybe twice Laken's ever seen him try an edible or a pill.

What if he got drunk and someone offered him something and he took it? Drunk Chris sometimes isn't a Chris who can easily turn down anything he's offered.

This party was a stupid idea.

Laken takes a deep breath and squares their shoulders.

Chris is not a child.

He is a goddamn grown man and Laken is not his keeper. They're not his parent and they're not a babysitter. They're definitely not his fucking... owner or whatever the bastards that hurt him would have called it. They're his partner. He can handle himself, better than they could if they'd lived his life, and they need to trust him to either know his limits and to get away if he can't say no, or to come to them if he wants to ask for help. Otherwise, they're not any better than the bullshit he's been buried in for longer than he's known them.

Ben goes to check outside, slipping silently out the sliding door onto the back porch where a small crowd has congregated in a cloud of skunky smoke, while Laken heads upstairs, peeking their head in to room after room with no sign of him anywhere. They see some movement under a pile of coats, but that's... definitely not Chris, based on the very female voices who yell at them to give them some fucking privacy, please.

"Sorry, Brit," Laken calls, closing the door tightly. "And, um, Leigh. Just looking for Chris-"

"Well, he isn't in here or we'd have kicked him out already," Brit says, cranky but without any real anger in her voice. Laken doesn't recognize the redhead whose eyes pop up from beneath the pile of coats next to her. "Check a different room."

"Yeah, I will. Uh... keep having fun, I guess-"

"That's the plan! Now leave, please!"

The door latches as they close it, and they exhale. There's one room left, at the end of the hall, and they can hear a familiar murmuring from behind the door when they press their ear up against it.

Laken knocks, rapping gently with their knuckles, and turns the knob when they hear no answer - but no demand to stay out either. The murmuring goes silent. They sigh, and the door swings open, light cutting across the carpet until it reveals their wayward boyfriend.

No one has claimed this bedroom yet, so it's bare and empty except for a couple unpacked cardboard boxes, Brit's exercise bike by the window, a couple of her yoga mats, a laundry basket with a few folded towels, and a bare mattress the last housemate had left behind on the floor when they moved out.

Laken's lips press together, eyes scanning the room. Chris's phone is on the mattress, along with an empty beer bottle, but Chris isn't. "Chris? Cariño?"

A muffled rustling makes them jump, heart in their throat, and then they realize the sound came from the closet, where the folding doors are closed. Laken pulls them open to reveal Chris curled up, knees nearly to his chin, an open bottle clutched in one hand, his chewy necklace in the other. He'd chosen the bat one tonight, and his hand is closed around it in such a tight fist Laken can tell his knuckles are white even in the dark.

Chris doesn't look at them. He's swaying, rocking forward and back, his eyes focused on something far, far away from them. There's red lines on his left wrist, where he's dug his nails in, scratching not quite deep enough to draw blood, but close. Laken takes a deep breath, shifting into a crouch.

"Talk to me, Chris."

"No." The answer is flat, and they watch his thumb rub over the little nub of the silicone bat's nose, the points of its tiny ears. "No, no, no. No."

At least he's saying it out loud.

That alone makes the knot of anxiety in their chest start to loosen. If he can say no, he isn't gone, maybe just... standing a little farther back, inside his own head, than the surface.

"Okay. Okay, that's fine. No talking, that's fine. Are you okay, baby?" Laken keeps their voice just above a whisper and lays their hand on the wood trim that frames this shitty excuse for a closet, the floor creaking under them. "You... kind of vanished on me, there."

Chris's eyes flick to them and then away again. "Loud," He manages, and he sounds like he's forcing the word out between gritted teeth. Maybe he is. "Too, too, too... too loud. Too much, too... many."

"I guess Ben called it." Laken sighs, pulling out their phone and sending Ben a quick text that they found Chris and everything's fine. they get a thumbs-up in reply almost immediately. Ben must have been as anxious as they are, if he was just watching for their text to come in. "Do you want me to call Jake to come get you, or..."

"No!" He snaps it, and Laken tries not to wince. He's just struggling with the noise of the party, they tell themself, he's not actually angry. Chris almost never gets angry, and even then it's only at himself. Which... is worse, somehow. "No. Just... Quiet, it's... it's it's quiet."

"Right. Do you want me to stay with you? Be quiet with you?"

He shakes his head, but he doesn't say anything else. His mouth moves, but no further sounds come out.

"Chris, did..." They want to ask, did someone say something to you? Sometimes people said things, referenced pets or something in a way that set him off. But even if someone had... he probably wouldn't tell them, at least not now, not when every word seemed to have to filter through layer after layer of self-protection in his mind. "Never mind. Is there anything I can do for you? Water, or..."

He shakes his head. "No. Just. Um. Quiet... quiet, now. Please?"

"Yeah." Laken leans over and presses a kiss to his hair. He tips his head against their lips and they exhale in relief. "I love you, Chris. Come back if you can, but if you can't, that's okay, too. Just don't hurt yourself, okay? Things should start winding down in a couple hours." They take the little plastic bat and push it against the hand that's still scratching at his shoulder, until he takes hold of it again, pressing it against his mouth and running it back and forth, back and forth.

Chris is quiet, but as they open the door to head back into the hallway, they hear a quiet, "Love, love you," from Chris, barely audible.

They smile as they close the door. Down the hall, the sounds of the party hit them like a brick, beckoning them back to the noise and the cheer and the awful fucking Christmas music still blaring at top volume. Someone yells something out and the whole damn crowd cheers, making Laken wince at it feels nearly deafening.

Maybe Chris has the right idea.

-

@finder-of-rings @endless-whump @arlin-always-writing @newandfiguringitout @doveotions @pretty-face-breaker @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @boxboysandotherwhump @oops-its-whump @whumpyourdamnpears @cubeswhump @burtlederp @whump-tr0pes @whumptywhumpdump @whumpiary @orchidscript @outofangband @hackles-up @grizzlie70 @mylifeisonthebookshelf @keeper-of-all-the-random-things

[mirkwoodshewolf]

A departed farewell; Eddie Munson x reader

*Author's note*

To all out there, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Okay so this one is kinda heavy but after getting reintroduced to the great film known as The Crow, this little fic was born and I wanted to post it up on Halloween night. But there is also some heavy warnings which I will say below, so to the faint of heart or those at are easily triggered, I won't be hurt if you decide to skip this fic. Have a happy Halloween (and if you don't celebrate it, have a good day/afternoon/evening).

Warnings: Eddie's death scene, drug use (not just weed, I'm talking hardcore drugs shown and mentioned here), depression, angst, some fluff, Vamp Eddie(? You decide), death.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@psychosupernatural

@gay-and-ready-to-cry

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@queen-paladin

__________________________________________________________

Dustin Henderson and Steve Harrington walked out along the wooded trails all the way to Reefer Rick’s boathouse.  In his hands, Dustin held some wild flowers that he had picked before he had Steve drive him up here.  They stopped before the boathouse and Dustin placed the wild flowers amongst the pile of already decaying flowers that had been placed there throughout the year.

“I still can’t believe it’s been over a year since it happened.” Dustin said weakly.  “He didn’t deserve any of this. And he deserved to have a proper burial. Why did I have to break my damn leg?!”

“You didn’t break it. But you can’t blame yourself for what happened Dustin. You didn’t know Eddie was going to do what he did.”

“I just……I just still can’t believe he’s really gone. He of all people didn’t deserve what he got. I mean the people we lost when all this started, they didn’t get any of the shit that Eddie got. This town—hates him. Still hates him. They really think he did all of this and we can’t change that.”

“It sucks, I’ll admit that. But small minded people can never be changed, no matter how hard we try. At least we know the truth that Eddie Munson went out a hero. A hardcore, metal hero.”

“Have you and Robin tried talking to (Y/n) recently?” asked Dustin.

“Do you really need to ask?”

“Right, dumb question.”

“As her twin brother I know we’re supposed to rag on each other at times, but now I really mean it when I say it. She looks like she’s been through hell, chewed up and then spat back up. She’s not sleeping, she’s barely eating. And what’s worse are the drugs.”

“You mean…..”

“I wish dude, she’s been at the hard stuff. Don’t know where she’s getting it but I’ve seen the syringes and rubber bands. I can’t stand to see her in that much pain. She needs help but everytime I try to talk to her about it she—”

“She was right there with him when he died Steve. Those bats literally held her back just so that she could watch as they devoured him alive. On one hand I don’t blame her for falling like that, hell if I were in her place and I saw Suzie die like that, I’d probably fall that hard too.”

“Don’t you ever say anything like that you little butthead! I don’t ever want you talking about drugs again understand?!”

“On the other hand, she isn’t grieving properly. And that’s on all of us, we were too focused on how we had to move on with the rest of the town after the earthquakes happened that we completely ignored (Y/n)’s feelings. And it’s not just your fault Steve.” Steve shook his head, stroking his fingers through his hair anxiously.

“I’m 12 minutes older than her. I’m her big brother, and—I wasn’t there for her. Not ever since we entered high school. These last couple of years we’ve managed to rebuild our sibling bond but now I……I’m losing her again man.” Tears started to build up in Steve’s eyes.  “I can’t….I can’t lose another person.” He thought back on Max and how he had failed to keep her safe.

She was a sarcastic child who suddenly came in when she and Billy came by but after reading her note, she had admitted to him that he was the big brother she had hoped Billy could’ve been for her, and it all happened ever since he stepped forward to keep them safe when Billy came looking for her.  Sure he got his ass beat but he was willing to keep himself in the line of Billy’s rage and not let any of the kids get a single punch.  Now—now when she needed him most, he failed her.

Dustin looked up to see that Steve had buried his eyes behind his right hand and saw how his shoulders began shaking as he choked on his sobs.  Dustin gave Steve a one armed hug.

“We’ll get her back. We’ll get them both back.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I’m not. But it’s all that’s going through my mind. And I’m not gonna rest until we finally find a way to kill Vecna and send that son of a bitch straight to hell.”

“You’re a tough kid Henderson, hell of a lot tougher than me.” Steve ruffled his hair then the two of them left Reefer Rick’s boathouse and drove back to town.

*Halloween 1987*

It was Halloween night and unlike in the years before, Hawkins wasn’t celebrating Halloween this year.  There was no yearly town hall Halloween party, no trick-or-treaters going out and about to get candy, not even the high schoolers dared to try and host a party of their own.

At Forest hill trailer park, the crack that had spread from this part of Hawkins had actually driven most of the trailer homeowners to leave Hawkins all together.  Most took their RV’s and fled, while others just packed whatever they could and skipped town or ended up homeless and were currently staying at a shelter on the other side of Hawkins.

A hand suddenly shot up from the cracks and began crawling out from the earth.  Groaning and grunting in agony as he pulled himself out from the red light of the Upside town glowing from beneath the earth.  Once he was free, he lay there on his back exhausted and stared up at the night sky.  The stars shining like diamonds high above the abandoned trailer park.

Suddenly the man heard a meow and when he opened his eyes, a long haired black cat stared down at him with piercing green eyes he could make out from the light of the full moon.

“Loki?” the cat let out a purr as his eyes squinted but then he licked the man’s finger before nuzzling into his hand.  He lifted his hand and stroked through the cat’s long soft fur and asked. “Wha—what happened here?” suddenly something flashed before his eyes.  A flash like seeing the tv suddenly go static after a power outage.  He gripped his forehead before he found himself standing up and walking forward.

He stumbled about, falling a couple of times but as his vision kept flashing he kept standing back up and trudged onward.  He saw himself standing on top of his trailer, shredding on his guitar.  A swarm of bat-like creatures surrounding him and two other people, he then found himself falling down once more but he also saw himself falling, this time off a bike and he had been attacked by one of those bat creatures.

He saw himself stand up wielding a spear as well as a trashcan shield with nails sticking out and he stood up getting into the same position as he saw himself in that vision.  He then saw the girl from before coming toward him calling his name.

“EDDIE! EDDIE!!!”

“(Y/n)?! What are you doing here?! You weren’t supposed to come back!”

“I made a promise Mr. Frodo! A promise! Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee. And I don’t mean to, I don’t mean to.” She told him.  He shook his head and found himself saying as he heard himself in his vision say.

“Into the fires of Mount Doom milady?” She nodded and together the two of them stood as the bats swarmed around them before charging head on, the two of them using their trashcan shields to block off the attacks.

He copied his fighting movements of spear and shield, as he saw the girl, (Y/n) use a bottle of hairspray and with a lighter, she had created her own flamethrower to burn any bats that came near her.  He then felt and saw himself being choked by one of the bats and felt himself being pulled to the ground. 

His arms and legs were pulled outward and he saw the bats beginning to feast on his flesh.  He saw and remembered the pain of their teeth piercing his skin and digging out chunk after chunk of flesh.  All the while he could hear (Y/n) screaming out his name as she was forcefully held back by the bats.  Their tails wrapped around her arms, legs, neck and stomach, even as she pulled to free herself, they pulled harder until suddenly they dropped dead.

She crawled over to his bleeding body whimpering out his name and picking him up into his lap.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no baby! Teddy-bear! Don’t you leave me don’t you die like Boromir did!”

“Bad huh?” he choked up.  Soon another voice spoke up, this time a younger man’s voice assured him.

“No, no you’re gonna be fine we just need to get you to a hospital okay?”

“Okay.” He choked up.  Together (Y/n) and the young man tried to pick him up but the pain in his body was too great as he pleaded.

“I-I-I think I just need a second, I need a second, okay?”

“Okay, okay we—we’ll give it to you.” (Y/n) assured him as she rested his head on her lap, stroking through his hair.  He looked up at both (Y/n) and the young man and strained out as blood started coming up his throat.

“I didn’t run away this time right?”

“No. No baby, you-you didn’t run. Though I wish you did. Whatever happened to having no shame in running?” she asked him.

“You both are gonna have to look after those little sheep for me okay?” he told them.

“No! You’re gonna do that yourself!” the young man said but he found himself saying along with his vision.

“No man. Say you’re going to look after them. Say it Henderson.” He saw as the two of them were sobbing over him.  (Y/n) took his left hand and raised it up to her face, the blood along his arm seeping into her hands but she didn’t care.

“I’m gonna….I’m gonna look after them.” Henderson choked out.  He then found himself looking up at (Y/n), only at her even through his hazy vision as he asked her.

“And you…..fair Ravenna.” She choked out a sob.  “Please smile for me…….please.” with as much strength as he could, he managed to move his index finger along her jawline.  She kissed the back of his hand and gave a small, sweet smile.  “Good…..cause I…..think I’m actually going to graduate. I think it’s my year sweetheart—Hen-Henderson. I think it’s finally my year……” he remembered feeling the blood starting to rise in his throat, preventing him from speaking full sentences but he did manage to make one last statement before he fell silent.

“I love you guys.”

“I love you too.” Henderson wept.

“This belongs to you Eddie Munson, and always will.” He felt her hand cup the side of his face, watched as she leaned forward and felt the soft touch of her lips on his bloody ones.  Even with the taste of iron that was now seeping between her lips, she dared not move as she kept the gentle, loving kiss going until she separated from him.

And it was at that moment he had felt himself slip into darkness.

He remembered who he was.  He was Eddie Munson, three-time senior of Hawkins High.  Dungeon Master of the Hellfire club, and the love of his life was (Y/n) Harrington.

Eddie stood up and walked towards a trailer that had somehow miraculously survived the earthquake.  He opened the door and knew that no one was home as the place had been ransacked and just left behind for anyone to have.  Loki followed him inside, racing into the bathroom and hopped on top of the sink.

Eddie stared at himself in the mirror as memories of him and (Y/n) together flashed through his mind.  Them cuddled on her bed when he’d sneak over to her house.  The times they’d both try to cook something only to end up nearly burning the trailer down and his uncle having to stop the flames from spreading cause the two of them would be panicking too much.

Seeing her read all her favorite fantasy books from Tolkien to C.S Lewis and even J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan.  Him hovering over her as she would be sitting on a chair while she read and kissing her neck and face, pleading for attention.  And even though she tried to fight it, giggles would come out from her lips until she ended up succumbing to his will and they’d end up making out, or even going further beyond that.

The love he felt for (Y/n) both filled him with joy and agony.  How could he leave her like that? He knew that she had many people in her life abandon her.  Her parents, her friends, even her own twin brother had left her behind.  He was all she had and he left her.  His anger rose until he snapped and punched the mirror with his bare fist, breaking it in half.

His knuckles bleeding until he saw them heal up in the blink of an eye.  He turned to Loki who merely looked at him and slowly blinked before letting out a throaty meow.  Eddie dug through the cabinets and drawers of the bathroom until he had found some white base makeup and black lipstick.  He dipped his fingers into the white base, rubbed his hands together and covered his face in white makeup.

With the black lipstick he drew down from his eyes what almost resembled tearstains, as well as covered his lips black and even drew a line upward at the corner of his lips.  He stripped out of his torn and bloody clothes and managed to find a skin-tight along-sleeved black shirt, a long leather jacket, black pants and some old black boots.  He donned on the new look before turning over to Loki who raised a paw at him letting out a small meow.

Eddie rubbed Loki’s head before picking him up and walked out of the bathroom.

“I blame myself for wrecking your home Loki. I’ll bet it hasn’t been easy for god knows how long it’s been. But I’m going to make this right.” Loki meowed and as Eddie sat him down, Loki ran out the trailer and he followed the black cat.

At the Henderson household, Dustin had been pretty much kept under his mom’s tight thumb.  He wasn’t allowed anywhere unless it was school and back home.  Hell he was lucky if he was able to even get to visit Max once if not twice a week just to see how she’s doing or if anything had changed (even though nothing had. She had been in her coma for over a year now).

As rain now began to pour down heavily on this Halloween night, he looked at his old Ghostbusters proton pack from three years ago and thought back to simpler times.  He wished that those days would come back, long before the whole Upside down and he and his friends were the four weirdos who loved to play DnD all day and night at each other’s houses.

He heard a gentle rap at the window and when he turned around he saw Loki sitting right outside his window.

“Loki?” he remembered seeing the long-haired black cat over at Forest hill whenever he’d go to visit Eddie.  He opened the window and allowed the drenched cat inside.  “I thought you had gotten caught up when the Upside down opened up, guess (Y/n) was right to name you after the Norse god of mischief.” Loki let out a meow.  “Oh yeah, think you can let me dry you off?” Loki let out a merp (a mix of a meow and a purr) and Dustin left to get a cat-sized towel that his mom uses on their cat whenever he got out.

When Dustin returned with the towel, he gently dried off Loki then allowed the cat to lick himself clean.

“What are you doing all the way over here anyways?” Loki paused and turned to the corner of Dustin’s room and there he saw a figure hidden within the shadows.  Dustin jumped back fearfully and Eddie said.

“You know you gotta learn to shut your windows Dustin Henderson. You never know what freaks lurk in the night.” Dustin narrowed his eyes as he heard the voice.

“I can’t believe it…….Eddie?”

“Nice to see you again butthead.” Dustin took large strides across his room and embraced Eddie, tears falling down his face.  Eddie hugged the young boy back and Dustin looked up at him.

“How did—I mean how is…..I saw you die. How are you alive? Does (Y/n) know? When did you get back? How long have you been alive? What happened?”

“Henderson, you’re rambling like a mad man.” Eddie stopped the young boy’s frantic question asking.

“Sorry.” Dustin said meekly.

“I honestly don’t know how it happened. One moment I was dying in (Y/n)’s arms and next thing I know, I’m crawling out of a gateway from hell. I don’t even know if I’m really alive or not.”

“What do you mean?” Eddie walked over to Loki and stroked down his chest before trailing his finger towards his right paw.  He knew that Loki once had been attacked by another stray cat and his right paw never fully healed, so now anytime someone goes to touch that paw, he’ll bite since he had been declawed by his previous owners.

After Eddie got a nasty bite and Loki went over to sit on Dustin’s dresser now, his tail twitching.

“Eddie what the hell did…..”

“Just watch.” Eddie showed Dustin how the nasty bite wound now began to close up, just like what happened to his knuckles after he had punched the mirror.

“Holy shit.” Dustin muttered.

“But that’s my least concern right now. I need to ask you some questions. How long has it been since that day?”

“It’s been over a year. It’s 1987 now, Halloween. Of course no one really celebrates that holiday here anymore ever since the gates opened and split Hawkins in four ways.”

“I take it we didn’t kill Vecna?”

“Nancy, Steve and Robin definitely laid one on him. But there wasn’t a body after Nancy gave him one last shot to the chest. Will even says he can still feel him, that he is weak but bidding his time.” Eddie looked down grimly.  “We…..also lost Max. I mean we sorta did but she hasn’t woken up yet. And I’m sorry Eddie, I’m really, really sorry. But the town put all of this mess onto you.”

“No surprise there. Last anyone knew of me, I was wanted for Chrissy’s and Patrick’s murders. Once the satanic freak, always the satanic freak.” Eddie plopped down onto Dustin’s bed.

“I’ve tried to get Hooper to work with the government to clear your name but they’re still in the processing phase, which is basically them saying they’ve got too much on their plate right now to deal with this specific request.” Eddie perked his head up.  “Oh yeah, apparently Hooper was alive in a Russian gulag and Joyce brought him back along with Murray the conspiracy maniac.”

“All be damned. One of the only cops in this town I actually liked back from the grave. Guess we have that in common.” There was a brief moment of silence before Dustin said.

“Eddie……” Eddie looked up at Dustin and knew what the kid wanted to say.

“There’s nothing you can say Henderson. What happened, happened. Me being associated with you had nothing to do with my death.” He stood up and walked over to Dustin.  He placed two firm hands on Dustin’s shoulders, looked him square in the eye and continued, “It was a shitshow there’s no question about it. But the fact that you were the first and only one to truly believe I wouldn’t do this besides (Y/n), I couldn’t ask more of a friend. Hell even a little brother. But don’t go getting a big head about it, okay?” Dustin slightly chuckled as tears fell down his face.  He wiped them away and choked out.

“I’ve missed you Eddie.”

“Missed you too yah little shit.” Dustin immediately held onto Eddie as tight as he could.  Eddie rested his head on top of Dustin’s as he patted the young man’s back.

“Eddie, there’s something else you should know.” Eddie separated from the hug and Dustin told him, “It’s about (Y/n). She…..she’s really spiraled ever since you—well you know. And I’m scared she’s going down a path she can’t come back from. It’s more than just shutting herself in or not talking to us. Steve told me she’s been getting into drugs. And I don’t mean the light stuff.”

“And what has Steve done?”

“He’s tried everything. And I know he doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s not just hurting him emotionally. I saw the faint scratch marks on his left cheek. I know she’s not doing it on purpose but…..I’m scared we’ll lose her too if she keeps going down this path.”

“I’ll get the info I need from Harrington. But this meeting never happened, understand Henderson?” Dustin nodded.

“Thank you Eddie. Love you man.”

“Love you too butthead.” With a loud boom of thunder and a bright flash of lighting, Dustin found himself once again alone in his room.

Over at the Harrington’s place, Steve was cleaning himself up in the bathroom.  Once again he and his twin had their daily screaming match of (Y/n)’s wellbeing, this time she had given him a hard punch to the nose and he had finally managed to get the bleeding to stop.

He walked into the kitchen and got out a beer, needing to take the stress out of him.

“Might wanna take something a bit stronger if you wanna take the edge off after a fight, trust me.” Steve jumped back but saw no one there.

“Who’s there?” Steve called out.

“Surely you know, after all this isn’t the first time I’ve snuck into this house.” Steve’s eyes widened and he immediately raced up the stairs and opened up his sister’s room and saw Eddie stroking his hand along (Y/n)’s acoustic guitar which sat at the corner of her room.

“This-this—that’s not possible. How are you—”

“Henderson asked me the same question.”

“Wait you saw Henderson? I swear if you’re one of Vecna’s tricks I swear to god……”

“One way to prove it’s actually me is that back in 81, I snuck in here to be with your sister after she had failed the SAT’s. Poor thing was so devastated she wouldn’t come to school for nearly a week cause it happened to be the time your parents came for their daily check in and she had a screaming match with your old man. So I came here that night and stayed with her. Then you barged right on in and said to me ‘Get out of my house freak! And don’t show your face around here again!’”

“Jesus Christ…..it really is you.”

“Nice to know when it comes to your sister you’re not that clueless anymore Harrington.” Eddie couldn’t help but mock with a smirk.

“If you’re here to mock me for being a horrible brother I already know that Eddie.”

“No, no I didn’t come here to gloat or to mock. Henderson gave me a brief summary on all that happened, but I want to hear your perspective.” He fully turned towards Steve holding up the locket necklace he had given her for a 16th birthday present their junior year.  “What happened to my best girl?” Steve sighed heavily.  He sat down on (Y/n)’s bed and confessed.

“(Y/n) was amess. At first it started off with her barely eating, then it was the constant nightmares of seeing you die over and over again. Then I noticed how she’d end up disappearing at night. I didn’t know where she was going until I caught her sneaking back in and her nose was bleeding. But not in the way where she’d been in a fight, and I didn’t want to believe it but I swear I thought I saw some white powder under her nose. Then it was the injections on her arms, I’ve been trying to get her to get some help but she’s lost it Eddie. Your death seemed to really fuck her mind up.”

“Jesus Christ.” Eddie mumbled solemnly.

“Now I don’t blame you, no way in hell am I blaming you. I just….It just pains me to see my twin sister like this. It’s like I’m feeling her pain like some weird twin telepathy if that shit’s even real. But I can’t stand to see her in that much pain, and for her not to know that she still has people here for her. Hell Henderson was there when you died too, and she’s acting like he wasn’t. You don’t think he’s feeling the same pain as she is?”

“She always did tease that we should’ve just grown a pair and shared custody of the twerp.” Eddie softly chuckled.

“She’s always struggled with depression ever since middle school. Our parents chose to ignore it and kept telling her to get over it or smile more. You’re not depressed, you’re just being dramatic. When she met you, that was probably the first time I’ve ever seen her truly happy.” Steve walked over to an old picture of her and Eddie together at the junior prom.  “Deep down I guess I also grew jealous of just how happy she was around you, and not me. Now I see that it was because of my selfishness that I drove her away. And even when I got our relationship back to the way it was before, I knew she’d put you over me in a heartbeat.”

“Your wrong.” Steve turned to him.

“What do you mean?”

“You remember how we were on Lover’s lake to find that gate where Patrick was killed?” Steve nodded.  “And you remember how you were dragged under the water, and I told you that Wheeler didn’t hesitate to dive in after you?” Steve nodded again.  “She wasn’t the first. In fact, the second you went down, your sister dove in straight after you. Even for not being the best swimmer, she dove straight in after you. She does love you Steve. Like you said, twin telepathy is a serious bond. Now old King Steve, he wouldn’t have dared try to help (Y/n) in her grieving stage. But you’re not him anymore, you’re her twin brother Steve Harrington. The one she always believed was still somewhere deep inside of you.”

Steve scoffed but Eddie came up to him and placed a hand over his chest.

“You’re still trying, still fighting for her. But before you can save her, you have to save yourself. Not just for what happened to me, but for all that happened. That includes Mayfield.” Steve’s eyes slightly widened.  “I’ve seen how you are with her Harrington. Ever since that mall fire, I’ve seen how you’ve come around to check in on her, how you’ve always tried to be there for her at school, and how you’ve been with her since I found out about this Upside down and Vecna shit. How can you even try to help your sister when you’re clearly not ready to forgive yourself?”

Steve couldn’t believe it but Eddie Munson was actually making sense.  Ever since he had been knocked back into reality since all of this began, and ended up forming a bond with the kids who started it all, he’s been trying to be the big brother he naturally was to the kids who began it all.  He knew none of the adults (minus Joyce and Hooper) wouldn’t understand and that the kids needed someone to protect them whenever no one was around.  So he ended up becoming the ‘babysitter’ as he was deemed at first.

And at first it was an annoying title but now, ever since their first big failure, he began to truly understood why he was called that.  He felt a strong need to protect these kids because who else was going to when Joyce had moved, when Nancy decided to try and return to her normal life, who else was there to talk to about all this stuff? Only him.

“She’s been dealing with Daniel Thompson.” Steve told him.

“Daniel. If there’s any drug dealer that should be in jail it’s that prick. At least Rick and I never dealt to pre-teens.” Eddie hissed as he felt his teeth starting to grow a bit sharp before they receded.  “Does he still live in Hawkins?”

“After the earthquake he moved over to the next county about 20 minutes’ drive from here. You know what, screw it.” Steve raced over and grabbed his keys as well as his bat with nails.  “C’mon.” Eddie followed close behind them and Steve started up his BMW and drove out of his driveway and through the storm to get his sister back by any means necessary.

With Eddie’s abilities, they were able to track down exactly where (Y/n) had gone to see Daniel and to Steve, it looked exactly where a drug dealer would live.  A very run down apartment complex in what appeared to be an unsafe part of town.  The rain still pouring down as Steve grabbed his bat.

“So what, you gonna come with and we bust his ass open?” Steve asked.

“This isn’t West side story Harrington. Daniel isn’t one to be messed with especially if he’s using with her. You go in there ready to bust his ass in, he’ll have you shot dead before you can even blink.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“Just follow my lead.” They exited the car and crept towards the fire escape on the side of the building.  Steve then watched in shock as Eddie leapt up and across the railings of the fire escape with ease.

“That would normally scare the shit out of me but I’ve seen freakier shit than that to be surprised.” He climbed up the fire escape until he stood by Eddie as he looked into a darkened room.  He placed his hand along the window and said.

“She’s in there. They’re both high as kites right now.”

“How can you tell?”

“I can smell the burnt spoons and blood inside.”

“Blood? Eddie are you—are you some kind of vampire or something?”

“Or something.” Eddie slowly opened the window and slipped inside like an assassin on a mission.

Once he was inside the room, he saw (Y/n) passed out on the bed while Daniel was up against his headboard staring up into space after getting his high.  Eddie scoffed before letting out a low whistle that seemed to stir them both from their high.  (Y/n) let out a groan and opened her eyes slowly raising her head while Daniel looked on ahead.

“What the…..fuck?” As Eddie continued to whistle, he noticed a lightbulb just hanging above him and trailed his head around it like a dazed man.  He then once again felt his canine teeth grow into fangs as a sudden primal instinct came over him.  He slowly walked towards them then once he got to the bed, he let out a leopard-like roar, baring his fangs which scared Daniel but startled (Y/n).  “JESUS CHRIST MAN!! You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack!”

“Are his…..eyes glowing red? Damn his costume is like…..all in.” (Y/n)’s tone was slurred.  Eddie couldn’t believe that this was the woman he had fallen in love with.  She had fallen so far and so fast ever since his death, but he was going to make it right.  But first he had to get her away from Daniel for good.

“Just the morphine yah dumb bitch. This is just some….freak looking for some kicks.” It was then Daniel withdrew his gun out from under his pillow. “Time for you to get out of here psycho. I ain’t got no more stuff, me and the girlie here used it all up.” Eddie withdrew his fangs and his glowing red eyes turned back to his normal dark brown as he pulled up a chair and sat down.  He pressed his palm against the barrel of the gun and dared him.

“Take your shot Thompson. You got me dead flank.”

“You are seriously fucked up.” Daniel said.  (Y/n) laughed in her high as Daniel continued, “Like you really need psycho-therapy help you sick fuck.” It was then Daniel pulled the trigger making Eddie jump back holding his hand in pain.

Daniel stood up and cheered in his victory on a bullseye but after his brief cries of pain, Eddie soon began laughing as he showed them both his hand and he then let out a cheer as the bullet hole healed instantly.  Daniel’s joy soon turned to panic and fear as he muttered.

“Jesus Christ.”

“Jesus Christ. Stop me if you’ve heard this before; Jesus Christ walks into a hotel.” Daniel shot Eddie in the shoulder which made him lurch backward a bit but he recovered and started walking towards him, continuing with the taunting joke, “He hands the innkeeper three nails and asks,” another shot rang out this time to Eddie’s stomach.

(Y/n) got out from the bed staring at the figure in fear.  At the second gunshot she ended up tripping over the bed sheets trying to get away but for some reason she couldn’t help but stare at the figure before Daniel.

“Don’t you ever fucking die!?” Daniel demanded.

“Can you put me up for the night?” in a flash, Eddie had forced Daniel to point the gun down at his own leg, the gun went off firing straight through Daniel’s femur, blood splattering everywhere.  Daniel cried out in agony, clenching his bleeding thigh between his hands.  “Hurts doesn’t it? When someone takes advantage of your weakness? Imagine what she’s gone through before you coaxed her into your web. In fact I’ll let you feel it.”

Eddie extended his hand and placed it over Daniel’s eyes and with a deep growl, Eddie allowed Daniel to feel every ounce of pain both he and (Y/n) felt on that day.  Daniel let out a scream before he fell still and stiff as a board.

Once Daniel was taken care of, Eddie heard the bathroom door shut.  He dropped the gun and slowly walked toward the bathroom.  He opened it and saw as (Y/n) was waving her arms back and forth meekly holding what appeared to be an old razor.  Her screams of fear piercing the bathroom echoing as she pleaded for her life.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!! STAY AWAY!!” Eddie grabbed both her wrists and got the razor out of her hands.  He pressed her back against his chest as he dragged her towards the mirror, her wailing making his heart ache but he had to fix this.  He had her stand before the mirror, one hand holding out her arm that had been filled with old and new puncture wounds, while his other hand held her across her forehead.

“You once said; What is grief if not love persevering? It is okay to cry and mourn for those we lost,” she then saw as the veins in her arm suddenly began to move and she felt the morphine slip down her arm.  “Drugs however is not the way to grieve.” (Y/n) soon felt her mind starting to clear up and when she turned to the man, she swore she was seeing Eddie looking at her.  He cupped her face between his hands and he said to her, “your brother is outside willing and ready to help you.”

(Y/n)’s lip trembled as tears poured down her face and she fell to her knees as she wept hysterically.

“Harrington!” Eddie called out and soon enough Steve came in and immediately he knelt down beside (Y/n) and held her in his arms.  Even as she felt him drenched from the rain, (Y/n) gripped onto her twin brother as tightly as she could all the while weeping out Eddie’s name.  As Steve rocked his little sister back and forth, he looked up at Eddie in sorrow but also gratitude while Eddie looked down at the sibling solemnly.

Eventually (Y/n) passed out from her hysterical sobbing.

Steve had taken his sister to the hospital to help get whatever else could’ve been in her system and she ended up sleeping all throughout the night, all throughout the rest of the next day up until it was nearly sunset.  She stirred away to hear machines beeping and the sound of voices speaking over intercoms.

She looked over and saw Steve along with Dustin talking with one another in a hushed manner.  When Steve noticed (Y/n) waking up, he came over to her saying.

“Sleeping beauty awakes. You okay?”

“A bit.” She said groggily.  “Where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital. Had to bring you here to get all that crap out of your body.” (Y/n) leaned up against her pillow shamefully.

“I am so, so sorry Steve. I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did. I know it doesn’t excuse me for my behavior, and I don’t expect you to forgive me. But I…..” Steve stopped her heartbroken confession by hugging his sister as tightly as he could.  “How can you forgive me so easily? I thought you’d never wanted to speak to me again?”

“I was never angry with you for turning to the drugs. I was upset because I was afraid you were losing your way.”

“I did lose my way Steve.”

“But you found it again. And I swear, I’m gonna be there for you every step of the way. No matter what it takes to help you get back on your feet.” The Harrington siblings smiled at each other softly as they embraced one another as (Y/n) said.

“Thank you Steve. You really are the best big brother.” After a few visits from the kids, as well as the older members of Hellfire, (Y/n) would soon be on her way to recovery.  After speaking with her doctor, he prescribed that she would need to go up to Indianapolis to their rehab center where she would get the coaching and help that I needed.

She and Steve signed a few forms and it was settled that after a couple of more days here for observation, she would take the first bus up to the capital for her rehab treatment.

Later that night as the hospital had closed down their offices to visitors and the night shift staff were doing their rounds.  (Y/n) lay there on her bed watching the Golden girls on the tv.  She was just about to fall asleep when she felt a cold brush of wind blow across her cheek, she turned and there she saw Eddie’s silhouette appearing from her window until he finally made himself known to her.

“Hello milady.” He greeted her with a warm smile and a gentleman’s bow.

“Eddie?” she softly whispered as her heart meter began to spike.  Eddie raised a finger to his lips softly shushing her as he walked up to her.

“Guess when you say your heartbeats faster everytime I’m in the room, you’re not lying. But it’s best we don’t alert the staff about my presence sweetheart.” He stood at the foot of her bed.

“Is it…..is it really you? Were you there that night? Or am I going crazy again from the drugs?”

“It’s not the after effects of the drugs, nor is this a trick from Vecna. I am here sweetheart.”

“I…….” (Y/n) was speechless.  “I’ve thought over a million, trillion things to say when I’d—” her breathing was shaky as she gasped softly, “How?”

“I had a mission to help three grieving souls who needed my words of wisdom. And you were the last one that needed saving.”

“So you’re…..you’re leaving again?” she asked sadly.

“Sweetheart I’ve heard and now seen just how my death has affected you. But there’s something you must understand. The Eddie Munson you once knew and loved has become someone entirely new. And I can’t let him near you until I’ve figured him out for myself.”

“But I…..I just got you back. Eddie I…..I see it happen every night when I sleep, and everytime when thunder rumbles, I’m back down there with you. Seeing those things rip you apart, not able to free myself or save you. Why must you leave me again?”

Eddie walked closer to her and hovered his upperbody over hers.  He leaned towards her left ear and whispered to her.

“This belongs to you, and always will.” He came back up, cupped the left side of her face.  His dark brown eyes staring down at hers as he leaned in closer to her face and captured her lips with his in a soft, hidden kiss.  (Y/n) raised her hand up and stroked along Eddie’s face with the back of her hand and buried her hand underneath his curls.

As the clock by her bed chimed midnight, Eddie separated from the kiss and took her hand into his.

“Where can I find you again?”

“You know that place between sleep and awake? That place where you still remember dreaming?” he asked her.  She softly nodded, “That’s where I will always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.” He told her in a soft, loving manner.  His eyes soon glowed red as he told her, “Sleep now meleth nin, sleep.” A feeling of exhaustion came over her as she soon fell asleep.  “Sleep until dawn.”

Eddie placed into her hands her necklace he had taken from her room and rested her hands over her chest.  He gave her one last look, almost as if he were taking a mental picture to keep forever in his mind before he forced himself away from her bedside and with the last chime of the clock, and a wave of the curtain, Eddie Munson disappeared from the hospital.

[atopvisenyashill]

That whole era of the Second Quarrel onwards is so obscure when it comes to the succession and the tensions surrounding it. No reactions. No massive events or much about dynamics. I want to know about Viserys's coronation. I want to know what he felt about his own succession before the GC. And before that, I want to know if Baelon ever tried to mend fences. If Jaehaerys ever mentioned it again, and how. How Rhaenys made her life, now all but an exile, on Driftmark. What motivated Aemma and Viserys's marriage. WHEN DID JOCELYN DIE?!

LITERALLY OMG. Number one frustrating thing about F&B is we get pages and pages of stuff no one in the world gives a shit about - Maiden's Day, that stupid story about Jaehaerys fucking the writer - and nothing on the subjects that actually got most people into the damn series like the POLITICS or the MAGIC. all of THAT is completly glossed over or Gyldane (and Yandel for that matter) just go "Well Barth did say this thing but that's nonsense" and then no elaboration. drives me up a WALL because yeah sure maybe the long, pages upon pages of battles and fighting are not my cup of tea but a) they're perfectly well written and b) THEY MAKE UP FOR IT BY GIVING ME SEVERAL CHAPTERS IN A ROW OF CERSEI AND SANSA JUST CHILLING AND POLITICKING IN DETAIL. He makes up for that in F&B by giving me MORE Jaehaerys as if that's what I want!!!

There's a few eras in F&B I think are likely to come up in the main series or in dunk and egg which is why I think F&B is so frustratingly vague (and if they were kept vague for no reason….george what. george WHY). And I do get he wanted to give us more of what he was writing without spoiling later books but good lord i would actually rather wait longer for material that isn't 60% george going "well i can't tell them ALL of that, let's just wink at the audience." The Second Quarrel is one of those times that might be relevant later imo largely because there's just. NOTHING. NO INFO. NO EVENTS. Like you said, there are NO major events in this time period. the ONLY thing happening is politics and court intrigue but F&B isn’t interested in court intrigue unless it involves grooming a 12 year old girl and unfortunately there is only poor Aemma being groomed at this time so F&B says “too many old people they’re not sexy” and just gives us sparse details about marriage dates, birth dates, and death dates. We don’t even see how rhaenys and viserys feel about THEE QUEEN ALYSANNE dying!!!!!!!! She just. Passes. oh so sad. george i’m in your walls!

Unlike every other Targaryen child (Aemma, Viserys, Daemon, herself, even Aerea and Rhaelle to an extent) who is allowed to grow up at court surrounded by other Valyrians and members of the royal family, Rhaenys kids are denied this. With this move, as you say, Jaehaerys all but tells Rhaenys "get you and your fuckin kids the hell out of my city." Can you imagine being Rhaenys, newly pregnant, having been told for years by your father and grandmother that you will be Queen one day just to be suddenly and unceremoniously exiled from court and kicked completely out of the line of succession? Can't even begin to get into how deranged it is to do this to your pregnant granddaughter when she's mourning the loss of her father

WHEN DOES JOCELYN BARATHEON DIE. HOW DOES SHE FEEL ABOUT HER DAUGHTER AND GRANDKIDS BEING PASSED OVER?????? She is only a year or two older than Aemon, she could easily have still been alive and making a fuss during Viserys' reign especially after he names Rhaenyra his heir SO HOW DID SHE FEEL ABOUT ALL OF THIS.

Baelon and Viserys' coronations/weddings/big We Are The Royal Line Now Shenangians during this era are crazyyy right, because THE QUEEN OF WESTEROS is refusing to talk to the iron throne, can’t ride her dragon anymore, is losing her hearing and memory, and goes everywhere with Gael to the point that no one even attempts to marry Gael bc they know Alysanne will never let her go. THATS INSANE. They are LIVING SEPARATELY like practically pseudo divorced the way Doran and Mellario are, so is Alysanne just purposefully snubbing these celebrations and using “i’m old” as an excuse or is she passive aggressively riding a carriage all the way back to KL just to show up wearing velaryon colors to viserys’ wedding and then left again without saying goodbye before the banquet even started???

AMD BAELON. part of why i’m so turned off by him is bc we have no indication he felt even a little had but to be fair it has been pointed out to me that we ALSO have no indication he didn’t feel bad; we have no indication of his feelings whatsoever!!! for all we know HE could have felt this was unfair & had been in the middle of either brokering a marriage between his grandkids and her kids, or figured “hey we had this exact same issue with Auntie Rhaena, maybe I should build House Targaryen a second and third seat or even given Dragonstone to The First Born Girl as tradition from now on” like he really could have been trying OR he could have been cackling and rubbing his hands together and encouraging viserys to bed 13 year old aemma soon and often to ensure their line, and calling rhaenys a stupid bitch at court, like we just don’t know!!!!!

We get several “they never agreed on the succession” comments but how does that translate to ACTION. stop telling me dates and tell me WHAT HAPPENED.

[unsentlettersforpalestine]

Friday, April 12, 2024

To you, fellow human

What time did you get up? Did you get enough sleep? How was your morning? What did you have for breakfast? You took shower with clean water, didn't you? Did you hear some birds chirping ? The morning breeze was certainly very tranquilizing, wasn't it? You were able to do your morning routine without any hindrance, right? There might be some inconveniences during the day but overall it's been quite a good day, right?

While you are spending your day with your family, relatives, friends, coworkers, clients, neighbors, strangers, or even only by yourself, don't forget to take some time alone to express gratitude. Contemplate about all the blessings God has given to you. Realize that you are living a damn good life. Make no mistake, I am not trying to belittle your problems or the shit you've been dealing with, but trust me when I say: you're lucky. Because you really are.

You might unintentionally come up with some grievances about your life every now and then, but be brutally honest and tell me, on a scale from one to ten, how much you are grateful for your life? Five? Six? Seven? Eight? If your answer is under 5, then I am begging you, please, sit down for a couple of minutes and listen to me.

I know we all have our own problems—both major and minor. But tell me, has someone ever bombed your house? Have you ever felt afraid of being kidnapped or ruthlessly tortured or sexually assaulted or shot at? Have you ever lost a bunch of family members and relatives and neighbors and friends at the same time? Do you, by any chance, know what it feels to experience forced starvation not for a day, not for a week, but for a really long period of time? Have you ever ran out of water, electricity, and fuel for months? The answer for all these questions is a clear no, right?

You are lucky. I am lucky. We are all lucky. Because despite everything, we are living a decent life. We have all that we need (or most of what we need or whatever) and we have never gone through what Palestinians have been going through for more than 75 years. Even the biggest ordeal that we ever went through is nothing compared to what Palestinians are constantly going through.

Some of us might complain about the same/ similar menu we have on a regular basis, don't we ever realize what a luxury it is have enough foor and be able to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day? Palestinians are literally being starved to death by Israshit and some of them don't even have a small bag of flour to make simple bread and look at us, here we are shamelessly throwing our foods away. Palestinians feel happiest when they can get a bag of flour and a glass of drinkable water but here, we are constantly grousing over trivial matters—be it intentionally or unintentionally.

It's worth nothing that regardless of what our respective life looks like, we are all privileged. Because unlike Palestinians, we are living a pretty decent life. We are never living under continual brutal occupation. We are not being massacred. We are never going through a fucking genocide. We are safe. We are good, we truly are.

Just a friendly reminder that as a human being, we have a duty to bear witness, be in solidarity and support Palestinians in any shape or form. I am not asking you to ceaselessly watch harrowing pictures and videos coming out of Palestine. I am simply asking you to have some sympathy with them. Do something, anything, to help them. Use the voice that has been bestowed upon by God for you. Spread awareness. Educate yourself and the people around you about Palestinian cause. Go to the nearby protests if you can. Have uncomfortable conversations with both friends and strangers. Don't stop talking about Palestine. Always remember Palestinians in your day-to-day life. And most importantly, keep making prayer for them.

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[melodygatesauthor]

Okay guys, I can't believe it's been a full year since I published the first chapter of my first fanfiction story and I'm still going strong today. - (Side note...it was actually yesterday but I wanted to get all my fics posted to AO3 so I could get an accurate word count and tell you all what I've done so...it took me an extra day)

This is going to be a really long post, and I thank everyone in advance for reading all the way through if you make it. I'm taking a moment to allow myself to talk about my accomplishments over the last year, my goals for this next year, and gas myself up just a bit. As an artist, it's really hard to talk about myself in a positive light without being critical, but I'm going to do it anyway. No one asked, but this is one of the ways I wanna celebrate my ficversary so...I'm gonna do it lol.

My First Fanfic Ever

I'd like to start by sharing my beginnings with writing. If I really think back to the very first fanfiction I wrote, I thought it was a Gorillaz fic (which I still have a handwritten copy of in my closet lol), but it wasn't. I think the very first fanfic I wrote technically was a Pirates of the Caribbean fic when I was 11. I didn't even realize that's what it was, I just knew that I was SO into POTC that I wanted to write about it. It had just come out by the way, so I'm really dating myself. This was...2003.

We had this thing we had to do for school, it was like a writing assignment or something, one of those big ones that they gave you, a standardized whatever. I managed to find a way to spin it into a POTC related thing and I went OFF writing this story. It had its own twists and turns unrelated to POTC, but it was a fanfic through and through.

The Beginning of My Fan Art

When I was 12 I started listening to Good Charlotte, to a point that it was my entire personality. Everyone who knew me, knew I loved them. Every fucking art project I had in middle school (7th and 8th grade) was revolved around this band, particularly Joel Madden.

My love for them has come and gone, but I still remember how I felt at the time (not unlike how I feel toward Oscar Isaac now lol). I mean my art teacher literally had to be like "I want you to branch out, you can't make everything about them." And as an adult, I'm wondering -why the fuck not but- ...I digress.

The First Fanfic I Ever "Published"

When I was 12 (or maybe closer to 13), I became OBSESSED with the Gorillaz. When I say obsessed I mean...I listened to the album Demon Days on repeat until it fucking broke. I changed my G's when I would write by hand to match the G in their logo. I made tons of fan art and it was a damn vibe. This was the first time I really discovered fanfiction and learned what it was.

I remember reading one fanfic from some girl on this website (I'm really dating myself here, some of you will know what site this is...) Quizilla. Quizilla was THE site at the time (other than LiveJournal I think, but I never used LiveJournal and didn't know it existed at the time) for fanfiction and what you would now call "buzzfeed quizzes". This girl's writing inspired me to write my own fanfic, which I handwrote and kept in a green folder which, as I said, I still have to this day sitting in my closet.

My very first fic, and yes at 13, included some romance, some non-con (don't fucking ask me why idk even how I knew about that at 13. I was never exposed to this type of thing as a child fortunately) and other nonsense. I published it on this site, and it made me really happy. I don't remember if anyone ever read it or not tbh, but it will forever hold a place in my heart <3

My Best Friend/Emo Era

I met my best friend in high school when I was about 14. She and I are still close to this day. Not as close, but I can still tell her my most unhinged thoughts and she loves me regardless. We met because we both wrote fanfiction and lost our minds over the fact that we did. Thus started my emo era.

She was into My Chemical Romance, and I was into The Used. 2005 was a time lol. The two of us had either a binder or a composition notebook where we'd handwrite our fics and pass them back and forth between classes. I still have the ones I wrote tucked away in my house. When we'd read them she and I would leave little notes in the margins like we all leave comments today.

Most of these fics never got published, they were just for us to enjoy. I did, however, publish a fic when I was about 15, that I wrote to completion. Quizilla ended up going down, and most of us moved to Mibba.com instead, which is still a website.

Edit: I looked at Mibba, and it looks like the website is still there, but you can't search for anything, so Mibba is gone too. Not gonna lie, broke my nostalgic heart just a bit to see...Some fics I wrote on there will be gone forever. Maybe for the best, but it's still kinda sad.

The Avenged Sevenfold Era

When I tell you that Avenged Sevenfold has been my favorite band since I was 15, I'm dead ass. Are they the best band ever? Not by a long shot, but damn the way I still lose my shit over them is unhinged. Anyone who was around during this time fucking knows...they were fucking HOT. Matt Shadows really had the bulky but not shredded body type going on, they all kinda did, and I'm so here for it.

Why I'll never post any of the fics I wrote during this time, even if I get my hands on them...

I wrote them when I was 15, and I was writing about things 15 year olds shouldn't write about.

You don't know cringe until you've read those fics.

It's about real people and I'm not a fan of rpf anymore. I'm all for writing whatever you want and fiction being fiction but there's something that gives me the ick about real people fiction. No offense to anyone who writes it, that's just my feelings.

The way these guys had a hold on me for the next 5 years was ridiculous. I wrote about them a lot, by hand, on my laptop, however I could. I had so many unhinged ideas and stories it's insane. I loved every minute of it, and I always look back on this as my true start into fanfiction.

The End of an Era

All good things come to an end. After graduation, my best friend and I stayed in touch, but grew apart. I went to college and continued writing fanfic. I was pursuing a major in graphic design with a minor in creative writing. I was convinced that even though I was writing fanfiction, I was going to write a book too and it would be a bestseller.

As time went on, probably when I was about 20 or 21, I kinda stopped writing fanfiction all together. My friend wasn't really writing it anymore, and the community around Avenged Sevenfold was slowing down. I was also in the middle of a breakup and it was a whole thing, so I kinda stopped writing around this time.

I'd also, unfortunately, felt like fanfiction was for kids/teens, so didn't feel the need to continue writing anymore. I didn't want to seem like a loser writing fanfiction in my twenties...so I didn't.

For the record, you're not a loser for writing fanfiction. It's a very valid artform and it's fun. We only live for so long, so enjoy it doing what makes you happy, period. I'll probably be writing in my 50s I fucking hope lol.

Anyway, at that time, that's how I felt. I now know it's bullshit to think that way. So fanfiction fizzled out for me, and I kinda moved on to other things.

My Not-fanfiction Era

What was I doing instead of writing? Going through an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship, working on trying to build what I thought was the 'dream' (marriage, kids, a house, e.t.c.), working and playing video games.

Fortunately that relationship ended. After years of therapy (which he told me I needed because he gaslit me into thinking I was crazy lol), I grew the balls to finally tell him to fuck off and leave. It was the best decision I ever made, especially considering this was JUST before COVID hit. I shudder to this day thinking about the fact that I was almost stuck in a house with that freak during lockdown.

When that relationship ended I moved back to Maine to be with my family. I missed them and had spent basically my entire 20s in another state with some loser.

Back to Fanfiction - Kylo Ren Era

So how did I get back here? How did I get back into writing and creating fan art? The truth is, a switch literally flipped in my brain over this guy right here...

I mean...

The funny thing is, I wasn't SUPER into Star Wars before this. I liked it, I'd seen the sequel trilogy in theaters, but to me it was just a movie series. I was literally watching a Sam Collins video on YouTube where he made fun of a Kylo Ren cosplayer's thirst trap on TikTok and was like...oh that's actually kinda hot.

Thought nothing of it though, just moved on with my day...until I dreamt about him too. And then I felt this spark inside me that I couldn't shake. I literally was like...👀 something is happening here.

So I remembered this feeling from when I was a teen and recognized the impending obsession immediately. I actually googled "is fanfiction still relevant" and "is it ok to write fanfiction as an adult?"

The short answers are - yes - and - of course it is -. This was how I discovered the VERY popular Kylo Ren fic Fix Your Attitude by Kassanovella. I read it in a matter of a week, and in that time I started writing my own fic. I also rewatched ALL the Star Wars movies, and then continued rewatching the sequel trilogy on repeat just so I could get Kylo Ren's character down. I wanted to make sure I captured his voice and personality perfectly. - When I say I watched the sequel trilogy 20 times, it's not an exaggeration, I had it on constantly.-

The fic I wrote was called, Yes, Master

The first chapter of that fic was published on 09/05/2022 (one year ago today), and the last chapter was published on 10/14/2022 with a word count of 100,701. Not only is it the longest fic I've written of all the fics I've done, but it's the one I wrote the fastest. I was posting a chapter a day every day until it was finished. I mean...I literally went OFF on this story. I was so proud of it that I went to lulu.com and made myself a physical copy of it that I intend to read as part of this celebration I'm doing lol.

Wondering if anyone would be interested in me revamping this story (rewriting and updating it) and posting here? I would definitely do it if there was enough interest.

I then wrote a sequel called By Your Side which taught me SO MUCH. Here's what I learned when creating this sequel...

Not everything needs a sequel.

Writing a chapter a day isn't realistic.

I should've planned a full outline before diving into this fic.

I'm not into pregnancy fics/domestic fics all that much as far as longfics go.

It's okay to genuinely dislike something you've written and you should try to learn from that.

By Your Side is still to this day one of my least favorite fics (if not my LEAST favorite). I am still proud of myself for finishing it, (it sits at a hefty 85,599 words). I don't have to love it though. I'm just grateful for what I learned in the process of writing it and proud of myself for finishing it despite being sick of it by chapter 8 and still writing 20 chapters after that.

I also wrote my very first Yandere fic, Just You. It's a bit darker, in my opinion, than The Fractured Moon. This fic was a blast to write, and it felt very freeing to write something so disturbing. It was fun to just let myself get into a dark headspace without holding back and not feeling bad about it. It was more

The Rainbow Six Siege Era

During my time writing for Kylo, I went back to a video game I used to play a lot, Rainbow Six Siege. My Oscar Era bleeds into the Kylo and R6S era a little but I'll talk about that soon.

The Siege fandom was an interesting one...one that I'll probably not go back to much, though I may still write a little fic for it here and there as I feel inspired to. I won't dive too much into this as I know most of you are Oscar fans, but I'll mention my accomplishments here and the things I learned.

I wrote another novel-length fic for this fandom called The Recruit and the Hunter which has another 83,888 words. I actually LOVE this story, and still look back on it fondly. It was a fun one to write, and I really challenged myself to write less smut for it, and I succeeded. It focused heavily on the relationship that built between the main pairing and in my opinion it's one of my better slow-burns I've done.

Why did I leave this fandom?

Well, I'm not going to throw shade, I don't like doing that unless I have to, so I'll keep it brief. The long and the short of it is this...

The readers were getting EXTREMELY demanding. I have comments on RATH of people saying things like "I'm going to be upset if you don't give us a happy ending" and "there better be smut or I swear...". It can get really discouraging as a writer when people seem to say "I love your fic but I'll only continue to love it if you do xyz." It puts us in a dilemma, and makes it hard for us to find a balance between providing fan service, and doing what's fun for us to write. It definitely changed the outcome of RATH and I'm not happy that I gave in like that.

The requests I got were confusing and downright weird. I didn't do some of the really weird ones, and I'm not meaning to kink shame, but it was just very niche things that I couldn't get myself into. I think part of why I felt obligated to provide fan service like I mentioned in the point above, and why I caved and wrote some fanfics for these more unique requests, is because this fandom is very small, and I felt an obligation to provide.

Some of the other writers in the fandom are fucking rude. I'm not going to mention names, like I said, but I had very poor experiences with several writers in the fandom, and since I was also integrating into the Oscar fandom at the time, I could see a stark difference in the way I was being accepted in one, versus the way I was being pushed away in the other. There aren't a lot of x reader writers in the R6S fandom, and I was one of them, and there seems to be some animosity between the people who ship characters, versus the people who write x reader and that's where this mistreatment came from. I don't know, I tried making friends over there, and felt like I was getting pushed out.

So anyway, it's not for me anymore, but I still think back to certain parts of it fondly, and I may write a little more here and there as I see fit.

The Oscar Isaac Era

This really is THE era, isn't it?

As I was working on the last 10 or so chapters of Yes, Master, and after my 12th time rewatching the sequel trilogy movies, I started to fall for Poe Dameron, naturally. How could I not? I mean look at him...

So I decided that I would give Poe a prequel to my Yes, Master story called One Hell of a Pilot. This fic was so fun to write, and it's how I became involved with the Oscar Isaac community in the first place. Immediately I started following Dee, and through her I found Mona, and it was just snowballing from there. Whitney and Romana were some of the first to follow me and my shenanigans.

In December, which is when I started writing One Hell of a Pilot, another novel-length fic that ended with 80,517 words, is when I started reading Dee's fics, along with Mona's and many others. I saw their interactions and felt excited by the prospect of making new friends who were just as into some of this stuff as I was. A place that I could be myself and lose my shit over this idiot and not be judged.

I had no idea what the hell I was getting myself into.

It all started with a fic that Dee had written, I can't remember which one, probably a dbf!Santi fic, and I asked the innocent question of...

What movie is this from?

Oh shit...I didn't realize what the fuck I was getting myself into. After she told me it was Triple Frontier and I should watch it, my brother and I watched it right away. I told him a friend of mine suggested it. The way we spent the entire 1.5 hours laughing at how bad it was is still a memory I hold dear to my heart. I still didn't know at the time that this loser (Oscar my beloved) would hold a place in my heart from that day on.

My first Santi fic was a headcanon about Santi w/ a plussize reader that I called Preciously Plump. A headcanon that later got a full fic, appropriately named Preciously Plump the One-shot.

So then I read something about Moon Knight, and between Dee and Mona shoving me into it (peer pressure ftw) I caved and watched the show.

Phew...

That gave way to the first Moon Knight fic I ever wrote, How Unexpected which came out on January 3rd, 2023 of this year. I was sure that between Steven's adorable nerdy behavior, and Marc's tough exterior, I'd be head over heels for those two. I was nervous to even TOUCH Jake, because I didn't know shit about his character, and the last thing I wanted to do was write a character without it sounding like them.

I was also afraid at the time of writing the Moon Boys with DID because I didn't know anything about it, and I didn't want to misrepresent something like that. After some time went by, I got my bearings, and started working on A Bit Dodgy.

ABD is definitely one of the fics I'm most proud of. I had learned a lot from my past fics I'd written, Yes, Master, e.t.c., and figured out what it was that works best when I'm writing to not only keep myself interested, but to create a good balance between smut for smut's sake, and pushing the story forward.

When I first started writing ABD, I was sure it was going to be a 30-40 chapter fic, but as I started writing it more, I realized quickly that a lot of the chapters were just porn. Is there anything wrong with that? No...but as someone who's written nearly a million words in this past year, I don't feel the need to draw my chaptered fics out with smut just to say I wrote something x chapters or x words wrong.

That's why ABD ended up getting cut down SO MUCH from my original plan. I just made some decisions that I felt maximized the story more and used the smut as a major plot device, rather than the fic revolving around smut as the plot...if that makes any sense lol. I'm happy to say, that as of today, A Bit Dodgy has concluded, though it's the only fic I've ever finished with such a heavy heart.

I was an Oscar stan HARD after that, diving into Sucker Punch and other silly little movies filled with that silly little man whom I love so so much.

Statistics

Numbers aren't important when it comes to kudos (AO3) and likes (Tumblr) so I'm not focusing on those. What I am going to focus on...is my personal accomplishments. Like I said, I don't normally toot my own horn, but I fucking wrote A LOT this year, and I'm going to take a minute to pat myself on the back.

So NOT including my random blurbs (since I'm not bothering to cross-post those)...

My total word count from 09/05/2022-09/05/2023 is (drumroll please):

791,829 words

OH

EM

GEE

I had thought I would've hit a million by now but I am NOT going to complain. By the grace of the horny demon that runs the smut factory in my brain, I've written more than I ever even thought possible.

In the Moon Knight fandom alone, I've written:

238,950 words

I think the only fandom I've written more for is Star Wars, but I'd have to add it all up and I'm not doing that rn haha.

Just kidding it's:

368,566 words

----

I wrote 6 novel-length fics, a total of 147 works, MK holds the record for most fics I've written at a whopping 82 fics!

----

It's shocking to look back and see what I've accomplished, and to look forward to seeing what else I can do. I know that this next year I won't have the same word count, probably not even close.

I'm focusing a lot on drawing now as well as writing, plus I'm working on my first novel that I'd like to publish so things will definitely be slowing down. I'm going to continue writing, but the speed at which I churn out fics will be slower in the future.

In Conclusion

Thank you all for the support throughout this year. There's no way in HELL I would've had the drive and desire to continue writing if not for the amazing community (most the Oscar Isaac community lol) behind me. It's not just the kudos and the reblogs, it's the people who I've grown to know since joining the world of fandom.

I never had a ton of IRL friends, and I live alone (happily btw) with my dog. Being able to make some friends here that I genuinely call friends, not just people I know online, has meant the world to me. I would list everyone out, but I have a fear of accidentally forgetting to tag someone despite how much they mean to me so I'll leave it at...those people know who they are.

And to my readers (I hesitate to use the word "fans", that makes it sound so conceited), thank you to the moon and back. Without out, I wouldn't have had the drive to keep going. Kudos, Likes and Reblogs aren't everything, I can't stress that enough, but they do help keep the drive alive. (Particularly the comments). Without the little boost of excitement I get when I see that other people are just excited about what I'm doing as I am, I probably would've given up ages ago.

You all are the reason that this was even possible.

With all that being said, I have a small celebration planned that I'll announce later tonight. In the mean time, stay amazing. You keep supporting me, and I'll keep providing the fics that you all love so much

Love, Melly

[venusvity]

DAY ONE OF THE TWELVE DAYS OF VENUS CHALLENGE ; what happened to the plot?

So excited to start this challenge! Over the years Venus has had many, and I mean many, plots and rewrites so I decided to compile all the ones I can remember for day one of this challenge. I've probably forgotten some because I have the memory of a fish but if you want to refresh my memory there is also an ASK GAME going on for the challenge where you can bring up old Venus plots you loved/remembered. Here's to five years! TW // MENTIONS OF DRUG ADDICTION, DEPRESSION, CHEATING, SEXISM, TOXIC/ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, AND SUICIDE.

TRANSCRIPTION.

Venus at their conception was literally just Baebi and friends. Like, if you think my Yoonah favoritism is bad NOW you should’ve been there for 2019. Truly, I didn’t give a damn about any of the other girls until a little while later when I wanted to project my love for Johnny Suh onto an OC because I was tired of writing in 2nd person lol! The original line up consisted of Baebi, Jaeyeon, Aki, Chloe and Jiah which is probably why I have such an attachment to what I deem “The Big Three”. Baebi, Chloe, and Jiah (now Sena congrats bby) are the only Venus girls I’ve ever really been able to consistently write for which is why they, typically, stick around unlike the rotating fifth slot. Anyways, plots.

The main plot at the time was cenetered around Yoonah and her battle with depression, making her a not great person. At that time, no one had really had a devisive character like that before and I’m only saying that because the amount of anons I would get telling me Yoonah is a bad person and they don’t know why I would write someone like her (she’s so tame by today’s comparison lol) told me that. The community was pretty small, max 12 people at the time so I don’t blame them for being thrown off by this version of Yoonah. She was a lot lol.

Anyways, her love interest at the time was Bang Chan and they had this awful and toxic relationship where she would emotionally and verbally abuse him due to her not being abloe to cope with her depression properly. Truly, this was mainly what the Venus blog was about for a while. Yoonah cheating on Chan, Chan trying to help her, them getting back together, them breaking up, wash and repeat. It was fun to write but I needed to branch out more I don’t remember when I retired this plot if I’m being honest? I just remember it not being a thing anymore expect in fun little easter eggs like Yoonah’s English name being Evie. Chan picked that for her. I think it’s a sweet call back lol!

This was like the main thing about Venus I remember at the time besides the Chloe and Jiah plots but that’s on the next page!

TRANSCRIPTION.

Then there was the Chloe and Jiah plots. I do believe these bleed into 2020, I’m not sure as you’ve noticed I suck with dates lol, but these were impactrful as well. Actually, massively impactful! Especially the Chloe plot which ended up evolving into what is now known as the Chloe and Nakyung situation of 2020(?). We will touch on that later lol.

Let’s start with the star of the show: Chloe. Chloe’s plot was about her insecurities in her looks and relationship. Her relationship with Johnny was very ideal; He loved her, he treated her right, and they had been together for years at that point. Still, in every version of the Johnny Saga, he’d cheat. Always. Which would always fuck with Chloe’s low selfesteem more. Anyways, the plot.

Let’s get it out of the way now: OG Chloe is not the bitch we know today. She was very different. She had no confidence, was weak and naive through and through, and couldn’t stand up for herself. Which is why this plot went down the way it did. Johnny and Chloe were together for 6 years before he started to grow tired of constantly reassuring Chloe he loved her and she was the only girl for him. In comes a girl named Kimi. Kimi was in a now defunct group of mine called Colorcoded andw as originally in the Venus lineup before she left due to bullying by their former leader, Jaeyeon. Long story, send an ask if you wanna know lol!

Anyways, Johnny would go on to cheat on Chloe with Kimi and Chloe only found out about this through DISPATCH…Yeah, insanity. She ended up staying with Johnny because he was all she knew and felt no man would ever love her and it was so pathetic and sad to watch like omg girl get up. Anyways, despite trying to fix their relationship, Chloe could not get over him cheating and would go onto cheat on Johnny with Kun. Crazy NCT love triangle I know. Because of this, they would have a fight and FINALLY part ways. This plot was reworked a few times before completely being tossed because some people were… sexist about it? Weird times. Wouldn’t revisit!

TRANSCRIPTION.

Actually, everyone minus Chanbin in the original Jiah plot has been canceled so…i’m not gonna go there lol sorry!

TRANSCRIPTION.

I really only remember Yoonah’s plots and the Chloe and Nakyung thing happening in 2021…Let’s start with Yoonah since I like talking about her more lol! In 2021, Yoonah’s depression had sunken her to the point of a suicide attempt that was very publicly broadcasted. She was in and out of recovery for a hot minute because that was her whole plot. Her point as a character was to show that recover is never linear. Once Yoonah would reenter public life after her attempt, she would begin her never ending battle with addiction. Her drug addiction was a big focal point of her character at the time since it was literally ruining everything around her. Her job, her relationships, her body, she was killing herself in every chapter basically, and by the time she decided to try and get clean she had nearly lost everything she loved.

I remember she was in a very deep love affair with Jaehyun that would fizzle out once she decided to get clean. I did love them together despite them not being the best for one another…I don’t know, there was just a lot of love between them. Around this time was also when I started develving into Yoonah and Jinhwa’s problematic relationship but I feel that got more developed in 2022. In this timeline, Jinhwa had met Yoonah when she was an adult. Their relationship was still not appropriate but it was a lot more acceptable than it is now. The power imbalance though, had always been there and I do find that a bit devestating. Even if he wasn’t a creep, he was still cruel to her. But, Jinhwa was always a creep, just not to Yoonah which is why I think it often went overlooked.

Anyways, this was pretty formative year for Yoonah since this is really where she began to spiral and her lore started to solidify. Cannot tell you what Jiah and Aki were up to. I think Aki was dating Jennie or Sana? And, honestly, Jiah might not have even been in Venus…IDK weird year.

TRANSCIPTION.

This was the year I made the fatal decision of the Nakyung, Johnny, and Chloe love triangle. If you can’t tell, I don’t like this plot point lol. I don’t think I don’t like it as a plot but I hated the response I got. A lot of people used this plot to push outdated and misogynist opinions onto Chloe and Nakyung, mainly Nakyung, and I could not stand it. It felt like I made like I had made a moster I could not get away from which, truly, is why I removed Nakyung from the lineup this year. Even then, no one would shut up about this plot and it drove me insane lol!

Anyways, this plot was about Nakyung fucking Johnny, Chloe’s boyfriend, while Chloe was asleep in the next room. Sure, it was messy and fun until it wasn’t but that was really the only thing it gave. I guess this birthed the version of Chloe we know today but at what cost? Chloe would begin to bully Nakyung due to the affair, she was literally valid for that idk why everyone was taking Nakyung’s side, and would eventually get her removed from the lineup.

This plot has been revised to not make me go crazy and so no one can ever compare my girls to Cassie of Euphoria ever again.

Y'all I cannot remember anything that happened this year. It was a weird year for Venus and for me personally so I've wiped it and much of early 2023 from my memory lol. Just know, a majority of what occurred here is no longer canon and I'm sorry you had to see that.

Happy five years! Here's to five-hundred more! 💗

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Thoughts I had during TGCF S2 Ep 12

Last Ep of S2 let’s do this!

Previously on TGCF…

-All wells that ends on the Fang Xin mystery

-“Just focus on doing what you want to do” best life advice ever

-Qingxuan really went, “They seem to be very good friends”

-He blushed!

-They laughed!

-No he will not while the laundry’s running

-That one guy is eavesdropping outside the palace

-They cannot just leave us on a cliffhanger like that!

-Dang no one should slander Hua Cheng shame on them

-Another facepalm!

-It was 3 days?!!!

-That one god got frightened once he saw FX covered in blood, and meanwhile Mu Qing just smirked

-The temple massaging was a dead sign

-More Hua Cheng Slander

-Mu Qing’s opinion

-I really love the music that was played from S1 EP 4

-Pei Ming was responsible for this month’s security

-I wonder why Prosecutor Pei Ming left his guard down?

-Mu Qing’s smirk

-Xianle won’t be banished!

-That was it, the security was getting tighter

-Ugh the Xie Lian slander

-Meanwhile, in Jun Wu’s study…

-That was a lot of paused frames to transition from the recap of eps 7-11

-He’ll probably try to reason with Lang Qianqiu

-That’s what we’d like to know and the answer’s been given by Jun Wu

-Instrumental Bu San seems to be Jun Wu’s main theme

-Jun Wu had a spy… or did he?

-There’s a mole in Heaven

-He’s tightening the security because of Hua Cheng

-He switched from calling him San Lang to Hua Cheng!

-There’s security tape outside his palace

-Xianle’s heyday in his childhood!

-His mother

-The nostalgia’s made him wistful 

-Oh he’s running now

-Qi Rong and Qianqiu’s words are ringing in his mind

-He’s picked up speed

-His breakdown!

-He jumped!!!

-So that’s how he gets down to mortal realm!!!

-That graceful landing

-It’s autumn

-So many young disciples

-HE WAS SO YOUNG AND INNOCENT!!!!!!!!

-XL’s mother is a huge inspiration to the many parents of my OCs

-It was a flashback 800 years ago!

-His sword

-HIs robe is gonna need a quick stitch up!

-It took him all day

-Literally those chipmunk squirrel hybrids

Squirrel 1: Well they were right here a second ago, and now they’re gone!

Stuffed! Squirrel 2: Yeah, that’s pretty weird huh?

Squirrel 1: So you’re telling me you didn’t eat ‘em, and you have NO IDEA WHERE THEY ARE!

Squirrel 2: Uh-uh

*Xie Lian Enters and both Squirrels book it, the 2nd squirrel spits out the nuts*

Squirrel 1: AAAAAH!!! Run away!  I knew you ate them!

This dialogue was from Brother Bear, I really felt like including it in the reaction when. I saw both squirrels and I prolly don’t have plans to watch said movie right now

-It’s a dilapidated temple

-The place is in ruins

-A well!

-The animators really deserve a raise for animating XL entering the well

-A secret entrance!

-It’s the tunnels of lake Laogai in Book 2 earth

-He can firebend!!!

-It’s the star map ceiling from Wan Shi Tong’s library, I really love spotting all the Last Airbender references

-The tombs, *gasps* they’re his parents’ tombs!

-He has been through a lot

-This is similar to the altars at my relatives’ homes

-That noise!

-It sounds like crying

-Baby Guzi!!!

-Oh no and you’re not supposed to shake and shout and children!

-Did anyone else get chills when the weird music played when he looked into the tomb of dust?

-Oh no!

-The statue moved and Qi Rong’s leitmotif

-That was close!!!

-His mask and royal robes

-Baby Guzi!

-His father!

-He possed Guzi’s Dad

-Nobody else rescued the child when they fled Qi Rong’s domain?!?!

-Damn

-His eyes are turning red!

-Masochist

-Worst family reunion I’ve seen

-And you’re not supposed to traumatize children

-Baby Guzi’s in tears!

-Those words still stung

-The flashbacks!

-Ban Yue’s voice!

-Young Lang Qianqiu!

-An Le!

-Recapping Seasons 1 & 2

-His shrine!

-Xianle has fallen

-The soldier

-The child he saved

-Move over J Michael Tatum, no offense to his fans really sry

-They cannot jut leave us on a cliffhanger like that!!!

And that was TGCF Season 2! *Casually prepares shrine and starts praying for the short film, eventual movie, and Seasons 3-8*  What really carried this season was Junior Official Xiao Mengyou, Lang Qianqiu’s whole impact, Shi Qingxuan slaying, Jun Wu’s Emperussy, Prosecutor Pei Ming, Yin Yue’s debut, Hua Cheng being the goat all thanks to James Cheek, Fengqing conflict, Feng Xin being the himbo, Lucien Dodge eating it up as Mu Qing, Qi Rong being this season’s freak, Guzi being Babey, and Howard Wang eating it up as Xie Lian especially in Episodes 6 and 10-12.  That was all for this summer’s reactions.  I am going to be bust this fall with sketching and mainly writing after class so, See you next time! The Scrap Immortal and the Avatar is set to start in January 2025!

[unnervinglyferal]

Holy shit, I could've sworn that I had sent an ask like 2 days ago but it has been 10 fucking days.

So, had mouth surgery. Removal of wisdom teeth. I kid you not, I hadnt been in this situation since I was like 12 - but alas, I've been here before.

I dont know if I ever told you my story about how I ended up having a weird fascination with blood, I probably have but just a lot of time ago. Its not even just an edgy teen average blood fascination, I mean yes, it is, but that shit was a wild way to ciment my eternal bond to blood (which in my opinion is a thing all things similar to us have, since blood is the currency of all vertebrates I know, but yknow, spiritually).

Long story short, my fangs had to be pulled down from my literal gums because they wouldnt come out when I was like 11/12, and what they basically do in that surgery is to take the skin off the fangs when theyre inside your gums, expose them, and then pull them down using some special braces once the space to acomodate them inside your mouth has already been made, which is very painful both because of the punctures and because of the braces themselves, but thats besides the point, surprisingly. The thing is that when I was mid surgery (obviously under anesthesia, mind you) my eyes were wandering while the surgeon and his student did their thing, and my mind decided to focus into and follow a red tube that eventually led me to discover two things:

1-The tube was NOT red. It was transparent.

2-The container it led to had a shit ton of blood drenched saliva in it. The other end was inside my mouth.

So yeah! What a way to reconnect to my roots than by reuniting with the acid and pungent smell that flesh and bone make when a little saw-ish machine cuts through your gums to take a Gxd abandoned molar out from your body. Wonderful stuff.

My recovery is going well all in all. Painful but well as most things currently. Di is going through it, but he's doing everything he can and I hope he doesn't overwork or blame himself (which is what I'm here for, amongst other stuff).

Things are looking fairly good in general. We have 6 months dating officially (a year and a half extraofficially) and although the plan is to get married after dating for at least 5 or 6 years, man do I smell the wedding. Obviously you're invited if that happens on the next 5-ish years. Idk how but I hope we can have you and your family here then.

Damn that was vivid. Glad recovery is going well, and you seem to be doing better than ever. I told you that you'll get to see how good life can get, and not throw it away before you can. The hardest part is to keep going when you have no hope and no faith that there's anything to go towards. You made it. The hardest part is over.

[ttuesday]

A New Year's Kiss with the Fellers

I know I'm a few hours early but HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I decided to quickly do these before the new year is here lol

Arthur

Arthur has thought about asking you to be his new year’s kiss since the idea randomly popped into his head in November but even in the last few hours of the year, Arthur still hasn’t worked up the courage to actually ask you. His biggest fear is making a fool of himself in front of you, nervous that this might put a dent in your friendship if you react negatively.

He approaches you a few times throughout the day, trying to make small talk as he slowly works up the courage to ask but every damn time, the words get caught in his throat. He needs some advice, desperately and so Arthur explains his predicament to Hosea. 

Unfortunately Hosea’s advice is the one thing Arthur already knows but is procrastinating on; simply asking you. Nodding his head, he swears he’ll ask you… but in true Arthur fashion, he leaves it to the last minute. Literally.

While everyone counts down the seconds to the new year, Arthur turns to you and starts mumbling. It takes you a few times of saying “huh?” and “what?” for Arthur to speak loud enough but he gets the words out just in time.

Making up the excuse that he overheard John saying it to Abigail, Arthur asks if you want to do “one of them… uh, New Years kiss things..”. Much to his surprise you say yes, leaning up and pressing your lips to his as the clock strikes 12. The kiss doesn’t last long but my god do you take his breath away. Arthur’s left stunned afterwards, his mouth hanging open as he tries to compute not only that you said yes but that you actually kissed him too. One thing’s for sure, this is the best New Years Arthur has ever had.

Charles 

This isn’t something Charles plans out. Well, I guess in a way it is but not how you would expect. Up until New Year's Eve, Charles didn’t even think about having a New Year’s kiss. It’s not something he’s ever partaken in before so it isn’t on his radar. That is until John brings it up, asking if anyone has any plans.

Initially Charles was going to shrug it off and say it’s not his kinda thing but then he makes eye contact with you. For a moment, you both look at each other, as if thinking the exact same thing. Saying your name, Charles asks if you have anyone to be your new year’s kiss. 

Since neither of you have any previous plans (and because this is a great excuse to finally kiss), the two of you decide you may as well do it together. Charles tries to keep it casual, not wanting to pressure you or blow this out of proportion.

Is he getting butterflies in his stomach leading up to midnight, going over and over how he plans to kiss you? Damn right he is, but Charles is very good at keeping a calm demeanour. 

Charles is very gentle when he kisses you, wanting to keep the kiss intimate while also being aware of the gang celebrating around you both. He might be quiet afterwards but it’s only because Charles is freaking out on the inside because y’all actually kissed, replaying the moment in his head as he hopes he did everything right.

Dutch

Dutch makes his intentions very clear. He’s been continuously flirting with you for the past few months, amping it up the closer it gets to New Year’s Eve.  

During the gang’s party, Dutch leans down so his lips are right by yours, telling you not to stray too far before midnight before pulling away again. Yeah, he can be quite the tease when he wants to be.

When the countdown to the new year begins, Dutch plants his hands firmly on your waist, gazing down at you tenderly as he says “I think we should start the new year off right, don’t you?”. With a nod of approval, Dutch dips down and kisses you just as the clock strikes midnight. 

He keeps the kiss chaste, leaving you yearning for more. For the rest of the night, Dutch stays by your side, and if you’re not sitting on his lap then you’re seated next to him with his hand on your thigh.

If you’re in the mood to…ahem… continue the celebrations after the party, Dutch will graciously invite you back to his tent *wink wink*

Micah

Don’t be expecting too much charm with Micah. Depending on how much he drinks, he mightn’t make as many vulgar comments as usual, hoping a softer approach might make you like him more but even at that, don’t expect much change.

He debates whether he should ask you for a New Year’s kiss but Micah’s pretty confident you’ll say no, well aware that if any gang member overhears his request, they’ll quickly urge you to reject him. 

And so instead Micah decides to take a more tactical approach, hoping if he asks you a few seconds before midnight then the other gang members will be too busy to interject and instead leave the decision entirely up to you. 

With thirty seconds till the new year, he finds you in the crowd and starts to proposition you. Honestly, maybe Micah is hanging around Dutch too often because he kinda starts monologuing, over explaining the idea as it gets dangerously close to the new year. Thankfully, you’re having a great night and you’re at that point where every idea sounds like a good idea.

With a mere couple of seconds left, you cut Micah off, holding the collar of his shirt as you lean up and press your lips to his. You’ve caught him completely off guard. Despite his excessive explanation of how this is a good idea, Micah was preparing himself for a slap, not a kiss. “Eager,” he comments, trying to act casual when you finally break the kiss. Micah can’t remember the last time he’s been kissed like that and now he’s feeling a lot of emotions he isn’t quite used to.

John

John mentions this idea to you well in advance. He’s had a thing for you for quite some time now and jokingly mentioned that he’d be your New Years kiss if you don’t have one yet. Since then, it became some weird inside joke between you two.

It’s kinda like a game of chicken, the two of you each taking turns to ask the other where they’ll be just before the clock strikes 12, hinting towards this kiss. Does John know if you’re being serious? Nope, he can’t tell if you’re joking or not.

Even minutes before New Years, John doesn’t know if this is just a joke or if you’re actually planning on kissing him. He’s hoping for the latter but you can be a hard book to read when you want to be. Nevertheless, as everyone counts down the last few seconds, you stand next to a nervous John, though he’s trying his best to act cool, calm and collected.

Just as everyone rings in the New Year, you turn to John and quickly press your lips to his. John's eyes go wide, equally relieved and surprised that you actually kissed him.

Seeing his shocked expression once you pull away, you ask “What? We agreed to do a New Years kiss, right?”. “Y-yeah! Yeah, 'course we did!” He hurriedly replies “you just caught me off guard… want to do it again so I can uh... redeem myself?”. 

Javier

You and Javier spend the entire night together, the two of you coming back to camp just in the nick of time for the celebrations.

You both stick together throughout the party, wherever you go, Javier isn’t far behind, your similar sense of humour making the night much more enjoyable than you could have ever imagined.

In fact, you were having such a good time with Javier, you almost forgot the time. The two of you were trying your best at dancing, a mixture of tripping over one another's feet while trying to maintain a bit of dignity when Karen loudly starts to holler about there only being a few seconds left in the year.

You’re not sure who kisses who first. The two of you simply looked at one another, a gleaming excitement in your eyes and suddenly you were kissing him. It just happens, no prior planning or discussion about it. The sensation of his lips on yours makes you forget all about the New Year’s celebrations and instead all you can think about is how long you’ve been waiting for this moment.

Afterwards, Javier takes you hand in his, bringing it to his lips and he says “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that”. Giving your hand a sweet kiss, he continues to dance with you, setting a slower yet more romantic pace, keeping you pressed against his chest as he gets lost in your eyes. Yep, this is his ideal way of ringing in the new year.

Sean

By the time it’s almost midnight, Sean is quite tipsy, having spent the last few hours dancing, singing and drinking. He’s been flirting or well, trying to flirt with you all day but Sean has yet to properly confess his feelings to you, unsure how to go about it.

He makes sure he’s perfectly positioned next to you in the minutes leading up to midnight, trying to stay composed but it’s pretty obvious when Sean is plotting something, a badly concealed smirk on his face and his inability to keep still being his main giveaways. 

The second you ask him what he’s up to, Sean starts excitedly rambling. It’s like you’ve opened up a waterfall and within a mere few moments, Sean tells you exactly how he feels. He’s not as suave or charming as he planned, the words immediately spilling from his mouth. 

As the others begin to countdown, he asks if there’s anyway you can show him how you feel *hint hint*.  Yeah he’s not so subtly, practically puckering his lips the moment he finishes his sentence. The good new is Sean’s a pretty good kisser, extremely eager and will leave you breathless for the New Year.

The supposed “bad” news is that you’re not only going to get one New Years Kiss from Sean. He doesn’t see why ye should only do one when the gang will be celebrating the New Year all night. Expect many kisses for the rest of the night. 

Hosea

Your New Years Kiss with Hosea isn’t planned. Sure, he’s heard a few of the others talking about it but this sort of thing is nothing Hosea normally involves himself with. 

In the minutes leading up to the new year, Hosea finds himself gravitating towards you, which isn’t anything out of the ordinary.

During gang celebrations you two prefer watching than participating in the gang’s drunken activities and so you both end up by one of the quieter tables, listening as everyone cheers and sings, preparing for the new year.

Your chairs are pushed right next to each other, shoulder to shoulder as you watch the others. As they start the countdown, Hosea turns his head towards you and gently says “I’m glad I’m starting the New Year with you”. 

Facing him, you realise how close you are to him and without thinking, you kiss him just as the new year passes. It is technically a New Years kiss? I mean, I guess so but the main reason you do it is because it feels right. And Hosea can feel that too, bringing his hand up to gently cup your face as he kisses you back.

Trelawny 

Trelawny knows what he’s doing. One of the very first things he asks you on New Years Eve is if you have a New Years kiss planned. He’s very eager to make this happen and as soon as you say you don't, he very graciously offers his services to be your New Years kiss.

He kinda springs this on you and in the moment you agree, not expecting it to be anymore than a simple kiss but this is Trelawny we’re talking about, so you know he doesn’t do things simplistically. 

Josiah sees this as his opportunity to truly sweep you off your feet, to show you how much he cares and how passionate he is as a lover. He essentially sees the gang’s party as an overcrowded date, dancing with you and offering to get you a drink whenever you want one, all in the lead up to midnight.

When it’s finally time, Trelawny takes your hand in his, giving you a reassuring nod before bringing his lips to yours. He puts his all into this kiss, not wanting to go too over the top and scare you off but doing just enough to make it feel special.

When the kiss is over, Trelawny keeps you close, your lips only inches apart as he wishes you a happy new year.

Kieran

You have no idea how many times Kieran thinks about hiding with the horses and “accidentally” missing the New Year’s celebrations. He really wants to. If it isn’t for the occasional death stares from Arthur and Tilly, two people Kieran accidentally leaked his idea of kissing you to when he had too many drinks, then Kieran is confident he would have backed out by now.

With five minutes to midnight, Arthur gives him an aggressive encouraging shove and suddenly, Kieran’s next to you, stumbling over his words as he compliments your outfit (though it’s nothing special, just the same ol’ clothes you’ve been wearing all day).

He hopes you don’t notice how tightly he’s gripping his drink as he talks to you, knowing he only has a matter of minutes to ask you for a kiss.

While you didn’t notice his nervous disposition, you quickly pick up on how much Kieran focuses on your lips. You have some idea why Kieran might coincidentally be next to you now, with only a minute to midnight, but he’s not saying anything which worries you a little bit.

Taking a deep breath, Kieran turns to you and together you both blurt out “Do you want to kiss at midnight?” at the same time. It takes the two of you a few seconds to comprehend what the other just said, a smile spreading across your face when you realise how similar your line of thinking is to Kieran’s .With little time to spare, you quickly lean forward, closing the gap between you both and kiss him. It takes no time for Kieran to melt into the kiss, confident this will be his best year yet.

[aliwritesfic]

The Wedding Date (Frankie Morales x F!Reader) (part 12)

*taps mic* is this thing on? um, i have literally no excuses. if you're still here, i love you, i cherish you, i dont deserve you. im sorry for the literal year long hiatus.

Previous Next The Beginning

“So this is it,” Frankie grinned shyly at you as he unlocked the door to his house.

“Your humble abode?” You stepped past him into an airy living room. Two dark couches were pushed against the wall, facing a large TV mounted opposite. 

“That’s definitely a word for it,” Frankie closed the door behind you. “Here, gimme your bag.” You had come here straight from the airport, the both of you deciding on the flight back that you didn’t want the weekend to end yet. 

“Sorry it’s a mess,” he said. “I wasn’t really expecting . . .” He burned red, avoiding your gaze. You reassured him you didn’t really give a fuck about the mess; what he considered a mess was cleaner than any other guy’s place you had ever been to. You wondered if that said more about your previous taste in men or men in general. You decided pretty quickly that it wasn’t a you thing.

Frankie gave you a quick tour, the kitchen and the bathroom and his daughter’s room, decorated to the nines in pink and purple, toys strewn across the ground. You took in the photos hung up on the wall in the hallway, recogising the boys in some of them. Others were of a little girl who could only be Laila.

Finally, came his bedroom.

“Is this where the magic happens?” You peered over Frankie’s broad shoulder and into his bedroom as he set your bag down on the carpeted floor.

“Slight of hand, mostly,” he said, “a couple of card tricks.”

You snorted, beelining for his bed. You were exhausted from the trip, and it just looked so damn inviting. You rolled onto your side, tucking your arm under a pillow. “I think you just made the biggest mistake of your life.”

“Hmm? How so?” The bed shifted with Frankie’s weight as he got in beside you. You scooted closer so you were touching.

“I’m in love with this mattress. Like, it’s stupid comfy.” You toyed with the buttons on his shirt as he spoke. “So, unfortunately for you, it’s going to take a lot to get me away from it.”

“You know what?” His lips brushed your collarbone. “I think I’m okay with that.”

You pulled him closer, hooking a leg around his waist. All words were lost as his lips met yours, devouring you with his kiss. 

He groaned into your mouth as he pinned you beneath him, hardness pressing against your abdomen. His callouses scraped down your bare skin as his fingers toyed with the waistband of your pants, slipping down further until he was slick with you.

“Fuck,” you moaned. His lips left yours, trailing kisses down your stomach. 

“Relax, baby,” he murmured. Somehow your pants were off and he was between your legs. 

His tongue, god his fucking tongue. It teased your clit, his fingers curling inside you. Only the top of his curly hair was visible as your thighs squeezed around his head, back arching and hips bucking.

“Not yet,” he pulled away, unbuckling his belt, erection springing free. 

“Fuck me, Frankie,” you pulled him back down against you, skin against skin.

“Say please,” his voice was low in your ear, cock pressing against your entrance. 

“Please, please,” you moved your hips closer to his, desperate in your need for him.

“Good girl.”

Nothing else existed. Nothing else mattered. Nothing beyond you and him. 

~

You could barely concentrate on your data. You had been home for only a couple of days, and back at work for only a few hours, and you couldn’t focus. You were like a teenager all over again, with butterflies and blushing whenever you thought about Frankie, giggles bubbling up at random moments. You decided to take an early lunch, heading out to the shark tunnels. 

The aquarium was quiet today - Tuesdays usually were. A nurse shark swam by, lazy in its course along the bottom of the tank.

You hadn’t told anyone yet about how your weekend away had went, dodging the question when Olivia had brought it up over FaceTime the day after you had gotten home (you had ignored her first call the night before, finding yourself preoccupied in a bed that wasn’t yours). You knew she suspected but was either too tactful or too proud to say anything. For now you decided to let her stew, enjoying the small bubble you and Frankie had created for yourselves. Of course, you knew that bubble couldn’t last forever - life always got in the way. But goddamn if you weren’t going to enjoy it while you could.

You opened your phone and took a quick selfie, being sure to capture the apex predators behind you. I’ve had better dates, you captioned it as you sent it to Frankie. You didn’t expect him to respond - his daughter was back and he was preparing to have her stay for a week. 

He had told you a lot about Laila - his face positively lighting up when he described how she had chosen him for her latest art project about their personal heroes. You had seen more photos than you could count, able to pick out pieces of Frankie in her face, even the way she carried herself in some of them.

He had told you less about his ex, Ariel, simply stating that it had been a very messy break-up and left him feeling like he had made too many mistakes ever to be able to redeem himself. They had broken up not long after he had returned from Colombia, when Laila was still an infant. You remembered the conversation, how his voice had been thick with guilt.

“I went to therapy for a while,” Frankie admitted on your last night with him, drawing random shapes on your bare back with his finger. “It helped. I think I’m a better man than I was. I still have a lot to make up for, things I can’t make up for.”

“Why can’t you?” you turned your head to look at him through sleepy eyes. He was silhouetted by the silvery moonlight coming through his open window. Jeff Buckley played from your phone, Frankie’s choice for the album of the night. 

It’s never over, my kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder. 

You had immediately added the song to your playlist when you got home.

“Some things can’t be forgiven,” he said. 

You wondered idly what he had meant by that as you wandered slowly back to the labs, detouring past the octopus tanks. You decided you wouldn’t press him about it, knowing that some things had to come out with time alone. If he trusted you, and you hoped he did, he would tell you what he thought you needed to know. Until then, you would have to make do.

The rest of the day passed by slowly; data from the tags you were tracking gave you nothing new, your phone was on silent and at the bottom of your bag, and anyone who you liked to chat with was out in the field that day. 

“Tell me you also had a slow day,” you said, FaceTiming Olivia as soon as you got home. 

“Fuck no,” Olivia said, “my day was fantastic.” You set your phone up so you could see her as you chopped Mr. Baldwin’s dinner. The tortoise in question was dressed in his shark fin, exploring the area around your feet

“Distract me,” you begged. “Oh, is someone a little lovesick?” Olivia teased. You rolled your eyes but didn’t answer - you weren’t one to lie outright to your best friend.

“Just do it.”

You listened as Olivia launched into a lengthy recap of her day, starting from breakfast (a really good acai bowl) to a significant breakthrough at work (something on a level your brain couldn’t understand). “Oh, and the best part?”

“If something can top molecular biology, I must hear it.”

“I’m not pregnant!”

“I didn’t realise that was something we were worrying about!” You cheered along with her. 

She nodded, turning to pure pixels for a moment. “I was a week late, and you know me I’m like a fucking clock. I didn’t want to say anything to anyone.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, relieved mostly.” Olivia sighed, and you dropped a piece of carrot down to Mr. Baldwin. “It just reaffirmed what I already know.”

“No kids?”

“No kids,” she repeated firmly. “But also . . . I have to have a talk with Jeremy.” You bent and picked up the tortoise, carrying him, his bowl of food, and your phone outside to your backyard. “The relationship talk. I wanna be with him, but we need to know if we’re on the same page with everything.”

You nodded, half listening as your thoughts drifted to Frankie. You wanted it with him, everything you could have you wanted it. You weren’t afraid with him, weren’t worried that it was only going to be a matter of time before shit went south and you were left with a broken heart and an STD. From the moment you had met him, even though you had been too fucking blind to see it, he had been the one for you.

You would tell him that, you decided, when you saw him again. It wouldn’t be for another week, but you were feeling brave and reckless and you knew it could be a huge mistake and that maybe he didn’t feel the same. But. But.

But he might feel the same. You were almost entirely certain he did, and that it would be less like taking a chance and more like speeding up the inevitable. 

“Are you listening to me?” Olivia’s voice cut your thoughts.

“No,” you said. “Sorry, were you saying anything important?”

“Not really,” she said, “I was just thinking we should get hammered this weekend. Maybe down at the Ivy?”

“The Ivy is for annoying twenty-one year olds now, how about you just come over and we drink til our faces are numb?” 

“So long as we watch X Factor auditions and Come Dine With Me.”

“I think you’re my soul mate, Liv.”

She laughed. “I know you’re mine.”

~

You only heard from Frankie once that week, a simple message that made your heart flutter. 

I miss you more every day.

You kept yourself busy, applying for a Winghead expedition in Northern Australia next year. Hammerheads and their subspecies were among some of your favourites, and the expedition had been one you applied to every single year without fail. You hadn’t gotten it yet, but you were feeling lucky.

That was until Friday.

Your phone pinged with a message as you lazed on your couch, your heart sinking as you read it.

I’ve been thinking, and I don’t think this is right. Please don’t contact me, I’m trying to make it work with Ariel.

“Oh.” You set your phone down on your coffee table, holding back the bile that had risen. Of course, of course this would happen. You should have expected it - at some point you had been stupid and stopped expecting it. 

You read the message once, twice, three times over. 

You decided to go to bed, to sleep and wake up and hopefully find that the message was gone, that you were still hopeful and stupid and lucky.

@laichka @paintlavillered @idreamofboobear @pjkimrn @gracie7209 @sunnshineeexoxo @lorosette @fangirl-316 @dihra-vesa @astoryisaloveaffair @theanothersherlockian @pedritobalmando @blub-senpai @maievdenoir @prostitute-robot-from-the-future @bobbydearest @icanbeyourjedi @goldielocks2004 @1800-fight-me @littledragonlady @girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @ficsbynight @hotchlover @dobbyjen @athalien @vanered15

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Tsunade

There’s a lot of things to love about Tsunade. She’s one of the strongest female character’s in the entire series as well as being a very damaged character who’s fighting just to get through every day.

She comes back to Konoha and takes the job of Hokage because of a kid she has only just met and procedes to lead the village for five years through some of the worst fights it has had to deal with. It’s under her leadership that Konoha works with the other villages, and unlike her Sensei she is actually unafraid to put the elder’s in their place.

Epic moment’s for Tsunade are numerous, but i’ll try not to get too carried away.

(Movie only) Poking Kakashi in the face and reminding him that accusing Naruto of attacking A, and thus throwing him into prison, was HIS idea and he has no right to judge her for being harsh (he looks like a scolded child. I love it. The auntie vibes are STRONG in this movie)

Speaking of Kakashi, remmember when she found out that he died and she proceeded to destroy one of the pillers on the roof of the Hokage’s mansion? Because i do and i LOVE it. Tsunade has seen enough death in her life but that doesn’t stop her from taking a second to morn Kakashi’s death and literally destroy something in anger (also while looking for pics i saw a conversation about how her destroying that piller wS representative of Kakashi’s death being the destruction of a piller of Konoha and oh boy i had FEELINGS).

Also, just the whole Pein attack in general was some bad ass Tsunade. I think Hashirama is the only other Hokage who could have protected Konoha and saved as many lives as Tsunade did. Her skills really shone through her as well as her connection with Lady Katsuyu.

(Anime Only) showing Ino and Sakura what she looked like when she was younger. Tsunade looked so proud of herself while she was showing off her younger look. It’s clear that she just loves looking young and that her keeping herself looking younger has never been about sexual appeal but just enjoying being young. If she could turn back time and be 12 again i think she would, and not just to save Dan and her brother.

Caving in Madara’s Sussano. This woman stood there and listened to Madara bad mouth her for the crime of not being as talented as her grandfather and instead of crying over it she proceded to destroy every judgement Madara made against her. She got stabbed through the abdomen and cut Madara’s sussano sword and shoved it out if her body. She got cut in half and still healed the other Kage’s using Katsuyu. SHE PUNCHED MADARA’s SUSSANO, A NEAR PERFECT DEFECE, AND SHATTERED THE RIB CAGE. Sure she was never going to win that fight, but damn did she do some major damage.

The fact that she taught Sakura to gamble? Delightful. Love master and student bonding over non training activities.

Calling Kakashi stupid for how he faced Itachi? Fair. Man didn’t know what he was getting into because he didn’t have all the necessary info, but she’s still valid for calling him out on acting before thinking. He was so protective of Asuma, Kurenai and specifically Sasuke (and then Naruto when he realized Itachi was actually there for him) he just threw himself into a fight. Tsunade had every right to call him dumb.

Telling Naruto his only disease was being dumb XD one of my fav moment’s ever. Boy was not ready.

(Book only) yelling at Gai for ditching his position to catch a ride on the fancy new air balloon/plane. Also, her asking Gai to tell them what Kaiyo looked like always felt hilarious because this man forgets all the faces and i can only imagine that it was a stressful af conversation to have.

(Book only) ‘Kakashi take my job’ ‘no’ Kakashi take my job’ ‘no’ ‘kakashi take my-‘ ‘fine’ ‘ABOUT DAMN TIME’

[ironmanfridgemagnet]

Sitting On The Shelf - Marcus White x Reader

Part 40 - Christmas Eve

SOTS Masterlist

"Wait, so, tell me it again." Jonah pleaded, his arms folded and pressed against the side of the customer service counter, doing his best to stare you down where you sat on the countertop next to Garrett. "Please. It's the least you could do."

"Dude, come on, don't you think you've heard it enough yet?" Garrett asked, turning to face Jonah with a frown deeply settled on his face, almost as sick of hearing the story as you were of telling it. "Cut my poor doll face some slack."

"Come on, J." You pleaded in return, turning to him with clasped hands and a pout on your lips.

"No." Jonah walked around the counter top, coming to your side and knocking into your shoulder with his own. "Your eternal apology is to tell me the story whenever I want to hear it."

Letting out a loud groan, you threw your head back exasperatedly. Of course Jonah would somehow find a way to try and forever punish you for your lack of communication one time.

"Like I said the last 12 times, i pushed you into the bathroom and I went into the other one. Marcus came in and offered to help me clean up, and one thing led to another." Jonah urged you to go on, not taking your short lived explanation as a fulfilling enough story. "He told me he was really scared when he thought Kelly 'stabbed' me, and that it made him think about all the things he didn't get to say to me. And then we kissed."

"And they all lived happily ever after." Garrett concluded, rolling his eyes at Jonah who seemed completely enamoured in the re-kindling of your love life. "Can we be done now?"

"No. I need more." Jonah teased, nudging your shoulder with his own yet again as he pushed and prodded for more details about what happened that night and how you and Marcus got together again.

"That's the whole story." You hummed, jumping off the counter and moving to stand opposite your two boys. "Besides, I called him my boyfriend in our fake murder skit. I guess neither of you noticed."

"Wait what?" Garrett tuned back into the conversation with renewed intrigue, his mouth agape. "You called him your boyfriend before you ever went to the bathroom?"

"Well, yeah. We've been dancing around it since Emma's first-"

"-and last-"

"-day here. You were literally there Jonah!"

"Oh. I didn't like that." Jonah frowned, wincing away from you as his arms folded across his chest. "I don't remember the last time you called me anything but J."

"Well, J, my point stands." Jonah's frown quirked up into a smile as you corrected yourself, his entire demeanour softening. "You've been there for practically every time we've interacted in the store over the past few weeks. Anything you missed, you missed on your own accord."

Jonah's eyes left yours, his gaze moving intently to the floor as he recounted every interaction he'd seen between the two of you over the last few weeks, and damn it you'd been right - he'd been there for a lot of what happened. He even gone as far as to - several times - tell you he was sure Marcus still liked you. How could he have forgot?

"Lets just hope he doesn't start asking about trivia night." Garrett joked, however your face paled as you realised that was one event he hadn't been there for that had happened.

"When did I even fill you in on that?" You turned to Garrett with a harsh whisper, unnerved by his knowledge and they way he'd brought up yet another story you'd have to tell Jonah 10 million times.

"I have eyes everywhere."

"Trivia night?"

"Oh no! Look at the time!" You cried, nervous laughter bubbling past you lips in a mannerism you'd sworn you'd stolen from Cheyenne after so many years spent together. "Things aren't going to stock themselves!"

Running out from behind the counter, you headed straight for the stock room in hopes you'd find something to hide behind or busy yourself with enough that Jonah would leave you alone.

"What happened at trivia night?" Jonah asked, following you out of the customer service desk as soon as he'd noticed you were trying to run away from his line of questioning. "What happened? You have to tell me! It's all I want for Christmas! Peach!"

————————————————————————

"Come on, I don't know if it's a bulb or a stripped wire." Glenn whined, passing out heat another set of Christmas lights for the group of you to untangle.

Glenn had gathered as many of you as he could find to help him in his efforts to sort through the stores collection of Christmas lights, even though it was Christmas Eve and he'd never be able to do anything worthwhile with them now. So far this morning, you'd worked through 2 sets yourself and 3 more between you and Jonah, so you'd call it a pretty successful day.

"Glenn, you've been trying for two months to solve this problem." Amy sighed, placing down the string of lights she'd been working her way through for the past 20 minutes. "I really don't think you're gonna crack it on Christmas Eve."

General hums of agreement came from the crowd that had formed to aid Glenn's effort. Mateo folded his arms across his chest, avoiding taking on another set of lights to untangle. "My grandmother would kill me for saying this, but I just don't get why people make such a big deal out of Christmas."

Loud gasps of hurt and betrayal could be heard from all around, your own particularly loud and hurt, the string of lights you'd been feeding through to Jonah coming to a halt as your glared down Mateo. "What? How can you not love Christmas?"

"Yeah, Mateo." Jonah confirmed, looking up at you with a soft smile on his lips as he reminisced on his last Christmas here in St Louis. "Christmas is the best."

"I mean real talk, Christmas is pretty disappointing and over-hyped. It's kind of like "Star Wars."" Yet another controversial opinion had just slipped past Mateo's lips and it wasn't even 8am yet - today was going to be a long day.

Even Dina seemed hurt by Mateo's generally wrong opinions, a gasp elicited from her mouth and a frown settling on her lips. "You don't like "Star Wars"?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Can we just one-at-a-time this? It's not about a day. It's about looking back on the year we shared and celebrating it." Glenn whined, a deep frown settling on his face as he looked over the group for support in his claim.

"Yeah, let's celebrate the year a tornado hit the store." Dina scoffed, also halting in her efforts to untangle the lights though you were fairy surprised she'd offered to help in the first place.

"My entire apartment got destroyed and I lived with y/n for like half the year." Smacking the back of your hand into Jonah's chest, you turned to him with a glare. "Only the destroyed apartment was bad, though."

"I got a really annoying roommate, and he won't leave." Garrett said next, contradicting Jonah's previous claim of having a good time living with you. You couldn't imagine Garrett's experience living with Jonah was as bad as he was making it seem, not when you'd had such a good time living with him earlier in the year.

"I got a divorce."

"I lost my boyfriend for half the year." Boyfriend. It had a nice ring to it when you said it about Marcus. And though you'd not really discussed whether he was officially your boyfriend or you guys were just 'together' again, it didn't really matter to you, you were just happy to have him back.

"My boyfriend wound up in a coma."

It seemed like a generally bad year for relationships in the store, now that you thought about it.

"I am looking for a place." Jonah threw his arms out, letting the string of fairy lights fall into his lap as he spoke to Garrett, his voice filled with exasperation.

Garrett scoffed, looking away from the brunette with a quite mutter. "Not looking hard enough."

"It's just a sucky year."

"The doctors aren't sure if he'll ever even..."

Glenn quickly moved on from the topic, reaching his hand out towards Cheyenne softly and moving his fingers in a grabbing motion. "Cheyenne, can I have the voltage tester, please?"

Amy was the next to set her lights down as she spoke, no one being able to do both tasks at the same time apparently. Feeding another untangled line of lights to Jonah, you listened mindlessly to the conversation before you. "But I do have to say I'm looking forward to next year. I really feel like it's time to just start living life. You know? Like, I don't know. I feel like I can get wilder."

"Oh, God. You're not gonna cut your hair again, are you?" Mateo cringed, thinking back to the in store haircut Amy had received from Cheyenne just before the tornado. You much preferred the short hair, finding it framed Amy's face nicely, and you'd never be opposed to helping her cut it again.

"No. I mean, maybe. I don't know. I just mean, like finally taking those motorcycle lessons, or skydiving, or like, maybe I'll get a tattoo." Amy wooed, picking up the chain of lights again and going back to untangle them.

Cheyenne let out a low chuckle. "There's just no way you're doing any of that."

Amy responded with her own chuckle, denying any doubt the rest of you seemed to have in her belief that this would be her year to be crazy. "I'm serious. I, I'm going to unleash crazy Amy. You guys can call me "Craymie.""

Letting your head fall into your hands, you ran a hand across your face. As much as you loved Amy, 'craymie' was already too much for you. "Uh, no thanks."

As Amy began to start a chant of her newfound name, no one else joined in, leaving her arms to fall back to her side in defeat. "Amy, Craymie. All right, well that was just a idea."

"Feels forced."

————————————————————————

"And then another time, I thought Jerry came out of his coma and winked at me, but turns out, it was just a muscle spasm from low folic acid."

A few of you had gathered around the stand of hot cocoa Glenn had set up in the middle of the store, the unusually quiet Christmas Eve shift giving you the opportunity to catch up with your coworkers and get a glimpse into their Christmas plans.

Dina scoffed at Sandra's recap of her most recent hospital visit, clearly finding something wrong with whatever she'd said. "Did you check the twitch for Morse Code? He could have been telling you to stop talking, or it's possible he's in so much pain, he's just begging anyone to pull the plug." After another moment deep in thought she seemed to come to a solid conclusion. "I think that's what it was."

Before you could comfort Sandra with a reminder that it was very unlikely to be that and was probably a sign he was getting better and closer to waking up, Amy came running over - Marcus and Corey in tow with a bottle of whiskey in her hands. "Yo, yo, yo. Cheer up, losers! It's Christmas!"

Everyone moved closer to her as she pulled the lid off of the thermos and opened the bottle of whiskey, pouring it into the hot chocolate Glenn had made. "What are you doing?"

"Turning this into a par-tay." Amy whooped, continuing to pour the warm, brown liquid into the cocoa until only a 1/3 remained in the bottle.

"I have ecstasy in my car." Cheyenne excitedly added, already reaching into her Jean pocket in search of her car keys.

Amy paused, shocked by the sudden offering of ecstasy but quickly regained her composure, shaking her head gently at Cheyenne. "We'll start here and then see where the day takes us. Spread the word, bitches. Craymie in the house!"

Linking your non hot cocoa holding arm through Cheyenne's you pulled her close enough that you could whisper in her ear. "We'll see where the night goes, chey." The blonde looked at you with a bright smile, knocking her forehead against yours. "And if it goes nowhere, me and you can always slip out and have some fun.

The pair of you burst into laughter, approaching Amy with your cups of hot cocoa outstretched so she could pour some of the whiskey that remained in the bottle into your already filled cups.

"Yeah, go, Craymie! Go, Craymie! Craymie is here!" Marcus chanted, Corey quickly joining in before they paused, a looked of confusion crossing their face.

"Who's Craymie?"

Marcus then paused his own chant, lowering his fist as confusion took over his features. "I don't, uh...I don't know."

"Hey, you." Slipping out of Cheyenne's hold, you made your way over to Marcus, grabbing one of his hands in you own and allowing him to pull you into his chest. "How's you're shift going?"

"Better now you're here." He hummed, a smirk curling on his lips as he leaned down and connected them with your own in a quick peck. The speed of the action hadn't been enough to stop Mateo shouting at the two of you to 'get a room,' however.

"How about some hot cocoa, hmm."

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You were tucked under Marcus's arm, one of his hands wrapped around your waist while the other poured beer into each one of the cups before him. Letting your head fall against his chest, you watched as Justine did the same at the other end of the table.

"So what you're going to want to do." Marcus whispered into your ear, making sure you heard him over the general chatter of everyone who had gathered around the hot cocoa stall. "Is throw the ball gently, overarm, and aim it directly for one of the cups. In the middle is better, cause if you kiss it'll fall into one of the nearby ones."

Marcus placed the little, orange ping-pong ball in the palm of your hand, cupping your hand in his and guiding it gently into the air. He pulled your hand back slightly, then as he moved it forward, commanded you to let it go - the ball flying forward and straight into justices central cup.

"There we go!" Marcus cheered, wrapping both his arms around you from behind and squeezing you against him. "Easy peasy, right?"

"Right." You whispered, looking up at Marcus, your face flushed. Standing on the tips of your toes, you pressed a kiss to his jaw, not caring that you'd missed his lips, making it his turn to turn pink in the face.

"No, you guys, I'm serious." Amy demanded, her words attracting the attention of anyone who hadn't previously been listening in to what she was saying. "I used to, like, shoplift bulk candy and, like run, and one time I stole a car."

General disbelief ran through the group, mumblings of how out of character that was for Amy travelling the group but not quiet reaching your ears. If your brain wasn't so clouded with alcohol and the feeling of Marcus's arms around you, maybe you would've remeber we when Adam had told you the story when you first moved in.

"No you guys, I did." Amy insisted, standing from her seat with a smile on her face, thinking back on her high school days with a fondness you'd not seen in her in a while. "It was 10th grade. I took my math teacher's Kia, drove it to the Burger King, got some French toast sticks, and then I just left it there like, bounced."

Mateo scoffed at her explanation, rolling his eyes as he shuffled in his camping chair. "The French toast sticks were a little too specific. But nice try."

Cheyenne was next to agree, still in disbelief that Amy would do something of the sort. "Yeah, you would never do that."

"No, I did do that. You know what? I could call Adam." Amy insisted, determined to prove that she had been the so called 'craymie' in her high school days that she was trying to be again now. "He'll tell you the whole story."

"All right. Call him." Marcus countered, his words vibrating through his chest and into your back, your fingers moving to intertwine with his as you continued to stand by the ping-pong table.

"Okay. I will. And then we'll see who's crazy."

The call was answered on the third ring, Amy barely getting passed a 'hello' before she could here shuffling on the other side of the phone - Adam shushing someone before returning to Amy's question.

"Who was that?" Amy asked, words quieter then they had been in a minute, her gaze intent upon her phone screen.

"Uh, that's, uh, that's Bridgett. Emma's friend Crystal's Mom." Though you weren't mad at Adam for moving on, you found it insufferable that this was how he was letting Amy find out. He could've at least sent a text out of politeness so that this wouldn't happen.

"Wait, Crystal's over? I thought Emma was away."

"No, I'm at her place. Um, what did you want?"

Amy was stunned into silence, her mouth hung agape as she bore her eyes into the phone screen. "Nothing." She rushed out, moving to hang up the call despite the fact she'd not got what she'd asked for. "Merry Christmas."

"Ha ha. Chickened out. Couldn't even ask about the car." Marcus laughed, completely having missed what just happened despite the fact that everyone else was staring at her in stunned silence. He raised his arm, having gently pulled the ping pong ball from your hands, and thrown it directly into one of Justine's back row cups. "Boom!"

You congratulated him on his win with a pat to his chest, slipping out from his hold and making your way over to Amy with open arms that she easily fell into.

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You, Amy and Cheyenne had crammed yourselves around one of the computers in electronics, all staring intently at the computer screen with Bridgette's Facebook page loaded on it.

Dina appeared beside you, a notepad in one hand and her drink in the other. "Well, I've come up with my New Year's resolutions. More birds, more sex, more judo." All Dina appropriate resolutions, you thought. You hadn't even started to think about what yours were going to be - but if you had to guess a large amount of them would include spending more time with Marcus. "And I'm gonna try to pepper, "Yas, queen," into conversation more I think it's time."

"We're checking out that skank that Amy's ex-husband is sleeping with." Cheyenne explained the situation to Dina, her eyes unmoving from the screen as she did.

Dina moved to stand beside you, wrapping her arm around your shoulder so that she could squeeze in close and get the best possible view of the screen.

"No, uh-uh. We don't know that they're sleeping together. There's a lot of reasons he could be at that skank's house." Amy stopped scrolling when she landed on a particular picture of the girl Adam was seeing, the three of you bitterly ogling the photo. "Oh, there she is. Always, like, lurking around, waiting for a dad to come on the market."

"Yeah, she's so...basic." You'd wanted to say hot, unable to tear your eyes away from the stunning bikini photo, but for Amy, you'd lie. Hearing you thought she was good looking wasn't exactly what she needed to hear right now.

"Adam got with that? Guy's fighting above his weight class." Dina scoffed, taking another sip of you drink, nodding sincerely. "Good for him."

"I mean, it's just It's messed up." You scoffed, taking hold of the mouse and scrolling through more of the photos. Amy offered you a fill up from the bottle of alcohol she was still caring around and you took it gratefully.

"It is so messed up." Cheyenne agreed, the two of you having linked arms as the alcohol began to set in, standing becoming harder and harder.

"You know what? I'm just gonna say it. Men are from Mars. I just came up with that." The four of your cheered over Dina's new saying, finding truth in it especially when Adam was acting so skanky. You knew your dislike for him was rooted in solid foundations.

"Do you know what I feel like I should do?" Amy slurred, swaying gently from side to side as she continued to take sips of her spiked hot cocoa. "I feel like it's a good idea to, like, go down there. Go to her place."

"To Bridgett's house?" Cheyenne rasped, entire body leaning forward as she tried to listen in to the conversation.

"Yeah. That's exactly what I was thinking."

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no. You should not go over there." Dina commanded with a fast shake of her head. However, a mischievous smile was quick to curl on her face. "We should all go over there."

You tilted your head in confusion, your brain completely fogged up from the mix of alcohol and rapid back and forth conversation. "To Bridgett's house?"

"Just always assume we're talking about Bridgett's house." Dina waved her hands at you and Cheyenne, the two of you nodding at her when you finally understood what was going on.

"Yes, let's do it." Amy gasped, a wide smile on her face.

"Okay. Oh, but how are we gonna get there? Because I try not to drive if I've had more than six."

"Yeah, I don't have a car." You added - you'd drank the least out of all four of you, but you still in no state to drive, however, in the moment that thought didn't cross your mind, the only one being that lack of car to get you there

"Oh, yeah, I should not be getting behind the wheel of a car right now."

The four of you were quick to get into your outdoor coats, hats, gloves and scarfs, riding the mobility scooters out of the store on the beginning on what would surely be a long journey to Bridgett's house.

"And we're sure this is faster than walking?" Asked as you finally pulled out into the main road, immediately blocking a car from going past as the four of you went roughly 2 miles and hour.

As you turned a corner, following Amy and Dina who seemed to know where they were going, your phone buzzed. Pulling it out, you opened the notification, finding a message from Jonah.

The Three Musketeers

J <3 | would you say your life was significantly improved by fajita Thursdays?

y/n | yeah, always. I miss it. move back in pls

Gare-bear <3 | 1 you're a liar and 2 you can have him I want him out

J <3 | oh that is so rich that you would say that

You were glad that you were missing whatever fight those two were having, muting your phone and tucking it back inside the safety of your coat pocket as you carried on with your journey to Bridgette'a house.

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It was a surprisingly quick journey to Bridgett's house  - even given the fact you were travelling there on the cloud 9 mobility scooters - but the cold, night air that was beginning to seep through your clothes was making it feel long.

"This is it. The vulture's nest." The three of you parked up behind Amy's first scooter, each dismounting their respective scooter and standing at the end of the path to Bridgett's house.

"Whoa." Cheyenne and you were dazed by the lights and ornaments that she had on display in her front yard. "Look at all this stuff."

Dina scoffed, hands on her hips as she stared at the yard display in disgust. "Four owls? News flash, owls are notoriously solitary."

"Four-owl bitch."

"All right. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna go knock on the door." Amy psyched herself up, walking right up to Bridgett's door and raising her hand to knock.

"Great, and then what?"

"And then Adam opens the door, and then I get to see the look on his face!"

"I bet it's gonna be all like, "Whoa, you're a crazy stalker. I'm scared.""

Amy froze in her spot, a terrible, sinking feeling settling in the pit of her stomach as what the four of you were doing really realised itself in her brain. "Oh, my God. This is a mistake."

Dina laughed at the realisation, nodding as though she'd known from the very beginning this would happen. "Uh, a mistake that we're gonna laugh about one day."

"But not today." You gasped, your grip on Cheyenne tightening at the horrific thought of that very door opening and Adam coming out from the other side.

"Oh, no, no, no. Today's gonna be a mess." Dina confirmed.

"We got to go. We got to go. Go, go, go, go, go!" The four of you ran back to your scooters, attempting to make an escape before you'd achieved your plan of confronting them now that you realised how dumb it was. "Get out of here. Oh, my God. My battery's dead."

You and Cheyenne concurred, all three of you heading towards Dina's scooter in an effort to still escape while you could. You could come back for the other scooters later. As Amy tried to climb in the basket, you and Cheyenne balanced on the back, Dina smacked her away. "The max capacity for the basket is a buck-fifty."

"What, are you kidding me?" Amy shrieked, desperate to just get in the basket and get going before anyone noticed you were there. "I don't weigh 150 pounds."

"If you say so, but I'm weighing you when we get back." Dina allowed Amy into the basket, pressing down on the go pedal and moving about a foot away from where she'd parked when the door to Bridgett's house opened.

"Amy? Is that you?"

"Adam? Dubanowski? You guys, you remember Adam." Everyone eyed up the brunette, making noises for way too joyful agreement in an effort to hide the malicious intent you'd arrived with.

As Adam and Bridgette invited everyone in to get warm and talk while the scooters recharged, you opted to sit on her porch step with your coffee, forgetting that coming to confer on Adam actually pertained confronting Adam. You'd much rather sit out on the cold porch, attempting to sober up with your coffee then be in the same room as him.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before everyone came back out of the house. Placing down your half drank cup if coffee onto Bridgett's decking, you joined them as they walked back to the scooters, linking arms with Cheyenne as you went.

Just as you were about to get into your scooter, Amy ran back towards the lawn ornaments, grabbing a snowman and turning to face the three of you with a wicked grin. "I told you. I'm Craymie. Year of Craymie! Quick, take something! Hurry, come on! Go, go! Go, go, go, go!"

As you each grabbed and ornament to put in your basket, Bridgett and Adam came to the door, watching as you made your slow get away with her lawn ornaments in som act of twisted revenge. Finally you pulled out of view, will fill charged scooters, new Christmas decorations and a cry from Dina of 'yas queen!'

Maybe today had been alright.

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"I told you guys. I am a psycho." Amy had a wide smile on her face, her coworkers believing her high school wildness giving her the satisfaction she'd wanted.

"Oh, yeah, you got to let Craymie out more often. But call her something else, 'cause that name sucks." Cheyenne stroked the head of the owl ornament she's stolen, your identical one sat next to Marcus on the floor while you were sat in his lap.

"What's wrong with Craymie?"

Amy's question went unanswered as Glenn appeared with a plug and an extension lead in hand. "Well, I think I finally figured out these Christmas lights. See if you can still call this "fine.""

"Wow. Christmas lights. I've never experienced the miracle of little light bulbs on a string before." Mateo sassed fed up of Glenn trying to convince him Christmas was cool when that's all he'd been doing since this morning.

As Glenn turned on the light display he'd spent all month working on in for the first time, it elicited gasps fro everyone gathered around the Christmas display. The fairy lights covered the whole store head to toe and gave off a warm glow that had your absolutely captivated. Marcus wasn't looking at the lights, however, his head titled up to look at you through hooded eyes.

"Where's Jonah? He would love this."

With a gasp, you stumbled from Marcus's lap, his hand coming to rest against the small of your back as you attempted to stand straight. "That reminds me." Pushing away from the group, you did your best to run for the stores entrance, your bag loosely in your grip as you picked it up from where it had been on the floor. "I'll be right back."

You stumbled into several end caps as you tried to weave your way throughout the store in search of a certain brown-haired boy before it was too late. As you neared the front of the store, you called out in way too over the top whispers, through the alcohol in your system had you thinking you were yelling with all your might. "Jonah!"

Jonah and Kelly froze in the store entrance, both wrapped up to protect them from the winter weather and far too close together for friends to be. Even though you had enough alcohol in your system that you couldn't see entirely straight, you could see that.

Running up to the brunette as the pair turned to face you, you threw your arms around his shoulders, pressing a wet, sloppy kiss to his cheek. As you pulled away your cheeks filled with warmth, a wide smile forming on your face. "I nearly forgot."

Reaching for your bag, you opened it up, pulling out a neatly wrapped silver box and pressing it a little too hard against Jonah's chest. A laugh slipped past his lips at your over the top gestures, him quickly realising that you'd probably consumed more alcohol tonight then you should've. While you had gotten him a physical gift, you weren't going to let him miss out of what he'd claimed he'd wanted earlier that day.

"At trivia night, he waited for me to drop Sandra at the bus stop, and then was going to walk me home. But I got in his car and we went to trivia night. Together." You whispered, pressing another chaste kiss to his cheek then leaning up to his ear. "Merry Christmas."

Jonah pressed a quick kiss your cheek in return this time, the smile unwavering from his face. "I actually ordered your gift to be shipped to your place, it should be there when you get back."

"You got me something?" You awed, pulling him into a hug, your arms hanging loosely around his waist. "That's sweet."

"And so are you, peach."

"And Kelly." As quickly and intently as your attention had been on him, it had now turned to Kelly, your eyes unwavering from the shorter blonde as the smile on your face only widened. "Kelly." You cooed once more, grabbing the girl by her shoulders and pulling her into a tight hug, pressing a long, hard kiss to her cheek just like you had Jonah's. "You're so nice. And pretty. And cool."

You hiccuped in between your words, your posture was becoming less and less straight and if it weren't for the fact you had such a firm grip on the blondes shoulders, you'd have definitely fallen over by now. "If I wasn't dating Marcus, I'd totally hit you up, doll face."

Jonah nearly choked at your use of the words 'doll face,' years in Garretts presence clearly having rubbed off on you.

"I'm going to leave you lovebirds to it." You whispered, pulling them both into one last, group hug. "Have a very, Merry Christmas!"

As you walked away from the two, you blew them a kiss, waving goodbye for a final time before running back in the direction of the lights and the people you loved so much. When you finally made it back to the winter garden display that everyone had gathered around, Marcus's eyes were quick to meet yours, you quickly staggering over to him and plopping yourself down on his lap with a hard drop.

"Where'd you go there, angel?" Marcus whispered in your ear, the glow of the Christmas lights illuminating his face in the darkness of the store. "I missed you."

"I needed to give Jonah his Christmas present." You murmured back, wiggling the metal flask from between his fingers and taking another swig from it. "Speaking of Christmas presents, yours is back at my place."

"Is it now?" Marcus asked, a teasing lilt to his words, a quick kiss being pressed to your forehead as you let it fall back and rest against his shoulder. "Does that mean I get to come over tomorrow?"

"I was thinking you could come over tonight, when everyone heads out of here."

"Back to your place?" He asked, one hand coming up to play with your hair, twirling them it around his fingers then letting it go, and repeating the action once more.

"Back to my place, and in the morning I can open your gift and you can open my gift, and then to my moms for breakfast and more gifts and eventually Christmas dinner which'll probably be more Chinese food." You mused, sitting up enough in Marcus's lap that you could look in his eyes. Both your arms came up to wrap around his neck, hands meeting at its nape and running through the hair there. As you seemed to think on your next words, you started giggling, a blush rising to your cheeks. "And then afterwards, Amy does this thing - every year - where she goes back and forth between two Christmas movies and she always ends up picking the polar express. It's the best thing ever."

Marcus looked down at you with the softest smile, his eyes filled with adoration that shone under the gentle glow of the Christmas lights that Glenn had coated the store in. Of course when you'd said mom, you'd meant Amy, the way it had so naturally rolled of your tongue warmed his heart - and he was sure it'd have warmed Amy's too if she'd heard.

"Your sure I'm welcome?" He asked, nudging his nose against yours, pressing a chaste kiss to your lips that had you chasing after his when he pulled away in search of another. "I wouldn't want to intrude."

Another kiss was pressed to your lips before you responded, dazed and dreamily staring up at the brunette. "Of course you're welcome to come baby, you don't have to if you don't want to."

Marcus was thankful that everyone else was too wrapped up in their own conversations to notice the way his cheeks flushed a deep red when you'd called him baby. The slightly drunken drawl to your words had only made the butterflies it gave him worse, the fact it was the first time you'd called him any kind of pet name would've been enough to have his cheeks burning alone.

"Of course i want to come, Angel. It's a good thing I have your gift in the trunk of my car then, huh."

"You got me a gift?" You gasped, turning so that you were straddling one of his legs instead, his hands coming to hold your hips so that you were kept steady. "You didn't have to, that's so sweet."

"Of course I had to." Marcus replied knocking his forehead against yours gently. "You got me one last year, and now this year, and I-"

Though Marcus did love you he didn't want to say it again now. He didn't want now - while you were half drunk and looking at him like that - to be the first time he said it again since the two of you got back together. Not when he was still a little bit scared of you not saying it back.

"I care about you. Why wouldn't I get you a gift?"

"What did I do to deserve you?" You hummed, allowing your head to fall into the crook of his neck, Marcus's hands that had been on your hips moved to wrap around your waist, holding you against him in a hug. Nuzzling yourself into the warmth of Marcus, you words came out muffled and quieter then intended. "Merry Christmas to me, huh."

"Merry Christmas to you indeed, angel."

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I LOVE THEM SO MUCH YOUR HONOUR

I hope you guys enjoyed this weeks part because it had all my fave things!!!! Mom!Amy, Fluffy!Marcus and Adam hate 🔪🔪🔪🔪

New update next week or potentially the first sub part Sunday in forever!!! (Depending on the word count god knows I'll end up writing 10,000,000 words about Christmas Day) we'll see what happens then....

As always!!! Have a lovely week <333