#would be cool if they let me do 2 weeks instead of 4 I hate that with nursing

[longlegsnamjoon420]

Doc took me off my antidepressant to prep me to start a new one and I already feel fucking withdrawal and weirdness this is exactly why I wanted to be inpatient this is dangerously to do when someone is already having suicidal thoughts. Now I get to deal with this on top of trying to figure out my job situation I fuckin cannot handle all this

[chishiyasleftnut]

Oh my god this took longer than I expected, I am so sorry (｡•́︿•̀｡)

As requested by a few people in the comments on PART 3, here is part 4 to the phase 2 Chishiya fic I've been working on!

It includes everything from angst to fluff to smut at the end. What's not to like? (•̀ᴗ•́ )و I hope you'll all enjoy it!

Stuck With You (part 4)

(Read part 1, part 2, and part 3 here)

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 Genre: Smut, angst AND fluff. (look at me go)

Warnings: smut and gun violence. Includes penetration (female receiving), unprotected sex.

Pairing: Chishiya x fem!reader

Plot: After sleeping together twice, Chishiya began ignoring fem!reader, making her mad with worry. Does he hate her? Did she do someting wrong? Or perhaps something else was going on, something she had completely missed?

3349 words. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

The discussion of what you were never came. Out of fear of making your cramped living conditions more awkward than necessary, you decided not to push it and just live in the unknown. You didn’t need to define the relationship, you told yourself. You were soooo cool with keeping it casual and undefined.

With that mindset, you both continued your life at the camp as if nothing had happened. A part of you had expected there to be more touching but no, Chishiya’s behaviour seemingly completely reverted back to how he was before that fateful stormy night, never letting down his guard and showing even a sliver of vulnerability.

Every night you went to bed next to each other, crammed into a two-man-tent and your bodies somehow not connecting anywhere at all. Every morning you woke up to the tent empty as Chishiya would leave the shared space as soon as his eyes were open.

You rarely spoke much either, which wouldn’t have affected you if you hadn’t slept together twice. Although you had no intentions of confronting Chishiya with this, it did hurt you that he by all appearances felt as if nothing special happened - as if you were just a sex doll he could use when he needed to get off.

A part of you tried to defend Chishiya. Maybe he had little experience with romance - or even friendship? You had never seen him interact deeply with anyone before so that could be an explanation. He didn’t exactly seem like the lovey-dovey type either. Yeah, it wasn’t personal, you said to yourself to calm your anxiety. This was just how he was.

Although your little camp at the outskirts of Tokyo seemed like a perfect, isolated place right after the Beach’ end, the two of you had noticed more and more people in the vicinity of your tent over the past week. It started off with the occasional sound of rustling bushes and glimpses of people appearing far away, but lately you had had actual run-ins with strangers. To your luck, none of them were an immediate threat. Still, the camp didn’t feel safe anymore.

“Come with me,” Chishiya one day said during breakfast.

His words took you by surprise, mostly because you were embarrassingly deep into your thoughts about your relationship (or lack thereof) and had completely zoned him out. You quickly began chewing the big bite of protein bar that you seconds prior had mindlessly stuffed into your mouth so you could reply, but Chishiya continued before you had a chance to clear your mouth.

“Come on. We’re doing a supply run.”

The request was unusual, as Chishiya always did supply runs on his own. His usual reasoning was that you were too slow and that it would be safer if he could quickly be in and out of the city instead of having to wait around for you.

“I thought you liked doing that on your own?” you questioned once you had finally swallowed the lump of chocolatey protein bar.

“I do,” he said while gathering his things. “But not today. Hurry up, I don’t want to wait all day.”

You wanted to pry for an actual answer, but knew it was fruitless. Instead, you quickly finished your breakfast and picked up your bag so you could accompany him into Tokyo.

As expected, your walk to the nearest convenience store was both silent and uneventful. Even though you had a million questions running through your mind, you had no way of articulating them in a way that wouldn’t make you seem desperate. As much as you craved closure, you also didn’t want to scare him away. Hence, you decided silence was best.

When you arrived at the rundown and almost empty 7/11, Chishiya held the door open for you. As you walked in you paused in the doorway with wide eyes. Instantly, you felt bad for complaining about the type of supplies he brought back. In your mind, convenience stores were always filled to the brim with food 24/7, but it seemed as if the situation in the borderlands were way different than in normal life. This convenience store looked at if it had been raided consistently for months, the shelves nearly empty and the floor covered in broken glass.

“Is there even any food left?” you asked while staying in the door-opening, completely overwhelmed by the chaotic emptiness of it all - an oxymoron you until now had never experienced before.

Chishiya pushed past you with a gentle hand on your lower back, ushering you inside. The sudden physical contact sent goosebumps all over your body, making every single small hair on your arms and legs stand up straight. God, you had missed being touched more than you knew.

“I’m sure there’s some left. Help me look.”

Once you recovered, you assisted Chishiya in finding any food that wasn’t rotten. To protect your sensitive nose, you decided to completely avoid the open refrigerator section that in the normal world housed delicious tuna-mayo onigiris and microwave-heatable freshly made meals, all of which you knew wouldn’t have lasted even a week without spoiling.

With quiet steps, you walked up and down the aisles, looking for anything edible. The little, orange shopping basket that you were carrying slowly got filled with various types of instant noodles. Once you were very dead-set on which brands and flavours were worth eating, but you had to throw that all to the side now. The selection was limited, and it was not time to be picky.

With the basket now housing a decent selection of instant noodles in all shapes, colours, and sizes, you turned the corner and stumbled into the candy aisle where Chishiya’s eyes were expertly scanning over the sparse selection. He never brought back too much food out of fear of attracting the wildlife that had slowly taken over Tokyo together with the greenery.

You watched as his hand reached out for a pack of strawberry gummies - his favourite, as you had come to learn from the many times that he had exclusively brought back strawberry flavoured candy instead of the superior tasting grape. However, instead of grabbing the strawberry flavour, he instead picked up two packs of the remaining neighbouring grape variant, quickly putting it into his own shopping basket. As he went to walk away, presumably to find food that wasn’t just candy, he turned in your direction and caught you looking.

“Is something wrong?” he questioned with a raised eyebrow. You gestured down to the grape flavoured candy in his basket.

“I thought you liked strawberry,” you pointed out. “Why get grape?”

“I wanted to try something new,” he eventually said in a casual manner, causing you to roll your eyes out of annoyance.

“I’ve complained about the lack of grape candy for weeks and suddenly you’re willing to try it?”

Chishiya had just opened his mouth to presumably give a flippant reply, when he was interrupted by the deafening sound of gunshots from the street outside the store. Instinctively, Chishiya put an arm in front of you, using his own body to shield you from the far-away shooter. You both stood still as statues, using every sense to figure out how close you were to danger. As the gunshots came to a halt, you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding.

“Okay, I think that- AHH!”

A loud, high-pitched scream left your mouth before you had a chance to stop it, as a much closer round of shots completely took you by surprise. Chishiya quickly pulled you with him on the floor behind the cash register, hugging your back tightly against his front and covering your mouth with his hand to keep you quiet.

“Shhh,” he hushed lowly into your ear, his warm breath tickling your skin. “Be quiet.”

The next few minutes were tense, as neither of you had any visuals of the shooter due to your sheltering behind the cash register. You therefore used the only sense available to you to find any auditory signs that would indicate the location of the shooter. Much to your dismay, you before long heard the store bell chime as the door got opened. The shrill of the bell was followed by the sound of a pair of hefty military boots crushing the many glass shards scattered on the floor.

You were shaking in Chishiya’s arm, trembling with fear as you inaudibly prayed that whoever was now in the store with you would just leave you alone. Chishiya hugged you so tightly against him that you were almost suffocating, his hand surely leaving a red imprint on your face. Despite the physical discomfort, his firm embrace also worked to ground you, calming you down and keeping you quiet.

It didn’t take long for the stranger to leave the store again, possibly disappointed by the lack of victims to shoot down. You both waited a few extra minutes just to be safe, before Chishiya finally let his hand fall away from your mouth, allowing you to take a deep breath, fully filling up your oxygen deprived lungs.

“I should never have taken you with me,” he mumbled while standing up, visibly distraught in a way you hadn’t seen before. Long gone was his usual nonchalant demeanour, his normal indifference replaced by panicky eyes and shallow breaths.

Still sitting on the floor, your shaken mind attempted to connect the many jumbled up puzzle pieces. Chishiya was scared. You had never seen him scared before, so that alone was adding to the confusion. It had gotten to the point where you didn’t even know if he cared about his life. And then it finally clicked: He wasn’t scared for his own safety; he was scared for yours.

“Wait, you asked me to join you to protect me?” you asked while he with a strong hand helped you up on your feet.

“I thought it would be safer than leaving you at the camp, but clearly it was not.” Chishiya walked back around the counter and picked up the dropped shopping baskets with food, neatly packing the content into his bag with uncharacteristically shaky hands. “The camp didn’t feel safe anymore. Too many people around. What if the wrong person saw you all alone? I couldn’t risk it.”

You were in shock, unsure of how to take that in. You had spent the past week worrying over Chishiya’s sudden indifference to you, and here he was admitting he cared? No scratch that, he didn’t just care, he was worried about you. This changed everything.

“I thought you hated me,” you stuttered out, still completely overwhelmed by this new revelation. “I thought I had done something wrong and that you hated me for it.”

“I could never hate you.”

Your eyes met in what felt like a tender embrace, Chishiya’s deep brown orbs showing softness and sincerity in a way you had never could have imagined. He meant it, you were absolutely sure of it.

Calmed by his newfound gentleness, you slowly helped him pack up the supplies gathered from the convenience store, your mind gradually making sense of the past week. You were pulled back to reality when your hands picked up the little plastic bag of grape flavoured candy.

“You got these for me, didn’t you?” you asked, feeling the final puzzle piece clicking into place.

“I did. I should have gotten them earlier.”

“You should have,” you declared amusedly, suddenly finding humour in his previous stubbornness. “I’ve been begging for a while, you know.”

Your remark made Chishiya smile, but for once it didn’t seem like he was laughing at your expense. Instead, he seemed fondly entertained by you, a dynamic switch you hadn’t seen coming.

Together, you walked back to the camp. The walk was silent, but this time it wasn’t an awkward silence. Instead, you both enjoyed the other’s company, using the quiet time to mentally and physically decompress from the intense past 30 minutes you had shared. Eventually you reached the camp again, flopping down in front of the unlit fireplace and immediately going in on the treasured grape candy. Chishiya didn’t comment on it, but just observed how you practically swallowed one purple gummy after the other.

As day turned to night, you both climbed back into the tent with your bellies full of a variety of instant noodles, ready for the best sleep of your life after an emotionally exhausting day. You followed Chishiya, as he laid down on the sleeping mat, sighing when you finally allowed yourself to feel the body aches that were a near constant lately. Chishiya noticed your little sigh, and gently pulled you in closer to him in an attempt to soothe you.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“Yeah. Just tired,” you replied, matching his low tone. It felt like the right volume to speak at in the darkness of the tent.

Chishiya ran his hand up and down your arm, attempting to lull you to sleep. It was tempting to allow yourself to drift off, and yet you stayed awake, not wanting to miss out on this side of Chishiya. 

“I haven’t done this before,” Chishiya finally said, turning his head to look at you. His words confused you.

“We’ve cuddled before.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?” you asked, the confusion apparent in your voice.

Chishiya gestured broadly to the two of you. “This.”

You hummed in acknowledgment, finally understanding his vague remark. You had been right in assuming that he had little experience with anything deeper than sex.

“Do you like it?” you finally asked, holding your breath as you awaited the answer.

Chishiya took his sweet time to reply, leaving you suddenly feeling worried that you had somehow managed to completely misinterpret everything that had happened that day. Luckily, he eventually opened his mouth again.

“I do.”

And with that, you let out a sigh of relief. Thank God. Without thinking, you placed your lips firmly against his and initiated a kiss. He reciprocated, although somewhat hesitantly at first.

“I thought you were tired?” he asked in between kisses, his hands slowly gaining courage as they began exploring your body.

“Not that tired,” you said as you rolled on top of him, straddling him and pushing his body firmly down on the sleeping mat without your lips leaving his.

Chishiya didn’t need any more convincing. He quickly flipped you back around, your body thumping hard against the mat as he forcibly pinned you down under him. His hands got rougher as they ventured all over your body, exploring every curve and soft patch of skin that he could reach.

A moan slipped out of your mouth and into his when his right hand snaked down your body and into your pants, his fingers connecting with your already sensitive clit. He didn’t slow down, instead creating a consistent rhythm as he circled around the needy bud. Your hips instinctively moved against his hand, only further prompting him to continue.

“You like that?” he mumbled possessively into your ear, his fingers pressing harder down on you. “D’you like how I make you feel?”

Unable to use your words, you instead moaned louder. Quickly, Chishiya used his left hand to cover your mouth, suppressing any sound that came from you.

“So eager already?” he asked smugly. “I need you to quiet down, princess. We don’t want the entire forest to hear us, no?”

Once you were subdued, his hand left your mouth and instead journeyed down south to assist his other hand in freeing you of your pants. Once unzipped and unbuttoned, you helped him slide your jeans off by lifting your hips off from the floor, watching as he threw the pants to the side before sitting in between your spread legs.

His fingers traced teasingly along the trim of your panties, carefully avoiding the places that were desperate to be touched. After minutes that felt like hours, he finally trailed down from your belly button to your core, noticing how wet the fabric was.

“Desperate, are we?” he asked amusedly.

“Hurry up,” you mewed, closing your eyes to focus on the faint sensation of Chishiya’s fingers tickling your most sensitive area.

“Desperate and commanding. I better get going, huh?”

To your luck, Chishiya promptly helped you out of your underwear, throwing them over to your pants before immediately delving his long, slender fingers into your core. You moaned, quickly covering your own mouth as you remembered his warning minutes prior.

In a manner that was simultaneously careful and eager, he made sure you were adequately warmed up and stretched out, before pulling off his own sweatpants and boxer briefs in one go. Your eyes connected with his hard length, your mouth almost salivating at what was to come.

Chishiya didn’t waste any more time, his collectiveness wavering as carnal desires took over his mind. He climbed on top of you, spreading your legs to each side of him before lining his hardness up at your entrance and pushing himself in right away.

You both gasped as you got used to the sudden change of sensation. Your walls tightened up around his dick, hugging it tightly in a hungry embrace. Chishiya buried his face in your neck, fighting against his animalistic urges to remain at least somewhat in control. Once at least moderately grounded, his hips began moving against yours, his cock pumping in and out of you rhythmically and filling you both up with continuously building layers of pleasure.

Without realising it, your legs tightened around his body as you slowly but steadily felt yourself get closer to the edge - closer to the release you so desperately needed after the rather hectic day you had just experienced.

You didn’t even notice when Chishiya bit down on your shoulder in an attempt to keep himself from finishing, his body continuing working towards its goal of getting you closer, and closer, and….

“Fuck, I’m coming!” you eventually moaned, your vision fading to black as you felt pleasure rushing through your body, all your senses focused elsewhere leaving you completely oblivious to what was going on in the real world.

As the wonderful sensation sadly came to an end, you felt Chishiya collapse down on top of you, his deep voice grunting into your ear as he too came, filling your core up with his cum. For a while, you stayed in this position, both recovering from the short but intense escapade you had just shared. Eventually, Chishiya rolled off you, landing on the hard mat with a thud.

A part of you feared what would happen next. The last time you slept together, Chishiya spent the entire week after on ignoring you. You weren’t sure if you could survive that treatment again. However, to your delight, Chishiya gently pulled you back in close to him, hugging your tired body firmly against his.

“I needed that,” he mumbled, his voice already sounding calm and sleepy. You chuckled a bit, but nonetheless nodded to show agreement.

“Me too.”

Chishiya yawned and pulled you even tighter against him, hugging you like a child would hug its favourite plushie. Just as he was about to fall asleep, you decided to ask the question that was weighing heavily on your mind.

“You won’t ignore me again, right?”

He opened his eyes, looking a bit confused before he understood where you came from.

“No,” he said, grazing your forehead with his lips before closing his eyes again. “I’ll never ignore you again.”

That were the last words you remembered before you gently lulled to sleep, his reassuring words calming the last few anxious thoughts running through your mind and finally allowing you to succumb to your exhaustion.

I’ll never ignore you again.

The phrase played over and over again in your mind as you slept, even appearing in your dream. And you believed him. You really did. This was the start of something new.

[blackbirdsblackberries]

I Hate The New Hero

Pt 2: A spider's nest is different to a bird's.

Pt 1 - Pt 2 (You're here) - Pt 3 - Pt 4 - Pt 5 - Pt 6 - Pt 7 - Pt 8 - Pt 9 - Pt 10

Okay, judging by how the polls are going now, this one is winning!! I'll post the second part of Don't Drink The Kool-Aid soon (possibly tomorrow or the day afterwards). Don't be afraid to send in asks and such regarding anything! I love answering them and doing side stories/headcanons for this series or other series of mine!

The day rolls by painfully slow. How could it not when you're going to invite someone, who you're pretty sure would throw you to the wolves for a dollar, into your shitty apartment?

You exit the school building with two of your friends; Sherri Webster and Tia Hunt. You see Timothy leaning against the wall to the exit of the school building and you can't help but scoff, does he not have a life or friends?

Tia notices your gaze and chuckles, you had already told them both about Tim and the project, they laughed and made fun of you - you'll get back at them.

Sherri pats me back "If you don't come back to school tomorrow we'll let the police know he probably murdered you!" Tia laughs at that and I grumble and elbow Sherri.

"Oh shut up! God, you're insufferable!"

"And you're about to be dead!"

"Oh please, no one in Gotham stays dead these days!"

"I'll make sure you do!"

Tia interrupts before the minor spat ends in the two forgetting Timothy is there - now looking at the three with the very hatred you'd give to your parent's murderers.

"Can you guys fight later? In the group chat maybe? I'm starving and want to go home - private school food tastes like shit." Sherri sighs but agrees and the two wave goodbye before leaving you.

You wave and after a bit of awkward silence you glance at Timothy who is now staring daggers at you, his eyes are calculating but aren't narrowed - like a feral wolf analysing it's target. You hold back a sigh as you raise a brow.

You make a hand motion for him to follow you and you start to walk along the path to your amazing, beautiful, posh, cool apartment that in no way is flawed.

The walk is silent and painful, at this point your willing to bust out the charms and joke with him but you're scared he's going to smash your head into the concrete as soon as you make a joke.

You walk past a poster that was hung up regarding the heroes of Gotham, Aranea is near the center hanging to the side of a wall. You scowl at it - the picture was bad and didn't flatter you at all.

Timothy catches your scowl and makes a show of rolling his eyes and typing something on his phone. You can't hold back any longer.

"What? You grading me or something? Speak the fuck up if you have a problem, Richy Rich." You sneer as you say the last part, he snaps his head up at you in offense.

"Oh, you want me to speak up?! Fine, you're a selfish brat who's got parents that fawn over you and you never lacked anything in your life yet you go after some sweet innocent girl who would a hundred percent save you if you needed it. Aranea is one of the best people in Gotham and it's disgusting that you are so rude to her!" Timothy rants. You can't help but raise a brow, you want to laugh so hard - the irony is right there.

Instead you roll your eyes "You hate me because I hate someone you fangirl over? How pathetic. Hate me for a real reason!" You try not to smirk when you see Timothy try to take deep breaths and calm down.

"... Let's just get to your apartment already." He states as he continues walking, you raise a brow. "Wrong way." He turns around and follows you silently.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally you stop in front of your stunning apartment. Out of the corner of your eye you see Tim raise a brow.

"How'd you get into a private school if your parents can't even afford an apartment building that doesn't look like it's had ten different crime scenes this week?"

You deadpan, ouch man...

"I got in through an engineering scholarship." You reply blandly, no point in spilling your emotions and true personality to a person like Timothy.

Timothy doesn't say anything else and you take that as the conversation ending and lead him into the complex and to the apartment you reside in.

It's home and you wouldn't want anything different. The plants are dead, there's a leaky tap, the clock that's stuck on the wall ticks annoyingly, there's a small spider making it's home in one of the corners and all the furniture looks one kick away from dust.

Your parents don't have much time to clean...

You look at Timothy out of the corner of your eye, despite loving where you live you know people will judge and Tim will probably use this against you some time in the future.

.............................................................................................

Tim's confused. You had always exuded "rich spoilt brat" behavior and seemed so stuck up yet live in actual filth? On top of that you got into Gotham Academy on a scholarship? Do high schools even do scholarships? It doesn't make sense.

Tim's not an idiot, he knows he's being petty but at the same time he can't bring himself to stop. Aranea is one of the kindest people he's met in Gotham, a saint, an innocent person who deserves a good life.

Yet, you hate her guts, you say awful things about her despite not even meeting her - or maybe you did, either way there's no reason for you to be acting like this.

Tim isn't petty, he won't use your living situation against you but the scholarship thing can be.. a small post can ultimately cause ridicule in the school.

He blinks a couple times, not noticing how he's already in a cramped bedroom - it's the size of a supply closet in the manor!

There's a bed in the corner, a window that's curtained up, a closet, a toy chest and a pile of sketch books that reaches halfway up the bedframe. It's cozy he supposes - for a sewer rat at least.

You mumble something about getting food before leaving the room. Seems you have some smarts and etiquette.

His phone buzzes and he looks down at the Gotham Vigilante Group Chat (GVGC), it's a message from Aranea.

Aranea: "Heyyyy!! I won't be able to go on patrol tonight, my mama wants to go out for dinner :("

Tim sighs, that's good. He can't go because of the stupid project so it seems he won't have to get horrendously teased for missing out on hanging with Aranea.

Tim's phone buzzes again and it's Bruce.

Bruce: "Message if (Reader) does anything sketchy. You can't trust someone so hateful."

Way to state the obvious. Tim already had multiple plans in case you did something.

He pockets his phone after responding with a thumbs up and he sits down, on the floor - assuming that's where they'll work.

.............................................................................................

Soon you come back with snacks in hand and had changed into more comfortable clothes - they were your dad's because in no way were you going to show Timothy your sense of style.

The clothes consisted of cargo shorts that were grossly oversized and tied with some shoelace to stop them from falling and an oversized shirt with the image of Garfield on it.

You raise a brow at where Timothy is sitting.

"Uh, why are you sitting on the floor?"

"That's where we'll work. Why?"

You think you're ready to go cry in a corner out of frustration.

"I have a bed."

"okay? I doubt it can even fit the both of us."

... Okay, that's true. Still, even if you hated him your parents didn't raise you to be rude to guests.

"Fine. You sit on the bed and I'll kneel on the floor."

You watch as his eyes widen, not expecting that response. You push him to stand up and make him sit on the bed before plopping down and taking a big sketchbook and flipping to the back of it.

"Okay, let's get started." You mumble, more so to yourself.

You two spend the next three to four hours researching, drawing things and writing down dates. By the end of it your tired and just want to sleep. It would have been done sooner if there wasn't an argument that caused you to storm out of the apartment and pace the halls and if Tim didn't leave to the halls to answer a call but at least it's over with.

You rest your head against your bed, you're still on the floor and more than content staying there, you doubt your body will even allow you to move.

Slowly your eyes close and you drift off to sleep.

[lostdreamr-blog1]

Pinky Promise 4

Word count: 1.7K

Pairings: Jake Seresin X Reader

A/N: Round 4 of Pink Promise! Part 5 is in the works now! Thanks for reading!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

When Jake received the text, “Want to get drunk tonight?” on a Wednesday, a heavy feeling settled in his stomach. Something must have happened. He leaned against the cool countertop of his kitchen, weighing his options. The last time he saw you, time had slipped away unnoticed, and now it had been over a week. He fired back a quick reply, “Name the place and I’ll be there.”

He showered and changed out of his work clothes, heart racing as he waited for your next message. He hoped he could talk you down from whatever ledge you were teetering on and still make it home at a reasonable hour.

Jake drove to the small bar on the outskirts of town, a spot you chose to avoid running into other pilots. You didn’t dislike them; you just didn’t want to put on a show for Bradley’s sake. As he stepped inside, he spotted you immediately, alone at the bar. Your profile told a story that made him stop in his tracks. The dark circles under your eyes and the way your hair lost its usual shine spoke volumes. But it was your defeated posture that cut him the deepest—your shoulders hunched as if you were trying to disappear.

A sigh escaped his lips as he chastised himself for not checking on you sooner. He slid onto the stool next to you. “Hey, darlin’. Sorry if I made you wait.”

You looked up, a flicker of light returning to your eyes. “I haven’t been here long. How was work?”

“Same as always. Your brother has been more moody than usual,” he replied, signaling the bartender for a water.

You chuckled softly. “Natasha turned him down. He’s not taking it too well.”

Jake raised an eyebrow, surprised. He hadn’t known Bradley was interested. “Did he say why?”

“She gave him some excuse about not wanting to mix work with pleasure or some bullshit like that. He deserves better anyway.”

A comfortable silence settled between you for a few moments before you broke it with an unexpected question. “You ever think, ‘Man, I suck’?” You took a long sip of your drink, completely unfazed by Jake’s water.

He smirked. “Not particularly. I know I’m one of the best, so there’s not much room for doubt.”

You rolled your eyes. “That was such a bagman answer.”

Jake chuckled, but his expression turned serious. “I do have days I question why I’m still doing this. I love flying, but the risks are starting to feel bigger than the rewards.” He leaned back, hoping his honesty would coax you into sharing what was weighing you down.

When you finished your drink, he leaned closer. “What’s going on? It’s been a while since you’ve been out during the week.”

You turned your gaze to the empty glass, avoiding his eyes. “You’d be surprised how many times I drink during the week. But I think I’ve realized recently that I’m not built for med school.”

Alarm bells rang in Jake’s mind. “We’ll talk about the drinking in a minute. What’s happening with school? I thought things were going well.”

You signaled the bartender for another drink, and Jake slid his water toward you. “It’s not what I thought it would be. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s just… not something I enjoy.”

Before you could reach for your new drink, Jake intercepted it. “Let me guess: instead of asking for help, you decided drinking was the better option?”

You nodded, your defenses slipping away. Why be responsible when it was easier to forget?

He sighed, “Did I ever tell you how much I hated flight school?” you shook your head, prompting him to continue. “I was excited to be a pilot. It’s been my dream for as long as I can remember. But when I got into the schooling side of it, I was crushed. I nearly quit a few times, but I told myself to push through. I kept thinking the freedom to enjoy what I love would be waiting on the other side.”

You slowly nodded your head at his admission. “I made the mistake of telling Bradley I hated it a few weeks back. He didn’t give me any fuzzy words of encouragement.” Jake clenched his fists, anger simmering at Bradley’s judgment. He knew how much your brother’s words affected you, no matter how much you tried to brush them off.

“Listen, sweetheart. I know you love your brother, but when stuff like this comes up, you need to reach out to me. I will never be too busy for you. I pinky promise.” He extended his pinky, a hopeful smile breaking through your somber expression.

“One of my greatest achievements will be having a big bad Top Gun pilot pinky-promise me,” you said, hooking your pinky with his and squeezing it lightly.

For another half-hour, you both sat at the bar, laughter mingling with the bittersweet confessions. When Jake finally stood to leave, he insisted, “I’m driving you home. It’s dark out, and I’d rather not take any chances.”

You opened your mouth to argue but quickly realized it was futile. With a resigned nod, you followed him outside. The night air was cool, but Jake’s presence felt like a warm shield against the world.

He opened the truck door for you, a small gesture that sent a ripple of warmth through your chest. As he gently closed it once you were inside, the moment felt almost too perfect, like a scene from one of those old movies that made you cringe. And that’s when your thoughts began to spiral.

You wanted to convince yourself that your troubles began and ended with school, but deep down, another darkness gnawed at you. It all felt so blissfully normal during your last study session at Jake’s apartment. The aroma of his homemade pasta mingled with the faint sound of an old movie playing in the background—one you secretly loathed, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. You sat there on the couch, sharing bites and laughter, and thought, “Damn. If only I could have this every day.”

That’s when the drinks had returned, and the recluse lifestyle set back in.

Falling for Jake wasn’t supposed to be on your radar. He was everything your brother loathed—everything you thought you shouldn’t want. With his polished career and a social life that sparkled with ease, he seemed to glide through life. You, on the other hand, felt like you were sinking, caught in a riptide of your own insecurities.

As Jake parked and walked you to your door, you couldn’t help but admire yet another annoyingly perfect trait of his—how he always walked you to the door, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“You’ve been awfully quiet this whole ride here. You sure you’re okay?” His voice was low and laced with concern. He glanced down, catching the way your fingers nervously toyed with the hem of your shirt.

You hesitated, torn between the urge to unload the weight of your heart and the instinct to keep it all bottled up. “Just… a lot on my mind,” you finally admitted, your voice barely above a whisper.

“Want to talk about it?” His eyes searched yours, and in that moment, you felt the walls you’d built around yourself begin to crack, revealing the tangled mess of emotions you’d been trying so hard to suppress.

You looked away, the cool night air brushing against your skin, and realized that perhaps, just maybe, letting him in could be the first step toward something beautiful—or the beginning of yet another spiral.

The mature thing to do would be to lay it all out there, to let him in on the storm brewing inside your head. But maturity had never been your strong suit. “I think it’s a conversation for another night,” you said, forcing the words out as you unlocked the door and stepped inside. You turned to find Jake’s gaze heavy with concern, and your heart sank a little.

“I promise I’m fine, and it’s nothing.” You flashed a small smile, but it faltered under the weight of his skepticism.

“And when I leave here, are you just going to ignore me and slip back into that shell you’ve been hiding in?” He crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe, exuding a mix of frustration and genuine worry.

You felt the familiar urge to run, to dodge the uncomfortable truth. You’d always sidestepped conflicts, always preferred to sweep emotions under the rug. But before you could catch yourself, the words spilled out. “I think I’m falling for you.”

It was the kind of confession that felt like a punch to the gut, and before you could process the fallout, you slammed the door in his face.

Silence filled the space, thick and suffocating. You leaned against the door, heart racing, half-expecting him to knock again or shout something—anything. But the only sound was your own breathing, rapid and shallow. What had you just done?

You were spiraling again, your mind racing through all the ways this could end badly. You pictured Jake standing there, processing your words, his expression shifting from surprise to hurt.

Why did you always have to make things so complicated?

After a moment, you heard a soft knock. Your heart thudded in your chest. “Hey,” Jake’s voice came through the wood, calm but tinged with confusion. “Can we talk about this? Please?”

You hesitated, grappling with the tumult of emotions. Part of you wanted to open the door and let him in, to unravel everything you’d kept bottled up. But another part, the one that had always chosen the path of least resistance, screamed at you to keep it shut.

What if you had just ruined everything?

A/N: Somehow this turned into a mini series...thoughts? Do we think Jake will feel the same? Part 5 in the works :) Thanks for reading!!

Tag List: @rosiahills22 @sunlitsunflowers @dempy @mamaskillerqueen @luckyladycreator2 @atarmychick007 @my-soulmate-is-mycroft @topguncultleader @alilstressyandlotdepressy @avengers-fixation @chaoticcassidy @alldaysdreamers, @hotch-meeeeeuppppp, @mrsevans90, @spidey-d00d, @rororo06, @lilstarfish88, @jasmine-in-the-night,

[ladykailitha]

Spellbound Part 4

Normally I would go back and forth between the two stories, but this one had more chapters backlogged, so it gets to go again.

Just a reminder, starting next week, I'll be taking a break from posting. I'm recovering from all the crazy writing I did this month. 12 ficlets, 1 multi-chaptered Christmas story, and a shorter one-shot of one of the ficlets. All total roughly 30k words in a month. So... yeah. I'm taking a well deserved break.

In this we have Dustin and Mike being teenagers, Robin spots a rogue Chrissy, and Steve has to deal with a very angry brownie (fae, not food).

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

~

A curly haired boy came bursting through the front door and Steve glared at him. “Dustin, how many times do I have to tell you to not just barge in?””

Dustin skidded to a stop and looked up at Steve like he didn’t know his ass from his elbow.

“Bav lets me,” he said smugly crossing his arms and grinning with that stupid gap-tooth grin of his.

Steve put his hands on his hip and sighed. He looked up at the roof, pursing his lips as he fought back the angry response. “Bav is not the only being with thoughts and feelings and while she ‘lets’ you it doesn’t mean you should. Because I sometimes work on dangerous things and if you come barging in, you might get hurt.”

Dustin scoffed. “Like she would let me in if you were doing something dangerous or whatever.”

The walls seemed annoyingly smug and tinted a shimmering grey-green.

“If these walls could talk,” Dustin continued with a smirk, “she would be agreeing with me.”

Steve pinched the the bridge of his nose and sighed. The truth was, he didn’t want Dustin bursting in because he was trying to find a ‘don’t hate me’ spell or charm to get Eddie to ease up off him a bit. But while there were friendship charms and love potions, neither really fit what he was looking for.

“What did you need?” he asked instead. “Or are you here to harass me?”

Dustin put his hands over his heart. “Ah! I’m offended that you think the only two reasons I would come visit are harassing you or wanting something from you.”

“There is another reason you come over?” Steve asked with a huff. He walked over to the bookshelf and began skimming the titles. He pulled out a large blue tome and flipped to a specific page as Dustin watched with suspicion. “How quickly do you think I could brew a truth potion and slip it in your tea?”

Dustin held up his hands in surrender. “Fine. All right. Sheesh. I wanted to beat Mike to the deliveries today because Mr. Jenner is making his apple cider and he always pours a glass for the one who delivers your asthma medicine.”

Steve blinked at him for a moment before throwing his head back and laughing. “Mike beat you by twenty minutes, man. In fact he should be back here in about five minutes.”

“Nooooo...” Dustin wailed, “that’s so not fair!”

The walls drooped and turned a pale blue. Steve shook his head. “It’s good thing I love you both,” he huffed stomping over to the icebox.

He pulled out an earthenware jug and took down two glasses. He filled both of them with a cool amber liquid and handed one glass to Dustin and then poured the other glass out the window and on to the foundation.

Dustin looked down at the cup and took a cautious sip and then a more enthusiastic gulp. “When did you get this?” He shook his head. “Wait before you answer that, did you just pour out a perfectly good cup of Mr. Jenner’s cider out onto the ground?”

Steve stroked the door frame to the back garden. “Sure, Bav deserves some too.”

The house seemed to get a little bit bigger as the walls turned a pretty, happy dusky pink.

Dustin blinked a moment before he finished the rest of his cider. “Seriously, though. I thought Mr. Jenner doesn’t make the cider until the afternoon.”

“The perks of being the town witch,” Steve said sagely. “People are very superstitious and I’ll often get the first wool or the first bag of flour. In this case, the first jug of cider.”

Dustin looked down at his empty cup and then up at Steve. “That’s actually kinda badass, you know?”

“Thank you,” he murmured. “I was about to make lunch if you would like to stay. Mike will be joining us...just...about...now.”

There was a knock on the door and Dustin went to go answer it. Sure enough on the other side of the door was Mike Wheeler.

Dustin looked back at Steve in shock. “How did you know it was Mike? Did Bav tell you? Can you see through walls?”

Mike just shoulder past him to get into the house, greeting Bav briefly before sitting down at the tea table.

“None of the above,” Steve said placing the cold meat sandwiches on the table. He pointed to the window. “I know how long each of you take on your runs and when I looked out the window, he had just passed in front. No sit down and eat your sandwich.”

Dustin grumbled but did as he was told. He took a big bite and hummed happily around his bite of food. “You make the best sandwiches, Steve.”

Mike nodded. “Thanks for the food. I just get so hungry these days and my mom keeps threatening to rehome me because I eat so much.”

Steve chuckled and sat down with his own plate of food. It was actually a normal amount because he hadn’t used magic today. “I remember what that was like, I’m not much older than you two, so I don’t mind sharing a meal or two to take the burden off your parents a little.”

“I think that’s why Ma doesn’t mind me hanging out over here,” Dustin said around a bite. “She knows you’ll take care of me.”

Steve smiled and shook his head, taking a bite of his food. Claudia Henderson was notoriously protective of her son. She wouldn’t trust the Pope with Dustin and she was Catholic. But somehow, someway she trusted Steve to take care of her Dusty.

He sent them off with full stomachs and cakes for their moms. They didn’t need to know that the cakes, which he was with absolute certainty never actually made it home, were just little charms of be nice to your mom magic. Karen Wheeler and Claudia Henderson deserved a day of their sons being so sweet to them.

Which was the real reason their moms were okay with Steve. Because they were always so nice when they came home from spending time with him. Or on the off chance the cakes did make it home, they had a nice cake to eat and were nicer to their families afterwards. All in all, win/win for everyone.

Robin chose that moment to come home. “I’m in love with your house, Steve. She made the journey home take a little bit longer so I could avoid the buttheads.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, she’s great like that.”

“So guess who I saw coming out of the Munsons’ house on the way home?” she said, putting away the groceries she had into town for.

Steve paused his clearing of the lunch mess and straightened up. “No...really?”

Robin pursed her lips and nodded. “Apparently Chrissy Cunningham is branching out since her dramatic break up with Jason Carver.”

Steve finished the dishes with a sigh. “It’s no surprise that his confrontation with Eddie and Bav was public knowledge by breakfast the next day, but even I think visiting another man so soon after your ex went insane and tried to break into someone’s house is little reckless, honestly.”

Robin winced. “Ooh, yeah. I didn’t even think about the crazy ex. Yeah. Ooh. Maybe she was trying to come here and, I don’t know, apologize?”

“I don’t put the ‘no return’ spell on the love charms,” Steve said, drying his hands. “I like it when they find their truelove and they come back all happy and smiles. If she was looking for me, she missed the mark a second time.”

Robin spun around. “Wait is that why?” Steve nodded. “Are there other charms you don’t put your ‘no return’ spell on? Or is it just that one?”

Steve just shrugged. “My medicines, I guess. That’s where I make the most money or get the best trades. But as for the other things, I saw what happens when you don’t set a boundary with people asking for charms. They’ll start asking for charms for everything. They’ll want to be cured of every ill, want everything handed to them, so I created the spell myself. It’s unique in all the world.”

“I didn’t know that,” Robin said softly. “About...well any of that I guess. You really don’t talk about your past. Of your life before Hawkins.”

Steve sat down at the table and placed his hands palm down on it. “Look, I don’t talk about it because for the large part, other than a couple of years apprenticing in her shop in the city, I grew up in a town of witches.”

Robin’s eyes went wide and she sat down next to him. “So you can’t talk about it?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know if I would say can’t talk about. But it’s hard sometimes when I say something and everyone stares at me blankly, like I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“And with each look and with each comment about how weird you are,” she said softly, taking his hand, “the less you want to bring it up. I’m sorry, Steve.”

“And with there being trouble in town with the whole Chrissy situation...” He sighed. “I’m think starting to wonder if Bav sensed something about her and tried to keep her away.”

The house seemed to shrink on itself a little and the walls turned a light grey.

Steve looked up at the ceiling and cooed, “I’m not blaming you, Bav, I’m blaming myself for not taking in everyone’s advice and giving it to her. Merlin and Circe didn’t like her either. Especially Merlin.”

Robin nodded. “As my familiar I should I have listened to him, too. He’s been giving me the cold shoulder ever since she showed up, as well. It’s a whole mess.”

Just then Circe came bursting through the window cawing angrily.

Steve buried his head in his hands. “Fucking hell! As if this day couldn’t get any worse.” He sighed heavily. “Tell Dustin to keep his shirt on and I’ll be right there.”

Robin sighed dramatically, throwing her head back. “Who would have thought that a Roman Catholic would even have a house elf to anger? Scratch that, who would have thought that house elves even existed?!”

Steve stopped half way to rising. “Like everyone knows that house elves exist. We don’t have any because Bav thinks they’re pests, but like even my dad knew better than to insult Mom’s house elf. Her name was Nora and best seamstress I’ve ever met.”

Robin stared at him blankly. “You want to run that past me again?”

Steve just rolled his eyes and got out a cup of milk and a little bowl of sugar, setting them carefully in a basket. Then he added honey, walnuts, and mint. He wanted to cover all his bases he didn’t know what this elf favored and wanted to make sure they weren’t offended further.

Then he went over to the bookshelf and after skimming the titles for a moment, he pulled out a small green book. He handed it to her. “Read that while I’m gone. The whole thing is useful, but I’d start with page eighty-six. The chapter on house elves.”

Then before Robin could even squawk a protest, Steve was out the door following Circe at speed, running to keep up.

He skidded to a stop in front of the Hendersons’ door to find that Dustin and Walter had been locked out of the house while screams could be heard from inside.

It didn’t sounded pained, it sounded indignant.

“Stand aside please,” Steve said sternly. Dustin and Walter looked back at Steve, thinking he meant them, but suddenly the screaming inside stopped and the door opened. “Thank you.” He turned back to the Henderson men. “Please wait here.”

But before either one of them could protest, Steve had already walked into the house and closed it tightly behind him.

He surveyed the damage. Claudia Henderson stood on the kitchen table battling a broom with her rolling pin. It was worse than he feared. He set his load down on the counter and began unpacking his treats.

The broom stopped moving, and then was slowly, cautiously put down. Once Steve had finished unpacking the honey, suddenly there was a little round faced woman about the size of Steve’s palm standing next to his basket with a red flower as a hat and bright clothes.

“What is that?” Claudia hissed, jumping down from the table.

“You’ll excuse her manners, little one,” Steve murmured, “it appears that she’s never heard of house elves before.”

The elf glared Claudia over her shoulder and then turned back to paw over Steve’s prizes.

“I didn’t have any cream,” he continued. “So I hope the milk is fine.”

The elf put her little hand in the milk and then stuck her hand in her mouth. “It’s good milk. You do your mother proud.”

Steve grinned at that. “So I take it you know Nora then?”

“Who’s Nora?” Claudia asked drawing closer to the two of them at the counter.

“Of course I know my own sister!” the little squeaked. “I’m Nona by the way. Please to meet you, Stevie.”

Claudia stopped dead in her tracks as she realized what was going on. She turned on her heel and began rummaging around in her ice box. “Eureka!” she cried.

She brought over a bowl and set down on the counter next to Nona. “I’m sorry little one. I wasn’t raised with knowledge of your people. I’m new to this town and was not aware of its different ways.”

Nona turned around and sniffed at the bowl cautiously. She looked up at Claudia in awe. “Clotted cream!” She put her hand in and pulled out a handful of the cream. She shoved it in her face with a contented hum.

“I didn’t know your family wasn’t from Hawkins,” Steve murmured. But he turned to Nona. “Would you please let the boys in, they must be so worried about Claudia.”

Nona looked up from her feast in wide eyed shock. “Oops!” She snapped her fingers and suddenly both Dustin and Walter spilled out on the ground as the door opened under their weight.

Steve went over and helped them to their feet. “Sorry about Nona, she didn’t know you weren’t familiar with house elves and thought you were actively insulting her.”

Dustin and Walter shared a shocked glance then looked over at the little woman eating their clotted cream.

“This is a house elf,” Steve said as Nona curtsied. “Her name is Nona and she helps out around the house. This has been her home for longer than this particular building has stood here. She will do the laundry or any chores left over the night. All she asks in return is a treat of her choice.”

“Does it have to be clotted cream every time?” Dustin asked as she wiped the mess of cream from her face with her apron.

“No,” Nona said. “But it was nice apology, though. I like honey and milk. So as long as you keep a bowl of of one of the two out, your food will never spoil and I will help out around the house.”

The Hendersons all exchanged glances and then Claudia nodded.

Walter stuck out his finger for her to shake. “Welcome to the family, Nona.”

~

Part 5

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @sadisticaltarts @dolphincliffs

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @cryptid-system @kultiras

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji @dreamercec @blondie1006

5- @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @genderless-spoon @fearieshadow @thesecondfate

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @beelze-the-bubkiss

9- @wheneverfeasible @micheledawn1975 @gloomysoup @dotdot-wierdlife @tartarusknight

10- @ollyxar @yesdangerpls @two-vampires-kissing @themoonagainstmers @estrellami-1

[danceswithsporks]

Awake- Part 9

Crosshair x f!Innkeeper Reader

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

*not canon to season 3*

Authors Notes: Hey so remember when I told @motte-the-goblin that the next part would be up within the week, yesterday? Yeah so apparently I meant today lmao.

I am…so unbelievably sorry for how long this took and how short it is. Lots of stuff went down since the last update and I’ve just been trying to rebound. As for the short length of this chapter, I wanted to get through everything and get them moving onto recovery but I just couldn’t find an organic way to do it. So instead this chapter came out of it.

As I did last year, I’ll be taking the next month of to reset my brain and prepare for Clone x OC week and

KATSUCON 2025! Let me know if any of you will be there! I’d love to meet up and chat clone wars/bad batch with you all!

Chapter Summary:

You wake up to a distressing call and find yourself called to duty.

Awake, once again you were lying awake in your bed, alone. The warmth that you had gotten used to was gone and in its place was empty coldness. Outside, a storm could be heard raging. On nights like this you’d usually have the door open to your private garden where you’d enjoy the smell of the rain and the cool breeze it brought with it. But not tonight. No, instead you kept everything closed and buried yourself beneath the blankets of your far too big bed as you waited for your com or datapad to ring. 

Five months, he’d been gone for five long months. The two of you spoke every once in a while. It started close to three times a week but as the weeks turned into months, it dwindled to once or twice a week. Now it was once every two weeks or so. You’d asked him a few separate times what was going on, but he never told you. 

“Takin’ care of some business.” He’d told you a few different times. 

You hated it, you hated him. Not really, but slightly. Things had finally gotten better. He was opening up to you and you’d never felt closer. But then he was gone. Just hours after finally opening up to you, he’d left. 

You thought you’d be okay. He was just a guy. A paying guest in your inn. But after the first week, you found yourself missing his scent. By the second week, you were missing his warmth and by the third week, you were just missing him. You found yourself pacing around your apartment hoping he’d knock on your door suddenly. After a moment, you’d call him in and he’d join you on the couch. You’d read your book and he’d look through his datapad. Then you’d go and lay in bed, your head on his chest, his hand stroking through your hair and the two of you would exchange more stories about growing up. Maybe he’d apologize for being gone for so long, maybe he wouldn’t say anything at all. You wouldn’t mind either way. 

A long groan left you as you rolled over and buried your face into his pillow. It no longer held his scent and that upset you. It wasn’t fair that he’d done this to you, to your heart. Rolling over away from your datapad, you nuzzled deeper into your bed and tried to force yourself to sleep. Stupid, Crosshair. Even if he did call you tonight, you’d ignore it. 

*pling pling pling* 

You practically dove for your bedside table and grabbed the datapad. “Crosshair?” You didn’t even bother to look at who was calling. It had to be him, right? He would be the only one to call you this late at night. 

“Is this Doll?” An unfamiliar gruff voice spoke carefully. 

“Who?” You looked at the information on the datapad and realized you didn’t recognize it. “Umm, yes. It is.” 

“Good. My name is Rex. I work with Crosshair. I received your information from Echo.” Rex wondered what the time was where you were. Perhaps he’d woken you up? 

Oh, Stars. Why did you suddenly have a pit in your stomach? ”what’s happened?” You were sitting up now, your heart in your throat. 

“Everything is okay.” He paused. “Well, kind of.” 

What did he mean by that? “Where is Crosshair?” 

Rex looked over his shoulder at a sound. “He’s here. But…” 

“But what?” This was it, he’d tell you Crosshair was seriously hurt, or worse! 

The former Captain sighed. “There’s been an incident. How soon can you be here?” 

Where was ‘here’? “I don’t know where you are. I don’t have a ship.” 

“There is a ride waiting for you. Please come soon.” 

The call was quickly disconnected leaving you slightly confused. There was a knock on your apartment door and you rushed to it. You found Echo waiting on the other side. “Echo?” 

Echo nodded. “How soon can you be packed?” 

-*-

You weren’t sure where you were going. You’d asked Echo a few times during the six-hour trip, all he’d told you was that it was secret. The two of you talked casually about what had been happening. How he was settling into his new role as History of the Galaxy professor at Omegas school and the few missions he’d gone on since the return of Tech. 

“He’s thinking of proposing to her, ya know.”  Echo checked over the readings of his ship as he spoke. 

You looked up from your datapad quickly. “Tech is?” 

The Domino twin nodded. “Yeah, showed me the ring today. Made it out of the crystal from his blaster.” 

A surprised sigh left your lips. “How romantic.” His blaster, the thing that protected his life. 

Echo chuckled. “Guess it is. Think she’ll like it?” 

“He could give her a rock and she’d love it. She’s head over heels for him.” You sat back in your seat and stared out the window. “What about Wrecker? Think he's planning anything?” 

“He may have asked for some advice on how to propose,” Echo smirked at you, earning a laugh. “You’re not gonna say anything, right?” 

“And ruin the surprises? No way.” You winked at the clone before looking back at your datapad. Both your friends would be engaged soon. It was hard not to be jealous. They’d found the perfect men and you were still struggling with your own feelings. You shook the thoughts away quickly earning a confused look from Echo. Clearing your throat, you decided to change the topic. “So what’s going on? Why do I need to go to you guys?” 

Echo chewed his lip, trying to think about how much to reveal. “I can’t reveal too much. It’s not my place to. But what I can tell you is that some things went sideways and you’re the only one who seems to get through to him.” 

“Echo.” You reached over and grabbed his scomp. “Is he okay? Is he hurt?” 

He looked down at your hand before looking up at you. Your eyes were filled with worry and it was clear your nerves were getting the best of you. “Physically he’s fine. I promise.” He watched as you visibly relaxed. “It’s mentally that we’re worried about.” 

Mentally? “Why?” Why was he being so roundabout about this? 

A long sigh left the domino twin. “Rex will explain it better than me.” He checked over the information on his screen. “Sit back, we’ll be arriving soon.” 

-*-

Echo led you into a large structure that had seen better days. Walls were crumbled around you and there was a clear draft. In the center of the room was a holo table with many clones around it. A blonde one stepped away after seeing you enter the room. He walked over and extended his hand to you. 

“You must be Doll, I’m Rex.” He took a moment to look you over. You were a cute little thing. Bright eyes and a nice figure. 

You shook his hand gently. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name. I’ve heard a good amount about you.” 

Rex glanced at Echo. “So have I.” He motioned to the men around the table. “This is Howzer, Gregor, Kix, and Cody.” Each man raised a hand as Rex said their name. 

“It’s nice to meet you all.” You nodded to each one. It was odd seeing so many clones in one place. Not only was it the ones around the table, but also a few others walking around the room moving crates. Now that you saw so many together, you could see the way they all looked the same. It was almost a shock compared to how the batch looked. “Where is he?” 

“This way.” Rex motioned towards an opposite door. 

You followed the blonde clone closely. “Can you tell me what happened?” 

Rex paused and turned to face you. “The target that we’ve been tracking has vanished.” 

“Oh.” Why would that require you to come here? 

“He was a high-priority target for Crosshair. He’s not taking it well.” A loud sound came from the room nearest your group. “Echo, you should make sure the room is safe for her to enter.” 

Echo nodded, but before he could move, you reached out and stopped him. “It’s okay.” You stepped around him and reached for the door panel. 

“If anything happens, call out for us,” Rex spoke sternly. He’d protect you if need be. 

“Echo!” Kix ran towards the domino twin quickly. He stopped in front of Echo slightly out of breath. 

Echo turned to face the medic. “Kix? What’s going on?” 

“Gregor thinks we found her. Come on.” He motioned back towards the main area. 

“Dove?” When Kix nodded, Echo felt the air leave his lungs. Finally, they had a lead on her. He looked back at you quickly and when you nodded, he took off. 

Your eyes returned to the door in front of you. Taking a deep breath, you pressed the mechanism in the door and it slid open. You gasped at the sight before you.

The room was an absolute mess. Clothes had been flung everywhere. A chair was overturned against the wall and even the cot had been flipped over. Crosshair sat on the side of the flipped cot, his head in his hands. 

“Crosshair?” You carefully stepped into the room. He didn’t react to your voice. Rex cleared his throat loudly behind you but even that didn’t grab the sniper's attention. You carefully walked over to him and placed your hand on his shoulder. “Crosshair? It’s me.” He jumped at your touch. 

He lifted his head from his hands and turned to face you. “D-Doll?” Why were you here? No! No. No. No! You couldn’t see him like this. 

He’d changed a lot since the last time you’d seen him. It had been nearly two months since he’d holo called you. His hair was longer now and so was his facial hair. A full beard was now visible. It was clear he hadn’t been sleeping, the bags under his eyes were massive. “Oh, Crosshair.” You moved your hand from his shoulder to his cheek. 

“How are you here?” He’d forgotten how beautiful you were. The holos on his datapad did you no justice. His eyes shifted to Rex behind you. “You brought her here?” 

“No, Sniper.” You kneeled next to him and took his hand in yours. “I asked Echo to bring me here. I haven’t heard from you in a while. I began to worry.” Pulling his hand up to your face, you placed it against your cheek. “Why didn’t you contact me?” 

Touching you was like being home. He sighed and pressed his forehead against yours. “I’m sorry, Kitten.” A few tears ran down his cheek. “I’m sorry.” 

You took a deep breath. This was worse than you could have expected. Your free hand slid behind your back and you motioned for Rex to leave the room. After a moment you heard the door slide shut. Standing, you released Crosshair’s hand and walked around the overturned bed. Once in front of him, you sat on the floor between the bed and the wall. “Come here?” 

Crosshair didn’t hesitate for a moment to fall to the floor next to you. He moved to bury his face into his hands but was stopped by you grabbing his shoulders and pulling him into you. He buried his face into your shoulder and began to shake. The tears that burned his eyes fought to break free, but he couldn’t let them out. You couldn’t see him like this, weak and broken. He felt your hand press against his back before moving up and down. He waited for the questions to come…but they didn’t. Instead, you simply held him. 

You’d wait as long as you needed to until he was ready to talk. For now, you’d simply hold him and let him know you were there. 

-*-

Two long days passed by before he was ready to talk. You’d spent that time switching between holding him, cleaning, fixing the room, and feeding you both. Meals were brought three times a day to both of you by Rex or one of the others. You hadn’t seen Echo since the day he brought you here. 

Howzer, the one with teal on his armor, had been kind enough to bring a second cot for you to sleep on. The moment he’d left the room you’d pushed the two cots together. You held Crosshair each night, keeping him close to you. The only time you heard his voice was when he spoke in his sleep. It was hard to understand what he was saying. Only a few words were clear. 

“Hunter, duck!”

“Tech, on your left.” 

“Easy shot” 

“Hold on Mayday, hold on.” 

Mayday was mentioned a lot during those first two nights. Crosshair had told you very little about the man, the topic being a sensitive one for him. 

On the third day, your curiosity finally got the best of you. Crosshair was still deep asleep when you woke up. You would have stayed by his side and waited for him to wake up like you had the last two days. But today, you just couldn’t get Mayday out of your mind. You carefully removed yourself from his arms before slowly getting off your cot. You slipped on your boots, pulled the only long-sleeved shirt you’d brought over your head, and prayed that the pants you wore would be enough to keep you warm. You’d been in such a hurry to pack that you hadn’t even bothered to ask Echo what the weather would be like. You’d simply packed two outfits plus the one you were wearing when you arrived. Two of those outfits had short sleeves while only one had long sleeves. The only reason why you’d stayed relatively comfortable these past few days was because you’d been as close to Crosshair as possible. The clone and the blankets on the cots were enough to keep you warm. 

The door opened with a quiet whoosh as you exited the small room. While inside with him it didn’t seem that small, now that you were out in the hall and looking back into the room, you realized how little it was. Crosshair shifted on the cot and you worried he was about to wake up. But when he settled once more, you sighed and let the door shut. It took you a few tries to find your way back to that main room you’d been in when you first arrived, but after a long fifteen minutes, you found it. You hadn’t realized how early it was when you were in the room. But now that you stood in the almost empty control room, you realized just how early it truly was. 

“Howzer?” The teal clone stood by the holo table with a mug in hand. Steam swirled in the air above it and the familiar scent of coffee filled the room. 

Howzer looked away from the holo table in surprise. He hadn’t expected to see you this early and without Crosshair. “What are you doing up this early?” The Captain looked you over before catching the way you shivered slightly. 

“Couldn’t sleep.” You shifted as he walked to the side of the room and picked up a dark bundle off one of the crates. He crossed the room over to you and held the bundle out to you. “Thanks. You?” 

“One of us is always on duty at the table. Just in case someone contacts us.” He watched you unfurl the bundle and look it over before pulling it on. “Trouble sleeping, huh?” He stepped closer to you and tugged the robe gently. Adjusting it so it sat better on your shoulders and didn’t pull on your neck. The Jedi that had owned it before would have been happy to know it was being used again. 

The robe was so warm and comfortable, that you sighed softly as warmth began to spread through your body. You nodded as the clone in front of you adjusted the garment a few times before stepping away from you. “Got a lot on my mind.” 

Howzer motioned towards the other side of the room. “Like what?” 

You followed him around the holo table and towards a steaming pot. The scent of caf was becoming stronger and stronger. “Well…” you chewed your lip in thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to breach the subject. “I was wondering something. Were you…part of the Empire too?” 

He froze at her question, the clean mug in his hand shaking slightly. “I was.” 

“What…was it like? Did you know Crosshair then? Did you also have a Jedi?” The questions seemed to race out your mouth before you could stop them. You took a long breath to try and stop the rest. “Sorry” 

Howzer shook his head and fought off the urge to laugh, you were cute. He finished pouring you a cup of coffee before answering. “It was different, I did, and yes, I did have a Jedi.” He passed you the mug. “Drink this, it’ll help ya warm up.” 

You blushed slightly before taking the mug. It felt nice in your cold hands. “Thanks.” You took a small sip of the warm drink and visibly recoiled slightly. That was some of the worst tasting coffee you’d ever had. 

A chuckle left Howzer as you took your sip. “Not the best tasting stuff in the galaxy. But it gets the job done.” He motioned over to a set of crates set up around a larger crate. “How about ya start at the top and I’ll answer what I can.” 

“What was your Jedi like?” You sat on one of the crates and placed your mug on the larger crate that seemed to act as a table. 

“He was a brave and caring man. Don’t know how far my men and I would have made it without him.” He stared down at his mug for a few moments. “We lost him a few weeks before everything changed.” Howzer looked towards the holo table. “How much has he told you about what happened?” 

You took another sip of the warm drink before answering. “He told me about Order 66 and what it entailed.” 

Howzer gave you a softened look before shaking his head. “You honestly shouldn't know about it. Not the type of things civs should hear about.” 

“Civs?” Your head tilted to the side. 

“Civilians.” Another voice echoed across the empty room. 

“Cody.” Howzer nodded to the ex Marshal Commander. “Doll had some questions that were keeping her awake.”

Cody nodded and stroked his growing beard in a way that Rex had told him reminded him of Kenobi. “I see.” He walked over to the two of you as Howzer stood and grabbed another mug of caf. “Like what?”  

“What it was like being a part of the Empire. What his Jedi was like. If he knew Crosshair then.” Cody was the one in orange. You could clearly see small spots of gray poking through the paint, probably best you didn’t ask about that. Your nails tapped against the ceramic of the cup in front of you. “Could I ask the same questions to you?” 

“You can.” Cody settled on the crate and watched Howzer bring over the coffee. “I worked in the Empire for a while as well. Even worked side by side with Crosshair. Never seen a more skilled sniper in my life. The last mission I did was with him.” 

“What do you mean the last mission?” Your hands gripped the mug in your hands tightly, the warmth of it finally getting to your bones. 

The once Marshal Commander took a long sip of his drink before speaking. “Soon after that mission, I tried to walk away from it all. I’d seen too much and been through too much. I couldn’t take it anymore. Someone higher up heard about my plan to go AWOL. I was captured before I could even try to leave and taken to Tantiss. The same place Crosshair would later be imprisoned at.” 

“Oh.” You swallowed. Maybe it was best to change the subject. “Did you have a Jedi you worked with?” 

“Yeah, he was an amazing General. Saved my life more times than I can count.” And yet he’d killed him. Shot him down mercilessly. He remembered the feeling of seeing his body move on its own and fire at him. The way he fell from that wall. “Wore a robe just like the one you’re wearing.” He motioned to the garment wrapped around your body. A part of him wanted to reach out and touch it, to feel the familiar material against his fingers at least one more time. 

“This was a Jedis robe?” You looked down at the dark brown garment. A Jedi had worn this before you. You looked at Howzer quickly for verification. The teal clone nodded to you before looking away. “I feel honored then.” 

The three of you fell into silence for a few minutes. Simply enjoying the silence and the company. Cody was the first to speak. 

“Something tells me there’s more to why you couldn’t sleep.” You awkwardly shifted across from him and it was all the answer he needed. “Ask away.” 

You took a long breath. “What do you know about a clone named Mayday?” 

-*-

You sat on a crate outside on the landing pad deep in thought. The robe was still pulled tight around you. The sun was up now and slowly warming the air. Thoughts on what you’d learned about Mayday ran through your head. You knew he was dead, that was something Crosshair had told you. It was how he died that had taken you by surprise. If what you’d read was true then poor Crosshair had been through so much more than you realized. 

“Doll?” A familiar voice called to you from the hangar doors. 

You turned and locked eyes with the man you’d been thinking of. “Crosshair.” 

He quickly moved across the landing pad as you stood up from the crate. The moment he was in front of you he pulled you into a tight embrace. “I thought you left.” 

“I wouldn’t leave without telling you. I just needed some fresh air and time to think.” Your face nuzzled into his chest. It was clear he hadn’t showered in a few days, the smell didn’t bother you too much. 

“Think about what?” His face buried into your hair and he inhaled deeply. Yes, this scent, your scent, you were his peace. 

You hummed softly as you listened to him inhale. Should you tell him that you were thinking about him? About what he’d gone through? About Mayday? “Well…” Your mom would tell you that honesty was the best policy here. “About you and what you’ve gone through and…Mayday.” 

“Mayday?” Crosshair pulled away from you and looked down. “Why would you be thinking about him?” 

“Because you’ve mentioned him at least thirty times in your sleep since I’ve been here.” You pulled away from him and walked past him. “I know what happened to him, to both of you. Or at least the details that are in the reports.” 

Crosshair turned and stared at you. “How?” 

A lump seemed to form in your throat. “I asked Cody and Howzer.” 

“What?” He stormed across the platform and over to you. “Why the hell would you ask them?” 

You turned and faced him, anger boiling inside of you at the way he was speaking to you. “Because you would never tell me!” 

‘Stop’  You thought to yourself. This wasn’t on him. What you had learned about that mission from the reports Howzer had found made it clear it was bad. You could only imagine how much worse everything was. A long sigh left your lips as you tried to calm down. 

“It’s been almost a year, Crosshair. We’ve known each other for almost a year now. I don’t expect to know every single detail about your life. But I would hope you’d feel more comfortable opening up to me. Especially now when you’re clearly going through something.” You stepped forward and raised your hands to his face. “Crosshair, please.” Gentle hands cupped his face as pure eyes stared into his. “Open up to me? Let me know the real you.” 

“You couldn’t begin to understand what I’ve been through.” Crosshair tried to pull away from your hands but found himself stopped. Instead, he shifted his eyes away from yours. 

As he looked away from you, you felt your heart drop. The past couple of days had revealed his weaknesses to you. The way he struggled to come to terms with whatever was eating at him had shown you just how deep it truly went. His was so much more than simple nightmares. Whoever this high-priority target was, they had a strong connection to Crosshair. Were they the source of his nightmares? Or just a small part? 

None of it mattered to you right now. All that mattered was him and how he was feeling at this moment. It was clear he was nervous about you learning something or worried that you wouldn’t understand and thus be unable to truly help him. But you’d do whatever you could to help him. You’d take him how he was, with all the baggage included, and make him whole once more. You’d push out the darkness and guide him to the light and be his everything. 

The realization of how much you genuinely cared for this man, this clone who’d started out as a stranger and a renter in your inn, was astonishing to you. In this moment you truly understood that the two of you were a part of one another now. All you wanted was to ease his pain and for him to be happy. You cared for him so much. 

You…loved him.

Your eyes shook as you moved closer to him. “ Let me try, Sniper. Let me be the one to listen to you and know you. Let me love you.” You cooed sweetly to him while stepping forward and pressing your body against his. “Let me be yours, Cross.”

There it was, out in the open finally. You wanted to be his. You wanted to love him and keep him close. To give him all of you and accept all of him. 

Crosshair felt like his heart was racing. This was everything he’d dreamed of. Even before he met you. “I…” he gripped your shoulders tightly and tried to push you away even though his heart was yelling at him not to. “I can’t. You can't know the things I’ve been through, the things I’ve done.” 

“Crosshair.” You followed him as he tried to push you away. “I want to know everything you’ve been through. Everything you’ve done. The good and the bad. All of it.” 

“Doll, you say that now. But once you know the truth there won’t be any way to take it back. I’ve done dark and terrible things.” He hesitated as his body began to shake. “I can’t…I can’t risk losing you. Not yet.” 

“Hey.” You reached up and cradled his face once more, making sure he was looking into your eyes. “Nothing you’ve done, and I mean nothing, will change how I feel about you or think about you.” You stood on the tips of your toes and pressed your lips against his. He hesitated at first to return the kiss but soon his arms were wrapping around you and holding you tight. His lips danced against yours in desperation. You pulled just far enough away so you could speak once more, your lips brushing against his. “I promise.” 

Crosshair fought the nervous energy racing through his body. He pressed his lips against yours in what he feared would be the final time. “Okay.” He truly hoped you’d be able to keep your promise.

 But deep down he feared you wouldn’t be able to. 

Tag list:

@rndmpeep @sarahskywalker-amadala @queenariesofnarnia @idoubleswearimawriter @bambambunny @ravenclawbitch426 @jupitersaturnapollo @mzjakao @heylosers06 @dangraccoon @impala1967666 @andrakass2 @ducks118 @motte-the-goblin @rintheemolion @merkitty49 @jediknightjana @onyxtides @moon-wrecked @mssbridgerton @griffedeloup @masterjedilenawrites

[sunsetsandsunshine]

An issue I need to address:

TW: Drama, cussing…yk all that jazz. I apologize that this post is what you all are receiving from me today. But I need to talk about this before it get’s worse.

Okay, I just want to clarify that there should be no hate being sent towards @osctwordfan for this. Hate and hurtful comments will not and cannot fix what has been done. But that does not I am not angry about it. I am mad. I am livid. Only two people on this site has been able to make me this genuinely upset and it’s frustrating that making a PUBLIC POST is the only way to get this person’s attention. 

4 days ago, May 16th, @osctwordfan started following me. Which, I greatley appreciated because HELLO??? Who wouldn’t, right? A new follower is just an awesome feeling to have. So, I checked their blog to see what they liked and we shared SO many similar interests it was almost scary. And I followed back. 

If you know me for a while, you know my whole “Hi new mutual 💝” message I send to my new mutuals. Because 1: I love talking to people and 2: I just want others to feel like they’re welcome. (If you haven’t received one yet it’s either bc you’re a little older than me or idk how to send the message. BUT YOU WILL GET ONE TRUST 💞💓💘💖💝)

And you all know how you can SEE when someone is online? Well, they were online when I texted this. And I got no response. I just assumed it was nervousness or shyness so I didn’t really question it. Until a few minuetes later they reblogged my “You can always ask” fic. 

Which, woo-hoo I guess. But my message was still not answered. But I didn’t think it was THAT deep. 

The next day, May 17th, I noticed they were online. I sent a quick “Hi” again, awaiting a response. About 5 minutes later I was met with one, except it wasn’t the one I was expecting or hoping for. 

It was a request. For a fanfiction. Okay okay cool. Coolio. You…ignore my two messages of me just simply saying a quick “hello” and you don’t answer…instead you ask for a tickle fanfiction of some turtles? 

I get people are shy. I get that. I do. But me and one of my best friends were talking about it on Insta and it made no damn sense. Following, reblogging and requesting things from an individual that’s been trying to speak with you for the past few days and you not responding and then ASKING something of them is just…weird. 

Me and one of my best friend’s convo:

So, on May 18th I saw they were online again, and so I texted the following: 

Which I felt was fine. It was straight to the point. But where my anger really emegred was when I got notifications of my fics being reblogged by the same person. AGAIN. NOT EVEN 3 MINUTES LATER.

And then May 19th they liked another post of mine. Although it was a post that you would have to DIG DEEP FOR. Because I made it a year ago and only 4 people liked it (INCLUDING ME.). So you would have to LOOK LOOK to find it. 

Then yesterday, May 20th, was just my breaking point. I was chilling, having a nice evening, talking with my fellow mutuals, writing a fic (AND FINISHING WOO-HOO) until I get a notification. And guess what? It’s just another reblog by the same person. 

Did I get any responses of my pervious texts? Nope. Not at ALL. 

I am sick and hurt of being treated as if I’m just a computer that makes fanfictions.

I am a PERSON. A human being that for the past week has been trying to talk with you. And you at fucking 16 should understand that. 

You are one whole year older than me and you think you have the right to treat me this way. Who the absolute hell do you think you are? 

Because let me get this through your head: I live in an African and Jamaican  household, and one thing that we let each other know day in and day out is to never ever let someone make you feel like you’re less. 

So when you see this @osctwordfan I am hoping you have a good explanation regarding to last week. 

@ ing mutual’s in this because this is INSANE and I am LIVID rn: 

@itzsana-kiddingmenow @veryblushyswitch

@skyloladoodles @saturnzskyzz @backy-san

@creativecutie @savemeafruitjuice

@mythica0 @leosmasktails @someone1348 @vxlepop

@anxious-lee @charismakat

@sunny-117 @odder-outlet @jamiesgotchu @ziipzeepzop-eez

@danineedshelp @pocky-dragon

@my-l0v3r-v3rse @rice-cake-teen10

[hivefleet-hellbender]

Out in the desert, no one can find you... (Hex Tiles 1)

A sharp wind whistles through the desert dunes, bringing no reprieve to the travelers following the thin paths left out in the sand. Don't drink from the river — the plants that grow along its shores contain toxins that could leave a grown man coughing up blood, and chemical spills float through the current. A faraway road carries the rare drone-tank, long abandoned from any sort of human use.

My newest hobby, to distract myself on months when the purse is a bit too tight to be buying plastic crack from Games Workshop, is to build modular hex tiles! It's super easy — I pick up a hundred of these wooden MDF tiles from Amazon for $10 (they're advertised as 2", but they're 1.75" from tip to tip, and each side is 1"), grab any spare craft supplies I have lying around, and get to work! They're super quick (this first batch of one hundred took me around a week) and they open the door to a lot of cool experimentation. A lot of this is inspired by the work of u/Marcus_Machiavelli over on Reddit, who makes these fantastic modular hive city components that I hope to someday be able to emulate. 

I'm making these for two purposes, neither of which I've put in practice yet but I'm hoping to get to do at some point. They're for:

Any mass-battle games played at 6mm. This could also work for Adeptus Titanicus or the upcoming Epic reboot that Games Workshop is working on. 

Tactical TTRPGs like Lancer that are played with large beings, who can operate on a 6mm scale.

Once I get some games in with them, I'm sure I'll encounter future problems and reassess how I approach them. But for now, this is what I've got!

I Hate Sand

The first set of tiles I made, to serve as the backdrop for the rest of them, are these sand tiles. I chose to make this a desert (and thus make a bunch of sand tiles) because I already had some sand lying around, and because it's really cheap and easy to work with. Be careful though! Anakin was right; sand sucks. Try and pick up a finer grain than what I went with, apply the sand in a more-controlled location than I did, and secure it better than I did too. But here's how I did them:

Coat the surface of the hex with a mix of PVA glue and water.

Sprinkle on a light dusting of gravel or small rocks.

Apply a thick coat of sand on top of the gravel.

Knock off excess sand and recycle it for next time.

Spray with 1-2 layers of varnish. (I would recommend a sealant instead, but I didn't have any at the time)

For the ones with little paths on them, I painted the path on with White before applying the gravel or sand, and it shows through well enough! The paths are unnecessary — they're a fun experiment, but I don't think I'll be making more of them in the future.

The Gurgling Creek

Making the river tiles was a bit more involved, but still pretty easy. The method I came up with I think looks a lot better than just painting on water, and is a lot easier to work with than resin or water effects. 

Use some kind of texture gel to build up the riverbanks, trying to have them end around 1/4" on the sides of the tiles where you want your river to connect.

Paint a strip Black where you want the river to flow, running from one edge to another.

Apply sand as before, everywhere except where you painted the black. (If you're worried about fucking this up, you can swap the order)

Varnish (or use sealant) as before. 

Take some gloss mod podge and mix it with a light blue paint, and apply in large goopy quantities everywhere you want water to be. Leave overnight to dry. (If you want the river to be less cloudy, apply many thin coats of mod podge instead, letting each layer dry before applying the next)

As an extra, stipple green along the edges of the water and use a dark green wash to create patches of vegetation.

The river pieces are my favorites, and I'm the most proud of them. The tiny bridge was a thin strip of balsa wood, painted white and then washed black. It turned out fine.

I did a solid mix of straight river pieces and curving river pieces. If I was going to do it again I'd make more curving pieces than straight river pieces, because the curving ones make more sense for how rivers work.

The Road To Nowhere

These road tiles turned out really well, perfect for a run-down highway in the middle of nowhere. Here's how I made them:

Take a piece of corkboard and cut it down to be 1.75" long and 1" wide.

Glue it on a hex with the two edges of the corkboard touching two sides of the hex.

Go at the edges with a knife, making it all worn down and busted up.

In some of these spots, I fucked up and glued the corkboard on wrong. To fix that, break off a chunk and reposition it so it'll connect correctly. This will look like a big fat crack in the middle of the road, which is perfect.

Coat in a layer of mod podge or PVA glue. Leave to dry.

Once dry, paint the cork entirely Gray.

Drybrush White onto the corkboard, focusing on the edges and exposed spots.

Paint two thin yellow lines along the middle of the road. (These are optional, but they do a lot to make the 6mm scale convincing)

Apply sand, as before, onto the ground and up the sides of the road, so it looks like the road is emerging from the sand. Maybe apply some sand in a couple spots in the cracks to make it look like the sand has gotten in there.

Varnish and/or sealant, as before.

Apply a Black wash to the road. (There's a lot of tricks here! If you want the yellow stripes to be more vibrant, you can only paint them on after the first black wash. You can also target spots of sand on the road to make it look like it's asphalt runoff, soaking black into the cracks.)

Apply a second Black wash to the road. 

The bridge was a bit more complicated, and took some finicky positioning and a trip to Kung-Fu Tea.

Take a boba tea straw and cut it into 1" segments, then cut them in half, gluing them to the middle of the hex as culverts.

Take corkboard and glue it over the culverts, bending it so it meets the two edges you want the bridge to run along. If it breaks, that's okay — this is a crumbling, middle-of-nowhere bridge.

Use texture gel and spare corkboard to fill in the gaps.

Use texture gel to define the steep edges of the river. Apply a little bit in between the culverts.

Do all the road steps to the road part of the bridge, and all the river steps to the river part of the bridge.

I'm exceedingly proud of the bridge hex. It turned out perfectly, and feels very emblematic of what I want this project to be like.

Why You, Too, Should Make 6mm Terrain

6mm terrain is amazing to make. Mistakes look like part of the landscape or the brain smudges them over due to the small size, and small changes look like fascinating little details. It really opens the imaginative space and I absolutely adore working at this scale. Plus I'm developing a ton of experience with various materials I've never worked with before, so I get to enjoy the triumph of carving foam or corkboard. It rules! I might even try to make a 28mm bridge after the success I had making a 6mm one.

My future plans for this project include cliffs, craters, 3D-printed shantytowns, and overpasses. But all that is for a later date — for now I'm gonna rest on my laurels, and spend the rest of the evening reconfiguring various tile combinations and cackling like a mad scientist.

[queenilyrian]

“Legitimate criticism” like she is a wh*** he lost his career, they child should not exist ,his family is payed to promote PR,writing petitions for both of them to be fired from their jobs respectively ,calling out even her dead mother , not spearing even her dead dog… is “legitimate criticism”.

Honey, did I even mention that? I never excused any of that. And “because you can’t hate in peace” you take every tiny criticism of Natalie as hate. Every bit. If your life revolved around her women’s unemployment- I mean employment- we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I never said I was even a hater. Just an observer that’s read both sides. Touch some grass if you feel the need to defend someone who again, will never know you, 24/7. And like in your reply, you’re arguing with just emotion. Not logic. You clearly don’t have a professional life of your own especially with the way you rant and type. And people have tried to give you receipts of many things about her that are inarguable… like the fact the US courts couldn’t verify her place of work. Or the fact that she has produced nothing at Vertigo. You can’t name one project she’s produced in the last three years. But when someone states the facts… you lash out at anyone who dares to say anything. People see right through you. Save yourself some time and try spending time with friends and loved ones instead of obsessing over this. Have a good day.

I’m gonna address two things about this rambling Jane, the rest you can cry together with the other trolls that got rekt by me.

First of all “in the court case she…” put the fries in the bag Jane . You’re holding on to a straw that’s imaginary. Fact number 1: she was a witness in this defamation case (wow what a surprise someone is Hollywood is suing someone else for millions - shocking ) we don’t have a time stamp on when she testified. Fact number 2: she moved from Legendary to Vertigo sometimes from a date we don’t know to May 2022. Was this time 3 days ,2 weeks or 4 months that she could have testified WE DO NOT KNOW. What we do know is that we have a confirmation she is working for Vertigo. No Jane she didn’t buy an article in the Deadline to promote herself as VP. It was a business news being shared. Yes Jane people who have business read business news. No Jane you can’t pay an article that will say Riot will take over MMF! Cuz there are legal consequences Jane. There would be legal consequences for Henry Cavill claiming that his pregnant girlfriend is working for Vertigo Jane. Let it go.

Second for a self proclaimed scientist you’re insanely stupid. It pains ME to having to google the difference between VP of a production company and a producer. As you can see Natalie’s job isn’t to produce a movie or a Tv series ( but Miri Yoon does it- YES AS A P R O D U C E R) . Natalie’s job is in “overseeing the creation and execution of various projects”. Furthermore “VP of a production company works closely with the producers, directors, and other key stakeholders to ensure that the project is completed on time, within budget, and meets the creative vision.”

Lists of things VP of a production company does:

-Budgeting and financial managing

-Scheduling and logistics

-Hiring and managing the production Team

- Risk management

Notice how her job is not to P R O D U C E a Tv show/ movie Jane. Notice how her job is much more complex and serious. “But I work in the industry and no VP works from home”. Notice how all she needs is a cool boss and access to the internet. The job is planning organising and keeping everyone in check. This is why Matthew Miller (the creator behind new NbC show that’s produced by Vertigo) mentioned

N A T A L I E and her T E A M.

Film producer on the other hand is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, directing, editing, and arranging financing.

“We only care about facts and critical thinking” and the reality is that you all will read this and continue with hateful narrative because you can’t admit that you lied to slander her. These facts don’t fit in your hateful narrative. Don’t worry I will be here to keep reminding all of you over and over again.

[sky-kenobye]

13 books

What’s up readers?! How about a little show and tell? Answer these 13 questions, tag 13 lucky readers and if you’re feeling extra bookish add a shelfie! Let’s Go!

Thanks @willameena for the tag! :D

1) The Last book I read:

Idk if it counts since it's a graphic novel but the last thing I read was Bolchoi Arena, by Boulet and Aseyn. It's a sort of Ready Player One universe (less dystopic i think though). I really like it, but I'm waiting for the fourth volume to come out and there isn't a release date yet 😭

(I don't think there's an English translation (yet) so i can only recommend it if you speak french, sorry)

2) A book I recommend:

Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao. LOVED IT! I'm bad at recommending stuff but: big monsters, pacific rim style machines to fight the monsters, polyamory, ruthless woman, plot twists... So cool!

Also Loveless, by Alice Oseman, because it's about aromanticism and asexuality which is almost non-existent in... any media really, and that book is very dear to me.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

All the ones I really like x) I struggle a lot with putting down a book once I'm into it. The first advice to fall asleep easier is always 'don't use your phone before bed, read a book instead!' but if I do that I won't even try to sleep, I'll just keep reading all night...

But I guess the one that I was the most surprised about not being able to put down is The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet. I'm not particularly into historical books, and that's a huge book around the building of a cathedral, so I was a bit skeptical, but damn, it was great! It's over 1000 pages and I still managed to read it in less than a week while on a school trip.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

So many of my childhood books. I almost spent more time re-reading my favorite stuff than reading new books lol. I think the ones I've re-read the most are Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and La Quête d'Ewilan.

5) A book on my TBR:

So many. Soooo many. I keep buying books even though I don't read them, help.

I'll go with the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers because I really want to read them, people keep recommending them, I have them (in a really cool edition), I can literally see them in my bookshelf right now, and yet I don't read them for some reason 🤷

6) A book I’ve put down:

Also a lot. If I manage to put a book down I can forget it exists in a couple of days, even if i loved it, and weeks later I'm like "oh shit, I never finished that book".

One of the few that I put down more or less on purpose is Silo, by Hugh Howey. I'm pretty sure I would like it if I kept reading but something happens only a few chapters in that put me off and kind of annoyed me so I never read the rest.

7) A book on my wish list:

Revenge of the Sith! And many other star wars books. The reason why I still don't have it is that I want it in english so I have to order it online from the UK probably, and between the shipping and the taxes from being from outside the EU (sometimes there are taxes, sometimes not, i don't understand how it works)(one time I had to pay taxes on my own clothes that I sent myself from the UK to France 😭😭 I'm still mad about it) it'll end up being way more expensive than it should, so I'm putting it off x) I looked for it when I was in scotland but they didn't have it :(

8) A favorite book from childhood:

The ones I mentioned in 4) were my all time fav, I can't think of any other right now even though I used to read a lot more books than i do now 🤔

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Honestly I would be so scared they didn't like it that I probably would never give a book to anyone unless they asked for it 😬 (except my family I guess)

Mayyybe a Dan Brown, like The Da Vinci Code? I feel like that would be a pretty safe bet, unless they hate the genre.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own:

I don't think I have any? I had to read Alcools, by Apollinaire for the baccalauréat (french high school graduation exam) but I think it was my mom's copy and i honestly hated it. According to my teacher it was "cubist poetry" which, what? I was not smart enough to understand any of it, and it wasn't doing it for me.

(Literary analysis is my nemesis, I'm usually pretty smart but when I try to analyse a text it's just *no thoughts, head empty*)

I'm really picky about poetry so I don't really know where to start to read any.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

I don't have many: a few anthologies of queer stories, How to Invent Everything by Ryan North (literally what the title says lmao), Eject! Eject! by John Nichol (about the history of ejection seats, super interesting!), Les Guerres de Lucas by Renaud Roche and Laurent Hopman (a french graphic novel about George Lucas), and Tu mourras moins bête by Marion Montaigne (scientific stuff explained, but make it hilarious, also french comics)

12) What are you currently reading:

Ithaca, by Claire North, but I've barely started.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

No idea! Maybe Iron Flame, maybe The Priory of the Orange Tree, maybe Floating Hotel, maybe finally the Wayfarers series, maybe a random other book, who knows 🤷

If you've read all of that, thank you and congratulations!

Tags: @piecesofeden11 @sendpseuds @kingdomvel @bolshoiromanova @renlyslittlerose @intermundia @desmothene @arobiwan @cottonraincoat @starwalkertales @artbythedarkside @shakeskp @somethingsteff (I tried not to tag people I had seen tagged already)(but no pressure!)

[bookwormscififan]

Reflected Refractions, Chapter 5

Streak of Madness

Read on AO3!

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4

A/N: Is Mare going a little... mad over this demon?

--

Mare had been locked away in his lab for a week, focusing on research as he lost himself to numbers and codes. He’d denied anybody’s request to come in, and as far as Phantom knew, he’d barely eaten anything.

“It’s like he’s losing his mind,” he groused to Night at the end of the week, picking at his shirt as worry set in. “He won’t let anybody inside, he barely eats, and I haven’t seen him in the dorm at all. Nobody knows what he’s doing in there, but it can’t be safe.”

“Do you have a key to the lab?” Night asked, absently tracing the scar around his eye as he listened to Phantom. “Have you tried a forced entry? The lab is one of the few buildings at the edge of campus, correct?”

“Mare changed the locks ages ago, and he never gave me a key,” Phantom sighed, tapping his fingers against the table. “Yeah, it’s at the edge of campus, but he had the windows replaced with two-way glass as well as keeping blackout curtains on all the city-facing windows.”

“You need to find a way in there, Phantom.”

----

Mare froze as a chill settled at the base of his spine, leaning over the bench with wide eyes when it registered that the chill was a hand, slowly following the line of his back before wrapping cool fingers around his neck to pull him back.

“You’re making it hard to visit you,” Mad’s voice purred into his ear, holding Mare against his chest while his free hand moved to press Mare’s hand against the bench. “Strange, considering you invited me in the first place.”

“I-I…” Mare hated how his voice trembled as he tried to reply, clearing his throat before trying again. “I don’t know what to do with you.” His breath came out in a rushed burst when Mad let his neck go, hand sliding around to rest on his shoulder.

“Answer my questions,” Mad began slowly, moving to back away from Mare only to stop when the scientist tangled their fingers together. “A-Answer my questions, and I’ll help you to find out everything about my family.”

Mare waited a few beats as he processed the proposition, heart pounding in his chest loud enough he swore Mad could hear it too. It was a good deal, he figured, but he couldn’t shake the spike of suspicion settling in his gut.

“W-Why?” He asked, tightening his grip on Mad’s hand to distract from how he desperately wanted to look at the demon. “Why would you help me?”

“Because,” Mad started, fitting his free hand under Mare’s chin and gently turning it to face him. “I’m curious about you. You aren’t like the others, and maybe we could find a way to allow both humans and demons to… coexist.” He waited for a scoff, to be pushed away and threatened with a blade, but instead Mare’s eyes softened behind his glasses, lifting his free hand to brush Mad’s bangs out of his eyes as the other squeezed their joined hands.

“Deal,” Mare whispered, hand settling against Mad’s cheek, stroking his thumb over his cheekbone as his eyes darted to Mad’s lips briefly before moving back up to meet his gaze, brow furrowing when he noticed the subtle ring of pink around his amber irises. “What’s—” His question cut off when Mad pulled him into a kiss, releasing his hand to turn him properly.

As Mare froze in shock, Mad took advantage to rearrange his arms, still cupping his jaw with one hand while the other slid around to press flat against the dip in his back, guiding him to arch over the bench as the scientist’s hands mirrored his own. With a sudden burst of confidence, Mad swiped his tongue across Mare’s bottom lip, slipping in when Mare gasped to deepen the kiss.

Slowly, Mare’s eyes fluttered closed, hands going from gripping Mad’s shoulder and hip tightly to relaxing against him, feeling the soft clothes the demon had on as he lost himself in the kiss. Tentatively, he ran his tongue over Mad’s own, feeling the way Mad shivered against him, and with renewed confidence he took over, pushing into Mad’s mouth to explore the slightly sharper incisors that seemed to radiate heat.

“Mare, I’m sorry to burst in, but—what in the hell are you doing?!” Phantom’s yell started the two apart, Mad immediately melting into the shadows under the bench while Mare’s face flushed a bright pink.

-------------------------------------

@iamvegorott @brokentimewatch @dungeon-dragons-dragons @rattyboyisemo

[letstalkaboutit100]

Ideas pt 4 blue = concpet. pink= ep idea

EVEN MORE ideas if EAH got a reboot:

Ok, WHAT IS UP WITH TIANA AND NAVEEN'S SON?! THAT'S NOT THEIR KID! While the turning into a frog is cool, the poetry thing has got to go. Now while it is strange that NAVEEN's kid is all shy and stuff, to me honestly kind of makes sense. I mean, come on? If Tiana and Naveen were to ever have a kid, they would totally be a MAMA's BOY! But they would have MUCH better hair. But let's change his name to either Louis or Raymond. He also has a crush on charlotte's daughter! I think I'll name her Lenny. I also think he would have a wild crazy little sister. She's 7 and her name is Tina! She rides crocodies EVERYWHERE and wears big necklaces , hoop earings and bracelets with long curly pigtails! She and charlotte's daughter are best friends. And she's a daddy's girl! Their both wild and like adventures, and got his personality and winning smile! She's the next mama oldie! (Brair would love her lol) She doesn't like Apple though lol. She's very hyper and shakes people's hands hard like a cartoon XD.

Briar isn't as close to her parents as everyone thinks. She and Aurora fight a lot. She was a wild child. The West Wing wild child is what they called her when she was little. She always hated sleeping. Constantly saying "Well if I'm asleep, I'll miss everything! I won't know what's going on!". I think she would know how to shoot a bow and arrow.

Since Brair parties a lot, I like to think she causes a bit of mischief too. She pulls pranks around the school (mostly on the headmaster) and I can tell you she's been caught a few times.

For season 4:

Espsiode idea (4 parter): Brair gets caught pranking the headmaster (faybelle told on her) and she suspended. no parties, dentation for 2 weeks and on jantior duty. But instead of taking the punshiment, she pranks him again! And she's send home!

Pt2: Brair is sent home and everyone is upset that she was send away! Expelled! So everyone, Apple, Raven, Ella, maddie (and later faybelle) sneak out of school to go to brair's kingdom and convice her parents to let her come back! (Everyone else covers for them, with the help of baba yaga!) But when they get there her parents say no! But they do let them talk to her. Then brair tells them that she heard her parnets are going to punish her by making her follow her destiny early! PUT HER UNDER! AND SLEEP FOR A CENTURY! AND SHE'S ALREADY FALLING IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS! With out knowing what to do, the girls go back to school empty handed.

Pt3: The girls snuck back to school later that night only to show up with no Briar. Everyone is wondering what happened and where is she. They didn't cover them for 2 DAYS FOR NOTHING! After they told everyone what happened their all silent. Everyone is at a loss for words. Brair is gone. They'll never see her again. Even Faybelle feels bad. She was just being a tattle-tail. She didn't mean to "kill" her! "You! This is all your fault!" Apple screams and points at Faybelle. "My best friend is going to be asleep for 100 years and it's all your fault!" Apple runs away crying followed by everyone else. Ella, Maddie, and Raven go up to Faybelle and ask her why she did it. "It was just a silly prank! She does them all the time! I'm just being the villain that I am! But I never wanted to actually put her to sleep!"

[fiona-fififi]

Wee woo show asks!:

1, 17, 19, 39, 43, 63, 66, 69💕

1. What made you start the show?

Well, this has two answers for me.

The first time, I was looking for a new show to watch on Hulu, and 911 was a brand new show. So I watched, and I got pretty caught up in it in s1. However, s1 emotionally drained me SO much during every episode that I decided not to continue in s2 (jokes on me because the tone definitely changed, and I would have been able to handle s2).

Then, at the beginning of s5, I was again searching for something new to watch on Hulu, and the season premiere had just dropped. I'd seen bits and pieces from being on tumblr (which had ramped up with the end of s4, of course), and decided to try it again. Watched for a couple weeks "casually," and then binged 2-4, and it's been my primary tv obsession since.

17. Favorite minor character?

Linda. I adore Linda. She should be around SO much more than she is.

19. Favorite soundtrack moment?

"Eddie Begins"—that first use of Ruelle's "Carry You" is just iconic to me.

39. Your favorite headcannon?

Maddie and Eddie do not get along. No chance they would ever be besties. Like, they don't hate each other or anything, but that man is nothing more than her little brother's best friend and he annoys her to no end. Especially because he has different opinions on what's best for her little brother. In reality, she would trust him with her life (and her daughter's), but no way would she spend any extended time with him without a buffer.

43. Which season is Eddie's best hair?

Season 6, hands down, for me. Looooved his s6 hair.

With that said, season 8 could take it for me if they actually let it be a little loose. I love the current look on Ryan. However, at the moment, it looks like they're going to be keeping it slicked back, which is unfortunate.

63. Moment that makes you go i n s a n e?

Eddie shoving himself into the corner of Buck's hospital room, crying silently and choking on his grief and fear to the point that he's unable to even answer Christopher's questions. That poor sweet man was falling apart at the mere sight of Buck in that hospital bed with a machine breathing for him.

66. Any crack ships?

I'm a little bit into Hen/Maddie, but apparently that isn't actually a thing for anyone else and I don't have time to write it, so I don't know if that counts.

69. What kind of episode would you kill to have happen?

Okay, this is a VERY selfish personal desire for an episode based on my experience when I was young, and probably wouldn't make sense for 911.

With that said, I would kill for an ice storm episode (or some other disaster that shuts the city down) and leaves the fire station standing in as an emergency shelter.

When I was young, my dad was with our local volunteer fire station, and when an ice storm shut down power in the middle of winter for 2 weeks, the fire station served as a shelter for people (and pets) because they had generators and space and the building was sturdy. My dad was around unless they had a call, but there were few calls because most of the roads were impassable, so people weren't out getting on accidents (which were most of the calls they handled in our town). We stayed there for several days, as did everyone. It was just kind of a cool experience. They had board games and cards and puzzles around to help everyone stay entertained. The firefighters and the auxiliary made sure there was food for everyone. At nights it was quiet, with just a few dim emergency lights in place of the harsh overheads, and I would sit up and read or whisper with my friends in the corner. It was a formative experience for me.

So anyway, I would love to see an episode like that where instead of going out to protect the community, the community has to shelter in the station. I just think it would be fun to see how it played out with everyone interacting. Playing games with community kids. Lending an ear to elderly community members who just want to chat. Keeping everyone fed and comfortable. Kind of like a bottle episode, but with the community taking the focus, so we could see what it would be like for the 118 to invite the community into their space and keep them safe in an entirely different way.

Wee Woo Show Asks

[electric-soulja-boy-porygon]

Writing fic meme

Tagged by @chronicdelusionist tagging @tiacat11

1. "How many fics do you have?": 25 published, many more unpublished OC stuff lol

2. "What's your total word count": 55,221. A lot of the stuff I'm working on will probably shoot that up haha

3. "What fandoms do you write for": A little bit of whatever strikes my fancy lol. Mega man is a big one, but I'm on a Sonic kick lately

4. "What are your top 5 fics by kudos": Instead of answering that, I'm going to keep checking the 20xx AO3 tag. How am I the only guy who made a 20xx fic....

5. "Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?": I don't get many comments, so I respond to each one! Getting a comment can make my week ^_^

6. "What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending": Definitely the one where everyone gets turned into zombies! I don't tend to like sad endings though haha

7. "What Is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending": Not sure! I have a contender in my WIPs but I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch

8. "Do you get hate on fic?": I'm not popular enough for that thankfully! I don't think that would bother me much though, I think the kind of person who would comment that they didn't like a story instead of just not reading it anymore isn't very impressive to me

9. "Do you write smut": Nothing I've posted. I didn't really get much out of it, but it was fun to take a stab at it

10. "Do you write crossovers": Not really, unless you count taking aspects from one part of a property and putting it in side stuff? I'm currently writing a Sonic Underground fic with some characters from the games, that's as much as you'll get from me haha

11. "Have you ever had a fic stolen": Once again, blessed by not being popular lol. The idea is very amusing to me though

12/13. "Have you ever had a fic translated/Have you ever co-written a fic before": No haha

14. "What's your all time favorite ship": That's a hard one! I think I've been coming around to romance more, as a kid I hated shipping! Sonic X Amy, Studio Ghibli relationships, X/Zero, various Pokemon ships... I don't have that one blorbo ship, but I enjoy shipping!

15. "What's a WIP you want to finish but probably won't": I've been trying not to think of it like that lately, although I wouldn't mind being able to better organize a RS fic that I want to write!

16. "What are your writing strengths": Honestly, idk, I just like doing it! I'm trying to focus on that, because I'm a terrible perfectionist who will never let something see the light of day if it doesn't live up to my standards. But being good takes practice, so I have to keep writing!

17. "What are your writing weaknesses": I write basically whenever I'm in the mood for it. I struggle to pace myself because of that. There's a very long story I want to write, and I want to have it's outline done before I publish the first chapter. It doesn't have to be perfect, but I do want to not fly by the seat of my pants

18. "Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language": It's cool, I guess? I'm not experienced with it tbh, but it's a good thing

19. "First fanfic you wrote for": Xiaolin Showdown!

20. "Favorite fic you've written": Honestly? Writing something for a friend's character. It felt good to do... But Stormchasers is a lot of fun right now as well, especially since it's kind of helping me reconnect to a childhood fandom. It's the kind of story I would have wanted to read when I was 10, and that's nice, you know?

Thanks for the questions!

[ladykailitha]

Star Child Part 12

Yeah...it’s really looking like this story is coming to a close. And I hate it. I love this story, but my muse has me careening toward the finish line like a star falling to earth. Far, far too quickly. If my muse had any sense at all, it would drag out the plot with Creel and the label, but it doesn’t want to. It wants the boys to be happy ever after NOW not in five weeks (as was the original ending with Corroded Coffin’s final concert in LA and Steve confessing his feelings on stage).

Also there is a cliffhanger but I have written most of the next chapter so Monday you should get the resolution. And just remember, I promised a happy ending.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

*

Steve made a couple of calls himself. The first to Erica to make sure that being in litigation would prevent him from leaving the state. It didn’t, so his next call was to Jane. Between the two of them they crafted the perfect coming out plan. Complete with statements and interviews. His final phone call was to Robin.

“I’m giving you the heads up,” Steve said once she answered. “I’m going burn the label to the ground. Erica and Jane are all for it.”

“What made you decide to do it now?” she asked. “Instead of a week from now or even a month?”

“Because it’s better to be honest and open now,” he explained, pacing in his office, “then to have to do damage control. Let people know what I was forced into and how dangerous the music industry still is for the LGBTQ+ community. I’m tired of hiding, Robin.”

She sighed. “I know. I’m proud of you.”

“I almost came out at Love Loud...” he whispered into the phone.

There was silence on the line for a moment before Robin said, “Wow.”

He took a deep breath. “I got talked out of it by the record label. They told me to wait until after the last album was complete.”

“Something they thought was years off,” Robin said. “Those bastards!”

Steve hummed in agreement. “Pretty much.”

“You need me to come over?” she asked.

“No,” Steve murmured. “I’m going to fly out to Salt Lake City and do a couple of radio shows and be seen with Eddie.”

Robin huffed out a laugh. “And I can guess who’s idea that was.”

“Dustin is going to be insufferable,” he said with a sigh.

Robin cackled until Steve hung up the phone.

*

“In a released statement from Steve Harrington’s management and PR firm the pop star, formally of the boy band The Kings came out as bisexual. The statement went on to say that his parents and the label conspired to keep his attraction to men a secret, going as far as conversion therapy, threat of commitment to a mental institution, and even blackmail.

“Steve Harrington was seen at LAX this afternoon and our sources say that he went off to go into hiding until this all cools down. Further sources say that he is holed up in a hotel in Salt Lake City. Sources couldn’t confirm, however whether or not he was with Corroded Coffin who will be playing at the Vivint Arena tomorrow night to a sold out crowd.

We will keep you to date on all the latest news surrounding the sudden coming out of Steve Harrington...”

Eddie turned off the TV and turned to Steve. “That was quite the coming out story, sweetheart.”

Steve was with the band and their manager, Chrissy Cunningham in Eddie’s hotel suite.

“I just hope it gets the hounds of hell off my heels,” Steve murmured.

Chrissy pursed her lips. “I’m not sure I like this plan.”

Jeff nodded. “There are so many things that could go wrong, but if it goes right all of us will be able to sleep better at night, and you know it.”

Chrissy sighed. “I do like the guards outside the door, though. That’s a nice touch.”

Steve grinned. “Aren’t they fantastic?”

“We’re smuggling you out to LA,” Brian told her. “We don’t want you caught in the crossfire if this goes south.”

Chrissy’s eyes went wide.

“Which it won’t,” Eddie growled, glaring at Brian.

“You’ll be staying with my manager, Robin Buckley at my place,” Steve said. “Janice already has people there to protect you both if Creel decides he wants hostages.”

They all sobered up at that. Steve coming out was only a part of the puzzle and if all went well, they would have one creepy ass dude behind bars.

*

Steve had lunch with Eddie and they both made sure they had their location turned on so that they would be seen together.

“I think of all the parts of this plan I hate the most,” Steve said when he spotted the third paparazzo snapping their picture, “is that this is a setup. I wish it was something we were just out doing.”

Eddie’s heart ached even as the butterflies took off in his stomach.

“You telling me you want to go out with me, Stevie?”

Steve chewed his bottom lip and looked down shyly at his half eaten sandwich, “And if I did?”

Eddie cocked his head and smiled, “And were you just going ‘keep doing what you were doing and hope it was enough’, sweetheart?”

Steve blushed. “You caught me. It was about you all this time.”

Eddie lift Steve’s chin gently with a single finger. “I don’t do low key, babe. I’m very loud about who and what I like. I came up with the plan, because I wanted to be seen with you.”

Steve’s eyes went wide as Eddie pressed their lips together and he sighed into the kiss.

“I’m sorry,” Eddie murmured.

“For what?” Steve breathed out like a sigh.

Eddie kissed him again. “For not remembering our first kiss. For not running away with you when I had the chance.”

Steve brought his chair closer to Eddie’s to lean into the man’s shoulder. “I think I like it this way. Who knows what might have happened if we had, maybe we became a duo like the White Stripes or maybe would have struggled for years and never became anyone. But I do know that the Kings wouldn’t have been famous. Corroded Coffin wouldn’t have been a band. And I hate that thought.”

Eddie put his arms around Steve’s shoulder. “I love you so much. I think I always have. I just buried it deep. Twisted it until it was unrecognizable. But then you turned back up in my life and I wanted to write love songs about you in a week.”

Steve chuckled. “I’ve already written love songs about you.”

Eddie laughed. It wasn’t malicious or cruel, it was bright and clear. Like of course he did. “You record any of those sappy love songs about me?”

Steve pursed lips and looked up.

“Oh god,” Eddie said with a chuckle. “Can I guess which one? Unless there is more than one?”

Steve shook his head. “I think the label recognized it as being about a boy and carefully vetted each song before I could record it. It was then I realized I was never going to give them my best songs. Because all my best songs were always about you.”

Eddie blushed. “So it would have be off your first solo album...” Steve nodded. “Oh god...”

Steve laughed. “Yup.”

“Oh no,” Eddie moaned. “God that is super cheesy, darlin’.”

“Oh yeah,” Steve said.

“‘Drowning in Your Brown Eyes’, really?”

“In my defense I was eighteen when I wrote it, and just swapped out the pronouns when I went into the recording studio. But yeah, it’s about you, sunshine.”

“Are you going to tell people it’s about a boy?” Eddie asked, pressing his lips to the top of Steve’s head. “That it’s about me?”

Steve lifted his head. “Do you want me to? I mean it is pretty cheesy pop clap trap. I would rather write songs about you and then release it with the knowledge that it’s about you. With everyone knowing it’s about you.”

Eddie’s expression turned fond. “Okay, babe. We could write a duet. Like the Love Loud concert, only our song.”

“I did promise that I would let you write a song on my first non-pop album. I would be happy to have you, love.”

Eddie couldn’t resist pressing his lips to Steve’s. In that moment, everything faded away. The world in which cruel labels, psychopathic mob figures, and disappointing parents just vanished in the midst of their love.

*

They stumbled gleefully into Eddie’s hotel room, kissing and laughing at how happy they were now that they realized how much they love each other.

Someone cleared their throat and they froze. They turned slowly to see Henry Creel sitting in an arm chair. He was devastatingly beautiful as he always was. He wore a white suit with matching loafers and the jacket draped over his shoulders like a cape. The light blue button shirt was the exact color of his eyes. His blond hair flopped lazily over one eye.

Behind him were Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum.

“So you do only have two minions,” Eddie huffed. “Mike was right, you are stupid.”

Creel’s face twisted into a snarl. “I didn’t get to where I am by being dumb, Eddie.”

Eddie raised a questioning eyebrow.

“This room has been swept for electronic devices,” Creel continued. “So if you think that your precious federal officers are going to be coming to your rescue, do think again, won’t you?”

Steve looked him up and down. “Christ.”

Creel smirked. “Close enough. I get everything I want. And I want Eddie Munson.”

Steve scratched his cheek and cocked his head. “I don’t know if you realize this, but Eddie is a person, not a thing, not a possession. You can’t have him.”

Eddie took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I told you when we first met, I don’t heel. I’m not a lap dog. You can’t bring me to my knees.”

Creel stood up and he was eye to eye with Eddie. “I can and I will.”

Eddie huffed out a laugh. “My bandmates already know not to trust anything that didn’t come directly from my mouth, thanks to that little stunt in Austin.”

Creel’s answering smile was cruel. “You forget one small detail, Eddie dear.”

“What’s that?”

“You would do anything to not see him harmed,” Creel said with a smug grin.

“You’re threatening to what?” Steve asked, with an eye roll. “To kill me? Hurt me? Throw me back to the wolves who are my parents? Let the record label win, so I’m controlled forever? What could you do to me that I haven’t done or tried to do to myself?”

Eddie heart shattered. “Sweetheart...”

Steve lifted his chin. “I went through hell, Creel. You are just another demon barking at my heels.”

“Castor, Pollock, take Stevie here to the other room and kill him,” Creel said over his shoulder. “Make it look like suicide, won’t you?”

Steve closed his eyes as they grabbed him roughly. Eddie moved to stop them, but he felt sharp pain in his side. He looked down to see Creel was holding a switchblade to him.

“Please don’t move,” Creel said sweetly. “I would hate to get blood on this suit.”

“It’s okay, Eddie,” Steve murmured. “He hasn’t won.”

Eddie jaw began to quiver.

Steve stopped just before the door and turned around to face him. “Make him pay.”

Eddie nodded.

The door closed and a few moments later...

BANG!

***

Part 13 Part 14 Part 15  Part 16

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Your Guide to Growing Vibrant Chinese Pink Celery at Home

Interested in adding a delicious and eye-catching veggie to your garden? Try your hand at growing Chinese Pink Celery, a flavorful and highly nutritious plant that not only adds color to your garden, but also zing to your meals. The cultivation of Chinese Pink Celery is a garden adventure that promises a unique addition to your dinner table. This article is a comprehensive guide that will help you understand every step of growing Chinese Pink Celery— from the soil preparation, the right time to sow the seeds, tending to the young plants, to the appropriate time of harvesting. We aim to provide tips and tricks to nurture your Chinese Pink Celery to full growth efficiently and effectively. Immerse yourself in an intriguing gardening experience and let the pink bling bloom in your backyard. Keep reading to discover the exquisite world of Chinese Pink Celery. ```html

How Do You Grow Chinese Pink Celery?

When I first heard about Chinese pink celery, I thought, “Wait, celery can be pink?!” Spoiler alert: Yes, it can, and it’s absolutely stunning. But as much as it’s a feast for the eyes, growing it takes a bit more finesse than your average garden veggie.

Why Grow Chinese Pink Celery?

First, let’s talk motivation. Chinese pink celery isn’t just pretty; it’s flavorful, aromatic, and jam-packed with nutrients. Plus, growing it feels like cultivating a rare gem—like you’re part of an elite, celery-growing secret society.

What’s not to love about a crop that makes your garden look Instagram-worthy while turning heads at the dinner table? It’s like the Beyoncé of the vegetable world.

Step 1: Start With the Right Seeds

Not all celery is created equal, so you’ll need seeds specifically for Chinese pink celery. Trust me, I learned this the hard way when I planted “regular” celery thinking it would just magically turn pink. (Spoiler: It didn’t.)

Look for seeds from a reputable source, preferably organic. This is the foundation for your success.

Step 2: Timing Is Everything

Celery is not a fan of rushing things. Start seeds indoors about 10–12 weeks before your last frost date. It’s a slow grower, but patience pays off.

One year, I got eager and planted too early in the season. Let’s just say frost and baby celery don’t mix. Lesson learned.

Step 3: Give It TLC (Tender Loving Celery-Care)

Chinese pink celery thrives in rich, well-draining soil with plenty of organic matter. Think of it as bougie and demanding, but worth the effort. Keep the soil evenly moist—never soggy, never dry.

And light? It’s a diva. Provide full sun but watch for those midday scorchers. A little afternoon shade works wonders.

Step 4: Transplant With Care

When your seedlings are about 4–6 inches tall, it’s time to move them outside—but only if the weather is warm and stable. They hate drama (read: sudden temperature drops). Space them about 8 inches apart to give their roots room to stretch.

I once crowded my plants, thinking I’d save space. Instead, I got stunted celery that looked more like sad pink parsley. Don’t make that mistake.

Step 5: Harvest Like a Pro

Chinese pink celery takes about 100–120 days to mature. You’ll know it’s ready when the stalks are firm, vibrant, and, well, pink. Use a sharp knife to cut the stalks at the base.

Pro Tip: Harvest in the morning for the best flavor. The plant’s natural sugars peak when the air is cool and crisp—it’s science, but it tastes like magic.

Why It’s Worth It

Growing Chinese pink celery is more than a gardening project—it’s a conversation starter, a culinary adventure, and a tiny act of defiance against dull, green monotony. Plus, slicing into a pink stalk feels like unwrapping a gift every single time.

If you’re ready to elevate your garden game, give it a shot. And for more tips on unique veggies, check out my article on other vibrant crops to grow this season.

Closing Thoughts

Chinese pink celery will challenge your patience, test your gardening skills, and make you question your life choices somewhere around week six. But when you finally taste its crisp, subtly sweet stalks, you’ll realize it was all worth it. Trust me, your future self will thank you.

``` Learn more about gardening with Taim.io!