#yes this was supposed to be 10 gifs then 8 gifs and somehow got cut to 5 gifs

[tantawans]

LAKORNLADIES EVENT: WOMEN IN LAKORNS some of my favourite lakorn leading ladies ♡

[girl-of-many-fandoms]

Stitches // 5

Pairing: Frank Castle x Reader

Summary: The reader and Matt has an interesting conversation in the hospital, Frank catches up to Billy and visits his wife for some advice.

Warnings: mentions of blood, gun violence, soft Frank

Quite a bit of POV switching!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 BONUS

MASTERLIST

—

Y/N’s POV

“Hey.”

Madani shut the door to my hospital room, eyes avoiding me as she walked further into the room. I could tell that she felt bad for what happened but there was no need for her too.

“Let me save you trouble of trying to convince me that this was somehow all your fault, you didn’t. I was the one that kept reaching out to you to know what was happening, Billy must’ve followed you to my place and kept tabs on me also.” forcing the lump down in her throat she finally looked up at me.

“I shouldn’t have brought you into this mess at all, you weren’t supposed to know he was back, he insisted that I didn’t rope you in this time but I needed you to talk to him.”

“He told you about what went down between us, didn’t he?” She pulled the chair closer to my bedside and sat down.

“He did and I still went behind his back and got you involved so yes, this is my fault and I’m sorry you got hurt.” she dipped her hand into the pocket of her jacket pulling out a flip phone.

“He wanted me to give this to you, it’s a burner.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I must say, it’s weird seeing you all banged up, I’m used to seeing him in this position.” I laughed but soon regretted it, my ribs hurt with the movement.

“Gotta admit, I look pretty good, all things considered.” The swelling around my eyes had gone down a lot in the eighteen hours I’ve been here. My nose still hurts like a bitch, jaw also, the doctor said those would hurt for a couple days. The rest of my body was covered in cuts and bruises that were sure to stick around for quite some time too.

“That’s something Frank would’ve said, you two are cut from the same cloth.” shaking her head she stood up.

“What about you, are you okay?” her white blouse was covered in blood, there was a cut on her cheek, her eyes were red, she was completely disheveled.

“It’s not my blood, it’s Billy’s.” she waved me off

“I put three bullets in him. It’s a long story, one I can’t tell you now because I really just came here to give you the burner and to see how you were doing, I’ll come check on you after this is all sorted out with, get some rest.”

With that she said, she left, leaving me with my thoughts and the heart monitor that kept beeping, the constant sound slowly driving me mad. The phone started vibrating and I answered it.

“Hey sweetheart, you look like shit.” Frank’s gruff voice came across the line. Scoffing, I rolled over on my side, looking out the window. He was most definitely on a rooftop somewhere in the shadows looking in.

“That’s exactly what every woman wants to hear from a man.”

“I meant that in the nicest way possible.”

“Mhm, sure you did Castle. You know it’s creepy that you’re on the roof of a building staring at me through the scope of your weapon.”

“At least that asshole was right about one thing, my girl is smart. How did you know I was on top of a roof?”

“Call it intuition.”

Frank smiled to himself as he continued to look at his lady through the scope of his rifle, he was indeed on top of a building three blocks out from the hospital. A smile played on her lips as she stared out the window, he hated the fact that he couldn’t be sitting next to her in the hospital room.

“Mahoney expects you to hand Billy over when you find him.”

“Yeah, well he better not hold his breath on that one.”

“It’s Mahoney we’re talking about here.” The door to my room opened and I craned my neck to see who it was, Matt, Karen and Foggy piled in.

“I have to go, you do what you’ve got to do and stay safe alright.”

“Yes ma’am.” hanging up I rolled onto my back, Karen and Foggy were on the brink of tears, Matt just stood there, his jaw tight.

“Are those tears for me Nelson?”

“You scared us.” both him and Karen hugged me, one of them squeezed me too tight

“I’m banged up guys, ease up on the hugs. It took you guys long enough to get here.”

“We were all hungover from last night, we had to sleep it off.”

“We’re glad you’re okay but I have to ask, you and Frank Castle?” Matt was too calm about this, I was expecting him to react differently.

“I was waiting for you to tell us yourself but you never did.”

“Hold up, you guys knew?”

“Not Foggy and Karen but I did, you smelt like him the first time you came to the office all marked up. I didn’t want to believe it but then I met him on that rooftop later that night and he smelt like you.”

“That is so wrong of you Matt, you don’t go around using your heightened sense of smell to invade people’s privacy.”

“That’s not the point, you got involved with a criminal, you could lose your career.” He definitely did not want to go down this road with me right now, considering he did the same thing.

“That’s cheap coming from you, you left Karen to be with your psycho murdering ex-girlfriend Elektra, so please spare me the bullshit Murdock.”

“She’s right and you know it Matt, you did the exact same thing so don’t come at her like that.” Foggy and Karen sided with me, she was still hurt about that. She really did like him and he led her on, making her believe that he cared for her but treated her like complete shit.

“That’s different.”

“How, how is that different? Were you two playing patty cake on your late night rendezvous? You knew what she was and still went with her.”

“She wasn’t like that when we first got together.”

“Neither was he, shit happens in our lives man and everything changes. Falling for him wasn’t something that I saw coming, it just happened.”

I don’t even know why I’m arguing with the man who thinks that he’s better than the rest of us when he’s done the same thing. The only thing that separates Matthew Murdock from Frank Castle is his fear; he’s afraid that once he crosses the line of murdering someone he wouldn’t be able to return to his usual self.

“You’re both the same whether you want to hear it or not Matt, you just hold back while Frank shows zero remorse. You’re both on the same team, your methods differ but at the end of it all, you both make sure that those scumbags don’t roam the streets of this city.”

“Okay you two, enough. It’s late and we didn’t come here to fight with one another.”

Lying back on my pillow I focused on the ceiling, a brutal headache coming on from all the arguing. Karen held onto my hand, squeezing it a couple times to gain my attention.

“He was the guy you had so much fun with.” smirking, she played with my fingers knowing that Matt could hear everything.

“So much, round after round, that man has got stamina.” Matt grunted across the room, Karen and I forcing ourselves to keep it together.

“Lucky!”

—

Frank’s POV

“Shit, Curtis”

After my stop to check on Y/N, Amy called to say she had located the man that has been hunting us down since the bar fight in Michigan, told her to stay put and got to the hotel in record time. There was a big shootout between us both and he got to Amy in the corridor on his way out, taking her hostage.

As if my night couldn’t have gotten worse, I’m back at the trailer where I left Curtis with the Senator only to walk in and not see either one of them.

Well fuck me

Reaching into my back pocket I fished out the ringing device, a deep sigh escaping me as I answered.

“Yeah?”

“How do we do this?”

“Well, he’s here. The trailer. You want him, you come get him.” Hanging up, I locked the device.

“Ah, shit. Okay, Frank. Jesus Christ.” he’s going to kill her once he realizes that I don’t have David.

Well, I'm in deep now. Looks like there's only one way out of this.

Christ

—

Y/N’s POV

“You don’t have to stay here all night with me Karen.” rolling her eyes she popped another leftover sushi roll into her mouth. Matt and Foggy were long gone and it’s well after three in the morning, she should be at home or doing anything other than sitting in a hospital chair eating sushi rolls with bad television in the background.

“I know but I don’t want you to be alone, Billy’s still out there. What if he comes back to finish the job?” she worries too much

“Billy is the least of my worries right now, Frank is.”

“I’m sure he’s fine.”

“I’d say the same if there weren't two people after him, Billy and a bounty hunter.”

“There’s a bounty hunter chasing him down.”

“Yup, him and the kid.”

“Damn.”

“I just hope they’re both alright.”

—

Frank’s POV

Holding onto the canister, I brought it up over my head ready to bash in John’s bloody face beneath me but he stopped me in my tracks.

“Wait, when you kill them don’t hurt my boys.” blood poured down my face from the many hits he delivered to me and now, instead of trying to fight back he just laid there, waiting for me to finish him.

“I know who you are, you’re the whirlwind.”

“I’m not going to kill you.” tossing the canister off to the side I watched as he hauled himself up on his feet.

“They have your kids and they need you. So when you’re done cleaning up yourself at whatever hole you’re staying in, you’re going to call and let them know that you’ve finished the job and that you’re coming to get your boys back.”

"Okay, you have my word."

"Good because I don't need to tell you what happens if you try to cross me again."

Amy pulled up in the car and got out, running directly into my arms. She was crying and I held onto her tight as she cried into my chest. My eyes never left John's retreating body until he drove off into the night.

One thing handled, now it's time to find Billy.

-----

Y/N’s POV

"So wait, he broke out of prison and into your house. Instead of calling the cops you had hot sex with him then he left the next morning. He returned a while later, you two had more hot, steamy sex, again and now you both reunite a year after of silence." Karen was trying to wrap her head around the thought.

"And we won’t be having hot, steamy sex anytime soon.”

“Why not?”

“He walked out on me last time, yes, I am most definitely still upset about that.” she quietly sat there staring at me and the longer she did, the more uncomfy out I got.

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to picture you both together.”

“Okay, enough of me and Frank for tonight, what about you? What are you going to do about Matt?” she still loved him despite the way things went down between them, she can try to hide it from me but I know her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, please K, you still look at him the same way.”

“There’s nothing to do, sadly.”

—

Frank’s POV

Amy is passed out on the couch, her snores are the only sound in the trailer. I am very much still wide awake, the shower I took after John left woke me up even more. I lost track of how many times I’ve opened and closed the flip phone in my hand as I contemplated on calling Y/N just to hear her voice.

She’s most likely asleep Frank, don’t disturb her.

The sunlight began peaking through the window casting a warm glow in the trailer. Another day and Billy is still out there, probably long gone from New York by now. Wherever he is, he better hope I don’t cross paths with him. The device started vibrating in my hold

“Yeah?”

“Hey man, Billy just called me, he’s at the centre.” Pushing myself up to my feet I grabbed my jacket and loaded weapon.

“He’s hurt pretty bad man, shouldn’t take you long to do what you need to do.” hanging up I looked over at the kid again making sure that she was still asleep before heading out. I stuck the gun in the waistband of my jeans, fixing my shirt and jacket to conceal it.

There were so many things that I wanted to do to him for everything he’s done but if he’s already bleeding out I’d just have to speed up the process. Flashes of Maria, Lisa and Junior ran through my mind with each step I took. Maria was smiling over at me and the kids were just off to the side playing, God I missed them.

Then Y/N popped up in my mind also, the morning after we slept together the first time. Her hair was sprawled out on her pillow, her gorgeous smile on her face as she looked up at me. It was at that moment I knew that she was special, she saw the real me and didn’t run in the opposite direction.

The same thing that happened to Mariah and the kids could’ve happened to Y/N and that thought alone is enough to have me seeing red. I’ve been beating myself up for not killing him last year when I had the chance, he would’ve never gotten the chance to harm her.

The building where Curtis has his vet meetings came into view and I quickened my steps, avoiding the occasional morning joggers on the pavement.

Today is the day he dies.

The door slammed shut behind me and I immediately reached for the gun in my waistband.

“Curt, Curtis, here.” Billy weakly called out

“I knew you’d come and…” his words died off once I stepped into the room as him

“Frankie.” he laughed which then turned into a coughing fit as he struggled to breathe. Standing in front of his sorry ass, I wanted to slam his head against the wall.

“You don’t look so good. Of course it’s you, I should’ve known.” for someone who’s bleeding out he talks too damn much.

“You should have known that I wasn’t going to let you get away after what you did to my girl. I told you, my face would be the last thing you see.”

“Frank, I’m s-”

I didn’t hesitate to fire two bullets into his chest before walking right out the building.

I’ve heard enough of Billy and his lies for a lifetime

Dipping into my pocket, I retrieved my phone dialing Y/N’s number. It rang a couple times before her sweet voice came through.

“Hey you.”

“Hey sweetheart, how are you feeling this morning?”

“Better now that I’m hearing from you.”

“Could you be more cheesy?” a muffled voice came from the background

“Someone’s there with you?”

“Yeah, Karen. She stayed with me all night. Also, it looks like I’ll be getting out of here later on today.”

“That’s good news baby, I’ll come see you after I finish dealing with something.”

“Alright just-”

“Be safe, promise.”

—

Y/N’s POV

“You sure you’re going to be alright staying here alone?”

“Yes, Matt, I’ll be alright.”

I might actually get a good night’s sleep now that Billy’s dead. Mahoney and Madani were lucky enough to catch me before I got discharged from the hospital. Apparently she put ‘five’ bullets into him instead of three but I know Frank put the other two there himself.

“Go on, you guys get home, you all have a long day at the office tomorrow.” holding the door open I waited for the trio to leave my apartment. They made it their business to stay with me all evening since I got the all clear to go home.

“Are you putting us out to go to bed or is Castle coming over?” Foggy quirked his eyebrow, downing the rest of his beer.

“I don’t know where he is at the moment and I don’t care, I just want to shower and get to bed.” finally giving in they cleaned up the living room, throwing the empty take out boxes into the bin and collected their stuff.

“We’re not pressing you tonight only because you’re banged up.”

“Sure Nelson.” The three of them hugged me on their way out, with a final wave I locked the door and went to do exactly what I said I was going to do.

—

Frank’s POV

“Hey Maria.”

I was sitting on the grass in the cemetery, I just got finished tying up the loose ends of Amy’s problem and dropping her off at the trailer. It’s been a long ass day and I needed some advice. The stars in the sky were bright this time at night, there weren't any cars driving by or anyone else here for that matter.

“I finally got him, he can’t hurt anyone else now.” Playing with the blades of grass at my fingertips I looked up at the sky.

“You know, last time I was here I was apologizing to you and the kids.” I vividly remember being a mess that morning, I was apologizing for moving on, I shouldn’t have had to but it was eating me up inside.

That was the morning I walked out on Y/N without properly breaking things off between us, I still hate myself for writing that fucking letter. I didn’t overstay my welcome in New York like I told her, truth is, I was scared and constantly felt guilty. Scared because I was letting someone else in after being married to the woman that was the love of my life and I feared the same thing would happen again; it almost did, at least this time I could’ve saved Y/N from having that same fate.

Everyday during the two months that Y/N and I were together I would think about Maria and feel guilty for being with someone who wasn’t her. That guilt was eating away at me and no matter how much I tried to talk about how I truly felt, I found myself avoiding having the conversation. I mean, how was I supposed to look at Y/N and say that I feel bad for falling for you? I couldn’t, so I did what I do best, I left.

“She’s amazing Maria. She’s tough, smart, has a big heart, she always sees the best in people who don’t see it in themselves; myself included. She’s too good for me Maria, she knows what type of person I am, she’s seen all bad in me yet she still accepts me, loves me.”

And you love her, so don’t mess it up. Hold onto her and don’t let her slip away.

“Yes, I do love her and it’s terrifying, feeling like this for someone again but I’m not running this time.”

I'm holding on to her.

----

MARVEL Taglist:

@dorks2022 @n3ssm0nique @chrisfucksblog @sophiaedits @peakascum @anonymoustip217 @iiddaaa @mintphoenix @hardcoppizzasludge @panaitbeatrice @tanyaherondale @creatingjana @calimoi @rootcrop @louisianalady @thummbelina @vicmc624 @leyannrae @janaev4ns @queenofkings1212 @believinghurts @poor-unfortunate-soul-85 @stumbleonmywords @inas-thing @blackcat420 @badasseddy @spiderlaufeyson @yesimwriting @blondekel77 @4-everm-0-re @sketch-and-write-lover @farfromjustordinary @haoluvver @garbinge

[jinxthequeergirl]

Make A Deal With God

Chapter 3: Project Save Eddie

Eddie Munson X Hopper! reader

Summary: You rally the rest of the gang in order to find Eddie and piece together the danger thats approching hawkins

Warning: swearing, typical horror violence

Sorry this took so long motivation is hard 😔✌

~~~~~~~

   Eddie Munson was a lot of things. A freak? Sure. A loser? Ok fine. Highschool delinquents. Check. Upon many other things. But he was no Hero, in fact the only time he was a Hero was in imaginary situations where even then he only led and controlled the story instead of participating in it. 

Outside of that nothing interesting really happened to him, Of course until last night. He had the chance to Save Chrissy and not only failed but ran. 

Eddie grumbled to himself pulling leaves from his hair as he stumbled out of the woods onto a dirt road as he continued to run. 

He looked at the paper you shoved into his hands before pushing him from your house. "This sure is one way to get a chick's phone number." He mumbled folding it up and stuffing it in his pocket. There were quite a few things eating away at Eddie as he made his way down the path leading to what he was hoping was an abandoned house. 

One of those things being what he saw happen to chrissy and why it happened to her the other thing being you and how you somehow knew what happened before he could tell you and how you were somehow very calm about the situation. 

He pushed the door of the boat house open with a creek and sighed. "Home sweet home." 

He dropped the duffle bag on the ground and flopped beside it and began rummaging through it. 

Blankets, clothes, canned foods, a first aid kit and a lighter and a few small toys and comic books to keep any person occupied. He grabbed the walkie and tuned it to the channel you scribbled down.

But before attempting to call out for you he stopped. This was his mess. Why drag you further into it? You had done enough letting him stay with you overnight and giving him everything he needed to stay hidden for a few days, maybe weeks if he played his cards right. So instead he set the walkie back in the bag and grabbed a comic book. 

You on the other hand bounced your leg up and down nervously as you explained to Dustin only half of the events from last night. 

"Ok, run it back to me again." 

You sighed. "I saw Chrissy Cunningham Frozen in place before she started floating off the ground. That's it, Eddie woke me up at that point.

"And you said it was a past tense thing." 

You nodded curtly. 

"Eddie saw it and came and hid in my room immediately after that." 

"If it helps." Max spoke up. 

"It's probably nothing but a weird coincidence. But I did see the lights going crazy before Eddie ran out." You both turned to Max and Dustin took a deep breath. 

"So crazy lights, you're having strange visions again…and a strange murder…" 

It clicked and you wished it hadn't. "Just a coincidence?" You tried to suggest, hopeful.

You heard Dustin mock your statement and tone and in turn you flicked his bright yellow aura.

"Where is Eddie?We need to find him and figure this out.

"I uhh dunno he was supposed to walkie me once he got to his safe spot." You shrugged feeling around for your walkie. 

"How long has it been?" 

"Uhhh i dunno we left for here at uh-"

"8:30." Max answered. 

"8:30." You confirmed. "And its now-" 

"10." Dustin added 

"10. Great so..an hour and a half…he's not gonna tell me where he is and if he's safe is he?" 

You asked, realization dawned on you. 

"Nope." Dustin grabbed your hands and pulled you up to your feet. "Come on." 

"Where are we going?" Max asked. 

"To Start Project Save Eddie." Dustin responded

You held your head as you tried to explain everything to Robin and Steve After Dustin leapt over the counter to set up base. 

"Wait, Eddie Munson Was in your room?" Steve cut in. 

"Yes steve thats-" 

"So your visions are back mainly but they are like in the past?"

"Kinda? I'm not really sure that means they are visions-" 

"Did he sleep in your bed?" 

"Steve really?" You bounced between the two auras in front of you, Robin's energetic orange practically melting into Steve's melow blue. It made your head hurt, since you really only used your energy to see this way it was hard to focus on that and too much happening at once without losing your vision.

"If this is all happening does that mean-" 

"We don't know!" You hissed still trying to keep your composure.

"Guys! Guys! guys! Can we ask questions later and focus on the problem at hand?" 

Finay the two colors sit still and pull apart from each other making your two friends distinguishable from each other.  You sighed as they moved to help Dustin. 

"So you and Eddie The freak Munson?" 

Steve's voice asked. You huffed. "Be nice Harrington. He was in danger." 

Sometime after Starcourt, you broke it off with Steve on your own accord. Steve just seemed to want something you couldn't offer anymore. He was cool with it. You were cool with it. You both tried really hard to remain friends and nothing more. 

Steve still cared though, it was obvious in most things he did. Not counting breaking your plans multiple times.

"Is there anyone this guy isn't trying to replace me with?" He mumbled. You chuckled at him as he went to help Dustin and the others. 

"Y/n try the walkie to see if Eddie will respond to you." Dustin suggested. You nodded and grabbed it from Max and tested it out. 

"Munster hello? It's been well over 2 hours! You said you would let me know when you were safe, don't bullshit me Munster!"

Radio silence, you groaned and tried again. 

"If her weird visions are back maybe she can use them to find the freak?" Steve suggested. 

You could feel everyone's eyes on you and you gulped. The last time you tried that you were very well and able to see and came out completely opposite. 

"Just a peek while we try to find him our way?" Dustin basically pleaded. 

"Dustin I dunno if it's such a good idea..i mean-"

You could see his color dimming, you hated that you had to go and train yourself to be able to still read people like that. You sighed. 

"Max help me to the back room." 

You sat comfortably in the back room and listened as Max moved around you, setting up your walkie beside you so only static was autabile. 

"Are you sure about this?" Max asked, sitting in front of you. 

You gave a curt nod as she took your hands. "You know the procedure, just yank me out if it starts going south."

You took a deep breath and really focused. 

The first time you had a vision was around halloween, max had moved to town that year and you were picking out a costume to go trick or treating with Will in.

One second you stood in the costume section of the General store the next you weren't too far behind your younger friend as he stared at a darkened red sky above the arcade. 

You wished you could say you understood how your sister did it easily, no dizziness or feeling of whiplash, you wished you could say you mastered it and it got better before it got worse. But it never did and never will. You relished Those moments in between shutting your eyes and opening them to find you where now in a vast dark void where like nothing else. There was peace before The sudden chill and disoriented feeling you get when opening your eyes. 

It was dark but there was still this sort of light that illuminated you. You spun around slowly hoping to find something. Then suddenly you heard someone reading something familiar. 

You turned and saw Eddie sitting with your favorite issue of Batman in his hands reading it aloud in various voices. You passed through the water to him kneeling in front of him. He looked a lot different than you remembered from last time you saw him. 

"God is that really the shirt?" You asked. 

You heard Max laugh at you. "They make them themselves." 

"I can tell." You watched him run his hand along the Braille dustin taped to each page for you as he continued reading. Dustin had done a lot to help you with that stuff, labeling your DnD book, comic books, switches, doors and drawers in the house. You appreciated it, it definitely made the adjustment easier. 

"Can you tell where he is?" Max asked, cutting through your thoughts. You tore your gaze from him looking around the small area that was carved out around Eddie didn't look familiar. You took another deep breath trying to focus more on the surroundings. When you opened your eyes again you found that the room Eddie was in built itself around you. 

"It's…a boat house?" You said. Taking in what you could see. "A boat house?" Max repeated.

"Ok great, get outta there and let's go tell the others." She said, you could feel her tug on your hands letting you know it was time to come out.

You opened your mouth to tell her you were ready to be brought out when something caught your eye. "Hang on there's something else." You said. A large flame raged on, glowing in the darkness a few feet ahead of you. 

"Y/n no c'mon." You ignored her and walked over to the fire. 

Once you stepped in front of it you found yourself outside on the road leaving Hawkins, in front of you a scrawny boy with glasses stood frozen. 

"Hey kid, what are you doing?" He didn't answer, didn't move. 

"Kid?" You stepped forward reaching out to him. 

"Are you alright?" Once you touched his arm you were once again hurdled to a new setting. Being bounced back and forth made you nauseous, the solid impact of your body against the hard ground didn't help. 

You groaned and lifted your head being met with the edge of a deep grave. "Shit." You sat up and scrambled away to a safe distance. Carefully peering over the ledge so you wouldn't fall in. You could see the kid cowering against the walls hiding from something slowly making its way to him. 

"Hey!hey! Up here!" You tried to call him but he wasn't listening. 

"Hey-" your cries were caught in your throat once you saw what came through the otherside. You watched as the humanoid creature stepped towards the boy, reached out and snapped each and every bone in his body.

You gasped as you watched in horror, sitting up and scooting away completely. "I know you are here….y/n…I've been waiting for you." you got up and ran, nowhere in particular you just ran. "Max!! Max get me out of here! Max!" 

You managed to run back to the void. "Y/n!? Y/n!? Can you hear us!? Y/n wake up!" You felt max pull you hard enough you woke up.

Blackness consumed your vision as did the featureless colored figures. 

"Y/n What happened!?" 

"I...he Someone else is dead…" 

~~~~~~

Tag List:

@totallynotkaibiased

@felicityofbakerstreet

@chrissysgf

@geeksareunique

@sawendel

@just-stumbling-through-life

@slutforprentiss03

@althea-tavalas

@robots-scare-me

@tubble-wubble

@kik51199

[randomfandomimagine]

AHHHHH OMG TRISH HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE???????!!! FIRST OF ALL CONGRATS ON THIS BIG MILESTONE!! LET’S SHOOT FOR 9K MORE!! Alright- I’m flipping a coin to try and decide my top two but if you’re more inspired for the other, please do them instead! Also- I don’t have to specify the type of request and I am relieved cause that’s always something I forget 😅

Between Link (Tails) and Zack (Heads), I got heads! So I suppose that’ll be my request!

May I please have Zack with the tropes 3, 8, and 10 + platonic? I feel like there needs to be some more platonic/familial stuff and honestly I’m interested to see what you’ll do with it! Of course, only do this if you wish!

Thanks so much either way Trish! Congratulations again! Also…

Bethany, thank you so much, darling!!! I’m more inspired for Zack because my boy deserves more love, so here it is! I’m also excited to write something familial for a change XD And yes, I did take care of myself (I felt a little sick today but I got plenty of rest and now I’m better :D) and I hope you are too!! Is your cold better? Take care of your precious self, please!!

Character: Zack Fair

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Prompts: Hurt / comfort, whump, found family

Relationship: Familial

Words: 403

All sounds had halted, leaving you with a harrowing whistling in your ears. At least it meant you were still alive. But did Zack...?

“Zack?!” You uncovered your head and opened your eyes, looking around the battlefield for a standing figure. And there he was. “Z-Zack...”

He slowly tuned to you, heavily carrying his sword as it dragged along the ground. Despite his exhausted stance and face full of dirt and blood, he heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.

“Y/N” He called you, limping your direction. “How are you?”

“I... I-I, Zack...” You only sobbed, shaking from head to toe.

“Hey” He hurried to close the distance between you and urgently threw an arm around you. “Don’t worry, it’s over, kiddo”

You shielded yourself in his warm and comforting embrace, hiding your face in his chest and quietly sobbing there. He gently shushed you, holding you closer.

A metallic sound let you know that he had dropped his sword, and as soon as he did he wrapped his other arm around you too, encasing you in an even tighter hug.

“We’re okay, buddy” Zack whispered, pressing you against him in an attempt to quiet your sobbing. “We’re safe now, it’s over”

He repeated all those words over and over, but it took you several more seconds to calm down even slightly. It had been the scariest moment of your life, and you couldn’t control your crying. After a bit longer, Zack’s efforts started working.

“There you go” He chuckled a little when he noticed you weren’t crying as much. “Breathe, kid, we’re alright”

“But you’re... you’re... you’re hurt” You stuttered, noticing how much he was fighting his own body to continue standing there with you.

“I’ll be fine” He gingerly pressed his hand against your head. “Nothing some hugs and a good night sleep can’t fix”

“Are you... s-sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me, bud”

“But...”

“And you?” Zack urgently pulled away to carefully take your face in his hands. “Are you hurt?”

Your bottom lip still trembled, but you managed to shake your head in response. Zack smiled, somehow managing to appear bright and cheerful even in that state.

“Good, you’re okay” He tiredly breathed out. “Just a few cuts and bruises here and there”

“Can we go home?” You asked him, tugging at his shirt.

“Sure” He put an arm over your shoulders and started walking. “Let’s go home now”

Reblogs and comments are appreciated!!

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[letstalkabouttvshows]

Hot takes, (un)popular opinions, and other thoughts of RNM season 4

[Fernanda from the future here. This is gonna be a long post. I guess I really wanted to take this off my chest, and I promise I really think this season can end on a high note, even if some bits in here feel like I'm very grumpy, especially towards the last part of it HAHA]

Ok, I'll probably write one of these once more after the season is done. I just wanted to get this out here before Monday's episode.

I try not to dwell on what if's regarding Roswell because the truth is, this story could have gone into so many ways, the mythology is there, and so are the storylines and characters (props to the writers for creating the base for it), but trying to understand why some story arcs were not explored or characters weren't used as much, it's an impossible task.

It's just what it is.

Should we mourn the potential story arcs we are never gonna see? Yes. Definitely.

The love for this show is real, so it makes sense to be upset when the potential for so much is there and sometimes, it's just not met.

But, with that said, I still think the stories we did get, in the end, are pretty good.

It's way more positive than negative as some people make it out to be. Honestly.

Especially if we isolate some stories and characters from the rest of the main arc of the show. There is intention and connection and little details that make it great.

In all honesty, this is how I view the show: it could be way more, but, in the end, for me, it's still a damn good story.

So, here's my honest opinion about this season so far:

Episodes 1-5

I LOVED the first 5 episodes. Honestly, for me these 5 eps had a solid pace to them, it built tension for the story, it felt like they were going somewhere.

They felt connected.

We had the dark triad, we had Tezca that seemed to be 10 steps ahead of everyone. All of her actions got us asking: why is she doing this? How does she know so much? Why did she take Alex? What is the alighting?

We had the heroes clueless about how they were being roped into the new aliens' plans. The tension was built.

Again, it felt like it was going somewhere.

Episodes 6-9

But then, episodes 6 to 9 hit, and the story got stuck.

We had 4 consecutive episodes that were circling around the same thing and the thing still didn't give the audience anything.

If we put together all the real information we got from 6-9 that is relevant for the story in general, it could be summed up in 15 minutes of screen time or even less.

The rest of it? It was all waste of minutes.

In my opinion, these were supposed to be the episodes to give us some answers, you know?

To move the story along.

To make the audience know what the hell is the main arc of the season. What is the Alighting? Where's Alex? Why does Max have all that power?

For me, episode 6 was the worst of them all.

Even Tezca's shapeshifting revelation lack the twist because the episode compared to the 5 prior, felt so out of pace, place and connection.

Out of the four of them, episode 8 still was the best in terms of pushing the storyline ahead even though the cuts were terrible.

This block of the season felt dragged. I will talk about the drag aspect of it little down below of this.

Episodes 10-13 (fingers crossed)

Even though I am annoyed with the previous episodes, I still believe the writers left all of the revelations and twists for the season for these last 4 episodes.

I honestly believe things will somehow make sense.

And, depending on how the explanations go, this might turn out to end more as a good season than a bad one.

GUEST STARS

The main reason episodes 6 to 9 felt dragged it's because of how much attention the guest stars of this show got.

I get we need guest stars to create a plot. I totally get that.

BUT, why waste so much time on them when you are not balancing it out with the rest of the main characters?

I'm sorry, I don't care about Bonnie. I care that she can be used as a plot device, beyond that, I really don't give a damn.

Shivani? A great addition to the plot. But all of the reasoning behind her actions? Could've been explained in a three-minute scene and not spread across how many episodes again?

Eduardo? I love him. He's the only guest star that makes sense to have more scenes and not only be used as a plot device.

Now him and his daughter? That whole plot felt out of place. Disconnected from everything else.

Will it have a point? Well, I hope so. We still have 4 episodes to try to make sense of that. If it doesn't, again, WHY?

Tezca felt like a worthy substitute for Jones, but then, the lack of explaining what the hell is her endgame dragged her character down.

The same thing applies to Clyde.

Anatsa? Cool character with good potential, but her story arc as it was, could've been done using one or two episodes, tops.

NOW, with that said, what's the story arc for Isobel this season? Maria? Kyle? A-L-E-X?

We don't know because the better part of this season and most importantly, the whole middle of the season, we spent with these characters we really don't care about and the ones we do care, were sidelined.

Again, I feel like Alex's story arc will have a big plot twist connected to the main story arc, whatever it is because we still have no idea what is it, so I can excuse the lack of info on him if there's gonna be a great pay off to it, but the rest of the characters?

Why???

ECHO

Talking about dragging the story down, I'm sorry for Echo fans because what they are getting this season it's not good.

Can we honestly look at this season and say that Echo helped make it better? More likable? Compelling?

Because it feels like it did the opposite.

I'm sorry but season 4 so far is going circles around the same issues, the same problems, over and over and over again with Max and Liz, for the love of God, if I have to hear one more time about their issues, I think I'll throw my screen out of the window. Oh, hearing they are each other's turquoise, will make the trick too.

Malex with only two episodes worth of scenes this season so far had more growth and development than Echo 9 episodes in.

HOW???

Max and Liz's scenes are taking up way too much screen time they actually need IF the scenes are going to be the same each and every episode.

The amount of time wasted on every single character having to be a therapist for Liz and Max or the amount of time wasted to include the same scene interaction but in a different setting, just to, what I now think is force-feeding us that they are the main couple, it's annoying.

Echo is stuck in a never-ending loop of trust issues because none of them are willing to face their individual faults and let go of control for each other's sake.

They love each other.

But to make a relationship work they have to want the same things and aside from how they feel for one another, they aren't on the same page.

The only time Max was interesting this season was with Jenna and when he was caving to his powers.

The only time Liz was interesting this season was when she WAS MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES AGAIN but hey, at least it gave us something else beyond her struggling to find common ground with Max.

Do you want to know when they weren't interesting? Every interaction they had with each other (except when Liz called Max out about him willingly losing his powers. That's good. It felt like they were breaking the cycle and actually addressing an issue to move forward [which they didn't]).

For a season that set up to bring about the Alighting since episode 1, I want to know more about that than 9 episodes dwelling on Max and Liz's love problems.

The Alighting should be the main arc and then, the other stories should have fallen into place around it. Including Max and Liz's and everyone else's.

But episodes 6 to 9, where we should have given us the answers, it should've pushed the storylines along, and built even more tension and risks for resolution in the last 4 episodes, didn't happen.

What have we got? Three hundred Echo scenes that, basically, are the same.

Ok. I'm done now.

As you can see, my issue with this season has been mainly about what we got from episodes 6 to 9.

Do I believe this season can end on a high note? Yes.

I believe it can, especially if they focus the rest of the season on the Alighting and how all of these characters have a part in it. Because from the little we got so far, it seems like they are all in it.

So, let the resolutions, revelations, plot twists, and explanations come in episodes 10, 11, 12, and 13.

FOR THE SANITY OF THIS FANDOM.

[liamhaydn-blog]

Joshua & Fury: reading of the resumes.

You can’t read any discussion about Anthony Joshua for long without seeing reference to his resume. The resume is usually brought up as the first line of defence to any criticism slung his way, and is perhaps the only line of attack that is still being used by AJ fans as to why their man still deserves more credit and praise than Tyson Fury. 

The resume line is used by noone more than Eddie Hearn, who mentions it before every fight, after every fight, win or lose. The names by now reel off his tongue, and near everyone from what I have seen is in complete agreement that AJ has put together one hell of a record. 

This has always somewhat baffled me, and I will explore why here. First of all since April 2016, every fight he’s had has been a World title fight. His last 8 fights have been for 3 organisation’s belts. When you are the champion of those 3 organisations, you will have to fight decent fighters, to justify you holding onto so many belts. Also these organisations want you to face their mandatory challenger now and then, the chances are someone ranked #1 will be a pretty good fighter. Does a unified World Heavyweight champion really deserve so much credit for fighting fairly solid opponents?

Comparison is often made to Wilder’s defences for example, and for sure it does seem that Wilder is a bit of a flat track bully, who didn’t seem to particularly mind some easy knockouts over less than stellar opposition. Though it still remains hard to fairly compare his level of opponents to Joshua’s. Joshua gets bigger crowds than anyone in world boxing, he’s for years now sold out big stadiums in a matter of hours, he’s simply one of the biggest stars in boxing with huge PPV numbers. This to say, they can afford to pay opponents big money. The big money that is required for a credible opponent. I don’t think that has always been the case for Wilder, who himself was not getting anything like big money until having been World Champion for a while, let alone his opponent. 

This is not to completely excuse Wilder, the fact an agreement was never reached to fight Dillian Whyte in all the time he was mandatory challenger, its quite bizarre to me why Wilder seemingly did not ever fancy that fight. And I do think that unlike Wilder, AJ has and always will be willing to face anyone, be it Wilder, Fury, I don’t think him a coward or someone who would doubt himself enough to not fancy them fights. 

The reason for the AJ-Wilder fight never materialising whilst both were champion, I don’t believe was down to AJ himself, though I believe its possible his team and promoter wanted to keep him away from Wilder for a little longer, to further build up his experience. But for Wilder’s part, I never got the impression he was particularly falling over himself to get the fight either.

I digress, but the point is that though I believe AJ has been more up for a challenge and a real fight than Wilder has, it’s not quite as simple as just looking at who their opponents have been for defences and not including the context.    

The most common comparison presumably in the whole of boxing is AJ’s resume against Tyson Fury’s. As stated earlier, this is often something used by AJ fans, and Fury’s resume is the one main critique levelled against him by virtually everyone who wishes to put him down. 

Again, it often seems a little without context. A man who has defended or attempted to defend his world title 9 times is always likely to have fought more decent fighters than someone who has never defended before, that seems obvious. Fury is mocked for never having attempted a World title defence, (aside from the fact its not really his fault from a boxing standpoint that he was unable to defend his belt for 2 years due to being side-lined from the ring for medical issues, nor was it his fault he was robbed by judges in Los Angeles in his first fight with Wilder, therefore delaying his ability to make a first defence) and yet also mocked for a supposedly weak resume, when the two things kind of go together as one rather explains the other. Your resume is unlikely to be great without a world title defence.

Looking at Fury’s resume, his best opponent prior to fighting for the World title was Chisora. Now the fact is, this was already not a great time for Heavyweight boxing, swathes of very average Heavyweights were getting the chance to lose to the Klitschko’s, so it shouldn’t be too surprising Fury didn’t have to fight off many stern challenges to become the top contender. One challenge could have been former Cruiserweight and Heavyweight World Champion David Haye, again not really Fury’s fault Haye pulled out of the fight twice. One man he did face though was Chisora, who in their first fight was 14-0 and 27 years old. The 22-year old Fury went into the fight as the underdog. They fought again 3 years later, inbetween these bouts Chisora became one of only 4 men to lose to Vitali Klitschko without being stopped. 

Chisora is regarded as a journeyman for the 11 losses on his record, but the fact is nobody has ever had an easy night with him, barring Fury in their rematch. Chisora arguably won a very close first fight with Whyte, and was having another very close fight with him in the rematch before Whyte found a great knockout in the 11th, Usyk did not shine against him in the same way he did against Bellew and Joshua, and he was very unlucky to not win a decision against former World Champion Joseph Parker. Not bad for a journeyman. But Fury certainly made him look like a journeyman in their second fight, showing exactly how a big man should fight against a little man, he didn’t let Chisora lay a glove on him and beat him up all night until Chisora’s trainer finally took mercy on him and pulled him out after 10 brutally one-sided rounds. 

The next ‘name’ on Tyson’s resume is Wladimir Klitschko, who was on a run of 19 successful wins in World title fights, and hadn’t lost for 11 years. On the Champions adopted home patch of Germany, Fury won a unanimous decision infront of 50,000 Klitschko supporters, to give the Ukrainian his only defeat by decision in 69 fights. Not a bad win I suppose. 

Often used to mock Fury’s resume is the name ‘Sefer Seferi’ and yes the fight was a joke and a bit of a waste of time, but it was Fury’s first fight for 2 and a half years, yes he could have fought someone a bit better ofcourse, but I don’t think it would have been wise to fight anyone fans would consider a decent fighter on his very first step on the comeback trail. 2 months later was Pianeta, again I don’t think it’s that surprising that when you’re fighting for the second time in 3 months after a long absence, and your plan is to fight for the World title less than 4 months later, that the level of opponent you’re facing is not that high, that seems to be fairly logical. I think facing Deontay Wilder for the WBC title just 6 months into the comeback made up for it in fairness. 

Going into their first fight, Wilder had faced 40 men and knocked them all out. It’s fashionable now after the beating Fury gave him in the rematch to dismiss Wilder as a bum, a never-was. But it’s simply not true. He’s 6 foot 7, incredibly heavy-handed with one of the most concussive punches in Heavyweight history. Fury fought him in his prime after the best win of Wilder’s career, an 8 round stoppage of Luis Ortiz, who at the time was for sure a worthy contender. Fury himself was 6 months back after a 2 and a half year absence, mostly spent trying to damage his body to the same extent his mind was damaged. After outboxing him for 9 rounds, Fury picked himself off the canvas to box his head off some more, until in the 12th round Wilder landed one of the hardest and best 2-punch combos he’s ever thrown. One of the only true knockout punches ever landed to somehow not result in a knockout. Fury won the fight but as we know was robbed and given a draw.

Between this fight and the rematch, Fury is again mocked for the two names he fought inbetween. Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin. First of all it was kinda strange why these 2 fights were even necessary and they didn’t just do an immediate rematch, or even 1 fight inbetween, 2 seemed excessive. But financially it worked out great for both men, Wilder who was able to cash in for 2 more fights as Champion, and for Fury he could get into a run of real activity which helped him immensely for the rematch with Wilder. Schwarz was rolled over as expected, but Wallin inflicted 2 huge cuts on Tyson which left him fighting nearly the whole fight with only 1 eye, still winning nearly every round. Which is surely quite impressive, given Wallin is now deemed by Hearn a highly credible opponent for Whyte, one of the division’s top fighters. 

In the Wilder rematch, Fury produced what was I think the best performance by a Heavyweight this century. He did what noone thought he could do, which was bully the bully, beating him with power not just cunning. As I said, now Fury has done it so easily, people will talk about how Wilder was rubbish all along, never beat anyone etc. but if anyone thinks AJ or Whyte or anyone else would just as easily stand up to Wilder’s power, speed and explosiveness, I think they are very mistaken. Whether Wilder will be the same fighter with his air of invincibility shattered after defeat remains to be seen, but it would be great to see him in the ring against Britain’s other top fighters. My prediction is, it would see Fury’s win and performance elevated even further. 

Fury now faces Wilder for a third time, and whilst I like most consider it a shame Fury wasn’t able to move onto new challenges, if he wins, it’s another excellent win. I don’t consider it any easier than a fight against AJ would be. It’s true that AJ is a better boxer than Wilder, but still vastly inferior to Tyson, so I don’t see how he provides much greater threat from a boxing standpoint, he’s not going to outbox Fury in a million years. So the only threat to Tyson posed is power, Wilder has a higher KO % than AJ despite fighting nearly 20 more times, lets his hands go more, hits harder, is more dangerous with a single shot than AJ, so therefore I feel the most dangerous fighter to Fury, as he himself has said many times, remains *to this day* Deontay Wilder. 

Now to really the point of the article, Joshua’s resume. After amassing 14 knockouts in 14 fights, all coming in the 3rd round or sooner, the Olympic Gold Medallist had become Britain’s most talked about and hyped prospect ever. His 15th opponent was Dillian Whyte, a 16-0 fighter with 13KO’s. Whyte has since gone on to garner a deserved reputation as one of the division’s toughest and respectable fighters, but that’s now. Going into when AJ actually fought him, he had faced absolutely nobody. He had 6 amateur bouts including a win over AJ, moved to kickboxing, came back to boxing and had 9 pro fights before being banned for drugs. Whyte was out the ring for 2 years, had 5 fights back then fought Joshua. 

So at the time of the fight there is no doubt that whilst AJ was seen as a future World Champion, Whyte was not seen as anything of the sort, just an ‘opponent’ there for AJ to get another fast and emphatic knockout. The emphatic knockout came but not before experiencing adversity for the first time, as in fight number 15 of his career AJ faced someone who could take his leather and land some of his own, before succumbing in the 7th. Despite the rawness of Whyte, he still had enough heart and talent to provide Anthony with his first career test. 

Next fight, AJ fought for the World title, facing what most regard as a terrible World Champion, Charles Martin. He may have walked this earth like a God, but he fought in the ring like a Big Bum Dosser, against AJ anyway, who took him apart in 2 rounds. Martin appeared for all the world like a man woefully out of his depth, dutifully accepting his beating for a good payday. A win over Gerald Washington has since seen an attempt at the rehabilitation of Martin’s image from Eddie Hearn no less, who now lists the conquest of this man as proof of AJ’s greatness, who next Gary Cornish? 

AJ made his first World title defence of his IBF crown against Dominic Breazeale, who was at the time ranked #13 with the organisation. Joshua won in the 7th round. His second defence was against Eric Molina, who AJ dispached in 3 rounds. Another 2 men recently listed by Hearn to demonstrate AJ’s strong resume. In the same interview, he criticised Wilder for having beat noone..except he’s also knocked out both Breazeale (in 43 seconds) & Molina. A decision win over Breazeale was also enough to show Hearn that Wallin was a worthy PPV  opponent for Whyte, so are they good wins or not? I’m not sure, I guess it depends on who we’re talking about, AJ or Wilder. 

Next up saw AJ transition into a UK stadium fighter when he met Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium to attempt to add more belts to his collection that had recently been vacated by Fury. Having been soundly beaten by The Gypsy King, Klitschko had gone from 39 to 41. The feeling for a lot in the UK at the time was, it’s a good time to beat a good name to earn some credibility against an old, past it champion. That looked to be the case when AJ dropped Wlad in the 5th but there was still some life in the old dog yet when the very next round AJ hit the canvas for the first time in his career. Wlad took control of the fight with AJ struggling for a second wind having used up a lot of energy, with stamina issues affecting the 250-pounder. There was a few rounds where AJ was too tired, not throwing, concentrating everything on trying to recuperate, that you’d think Klitschko could have stepped it up and gone for the finish.  Whether age stopped Klitschko from pushing on the gas or he felt confident he could see out a decision, he didn’t do it and AJ found the best punch and single moment of his career in the 11th with a huge uppercut which signalled the end of Wlad’s chances. It was a great fight which AJ did very well to win, but it had been by the skin of his teeth. 

After Pulev pulled out of their proposed fight, Carlos Takam stepped in as a late replacement. Given the lack of time, this wasn’t a terrible replacement, he is tough and comes to fight, ensuring the fans will atleast get to see a few rounds. But he has lost to every name fighter he’s faced, including Journeyman Chisora. So Chisora isn’t a good name on Fury’s record, because he loses to every good fighter he faces, but Takam is a solid name on AJ’s record, despite the fact he was knocked out by Chisora. It’s all very confusing. 

To hold 4 belts, AJ then faced Joseph Parker, the holder of the WBO title, winning the vacant belt with a home decision against some chubby kid, Andy Ruiz. At the time, Parker had a very good reputation, but the fight was a stinker, with AJ disappointing his legion of fans as he was taken the distance for the first time. Parker has since lost to Whyte and in my opinion deserved a draw at best with Chisora having been dropped in the first round, and now will have to fight a rematch for a more emphatic win. Since the AJ fight, he’s looked a fairly average heavyweight, seemingly quite lucky to have ever held the World title, having not done anything since to make anyone believe he could ever hold it again. 

The next defence came against the small and light for a heavyweight 39-year old Alex Povetkin. Looking at him, not much of a threat would perhaps be expected to a man of AJ’s size and stature but for 6 rounds he gave Joshua a very competitive fight until the fight was ended by the Champion’s power in the 7th. Povetkin had gone the distance with Wladimir Klitschko despite being dropped four times, and probably deserved a second shot at the world title sooner than 5 years after that. The 39-year old was still a credible challenger but with his best years behind him. 

Then on June 1 2019, came the infamous AJ US debut. After a fight with Big Baby Miller collapsed due to his drug use, in stepped Andy Ruiz, who had a similarly large belly but 4 inches less in height than Miller. It was obvious what would happen next, AJ would announce himself to US audiences with a quick knockout. Ruiz hit the canvas for the first time in his career in round 3. AJ, one of the best finishers in the sport, jumped on him. What happens next usually, is roared on by tens of thousands of Brits, AJ punches and punches until his opponent goes down and stays there. This time infront of an audience of stunned Americans, Ruiz comes off the floor to land a shot to AJ’s temple which changes the course of the fight and both men’s destinies. Ruiz puts AJ down and the champion never recovers, unable to regain authority or control in the fight, he is victim to Ruiz’s barrages and decides not to fight on in the 7th, recognising after being dropped yet again, that it’s not going to be his night. 

After losing the Brawl In Montreal, Sugar Ray Leonard knew he had to get his conqueror Roberto Duran back in the ring as quickly as possible, whilst he was out partying, piling on the pounds and not training. AJ applied the same thinking, and like Leonard in the ‘No Mas’ fight took on a completely new approach for the rematch. Andy Ruiz has very fast hands, its not wise to trade with him up close. He does not however, have fast feet or particularly long arms. AJ maintained his discipline in the rematch to comfortably outbox Ruiz for 12 rounds, boxing from distance, never tempted to go for the knockout. Ruiz weighed in at an enormous 284 pounds, 16 pounds heavier than before. 

Performance and result wise, the Ruiz rematch in Saudi Arabia is perhaps the most impressive of AJ’s career to date. The 32-year old Ruiz still has to prove however, if he is truly a top class fighter, or whether he just produced the performance of a lifetime and got AJ on the right night. If AJ had beaten Ruiz first time round it would not have been seen as a particularly significant triumph, but due to the credibility he only gained as a result of beating AJ, this conversely amplified the achievement of Joshua gaining revenge in the rematch. 

Joshua’s first defence of his second reign came against Kubrat Pulev after just over a year out the ring. Like Povetkin, Pulev was approaching 40, had fought for the world title whilst a younger man and lost to Wlad Klitschko (Pulev being stopped in 5), he was also quite a short and light man in comparison to the giant figure of Joshua. With only 14KO wins in 29 fights, Pulev looked the ideal opponent for AJ. He was durable and well conditioned, and came to win but he stood right infront of AJ, with no head movement, so AJ moved his head for him with brutal uppercuts. If you stand infront of Joshua and don’t have much of a punch or speed to threaten him with, he looks brilliant and he did at times on this night, despite even against this opponent being reluctant to fully commit to power combo’s, the memory of Ruiz at MSG clearly not yet banished, but the win came in the 9th round, AJ’s first stoppage win for over 2 years. 

AJ’s second reign as champion was alot shorter than his first, defeat coming in his second defence against former Cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk. Usyk had come under vast criticism it shouldn’t be forgotten for his first 2 performances at Heavyweight. Many people, though I personally don’t agree, thought that his fight with Chisora was very close, he certainly wasn’t sending fear into the hearts of the division. But Usyk has only failed to win 15 fights out of over 360 amateur and pro for a reason, and he thoroughly outclassed Joshua. The fight would have been hard enough, and not a guaranteed win even if Joshua hadn’t got his tactics so completely wrong, but he atleast would have been in with a chance. Usyk, thought to be too small for a heavyweight, didn’t look small in with one of the divisions giants, because he didn’t fight like a small man, he didn’t allow Joshua to feel physically superior, and showed no fear or respect for his power. 

I won’t be suprised atall if Joshua rights his wrongs in the second fight, by doing what he obviously should have done in the first fight. Being rough and nasty, throwing as the saying goes, with bad intentions. But why it takes a 2-time World Champion with his experience a second fight to realise this I have no idea. Having a “chess match” fight with Usyk is maybe something you do in sparring to learn some useful things, you don’t do it infront of 70 thousand with your belts actually on the line..It was one of the most incredibly naive things I have seen from an experienced champion. It struck of a man in a bit of an identity crisis, who can’t decide what type of fighter he is inside the ring, nor what his boxing persona is outside it, in the lead-up to fights.

As another mistake AJ seemed to repeat from the first Ruiz fight was he seemed all pally with Usyk and too relaxed in the build-up. It could just be a coincedence but he was nice and pissed off with Pulev before getting in the ring with him, and he produced the right performance. I know Usyk is a difficult guy to dislike, but he’s gonna have to try. 

Strangely, Hearn also listed Usyk on AJ’s resume. I don’t see much good of having good names on your resume if you lose to them, otherwise we may aswell declare Kevin Johnson a great, as he’s fought everyone (and lost to everyone, but I guess that doesn’t matter). If AJ wins the rematch, he deserves credit for it, as it would for me be the best win of his career, given the age of Klitschko and Joshua’s personal circumstances of 2 defeats in his last 4. But I don’t really get this thing of “give AJ credit for taking the fight”. Its the mandatory challenger for one of his belts, he has to fight him, or else give up that belt. Why would you become world champion just to give a belt up because you have to face someone good? talk about giving credit for the bare minimum.

This questioning of AJ’s resume, is not to criticise him personally. I have no doubt before he retires he would if up to him fight Wilder, Fury, whoever else who is up there at the time, and if he does so he will lose plenty more times, because his chin and tactics are not of the standard of some of the other guys, but he will lose and come back and keep trying, and I respect that. But in conclusion I think up to this point, with no Fury or Wilder under his W column, he is getting a lot of credit for wins against guys who when listed as a collective are fairly solid names, but when taken individually, are not so great. Whilst Fury’s list has less solid names, there are names who can be taken individually and are great standalone wins. 

The way I would describe it is would you rather take a couple of 10′s to bed, but not many 6,7 or 8′s? or would you rather take a few 6,7 or 8′s but never a 10. I know which I would prefer. 

[c-watches-too-many-shows]

Break My Heart (JJ Maybank x Reader)

Fanfiction

Chapter 23

You’re John B’s cousin, your father sent you to Outer Banks to keep an eye on his nephew or at least that what everyone believes. You expected it to be a calm summer, relaxing in the beach, catching up with your cousin and clearing your mind, but all those plans fly out the window when you meet JJ Maybank.

Warning: you may hate me after this lol

| Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9 | Ch 10 | Ch 11 | Ch 12 | Ch 13 | Ch 14 | Ch 15 | Ch 16 | Ch 17 | Ch 18 | Ch 19 | Ch 20 | Ch 21 | Ch 22 | - | Ch 24 | Ch 25 | Ch 26 |

“W-what are you doing here?” you said taking a step into the porch and closing the door behind you, hoping no one had heard you.

“Oh I’m fine thanks. Yes I’ve missed you so much.” your father said sarcastically, as he stepped closer to hug you. It took you a seconds to hug him back, you were still shocked. Never would you had thought it could be him. Being in his arms felt surreal, a part of you was so happy to see him again and another one dreaded the moment you would because you knew what it meant.

“Sorry I’m just surprised.”

“There’s been a change of plans. I tried reaching you yesterday all day but nothing.” he said pulling away. You could tell he was happy to see you, he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Yeah signal can suck sometimes-” You were about to ask him about the change of plans and what he meant but got interrupted.

“Hey everything fine?” you heard JJ ask behind you as he opened the door. You tried to think of a way out, anything so he wouldn’t see your dad but there was no point in even trying, he had already seen him and “Oh I’m sorry.”

“Hi, I’m James, Y/N’s father.” he said extending his hand towards JJ who was quick to take it, but you could tell he was as surprised as you to see your father. He opened his mouth but didn’t respond, he didn’t expect to meet your father this soon, so you decided to jump in.

“He’s JJ. One of John’s best friends.” you replied for him and felt the weird look JJ gave you when you presented him as John B’s friend and not your boyfriends, but he didn’t think much into it.

“A pleasure meeting you. My daughter told me she became really close with all of John’s friends.” your father said making JJ smirk. ‘We did became close last night’ he thought but instantly pushed it away, it felt wrong in some way to have that kind of thoughts when your father was standing right in front of you.

“Yeah she’s like one of us now. You should meet the rest, they are all inside.” JJ said already opening the door for your father to come in. You started panicking, this isn’t what you planned. You were supposed to have at least one month left and you were going to eventually tell them the truth, especially to JJ after the intimate moment you had had last night. But now your father was here, you still didn’t know why, he was going to meet everyone, they’d start asking questions and truth was going to come out.

“Hey uncle James I didn’t know you were coming!” John B said standing up to hug him, his hangover magically disappearing.

“Me neither…” you mumbled under your breath. Than unpleasant anxious feeling started to build up in the pit of your stomach. You needed to somehow get your father out of the house as soon as possible and find out what the hell was going on.

“I haven’t seen you in ages. I should start visiting you more.” John b said. and it was like an alarm went off in your head, you had to stir the conversation far far away from that topic.

“Well that won’t-” your father started to say, but you were quick to cut him off.

“Ok! So this are Kie, Sarah and Pope. Sarah is John’s girlfriend.” you said, hoping that would be distraction enough.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet all of you.”

“So what bring you to the east coast? Missing the sun and the waves?” John B teased your father.

“More like missing my daughter.” he said hugging your from the side. You sighed relieved, maybe he was here only for the day to see you, maybe that was the change of plans? “Well that and because they need me to start the new job earlier.” Your heart stopped.

“I-I don’t get it, why would that be a reason to come?” your cousin asked, confused like everyone else in the room. Everyone except you because you knew exactly what he meant.

“Because since I’m starting earlier I had to pick Y/N up earlier.” he explained. JJ looked at you, sorrow on his face, but your eyes were glued to the floor and you were too lost on your thoughts to notice. The room went silence, you leaving earlier was definitely bad news, everyone got sad and they still hadn’t heard the worst part, the part you had been keeping to yourself. “I know I came here to ruin your summer fun, please don’t hate me. They told me they could wait until the summer was over, but yesterday they called me saying they needed me to start right now.”

“And can’t you start and then come and pick her up when summer ends?” Kie asked, clearly not knowing the whole truth.

“It would be a little impractical to fly to London by myself, then back here in a couple weeks and again back to London with Y/N.”

“London?!” everyone asked in unison. All eyes where now on you but you could bring yourself to look at them, the shame you felt wouldn’t let you. Your mouth went dry as your eyes filled with tears. You didn’t know what to do, what to say.

“You’re moving to London…” JJ’s whisper brought you back to reality. You finally looked at him. He was broken, making the pain grow stronger. You could see the agony in his eyes as he realized what was going to happen and how you had been lying all along. You hated yourself.

“I was gonna tell you-” you started to say.

“I-I need to go.” he said, not paying attention to what you were saying, and turned away to leave.

“No please let me explain.” you said grabbing him from the arm to stop him.

“I can’t- I can’t do this.” He didn’t look at you when he said it, not wanting you to see how much it had affected him, slowly going back to the JJ he was before he had met you.

“I’m so sorry.” was all you managed to say as he crossed the door, but he didn’t hear it or maybe he did but it was not enough.

“We’re gonna check on him.” Pope said standing up with Sarah and Kie, you had almost forgotten they were there too. They gave you a final glance before going after JJ that turned your stomach. You were too focused on JJ to recognize you had hurt them too. Ever since you had thrown a drunk at that kook your first night in Outer Banks they had been your friends; they had supported you when you told them about your father, they had comforted you when you thought JJ had left you for another girl, and how did you pay them back? By lying to them all summer. That’s when it hit you, if there was one person who deserved to know the truth, one person who had been there for you your whole life, the one person who was hurt the most.

“John B?” you asked looking at him, not knowing what to say exactly and scared of how he would react. His eyes were emotionless when he lifted his head to meet yours, that’s when you knew you really had screwed up,

“We can talk later, I just need to think a little.” he said blankly and with that he made his way to his room. You were left alone with your father in the living room. The shock that had taken over your body earlier hadn’t left yet, you could not believe everything that had gone down seconds ago. It all happened so fast, minutes ago you were all hanging out so happily and now you were not sure if they’d ever even talk to you again.

“What just happened?” your father asked confused, from his outsider’s perspective nothing made sense, but he could see the pain in your eyes and that was enough for him to worry.

“I screwed up dad. I screwed up bad.” you said and looked up at him. He gave you a compassionate smile and pulled you into his arms and that was enough to break you down at last. Tears started falling down your face and it felt like they’d never stop, the pain caused by guilt only growing stronger with every sob.

aaaand its out guys don’t hate me too much hahahaha so many of you had already figured it out, what do you think about the pogues? will they forgive her? what do you think will happen next?

thank u so much for reading hope you enjoy this chapter

[alonely-dreamer]

The Valuable Sun | Chapter 21

Summary: The sun is dead. Long live the sun.

Pairing: Eric x OC

Warnings: 18+

A/N: Please, note that I am French so there might be some mistakes here and there.

Words: 3178

Masterlist

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20

When Brooklynne opened her eyes, it was dark and cold. She didn’t know where she was, but she knew she wasn’t alone. There was a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, she knew it was Eric, but still, she couldn’t figure out where she was. She couldn’t breathe, but, oddly, she didn’t need to. There was something on her, all around her, everywhere, something cold, getting inside her clothes, her socks, her shoes… Was it… dirt?

Panic took over her and she tried to move, but couldn’t, making it worse. She realized she was buried in the ground and knew it would be difficult to get out of the hole on her own, she tried nonetheless. She crawled up with difficulty, for minutes that seemed like hours. Sometimes feeling like she was digging herself deeper in than out. Finally, she got out, her hands gripping the grass as she pulled herself up with a force she didn’t know she had, a force no human had.

She took a deep breath as soon as she could, dirt in her mouth, in her eyes, falling down from the top of her head… She fell on the ground, her chest coming in contact with the cold and humid grass. She coughed, and coughed again, but managed to sit up. She felt something warm and wet on her cheeks and quickly wiped it out with the back of her hand as she realized she was crying.

“Brooklynne.”

She jumped, startled, as she heard her name. She looked up but was blinded by the lights in the dark sky. The stars. She brought her hand to her forehead, trying to shield her eyes from the blinding lights, but they quickly got used to it, and she found Eric standing right in front of her.

“What did you do?” she asked with a trembling voice and angered tone. “What did you do?!”

“I’m sorry,” he quickly answered as he knelt before her. “I didn’t have a choice. You were dying.”

As he said those words, looking at her with fear, worry, and yet relief, she remembered her last moments before everything went dark. She remembered hearing a gun shot, she remembered the blood, she remembered the pain. She gasped and started crying again as she took it all in at once. She was dead. He had saved her life.

“You’re gonna be okay,” he promised her as he cupped her cheek with his hand.

She put hers over his, with unusual speed that surprised her. He moved his thumb over her tears, giving her a reassuring smile, which quickly turned into a frown.

“What? What is it?”

“Your tears… they’re… normal.”

 ***

 To hell with Bill, to hell with Marnie, to hell with all of them. Eric and Brooklynne were probably needed, but they didn’t care. They needed time. She needed time. And a shower.

When she got out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but an old and discolored blue towel, her hair falling wet on her shoulders, she felt hungry, and worried. As she was now a living-dead, she shouldn’t feel hungry, not for human food anyway. She should be crying blood and craving human blood, but all she wanted at this moment was a big fat hamburger, with extra-bacon, and fries.

“Is it possible the… transformation went wrong?” she asked as she sat next to him on her bed.

“No. I did everything right. I was… I was afraid it wouldn’t work… I was afraid it was too late…”

“So… it’s because I’m a fairy, isn’t it?”

He shook his head, sighed, then nodded. “Probably. You were half-human, half-fairy. Now that…”

“Now that I’m dead,” she cut him off. “I’m half-vampire, half-fairy.”

“There are easy ways to find out.”

“I might actually be able to walk in the sun…”

“I’ve never heard of… hybrids, before.”

She chuckled, making him raise an eyebrow.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was a freak when I was human. And I’m still a freak as a vampire.”

“I wouldn’t call you a freak,” he said, as he took her hand in his.

“And what would you call me?”

“Probably the strongest creature out there.”

“Is ‘creature’ better than ‘freak’?” she asked with humor.

“We’re all creatures. And it is better. Especially since you’re the strongest one of us.”

“You don’t know that.”

“If you’ve kept your powers…” he paused.

“What is it?”

“Now that you’re a vampire… can you hear my thoughts?”

She frowned. She hadn’t thought about it, and maybe that meant she couldn’t. She was supposed to be stronger now, wasn’t she? Which meant her powers would be stronger as well. His thoughts hadn’t invaded hers, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to invade his.

“If she’s half-fairy every vampire in the world will come for her, for her blood, they’ll come for the sun, they’ll come for her. They’ll come for her. They’ll come for her. They’ll…”

She winced as she removed her hand from his.

“Did you…”

“Yes…”

“I should have thought about something else. I didn’t think you’d be able to…”

“It’s fine….”

A heavy silence took over the room as both of them thought of ways to keep each other safe. Only one solution seemed to be good enough, it had worked so far, after all.

He slid his hand down her back and rested it on her waist, bringing her closer to him. He placed a kiss on her temple before he whispered:

“You’re gonna be just fine.”

“Eric?”

“Mmh?”

“I’m not mad at you.”

He frowned, confused at first, then sighed, then chuckled as he understood.

“Would it be useless to ask you to stay out of my head?”

“Sorry,” she smiled, amused, and a little embarrassed. “I just can’t help it sometimes.”

 ***

 Their unspoken agreement to keep Brooklynne’s abilities a secret left them with one last question to answer. Would she stay human to the eyes of the world, or would she be a vampire, stuck to live at night and renounce the sun, at least in parts?

While she was trying to figure out how she wanted the world to see her, she stared at her naked body in the mirror as she wondered who she wanted to be. Her fingers moved down her chest to her belly, only to get back up where a bullet hole should have been. She remembered the blood, the pain, but mostly, she remembered the chaos. She remembered feeling like she was dying, feeling like her life was ending when it had barely just begun. The weakness she had felt at that moment had since turned into rage, and all of it was directed in a certain witch’s way.

Eric appeared suddenly in the mirror, a towel wrapped around his waist. She watched as he leaned over and placed a kiss in her neck as he slid his hands on her belly.

“You okay?”

“No, not really.”

She saw sadness take over his face, but it only lasted a second, as an unusual unconfident smirk appeared in his lips.

“I thought you enjoyed our little… shower,” he said as he turned her around.

“I did. I always do.”

“What’s wrong then?”

She sighed before she slightly raised her arms to his chest, her fingers sliding up his skin.

“That’s not how I thought it would happen.”

“How what would happen?”

She looked up at him, her answer clear in her eyes.

“Oh,” he said, quite speechless. “I didn’t even know you… were thinking about it.”

“Of course, I was,” she replied as if his answer had offended her. “Of course, I was. Weren’t you?”

“I was too,” he nodded. “And the possibility of… this… happening… had crossed my mind.”

“What?”

“Our first job for Bill… I was terrified you’d get hurt. I was terrified I wouldn’t be fast enough to… save you. That’s not how I wanted it to happen. But I’m glad it did.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head and each second of silence was like a needle in his heart.

“Are you glad it did?”

“I…” she sighed again. “I… I can’t… be happy about it… right now. Because of how it happened. Because… Because right now I just want to tear that bitch apart.”

There was a spark in his eyes, like she had just awakened something in him. He agreed, of course, and she knew that. Maybe she should have known he’d be proud.

“Eric, I want to spend eternity with you. I don’t want you to think I don’t. I just… I need to… get used to the idea that I’m not human anymore. I need to see what’s changed, how I’ve changed but… there’s something I know hasn’t changed, something I know will never change.”

“What is that?”

“My unconditional love for you,” she said as she took his face in her hands. “I love you. I wanted to spend eternity with you yesterday, and I still do now. You can never doubt that. Even if sometimes… I miss my human life.”

He smiled, relived, before he placed a kiss on her forehead.

“I love you too,” he whispered. “Now let’s go tear that bitch apart.”

 ***

 It was around 3AM when Eric and Brooklynne stepped inside the King’s house. Bill was waiting for them, for her, with guilt written all over his face. Somehow she knew Bill would have been dead by now if he weren’t King of Louisiana. They stopped in the hall, all three of them, staring at each other in silence. Brooklynne wondered what pitiful excuses he was going to try and make, Eric just tried very hard to stop himself from committing treason and condemn himself to a certain True Death.

“Well isn’t this a happy reunion,” Pam said as she joined them from Bill’s office. “You’re still alive.”

“So to speak,” Brooke’s reply was as dry as Pam’s tone. The vampire smirked, surprising the fairy hybrid, who didn’t think her new ‘sister’ would be too happy about her new ‘condition’.

“Brooklynne I’m…”

“Sorry?” she cut Bill off. “Don’t even bother. You know, I wouldn’t even be mad if it had just been an accident. But you tried to kill Eric, and that, I’ll never forget. And I’ll never forgive you either, so don’t waste your breath. We came here to kill Marnie, and you owe us the backup.”

Bill’s sad eyes didn’t even make her flinch and the vampire nodded regretfully as he accepted her request.

“Where’s Sookie?” she asked.

“Home, I suppose.”

“She wasn’t there,” Eric said.

“You don’t know where my sister is?”

“I… I,” he stuttered. “She said she never wanted to see me again then left. I thought she’d be waiting for you at your house.”

“She might be with your brother,” Eric said in an attempt to reassure her, though he knew exactly what she was thinking. Sookie had gone for the witch, and she hadn’t come back.

 ***

 Bill had called Jessica as backup and they left the house with an SUV filled with all sorts of automatic weapons. The red head had landed Brooklynne some black clothes, and the five vampires were inconspicuous as they walked down the empty road leading to Moongoddess Emporium, heavily armed.

“I’m so sick of silvering myself all day every day,” Jessica rumbled. “I’m pissed off all the time. This is what PMS used to feel like,” she continued, and Brooklynne was pleasantly reminded that she wouldn’t have to go through that anymore.

“Our objective is to kill the witch, finish this one way the other,” Bill said. “But we’re gonna finish this tonight. Are we clear?”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Brooklynne replied as Jessica picked up the bazooka and aimed it at Marnie’s shop.

“Can we blow up these Wiccan dispshits already?” Pam complained. “I got a mani-pedi at 4.”

“Wait, Marnie’s not alone in there?” Brooke asked.

“Her accomplices are with her,” Bill answered.

“Are Tara and Lafayette inside?” she questioned angrily as Bill was about to let his progeny blow up the place with her friends inside.

“Who cares?” Pam shrugged.

“We’re not killing Tara and Lafayette.”

“They tried to kill us,” Pam reminded her.

“I don’t care,” she growled.

Pam raised an eyebrow as she put a hand on her waist.

“How are we gonna get Marnie out of her there?” Eric asked, putting a stop to the debate.

“Why don’t we just go in there and rip her head off?”

“She can control the dead, remember?” Jessica said. “And you’re dead now.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jason shouted as he ran towards them, appearing from across the street. “Stop, stop, stop, stop.”

“Jason? What are you doing here?”

“Brooke? Oh my God,” he breathed out as he went to hug her. “We thought you were dead!”

She grimaced, though he couldn’t see her face. She hugged her big brother back for a few seconds before gently pushing him away.

“Yeah… I… I am.”

“What?”

“I am… dead.”

“Wh-“ he took a step back as he realized.

Uncontrollable rage took over him as he turned to Bill to punch him. The vampire didn’t even try to avoid the hit.

“You son of bitch!” he shouted. “You killed my sister.”

Bill clenched his jaw but stayed calm. Brooklynne didn’t try to stop him.

“Why should we stop?” Eric asked, changing the subject back.

“What?” Jason frowned. “Oh, yeah,” his entire demeanor changed as fast as he had gotten angry, and was now back to his normal panicking self. “You can’t blow up the place up. Put that down,” he told Jessica as he pointed to the bazooka. “Sookie’s in there.”

“What?”

“I told her to stay away!” Bill said.

“And you expected her to listen?” Eric asked.

“Damn it, Sookie,” Brooke sighed.

“’Damn it, Sookie’?” Jason repeated. “She’s in there to avenge your death!”

“I can avenge my own death, thank you very much!”

“We must abort,” Bill gave up. “We have to find another way.”

“And just so you know, Marnie put a spell around the place,” Jason said as he picked up a rock from the ground. “Watch this.”

He proceeded to throw the rock towards the shop and it collided against an invisible wall which lit up and disintegrated it in seconds. “This goes around the whole damn place.”

“We have to disable it,” Bill said.

“How are we gonna do that?” Brooke asked.

“I have no ide-“

Bill never got the chance to finish his sentence as he was pushed to the ground by a sudden appearance. His back painfully met the ground and he was now face to face with one of his missing sheriffs, Kirsch, sheriff of area 1. Eric was snatched right next from where Brooklynne was standing and the Viking was pushed against the wall across the street. Brooklynne growled and her fangs got out unintentionally. She didn’t let the surprise stop her as she launched herself at Duprez, sheriff or area 2. She pushed him to the ground and Pam had already stabbed him before he had any chance to get back up. He turned into a pool of blood at their feet.

“You okay?” Eric asked Brooklynne as if he weren’t the one who had just been attacked.

She didn’t get the chance to answer as they heard a scream to their right. They turned to see Kirsch lying on her stomach on the ground, Bill’s foot positioned on her chest to stop her from going anywhere.

“Antonia,” he called. “Show your face, witch! Hiding behind magic like a coward does not become you!”

Brooklynne turned to the front door of the shop, and waited. One minute. Two minutes. When, finally, Sookie came out.

“Brooke!”

“Sookie!”

“You’re alive!”

“Shall we return to the matter at hand?” Marnie spoke up from behind Sookie.

The fairy-human hybrid rolled her eyes. “Marnie wants to negotiate.”

“How may I serve, Antonia?” Kirsch asked, still possessed by Marnie’s magic.

The witch said something in Latin which allowed Kirsch to free herself from under Bill’s foot. The King, however, did not let her go, seized her and threw her towards Marnie where she came in contact with the wall. She screamed in pain as she burned and went up in flames before exploding into a thousand pieces.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Marnie said. “The power of the sun harnessed. The protection spell is impenetrable to most humans, and not fatal but to vampires, one touch is a death sentence.”

Brooklynne looked up at Eric with a look he only understood too late.

“You’re so dead,” Brooklynne said before she ran towards the ‘impenetrable wall’. She was met with some resistance, though she felt no pain and reached the other side in less than a minute. Marnie stared at her with surprise. She was so stunned she didn’t even realize she was in danger and only started to worry when Brooklynne had her trapped between her body and the wall of her shop. She opened her mouth, showing her fangs to the witch.

“You did this to me,” she told her before she dug her teeth in her neck.

“Brooklynne!” she heard her sister call but ignored it.

Marnie screamed but soon became quiet as life left her body like it had left Brooklynne’s the night before. She let go of the witch once she no longer felt a pulse and she collapsed to the floor, drops of her own blood falling from Brooke’s lips to her face.

She licked her lips, realizing she had blood all over her mouth and chin. She tried to wipe it up with her hand but only stained herself more. The wall disappeared as soon as Marnie died, and Eric hurried to Brooke’s side.

“You could’ve died!”

“The sun can’t kill me.”

“You didn’t know that!”

“I can feel it, Eric. It hasn’t changed.”

“What do you mean?” Sookie asked.

Brooklynne turned to see her sister’s shocked face. She was joined by Jason who didn’t look any better.

“I’m still a fairy,” she shrugged. “I know it. I can feel it.”

“You’re a vampire-fairy hybrid?” Bill asked, as stunned as the rest of them.

“And none of you will ever repeat it to anyone, ever,” Eric threatened and made himself very clear to the King and his progeny.

“You’re a vampire,” Sookie whispered as she realized, feeling stupid for thinking Eric had been able to heal her after he left them at the hotel. “Are you… are you okay?”

“I will be,” she said as she took Eric’s hand in hers.

Sookie tried to hide her grimace. She turned to Bill once more and gave him a look he knew meant she would never forgive him.

“What should we do about Marnie’s accomplices?” he asked.

“Apart from Roy, they’re all hostages in there,” Sookie told him.

“Are you kidding me?” Pam scoffed.

“I swear, she even killed one them like ten minutes ago.”

“Fine,” Eric said. “Let’s find this Roy. So I can rip his heart from his chest.”

**********

Tags: @thepoet1975 @nerdysandwichqueen @catchmeupimgettingoutofhere @raegan-hale @colie87 @heavenly1927​ @abbey7103​ @with-love-maddie​

This is the beginning of the end...

Thank you for reading!

[koganphrancis]

(gif credit: jackorowan)

Ian Dips His Toe Into A Redemption Arc

(Or: My thoughts on S10 Episode 3)

First thing first-I am guessing that the scene this gif is from was cut-Wells probably said it looked too much like men having sex with each other ;P  I bet this fight led to the-by the time the episode starts-established divided cell that Ian has to be a little bitch to Mickey about not seeing the clock since he can’t go to “Mickey’s side” of the cell.  WTF is this, The Brady Bunch?  Pretty sure the boys pulled that about their bedroom in one of the episodes, but I digress.  I would have liked to see Mickey jumping Ian, sigh.

On to what they did show-I have to say, I’m okay with it in the sense that I think almost everything they had Mickey and Ian say and do was very much in character.  However, since the show has had these characters for 10 seasons, I would’ve really liked to see evidence of more growth and evolution for Ian.  Mickey did two major acts of wonderful, selfless love for Ian, whereas Ian blurted out one thing towards the end when everything was pretty much set in stone anyway.  

But it was very in character for Mickey to be the one to give, and Ian to receive, so let me go back to the beginning under the 

The episode starts and obviously they’re still bickering/not getting along.  (Noel’s reading of Mickey’s annoyed “What” packed more meaning and emotion into a single syllable-this show does not deserve him.)  Ian gets the news that he’s got a parole hearing date, and Mickey immediately has a dark cloud of cold, cold rain descend over him-Ian’s pretty oblivious to that, and probably thinks Mickey’s just continuing their arguing since Mickey walks out of the cell as soon as the lock’s released.  Gotta give Ian a little credit-he forgets they’re arguing and is asking Mickey questions about his thoughts about what the letter means and didn’t Mickey think, like Ian, he’d be in longer...but those questions were all about “me, me, me” not “us”.  Which, in character, but, grow a little, Ian, damn it!

Ian goes and talks to two inmates that we’re not quite clear if both of them are gay or just “prison gay” (one has a boyfriend on the outside, but they have an arrangement to screw other people while they’re apart as long as there’s no mouth kissing).  They tell Ian he and “his boy” need a clear understanding, or feelings will be hurt.  Ian looks across the room to Mickey, and maybe for the first time is thinking about Mickey hurting because of him.

Or maybe he’s not-because the next scene is obviously taking place at 8:15, and Mickey is sitting on the toilet.  This scene, again, was in character for Ian, but it pissed me off because he’s bringing up something major-something that could easily blow up into a fight-when Mickey is literally at his most open and vulnerable-pants down and his body in no position to choose either fight or flight.  Plus, Ian doesn’t broach the subject with, “Even if I get out, I will wait for you, I’ll be faithful.”  No, he’s still 17 year old Ian saying, “Will we bang other people?”  Plus he throws in “kids?  Retirement?” so Mickey truly doesn’t have the first clue what Ian’s asking.  (And, btw, Shameless, they HAD a kid that you’ve oh so conveniently made disappear.)  

Ian states it as clearly as he can (I guess, for him): “Do you or do you not want to be in a long distance relationship when I’m out?”  This is so not fair to put on Mickey.  Mickey plainly told Ian what he wanted way back when he was first put into prison and, yes, Ian was on his meds and so low and whatever, but Mickey  knew the answer he gave then was a lie and probably would’ve been the same even if Ian was 100% adjusted to his meds.  Also, Mickey knows for a fact: Ian cheats.  He’s cheated on Mickey and he’s cheated with Mickey, and Ian’s certainly not saying here he’ll even try to be true.  From Mickey’s point of view he could easily take it as Ian wanting him to give him the loophole to not be faithful.   

Mickey, again, is the realist-”You’re out there you’re going to be fucking other people, so will I.”  (Plus, just last week, Ian was requesting a “new roommate”-pretty sure Mickey feels like Ian would be fucking other people inside, given the chance.)  Ian belatedly (far too late) says, “Can’t we just like, wait for each other?”  Then Mickey says something very true indeed.  “Look, it would be one thing if you felt differently about leaving, but you don’t.”  Ian asks what that means and Mickey reluctantly tells him that maybe if there was a part of Ian that wanted to throw his parole hearing so he could stay in there with Mickey since Mickey threw his life away to be with Ian then at least they’d be having a different conversation.  Ian immediately gets defensive with “I didn’t ask you to.”  No, you didn’t Ian, but you’ve never seemed to appreciate that Mickey did it either-or any of the many other sacrifices and acts of love Mickey’s done for you over the years.  Ian incredulously asks if Mickey’s asking him to tank his hearing to "be stuck” in prison with him.  Again it seems like Ian is 100% missing the point that Mickey chose to be with him because he wanted to be, and Ian’s acting like being with Mickey is part of-maybe the worst part of-his prison sentence.  Mickey says, “I ain’t asking you for shit, Gallagher.”  Ian cranks up the defensiveness, “You want me to choose to do it without you asking.”  YES, that’s exactly what he wants, Ian.  For you to choose him, for once in your life!  Mickey says his already famous, “I want you to want to do what you want.”  Ian gets extremely whiny and says, “Buuuut, if I choose it, you would be happy.”  Well, not anymore-you’ve ruined it.  He keeps getting in Mickey’s face, “I just want to know, yes or no, would you be fucking happy!?!?”  You honestly don’t know, Ian?  You’re the one that’s been having all the problems being locked up-Mickey, in the little bit we saw last week, was resigned and ready to serve out his sentence till you kept after him, putting a lot of blame on him for prison not being “fun” anymore.  Mickey finally says, “Yes” and Ian’s all, “Then I’ll fucking do it-I’ll fuck up my hearing so that I stay with you.”  He’s totally yelling by this point.   Mickey says, “If that’s what you want, fine.”  But you can tell he doesn’t think it’s what Ian wants.  Ian retreats back up to the top bunk after they exchange “fines” and “goods”.  Neither one of them is happy.  

And Ian’s not all that committed to his supposed decision-the next scene he’s in, he’s on the prison phone trying to get a hold of Lip-he needs some advice-which is a crock of shit to begin with-when has Lip ever told him that Mickey is the right choice?  Ian already knows what Lip would tell him to do.  

Mickey gets back to the cell after Ian learns from Debbie that Lip and Tami had the baby, and Mickey right away knows something’s bothering Ian.  Hey, Ian, when would any member of your family notice something like that?

Next Mickey scene-he goes to visit one of Terry’s old buddies for gay life advice.  Um, sure, Shameless.  I’m sorry that they felt the need to shortcut Mickey finding out what he already knows in his heart by stretching suspension of disbelief far beyond its breaking point.  (Not to mention it completely undercuts any danger we were supposed to believe in when Mickey came out-apparently Terry and his generation of incarcerated neo-nazis are completely tolerant of alternative lifestyles-who knew?)  Anyway-one great Noel moment in this scene is the beat he takes to look momentarily surprised that he’s not going to be curb stomped for asking about his partner for pleasure.  

Points lost to Shameless tho, for not making it very clear if, just like the Nazi buddy says to Mickey that Ian will come to resent him for wanting him to stay in prison for him, does Mickey resent Ian for going back in to be with him?  Are we supposed to think there’s a difference just because Ian didn’t ask/encourage Mickey to do it?  I also don’t like the implication that Mickey’s somehow in the wrong for wanting to be with Ian-it’s not like Ian has had a great life when Mickey’s not there for him.  

Mickey, as always, is keeping a close eye on Ian, and thwarts his plan to shiv an inmate (and, hey, Shameless, way to work in another fat slur in that scene-you couldn’t have Ian just say, “The big guy?”), and in a scene that I hope was very gratifying to film, Noel, uh, Mickey covers Ian’s entire mouth with his hand and keeps telling him to STFU ;)  Mickey has his cohorts drag Ian back to their cell, and here he makes his first huge sacrifice/love offering: he tells Ian he’s not throwing his fucking parole for him, they need to get him out of this shithole.  So it’s only then, when it’s obvious Mickey’s not going to hold him to anything he’s said and not going to try to make him say, that Ian finally says what he should’ve been saying from the start: “I wanna be with you.”  Mickey says, “You don’t get to be.”  And Cameron finally gives us a good line reading and says with an actual hitch in his voice and some real emotion, “I wanna be where you are, Mickey.”  And Mickey has to be all Rick Blane from Casablanca and say, “You don’t belong in here” and “go get a job and be an uncle to Lip’s kid” and “I shouldn’t have asked you to stay.”  Yeah, you should’ve!  You have the right to ask him to, Mickey-and especially to want him to want to!  You shouldn’t force him to stay, but asking him is okay!   

And then we finally get what we’ve been hoping for for years-the mutual ilys, but, still, it wasn’t quite right.  Ian says it, then Mickey says, “I know.”  (Does he though?  All I could see was, “Not really though” right after he said I know.  And maybe for once Shameless is laying out some foreshadowing and Mickey truly still DOESN’T know-there’s going to be a major bump in their future if that guy on the Vespa from the 2nd Chicago week is anything to go by-but even if we are supposed to have that tickle of doubt from that “I know”, that still fucks up them finally saying I love you to each other-why can’t we ever just have them say it?)  Anyway, Mickey does his, “I love you too” and they kiss and it’s a lovely kiss-but that’s all we get.  They finally say ILY to each other and it doesn’t lead to more?  Even Noel live tweeting it indicated it DID lead to what it should have-an actual love scene (although we could do without the “mayonaise”).  But this is Shameless and they’re just never gonna have sex, I guess.  

Their final scene is Ian sleeping blissfully and Mickey in his own bunk, counting money (he also had money to give the guard to be let in to see Terry’s buddy-all that cash and he can’t buy some lube?) and a guard comes to the door and gives Mickey and envelope for the cash, and a now-awake Ian is half sitting up and Mickey gives him the envelope and tells him to “facetime your brother, see the baby” and gives Ian the sweetest look along with this second-of-the-episode love offering, like Mickey’s the one making up for something.  What?  The whole episode he’s been putting Ian’s needs and issues first.  But it is very in character for Mickey to be doing whatever it takes to make Ian happy.  I just want to see it starting to get reciprocated.  I don’t think Ian did a hell of a lot in this episode to show much redemption.  He really only did anything (truly mean it when he said he wanted to stay) once he was getting what he wanted at the start.  

And they never did hammer it out that they’d wait for each other...But with the way they’re being under-utilized this season I’m not too worried about that.  They don’t seem to be in the next episode at all, and it makes me so sad to think about how much better their story would be if the show would just let them have the number of scenes they deserve and the time to let things play out, instead of everything needing to be brought up, flailed over, and resolved all in the span of a few too short scenes.