#you don’t lose money if you don’t get the thing your bidding on so I say no

[justabigassnerd]

Making You Proud

Pairing - Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell x daughter!reader

Word count - 6,671

Warnings - major character deaths, grief, angst, mentions of being shot down, funerals, just a whole lot of sadness okay? bit of fluff at the end

Summary - you lose the one person you thought you'd never lose and have a hard time coping

A/N - hey y'all it's time for a new fic isn't it? this was an anon request that I absolutely loved like I read it and was like 'this is the most angsty thing I've ever read... I love it!' so I really hope I've done the idea justice. I won't ramble but as per y'all, please send in requests, feedback and enjoy!!!

Growing up, it had just been you and your dad against the world. Your mother hadn’t wanted a baby and so handed you straight over to Maverick almost the second you were born and forfeited any parental rights. You loved your dad; he was the best dad he could possibly be for you. He loved and protected you unconditionally. He also brought his best friend and RIO Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw into your small family along with his wife, Carole and son Bradley who was but a year older than you.

When you were little, you, your dad, Goose and his family all relocated to Miramar after your dad and Goose’s training at Top Gun. The two men were offered permanent positions as instructors at the highly regarded Navy school. They accepted, mostly so they’d have a more permanent place to call home but insisted that they still got to go on occasional deployments since their love for aviation was too much to consider giving it up. So you grew up in Miramar, with Bradley as your best friend and a loving group of people surrounding you, especially with the inclusion of your dad’s Top Gun classmates, Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky and Ron ‘Slider’ Kerner.

Not long after you turned eighteen, your dad and Goose were given a new deployment, according to the brief it wasn’t going to be any longer than a couple of months and with you due to go off to college just after Maverick’s return he was even more determined to get back on time. With you being eighteen, and Carole just down the road if you needed her, Maverick was fully comfortable leaving you in charge of the house while he was gone. He stocked up the fridge before he left and made sure to leave you some extra money for the next food shops you need to do.

“Alright squirt. I’ll see you in a couple of months.” Maverick said with his ever confident smile as you stood on the pier along with all the other families bidding goodbye to their loved ones.

“You’ll be back in time to help me move into college, right?” You ask looking up at your dad as he softens.

“y/n, nothing is going to stop me from being there. I’ll fly back from the carrier if I have to.” Maverick promises, bringing you into a gentle hug and rubbing a hand up and down your back. When you’re released from the hug you move to hug Goose goodbye, throwing your arms around him as Carole and Bradley move to say goodbye to Maverick.

“You’ll look after him for me, won’t you?” You quietly ask Goose, looking up at him as he nods.

“Been doing it for this long and I don’t plan on stopping.” Goose assures, squeezing you in the hug a little before releasing you. You hear the call for all the Navy personnel to begin boarding the carrier and look at your dad who smiles.

“That’s us.” He says, glancing over at Goose who nods, both men picking up their bags and turning to head over to board the carrier.

“Dad, wait!” You call out, rushing over to your dad as he turns back to face you before hugging him tightly, eliciting a small ‘oof’ from him upon impact. Maverick, of course, did not hesitate to hug back, pressing a kiss to the top of your head as well.

“I love you.” You whisper, hugging him a little tighter.

“I love you too, sweetheart.” Maverick replies, a smile on his face as he presses one last kiss to the top of your head before releasing you to join Goose and board the carrier. After keeping you dad in your line of sight until he disappeared into the aircraft carrier, you watched as the carrier pulled out into the ocean and began its journey across the seas. When the families began to disperse, you turned to face Carole and Bradley.

“I say we get some ice cream. On me.” Bradley says with a grin, looking from you to Carole as you roll your eyes jokingly. Getting ice cream after seeing your dad and Goose go out on a deployment became a tradition when you and Bradley were young, and you never wanted to let it go.

“Oh the ice creams are on him, Carole! Is this part of becoming a fancy college kid? Being able to afford ice creams now.” You joke as you follow Bradley and Carole to Goose’s bright blue Bronco. Your words caused a light laugh from Carole while Bradley laughed sarcastically. Bradley had just finished his first year at college and was back home for the summer, he had wanted to join the Navy straight out of high school, but Carole and Goose had urged him to try college first, to see if he finds something he likes more and to just get a degree under his belt in case after he graduates, he can’t pursue a career in the Navy.

“Just remember, you’ll be a fancy college kid in a couple of months.” Bradley grins as he ruffles at your hair, laughing as you swat at his hand, laughing yourself. The three of you climb into the Bronco and Bradley drives to the ice cream parlour you had frequented in your youth.

“How are you feeling about college, sweetie?” Carole asks, her ever soft smile on her face as you eat a spoonful of the small tub of the ice cream.

“A bit nervous. I’m going to be so far away from here. It’ll be weird not seeing everyone.” You confess, glancing down at the table, eyes fixed on a stain that clearly no amount of cleaning would get out.

“You’ll be okay, sweetie. You’ll be able to visit, or we’ll come and visit you. Either way you’ll get to see us. You’ll end up having so much fun anyway.” Carole says, smiling as you nod lightly at her words.

“Trust me, you’ll have a great time. You’ll make so many new friends as well. As long as none of them replace me.” Bradley says, sending you a wink from across the table as you let out a soft laugh.

“I promise none of my new college friends will replace you if you promise none of your college friends can replace me.” You bargain, getting a nod from Bradley instantly as he holds out a hand to shake on a deal.

“Seems we have a deal. None of my friends could hold a candle to you anyway.” Bradley says, smiling at you as you smile back. After finishing your ice creams, you spend the rest of the day spending time with Carole and Bradley before heading home in the evening to get some sleep.

Over the weeks your dad was away, you spent time with Bradley and Carole, as well as spending some time with some of your school friends to make some memories before you all head off to different colleges. You didn’t get much communication with your dad, only getting rare phone calls when he was granted one. But you had been counting down the days on the calendar that sat proudly on the kitchen wall, you’d been crossing off the days as they passed as they inched closer to the day that had ‘DAD HOME’ in bright red letters.

Four days before your dad was due to come home, you received a knock on the door. Thinking it was Bradley, Carole, or one of your friends you turned the tv off and went to the door. However, when you opened the door, you were greeted by two men in Navy uniform, both with solemn expressions on their faces. The smile you had on your face dropped the moment you registered who was stood in front of you. You were staring at Viper and Jester, your dad’s old Top Gun instructors.

“Please tell me he’s just in hospital.” Your voice came out as nothing more than a whisper as you looked up at the two men, eyes quickly becoming cloudy with tears before you blinked them away rapidly, determined not to cry yet.

“May we come in?” Jester asked, watching carefully as you nod, stepping aside and holding the door open wider so the two men can enter before closing the door behind them and leading them into the living room where they urge you to take a seat on the armchair while they perch on the sofa.

“We regret to inform you that your father, Lieutenant Commander Pete Mitchell, was killed in action earlier this morning.” Viper says solemnly, heart breaking as he watches your eyes become teary, bottom lip quickly being clamped down on so it doesn’t wobble. Viper had flown alongside your grandfather in the Vietnam war and saw him get shot down and now he had to report of Pete Mitchell’s death to his daughter.

“How?” Was all you managed to get out as tears begin dribbling down your cheeks and your arms wind around your middle as if you were shielding yourself from further harm.

“They say the bandit came out of nowhere. Your dad was scouting ahead, checking for anything that may come the carrier’s way. Either Goose or Maverick must’ve only spotted it moments before it struck because I was told your father attempted to report something in before his signal cut off. Chipper couldn’t get there in time to save them. By the time he shot the enemy down…” Viper couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence, from what he had been told, the image alone of the jet plummeting into the sea in a fiery blaze was too much for even him to handle, let alone Maverick’s eighteen year old daughter.

“Does that mean that Goose is-” A sob cut you off before you could even finish the sentence you were dreading to ask. After wiping your eyes fiercely with the back of your hand you look back at the men and see Jester nod.

“It happened too fast, neither man made it out. There will be an attempt to recover the bodies but we’re trying not to get too hopeful.” Jester says carefully, watching you carefully as more tears work their way down your cheeks, your eyes squeezing shut momentarily to free the tears that are stuck.

“The Navy will take care of any funeral arrangements and are willing to offer you as much support as you need. You can come by whenever if you’d like to clear your dad’s belongings out or if you’d rather someone else can do it and bring them here.” Viper continues, wanting to make sure you don’t feel like you have too much pressure to figure everything out alone. When he saw Maverick’s next of kin list consisting of only your name, he felt awful. He thought to himself that no kid deserves to go through all this alone. You merely nodded at Viper’s words, unable to form any kind of response.

“Do you have anyone who could come over and be with you right now?” Jester asks cautiously, neither man wanted to leave you alone after receiving news this devastating and wanted to get someone to come and be with you for a while. You didn’t respond to Jester’s words, just silently sobbing and hugging yourself. You couldn’t even bring yourself to begin to think of someone who might want to check in on you. Jester and Viper exchanged a worried look when you couldn’t respond, and they started thinking of anyone who may be able to sit with you and check in on you until two people come to mind.

“What about Iceman and Slider? I know your dad was close with Iceman.” Viper then offers, watching you carefully as you give them the slightest nod, giving Jester the ‘okay’ he needed to find the phone and call Iceman’s number. It broke Jester’s heart to stand near the calendar as he dialled the number, noticing the bright red writing on the date four days from now. His heart broke further when his eyes drifted to a day less than a week after Maverick was due to return with, ‘y/n moves into college!’ written undeniably in Maverick’s handwriting. Jester was suddenly shaken out of his thoughts when he heard the voice of Iceman on the other end of the phone and asked him to come over as quickly as he can, and to bring Slider with him.

In the time it took for Iceman and Slider to come over, you excused yourself to go upstairs to the bathroom and to have a bit of privacy. After splashing your face repeatedly and quickly realising it wasn’t going to help the way you were expecting it to, you decided to slink into your dad’s empty bedroom to let out more tears in private.

When Iceman and Slider got to the house, they had been anticipating seeing Jester at the house but seeing Viper as well, both men donning their uniform, set off warning bells in both Iceman and Slider’s heads. The two entered the house and listened carefully as Viper and Jester explained everything about the accident and the deaths of both Maverick and Goose. Iceman and Slider felt their hearts drop at the news.

“Where’s y/n?” Was the first thing Iceman could muster the courage to say, eyes darting around the room in search of you.

“She went upstairs to the bathroom not long before you two arrived.” Viper says, watching as both Iceman and Slider’s eye’s drift to the hallway where the stairs are.

“Can we check on her?” Slider asks, glancing back at his superiors who nod.

“We’ll leave her in your care for now. We called you both over so she wouldn’t be alone. Keep an eye on her and if we can help in any way, let us know.” Jester then says, both he and Viper making their way over to the door while Iceman and Slider follow them, seeing them off before heading upstairs in search of you. Walking past Maverick’s room, both men paused outside the door when they heard the sound of muffled sobs coming from the other side of the door. Slider gently pushed the door open to reveal you curled up on Maverick’s bed, curled into his pillow as you sobbed into it. Both men exchanged a brief worried glance before entering the room. Both of them perched on the other side of Maverick’s bed gaining your attention the slightest amount as you glanced at them out of the corner of your eye before burying your face further into the pillow, inhaling the faint scent of your dad’s cologne that still clung to the pillow.

“You should go and check on Carole and Bradley.” Was the first thing you said, voice muffled by the pillow and thick with tears, but they heard you regardless.

“No, we’re here to check on you. We don’t want you to be alone right now.” Slider says, shaking his head at your words the moment they left your mouth.

“We’re going to help you through this, okay? You’re not alone.” Iceman said softly, hand reaching to rest on your shoulder as his thumb began to rub soothing circles on your shoulder. Inside, Iceman was screaming. He was having to comfort the daughter of the man he had secretly harboured feelings for, since the moment he saw Maverick in the bar before training officially began. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He wasn’t supposed to be comforting a grieving daughter. He was supposed to be watching Maverick drive with you to your college ready for move in day. He was supposed to finally get the guts to confess how he had really felt after all these years.

“How am I supposed to keep going without him?” You question, another wave of sobs washing over you as Iceman continues to smooth his thumb over your shoulder.

“We’ll help you. You don’t have to be alone.” Slider repeats what Iceman had said just moments prior, doing his best to support you.

You continued to sob and didn’t speak another word to the pilot and RIO duo. You sobbed and sobbed until you cried yourself to sleep, still clinging to Maverick’s pillow. When they had noticed that you had fallen asleep, they exchanged another worried look before Iceman took a deep breath before speaking.

“I’m going to stay. I can’t leave her alone right now. You can head home.” Iceman says, speaking soft enough to not disturb you. Slider nodded lightly, both men standing as Slider grabbed the blanket that lay folded at the end of the bed and carefully draped it over you before the two left the room, heading downstairs and congregating by the front door.

“If you need any help or anything, call me.” Slider says, attempting a gentle smile for his friend but he was sure Iceman could see right through it.

“I will.” Iceman says, patting his friend on the shoulder and watching him leave the house. The second the door closed, Iceman let out a small sigh, eyes drifting back to the stairs before heading into the living room.

When you woke up, at first you were confused as to why you were in your dad’s room but when the memories of a few hours prior returned you were once again holding back sobs, wiping the tear stains from earlier off your cheeks. As you wiped your cheeks, you heard birds singing from their tree branches and you wanted nothing more for them to shut up. How could they be so cheerful when you had just lost the most important person in your life? It was the cruellest irony to have the day be so sunny and cheerful when you had just learnt of this irreplaceable loss.

When your stomach grumbled, giving away your hunger, you debated not even getting up at all. You wanted to just wither away in bed and never see the light of day ever again. Just as you were in the motion of tugging the blanket over your head, Iceman gently pushed the door open, a tray of food in hand.

“y/n/n, I brought you up something to eat, kid.” Iceman says gently, approaching the bedside and setting the tray down on the cleanest of the two beside tables. Why Maverick needed two bedside tables when the room was only occupied by one person, Iceman would never understand.

“’M not hungry, Ice.” You mumble from beneath the blanket, making Iceman sigh lightly and perch on the bed once more.

“I think you should eat something, even if it’s a little.” Iceman gently encourages, watching as you begin to poke your head out of the blanket, looking over at the pilot who offers you a small smile to encourage you out further, like you were a cat he was trying to win over. Before you could reply, your stomach rumbled angrily, giving away your desire for food and Iceman just handed the food over with a raised eyebrow. He watched you like a hawk, making sure you ate.

“I know this is probably not what you want to hear right now but we should probably think about where you’re going to live.” Iceman starts, trying his best to approach the subject. He knew it was better to talk about it now rather than later.

“Where I’m going to live? Here. Dad bought the house if there’s a chance, I get the house I’m keeping it.” You state as if it’s the most obvious answer in the world.

“y/n, you’re going to college in a couple of weeks. Paying for this house would probably be a bit above your pay grade right now. If your dad left the house in your name maybe you could rent the house out to people until you’ve finished college and in a good enough financial place to afford living there. In your breaks from college you can always come to mine if you want. My door will always be open to you.” Iceman says, and deep down you knew he was being logical, but you didn’t want any help. You were sure you’d be able to get through this without the help of Iceman.

“Ice, I’ll figure it out. You don’t need to do this.” There was a slight bite behind your words as you glared over at Iceman.

“But you don’t have to be alone. We want to help you.” Iceman tries to get through to you, not wanting you to feel like you had to do everything alone.

“I’ll be fine Ice. You can go now. Go and check on Carole and Bradley.” You, however, were sticking to your guns and weren’t backing down. Iceman knew you weren’t intentionally being mean. You were going through a lot right now and Iceman was sure he had unintentionally pressed you a bit more than he expected. Respecting your request, Iceman stood from the bed and glanced over his shoulder at you.

“If you need me, I’m just a phone call away.” He says softly before exiting the room, making his way downstairs and leaving the house.

A week later, you were burying an empty casket for your dad. Any attempts to recover Maverick and Goose’s bodies were unsuccessful so you were forced to bury an empty casket. A bunch of Navy personnel had showed up to the funeral, wanting to honour your father. It killed you to see Iceman punch his wingman’s wings into the casket. But the pain was made ten times worse when you were handed a folded flag with a copy of your dad’s dog tags on top. Your dad had given his life for the Navy, and all you got back was a flag. You had slipped the dog tags on as soon as you could. And you let out every tear you had attempted to hold back when you saw the fighter jets flying over in missing man formation. Every step of the funeral was proving to you more and more that you weren’t going to see your dad ever again.

After the funeral, as people began to disperse, most of them made the effort to share their condolences for your loss before moving on. As you glanced around the large military graveyard, you caught sight of Bradley with his arm wound tightly around Carole as she sobbed into his shoulder. You’d seen them at Goose’s funeral a couple of days prior in the same exact position they are now. Like at Goose’s funeral, you couldn’t bring yourself to go over and talk to them, so you just watched them from afar, tears in your eyes as you did. Bradley lifted his gaze and made eye contact with you from across the graveyard and you couldn’t do any more than stare back at him. Talking to Bradley and Carole meant having to remember all the times you’d spend together with them, and your father and you weren’t ready for any of that. Eventually, you tore your gaze away from him when Viper approached you with his condolences and when you looked back, both Bradley and Carole were gone.

A couple of days before you were due to move to college, you had been working hard to ensure everything was ready for when you left. After getting confirmation that your dad had left the house in your name should anything happen to him, you worked closely with an estate agent to put the house up for rent, insisting it doesn’t get sold because once you finished college and got a job you wanted to move back to Miramar and the house. You’d sold some items of furniture and other things you didn’t need but kept most of your dad’s stuff. Anything that wasn’t going to college with you was put into storage until you moved back into the house. You only spoke to one person during this time, and it was to ask Iceman if he could keep an eye on your dad’s beloved motorbike while you were away for four years. You were taking your dad’s car with you, but you couldn’t bear to sell the bike.

As you were packing up some of the last stuff you were taking to college you heard a knock on your door. You didn’t answer it, knowing it was more than likely a member of your dad’s team wanting to wish you well or check in on you. In the days leading up to your departure, you were constantly getting knocks at the door and you didn’t want to see anyone. You just wanted to get out of Miramar and would only get in contact with people when you felt good and ready. You remained silent as there was another knock at the door, when you didn’t answer again, you heard a slight thud as if someone had put something down outside your front door followed by the sounds of footsteps getting further away and the sound of a car pulling away. Curiosity getting the better of you, you crossed to the front door, pulling it open and finding a box sat outside your door.

“What the…?” You muttered to yourself as you picked up the box. It wasn’t heavy, and it felt like there was just a lot of paper or something similar sliding around. You brought the box inside, set it down beside you as you sat on the living room floor and lifted the lid off. On top you found an envelope with your name on it. You recognised the writing instantly to be your dad’s. Only your dad had handwriting that scratchy yet legible. Lifting the envelope out, your eyes were drawn to the pictures below it and you placed the envelope alongside you so you could pick up the pictures. There were pictures of Maverick with Goose, Iceman, and Slider, as well as the rest of his team. Then there was pictures of your dad with you as a baby, as a kid, and as a teenager. Tears filled your eyes as you shuffled through the pictures as you began to realise that this box was filled with stuff your dad must’ve kept in his locker at work. You then noticed patches that must’ve been off his flight suit, and you held them, flipping them over in your hands and running your fingers over the embroidered lettering. After going through the whole box your eyes drifted back to the envelope that sat alongside you and you picked it up, sliding your finger under the sealed flap and easing it open before pulling out the letter inside, opening it carefully and beginning to read.

y/n,

If you’re reading this, then I can only assume the worst has happened and I have died and left you behind.

I’m not the best with words, you know this, but I’ll try here for you. I love you so much squirt. You’ve been the light of my life since I first held you in my arms. I know it’ll seem so hard, but you can get through this kid, I know you can. You’re so strong and I want you to go out there and make me proud like you already do every day. You’ll take this world by a storm I just know it.

I am so sorry for leaving you. Just know I’m with you every step of the way in spirit. I’ll make my presence known, promise.

Show the world what Mitchell’s are made of.

Love,

Dad

You were unaware of the tears that had fallen until you noticed the tear stains on the bottom of the letter, and you were immediately moving the paper away from the line of fire from your tears and wiping your cheeks harshly to get rid of the tears that fell. You then folded the letter up and put it back into the envelope for safe keeping before lying back on the carpet to regain control of your emotions.

When the time came for you to begin the drive to your college. You loaded the car up, sparing one last glance to your house as you closed the door.

“I’ll be back. Promise.” You whisper to the house. It felt weird, promising a house that you’d be back but you had grown up in this house. You wanted to come back to it when you could. It was a way to keep your dad with you a little more. After bidding the house goodbye, you climbed into the car, glancing over at the passenger seat where you’d laid your dad’s jacket proudly over the seat as your hand reached up to the dog tags that sat around your neck.

“I’m going to show them what Mitchell’s are made of, dad.” You whisper, a soft smile on your face as you turn the cars engine on, pulling out of your driveway and beginning the journey to your next step in life.

True to your whispered promise. You showed your college what a Mitchell can do. You aced all your classes, majored in psychology, and graduated with top grades. On graduation day, you looked into the audience of proud parents and wished above all else that your dad could’ve been there to see you graduate. You had no doubt he would’ve been the loudest parent there. You could picture him alongside Goose, Carole, Iceman, Slider, and maybe Bradley as they cheered you on, hugging you once you met with them after the ceremony. Instead you were alone, awkwardly dodging parents and graduates until you decided to just leave the ceremony.

After graduating, you moved back to Miramar, becoming a therapist within the Navy. You served as support for veterans, serving members, and family members of any Navy personnel, serving or retired, alive or dead, you’d provide help the best you could. You even reconnected with Iceman and Slider, apologising for the way you had treated them prior to you moving away but they dismissed your apologies, hugging you tight as they told you how good it was to see you again. You first moved into a small apartment to save up money before you got into a good enough financial place to be able to move back into your childhood home. You visited your dad’s grave at least once a week, filling him in on everything that had happened in that time. Despite everything you had achieved, you often wondered if you made your dad proud.

About twelve years after you graduated and moved back to Miramar, you were still happily working for the Navy. You had just finished a long day of seeing client after client, having particularly been affected by a girl that was brought in by her father after her mother died on a deployment. The girl was a similar age to you when Maverick died so after finishing up for the day you needed to go for a walk around the nearest park to clear your mind. As you stepped out of your office, you saw a person stood outside. The first thing that stood out to you was the man’s Hawaiian shirt, not many people wore shirts like that. When the man looked at you, you could’ve stumbled back in shock, he looked so much like Goose, sandy blond hair, moustache, everything. And when you squinted slightly, you realised who you were looking at.

“Bradley?” You questioned, stepping closer to the man, and stopping when he smiles softly.

“Hey y/n.” He replies, his voice quiet and soft as he watches you. He had grown up so much since you last saw him. He’d filled out with more muscles; he started sporting a moustache like his father’s, but he was still Bradley. You longed to hug him, but you felt you didn’t deserve such a greeting after going no contact with him for so long. Bradley could see the conflict within you and held his arms open, raising an eyebrow with a smile, giving you an invitation that you accept instantly, walking into his outstretched arms and hugging him tight as he winds his arms around you.

“I’m so sorry Bradley.” You whisper against his shoulder, tears stinging at the corner of your eyes as you cling to him.

“Don’t apologise.” He says, resting his chin gently on the top of your head.

“But I stopped talking to you. I never checked in.” You say, squeezing your eyes shut to fight off the tears.

“Hey, communication is a two way street. I could’ve reached out, but I didn’t. I think after what happened with dad there was just too many memories and I backed out any time the thought crossed my mind.” Bradley says, assuring you that there was no bad blood between the two of you. After hugging for what felt like forever, you finally pulled away, smiling up at your old friend.

“How did you find out I worked here? You haven’t been stalking me, have you?” You quip as Bradley lets out a breathy laugh.

“You wish. I’m stationed here now at Top Gun. I completed a mission a week or so ago and it really shook me up and one of my teammates recommended I see you. The second I heard your first name I knew it had to be you.” Bradley explained, his grin never fading.

“So you are a Navy man now. Making Goose proud I bet. Who recommended me? Just out of curiosity.” You ask, wondering which of your clients it could be.

“Hangman. He spoke highly of you.” Bradley said, making your eyes widen slightly.

“Jake’s here too and he hasn’t bothered to come and see me? I have some strong words for him when I next see him.” You had gotten along with Jake well; you were able to see past his strong bravado and help him navigate the loss of a wingman pretty early on in his career in the Navy. The two of you had formed a strong friendship and you tried to check in with him when you could.

“So, you joined the Navy after college. What’s your callsign?” You ask, looking up at Bradley as he takes a breath before speaking.

“Rooster.” He says, watching as you nod.

“It suits you, Rooster.” You say, testing the callsign out.

“Do you want to join me for a walk? If you have stuff to do it’s fine the offer is there though.” You then say, watching as Bradley debates the offer before nodding. You lead Bradley to the park, the two of you chatting the whole way before you settle down alongside each other on a park bench to continue talking.

“How’s Carole? I completely forgot to ask.” You say, the thought hitting you violently.

“Oh… she passed away a year after dad died.” Bradley says and you immediately feel like the worst person on the planet.

“Bradley, I’m so sorry I didn’t know.” You apologise quickly, without even thinking you reach out and give his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s okay. She wasn’t doing great after dad died, I thought it was a temporary illness but one day I got a call saying her heart gave out. I think she died of a broken heart.” Bradley says, making tears fill your eyes.

“She’s with Goose now, and the two of them are watching over you and they’re so damn proud of you I just know it.” You say as Bradley smiles over at you.

“They’re with Mav I bet. And I bet he’s so proud of you as well.” Bradley says, his words bringing your smile back to your face.

“You know, the mission we flew the other week, our instructors kept talking about your dad.” Bradley says, making your eyes widen slightly as you watch him.

“Talking about my dad?” You prod gently, wanting answers.

“It was a rough mission. We thought someone wasn’t going to make it home. Our instructors kept talking about how your dad would’ve been a perfect person to teach or lead the mission. No one understood missions like that the way he did.” Bradley explains, making you nod lightly. Your dad had been reckless within the Navy, but he used his recklessness to do what others were afraid of doing, which put him above the others in the Navy.

You continued to talk in the park with Bradley, catching up with him on everything until the sun began its descent over the horizon, the golden glow dancing through the tree leaves.

“I’m glad I found you. It’s been great talking to you again.” Bradley says, his gaze fixed on the glow filtering through the trees.

“It’s been great talking to you again too Bradley.” You reply, smiling over at him and admiring the way the golden glow of the sun illuminated his face perfectly. Had he always been this attractive? Or were you just noticing it now? Before you could get lost in your thoughts, Bradley turned back to you.

“We should probably head home before it gets dark.” Bradley says, eyes drifting back to the sun before looking back at you.

“You’re right.” You mutter, upset that this moment has to end.

“So, where are you living now? I’ll walk you home.” You didn’t expect that response from Bradley, and it had your eyes wide in seconds.

“Bradley you really don’t have to worry about it. I’m not too far from here anyway.” You say but Bradley was on his feet, helping you up and looking down at you with a raised eyebrow.

“I was brought up to be a gentleman so let me walk you home, okay?” Bradley says, his soft expression melting you down in seconds.

“I live exactly where I used to when I was younger.” You say and Bradley’s eyes light up, remembering the house all too well.

“Let’s go!” He says enthusiastically, practically bounding along like a golden retriever as he walks you home. The two of you continue to talk until you end up outside your front door.

“Well this is it. Hasn’t changed much.” You say sheepishly, thumb rubbing your wrist in nervousness as Bradley grins.

“Still a great house. I’d love to come by one day and see what you’ve done with the place if you’d let me.” Bradley says, making you smile softly before a sudden wave of confidence overcomes you, making you hold your hand out.

“Give me your phone. I’ll put my number in and then we can arrange a time for you to come round.” You say and Bradley instantly dug his phone out of his jean pocket and handed it you, waiting as you made yourself a contact and sent yourself a message so you could add Bradley’s number into your phone. When you handed the phone back to him, your fingertips brushed against his and you could’ve sworn you felt sparks travel up your arm.

“Goodnight, y/n.” Bradley says, bidding you goodbye with one last quick hug.

“Goodnight, Bradley.” You reply, releasing him from the hug and watching as he walks down the driveway before entering the house, sending him one final wave when he glanced over his shoulder. As you entered the house, you made yourself something for dinner before heading upstairs to get ready for bed, exhaustion quickly overtaking you as you clambered into bed, looking over at the picture of you and your dad that sat proudly on your bedside table.

“Goodnight dad. I’ve got a hell of a story to tell you when I next visit. I hope I’m making you proud.” You whispered to the photo, your eyes slipping shut as you allowed sleep to take over.

Little did you know, Maverick had been watching over you ever since his death and as you whispered your little mantra of hoping you made him proud every night, he’d always respond with the same thing.

“You make me proud every damn day.”

[fiyaa-xoxo]

Hello~ I apologize to flooding your ask box.

I just found out that according to Trey, he said Heartslabyul students are allowed to ask for anything for their birthday... It i's one of the Queen of Hearts' laws after all ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

So, can I request a scenario/headcanons that the reader/mc/Yuu ask to borrow Heartslabyul students out for a date or sthg for their birthday... What kind of things they will do and how will they react to such request and such...

Thank you and apologies if this request is hard to write 😅 Hope you'll have a lovely day 💕

Law No. 538 of the Queen of Hearts: The one with the birthday are allowed to ask anything for their birthday. Yuu's request to have a date with the Heartslabyul boys!! How will they react and what will they do in their date? PT.1 (Riddle Rosehearts, Cater Diamond, & Trey clover)

Hello you mustn't worry about flooding my ask box because you'r the only who has requested some writing from me. I'll do my very best to write your request, i truly hope you enjoy what i've written. Its not the best since i didn’t know what to write for some of them.And i’m teribly sorry that this request is long due i’ve been having writers block.

Riddle Rosehearts

✧˚ · . Red, Riddles face even redder than his hair. At first you thought that he was mad at you but he was just flustered. You two decided to have a private tea party in the middle of the rose maze. Riddle asked trey to bake your favorite sweets! And if your not super into sweets trey made some other foods fit for your taste. Everything was prepared just for you though some parts of the tea party were against the Rules Riddle did his best not the change anything since it was how you liked it. 

✧˚ · .When you two finished eating the food trey prepared Riddle handed you something “My Dearest Rose, since today is a special day your birthday i made sure that everything is perfect even my gift. I do wish you will enjoy what i have bought for you” After Riddle said that you opened the elegantly wrapt red and black box inside held a Stunning Rose Ring.  “Riddle.. Its beautiful thank you so much” 

“ Im glad you liked it i do wish you wear it someday My rose.This ring shows how much i love you.” By the end of the day Riddle dropped you off at Ramshakel And pulled you into a kiss and bid you a goodnight. When you closed the door you were a blushing and smiling mess.After that day you swore to yourself you’d always wear and keep the ring safe.

Cater Diamond 

✧˚ · .When cater heard what you said he was over the moon! “Aww our Y/nie wants to spend their birthday with me!! Don’t worry Y/n i’ll make sure you’// enjoy our little date 😉” You two decided to café hop everything you two bought will be payed by Cater so don’t you worry about losing money! Cater kept on taking pictures of you and the food. He couldn't help it you just looked so pretty. When you offered to feed Cater some of your Sandwich he made sure to take pics of it. 

✧˚ ·After you guys left the Café it was around sunset. Cater lead you to a park when you got to the park the tree’s were filled with lights and there was a fountain in the middle it looked so magical! Cater brought you near the fountain and handed you a orange paper bag. “Happy birthday Y/n i hope you like the gift!!” When you removed the wrapping paper that was on top of the bag it showed a painting of you and cater “Riddle nagged me to do some painting to get off my phone so. I made this for you!” “Hope you like it” “Cater i don’t like it..... I love it!! thank you!!!” “nice to hear Y/niee, i have one more gift too” After Cater said that he pulled you into a long kiss. Cater dropped you back to your dorm and gave u another peck on the lips.

✧˚ · When you got changed into something more comfortable your phone had lot of notifications from Magicam. You were tagged in a post with a lot of pictures from today even a pic of you and cater kissings!! but you remembered Cater didn’t take any pictures when you two got in to the park. Little did you know Cater used his unique magic and made the other caters hide behind bush's and climbed tree’s just to get pictures.Oh and the picture cater gifted you is safely placed on top of your nightstand.

Trey Clover

✧˚ · .Trey was quite shocked when you said you wanted to go on a date with him for your birthday.But he was also touched that you wanted to spend time with him. You decided to take a cooking class. Since trey is mostly good at baking you thought why not also enhance his cooking skills. The two of you arrived at the cooking class located in a restaurant near the plaza of the town. " Welcome, Welcome!!" said the hostess in the front " Are you two love birds here for the cooking class?" both you and trey blushed when the hostess addressed you two as "love birds" "a-ah.. yes we're here for the cooking class.. but we arnt a couple yet.. haha" said trey. "Ah my apologies i thought u two were with how cute you both look together.But moving on please enter this room, this is where the cooking class will be held." said the hostess with a smile.

✧˚ · You can trey entered the room which held a kitchen in. You both go seated and the class begun. "Hello everybody i am chef Andre, for today we will be learning how to makespaghetti and meatballs from scratch." The chef explained and demonstrated how to make the noodles and sauce and now he let you and the other attendee's start making on your own. Trey started off by making the pasta and kneading flour and eggs. "This is just like making dough in baking" said trey. You couldnt help yourself from staring at Trey. He has his sleeves rolled up exposing his forearm. Trey was well built himself. As you stared at him u didnt see that he threw a bit of flour at you "finally i have your attention again" he said chuckling "a-ah sorry about that.." u said

✧˚ · "Dont worry about it im just about done with the pasta and the sauce is done too" TIME SKIP You and trey finally finished cooking and was now cleaning off the flour he threw you. "sorry about that" trey said as he held your chin cleaning off the flour from your face

as he smirked. "Its fine" you said blushing. The pasta you both made was being packaged for you two to take back home. You both left the restaurant and walked back to the dorm. When u made it back to your dorm trey was walking with you towards the front door before he suddenly stopped "Ah wait before i forget here my gift for you y/n" he said smiling. He gave you a green colored big box. As you opened it held your favorite dessert. "I made it myself. It took me multiple tries to get it perfect just for you...Ah one more thing..." he took out a pair of van cleef black clover earrings . "I hope you like them" he said looking at you. "Trey... i love them thank you!!" u then went closer to try and kissed him. "Thank you for making today even more special" you said smiling ear to ear. "Its my pleasure y/n. Now go head inside i'll see you again tomorrow" he then winked. "Ah and dont forge to brush your teeth after eating the dessert" He gave u a kiss on your cheek then waved goodbye.

Requests are open!! ^^

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[lowkeychenle]

the hardest part [ZCL] (M) fic teaser

Description: You, Chenle, and Jay have been best friends since before you could even remember. After moving away to pursue your dreams, you don't talk to them as often as you should. One day, you get a call notifying you of Jay's passing. When you go back to your hometown, you find everything is different except for one person--Chenle.

Genre: Smut/Fluff/Angst (please see content warnings)

Content Warnings: death of a close friend, survivor's guilt, lots of what-if scenarios, navigating life without someone you've always had around, mental break downs, panic attacks (not vividly described AS panic attacks), two people coming together to heal from grief, explicit sexual content (unprotected sex, oral sex, mentions of sex, etc. although it's not super crazy so do with that what you will)

Release Date: 6.5.2024

Expected Word Count: 15-20k (maybe less?)

Teaser Word Count: 796

Taglist: Open!! Please let me know if you'd like to be added.

Permanent Taglist: @sunnybutcloudy @neozon3nha @waffleuvs

Pairing: Zhong Chenle x fem!reader (featuring OC by the name of Jay)

Juliet's Masterlist | Tell me what you think? :)

When nightfall comes, you and Chenle go to your separate rooms. He bids you goodnight, and you close your door. You sit on the edge of the bed and take in the room around you. Everything has changed immensely since the last time you were in your hometown. Your best friend bought a house, and you’d barely even thought or heard about it. Pride in him surges through you, but for a moment, you think it may be misplaced.

You don’t deserve to be proud of someone you’ve failed to talk to as often as you should have. Losing Jay has torn your world apart, and you still don’t truly believe it. You change into your tank top and shorts, and then grab your toothbrush and toothpaste from your bag.

You’re on your way to the bathroom when you find Chenle in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and bringing a glass of water up to his lips. He gives you a tired nod.

“You’re still up?”

“Sleep on a day like this?” He lets out a sarcastic laugh. “I’ll probably have some crazy ass dream or something.”

You forget your adventure to his bathroom and approach the kitchen island. Without a word between the two of you, he goes into the cupboard to get you a cup as well. He fills it with water and slides it across the countertop.

“Thanks,” you say.

He nods once and crosses his arms over his chest. “How’s life going, though? Current events aside.”

“Life is a constant revolving door of work,” you tell him. “Working my way up the corporate ladder and all that bullshit they spew.”

“You look good. As long as you’re getting all the things you wanted, I’m good, too.” He closes his eyes and tilts his head back.

“Kind of debating if it was worth it at this point.” You sigh. “I’m proud of you, by the way. Buying a house on your own is a big deal.”

“Family business money.”

“You work. You earned it.”

“I guess that’s true. Thanks.” He pauses. “I’m glad you’re here. I don’t think I’d be okay if you weren’t.”

“Like I’d ever leave you to deal with something like this alone.” You tap your fingers against the granite, admiring the swirls of color deep in the design.

“Regardless, I needed you.” Chenle gulps, glancing at his feet. “I still do. Now more than ever with Jay gone.”

“Did you think I wouldn’t come?” you ask.

He wets his lips and takes the bottom one between his teeth. “It’s not that I thought that, necessarily, but I did wonder if you were. I didn’t hear from you, so I kind of just hoped.”

Guilt takes another stab at your heart. “Chenle, I—”

“Don’t apologize again,” he replies sternly. “Life is life. There’s no way any of us could’ve predicted this, okay? Sometimes, shit happens. Not being around a lot isn’t the end of the world.”

“It was for Jay.”

“You were not the end of the world. You didn’t kill him, for fuck’s sake. There’s nothing any of us could’ve done. And reminiscing on it like this and placing unplaceable blame on ourselves is going to make things harder.” He sets his cup in the sink.

“I know. I know that, but for some reason, my head keeps—”

“Let’s watch a movie,” he offers. “Maybe it’ll distract you a little bit.”

You agree, and go into the bathroom to brush your teeth before you follow him into his room. It’s so innately Chenle in there, you immediately feel relaxed. Some things never change, and you’re glad he’s one of those things.

“Sorry, I don’t have a TV in the living room,” he says as he pulls his covers back.

“Just roll me off if I fall asleep,” you reply, climbing onto the untouched side.

Eventually, he’s next to you, and you rest your head on his chest while he finds something to watch. He selects some random comedy movie and then shuffles to put his arm around you.

His scent is familiar, too. The world calms around you when you’re with Chenle. One out of two of your safe places has left the Earth, but luckily for you, Chenle is more than ready to play both roles.

The movie does, indeed, successfully distract you from the impending doom of everything outside. You’re able to forget, even if it’s just for a couple hours, and sink into the familiarity of your best friend.

His chest rumbles when he laughs at the screen, and the feeling has you drifting faster than you’d care to admit.

Until finally, your eyes flutter shut and stay that way, and just like that, you have the best night of sleep you’ve had all week.

[estelofrivendell]

A Change of Heart (Aragorn x Female Reader)

At first, Aragorn thought you to be the most despicable woman he’d ever come across. In his eyes you were the embodiment of everything wrong with the race of Men. You were in a notorious group of sellswords roaming around the North and you were the worst of them. Rumor had it that you were a rogue as much as you were a sellsword; doing the bidding of others ranging from thieving to killing for the sole purpose of money. Seeing you embrace your lifestyle made him seethe. Actually, seeing you made him seethe.

Men of Bree had enough sense in them to fear you. Being the ignorant people they are, their fear was not limited to mercenaries and extended to the Rangers. Everyone in town knew who Strider was: long legged, creepy and out to come and get you. He had a reputation, a negative one much to his dismay.

One day, a new threat in the region was so large it left Aragorn with no other choice but to contact the very person he hoped he would never have to interact with. As much as he despised everything about you, with your high prices and lack of hesitation to do almost any task, you had a reputation of getting everything done. With a sigh, he lifted his hood and left for the Prancing Pony, bracing for what was to come. 

It is an understatement to say he did not expect how everything turned out in the end for the both of you.

-

“Well? What do you need? I never fancied a visit from you, Strider, so speak. I want to hear it all.”

He explained everything he needed as he watched you smoke your pipeweed, leaning back on your chair to be more comfortable. He didn’t need eyes in the back of his head to see everyone watching you two carefully. His ears were not sharp enough to hear what exactly they were talking about but even the most dense of people can determine it was about them. Each time Barliman Butterbur passed by your table, he picked up his pace as if he had a bounty on his head.

“You’re right, that’s not easy work at all, but I’ve done many jobs that make this one child’s play.”

Grabbing the stash of coins in his pocket and placing it down on the table, you took one look at it and already decided it was a task you can live with. Your decisiveness did not make Aragorn respect you. It did the opposite.

-

One of his biggest philosophies in life is to treat others the way they want to be treated. In his life he has encountered many people that made him want to reject it and punch them in the face for his own good. You were one of those people. He’s known since the beginning that getting on your bad side would do him no good if he got what he needed done and he knew you held him in contempt. Not as much as I hold her in contempt, he thought.

Just as he heard, you were extremely effective in case anyone needed something done. Cover up a murder another person committed? You’ll remove the evidence. Steal something they need? No problem, as long as they tell you where it is. Kidnap someone for questioning? A little difficult, but you’ve done it before. How you never got arrested for everything you did Aragorn cannot tell.

He believed nothing could ever bring him to lose his temper, but everyone has their limits and he reached his breaking point. 

“Tell me, why do you do this? Does it make you feel better when you look back and think about how you live your life?”

You narrowed your eyes. “Do you have to ask? I do it for the money. Nothing else. I don’t care one bit about anyone’s beliefs or who’s going to war against whom or anything else in the world. I don’t ask you why you keep being a Ranger when everyone insults you, both in your face and behind your back. Do you know what that fat man in the Prancing Pony, whatever his name is, says about you?”

Aragorn clenched his jaw. “If you’re doing the right thing, then what people say shouldn’t matter one bit. Even the most unenthusiastic ‘thank you’ would have sufficed but people would rather thank you than me and I don’t get paid for protecting Bree.”

“By all means, join us. If that’s what you think, you would be happier this way. Your skill is unmatched.”

Nothing offended him more. “I would not kill even if it meant I would become the richest man alive. Would you rip a newborn out of its mother’s arms and kill it in front of her if it would give you so much money you would never have to work a day in your life ever again?”

Now it was your turn to become enraged that he was sure you were on the verge of leaving him right there and never do the bidding while keeping all the money you got. He was too mad to care and he thought your angry silence told him what he needed to know.

Until you answered, “If you must know, Strider, I do not take joy in murdering people. This is the only way I make a living. If I could have it my way then I would do something else completely different. I feel nothing but pity when I look into a man’s eyes unless there is good reason for them to be dead. But I have made my word and I stick to it.

You left him there as he processed your words, leaving him stunned. You did come back in the morning; all you did was steal some food and clothes.

-

He still didn’t like you a lot, but he was beginning to be more considerate since that night you told him the truth. Somehow, he never considered that some people have no choice and in this he apologised to you. Still, nothing can bring back all the innocent lives lost from your hand. 

“I think it’s my turn to ask you. Why are you a ranger?” You asked, resting your chin on your knuckles as you leaned forward.

Aragorn took a sip of his wine. “I was born into a family of rangers. This is all I ever know. I cannot decide how I was born nor can anyone else.”

“That explains it then. Have you ever thought of… simply leaving? Not that I’m suggesting you do it, but you always seemed miserable.”

“And where would I go?”

You shrugged. “Like I know the answer to that? I don’t know, anywhere you want. You’re a man, you’ll find a place in no time.”

If he could do things his own way, he would have taken the throne of Gondor a long time ago. He’d waited too long yet it was not the right time to do so.

He thought about how you liked to talk. Silence was not your friend and every time he did not answer you (which happened many times) you switched the topic. Not even Sauron himself can get it out of him but he enjoyed your company because he had someone to talk to. His fellow Dunedain were respectable but they lacked the charm you possessed.

“Am I right in assuming no one has won your heart?” You asked. “You are too pleasant looking for me to ignore.”

For the first time, Aragorn gave you a smile that was neither a sneer or a sarcastic one. “Since you are curious to know, no. What are you suggesting?”

You didn’t need to answer him. The gleam in your eyes told him all. 

-

There were many negative adjectives Aragorn would use for you. He thinks every negative word in the Common Tongue and Sindarin were not enough to describe how terrible you were.

Now, he saw you as a friend. That was an appropriate term. You were beginning to soften up around him and his hatred for you was dissolving. He decided you weren’t so bad after all and had the capability of acting out of pure kindness. After the adventure you went through together, you two kept in touch and indirectly hinted to him you would do him any favor he needed free of charge.

He realised he did not like the idea of you dead the night you stumbled to his place, nearly dead. You fell forward in his arms, feeling blood soaking on his clothes and he saw blood dripping on the floor in the corner of his eye. Immediately gathering that you needed his attention and whatever happened was undoubtedly urgent, he placed you on his bed, giving no thought to his sheets turning red in an instant. You look like you just got beaten in the face with bruises and a black eye but that was no worse than the wound on your abdomen, though you at least applied pressure to it.

“What have you been doing?” Aragorn shook his head. You tried to answer but he shushed you. “No, no, rest. Now is not the right time to scold you.”

You never protested, quickly entering a deep slumber as he tended to you, humming to himself.

-

As he waited for you to wake, he gained an interest in your hair. Combing it to take the tangles out was a tiresome task, but after that, he was mesmerised with your hair and he ran his fingers through it. It was long, fluffy and soft and he thought how he never imagined you with such beautiful hair.

He started braiding your hair while singing a song in Elvish, half because he was curious to see how you look with braids and half because the act comforted him. He couldn’t explain it, but perhaps braiding your hair was his unique way of letting out his stress and worry from keeping you alive.

No words were spoken and no conversation can be held if only one person is conscious, yet Aragorn felt he got closer to you this way.

-

When you awoke approximately five days later, Aragorn was sitting on a chair by the bed. You were showing signs of consciousness and he spent the time reading a book. He put it down as you sat up on the bed.

“How do you feel?”

“Better,” you said. “Thank you, Strider. I never underestimated you but I never knew you had a skilled hand in healing either.”

Calling him Strider no longer felt right and he thought about it for a second before saying, “Aragorn. My name is Aragorn.”

“Aragorn,” you repeated. “Aragorn. That is a lovely name. Fits you. It sounds… kingly.”

That is a story to be told at a later time, Aragorn thought.

“I cheated someone out of money,” you explained as you looked down your wounds. “There was a man who paid me a hefty sum to kill one of his enemies. I couldn’t turn it down, I needed the money-”

“Of course,” said Aragorn, unsurprised.

“Don’t interrupt me. Anyway, when I found who I was looking for, I couldn’t kill him. He was begging for his life, he’s far from the first to do that. But I couldn’t do it and I lowered my knife. He started crying and fell to his knees, saying that he would do anything.”

“I told him to run away. Take on a different name, live a new life. He thanked me over and over again, and when I left, that I was the last I saw of him. I don’t know if he did actually run away, but I like to think he did. But the man that paid me, found out I let him go, and, well, let’s say he was not happy I took his money for nothing.”

“He gave me one hit as you can see and got me in the gut.” You pointed at your black eye then at your abdominal wound. “But if I were to die, I wanted to make sure I would kill the one who did it so I can take them with me, and I did. I cut his throat and he was dead instantly.”

“To tell you the truth, Aragorn, I’m not sure how I lived. Maybe the gods decided it’s not my time to go just yet, or maybe not.” You shrugged. “I’m not even sure why I thought of coming to your place. I guess I thought I wanted to see you one last time. Well, it doesn’t matter, coming here turned out to be the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

Aragorn smiled. “I’m glad you came to me, for multiple reasons. Do you know what I think? You’re starting to see the beauty in sparing others.”

“There was no point in killing him. I don’t think he did anything wrong. The one that wanted him dead? I can name a lot of things he did that would frighten the most brutal of orcs.”

 That wasn’t the point and Aragorn could believe it flew over your head completely, but he knew there was some kindness in you that was not yet lost.

“I know what you’re thinking. I’ve been thinking a lot about what you tell me, and maybe you’re right. It’s not worth killing people over money. Sometimes, I see the families of lost loved ones and it does make me feel a lot of guilt. That’s why I started to cheat people out instead. Obviously, that comes with a lot of uncertainty.”

Nothing you ever did had any certainty in it.

You brought up your hand to presumably push back your hair, but found your hair neatly braided.

“I think the idea of you braiding hair is silly. But I guess I underestimated how little I really know you. You should open up more. Believe me, it helps.”

-

“Me? Aragorn, you want me as your queen? You’re not doing this to make me feel better, are you?”

Assuming you said yes, Aragorn understood he would spend the rest of his life explaining why he chose you over any other woman. Having a better life was your motivation for everything you did, yet when you are faced with the option of becoming a queen, you try to turn it down and avoid it like it was the plague. True, the people of Minas Tirith would most likely revolt if they found out their queen was a once scandalous rogue with bounties placed on her head and was a subject that struck fear in the Northmen’s hearts.

But Aragorn would not want to marry anyone that isn’t you, and if they had a problem with you as his wife, then they had him to deal with.

It was the council at Rivendell where you found out who Aragorn really was and you were upset that he never told you before that. He never thought of an appropriate time to disclose it, however.

“There is no other I love more than you,” said Aragorn. “I wish to marry you and I will give you the security and stability you sought for in life. But if you prefer simplicity in the North and to be away from me, then I shall respect that and ensure you are accompanied by Legolas and Gimli for a safe ride back home.”

“But why me?” You repeated. “I’m not fit to be a queen, I am no queen, Aragorn. Nor do I deserve to be one. Oh, Aragorn, I do love you and I always have! I will marry you, for it is what my heart has desired for years.”

 -

Years have passed and life in Gondor goes on. Frodo has sailed west with the Elves and Gandalf and Legolas and Gimli are enjoying their lives in the country. Recently, they asked Aragorn to give them leave to travel around the realms of Middle-Earth. The remaining Fellowship had left and it was just the two of you.

It took you a while to adjust to this new lifestyle. It even intimidated you a lot. At the end of each day, Aragorn would come to your shared chamber and take care of your hair and braid it, an action that was special to the both of you and makes you think of the past. You did not miss your old lifestyle and you were glad to give it up, but you missed the friends you made in the journey.

“If you were old and dying and could not move, would you let me braid your hair in return? I’m afraid doing hair is not my forte, but I had this sudden thought and I believe you would enjoy it,” you asked, looking up at him.

“I would indeed,” said Aragorn, smiling as he ran his fingers through your hair. “You can braid my hair anytime you want. Practice makes perfect. Who knows, you might be better at it than me one day.”

“No chance of that, if you were braiding since you were a small child.”

The tale of the king and his queen ended the same as any other tale with a happy ending. True, it did not start off as happy if they were initially foes, but they would not change a single thing and they only appreciated each other more for their change of hearts.

[shveris]

satosugu, crack oneshot, based on this official art (their asses are not working)

satorou really, really, hates his job. absolutely hates it.

but for all the wrong reasons.

warnings: drinking, cigarettes, satosugu’s frontal lobe is on vacation

“how can someone be so dense?!” the brunette clickes her tongue softly before chugging down the rest of her beer. everything about this is horribly entertaining but also incredibly frustrating.

“you know, satorou, you could just tell him you have the fattest crush of mankind on him”, she suggests (for the nth time) and the man next to her continues whining into the counter his head is currently resting on.

“bitch i did! like, three fucking times already! he always responds with ‘and i will crush your head if you don’t bla bla bla’”, he complains, waving his right hand around in the air to make his point.

shoko did not sign up for this.

“you think an intervention would help?”, she ponders, half serious, half joking, and it has her friend snort loudly. he turns his head to look at her, brows raised: “intervention for what exactly, to drop his obliviousness? he was born with that i fear, good luck.”

“nah, he needs to stop being in denial”, shoko rolls her eyes and immediately regrets it as she feels the 6 pints of beer kicking in (finally), “he looks at you as if you were the world, man, sickening to watch.” satorou giggles like a middle schooler.

“either way, you better hurry the fuck up with this, i don’t wanna be losing my money because you two morons can’t get your shit together.” shoko presses her lips to a thin line, thinking about the fifty bucks she had bid on her two friends, and hakari’s shit eating grin.

“i still can’t believe everyone of y’all made a fucking bet out of us, such bad friends and coworkers, i’ll complain to HR tomorrow!” the brunette can only snort and fishes for the pack of malboro in her pocket.

“complain about what?” satorou falls off his chair — and gets caught because of fucking course he gets caught, man’s a damn princess, shoko thinks — upon hearing the voice behind him. ocean eyes wide in shock when he whips his head around: “suguru! don’t sneak up on us like that!” he lets himself get manhandled back onto the barstool.

“and your balance sucks.” the raven keeps one of his arms wrapped around satorou and holds his free hand out to their girl bestie, asking for a cigarette. she stares both of them up and down, eyes lingering on suguru gripping satorou’s waist, and shoves a cigarette into his hands, muttering a curse.

“nah, nah, my balance’s perfectly fine”, the white haired claims, pressing himself closer to suguru’s chest, “i could show you!” the ravenette looks at him with amusement written all over his face: “and how exactly do you plan to ‘show me’?”

“well, for starters, i’m great at walking perfectly straight on the stones of a sidewalk! not that i’m straight but you get the point. and then, also, i think i could keep my balance very well after bouncing on your dick for hours!”

shoko wants to go home. she can feel the lesbian inside her leave. she should start being homophobic or something. change of careers.

“you don’t have the stamina to bounce on my dick for hours, ‘toru”, suguru rolls his eyes, takes a hit from his cigarette, as if he’s talking about the damn weather. shoko meets satorou’s eyes and she can see a vein pop on his forehead: “you see this shit, shoko?!”

“dear lord, yes i do, and i wish i weren’t”, she mumbles. the bet has been going for over a month already, she really didn’t think it’s this bad. maybe she should do something? but, nah, that’d be against the rules of the bet, she’s pretty sure sukuna would beat her up for cheating.

“so, back to that ‘reporting things to HR’ stuff, what was that about?”, suguru asks and the brunette is very tempted to spill the beans — but, again, that’d be against those goofy rules so she keeps her mouth shut, looking at satorou because that man is a born actor.

“eh, someone took a shit in the employees restroom today and didn’t flush”, satorou waves his hand up and down, again, and shoko will always be impressed by how good of a liar he is.

“sounds like toji”, suguru thinks, “that man has issues, dude, how he hasn’t been charged for assault yet is one of the seven world wonders.” satorou only nods in agreement and shoko orders another beer.

“not sure how you made a correlation between ‘not flushing the toilet’ and ‘felony’ but okay.” satorou barks with a singular ‘hah!’ and shuts up when suguru pinches his waist.

“no, you know what, actually- this makes a lot of sense-“, shoko has her eyes on the raven again, “something’s wrong in your frontal lobe, logical thinking seems to not be working for you properly.” suguru only feels half insulted because he has no idea what a frontal lobe is but he does get the implication of shoko telling him he’s stupid.

“fuck’s that supposed to mean”, he still asks, with playful anger lacing his words. there is a tinge of curiosity nagging his mind, whispering to him that he missed out on something. shoko is definitely hinting towards some underlying issues there.

“eh, figure it out for yourselves”, she dismisses his question and takes a sip of her beer, the bitterness of it tasting sweet in contrast to the cigarettes she’s been inhaling. suguru has his eyes averted and hums a “uh-huh” with his lips around the filter before he shifts his attention to the white-haired once again.

“suguru, can we go to this new pastry shop after our shift? they have new items on their menu!” the raven smiles fondly upon seeing the excitement in satorou’s whole body language and he finds himself agreeing — not that he is ever able to say “no” to him anyway.

“we could also pick out some flowers, i have a picknick planned for us on thursday night”, suguru puffs out the cigarette smoke and undoes the buttons of his uniform coat to get some air. he misses the confused looks the other two are giving him and tries not to cry when the smoke catches in his eyes. why does it always have to sting this bad?

“picknick? how come?”, satorou eventually asks, curiosity and suspicion walking hand in hand inside his mind. he watches as the ravenette lifts his head and takes the half-finished cancer stick between his index and middle finger: “for our anniversary? who’s head are you in right now, satorou.”

gojo satorou’s soul left his body.

his chin is on the floor — never mind that, he is floored. absolutely floored.

shoko almost chokes on the mouthful of alcohol and is convinced she just imagined hearing that, telling herself she is just drunk and wants to be out of her misery (she wants her money). but then she takes another look at suguru and is sure this is, as a matter of fact, reality and very much the present. she tries to close her mouth but it’s not working in her favour: “what. the fuck.”

suguru looks at them as if they’d just insulted his whole bloodline, mild irritation and annoyance making the crease between his eyebrows deep like canyons.

“what do you mean ‘what the fuck’?”, he asks and satorou doesn’t even hear him because he’s more than chin-deep inside his own brain, too fuzzy and it feels like his body is vibrating — he doesn’t know his mouth is still very much wide open and suguru wants nothing more than to shove his dick inside.

since shoko is generally faster in gathering herself so she quickly tries to make sense of the raven’s words: “what do you mean ‘what do you mean’?”

truly the conversation of geniuses.

shoko is pretty sure satorou short-circuited, the man having his chin so deep down in hell as if he is trying to catch flies with his mouth, and suguru has never looked more confused. if her fifty bucks weren’t involved, shoko would’ve taken a picture and made it her new home screen background.

she absentmindedly lights another cigarette and pinches the bridge of her nose. if this really is what she is thinking — nothing in the world could’ve prepared her for this. how does a man like suguru even live. never mind that, how does a man like satorou made it this far in life?

“let’s take a few steps back”, she finally says and nudges the side of satorou’s chin with her free hand (he slowly picks it up from the floor), “you said anniversary. what anniversary?” suguru looks at her as if she just grew a second head: “‘toru’s and my anniversary? we’ve been dating for a year now, hello?”

shoko hates how right she was with her suspicions but she’s also very, very, happy about getting money.

“we’ve been dating?! for a year?!”

ah. satorou.exe restarted successfully.

“what the fuck’s that supposed to mean?!”

shoko notes how invested the bartender seems to be in the situation and she can’t blame them.

“wha- when? how even- you never-“, satorou’s thoughts are running a whole marathon with blindfolds, bumping into each other and anything, tangling themselves together like strings. the word vomit coming out of his mouth makes shoko take another sip of her beer and she hopes that’ll make him even more funnier.

“satorou, we sleep in the same fucking bed, you kiss my cheeks regularly, we go on dates every other day, we literally have pet names for each other.”

shoko decides she’s homophobic now.

chapter 261 destroyed my mental so i’m uploading this to hopefully make some of us less depressed. personally, i’m more depressed now because of what we could’ve had

i might write a part 2 to this someday, idk, i rlly like this au but i’m also on the verge of chewing off my lips and i need a break from life

[barrenclan]

I think catabolic seed by the scary jokes is very slugpelt, maybe about her life in general?

Yeah, I think so! I like the themes in this song about trying to take control of your life by reaching out to other people, but getting denied. That's very Slugpelt.

Also, check out this awesome PMV with Catabolic Seed, which I just have to show off cause I love it so much.

"But is bad luck really such a crime? If you won't be my valentine, could you at least give me a little bit of sympathy?"

"I don't care if I'm losing myself in the garden of earthly delights I could drop dead right where I stand, and I wouldn't mind"

You guys always find such interesting songs. I like this one. It's definitely got good Rainhaze energy.

"even through the pain animals cannot change dance with the skeletons and float away"

"eat and then die all your siblings cast aside too"

"see with new eyes a world ready to despise you"

No, no one's recommended this Hannibal fansong yet. But nice call for Ranger talking to Rainhaze!

"So look in the mirror And tell me, who do you see? Is it still you? Or is it me?"

"Do you feel the hunger Does it howl inside? Does it terrify you? Or do you feel alive?"

That's a good classic ask, back from the beginning of the blog. Never forget Christmas music Daff.

"Underground, boxed and glum Left you there for rot All my fears are overgrown Will someone burn this grove?"

"Welcome home! It's been a while Do you miss your head? With your tattered clothes and your bloody nose?"

I LOVE Vulture Culture! That song is great. I've been wanting to do a version of its animation meme for years now with a fandom I'm in. Maybe someday.

It can be a Rainhaze song and a Defiance song. They're so interlinked now, right?

"We live and die in a vulture culture We crucify anyone we hunger Gemini and a broken brother We live and die, my friend"

"Well, I guess I made my bed Now I gotta lie in it Like a suicidal kiss I got a guilty conscience"

BarrenClan is a cursed land!...

"The curse ruled from the underground, down by the shore And their hope grew with a hunger to live unlike before"

"If they called on every soul in the land, on the moon Only then would they know a blessing in disguise"

Asphodelpaw's themesong is a MARINA song, so you're already halfway there! I also agree with you about the idea of Asphodel feeling like she has to put on a strong front and pretend like she doesn't have any genuine feelings.

"It's okay to say you've got a weak spot You don't always have to be on top Better to be hated Than loved loved loved for what your not"

"You're vulnerable, you're vulnerable You are not a robot You're lovable, so lovable But you're just troubled"

What a wonderful title for a song. I also love mashing my OCs into any vaguely related song to them.

"I bid the sunshine adieu! In 1872 When the girl that I liked Made me a creature of the night"

"On the shortest night of the year I told him he’d nothing to fear As I bit his throat and crooned as he choked “Together forever my dear”

I'm certain this song has been suggested before, but that's only because any song from The Crane Wives discography could fit into PATFW.

"He taught me that the hand that feeds Deserves to be bitten when it beats He taught me how to break my chains And that money ain't worth a thing"

"Reminding me how little I have But as for time, as for time It's mine, it's mine"

Poor Pinepaw! He really does know too much, often envious of who he used to be.

...yeah, that's going on the playlist.

"Everything here is built on bones

Everything everything everything

And men will do as they’re foretold

Everything everything everything

Visions you don’t want to see

Everything everything everything

Hide your face from prophecy"

If I'm being real - since this song is so desert-themed, it's giving much bigger Saltburn's Clan energy, especially with the line about "mountain cats". (Blasting beams into the 3 people who read this's head to go read SBC at @nanistar)

If you want my opinion, I would say Slugpelt.

"So, if I can wait five more In this shape that I abhor I'll sleep with an open door Knowing you haven't touched a cell on my body"

"Now, my love carries the task Of handling the aftermath Can you smooth the looping lines Of fingerprints before your time?"

Lol I ran out of video embeds

[lostdreamr-blog1]

Outrun the Future - G.Cleven Ch 5

A/N: Sorry for being MIA. Here is an extra extra long chapter for ya!

Word count: 7.4K

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4

Ch 5

As the days went by, the 100th were starting to understand the harrows of war. Their latest mission had been one where they were hit hard, losing more friends in the process. Between them and the fighter pilots, it seemed like the numbers were falling faster than the military could replace. There was no healthy way to manage that kind of stress and loss, drinking became a coping mechanism for most.  Which is why Marley was currently getting ready to go out that night alongside Betty.

“There have been rumors that your brother is single. Any chance that they are true?” Betty was taking the curlers out of her hair, trying to get as dolled up as she could.

Marley let out a hum of confirmation. “Also has herpes too. I’d steer clear if I were you.”

Betty scoffed, hitting the girl on the arm. “Oh stop. Keep saying things like that and the poor guy won’t have a lady within ten feet of him.”

Marley chuckled, fastening the last button on her uniform. “Serves him right. It took nearly a week for the guys to even look my direction after the threats he handed out.”

The two of them headed out to the pub that wasn’t too far off base. It was one that both the US and RAF frequented, having felt losses on both sides. Even with the mutual understanding of war, it didn’t mean they were understanding of each other.

When they arrived, Betty found some of the nurses from base and bid her friend adieu for the meantime. Marley, on the other hand, grabbed a beer from the bar and went to find her brother. It didn’t take much searching on her part when she heard yelling coming from a card table. Money, drinks, and cigarettes were going around the group of B-17 pilots, none of them giving a glance to the other end of the table.

She made eye contact with Buck first, the blonde motioning with his head for her to join them. Bucky saw her after Biddick moved over a seat to allow her room to sit with them all. “I think Marley is going to be my good luck charm this next hand.” Bucky glared at Biddick, making the pilot smirk as he got under the Major’s skin. “Maybe she can kiss my cards or somethin’. Really seal the deal for me wining.”

Marley chuckled at the balls this guy had to rile her brother up in front of everyone. Others seemed to find it amusing as well, biting back smiles so Bucky wouldn’t turn on them as well. She put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him from lunging out of his chair. “It’s a joke, John. Calm down before you get us all kicked out.” He relaxed back in his chair, sending one last glare to his so-called friend.

“You know, I rather admire you Americans.” One of the British officers cut in, making the group turn their attention to him. It was something about the tone he used that rubbed Marley the wrong way. She had worked alongside the RAF back at her other base, never having an issue with them. These ones though, seemed like they wanted to start some sort of pissing contest. “You’re all up there in broad daylight, seeming oblivious to the downsides.”

Jack Kidd shook his head, quickly defending his group. “I don’t understand what you are saying, Captain.”

The British officer smirked back at him, “Never mind old boy. One for the higher-ups.” He took a sip of his drink and continued, “It’s a question of philosophies. We bomb at night because it doesn’t matter what we hit, as long as it’s German. But bombing during the day is suicide. And clearly you are all lacking replacements as they are letting female’s join you lot.”

Marley took a sip of her beer, waiting to see how it all played out. This wasn’t the first time she had be looked down upon for being a female pilot and it surely won’t be the last. But the boys around her are experiencing this for the first time.

Bucky shook his head, “Someone seems threatened.” He had a calm exterior, not letting the Brit seem like he cared. But everyone around him knew he was a ticking time bomb.

“Nothing to be threatened by Major. I could foresee in the future American strategy adjusting due to the unfortunate losses you’ll no doubt continue to suffer. Math’s.”  Marley rolled her eyes at the condescending tone he had, but her brother seemed confused at the last part. “Math’s?” He repeated it in a horrible British accent.

The groups went back and forth tearing each other’s strategies apart, but Marley tuned them out. It was always the same no matter where she went. With two different approaches to war, everyone believes theirs is the best. That they will be the reason to end the war. Realistically, they would be lucky if even half of them made it to the end with the way things were going.

It wasn’t until the egotistical Brit mentioned the P-51’s, did Marley give him her attention.

“The 100th have made a name for themselves throughout Europe. Bombing in large groups during broad daylight will do that for you. But the P-51’s having a female amongst them have nearly made them a laughingstock. I think I would rather fly alone out there than have the likes of her defending me.”

Buck was confused when Bucky didn’t defend his sister. With how close the two of them were, he figured he’d have to be holding him back from an all-out brawl. But what confused him more was the smile Bucky had plastered across his face.

Until he looked over to the younger Egan. Her eyes were sharp, making even the arrogant Brit across from them look away from her. The smirk on her face was one he’d seen too many times from his best friend, letting him know shit was indeed about to go down. And for once, he couldn’t wait to see an Egan in action.

“Tell me, how many targets have you actually hit? Or better yet, how much action have you seen? Because to me, it takes more effort for me to do my hair than fly a plane at night aimlessly dropping bombs.” Buck admired her ability to throw back at him without making it seem like his words got to her.

The RAF pilot did not share that admiration in the least bit. Before he could say anything back, Marley held up her hand, silencing the man. “Until you’ve actually done something productive in this war, keep your dick in your pants. Because I promise you it’s the smallest one here.”

Buck chuckled and leaned back in his chair, taking in the beauty that was Marley Egan. The flick of her hair dismissing him was the cherry on top, making the man across from them red in the face. “Who do you think you are to talk to a man like that?”

The table tensed at the clear misogynistic comment, but the female pilot surprised them and snorted. “Someone is overcompensating. Maybe you should go back to your Math’s.” She turned to her brother, “It was math’s, right?” Bucky nodded his head with a smirk. “Apparently there is more than one. Who knew?”

That seemed to be the last straw for the RAF pilot as he and the others started chirping about taking things outside. It didn’t take much convincing for the Americans to agree, nearly bouncing with joy as the group headed out the back door.

Marley watched as Biddick practically begged to be the one to take a shot at the British asshole, noticing Buck standing near her. “You didn’t want to throw your name in there? Something tells me you would be good when it came to a fight.”

Buck put his hands in his pockets, watching everything unfold. “As much as I wanted to slug him for the way he was treatin’ you, Biddick said he would owe me one. I’m more surprised you weren’t itching to get in there.”

He turned to look at her as she shrugged her shoulders. “With my luck we will have to fly out tomorrow. And flying with a bruised hand isn’t fun.”

His eyebrows rose at that comment, “You know from experience?” The smirk returned on her face and that told him everything. “There is a reason we are called fighter pilots. Not everyone gets to fly in a boat like you.”

Buck smiled and shook his head. Biddick had the RAF pilot down in one shot, signaling the night was coming to an end. “Kind of wished there would’ve been more of a fight. Too much talking for him to go down in one.” Bucky said, joining the two pilots.

“I’ll go a few rounds with you.” Buck took a strategic step forward at the younger Egan’s words, trying to place himself between the two of them. There was no doubt in his mind the two of them would start swinging for the fun of it.

“Three bucks says you can’t touch me.” Bucky was cracking his knuckles and Marley laughed. “Make it five and you have a deal.”

“I’ll buy you both a drink next time we are out if neither of you do this.” Buck had almost a pleading tone, making the two siblings’ step back from each other. Bucky threw an arm around his friend, “Live a little, Buck. A few bruises never killed anyone.”

Buck shook his head, “I don’t want to carry your ass all the way home after losing. I think the drinking is causing you to gain some weight. Gettin’ hard to lift you.”

Marley smiled, watching the two of them interact. The more time she spent with them, the more she was starting to understand their dynamic. Buck was someone her brother needed to ground him. And if she had to bet, Buck needed her brother in order to see a brighter side of living. While she didn’t know too much about the blonde pilot, something in his past had made him guarded.

“You coming, Mar? Don’t have all night to wait on you.” She picked up her steps at her brothers words and joined the pair as they decided to walk back to base, dragging out the night before dealing with tomorrows problems.

***

Today was the day both the 100th and the fighters were headed out on the same mission. The morning started like every other flight day. Wake up, eat, brief, preflight checks, and take off. But it was the first time both Egan siblings were experiencing it together.

Marley had taken to eating with her brother and Buck when the group met in the mess hall. It was an easy habit she formed, basking in whatever familiarity she could get while being away from home. But today was different and the older Egan picked up on it immediately.

“Why is she sitting over there?” Buck glanced to the direction his friend was looking at and saw what he was talking about. They had both sat down to eat their breakfast and Marley was currently a few tables down, deep in conversation with her squadron.

“Maybe she didn’t want to deal with you this early in the morning.” The blonde knew it had something to do with her routine. Everyone had one on flight day, some call it superstitions. But seeing as this was their first flight together, most chances were they would not be a part of her morning.

“I’m gonna say something.” Bucky went to get up until his friend said, “Leave her be. You stress her out enough as it is.” John turned his attention back to the blonde, eyebrows raised. “And how would you know that?”

The two pilots had started to talk more the longer they were at the base. What started as small talk here and there has morphed into deeper conversations, entrusting the other with secrets they wouldn’t want to get out. It was almost therapeutic, the way they could drop the walls around each other. But neither were sure how the Major would feel about his best friend and little sister becoming more than casual friends.

So, instead of telling the truth, Buck shrugged his shoulders, “Common sense. The two of you seem to get under each other’s skin at times.”

The older Egan huffed and shook his head, “Have you met her? The kid needs to be on a leash or something.”

Buck smiled and shook his head at the comment, thinking the same could be said about him.

The 100th found themselves in the briefing room, going over their mission for the day. Bombing German U-boat pens in Norway with Major Cleven leading them was the hefty task that laid ahead. But after the happy demotion from air exec. a few days earlier, Major Egan found himself flying with his boys again.

Before, John Egan would only worry about one thing at a time. When his sister flew, he worried about her getting back in one piece while he waited at the airstrip for her return. When the 100th flew, his focus was on his men and the mission at hand. Wanting to make sure they made positive impacts in this war and living to talk about it.

But never did he have to worry about both at the same time.

Buck picked up on the nervousness of his friend next to him. The brunette couldn’t sit still, constantly fidgeting with his hands and knee bouncing. As much as it was getting on his nerves by drawing his attention away from the briefing, he didn’t have it in him to tell him to stop.

The blonde pilot didn’t want to admit it, but he had more nerves this mission than the one before. They all knew there was some form of air support for them on these flights, but there was never a reason to know the people behind them.

The briefing went faster than either pilot wanted, but soon they found themselves waking out to their planes. The buzz of excitement on mission days has slowly dwindled down to nearly nothing. It seemed only the new crews that were fresh out of training wanted to go up.

“First day back up and it better not be your last.” Buck threw the comment out to try and pull his friend out of his thoughts. He hadn’t said much since they left the briefing and knew it had to do with his sister.

“You won’t be able to get rid of me that easily.” Bucky gave him a smirk but turned his attention back to the airstrip. He wasn’t sure if the fighters were done with their meeting, but he needed to see his sister before they all took off.

“Does she know you’re headed back up there?” Bucky knew he should’ve told Marley about the well-earned demotion before today, but he didn’t want her focus to be off if she knew one of the planes she’d be protecting was his.

“Nah, I thought it would be a fun surprise sharing the skies.” Cleven shook his head and asked, “Just like the surprise of her being a pilot?” John went to answer back when he saw the familiar braided hair walking up to her plane. “I’m going to fucking kill her.”

Buck watched as he ran off towards the one person who was going to put his friend into an early grave with the decisions she was making.

Marley!” The girl turned at the call of her name. Her brother running towards her, a task she didn’t know he could do.

“We are about to set some damn ground rules.” Her eyebrows rose at the demand. “And why would we do that?” She had a good feeling she knew why but wanted him to confirm it.

“You can’t keep going on these missions without so much as a goodbye. I thought I raised you better than that.”

“John, you ever think there was a reason for that?” He stood there, waiting for an answer.

Marley sighed and looked down the runway of planes getting ready to take off. “A goodbye is something final. It’s accepting the fact that I might not make it back to say anything more. I guess leaving with things unfinished gave me a good reason to come back.”

Bucky didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure if it was the war or simply time that had matured his sister, but he didn’t like it.

“I need you to stop looking out for me. I’m a big boy and can handle it. But what I can’t handle is seeing you get into that plane and pretend like we aren’t in this god damn war together.” He watched as Marley looked back to him and then looked down.

“I really thought going to war together would be more fun than this.” Bucky snorted at her comment and pulled his sister into a hug. “It’ll be more fun when we make it out of this together.” He pulled back and Marley asked what he did all day when everyone was on a mission. This time it was his turn to avoid eye contact.

“Well, I used to sit around and make sure I could count high enough to be able to count the planes coming back in. But, uh, now I don’t have to do that anymore.”

Marley sighed as she put the pieces together, something that surprised John. He thought she would be more upset with him holding back information. “I thought it would just be Gale up there I’d have to look out for. But now I’ll try my hardest to watch out for you both.”

Before he could respond, one of the guys from his crew was yelling at him to get a move on. He turned back to his sister before he walked off and said, “Make it back in one piece, will ya. I don’t need Ma flying all the way out here to kill me. Doesn’t make for a good story going out like that in a war like this.” Marley laughed and got back to her preflight checks.

Footsteps were heard drawing near her as she looked at something under her plane. Figuring it was her brother she yelled out, “Last I checked, you know nothing about P-51’s, John, so you’re just going to get in the way. Hell, I’d be surprised if you even know much about your own plane.”

The chuckle she heard came from someone that was in fact not her brother. Marley popped her head out from under her plane and saw Major Cleven leaning against the wing.

“Ah, sorry about that Major. There is no doubt in my mind you are well versed in all thing’s bomber planes.” Buck couldn’t help but smile at the lopsided grin she gave him.

“I do know a thing or two. Can’t say much about your brother, though.” He glanced over her plane, seeing the bullet holes patched up from her last mission. “How are you feeling?” His eyes made his way back to hers and couldn’t help but notice something different in them.

“Will be more excited when this mission is over. But the plane looks good. They fixed her up better than I could’ve wished for.” He watched as she spun the little bit of hair from the end of her braid around her finger. Her voice was steady and posture strong. She was the picture of calm. But that little gesture showed him a new part of her that he would lock away for safe keeping. Marley was nervous just as her brother was and he hated that there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Planes were starting up and the blonde knew he needed to get back to his crew. “Stay safe up there, Mar.” He gave her shoulder a light squeeze and walked off.

“Hey Cleven.” He turned around at her voice. “Do me a favor and try not to get shot down.” He gave her a small salute, “Yes ma’am.”

 It wasn’t much longer until Marley watched as the 100th started flying out. With her group being faster, they would take off a little later to allow for the best defensive strategy against the Luftwaffe fighter planes.

With it being their first mission together at the same base, she felt weird with how the timings were different. Watching the small dots in the sky disappear while she sat in her plane only made the nerves grow higher.

Marley wasn’t good at too many things, but flying was something she took pride in. She seemed to have a natural skill for it, as well as a passion. It was why she was able to pry her way into this war. While it was technically a job, she loved every bit of it and the freedom of flying in the wide-open skies. But sometimes that love faltered when she saw fellow pilots getting shot out of the sky.

It was turning into a normal occurrence, seeing the small P-51’s with fire coming off the back of them. Or the plane spiraling out of control, hoping that the reason was because the pilot bailed. The only thing Marley could do was pray neither of those things happened to her.

A flare went up, signaling it was their time to go. The plane sped down the runway right after a few of her fellow pilots, effortlessly making its way into the sky. It wouldn’t take long before the group caught up to the 100th, indicating the start of another harsh mission. It was an eerie feeling for Marley, flying headfirst into deadly dogfights without hesitation. Especially after the rising amount of enemy fighter’s last mission.

Just as the higher ups had planned, the P-51 fighters met up with the 100th as enemy pilots started their attack. Marley gripped the yoke of the plane tighter, trying to visualize the best path for her to take. The mix between the three different groups were starting to blend together, making it difficult for a clear route.

But as soon as she saw one of the B-17’s fall from the sky, instinct took over and she forced her way into the chaos.

As soon as the flak stopped around them, Buck knew the hardest part of the mission was upon them. The skies were unnaturally quiet, causing all the men to tense up. “Make sure all the guns are loaded. They will be here any second now.” Major Cleven tried to get his men ready as the inevitable was about to happen.

“Enemy fighters 3 o’clock!” One of the men yelled out, signaling the beginning of the uphill battle. Gale almost felt helpless, keeping the plane in the air as the men around him fought for all their lives. With as big of a formation as theirs was, there wasn’t much room for movement or evasion. He simply prayed they weren’t targeted, and that air support would be there soon.

“P-51’s just joined the fight!” Buck wanted to feel some relief but knowing that Marley was in that group made it challenging. At least the smaller planes would be able to escape fire if needed. He watched as the P-51’s skillfully weaved in and out of their group, making it look more like a dance than a dogfight.

“Anyone have eyes on Marley?” Buck looked around at the traffic in the sky but couldn’t see her. Not that it was easy to see much of anything with gunfire and smoke filling the air.

“They all look the same, Major. the only thing I can say for certain is how many get shot down.” Buck slightly shook his head at those words, not doing a damn thing to reassure him.

“Keep your eyes peeled. Try not to cause any friendly fire.” The last thing any of them needed was one of the bombers shooting down one of their own.

Buck’s grip on the controls never let up until they were past the drop site and on the safe part of the route back to base. Both sets of fighter pilots had since left, having completed their tasks as well as they could. But Buck couldn’t get his mind off the younger Egan.

He didn’t want to admit it, but more P-51’s had been shot down this time around than they had seen before. The enemy had upped their resources while their side seemed to have stuck to the same numbers. Statistically speaking, odds weren’t in their favor.

Buck shook his head at his thoughts. The war was already tough enough as it is, but Marley Egan was making things harder by having him worry about her well-being. How the hell he was supposed to make it to the end like this was something he wasn’t sure of. But what he did know was that his feelings for the female pilot were slowly growing and there was no way to stop them. If this war wasn’t going to be the death of him, she might as well be.

***

As the B-17's landed back at base, both Majors were looking for Marley. The only issue was the fighters had landed over an hour ago and they were currently being forced onto the back of a truck and into interrogation.

Bucky's eyes met his friend's, and it was clear neither one of them had gotten anywhere with finding her. "I counted six P-51's. But I can't tell which one is hers." John quickly looked over at the planes after the blonde had mentioned the numbers. "Shit."

The truck they were both in started moving away from the airstrip, leaving the two Majors more nervous than before the mission. Buck saw the hard look on his friends face and knew there wasn't much he could say to make things better. Four planes didn't come back, and they saw firsthand why.

Bucky kept replaying the mission over in his head. It had been a while since he'd been up on the observation flights, but today seemed worse out there than before. The numbers increased on every aspect. More Luftwaffe fighter planes, more planes falling from the sky, and ultimately more deaths. But was his sister part of those numbers?

Before this mission, Bucky didn't pay too much attention to anyone else in the sky besides his men and whatever enemy plane was trying to take them out. Today was different, having him watch the small P-5l's coming to their aid. The way they skillfully maneuvered in the sky made it look like a dance between the two different fighter groups. It almost made him proud knowing his sister was one of those skilled pilots. Almost.

Both Majors had to turn off any emotions surrounding the younger Egan as they walked into the interrogation room, making sure they covered every detail they could remember. The mission took a slight turn, having their navigator find a new path home to make sure Biddick landed safe and out of enemy territory. Another reason why it took longer for the group to get back.

Buck and his crew were done before his friend, giving him the chance to find out what happened to their counterparts. Knowing there was a chance he was going to have to act as the levelheaded one if something had happened to Marley. His first thought was to check medical, hoping if she was in there it was for something minor.

Betty was in there, refilling some supplies when she saw Major Cleven walk through the door. The usual stoic pilot had a sense of urgency today and she had a good feeling she knew why. She watched as his eyes passed over all the beds trying to figure out if he looked relieved or worried. "How can I help you, Major?"

His eyes moved from the beds to the blonde nurse walking towards him. "You haven't seen Captain Egan, have you?" Betty shook her head, "Captain Sutton would be the one to ask. We haven't heard much from their group."

Buck knew what meant. When a P-51 gets shot down or a pilot was hurt, most chances where they never made it in here. He let out a deep breath and thanked her. The mess hall would be his next stop to see if any of the other fighters were there. "Major! When you hear something, could you let me know? Usually, she comes by to show me she's okay, but I haven't seen her yet."

His heart nearly stopped when he took in those words. Four planes never made it back and the pilot didn't make it by to see her friend. It was too early in this war for something to happen to her. All he could do was nod his head as he walked out.

Luck continued to run out as Bucky jogged towards him. He could see the worry on his face and knew what he was about to tell him wouldn't ease that. "Not in medical. Betty said to ask Sutton what happened."

Bucky ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, "Fuck. I don't like this. She never should've followed me out here."

There wasn't much he could say to calm his friend. They were both out there. They saw what it was like in the air and knew it took a whole lot of skill and luck to make it out of it alive.

The pair made their way to the mess hall and saw a few men scattered about. Usually after a mission everyone went straight to drinking, most not having a stomach for food after what they had been through or seen. Which made it easy to spot the other captain sitting with what they assumed was the remaining pilots from their group.

John moved at a fast pace when he clocked the man he needed, forcing Buck to nearly jog after him.

"Tell me she isn't dead. Tell me you aren't sitting here eating as her plane is in the ground somewhere." His tone came out sharp, clearly looking to take his frustrations out on anyone he could.

Captain Sutton already knew the oldest Egan would be coming to find him. And from the few interactions they've had together, he knew not to take things too personal. So, when they words flew out of the Major's mouth, Sutton took a sip of his coffee and calmly turned to him.

"Had a little mishap. Should be flying back soon from another base in England."

John had a sense of relief hearing she wasn't a POW or worse, but after being wound up tight since they landed, it wasn't enough to settle him down. "What kind of mishap? Is she hurt?"

Sutton shook his head, "All I was told is that she had engine problems and wasn't going to make it back here. They gave her new coordinates and orders to fly back when the plane was fixed. You can stand there and berate me as much as you want, but that is all the information I have."

John ran a hand through his hair as Bucky thanked him for the update. They both knew this was the best-case scenario, but until she physically landed back at base, there was still an ounce of doubt.

Sutton watched as the two Majors processed that information, seeing them both still tense. It wasn't lost on anyone that Marley had become someone important to Major Cleven. The two of them seemed to click instantly, whether it was as friends or more. Which is why he decided to add, "Marley is one of the best pilots I've seen. She's levelheaded and has some crazy talent. There is a reason why she broke down so many barriers and became an active female fighter pilot. I know it's hard but have some faith in her. If there is any one of us that is going to make it to the end of this war, it's her."

The two Majors nodded their heads and thanked him. John turned to walk out the mess hall without another word, but Gale stayed behind for a minute. "How bad was it up there for you guys?"

Sutton let out a deep breath. "The more we go up, the worse it seems. Not too sure what the higher ups have planned, but something needs to change. We are losing too many good people."

Gale could only nod his head. What he said was true for both sides. Too many planes kept falling and he wondered when they would run out of replacements. "We are going out tonight if you want to join. Try and get our minds off today."

The captain gave him a quick nod and Buck left to go find his friend.

***

The day dragged on and soon the sun was setting along the horizon. No one had heard a thing about Marley, but they held onto hope that she would be landing soon. For once, Bucky had to drag the oldest Egan out to where the 100th was drinking.

It was an eerie sight, seeing the lone jeep next to an empty runway. A few people had tried to coax the Major into coming in, but he wasn't having it. Buck could only pray nothing happened to Marley during this war. Because if this was how John reacted to the delayed arrival, he could only imagine what a loss would do to him.

"She's coming back. You sitting here waiting is not going to speed that up." Buck watched as his friend shook his head, "Not in a partying mood, Buck."

"No one said anything about partying. Just a drink or two while we pass the time. You know she is going to be pissed if she sees you out here while everyone else is inside." He watched as John slowly nodded his head.

"Fine. But I'm coming out here every hour to see if she's landed. Knowing her, she's going to head straight to bed without letting us know she's back." Buck knew he had a point. With her track record of running off without so much as a glance, it wouldn't surprise him to see her plane sitting there in the morning without a heads up.

John started the jeep up and went to drive off until he heard the sound of a plane in the distance. The pair stood up and watched in silence as a P-51 made their decent to the runway. Neither moved until it shut off and the familiar braid popped up when getting out of the cockpit.

"Thank god." Was heard as a near whisper from Major Egan as he watched her climb down with zero assistance.

Marley greeted the two Majors with a smile. "Fancy seeing you here this late at night. Almost makes me wonder if you've been sulking out here all day."

Bucky scoffed but the blond had to cough to cover up a laugh. "What happened Marley?" She continued to walk towards them, taking her flight jacket off. "I'm good. Thanks for asking."

She didn't miss the eye roll her brother gave her but shrugged it off. "Can we walk to the mess hall? I haven't eaten since this morning." The two nodded their heads and the trio started walking.

"As you both know it was a complete shit show up there. It was like we would shoot one down and three more came at us. It didn't really seem like we were making much of a difference with how many enemy fighters were up there." She ran a shaky hand through her hair. Something Buck picked up on but knew her brother missed it. Today shook her up more than she was letting on.

"Out of nowhere, the side of my plane was sprayed. Luckily it was near the end, and I was able to steady it out without having to eject. I was given new coordinates to a closer base and landed right outside of the runway. Took them nearly all day to fix up the plane but got interrogation out of the way there at least. Now I'm here."

They walked into the mess hall, the two boys trailing her as she grabbed a few things to eat. Neither spoke a word until they sat down, occupying the only table in the building.

"How are you, Mar?" Gale knew her brother was still processing things and tried to get some more information out of her.

She took a bite of an apple, buying herself time to formulate an answer. She'd be lying if she said today didn't shake her up. Feeling the bullets hit the plane and then watching as she slowly lost control of it, was enough to give her nightmares. But she couldn't tell her brother that. It was clear as day he worried enough about her as it is.

So, instead she swallowed the piece of apple and shrugged her shoulders. "It sucked taking this long to get back. And the guys there were not nearly as welcoming as the ones here. But it sure beats becoming a POW."

Buck knew that answer was brushing over how she really felt. But what he wasn't expecting was her brother to also pick up on it.

"Want to give me the real answer and not the bullshit one?"

Marley's eyes snapped up to her brother's, clearly surprised at his question. She looked down and bit her lip. Confidence fading.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on." John's voice had a bite to it, and Buck knew she wasn't going to respond well to it. They were more similar than they each believed.

"I never asked for your damn help, John." She stood up causing her brother to do the same.

"Sit your ass back down. We aren't done talking." The eye roll she gave him back only caused things to escalate.

"I say we are." She started walking away, making her brother follow. Buck quickly jumped in between the two and gently pushed the oldest Egan back. "Not now. Give her time to recover from today. She just got back."

John didn't put up much of a fight. As much as he wanted to push the issue of his sister keeping things from him, Buck was right. Today was hard on everyone, but they've had hours to recover. She had been back for less than thirty minutes.

They heard the door of the mess hall shut and gone was the youngest Egan.

"I need a damn drink." Buck gave John a single nod and the two of them went the opposite way of Marley.

***

Marley had quickly showered, taking advantage that the girls were out with everyone else. It didn't take long to wash off the day and put on more casual clothes. She toyed with the idea of meeting everyone out, but the interaction with her brother had her cautious. It was a long ass day, and her fuse was already short. She didn't think getting into a fight in front of everyone would be good for either of them.

But she knew she needed to see her team, or what's left of it, and Betty. Today was hell for everyone and she needed to remember that. So, she put some shoes on and started the long walk to the Officers Mess.

The air was nice and crisp, almost considered cold. Marley forgot to bring a jacket, but the chilly breeze was a nice reminder that she was in fact still in once piece and back in her temporary home.

Today was a brutal reminder that getting close to people out here was dangerous. Marley considered it a wakeup call, knowing she needed to start putting some distance between her and the blond Major. While things hadn't progressed beyond a friend stage, she knew that giving it more time could potentially cause heartbreak. He was someone she could see herself falling for, but war was a selfish thing. War would take anyone and everyone from you without any remorse. Only fools would hold onto hope out here.

Before Marley could reach her destination, sirens went off, signaling a possible air raid. It was one of the last sounds she heard when fleeing from her original base not too long ago. Men ran from buildings, seeking shelter in the bunkers they had throughout the base. But Marley could see the smoke in the distance, and knew they weren't in any danger.

Captain Sutton saw Marley and let out a sigh of relief. When he saw Major Egan chugging his drink earlier, he assumed she was back but didn't know in what shape. Seeing her walk on her own was a promising sign.

"Reminds me of old times." Marley turned her head and saw Sparks walking up to her. A smile crossed her face, and she gave him a quick hug. "Glad to see you made it back. I heard we lost more this time around."

All he did was nod his head, not wanting to talk about the friends they continued to lose. "You make it back okay?" She gave him the same nod in return. Neither pushing the other for more.

The two Majors were rushing outside with the rest, praying nothing would happen to their base. But as they reached the bunker, they noticed none of the fighter pilots had made their way to the bunkers.

"The hell you doin', Mar? Get down here." Marley shook her head at her brothers demand and sat on the ground outside looking out at the sky. "Too far for us to be hit."

Bucky made eye contact with his friend, neither knowing what to do. It wasn't often air raids happened this close to base, but they sounded an alarm for a reason.

"Marlene, I swear to god if you made it back just to get taken out by an air raid we had warning about, I will bring you back from the dead and kill you myself." Sparks chuckled as he sat down next to his friend. "Overprotective much."

Marley sighed and nodded her head, "You have no idea." She looked over her shoulder and saw both Majors attention on her. "We got these all the time before we were actually hit. Trust me, this one is too far to do any damage. Think of it as fourth of July and some really expensive fireworks are going off."

Buck hated the way his heart clenched at her explanation. He watched as she laughed with her friend next to her, not having a care in the world while the rest of them held onto a small shred of fear at what was happening in the distance.

"She's lost it. That's the only explanation I have for it." Bucky looked on as his sister was lounging in the grass, watching the bombs go off as it was some sort of show.

"Leave her be. She's happy." Bucky turned his attention to his friend after that statement. There was a moment of silence before John said, "Just promise me you'll look after her."

Gale looked at his friend confused, "What are you talking about?"

John looked back over to his sister, small smile on his face as he saw her throw her head back and laugh. "As much as she thinks I don't see things, I do. So, do me a favor and don't hurt her. She's been through too much already." 

Instead of arguing that there was nothing goin on between then, Gale shrugged his jacket off. "Marley!" Her head turned at the sound of her name being called. Buck tossed her his jacket and she caught it with ease. "It's too cold out here without it." She slipped the warm jacket on and thanked him. He answered back with a wink, not missing the way her cheeks had a tint of pink to them. 

War might be ruthless and hope was a foolish thing, but love always manages to overpower, making you feel invincible.

A/N: Thoughts? Thank you for reading!!

Tag list: @probabydeadbynow

[stalkedbytrains]

Assassin's Monthly: Retirement is Just Fine

“Come on Sugary,” she asked, her chin resting in her hands, green eyes following the broad woman with the surprisingly delicate hands. “All I’m asking is for us to go get two cups of coffee.”

“Oh it is two cups now?” asked the woman with the French accent and slightly graying dark hair. “A moment ago it was only one.”

“It’s a negotiation tactic,” the middle aged woman shrugged.

“I see,” Sugary sighed. “But you know I cannot stand the piss you Americans call coffee.”

“I’ll make you some. I’ll roast the beans and grind them all by hand. The whole shebang.”

“Not in that dreadful thing you call a kitchen. I cannot set foot in there in good conscience. Lilith, it would not know fine cuisine if it was painted on the walls.”

“You drive a hard bargain Sugary. Fine. I’ll redo my kitchen. Rip it all out and go down to the studs. And I’ll get a fancy, modern kitchen with all the amenities and then you’ll come over for four cups of coffee.”

“Oh, we are all the way to four now?”

“If I’m redoing my whole kitchen? Yeah, four,” she said with a smile. Before she could continue a man in an expensive suit and a stylishly unshaven face entered the armory.

“Sherry!”

“Chérie,” the green eyed woman corrected him. “It is French.”

“I knew that,” he grumbled as he looked over the woman that corrected him.

Her face was starting to show lines of age. The little black dress she had on showed off as many scars at it did tattoos that were all starting to fade slightly from time. Her hair was also showing signs of losing its luster if not it’s color. But her eyes were as bright and fiery as they’d ever been.

“Holy shit!” the guy all but yelled. “It’s you!”

“Sugary? Who is this guy?” she asked without taking her eyes off of him.

“Relax,” the French woman responded. “He’s a headhunter for the old men up north. The Council? The Cloakroom? Whatever they call themselves these days.”

“You’re her! You’re the Queen of the Kill! You are the top contract killer ever! Oh man, I was actually at the rally when you killed that Senator! Oh, please tell me you’re here because Sherry’s making you a gun. Please tell me you’re back.”

“Nope. Still retired,” she said as she took her finger off the trigger on the concealed pistol she had trained on the man. “I just come in every week or so to try and convince my favorite gunsmith to get some coffee with me. And every time it ends up with me doing something outrageous. Today I’m apparently remodeling my entire kitchen.”

“If you’re doing some construction, it’ll cost you some decent money, and I can offer you a super easy job that’s basically just cash in pocket.”

“I don’t take jobs from people off the street. Besides I’m retired.”

“I know, I know, you’re out of the game. You stopped working, what, six years ago?”

“Seven.”

“But come on, I heard you take some jobs you find interesting or if you’re unnaturally bored. Since you retired you did three jobs, right?”

“Four.”

“God the bidding war over your last job was insane! My employers were very upset we got knocked out so early. Come on, how much did they pay you?”

“Thirteen,” she said lazily, still looking at Sugary who was smiling slightly while filling bullet casings with gunpowder.

“Million? Holy shit! Who orders a hit for thirteen million?”

“Seriously? I have confidentiality stuff. And don’t ask me how many people they paid to have offed either.”

The man sighed, “Can you at least tell me who it was for? I swear it was one of the Sheikhs.”

“Nope, a Canadian.”

“Really?”

“The fuck do you think?”

“Ok, ok. But the Consortium will pay you a million and a half to kill three people by the end of the month,” the man continued with his pitch.

The woman rolled her eyes.

“Look, it’ll be super easy. Three targets. The only restrictions are that they all have to be taken out at the same time, and it has to be by the end of the month. I can give you half a million per head.”

Sugary shrugged.

“Make it an even two million and you’ve got a deal,” she said.

“What about one point seven five million and I get you a meeting with the Italian home designer Benito. He’s my brother’s wife’s cousin. He can redo your whole kitchen into the fanciest fucking kitchen to ever exist.”

Sugary raised an eyebrow.

Seeing the look on the gunsmith’s face, the woman sighed and said, “Fine. I was bored anyways. I’ll do it, assuming everything works out with your credentials and stuff. And I guess I’ll need a gun Sugary.”

“Sugary?” the man asked. “I thought you said it was Chérie.”

“It’s French for ‘sweet’,” Lilith said. “You know sugary sweet? Ah never mind.”

“I don’t know where she got it either,” Sugary said.

“Either way. I’ll need a new gun. I’ll need the lightest hair trigger you got, and as little recoil as possible,” the woman mused.

Sugary reached across the small counter top between her and the woman and grabbed her to pull her into a kiss that lasted a few seconds too long to be strictly friendly.

“Oh to make a gun for you again? It would be a pleasure!”

“And I guess I’ll have to bring the coffee here since you’ll be working,” the woman sighed.

“You know I won’t accept-“

“I know, I know,” she said as she stood up and moved to leave the room. “A double espresso from that one place, with one cream and four sugars. I remember.”

“Merci my love.”

[bonfire-at-the-crossroads]

I’m going to try and list the events of today - just so I don’t lose track.

Dawn. Barnum got us moving by 7:00 as usual. Maggie had a pee accident in the night, and the stench was horrible. Bri took Bernie and Maggie out, I took Murphy, and followed up with the Woodge.

Fed the cats and started a fire in the stove in the kitchen. Yeah…we ran out heating oil yesterday afternoon. Had a limited supply of wood and coal, but it began to take the chill off…

Maggie threw up.

And now it gets serious. I googled up pyometra a deadly infection which un-spayed female dogs can get post-heat. Yup. Bri called the vet and talked them into seeing her immediately.

He called the fuel oil company and begged for a delivery - then off he went with Maggie into town.

I continued cleaning and moving things back to the studio - my client guy is coming at 2:00 to pick up his paintings. I bake two loaves of cinnamon bread, and loaf of white bread for tomorrow mornings breakfast. Swill down a cup of coffee, and keep tidying up.

The belt on the dryer busted yesterday, leaving me with two loads of wet laundry which will continue to be wet and will soon begin to get moldy. Bri ordered a replacement part and we will look forward to taking the dryer apart (AGAIN) in about a weeks time.

I mix a bucket of green mold killer and have a go at the front step and walkway - it’s become ridiculously slippery and neither one of us wants to hit the ground hard. I scrub with a chunk of old broom, and leave it to do its thing…

Bri returns with some cat and dog food procured from the vets - but no Maggie. “Shes going to have surgery today. She’s infected and has to have a hysterectomy.”

Barnum had surgery four days ago to remove a cancerous mass in his belly. Now it’s Maggie’s turn.

I take Murphy out again, apply the xeroxed info onto the back of all the completed paintings, and keep tidying. Magda the vet calls to say that Maggie will be operated on this evening, and promises to call and let us know how things went.

The oil guy shows up, pumps €500 into the tank - and leaves. Bri goes out to jump start the boiler.

It doesn’t start. “I’m going to drive to Belleek and buy more wood and coal” - and so he does.

I find the boiler-guys phone number. He’ll be here in two hours.

My client shows up, we chat, drink coffee - he refuses my cinnamon bread, but likes Woodgie very much? We load his Mercedes with the paintings (he’s brought me another BIG one) - I tuck several of my pillows and blankets around the art to cushion them for the ride home.

He does not hand me money.

Which leaves John the boiler guy unpaid. He arrives, works his magic over the next hour - I wrap up a fat slice of cinnamon bread and tell him we will drop his money off at his house tommorrow.

I start making the dough for tonight’s pizza. A figure looms in the doorway - it’s Pat. “I’m just coming from a funeral in Kilty and had to stop as we were passing. Do you mind if I show some people your house?”

Pat is always welcome, I would say “drunk or sober” but somehow we never see “sober”

He rolls in. He is followed by four other people from the funeral - three of whom are smashed. The kind woman who IS sober apologizes for the drop-in, but it really doesn’t matter at this point. They are roaming around the house, tripping over dogs and enjoying Pats tour.

The funeral is for a young g man who “was shot” -?! There is confusion as to whether it was suicide? “In his side” - and yet nobody mentions murder. We offer our sincere condolences.

The tour comes to an end, they all roll outside again - and we bid them farewell- “safe home.”

It’s now 8:00. The pizza dough is rising, the dogs are passed out in front of the fire - and we still have not heard from the vet.

It’s been a day, and no mistake.

[vacantgodling]

re. about

ren (or rimz for cool kids). he/him. twenty five. black. queer. neurodivergent.

i'm redoing this because i'm losing steam (thanks work) and i'm pulling back on a lot of projects to mostly focus on things that make me personally happy. as is the nature of my brain, i will still jump back and forth between projects when i lose the flow for another, but i’ve narrowed my important wips down to just three main ones. other projects are currently being shelved, or put to the side as half baked ideas that i still need to keep in the oven before i introduce them to anyone formally.

(so if you don’t see a wip listed in the wips tab, it’s either shelved indefinitely or i want to work on it on my own for a bit. you can ask me about my other wips if you know/remember them but i can’t guarantee i’ll answer about them at this time. this also doesn’t mean i won’t ramble about them when i feel like it.)

important sideblogs = no pressure to follow just fyi

@babylonsfalling -> all my fandom and other nonsense goes here

@todazzlingreading -> this is a personal checklist for things i want to read by y’all that i don’t have time or spoons to get to at the moment i see it. once i read a post there i’ll delete it from that blog and rb it over here with any comments in the tags :3

to find my art commissions, please look here: https://www.tumblr.com/vacantgodling/715216537870532608/commissions-are-open

re. disclaimers / interaction

i mainly write fantasy; it’s a broad overarching label that covers all of my interests and it’s my first love in writing. horror and horror adjacent elements always make an appearance in my works. i emphasize complex mlm relationships and male leads, and romance is a great love of mine as you’ll notice from the king of my current wips. worldbuilding is also a great love of mine. i also love writing smut and talking about my characters having sex.

as such some disclaimers: following me is a very much curate your own experience. i don’t want to hold back talking about adult and mature themes so if you’re uncomfortable with anything i talk about i’d just suggest you unfollow lol nothing personal.

i’m open to asks and talking about anything but there’s no pressure. anons are always cool. i’m probably not gonna do writing based tag games too too much bc writing has been nonexistent lately but character asks or ramble ones i will do :)

also, as a personal ask: please do not refer to any of my characters as babygirl or girlie(s). shit makes me squick thanks.

re. main wips

linked are the main tags & once i finish the wip intros for paramour and tcol (revamping them) i’ll link them as well. feel free to ask to be on the taglist for any of these (i’m going to do better with these) — taglists will be activated for all writing and official posts. this won’t include ask games or random babbling.

PARAMOUR || “saved” from an imminent social death through arranged marriage, HYACINTHUS SHRAPNEL is whisked away to The Chateau aux Aisles D’or, where an unlikely sexual relationship with his butler AMON leads to far more than he bargained for.

THE CHRONICLES OF LATHSBURY (check out the crash course HERE) || The Aegean Guild of Explorers, led by the mysterious newcomer to Lathsbury Madja Fandel welcomes its newest contingent after the guild bid: PIPER FAIRWIND a MBW with a fighting spirit and desire for money and glory, DEUX UNDERSHIELD a naive protector seeking answers for her brother’s spurn, SANDRA “SAN” DEARBORN a vicious hunter with a chip on their shoulder, CLEAR BRIGHTENDALE a medic with a host of dark secrets, and FORTE SYMPHONIA a ranger seeking his own destiny, are as ready as they’ll ever be to enter the fray, to conquer the mysterious and dangerous LABYRINTH. Forces that have been in motion since before their lives even began are finally reaching their peak, and the five of them will have to use everything they’ve learned and then some to stay alive.

re. navigation

talking -> musings and personal thoughts

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ren analysis -> when i get meta about my wips

ren mix -> a treasure trove of my music taste

ren polls -> any polls i make

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ren hot cakes -> specifically for my overly opinionated opinions

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[maeve-99]

My thoughts on AI Art and AI in general // ranting & rambling

We live in an age where technology is overtaking humanity, fueled by greed. With everything happening with AI art I wonder what will be next? First it’s art, then graphic design, and then what? Will the next AI be able to write books? Make animations? Produce music? Write movie scripts? Program software? Until all future generations are brain dead and just consuming content botched together by soul-less machines. Why are people so keen on screwing themselves?

I’m sorry If I come across as fatalistic and too dramatic but I keep thinking about this a lot. And it’s not even a problem with the AI itself, but with the humans who create it, tell it what to do and finance it’s development – making money off of it.

AI is created by humans, and the data it uses to generate art (for example) is based on information in a database. A database that is fed by humans with things others created. No AI can create something from nothing. In case of art: it’s taken from online portfolios of artists and other sites. It’s “fun” for the average person but art theft for another. AI is created by humans and humans have intentions, humans lead corporations.

And at the end of the day billion dollar companies are getting richer and more powerful because of those technologies, while small creators are paying the price. All the while people are celebrating the innovations and cheer mega-corporations on like brain-dead goons. I wonder, will they still be laughing when their job position gets replaced by an AI? They’ll probably say “Good, we don’t have to work anymore!”. Well, it never works like that. The hard truth is, that they’ll lose their job and be broke, all the while corporations and their CEOs and managers are getting even richer. You’ll have to sell your grandparent’s house to pay the bills while those you celebrate buy their 3rd penthouse or yacht.

People will say “It’s not that deep” but I honestly think it is. It points to much deeper-rooted problems: People glorifying corporations and billionaires, people craving that dopamine from short-form content, people wanting quick solutions for complex problems. To corporations, we are consumers, consumers of content. Content we pay for, walking dollar bills.

I truly believe those are the things we need to think about when talking about AI. We all need to take a deep breath, and step back and listen very carefully when corporations or billionaires talk about “innovation” and “fun” and listen to what they are really saying, what they are trying to sell us.

Intention is the word of the day.

And hey, I get it. It’s fun to have a new App to play around with & I do see the appeal of it. But we need to remind ourselves that those technologies affect humans in a very real way. When book publishers/companies are thinking about replacing artists/workers with the much cheaper AI THAT’S when we have a problem. And not to mention people selling AI Art for a price no real artist can work for, this is not OK. Especially when they are not labeling it as such. There are already too many people who think of art as just a hobby, not thinking about all the people that earn their money by illustrating and creating art - relying on the income. And I don’t talk about the fancy art shows where people bid billions of dollars for paintings/modern art. I talk about the normal people, who do not want to get stupidly rich but just want to get by by doing what they love. People who paint or draw the images and illustration you see on your everyday items, books, magazines, packagings etc. Everything you see.

Where do we draw the line? At what point do we decide to not to be controlled by machines inspired by human greed? This technology needs to be regulated, it needs to be clear what is made by an AI and what is made by a human being. Because we are blurring the line, getting lost in the fog - and the only ones who will be laughing in the end are the corporations.

I could write way more than that but I’ll stop now – because I’m causing myself a headache. Sorry for the extensive rambling, but I had to get it out of my system. Thanks to the people who have made it this far. <3

I support small artists instead of big corporations and day of the week!

[razrgrl]

OMG, guys.

OhMyGodOhMyGodOhMyGod.

So you do you remember that WW1 diary Cici found? This one: https://doughboy.org/my-journey-to-discover-the-author-of-a-world-war-i-diary-and-tell-his-story/

She spent two weeks researching this. It is a rare and wonderful story about a brand new way of saving lives in war. It described army life in 1914 in France, not far from the Somme. It was a story written by a young man who wanted to be remembered. Cici found him and it was magic.

It was going to be hard to let it go, but the book didn’t belong to her. It was completely unique and had historical significance. It was potentially worth a lot of money.

So they sold it at auction.

For whatever reason, the auction didn’t gather the kinds of collectors that it deserved. The books went cheaper than they should have. There was one mystery person who seemed to be bidding on everything and seemed to have no cost restrictions. They outbid all but the most determined bidders (including families trying to get a piece of their history) and wound up with about 1/3 of the everything sold.

Today Cici got to talk to her.

It was some lady in the northwest of the country (I’m not being specific because y’all are going to want to do mean things to her). Cici asked what she was going to do with the books. She replied “They are for my kids (the oldest age 6) and whatever they don’t want I’m going to donate to their elementary school.”

This was an ANTIQUARIAN auction. In addition to the diary, she bought a family diary that had been carried through the Civil War, a one-of-a-kind book of political cartoons from 1900, signed first editions, and a leather-bound Latin textbook from 1730 that had generations of notes from the people who had owned it through the last 290 years.

AND SHE WANTS TO GIVE IT TO AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LIBRARY!

By the time shipping is worked out, this insane woman will be spending around $3000 for a bunch of antique books that she plans to give to elementary school children!

When Cici asked why she kept bidding on everything, she said something along the lines of “oh, you know. It was fun — I just hate to lose.”

Cici is trying to buy back the diary. The woman hasn’t said “no” but won’t say “yes.”

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

[volixia669]

So apparently twitter folks are doing a, “Sell Snyderverse to Netflix” thing and 1. I’m begging people to understand how corporate IP works and 2. I’m begging fans of Superhero movies to watch more films.

I say this as someone who enjoys comics, superheroes, and even some of the films btw. In fact, it’s because I love these characters and worlds so much that I’m just kinda in disbelief there’s so much hype for Snyder’s work. (Not to say I agree with how whats his face is taking DC either, but that’s a different matter)

But right, first, corporate IP.

Zack Snyder was a director who had various ideas for how a DC film verse could work, as DC/Warner Brothers was trying to copy the success Marvel had with the MCU. He does not own the characters within that verse. He can play with them, and people can identify the characters as Snyder’s take on them, but he does not own them, or the movies he made. DC/Warner Brothers does.

Now, could they sell the rights to Snyder’s take on the verse to Netflix? Eh? It’s complicated. Primarily because it requires differentiating Snyder’s version of the characters from what DC owns, and that brings into question if DC owns the takes that other writers have done, and it’s a whole mess and a half.

That said, they could potentially license the characters to Netflix, and Snyder could make films that way. However, given how DC didn’t want to give Neil Gaiman John Constantine for Sandman, a character Gaiman HAS written for btw, because of a seemingly now canned live action show, that seems HIGHLY unlikely.

Also, none of this makes sense for either Netflix or DC/WarnerBrothers/HBO. Netflix is just asking to lose money with all their “reducing password sharing” nonsense, and while they’ve spent a good chunk of money on other IP, the cost to license the fucking Justice League would be astronomical.  And they’re definitely not going to sell the rights to their blockbuster movies to Netflix. Turn them into tax write offs? Sure. Nix them from streaming platforms? Absolutely. But sell the rights to something that would also include toy & other merchandise sales? Never.

And now the second, extremely inflammatory, point.

Please watch more movies.

And this isn’t me being pretentious. I’m not even saying it has to be good movies. I love a good Rifftrax myself, and I regularly watch random scifi schlock I find on Hulu or whatever.

But like, the more you broaden your horizons, the more film you consume, the better you’ll be able to recognize certain tropes, understand certain styles, and may even find there are films you enjoy outside of the mega franchises.

Personally I find Zack Snyder movies to be fairly...mid. They’re flashy, sure, and can have decent moments. But his takes on the DC characters just...don’t even feel like the characters to me, which is a failing in itself, and overall, his use of lighting, CGI, and pacing are meh.

His films are popcorn films, and that’s fine. But by watching a wide variety of films, both popcorn & deeply innovating, it’s easier to understand where the flaws are. It’s also easier to appreciate films by other, smaller, studios and directors who don’t have the budgets he does.

Because y’know what? This megamonopoly corporate monster that has consumed the film industry is stifling creativity. It favors bland, mediocre, by the book films, while directors of marginalized genders, races, and/or sexualities are left by the wayside unless they manage to come into some once in a lifetime opportunity. So many stories are being ignored as corporations believe they won’t make a profit.

So maybe instead of demanding Snyder get a fifth chance to make more DC films, demand more funding be given to indie film studios. Demand to hear more from marginalized people. Demand these streaming platforms stop removing items in a bid to avoid paying residuals, and demand there be better protections for those working on their content.

And yes. Watch more films.

[bardy-boy]

I posted 3,450 times in 2022

That's 736 more posts than 2021!

30 posts created (1%)

3,420 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@rabdoidal

@dimension20official

@hi-intrepid-heroes

@queen-caramilflinda

@magicratfingers

I tagged 112 of my posts in 2022

#dimension 20 - 90 posts

#d20 - 37 posts

#fantasy high - 37 posts

#dimension20 - 31 posts

#coffin run - 15 posts

#riz gukgak - 10 posts

#my art - 10 posts

#a starstruck odyssey - 10 posts

#the unsleeping city - 8 posts

#a crown of candy - 8 posts

Longest Tag: 122 characters

#i’m just saying that if dropout ever did a season of dimension 20 but everyone was a member of the mystery gang then maybe

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

So, this may be cheesy but it needs to be said. You are not a fake fan if you didn’t/don’t get a dimension 20 mini. And maybe that might seem obvious, but it bears repeating because it can feel like it. Obviously the show means a lot to many people, myself included and this is no hate towards people who have one, but at the end of the day it’s just a small thing to sit on a shelf. I personally can hardly afford the starting bid. I just don’t have that type of money, my dropout subscription is a treat for myself. Because the show makes me so happy. I’ve been watch it since 2018/2019 and the amount of joy it gives me is unreal. And that’s what matters. Of course I wanted a mini, but I need to remind myself that the show is always gonna be there and to be honest I’d probably lose the mini anyways. Who cares if you don’t have the item. Plenty of people don’t. As long as you love the show, you’re a real fan! And that’s worth celebrating.

167 notes - Posted July 19, 2022

#4

I know it’s like Misfits and Magic finished forever ago, get over it. BUT I will, in fact, NOT get over it. I am rewatching it and I will continue rewatching it until the day I am dead.

168 notes - Posted May 17, 2022

#3

She Brennan on my Lee till I Mulligan 

265 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

#2

Oop, the Ricky Matsui slipped out a bit. Cody Walsh grudge remains in tact I see.

310 notes - Posted June 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

If I had a nickel for every time I saw a beloved character become every particle in the universe I would have two nickels and honestly that’s not surprising to me because this is dimension 20 and so when it doubt become a inter-dimensional being

382 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[starseedfxofficial]

Bond Market Blues: How Lackluster Futures Reveal Hidden Forex Plays The Shady Side of Bonds: Hidden Patterns and Untapped Potential in Forex If you've ever dabbled in Forex trading, you know that bonds are kind of like that broody character in a crime drama. Mysterious, lurking in the background, and always pivotal to the plot. Today, we're cracking the case on the sneaky moves of U.S., German, and Japanese bonds—the ten-year club that traders love to hate. But here's where the real magic happens: these market movers aren't just sitting around for no reason. There are patterns, little tremors beneath the surface that can tip you off before a big market quake. Are you ready to peek behind the curtain? Let's go. A Haven Lost: U.S. Treasuries (10yr UST) Imagine buying yourself a warm haven, a cozy safe spot when things go south—only to find out someone else swiped it. That’s pretty much what happened with 10-year U.S. Treasury futures. The demand fizzled as everyone switched to cautious mode ahead of a barrage of Fedspeak and the 20-year auction. If bonds could sigh, this one’s letting out a long one. It’s a classic case of "the calm before the storm." Traders were holding back, clutching their dollars and thinking, What will the Fed say next? These long-term bonds are sensitive to future interest rate tweaks—which makes understanding Fed chatter the equivalent of learning a foreign language that changes every Thursday. But here's the kicker: this moment of calm isn't a throwaway. It’s actually the moment to watch for reversals. When traders aren’t bidding, they’re probably waiting for the next big trend signal. Keep your eyes on Fedspeak—like a hawk with night vision goggles. Taking a Breather: German Bunds (Bund Futures) The German Bunds (that’s the German equivalent of a Treasuries paparazzi darling) are also having a chill-out moment. After an absolute whirlwind of whipsaws, they've finally relaxed, letting traders catch their breath. Now, everyone’s peeking at the German PPI data and the 30-year Bund auction. Here’s the scoop: if PPI data exceeds expectations, yields could pop, which tends to strengthen the euro. The smart money (and I’m talking about the ones in fancy suits, not sweatpants) is already bracing itself for surprises. But why is that important to you? Glad you asked. If you're trading the EUR/USD pair, those whispers of inflation data can get loud pretty quickly. So, as the German PPI looms, prepare to see some euro action—perhaps enough to turn that sideline Bund into a center-stage bond rockstar. When You Think It's Down, It's Up: Japanese JGBs (10yr JGB) Over in Japan, the ten-year JGB was on a wild ride recently. Imagine this: you're coasting downhill and suddenly realize the brakes don't work as smoothly as you'd hoped—that's the JGB after Japan’s better-than-expected trade data. It trickled below the 143.00 level but, shocker, it cushioned on the way down as Asia’s risk appetite softened. If you’re wondering what this means for you, don’t let those downward moves fool you. Despite the sell-off, the market mood is far from bearish—traders are just tapping the brakes instead of slamming them. And here's where the opportunity lies: with risk appetite in Asia being fickle, chances are you'll spot some prime contrarian moves if you pay close attention. The Contrarian Playbook: Trading Bonds Without Losing Your Shirt Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why bother diving into these bonds if all we get is a story about fading demand and "potential" moves? Because here’s the truth: the contrarian play can be your best friend. When everybody zigs, that’s the best time to zag. Understanding how bonds impact the Forex market lets you spot trends before the rest of the herd. That moment when Japanese JGBs cushion under 143.00? Think of it as the canary in the coal mine for risk sentiment—a tiny indicator that tells you how sentiment might shift. So, here’s the trick: watch these so-called "boring" bond moments. They’re your secret weapon to seeing the shifts that the average trader glosses over. When USTs lose their haven appeal, or Bunds take a breather, they’re telling you where money flows are likely headed next. Timing that entry based on a lull can be game-changing—just like catching an early wave at dawn before anyone else hits the beach. Why It Matters: Bonds as Forex Breadcrumbs Think of these bond moves as little breadcrumbs leading you to the bigger prize: knowing when the market mood is changing. Bunds, USTs, and JGBs are more than just numbers in an economic report; they are signals that, when pieced together, can show you where things are headed next. Don’t get stuck reading only the headline news—pay attention to the shade it’s throwing. If you follow the bonds' subtle moves, you’re one step ahead of the herd, sniffing out shifts before they’re priced into the market. Stay Ahead of the Curve Alright, if there’s one thing you take away from today’s sneaky bond business, it’s this: while everyone else waits for a news alert to break, you could already be holding a golden ticket to what comes next. Track bonds, see the signals, and make sure you’re in the right place when the real action starts. If you’re eager to know more and feel like becoming part of our inner circle of savvy traders, I’ve got just the places for you. Head over to our Forex Education page, dive into those elite community insights, and don’t forget to grab our free trading journal. Because if you're gonna make your move, you might as well do it like a pro. —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated   Read the full article

[punkscowardschampions]

Tancy (pt.4 basically)

Nancy: [Okay, so when we have been at this crackhouse for GOD knows how long, ignoring Grace’s attempts to contact us, just truly doing the most to lose ourselves here, eventually feeling like you gotta get out and you can’t just leave because you’ve spent all your money and are not feeling like calling your family about this, as well as the obvious tentative reach out that this is to him]

Nancy: Could you send a car to come pick me up?

Nancy: I’ll pay you back when I have it

Teddy: [do obvs because you know where she is, you got that peek before you unfollowed + her dealers are your dealers clearly, and send her whatever relevant deets about said car she would need idk I’m not a posh person but I assume like an ETA or whatever, likewise also send her some money because she clearly doesn’t have any]

Nancy: Thank you

Nancy: I’ve forgotten how the buses work and I don’t think I want to stand out at the stop here even if I could work it out

Teddy: I wouldn’t know where to begin with something like that

Nancy: If there’s ever a time to get mugged, I’m not sure if it’s preferable to have nothing on you or that’ll just anger them

Nancy: I wasn’t sure if you’d blocked me as well as unfollowed

Teddy: Where’s the fun in that? You may want to set me up with someone more suitable or keep me in the loop about how the bidding went

Nancy: You’ve reread the conversation then

Nancy: I know I said some things in the heat of the moment that I didn’t mean

Teddy: I didn’t need to, I haven’t forgotten what you said

Nancy: I wish you could

Teddy: You would, but alas, it appears I didn’t catch your disability after all

Nancy: Sorry seems a little redundant but I am

Nancy: I don’t even understand how we started arguing, never mind how it got to that place

Teddy: Never mind ghoulishly dissecting the argument once again, go home, go to bed

Nancy: You really won’t talk to me?

Teddy: What do you expect me to say?

Nancy: It’s not much of a conversation if I direct you

Teddy: You want me to tell you I also said things I didn’t mean, that I don’t love you

Teddy: but I’m not going to

Nancy: I just want to talk to you, whatever the truth is

Nancy: that wasn’t the part that hurt me the most, though, for the record

Teddy: I’m far too busy crying, naturally

Nancy: That was mean, like actual bitchery, to throw that back at you

Nancy: you already left and I hadn’t forgiven you for that and then you said you loved me just to take it back and I don’t know

Nancy: you said I can’t handle it, you were right 

Teddy: It hasn’t escaped my notice you’re a bitch, awkward if it was supposed to

Nancy: Nope, you definitely called me one then too

Teddy: For the record, I didn’t take it back, I don’t

Nancy: You wished you weren’t

Nancy: which if I was being gracious I would say is fair but it isn’t and I’m not 

Teddy: You wished for anyone but me first

Nancy: No one else would love me, challenge me, that’s what I meant

Teddy: Everyone would love you, you can’t stand the thought

Nancy: Other people have said it before, but they either didn’t mean it or didn’t know me enough to have it be an informed opinion

Teddy: Did he?

Nancy: God, no

Nancy: he was famously in love with [whatever his fiancee’s actual name is] for the majority of that ‘relationship’ so, what’s the point in bullshitting

Teddy: His parents have famously never said it, to him, his siblings or each other

Nancy: It shows

Teddy: & yet, a frightful number of children, considering

Nancy: They take their duty to keep numbers up seriously

Nancy: or have incredible sexual chemistry, either or

Teddy: Both, possibly

Nancy: Pretending to be Scottish makes slightly more sense as a roleplay

Teddy: I do hope they at least attempt the accents in the bedroom

Nancy: I’d pay to see it

Teddy: Wouldn’t we all

Nancy: And I didn’t wear your mother’s necklace to the crack den, nor sell it, another one for the record

Teddy: You wouldn’t be contemplating taking the bus if you’d sold it, nor escaping with it in the former

Nancy: True

Nancy: has she not checked the safe since you gave it to me?

Teddy: They filed a claim with their insurance the day after the party

Nancy: But it’s one of a kind, before the added sentimentality 

Teddy: A truly tragic loss, in every sense

Nancy: What have you been doing, since the party?

Teddy: Yours or mine?

Nancy: We can try that, filling in those gaps

Nancy: failing that, from my party works just fine

Teddy: Since yours, losing Ivo some more money he’s nonetheless still failed to realise is missing

Nancy: Must mean his habits are out of control again, big shocker

Nancy: I didn’t know you knew how to do your future job though, smarty pants

Teddy: It isn’t difficult, G & Daddy dearest pretend to make themselves feel clever & super important

Nancy: That’s all anyone does in this town for work, I’m pretty sure

Nancy: my friends try to tell me what they do, like their jobs don’t all sound boring and identical no matter what

Teddy: & like you’d be interested anyway 🥱

Teddy: no one has anything even vaguely worthwhile to talk about, if not careers, it’s children or spouses & it’s becoming a problem

Teddy: at this rate, I’ll have to spend time with people my own age

Nancy: At least everyone your age will have Uni drama

Nancy: my friends remained somewhat interesting in those days

Nancy: I could tell you every weird thing Ivo did for you to potentially use against him, if you like

Teddy: You’re barely out of Uni, your friends should be involved in drama, or at least not be this level of bores

Nancy: I have tried telling them

Nancy: I’ll catch back up when they all break up or start cheating on each other, we’re just in a honeymoon phase

Teddy: Of course

Nancy: I hope you get bored enough to want to talk to me again

Nancy: no offence

Teddy: All taken, I hate being

Nancy: Well I hate this

Teddy: It’s your fault, don’t come to me to fix it

Nancy: No one else can

Teddy: You could try

Nancy: What do you think I was doing in [whatever part of London you had to get yourself to and are now like omg the horror]?

Teddy: The opposite of talking to me

Nancy: You didn’t want to talk

Nancy: you told me goodbye multiple times

Teddy: You threw every present back in my face

Nancy: I didn’t throw anything, that was you

Nancy: and we’ve been over this, I thought you were laughing at me for wanting to be with you

Teddy: You intended to return them all to me as though they were never given

Nancy: I said that but did I, no

Teddy: Well no, but only because you were in [the shady part of London] apparently penniless 

Nancy: I’m not giving them back

Nancy: even if you demanded it, I don’t want to

Teddy: They’re yours to do what you want with

Nancy: They’re the nicest presents I’ve ever been given

Nancy: not just accounting for quality

Teddy: It’s a new day & the start of your birthday month, you should be due another

Nancy: Of course, I’m sure everyone got the memo

Teddy: I don’t know what to get you now

Nancy: You got me this car ride home

Nancy: and cash so I don’t have to beg my parents for any

Teddy: Those don’t count, silly

Nancy: Yeah they do

Nancy: if you really hated me, you’d have left me to get stabbed to death

Teddy: I told you I’ve got 0 interest in hating you, Nance

Nancy: Good

Nancy: you can follow me back then

Teddy: When the car picks you up

Nancy: The app says [however long this car still is away]

Nancy: I’ll save all my best thoughts and pics until then

Teddy: Going to [where she did] wasn’t your best idea

Nancy: I was very upset, in my defence 

Nancy: I needed sedating

Teddy: As was I, so go ahead & post any pics that’ll devastate me further before I follow back, hopefully they’ll get lost among [someone we’re shading for posting constantly]’s

Nancy: I wasn’t sucking dick for drugs

Nancy: I’d not be broke if that were the plan

Nancy: and I look like an actual meth head so it’s throwbacks or nothing

Teddy: Post a throwback to [one of their happier times, giving the most recent that’s possible before tonight for full take me back to then vibes]

Nancy: [do that but then just be sending him pictures you have of y’all that you’ve kept on your phone like remember when]

Teddy: [follow her back so you can interact with this either on her story or feed even though you said you’d wait, we all know you cannot, join in too by sending her pics you’ve kept which obvs include ones she didn’t know you’d taken where she looks adorable]

Nancy: You made me look kind of pretty

Teddy: You’re beautiful, nothing to do with me

Nancy: Is too

Nancy: [send him more pictures that are fully giving couple hence they never saw the light of day]

Teddy: [send her the coupleyest ones you have too, and then the sauciest ones you have, just a not at all casual escalation as we’re going through]

Nancy: Yeah, that’s all you 

Nancy: I’m not trying to see myself naked unless I can see you too

Teddy: If you really loved me you’d always be naked

Nancy: but you love buying me clothes

Teddy: But you look better out of them

Nancy: Okay

Nancy: but I’m keeping on the jewellery 

Teddy: Please do

Nancy: I missed you

Nancy: even when I was really, really off my face

Teddy: What did you take, who did you fuck & how did it feel? 

Teddy: tell me everything

Nancy: [the laundry list of drugs and their effects but lbr if sex occurred it’s giving you didn’t consent/don’t remember so you can’t say anything there, like are you a rich enough gal/good enough customer they didn’t risk it or did they take their opportunity, big yikes lmao]

Teddy: Sounds fantastic

Nancy: I’ll bring you back your own

Teddy: You’re going home

Nancy: You can get it later, if you’re so insistent I’m going home

Teddy: I can get my own later, once I settle up your tab

Nancy: Don’t you want to see me?

Teddy: You broke my heart & you aren’t forgiven

Nancy: How are you ever going to forgive me if you won’t see me

Teddy: How am I supposed to look at you after you made such a fool of me?

Nancy: I haven’t though, no one knows anything

Nancy: it was just us and you did it right back

Teddy: I was disgustingly vulnerable, you weren’t

Teddy: I don’t know anything, Nancy

Nancy: What do you mean, yes I was

Nancy: I was basically weeping about the cake in front of everyone

Teddy: Which doesn’t make us equal at all

Nancy: I’ve said I love you loads more than you have

Nancy: I’m trying, but you just see your own efforts 

Teddy: You were thrilled about my efforts, including the cake

Teddy: I wasn’t about my cock not working for [however long]

Nancy: I’M not discounting YOURS

Nancy: I didn’t put a hex on you

Nancy: but I know, how shit that must’ve been

Teddy: & I haven’t discounted how Ivo treated you, he’s lost a fortune tonight

Nancy: Is it making you feel better?

Nancy: he’d only waste it making a fool of himself with Cara

Teddy: Not really, but it wasn’t meant to, I did it for you

Nancy: I know

Nancy: I don’t know how to thank you when you do nice things for me all the time, it’d become the only word in my vocabulary and I’m actually not that horrifically disabled

Teddy: You’re actually very clever, I know

Nancy: Well, no need to get carried away

Nancy: I couldn’t be in Uni, or do whatever hot boy job it is you do

Teddy: You absolutely could, but you’re so intelligent you’ve chosen not to

Nancy: You are being forced, on both counts

Nancy: which is so unfair

Teddy: Yes, woe’s me

Teddy: if only I were horrifically disabled

Nancy: Pretending at Uni would be easy

Nancy: they’d have to give you help

Teddy: Will you show me how to extend all my deadlines?

Nancy: Of course

Nancy: if we’re spending Christmas together, I’m not watching you write essays

Teddy: If I last until Christmas, I’ve got limited term time before they realise my assignments aren’t the same as my brother’s because we share an identical passion for [the course]

Nancy: That’s genius

Nancy: and honestly, as if it matters to any of your lecturers who’s doing the work, they’re just doing theirs ticking boxes

Teddy: Nevertheless, I want to be kicked out when the timing’s right, not on some lecturer’s say so who, btw, desperately needs to get a life

Teddy: agree to help me & I’ll agree to see you

Nancy: Of course I’ll help you

Teddy: Okay, direct the car here

Nancy: If you change your mind this time, I’m coming in anyway, fair warning

Teddy: I’ve already been warned you look like you’ve developed a crack habit

Nancy: You’ll let me borrow your shower won’t you

Teddy: Perhaps I’ll give you a bath, if you’re good

Nancy: You loved the bath at my old place

Teddy: 🥺 the memories

Teddy: I should’ve bought it, forced them to rip it out & deliver it here

Nancy: You’ll have to rent the place out, there’s been no one permanent since [some rock star rented it after you]

Nancy: at least our first time was against your house, that’s going nowhere

Teddy: The renovations weren’t brick-by-brick extensive, no

Teddy: you just can’t manufacture the chaos unless you commit to fully doing everything yourself

Nancy: People are always let downs, fact

Teddy: But I’ll definitely rent the old place whenever you need a break from your unbearable cousin, say the word & it’s yours again

Nancy: Oh God, her

Nancy: I better tell her I haven’t died

Teddy: No don’t, let her think you have

Teddy: she was certainly killing me earlier

Nancy: You’ve been talking to her?

Teddy: Imagine

Teddy: I mean WAY earlier, before I left

Nancy: You scared me

Nancy: but you’re right, she can keep waiting

Teddy: She deserves to suffer & if not on your birthday, when? It’s the most fitting date

Nancy: You won’t have to suffer hers

Nancy: it was so hellish it felt like a month

Teddy: I’d simply have to admit defeat & abandon the plan if destroying her entire life took a year, true

Nancy: You’re far too hot, even she will have to get over herself to get under you

Teddy: 9 months from start to finish, obviously, that’s the clear winner, even though I could propose & organise a wedding in far less

Nancy: Definitely 

Nancy: even though she’ll milk EVERY second and I’ll wanna die

Teddy: She’ll want her bridal shower in [somewhere we’re dragging to filth]

Nancy: and the hen in [giving the trashiest destination known to man like HELP ME]

Teddy: I dread to think what her honeymoon suggestions will be

Teddy: [I imagine he’s throwing out places rn that aren’t even that trashy cos he’s rich af and doesn’t know the half of it so she can be like oh no no, here and here sis]

Nancy: Try [really trashy places, thanks normal fam and background for the information, even if we’ve not let it humble us at all in any meaningful way lmao]

Teddy: Somewhere I refuse to locate on a map never mind willingly travel to, shocker

Nancy: Thank GOD I will never let it get that far

Nancy: the locals would see you coming a mile away

Teddy: An immediate divorce would be mortifying but 0 tops jilted at the altar

Nancy: It’s giving only happens in the movies in a way she could not predict

Teddy: I’d hate for someone other than you to be my first wife

Nancy: I’d hate it more

Teddy: Would you cry?

Nancy: I’d do much worse things than cry

Nancy: but yeah, I don’t see how I wouldn’t

Teddy: It would essentially be my funeral, I demand some tears

Teddy: short of you throwing yourself at my coffin, or in this instance, at my feet

Nancy: It could be your funeral

Nancy: I’ll happily share the day for the romance of it all

Teddy: You’re so hot when you’re issuing death threats

Nancy: 🥰 don’t think I don’t mean it

Teddy: I think you’re very capable of it, that’s the turn-on

Teddy: no one enjoys an idle threat

Nancy: So true

Nancy: I love your brain

Teddy: Ours complement each other, in more than those words could hope to express

Nancy: I feel it too

Nancy: what you said, about being alike and feeling alone when you’re not there

Teddy: You recognise parts of me no one else wants to look closely at

Nancy: It didn’t feel like it could be real, that you could be exactly how you are

Nancy: even in my family, I feel like an alien, or the only human, either way, alone and wrong

Teddy: Referring to us both as orphans was incredibly accurate

Nancy: Oliver would be a great codename for you, if I hadn’t dated several Ollies and Ols 🙄

Teddy: [tell her how many Ollie’s/variations of there currently are on your Rugby team because it’s giving a Rugby boy name but idek how many players there are so don’t @ me]

Nancy: Makes for a shit couple’s costume, truly, never beating the allegations

Nancy: Pinky promise I haven’t slept with any of them yet

Teddy: The yet keeps things believable

Nancy: You’ve not asked for things to be kept between us

Nancy: and now I’m back, you’ll be able to fuck whoever you want again

Teddy: [tell her whether you’ve slept with any of them or not/how far you’ve gone with who because will always give her kiss and tell deets of whatever has or hasn’t happened]

Nancy: And you said I’d oversold it

Teddy: I said what I said, yes

Nancy: Perhaps

Nancy: I could make it as good as I said though, I maintain that

Teddy: I don’t doubt your capabilities, I maintain that

Nancy: When is your next class?

Teddy: [whenever it is cos I can’t remember if King’s has a half term in october like school and I’m deffo not about to go and try and look when it isn’t that important]

Nancy: Just wondering how long I can keep you to myself

Teddy: As long as you like

Nancy: Tempting

Teddy: They don’t give out praise or prizes which would tempt me to attend, you’re lacking competition

Nancy: I won’t get an ego about it, no

Nancy: your competition is having to go home and tell Grace where I’ve been so likewise

Teddy: You can have your ego when it’s time for me to go home to Grace & tell her what she wants to hear

Nancy: Don’t say home to her, I’ll throw up everywhere in this car

Teddy: Perhaps you should, cleanse yourself before you come home to me

Nancy: You’d be paying for it

Teddy: [send her the cost of it like okay sure, as if she’s gonna now throw up on your command, essentially]

Nancy: Is there anything that freaks you out, like a hard line you won’t cross?

Teddy: As previously stated I didn’t take my mother as a lover in your absence

Teddy: but otherwise, no, I don’t think so

Nancy: I assumed we could take the illegal stuff off the list but now I’m concerned 

Teddy: Your family has form for crossing that particular line, I thought it best to make sure I highlighted it

Nancy: Ha ha

Nancy: You’re very original 

Teddy: My family has form of their own, for plenty of things, I’m not accusing you

Nancy: No one in my family likes me that much, we know, it’s fine

Teddy: Their appalling taste therefore speaks for itself

Nancy: The nicest thing you’ve ever said to me

Teddy: It goes without saying, if we were related, I’d commit incest at once

Nancy: 😅 You’re an idiot

Nancy: but I’d cross that line with you too

Teddy: There isn’t a single one I’d hesitate to with or for you

Nancy: I don’t even want to use any of it against you

Nancy: it’s truly disgusting

Teddy: Who are we?

Teddy: I cried, genuinely, real tears, it was horrific

Nancy: I feel awful

Nancy: but also like I’m lit up inside, sorry, you care though

Nancy: about me

Teddy: Losing you changed me

Nancy: I want you to keep me

Teddy: I’d sooner my trust fund was taken away than you were

Nancy: I won’t make you keep me to that level 

Nancy: I barely need anything, really

Teddy: I disagree, you need everything your heart desires

Nancy: You

Nancy: you do and I need you

Teddy: You need to take [one of these drugs we’re playfully blaming for her being in love with us rn lol] more often

Nancy: If you want meth head, I’ll lean into it, sure

Teddy: I want you

Nancy: I’m on my way to you

Teddy: I’m waiting, patience was never promised

Nancy: Patience is boring

Nancy: stoic isn’t my type

Teddy: It’s a huge relief to know I can leave you in my father’s company every Sunday & you aren’t going to be seduced

Nancy: I’ll be far too busy entertaining myself with the others if your descriptions match the reality

Nancy: though it’s the biggest shame Chlo will no longer be there too

Teddy: We’ll drink a toast to her

Teddy: [whatever her fave drink is, whether it is or not or he’s just being shady haha]

Nancy: Make it several

Teddy: The least we can do as she’s bound to only drink laxatives these days, after having yet more unfortunate daughters

Nancy: Physically unable to produce a son

Teddy: & unable to locate a surgeon who’ll fix the damage, to give her a hope in hell of keeping a man physically interested 💔

Nancy: Have you seen him?

Nancy: They are… well suited

Teddy: More importantly, darling, have you heard his band play?

Nancy: NO

Teddy: You MUST

Teddy: live is an especially unbeatable experience

Teddy: [and give her deets of his next ‘gig’ because of course you go and troll and wind Chlo up whenever you can haha]

Nancy: Oh my GOD

Nancy: That’s so incredibly lame

Nancy: I need to see what she wears to these shows immediately

Teddy: [send her your fave pics from the ones you’ve been to which is lowkey all of them lol lol]

Nancy: I’m so embarrassed for her

Nancy: How rich is he that this is the new love of her life?

Teddy: [give her the tea on who this man’s parents are etc in the way rich people love to do because ofc you know]

Nancy: Naturally she’d never commit and date an actual starving artist

Nancy: oh well, he can fund his wife and daughters’ surgeries in the not-so distant future at least

Teddy: 0 risk of future incest if their daughters were being raised with a child of mine

Nancy: Aw, it’d be [however old said child that thankfully does not exist would be by now, nearly 2 at most]

Teddy: [not you finding a pic of you at the same age like hopefully looking like this and not Chlo]

Nancy: Fucking hell

Nancy: actual 👼

Teddy: Which answers your earlier question, if I wanted a baby, that’d be why

Nancy: I can’t even blame you for being a narcissist 

Nancy: if I was her, I’d have gone through with it

Teddy: Thankfully you’re neither her nor a narcissist, or who knows how many children I’d have by this point

Nancy: You’re so welcome, darling

Teddy: & you’re as welcome to be the mother to them all, should you ever change your mind

Nancy: Don’t say that when I can’t stop looking at your baby photo

Teddy: [send her your literal newborn baby photo as if that’ll put her off because newborn babies are gross]

Nancy: You forget how bad I looked

Nancy: another downside of being a twin

Teddy: You should’ve eaten him, were I a twin, I would’ve

Nancy: I don’t doubt it

Nancy: a mistake I just have to live with, sadly

Teddy: You poor thing 🥺

Nancy: You have no idea, he’s the worst brother in the world, I fear

Teddy: Who do you wish he was?

Nancy: I don’t even know now

Teddy: It’s just as well we have each other & can abandon our disappointing siblings

Nancy: Exactly, it’s far too late to imagine different, let alone want it when I have you now

Teddy: I’ll be everything your family isn’t

Nancy: You are

Nancy: I’ll do what it takes to be with you, now I know

Teddy: Then I’m not mad at you anymore

Nancy: Am I forgiven?

Teddy: When you’re finally here, I can’t help but sulk slightly until you are

Nancy: You do pout so prettily

Teddy: [send her that content ofc]

Nancy: [give him an updated countdown that’s giving nearly there in return]

Teddy: [send her some money how he always do when he wants the driver to hurry up lol]

Nancy: Start running my bath please

Teddy: Start taking off your clothes

Nancy: [send a pic of your shoes being off like okay, I have]

Teddy: Please

Nancy: [send another where you’ve done the thing of taking your bra off under your clothes like tada, as you asked nicely]

Teddy: [smirky content instead of pouty content like oh you]

Nancy: You’re going to have to close your eyes when I get there though, let me get in the water before you look at me

Teddy: Okay, I’ll carry you with my eyes closed

Nancy: You will not

Nancy: I’m gross enough without breaking anything too

Teddy: I will not let you walk, you’ve had such an awfully long night

Nancy: Alright

Nancy: I’ll let you look after me, be good

Teddy: I know you just adored whenever your father carried you from cars

Nancy: Who doesn’t like being treated like a princess?

Teddy: You’re still dressed the part

Nancy: Have you watched Cat on a Hot Tin Roof yet?

Nancy: I want to watch it with you

Teddy: I had to arrive for the party at [whatever o clock he’s saying is ridiculously early because for them it is], when would I have time?

Nancy: Since last night, if you were really missing me like you say

Teddy: You would’ve changed the theme if I had

Nancy: No, the comparison was too apt

Teddy: Fine, we’ll watch it

Nancy: 🥺 don’t ‘fine’ me like a real dad

Teddy: But those old films are usually SO long

Nancy: It’s under 2 hours and no one is saying you are only allowed to watch the film and nothing else

Teddy: Okay, baby

Nancy: Don’t you think he’s hot

Teddy: I wouldn’t dress up as someone ugly

Nancy: Your eyes might be bluer, I think

Teddy: Of course they are & it’s the reason you think I’m hot

Nancy: A reason

Teddy: [give her an eye comparison of her own to something boujee only you would, like when you compared her body to an expensive car that time]

Nancy: Are you ready to prove how romantic you are?

Nancy: [and show up, it’s been long enough, the casual state you are in cannot be overstated honestly]

Teddy: [go and carry her in like you said you would, you know this car’s ETA full well you sent it and I’m sure you’ve been impatiently watching and waiting for it cos I imagine your mum is there but comatose at this o clock so you might as well be home alone with no other distractions cos she’s giving nothing lol, obvs do your extra af cheek kisses hello when you lift her out of this car, that goes without saying, you simply must, no fucks given to the state she is in, I also imagine that he’s shamelessly taking her clothes off on route from this car to his door because lbr it has pulled up right near the house and so you have, at max, some steps to walk up or whatever and he has every intention of her being naked as soon as she’s inside, again with no fucks given]

Nancy: [if anyone is not gonna give a fuck as to who is or isn’t here, it is this bitch, when even though you do genuinely feel disgusting in the way only shame can make you feel, you have to cling to him like he’s about to be snatched from you any moment because CANNOT lose you ever again thank you, being very unhelpful in getting undressed with your clingy nature but definitely not stopping him either, making little noises every time you become a little more exposed ‘til you fully are/are in his house again and you can do a quiet !! gasp about both facts]

Teddy: [it’s fine she’s baby and that’s what her unhelpfulness is giving so he’s here for it, hence not putting his thumb in her mouth again until after she’s done that gasp cos don’t want her to shut up either it’s just a comforting gesture (in the same way his shh responses were after every little noise) while he carries her to her fave bathtub wherever that may be in this house cos no fucks given (for a third time lol) if it’s the furthest possible away from his or literally in the ensuite that his mum is sleeping next door to because he has the run of this entire house always and all he cares about is this being the biggest and boujee-est tub, lay her in it and lounge like a cat in the (no doubt impractical for a bathroom) chair/literal recliner you’ve positioned next to it so y’all can handhold while she takes a sec to enjoy this warm water and the ambiance he has created with mood lighting and mood music etc, I vote that there’s also jets because her body has been put through it by their hookup earlier never mind all the shenanigans she’s been up to since then, so it’s like a massage and a bath all rolled into one here]

Nancy: [here having a sneaky look around at any changes there may have been to this gaff in the time elapsed since y’all were together, the only way to stop yourself from launching a full makeout at him when you really do want to sort yourself out before then, being the most baby about sucking his thumb and nuzzling against his hand, grasping it with your own tightly; I imagine the bathrooms are much of a muchness but your parents ensuite might just top yours in some way so we can say you’re in there using his mum’s luxury facilities like it’s nothing lol, immediately going under in this water like the cliche to deal with how !! you are about this absolute whiplash happening here, not quite girl screaming underwater but you know, emerge again to smile at him and lean your chin on the side of the bath]

Teddy: [we’ve simply gotta do it because it’s the most unhinged that his mum is sleeping a medicated sleep right there and he’d be the most into that as the location for having her back, adding to the !! there already is because she realistically isn’t gonna hear you/come in when she’s however many sleeping pills deep but she COULD, it’s only a tiny smidge of risk, and there’s the immaculate vibes, cup her face with your free hand because didn’t even free her of that handhold when she was submerged, obvs, never will, and stroke the wet hair off it as you return this smile]

Nancy: [the way you didn’t even mention it as y’all walked past her, like I know you know what his mum is like but just really showing how y’all are that you aren’t even noticing or making any effort to be super quiet in the slightest, what if she needed a pee, you don’t know hun but here you are like lady muck in her bathtub, you love to see it lmao ‘I’m so happy you’ve forgiven me’ and you can tell we sincerely mean it because not being the slightest bit flippant rn, closing your eyes whilst he strokes your head like that]

Teddy: [mhmm, it really sums up exactly who they are, well done us, give her a nod with the most sincerest heart eyes of all time before her eyes close because you can tell she means it and you feel the same way, riffling through his mother’s products with the exact same chaotic energy that he attacked her dressing table on his bday until he finds some kind of expensive af hair treatment mask or something of the sort and starts putting it on for this gal, because one thing about Amanda, she has lovely hair so you can tell his mum has the good shit]

Nancy: [opening your eyes when he’s clattering around to do this otherwise you’ll be like hello??? but having them immediately roll closed again when he starts massaging your scalp like that because everything about this is so nice and you can’t deal, copying the way he’s touching you in your hair on your body is a v suggestive manner for his benefit, not fully touching yourself like that but it’s not innocent that’s for sure]

Teddy: [we love to see it, fully giving long af head massage with how extra he’s being about this, Grace would DIE lol because we all know he’ll also find some kind of face mask next when he isn’t distracted having the most fun here both doing this for her and enjoying all of her reactions to it, no hesitation at all therefore in repositioning these bath jets so they hit her body in as suggestive of a way, getting her boobs and foof shamelessly once he’s ‘innocently’ just washing his hands off in the water and then beginning to apply this face mask like he didn’t just initiate that haha]

Nancy: [Grace would NEVER let you see her without her weave, let alone risk you snatching it off, nay nay but she’d be living for this self-care behaviour, go off king, LOOKING at him once he’s in your grill and applying this face mask because we all know what you just did and we’re so about it, even if we continue the innocent act like it’s not making our body move closer to these jets in some type of way ‘I feel so much better’]

Teddy: [LOOKING back because it isn’t casual and the way he’s touching her face with just slightly more pressure than is necessary to apply that facemask is his personal giveaway, as is the fact he’s fully on the edge of his seat to be as close to her as he can without getting up yet, shifting in it every time her body moves in response to the jets, as involuntarily ‘you deserve to’ because she is forgiven, for now at least lol lol]

Nancy: [wincing purely to remind him of how he had you pressed up against your sink earlier not because it truly hurts in any real way, making a sound with it as if it does but is actually a reaction to how these jets are hitting and he will know it ‘I don’t mind if you want to get in’ like you do too]

Teddy: [nevertheless, being SO gentle for the remainder of this facemask application like omg I’m so sorry even though he is not, it’s purely because the softness will get to you both even more and that’s what you want, likewise gently pushing her back so she’s lying again to let both of these beauty products have the time they need, but also and as importantly to position her so the jets are hitting even more, turning them up higher too, WATCHING her as they really hit now, positioning himself on his knees by this bath so he can pick up one of her feet and start going to town on massaging it with an expression like excuse you I’m not done pampering you yet but we all know he wants her to want him to get in more first before he does]

Nancy: [it truly short-circuits our brain because not getting or doing this with anyone to this full extent and it truly kills you to try and deal remotely, the way you’re breathing like he absolutely slammed you back into this tub is wild, biting your lip turning into really chewing it when he turns these jets up higher, swearing into a high pitched moan that’s truly a whine at this point, threatening to kick him in the face from the sheer level of !! you’re already at when he starts giving you your foot massage]

Teddy: [doing SUCH dramatic breathing of his own as if she did kick him in the face and it’s a wince because LIVING for all of this and out here doing the most to try and make her scream the place down purely from the jets and this foot massage alone, isn’t even a foot pervert like that bf of Trace’s but you better believe he’ll be putting her big toe in his mouth to recreate when she was sucking his thumb, no regrets]

Nancy: [shaking your head like I can’t believe you’ve done this but you’re beyond turned on and it’s obvious from how you’re not taking your eyes off him for a second, moving harder and thus pushing your foot into his mouth more as a result, doing a little hot lol like whoops but you are likewise not sorry]

Teddy: [the EYE CONTACT is truly insane rn, has either of them blinked, no they have not, and it’s that which makes him make his first lil noise which turns into more of one ofc when he’s deep throating her toe almost from that movement, biting it how he always do when he’s mad but he’s clearly the opposite, HOLDING her ankle as dramatically as when he pulled her down the bed during their dryhumpathon all that time ago when he was still an underage boy, indecently licking the arch of her foot, pressing into it like it’s part of the massage]

Nancy: [saying his name, at first like you’re shocked at this behaviour, although you aren’t in any way you just LOVE it, then it’s being said again more pleadingly because he’s killing you slowly for real and you don’t know how long you can continue at this pace, your other foot slipping towards his as a super not subtle way to say MORE]

Teddy: [picking up her other foot because mustn’t neglect that one and there’s only so much of a foot massage you can give with your tongue which is the point he’d reached with the previous one ‘I haven’t forgotten’ like saying his name as a plea was because this foot was being so rudely left out, said with such daddy energy as is ‘I love them both equally’ and once again doing the absolute most massage wise to prove that, nbd]

Nancy: [‘promise?’ so seriously because we’re not talking about our feet right now, like you aren’t allowed to forget anything ever ‘it doesn’t matter how long it’s been’ because we haven’t forgotten a single moment in that time is absolutely the vibe]

Teddy: [‘on my mother’s life’ as his first ref to her being in the next room for all this, with a hot lol cos she is and you’re into it as I said before ‘you’re all that matters’ seriously because he isn’t enjoying life rn at all with uni starting and he clearly enjoyed the time y’all were broken up even less, couldn’t even get it up, god bless ‘time’s irrelevant, other people even more so’ because you both did a lot of hoeing but didn’t care about any of them] 

Nancy: [laughing with him because you are too and seriously, have not tried to be quiet once this entire time like you could be doing less but never ‘I’m sure she’d be thrilled’ like if she was conscious right now and had a clue, gesturing via only moving your body that you want him to come close/get in this damn bath with you ‘it’s you and me’]

Teddy: [‘she’ll be obsessed with you’ like how could she not LOVE you even though we Jemily know he means it in the sense of being a hater realistically if anything but that’ll amuse him as much if not shamelessly more than if they did get on, so once again, he’s the opposite of mad about this, finally ceasing this foot massage onslaught but only to pull her body towards him and come at her with the softest and most expensive flannel known to man because he’s defs been at this long enough that it could be time to take the facemask off, not able to do it as gently as he should be because he’s !! saying her name like he can’t quite believe she’s here despite how long she has been]

Nancy: [making a noise like I bet she will, as if his mum is listening in on this right now and into it when that’s just y’all being feral heathens, on the real though you know what kind of woman his mother is and that she’d not stand you and you obviously don’t care even a little, here acting as if you might pull him into this bath but you’re only going to stroke his face in the same pattern as he is washing this mask off of yours]

Teddy: [in no world are they not going to kiss through this flannel, when it’s fully covering her face at the end to make sure he didn’t miss any, as their first since she got here because it’s a throwback to when they did through the pillow as what I think was their first ever if I recall correctly, it’s poetic cinema and I simply must]

Nancy: [it absolutely was and hence we are DYING, simply having to pull him into us/this bath even though he’s still clothed to whatever degree he was, no fucks given because y’all were making out then like you were trying to break each other and the same energy must be brought whilst you try not to fully suffocate on this flannel rn]

Teddy: [I had to do it to ‘em, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, no thought at all for the casual flood this giant boy is causing when he’s pulled in because that bath was FULL and likewise none for whatever clothes he’s wearing rn that he forlornly put on after changing out of his costume during the drama hours, the way he’s acting like they’re fully fucking rn because their bodies have not been anywhere near this close since he carried her in and he couldn’t be more turned on and more responsive to the contact, unhinged sounds being made as they are both getting lowkey waterboarded by this flannel because it’s only getting soggier as she’s getting pushed more underwater with these antics]

Nancy: [me like this water will be going under the door onto your carpets and you’re gonna wake up in that drugged haze and be like why are the carpets wet did I piss or has there been a flood lol, soz Amanda but it’s gotta be done, as had pulling him in this tub, there was no way we were leaving without doing it, here truly about to drown because you can’t stop any of it, making out to the point of waterboarding and pulling his weight onto you like you’re not going under this remaining water, girl calm down but you never will]

Teddy: [you can’t tell me this bitch has never drunkenly left a bath running at least once herself so she’ll probably assume when she can have a coherent thought that that’s what happened, catch him THROWING this flannel and 1000% breaking something because of how dramatically he did but obvs not because he cares about either of them drowning but only because like when they threw the pillow aside, he wants to kiss her properly, she’ll still be suffocating because no recovery pause given and she’s still got the weight of his fully clothed wet body on top of her, catch him also MOANING so extra into her mouth like they haven’t kissed for a million years]

Nancy: [when the flinching is for once real but the way you use it as an excuse to fling your arms around his neck and pull into his is unnecessary but entirely necessary, so into how his body feels against these skin tight wet clothes so you’re then running your hands down his shoulders and arms, saying a truly breathless hi into this makeout like you’ve just got here because can never be close enough, running your fingers through his hair and letting your hands rest at the back of his neck so there’s no getting out of this closeness right now]

Teddy: [me like sure as a child of baze you’d have trauma about things getting thrown and broken, let’s have THAT conversation, but not rn cos he’s doing a truly breathless ‘oh hello’ back like mhmm fancy seeing you here, take a moment to likewise play with all the jewellery you can lovingly grab because that’s always important for y’all, also touch a bruise that’s starting to form from y’all’s sink antics because he really did press her face into it and there’s been time enough to start to see that without us needing to say it was !! and thus popping off sooner because I’m not suggesting it was that hardcore however mad he was, hitting her with a ‘darling’ about it though]

Nancy: [my boo says shall we get real on this day lmao and they say no, giggling at him with the full force of your heart eyes because you really do find him attractive in a way that makes you feel ridiculous in the best way, here feeling shy like he didn’t bring you in naked and a HOT MESS, nodding like yes I know, how could you lol but smiling ‘I’ve forgiven you too’]

Teddy: [poking her in the cheek where you get those natural creases when you smile or laugh but obvs just with his wedding ring finger (unaware of it himself probably that’s just subconsciously how much he’s thought about marrying her recently, not deliberately like when he touched her indecently with it) because she’s ADORABLE and he has to ‘you still love me’ not as a question but a statement like I know you do, the fingers of his other hand combing through her hair like its part of the regiment of this hair mask which hasn’t technically been washed off but might lowkey have been during the drowning]

Nancy: [you’re unlikely to notice that girl but jemily see y’all and appreciate the extraness you’re coming at each other with ‘you don’t have to fuck it out of me’ putting your hands between y’all to lightly push him back teasingly because did not appreciate that comment at all thank you but we don’t truly want you to stop or leave ever]

Teddy: [that was mean of me to say tbh, but this boy treating it like a big joke in this moment with his OTT pout at her ‘but I so very desperately want to’ as if this means they aren’t gonna hookup at all, lol imagine]

Nancy: [raising your brows and looking down like you’re thinking about how desperately he wants to and shaking your head like no, not enough but it’s very much giving ‘yet’ as you start what would honestly be a task of helping him out of whatever wet clothes he has on, t-shirt being the first because easiest to go]

Teddy: [a lil scoff like excuse you because couldn’t want her more and that’s SO obvious, pulling her into him to make it even more so as she removes his t-shirt and he shivers v dramatically and also slams his hips into hers, unhelpful for the clothes removal task but he gotta]

Nancy: [the dramatic intake of breath you hold in as you pause, being this close to him before taking the equivalent of a step back because you want to have your hands on him and you want to be able to watch ‘I’m not going to leave you wanting’ gotta have your own sassy dig at him for leaving you and your party, kissing him like he’ll be unable to reply that way lol]

Teddy: [‘you’re going to make me cry’ in reply at first as if don’t be so mean for the distance she put between them but then even more for the unbreakable code that blush wasn’t either when we used it in the car scene when we were writing you OG, cos blatant what he truly means by it the second she touches him ‘your hand’ coming out exactly like when we all remember he said her pussy, cos identical energy, in this moment being gasped/basically quietly moaned out because of how !! he is, kissing her back so hard we’re all hoping she doesn’t break that tooth again]

Nancy: [nodding again like yes I am because we must, unfinished business combined with the fact we’ve been here under these jets means it’s time to give this boy our full attention, moaning against his lips and pushing him so he’s the one lying back and we’re on top of him so we’ve got more control on how we’re doing this ‘you want me to hold your hand…’ because always saying that, taking his hand with your spare and making him touch himself too, not stopping yourself, as if you’re asking do you mean like this?]

Teddy: [the sensory overload of everything she’s doing + also being able to feel these jets on his own skin now he isn’t fully clothed meaning he can only nod back, biting the back of his other hand but it’s more for the hot visual because all the noises are escaping anyway along with his insane panting breathing and the dramatic !! ‘fuck!’ that he can’t help but say more than once]

Nancy: [when you had every intention of sucking his dick like you said you would before but now you are simply too obsessed with WATCHING his every reaction that you decide you’re just going to keep being the most indecent with how you’re touching him, it’s practically a massage with how much you’re focusing on making him feel as good as you possibly can, making comforting noises and kissing the palm of his hand that’s facing you like it’s okay, there there, licking the palm of his hand like he did the sole of your foot]

Teddy: [it’s giving he ain’t even gonna make it to this club haha but are any of us mad about it, absolutely not, there will be time for that later because he isn’t gonna let her leave any time soon, just be here DYING about every second of this, needing to SQUEEZE his eyes shut which he never does so that’s a clear indication she’s doing everything right, saying her name like even more of a plea than she said his earlier like don’t stop EVER]

Nancy: [we love everything about his reaction and it’s only encouraging us to carry on in this vein, finding whatever boujee bath oils are at the side of this tub to use to make him all slick as well as your body, which you’re using to help rub against him ‘it’s okay’ because not going to tell you to shh when that’s not what we want ‘you can let it out’]

Teddy: [when you’ve gotta open your eyes again to watch the absolute carnage she’s causing however good it feels and however much you wanna keep them closed, actually making his eyes sting a lil bit and be almost watering, being so ridiculously loud with all the unhinged sounds he’s making not even because she wants him to but because he can’t help but to be with how gone he is, speaking of, I don’t make the rules and Winola gay says he’s gotta scream ILY like he made her do even though he hasn’t cum yet because he’s v close]

Nancy: [wiping away his ‘tears’ by actually licking them away because why wouldn’t you, there is no holding back occurring here, thank god the medicated coma is real because you’re being loud enough to wake the dead sir and this gal is very much encouraging you to keep going with how this only spurs her on to go harder, saying his name like a reply like yes, what do you want? Like you have NO idea]

Teddy: [he’ll be here trying to demand she says it back but because he’s so !! it won’t be coherent because there’s so many ways he could be like tell me you love me/say it back etc and she’s getting bits and pieces of each possible way his brain could think to as gibberish/words that don’t usually go together, because obvs + calling her princess again + all the unhinged sounds that are continuing, it’s carnage and they love that, it’s karma tbh that this boy sounds horrifically disabled himself haha but his brain is short circuiting that hard rn I fear, you’re gonna have to kiss her SO hard again as if to shut her up from making fun of you because you know that was nonsense but you can’t correct yourself in this moment]

Nancy: [the way I know this absolute scene is going to make you push him inside of you even though you know damn well he’s going to cum instantly but you can’t help it that you’re too affected yourself and that’s simply what you want, obviously saying ILY into his mouth even though y’all are back to suffocating levels here because you’d understand what he was getting at and you gotta to kill him]

Teddy: [the neighbours at least are welcome that he won’t be screaming the place down because they can’t all be in comas and he is gonna DIE so dramatically, instantly just like my boo said, there’s just no way he wouldn’t]

Nancy: [just here shamelessly riding him until you cum too even though he’s beyond dead and can’t deal, you must, soz to your neighbours because absolute nuisances the pair of you, still, collapse on top of him when you’re done]

Teddy: [when he’s recovered enough the first thing he’s gonna do is a hot lol because forever the vibe that they are just like toddlers causing absolute scenes so he’s loving life, there’s some disbelief in it like omg I can’t believe that just happened but not because he cares about the carnage but because of the absolute 180 they have done since he left the party to being even more loved up than when said party started, giving her the most indecent 2 cheek kisses of all time, like when she said hi before, but one missing and landing more in the corner of her mouth because he’s DEAD]

Nancy: [doing your own hot lol which is more like a happy sigh because struggling to get your breath back too much for a full moment here ‘yeah, I’m forgiven’ with a little smug smile because you feel as if you’ve thoroughly earnt it lmao, looking around, as if for the first time because it is since y’all got carried away, at the utter carnage ‘what will you say?’ very heavily giving IF she asks because we know you won’t clean this up but we also know it’s a possibility your mother might just think it was her because the sad life she’s living]

Teddy: [the way he doesn’t even look around at it because he truly does not care, instead just here giving her heart eyes as he once again combs his fingers through her hair, cupping his hands to throw water over a bit of this hair mask which hasn’t washed out during y’alls antics ‘I’ll tell her the truth’ very heavily giving ABOUT YOU and my feelings for you because wants to tell the world atm, we’re in that bubble]

Nancy: [‘you would’ because we absolutely believe you would tell your mum that you fucked someone in her ensuite whilst she was passed out in bed, not sounding horrified or even weirded out by this but like that’s something we admire about you because it is, getting some fresh water run so you can clean some of this bath oil off of his body and yours, just being soft]

Teddy: [‘absolutely’ because he’s 100% that bitch and he regrets nothing nor will he ever, smiling at her because he’s equally proud of himself for being this way lol, likewise be washing her, at first just joining in with the oils removal of it all but then getting into it and fully doing her entire body, back included, like you do in a bath, pampering her again, using a fancy body wash/soap and sponge/loofa/body brush, whatever he can grab which all feels expensive and lovely, going all in on raiding his mother’s supplies which he scattered everywhere the first time]

Nancy: [smiling back at him and shaking your head like oh you because he’s such a card ‘difference is my mother would actually kill me’ because no chance of you getting away with behaviour that blatant with your fam without getting a smackdown; just here letting him absolutely love upon you, your only contribution being to wash his hair for him because you want to be up in there and shamelessly get to be heart eyes at him]

Teddy: [‘and your father would kill me’ because true but he’s saying it amused because he loves to shit stir we all remember when Theo punched him, don’t mind this boy being such a happy cat about this hair wash, closed eyes because it feels nice and happy sighs and letting it turn him on again already and all, the way they are so cuddled up lying in this bath because he is a toll boy and it’s your mother’s not yours even if it is the boujee-est, still an en-suite in a townhouse so it can’t be insanely big]

Nancy: [‘you wish’ because we know you and your mischievous ways lol ‘he doesn’t care about me’ doing a dramatic pout and cuddling into him more, silently saying but you do with your body language, pouring the water over his head like he’s a baby, kissing his forehead when you’re done]

Teddy: [‘you don’t need him to, I do’ so dismissive of her actual dad with his tone like ugh bye flop ‘I’ll treat you better than he ever has, or even could’ like a promise, doing the pinky thing with it because she said that earlier]

Nancy: [whispering ‘daddy’ in his ear in an OTT saucy manner because he’s already turned on and you can tease him a little, nibbling his ear again whilst you’re here]

Teddy: [a nod that she’ll feel as she’s nibbling his ear because yes I am lol ‘you can’t be spoilt/spoiled (because idk which one it is) hard enough’ in the same OTT saucy manner because it’s just another way to say ruin and you’ve also added hard/harder into it there too so, we love to keep giving princess vibes, TOUCH all the jewellery again, pulling her body into yours more than it already is as you do]

Nancy: [‘do I deserve it?’ sincerely given that y’all are just messing about because you don’t feel like it but you would like to because you want it nevertheless, sitting up properly instead of lounging all over him so he can really get a look at all this jewellery he has bought/given you]

Teddy: [‘you can be royal every day’ because we all remember when she said to him that it can be his bday every day including this boy, as sincerely, as if there was any doubt here and now that he doesn’t just mean for her bday month but forever and always]

Nancy: [kissing him, slower and softer than you have been but with ALL the feeling right now, hugging him to you and pressing your body into his because need to be as close as is physically possible ‘I need this’ because can’t overstate how you have missed him]

Teddy: [shamelessly getting even more turned on by the softness and the feelings and letting her feel that as he does a v quiet noise into her mouth for the absolute contrast of not that long ago ‘whatever you need, it’s yours, I won’t leave you wanting from this day forward’ we all see you phrasing that last part like vows are, not subtle at all lol lol]

Nancy: [she is likewise and doing adorable but kind of feral for how little and soft they are noises about it, being very baby and very !! in a quiet way ‘you know what I want’]

Teddy: [we love to see it, the girlies have really made up and are loved up af, hence he’s simply gotta touch her with only his ring finger again rn immediately, being as slow and soft but still !! about it as her kiss was]

Nancy: [hiding in his neck when you look and realise what he’s doing right now, giving him a nippy lil lovebite about it because you can’t deal twofold now]

Teddy: [‘when are we getting married?’ fully said so casually like it’s any other kind of everyday question and not that one, and like he’s not continuing to do what he’s doing in such a deliberate manner]

Nancy: [‘you don’t want to be boring like everyone else’ as something you struggle to say but do because you did say everyone is doing this and kids earlier and it’s true]

Teddy: [shaking his head because true ‘you want me to be bored by your cousin’ because gotta be the flop who wants to do it when her, doing a lil pout but purely to do it and not because he’s actually anything but down to clown as far as this plan goes]

Nancy: [‘if you want a wedding where everyone knows, yeah’ doing a little shrug because saying you could be married and still do this plan, though you could not get as far as the altar unless you wanted to nearly commit bigamy but we’re sick of the plan idea right now because we’re not nearly stable enough with you to be thinking about it tbh]

Teddy: [‘you know what I want’ to echo her words from a sec ago and also because we all do, all he wants is her rn, using his pinky finger to touch her too now like we’re promising again]

Nancy: [LOOKING into his eyes, difficult as it currently is and doing a BIG breath out, nodding like okay ‘stop thinking about her’ like not right now thank you]

Teddy: [‘I’ve never once thought about her’ because true, literally even when he was talking to her, could not care less and did not register a thing lol ‘just you’ because his motivation for doing this is entirely Nancy centric]

Nancy: [‘stop talking’ and kissing him so he has to but this is said with a smile and we’re still kissing you softly, not a literal stfu lmao]

Teddy: [kissing in her a full cliche movie star manner including the dip so she’s lowkey hanging out over this bath for a moment in a way that’s also giving a nod to the balcony antics, being peak romance but in his own chaotic way]

Nancy: [live your life gals, having a lovely time and we can probably leave y’all having it for the time being tbh]

Teddy: [we know the vibes, whether they ever get out of this bath or not haha, I envy y’all watching the film cos I wanna now if only to hear how bad Liz’s accent is]