#I’m still so bitter that they didn’t use alex that much

[del-thetiredwriter]

Mafia au/ Good Luck while running away from the mafia part 1

Intro , part 0.5 , part 2 , part 3

Notes: Guess what I’m back . To be honest I didn’t quite like it but anyway I’m posting it and I can’t write fight scenes (￣▽￣;). It’s so exhausting.

Tags: @loivre , @randomlyappearingartist , @serenity-loves-red , @hasty-desert , @moonlight-nightwing , @hrhqueenfox , @oceanside-pixie

Warning: cursing, fighting, blood, shooting, Yandere stuff…

“Riddle-san, what are you doing, sir?”

At the question, Riddle briefly lifted his eyes from the documents and looked at you.

“I was just wondering about a thing.” He replied.

You looked around at the files arranged in order. All of them had one thing in common: betrayal, crime, wrong, etc. against the organizations punishments .

“I was really curious about what caught Riddle-san's attention. What could possibly make you go through even the files from the old manager Trein-sensei's time?"

Riddle smiled.

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon." said Riddle.

You were suddenly startled by the sound of footsteps. Apparently you fell asleep. You're not normally someone who sleeps a lot, but for the past two weeks you haven't been able to sleep properly.

After leaving the organization or rather escaping, you temporarily settled in a remote coastal city where you hoped they'd find you a little late. With a little help, you changed your identity, your phone line, everything. You've removed everything that indicates Y/n L/n.

Life here was calmer compared to your old life. You wished you could stay here forever. But you knew they would find you eventually. You lived ,one night in your sleep afraid that they would find you at your most vulnerable moment.

You were currently working in a cafe. Although it may seem a little illogical, working at the cafe, which was open until midnight, was actually a little better for you. The more people around you, the easier it is to avoid them.

"Yo!" You turned the way you came. Your colleague Alex was glaring at you with his arms folded.

“Yuu, what are you doing in the camera room again, are you skipping work again?”

'Yuu' is your new identity that you created to make it harder for them to find you while running away. You still had a hard time getting used to the name.

“No, Alex. I just- "

"Anyway, I'm going downstairs. You have the upstairs okay?"

You nodded and Alex left the room. You looked at the clock, it was 10:00 pm. You stretched yourself and yawned. Two more hours until the end of the shift.

As you were about to get up, your eyes were caught by the cameras. Your eyes widened in panic at what you saw. You watched three people enter the cafe. You'll recognize those red hair, those grins, those faces wherever you see them. Heartslabyul found you. No, they all found you. You clenched your teeth, your time was limited.

The reason you spent most of your time in the camera room was because you could see everything from here. You quickly grabbed your gun from the locked drawer and loaded it. Deuce and Cater took a table downstairs near the front exit. Ace was walking up the stairs.

You took a deep breath. You should have thought fast. You should have gotten out of here . But for that you had to go down the stairs first.

You went behind the door and waited. You waited for Ace to find you.

Look at the cameras. It was approaching. You gripped your gun tightly. And the door opened. You punched the poor boy in the face as the door opened.

“Agh-“ A bitter moan broke out from Ace.

Before he could draw his gun, you kicked him in the stomach and dropped it to the ground.

“Agh- it's been a long time and the first thing you do when you see me is attack me? Really Y/n.” Ace grinned . Clutching his nose, which was bleeding from your punch.

You muttered, "Bastard."

“Come on Y/n didn't you miss me? I missed you so much." He tried to punch you, but you avoided him. You both started to struggle. Ace might have been strong, but you were more experienced and stronger than him. You grabbed him by the head and knocked him to the ground. Before he could regain his balance, you took his tie and tied him with it.

“What am I going to miss about you, you sadistic bastard!”

You picked up the gun on the ground.

“What? Are you going to shoot me ?” Ace said in a tone you didn't like.

“You have to stop asking questions you know the answer to.”

At 11:00 pm, screams broke out in a cafe with the sound of 'bang' gunfire. Everyone in the cafe began to flee desperately, except for two people. The two men, one with red hair and the other with black hair, started to make their way to the upper floor of the cafe.

“Do you think who shot whom, hmm~” Cater asked the younger one.

As the two of them went upstairs, the power went out suddenly and the whole cafe was plunged into darkness.

“Looks like Y/n-chan won.” said Cater to himself.

“Let's separate . You stay here, Y/n has to use the stairs before they can get out of the cafe.” Cater instructed.

“Okay, sir.” said Deuce.

You held your breath under the table. You waited for Cater's footsteps to go away. You were the one who cut the electricity. Five minutes later the generator would start working . You should have gotten out of here by then. Finally, making sure that Cater was far enough away, you slowly came out from under the table. No matter how hard you tried not to make a sound, Deuce heard you.

“Y/n? Is this you ?"

Now that his eyes were accustomed to the dark, he could barely make out your silhouette. Everything happened so abruptly. You took a chair and hit Deuce with it. While he was stunned by the blow, you ran downstairs with your names and the electricity came back. Your five minutes were up.

When the lights were turned on, an unexpected sight was in front of you.

Riddle was sitting at a table eating strawberry pie as if nothing had happened.

“Ah, Y/n you finally came down. I was getting really bored waiting for you.” He said while taking a slice of the pie.

You pointed your gun at him. "Get out of my way if you don't-"

"It's been a long time since we've seen each other, Y/n, but will you put that gun down?" A familiar voice said as you turned around and saw Trey pointing his gun at you. As always, even in this state, he was smiling gently at you.

“Tch. What do you want ? Why are you here?" You asked questions that you know very well the answer to.

Riddle smiled.

“Y/n L/n you are posing a great danger to the organization right now. You also have cases of injuring my men. You understand what I'm trying to say, right?"

"Get out of my way or I'll shoot you."

Riddle laughed.

“You won’t t kill me, you can't. Just like we can't do to you. Now if you drop that gun, I'll do my best to mitigate your sentence."

This was clearly a lie. You grit your teeth. You smiled calmly and did as he said. You slowly put your gun down and raised your hands in the air.

“Well done, here it is. I wish you would always listen to my words like this. Now let's go back." said Riddle.

“Sorry Riddle but I won't be back!” You said and detonated the smoke bomb you were hiding. The area was suddenly covered with fog. You quickly walked out the front door through that mess and got into your car.

“Get them quick!” Riddle shouted.

You quickly drove away. There was no turning back anymore. The Game has started.

#yandere twst #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland mafia au #yandere heartslabyul #riddle rosehearts #ace trappola #deuce spade #cater diamond #trey clover #yandere riddle rosehearts #yandere cater diamond #yandere trey clover #yandere ace trappola #yandere deuce spade #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twst x reader

[why-what-no]

Caged Love

Pairing: Morpheus x Fem!Burgess!Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: The adopted daughter of Alex Burgess finds out about Morpheus. When a love blossoms between the two, she must decide between her family and the trapped Dreamlord

Requested by: @writing-fanics

Throughout (Y/N) Burgess’s youth, she had picked up whispers of her family’s past. Her grandfather was said to have trapped a god, to have taken it’s power for his own. He had been a warlock, and (Y/N) had began to play pretend as a magic user when she learned that.

Before her fathers banned her from that, however. He didn’t want any more magic in the family.

She had been adopted at a young age by Alex Burgess and his husband. Originally the girl was the child of a gardener who died unexpectedly, and the owners of the house had then taken her in as their daughter. Alex never expected to have a child, but he loved her like his own.

And eventually, when she grow into an adult, he revealed to her his greatest secret. The god trapped by his father was real, only he wasn’t a god. He was the Sandman, and he was in their basement.

(Y/N) asked her father about releasing him, staring at the trapped and helpless man-shaped figure. The sight of him broke her heart, and he was just staring at her with bitterness in his eyes. He looked like a fallen angel.

But her father’s reply was harsh. He would kill all of us, he told her, his kind is vengeful and letting him go would be a death sentence. So instead of freeing the Dream lord, she allowed her father to led her out of the room.

But she would return, unable to get Dream’s eyes out her of mind. Every few days, she’d enter the basement and sit on the floor in front of the sigils on the floor. (Y/N) would speak to him, getting a little discouraged as he never said anything back. But she still continued, wanting to keep him company. Telling him about her day, asking questions that she knew he wouldn’t answer.

However, things began to change.

Dream still didn’t say anything to her, but the look in his eyes whenever he saw her had changed. It was much less bitter than it was when (Y/N)’s fathers were present. She got attached to him, worried about him, disgusted with herself for not doing anything.

Finally it all became to much, and she snuck down to the basement at midnight. If she were to guess, she’d say that he seemed surprised to see her at that time of night. (Y/N) considered begging him not to hurt anyone. But her father had been doing that for decades, and nothing had happened.

“I should have done this earlier. I’m sorry.” Was all she said, scuffing the sigils with her toe. Making sure that the security guards didn’t see.

She dashed out of the basement but froze when she heard gunshots from the basement. Morpheus didn’t have a gun. Only the guards did. Terror seized her at the thought of Morpheus in danger and she immediately returned to the basement.

“Get out of here Miss Burgess!” One of the guards yelled, a bright light surrounding Morpheus as they shot at him. (Y/N) yelled at them to stop, but a large force of energy hit her and the guards. Hitting her head as she was slammed against the wall. Losing consciousness as she realized that she had probably made a mistake.

***

Morpheus tried to keep the girl out of his head, using his mission to get his tools back as a convenient distraction. But now that everything was back to normal, he found himself searching for the woman who had freed him.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” (Y/N) commented when she first saw him since she freed him. He noticed her hands shaking slightly as he stood in front of her, obviously nervous that he would hurt her.

“Neither did I.”

“I could have died because of you. I saw what you did to my dad.” It was obvious she didn’t trust him, just like he hadn’t trusted her.

Having been so used to humans betraying him, he had expected her to be like the others. Expected her to be like her family.

But she had been kind to him, spoke to him. He had wanted to hate her, told himself that it was always the ones who masked themselves in beauty and kindness that were the worst of enemies. However, when she had freed him, he had realized that maybe there was some good in the different worlds.

“I’m sorry that you were injured. It was not my intention.” She seemed so fragile next to him, so human. “As for your father, he made his choice long ago.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but knew he was right. So Morpheus continued. “I came to thank you, and to see you again.”

“See me?”

He nodded. “You’re a good person. One of few. Throughout my time imprisoned… you were the one good part in all of it.”

“I’m sorry I took so long to help you.” Her response was quiet, guilty. But he just smiled regretfully.

“You were loyal to your family, and you didn’t trust me.” He hadn’t forgiven the rest of her family, but in his eyes, (Y/N) had done no wrong. “I only wish that…”

“What?”

“I don’t regret keeping silent in my imprisonment, but I would like to now have a change to speak to you.

Her heart raced at his words, scarcely believing it. “Speak to me? Like get to know me or something?” She stuttered.

“You were kind, I don’t see that very often.” He tried to avoid telling her the full truth, that he just wanted to be around her. That he hoped that she would maybe… be interested in what he had to say just like he was about her. “Come back with me to my Realm.”

He expected her to protest, to say no. But, he should have learned not to expect anything about her. “Alright.”

She sounded eager.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She confirmed. “It’s not like I’m really wanted back home anymore. And I wanna talk to you too.”

He couldn’t hide his smile at her reply, hopeful that this would go better than his previous experiences with women.

Unbeknownst to him (at least at the moment), he didn’t have to worry about that. She was just as fascinated with him as she was with him. And as they got closer over the time they spent together; they both knew they had made the right choice.

Somehow the granddaughter of the man Morpheus hated, became his greatest love.

#the sandman x reader #the sandman #morpheus x reader #Morpheus #the sandman dream #dream of the endless x reader #dream of the endless #my fics

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Rwrb movie review, obviously spoilers below

3’5/5

Half a star for “Prince Henry belongs to Britain. Henry Fox has to belong to himself or else he’ll vanish.” “Can he ever belong to someone else?” “Only momentarily.” 
Half a star for this masterpiece:

Would have been a full star if it had been longer.

Half a star for “My life is the crown and yours is politics and I will not trade one prison for another.”

Aside that, the movie is a 2/5

The book is much better.

Things I liked:

Sweet moments between Alex and Henry.

Henry after the lakehouse.

Zahra.

What they did with the text messages (see above). I think it was incredibly creative and I really like it.

Things I did not like:

What they did to Alex’s character. They completely butchered my boy and I’ll never forgive them. What do you mean the meeting at Rio is the only reason Alex disliked Henry?? What about the constant comparison between both of them than the media and the public makes which is just a constant reminder to Alex than he will always have it harder for being brown and the son of the first woman to be president?? Why about the whole thing leading to Rio?? The magazine, Alex kind of idealizing Henry and wanting to meet him and Henry to turn out to be not what he expected so there’s just another bitter taste on top of it?? What do you mean his parents are not only together, but happily together? If they were together but unhappy it would make sense. They can’t divorce, Ellen already has it hard enough being a woman and a democrat to also be a divorced woman. But happily married?? Tf? We already knew June wouldn’t be there but I still miss her, and without her something about the movie falls flat. Alex overworking himself, his insecurity, his public persona, etc etc where the fuck is it. Why did they make Alex a one dimensional character? I’ll never forgive them for what they did to him. That being said, I think Taylor did a good job portraying him, and the problem is just the script and the decisions made. If the script and all was good, I think Taylor would have really been able to fully show and portray Alex.

This guy Miguel, I skipped every scene he was in except the one where we meet him. I hate him, why was he even added. I genuinely don’t get that writing decision.

I get we didn’t get more Bea and Pez, we didn’t have enough time to show everything, but what shocks me is not getting more Philip / the king. Something to fully show monarchy’s homophobia would be nice. They just added everything in the last second and it was incredibly rushed.

Catherine??

No Dear Thisbe???

Half the e-mails either being cut up or replaced by new e-mails, taking away the best ones and the feelings of having to hide, of loving each other from distance, etc etc

Many many scenes taken away. I understand there was not all the time in the world, I don’t need everyone to come yell at me in the replies, I know. This is all criticism while having in mind than it’s a movie, not a tv show. But that’s what bothers me. A book with so many subplots, all equally important should have been a tv show not a movie.

Your song was not on the movie at all, not part of the soundtrack not even mentioned. Can’t Help Falling In Love With You for the v&a dance is a good decision. The symbolism of it (Henry thought himself of incapable of being loved, his position and being closeted and everything and just the way he was too much of a burden, but Alex plays that song specifically, he can’t help falling in love with Henry, it’s not a chore.) But it also takes away from us the I love him on purpose, since these two statements contradict each other.

The lake confession, but since Alex apparently has no depth I’m not surprised.

Alex coming out to the world and confirming their relationship, therefore also outing Henry without even consulting him??? What even was that

These ones are not really important but I don’t get it: why is bea younger, why are Henry’s last names different, why do random women just kiss Alex in New Years without even asking

Some photos:

By the way, this is what I call cinema:

#I’m sounding a lot like a hater trust me there were lots of things I enjoyed #rwrb movie spoilers #rwrb movie #rwrb spoilers #rwrb #casey mcquiston #red white and royal blue #firstprince #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #red white & royal blue

[obligitory-fma-blog]

I watched the final Netflix adaptation of FMAB. Here’s some of my notes

- “Y’know, I don’t think he has any need for his dad.” Hoenhiem. Uhm you left him he kinda did for a while so idk why you’re being bitter now

- YOOOOO SIG AND IZUMIIIIII

- RAHHHH I LOVE THEM

- Okay the fighting is better this time, less choppy

- Izumi’s actress is ON POINT I LOVE HER

- “I was never much of a proper parent to either of those boys” Ya don’t say. (I’m not a Hoenhiem hater, but I am a Hoenhiem critic.)

- “Maybe you should’ve told them goodbye and talked to them before leaving. Maybe then their grief wouldn’t have taken over.” SAY IT IZUMI

- “I reorganized your insides lol” Hoenhiem you could tell Izumi before you did that?? Creepy man.

- Still didn’t use the music from the original :(

- Okay Ed should be covered in blood after falling into it but he isn’t, just his head bandage. Wtf is up with that??

- GIRLIE I CANT WITH ENVY RN WTF

- WTF IS THE CGI OF THE HUMANS ON HIS MANE (?)

- EW IT GOT WORSE

- Okay how tf did envy knock them onto a stone platform that was LITERALLY NOWHERE TO BE SEEN UNTIL NOW

- Mustang and Riza my beloveddddd

- The actor for General Hakuro is pretty good tho, very weird, but good

- Girlie you walked into some weird shit

- Mustang girlie I luv you so much tho hope you slay this movie

- Oh hi Father

- “Daddy…?” -al “DO I LOOK LIKE YOUR-“ -father

- Also highkey the actor for Envy is really good too

- “How do you know Hoenhiem?” “Technically he’s our father” TECHNICALLY HAHA

- Ed is like “touchy no no, no touchy”

- Girlie you are a creep HANDS OFF THE LITTLE GUY

- Ed’s just like >:/ wtf get off

- WHY ARE YOU PETTING HIM???????

- I feel violated just watching this

- YEAH LING SAVE HIM

- YOOOO WERE GONNA SEE GREEDLING :D

- Ew that’s fuckin goopy (philosophers stone)

- It looks like melted jello ewwww

- Okay idk if seeing greedling is worth it for this shit

- Why is his mind blue???

- Wait did we see greed lose his body in the first one or….

- I don’t think we did???

- Uhhhh idk and I don’t wanna go check because the first one is bad

- Lowkey he’s fine as hell tho

- Mustang looks so damn done lmao

- HE’S SITTINF LIKE THE SHINJI MEME WAIT

- LMAOOO THATS SO GOOD

- okay okay it’s time for me to get my Mustang being a dad moment don’t fail me now movie

- Stfu Bradley no one cares

- WTF WHERES MY MOMENT HELLO

- ARE WE NOT GONNA GET THE 520 CENZ PROMISE??

- I HATE THIS

- Okay Ed, Sig, and Izumi get to interact now :D

- Okay so now we’re getting the scar brother research moment? Outside of Briggs? Cool? I guess?

- Oh hi greedling

- Okay so apparently father killed greed cause he disobeyed him but that’s all we get for that.

- Also this story set up just doesn’t and will never work as well as the first one, so much stuff is intertwined in different events and mixing it all up like this just makes it so confusing and that’s part of the reason why this just doesn’t work

- But I’ll ignore it for the sake of things

- OLIVIER :D

- Mustang and Riza checking in on their kids :D

- I’m so normal about found family

- 5 minutes in Briggs and Ed is already in trouble. In character stuff

- Also we gonna talk about his automail or we just gonna skip over that for plot reasons

- OLIVIER I LOVE YOUUUUUU

- WOMEN ARE HOT

- am I bi

- YESSS ICE QUEEN ICE QUEEN

- “How’s Alex?” “He’s good!” “…shame.”

- Okay sloth looks less weird than I imagine

- OLIVIER WITH THE BOMB :D

- Love her what a Queen

- Still wish they used the original soundtrack I will forever be mad about that

- SLAYYY OLIVIER YASSSSSS

- please marry me

- YEAHHHHHH

- Okay Ed just kicked sloth off of briggs? Girlie even with automail I doubt he could kick him that easy

- So Olivier doesn’t suspect Ed of anything? Out of character, #notmyicequeen

- Also turns out Hakuro and Raven are both the same person in this version??

- Oh Hi Winry

- “If I step out of line, they’ll do something to you.” Awww baby protect your gf

- YEAHHHH OLIVIER AGAIN :D

- “I won’t let anyone do whatever they want in here!” SAY IT GIRLIE YEAHHH

- please I’m begging you marry me

- on my KNEES

- They could not have casted her better

- Bb girl it’s so hard to understand you when you’re so fine I can’t focus

- Okay now Drachama is attacking Briggs

- When Sloth goes back in the hole Raven/Hakuro looks like a grandpa when he’s told he can leave the nursing home for the day to play golf and if that isn’t a summary of the entire us government idk what is

- AWWW WINRY HAS A CHARM ON HER BAG THAT LOOKS LIKE DEN :D

- Sorry Olivier, but it’s so hard to focus on this serious scene with your luscious lips and beautiful face

- She would murder me for saying this all but IDC IF TJAYS HOW I GO THATS HOW I GO

- Alphonse!! :D

- Hoenhiem is like “hUH???”

- He didn’t know about Al’s body????

- Okay bestie :/

- Father of the year fr

- Can’t even keep up with the fact that his son doesn’t have a body smh

- Okay Xerxes time

- ED IS THE SAME ACTOR FOR YOUNG HOENHIEM???

- Okay I get why

- BUT OKAY THEN IG

- Okay cool Xerxes sequence

- “Everybody is dead” lol cringe get good

- Sorry I have the humor of a middle schooler

- Oh hi Greedling

- Am I bi cause THIS MAN

- Okay now it’s Al!Pride time just out of nowhere for no reason?

- “So you’re gonna try and beat me then?” -Pride

- “… nah you’re freaky lol” -Hoenhiem

- Hi again Al

- “Don’t insult my son bitch” okay we love that

- “Okay, let’s all go beat the dwarf in the flask :D” -Hoenhiem

- “NO ONE FUCKING ASKED UGH” -Ed

- MUSTANGGG LOOKIN SPIFFY

- Still mad we don’t get the 520 cenz promise

- AHHHH BLACK HYATE

- LUV HIM

- Also seeing Mustangs team all together is so slay :D

- “Don’t die while we overthrow the government y’all.” -Mustang

- Oh great bad cgi soldier things

- YEAHHH MUSTANG SAVE YOUR SON!!

- Okay good Envy and Mustang will fight :)

- Now it’s time for CRAZY MUSTANG :D

- BURN THE BITCH BURN HIM

- ED LOOKS SO SAD AND CONCERNED :(

- YEAH RIZA STOP HIM STOP HIM

- YEAH ED STOP HIM

- “GIVE IT TO ME FULLMETAL NOW! OR ILL BURN OFF YOUR LEFT ARM!” ANGST ANGST ANGST

- “JUST TRY IT! GO AHEAD! ILL THROW DOWN WITH YOU NOW!” YEAHHHH SAVE YOUR DAD!!

- “YOU PLAN ON STANDING AT THE TOP OF THIS COUNTRY LIKE THAT?!” CRYINF SCREAMINF RAHHHHH

- “YOU KNOW THIS ISNT WHAT YOU WERE STRIVING FOR” PARENTAL!ROY AND ED PEOPLE WE ARE GETTING FED TONIGHT

- YEAH RIZA AND SCAR STOP HIM :D

- The way Ed got ready to fight when Mustang looked like he was going to snap at him I :,)

- “I am a giant fool forcing you all to act this way.” HUG YOUR WIFE AND SON

- “Lieutenant, please lower your gun. I’m so sorry” GONNA CRY NOW

- I still wish we got the 520 cenz promise and I will never not be bitter about that

- I don’t care that it’s not the point of this IM STILL MAD

- OOP BYE ED

- AWWW MUSTANG CALLING FOR ED BEFORE HE GOES :,) WERE GETTING FED GUYSSSS

- Okay I don’t like the fight between Bradley and Fu as much this looks more like stage fighting :/

- That’s the only one so far I didn’t like tho so….

- How tf is Riza gonna survive tho the weird doctor guy isn’t here

- DONT LOOK DIRECTLY AT AN ECLIPSE GUYS WHAT???

- Also those do not go that fast either

- I got to see one and it was really slow but fun ig

- Idk I was like 13 so

- Anyways

- YEAHHH ED HELP YOUR DAD!!!!

- Okay I wish they added colored contacts for this or smth so it’d be similar to the series and make more sense but eh… who knows

- ED YOU GOTTA KEEP HELPING HIM HE CANT SEEEEE

- or get revenge that works too

- Okay cgi for the absorbing god scene is cool

- Alright who’s ready to fight god?

- Am I hallucinating or is the actor for Al also the actor for god!father/Dwarf???

- IM NOT THATS HIM

- OKAY IG

- All the actors for this are really good actually. I can tell they have passion for this. I appreciate that.

- Okay it’s time for Ed to almost die for the 5000th time

- YEAH MUSTANG FUCK HUM UP

- YEAH EVERYONE!!!

- POWER OF FRIENDSHIP YIPPIE

- Also someone get Ed. Or don’t

- Nah cause the creepy guys gonna get him now

- AL

- THIS SCENE WILL NEVER NOT BE SAD TO ME

- DONT TOUCH THE CHILD WEIRDO

- It’s funny cause when I got into this I was younger than Ed and now I’m older than him. Fixation really be lasting a while. It’s the neurodivergence isn’t it.

- YEAHHH NOW WE GET HIM BACK TO HIS BODY :D

- I can’t even tell if it’s good because the series is good or if this is actually a good movie

- Oh hi greed I forgot about you lowkey

- But you’re hot so hiiiiiii <3

- “YOU DARE DISOBEY YOUR FATHER?!”

- “ITS A LATE-STAGE REBELLIOUS PHASE IM GOING THROUGH!”

- Iconic.

- And get punched idiot

- OKAY TIME TO BRING BACK AL

- YEAHHH HOENHIEM TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

- “Let me at least do something fatherly in the end” AHHHHH

- “STOP BEING A DUMBASS DAD” AWWW ED

- “You finally called me dad 🥹” I CANT VISIBLY REACT I DONT WANNA DISTURB MY ROOMMATES BUT AHWHWIWJEVRI

- “I was always a human to begin with. All is one, one is all. Even if I can’t use alchemy, I have great people in my life. My precious friends and family.” STILL THE BEST QUOTE FOREVER

- YEAHHHH RIZA AND MUSTANG WILL FIND A WAY TO GET HIS EYESIGHT BACK

- AWWW WE GET A TRISHA AND HOENHIEM SCENE

- YEAHHH THE BROS COME BAVKKKDHIHZHW

- AND WE SEE HUMAN AL WITH SHORT HAIR

- AWWWWWIEHJEIEHWHWH

- IM NOT NORMAL ABOUT THIS EVER

Conclusion: yep. This got me in the heart, even if it isn’t the show itself. Still stuff that bothered me. But overall, this series of movies is not so bad. Not so great, at times, but not so bad. Honestly, I think they did the best they could and that’s really all I could ask for. And it was nice seeing them all in live action. For this movie, an 8/10. For the series of movies? 6.5/10. Not remotely comparable to the original series, but still a worthwhile watch and something I’d recommend if you want a recap of the series but don’t have time to watch it all again.

Let me know if you all want notes on the first one! I watched it a long time ago but I’ll do it again for y’all. Much love guys <3

#fma blog #fmab #fullmetal alchemist #edward elric #fullmetal #fma brotherhood #ed elric #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #fma netflix #netflix adaptation

[lestappenforever]

After sleeping a bit, because if not, I was going to develop a headache because of Max’s DNF. Here’s my take on today’s race (hopefully I don’t cry again)

So Ferrari were good, but good to what extent? There speed was there, but again, we didn’t see any of the 2 have any type of battles, it was merely defensive. Charles defends for Carlos against Lando. But we didn’t really see much. Yes, Albert Park is a track that generally Ferrari like, but we didn’t really see the expected battles today. The whole “Red Bull was a couple of seconds slower than Ferrari” shit that was said today is just comparing to one side of Ref Bull, which is Checo, who didn’t have the speed and had floor damage sustained when battling Alonso. Also, the team order shit again. Ferrari protecting Carlos by using Charles. Granted Carlos was on the front row, but a battle would have been better.

Red Bull have made a mistake today, and maybe the DNF was just expected especially after the damage Max had in FP1. But nonetheless the car is a rocket ship, even as stated by the Mercedes boys. But while yes, that car is a rocket ship designed by the GOAT, the car isn’t what takes the driver to victory, actually the driver pushes the car to the ABSOLUTE LIMIT and takes it home. Because if it were Max who started P6 and didn’t have any damage, he could have taken it home. And on the Max note, today just goes to show that Max grew so much and matured as a driver. Because he knows shit like this happens. Granted, he’s mad, even furious, but he didn’t show it.

THAT MCLAREN HAS SPEED. Finally getting to see that Mercedes power unit in a proper car. Lando and Oscar drove really well today. But again. The whole team order shit, especially in Oscar’s home race, must suck.

The Astons are working their way up pocito pocito. Slowly but surely improving, with double points and good drives from both Lance and Fernando. They are not at opening races 2023 level, but are working their way up.

Can I just say, Haas are impressive??!! The car has speed, Nico and Kevin are comfortable in that car, and are able to take it places that they weren’t able to last year. Its like this team needed Guenther to leave to perform, and having a technical TP was definitely what they need.

YUKIIIII IS IMPRESSIVE AND SO FAR THE STRONGEST CONTENDER FOR THAT REDBULL SEAT IF CHECO WERE TO LEAVE. Today’s drive was just, chef’s kiss, defense and attack was perfect, and he’s showing that car’s potential to the fullest. Daniel also improved a bit, but is still nowhere near were he needs to be, so far, 3/3 out qualified and out performed by Yuki, who is cooking

Mercedes post 2021 regs is showing that 1. Cost cap is damaging them, 2. They were just so strong because of the old regs and 3. That insider in FIA that gave them information prior to being given to the teams was essential for their success (no I’m NOT TALKING ABOUT SUSIE, it was something much older). But maybe this team just had its glory and is essentially and originally going to be an upper midfield team.

Williams today proved that the decision to allow Alex to take Logan’s car was, unfortunately as expected, not the right one. Alex yes, drove well, but he failed to do the one thing Williams needed and essentially gave him the car for, which is scoring points. At this rate, Logan could have gotten the points, and outperformed Alex. Now let’s just pray and hope he didn’t loose his confidence and is able to perform well and actually score points next race.

While I’m still bitter, the race was actually not really that fun, with team orders being the main driver today, which would have NEVER happened if Max didn’t DNF, I’m looking at you all who are saying Max makes the sport boring, because looking today, no he doesn’t. And I actually hope for revenge of the Lion next race, and a new streak to start as the broken one in Suzuka, with Logan scoring and a proper gold race

Once again, I completely agree with your assessments and I don't really have anything to add. All I will say is:

Yuki > Daniel

Nico and K-Mag starting to cook.

And last, but certainly not least:

Williams owe Logan a fucking apology.

#Asks #agentofchaos001 ❤️

[kaiwewi]

im hooked on guilty conscience have some fries 🍟🍟🍟

Aww, and I'm hooked on all the lovely comments and feedback 💖💕 Thank you for the fries!! I shall humbly offer you ~1,000 words of fluffy nonsense - Villain and the little hero bonding over a silly childhood story 😎

Guilty Conscience #9

[Masterlist: Renegade Rescue Squad] [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8]

Synopsis: Villain reads through his chats and ends up sharing an embarrassing childhood story with the hero.

tw: talk about captivity

When the little hero didn’t say anything else and the silence became thick enough to choke on, Villain pulled out his phone and began reading through his chats in earnest.

Henchman had replied to his message with an “On my way”, a “Harper is coming too”, and a thumbs-up emoji; and though he didn’t need confirmation he could still count on Henchman, the gesture did make breathing easier.

As expected, Doc’s messages were requests for supplies.

Supervillain’s message was likely something he didn’t have the stomach for at the moment, so he read through Bax’s chat next…

“Henchman said you're working with Other Villain?! Really???? You’ve lost your fucking mind!!”

“Where r u?”

“I sure hope you’re not ignoring me ”

“Villain wtf”

“Villain answer your stupid phone!!”

“HELLO?! 😡😡😡”

“You little renegade if you don’t talk to us immediately I’m going to make sure you regret every choice you ever made in your damn life!!!!!”

“I swear, if you blocked me…”

“If you don’t call right this instant I’ll tell everyone the slug story”

“Haha! Too late!! We’re all making fun of you now 😈 that’s what you get for being a shit brother”

“F u Slugboy”

He rubbed a hand across his face. Ugh, Bax was angry all right. He might as well start looking for a shovel and dig himself a pit to go die in.

He looked up, caught the hero craning their neck to get a glimpse of his phone, and quickly turned the screen away from their prying eyes. Though not fast enough, apparently.

“Why are they calling you ‘Slugboy’?”

Ah dammit. “It’s… a stupid story…”

Because, once upon a time, he’d been a ten-year-old idiot brat who’d thought it was unfair his older sister got to hang out with her clique while he had to help their mum in the garden. Because he’d felt left out whenever Bax spent time with her teenager friends. And maybe also because he’d had this little crush on her friend Alex.

Fuelled by spite and a need for attention, he’d thought it would be hilarious to steal away with the half-full slug bucket and throw slugs at Bax and her friends.

Well. It had been funny. For all but the 2 minutes it had taken Bax to catch him.

He’d never forget Bax’s cruel smirk as she’d grabbed him and, with her friends’ assistance, dunked him face-first into the slug bucket.

“And that,” he concluded, “is how Bax and her friends came to call me ‘Slugboy’ for a few months. But they dropped it when one of the boys in the neighbourhood picked up on it and started making fun of me. Bax was furious – something about siblings having exclusive rights to bullying each other – and whatever she did to the poor guy, he never even looked my way again afterwards.”

He smiled. Despite the fights and petty jibes, Bax had always had his back when it mattered.

The hero watched him with a sort of eager fascination, like they were actually interested in his silly childhood anecdotes. Or perhaps they merely needed the distraction as much as he did. “The slugs… did you get them in your mouth?”

He cringed. With a shudder and a grimace, he nodded. Oh, he’d had slug slime in his mouth, in his nose, in his ears…

“Yuck!” The little hero gave one of those gleeful sorry-not-sorry laughs. “Did you swallow any? What did they taste like?”

Slimy, bitter, and acrid.

“I didn't, fortunately. But they taste like humiliation,” – a crooked smile played on his lips – “and two hours of retching, with Mum giggling in the background telling me I deserve it.”

He shared a chuckle with the hero, but they fell silent again and the conversation died.

Opening Angel’s chat, he was greeted by the image of a bemused-looking dog with a caption reading “new EMT on first shift: ‘It sure is quiet tonight’”.  Yeah, not only on the first shift…

Next was a picture showing Angel and Supervillain – Angel with his way too innocent-looking face and Supervillain with an uncharacteristic softness to their sharp features – posing on a hill with the cityscape in the background. The subsequent message read “This is already the fifth time we’re hanging out this month! Locations seem kinda romantic? You know, sunsets and stuff… Think they might be into me, or am I imagining things?”

Hm, perhaps Supervillain did look a tad… smitten.

He scrolled to the next message and tsked. Stupid Bax…

“B just told us the FUNNIEST story… Slugboy 🐌 (yeah I know that's not a slug but they didn't have a slug emoji 😒)”

“Wait, made you a meme. Lol check this out”

One look at the image – a slug donning a crudely-rendered digital likeness of the jacket he was currently wearing – and its caption “I didn’t choose the slug life. The slug life chose me” was all it took to make him burst into an odd mix of laughter and tears.

The hero regarded him for a long moment, then asked, “are you like this with all your prisoners?”

His small bubble of merriment burst and he sobered. “Hey, you’re not a prisoner – not mine and not anybody else’s. I can promise you that much.”

“And you expect me to trust you.”

“I don’t expect anything.” But he'd still like them to feel safe.

The little hero gave a thoughtful hum, fiddling with the power-suppressor bracelet Other Villain had put on one of their wrists. With their powers locked away, it was no surprise the hero still considered themself a captive. Unfortunately, Other Villain hadn’t conveniently carried the key around in their pockets, so the only way that cuff was coming off was by getting the hero back to base and bribing Thief into picking the lock.

“Kid, I swear, you won’t be wearing that for much longer.”

The hero glowered, no less torrid than the glare they’d given Other Villain. “Dude, if I choose to trust you and you turn out to be just another useless adult who'll let me down the second I give them a chance, I won't forgive you.”

He nodded, feeling a bit queasy. Since the beginning of the week, he’d only managed to disappoint pretty much everyone important in his life. With a track record like that, what could possibly go wrong…

Well, all the more reason he couldn't afford to screw this up.

Next to him, the hero suddenly began to snicker. “Heh, Slugboy.”

[Part 10]

#whump #hero whumpee #villain whumpee #villain whumper #villain caretaker #comfort #fluff #heroes and villains #hero x villain #villain #other villain #hero #rookie hero #snippet #writing snippet #writing #my writing #writeblr #writers #writers on Tumblr #hero x villain community #whump community #Renegade Rescue Squad #Guilty Conscience #embarrassing childhood story #lol #Slugboy

[justsome-di]

Nobody Ends Up Dead In a Bathtub, Everyone Keeps Their Organs: Chapter 22

Summary: Alex is an ordinary, highly-introverted office worker. He clocks in and out and goes home to his little apartment he shares with his younger sister. He hasn’t dated in years by the time his co-workers set him up on a blind date.

The only issue is he and his date are not on the same page. At all.

While Alex thinks it’s a normal date, Damián is under the impression Alex is a client who paid to be there. No-so-quickly, they realize something is up. It’s all a prank. Damián is a sex worker Alex’s co-workers hired as a sick joke.

After reassuring that they’re both okay, Alex decides he wants revenge for both him and Damián. The plan is to use the stigma of sex work and start a 6-week, scandalous fake dating scheme with a big finale at the office Halloween party. Alex’s co-workers will be too horrified to try to prank him again. At least, that’s the plan.

You can also read this on AO3. If you don’t want to wait for new chapters, the complete story is on Patreon for only $4 with bonus stories! If you’re enjoying the story and want to support me in other ways, consider dropping me a message in my inbox or reblogging this post!

Damián was true to his word. They arrived at Dorothy’s before there was a large crowd.

Alex could feel the music through the floor, up through his legs and into his chest. It made him slightly nauseous. His teeth rattled. He didn’t know a gay club would fill him with such sensory issues.

Damián took his hand and weaved them through the crowd. He shouted something at Alex which he couldn’t hear over the music blaring through the speakers.

Alex shook his head and shouted back, “What?”

“Do you want to get a drink?” Damián repeated, pointing behind him to the bar.

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.”

“What do you want?”

“What do people drink at clubs?”

Heavy bass started again with a new song seamlessly beginning a few seconds before the second one ended. Another widely-acclaimed gay anthem. Another song that made Alex walk a little off balance up the few stairs to the bar.

Damián got them close to the bartender. All of the seats were occupied by people at least 10 years younger than Alex. He began to wonder if he had missed out on something during his younger years. Maybe he had missed out on some major queer developmental stage because he hadn’t had any other gay people around him. No one besides his younger sister.

There was never anyone to talk to about how certain things worked. No one to ask where men met other men or what places other queer people liked to hang out. He couldn’t even ask anyone how gay sex worked, and his frame of reference only ever came from articles from gay journals and—though he knew it was totally inaccurate—porn.

He worried, as Damián handed him a whiskey sour, that he had missed his chance at being young and carefree. Sure, his 30s weren’t old. He wasn’t knocking at death’s door. But seeing the younger people surround him in rainbow tube tops and lace shirts, he felt there was never going to be a chance for him to experience that.

There had never been a group of 20-somethings that he had partied with and made dumb decisions only 20-somethings made. All Alex could do, with a little bitterness settling in his chest, was be with one other 30-something and make the dumb decisions 30-somethings made.

Damián led him towards the back of the club. The music was still loud, but it wasn’t deafening anymore. They slid into an empty booth together.

“I’m going to give you a second to chill,” Damián said. “And I usually don’t drink all that much, but I did open a tab. So, if you want anything else, let the bartender know it’ll be on my card.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! This is your first time out at a place like this! Let me take care of you!”

Everyone looked like they were having fun. Damián watched the people around them.

Damián reached out to lay his hand over Alex’s. He looked really nice. He did wear the promised crop top. It was tight and showed off the wonderful way his waist pulled in like a triangle.

He was gorgeous, who was Alex kidding? He was so beautiful, it made Alex’s heart ache.

Alex eventually felt the pleasant warmth of a buzz. He wouldn’t call himself tipsy, but he did definitely relax. Sometimes he felt like he was born with tension in his shoulders, like his the stress there rivaled Atlas’. But it was all gone then. And maybe it was because of the drink or maybe it was because Damián was rubbing his thumb over his knuckles.

“Want to check out some of the front?” Damián asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to. But if you want to see what the other gays are up to, it’ll all be up there.”

“Can I get another drink first?”

They abandoned their seats, and Damián ordered him another whiskey sour and, at Alex’s insistence, closed his tab. Alex didn’t want the temptation of easily accessible alcohol there if he got nervous. He didn’t want to risk getting too drunk, too sloppy in front of Damián. It wouldn’t look good. Even worse, he didn’t want Damián to be forced into taking care of him.

Damián took his hand and led him through the crowd to the dance floor. Most of the “dancing” consisted of arms up in the air and butts to crotches. Alex thought he would be overwhelmed by the display, but he was intrigued.

There were two butch women with their arms around each other partially out of affection but also partially so they could support one another. They wore baggy clothing and clunky boots. One wore a bowtie that Alex really liked. Their beers sloshed around, and they sang into one another’s mouths.

A young man, thin as a rake with a binder visible at the armholes of his tank top, was grinding against another man. Laughing, the other man spun him around and pulled him into a kiss.

A handful of people had climbed on stage where drag queens were supposed to perform at later hours. They hyped each other up. They danced and screamed along to the song, absolutely not caring at all that they looked silly.

And then there was a streak of gray hair that shocked Alex. A streak of gray hair off to the side, nestled close to a salt and pepper beard. Textured hands held cocktails. Little, subtle lines creased when mouths laughed.

Alex held his breath. On the packed floor, they were the only people Alex could see. They were laughing and holding each other and enjoying themselves, firmly in the place they knew they belonged. Flashes of teeth pressed against each other, disappearing for long seconds at a time.

The bass thundered across the floor. Alex licked his lips. He tasted the sweetness of sugar and a touch of lime that sent a shock through his tongue.

Damián wrapped his arm around Alex’s waist and pressed his lips to Alex’s ear.

“It’s really beautiful, isn’t it?” he shouted. “I know that look you have.”

It was beautiful. The beautiful knowledge that Alex was having a moment every other queer person had and that knowledge that Alex belonged in that club. He hardly felt like he belonged anywhere and yet there he was. In his space. With his people.

The bass died under his feet. A new song began playing. Quick strumming, rapid lyrics, and then a dive into new a new bassline. Alex left his drink on an empty table, feeling sorry for the staff who would have to clean up after him, and they made their way into the crowd.

Damián had turned his head towards the sky and was singing. There was a large smile on his face. The spinning lights on the ceiling played around on his face. There was a blue cast over his features and then yellow and then purple and then blue again. It all made him look much softer than Alex had noticed before.

Damián was singing his heart out, and Alex was surprised to realize that he also knew the song. He had never sung in public before, but he started to. His voice blended in with the sea of everyone else’s. He knew he wasn’t a good singer, and it didn’t seem to matter. No one there was really trying all that hard.

He couldn’t even hear himself, but Damián still noticed he had joined. He looked down at Alex with pure glee and stepped around so that they were facing each other. A bachelorette party bumped into him while trying to slide through the congestion. He didn’t pay attention to them. He just re-adjusted himself so he and Alex were closer.

Alex didn’t know what to do with his hands. Clumsily, he reached for Damián. He held his hands and then, not letting himself think about it too long, moved them to Damián’s hips. Damián matched him, and it was like Alex’s body was on fire.

He continued to sing through his heart racing and his head spinning. The music slowed, the instruments dropped out, and Alex could hear Damián’s voice deliver the next lines, off-key. And then, Damián’s hands were on his face, fingers wrapped along his soft jaw.

And fuck. He loved Damián.

Weighing how responsible it was to fall in love with someone he had just met would come later. Now, Alex was wondering who was going to make the first move.

It would have been expected for Damián to lean down for a kiss first. But it was Alex to lifted his chin and pulled Damián towards his lips. It was Alex who pressed his body even closer to Damián, somehow finding little gaps the close. He moved his hands up to Damián’s chest. Now knowing what to do with them after that, he let them roam over a few inches in circles.

Damián tasted like the burning of whiskey and sugar and citrus of his drink. It was a little sickly-sweet. Alex could smell his aftershave—it was subtle but earthy. A solid earthy smell. Not something watered down with a sting of alcohol. Damián had chosen something classy for the night. Something he knew Alex was going to catch when they were so close.

All of Alex’s senses were devoted to Damián, and he was overstimulated by how splendid it was.

A little sweat made Damián’s shirt cling to him a little, and Alex wasn’t sure if he was supposed to find that sexy. Surely, he was also covered in a layer of sweat and surely, that couldn’t have been sexy.

When Damián’s tongue started poking into his mouth, he stopped thinking about sweat.

Damián pulled away first.

“Do you want to leave?” he shouted. “Head back to your place?”

“Yes!”

Alex wasn’t always great at taking hints, but he knew what that invitation meant. Damián took his hand again and pushed their way past another bachelorette party, earning dirty looks from the hoard of bleach-blonde women and a scoff from one in a sash that read Bride-To-Be. Fucking heterosexuals, Alex thought.

They made it outside to the almost-shady ally entrance to the club. The cold air was a relief, almost shocking. It brought Alex back to his senses just a little. Just enough to help him realize he was sporting a hard-on and that he was desperate for an Uber to show up soon.

“They’re seven minutes away,” Damián said.

They grabbed each other again and began a string of sloppy kisses. Alex had never kissed someone so much before. He hoped he was doing it right. He hoped it wasn’t gross to do it in an ally way where other people could see.

“Are you okay with this?” Damián asked, dragging his hand through Alex’s hair. “Are we on the same page?”

“Are we going to fuck?”

Alex liked the word “fuck.” It was good. It gave the impression he knew what he was talking about.

Damián laughed, and Alex’s lips were pressed against his teeth for a second. “I think we’re headed in that direction.”

#nobody ends up dead #writeblr #writblr #original writing #writing community #queer fiction #writing

[victorianpining]

A Compilation of the Word “Love” on BBC Sherlock:

“I never get cabs.” “I love you.”

“He loved his family and his work.

“We’ve got ourselves a serial killer. Love those. There’s always something to look forward to.”

“He does love to be dramatic.” “Well thank God you’re above all that.”

“I love the brilliant ones. They’re always so desperate to get caught.”

“I’ve been on your website, too. Brilliant stuff! Loved it!”

“Ooh you’re going to love this.” “Love what?”

“I know how people think. I can see it all like a map inside my head. Everyone’s so stupid, even you. Or maybe God just loves me.”

“She took the kids, but you still love them and it still hurts.”

“Bitterness is a paralytic. Love is a much more vicious motivator.“

“Er, I mean, I'd love to go out of an evening and wrestle a few Chinese gangsters, you know, generally, but a girl can get too much.“

“Oh, sorry, love! You two had a little domestic?”

“Do you want some breakfast?” “Love some.” “Yeah well you’d better make it yourself cause I’m gonna have a shower.”

““You like the funny cases don’t you? The surprising ones.” “Obviously.” “You’ll love this. That explosion...”

“The owner loved these. Scrubbed them clean, whitened them where they got discolored. Changed the laces three.... no, four times.”

“He loved these shoes, remember. He’d never leave them filthy.”

“Lucy, love, I’ve got to go out. I’ve gotta see someone.”

“People don’t like telling you things, but they love to contradict you.”

“Too busy to get away. My wife would love it though, bit of sun.”

“You look pasty, love!“

“That's the brother. No love lost there, if you can believe the papers.“ “So I gather. I've just been having a very fruitful chat with people who loved this show. Fan sites – indispensable for gossip.”

“Oh, should I speak now? Alex? Love, it's Professor Cairns. Listen, you were right. You were bloody right! Give us a call when...“

“Oh, hi, Luce. You okay, love?“

“In the planetarium, you heard it too, oh that is brilliant that is gorgeous!” “What’s brilliant? What is?” “This is beautiful, I love this!”

“So take this as a friendly warning, my dear. Back off. Although I have loved this – this little game of ours. Playing Jim from IT. Playing gay. Did you like the little touch with the underwear?”

“Oh, and somebody loves you. If I had to punch that face I’d avoid your nose and teeth too.”

“I have a long and arduous apology to make to a very old friend.” “Do give her my love.”

“She sent this to my address and she loves to play games.”

“Because this was textbook. The promise of love, the pain of loss, the joy of redemption. Then give him a puzzle and watch him dance.”

“I can’t take all the credit. Had a bit of help. Jim Moriarty sends his love.”

“I imagine John Watson thinks love is a mystery to me but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very destructive.”

“I’ve always assumed that love is a dangerous disadvantage. Thank you for the final proof.”

“I love the blog too, Doctor Watson.”

“Oh, Mr. Holmes. I would love to tell you but then, of course, I’d have to kill you!”

“Oh, you know I’d love to. I’d love to give you unlimited access to this place. Why not?!”

“He loves his job; proud of it and this is work related.“

“I just like to watch them all competing. ‘Daddy loves me the best!’ Aren’t ordinary people adorable? Well, you know, you’ve got John. I should get myself a live in one.” “Why are you doing all this?”

“I’d love to know where she got her information.”

“I read it in the paper so it must be true. I love newspapers. Fairy tales. And pretty Grimm ones too.”

“He said I used to work in the navy where I had an unhappy love affair.”

“And you really thought he was the one, didn’t you? The love of your life?”

“I had a lovely day. I’d love to... I just... um...” “Oh, congratulations, by the way.”

“Sit down, love.” “Oh, thanks.”

“You’d have to be an idiot not to see it. You love it.” “Love what?”

“To John and Mary. All good wishes for your special day. With love and many big... big squishy cuddles, from Stella and Ted.”

“Mary, lots of love, poppet. Oodles of love and heaps of good wishes from CAM.”

“Love, love, love, love, love, bit of a theme, you get the gist.”

“I want to be up there with the two people that I love and care about most in the world.”

“All emotions, and in particular love, stand opposed to the pure, cold reason I hold above all things.”

“So know this today you sit between the woman you have made your wife and the man you have saved. In short the two people who love you most in all this world.”

“Oscillation on the pavement always means there’s a love affair.”

“To be honest, I’d loved to have... gone further.”

“Er. Love monkey.”

“Free love nest.”

“Weddings are great! Love a wedding.” “What’s he doing?” “Something’s wrong.”

“I love dancing, I’ve always loved it.”

“Loves to exaggerate, you should try living with him.”

“How dare you betray the love of your friends? Say you’re sorry.”

“Oh, could you be a love and put some coffee on?”

“Sherlock. She loves you.” “Yes, like I said. Human error.”

“You’re gonna love being dead, Sherlock. No one ever bothers you.”

“I’ll give your love to John and Mary.”

“Spare any change, love?” “No.” “Oh come on, love. Don’t be like all the rest.”

“John you are addicted to a certain lifestyle. You are abnormally attracted to dangerous situations and people so is it truly such a surprise that the woman you’ve fallen in love with conforms to that pattern?”

“If you love me don’t read it in front of me.” “Why?” “Because you won’t love me when you’ve finished.”

“Because Sherlock Holmes has made one enormous mistake which will destroy the lives of everyone he loves and everything he holds dear.”

“I just love your little soldier face. I’d like to punch it.”

“I just love doing this. I could do this all day.”

“Give my love to Mary. Tell her she’s safe now.”

“Only those within this room, code names Antarctica, Langdale, Porlock, and Love will ever know the whole truth.

“Love ginger nuts.”

“I always know when the game is on. Do you know why? Because I love it.”

“Molly, Mrs. H. We would love you to be Godparents.”

“I mean, he loves a really tricky case.”

“That’s enough now, love. Daddy has things to do, I’m afraid.”

“Seems to me we put an awful lot of faith in they. Well I’ve got something they would dearly love if we could only get out of here.”

“Oh, good. I love an acronym. All the best secret societies have them.”

“I don’t want you and Sherlock hanging off my gun arm, I’m sorry, my love.”

“I love, you love, he loves. What?”

“Six years ago you held the brief for foreign operations, code name Love.” “And you’re basing all this on a code name? On a whispered voice on the telephone?”

“Culverton’s doing a visit. The kids would love to meet you both.”

“I love his blog, don’t you?”

“I was just saying I love your blog.”

“Oh my God, I love your blog.”

“You should be wearing the hat, the kids would love the hat.”

“We all love the queen don’t we? And I bet she’d love you lot.”

“H.H. Holmes loved the dead.”

“Oh my God! Sherlock Holmes! I love your blog!”

“So here’s a few things you need to know about the man we both love.”

“But if you’re rich or famous and loved it’s amazing what people are prepared to ignore.”

“She’s a big fan, you know? Loves my blog.”

“Ooh, the posh boy loves the dominatrix. He’s never knowingly under cliched is he?”

“Silly name, isn’t it? Greek. It means “the east wind.” My parents loved silly names.”

“Because I could make you laugh, I loved it when you laughed.”

“Oh he recorded lots of little messages for me before he died. Loved it. Did you know his brother was a stationmaster? I think he was always jealous.”

“So it’s for somebody who loves somebody.” “It’s for somebody who loves Sherlock. This is all about you, everything here. So who loves you? I’m assuming it’s not a long list.”

“Molly, please, without asking why just say these words.” “What words?” “I love you.”

“Say it. Say it like you mean it.” “... I love you. I love you. Molly, please!” “I love you.”

“I am lost. Help me brother. Save my life before my doom. I am lost without your love. Save my soul, seek my room.”

“There is a last refuge for the desperate, the unloved, the persecuted, there is a final court of appeal for everyone. When life gets too strange, too impossible, too frightening, there is always one last hope.”

#rebs blogging #bbc sherlock #this has been in my drafts for like two months i forgot to post it sdhgskjghkasdhj

[whydoiwrite]

Did you see what Carli and HAO had to say about the NT after the game on Thursday? Do you agree?

Part 1:

Yes. I’m not going to comment on midfield shape etc. re HAO, mainly because I left at halftime and didn’t watch the second half of the game. I’ll say that JJ hid a lot of defensive problems for the team while still being able to spark the offense, and Vlatko hasn’t bothered to change tactics in response to losing her, but I’m tired to analyzing stupidity so that’s that on that, and at this point, I would look somewhere not Andi and I’m not kidding about that somewhere being Emily Sonnett or Crystal Dunn in midfield.

I’ve said what Carli said plenty of time privately and possibly publicly on this site, but here we go again.

Everyone saying they won in spite of Jill never knew what they were talking about. Jill, and Pia, created the training environment they needed to have the mentality to pushed them over the edge. Running them until they were about to break. Never letting them feel secure in their position. You’ve heard Kelley talk about players puking in training and Becky talk about how she felt one bad long ball away from being benched. Yes, Jill was wrong about say Christen for example, but she was wrong about very little. So much of the bitterness towards her comes from things I will always believe were out of her control (Pinoe kneeling, the way Hope was treated, even things she’s being blamed for now ie knowledge of abusive nwsl coaches) because she was under USSF’s thumb. She knew how to be hard when she needed to, she experimented when it was appropriate, she played players where they needed to play regardless of their feelings, she got rid of players that just weren’t it even if their friend and the fans didn’t like it, she admitted (with actions) when she was wrong, and she was soft when she needed to be, with people like Rose, for example, and with bringing Sonnett back in, because she saw the big picture. So yeah, maybe tactically and technically, Tony et al. deserve a lot of credit, but like Carli said, and I hate agreeing with her, you have to know that, mentality is way more important than soccer sometimes. When you’re talking about the elite level, you’re going to see very little difference in the technical side of the game amongst top teams, but it was not a mistake that the US scored in the what? first ten minutes or less of every WC ‘19 game until the final. That was a direct result of the way she coached them, the intensity and fire and “we will fucking destroy anyone in our path,” and “we need a bitch, get Kelley,” mentality that they had. And that came before Jill, too. Tony DiCicco didn’t give a shit, he was a hard ass. You’ve seen what Anson Dorrance has done for literal decades because he makes every single aspect of his program a competition AND posts results publicly. Kelley was about to lose her shit on press members over their doubts about Alyssa. Say what you want about Sonnett, but she would force someone to carry her off the field before she let her team down. Horan gets it, you see her playing through an injury that she shouldn’t be. Alex and Crystal get it. Pinoe’s aging body get it. Player after player after player from the beginning of time til 2019 has thrown their body around and played through pain and pushed as harder than they actually could because of the way they love each other. That fight for each other (or in Carli’s case, for herself) has pushed them over the edge. But that fight is embedded in training, and like I have said before, Jill gave those players a reason to bond (their hatred of her) so they could fight for each other. They were overprepared, in every aspect, for the 2019 WC, and I don’t mean overprepared like fucking planned subs.

Not be being told I ran out of room with my pre-7am rant. Hold please.

[callsign-bunnie]

Red Widow PT2 (Teeth and Skin)

Laswell reached Alex, Farah, and Malika and they get on the road to Mexico. However, someone by the name of Phillip Graves stops them. Someone has likely hired him to take Laswell out. But... Why?

--

It was a long but thankfully uneventful drive. The worst part was just swerving around broken down cars on the bridges but thankfully, she could get through. She pulled to the stadium close to night time.

Immediately the back of the truck was yanked open and Kate started at first before recognizing Alex and Farah, and then another young woman, frantically throwing their gear in the truck. 

“Fucking Drive.” Alex said, immediately, once they all got in. “Now!” 

Kate didn’t hesitate once the doors were closed, slamming her foot on the gas. “What’s going on?”

“Some idiot came through and woke up a couple fucking heavies!” Alex opened the flap to the back door of the truck, pointing a gun out. Laswell focused on driving, headed back in the direction she came.

“What the fuck are heavies??” She asked, glancing in the rearview mirror but getting nothing but the sight of Alex shooting into the distance.

“It was a strain of the virus that made those damn things. It bloated them so bad that they ballooned to twice their original size.” Farah explained coming up and sitting by Kate. “They mostly sleep but… when they get woken up… They’re not as fast as Sprinters but just as deadly.”

Kate shuddered but kept driving, not quite understanding but also knowing she didn’t want to see whatever it was that was chasing them.

Alex cursed loudly. “I’m out of fucking bullets!”

“Here!” The young woman called.

Kate focused on the front of them, swerving to avoid vehicles and the occasional biter.

“We lost them…” Alex sighed after a bit and Kate relaxed, finally lowering her speed.

They didn’t speak until they stopped in La Porte again. They found an abandoned part of a building that hadn’t been leased yet next to a grocery store and Alex yanked open the door so they could get in with their gear and then he shoved it closed again.

Kate let out a breath once they were fully inside and panted. They’d left some gear in the truck but they could get it later. Farah hugged her and Kate gratefully hugged back, relaxing. “I thought we’d never see you again…” Farah murmured.

Kate smiled, patting her back before pulling away. Then, she was half tackled by Alex, who bear hugged her. “You just went fucking dark and we couldn’t find you and we were so worried!”

“Well, I certainly didn’t mean to!” She laughed and hugged back. “I’m here now, though, so let’s get to business.”

Alex rolled his eyes as he pulled away. “Always business with you.”

“Well, I don’t see Price or Gaz here so… Unfortunately, for now, it is.” Kate winced, apologetically.

Farah smiled and then gently nudged the other young woman over. “This is Malika. She was one of my scouts. I had her come with me when I came to help you find Price and Gaz. We’ve both been stranded here.”

“Your country…” Kate realized, frowning deeply. “Farah, I’m so sorry.”

Farah laughed, though it was a little bitter. “It is liberated. Finally. Took a whole fucking apocalypse but it is liberated. Russian forces retreated almost immediately after it all started. So… I guess I cannot complain.”

Kate smiled, sympathetically. “It is nice to meet you, Malika.” She turned to Malika and offered her hand. Malika had softer features than Farah. Farah had always looked sharp, even when she was complimenting you, but Malika looked soft, sweet. Her eyes were a darker brown and her hair was jet black while Farah’s was still a little brown. She was the same height as Farah, but smaller in build.

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Agent Laswell.” Malika’s voice was also much softer than Farah’s, though about the same pitch.

“Please,” Kate laughed, “I don’t think any of us have our titles anymore. Just Kate.”

Malika seemed to blush, though the bottom half of her face was covered. “Okay, Kate.”

Kate smiled at her and then turned back to Farah and Alex. “Alright. Brief me. You were looking for me. But… I don’t remember any of it so pretend I was a target.”

“Yes ma’am.” Alex snorted before mumbling to Farah, “she says no titles, though.”

Farah nudged him and shook her head, looking amused. “When Malika and I touched down, we had issues getting through security. They wouldn’t believe our fake papers were real, apparently.”

Kate winced. “I should have thought about that. I… I’m sorry, Farah.”

“No, it’s alright. Alex actually managed to take care of it. Came up and made a big scene.” Malika spoke up, looking amused. “He put his arm around Farah and started to cuss out the TSA agent and ask them why they were harassing his wife.”

Kate found that especially funny since Alex and Farah were both gay in the wrong directions. She laughed, softly. “Did it work?”

“Thankfully.” Alex groaned. “However, everything almost immediately went to shit.”

“We saw two women get into what we thought was an argument.” Farah explained.

Kate frowned at the wording. “I am guessing from your phrasing that it wasn’t.”

“We think it started as such but… They were fighting because one woman bit a chunk out of the other woman’s hand. Just a huge chunk. How the woman wasn’t on the floor screaming from pain was beyond me.” Alex sighed and shook his head. “It was gruesome.”

Kate could only imagine. “What happened after that?”

“The one who bit the chunk started to scream the word “hungry” over and over and over and then she just leapt onto the other woman and started to… tear into her.” Farah looked disgusted. “It was awful. But the worst part was… she wasn’t the only one. Several more people started to do the same.”

Alex nodded. “Within minutes, half the entire airport was either attacking something or dead. Farah, Malika, and I barely managed to escape. Malika was bit in the process.” He gestured to Malika, who rolled up her sleeve, revealing a huge bite mark on her forearm. It was grotesque, grey and purple. Kate felt nauseous looking at it and touched the one on her face, wondering if hers looked like that.

“When we got out,” Farah continued, “we tried to find you but… you wouldn’t answer. You’d gone completely radio silent. So, we traveled to Georgia, where you mentioned you’d be with your wife. It took two months to cross from Washington to Georgia because of the pandemonium.”

Kate sighed and shook her head. “I wish I could say where I went but… I have no idea. I just remember Jen…” Her voice caught as she remembered and she took deep breaths. “Then I was being bitten and… I black out after that.”

Farah frowned. “And you woke up today?”

“Yes, just outside of town.” Kate explained. “After Georgia, where did you go?”

“We asked around in the town since things weren’t yet… how they are now.” Farah continued to explain. “I got bitten around that time, though we knew by then there was a chance I would turn.” She pulled the collar of her jacket down, revealing a bite on her collarbone.

Kate winced. “But you and Malika both survived… And so did I… So how did you find out the bites could turn you into those… things?”

Alex shook his head. “Zombies, Kate. Like… real zombies.”

Kate couldn’t help her laugh of disbelief. “Zombies? Like Night of the Living Dead?”

“More like walking dead but yes.” Farah sighed. “Exactly like that.” All three looked at her and raised an eyebrow and she flushed. “What? I was bored, and the electricity still worked so I watched it.”

Kate shook her head. “No, that’s science fiction.”

“You saw them, Kate. You can go look outside. They’re everywhere.” Alex pointed at the door. “Real fucking zombies.”

Kate winced and glanced to the door. She had in fact seen them. She sighed again. “Okay. When you couldn’t find me in town, what happened then?”

“We figured you went to Mexico. Maybe thought you panicked and so went searching for Gaz and Price alone. But… When we got to Texas, we stopped to see if Alex’s family was alive and…” Farah went quiet. Alex turned away from them.

Kate understood. “I’m sorry, Alex.” She murmured, touching his arm.

“They were all turned.” Alex muttered. “My mother… my grandparents. Barely recognizable. Bleeders.” He shook his head. 

“Bleeders?” Kate asked.

“Another strain of the virus.” Farah explained. “It… well, we’ve not been able to touch any of them to find out what it does but it basically changes their blood. Makes it acidic. Painfully acidic. At the airport, one spit blood on this man and his face practically melted off.”

Kate was going to be sick. She shook her head, holding her mouth.

“Their skin splits open, too, so touching them at all is impossible.” Farah continued to explain. “After that… we just started to ask around about you. Stories about a woman called the Red Widow started to show up. Around the same time the awful people started to take precedence. Slave traders, cults… Like I said, Kate… Pandemonium.” She sighed. “But… some of these stories were of this woman freeing children from the slave traders and creeps. Saving families from attacks.”

Kate raised an eyebrow, though she could guess where this was going.

“All with a bow and arrow, too.” Alex spoke up, finally. “We showed them a picture of you that we got off of your mantel. Sure enough… they recognized you.”

Kate frowned deeply. “I don’t… think I could do those things.”

“I do.” Farah laughed. “You’re a badass, Kate. But… you did. Every single person who had a story recognized you. And… your red hood.” She gestured.

Kate frowned, noticing it as if for the first time. She recognized it, almost immediately. “Oh… It was Jen’s favorite of mine. Said it brought out my eyes.” It was a deep blood red, though it looked a little beat up. “Wore it when we were fleeing…”

“Fleeing?” Alex frowned.

“Right. I was going to tell you.” Kate winced. “When we planned to Rendezvous… well here… I uncovered a plot by General Shepherd to use chemical warfare on a town harboring a criminal we needed. I confronted him about it and he… made me a war criminal. We were fleeing the authorities when we got attacked.”

“Fuck. That’s awful.” Alex winced and shook his head.

Kate nodded in agreement. “I uh… guess I’m not a war criminal, anymore.” She sighed.

Alex snorted and then sighed. “Yeah.” He sighed. “Alright, well, you know where we’re at, now. So… Let’s get set up.”

Farah nodded in agreement and so Kate did as well. Funnily enough, she was exhausted. They set up everything and so Kate took the opportunity to get to know Malika, since she seemed a little timid. “How long have you known Farah?”

“Since I was a little girl. Well… that’s how long I’ve known about her. I joined her army when I was 16…” Malika explained as they set up sleeping bags. “I’ve always admired her, though. She… was willing to put everything on the line to save Urzikstan.”

Kate smiled. “Farah is honorable.” She agreed. She found the way that Malika spoke about Farah to be sweet. She glanced at Alex who was nearby, and could probably hear everything. He snorted and just gestured to Malika and Farah.

Ah, so they were like that frequently. She gave Alex a knowing smile to show she sympathized and then turned back to Malika, who was now watching Farah set up camping lamps. Kate smiled. “You can go to her. I am sure she could use the help. We’re pretty much done here.”

Malika seemed to hesitate before smiling brightly. “Thank you… Kate.” she nodded and then turned, quickly going over to Farah. Farah smiled when she came over and they immediately started a conversation. 

Kate finished what she was doing before joining Alex. “So they’re always like that?”

“Constantly.” Alex snorted. “Two years of sexual and romantic tension has definitely gotten to me. Farah said Malika no longer had to call her commander and Malika looked like she was about to hit the ceiling from happiness. She called her Farah in every sentence, afterwards.”

Kate laughed, softly. “That’s so sweet.” She nodded, watching Malika and Farah interact. Farah was sat on a crate, gesturing as she told what Kate assumed was a story. Malika was… well, Farah was funny, but Malika was laughing a bit too hard at whatever Farah was saying. 

Alex snorted and leaned over. “Don’t worry, it’s not one sided, either. Farah wastes no opportunity to show off. ‘Hey Malika, did you see that??’ ‘It was brilliant, commander.’” He shook his head. “You’re lucky you missed it, honestly.”

“You’ll find someone.” Kate chuckled, patting his arm, knowing this probably came from a place of loneliness just as much as it was being fed up.

Alex sighed. “In the apocalypse?” 

“We’ll find Gaz again.” Kate glanced at him, watching his reaction. Alex went pale and mumbled a “whatever” before busying himself with what he was doing. Kate shook her head in amusement. 

She hoped Price and Gaz were alive, still. She knew they had to be. Both were fighters. If they survived whatever made them go dark, she had no doubts they’d survived this long.

Well, regardless of what Kate’s mind remembered and was used to, her body had clearly adjusted to shitty sleeping conditions, because she’d fallen asleep rather easily and had woken up with little issue. Two years ago, she would have struggled to sleep on the hard tile and she definitely wouldn’t have woken up feeling rested.

Alex was already up when she woke up, looking over a giant map. It had markings on it and looked to be the whole of the US and Mexico. When she came over, he held out what looked like an old beat up thermos. “Farah and I found a way to make coffee. Most of the stuff on the shelves is still fine to drink if you can handle the stale taste.”

Laswell… didn’t think she could stomach that, so she just said no thank you. Alex just shrugged and took the thermos back. “Your loss.” He chuckled.

She watched him put on a cowboy hat and shook her head. “Where did you even pick that up?”

“Found it. Cleaned it up.” Alex shrugged. “Looked like one of my dad’s that my mom kept in a shadow box. I don’t… know. Makes me feel better to have it with me.”

Laswell could respect that. She nodded and sat down on a nearby crate, sighing softly and watching him continue to pour over the map. “I know where we need to go. We need to start near that cartel.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” Alex agreed and sighed softly. “However, that’s going to be a month’s worth of travel.”

“They’ve waited two years, they can wait another month.” Laswell smiled, though she wasn’t sure she liked that fact, either. She would also like to get to them as fast as possible but… they didn’t really have any other choices.

Maybe they could try to hinge on them being closer but Laswell really wasn’t sure that would be the case. 

“What do you think they’re doing?” Alex asked, softly. “Right now.”

Laswell shrugged. “Knowing Price… Helping people. That’s what he enjoys doing, I don’t doubt he’s doing that right now. They’ve probably set up a system and help people.” She knew her friend well. In this situation, she was positive that if he was alive, he was helping whoever he could.

Alex chuckled. “Of course he is.” He sighed. “Laswell… I… I need to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?” Laswell frowned and sat down on a crate. 

Alex hesitated. “The last two years… I felt like shit. Because I stayed in Urzikstan… Even though I knew we had something… I was a coward.”

Laswell frowned. “Alex… that’s over now. There’s no point in being upset. We’re in a completely different world now. Those things… Don’t really matter anymore.”

Alex frowned before nodding. “I know that. You’re right. But… I still feel so… shitty. I- I saw in his eyes how hurt he was when I chose to stay in Urzikstan with Farah… And then when you called and you told us they’d gone missing, I damn near lost my mind… I can’t do that again… And now… When we do find them, what do I even say?”

“You don’t say anything.” Laswell shrugged. “Unless he says something, you don’t bring it up. Trust me, none of that matters anymore. There’s no governments, no… missions. Trust me. The world is too different for you to hold onto something that happened over 3 years ago, now.”

Alex only frowned more. “I guess you’re right…”

“It’s up to Kyle to decide if he’s still hurt about it. Then, if he is… you grovel. You grovel a lot. But, for now, you don’t worry about it. Besides, we need to focus on getting them back, first.” Laswell snorted. “Then you can feel bad and try to figure out how to apologize. Until then, it doesn’t really matter.”

Alex nodded. “We are positive they are still in Mexico if they’re alive. We’ve heard nothing about them up here so…”

“To Mexico we will go.” Laswell chuckled and nodded. 

Alex agreed. “To Mexico.”

-

Getting on the road to Mexico had been rather easy. As it should be. They’d siphoned more gas and filled up the truck and then Alex and Farah had converted the back so they could travel longer.

They’d made it easier to sleep in, the idea being that two people could sleep while two stay awake and drive. The actual shifts would switch around a little so there was always someone fairly alert.

Farah had labeled the cycles A, B, C, and D.

On Cycle A, Laswell would start out driving with Malika awake while Alex and Farah slept. On cycle B, Farah would take over driving while Laswell went to the passenger seat and switched out with her and Malika would go to bed. On C, Alex would take over driving while Laswell went to bed and Farah switched to the passenger side. Then on D, Malika would take over driving while Alex switched to the passenger side and Farah would go to bed.

Then on Cycle A again, Laswell would wake up and take over from Malika. 

It was a bit convoluted but… Laswell figured it would mostly work out for them. They all four seemed to be fairly structured. Alex was definitely the least so of them but he could keep up with a schedule.

So, they’d set out driving. Already, they’d been driving for about a day and Laswell was tired of being in a truck. Each cycle was four hours long, so they’d been through about six already and Laswell was sick of it.

Not that she’d tell any of them that, of course. 

They’d passed a few survivor settlements and Laswell had decided to stay in the truck, just in case this whole Red Widow thing was true. She was worried they may figure out she was different, now.

She had heard about herself on the little radio thing, too. They didn’t talk about her, often. Mostly just in passing. It was sort of known that she didn’t really use the radio, apparently, and instead she just appeared.

She sounded a super hero but… that wasn’t Laswell. She wasn’t a superhero. She was a paper pusher who knew how to shoot a gun. But… somehow, her going catatonic had made her a total fucking badass.

Malika had told her many of the stories they’d heard of the Red Widow. She’d apparently wiped out a ring of traffickers who’d been taking kids from survivor settlements. And she’d saved a family from a horde of biters. 

Among other smaller things. 

Laswell still wasn’t sure she believed it but Malika had no real reason to lie or aggrandize the truth. So, she’d reluctantly accept that that was the story going around at the very least. 

Laswell groaned as she moved into the driver’s seat. “I am sick of being in this truck, Malika.”

“Me too, Kate.” Malika smiled sympathetically. “Alex mentioned maybe taking a break soon.”

“Not maybe.” Alex spoke up as he settled in. “Definitely. I am sick of this.”

Kate laughed softly and then frowned as the truck wouldn’t start. “Hey, when did we last fill this thing?”

Alex sat up, frowning deeply, and then he cursed loudly. “Fuck!” He got up, rubbing at his face.

“You need to shave.” Malika pointed out and Alex repeated what she said in a high mocking tone.

Laswell laughed. They were just like she and Price had been. “Well, I guess we’re taking that break now.” She looked out the door. There wasn’t any biters that she could see or… anything else so she hesitantly got out the truck, sighing in relief at getting to full stretch out.

Malika and Alex did the same, leaving Farah to keep sleeping. “Here, Alex, you sleep. I know how to siphon Gas. We’ll camp here for a bit. Malika and I will go and get gas and pick up any supplies we see.” Laswell told Alex who hesitated before nodding. 

He climbed back into the truck and Laswell made sure all of the back doors were locked before getting her bow out of the passenger seat. “Alright, Malika. Let’s go.”

Malika smiled brightly at her and grabbed the gas canister. They found a car with a pretty decent amount of fuel that was close enough they could take the canister back and forth. So, they used it to fuel the truck. 

Malika was pretty quiet as they went back and forth. “Laswell… do you think Farah… likes Alex?”

Laswell almost dropped the canister. “Why would you think that?”

“They joke around with each other a lot. Alex jokes with me but… it’s different. Farah talks about Alex like he’s amazing and I’m just… Malika. Her scout.” Malika’s shoulders dropped. 

Laswell smiled sympathetically. Ah, every generation of lesbian is useless with feelings, it seemed. “I will tell you that… Farah and Alex are incompatible. Completely.”

Malika frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Farah prefers women. Just women. Alex prefers men. Just men.” Laswell shrugged. “There’s nothing there, hon. Trust me.”

Malika flushed. “Okay.” She smiled. “Good…”

Laswell pat her shoulder and then finished emptying the canister. Maybe she’d have a talk with Farah about being smart and open with one’s feelings.

Maybe.

When they were done, Laswell sighed and wiped her hands on her pants, getting the dirt from the car off. “Alright, we can either stay by the truck while Farah and Alex sleep or we can go look through cars.”

“How will we look through the cars? Most of them have their windows up and the doors are locked…” Malika frowned.

Laswell laughed and climbed the truck, getting the tire iron that was up there. She knew she usually kept one on top of her trucks. It was a dumb thing she did, but it was so they were easy to access. 

Then she took it to the car they’d just siphoned Gas from. “How do you feel about looting, Malika?”

Malika hesitated. “They’re not exactly going to be back, are they? So… surely looting isn’t that bad.” 

Laswell nodded in agreement. “Exactly.” She grunted as she smashed the car window. As expected, the car alarm didn’t go off. Makes sense. Nothing can last two years. She reached in and unlocked the car and then she got in and pulled the thing that manually popped the trunk, climbing back out through the trunk. 

She had to applaud herself for staying so well in shape for two years, even while catatonic. She found suitcases in the trunk and opened them, pleased to find unopened bottles of travel shampoo. “Malika, did you know unopened shampoo can last up to 4 years?” She looked around the trunk at Malika, who was staring at her in awe.

“No, I didn’t- that was impressive, Kate!” Malika came over, her eyes wide. “You moved so smoothly!”

Laswell laughed and thanked her. “Thank you!” She looked through the clothes. “What size do you wear?”

Malika came closer, looking at the clothes. Her eyes seemed to sparkle a little at them. “I couldn’t…”

“Nonsense, you said it yourself. They’re not coming back.” Laswell shrugged and pulled out some jeans from one of the suitcases that looked like they’d fit Alex. She had never been opposed to looting. You do what you need to to survive. 

No one would care. If they did, they were likely dead or zombies, anyway. 

Malika hesitated and then looked over the clothes, taking a few of the shirts. Her own shirt looked very worn. 

“I’m shocked Alex hasn’t looted every car in Texas.” Laswell commented, chuckling.

“He tried but there wasn’t very much clothing in many of them… When we had access to it, it wasn’t high priority. Then there was the worry of where to keep it.”

“Well, take a few things. You all three look like you need it. I’m sure we can-” She stopped, hearing a gun click behind her. Very close to her head.

She glanced over to Malika, who’d gone pale. There was the barrel of a gun to her head. 

“Have to admit, wasn’t expecting to find you so easy, Red Widow.” The voice behind her commented, chuckling. “Let alone goin through a random trunk. Lookin at clothes.”

Laswell closed her eyes and put her hands up. 

She opened her eyes to her own hands on the steering wheel and driving frantically. Alex was in the passenger seat, holding his hand over a gunshot wound. He was panting, his head back.

“What… the fuck?!” Laswell exclaimed and slammed on the breaks.

“Keep fucking going!” Alex yelled, gesturing to the road. “Don’t stop! Fuck!”

Laswell kept driving, now having to fight to not freak out. “What the fuck happened?!” She looked in the rearview mirror, seeing Farah and Malika in the back. Malika was bandaging up Farah’s leg.

“Well, when that idiot put a gun to your head, you fucking lost it!” Alex exclaimed and then took a few breaths. “You like fucking… I don’t even know how to describe it. One of them grabbed Malika and she screamed for Farah… Wasn’t aware Farah could even move that fast but you both got us out of there… Farah got shot getting into the truck and I got shot trying to help her. Malika and you seem no worse for wear.”

Laswell internally assessed her body, not feeling any pain anywhere. “Yeah, I think I’m fine… I… I just… I closed my eyes and I just opened them again.”

“Your eyes were plenty open.” Alex shook his head. “Angry ass hell, too… and bright purple.”

“Purple?!” Laswell exclaimed, almost jerking the truck. Alex quickly put his hand on the wheel to right it. Laswell looked in the mirror, not seeing any trucks around them. Still… she didn’t want to stop. “Do you know who those people were?”

“We’ve heard of them.” Farah spoke up, panting a little. “They call themselves the Shadow Company. They’re ran by some asshole named Phillip Graves. Good, bad… if you have a way to pay them, they’ll work for you. The only people that can give them what they ask for around here tends to be… pretty fucking bad.”

Laswell frowned and furrowed her brows. Shadow Company… Phillip Graves… Why did that sound familiar? “So they’re a mercenary company, basically?” She asked.

“Yes.” Alex nodded. “Fuck, we’re going to have to stop so Farah and I can get fixed up.”

“I’m not sure I want to risk it so soon.”

“Farah, I have blood dripping down my arm.” Alex sighed. 

Laswell was quiet. “They’re looking for me. They called me the Red Widow. Mentioned they thought it would be harder.”

“Graves was the one with a gun to your head.” Alex sighed. “So… Someone hired them to take you out. Who?”

“I’d love to know.” Laswell sighed. “I really would.”

--

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@i-miss-balthazar​ @transneurodivergentmess​ @hayleymaltman​  

#Kate Laswell #Laswell COD #Alex Keller #Alex COD #Farah Karim #Farah COD #Malika COD #Call of Duty #Call of Duty Modern Warfare #Teeth and Skin: a zombie cod AU #Red Widow storyline #queue for dinner again hunny?

[dizzyduck44]

Daniel sound waayy too bitter in that article, I liked Daniel outside of the car but lately hes been too much of an old bitter man, I struggle to warm up to him because he was a fucking bully to Lando in late 2020 but I let it pass because he was ass (lol) , he finally admit that he knows what to do, that Lando help him and share what to do with him but he lacks the technical knowledge to immitate him and that is 100% his fault.

I have this belief that one of the reasons nothing worked for him, not the upgrades, his setups and Landos setups is because he doesn't know how to describe whats wrong or which part he is struggling with (apart from the brake, which is his "speciality"), mechanics in every single team he has been had mention his lack of interest and knowledge of the car, the reason he did great in RB was because (this was said by Christian and Marko) he was using Max setups and since both of them formed in the same teams he could keep up until Max begin to make his setups more aggresive. The "I race with vibes" was not a joke.

Daniel lack of interest last year seal his future, like idk if you remember when Andreas (?) commented that Daniel barely did any sin work and that he was barely in the MTC while at the same time calling Lando furniture because he was there too much and then this year Daniel said that he was working really hard and then you read the article and it was just that he was doing sim work 💀.

He really thought mclaren wouldn't dare to fired him and that he was safe. And he still cant admit he at fault for this, he is a grown man with a decade of experience making excuses for driving like a rookie and wont drive in other teams because he thinks he too good like he hasn't driving at the same pace as them 2 years.

I love how detailed this ask is and I’d forgotten about the whole “vibes” thing or the comment about his lack of interest.

Sadly Daniel has brought this on himself. I still maintain if you are a “great” driver you can adapt to anything. All those of his experience have proven they can, Lewis, Seb, Fernando, Valtteri, Carlos, Sergio. Kimi was a master of it.

Meanwhile Lando, threw himself into driving anything the team would let him, George is the same, Max drives different things for fun, Alex did a year of DTM, even Pierre is up for a bit of off roading. They all don’t want to get too comfortable with the one car, just in case.

If I’m being kind, Daniel got blindsided by the generation that came through. 8 or so years ago the karting press were talking about the talent of Max, Charles, George and Lando. People were touting Pierre, Esteban, Nyck, Alex, Lance, Mick for F1. There was so many of them and Daniel acted as though it wasn’t a problem, he had this. But they were all great and F1 bound. They now make up half the grid and he isn’t the number 1 in a team that leans towards him. It too late to see them off now.

Also bless him, Lando was part of the furniture as he was told to come to the factory any time of day or night if his anxiety got too much, so he did. I spoke to a McLaren employee who told me he would just randomly turn up with biscuits and start making tea for people. He discussed with the team about moving to Monaco. He is a complete and utter nerd and absorbs data. Lando actually admitted that was one of the things he worked on, was being able to vocalise how the car felt to his engineers.

Maybe the biggest downfall for Daniel was he was so different to Lando in that respect. He didn’t want to be at the track at midnight going over data. He didn’t want to stay behind to help pack up rather than go back to an empty hotel room. He didn’t love sim work. I don’t know. And let’s be fair, until last year Lewis didn’t want to do any of those things either. He proudly told journalists he did 2 days of sim work a year!

I think Daniel really needs to do some soul searching. I honestly don’t think he realises how many people he has thrown under the bus along the way to end up where he is. Things he’s said about Red Bull, about Renault, now McLaren. I think his comments about Lando will age as well as his comments about Max.

I think ultimately he just wants a to be a racing driver and doesn’t deal well with all the other crap. In some ways he is like Kimi in that respect, but he doesn’t have the career stats or natural god given talent Kimi has (to be fair few do). As I’ve said before, the sad reality is that Lewis or Kimi or I think even Fernando would be doing what Lando is doing and dragging that car into Q3 week in week out, on a wing and a prayer. That’s what Daniel needed to do.

I think he is a little bitter, because he realises this could be it and he’s not ready to go. But wishing for a Jenson Button set up where someone hands you a championship winning car, set up for you, from the start of the season is a fantasy.

#asks and replies

[ilsafaaust]

.

#the tiu finale was great don’t get me wrong #I expected nothing less about a show like this #I’m still so bitter that they didn’t use alex that much #I know I made a post about it before which is why imma just ramble down here #but apart from 6x14 where she obviously had a lot and then her moments in 6x16 she was hardly used #I know it’s an ensemble cast so anyones screentime is limited but considering they wanted to get her back for so long #like they FINALLY got her back so use her?? idk again it’s just me being bitter bc I love AB and she’s so so so talented yet underrated #and it will always haunt me that katoby and brandall both got lovely finally scenes together and kophie didn’t say a word #not to mention we didn’t even get a cutaway of them at the funeral OR the clip from the promo with the tie #but it’s fine #of course things get cut and prioritised #and I guess when Dan wrote it he didn’t know if they’d get alex back or not #either way would’ve been nice if she’d have been utilised more across the season #okay rant over now we can just all collectively cry at the fact there will never be a new tiu ep :(

[dreamwritesimagines]

Caught in the Fire 13 - Consumed [Bucky Barnes x Reader]

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support my loves! ❤ Here’s an early chapter, I hope you like it as well, and please don’t forget to tell me what you think of this chapter, kisses!❤

Extra thanks to @alyssiamarierenee​ for coming up with the letter idea! 😁

Pairing: Mobster!Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Summary: Secrets lead to confessions. 

Warnings: Violence, death, crime, explicit language, dysfunctional relationships, drinking, physical injuries, mentions of sex. This is an AU, friendly reminder that I don’t condone any of the actions depicted on this story and please read with care.

Series Masterlist

Sometimes, you thought your friends were more involved in your love life than you were, and that belief got stronger and stronger every single time you talked to them about any guy.

Not that you could blame them. Considering how your love life was currently in shambles.

“Okay wait, start from the beginning.”

“It was insane!” you exclaimed, “It was freaking—I’d never seen either of them like that before!”

Summer sipped her drink as Hunter leaned on the counter, still behind the bar even if there were no customers.

“Like what?”

“Like…” you waved your hands around, “You know in those documentaries there are—there are those stags that bump antlers with each other? It was like that but with words.”

“Are you really surprised that they hate each other?” Jace asked you, “They both want to fuck you.”

“Jace!”

“He has a point.”

“Not you too!” you told Hunter, “And besides, I don’t think Alex wants…that.”

“How a grown woman can be so blind, I will never understand.”

“He’s my friend!” you insisted, “He said so the other night, we’re friends.”

“The fact that he’s your friend doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to fuck you.”

“Can you stop saying that?”

“Hey, maybe you can get it on after that PTA meeting.”

“Jace!” You made a face, putting your glass on the counter again. “That’s—“

“Come on, you guys didn’t have that empty classroom fantasy?”

“I did,” Hunter held up a hand and Summer shook her head.

“I had a library fantasy, does that count?”

“You guys are gross.”

“Whatever you say, nun.”

“Even if Alex sees me like that, and that’s a big if,” you said, “it’d be a bad idea to get involved with him. He’s Emma’s teacher, and it’d just confuse her so much not to mention I’m sure there’s some sort of a rule—”

“The reason why you think it’s a good idea isn’t because he’s Em’s teacher Y/N, it’s because he’s not Barnes.”

Your jaw dropped. “That’s not true!”

“Oh yes it is.”

You looked around the empty bar, heaving a sigh before burying your face into your hands. Hunter patted you on the back as if trying to console you while Jace repressed a laugh.

“I seriously don’t understand this obsession with this dude,” Summer stated and you shook your head.

“I’m not obsessed.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“I’m staying away, aren’t I?” you asked, “It’s the right thing to do. Not to mention his mom will be thrilled.”

“To repeat, you’d be bitter as well if you were cheated on that much.”

You furrowed your brows. “I have been cheated on before.”

“You were cheated on once, that woman has been cheated on her whole life. Probably like right after the honeymoon.”

“Well I can’t exactly feel sorry for her after the way she treated me.”

“Mob wives,” Summer murmured. “You know what they’re like. I don’t think I’ve seen any pleasant ones.”

“Maybe Barnes will get a pleasant one?” Jace wiggled his brows and Hunter smacked him behind the head. The mere thought of him getting married was more than enough to twist your stomach and you shifted in your seat, pressing your lips together.

“So did you guys hear about this new turf war?” Hunter changed the subject “The safety measures at the bar are insane nowadays, around the whole block even.”

“Who’s fighting who this time?”

“No idea,” Hunter said. “I just know that we got the old safety speech again by the boss.”

“Oh the one where you all know what they mean but no one is actually saying it?”

“Bucky used to say it’s for precaution and to ensure civilian advantage or something,” you mused. “To keep them out of it.”

“Maybe Stark and Barnes? They’ve never gotten along well.”

“No, I saw them talking recently. Sounded like they were on the same side.” You checked your wristwatch. “I gotta get back to the bakery. See you guys later?”

“Be careful!”

“Stay away from mobsters!”

You scrunched up your nose at them and walked out of the bar, still grinning to yourself. Even though it took you longer than usual to get to the bakery because of the traffic, you still managed to reach there before your lunch time was over. As soon as you stepped into the bakery, you heard your name being called and you turned your head to see Becca Barnes and Sarah Wilson sitting at the table by the window. Becca waved at you and you lingered there for a moment before making your way to the table.

“Afternoon ladies,” you said. “Anything I can help you with?”

“Sit with us for a moment.”

“I should probably go back to the kitchen—“

“Just for a moment,” Sarah said. “We should plan that play date too.”

You checked over your shoulder, then took a seat and pushed your hair behind your ear.

“How are AJ and Cass?” you asked and Sarah smiled.

“They’re fine, how about Emma?”

“She’s alright.”

“I still owe you a thousand ‘thank you’s.” Becca said, “That birthday cake was amazing.”

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“And I heard that you and my idiot of a brother stopped talking,” Becca sang. “I told Sarah it’d last a week.”

Sarah scoffed a laugh. “I only heard the stories, I’ve never seen you two together.”

A fire swept over your face and you shook your head. “Um— we were friends, and now we’re not.”

Becca rolled her eyes and shot Sarah a knowing look. “You’ll know what I mean when you see them.”

“It’s not like that. We just decided it was the right thing to do, to stop talking to each other.”

“Of course,” Becca said, sipping her coffee. “Completely logical. That sounds like my brother.”

“Does it?”

“No!” Becca said, “Bucky is never logical when it comes to you, you know that. Hell, the whole town knows that.”

You pressed your lips together.

“How is he?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“Because I shouldn’t,” you said. “You know why.”

“Actually I don’t know why,” Becca said. “He doesn’t tell me anything, he just sulks all day.”

Sarah nodded. “Yeah, he was all sulky the last time I saw him.”

“You know one of the reasons why I shouldn’t be friends with him,” you pointed out and Becca made a face.

“My mom? Oh please.”

“Winnifred doesn’t like you?” Sarah asked and you shook your head.

“No, and please don’t tell him that. I don’t want him to know.”

“I can keep a secret,” Sarah said, stealing a look at Becca, “That’s a huge problem though.”

“He’s a grown man. If he and his buddies act like they rule this city, he should have no problem with telling mom off.”

“Speaking of, I wanted to ask you—“ you leaned in slightly, “Who’s at war?”

“I’m not a part of the business, I wouldn’t know.”

You tilted your head, keeping your eyes on her and she shifted her weight before shrugging her shoulders.

“An outside gang, you wouldn’t know them. They’re assholes though.”

“Where do you live?” Sarah asked and you bit inside your cheek.

“Um—Rogers territory.”

“I don’t think it’ll spread there, don’t worry. Sam and Bucky are working on it.”

You let out a breath. “Okay,” you said. “Okay, great. Um— I should really get back to the kitchen.”

“So, Sunday for the play date?” Sarah said and you nodded.

“That’d be awesome,” you said as you stood up. “By the way, just fyi, I think Em has a crush on AJ. She keeps talking about him.”

Sarah awwed and Becca pressed a hand on her chest.

“That’s so cute. Maybe they can dress up as a couple for you and Buck’s wedding.”

Your eyes widened while Sarah let out a laugh.

“We’re not even talking, Becca!” you said and she waved a hand in the air.

“Like I said, I give it a week.”

You heaved a sigh. “Enjoy your coffee, ladies,” you said and walked to the kitchen, trying to ignore the burning in your cheeks.

                                                *

You got home later than usual and when you got there, you were too tired to even move from the couch. You knew you were supposed to take a shower and go straight to bed but somehow, you could just lie on the couch, staring at the ceiling fan.

You had maybe 15 minutes of peace and you could swear you were starting to doze off when a gunshot echoed through the street, making you sit up straighter, your heart slamming against your chest. You grabbed the phone to open the group chat and quickly typed in;

Gunshot report?

It took Summer, Hunter and Jace only a couple of seconds to type back;

Check.

“Fuck,” you cursed, getting on your feet. That meant there were gunshots not only in Steve’s territory, but Sam’s, Natasha’s and—

Bucky’s.

You nibbled on your lip before finding his name in your contacts, and after a moment’s hesitation, you typed in the text.

Everything okay?

You turned the phone in your hand and stood up to pace in the room, all the sleepiness leaving your body at once. Your thoughts were like a storm in your head, multiple scenarios of everything that could go wrong flashing before your eyes and you lingered in the middle of the living room before letting out a breath.

“Fuck it,” you murmured, grabbing the car keys but as soon as you did, your phone started vibrating in your hand. Your heart skipped a beat when you saw Bucky’s name and you touched the screen before taking it to your ear.

“You okay?”

There was just silence on the other hand, making you frown.

“Buck?”

“Yeah,” he said after a beat, his voice raspy. “Yeah. Um—I’m fine—everyone’s fine, don’t worry.”

You ran a hand over your face, letting out a breath.

“There were gunshots.”

“I know. We handled it, it’s nothing to worry about. Is Emma with you?”

Your frown deepened. “No. Why?”

“Can I drop by for a moment?” he asked. “I need to see you.”

“…Yeah!” you said, “Yeah sure—are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll be there in fifteen,” he said and hung up, making you look down at the phone before putting down the car keys back to the bowl on the coffee table, and flinging yourself on the couch again.

It took him a little more than just fifteen minutes but soon enough he knocked on the door, making you dart from the couch to rush to the door to open it.

“Oh my God.” You covered your mouth when you caught the sight of him. His collar and neck had splatters of blood on it, making you think that he had at least wiped his face before coming there. You stepped aside so that he could walk in, and closed the door as soon as he did.

“What happened?”

“Can I use your bathroom?” he asked, “I need to wash my hands.”

Your gaze lowered to his bloodied hands and you nodded towards the bathroom so that he could follow you. You grabbed the nearest towel to hand it to him when he turned the tap on to keep his hands under the running water. You pressed your lips together, looking at the wounds on his knuckles as he turned the tap off.

“What happened?” you asked again and he pressed the towel on his injured hand.

“I broke a guy’s face, he…his teeth got in the way. And before you ask, he had it coming—“

“We need to clean that,” you rasped out, opening the drawer under the sink to pull out the small kit. “Come on, to the living room.”

He looked like he wanted to argue but in the end, he let you grab his other wrist and lead him to the living room. He leaned back to the table as you placed the small bag on the table, then took out the bottle of disinfectant and poured some on the gauze.

“Brings back the memories,” he murmured as you stole a look at him, then pressed the gauze on his knuckles. His hand twitched in yours and you leaned in to blow on the wound softly to at least help with the sting.

“Turf problems?”

“We’re handling it,” he murmured before resting his nose on your shoulder, the closeness of him sending a warmth through your system. You were aware of the fact that this wasn’t in any way appropriate for two people who weren’t even friends anymore but somehow—

Somehow it comforted you as much as it seemed to comfort him.

He chuckled, making you bite down a smile.

“What?”

“Irony. My hands are stained with blood and you smell like sugar.”

“They’re not stained,” you managed to say. “We’re cleaning them, see?”

His shuddered breath was warm on your skin and he nuzzled to your shoulder, making you close your eyes for a moment before you forced yourself to focus on the gauze you were pressing over the cuts.

“Say that thing,” he murmured into your shoulder and you swallowed thickly, commanding yourself to keep it together.

“What thing?”

“Say that thing you always say.”

You paused only for a moment. “Do you want a normalcy moment?”

He nodded silently before pulling back to look at you better, and you hmmed.

“Do you want to know why I smell like sugar?”

“Because you’re perfect?”

That fire swept over your cheeks again, making you scrunch up your nose.

“Not quite,” you said. “Because my cousin is an idiot.”

“Josh?”

“Yeah. He’s been working out to impress girls so everything he does has this exaggerated show of strength, and today, he slammed down a bag of powdered sugar on the counter and it exploded all over me.”

He scoffed a laugh. “Of course.”

“What else… Oh, I have to go to Emma’s PTA meeting tomorrow.”

“Fun times.”

“So much fun,” you pointed out. “And um— hey, I met Sarah. Sarah Wilson.”

“Oh Sarah is amazing.”

“She is,” you said. “We’re going to set a play date for Emma and Cass and AJ, and I’m pretty sure Em has a crush on AJ. She keeps talking about him.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” you said. “I don’t know how I feel about her having crushes, she was a baby like yesterday. I’m scared I’ll blink and she’ll be attending high school or something.”

He heaved a sigh, a small smile pulling at his lips.

“So this is how it would be then,” he said. “If we were normal. Me coming home, us talking about work and kids…”

You ignored the implication of the word we. “Exactly, there you go. It could’ve been worse. Instead of a turf war, you could’ve been handling PTA meetings and insufferable parents, can you imagine?”

“Yeah,” he said after a beat. “Yeah I can imagine that crystal clear.”

You shrugged your shoulders, now grabbing the bandage to start wrapping it around his knuckles. Bucky grabbed his cigarette case from his pocket with his free hand to put a cigarette between his lips, then lit it.

“White lighter?” you asked. “We talked about that.”

“That’s just a superstition Peaches.”

“Don’t temp fate,” you said and he exhaled the smoke.

“So he left me a letter.”

Your head shot up, “Hm? Who?”

“My father,” he said. “He left me a letter. I guess he wrote it when things started to go bad. Just in case.”

“What did it say?”

“He…there was a completely different side of him that I didn’t know about. None of us knew about.”

“Like what?”

“As it turns out, he was in love.”

“Oh yeah, he loved women all over the city. The whole town knows about it.”

He let out a laugh. “No. He says he was in love with a woman.”

“Your mother?”

“Nope.”

“Who then?”

“No idea. He met her before he met mom, and they were together, but his family thought my mom was a better choice for the future. Her family already knew about the business, she was a part of it… The other woman was a civilian.”

You looked up at him. “So he married your mom.”

“Yeah,” he said, “Yeah he did. He loved her I guess, but he wasn’t in love with her. And it got me thinking— I was driving here and I was thinking about it; who did he want to see when he was dying? Those last minutes, who…who did he imagine?”

You tied the bandage before pulling your hands back.

“Because I bet it wasn’t mom,” Bucky stated. “Bet it was some woman who he couldn’t get over after decades.”

“You don’t know that.”

He took a drag of the cigarette before exhaling the smoke again.

“No, I do know that. I know that because the idea is way too familiar, and that means I’m fucked.” He let out a bitter chuckle. “It’s in my blood, it has to be.”

The meaning behind his words wasn’t lost on you, and your stomach did a hopeful flip. “Buck…”

“He fell in love with a civilian, Y/N,” he insisted, “Even if he knew better, even if they couldn’t be together. On his goddamn letter he calls her unstained by all the blood he shed, he loved her for years no matter who he was with, no matter who he touched— please tell me, am I drawing any parallels yet?”

You wetted your lips, trying to ignore the way your heart was pacing in your chest. “Bucky, it’s the…it’s the adrenaline, okay? It’ll go away. You’re high on adrenaline right now, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

He exhaled the smoke for the last time before stubbing the cigarette.

“And what’s going to be the excuse after the adrenaline is gone?” he asked you. “Because I—not talking to you feels like withdrawals, and I have a fucking letter that proves that this shit doesn’t just go away. So go on, Peaches. Give me another excuse so that I can convince myself, I need it.”

Your eyes started burning but you managed to blink back the tears.

“Bucky, we…we shouldn’t,” you managed to whisper. “We’re not supposed to; you know we’re not supposed to.”

He let out a bitter chuckle, resting his forehead on yours as his fingers brushed over the sensitive skin of your neck, making you swallow thickly.

“I know,” he murmured. “Trust me, I’m aware of that. You’re not for me to touch, I’d just get blood on you. I’ve been telling myself the same thing since I came back but—“ he took a shaky breath as you wrapped your fingers around his wrist, “Just tell me when it’ll go away, because I’ve been waiting for a decade and it just doesn’t. It doesn’t disappear.”

This was…

This was too much. You would’ve been lying to yourself if you said you weren’t craving to be closer to him, if you weren’t craving to just lean up and press your lips to his, just—

You wanted to feel him. That was it.

You wanted to feel him until this craving inside of you wasn’t as unbearable as it was now.

“You don’t want to be my friend, fine,” he said, his voice soft. “Just be my girl then.”

You let out a breath, your eyes fluttering close as he leaned in to capture your lips in a kiss. Your whole body was felt as if it was on fire as his arms pulled you closer, holding you tight before he lifted you up, making you wrap your legs around his waist without even breaking the kiss.

The logical part of you knew that it was a mistake. It was going to make everything more complicated but somehow, you couldn’t bring yourself to care when his kisses made every single thought disappear.

He walked to your bedroom to drop you on your bed, making a giggle escape from your lips as his body covered yours. You ran your fingernails over the nape of his neck as he pulled back to look down at you with a fond smile.

“What?” you asked, feeling him drag his fingertips up your bare legs under your dress and his gaze lingered down to your lips before snapping up to your eyes.

“Nothing,” he whispered. “It just…It feels right.”

You could swear your heart melted and you stared up at him before pulling him down to a kiss, the haze taking over you.

Bucky was right.

It felt just right.

Chapter 14

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #reader insert #mob au #mobster au #bucky barnes imagine #bucky x you #bucky x reader

[sl-ut]

brutal

CHAPTER SEVEN

pairing: glenn rhee x fem!reader

description: dr jenner confesses what he has discovered about the virus, and his plans now that his time to find a cure has run out.

warnings: violence, swearing, death, mention of alcohol

words: 5.3K

date posted: 28/05/22

previous | next

Y/n found herself slumped over the table the next morning at breakfast, head nestled between her folded arms and under the guise of her hoodie, hiding the mess that had become her hair. Alex sat next to her, a hand planted on her back in comfort as he chatted with Dale across the table, chipper as ever.

Alexander was, for some unknown, ungodly reason, unable to become hungover. His entire teen years, he would sneak out of the house to party and still be up at the crack of dawn to go fishing with absolutely no symptoms of a fellow who had been so drunk he could hardly walk only hours before. Meanwhile, the few times that Y/n had made very similar attempts, she was unable to move out of bed until at least midday.

She peeked up over her arms as she heard him groan, only to find him nursing his own head in the seat across from her, relishing in the comforting hand that Jacqui had laid on his arm. Y/n was glad that she wasn’t alone in her hungover-ness, and the horrible ache in her head almost disappeared as their eyes met, a small smile crossing his features.

Y/n’s attention was turned to the steaming cup of black coffee that her brother slid in front of her. She jumped in surprise as it cut into her eyeline, not even aware that Alex had gotten up to get it for her.

“Drink,” He ordered, “I’m not dealing with you complaining about a hangover today, you’re whiny enough as it is.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, but complied to his instructions and took one large gulp from the ceramic mug, frowning at the bitter taste. Y/n pushed it away once she had finished it all, along with the untouched plate of bacon and toast that he’d given her as she leaned back into her seat, eyelids drooping.

“Hello,” She heard Rick greet the group as he entered the room, a chorus of greetings responding to him.

“Are you hungover?” Carl asked, bluntly, “Mom said you would be.”

Rick exhaled heavily, “Mom is right.”

“Mom has that annoying habit.” Lori quipped.

The small group at the table erupted into quiet chuckles as the remainder of the group shuffled into the cafeteria. Y/n stared down at the assortment of food on the plate, scowling as a clump of yellow eggs dropped onto it.

“Eggs, powdered, but I do ‘em well.” T-Dog spoke as she loaded up several plates, “Protein’ll help with the hangover.”

“Where’d this come from?” Rick plucked a bottle of aspirin off of the table in front of him, shaking it lightly to hear the pills rattle around inside.

“Jenner. He thought we might need it,” Lori responded, nodding to Glenn as he continued to moan loudly, “Well, some of us, at least.”

Y/n might have snickered if it hadn’t been for her own splitting headache and unsettled stomach as he proceeded to become louder in his complaints.

“Don’t ever, ever, ever let me drink again,” Glenn grumbled, poking at the squishy eggs on his plate, ignoring T-Dog as he mockingly chuckled at his state.

Y/n gulped heavily. Had that been directed at her? Had he not enjoyed the kiss as much as she had thought, or as much as he had let on? Her blood felt cold in her veins as she suddenly became insecure. Perhaps they had both been over affected by the alcohol, though she certainly didn’t mind. She remembered attending high school parties, and hearing both boys and girls chanting the mantra, everyone is cute if you’re drunk enough. Had she fallen victim to a rule that she had previously followed? Her eyes fell to her lap, where her fingers began wringing together anxiously, only glancing up as she felt a presence just behind her.

The three long scratch marks on Shane’s jaw were red and angry-looking. She was suddenly reminded of his behaviour from the night before, and tension coursed through her entire body as she felt his eyes grace over her figure, shrinking into the comfort of her hoodie more than she had before. Y/n began to wonder what Shane had been planning on doing that night. Had he intended to hurt her? She was more than aware that the man had a fairly low opinion of her, but she hadn’t actually imagined that he would lay a hand on her without proper cause.

Her gaze found Daryl across the room. What would have happened if Daryl hadn’t come out of his room? She’d gotten in one good hit, but he had recovered too soon for her to get away or so anything more. Y/n felt sick to her stomach at the thought, even more so than she had before.

She followed the archer’s narrowed gaze to the Deputy, then caught him glancing over at her. Upon their eyes meeting, he offered her a slow upwards tilt of his head, as if to ask if she was alright. Y/n gave him a subtle nod before turning her eyes downward to push the eggs around her plate.

“Hey,” Rick grunted to his friend, “You feel as bad as I do?”

“Worse.”

Y/n hadn’t missed the wayward glance he had sent Lori, who had diverted her gaze from its former place on his face. Y/n suddenly remembered how tense he had been last night when she had met him in the hall, and soon began wondering if something had happened between the pair. Based on the anger he had directed at her, she began to assume that something bad had happened. Had he also tried to force himself onto Lori? Maybe he’d gotten further than he’d been able to with Y/n, though it appeared that Lori had gotten in a solid hit before he was able to go too far. Regardless, Y/n understood that Lori had been the cause of those scratches, and was likely the reason that he’d gone after her as well.

“What happened to your face?”

The words had escaped her mouth before she’d been able to stop them, though she didn’t really regret it. Y/n now had a solid reason to distrust Shane beyond simply not liking him, and she was genuinely afraid of what he might be capable of if he were put in such a situation.

Shane’s stare darkened at her question, shrugging as he sipped from his coffee, “Must have done it in my sleep.”

He watched her like a lion would watch its prey before attacking, definitely annoyed by her asking such a question while she could certainly just come out and accuse him of attacking her. Her brother would take her side without question, and she was sure that Daryl would probably testify against Shane at any given chance. The others might take some convincing, but if something had gone down between him and Lori that night, nobody in their right mind would believe him over two others.

“Never seen you do that before.” Rick mentioned.

“Me neither,” Shane responded, his eyes turning to focus on his best friend’s wife as she kept her own directed down at her plate, “Not like me at all.”

“Morning.” Jenner greeted as he strode into the cafeteria, pouring himself a large cup of coffee as several members of the group welcomed him quietly.

“Doctor,” Dale greeted, “I don’t mean to slam you with questions first thing in the morning-”

“But you will anyway.”

“We didn’t come here for the eggs.” Andrea told him sternly.

Jenner scowled, clearly bothered by how insistent the group had been about questioning him, both the night before and before he’s truly been able to wake himself up that morning. Regardless, he ushered the outsiders into the main lab where he had spent his time for the majority of their stay. Y/n stared around at the computers that surrounded them, amazed at the technology she was faced with.

“Give me playback of TS-19,” the doctor ordered the artificial intelligence system.

“Playback of TS-19.” The robotic voice answered back.

The large screen on the far wall began to display a series of codes and information, all of which seemed like some sort of hieroglyphics to the teen, though the photographs that appeared were clear as day; CT scans of a human brain.

“Few people ever got a chance to see this.” Jenner explained, “Very few.”

“Is that a brain?” Carl questioned, turning to stare up at the doctor.

“An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end.” He responded, then spoke once again to the AI, “Take us in for EIV.”

“Enhanced internal view.” The computer spoke as it zoomed in on the brain, displaying a series of glowing blue lights.

Y/n stared at the screen with parted lips, watching as the lights flickered around the screen at a rapid pace, covering the otherwise dark room with a light blue hue.

“What are those lights?” Shane questioned.

“It's a person's life—experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you—the thing that makes you unique and human.”

Daryl raised his brow, leaning against the computers behind Y/n, “You don’t make sense, ever?”

The scientist ignored the archer, “Those are synapses. Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death.”

“Death? What is this, a vigil?” Rick asked.

“Yes. Or rather, a playback of a vigil.”

“This person died?” Andrea’s statement came out in the form of a question, “Who?”

Jenner grimaced, “Test subject nineteen. Someone who was bitten and infected... and volunteered to have us record the process. VI, Scan forward to the first event.”

“Scanning to first event.”

The screen showed the same brain, however the blue had been overtaken by strains of black, winding through the strands of vibrant lights until the entire screen was left dark.

“What is that?” Glenn questioned.

“It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be...gone.”

“Is that what happened to Jim?” Sophia asked, her voice trembling slightly as she stared up at her mother.

“Yes.” The woman answered hesitantly, tucking her daughter snugly beneath her arm.

Andrea let out a heavy breath, catching Jenner’s attention. He watched her curiously for a moment before Lori stepped in to explain.

“She lost someone two days ago… Her sister.”

“I lost somebody too, I know how devastating that is.” He told the blonde woman, then called out to his AI, “Scan to the second event. The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute... seven seconds.”

A red glow appeared at the base of the brain, expanding just slightly further into the otherwise black-abyss, though it does not spread any farther.

“The brain…” Y/n began, her eyes briefly leaving the screen to stare at the doctor, “It just… restarts?”

“Just the stem. Basically, it just gets them up and moving.”

“But they’re not alive?”

He gestured to the screen, “You tell me.”

“It’s nothing like before,” Rick moved forward to have a closer look, “Most of that brain is dark.”

“Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part—that doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct.”

The subject began to move, the outline of its mouth opening and closing slightly. Y/n flinched, glancing over her shoulder at her older brother with widened eyes as he moved to rub a hand over her shoulder.

“God,” Carol swore, “What was that?”

“He shot his patient in the head.” Andrea answered, “Didn’t you?”

Jenner ignored the woman’s question, ordering the AI to power down the workstations, leaving the screen black.

“Powering down main screen and workstations.”

“You have no idea what it is, do you?” Andrea pressed.

“It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal.”

“Or the wrath of god?” Jacqui added.

“There is that.”

“Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere.”

“There are others, right? Other facilities?” Carol held Sophia to her chest tightly.

Jenner shrugged, “There may be some. People like me."

“But you don't know? How can you not know?” Rick frowned.

“Everything went down. Communications, directives—all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

Andrea leaned forward, “So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?”

“Jesus.” Jacqui swore, covering her mouth with her hand.

Daryl pushed away from the computers and began to pace back and forth with heavy steps, “Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again.”

“Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but...that clock—it's counting down. What happens at zero?” Dale inquired.

Y/n turned her head to watch as the clock continued to tick down, dropping just below an hour.

“The basement generators— they run out of fuel.”

“And then?” Rick pressed.

Jenner ignored the question and turned, leaving the room.

“Vi, what happens when the power runs out?” Rick asked loudly.

“When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur.”

“Decontamination?” Y/n questioned, “What is that?”

Shane shook his head, “Generators… There’s gotta be somethin’ we can do about that.”

“Generators would be downstairs. Could go down and take a look.” T-Dog suggested.

Rick nodded, “Glenn, T, Alex, come with us.”

He and Shane led the three out of the room, Y/n catching one last comforting look from her brother as he raced after the other men, then meeting that of Daryl Dixon. The typical annoyed look in his eye had disappeared to accommodate that of worry. She’d only ever witnessed a few different emotions from him; Anger, sadness when he’d learned about his brother being left in Atlanta, and alcohol-fueled happiness, though never before had she seen him appear genuinely concerned for the safety of the group.

Y/n returned to her room alone, rushing around to pack what few things that both she and her brother had used the night before back into their respective backpacks. Her hands shook as she rushed around, breathing growing laboured under the pressure that she had so suddenly felt, even more so as the quiet humming of the air conditioning slowly came to a halt and the lights flickered out for a moment.

“Emergency lighting on,” Vi’s monotone voice called.

“Hey,” She swivelled around at the sound of Daryl’s gruff voice, “The hell’s goin’ on?”

“Dunno,” she zipped her brother’s bag shut, “But I have a feeling that this decontamination isn’t just gonna be some Lysol wipes.”

Her eyes fell to the glass bottle in his hand, snatching it from him and taking a long swig. She hissed at the taste of the straight alcohol before handing it back to him, ignoring his confused stare.

“Why is the air off?” Carol chimed in from the hall.

“And the lights in our room?” Lori added.

Jenner marched past the doorway of Y/n’s room, brushing off the questions being fired at him. Daryl stuck his head out, following after him with Y/n hot on his trail, carrying both bags in her shaky hands.

“What's going on? Why is everything turned off?” The redneck demanded.

Jenner took the whiskey bottle from Daryl without slowing down, swallowing a large gulp straight from the bottle.

“Energy use is being prioritised.”

“Air isn't a priority? And lights?” Dale asked.

Jenner huffed, “It's not up to me. Zone Five is shutting itself down.”

Y/n frowned, “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Jenner continued to ignore their obvious distress as he continued back into the main lab, though he was unable to escape their questions as they chased after him.

“Hey, man, we’re talking to you.” Daryl barked, “What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?”

“You'd be surprised.”

“Rick?” Lori called out to her husband as he, Shane, T-Dog, Glenn, and Alexander jogged back to the group, panicked expressions on each of their faces.

He motioned for her to wait. Jenner walked down the stairs past Rick and the others and up the steps to the big room.

“Jenner, what's happening?”

“The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule.”

Jenner took another sizable drink from the bottle, pausing at the steps that led up to the work stations in the lab. He handed the bottle to Daryl, who angrily snatched it out of his hand.

“It was the French.” He spoke, eyes falling on Andrea.

“What?” She breathed.

“They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution.”

“What happened?”

“The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?”

Shane growled, “Let me tell you--”

“To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care.” Rick turned to his wife, “Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!”

Y/n swung Alex’s backpack into his grasp, who secured it over his shoulders and tapped her arm appreciatively. Though she was angry that it had come to it, she was glad that she had been able to sense that they were going to need to flee the CDC.

“Thirty minutes to decontamination,” Vi announced.

“Doc, what's going on here?” Alex asked.

Jenner ignored him as he scanned his badge and entered code into a security pad.

“Everybody, y'all heard Rick.” Shane commanded.

“Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!”

Large metal doors slammed closed around them, encasing them into the computer lab. Y/n froze at the loud boom, realisation coming over her that Jenner had no intentions of allowing them to leave the CDC. Whatever this ‘decontamination’ was, Y/n had an inkling that they would not survive it.

“Did you just lock us in?” Glenn gasped, “He just locked us in!”

Jenner turned to his computer monitor, speaking into the camera at the top. Y/n turned to her brother with teary eyes, frightened by his blank expression. There was no trace of fear or concern on his face, instead appearing to be in complete disbelief at the fate that was becoming of them. Y/n hadn’t ever seen him act like this before, as he was typically never one to be in a low mood, and was always quick to jump into action when it was needed. Alex didn’t even grant her a response when Y/n whispered his name.

“You son of a bitch!” Daryl made a run at the doctor, pulling him away from his recording, “You locked us in here!”

Shane and Rick both blocked the man’s path of harming the doctor.

“Jenner, open that door now.” Rick spoke firmly to him.

“There’s no point.” The scientist hummed, “Everything topside is on lockdown. The emergency exits are sealed.”

“Well, open the damn things.”

“That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way.”

“What is?” Rick sounded desperate, “What happens in twenty-eight minutes."

“You know what this place is?” Jenner roared, “We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!” He paused to collect himself, sitting back down at his workstation, “In the event of a catastrophic power failure—in a terrorist attack, for example—H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out.”

“H.I.T.’s?” Rick breathed.

Jenner watched him for a moment before calling out, “Vi, define.”

“H.I.T.s—high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between five thousand degrees and six thousand degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.”

Y/n gasped. She understood that something bad was about to happen, though she wouldn’t have dreamed that Jenner, the man who had so graciously saved their lives less than twenty-four hours earlier, had planned on bringing them all to the very same fiery fate in just a few minutes.

“It set the air on fire. No pain.” Jenner whispered.

Carol burst into tears, hugging Sophia tightly to muffle her sobs. Y/n turned to Alex, a tear trickling down his cheek slowly as she gripped his hand in her own, leaning against his side. Her other hand became encased in another, turning her head to meet Glenn’s sad gaze as he squeezed her palm tightly. She rested her head on his shoulder, allowing him to hold her in a loose embrace without releasing her brother’s hand.

“An end to sorrow, grief… regret. Everything.”

Glass shattered against the door as Daryl whiffed the liquor bottle against the metal, moving out of the way as Shane raced at the door with a fire axe, slamming the head repeatedly into the door, though he didn’t even create a scratch.

T-Dog shattered the glass case of the second fire axe, tossing it to Daryl as he joined Shane in beating at the door.

“You should have left well enough alone, it would have been so much easier.”

“Easier for who?” Y/n choked, voice cracking over her words.

“All of you. You know what's out there. A short brutal life and an agonising death.” He turned to Andrea, “Your—your sister—what was her name?”

“Amy.”

“Amy.” He nodded, then looked to Rick, “You know what this does, you’ve seen it first-hand. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?”

“I don’t want this.”

“Can’t make a dent.” Shane bellowed.

“Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher.” Jenner called out to them.

Daryl turned on his heel, bumping past the others as he lifted the axe over his head, “Well your head ain’t.”

Rick caught the axe, preventing it from slicing Jenner’s head from his neck. T-Dog snatched the axe away, shoving the man backwards to keep him from harming the scientist, sending him stumbling into Alex, who barely flinched at the contact. Daryl turned, glancing at Y/n after noticing her brother's blank stare. She shrugged silently as she sniffled, biting her lip.

“You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead.” Jenner stressed.

“What?” Lori's face registered shock at Jenner’s words.

“What? You really said that? After all your big talk?” Shane seethed, turning on his friend with a dark expression.

Rick turned to Lori, “I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?”

“There is no hope. There never was.” Jenner spoke bitterly.

“There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here but somebody somewhere—”

Andrea interrupted his speech, “What part of everything is gone do you not understand?”

“Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event” Jenner explained.

“This isn't right. You can't keep us here,” Carol sobbed, holding Sophia close to her chest, “My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!”

“One tiny moment--a millisecond. No pain,” Jenner attempted to reason with her, though his arguments fell on deaf ears, “Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate just to hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?”

Shane stalked up to the man, shotgun raised to press against his cheek threateningly. Jenner stiffened visibly, though he didn’t make an effort to defend himself. The man had truly given up on his own life.

“Shane, no!” Rick tried to intercept Shane but Shane pushed him away.

“Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?”

“Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here.”

Lori huffed, “Shane, you listen to him.”

“He dies, we all–”

Shane redirected his aim, firing several shots through the computers merely feet away. Sparks flew from the monitors, as they combusted.

“--We all die! Shane! Shane!”

Rick struggled to tear the gun away from Shane, slamming the butt of his own into Shane’s head, knocking him to the ground. Rick ran at him, raising the gun, ready to hit him again to keep him down.

“Are you done now? Are you done?”

“Yeah, I guess we all are.”

Rick handed the gun to T-Dog, glancing around at the solemn faces surrounding him. Calmly he turned to Jenner, “I think you're lying.”

“What?”

“You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?”

“It doesn't matter.”

“It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?”

“Not because I wanted to. I made a promise.” Jenner pointed to the screen, “To her. My wife.”

“Test subject nineteen was your wife?” Y/n asked, her lip quivering.

“She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?”

Daryl returned to slamming his axe into the door, grunting loudly with each stroke. Y/n leaned into Glenn’s side, tucking her face further into his shoulder as quiet sobs began to wrack her body.

“She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just... Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me.”

“Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's—that's all we want—a choice, a chance.” Rick consoled him.

Lori added, “Let us keep trying as long as we can.”

“I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those.”

Jenner tapped at a series of buttons at his computer, the metal door sliding upwards to reveal the dim hallway. Y/n gasped in surprise as she lifted her head from Glenn’s shoulder, glancing over at the clock, watching as it reached four minutes.

“Let's go!” Glenn grasped her wrist, pulling her out to the hall and creating a chain as Alex carried on behind her, linked by their conjoined hands.

“There's your chance. Take it.”

“I'm grateful.”

Jenner pursed his lips grimly, “The day will come when you won't be.”

“Hey,we've got four minutes left! Come on!”

“No no. I'm staying. I'm staying, sweetie.” Jacqui fought her way out of T-Dog’s grasp as he tried to lead her out of the lab.

“But that's insane!” He argued.

“No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue. And no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out.”

Alex finally lept into action, speeding through the hall at the head of the group, Y/n hot on his heels. They paused briefly to allow the others to grab their bags from their rooms before they climbed the stairs to reach the main level. The men begin to beat against the large glass windows, to no avail.

“Get them doors open!” Shane bellowed.

“Come on! It doesn't work!” Glenn cried out.

Y/n tucked herself against the wall, feeling helpless. She flinched as she felt a hand run along her shoulder, glancing over at Lori as she smiled tightly at the teary girl, squeezing her arm gently within her own.

T-Dog and Shane tried time and time again, slamming their axes and firing bullets into the glass, though not a single crack would appear.

Carol called out to Rick, ruffling through her bag rapidly, “Rick, I have something that might help.”

“Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it.” Shane snarked.

She ignored him, “Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket.”

Carol pulled her hand from her bag, revealing a grenade. Rick stared at it in wonder, nodding as he grabbed it, pulling the pin and dropping it by the window once everyone had taken cover.

Alex covered Y/n’s head underneath his chest, ducking his own down to keep it from excess damage from the blast. A split second of hot air licked at her exposed skin, and just as quickly as it had come, the group had clambered back into the outside world, feet slamming against the pavement in desperation as they raced for the cars. Y/n climbed into the RV, sliding onto the floor to prepare herself for the blast as Rick, Lori, Carl, Alexander, and Glenn climbed aboard behind her.

“Wait!” Lori cried as Rick struggled with the keys, “They’re coming!”

Peeking out the window, Y/n found Dale and Andrea leaping from the shattered window, desperately climbing down to escape the explosion.

“Come on. Dale, get down! Down!”

“Get back! Everybody down! Down!” Rick ordered.

Y/n ducked away from the window, laying back in fetal position on the floor, covering her head with her backpack as the RV began to rock with the blast. Y/n bit her lip, imagining Jacqui’s kind smile as her ears were introduced to the sound of the building exploding and collapsing in on itself. After a few moments, she pushed herself into a sitting position as she shared a sad glance with Glenn and Alex, then sighed in relief as the door opened to allow her to discover that Dale and Andrea had escaped unscathed.

Alexander and Andrea slide into the booth, though Y/n decided to take her place in the back leaning against the wall as her head throbbed, both from the two loud explosions she had just witnessed and the deadly hangover she was still suffering from.

“Hey,” She glanced over to spot Glenn in the doorway, “You okay?”

Y/n shook her head slowly, “No. Are you?”

“No.”

It became silent for a moment, both silently watching the other, unsure of how to act after the events of the night before.

Y/n smiled tightly at him, reaching over to tap the mattress next to her as an invitation. His ears burned lightly as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed, kicking his shoes off of his feet and leaning against the wall beside her. Silently, she rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and wishing herself to sleep.

The caravan pulled away from the site of the former CDC, leaving nothing but rubble as black smoke spiraled into the Georgia sky, leaving behind a burning building and the memory of Jacqui, possibly the kindest person Y/n had ever met.

#reader insert #x reader #imagines #the walking dead x reader #the walking dead imagines #glenn rhee x reader #glenn rhee imagine #daryl dixon x reader #twd #twd fanfiction

[thealexchen]

Highlights of the Katy and Erika Q&A

Link to the Q&A! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1161022793 

- Erika’s first audition with a scene partner was with Han Soto (Gabe)! Neither of them had gotten their parts yet, but Han still called “I’ll see you on set!” over his shoulder as he was leaving. Erika also said that he was a wonderful mentor figure and also someone who gave her a lot of shit, like an older brother would.

- THEY ANSWERED MY QUESTION!!! 😭 I had asked, "Since you were working on this game for several years, how do you think your performance or skills as an actor changed over time as you got to know your character better?"

Erika explained that in an early callback, she had to act out Gabe’s death scene and got into the moment by imagining that her little brother Evan had died. Later on she realized that it wasn’t healthy or sustainable to go to such dark places mentally over and over: “It's great to bring your lived experience in but not at the at the level of sacrificing your own health.” She later referred to the Lucid Body Technique invented by a dancer named Fay Simpson that she learned while on an acting retreat in Creed, CO (”Fun fact, Creed is actually a small mining town that was saved by theater!”). Instead of calling up traumatic memories, Erika focused on where that emotion “lives” in her body, accessed them safely, and was able to bring herself back to the present moment. Katy also mentioned she studied the technique in college. All super interesting stuff!

- Han pulled so many pranks on set that Webb (performance director) and Corwin (mocap producer) forced him to limit it to “one prank per day... on Erika.” He managed to jumpscare her every time and when she tried to get him back, “He didn’t even blink. I was like ‘What the fuck is going on?”

- Alex evolved a lot over the course of writing the game. Apparently the first iteration of Alex was a lot more like Chloe-- very bitter, brittle and with a lot of repressed anger-- but that got softened as they developed Alex’s power and as Erika brought more of herself to the performance.

- Apparently Gabe’s death scene was fun to film because when Gabe got knocked off the cliff, Erika got pulled in a sled to simulate Alex being pulled toward the edge while tied to Gabe. So they did a million takes of that and Erika just got to sit in a sled. Meanwhile Katy was at a butterfly garden down the street.

- Another fun scene (apparently) was when Alex fell down the mineshaft at the end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5, as Erika describes: “They basically rigged me up to a swing, like a sex swing-- not a sex swing. I mean, I walked in and I think that was my first question. I was like ‘Is that a sex swing? What are we filming today? I didn’t get these scripts.’” Cue the chat going insane.

What actually happened was she hung onto a board and two pulleys dropped on either side of her so she fell onto a crash pad. Apparently Webb practiced before and “really bruised the shit out of his ribs.”

- The “The crowd is really picking up on my energy. Haaaaa we love you Alex! Haaaaa Steph sucks!” line during the foosball game was entirely improvised by Erika, just having fun on set. Erika also admits she’s very chatty and just enjoyed getting to know her castmates so that they were already all friends when they acted together.

- Webb sent Han and Erika on a day trip to Idaho Springs early in production to bond and of course Han suggested they go gambling (Erika added, “Which of course is something that Gabe would do! Like ‘Let’s go do something sinful.”) They also played with Han’s drone. Katy went to see one of Erika’s plays in Colorado!

- When asked about what Erika would do if she had Alex’s powers: “I think it would be a cool power too because there’s so much covering that happens with all of us in social settings and professional settings. And being able to have insight into what’s really going on would probably create the need to be a much a kinder, generous, forgiving person, which are things that I’m always working on. I don’t think you could not become that.”

- Erika on Asian representation in True Colors: "[Alex is] not the best friend, she's not the tiger mom, she's her own fully realized, three dimensional person with flaws and goals and dreams and things she wished she could do over again. And I think that, for me, as somebody who grew up not seeing people who looked like me in movies-- and that's why Lucy Liu was such a fucking huge deal-- but the fact that D9 didn't do it in a tropey way was incredible. I know how important that Alex is a woman of color. She doesn't fit the mold of typical video game female bodies either, which I think is amazing."

- Erika lowkey hated the mocap suits. She couldn’t understand why Katy didn’t mind them and said “Katy. Katy. Katy.” “No it was so comfy it was like I was in my jammies!” “I remember you said that and I was like ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?! This is not comfortable!’”

- Erika’s advice to aspiring creatives: “Don’t let the fear of being bad at something stop you.”

- E: “I feel like I've been talking a lot" K: “This is your interview!" E: “Yeah I know but your voice is better.” K: “What?! MA’AM. MA’AM??”

- When Erika and Katy talk about teleportation as a superpower: “Or like when you wake up in the middle of the night and you have to pee, like ‘Should I just pee my pants? Or should I walk to the-- it’s just so far.”

- When Erika mentioned she grew up with a Golden Retriever the chat went “RYAN THE GOLDEN RETRIEVER”

- Erika’s closing remarks: I cannot wait for y’all to play the DLC because Wavelengths is gonna be the shit. And I’m gonna tell you why! Because it’s all about Steph! Which means it’s all about Katy! It’s gonna be so fucking good you guys. It’s gonna be beautiful. It’s gonna be funny. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to live in Haven Springs even more. You’ll want to marry Katy Bentz. What more could you ask for?? K: Could you be my hype woman forever please?

#what a fun q&a I love both of them so much #gonna forever be on cloud nine that KATY BENTZ SAID MY NAME AND THEY ANSWERED MY QUESTION #life is strange #life is strange true colors #erika mori #katy bentz #my post #listc #lis: tc #lis true colors #true colors #true colours #alex chen #steph gingrich #chenrich #lis:tc #life is strange: true colors #life is strange true colours

[mememanturner]

My Mistakes Were Made for You (part 4)

Alex Turner x reader

Final Part! (4/4)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Summary: Alex and you finally talk about what's going on...

warnings: confrontation of feelings, crying, that's all really

word count: 1831

A/N: The final part is here! I hope it brings the satisfaction everyone is expecting. Gonna try n work on some new things soon :) Thank you all again for the love on the last parts, it's really encouraging when people like it!!

“Fuck!” You cried, stumbling to get back up, feeling the burn on your knees and palms. You could feel the hot, stinging sensation in your knees and your hands as you let out a shaky breath, still on the ground. You closed your eyes, a juvenile attempt to wish everything away. If I can’t see it, it’s not real. But you did see it. You saw exactly what Alex didn’t want you to see, and now you couldn’t get it out of your head. The two of them so perfectly in sync, like they always were. It had always been them two, and then you. It wasn’t surprising but it didn’t change the fact that it hurt. Everything hurt. You absolutely hated feeling this way, this sticky feeling of jealousy boiling inside of you, but what you had seen had been such a slap in the face. No one could fake the chemistry between Miles and Alex. And Alex had made it seem like he was just as distanced from Miles as he was from you. And thinking about it made you even more angry because he never actually said it, he just implied it but not really, it was mostly just your assumption, the glances you got into Alex’s life while you two were taking a breather so it wasn’t really his fault but it’s not like he was truthful and now fuck you’re crying again--

“Hey..”

Steps approached you from the entrance, not quick, but paced. The crunch of gravel on the pavement made you lift your head to the very soul whom you’d just seen living in his stupor. You look up to meet his eyes, concerned and apprehensive. You said nothing, sharing a stare. Finally, he showcases the sunglasses, waving them around lightly and offers a tight smile. You scoff in response, no sympathy left in your system, and wipe away the fresh, feverish tears. “I didn’t really think you’d bring ‘em back.” He says quietly, nearly a mumble.

“You gave me a week Alex. A fucking week.” Your words come out bitter, but you don’t mind. The severed connection left an exposed wire. It would be his responsibility not to step on it.

“One hundred an’ sixty eyte hours…”

“Don’t get fucking smart on me you dick.” You respond before he even has the chance to finish.

“Fair enough.” He sighs, back to mumbling again. A silence passes between you as you try and settle your anger and fight back another round of tears. Alex reaches his hand out to you silently. Truce? It seemed to ask. You stare at it for a moment, and reluctantly grab his hand, using his weight to help yourself up. Your palm stings when it touches his skin and your knees are soon to protest when you uncurl them to stand. A slight hiss escapes your lips as you straighten up, assessing the damage done. Alex says nothing, but grimaces at the sight of your legs. Torn fabric and scraped and bloody knees. Nothing severe, but unpleasant nonetheless. His hand lingers for a moment, but you don’t let it transform into anything more as you pull yours away to dust off your clothes.

“I’m sorry-”

“Fuck Al, really? Sorry? You’re a songwriter for fuck’s sake, you couldn’t be even a little more creative? After all that-”

“All what, exactly?” He interrupts. You stare, eyebrows raised.

“Excuse me?”

“After all what.” He states again, not getting angry, but you could see his demeanor change. When he came out, it was in hopes of some sort of reconciliation. Now he was ready to fight.

A million insults crossed your mind, a million ways to tell him just how much that scene had hurt you, a million things to call Miles but what came out instead was:

“You and Miles.” You voice broke at Miles’ name, and you felt your eyes getting hot again. “You and Miles fucking Kane, Al.” The hurt was apparently present enough in your voice because at your words, Alex’s face softened every so slightly.

“Love I-”

“No. Fuck no, you don’t get to ‘love’ me Turner. You don’t get to say sorry. You don’t fucking get it, do you? You can’t see shit past the music or the studio or Miles. No, you’ve never been able to, one always goes hand in hand with the other, if they’re not somehow linked, it doesn’t work. I guess that’s why Miles works so well, huh? He gets it. ‘He’s the only one who gets me’ is that it Al? I don’t get you. I don't get the music. I wouldn’t understand what it’s like, right? I’m just some person, but Miles! No, Miles is special. Miles knows, doesn’t he?” You pause, breathing heavily. Inevitable tears spill but this time you couldn’t care less. Alex looks stunned, trying to search for words but you continue right from where you left off. “Alex I know I fucked up. I never meant to hurt you, it’s the last thing I wanted, you know that, I know you know. And I want to make it up to you, you mean so fucking much to me but you’re not making this easy. You’ve never made it easy. It’s always about your music but you talk about it without saying anything. You never let me in on it. You never say anything and then with Miles-” your voice breaks again at his name but you continue. “Fuck. You and Miles… I know what you have is special. I see it. Any fool could see it. I never want to get in the way of that ever. And I’d never do anything to hurt him, or you or your music, believe me. But Al… if you gave me a chance, if you let me in on one thing, maybe I could understand you too. Maybe I could understand you…” Your voice trailed off carefully. You weren’t sure what exactly took over you or where those words had come from, but whatever the consequence was going to be, you were glad to have gotten the chance to say them.

And then, softly.

“I didn’t want to lose you.” Fear.

“What?” Hurt.

“That song. That song you ‘eard. You were the inspiration. This whole thing, between us, ‘s where tha’ song came from. The other songs. The other songs we wrote. ‘Bout you. They’re all about you.” His voice has gone deeper and you could hear how scared he sounded. Not because of what he was saying, but because he was saying it to you.

“Alex… I don’t think I follow, what-”

“I was scared that once we talked about it, once we figured things out that it would change. That we would agree it’d be for the best if we parted ways. I didn’t want to lose you. The songs. The music was going so well because I still ‘ad you. I still ‘ad that version of us. Miles… It wasn’t fair. I know that. But I didn’t, I couldn’t, let you go. I said I needed time but I just didn’t have the balls to face it.” A light chuckle escapes his lips.

“I gave you time, Al, I gave you so much time and then I come to find you and… and it just hurt, because you asked and asked and I understood I knew it would take time but I come to find this and I just didn’t get what I had done that he hadn’t, why I was so wrong-”

“ I know. I know I’m… It wasn’t right, it’s not right. I jus’... In me head I couldn't go back to you without finishing it, just in case. It’s selfish and arrogant and bloody stupid, but it’s the truth. The hard, innocent truth.” A pause. You took in his words.

“I understand.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I do. Music is what you do, it’s a part of you. So is Miles it seems.” You smile and he matches your attempt to lighten the mood.

“Package deal.” Relief.

“Indeed it is.” Forgiveness?

A silence. A look. Understanding and shame, somehow blended together.

“It’s done?” Query.

“That was the last session.” Affirmation.

Quiet breaths. Red eyes. Nervous hands.

“You haven’t lost me.”

A glance of hope. No? No.

“After all this?”

“You haven’t lost me.” You repeated. Hope.

“I guess there’s something to be said for wearin’ sunglasses indoors then eh?”

A laugh shared.

A wire avoided. Replaced. New. Safe.

***

“Wait, the hotel is this way Al.” You say to him, pointing at the street he just drove by.

“I know love.” He says, looking your way, a smile slowly tugging at his lips. You look over at him in slight surprise, not wanting to completely accept what he was implying for the fear that it might not be true. Maybe he was just taking another route, how could you know? You stare at him a little longer in disbelief before focusing your attention back on the illuminated road ahead. “I ‘ope you don’t mind leavin’ yer stuff there overnight, love. We ca’ pick ‘em up in the morning.” He says, keeping his eyes directed forward. Always the ever so careful driver, Alex was.

“Al...You still have time.”

“I’m not going to waste it anymore.” He looks over at you for a moment, a look as if to ask for your approval, reassurance that he was making the right decision. You couldn’t help the smile that crept up on your face as his words went through your head. Maybe things would be a little different, sure. There would be some readjusting to do, some learning perhaps, but something new had litten up. Something neon and bright, something buzzing with energy. A low hum of electricity surging through you, ready for the next opportunity. The lights downtown made you feel more alive than ever as you drove past the restaurants, the bars, the clubs, the energy fueling what you were already feeling. Colours danced and your eyes danced with them, the smile still present on your lips.

“We’ve got to figure out a way t’ celebrate yer birthday. A proper celebration.” Alex said quietly, turning into the driveway of his charming LA home. You thought about it for a second as the car came to a halt, the engine shutting off.

“Maybe just the two of us would be nice.” You said quietly, turning to face Alex, still in the driver’s seat. He met your eyes and softly said:

“I think I agree.”

His lips met yours in a gentle embrace, the faint taste of cigarettes, vanilla and something resembling a cedar cologne filling your senses. The effervescence of a kiss mixed with mistakes that had been fixed. As if you’d woken up from a bad dream, in the arms of the very one you’d been looking for in the midst of a nightmare. Things would be okay with Alex. His mistakes were made for you.

#arctic monkeys #arctic monkeys imagine #alex turner fic #the last shadow puppets fanfic #alex turner #tlsp #alex turner arctic monkeys #alex turner imagine #alex turner x reader #fanfic #fanfiction #imagine #miles kane #tlsp fic #eycte era #eycte #am