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chipsfics · 3 years

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Part 3 - Discovery/Creativity

Part 3 is here!

Rated: PG-13 (heavy themes, swearing)

WARNING! this chapter contains light mentions of self harm! please do not read if this will upset you!

~~~~ The next morning, It was surprisingly quiet- Everyone was doing their own thing, most were sleeping in due to the lazy feeling that comes with most sundays. Yinyang, of course, slept in. They were technically not allowed to leave the hotel until the game was over- But Yinyang didn't really have anywhere to go anyway. Even if he decided to go "home", he didn't have anything for him there- Everything he'd left behind didn't mean anything to him. The other contestants, though, were obviously itching for the show to finally close it's curtains. Cherries, Yinyang's roommate, spent most of their time bouncing ideas off each other and having dull conversations in almost frightening synchrony.

From what Yinyang overheard, they were getting impatient when it came to Inanimate Insanity's finale. In a way, Yinyang and Cherries were similar, but in a lot of ways they absolutely weren't. For one thing, the Cherries got along. Of course, things were okay. Yinyang was used to being cooped up, be it in his own mind, his own body- And Tissues obviously felt the same. He didn't get out much, for obvious reasons. Yinyang got up, yawning, stretching, and blinking slowly to life- It was around 1pm, and once they got up and fought for a little while over which toothbrush to use, they finally finished up their morning routine and exited their room. To their surprise, they found Tissues slumped against the wall next to their door, clutching a half full water bottle and snoring gently. Yinyang debated whether to wake him up. Eventually Yinyang nudged his shoulder gently.

"H...Wuhuh.." Tissues blinked awake and looked around.

"Tissues! What're you doing out here?" Yinyang said. "Are you alright?"

"Oh uhhh..." Tissues slowly seemed to be coming alive. "Wha.... Oh yeah, I- Sniff. Walked over here this mornin' and tried to knock on your door, but you guyse didn't answer. So i just waited," Tissues wiped his nose. "I guess i fell asleep. Was that... okay? Did i do something wrong?"

"Oh, no no, it's alright!" Yin reassured him. "Why did you come here in the first place?" Yang said plainly.

"I wanted to thank you," Tissues said, heaving himself up into a standing position. "For being so nice to me yesterday. I don't think I would be feeling so much better now if it weren't for you guyse," Tissues wobbled a bit, holding his head. "I mean... i still feel bad, but..." There was a small silence.

"O-oh. It's no problem," Yinyang answered bashfully. "Anything for a friend!" Yin added.

"A friend?" Tissues smiled, his eyes having a strange twinkle in them. Yinyang couldn't help but smile at his goofiness.

"Are you... Alright?? Do you need help getting back to your room?" Yin said, concerned.

"Hhuuhhh.. No. I wasn't gonna- I was gonna- uhh. ask if you wanted to uhhh. Hang out? Cause I was out of commission yesterday." Tissues stuttered.

"Well sure," Yinyang said, shrugging. "But what would we do?"

"Thats the thing. I didn't think of anything before i fell asleep," Tissues laughed awkwardly.

"Oh." Yinyang giggled. "We could just see if there's anything on downstairs,"

"Sure thing." Tissues smiled, and grabbed Yinyang's hand.

Down the elevator, through twisting orange-yellow hallways, two friends holding hands less out of affection and more just so they don't separate. Tissues' head suddenly jolted to the side and he stopped suddenly, inertia causing Yinyang to bump into him. This time the sheer force from the collision sent Tissues face first into the hotel carpet.

"God damnit." Yang cursed. "Be nice," Yin said, which earned him a small slap in the face. "Are you okay, Tissues?"

"HAAHH-" Tissues heaved himself up. "What is that?" Tissues pointed to a spot of orange wallpaper, near the floor in a small, slightly secluded corner of the hotel hallway.

"What is what?" Yang said, looking at where he was pointing. Upon closer inspection, the place where Tissues was pointing at looked... strange. Under the wallpaper, there seemed to be a small square imprint of something that looked a lot like a miniature door.

"Wait, you're right. There's definitely something there," Yinyang said.

Tissues scooted up closer to it on his knees and inspected the strange imprint. "It looks like something was wallpapered over here."

"Let's rip it open," Yang said devilishly. "No!! We don't know what it is," Yin said.

"Don't you wanna know, though?" Yang responded. "But- It might be private! Or dangerous," Yin said back. While the two were busy arguing, Tissues was already picking away at the wallpaper until he found somewhere where he could start ripping.

RRRIIIPPP... The wallpaper was surprisingly weak and yielded easily. The two halves instantly dropped their argument when they saw what was behind the wallpaper- A small wooden door made of darkly stained wood. It looked old, and the doorknob was missing. Just as they had expected- a mystery door. It was much too small for anyone to fit into, but it seemed like it could be pried open... What could possibly be inside?

"Should we open it?" Tissues said.

"No! We've seen enough. What if we get in trouble with OJ?" Yin whined. "So? Admit it, you also want to see what's behind there." Yang responded, obviously annoyed.

"We're not opening it." Yin said seriously.

"I'm gonna open it," Tissues said.

"Not you too, Tissues!" Yin gasped. Yang laughed. "Yes, yes open it!" He said, baring his sharp teeth.

Tissues tried to dig his fingers into the doorframe to open it up, and it came open easy as if it were magic. The inside was completely dark, an almost inky blackness- and the way the light was positioned wasn't illuminating what was inside. Tissues' jaw hung open. A small spider crawled out of the hole in a hurry, and he stumbled back in surprise.

"Woah... What do you think .... Do you have your phone..? We could use the flashlight." Yinyang said, and Tissues fumbled a bit before he reached up and plunged his hand into the top of his head, the slit where the actual tissue part of Tissues is dispensed- and he rummaged around inside himself for a couple seconds, much to Yinyang's surprise. Tissues pulled out his phone after a couple seconds, powering it on and struggling for a couple seconds before turning on the flashlight function. The beam of light cut through the darkness like a hot knife through butter. Both of them peered into the doorway.

The inside was almost empty, save for a large stack of what appeared to be magazines. The walls were made of bare planks of wood with insulation peeking through the cracks- as well as a huge pipe going along the back. After a couple seconds of hushed, awed silence, Tissues reached in and pulled out the large stack. It was covered in a thick layer of dust, as if nobody had touched it in a long time. Tissues blew on it, and dust flew into the air.

"HACK- COUGH, COUGH... HUHH.." Tissues examined the cover of the top magazine. It seemed to be very old- The paper was yellowed and it appeared to be a wildlife magazine. The cover was plastered all over with still- vibrant green flora with several small purple bugs resting on the leaves of the cover- Tissues held it up and Yinyang leaned in close to inspect the cover further. In big, black, blocky font was the name of the magazine in some kind of unfamiliar foreign language.

"Woah.... What's this doing here?" Tissues said. "Who do you think is hiding these?" He said, moving on to the next magazine, which seemed similar, but this time it appeared to be a magazine about cars- Super old ones. The next one was almost the same, except it looked to be a modeling and makeup magazine. All of them were in the same foreign language- which looked similar to Chinese or Korean.

"What in the world..?" Yinyang said. "Who knew... Stuff like this was hiding in the hotel. It was only built a couple years ago, and..." Yinyang trailed off mid-sentence when they flipped to a magazine that appeared to be advertising the very first Melife products. Big bulky computers, old monitors, and even the very first Flip MePhone were sprawled across the cover. "Woah.. This one's super old,"

"Do you think anyone would mind if we took these?" Tissues said aloud. "I think it'd be cool if we could look at em in detail," He continued. "But I don't know how to read this. Do you know what language this is?"

"Hmm. I don't know, actually." Yinyang said. "We don't speak anything but English and Italian."

"Hmmm.... I'll ask OJ about them. You two wait here and guard the magazines, I'm pretty sure I know where he's at." Tissues said, getting up. Before he could leave, Yinyang grabbed his wrist with a certain forcefulness.

"No. It's okay," Yinyang said, deadpan, without looking Tissues in the eyes.. "I really wanna read these. We'll return them later, I promise."

Tissues seemed a bit offput. "Wha.... Well... um... uhh. Sure," Tissues laughed. He wasn't about to start to argue. He sat back down and noticed that Yinyang was staring at a particular magazine. It was at the very bottom of the pile,

and looked to be a lot newer- It was in English too. It seemed like a crafting magazine, with buttons and sewing supplies on the cover. Yinyang was seemingly fixated on another fact, though, which was that a large white piece of paper was tucked in between two of the pages. He pulled it out slowly and saw that there was handwriting scrawled hastily on it in marker- Also in English.

"TRY MAKING A COLLAGE"

The two objects just stared at it in awe. "This thing just keeps getting weirder," Tissues said aloud. "Who do you think these are for?"

"I have no idea," Yinyang said, "Do you think...? Maybe whoever left it here was just waiting for someone to find it,"

"Maybe." Tissues said. "I still say we ask OJ,"

"Are you kidding? He'll kill us," Yang said. "We shouldn't have opened the door in the first place. But i agree, the last thing we need is him to be mad at us." Yin continued.

"You've got a point." Tissues said. "Do you want to.... Y'know, take them? The magazines?"

"Yeah, let's hurry. It's only a little while before someone notices and asks what we're doing," Yinyang said harshly.

"Hehe, our first mystery adventure together!" Tissues said, giggling in a hushed voice. He stacked the magazines hurriedly, giving half the stack to his partner in crime before they made a break for it. Tissues closed the small door behind him using his foot. The entire time running, Tissues was trying his best to keep up with his rushed gait that was less like a run and more like a waddle.

Up the elevator, through twisting orange-yellow hallways, and back to where they started from. The only person who caught them on the way up was Pickle- But he was absorbed in his headphones and didn't seem to really care what the two weirdos were up to. Once they got to their door- Tissues dropped the stack he was carrying and wiped the sweat off his forehead, trying to catch his breath.

"Ok, we're here, you got it from here?" Tissues said, out of breath. “Huff, huff..” Yinyang opened the door, and the Cherries were sitting in bed and reading 2 copies of the same book. He hastily sneaked past the twins, and placed the stack next to his bed, Tissues trailing after him. Yinyang flopped onto his bed and sighed.

"That was stressful!" Yin cried. "Well we made it," Yang continued.

"That was surely something," Tissues said, giggling. "I feel like i could take on the world... That was the most adventure i've had like, ever." Tissues climbed into Yinyang's bed and tucked himself in. "Goodnight, i'm going to bed and never getting up ever. My life is complete." Yinyang laughed and shoved him. He slipped and fell off the bed with a yelp.

"Hey! That was mean." Tissues said, laughing.

"Sorry!" Yin said, giggling and kicking the covers off so he could reach down and help Tissues crawl back up onto their bed. Tissues stumbled and ended up uncomfortably close to Yinyang's face, both of them starting to blush. Yinyang laughed, the same crystal clear, genuine laugh- Tissues couldn't help but smile as a warm feeling flooded his chest. Was this what having friends was like?

The rest of the night was spent together with the TV on. Cherries didn't seem to mind.

~~~~

WARNING: The next part has slight mentions of self harm. Beware and don’t read if this will upset you!

~~~~

By the time Yinyang woke up, Tissues was gone. He just assumed that he'd gone back to his room- Tissues' sleep schedule was entirely unpredictable. One of the many symptoms of his condition- Wait, his condi-shawn, but Yinyang always tended to sleep in. Even when he wanted to get up early, One half always argued to sleep longer until the other half gave in. He tossed and turned in his sleep a lot.

Yinyang woke up, cracked his knuckles, and looked over to the side of the bed. The magazines were still there, untouched, in the same haphazard skewed stack- The note kept echoing in their minds. Something so special, something so personal was living right under his nose in the hotel and he didn't even notice? The spiritual side of Yinyang couldn't help but think that the note was for him. A sign of some kind. It didn't help that it was so plainly ordering him to do something.

"TRY MAKING A COLLAGE"

The phrase bounced around inside his head like a ping pong ball. He sighed and got up, reaching his hand in between his mattress and his box spring- Rummaging around and pulling out an old pair of metal scissors with a black plastic handle. Yinyang looked at it and frowned, looked back at his wrist, which was scarred with criss-crosses, and put the scissors on his bedside table. It'd been a long time since he had last hurt himself, and he was determined to give that old pair of scissors new life. This was the most in sync his two halves had felt in a long time. Yin and Yang tend to get along well when they decide that something is serious. He got up out of bed, went downstairs clinging to the metal handle the entire way down, and knocked on the door of OJ's office.

"What is it?" OJ's voice answered from behind the door.

"It's just us. Can we borrow something?"

"Yinyang? What do you want?" OJ said, walking over to the door and opening it.

"Can we borrow some paper and some glue?" Yinyang said bashfully.

"What for?" OJ said, looking Yinyang up and down inquisitively.

"A.... collage." Yinyang said quietly.

"A what?" OJ said.

"It'sforacollage," Yinyang said again.

"Huh?"

"It's for. a. collage." Yinyang said, avoiding eye contact.

"Oh. Sure! I didn't take you as the arts and crafts type," OJ teased.

"Shut up or i'll drink you," Yang growled.

"Jeez, don't get snippy. I'll bring that out for ya, just give me a second. I've only got glue sticks, if that's okay?" OJ said. "And I don't have any magazines or pictures or anything like that. Do you have your own?"

"Yup. Sounds good," Yin said cheerily. "I'll bring everything back that I don't use,"

OJ turned around and looked inside one of his file cabinets- His office was usually cluttered and he only spent about an hour a day in there managing the hotel. He got what he needed, and handed Yinyang a medium sized piece of posterboard and a gluestick with the seal still unbroken. Yinyang nodded and grabbed them.

"Thanks!" He said.

"No problem!" OJ said, sighing and closing the office door behind him. Yinyang made their way back to their bedroom, thinking about what they were going to make. Yin and Yang had different ideas- But in their mindscape, they seemed to coexist and mash together into something wonderful and surreal, blending together into a mash of words and sounds and pictures. Before they knew it, they were sitting down sprawled on their bedroom floor organizing magazine clippings.

Yinyang just cut out anything that caught his eye. It felt good to be holding these scissors to make something beautiful and passionate instead of using them for harm- Most of the clippings he ended up cutting out were from the first 3 that he grabbed from the pile.

After that, it was just blur of scissors, paper and glue- He cut out every single Melife product almost surgically and filled their screens with butterflies. Cluttered imagery of thick vines twisting around scientific diagrams of the brain, monochrome intertwined with overgrown flora. His halves were working independently but smoothly communicating with one another- They had different visions, but the purpose of the collage as an art form is to combine things together into a slurry of emotions and vivid images. Once he was done, the finished collage was giant, beautiful and terrifying, a lot of the clippings hanging off of the edges of the posterboard.

Yinyang sat back and just stared at it for a while. He should make collages more often.

~~~~

About an hour later, Yinyang's MePhone started to vibrate and ring violently, and he jumped. Looking at the screen, it was an unsaved number- But he didn't usually get calls, so he answered it. "Hello?" "Uhhhhh Hai guyse, what's your favorite pizza topping?" It was unmistakably Tissues. "Ummm... Olives?" They said. "Ok BAI GUYSE!" Tissues said and immediately hung up the phone. Huh. Weird.

~~~~

#hope you enjoy!#tissyang #tissuyang #yissues #fanfic #fanfiction #ii #inanimate insanity #ii2

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timotey · 4 years

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Fic: Brave Little Tangerines

Dark Blue Kiss/Our Skyy. PeteKao. A what-if story.

For the sake of the story, let’s assume that Our Skyy takes place after Dark Blue Kiss, okay? Also, I’m no doctor so expect a lot of hand-waving and, well, creative licence.

Kao lied to Pete about the damned curse. Now Pete is tired and cranky and he wants to go home. But where the heck is Kao?! The pharmacy he went to is just a few blocks away, after all...

😧😧😧

Pete’s really, really angry. As if he didn’t tell Kao many times in the past not to lie to him. And yet, here they are again. Here there’s Pete, carrying a half-pint of a plant - still heavy, though - and punched in the face. Dammit!

And where the heck is Kao? The pharmacy he decided to go to pick up some disinfection and who knows what else - despite Pete’s stout protests - is only a few blocks away, it’s not like it’s a trip to Mars or something.

Five minutes pass. Then ten. And fifteen.

Dammit!

Pete pulls out his cellphone and calls Kao, more than ready to give his lover a real dressing down. Because he’s tired and cranky and he wants to go home and take a shower and forget this day ever happened.

The phone keeps ringing. And ringing. And ringing.

Kao doesn’t pick up. And Pete feels the first jab of worry in the vicinity of his stomach.

He smothers it with anger, though, and hanging up, he gets up, grabs the darned plant and stomps angrily down the pier and towards the pharmacy whose sign keeps blinking merrily in the distance like a beacon in the dark.

Pete doesn’t come across Kao on the way there and when he enters the shop, there’s no one inside either. Nobody but the pharmacist. He feels that bitter jab of worry again. Where is Kao?

“Excuse me?” Pete says as he steps up to the counter, and when the pretty girl there smiles at him invitingly, he continues with, “Hello, hi. I’m looking for my boyfriend? Same red shirt, my height but really pale? Pretty eyes?”

“Oh yes, he was here a few minutes ago,” the girl tells him. “He seemed rather worried. He bought some things for treating scrapes - for you, I guess?” She points at the reddened, swollen corner of Pete’s mouth.

“Hm,” Pete replies, self-consciously touching that bruise in the making. “Where did he go then?”

She frowns a little. “The way he came from? The way you came from? You can’t have missed him…”

Well, Pete did, apparently.

He thanks the pharmacist and leaves, the door clicking shut behind him. And then he stands there, on the sidewalk lit by the pharmacy’s large windows, and he looks around in puzzlement. Where did Kao go?

More than a little anxious now, Pete pulls out his cellphone once more and dials Kao’s number again, muttering, “Pick up, Kao. Pick up the damn phone!”

Then he hears the ringing, the distinct ringtone - Kao’s ringtone - whispering to him from somewhere nearby. It goes on and on and on and Pete starts walking, towards the melody that grows stronger and louder with each step he takes.

There’s a dark alley, just a narrow passage between two rundown buildings, a place where people throw away their trash when the dumpsters are too full or they’re too lazy and they don’t care. And Pete stops right at its mouth because it’s where the ringing is coming from, that dark alley - and something rattles as he kicks it accidentally.

Pete looks down. It’s a white plastic bag with the pharmacy logo on it, dropped and left lying carelessly on the pavement. There’s a bottle of disinfection and a package of sterile gauze inside it, the things Kao set off to buy. Pete swallows hard.

“Kao?” he calls out, stepping over the bag and into the alley.

There’s no answer but the ringing of Kao’s phone and Pete can’t see anything. He switches on the flashlight on his cellphone, aiming it further down the alley. “Kao? You there?” he calls out again with trepidation in his voice.

And then he sees it. Kao’s sneaker, his jeans-clad leg sticking out from behind a rusty dumpster. There, on the ground. Not moving.

Shit!

Yelling Kao’s name again, Pete drops the plant and rushes forward, towards his boyfriend who’s lying on the wet, filthy pavement, there, on his side with his left arm outstretched - reddened and already bruising and swelling heavily, clearly broken - and his right one curled around his stomach. His eyes are closed.

Pete drops to his knees next to Kao, reaching out with his trembling hand. He touches Kao’s throat - bruised, there are bruises forming on his skin, encircling his throat - to feel for his pulse and he lets out a shaky, unsteady breath, one he didn’t even realize he was holding, when he finds Kao’s skin warm to the touch and his heart beating. He’s alive, Kao’s alive!

“Kao?” Pete whispers, leaning down to stroke Kao’s pale face, so pale it looks almost grey in the harsh glare of the cellphone flashlight. “Kao, you hear me?”

A split lip, a swelling cheek - someone beat Kao up, Pete realizes and for a moment, he’s seized with fury so terrible he almost chokes on it. But then he runs his fingers over the back of Kao’s head and they come away wet, sticky and red. Bloody.

No. No no no no no!

Pete hangs up, the cellphone in Kao’s back pocket falls silent, and he calls for help. Someone needs to help them, help Kao. Because Kao’s hurt.

Kao’s hurt!

xXx

Pete holds Kao’s hand all the way to the hospital. His anger is forgotten, it’s all in the past, unimportant now, his previous irritation paling in comparison with Kao’s unresponsive pallor even more terrible now in the sharp, unforgiving light of the ambulance.

Wake up, Kao, Pete pleads, terrified and desperate, stroking Kao’s knuckles with his thumbs. Please, wake up.

Kao doesn’t.

xXx

From the ER’s waiting room, Pete calls his dad. And then Kao’s mom. It’s one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do. Afterwards, he doesn’t remember what he told her, only that he kept apologizing to her, again and again. For what, he’s not sure. For not taking better care of Kao? For letting this happen to him? For stewing in his anger while someone beat Kao unconscious? Pete doesn’t know. All he knows is that he’s very, very, very sorry.

Their parents arrive and Pete tells them what happened. Again. And then, at some point, as hours go by, the cops come and Pete tells his story again. They want to know it all, everything, every gory detail while they take notes and look bored. Pete guesses it’s probably nothing new for them, people get beat up everyday in this city. But this time, this time it was Kao, his Kao, and Pete has to swallow his anger at their callousness. Causing trouble won’t help Kao and Kao is all he has to think of now.

“So,” one of the cops, the one chewing endlessly on a sweet smelling gum, says, staring down at his scribbled notes, “he wasn’t robbed and from what the EMTs could tell us, there were no signs of a sexual assault…”

Those words, thrown out so carelessly, steal Pete’s breath and make his heart skip a beat. And then another. Because this, something so terrible, didn’t even occur to him, that someone could hurt Kao like this. If someone did, if they-if… Pete’s mind refuses to even contemplate that possibility, hitting a blank wall, again and again.

“You think he might’ve gotten into it with someone? Bit off more than he could handle?” the cop continues, looking up at Pete.

It occurs to Pete again that this men really don’t know Kao, they know nothing about him, about the person Kao is. And suddenly Pete feels the need to explain it to them, to make them truly understand who Kao is, why it is so terrible what happened to him, to him in particular.

“Kao wouldn’t do that,” Pete states with conviction. “He’s the nicest, kindest person you’re ever going to meet in your life.”

The cops exchange a look. “Right,” the gum chewing one says, voice heavy with disbelieving sarcasm. Everyone says that, remains unsaid but hanging pointedly in the air.

It makes Pete angry. “No, you don’t get it. In Kao’s case, it’s not just words. Everyone who’s ever met him, spoke to him, got to know him liked him. His students, his fellow teachers, everyone! There’s not a person in the world who would want to hurt… him.”

Pete stops. There’s no one who had any reason to hurt Kao.

“You want to be a hero?!”

Shit.

The cops must’ve noticed Pete’s reaction because they exchange another look, then they prompt him. “Yes?”

Pete swallows. “There was a man. Kao and I, we met him on the bus. He was taking pictures of some girl secretly, inappropriate pictures. I noticed and I stopped him. I punched him. Then later on - actually only a few minutes before-before what happened to Kao - we came across the same guy again, him and his buddy. He recognized me. And he punched me.” He touches his swollen mouth.

The gum chewing cop nods and writes it all down. “Can you give us a description? Would you recognize him again?” he asks.

Pete nods. He tells them what the men looked like. He doesn’t want to believe it was them. Because it it is so, if they did this to Kao, then... then this is his fault, Kao’s beating.

“You want to be a hero?!”

No, Pete didn’t. He just… he reacted. Like he always does. Because he can keep his own in a fight, he knows he can. And if the guy came after him again, Pete would’ve stood his ground and gladly so. But if that cowardly bastard went after Kao to hurt Pete, if Pete provoked him into doing that to Kao… Pete’s not sure if he would ever forgive himself.

“Alright,” the cop says, “we’ll look into that.”

Then, before they can ask Pete anything more, the doctor comes in, an older lady with her graying hair in a bun, and she asks for Kao’s family. Forgetting all about the cops, Pete rushes forward to find out what’s going on and how Kao is, if he’s alright, when he’s going to be alright because no other option is allowed, not in Pete’s opinion.

But Pete’s opinion doesn’t matter, apparently. The world doesn’t care about Pete’s opinion, about his anguish as it turns out.

“... broken arm… broken ribs… contusions to… but our main concern is the skull fracture he… intracranial bleeding… swelling… pressure on the brain and…”

There’s white noise in Pete’s ears. He feels sick and hot and sweaty.

“Coma.”

They don’t let him see Kao.

xXx

Pete’s dad drives him home. He asks Pete to stay with him at the villa, but Pete doesn’t want to. He wants to go home, to his and Kao’s home where the sheets smell of Kao’s shampoo and there’s still the cake that Kao loves so much in the fridge.

And then he remembers.

“Can we stop somewhere first?” Pete asks his dad. His father gives him a curious look but nods.

They stop at the alley where Pete found Kao. He didn’t want to come here out of some-some masochistic need to punish himself by returning to the scene of the crime, no. He’s here for…

The little tangerine is still there. The pot is cracked and someone must’ve kicked the plant over and stepped on it because several branches are bent, some even broken. But it’s still there. Kao’s tangerine. He isn’t sure why exactly Kao wanted a tangerine, why he really wanted it, he never got around to asking after their fight, but Pete couldn’t just leave it here.

He picks it up and dusts it off a little - and then he happens to look into the alley and…

He runs.

xXx

His father is reluctant to leave him alone but it’s what Pete wants. He wants to be alone. He loves his dad dearly but right now, he can’t take his sympathetic glances, his soft words. He just… he can’t take them.

But then, when his father leaves, the house suddenly feels too quiet, too empty without Kao’s laugh and his happy presence, without his soft humming and the silent scratching of his pen on paper. Pete can’t stand the unexpected vastness of their little house.

So he goes out into their garden to plant the tangerine, in a place he thinks Kao would like. By then it’s early afternoon and Pete’s trembling with exhaustion but he’s too wired to sleep. Too afraid to sleep. He wants to be with Kao, see for himself that his boyfriend is alive, but they won’t let him in, not into the ICU. Pete’s just Kao’s lover, not his family, not in their eyes, not according to their stupid rules.

When Kao’s okay again, when he’s back home again, safe and sound, they will get married. They’re going to take a trip abroad, to some country that allows this, and they’re going to marry. No one, not anyone will dare say then that Kao is not Pete’s family. And Pete is Kao’s.

With the tangerine planted and watered, Pete sits down on the grass and stares at the poor sapling, as broken as Kao. And though he tries to stop his mind from going places, it refuses to listen. It shows him that alley again, in vivid detail, the once white and now grimy wall and the rusty stain on it exactly where Kao’s head would be if someone threw him against that wall, if someone smashed his head against it again and again, to stun Kao or silence him but definitely to hurt him.

“... skull fracture…”

Pete cracks too. He cries so hard he can barely breathe.

xXx

It’s not until the early hours of the next morning that Pete falls asleep but shortly after that he’s woken up again by a phone call. It’s the police. They arrested the man Pete described to them and they need him to come in and identify him.

Pete goes. His eyes burn and his joints feel heavy from the lack of sleep but he goes. Because if this man really hurt Kao, the bastard needs to pay for it.

He recognizes the guy immediately, picks him out of a line-up without hesitation. Yes, this is him, that’s the fucker! Pete’s sure of it, as sure as he breathes. Only when they lead the man away does Pete notice the swollen knuckles on his hands. He didn’t have those when he punched Pete. No, you don’t get bruises like that from hitting someone once, Pete knows this from experience. You only hurt yourself like this when you punch a person over and over again.

Kao…

Pete swallows hard.

“The CCTV at the pharmacy caught him and his buddy following your friend after he left the shop,” the gum-chewing cop from last night tells Pete. Today, there’s no gum and the man doesn’t look bored anymore. No, he looks tired, as tired as Pete feels. Pete feels guilty for thinking badly of him yesterday.

“Can you prove that he did it?” Pete asks quietly.

The cop sighs. “All we have is circumstantial,” he admits. “We might find traces of his DNA on your friend’s clothes but to get him convicted for sure, we really need your friend’s testimony.”

Kao’s testimony. They did all they could but now they need Kao to wake up.

Pete needs that, too.

Please, wake up. Please.

xXx

It takes several days for Kao’s health to improve so that he can be moved out of the ICU and to a normal hospital room. By then, Pete’s a wreck. He knows he should be there for Kao’s mom, her pillar of strength, so to speak, but the truth is, he can feel himself falling apart, bit by bit.

He can’t get the image of Kao ashen face, the feel of his slack, unresponsive hand in his out of his mind. These impressions are so ingrained, so overwhelming that they keep him awake at night. If they at least let him see Kao…

And then they do, finally, and Pete cries.

He sits there, at Kao’s bed, holding his right hand, the one not encased in plaster, and he cries without making a sound, staring at Kao’s pale face, at the dark bruises encircling his eyes and the stark white bandages covering his shaved head. He thought he would feel better if they only let him see his lover but he doesn’t. He feels more anchored, true, like he has a purpose now - to keep it together for the man lying in the hospital bed - but at the same time, nothing changed.

Kao is here but he isn’t, not really. He’s still in a coma.

Pete comes in every day after that, from the earliest they let him in till they actually kick him out. He listens to the doctors and he learns the nurses’ names and the hospital personnel, they all come to know them too, Pete and his lover Kao, the pretty man in a coma in room 302.

And then the cops call Pete and they tell him they had to let the suspect go, the man who punched Pete and almost certainly beat Kao half to death. Without Kao’s testimony, they didn’t have enough on him to hold him. They had to set him free.

Shit.

xXx

It’s evening again and the visiting hours are ending. Another day gone. And Kao still hasn’t woken up.

Pete just sits there, his breathing is ragged and he’s hiding his face in his hands, fingers pressed hard into his eyes to push back tears. For a moment, just for a moment that day he considered what he would do if Kao never woke up. It horrified him that this thought even crossed his mind.

Rubbing his eyes, Pete takes a deep breath and gets up, and just like every day, he leans over Kao’s bed and takes Kao’s face gently in his hands, stroking his cheekbones with his thumbs. “Hey, love,” he whispers, “I have to go now. But I’ll come back tomorrow again, okay? And then you have to wake up for me because it’s getting really boring here without you.”

Smiling bravely, Pete leans down to press a kiss to Kao’s forehead, running his hand gently over the soft, fur-like short hair on Kao’s head, free of bandages now. Forcefully, he stops himself from thinking of how long it’s been now since Kao got hurt.

“I love you,” Pete tells his boyfriend, closing his eyes and resting his forehead against Kao’s for a moment. Then he straightens up and with a last squeeze of Kao’s hand he goes, leaving for the day.

He says goodnight to the women clustered around the nurses’ station and he tries very hard not to see their sympathetic glances directed his way. He takes the elevator down to the lobby and he says goodnight to the men at the reception desk downstairs and he tries very hard not to see their sympathetic looks either. He’s almost getting used to them, what a terrifying thing.

And then Pete walks outside and he takes a deep breath that doesn’t refresh him at all, and walking across the parking lot, he gets into his car, one of the few left there this late. And then he sees the soft little polar bear in its silly blue t-shirt that he took with him from home that morning, a gift given to him by Kao before that Pete now wanted him to have. He forgot it on the passenger seat.

Smiling, Pete takes it in his hands and squeezes its soft belly lightly. “Get well soon, love,” the bear says in Pete’s voice. He knows it’s just a silly toy but it has such a deep meaning, for the both them, him and Kao.

And so Pete decides to take the toy up to Kao’s room despite the late hour. He knows the nurses have a soft spot for him, that they will let him in for a moment, even though the visiting hours are over by now.

Nodding to himself, Pete gets out of the car and goes.

xXx

Turns out, the silly polar bear saves Kao again.

Because when Pete sneaks down the corridor under the mock frowns of the night staff and opens the door of Kao’s room, there’s a man dressed as a nurse standing over Kao in the dark - and he’s pressing a pillow against his face, smothering him.

Hearing Pete’s “Hey!” the man shoots up and twists around instinctively and Pete throws the toy right in the would-be killer’s face. The man’s not expecting it and so he recoils, dropping the pillow, and Pete uses his momentary distraction to barrel into him.

Together they hit Kao’s bed and fall over it, crashing to the floor hard with Pete landing on top. He can hear commotion in the hallway but he doesn’t pay it any attention. He’s filled with dread - not for himself but for Kao - which fuels his anger, fury really. He starts hitting the man with all his strength, again and again, easily blocking the guy’s punches, and he doesn’t stop until the room’s flooded with light and someone grabs him from behind and drags him away.

There are nurses, orderlies, doctors even and they all stare at Pete as if he lost it. He catches on pretty fast, realizing that all they can see is a man dressed as a nurse, the apparent victim here, Pete’s victim. They’re even helping the man get up. No, no way!

“He tried to kill Kao!” Pete yells, tearing at the hands holding him back.

An elderly doctor steps in, trying to calm Pete down with an indulgent, “Now look here, son--”

But then Pete takes his first good look at the man and he freezes. It’s the pervert from the bus. The bastard whom Pete identified at the police station. The fucker the cops had to let go because without Kao’s testimony, they couldn’t actually prove anything to him.

“You!” Pete snaps. “This is the guy who put Kao in the hospital! He’s the one who attacked us back then!”

Everyone turns to the man, doubts replacing their disbelief at Pete’s actions. And when the wannabe nurse looks around covertly and takes a step forward, towards the door, those who helped him stand before now grab him and hold him fast.

Pete looks around the room. “Call the cops and ask them if you don’t believe me. No,” he corrects himself immediately, “call them in any case. Right now! This man tried to murder Kao, he tried to smother him with a pillow.” He points at the damning evidence on the floor.

And that’s when Pete hears it. It’s Kao, he’s wheezing for breath and his gasps sound so loud in the suddenly too quiet room.

“Kao…” Pete whispers, freeing himself from the orderlies’ slackened grip, and he throws himself towards the bed, lifting Kao up, propping him up against his chest to help Kao breathe. “Kao? Kao, breathe, please!”

Everybody starts moving at once then, someone rushes out to call the police, others move in to drag the attacker out, the doctors step up to the bed to check on Kao, urging Pete to let go of him, and it’s one big mess, loud and chaotic, but Pete is hardly aware of it, any of it, because he’s looking down at Kao who’s resting heavily in his arms… and staring up at him.

“Kao?” Pete whispers, uncertainly, too afraid to trust in what he sees, that Kao’s awake, that Kao’s back.

The doctors try to take Kao away from Pete but he pushes their hands away angrily, and whispering a wondrous “Kao?” again, he lifts his hand to touch Kao’s face, stroke his cheek.

Kao blinks slowly, groggily up at him and then he cracks a smile, the tiniest of smiles, really, but a smile nonetheless and his hand flops limply against Pete’s leg in a very tame attempt at patting Pete reassuringly.

And Pete? Pete kisses him.

xXx

They try to make Pete leave. He politely tells them to shove it - to see Kao scowl at him for his rudeness does Pete’s soul a world of good, it really does - and they don’t press the issue. Considering that Kao, a patient of theirs, almost got killed on their watch, Pete thinks it a wise decision.

Besides, he would love to see them try and get him to leave when Kao has yet to let go of his hand. His grip is tight and his skin a little clammy, betraying his anxiety, though Kao hides it pretty well.

The thing is, Kao doesn’t remember how he ended up here, what happened which turns out to be a real irony in itself as Pete’s favorite gum-chewing cop sums up when he arrives together with his partner to take their statements.

“If I understand it correctly,” he says, tapping his pen against his notepad, “you don’t remember anything that happened that night, when the man attacked you?”

Kao shakes his head. “S-sorry,” he stutters out, furrowing his brows in frustration.

Some words seem namely rather difficult for him to pronounce now, some sounds make his tongue trip a little, but the doctors assure them that with a little time and a thorough speech therapy, it should pass. It’s a little frustrating to Kao and it does make Pete worry - but in the grand scheme of things, this is nothing. They can deal with that.

The cop barks out a laugh. “So, we had to let that guy go because we couldn’t pin the assault on him without your testimony. And to make sure you couldn’t testify against him, he decided to get rid of you. Only for you to tell us now that you don’t remember anything. If the guy spared himself the effort, he would’ve been off to hook. Now, we’re going to nail his ass for attempted murder and this time he won’t wiggle out of it, that I can promise you.” There’s steel in his voice when he says that and Pete believes him.

Shortly thereafter, the cops leave and then Pete’s dad and Kao’s mom arrive and they both hug Kao, hard. Kao snuggles into his mom’s arms happily and though Pete’s dad’s hug surprises him a little, he appreciates it. A lot.

Then the doctors swarm in and insist on wheeling Kao away for some tests - it’s still barely light outside but an attempted murder right under their noses makes the collective staff rather hyper as it turns out - and when their parents leave again, promising to come back during visiting hours, Pete’s left alone, for the first time in hours.

And then he starts to shake.

First his hands start trembling, then he’s seized with shivers all over - and he can’t seem to make it stop. He hides in the adjacent bathroom, locking the door and sliding it down to sit heavily on the floor. Then he presses his hands against his mouth and he cries, he sobs so hard he can barely breathe.

Because Kao almost died. That man, that… bastard almost killed Kao. If Pete didn’t turn up with the toy, Kao would be dead now. He wouldn’t be undergoing tests, he wouldn’t be answering questions and worrying about his stutter, he would be dead. Gone. Lost to Pete forever.

Pete cries and he cries till he feels sick.

xXx

“I’m sorry,” Pete says, running his fingers through Kao’s short hair, rubbing the scars left behind in places where the doctors had to cut Kao open to fix him.

“What for?” Kao asks. He’s lying on his side facing Pete and holding Pete’s hand with his right one. His left forearm is still in the cast - but luckily not for long now, considering Kao keeps complaining about how much it itches.

“I got angry at you that night, when you got hurt,” Pete explains. “I’m sorry about that.”

Kao frowns. “I don’t remember. What did I do?”

Pete sighs. “For some reason, you lied to me about some stupid curse and--”

“I actually did that?” Kao’s eyebrows shoot up, then he grins sheepishly. “I did, I guess-ss.”

“But why?” That question’s been bothering Pete ever since that night.

“I wanted to s… s-s-spend s-some time with you, that’s-s-s all,” Kao replies, frowning at his stuttered es’.

Pete blinks at him, stunned. “Spend time with me? We live together! We’re together all the time!”

Kao frowns, rubbing Pete’s hand with his thumb. “Not really, you know. Now that I picked up more class-sses-s and you got a new job…” He blows out his breath. “I jus-sst miss… miss-ssed you.”

Pete’s heart clenches a little, hearing that. If he just listened that night instead of exploding with anger…

Stroking Kao’s hair gently, Pete leans closer, staring into his lover’s eyes. Damn, Kao’s eyes are beautiful, he thinks, before saying, “Next time you want to spend time together, just tell me, alright?”

“You won’t complain?” Kao asks suspiciously.

Complain? After the ordeal of the past several weeks? After living in fear that he would never get the chance to talk to Kao again, that he would never get to hold him again or kiss him again? “No, I won’t complain, I swear,” he says earnestly, sealing his promise with a kiss.

xXx

It’s a couple more weeks before Kao’s allowed to return home. His stuttering gets better, it’s barely noticeable by then. What doesn’t go away, is the tremor in his left hand, the one that got broken that night. Nerve damage, the doctors say. The more tired Kao gets, the more evident the trembling in his fingers becomes. And Pete wants to punch the bastard who did that to Kao again.

After a nap and a hearty meal, Pete takes Kao outside, into the garden, and they sit on the swing he had installed there. Back and forth, back and forth the swing goes as they lean against each other, their bare feet buried in the soft grass.

“What’s that?” Kao asks then, pointing at the little tangerine, a green and healthy sapling again, its brokenness a thing of the past now.

Pete smiles. The little tree reminds him of Kao, too tough to stay down. “It’s a tangerine. You insisted on buying it that night.”

Kao looks at him, eyebrows raised. “I did? And you planted it?”

“Yeah. By the time I brought it home, it was rather worse for wear. Some of its branches were broken and... well. But I couldn’t stand the thought it would die,” Pete whispers, his throat a little thick. He’s talking about the tree - but he also isn’t.

Kao smiles, leaning comfortably against Pete; Pete welcomes it. “But it didn’t. Die I mean,” Kao replies softly. “A brave little tangerine.”

Pete smiles too, hugging Kao around his shoulders and pulling him close. “Yes,” he agrees. “Very brave.”

#dark blue kiss #dbk drama #our skyy #petekao #my petekao fics #my fics #mé

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hockeylvr59 · 4 years

Text

Life Changes Part 6 || Paul Bissonnette

Summary: It’s crazy how quickly your life can change...one minute you’re a struggling personal injury lawyer and the next you’re working for one of the hottest sports podcasts to supplement your income. A new job and the end of a long-term relationship was just the beginning for Leigh Thompson when it comes to life changes. Thankfully she has the one and only Paul Bissonnette at her side to help her handle them all.

Authors Note: Splitting this next segment up into at least two parts because otherwise, it will be insanely long (this part contains 2 of at least 6 events that I have in mind for this short span of time). I’d love to know what you think of this chapter, especially considering that Paul is very much present. Also please feel free to send me any songs that you think I should add to the series playlist.

Requested: [ ] yes [x] no Warnings: cursing. Word Count: 2,865+ text convos

_____________________________________________________________

“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.”

From the moment I’d been hired by the podcast, I’d been working on putting together all of the details for a Vegas trip for the NHL awards. Now, after months of hard work, everything was set for the guys to spend a week in Vegas. Our title sponsor for the trip was one of the many hotel-casinos who had reserved a 4 bedroom suite for the podcast hosts as well as a few standard rooms for the camera and production guys. Additionally, all of the media passes for the event were ready to go and I knew the boys had lined up quite a few guests. With everything set and the awards only a week away I was hoping to maybe be able to take a mini-vacation myself at home while they partied it up and got tons of content to last through the summer.

It had been maybe an hour from when I sent the boys an email with all of the important details for the trip when my phone buzzed with an incoming text from Paul.

______

So, because I lacked all capability to tell Paul Bissonnette ‘no’ when he asked me to do something, I was currently pulling my suitcase through the Vegas airport at almost midnight the night before the awards. Checking my phone I saw that Paul had texted me one message with the room number and which room in the suite was ours as well as another saying that the rest of the boys had gone out but that he’d be there when I got in. I had previously told him not to wait up for me and had even fought with him when he wanted to come to pick me up. It was completely ridiculous for him to even think about taking an Uber to the airport just to uber back to the hotel.

Grabbing a cab, it wasn’t long before I had arrived at the hotel and after stopping at the front desk for a key to the room and to make sure the boys hadn’t had any problems with the reservations, I took the elevator upstairs and let myself into a dark and silent suite. Part of me had expected Paul to be up watching tv or something but it was too quiet for that. He’d said that we were staying in the first room on the right and so I quietly headed over, pausing in the doorway when my eyes caught sight of him.

The only light in the room was coming from the open blinds letting in the city lights and Paul was sprawled out on the bed on his stomach fast asleep. The way the light and shadows highlighted the muscles of his naked back made my body react involuntarily and I took a deep breath trying not to gasp. Reminding myself that this was definitely just the pregnancy hormones getting the best of me, I slipped into the room and closed the door to the living room behind me.

As quietly as I could, I hung my dress up in the wardrobe and got my pajamas and things for bed out of my suitcase before sneaking into the bathroom to get ready to go to sleep. It was beyond late and with the time change, I was exhausted. Paul was still taking up most of the bed when I stepped out of the bathroom and flipped off the light, using the flashlight on my phone to guide me across the room to close the curtains and then to the edge of the bed. Perched on what little bed was not occupied by a large man, I gently reached out and rubbed my hand over his back trying to stir him just enough that he’d roll over and make room. Getting no reaction I sighed.

“Paul...are you actually gonna share the bed like you promised or am I stuck sleeping on the couch tonight?” I whispered. Rubbing his back once more I felt his muscles twitch and suddenly his body was moving, arm reaching out to take my hand and pull me into him. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I settled into his embrace, his solid chest pressed into my back. As his body shifted to surround me further, the hand that had grabbed mine moved to drape over my waist.

We’d snuggled like this before, but back then I didn’t have a 21-week baby bump protruding from my front. It was clear that in his sleepy state he expected what he was used to before because the moment his arm didn’t drape the way he expected he froze against me. A change in his breathing signaled that he was now actually awake and his hand gently caressed my stomach for a moment.

“Holy shit Leigh…” His sleep laden voice murmured from behind me. “You...that’s...I didn’t...wow.” Shaking my head at him a little I rolled onto my back so that I could look over at him. As I shifted, Paul reached over to tap the bedside light on, allowing us to actually see each other.

“It’s called a baby bump Paul...this is kinda what happens when you’re pregnant and the baby starts to get bigger. There’s only so much space in there for the baby to grow otherwise.” His gaze was dark and lazy as our eyes met before he swept a look up and down my body taking in the changes that he’d missed due to living on separate sides of the country.

“I knew that…” He declared, glaring at me softly. “I just...I don’t know. I haven’t seen you in a few months and I don’t know why but I wasn’t expecting you to be showing. Not like this.” I knew he wasn’t implying that I was fat or anything, just that his brain hadn’t actually processed the changes that my body would undergo during pregnancy.

“Not so easy to hide anymore huh?” I questioned and he nodded but his eyes hadn’t left my stomach, nor had his hand.

“Fuck...I...are you okay with me touching?” He asked at least being conscious enough to know that women frequently complained about people touching their bellies. It was clear that he wanted to touch and explore. To make the connection between the baby that we so frequently talked about and how said baby currently existed inside me. Smiling over at him I nodded, though he wasn’t looking and therefore didn’t see it.

“Go for it,” I assured him. “You are one of the few people I think I can put on my approved bump touch list.” I teased. Part of me had at least expected him to crack a smile at that but I don’t think he was paying attention to my words since the second I gave him permission to touch.

The way his strong fingers grazed over my belly so gently caused a shiver to run up my spine and I just watched him for a moment before closing my eyes and relaxing. For a few minutes, he just caressed and pressed his palm to my stomach before his fingers dipped down to the edge of my shirt. Peeking up at him I could see the adoration in his eyes as he looked at the way my body had adapted to growing the little boy or girl inside of me. I felt blessed to know that he already loved this baby so much even though he had no real reason to and it made me want to give him as much as I could so far as letting him bond with the baby went.

“Here…” I breathed, rolling just slightly to adjust my shirt so that it rested just under my breasts, exposing the skin of my stomach to him, stretch marks and all. I knew that touching through clothes was one thing but letting him see the way that my skin had stretched, and letting him touch without that barrier in the way was something else entirely.

Paul’s hand quickly found its way back to the bump and when he looked up at me again his eyes were moist with tears. Meeting his gaze with concern, I reached over to brush my thumb against his cheek.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, his body leaning into my touch as much as I had his earlier. “I just...this is incredible. I...I didn’t expect that this would affect me so much.” It was totally understandable for him to have that reaction and I did my best to communicate that to him without words. My own voice was stuck in my throat seeing him get emotional over something that I’d personally gotten used to because it was my new normal. “You...I hope you know that you were beautiful before...but you’re absolutely gorgeous like this. Pregnancy suits you.” The intent behind his words confused me but he was so sure of them that I couldn’t help the flush that came over my entire body. Catching my breath after a moment I glanced over at the alarm clock beside the bed.

“So...can we go to sleep now...because it’s the middle of the night back home and being pregnant is exhausting.” My words seemed to snap Paul out of his trance.

“Fuck...of course. I...goodnight Leigh.” His words were spoken with a soft kiss to my temple, but before I could attempt to roll over, Paul had shifted, leaning over me. “Goodnight dustbunny.” He added and for a split second his lips were pressed against my stomach before he was laying back down beside me, a sheepish look on his face. “Didn’t want baby to feel left out.” He mumbled before switching the light back off so that we could all get some sleep.

Tucked back against his chest, I was nearly off to dreamland when I heard him whisper softly into the room. “I’m here for whatever you and your mama need dustbunny...that’s a promise.”

__________________________

When I woke the next morning, Paul was still passed out beside me. Gingerly, I slid out of his arms needing first to use the bathroom and then to get some food before the baby decided to protest. After taking care of my bladder needs and slipping on a pair of shorts, I quietly opened the door to the living room wondering if the boys had any food in the kitchen or if they’d eaten out for every single meal since arriving in Vegas.

Padding softly through the living room around to the little kitchen in the suite, I could hear RA and Grinnell talking softly from over by the patio doors. When I arrived in the kitchen I found a couple of small boxes of cereal as well as a small bottle of milk in the minifridge. Pouring myself a bowl of cereal, I rubbed the remaining sleep from my eyes before moving back to lean against the counter dividing the kitchen and living space while I ate. It was only then that I addressed the crew’s oldest host and our production manager by saying good morning.

Both quickly returned my greeting but didn’t look over at me right away. However, upon finishing their conversation, they turned to me and it was comical to see the double-take that Mikey did when his eyes saw me.

“What the fuck is that?” He asked only to be scolded by RA murmuring a ‘dude…’ in his direction. Swallowing the bite of cereal I’d put into my mouth I started laughing at how thrown these two grown men seemed at the sight of a pregnant woman.

“Um...surprise?” I stated, trying to downplay things in order to not generate a large reaction.

“Why didn’t Biz fucking tell us he’s gonna be a dad?” Mikey exclaimed, visibly getting worked up and speaking without really thinking about his words. Again RA tried to get him to shut up for a minute but he continued to rant for a moment about how ‘this was a big deal’ and ‘since when did Biz keep secrets like this….’

“Michael Grinnell...will you shut up for a minute?” I declared, setting my now empty bowl down on the counter. “Biz didn’t tell you that he’s gonna be a dad because he’s not…” I immediately motioned for him to let me continue but before I could, a voice sounded from my left.

“How far along do you think she is dumbass?” Ryan Whitney chirped as he made his way into the kitchen for his own breakfast. His lack of reaction to what he’d just walked into caught me off guard for a moment before I turned to look at him.

“How long have you known?” I asked accusatorily. He at least had the courtesy to look guilty as he mumbled that I probably already knew the answer to that. Carding my fingers through my hair, I sighed and shook my head. “You’ve known as long as Paul has…” I was slightly annoyed by that and it clearly showed on my face causing Whit to backpedal.

“I didn’t know know…” He explained. “Yes...Biz texted me asking if you being sick the way you were was normal and the suspicion was kind of unspoken. He never actually told me that you were though...it was just pretty obvious when the two of you posted scenic pictures when I knew he was taking you to the doctors’. If it was a bug you would have been in bed resting, long drive implies a distraction and it wasn’t hard to figure out from that, that his suspicions had been right.” I couldn’t really be angry about the fact that he’d deduced it based on information obtained before anyone knew for certain that I was pregnant. “Plus...Biz has been different the past few months and it’s pretty obvious why…” He added, gesturing toward my stomach.

“So….if Biz isn’t the dad…” Mikey jumped back into the conversation, his expression suggesting that he’d been thinking a little too hard about all of this. Suddenly his eyes went wide. “Oh...shit.” He murmured like it had all hit him at once. Needing to take control of the situation back I placed a hand on my stomach, taking a deep breath.

“Yes. I’m pregnant. No, we’re not talking about the whole paternity situation. Yes, Paul and evidently Whit have known for a few months. I didn’t tell my parents until last month and I’m not ready to go fully public with an announcement yet which is why I hadn’t said anything. Now, if we can just move on...that would be wonderful.”

Thankfully Whit was able to distract RA and Grinnell with a discussion of setting up for the interviews they were recording before the awards tonight and I was able to slip back to the bedroom, suddenly feeling like I needed a nap even though I’d just woke up.

I’d been staring out the window, trying to clear my mind and decide what I wanted to do until I had to start getting ready when a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and I was pulled back into a firm chest.

“You okay?” Paul asked, his fingers once again rubbing gentle circles over the expanse of my stomach. Leaning into him I nodded and just focused on his touch and soothing presence.

“The boys know.” I eventually whispered and I could feel him chuckle softly.

“I mean...I kind of figured...it only takes one look at you like this.” Feeling his lips press against my hair I sighed. “Plus I could hear Grinnell freaking out. Are you okay with the cat being out of the bag so to speak?” Shrugging I sighed but didn’t say anything. I kind of had to be okay, though it did again bring the fear of the world finding out tonight on national tv to the front of my mind. I could only pray that the dress I’d found would do a sufficient job of hiding my growing stomach in the way that a pair of shorts and a clingy tank top couldn’t.

Spinning me around Paul pulled me into a hug. We stood like that for a few minutes before there was a knock on the bedroom door with RA calling out that Paul needed to get his ass into gear so they could get started. When he pulled back reluctantly, he kissed the top of my head.

“I’ll be fine...go,” I assured him. “Dustbunny and I are just gonna lay back down for a little while. I’ll set an alarm to wake me in a couple hours so I can start getting ready for tonight.”

With one more caress of my bump, Paul retreated to the living room to work and I slipped back into bed, pulling his pillow from his side of the bed to cuddle. With sounds of laughter coming from the next room I quickly drifted off to sleep, hoping that I would wake up more excited for the awards than I currently felt.

No Social Media for this Chapter.

#paul bissonnette #paul bissonnette imagine #Arizona coyotes #arizona coyotes imagine #former player #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #hockey imagines #hockey imagine #014.1 #gif courtesy of dougiesflow

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marveloussupernerd · 4 years

Note

Hi! Could i please have a DR matchup? I’m a bi 18 year old girl. I’m 5’9 and i have curly brown hair and hazel eyes. I have a very soft, cozy style and i basically wear sweaters 24/7. I’m a scorpio and INTP. I’m antisocial due to anxiety, so i’m closed off to most people. I have a sarcastic and dirty sense of humor, and i’m childish. I like playfully teasing people. I’m a gryffindor, and quite stubborn. I’m easily jealous in a relationship. I’m also not very good at initiating affection. I’m really into fitness and health, and i exercise every day. Some of my other hobbies include baking, shopping, and singing. I love video games like animal crossing, but i’m also a huge horror fan. Thanks in advance!! 💕

Yes ofc!!! Sorry for the wait!

I ship you with Hajime Hinata!

I hc Hajime owns about 1000 sweaters as well

So when y’all start dating your number of sweaters doubles

In fact at this point you leave sweaters at each other’s places so much you have no idea whose is whose

You wanna stay in? Fine by him

He doesn’t mind going out to events and to hang out with friends, but he equally doesn’t mind staying in with you

Although he does try to slowly introduce you to his friends

Chiaki first duh

You two get along pretty well and it makes him happy to see you being a bit more outgoing

When you make a dirty joke?

Lots of blushing

He becomes so flustered

Hiding his face behind his fingers so you couldn’t see how red he was

That only encourages you to do it more to see how flustered you can make him

Hajime isn’t sarcastic

But he’s caught onto your sarcasm pretty well

In fact the more you hang out the more you notice he uses sarcasm for stupid things (never towards you though)

You may have rubbed off on him just a lil

Not to say he likes being teased

But you saw how flustered he gets!

He’s a good sport

Does not get offended when you tease him

Lowkey the other Hopes Peak kids tease him to so he’s used to it

Mans doesn’t even know what an octagon is can you blame them

Gives into you easily

Especially with how stubborn you are, he doesn’t put up a fight

Will literally do anything to make you happy so you don’t have much reason to be stubborn

Whenever he upsets you he apologizes immediately... I’m talking seconds later

Even if you’re pouting, not wanting to forgive him immediately, he’s making you tea, making cookies, bringing you a blanket so that you’re not cold while you pout

Makes it hard to be mad at him... ever

Okay admittedly you’re jealous bc why does Nagito flirt with him so much?

Eventually you realize he’s just flirty like he’s well aware of your relationship and respects it he just... can’t help himself

But that doesn’t stop you from grabbing his hand or kissing his cheek when Nagito’s around, just to remind him again who Hajime is with

Makes Hajime flustered

He reassures you that you have literally nothing to worry about which like you can tell is true

When you’re around a group of people, he really is only looking at you. To the point where he bumps into people because he isn’t focused on his surroundings

He tries to work out with you! Puts in a good effort

Can he keep up? Not always. He hasn’t been working out for nearly as long as you have

He likes when you do stationary workouts bc when you’re out running or something he can’t keep up and it shows

But hypothetically if he needed to he could like about how many sit-ups he did

He never does though

“Alright. I’ve done fifty so far. How many have you got down?”

“Uh... thirty? Keep going, I’ll catch up eventually”

“Sure thing Hajime”

You guys bake together and it’s SO CUTE

he likes making the cutout sugar cookies and decorating them with frosting

Works really hard to make a detailed gingerbread couple for the two of you while you work on the house

Well... he tried

It looks nothing like you

The smeared red smile makes it look like your gingerbread people just murdered someone

He’s a blushing mess, apologizing that he spent how long doing it and it’s still not perfect

He can bake well but the decorating thing? Not really. He likes doing it though, finds it therapeutic

Hajime is for sure the person who gets wiped out after like an hour and a half of shopping

You have to get him a pretzel halfway through to keep him going

He doesn’t like shopping but he likes holding your bags

And when he sees you glance at something you like, your eyes lighting up but quickly dimming when he realized it’s too expensive, he takes note

Buys it for you in secret so he can give it to you for the next holiday

He can kinda sing

Like it’s okay? He was in a choir at school when he was like 10

He’s super embarrassed about his singing voice, but when you see him flush you sing even louder, straining your voice, trying to make him more comfortable

His singing doesn’t have to be perfect!!

He likes humming to the songs on the radio when he drives

Very sweet idk

You, him, and Chiaki play animal crossing together

Chiaki has like almost every piece of furniture somehow

She sends you the ironwood kitchenette like two weeks into playing

How did she get it that fast!?

Hajime’s house is NICE

He puts a lot of care into making a really pretty bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and even has an arcade area

His favorite villagers are the lazy ones lmao

He has like 4 frog villagers why

His native fruit is oranges

You didn’t expect this from him, but he LOVES horror

He’s seen (and owns) all the classics, and likes to have movie marathons of them during October

Only watches them when it’s dark outside, you have to have the right vibes

If it’s storming? Even better. He gets really into it

Takes you to the theater every time a new horror movie comes out so you can see the premiere

Admittedly he jumped once or twice during The Nun which was super shocking to you

First of all the concept of going to a theater atm is very strange for me and second of all I don’t watch horror but I jumped during the nun trailer so if it wasn’t good I’m sorry for even mentioning it hahaha

He holds your hand when he watches a horror movie for the first time

I don’t know... what if something extra scary happens? He doesn’t want you to know he’s scared by grabbing your hand at that moment, so he figured if he’s holding it the first time you won’t be able to tell

You can tell when he’s got his phone flashlight on as you walk back to your car after the movie

But he’s really cute about it!

In general he just loves the things you love, and you make him so flustered because he likes you so so much sushsjsjsjsj

Why did I become such a Hajime stan while writing this

#danganronpa #matchup

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booksneedcaffeinetoo · 4 years

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Book Review: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

This review is going to be LITTERED with SPOILERS because idk how to talk about this book without giving away the whole plot.

Consider yourself officially warned.

I’m still debating on my rating, but for now here is my review. Fair warning: it is rant-y and ramble-y and hasn't been edited yet. I'll clean it up when I come back for a rating.

As always, content warnings are listed at the bottom!

Overall Positives:

• SJM has actually included a few gay characters….now they are all very minor side characters (Isiah, Fury, Juniper, and Declan) who are only present for maybe 3% total of the novel, but at least they exist??? So she gets points for actually having gay characters who aren’t killed off. You can say that she’s making an effort.

• The banter between Bryce and Hunt was pretty funny

• That scene with the knock-off My Little Pony dolls was funny

• I think there might've been a reference in the book to First Aid Kit (the sister folk duo) and it made my heart squeal because I love that band SO MUCH!

• Bryce actually has a great relationship with her mom and her stepfather! And they are both alive! And stay alive! I’m actually struggling to recall a book I’ve read where the main character in the book has a). both parents alive and b). a great relationship with them both. So that was really refreshing!

• Hunt in a sunball cap.

• Bryce and Hunt taking photos together. Way too adorable.

• Ride or die friendship. I love books that emphasize the importance of friendship.

• That LIGHT IT UP DANIKA LIGHT IT UP LIGHT IT UP scene....like i felt that...her happiness. so sweet. i teared up at that scene ngl....

• Pretty good depiction of grief. How even after years the pain of losing your friend doesn’t go away. How some people cut themselves off to cope and others don’t. How some take out their anger on the closest target. How some people remember the dead one’s birthday and other don’t. etc. etc.

• It really was a slow burn because they like didn’t even kiss until 75% into the 3,000 page book.

• Rhun is my favorite character in this book. He’s a goth softie king. I also loved the Demon Cat. And Fury. And Declan. And Flynn. And Isaiah. And Hunt. And Lele. And the dog. And Jesiba. And Randall. And….well….that’s about it….

• I have recently been getting more and more into Urban Fantasy so I am excited and glad that this book is UF. I also like how it takes place in a different world with a different history (although for some reason I went into this book under the impression it takes place in New Orleans…)

Overall Negatives:

• If I ever have to see the word “alphahole” again it will still be too soon. I get that she was going for meta and trying to poke fun at how the trope in so many UF books includes an alphamale love interest….but it just doesn’t really work because none of the guys she was calling an alphahole was actually acting like one??? Okay so this is kind of ramble-y but whatever. When I think of an alphamale love interest acting like a…*shudders*…. alphahole I think of the stereotypical shifter romance/erotica novel where the guy likes wants to punch any guy who stands too close or talks to his mate. I think of him making outrageous claims, always posting a guard, never letting her leave the house, etc. all without any cause. Having a literal demon serial killer who (at this point in the book) you believe RIPPED APART AN ENTIRE PACK OF WEREWOLVES and is killing everyone who is close to working on the same case as you and you are a half-fae who NEVER carries a weapon with you, doesn’t have magic, and no one beside your mom, stepdad, and dead bestie know that you can turn into a flashlight at will…..yeah it makes sense that the people who care about you would like you to have a guard. But that’s not “alphahole” behavior. Nor is when you’re starving yourself from guilt him being concerned and wanting you to eat, or wanting you to try to take care of yourself….that’s not “alphahole” behavior, it’s being a good friend/sibling. If someone wanted a guard on her PRIOR to her investigating the murder than yeah….that would be “alphahole” 100%. But that’s not what happened…one of the highlights of the book was Hunt calling out Bryce by telling her that she is actually the “alphahole” here.

• Fucking sunball = baseball. WHYYYYYY I thought it was soccer for so long until Hunt tossed on a “sunball cap”

• I thought that Violet Hall from Pucked was the most infuriating main character I have read in a long time until I met Bryce fucking Quinnland. It is a pet peeve of mine when a character acts like someone (usually lazy or a partier) and then gets pissed because people think they are how they act??? Like, if you act like an asshole then don’t be shocked if people think you are an asshole. Also she was someone who was terribly selfish and stupidly reckless for no reason for 99% of the book. Yeah she’s ride or die for her friends which is supposed to be her best quality but she is just terribly rude to so many people. Like take Lele for example. Bryce treated her horribly until Hunt was sold again, then was friends with Lele for like a week which someone equated to Lele being willing to die for her???

• Part two of that bullet above^: Why was everyone willing to die for Bryce? Maybe I hate Bryce because she reminds me too much of Jane Salone from The Bold Type with her ‘I’m always right’ attitude. But yeah, everyone is willing to die for her. I don’t get why though. Also everyone wants to fuck her. She can’t walk down the street without like five dudes wanting to fuck her. It was so annoying. Also how the hell has she not died by age 25!?!? There is a different between being bitchy with your algebra teacher versus being bitchy with some guy who could smite you before you blink. And all of them are like ‘oooh she’s not afraid of me like everyone else how charming’ and I’m just like NO. That’s like if I intentionally pissed off some mafia dom and instead of making an example out of me for dissing him in front of his mafia bros, he’s like ‘oooh you’re sassy wanna fuck?’ MAKES NO SENSE!!!

•Part three of the above^: okay before someone comes at me and says ‘well would you be saying the same things if she was a guy doing an acting this way’ well probably. I love the KATE DANIELS (Magic Bites) series. And Kate is a no-nonsense, can come across rude, and gives zero fucks what anyone else thinks about her. Kind of like Bryce, but less bitchy and has the power and skills to back up her recklessness. (No one around Bryce learns of her secret lightbright gift or of her sharpshooting skills until the very end so I am maintaining my ‘she’s reckless’ viewpoint based on everyone around her not knowing of her abilities when she does all of this dumbshit). Kate also is a fucking martyr who runs towards danger even when the odds are against her. Just like Bryce. But I love Kate and hate Bryce. So…yeah I think it was just a Bryce issue. It took until about 41% with the whole phone-Sandriel thing for me to stop finding her insufferable….but I still never really liked her after that...I could stand her for the occasional paragraph or two

• Speaking of martyrs…why is everyone one in this book!?!? NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE A MARTYR!!!

• Another reason I hate Bryce (yes I’m back on that Bryce shit) is because after Hunt broke her heart he immediate thought upon learning who he was going to be sold (back to his old owner who is a sadistic fuck) her thought was good, he deserves it and all he did was break her heart and not want to be a slave anymore and kept something he knew would destroy you (which yeah, keeping that secret furthered his cause but still…) and I just????? Have???? No words???? Like girl you have a RIGHT to be PISSED but jfc that doesn’t equate to TORTURE.

• Ugh and then her whole ‘take me instead’ bullshit was so reminiscent of that Jules and Emma whipping scene from Lady Midnight I almost gagged for the level of cheese and martyr-syndrome

• Why is everyone described as “brown,” “golden brown,” or “tan”?! It’s like SJM is trying to not make everyone white but doesn’t want to fully commit…

• And was anyone uncomfortable/cringed at the ‘white angel wings are supreme to any wings with color’ bit....

• I hate books where the werewolves can talk outloud in human form. I cringed.

• Why was the calling people by their last name thing not consistent? I’ve read books before where characters flip between using another character’s first and last name, but there is context behind why they choose one or the other: the professional setting, if the person is happy or upset, who is being addressed, etc. But you’ll get Hunt calling Bryce “Bryce” and “Quinnland” within a sentence of each other? And literally every character did stuff like this. It was weird and not consistent at all.

Negatives About the Plot:

• This book really felt like three books in one: Part One (first 12ish%) being the day leading up to the Pack of Devil’s murder. And I do mean like every boring thing that happened. Part Two (the next 66ish%) being the murder investigation. Part Three (the last 22ish%) being where all the action occurred. The book felt like it couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. The summary promised a murder investigation so I was expecting it to be a KATE DANIELS-esque plot. But nothing of true importance really occurred during that investigation. We got some cool flashbacks with Danika, and some sweet moments between Hunt and Bryce…but that’s it. SJM isn’t Brandon with a Stormlight Archives (The Way of Kings) complicated interwoven plot. I think the book as whole would have been better if it was about 300 pages shorter.

• Nothing in the plot of true importance happened until the last 100 pages or so.

• I mean we literally got every single thing that happened during every single day of their investigation…it was….too much detail.

• When I got to 80% like every other chapter felt like the book should end. It could’ve ended on a cliffhanger. Like right after Hunt was found on that boat. But nope….

• Figures. SJM can’t have a main couple unless they both are super special. Did anyone else feel like she just recycled parts of ACOMAF in this book? Hunt: has wings and super special powers. Bryce: absorbs some super-fae juiced up power from a cauldron—er….I mean arch—to get extra powers and become the most super cool and super special fae in all existence because god forbid we have a heroine who isn’t the most physically powerful person ever. I mean, to hell with mental strength. Must be physically magically powerful or you’re no good!

• The only plot points that surprised me were the hunt being at the drug bust (because we got nothing from his povs that he was remotely interested in going back down that revolution road especially after his whole meeting with Briggs…still iffy with this one, because his thoughts in that cell sound like he actually was on board with it until he called it off because the drug is too dangerous but his call to the viper queen said she owed him a favor so…..) and Micah’s weird horn hard-on. Literally nothing else surprised me...

• I really though Reid would play a bigger role considering Bryce used to date him and is fam is responsible for that drug....but nope. The dude is like never even mentioned.

• Ugh...that villain speech. Maybe I'm just like...what's the point? Why not just zap the bitch why do you need to tell her your life story!?!?!

• Also let's be real, Danika's password never would have been allowed to be that simple nor remain unchanged for 2 years. But whatever.

• It’s also pretty cringe that Bryce freed Lele just for her to die…………..

• Why is Jesiba’s shop impenetrable (the building and cameras) until it’s convenient for it not to be…I mean it sounded like nothing could break into her building or the cameras but then… Micah just easily waltzed in there and Declan easily hacked into the security cameras….makes no sense but okayyyyyyy…..

• ....or about how the dog can teleport and undo locks until once again it's convenient for him not to be able to so she can dramatically save the day (look I also have issues with her valuing her pet's life over Lele's in that scene...also isn't the dog supposed to be like terrifying, it could've fought while her and Lele got out. not really sure how the water which delayed him like two seconds helped more than her dog would've....look, i love pets and i don't want him to die but i don't want Lele to die either!)

• Bryce and Hunt literally never have a talk about everything???? Like I get the world almost ended but neither of them had a thought like I know we need to talk about everything that happened on the boat. About if his love for Shahar trumps his love for me. But that can wait… Because those were all fears she had before but now vanished???? I get not wanted to have verbal talk but a thought from Bryce would’ve been nice.

• How can you run, carry a sword, and shoot a gun all at the same time? Still trying to figure out the logistics of that all....

• Why is SJM's adult book the least smutty thing she has written so far!?!?!?!?

• The love saves everyone and everything line is so fucking cheesy I can’t.

My Overall Feelings:

• The book couldn’t choose a plot. Did it want to be a crime book? Did it want to be ACOMAF? Who the fuck knows.

• This would have worked better as a TV series than a book. Especially that scene where Bryce is trying to save the city and everyone is just watching it happen on the jumbo screen at the summit. In book form it was just….weird….and felt disruptive...and someone could've started flying to help out. Plus I like watching shows with characters like Bryce but hate reading books with characters like her if that makes sense...

• Also if the summit is just between the leaders of CC then why did Sadriel have to be there? Why does it happen only every 10 years? Why does it have to take place outside of the city if no other leaders from other places are present?

• Why don’t we get a map of all of the other countries that were mentioned?

• This book was wayyyyyy too long. It would have been much better if it was reduced to 500ish pages instead.

• Also the character’s flip-flopped with their character development way too much. It wasn’t consistent.

• This is definitely one of the better SJM book’s I’ve read, but it won’t be one that I’ll reread. It is too long with too many boring bits in the middle.

• But hey! If you love SJM then you’ll probably love this book…

Content Warnings and Trigger Warnings: restricted eating, self-harm, drug use, alcohol consumption, implied rape, mentions of abusive relationships, suicidal thoughts, depression, emesis, slavery, terrorist attacks, grief, gun violence, death, murder, violence, torture

View all my reviews

#this review is so long it ran out of space on goodreads lol #book review #house of blood and earth spoilers #crescent city spoilers #crescent city #house of blood and earth #booksneedcaffeinetooblog

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thatpizzaoverthere · 5 years

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A Motorbike, a Sprained Ankle and an Angel in a White Coat

Hi there! This is a Blackinnon modern AU that absolutely no one asked for. I am in the middle of writing another modern Au (the wedding planner one). So why did I write this one? Because I’m an idiot who likes to push boundaries. (read: lazy) I also sprained my ankle, have my leg in a plaster, am filled with painkillers, so do excuse my shitty writing (although I’m not sure if it is the painkillers, or just my inability to write.) Anyway, the story is down below.

A Motorbike, a Sprained Ankle and an Angel in a White Coat

a.k.a “Shirley, a Chipped Bone and, you know, a Doctor”

So, Sirius bought a motorbike. Does he know how to ride one? No. Does him owning a motorbike piss off his parents? Hell yes, and that was honestly the main reason he got one. He also knew chicks dig motorbikes, so what else was he supposed to do? And that is how one day, he convinced his best mate James to go with him to the shop to get a brand-new motorbike. (And the day before he tagged along with Lily and Alice to the mall to get a leather jacket and aviator sunglasses, because he was Sirius Black, and he doesn’t do things half-heartedly)

Anyway, a few contracts later, and with a few pounds less, Sirius Black walked out of the bike shop with the new love of his life, a motorbike he named Shirley. He offered to give James a ride home, but James laughed him off and said he would rather wait an hour for the Tube than get on that death machine. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the bike, but this was Sirius, and he wasn’t exactly the most careful driver. On top of that, as Sirius had explained, motorbikes were supposed to be driven recklessly.

(Remus’ vein nearly popped out of his head when Sirius explained his theory).

Months have passed, and despite the bet going around when Sirius is going to injure himself (with Lily’s 3 days being the shortest time, to James having the most faith in him and giving him 3 months), Sirius and Shirley were inseparable, and most importantly, not one nor the other received a scratch or worse.

That is, until James birthday.

It was supposed to be a small affair, with just Peter, Alice and Frank, Remus and his new girlfriend Dorcas, and James and Lily in their new flat. Sirius was of course, late (fashionably, as he called it). But it really wasn’t his fault. He cursed at the audacity of the rain to be falling just as he was supposed to drive to the flat. He hated wearing a helmet, arguing that it ruined his hair and bad boy persona.

(For that comment alone, Remus already ordered a wreath to put on Sirius’ grave.)

But the rain wouldn’t stop, so Sirius begrudgingly put a helmet on and rode to James’ flat. On his way, some lunatic nearly ran into him, and he nearly ran over some bloke who darted in front of him. He arrived pissed at the rain and the idiots in traffic, until he got off his motorbike and realized he forgot James’ present. On top of it all, he took of his helmet and his hair was a mess. Frustrated, he let out a groan and kicked his bike. It was a split second after the kick that he realized he forgot to put his bike on her stand, and so Shirley got her revenge by falling directly on her owner. Sirius didn’t know whether to cry or curse at the universe. His right leg and arm were under the bike, and try as he might, he couldn’t get the bike off him. Using his left hand, he dug out his phone from his jacket pocket and rang James.

“Mate, did you already forget where we live? You were here literally yesterday”

“Piss off Prongs”

“Ow Padfoot. Is this the way to talk to your best friend, and on his birthday no less?”

“James, I do not have time for your drama”

“Look who’s talking”

“I am so not in the mood Potter, so could you just come down?”

“Sirius, what happened?”

“What happened? Oh, I’ll tell you what happened. I was getting ready to drive here, when this stupid rain started pouring, so I had to put on a helmet, and as I was on my way here, suddenly everyone decided to disregard traffic rules. To top it off, I forgot your present, so I kicked Shirley, and here I am now, paying for being mean to her, being squashed under her”

“You forgot my present?”

“Is that really all you heard from what I just said, and not the part of me being squashed under 400 lb of metal and plastic?”

“I heard you, dickhead, we’re coming down”Sirius sighed and waited. Shortly after he saw the building’s door being opened and heard his mates laughing when they saw him. He gave them his most murderous look and hissed “Get me out of here”.

“No problem mate, just let me take one quick photo” said James, snapping potential blackmail material, before lifting the bike with Frank.

“If this ends on any social media, I will murder you” threatened Sirius as Remus hoisted him up. James laughed at him, putting Shirley on her stand. Just as Sirius made a step towards the flat, a jolt of pain spread from his ankle and he found himself on the floor once more. He looked at his right foot and saw his ankle doubled in size.

“Why do all my birthdays end with one of us ending up in the ER?” asked James when he saw Sirius’ foot.

“Because you’re all idiots who don’t know boundaries” replied Lily, fiddling with her car keys.

“Uncalled for Evans. Besides, there’s no need for me to go to th-” was all he was able to utter before Peter prodded his ankle and another jolt of pain spread. .

“Don’t know mate, looks pretty bad to me” said the pudgy man.

Remus lifted Sirius once more, and with Peter’s help, got him into Lily’s car.

“Sorry we had to cut the party so short, but mum would kill me if she heard I didn’t take this wanker to the hospital” said James, entering the car “Feel free to join us. There’s a pub across the hospital, called The Three Broomsticks, and we’ll join you after we sort him out”

“Ok, see you there” “Sure” relied Dorcas, Remus, Peter, Alice and Frank before pilin into Peter’s van, and driving towards the hospital after Lily’s car.

The drive to the hospital was relatively short, and soon Sirius found himself seated in an uncomfortable orange chair with James beside him, while Lily left to give his details to the nurse. He looked at the clock and saw it was 11:27. Sirius didn’t like hospitals. Although, who did. They were too clean for Sirius’ liking. James had beaten one level on Gardenscapes on his phone when Lily returned. “The doctor is currently in the OR, and when they get back, they’ll take a look at you” she said, sitting next to James. And so, they waited.

Half an hour later, a nurse approached them. “Mr Black? The doctor will see you now. Take him to exam room 1”. James supported him as he hopped on one foot to the room and helped him sit on the exam bed. “Well mate, see you when you’re done” said James and exited the room, leaving Sirius to wait some more alone.

He heard the doctor before he saw her. “Apologies for waiting Mr Black, but there was an urgent appendectomy, but I’m all yours now” she said, removing her surgical mask and giving him a small smile. Sirius sucked in a small breath. Fuck. She had a beautiful smile, showing a hint of pearly white teeth, before she turned her back on him. He could see strands of blonde hair escaping her scrub cap. “So, Mr Black” she said while opening his file on her computer “what brings you here today?”

Here’s another thing: Sirius Black knows his way around women. His good looks partnered with his natural charisma worked like magnets, and he prided himself on his ability to woo women.. He was especially proud of knowing exactly what to say to them. So imagine his distress when he found himself at loss for words in front of his doctor. And it wasn’t like he actually wanted or needed to woo her; she was trying to give him proper medical care. “Mr Black?” she asked after a few seconds of Sirius just staring blankly at her.

“Right, yes. Sorry. Bit dazed. Erm…” What the fuck was he supposed to say to her? Well doc, my bike fell on me because I’m a massive idiot just didn’t sound right. But what good was lying to a doctor? “I own a motorbike” was all he was able to mutter, mentally facepalming himself for his stupidity. “So, were you involved in an accident?” she questioned further. He was a proper git. Good thing James wasn’t here, or else he’d never hear the end of it. “No, there was no accident” he said after some time, but couldn’t for the love of God elaborate further. The doctor frowned and fetched a small flashlight from her desk. “I’m going to check if you had perhaps suffered a concussion” she explained, pointing the flashlight in his right eye “Have you experienced any head trauma, like hitting yourself on the head or being hit by something?”

He blinked at the surge of light, and averted his gaze “No doctor, I just… I did fall, but I haven’t hit my head. The only thing that hurts is my ankle” And my pride. The doctor crouched and surveyed the ankle. “I’m going to touch you around this area, and I need you to tell me where it hurts and how much” she said, and started investigating the swollen area. Seconds passed in the exam room, as the doctor pressed on various areas around his ankle and Sirius letting out ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ when she would reach particularly sensitive spots. After a while, she returned to her computer typing away her diagnosis and explaining it to Sirius “Personally, I believe you only sprained your ankle, but just to make sure, I would like to do an X-ray”

“Yes, doctor” replied Sirius. “I’ll tell the nurses to bring in a wheelchair, so you don’t have to hop all the way to the radiology room” she said, signalling to the nurse, who wheeled him out of the exam room. Sirius saw James braiding Lily’s hair, still seated on those awful orange chairs. “Hey Sirius, what did the doctor say?” asked Lily. “They have to do an X-ray scan, and then we’ll see.”

The X-ray was done in less than 5 minutes, and Sirius found himself in the exam room once again, mentally preparing himself not to make a fool of himself in front of the doctor. She walked in again, but this time she switched her green scrubs for a classic doctor’s white coat. “Just one question Mr Black: do you do sports?” she asked him, turning her face from her computer towards him. Her eyes were blue “Well, sometimes I play football with my mates. Occasionally do a bit of running here and there” answered Sirius, as the doctor turned her face back to the computer and typed something in. “Here’s the thing Mr Black” she began, turning her monitor towards Sirius. He could see an X-ray scan of his ankle. “As I assumed, you sprained your ankle. But there is this little thing over here” she said, pointing to a spot on the scan “This over here is a bone piece that shouldn’t be here. I suspect it must’ve broken from your talus bone, which can sometimes chip, in occasions such as running on uneven terrain”

“Wouldn’t I have realized I have a broken bone? I felt no pain before today” said Sirius, which prompted a laugh from the doctor. “Yes, well, sometimes when such small pieces chip, they don’t really cause much harm, and tend to mend again with the bone on their own. This one probably would’ve done the same, but it appears that your accident today sprained your ankle, moved the chipped bone and caused a bit more pain than a usual sprain.” she explained, and turned the monitor back to herself. “So, here is what we’re going to do. We’ll put your ankle in a plaster for about 3 weeks, and then you’ll come in for a check-up and a scan, and then we’ll determine whether you’ll need a plaster again or not.”

“Yes doctor, thank you”

“Now, I’ll wheel you to the plaster room, they’ll put it on and you’re good to go”

She led him through the other doors, into another hallway rather than the waiting room where Lily and James were. She knocked on the doors to the plaster room, and a burly nurse opened. “Hey Jack, I’m gonna need a plaster on his right ankle, up to the knee, without the heel”

“Sure thing doc, we’ll be done in a sec” said the nurse and grabbed the bandages. The doctor helped Sirius from the wheelchair and sat him on the bed. She grabbed his ankle and positioned it under right angle. Sirius suppressed a yelp as she offered a sympathetic smile “I’m sorry Mr Black, I know it hurts, but it has to be this way, so it heals properly” “Yeah yeah, I understand, but one thing. Please don’t call me Mr Black, it makes me feel way too old. My name is Sirius” This elicited a laugh from her, and Sirius couldn’t help but smile along, forgetting the pain for a second. “Understood, Sirius” The nurse returned and put Sirius’ leg in plaster, under the doctor’s watchful eye. When he finished, he helped Sirius to his wheelchair. “Thanks Mark, see you later” said the doctor, wheeling Sirius out and through a hallway.

“You’ll pick up your papers from the nurse who you spoke to when you came in. Bring those papers to your check-up, and in the meantime, don’t use your foot at all. You are to rest, understood?” she applied a stern voice, but Sirius could see she was smiling. “Yes ma’am” he replied, intentionally not using her title to tease her. She stopped and stood in front him. She narrowed her eyes at him, realizing he was messing with her. “It’s doctor, not ma’am. I didn’t go to med school for 6 years to be called ma’am” “Understood, doctor” he answered, giving her a dose of puppy eyes. She rolled her eyes at him and continued to drive him. “Just teasing you, they say joking helps to alleviate the pain”

“True, but how wise is it to tease a doctor: a person that knows how to kill and make it look like an accident?

”Sirius looked at her incredulously, and she laughed at him “What? Joking alleviates the pain”

“Touché doctor. Well, I guess that postpones Shirley’s and my road trip”

“I’m sure your girlfriend will understand, Sirius”

“Oh, Shirley’s not my girlfriend. She’s my motorbike”

“You named your motorbike?”

“What did we say about teasing doctor?”

“Not teasing, just curious. Besides, what would you do if I were teasing you? Hop after me until I apologize?”

Sirius looked at her, dramatically clutching his chest, feigning being insulted. He called after a nurse who was passing them by “Excuse me, nurse? Yeah, I would like a new doctor. This one is hurting my feelings” he explained. The nurse looked from him up to the doctor, who waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t mind him Keisha, he had a concussion when he fell from his motorbike and is talking nonsense” said the doctor and wheeled him away from the nurse.

“Oy, I didn’t fell from a motorbike”

“Yeah, but now she thinks you did.”

“You are a cruel woman, doctor”

“Well, it’s what you get for calling me ma’am”

Sirius laughed just as they rounded the corner and found themselves in the waiting room where Lily and James were still waiting. They rose towards him and the doctor, James snapping a photo of him in wheelchairs. “Mate, stop it, or I swear they’ll be putting your hand in a plaster next” “Sure thing Padfoot, but you’ll have to catch me first, and I don’t really think you’re in the position to do that” replied James, and Lily swatted him on his arm “James, don’t be a dick, can’t you see your friend is suffering?” “Yes James, can’t you see I’m suffering?” said Sirius smugly, but Lily cut him off to continue “Suffering from embarrassment for having a motorbike fall on him because he kicked it” she finished, high-fiving James for the joke. Sirius just looked at them annoyed “I liked both of you better when you weren’t dating” “You didn’t tell me a motorbike fell on you” said the doctor, trying to stifle a laughter.

“Yeah yeah, go ahead, laugh at the idiot who got crushed by a motorbike, it’s not like I got hurt or anything”

“Yeah, but did you die?” asked the doctor, and they all outward laughed at Sirius.

“Wow doctor, I really thought we had a moment there”

“Oh Sirius, you think you have a moment with every gorgeous woman you talk to” Lily teased him

“Yeah, and why do you keep calling her doctor?” asked James.

Sirius just looked at them as if they were mad.

“Yeah, I wondered that too. At first, I thought he was being polite, then I wondered if he actually had a concussion, but when he started being his usual teasing self, I realized he has no clue who I am” said the doctor. Maybe I’m the one going mad thought Sirius. He would’ve remembered knowing someone as beautiful as her. And funny.

“Wait, we know each other?” asked Sirius

“Well, we did go to school together” replied the doctor.

Seeing that Sirius was not getting it, James decided to help him “Right mate, I’ll give you 2 hints: football and Scottish”

“And I think the lightbulb went off” said Lily, seeing the look on Sirius’ face as realization hit him.

“Oh my God, McKinnon?” asked Sirius, and the doctor laughed.

“There he goes!” exclaimed James, and clapped for him. Lily too.

“Technically, it’s doctor McKinnon. But you know, Marlene will do”

“I swear, I had no idea. I haven’t seen you in years. Where’s your accent?”

“Ugh, don’t ask. When we started going round hospitals in med school, no one understood anything I said. I even took classes to help me lose the accent”

“Sorry to interrupt your flirting, but all this with his ankle: is he ready to go?” asked James, and Marlene repeated her instructions about not moving and the check-up in 3 weeks. Lily went out to bring the car closer to the doors, and James excused himself to go the loo, which left Sirius and Marlene to wait for them.

“Where did you go after Oxford?”

“I went to Australia to do my training and residency. I was there for 2 years, but I missed home, so I came back. Been here for 2 months now.”

“And didn’t think of contacting your old friends?”

“Still doing paperwork. And I’m a doctor with ridiculous shifts. Besides, why would I contact people who forgot about me?”

“I’m really sorry Marlene”

“Don’t beat yourself over it. And I mean really don’t, you don’t need more body pieces in plaster”

“Right, I see your humour hasn’t changed”

“Hey, why fix something that’s not broken?”

“I don’t think everyone would agree”

She playfully hit him on the arm and then looked at her watch.

“Well, this is where we part. Thank you for helping me end my 14-hour shift on a bright note”

“Ugh, 14 hours, that must be rough. I suppose you can’t wait to go to sleep, knowing you”

“Trust me, med school put an end to my heavy sleeping for more than 10 hours, Besides, there are a few episodes of Musketeers waiting for me at home”

“Sounds lonely”

“I have friends. There are millions of bacteria in my body to keep me company”

“Really? Biology jokes? That’s horrible, even for your standards. But anyway, thank you Marlene. You’re an angel in a white coat.”

“So, a doctor?”

“Your jokes are terrible”

“What can I say, I’m an acquired taste”

“Come on, Hopper, let’s get you to the car” said James, wiping his hands on his pants as he returned. He helped Sirius out of the wheelchair and led him towards the door.

“I guess I’ll see you around then. Have fun guys” said Marlene and gave them a little wave, before turning around and walking towards the exam rooms.

Sirius looked after her, in a sort of daze, before James swatted him on the head. “You idiot, why did you do that for?” he asked, massaging his head.

“Because you’re looking after her like a lost puppy. Why didn’t you invite her to go with us?” James asked, giving him a bewildered look.“Was I supposed to?”

“Lily, this idiot didn’t invite her to come with us” James said to Lily, who was opening the back door of her car for Sirius.

“Are you telling me you spent time with a pretty woman, and you didn’t ask her out?” the redhead asked him, giving a same bewildered look as James.

“It’s because he has had a crush on Marlene since we were 18”

“Fuck off James”

“Language, Padfoot”

“James?”

“Yes mate?”

“Help me go after her”

“Of course, mate”

And that is how James helped Sirius hop to Marlene, who laughed at the sight of the pair, but nevertheless accepted their invitation and joined them at The Three Broomsticks, where she was greeted by her old friends and together, they celebrated James’ birthday until the wee hours of the morning.

After Sirius’ legs healed, he introduced Marlene to Shirley and took her for a ride. He even kissed her for the first time while leaning on his motorbike. This time, of course, he remembered to put the bike on its stand.

(And yes, James uses this story as a part of his best man’s speech at their wedding a few years later. He even shows photos as proof.)

#blackinnon #with a dash of jily #sirius x marlene #i love them so much #au #writing #oneshot #my babies

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lunarwits · 5 years

Text

Blister

Please read it here also https://archiveofourown.org/works/18660700

warnings of violence, cursing, death, description of violence, description of self violence

During this time of year, the emergency room always was humid. It soaked up the water in the air every time the sliding doors opened bringing in more bodies inside the enclosed space. The constant chatter around the room and the sweat that pours off the patrons which alway s cause d a claustrophobic feel to the space.

Doctor Jake Morgan was all too use to the sweat that clung to the back of his collars after standing in crowded room for more than a moment. He had spent much of his youth in the room, running from patient to patient as an intern and then later being in charge as he started his residency in the hospital. Tonight was not any different to any previously, he was tired, sweating through his shirt as he checked over a new victim that was rolled into the hospital on gurney.

He took in the statues of the patient, calculating mentally his scraps and bruising, while he also focused on the real problems. The man was brought in as a motorcycle crash victim, one of the most common crashes in the city, sustaining lacerations and bruising across his body but the real worry that he had focused around the man’s head. The cuts and bruising did not resemble that from a crash and his movements seemed lethargic, as if he was on something.

Jake frowned as he reached out and tipped the man’s head back, reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out a small flashlight and shined it in the man’s eyes. He frown ed harder at the lack of reaction, there is no dilation of the pupils. The man gave no reaction as the nurses moved around him trying to get a look at the scrapes as they moved clothing and rubbed swabs against the cuts. Jake looked over to his left and caught the eye of one of his head nurses, “Get a blood test, he may be high on something that we don’t know about and until we know what, it is too dangerous to get him examined.”

She nodded her head and moved forward once he stepped back. Around them the room burst to life again as another patient was rushed in on a stretcher. He blinked slowly taking in the movement of the room and the sweat clinging to him . H e then reached a hand up and pulled the handkerchief he ke pt in his pocket to wipe his face, doing his best to wipe away the liquid.

A sudden exclamation brought his attention back toward the man that rested in front of him. Though he himself had backed away a few feet the two nurses he entrusted to care for the man had moved closer, each trying to do their own job for the patient. Maria, his brain supplied her name, seemed to have been doing as he requested, drawing the patient's blood to get it sent to diagnostics for a drug analysis. She was now wrestling with the man, an image that caused Jake to rush forward getting a hand planted on the shoulder of the patient and using the other to grab the arm that was struggling with Maria.

Jake was not a young man, he had been in his late thirties when he finally was accepted into his residency but that had been more than 15 years ago, he was not able to keep up the same health as he had then. He struggled with the other, around him he heard the other nurses shouting for security, or maybe it was police, he couldn’t focus on them as the man surged up again. It was unnerving when he realized that him and Maria were losing this struggle, both panting hard and hissing words of calm to the patient. The grip that Jake held on the man seemed to loosen each time the other surged up, with empty eyes and exposed teeth, deep in his mind it reminded Jake of his neighbors Doberman's who always growled at him passed their gates.

All it took from the patient is one well-placed thrash of his leg to knock Jake off balance, causing him to release the others hand which shot out to grab the needle Maria had been struggling to keep out of reach. Once in possession of the needle the man drew his arm back and stabbed it into his own neck, causing a sudden reaction of a squirt of blood and the sound of choking.

“No!”

Jake was quick to stumble to grab the others arm with one hand and with the other press against the bleeding wound, but he could already tell it was too late as the blood tricked through his fingers. Maria screamed as she also reached out to add her own pressure to the wound, but jump ed back as Jake shouted, “I need something to close the wound!”

With a choked sob, Maria stumbled back from them both, the man was already falling limp from the blood lose. Jake looked up at her with panicked expression and shouted, “Move!” His voice echoing across the now silent Emergency. He frowned at her as all she could do was shake her head, hands clutched to her chest. Only later he would realize that the man was past saving, the blood that dripped between his own fingers expressing that intent without words.

He turned back to focus on the man but as he looked at the other, he knew he had passed. The blood had stopped flowing not long after the realization, which allowed him to pull his hands back and stare down at the body. He let out a weak breath and raised his head to look at Maria and another nurse who had moved by her side, “Time of death,” he paused and flicked his eyes down to the watch on his wrist only to catch it covered in blood, unreadable under the red liquid. His stomach churned with distaste and he quickly looked to the clock above the exit, “10:03 P.M., someone call the P.D.”

With that he stepped from the body, and shaking lightly from adrenaline and panic, and turned to head toward the locker room in hopes of escaping the suddenly loud rush of voices that surrounded him.

Across town in another hospital two more similar disturbances occurred.

The call had come in at 10:07 P.M., just after Matt had crawled into bed. He hated late night calls, it always meant long nights away from home and sick criminals that made his skin crawl. He moaned loudly into the edge of his pillow before reaching for his phone and swiping to accept the call, “I just fucking left the office not more than 30 minutes ago, this better be important V.”

“Just got a call from the hospital, we need you to come back in,” Victor Harkness, his partner in most cases, responded sounding just as tired as he was.

“The hospital? What type of case do we have that would require us to go there,” he flopped over onto his side glancing at the clock that sat on his bedside table, which allowed him to focus his eyes on something besides the darkness around him.

“Dunno, I just got the call a minute ago. I am heading over to pick you up, be ready in five.”

The line went dead after that not giving Matt a chance to plead his case about staying in bed any longer. He dropped the phone on the bed next to him and grabbed the pillow from behind him and dropped it on his face then let out a yell of frustration. He finished his yell after a second and then threw the pillow against the wall and sat up to look around his room disgruntled.

He only allowed himself a few seconds of frustration before he brought his mind into focus. He climbed out of bed quickly and rushed through his room pulling out one of his suits quickly and dressed in it taking less time than it normally does to get dressed in the morning. Once dressed he moved out of his room toward the entry way where he kicked off his shoes when he first got home. He paused on his way to the entry way and stopped in the dining area to grab his wallet from the table and with that his gun belt and badge. With great skill he tugged the belt around his waist as he moved, he crossed the thresh hold of the entry way just as the door was knocked on.

He tightened the belt , so it sits on his waist perfectly and the holster rests on his right hip, gun still in its holster because he had been too lazy to put it away properly, and shouted, “Come in ! ”

The door was unlocked from the outside and pushed open revealing Victor standing on the step. Victor painted an impressive figure in with his 6’ tall and muscular frame, there wasn’t any question about why he was handpicked for this detail. Matt smirked as he shoved his feet into the work boots, they had both adopted to start wearing after a crime scene in the bogs.

“That couldn’t have been five minutes.”

“I may have lied, got you up and moving through didn’t it?”

Matt grimaced at him. He shoved his wallet and phone into his front pocket with one hand while he reached out with his other to yank his coat from the door handle of the entry way closet. Victor just shrugged his shoulders at the grimace and stepped back as Matt stepped out. He shut the door behind him and turned his back on Victor to lock it with the keys he had grabbed from the table he left by the door to catch anything he didn’t care about car ry ing farther into the home. Once done and now facing Victor again, they shared a look and moved down toward Victors car.

His car this time was not a patrol car, proving that he had gotten the call and then headed straight towards Matt’s home, instead parked at the end of his driveway was a sturdy grey pickup truck. It wasn’t as new of many of their co-workers but when Matt had first asked Victor shrugged and had told him that it had come from his father after he had passed away due to an unexpected heart attack. From then on Matt never commented on the older, hand-me-down items the other man possessed. They both entered the pickup after the short walk down the drive, and Victor started it and pulled back from the drive and then took off toward the Hospital.

The drive to the hospital was silent, the only things passing between their lips were Matt’s directions on the fastest routes and Victor telling him to shut up because he knew the way.

They pulled into the hospital parking lot, both men sucked in a shocked breath at the sight before them. The Emergency entrance was covered in police cars, around them people moved back and forth under caution tape and groups of civilians seemed to be congregating behind the marked off areas. They shared a look, one where a handful of words passed through their eyes but none through their lips, years of working together made them masters at reading each other's minds.

The pickup was put into park and turned off and in turn they both climbed out of the cab and moved toward the caution tape. They moved together in a silent harmony, both looking professional and focused once they reached the tape. One of the police nodded to them, someone Matt knew from the force when he had worked as a beat cop. Matt and Victor ducked under the caution tape and moved toward the emergency doors, which opened automatically for them.

The first thing he had noticed once the doors were open was the smell, it wasn’t like how normal dead bodies smelled, instead it was almost like a skunk had sprayed down the whole room. He gagged suddenly reaching up to cover his mouth and pinch his nose in disgust at the smell, “What the fuck?”

Next to him he heard Victor choke in response him grabbing the corner of his jacket to cover his nose and mouth in response. In front of him a voice cackled loudly and said, “Delightful smell isn’t it?”

“Cut the crap Marsh,” Matt responded his voice muffled behind his hand as he looked toward the Chief Medical Examiner David Marsh. Marsh was crouched on the ground hovering over a body that laid on its back in the middle of a large pool of blood. He stepped forward, eyes focused on the body, “What is that smell? It’s fucking horrifying.”

Marsh smirked and said as he looked over the body, “We are assuming it’s the blood, staff said that it started to smell like this about 3 minutes after the Vic stopped breathing,” he held out a cotton swab and wiped it into the blood on the ground and pulled it up, the blood clinging to the swab following it up almost like melted cheese, “Bloods an odd texture too, got some swabs set up and sent to the lab for analysis, just waiting to hear back.”

From behind Marsh a figure approached, average build and height the women that came into view did not seem like the t ype to be there, but Matt knew different. Avery McCullen was a spitfire woman, full of spunk and danger when it came time to doing her job as the head detective for the Police department’s homicide unit. She stopped a few paces behind Marsh, being the only one in the room seemingly unaffected by the smell as she said, “Harkness, Jones, nice of you to join us.”

Matt nodded to her respectfully before he dropped his hand putting on a brave face. He stepped closer to the body crouching down to look at the victim, “Chief. Can I ask what warrants two homicide detectives to look at one body?”

Avery nod ded back at Matt and sa id as she pulled out a note book from her suit jacket, the book likely stolen off one of the cops outside, “Vic is a twenty-year-old returning vacationer, clear background, just coming off a two month stay in the Caribbean, first thing he did when returning was wreck his motorcycle and then kill himself in a hospital emergency room. Twenty miles across town I have two other victims, similar circumstances, no clues. That’s three deaths with in four minutes of each other. The doctors that looked them over described all similar ta le s, unresponsive victim until they were to have blood drawn in which they responded by panicking and killing themselves. I need to know why.” She shut the notebook and turned her gaze on the two men before her.

Matt frowned and looked down at the victim again, his gaze shift ed as Victor lean ed over him, “How long until we get the blood back from analysis?” Victor held his hand out to Avery for the notebook, who slapped it into his palm. Cringing slightly Victor pulled it close and then passed it to Matt who was quick to open it again looking over the detailed scribblings inside.

“‘Bout, twenty-four hours, sooner if there isn’t any back up in the lab,” Marsh responded as he moved to tip the victims head to the side to show Matt the fatal wound. Matt frowned harsher at the wound, a sloppy hit, but lacking hesitation which most people who attempt such a violent suicide have. He used the notebook to lightly tap his chin as he shifted his weight to look over the body, taking in the discoloration around the mouth and na ils something that normally set in due to lack of body care.

He spoke, “Can you flip him over? I need to see his lower back.”

Marsh raised an eyebrow but nodded and called over to two of his lackies to help assist in flipping the body. Once the body was set on its stomach, Matt snapped his fingers holding his hand out to one of the lab techs for some gloves which he was given quickly. He shoved the notebook into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and then pulled the gloves onto his hands. Once gloved and crouched closer, Matt pushed up the man’s shirt and poked around his lower spine looking for the telltale signs of a needle point. It doesn’t take him long to find it, the skin brightly discolored, a deep yellow and green just above the victim's waist line.

He cursed and dropped the shirt and stood suddenly. His eyes moved from the victim to Avery, she stood with pursed lips trying to read his mind. Instead of addressing her, Matt t hen t urned his head to Victor.

The once again they seemed to share a silent conversation one that Victor did not seem to like the end of as he moved forward and crouched down to look at the victim too. The group stood in silence while Victor examined the victim. He moved to push up the others shirt, after he grabbed some gloves from a lab tech that stood close. It did not take long for him to stand with a disgruntled look on his face, not pleased with what he found on the victim’s lower back.

He then followed Matt’s example and let out a loud curse, “What the fuck. He is in prison! What is this?”

Matt shrugged his shoulders and looked at the other with a worried look, “I ’ m not sure, but this has to be him, all the same qualities and the smell is similar. Victim falls into his category.”

Avery held a hand out and said, “Whoa, hold on what are you two talking about?” She glared at the both, her eyes moved from one face to another almost as if she could not decide who to glare at totally for answers.

Matt sighed lowly and pulled off his gloves quickly holding them out to a close lab tech to grab. Once his hands were glove free, he pulled out the notebook that Avery gave him, “Back in the early 2000s there were a string of suicides, none of the victims had anything in common aside from the fact that they all killed themselves once a medical professional attempted to draw blood. Twenty-three people ended up taking their lives b efore the cause of the killings were revealed. They all were infected with a drug called Blister, a street drug that was used to block pain and sold off for a new high. Everyone was infected by the same dealer, Hendrick Ryan Junior.”

Avery nodded her head gravely remembering the case and slowly connecting what the other said to the current cases, “Blister didn’t cause these extreme circumstances, none of the blood or the victims reacted li ke these ones did.”

Matt nodded in agreement and continued, “You’re right, not in these cases but when we stormed his lab and arrested him, we found his previous notes on testing on earlier people, all of them seem to have reacted like this.”

Marsh spoke up as he stood up moving closer to the others, they all had moved together slowly as Matt had spoken, “I remember this, there were three vials found on scene, right?” He looked at the others and Matt nodded back, “but only two made it into evidence, the third was written off as being busted during transportation.”

Matt crossed his arms over his chest and the others turned to look at the body, “Yeah, but we had always had our suspicions about what really happened to the vial.”

Avery let out a breath and then turned back to Matt eyes narrowed and worry was clear there, “You’re saying that someone, on the force, took the vial and now have copied it an d is using it on unsuspecting victims?”

Matt’s face looked grave as he met Avery’s eyes, “That’s exactly what I am saying.”

“There is a copycat out there,” Marsh breathed out , a nervousness entering his stance .

“And he is a part of the Police force,” Victor continued eyes hardened by the fact , disgust clear on his face .

“And we have no idea who it could be.” Matt finished.

They all paused and then turned to look at the body that lay at their feet.

#writing #original story #AL writes #tumblr writers #Mystery #Action

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phillhall · 7 years

Text

Review: Stranger Things

(TV mini-series/Netflix)

Slick, nostalgic, pitched almost perfectly and so full of holes it could have been made in 1983...

There has been a buzz recently about a new 8-part Netflix series called Stranger Things, starring Wynona Ryder and some other people. Set in a backwater US town in the mid-1980s, it has a group of pre-teen ‘misfits’, a bunch of pre-college Jocks, an outsider/loner, a confused teenage girl, rogue cop, distraught mother - all the things that made 1980s ‘blockbusters’ from Steven Spielberg to the teen angst of John Hughes. Throw in a decidedly odd mix of Stephen King and Clive Barker and then don’t bother to think things through too much or you’ll end up picking it to pieces.

If you do start picking it pieces you begin to notice that it’s all style over substance and while it either allows or expects the viewer to fill in the necessary missing pieces, it also constitutes very lazy writing when some of the characters are literally just there to facilitate a plot thread.

There have been comparisons - justifiably - to Spielberg’s 80s movies such as ET, CE3K and his co-scripted The Goonies film and the homage flies thick and fast and any film buff worth their salt will be reeling off references faster than a teenager can have a wank and around the third episode I realised this was a production trick - a way of diverting the viewer’s attention away from the glaring lack of credibility and almost total lack of reason.

Plus - bleeding eyes? Really? Hasn’t this been done to death? Plus, why do film makers insist that people would bleed out of their lacrimol caruncle? Do you know what happens if you get a bleed in that part of the eye? Blood - a liquid and the surface of the eye, also a liquid/lubricant - mix and you get red, streaky eyeballs, especially when you blink. In a series that largely used 21st century special effects, this was one of several 1980s special effects they could have done without (but it was used as a plot device...).

The main story begins with the disappearance of an 11-year-old boy, mysteriously in some local woods. This in itself was handled like a baby with a hand grenade. I know this is the 1980s, but I’m fairly sure even the most red-necked and ignorant of US town sheriff’s would a) treated a missing child case with a degree of seriousness and b) done his searching during the day when flashlights were not required. Kid goes missing and townsfolk all do a day’s work before going into the woods with halogen lamps... This wasn’t the first thing in the show that puzzled me (unless it was an X-Files reference and therefore a decade too early) to the point of annoyance.

I’m going to stop being linear here because I’m not just going to spell out the eight-episodes for you. We are also introduced to 11 (played by Millie Bobby Brown) a young girl with closely cropped hair and a hospital-styled smock who is wandering around the countryside; she is met and befriended by the three friends of the boy who has gone missing. She has mysterious powers and doesn’t talk much. We are then introduced to what I feel is arguably the weakest and the part of the story that prevents the series from actually working...

Matthew Modine plays the head of some weird scientific project based in a building completely cordoned off not too far from the place where the boy went missing. No one, not even the sheriff seems remotely bothered or even knowledgeable about an apparently top secret facility, with armed guards, is situated so close to their town. It would appear this place and its employees might as well be in a completely different country - or dimension - because in a town that is portrayed as being small enough to know everyone else’s business, the top secret facility obviously was doing it’s job well.

Modine appears to be working for the US government and using a telekinetic child to locate and spy on Russian/Soviet officials - all very cloak and dagger and all very superficial. The problem for the girl doing these experiments - 11 - is that to be able to link with whoever her keeper’s want her to, she has to go through a place where monsters live - which she later describes as ‘the upside down’. Using your own powers of deduction, it appears that by using this incredibly powerful girl to spy on people it starts to break down the barriers between dimensions.

We’re then treated to more film and novel homage with nods to Poltergeist, Stephen King novels about dimensional barriers and at times Labyrinth. There is also a tree and this tree is obviously the portal that the creature (or creatures) on the other side of it uses to come to our world and abduct its food. This allows one of the supporting cast to do something totally totally out of character and then allows the series makers to do something almost ridiculously 1920s in its cliffhanger execution.

It’s the fact that the characters when the series is set up in the first episode don’t really express much after that first episode. We’re introduced to a group of young friends, but we have no real back story for two of them; the general conversation is that Mike the ‘leader’ of this gang of misfits and Will - the missing child - are best of friends and telephone conversations between their mothers’ (Ryder and Cara Buono) suggest the two women are also best of friends, but that never materialised. The thing is - no one talked to each other. It was like the 1980s was this period of time when everyone was just doing their own thing and no one else was remotely aware - maybe it was, but I can’t help thinking if Stephen King has written this - because it fits in with so many of his town-themed novels - it would have been more realistic in its characterisation.

It is so wonderfully crafted, it looks and sounds like it was made in 1986, even down to crowd scenes - the hair and clothes are all spot on. The dialogue, at times, veered into the wrong era - the expression ‘sick’ for something good was a few years away and began in a different part of the USA. Even the government as secret above-the-law agency was handled well, except... it wasn’t at all. The slightly bogus secondary antagonists - Modine’s security detail - were unconvincing and inconsistent - Spielberg did ‘sinister government’ spot on and believable; this lot just looked like a cross between crooks and psychopaths.

However many plot holes and things that were just badly written, it did have some really clever things going for it, there were some really unexpected performances and it fairly rattled along once it got going. Millie Bobby Brown stole the show for me and her tone and way she drifted through the series was possibly the best thing about it. Imagine a girl that has been kept as an experiment all her life, her lack of love and parenting, no nurturing, just used as a weapon and then being released into an unsuspecting world. The mixture of rage and confusion was set very well as was her ability to kill if she felt it was necessary.

Wynona Ryder was a revelation in the kind of role that Dee Wallace or Melinda Dillon excelled at in the 1980s, but with little or no real back story about her life, looking at her house, compared to her peers, and judging by her general hippy-ish attitude in flashback scenes, you get the impression that histrionics, drama and crisis has never been too far from her door; had this been emphasised a little more clearly, you might have understood why no one seemed that overtly concerned about her son Will’s disappearance. The fact that another town youth also disappears soon after generates about as much interest as an apple-bobbing party at the local church. Ryder plays the in-denial grieving mom very well up to the moment she starts playing with lights, carrying an axe round and smashing walls open because Will was trying to communicate with her. How he was managing to manipulate the electricity in a mobile home in the middle of nowhere from ‘the upside down’ was never explained, not even looked at, it was just thrown in there to emphasise to the viewer that Ryder wasn’t just bonkers.

There are some excellent scary bits, but once the suspense is done with and you’re given the idea that 11 and the monster are more than just linked, it might just be the creature of her id (created by the thing she was using to do the government’s bidding) it becomes a bit of a slaughter-fest with 11 and the monster dispatching large numbers of faceless agents. The’upside down’ is a mixture of creepy and Silent Hill and at times it had tremendous atmosphere, but none of the main characters are particularly likeable; even the kids are an odd mix, with the black kid being the most overtly bigoted and the fat toothless idiot as the level-headed one, despite being a (low-grade) buffoon. Spielberg gave you emotional attachment to specific kids inside 2½ hours; this series never manages to really make you care about any of the kids, because they’re all dislikeable in certain ways. Only 11 (or El as the boys called her) seemed exempt from this and not enough time was spent on her ‘re-education’ to life and too much time spent on Modine glowering over her and showering her in fake love.

So much, like a 1980s film, is left to the imagination and that, now, is a problem. Setting it in the 1980s circumvents such irritants as mobile phones, the Internet and transparency, but that doesn’t necessarily add any authenticity to it. Maybe viewed weekly this might have worked better, allowing the viewer to not remember clearly certain bits, thus allowing the imagination to fill in the blanks; but as a box set it just falls down in places.

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dipulb3 · 4 years

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Review: Motorola Edge Plus is a 5G premium phone worth your consideration

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/review-motorola-edge-plus-is-a-5g-premium-phone-worth-your-consideration/

Review: Motorola Edge Plus is a 5G premium phone worth your consideration

The Motorola Edge Plus has pretty much everything you’d hope for in a premium 5G phone: A Snapdragon 865 chipset, a giant battery, an OLED screen with a high refresh rate and multiple rear cameras with heavy-duty specs. Motorola took features found on other top-of-the-line Android phones, put its own Moto spin on them and built them all into one of the most wonderful Android phones I’ve tried in a long time.

Long-lasting battery so far.

Edge display.

Best cameras on any Moto phone.

Don’t Like

Verizon exclusive.

No IP rating for water resistance.

Night Vision isn’t great.

But there are two things about the phone that can impede its success. One is its chunky build and lack of IP rating for water or dust resistance. The other is that it’s sold as a Verizon exclusive in the US, which could shut out interested buyers. Considering the Edge Plus is competing in a sea of other 5G, Snapdragon 865-powered phones, it needs all the advantages it can get. Anyone in the market for such a device can afford to be picky.

Want a screen with a higher refresh rate than 90Hz? Check out the 120Hz displays on the Galaxy S20 Plus or OnePlus 8 Pro ($999 at OnePlus). Want something that costs less than the $1,000 Motorola Edge Plus? Check out the $900 OnePlus 8 Pro (again) or the LG V60. Craving a camera that can shoot video at a higher resolution than 6K? Consider the V60 once more or any of the Galaxy S20 phones that can record 8K video. All of these phones are viable options because each offers its own mix of features, and some will appeal to you more than others.

After a week with the Motorola Edge Plus, I found it to be so much more than its spec list. The phone is absolutely charming — it takes good photos (just not the best), has a promising long battery life (though final results from testing aren’t in yet) and has a striking design. If you’re a Verizon customer it’s worth considering when it goes on sale in May. If you’re not, there are plenty of other options to choose from including a scaled-down version of the phone called the Motorola Edge, which will be sold unlocked starting this summer.

Motorola Edge Plus’ wraparound display

It would be lazy to compare the looks of the Motorola Edge Plus to recent Samsung Galaxy phones. They have a similar design language but express it differently. The Edge Plus embraces a sleek industrial design compared to the nail-polished gloss of the Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus.

As its name suggests, what defines this phone is its 6.7-inch OLED screen that wraps around the edges of the phone nearly 90 degrees. It is gorgeous and looks even better with a 90Hz high refresh rate instead of the more common 60Hz. This means text looks sharper, and animations and scrolling are smoother. Obviously there are phones with higher refresh rate displays, such as the 144Hz screen on Nubia Red Magic 5G gaming phone, but 90Hz is no slouch. Motorola also claims it saves on battery drain. I used both 90Hz and 120Hz screens and there is less of a difference between them than, say, a 60Hz and 90Hz one.

The screen wraps halfway down each side of the Motorola Edge Plus,

Sarah Tew/CNET

When I tilt it at various angles, the edge either looks brighter or darker than the main, flat part of the display. This is especially apparent when I’m on the home screen or in Settings. It can be a bit distracting. Maybe it’s the angle of the edges, or the way the backlighting works in the bend, but I’m surprised to see this on a phone at this price. But when I’m watching a video that spills over the sides, it’s barely noticeable.

The 19.5:9 ratio screen is tall and narrow, but the shape of the phone makes it comfortable to hold. The wide aspect ratio is perfect for watching many movies that are also shot at a wide aspect ratio. I watched The Good, The Bad and The Ugly on the Edge Plus and it filled the screen perfectly.

The speakers sound good and deliver solid bass. Whether I was playing the Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, Andrew Bird, Sharon Jones or the Kronos Quartet, music sounded loud and full. If you don’t want to blast your music, there’s also a headphone jack.

There’s a fingerprint reader built into the front display. When I reviewed the Moto Z4 ($330 at Amazon), which also had an in-screen fingerprint sensor, it never seemed to work on the first try. The one on the Edge Plus works great though. It’s fast and I rarely have to scan my finger twice to unlock my phone like on the Z4.

The Motorola Edge Plus looks smooth and sleek with its waterfall display

See all photos

Good photos, solid macro camera and 6K videos

This is the best camera system I’ve used on a Motorola, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best camera system on any phone. Motorola deserves praise for what it’s accomplished with its camera hardware and processing. But it’s still a step behind Apple and Google.

There are three cameras on the back and one on the front. The main camera has a 108-megapixel sensor that combines four pixels into one, through a process called “pixel binning.” This results in brighter 27-megapixel photos with less image noise when you shoot in medium and low light situations.

The Edge Plus captures photos with punchy colors.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The phone is capable of good HDR photos but is still a step behind computation photography from Apple and Google.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Look at the detail the Edge Plus was able to capture in Cheddar the cat’s fur.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The Edge Plus did a decent job exposing for the sign with minimal blow out of highlights from the sun.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The pixel binning works well on this phone. You can choose not to pixel bin and instead take a 108-megapixel photo, but I recommend only doing this in bright, even light. Also, the file size is huge: Expect a 25MB file instead of the 8MB one created by pixel binning. So if you’re trying to be frugal with the Edge Plus’ 256GB of storage, pixel binning is be the way to go.

Both the main camera and the 8-megapixel telephoto camera have optical image stabilization. This helped with “zoomed in” photos by reducing camera shake. Take a look below at this 3x zoom photo I took of a tree in my back yard at sunset.

This was taken at sunset with the 3x telephoto camera on the Motorola Edge Plus.

Patrick Holland/CNET

This was captured with the 3x telephoto camera.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The third rear camera has a 16-megapixel sensor with an ultrawide-angle macro lens. The macro lens allowed me to focus my photos and videos just millimeters away from my subject. In the photo below you can see the texture of the paper.

The macro mode is capable of capturing an incredible amount of details.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Not only was macro mode able to focus close, but look at the details it captured in the metal.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Portrait mode on both the front and rear cameras works well too. There’s a time-of-flight sensor on the back of the phone that gathers depth information and makes rear portrait mode photos especially gorgeous. I was impressed by how natural and accurate the portraits I took were.

The cutout between the foreground and the background is one of the most natural-looking I’ve seen from a portrait mode on any phone.

Patrick Holland/CNET

But this camera system isn’t perfect. One of its weakest features is Motorola’s Night Vision feature. Like night mode on other phones, the Edge Plus takes a series of images and combines them together for a brighter and sharper photo. The results were better than when I took a photo without Night Vision enabled, but it’s nowhere near the level of Night Mode on the iPhone 11 Pro or Night Sight on the Pixel 4.

Video capture on the Edge Plus is good too and you can record with up to a 6K resolution, but it can be better. The image quality is fine, but white balance seems off to me and colors are oversaturated. You might like that, but it’s a tad too much sometimes for me. Take a look at the video below, which includes a bunch of clips I shot in 6K.

The Edge Plus also supports Portrait Mode video which is better than it should be. I’m honestly impressed by some of the results I got, but it’s still far from perfect. If you get this phone, it’s worth a try. And I think if I played around with it more, I could learn the kinds of environments where it works best. It only works on the rear camera, but you could use it to make cool-looking vlogs if you don’t mind filming blind.

Edge screen features and Moto Gametime

The Edge Plus runs a near stock version of Android 10 with a light dusting of features and shortcuts by Motorola. You have the usual Moto gesture controls, such as the double karate chop to turn on a flashlight and flicking your wrist to open the camera. But there are a number of new additions that take advantage of the edges of the display. One of my favorites allows you to slide your finger down the edge to pull down the notifications shade and control panel.

There’s also a virtual pill-shaped button on the right edge that you can use to go back to the previous app or turn off the edge parts of the screen. I kept it as a last app button and found I used it quite a lot. When the phone is faced down, I liked being able to see the edges light up for notifications or to show the battery charging.

One the bottom right side of the photo you can see a button drawn with a neon blue line that can be customized and used as a shoulder button during gameplay on the Motorola Edge Plus.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Perhaps one of the coolest things you can do with that edge is have two digital shoulder buttons when using Moto Gametime. It feels like using a game controller. I customized the buttons for PUBG, for example, so the right shoulder button attacks and the left shoulder button kneels. This straight-up turns the Motorola Edge Plus into a gaming phone, albeit without the aggressive styling and light-up logo.

Top of the line Android performance

The Motorola Edge Plus supports both millimeter wave and Sub-6 5G, which help future-proof the phone for a few years as the 5G network is built out more. Verizon’s 5G service wasn’t available where I was testing the phone, but I look forward to trying it out sometime in the future.

In terms of processor performance, the Motorola Edge Plus hangs with the fastest Android phones out right now. It scored nearly identical to its Snapdragon 865 siblings the Galaxy S20 Plus and OnePlus 8 Pro.

3DMark Slingshot Unlimited

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench v.5.0 single-core

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench v.5.0 multicore

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

The Edge Plus’ 5,000-mAh battery is the same capacity as the LG V60 and the Galaxy S20 Ultra. I’m still running battery-drain tests with the phone, and will update this review in the future with the results. In daily use, it easily made it through two days for me. But if you need a recharge, the phone has 15W turbo charging as well as wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

Motorola Edge Plus specs compared to Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, OnePlus 8 Pro, LG V60, Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

Motorola Edge Plus Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus OnePlus 8 Pro LG V60 ThinQ 5G Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Display size, resolution 6.7-inch FHD OLED 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X 6.78-inch AMOLED; 1,440×3,168 pixels 6.8-inch OLED; 2,460×1,080 pixels 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X Pixel density NA 525ppi 513ppi 395ppi 511ppi Dimensions (Inches) 6.34×2.81×0.38 in 2.9×6.37×0.30 in 6.51×2.93×0.35 in 6.67×3.06×0.35 in 2.99×6.57×0.35 in Dimensions (Millimeters) 161.1×71.4×9.6 mm 73.7×161.9×7.8mm 165×74.4×8.5 mm 169.3×77.6×8.79 mm 76.0×166.9×8.8 mm Weight (Ounces, Grams) 7.16 oz; 203g 6.56 oz; 186g 7.02 oz; 199g 7.72 oz; 218g 7.76 oz; 220g Mobile software Android 10 Android 10 Android 10 Android 10 Android 10 Camera 108-megapixel (standard), 8-megapixel (telephotos), 16-megapixel (macro/ultrawide-angle) 12-megapixel (wide-angle), 64-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (ultra-wide), time-of-flight camera 48-megapixel (standard), 48-megapixel (ultra-wide), 8-megapixel (telephoto), 5-megapixel (‘color filter’) 64-megapixel (standard), 13-megapixel (wide-angle), time-of-flight camera 108-megapixel (wide-angle), 48-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (ultra-wide), time-of-flight camera Front-facing camera 25-megapixel 10-megapixel 16-megapixel 10-megapixel (standard) 40-megapixel Video capture 6K 8K 4K 8K 8K Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 64-bit octa-core processor (Max 2.7GHz + 2.5 GHz + 2.0 GHz) Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 64-bit octa-core processor (Max 2.7GHz + 2.5 GHz + 2.0 GHz) Storage 256GB 128GB, 512GB 128GB, 256GB 128GB 128GB, 512GB RAM 12GB 12GB 8GB, 12GB 8GB 12GB, 16GB Expandable storage No Up to 1TB No 2TB Up to 1TB Battery 5,000 mAh 4,500 mAh 4,510 mAh 5,000 mAh 5,000 mAh Fingerprint sensor In-screen In-screen In-screen In-screen In-screen Connector USB-C USB-C USB-C USB-C USB-C Headphone jack Yes No No Yes No Special features 5G enabled 5G enabled; 120Hz refresh rate; water resistant (IP68) 5G enabled; Warp Charge; reverse wireless charging; water resistant (IP68); 120Hz refresh rate 5G connectivity; water resistant (IP68); wireless charging, Fast Charging 4.0 5G enabled; 120Hz refresh rate; 100X zoom; water resistant (IP68) Price off-contract (USD) $1,000 – Verizon exclusive $1,199, $1,349 $899 (8GB RAM/128GB), $999 (12GB RAM/256GB) $800 (without Dual Screen case); $900-$950 (with) $1,399 (128GB), $1,599 (512GB)

First published on April 30.

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kalachand97-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on Globeinfrom

New Post has been published on https://globeinform.com/we-can-carry-others-out-of-darkness-column/

We can carry others out of darkness | Column

At some stage in the Easter season, which is well known till Pentecost, on June 4 this year, we’d locate that clergymen and ministers take the time to remind congregations of the meaning of the symbols utilized in baptism. They may speak of water, oil, candles, garments, the move, and the Holy Scriptures.

For me, I discover the white garment a powerful symbol as it means that the man or woman baptized has put on Jesus Christ. People who are baptized can trust that they’re one with Christ. Any such image implies that if certainly, we are one with Christ, we are to stay as Christ lived.

These days, I had the privilege of speaking at the memorial prayer within the Parish of St. Mark in Rothschild for one of the victims of the current tragedy in the area. We gathered to remember the lifestyles of Karen Barclay. In preparing my feedback, I used to be struck with the significance of Karen’s baptism. Karen put on Jesus Christ, symbolized with the aid of the white garment.

Jesus is recognized as Savior and Redeemer. Easter tells of his demise and rising, his saving us from the demise of sinfulness. If indeed we end up one with Christ, we too are to be saviors. Karen becomes able to be a savior through her love for others and her attentiveness to the desires of others. She lifted others up.

It seems that humanity appears for saviors, be it in our political life or private lifestyles, looking to locate a person who will carry us up out of darkness. Part of the Easter birthday celebration, then, is to take on the function of savior in our day by day lives via taking note of the wishes of others. We will do that politically, socially and privately. We are able to save others by an outpouring of affection that is grounded in divine love, as exemplified with the aid of the life, loss of life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Alleluia!

Analyzing within the Darkish

In numerous of the articles I’ve written, I have bemoaned the fact that our kids are not being taught well and that we are spawning a dumbing down of America. A number of my principal points had been that there may also come a time whilst we haven’t any electricity and consequently, no functionality of using our cell phones, computers, and a myriad of different digital devices. I used to be less worried about our time-saving conveniences and extra involved about our children now not being capable of function without the devices they rely on.

Lately, I ran throughout a piece of writing that designated the brand new imaginative and prescient of schools. one of the high faculties has carried out away with textbooks because the content material is absolutely virtual. they’re trying to combine online publications with head to head practice. one of the excessive faculty principals changed into quoted as saying, “To be educating children with a blackboard and chalk in an age in which you don’t should memorize the 50 capitals of the 50 states due to the fact you could Google it actually quick.”

This questioning is so mistaken that it is no surprise our kids are becoming mentally lazy. There are lots to be stated for being able to memorize things. The old expression is real: use it or lose it. In case you don’t use your memory every day, sooner or later you may not be capable of taking into account essential info that might be essential on your lifestyles. no longer the whole thing is on Google; some things you just must store in your head for future use.

I recall Studying a e-book approximately a soldier who had back from conflict. He turned into injured in an explosion and had misplaced all his facial features. He could not communicate or listen so he had no way to talk what he turned into feeling. As he laid on the medical institution mattress, the best aspect that also functioned became his mind and he suffered widespread frustration because he realized that he had in no way used it. He hadn’t study any books and hadn’t been interested in getting to know something and now he had endless years ahead of him with nothing to occupy his thoughts. He stored wishing that he had memorized something in order that he may want to have something to consider in place of this big desolate tract of nothingness. The e-book had a considerably have an effect on me and from that point on, I kept trying out my reminiscence on the whole lot I examine and heard.

Due to the fact youngsters are now not required to memorize information and save lots of portions of data of their heads, we have to now take obligation for generating a technology of youngsters who have to be entertained via expensive gadgets and who could have problem functioning without them.

We have most effective to observe what is happening in Japan to see that our children might not be able to deal with surviving herbal failures. As of the previous day, one of the newscasts said there had been 5.6 million homes and not using a power. Without a doubt put, they can’t use their computers or get at the Net. They cannot use their cell phones and they can’t text all of us for solutions to private or commercial enterprise problems. If the Japanese youngsters have been knowledgeable as poorly as American kids, they wouldn’t actually have discovered the way to write in longhand so that they could not report what has happened and how it has affected them.

For the people in Japan, whose children are still being taught traditional abilities, they have got an part. In the event that they have a flashlight, they can nonetheless study an e-book, write a letter, calculate their fees, and contend with something odds and ends that you’ll accomplish inside the Dark.

For the humans in The united states, maximum things would come to a standstill. our youngsters are being taught to read matters on a computer display screen in preference to in books. each person who has a love of Studying will inform you that your comprehension is extra cute when your eyes are searching down at a broadcast web page than searching up at that identical page. Each time I have had to edit a book or a person has edited one in every of my books, We’ve got always commented on the fact that we need to do a printout of the pages so that We can appearance down at the pages to capture the errors. The publisher of the newspaper who printed my weekly Recommendation column must have used his PC to edit his column because someday, his headline in ambitious print declared that someone whom he widespread become his “roll” model.

Full textual content Preaching Sermons – Bible Take a look at – The Four Columns of a Christian lifestyle

The 4 Columns of a Christian existence

As we all realize, you can’t build a valid shape without first laying an excellent foundation upon which We can erect the main columns a good way to preserve the weight of the relaxation of the constructing. Similarly, the 3 monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Muslim, and Christianity) all have predominant pillars that assist the weight of the edification in their ideals. The Jews have 5 pillars of faith[1], the Muslims have 5[2], and Christians have 5.

Now, I am not going to go into details about the pillars of other faiths, but we do need to realize the five pillars of Christianity. We’re going to do this because I am sure that if we requested all of us right here what the 5 pillars of our religion are, in different words, what we base our religion on; most people may also bet perhaps two or 3, however now not all. So, what are the five pillars of our religion?

5 Pillars of Christianity:

1. The virgin birth of Jesus[3]

2. The deity of Jesus[4]

3. The blood atonement of Jesus[5]

4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus[6]

5. The second one coming of Jesus[7]

Those are the fundamental pillars of our religion, that is, the columns that support our perception in God, His Phrase and His redemptive paintings. but now we need to ask; what columns assist the weight of day to day living? There are Four columns that aid the load that the arena produces in our lifestyles; therefore, this will be the topic that we’ll be exploring these days. these days we can explore the 4 columns that we have to build upon the inspiration.

I. Prayer

As I’ve stated and repeated many times, prayer lifestyles is an thing of our Christian lifestyles that we regularly pay very little attention to, or absolutely brush aside. And in most cases that is something that occurs because of our impatience. I say this due to the fact even though sometimes the Lord solutions our prayers at once, this isn’t always always the case. And that is something that leads many to think that God does not concentrate, or that He is not aware of what takes place to us. In other phrases, impatience leads many to end up discouraged and forestall praying. But the truth of it’s miles that prayer is the simplest weapon that we have to shield ourselves against the powers of darkness. however more importantly, prayer unleashes blessings in our lifestyles. I say this because prayer brings peace, deliverance, and miracles. The exceptional instance that I will use to illustrate the factor that I am attempting to make is what took place to Peter, while he turned into imprisoned to be done for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ[8].

Prayer brings peace into our existence. Permit’s take a closer look at what happened to Peter so that you better understand what I am announcing. In Acts 12:five-6 we discover that we’re told: “… Peter was consequently saved in prison, however consistent prayer changed into presented to God for him via the church. 6And when Herod was approximately to bring him out, that night time Peter changed into snoozing, bound with two chains between squaddies; and the guards before the door have been maintaining the jail… ” As We are able to see, Peter was thrown into prison chained to 2 squaddies, and changed into ready to be performed. What mindset did this guy demonstrate? was Peter begging the King to spare him? changed into Peter worried and frightened? The answer isn’t any! As We are able to see in These verses, Peter become napping. How turned into this possible? How can each person sleep with so much anxiety? He should sleep for two reasons. Number one, he knew that his lifestyles changed into not within the fingers of guy but in God’s palms. Range , “… regular prayer changed into provided to God for him by way of the church… ” Our prayers and the intercessory prayers of our brethren unharness peace in our life. Inform the individual sitting subsequent to you: prayer produces peace.

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