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i-eat-worlds · 7 months

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Alex & Friends Part 10: The Upstairs

Featuring an ambush, a hidden room, and my questionable knowledge of London’s geography.

cw: car crashes, little violence, minor injuries, thumbtacks used as weapons,

INSUPA’s London Center was far nicer and much larger than the one in Prague. Instead of a bland concrete slab on the far outskirts of the city, it inhabited an elegant metal and glass building on the Thames. After so many years in cheap apartments in questionable locations, she’d ended up back on the polished terrazzo floors of INSUPA. They didn’t really spend all that much time inside the building. It was more like a quick pit stop to pick up supplies for the safe house, and find Alex a couple changes of clothes, as well as some toiletries. She also took a small detour to the armory to outfit herself with several knives of choice. Only forty-five minutes after the group had landed, they departed for the safe house.

They split up into two sedans, one gray and one black. Sil, Eric, and Teri took the gray lead car, and Avia, Joseph, Alex, and Aarav sat in the black second car. The car ride was mostly silent, though Aarav groaned a little when Avia said they’d be taking Blackwall Tunnel to cross the river. Driving through the tunnel felt like it took forever. Every now and then, one of the bright orange panels passed by them, breaking up the otherwise monotonous tunnel. Aarav took the time to make some jokes about how poorly London’s transportation was designed. Avia agreed, stewing at the wheel when traffic ground to a halt. Eventually, they saw daylight at the end. However, when both cars emerged from the tunnel, climbing the ramp back to surface, something went very wrong. That was an understatement.

Things went to absolute, utter shit. A large SUV slammed into the back end of the gray car sending it off the road, over the sidewalk, and into a bed of ivy. Avia immediately slammed on the breaks. “We’re under attack!” She yelled. The car jolted forward when another car hit their back end. They’d been rear ended because of the sudden stop. Several people jumped from the SUV. Their heads were covered with balaclavas, and Alex noticed the purple glow that emanated from one of their hands earlier enough to loudly shout at everyone to duck. A blast of kinetic energy hit the car, shattering the windshield. “Go, go, go!” Joseph ordered.

Alex's hands moved like lightning as she pushed open the door. Another blast flew over her head, arcing over the open car door and landing on the pavement several feet from her. This one was green, and it sizzled into the pavement. As she drew one of the knives from her belt, a distressed yelp came from behind her. When she turned around to line up her shot, she found that one of her assailants had been impaled by what seemed to be thousands of thumbtacks. Avia was watching the downed attacker with an attentive eye. The second had been knocked out by Eric. Some sort of acid burn fizzled on his shoulder, but it seemed to be healing quickly. “Is everybody alright?” Eric asked. The group nodded their heads. Teri smiled widely, an empty bag in her hand. The thumbtacks must’ve been her. It was a smart idea. Aarav looked tired, Avia looked terrifying, and Sil looked surprisingly relaxed. Joseph looked concerned, but then again, that appeared to be his permanent facial expression. “We need to get out of doge. I’m assuming the safehouse is compromised. Anybody have shelter options?” Eric said, his brow furrowed in thought.

Aarav half raised his hand. “I know the owner of a pub in Woolwich. They’d probably let us crash in his spare room, o the books.” “Any other ideas?” Eric asked. The group shook their heads. Aarav was the local. “Get what stuff you can from the back of the car while I get a clean-up crew and medical unit out here. Five minutes.”

***

The pub that Aarav had suggested occupied a three-story brick building, the windows framed with gray-blue wood. The door was set back from the street, and above it a gold lettered sign advertised “Blue Oysters Pub.” In the window hung a Gilbert Baker pride flag. Bells jingled as Aarav opened the door, leading the team inside. The pub was empty. Alex was starting to question if it was even open when a person stepped out from behind the bar. Their face lit up with a smile when they made eye contact with Aarav. “Aarav! Long time no see!” they exclaimed, pulling him into a hug.

“Hi, Nyx.” Aarav said, hugging them back. “How’ve you been?” “Good, yeah. You gonna introduce me to all your saving the world friends or what?”

Aarav chuckled a little. “Everybody, this is Nyx, they/them.” Nyx gave a little wave. “This is Eric, he/him, Joseph, he/him, Avia, She/They, Teri, She/Her, and Alex, She/Her.” Aarav pointed to each member of the team as he said their names. “Nice to meet you. Take a seat, I’ll get you some menus.” Nyx said.

Aarav leaned in closer to them. “We’ll denitely eat, but is the Upstairs open for a couple of days?”

Nyx made a face, half concerned, half intrigued. “Follow me.”

Aarav turned around to his group, tilting his head to encourage them to come. They filled in line behind Nyx as they led the group to the back of the room, through a locked door, and up a twisting staircase.

“Welcome to the upstairs,” They said, placing their hand on the wall. A white glow pulsed through their fingertips, and then there was the click on something unlocking. Nyx pushed through the wall, revealing a secret room. It was moderately sized, with no windows, walls painted light blue. Their was, a couch, a table with some chairs, and two bunk beds tucked in the corner. They were well used, and they looked comfortable.“Wi-Fi code is on the table, as is the code for the alley exit.” Eric stepped forward. “Thank you for your hospitality, Nyx. How much do we owe you?”

Nyx smiled a little bit. “You’re friends of Aarav. Room’s free.”

“We’ll eat well, Nyx.” Aaron wrapped them into a hug. “Thank you.” Nyx smiled, planting a kiss on their cheek. “You're welcome.” Aarav ignored the blood rushing to his face as they left the room. Sil would never let him live this down.

Taglist: @pigeonwhumps

#worlds babbles #whump #whump writing #medic caretaker #ambush #action #alexoc #joseph oc #i did my best with the London geography #Google maps in confused now

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thesappiestnap · 3 years

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for my beloved sage @notplanningshit

this ended up longer than i thought and also barely about the bike ride itself whoops,,, it's been a minute since i've written and my meds are worn off and so it's rambly and barely edited lol so good luck

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Bike Ride (Just a couple kids)

Quackity

It was a beautiful day, one of those golden fall days, where the weather is just perfect. You and Alex had rented an airbnb outside the city, a quiet little town with pretty parks and local shops, just to get a breath away from everything for a few days. It had been wonderful, and you could tell that it was helping Alex to leave behind twitter drama and law school and his Quackity persona for a little bit. Staying up too late eating junk food, watching the dumbest reality tv you could find, going out for hikes and visiting shops, it was all perfect.

But this was possibly the best part. Cruising along on your bike, hearing the leaves crunch under your wheels as the tires reeled. The birds chirping from the trees. The cool breeze on your face. And Alex, being a goof as he rode circles around you, whining that you were going too slow.

You shook your head, continuing your leisurely pace out of spite as he continued to whine jokingly.

"Yoooo, Y/n, there's a playground!" Alex said excitedly, standing up on his pedals as he headed towards it. "Let's go on the swings for a minute!"

Well, obviously you couldn't say no when he was that excited about it. So you followed him over, parking your bike beside his against the bench as he ran to the swings, immediately jumping up to stand on it. He swung himself forward, grinning at you as he swung back.

"Careful," you tease as you take a seat on the other, lightly swinging yourself back and forth with your feet still on the ground.

"No, I'm jumping off, I'm going to space on this thing!"

He swung a couple more times before launching himself off, barely catching himself on his feet on the landing, and maybe his hands touched the ground to steady him, but you definitely saw nothing of it. He bowed dramatically, as if a roaring crowd surrounded him, while you rolled your eyes affectionately.

"Your turn!"

You laugh, shaking your head as you hold onto the chains, trying to back away as he creeps forward with a mischievous grin. "Gotta get more air," he teases as he comes around behind you.

He begins pushing you higher and higher while you try to hold on for dear life, chanting for you to jump.

When you finally do, he's whooping into the night, not caring enough to be embarrassed about the echo as he runs at you, nearly toppling you over in his excitement. You chide him, giggling as you steady yourself, swatting his arm playfully as he lets go of you.

He teases you, playfully hitting you back, and it turns into a game of tag, until he dives behind a little play wall underneath the play area, one with a little window meant for playing house. And he certainly rolled with it, claiming it as his house, and you can't hit people in his house, it's very rude. Giggling breathlessly, you take the moment to catch your breath, squatting down to his level as he peeks from the window. It's dark, with only the streetlights illuminating snippets of Alex's face. Just enough to see his eyes sparkling with glee.

"Can I come inside?" you inquire, a smile playing at your lips.

He pretends to think about it, squinting at you, "Only if you promise not to hit."

"Promise."

"Pinky promise?"

You laugh as he holds out his pinky, looking at you expectantly. With a small sigh, you link your pinky with his, and he's contented, scooching over to make room for you.

As you both settle down, you end up talking about his latest stream, telling him about the jokes you liked, teasing him a bit about it as well, and you relaxed, leaning against the little wall with him as you talked.

It felt like minutes, but you soon realized that you'd talked about a million different things, and the moon was high in the sky. checking your phone, you realized it was well after midnight. Even so, you didn't really feel the need to leave yet, nor did you want to.

"I didn't realize we'd been here so long," you murmured as you set your phone back on your lap, looking back up at Alex.

He was looking at you, his dark eyes soft in the dim light. You could just make out the outline of his smile.

For a moment, it seemed like he hadn't heard, or registered, what you'd said. He was just holding your gaze like he was lost in it, before he blinked, seeming to come to. He looked down quickly, sounding a bit flustered as he mumbled back, "Yeah, me neither."

He was fiddling with a stray thread on his jeans, and the way he was looking down, you couldn't help but think he might be blushing.

"This was nice," you say softly, if only to break the silence.

"Ye-yeah, yeah, it was." His eyes are on you again, his smile coming back a little shyly. After a moment, he shakes his head, groaning. "God, this feels like an awkward kid date."

Date. The word bounces around your head like the DVD logo on crack, but you manage to push past that. "What?" you half laugh, trying to understand what he meant by that.

He leans back against the wall, sighing a little. "Look, I'm gonna be honest, I was gonna take you out to that little area by the river and make this whole moment, but then I saw the playground and then we just stayed here, and it was nice, but I wanted to..." He scratched the back of his neck as he laughed awkwardly, "Honestly, I wanted to impress you."

You'd imagined what it might be like, having Alex confess to you. You'd daydreamed scenarios ranging from dramatic heartfelt confessions on a beach sunset with swelling music playing, to soft whispers in his arms as he held you. But, somehow, this was more potent than anything.

"I mean, I really like having you as a friend, and I don't ever want to change that, but I really like you, and I thought maybe you felt the same so I was gonna do this whole thing to ask you out but now I'm just rambling, and frankly, it's embarrassing, but yeah, I just... yeah.." He trailed off, his burst of confidence having fizzled out slightly, leaving him vulnerable as he met your eyes to search for an answer.

It was so wonderfully awkward. It wasn't the grand romantic gesture you dreamed of, but it was so real and silly and... perfect. The butterflies zooming around your insides kept the smile growing on your face, even as you tried to quell it.

As you opened your mouth to speak, there was no clever remark, no witty jab. Only the soft breath of laughter as you realized that you were speechless, trying to convey your thoughts through an excited nod.

His awkwardness was gone in an instant, replaced by unbridled joy as he realized, tackling you in a hug that you tried to return, though your arms were partially pinned to your sides.

"Can I kiss you?" You heard him ask it in a whisper, like he didn't even mean for you to hear it.

His head moved back slightly to meet your eyes again, a smile playing on his lips as you gave your small affirmation, his hold softening to a light touch on your hips. As he leaned in, one of his hands moved up to your face, gently guiding your jawline up.

His lips were soft, his kiss hesitant only for a moment. Then, he was a whirlwind, grabbing you closer like he couldn't get enough, pressing kisses to your lips through soft giggles that you couldn't help but echo, feeling his warmth envelope you.

When you finally parted again, you were both breathless, giggling messes again.

"We should probably head back," you say with a grin that wouldn't leave.

"Mmm, one more minute," Alex grinned back, pulling you back into another kiss.

Well, who were you to argue with that?

#mcyt imagine #quackity imagines #quacky tag

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hteragram-x · 3 years

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Firefighter AU [again]

New story for the AU. This time about Virgil wondering who the hell is Logan. Also, apparently, Virgil’s main personality trait in this universe is thinking that Remus is very pretty and then being like: “hey! who said that?!”.

If it’s the first time you see this AU I think you can still understand what’s going on without reading older posts, but in case you’re interested: [HERE] is the introduction, [HERE] are some general HCs, over [THERE] you can find a story where Remus and Virgil met for the first time, and [HERE] is previous story :>

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Word count: 2240

Relationships: technically Dukexiety, but they’re not there yet; Creativitwins

TW: mentions of fire (what a surprise), small injury, mentions of blood, some animal bones, swearing (because I’m mentally 12 and think that swearwords are fucking hilarious)

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Because Logan Said So

Over the last four months Virgil has learnt a lot about his new co-workers. Not every information he managed to gather was particularly interesting or even worth remembering, but having that knowledge helped with making the new workplace more familiar. And familiarity brought comfort.

He learnt, for example, that their janitor – Jeremy – was the most grumpy and easily annoyed person in the entire firehouse despite being the youngest janitor Virgil has ever met. It was relatively easy to avoid him most of the time, but if he wanted everyone to know about his problems with something you would be informed that he’s unhappy regardless of your own involvement, or lack thereof, in the situation.

Virgil also learnt that Anna was pretty helpful when it came to failing equipment and technology. They weren’t employed to do the repairs, but it didn’t stop them from trying to fix everything anyway. The guy with very short hair, whose name Virgil could never remember, was leaving his helmet in unexpected places and had three kids that he talked about all the time. Alex was often late, but always stayed at work longer than anyone. And that one girl everyone called Apple for some unknown reason was currently building a house and you couldn’t escape hearing about it, no matter how much you didn’t want to at the moment.

Talking to Virgil about issues he wasn’t that interested in seemed to be the common thing among most of his co-workers.

Pretty standard stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary.

What was also not out of ordinary was the bird skull lying on his desk this Tuesday.

“Remus! Is this a gift or are you just leaving your stuff all over the office again!?”, he half-yelled knowing that the younger twin had to be somewhere in the building at this hour. Not that he memorized his schedule or something. He just knew…

Suddenly a head with a mass of unkempt hair and spider webs on top of it popped from under his desk. It was not the first time Remus was staying there, but Virgil still winced seeing the man crawling from the tiny space. It cannot be comfortable, he though for probably fifteenth time.

“There’s no way it’s comfortable in there,” he pointed out, also for fifteenth time.

“It isn’t”, Remus said, like he always did and smiled, stretching his long arms above his head. Even without his shoes – he always walked around the office in just his socks, because of course he did – he was still much taller than Virgil which somehow managed to fluster him more every time he noticed the difference.

Virgil decided to ignore the futile argument instead pointing at the skull and a couple of sticks he’s just noticed next to his computer.

“Can you keep your mess out of my desk?”

“You didn’t even say ‘hi’ to me today”, Remus pouted.

“I’ll say ‘hi’ when you take your stuff from my space,” he sighed.

Remus groaned, his arms hanging loosely at his sides in resignation.

“God… you sound like Logan.”

A-ha! There he is. This mysterious “Logan”, whoever he was.

Over the last four months Virgil has learnt a lot about his new co-workers. But no other person was as interesting and worth knowing as Remus himself. The number of weird quirks Virgil has memorized about the guy was unmatched by any other person working at the firehouse which was in no way a surprising score given the circumstances in which they’ve met.

He was weird in so many ways that it almost seemed normal again. And according to Roman he used to be even more chaotic and unpredictable when the twins were younger. At first Virgil was pretty nervous around the guy – with all of his jokes about violence or with his creepy staring – but now this… interesting behaviour became just a normal and entirely expected part of his days.

If Remus run into the room and didn’t stop until he hit the wall… fine. Virgil just checked if the guy was okay and went back to work. If he bit the bar of soap… also fine. You just had to make sure he didn’t swallow it all and forget about it for the rest of your day. When he left some of his most disturbing sketches on the fridge, you just commented on his skills as an artist or flipped them, so the picture was facing the door of the fringe, if the drawing was particularly disgusting.

A standard day with Remus.

Apparently talking about some “Logan” that no one ever met was also a standard part of his character. And Virgil was very annoyed at himself knowing how jealous he sometimes felt because of this mysterious guy. The jealousy, however, seemed to weaken a bit when he realized that Roman was also bringing the name up almost every day. It started to sound like an inside joke that Virgil was too nervous to ask about.

“Okay! Your desk’s just as clean as my legs yesterday when I jumped into the river to find a shiny stone, but it was a broken bottle, so I got glass stuck in my hand!” Remus smiled even wider, showing a little too many teeth and lifting his palm with three fingers covered in bandages.

Virgil pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Why do you have zero self-control?”, he asked, very much aware that the question was pointless.

No one knew. And if someone did know, it definitely wasn’t Remus.

“Sounds like a question Logan would ask”, said Roman who has just appeared out of nowhere behind Virgil. The shorter man shivered a little, not expecting anyone except for Alex who was finishing his shift to be in the room with them.

“It does!”, Remus agreed poking the bandages with a finger. Knowing him, Virgil assumed he wanted to check if it’ll make the wound open and colour the fabric with blood. “And like I said, I just cleaned up your desk.” The firefighter moved much closer to Virgil towering over him with some different kind of smile. He really was smiling a lot for a person, who wanted to appear at least a little scary most of the time. “Where’s my ‘hi’?”

The shorter man glanced up at him, suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed with the whole situation and all of his conflicting feelings. It definitely wasn’t the first time he found himself in a position like that. He should have got used to Remus being annoying and invading his personal space long ago. Or maybe he did get used to that and he was just confused by the fact that he really… didn’t mind?

“Hi,” he said finally, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

“Hello,” Remus answered with something twinkling in his green eyes.

There was a minute of silence. None of them seemed to want to move.

“You’re both gross,” said Roman decisively and ruined the moment by rolling his eyes and walking right between them to the adjacent kitchen.

Virgil felt blush creeping up his neck. He completely forgot about the second twin being in the room with them. Wouldn’t be the first time he got distracted like that.

And he couldn’t even get mad at Roman… that was a little bit gross. …In a good way.

“You can keep the bird skull if you want to. I planned to paint it and add to my new sculpture, but I have plenty more to use instead.”

Virgil was more than grateful for the change of the topic.

“No, thanks. But show me the sculpture once it’s done.”

That was apparently a right thing to say, because Remus looked very satisfied with himself which was always nice. Virgil really liked to see him so cheerful, even when it meant complimenting some naturalistic painting or listening to his unsettling ideas. He was even more handsome when he seemed genuinely happy… wait, what?

Virgil coughed nervously and quickly moved to the desk, putting his bag down and turning the computer on. When he was adjusting the headset and checking his microphone he looked back at Remus and gave him a little shy wave.

“Don’t set yourself on fire today,” he said using their usual equivalent of ‘good bye’.

“No promises!”, was a standard reply.

***

Roman grabbed a bag of gummy worms from Remus’ hand preventing him from showing them all into his mouth at once.

“Stop eating so much sweets. You’ll already too energetic today.”

Remus shrugged and took a long sip of some energy drink he’d been hiding behind his back.

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

“It cannot be healthy for you!” Roman tried to grab the can as well, but Remus was sitting on the kitchen counter, so he easily lifted it out of his brother’s reach.

“Why?!” he asked in a whiny tone.

“Because Logan said so!”

“No, he didn’t.”

“But he would if he was standing here right now.”

“…fine!”

Remus jumped off the counter sending his twin annoyed look, but he put the drink away, only now noticing his slightly shaky hands. He hasn’t said anything to not give Roman the satisfaction and moved to the changing room to dress for their upcoming training.

Virgil followed him with his eyes, not even trying to hide the confusion. Remus almost never did anything, because it was healthy or responsible. What was happening?

Who the hell is Logan?

---

“Roman! …Roman! ROMAN!!!”, Remus looked up seeing his brother sitting atop the fire engine with a book. It was his favourite place to escape the noise, people… and work. “Get down here, you lazy motherfucker! We’re moving the old hoses to the new room.”

“Have fun then!”

“They’re heavy! Come back here and help me!”

“I’m busy…” Roman looked at Remus from behind the book, hoping he’d just get bored and walk away. “And you can lift them yourself, come on.”

“No, I can’t! They’re packed in those bigger boxes. If I do this myself I’ll drop them on my feet or hurt my back and Logan said it’s dangerous!” Remus smirked, already knowing he won the argument. “And do you really want to leave me unsupervised?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll help… It’s not your fault you’re a weak baby!”

The rest of the conversation was too quiet for Virgil to hear through the open window from the garages below. The twins probably moved to the other room to finish the task. And Roman, who truly didn’t like this kind of repetitive labour, helped without much complaining… Strange.

Who the fuck was Logan?

---

“Roman, you forgot the scarf. It’s freezing. Logan said you’ll catch a cold!”

“Logan would already give you a lecture for sleeping on a chair like that… At least move to the floor… I’ll bring you some blankets… Yes, I know it’s 4am. You think I’m happy about it?”

“If Logan saw the mess you’ve made he be so disappointed with you…”

“Okay, stop staring at cute boys and get back to work! Just imagine if Logan saw you right now. It’s pathetic. Oh… is my little brother blushing?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? Just stay safe. Because Logan said so!”

“Because Logan said so!”

***

“Okay… who the hell is Logan?”

Remus looked at Virgil from the axe he’s been sharpening on the office floor. He was clearly confused, not expecting anyone to talk to him after Roman left the room a few seconds ago.

“What?”

Virgil gripped the fabric of his trousers nervously.

“I’ve asked who’s Logan.” There was a moment of silence. “You… you two keep bringing him up and I… I know that no one with that name works here and no one else is ever talking about this guy. If it’s a guy.” He stopped himself before he started rambling. “So… Who is Logan?”

Remus was looking at him with a very weird set of emotions in his eyes. It was impossible to decipher what he was thinking or feeling at the moment which was pretty unusual for a person who was normally so open with what he thought or felt.

Finally he went back to cleaning the axe lying on his knees.

“Wouldn’t you like to know operator boy…” he said with a smirk.

Virgil blinked, even more perplexed.

“Y-yes! That’s why… Of course I want to know! That’s why I asked in the first place!”

This time Remus openly laughed as if Virgil just told him a joke. It was one of his loudest and wildest laughs that most people learnt to ignore after working with Remus for a while, but it was still pretty creepy for anyone unfamiliar with the firefighter’s personality. Virgil would find it pretty pleasant to listen to if it wasn’t meant to mock him at the moment.

“I don’t know what’s so funny…” he said defensively. He already regretted ever asking the question. Maybe it was a wrong moment? Maybe he should have asked Roman instead?

“Of course you don’t! Oh, the irony…”

He was very close to asking “what’s the irony”, but decided against it. Apparently he wasn’t getting any actual answers right now. Okay. He could wait and be patient when he wanted to. He’s already been waiting for months before the curiosity finally pushed him to say anything. There were other ways to get that information. It might be a difficult task, but he’ll learn the truth… eventually.

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General writing taglist: @imma-potatoo

Taglist for this AU: @isabelle-stars @wintersandsunshine

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist or removed from it :>

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pagingevilspawn · 3 years

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Can u write a one shot where jolex's toddler gets bitten by a poisonous spider and they react quickly to help her and has alex calming jo down as she starts freaking out

WARNING: THIS IS SO BAD! Okay, you asked for spiders. That meant doing research. So I looked up poisonous spiders and I saw pictures of spiders. So dear anon, you get a sting instead, because spiders are terrifying to look at and I couldn't glance at it without feeling like they were crawling all over me ;) enjoy! this is the shortest thing i’ve ever written, yikes.

(another installment of the “payton loves evan peters too much series”)

float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

Jo Karev rested in the chair that sat on the back porch of her house, overlooking the backyard where she watched her three year old son run around with the family dog Muffin. The now full grown Golden Retriever chased after the slobbery green tennis ball the little boy had thrown into the bushes with a great deal of clumsiness, nearly tripping over his own four paws on the way. Jo lets a small laugh escape her lips, picking her glass of lemonade up from the table beside her and taking a leisurely sip, savoring the cool taste it still held since the ice cubes had yet to melt completely.

It was an unusually warm day in Seattle, temperatures reaching eighty-eight degrees despite the fact that it was only spring break, not even summer yet. The sky was clear of any clouds and the light blue proved to be comforting while she sat outside. School had been out for a few days now, so she had heard the neighborhood kids playing around in their yards, a large difference from the usually close to silent street. Only her and one other family on the block had a child that wasn’t in school yet, so the outside noise levels had steadily increased since the rest of the kids joined in on the early morning activities. More than once she had heard a couple of pre-teens race down the streets on their skateboards. Not that she minded, she loved seeing all the kids enjoy themselves, and she loved it even more for her son. Growing up she never had a life like this. It was refreshing to know that her baby boy wouldn’t grow up the same ways she and Alex had.

A large grin paints her lips as she watches her son try to hug Muffin, since he had quickly gotten bored with playing fetch. Not to mention, the little boy always hated how wet the ball got after it had been in the dog’s mouth. Jo couldn’t blame him, she felt the same way. Alex teased them both relentlessly for it, frequently making sure to toss the slobbery ball in their direction, just so that they would need to be the ones to tear it out of the golden’s mouth.

A small kiss on the top of her head tears her gaze away from the scene in front of her, looking up to meet her husband’s eyes. He, like her, was still dressed in pajamas, despite it already almost being eleven am. They both had gotten the day off and were relishing in the free time they got to spend by themselves and with their son.

“Kyle, careful.” Jo chastises the boy as the little Karev almost falls face first into a patch of flowers. She sees Alex sit beside her on another chair out of the corner of her eye, his brown hair messy and out of place falling into his eyes, a cup of coffee clutched in his right hand. He had gotten up the same time she did that day, eight thirty on the dot, also known as the time their son came bouncing into their room, jumping up and down on them until they finally gave in and didn't try to go back to sleep. Alex had a long night, not getting home until close to three am, only to wake up a few hours later with a bunch of paperwork he needed to do. She had a feeling he had fallen asleep halfway through, since he looked like he had just gotten out of bed.

“Morning” he greets her, taking a sip of his drink, watching her from the side as he does so. His wife was beautiful every single time he looked at her, but something about seeing her make-up free, hair pulled up into a messy bun, and oversized clothes was when he always thought she looked her best. Then, he could see the light freckles she had sprinkled on her nose, something he had found annoyingly cute the first time he first saw them (he teased her about them way too often for her own liking).

Jo hums in response, reaching for his hand and quickly entangling their fingers. A quiet peace settled around them, the only sounds in the air were Kyle’s laughter and faint voices of kids down the street. She closes her eyes and leans back into her seat, feeling the warm sun hit her face, causing a small smile to appear from the heat. Moments like these were rare, no matter how much they both tried to make them happen. They were both constantly getting called into cases, Jo even more so since she had switched to OB and now not only delivered babies, but preformed fetal surgery on them as well. Spending time with their son together was tough, since they worked late nights and had complete opposite schedules some days, so they grasped onto days like these and held them close.

Ask either one of them, the scene in front of them was almost comical. If someone were to tell Alex Karev ten years ago that he would be married to the love of his life and have a three year old son he would’ve thought they were crazy. The same goes for Jo. When she was just an intern she was fearful for her life, her identity, knowing that at any second Paul could find her. The wide-eyed twenty-six year old would’ve never expected she would’ve gotten to such a happy place in her life.

It was essentially a perfect day. The sun was out and Kyle was enjoying himself with Muffin, both Jo and Alex had time to relax and not stress about upcoming surgeries or patients back at the hospital. But of course, their perfect bubble popped when they heard a wail come from the corner of the yard, where their son was clutching his upper arm, face red and puffy as tears streamed down it.

The two sprang into action immediately not only their parent side, but the doctor side coming out in a split second, jumping out of their chairs and dashing across the lawn, a hundred of different scenarios running through their heads by the second.

Did he break his arm?

Trip and fall?

Get a deep scratch from a bush?

Hit his head?

Twist his ankle?

Run into something?

Jo gets to him first, pulling the little shaggy brown haired boy into her arms and wiping away his tears, his pink lips trembling as he tries to put on a brave face. He was always a show off around his mom, ever since he was born, constantly trying to earn her praise and make her laugh until she had tears coming out of her eyes. (It surprisingly wasn’t that hard of a task, Kyle was quite the comedian, as it turns out.)

“What happened baby?” Jo coos, sad hazel eyes looking to Alex, who was trying to peel the boy’s tiny hand away from his arm.

“A w-wasp.” Kyle buries his head into the crook of Jo’s neck, a few stray tears making its way down his face and onto the collar of her ratty old t-shirt that was actually her husband’s. She sees Alex let out an audible sigh of relief alongside a small chuckle, but Jo just sends him a glare. Harsh? Yes. But her baby boy was hurting, which was no laughing matter in her book. She didn’t care if Kyle had a papercut or had broken his leg, she would react the same way.

Alex uses the end of his shirt to remove the stinger from Kyle’s arm, making sure to pick it up and toss it to where the three year old wouldn’t be able to step in it. “I’ll go get some ice.” he murmurs, ruffling the little brunette’s hair before jogging back to the house, returning a few minutes later with a bag of ice wrapped in a layer of a thin paper towel.

“Here you go buddy,” he places the ice pack on the slightly swollen red area, seeing his son wince slightly at the cold.

Jo rocks him back and forth in her lap, placing tiny kisses on the top of his head, listening to his quiet sniffles. Her strong boy, never wanting anybody to know that he was hurting. Granted, it was just a wasp sting, but Kyle had gotten barely any injuries except for a scrape on the knee here and there from running around. For only three years old, he was surprisingly agile, differing greatly from his parents, since Alex practically tripped on anything in his path and Jo was prone to stubbing her toe at least once a day. (Her record was five just at the hospital; one gurney, a nurse’s counter, a doorway, a couch, and a table in the attendings lounge. She had lost count once she got home.)

Jo feels uneasy, protective mommy instincts kicking in and flow through her like a rapid river. “Should we take him to the hospital?” she runs a hand through the boy’s hair, untying any little knots that had formed from his mini adventures.

Alex snorts, chuckling to himself. Real funny Jo.

He feels a pair of eyes on him, looking up tentatively to meet his wife’s narrowed slits, glaring at him harshly. He raises his eyebrows, “You’re joking right?”

That only seems to set Jo off, as she opens her mouth in offense. He knows he’s about to get a lecture.

“Are you joking?” She questions, her tone borderline terrifying as she sends daggers to her husband.

Alex sighs, running a hand down his face. “Jo, it’s a bee sting.” he puts his hands behind him, leaning back onto his palms, ignoring the grass was still partially wet, despite the fact that the sprinklers hadn’t been on for over an hour and a half now. (Their grass seemed to not have the ability to absorb water, which might actually be because of the soil and not the actual grass itself, but who knows.)

“And how do we know he’s not allergic!” the brunette argues back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, gaze never wavering from his.

“Jo, he’s not allergic.” he says exasperatedly. He knew for a fact that he and Jo could go at this for hours. More than once they’d been able to turn a thirty second argument into a two hour back and forth, switching the subjects more times than they could count, but somehow it always still came back to their original topic of discussion. He loved those fights, and he knew she did too. They thoroughly enjoyed getting to pick apart the other’s brain in something other than a new surgical procedure, suture technique, or way to get Kyle’s clothes to not look like they had been thrown in a pile of mud by the end of the day. All couple’s had their thing, and theirs was bickering like they had been married for sixty years.

But as much as he loved those fights, he didn’t want another one of those right now. All he wanted to do that day was spend his free day off with the two most important people in his life without a care in the world. Of course, part of that had already gone down the drain, since his son had a swelling red spot on his arm and his wife was pissed at him.

The woman glares at him, “You don’t know that”.

Alex sighs, “Jo.” he deadpans. “Is he wheezing or having trouble swallowing?”

Jo looks away, avoiding eye contact as she purses her lips. “No.”

“Is there swelling on his face, throat, or tongue?” He hears Jo’s voice get quieter, still making sure not to look at him.

“No.”

“Is he experiencing dizziness, hives, a rapid p-”

She cuts him off, throwing her hands up and sighing in defeat, “Fine! He’s not allergic.” she mumbles, causing Kyle to look up at his mom, nerves etched onto his face.

“Mommy why are you yelling?” he questions, placing his small palm on her cheek. Jo takes his hand and pretends to eat it, making the little boy shriek with glee as he squirms in her lap like a wiggly worm.

“Daddy was just being a big butthead because Mommy was worried about you. Weren’t you being a big butthead Daddy?” Jo smirks at him, more than glad to have her son on her side. Kyle was a momma’s boy since birth, and it didn’t seem like he had plans on changing anytime soon. Thank god, because she didn’t know what she would do when Kyle stopped coming to her for nightly cuddles. She supposed she had a few more years until that happened though, much to her relief.

Alex playfully narrows his eyes at her, taking Kyle from her hold and standing up with him latched onto his hip. “Yep, I was a big butthead. Don’t say that word though bud, it’s not nice.”

The boy grins, his smile toothy and crooked. “Then don’t be a butthead.” he says matter-of-factly, wrapping his arms around his dad’s neck as the three make their way inside the house, Muffin trailing not far behind, wet paws making small spots on the wood.

Alex laughs, giving Kyle a pat on the back. “I won’t be a butthead buddy. I won’t be a butthead.” He gives Jo a smile, taking in the way her eyes light up at the sight of her two favorite boys joking and playing around with each other.

Alex leans closer to Jo, whispering so Kyle couldn’t hear them. “I’m the peds surgeon Jo, which means I'm always right.” he smirks triumphantly.

The brunette’s mouth opens wide, partially scandalized. She slaps him on the arm, the grin never leaving her face as they enter the kitchen through the backdoor. “Asshole!”

21 notes · View notes

betwecouldmakesome · 3 years

Text

car full of moments untold

fandom: julie and the phantoms

pairing: luke/reggie/alex and julie/flynn

word count: 3,656

read here on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27090439

Julie watches critically as Luke and Reggie seemingly play Tetris with everyone’s bags to get them to fit into the trunk of Alex’s Subaru outback. She isn’t sure why they have so much packed, they only plan on being gone 3 weeks. Flynn made sure to mark where their route and local laundry mats overlap so lack of clean clothes shouldn’t be an issue.

She also has a sneaking suspicion that one of Luke’s duffle bags is entirely beanies. She’s going to let it slide, knowing she’ll end up borrowing them.

She, however, won’t let whatever Reggie is trying and failing to smuggle into the car by hiding it behind his leather jacket, slide.

“Reginald!” Julie calls as she pushes off from the garage she was leaning against, hiding her smile when he jumps and flails. He looks to Luke for help, who shrugs and gives him a look, one she knows means “you’re on your own dude” before he heads back inside.

Reggie leans against the car and brings his hand up to hold his leather jacket closer to him, “Hey! Julie, fancy seeing you here, how’s it going? I’m doing fantastic, totally not doing anything."

“Whatcha got there?” she asks, purposefully ignoring his question and pointedly looks at his hand. Now that she’s closer, she can make out that the something he is holding is moving.

“What? this?” He lifts his hand and chuckles nervously before rubbing at the back of his neck, “it’s just uh, my binder? Yeah! my binder! I wanted to make sure I have a few extras on the trip just in case?” It sounded more like a question then anything.

Julie hums, knowing the boys made sure their binders were the first bags packed. They even checked to make sure they were in the car three times.

It only takes 13 seconds of making direct eye contact with him before he cracks, which to be fair, is a new record for him.

“Okay! Stop giving me the disappointed mom face.” Reggie sighs. He pulls his hand out from underneath his jacket, revealing Miss Petunia, his pet corn snake.

Julie continues to stare at him, slowly raising her eyebrows higher.

“Okay! Okay I’m going” He turns around heading back inside, presumably to give Petunia to Carlos who agreed to take care of her while they were away.

Julie sighs, this is going to be a long trip.

«»

They haven’t even made it out of Los Angeles before it starts.

“Why does Luke get shotgun?” Reggie complains, shoving his upper body between the two front seats.

“Because I won rock-paper-scissors.” Luke says, shoving Reggie back by his forehead. He sounded way too proud for someone who won a child’s game that involves no skill.

“Why is that how we always decide things? I always lose” Reggie pouts, crossing his arms across his chest.

“That’s why we do.” Luke laughs, quickly flattening himself against the door when Reggie lurches forward again.

“Hey! Cut it out. Reggie put your seatbelt on, you can switch with him when we stop.” Alex interjects, his gaze flickering between the road and Reggie.

«»

They’ve only been back on the highway ten minutes when Julie slurps down the rest of her slushie, noisily sucking on air at the end. It only takes a few seconds of her shifting around before she leans forward and announces her need to pee. Reggie and Luke quickly agree with her, although Luke looks sheepish about it.

“Seriously?” Flynn asks, raising a less than impressed eyebrow.

“Why didn’t you go at the gas station?” Alex also is not impressed but his eyebrows are less expressive then Flynn’s.

“I didn’t have to go then” Julie defends, Luke and Reggie nod in agreement.

“This is why Flynn is my favorite.” Alex complains. Although he changes lanes to get off at the next exit, so it doesn’t hold much weight

«»

It is pushing half past nine before Alex decides they’re done for the day. They planned on driving until eleven but there are only so many road games that he can take. If he had to listen to one more game of eye spy, he was going to drive them straight off a bridge. Flynn, the goddess she is, finds them a motel to stay in with two available rooms and reads off the directions to him.

For the first time since they left, silence takes over the car when they pull up to the motel. The place is creepy looking, like straight out of a horror movie.

After spending about a good twenty minutes trying to convince Reggie the motel is not haunted and that they won’t die, they cautiously make their way up the old rickety stairs leading to the second floor. They all jump when a loud clang echoes out from the alleyway and quickly scuffle up the rest of the stairs and into their respective rooms.

Alex lets out a relieved sigh, locking the door behind them and looks around the room. It’s not as bad as he was expecting. There is a weird smell he can’t, and doesn’t, want to identify, but it looks relatively clean.

Reggie comes out of the bathroom with Luke right behind him, both now having taken off their binders, changed into pajamas, and brushed their teeth. Reggie drops his backpack at the end of the bed and flops next to it, immediately grabbing the tv remote, “I’m so tired, driving is exhausting.”

Luke shoves at Reggie till he groans and moves to the top of the bed. Reggie takes the side farthest from the door and Luke lays beside him, taking the middle as he called dibs on it, “You didn’t even drive, Alex did all the work.”

Alex listens to them bicker while he brushes his teeth, dreading going back out there. He might have been the one to convince Reggie the motel wasn’t haunted but that does not mean he wants to sleep closest to the door. He spits out the mouthwash and heads back into their room, not at all surprised to see Reggie already asleep cuddled into Luke who looks seconds away from passing out himself. Alex smiles softly and shuts off the lights, he leaves the tv on but turns the volume down. He slides in next to Luke, who immediately, even in his half-asleep state wraps his arm around him and pulls Alex closer to him, burying his face into Alex’s neck. It doesn’t take Alex long to fall asleep, the comfort of laying with his boyfriends outweighing the worry of being haunted.

«»

Julie and Flynn wait till ten am for the boys to wake up before giving up and going to explore the town on their own. They walk down main street, hands intertwined, weaving their way through the crowds of people, stopping at any store that catches their eye.

So far, they had stopped at a local café for coffee, a bookstore where they got books for themselves and for each of the boys. Their favorite spot so far was a thrift store that they spent most of their morning trying on the most ridiculous clothing items they could find. and were now googling places they could go next.

Flynn keeps her attention on her phone as she walks, googling places they could go next. She glances up once and awhile but mostly relying on Julie to make sure she doesn’t run face first into a pole. She hums in question when Julie tugs at her arm, only to get her arm tugged on harder in response.

“Look!”

“What? Is there another dog in a stroller?” she asks, locking her phone and sliding it into her back pocket.

Julie grins and points across the street, “We have to go there.”

Flynn eyes where Julie is pointing and grins back at her, letting Julie pull her across the street to where a tiny tourist trap store is.

The bell rings when they push open the door. The person behind the counter jumps at their arrival, startled by the bell, and plasters a smile on their face before just nodding at them in greeting and goes back to flipping through their magazine.

They decide to split up and peruse the shelves for Knick Knacks. Looking for gifts for their families and funny things for the boys.

Julie ends up getting Carlos a snow globe with a ghost inside, her dad a joke book, a pair of earrings for her tía, some shoelaces with rainbows on them for Alex, and two cowboy hats for Luke and Reggie.

Flynn gets her mom a scented candle gift set, her dad a 1,000-piece puzzle of the town, her older brothers each a screaming goat figurine and a world’s okayest brother coffee mug, an assorted pack of stickers for cryptids for Alex, a pair of socks with ostriches on them for Luke, and a kid leash for Reggie.

(She got him a stuffed horse as a real gift but the look on his face, and the laughter from everyone else, when she hands him the leash is worth spending the extra money.)

«»

It takes 3 days and too many coffees and red bulls for them to get Alex to let Julie drive.

It takes an additional 15 minutes for them to convince him that they will not, under any circumstances, let Luke drive, before he hands over the keys and climbs into the back with Luke and Reggie, falling asleep in seconds.

«»

They are somewhere in Arizona when it becomes evident that it is too hot to keep driving. The temperature pushing 106° Fahrenheit and they are sweating through their t-shirts, hair sticking to the nape of their necks. They are practically all climbing over each other to get out of the car when Alex slows to a stop, having found a river nearby to stop at. Reggie and Luke collapse on the grass under the shade of a tree, leaving Alex, Flynn, and Julie to rummage through the bags for their bathing suits. They jerk upwards with a yelp when Julie throughs their swim trunks and tank tops at them, managing to hit them right in the face.

Luke is the first one changed and immediately runs towards the water. He dives under as soon as it’s deep enough before coming up again just as quick, a wide grin on his face as he shakes out his hair.

“Last one in has to pay for dinner!” He yells out.

The rest of them all share a look before sprinting towards him, letting out battle cry’s as they hit the water

«»

After spending a few hours having chicken fights and wading through the water they decide to camp out beside the river for the night. Alex makes a quick trip to the nearest store to get the supplies to make sandwiches and s’mores, Reggie and Flynn oversee the fire while Luke and Julie set up their sleeping bags.

They settle into their sleeping bags, the sound of crickets chirping, the river flowing, and the crackling of dying embers from fire the only noise, everyone silent as they look up at the stars. It’s dark, the fire barely going anymore, the moon and bright stars now their only light source. It’s peaceful and reassuring in a way the city could never be.

“What if we didn’t go back?” It’s Luke who whispers it, but it doesn’t matter, they were all thinking it, this is the most relaxed they’ve felt in forever.

«»

They take lots of pictures during their trip, snapping them whenever they get a chance. Photos of Luke, Flynn, and Julie passed out in the back seat, cuddled up and drooling on each other. Videos of Reggie yelling “Horses!” and pressing his face against the window every time they drive by any and Alex saying “if you do that one more time, I swear I’m going to crash the car” every time. They take pictures of themselves at every state sign they pass, and every landmark they visit. They take pictures of the scenery, the sun rising and setting. There are videos of them singing along to the radio at the top of their lungs. They have videos of every dumb stunt the others try, videos of them joking and laughing. They take as many as they can, trying to capture every moment, hoping to savor as much as they can.

«»

It takes Julie and Flynn 5 days to realize Reggie and Alex never call their parents.

It takes a few more for them to realize Luke doesn’t answer when his do.

«»

Julie and Flynn are leaning against each other drifting in and out of sleep, Luke already snoring in the passenger seat when they get startled awake by Alex swearing loudly and slamming on his breaks before making a U-turn.

“Alex! What the hell?” Julie yells, smacking the back of his headrest repeatedly.

He swats at her hand halfheartedly, “We forgot Reggie at the last stop!”

They all exchange a look, knowing they will never hear the end of this.

«»

Alex knows, rationally that it’s dumb to worry. Reggie can take care of himself, but there’s still a hollow feeling in his stomach as he pulls back into the run-down gas-station. He sure they’ll laugh about it later, just another funny story to tell, but the silence that hangs in the air as they pull in to see Reggie nowhere in sight is chilling.

As soon as the car is in park, they all spill out, running across the parking lot and into the building.

Reggie is fine, of course. They find him sitting on the checkout counter, kicking his legs back and forth as he chats with the cashier who’s working. He beams when he notices them, waving at them with the hand he is holding a hotdog in.

“Hey guys!”

Alex is the first one to react. He rushes forward and pulls Reggie into a tight hug, lifting him right off the counter, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”

Reggie hugs him back at laughs against his neck. “Took you long enough.”

«»

They get ten miles down the road before Reggie clutches his stomach and groans, “I’m gonna hurl.”

They pull over three more times for him to throw up before deciding to stop for the night.

Reggie swears that he is never eating another hotdog again.

«»

It’s six am, raining and gloomy out as they leave the motel. It is entirely too early after checking in after midnight. Alex wordlessly hands the keys to Julie and climbs into the back, Reggie and Luke both still half asleep following him.

They don’t wake up for another few hours and even then, it’s not by choice, it’s by the girls shaking them awake. Flynn hands the cardboard tray with 3 coffees back to them and goes back to quietly talking to Julie.

Reggie yawns and takes a sip of theirs, leaning forward after to kiss the girls on the cheek in thanks.

“It’s a Them day.” They say, slouching back against Luke. They only stay awake long enough to hear the groups hums or mumbled “okay’s” in acknowledgment.

«»

They get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. A straight stretch of road going for miles and big open fields going as far as they can see.

“Shit,” Alex swears under his breath and looks to Reggie hopefully, who shakes his head and looks to Luke, only to get a sheepish shrug in response.

“Shit.” Alex repeats, louder this time.

Julie and Flynn exchange a glance before rolling up their sleeves, “We’ve got this, boys.”

“How did you know how to do that?” Reggie asks in awe, as the girls stand back up while wiping the dirt of their hands. The flat tire now replaced by the spare.

“My mom taught us.”

“We’d be lost without you.” Luke grins.

Flynn pulls him into a side hug and ruffles his hair, “Damn right you would.”

«»

Alex pokes at the paint on his cheeks, checking to see if it was dry. He had rainbow stripes on one side, and purple, white, and green on the other. He had been the one put in charge of doing everyone’s face paint and he had waited to do his own last. Luke had the demiboy flag painted on one cheek and the ace flag on the other. His nails painted pink, yellow, and blue, and is wearing a crop top with a trans flag wrapped around him like a cape. Reggie had Alex paint the genderfluid flag and trans flag onto his face, and his nails painted with the bi flag colors. Julie has the demigirl colors on one cheek and the bi colors on the other, with an ace flag wrapped around her. Flynn has dark orange, light orange, white, pink, and dark pink, representing the lesbian flag painted onto both cheeks.

Alex reaches around Reggie to grab his trans flag, the last part of his outfit, and wraps it around his shoulders.

Julie claps her hands together, getting everybody’s attention, “Everyone ready?”

Reggie lets out a shout of excitement, grabbing Alex and Luke’s hands, lacing his fingers with their own and tugging them out the door. Julie and Flynn follow them, shaking their heads and laughing as they watch all three of them try and walk down the narrow staircase side by side.

«»

“I’m dying.” Reggie gasps out, dramatically flinging themself over a rock.

“We’re almost there, it’s just a few more minutes.” Julie reassures them, the rest of the group taking the opportunity to stop and rest. All of them had woken up at five am to hike a mountain and watch the sun rise. The trail was about two miles, and this was the third time Reggie had announced that they were dying, although this one was more dramatic than the others.

“You’ve been saying that for the last 20 minutes!”

“Well this time I mean it.”

“Luke.” Reggie whines, drawing out the name as they shift their gaze to Luke, who is pouring some of his water over his head.

“No.”

“Babe! Please, I’m dying here.”

Luke sighs and rolls his eyes before crouching down, not being able to resist Reggie’s puppy dog eyes, “Hop on.”

Reggie cheers, jumping up onto his back, “Have I told you how much I love you?”

“I think you should remind me.” Luke grins, tilting his head back towards Reggie.

“Maybe I will.” They laugh, leaning forward and press their lips against Luke’s, smiling into the kiss.

“Hey!” Alex calls after them, “I’d like to be reminded too.”

“You were going to let me die, you don’t get any kisses.” Reggie looks back over their shoulder, sticking their tongue out at him.

“Well I’m the one carrying the food so maybe you should reconsider.”

“Are you bribing me?”

“I don’t know, is it working?” Alex asks.

“Yes. Yes, it is.” Reggie slaps at Luke’s shoulder, telling him to let them down.

Julie and Flynn make their way around them, wanting to make it to the top of the mountain in time.

Reggie skips down to Alex and wraps their arms around Alex’s neck, pulling him down to kiss them.

“So, can I have a snack now?”

«»

“Guys,” Flynn looks at the scene before her in exasperation, “I was gone for literally five minutes.”

“We know, help now scold later.” Reggie shifts, trying to yank his foot out for underneath Julie

“How did you even manage this?”

“We couldn’t decide which one of us got to sit in the cart and we thought we could all fit.” Julie peaks her head out from behind Luke. She blows a piece of hair out of her face so she can see, only for it to fall right back.

“You too, Alex?” Flynn asks.

Alex shrugs, looking guilty, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“You’re apart of a human pretzel!”

“We won’t do it again, just get us out. I have to pee, and Luke is crushing my bladder.”

“Hey! at least you don’t have Reggie’s knees in your back,” Luke argues, “and I’m not even that- wait, Flynn are you taking pictures?”

“Oh yeah, definitely” She nods.

«»

“That’s the fourth store we’ve gotten kicked out of this week.” Flynn complains, glaring at the grocery store.

“That’s not too bad.”

“Luke, It’s Wednesday.”

«»

They sit on a pier in silence, feet dangling off the edge as they lean with their upper bodies over the bottom railing. The sun is setting, gradually receding into the waters below. The sky is more purple than red now, further indicating that their night is coming to an end.

It had been a few hours since they made their way away from the carnival that was bustling with activity to somewhere quieter. Further away from the bright lights and loud music, the yells excitement and overwhelming noise of big crowds of people all talking and closer to the sounds of waves crashing against shore and seagulls squawking.

Julie picks at her cotton candy, ripping a piece off and hands it to Alex, who accidently dropped his into the ocean below them.

“Maybe we don’t go back.” Again, It’s Luke who says it. He sounds more confident this time.

“Are parents would kill us,” Alex says. He looks down awkwardly when Luke looks at him pointedly.

“Okay, Ray would kill us.”

“Hey! Ray’s cool, he would never.” Reggie objects.

“We can’t just not go back, right?” Alex looks around at each of them, “Could we?”

Flynn shrugs, “I hear Maine is really pretty in the Fall.”

«»

Ray is cool and he does not kill them. His exact response is “I get it, I’ll miss you! Stay safe and be careful. Send post cards. And because I’m being so cool about it, you get to be the one to tell your tía.”

#car full of moments untold #luke x reggie x alex #julie x flynn #luke patterson #reggie peters #alex mercer #julie molina #flynn jatp #jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp fic #julie and the phantoms fic #userdhylen #naomi's content

25 notes · View notes

jmcolt · 4 years

Note

1-10 + dove & jacey!

i cannot believe... you’re making me out myself like this but OKAY fine cats out of the bag like OUT OUT of the bag

dove & rat daddy:

1. Who is the most affectionate?

DOVE is 100% the most affectionate. Any time they’re walking, she’ll latch onto his arm and won’t let go until they get to where they’re going.

2. Big spoon/Little spoon?

Dove is the little spoon obviously. She likes being held and she also doesn’t like taking up a lot of space. He definitely doesn’t mind! She fits nicely in his arms...

3. Most common argument?

They don’t argue a whole lot. Mainly just little things like the dishes and what not, y’know? They did get in a pretty big argument over something that I’m not saying, but... they made up fairly quickly when Sam explained himself.

4. Favorite non-sexual activity?

Like MOST of my ships, just sitting together and enjoying each other’s company. They also like driving around town once the city’s a little more quiet and just... talking.

5. Who is most likely to carry the other?

Sam ofc! Nothing he loves more than carrying her bridal style. It’s good practice for the future ♥

6. What is their favorite feature of their partner’s?

Sam likes all the cute little freckles dotting her nose and her big green eyes. Dove, on the other hand, absolutely adores his smile whenever he chooses to show it.

7. What’s the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other?

It didn’t take long for them to jump into things, so there really wasn’t anything that changed? Idiots were acting like they were dating like two seconds after they met...

8. Nicknames? & if so, how did they originate?

Sammy and Dovey! Dove started calling him Sammy immediately after meeting him and just never stopped, while Dovey was something that slipped out of his mouth when he was still half-asleep.

9. Who worries the most?

Dove. Her boyfriend/future husband is a mafioso, so... it kind of comes with the territory. She’ll sit by the phone and PRAY it doesn’t ring.

10. Who remembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant?

Sam always knows what she wants before she even opens the menu.

jacey & FUCKING DUMBASS:

1. Who is the most affectionate?

They both can be stupidly affectionate, but I’d say Jacey more than him. She plays with his hair constantly and like I’ve said before, if she doesn’t cup his face at least once, did I really write it?

2. Big spoon/Little spoon?

Jacey is unintentionally the big spoon nine times out of ten because of how she ends up shifting in her sleep. Kind of a feat considering she’s so much smaller than he is; it always leaves her with a sore neck that he has to rub the kinks out of.

3. Most common argument?

Literally everything. They can not go for five minutes without bickering, but it’s kind of a love language at this point, so they’re not real arguments. The only thing they legitimately argue over is Alex, but that’s a whole nother can of worms.

4. Favorite non-sexual activity?

Can’t remember a single damn time they did something non-sexual. That is a joke. They do not fuck. Anyway, they like sitting on the couch and working on articles and shit together 😒 She’ll read over whatever he’s writing for him and point out mistakes/what he can do better; he’ll do the same if she asks, but she rarely does. They also like taking the dogs for walks in the park, getting coffee in the morning, and cooking together in the rare moments they feel like doing that.

5. Who is most likely to carry the other?

DO I GOTTA SAY? Jacey couldn’t carry him if she tried and he’s always taking her to bed because her stupid ass will work until she passes out on the couch.

6. What is their favorite feature of their partner’s?

Obviously, Jacey has a fixation with his hair because she always has her damn fingers in it. As for him, well, he likes... pretty much everything about her, but her, uh, THIGHS, are up there... 🙄

7. What’s the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other?

This... is a complicated question considering they’d HAD feelings for each other for a very long time and they knew it, but they had a good long streak where they pretended to hate each other for a number of reasons: something (idk what ok this is a relatively new decision) drove a wedge in their previously close relationship, he dated River (and didn’t exactly stop seeing her despite their break up), she dated Alex, and just plain idiocy, but MOSTLY because they’re both super fucking competitive and share a career. After they put aside their weird Weirdness and admit this whole thing passed the point of being rivals/friends with benefits a long time ago, they’re less snippy, more affectionate, and he shows he cares like ten times more (driving her home when she’s sick, clocking Alex in the jaw for acting like an ass and taking a job SHE’D earned, etc.).

8. Nicknames? & if so, how did they originate?

Just the typical pet names like baby, sweetie, etc. etc., but sometimes he’ll call her Jace instead of Jacey.

9. Who worries the most?

Bobby 🤢 Jacey has a funny habit of overworking herself to the point she gets sick, so he’s always trying to get her to stop and take a fucking breather.

10. Who remembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant?

They both do, but they’re also both super predictable and have known each other for over 20 years at this point, so it’s not like it’s hard.

#x: smoke gets in your eyes #x: clown emoji #i tried so hard not to namedrop him even tho its obvious #cannot express how much brain damage they give me ok #she was a JOKE OC that i made on a dare... what happened...#also im sorry that they have more detailed answers than dove and sam but i've been holding all of this IN!!!#chuckhansen

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80swh0r3 · 4 years

Text

[so I did this thing last night and wrote a jalex two-shot. My English is a mess but anyways]

⚠️Warning: kind of suicidal thoughts and indirect mention of self harming⚠️

He felt like getting haunted, while Alex was walking down the street. No idea where he was going, but everything was fine, as long as he got away from his home. More especially from the person at his home, who was sleeping on his floor for the last two weeks.

That person, better known as Justin Foley, was one of the reasons the bleached blonde-haired boy felt like getting haunted. One reason, but not the only.

There was this feeling of guilt haunting him, ever since the day of Hannah bakers’ suicide. Or did it start before that? Honestly, Alex couldn’t really remember, but what he knew was that it got harder and harder to live with it every day.

Maybe I don’t need to live with it. Maybe I don’t need to live anyways

Quickly he shook his head, to get ride of this thoughts. Just like all these posters said: “suicide is not an option”

Well, it was. It was for Hannah and maybe it could be his option too.

Or at least that was what the voices inside his head tried to tell him. Tried to tell him since month.

So why doesn’t he just listen to them and make all of that guilt an end? It was not like anyone would miss him. And it would shut these voices up and that was something he really wanted to happen.

Alex was exhausted and these voices were really fucking loud in his head, sometimes they were the only thing he could hear. Nothing around him, no other thoughts. Just these voices, telling him how it was his fault what happened to Hannah. That he doesn’t deserve to live, when he practically killed his best friend.

At this moment, he would look himself in his room, screaming in his pillow, crying and hating himself for being so damn weak. He shouldn’t cry. It was not up to him to cry, when he was the one hurting people. Hurting Hannah, hurting Jess, hurting himself and anyone else around him.

“This shit is just fucked up”

This sentence wasn’t meant to be said out loud, but he couldn’t stop it and before Alex realized it, the words slipped from his lips and he literally screamed them in the night. Down the river he was standing at. And for once, he was louder than the voices.

Finally.

Well, it was probably not for long, but still. For a minute they were quiet, quite like the whole world around him, as Alex began to get lost in his thoughts again.

His thoughts about this feeling of getting haunted.

Then he wasn’t only haunted by guilt, because he was an asshole most of the time, to the people who were there for him, no the since yesterday there was something else.

Now he got haunted by feelings and memories. Memories of the last night, which is the reason he tried to avoid Justin since then. Avoiding someone who literally lives in your house, is pretty hard but not impossible.

But avoiding the memories about what happened between them, the last night, wad definitely harder. A lot harder.

Living with Justin foley is everything, but definitely not easy.

It wasn’t even the fact that he drank the last cup of coffee this morning- okay, maybe that was part of the reason- but no. You can make new coffee or buy some at Monet’s, but what you cant do is getting the jock to put on a t-shirt for sleep.

Mission impossible.

The first night, it was surprising and Alex would lie if he would say he hadn’t stared at least a little bit. But who wouldn’t stare, if Justin fucking foley was standing – bare chested- in the middle of your room, looking like a lost puppy. A freaking hot puppy, but never mind.

The thing is, this first night was supposed to be one night and not two weeks. Two weeks of having a practically half naked footballer sleeping on your floor, only a few meters apart from your own bed. And no, that is definitely and for a hundred percent nothing Alex could get used to. Not in a million years.

And he tried everything to get Justin, to at least wear a top or something, but that “Stupid asshole” – to quote the Standall boy- stayed with his opinion that it was way too hot in Alex room.

That wasn’t true and everyone who ever visited Alex knew that. His room was fucking cold and he was literally freezing every night. But Justin simply didn’t cared, about catching a cold, as long as he could sleep like he want.

Stubborn, stupid and unfairly hot idiot.

But to get back to the important situation.

The two boys were both laying, like always, when Justin suddenly broke the silence: “Why do you let me stay here Standall? We both know you hate me”

That was a lie. Maybe Justin thought he hate him- and maybe Alex never did anything against that thought- but the truth was, he kind of really liked the Liberty-High-Star-Footballer. Maybe a little bit too much, not that he would ever mention that.

No, the blue-eyed boy would rather die than ever admit that.

“I don’t hate you foley”, was his silently response, after quiet a time. He needed to overthink these words. They weren’t any big words, but it took Alex some time to figure out what he wanted to say.

“Yeah of course not. We all know that you are actually my biggest fan and secretly love me”

It was a joke and the sarcasm were clearly understandable, but for a short moment Alex’s heart stopped beating, just to continue that three times to fast after that.

He couldn’t know right? He wasn’t that obvious about his kinda-crush on Justin, or was he?

“Standall? You still awake”

Oh yes, Alex was awake, but he was still busy to keep his heartbeat at least a little normal.

Don’t act so specious Standall. God damn!

What can you say? To stop talking to Justin, was his first fault this night, then only seconds later, he felt the weight of someone sitting only a few inches apart from him, on the edge of his bed.

“What the fuck, Foley. What are you doing? Go back to sleep”

That was definitely not Justin’s plan, then the jock didn’t even think about moving from where he was sitting. He was awake and he felt the bad urge to kiss Alex right here and now.

To be honest, he felt like that since weeks, but hearing the other boy saying that he didn’t hate him, made Justin happier than he would ever admit.

Of course, a “I don’t hate you” was far away from a “its okay if you kiss me, because I like you too” but it was better than nothing.

“I am not going back to sleep; I am way too awake for that”

The only respond from Alex was a loud sight, before he finally turned himself around, to at least face Justin- as good as possible in the darkness the room was filled with.

“Maybe you are, but other people need sleep, so please let me sleep”

He didn’t mention the fact that that would be the first night since days- okay who was he lying to? Since months, since Hannah’s death- that he would maybe get a few hours of sleep. Maybe if he did, Justin would have gone back to the floor and what happened only a few minutes later, would never have happened.

“You are really cute when you seem so tired, Lex, you know”

“Did you..wait, Lex?”

From one second to another, Alex was suddenly wide awake, sitting up, looking a little confused at Justin. No one, not even his mom, has ever called him Lex, but from Justin it sounded like the most normal thing on earth.

Which is was definitely not.

“Well, it fits”

And while saying that, Justin sounded so confident about whatever he was telling, Alex just needed to believe him and then, the next thing he knows were the feeling of Justin’s Lips on his own.

So now, here he was. Trying to forget about the fact that his crushed kissed him the last night, which was stupid.

Well, trying to forget it was not. But that Justin kissed him, was.

So long had he dreamed about that and now that it had happened, all he could think was, that it was probably a bet or something. There was no way Justin Foley, liked him, Alex Standall.

Not. In.a.million.years

But as we all know, running away from your problems, or your feelings- or both at the same time- wont work in 99% of all cases and Alex definitely wasn’t part of that lucky 1%.

“You were avoiding me all day, why?” the last voice he wanted to hear today asked, from behind.

Alex didn’t look up, his focus still on the river. Would jumping down there be enough to die? If he would hit a rock with his head-definitely?

Maybe he should give it a try? Ignoring Justin and just doing the right thing for once in his life?

“Lex? I know you can hear me”

Of course, he could. The voices inside his head were back, but he could still hear him, he just didn’t want to.

He wanted to end it.

Sounds simple right? But could he do it?

The answer to that was a clear yes. He could. It could become his option than.

But was he able to do it, while Justin was still standing there?

Probably not.

“Lex?”

And again.

He wants to tell him to be quiet. Wants to tell him, to leave him alone.

Alone with his dumb feelings, his guilt. Alone with the pain, alone with his thoughts and alone with the tears, which were slowly falling down on the ground under him.

“Could you please tell me what you are doing here, Standall?”

I am going to kill myself, so please go. I don’t want you to see that. It’s not your fault.

But that wasn’t what he said. He wanted to, but instead he said what he was thinking since the kiss last night.

“Go on, tell me. Tell me you don’t love me and how funny that bet was. How funny it was to play with my feelings, when you kissed me. Just fucking tell me”

[you can also find that on my wattpad: -alexvibes-]

#Jalex #Fanfiction #Wattpad #Justin foley #Justin foley and alex standall #Alex standall #Justin x alex #One-shot #Two-shot

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floorbed · 4 years

Text

pen playlist tiem. brain full of thoughts i think this is my longest playlist ever . lyrics and annotation and sections under the cut for funsies heh

home

me and my husband - mitski

and i am the idiot with a painted face / in the corner taking up space / but when he walks in i am loved / i am loved / me and my husband we’re doing better / it’s always been just him and me together / so i bet all i have on that furrowed brow / and at least in this lifetime we’re sticking together

turf war - momma

the kings and queens are on the court / they’re sitting pretty on the floor

this charming man - the smiths

a jumped up pantry boy / who never knew his place / he said return the ring / he knows so much about these things / he knows so much about these things

utopia - cowgirl clue

living in a great utopia is quite nice is quite nice / living in a great utopia you pay the price you pay the price / living in a great utopia roll the dice kiss goodbye / living the dream living the dream living the dream

bubblegum bitch - marina and the diamonds

got a figure like a pin up got a figure like a doll / don’t care if you think i’m dumb i don’t care at all / candy bear sweetie pie wanna be adored / i’m the girl you’d die for / i’ll chew you up and spit you out / cus that’s what young love is all about

…

oh dear diary, i met a boy

(do the) act like you never met me - tv girl

the hidden kisses / the clumsy conspiratory glance / but i don’t really mind it no / i always liked the way you danced

it will come back - hozier

don’t give it a hand / offer it a soul / honey make this easy / leave it to the land / this is what it knows / honey that’s how it sleeps / don’t let it in with no intention to keep it / jesus christ don’t be kind to it / honey don’t feed it it will come back

real men - mitski

little boys cry and look around for comfort and / always get what they want

song against sex - neutral milk hotel

and he said oh boy you are so pretty / enough to wrap tight in rice paper string / and when i finally kissed him / the whole world began to ring / lost like a bell that’s tipping over / with two cracks along both sides / and i knew the world was over / so i took a look outside

(running away before the trial and seeing the world for the first time vibes!)

exile, early party

april and the phantom - animal collective

i’m sorry april / but you’ll be fine till then / i’m the phantom / i’m the phantom / i’m the phantom

(Pens First Summoning Dot Mp3)

insects are all around us - money mark

(from pens very first introduction in session 1 when he was walking in the woods and was described like looking like a lil insect)

bug - alex g

and when you go there / you stay there / bug in the crosshair / you stay there

king of carrot flowers pt 2 & 3 - neutral milk hotel

i love you jesus christ / jesus christ i love you yes i do

you’ll miss me when i’m not around - grimes

if you don’t bleed then you don’t die / cross my heart and hope to fly / if you like it then you’ll make it out alive / if they could see me now / smiling six feet underground / i’ll tie my feet to rocks and drown / you’ll miss me when i’m not around

rich bitch juice (HANA remix) - alice longyu gao

don’t you dare talk to me / bitch

fool - moonbounce

you could’ve let me think im right / i could’ve tried to keep my cool / i could’ve followed my own rules / i could’ve used you like a tool / i could’ve played a fucking fool

isle

hooped earrings - the front bottoms

and you have gotta do this now or you can never come home again / yeah you have gotta do this now or you can never come home again / and there are not so many options / there’s not so many ways that this could possibly end / so you have gotta do this now or you can never come home again

wicked boy - alex g

real men walk / on the outside / on the outside / on the outside / and they take it for the team

black hair - alex g

it’s not what you are / it’s just what you did / don’t hang up the phone / i love you to death / eternal return / eternal return / eternal return / eternal return

rabbit heart - florence & the machine

this is a gift it comes with a price / who is the lamb and who is the knife / when minas is king and he holds me so tight / and turns me to gold in the sunlight

oh ana - mother mother

i’ll fake god / i’ll fake god / i’ll fake god / i’ll fake god today / hop up on a cloud and watch the world decay

i am my own hell - teen suicide

i’m learning all kinds of tricks / how to drain the blood from my face

brick - alex g

i know that you’re lying / you think i don’t but i always fucking do

come back - alex g

made my promise and i’m keeping it for kicks / yeah i really didn’t think that it would stain like this / yeah i really didn’t think that it would stain like this

river of the night

trick - alex g

(this is what his Contract Signing Dream sounded like that’s all)

call this # now - the garden

call this number now / if you wanna check it out / well just do yourself a favor and just call this number now / call this number now

long way down - teen suicide

you’re a spoiled kid who’s never gonna get / anything that you deserve / i know this life’s gonna be just fine / but with any luck you know the next one’s gonna hurt

business man - mother mother

talkin bout the business man / devil with a sunday plan / buddy with a stupid laugh / just talkin bout the business man / pretty little baby / pretty little monster / went to the good school / left with honors

king rat - modest mouse

deep water / deep water / senseless denial / i went down like a rag doll rat of a child

oh lucky lucky lucky lucky me again / i said it looks like i’ve got to use my feet again / well i just spent my last one hundred dollars / god i’ll pay my bill again

after dying and being saved

new gods - grimes

hands reaching out to new gods / you can’t give me what i want / but what do i know? / i wanna i wanna i wanna let go / i wear black eyeliner / black attire yeah / so take me higher and higher and higher

…

only brand new gods can save me

home again - carole king

sometimes i wonder if i’m ever gonna make it home again / it’s so far and out of sight / i really need someone to talk to and nobody else / knows how to comfort me tonight / snow is cold rain is wet / chills my soul through the marrow / i won’t be happy till i see you alone again / till i’m home again and feeling right

miracle - paramore

and have i told you / i’m not going / cuz i’ve been waiting for a miracle / and i’m not leaving / i won’t let you / let you give up on a miracle / when it might save you

(Pen And Ori. Pen Telling Ori He’s Not Going To Stay At The Castle [Bc He Couldnt Imagine Not Seeing Her Everyday.] Pens Naive Optimism + His Want T.o Make Her Feel Better Abt The Future and The World And Everything)

dinner and diatribes - hozier

i knew it from the first look of / the look of mischief in your eyes / friends are a fate that befell me / head is the talking type / i’d suffer hell if you’d tell me / what you’d do to me tonight

(Pen And Juni Anthem)

funny - the scary jokes

and i laughed and i laughed and i gasped and i cried / and i tried not to think of my love as a punchline / but i knew the truth would catch up with me sometime / and oh what a funny joke am i

(pen crying on the bed in castle ravenloft dot mp3)

pretty funny - dogfight (lindsay mendez)

isn’t it funny? isn’t it funny? aren’t you funny? / pathetically naive and desperate to believe you could always find some good / well you misunderstood or you’ve been dreaming / cus people are just cruel

(pen crying on the bed in castle ravenloft dot mp3 Part 2)

until it goes - john congleton

oh my vengeance i swear will be biblical

…

my bride my bride how do i silence / this restlessness inside me / inside i see it kneeling through keyholes / my bride i need no absolution / on this day of my execution / just stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me until the horror goes

(abandonment issues pen be like *stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me noises*. also one day i want pen to hurt everyone who has severely fucked with him and thats all [m****** and d******])

beautiful - carole king

you’ve got to get up every morning / with a smile on your face / and show the world all the love in your heart / then people gonna treat you better / youre gonna find yes you will / that you’re beautiful as you feel

don’t ask me to explain - of montreal

i’d like to marry all of my close friends / live in a big house together by an angry sea / am i the devil’s marbles don’t move on without me / who will be watching my body when i sleep / who will i believe in

(Pen Be Like I Love Ori And Juni And Alba And That Is My Disease. )

100 years - florence welch

i believe in you /and in our hearts we know the truth / and i believe in love / even the darker it gets the more i do / you try and fill us with your hate and we will shine a light / and the days will become endless / and never turn to night

...

a hundred arms / a hundred years / you can always find me here / and lord don’t let me break this / let me hold it lightly / give me arms to pray with / instead of ones that hold too tightly

#mel talks #penance the jester #dnd tag

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miraclealignersv · 5 years

Text

Sick (Eugene Roe x Reader)

Ask: Could I get “You’re burning up.” with doc roe thank you!!! (Also is your main blog curraheev? If so Alex you are gorgeous!!)

A/n: oh my goodness thank you so much!! And yes @curraheev is my main! Also thank you for your request, I tried something a little different hope you enjoy!

Tag list: @gottapenny @wexhappyxfew @bandofmarvels @medievalfangirl

Y/n felt like she was dying.

Although she would never admit that out loud, not when Webster spilled the beans about the patrol. She was one of the lucky 15, one of the 15 that would go across the river and capture some POWs. Webster had told Liebgott, and Liebgott told y/n while she coughed up a lung. A sudden fear that ran through her the second he explained the plan.

The company had just arrived in Hagenau, they had all gotten warm meals, a bed and showers. They were doing alright. Well, she thought she was until she started to cough and die. She kept telling herself that maybe it was the stress or a cold. She tried to brush it off and pretend she was okay.

But Johnny Martin could see through the bullshit. Especially when she had her coughing fit and would be fall asleep while standing around. Not only that, but she looked like she was dying. The bags under her eyes seemed to have gotten worse, the color of her face seemed to drain, and her usually cheery self turned into a less energetic version the boys knew and loved.

The boys in her platoon knew she was sick, and when Webster announced that she would be part of the Patrol the boys grew more concerned than ever. Grant has made an effort to take care of her before the briefing. Helped her and tried to keep her warm by piling blankets upon blankets. He even wrapped a scarf around her neck and would constantly shove a mug of warm coffee into her hand. But there was no way that whatever sickness she was carrying was going away within two hours.

As she cuddled into the pillow, she brought the fleece blankets up to her nose. Shuddering and sniffling as she tried to stay awake. Babe tried to keep her awake by retelling a story that Guarnere had told him back in Bastogne. When they saw that it wasn’t helping, Lieb purposely talked loudly to try and keep her awake and aware, and Chuck tried playing cards with her but it didn’t work. She tried her hardest to keep her eyes open, but her eyelids felt too heavy and slowly she drifted off. The boys saw how peaceful she looked when she slept and decided to let her rest.

But Chuck, being her best friend, knew that the second she was asleep, they had to call Doc Roe in to check on her. Johnny, being the concerned mother he was, ushered Doc into the room. Babe and Chuck sitting near her, in case she woke up and needed anything they were there. Doc watched as she slept on her stomach, breathing through her mouth. He had never seen her in a peaceful state before, she was always running back and forth. Always awake and aware, never resting.

“She just fell asleep, do we gotta wake her up?” Babe asked as Doc Roe turned to him, Babe raising his eyebrow in question. Roe glanced back at the sleeping y/n and clicked his tongue.

“Probably,” Doc Roe shrugged making babe sigh. Johnny crossed his arms over his chest and stood next to Chuck who watched attentively. “She coughing?” Doc asked, Chuck gave him a nod before Gene placed his hand on her forehead to check for a fever.

Her eyes fluttered open, vision a bit blurry from the quick nap she saw three figures standing around her. Blinking a few times she gained her vision back, the figures being Johnny, Chuck and Doc Roe who placed the back of his hand of her forehead.

“You’re burning up y/n” Gene muttered, his brow furrowed in concentration as he moved his hand over to her cheek. Y/n swallowed hard and scrunched up her face at the feeling of two NCOs and a medic staring at her.

“That your way of letting me know I’m hot?” She jokingly asked, even sick she tried her best to joke around. Chuck chuckled at the joke, Johnny elbowing his arm. Gene pulled his hand away and looked down towards y/n. He tried to hide his smile, but y/n could see it. She chuckled at her own joke, a loud coughing fit interrupting her laugh. Chuck winced at the sound of her and shook his head, he couldn’t believe his best friend was sick. Out of all things, Y/n Y/l/n was fucking sick. johnny only sighed and watched with deep concern, he waited attentively for Roe’s Diagnosis.

“That doesn’t sound good Doc” Chuck pipped in, his face scrunched up as y/n rolled her eyes. “She dying?” He jokingly asked he cracked a joke in hopes that it would earn a smile or even a giggle from her. And it seemed to work, she shook her head and smirked at the question. The look she gave him, only made Chuck laugh quietly to himself

“Sounds like pneumonia,” Gene sighed, an audible groan leaving y/n’s mouth before another loud cough erupted. “She ain’t going on that Patrol”

“I’m fine,” she piped in, Chucks and Johnny’s gazes turning to her. Chuck’ expression was a lot softer than Johnny’s. But she knew they were both annoyed, and concerned at the same time. “I feel perfectly fine Doc. I think I’m fine to go on that patrol” she shrugged trying her best to stop a cough. Only to end with her coughing even louder. She brought her hand up to her chest and took a deep breath, Johnny watched and shook his head before sighing.

“You gonna give us away, it sounds like your hacking up a lung y/l/n” Johnny spoke with a stern look on his face. Y/n closed her eyes and brought her hand over her eyes. “You ain’t going kid” his voice was softer this time, y/n sighed and slowly nodded.

“Waters cold, ain’t that gonna make it worse Doc?” Grant asked, y/n groaned and peeled her hand off to see Roe’s expression.

“Probably. It’s best if she rests and camps out for a day or two.” Roe explained, another groan in protest coming from y/n. Chuck only shook his head and stared at the ground trying to hold back a laugh. He couldn’t believe her childish behavior. Roe only chuckled at the protest and shook his head. He knew she was dedicated to her work, but he never thought she was this dedicated. He found it cute, her nose was pink from the sniffles. Her voice raspy from the coughing fits, and her hair messy from the nap he had woken her up from.

“She jumped out of a plane, survived half the war and its pneumonia that’s gonna kill her” Johnny scoffed, amused before nudging Chuck. Johnny had interrupted Gene’s gaze on hers. She didn’t even notice, not until he jumped. Chuck seemed to notice this, he had gone on and on about Roe and how he had a thing for y/n. Y/n would always brush it off and tell Chuck to drop it, that Gene saw her as a friend. Chuck’s eyes met y/n’s in that moment and gave her a shit eating grin, y/n only rolled her eyes and shook her head. Before Johnny could say anything else, their heads snapped toward the entrance of the room— Major Winters walking through.

“Gentlemen,” he greeted before turning to where y/n was laying and gave her a nod. Y/n tried sitting up, keyword tried, the second she did she felt a bit light headed. Instead she opted to lay back down. “ How she doing doc?” He asked, y/n shifted herself in the small cot before rubbing her eyes. Roe sighed, his gaze on y/n. In that moment she seemed the most gorgeous thing to him. He snapped out of his thought and repeated Winters’ question at least 50 times in his head.

“It’s pneumonia alright, she’s not going on that patrol, Sir” Doc explained, He watched as y/n closed her eyes. A pained expression on her face at the mention of her diagnosis. Gene knew how much her military career meant to her, and not being able to go on a single patrol made her feel weak. Winters gave y/n a sympathetic look and slowly nodded before she brought her hand up to her chest again and coughed loudly.

“She gonna be alright?” Winters asked concerned, Chuck perked at the question and waited for Gene to answer. Y/n felt more tired than ever, she closed her eyes briefly before opening them again. Doc turned to her and gave her a small smile, one that made her heart flutter.

“I’ll give her a dose of penicillin, hopefully that helps for tonight” Doc explained, Winters turned to her and gave her a reassuring smile before turning to Johnny and Chuck.

“You two find someone to take her place on tonights patrol, I want all the men at the briefing in 10.” Winters explained, y/n hated that she wouldn’t be there with the rest of the guys. But deep down she knew she needed to get better in order to go on patrols like these. She heard as Winters started to head out, but stopped “Doc, you do what you can to get her feeling better. She’s one of the best we’ve got” he spoke, y/n smiled at the statement and watched as Chuck and Johnny nudged each other.

“I’ll make sure of it, Sir” Gene smiled before reaching for her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze, y/n’s eyes not leaving his. But for a second they traveled to Chuck’s who held a thumbs up while he gave her a shit eating grin.

#euegene roe #eugene roe x reader #chuck grant #johnny martin #dick winters #band of brothers #band of brothers imagine

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peter-pan-on-neverland · 5 years

Text

Caterpillar

Request: Imagine playing hide and seek with the lost boys and it's turning out that every boy is in love with you and wants to 'hide' with you to do stuff so you go with Felix since he always seems odd and cold. Turns out he is also in love. In the end pan gets also jealous when he finds out what they did while hiding (what they did is up to you if you like that request:) )

Pairings: Felix x reader

Warnings: there's no smut but there's a heated make out session 🤣

I AM SO SO SO SORRY THIS REQUEST TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT IM REALLY REALLY SORRYYYYY (please forgive me) ❤

I have been living on Neverland for as long as I could remember and to say that I was a little uncomftorble at times is a huge understatement. It's not that I'm happy here because believe me, I am, but the constant flirting of the boys just got too much at times, they would really start to peck my head and as sweet as the boys could be it would just get annoying. If it wasn't Noah commenting on the way my ass moved as a walked, or James saying to his friends about how much he'd love to have my lips on his, it was Will bragging to everyone about the things he would do to me if we were alone. No matter what, every single one of the lost boys had something to say about me, even Pan had an opinion, but there was one boy who hadn't commented on my body once, Felix.

He was odd, to put it lightly, keeping to himself a lot, we never really spoke other than an awkward 'hello' if we were ever alone with one another. If I were being completely honest, at first I thought he was gay, not that that's a bad thing, he just had never expressed a desire to have me, wether that be in a sexual way or not and if I was the only girl that had stayed on the island for years then I would've though the boys would jump at the opportunity, but not him. He was always so calm and collected, never once showing a hint of emotion, but the slightly red scar that ran down is face gave me some idea about the boys temper. His eyes were the complete opposite from the angry red scar that was permanently etched into his skin, his icy blue orbs remained cold and hollow, never once faltering or giving away any clues as to what he was feeling.

The sun had set on the island long ago, the sky burnt a golden glow no more so that the stars could come out and play. The cool breeze of the night sweeped it's way through the island, touching every plant and animal in sight, dipping into every cave and touching every river or stream. We all sat around aimlessly in a circle on the dirt floor, everyone waiting in anticipation, eager to see what game we were going to be playing tonight.

“I have an idea!” a lost boy exclaimed, excited to share., everyone's ears perked up at his voice, leaning in closer to find out what his suggestion is "How about we play truth or dare?"

"No, Alex, we played that last night, remember?" Another boy chipped in, clearly annoyed at his friend "How about we play hide and seek?"

The boys pondered on the though for a while, still not everyone was in total agreement.

"I’ve got an even better game!" A boy named Oscar exclaimed as he crawled his way up onto a rock.

"What’s your bright idea this time?" Another lost boy chimed sarcastically, making a few other boys laugh, even I let out a little giggle.

"Its called Caterpillar. It’s like hide and seek but when you find someone, you stay by their side the rest of the game!" He exclaimed proudly.

The boys all exchanged glances at each other, smirking into the night, was there something I was missing? One by one the boys eyed my hungrily, causing my arms to explode with goosebumps. I kept my e/c eyes focused on the dirt ground, trying not to draw too much attention to myself.

All the boys had seemed to reach an agreement

"Ok, what are you all waiting for? Everyone Scram! Ten seconds to get to your hiding spots!" Pan boomed as he got up to his feet, his thick British accent standing out loud and clear for everyone to hear.

Within a flurry of laughs and scurrying, everyone seemed to vanish into thin air as they blended in perfectly. Peter climbed up a tall evergreen tree as fast as he could, his rough hands scrapping along the bark and started to count down at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed through the trees, reaching every nook and crannie on the island, undoubtedly reaching the ears of the lost boys.

"Ten, Nine..."

Quickly, I rushed to my feet, taking off into the forest as fast as my small legs could carry me. There was a burning in my chest as I pushed my legs harder, my body was screaming for more oxygen as I keep on pushing, the jungle around me became a blur of dark green as I ran further and further. Finally, deciding that I had come far enough I began to slow my pace down until my light jog became a steady walk. With nothing to but wonder around, hoping that I didn't bump into Pan, I had nothing to do but be alone with my thoughts. Looking down at my feet I made sure that I didn't stumble over any stray logs or tree roots, but making sure that I wouldn't trip up sure didn't stop me from falling over as I smacked into something hard.

"Woah." A familiar voice cooly exclaimed "You better watch were you're going."

Looking up, my eyes were met with none other than Felix. His icy blue eyes stared back at me coldly as his tall body loomed over mine. The scar that ran down his face was almost completely cover by his hood as his wooden club was slung effortlessly over his broad shoulders. I was stuck in place, permanently staring up at him.

"Well," he spoke, sticking out a hand for me to grab onto "looks like we're stuck with each other for the rest of the game."

I smiled up at him as our fingers intertwined causing butterflys to aimlessly flutter around in my stomach, why was I feeling like this? I had never felt this way around any of the boys before, what made Felix so different? Shrugging off the thought and the weird feeling which welled in the out of my stomach, I got back up onto my feet.

"Uh... thanks" I said as we began to walk, not fully sure if I had just imagined his fingers lingering on mine or not, "You know I'm kinda glad I ran into you and not one if the other boys."

He looked at me confused, "and why's that?" He asked, his voice was as deep and husky as ever.

"Because, you don't try to flirt with me 24/7 Like everyone else." I said.

"What, you're telling me that our one and only lost girl doesn't like the attention?" He says sarcastically, placing a hand on his chest in fake shock causing me to let out a little giggle.

"Well, ok I do kinda like the attention, the boys can be so sweet to me but it just gets annoying sometimes." I explained.

His face softened and the corner of his lips curled up as he let out an low chuckle.

"Do my ears deceive me, or did I just hear the almighty, cold-hearted Felix giggle."

I couldn't be sure if it were my eyes playing tricks on me or if it was just the lack of light hiding it well, but I couldve swarn I saw a light brush dance across the second in command cheeks.

"Shut up." He said, turning his face around in an effort to try and hide it from me, in the process giving a glimpse of his very nice jaw line.

Damn.

Finally, we had arrived at a quite spot, somewhere deep in the jungle of Neverland. We took a seat in a secluded, well hidden area were no one would be sure to find us, the bushes and trees kept us well hidden from everyone's else. An awkward silence hung over the both of us, nether of us really had anything to say.

"So...." he began, but we both knew that this conversation wasn't going to go anywhere.

You know that awkward giggle people do when you have nothing to say to each other so you just end up retardedly laughing? Well that's exactly what I was doing.

"What's so funny?" The tall blonde asked me, with a bashful smile on his face.

"Ah, it's nothing." I said, returning to the awkward silence "ok, I have a question."

He looked at me with a raised eye brow "And what would that be?"

"When I first came to the island, what did you think of me?" I asked innocently.

"Well don't get me wrong I obviously thought that you were pretty." He said as pink dust coated his cheeks "I also had my doubts about you, I wasn't sure if you could handle what the island would throw at you, but now I know that you can."

"Awww, you had me at 'I thought you were pretty'" I joked.

"Oh, fuck off." He said letting out a little laugh before our surroundings became silent once again "So, what did you think of me?"

"Honestly?" I asked "I thought you were gay."

If Felix was drinking water he would've spat it out, looking back at me in disbelief.

"W-why did you think I was gay?" He asked me in shock.

"Well, like I said before you never flirt with me like the other boys do so I just kinda thought...."

"I. Am. Not. Gay." He said, looking me right in the eyes.

The tone of his voice sent a shiver to run up and down my spine, but I couldn't work out weather it was because I was scared or not.

"Are you sure?" I teased.

"Yes! I've been here for over a hundred years, I think I would know if I was attracted to boys." He laughed at me.

"Well what if you didn't know?" I suggested "What if you just haven't had your sexual awakening yet?"

He chuckled at my comment, "Still, I'm not gay."

"Prove it." I said to him.

He looked me dead in the eyes, hesataiting for a moment before grabbing my by the collar of my cloak and smashing his lips against mine. To say it was perfect was an huge understatement, the kiss was sweet with whispers of desire. His hands moved to the smol of my back, pulling me close towards him until my legs were resting ether side of his torso. Our tongues met as they danced together, my finders intertwined themselves into his blonde hair, causing him to kiss me harder. Slowly, his fingertips wonder further down my back landing in my ass before squeezing.

"Felix." I whispered against his lips, he took that as an invertation to pull me in even closer, my chest was flushed against his while his hands travled up my thighs gentally rubbing circles on my clit through my underwear. Moaning into the kiss I started to grind myself against him, causing small grunts to fell past the boys lips.

"You have no idea how bad I've wanted this." He whispered hungrily in my ear before returning his lips to mine. I felt my cheek reden as he smirked into the kiss as a consequence of my reaction.

"Y/n?" Someone asked.

Quickly pulling away from Felix, I turned to face the boy. There stood a tall boy, no older than sixteen, his brown eyes stared at us in shock.

"U-um... Nick!" I exclaimed, not expecting anyone to find us.

"Uhhhh guys!" He yells over the the group of lost boys which were undoubtedly watching mine and Felix little rondevouez through the bushes "I found them!"

"Oh so they were here-" Pan says, stepping onto out little hiding place, his eyes darkened when he saw his second in command sitting on the floor, a dark blush coating his cheeks and me awkwardly sitting beside him, "Come on boys, let's go back to camp."

The boys left, leaving me and Felix awkwardly sitting beside each other.

"So uhhhh...." he began, scratching the back of his neck "I wouldn't mind doing that again."

He bit his lip as I leaned in, straddling his waist once again before kissing him deeply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT!!! Anon, I hope you're still here and you can across this I just want you to know how sorry I am and I really hope you liked the story 😍❤ xxxxx

@britishfangirlxo @lady-of-lies @nevereverlandboys

#ouat #ouat fanfiction #fan fiction #ff #neverland #ouat felix imagine #ouat ff #fan fic writing #fandom #fanfic #ouat fan fic #ouat fan fiction #ouat felix #felix ouat #felix x reader #felix fic #felix imagines

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hamilton-one-shots · 6 years

Text

Hamilton High School AU 75

When he woke up in the morning, he got up and ordered breakfast, then took a quick shower, getting out by the time the food got there and beginning to eat as he waited for the other two to wake up.

Alexander was next up, smiling at John as he sat up and saw him. "Good morning.."

"Good morning." He smiled and beckoned him over, something that he gladly did.

He sat beside John and grabbed some of the food, eating with him. "Are you excited for today?"

"Yeah. I've never been to anything this big. I even asked James if I'd have to wear a tuxedo, which, luckily, I don't. It's all fancy and stuff, but not that fancy."

"I'm glad because then I'd stick out like a sore thumb trying to see your work." He kissed his cheek. John smiled. "You'd be the real artwork."

"Oh, hush, we both know you have the skills of a god. Your art is definitely more beautiful than me and I'm not hearing anything against it."

John shrugged. "Alright. Be wrong." He chuckled.

"If anything, it'll be you that draws them in, pretty boy."

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Whatever."

Alexander smiled and kept eating.

Thomas woke up and joined them a bit later, thanking John for the food and kissing his cheek. "So, what have you two been talking about while I was asleep?"

"How John's the real artwork people are coming to see."

"Yeah, sure, okay," John mocked.

"He's got a point. You , sunshine, are absolutely stunning." Thomas cupped his cheek and pecked his lips, making him blush lightly.

"And you two are absolutely insane." He muttered, though his smile was immovable. "What time are we leaving to go out?"

Thomas checked his phone. "Maybe half an hour?"

"Sounds great."

The three kept eating and finished getting ready before piling into Thomas's car and leaving, heading to Fort Sumter. It was Alexander's choice, as curious as he was about history, and nobody had anything against the idea, so they went.

Alexander looked like a kid in a candy store on the tour, taking his time asking as many questions as he could.

"I didn't know you were into history. You always just write."

"I don't understand how anyone would not love history! To learn about the past, the wars we've fought and the battles we've gone through to get where we are. My favorite time, personally, is colonial American times, but I also love a good Civil War battle."

John smiled. "Alright, I've got a treat for you after this. Thomas mind if I drive?"

"Not at all." He kissed the top of his head.

"Great." He held Alexander's hand and watched him light up with every fact, falling that much more in love with him every time.

Once it was time to go, Alexander was spilling out facts, knowing that Thomas and John weren't paying as much attention, and asking them how they enjoyed it. Of course, Thomas just said it was alright and John said it was interesting,

"But I preferred watching you light up at every fact." He got in the driver's seat and began driving them, turning down Thomas's offer of a map. "No, I think I know where I'm going. My mom took us there a few times to tell us a bit about history." She kind of had the Civil War and the Revolutionary war confused, but the lesson was clear all the same. John had no idea how many different bloodlines came to make up his own, but his mother taught him that a long time ago, a very, very long time ago, he'd had slave owning relatives as well as slave relatives, a few of which escaped and made their way to Puerto Rico. She told him that that might have been his family history, but that he wasn't ruled by it. This mainly came up whenever his spoiled classmates began calling him derogatory names. He wanted to fight him, but he told his mother and asked her for advice first.

"Those kids are talking about your history, about things that happened a long time ago. You're going to be the bigger person here and embrace that part of you. Don't you let them keep calling you that, but also don't let the reason they call you that be the problem. So you look a bit different, your skin's a bit darker. Who cares? What matters is we all have red blood and a lot of people spilled blood here to prove it."

John had to admit, it was a bit embarrassing when he actually learned about the Civil War and claimed that that was a battle site for that war, but the message stuck.

"Here we are." He parked the car and smiled, leading Alexander to a sign in front of the river, letting Alexander read it for himself.

"Oh my god.. Oh my god, this is an actual war site!" He'd never been able to visit any in New York because, to be frank, he was afraid that the question would raise alarms with Martha and George. "This is so cool!" He jumped around for a second before calming himself down and reading the rest of the sign. "I didn't know any of this stuff... I can't believe a real Revolutionary War happened right here!"

"We lost this one, but it was just one battle in a whole war that helped us kind of become what we are today. As a country, we're not all that great.. But definitely could be worse."

Alexander nodded and took a few steps back, taking John's hand. "This is so cool.." He smiled widely and turned around, kissing John passionately. "Are you going to have amazing surprises for me every time we go somewhere?" he asked once he pulled away.

"I don't know, but if I get to get kissed like that every time, I'll make sure to surprise you more often."

Alexander smiled. "I'll kiss you like that whenever you want." He pecked his lips again.

"Great." He kissed him again for a few seconds, cupping his cheek as he pulled away. "You deserve all of these surprises."

"You're a miracle.." he hummed.

He kissed his forehead. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." He held his hand and walked with him back to the car, getting in the back while Thomas and John were in the front, John driving them to get some lunch. "What's next?"

"Maybe we could get some rest before tonight," Thomas suggested. "You're going to have a long night." Of course, just staying awake until midnight wouldn't have been a challenge, but John staying up on his feet and selling art for that long was definitely going to wear him out.

"Are you sure? I can keep going for a while."

"No, we're getting you back for rest. You don't know when to rest."

John thought for a second before nodding. "Alright.. After lunch." He went with them and got some McDonald's.

"So, what's the dress code for tonight?" Thomas asked. "And are we matching or just doing our own thing?"

"Black tie optional. And you guys can wear what you want, I've got a black suit and tie."

He nodded. "I should have something good for that."

"Me too. Lafayette helped me pick something before we came over here. I actually asked before we came here," Alexander grinned.

"Alex," John warned, though there was a slightly playful tone in his voice. He could tell Alexander was joking.

"Yeah, Alex," Thomas joked back at him.

Alexander shrugged and kept eating. "Just saying."

John kissed his cheek and finished his food, sitting back and waiting for the other two.

Thomas and Alexander finished a few minutes after him and got up, going back to the car with him.

"Alright, I'm so ready for a power nap after this." John smiled and sat in the driver's seat.

"Me too," Thomas stretched and 'subtly' put his arm around the back of John's seat, leaning over and kissing his cheek.

"Get a room," Alexander chuckled.

"We have a room. We just need to find a place for you to stay." He shrugged.

Alexander rolled his eyes.

"You guys are ridiculous." John smiled and began driving.

Thomas smiled and moved his arm down to John's shoulders, feeling him relax a bit as he did. "You are a sweetheart, you know that?"

"Whatever." John chuckled and got to the hotel, going up to the room with them both.

When they got up to the room, John plopped onto the bed and sighed, kicking off his shoes. "Wake me up at 1." He crawled under the blankets and fell asleep.

Thomas smiled and kissed his cheek before sitting at the foot of the bed and grabbing his bag, taking care of his Spring Break homework.

Alexander sat across the room, doing the same. "You're not actually going to try anything with John while we're here, are you?"

"One of the rules were not to, so I'm guessing no."

"Alright. If you do, just let me know so I can leave or something."

"Noted, but it's not going to happen. Why don't you just join us if you do, anyways?"

Alexander looked over at him, wondering if he was serious. "You don't just ask someone that."

He shrugged. "I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal after Friday."

"Well, you guessed wrong.. I mean... I'd do it again, but probably not just out of nowhere.."

"Mind if I ask why?"

"I don't like you that way. I know that doing that with you both doesn't necessarily mean that I like you, but I don't know.."

Thomas nodded. "Alright. It was just a suggestion, I'm not going to make you do anything with us."

"I know.." Even he trusted Thomas enough not to force him into anything like that. "Just... Just tell me if you want alone time with John. He said not to for our sake and I don't really care if you do anything, as long as I don't have to be around to see it."

"Alright.." But Thomas wasn't so sure about that. Hell, he could tell that Alexander wasn't so sure about it. He'd consider the offer, alone time with John was great, whether or not it meant sex, but he wasn't going to put Alexander out and make John feel bad about it.

The pair worked in silence for the next hour, Thomas's alarm ringing once it was time for John to get up. He got up and sat by John, gently grabbing his shoulder and rubbing circles into the back of it. "Hey.. It's time to get up, sunshine. You've got people to blow away."

John woke up quickly, smiling a bit at Thomas's comment. "Thanks.." He got up and grabbed his outfit, then went to the bathroom and changed and did his hair. "How do I look?" he asked when he came back out.

"Like a million bucks."

"You look great, John."

He smiled and fiddled with the cuffs of his black suit jacket, then went to the door as Madison knocked.

"Are you ready?"

"Yep. Let me just grab my things." He got his phone, wallet, and keys, then gave Alexander and Thomas a quick kiss before leaving with James.

"Are they coming too?" James asked.

"Yeah. They brought dress clothes from back home, don't worry."

"For every day?"

He thought for a second. "That, I'm not so sure about."

"Okay. Did you at least bring a different outfit for everyday?"

"Of course. I got the dress schedule you sent me."

"Good." James wanted the two to match everyday on the off chance that one of them would end up in a tux while the other just wore a suit, so he made a schedule for them. Black suit with white shirt, then black suit with black shirt, then with a navy blue shirt, then a blue suit with a white shirt, and, finally, tuxedos for the last and most formal day.

The pair got into James's car and went to the venue, checking in before going and waiting at their places. It was almost like a normal event, only with a more strict dress code and the art was set up for them. It was an amazing opportunity for them both and they were not about to let it slip.

Thomas and Alexander were getting ready soon after John left. Thomas even tied his hair back into a bun, looking almost a bit like Lafayette.

"Only Laf is kind of shorter and much more pleasant all-around," Alexander continued after pointing it out.

"He has to be to put up with you."

Alexander didn't know whether or not Thomas was just joking around. He just muttered a simple, "Whatever.." in response.

"It's a joke, Hamilton. You can't call me unpleasant and get mad when I snap back at you."

"Right.." He went into the bathroom and brushed his hair out before pulling it back into a bun, tying it back with a green ribbon that he only brought out on special occasions. "Are you ready to go?"

Thomas nodded. "I'm just waiting on you."

"I'm ready." He was wearing a black suit with a dark, dull green shirt underneath and Thomas was wearing one with a lavender shirt.

"Great. Let's go." He got in the car with Alexander and plugged the address from the tickets that John had left them into his GPS before driving off. "So, what am I to you? You clearly still don't like me, so not a friend. But you don't hate me."

"Why does it matter?"

"I'm just making conversation." He shrugged.

Alexander thought for a minute. "I don't know.. You're kind of just my boyfriend's boyfriend who I don't get along with."

"The feeling's mutual. What about rival? I know we're not actually fighting over John or anything, but we're kind of rivals everywhere else."

"What about frenemy? You're between my friend and my enemy, I guess."

Thomas snorted a bit. "I know puns are usually your thing, but what about boyfrienemy? If we actually got along well, we'd probably be considered boyfriends and it's still kind of has that stupid notion that we have to fight over John."

Alexander couldn't help but chuckle at that. Boyfrienemy... "I like it. I can't want to see how people react to hearing that disaster word."

Thomas nodded. A minute or so later, he pulled up at the convention hall and had his car valet parked before walking inside with Alexander kind of trailing behind him. "So, you want to find John first or look around a bit so we can be properly blown away?"

"We can look around, but if I see stupid modern art, I'm leaving."

"Fair enough." He shrugged before beginning to walk around with Alexander.

Everyone had typical ghost paintings and vampires biting teenage girl necks and werewolves howling at the moon. Every supernatural stereotype and more was on display, mainly in the form of paintings and occasionally in the form of a sculpture. There were a few eye catching pieces, some newer perspectives from the younger artists, but they were few and far in between.

"I'm no art snob, but I really thought there'd be something different to look at. I feel like I'm on the set of Twilight," Thomas commented quietly as they passed yet another young, handsome vampire smoking in the sunlight.

"Me too.." Alexander muttered.

"Let's try and find John's area. I haven't really scene anything he's been working on." He was a master at keeping his work hidden, even as it was drying.

"Me neither." Alexander immediately began wandering off, just wanting to find John and stay with him. He didn't hate Thomas's company, but he'd pick John over him in a heartbeat.

Thomas followed behind him, doing his best to keep an eye on him, as short as he was. Alexander may have had shorter legs, but he also had an easier time ducking through the crowd, so he was covering ground much quicker than Thomas was. A bit too much quicker.

"I can't find him anywhere.. Do you see anything, Thomas?" He turned around, expecting the tall Virginian to just point in the right direction, but he instead saw an unfamiliar face passing him. Then another. And another. And no Thomas behind them. Worse than that, there was no John, either.

"Hey, Thomas," John greeted with a smile before turning back to the people he'd been speaking with.

Thomas gave him a small wave and waited until John was free to talk.

"Are you having fun?"

"It's been alright. I accidentally lost Alexander, though. Can you give me his number so I can help him back here? He's just wandering, trying to look for you."

"Yeah, no problem." He pulled out his phone and unlocked it before handing it to Thomas. "Ignore the background."

"You just had to use that picture, didn't you?" What other picture would be the background on John's phone than the one of Thomas and Alexander cuddling in their sleep? He ignored it and called Alexander, receiving an answer within a few seconds.

"John, where are you? I can't find your booth."

"It's not John, it's me. I found John. Where are you right now?"

He told him where he was and Thomas helped lead him through everything over the phone until he spotted him.

"Alright, I see you. Turn right."

Alexander looked over and saw Thomas waving. He sighed in relief and hung up, going over to them and looking at John's art. There was something so unique about his style and so human about his monster subjects. About the young teenager desperately fighting to hide his skin as it smoked. About the forgetful werewolf who's going through the misery of her transformation in the middle of the city. About the ghost paintings that looked normal, but felt off, like something was missing from them. Or someone. Those seemed to be John's most popular pieces. The others were just as great and original and they were being sold, but not nearly as fast as his ghost paintings.

James seemed pleased and decided to take a small break, letting John do the talking for a while as a crowd of women came their way.

He seemed to expertly flatter them and flirt and keep their attention.

#hamilton #hamilton fanfic #john laurens #thomas jefferson #alexander hamilton #james madison #lams #thaurens #jamilams #75 #chapter 75

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mollymauk-teafleak · 6 years

Text

I’ve been wanting to write something for my and @minky-for-short‘s Alex/Eliza Dungeons and Dragons AU forever and what better to write than the classic and beloved fan fiction trope of whoops, there’s only one bed?

Please enjoy, if you did, I’d really appreciate a reblog or some money kicked to my Ko-Fi to fund my hot chocolate addiction.

She’d had such high hopes.

Though no, not high hopes. The expectation of a bed with an actual mattress and a frame, hopefully stuffed with down though straw would suffice instead of the bare ground, a room with a window to let the morning sun gradually filter through rather than hitting her full in the face like an insistent slap, a bowl of warm water to wash her face in or maybe even a bath, as opposed to spending a few minutes sucking in her breath and marshalling her courage before jumping into an ice cold river in order to start the day not smelling like a barn. Those weren’t exactly unimaginable luxuries, when Eliza thought about it.

Though travelling and adventuring had really adjusted her perspective on life, in many different ways.

The room did look ridiculously cosy and inviting after so long on the road that she’d actually lost count of how many nights she’d spent sleeping under the stars, which had sounded romantic back when she’d come of age and realised she found her life in their father’s manor house stifling. When she’d been dragging her feet through the endless social engagements expected of a high lords daughter but had never seemed to be expecting someone quite like her and considered her a disappointment, leaving her leaping at the chance to go travelling with her sisters. But Eliza had realised that often ‘stars’ meant thick clouds or incessant, chilly drizzle or the boughs of a tree that would be resolutely dripping on her all night long.

But this room had a small candle flickering on a bedside table, warm and welcoming, the honey gold light thrown around the room like arms spread wide ready to receive them, showing beams overhead like they were in some kind of converted barn, a flagon of water, a window with the drapes cinched tight against the night outside. There was a sheaf of paper and a quill on the desk to write a letter to their parents, a sight which soothed Eliza’s mind as much as the aches in her legs, she was certain they’d be nervous after so long without word of how their journey was going.

There was also a bed. It looked like the kind of bed that would swallow you as soon as you rolled into it, in the best kind of way so that you didn’t need to think of anything but the fresh smell of washed linens and soft pillows and warmth enveloping you until the sun came up.

However, there was only one. And Alex was currently sat on it, looking up at Eliza with an expression that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be belligerence or apologeticness and was making a poor imitation of both.

Eliza dropped her pack and closed the door behind her with a short, sharp sigh of resignation, “There’s no use looking at me like that. You know this wasn’t my idea either.”

“I’m not looking at you like any kind of way,” the tiefling retorted, though there was a bitter edge to his voice, “It’s no big deal. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Eliza frowned, shaking her head, “Alex, come on, that’s crazy. We can share a bed for one night, it’s big enough for two. You’ve been sleeping on the ground as long as I have.”

She hoped her voice was steady and certain as she wanted it to be, so maybe she’d be able to convince him that she really didn’t see sharing such close quarters with him as a huge deal. When maybe she did...just a little. Though not for the reasons she was sure he was thinking.

It really hadn’t been either of their decisions. An unplanned trip into a particularly stagnant and murky pond a few days ago had left Peggy with a pox of red, raised spots on her skin. Angelica had had it years ago, when she was much younger so she was immune which was a relief given that she had the most healing skill out of any of them. Alex and Eliza were at risk though and had been banished to the bed he was supposed to be sleeping in alone, definitely alone, definitely not with his party mate that he didn’t honestly get off on the best foot with. Or had been finding the right foot with since. They were still kind of looking for the right foot. And Eliza didn’t think they were going to find it while they were going to be crammed together in the same bed, comfortably big but certainly not big enough that they weren’t going to have to touch at some point.

And weird things had been happening whenever Alex and Eliza touched recently. She’d been trying to ignore it or pretend she didn’t notice that flowers bloomed between her fingers whenever she saw Alex just after he’d woken up and Peggy had kicked him out of his bedroll, when his hair was sticking up around his horns and his eyes were bright and no shirt to cover his muscles or tattoos. Or when she’d be cooking at the fire and he’d come and drop down by her wherever she sat to give her some herbs he’d found, so much so that his arm pressed against her, when he’d wander away Eliza would find some daisies creeping their way pointedly up her shoulder.

Whenever her powers showed themselves unconsciously, it was in response to a strong surge of emotion, something Eliza knew in the back of her mind but was trying very,very hard not to focus on.

Because having any kind of strong surge of emotion in response to a young rouge who’d first made his acquaintance with the sisters by trying to collect them for a bounty, who was very cagy about the kind of work he’d been involved in before he met them, who had such dark, beautiful eyes and a wicked smile that revealed his pointed teeth and a little of the vulnerability that lived behind it...it would be a very bad idea.

Alex brought her out of that dangerous line of thinking with a short, sharp huff of a sigh, “I don’t think there is a way for this not to be awkward, huh, Princess?”

Eliza rolled her eyes at the nickname he’d adopted for her that had started as a poisonous jab the first time he’d used it (though in fairness to him, she had been hoisting him upside down with vines) but had slowly softened over their travels into more of an inside joke. He’d use it, she’d aim a kick at his shins that never really intended to land and point out that technically she was the daughter of a high lord and deserved only the title ‘lady’ at best though that had always made her wrinkle her nose right from when she was five years old.

“No, I don’t think there is,” Eliza shrugged, scuffing the edge of her boot against the rug, “So how about we just take a deep breath, handle this like adults and then never talk about it again after tonight? Because, honestly, I just want to sleep right now.”

“I always handle stuff like an adult,” Alex muttered, though he did get up and relinquish the bed, going over to the opposite end of the room, “I need to change. No peeking.”

Eliza snorted, turning her back just as he did so they were eye to eye with opposite walls, “Long as you return the favour.”

“Um, I am a gentleman? So that should really go without saying?” Alex’s voice was jokingly indignant and Eliza could hear the whisper of clothes against skin and the gentle breath of it being dropped to the floor. She marshalled her thoughts determinedly before any could wander in worrying directions and focused on her own dress.

“I can’t believe you just managed to say that with a straight face,” she shot back to distract herself.

She heard Alex gasp and could almost see with perfect clarity the look of shock and horror he’d have on his face, “Schuyler, I am aghast. You hear me? Aghast.”

Eliza couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up in her throat as she pulled her sleep shift out of her pack, “Alex, I don’t think true gentlemen hide live frogs in people’s bedrolls when they aren’t looking.”

“You deserved that and you know it,” there was a crooked smile in his voice, the one Eliza was growing very familiar with, “Don’t think I don’t know it was you who stuck all those briars to my tail.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, Alex,” Eliza smiled to herself, thinking about how incredibly funny it had been to sit back and watch Alex try to charm several townspeople for information, all while completely oblivious to the many feathery, white seeds stuck to his tail. It had kind of diminished his roguish attitude somewhat.

She was lost in the fond memory which was maybe why she didn’t think her next action all the way through as she carelessly turned and was granted a sudden, startling eyeful of Alex, across the room, edged in golden candlelight that bronzed his dark blue skin, entirely naked aside from a very, very small and very, very tight pair of shorts. Fortunately, he was occupied with his shirt and didn’t notice and Eliza managed to dive for the bed and pull the sheets up over her head before he saw the alarming shade of red her cheeks had taken on. Alex merely shot her a puzzled look before shrugging, dressing and blowing out the candle, allowing the room to be swallowed entirely by the night.

It was awkward as it promised to be for a few, stilted moments but after that, both Alex and Eliza found themselves letting go of the tension in their muscles. Part of it was the exhaustion and the welcome embrace of an actual bed, though part of it was simply the fact that lying there with the slow, steady breathing and warmth of another person right by them was incredibly comforting. Even if their relationship with that person was complicated, for want of a better word.

Eliza must have drifted off before too long because the next thing she was aware of was her eyes flickering open without focus, a shock running through her as her body was tipped from sleep. Time must have passed, the shadows were different and there was a new sound, one that took her awhile to place with her thoughts coming slow and sluggish. Thunder. Rain hitting the windows with some force. A storm.

She sat up a little, curious. Memories already arose from the sleepy fog of her mind, of sitting on the window seat in the room she shared with her sisters, their gentle snores just behind her and reminding her she was not alone, watching a storm tear the night apart just on the other side of the glass. Those nights were always precious to her. She could never quite say why but they always felt like they were from another time.

It was only then that Eliza realised Alex was awake too. His shallow, rapid breathing caught her attention, immediately sounding panicked and precarious. She turned to find him lying rigid and stiff, eyes wide and glowing white in the gloom though he didn’t seem to even notice her, like something else entirely had it’s claws in him. In every fight she’d been in by his side, Eliza had never seen him look so terrified.

“Alex?” she blinked, startled, reaching for his shoulder and giving it a little shake, overwhelmed with the need to do something, anything, to help him, “Hey? It’s okay, its me, it’s Eliza…”

Another loud bark of thunder broke overhead, directly overhead, and Alex jerked suddenly, claws fully extended and biting into the headboard with a dull, splintered thunk like he was expecting whatever monster was clearly looming and roaring over them to seize the whole inn and shake it from side to side. He moaned thinly, a small child’s sound of fear.

Eliza acted purely on impulse, only understanding that Alex was upset, the storm was the cause and she had to do something. In one smooth motion, she covered the two of them with the blanket, pulling it down to muffle the noise of the rain and the wind like the woven wool could act as some kind of shield. She wondered why on earth she’d thought such a ridiculous thing, though only for an instant, for after that, Alex distinctly calmed, pulling himself into a tight little ball so every inch was under the protection she’d offered. More than that, Eliza was surprised to find his arms, warm and strong but with a note of desperation, winding around her, becoming his anchor. She considered being shocked, being disarmed, being awkward but all those thoughts she swept away with a careless arm as she held Alex in return.

“It’s just a storm, Alex,” she whispered into the darkness, feeling him still trembling against her, “It’ll pass. It can’t hurt you, not here.”

She wasn’t expecting him to reply, she wasn’t even sure if she was fully awake or if this was just some kind of waking nightmare for him. But he did, in a voice that sounded so small and so shaky, she couldn’t believe it came from the confident, crookedly smiling tiefling she knew.

“Promise?”

Eliza found her hands moving up to the tangled mop of his hair, usually so neat but flustered by his tossing and turning in the blankets. She combed her fingers through it, slowly, soothingly, giving him some real sensation to cling to and remind him where he was, “I promise, Alex. You’re safe.”

“I...I don’t like storms…” he muttered by way of explanation.

Eliza shook her head, still stroking his hair, a smile growing on her face, “It’s okay. Just get through it and then never talk about it again, remember?”

Alex managed a thin laugh but it was more like himself and Eliza was relieved to hear it. The storm did pass on, eventually, though neither Alex nor Eliza noticed. Sleep found them again, still in each other’s arms.

And if either of them noticed the small carpet of tiny, white flowers that had appeared around the legs of the bed by the morning, true to their word, neither of them mentioned it.

#hamliza #alexander x eliza #Hamilton fanfic #Alexander Hamilton #Eliza Hamilton #dungeons and dragons au #dnd au #as in theyre the races and classes and such #Eliza is a human druid #Alex is a tiefling rouge

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hollywoodx4 · 7 years

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Sticking With the Schuylers (39)

Hi! It’s been a crazy week, but 39 is finally done! There are so many things I want to do with this story and these characters, I’m always very happy to hear you guys are reading and enjoying because that means I get to have the most fun in this world even longer :)

Shoutout to @oosnavi for being my sounding board for the 2 weeks we’ve been developing Emily and literally listening to the paragraphs upon paragraphs I’ve sent. The true MVP right there.

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Tagging: @linsnavi

Warnings: This story is pretty heavy on mentions of both physical and emotional abuse.

When an old flame dies out it leaves ashes, and embers, and rivers of tears.

Supposedly.

These are none of the things that Peggy Schuyler is feeling. In fact, there is a sensation of lightness when Enzo calls her to end their relationship-a really shitty move on his part-that helps to soften the blow. Instead of tears, there are upturned lips and a curious heart. She hangs up the phone, tossing it on her upturned covers, before moving to change her relationship status on social media.

Single. The word that had once carried the weight of a natural disaster now floats in the air above her, through the glow-in-the-dark stars that line the high ceiling. It doesn’t come down to her level, although she feels it should be. And in this haze of feelings, of solitude and relief and peace, all she can do is shift over, grabbing her phone and holding it gently between two hands. His name is still etched in her contact list, four letters. They’re just that-letters. Attached to the name is a photograph, one they had taken while stuck on the subway one afternoon. Enzo is fun, lighthearted. His broad nose and face-consuming smile bring her own lips to turn in the memory. They joked, they laughed. He was comedic, and impulsive, and just weird enough to bring into her circle of misfits.

But even then, had he been enough? She should be crying-isn’t that what girls did after breakups? She hadn’t cried when she’d broken up with Leo or Nick, either, but she’d been young then and the relationships consisted of group trips to the movies and sweaty hands held over greasy, aromatic popcorn. This should be different. Peggy had been dating Enzo for a few months; they’d gotten serious. In this frame of time, in his mind, serious had meant a few fumbling moments of awkward sex while her parents were out of town and ‘really great’ beer purchased by an older cousin of his. She’d thought it was cool, feeling older and more mature even though the beer made her stomach bloat and her head spin a little. And sure, the sex was awkward but when Peggy had told Maria about it she’d just laughed, tipping her head back and shaking her head. It’s just because he’s your first. It’s always awkward the first time.

It hadn’t gotten less awkward-in fact, the longer their relationship progressed, the more out of place Peggy began to feel. She wasn’t sure just what was wrong, or how to fix it, but she knew it couldn’t be Enzo. He hadn’t changed one bit. He hung around a separate crowd-ones who were swimmers like he was. They weren’t particularly harsh but Enzo’s friends weren’t the nicest, either. They were concerned with higher-class outings and getting drunk on their parents’ boats. She often sat low in the bleachers, watching him swim back and forth with concentrated gusto. He was good, but not the best. He liked to pretend that he was, though. He’d climb out of the water, shining with fresh droplets that cascaded down bare skin as if they belonged there, and reveled in the cheering of the crowd. This was-is-his home. Peggy, on the other hand, holds court with a grouping of mismatched friends on fire escapes with vodka mixed into sugary drinks. She prefers these nights, when inhibitions are released and expectations forgotten. These people, this family of friends she had acquired, don’t treat her any differently. Their statuses are different; a scholarship student, an immigrant, a wild child, and a senator’s daughter…together, they fit. Together, they enjoy their nights on the rooftop as equals in their own right. Societal standings cannot find them hovering above the city lights.

Not even Enzo could ruin their nights above the crowds. He’d been invited; multiple times, in fact. But each time he answered Peggy’s request with a hesitation that ended in words woven together on the spot. An excuse. She’d known that each time, but let it slide. He’d never liked her friends, but she’d never particularly wanted to include him in their plans anyway. She and Enzo were their own separate unit, away from friend groups and families and anybody else but themselves. That’s how he liked it-and Peggy, as well. While others worked best as one unit joining everybody together, they kept things simple. Easy.

But easy hadn’t been comfortable-it hadn’t been right. While the relationship had been pleasant and the sex adequate enough, Peggy craves more than that. She knows that what she’s missing isn’t the level of devotion Eliza and Alex have for one another, or the simplistic domesticity of Angelica and Church. She and Enzo hadn’t had any of that, but her mind and her body don’t seem to pull toward it. Whatever it is that he doesn’t have-whatever is making her so nonchalant about the breakup of a three month relationship-she wishes that she could decipher just what’s going on.

She calls Eliza first, and it’s when she conferences in Angelica that’s when her middle sister knows that something must be up. She doesn’t sound upset, however. She speaks in her normal, lifted tone as if it were just another day. But it isn’t. When she breaks the news to her sisters they gasp, both speaking at once. The general consensus, she gathers, is the question of how he’d done it.

“I mean, he called me. Just now.”

“He called you?!” Angelica spits her consonants with harsh diction, and although they’re only speaking through the phone she translates the very sudden and visceral protection through the hardened tone of her voice. Peggy cringes, shaking her head. But before she can respond, Eliza jumps in. She’s more calm; even and gentle as she speaks.

“Are you alright?”

“I think so…no, I am. I am alright. I feel like I should be really mad but I’m not.”

“He was a jerk anyway.” Angelica interjects, letting out a breath of air. “You‘re way too good for him. I can’t believe he did it over the phone though, what kind of asshole,”

“Ange, it’s alright. I’m over it.”

“Are you sure? Because I can come over there, it’s not a big deal. Maybe I can even stop by his place on the way there, just have a chat…”

“I mean I wouldn’t object to that because it was a dick move but I’m fine, so we’re just going to leave it. He did the right thing,”

“-In a shitty way,”

“-But it still was the right thing, Ange.” Peggy lays across her bed, phone pressed to her ear, listening to the evolution of a conversation between her sisters. It’s a debate, actually, over her situation. She doesn’t join in. She doesn’t feel like it. In her train of thought, he’d broken up with her and that was it. What was the sense in getting worked up over a moment that left no hard feelings on her part, anyway?

The week crawls slowly for Peggy, who is back at school from winter break while her sisters are god knows where, basking in the freedom of another week away from their responsibilities. They’ve come to visit a few times but she’s been in school, stuck in uniform pretending to care about senior studies while sitting in the back of the class with Maria, her best friend. The news of her breakup with Enzo had spread rampant, and even before she’d set foot on campus that following Monday she’d been bombarded with questions. Most of these inquiries came from strangers who pretended to know her; one-sided acquaintances who were more interested in her amount of Twitter followers than her actual life. She takes these things in stride, brushing off the comments in a nonchalant light.

“He and I are fine, we just…didn’t like each other anymore.”

Maria thinks she’s ridiculous. But then again, that’s her best friend. She’s more like Angelica than anybody else, ready to throw back insults if Peggy seems even slightly offended. She restrains Maria. She’s not sure why everybody is making such a big deal of things. It was only three months. It was only a few awkward afternoons in one of their bedrooms while their parents worked. Enzo hadn’t really even been a big deal. He still isn’t. And now, as passersby watch as she waves to him in the hall, she wishes the entire relationship hadn’t happened at all. If life after a breakup was supposed to be all drama and tears, why even bother with one in the first place?

Also, what did feeling absolutely nothing at all make her, or their relationship?

She’s still mulling the situation over on Thursday night, curled up on the window seat with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. She’d burrowed herself deep into a YouTube rabbit hole, progressing from makeup tutorials to toy reviews to personal vlogs from people all over the world. She’s content in this place, where she can be alone. Her mother had gone to a book club meeting, and her father had holed himself up in the office after a Christmas break that had lasted ‘far too long.’

Her private time is interrupted by a shift of weight on the grey plush cushion, a shadow cast on the window she’d been staring at. Eliza pulls the end of Peggy’s blanket so that it’s draped in the middle, over both of their legs, before taking a sip of her own large mug of cocoa. It isn’t like Eliza to stay away too long; although Peggy had said time and time again that she was fine, her middle sister isn’t one to drop the subject and move on. Angelica tends to see the other side of the issue; what had been wrong with the boy to hurt one of her sisters. More importantly to her would be what she could say to them in return for the heartbreak. Eliza, on the other hand, had always been the one to tend to her sister’s moods and well-being rather than the actual issue. She’s the counselor, the spokesperson of the heart. This is why, when she looks up at Peggy from a sip of cocoa, the younger Schuyler actually groans.

“I brought you some things-just some candy, and some bubble bath, and a new lipstick. I know you said you don’t want to talk about it,”

“-Bets, I never said that.” Peggy sits up, using one hand to push back the wild curls from the frame of her face. She’s exasperated. The word breakup has become overused, so much so that it feels like it goes right through her, in one ear and right out the other. “I said I was fine about it.”

“I just wanted to make sure. You remember my first real breakup? With,”

“-Henry Ackert, yes I know. He was the ‘love of your life’ and he broke up with you in the middle of the cafeteria freshman year and you cried in front of everybody and Angie punched him. How could we ever forget?”

Eliza sits back then, and for a moment a pang of offense crosses her features. She smooths it out quickly, though, sighing before reaching for her sister’s hand.

“My point is, I’m here. If you want to talk. Or not, that’s fine too.”

“Honestly? I’m kind of done with this whole breakup thing. Can we do something? Something that doesn’t involve you giving me a sugar-coated pep-talk about valuing myself as a human being and how I need to dig inside of my heart and listen to my feelings?”

The words don’t come from the younger sister as harsh, or ungrateful; rather, they’re jesting. Peggy has one eyebrow raised, lips turned up in a smirk as Eliza raises her hands and shakes her head in disbelief. Her little sister knows her; the words from her mouth are an exact outline of what she’d prepped to say on the way over. She’d expected tears, and hugs, and honestly a lot more hot chocolate than they’d drank. But then again, this is Peggy; a constant surprise, a continual outpour of loud laughter and impulsive choices. She’d always been the one to turn everybody else’s bad days into fun ones.

Eliza knows that this is what she must need-they’d all been through the breakup circuit at Manhattan Prep before, she knew what it was like to be the one everybody suddenly couldn’t shut up about. And that kind of limelight; the pity, the ‘what actually happened’ kind of talk…is exactly what Peggy can’t stand. The older Schuyler understands her sister’s pain, but not the recommended dosage of social medication needed to bring her little sister’s mood back up. For Angelica, the two of them would sit on the bed and listen to her rant until her face turned red. Eliza would heal with a few sad movies and some ice cream. Peggy-Peggy hadn’t yet experienced the breakup of a long-term relationship. But she was her party-loving, social butterfly of a sister. The treatment had to fit the patient, and she’d been all wrong about how to help her sister.

“Hey, Alex and I are going to John’s tomorrow for tapas. There’ll be music, family…a perfect distraction. Wanna come with us?”

It doesn’t take long for Peggy to formulate her answer. Her plans for tomorrow night had included nothing but staying in with their parents-meaning long conversations at the table, and leaving the meal early to get away from any more questions about Enzo or school or topics that she just no longer cared to speak about. At least with Alex and Eliza and John there would be good conversation…normal conversation. And then from what she knew about John from game nights and the sporadic hangout over Alex and Eliza’s dates that they’d crashed, he was pretty entertaining. There’s a weird sense of humor about him that she enjoys, a shameless mixture of dad jokes and on-the-spot comedy she hopes will be helpful in curbing whatever kind of slump everyone seems to think she’s in.

The next day, she tags along in the car for the short ride to the Laurens apartment. Alex begins a full-blown thesis about ‘boys like Enzo’ that nobody asked him to complete. Eliza shakes her head at him, still lovingly, while Peggy stares at him through narrowed eyes. He responds with the idea that this pseudo-lecture is something she needs to hear, although she’d just had to listen to a different variation on the same topic from Angelica just hours before. That hadn’t been as bad as this ranting. Nothing beat Alex when he got off on a tangent.

That’s what they’re discussing when they walk through the door- Eliza leads, apologizing for the scene behind her before hugging Valeria and John in turn. Aromatic scents waft from the kitchen, the sound of brassy trumpets and acoustic guitars floating above them. Peggy and Alex add a dissonance to the mood. She rolls her eyes as he speaks one hundred words in one second, with flailing arms and a hand on her shoulder, breaking down his thoughts on the proper treatment of a breakup. Eliza slides between them, ending their conversation with a bemused expression shot Alexander’s way. The lift of his eyebrows and mouth slightly agape tell Eliza that he’s slightly offended. She ignores the concept completely.

“This is my sister Peggy.” Eliza gestures toward her with a long, graceful turn of her arms and she nods, responding with a slight wave and a smile.

“Thanks for letting me join in-tapas sounded so much better than take-out Chinese and listening to this one rant at me all night.”

“It’s really no problem, sweetheart, any Schuyler is a friend of ours. Come in and take off your jacket, we’ll have dinner in an hour.” Valeria bustles back to the kitchen, where her voice lifts and chirps along to the radio in a free-formed version of a scat. In the living room, John has already gone back to the sofa, patting the place next to him. Eliza settles easily between him and Alex, John shifting her closer to his side and propping her against him. Alex feigns jealousy, kicking his feet over the pair and taking up the largest portion of the couch so that his feet are next to John’s face. He laughs before shoving them off, shaking his head and shouting about the smell of sock-clad feet mixing terribly with beer.

Peggy lingers for a moment, scanning the situation before finding an empty seat next to a face she’s never seen before. She makes a beeline for the other half of the loveseat, grinning before settling herself in.

“Mind if I sit here? I’m really not looking to get maimed by Alex’s gross socks either.” The girl nods, the only noise a hum of approval just barely loud enough to hear. Her gaze is cast down to her phone, and although she tries Peggy isn’t quite close enough to get a look at what might be keeping her from making a real introduction. She turns her attentions to the three on the long sofa for a minute; their escapades have died down, Eliza settling for her head on John’s chest and her legs slung over Alex’s. They’re deep into conversation about some show Peggy has never seen, and soon the comparisons of characters from season one to three bores her.

When she turns her attention back to the girl next to her she’s still on her phone. Peggy bites her lip and waits. Then, she clears her throat. The girl barely budges. Finally, the youngest Schuyler has had enough. She shifts her weight higher on the couch, smoothing the fabric of her grey knit sweater with purpose. She won’t let it slide like Eliza would. She won’t make a huge deal out of it like Angelica would. No, Peggy Schuyler would take being ignored in a completely different direction.

“Hi, I’m Peggy. I don’t think we’ve met yet?” It isn’t the way her voice inflects-that is completely normal. Peggy Schuyler uses her loudest voice to get these words across, so much so that her companion jumps from her seat with the sudden influx of noise. The Schuyler stifles a grin and tilts her head slightly, waiting for the girl in the seat beside her to say something.

The first thing Peggy notices is how beautiful the girl is-when she finally looks up at her it’s through dark eyes that make immediate contact with hers. She has hair the color of espresso that falls in effortless waves past her shoulders. She pushes it back from her eyes before holding out her hand, nodding.

“Emily.” And that’s all Peggy gets. The girl kicks one leg over the other, leaning back against the couch before casting her gaze back down at her phone. It hits her very suddenly, how short their interaction had been, and she looks up at their company to see if anybody else noticed the exchange. John is staring at them, and shrugs his shoulders at the youngest Schuyler before reaching behind him. He takes one of the circular throw pillows on their seat and chucks it over the coffee table, hitting Emily square in the head. John whoops and high-fives Alex, Eliza and Peggy looking on in horror.

“Hey Em, we have company.”

“I’m aware of that, John, but I,” There’s a shift in John so sudden that the room is filled with it, an unannounced feeling directed only at Emily but shot throughout the entire room. He looks at her with lifted eyebrows and arms crossed in defiance over his chest, daring her to continue. And Emily sighs, tucking her phone into the pocket of her elaborate elephant harem pants. She shifts to sit cross-legged on the couch, an expression both embarrassed and stoic decorating her features.

“Sorry. I was working.”

Peggy is jarred; the slight chill of tone coming from such warmed and softened features has sent her for a loop, and it takes her a moment to come up with a suitable answer. In the end, all she can muster is an acceptance of the half-assed apology before they’re called to the dinner table.

Valeria Laurens keeps her guests entertained with lighthearted stories and heavy food; she creates an effortless dome of conversation that Peggy has no trouble settling herself into. They laugh over stories of John’s time in little league baseball, then delve straight into a tale about the possibility of their neighbor harboring a dead body. Eliza keeps mostly to herself tonight, Peggy notices, although she seems to be very good at pretending she’s at the forefront of every conversation. It isn’t clear whether or not Alex notices. She figures he mustn’t based on the rapid-fire conversation he is having with Emily. She sits next to him with her chair pushed close, speaking low and in a rushed mixture of English and Spanish words too stirred for her to understand through eavesdropping. Every so often he nods, but says nothing past a mumble or a whisper. Peggy watches the exchange with heightened interest, but not until Eliza disrupts her.

“Stop staring!” She hisses through her teeth, chiding her younger sister before hiding her frown in a large bite of her tapas. Peggy stares back at her in disbelief; Eliza is acting as if she can’t see the absurdity of the situation in front of her. Instead she sits back, chatting and laughing as if the girl whispering in Alex’s ear isn’t one of the most beautiful people she’s seen.

The rest of dinner goes on as such; Peggy enjoys Valeria’s cooking and her ability to weave tales that leave her breathless. She cracks up at John’s lame attempts at food puns; badly timed and off-beat. She continues to watch Emily from across the table. Alex is clueless. Eliza smacks her leg, or nudges her, or rolls her eyes. Why are you staring?! The question lingers longer than it should. It’s for the sake of Alex and Eliza, for her sister’s well-being. Staring is just part of the process.

When they’re leaving, sending their goodbyes and grabbing their jackets, they move in an awkward circle to hug each other before parting. Valeria plants a kiss on Peggy’s head, extending an invitation for both of the sisters to stop by whenever they please. John ruffles her hair cracking one last joke.

When she gets to Emily she isn’t sure what to do-the girls hover for a moment before Peggy shrugs her shoulders and extends her arms to her new acquaintance. But then, she’s thinking about dinner and where all of that staring had gotten her and so she pulls away, still with one hand on the Latina’s shoulder.

“Alex is really happy with my sister. And she’s really happy with him.”

“Okay?”

“I just thought you needed to know.” Emily steps back from Peggy’s touch, torn between laughing and shouting. Her unfiltered response is a laughter that spills from her with a natural gusto accentuated by her natural alto timbre. She shakes her head, hair flowing with it, before moving one of her own hands to Peggy’s shoulder.

“Alex is my brother-my pain in the ass brother I never asked for.” Eliza and Alex stand by the door, waiting, as Peggy finishes buttoning up her jacket. She moves to join them but Emily follows, walking the short distance to the door with her in silence before holding a hand up to wave. “Eliza might be your sister but Alex is my brother, and as much as you try to protect her, I’ll protect him. Also, I like girls, if that makes you feel any better.”

She waves one last time, to all three of them. Her eyes raise slightly at Peggy, just enough to stir her blood and bring offense to the moment they’d shared. Emily shuts the door behind them, then, a resounding click acting as the last word of conversation. Peggy stands dumbfounded and staring at the cream colored door for a moment, replaying the moment in her mind. Then, she’s strumbling to keep up with her sister and her boyfriend, who’d already started to walk away. Eliza walks in the middle, arm linked around Alex’s while Peggy squeezes in beside her. The youngest Schuyler has tensed shoulders-lips drawn into a thin line and eyes narrowed at the path in front of them. She takes breaths that are deeper than normal, more concentrated, and says nothing as they journey to the car. She huffs. She scowls. As Alex converses with Paul, Eliza finds her window to duck closer to her sister, whispering in her ear.

“What was that all about?”

Peggy shrugs. She turns her attention to the view outside her window, letting the mass of buildings and damp grey sky consumer her vision and begin to erase her frustration. Then she mutters under her breath, just loud enough for Eliza to hear.

“Emily Laurens is a bitch.”

#hamliza #hamliza au #mine: SWTS #aaaand peggy

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND February 8, 2018 - THE LEGO MOVIE 2, WHAT MEN WANT, COLD PURSUIT, THE PRODIGY

Well, folks, this week I’m travelling down to Oxford, Mississippi for the 16th Annual Oxford Film Festival (and my third time there as a juror), so that’s really what I’m most excited about this week, although there are a whopping four movies released Friday then another three wide releases next week, so I’ll be looking forward to when things slow down again.

You’ll also notice a pretty major change in this week’s column, and that’s because I’m happy to report that I’ll now be previewing and reporting box office for my good friend Heidi McDonald over at The Beat (Comicsbeat.com), so you’ll be able to read my box office stuff there but still get some insight into the new movies coming out here, especially if you’re interested in the lower-profile limited releases, streaming and repertory stuff. But I’ll still write about the wide releases, and this is most likely where I’ll be reviewing many of them still, since I haven’t been asked to write reviews for The Beat just yet.

Either way, as long as I still have time to write a modified version of this column focusing on the limited releases, I will do so, including a link to my column over at the Beat every week, so you won’t miss out on what I know some people read the column for, which is my box office analysis. If for some reason, you don’t care about anything besides the studio releases, please let me know, since it’s a lot of writing if nobody is writing. THIS WEEK’S BOX OFFICE ANALYSIS AT THE BEAT

THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART (Warner Bros.)

Directed by Mike Mitchell (Trolls) Written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (with story by Matt Fogel) Voice Cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Tiffany Haddish, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell MPAA Rating: PG

This is one of the easier movies this weekend to talk about, since it’s the year’s second sequel after M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass, and it’s not exactly reinventing the LEGO wheel, as it follows shortly after the events of 2014’s The LEGO Movie, which became another hit for Phil Lord and Chris Miller after having hits at Sony with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (plus its sequel) and 21 Jump Street.

In the five years since that hit, the Warner Animation Group released The LEGO Batman Movie, which also did fairly well, but Lord and Miller are coming off their recent animated hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which seems to be heading towards an Oscar in the Animated Feature category at the end of the month.

Reviews for the movie have been great, just like the original movie, but as seems to be the case with me a lot lately, I’m the outlier as I really didn’t care for the sequel at all for reasons you can read in my review linked below.

MY LEGO MOVIE 2 REVIEW

WHAT MEN WANT (Paramount)

Directed by Adam Shankman (Hairspray, Bringing Down the House, Rock of Ages, The Pacifier) Written by Tina Gordon, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Wendy McLendon-Covey, Erykah Badu, Max Greenfield, Peter Davidson, Kellan Lutz, Shaquille O’Neal MPAA Rating: R

Offering the first bit of counter-programming is the latest movie from mega-producer Will Packer, who has had hits with Girls Trip, Think Like a Man, Ride Along and many more (including sequels to two of those). This one is a reenvisioning of the 2000 Nancy Meyers comedy What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, which scored an astounding $182.8 million over the holidays that year.

This remake switches genders as well as races as Taraji P. Henson plays a woman who can suddenly hear what men think… and I feel very badly for her to be subjected to that, although it’s bound to lead to a lot of funny moments, some of which you can see in the trailer. Helming the movie is Adam Shankman, who has had great success in the comedy realm with movies like Bringing Down the House, which paired Steve Martin with Queen Latifah, and mixed results with musicals. (I actually didn’t like Hairspray very much, compared to the John Waters film, and was also kind of disappointed with Rock of Ages, having seen the musical on Broadway.)

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to see What Men Want in time to review – and most reviews probably won’t show up until Thursday either -- but I do hope to see it down the road sometime, as I’m definitely a fan of most of the cast and the cast.

COLD PURSUIT (Lionsgate/Summit)

Directed by Hans Peter Molland (In Order of Disappearance) Written by Frank Baldwin, Kim Fupz Aakeson Cast: Liam Neeson, Laura Dern, Emmy Rossum MPAA Rating: R

Also hoping to appeal to older guys who might not be interested in the above two movies, this is the second remake of the weekend and fourth for the year as Norwegian filmmaker Hans Peter Molland transports his 2016 film In Order of Disappearance to Colorado with Liam Neeson as a father getting revenge for the murder of his son. The original movie was quite innovative but didn’t get much attention when it was released by Magnolia a few years back, but one presumes Neeson’s fanbase, who have supported him in similar high concept action-thrillers, will give this one a look as well. I’m not even sure I want or need to mention the trouble Neeson faced recently with a few controversial statements, but I have a feeling those who might be interested in a straight-up revenge movie like this won’t be upset by Neeson’s confession.

Shockingly, reviews for this have also been great, right up there with The LEGO Movie 2, and of course, I hated it! Incidentally, I interviewed Molland for In Order of Disappearance along with original star Stellan Skarsgard, which you can read here.

Mini-Review: Normally, I am not one to trash a remake merely for being a remake, although so far this year, none of the English remakes I’ve seen have stood up to the original foreign language films on which they were based.

I was kind of wondering why Norwegian filmmaker Hans Peter Molland would make the same movie over again with different actors, but maybe he had some ideas of how to reimagine it to rural snow-covered Colorado with Liam Neeson as snowplow driver Nels Coxman. Nels has just learned that his son has died of an overdose, so he goes after the men he thinks is responsible.

There’s quite a few changes from the original movie but few of them are any good, especially the number of unnecessary characters added like a couple local police officers, one played by Emmy Rossum, who just make this seem more like a straight-up Fargo rip-off than the original movie did.

There are plent of other problems with Molland’s attempt to reenvision the original story, including how erratic it is in its storytelling. For one thing, Nels immediately goes after his son’s killers, brutally killing three men after getting information from them, then dumping their bodies in a roaring river. Obviously, Liam Neeson seems more than capable of handling his revenge, so one wonders why he would bother to waste money hiring a hitman to go after Tom Bateman’s Viking, the head druglord in the region who may have ordered his son murdered.

It’s sad that Americans might watch this movie and think anything positive about Tom Bateman’s awful performance, but it’s even sadder when you realize how extraordinary Pal Hagen was in the original role of “The Count” – Bateman just doesn’t have a handle on the character at all.

Worst of all is how the film is fairly misogynistic with Laura Dern (barely in the movie as Nels’ wife) and Rossum being two of the only women in the film not depicted as hateful shrews but really not given very interesting roles to play.

Cold Pursuit never seems as clever or innovative as the original movie, and many of the jokes just fall flat compared to the original where the Scandinavian quirkiness added so much to the film’s dark humor. Cold Pursuit just doesn’t offer anything particularly interesting beyond the typical Hollywood revenge flick with the film’s better action setpieces being taken almost verbatim from the original movie. Rating: 4.5/10

THE PRODIGY (Orion)

Directed by Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact) Written by Jeff Buhler Cast: Taylor Schilling, Jackson Robert Scott, Colm Feore, Brittany Allen MPAA Rating: R

But wait, there’s more! And it’s this high concept horror film that exists within my favorite sub-genre of horror: evil kids! This one stars Orange is the New Black star Taylor Schilling, whose son (played by Jackson Robert Scott) is the prodigy of the title, but he also might be an evil killer. I also won’t have a chance to see this movie before heading down to Mississippi on Wednesday, so not sure I have much more to add, although I did like the trailer when I finally had a chance to see it.

Furthermore, STX and Alibaba released the Chinese animated PEPPA CELEBRATES CHINESE NEW YEAR, based on the British sensation seen on Nick Jr., into 65 theaters across the country Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the Lunar New Year, and I hear that many showings sold out!

FESTIVALS

Sadly, not many of my readers will be able to join me down in Oxford, Mississippi where I will be one of the jurors for the 16thOxford Film Festival, but I might try to write something about my experiences, as I have in previous years, because it’s often one of my favorite annual experiences involving movies.

Besides the Oxford Film Festival, the annual Berlinale runs from Feb. 7 through Feb. 17 AND Lincoln Center’s Film Comment Selects runs from Feb. 6 through 10… but like I said, I’ll be at Oxford, so that’s what I’ll be covering. Got it?

LIMITED RELEASES

This weekend begins the annual OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS (separated into four programs with the short docs split into Part A and B), playing at the IFC Center in New York and at the Landmark Nuart in L.A. If you want to do well in your office Oscar pool at the end of this month, you’ll make an effort to see all fifteen of the nominated short films, as that often is the make or break for most predictions. I know that I will try to watch and write something about them (although most of my shorts-focus right now is on the ones I’m judging for Oxford, to be honest).

Two-time Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi returns with the Spanish language film EVERYBODY KNOWS (Focus Features), starring Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Argentine actor Ricardo Darin (from The Secret in Their Eyes), which involves Cruz playing a woman named Laura, who returns to her childhood home for her sister’s wedding only for her teen daughter to get kidnapped by people who think her husband (Darin) has lots of money. To find her daughter, Laura calls on her former lover (played by Bardem) and secrets start being exposed about their relationship. I liked this film quite a bit, as it employs much of what has made Farhadi’s Iranian films so special – he’s a fantastic writer who really pulls many emotions out of his actors while slowly building a story into a third act full of interesting developments. Everybody Knows opens in select cities Friday, and likely will expand over the next couple weeks.

The Audience Award winner from last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Shawn Snyder’s TO DUST (Good Deeds Entertainment), stars Geza Röhrig (Son of Saul) as Hasidic cantor Shmuel, who recently lost his wife and tries to find solace by looking into how her body would decay. In order to learn this, he partners with Albert, a community college bio professor played by Matthew Broderick, to perform experiments about body decomposition.

Just a couple weeks after Netflix streamed his movie Polar, Jonas Akerlund’s previous film LORDS OF CHAOS (Gunpowder and Sky/Vice Films), which premiered at Sundance last year, will open in select cities and On Demand. It follows Norwegian black metal band Mayhem whose new singer (played by Jack Kilmer) goes by the name “Dead” … and then he actually kills himself. Fun! The very dark comedy stars Rory Culkin, Emory Cohen (Brooklyn), Sky Ferreira, and it’s pretty entertaining in the vein of the doc Anvil: The Story of Anvil. I’ve seen a lot of hilarious movies about the music biz with This is Spinal Tap and Tapeheads being two of my favorites, and I have a feeling this has the potential to become another cult classic that will be found on almost every band’s tour bus for years to come. In other words, significantly better than Polar.

The next film in the series of anthology films based on major cities around the world is BERLIN, I LOVE YOU (Saban Films), a series of ten fairly humorous and romantic shorts set in Berlin starring Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Luke Wilson, Mickey Rourke, Diego Luna, Jim Sturgess and many more. The directors involved in this one are a mixed bag including German filmmakers like Til Schweiger and Mexico’s Fernando Eibecke (Duck Season) and even Glee star Dianna Agron making her directorial debut. It opens in theaters as well as on VOD and digital HD, similar to most Saban Films movies.

From Berlin, we move to Paris as Veep star Matt Walsh stars in Archie Borders’ Under the Eiffel Tower (The Orchard), playing Stuart, a man dealing with a mid-life crisis after losing his job, so he tags along with his friends’ family on a vacation to Paris. After embarrassing himself, he heads off to the French countryside with “ladies’ man” Liam (Reid Scott, also from Veep) and cross paths with a vineyard owner, played by Judith Godrèche from The Overnight.

Following its world premiere at last year’s Fantasia Film Festival, Robert D. Krzykowski’s directorial debut The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Big Foot (RLJE Films/Epic), starring Sam Elliot, will open in select theaters and on VOD/Digital HD Friday. In the comedy, Elliot plays Calvin Barr, a man who… well, read the title. It’s fairly descriptive. Calvin did indeed kill Adolf Hitler and now the government has called on him to kill Bigfoot before the legendary creature spreads a deadly plague to the populace. In other words, Elliot can expect another Oscar nomination this year. (it also stars Ron Livingston, Aidan Turner and Caitlin Fitzgerald.)

A long-running horror franchise returns with The Amityville Murders (Skyline Entertainment), written and directed by Daniel Farrands, who previous directed a History Channel documentary about the 1974 murders when Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed his entire family as they slept, saying that “voices” commanded him to commit murder. This dramatization stars John Robinson, Chelsea Ricketts, Diane Franklin (who appeared in Amityville II: The Possession!) and Paul Ben-Victor from various Netflix shows.

Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher’s doc The Gospel of Eureka (Kino Lorber), narrated by Mx Justin Vivian Bond, looks at the town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas in the Ozarks where pious Christians mingle with the queer community in a local gay bar, breaking down the divide we’re currently seeing in the country.

“NFL player turned actor” Thomas Q. Jones (Luke Cage) stars in Matthew Berkowitz’s A Violent Man (GVN Releasing), playing an unknown MMA fighter who beats the undefeated champ (played by actual MMA champ Chuck Lidell) at a local gym and gets a shot at a fight for the title until a female reporter covering the story is found dead with him as the main suspect.

Lastly, Emma Forrest wrote and made her directorial debut on Untogether (Freestyle) stars Jamie Dornan as a writer who has an affair with his teen prodigy (Jemima Kirke from Girls), while her real-life sister Lola Kirke (Mistress America) plays her younger sister, who has an affair with an older man (Ben Mendelsohn).

STREAMING

One week after Dan Gilroy made his Netflix debut, Steven Soderbergh continues his run of low-budget indie films with HIGH FLYING BIRD, starring André Holland from Moonlight as sports agent Roy Burke, who is caught in a dispute between the pro basketball league with the players. It’s also written by Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney, who wrote Moonlight.

Also, the Netflix series One Day at a Time returns for its third season, while Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj also returns this Sunday.

REPERTORY

Before we get to the repertory regulars, I just want to share that BBQ Films, a fantastic group of film fanatics who create unique cinema events around films like Beetlejuice and Blade are kicking off their new program GREEN SCREEN this Sunday, Feb. 10, with a screening of David Chappelle’s 1998 movie Half Baked at the Chelsea Music Hall on West 15th, which will include pre-show entertainment, stand-up comedy and more. I won’t go into details about the all-encompassing theme of Green Screen, but you can probably figure it out by clicking on the link. Next show is March 3 with Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which actually celebrates its 30thanniversary on February 17.

METROGRAPH (NYC):

I haven’t been to my favorite local theater in a while but hopefully that will change soon.

This weekend’s Late Nites at Metrograph offering is Luis Bunuel’s 1972 film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise, while Playtime: Family Matinees screens Tom Moore’s 2014 Oscar-nominated animated film Song of the Sea.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Tarantino’s theater will show the Spencer Tracy-Katherine Hepburn film Woman of the Year (1942) on Wednesday, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II (1974)will screen from Weds. through Sat. with The Black Godfather (also 1974) screening at midnight on the same nights. The weekend matinee is the 1968 Carol Reed musical Oliver! Sunday and Monday, the theater screens double features of Paul Wendko’s Battle of the Coral Sea (1959) with Angel Baby (1961), as well as screening Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle Monday afternoon. Tuesday’s “Grindhouse” double feature is Shark! (1969) and Shamus (1973), both starring the late great Burt Reynolds!Oh, and Tarantino’s own Oscar-nominated film Pulp Fiction (1994) will screen on Friday at midnight.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Far Out in the 70s: A New Wave of Comedy, 1969 - 1979 celebrates one more full weekend with Albert Brooks’ Real Life (1979) on Thursday, as well as a double feature of Smile (1979) and Stay Hungry (1976), starring Jeff Bridges, Sallly Field and one Arnold Schwarzenegger. Friday is a double feature of The Late Show (1977) and Harry and Tonto (1974), then Saturday sees a single screening of Peter Yates’ 1972 film The Hot Rock, plus a double feature of Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H with Brewster McCloud, both from 1970. Sunday’s amazing line-up is Burt Reynolds’ Smokey and the Bandit, Bread and Chocolate (1974), Hal Ashby’sThe Landlord (1970) and Shampoo (1975)… sadly the latter two aren’t a double feature. Monday is a double feature of Mike Nichols’ The Fortune (1975) and Jack Nicholson’s Going South (1978), and then the rest of the week is mainly repeats.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Luchino Visconti: Cinematic Nobility kicks off on Thursday with Burt Lancaster in The Leopard (1963) and Ludwig (1973) on Sunday. (There’s a Happy Death Day double feature with Happy Death Day 2 U on Saturday night but that’s not quite “repertory” even if it sounds cool.)

AERO (LA):

The one and only Norman Jewison will be appearing in person for A Tribute to Norman Jewison with a number of double features through the weekend. On Friday night, there’s a double feature of Moonstruck (1987) and …And Justice for All (1979), followed by The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! (1966) with Jewison joined by Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint, plus a separate screening of 1971’s Fiddler on the Roof and then on Sunday, there’s a double feature of The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and The Cincinatti Kid (1965).

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Actor Jeff Goldblum is getting the retrospective treatment with The Goldblum Variations featuring a wide variety of the actor’s work running through Feb. 23. Some of the highlights this weekend include The Big Chill (1983), David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).

BAM CINEMATEK(NYC):

Beginning Wednesday, the Brooklyn Arts Museum (or at least that’s what I think BAM stands for) begins a series called Race, Sex & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs looking at the work of the filmmaker who brought a voice to gay black men, which includes a 30thanniversary screening of Tongues United, as well as his documentaries Ethnic Notions (1986) and Color Adustment (1992) as well as more, including a screening of Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning Moonlight, which was inspired by Riggs’ work.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Weekend Classics: Early Godard takes the weekend off, but Waverly Midnights: The Feds shows one of my favorite Ridley Scott films, Hannibal, starring Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore. Late Night Favorites screens Tom Hanks’ popular favorite Big (1988), directed by the late Penny Marshall.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This Friday’s midnight movie is David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986).

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER(NYC):

Most of the Film Society’s repertory screenings this weekend are part of Film Comment Selects, including a rare screening of Jerry Schatzberg’s Honeysuckle Rose (1980) with Schatzberg in person for a QnA.

MOMA (NYC):

Modern Matinees: Sir Sidney Poitier screens 1962’s Pressure Point on Weds, the 1966 Western Duel at Diablo on Thursday and Paris Blues (1961) on Friday. Cinema of Trauma: The Films of Lee Chang-dong also continues through Saturday with 1999’s Peppermint Candy on Friday afternoon and Lee’s latest Burningon Saturday night.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

MOMI begins its latest retrospective series Poets of Pandaemonium: The Cinema of Derek Jarman and Humphrey Jennings with Jarman’s 1993 film Blue (paired with the short Listen to Britain) on Friday, 1985’s Angelic Conversation andThe Last of England (1987) on Saturday and In the Shadow of the Sun (1981) with The Birth of the Robot on Sunday. It runs this weekend and next. Also, See It Big! Costumes by Edith Head (which started last week) continues this weekend with Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944) on Saturday and To Each His Own (1946), The Heiress (1949) and Roman Holiday (1953) on Sunday.

That’s it for this week, but time-permitting, I’ll write something about the new movies coming out next week, which includes the sequel Happy Death Day 2 U, the Manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angeland the rom-com Isn’t It Romantic?

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend THeLEGOMovie2 ColdPursuit WhatMenWant #TheProdigy Movies Reviews Repertory Streaming

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dj-scruff · 5 years

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Scruff’s Top 5 - Canada Edition

This week's adventure has had me speechless, now that I have decompressed and caught a few z's I can finally express how the trip to Canada really felt. I needed this trip for more than just a few reasons, I hadn't seen the groom in 7 years and it was way past overdue, I've had a passport for a few years still hadn't used it, and now I have a new found love for traveling and it's expenses. This trip was more than eye opening, I reevaluated some goals that I didn't think I was able to accomplish. Tuesday Morning I flew into SeaTac (Seattle- Tacoma Airport) and was greeted by my long friend Richie. We both went to Northwestern College and ever since I had met him he's been trying to get me to come visit him in Canada. I felt really bad that it took so long to get here but I was super glad that I made it. It was as if time stood still, it was like we were still in college worrying about classes, going to the next party, playing sports, etc... These are the type of friends you don't meet often, it's like we picked up where we left off. We took the 2 hour drive back to the border but first stopped off for some lunch at Dick's Hamburger. This place was straight out of a 50's/60's movie, no indoor seating only drive up and great food. We crossed the border, and I finally made it to (The Promised Land) according to Richie. First on the agenda was a trip to Vancouver and dinner. We had pizza, beer, and a great view of the Pacific Ocean. The first thing I noticed after the view was the view, there were fancy cars and fancy prices. all around us were Tesla's, Audi's, BMW's and the ticket for the meal was as if we were in NYC. Not gonna lie it threw me off guard a little but I did have some funds saved up so I wasn't too worried. We made our way back to Richie's house and I finally got the chance to meet the lovely Bride to be Megan. We had talked wedding and reception via video chat, but after chatting with her for a bit I knew that Richie had made the right decision. Wednesday Richie and I got up and went to Tsawwassen, Canada to meet up with his boss and go boating across the Pacific to Orcas Island for the day. This was my first time on the Pacific and I was glad that we had the chance to see some seals, porpoises, and just a nice still current on the open water. We hit up the local brewery while on the island and enjoyed beverages and a cornhole game by the locals. On the way back I had the idiotic idea of jumping in the water, let's just say I still think that was one of my less than sane propositions. We rounded off the night with a nice meal and early shut eye, tomorrow was the start of a long weekend. Thursday morning travels were made to Chilliwack for the Frasier River Lodge where both the rehearsal and the wedding. Upon arrival I had the chance to meet up with the bridal party, and wedding coordinator. I must say I was quite impressed with their support group, all the groomsmen had the qualities that Richie needed around him to help make conscience, mature decisions when it comes to not only life, but when it comes to being a husband. The bridesmaids were all very giving: giving their time, advice, and their hearts. You could see this whenever you saw them laughing and joking with Megan. The wedding coordinator was precise and def took the lead when it came to dealing with the order of events. It was the perfect first experience. This place was beautiful, I mean the facility and and it's staff were quite accommodating, the rooms were quite comfy, but the real kicker was the view of the Frasier River and the mountains right behind it. When people usually think of dreamy weddings they usually have beaches and mojitos in mind, this place was on a whole different level. In my mind this is where you clear your head, reevaluate your priorities, make new goals and find out the path you need to achieve them. This place in my opinion is the perfect spot to start a new chapter with your wife. Thursday night was when things got interesting, both Lee and I went to school with Richie. Lee wasn't supposed to be able to make the trip due to other situations, things changed and Lee came up. I knew about the plans but Richie didn't. This was the best surprise for the groom, all three of us together, Heemstra brothers and friends for life. Friday was the big day, Lee and I did what we do best and that's taking the concern of the Newlyweds and putting on our shoulders. We had ceremony and reception duties, it was showtime and Canada was about to get a big dose of the midwest' finest. Ceremony went off smooth and reception was to follow. We played the scavenger hunt with the guests worked with one of the brides' cousins Ryan on MC duties and played I even got the chance to get the parents of the bride to kiss twice when the guests clanked on the glass (Brides' parents are divorced but played along as if they were still married). After all the special dances and a few hours of tunes we shut down the reception and did an after party for the bridal party in one of the cabins. This was where everyone let loose, it felt like a high school reunion, a vacation, it felt like we were back in college. Saturday we all packed up and left the Frasier Lodge partied out, ready for a recovery day. Sunday morning the Newlyweds, Lee and I took a drive into the mountains to visit Squamish, a ski lodge town with some magnificent views. We arrived took some photos and hit up a local brewery. Didn't stay long because Lee had a flight later in the day and had to show him Vancouver. We made our way downtown and purchased the Canadian staple food poutine. I must say after eating some I wouldn't be ordering anymore in the near future, this was def not my cup of tea. After viewing the Chinese embassy and high priced vehicles we got Lee back to the house so that way he could leave for his flight. For my final night in Canada we had pizza and wings for dinner. My experience in Canada was one that I will never forget, this is just the beginning of my travels. Thanks to Megan, Richie, and both of their families for not only making us feel like we were part of the family, but also making my first international experience the first of many. I can't help but feel like this wouldn't be possible without the music. First going across state lines last year in Montana, now country borders. To be grateful mean to do the best that I can with my craft. I intend to do this and continue to cross the borders in genres, states and countries.

Free - DJ Scruff

Joanna (Drogba) - Afro B ft French Montana

Let This Ride - Alex Preston

Loca Loca - B & B

Best Friend - Logic

#dj #djlife #radio dj #music #House Music #Tech house #hip hop #digital journal #Journey #blog #dj blog #DJ Scruff #top 5 list #workhardplayhard #goals #canada #weddingseason2019

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