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ghouljams · 11 months

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Let’s meet Birdie!! The last Darling on our Cowboy!141 docket, our Gemini queen and Goose’s Best Friend.

Gaz looks over the post-it note list Goose handed him before he walked out the door this morning. Her chicken scratch is almost as bad as Soap's and the use of angry faces isn't helping. Is this supposed to say corn meal or worm meal? That is a very high stakes difference. He needs a second opinion.

You bounce a fussy baby on your hip, staring down the large bags if bird seed on the middle shelf. Your class feeder is out, and apparently nobody sells anything that isn’t in bulk. Which you already knew, so youre not sure why you're surprised. "What do you think, Bug?" You ask the kiddo, they very helpfully grab your necklace to chew on. You sigh, alright, fair enough. That's what it's for you suppose. Might as well find someone to help you grab a bag. "Unless you want to carry it," You wiggle kiddo's arm, as if those pudgy little sausages could lift anything.

"'Scuse me," Kiddo babbles excitedly, as you turn towards the voice. You are absolutely stopped by his eyes, deep and beautifully brown, and his smile. He could almost believe in love at first sight. "Could I ask you something?" You never considered yourself the sort of girl that's a sucker for accents but maybe you should rethink that.

"Shoot," you tell him, bouncing Bug higher on your hip with a smile. He holds up a hot pink post-it. Probably a honey-do list. Dammit.

"Can you read any of this?" He asks, letting you take the list from between his fingers. You study it, the handwriting isn't that bad. At least for you, but you read a lot of very messy handwriting in your daily life.

"Looks like alphalfa, seed meal, de-wormer," you squint at the numbers, "you're not going to get any of this at these prices." He takes the list back from you and squints at it, before sighing.

"Dammit Goose."

"Goose?" You nod, that makes sense. If it's who you think it is then he'll be in trouble if he goes too far over budget.

"Alright, well, thanks for the heads up," he shakes his head and turns away.

"I could help," You say quickly, just to see him look at you again, "get you closer to budget, if you want. Me and Bug are pretty persuasive." You wave kiddo's hand and he smiles for you.

"Yeah, you are," he says, a little too soft before he clears his throat, "I mean, yeah, sure, yeah I'd appreciate it. If it's not a bother."

"No bother at all, I gotta find Murphy to grab a bag for me anyway."

"What do you need? I'll get it." He says, looking around you at the bags of birdseed. You point at the one you want and step back to make room for him as he grabs it. His biceps flex as he hauls the bag off the shelf, you wouldn't think it was heavy the way he holds it with one hand. You wonder how those hands would feel on you. "Good?" He asks and you nod quickly. Very good, he looks very good. You try to keep your eyes on his face and not his fitted tee.

Gaz watches you lean over the counter to haggle price, you don't even need to bat those pretty lashes before the man behind the counter is folding. You only needed one thing but you'd derailed your whole trip to help him. You must be some sort of angel. He's sure you have someone waiting on you, pretty thing like you. Plus the baby? Gaz looks down at the chubby little bugger you'd handed him, yep just as cute as you are, you're definitely taken.

He bounces the kid in his arms, showing them how to make hand signs with their stubby baby fingers. Each one makes the kid shriek and giggle, grabbing at his hand with full excitement. While Gaz doesn’t think it’s good practice to leave your kid with a stranger, he’s gotta admit this isn’t even the first baby he’s been handed today. The people in this town are friendly as hell. You’re friendly as hell. Although he hopes that’s because you like him, and not the southern charm.

You pat the counter with a grin, satisfied with the good will you've cashed in. You turn back to Gaz and give him a thumbs up as you walk over. "All good to go," you chirp, poking Bug's stomach to make them giggle. You're feeling pretty good about you haggling, you've still got it! It helps being a town favorite, all you had to do was mention your abysmal teaching salary and deals fell at your feet.

The way you smile at the baby in his arms makes Gaz feel some type of way. Too domestic. It sticks in his ribs when you direct that smile at him. Is he supposed to feel this many butterflies over just a smile? What is it with the Mrs’ in this town, all absolute stunners. "You're a lifesaver," he grins, handing the kiddo back to you.

"Anything for Goose's guy," you tell him, bouncing Bug on your hip to keep them from reaching to be back in Gaz's arms. He snorts, his shock and appall at your statement makes you a little embarrassed to have said anything.

"Goose is dating my mate,” He explains and you feel something squirm in your chest, hope maybe, “I’m single- Kyle.” He corrects himself quickly, “Kyle Garrick, I’m helping the Price’s out for the summer.” Your hands are full, so he shakes one of Bug’s grabby hands. You bite down a laugh.

“My friends call me Birdie,” You tell him, “Also single, if you were wondering.” His smile lights up the whole store, and you hide your smile behind Bug so you don’t look too taken by him.

“Can I help you out to your car?” Kyle asks, you nod and turn toward the exit, enjoying the way he rushes to follow you and smiles like he can’t stop.

#Cowboy!Gaz #Is Bug her kid? Haven't decided yet #they might be her sister's kid #Anyway hello Birdie hello Bug hello end of Gaz's single life #Hey did y'all know Gaz is like barely 6ft? I didn't #Was doing my standard profile research and was like damn king!#you're the short friend huh #he's not even short but still #he's surrounded by monsters #namely Ghost #x reader #kyle gaz garrick #gaz x reader #kyle garrick x reader

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starryschoolgirl · 6 months

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I'm in love with your au Baby Love!! I assume since it's an au it won't be an issue if I ask if kids are ever on the docket for Elvis and Cosette? And if they do have kids, how many would they have? Or how many have you got planned at the moment? Again, love it all so much and I'm very excited for the next installment!!

Oh what a lovely question! I will take this ask as an opportunity to make the introductions for the Baby Love au children!

Baby Love Family Tree

Cosette & Elvis' 5 children, & how they came to be

First a small clarification! The children, their attitudes, their behavior, and their views on life are heavily influenced by the old-money Chevalier side of the family. This is because for the majority of their childhood Elvis was quite busy with work, so Cosette was almost entirely raising them on her own views which are heavily influenced by her family's views.

Vacations and getaways from 1969 to 1980 were often with the Chevalier side and Elvis' side was too busy caught up in show business. So if you read their profiles and wonder why their attitudes/aesthetics stray from their father's so much, it's due to that lack of connection in childhood despite all the love that Elvis could and would give.

//mention of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)

Now, onto the little darlings!

Out of all the Presley children, Manon is most like her father personality-wise, which has led to a bit of clashing with her father. She is the first born, right before the spring of 1969. She's named after her mysterious aunt, her mother's sister who is rarely ever spoken about. She's also been dubbed her paternal grandmother's middle name.

Manon was only 12 or 13 when the Yuppie culture of the early 80s began to skyrocket, being the modern girl she is, she of course wanted to take part in that culture. To be a yuppie was to be educated with a solid job, to achieve that she remained on top of her studies, and when it finally came time she graduated overall salutatorian of her class, just one rank below her boyfriend whom she would unfortunately have to end things with.

After graduation, she followed in the footsteps of her uncles and went to Yale, staying with some Chevalier cousins in Connecticut where most of her maternal family is. During her time at Yale she would attend numerous parties as she's a girl with connections, and through those parties she would meet her future husband, Sergey Petroff, 4 years older than her and a new stockbroker. The two of course hit it off as she herself is studying finance.

She's definitely a mommy's girl, but that's just because her and her father are so alike that there are times that the two can't stand each other, but that's not to say she doesn't absolutely adore her father.

The twins. The spoiled rotten princesses of the Presley family. Born just 32 minutes apart on a cold winter day at the very start of 1970.

The two, out of all the children, had shown the most interest in their daddy's career. While Celine was more interested in the business side of it, as a little girl even listening in on her daddy's meetings, Delphine was more interested in the flashy bits.

And she always got her way. All Delphine had to do was point her little finger at something and moments later it would be paid for and in her hands.

With both their interests in show business, or rather just the high life in general having been obvious since birth, they were allowed to start their own adventure, in modeling at the age of 17. After begging since the age of 13, Cosette and Elvis finally gave in, and only allowed them to start modelling with longtime trusted family friend, Jerry Schilling as their manager.

Delphine absolutely loves the life of modeling and loves doing it with her sister. But Celine has always felt a slight emptiness from it all, she'd much rather be one of the people behind the scenes, making up the contracts and making the money.

Julie Jesse Presley, the first born son. He was born in early 1971 after a long and hard pregnancy.

His daddy had teased his mommy for giving him such an effeminate name, but she loved it, and said it suited him, he had this angelic beauty about him. He was also of course named after a dear angel in the family, Elvis' stillborn brother, so there were no qualms about it.

Unfortunately he passed away from SIDS only 23 days after his birth.

He is missed terribly and always remembered. There was a point in time however that little confused Manon hated him, as his death was a turning point for the family, and shed light on underlying issues in Cosette and Elvis' marriage, which would eventually give way for divorce.

The youngest Presley child, Memphis Michael Presley. Born in '74, amidst the divorce of his parents no less. But his birth is sort of the saving grace of the Presley-Chevalier union.

After learning of her pregnancy, and of course needing to tell the court, the court would not approve the famed divorce dispute to be finalized until after the birth of the son.

Had the divorce not been drawn out those extra months, the Presley-Chevalier union would've ended in those rainy, windy months

Despite the fact that he was supposed to be the glue to the family, he grew to have a rather stressed relationship with his father.

Memphis followed in the footsteps of his older sister and maternal side of the family by attending Yale on a football scholarship. The sport is one of the few things that could bring Elvis and Memphis together.

The tension in the relationship stemmed from Elvis' fame. Hearing stories about how his father had treated his mother for a point in time of course filled Memphis with a little bit of frustration when he went from being a little boy who looked up to his daddy, to being a man who felt the need to look after his mama.

Memphis often felt that if his father wasn't famous the two of them would be closer. Fame took his father's time away from him growing up, and now his father's fame overshadowed him as no one took his interest in being involved in politics seriously. All because people were too busy staring at the shadow of his father that staggered over him.

It's also to be noted that out of all the children, he took after the ideals and attitudes of the Chevalier side the most, which at times clashed with his father's own ideals and attitudes.

And that my dear friends, are the Presley-Chevalier children. What do you think? I personally am enamored with all of them, lovely little ones.

I'm very happy to get this out, so now people will have context when I post later installments of the Baby Love au!! I had so much fun making all their little profiles and backstories, I'm so excited to explore them more!

#elvis presley fanfiction #elvis fanfic #elvis fanfiction #elvis presley #elvis presley fic #elvis presley fanfic #elvis x oc #Baby Love

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newtonsheffield · 4 months

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How much does the press focus on Kate’s guest? Does it come up in her post match, on court interview? Does Kate even acknowledge to herself at least, that this is a very public message about her personal life? I think Anthony is ready for it (more than he realizes it), but is she?

I think the press is fascinated by what’s going on to be honest. I mean, Kate Sharma was in a relationship with Tom Dorset for a good long while and he was never sat with her family. Never. Not once. And she never went to see him play either. They never shared the court even in practice.

And all of a sudden: Enter Anthony Bridgerton. From what the photographers watching her practice saw they were flirty, having fun. She showed up to his match and wasn’t sat with his family but there he is. Sat between her mother and sister, all of them chatting. It’s s being a pretty clear message to people. So much so they almost don’t need confirmation of a relationship at this point.

He’s wearing her merchandise for God’s sake. They’re clearly in a relationship at this point. And Simon is definitely cursing his brother in law because of course it falls to him to ask the question everyone wants to know.

“Kate, some incredible tennis out there today.”

Kate nodded, waving at the cheering crowd. “Yeah, Nikki was great today. It’s always great to play someone who’s really in tune with the way they play. I had a lot of fun today.”

That was one of the things people liked about Kate. She was playing an eighteen year old girl who must have been dreading the fact that Kate Sharma was the first on her docket. No one in the stadium rooting for them and she still finds the time to give them their moment.

Simon nodded, swallowing as though this was the very last thing he wanted to ask her. “And you’ve got a little more support in the stands today.”

She’d been expecting it, and she still hadn’t figured out what to say. She settled for shifting the focus just a little. Leaning in to tease Simon. “Yeah, I think you know my new friend right?”

Both of them turned towards Anthony and waved. Anthony looked like a deer in the headlights but waved back, a little unsurely. Simon chuckled, “For those of you who don’t know: my wife Daphne is Anthony’s sister. I’m a little too familiar with Anthony. Though I’ve never seen him wearing a Sharmarama hat that’s new.”

“Oh he’s a cutie-pie.”

The crowd roared with laughter as Anthony blushed, right there on the screen.

“I don’t want to ask you this obviously but ah… any comment on the rumours about you two?”

Kate clicked her tongue, “You should ask Anthony. I’m interested in the answer as well.”

The crowd roared again and Simon shook his head.

“Thanks so much Kate. Excellent match today, look forward to seeing you next time.”

Even if there’s no official confirmation, Kate Sharma leaving the All England club with her kit bag in Anthony Bridgerton’s shoulder before it’s loaded into her vintage Jag seems like confirmation enough.

#pumped up au #wimbledon au #kathony #anthony x kate #kate sharma #kate sheffield #anthony bridgerton #molly’s asks and answers

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forsaire · 27 days

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Try again

What if Ghost and Soap didn't work out? What if they loved each other more than anything and really tried to make it work but eventually, Ghost's own self-doubt and trauma built a rift between them that was impossible to overcome. And one day, they cracked.

Being reunited 15 years later, maybe the universe had finally given them the second chance Ghost so desperately craved. And with Soap's affectionate eyes crinkling warmly in Ghost's direction, he was damn sure going to seize it.

link on ao3 (with full tags) ~3000 words

************************************************************************

When Ghost and Soap got together for the first time, Ghost felt as though he had finally found the missing piece that his life had been so empty without. They loved each other, they really did, but it wasn’t perfect.

Between their jobs, the constant stress, the long hours, and their own personal issues, something eventually began to break. They both had their own traumas but Ghost’s was especially destructive. It slowly ate away at him, consuming him, controlling him, no matter how hard he fought back against it.

They tried, god knows how hard they tried. They wanted nothing more than to make it work. They thought they could fix it.

But one day, it broke.

Sometimes bridges collapse. Sometimes roads crack. Sometimes houses crumble.

Sometimes love isn’t enough.

Ghost struggled a lot. Not with loving Johnny – that was easy – but with being someone that Johnny could love. The gnarled and intrusive whispers in the back of his head taunted him with how little he deserved happiness. He grew paranoid, distant, and cold. As time went on, Ghost started to push Soap away, scared of inevitably losing him like he’d lost everyone else in his life.

Near the end they fought. A lot.

Ghost wanted to stop, he did, but fear had clutched its sharp claws around his heart, stealing it away from the only man he had ever wanted to give it to.

When it all became too much for them – when the scales shattered and the rope splintered – Ghost didn’t blame Soap for leaving, not for one second. He only wished with Ghost no longer being a burden in his life that Soap would find a better happiness somewhere else.

While he understood why Soap did it, it almost destroyed Ghost when he left. He struggled to see the value in trying to live anymore. But imagining Soap’s face when someone told him the news always stopped him from succumbing to these thoughts. He couldn’t hurt Soap even more than he already had.

So he continued to live.

And the sun continued to rise.

And the days continued to pass.

And before he knew it, Ghost found himself 15 years older.

Then, by happenstance, they were reunited. Enough time had passed that they were both leading their own teams. Unbeknownst to them, one of their higher ups put their two teams together to work on a complicated infiltration mission. The docket had been classified, so Ghost would only know who he was working with once he saw them face to face.

But Ghost heard his voice before seeing his face, a throb in his chest spreading quickly as his heart skipped a beat. It had been so long since he heard that voice – deep, gravelly, and sharp, but also filled with unreserved warmth and care. Could it really be him?

As Ghost rounded the corner, before him stood several men around a large wooden table, their gazes pointed downwards as they focused on the unfurled map that spread across it. Ghost’s eyes immediately locked onto the man standing in the middle, gesturing to a location with a deep furrow on his brow.

It was Soap.

He had changed – they both had. His hair was a bit longer but still sported that familiar mohawk. He’d aged beautifully, slight wrinkles around his eyes and grey hairs that peppered his sides. His lips were still full and his chin still strong and his nose still slightly askew.

He glanced up as Ghost walked in.

Those eyes. Those eyes hadn’t changed at all. They were still as stunningly deep and blue as the ocean, powerful currents that always sucked Ghost in.

Soap froze. His breath hitched. His mouth fell open. His eyes widened.

And Soap, who also hadn’t seen those eyes in years would recognize them in a heartbeat. He’d never forgotten the beauty of Ghost’s eyes, the colour of deep, rich earth that nurtured the vibrant colours of the world to flourish.

As they looked at one another there was a long, excruciatingly long, second of shocked silence.

Then, to Ghost’s immediate relief, a tender smile spread across Soap’s face, the coldness of his life immediately melting away as he was bathed in such breathtaking warmth yet again. It was a privilege he never thought he would get to experience again.

With a quiet mutter to excuse himself, Soap briefly patted the shoulder of the man to his right and started to make his way over to Ghost. Each step closer, one after another after another, the whole time a playful smirk pulling at Soap’s lips.

He relished in the way that Soap’s eyes looked him up and down. He stopped in front of Ghost, just a couple feet away which still felt like too much space.

“L.t…” Soap breathed out. It was like a song made just for his ears.

“I haven’t heard that in years…” Ghost said quietly, somehow stringing a coherent sentence together. He smiled. “It’s good to see you again, Johnny…”

Soap’s eyes crinkled, resembling sunshine, and his head briefly dropped as he let out a breathy chuckle. After a second, he looked up again, staring into Ghost’s eyes unwaveringly.

“And I only liked hearing that name from you. The only one who called me that.”

“Can I?” he said, his hesitant words heavy with implication. Could he still call Soap Johnny? Was he still Johnny? Was he still his Johnny.

“Aye…” he said sweetly. “Only you…”

They stared into each other’s eyes, forever and endless, and gleefully let the memories come rushing back like an old friend.

All of a sudden, Soap peeled his eyes away, shaking his head as if to snap out of it. He took a quick inhale and pointed a thumb over to the rest of the group.

“I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

As they walked back to the group, Ghost couldn’t help but steal glances down at Soap’s hand to try and catch if there was a ring. It was selfish the way his heart fluttered with happiness when he didn’t see one.

And just like that, as if opposite sides of a magnet, the two of them were uncontrollably drawn to one another again, like no time had passed at all. Neither of them could help it. They were planets caught in the other’s orbit. They were the drugs that they were happily addicted to. They were the air of life in the other’s lungs.

As the days passed, their curious eyes wandered beyond, sneaking glances at lips, arms, legs, and any flash of skin. Their smiles were gifted fully in all manners of ways – teasingly, proudly, sentimentally. Their bodies always found one another with small and subtle brush ups along their shoulders, knees, and fingers.

Each touch was just as invigorating as the last.

They continued to grow closer, ignoring a strange look or two from the other members of their teams as frivolous nothings that existed beyond the gaze of each other’s eyes.

For Soap, the smallest of voices at the back of his mind told him to slow down, take it easy, think twice.

But he didn’t want to. It was all so thrilling and comfortable again.

Their evening planning sessions turned to late night joking conversations, a bottle of Scotch being passed between the two of them freely. These conversations quickly turned into flirting. Under the soft glow of the desk light, they would inch closer and closer to each other, their hearts skipping excitedly with each touch or look.

Ghost hadn’t felt so light and carefree in such a long time.

He wanted.

Soap wanted.

And one day, after weeks of this, the two of them turned that want into action.

After a final late night planning session where they spent at least most of the time doing their actual jobs, the two of them walked back to Soap’s room. As they lingered outside his door, the space between them felt thick with was unspoken need.

Soap turned around, his face pinched up in slight hesitation.

“We’re leaving tomorrow,” he stated, trying to make conversation, “for the raid…”

“Yeah…” Ghost said, not wanting to think beyond this moment.

Soap clasped his hands together. “And when it’s done… I’m… we’re… shipped off again. You’ve any idea where?”

Ghost shook his head. “I go where I’m needed.”

Something shifted behind Soap’s eyes, disappointment mixed with sorrow. “Right…right…”

A spark.

Ghost raised his arm to scratch at the back of his neck, feeling a sudden need to do something with his useless hands, when a familiar stabbing pain shot through his shoulder. He sucked in a breath and grimaced, lowering his arm to make the pain stop.

“Still that shoulder?” Soap asked, jokingly but still with sincere concern.

With pinched lips, Ghost smiled and rolled out his shoulder. “Same shoulder for 20 years. Only gotten worse with age. Even lifting my arm hurts it sometimes. It feels like I'm too old nowadays for most things I used to do.”

“Well…” Soap said teasingly, his eyes shifting with need. “Hopefully not everything…”

A flicker.

“Yeah?” Ghost replied, keeping his voice low. “What did you have in mind?”

Soap discreetly raised his hand, wrapping his fingers tightly around Ghost’s belt and pulling him closer. The air crackled with electricity between them.

“Are you sure…?” Ghost asked softly, tilting his head closer to Soap who lifted his chin up expectedly.

“Simon…” Soap whispered, his mouth so close he could feel its heat through his mask. “Don’t make me beg…”

A burning flame.

And that was it.

They tumbled into the room, grasping onto every inch of each other. There was nothing but lips and hands, limbs tangling and taking with need. Their bodies were infinite and Soap’s eyes, giving him nothing but trust and pleasure, were endless.

In an instant, everything came back to Ghost as he relived exactly where to touch and caress Soap’s body that would coax out all of his pretty little moans. Hands traced over old and new scars on each other’s bodies. Soap placed kisses down Ghost’s tattoos which had sprawled up his bicep and crept onto his chest over the years. There was nothing but them.

There was nothing but Johnny.

When they were done, twice surprisingly, they lay in bed together, Soap curled up against his side and Ghost’s arm wrapped around him like they always used to do. With quiet puffs that blew out across his chest, Ghost counted each of Soap’s breaths, wondering if this was going to be the last time he’d ever get to see Soap like this again before they parted tomorrow.

Ghost leisurely trailed his fingers up and down Soap’s spine, expertly noting all of the new marks and scars he knew had never been there before. The metal of Ghost’s dog tag quietly jingled as Soap absentmindedly twisted the chain around his finger.

“Not too old for that,” Soap joked quietly, the smile evident in his voice. “Thank god.”

“No,” Ghost mumbled warmly, “I suppose not. Helps that it was you.”

Soap then lifted his head off of Ghost’s chest and stared at him in wonder, awestruck as if seeing him for the first time. He unwrapped the dog tags from his hand and gently traced the line of grey hairs that had sprouted along Ghost’s temple.

“Counting my greys, are you?” he said jokingly, not-so-secretly loving all of the attention that Soap was giving him.

Soap smiled sentimentally, memories flashing behind his eyes in an instant. “I’m glad to see you like this,” he replied. “You often spoke about how you didn’t think you would make it this far. It’s proof that you did. And I think it’s beautiful.”

With a quick peck to Ghost’s cheek, Soap rested his head back against Ghost’s chest.

Ghost didn’t want to let go. He couldn’t. Come morning, he didn’t think he had the strength to say goodbye to Soap yet again. He clenched his jaw and blinked away the tears that threatened to come out.

“Is…” Ghost started, scared to ask the question. “Is there anyone else…?”

He probably should have asked that before their night together, but he wasn’t exactly thinking with the right head. He didn’t know what he wanted to hear. He didn’t know what would hurt more – Soap walking away alone or towards someone else.

Soap gently shook his head. “There were a few people over the years but…” he trailed off with a sigh.

“But what?” Ghost said, tenderly urging him to speak more.

After a few long seconds, Soap spoke up again.

“I never loved anyone in the same way that I loved you.” Soap’s fingers were gracing the top of Ghost’s chest, turning those meaningless shapes into artwork against his skin. “And you?” It was also hesitant but hopeful, trying not to give too much away.

Ghost placed his fingers underneath Soap’s chin and gently pushed it up so they were looking into each other’s eyes again.

“I never loved anyone after you…”

Soap took a shuddering inhale upon hearing those words. Ghost couldn’t wait anymore. He needed to know. He needed to ask. He needed to scream it out into the world.

His heart started thumping nervously in his chest. He was sure that Soap could feel it. He gathered every bit of courage he had inside, beating down years of shame and regret.

“I…I…” he stuttered, the words tumbling out without any grace. “I’ve missed you so much, more than you could ever know. And I’m sorry… I’m sorry for how I treated you. There’s someone I’ve been talking to for a long time now and they’ve been helping me. I’m not perfect, god knows I don’t think I’ll ever be. But I’m better. I really am.

“The whole time all I wanted was for you to see how I was changing. I wanted to be someone that could make you proud. I hope I am…

“I know what I’m about to ask is a lot, and I understand if you don’t want to, or can’t, or… anything else… but… I’d never be able to forgive myself if I-”

Ghost let out an anxious sigh, letting his thumb that softly caressed Soap’s cheek calm him down.

“I want… I want…” Ghost took one final breath. “Can we try again?” He didn’t care how pathetic he sounded. He didn’t care that he was practically begging. “I’ve never stopped loving you all this time and… and seeing you again just brought back all these emotions again… and… You were the only good thing I’m my life after so many years. You made me so happy. I selfishly want that feeling again. I want you.

“So… what do you think? You and me again? I don’t know what might happen, I guess neither of us do, but I promise I won’t give up. I never want to give up on you again. I promise to make you happy, in whatever way that means now. I’m scared of you walking out of my life tomorrow. But even then, you’re still the love of my life and always will be whether or not we’re together…”

As Ghost spoke, he watched Soap’s eyes soften. He leaned into Ghost’s touch, blinking away the mistiness that had clouded his eyes. He carefully dragged his eyes up and down Ghost’s face, flickering memories dancing behind them of the life they used to share.

Ghost didn’t know if the years had been kind or cruel to him. He so desperately wanted to fight for Soap. He wanted to give him a life he deserved.

Soap let out a shuddering exhale, leaning forward to bury his face into Ghost’s neck.

“Aye…” he whispered with desperate relief against Ghost’s skin. “I do… I want that more than anything…”

Had Soap not been there in his arms grounding him, Ghost would have crumpled into ash. Dizzying, dizzying happiness swirled around his mind. He tightened his grip around Soap, holding him until they were one. His heart was soaring, grateful at the chance to love once again.

All of Ghost’s nervousness turned into giddiness, a happy chuckle bubbling up and singing a beautiful symphony for the whole world to hear.

“I can put in a transfer request…” Ghost murmured, “but… I’m not sure…”

He could feel the way Soap’s smile widened across his skin.

“Murray is leaving in a few weeks,” he stated, his controlled excitement still peeking out. “His wife is having a baby. There will be an empty spot on my team. And I have complete authority over who joins…”

“You sure the rest of the Scots won’t have an issue with me invading?” he joked. It felt so good to joke. It felt so good to hold Soap in his arms.

“They best not. Then they’ll also be having a problem with me.”

Soap lifted up his head again, gifting Ghost with such tenderness and softness. There was nothing on earth like those eyes.

He leaned forward and blissfully pressed their lips together. No longer was Ghost adrift. No longer was Ghost alone. They’d missed so much time together that Ghost wanted to make up for.

When Ghost used to think about their future, he was frozen with fear, scared that he wasn’t worth it, scared that they would never last. But now, Soap’s firm but soft body wrapped in his arms and addicting lips pressed against his, Ghost was no longer afraid.

He was excited for whatever the future may hold, hand in hand, side by side.

************************************************************************

link on ao3

#ghostsoap #soapghost #ghoap #my writing #ghoap writing #oneshot #try again #getting a second chance at love is such a trope that's near and dear to my heart #middle aged gays reuniting with their first love is so sweet #i need to write them falling in love in every universe #and even if it doesn't work out the first time #there was something so special about their love that they never forgot each other #and ghost never stopped loving #i adore the idea of soap loving other people but just not in the same way he ever loved ghost #and ghost never loving anyone else besides soap #feels true to their personalities #hope you liked it 🤗🤗

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 months

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Supreme Court poised to appoint federal judges to run the US economy.

January 18, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

JAN 17, 2024

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on two cases that provide the Court with the opportunity to overturn the “Chevron deference doctrine.” Based on comments from the Justices, it seems likely that the justices will overturn judicial precedent that has been settled for forty years. If they do, their decision will reshape the balance of power between the three branches of government by appointing federal judges as regulators of the world’s largest economy, supplanting the expertise of federal agencies (a.k.a. the “administrative state”).

Although the Chevron doctrine seems like an arcane area of the law, it strikes at the heart of the US economy. If the Court were to invalidate the doctrine, it would do so in service of the conservative billionaires who have bought and paid for four of the justices on the Court. The losers would be the American people, who rely on the expertise of federal regulators to protect their water, food, working conditions, financial systems, public markets, transportation, product safety, health care services, and more.

The potential overruling of the Chevron doctrine is a proxy for a broader effort by the reactionary majority to pare the power of the executive branch and Congress while empowering the courts. Let’s take a moment to examine the context of that effort.

But I will not bury the lead (or the lede): The reactionary majority on the Court is out of control. In disregarding precedent that conflicts with the conservative legal agenda of its Federalist Society overlords, the Court is acting in a lawless manner. It is squandering hard-earned legitimacy. It is time to expand the Court—the only solution that requires a simple majority in two chambers of Congress and the signature of the president.

The “administrative state” sounds bad. Is it?

No. The administrative state is good. It refers to the collective body of federal employees, regulators, and experts who help maintain an orderly US economy. Conservatives use the term “administrative state” to denigrate federal regulation and expertise. They want corporations to operate free of all federal restraint—free to pollute, free to defraud, free to impose dangerous and unfair working conditions, free to release dangerous products into the marketplace, and free to engage in deceptive practices in public markets.

The US economy is the largest, most robust economy in the world because federal regulators impose standards for safety, honesty, transparency, and accountability. Not only is the US economy the largest in the world (as measured by nominal GDP), but its GDP per capita ($76,398) overshadows that of the second largest economy, China ($12,270). The US dollar is the reserve currency for the world and its markets are a haven for foreign investment and capital formation. See The Top 25 Economies in the World (investopedia.com)

US consumers, banks, investment firms, and foreign investors are attracted to the US economy because it is regulated. US corporations want all the benefits of regulations—until regulations get in the way of making more money. It is at that point that the “administrative state” is seen as “the enemy” by conservatives who value profit maximization above human health, safety, and solvency.

It is difficult to comprehend how big the US economy is. To paraphrase Douglas Adams’s quote about space, “It’s big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is.” Suffice to say, the US economy is so big it cannot be regulated by several hundred federal judges with dockets filled with criminal cases and major business disputes.

Nor can Congress pass enough legislation to keep pace with ever changing technological and financial developments. Congress can’t pass a budget on time; the notion that it would be able to keep up with regulations necessary to regulate Bitcoin trading in public markets is risible.

What is the Chevron deference doctrine?

Managing the US economy requires hundreds of thousands of subject matter experts—a.k.a. “regulators”—who bring order, transparency, and honesty to the US economy. Those experts must make millions of judgments each year in creating, implementing and applying federal regulations.

And this is where the “Chevron deference doctrine” comes in. When federal experts and regulators interpret federal regulations in esoteric areas such as maintaining healthy fisheries, their decisions should be entitled to a certain amount of deference. And they have received such deference since 1984, when the US Supreme Court created a rule of judicial deference to decisions by federal regulators in the case of Chevron v. NRDC.

What happened at oral argument?

In a pair of cases, the US Supreme Court heard argument on Tuesday as to whether the Chevron deference doctrine should continue—or whether the Court should overturn the doctrine and effectively throw out 17,000 federal court decisions applying the doctrine. According to Court observers, including Mark Joseph Stern of Slate, the answer is “Yes, the Court is poised to appoint federal judges as regulators of the US economy.” See Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, The Supreme Court is seizing more power from Democratic presidents. (slate.com)

I recommend Stern’s article for a description of the grim atmosphere at the oral argument—kind of “pre-demise” wake for the Chevron deference doctrine. Stern does a superb job of explaining the effects of overruling Chevron:

Here’s the bottom line: Without Chevron deference, it’ll be open season on each and every regulation, with underinformed courts playing pretend scientist, economist, and policymaker all at once. Securities fraud, banking secrecy, mercury pollution, asylum applications, health care funding, plus all manner of civil rights laws: They are ultravulnerable to judicial attack in Chevron’s absence. That’s why the medical establishment has lined up in support of Chevron, explaining that its demise would mark a “tremendous disruption” for patients and providers; just rinse and repeat for every other area of law to see the convulsive disruptions on the horizon.

The Kochs and the Federalist Society have bought and paid for this sad outcome. The chaos that will follow will hurt consumers, travelers, investors, patients and—ultimately—American businesses, who will no longer be able to rely on federal regulators for guidance as to the meaning of federal regulations. Instead, businesses will get an answer to their questions after lengthy, expensive litigation before overworked and ill-prepared judges implement a political agenda.

Expand the Court. Disband the reactionary majority by relegating it to an irrelevant minority. If we win control of both chambers of Congress in 2024 and reelect Joe Biden, expanding the Court should be the first order of business.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

#Corrupt SCOTUS #Robert B. Hubbell #Robert b. Hubbell Newsletter #Expand the Court #Chevron deference #regulatory agencies #consumer protection #government by Federalist Society

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andydrysdalerogers · 11 days

Text

Love Lessons

Pairings: Sebastian Stan x Reader, Chris Evans, Scott Evans, Sebastian x Alejandra Onieva

Word Count: 3.1K

Summary: Being an associate producer was never the goal but the stepping stone to be a writer. So when you work for Jimmy Fallon, you never know what will happen. Or who you will meet...

Warnings: Language, Alcohol use

Song: Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield (performed by Mary Lambert)

Part 1 of 3

Banners by me! Dividers by @firefly-graphics

I don't consent to my work being copied or translated at all.

Love lesson #1: Meeting your potential soul mate can come from anywhere. You don’t really know. Whether it’s a chance meeting, a prearranged date or fate hitting you in the face. All you know is that it always comes from the place you least expect it. Always keep your eyes open.

Being an assistant is never a glamorous job. But it is the stepping stone to get to any producer, anchor or executive job. Everyone starts at the bottom. Including you. You are an assistant on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Fate had gotten you the call for an internship a couple of years ago. Destiny placed you in the way of your future and hard work had gotten you to be one of the show’s assistants. You rarely got star struck anymore but every once in a while, it did come. You are human after all.

Tonight, it was your job to have all of the guests comfortable before the taping. And you knew it would be a more difficult night as the men of Marvel were on the docket for the week. Monday, it had been Robert Downey Jr., who had to be one of the nicest humans you had ever met. Tuesday it had been Mark Ruffalo and Paul Rudd, who were complete sweethearts. Wednesday brought Chris Helmsworth, Paul Bethany and Benedict Cumberbatch, or the international contingent as you had called them. Thursday was Anthony Mackie and Tom Holland, which went as well as you thought.

But now it was Friday, and it was the final night of the week. You had a list of things that you needed to bring to the first guest room. You knocked but didn’t hear anything. You knocked again and thought you heard a muffled acknowledgement You entered. “Hello Mr. Stan! I have…oh I’m so sorry!” You had interrupted an intimate moment between him and a blonde.

“Oh, god, sorry, I thought you were Evans.” The man grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away the lipstick on his mouth.

“I’m so sorry. I was just bringing in the Evian that was requested.” You dropped the bottles of water into the fridge and headed back to the door. “Please let me know if you need anything else.” You spun around, your HC ponytail swinging around.

“I don’t have your name to call you.” Sebastian smiled in your direction as the blonde scowled. He took you in and absorbed the natural beauty you had in a simple white button down and black slacks. You had minimal makeup on, highlighting just your eyes. You were a stark contrast to the blonde next to him and it was a breath of fresh air.

“It’s YN, Mr. Stan.”

“YN, thank you for the waters. But please call me Sebastian. This is Alejandra, my girlfriend.” He pointed to the blonde, who gave you a pointed look. The look of fuck off and leave me and my man alone. Sebastian missed it, still captivated by you. “I don’t think you were here last time I was on the show.”

“No, I started about two years ago. I think you were here right before I joined.” You looked down. “Well, it’s nice to meet you both. If you’ll excuse me.” You head on out and let out a long breath.

“Cariño, why are you staring at the door?”

“No reason. She was nice.” Alejandra rolled her eyes. “What Ale?”

“Nothing Sebastian.” She went back to kissing his neck. He shrugged her off. “I don’t want to get lipstick on my collar.” In reality, he wanted to go after you, find out more about you. You were an enigma that he wanted to puzzle out. YN, the name of a mystery.

You headed to the other dressing room and knocked, waiting this time until you heard, “Come in.”

“Hi Chris,” you greeted. You had met Chris a couple of time, so you were way more comfortable with him.

“Hey YN!” He came over to give you a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

“I’ve got your waters and scotch as requested and… Eeekkkk!”

You screamed and dropped the glasses as none other than Scott Evans scared the pants off of you when he jumped from behind the door. He doubled over in laughter as he had gotten Chris and you in one go. You had dropped to your knees in fright and clutched at your chest.

“Scott! What the fuck man!” Chris yelled at his brother. Sometimes he wished that Scott and Jimmy were not as close friends as they were so maybe he wouldn’t have to had keep bringing him along every time.

Scott was still trying to breathe, “I’m sorry YNN. You both made it too easy.”

Sebastian, after hearing the commotion, ran to Chris’s room and looked around the corner and saw a sight that made him weak. It was you, on your knees, looking so seductive, your white button-down shirt basically see through from the dropped water and scotch, allowing a glimpse at the dark colored bra you wore underneath. He swallowed at the sight until he saw all of the glass and the liquid that covered you. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. This jackass scared the crap outta me,” you said pointing to Scott. Sebastian was shocked with the choice of words you used. You carefully got up with Sebastian and Christ helping you, so you didn’t get cut by the glass. Everyone was chuckling until they heard another voice scoff and say, “Pendeja.”

You froze, unbelieving what you were hearing. That didn’t stop Scott. He was fluent in Spanish and had a complete look of rage on his face. “What the fuck did you just call her?”

Alejandra paled when three male faces whipped towards her. She was speechless, unable to defend herself.

You got up and touched Scott’s arm to calm him, gave Chris a small smile and left the room. As you walked away, you turned back to see Sebastian looking like he wanted the floor to swallow him. You turned back and headed to your office and pray for a change of clothes, so you no longer smelled like scotch and humiliation.

Back in the dressing areas, Chris had called maintenance and they cleared the glass as Sebastian pulled Alejandra back into his dressing room. “What the fuck!”

“I’m sorry cariño, it slipped.”

“It slipped to call someone you don’t know an insulting name?”

“It… it wasn’t….”

“Don’t tell me it wasn’t Ale. Scott speaks Spanish and his face was what told me you said something derogatory. What did you call her?”

“I called her an idiot.” The voice was small and afraid.

“Really Ale, really? What the fuck for?”

“She made eyes at you, and I was upset.”

“A lot of women do Alejandra. Are you really that insecure in our relationship that you had to treat someone like that?”

“Cariño, I’m sorry.”

“Nah, forget it. Just go home Alejandra. You embarrassed me in front of my friends and in front of a perfect stranger.” He grabbed his bag and headed to Chris’s dressing room. He knocked on his door. “Can I hang in here for a while?”

“Sure Seb,” Chris replied as he sat with Scott.

Sebastian placed his bag in the corner and then sat of the opposite couch. “How the fuck did I end up with a bitch like Alejandra?” He dropped his head in his hands.

Chris cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the comment but knowing his friend needed him. “Did she tell you what she called YN?”

“Yeah, and the reason behind it. I mean this is the first time I’ve ever met this girl and all of a sudden Ale decided she needed to be a she-wolf.”

“You’ve never met YN?” Scott piped in.

“No, should, have I?”

“I mean, I thought…” Scott is stopped by Chris.

“He doesn’t come on the show as often as we do. I think this is the first time in a couple of years, right?”

“Yeah, I think so. She mentioned something about only being here recently.”

“For the last couple of years, yeah.” Chris is nervous suddenly but Sebastian chalks it up to his famous anxiety. They chat for a bit, waiting for the show to start.

You head back to Jimmy’s office, after changing into a black dress you happened to have, making sure that he is ready to go. “Hey Jimmy!”

“Hey YN! Ready for the last night of Men of Marvel week?”

“Kinda, all this testosterone is getting to me,” you said with a giggle.

“How are Chris, Scott and Sebastian?”

“Ready to roll, boss. Although Scott did scare me earlier.”

“Oh god, tell me we got that on camera.”

You sighed and pulled the flash drive from your pocket with the offending footage. The hallway had a camera and captured Scott jumping out and you falling. Jimmy plugs it in and views the tape. He laughs until he sees the confrontation with Alejandra. “What did she call you?”

“Pendeja. It means idiot or dumb ass in certain countries.” You look down at your hands. You knew what she said, and it hurt. She had never met you, didn’t know anything about you. And here she was, trying to make you feel insignificant.

“YNN, you know none of us think that way of you. This was an accident from a scare. You didn’t make a mistake.”

You wipe away an errant tear. “I know Jimmy. Thanks.”

“You know Chris and Scott would never think of you that way.”

“I know. I know.” You take a deep breath and square your shoulders. “You ready boss?”

“Oh, we all know you are more the boss than me,” he says. “Let me go say hi to the guys before we get started.” You grab his suit jacket and follow him to the dressing rooms. You’re surprised to see Sebastian in the Evans’s dressing room, but you didn’t say anything. Jimmy greeted everyone. “Scott, I know you are not in the Marvel universe, but you know we love you here at the Tonight Show.”

“Well if it wasn’t for YNN, I wouldn’t be here; she convinced Chris to bring me,” Scott replies, getting a chuckle from everyone else. You blush at the attention.

“Had I known I would be covered in scotch, I would have told Chris to leave you at home,” you say with a smirk, leave Scott with an open mouth and hard laughs from Jimmy, Sebastian and Chris.

Sebastian stands and asks, “um, YN, could I have a moment of your time.” You nod and head to the hallway. Sebastian pulls the door almost all the way closed and turns to face you. “I am sorry about Alejandra. Her comment was way out of line. She was rude and I just wanted to offer my apologies.”

“It’s ok Sebastian. Thank you for the apology. I’m used to snobs like her.” You play with the end of your ponytail. A nervous habit.

Sebastian gulped not sure how to convey his attraction. “It doesn’t excuse her behavior.” He slipped into Romannian. “Din tot sufletul, dragă, îmi cer scuze pentru ea.” (With all my heart, beautiful, I apologize for her.)

You look at him curiously. And reply, “Ar fi trebuit să alegi o femeie mai bună pentru ca inima ta să fie fericită.” (You should have picked a better woman for your heart to be happy.) He looked stunned and you continued. “It’s not a problem.”

You turned to head back into the dressing room, but Sebastian touches your arm. “I was wondering if I could buy you a drink after the show.”

You blush at the invitation. Sebastian Stan asking you for a drink is like the dream. However, you already had plans. “Oh, I would love to but I’m meeting someone after. Rain check?”

“Oh. Yeah sure. Here,” he took his phone out and gave it to you. You entered in your number and messaged yourself. “I live here in the city so whenever you have time.”

“Sure, I’ll text you.” You walked back into the room. Chris gave you a questioning look and you smiled and shook your head, letting him know you were ok.

You and Jimmy left the room and got ready for the show, stopping in the control room with the video, making sure it was edited to just show the scare. The show started and Jimmy did his thing, the monologue going off without a hitch. You waited for the cues, doing your thing. Sebastian came out first.

“Sebastian welcome back to the show. It’s been a couple of years.”

“Yes, thanks for having me. I wasn’t exactly sure if you’d have me back, considering the last time.”

“The last time… oh, yeah well.”

“C’mon man no need to be shy.”

“Not shy. Embarrassed maybe.”

“Now I’m hurt because we basically made out.” This drew out gasps and giggles from the crowd.

“We did not make out.”

“We did. I feel like we did. We should show them.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jimmy points to the director. “Let’s show them last time.”

And a video play of musical cups where Sebastian accidentally takes a drink of one of the beers before the music stopped and had to spit the drink back into the cup. When the music did stop, Jimmy landed with the cup. The crowd roared with laughter watching the exchange.

Sebastian and Jimmy laugh it off and chat for a few minutes. Chris joins Sebastian on stage.

“So, Chris, we heard a rumor.”

“Ok. Lots of rumors. But hit me with it.”

“You have a new lady in your life.” Jimmy smirks at him.

“You do? You can do that?” Sebastian questions, drawing a laugh from everyone.

Chris blushes. “Yeah, well if I had a girlfriend, I would say that she wouldn’t want her name out there. Because she’s probably a private person.”

“Ok,” Jimmy says. “That’s fair. So, is that a yes?”

Chris just shakes his head and laughs.

Sebastian interjects. “I’m sure if Chris had a girlfriend, he would have told me. As far as I know, it’s just him and Dodger. And me but I’m like another puppy.”

Jimmy laughs and Chris punches Seb’s arm. They show the scare video, and they introduce you as an assistant that Scott is friends with. Scott comes out to explain what happened.

“Did you mean to get YN as well?”

“No, that was a happy coincidence. She’s a great girl and we’ve stayed close since…” he swallows, like he’s nervous… “since Chris and I met her a couple of years ago.”

“That’s great. Well, thank you to Sebastian Stan, Chris and Scott Evans for stopping by…” The show is ending. You had already finished and were putting on your coat while watching the closing. You said bye to the crew and headed over to the bar.

Ordering a lemon drop martini, you sit, waiting and get a message

I’ll just be a few.

You sigh, knowing he would be late. You take a sip and look around the room.

Sebastian couldn’t believe his luck when he went to the bar Chris had suggested. He wanted Seb to meet someone and said he would be a few minutes. In looking around for a seat, he saw you sitting at the bar. You were elegant still in your black dress, a change from the white from earlier. Like two sides of you in one day. He approached you out of your line of sight. “Fancy seeing you here.”

You turn to see Sebastian next to you with a smile. “It’s not hard to find me. I’m here every Friday.”

He took a seat next to you. “So, you know Romanian?”

You smile softly. “Yes. My best friend was from Romania. She taught me since I loved linguistics so much.”

“You are a polyglot?”

“Yep, English, French, Spanish, German and Romanian.”

“So, you know what Ale said?”

“Perfectly. Just because I don’t look like, I don’t know, sophisticated and shit doesn’t mean she should assume that I am lower than her.”

“I kicked her out. I’m so sorry she treated you that way.”

“Like I said, I’m used to it.” You sip your drink, wishing you could forget the entire day.

“So, you’re waiting for your friend or were you lying?”

“I just got a message that they are running a few minutes late.”

“So, is it a boyfriend or a friend?”

You blush, “a boyfriend. He wanted me to meet one of his best friends tonight.” You chew your lip slightly, starting to feel nervous.

“Oh, so its new?”

“No, we just never went public really. We’ve been dating for about a year and a half.” You take a sip as you can feel your cheeks are rosy.

“Oh, how’d you meet?” Sebastian felt like he couldn’t just walk away since he was meeting Chris. But he didn’t want to stop talking to the enchanting creature in front of him.

“Well…”

“Hey beautiful.” Chris walked up and threw his arm around you and kissed you softly.

“Hey baby,” you reply as you look at Sebastian who looks like a fish. Scott comes up as well.

“Hey YNN! You started without me!” he pouts.

“I run on normal time not Evans’s time,” you tease. “You’re always late Scotty.”

Sebastian finally closes his mouth. He swallows, realizing his been hitting on his best friend’s girl. “You and Chris.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I met this one and we just wanted to keep things quiet. Didn’t want it to affect her job.”

“I was just asking how you met.”

“Well, I was out at a bar, The Kinckle Club for a blind date and he didn’t show. So after about an hour of waiting and two glasses of wine, I was going to head to my friend Jon’s for his birthday. Well, I literally ran into Chris in front of the bar. He helped me up and then I guess the rest is history. He said he knew Jon too and was supposed to go to his party as well, but we ended up talking all night that night. Never made it to Jon’s that day.”

“Best day to not meet up with you by the way,” he told Sebastian.

Sebastian thought back to when he would have invited Chris to Jon’s, and it hits him. He had stood up a date because he was too busy making moves on Alejandra, whom he met through Jon. The date was supposed to be on Jon’s birthday. The blind date was the date with you.

You hadn’t made the connection between the man who stood you up and himself. He mentally cursed himself the rest of the evening as he watched you interact with Chris.

Love lesson# 2: never standup a blind date. You never know if it’s your soul mate that you were destined to meet.

More lessons to come… Part 2 // Part 3

Taglist

Taglist:

@patzammit

@texmexdarling

@slutforchrisjamalevans

@firephotogrl74

@tinkerbelle67

@before-we-get-started

@bunnyforhim

@alexakeyloveloki

@sunnyhummingbee

@whiskeytangofoxtrot555

@peaceinourtime82

@saucy-sassy-sparkly

@kmc1989

@kandis-mom

@lokislady82

#andy's shenanigans #andy's hea #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan fic #chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans au #sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfiction #love letters #love lessons

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bingebuddie · 26 days

Text

Here... We... Go...

Hi all,

Well, so far, 2024 has sucked for me... but anyway...

I've been feeling pretty out of sorts mentally, and depending on where my head is at, I've been bouncing back and forth between Fics and my Wes and Cole novel.

I am going on a writing retreat May 4-12th... so... expect some major movement...

I wanted to provide a few updates on where I am with my Fics and other works.

Sideways:

Published updates here have been slower than I wanted or anticipated. This has nothing to do with the story, as I have this outlined for Arcs 6-10... Yes, up to Arc 10.

My personal life has gotten in the way a lot over the last few months and has just eaten up my time to write.

Now, Arc 6 will lead right into Arc 7 and 7 into 8. You will want to throw some stuff at me for some of the wtf moments and having to wait between arcs... but it's all coming. Anyone new to the series has had the benefit of reading five fully finished-out arcs that took me about a year to write. Have some patience with me. It will be worth it.

Arc 6, Into The Unknown, has multiple chapters drafted. I just need to clean up some edits from my beta, and they will be posted. May is going to be a big month for this arc.

This is a pivotal point in the series. It spans Chapters 37-48, making it the longest arc so far. This installment will delve into the Seals' backstory, their connection with Buck and Eddie, and much more. It’s a substantial piece of the puzzle that you won't want to miss.

This one does have some heavy moments...

This does end with a cliffhanger... But I promise, it's not our boys directly you are left wondering about...

Arc 7—Strong—Eddie will need his friends and family like never before. This is a heavy Diaz family arc. The outline is eight Chapters.

This also ends in a cliffhanger and that promise I made above... does not apply here.... insert evil laugh...

Arc 8 Genesis—This is the big one. It all comes together here, and it is the part I am most excited to write. It is also the longest, with an outline of 16 chapters. You will find out more about Genesis in Arc 6.

This arc will change all of their lives and the status quo as we know it. Grab your seats and tissues. The previous title for this was Unleashed...

Arc 9 - Experience/Circles - Tentative Title - No tease, as it will spoil what's to come...

Arc 10 - My All - googles Mariah Carey ...

Sideways isn't going anywhere...

Shifted:

Volume 1: Nevermore

This was originally planned to be 30 chapters. I have 20 published right now. The rest of this is outlined, and chapters 21-25 are written and ready to be published. I haven't posted these because Chapter 25 ends on a massive cliffhanger, and I don't want to leave you all hanging. I will be finishing this... after Arc 6 of Sideways ...

I have a plan for the second arc... but that's all the way behind everything else on my docket...

Impossible:

If you have read this one, I have yet to post the last chapter...

This has an MCD, and while I was writing this, I lost a friend. It was hard to finish. I have finished the outline, and this will be completed soon.

Run:

This is on hold. I have too much else to focus on. Consider this on hiatus until I say otherwise. It might even be scrapped... will see...

Would You Mind:

This one was a lot of fun... The wrap-up/epilogue is done; it's with my beta...

Lap Dancing Eddie will return... in Sideways...

I Don't Want To Be Your Freind:

As of today, 7 of 11 chapters are posted. This is all outlined. I have drafts of chapters 8-11 done. Going to beta and will be posting soon...

I started this leading up to Season 7; it was my mind dealing with all the rumors and leaks... In my mind and my group chat, I was calling this my Anti Tommy and Marisol fic...

This got way out of hand and became a monster of a fic...

Now... on to what else I have brewing...

Future Shock - 3 Part Series - Magic/BAMF/Mayhem/Found Family/Soul Mates/Redux/Ryan Throw's The Timeline Into A Blender and Tada...

As It Is - 2030 and the 118 have been a fractured team since the lawsuit. When members of the team start to be picked off one by one, Hen, Chim, and Bobby, have no one to turn to until friends and family return in their most desperate hour.

As It Was - Details what led to the fracturing of the 118. A retelling of Season 2 and part of season 3...

As It Was Always Meant To Be - Now reunited, will the 118 be able to rally around each other, or will their painful past be too much to overcome.

This has a loose outline and it's very large ...

Depressed, Devasted, and Destroyed aka Something To Hold On To:

I keep calling this Triple D or DDD... This is a pure angst fest... major whump... like I'm mad at myself for the whump here ... seriously...

This has an outline...

Relationship Goals—In an effort to rebuild their friendship after their recent relationships crash and burn, Buck and Eddie join a local hockey team along with some of Buck's old seal friends. This was pure fan service to myself and a way to get Buck, Eddie, Wes, and Cole to play hockey and not have to do it on Sideways. This currently sits around 60 pages.

Stolen - A stolen kiss changes everything between Buck and Eddie... This angst fest is somehow incredibly soft... This is about 35 pages right now...

The Ties That Bind - Buck breakdown fic... This might get scrapped and merged into DDD from above...

All I Want for Christmas - Think Scrooged Vs. It's A Wonderful Life Vs 911... This won't be posted until holiday time...

The Wes and Cole novel is still moving along... it's my refuge when the show does something stupid...

I should probably get to writing... it's not like I have nothing to do....

#buck x eddie #buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #buck and eddie #911 abc #buckley diaz family #evan buckely diaz #911 buddie #buddie fic #a03 fic #my fic #fic writing #911 fanfic #buddie fanfic

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altschmerzes · 3 months

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🌹🌹🌹 would absolutely LOVE if you had anything with Jamie and Sarah interacting... your version of sarah kent is everything to me <3

THANK YOUUUUU i really really love writing her, she's honestly one of my favourite elements of Most tl fics i write. characters like her, blank slates with a lot of possibility and just enough implication to be absolutely fascinating, are my kryptonite. i've got a whole fic about like. the evolving dynamic of her and jamie on the docket, and - of course - some stuff i'm SUPER hyped for coming up in wriggle up on dry land, which is where this is from. (far.... FAR ahead lmaooo)

it's. a bit long. (it's very long....) but hey y'all have waited a very long time for chapter nine so maybe we're all due some indulgence.

While Jamie has been in the house before several times, he hasn't put much effort into studying it before. There had always been something to do, some kind of point to hold his attention. Now, there's nothing. Even the sound is quiet and distant - just Sarah moving around in the other room. Left to his own devices, Jamie wanders and observes. There are medical textbooks crammed in next to kiddie stories on the shelves, all mashed together without any rhyme or reason. There are some art prints along one wall, mostly watercolours, along with a framed piece dotted with a border of flowers and calligraphied in a language he doesn't know - probably, he's gleaned through context clues, Hebrew. None of the furniture matches and somehow it all looks nice anyway. And then there's the part that brings Jamie to a stop entirely, his meandering footsteps halted in front of the far wall. The pictures.

It's not a large wall, but it's studded with enough framed photos to make it seem endless to Jamie as he takes in each one individually. In the least surprising turn of events imaginable, a great majority feature Phoebe. She is depicted as an infant, impossibly tiny and so fragile-looking Jamie is almost afraid even to look at the photo of her, and grows throughout into the age she is now. It would be no mystery to anyone who glanced at this wall what held the place of Sarah Kent's pride and joy. There's even a spectacularly hilarious picture of Roy wearing his baby niece on his chest in one of those little harness things, looking sternly at the camera. Jamie snickers at the sight of it, choosing to focus on that rather than in the small, hot ache he feels inside when he thinks too hard about the way Sarah looks at her daughter in the pictures of the two of them together.

Roy is in plenty of other photos too. There are a few snapshots of a boy and a girl with the same dark, curly hair, and one that Jamie immediately recognizes as the day that Chelsea won the Champions League, Sarah's arms around her brother's waist and twin elated grins on their faces. A woman with various brightly-framed pairs of glasses that Jamie vaguely recognizes is in almost as many photos as Roy. He squints at a picture of her and Sarah asleep on a couch together with identical posture and matching doctor's scrubs until he places her as Sarah's best friend, Maggie Something-or-Other. There are a few other friends, some coworkers, a group shot of Phoebe's class and one of Roy's team, and then...

Jamie's mouth is dry and his ears feel hot as he stands in Sarah Kent's house and stares at his own face. Because Jamie is up on that wall, too, in two very recent pictures. One of them is posed, from the day Richmond was promoted. He's standing with Roy, tucked tight into the man's side under his arm. They're both smiling, bits of red and blue confetti in their hair, eerily reminiscent of the Champions League picture of the Kent siblings together. The other framed photo is candid - Jamie crouched in the grass and looking seriously down at something, Phoebe craning her neck as she scrutinizes the same spot on the ground, her hands braced on Jamie's shoulder as she stands beside him.

There had been a beetle in the grass. Jamie remembers it clearly now that he sees the picture. She had come running over demanding his attention and telling him that he needed to come at once because there was a strange bug and she needed him to see it. He can still close his eyes and feel the fidgety press of her hands on his shoulder, the way she'd leaned the entirety of her small weight against him without a thought to whether he was sturdy enough to keep her standing. It was a really nice day. Oh, it was a little too cold and the wind kept picking up and slowing down at random and he'd slept poorly the night before and been tired, but it was a really nice day.

The beetle in the grass with its iridescent, shiny shell. Phoebe's warm little fingers, digging into his shoulder. She'd insisted on holding Jamie's hand on the walk back to Roy's house.

Sarah's footsteps are loud enough on the creaky wooden floor that, as lost in thought as he is, Jamie isn't startled by her presence when she arrives behind him. They're both quiet for a moment, studying the wall of photos.

"I'm up there," Jamie eventually says. It's a silly, stupid thing to say, but his throat feels thick and his hands are tingling a little bit and there's nothing else in his head.

"Yeah," Sarah agrees. "I can swap 'em out if you want. If you don't like those ones, I mean, you can have Roy send me some you do like."

That was... not the problem. Not the question.

"But I..." The rest of the sentence falls away, gone before Jamie can even figure out what it was going to be. She knows who he is. She knows his name and his history and how long it's been since she met him. It's not as if the pictures just appeared there one day. Sarah had done this on purpose. She had printed photos of Jamie and framed them and hung them up along with all the others of her daughter and her brother and her best mate.

With a sudden burst of impulsive drive, Jamie turns sharply to the side and wraps his arms around Sarah. He presses his face into her shoulder and breathes deeply, wrestling with the burning at the backs of his eyes and the catch in his breath. Sarah is shorter than him by just enough to notice, but when she hugs him back, he feels young and small. There are a dozen different things he wants to say - about how they're nice pictures, she can keep them up there forever as far as Jamie is concerned, about how hard it is to believe that any of this is happening at all - but he can't piece together any of them. From the way she just stands there with him, though, one of her hands running lightly up and down his back, he gets the idea that he doesn't need to say any of it. That Sarah already knows.

#gav gab #gav answers #fic: wriggle up on dry land #ask box games #writing liveblog #i love. this whole........ thing

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twh-news · 6 months

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Tom Hiddleston Gave Us Clarity For His Comments About Concluding Loki's Journey, And Addressed Whether He'd Return To The MCU

Major spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Loki, “Glorious Purpose” lie ahead.

Viewers were graced with a truly wacky and emotional Loki Season 2 finale last week. The installment proved not only saw the titular character not only save his friends at the Time Variance Authority but also obtain that glorious purpose he’d long been searching for. Tom Hiddleston – the man who has brilliantly brought this character to life – recently made headlines when he said he viewed the episode as the conclusion of his journey as the character. However, he provided CinemaBlend with some clarity on those comments while addressing whether he’d be open to returning for upcoming Marvel movies or shows.

During the final moments of the finale, the former Asgardian mischief-maker managed to save all of reality by destroying the Time Loom at the TVA and revitalizing the dying timeline branches. With that, he took his place as the God of Stories at the End of Time, where he’ll now watch over all the various branches. Such a development feels like a fitting conclusion, so one can understand why Tom Hiddleston would refer to it as such. However, when I spoke to the actor, he wanted to set the record straight on that:

Well, yes, I suppose what I meant… Perhaps what I should clarify is that I feel very satisfied with the finale of Season 2, because it seems to contain echoes and resonances of the entire journey. It's almost like a piece of music, where in that last episode, you hear strains of, you know, whether it's in lines of dialogue, we are circling the same themes that I've always circled with Loki. But he's a character who is engaged with ideas of belonging, ideas of identity, ideas of purpose. That's who he was at the very foot at the beginning in the first Thor film, wondering where he belonged, which family he belonged to, wondering what his role was in all of this. Thor was destined to be king of Asgard. And who am I? Who is Loki? And I've been asking that question the whole way. Like, who does Loki think he is? Who's he think he is, and who is he really? And then through the series, in Season 1 and Season 2, I think the confrontation with Mobius and the mirror of Sylvie is another excavation, we go deeper into those ideas.

This is a very interesting take and one that is completely understandable. His sentiments on ending his journey were more based on the sheer feeling of satisfaction he feels over his character’s current position. I feel the same way, especially given the points the actor so eloquently mentioned during our conversation. The show (which is available for Disney+ subscribers) does indeed maintain the themes of identity and self-worth that have been synonymous with the antihero since his introduction in 2011’s Thor. So if this is his swan song, that’s surely one heck of a way to go out.

With that being said, there are still MCU productions on the docket that could serve as prime places for the character to return. (Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars come to mind, immediately.) Tom Hiddleston went on to tell me that he appreciates the “poetic” nature of the 2023 TV schedule entry's Season 2 finale, yet it sounds like he can’t say for sure that he won’t reprise his famous role again at some point:

So the end of this was just, it felt like a poetic redemption like the end of a piece of music, but I don't know if it's… I mean, I've made the mistake before of saying goodbye and saying goodbye to this great team at Marvel. And it's been emotional, and we swap notes and [they’re] saying, ‘Look, we'll love you. You’re always part of the family. Come see us anytime.’ And then the phone rings a year later. So I'm keeping an open heart and an open mind.

It’s definitely true that this isn’t the first time fans have been under the impression that the former Tesseract wielder has reached the end of the road. He was meant to be killed off in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, and it seemed almost certain he was done after his death at Thanos’ hands in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. So in short, you really can’t keep a good Loki down, and I’m eager to see whether Tom Hiddleston dons those golden horns again one day.

#tom hiddleston #loki #loki season 2 #loki s02 #loki spoilers #loki season 2 spoilers #spoilers #interview #cinemablend

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havendance · 1 year

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did you let me die in your arms in the time loop?

Since this isn't actually on the writing docket right now, you guys get the bullet point write up of what would've been this fic instead. (Someday I will learn my lesson about not making promises I can't keep while make tumblr fic polls)

(cw for time loop characteristic death, suffering, a brief mentions of suicide)

The Scenario: Dick, Tim, and Damian are investigating some funky magic happenings and end up fighting some magic user with a creepy basement

Dick gets knocked out by a magic spell and when he wakes up, he finds he’s stuck in the creepy basement. There’s a magic circle in the center radiating power; next to it are Tim and Damian, tied up.

The magic explains that since they interfered, the original spell became unstable. If it’s not stopped, it’ll collapse into a magic black hole that will eat all of Gotham.

If Dick wants to stop the spell, he needs to kill one of his brothers.

There is a gun in his hand. (Why is there a gun in his hands? It’s dramatic)

Cue various emotional turmoil (gestures to the post that inspired this). In the end, there’s only one choice Dick can really make even though he hates it.

He shoots Tim, holds him as he bleeds out.

The spell dissipates, but then…

Dick wakes up. He is in the creepy basement. The spell in the center is going haywire. He needs to choose.

Dick kills Tim again, and again, and again.

(He is having a terrible time.)

He kills Damian exactly once. Watching him die is somehow worse than the familiar horror of killing Tim.

(Tim is also angry at him in this loop. In the loops where Tim dies, Damian is shocked and upset, but on a certain level, he also understands. In the loop where Damian dies, Tim feels betrayed.)

He kills the magic user out of frustration in one loop. He can feel the spell growing out of control, eating them up before he wakes up again.

Also, there’s the obligatory loop where Dick kills himself because he just wants it to end.

One loop, Dick doesn’t get up, he pretends to be unconscious. In that loop, the magic user makes Damian kill Tim.

There are more loops. Dick hates the way he’s becoming numb to the horror. The way that it’s getting easier and easier to kill Tim each time.

He kills Tim nearly every time. The thing about being a hero, the hard thing about the situation, is that he needs to make the right choice every time, or at least the least bad one. He doesn’t know what’s causing this loop. What if this loop is the last one? He can’t let Gotham be destroyed. He can’t let a moment of weakness make the last choice he makes the wrong one. So he keeps making the least bad choice even if he’s getting to the point that he’d let Gotham perish if it just meant it was over.

Dick wakes up, not in the creepy basement, but in Wayne manor, in his bed. Tim is sitting by his bedside.

It’s both a relief and terrible. Dick knows that when it counted, he made the wrong choice.

“Good,” Tim says, “You’re awake. Zatana said you’d be fine, but—”

Dick cuts him off. “Damian,” he says.

“He’s down in the cave.”

That’s where they must be keeping the body. “I’m sorry,” he says.

Tim realizes that something’s wrong. “No,” he says. “He’s okay. He’s fine.”

“Alive?” Dick asks.

Tim breathes. “Yes. I can call him. He’ll want to know you’re awake.”

“Please,” Dick says.

It turns out that the timeloop was the result of Dick getting hit by a “mental torture” spell of some sort when they were taking down the mage and it was all in his mind!

(It’s still all in his mind.)

Tim asks about it at some point, what happened. Dick tells him the basics, about how someone had to die. About how he had to choose.

“Did you pick me?” Tim asks.

When Dick looks at Tim, he sees him dead and dying more often than he sees him alive as he is. “Yes,” he says.

“Good,” Tim says.

And then they cuddle. The end.

#tim drake #my au ideas #(not really but it's the closest tag I have)#havendance writes #time loop #carthago delenda est #dc #bats + birds + affiliated #dick grayson #last of the flying graysons

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thethistlegirlwrites · 3 months

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Vampires Anonymous

Joey looks around the abandoned office-turned-Vampires-Anonymous and wonders how this night is going to go.

There’s about ten people scattered throughout the room. A guy playing a harmonica in a corner, some upbeat tune that’s probably actually a folk ballad about how some guy died in the old west, two heavily tattooed girls playing some kind of card game that involves a lot of yelling and smacking the top of the deck, a young guy with a frowzy shock of dark purple hair, an old man with cowboy boots and a weather-lined face apparently dozing off with his feet propped up on a battered desk, a guy who looks like he could have been a lawyer in his past life brushing off the seat of a wobbly spinning chair, and a woman with a dandelion poof of hair and a patch-covered jacket perched on top of a four-foot-tall filing cabinet. Then there’s Joey, and Shay, and the listing stacks of paperwork, file boxes, and busted chairs the previous tenants left behind.

Part of what Shay’s doing as community service for his own mentorship is starting a support group for fledglings that’s connected to the mentor program. It’s one thing for young vampires to have a connection to someone who can offer advice and the wisdom of experience, but it’s also good to have people who are at the same spot, sharing the same struggles.

Joey’s got her halfway house ‘sisterhood’, but she agreed to come anyway because Shay should have at least one person he knows to offer support the first few weeks.

But if Shay’s nervous about his first night leading the group, he’s not showing it.

Lawyer-guy looks around the room. “Shouldn’t we be, like, making a circle of chairs or something?”

“You wanna hold hands and sing Kumbaya, too?” Cabinet-percher asks.

“This group is what we make it,” Shay breaks in, with the same authoritative calmness Joey remembers from the days when he drove off jerks harassing her. “In my experience, too much structure makes everyone feel too formal, or too put on the spot because we’re all looking at each other. We’ll try it this way first.” He looks around. “I would like everyone to introduce themselves but only as much as you’re comfortable with, and no last names right now. I’ll start. I’m Shay. I’ve been a vampire for a little less than two years, but I was bitten in college and it took me quite a while to actually die and turn. The reason I got picked to work with this group in the first place is that I was trying to deal with the chronic venom pain and got hooked on heroin. I’ve been in and out of mandatory rehabs and group therapy most of my adult life. The point being, I know something about what makes a group work or what makes them useless, and we’re going to try to be one of the better ones here.”

Joey tries to pay attention as the others follow suit.

Tattoos and Tattoos Two are sisters, Kai and Lia. They got turned the same night when they played a punk-rock gig at the wrong bar and ended up on the menu instead of onstage. The old man is Loren, a name that makes Lawyer-guy snicker until Harmonica throws a ball of crumpled paper at him. He’s a former rancher who ended up bled dry by both the banks and vampire loan shark he turned to in desperation. Purple hair is Francisco, whose story is disturbingly similar to Joey’s, except that the vampire who took him and four other people across the border decided to hang onto them for a while. He’d been the only one infected, and had woken up in the middle of a body dump in the desert. Like Joey, he’s on Chimera’s case docket for home earth citizenship. Harmonica turns out to be a very unassuming Jay, which feels like way too short and normal a name for his charismatic aura. He’d been a bit part actor in sitcoms until he tried to break up what he thought was a rape in the backlot and ended up surprising a hungry vamp instead. Lawyer-guy, whose name is actually Keith, really was a lawyer, apparently. A divorce lawyer whose less than above-board methods led to him crossing paths with a sleazy vamp offering PI services for his clients. One argument over payments later, his practice and his life were over. Cabinet-percher is Aaliyah. Former LA cabbie who got literally stiffed on a fare. Twice over, unfortunately for her. The first time by a vamp who bit her rather than pay up, and the second time by a desperate guy who was fleeing an armed robbery. When the radio gave out his description, and Aaliyah had looked into the mirror to confirm it was her passenger, he’d shot her in the back of the head and bolted.

Joey didn’t really mean to go last, but it kind of just happened. She’s not the sort to break into the conversation, and she was trying too hard to take in everyone else’s story.

“Uh, I’m Joey. I’ve been a vampire for about eight months. I was bitten when I was nineteen, by a border smuggler.” She kicks at a dust ball on the floor. “I spent the next six years in LA and when I died, my family buried me and I turned. Now I’m in the mentor program to get a chance at getting them back in my life.” It feels painfully slow. Two weeks is too long to wait for the physical visits, but if everything goes well, in another month she’ll get moved up into the once-a-week bracket. “I hadn’t told them I was going to become a vampire. Mostly because I didn’t actually think it would happen.”

One of the two tattooed girls (it’s going to take weeks for Joey to remember who’s who) scowls. “Let me get this straight. You didn’t know you had the venom in you?”

Joey laces her fingers together and looks down at her hands in her lap.

“Not for sure.” She sighs. “I didn’t want it to be true. I couldn’t afford it to be.”

“Didn’t you feel anything?” Aaliyah asks. “I felt like my skin was going to burn off whenever someone touched me. It hypersensitized me to everything. And my teeth were killing me.”

“I kept telling myself everything I felt made sense.”

She was driving her sister to appointments, working the fights at night, scared she'd be caught and deported because she couldn't get a visa. She’d figured the stomach pains meant she’d end up like Jorge across the hall, with a stress ulcer before thirty because he too had overstayed his legal welcome. She thought the hunger was from skipping meals so her siblings got more.

She was ignoring the pain because Via came first.

“Everyone else in our neighborhood was just like me. Always tired, alert to anything that might be trouble, not enough in our pockets to put enough on the table.” Even the teeth had made sense. She’d always ground them in her sleep. Mauri used to complain about it in the camps, say she was keeping him awake.

The one thing she’d never felt was the aggression Shay had described, that drove him to the fights where she’d met him. Chimera’s been theorizing for a while that there’s a subclass of vampire in which the venom activates the victim’s flight instead of fight response, creating a stealthy, shadow-dwelling vampire when they finally turn, an ambush predator rather than one that stalks its prey actively.

They still don’t know if it’s linked to the person’s inherent responses to traumas, or if it’s connected to a specific strain of sires. After all, one could argue that the vampire who turned her was the same sort. That kind of alert wariness would be an asset to someone in his line of work.

“That’s messed up.” Jay shakes his head. “I can’t believe you just ignored that.”

Joey swallows. No one will blame her if she stops talking now.

She’s not sure telling anyone the specifics about her family is ever a good idea.

But that’s something born out of years of running and hiding and fear.

She doesn’t want to carry that with her into this place.

“I wasn’t alone when I came across the border. I made the deal I did in exchange for him getting my siblings and me here, so my sister could get the medical help she needed. Via was always the brave one. Facing her pain with a smile even on her worst days. If she could be okay, how could I be anything else?” Joey swallows. “It felt like nothing compared to what she must have been living with. She needed me to be strong for her, and I had to make sure she could get to the doctor, that we could pay for her treatments, and that she felt safe.”

“Damn. You just ignored vampire venom poisoning because taking care of your family was the most important thing in your life. That is bad-ass,” Aaliyah says. “You told something killing you from the inside out that it was gonna have to get in line because your little sis needed you.”

Joey didn’t think what she’d done was that impressive. She’d just been getting herself out of bed every day for Via, like she’d done every day since their mother was murdered. But apparently, to a room full of vampires, she’s managed to pull off something extraordinary.

“Yeah. Don’t think I can top that,” Keith says with a shrug.

“You literally got infected and died in the same day, of course you can’t,” Kai (Joey can tell now because she’s spun around in her office chair and there’s a big stylized K inked on her shoulder) retorts.

“Beginning to think you should be the one leading sessions,” Shay says, a hand resting gently on Joey’s shoulder.

She shakes her head. It was scary enough telling a roomful of vampires about her siblings even existing. She’s not someone who likes the spotlight. Ever.

“No way.”

He gives her a smile. “Well, in that case…” He holds out a chipped bowl full of strips of paper and pens. “Write down your favorite vamp bar. Has to be a legal one though, and not a coven-members-only kind.”

“Okay, why?” Francisco asks.

“Because I think we’re going to have a much better time getting to know each other over drinks.” Shay says with a grin. “We’ll draw names every week, rotate through.”

“That seems like a weird way to run the vampire version of AA,” Keith mumbles.

“We’re not trying to stop drinking synth-blood,” Lia says. “We’re trying to learn how to cope with being vampires. I think it’s great.” She tosses her slip in the bowl. “Heads up Kai and I have the same pick and it’s karaoke so be prepared to sing for a round because there’s double the chances ours gets picked.”

“Oh no,” Jay groans.

“What do you have against music? You were playing that harmonica for a solid ten minutes.”

“Music, fine. Me singing, so not a good idea.”

“Then you’d better start practicing and hope it gets picked a couple weeks from now,” Aaliyah says, tossing her own pick in.

Shay swirls a hand around the bowl. As the only member of the group without a suggestion, he’s the most unbiased picker. He pulls out a folded paper, opens it, and shakes his head. “Okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but who possibly suggested a dive like the Vein Drain?”

No one raises their hands.

“Well, it is a legal establishment, but can we at least try not to start a full bar brawl on our first meeting night?”

There’s a pretty mixed response of nods and shrugs.

Shay looks at Joey with the first really concerned expression she’s seen all night, but all she can do is shake her head. “You let them pick.”

“And I think I’m going to regret it.” Shay sighs. “I’m going to be really bad at this aren’t I?”

“I guess we’ll find out if Lawson has to read us the riot act and bail us out of holding in the morning,” Joey says. “In the meantime, I guess we’re going to find out why this place is one of our new friends’ favorite hangouts.”

(You can read this story and others from this universe on my WorldAnvil here!)

@catwingsathena @nade2308 @the-one-and-only-valkyrie @telltaleclerk @ettawritesnstudies @writeouswriter @whump-place @the-lovely-wren

#febuwhump #febuwhump2024 #febuwhumpday26 #help them #vampires anonymous #shane barrett #josefina quintero

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goddess-help-us · 2 years

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US Democracy: Close to Death

Pardon my language.

But we are f*cked. Yesterday (June 30, 2022), SCOTUS agreed to hear “Moore v. Harper” on its fall 2022 docket. This case deals with the authority of states to run elections (see more detail later on)*. The conservative-majority court will likely rule in favor of Moore, which would let Republican-held state legislatures appoint their own electors in the electoral college, ignoring the popular vote. In essence, Republicans wouldn’t have to repeat Jan. 6 in the future. They could simply use Republican-held statehouses to reject election results they don’t like, ending free and fair elections in the US.

Presently, there are not enough votes for Congress or the President to do anything to stop this. Congress could potentially impeach Justice Thomas for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection but the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority Senate vote to convict a sitting Supreme Court justice. Sufficient support for this does not exist in the Senate, and is not likely to exist at any time soon.

There is only one real, legal recourse to this threat: obtaining a true Democratic majority in the US Senate, which we do not have. Senators Manchin and Sinema are unreliable at best and potentially plants at worst. They support neither the reform of or conditional exemption to the filibuster, nor “packing the court.” We need two additional Democratic senators to make their spoiler-effect opposition irrelevant. A 52-member Democratic Senate would allow the filibuster to be bypassed and open the way for the Judiciary Act to pass, which would allow President Biden to add four additional Supreme Court justice seats to reign in this current slow-motion right-wing coup. Don’t think abolishing the filibuster is right? See additional text later.**

How do we get two additional Democratic votes in the Senate? There are currently two highly-competitive Senate races for seats held by Republicans in the midterms this November: Pennsylvania (Dr. Oz (R) vs. John Fetterman (D)) and Wisconsin (party nominees undecided, primary scheduled Aug. 9, 2022). The Dems also need to hold onto every seat they currently occupy. This includes other highly-competitive seats in: Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada. I’ve never campaigned for anyone in my life before but today I signed up to volunteer with John Fetterman’s campaign because I feel like this is important.

I can’t tell anybody what to do this information, I can only provide it. But I hope that people who value laws, regulations, and policies that support the social, economic, environmental, and democratic wellbeing of a society can recognize when those things are at stake (and they are). The Republicans and their right-wing evangelical supporters know that the 2022 midterm and 2024 general elections are the last chance they have to impose their religious agenda on the country. They know the majority of Americans do not support an elimination of abortion, the banning of LGBT people from public life, or the continuous denial of the climate crisis. That is why they are using the Supreme Court to take action right before these critical elections. They should not get away with this.

“I’m too anxious or burnt to do anything.” That’s true. It’s been an exhausting past two years. But, for myself, I hate to think of the regret I might have in 2024 when a Republican-held Court, White House, and Congress enact a nationwide federal ban on abortion or LGBT people. Do I want to ask myself at that time, “was there anything else I could have done?” “Electoralism doesn’t work.” I sympathize.*** Often times it feels we elect people who don’t ultimately do anything. But I guarantee that voting will become even more of a token gesture in the future under the likely Moore v. Harper ruling if it’s allowed to proceed unchecked. “The Nation is already f*cked, there’s no point in saving it. We should just let the inevitable balkanization of America happen.” While I think current inflation and supply chains are bad, I can’t imagine how much worse they will be when the nationwide networks of food, medicine, water, household goods, consumer electronics, et al. are subject to tariffs and various petty interregional conflicts that the federal government currently mediates. Yes, the US will cease to exist one day, but let that be a day when we decide that we no longer need the federal government to aid us in living healthful, rich lives, not because of a right-wing coup.

Thank you for your time if you've read this far.

*Moore v. Harper is a Supreme Court writ of certiorari between Thomas Moore, the Republican Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, and Rebecca Harper, a North Carolina citizen who is collectively filing with other North Carolinians against the Speaker. The case has to do with a Feb. 2022 North Carolina Supreme Court decision that threw out the State Legislature’s election map as gerrymandered. The NC Supreme Court ruled that the maps adopted by the NC Legislature violated the NC Constitution. The NC Supreme Court adopted remedial election maps in their place. Speaker Moore, in turn, filed a writ of certiorari with SCOTUS that it accepted June 30. The NC Republicans believe the US Constitution does not allow state supreme courts jurisprudence over elections and that state legislatures should be able to run and organize elections exclusively. SCOTUS has continuously ruled, however, since 1916 (Davis v. Hildebrant) and as recently as 2015 (Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission) that the Constitution does not give unilateral election-running authority to a state legislature but rather to the public or a state’s constitution. The likely SCOTUS ruling in the fall on Moore v. Harper would overturn over a century’s worth of precedent and allow sitting state legislatures to blatantly gerrymander election maps and even the ability to ignore the popular vote.

**Don’t think abolishing the filibuster is right? The US Constitution does not support the use of the filibuster and does not require a two-thirds vote for laws. It only specifies that a two-thirds majority be used for: censure, expulsion, conviction, and treaty approval. The Senate has reformed the filibuster throughout US history. Senators used to be able to simply filibuster a motion out of the Senate without any accountability. In 1917, the Senate changed its rules to allow a two-thirds majority vote to end debate, the first such check on the filibuster. In 1975, the Senate changes its rules again and dropped this threshold from 67 to 60 senators. Clearly, the Senate has a history of changing its own rules as allowed by Article I, Section 5 of the US Constitution. It is perfectly reasonable and constitutional to either reform or end the use of the filibuster.

***Yes, electoralism is not the end-be-all of civic engagement. It is the bare minimum. If you want more than casting a vote then (good news): there’s a wealth of civil society and community-based organizations out there waiting for your talent, energy, and expertise. Getting involved can connect you to additional resources. And, yes, support mutual aid requests as you are able but mutual aid is not a replacement for actual, scalable human services, like medicine, professional care, electronic infrastructure and services, formal education, et al. that our federal state provides. This is not an “one or the other” decision. All of the tools are here. Use all of them as you are able. Campaign, vote, organize, donate, spread awareness. All of it. And anybody calling for a violent revolution is clueless. The right-wing white supremacists have been preparing for this moment four four decades, with ready-to-mobilize militias. There are no comparable and scalable left-wing militia organizations to counter this. Sure, join your local Socialist Rifle Association but SRA, as it stands now, is simply not comparable to the organization that right-wing extremists currently have. And once you have outed yourself as an active leftist gun user (in the same way that white militias use theirs), you can forget about your constitutional rights. The longer-term solution is to create locally-based power that can resist overreaches by state and federal governments.

#scotus #us supreme court #moore v harper #elections #voting rights #voting rights act #abortion #abortion rights #womens rights #us elections #us democracy #left wing #community organizing

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