#live laugh love Mia Winters

[c0d3n4m3]

mwahaha.

#clip studio paint #art #digital art #resident evil #resident evil 7 #resident evil biohazard #mia winters #Resident evil mia #women are beautiful #women are amazing #live laugh love Mia Winters

[blondieeu]

winter nights. satoru g.

an uninvited guest showed up that night.

intruder is what they’re normally called but you knew who the person was too well to even call it that.

you didn’t bother to open your door all the way because of how hard it was snowing. the cold air nipping at your nose and your pretty brown skin.

the weather man said it was supposed to snow around 2 inches and counting, and you were pretty prone to getting sick easily—“daddy!”

A smaller voice exclaimed from behind you and the sound of tiny bare feet padding against the wooden floors all came together as you watched a smaller body being scooped up by the man in the door.

Mia, that was her name. She was 6 this coming february and her favorite color is pastel purple.

having her when you were freshly 19 you could argue was one of your best decisions you could've had.

Consequences did however come with the decision but you'd do it all again to have her.

You watched the white haired man slide his dress shoes off and kick the door closed like he still lived there and bring her farther into the house.

"How's my sweet girl?"

He coo'd at her, kissing her forehead and the girl looked up at him with stars in her eyes.

you could hear her ramble on and on about what she did at school, what mommy made for dinner, all the stars she drew, her wanting to watch the princess and the frog for the billionth time.

“mommy made me a tent!”

He took off his shades and set them onto the deep brown coffee table that matched the house's theme without even looking to see if he made it, knowing he did, since he used to live there.

"Oh now did she?"

He challenged her, walking away with her straight towards her room like he lived there, probably considering her bedtime being 7:20p and her still being up at 9:00p.

You sighed when he kicked the door closed once again, hearing giggles and laughing coming from the room as you started off into your kitchen down the hallway.

Opening the fridge you took out leftovers of the dinner you made a couple hours ago, Cajun chicken pasta.

Throwing it into the microwave to heat as you waited, your pretty white nails tapping against the marble counters as you listened to the faint 'vrrrrrrr' and let it soothe you.

"You know you didn't have to do that for me." A low voice came from behind you and before you could turn to tell him off for scaring you he put a finger on his lips.

"She's asleep?"

He nodded, already knowing you were referring to Mia. He smiled a bit, opening the microwave before it hit '00:01' and taking out the meal.

He grabbed a fork out of the spoon and fork drawer, like he lived there, and followed you into the living room plopping down next to you on the couch and starting to watch whatever bullshit show was on the TV while he fucked up that pasta.

tonight it was some episode of 'Lucifer' with the British man as the lead roll, you guys loved him. you could remember being pregnant with your baby and watching this show every night.

"You were away."

you started, not looking at him but not exactly watching the TV, just blank. He stopped eating and sat it on the glass coffee table, sitting up and leaning his forearms on his knees.

"I know..You know how my job goes, m’ sorry baby."

He looked like he wanted to say something else and even though you felt bad you couldn't help but be a little pissed at him, what about his family? his kid?

"What else are you gonna miss, Satoru?"

You asked, no expression readable on your face but he looked a little sad when you said that, his eyebrows furrowing when he quickly looked at you.

"I took some time off."

Your ears perked. Satoru Gojo, your ex boyfriend of 6 1/2 years and now baby daddy, took some time off his job!? What a shocker!

"Got 3 days off."

He added, a cocky sigh accompanied the end as he messed with his watch—like he ever really knows what time it is anyway.

"Why? You made your point on how strict they are so why now?"

"Because I wanted to spend more time with my family."

oh.

You didn't say anything else, watching his snow white hair bounce as the two of you got up, you following him straight into the kitchen, like he lived there. you sat at one of the bar stools at the kitchen island and watched as he washed his dish.

"So you're gonna just be staying here?"

You asked, spinning in the chair slightly.

"If you'll let me y/n, whatever you want. It's all up to you"

He muttered, his words almost sounding irritated since you kept nagging him.

"What about that lady you've got at home, you should spend time with her too Satoru."

. . .

He paused, his right arm momentarily stopped scrubbing the dishes as he took in a real deep sigh.

"My daughter always comes first, as well as her mother. You know that y/n."

He retorted back, finishing washing his dish and starting to wash all the other dishes in the sink as well. It went silent for a while.

Except the light bickering it wasn't awkward or angry, it was just a moment to cool down so the two of you didn't say anything you didn't mean or would regret on a later date.

Serena was her name, his girlfriend I mean. They haven't been dating for very long, maybe 4 months not that you're counting but you didn't really like her and it wasn't because you were jealous or anything, she just seemed too expensive.

"Mia has a parent teacher conference on Thursday."

You broke the silence when he finished washing the dishes, drying his hands off with the towel that rested near the sink.

"I'll be there."

he put the dish away in the cabinet. finally turning towards the kitchen island where you sat and pressed his palms on it, giving it some of his weight.

with a heavy sigh you put your hand in your palm and stared back at him. taking all of him in since you saw him a couple of days ago.

his haircut he got and never stopped getting since you said it looked good on him, the small freckles he had that no one noticed—there were 17 on them on his face, the matching promise ring he had on his finger from like what 2 years ago??

“i miss you satoru.”

his eyes softened and he started around the island, eventually coming to you. you spun the bar stool to face him and he came between your parted legs.

he didn’t say anything.

you didn’t say anything.

his fingers were innocent at your knees, but eventually grew tainted while they traveled up them. his fingers gliding up your pretty brown skin and under your pajama shorts, grabbing at your ass when he pulled you off of the bar stool and onto the counter.

it was a fast action and it almost had you winded when your hands found the back of his neck, feeling that familiar haircut design with your initial on it.

satoru fixed himself between your legs, his face close to yours. he grabbed your hand and put it on his chest.

“you feel that?”

his heart was beating a-million-miles-a-fucking-hour and he looked flushed but his eyes were only on yours. like you were the only woman to ever exist.

you nodded slowly at his question, taking your other hand off his shoulder and using it to prop yourself up from the counter as extra support.

“that’s how i feel about you.. don’t fuckin’ ask me about another woman when this is how i feel about only you. ain no other woman gonna get me like this you hear?”

you could never forget those icy blue eyes.

bloundieeu xx

#blondieeu #smut #jjk megumi #jjk nanami #jjk gojo #jjk spoilers #jjk x you #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jjk #jjk geto #gojou satoru x reader #gojo satoru #satorugojo #jjk satoru #jujutsu satoru #jujutsu kaisen satoru #gojou satoru x you #satoru smut #gojo x you #gojo x y/n #jujutsu gojo #gojo fluff #gojo smut #gojo x reader #gojo saturo #jujutsu geto #geto suguru #choso smut #kento nanami

[moonah-rose]

Dad Robin owns my heart.

Dad Robin being present every time a woman in the tribe goes into labour, not knowing for certain if the kid is his or not (most likely is) but is there regardless and giddy with excitement.

Dad Robin hunting the fluffiest animals so he has lots of pelts to wrap his babies up in and carry them around as the tribe moves.

Dad Robin treating his sons and daughters the same because they haven't invented gender roles yet and he loves them equally. If daughter wants to wield spear then he teaches her, if boy wants to craft furs into clothes that also cool.

Dad Robin being the opposite of the harsh, brutal, detached cliche father people imagine cavemen to have been but instead being super soft and playful and tender with his kids like we see how he is when comforting Kitty and reassuring Pat.

Dad Robin letting his kids have one hour of TV fire watching time so long as they promise to clean their corner of the cave. He also spoils them by letting them have a sip of puddle water so long as they eat all their berries.

Dad Robin laying with his kids on the grass outside at night and naming all the shapes in the stars and telling them why Moonah is so special and why they should give thanks to Her for watching over them.

Dad Robin getting anxious the first time his eldest goes on their first hunt like the equivalent of sending your kid on their first day of school and sighing with relief when they come back alive. Drenched in blood but alive. You know, typical first day.

Dad Robin telling his kids stories through cave paintings and encouraging them to do their own and leave their hand prints, some of which still remain in secret spots on the land centuries on.

Dad Robin promising his kids some new furs before winter arrives so he goes hunting with two of his mates and come across a bear....

Dad Robin waking up and hearing his kids call for him but when he goes to follow the sound and sees them in the distance, he can't pass through the invisible wall that keeps tossing him back, over and over, all the while his kids can't see or hear him as he calls back to them.

Dad Robin looking forward to every eclipse and solstice as its when he gets to see his family come to the sacred site again, just as Pat's family would come to visit his tree, and he watches each year as his kids get older, have their own kids, before the tribe moves on and he's alone.

Dad Robin studying the face of every person who comes across the land, trying to see if he can spot any familiar signs to indicate they might be his descendant, sometimes hearing if they have his daughter's laugh or his son's smirk etc.

Dad Robin loving that babies can see him and making them laugh and cherishing what connection he has with the living that reminds him of his own kids - especially with Mia, his niece, who thanks to Alison this time won't forget him after she stops seeing him.

Uncle Robin humming the same tune to lull Mia to sleep that he used to hum to his own kids and she asks him to do it each time she visits even when she's really too old for it and shouldn't be able to hear him but somehow still can.

#bbc ghosts #robin the caveman #robin ghosts #mia cooper

[magics-neptunes-things]

Winter cold

Hi guys!

I got two request for something with Laia Codina after the one with Laia Aleixandri, so there you go :) I hope you'll like it!

Resume : Your girlfriend is trying to survive the coldness of your hometown.

TW : None ♥

______________________________________________________________

"How is it so cold? How are people still having their ten fingers?"

Your laugh when you hear your girlfriend wines. Despite her multiple layers of clothes, she doesn't seem to be able to cope with the cold winter of your native Scotland. You took advantage of the winter break to take her to the village where you grew up, in Kirkwall. After a trip with a stopover, you went to your village, where your parents still live.

Unlike you who joined the south of the country for a few years, when you signed a contract for Arsenal. This is also where you met Laia, when she arrived in the best London club. The love at first sight was immediate and so strong that neither of you could hide it from your teammates. Nor the fans, always on the lookout for everything on social networks.

"Come here, you grumpy little gremlins"

Laia makes a horrible grimace but sticks to you despite everything, letting you pass your arms around her waist. You let her melt to you, looking for a form of warm. You have been walking in the village for an hour. Christmas is finished so there are no more the small wooden huts of the Christmas market, but the place remains in your opinion very beautiful.

"How about a hot chocolate?"

You end up offering this to your girlfriend, to relieve the cold that seems to have taken hold of Laia’s entire body. She looks at you with stars in her eyes, making you laugh softly again.

"Madre mia, yes please."

Without hesitation, you grab her hand to train her with you towards the nearest establishment to you. You know very well the people who take care of it and it's a pleasure to see them again. When you arrive at the establishment, you are warmly greeted. After officially introducing Laia and exchanging a few phrases, you find yourself sitting at one of the tables. Laia smiled as she saw a picture of you and the tenants, a signed jersey in your hands. The shirt is also framed and displayed on the wall.

Two hot chocolates with Chantilly and marshmallow supplements were quickly dropped in front of you, and you thank the waitress with a big smile. Taking your spoon in your hand, you put your attention back on Laia.

"You should take off your jacket, you’ll be even colder when you go out"

Groaning, Laia nevertheless obeyed and installed her coat on the back of her chair before wrapping her hands around the welcome heat of the cup.

********

"She's trying to kill me."

After your drinks, you left the café to resume your little journey. But as the night begins to fall, the cold becomes increasingly intense.

Her phone on and facing the camera for the instagram video she is filming, Laia complains once again of cold. She turned the camera in your direction while pronouncing her sentence and you joyfully greet the camera with a wave of hand and a smile. Wrapped between a beanie and a big woolen scarf, you can only see your girlfriend’s nose and eyes.

"Don’t listen to her, she’s a real drama queen. It’s only -3°"

"I'm Spanish, I'm not programmed to survive such temperatures" objected Laia.

You laugh and catch up to her, passing your arms around her waist and then put your lips on her cheek. Her wide smile is perfectly visible despite her scarf and Laia stops the video at this precise moment to turn around and kiss you properly.

Realizing that even her lips are cold, you look thoughtfully.

"I think we’ll be back before you can apply for the role of the Iceberg in Titanic."

"What a sense of humor. You should have done stand-up, not becoming a football player."

Laia snort and you grab her by the arm to bring her back to the apartment that you continue to rent for your return here, dragging her in the right direction. Maybe the brunette would have been able to go home on her own, but you turned so much in all the streets that it's also possible that her sense of direction is disturbed.

"I’ll need a lot of hugs to warm up, get ready"

You laugh softly and shake your head.

"That’s not gonna bother me."

"And a good hot bath. And a good hot meal."

You laugh again, sticking yourself against her to put several kisses on her cheek, ending with a last one on her lips. Seeing her smile still makes you happy. You know perfectly well that despite her complaints, she is happy to be here. Her meeting with your family went well and you made sure she felt comfortable among them.

"Whatever you want, my love"

#woso x reader #woso imagine #laia codina #laia codina x reader #laia codina imagine

[ivy-loves-chocolate]

Let's say that some "no way home" shit is happening and the universe collides and stuff, and instead of multiverse villains coming in the main one, the boys just discover AO3/Tumblr/Wattpad, etc.

Would chuckle and try to hide his smile. He would also blush when he read steamy stuff. He is amazed by how many people he is shipped with and would spend nights reading fics about him.

He would make an account to mostly keep his favorite works. He would also try to write some stuff with him, thinking it would be easy since it comes from the source, but people say it's OOC. 

"Well, story of my life..." Thus, "@the-story of-my-life" was born. He gets sued by Capcom for copyright infringement. Poor guy can't catch a break, even in another universe. 

Also, his hair has its own fandom.

First, what the fuck is a "ship" and why people are "shipping" him with Chris? His eyes widen at the intense NSFW content made with him and his archnemesis, but the "x reader" stuff boosts his ego.

"They know me so well, it's amazing." He'd say it with pride in his tone.

It turns out he doesn't need a virus to mind control anyone, a shirtless picture would do just fine. Thus, "@realalbertwesker" was born on Twitter.

Why people ship him with his archnemesis is beyond him. Still, he quickly falls into addiction and stays up all night reading fics about him. They just put a smile on his face.

He is shocked to see how many people got him right. They got his preferences right—how he cuddles and what he likes to eat—and goddamn, even his dick size is accurate.

"Am I that transparent?"

No, Chris, we are just obsessed. You're hot.

Why is everyone calling him a "DILF"? What's a DIFL? And why is Mia either dead or divorced in almost all fics?

After some quick research, he laughs out loud, finding all of this hilarious and quite enjoyable. He likes all the fics, both SFW and NSFW, and he has no shame reading steamy things next to his wife.

He is addicted to slow-burn fanfiction because it keeps him hooked, and he lives for the drama. He starts a Wattpad account to write his life story: "Ethan Winters: from ordinary guy to mold." Everyone says that it’s OOC.

This man never thought he'd be worthy of being simping material. Still, his ego is increasing with each fics he reads about him.

He has a Tumblr account called "@ask-heisenberg-203". He also buys many checkmarks using Miranda’s credit card. He really wants the rainbow.

He lives for the "x reader" stuff mostly because he feels loved with all his flaws.

He is a ladies' man and would be so proud to see all the fics and headcanons about him.

He can’t stop blushing at all the cute headcanons, and he even submits. His username is "@definitely-not-carlos" and he reblogs content about himself or Jill.

He lives for the spicy stuff, and at some point, he writes too (from personal experience).

Let’s face it, he makes a Tumblr account just to write fanfics about himself. Luis is a very good writer and gets many followers in a short time.

"My, my, these people are very horny. And why is everyone shipping me with Sancho?" He said after reading a few smuts that it's ok 'cause he likes the attention he gets.

"Damn, Leon looks good in those thongs..." He would say that after seeing some pictures. He thinks of getting a tramp stamp too because if it looks good on Leon, it would look stunning on him.

Taglist: @rokurodokuro @shadow-wolf510 @skylar-todd @lunarastrobabe @alewesker

#resident evil #carlos oliveira #leon kennedy #albert wesker #chris redfield #luis serra #ethan winters #karl heisenberg #shitpost

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

A Strange Sort of Family

hi, resident evil fandom, i'd like to throw my hat in the ring

look, i don't even really go here, the fandom mold just got into my brain and would not fucking leave. this is my first time writing any of these characters so if they feel a bit rocky, please forgive me. my media analysis brain has been spinning nonstop since we started the resident evil brain rot and ho boy would I love to sink my teeth into a proper horror fic but! i don't know if i'm there yet so i figured i'd start a bit easier for me :)

also--we all know there's no way ethan's just gone from the franchise now, right? like, sure, he's dead, but he died like 30 minutes into re7 and that didn't fucking stop him

ALSO also big shoutout to @dragonsareaqueerthing and @greenninjagal-blog for the encouragement to actaully make the words go :) hopefully i'll be spending more time in this fandom now that I've got that ball rolling

Read on Ao3

Warnings: talk about events of shadows of rose dlc, nothing explicit, bullying

Pairings: implied ethan/mia/chris, but Ethan & Rose is the focus

Word Count: 10,919

You'd think after about 16 years of being treated like a child and the most powerful bioweapon the world has ever seen, you might get used to it.

Nope!

Not even slightly.

Sometimes a family is a molded bioweapon, a traumatized agent, a former bioterrorist, and a series of golden, sparkly words. Sometimes family is decorating your room with your mother, sometimes family is hugging a pillow because your dad isn't here anymore. Sometimes family is training too hard and going out for ice cream, sometimes family is a dinner where your parents won't stop teasing you.

Or, five times Ethan Winters was there for his daughter, and one time Rosemary Winters was there for her father.

1.

You'd think after about 16 years of being treated like a child and the most powerful bioweapon the world has ever seen, you might get used to it.

Nope!

Not even slightly.

Okay, well, maybe slightly, but only in the way she's able to shake off some of the lesser things that would've made her really upset before. She's no longer threatening the lives of the agents that call her Eveline, to her face or behind her back when they think she can't hear them. Even when she really, really wants to. Small victories.

But despite her best efforts, she still returns to the cell block of a room—Chris had been so insistent that it wasn't a cell, but it was all concrete walls and a tiny window and a camera that she knows is in the corner—and curls up on her bed, jamming her headphones in and refusing to engage with the outside world until she could summon up the resolve to impersonate a normal person again.

Today had been no exception.

Rose throws her backpack onto her desk chair and slings her hat over the hook, kicking her shoes off and collapsing face-first onto the bed with a groan. More tests today, always more fucking tests. Didn't they have every inch of her shitty, moldy body cataloged by now? She has half a mind to start making shit up when they ask her the same stupid questions. 'How are you feeling today, Rose?' Oh, you know, just getting stuck with more needles than a fucking porcupine, how do you fucking think I'm feeling? Yeah, no, no homicidal instincts yet, just had one murderous thought the other day when I was imagining mold eating the bitch who called me a charity case. Although I did go to the park after I snuck away from that asshole you have tailing me on Tuesdays to see if I could amass a mushroom army, how was your day?

A small laugh leaves her throat at the thought of the doctor's face if she actually did say that, but then she'd probably have two assholes tailing her until they deemed her 'no longer a risk.' God, they were supposed to be these super highly trained agents, then why the fuck do they suck ass at being subtle?

Turns out, even having mold superpowers means she still has to breathe like a normal person, so she drags her face up from the bed and doesn't even bother to fully get up to inchworm up to the pillows. She mashes her face against the slightly cold surface—honestly, the best part about this prison-cell-ass room was that the air conditioning was always on Arctic, so her pillows were always cold—and grabs her phone, squinting at the notifications.

One from school saying her group project deadline was coming up…something from some shopping website she'd logged onto out of pure boredom three weeks ago…and a text from Chris.

Rose sits up a little more and opens the text. "Overseas this week…sorry I'll miss the—you fucking dick!"

Of course Chris is working this weekend, of course he's not gonna be fucking here to take her to the cemetery—great, that means another two hours of bus rides until she can actually go see her dad. She swears he does this on purpose sometimes, how often does he actually need to go overseas for 'work?' And it's not like anyone else here would be able to take her, she's learned her fucking lesson about asking them for anything more than more fucking food. Not bothering to stifle her groan, she flops back onto the bed, only for her phone to clatter out of her hand and onto the floor.

Great. Now she has to move again to pick it up.

She decides that moving is actually not what she's going to do right now, letting one arm hang over the edge of the bed, her cheek scrunched awkwardly against the lip of the mattress. She tucks her face against the collar of her jacket and rubs her thumb against the ring on her finger.

"Sorry it's gonna take me longer," she mumbles, "I really wanted to spend longer with you this time."

Her eyes widen when gold sparkling words appear on the floor next to her phone.

it's okay

"What the—" she whips around to look at the door, closed tightly, and jerks back— "how—"

The words are still there. The words are still etched into the floor, right next to her phone. She should check if they're on the camera—no, they can fucking hack into her phone whenever they want, and she doesn't—she can't—if this really is—

Rose swallows the lump in her throat as the words shift and change.

you ok?

"I—what—how are—" she swallows again, camera in the corner of the room, "uh, M-Michael?"

A pause as the words reform: sure

"I mean, I—I know," she says quickly, "I know what—I know what this is, I…I remember, it's just…"

camera, I know

"How is this possible?" she whispers, not daring to move from her haphazard scramble up the bed, "I thought you were—I mean, at the end, when we, uh, did the thing, it seemed like you were…that you were going again."

The words sparkle again as she grips the sleeve of her jacket—his jacket.

apparently i'm bad at it

"Bad at what?"

staying dead

Another laugh chokes its way out of her throat and she reaches out without thinking about it, just to touch the words. They glow a little bit brighter as she touches them and the tips of her fingers glow. Almost as an afterthought, she grabs her phone and shoves it behind her, hopefully muffling the microphone and at the very least, getting its cameras away from her dad.

Her dad. Those are her dad's words, that's her dad, he's here, he's here.

"Are you—is this…are you really here?"

sort of, as the golden words swirl around, part of you

"What do you mean, 'part of me?'"

not a scientist

"You're the only other m—person like me I know, I'm sure it'll be fine." She can almost hear the little huff of laughter as the golden sparkles swirl again. It seems like it's the same as it was when she was in there, with her dad only able to say a few words at a time.

i'm part of the mold, just like you, we're sharing a part right now

"Are you always sharing a part with me?"

i wish i could, and she feels her chest hurt a little bit, takes energy

"I guess that makes sense." Her arm begins to ache from being so stretched out. "I really miss you."

i miss you too sweetie

Fuck, she's 16, she should not be getting this choked up over her dad calling her 'sweetie,' but fuck it, she's a mold person and her dad's dead, she's allowed to sniffle a little when those words glow warmly under her fingers. Some hysterical part of her wonders if he'd be able to give her a tissue or a hanky the way he gave her guns and chem fluid in there, but she scrubs at her nose with her sleeve and decides that it's enough right now that he's here, in her room, still calling her sweetie.

***

2.

She almost recognizes it the second time, a tug in her gut. Given that she's got her hands over her face and is currently doing a fabulous impression of an angry seal, it'd be harder for her to see it. Still, she can't help the dumb smile on her face when she rolls over.

bad day?

"Oh, you know," she mumbles, "just your average day of being a human guinea pig."

ew

She snorts, clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle it. "You know I get a look at their notes sometimes? That's what they call you, just your initials."

surprised they're still talking about me

"What do you mean? Of course they're still talking about you, you're the—" she cuts herself off. The golden sparkles swirl.

i'm the what?

"Never mind."

The floorboards wait expectantly, but she twists the ring around her finger, chewing on her lip. After another moment, new words appear.

can i help?

"With what? With the tests?"

with you

Another tug in her gut, this time at the fact that she can't actually remember the last time someone asked after her, not their biggest liability or their most dangerous weapon. She props herself up on the cold pillows—thank you, government AC—and sighs. "I'm just really tired."

i bet

"Like—are they bored? What do they get out of sticking me with the same needle fifty different times? And it's not like they talk to me about anything, they just look at each other and then fake-smile at me and they tell me 'you're doing great,' like I'm supposed to know what that means. And the other people aren't any better! They keep trying to train me how to do a thing but they're not—it's not like they tell me why we're doing something or what I'm supposed to be doing instead, they just tell me I'm wrong and that's it."

that sucks

She huffs. "You have no idea."

After a moment, though, she realizes that might not actually be true. From what little she's actually managed to get Chris to tell her, and what she can learn from Mom, they were both held in BSAA's quarantine for ages before they moved over to Romania. And if Mom knew about Dad's…not-aliveness way before he did, then they must've done some sort of tests on him too.

"Can I ask you something?"

anything

"Did they, um, did they test you too?"

The floorboards stay empty for a minute, but it feels more like he's thinking than it does him avoiding the question. Sure enough, after another moment, words start appearing again.

they did, they didn't tell me anything either, just that i was lucky

"Lucky how?"

to have made it, even when i didn't

"You did, though," she mumbles, fiddling with the ring again, "you—this part of you made it. Chris told me, Mom told me. You…even after you were…gone the first time, you…you came back. The important parts of you, they came back."

and i'm grateful for it, for you

"You're gonna make me cry," she mutters, scrunching up a little tighter.

i love you Rosie

"Shut up." It's empty and they both know it. A few extra sparkles swirl around and she could swear he's laughing. "I love you too."

Sunlight streams in through her tiny window and she finds herself looking at the way the leaves on the tree dapple the shadow across the floor. Part of her dad's words are still glowing. She looks at the nightstand, bare except for her charger and alarm clock, then over at the desk where her school stuff is, then at the dresser. She reaches out and touches the metal bedframe. It's cold underneath her fingers.

what's wrong?

"Nothing." The words remain and she sighs. "I'm just being mopey."

you're allowed to mope

"Someone at school said something today," she says before she can think better of it, and she winces at how young she sounds.

bullies?

"Not really, it wasn't even really about me, I just—it's stupid."

if you're upset it's not stupid

"They were just talking about this thing they got for their room, okay?" Embarrassment makes her curl her fingers into the loose fabric of her jacket. "It's this mirror thing that hooks up to your phone and lets you play music and stuff from there. They were just talking about it and I thought—see, I told you it was stupid."

There's another pause. The breeze rustles the leaves outside. The shadows dance over the walls.

do you want it?

"Not really…I don't like mirrors that much anyway. And it's not like they'd let me just have another thing that connects to the Internet in here." She glances at the alarm clock. "I barely got them to let me get a laptop for school stuff. I don't think they've got a 'Mold Bioweapon Allowance' in their budget."

The silence grows thoughtful. She turns her head to look at the floorboards again, watching the few sparkles there swirl around.

it's your room, they say finally, it should feel like it

Rose scoffs. "What am I supposed to do, walk up and ask them to sponsor a shopping trip?"

why not?

"They're not gonna do that. They're just gonna brush me off again or tell me they're busy."

you've tried?

"I told you, I barely managed to get a laptop, which is something I need to be able to do schoolwork or anything, even have a taste of what being normal is like. And even then I had to argue for like, ages, and I had to get one of my teachers to write an email saying that it's necessary." She swats the white pillowcase, bitterness seeping into her words. "Everything else isn't necessary. They're all about practicality, like I'm just some other expense they have to deal with."

what about Chris? or Mom?

"Chris isn't here. He's always off somewhere doing something or he's here glaring at me like I'm some stupid new recruit that he doesn't want to have to train. And Mom's…I don't want to bother her, you know? She's got her own life now."

she's your mom, come the words almost before she's done speaking, she'd want to know

Rose sighs, sitting up to lean against the headboard. She twists the ring around and around her finger, chewing on her lip. "I don't know. Sometimes it feels like she's…like she doesn't want to know."

Another pause. What her dad had said before, about them sharing a part of the mold—she can feel something in her chest. An emotion that isn't quite hers, something like a deep and exasperated sadness. It's faint, not quite enough to put words there, but she can tell when she needs to look back down at the floor.

she does love you, let her

"Okay. I'll try."

thank you

"Would you come shopping with me?" she asks, even when she knows the answer. "If you could?"

The room gets a little happier as the sparkles swirl around.

i'd spend all day with you

"What did you want to have in your room? When you were my age?"

telescope

"A telescope?" She laughs. "Did you want to be an astronaut?"

astronaut ew

She laughs again and the sunlight seems a little brighter.

***

3.

She meets Mom at a coffee shop near the big bookstore downtown. She's not wearing Dad's jacket—it still feels weird to do, even after Mom's said it's fine—but she has his ring on a necklace under her shirt. Mom waves her over to a table in the corner, nodding to the smoothie already waiting.

"Pineapple mango," she says as Rose sits down, "your favorite."

"Thanks, Mom." She takes a big drink, savoring the weird feeling the pineapple leaves on her tongue. "How're you?"

"I'm okay. Work's been getting busy again recently with the month's end rush." Mom swirls her straw around her coffee. "Did I tell you about this new thing our boss is trying to make us do?"

"No, what?"

"Apparently some young CEO in the area made it big on corporate social media about 'team building exercises,'" and Rose is already groaning in sympathy, "so he sent out this survey this past week about what activity we'd rather do."

"What were the options?"

"This group painting class thing, where we all paint the same picture—"

"Like in kindergarten?"

"Like in kindergarten," Mom agrees, "there's a bar-arcade place that's just opened up on the West Side that does private events, and then there's a good old-fashioned work dinner."

Rose makes a face. "That's it? No, like, crazy obstacle courses, or escape rooms, or anything?"

"We barely had the budget for the normal year-end stuff."

"So what did you vote for?"

"I ended up voting for the painting, actually—"

"What? Mom, that's so lame."

"Hey!" She jokingly flicks a napkin at Rose. "Lamer than the most awkward dinner you can imagine or sitting and drinking for a whole evening?"

"Isn't that what adults do? You sit and drink and talk?"

Mom sighs, shaking her head as they both laugh. "Yeah, well, I figured it might be better if we tried to do something that wasn't just sitting and drinking."

"I guess."

"Besides, I'm still missing something for the bathroom upstairs. Maybe I'll hang up whatever I manage to make there," she adds, winking at Rose.

It's supposed to be a joke at how bad at art she is—really, even Chris looked at her stick figures and struggled to find something nice to say, and Mom just laughed it off—but Rose's smile fades and she shuffles a little in the chair. She drinks more of her smoothie. Dad's words turn over and over in her head.

"Hey, Mom?"

"Mm?"

"Would you…" She fights the urge to reach for the ring. "Would you help me decorate my room?"

Mom's brow furrows. "At my house?"

"N-no, my…my room at the compound. It's stupid, never mind."

"It's not stupid, Rose," Mom says, picking up her coffee, "I'm just—I guess I'm just surprised. Most teens don't really want their parents anywhere near their rooms."

"Yeah, well, forget it."

A car drives by. Despite herself, she reaches for the ring anyway. Something warm pulses in her chest.

"It's just," she manages, "I don't really have anything in there. It's just the military stuff."

Mom's coffee cup hits the table with a thud. "What do you mean you don't have anything in there?"

"I mean, there's just a dresser, a desk, and a bed. And my little side table thing. They didn't really give me any—"

"How much time do you have?"

Rose blinks. "Huh?"

"How much time before you have to get back?" Mom's already getting up and putting the lid back on her coffee. "We're not that far from the big stores and I have my car."

"I, uh, I think I have a few hours, so—" she scrambles up too, reaching to grab Mom's arm— "wait, you're really okay with doing this?"

Mom pauses for a moment, then reaches out and covers Rose's hand with hers. "You're my daughter, Rosie, I'd love to help you decorate your room."

A lump appears in her throat and she swallows it down. "Thank you."

"Come on," Mom grins, "what are you thinking you want?"

"Uh, I was thinking maybe like a whiteboard? That way I could write down stuff that I might forget? Or like—a magnetic one so I could stick stuff to it?" She gets into Mom's car and they start driving. "Or a corkboard—I've seen a lot of people pin like, pictures and stuff to a corkboard on their walls."

"What if you get both? A corkboard to put pictures and cute stuff and then a whiteboard to write on?"

"I also want a lamp. The normal lights just make my head hurt. And they buzz, you know?"

"Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. It's like the world's most annoying crickets, isn't it?"

"And there's no, like, in between! It's either no light at all or—"

"Or my eyes are being scorched out, that's right."

They pull into the parking lot of the store and get out, still bouncing ideas back and forth. Mom grabs a cart and they head straight for the stationary section and they spend about five minutes talking about the different corkboards and whiteboards. Then Rose decides she wants magnets so she can stick stuff to the whiteboard, then Mom spots a cute set of push pins, and then another mom and daughter walk by with one of those fancy photo printers that print out pictures from your phone like Polaroids, and they just have to get Rose one of those.

As they pick out lamps and wall decor and sheets that actually have some color, she's struck by how normal this is. She's with her mom. They're shopping for stuff for her room. They're freaking out over the pillows that have little penguins on them. She's actually smiling and laughing and she's excited. She can't wait to get back and put all this stuff in her room.

She just…wishes Dad could be here too.

"I think I'd prefer the yellow lampshade, but it's up to you." Mom looks up from the shelf to notice she's gone quiet. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Nothing, nothing," she says quickly, wiping surreptitiously at her face, "…just…I kinda wish Dad was here too."

Mom's fingers stutter on the box and for a moment, she thinks she's going to see those walls go up again, the ones that always go up when she tries to talk about Dad, but then Mom puts the box down and rubs at her wedding ring. She still wears it sometimes. Rose reaches for Dad's, under her shirt.

"I wish he was here too, Rosie," Mom says quietly, "he'd be so proud of you."

Rose swallows, and her eyes catch on a tiny monkey LED lamp further down the shelf. She picks it up. "I think he'd vote for this one, don't you?"

A hint of fond exasperation comes to Mom's face. "God, did I ever tell you what happened when he found out that you loved that little monkey you got when you were still a baby? He tried to buy everything monkey-themed he could find because he thought you might like it."

"Wait, really?"

"I had to get Chris to help me talk him out of buying an entire monkey crib for you."

Rose puts the monkey lamp in the cart. Mom smiles and they keep walking. They end up spending way more than she thought they'd be and sheepishly tries to put some stuff back, but Mom won't hear a word of it and bags everything up.

"Chris can help cover the cost if he's so worried about it," she declares as they pull back up to the meeting spot where the car is supposed to take Rose back to the compound, "anyway, all of this should have been done years ago."

"Thanks, Mom," Rose says, "I had fun."

"We should definitely do it again. I'll help you decorate your college dorm too."

Rose smiles and gets out of the car. It fades a bit when she sees Paul again, leaning against the side of the van with his arms crossed. She turns her back deliberately on him and goes to help Mom get all the bags out of the trunk.

"You're late," Paul says, like he has any right to sound like a smug, condescending asshole.

"By like five minutes. Open the trunk."

"What's all that?"

"Stuff. For my room."

"Well, I—hey!" Paul finally moves when Mom just opens the trunk and starts putting the bags inside.

"You must be the agent Rose told me about," Mom says, her voice saccharine as she dusts off her hands, "is that right, honey?"

"Yeah," she mumbles, "that's him."

"Paul," he says, "Ms. Winters."

"Mia." Mom holds out her hand and he takes it, Rose peering at them from under the brim of her hat. Her eyes widen when Mom yanks Paul closer to her, her smile fading as she hisses in his ear. "Call my daughter Eveline again and I'll break your nose, are we clear?"

Paul jerks in surprise, before turning his head slightly. "Stand down, it's fine, I can handle it."

"You can't afford to make a scene in such a public place," Mom says, her voice still perfectly even, "and Chris won't risk harming me or Rose. So you can start treating my daughter like a person or I can break your nose right now and Chris can clean up your mess."

Rose can't stop her snort as Paul sheepishly walks back to the front of the car and gets in. Mom watches him go before she turns around and says, loud enough for him to hear, "Make sure you send me pictures when you get it the way you want it, okay?"

"I will."

"And if you decide you want anything else, we'll get it next time."

"Thanks, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Rosie." She glares once more in Paul's direction before she walks back to her car.

Rose doesn't stop smirking as Paul drives them back to the compound. He slinks off with his tail between his legs after helping her get all her stuff into her room. She can't cover up the camera—and let them know she knows about it—but she can play her music out loud as she decorates, hanging up the little plants they found and pinning a few photos to her new corkboard. It still strikes her how normal all of this is, dancing to her music and putting up all of her new things, finally collapsing onto her now-colorful blankets with a laugh.

She texts a few photos to Mom, who responds with gushing reviews and excited emojis, before she rolls onto her side to look at the floor.

"What do you think?"

The words only take a second to appear.

it's beautiful, sweetie

"You were right," she murmurs, "it was really nice to let Mom take care of me a bit."

i'm glad

"Oh! I forgot to show you the best part!" Rose jumps off the bed and goes over to the far wall, switching on the fairy lights she hung from the ceiling amidst a bunch of fake vines. "Now the camera will just think the glowing is from the lights!"

Golden sparkles swirl beneath the soft glow.

you're so smart

"I mean," she blusters, trying not to show how pleased she is, "I was just tired of lying down to talk to you all the time."

i see, still clever

"Thanks." After a moment, she reaches over and picks up the little monkey lamp and her stuffed monkey, safely hidden beneath her pillows. "Mom told me you wanted to buy a monkey crib for me."

it would go with the onesie

"You got me a monkey onesie?"

mom has pictures

"I'll have to ask her next time." She chews on her lip, running her fingers over the seams of the monkey's ear. "I wish you could've been there."

me too

"Mom threatened to break Paul's nose if he was rude to me again." The light swirls as Dad laughs and she laughs too. "I'd kick him in the nuts too."

that's my girl

***

4.

"Stupid fucking dickhead," she spits as she slams the door, throwing her backpack onto the chair so hard it scrapes across the floor. "Fucking asshole! I'll fucking rip his head off, the fucking bastard!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a tiny sparkle from the floorboards, and she stomps over to the lights, turning them on. Almost immediately, golden words swirl up.

what happened?

"Your buddy Chris fucking happened!" Rose throws herself onto the bed and punches the pillow. "He keeps treating me like I'm some—some fucking gun that only he knows how to fire and I'm fucking sick of it!"

It had been especially bad today, too. Chris apparently woke up and decided yeah, today's the day I'm gonna be a total fucking asshole for no goddamn reason. He started them out sparring, which he never does, he always has them warm up first because it's important not to strain yourself, except apparently not today when she was thrown against the fucking ground three times before she could even open her mouth long enough to say hi.

Or maybe ask what the hell crawled up his ass that morning.

And then he kept fucking looking at her like he was disappointed! Like it was her fault she wasn't expecting to be slammed up against the wall or pinned to the ground by a man fucking three times her size and then grunted at when she winced in pain because that fucking hurt, you asshole! And he kept on saying these stupid little comments that just made her angrier and angrier and then he had the gall to be like hey, you need to get a handle on your emotions like he wasn't pushing every single fucking button he knew she had!

You need to be sharper, he'd said like he had any right to try and be reasonable as he almost dislocated her fucking shoulder, emotions make you sloppy.

Yeah, well, he could try being sharper when he was being bullied for no fucking reason.

And when she'd finally screamed at him that she was done, that she didn't want to fucking do this anymore, he had the fucking audacity, the nerve to scoff and cross his arms and tell her that no, she wasn't done, she was only done when he said she was done. And yeah, she hadn't really made the decision to rush at him after that, her body did that on its own, but he literally just tossed her aside like a fucking doll and then said she wasn't leaving until she could do the fucking stupid thing he wanted her to.

She tried. She really fucking did.

But she couldn't do it.

And Chris kept refusing to help, saying he'd been training her for so long already, that he'd wash her out if she were any other recruit—to which she'd screamed that she wasn't, so why the fuck was he being like this? And he didn't fucking answer! He just told her to try it again and he kept making her angrier and angrier and she could tell Chris was getting angry too which just made hers worse because what fucking right did he have to be mad at her? What the fuck did she do to him?

It ended really badly. She'd gotten so mad she'd thrown herself at him again, not caring about proper technique or what was smart or anything, she just went for him. He grappled her, obviously, and that was supposed to be their tap-out, fight's-over thing, but she hadn't stopped. She'd scratched him and punched him and kicked him even when he growled at her to yield, and when that didn't work, she'd bit him.

Chris fucking wrenched her off of him and threw her across the room and she heard three guns click.

They'd glared at each other, Chris holding his arm like it was a fucking biohazard, and then he'd stalked off without a word while agents forcibly shoved her back to her room.

She's panting by the time she finishes, glaring a hole in the wall right below where the words normally appear. Her hands still tingle from where she'd hit the walls and the pillows. She looks up when she sees the familiar swirl.

you shouldn't have bitten him

The anger surges up her arms and she clenches her fists. "That's all you have to say? No 'I'm sorry he was such a dick, Rose?' 'You didn't deserve that?' You're fucking defending him?"

i didn't say that

"I just told you that your friend, the person you told to watch over me and keep me safe was fucking bullying me for no goddamn reason and the only thing you can say is that I shouldn't have defended myself?" Betrayal steeps vehemence into her words. Her nails bite into her palms. "I'm fucking glad I bit him!"

he's trying to help

"How in the fuck is he trying to help," she cries, "by being as bad as the bullies in school? By treating me like a freak that needs to be kept muzzled and on a leash?"

you did bite him

She picks up one of the pillows and hurls it at the wall. It hits with a pathetic thwap and falls limply to the floor. It only makes her angrier when she sees the words calm down when the lights stop shaking.

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down! You're supposed to be on my side!"

i am

She barks out a humorless laugh and picks up the pillow, throwing it back on the bed. "You're not on my side, you're on his. I don't need you lecturing me too. Just leave me alone."

More golden words swirl as she turns away, throwing herself onto the bed and curling up tightly around her stuffed monkey. She chokes around the lump in her throat and wills herself not to cry. She'd almost cried in front of Chris today already, she won't give either of them the satisfaction of seeing her cry now. She won't, she won't, she won't! It's not fucking fair that Chris did that. It's not fucking fair that he gets to act however the fuck he wants and then she's the only one punished for it. He gets to go all over the fucking world and only see her when it's convenient to him and he gets to be an asshole about it.

Dad's not even alive.

A sob chokes out before she can stop it, and then it's too late. She's blubbering like she's a stupid fucking baby again and she can hear the echoes of their voices in her ears. All alone, poor freak Rose, crying like a baby who doesn't get her way. She's so weird, she's so stupid, she can't do it. She's useless, she's not strong enough. Just go away. No one wants you here. No one wants you. No matter how hard she presses her hands to her ears, they won't fucking shut up!

Maybe she should've fucking kept the purifying crystal. Maybe she should've left with no powers and had a normal fucking life. Maybe she should've just left her dad to—

As soon as the thought threatens to cross her mind, she recoils from it. Guilt and anger war in her gut as she nearly grows sick. How could she fucking think that? After all he'd done to save her, protect her, how could she think about something like that, even if it was in a fit of rage?

A strangled noise escapes her throat and the bruises and injuries from her humiliating 'sparring session' abruptly make themselves known. Her body screams in pain; her shoulders ache, the bruise on her ribs throbs, and her jaw feels like it's about to explode. She has the hysterical impulse to bite herself and she wonders if it would hurt more than everything else. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpses a glow coming from the floorboards now and she curls up tighter, burying her face in the monkey's tummy. Fuck it, she's been called overly emotional and childish enough times already, she may as well throw her tantrum properly.

It's like falling into the Megamycete again; she has no idea how long she lies there, wallowing in her own emotional turmoil. Flashes of the bullies, of Chris's stupid fucking face, of watching herself get tossed around and left behind…even stranger things like massive castles filled with screams and horror, creepy old houses that just feel like tombs, deep water and clanking metal, all filled with whispers of freak, dangerous, stupid child, not good enough. Everything is too loud and too quiet and she just wants it to be over.

When she finally manages to rouse herself from whatever malaise she'd fallen into, the sun has long set. Her clock shows that it's close to 10—that would explain why her stomach is trying to dig a hole in her intestines. The anger fled unknown hours ago, leaving her weary and wrung out. In its absence, she no longer feels like the bioweapon that she's supposed to be, only the scared and lonely child. It's cold. She's hungry.

There's still a soft golden glow coming from over the side of the bed.

Her lip wobbles. She doesn't want to face the consequences of yelling at her dad and throwing a pillow at him, but she can't stop the blooming warmth that he didn't leave. She crawls to the edge of the bed and peeks over.

i'm sorry Rose

She sniffles and rubs her cheek on the sheets. "'M sorry too."

you were right, i should've been on your side

"You're always on my side," she mumbles, "I know you are."

still

She sniffles again and tucks the monkey under her chin. "Why was Chris so mean today? Did I do something wrong?"

i don't think so, sometimes he's just like that

"Why?" She's ignoring how much she sounds like a baby, thank you. "It's not fair."

no it's not sweetie

Rose closes her eyes, basking in the soft glow of her dad's comfort. "Was he ever mean to you when you were training?"

yeah

"What did you do?"

broke his nose once

It startles a laugh out of her. "You what? Wait, what happened?"

he was being an asshole, so i punched him

She giggles again, both at the image of Chris's surprised face with a broken nose and at the fact that her dad got so angry with Chris that he punched him hard enough. A few more golden sparkles surround the words before they change again.

you shouldn't try it though

"Aw," she complains, mostly for show, "but you did it."

do as i say not as i do

She's quiet. After a moment, she lets her arm hang down to touch the words again. They glow gently. "I don't like fighting with you."

me neither

"I'm sorry. I was being a brat."

The words swirl up quicker than she's ever seen.

you were upset at something unfair, not a being a brat

She sniffles again, reaching over to grab a hanky and blow her nose with a sharp honk. She throws it over to the laundry basket and lies back down. The words have changed.

if you need to hear it, i forgive you

"I forgive you too."

rest

She nestles up against the pillows. "Will you stay until I go to sleep?"

of course sweetie, i love you

***

5.

Mostly Rose doesn't dream. She'll close her eyes and open them again and it will be hours later and it's time to get up. Most of the time when she does dream, it's weird half-memories that aren't hers mixed with something she does actually remember. She has dreams of a house with a red chimney being taken apart by little robotic goats, or of a crocodile swimming through a swamp filled with dead crows, or of bugs crawling over test tubes and dirty flasks. Some of them make sense when she digs into the files she's not really supposed to have access to, some of them don't.

On rare, awful occasions, she has nightmares.

She's been curled up and unmoving for who knows how long, desperately trying to feign sleep. The mold in her keeps prickling like there's something else in the room, watching her, just waiting for a sign that she's awake to pounce. Her white-knuckled grip hasn't wavered either. She dares hardly breathe; even though her rational brain knows there's nothing there, there can't be anything there, her entire body is screaming. She can feel the milky sweat beginning to ooze from her palms.

Something creaks.

She goes stiff as a board.

A creak, a groan, a rumble as the air conditioning turns on and she forces herself to relax, cracking open one eye to see that yes, this is just her room, there's nothing to be afraid of here, she's fine.

Her eyes land on the switch to the fairy lights.

The small and whimpering part of her lunges for them, for the warm glow of the light, her dad's words, in lieu of running to her parents' bed to be comforted. The other part hisses that the second she moves, whatever's lurking in the dark will strike. The monkey wheezes as she tightens her grip, staring at the innocuous plastic box hanging against the wall.

With a sudden burst, she launches herself from the bed, slapping the button, and curling back up beneath the safety of the blankets.

Immediately, the soft warm light chases away the worst of the shadows and she can peek over her shoulder to assure herself that yes, nothing is there, she's safe in her room, everything's okay. Golden sparkles are already swirling, a quiet inquisitiveness filling that one empty part in her chest as she lies back down. He's rotated his words so she can read them easily.

what's the matter, sweetie?

"Nightmare," she whispers, more into her pillow than anything else.

i'm sorry

She curls up tighter, trying to pull the blankets up almost over her head. The sweat's almost ruined her monkey—she's going to have to wash it again—and she wipes her hands on the sheet. The absence of it hits the cold air and she shivers, hunching tighter in the covers and sniffling. A sudden and sharp ache sears through her chest and she shudders, harder this time, only the top of her nose peeking out over the comforter. She's so cold. Not in the way where she can pile more blankets on and it'll go away—she could put the whole world on top of her and she would still be cold. This horrible, achy, exhausting cold that seeps into her bones and makes her want to cry.

what can i do?

"You said in your—in your letter," she hiccups, "that you'd hold me when I had nightmares, and—and sing to me until I went back to sleep."

But the words on her wall are just words and words can't hold anybody.

She wants a fucking hug, goddamnit. No one touches her anymore, not unless they're running some stupid test, or sparring, or escorting her roughly down the hallway like some—some prisoner. The last time someone touched her and it wasn't that it was Mom, telling her she'd help decorate her room and that was so long ago, everyone else just—just—

"I want to go home," she sobs and it lands like a dead weight in the still room.

what do you mean?

"I want to go home, I want to go back to that house you showed—showed me when I was in there, where you—where your memories are and I can actually h-hear you and it's warm an'—an' safe, and you love me," she cries, not caring that it's the middle of the night and she's talking to a wall, "no one here loves me. No one loves me, the doctors think I'm some—some experiment that's run too—too long and the agents all think I'm a l-liability and Mom's not here because she gave me up and Chris h-hates me."

he doesn't hate you sweetie

"He does! He does, he does, I can feel it." She hugs her monkey tightly to her chest. "He h-hates me for being the reason you're not—you're not here anymore and he hates me for reminding him that you're dead and he hates me for—for being like this and—and—and—!"

shh…shh…shh…

But he's not here and she can't hear him shushing her and she's all alone in her cold, dark room and she wants to go home.

don't cry, Rosie, it's gonna be okay sweetie

"It's not. 'S not okay."

The wall doesn't move for a moment, then it swirls again.

scoot back, i'm going to try something

Frowning, she does, shuffling awkwardly back until she's on the far side of the bed. The golden light swirls around for another second, before it writes itself on one of the pillows.

hug me

"D—Michael?"

i'm right here sweetie, i love you so much

With trembling fingers, she reaches for the pillow, touching the words with a soft gasp as they glow warmly against her still-slick palms. A sob of disbelief leaves her throat and she bundles it to her chest, burying her face in it. A soft scratching and buzzing fills her ears as more words write themselves across the pillow, but she doesn't pull her face away to read them. Not when this is the closest thing to hugging her dad she's been since she was in the deepest stratum of the Megamycete, crying over his dying body. Not when she's still so cold and the words are so, so warm. She tucks her face into the crook of the pillow's embrace and she cries.

The words don't stop writing themselves over and over and if she focuses hard enough, it almost sounds like her dad is humming.

She falls into a light sleep, not willing to miss a moment of actually being so close to her dad, soothed by his presence. Soon, light has begun to break through the window, the auto timer on the lights long since activated to switch them off. The pillow is all gross from a mixture of drool, snot, and tears, and she sheepishly tries to wipe it away when a small glow comes from underneath.

it's okay

"It's kinda gross."

my privilege, i'm your dad

"Still."

ew, remember?

A watery smile. "Thanks."

i love you so much, i'm so proud of you

"I love you too," she mumbles back, curling her arms around the pillow. Another set of words writes itself and she leans back.

do you really think Chris hates you?

"I don't know. He…he looks at me like he can't sometimes. Or like he's waiting for me to…I don't know, turn crazy or bad or like he's waiting for me to turn into you, almost." She rubs her fingers over the pillowcase. "He used to be nicer."

have you spoken since?

She doesn't need to ask what he's talking about. "No. He's been out of town again. He's supposed to be back, um…"

She leans over to check her phone, eyes widening when she sees the date.

"Uh, today. Shit, I actually think we're supposed to have a training thing today."

Before more words can write themselves, there's a knock on her door. She freezes, phone still in her hand, pillow clutched close.

"Rose?" Fuck. "It's Chris. Can I come in?"

be brave, says the last flutter of words before her dad vanishes, i love you

"…yeah."

Chris opens the door. Rose tugs on her dad's jacket over her pajamas and clutches the pillow in her lap. She doesn't look at him. He moves around a little in the doorway before he shuts it with a click. After a moment, the bed dips and groans under his weight and she sneaks a glance at his arm. Her bite mark is still there.

"Surprised they let you walk around before that healed."

"You didn't even break the skin."

It's probably meant to come off in a way that means she doesn't have to worry about it, but it stings anyway. She turns away again.

A car drives by outside.

"I owe you an apology," Chris says finally, his voice low and gruff, "I shouldn't have been so harsh. I'm sorry."

She doesn't reply, but she shifts to face the window instead of the wall.

"There's been talk of getting you moved to another squad," he continues, and her stomach drops—is Chris leaving too?— "and I thought…if I could prove that you were good with us, that we had it all under control, then they'd drop it. Leave you alone."

At the rustle as he shifts, she glances over at him. His jaw works and his hand twitches on his knee.

"I thought…" He trails off, then scoffs at himself, shaking his head. "I don't know what I thought."

He turns to meet her gaze and her gut clenches at the obvious guilt and remorse she can see there. She swallows.

"You were mean." Her voice comes out a lot smaller than she'd hoped. She swallows and tries again. "I thought you hated me."

"I don't hate you, Rose," he says in a rush, turning to face her, "please don't think that."

"So you're not trying to get rid of me?"

"Shit, Rose, no, I'm not trying to get rid of you. You're—I think Mia'd kill me if I tried, no, I'm just—" he takes a breath— "I'm just trying to keep you safe, okay?"

"Then you should've said something! I would've trained harder if I knew—we could've—I would've done something else, did I do something wrong?"

"No," he insists, shaking his head, "no, you didn't do anything wrong."

Relief begins to pool warily in her chest. Her grip on the pillow loosens and she scoots a little closer. "I'm sorry I bit you."

He shakes his head again. "It's fine. You, uh, you have good bite strength."

"Good bite strength?"

"Yeah. Your contact's really good." He gestures to the bite mark on his arm. "Got all of them in there too."

"Thanks," she says, laughing a little. Chris smiles and it's a bit easier to breathe. She gives herself a shake. "So, what's today? Weapons, sparring, how to punch boulders?"

"Actually, I, uh, thought we'd go get ice cream."

Rose pauses, looking up at him, blinking as if she'd heard wrong. "Ice cream?"

"Weather's gonna get cold soon, the good place around the corner's gonna close." He shrugs. "Been craving it."

"Yeah…yeah, ice cream sounds good."

"Great."

And before she can think too much of it, she throws herself at him and hugs him for all she's worth. She feels him stutter, not quite sure what to do, and then his arms slowly wrap around her, holding her just as tightly. And oh, she's on fire, Chris is big and warm and solid and he's holding her like she's something special and she's gonna fucking cry her eyes out if she stays here a moment longer and she's gonna die if she lets go. Chris lets out a noise of dismay when she sniffles and scoops her up, like she's a little kid again, holding her in his lap and now she's making a mess of his shoulder too.

She could swear she feels Dad smile.

***

+1.

"I'm telling you," Rose says as she lounges on her bed, "you're wrong about the cover. It's actually pretty good."

i like the classics

"Yeah, well, you're old and boring, so that makes sense."

:(

The sight of the old-fashioned emoticon frowny face makes her burst out laughing. "Oh my god, that's so lame. I don't think I've seen someone use that in years."

it's a classic!

"You gotta get with the times!"

totes dope fam

Rose winces at the immense amount of psychic damage those three words dealt, her neck protesting as she almost cringes it out of alignment. "No, D—Michael, just no."

lol

She tosses the pillow playfully at the wall again, laughing when another frowny face appears on both it and the wall. "Aww, okay, I'm sorry, here."

She picks it up and cuddles it and the frowny face turns to a smiley face. Lying back down, grin still on her face, she toys with his ring. It's gotten shinier from all the rubbing, except where she ties the cord around it so she can wear it as a necklace. She turns it this way and that, watching the sunlight glint off of it. As she does, she catches sight of the engraving on the inside.

Always and forever.

"Do you want me to tell Mom and Chris about you?"

The words swirl for a moment.

up to you

She pushes herself to sit up, propped on one elbow. The ring glistens as she slides it back onto her finger, turning it to and fro. "I don't know. It feels bad keeping something like this from them, but I want to be selfish about it too, you know? I kind of like having you all to myself."

it's not selfish

"And what if Chris thinks it's bad?" She twists the ring harder. "What if he tries to take you away from me?"

i won't let that happen

Her shoulders drop a little and she picks up the pillow again, cuddling into it. A few words write themselves across it just so she can feel their warmth and she rubs her cheek against it. "Don't you miss them?"

all the time

A melancholy that isn't hers hangs in her chest and she squeezes the pillow again. "Then should I? They miss you too, you know. I think they'd be happy to, you know, hear from you again."

The words fade and the wall glows again as he thinks. She lets him have his time, rubbing the ring back and forth, listening to the slight rattle it makes as it spins around her too-small finger. When she hears the familiar soft scratch again, she looks up.

they're happy now, i don't want to ruin that

"They're not happy," she can't help but say, "they still miss you."

content, then

"You wouldn't be ruining anything," she argues, "I thought—I thought I'd never get to see you again after I got out of there. The day I heard you again? That was the happiest moment of my life."

mine too sweetie, or my un-life i guess

The words glow brighter as her fingertips glow too. She gets up and lays her hand against the wall, smiling as their powers dance together. "I really think they'd be happy."

A pulse of warmth runs up her arm to her chest as the words shift once more.

when you think the time is right

"I'll tell you, I promise."

i'm so proud of you, Rose, i love you so much

"I love you too."

That time doesn't come on their terms, though, because that would be easy. No, instead it's when she and Chris are over at Mom's house for dinner and Chris asks a question out of nowhere that almost makes her spit all over the table.

"What?" Mom asks as Rose glares a hole in Chris's stupid forehead.

"I said," Chris says like an unrepentant asshole, "who's Michael?"

"Michael?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rose mutters, staring down at her lap.

"I was coming to get you for training last week and you were talking to someone called Michael." Chris takes a bite of steak and talks with his mouth full, like an asshole. "So who is he?"

Mom elbows her, winking. "Someone you like?"

"What? Ew, gross, no!"

Chris and Mom just laugh and Mom elbows her again. "Don't worry, I was your age once too. That's how I reacted when my mom asked me about my crush."

"Michael isn't my crush!"

"Boyfriend, then?"

"No, he's not my—" she covers her face and sighs. "He's not my boyfriend, he's not my crush, he's not someone from school, happy?"

"So who is he?"

Well, fuck it, no time like the present. She pushes back from the table, muttering about using the bathroom. They wait until she's halfway up the stairs to start talking again, their voices low in that way where she knows they're still talking about her, but she pays them no mind as she goes into the bathroom and shuts the door. She braces her hands on either side of the sink and takes a deep breath.

"I'm guessing you heard all that."

The words swirl up right below the mirror.

yeah

"I mean, it's not like we'll get a better opportunity."

probably not

"Are you ready?"

are you?

She rubs at the chip in the linoleum and turns on the cold water, just to make sure there's no milky sweat on her hands. "I'm nervous."

me too

"No matter what happens," she says firmly, "no matter what they do or say, I'm here for you, okay? I've got your back. I love you."

i'm so proud of you, sweetie, i love you too

The words glow cheerfully against the weird tile pattern and she reaches out to touch them. They share a moment before the words fade and she takes a deep breath, squaring her shoulders in the mirror and nodding to herself. "Right. Let's do this."

She marches back downstairs and Mom and Chris do a horrible job of pretending not to be nosy and expectant. She sits back down and folds her hands in her lap.

"I'll tell you who Michael is," she begins, "but you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

"I promise, honey," Mom says, miming zipping her lips shut.

"Chris, you promise too."

Chris looks at her for a moment like he's going to disagree, then he winces as Mom kicks him under the table. "I promise too."

"Good." She takes another breath and reaches for the ring around her neck. The second she brings it out from under her shirt, Chris's silverware clatters against the plate and Mom inhales sharply.

"Rose," she says shakily, "where did you get that?"

"Before I said yes to joining you," Rose says, "I met K outside the lab. He told me there might be a way to get rid of my powers for good."

Chris frowns. "K never said anything like that to me, what do you—"

"I'm getting there. He took me to the lab where there was a piece of the Megamycete, and said that—"

"He what?"

"Will you both just listen to me?" The two of them quiet down. "Thank you. So, like I was saying, he took me to see the piece of it and said that there was a purifying crystal that Miranda discovered that could take the mold out of someone. All I had to do was look through the Megamycete's index of consciousness to see if I could find it."

"That's incredibly dangerous, Rose," Mom says quietly, and Chris looks like he's trying to strangle his fork. "Please tell me you didn't—"

"I wanted them gone," she interrupts, looking at her Mom, "they were—I was just a freak with no friends. Someone offered me the chance to be normal, are you telling me you wouldn't have done the same thing if you were a teenager?"

Mom looks at her for a long moment, but she doesn't disagree. Rose squeezes the ring and keeps going.

"It wasn't that easy, obviously. It was…really hard. And really scary. I had to fight my way through these, like, twisted versions of the places in Miranda's village, like that big castle and the creepy doll house, and there were all these versions of me that kept getting killed and tortured, I fought a version of Eveline too—"

"Rose," Chris tries to say but she doesn't let him.

"—but I had help," she continues. "There was something helping me. It helped me figure out where to go, what to do, gave me a gun and taught me how to use it. There were these glowing words that would appear when I needed them most and it…it was like having a guardian angel."

"Michael," Chris says, and she nods.

"Yeah, I called him Michael. He—he kept trying to get me to leave, said that it wasn't safe, but I wanted to find the crystal and so he helped me. And then we found out K wasn't actually K and it was all a trap set by Miranda—"

"It was what?"

Chris is already getting up. "Is she still in there? Do we need to—"

"Sit down, Chris, it's fine, we beat her. She's dead now, like, really, actually dead. She crystalized and turned to dust, I saw it."

His face still looks like he ate a lemon, but Chris sits slowly back down. He exchanges a worried look with Mom and she puts her hand on Rose's shoulder. "You said 'we?'"

"Me and Michael." She looks down at the ring and turns it over in her hand. "Until I found out who he really was."

Mom gasps, a small and shuddery thing. She holds her hand over her mouth and stares at Rose. "Ethan."

Chris makes a noise too as Rose nods. "Yeah. It was him the whole time. He…he protected me. From Miranda, from Eveline, from everything."

"He loved you so much, honey," Mom whispers, her eyes growing wet, "he never stopped loving you."

"He showed me our house in Romania," and to her horror, she can feel her voice growing thick too, "with all his memories. I heard his voice, Mom, he—he wrote me a letter, did you know?"

"Yes," Mom says, trying not to sob, clutching her shoulder, "yeah, honey, I know. He cried so much while he was writing it, he wanted you to get old enough to read it with him, oh, Rose…"

She swipes a hand under her nose and turns to Chris, who's doing that big, tough, I'm-too-manly-for-my-emotions-right-now thing and reaches for him too. After a moment, his hand turns and covers hers. He's trembling. "He taught me how to fight, Chris. We—we fought together. He shot the monsters in the face with a shotgun and gave me his power so I could kill Miranda, once and for all."

Chris swallows heavily. "Your dad was…he was one of the best men I've ever known, Rosie. He would be so proud of you." He sniffs. "You said he shot them in the face with a shotgun?"

"Mhm."

"Yeah, that sounds like Ethan, alright." Mom laughs and it sort of sounds like a sob but she and Chris are smiling now, so it's okay. Chris looks back at her and nods a few times. "So you were talking to him, then?"

"Yeah. When you walked by on Tuesday, I think it was…yeah, we were arguing about whether the original Blade Runner was better than 2049." She wrinkles her nose. "He said the original was better but I like the remake."

Chris frowns. "What do you mean, he said—"

The words scrawl over Mom's dining table, illuminating their faces.

i like the classics, that's all

Rose would laugh at the way Chris almost falls out of his chair if his hand and Mom's weren't trembling. She looks at Mom, who stares at the glowing words, and at Chris, who looks like he's about to be sick.

Mom breaks the silence first. "…Ethan?"

The words move, now right next to her forgotten plate.

hi honey

"You're—you're—"

bad at staying dead?

Mom's breath leaves her like she's been punched in the gut. "Oh, Ethan, I—I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry—"

breathe, it's okay

She squeezes Mom's hand as she takes a few shaky breaths. "What—how is this possible?"

rose

"We're both part of the mold," Rose says when Mom looks to her, "he's…he's using my part right now, we're sort of sharing it."

told her i'm not a scientist, figured you'd get it :)

"No one uses those anymore," Mom mumbles and Rose whispers a quiet told you so! as the smiley turns to a frowny for a moment, before the words change again.

i know it's been hard, i'll always love you

"Oh, Ethan," Mom whispers, reaching out to touch the words. She gasps as a flicker of warmth pulses through them and Rose squeezes her hand again. "I miss you."

i miss you too

Another glow flickers up next to Chris, who startles and stares down at the words in shock.

you too

"E-Ethan, I—" he cuts himself off as the words swirl again.

thank you for taking care of my daughter

Chris swallows heavily. "She's incredible, Ethan. You should be proud of her."

always am

"I'm sorry," Chris whispers, and something in Rose's gut clenches at how close to tears he looks too, "if I'd been faster, we could've gotten you out of there, we could've…"

it's okay, Chris, we're all okay

"You're dead."

i died in 2017, doing pretty well considering

"He is really bad at staying dead," Rose adds, "Miranda said so too. You should've seen her, she was so mad at us."

Chris looks like he's having a hard time deciding whether he wants to laugh or cry. The sparkles swirl again.

she's a fighter, she gets that from you too

His free hand jerks and Rose squeezes the one in hers. "You can touch, Chris, he won't bite. That's my thing."

it won't hurt, promise

Chris takes a deep breath and slowly touches the words. His breath leaves him in a rush as they glow warmly under his fingers. Rose smiles as she feels the mold connect all of them there, in that moment, through her and Ethan. Some part of her clicks into place. As if he can feel it too, which he probably can, another set of words appears in front of her.

we're so proud of you, Rosie

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbles as she feels heat rush to her cheeks, "shut up."

no :)

Mom laughs. "We finally have all three of us together again and you want us to not tell you how proud we are of you?"

"They've got a point, Rosie."

"I'll break your nose!"

"No, no," Mom says as Chris squawks, even though she's still smiling, "no breaking Chris's nose."

even if he deserves it

"Hey!"

As they all laugh together, Ethan's words still glowing in the warm, quiet house, Rose sits back in her chair and twists her dad's ring around her finger. Sure, being a mold bioweapon teenager was weird, but if this is the family she gets to have because of it, it can't be all bad.

#dragonbabbles #fic #resident evil #resident evil 7 #resident evil 8 #resident evil biohazard #resident evil village #resident evil shadows of rose #rosemary winters #ethan winters #mia winters #chris redfield

[seasonschange32]

I'm trying to watch Athena P lore videos because god are they entertaining and so funny. But here's some shows/movies I would love a lore deep dive on and why:

Inspector gadget reboot - the 'romance' between penny and Talon was so confusing yet endearing. Also, loving how chief Quimby just Disguises himself just to give gadget a misson

Total drama - not only was it a huge fan of gross out humor and has our overlord chris mclain, it literally introduced me to the ' bad boy x good girl' trope before ripping it out and taking a character ( who was literally perfect with another) and forcing them together due to aesthetics.

Transformers: robots in Disguise ( 2015) or Transformers prime - two shows that have fanbases debating ( seriously), each saying why each respective show is better. But other than that, both are fine for what they are and gave me two crushes that I hold dearly.

Mia and me - a fairy show that's not only animated but live action? With the main character having an ability to talk to unicorns? And with one of her bullies DISCOVERING HER SECRET LIFE??

Ben and hollies little kingdom - super wholesome and I love how the humans coinside with the fairies

Max and ruby - there's a tiktoker who made a whole series on why ruby was annoying. Need I say more?

Trollhunters and the spin off 3below - honestly from what I remember, I loved the stakes of the show and how cool the Armour the main character had. Regarding the spin off, loving how the bully I think was into the alien girl

Max steel ( not the 2000s one. sorry) - Max having to come up with the most unbelievable excuses as to why he has to go is cliche but also kind of funny? And the fact that the company Max's dad works for has lore as well is kind of interesting

Dino squad - I actually remembered this show through a cringe compilation of all things and had to add it. From the theme song, to the plotines, to the fact that I had a crush on Laruzo even though he was obviously queer coded ( his Dino form was cool though)

Jem and the holograms - the I am a giant song from the misfits lives in my head rent free. Also, jem practicing trying to reveal to that one guy only from him to yell at her is funny to me

Lolirock - same with jem as revolution is iconic as well as the villians. Plus, why is was eventually taken off

The tinker bell movies - forgot I was supposed to mention movies as well ( sorry). But I love them and how the fairies each have their own abilities ( as well as different kinds). From pirate fairies to winter fairies, it's really cool.

Barbie: a fashion fairytale - I love all barbie movies equally but this...this just takes the cake. What other movie will you see ken making a child cry, fairies with attitude, rotting dresses, and a roller skating aunt?

Zoom (2015) - the trailer showing a scene of the main character and her character arguing is honestly what made me want to watch it ( I haven't but I'm planning on it)

Super hero squad - kid me was laughing my butt off when falcon married his bird. So...

The little prince movie - I didn't even read the book but when I saw that the old man had died, I was emotionally devastated, especially after listening to all his stories which inspired the main character to go find the prince UGHHH

The book of life - is it cliche? Yes. Is it like coco? Yes. Do I like that in the end, the main boy has to sing a guitar version of creep to calm down a bull? Absolutely yes!

Epic - josh hutcherson, beyonce, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny knoxville, an enemies to lovers storyline, a snail, a royal guard having a love for the queen, the enemies being bugs, and ANDD a nerdy dad. That's it.

Rise of the guardians - I absolutely love it followed jack and his arc of being seen and when he finally is, the kid and him are just so excited! Also, the fact that a lot of people are simping for the Easter bunny is a testament to how many people will call anyone sexy.

Daniel spellbound - wanted to add this because there's an awesome creator ( cough cough @bonkalore) who's made an amazing au out of this show and I wanted to see what you thought of it and your theories

Bonus options ( just random one's I think could fit): the rainbow fairies series, Lego friends, the complicated life of Claudia Christina Cortez, sonic underground, drama or sisters ( but any book by rainia would be great), Junie b Jones, stoked, barney, goddess girls, glitter force ( that's what I remember it as), invisible sister, a monster in Paris, Maya and miguel, and Martha)

If you want anymore, let me know!

#nostalgic #Athena P #youtube #childhood #this took a lot of time because i have a really bad memory lol #girlblogging #remebering #rise of the guardians #epic 2013 movie #total drama #lolirock #transformers #max steel #tinkerbell #tv shows

[darling-i-read-it]

First Steps

Ethan Winters x fem!reader

Word Count: 1.4k 

Warnings: children. Fuck mia agenda i completely erased her 

Author’s Note: happy late fathers day my beloved ethan <3 you deserved more <3 

Requested; by anon, oh my, hi maya :) how have you been?

i saw that you recs are open and i was wondering if you could write something for ethan winters? i saw him on your masterlist and he's my sweetie pie so i had to ask something for himm :((( also, the winters expansion gave me a full brainrot

(in a re8 were ethan doesn't die, of course) a little something about rose's first steps, or ethan and reader trying to get her to say "mama" or "dada", those little parents plus kid moments because re8 hates happy families. i mean, honestly, you can write whatever you feel like writing, I really love the way you write for him, and if the request does not interest you, you can just ignore it!!!

thank you so much and i wish you a good day/evening/night :)

Summary: the request !

Genre: fluffy

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director/creator

(not my gif)

Ethan Winters was a lost of things. He was a killer, a monster, a threat, a deadly force. And also an amazing dad. 

You never wanted kids until you met Ethan and then it just kind of happened. And now you had Rose and Rose was so clearly half Ethan and that just made you love her even more. No matter how exhausting she was, you just had to look in her eyes for more than a second to see the man you loved there and everything was easy. 

“Say ma-ma,” you said, looking at Rose as she sat on the floor. She was chubby these days and smiling without teeth. You enunciated each letter as you spoke. “Ma-ma.”

“No, no, no,” Ethan said, walking into the room behind you. He sat down on the ground beside you. He put his hand on your knee to steady himself. It was still scarred from when he had gotten it practically torn off before. There were a couple smooth bumps that you could feel against your sweatpants. “Da-da. Say da-da.” Rose gave you both a blank stare. 

She couldn’t say much of anything yet except some excited babbling. She clapped at you, causing both of you to laugh along with her. 

“She’ll say mama and you’ll be out of a job,” you told Ethan. He raised his eyebrows. 

“Oh so only one parent can exist?”

“Yup. She excommunicates one of us with her first word.”

“What if she doesn’t say mom or dad?” he questioned, holding your thigh tightly to anchor himself. 

“She’s an orphan. It’s her own fault. It’s like a Grimm fairytale or something.” He shook his head, gently taking away the key Rose was trying to take a bite out of. She babbled at him, shaking her head. 

“She’s a cute one isn’t she,” he said. 

“She’s alright. Looks too much like her mom for my taste,” you said, laughing. 

“In that case, she’s gorgeous.”

“She’s got my Ethans eyes though. Look at those eyes. Oh! Oh look at those eyes,” you said, voice an octave higher as you teased Rose with a smile. She followed your finger around with her entire head as you pointed at her eyes. 

Then she remembered the keys Ethan had and started to grab them. 

“No, those are moms,” he said gently. 

“No!” she exclaimed. You scoffed, amazed. You looked at Ethan who was too stunned to really say anything. You let out a loud laugh, shaking your head. 

“Was that a word?” he asked, amazed. 

“Yeah I think so!” You were laughing so hard that you didn’t even have time to rationalize it. “Give her the keys,” you said through laughter. “She deserves em.” 

“God she’s just like her mom,” he said, shaking his head. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you questioned, giggling still. He was smiling too, staring at her, trying to decide which of her features was his and which was his wifes. 

“She’s as headstrong. Look at that face.”

“Oh her mom didn’t kill goop monsters for a living.”

“A living? I did not get paid for that?” 

“Chris should’ve paid you. You were doing his job for him. An honorary member of the BSAA.” 

-

The day Rose took her first steps you were making dinner. You loved your home that Chris had picked out for you and Ethan. It was one of the best parts of the relocation. It was like you were just a normal family. Ethan was with Rose in the living room, playing with some blocks. There was a gentle sound of rain coming from outside which mixed well with the light music you had playing. The soup you were cooking steamed a bit on the stove as you stirred it. 

You felt peaceful. 

And then you heard a thud which meant Ethan had fallen over trying to stand up. 

You turned around quickly in worry but he was already laughing, holding his side. 

��What happened?” you asked, not even turning off the stove you were so concerned. 

“I was trying to show Rose how to walk but I tripped on the block,” he said, laughing. “I think I cut my hand.”

“Oh your poor hand E,” you said, shaking your head. “You need me to kiss it better?”

“Yes ma’am,” he pleaded, looking up at you from the ground. You leaned over the ground and gave him a kiss on the palm and then kissed his lips. “Thank you. I feel much better.” 

Rose was wobbling on her legs where Ethan had left her before he tried to stand. She was leaning against the rocking chair you read her stories on. As you wanted to walk away she made a step towards where Ethan was laying. Neither of you noticed because you were so enamored with each other until she had taken her second step. 

“Oh my God,” Ethan said, sitting up. 

“She’s doing better than you!” you exclaimed, kneeling down. “Come here baby girl! Come to mama!” Rose did a little quick run and then moved even quicker as she fell into Ethans lap. She had walked all of six steps. 

Ethan sat up and scooped her into his arms. 

“That was fantastic!” he exclaimed. You gave her a kiss on her forehead, smiling brightly, laughing. 

It was a great five seconds until the smoke alarm went off, scarring all three of you. You jumped up. 

“The soup!” you exclaimed. 

“I guess we’re ordering take out for your first steps little lady. Huh? Huh?” Ethan giggled, smiling like the proud dad he was. 

Resident Evil Tag List: @chloe-online, @alexxavicry, @chaotic-fangirl-blog, @secret-obsessions-21-blog, @trinswhimsys, @lov3vivian, @micheleamidalajedi, @linkxneptune

#ethan winters x reader #ethan winters x fem!reader #ethan winters imgagines #resident evil imagines

[thebirdandthebee]

Imagine Me & You

A Jake “Hangman” Seresin fic.

First time writing TGM fanfic - please be gentle.

Jake stumbles across a woman on base that seems to enjoy the finer things in life... just like the future he’d like to build - with her in it.

Thanks so much to all for the likes and comments, I’m having a blast writing this! Tonight’s chapter is over twice as long as all the rest and I think just what we’ve been looking for... It is, however, unedited, so apologies for any glaring mistakes.

Chapter 5: Come Back, Be Here

“And so what is this one supposed to do?” Mia asked, adjusting the small piece of cloth that was meant to cover the tip of her nose.

“Uh, I think yours is brighten and firm,” Tina called from the bathroom where she was affixing her own facemask between sips of wine.

Mia shrugged thoughtfully, taking out her phone.

“What about mine?” Bob asked, frowning at the packaging that he was having a hard time reading without his glasses on.

“Yours is moisturizing, baby!” Tina replied, strutting back into the TV room in their basement.  She had invited Mia over for cocktails and appetizers after a long week on base. She was working her first court hearing starting next week and though she was confident working under Lt. Gen. Bozek, she wanted things to be perfect, a victim of her own Type-A personality.

The prep had kept her up past one in the morning nearly every night.

Bobbi was out of town for the weekend visiting her new situationship in LeMoore.

“Once you go military….” Tina raised an eyebrow, causing Bob to roll his eyes. She really enjoyed their company – they seemed like people she’d eventually befriend at any point in her life, but she was especially glad to have them now.

“Mia, when does Jack come back out again?” Bob asked, having gotten to chop it up with the younger Thomas when he was in town last.

“Not until after New Year’s unfortunately,” she explained. “I’ll head out to Indiana to visit him for Christmas, it’s hard for him to get out here between winter semester and baseball practices.”

“It’ll come sooner than you think,” Bob smiled warmly. “We’ll head back to Oregon to Tina’s Mom’s for Christmas,” he added.

“Oh I love Oregon,” Mia gushed.

“It’s the best,” Tina agreed, joining them on the big sectional sofa, popping a cheese cube into her mouth. “So Mimi,” she grinned in a way that Mia had learned was trouble. “You and our Hangman were looking awfully cozy at the Fourth party…” She trailed off.

“Were we?” Mia asked, acting as though she couldn’t remember the party from a little over two weeks earlier.

“Babe?” Tina asked, looking at her husband.

“Cozy,” Bob confirmed.

“Not any more cozy than with Rooster,” Mia tried to level.

“Oh please,” Tina snorted. “He took his shirt off and your tongue rolled down to the ground like a cartoon.”

“It did not!” Mia honked out an unladylike laugh, caught by surprise.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, we all looked,” Tina insisted.

“Hate to disappoint you both, but Jake and I are just friends,” Mia replied coyly. Friends who ate breakfast on the beach and nearly kissed on base – but she’d keep that to herself. “Speaking of, I haven’t heard from too many others in a while, what gives?” Mia asked, taking a sip of her wine as she thumbed through a magazine on her lap. When she received no response, she looked up to catch the tail end of a look between Bob and Tina.

“They’re out on assignment,” Tina said.

“Like at a different base?” Mia asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Something like that,” Tina replied. Mia didn’t love her answer.

“Wait what does that mean?” The blonde frowned, “is everyone okay?” She asked.

“No reason to think they’re not,” Bob said calmly.

“Explain,” Mia insisted. As someone who professionally lived in the black and white, she didn’t understand the grey they were offering.

“Sorry Mia, it’s confidential,” Bob gave her a sad smile.

“But you’re not there?” Mia asked.

“I didn’t draw the short straw,” he said, not sure how else to explain.

“Well when do they come home?” Mia asked, a little knot forming between her brows.

“Can’t say,” Bob replied.

“Well this is bullshit!” She frowned even deeper.

“It is,” Tina agreed, causing Bob to give her a sidelong glance. “More wine?” She offered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“I think the eighteen by twenty-four goes to the left of that window, and then the small gallery to the right,” Bobbi said, standing back from the window.

“Okay, but then where does the mirror go?” Mia asked, looking around the room at her options.

“Bedroom for sure,” Bobbi replied.

“Yeah, I think you’re right, but I’ve got to get my new desk in first,” Mia sighed. After living in her apartment for the past 11 months, she decided to upgrade to a slightly larger unit on the south side of the building. It was the nicest apartment available and she was pleased with herself for pulling the trigger on something she knew she’d appreciate. The new apartment would give Jack some more space when he came to visit and now they each had their own respective bathrooms, along with a den she could carve into an office.

“And when does everything else get moved up?” Bobbi asked, taking a sip of her water glass on the counter.

“Well, I decided I could do most of it myself, so Tina and Bob are coming by this afternoon to help with a few things,” Mia grinned, “I think I may have bit off more than I can chew.”

“You really strike me as a hire-the-movers kind of person,” Bobbi laughed.

“Normally I am!” Mia insisted, “but I’ve become such a control freak lately that I just decided I wanted to do it myself – besides, it’s only down the hall, it can’t be that hard.”

“Fair,” Bobbi nodded. “Well I’m going to order some salads for lunch and we’ll see what else we can hang up?” She suggested, grabbing her phone from her purse.

“Perfect,” Mia smiled.

The pair worked diligently hanging picture frames, mindful of the tape markers on the floor that would signify where certain furniture pieces would live. Mia was grateful for a friend like Bobbi – and by extension, Lt. Gen. Bozek for introducing the two. She had returned from Lemoore last week, a big hickey on her neck that she was mortally embarrassed about, but a big smile nonetheless. Mia loved to see her happy.

“Hey you haven’t heard from like Rooster or Hangman, have you?” Mia tried to ask casually, taking a bite of her salad as they sat around her kitchen island an hour later. Bobbi glanced up at the blonde with a small frown.

“Sorry, no,” she shook her head.

“It’s been like a really long time, right?” Mia asked. At this point, it had been over three and a half weeks since she saw Jake. Or Bradley.

She was new to this world – was being this long a good or bad thing? It couldn’t be good, right? Were they in danger? Had something already happened and no one had said anything yet?

“You’ll get used to it,” Bobbi gave her hand a squeeze. “I haven’t heard anything, but that doesn’t mean much. I could as my uncle if he knows anything?” She offered.

“No, it’s okay,” Mia felt silly for bringing it up, stabbing her fork down into her salad.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Bobbi offered a reassuring smile.

That night as Mia laid in her bed, she stared at the ceiling, still plagued with thoughts of Jake. And Bradley. What if something had happened? What if he was hurt, or worse? Would it take this long for them to find out?

Oddly enough, the first thing that flashed through Mia’s mind was all the times Jake had held her hand. Dismounting from chairs at The Hard Deck, stepping out of her golf cart, helping her up from the beach blanket after their beach morning. She wanted more of it. She wanted his hands on her in the way he lifted her to his shoulders in the pool or as he reached for something beyond her grasp on the grocery store shelf.

She wanted more sunsets in a patio lounger and darts at the bar, ignoring the boundaries of personal space. She wanted more rides in the Jag and maybe they could even start running in the morning together.

Mostly, she wanted to kiss his gorgeous face. She wanted him to hold her in those strong arms so she knew exactly where he was. She wasn’t sure how it happened, but she had fallen deep for Jake Seresin. So where the hell was he?

Wiping away a tear of frustration, she turned to her side and tried to get some sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Another week had passed and Mia’s court case proceedings were going well, but it was still quite a bit of stress on the young attorney. Following the morning’s hearing, she headed back to her office to unwind when she got the call.

“Your grandmother had a fall, she’s okay, but she’s asking for you.” The orderly explained.  

Lt. Gen. Bozek had barely told her to pack up and leave before she was flying down the highway in the convertible. She hated driving in heels, but she was thankful for the short drive. She had called Jack on the way to give him an update and talked him down from missing class to come out and see Dorothea.

“It’s okay, they said she’s okay,” Mia reassured. “Don’t miss class – I will give you an update as soon as I get eyes on her. We’ll FaceTime.” She insisted on the phone, pulling into the parking lot for the care facility.

“Give her a kiss for me,” Jack insisted sadly.

“Of course I will – call you soon, Jack Jack.” She hung up. Putting on a brave face, she walked into the facility and was greeted by the medical director, who walked alongside Mia as they headed up to Dorothea’s suite.

“She’s okay, she’s stable. She does have a fractured wrist and some bruising on her leg,” the doctor explained. “We’ve completed a full evaluation and we don’t think this is a cause for concern, but simply that she’s an 88-year-old woman and these things happen.”

Mia knew he was only trying to be reassuring, but the fact remained, Dorothea was 88 and things like this would only become more commonplace.

“What was the response time between the fall and someone attending to her?” Mia asked.

“Less than two minutes,” The doctor explained. “Dorothea has an alert buddy, which senses if she’s had a fall and alerts us immediately.” Mia could exhale at that news.

“Thank you,” she said softly, pushing open the door to her grandmother’s room.

Stepping in quietly, she slipped out of her heels and padded towards the recliner her grandmother was napping in, facing out toward the ocean with the sea breeze coming in through the open patio door. Mia said dutifully beside her, gently resting her hand on Dorothea’s and feeling like she could breathe again.

It was one thing to be told someone was okay, but another to get hands on them and know for yourself.

“Hi sweetheart,” Dorothea smiled softly. Mia held back a sob.

“Hi there,” she replied, giving Dorothea’s hand a small squeeze.

“Why so sad?” Her grandmother asked, seeing the trouble behind her mirrored brown eyes.

“Oh, I was just worried about you,” Mia said gently.

Moving was stressful, the need to win her first court case was looming over her shoulders and wondering every 10 minutes if Jake was okay was taking a toll on her. Throw in an ailing grandmother on top of that and Mia felt a little bit like her world was caving in on top of her.

“You don’t need to worry about me, my darling girl,” Dorothea insisted. “I’m doing quite well – I won’t be dancing anytime soon, but that’s just fine.” Mia let a single tear slip with her soft laugh. “Come on, there must be more?” Her grandmother pressed.

Mia sucked in a small breath, running her free hand through her hair.

“I’m worried about my friend,” She explained. “He’s an aviator on base and he’s been gone for a long time. We don’t really get to know any details or when he’ll be back.” She added.

Dorothea patted Mia’s hand gently.

“I’m sorry, Mimi,” Dorothea sympathized. “Does he know how you feel about him?” She asked. Mia’s eyes cut over to her grandmother, who gave her a serene look but just a corner of her mouth was upturned.

“No,” Mia gave her a sad smile. “I mean, I only just figured it out for myself the other day, but I do care about him a lot.”

“Is he handsome?” Dorothea asked, causing Mia to giggle, breaking the tension in her brows.

“So handsome,” she agreed. “You’d love him.” She insisted. “His name is Jake and he’s a total gentleman – from Texas.”

“Cowboy,” Dorothea winked, making Mia laugh again. She was so glad her grandmother was okay – but it didn’t change the fact that she was becoming more and more fragile.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Mia was back at work three days later, hair a little out of place and a hint of darkness under her eyes. It was piling on – the pressure. Jack was stressed about school and calling her every night, during the day, she was pounding away at work while devoting as much time as she could talking to Dorothea.

Her move was going slower than she could believe and was living between two apartments – getting ready in one unit before walking down the hall to get the rest of her things. Her complex was being gracious with her move-out period.

That, and still nothing from the Lieutenant Commander.

As the day wound down, she could see the light in Lt. Gen. Bozek’s office click on. Neither of them had designs to leave anytime soon.

After going over two hours of deposition with Bozek, it was nearing eight o’clock and her vision was getting more and more blurry by the minute. She was tired, getting cranky, and was hoping she could see a sliver of sunlight before it went dark for the evening. That was clearly out of the question at this point, as she could see the stars winking through thin clouds.

The full moon, however, was her saving grace, and she admired its beauty through the window of her office.

“Mia, it’s late, and we’ve got a Noon call time tomorrow,” Bozek sighed, standing in the doorway. “Why don’t you head home and try to get a few extra hours of sleep?” He suggested.

“Normally I would fight you on this, but yes, I will take your advice,” she smiled pitifully. Lt. Gen. Bozek liked the young attorney and he saw an incredibly bright future for her – this first win would mean a lot.

“Let’s head out, there’s a bus arriving shortly and it’s going to get a bit busy on base,” he explained. “Actually we might already be S-O-L.” He said, craning his neck to see cars already leaving with their loved ones.

“A bus?” She asked, tossing her laptop down into her tote and switching from her heels into a pair of sensible flats that made her drive home much more bearable.

“There’s a small team returning tonight from assignment,” blood rushed her ears. “Families that live nearby can come pick them up from the base, it’s actually pretty sweet.” He explained.

“Jake?” She whispered, not intending for Bozek to hear her.

“You might find… a familiar face or two out there… if they haven’t left yet,” Lt. Gen. Bozek trailed.

“I’ll see you at Noon!” She called, taking off like a bat into the night as she escaped from the building, feet pounding down the stairs. She jumped the last two, throwing her briefcase haphazardly over the car door and into the passenger seat as she nearly leapt into the car. She prayed Jake hadn’t already left. She never saw his car on base, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have gotten a ride with someone else.

With no real sense of where to go, she simply drove toward the commotion that neared a hangar she had passed by a hundred times. Ten or so cars remained with a few lights on to illuminate the airfield. Parking like an absolute jackass, she hopped out of the car and began scanning the crowd. Forty or so base members and their families were milling about with big hugs and happy smiles.

She didn’t care if she looked like a lunatic, so she began to weave through groups, doing her best to identify anyone in the harsh, angled lighting.

It began to feel hopeless. There weren’t that many people that she’d lose Jake. She felt like if he was there, she’d know it, and she felt utterly lost in a sea of strangers.

Cutting her losses, she figured if she headed back to her apartment now, she could shimmy some of her kitchen boxes down the hall to her new place. She turned to walk down the parking area behind the row of cars.

Pulling her phone out of her back pocket, she composed a text to Bobbi and Tina in their group chat, a pitiful frown on her face.

“We’ve got to stop running into each other like this, Thomas.” Mia’s head popped up at the familiar voice and her face crumpled upon seeing Lieutenant Commander Seresin leaning against her driver’s side door, his duffel bag sitting on the trunk of her car.

“Jake!” She let the floodgates open, running a full sprint at the tall blonde, who was more than ready to catch her as she jumped into him. He held her tightly against him, reveling in the feeling as she buried her face into his neck, giving him a reason to inhale the scent of her shampoo and that damned perfume.

He gently rocked them back and forth as she squeezed him tight, and he could feel the tiny, telltale shakes of her shoulders.

“It’s okay, I’m here, darlin’,” he murmured pressing his lips to her temple. “Everything’s okay,” he cooed, “I’m here.”

“Why didn’t you call?” She cried, “why didn’t you let me know you were okay?” She asked. He leaned against her car a little further when he realized she wasn’t ready to let go yet.

“If I could have, I would have, sweetheart,” he explained gently. “I wanted to every day.” He could feel the tears catch on the fabric of his cotton tee.

“Stay with me tonight?” She asked, pulling back and looking up at him with those bleary, honey-gold eyes. Even in the dark of the evening, they seemed to glow.

“There is nothing else I’d rather do.”

The two drove in comfortable silence back to Mia’s apartment, her crowding him as much as possible – him, glad to maneuver the two-seater with one hand as the other arm draped across her shoulders, holding her into his side.

“I got it, Mia, you go on ahead,” he said, tossing his duffel over his shoulder and grabbing her work tote as well. In the elevator to the fifteenth floor, she crowded him yet again, pressing her face into his chest. She didn’t like the smell that clung to his Navy-issued clothing. It didn’t smell like him. “Darlin’, why’s your mattress on the ground?” He said after she led him through the halfway-furnished apartment to her bedroom.

“I’m moving,” she said quietly. “Just down the hall, but I can’t move my bed frame on my own and Tina and Bob had to cancel on me because Bob’s got the flu and Bobbi’s back in Lemoore this weekend, and I’ve been in Del Mar with my grandmother since she fell and I’ve got this court hearing tomorrow and –” She began to wind herself up again.

“Okay, okay, let’s get you changed out of your work clothes,” he said, scooting her over to her closet. “Do you have some pajamas here?” She nodded, rubbing her hands across her face. “You get changed and I’ll grab us a drink, okay?” He offered, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. She paused, taking him in in the warm light of her apartment. He’d never been here, but something about his presence made it feel like home.

He, too, looked like he’d been missing some sleep, and his skin was irritated across his forehead and by his ears. He’d never looked so handsome.

He knew what she was thinking, and before she could fully grasp his jaw in her hands, his lips were on hers.

She was soft and warm and everything he had dreamed of the past four weeks in his twin cot on the carrier. His arms wound around her waist as she rocked forward on her toes, stretching to reach him as she slanted her mouth over his.

“I’m sorry, I should have asked,” she said after softly pulling away. He knew he would always enjoy his downward view of her eyelashes before she looked up at him – a dazed expression on her face.

“Please never apologize,” he murmured, cupping her face in his hand, itching to run his fingers through her hair. “Change, meet me back here in two,” he instructed, pressing another firm kiss to her lips.

As soon as he stepped out of the bedroom, she flew through the closet, flinging her clothes off and stepping into a soft, matching set of shorts and tee.

Jake reappeared as she crawled into the elevated mattress – grateful she had made the bed that morning before work. He held two glasses in his hands, ice waters and a slice of lemon in hers. He was good with details.

“Drink,” he said softly, handing over her glass. And she did, as she watched him step out of his Navy-issued pants, folding them and tossing them over the back of her reading chair before pulling his white tee over his head. “Is this okay?” He asked, tossing the t-shirt on top of his pants before doing the same with his dog tags. He was left standing in his white boxers. She nodded intently.

The sight of Mia holding back the corner of the bed covers for him made a warm tingling surface near the base of his spine and behind his ears. He knew for months they’d get here, but now it was real.

Mia wasted no time crowding his space once again. He managed not to jump at her cold fingertips, but made himself comfortable in her bed as she came to relax on his chest. He tucked one arm behind his head and stroked the other up and down her back.

“Don’t leave again,” she said, propping her chin up against his chest. “Everything fell apart when you did.” She pressed a kiss to the warm skin of his collarbone. “Tell me about it, darlin,’” he insisted.

“Dorothea fell and broke her wrist,” she began. “She’s going to be fine but it scared the hell out of me,” she added. “I’ve been spending as much time as I can with her, but I’m working my first court case and we have another proceeding tomorrow at Noon that I’ve been killing myself on.” Jake listened carefully she continued. “Jack is freaking out at school about one of his senior capstone classes and is now doubting his whole major, and we talk every day, but I’m running out of hours.”

Jake paused his ministrations and simply held her to him.

“And I’ve been living between two apartments because I didn’t just hire the damn movers, I had to do it myself,” she rolled her eyes. “Turns out I can’t move all this furniture on my own.” She pressed the broad of her face into his chest. “And I just missed you a lot,” she confessed, her words muffled by his skin.

“Gonna have to speak up on that last one,” he said, rubbing her back again, very aware of what she said.

“I missed you so much – more than I thought I would,” she said, looking up at him once again. “I was talking to my grandmother about you and I just realized that… I have feelings for you.” She said, feeling incredibly vulnerable.

“Glad we’re on the same page, sweetheart,” he said, pushing her hair back out of her face. “Been waiting for you to catch up,” he added.

“Tina tried tipping me off… but I don’t know, I didn’t want to jump to anything I wasn’t sure about,” she explained.

“Tina’s a menace,” he grinned, kissing the top of her head. “Wanted to give you time to come around.”

“I’m here,” she said, her gaze dropping to his lips. He was eager to gather her up against him, her hands once again delving into his soft hair as his mouth claimed hers.

“Missed you,” he breathed between kissing, chasing her lips.

“I thought about you every day,” she confessed. “Just wanted you home,” she added, gathering her legs underneath her and swinging one over to straddle his hard body. Jake groaned as she pushed down against him, going cross-eyed beneath his lids for a moment.

“Alright cowgirl, just – give me a minute,” he grit. She didn’t. She pressed open-mouth, lazy kisses against his jaw, nipping his earlobe with her teeth in a way that sent a metallic zing right down to his cock. She reveled in the feeling of him hardening beneath her, feeling incredibly powerful in that moment.

“I know I’m going to regret this,” he murmured, chasing her lips yet again for a firm kiss. “But you’ve got court in the morning,” he added, pecking her softly. “And I’ve got some furniture to move.” He continued. “Then, when you’re out of court, we can drive some dinner over to Del Mar.” Mia withheld a whimper. She knew Jake would fix everything. “And I want to do this right.” He said pressing his face into her cheek and enjoying the warmth of her skin. “Because I’m crazy about you, Mia Thomas,” he said, catching her attention with his intent.

“Glad we’re on the same page, Lieutenant Commander.”

#jake seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake seresin x ofc #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin fluff #jake seresin smut #FINALLY #top gun fic #top gun maverick #top gun maverick fan fic #jake seresin is a simp

[bratshaws]

goodness gracious 96.brb x oc

a/n: I just love making Bea suffer. I'm sorry bby it's FOR A GOOD REASON

check out the fic's playlist made by the sweet @wiipes !!

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: f l uf f, bea is hearing things ( OR IS SHE)

chapters:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30/31/32/33/34/35/36/37/38/39/40/41/42/43/44

45/46/47/48/49/50/51/52/53/54/55/56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64

65/66/67/68/69/70/71/72/73/74/75/76/77/78/79/80/81/82/83/84

85/86/87/88/89/90/91/92/93/94/95

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!!)

taglist: @mirandastuckinthe80s @roosterschanelslut @wiipes @lcahwriter @shrimping-for-all @gretagerwigsmuse @frenchtoastix

@lizzie-rdj @fanboyluvr @atarmychick007 @comebacktoearthpls

@peachiicherries @mak-32 @lizziespidiepridie @roosterswifey @ollyoxenfrees @piceous21 @sqrlgrl22 @hofficoffi @lexhalstead3 @lorilane33 @legendarydreamersharkparty @luckyladycreator2

@emilybradshaw @j-6o @louisahale @leobabbyyy @kulicny @winter-run @ktjmac @graciereads @bigpoppajes

-

Since she’d only need the dress by the end of September, Beatrice left it at her parents’ house. Her mother almost fainted when she saw it, but got back together quite quickly before her head hit the floor, holding the dress as if it was the most precious thing she had ever seen.

Beatrice had a little care manual to keep the dress together until the day she’d need it, but she had a feeling her mother wouldn’t really use it and would figure out how to keep that beautiful dress together until then.

Claudia refused to show the dress to Rafael, pushing her husband back into his office and closing the door before running up the stairs to hide it. Beatrice’s father only poked his head out when his wife was no longer in sight, giving his youngest daughter a worried look, “She’s doing it again.” he chuckles, “She did this with every single one of your siblings with the exception of Michael, I could never see their wedding outfits.”

Beatrice smiles sweetly, looking up to where she could hear her mother’s soft singing from Sabrina’s old room- it had more space to keep the dress safe and hidden - before she meets her father’s eyes, “It’s tradition,papa.”

“Yes,yes,I know.” Rafael’s eyes met Beatrice’s, a smile forming over his lips, “How are you feeling,tesoro? Excited?”

“I’m over the moon,papa.” Beatrice replied in a breathy whisper, her smile widening as she turned to her father, shaking her head in almost disbelief, “I…It’s been so…wonderful, it’s been so crazy and wonderful and everything has been happening so quickly, but not in a bad way, you know?” she sighs dreamily, looking down at her engagement ring, “I’m really happy.”

Rafael’s eyes softened the longer he looked at her, “Mia bambina, getting married. Now the circle is complete. All my kids are getting married.”

‘Michael is still single papa.”

He chuffs out a laugh, “You know very well your brother would never get married, tesoro. He said so himself.” Rafael’s large hand drops on top of her head, gently caressing her hair before he leans down to kiss her forehead, “I’m very happy for you. And for Bradley, he’s a good boy, he’s going to make you very happy…If he doesn’t, let me know–”

“Papa!”

“I am joking, tesoro.” Rafael’s deep rumbled laugh only makes Beatrice roll her eyes and sneak out a quiet chuckle, her father’s hand dropping to his side, “Your mother has been all over the place, your wedding, plus Leonardo’s new baby is making her jump around like a rodeo bull.”

Considering who her mother was, it wasn’t surprising. “Did you talk to them yet? Leo and Cyn? I think I might visit them since I’m free right now and Bradley is working.” she hasn’t visited them in a while, the last time was to give the invitation and to ask Bianca to be the ring bearer - alongside Jolene which made Bianca get really excited.

“I talked to them…I think a few days ago? Leonardo asked if we still had some paint left from when we painted the living room.” Rafael says with his hands on his hips, “I told him there was none left and he sounded…a bit worried.”

Of course he did. “I’m going to hop there for a bit, maybe they need the help.” she smiles, hugging him, “I’m going to tell mamma goodbye, or else she’ll think I forgot about her.” her father agreed, watching Beatrice walk up the stairs and disappear in the room Claudia was. 

After repeating the hug - this one was a bit harder to break free considering her mother was still holding her when she tried to step back - she made her way back down, kissing Jolene’s parents on the head before pulling out her phone to check the time…only to see a message from Cynthia?

Cyn (14:30)

Hey,Bea, can you come over if you can? Leo and Michael are grinding on my nerves and I think your input would be more than welcome. Pls??

Bea(14:38)

Omg of course Cyn!I was just planning on stopping by, give me a few minutes yeah?

Cyn (14:39)

Oh thank God, you are a lifesaver.  Thank you Bea.

If she knew her brothers, which she did, they would probably be arguing with each other trying to figure out how to do something but never finding a solution. And Cynthia, being six months pregnant, didn't need that stress in her life or else she’d be out of a husband and a brother in law.

Beatrice’s jeep parked outside their house after a few minutes she sent that message, she could hear her brothers’ voices from the inside, “Oh Jesus.” she says exasperatedly while laughing, stepping out of the car and walking up the front yard to the door…that immediately opened revealing a very tired looking Cynthia, who was clenching the door handle so tight Beatrice feared it’d snap, “Oh boy, that good huh?”

“They’ve been arguing since early morning.” her blonde sister in law replied, stepping aside carefully to let Beatrice in, the male voices getting louder the further she walked, “All I asked was for them to paint the baby’s room.”

Beatrice chuckled, looking up at the ceiling,standing right under the area where the baby room would be, “I’ll work on it, you can relax Cyn,I know it’s been rough.” Cynthia thanked her again, waddling her way over to the couch and finally sitting down with a heavy sigh. 

The sound of her brothers’ voices got louder every step she took up the staircase, it wasn’t a full blown argument but they were being the typical ‘I’m older than you so I’m right’ type of fight. Beatrice just stood by the baby room’s door, watching both of her brothers - Leonardo with a bandanna around his head and Michael with his hair in a low ponytail- gesturing to each other and to the wall with still clean paint rollers.

The whole room was empty and covered with newspaper so the paint wouldn’t land on the floor, but the fact that not even the paint cans were open meant that they had been too busy being petty to each other.

“I am the dad,I should know what wall to start on!”

“Well,I am the cool uncle, so my input weighs as much as yours!”

“It does not!”

“Yes it does!”

Beatrice just watched this whole scene with her eyes wide, not believing that was the reason they were arguing about, “Also, I want to paint the walls green to represent the Shire!” Leonardo snaps, pointing to the closed can.

“If you want to represent the Shire, why did you name your baby Éowyn? She’s not a hobbit! She’s a shieldmaiden.”

“Oh my God, can you two please stop?!” Beatrice’s voice snapped the two brothers out of their nonsensical argument, looking over to their younger sister who now had her hands on her hips, “Is that why the two of you did absolutely nothing here? That’s ridiculous!” she then pulls her hair up in a bun, immediately stepping in and yanking the paint roller out of their hands, using it to point at each, “You two are just arguing like two boys because of that? No wonder Cyn is tired.”

Leonardo’s face was the first to fall, his lips moving, trying to come up with an excuse or an explanation as to why he was acting like such but Beatrice just shook her head, “What color did Cyn want?” she asks, arching one eyebrow when he takes too long to reply, “Leo.”

“She wanted mint green and light yellow.” he murmurs, “But they were all out of mint green back at the store so I bought a forest green one instead.”

“And I brought the white paint to mix it.” Michael adds after a quick glare thrown to Leonardo.

Beatrice huffs, rolling her eyes and shoving each paint roller to their chest, “We are going to paint it mint green and yellow like Cyn asked, no more arguing.” She didn’t even plan on staying but seeing how her brothers were too busy bickering to come to a conclusion, she decided to stay and do it because they’d spend too long being dumb about it.

But as soon as Beatrice popped the paint can lid open, both brothers looked at each other, clearly neither wanting to admit defeat over the silly argument and then stepped forward to help their sister. And with Beatrice there, everything worked quite quickly and smoothly, they managed to paint the room the colors that Cynthia desired. 

Of all things she thought she’d be doing today, helping her brothers paint a baby room was the last of her thoughts but honestly, she had to admit, it was very relaxing.

She and Rooster have been so busy making sure everything was going to go smoothly for the wedding that a break like this was really rare. Well, not rare, they did spend time together and did…things to relax, but something like this, something she could use her hands for was something she clearly missed.

And it was a baby room! Her new niece’s baby room. 

Cynthia looked good, thankfully because she knew how hard Bianca’s pregnancy was and undoubtedly both Cynthia and Leonardo were still a bit scared if the baby was to be born prematurely. And if she could help in some way, especially since her sister in law asked her to, she would.

Leonardo and Michael got quiet, Beatrice was the only one who talked to the two, pointing to where they should go while kneeling on top of the newspaper, blowing a few strands of hair that fell in front of her eyes. 

While she was busy moving the paint roller up and down on the wall, she could swear, she could swear she heard it again. The child giggle and it wasn’t Bianca’s, she could identify her niece’s laugh, no this one was very…specific. She looked over her shoulder to Leo and Michael, who were too busy following her orders and heard nothing.

Beatrice’s eyebrows furrowed, was she…haunted? Was she haunted by the ghost of a Victorian child victim of tuberculosis? Or was her mind voicing her wants to have a child of her own, ever since she and Rooster talked about it she had to admit it made the need for a child become permanent in her mind but she still had time to think about it and yeah, while she’d stop the birth control shots after the wedding it didn’t mean they’d end up having a baby so soon, right?

Right.

She had a wedding to worry about so she couldn’t worry about hearing disembodied child voices like that. 

-

When Beatrice arrives home it’s already a bit late, she did spend a long time making sure her brothers wouldn’t turn their focus back to their silly bickering and Bianca once she came back home wanted her aunt to stay a little bit longer. The Bronco was already in the garage and the music coming from inside their house meant that Rooster already arrived.

Of course he knew where she was, she did let him know about it or else he’d go insane trying to figure out where exactly she’d be. Beatrice giggles to herself, walking out of the Jeep Wrangler to walk inside the house, the music getting louder as she steps in, leaning down to greet Jolene when she rushes over to say hi.

Beatrice shuts the door behind her, slowly making her way deeper into the house to see her fiancé wearing only his boxer shorts and an apron - one that she was sure she bought ages ago and completely forgot about it - while mixing something on the stove.

With his back to her, she couldn’t help but admire his amazing physique with a little smile - he still had the nail marks on his shoulders from a few nights ago- sometimes her brain, even if they’ve been together for a whole year now, takes a while to understand that he was hers.

Bradley probably felt her eyes on him ,because he stopped moving the spoon inside the pot to turn around, giving her a brilliant smile, “Hi, gorgeous.” she smiles back, leaning her shoulder on the doorframe, “Took you a while to come back.”

“Bibi wanted me to stay but I told her I had to go back to my prince.” she says sweetly and the sudden compliment makes him stop for a second, then smirk, putting the spoon aside, “That’s my apron.” she said, seeing it was one she had for ages with the tiny pugs all over the fabric, it was much smaller on him than on her - obviously- and it barely covered the upper part of his defined chest.

“I found it somewhere,” he murmurs, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer, nuzzling her neck, “I needed it for tonight because I didn’t want to put a shirt on.”

Beatrice giggles,leaning her head back when he lifts his, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his lips, “I don’t mind it, it looks good on you.” she says against his mouth, loving that he laughed in response, “But I thought tonight was my night to cook dinner?”

“What?” Rooster recoils his head back in confusion with a little smile, “No,baby, it’s tuesday. That’s my night.”

Beatrice blinks, “Oh…sorry, my mind is all over the place.” which he understood, completely, just leaning down to kiss her cheek, “I’m going to take a shower, I am sticky- and no, don’t you start.” she laughs, pointing a finger at him when he opens his mouth to retort, narrowing her eyes playfully, “You have dinner to worry about, sir.”

Bradley’s pupils enlarge at the honorific, his hands dragging on the flare of her waist as she steps backwards to the staircase, “I can cook fast!” he calls when she’s on the steps, only giving him a knowing look before she disappears on the second floor.

“Baby!” she laughs softly at his almost desperate tone, then rolls her shoulder when she feels a sudden pain dart from it to her arm, rubbing the sore muscle. She was kicking off her shoes and unbuttoning her shorts by their room’s door and by the time she reached the bathroom she had the clothes in her arms, wearing only her underwear.

Beatrice steps into the shower, opening the faucet and letting the water fall down her hear, wetting her hair. She wasn’t planning on washing her hair this late, but considering how hot it was it’d dry off before she went to bed. 

She stood under the water for a few seconds, just letting it’s warmth take over her body with her eyes closed, feeling the sore muscle on her shoulder relax as soon as the hot water hit it. Beatrice opened her eyes the best she could with the water falling over them, waterdrops clinging to her lashes, grabbing her shampoo.

While washing her hair, she couldn’t help but let her mind wander back to the weird child voice she’s been hearing for a while, it had stopped a few days ago but hearing it again wasn’t something she found entertaining.  She never told Rooster about it, she didn’t even know if she could tell him about it, how the hell would he react?

Well, of course he wouldn’t make fun of her but he’d be weirded out by it. Should she talk to her aunt about it? Her aunt was already considered a witch maybe she could figure out what the hell was happening to her. Because it was really strange, was she having hallucinations now? Should she tell her therapist about it? 

Beatrice groans, rubbing her scalp a little bit harder to get rid of the suds, “I’m going to think about this after dinner.” she murmurs hearing her stomach growl in agreement, “Then I’ll figure out what to do.” 

She finishes her shower, wrapping her hair on a towel after drying herself off and slipping on one of the many large t-shirts she had, walking down the staircase with a smile once the smell of whatever Rooster cooked hit her nose. He was leaning his lower back on the kitchen counter, waiting for her to walk past the threshold with a little smile, “Hey, nice shower?”

“Yes, great shower.” she giggles, “Thank you for cooking dinner, I know it’s your night but I still,” she pecks his lips, “Appreciate it a whole lot.”

Rooster smiles, humming against her mouth and kissing her again, “You are so welcome. You can sit down,I’ll bring the food over.” Beatrice nods while stepping back, yelping in surprise at the soft slap on her right buttcheek, giving the pilot a narrowed yet amused glare that only received a boyish grin in response.

Beatrice watched with a small grin when he walked over with a tray in his hands, “Honey glazed garlic salmon.” he says once he puts it down, holding a finger up under the kitchen gloves, “And-” he grabs something else soon after, “Roasted potatoes with rosemary.”

“Oh wow, how fancy.”

“I know.” he smirks, tossing the kitchen gloves aside to sit down in front of her, “I felt like making something nice because I felt we deserved it.” Beatrice laughs softly with a nod, “We’ve been running around like crazy.”

“We have.” she thanks him when he hands her already made plate, drizzling some of the honey garlic sauce on top for the special effect, “But everything has been going well, thankfully, we haven’t had any issues.” besides the constant hearing of disembodied child voices around the house.

Bradley nods, “I think whoever is looking out for us is making sure we get married without any problems, babe.” he chuckles as soon as he gets himself a plate, “Anyway, how’s Cynthia? And how’s everyone else?”

“Cyn is fine, Éwoyn is fine, Bibi is fine, my brothers are grown children.” she adds with a quiet laugh, “But everyone is fine, really. We spent so long trying to paint that room, God, I think when it comes to us I won’t be–” she stops talking, her cheeks heating up and she decided that even if they talked about it before it wasn’t something she should worry about right now.

But her fiancé, who was always amused when she stopped talking all red faced like that, only smirked her way, “When it comes to us…?”

“N-Nothing,just thinking outloud.”

Rooster sets the fork aside, propping his chin on a hand with a dopey smile on his face, “You are so cute.” Beatrice doesn’t meet his eyes when he says that, “You are saying that our kid’s bedroom won’t be like that, that we’ll come to a conclusion sooner,right?” she didn’t say anything but her subtle nod gave it all away “I mean,I agree, we would do a good job figuring it out.”

Beatrice finally smiles, looking at him sheepishly,”Let’s just not ask Michael to help, it’d be a huge mess if we did.” He laughs but agrees, saying that they couldn’t ask for Mav either because he’d be a pain in the ass undoubtedly. She was still nervous talking about it, even after their conversation, but she had the comfort of knowing that Rooster would always be open to chat about it.

She always said he was one in a million and he was. The fact he took in the subject so easily and didn’t seem bothered about it spoke a lot.

Their dinner continued without her bringing up children nor the ghost children she was sure she heard, with both of them washing dishes and drying them while laughing at literally nothing. When they were done and Beatrice was cobing her hair after putting the towel back on their bathroom, Rooster was lying on the couch with Drag Race UK on, waiting for her to come back, “I didn’t press play yet.” he announces when the brunette walks into the living room, avoiding the sleeping pitbull on the way, running her fingers on her damp hair.

“You can now,” she smiles, watching him lift his uppet body off the couch enough for her to sit and his head to land on her lap. Running her fingers through the sandy brown strands, Beatrice watched the show with a little smile everytime Rooster had a little commentary about it. It was so cute–

“Mama!”

She immediately stopped moving her hand on his hair, inhaling so deeply she feared her lungs would explode. This was not happening. She sneakily looked down at Bradley, checking on his reaction only to see he hadn’t noticed anything, then to Jolene who was still asleep next to the couch.

Beatrice slowly, slowly turned her head over her shoulder only to see…nothing. Absolutely nothing. No creepy child standing in the hallway, nor a weird figure on the wall, nothing, there was nothing.

What was happening?? Was this just because of stress? She wasn’t stressed before the proposal, she missed Rooster but she wasn’t stressed.

…she really needed to talk to her aunt.

#bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x oc #top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw x reader

[thelightningthatjumpsbetween]

Prologue - One

RE8 | Wintersberg | Romance, Slow Burn | Action, Sci-Fi

Sequel of Winters and the Beast, a Resident Evil: Village Story

Table Of Contents

a/n: I couldn't help myself. I've had this scene in my head for a week. Also been replaying 7 again, dammit. Also I may have projected my own feelings of Miranda a bit, it's no secret I have a crush on that absolute terrible, horrible, madwoman.

For a moment, there was only the sound of their laughter, and Ethan felt a flaming red blush cross his cheeks.  Dammit, he wasn’t being cool, was he?  He fumbled with the plastic cup full of boba.  It was his idea, and Mia had loved the suggestion, but now that he was here, he realized he was craving a steak.  And beer.   

Suggesting boba was probably a side effect of too much time in LA, he mused, spinning the cup and staring at the little tapioca balls.  But then again, he preferred it to the armpit of Texas, where he’d spent most of his childhood and where his mother still lived.  Where he’d come to visit between semesters.  

And where, finally, Mia had come back to visit over the summer as well.  

“That’s crazy,” she finally concluded, her hands dropping awkwardly into her lap.  Ethan’s gaze moved over her long brown hair and the way the sunlight here danced through it.  

He protested, “It’s not that crazy.” 

“The fact that our high school was so tiny, we dated, AND we were both in the closet–” this last part was whispered.  They were outside on the patio, and if the several other patrons were listening, they sure didn’t act like it.  A line crossed Ethan’s forehead at this subtle change in her tone.  They sure weren’t in the closet anymore, so why the secrecy? 

But again…maybe he’d been in LA too long.  Sexuality wasn’t a big deal there…it wasn’t a deal at all.  He’d only been back in town a week.  

“..AND we’re here, now, on another date?  What are the odds?”

He spun the cup around, his eyes moving to it again.  “I’m sure there’s plenty of other people from our school who are.  It’s not that weird.” 

She laughed again.  “Oh Ethan.”  

He couldn’t decide if that was an endearing ‘Oh Ethan’, or a ‘you’re ridiculous’ ‘Oh Ethan’.  She was smiling though, and he fought the smirk that twisted onto his own lips, feeling the ever-more reddening cheeks.  

So much for hiding his crush.  But then, that wasn’t the point of a date, was it?  Despite the shyness, Ethan held her gaze, watched as she sipped her drink and squinted at him in that way.  Hopefully, the way that meant she still had feelings for him as well.  

High school felt like forever ago.

“So, I know you said you didn’t date anybody seriously, but what about crushes?  Who was your biggest secret crush that really brought out the bi?”   

He chuckled, but it was an awkward chuckle.  Secret?  

Again, the gears spun in Ethan’s head as he processed that others were not as open about their sexuality.  He glanced around the patio as if self-conscious.  He put the strange feeling in the back of his mind…no need to worry about all of that now.  He could answer her question easily.  The blond nodded as if reconfirming this, and ran a hand through his already-ruffled hair.  

“First year of university…Chemistry 1010.”  She was already giggling, but now he giggled too.  

“Not the professor!”

“The professor,” he confirmed.  Suddenly he was thirsty, and sipped the almost sickeningly-sweet tea.  “You can see why I kept that one to myself.”  

She squinted again and bit her lip, the smile never leaving her eyes.  

“A chemistry professor though….were you remin–?”

“He was nothing like my dad,” Ethan said quickly, not liking the abrupt turn the conversation might take.  “I know, chemistry.  But.  He wasn’t very…science..y at all.”  Now he tilted his head, hoping to steer the conversation in any other feasible direction.  

“He was kind of scruffy actually.  Wore flannel a lot.  He looked like he might have been a skater years before. Shaggy.  Just some dude.  But then he opened his mouth and…” Ethan gestured with one pale hand.  “Just all this information came out.  He was crazy smart, and loved chemistry and everything about it.  He really brought passion to it.  Made me wonder if I should change majors.  But then I got my second year chem teacher and…” he made a face,  “...absolutely not.” 

They both laughed over this, and Mia considered.  

“I guess we have that in common, then.  A type, maybe.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” she leaned forward excitedly, folding one leg over the other, her shoulders hunching as if in anticipation.  Ethan was smiling in spite of himself even though he found the conversation strange.  Was it normal for two people on a date to talk about their other, same-sex crushes?  He heard several people’s voices in his head, including his mother, and his best friend, reminding him to stop being so serious.  

“I had a research project for advanced biochem, it was a really select group of us–honors class–working with…a, well a company developing, they work in enzymology….Patents for different…” 

He raised an eyebrow, and scoffed despite his serious expression.  “Oh yeah, the basics.  Go on.”

“Anyway!” Her laugh sounded high pitched.  Nervous?  He tried to remind himself that she was a nerd, albeit in a different field than he, and people usually didn’t respond well to the necessary trade word-vomit of specialized fields.  He didn’t mind listening. 

“There was this contact that we had, an expert in the field.  A biologist, I think she was.” 

“Not the chem professor, at least,” he joked.  

Mia closed her eyes when she shook her head.  

“She was from Europe, I never got to meet her,” it was said in an almost-wistful tone.  

“She was so smart.  Like you said about your professor.  She would start talking and just…everything she said, she really got it, you know?  She knew so much about specific reactions and tests…It was like she’d been in the field for decades, she was a walking encyclopedia.  Always so serious, focused, it was intimidating.”

“So…you’re into scary older women,” Ethan noted, “Not sure what that says about my chances.”

“She wasn’t that much older than us, though,” Mia’s gaze was elsewhere, still remembering this woman.  “At least she didn’t look like it.  Anyway, she wasn’t just smart.  Like you mentioned, she didn’t really fit the lab coat stereotype.”  

“Don’t tell me she wore flannel.” 

Mia’s giggle made him smile widely.  Finally.    

“No, no flannel.  She wore….dresses.  And lots of black.  The part that was odd was her heavy makeup, which…isn’t common for women in STEM.  I didn’t even notice until I was trying to figure out why she looked so striking! And then I realized her makeup was very…vampy, gothic.  She stood out.  I was not the only one crushing, I’m sure.” 

“Speaking of crush, you’re crushing my dreams here,” Ethan said with flared nostrils.  “Vampy makeup is not one of my iconic looks.” 

The giggle intensified.  She shoved his shoulder.  “We can have more than one type!  Does that mean I’m out of luck too?  I don’t own a single flannel.” 

He hid the obnoxiously wide grin that threatened to creep across his face.  “Hey…don’t worry about it, nobody’s perfect.” 

The outburst of laughter was welcome, and made his heart flutter. 

—----------

Ethan awoke to a peal of thunder, but somewhere behind that, he almost wondered if he heard Miranda’s chuckle.  The blond sat upright in bed, gaze drifting over to the other side of the mansion bedroom.  Rosemary was visible there, by moonlight, deep in sleep in her new, larger daybed that Karl had built. 

Karl’s soft breaths sounded from his other side, and despite the warmth in the room, Ethan shivered.  

Was that a dream?  No, he realized, blinking rapidly.  It was a memory.  Was that their actual conversation, though?  The date, he remembered well.  Their first during college.  But…had Mia really said those words?  

He doubted his own memory.  Knowing that Miranda had manipulated his mind after his death, as well as the minds of others, he couldn’t be sure about anything anymore.  She’d turned into Mia, Karl, and who knew who else.  

Ethan didn’t realize it, but he was asking the question mentally.

Was that real? 

Yes, a soft chorus answered him back, the whispers sounding like silk grazing his neck and shoulders.  It was real.  

One thing Miranda had never done, probably wasn’t capable of doing, was manipulating the actual voices within the Mold, that Ethan had heard since his second ‘death’, likely since coming closer to the Mold itself.  The voices always seemed to whisper out of fear, not reverence.  

He always trusted them.  

Ethan lay back down uneasily, frowning as he remembered what awaited him after sunrise.  A meeting he rather detested the idea of, a meeting where he, Karl, Eva, the Duke, and a certain international spy who’d dealt with Karl in the past, would all meet on the topic of the decade–the Mold. 

He wanted nothing to do with spies, and doubly wanted nothing to do with this one in particular.  She had a romantic past with Karl.  

Ethan exhaled realizing that his wife, whom he spent years devoted to, had not only worked with the Connections, had offered her own DNA to Miranda’s cause, but now…a memory came up that confirmed Mia’s former infatuation with the woman.  

The belongings given to Ethan by Chris still sat upstairs, mostly untouched.  Eva offered to go through them, as had Karl, but Ethan stubbornly let them sit and only referenced them when absolutely necessary.  The stated reason was grief, but he knew that there was something else to it.  He couldn’t put it into words.  He didn’t want to feel betrayal again.  

Well, if anything could one-up the unsavory feeling of meeting a “colleague” of Heisenberg’s, having that memory come up sure did the job.  Ethan’s frown grew to unfathomable proportions.  

Thunder rumbled again as if in agreement with the mood, and he contemplated leaving the bed for coffee.  

#fic: the lightning that jumps between #heisenwinters #wintersberg #ethan winters #karl heisenberg #mia winters

[maccaronimassacre]

Can you do Ethan x reader, the reader who had a huge crush on Ethan but kept it to themselves cause Ethan married Mia, but Ethan found out the reader feelings when they on Baker house re7

Ooh I can see the angst and potential of it. I'm loving these requests I'm getting so keep them coming!

Ethan Winters x Reader

It was hard not to fall for the blonde beside you. Especially with the way he makes you laugh after telling you an awful joke or how his eyes crinkle and glimmer whenever he smiles, making your tender heart yearn for more. Unfortunately it was no surprise when you saw the ring on his finger and not only do you have to deal with the constant pain of crushing on a taken man, but now you are searching for his wife in the middle of nowhere within a living and breathing madhouse.

#ethan winters #ethan winters x reader #re7 #anon #maccaroni massacre #asks

[gyubby99]

@disneyanddisneyships HEAR ME OUT

"Yeah, I'll.. I'll see you tomorrow!" Alistar bid farewell to Rosalyn, who soon returned a smile and slammed the door of her castle room shut.

Alistar smiled to himself. The day had sure been very enjoyable for the two. This woman had made him laugh about twenty times that day. It was funny, actually. How she had these small habits when she was drawing. Or how her eyes just lights up everytime she talks about red foxes.

It was funny.

She'd often talk about her parents, how she only had few memories of how they were like now. It had only been six years before they had to put her up for adoption. It was the hardest choice, but it was also the best. They couldn't have any more finances to support her, and so she was left in foster care. Alistar had asked her if she had any friends when she lived there, waiting for some person to pick her up and take her home. Rosalyn barely remembered any, but she did remember the one guy her age she used to admire a lot.

Alistar's body tensed up that moment and he never knew why. He couldn't put it into words. He was bad at it.

Also, he'd always wanted to finger comb her hair. It looked soft. And he wanted to feel her hand on his again. It was so.. warm, and it was soft. Her hands were very soft. And her voice was that of a lullaby. It was funny. How her accent would start showing when she's mad, or when she starts cursing in spanish whenever she's taken aback by something.

And her laugh? Her laugh. It keeps on replaying on his mind, scratching just the right part in his brain for some reason.

Rosalyn Darya was a funny woman. And he loved a good laugh.

*THUMP*

Alistar was snapped out of his thoughts, and there lay in front of his eyes, Ella Maria Alden, his bestfriend.

"Hey Dove!" Alistar greeted. Instead of Ella smiling back at him, Ella smirked and pulled him into the room where they all used to hang out at.

There in the room were the girls. Deena, Loreley, and Alruna. Mia had gone off to her training, and Eve was working in her shop as always. Elias had been working on something for a friend of his back at the camp. Leaving the four with nothing else to do but pester Alistar on his little date with the new girl in town that he'd offered to stop by here.

"Soo..." Ella began.

"Spill.' Alruna demanded, her arms crossed.

"Spill what?" Alistar asked rather unsurely.

"I don't know, like, how did your date with Rosalyn go?" Alruna responded to her sparring partner.

Alistar was taken aback. He hadn't noticed his cheeks were turning red until his friends pointed it out.

"Date? It was not a date! I was showing her around!' Alistar retorted.

"She's been with us for months, Alistar. She knows every direction." Deena pointed out. "Also, you're blushing." She added.

Alistar scoffed. "Me? Blush? Ha! It wasn't- it was- I turn red when it's hot. Isn't it hot in here?"

"It's winter, dumbass!" Loreley scolded, finding his excuse stupid.

"It is?" Alistar asks.

"We all walked in the snow together the other day." Ella replied.

"Well I guess IT'S NOT WINTER ENOUGH-"

"Or, you admit you had a date with Rosalyn and tell us how it went! Problems solved, crisis averted!" Alruna stated sarcastically.

"No, because it was not a date!" Alistar defended.

"Sure, and Deena's a mermaid." Loreley joked.

"He's in denial about what happened today. I think I know why that is.." Deena stated, tapping her finger on her chin. Deena's eyes widened and so did her smile. As if she had gotten an idea. "Aha! I think I know what's going on!"

Alistar rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, the great Deena Halcyone of the sea! Please do tell!"

"You, my guy, are inlove with Rosalyn Darya!" Deena responded cheerfully, her arms open wide as if she'd just presented something to the group.

Alistar's cheeks were redder than ever now.

"Me? Inlove? With- with ROSALYN? Ha! No way! I'm not- why would I-" Alistar stammered.

"HE'S INLOVE!!!" Alruna exclaimed, patting Alistar on the back.

"Oh my god, no- nononono- no." Alistar repeated all over again.

"Awwwe! That's so sweet!" Ella cooed, thinking of what to name their children already.

Alistar sighed.

[Alistar]

If there's a prize for rotten judgement,

I guess I've already won that

No one is worth the aggravation

That's ancient history, been there, done that

[Ella, Alruna, Loreley, Deena]

Who d'you think you're kidding

She's the earth and heaven to you

Try to keep it hidden,

Honey we can see right through you

Boy you can't conceal it

We know how you're feeling

Who you thinking of

[Alistar]

No chance, no way! I won't say it no, no

[Ella, Deena]

(You swoon you sigh why deny it oh oh)

[Alistar]

It's too cliche I won't say I'm in love

I thought my heart had learned its lesson

It feels so good when you start out

My head is screaming "Get a grip boy"

Unless you're dying to cry your heart out

[Loreley, Alruna]

Boy you can't deny it

Who you are is how you're feeling

Baby we're not buying

Hon we saw you hit the ceiling

[Ella, Deena]

Face it like a grown-up

When you gonna own up that you got got got it bad

[Alistar]

No chance no way I won't say it, no no

[Ella, Alruna, Deena, Loreley]

(Give up, give in)

[Deena]

(check the grin you're in love)

[Alistar]

This scene won't play I won't say I'm in love

[Ella, Deena, Loreley, Alruna]

(We'll do it until you admit you're in love)

[Alistar]

You're way off base I won't say it

Get off my case I won't say it

[Ella, Loreley]

(Boy don't be proud it's okay you're in love)

[Alistar]

At least out loud I won't say I'm in love

#the prophecy of immortal fire #tpoif fanfic #Spotify

[hamartia-grander]

Chris: I need you to swear-

Rose: fuck!

Chris: -swear as in promise.

#I imagine this interaction happening with 8 year old Rose #and as soon as she says fuck he rubs his forehead in exasperation #also its canon that he helped raise her so my 'everyone lives and Ethan is in love w Chris Karl and Mia' AU aside this could happen #and I love that #He's got a massive headache that's called 'the Winters family' #And Heisenberg is a horrible influence #Yes this is another attempt at Ethan's polycule rep #If you're gonna tag wintersberg you better tag wintersfield and mithan as well. or else #Resident evil #Resident evil 8 #Resident evil village #Re8 #Re village #Chris Redfield #Rose Winters #Karl Heisenberg #Heisenberg #Because he's laughing in the corner #Ethan Winters #Mia Winters #They're both shaking their heads but trying not to smile #Chris doesn't even have the energy to be concerned because Claire was the same way growing up

[kaijurakunsobs]

Ok so imagine Heisenberg and his S/O finally escape Miranda, and they end up having a child together and when Karl holds the baby for the first time he starts crying because he finally has a real family and then he says something to the baby like: “I promise to give you a better life than I had.”

-distant screams of emotional distress-

does this belong to modern man Heisenberg? YES

am I gonna go for the Ethan lives situation? how dare yall think otherwise

am I throwing a bit of angst? ...maybe

surviving everything, doing a deal with Ethan, accepting whatever terms the BSAA offer, ending Miranda, and surviving everything? it feels like nothing compared to being free

there's a lot of things to get used to, the sounds, smells, tastes, everything is all just blindly new and so hard to adjust, but little by little he does

Karl's therapist has him making and sticking to a routine, one designed by him, one he has power over, it brings him peace and solace

you, Ethan, his work, and his routine are his anchors, it keeps him from panicking or succumbing to his own fears

that's why you fear telling him that you are pregnant, what if that throws a wrench in his development? what if he isn't ready? what if he doesn't want kids?

but you know you can't hide it forever and for the next few days you follow his routine with care and attention, searching for the moment to tell him

the moment comes when one night when he's pressing his head against your chest, listening to your heartbeat, you blur it out, knowing he prefers you to be blunt over beating around the bush

Heisenberg sits up so fast you think he's going to bolt for the door and never come back, instead, he speaks in a shaky voice, asking "Are...are you for real, buttercup...I'm...gonna be a dad?"

one nod and he's laughing like a maniac, running his hands through his hair, pulling you up, and kissing you like the first time you said I love you

he wants to call Ethan and Mia, even Chris! you have to convince him against it and remind him that the first 3 months are the crucial ones and that you will need to wait for a bit to share the news

all this awakens this side of him that BEGS him to be overprotective of you, even after your doctor said it's ok for you to keep on going with your normal life, he thinks he should keep you resting as much as possible

his routine does suffer a bit but he's quick to adapt, telling his therapist about the news and how he thinks this is a good thing! he's excited and wants to learn more about how to...well...be a dad!

you catch him reading books about pregnancy care, the milestones each baby reach, parenting books, it's cute and endearing

for the longest time, nothing feels REAL

he doesn't believe it when you two tell the Winters, when they help you put up a nursery, when the baby kicks for the first time, it feels like a dream

everything comes crashing down when Chris enters his lab and tells Heisenberg that you went into labor but that there are complications, he feels like he's suffocating, he doesn't register how or when he made it to the hospital, everything sounds so far away, his legs keep bouncing, there's a high-pitched sound in his ears...

it takes hours for the doctor to come looking for him, the woman looks exhausted and it's honest about how you lost blood but he can see you right now

Karl stays by your side, whispering how much he loves you, how well you did, how he can't wait to meet your child

when the nurse finally brings the baby to their mom, he watches enraptured how you hold and feed the baby, cooing softly, and gently helping him hold his child

he can't believe how tiny and fragile this child feels in his arms, he laughs when one minuscule hand holds one of his fingers, and then...he's crying, almost sobbing, pressing his forehead with the baby's

it's heartwarming and heartbreaking to hear him say "I promise to give you a better life than the one I had"

he's so careful when he kisses his child, afraid everything is just a dream or Miranda messing with him

he keeps true to his word and everything in his power to be, the best father he can be

#re8 #resident evil village #resident evil 8 #resident evil #karl heisenberg #karl heisenberg x reader #the misadventures of karl heisenberg #heisendad

[nezstar]

random D.A.M.N hcs that i have that makes sense to me

Damien

either half asian or fully asian (totally not projecting rn)

has a very complex starbucks order. only lasko can remember it

once he’s interested in something, he’s all in. must know all the lore, must discuss it with someone, must make theories and calculate what will happen next.

if its a game, he will grind and slave away until hes the best of the best.

has a collection of specifically bunny teddy bears. and has a name for each one

he really likes rabbits and wants one one day.

he also sometimes describes things in very great detail in text, like: “i have just ate the most juiciest, mouth watering apple i ever had. i will never forget the taste of that russet red apple. tears are currently forming in my eyes and i’m holding back the urge to cry for this ceremonious occasion. this moment in time will be forever remembered and cherished in my mind,” he finds that shit funny but totally denies it if someone asks.

some people spell his name wrong and normally it doesn’t bother him cause yeah okay there’s two ways to spell damien but one time when he was putting his name on something he forgot how his name was spelt and got so angry at himself afterwards cause man its his name how was he the one that forgot how to spell it?

fucking loves cheesecake

Huxley

not random cause honestly its a fact but he gives the best hugs ever. like he will smother you in his arms. makes you burry your face into his chest.

a giant. but a gentle giant.

clumsy and forgetful af. trips over nothing at least 5 times a day and hits his head of things every second.

likes it when someone sits on his legs if he’s lying down. idk the pressure feels nice.

snorts when he’s genuinely laughing.

has longish hair too. puts it up in a man bun.

slow af movements.

sub-consciously makes flower crowns when near daises and buttercups. he just looks down and oh! a flower crown.

put it on damien got embarrassed but kept it on which made huxley happy

mum friend. (him in inversion made me sob he is so nice i want to hug him so bad)

why do i see him listening to lofi

had a pet turantula

loves apple pie

loves all insects and amphibians. would probably have a whole house filled with animals so he can take care of them.

donates whatever he can to animal shelters and animal charities. just charities in general.

dislikes mince pies. why are they sweet, aren’t they called mince pies cause they have mince meat in it? - huxley probably

Lasko

allergic to dust

obsessed with mama mia the musical

and lady gaga

has various small cacti. had looked after flowers and other plants before but forgot about them cause of how busy he is and they died which made him sad. freelancer gifted him cacti so he can still take care of some greenery without the fear they’ll die instantly.

listens to rock music. has a stereo in his apartment…house…wherever he lives.

he also really likes resident evil. loves ethan winters.

has a radio and likes to listen to whatever on when he’s working. it helps him concentrate.

can’t see for shit. uses contacts.

when he doesn’t have his contacts in he looks like he’s glaring at everyone. funniest shit ever.

collects pencil cases.

and seashells

loves spicy food. waffles down chinese take away

can’t stand shrimp.

Gavin

loves seafood. especially crabs.

knows how to cook, too lazy to.

for a week straight, the lyrics of cpr kept on replaying in his mind, and he would softly whisper the words, which concerned freelancer for a wee while. and by a wee while i mean like three seconds.

obsessed with magenta, all variations of megenta.

hates peanuts.

loves sour sweets.

obsessed with cats. his phone has an ungodly amount of cat games.

has a tiktok account and is super fucking popular cause of how well he can pole dance. for the sake of this hc just imagine they have one in a room.

wants to adopt a cat but when he looks at all the cats he just wants to adopt them all so he ends up not adopting any cause he gets sad that he can’t adopt them all :(

brings food to a nearby parking lot and feeds all the stray cats. the cats love him. he is the dad of the stray cats.

Freelancer

was never good at anything academically, so when they went to D.A.M.N, they honestly expected to do just as worse there as well. cried when they got good grades for the first time.

loves music and drawing, always listening to music and drawing in their free time.

their favourite place to sketch is outside in the local park underneath the tree where a lot of birds come to eat seeds they set out on the bench nearby. the breeze is always nice and the sun isn’t in their face.

when they’re listening to music tho is super fucking loud, gavin caught them listening to cpr this way.

nearly or just as anxious as lasko, doesn’t show it a lot tho.

likes everything to be organised and neat, but is a mess, so everything ends up being a bit messy but they dont mind it.

sleeps in a fetal position.

always has to he doing something or else they feel like they’re being unproductive. they picked up cooking and baking this way.

gavin needs to drag their ass into bed and maybe in…other ways too…

#redacted asmr #redacted gavin #redacted freelancer #redacted huxley #redacted lasko #redacted damien #redacted asmr headcanons