#that has died down since the july update but i still see it

[featherdawn]

I've expressed how I don't like the whole wally x y/n thing the fandom has going on but the more I think about it the more,,, uncomfortable it gets on my head

like, not as a self shipping thing, if ur in love with wally go fuckin nuts! I'm more talking about how like, y/n has become a character in the fanon

which firstly, who exactly is y/n supposed to be, in wallys eyes? it seems the person his voice messages are directed to is the playfellow workshop employee, and it's possible he doesn't know that that person is not us, the outsiders viewing but entirely uninvolved with the restoration. if he does know we're separate, then it's most likely he views us as the audience for welcome home. the thoughts of an adult character having a crush on the target audience of a young children's show is,,, uncomfortable.

even ignoring all that, and assuming he knows us as 1. not the playfellow employee, 2. adults, and 3. as multiple separate people (which throws another wrench into this. which one of us is y/n? is he just seeking the world's largest polycule here?), it just feels. odd for his character to be in love with the viewer. in the show, he's supposed to be an audience surrogate, isn't he? why would he be in love with the very person/people he's supposed to represent? it doesn't make much sense from a storytelling perspective to me.

finally, he doesn't show any signs of being romantically interested in us lmao. the closest we get is an "I love you", which, congrats, a children's show character said they love you. that happens platonically all the time lol

this isn't meant to like. rain on anyone's parade or discourage ppl making wally x y/n content (a lot of it is really cute! despite my overall negative feelings on the ship, I still sometimes enjoy looking at yalls art, yall are talented <333), more just. express frustration with how ingrained it is in the fanon. people seem to treat it as canon and its not and it can be frustrating seeing it absolutely everywhere, yk?

#welcome home puppet show #welcome home #wally darling #had to get thid out of my system sorry #if u do want a story where a character falls in love with u #good news!!! that exists!!! its called doki doki literature club #and it actually works there!!! #GOD do u know how hard it was to not mention monika in the main post??? #yall arent free from her in the tags tho >:) #anyways it feels like ppl are trying to turn wally into monika (in love with us; flirtatious; obsessive; manipulative villain) #that has died down since the july update but i still see it #and bestie. monika worked bc she was in a dating sim video game #it makes sense for her to fall in love with us. to her there was only one and they would want romance bc they were playing a dating sim #that does not make sense for the main character of a children's show #i just. eugh #can we not just be besties with wally #i would not be this frustrated if it was just. a lot of content between wally and whoever y/n is supposed to be but platonic #that would actually make sense!!! hes lonely!!! he views himself as our friend!!!

[anemoiashifts]

permashifting & sv!c!dal ideation & early shiftok.

im so fucking scared to post this. tw.

ive been in the shifting community for four/five years now & most of my time was watching quietly from the sidelines up until last july when i made my shiftok account. i want to preface this by saying these are my experiences & observations & ive always been pretty firm on my stance. ive spoke about this (i think) twice on tiktok & will now give some updated insight. i don’t expect everything to agree with me but please don’t jump down my throat for saying what im going to. i respect you, please respect me. cool? yes? okay !!

there are similarities between sv!c!dal ideation & permashifting & im so so sick of people hardly taking about it. what re-sparked this interest in the topic was i saw someone make a video on their views towards the topic & i do resonate with their points heavily. this was the only video ive ever seen of anyone making a video like this minus myself & it’s been long overdue.

to clarify, im not against permashifting completely im against how permashifting is spoken about & how it’s promoted. it’s wayyy too casual & ive seen a lot of triggering things in my comment sections / confession submissions. i used to get about five of these or so (ppl saying they wanted to unalive themselves) a week when i was actively doing them but they’ve since kinda died down. if, me, an account with (at the time) ~15,000 tiktok followers were seeing this, i cannot imagine the kind of messages those 100,000 followers shiftokers were getting.

another thing that i haven’t spoke about too much is the sv!c!de notes id receive. i got about two or three of them. ignoring the overstepping of boundaries & oversharing, my heart goes out to those who submitted those. i think shifting came at a time when everyone was bored & cooped up inside & shiftokers could’ve unknowingly preyed upon people’s loneliness & vulnerability. i remember people could say things like “im k!11!ng myself tonight so I’ll wake up in my dr” & the fact that was even a thing is so beyond horrific. im gonna put some confessions ive gotten in the past just to show you what i was seeing daily at one point. scroll a ways down if you don’t want to to see. sorry ! idk how to blur it but would if i found out how to.

i wanta take a sec to call out all the adult shifters who neglected to speak about this.

i hear people say “but if they didn’t discover shifting they wouldn’t still be here” or “it buys people more time”. i get it. really, i do & i don’t think that’s a bad thing. what i do think the bad thing really is, is the adult shifting creators who enable the kind of talk & push that shifting is this other option without telling people to take care of themselves in this reality. the mental well-being & safety of people should always be put first, especially with spaces involving a lot of children when most of the information comes from the mouths of adults. shifting was popularized by tiktok at the height of c0v!d & everyone was arguably at their lowest. i think the timing in which shifting was introduced helped shiftok get popular at the time (along with harry potter trending, of course) & a lot of ppl saw it as a trend to latch onto & leech off of to grow a platform. i think some people totally — probably unintentionally — took advantage of peoples desperation for an escape for profit. that’s what I’ve felt with some former / earlier shifting creators, anyways. that’s why shiftokers are seen as these figures that were/are looked up to so heavily because they’ve gotten something that people with destructive situations are so desperate for & i think that’s really diabolical & sad.

this post isn’t to shit on shiftokers completely, not the modern shiftokers anyway. i have some really cool mutuals who genuinely post insightful content. i think tiktok has gotten a little better with some bumps every now & then but it’s not as bad as 2020.

i don’t think shiftokers are doing this intentionally. & who knows ? maybe they’re are afraid their audience will get upset or off put or they’ll lose support but the longer we put the conversation off the more people’s mental health will worsen. whatever the reason may be, keeping numbers up or getting “canceled” isn’t worth it at the risk of lives of children. it’s long overdue.

then the idea of escapism comes in. escapism isn’t bad. arguably, most things we do are escapism; reading, scrolling on tumblr. its how we look & obsess & look at that escapism. that’s when it becomes unhealthy. the consept of shifting as an escape from something like depression can exacerbate those feelings of because people do struggle to actually shift. that state of “waiting” to shift can be extremely difficult if you’re not struggling mentally, so if you’re struggling mentally on top of trying to shift without success? also throwing being a minor onto that.

anyways this post was all over the place because i could talk about this for hours. i have no idea if this will ever have a place on tiktok or if I’ll even end up posting this to tumblr. this was very ramble-y but a very important ramble imo. i tried to organize & keep this short to the best of my ability. feel free to agree, disagree but these are my poorly organized thoughts.

a little reminder to enjoy the journey & process of shifting rather then hyper focusing on “the end” of it. take a break if you find you self only thinking about shifting and not doing stuff you gotta do here or if your making yourself sick over it. it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t shift. i believe everyone is here for a reason & i can promise you everything will work out in the end.

to those who resonate with mental health struggles & shifting, my heart goes out to you & only with you the best. be gentle with yourself — that goes for all of you.

#reality shifting #desired reality #shifting #shiftblr #shiftok #shifting motivation #shifting realities #shifter

[coconutcanary]

✨✨🪐✨✨

Hey everyone, it’s the Leap Year, that means it Leaper’s birthday. So I did some art of them

That being said, I want to post a personal update on well… *gestures to all of tumblr*

By now I’m sure the news of Tumblr’s partnership with mid journey and other AI art making companies has already spread, it’s bad…really bad

I understand there’s the opt out toggle (which I have already opted out of) but that being said, it’s clear that it’s not even reliable and that the data of my art and posts may be taken anyway despite it. For all I know, all of my posts as far back as 2016 may have already been given to these companies and I wouldn’t know

I have tried so hard to avoid it, I have jumped ship from both twitter and instagram to avoid this issue, but now it just seems unavoidable.

I know there’s AI poisoning tools like glaze and nightshade, however the downloads only work on desktop computers and unfortunately for the time being I have only been able to use mobile devices to make and post my creations. And to use the mobile friendly version of these tools I have to be accepted into WebGlaze via DM’s by their social media staff themselves. And who knows if they will give me an invite, it’s been a few days since I contacted them and I have received no replies yet.

So with that being said, this may or may not be the last piece of art I post here on tumblr. I genuinely hope not, I hope I get access to these poisoning tools soonish. But my hope is practically non existent. The internet seems to be becoming harder and harder for small artists like me to exist in online spaces. And while I barely have an audience, I still don’t appreciate the idea that someone could be profit off mine or my other fellow artist’s stolen work while I can barely muster the courage to even open commissions (or for my friends who do have commissions open and they are barely getting any clients or the recognition they deserve)

I do plan on still being active here, even if it’s just reblogging or liking posts or answering asks, but when it comes to sharing art online I can say that I have to step away from a bit until I know I can post my art knowing it can be exploited without me knowing.

For now the only thing I can say is if you have a toy house account, you can find me and my art there if anyone l still wants to see what I make. And I still plan on participating in artfight this upcoming July as well. But until I get access to those poisoning tools or some miracle happens and AI art dies, I genuinely don’t see myself posting art here anymore.

I will pin a separate post with my toyhouse account on it if anyone wants to follow me over there. I will keep yall updated if circumstances change for any reason though.

But on one final note, if this is truly the end for me and I can’t get the resources, I do want to say thank you to everyone who supported this blog. Either it be my mutuals, my regular followers, or even people have simply liked some content from me. I would have never thought posting fanart of jacksepticeye and markiplier would lead me to meeting the people I have met through this site. Tumblr is what inspired me to make art in the first place, I just feel terrible that even watermarks can’t protect my creations anymore.

While this isn’t a permanent goodbye, all I can do is say good night to my art sharing for the time being. Thank you all again, and to my fellow creators I’m sorry you all are also burdened with fighting this fight against AI and I hope we eventually gain victory on it down the road. Nothing will replace those who genuinely pour their heart and soul into art. No matter how good of a computer can mimic it

#digital art #digital illustration #dnd #ocs #dungeons and dragons #dnd dragonborn #dragonborn #azita leaper #artists on tumblr #cereals art #anthro #furry #scaley #blue dragon #dragon #anthro dragon #outer space #spaceship #sci fi art #sci fi and fantasy #here’s hoping that I can post art again #thank you all again #leap year #oc birthday #update

[babyitsbeautiful]

Life Update for 2023. (It's a long one.)

For those that follow me on other social media platforms, you already know what's been happening and I appreciate the love and support.

For those that don't, I feel like this is long overdue. Especially to my 'crash through the surface' readers. I promise I will give you the ending you deserve.

To start, this has been a hell of a year. So many unexpected things have happened in such a short time frame that it's hard to convey just how crazy it's truly been.

I gained a new sister with whom my father had out of an affair before he died 23 years ago, although she is wonderful in every way, so I guess I can thank him for at least giving me another beautiful sister.

We met at the beginning of the year and have stayed close ever since. It's like we've known each other forever. The first half of the year was very exciting for me. I had a new sister, got to do so many fun things and work the Vampire Diaries/Originals convention for Creation Entertainment. Truly an amazing few months. I was so excited to find out how the rest of the year would go. I was even in the mood to start writing again.

But then the unimaginable happened. My 8 year old blue heeler, Lucy, had what we thought was a benign fatty lipoma (she had all the signs) removed at the beginning of July that turned out to be a high grade mast cell tumor that was basically untreatable and irreversibly fatal.

Ironically, we got the news two weeks after her surgery, on the 23 anniversary of my dad's death... from cancer. I was completely devasted. I could tell immediately that her vet did not want to give me that news. I asked every question I could think of and was told there was nothing I could have done to prevent it, nor would Chemo even work at that point, it was already too far progressed. He told me to ignore the estimated remaining life span noted in her test results (less than 4 months) and to just love and spoil her everyday. I told him I already do that, but I did go the extra mile for her anyway.

We had a good rest of the summer, all the way through September she showed no signs, other than the metastatic growth of the cancer cells in the same area on her belly, forming twice as worse than before. But she didn't mind, and just continued to live her best life.

I told her that she would get to see her Uncle soon, my younger brother, when he came to town for our new sister's wedding at the end of September (he walked her down the aisle, hella cute btw.) She loves loves loves her uncle, and was beyond excited to see him.

And I swear to you she stayed as strong as she could just to be able to see him one last time because on the day he left, her tumors ruptured and her health started to rapidly decline. I did all that I could for the month of October to keep her here with me. We bandaged her up so the bleeding would stop, she got medication from the vet, but there was only so much that could be done. She stayed so strong though, I could tell she was a fighter, still with a smile on her face.

But in that last week, when the medication no longer worked and she lost that smile and had that look on her face, a look of intense pain and just all around defeat, I knew she needed me to carry her strength.

She silently told me that she was ready and I made the call that changed my life forever. So on October 25th, we said our goodbyes and she fell asleep in my arms before waking up on the other side of the rainbow bridge where there was no more pain or fear.

She was my entire world and I, hers.

It's been a month now, and it still hurts every day, but every day is a little better than the last. The second half of the year has really changed me in so many ways. My life is so different now, because my entire life revolved around taking care of her. And I wouldn't have changed it for anything. Lucy was never a people person kind of dog, she did not like strangers or other animals. So if I wasn't working, I was at home with her. The times I had a social life or travelled were rare and far between.

But she's gone now and my life belongs to just me again. It's a strange feeling really, not having that kind of dependency anymore, but I revel in it at times.

I've travelled more in the last month than I have in years as keeping myself busy and away from an empty apartment helps. I will be going to New York for the first time this New Year's Eve, which is amazing and so exciting.

I confess that at first I felt the guilt of being able to do fun things at her expense of being gone. But her being gone was not anyone's choice, it was just something that neither of us could control and I had to end her pain when it was still beginning rather than have her suffer more than she already was. I know that. I would just rather have her with me for a few more years than be able to do fun things. She was my fun thing. ♥

With all that being said, I am at a very different stage in my life now that involves me getting back into the things that make me happy, which is writing.

I never intended to go this long without updating this story, but then life, like the one I've lived this year, happens and certain things just take precedent over other things.

I will be getting back into 'crash through the surface' very soon. I've thought about it more in the last few weeks than in a long time. So to my readers both (potentially) new and old, thank you thank thank you for the love on what we have so far. The story is far from over.

Also a huge thank you to everyone who has me on Facebook and Instagram and keeps up with my craziness, I truly adore all of you.

And if you don't but want to: @hollyelizabeth3

#me #life update #ctts #crash through the surface #gendrya

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

The Mafia Princess Part III: The Meeting

Okay, I have a lot of information to throw at you guys so here we go! First, I told you I would make a new post for this story since it was getting so long. Second, I'm compiling all of this onto AO3 for easier reading! The polls/voting, of course, will still be taking place here on tumblr at the end of each update/post.

Mafia Princess Masterpost: https://www.tumblr.com/ibelieveinahappilyeverafter/743113275016937473/the-mafia-princess-masterpost?source=share

AO3 Full Story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54008686?view_full_work=true

Winning Result: Duck and cover and hide behind a dumpster.

---

Elsa didn’t waste any time thinking or wondering if, instead of a gunshot, it had been some kind of firework on those annoying poppers they sold around the 4th of July. Instead she figured better safe than sorry and ducked into the closest alleway, trying to be quiet as she wedged herself between an overflowing dumpster and a brick wall.

Forcing herself to try and not have some kind of panic attack, Elsa was pretty sure her heart stopped when she heard rapid footsteps followed by someone slamming up against the dumpster she was hiding behind. She fought the urge to try and move further back or scrunch herself up more and instead focused on staying as still as possible as she listened to what was happening. 

She felt the dumpster rattle briefly, as if someone had pushed against it before stopping. Considering she heard harsh, breathless panting, she had to assume whoever had slammed into it had then used it to get their balance back. 

Straining to hear anything else, Elsa almost flinched when she heard a deep voice suddenly talking. “Alleyway. Somewhere between 6th and 7th over by Broad. Get here. Now.” Alright. Definitely a man who had come slamming up against the dumpster and he had probably just talked to someone on a phone. It was a fifty-fifty considering where she lived. 

Feeling the dumpster rattle again, Elsa swallowed and tried to think on what she should do or if she should just stay still and hope and wait whoever it was would leave soon. She then jumped all over again when she heard yelling and screaming coming from what was probably only a block or two away. 

It took a couple seconds for her to make anything out, but eventually she heard, “-fucking find him and take him the fuck out!” 

“Fuck,” the man swore, harsh and quiet, before a few moments of silence passed. Then the dumpster was moving away from the wall. 

This time she was absolutely certain her heart stopped — even more so when she looked over to see that the man was slipping between the dumpster and the wall to sit down and hide like she had and was now looking right at her. 

She debated screaming for help, but ruled that out when she remembered about the yelling about taking someone out (which meant killing, she was certain of that). She then thought about crying and looking pathetic and sad enough that the idea of killing her wouldn’t even occur. Then she actually looked at the man sitting beside her. He… didn’t look good.

What was once probably a nice suit was now torn up and scuffed and soaked with blood, Elsa noting that the man had been shot at least two or three times and maybe even stabbed once. One of them looked to have been way too close to something important in his chest and Elsa was pretty sure most people died when they had two or three bullet wounds along with a possible stabbing. 

Tearing her gaze away she saw that the man was looking at her just as intensely and Elsa was now absolutely certain that she had no idea on what to do. 

The yelling was only a street away, too.

#mafia princess #original #my writing #story poll #hopefully i'm giving you guys some diverse options #so it doesnt seem like there's really only one option lol #have plans in mind for all of these but some are more fleshed out than others so lets see what happens

[mischas]

First, Merry Chrismukkah & I hope you have a happy 2024! Second, I was wondering if an O.C. revival ever happened, how would it play out in terms of story, characters, & a R+M reunion? (I see it like the final scene in Titanic, the trope where they don't get a happy ending, but still end up together nonetheless)

Hello! Same to you! Happy belated Chrismukkah! ❤️🎄

Do you mean revival as if Marissa went off to Greece? I operate in this head canon daily so I'm always thinking up random scenarios. I'm personally of the mind that she goes to Greece, comes back a year or half a year later, enrolls in NYU, lives her best New York life, visits Providence a bit to see SS, becomes besties with Seth, has a college-spanning situationship with Ryan as they mine their high school traumas. Sometimes I wonder if RM would ever really talk everything out or if Marissa would hold things against Ryan unintentionally that keeps them in the situationship phase. I also see them deciding to be a couple again for good without ironing everything out and that coming back to bite them in the ass. Avoidant babies doing avoidant baby things.

As for the others, I imagine Julie marrying Neil but still making time for Jimmy when he pops back into her life. Which Marissa and Kaitlin are more than aware of and it impacts how they view love and marriage. Enter: convenient situationships.

I also sorta head canon that Marissa and Summer are more reticent about marriage than Ryan and Seth ever are. Ryan obviously comes from a broken home but has lived with the Cohens' since he was 16 and he and Seth don't really live with frayed parental relationships in the ways Marissa and Summer do. Sometimes I think that Seth proposes to Summer and that's when their relationship falls apart. I think they'd still find their way back to one another someday but it quickly dawns on Summer in college that she's been with one guy her whole life.

Kirsten starts a foundation for lower-income addicts in Southern California and Sandy gets back into the PD's office. There's no earthquake so the Cohen home endures.

Seth gets back into creating for Atomic County and has a fun, though sometimes tense, working relationship with Zach. There's no big-budget adaptation shit going on but it's steady money and mildly successful. At some point Seth plans to create a spinoff set on the east coast but is still figuring that out.

Seth visits New York a lot for work meetings and indie concerts and stays with Marissa who becomes his bestie. They smoke weed and talk about Allen Ginsburg. Seth-Ryan time is still on the books every week but it's hard to do so when they live on opposite coasts and have different schedules. Ryan grows mildly jealous that he sometimes gets more Marissa updates from Seth than he does Marissa herself. But them being such good friends warms his heart, and it warms Summer's too.

At some point Trey dies and it forces Ryan to face some things he's been pushing down for years. I think Marissa's been working on things in therapy but it's still a source of tension between them. Marissa's all-too-understanding that Ryan's confused about his grief and he's mad that he's grieving at all. It translates into them finally acknowledging this thing between them is built on a love that is unconditional and profound and has existed since they were 16. It's a connection that they've always been scared of losing if they were to ever give into it fully. Their propensity for jumping into full-on-yet-noncommunicative commitment in their youth contrasted with their friends-who-hook-up-nature in college is a twist I like imagining them taking, especially as their lives mellow out when living outside Newport.

As for the ending up together yet sorta unhappy ending, I can see Marissa and Ryan finally jumping into long-term commitment after years of being friends who hook up and it taking a while before it all slots into place. I do think it would, but there's the idea in their heads that maybe this is a relationship that cannot last because it's never been all that successful before. And I think they both have a ton of self-loathing to work through before their hearts can be open to the possibility of happily ever after.

#ask #anonymous #head canons #this is a mess and probably hard to follow #but generally how i see their stories playing out

[chickie-birdies]

I don’t tend to post when I lose a chicken anymore, since I so rarely update this blog nowadays anyway, but this one is particularly hard for me.

Charlie died last night. I’m not surprised, seeing as he has been slowing down a lot in recent weeks and spending most of his time dozing in the sun. I was skeptical that he would make it to the end of the year. Even so, it’s a pretty big loss for me. This rooster hatched when I was just 15 years old, still a child somewhat inexperienced with raising chickens. So much has happened in my life since then, many faces have come and gone, but Charlie has always remained. 10 years is a very long time for someone who is still growing up. During that decade I’ve lost every pet from my childhood as they’ve grown old and sick. I knew Charlie’s time was coming next, and that it would be soon, but even with that knowledge he felt like a regular piece of my life that would never end. It’s hard to imagine a future without the old bird dancing around my feet at breakfast time, looking hopefully up at me with comically puppy-like eyes in search of treats. I wonder how long it will be before I’ve forgotten my habit of checking him in the mornings, making sure he’s getting enough to eat, seeing if he needs a nail trim or anything. There’s an empty space now where he once was. I’m glad that he’s free from his old bones and weariness now. Whatever has been bothering him in the past couple months, it’s over now, and I’m grateful for that. But I’m going to miss Charlie for a long time.

July 19, 2012 - December 2, 2022

#charlie

[a-lost-crow]

Am feeling self indulgent rn so I’m making a post about the Individual!Jesses

June 24 update: I have no idea when this was made but I continued it and I just want this out of my drafts. Also I like the Jesses a lot.

Putting this image here for reference

September is partially deaf after the formidi bomb incident

March is deaf from birth so she teaches September how to use sign language

The name they chose for Aiden is blaze rod symbol (using two pointers and make it an X letter) and a thumbs down

June, July, and August are dyslexic

June and July don’t prefer reading so they make do with whatever they have

I’m saying mostly on August since the two felt more comfortable letting August read for them

They rely on August, mostly, and the other Jesses to read for them

August can read a couple of words but mostly the shorter and simpler ones

He prefers to type out words rather than to write it with his hand

April has a weak arm in her left from the Formidi bomb she has taken arm therapy to strengthen it

Lukas dislocated his after being pushed off from Sky City so both him and April take arm therapy

It’s kind of awkward considering April is dating Aiden

“You having no hygiene makes me thankful that the water bill’s price isn’t high.” - April @ Aiden

October is blind

Not fully blind as in you can’t see nothing, but where certain parts of your eyes are blurry

June an May are in the autism spectrum

They send each other autism memes along with that autism creature

January, February, and April made an inside joke of “We don’t talk about bruno” but it’s Ivor

They made this and sent it to the individual jesses Group Chat (THEY HAVE A GC 😭)

August wonders why he’s there

January, February, and April thought it was funny

May made an (old) Order of the Stone group chat (excluding magnus/ellegaard depending who died) and sent the image to them and left

No one knows how to respond

Except for Ivor he saved it and cackled

Ivor brings that image up every time the old Order of the stone mentions the past or had a backhanded comment about Ivor

Ivor thought August made it and complimented him for it

August liked being complimented so he took the credit

In the Jesses group chat, there would be constant memes and crush talks

Sometimes if one of the Jesses have the same crushes they would respect it and just perform a bigger bond on their crush

July, September, and October are around the Aromantic and/or Asexual spectrum

The closest to a crush for them is deep admiration

But not to where they want to date them romantically

April is the first person to pull a date, AKA Aiden, because her personality is more suave than the other Jesses

January is the last to pull (not counting the aroaces) but he never pulls

January never will

The Jesses are proud Petra and Lukas enthusiasts

Also this AU can be connected with the Choose Story AU

It’s just that I use May Jesse a lot more than the other ones but it still applies to them

February, March, and July are amputees

March is from birth while February and July got it form the wither explosion

Also July’s shirt thingie, I’d like to think he’s wearing a blue shirt with a transparent long sleeves. No one knows how that works or will look like but it will work somewhat

August and June love acting

When Romeo disguises himself as August or June, people just assumed they want to roleplay as an evil character

Until it became legit LMAOOO

May, November, and December can draw

December is confident in showing his artwork

While May is shy. Sometimes he’ll show it but either shitpost doodles or the ones he already finished that isn’t embarrassing

November is confident also and she displays them in her room when given a chance

September likes taking care of flowers and her own garden. She gives them to people daily

Those are the headcanons I have for now. Like I said, this was in my drafts for months so it’s better if I post it now and keep out the clutter. If any of y’all want to ask some things about them ahahaha ask box is open :D

#Individual!Jesses #Oh dear I have to write all of their names #January!Jesse #February!Jesse #March!Jesse #April!Jesse #May!Jesse #june!Jesse #July!Jesse #August!Jesse #September!Jesse #October!Jesse #November!Jesse #December!Jesse #That's a lot of Jesses #Yeah I put a lot of disability headcanons to the Jesses

[greensparty]

Remembering Jeremiah Green, Anita Pointer and John Osterlind / Rebecca Pratt

Well 2023 just began and news has come in that we actually lost two musicians and a radio personality at the very end of 2022. Here is my combined remembrance:

Remembering Jeremiah Green 1977-2022

Green’s Party salutes drummer Jeremiah Green 

Modest Mouse drummer and co-founder Jeremiah Green has died at 45. The WA indie-rockers had some cool tunes and albums. He was in the band from 1993 to 2022, but took a short break from 2003-04, which happened to be their breakthrough year with Good News for People Who Love Bad News (great title) and hits like “Float On”. They came up at around the time of indie rockers Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Death Cab for Cutie were breaking into the mainstream in the early-mid 00s, which was exciting to see.

The link above is the obit from Rolling Stone.

Remembering Anita Pointer 1948-2022

The Pointer Sisters’ Break Out album from 1983

Singer Anita Pointer of The Pointer Sisters, the vocal group she co-founded with her sisters, has died at 74. They were one of the great pop R&B vocal groups of the 70s and 80s. My earliest exposure to them was the “Pinball Number Count” on Sesame Street. Still a cool sing-along song. They, then, had a string of hits including “Fire” (a Bruce Springsteen cover), “He’s so Shy”, “I’m So Excited” (made legendary by the famous episode of Saved by the Bell where Jesse melts down singing it), “Automatic”, “Jump (for my Love)” (released the same year as Van Halen’s “Jump” but wildly different), “Neutron Dance” from Beverly Hills Cop, and “Dare Me”, many of these I was exposed to on MTV and V66 when I was learning about music at a young age. They also took part in USA for Africa’s “We are the World”. They also did a fun cover of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” on A Very Special Christmas album. 

On July 4, 1995, I went with a group of friends to the Boston Pops 4th of July at the Hatch Shell in Boston. There were too many people and we had to leave since there was nowhere to sit or stand, but off in the distance I was able to hear The Pointer Sisters performing a medley with the Pops.

The link above is the obit from Hollywood Reporter.

Remembering John Osterlind / Rebecca Pratt 1967-2022

Osterlind with WAAF in the mid 90s

[UPDATED 1/4/23] Radio personality formerly known as John Osterlind has died at 55. From 1992 to 2001 they were a DJ on WAAF-FM in Boston. In April 1995, I saw Slash’s Snakepit in concert at Axis in Boston and they hosted the show. I talked to them for a few minutes and was very cool. After 2001 they left WAAF and in 2003 left Boston for New Orleans. 

Since my initial post, several obits have now brought to my attention that in the last few years, John transitioned to Rebecca Pratt. Story updated accordingly.

The link above is the obit from Audacy.

#jeremiah green #modest mouse #rip #the pointer sisters #anita pointer #Sesame Street #Bruce Springsteen #saved by the bell #beverly hills cop #usa for africa #a very special christmas #the boston pops #john osterlind #waaf-fm #slash's snakepit #music nerd #radio #rebecca pratt

[sweatypantz]

East Hills Mall

Saint Joseph, is one of the biggest small cities within the state of Missouri. And as so, the town tends to try and stay at its peak by making a bigger stance for itself. But with trial comes failure time and time again.

With Jesse James being the symbol of our small city, as well as the ups and downs of downtown. Nothing compares to one of the biggest falls of Saint Joseph Missouri. Which still stands as of July 2022, The East Hills Mall.

The East Hills Mall, located slightly between South and North belt. Established in 1965, the mall was one of the few established in the Midwest at the time. According to Wikipedia, "East Hills Mall was built by Sherman Dreiseszun in 1965 as one of the first malls in the Midwestern United States.[2] Original tenants included Montgomery Ward, J. C. Penney, Safeway Inc., Katz Drug, Woolworth's, and Hirsch Brothers department store.[3] The mall was expanded in 1988, and Dillard's and Sears were added then.[4]" But this man "Sherman Dreiseszun" sorta had his way with failures.

Although, he was succeeding with an established bank and another mall set up in Kansas city. East Hills slowly had its downfall, as stores slowly closed down and the mall removed its glorifying interior design for unknown reason. Although as someone who lives in the town myself I can only assume its because the rent for each store is more than the rent for a two bedroom one bathroom house for rent.

On top of stores leaving due to high rent, cuts to the interior would stop the draw of customers. Today, I only see little to no people actually hanging around the mall. Rather than just buying for the sales. Or wanting food from the one "restaurant" left. Which is also where I work and where I get most of my perspective on the people and the downfall. Even in one of the wings or exits of the mall, they have a whole wall dedicated to the history and looking back. And as you look and the large crowds of people along with the cool ✨fountains✨. Which according to a lot of millennials who've lived in the town for quite some time. That was one of the biggest teen grab, as it provided a cool hangout spot. Rather than the lame abandoned cafeteria.

As both of these are equally good reasons for the mall to have a downfall. It wasn't quite the towns fault for it. Just a year after "Sherman Dreiseszun" died in 2007 his banks had a major fall. I can only assume that's why they started cutting costs. Along with the new establishment up towards North belt. With the most memorable name ✨The North Shops✨. Amazing right? Well even though the name wasn't the best the new outdoor mall made a big hit, and all the dedicated East hills members moved there. Leaving East Hills abandoned.

Today the mall is barely standing on two legs and the only recent rise of popularity was the cringey back to school video. And the closing of Dillard's, which has been an on and off idea, going back and forth between sales. I'm super happy to no longer deal with it, since I'm quitting my job soon. I'll right another blog on Chinex next, and try to keep you guys updated on the rest of the city's drama, dumb crime, and people.

{I don't know if other towns understand the difference between the two such as our town. So for the sake of the blog I'll establish the importance; South and North belt is mostly used for location and segregation in the city. Ex; South-poor North-Rich.}

#Easthills #Saintjoseph #Missouri #What is this city? #town history #History

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update  V2 56

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Welp, I made it through the series in-tact. Finished the last two episodes and am done with it with one final  “M/ELODY”. The presence of Ghost Yuki really did do so much to elevate this last stretch; even if you’re not fooled by him being there and can see the twist coming, the big reveal of the twist is so much more effective when he’s there to even say, in Yuki’s own voice, that Yuki died three episodes back. As crushing as the whole ordeal was, it made sense that a heavy price would have to be paid in this tragic disaster story, and what price heavier than one of our most central characters? I almost cried along with Mirai and her family, and it hurt to see Mirai fall into the depression that Ghost Yuki as her coping mechanism had shielded her from, but seeing Mari once more and getting closure on the whole experience helped to make it better. A stunningly well done short anime...just not one I’d choose to revisit.

Hunter x Hunter - OK, I am starting to get to where the Chimera Ant forces are kind of working against the show, in that I’m actually not as enthused to be watching Gon and Killua or any of our main good guys because the bad guys are so damn mesmerizing whenever we cut to them saying or doing whatever. I could look at these guys and listen to their internal squabbles and plan-making for an entire episode, that’s how powerful their intrigue is, and we’ve still not even reached the birth of the King yet! While now I’ve seen the first kills of Ant leaders, the creepy guys who used enslaved humans like dogs, rabbit-faced Rammot has unlocked the power of Nen in his body, meaning that things are about to only get more difficult from here!

Fruits Basket - Really creepy, squeamishly unpleasant episode that gave more focus and insight into Shigure and Akito, already two of the show’s most villainous figures, and what their relationship is really all about. One sighting of Shigure and Mitsuru is enough to get Akito jealous and paranoid, and she snaps at Shigure for a past incident where Shigure slept with Akito’s mother Ren, which he did as a petty sort of “payback” on Akito for sleeping with Kureno. And then the two of them end up making out with each other, with Shigure revealing he’s been waiting for Akito to truly love him ever since Akito was a child, as he’s loved her from the day she was born. EWWW.

Re:ZERO - As I brought up as a “Christmas In July” post, I watched the Memory Snow special. It was absolutely thoroughly delightful. No straightforward narrative to speak of other than what Emilia Camp and the villagers did in a situation where Puck’s magic overloaded and generated snow and ice all over the area, but getting to spend more time with these characters and watch their antics left the biggest, dumbest smile on my face for the duration of it. It’s not really a “holiday special” but it just creates a Christmas-y mood the more it goes on, reaching its pinnacle in a stunningly beautiful climax. There is an underlining bittersweetness since this all takes place between Arc 2 and Arc 3, so we know Subaru and co. have hard times ahead. But in some ways, that only makes this thing all the more magical.

Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works - Saber and Shirou do sparring together, Rin and Shirou eat and talk on the school rooftop, Shinji launches a Golem attack inside the school but gets defeated. Not much to say other than if in the future we somehow ever got new El Hazard content to be dubbed, Kyle McCarley would be a perfect replacement VA for Jinnai - so much Jinnai energy in his delivery!

Symphogear GX - Two episodes seen, two of Carol’s creepy doll servants taken down. The first one put a lot of focus on Maria and the crisis of confidence she was having since last time, and the second one put just as much focus on Kirika and Shirabe as they start to grow out of their bad girl habits and learn what it means to work as part of the team responsibly and without holding anything down as a burden, and I just fucking love these two lovestruck dumbasses so goddamn much. Between these was the most interesting part: Hibiki meets her dad again. Her dad seems like the biggest, skeeviest and most irresponsible louse in the world, and talking to him only for a little while is more than Hibiki can bear. This’ll be trouble for us all, as troubling as Carol recovering and spying through Elfnein’s eyes!

Eureka Seven - Almost another totally goofy episode where Gekko State get around to doing something they apparently really wanted to do: hazing Renton by sending him on phony mission, which is being followed and caught on film by Moondoggie. The interesting twist here is that Moondoggie used to be the youngest and victim to his teammates hazing, one who gave up on such bogus missions easier, and he’s jealous of Renton now that he’s getting that “honor” instead! So naturally this culminates in Renton and Moondoggie in a beyond awkward “date” where Renton is clueless and Moondoggie is pissed. Hilarity ensues, and Renton manages to impress the crew by seeing it all through in spite of the humiliation. On the side there’s scenes with Dewey evaluating the remains of a Scub Coral assault to give his findings to the Federation Council, and the very last scene was surprisingly grim: Holland wants to distract his mind, is watching the footage of Renton’s hazing mission and at around a part where Renton’s saying things about himself that clearly Holland deep down believes applies to he himself, Holland calls himself “so uncool.”

Gintama - Another two story episodes where the first segment did nothing for me, but the second one with the big alien cockroaches was a riot, especially with how it ended. More comedy like that, plz?

#Anime Update V2 #Anime Update

[lettheladylead]

running in circles

chapter twenty-eight: and I wonder if I ever cross your mind summary: Goldie has a bad day. warnings: references to sex, nothing explicit wordcount: 3681 playlist (will be updated as chapters are posted): shorturl.at/bfBCQ ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33776632/chapters/94721941

here’s chapter twenty-eight!! text will also be included in this post for those of you that don’t use ao3:

Birka, Sweden July 1st, 1958 2:24 PM (local time)

She’d been spending a lot of time with Scrooge ever since she returned from her interdimensional traveling. It was nice, but it was also kind of weird. And sometimes she really needed to just…go out by herself and remember what it was like to be alive on her own.

For too long, being on her own sent her back to when she was trapped. But now she could do it and feel like herself again.

And she was traveling around the world on her own - sometimes she’d buy plane tickets, sometimes she’d sneak into the cargo hold. Sometimes she’d find her way onto a cruise, sometimes she’d get captured by pirates. It didn’t really matter to her. Her hotels were thriving and she could be gone for months at a time without a problem. So she traveled aimlessly, collecting any treasures she’d hear about on the way and ship them back to Dawson or Seattle or whichever Blackjack Hotel was closest.

Having her own specially designated free room in every one of her hotels made life so much easier. Maybe someday she’d share that fact with Scrooge.

But Scrooge was…busy. She’d barely seen him since their second wedding. After his purchase of a volcano that was not filled with diamonds, he’d still managed to find a way to make a profit off the gemstones that were there to make up for the wasted time and effort. But then he went back to work like he’d never done before.

According to him, he was closer than ever before to becoming the richest duck in the world. He wanted to focus and make sure he got there sooner rather than later.

So…yeah. She hadn’t spoken to him in almost a year.

Ten months without seeing Scrooge wasn’t that long, they’d certainly been separated for longer. But she still felt this annoying headache behind her eyes when she went on a particularly successful adventure on her own. A little headache that wondered if Scrooge would’ve made her trip more fun, or if he would’ve been impressed by her adventuring skills.

And her skills on this particular adventure were especially impressive. She'd scaled down into a deep crevasse, barely any light to guide her down, and then fought past several Viking ghosts to get her hands on their treasure!

It probably wouldn’t be the most profitable treasure she'd ever nabbed, but it was certainly noteworthy. If she looked into opening a Blackjack Hotel in Sweden, perhaps it would be good to display in the lobby.

Reluctantly, Goldie did what she knew was the smart thing and didn't open the treasure while she was still several hundred feet below the surface.

She shoved the large treasure chest into her magical bottomless bag and made her way back up top.

It only took a few hours - going up was much harder than coming down - but once her hands and feet touched grass again, Goldie was more than excited to see her prize.

She removed the chest from her bag and quickly went to work on the lock, picking it with an expert ease.

The treasure would probably include Viking gold and silver, not to mention the country had a lot of carnelian stones. She could only imagine the beautiful, intricate designs the ancient Vikings had carved into their gemstones.

With an excited sigh, Goldie finally opened up the chest.

In an instant, she was hit with a powerful, awful smell, and then suddenly everything went black.

---

At seventeen years old, Archibald Duckworth could say with reasonable certainty that his life was not going in the direction he’d expected as a kid.

His father died just before he and his twin brother were born, and his mother only a few years later. He was lucky enough that his father’s brother and sister were able to take care of them for as long as they could.

His mother’s brother, Uncle Albert, was a butler for one of the richest men in the world. His father’s sister, Aunt Bianca, was an au pair working for a wealthy family in England. So he and his brother ended up spending a decent amount of their childhoods in London.

Though Jasper didn’t feel the same way, it was always Archie’s plan that he’d start an apprenticeship when he was old enough. Around the age of seventeen, Duckworth moved away from his aunt and brother and into the mansion of the second richest man in the world so he could learn to become a proper butler like his uncle. The idea of spending the rest of his life as a butler was…weird, but also comforting. He’d always have a nice place to stay and he wouldn’t have to worry about the small stuff. Who could say no to something like that after the childhood he’d had?

Mr. Scrooge McDuck had been welcoming but uninterested in his arrival, a little frustrated at the idea of hiring someone new, but Uncle Albert insisted based on his own age. He was nearing sixty and wouldn’t be able to keep up with Scrooge forever.

Archie thought that was a little weird. Scrooge McDuck was clearly much older than his uncle, so it seemed more likely that he’d die first. For a while, he wondered if his uncle was sick and didn’t want to tell him.

Then one day only a few months later, Mr. McDuck came home looking younger than he did before, and immediately told his two butlers about the youth-restoring treasure he’d recently found. That was the day Archie realized that Scrooge McDuck had no plans to ever die. If he took this job, he’d probably live and work in this same mansion until he took his final breath.

Well…his bed was comfortable and the kitchen was huge, so that didn’t sound so bad.

Still, working for Scrooge McDuck came with a unique set of challenges. The man was prone to mood swings, occasionally violent ones that involved him knocking things off of desks and shelves. He also loved to track mud into the mansion when he returned from a treasure hunt, not paying any attention to where he walked. His home contained hundreds of rooms, and they all needed to be checked at least once a week to make sure there were no magical instruments of torture or Beagle Boys attempting to attack Scrooge in his sleep or spiders thinking they could take up space without paying rent (an actual quote from Mr. McDuck that Archie didn’t know how to react to).

His family was another odd part of the deal - though Archie had never met Scrooge’s parents, he knew they were magically still alive. And his sisters were, too. They were very Scottish and very close and he appreciated their closeness since he never had that with his aunt and uncle or even with his brother. His relatives were kind to look out for him, but they weren’t exactly warm and cuddly.

Still, with all the strangeness in Scrooge McDuck’s life, there was nothing that could’ve prepared Archie for Goldie O’Gilt.

Uncle Albert explained who she was long before they ever met.

“She’s strikingly beautiful with green eyes and blonde hair,” Uncle Albert had said. “And there’s no possible way to know how Mr. McDuck will react to seeing her.”

“Is she his…girlfriend?”

“Yes, but also no. I wouldn’t attempt to label them. Just don’t get in between them and you’ll be fine. And always knock on doors when she’s around.”

“...yes, sir.”

Since he’d never had a girlfriend or a boyfriend of his own, Archie didn’t know if it was appropriate for him to criticize Mr. McDuck’s very odd-sounding relationship with his girlfriend-rival-wife (apparently they’d been married, but not really, but actually yes it was real, but it wasn’t). But still, he didn’t think it sounded very healthy. Based on his uncle’s descriptions, it sounded like she was just using Mr. McDuck for sex and for his money and assets.

But it wasn’t his place to comment, so he didn’t.

Until July 2nd, 1958. Archie found himself unable to sleep and was wandering the halls of McDuck Manor. Scrooge was on a trip on the other side of the country so he and Uncle Albert had just been cleaning and cooking for themselves the past few days. It was really, really nice. Mr. McDuck wasn’t a lot of work, especially since he spent most of his time out of the house, but it was nice to not have to wait on anyone.

It was around three in the morning when there was a knock on the front door.

Archie glanced at the door curiously - if it was Mr. McDuck returning early, he would’ve just let himself in. If it was a criminal, they also would’ve just let themselves in. So…who could it be?

Hesitantly, he reached for the door and opened it up, fully prepared for something weird or dangerous to be on the other side. And to a certain degree, he was correct. But she didn’t seem particularly dangerous at that moment.

“...can I help you?” Archie asked, glad that the lights on the porch turned on automatically when someone opened the door.

Goldie O’Gilt stood there, wobbling significantly. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were dirty and torn up and her eyes were noticeably unable to focus.

If Archie had to guess, he would say she was completely intoxicated.

“Who’re you?” Goldie asked, a laughable slur to her voice.

“I’m, um…” He paused, considering how much personal information he was comfortable sharing with this woman. “You can call me Duckworth. I work for Mr. McDuck.”

Goldie stared at him for a minute and then let out a laugh, which quickly turned into a cough. “You’re not a duck.”

Archie grimaced at the sound of her cough and tried to figure out what he should do with her. With a slight hint of sadistic curiosity, he decided to ask a question he already knew the answer to. “So, uh…you’re Mrs. McDuck, right?”

Her reaction was louder than he expected - at the sound of that name, Goldie burst out laughing and fell to her knees when she was no longer able to hold herself up. “Mrs. McDuck…ha, HA! Oh, God, my stomach…” She was laughing and slurring and her hair was falling all around her face. “I need to…I need to see Scrooge. Where is he? Wake him up.”

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Mr. McDuck isn’t here right now.”

“Of course he’s not -” Goldie started, but she cut herself off with some dry heaving. “He’s never around when I…when I need him to be.”

Archie glanced behind him, happy to see that his uncle had awoken to find out what was going on. He shrugged at the more experienced man, hoping he’d have a solution to this problem.

Quackmore rubbed a hand against his forehead before walking over. “Miss O’Gilt, hello. Why don’t we get you inside, hm?”

“Quackmore! There’s a famil…familia…familiar face,” Goldie mumbled.

The two dogs grabbed her arms to pull her inside - Quackmore closing the door behind them with his foot. They started towards the living room, knowing full well there was no way they’d be getting her up the stairs in her current condition.

“Where’re you taking me?” Goldie asked with a slur, her head drooping back. “I wanna see Scrooge!”

Quackmore sighed as they made it to the living room. “Mr. McDuck is on a trip. He’ll be back in the morning.”

“I don’t wanna wait that long!” she grumbled, falling onto the couch with a thud.

The butler and butler-in-training glanced at each other awkwardly, before turning away from Goldie so they could whisper without any chance of her listening in.

“What do we do?” Archie asked quickly. “Is this...normal?”

“No, this is not normal,” Quackmore answered, looking back at Goldie who was breathing heavily and had her eyes closed. “I’m going to call Mr. McDuck at his hotel and hopefully he can come back early.”

“Really?” Archie looked surprised. “I thought he…well, I didn’t think he’d want to cut his trip short. Even for her.”

“Not if she was here to steal something, but…this is different.” Quackmore didn’t know everything about their relationship, though he’d learned a lot over the years and passed the knowledge onto his nephew. But he’d never seen Goldie in such a state. “I can’t imagine what she’s been through that led to…this.”

Archie nodded. “I’ll watch over her while you make the call.”

Quackmore nodded in return. “Excellent, thank you. I shouldn’t be long.”

As his uncle left the room, Archie looked back at Goldie and wondered if she was actually asleep or just so drunk that she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. "Miss O'Gilt…?"

"Mm," she mumbled.

 "Why did you come here?"

Goldie slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. She stayed quiet for a few moments, then turned to look directly at him. "Wanna...I wanna see Scroogey."

Archie rolled his eyes, feeling protective of his employer. "Are you just going to steal from him again?"

She got uncomfortably quiet and they both stared at each other awkwardly. After about ten seconds, Goldie pulled herself up and tried to sit up straight. "Why did you...call me Mrs. McDuck?"

"Excuse me?"

"Did he...tell you to?" Goldie mumbled, getting more unintelligible by the second. "Or were you just...guessin'?"

He took a deep breath, hoping that his curiosity earlier didn't lead to him being yelled at. But he figured he could be honest with this completely intoxicated woman. "I wondered how you would react to it."

Goldie took a few seconds to soak in his response before letting out a hollow laugh. She brought up a hand to wipe at tears that weren't there and lifted her knees so she could lean against her legs. "It's stupid, y'know?"

Archie stood still, though he was intimidated by her more than he wanted to be. "What is?" He half expected her to insult him or Mr. McDuck.

"...all of this," she grumbled, falling onto her back again. "I don't know why I'm here. He won't even want to see me."

Archie raised an eyebrow, surprised by her confession.

"Or maybe he will. I never know if he's really mad or pretend mad and I-" Goldie cut herself off with a coughing fit. "...I don't blame him. I don't...I don't make it easy."

He thought about responding, but wasn't really sure what to say.

Goldie looked at him again. "You've been working here for a long time, Quackmore."

Archie pouted. He didn't really look like his uncle at all, but he supposed in her state of mind it didn't make much of a difference.

"Does he talk about me?"

"Frequently. Especially after one of your adventures."

Goldie breathed out a quick laugh and shook her head. "No, I mean...does he ever talk about me...happily?"

His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Like...like he misses me?" Goldie's cheeks were an even brighter red as she spoke, eyes closed in embarrassment. "Or wishes I was here?"

Archie shuffled his feet, unsure of how to respond. In his limited time working for Mr. McDuck, he had heard the older man talk about his love wistfully. But not near as often as he complained about her. Still, he wasn't sure if that information was private...just because he heard Mr. McDuck talking didn't mean it was his place to share.

Before he could respond, however, the actual Quackmore returned and Archie could just tuck Miss O'Gilt's insecurities into the back of his mind in case the information would ever become useful to him.

"Mr. McDuck is on his way back," Uncle Albert said quietly. "Is she asleep?"

"I don't…" Archie started, but he was cut off by the sound of snoring coming from the couch. "Yes she is."

Uncle Albert loosened his limbs and rubbed the back of his neck. Clearly he was tired of trying to be so stiff and professional. "It's so stressful."

"She seems stress-inducing."

"No, not...well, yes, but…" The older man walked towards a shelf and grabbed an old tartan blanket. "Mr. McDuck tends to get anxious when it comes to...Goldie. He spent a decade thinking she was dead, so it's understandable, but I wish he wouldn't get so wound up."

Archie found this interesting, especially considering how wound up Miss O'Gilt seemed to be about Mr. McDuck. If he had to guess, it sounded like they were at an awkward stage in their relationship where both thought they cared more about them than each other.

If he was being perfectly honest with himself, it sounded like quite the entertaining soap opera.

"Will she be alright here?"

Uncle Albert nodded. "Mr. McDuck will move her if he wants, but he'll be at least five or six hours. She seems comfortable enough."

Archie looked at her again. "If you say so."

"Just grab some aspirin and water and leave it next to her. The only thing worse than a drunk Goldie O'Gilt is a hungover Goldie O'Gilt."

---

Scrooge's heart was hurting.

He'd returned home in record time after hearing that Goldie was an intoxicated mess on his couch, begging to talk to him. He couldn't imagine what had happened, but he was so worried that he couldn't spend another minute in New Stork.

He'd spent the entire plane ride being anxious and distracted, thinking about all the reasons she might have had to do such a thing to herself. Was it an anniversary of something bad? She never told him about the bad things in her life, but Scrooge assumed most of her family and old friends were dead. But then why would she come to his home? Did it have something to do with them? Their relationship?

He racked his brain for hours, trying to think of why July 1st or 2nd could be significant.

Nothing. He came up with absolutely nothing.

Once he arrived home, Scrooge rushed to the living room and felt a shiver run down his spine at the sight of Goldie sprawled on the couch. She looked dirty and haggard and tired and he wanted to know why. He wanted to be able to comfort her somehow.

But he also didn't want to wake her. So Scrooge took a seat on the edge of the couch and watched her sleep, gently tugging some strands of hair out of her face.

Even like this, she was still so beautiful. But it hurt him to know he couldn't help with whatever had her so shaken. If it was demons from the past, all he'd be able to offer is a hug. But if it was someone in the present who was torturing her, Scrooge could really do something about it. He could help.

Scrooge sighed quietly, thinking about how Goldie was too prideful to ever ask for his help. She'd tell him he was being sexist and deal with it herself, probably.

He didn't care what she thought. He'd help her anyway.

Scrooge looked around the room to make sure no one was watching, then leaned down and placed a very gentle kiss on the side of her head. He then sat up, stretched his shoulders, and picked Goldie up bridal-style to carry her upstairs.

---

It was two hours later when Goldie woke up, a rampaging headache and sore throat the only things stopping her from opening her eyes.

She could feel the fluffy mattress underneath and immediately recognized it as Scrooge's. But she had no memory of coming to Scrooge's home. With an internal sigh, Goldie painfully but silently opened her eyes to figure out what time it was.

It wasn't dark. Well, that didn't tell her much.

She turned her head to look at the bedside table next to her. She could see water and medicine and a clock that said it was about ten in the morning. She turned again to see Scrooge sleeping soundly next to her. Why the hell was he still asleep so late?

Not wanting to wake him up, Goldie scooted out of the bed as sneakily as possible. She needed a bathroom. She felt hungover. But she hadn't been drinking, so...why?

As she walked towards the bathroom, she tried to figure out why she was missing time from her memories. She'd always prided herself on being sharp so it was concerning. Where was she yesterday?

Scandinavia. Norway? No, Sweden.

She arrived at the bathroom and saw her face in the mirror, immediately cringing. And not her usual God-damn-I-look-old cringe, but she looked beat up and sore and her hair was an absolute mess. She must've been on an adventure of some sort.

The Viking treasure came back to mind and suddenly all the pieces fell into place. She remembered opening the treasure and being hit with a powerful, disgusting smell. Then...nothing.

And the treasure wasn't in her hands anymore. Either she dropped it in her intoxicated state, or someone took it from her.

Briefly she wondered if Scrooge would've, but he was always hypersensitive about her when she was drunk. Probably had nothing to do with it.

With a shake of her head (that she immediately regretted), Goldie dropped the thoughts and decided to take a shower and leave. She wasn't sure why she was in Scrooge's home, but she didn't need to stay any longer.

---

Archie watched silently as he saw Mr. McDuck's golden-haired lover leaving the Manor, wearing some of Mr. McDuck's clothes. She probably thought her old clothes were done for, but he'd enjoy fixing them back up.

He looked down at the coffee in his hands and thought about all the things he’d witnessed over the past few hours. Mr. McDuck and Miss O'Gilt were certainly a lot more interesting than he'd given them credit for.

As Uncle Albert told him before, they definitely seemed like a mess. But he couldn't deny that he was a little excited to see their relationship progress for however long he worked there.

---

REAL HISTORY FACTS:

- Birka is often regarded as Sweden's oldest town. It was a big Viking trading center

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES:

- Duckworth has a twin brother named Jasper, as mentioned in a DT87 comic - Duckworth and Quackmore and not related to each other in regular canon because they've never existed in the same canon before. So now they're uncle and nephew. It's fine

#ducktales #duckworth #goldie o'gilt #scroldie #Albert Quackmore #scrooge mcduck #running in circles #fic #fics #yes finally duckworth is here and hes a baby #not really a baby but hes young its weird

[study-coffee-chicago]

Seasons of PD and Med: Season 0: The Backstory (A Halstead! Brothers + Halstead Sister! imagine)

Hey, I had an idea to pick episodes from every season of PD and Med and write them as if Will and Jay had a younger sister involved. This is the first installment and it will deal with some big things in Jay and Will's young adult years and Y/N's childhood years! Stay tuned for the next update which is season 1 of PD (I'm not gonna say what ep it is yet because I want you guys to be surprised.) I just made up a name for Mama Halstead since she hasn't been named in the show...I'm still waiting on that crumb that the writers neglected to add.

Anyway, enough of the long note, enjoy!

Will's age: 20

Jay's age: 18

Your age: 4

"Dad, I'm leaving tomorrow! It's not like I can change it now!" Jay yelled at his father as he paced the living room, his mom and dad sitting on the couch. His mom was trying to calm his dad, but that wasn't working very well.

"Both of you, keep your voice down," Amelia Halstead hissed at her husband and youngest son. "Y/N's sleeping. And if either of you wakes her up, there will be hell to pay tomorrow."

"Sh- Crap," Jay fixed his language quickly, knowing that he shouldn't swear around his parents. "Y/N."

Amelia's eyes went wide. "Jayson Halstead! You haven't told her yet? You said you wanted to be the one to tell her!"

"He won't have to tell her anything if he doesn't go," Pat Halstead shrugged.

"Patrick." Amelia gave Pat a warning look. "He's his own person and as much as we both hate it, he's an adult in the eyes of the law and can make his own decisions. One of which is whether or not he wants to join the military."

"I just think he should go out and get a real job. Why is it that none of my sons want to do that? Will wants to become a doctor and waste God knows how much time and money in school and this one wants to go and get himself killed. And for what? Because you want to play with guns?"

"Dad," Jay groaned. "We've been over this. I want to help protect people and I want to do that somewhere outside the country because there are others over there who really need it. Also, I like the adrenaline rush."

"Jay, not the time," Amelia scolded in reference to the last part.

"Sorry, Mom," Jay mumbled.

"I'm still not okay with this, no matter your reasoning. I don't need you to come home in a coffin!" Pat yelled.

You heard the booming voice of your dad down the hallway and jumped awake. Why was he yelling? Shouldn't he be sleeping just like you had been? But, maybe he was just yelling at the Blackhawks game as he did that often. Maybe if you got up he'd give you some juice. Your mom was always strict about no sugar before--or during--bedtime, but your brothers and your dad were a lot more easygoing.

So, you slid out of bed and walked down the hallway, excited to see if you'd be able to get some grape juice in your favorite princess cup. You clutched your Build-A-Bear in your hand, which was also dressed in pajamas, as it was bedtime, and walked down the hall. But, you stopped short when you heard that Jay was yelling as well.

"I'm leaving tomorrow and there's nothing you can do about it, Dad! If you hate it so much, feel free to stay home when we all go to the airport!"

Jay was leaving? Did he have another seven-sleep-long soccer camp? He always had those in the summer. And, when you went to his games with your mom when the leaves changed, he scored lots of goals.

"Jay wait--"

"Mom, I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

Jay got halfway down the hall before he saw you.

"Hey, what are you doing up? Isn't it way past your bedtime?" Jay asked, his voice softening as he crouched down in front of you.

Your lower lip started to tremble and you pulled your Build-A-Bear, who you had affectionately named Beary, close to your chest. "You go to soccer for lots of sleeps again, Jay Jay?"

Jay sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Of course, you had heard him say he was leaving. And of course, the only thing you had to compare it to was him leaving for his soccer camps which he always went to at the end of July.

"What's the biggest number you can count to?" he asked, trying to sound excited.

"Um...um...um," you furrowed your eyebrows, trying to remember what you had learned at daycare. "Ten," you finally answered.

"I'm gonna be gone a long time," he told you.

"So, ten sleeps?" Ten was a long time. It had two numbers!

"Longer than that." He placed a hand on your shoulder and went to hug you because he saw the tears in your eyes, but you ran away from him. "Y/N, wait--"

"Mommy!" you yelled as you ran into the living room as fast as your little legs could carry you.

Amelia Halstead jumped up from her place on the couch. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" She crouched down and then picked you up.

"Jay Jay," you hiccupped as tears rolled down your face. "Jay Jay leaving for more than ten sleeps! He not my favowite broder anymore!" you wailed.

The door opened, revealing Will who had just returned from the library since he was taking some summer classes. "What am I, kiddo? Chopped liver?"

"Will my favowite now."

Will put his backpack in his room and then entered Jay's, who was sitting on his bed with what looked like a new outfit for your Build-A-Bear right next to him.

"So, I'm assuming you told her?" Will asked after he had sat down next to his younger brother.

"Yeah. And she hates me now, so there's that."

"Nah, she's just confused. She's four, Jay."

"I know that."

"Did you tell her why you're leaving? Where you're going?"

"No. When I told her I'd be gone for more than ten sleeps she started to cry and then ran to Mom. I made her cry, Will. You're the only one who's supposed to do that."

"Hey," Will smacked Jay upside the head. "I stole her bear once and I'm forever dubbed the horrible brother, yeah okay."

Jay laughed. "I mean, it's true, though. She hated you and cried for hours until you came home and gave it to her because you hid it in your car."

"I agree. It was a dick move." Will picked up the bear outfit. "What's this?"

"I got her a military outfit for her bear. Figured maybe it'd help her feel like I'm not so far away. And, it wouldn't freak her out when she sees me in my uniform tomorrow."

Jay and Will looked up at the sound of his door being opened. "Someone wanted to see you," their mom said, still holding you in her arms. "Isn't that right, sweetheart?"

You nodded. "Down peas," you said, trying your best to say please.

The minute you were safely on the floor, you ran to Jay's bed and hauled yourself up all by yourself. "I sowwy," you told your big brother.

"It's okay. But you know what will make me feel better?" you shook your head no. "A hug."

"Okay!" you jumped into Jay's lap and hugged him, unknowingly jumping somewhere that hurt him, causing him to grimace and Will to burst out laughing. After a warning glance from your mom though, Will stopped.

Once Jay regained his composure, he grabbed the bear outfit from next to him. "I have a present for you."

You pulled away from him and looked at him expectantly. "Weally? But I was mean."

"I know you didn't mean it. I forgive you."

You had no idea what he was talking about, but nodded anyway.

"You know how the good guys fight the bad guys?" Jay started. You nodded. "I'm leaving to fight some really bad guys."

"So you a good guy?"

"Yes," he chuckled. "And I wear something that looks like this. So, I thought maybe Beary would like his own. That way, you know that me and him are both the good guys and when I'm gone, he'll fight off all the bad guys in your bad dreams."

"Beary can fight da bad guys?"

"Yes, it's because he has this. He can even just wear the hat and be fighting bad guys."

He handed you the camo shirt, pants, and hat for your bear.

"You not wearing dis," you told him.

Now it was your mom's turn to butt in. "It's because he's sleepy. He doesn't wear it to sleep. But, he'll wear it tomorrow and Beary and Jay will match."

"Beary match Jay Jay 'morrow?" you asked, looking up at your mom expectantly.

"Yes. And they'll match faster if both you and Beary go to sleep."

"Weally?"

"Really. Now, how about we go to sleep and you can put Beary's new outfit on tomorrow?"

"Okay. Night night, Will. Night night, Jay Jay."

Once your mom had taken you out of the room, Will spoke up. "Damn, now I'm gonna have to get that bear a white coat once I graduate from med school just to one-up you."

"His name's Beary," Jay told him.

Will rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'm gonna have to get Beary a white coat when I graduate from med school. Happy now, little brother?"

"Beary happy."

***

You, your mom, dad, and Will all walked into the airport to say goodbye to Jay before he boarded his flight. Beary was dressed in his camo, but you hadn't seen Jay dressed in his yet as he had left early to say goodbye to Allie and some other friends before you had gotten the chance to see him this morning.

"Look, there's Jay," your mom said, trying to be as happy as she could so that you wouldn't get sad. But, on the inside, her heart was breaking. But, once again, this is what her son wanted to do, so she wouldn't stop him.

"Hey guys," he said as he walked up to you, again, trying to be as happy as he could. But, since you couldn't really read the tone yet, you missed the nervousness in his voice.

"You and Beary match!"

"I told you we would! Would I ever lie to you?"

You shook your head no. You trusted both your big brothers to always tell you the truth.

"C'mere." Will was the first one to give Jay a hug. "I'm gonna miss your annoying--" Will leaned in to whisper in Jay's ear, knowing that if his mom heard him swear around you, he'd never hear the end of it. "--ass."

"I'll miss you, too. And all that annoying school talk you do. Dad?"

He turned to his dad and he hugged him, shocking both Jay and Will. "Stay safe out there, son."

"I will."

"Mom, please don't cry," Jay said as he turned to your mom, who was still holding you in her arms.

"I just love you so much. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Mom," he said as he swallowed a lump in his throat and hugged her. "I love you, too."

He pulled away and then looked at you. "And you, I am gonna miss you the most."

"Weally?"

"Yes, don't tell Will, but you're my favorite."

"Mommy! I'm Jay Jay's favowite."

"Flight 51163 now boarding."

"I gotta go. But, remember what I told you, okay? Beary will always fight your bad dreams for you because he has his own uniform now."

"Just like you?"

Jay nodded. "Now, can Mommy put you down so I can get a big Y/N hug?"

Your mom set you on the ground and Jay crouched down to your level and enveloped you in a hug. "I gotta go," he said as he pulled away. "Be good for Mommy and Daddy."

"I will. I love you Jay Jay."

"I love you, too." He stood up and looked at the rest of his family. "All of you."

He turned and started to walk away. More than ten sleeps is too long! And, before your mom could pick you back up, you ran towards him, dropping Beary in the process.

"No no no Jay Jay, peas stay!" you yelled.

Jay's head whipped around just as you attached yourself his leg with tears running down your face.

"Y/N, Jay's gonna be home before you know it," your mom said.

"But- But I don't want Jay Jay leave. I want Jay Jay home!"

"I know, I know. But remember what he told you last night? He's gotta get all the bad guys. And, you want him to get all the bad guys, don't you?"

"You pwomise to get all da bad guys, Jay Jay?" you asked, still holding onto his leg.

"I promise."

Your mom reached down to grab you and then lifted you up into her arms.

Another guy wearing the same clothes as Jay came up to you. "Is this yours?" he asked you.

"Beary! I dropped Beary, Mommy!" you exclaimed as you reached out and took your bear from him.

"I see that. Now, what do you say?"

"Tank you!"

"You're welcome," he said.

Then, you waved goodbye as your mom walked away with you and returned to Will and your dad. All the while, you clutched Beary, making sure he didn't fall out of your grasp again.

"Kid sister?" the guy who handed you Beary back asked Jay.

"Yeah, she's four. Doesn't really get what's going on. Thanks for giving that back. She would've gone crazy if she got in the car and it wasn't there," Jay answered. "I'm Jay Halstead by the way."

"Greg Gerwitz," he replied. "But everyone calls me Mouse."

***

Will's age: 22

Jay's age: 20

Your age: 6

"Mom is gonna be shocked, man," Will said to Jay as he parked his car in the driveway. "I just hope she doesn't me kill for keeping it a secret from her."

"I think that'll be the last thing on her mind when she sees me. Now, you said that her and Y/N are leaving at 8:15, right?"

"Yeah, so you better go stand outside my car now because it's 8:14."

Meanwhile, inside you ran back down the hallway to your room. "Y/N!" Your mom shouted after you. "We have to go! You don't want to be late on your first day of kindergarten, do you?"

You ran to your room and then grabbed Beary. You had changed him back into his military uniform outfit--or, what you called Jay Jay's clothes--earlier this morning. It was the only thing Beary wore during the day since Jay's been gone. You'd put him into his pajamas at night and then right back into the military uniform outfit when you woke up.

"I'm back, Mama! Beary's coming to school with me!"

"That reminds me," she pulled out a small toy backpack from behind her back. "Beary can't go to school without a backpack now, can he?"

"No, Mommy! Thank you!" you quickly put the red backpack on Beary's back and then your mom took a picture.

Then, you and your mom stepped out the front door.

Jay and Will were both leaning against Will's car. Tears came to Jay's eyes when he saw that your bear was still in that military outfit he'd gotten you two years ago before he left for basic training and then for Afghanistan.

Through a rushed phone call a few months ago, Jay had asked Will when your first day of school was. He didn't want to miss it, being the good big brother he was. So, once he had a date, he went on a mission to get himself off his tour one week early. Somehow, he was successful. Then, he coordinated with Will about what time his flight was landing in Chicago and he'd picked him up. The two brothers spent the night at a hotel--Will saying he was staying at a friend's house--and then driven home that morning.

You were having a very intense conversation with your mom about what you hoped kindergarten would be like when she stopped in her tracks and put her hand over her mouth.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" you asked, looking up at her with wide eyes.

"Hi, Mom."

You knew that voice. But, usually, it only came through the phone and your mom wasn't holding the phone right now.

You looked away from your mom and towards the sound of footsteps.

There, right in front of you, was your big brother in his military uniform that matched Beary's.

"Jay Jay!" you yelled and sprinted towards him.

"There's my favorite kindergartner!" Jay exclaimed when he picked you up. "Did you miss me?"

"I missed you this much!" You spread your arms out as far as they could go.

"Really?" You nodded your head. "You missed me a lot, huh? Well, I missed you more!"

"Did you get the bad guys?"

Jay swallowed, images from his deployment and having people bleed out in front of him coming to the forefront of his mind. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, Y/N. I got all the bad guys."

"Good!"

"How did you- How did you both do this?" your mom choked out, in tears.

"Mommy, don't cry," you told her, still in Jay's arms. "Jay Jay's home, be happy."

"I am happy, baby. These are happy tears. But how did you do this? I thought you weren't supposed to be home for another week, Jay!"

"Me and Will talked about it. I found out when Y/N's first day of school was, and the rest just fell into place. I couldn't miss walking my favorite sister to her first day at big kid school, now could I?" he asked, tickling your stomach, causing you to giggle.

"No, stop! Jay Jay stop!" you giggled and he set you back down on the ground.

"How about you walk to school with us and then the three of us go out for breakfast?" your mom suggested.

"What about me?" you asked, looking up at your mom. "Can I come?"

"You'll be in school, honey. And, remember what I said you'd get after school?"

"A donut!" you exclaimed.

"Wow! Someone's lucky!" Jay said, overexaggerating it.

"Make sure you tell them it was your first day of school, Y/N," Will started, "because I know they'll be sure to put extra sprinkles on it."

"Mommy! I get extra sprinkles!"

"So, I heard. But, we better get going, we don't want to be late."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Mom," Will started, "But I gotta start heading back to New York."

"Med school can't wait another day, huh?" Jay asked.

"I've already missed one lecture, but it was on the ethics and implications of not respecting a DNR...which is common sense in the medical world. But, I don't think I can afford to miss anymore. Sorry guys."

"You'll be back soon though, right?" you asked.

"Yup, I'll be back for Thanksgiving. A lot faster than Jay got back."

"Okay!" you exclaimed. Then, you grabbed your mom's hand and Jay's and walked to school in the middle of them, excited to have your big brother who fought the bad guys back home.

***

Will's age: 25

Jay's age: 23

Your age: 9

It's been three years since Jay's first tour ended, and he was currently overseas on his second tour. You were in third grade now, so you enjoyed getting to write letters to him and tell him all about school. You'd also send some to Will in New York so that he didn't feel left out. And, Will would send you these super cool things called postcards with pictures of different places in New York on them!

Overseas in Afghanistan, all hell had broken loose. Jay and Mouse were in the same unit again, which was great, but what wasn't so great was what happened with his Humvee. The Humvee had hit an IED and left Jay and Mouse as the only two survivors. Jay was trying to do his job the best he could, but he wasn't sleeping, the images of that day etched in his mind and always there, even when his eyes were closed.

In the northeastern part of the US, Will was procrastinating all his homework--but somehow still turning it in on time and doing well on exams--while he worked long, unpaid hours at a hospital, learning everything there was to know about treating patients and performing surgery. He was also partying a lot in his spare time. He had seen one of his professors, Yates, at a party, so that was weird and freaked him out. A grown man partying with his students? Why? But, Will had more important things going on to worry about than why the hell one of his professors was at a big ass house party.

Back at home, your mom was crying and you had asked her what was wrong, but she told you not to worry about it. Despite that, you were worried. You had never seen your mom cry like this. She didn't even cry this much when Jay and Will left!

"Mom?" you asked when you got home from school to see her sitting at the kitchen table crying.

She frantically wiped away her tears to try and play off that nothing was wrong. You looked down at the stack of papers in front of her and noticed that one said something about a will. There wasn't an "a" in front of Will's name! He was just Will!

"Mom! They messed up Will's name! See? I'll fix it!" You picked up the pen next to you and uncapped it.

"No!" your mom yelled.

"Why? It's wrong."

"I'm sorry,  baby. These are just really important papers that you can't write on, okay? They're adult papers."

"Will and Jay are adults?" you asked, your eyes going wide. No, they weren't; your mom still called them her baby boys.

"They are!" She laughed at your expression.

"When will I be an adult?"

"You've got nine years yet, baby. You have to wait until you're-- until you're eighteen," she stuttered, trying not to get choked up as she realized that she probably wouldn't be here when you turned eighteen. If the doctors were right, she wouldn't even be here for your tenth birthday.

"Mom, why are you crying?" You sat in the kitchen chair next to her and looked up at her with curiosity in your eyes.

Now was as good a time as any, your mom thought to herself. Both Will and Jay knew and Jay said he'd be home any time now since he had been honorably discharged between the Humvee and IED incident and your mom getting sick.

"Sweetie, mom's really sick," she told you.

You cocked your head to the side. "So, you just need to go to the hospital or get Will to fix you up."

"I wish it were that simple, baby. But, the sickness is way inside my body and is moving around too much to have Will fix it."

"But can't they go inside with those fancy tools that Jay's scared of?"

"It's not as simple as going in with a few needles, baby."

"But what about that yucky stuff you give me?" you asked, referring to the grape flavored medicine.

You heard the door open. "The important thing is that I'm okay right now. I'll just be a little tired and we might have to go to the hospital soon."

"Mom? You here?"

"Jay!" you yelled and ran to the living room, the emotional talk with your mom long forgotten the moment you heard your older brother's voice.

"Y/N!" Jay yelled, matching your enthusiasm as he crouched down and opened his arms wide.

"I missed you!" you told him as you squeezed him tightly.

"I missed you, too! Now, is Mom here?" he asked as he stood back up.

You grabbed his hand. "She's here. Did you know she's sick, Jay?"

You led him to the kitchen, where your mom was still sitting at the table.

Jay glanced over at the paper sitting in front of your mom. He swallowed as it all quickly became real for him.

His mom was dying and he was home. But, his older brother wasn't. Will was off partying while their mom was dying.

***

"No, chocolate's better than vanilla," you argued as you and Jay both walked the short walk home holding your ice cream cones.

"No, vanilla's better. You're just a weirdo. Now, how about you eat your ice cream before it melts and drips on you and you get all sticky?"

It was the first day of May and Jay had been home since February. Your mom's condition was rapidly deteriorating as the cancer spread throughout her body. You had noticed she had been more tired than usual and that your dad hadn't been as excited to watch you at soccer practice. He didn't even want to come with you and Jay when you went to the ice cream shop today. It was opening day for the season, and it was a Halstead tradition that the whole family go get ice cream together. And, Jay wasn't going to let his dad wreck that for you, so he took you.

Jay had finished his ice cream and you were at the bottom of your cone when you walked up the front porch steps.

"You're just going to give up, Amelia? You do know that's what this is right?"

Luckily for you, you were so focused on finishing your ice cream, that you didn't hear the yelling between your mom and dad right away. But, Jay did.

"Hey, Y/N?" you looked up from your cone at your older brother.  "How about you go grab your soccer ball from the garage and I'll get some water bottles and we can go to the park and practice for your game on Saturday, how does that sound?"

"So I can get better at stealing the ball from the other team?" you asked.

"Yup. Now, let's hurry up, okay?"

"Okay!"

As soon as your back was turned and you ran off to the garage in search of your soccer ball, Jay entered the house.

"Pat, that's not what this is and you know it!" Amelia argued, using what little strength she had after chemo to stand up.

"Then what is it?" Pat roared.

"I don't want Y/N to see me deteriorate!"

Jay rushed into his parents' bedroom. His mom was clutching the bedpost as if her life depended on it.

"Mom," he started, causing both his parents to focus their attention on him. "How about you sit down? You're tired."

"Jay, will you get me the phone please?" she asked, still standing.

"Amelia, you are not making that call!"

"It is my life! You are not taking this last big decision away from me!" Her voice softened. "Jay, sweetheart, the phone please."

"What's going on?"

"Your mom wanting to stay at the hospital is what's going on," Pat spat.

"Mom, no. You- you can't. Stay here. Please," he begged. He knew this was the last straw. Staying in the hospital likely meant she'd die there. She only had a limited time left. And, he wanted her to be here, at home with him. He had missed so much when he was away in Afghanistan. He just wanted more time of her staying home, of them being a normal family, despite her battling cancer with all her might.

"It'll be better for me there, Jay. They can give me painkillers and probably other things to help me feel better."

Jay hated it, but his mom was right. It probably was what was best for her.

"Okay, I'll get you the phone."

He walked into the kitchen to grab the phone and walked back to the bedroom to give it to his mom.

He reached out his hand to hand it to her, but it hit the floor with a thud.

"Dad! What the hell?" Jay yelled.

"You know what! She's staying here, Jayson!"

"Last I checked, it was mom's decision, not yours! And, she said she wants to go to the hospital! Respect that!"

"Like you and her respected what I had to say when you wanted to leave for the army? You didn't respect what I had to say then, so why should I respect what she's saying now?"

"Because she's your wife and she's dying!" Jay yelled. "You're stressing her out and stress is bad for her."

He picked up the phone and went to hand it to his mom. She took it.

Pat reached out his hand, but Jay stopped him. "You touch her or that phone, and I will lay you out where you stand. It's mom's decision."

"You'd really hit your old man?"

"Try me."

There was silence for a moment before Pat turned. "I'm going for a drive. I'll be back later."

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Amelia said to her son once Pat was out of the room.

"You did the same thing for me when I left to go to the army. You respected my decisions, so I'm respecting yours, Mom."

"When did you grow up so much?" A tear rolled down her cheek.

Jay sat down next to her. "Army will do that to you."

"Jay? You ready?" Jay heard you call for him.

"I'll be right there, Y/N!" he hollered back. Then, he turned back to his mom. "I was gonna take Y/N to the park, but I can stay here if you want me to?"

"No, go, Jay. You're a good brother. Promise me you'll watch over her when I'm gone?"

"Mom don't say--"

"Promise me. She needs you, both you and Will to look out for her. Who knows how your dad will get through all this. She needs her big brothers."

"I promise, Mom."

"Jay?" he heard you yell for him from outside.

"Be right there!" he yelled back.

After grabbing and filling up two water bottles, he walked outside to be met with your puzzled face. "What's wrong?"

"Why'd dad leave?" you asked, holding the soccer ball under your arm.

"Uh," Jay faltered. No way in hell was he going to be the one to explain this to you. Him leaving for the military, yeah, he could explain that one. But your guys' mom dying and telling you that she was going to the hospital because the end was near? Yeah, not gonna happen. He'd leave that to someone else...someone that was not him. "He's running a few errands," Jay answered.

"Oh, okay. Can Ben come to the park with us, too?" you asked.

Ben was your best friend and also your neighbor. Jay had dated his older sister before he left to fight the bad guys far away. Sometimes, when Jay had to babysit you, Allie would come over and bring Ben. And then, you'd get lots and lots of candy and get to watch movies for a bit. And, they'd promise you both Mcdonald's if neither you nor Ben said that Allie had come over. It always worked. You didn't know what the two teenagers were doing, but all you knew was that you got french fries and candy out of it, so both you and Ben had kept your mouths shut...despite it being against both your parents' rules to have a boyfriend or girlfriend over when they weren't home.

"You know what, I think that's a great idea," Jay answered. And then, you made your way to the Corson's and then to the park, thinking nothing of it.

***

Jay was sitting in the hospital room, clutching his mother's hand, just wondering how his life had turned out like this. Will was almost to the hospital; he'd gotten a last-minute flight from New York to Chicago, knowing that that would be faster than driving. Your dad was picking you up from school an hour early on a Friday. But right now, right now Jay was alone. And his mom, well she was still here, but he knew it wouldn't be for long. He knew that she was sleeping right now, and he wanted that for her because at least she wouldn't be awake to feel the pain of death, but at the same time, God, he wanted her to wake up. He wanted her to wake up so bad. He wanted to tell her that she was the best mom in the world. He wanted to tell her that he should never have had gone to Afghanistan, that maybe Dad was right, maybe he should've stayed in the States. Maybe he should've stayed in Chicago. He should've stayed home, just so that he could have had those three missed years with his mom. So that there could've been those extra two years before Will went to med school where the five of the Halsteads would be a real family. Because, in a matter of hours, hell in a matter of minutes, the Halsteads would dwindle down to a family of four forever. And, then, when Will left to go back to New York, it would dwindle down to three, at least for the time being.

Damn it. He just wanted more time. More time with his mom. He'd give anything for just a little more time.

"Jay! Jay! How is she?" Will burst into the quiet hospital room looking more worse for wear than normal. He had just gotten off an eighteen-hour shift of his med school rotation when he had gotten the call from his dad to get to Chicago as soon as possible. He found the first available flight--not caring about cost--and left, not even glancing at the clothes he threw in a duffle bag.

"Shhh!" Jay hissed at his older brother. "She's sleeping. And, shouldn't you know from your fancy schooling that as long as those monitors are still beeping, that she's still alive? Or did you just get too drunk and not even study and leave me to deal with dad and a very distraught and scared Y/N?"

"Man, you know I stopped doing that once I started working long shifts at the hospital!" Will whisper-yelled, trying to keep his voice down.

Jay sighed. "I'm sorry. We can deal with this later."

"You said Y/N's scared. What's she actually doing?"

Jay swallowed, trying to hold back the tears of what you'd been asking him those last two and a half weeks. "Um, every morning when she wakes up, she asks me if Mom went to heaven when she's sleeping. And then- And then before she leaves for school, she tells me to tell Mom she loves her if I go to see her."

Will rubbed a hand down his face. He didn't know what to say. He knew he should've been in Chicago for his little brother and sister, but he hadn't been. And, he couldn't change the past now. And, he knew he couldn't stay in Chicago after the funeral. It was no use telling Jay and you that he could stay; it'd just be an empty promise.

"William," Amelia's hoarse and groggy voice broke through the silence.

Will rushed to the opposite side of the bed to grab his mom's hand, the one that had the pulse-ox on it. "Mom, I'm here. I'm here."

"I need to- I need to tell..."

"Here, Mom." Will held the water cup with a straw in front of his mom. "Drink a bit. Please."

Amelia obliged and listened to her oldest son. After all, he was going to be a doctor one day. And, she hoped a damn good one at that.

"Thank you, baby," she said once she had taken a few sips. "My ring."

"What about your wedding ring, Mom?" Jay prompted.

"It's not a race...but whoever finds...the right girl first...gets it."

"Mom, don't say that," Will choked out. "You'll be okay. Everything will be fine."

Jay wanted to scoff. Leave it to Will to say that. He wasn't the one sitting in the hospital every damn day just watching their mom deteriorate and waiting for the inevitable.

"But, I'm supposed to wait until Sunday," you told your dad as you entered the hospital room, clutching the present you had made in art class for Mother's Day.

"I think it's close enough. And, it'll make Mom super happy," your dad answered you.

You nodded, the clay heart clutched in your hand. "Will!"

"Hey, kiddo."

"I missed you."

"I missed you, too. Now, what about this mother's day present? Why don't you come over here and give it to mom?" God, he didn't know how he did it, how he talked to his little sister like this was just a normal day and their mom wasn't minutes away from leaving them forever. He thought that his time working in a hospital and watching doctors and nurses deliver devastating news to families might have something to do with it, though.

"Mom." You stood on your tip-toes so that you could fully see her since her bed was tipped so that she was in a semi-sitting position.

"Yes...baby?" she asked, her voice no more than a whisper.

"I made this for you. I'm supposed to give it to you on Sunday since that's when Mother's Day is, but Dad said I can give it to you now." You passed the ceramic heart which was painted a shade of lavender and had I love you, Mom carved into it in your messy third-grader handwriting. "Do you like it?"

"I love...it, baby...I'll...cherish it...forever."

"I love you, Mommy." You hadn't called her Mommy in years. But, you knew it always made her happy when you called her that. Maybe, this would make her feel happy.

"Where's...Dad?" she asked weakly.

"He had to go to the bathroom," you answered.

"I love...you...my three...babies."

The sound of the monitor flatlining filled the room. Jay let out an agonizing scream, one unlike you had ever heard before.

"No," Will sobbed. You'd never seen him do that before. He always tried to be the big brother who didn't cry. Both your big brothers did.

Will wanted to start chest compressions, but he knew they'd be no use.

"Mommy," you whispered, shaking her shoulder. You knew it was no use, but maybe, just maybe she'd wake up. "Mommy, come back. Please."

"She's gone, Y/N," Jay said. "She's not coming back."

"Jay!" Will yelled.

"She needs to know that! Mom's gone, dammit!"

Jay slid down the wall, his anger, sadness, frustration, all of it, getting the best of him and he cried. Sobs racked his body.

He heard whispering near him and vaguely made out that Will was telling you that Jay didn't mean to sound so mean. And, then, he felt a pair of little arms wrap around him.

"Jay Jay," you whispered.

And that just made Jay cry harder.

Will came over and joined the hug, all three of you sobbing.

You heard a gasp and the sound of someone running into the room. Then, you heard a blood-curdling scream, the sound of a husband losing his wife way too soon.

The ceramic heart you had made for your mom fell to the floor, finally becoming too heavy to stay put in her lifeless hand now that there was no grip left. It shattered into sharp, lavender pieces, much like your real hearts. Despite still beating, they may as well stop, too. Because, just like how that ceramic heart would never be whole again, without your mom, your heart would never be whole again either.

***

Jay's age: 24

Your age: 10

It had been about a year since your mom had died. Day by day everything was getting easier. But, a part of you was missing, and you'd come to accept that it'd never be filled. Jay moved out right after your mom died and you'd see him sometimes. He worked different hours now since he was a police officer. But, even if you wanted to watch one more movie with him at his apartment, he wouldn't let you and he'd never let you spend the night. He'd always bring you back home to your dad.

You were in bed, Beary laying next to you since you had let go of him in your sleep, when you were woken up by the sound of sirens.

You located Beary from beside you and walked out into the hallway. The light was on as you still didn't like it when you woke up to go to the bathroom and it was dark. So, you walked to your dad's bedroom and pushed to door open.

"Dad," you whispered as you placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hmmm?" he asked, opening his eyes. "What's wrong, honey?"

Since your mom died, you and your dad had grown a lot closer. You'd always watch hockey games with him and he'd come to every single one of your soccer games and take you out for a snack after. He always made sure he was home from work before it got too late so that he could help you with your homework and make sure you weren't scared of a thunderstorm at night. He was the dad that Will and Jay never had. He just hated that it took the death of his wife for him to become a better father.

"Why- Why are there police officers at Ben's house?"

"Police officers? At the Corsons?" your dad asked.

"Yeah, from my window I saw the flashing lights. What's going on?"

"Just give me a minute and we'll go see if they need anything, okay?" he asked, not knowing there was crime scene tape everywhere.

Once your dad was ready, you walked outside, holding tight to his hand and to Beary.

"Uh, yeah, tender-age male. From the looks of it raped and possible cause of death being asphyxiation."

You had no idea what anything he was saying meant, but you knew that Jay was the one who was talking. He was here! Maybe he'd know what was going on! And, maybe he'd know where Ben was, because, from the people around, you hadn't spotted Ben yet.

"Jay!" You let go of your dad's hand and ran towards him, ducking under the bright yellow crime scene tape.

"Shit," he muttered as he ran towards you, trying to block your best friend's body from your view.

But, he was too late.

"B-Ben?"

Jay grabbed you and pulled you close to him so that his body was blocking you from seeing the body any more than you already had. But, he knew that it was no use; the image of your best friend laying in the grass with a rope tied around his neck and duck tape on his mouth and wrists, pants on backward and shirt haphazardly threw on, would forever be etched in your mind.

"Ben!" you wailed.

"I'm gonna take her back to the house. You got it from here and I'll meet you back at the station?" you heard Jay say to who you assumed was his partner.

"Yeah, who is she?"

"My little sister. Kid was her best friend."

"Take as much time as you need, Halstead. I'll tell the sergeant that you might not be back tonight."

"Thank you."

Your dad stayed with Danny and Gail, while Jay brought you home.

"Do you want some water?" Jay asked quietly as you entered the house.

You shook your head. "What happened?"

"Maybe when you're older I can explain, okay?"

"So, he's with Mom now?" you asked, looking into his teary eyes.

"Yeah, he's with Mom now. She'll look after him." He pulled you into a hug. "I love you, kid. You're my favorite sister."

"I'm your only sister, Jay."

"That's why you're my favorite."

Jay took a deep breath as he held you tight. That could've easily been you laying on the ground instead of Ben.

After that night, any day that Jay didn't have to work in the mornings, he'd walk you to school. He did that for the rest of the year. He never told you why; he'd only say that he wanted to spend time with his little sister and sometimes he'd even bring you a donut. But, you knew it had something to do with Ben...and the fact that the person who hurt him had never been found.

You weren't supposed to know that information, but you figured it would've been on the news if they found the person who did it. After all, the case was on the news when it first happened.

Little did you and Jay know, that it would be three years until justice would be served and that Jay would almost lose his badge over it.

A/N: Hey, sorry this took me so long to post! It took me a while to write since most of the scenes were sad. Anyway, as I mentioned at the beginning, this will be a series, so look for the next installment! Those will be better because the age will be when Y/N's a teenager...and I write those a lot better than I do when I have to write times when Y/N is a kid.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment! It gives me so much motivation to continue writing!

#jay halstead #will halstead #jay halstead imagine #will halstead imagine #jay halstead fanfiction #will halstead fanfiction #Halstead Bros #halstead sister #halstead sister imagine #halstead brothers #chicago pd #chicago med #chicago pd imagine #chicago med imagine

[paisley-print]

NEAR THE WATER’S EDGE:   CHAPTER SEVEN

After fleeing your abusive husband and changing your name, you find yourself in the small coastal town of July, North Carolina. Soon you meet Frankie Morales, Air Force Veteran and single dad. As the two of you grow closer, you begin to let go of your past and learn to love again. That is until a strange man shows up in town, and you ’re forced to choose between your safety or the safety of the people that you love.

SERIES MASTER LIST

Rating: 18+ / Heavy adult themes eventual smut.

Trigger Warnings: Brief mention of Rape, Domestic Abuse, PTSD, anxiety, snakes, dark water, guns, blood, police brutality, alcoholism, injury.

Notes: A heavy heavy chapter, please be aware of the trigger warnings above. OH AND THANK YOU TO THE ANON WHO SUGGESTED THE PINKY THING. It was a lovely idea!

NTWE Tag List: @qytyy @abzidabzy @livcamryn @heythere-mel @winter-fox-queen @sherala007 @inkededucatednnerdy @quica-quica-quica @hnt-escape @toomanystoriessolittletime @whataperfectwasteoftime @headinthestarz @casssiopeia  @day-off-inkyoto @librariantothejedi  @dobbyjen @goblinsimp @kiizhikehn-cedar @chook007 @thirddeadlysin  @lawfulgranola @thetypewriterimproviser @darnitdraco  @voteforpedro09 @greeneyedblondie44 @feel-it-on-the-way-home13​

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-“Miss Summer!” 

You turned to see the little girl waving at you from behind the glass door. Frankie reached over her and opened it, letting Lucy bounce into the restaurant first. She was dressed like Snow White today. You put your server book in your apron pocket and leaned down to give her a hug. “What a surprise.”

“We’re gonna eat lunch.”

“If you’re not too busy,” Frankie added quickly. 

You smiled “the lunch rush just died down, you guys can pick a table wherever.”

They chose a spot outside so Lucy could watch the sailboats on the horizon. Plus, after spending the day in the garage, it was nice to get fresh air. A smile appeared on your lips as you watched Frankie pull the chair out for her. You must have been staring because a coworker nudged your arm.

She was a younger girl, a senior in high school. With black hair and a few streaks of pink, her name was Dallas. She leaned over the hostess stand, a teasing grin on her face. “Soooo, Frankie Morales?”

You rolled your eyes and grabbed two menus. “What about him?”

“Oh, nothing….” she twirled her pen in her hand idly “just a few rumors is all.”

“What rumors?”

“Just people in town, they’ve been seeing a lot of you two recently. They say he’s been spending lots of nights at your house.”

A byproduct of the local rumor mill, but it still made you nervous. “He came over my house and helped me fix my windows one time because he is a good friend.” 

“Is that with benefits?”

You rolled up the paper menus and whacked her with them playfully. “Table five’s food is ready.”

You giggled “oh come on! Can you blame a girl for wanting some details? He’s super hot and totally into you. We’re all jealous.”

“What do you mean?”

Dallas looked at you as if you were the stupidest person alive. “You really can’t see it?”

“No?” 

“Ever since his wife left, practically every woman in this town has tried to get with him. Married and unmarried women alike. Seriously, he’s literally the Brad Fucking Pitt of July. I don’t think he’s dated anybody except, I guess... for you. It’s not fair, honestly, I turn eighteen in five days.”

Even though you knew it was a joke, you gave the girl a measured look and started past her. “Table five, foods getting cold-”

“When you do sleep with him you have to tell me all the details-”

You grinned. Frankie was old enough to be her father. “Oh, my god Dallas absolutely not.”

“Huh, I think you just outed yourself Summer,” she called out after you.

Shit, she was right. You spun on your heels, wide eyed, only to see Dallas shoot you a wink before disappearing into the kitchen.

‘Conned by a teenager,’ you thought. 

As you pushed open the door to the deck, a warm breeze came off the water. It was a lovely day, a tropical storm pushing up from the south and breaking up the heat. Frankie smiled as soon as you put down the menus and crayons for Lucy. 

He had on a peach colored button up. The way he rolled the sleeves made his forearms seem more prominent. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”

“Just water for me, thanks. Lulu?”

She was already busy coloring on the back of the menu. “Apple juice please.” 

“Of course, I’ll go grab those.”

You made your way back inside and noticed a few patrons watching you as you walked past. People stared all the time, men mostly, but the knowledge that they were speaking about you…. wasn’t good. You had tried your very best to keep a low profile in case someone came asking about you. It was very possible David had connections, maybe not in July but Wilmington or Charleston. If David managed to find you and trace you back to Frankie…. you shuttered at the thought. 

As you returned to the table with the drinks, the two of them were laughing about something. He must have given his menu to Lucy, because now she had two. When you set the drinks down you noticed a few detailed sketches obviously not done by the little girl. They looked incredibly realistic and quite good, considering how long it took him to draw them.

That was something you didn’t expect, but it made sense. The way he touched you the other night, caressed your cheek as if it was made of blown glass. Yes, of course he could draw. You glanced at his hands, scarred, calloused, grease stained and freckled - but so incredibly gentle. 

You reached for the book in your apron and took down their orders. Lucy wanted chicken tenders, and Frankie was going to have a club sandwich. You left to go send them through the kitchen. 

Fish watched you walk away, then looked out over the water. Despite his best efforts, for the past few days his thoughts had primarily centered around you. He couldn’t stop wondering what it would be like if that night had gone differently. If he leaned back on that chair just ten minutes earlier. He would have kissed you. Slowly and deliberately, like you deserved. If you agreed to it, of course. 

There had been no one else since Katie left, and after a few months, the need for human contact diminished into a general numbness. He had gotten by in his own way, but the feeling of your skin ignited something in him. 

He was suddenly aware of how much he ached for the warmth of intimacy. He wanted someone to wake up next to, cook dinner with, and hold on cold nights. It had taken him years to realize that he was lonely.

 It was your confirmation that had allowed him to access those feelings again. If you had turned away or told him to stop, he would have shut down any romantic feelings completely and never cross beyond the boundary of friends…. but you didn’t do that. You allowed him to get close to you and, if he wasn’t mistaken, you wanted to kiss him just as much as he wanted to kiss you. 

“Hey” you said, returning a few minutes later to freshen their drinks, “can we talk for a minute.”

Frankie could hear by your tone that this was not a conversation meant for little ears. “Yeah sure” he said, standing up and glancing at Lucy who was laser focused on her doodle. He moved with you over to an empty section of the deck, just far enough to keep his daughter from listening. “What’s up?”

“So, about this weekend. I’m really sorry, Frankie, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. Not with everything going on.”

He adjusted the cap on his head “Is it because of work? I can reschedule for a better day if you want?”

“No, it’s not that. Trust me, I want to go but…” you shook your head, the words refusing to come out of your mouth. It frustrated you how hard it was to be vulnerable. 

“Talk to me, Summer, please,” Frankie said gently. 

You looked away, embarrassed. “There’s a rumor going around that we’re sleeping together.”

He stepped forward, his tone suddenly serious. “Who’s been saying that?”

“Everybody, apparently, but that doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that people are starting to take notice of the things I do. Keep tabs on me. I can’t have that. Maybe it’s best we wait to see each other until this all dies down.”

You held your breath, waiting for him to get angry. Instead, he looked at you with concern.

July was a nice town, full of nice people…. but it was almost too nice. Nothing of significance ever happened, so residents got their thrills by gossiping. You had been the subject of it since you arrived. There were several working theories about who you were and why you had come there.

 Frankie’s favorite was that you were an DEA agent, working undercover to take down some drug kingpin who was trafficking cocaine through Atlanta. It was absurd. He had always assumed you knew, but apparently not. What he didn’t like was people speaking ill of you because of him or implying things about the nature of your relationship. That was none of their business.

“Summer, I understand the concern, and if you still want to cancel, then that’s okay. However it’s almost impossible to keep off people’s radars here. You’re a stranger in a town where everybody knows each other. That’s going to attract some attention. Let me be clear though, if anybody ever says anything to you about us. Tell me and I’ll handle it.”

You nodded, letting his words wash over you. He was right; you were being too paranoid. Your expression softened a little. “What are you gonna do?”

“I’ll tell them I am sleeping comfortably in a king bed all by myself, thank you very much.”

“I’m sure that will get all your fans swooning.”

“My fans?” Frankie asked, genuinely confused.

“Oh, you didn’t know? Apparently you have gaggles of college girls and PTA mom groupies.”

He blushed red, but went along with the joke. “Can you blame them? I am a pilot after all.”

You laughed, thinking about how lovely it would be to see him fly.

He stole a glance back at Lucy to make sure she was alright, then caught your eyes again. “Seriously though. If anybody says anything, I’ll handle it okay?”

“Okay.”

“Promise?” He held out his pinky.

“Promise,” you smiled, interlocking your fingers in a swear. 

“I won’t be upset if you still want to cancel this weekend, but we’re going to a place pretty far out of town. I doubt anybody would see us...I promise you will have a boatload of fun.”

“A boat load, huh? Is that a hint?”

He smiled, “I don’t know, maybe.”

What was the point of starting a new life if you were too scared to live it? You had been in survival mode for so long you forgot how to enjoy other people. It had been months and David had not been able to find you. People disappeared all the time….. maybe you were finally safe here. “Should I bring a bathing suit?”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

-

“I’m telling you dude, it’s going to rain.” Benny’s voice came over the speakers in the car. 

“It’s not gonna rain,” Frankie said, glancing up at the clear blue sky then back to the road. “The weather channel said the storm is going to move inland and miss us completely.”

“What was the color of the sky this morning?” 

Frankie adjusted the cap on his head and groaned, “you still believe in that stupid shit man?”

“Why are you deflecting?”

“I’m not entertaining this-” 

Benny pushed for an answer “what was the color of the sky?”

“Pink.”

“It’s gonna rain.”

Frankie started laughing at how stupid this theory was. 

“Have I ever been wrong before?” Benny protested.

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

Benny scoffed on the other line, “don’t come crying to me when your little date gets ruined-”

“It’s not a date,” Frankie shot back quickly.

Will’s voice came through the phone now. The two brothers were at a family gathering to celebrate Benny’s engagement. “Fish, Fish - Have you told her about your foot fetish yet? Because you should definitely tell her before you fuck her.”

“Benny, tell your fiance I said she is a fucking idiot for marrying into your family,” Frankie grinned.

“Don’t worry, I already told her,” Will said. 

“Well, when I get told more updates about the wedding I’ll send the info your way.” Benny said.

“What? You’re not going to help her with the planning?” Frankie teased. 

“No, fuck that. If I had it my way, we would have gone to the courthouse yesterday. Do you know how much invitations cost? Five hundred and ninety dollars, for fucking paper.”

Frankie shrugged. His wedding to Katie had been rushed, so he never had to deal with any of that. “I don’t know what to tell you, man.”

“You think that money we dropped is still there?” Benny mused. 

Frankie shook his head, his stomach turning. “I don’t know, I’m not getting involved with that again.”

“That’s what you said last time.”

“Yeah, well, I was stupid. We all were. It’s a fucking miracle we all made it out alive.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Have you told her yet?”

“Who?” Frankie asked. 

“That girl,” Benny said.

“Summer?” 

“Yeah.” 

Frankie sighed, “no.”

“Good.” There was a sound of music in the background. Benny must have stepped back inside. “Well, uh, hey, I gotta go. But I’ll talk to you later. Cancel your date because it’s gonna rain.”

Frankie rolled his eyes “bye. I’m hanging up now. Congrats, man.” As soon as the call ended he sat back a little in the driver’s seat and mumbled to himself “idiots.”

-

It was only a thirty-minute drive from your house to the state line. The blue sign that read “welcome to South Carolina” took you by surprise. You had not realized just how far south July actually was. 

Frankie was inside paying for a canoe rental at a little family run shop with a diner next door. You drew in a deep breath, the smell of pine trees filling your senses while you waited on the bench. It reminded you of New Jersey… 

Running in the inky darkness. Boots pounding the ground laden with dead pine needles and other foliage. It snowed the day before and you knew he was tracking your steps. You just had to make it to the neighborhood down the road, then you would be safe.

They would have salted the roads and you could find a house with lights on…. surely someone had to be awake. A thorn bush caught your leg and sent you tumbling forward into the earth. Your head smacked hard against a log and you must have blacked out because when you came to he was standing over you, pulling you up by the collar of your shirt.

“David, please, please,” you begged, trying to kick him away. 

The way the slivers of moonlight jutted unevenly across his rage filled face made him look nonhuman. “What was the money for?”

“Your birthday-” 

He kicked you hard in the stomach, and you rolled over, choking. 

“I don’t believe that for a fucking second,” he snarled. “Tell me-”

“-David.”

He landed a kick in the same spot and pulled the gun out of its holster; the cold barrel jamming against your head. “Tell me, were you planning on leaving?”

When you didn’t respond, he took a hand and gripped your jaw, squeezing so hard you felt the pain behind your eyes. Once he forced your mouth open, he jammed the barrel inside with such force it nearly chipped your tooth. The metal was ice cold as it scraped against the roof of your mouth. 

You tried so hard not to breathe; you were worried that your movement would cause the gun to discharge. Even from this distance, you could smell the alcohol on his breath. Part of you wanted to die because it meant you wouldn’t have to suffer anymore, but a larger part of you knew you had so much left to do. 

David leaned down to whisper, “they won’t be able to find you here, I’ll make sure of it. I’ll bury you so deep even the coyotes won’t get you.” He withdrew the gun from your mouth and brought the hilt down across the bridge of your nose. “Were you planning on leaving me?” he screamed. 

You could hear your heart pounding…. there was no right answer. You took a breath and put on your bravest face, even though tears were rolling down your cheeks. “Yes.”

You shut your eyes tightly and flinched at the bang that rang out next to you -

You jerked away, breathing hard and falling from the bench onto the ground. 

A young boy that had just loaded the canoe onto the back of the trailer looked at you. “Sorry ma’am didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” you assured, standing up and wiping dirt off the back of your pants.

That had been the first time David had brought out the gun and the first time you had tried to run. That night he beat you until you couldn’t walk and raped you in the back of his squad car with blood still dripping from your face.

He started monitoring you more closely after that. He installed a land line so he could check up on you throughout the day, and a safe in the bedroom. That way you wouldn’t be able to steal more money from him. You shouldn’t have ran that night, you should have taken the beating and let him rage about the money. That escape was impulsive and sloppy... nothing like this attempt. You were proud of yourself, how smart you had become. You looked around to make sure Frankie didn’t see any of that; it was embarrassing how often these flashbacks came. 

Luckily he didn’t, for he came out of the building a few seconds later. “Ready to go?”

You hummed and offered him a smile.

He saw right through it and moved closer so nobody else would hear. “What happened?”

“No, nothing I’m okay.”

He paused, looking you over. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can go get ice cream or something instead.”

“No, I want to,” you said quickly. 

“Promise?” 

You nodded and held up your pinky “I promise.”

He quirked a smile and hooked your fingers in a swear. However, this time you didn’t let go. You let your hands fall to your side, knuckles brushing gently against each other. It wasn’t quite hand holding. Then again, you two weren’t  quite dating. A middle ground that the two of you could enjoy in your own way. 

You gestured to the navy blue cap he had on, “but only if I get to wear your hat.”

Without hesitation, he lifted the hat from his head and placed it on you. 

You regarded him for a second, “you look naked.”

He smirked and started forward with you towards the van that would drop you off at the river, your hands swinging a little as you walked. “You should see me when I shave.”

-

You could barely breathe due to how hard you were laughing.

Frankie was striking the water with the wooden paddle dramatically. “Summer paddle! paddle!” the canoe knocked up against the bank of the river. Mock horror was plastered across his face as he looked down “that’s it, you’ve sunk us.”

You reached your hand into the tea colored water and splashed him. “Quit doing that,” you giggled. 

“Doing what? Maintaining proper boater safety protocols?”

“No, pretending like we’re in rapids!” 

He put his hands on his hips and looked at you incredulously. “Are we not?” 

‘River’ was a generous term for where you two found yourselves. ‘Large stream’ would be a better description. It was running at the pace of a lazy river and so shallow that you could touch the white sand below. The canoe was lodged under a fallen tree limb, so you both climbed out to pull it free.

“If we drown” Frankie said, gripping the end of the boat “it’s’ your fault.”

“I’ll take that chance,” you laughed.

The two of you gave the boat a good yank. It came free with minimal effort, sending both of you backwards into the water; a refreshing cool down. He took the hat that had fallen into the water and placed the sopping wet fabric back on your head. 

You gave him a mock glare as the water trailed down your face “thanks for that.”

“You looked a little hot, thought you needed something to cool you down.”

“Oh, kinda like this?” you said, splashing him again. 

-

The two of you paddled on for a half an hour more until the trees opened up into a large section of river. Lily pads dotted the surface of the water while Spanish moss reached down from the tops of sweet bay magnolia trees. The two of you found a steady rhythm and were gliding along the water easily.

“Do you come here a lot?” you asked. 

“Used too, before Lulu was born. Is this your first time canoeing?”

You shook your head and moved the paddle to the other side. “Nope, we went sometimes in New Jersey. This one place was pretty cool. I guess it used to be an old cranberry town because along the river there are a bunch of abandoned houses from the seventeenth century. We passed this one that was almost fully intact. So D-” you paused, remembering who was with you. That trip had been a fond memory, and a really lovely day. You loved him so deeply back then. 

You cleared your throat and continued on “So uh, my friend and I went in through a broken window in the back and took a few pictures inside. It was really gorgeous….. I wish I still had them then I would show you.” Sometimes it made you sad how much David had taken from you. Even simple things like old photographs.

Frankie saw the way you looked down at the water and wanted to direct the conversation back to a safe place. “Then you’ll just have to show me in person one day. How about that?” 

The idea perked you up a little, even though you knew it would never happen. Not unless by some miracle. “Yeah, I think we would have fun…. also I have a question?”

“Yeah?” 

“Why do they call you Catfish?”

He sighed. Shit. “Some stupid prank…. you really want to hear?”

You smiled “only if you want to tell me.”

He reached up to adjust the cap that wasn’t there, so instead he raked his hand through his hair. “I was stationed in Louisiana my first year enlisted. There was this river close to the base where some of the guys would go fishing on their day off. The catfish in that river are huge, easily the size of a small dog. I don’t know who it was, but someone thought it would be funny to take the ones they caught that day and sneak them into the bunks. Since I was the only first year they - “

He put his head in his hands, feeling the sting of embarrassment.

You laughed “Frankie, you don’t have to tell me. It’s really okay.”

“No, no. Because if I don’t tell you then it’s going to be fucking Will and he likes to embellish. Which I don’t know why since he wasn’t even there.” Frankie sighed, speeding through the rest as if ripping off a bandaid. “They took the dead catfish and put them on me like shoes, then shook me awake and pretended like I overslept.”

“Well, that’s not-”

“I slid into the dresser, broke my nose then bruised my tailbone from the fall. I had to stand in front of my commanding officers and explain to them how it happened.”

You paused, trying very hard not to laugh “again its-”

“There’s a photograph they took of me sleeping with the fish still on and I guess one officer confiscated it…. and now they use it in a presentation about proper conduct. They show it to all the new recruits.”

Your resolve cracked in that moment, and you couldn’t help but giggle at the thought. Oh, how you would love to see that picture. “It’s really not that bad. I mean, you were what? Nineteen? Please, we’ve all done embarrassing stuff.”

“Not as embarrassing as that.”

You smiled “alright, so a few years ago when I was swimming in the ocean this rogue wave came over and absolutely pummeled me. When I got up to catch my breath, I realized that my top was completely gone.”

“What did you do?”

You shrugged “I stayed in the water for about an hour, but when I realized nobody was leaving, I put an arm around my chest and ran back up to the chairs.”

“Are you serious?” he laughed.

“Yeah,” you giggled, “I was there by myself, I couldn’t really do anything else.”

“Christ... if I was there with you, I would have brought down a towel.”

“Good to know.” A crack of thunder sounded in the distance. You had been so focused on your conversation that you didn’t notice the dark cloud looming behind Frankie. “I think it’s going to rain.”

-

Water was coming down in buckets. Between fits of laughter, you both managed to bank the canoe on the sand before darting back to the shop. The water logged clothing you had on made a large puddle on the floor of the diner. The two of you sat opposite of each other in a booth.

“I am so sorry,” Frankie said, ringing out some water from his shirt. 

The air was icy cold from the AC unit blasting in the window. 

“Why?” you responded, doing the same with yours. 

“I honestly didn’t think it was going to rain.”

There was a nervousness in his voice that made your heart skip a beat. His soft side was incredibly endearing. “Don’t be sorry, it was actually a lot of fun.”

“Getting drenched and running for our lives?” he asked, not convinced.

“Yeah, it was the right kind of exciting.”

He held his pinky up to you again. “Promise?”

You pulled off his hat you were still wearing, then reached over to place it on his head with a wet slap. “Promise,” you confirmed, hooking your fingers together and letting your hands settle on the table. 

For a long time you never thought you would find someone who made you truly happy, but there he was. Sitting opposite of you, soaking wet from head to toe and looking out at the rain in the waning twilight. That was the moment you knew you were falling... and it scared you half to death. 

In some ways David reminded you of Frankie, at least the David you had first met. He was nice and considerate…. but even in those early days, you sensed something was off. It only took a week after the wedding for him to start yelling, and six months for him to start hitting; but you were so desperate to be loved that you accepted those violent tendencies as fixable faults. 

You shook the memories away. “Frankie?”

He turned to look at you with those lovely brown eyes. His hair was starting to dry and curl underneath his hat. 

“Does it get easier?”

His brows knit together. “What?”

You smiled the way you did when you were sad. “The flashbacks? Do they ever go away?”

He thought for a long moment, tilting his head and looking at you. “Yes, they do. But it takes time, just like anything else.”

“How often do you get them now?”

“Only at night,” he confessed. “Sometimes I’ll get a trigger during the day but you learn how to pull yourself out. It helps to talk about it. For me it got worse when things were bottled up.”

You nodded slowly, then looked up at the room. It was getting dark, and nobody had turned on the lights yet. Come to think of it, nobody had been here since the two of you sat down. “Are we the only ones here?”

Frankie stood from the table and walked up to the long counter, peaking around the corner into the kitchen. “Hello?”

You stood also and wandered into the rental shop attached to the diner; it was empty as well. There were a bunch of old photographs on the walls from over the years. Some were so old the women had on poodle skirts. The diner must have been in the family for generations. As you turned to grab Frankie’s attention, that was when you noticed the lights. 

Red and blue, blindingly bright. Your heart stopped beating. If he found you with Frankie, then he would kill you both. You started for the back door, pushing it open with such a force that it banged against the brick wall behind the building. 

It was dark, too dark to see anything beyond the tree line, but still you ran. The ground was uneven, making it difficult to find stable footing. Your shoe hit something hard, causing your ankle to roll painfully. With a gasp you fell to your knees, arms coming up to stop brace yourself. It throbbed and immediately seared white hot. You stole a glance behind you; the lights had grown more distant. 

Was leaving Frankie a mistake? No, he would tell David that he was here with Summer. Then again, if David had found you, he was already watching you, meaning Frankie was most definitely on his radar. You had to turn around. If you went quietly with David, then you could persuade him to spare Frankie. 

As you were pulling yourself up, you felt an arm wrap around your waist. Then Instinctively started, thrashing and clawing at the figure. You lifted your leg, landing a swift kick to the man’s shin. He let you go, and you fell again, turning and pushing yourself backwards, cowering as you braced for the bullet.….. a bullet that never came. 

Instead, the figure stopped, put his hands up, then lowered himself slowly. 

“Summer,” its voice said softly. 

It was Frankie. 

You sat up immediately and wrapped your arms around his neck, your entire body trembling against him. “You have to go back and tell him you don’t know me. Please go back. He’ll kill you if he finds us together, please, please Frankie please.” Your whispers turned into desperate, pleading sobs. 

He shushed you gently, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you tightly to his chest. It broke his heart to see you like this. The thought of another person hurting you so badly that you shook made him blind with rage; but he swallowed it down.

“Summer, Summer it’s alright.”

“No, no, you don’t understand” 

You tried to pull away from him, but he held onto you. Fearing that you would hurt yourself if you ran off alone. The river banks were steep and copperheads were out this time of year.

Your sobs came harder as you fought with him to get away. “David, He’s going to kill me, he’s hunting me to kill me, Frankie, please. He told me he was going to bury me in the woods I- don’t want to die Frankie please.”

Frankie didn’t like using his strength against you at all, but in this case, it was necessary. “I know that cop. I know him Summer. He’s lived here for years. We set the alarm off. That’s it. You’re not in trouble. Breathe, Summer. Please breathe.”

You drew in rapid shallow breaths, feeling as though you were going to pass out. 

His hand came up to rub gentle circles on your back. “I’ll do it with you ready? In and out, ready?”

You mimicked him a few times, then continued on your own, feeling your nerves start to calm but continuing to shiver from the adrenaline. You whimpered and nuzzled your face into his neck, holding onto him as if he was the only thing keeping you from floating away. 

He closed his eyes and continued to hold you, murmuring softly as he felt you relax. “David won’t be able to hurt you again. I promise. I won’t let him hurt you. You’re safe Summer, you’re safe.” 

Frankie knew then and there that he would drive a bullet through David’s head in an instant if it meant keeping you out of harm’s way.

The rain had stopped and brought out lighting bugs. They danced all around you two, fading in and out of view between the trees. 

#pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal fanfic #triple frontier #Frankie fanfiction #frankie morales #Frankie Morales fanfic #catfish morales #catfish fanfiction #Frankie Morales fanfiction #ntwe #tw: police violence #tw: alcohol #tw: injury #tw:rape #tw: domestic abuse

[intoanothermind]

Flying Solo - Reggie

Word Count: 2.1k

- Reggie x reader

Synopsis: ever since you died, all you do is walk around the city and watch people going through their lives in restaurants, pubs and other establishments. That is until you meet another ghost in one of these places.

Masterlist

(This is based on a request I asked a few days ago. I’ve tried putting a gif instead of a picture, but tumblr doesn’t let me do it, but I’ll keep tryind. Don’t forget to check out my other Reggie fic and the one I wrote for Luke!)

Stand Tall - Reggie // Akai Ito - Reggie (soulmate au) // Bright - Luke

—

Since I died, I have enjoyed spending time watching the lifers. I walked the streets of Los Angeles and spent hours and hours sitting in restaurants, coffee shops, pubs and other establishments. Many people spent their time on their cell phones or typing on their laptops, but I liked to watch other people interact. I would like it even more if I could eat, but the smell of coffee and pie always calmed me down. And sometimes I would discover some other ghost in those places.

Especially if he moved a customer's food and the person looked around confusedly. I paid more attention when the woman took her eyes off her cell phone, picked up her plate and changed tables, without noticing the two boys sitting at the table. A third boy, who had previously been in front of the counter, sat in the empty seat. They talked for a while - unfortunately I couldn't hear from where I was several tables behind - before the blonde walked out the door and the third boy shortly after. I got up quickly before the cute boy who was making a prank on the client disappeared too.

"Hi." I said, taking the vacant seat for the blonde. "What's your name?"

His blue eyes widened and looked back before turning back to me and pointing at his chest.

"Me?" he asked, confused, and he just seemed even cuter.

"Yes, you." I laughed. "My name is Y/N, what’s yours?"

“Reggie. I'm Reggie.” he smiled and shifted in his chair, looking excited. "How can you see me?"

I shook my head, still smiling. He clearly didn't understand.

"I'm a ghost too." I replied, extending my hand to the side just as a girl passed and my arm went through her.

His smile widened even further, making his eyes narrow.

"Cool!" he opened his eyes wide. "I mean, it's not cool that you died, or anything..."

But my smile has not diminished.

"It’s okay, I had a year to get used to it."

"What did you die of?"

“Car accident last year. I was with my mom coming back from a performance. She crossed over to the other side, I didn't.” my smile became a little sad. "But what about you? How long have you been a ghost?”

"Well..." he made a funny face. "About 25 years ago we ate some bad hot dogs."

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. "Really?"

"I know." he made a face of suffering. "It was not our best moment."

"Our?"

"Me and my bandmates."

"Those who were here with you."

"Yes! Luke and Alex. We died together.”

"So you must have seen a lot of things together in the past 25 years." I commented excitedly, leaning on the table.

"Not exactly." he made another funny face. "After we left the ambulance, we were in this dark room where Alex was crying and the next thing we remember is falling into a girl's garage a few days ago."

"So that means I have more ghost time than you do!"

“Oh, but we’ve already discovered some really cool things! We managed to play in front of people when we played with Julie!”

My heart sank when I heard that name and I opened my mouth to comment, but I felt a shiver go through my body when someone sat in the chair where I was. I got up quickly, because the worse thing than passing through people was staying in the exact spot where she was. I looked at Reggie and he too had stood up when another girl sat down where he was.

"Do you want to get out of here?"

"For sure." said Reggie, holding my hand and whooshing us to a beach where I have never been.

It was not as crowded as the most famous beaches in Los Angeles, but it had some movement.

"Where are we?" I asked when I noticed Reggie kicking some sand and sitting with his back to the sea and facing a bike shack.

"I used to live here." he replied while I sat next to him. “This bike shack used to be my home. Every now and then I come here and wonder what happened to my parents. ”

"I'm sorry." I murmured, lying my head on his shoulder and just watching the movement in the store.

"Okay. I'm sorry I spoiled the mood.”

"It's all right. I think about my family as well.”

"But you've only been a ghost for a year." he said, turning his head slightly towards me. "Didn't you ever see how they're doing?"

"Once, two weeks after we died." I whispered. “My family was destroyed. I couldn't see them like that without being able to do anything, so I only come back once every few months to see if they were okay.”

"I'm sorry." he murmured, resting his head on mine.

We stayed there for a few minutes in that position, not saying anything, just watching people coming and going in front of the store that used to be his home.

"Did they really kill Han Solo?" the question was asked so unexpectedly, I could only lift my head from his shoulder and look at him a little confused.

"What?"

"Do you know Star Wars?" he said quickly. "We went to a club the other day and Luke and I were trying to catch up on what we missed and a couple of the living told us that they made about eight more Star Wars movies and that they killed Han Solo!"

"Whoa, easy!" I laughed. "I do know the movies. And yes, they did. His son killed him.”

"What?!" he looked shocked at me. "I think I would rather never know about the continuation of the series."

"I’m sorry." I said, but I couldn't help but laugh at the expression on his face. “It certainly wasn't the best moments in the saga. This latest trilogy disappointed a little.”

"I was hoping you would tell me it was a lie." he grimaced before letting out a breath and getting up. “Y/N, I need to go. We have a band rehearsal. We are playing tonight at the pub we met, you should go.”

I stood up as well and smiled at him a little, but I denied it.

“Sorry, Reg. I had a really big connection to music and my family when I was alive. It still hurts to think about it, so I always avoid it. But I promise that one day I will see you playing. ”

"Okay." he gave a big smile. "See you around then."

And disappeared.

   ~*~

  As the days went by, Reggie and I got closer and closer. We met several times and went to different places. Especially places where I could update him on the things he lost in the last 25 years. But then he stopped appearing beside me with that wide smile and dork way. For several days I didn’t see him, wondering if anything had happened. I heard stories about ghosts who were trapped by contracts, others who ceased to exist, and I was afraid that he had crossed over or was in trouble - and I couldn't do anything to help.

The next time he showed up I was on the beach again, in front of the bike shack, waiting for him to show up at some point. When he appeared, I barely gave him time to pull himself together before jumping into his arms and hugging him tight.

“Reggie! What happened? You went MIA, are you okay? I got worried!"

He didn't answer, just pulled away from the hug, held my face in his hands and kissed me. I reacted instantly, kissing him back in the same intensity.

"It hurt to think that maybe I didn't have the opportunity to do that." he murmured when we leaned away.

"What do you mean by that?"

He then set out to tell me about the Hollywood Ghost Club, the stamp, the shocks, the threats, the Orpheum show and how they managed to touch Julie afterwards.

"Julie?" I asked, feeling my throat tighten. “The girl who can see you and make you visible? Is her name Julie Molina? ”

"How did you know?" he asked, confused, and I had to take a deep breath to keep from crying.

"She is my little sister."

Reggie's eyes widened in surprise. "You are the Y/N who died with Julie's mother."

I just nodded.

“So did she play again? Is she fine?"

He gave me a knowing smile.

“Why don't we go back to the house and you can see for yourself? I think you've gone too long without seeing her. ”

I agreed, still a little stunned.

"Hey Hey." he caught my eye until I looked him straight in the eye. He stroked one of my cheeks and smiled when I blushed. "It's gonna be okay. I was really going to invite you to meet the band. ”

"So let's go." I smiled at his excitement.

He hugged me around the waist and we teleported directly to mom’s studio. It was different from how I remembered. The piano was uncovered, the lights were on, and instruments were scattered on the other side. I think they were the instruments that the boys used. But they were not there.

"Yeah, I think the boys haven't arrived yet." Reggie commented, scratching the back of his neck.

"It's all right." I mumbled, moving towards the piano and sitting on the stool.

Reggie sat next to me.

"Do you play?"

"I used to play with mom and Julie." I said, concentrating my energy on my fingers and starting to strum one of mom's favourite songs. I looked at Reggie and he was smiling at me. I continued to play, feeling the music flowing through me like when I was alive. It was great to know that I could play even now.

"Boys, I already said that you can't play while I'm not ... here."

I stopped playing abruptly when I looked at the garage door and Julie was there looking at me as if she had seen a ghost. Well, had had. I got up from the stool quickly and went towards my sister.

"Julie..." I sobbed, trying to reach her at the same time as she held her hand out to me. But my hand went through hers and I started to cry.

"Y/N." she was crying too. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Jules." I laughed.

"I thought you crossed over, I never saw you here."

“I came here a few times, but you never saw me. I couldn't stand to stay long. I spent most of my time walking around the city. ”

"What about mom?" she asked hopefully.

I shook my head. “I never saw her. She crossed right away.”

Julie tried to dry the tears, but they just kept coming down.

"Please, don’t go." she pleaded in a voice so low it broke my heart. “You can stay here with the boys. Just please don't go.”

I looked at Reggie in exasperation, but he came over to me and rested a hand on my back and I managed to take a deep breath.

"Okay." I smiled at my younger sister. "I’ll stay here."

"Yes!" I heard Reggie murmuring and Julie and I laughed, slowly composing ourselves.

“Julie? Is everything alright here?" I heard a third voice and turned to see the two boys who were in the pub with Reggie when I met him.

"Alex, Luke, this is Y/N, my sister."

Luke, the one with the brown hair, raised his eyebrows in surprise. "The sister you said that died?"

Julie made a face, but I just laughed and confirmed it.

Alex, the blonde, observed my closeness to Reggie and smirked. "I imagine this is also the same Y/N that Reggie kept talking about."

"Eh... Well... It wasn't like that..." Reggie gasped trying to brush it off, but I just laughed as I grabbed his chin and pulled him in for a quick kiss.

I barely noticed the boys' laughter and Julie's comment on how weird it was to see her sister kissing someone. I was too busy drinking on Reggie's expression, who had his eyes closed and an ecstatic smile on his lips.

#julie molina #julie molina x reader #julie molina imagine #jatp #jatp reggie #jatp alex #jatp luke #reggie #reggie jatp #reggie imagine #alex jatp #luke jatp #luke patterson #jeremy shada #jeremy shada imagine #jeremy shada x reader #julie and the phantoms #reggie x reader #jatp reggie x reader #reggie jatp x reader #reggie peters #reggie peters imagine #reggie peters x reader

[captainelliecomb]

WIP Wishlist Round Four

Yes, I still blame J/B fandom for leading me to read WIPs. Blame might be thank at this point, but I'll never flat out admit it.

Not listed in each Things I Love section: Jaime and Brienne. That's a given.

This round I took pity on us; all but one fic are being regularly updated.

Round One, Round Two, Round Three, and WIPs From Round One and Two That Were Since Updated.

At Your Side by miera (@mierac)(18,000 words, last updated 21 July 21, only two chapters left!)

Summary: "I'm not going to marry you," Jaime tells Brienne one night, just after his tenth name day. "But we could be friends."

Jaime Lannister befriends Brienne of Tarth when they are children, and their paths continue to intertwine as Robert's Rebellion traps them both in the Red Keep.

Things I Love: Brienne and Elia friendship of a sort; Brienne and Jaime sparring together in secret; Brienne and the Kingsguard; Dorne and the Martells; did I mention Brienne and Elia and the children because I love them; the way the story addresses Selwyn being a fairly terrible father (in a sort of different way than canon, but the heart of that bad parenting is there).

The Arrangement by tarthiana (@bussdowntarthiana)(13,000 words, last updated 23 July 21, six chapters left)

Summary: Recently widowed, Lady Brienne Wagstaff does not have many options. Without an heir, she will be forced to give up her home and cannot protect the staff from her late husband's cruel cousin. Brienne enlists the help of her new rakish neighbor, Lord Jaime Lannister, to help secure her future and provide a Wagstaff heir.

Things I Love: I don't much care for Regency romances, except that I love this one (and several other J/B Regency AUs), so once again the J/B fandom has broken me, because this setting is wonderful; Brienne desperate to protect her people; the smart ways Jaime and Brienne work together; Pia and Brienne; Jaime determined to make her enjoy their sex.

The Gentlest Schism by SandwichesYumYum (175,000 words, last updated September 2014)

Summary: The war is over. Some of them hadn’t thought that they would outlive it. And yet...

Things I Love: To hate myself (look at that last updated date); warriors of Tarth; Brienne receiving the respect of the Dothraki warriors; Brienne being adored by her people, warriors and not; this horrifying and wonderful bathing and scars scene between Brienne and Daenerys (and Tyrion); Brienne, sheep, and Drogon; how complicated and painful the situation for Brienne, Jaime, and Tarth is but at the same time compelling.

It's All Coming Back to Me Now by CatelynTsukino (52,000 words, last updated 27 July 21)

Summary: Brienne dies on her way to King's Landing, not too long after Jaime's death. Instead of being graced with a peaceful afterlife, she is sent back to the year of the infamous Tourney at Harrenhal, where everything began. Soon she finds out Jaime was also sent back.

Can they work through their hurts as they try to rewrite history? Or are they doomed to relive the horrors and heartbreaks of their previous lives?

Things I Love: Brienne and Aerys; how different it is for Jaime to interact with Ned (and others, but particularly Ned) when he's not Kingsguard; Brienne's friendship with women (I'd name them, but I don't want to get too spoilery on who lives, who dies, and why they become friends); the pain Brienne and Jaime each carry; what Westeros looks like when Robert's Rebellion is a very different thing.

almost a beauty, almost a knight by ifancymyselfawriter (34,000 words, last updated 26 July 21)

Summary: Brienne sees the flash of anguish in Jaime’s eyes, just a hint of what she had seen when he had learnt of his daughter’s death. He kneels before Tommen, cups his cheek.

“These walls have never been broken down. For centuries, the Rock has guarded the Lannisters and has never failed.” He traces a line over Tommen’s cheekbone, the gesture so fatherly that Brienne wonders, for how long has he yearned to touch his son like this, with such tenderness. “And, you, Tommen. You are the most precious Lannister, there is. The Rock will not fail you. Neither will I.”

Things I Love: Tommen, Tommen and Jaime, Tommen and Brienne; begrudging respect between Brienne and Cersei even among everything else between them; the intrigue of dragons fighting dragons and lions and suns and Evenstars caught between them; the Rock, which is unusual for me; twisting, manipulative, dangerous relationships of all sorts.

#game of thrones #asoiaf #jaime x brienne #miera #tarthiana #sandwichesyumyum #catelyntsukino #ifancymyselfawriter #WIP wishlist