blackannabethchase

[blackannabethchase]

You really do love him, don’t you? Very much.   Pride & Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright

[blackannabethchase]

#OH MY GOD #words

[blackannabethchase]

December prompts day 1

Ice skating

Dec 1st, 2030

Charlie is already up when he gets home.

Honestly, that should have been his first clue.

But he’s somewhat on autopilot that morning, and mostly glad he didn’t miss his stop on the train ride home. Even gladder that he hadn’t driven to work for that shift, because surely he would have fallen asleep at the wheel commuting on this dim Sunday morning.

He isn’t fazed when he hears someone banging around the kitchen when he walks through the front door at 6:40AM. Doesn’t bat an eye when he sees Charlie toasting Eggo waffles as he follows his usual path; keys on the entry table, dirty travel cup by the sink, upstairs to drop his bag in the bedroom. He answers her chipper “Good morning Daddy,” with an equally affectionate, “Mornin’ Charlie-girl.”

Annabeth is still asleep, leg hitched up to form a protective C around their son, whose knee is bent up to the ceiling, arm flung to the side, body mostly uncovered, and belly rising and falling in slow, steady breaths.

He figures he’ll join them, so he moves quietly, peeling off his outer jacket, toeing off his shoes, the hairs on his arms prickling at the temperature change and sheer goodness of the thought of crawling under the warm blue covers behind his warm blonde wife.

He’s just draped his jacket over the cushioned chair in the bedroom nook when he hears Charlie call him loudly from downstairs.

“Daddy!”

Annabeth stirs.

Charlie calls him again, but this time she’s closer, slipping through the open door before he can go to her. He hears a tired mumble from his wife and shakes his head.

“Daddy.” She wraps her arms around his waist, pressing her front to his.

“Charlie.” He cups her small shoulders with both hands. Annabeth is awake now, turning onto her other side to watch them. Chase stirs now.

“We’re gonna go ice skating.”

He only raises his eyebrows.

“We’re gonna go to the one where Nonnie’s birthday was at.”

“Right now?” He asks. He turns his head to look at Annabeth, who’s getting out from under the covers shaking her head. Chase is pretty much awake now, and nods when his mom asks if he needs to go potty. She helps him down from the bed.

Percy is wrestling the disappointment of the morning cuddle that never was when he looks back down at Charlie. “Is that why you’re up so early?”

“You’re too loud, Char,” Lena sleepily admonishes her sister as she trails into her parent’s bedroom.

Charlie ignores her sister. “Mommy said we could get there early so it’s not as crowded.” The ten-year-old detaches from her dad to scramble onto the bed by the pillows.

Percy sits near the foot of the mattress and Lena follows him without hesitation, climbing into the space at his left.

“How ya feelin’ Lean-Bean?”

“Gonna wear my pink tights because it’s gonna be really cold and I don’t want my butt to freeze off.” She yawns, then leans in close to his side.

“My neither.” He wraps his arm around her, patting her thigh affectionately. She burrows even closer, like she’s trying to fill the space between his ribs. “Maybe I need some pink tights.”

She nods, he feels her head bobbing up and down against his side. “Charlie said she’s gonna skate really fast but I don’t wanna go fast in the beginning. Only when I get more used to skating.”

“Mommy and I will skate fast and you can go slow like a baby with Chase and Daddy.” Charlie is playing with the lattice stitching on one of the throw pillows and only partially paying Lena mind. Percy sighs internally, he’s not mentally ready for a day of the girls antagonizing each other. On ice.

“We’re gonna need to do better than Eggos this morning then,” Percy decides. “What do we want for breakfast?”

“We got chicken nuggets last night because we went to McDonald’s because Mommy almost got into a car accident,” Lena whispers, chewing on the fraying sleeve of her pajamas.

Percy’s eyes go wide. Lena looks back at him and opens her mouth like she’s going to add something else, but she doesn’t. Her head turns and whatever she was going to say dies in her throat with twenty other details that she wants to share with her dad because Charlie hisses her name accusingly.

“Lena–”

“What?”

“You’re such a blabbermouth–”

“No I’m not–”

“You weren’t supposed to say anything–”

“I didn’t say anything–”

“Yes you did you said–” 

Percy interrupts. “Okay. Okay. Enough.” They continue to bicker and he raises his voice. “Enough.”

The girls go quiet. Lena drops down from the kneel she’s lifted into in order to confront her sister.

“What is this about a car accident?” Percy asks.

Annabeth opens the bathroom door. All eyes go to her. When she realizes she’s the subject of three keen gazes, her eyebrows go up and she asks, “What?” Chase runs from her legs and Percy helps him into the empty spot on his right side.

“Lena blabbed.”

Lena protests, “No…” And now she looks near tears.

Percy smooths the tangled dirty blonde hair on her head. “Lena, it’s okay. We’re all having a talk.” He eyes his eldest daughter. “Right, Charlie?” She makes a stink face. “A conversation.”

She finally nods, but still adds, “We weren’t supposed to say anything.”

Annabeth went back into the bathroom.

Chase has picked up Annabeth’s phone from the nightstand and now hands it to his dad to unlock.

Percy is feeling simultaneously over and under informed and he can’t bring himself to think about children and screen time before he passes the unlocked phone to the three-year-old and pushes from the bed to follow his wife into the bathroom. He turns back to Charlie and Lena, yanking both of them by the ankle until they’re grabbing at the bedsheets and screaming for him to stop. He lets them go and they scramble from the edge of the bed. “Stop fighting or I’m gonna sit on you.”

They nod together, united against one common foe. 

He walks through the bathroom door and finds Annabeth standing at the sink, brushing her teeth.

“What happened?”

She looks at him in the mirror, scrubbing her tongue unhurriedly. She ducks her head to spit.

“Good morning to you too.” Her tone is dry. “How was your shift?”

He pushes off of the door and wraps his arms around her shoulders from behind. “Good morning.” His cheek presses to the side of her head.

“We’re going ice skating today," he begins. "McDonald’s for dinner yesterday, Lena’s wearing her pink tights." He ticks through the morning revelations like items on a grocery list. “And you guys were in an accident?” He says the last part softly, voice cracking at the end.

“Almost in an accident,” she amends in a murmur.

He remains quiet, and after a moment she curls her hands around the forearm pressed tight against her heart and explains what happened. The car that didn’t stop. Breaking so, so hard in the middle of a left turn. Swerving to the right so the car behind doesn’t rear-end them.

He listens, emphasizes how glad he is that they’re okay, presses his mouth to her temple. Silence falls between them and he adds, “Don’t dwell on it."

“I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“I bet.” He squeezes her reassuringly. “It’s a terrible thing to think about, all the ‘what ifs’.” He presses a kiss to her temple again and reiterates. “Don’t dwell on it.”

“I took them to McDonald’s because it was right there and I was too shaken up to drive.”

He nods and offers, “At least it wasn’t a Denny’s.”

She makes a disgusted noise, “I hate Denny’s.”

She turns in his arms, “And the ice skating is because I needed them to think about something else.” She tips back to look him head on and explains, “Charlie wouldn’t stop talking about it and Chase and Lena seemed pretty scared.”

“So ice skating was part of the gag order?” His tone is teasing.

“There was no gag order. Only a promise to let me say something first.”

“Too bad Lena is… Lena,” he says with a grin.

“And I needed us to do something together, as a family,” she adds. “Something fun and memorable for the holidays. Especially after that.”

“Yeah.” He nods.

“You should bring your camera.”

He nods again in agreement. She looks into his eyes, head tilting to the side as she tries to figure out his mood. 

He knocks his forehead against hers and admits, “I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight.”

Her laugh is quiet and understanding. “Hypocrite.” He joins her in laughter. “Don’t dwell on it,” she imitates his low voice.

“You traumatized me,” he accuses.

“If I’m traumatized, you better be traumatized.” She lets him go with one more lasting squeeze, heading for the bedroom door and the other three chambers of her heart behind it.

“Me and you,” he calls out. She looks back to see him tip his chin to her in a show of camaraderie. “Trauma bonded since ‘05.”

Her head falls back as she laughs.

#foaming at the mouth

[blackannabethchase]

i am not active but thank u for tagging me

enough of spotify wrapped may i please see your Instafest here's mine btw

tagging: @bluepinstripes @awyite @seek--rest @rosesau @wasithard @dykeseinfeld @boooooyouwhoree @posallys @blackannabethchase if she's still active idk anyone else <3

#took me far too long to know who was speaking to me #lizzielein

[blackannabethchase]

PARKS AND RECREATION (2009 - 2015) Season 5: Episode 20 — Jerry’s Retirement 

#me as leslie

[blackannabethchase]

Slow dancing, comparing hand sizes, and spooning!! (From the prompts list).

Also I literally binged your whole fic verse like.. last week and I cannot get it out of my head. It is so gorgeous and lifelike and so so so so good. You deserve all the love. Happy fanfic writer appreciation day!!

"One more?"

Percy followed the sound of her voice to where she'd appeared over his shoulder. He looked at the exit, just a couple feet from the table he very intentionally chose. He looked up at her, down at the hand on his arm, nails a manicured, nude pink, traveling down, down, until that hand found his hand and tugged him to his feet. He closed his eyes, resigned, as he rose.

"We aren't leaving early." He spoke to the back of her head as she guided him between tables.

"I already told you," she met his eye over her bare shoulder, there was an apology, definitely some remorse in that quick, clear gray glance, "we're gonna duck out a little early."

He stopped, and his hand fell from hers before he planted both hands on his hips. "It has officially become too late for us to leave early."

"I'm sorry." She turned to face him and her evening gown was his favorite color and her hand was out for him to take.

He took it and allowed her to lead him to the dance floor. "You aren't sorry."

"I'm not sorry. But I am networking. And I like this song, but I love you. And I'm so grateful for you– babe-" They found a spot on the dance floor and she paused, hands locked behind his neck, making sure he was paying attention be fore she finished. "I am so grateful to you for coming and supporting and slow dancing with me."

"I need more than gratitude," his voice was low and solemn.

"You have my undying love and affection."

"That'll have to do."

She rested her head on his collar and laughed, and the two of them found a swaying rhythm.

"You get whatever you want, as soon as we step out of the ballroom."

His hands spread on her back, holding her a little closer. "Anything I want?"

She looked up to find him staring down at her. "Sure." Her hand was in the hair at his nape, stroking, steadily releasing some of the tension from his frame.

'What about–"

She shook her head. "Not that thing."

He bit his lower lip trying to contain his smile. "If not that thing, then what about the other thing?"

"I'm always down for the other thing."

Smile uncontained. He leveled her with the uninhibited gleam of that impertinent grin for a good moment before he pursed his mouth, feigning thought. "Then there's always the other other thing–"

"That one's my favorite." Her hand was high on his shoulder and the other was in his hair and her smile's shine was so genuine that he half-forgot they were in a public place doing his least favorite thing.

Only half though. The other half of him, the one that was fully cognizant of the place and the people around them and how good of a job she was doing, making him feel okay, when the whole point of him being there was to make her feel okay, that half of him pulled her just barely closer, pressed a kiss to her temple and murmured "you're hilarious."

---

They were some of the last guests to leave the hall.

The elevator ride up to the hotel room was empty enough that they stood close, her back to his front, absently comparing hand sizes as a couple people came in and got off.

The couple was tired enough that they forgot to hit the button for their floor, riding almost to the top of the building before they got off on the way down.

The couple was too tired to do anything but change into pajamas and crawl beneath the covers.

"Com'mere." Percy reached for her, pulling her close. "So we can do the thing."

"You're out of your mind if you think–"

"Tryna spoon, that's all," he mumbled. "I dunno what you had in mind..."

#IMA THIS IS SOO CUTE #fic recs

[blackannabethchase]

FLEABAG: S02E01 SAM SAX: HYDROPHOBIA

[blackannabethchase]

What if they reprinted really gory and dark novels with those bland Canva clip-art covers you see on every Wattpad-sourced romcom these days

#lizzielein

[blackannabethchase]

the archer — taylor swift

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once you view the block button not as a furious silencing tactic but as a tool to personalize your social media experience...then you will be free

[blackannabethchase]

I’m fucking—

#screaming crying and throwing up

[blackannabethchase]

If you had to get a tattoo from the last show you watched, what would it be?

#never have i ever #so like idk a harp?? #gears brosnan??

[blackannabethchase]

#emma tag

[blackannabethchase]

The smell of vanilla extract is not entirely unlike a sirens song

[blackannabethchase]

aug 18th, 2022

.

.

“What’s the birthday boy doing over here by himself?”

“Not by myself.” Percy didn’t move from the center of the park bench. “You’re here.”

“Gods.” Charles laughed, short and without humor as he lowered himself on the seat next to him. He knew, despite Percy’s flippant response, that his friend had distanced himself from the friends and family gathered in the picnic area. Beckendorf had left his oldest with Estelle, who was trying to show him how to fly a kite. Grover and Rachel and Chris were by the grill, and Silena was gently pushing their youngest on the swing set, having a laugh with Katie. Others were spread throughout the south end of the park, sweating under the summer sun. Annabeth was standing at one of their tables with Charlotte on her hip. She was trying to have a conversation with Sally who was trying to take her grandchild for herself.

“She did all this out of obligation. Or guilt. I don’t know,” Percy tried keeping his voice casual. His hand went to his neck, rubbing like it would soothe the itch in his chest. The itch remained. “Don’t feel like standing around acting like we’re good right now.” He shrugged and leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

“Man…” Charles shook his head, opened his mouth, then shut it like he was considering his words. “It’s been a month. You guys need to talk–”

“We talk everyday–”

“Don’t do that… the fake, surface shit. You’re better than that.”

“The surface shit,” Percy laughed as he repeated the phrase. “It’s so safe though. You realize no one gets stabbed over the surface shit?”

“You don’t get safe,” Charles said without remorse. “Not in this life.”

“It’s my birthday,” Percy countered grumpily.

“No one gets stabbed on their birthday,” he looked over at Percy with a smile, like there was an inside joke there that was supposed to make Percy laugh. Instead, it made the itch in his chest crawl into his temples, his palms, the small of his back.

He found her at the grill, looking for more condiments to add to her fresh-off-the-fire hot dog. Nico was jokingly asking if that was her fifth, she frowned and waved him off dismissively.

Percy touched her elbow to get her attention and she turned at the contact, mouth half-full, eyes wide.

“Yeah?” Her eyes searched his face, like she was trying to figure out what he needed before he could even name it. 

“You need a…?” he looked at the loaded hotdog in her hand before searching for and finding a plate on a table nearby.

She set her food down, he passed her a napkin because she needed one too, then, when she wiped down, he held a hand out to her which seemed to take her by surprise. I’m an asshole for that, he thought.

“Can we walk?” He was already leading her away from their crowd and she nodded, excusing herself from the others with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. He ignored Clarisse’s suggestive joke and cataloged Charlie in his mom’s arms. Then he laced his fingers through hers and their eyes met over his shoulder.

Come with me.

-----

They walked west and ended up at the lake. Of course.

Their stroll had been far from silent. Percy was concerned about the swelling in her lower legs, and she was telling him for the twentieth time that it was normal, promising him it would be ten times worse in two months. She stopped them at the water’s bank because she wanted to watch the ducks and he stood behind her, touched by her softness with the waddling family of aquatic birds, pointing out the turtles he spotted on the rocks.

She lamented over leaving all that bread behind, he indicated to the “DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS” sign, which she dismissed with an impatient noise. Then she tried lowering herself to take a seat in the grass, but she immediately straightened with an “Oh!”

His hands went to her belly, arms around her, pulling her close. “Something wrong?” Always. Everyday of every pregnancy his heart was in his throat.

She shook her head before he went off into a panicky tailspin. “Nothings wrong.” She adjusted his hands on her so he could feel. “Baby’s just pushing around in there.”

And she was. Percy could feel her foot, arrhythmic but persistent in Annabeth’s womb, pressure against his right hand. The kicking stopped but he stayed like that, arms around his wife, feeling, breathing, inhaling the familiar smell of her hair. It was all of this, but that smell in particular, that spurred him on. 

“I– um.” His words got stuck in his throat when she craned her neck to look back at him. “So I…” He was arrested by her gaze like he’s been since he met her. Right then and there, he figured it would always be like this, feeling like he was catching up with her, like she’s always two steps ahead, climbing the escalator to the fifth floor while he’s taking the stairs to the second.

“Are we going in?” She joked softly, tipping her head towards the lake, a smile and memories turning her gaze wistful. “It’s kind of a tradition, right?”

There was the itch in his chest and his palms and the small of his back and it bubbled into a warmth on his skin before he lowered his head and kissed her. How could he not? She was a never ending gift of old and new, stoking those embers from the past but also standing before him with a belly so big he can’t see her feet. They kissed again and again until they physically couldn’t.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed against her mouth. He kissed her ear while she caught her breath. “I let my own shit ruin your shine.”

She turned to face him, surprised he was doing this, surprised he’d chosen now to have the conversation he’d been dodging for weeks.

“I should have been up front about it,” she said in a rush. “I was just, I hadn’t even decided,” her hand lifted from his shoulder to smooth down the hair at her temple. “I was trying to figure out a way to make it work, for all of us. That's why I didn’t say anything right away.” Her hand dropped to the lower curve of her round belly.

“Okay.” He stopped for a second, only to wrestle the irritation out of his voice. “Stop planning without me. Figure it out with me.”

“I know,” her voice wobbled on the last word. “I want to, I just wanted to have a better idea–”

“You were trying to protect me. By not telling me.”

She immediately started shaking her head, “No, I–” a flash of awareness crossed her face before she pressed her face into his shoulder. “I was.” He could feel her breathing like she was moments from crying. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too. I wanted you to feel bad. I made things worse. Okay?” He cupped her face, blonde curls springing between his fingertips. “Let’s figure this out.”

#ima i am begging u to never stop thinking about postcannon percabeth #write all the young adult stuff #🧎🏽‍♀️

[blackannabethchase]

i am also mad at his “percy is forever 17!! there is no timeline for when the books happened!!” nonsense because sir you made hilary duff references in the first book and nothing screams 2005 more than HILARY FUCKING DUFF’S MUSIC CAREER

#no literally

[blackannabethchase]

QUINTA BRUNSON for Essence Magazine

#i will never forget one time i was scrolling through twitter like years ago #and this guy i was talking to leans over to look with me and quinta pops up #and dead serious he goes is that your aunt #auntie quinta