#AND THAT HE ADORES THIS CHILD WHO HAS REKINDLED HIS HEART AND SOUL | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

whatupitsastarrynite · 3 years

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It Was Always You

A/N- HEY HEY! This was our first time writing for Coco and we had so so so much fun and we are now starting to feel our boy Johnny more. (or at least I know I am- Britt)

Cheers to Coco, the man who deserves so much more than he has been given thus far! 🥰😘😍

We also have a group chat that you can join and we will post our fic updates in that!

Thanks so much everyone! We love youuuu!!!

Imagine: You and Coco grew up together. The pair of you were the best of friends, inseparable right up until he met the woman who would eventually become the mother of his child. From there, you started studying hard in an attempt to get out of Santo Padre and into New York's best writing program. Coco on the other hand spiraled out of control, he was incarcerated and then later he enlisted into the marines. You kept tabs on him, but ultimately you focused on school. You got into the writing program of your dreams, you moved to New York and everything was perfect...so yeah, every now and then you had to ignore the voice in your head that told you that you missed Coco and should call him..but you leaned to cancel that voice out.

Every year for your parents birthday you would facetime them and send them a gift in the mail. As a huge editor to a very popular magazine, you couldn't afford to take time off. This year however, your father was sick, and you knew you needed to see him.

So you packed your bags, jumped on a plane and flew out to Santo Padre. The entire flight you were nervous and you kept fidgeting in your seat.

You had not set foot inside Santo Padre since you were 19 years old. You were in your early 30s now. So many things had changed, but deep down you knew in your soul that one thing remained the same....

Your love for Coco.

You parked in front of your parents’ home, letting out a sigh. Driving through Santo Padre, memories hit you left and right, thinking of shooting the shit with your cousins, sneaking out to smoke some weed at the outskirts of town around a bonfire.

Santo Padre held such sweet memories for you, but they were also bittersweet. You passed by the park where you and Johnny used to play as children, your love for him growing from there. You passed by the elementary school where you and Johnny held each other down during the third grade, shared lunch since Celia was the worst fucking mother. You passed by the middle school where you realized you had a crush on your best friend. You passed by the high school where you and Johnny eventually grew apart.

Coco, it was a nickname you fondly gave him, a nickname you made for him and it just stuck. You can’t even recall why you called him Coco, but here you two were now, apart and strangers. But you had to do what you had to do. Seeing Coco with another woman was hard enough, knowing they had a child? It was even worse. But in some ways, you were happy for Coco, it was his chance to have a family.

Even though your family was essentially his. Your parents adored Johnny Cruz. He was always so good with them, helped your mother whenever he was over, learned the ins and outs of car mechanics with your father. He was essentially an adopted son, but when you pulled away, your parents respectively did as well.

You were startled by the knock on your window. You looked to the side and found your father, looking frailer than usual, but a bright smile still on his face. You returned his smile and quickly got out of your car. Feeling your father’s warm embrace, it made you regret not coming home much more often. You weren’t obtuse, you knew your time with your parents were slowly dimming, it was the harsh reality of life. But you were going to make sure your father was going to be healthy so he could come visit you as he intended to later this year for Christmas.

“How are you?” You questioned as you pulled away.

“I’m fine, your mother was overreacting. I had pneumonia, it takes the wind out of you, but I’m feeling better. I even helped Coco with this car he got for his daughter.” Your father froze at his words and he sighed. “You know we’ve been talking to Coco.”

And you did, your parents were always honest with you and when you left, they rekindled their relationship with Coco. They excused that one kid was out of the way, at least they still had their other. It made your heart clench when they said that, it was even worse when your mother wanted to update you about Coco, but you refused. No matter how much time had passed, your love for Coco was still ever present, but you figured it would.

He was your first love, and you never had closure.

“Pops, thanks again.” His voice made the butterflies in your stomach go crazy, you almost felt embarrassed how juvenile it was. “Leticia should be coming in a few hours, if she gives you shit let me know.” He couldn’t see you since your father was blocking your way. As frail as your father was, he was 6′4, 250 pounds, he covered anyone.

“Coco, you know Leticia loves us, she can be like you, but we’ve done well with you.” Your father moved to the side and Coco’s steps halted, stopping at the middle of the street.

“Hello Johnny.”

Coco blinked a few times as he continued to stare at you. The expression that was plastered on his face made him look like he had seen a ghost.

Your father cleared his throat and that seemed to snap both you and Coco out of your trance.

“I’ll be inside…oh and Johnny, Selena is making dinner tonight if you want to stay. It's homemade enchiladas.”

Coco let out a tiny groan that made your stomach clench as the sound made your thoughts darken to a more impure path.

You felt the blood rush to your face- you had not even been home for thirty minutes and you were already thinking about dragging Coco to your old room.

You took another kick to the stomach as you remembered that Coco never belonged to you that way, he never wanted you that way and he never would. In the past you had hoped, but almost a decade had passed by and he never bothered to reach out.

If he had truly had anything to say to you he would have at least sent you a damn text message.

“Yeah- yeah enchiladas sounds good pops… I just gotta call Letty.” Coco responded

Your dad waved him off.

“Nonsense, she is welcomed too. It’s a family reunion.”

You bit down in your jaw and tried not to outwardly cringe at your dad. He truly was making this more awkward than it needed to be.

“See ya kids inside” He said as he walked off.

Coco watches your dad for a second before he looked back at you. It seemed the initial shock had worn off because he gave you a small smile and shuffled over to you.

“Damn long time no see chica, how the hell have you been?” Coco asked

His voice sent goosebumps crawling up your arms and you couldn’t help the warm feeling that spread through your body as you locked eyes with him.

“I’ve been good, busy… but ya know. Good…..you? What’s um… what’s a Mayan?” You asked as your eyes hovered on the leather kutte he was wearing.

Coco glanced down at his kutte as if he didnt wear it all the time. His eyebrows furrowed before he looked back up at you and huffed out a nervous sounding laugh.

“Its a motorcycle uh club.” He responded

You leveled him with a look, half of you wanted to push him for more information because he was clearly hiding something, the other half just wanted to catch up with him like the old days.

“Ah… so what’s been going on with you? I see you’re still stalking my parents.” You joked as you moved to pick up your suitcase.

Coco laughed and moved quickly to scoop up your bag. As he took the handle in his hand, his fingers brushed over yours and it sent a shockwave through your body that you had not been expecting.

You let out a small gasp and Coco just stared at you with his intense, soul piercing gaze.

You swallowed thickly and moved around his body so that you could make your way to the house.

“I don’t stalk, I’m welcomed here. I’m like their son they never had.” Coco joked back

You snorted but didn't respond. How could you when his joke had landed harder than he had meant for it to.

“So you and Leticia are close huh…I’m glad to hear that Johnny. If I’m being honest I was worried about you… especially since I never heard from you after I left.”

Coco stopped walking and his actions halted yours. You glanced over your shoulder and raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

“What?” You asked as he stared at you.

“I’m sorry you know…. for like never reaching out. I-I figured you were out in New York doing big things and uh..I–I didn’t want to bring you down so uh, I never reached out.”

Your heart clinched at his words and you turned your entire body around to face him. Your feet began to take on a mind of their own and you found yourself walking over to him, stopping only when you were about a foot away from him.

“Johnny…seriously? You were my best friend, I cared about you, I could have never seen you as someone who would have brought me down.”

Coco dipped his head and stared at the ground in silence as he took in your words. You desperately wanted to know what he was thinking, but you knew you couldn’t push him, so instead you stood there in silence, waiting for him to respond to you.

You sighed, somehow you always found yourself waiting for Coco Cruz.

Coco knew you were waiting for him to respond. But where does he even begin? He was sorry he basically walked away from you after he met Alejandra? That he was sorry that he didn’t have the balls to talk to you? To reach out to you? That every day for the past decade, the itch to call, to text you was always great, but it heightened during your birthday or the holidays? It was acceptable to text people during the holidays with no pretenses besides the fact it was the holidays, but you were too special to Coco for that.

And he was a fucking idiot.

He didn’t know where exactly it went wrong. He just knew that after he met Alejandra, you ceased to exist in his life and he didn’t even know how to make it right. If anything, he didn’t want to make it right since he spiraled out of control. If Coco was going to ruin his life, he would do it on his own, he could never drag you down with him. It would kill him, knowing he was the reason you were stuck in this god forsaken town. He got out and came right fucking back.

But not you, you were Ms. New York now.

Missing you never became easier, but it became easier to hide it. Though during the time he was intoxicated, where his inhibitions were low, he called out for you then, it was pathetic, but he couldn’t help it. You were the best part of his life and he was blinded by everything. In hindsight, he felt that he did it himself, to let you see your potential, but he couldn’t credit your greatness to him.

You’ve reached your dreams and it was further proof that you didn’t need him, that you were much better without him.

You waited patiently at what seemed like forever, but Coco finally opened his mouth to speak.

“Because after what happened, how I abandoned you during your time of need, I never forgave myself for that. You may not see me as someone who brought you down, but I did. Look at where you are now, if I stayed put, you would be stuck in this fucking town with me.” He grimaced, saying it aloud hurt him much more than he would like to admit.

“What do you mean?” You were confused as to what he was referring to. High school was tough, but it wasn’t unbearable.

“When your abuela died, I was so fucking high, you called me ten times and I didn’t fucking answer.” You couldn’t recall that day much, the only thing you remembered was your mother holding you, trying to soothe you the best you can.

But you guessed that was when things changed for you two. You began to stop relying on Coco, replying to his messages, but not going out of your way to talk to him. It wasn’t all on him, losing your grandmother was hard on you and the following years went by like a breeze. You immersed yourself in school work because you knew she wanted you to further yourself.

So you did. Trying to distance yourself from Johnny, find a way out of Santo Padre and make your grandmother proud, it was your driving force.

“It’s fine Johnny shit happens.”

“Stop that, don’t brush it off like it didn’t mean shit.”

“It’s not that it didn’t mean anything, why am I gonna hold it against you that you had a life?”

“I was your best friend, but Alejandra just had this fucking hold on me.”

“She gave you the attention you wanted, can’t fault you for that.”

“What?”

“Alejandra made you feel good about yourself, there was no pretense with her. She didn’t know you well enough so whatever you gave her, that’s what she knew about you. And she worshipped you, you were basically the greatest thing since eyeliner for her. Can’t fault you for that, you loved her.”

Alejandra did a number on your relationship. She didn’t like how close you two were, boys and girls couldn’t be friends. They could be, but Alejandra saw how you looked at Coco and made it a mission to break you two apart.

“I gave up Letty since Alejandra turned up to be the bitch you told me she was.” And he didn’t believe you then, he told you that you were just jealous because you had no one.

But you did have someone, you had him. When those words came out of his mouth, you realized you didn’t have him after all and it hurt you, but it pushed you away, just like what he wanted to do.

“I never cared for Alejandra, but I wanted to be there for you. You were my best friend, I could swallow whatever Alejandra threw my way as long as I had you, but you know, I didn’t.” The chuckle you let out, Coco could hear how forced it was, how you were trying to make light of the situation in some ways. “But, what’s done is done. I’m glad that you’re doing well for yourself Johnny. And it seems like you’re doing well with your daughter.” You offered him a small smile. “I always knew you would be an amazing father, you wouldn’t be like Celia or your deadbeat dad. My parents would have killed you.”

“It does matter, what happened between us, how much time I let pass, it should have never happened. It killed me that I couldn’t bite the bullet and just call you, shit,” Coco sighed. “You were the best part of my life, you gave me a family and you gave me a reason to keep pushing forward.”

“Let’s not dwell on the past, I’m just glad you’re okay.”

If you were being honest, you just didn’t want to hash it out with Johnny in the middle of the street. Your neighbors were nosey and it was not needed drama. You also didn’t want to tell him that your mother kept you updated on the latest happenings of Johnny’s life. As much as you tried to defer, your mother knew you wanted to hear how your old friend was doing. You knew about Celia, his daughter, and how he was doing better, to some extent. You didn’t know what the hell the Mayans were, but from what you gathered, they were like a family to him. “You live across the street from my parents?”

“Yeah, your pops helped me out with it and it was easy cause I served.”

You nodded your head. “Son they never had.” You shook your head playfully rolling your eyes.

Coco couldn’t help but look at your left hand and noticed that something was missing.

“Where’s your ring?”

At the mention of your ring your left hand clenched shut. You hid it behind your back and grimaced.

“How did you….” you asked trailing off “My dad talked to you about it??”

Coco sighed and nodded.

“He didn't mention that you broke up though… or why.” He stated

“I didn’t tell him! ” You snapped. Your ex fiance was a sore subject for you, especially since you had just called off the engagement a month ago.

Coco evaluated your body language… he knew you well enough to tell that there was a story there. He didn’t want to pry or upset you, but he also needed to know what happened.

“What happened Y/N?” He asked

“It's a long story.” You replies shortly. You didn't want Coco to find out the reason you dumped Adam. Besides, who was Coco to know practically everything about you when you knew nothing about the man he was today.

“I got time. Shit….its not like I live across the street or anything”

You rolled your eyes at his dry sarcasm as you messed with the finger that used to hold the diamond ring on it.

“It's nothing Johnny….turns out Adam wasn’t who I thought he was.”

Coco gave you that intense stare again and tgrb he smacked his lips together.

“He cheated?” Coco grilled

“Amongst other things.” You shrugged.

Coco took another step forward, effectively making the distance between your bodies smaller.

“What, is he a drunk? A liar? An addict? Controlling? Abusive?” Coco listed off all the reasons he thought you would leave someone over. He gauged your reaction for each one and then stopped when you flinched at the word abusive.

“I’ll fucking kill him.” Coco growled.

You watched his whole body transform in front of you. He went from soft and sweet to angry and murderous in two seconds flat.

You sighed as you ran a hand through your hair.

“It's over with Johnny.” You stated

‘The fuck it is!!! I’ll cut his hands off and make him eat them, then I’ll kick his ass, then I’ll kill him.“

You couldn’t help it- a chuckle escaped your lips and you shook your head. Maybe a normal person would find this declaration insane, but you knew Coco, and you found it charming that he was so upset and ready to commit literal murder in your honor.

“I’m fine Johnny, please…please just dont tell my dad. He’s already sick and I don't need him worked up over this.” You pleaded taking another step towards your best friend.

The muscle in Coco’s jaw twitched dangerously, and you knew he was still angry, but you also knew that he would keep this secret…for you.

“Fine….but lemme see this dick on the street. I’ll have him dead on the sidewalk in no time.”

You let out a loud laugh now and before you could stop yourself you threw your body into Coco’s surprised arms. Your chest hit his firm one first , and then after the shock wore off his strong arms wrapped around your waist and he pulled you to him tightly.

His chin rested on the top of your head and you both took a moment to learn each other's new bodies. You breathed in his scent, a deep cologne mixed with cigarettes and leather. You memorized it and decided then that it was your favorite smell in the entire world.

Above you, Coco’s lips brushed your head as he kissed it gently.

“I missed you…” Coco whispered into your hair

“I missed you too…” you said without hesitation.

You could feel Coco’s lips pull into a smile before he placed another kiss on your head and pulled back to look at you.

“Listen mama, I gotta tell you something…. but you gotta hear me out and promise not to get mad, okay?”

You looked up at his worried face, and nodded in confusion.

“What is it Johnny?”

He inhaled and then slowly breathed out before the words tumbled out of his mouth like a stolen train.

“"After Alejandra I…I didn’t think I would fall for anyone again….she fucking wrecked me….but the day you moved away to New York was the day I realized how badly I fucked up. I..shit…I loved you more than anyone else and I didn’t even know it, shit maybe that was part of the reason she and I broke up, because I always loved you….. and I- I still do. Ya know….love you.”

You wanted to slap yourself, pinch yourself, anything that would give you painful stimuli so that you could wake yourself up. Were you still on the plane? Was the flight attendant about to wake you regarding your arrival to the airport?

It had to be a fucking dream.

For years, you’ve had different versions of this dream, you’ve had different versions as to how Coco would confess to you. One was back in high school, another one when he came to stop your wedding and another was during your Christmas visit, which was totally out of one of those Hallmark films. Regardless, you always thought it would remain a dream. That you would never hear such sweet words come from Coco.

Coco watched as you looked at him, speechless. Dread seeped in. Maybe it was too quick, this was your first meeting in so long. Maybe you didn’t feel the same way, he couldn’t blame you. What would you want with someone like him? Even his own flesh and blood didn’t want him. He was waiting for the let down, the ‘I’m sorry Johnny, I just see you as a friend’. He felt like he was taken back to high school, to where girls made him fucking nervous. But it was the worst with you because your opinion mattered most.

Just as you opened your mouth to reply, you heard your mother shriek out your name. You turned around and caught her, wrapping your arms around her. She pulled away, pinching your cheeks before pulling you into her embrace again. Coco loved your mom but for once, he was not happy to see her.

“My baby is home.” She cupped your cheeks. She turned to Coco and she clicked her tongue.

“Johnny, cut your hair, you look so unkempt.” She sighed. “Trying to make me bring out my scissors.”

Coco laughed and shook his head. “I told you mama, I like the wind blowing through my hair.”

“Stubborn as always.” She shook her head but had that smile she always had for Coco. “Come, I prepared snacks. And don’t you even try to get out of it, I had Bishop give you the day off so we can spend family time.”

It dawned on you that your parents were trying to set up a reunion between you and Coco. While your father was sick, he was fully recovering. Your parents were such meddlers.

“I know what you’re doing.” You informed your mother.

“What am I doing baby?” She looked at you with such innocence in her eyes, it almost made you feel bad about accusing her, but you also knew your mother.

“Don’t faux innocence with me, I see you.” You playfully narrowed your eyes at your mother.

Selena laughed. “I think you need more sleep.”

The day went off without a hitch and you met Coco’s daughter, Leticia. You were grateful that Leticia hardly had any of Alejandra’s features. She was definitely Johnny’s child. Dinner was served and the laughter and conversations you all had was nostalgic. You felt like a child again, enjoying dinner with your parents and Johnny. Having Leticia as an addition was even better.

“Are you sure you’re okay with watching her tomorrow?” Coco questioned as you two made your way towards the front door.

“Not at all, as much as I want to get my nails done, I do not want to do it alone. This town pounces on you.” You’ve been gone for quite some time, you knew the people of this town never forget and they would be on you regarding the various rumors they heard through the years. “See you tomorrow Letty!”

She waved goodbye, crossing the street to go to their home. Coco watched her till she was inside. He turned to you and smiled. His confession from earlier was still replaying in his brain but you two have had no moment alone. With your parents in bed, it was just you and Coco.

“This was nice.” You commented.

Coco nodded his head.

“Yeah it was.” He didn’t want to keep you up, it seemed like you had a busy day tomorrow.

“Good night preciosa,” it was Coco’s nickname for you and to this day, the butterflies in your stomach still went wild.

“Good night Coco.”

He smiled and turned to make his way to his own home. He wanted to kiss you, to finally feel your lips against his, but he didn’t even know how you felt about him.

“Wait,” you called out, going down the few steps on your porch. “About earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it, I get it, you don’t feel the same way.” The smile on his face hurt you, it was the one he gave people to show he was okay, but he was hurting inside.

“I love you.” You didn’t beat around the bush. “It was the reason I worked so hard to leave because I couldn’t be in a place where I would have to see you be a family to someone who made it a mission to drive us apart. I couldn’t bear seeing you two together because Alejandra was right, I wish I was her, I envied her.” It felt good to let it out. “I love you Coco, I loved you then and I love you now.”

Coco froze and you watched his body transform as he took in your words. At first it didn’t seem to register with him, what you said, but then his eyes widened and a smile broke across his face making him look 10 years younger.

He let out a laugh and shook his head as he half jogged over to you. His hands came to rest on either side of your face and his thumb caressed your cheeks.

“Shit, we wasted so much time when we could have just been together.” Coco whispered

You shook your head and brought your hands up to rest on his forearms.

“We didn’t waste time Johnny, we were just getting ourselves together.”

Coco huffed but didn't disagree.

“Say it again…” He said in a way that sounded like both a command and a beg.

“I love you Johnny Coco Cruz.” You said softly while you absentmindedly traced this vein on his forearms.

Coco stared at you for two more seconds before he dipped his head and connected his lips to yours. His hands slipped down to your waist and he pulled you flush to his body while he pushed his tongue into your mouth. Coco kissed you passionately, aggressively and soft all at the same time. He took control of your mouth and he had no plans on giving it back.

Coco knew that if humans didn't need oxygen to breath, he would spend his entire life kissing your lips.

Butterflies flew in your stomach and goosebumps broke out on your skin as he traced your bottom lip with his tongue. You were trying your best to keep up with his energy but he was like a man starved.

He slowly walked you backwards, your back hit the side of your house and everything faded away. All you could focus on was Coco’s lips and how they felt so perfect against yours. His hard body was firmly pressing yours into the wall while his fingers squeezed tightly into your hip bones.

You bit down on his bottom lip and he let out a small groan. You shifted your body a tad to the left and felt a shift in the energy.

What was a simple sweet, much over do, was now quickly turning into a hot, desperate attempt to get each other in bed.

You gasped as you broke free of Coco’s lips. He tried to chase after you but you pushed him backwards by his chest.

“We need to get a room…” you laughed

Coco was quick to respond. Grabbing your hand and pulling you towards his house.

“Wait, letty….” you started

Coco ignored your question and gripped your hand tighter. He walked faster and you struggled to keep up.

The next thing you knew you were standing in Coco’s living room.

“LETICIA- I need you to leave. Go hang out with Gabi.” Coco yelled

You heard Letty open her door and listened as her footsteps made their way to the living room.

“Oh great, your having sex…. just use protection. You don't want another me.” Letty said before she smiled at you and brushed past her father.

She shut the door and left you and Coco in silence. A nervous energy washed over you as Coco leveled you with a look that sent your libido into hyperdrive.

“You sure about this?” He asked

You rolled your eyes, still surprised that he was questioning your intentions. You wound your arms around his neck and pulled him closer before you smiled.

“I’m 100% sure Coco.” You whispered before you brought his lips back down to yours.

Coco lost himself in you.

Years of longing, wanting, loving, it was all coming down. He was able to push all of this for years, fucking bitches didn’t require anything, just his dick to be hard. But with you, it was different, of course it was. He didn’t want to just devour you, he wanted all of you. The cries of pleasure, the feeling of your body in one with his, he wanted it all. He always imagined how it would be to kiss you, to be with you.

This was knocking every expectation out of the park.

He’s never made love to a woman before and he knew if he ever did, it would be with you. For years, he wanted to contact you, to swallow his nerves, his fear, his pride, but now, the wait was well worth it. You were right, you were working on yourselves and now, he would never let you go.

He pulled you closer to him, one hand cupping your face, while the other rested against your hip. You couldn’t believe this was happening, whatever you imagined before, this blew it out of the water. You never felt this when you kissed your ex-fiance. This was something else, something more.

Coco lifted you up, carrying you to his bed, gently, he placed you down and reluctantly parted with you. He looked at you as your chest rose up and down, letting the oxygen trickle in once more. Removing his clothes, he left his boxers on, making his way over to you, causing you to move back on his bed. He wrapped his fingers around your ankles, pulling you towards him.

“These leggings are going to fucking kill me.” His hands moved up and down your legs, shivers going down your spine. You were wet, you’ve been wet, but the way Coco’s voice dipped a lower octave, the way his hand was just hovering over your clothed core, you wanted to scream. But you didn’t want to rush through it. You’ve only had a handful of partners and you knew Coco was the far more experienced one.

He pressed two fingers against your clothed center and you let out a low moan, which in turn made him moan.

“Fuck, I’m never going to get tired of that.” Coco’s fingers went to the waistband of your leggings, pulling them down. He threw the article of clothing behind him while you took off your shirt. His eyes roamed around you, taking in every part of you. It made you flustered, flushed, and scrambled to cover yourself. He smacked your hands and made a ‘tsk’ sound.

“Don’t let me admire my girl.”

You smiled. You were nervous, this was Coco. This wasn’t anyone else, this was Coco.

“Hey, don’t overthink it, just let me make you feel good ma.”

He crawled over to you, hovering above you, he kissed you once again, his hands were all over you. Wherever he touched, your skin burned in the most delicious way. He slipped his fingers under the band of your underwear, teasing your aching pearl before slipping a finger inside you. Moaning into his mouth, you arched against him, one hand caressing his cheek, while the other slid down his stomach and inside his boxers. He groaned against your lips as you wrapped your hand around his cock.

“Fuck princesa,” you took your hand out of his boxers, spitting on it before putting it back inside, sliding your hand up and down his cock just as he added another finger inside of you.

“Fuck Coco, that feels so good.” Your ex hardly provided foreplay. He lubed it up, condom on, and you two fucked. No emotions or regard for you, it was just sex. But this, this felt so much better.

“Yeah, that pendejo didn’t know how to pleasure you?”

You shook your head, you let out a breathy gasp as his thumb made contact with your clit. You clenched around him and it didn’t take long for him to get an orgasm out of you. You whimpered, moving your hips down to meet the thrust of his hands. Before long, you were both naked, Coco slipping on rubber.

He tapped his cock against your folds, the tip hitting your clit. You looked at how well endowed he was, which almost made you laugh. You always thought Coco was gifted, but to confirm that suspicion? It was fantastic.

“You ready preciosa?”

You nodded, never more ready for anything. He bent down and kissed the tip of your nose and then he slowly pushed the head of his dick into your wet, awaiting folds.

You let out a low, broken sounded moan. Seeing Coco’s dick had been one thing, but feeling it as it stretched you out almost to the point of pain was a completely different experience.

Coco’s left hand grabbed onto the sheets by your head and he clinched them while his other one stayed firmly on your hop- helping to ease him in without hurting you.

He was so close to bottoming out, but before he could fully set himself in you, bubbles of laughter started coming out of your mouth.

Coco moved his head so that he could look at you, his body hovered over yours and he froze, mid stride, with his dick more than 80% of the way in you.

"What?” He asked

You laughed again and pushed Coco’s stray hair behind his ear.

“My mom was right, you do need a haircut.”

Coco tsked and shook his baby hairs out of his eyes.

“Don’t be jealous because my hair is more luscious than yours.” Coco joked back

You laughed some more and Coco took this opportunity to push himself the rest of the way in you. Your laughing faded off and turned into moans and despite trying his best to make this all night, he couldn’t stop the quick pace he had set from happening.

His senses were overwhelmed by you, he wanted to fuck you deep and slow, but he also wanted to fuck you hard and quick. He wanted to kiss your lips, but he also wanted to kiss your neck and map out your entire body with his mouth. He wanted to intertwine his fingers in your hair and pull just enough for it to sting but not too hard to where it pulled out your roots, but he also needed to touch every part of you.

There wasn’t enough time.

He wanted all of you- he needed all of you but the way your warm heat wrapped around his dick and pulled him in was intoxicating him more so than any drug he had ever used.

“Fuck! You feel so good. I’m never letting you go again.” Coco said into your ear.

His breath ghosted across your skin but you were too blissed out to respond. One of your hands found their way into Coco’s thick hair and the other gripped tightly onto his forearm.

Your body bounced softly as Coco rammed into you. He kept pounding your G-spot over and over again to the point where you were now seeing stars. Your moans were now just whispers, and all you could say was Johnny over and over as if you were praying to him.

He lowered his head down and caught your lips with his. He kissed you once before you broke apart and simply breathed each other's air. Your lungs were burning and your breaths were coming out ragged.

Your orgasm was quickly approaching, and despite never having sex with you before, Coco knew you were right there on the edge.

He gripped your body tighter and forced himself to slow down his thrusts.

As he did, you let out a needy whine which caused Coco’s heart to melt. Seeing how much you needed him was all he ever wanted from you. Selfishly, he wanted you to need him so that he could always be apart of your life

“Don’t worry preciosa. I got you.” Coco whispered.

His next movements were smooth and calculated. He pulled himself all the way out and before you could complain, he grabbed your legs and roughly flipped you over onto your stomach. His hands found your hips and he yanked them upwards so that your ass was sticking out and your head was down.

You glanced over your shoulder and locked eyes with Coco as he pushed back into your pussy. He let out a groan and your head fell back onto the bed. You gripped the seats as the muscles in your stomach clenched.

You were so close, so fucking close you just needed–

Coco knew what you needed. Fuck he always knew. He moved his body so that it draped over you more, and his long arm reached under you and his fingers found your clit. He began to rub on it and press down on it while he fucked into you with a precision that was blinding you.

Your body was overheating and shaking, your mouth was spilling Coco’s name along with a stream of cuss words and you knew that if you didnt come soon, you would die from overstimulation.

Coco let out another moan and he wrapped his free arm around your waist and yanked you up, making your back flush with his chest. The new angle caused you to let out a louder scream. Coco pressed on your clit harder and started licking at your neck.

It only took two more thrusts before your body broke. Your legs shook so badly that they threatened to give out on you, your moans suddenly cut off and your breath left your lungs. Stars exploded behind your closed eyes and you realized that this is what they talked about when people said orgasms were like little pleasure bombs.

Your body was lit up with ecstasy and you rode it for as long as you could before your limbs went numb and refused to hold you up and longer.

Coco eased you down onto the mattress, still on your stomach. He pushed your legs together and straddled you as he gently pushed on your lower back and fucked in and out of you.

“Shit Y/N. This pussy is addictive.” Coco groaned out

You pushed your ass back as best as you could- attempting to meet Coco’s rough thrusts head on. Based on the way he was moaning and cursing you must have been doing a good job, so you kept doing it until you felt his thrusts becoming shaky and uneven. The fingers on your back dug into your skin causing you to hiss in pleasure.

You turned your head to the left and let out some breathy moans.

“Johnny…I… I need you to come for me. Come for me please.” You begged

“Fuuuuck, you’re sinful as shit and I love it.” Coco groaned out.

He thrusted into you a couple more times before he stilled.

You couldn’t feel his seed due to his condom, but you could feel his dick pulsing in you and your needy walls contracted around him, begging him to rip that stupid condom off and fill you properly.

After a couple of minutes, Coco gently pulled out of you. You slowly rolled over and groaned as your back popped slightly.

You tracked Coco as he made quick work of peeling his condom off and taking it to the trash can in the corner of his room.

You sat up on your elbows and admired him from afar. You cataloged every tattoo and vowed to ask him the story behind each one.

“Imma add today’s date to them…” Coco said as he caught you staring.

“To what?” You asked in confusion as he made his way back over to you.

The bed dipped as he climbed on it and crawled in between your still shaking legs.

“My tattoos. I’m getting today’s date tattooed on me.”

“But…why?” You laughed out

Coco smirked and pressed a gentle kiss to your lips.

“It's the day you and I changed forever. The day I got to be with my true love. Why wouldn’t i want that on my body as a reminder.”

#mayans #mayans mc #mayans fandom #mayans fic #mayans fanfic #coco cruz #johnny cruz #johnny coco cruz #coco cruz x reader #coco cruz fanfiction #coco cruz imagine #whatupitsastarrynite

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chubbybuckydumpling · 3 years

Text

A Doctor’s Tale

words: 6.9k

relationship: Bruce Banner x desi!daughter!Reader

warnings: character death, slight spoilers for Marvel Studio’s The Avengers, fluff, angst

A/n: thank you so much @gotnofucks for helping me with this idea! You’re so kind and I hope I didn’t make this offensive in any way. I’m happy for any corrections. Please be kind, this was very difficult for me to write and I committed a few writing sins. I hope you’ll enjoy this any way :) (gif by @steves-on-a-plane)

My Masterlist | Part 2

The air was heavy with moisture, yet the heat of the day has not passed. Bruce heaved with exhaustion, the new climate put a noticeable strain on his body. The temperatures made him sweat vigorously and gave him a headache, especially on his way up these damned stairs. He would need to get adjusted to his new surroundings before he could work efficiently.

Another thing he would need to tolerate were the bustling streets. Everywhere Bruce looked, there were crowds of people, so close together it made his hands shake with anxiety. He preferred taking longer routes that were less public and less triggering.

After he had become afflicted with the other guy, Bruce couldn't stay. He was hunted down by the United States Armed Forces, so he had to flee. He knew he could hide in India without much trouble. He read about the country and their societal norms, so he felt somewhat calm, but nothing could have prepared him for the reality of Kolkata.

The city was beautiful, of course. He admired the architecture and the many different buildings. He loved the parks, the bridges and the temples. The different kinds of food made him especially happy, yet he hated how talkative and social everyone is. No matter where he went, someone would try to bond with him, which triggered his anxiety.

Generally speaking, he enjoyed life in India, if it weren't for that unbearable weather. As he arrived at the top of the stairs, his shirt was wet from his sweat and the overly high humidity. With a sigh he pulled out a bottle of water to rehydrate – the amount of water he must have lost is remarkable. The water was warm and not as relieving as he had hoped, but it would have to suffice.

With one arm, Bruce wiped away the sweat that formed on his forehead, before he entered the house he was looking for. He heard about this shelter where some women took in ill women and children who could not afford to go to the hospital. Bruce had admired their dedication and hoped they would accept him as a volunteer.

With cautious eyes he looked around the room. He could see that the owners try their best to keep it clean and welcoming, but the smell of illness is prominent in the air. This chamber is obviously designed to be a reception area to check in their patients, but the cheap chairs and chipped wooden table were a sign of a lack of money. They were probably spending it on medical supplies and food.

Bruce stepped further into the room, the floorboards creaking, “Hello? May I speak to anyone?” Shyly, he began to play with his fingers, feet shuffling nervously.

A beautiful woman entered the room from one of the four doors and Bruce sucked in a breath when her sparkling eyes met his. She looked exhausted, but nothing could ever dim her beauty. The floor creaked slightly as she made her way to stand in front of him. She was small, yet her confidence was unmissable.

The woman raised an eyebrow, “What can I do for you, sir?” Bruce swallowed and let out the breath he had been holding, “I'm Bruce Banner. I heard about your work here. Uhm, are you the head doctor?” She crossed her arms and tilted her head, looking at him sceptically, but nodded nevertheless. “I would like to offer my help. I think this non-profit is incredible and I would love to assist?”

Finally, he broke eye contact and stared at the floor, terrified of the woman's reaction. Now, he could not see the amused smile playing on the smaller woman's lips, “Well, Bruce, how could I ever deny any help. However, I would quite like to learn something about your background, you know. Any qualifications?” Quickly, Bruce looked up a panicked look in his eyes, “Of course, I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that beforehand. I'll answer any questions, I'm sorry!”

She smiled a big toothy smile and jerked her head towards the sink, “Let me just...”. Bruce nodded quickly. It seemed that his usual knowledge of words had disappeared. All he could think about was how soft her brown skin looked and the gentle curves of her face.

“It's Aarohi, by the way”, she spoke as she washed her small hands, “Well, actually Dr. Verma, but we're friends now, right Bruce?” He smiled, completely smitten, “Right”

It was at this point that Bruce knew he would fall in love with her. And he was right. She brought out the best of him, her outgoing and confidant ways helped him to learn about himself and he rekindled with his body and soul. The three and a half years he had been in Kolkata taught him to love himself, admittedly that was still hard for him, but being able to help women and children in need made him feel good. And Aarohi had been by his side the entire time.

She opened her arms and heart for him and lead him through his issues. When he'd wake up screaming from his nightmares she was there to calm him down. His head between her hands as she pressed small kisses all over his face.

When he was too shy to talk to anyone but her, she would do her best to try and include him. By now he was way more comfortable talking to others. It was still scary, but not as panic inducing as it used to be. Bruce became a better man, all because of Aarohi, which is why after only a year and a half, he got down on one knee, hand shaking.

“You are the light in my life. When I arrived in India, everything was dark, but you showed me how to live again. I am a better man, because you bring out the best in me. I love you, with all of my heart. And I know that getting married is not possible for us, at least at the moment, but will you take this promise ring, for I promise I will forever love and cherish you, support you through thick and thin, in times of hardship and in times of ease. You are my world d without you I'd be lost. Aarohi, please accept this ring as a sign of my devotion” - and she did.

It wasn't really a surprise when she became pregnant shortly afterwards. Bruce had never been so happy before. Sometimes he feared about the other guy. What would happen if he came out or even worse, if their child would have his monster DNA, but his spouse reassured him and kept him calm as best as she could, “He hasn't come out for your whole stay in Kolkata and even if he would, I love every part of you, Bruce”

And once their baby girl was born, he was head over heels for you. From the moment he layed eyes on you he knew that he would do anything for you. “Bruce, do you want to hold her? Do you want to meet your daddy, shona?” It felt like time was frozen when he held you in his arms, your tiny fingers mindlessly holding onto him, a tiny yawn falling from your mouth.

And at times it was really hard. Bruce nor Aarohi wanted to stop working, their little clinic meant to much for them. So they switched between watching you and working. Bruce would have loved to bring you with him, but the chances of you catching a disease were too high to risk it. And therefore, your parents spent most of their time apart, yet their relationship kept growing stronger. Bruce's love for your mother increased every day and even now that you're eight months old his heart still swelled when he looked at her.

It's another hot day, the heat and humidity weighing heavily over Kolkata. Bruce is sitting at the kitchen table shirtless, his skin glistening with sweat. The smell of tea fills the air as his thick and delicate fingers fumble with the warm cup, his eyes trained on your sleeping body. He smiles and walks over to your crib, a smile on his face, “I love you, shona”, he whispers before he gently takes you out of your little bed and cradles you in his arms.

Bonding with you means everything to Bruce. He adores you with every fibre of his being, which is why skin on skin is one of his favourite activities. To feel you and to know you're alive coats him in a sense of calmness. He sits back down at the table and rubs soothing circles onto your back, “Daddy's got you, shona don't you ever worry your pretty little head. I promise I'll protect you” Soft lips press onto your forehead, your father's scent surrounding you, “Always and forever”

Bruce gently rocks you while humming a soft melody and simply enjoying the moment. Peace and quiet are a rare occurrence in his days which is why he cherished them so deeply. Bruce loved to trace your features, to see how you look so similar to him.

He could hear Aarohi return before he spotted her through the window which allowed him to quickly dash to the door with you, still safely pressed to his chest. The door creaks as he opens it, a smile immediately covering his face as he spreads his arms for a hug, “ Welcome home Momma, we missed you so much” She laughs at his adorable greeting and steps into his embrace. Both of them are sweaty, but the feeling of their loved one is overpowering, dulling the stickiness of their bodies. Bruce gazes into her eyes as if she had hung the stars and he feels his heart flutter. It only takes a moment before their lips meet in a gentle kiss, emotions and love poured into it, “I love you, Bruce” - “I love you too. So much”

Suddenly, a small cry disturbs their moment, “Oh Y/n, shona, what's wrong? Did you miss Momma?”, she coos and takes you out of Bruce's embrace, “Don't cry, Momma's got you. Are you hungry? That's fine, I'm here” She smiles and gently strokes your hair. “She's had some fruit and veggies and a bottle that you've prepared”, he mentions as he walks into the bedroom to fetch a shirt. Aarohi smiled down at you, her beautiful daughter, “Have you been such a good girl eating all your veggies?” She takes off her bloodied and stained shirt from work and lets down her bra to feed you.

Exhaustion is clear on her face, but even when she sighs, she's the most beautiful woman Bruce has ever seen. Especially while she nourishes you, his own flesh and blood, he can feel his heart swell. She keeps you alive and healthy, the biggest gift he could have ever received. He makes his way over to the two of you and brushes some strands of hair out of her face that must have come loose from her tight bun, “How is everything at the clinic?”

“It's really stressful. I think something is going around. We'll see more of this virus for sure.”, she sighs looking down at you, “We need to be especially careful. I don't want Y/n to fall ill. Not with this” Their gazes meet “I'll make sure to be extra sterile then”, he whispers before pressing his lips to her temple.

She leans into him with a smile, eyes closed, “Thank you” His hand gently rubs over her arm, his thumb drawing circles. After a while you let out a whine, fed and sated. “Oh, shona, are you done? Does Momma need to burp you?” She wrestles you up on her shoulder to pat her soft hand against your back.

“It's very busy back there, you should hurry. Our doctors can't keep up with them alone.”, she whispers, turning her head to look at Bruce. He nods and leans down to capture her lips into a kiss. It's gentle and sweet, just like her, “I love you”, he mumbles against her lips. Then, he leans down to press a kiss onto your head, “I love you too, shona” Aarohi grins and turns you around to face him, “We love you too, Daddy”, she says and waves with your hands in her hands.

Bruce had absolutely no idea why he let himself get dragged into this mess. Actually he did, how could he ever say no to the pleading eyes of that little girl. She looked so tiny and scared and he could see you in that girl. Hopeless and scared. So he followed her, clueless about the events that were to follow soon.

Regret fills Bruce the moment he enters the house and helplessly watches as the girl leaves through a window – no ill father in sight. He huffs, a self-deprecating smile on his lips, “Should have gotten paid up front, Banner”

“You know”, a voice calls out to him suddenly, “For a man ho's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle” A woman appears out of the shadows, short, curly, red hair frames her face. She looks absolutely stunning. Carefully, Bruce puts down his medical bag and turns towards the female, “Avoiding stress isn't the secret”

She raises her eyebrow, “Then what is it? Yoga?”, she jokes, no humour in her voice. Nerves arising, he rubs his hands together to calm himself, “You brought me to the edge of the city”, he remarks, looking out of a window, “Smart”. With his hands clutched, Bruce walks towards it in an attempt to scan the area “ I uh,”, he mumbles, “I assume the whole place is surrounded?”

The woman takes off her red cardigan and moves towards him, “Just you and me”. “And your actress buddy?”, he questions, “She was a spy too? They start that young?” He walks back towards the middle of the room. “I did”, she answers. “Who are you?”. He is nervous and he feels his anxiety crawling up his back. “Natasha Romanoff”

Silence. Bruce still fiddles with his fingers, but after a moment he looks directly into her eyes, “Are you here to kill me, Miss Romanoff? Because that's not gonna work out... for everyone”. Natasha slowly moves closer to him, “No, no of course not”, she shakes her head, eyebrows furrowed, “I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D”.

He looks down and rubs his hands, “S.H.I.E.L.D”, he states monotonously, “How did they find me?” Looking up, Bruce sees her looking at him, “We never lost you, doctor. We've kept our distance. Even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent”, her voice is low like she's trying to speak extra calm. “Why?”, Bruce asks.

“Nick Fury seems to trust you”, she answers seriously, “But now we need you to come in”. He can't help but smile, “What if I say no?” Natasha smirks, her eyes twinkling dangerously, “I'll persuade you” He looks down, his pink tongue licking over his lips in thought, “What if”, he pauses to look up, “the other guy says no?” There it was, the elephant in the room.

Bruce is very proud that ever since he fled to India, the Hulk has not made an appearance. He did not receive any unwanted attention and lived life normally. He was able to be a good partner and father, never giving in to his anger. But now, things might change and that scares him. He does not want to let the monster out. It seems like Natasha knows that as well.

“You've been more than three years without an incident, I don't think you want to break that streak”, she says and turns away from him. The echo of her steps fills the room. “Well I don't every time get what I want” When he looks at the woman, she is walking towards him, a phone in her hands, “Doctor, we're facing a global catastrophe”

A self-deprecating chuckle escapes his lips, “Well, those I actively try to avoid” Without giving any thought to his statement, Natasha sits down at a small table that is situated in the room and shows him a picture of a bright, blue glowing cube, “This”, she starts and slides the phone towards him, “is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet”

Bruce fetches his glasses out of his spectacles case and puts them on. Cautiously, he grabs the phone to get a better look of the cube, In confusion, he lifts his head, “What does Fury want me to do, swallow it?” Natasha leans forward while keeping eye contact, “He wants you to find it. It's been taken. It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one who knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, then that's where I'd be”

Natasha leans back in her chair as he takes off his glasses, “So, Fury isn't after the monster?” “Not that he's told me”, she says calmly. “And he tells you everything?”, Bruce retorts. Slowly, but with grace, the woman stands up, “Talk to Fury, he needs you on this”. But it's too late, he can feel his fear rising, “He needs me in a cage?”

In an attempt of reassurance, Natasha begins to speak, “No one's gonna put you in a-” but she's interrupted as he suddenly slams his fists onto the table, “STOP LYING TO ME”, he shouts. With the blink of an eye, the woman grabs a gun from under the table and cocks it right into his face. A scared look settles on her face which she quickly tries to fight back.

Bruce steps back from the table. When he speaks again his voice sounds calm and collected, “I'm sorry”, he says, “That was mean”. A smile plays over his lips, “I just wanted to see what you'd do”. Natasha still holds the gun in her hands and Bruce puts his head in front of him to calm the woman down, “Why don't we do this the easy way where you don't use that”, he points to her gun, “and the other guy doesn't make a mess. Okay?”

Silence. “Natasha?”, he asks. The woman slowly lowers her gun, her gaze never leaving Bruce. After a few seconds she activates her earpiece, “Stand down”, she commands, “We're good here”. The eyebrows rise on his face, smile still on his lips, “ 'Just you and me' “, he mocks her earlier words. Natasha doesn't answer, she just stares at him from a few feet away.

“I need to tell my family. I have a daughter I need to tell her goodbye”, he suddenly realises, a panicked look on his face. Tenderly Natasha walks to him and places a hand on his shoulder, “Bruce this is urgent, there's no time”. There's a wild look in his eyes as he frantically runs to grab his bag, “No, please I have to. Y/n she's my daughter, I love her, I- I need to speak to her”

“Bruce”, the woman's voice is powerful and makes him stop in his tracks, “this is a global threat we are dealing with. There is no time. You can write a letter while we're on the jet. S.H.I.E.L.D will make sure it will arrive as soon as possible”. Bruce looks at the woman with a look that is similar to that of a kicked puppy and yet he sighs in defeat. He will soon come to learn that Natasha Romanoff does not negotiate, she gets what she wants, no questions asked. “Okay”, he whispers and follows the woman outside.

This is why you grew up being raised by a single mother. You love her more than anything in life. She made so many sacrifices and worked harder than any other person you know. She taught you everything she knew, about her work as a doctor, important life skills and most important how to be a decent human being. You try to be as kind and empathetic as you can, but you know your worth and found confidence in yourself.

Of course you're not perfect. You are insecure from time to time like any teenager and you are very temperamental from time to time. However, you are especially sensitive when it comes to the topic of your father. Ever since you could remember your mother talked to you about your father. She told you how kind and caring he is, how he loved you so much. But if he loved you so much, why wasn't he with you, with his family?

He sends letters to you and your mum and money to help you out and you appreciate that, but you wish he would just come up. Sometimes there are articles and reports about the Hulk. Aarohi had told you that your father could turn into him, but that you never had to fear him. And you don't, really. You love your father, but there's no solid relationship between you and your dad.

That is mostly your fault. You never answered your father's letters. Every time you sat down with a piece of paper and a pen nerves got the best of you. With shaky hands you put the pen down before you cried into your hands, careful to evade your mother. So one day you stopped trying.

Currently you're sitting in your room tinkering on one of your inventions. School has been quite easy for you and your mother kept telling you that you inherited your father's intelligence, a proud smile on her lips. Science came to you easily and physics as well as chemistry became your best friends. When you weren't busy helping your mother at the clinic you were experimenting with different chemicals and the laws of nature to try and broaden your understanding of the complex reactions and procedures.

The smell of spices and lemon fills the air in your room from your diffuser sticks while some soft rock plays on the radio. Your head nods involuntarily to the beat of some catchy chorus when you hear footsteps approaching. Not your mother's, she walks lighter than this. You turn around in your seat so you have a good view of the door as it opens to reveal one of the nurses that work for your mother. She frantically runs towards you, her eyes are wide and her lower lip is wobbling.

“Y/n it's your mother”, she whispers and takes a deep breath, “She just collapsed, we don't know why, I'm sorry, Y/n” You freeze at her words, eyes widening. Panic is bubbling up in your chest as your muscles tense, “What do you men? W-Will she be alright?” The woman just looks down which is as much of an answer as you need.

All of a sudden your body releases adrenaline into your bloodstream and you jump from your chair, your heart beating in your throat, “What are you waiting for?”, you yell at her, “Move!”. Your feet are moving on their own accord, the path to the clinic embedded in your brain from the thousands of times you have walked it. Hot wind is whipping your face as you run along the streets, the gravel and dirt scrunching loudly under the soles of your shoes.

You're panting once you arrive at the steps leading to the clinic, the humid air not helping with your struggle for oxygen, but you don't stop moving. The fear coursing through your veins overpowers the exhaustion. “Momma?”, you shout once you've barged through the doors. The floor creaks mournfully under your weight as you fiddle with your fingers. The smell of diseases and antibiotics hangs in the air. Usually you like being here, but now it feels like a weight that presses you down the further you walk in.

A doctor runs down the stairs, her steps rushed. She fixes you with her pitiful eyes and you feel anger bubbling up in your chest. “Y/n, my child, I'm so-” “DON'T”, you interrupt her, tears brimming in your eyes, “She won't die”. The snarling sound that leaves your mouth scares the doctor, but you run past her without care and sprint up the steps.

Upstairs, your mothers is lying on a thin mattress on the ground. Two nurses surround her, one presses a cold, wet cloth to her forehead, the other sits next to her to hold her hand. When she sees you she immediately gets up to make room for you. When your eyes land on your mothers face you release a gasp. She looks nothing like this morning when you saw her last.

She is pale around the nose, all her beautiful colours lost, and her skin is sunken down. Sweat is pooling on her forehead and runs down her temples in miserable lines while her eyes are hooded and half closed. The sound of heavy, flat breathes reaches your ears which finally breaks you out of your shock.

A few strong steps are enough to reach your mother's weak form. You fall to your knees with a soft thud and grab her hand, “Momma?”, you whisper, the first tears falling. A groan leaves her lips and she coughs nastily, “Shona?”,she croaks. A sob leaves your body and you press your head to hers, “Momma, what's happening?”

Her free hand moves up to cup your cheeks and you straighten to look into her strangely clear eyes, “I'm going to die, shona. I need you to listen to me”, she whispers hoarsely. “No”, you cry. Tears are freely rolling down your face. “No. momma you're not going to die, I won't let you, I promise”, you tell her desperately. You wipe away some tears with the back of your hand, before you open your mouth again. “Y/n”, Aarohi interrupts and you still. She never calls you by your name.

“I beg you, listen to me. I'm sick, been for a while. It's only transmitted over blood, so don't worry”, she pauses to take a breath while she shakily brushes some strands of hair out of your face. “You're a strong woman and I couldn't be prouder of you. Are you listening, Y/n?”, you nod, your vision blurry. “All I want for you is to be happy, okay? No matter what you do as long as you're happy that's all I could ask for, do you understand?”, she rasps out.

“Momma, what-”, you whimper, but she interrupts you again, “Y/n, do you understand?” You sob, but nod through the tears, “Yes, Momma” Her thumb moves to wipe away your tears and she sighs,”Good, That's good”. She coughs again and groans in pain,”Please talk to your father, shona. He loves you so much. Can you promise me that you'll write him?” Her voice sounds even weaker now, but your heart beats way too fast. The only thing cursing through you is fear. “I promise, Momma. I love you”, you cry, snot and tears mixing together.

Aarohi's hand falls from your face as her breathing becomes flatter. She closes her eyes, “I love you too, shona”, the words clumsily tumble from her lips. Your whole body trembles as it convulses. All your power leaves your body and your left to loudly cry next to your mother's death bed.

The next few weeks were hard for you,but you could never forget your mother's last words. You promised her you would reach out to your father, so you did. It wasn't long before you received an answer. His handwriting was shaky and hard to read, but you managed to figure it out, somehow. He told you he could not leave the United States by law, but he would be more than happy to welcome you into his home back in the USA.

You froze when you read his words. He wanted you to leave India, your home? You couldn't, this was your mother's everything. All your belongings and memories are in Kolkata, how could you abandon that? But then you thought back to your mother. She wanted you to be happy, right? And maybe a new beginning wouldn't hurt. After sleeping about your father's letter you realised that a blank slate is exactly what you needed right now. Because you wanted to heal.

So you wrote your father another letter in which you agreed to move in with him and began to pack your bags. You carefully chose which of your mother's things you wanted to bring with you. Many of her clothes ended up in your luggage, her distinctive smell still lingering on the fabric. The two photo albums land in there too. How could you not, they kept all the beautiful pictures of your Momma. You also brought her favourite movies, some cooking books and lots of blankets.

Packing all these things was very hard for you and you lost a lot of tears, but now when you look at all of your bags you feel very accomplished. “I'll make you proud, Momma”, you whisper and grab the one of your stuffed furry toys that you did not put into a bag. It's a medicine bottle with huge eyes and a big smile, which your father gifted you for your third birthday. It's your favourite and you decided to keep it close by for emotional support.

With one last look you sit down on your old bed and wait for your ride. Bruce wrote you that someone from the agency he works for will come and get you. Now, all you have left to do is wait.

“Come on, Bruce. It will be fine. You're shakier than me when I've been running on coffee only”, Tony smirks and pats his friend on the back., “She's your daughter, she loves you”. Bruce looks up at him with wide, slightly red eyes, “Tony, her mother just died”. The news of Aarohi's death hit him hard. Ever since he had to leave India his mental health has been suffering.

The government didn't allow Bruce to leave the country without a written agreement signed by the president. He begged them to let him return to India, but they wouldn't budge. The only thing he achieved was tighter security to keep an eye on him. He doesn't remember how many nights he cried himself to sleep. He couldn't see the love of his life or his daughter. Never before has he felt that low, not when his father murdered his mother nor when he tried to commit suicide after turning into the monster he is, but he could not give up. He wanted to be a better father than his own, he wanted to make you feel loved and appreciated.

So he settled on writing letters to you and your mother. Nothing scared him more than the thought that you might forget him or worse, hate him for leaving. He wrote you letters every months and sent you presents he hoped you would like. His biggest wish was to be as present as possible throughout your life. The only replies were from Aarohi though. She reassured him that you still loved him and talked about her life and the clinic. He wished he could be there with her.

When he finally received a letter from you he was ecstatic, but as soon as he started to read, his face fell. The love of his life is dead. Gone. He sat in his lab in shock for two hours, not moving an inch until Tony entered the room. That's when he broke down crying into his best friend's arms, “She's dead, Tony”, he whispered through his tears.

It was the billionaire's idea to invite you to live in the tower, “I know you miss her. Plus I wouldn't mind having her here. Don't tell anyone I said that, but I'd love to see you smile more often”. This was like the light at the end of a tunnel for Bruce. The thought of having you with him made his heart beat faster. Could he finally become the father you deserved?

And you agreed to his proposal. He opened your letter together with Tony as emotional support and when he read your beautiful, neat handwriting tears of joy shot into his eyes, “She said yes, Tones, she actually wants to come!” and Tony was happy to hold Bruce once more as he let out all of his tears, the tension slowly leaving his body.

Now he is waiting for the Quinjet that carries Natasha and you to arrive back in New York. She volunteered to be the one to accompany you. Even though Bruce told her he wasn't holding any grudges, Natasha felt guilty for ripping Bruce out of his family, so when the chance opened to help reunite them, she jumped at it.

“Tony”, Bruce asks, his voice wavering as if he's not sure whether or not to continue, “I'm scared, what if she doesn't li-” , but his best friend stops him, “Ah ah ah, no such negativity under my roof!” He pauses to glance at his surroundings, the wind howling around his ears, “or, you know, on my roof” Their eyes meet for a second, before Bruce goes back to rubbing his hands anxiously.

“Seriously Banner, you'll be fine. I've known you for sixteen years and I know that I have fallen in love with you at least three times”, the philanthropist says and smirks at the others shocked expression.

Before any of them can say another word the whirring of the Quinjet sounds from the distance. Bruce immediately straightens all colour draining from his face. A cold sweat is breaking out on his forehead and his hands become clammy. Tony leans forward and whispers gently, “You've got this, Banner”.

It feels like a lifetime, but also only a few seconds before the S.H.I.E.L.D plane lands on the roof and the motors slow down. Bruce holds his breath, scared, but hopeful. His life is about to change in just a few moments, for better or for worse. Nervously, his eyes focus on the exit of the Quinjet as he awaits to see you again, after sixteen years of missing you with all of his heart.

The electric sound of the gate opening makes his hands shake in anticipation. And then he sees you standing next to Natasha in all of your beauty. Your hair is pulled back into a braid which makes your eyes pop all pretty. A thin long sleeve and a pair of mum jeans hug your body nicely, yet you avoid to look into his eyes. Natasha and you both carry two suitcases each, but there are still some more bags on the plane.

The older woman gently nudges you forward with a smile to be encouraging. The cold New York air makes goosebumps rise on your arms and you shiver. This is it, you will finally meet your father. You swallow down your fear and move forward, eyes still trained on the floor. Natasha's footsteps are right behind yours which comforts you greatly. You've come to like her during the flight.

It's only when two pairs of shoes come into your vision that you stop dead in your tracks. The luggage that you've been carrying drop to the floor and you use all the courage you can muster to look up at your father, your heart beating loudly. Bruce looks as nervous as you feel, pale face and sweaty hands, but he puts on a brave face and forces a crooked grin to appear.

“Hey, shona”, he mouths your pet name. The look in his eyes is so hopeful it makes your heart churn. All the fear and anger you've carried with you is suddenly forgotten as tears collect in your eyes. The only thing you feel is the longing for your father's love that you've been deprived of for all these years. “Daddy?”,you whisper. As the words leave your mouth you start to run forwards, right towards Bruce.

He opens his arms right in time for you to fall into them, your face buried in his chest. Sobs leave your mouth as your tears stain his graphic tee, “I missed you so much”, you whimper and fist his jacket to pull him closer. He wraps his strong arms around you and carefully places his head onto yours, “I missed you too, shona, so much”. His voice breaks and a few tears begin to fall, some out of relief, some out of guilt.

The sound of your sobs and sniffles fill the silence. It's like a heavy weight was lifted from your shoulders. You were so scared to arrive in New York and how different things were going to be, but being in your father's embrace is all you needed. All this time you've been so occupied with being angry that you never realised how much you wanted any kind of fatherly love.

When you pull back to look into Bruce's eyes you stare into his red rimmed eyes, some single tears resting on his cheeks, “Y/n, I'm so sorry. I wish I could have returned home, but I had to sign these agreements and they wouldn't let me. I never forgot about you, shona. I love you so, so much”. His voice is shaky and rough and he reaches out to cup your face, his fingers wipe away your tears.

“It's okay”, you find yourself saying, “You're with me now, that's all that matters”

You both smile at each other, happiness radiating from you, when your moment is rudely interrupted. “I told you everything would be alright, Banner, Just shows you should listen to me more often”, Tony declares with a smirk to which Natasha responds with a warning glare. “Oh come on, Nat. I'm just joking”, he shouts before turning to you and winking obnoxiously.

“Y/n”, your father begins, “this is Tony, my, uh, best friend. This is his tower in which you'll be living with me. We have our own level”. Your eyes widen, “We have our own floor? That's insane!”

Tony laughs and puts a hand on your shoulder, “Of course, only the best for my science buddy and his daughter. If you have any questions, you may ask F.R.I.D.A.Y, she is an artificial intelligence built into the tower. She'll be available whenever”, he states, his eyes sparkling, “Isn't that right, F.R.I.D.A.Y?” The AI answers immediately,”Anytime, boss”.

Bruce smiles at you. His heart feels light and happy and he looks over to Natasha who gives him a thumbs up and a wink. “Dad?”, you ask him, shivering a little, “Can we go inside? I'm freezing”. “Of course”, Bruce nods eagerly, “let me just help with some of your bags”. Happily, he skips to the Quinjet to grab some of your luggage and hauls them over his shoulder. “Let's go, then”.

You walk behind your father, Natasha and Tony close by, as you take in the inside of the Avengers Tower. You can't believe your eyes: The sheer size of everything is overwhelming to you, but you're very excited. Meeting your father was scary, but now that the anxiety has fallen off of you, you're all blissed out and floaty.

The lift is very smooth, but the glass floor makes your stomach twist uncomfortably. Bruce notices your nervous shifting and slings his arm over your shoulder to pull you closer to him. Grateful for the warmth, you turn to him with a smile and mouth a thank you. In just a few seconds you've reached the right floor. Once all your bags are moved into your apartment, your father turns to his friends with a smile, “I think we've got it from here. Thank you, guys”

They nod at him and leave to give you two some privacy. “Do you want to see your room? We can unpack your things”, he asks, a nervous waver in his voice, “if you're okay with me helping, of course”. You take one of his hands in your own and grin, “I want you to be there with me. I spent so much time wishing you were home. I'm not letting you go any time soon”.

Hearing these words, he can't help but tear up, “I'm so happy you're here, shona. I wish your mother could have been with us too”. You release a shaky sigh and try to hold back tears of your own, “Me too, dad. Me too”. The feeling of being pulled into a hug by your father pulls you out of our head and you realise you started crying again. “I just miss her so much”, you sob into his chest.

A sniffles sounds from above you and you raise your head to see Bruce crying, “I'm sorry”, he whispers and wipes away some of his tears. “It's okay. At least I have you back now, daddy”. Gently, he cups your head and presses a kiss to your hair, “We've got this, shona. We're not alone anymore”, he tells you meaningfully, trying to convey that he meant what he said.

“Shona, I love you”

You breathe in and place his hand on your erratically beating heart.

“I love you too, daddy. So much”.

Taglist: @winteralpine @gotnofucks @lifeizlife

I’d appreciate some feedback and reblogs! That means the world to me :)

Be added to my tag list here :)

#Bruce Banner #bruce banner x y/n #bruce banner x you #bruce banner x reader #Hulk #hulk x reader #Marvel #Bruce Banner x daughter #Bruce Banner x daughter!Reader #Bruce Banner x desi!Reader #Avengers #original character #Bruce Banner x female character #Bruce Banner fluff #Bruce Banner angst #Bruce #Tony Stark #natasha romanoff

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invisi-trashghost · 4 years

Text

Headcanon: If the Obey me brothers meet MC as a child, what would they teach her?

took a nap and managed to dream of a scenario: (First time using tumblr and made a headcanon. please be gentle with me here in this fandom.)

“What if the obey me brothers somehow accidentally meet MC, when they’re a child. They were alone and awake at their room at night, and somehow the brothers teleported there and took a liking to them. He played with them & taught what they knew. [Demon Brother] was like... their everything to them and somehow MC grew up with the mindset that [Demon brother] showed when playing with them.”

Lucifer:

I think Lucifer would have taught them how to be a precise and meticulous perfectionist in anything.

Like: how to study, getting perfect grades, making sure the room is neat and tidy, teach them basic chores to lessen the burden of their parent(s)/guardian(s), etc.

Because of this, MC grew up to be a no nonsense perfectionist (who may or may not have OCD)

They may pick a career in the business, law or doctorate's world.

Like Lucifer, they would do anything and everything beyond expectations to make it seem what they’re more capable of... especially if they’re the one’s selected to be Devildom’s human exchange student.

They would be devastated if their plans have flaws/failed, made mistakes, had a bad grade, disappointing someone, etc.

They may or may not grew up to be a kuudere.

If they remember: (If they’re the exchange student)

They’re really happy to meet him again.

They’ll do what ever it takes to prove their worth in his eyes.

They looked up to him the most in their childhood

Luci here may or may not be smug about this.

(If Not:)

MC was so thankful of that man that appeared in their room that night,

They basically placed this person in a high pedestal.

They won’t tolerate failure on their part.

It would feel like failing their long lost (somewhat father-like) friend

If they don’t: (Whether they’re exchange student or not)

They would feel like that they’ve failed the one they respected them the most in the past. They would do anything and everything to correct the mistake

especially if it’s a tiny one. They’ll correct anything to the point of collapsing.

All in all, They were taught how to be perfect, and what’s the point if... everyone can see that... they are not reliable in some way?

Mammon

I think Mammon is... kinda the best guardian to look up to...? mostly? ._.

P sure he’ll complain about hanging around with a kid, but it slowly grows on him.

Lil MC may or may not have many friends but, one thing is certain...

Mammon looks the coolest guy to ever appear before them...

In their bedroom...

In the middle of the night...

Should we call the police?

Mammy here... will swallow any kind of praise as they are curious on how did he appear before them.

They asked him if he was their guardian angel...? or asked if they are his secret magical fairy that will help make their dreams come true.

MC watched fairly oddparents, S U E. M E.

MC will grow up to be a fun loving person, who may or may not be good at keeping money.

Career options: bank teller, casino manager, game dealer etc. anything that has a big paycheck or just freelance.

MC knows when to be serious from time to time but, mostly they’re just chaotic.

Mammon may have also taught them how to be sneaky, but MC studied hard on their years in growing up.

If they remember: (If they’re the exchange student)

May Lord Diavolo have mercy on Lucifer’s soul ‘cause (oof) there are two Mammons

One who’s a literal demon: who doesn’t think things through and made dumb decisions.

The other... while mortal: you’ll never now what you lost until you look really closely in the room.

Watch your pockets,wallets, or anything valuable everyone!

(If Not:)

They are really thankful for meeting someone like him tbh

Good (enough) news, they pretty much know how to save / be financially stable

Bad news, they know how to gamble...

It really depends on the situation of their lives:

They may be rich, they’re really poor or really frugal on how they were brought up.

If they don’t: (Whether they’re exchange student or not)

That man who appeared in their room... changed their lives for the better or for the worst.

Still really depends on how either: smart or lucky MC is.

Leviathan:

MC will grow up as a weeb! Change my mind!

either way, MC will grow to love cartoons and the sea.

bonus: If they live near the sea, they and Levi will play there almost all the time.

He may teach them how to swim too!

MC will love and adore fish and reptiles.

Levi would be the type to hype up on MC’s drawing / writing skills.

Because of this MC would know how to draw or make stories.

All in all, MC will grow up as someone who may or may not have social anxiety, or became a neet.

Their career options would be: a snake / reptile breeder, ocean conservationist, manga writer, or a storyboard artist.

Just like Levi, they are proud to be an otaku.

But more so on their ability to draw and make stories / fanfiction.

Because of his influence, drawing and writing wasn’t enough. They went through art school and now they can sculpt, sew, or make remixes or original music of their fave anime.

If they remember: (If they’re the exchange student)

They are ecstatic to meet him again.

MC and Levi rekindle their friendship through anime and games.

They would try to convince Lucifer on online schooling.

whether convincing him was successful or not, They would always hang out together.

They’ll cosplay and role play together, sometimes they re enact scenes of TSL or (insert anime here).

They had fun by roleplaying as Henry and Levi as Lord of Shadows, respectively.

Overall, Just wholesome weeb fun duration of their stay.

(If Not:)

They found solace through anime and videogames.

They may get addicted to TSL.

Depending on the situation:

If they met Levi and befriends him online: they became best friends.

If not: they may accidentally meet his online user and depend on him.

They pretty much rely on his opinions

They’ll show him their drawings, cosplay or even fanfiction.

They also rely on him for critique as he is known to rant about the facts of TSL or any anime.

They may border on perfection in their art, writing or cosplay just to please Levi.

They really look up to him.

If they don’t: (Whether they’re exchange student or not)

They found solace through anime and videogames back then.

Even though they don’t remember him, They grew a fondness is TSL.

So much that it became a show they’d like to watch in their childhood.

Basically, MC would know classic anime by heart or even become a famous cosplayer, fanfic writer, online artist etc.

IF they can get over their social anxiety first

#obey me #obey me imagines #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #tell me guys if you want part 2 #I'm just thinking on my own MC's personality if they grew up partially with the bros #obey me headcanons

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the-kings-of-games · 4 years

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The Inhabitants of the Mountain Valley of Neo Domino

Or: The Signers Reimagined With Influences from Eastern Asian Mythology

Introduction

In the mountain valley of New Domino, there live some of the most powerful beings in this world. The path there is treacherous as the road is windy and a heavy fogs covers over it like a veil, and the large pillar like mountains stand tall and old even at a distance. The nearby villages and towns know better than to wonder close to it, and elders warn their children of the dangers—the spirits and the demons—that inhabit the valley. However, if one were to go and manage a way on that road and through the fog, there are wonders to behold—for gods and heavenly beings walk on the earth in that valley and call it home.

Jack, the Dragon Prince of Hearth

In the valley, the bowels of the earth are found in the hidden great lake, and it is there that the royal family of the sea go to nest their newborns. It is rare that a lord or lady of the Dragon Palace leaves for that place, perhaps once every five hundred years, but each one of them seeks the fiery nest under that great lake. For millennia, the princes and princesses of the dragon king have been hatched there, and it was no different for Jack, the youngest of the royal brood. Yet he is different. For the fires of the earth had imbued him with a power so unlike a being of the sea. His heart was made a hearth, and so his soul burns, the power within him seen only once before.

Unwelcomed by the Dragon Palace, Jack's home has always been that great lake, and its very water only strengthens him, nurturing him like a mother. He's grown beautiful over the past few centuries, and though his kind stays away from him, other creatures of the sea flock to him, mermaids, naiads, and minor gods among them. He doesn't mind their company, but often, he leaves the comfort of home to seek his bond brothers and friends.

That is the time when a mortal could wish to see him. No other dragon has coral antlers and scales as pure and white as he.

Luna & Leo, Immortals of the Ancient Fairy Dragon

They were traveling with their parents, rich and intelligent people, through the country side in the dead of winter. The ground was frozen, and no flowers bloomed. Nothing should be growing. And yet they came across a peach tree that bore two pink fruits, just ready to be eaten. Leo saw it and wanted them, and so he climbed that tree onto a branch, throwing one down to his sister. Together, they took the bite, and it was the most delicious thing they had ever eaten, its taste succulent and bursting with flavor. Soon, there was nothing but the pit left, and Leo was about to climb down. Then came a terrible noise, and suddenly, both branch and boy fell. So young and small, he died instantly, and Luna was in tears.

That was then when a spirit of the nature appeared, the Ancient Fairy Dragon, who told Luna that she and her brother had been trusted with a sacred duty. Having eaten the peach of the immortality before his death, Leo came back to life, well and unhurt. Thankful, the twins agreed to leave their mortal lives behind, and they were guided to the high mountain valley of New Domino where the body of the Ancient Fairy Dragon remains. It is through them that hope to return her to the mortal plane is rekindled. Through their laughter and dedication, she can regain her powers.

How long ago was it since they arrived? It's hard to tell; since their arrival, neither twin has grown, but no doubt that more than one lifetime has passed.

Akiza, Cultivator of the Knowledge of Healing

The first mortal in decades to ever safely arrive at the high mountain valley of Neo Domino, Akiza came to live among the gods and heavenly beings in order to study the art of healing. Since birth, she had powers beyond human understanding, and that was why she left her home at a young age, seeking the secrets that can only be taught by ethereal beings and watching them. When she arrived, she made a new home under giant boulders held together by the thick roots of a single cao huan dan tree. Like the peaches the immortal twins ate, Akiza arrived right as the ginseng fruit of the tree ripened, crying like newborns, and she ate all thirty of them, granting her immortality.

Now, with such longevity and power, Akiza dedicates her time in cultivation and in the art of healing. Her skills and knowledge have gained much attention from both deities and other immortals. Many fear her, but some have become her friend, guiding her as she takes her step towards ascension. Whispers say she will one day have a place in the heavenly court, but it would not be for a long time as Akiza feels that she is not yet worthy, that she still has much to learn, that there are people to anchors her to this earth.

Her aid is for everyone who needs it, and her price is nothing. Her beauty is beyond compare, her knowledge incomprehensible.

Crow, Winged Guardian of the Valley

With wings as black as night, Crow is the one who cast the mist of the mountain valley of Neo Domino. He is no trickster, however; he watches over the inhabitants, catching secrets and sharing burdens, and the lost humans who wander too far, he leads them back to the right path with a smile. There are, on occasion, when a child finds their way into the valley, an orphan. Adoring children and compassionate, Crow take them as his own, raising them in the mountains until they are of age. He teaches them the secrets of nature—how to listen to the wind, how speak to birds—and they learn a little of godliness. He has many wonderful memories, but the ones he remembers the most are the days when his children come off age and he sends them back out into the world where they belonged, never to see them again.

On those days, he seek out his friends, weeping over his loss and proclaiming he'd never take another human child as his own again. His bond brothers know, however, that he would fail, and the cycle repeats again and again and again. They continue to catch him when he falls, and Crow rises up each time with a smile, his feathers preened and his golden staff polished. Always, he returns to his duties.

To receive his love is to be marked by fortune; to incur his wrath is to be damned and scorned. No one can cross him without consequence.

Yūsei, Young God of Neo Domino

Born in the heavenly court, Yūsei is the first living god of Neo Domino. On the day of his birth, he fell to earth like a shooting star, and for years, he slumbered in the heart of the mountain valley, every exhale breathing life into the dirt, the leaves, and air. It is said that when he fell, Neo Domino had never been so beautiful, and the people prayed in gratitude for the gods had blessed them. They worshipped the young god long before they ever saw him, and when they did, they knew he was conceived by the Sun and the Moon, his heart beating in time with the universe and his words like water, tranquil and clear.

The son of the Sun and the Moon, he takes long slumber, sometimes for years. No one would see him, but they can feel him. Other times, he takes other forms, seamlessly shifting, and maybe even half asleep. Once, he was a rabbit, then a sparrow. After, he became a bear, then a deer. Finally, he was a rock. His friends had made it a game to find him in these forms, something the young god enjoys, and he runs as quick as thunder, here one moment and gone the next. His biggest competition is his bond brother, Jack, who refuses to stop chasing him. The others are right behind.

Certain nights a year, when the heavens creates a stream in the sky, his form gains an ethereal glow like starlight, wrapped around him like a cloak, and he embraces it back.

#yugioh 5ds #jack atlas #leo (5ds)#luna (5ds)#akiza izinski #crow hogan #yusei fudo #yugioh #ygo #kappachyun muses #eastern asian mythology #prose #fic ideas #:)#team 5ds #kizunashipping

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klaineccfanficlibrary · 4 years

Note

Hey the anon who asked for powerful Kurt listed a number of fics. Can you please link them?

Here are the fics listed in this post. - HKVoyage

Follow Me by mmerainbows

AU. In a world where being born gay is not as bad as being born with abilities, and where the government regulates those with superpowers, Kurt and Blaine find one another under different circumstances. Together they have to decide on their paths in this world, and decide if those paths will converge or split them apart.

~~~~~

Temptations Mate by Sugakane_01

Kurt Hummel has inherited magical powers, powers that have drawn the attention of the lethal and lecherous Blaine Anderson, Marquess of Wiltshire, London's most powerful vampire. But Kurt's powers aren't the only thing Blaine desires. He wants the stubborn beauty in his bed-and despite Kurt's protests to the contrary, he has every intention of getting what he wants.

~~~~~

Be My Hero by TheWhiteOwl

Saying that Kurt's life is horrible is an understatement. He is the only openly gay kid in his school and the only one without superpower on the top of that. It doesn't help at all that his father is the famous Burt Hummel, the leader of their community. Kurt gets bullied and humiliated in every possible way and he is close to giving up, but then his father gets a heart attack and it changes his life forever. To help Burt out, a new superhero comes to Lima, someone who turns Kurt's world completely upside down.

~~~~~

Hot Under My Skin by ittlebitz

For centuries, witches and their guardians have worked as a team to protect humanity from demons. But a curse has broken the bond, and now the guardians are the hunters, driven by a terrible compulsion to hunt and kill what they once were sworn to protect. And the price for killing a witch is their soul.

Kurt Hummel doesn’t know anything about magic. But he is about to discover something about himself. For not only is he a witch, he is the key to breaking the curse.

Blaine Anderson is the leader of the group known as The Warblers, mighty hunters known for their bird tattoos and who have sworn to never shed the blood of earth witches. But when his sister is cursed by a demon witch, Blaine must find an earth witch to save her.

Kurt can help…if he can learn to master the powerful magic that is his birthright. And Blaine has to control the compulsion to either kill Kurt and absorb his blood…or possess him for his own.

~~~~~

Kindergarten Love by InvisibleRaven

I’m so nervous about sending my child to their first day at kindergarten but then I see you, surrounded by adoring kids and being super nice and please protect my child.

~~~~~

Lean on Me by kcollinsp

Futurefic! Blaine and Kurt broke up, 17 years later they meet when Kurt's daughter has Blaine as a teacher. One a widow and one newly single, they begin a relationship that rekindles the passion they had as teens. Eventual M for smut.

~~~~~

Dagger by SonOfASnitch [PDF and EPUB]

Kurt is a ‘superhero’ vigilante known as 'Dagger’. When forces turn against him, his identity is threatened, and of course it really doesn’t help when his best friend, Blaine, starts to fall for the masked hero.

~~~~~

The Siren and the Healer by @poorlittleklainer

Kurt Hummel wasn’t your ordinary guy. He had a fashion sense that could blow most people away, sarcasm that blew the rest of them away, and did I mention he was also a superhero?

#klaine #klaine fanfic #klaine fanfiction #fic finder #anonymous #superhero!klaine #fantasy

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dovakhiindrabbles · 3 years

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Two in one I’m on a roll! Anyhow, I thought I’d jump into Emeline’s side of the family before moving back to Aisha and Isran – I want to tie the two together but I really need to introduce these two and elaborate on their relationship with one another and Rosie before I do that! They haven’t gotten enough attention when they’re both incredibly important members of Rosie’s family – after all, this is where our Rosie got her name!

A warning for death and violence however! If you’re sensitive to those themes please keep them in mind before reading!

More Info underneath!

To avoid confusion, I’ll be referring to our Rosie as just Rosie and her grandmother as Rosalie!

Continuing from that, I’d like to introduce a new face: Rosalie Julienus-Asarmeson (The first of her namesake – though she took the title of Rosalie Sr. with Rosie’s birth). To be blunt, Rosalie has had a rough and difficult upbringing that led to the short-tempered, and brash woman that Tulius would eventually meet. She grew up an orphan in Bruma, abandoned at a young age and left to fend for herself in the cold mountains. Occasionally a pitying member of the Fighter’s Guild or the Great Chapel would offer her help only for Rosalie to promptly stick out her tongue and declare she didn’t need any help. She was considered a bit of a nuisance and continually sought after by guards who she’d smugly give the slip.

However, years of further and further alienation built Rosalie into a distant, frustrated soul. Her few good deeds would go unnoticed upon a mounting pile of small ones and the citizens of Bruma never quite understood how to connect with a child whose very first memories of the city were coated in loss. Attempts were made on both ends but never at the same time, or at the very least, not enough to make Bruma her home. At fifteen, she left and made her way to the Imperial City, desperate to find a sense of worth. Rosalie found the closest semblance in the Arena.

It was when Rosalie won the title of Champion that she was recruited by the Imperial Army, years later. She’s noted for her incredibly strength and resilience – even fighting bare handed and by whatever means in order to win. Her potential is finally recognized and though Rosalie would never admit it, it’s the possibility of finding that support system she’d always lacked that convinced her.

However, she almost immediately comes to regret this when she’s put under the command of Tulius, a newly promoted captain given the task of keeping Rosalie out a trouble for a minute training Rosalie. The two are almost always at each other’s throats, bickering, arguing, and fighting until it almost reaches a breaking point. Almost. Things thankfully, begin to change when Tulius (definitely not after being given a stern talking to from his command) stops trying to make Rosalie do things his way, and instead attempts to appeal to her. He observes her habits, mannerisms, and actions and attempts to implement that into her training. Rosalie of course, notices this and moves to the offensive – changing her movements and throwing him off at every turn. It’s confusing and frustrating and ultimately culminates into the very thing they should’ve done from the beginning: talk.

It begins as a furious argument – Rosalie upset over Tulius constantly trying to get in her head and Tulius then enraged that he wouldn’t have to do any of this if Rosalie tried to work with him! Rosalie then admits that she doesn’t know how to work with others, she’s always been on her own, why would she immediately bend over backwards to appeal to some stuck-up captain? This opens up a dialogue, and the two have a deep and meaningful conversation that points them in the direction of friends. Both take steps to be more thoughtful and patient with the other and soon enough, Rosalie becomes Tulius’s closest friends and advisor. Through years of surviving and fighting on her own Rosalie had become an excellent strategist, and Tulius had roused the strength and loyalty in his soldiers to carry out these plans. They became an inseparable duo and along the years, those feelings of friendship became more.

As a couple, one could often find the two sneaking off plenty of times to spend time with each other – people figured out soon enough, they didn’t have to say there was an ‘impromptu meeting’ but the lovestruck doofuses did anyways. Their relationship was always full of understanding and kindness, and even when the famed and feared General Tulis was at his most vexed, he could always be calmed down by equally feared Legate Rosalie just holding his hand. Rosalie and Tulius had a single daughter, Emeline, who they adored with all their hearts and souls. It wasn’t rare to see a baby Emeline in a sling on Tulius’s back as he tried to have a meeting or Rosalie doting on her toddler in the middle of a training. Rosalie wanted to be there for her child in all the ways her parents never had been. She truly loved her daughter and eventually Rosalie more than words could ever describe. Tulius too, was a notorious sap, who could be in an absolute rage only to melt at the sight of either his daughter or his granddaughter. (His famed ‘sweet voice’ was a well-known joke among the soldiers)

Rosalie was one of the most highly valued and respected members of the Imperial army, commended by Emperor TItus Mede II and even offered a place among the Blades. She could’ve easily been alongside Tulius as General had she not had that fateful meeting with her own former soldier, Ulfric, who initially idolized Rosalie. She was this intelligent, and masterful Nord leader among the Imperial forces and in his eyes, exemplified everything he himself wanted to be. Rosalie herself, kept him at a distance. He was a gifted young man who’d trained among the Greybeards but he always teetered along an edge. He struggled connecting with others from his training among the Greybeards and blindly loyal to the traditional, fracticous ways of Skyrim that Rosalie never understood.

She did her best to steer Ulfric towards growth and act as the supportive figure she never had in her youth when Ulfric was kidnapped in the midst of the Great War. This would eventually culminate in the dangerous, hateful figure seen in the Civil War who eventually kills Rosalie when the two meet again, with Imperial Legions investigating early Stormcloak sightings. (Not shortly after Civil War is declared but many hadn’t considered it with the scale and ferocity seen with Rosie’s time. Many thought it’d be a lengthy but ultimately useless endeavor. I’d say 188? Making Rosie 13) Rosalie’s death is considered a catalyst for the size and intensity the Civil War is seen with in Rosie’s day. Rosalie’s death was considered a tragedy all throughout Cyrodil, and Tulius himself was despondent and guilt-ridden for not being with her for months afterwards. Inadvertently, Tulius distanced himself from much of his family, even Emeline, and Rosie’s visits to Cyrodil lessened more and more. Their relationship is only rekindled when the two reunite again in Helgen and Tulius is fueled by revenge and frustration. Rosie joins her grandfather to seek vengeance against the man who destroyed not just their lives and families but those of so many others.

———————————————————————————————————–

My apologies, I know that’s quite a bit! But Rosalie’s character is so extremely important to the motivations of Rosie that I couldn’t ignore her! Tulius too is also someone who’s relationship with Rosie has a lot of depth and change throughout her story that I really, really wanted to at least touch on it! That being said, here’s a few more lighthearted facts!

Extra!

- Rosalie almost sobbed for hours when Emeline told her that she was naming her daughter after her biggest hero, her mother. Rosalie spent all her years as Rosie’s grandmother striving to be the best example possible and even was the one to introduce Rosie to the two-handed weaponry she adores so much.

- Tulius calls his granddaughter, ‘Rosebud’ and spoiled her to no end. He and Ehsan would write letters exchanging gift ideas when birthdays or holidays came around.

- Emeline as a child used to steal her father’s cloak so he wouldn’t leave her for his ‘boring meetings.’ She was glued to her father’s hip all throughout her childhood and was without a doubt her father’s daughter.

- Rosie and Rosalie will eventually meet again in Sovngarde when Rosie goes to vanquish Alduin. It’s a heartfelt and teary reunion and Rosalie leaves many messages for Rosie to send back for the family she misses so dearly. It brings back a bit of light that Tulius had long thought was gone when Rosie relays the message to ‘wait just a bit longer’ for them to reunite.

- As a child, Rosalie’s only source of comfort and idolization came from the Hero of Kvatch. She adored hearing stories of his rise to heroics and courage that never faltered even during the most difficult of times. (He was a little bit more of a shy doofus but most people don’t entirely remember that) It was his stories that made the harsh, cold nights a little easier to weather.

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed this important look into Rosie’s family and even more so hope that you have a marvelous day! If you have an questions feel free to send them my way!

#Rosieverse: Rosalie Sr #Rosieverse: Rosalie #Rosieverse: Tulius #Skyrim #Skyrim tes #General Tulius #Tulius #LDB #Dragonborn OC #My Dragonborn #Rosieverse #blood tw #tes

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corpulentus · 5 years

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Talk about Marek and Torvald’s and Adelynne’s relationship to eachother! How far are tehy apprt in years? what do they want from life and in which ways are they similar in this and wher enot? also how is their relationship to their parents?=

MORE HEADCANONS ON BEHALF OF @shuuhuu / @halforc-mercenary ;; She keeps me on my toes.

OKAY SO, ANYHOW.

Torvald is the eldest of the 3, a beast with a soft heart. He is 4 years older than Marek, the troubled middle child who is, in turn, 4 years older than Adelynne ;; The daisy in springtime.

As far as their relationships with one another go, Torvald and Adelynne have grown to be close as adults. However, as children, none of them spent much time together. This was when they were developing their own skills and, for the most part, moving around with their mother whilst their father was at war. Torvald took solace and comfort in finding friends his own age, Marek was a generally ( though jealous ) loner and Adelynne was ‘the infant with a gift’. Going foreword, it is not likely that Marek will be able to rekindle his relationship with his siblings because of the fate I have in mind for him.

Relationships with parents is its own matter. Their mother, Ashlin, loves all of her children ( as any good mother does ), but she was much quicker to accept that Marek had run away from home and that he would never return. Their father, Roderic, as a strong military type, was still very soft and kind and he very much adored his children. However, when it came to their futures, Torvald being the oldest, he took a great deal of interest in his skill as a warrior and, in turn, seemed to have left Marek and Adelynne to the care of their mother. This was not an intentional thing, but it did leave him regretting his decision to be so attentive to Torvald for all those years. He took the thought to his grave that it was his fault their son had run away and he never did live to see Marek return to the Alliance.

Torvald wants a simple thing, he just wants peace. He wants peace and a restful life where he can feel safe having a family or feeling there is no more immediate risk to the life of his friends and his remaining family. Marek did not know himself well enough to decide on what HE truly wanted. He was trapped and manipulated into this twisted organization that took his mind and made it their own. By the time of his death, all he wanted was release from the things he’d done and the decisions he had made that led to his own downfall. Adelynne wants a very similar thing to Torvald, but she has aspirations of, one day, opening up her own orphanage and child care center where she can be the caring, loving, gentle, soul that she is so proud to be.

#shuuhuu #halforcmercenary #( ( factoids. ) )#( ( factoid. ) )#( ( letters. ) )#( ( i'M SO UPSET ) )

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nostalgic-blood · 7 years

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the perfect pear isn’t SPOILERS anymore !!!!!!!!!

YES I CAN PRAISE IT TO THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOON and spam my blog of the best episode in the series

my tastes are v. predictable

my favourite stuff has FEELS and HEART, and it doesn’t matter how predictable or unoriginal or whatever it is i watched or read, as long as it successfully makes me FEEL... it is perfect. it has achieved what it needs to do

for the longest time i’d list out all the stuff i’ve seen and be like THIS! THIS IS THE SADDEST PART AND I CRIED OR ALMOST CRIED and no matter what THAT part is always my absolute favourite in the whole show but I never had this for MLP. IT’s always been that sweet saccharine show i’d watch when i need to be reminded that no matter what is happening, sometimes the fluffiest most sugarcoated crap is what i need to consume. sometimes i just need pure happy. that’s why pinkie pie is my absolute favourite pony. she’s pure happy. but CRYING? no i don’t do that to ponies, it’s too TV-Y and for kids to ever touch upon dark or sad topics and not only that but do it WELL

things like say that one RD episode about tank. some fans are saying the intention with that episode was to showcase the four stages of grief. The problem with that was that Tank DIDN’T ACTUALLY DIE and while it’s still a nice and good lesson and wonderful and sweet for the audience and especially the children, it makes Rainbow Dash seem a lot more childish than her age in the series. And yes it makes sense she is more childish, this being a kids show for kids to relate to. Even if our main characters all have jobs and seem like stable adults, there has to be times where they act like this to teach kids stuff, but imo that could have been pulled off better with the CMC or maybe actually killing off the tortoise

other kids shows have some kind of death in it! It’s usually subtle or whatever, but some kids shows can broach the topic and THE WORLD DOESN’T END

but then MLP goes and starts implying the apple parents are dead. and that’s not just some pet or some animal or something with less weight on the television for the children, it’s literally THE GUARDIANS OF OUR CHARACTERs, who died when they were young and NEEDED these parents the most. Genius then that Granny Smith exists, but still. the biggest nightmare for a child is a parent dying, their primary caretaker, the most important person in their world leaving. but then MLP goes even FURTHER BEYOND THAT

it’s all about this family drama, where two who are in love cannot be in love due to their feuding families, reminding us of romeo and juliet where the main lovers ALSO die, but where that play was meant to send the message that young love where two characters who’ve known each other for all of like two weeks and end up committing suicide are foolish and dumb teenagers, here we have this wonderful wholesome love story about two adorable ponies and even if it seems like the most perfect and happy love story ever, it isn’t! IT ISN’T

AND NOT JUST BECAUSE THEY DIE. it’s that Pear Butter has to leave her family to be with Bright Mac, and there is a rift, and Grand Pear disowns her. She is abandoned by a family she grew up for her whole life, in this one momentous decision..and it’s DEPRESSING. IT’S DARK. I never expected MLP of all things to cover such a topic at all, and so well too! The fact that Grand Pear made the biggest mistake of his life, and left... and never saw his daughter again. That’s not whimsical childish mistake #29, that’s a regret you can NEVER fix ever again. And all you can do is move on and change what you can with the present, which is to rekindle with the family that’s still there, that you rejected, the grandchildren. And THAT’s another thing I could never ever predict at ALL when it comes to ponies, that not only do we know the parents died, but that a parent lost his child. A parent not only lost his child, but never talked to them again after a fight, after a rift. It’s unbearable the amount of regret there is there and how utterly depressing and dark that is.

That’s not. I DON’T EXPECT THAT IN HAPPY TECHNICOLOUR PONIES. You expect that in those primetime dramas with the heavy hitting tragedies and such. THAT’S JUST NOT SOMETHING YOU SEE, AND I SAW IT. AND IT WAS PULLED OFF WELL, and it MADE sense. We never heard of Grand Pear for seven seasons because he moved away! We never knew about the parents because no one wanted to bring up such a sad and uncomfortable topic, and no one was sure when it’d be the right time to do so! Yes there are some oddities and plotholes like why no one’s seen that combined twisty tree before and other such things, but overall it fit!

honestly, my biggest fucking pet peeve is anyone coming away from that episode and the first thing they ask is “BUT HOW DID THEY DIE!? WHY DID THEY NOT SHOW THAT!?” that is fucking missing the ENTIRE point of the episode and it just pains me deeply that some people need to know something so unnecessary after everything else that episode spoonfed us. It’s like, someone must be absolutely soulless or heartless to only focus on something like that. It’s a reasonable curiosity sure, but this episode was not the time for them to reveal something like that, and even if they did? SO!? WHAT WOULD THAT ACHIEVE!? ALL IT WOULD DO IS SATISFY YOUR CURIOSITIES. THERE IS NO NEED FOR THAT KNOWLEDGE IN AN EPISODE LIKE THIS

the episode was celebrating the perfect pear’s life. The parents’ life. It was about THEIR life not their death. And I cried like a baby during and after this episode. I was BROKEN after this episode. My head was on the table and I just sat there numb for a long time. It just reminds me of how life really is like. There will be reasonable people who can be absolute intolerable shitheads, and they may eventually learn their lesson, but sometimes they learn their lesson too late. Sometimes you can’t choose your own family. Sometimes wonderful people die before their time. But by the end of the episode, after all the regrets and sadness there is forgiveness. And it just brings me hope because no matter how shitty it is that MLP’s message in the end is to still look up, still remember, and still be good to each other. It’s not being happy and sappy and everything is a utopia kind of thing, it reminded me that even in a seemingly wondrous place like Equestria there’s still these real things happening, but they can STILL have their happy ending eventually. It’s this kind of deep positivity I truly adore, and what keeps my gears running if not most people’s.

Like, I truly related to this episode and it instantly became my favourite of the entire series. None of my favourite characters were in it. It just told a beautiful story and pulled it off flawlessly. Maybe there was good timing too, as my father passed away this year. His death was not pleasant to watch. People complaining “HOW COME WE DON’T KNOW HOW THEY DIED” piss me off to no end. I don’t want to remember how my father died. I don’t want to relive that memory. And IT’S NOT THE PART YOU SHOULD REMEMBER ABOUT THE PERSON ANYWAY, BUT THEIR LIFE.

Anyone who doesn’t understand that isn’t my friend. Anyone who can’t see this episode for what it is break my heart. This episode resonated with my very soul. I never expected this from MLP but I’m so glad they were able to do this, and were able to tell such a genuine, heartbreaking love story. Thank you My Little Pony. Thank you for this episode.

#personal!shit #text!post #rant!post #mlp!shit #this episode is the greatest mlp has ever been #and nothing from here on out can ever match it

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outlawqueenbey · 7 years

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DOQ Week - Day 2 - Family

Titled - Look Both Ways

Today is one of those days where the sun seems to be shining just a bit brighter, the sky just that much bluer, even the chirping of birds just a little more harmonious. Today is one of those days that nothing, absolutely nothing could possibly wreck. The domestic life is something she hadn’t really planned on enjoying this much, the entire thought of having a family surrounding her was a dream let go decades back.

Yet here she is, sitting on a soft cream couch, thumbing through a national geographic magazine (the one she’s been waiting what feels to be an eternity for just because there is an elephant highlight in it), sipping on a glass of red wine waiting for her family to come home for dinner, a dinner she’s made.

No, Maleficent had never thought this would be her life, swapping solitude for society. It’s had it’s moments. Where the claustrophobic tightness of the town has had the fire inside raging and rumbling to burst as though she’s about to burn the entire town to the ground. Fortunately, only a few acres of trees have been torched. Robin (another interesting adjustment in her world) had been kind enough to find her a large piece of the forest where not a soul resided, and she could simply sit in her much needed self-silence whenever her anxiety peaked. It used to happen more often, but she is learning that maybe being slightly suffocated by love isn’t such a terrible thing.

In the beginning, she wanted Regina, was happy to steal the woman away from the pain this place seemed to continually cause her. A soulmate had left, a surrogate child gone with him, and Regina had sought the comfort of her old friend, had rekindled this strange harboured love once more. But the thief had come back, and Maleficent hadn’t exactly been thrilled. She loved Regina, and Regina loved her back, but she also loved this outlaw and his messy though rather adorable offspring. They’d talked about it at length, Mal and Regina, what this meant for them, Robin returning from New York, and after a few months apart and some serious discussion they had all decided that if it made Regina happy, regardless of how Robin and Mal felt towards each other initially, that they would make it work.

And it’s beyond what Mal could have ever anticipated. She loves Regina. She is rather fond of Robin, dotes on Henry, but Roland, the chocolate button eyed, unruly, soft curls and pink chubby, dimple dented cheeks have been her entire downfall. They tease her about it. Her obsessive affection for the youngest, and whilst she still scoffs and barks back a threat about toasting their skin, her smile is brighter than the sun when she hears his voice. They can all go to hell for calling her a soft marshmallow for the boy, if he wants a Dragon teddy bear, well then he is going to have the best bloody snuggle buddy in the entire world.

And for as taken with Roland as Maleficent is, the affection is reciprocated in full. She is his guardian, his movie picking partner, spaghetti fork twirler, bathtime bubble maker, mischievous partner in crime, cookie stealing accomplice, and the place he goes when he wishes to be extra affectionate. He says she purrs, that her heart rumbles in her chest when he sleeps on her, that she is warm and soft, and keeps all the bad guys out of his dreams.

She waits everyday for him to come home from school. Impatiently, with her eyes checking the clock until it strikes twelve minutes after three, which means the god awfully colored long transportation car (Regina calls it a bus….) will be turning the corner in exactly two minutes, and she will be standing outside on the sidewalk in 90 seconds. It’s one of the best parts of her day, hearing his tiny scream of excitement as he flings himself into her awaiting arms from the second to last step on the bus. The babble of nonsense that quickly follows, and the smugness in her heart when he begs her to dragon for him, which simply entails she let out a puff of silver smooth smoke out into whatever shape he desires, usually it’s a lion, but she’s been trying elephant shapes… and he still squeals and burrows his head into her chest happily as they turn back to the house.

And so here she is, flipping through magazine pages whilst flicking her gaze to the clock, and it’s nice enough outside that she can afford to wait a few extra minutes out in the sunshine. Robin is in the kitchen humming far too loudly which probably means he’s sneaking in a few bites of dinner before it’s ready. Bloody thief. As if his ears were burning, he walks into the living room, stopping mid bite as he realizes Maleficent’s eyes glinting at him from the sofa, apparently unaware that she was still here and not already outside waiting for Roland. He gulps hard, swallowing painfully against the lodge of stolen food stuffed into his cheeks and does his best to smile at Mal, who simply arches her eyebrow at him.

“Shower sex for the whole week if we keep this between us.”

She laughs at his poor bargaining skills, but nods anyway and reaches for the glass of lemonade in his hand. Roland likes lemonade, her puff of purple magic adds a few plump sliced strawberries into the yellow sugary liquid and she is out the door before Robin can question the thievery of his drink.

It’s gorgeous outside too as she pads down the stone walkway, noting the fact Robin should probably cut the grass soon. The blades are tipping over, and she is more than accepting to the idea of watching him sweat shirtless in the sun whilst she and Regina watch from the patio chairs, admiring the view. She hits the iron gate at the same time her brunette love rolls into the driveway, her dainty little fingers waggling behind the window. The engine cuts off and Mal leans over the gate, appreciating the low cut in Regina’s silk red wine blouse, heating at the tightness of her dark skirt contrasting the olive of her toned calves shaped down into tall snake skinned pumps. She looks good enough to eat… perhaps later. It’s a grinned “Hello,” a happy squeeze of a hand, followed by a gentle kiss to Mal’s cheek. All very damn domestic, and Mal loves it, kissing a lover whilst waiting for her tadpole to come home. And the timing is perfect, as Regina leaves her with a pat on the bum and the cheesewagon turns the corner. Her heart skips joyously and she closes the gate behind her.

The bus comes to a stop on the other side of the road which is different… irritating, and has her brows cinching together as she waits, arching a touch to the right to try and catch a glimpse of a mop of curly brown hair. Why it’s on the other side is beyond her, but it doesn’t make much of a difference. The ghosting sound of Regina’s voice mentioning that there was a new guy driving the school bus, a lanky half wit of a man, Horace something… or perhaps it was Jasper, the name escaping Maleficent in its non-importance to her.

Still, it’s taking Roland longer to come off the bus, and patience isn’t the Dragon’s strongest suit. More so when it comes to being reunited with her tyke. They have oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to eat, and another chapter of Pete’s Dragon to read before bathtime.

The sound of a rumbling engine breaks up the serene sway of the wind. Far too loud and violently roaring as it turns the corner, a god awful electric green color speeding into sight. She hates these magical moving steel boxes and all the noises and jilting they cause. Walking is nice, horse back even better, there is no need for these metal boxes. Mal’s eyes frown as she watches the heavy vehicle accelerate, thundering revving of it’s engine, bulky tires rotating wildly as it slices the distance of the road in half, and why the hell aren’t they slowing down?

Red flashing lights begin to blink from the bus, a stop sign slapping out from it’s yellow side, and still the green car doesn’t slow, jerks slightly left before evening out, and she sees the first few children clambering out of the bus and straight into the road, the green beanie of Roland’s finally bouncing into view. There are children in the crossing, the bus is halted, the caution lights are flashing, the car will stop. She’s been trying to use less magic and learn to trust the workings of mechanical life here, she won’t freeze the car unless it’s absolutely necessary.

She sees his little hand wave from across the street at her, a dimpled, toothy smile beaming as he calls out her name excitedly, waving hard enough to have his hair jostling back and forth beneath his hat.

She goes to tell him to stay there, to wait, she will come to him, but the car’s engine drowns her out, her realization she momentarily forgot about the vehicle sinks in her gut as Roland steps out onto the crosswalk. She panics, her magic sputters and everything freezes in time.

The sound of tires squealing shrieks, stench of burnt rubbing trailing behind with the cloud of white hot smoke as they attempt to brake, but it’s not enough, the wheels lock and skid into the intersection. A horn blares out horrendously, a shrill scream pierces the air, a horrid smack of something onto somewhere, and a Captain America backpack flies into the air. The entire time Maleficent is frozen to the stop, eyes locked onto the green beanie that floats for a half moment in the sky and sways to the ground a few yards away and everything goes deadly silent.

No one moves, stunned for a tense, disbelieving second, scattered about the street, around the green smoking car, air bags deployed and horn still ringing. His name drops terrified from her lips, and all hell breaks loose.

She runs, bellowing out for him, her magic stampeding back into her veins as her feet hit the hot pavement. Stunned pairs of wide eyes follow her between the crowd that has begun to conglomerate around the crumpled hood of the car. Someone is calling out for help, a small girl is crying off to the side, and still there is no Roland leaping out from safety towards her.

Her lungs burn, mouth agape though no air sucks in, eyes wild in her search for him, she just needs to see him, his big brown, button eyes sparkling up at her, the giggling that starts at the base of his belly, she just need to find him. Safe and unharmed.

It’s a chorus of fear and panic, screams and sobs, her dragon enhanced senses being overloaded with the alarming terror swimming in the crowd. It makes her ears ring at their high pitched wailing, nose inhaling the overwhelming burning smell of rubber tires scorched by the pavement. Her usually hot skin chills and prickles with a sense of foreboding dread. Her irritation flares at the stifling amount of people bashing frantically into her, slowing her progress in finding him. She hauls a few people off to the side, uncaring of their outburst, quickening her pace as the crowd finally parts, revealing the smoking crumpled green car crunched against a tree, still blaring on it’s horn, and she can see the driver slumped into the airbag, squashing the wheel, groaning as he beings to come too.

“Roland?! Roland, where are you?!”

Her heart plays with the fine line of hysteria when he doesn’t answer back.

“He’s under there!”

What the fuck does that mean? Under where? Under what?

“Oh shit! Someone get help!”

She sees a teenage boy bending at the front of the car, and the entire fire of the dragon inside recoils into an ice block as her eyes finally find what she’s been searching for. Beneath its mechanical belly, a small fist crooks out awkwardly, unmoving and clutching a stuffed red stained elephant, and Maleficent shrieks.

…

They heard the squealing of tires, the impact of what could only have been a vehicle hitting something hard and then complete dead silence. Her heart sank the same time Robin’s eyes flared with panic. Mal was outside waiting for Roland, the crunch sounded horribly like a car crash, and Regina’s blood runs cold at the thought, there are children outside. Setting her coffee cup down as gently as possible with the trembling in her hands, she turns on her heel, Robin behind her instantly as they open the front door. It’s chaos that meets Regina’s eyes, an absolute pandemonium of children screaming and crying, parents flooding out into the street, the smell of burnt tar swirling into the dark grey cloud of smoke just beyond the crowd.

Keep calm, Regina, panicking will only make things worse. Breathe and just figure out what happened. They are both okay, it’s going to be okay.

Her mind cycles the mantra, but her gut feels like a hot stone is burning her alive with fear as she and Robin step onto the pavement, and her blood freezes at the torn scream of a voice she knows down to her core. They run as the sound of an ambulance siren blares in the distance, the crowd parting instantly as Regina shoves them aside.

Mal is there, on the ground and for a moment Regina’s heart falters thinking maybe she is hurt, maybe her scream was in pain, but the closer her heels bring her to the carnage the worse her gut wrenches. She is sobbing uncontrollably when they reach the Dragon, and Robin lets out a heavy, “Oh fuck,” when they see what she clawing under the car for.

It’s Roland. His arm is barely visible underneath the crunched, smoking metal, the elephant he carries everywhere with him stained bloody in his limp fist. “Mal! Mal, what happened!” Regina bellows out, kneeling beside the blonde whose hands are ripping at the pavement.

“Oh God. Fucking Christ. Someone get help!”

Mal doesn’t even recognize them beside her, her attention focused on getting her little dragon out from beneath the vehicle. Her eyes burn with tears as she calls over and over again for him, panic overtaking her mind as she slams her shoulder into the door, heaving with as much force through a screeching roar. It doesn’t budge. Not until she feels Robin and Regina on either side of her, pushing and lifting the car with every ounce of force they can muster. It begins to lift slowly, creaking and cracking through the blinding haze of smoke.

His brown jacket comes into view, tattered and torn. The mop of curly hair slumped about his face, hiding him from Mal’s eyes. He doesn’t move. Doesn’t respond. Laying there horrendously still. Her hands grip around his arm and she tugs gently, but his pants are caught on something and Mal cries out terror stricken. “Roland! My little Dragon, can you hear me? Please say something! Roland!”

The car flips on it’s side and Roland’s little body is unveiled, legs at an awkward angle, blood pooling around his face, matting his hair and the tar road below. Mal slings her arms around his body and hauls him out of the wreckage. He’s limp in her arms.

“Is he breathing?! Mal? Is he… is he alive?” Robin stammers on his fallen knees beside her, running his palm over his son’s pallored face. Tears coat her cheeks as she tries to rouse him, shaking him gently as she whispers into his ear for him to open his eyes, she just needs to see his beautiful brown, chocolate button eyes.

“Roland? Baby? Can you hear us?”

“Roland?”

There is nothing and Mal’s heart shatters into a thousand bleeding pieces as her fingers search for his pulse under his chubby jaw.

“The ambulance is here!” Someone calls out, but they don’t move, Mal doesn’t dare relinquish her grip on her tadpole. He will be fine. He has to be fine. There is no way in hell she is letting him die. Not now. Not ever.

“Come back to me.” She presses a kiss to his forehead and lets her magic flow from her heart and into his broken, bloodied, barely breathing body.

Warmth. Hot stifling electric waves pulse through her body, latching into him, seeping into each broken vein, every shattered bone from the tip of his toes to the lump in his skull. Regina’s hand grabs her own and she feels her own magic thumping into her, vortexing in with the light she holds, and Regina’s thoughts begin to flow into Mal’s mind and magic.

Roland, my little knight. Baby, we need you to come back to us. Breathe for us, baby. I know you can do it.

Together they stitch together the lacerations that bleed. Bind the bones that splinter awkwardly through delicate, soft skin.

Little Dragon, beat that heart of yours for me. We have cookies to eat, I made you oatmeal chocolate chip, your favorite, and you know I can’t eat them all myself. Come on, sweet love, open your eyes for me.

They fill his lungs with air, his heart with love, pouring in every ounce they have for this little outlaw that has stolen their entire souls. Robin’s hand rests on Mal’s lower back, his other brushing back fallen locks of hair as he too whispers for his son to be strong, to be brave, he’s a merry man and they need him.

It takes forever, an eternity that ticks by slow as molasses, and Mal’s eyes begin to water when he still doesn’t move as their magic slowly ebbs away, healing everything they can possibly touch and the hot wet tears fall down onto her cheeks when his eyes still do not crack open for her.

Regina stifles a sob into Mal’s shoulder, whispering out his name, a hand thumbing gently over his ribs. The paramedics are beside them suddenly, kneeling down quietly as they look over the injured boy, opening his coat button by button though Mal still holds him into her lap, combing through his blood soaked matted hair. He’s so small, so unbelievably tiny and precious to her, to all of them.

Silence surrounds them all as they wait, the paramedics slowly cutting away his shirt and placing ecg pads to his little torso. “We need to get him to the hospital.” One of them comments gently, reaching out for him, but Mal is possessive of the little one, her little one. She shakes her head and leans over his body, her tears dropping onto his forehead and both Regina and Robin cradle them all tight together.

“Mellie?” A soft quiet cough breaks the awful silence as little brown eyes flicker behind lashes and finally open.

“Hi, little dragon.” She smiles, cries harder, if that’s possible, but it’s from relief. Robin heaves a heavy breath, cradles his son’s head as he breathes out his name gently, Regina doing the same as they all sigh out a tense, happy breath.

“Can we still have cookies?” He sniffles in Maleficent’s lap.

“Of course we can, you can eat them all.”

“But you like them too.”

“I’ll make us more.”

Six hours later their entire family is curled up on the couch, stuffed shoulder to thigh, squished into the cushions, but space is not needed, not right now, never again as Mal’s soft voice reads out the words to his favorite book, the last words, “And the little dragon family lived happily ever after,” resonating far greater than ever before as Roland finally nods off to sleep, healthy and here with them.

Family after all is the most important thing.

#dragon outlaw queen #outlaw queen #Regina Mills #robin hood #maleficent #oq fic #doq fic #doq week #day 2 #roland hood #look both ways

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alhorner · 7 years

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Anderson .Paak is the man with no off switch

After their first night on tour together, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak had dinner. “We were chopping it up, and he was like ‘I’m gonna help you out, we gonna write together,’” says .Paak. “He asked me: ‘But are you really ready man? You ready to have that hit?’ And I was like ‘damn, bro… I’m ready to make hits, but I don’t know if I’m ready for that.’”

By that, he means the kinda spotlight that comes with true pop behemoth status: the type of celebrity that, as .Paak’s ultra famous ‘Uptown Funk’ hitmaker pal could attest, means infinite riches and glamorous Super Bowl half time show slots, yes, but also means being hounded by paparazzi at every turn. “I like where we’re at now,” he muses. “I’m making music that’s pushing the culture, but I can still go out and get a coffee and not get surrounded by TMZ.”

We don’t know how to break this to him but if things continue to snowball for .Paak this might not be the case for long. The hip-hop polymath, who not long ago was homeless and working on a weed farm in his native California, is responsible for not one but two of last year’s most critically adored albums. He’s the preferred writing partner of every rapper and musician you currently love or admire. Dr. Dre signed him to his label. He’s hit the studio with Chance The Rapper, sold out arenas worldwide with Bruno Mars, shared a stage with Kendrick, and gone viral in an internet video dancing with his infant son, Soul, on Ellen. On top of all this, he’s about to electrify festival stages across Britain and Europe with his backing band the Free Nationals. After a frantic 18 months putting his infectious brand of soul-dripped rap on the map, he’s a guy in dire need of a break. Not that he has any intention of taking one.

“I actually think I sleep too much, man. I got shit to get done,” the 31-year-old says as he takes control of the studio stereo, queueing up some 1980s funk and a few Kendrick hits (“I’m still getting into his new album but it’s amazing,” he says, over the heavy piano panic of lead single ‘HUMBLE’). It’s a sunny April afternoon in east London, where the multi-instrumentalist is gulping back espressos and bouncing about with an electricity that’ll come in handy over the next week, when he’s tasked with entertaining London’s massive O2 Arena across four sold-out nights (“20,000 people a night man, I love it,” he beams). But by the sounds of it, one of this summer’s must-see festival performers would rather be working on beats than partying in front of the Pyramid Stage if he wasn’t performing.

“I’m in a constant state of creation. You need to physically tear me outta that studio sometimes. Shit, that makes me sound boring,” he jokes, piling a plate with caesar salad as we sit down for lunch. In person, he’s a one-man charisma machine, his conversation regularly dropping into the same raspy flow that lights up his records. “I like to party, but I’d always rather be in a studio environment creating something super dope.” He’s not kidding – after our interview, he ends up taking a taxi to Abbey Road for an afternoon throwing ideas around with Chic’s Nile Rodgers, Bruno Mars and parent-sharing house practitioners Disclosure.

That hard-working streak might have something to do with his difficult backstory. Born Brandon Paak Anderson, the artist known nowadays as Anderson .Paak (the dot is to “make people pay attention to the little details” he says) was raised in the small west-coast beach city of Oxnard, 100km from Los Angeles, by a Korean-born mother who hustled her way up from being “literally found by a dumpster, abandoned” in the 1950s to owning her own strawberry business empire. His dad, an African American naval worker, was jailed when .Paak seven years old for assaulting his mother in the street in front of him (“he beat her within an inch of her life,” he has previously said on the matter). Assault and firearm charges followed, landing his father a 14-year sentence.

“There were hard moments,” says .Paak about his upbringing. “But the way music alleviated stress and tension for me when things were hard, I want my music to help people and give them the good vibes they need. That’s what it’s about.”

After his father’s incarceration, his mother remarried. An otherwise pretty uneventful childhood spent playing drums – his first instrument – at his local church, going to punk shows and devouring “any, every” type of music was interrupted aged 17 when freak storms wrecked his mother’s strawberry farm crops, plummeting her into bankruptcy and sparking a gambling addiction that ended in a prison spell for her and .Paak’s stepfather over undeclared earnings.

When his birth father was eventually released from prison, the songwriter’s attempts to rekindle their relationship were cut short by cancer, and he passed away before they could meet again. A failed marriage, a period when he was homeless and a spell working on a medical marijuana farm (“the hardest work of my life, there was football fields of that stuff”) also all beckoned, as his music career initially struggled to take off. “Homeless sounds so dramatic,” he’s able to laugh now. “I was crashing at different homies’ spots, we had homies helping us out, while I tried to get a little change together or till I was out on tour. But it was hard, of course, having to be patient waiting for a break.”

That break came when Dr Dre pulled him out of relative obscurity for a star turn on his long-delayed ‘Compton’ album in 2015. A year later, .Paak – now signed to Dre’s prestigious Aftermath label – dropped a phenomenally addictive solo album titled ‘Malibu’, closely followed by another phenomenally addictive album as part of rap duo Nxworries. ‘Yes Lawd!’, that Nxworries album made an impact, but it was ‘Malibu’ that really slayed – a vivid, Grammy-nominated soul trip in equal parts euphoric, fun, introspective and heart-crushing, it came packed with reflections on .Paak’s hard route to the top.

From there, he went on to wow the Grammys, performing live with his childhood heroes A Tribe Called Quest. “It’s that shit that gives you those ‘oh shit’ moments: like, wow, I’m in a room with Dre, this is really fucking happening! After a while, that kinda fades and you realise they’re they’re cool, you’re cool, you’re all just here to rock together,” he says. “But that first time… it really is like, ‘oh shit!’”

Dre he describes as a hip-hop machine who doesn’t mess around. “Dre’s so busy, so when he comes through, we just lock in. It don’t take no time for us to be making some cool shit. He fights for what he wants and that’s the common thing I’ve seen in real geniuses who make a real impact – that undying fight for what they want, from Dre to Kendrick to Bruno, these people don’t let anyone else dictate their vision. They fight. Dre’s a perfectionist. I like to think he saw that in me too.”

Skip forward to 2017, and .Paak considers himself in a pretty good place. He’s recently been working with another of his “super dope” heroes Pharrell Williams. His wife, Jae-Lin – who he met while working at a music school during his 20s – is pregnant with the couple’s second child. And .Paak is also excited to get a new album he describes as “groove-based, uptempo, high art, intelligent dance music” inspired by Chic out there soon. “It’s fun stuff but has a message and feeds the soul.”

But while he’s currently enjoying life, he’s acutely aware that large portions of the population of his home nation are struggling under its new management. “America is a place where you can come and get your hustle on and build yourself up from the dirt. That’s its history: opportunity. To see people having the nerve to go against that… they’re full of shit,” he rages, dropping his megawatt smile for a moment to explain why there’s a more political slant to his upcoming release. “I’m affected by what’s going on socially so I feel it’s my responsibility to try and say something. If I don’t take that opportunity, I may as well be working at the Tesco.”

This by the way is a tick of .Paak’s – true to his nice guy reputation in the world of hip-hop, he’s the type of guy who tries to get on your level by speaking your language when you meet him, peppering our conversation today with British colloquialisms and reference. It doesn’t end at mention of Tesco’s. “Knob jockey, knob sniffer… Dickhead, that’s a classic one,” laughs the Californian before we part, showing off a few UK swear words he’s added to his lexicon on recent trips. “These are good words to use at the Tesco, geezer,” he adds, in an abominable London accent somewhere between Michael Caine and a Lewisham grime MC. “Sorry,” he adds, “that’s really bad, I can’t really do the British accent,” he giggles sheepishly, plunging his head into his hands. “I’ll stop before you don’t let me back here.”

That would certainly be a disappointment to .Paak’s growing legion of fans: the next time he’s due on British shores, it’s for a run of high profile festival performances including Park Life and Glastonbury that should inch the 31-year-old closer to that all-conquering superstar status he’s not entirely sure he wants. He’s not stressing too much though. “We’re gonna get out there, look good, sound good, with our energy up,” he grins, “and give the people what they need. That’s what I’m here for.”

Shortlist, May 2017

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senakoo-blog · 7 years

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Satisfy Your Soul Bernhard Langer was one of the best golfers of his generation, twice winning the US Masters and at one time topping the world golf rankings. He said, ‘I had… won seven events in five different continents; I was number one in the world and I had a beautiful young wife. Yet there was something missing. ‘The lifestyle we all (especially us sportsmen) are leading – it is all about money and who you are and who you know and what you have and these things aren’t really the most important things. I think people who have these things, they realise that… there is still something missing in their life and I believe that is Jesus Christ.’ The spiritual emptiness that Bernhard Langer is describing is common to all humanity. One young woman said to me that she felt there was ‘a chunk missing in her soul’. You are not simply body and mind. You are a soul created for relationship with God. How then do you satisfy your soul? PSALM 63:1-11 Seek God day and night Spiritual ‘food’ is just as real as physical food and it satisfies us in a way that cannot be satisfied by anything physical. David was in the desert. He knew what physical thirst and physical hunger were like. But he also knew and experienced spiritual thirst: ‘My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water’ (v.1). And he knew what it was like for his spiritual hunger to be satisfied: ‘My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods’ (v.5a). His spiritual hunger and thirst are satisfied as he worships God: ‘So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory’ (v.2, MSG). He lifts his hands as an expression of adoration, reverence and surrender: ‘Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands’ (vv.3–4). Lifting up hands is the oldest gesture of prayer. As Pope Emeritus Benedict writes, ‘This gesture is the radical form of worship... To open oneself to God, to surrender oneself completely to him.’ What do you do when you can’t sleep or you have wakeful moments in the night? David says that he worships and praises God, ‘I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches’ (v.6, AMP). As he pours out his heart in worship day and night to God, David discovers strength and support. He writes, ‘Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me’ (vv.7–8). Lord, I seek you today. Thank you that you satisfy my soul as with the richest of food and quench my spiritual thirst. Thank you that your love is better than life. JOHN 10:22-42 Communicate with God through Jesus How do you and I communicate with God? Communication with Jesus is communication with God. Those who met Jesus understood he was claiming to be God (v.33). When he said, ‘I and the Father are one’ (v.30) and ‘the Father is in me, and I in the Father’ (v.38), there was no ambiguity in the ears of his hearers. His opponents understood it as blasphemy – ‘because you, a mere human being, claim to be God’ (v.33) – and they picked up stones to stone him (vv.31–33). Jesus communicated with his disciples and he continues to communicate with us. He says, ‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me’ (v.27). We see here the marks of a true Christian: Believing in Jesus There is a contrast in this passage between those who ‘believed in Jesus’ (v.42) and those who ‘do not believe’ (vv.25–26). Belief in Jesus means believing in him when he says, ‘I am God’s Son’ (v.36) and putting your trust in him. Knowing Jesus Jesus says, ‘my sheep listen to my voice. I know them…’ (v.27). To be a Christian is to recognise and follow the voice of Jesus. This is what defines a Christian – not so much knowledge about Jesus, but actually knowing him. This is then followed up by the wonderful declaration that Jesus also knows us. Following Jesus Jesus says, ‘they follow me’ (v.27). It affects your life. As Jesus said elsewhere, ‘By their fruit you will recognise them’ (Matthew 7:16,20). James wrote, ‘Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead’ (James 2:17). The primary evidence of faith is love. Those who follow Jesus will follow his example of love. Jesus promises every true Christian: ‘I give them eternal life’ (John 10:28). This is not just about quantity of life; it is also about quality. Jesus satisfies our spiritual hunger and thirst. In a relationship with Jesus we find this deep soul satisfaction that cannot be found anywhere else. Jesus promises that this relationship with him will go on forever. It starts now, but it is ‘eternal’ (v.28). Those who follow Jesus will ‘never perish’ (v.28). This is a gift (‘I give them eternal life’, v.28). It cannot be earned, nor can it be lost. Jesus promises, ‘no one can snatch them out of my hand… no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand’ (vv.28–29). There may be many struggles and temptations along the way, but ultimately the hand of Jesus and the hand of the Father are engaged together in protecting you. A Christian may lose their job, their money, their family, their liberty and even their life, but they can never lose eternal life. Thank you, Lord, that I can listen to your voice, that I can know you and that you give me eternal life. Thank you that you promise that I will never perish and that no one can snatch me out of your hand. Thank you that in this relationship I find soul satisfaction both now and forevermore. 1 SAMUEL 1:1-2:26 Pour out your heart and soul to God Is there something you want desperately from God? It is almost inevitable that at times in our lives we will feel ‘distress of soul’ (1:10, AMP). Never allow bitterness to eat away in your heart – but, like Hannah, pour it out to the Lord. ‘Crushed in soul, Hannah prayed to God and cried and cried – inconsolably’ (v.10, MSG). There is nothing more releasing than to pour out your soul before the Lord – to tell him what your problems are, rather than carrying them around yourself – and to ask him for the solution, and then to receive the peace of God (Philippians 4:6–7). Relief from her anguish comes to Hannah long before she actually sees the answer to her prayer. This is a beautiful picture of heartfelt prayer from the depth of the soul. ‘As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard’ (1 Samuel 1:12–13a). Eli accuses her of being drunk. She replies, ‘Not so, my lord… I am a woman who is deeply troubled… I was pouring out my soul to the Lord… I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief’ (vv.15–16). Eli tells her, ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him’ (v.17). And as she left her face was no longer downcast: ‘She ate heartily, her face radiant’ (v.18, MSG). She knew deep down that God had heard her prayer and, indeed, ‘the Lord remembered her’ (v.19). In fact, God more than answered her prayer. Not only did he give her the child she longed for, she gave birth to six children (2:21). Meanwhile, ‘the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favour with the Lord and with people’ (v.26). This is the prayer we have prayed so often for our children. Hannah’s prayer after Samuel’s birth is a vivid demonstration of the soul satisfaction that she experiences through her relationship with God. She prays and thanks God that ‘those who were hungry hunger no more’ (v.5). The amazing revelation in Hannah’s prayer is that the supreme source of her joy is not her child, but in the Lord. She says, ‘My heart rejoices in the Lord’ (v.1). He is the source of soul satisfaction: ‘I’m walking on air... God brings life... he rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope, restoring dignity and respect to their lives’ (vv.1,6,8, MSG). Lord, thank you for amazing answers to prayer, which you give when I pour out my soul to you. Thank you that sometimes you answer my prayers in remarkable ways. But whether I receive what I specifically ask for or not, thank you that you promise me your peace. Pippa Adds 1 Samuel 1:1–2:26 I’ve always been rather worried about Hannah and Samuel. Hannah had to give up her son. Samuel had to go off and live with an old priest and his two wicked sons – not an ideal nurturing situation. I’ve wondered how many years Hannah could get away with feeding Samuel before he was fully weaned. Hopefully, it was at least ten! Yet, in spite of the fact that it was not an ideal parenting situation – probably not much football and family games – he grew up with God, knowing God and learning to hear his voice. It is a relief that children can do well even if our parenting has been far from perfect. Verse of the Day ‘Jesus answered… “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me… no one will snatch them out of my hand”’ (John 10:27–28).

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