#MAKE A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE HAPPEN PEOPLE!

[solradguy]

The FNAF movie trailer reminded me that you used to be able to smoke inside Chuck E Cheese without any consequences

#textpost #You used to be able to smoke inside hospitals too... #It was just as awful as you could imagine lol You could light up while paying for groceries #Everything smelled and was tinted slightly yellow all of the time. Miserable!! #I don't know how people with asthma or other sensitive groups managed back then #because I don't even have any health issues or physical disabilities and it'd make my eyes and nose burn soooo bad after a while #It was a christmas goddamn miracle when they finally FINALLY banned smoking indoors #Christ.... Just imagined a dark timeline where covid happened while being able to smoke indoors. No bastard would've worn a mask ever #@ my followers younger than about 22: I'm so grateful none of you had to live through smoking indoors everywhere era #OH NO just checked wikipedia and it's a state-level law. Some states still allow smoking everywhere. I'm so sorry

[makeyoumine69]

My Dear Little Girl

PAIRING: Patrick Bateman x Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: The Christmas gift you never imagined.

CONTAINS: Smut, fluff, unprotected sex (p in v), creampie, oral sex (f), tongue fucking, nipple play/sucking, body worship, praise kink, manhandling, dirty talk, pet names, marking, biting, established relationships, Service!Dom!Patrick Bateman himself.

WORDS: 3.3k

SONG REC: The Neighbourhood - Softcore

A/N: Merry Christmas guys, I'm so happy to have you all! 💞

LINKS: [MASTERLIST]

There has always been something magical about Christmas, the holiday atmosphere, the sweet smell of tangerines and the clinking of champagne glasses. Yes, all of this became a standard set of things that people thought of when it came to Christmas. And you were probably one of those who believed in miracles that could happen during this magical time. At least you tried to believe it, but when Bateman told you that he had to go to his company Christmas party tonight, that actually brought you back down to Earth, because sometimes our expectations simply didn't match up with reality. And that was absolutely fine — those were the exact words you told Patrick when he called you a few hours ago, before he actually went to that party. 

Everything was fine.

You repeated this over and over again as you walked around your apartment in Manhattan, which was not as spacious as Bateman's, but you really loved it, especially now, with the beautiful Christmas tree that shone brightly with different illuminations when you turned off the lights. Since you knew Patrick wasn't coming, there was no point in waiting to open the bottle of the finest red wine he'd given you especially for this Christmas Eve. Sighing, you poured yourself a big glass of the red liquid, took some sweets and went back to your living room, where you stood at the wide window and looked at the breathtaking scenery of New York City in winter — this year it was quite snowy, which could not make you happy, even though you were going to spend this evening alone.

As the fireworks began to paint the midnight sky in ornaments of different shapes and colors, you couldn't take your eyes off this sight, as you were absolutely mesmerized. At first, you didn't even hear the doorbell ring, and only when it rang for the tenth time in a row did you realize that someone was at your front door, which actually scared you a bit because it was already quite late.

Your steady footsteps echoed off the walls of your hallway as you finally reached the door and looked through the peephole - the person you saw almost made you drop your glass to the floor. Damn, you should have left it in the living room.

Before you slowly opened the door, you coughed several times to clear your throat, and you also quickly fixed your hair — although your whole appearance could hardly be called fancy or party-like, as you wore your casual top and shorts set — the moment you and Bateman saw each other, you both remained silent, as if you were seeing each other for the first time.

"Well, hello (y/n)," he was the first to speak, with his absolutely haughty smile that always left you no choice but to be embarrassed. "I thought you were out walking somewhere."

"At this time?"

Patrick grinned even wider before glancing to the right, where a small commotion could be heard. "Some people here are already celebrating, you know."

Rolling your eyes, you stepped aside to let him enter. "What happened to the Christmas party?"

Your question made the man chuckle as he brushed some snow from his shoulders before taking off his beautiful dark blue coat. "Actually — nothing."

"Nothing?"

"That's exactly what I said." Patrick crooned and came closer to you, pressing his cold palm against your cheek, making you squirm and almost spilling wine on your shirt. "Uhh, you have such warm cheeks, honey."

"Okay, I'll ask it another way," you managed to regain your composure, even though Bateman seemed to be doing his best to make you lose your cool. "Why are you here?"

Pulling his hand away from your face, Bateman narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms after checking the time on his Rolex. "Were you expecting someone else?" 

And now his voice sounded as grumpy as if he was seriously asking that question, but instead of defending yourself, you just chuckled and took a sip of your drink.

"Oh yes, I was expecting a handsome man so we could drink this wonderful wine and... talk about music, the meaning of life and whether or not true love exists." You chirped quickly before taking his hand and dragging him into your living room before this conversation could lose its jokey undertone.

"That was," Bateman stammered when he finally realized what drink you were holding. "That was very smart. Have you ever thought of applying to a Broadway theater? I think they would love to offer you a job." His statement made you stop and turn to give him a deadly stare. "What? If you don't like theater, you can always try your luck in the circus."

"Patrick!" You scolded, fighting the urge to throw your drink right in his cheeky face. "You were the one who told me I would be alone today! And you didn't even suggest that I go with you!"

Having said that, you continued on your way to the living room, but without holding Patrick's hand as you left the man behind, though his expression was still as bright as the New York sky inscribed with fireworks. "Wait a minute, honey," Bateman muttered, following you. "You made it pretty clear that you don't want to go to parties like that, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't," you lied, bursting into a soft laugh, swirling the glass in your hand. "Oh, this wine tastes amazing, by the way. Would you like to try some?"

The sudden change of subject just made him smile cheekily, and before he could answer, Bateman tucked his hands into the pockets of his Amrani pants and leaned against the door to your living room. "I know this wine is good, that's why I gave it to you, sweetheart," his brilliant, full-toothed smile made your heartbeat faster and for a moment you even forgot what you were doing. "But yes, I would definitely have a drink."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Grinch." You mumbled playfully and went to the kitchen.

Fireworks began to explode just as you opened the shelf to grab a glass for him, thanking God you managed to hold it in your hand. The loud sound coming from the outside drowned out the approaching footsteps behind you, so when a pair of strong, big arms wrapped around your waist, you didn't even have time to get scared, you just gasped and fell right into Patrick's tight embrace.

"I got you," he whispered in your ear, sucking on your lobe tenderly, but with an undisguised desire for something more intimate. "You little liar." Bateman pulled you closer with a possessive grip as his hand carefully found its way to yours to take the glass and place it on the smooth surface of the kitchen counter. "We don't want any trouble, do we?"

Panting, you turned halfway to look up into his brown, mesmerizing eyes. "Patrick," you let him nuzzle your cheek, his perfect nose brushing against yours, and then Bateman kissed you softly on your plump lips. "Mmhm, I'm so glad you came, I've missed you and —"

"Shhh," he silenced you with his thumb, his glowing gaze never leaving your beautiful face. "I know, darling," another sensual kiss was planted on your neck this time, eliciting a muffled moan from your half-open mouth. "You don't have to say anything else, just relax..." Patrick nipped at your throat more eagerly, leaving marks here and there, while his hands drew invisible ornaments all along your inviting little form. "...and let me take care of you."

Dear Lord, it was impossible to think clearly, not when he was talking to you like that and his hot lips were caressing that exact spot behind your ear, driving you absolutely crazy and you didn't even notice the way your hips were grinding against his hard groin, spurring him on to go even further. Groaning softly into your ear, Bateman couldn't wait any longer, his pants getting too tight with every brush of your ass against his throbbing length. 

"Fuck, babe, you're so gorgeous," he purred in a low voice, leaving a trail of wet kisses along your shoulder, then moving lower to your shoulder blade, pulling up your top to taste your skin. "Do you know what I was thinking about during the party?" Bateman asked suddenly, tugging at the lace of your shorts, tantalizing you with his intentions. 

"N-no, tell me," you closed your eyes from the intoxicating pleasure of his thin fingers darting across your belly, but when they finally reached your heated core, you couldn't keep a loud whimper from breaking out of your dry lips. "Please, a-ahhh, tell me everything."

"Uh, look at you," he quickly licked the back of your neck before grabbing a handful of your soaked pussy. "Such a curious little kitty," Patrick huffed, suddenly pulling down your shorts with your wet panties, leaving you no chance to even react, not to mention struggling. "I was thinking about you," Bateman carefully lifted one of your legs to rest it on the kitchen counter, then crouched down behind you, leaving a sloppy kiss on your lower back. "About fucking you senseless, to be exact."

"Oh my God," you mewled, clinging to the surface of the counter as you felt his hot breath between your legs. "I was... I was thinking about that too."

Smirking to himself, Bateman gave your ass a few firm squeezes before finally touching you where you wanted him most, his warm tongue feeling so fucking amazing on your swollen clit. "Oh, that's interesting," he cooed to you, enjoying the way your body reacted to his every move, it was always amusing and turned him on, the knowledge of having such power over you was enough to make him rock hard. "Looks like you're just pretending to be shy. Now spread these beautiful legs wider for me," as you did so he used both hands to massage your buttocks before sliding his digits along your tight lower lips to get better access to your wet entrance. "Good girl, so fucking good for me."

With that, he plunged his tongue into your tight hole, trapping you in place as you jerked in his grasp from the intense sensation in your lower abdomen, but that was only the beginning as the next moment, Bateman returned his assault on your little bud, rubbing it in intense circular motions.

"A-awwww, Patrick," your sweet voice was music to his ears, especially when he made you do those high-pitched wails, each time his tongue sank deeper into your soft, inner channel. "Please...that feels so..."

"Good?" he chuckled before peppering your dripping slit with little kisses. "Jesus, you're so yummy, mmmh," Patrick lapped at your pussy like a starved man, gripping your ass tightly to remind you who was in charge here. "I'd like to stay between these legs forever if I could." 

By the time he was done eating you out, you could barely breathe as you balanced on the edge of falling into the oblivion of pure ecstasy, his chiseled face covered in your sweet flavor, which he immediately cleaned up with his tongue.

"Patrick, it felt so damn amazing..." you whimpered and turned around to see him undoing his expensive suit, his red tie already loosened, making him look even sexier, if it was possible to be hotter than he was. "Please."

With a sassy grin, Bateman unbuttoned his blue shirt, revealing an absolutely mouth-watering view of his sculpted chest and perfect abs. "Please what, honey?" He cupped your face before pulling you into a ravenous kiss, his tongue swirling shamelessly around yours, making you moan at how heavenly he kissed you. "Use your words, make me proud of how bold you are."

A brisk unzipping sound hit you like a whip, giving you a strange feeling of liberation and excitement. "I want you, all of you. Whatever you will give me, I'll take gladly."

You could see his nostrils flaring with each word, as if you were a moth to a flame. Biting his lower lip, the man came closer just to pick you up as if you weighed nothing, and he walked into your bedroom, where the beautiful garlands on the window shone with all the colors of the rainbow, making the whole atmosphere truly magical, especially with the lights off.

Bateman didn't like it at first, but when he saw your childishly happy face, he gently placed you on the bed, towering over you like a mountain. "Lovely here."

"You like it?" Your question forced him to frown in irritation, but he just pecked your temple and shamelessly removed your top, leaving you completely bare before his hungry eyes. "I spent a lot of time decorating it."

Smiling ironically, Patrick placed a reassuring kiss on your temple before he removed the last of his clothes and you finally felt his soft skin against yours, you couldn't help but hook your hands and legs around him like a vine. "I like it." Of course, he didn't, you knew that, but it didn't matter because now you two belonged to each other, both physically and mentally. "C'mere, babygirl," Bateman suddenly sat down on the bed and invited you to get on top of him. "Today we're going to try something new. Do you trust me?"

Breathing heavily, you nodded, and the next thing you knew his thick cock was sliding along your wet folds as he held you tightly by your waist, manhandling you with such ease as if you were a feather. With a longing growl, the man pressed you closer to his strong body so he could graze your collarbone and play with your engorged nipples as he literally buried his face between your breasts, squeezing them with both hands.

"Mhhm, Patty!" You moaned as he sucked on two of your little peaks at once, his leaky tip already prodding at your dripping opening as Patrick decided to test the patience of both of you. "Please, oh-please, fuck me, please, fuck...fuck me!" 

Bateman snickered against your neck, sending little tickles that made you smile, and he couldn't stop himself from squeezing your cheeks as you looked so fucking cute and sinful right now. "Uh, I'll give you more than that."

After that, he carefully grabbed you by the back of your neck and slowly lowered you down onto his beefy dick, the second your bodies finally connected, you both let out loud moans and held each other tighter as if your lives depended on it.

"Mmhm-fuck," the man had to close his eyes from the way your pussy was clinging to his huge cock, encompassing it so tightly that you both saw stars as Patrick supported your bobbing movements, holding your hips in his big palms and rocking his own towards yours. "You feel...f-fucking amazing!"

"I love you, I love you, Patty!" you cried out desperately, looping your hands around his neck to pull him closer as your bodies intertwined like snakes, each move bringing so much pleasure as he could fuck you so deeply and lustfully in this position. "Please, c-cum inside me!"

Your words made his eyes open wide and then you heard a low, guttural growl as Bateman suddenly pushed you down, forcing you to lie on your back and lift your legs to press them against his broad chest as he began to pound harder, rolling his hips to stimulate your G-spot.

"Is that what my dear girl wants, huh?" The man asked, mesmerized by the sight of your bouncing breasts, the lewd sound of flesh slapping against flesh filling your bedroom, making you scream shamelessly in pure bliss as his swollen tip brushed relentlessly against your cervix, stimulating you in a way that could bring you to climax without even touching your clit. "'C'mon honey, milk my dick and I'll give you my cum." In addition to his dirty talk, Patrick pecked your ankle as gently as he could — on the verge of a frenzy, he could just ravish you until you couldn't move, but right now he was trying his best to focus on your release. "Do it for me, sweetheart, cum around my dick like a good girl!"

Creasing the sheets, you threw your head back onto the pillows from the pulsating sensation in your lower body. "Pat-Patty! A-aaahhh—" You choked on your own moan, writhing erratically around the bed, and only his strong arms managed to hold you in place as Bateman was aware that you were about to fall off the fucking bed.

"That's it, mhm," Patrick watched you attentively, relishing the way your eyebrows knit together from how hard you cum on his fat dick, your eyes closed and your lips frozen in a silent moan. "So fucking gorgeous, so fucking...mm-so fucking tight, fuck!"

Bateman shifted his position again, covering you from above, transferring his weight to his sturdy arms as he rammed into you like a jackhammer, you could feel his heavy balls slapping against your cunt in the obscenest way possible. And then the man finally collapsed inside you, painting your velvety walls white, pinning you down with his huge frame and biting your shoulder like an animal claiming its prey. You couldn't move and you were barely breathing, but you took him completely, until his hot liquid began to flow from your ruined pussy, flooding the sheets beneath you. Spent and exhausted, Patrick kissed and licked the mark he had just left before pressing his forehead against yours, holding you tightly in his arms and you knew he would never let you go as you were born to be his.

Moments later, you were standing next to the Christmas tree in your living room, Bateman sitting on the small couch, finally having his drink, but not wine as he managed to find some whiskey in your minibar. 

"Next time, let's put a Christmas tree in your apartment!" You suddenly blurted out, clapping your hands.

"No, don't even think about it, kitten," Patrick almost choked on his drink and coughed several times. "Oh, honey, don't make that face."

Damn, although you knew that Bateman didn't like all that stuff, it made you sad anyway, so the man had no choice but to comfort you here and now, before the situation got worse.

After putting the glass on the nearby coffee table, he stood up and approached you from behind, hugging you, but you were still pouting. "Listen," he whispered into your ear. "I have something for you, something special that will make you forget everything."

"What is it?" 

Thrilled, Patrick slipped into the pocket of his robe, which he had brought especially to your place because he couldn't stand any other robes but his own, and took out a small, velvety box. "And what do you think it is?"

As soon as you turned around and saw this little box, something in your mind flashed like fireworks. "Oh my God, Patrick..." you covered your face in your hands from shock. "Is that..."

Bateman opened the box in one swift motion, revealing a magnificent ring that shone brightly, reflecting the illumination of the Christmas tree. "I want us to meet next Christmas in a different status," he murmured, taking the ring in his hand. "You know what I mean?" Tears welled in your eyes as you couldn't believe this was happening. "Will you be my wife, (y/n)?"

At first, you couldn't say anything because you were shocked, but then you managed to whisper. "Yes, yes, of course I will," and then you snuggled into his warm embrace, allowing him to put the ring on your finger and kiss your forehead, and this kiss was different because now you were his fiancée. "I love you, I love you so much!"

With a bright grin on his flawless face, Patrick rested his chin on the top of your head and stroked your hair. "Merry Christmas, my dear little girl. I love you too."

P.S. Thank you for reading until the end! I don’t have a taglist. You can follow my side blog @makeyoumineagain and turn on notifications to know when I update!

#american psycho #patrick bateman x reader #patrick bateman imagine #patrick bateman #patrick bateman x female reader #patrick bateman x you #slasher x reader #slashers x reader #slasher x you #slasher smut #patrick bateman smut #patrick bateman headcanon #christian bale smut #christian bale x reader #patrick bateman reader #christian bale #patrick bateman imagines

[piratefishmama]

Fake it Till you Make it | Part 16

Watching Eddie scope out his surroundings was… a sight to behold. He didn’t just walk from room to room like any normal person would, no, much like an adventurer, cautiously taking in their surroundings in a new place, in a new dungeon, stretching his neck to look around corners before stepping fully around them, gently touching walls to balance himself as he stretched.

Walking with his heel off the floor, quiet as a church mouse, going from room to room, appraising each one with varying sounds of approval while Steve watched in fond amusement.

It didn’t escape him, how lucky he was. How lucky he’d gotten, how rare it was for people like him, for people like Eddie, to feel comfortable enough to just be in a place that his parents also occupied. That running into his father on the second floor, midway through twirling Eddie from the master bedroom on one side of the hallway to the other where another door awaited his eager exploration, wouldn’t result in some kind of fight, that neither he, nor Eddie, had to hide who they were and what they were doing.

It didn’t escape him that he was lucky. Not just in the freedom he had either, but that he got to see Eddie comfortable. Got to see him light up like Christmas had come early, got to witness the exact moment downstairs when he’d relaxed in Steve’s space.

When he’d taken in all that stood before him and found comfort in it. Steve knew he was lucky that he got to see that. So he wasn’t about to take it for granted.

He wasn’t going to squander the opportunity to make the most of it. Of Eddie’s childish glee. Even if it was all based on a ruse. It was a mutual ruse. A ruse they were both aware of. There was no unfortunate reveal waiting at the end of the tunnel, no high school drama where some asshole pulled the wool from someone’s eyes to reveal none of it was real!!

He was going to make it as real as physically possible, and hopefully… just… continue. After the holiday. Maybe a conversation could happen to clear up any possible misunderstandings but… Steve wanted. He wanted the ultimate nerd currently scoping out the bedroom closest to the home theatre.

“We don’t want this one” Steve advised, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest as Eddie poked the mattress with a single finger, as if that would accurately test the quality of the mattress, as he’d been doing for each room. “The home theatre doesn’t have proper sound proofing, if someone wants to watch a film later, we’ll be able to hear it through the walls.” It’d been a solid DIY job on his grandfathers part.

No professional involved, just ‘yeah I can do that, stand back Mags, let a man work’ and that was that. He'd even put it on the second floor, absolute madman.

Steve always pictured his grandmother just standing there, in the same pose he was currently standing in, watching with fond exasperation as her husband went to work on a project he was deeply inexperienced in, and completely unqualified to tackle.

The fact that it looked good in there was a miracle.

“Okay so, not this room, not the bunk bed room, and not the hot tub room, that leeeaves—”

“Master bedroom, or either of the two on the right side of the house.” The options were actually limited when other people were staying, if it were just him and Eddie they could have any room they wanted, but with his parents there it cut down the options.

“Tch, why’d you have me explore all of em then! We should probably just take the master bedroom, right? Since it’s apparently your house, oh great and powerful Master” Steve raised a brow as Eddie dipped into a low bow, theatrical as ever, his tone teasing, his hair bouncing around his face as he righted himself again. Cute.

“Hmm, you looked like you were having fun, you’re cute when you’re having fun.” And his cheeks coloured so nicely whenever he was complimented, hid behind his hair in a way that made Steve’s heart do a funny little flip flop, he’d file that information away for later, continuing on as if he hadn’t just dropped a flirty bomb on the other man “but you’re right, we should probably just take that one, it does have its own private deck…” oh the things they could do on that private deck. If it were all real. “Usually I let my parents have it buuut…” he had company this time. He’d have more than enough of an excuse to get the private deck, even if he wasn’t going to use it for anything other than relaxing. He had a reason to want a little privacy. “I’m sure they’ll understand us wanting it more.”

Eddie rolled with it, quickly recovering with the out Steve had created for himself, or maybe the guy was just so smooth he didn’t even realise he was flirting. That was definitely it. “Or they’ll think they understand us wanting it more” Eddie winked all conspiratorially, which only served to make Steve laugh leaving Eddie looking upon what he’d done in pride. He made Steve laugh. He did that. He’d done that a few times and honestly the high kept staying pretty fucking high.

How had he been so wrong about Steve for so goddamn long? How long had Steve been this glorious thing, like sunshine in human form?

“Exactly” Steve chuckled before pushing himself away from the doorframe “let’s go get our bags then, our shit wont unpack itself.”

“Actually could you get them? I… I should probably call Wayne, let him know I’m safe. It’s not too late there so he should still be home, is that okay? I don’t wanna leave it too late and have to go through reception at the plant, it’s… not great.” Nine times out of ten he wound up speaking to one of the three other Wayne’s working there.

“Yeah, there’s a private line in the room, you go ahead, I’ll grab the bags.”

“My Herculean hero” it wasn’t even remotely fair how badly Steve wanted to kiss him for how little he did to earn it.

“Yer very quiet, Ed, considerin you called me.” He’d gotten through to Wayne after three rings, reassuring him about his safety had been the first thing on the agenda as he got comfortable on the frankly unnecessarily large king sized bed, but then Steve returned to the room with their bags.

All of their bags. In one go, and Eddie’s brain kind of short circuited. “Huh?”

“Yer quiet, somethin the matter?”

“Steve is carrying everything all at once.” It earned a scoff from the man on the phone, and an amused smile from Steve. “It’s awfully distracting, I dunno what to tell you, Wayne I am very distracted.” Steve’s smile only widened

“Uh huh, well, I’ll let you get on then, gotta head out soon anyway, money ain’t gonna make itself. You sure everythin’s alright though? No red flags?”

“Nah… all green flags here, they’re… they’re nice, y’know?” He hadn’t expected it, so many stories of rich people being awful, but… they were just two extremely hard working people who’d had their hard work pay off. Even on holiday they were still working, it was both exhausting to watch, and deeply admirable. Eddie could never. “I’ll call you again tomorrow to check in.”

“I’ll be waitin. Be safe, son.”

“Say hi to Garfield for me” there was a short laugh on the other end, before the line cut off, leaving Eddie smiling as he put the phone down

“Who’s Garfield?” Steve asked, “other than the fat cat.”

“He’s the fat cat shaped mug I can no longer drink from after the great mug smashing of ’86. That stupid earthquake killed him, but we had superglue, so it was fine, just can’t drink out of him anymore cause he’s fragile.” No amount of superglue could fix the tiny areas they hadn’t been able to fill in with pieces, slivers of pot lost to the dark underside of the cabinets. “Need any help?”

“Nah, you just sit there an look pretty for me.” It had the desired effect, Eddie’s eyes widening, a pretty blush blossoming on his cheeks and the final kicker, he hid behind his hair. Adorable. Perfect. Beautiful. Had they actually been dating he’d have pressed pause on the unpacking, instead, he snipped that last thread holding Eddie’s composure in place with a smoothly delivered “just like that, yeah, God, you’re such a good boy.”

The consequences were immediate.

Part 18

#PirateWrites #FakeItTillYouMakeItFiclet #Steddie #No Upside Down AU #Fake Dating AU #oh what consequences shall befall our stupidly handsome hero?

[shadesoflsk]

WILL YOU BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS?

pairing: Leon S. Kennedy x gn!reader

summary: It's going to be Leon's first Christmas without you. He promised you he would get over your death. But how is he planning to do it if the ghost of you keeps haunting him?

warnings: Character’s death, (reader) angst, hurt/no comfort, self-destructing behaviour, alcohol, mentions of religion, Leon speaks with reader.

author's note: I took the liberty to switch the order of my Christmas' special fics, I decided to post this one first since I liked it a lot. I would even say it’s my favorite one so far. Grief is such an interesting topic to write about, so I hope I did a great job! The dialogue part was lowkey (highkey) inspired by one scene from the Crown, season 6. The one where Carlos talked with Diana’s spirit. 

It’s 11:45 pm or so Leon believes. Time seems to slow down when night engulfs his apartment, and he is let alone with his own demons. He would be in pitch darkness if it wasn’t from the fact that his neighbor had decided to turn on the Christmas tree lights that reached through Leon’s windows. Faint carols could be heard, and it was a dreadful reminder of what date it was. 

He is trying, he really is. He drowns in his job that is slowly but surely killing him. Mission after mission, he keeps attempting to mess up — with no avail — since life is cruel enough to keep him alive, to continue watching his sins materialize in sorrow and depressive states. 

During the latter, he would often forget or purposely avoid taking care of himself. When was the last time he ate a full meal? He doesn’t nor wants to remember. His apartment was starting to reek of alcohol and rotten food that Claire has so gratefully left. She would often try striking up some conversation, which was welcomed with an awkward but expected silence. He was never the talkative one. On numerous occasions, he was reprimanded by you for this same topic. So, in the past, he decided to stick with a one-liner — that sometimes brought him unnecessary attention — the dinner one. Your laugh would fill his ears as he told you about the multiple times where people thought he was flirting with them. If you were here, could he make you laugh like that again? Or would you be disgusted by the man he has become these last weeks?

Besides his own memory serving as the place where your face and mannerisms would replay all over again, where are you now? He once heard that a soul is destined to be reborn into a new life. Life is cyclical, the sun rises and sets, the day and night come, but they never meet. He wouldn’t be surprised if you’re a lilly now. The pureness in your heart resembled one of those delicate flowers that your eyes seemed to follow each time you passed through a flower shop. Or maybe you’re someone’s baby being born. Bringing happiness to a family that prayed all night long for a miracle to happen. 

His mind wandered through the blurry moments when he was young. Prayers and cries surrounding a well illuminated place where many statues were presented. He used to fear one specifically, but the gentle touch of his mom would pull him closer to it. In his memory, he looked up to see the person who gave him life, yet he was met with a diffuse image of her. He has long forgotten the looks of his mother. 

In those moments, he often wondered what heaven felt like. He grasps on the last string of memories he had with his parents. How his mother would pull him to her lap and read to him. “Our God loves us so much that he has granted us a place to go when the time is right,” she would say, the term of death was so foreign to his little self but once again he remembers those prayers and promises. Is heaven the clear sky and peaceful home the Bible describes? Or is it a nonexistent place that Christians invented to cope with the fact that a loved one is no longer with them? He hopes it’s the first one since he wants to indulge in that little wish of him — that at least in the afterlife — you found peace. 

How is heaven? He wanted to ask you. Conversations with you used to flow so easily, so right. So, when the time comes he expects to hear every little rambling about your early trip to this called “everlasting paradise”. Is it raining right now? You loved rainy days, since it meant that both of you could cuddle while watching a movie. Or is it snowing since it’s Christmas?  He could almost hear you, your voice echoing in the deepest places of his mind telling him to stop trying to open the gifts. You were supposed to be next to him right now, waiting for Christmas to come.

He is in denial, two weeks ago he had you safely tucked in his arms, already planning what to do on Christmas. He still had your gift somewhere, hidden from your prying eyes even though you kept scolding him for that. Both of you were soulmates, two sides of the same coin. 

Now, he only had the ghost of you haunting him. Mocking him for not being able to protect you. He was hyper aware of every little detail his apartment provided. From the way he hasn’t moved your used mug on the dishwasher, because he feels that it was the last thing your lips touched. A bittersweet memory of your existence in this cruel world, to your book that you didn’t finish. You kept telling him that you were dying to know the ending but you couldn’t finish it before it was too late. If he reads it and prays to God, would he be generous enough to tell you the ending? 

He wouldn’t.

Every night he prayed to God, begged him to switch places with you even though it was an unrealistic thing to ask. But that’s what he wants right now. “It should’ve been me.” But that wish never becomes a reality. He wakes up, night after night, being him and being alone. God doesn’t hear him, he believes that this made up character just blatantly hates him. The forgiving, the loving and almighty God as his followers describe him, just doesn’t match up with his own criteria. A loving God wouldn’t have taken away his only reason to live.

The content in his Jack Daniel’s now does little to numb the pain he was feeling. With a sigh, he drank a bit more, straight from the bottle as the burning sensation traveled from his tongue to his throat. If he drinks enough until he passes out, he could imagine you. Moving across the kitchen with agile steps as you cook his favorite food.

Those moments were the ones he thinks he should've embraced more. Your quirks and habits. How you usually left traces of yourself in his apartment. How you always missed a spot when cleaning the counter and how you always kissed his forehead when placing the plate down on the table. 

Now, it's a bitter reminder of his own loneliness. His eyebrows twitched as the Christmas carols seemed to get louder. The clock reads 11:50 pm, ten minutes to Christmas. Even with the thick snow, the chants of kids being too stubborn to fall asleep were loud enough to fill Leon's ears. He hates living in this neighborhood filled with happy families.

You had a wide and warm smile when you showed Leon this same apartment he's currently rotting in. “It will be perfect once we have a family,” he remembers word by word what you said and he also remembers how you stumbled on your words once you saw the quizzical look he gave you. “I mean we could just have a dog or a cat if you want that. After all, family is where you are.”

Always the damn perfect partner. Always the stupid understanding other half. Why the hell did you even appear in his life if you were gonna die? Everyone else mourned your death but now they are moving on, yet Leon is staying in a never ending loop. Was it your plan? Are you fucking happy in heaven?

For once, he feels all the anger he’s been bottling up. His fists clenched as his breaths grew heavier. He throws the bottle against the wall. The contents spilling all over the floor as the bottle shattered in multiple pieces. He stared at the mess he’s done. His shaking hands grabbed handfuls of his own hair as he tried his best to compose himself. His mind repeating that you would be disappointed over and over again. 

Icy blue eyes started to get clouded by tears he refused to let go. The palm of his hand almost bled by his own nails digging into the thin skin. The regrets and what ifs were the perfect combination for Leon’s wish of dying albeit the fact of his own self deprecating being who believed he deserved to live this hell of a life alone. 

As he managed to keep his tears at bay for now, his eyes lingered on your designated seat at the table. You would always sit at his right, next to him, sometimes holding his hand, forcing him to eat his food with his left one. Now, his hand is cold without your touch. Which reminds him of your body and the last time he held you. Your heart no longer beat and your body was a freezing cruel realization of your death. 

“I was never good with emotions…” Leon’s voice came out as a groan. He had finally spoken after God knows how long. His own throat was constricted by the lump that was forming. He was denying himself the right to be raw, to be human. “You were the one who was better at everything… not me.” Leon swallows his own saliva, an attempt to stop the imminent lump. 

“I guess I was.” A melodic voice which was no more than a whisper filled Leon’s intoxicated ears. He looks at the empty seat next to him and sees nothing. It may be his own mind playing dirty tricks on him. Everything was blurred and dizzy from all the booze he had drunk. But nonetheless, he wouldn’t miss this opportunity, even if you were a creation of his own messed up mind. 

“I’ll take every little moment with me.” The voice was painfully comforting, a soothing lullaby to Leon’s broken beyond repair heart, a gentle breeze that surrounded his body. “The hugs, the kisses, our little trips to the beach and even the fights when none of us could go to bed without saying sorry.” 

A laugh as soft as a draft lingered in the air. The reality behind those words made Leon feel like he was going crazy. He blames the alcohol and the lack of social interactions for this moment. But your bubbly personality was unmistakable. That sweet and tooth- roothing laugh was — at least to Leon — proof that maybe, just maybe, God allowed him to grasp on you one last time.

Or maybe God allowed you to pay him a visit. Neither of you were religious people, but you were closer to heaven that he’ll ever be. So, maybe that pure and wholesome smile blinded God, and you escaped, true to your rebellious nature. Your death turned him into a sappy man. He has always loved you, but the tragic destiny you met made him see you in an even better light. 

“You know I loved you so much…” The voice turned sour and sad, so out of character for you. Well… if it’s you. Even in your last days, you tried to be that thoughtful partner, pushing away every worry out of his mind even though you were slowly withering away. The words slightly trembled, albeit the raw honesty that was being said. Silence set as if the owner of the voice was attempting not to cry. 

“So deeply…” The hushed voice seemed to get even quieter as the course of its words dug deeper in Leon’s heart making it bleed harder than ever. His hand itches to reach where he thinks you are, as if you could materialize from thin air and give him one last hug. One last farewell.

“Please, stop blaming yourself for this. This wasn’t your fault.” Yes, it was. Leon wanted to tell you that. You planted seeds of hope in his heart even when he felt the world was too corrupted to be home for someone as splendid as you. The sense of your living left him chasing footsteps and shadows in order to meet you again.

And as a moth to a flame, he followed you. The chemicals in his brain working overtime to hear the gentle ring of your voice as long as you keep talking. It doesn’t matter if this behavior could put him at a psych after. Talking with ghosts? That can’t happen, yet his love for you seems to break the rules between life and the realms of the afterlife.

“You weren’t supposed to go so soon…” Leon’s voice fills the dim room, engaging in conversation, the tears that he was previously fighting off were at the verge of falling from his eyes. But as a stubborn man, he wouldn’t show weakness and vulnerability, even in a moment like this. “I know nothing good lasts long in my life but —” a choke left his lips as the lump is now growing impossible to hold back. “What kind of twisted sin am I paying off? I can’t live a life without you, I simply can’t.”

“I wasn’t done with you, I wasn’t done with our life. I wanted to adopt that dog we saw at the shelter. Do you remember? I wanted to take you to Italy because you once told me you wanted to try a real pizza.” A shaky breath cuts off Leon’s speech before he continues, his slurred words stumbling one another as if he knew he was running out of time. “I wanted to grow old with you, I wanted to be the first person to notice the gray hair appearing in you. The first wrinkles in your face, which I’m sure would have looked amazing in you darling, you were always perfect. I wanted to help you stand up when your legs couldn’t carry the weight of your body. I wanted —”

“Leon.”

“I wanted to at least spend one last Christmas with you.”

He finishes off with one last wish. One last desire he had hid in his mind for a while now. He knew everything had ended, but right now, he wanted to hear you one last time. He wanted to hear an "I love you" from you.

And there it was… the last thing he wanted to hear. Nothing. 

As soon as the deadly silence filled the room again, uncontrollable tears streamed down his face. Leon bent forward, his forehead hitting against the hard material of the table, letting out all of his repressed emotions. In the midst of his despair and hatred, he cried not only for you and the fact that he failed to protect you. Each drop carried the weight of every life that was lost under his watch, each one of those bright eyed agents who were looking forward to working with him, and only found death in their paths.

What has he done wrong to deserve this terrible but inevitable outcome? He’s beyond tired, beyond hopeless. In his rage, he could only blame the world. 

God, why have you forsaken me? 

He stays there for a while, drowning in his own tears. As reality once again sets in. Deep down, he knew this would be the last time. The universe granted him (or cursed him) by allowing him to hear you one last time. Hear the tender tone of your voice calling his name like you used to do. And maybe he should take that with him just like you did. 

Everyone dies, so will he. There will be a time when God takes pity on him and allows him to meet you once again. Once the time comes and he's sent to the place where you are, he will tell you about the book’s ending. He will tell you about every mission he will get in the still unknown future. He will tell how much he missed you and how much he loved your presence, even if it was just the blink of an eye. He doesn’t know what else he will tell you, but he’s going to make sure to have a list before parting from this world — in a long, far future.

He had enjoyed meeting and being with you. And if somehow God gives him another chance, he would choose you over and over again.

The sweet carols have grown faint and not even the innocent chants of those children filled Leon’s empty and dark living room. It’s already christmas.

#leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x you #resident evil #leon scott kennedy #leon kennedy x y/n #vendetta leon #leon s kennedy x reader #leon kennedy drabble

[masonmiamor]

think about it - - mason mount x reader.

summary: what happens when bsf! mason wants more, but you’re not willing too in order to protect your friends heart and yours.

wc: 1.3k

Hi everyone... It's been months... so forgive me... it's a Christmas miracle! 😭😭I hope everyone is doing okay and safe! I'd love to hear all about it if you'd like to speak about it! Feel like this is so bad and I lost my spark but I hope you can still enjoy :( 💕 don't forget to reblog, as us writers love to hear back from you!

“Stop! Don’t say another word,” you reluctantly stood being faced with Mason who stood confused. “You can’t say that Mason. You’re going out with her! One of my friends? How can you say that?” you defend your friend, even if she wasn’t there. 

Being best friends with Mason wasn’t always easy. He forgot he was a normal person sometimes, and would let the fame get to his head, which is what he’s doing right now. Your parents and his were grateful more than ever to have you keep him in check because lord knew it would be a mess. 

Mason had been flirting and going out with your friend Stella. From the stories she told, it sounded serious, and wanted more. You didn’t play Cupid, and part of you was slightly upset when you found out from Declan they were going out. Behind your back, not even a single word from Mason. 

Stella was a beautiful blond, working at a law firm, and definitely super confident. You were the opposite, still at uni and trying to find a program that could promote your art. Art was your life, no matter what went on, it was a way for you to release all your energy into a blank canvas. 

“All I’m saying is that I don’t like her like that anymore. She’s to stuck up and self-centered, I’m not ready for that commitment,” Mason reasoned but you shook your head with a no. This was him. Becoming a womanizer. Forgetting the good and little things that occurred in his life. 

“You’re gonna break her heart? Before Christmas? Really?” you say with a pure questioning voice, your eyes squinting. Mason shrugged and nodded nonchalantly, “I don’t see why not. I realized I didn't want her. She’s not the one I want,” he said.  

“So why play her? Drag it out this long. That’s not fair to her,” you say disgusted not being able to look at him. Mason always was a person you admired and looked up to, but deep down you fell for the freckled brown-eyed man. It was hard to resist and you refused to accept it, but when seeing them together, you couldnt help think it should be you aside him. “You don’t think it’s fair for me? I never wanted her, she threw herself at me.” 

“Which is why I’m saying why play her when you should’ve made it clear from the start? You made her attached to you and let her believe your lies and promises. Mason what the actual fuck?” you spit out with pure rage. The room becomes hot as you begin to look around for the exit. 

“She also played with me! I’m sure she didn’t tell you that because you’re blind to her. You’re so quick to defend her but what about me? Your best friend? Stella messed around with other men, while I stayed loyal to her. She’s a liar and a manipulator. So what if I end it before Christmas? I can finally have the person I want instead of being focused on someone who can’t even make time for me.”

This was certainly news to you, as you started to feel regretful for the way you screamed at him. To call him a womanizer and letting the fame get to him. You didn’t know Stella did this, it was news to you. As all she could brag about nowadays was about Mason this Mason that. She never mentioned talking with other people. He was right. You did let her get to your head. 

“It’s okay I know you didn’t mean it, to scream at me,” Mason noticed your quiet tone, heart-wrenching as he tried to swallow the words that wanted to come out, before he knew it, he started speaking again. “I know you want what’s best for everyone, but when will you think of yourself? You also deserved to be treated right and loved by someone,” you eyed him weirdly and burst out laughing. 

“Me being in in love? Or someone loving me? That’s impossible. I haven’t had a boyfriend in years, let alone go on dates. I’m starting to accept the fact I won’t find anyone, I mean look at me!” you said seriously, continuing to laugh. Mason frowned, shaking his head at the way you were talking to yourself. 

“I am looking at you… and all I see is someone who’s scared of revealing who they truly are. The commitment maybe or afraid of being rejected. A beautiful, smart, independent woman,” Mason said carefully as he took steps closer to you. “Someone who deserves the world after putting everyone first before her. Why can't you see that? Why do you distance yourself from me?” he asked with urgency. 

You would be lying if you said you slowly detached yourself from him. Avoiding plans or meetings because it hurt to see him. The idea of him not telling you he was going out with Stella, seeing them together when all your friends went out, your friend who still was with Mason, and being in love with your best friend but still trying to refuse it. 

It drove you wild and often made you cry because everyone around you began to settle down, and you were left wondering why you couldn’t keep one good person in your life. You hated the fact of never being enough, for yourself or anyone around you. Maybe you weren't enough and that is what pushed people away. 

“Mason…”

“Why can't you let me love you like you deserve? Let me take your worries and pains away? Let me be the man you need and love you unconditionally? What are you so afraid of? What else do I have to do to get your attention?” Mason confessed. The Christmas tree lighting made him look intimidating as he held your face in his large hands. 

It was fucked up. He knew it was fucked up to mess with your friend to get you to see how madly he fell in love with you. It was an even bigger mistake to have dragged it out this long, knowing how distant and muted you were from him. He just wanted you to finally see that it was him all along. 

You swallowed the lump in your throat, unable to look him in the eyes, because if you did, you would give it away how you felt about him. The eyes never lied. Your eyes never lied to him. “Say something please…” Mason pleaded, afraid he might've overstepped, or read the cards wrong. 

“I'm not the right person for you Mase… I can’t give you what you want…” you painfully smiled, as both of your hearts sunk deeper. “I can't lose you like I’ve lost everyone else. We wouldn't work, I’m just way too different from the girls you've been with,” you say pulling away from his grasp and walking to the opposite end of the room. 

“They're not you though. You will always come first. They didn't mean anything because it wasn't them I wanted, it's all along been you. I’ve spent way too much time thinking, losing you, suffering because you weren't with me. I'm tired of that, I just want you baby. Don't compare yourself to anyone in the world, because at the end of the day, you will be the first one I look for… I love you.” Your eyes widened, not realizing he stood in front of you again. 

Your head felt heavy, filled with thoughts as they raced through your head. Your chest tightened at his words. After waiting so long to hear them, why did all of a sudden feel different? Like you didn't believe them. Believe him. Was it the fact she was still present, or were you afraid of finally having something real and you being the reason to lose it all? Mason leaned down kissed the inner corner of your mouth, and pulled away. Joining your families who were celebrating Christmas Eve. 

“Think about it. Okay?”

#mason mount #mason mount x reader #mason mount imagine #mason mount one shot #mason mount blurb

[igotanidea]

Scarf: Dick Grayson x reader

Christmas bingo day 10 : scarf

***

She was always in a hurry.

One place one second and the other a second later.

Rushing through her to do list and tasks without a moment to calm down and take a breath, with a heart of gold and hands always willing to help, no matter if it was a stranger or a friend.

A very busy and a very needed girl with a mission.

Just like it goes in a classic song: like a wind.

And Christmas time was always the busiest.

There were so many people who needed support and sometimes as little and as much as some time spend with them and someone to talk to.

So obviously Y/N volunteered for some work at animal shelter (much to Damian’s hidden joy when she took him with her one day), joined a preparation for food and gift packages for the poorest families and self- made some soft toys for kids at the orphanage.

However, her conscience and sensitivity never seemed to rest.

No matter how many people smiled and felt better because of her, she always had this sense of “not-enoughness”. How could she possibly smile, how could she possibly rest and enjoy the Christmas time when there might be someone, a kid or an animal who was hungry or cold or-

“Y/N.”

“Hmm-?” she raised her gaze from the desk, which she accidentally fell asleep on just for a moment. This was not planned, but apparently her tired and stressed organism knew better what it needed. “Yeah? What is it Dick?”

“What are you doing, babe?” he crouched next to her, looking into her sleepy eyes and cupping her reddened cheek with love and affection but also with growing concern.

“At the moment I’m-“ she started but was almost immediately cut off.

“Not at the moment love. Generally.”

“Generally?” she frowned, sleepiness going away in an instant as she couldn’t understand the words coming out of Dick’s mouth “what do you mean?”

“You can’t possibly save everyone sunshine.”

“I know.” She looked down as if he said something hurtful, even if it was simple truth.

“You’re already doing so much love….”

“But what if-?”

“Hush baby.” He put a finger on her lips cutting her off “Enough. You’re going to get a proper sleep. In a bed. Preferably next to me.”

“But-“

“It’s not a question, Y/n. You’re going to let me take care of you now. Because you need it. Because you deserve it. And most of all – because I said so, cause I can’t let my girlfriend overwork herself.”

“But Dick!”

“Don’t Dick me, princess.” He picked her up from behind the desk and carried her to the bedroom without any problems due to the fact that instinctively she leaned into him, letting him spoil her a bit. Just for some time. Just for some time everything was good. She was safe and the world was a perfect place with no problems and troubles and suffering people as she was falling asleep in his loving, warm embrace.

***

For next few days Dick was her shadow, following her to every place and shelter and orphanage in the city, helping, carrying bags and doing pretty much everything to be at least a bit useful.

And, since he got tons of friends, titans and other superheroes, suddenly there were so many people to help that at some point it was hard to actually find something to do for them. Dick was beaming that he was doing something good for the community, sure, after all he was nearly as much of a goody two-shoes as his girlfriend.

But there was a little bit of selfishness in his actions, even if he would never say it out loud.

The way she was smiling.

No, cut that, she was beaming having so many helpers to coordinate and make Christmas miracle happen. Her eyes, her face even the roots of hair seemed to just radiate positive energy. And dick was just standing in a spot with his feet rooted to the ground watching her. His perfectly perfect, quicksilver, idealistic girlfriend.

“Penny for your thoughts?” a pair of arms wrapped around his waist unexpectedly.

“I love you.” He muttered, kissing her forehead. And her nose. And her cheek. “god, you have no idea what you do to me, do you?”

“Absolutely no idea. Should I apologise?” she teased “I didn’t do it on purpose I swear.”

“damn it, Y/n. You can do nothing wrong in my eyes, baby. You’re an angel.”

“Don’t know about that, but-“

“But I guess even an angel needs someone to look after her” he smiled brushing hair from her forehead “And I’m more than honored to take that position.”

“what position?” she frowned

“person to take care of you when you forgot about yourself” Dick fixed her coat and wrapped the scarf tighter around her making sure she was not cold “person to hold you and love you and keep you safe when you’re too busy watching over your wards” he caressed her cheek “I want to do this for the rest of my life if you’ll let me.” He whispered leaning forward and looking into her eyes “Y/N… my love… I couldn’t live without you. I – I want to ask you to - ” he stuttered, a bit scared to ask the obvious question.

“Is that your Christmas wish?” she whispered getting his intention even without words.

He nodded, his throat clenched because of all the emotions – and possibly because Wally was staring at him from the distance, like he just grew a pair of antlers or a tail. Please, god, please, make her say yes….

“I do.” She muttered leaning to give him a simple peck on the lips. “Yes, Dick. Yes.”

It was official.

He was the luckiest man on earth.

#dick grayson x reader #dick grayson x y/n #dick grayson x you #nightwing x reader #nightwing x you #nightwing x y/n #nightwing fluff #dick grayson fluff #christmas bingo

[juvenillia]

~ not so bad ~ John 'Soap' MacTavish x fem!reader [fluff/secret santa]

a/n: as some of you might know, @bunnyreaper did organise a secret santa, and she did so much for this lil project, and for me in general over the past weeks that I just wanted to write her a lil' thing myself. So this is my way to say thank you for everything to my favourite Sergeant. I love you🩶 (and yes I had to include myself somehow, I'm sorry)

wordcount: 1.5k

》Master Post《

It was too noisy. Literally too cheerful. Everyone's chatting, reddened cheeks from either the alcohol or from the bitter cold outside. The door swung open many times letting breezes of said cold cool the area for mere seconds. The small place was flooded by people. Cheesy Christmas songs were blasting through the speakers and everyone in that God damn pub screamed their lyrics at the top of their lungs. Everyone except you.

You were seated in one of the separate loungings, an already empty glass sitting in front of you. You didn't want to be here, but your friend literally dragged you out of your apartment. How could you even deny her that wish? It was a pub near the local military base, a pub she frequented for the past months very often and you knew there was only one reason: A guy, who she had mentioned a few times before and was completely smitten by.

So how could you decline when she literally begged you to go with her on Christmas eve? You were too curious to catch a glimpse of the man that stole your friend’s heart. Unfortunately, this curiosity now led you to sitting on a couch in that overfilled pub, while your friend was shamelessly flirting with said man. Of course, you were a bit annoyed because she left you all on yourself, but seeing her beaming with happiness made your heart melt again. You couldn’t stay mad at her for too long.

“It's Christmas, you can't stay at home for yourself, bun! And who knows, maybe there’s a Christmas miracle going to happen.” You recall the voice from your friend Florence as she literally talked you into joining her, and for the sunshine nature she was, you gave in. It wasn't as annoying as you imagined it, at least a good amount of alcohol was already running through your veins while watching one of your closest friends having the time of her life. But you couldn't help it and wished you stayed at home. Well she tried to pull you onto the dance floor a few times, tried to invite you in their circle introducing you to Simon, tried everything to keep you entertained, but you had no interest in it. You rather stayed seated here, a glass of your favorite drink in one hand and your eyes pinned onto your friend trying to push the ongoing fling to the next level, and of course making sure this Simon guy treated her properly.

“Nae a holiday person. Eh?” A husky voice caught your attention and a man took the place across from you, a glass of whiskey in his hand which was now settled on the table. He wore one of the ugliest Christmas sweaters you’ve ever seen, but the smile on his lips made up to it.

“You could say so.” Usually you wouldn't be interested in a conversation with a random guy that dared to infiltrate your space like him, spreading his legs out beneath the table and almost bumping his feet into yours. But something about this stranger caught your interest.

“Aye, tell me lass, Scrooge or Grinch?” He raised his brows in a teasing manner while leaning his ellbow onto the table and placing his head into his huge calloused palm. You couldn't help it and star at the scar at his chin before your eyes trailed upwards to this mischievous grin, further upwards to his crystal blue eyes. They held a glimpse of coquetry but also genius interest.

You couldn't suppress a sweet smile at his question, while your hand tried to cover it in a polite manner. The man in front of you was faster. Catching your hand before you could even hide your smile. “Dinnea that, hen. Yer laugh is bonnie.” The teasing tone in his voice was replaced with a sincere and honest intention.

“Both hated humans rather than Christmas.” Your own voice held a smug tone while your eyes were pinned on his. You haven't even noticed that he scooted closer, while still keeping your hand in his. “But both are close, though.”

He pulled your hand up to place a slight kiss onto your knuckles. You could've missed it by the way you were still mesmerized by his baby blues. “Hope ‘m nae one of those then.” His thumb brushed over the spot his lips just left. “‘m John, but friends call me Johnny.”

“Olivia, but friends call me bunny.” You could've sworn that there were way too many people in here, the room temperature got way too high by now. But in reality it was just the alcohol in your system. Definitely not the hot Scotsman next to you, who's thigh was now leaned against yours. You could witness your friend leaving the pub with the behemoth of a man from the side view of your eyes, but you couldn't care less. She Was old enough to decide what's best for her, and right now you decided it was best for you to ignore it. Keeping all of your focus on the charming man.

“Mind if I call ye bonnie instead?” He leaned a bit further into the couch while he eyed you up from top to bottom, well as much as the table allowed him to. As a response you just nodded your head, not able to respond to him properly. Eventually, the heat on your cheeks wasn't from the alcohol nor from the crowded place. Maybe it was indeed because of Johnny. His hand stroked a strain of curly hair behind your ear. “Let me buy ye another drink, bonnie.” It wasn't a request as before, he was already on his way to the bar to get you the same drink as before again. So you decided to follow him through the crowd, not minding anyone that bumped into you. You just wanted to stay close to him, what he immediately noticed. One of the biggest grin you've seen him wore on his lips. “Missin’ me already lass, eh?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows.” You teased him while taking the glass out of his hands and bringing it to your lips. Maybe Florence was right, maybe it wasn't that bad to go out tonight.

“I see.” He smiled while taking some sips from his drink. He averted his eyes from your figure for a blink of an eye, catching something of his interest. If you thought his grin couldn't turn more smug, you were damn wrong. He placed the glass onto the wooden counter, and used his free hand to pull you closer to him by your waist.

You shrieked out of the sudden impact and your hands found his chest, leaning flush against the tight muscles. You could literally feel him flex beneath your touch, even through the wool of the sweater. “What the…” You couldn't even end your sentence as his other hand pointed just to the spot above your heads. Your eyes followed his index fingers to the little mistletoe above, and the realization hit you right now. His hand moved to cup your cheek while he bent himself over to close the slight gap that was left. Brushing his lips over yours just so gently and polite, it didn't feel like any of the kisses you had experienced so far.

After some time - way to short amount for your liking - you parted again, hands still staying at their previous places. “Christmas traditions…” He placed another quick peck onto the crown of your head. “Nae so bad after all, eh?” His smile grew into a big grin, something you wanted to see even more often.

You heard another familiar voice before you could even respond to Johnny. “Fuckin hell. We missed it, Si.” It was your friend who just walked back into the pub, a beefy arm slung over her shoulder while both approached you.

“Wait…What did you miss?” You blinked in confusion at your friend, who only laughed.

“Your Christmas miracle, silly bun.” She laughed while intervening her finger with his.

That was the second time you realized something tonight. It hit you like a ton of bricks and your brows furrowed. “You fuckin’ minx.” You tried to keep a scolding tone, but you couldn't suppress the happiness in your voice.

“Better say thank you.” She teased, while Simon placed his chin onto her head.

“We should leave them alone, love.” He placed a soft kiss onto her head, while closing his eyes and she nodded.

“Alright.” Johnny picked you up in one motion and threw you over his shoulder like you weighed nothing, which forced a scream out of your throat. Laughing was the only thing you were surrounded by as your cheeks completely turned red. “Yer comin’ hame with me, bonnie.”

“Treat ma girl right, Johnny!” She yelled after the Scot while he already carried you outside.

And it really shouldn't be a secret that he indeed treated you right. From this day on, it became a cheesy tradition to spend the Christmas eve in that specific pub. Johnny at your side, one of his hands always on you, while he kept bragging to Simon about something that happened on the last mission which made Florence laugh way too hard. From this day on, Christmas was not so bad anymore.

#john soap mactavish x reader #cod x reader #cod mw x reader #soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #soap cod #soap mw2 #soap x reader #task force 141 #johnny soap mctavish x reader #johnny mactavish x reader #simon riley #secret santa #call of duty x reader #soap call of duty #call of duty fluff #soap fluff #call of duty

[hana-no-seiiki]

YANDERE! BATFAM W/ MILES MORALES (BUT MAKE IT GENDER NEUTRAL)! READER

[ SERIES MASTERLIST ] [PREVIOUS CHAPTER ]

GENERAL CW/TW: Spoilers for Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Typical Yandere themes of stalking, violence, and whatnot.

PART SPECIFIC CW/TW: Soft, awfully wholesome scene with your father. Like seriously it’s like the third time I watched the whole movie but this particular scene still breaks me

current status: unedited

summary: you get replaced by peter last minute as the one that plugs in the goober. but you won’t let that happen. not when he still has a whole life to get back to.

Reply if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

WHAT’S UP DANGER

( PART FOUR )

“Aye, Getting old they doubted us, makes it that more marvelous. Sign ‘em up cause I’m on this vibes and I get synonymous.

What’s up, danger?

Aye, don’t be a stranger!”

Look, because of the Spiderman: Miles Morales game I’m a bit biased.

I don’t want uncle Aaron to die damn it. But yeah the Prowler does exist and you have been keeping contact with him.

But for the sake of keeping the dude alive though he’ll only physically come in act 2 of this series, we gucci?

Although this means you lose a lot of the development Miles gets from his death. I’ll try my best to make the events as natural as possible

Anyways, you come back to the spider gang hanging out at Jason and Roy’s apartment.

The gang essentially jumpscares you (thank god for spider sense) with a suit of your own.

Except it was one size too big.

And there were holes at the eye sockets for you to actually see through.

“Ehrm . . . Thanks ?”

“You don’t gotta pretend you like it, kid.”

“Ahaha…”

“It’ll fit eventually.”

You begin sweating quite a bit. Something felt so off here.

You notice that Jason was looking straight at you.

Which I mean, anyone would be m e l t i n g if someone like Red Hood was staring right at them so it’s a miracle you aren’t a puddle at the moment.

Perhaps it’s cause you spent so much time with your crush, Gwen, that you’ve pretty much gotten used to hot people looking at you directly.

Still, you turn away and hide your face. Utterly clueless as to how react in this type of situation.

The relatively peaceful circumstance doesn’t last long as everyone’s spider sense is alerted and the door bell rings. A mechanical tentacle shoots through the lock, completely shattering it.

“Cute place. Real homey.”

Oh great, it’s Liv.

“Get out of here, kid.”

“For the last time I’m a legal adult—“

“Mira todas estas arañitas. (Well, look at these little spiders.)”

Two more of Kingpin’s men show up, Tombstone and Scorpion.

God, fucking damn it—

Olivia spots the new flashdrive Peni made around Peter’s neck and grins.

“Oh, I think I’ll be taking that.”

You hold in your attraction to the woman and duck as a fight ensues.

Scorpion takes notice of you.

“Niñito dale. (Go ahead, little one.)”

“Prepárate a morir (Prepare to die) — Ah, man stupid pillows!”

Before you could get your body bashed in by the cyborg, Red Hood takes a shot his tail just in time.

“You good?”

“Y-yeah.”

Your spider senses were all over the place just like with Damian. What is it with black haired hot guys and their danger levels-

You manage to slip away, flashdrive in hand, courtesy of invisibility finally working in your favor.

“All vehicles in the area we have a disturbance involving multiple spider . . . people ?”

“On my way.”

Dick wasn’t the type to spend Christmas in Gotham.

But the tone of his brother’s voice — how broken and desperate it was — alarmed him.

It seemed that his baby brother finally fell in love.

It was about time really.

Although he was terribly curious as to who the person the Damian Wayne had fallen for.

You couldn’t just be a normal student from school right?

He finds around the scene looking terrified and scared.

A perfect opportunity to get to know you a little better.

“You alright there citizen?”

“Huh? Yeah I’m fine.”

“You seem pretty calm despite being in a police car and all.”

“My dad’s a cop. He gives me rides in one plenty of times.”

“Jefferson Davis, right?”

“You know him?”

“Well, it’s hard not knowing the guy who’s been looking all over for you. He spread the news to several police departments.”

“That . . . sounds a lot like him . . . “

“You don’t have to worry. I won’t tell him where you are. You need some space, right?”

“Right.”

Nothing outstanding so far. You were cute albeit awkward. But he could see that you were going through things at the moment. Early adulthood is a bitch after all.

You kept quiet most of the ride.

You were so distracted that you didn’t even question how he knew what school you went to and the location of your dorms.

“Hey, I’m a little curious, why don’t you have his last name? Family problems?”

“No, it’s something with my grandfather. I don’t think it’s within my place to share.”

“Well alright.”

You two arrive at your dormitory and you make sure to give the place a good old scan just in case you were getting followed.

“I’ll see ya when I see ya, [Y/N]. Give me a call if you ever need help.”

“Got ya.”

You realize that you don’t even know the man’s name much less a way to contact him.

But as you look back, the car he was in had already driven away.

Time wasn’t going to wait for you.

You knew that. You were trying your darn hardest to chase after it.

But you weren’t fast enough.

“[Y/N]. We came to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye? We can say goodbye at the collider.”

“You’re not getting it. You’re staying here.”

“I need to be there, so you can all go home.”

“They are going home [Y/N]. I’m the only one staying.”

“You’re taking my place.”

Your voice trembled as you say those words. And unbeknownst to you, Jason (and to be fair the rest of the spider-people are out there eavesdropping too) shivered as he heard your words.

“If you stay here you’ll die.”

“I’m doing what needs to be done. I just wanted you to hear it from me.”

“What about MJ?”

“Not everything works out, kid. I need the goober.”

“That’s not fair! You gotta tell them I can do this.”

It took Jason all his might to not reach out and embrace you.

He knew how it felt to be replaced. Circumstances differ but still, a connection was made.

Although he couldn’t be there for you now as you had to grow into the Spiderman you had to be, he promised to himself that he will in the future.

After all, if you two were partners in another universe, what stops it from happening in this one as well?

“It wasn’t their decision.”

“I’m ready, I promise— ah—!”

Peter knocks you down, jumping to the ceiling and dangling you by a web.

Jason clenched his teeth. As much as this man knew so much about him and his vulnerabilities, and how he knew this was completely necessary it still ached to see his destined partner getting thrown around.

“Then venom strike me right now or turn invisible on command so you can get past me.”

Peter webs your entire body and sticks you to the chair your roommate always used.

“Look I know how much you want this kid. But you don’t have it yet. I’m sorry.”

“When will I know I’m ready?!”

He then webs your mouth and takes the goober from your hands.

“You won’t. It’s a leap of faith. That’s all it is [Y/N]. A leap of faith.”

And you’re left alone, stuck with webs all over your body. Unable to move or talk.

You hear a knock to your door.

“[Y/N]. . . ! Uh . . . [Y/N] it’s your dad. Please open the door.”

Unfortunately you couldn’t so you just use thrust your body closer to him.

“[Y/N] I can see your shadow moving around.”

“Yeah okay I get it. I get it yes… still ignoring me. Look can we talk for a minute?”

You nod. Internally facepalming after realizing he can’t see you doing so.

“Look sometimes people drift apart [Y/N] and I don’t want that to happen to us, okay? I know I don’t always do what you need me to do or say what you need me to say but I’m…”

“But I see this - this — spark in you, it’s - it’s amazing. It’s why I push you but . . . it’s yours and whatever you choose to do with it you’d be great.”

You feel tears falling from your face as your father spoke.

All those days feeling the pressure of everyone’s expectations on you

As [Y/N], as the Spiderman of this universe.

You were an adult in age, yes. But in the face of all these events your youth and inexperience slapped you in your face.

You wanted to run away. You wanted everything to be over and done with.

But you realize, you were the only one who could do this. For the sake of the spider-gang. For Gotham.

You didn’t know if you were going to succeed but wasn’t that what life was?

A leap of faith.

“Look, call me when you can.”

“I love you. You don’t have to say it back though.”

And your father leaves.

You close your eyes. Thinking back to all the moments you’ve failed, all the times you’ve broken a bone or two trying to learn.

Time wasn’t going to wait for you. But why run after it when you can web-sling it up?

You use your venom powers to get rid of the webs and do you best to get to Jason’s place. He had to have an extra, better suit lying around right? Anything was better than what the gang gave you.

You ring the bell to his house completely expecting him to not be there and potentially having to break in.

But you stand corrected.

“Took you long enough.”

taglist: @vanessa-boo @w31rdg1rl @zlatolait-writes @ice-cream-writes-stuff @hakudaru @violet2507 @sleepy-maenad @yell0wdreams @humanoid606 @holybatflapexpert

#yandere batfam #yandere x reader #damian wayne x reader #dick grayson x reader #jason todd x reader #tim drake x reader #yandere #yandere bruce wayne x reader #yandere damian wayne #yandere damian wayne x reader #yandere nightwing #yandere dick grayson #yandere tim drake #yandere tim drake x reader #yandere jason todd x reader #yandere jason todd #yandere robin x reader #yandere batman x reader #yandere batfam x reader #yandere dc x reader #yandere dc #batman x reader #damian wayne #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #bruce wayne #batman #robin #yandere red hood x reader

[therealvinelle]

Favorite month for each of the cullens? For James’ coven?

I'm fascinated, why James's coven? But alright.

The Cullens

Alice likes parties, she likes decorating, she likes to have a reason to decorate the house for a party. And nothing says parties, decor, and finding a way to be modern, somehow sexy, yet tasteful and teaming up with Esme like Christmas and New Years' Eve. Plus the sun sets much earlier so she can go shopping at human hours, use atmospheric outdoor lighting, and have all sorts of seasonal fun that simply doesn't work the same in the Summer months (and Spring and Autumn are... so wet...). It's December for Alice.

Carlisle likes when he can be out longer, when the snow is still pristine and when there are happy festivities happening. He would uncomplicatedly be a December person, except the festivities are... dampened... by the family and partner violence and suicide attempts he gets at the end of the month. He's a December person who sees it as the time he has to save more people than usual, and also the snow is pretty.

Edward is for the fall months, because fall is such a beautiful time of year and more importantly he can think gloomy thoughts about nature following the cycle of life, every year it comes to life then dies again while he lives on. November... the twilight of the year, that brief flash of rapidly passing weeks just before the darkest time of the year and the death that is winter rolls in.

Emmett loves Christmas. There is no doubt in my mind Rosalie does a "Happy birthday, Mr. President" routine, and that they have some horrible lane about making their own fireworks for New Years' Eve. December is awesome, bro.

Esme loves family, festivities, and the joy of exchanging gifts with loved ones. Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but so too are the days leading up to Christmas, when she can put out the decorations and have a meaningful way of marking the passage of time for a few weeks. December.

Jasper enjoys the happy emotions coming from his family. December.

Renesmee's concept of the passage of time is completely warped. She dutifully says "December" when asked about her favorite month because that seems to be the done thing in this family.

Rosalie has thoughts about how Christmas is a time to be spent with family, specifically with children who believe in Santa Claus and miracles, and while she has a family there's a very central part of Christmas she'll never have, just as she can't enjoy any of the little things that made Christmas what it is, such as gingerbread cookies. It's another painful reminder, but so is her entire life. Renesmee helps heal this for her, in that there's now a child she can have many if not all of these Christmassy things she wanted to experience with, and also in that I somehow know several years of Christmases with the entire extended Black-Clearwater-Cullen-Swan family will be such a clusterfuck, everyone except Bella sensing the tensions, that Rosalie will be completely disillusioned as to what "family Christmas, just like the humans have it!" will never be appealing to her again.

James & co

Victoria prefers whichever month of the year rains most in whichever region of the world she's in. Rain washes away her scent, she can hide, and that makes for a happy Victoria.

James shares Victoria's preference, as more rain makes the hunt more difficult and he loves a challenge

Laurent thinks these people are fucking weird, rain ruins his hair and clothes and can we get a house? Laurent would like a house. ("How badly" is a question he must ask himself chez the Denali.)

#the cullens #cullens #twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanons #twilight renaissance #james #victoria #laurent #jasper hale #rosalie hale #emmett cullen #alice cullen #carlisle cullen #renesmee cullen #esme cullen #edward cullen

[foolishlovers]

CHRISTMAS FIC RECS: Below you can find a quick list of all the Good Omens Christmas fics I’ve read this year so far.

I thought some of you might want to indulge in some cosy reading as well!

You can request more fic recs here.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree How Terrified Your Branches by Supergeek21 (1.2k, G)

As their first Christmas in their cottage approaches Aziraphale asks Crowley if he wants to get a proper Christmas tree. He's surprised to learn the demon already has one.

Christmas Angels by TawnyOwl95 (1.8k, T)

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas in London and that means there are lots of angels about. Aziraphale does not handle this well.

A half-penny will do by penny_archer (2k, G)

It’s Christmas in Victorian England and Crowley is trying not-very-hard to hide the fact that he’s been giving pickpocketing lessons to the disenfranchised youth of London. Oh, and he has a cute gift for Aziraphale that’s totally not a big deal.

The Nice List by GaryOldman (2k, T)

When watching Christmas movies with Anathema, Crowley can't work out why no one else seems to believe in Santa when he's been receiving gifts for years.

A Christmas Miracle by Santillatron (3k, M)

Crowley gets irritated at couples kissing under a holly arch. One thing leads to another, and a sprig of mistletoe makes a timely appearance.

Well, it's bad luck not to, isn't it?

Taking the Cake by Caedmon (3K, T)

Aziraphale has noticed his handsome neighbor, but hasn't had an excuse (or the nerve) to talk to him. He gets his chance, though, when a bakery delivers a package to the wrong door a few days before Christmas and his neighbor comes knocking.

And All Was For An Apple by Lindewen (3k, T)

The second winter after the Apocalypse didn't happen, Crowley and Aziraphale are out for some sightseeing and Christmas shopping along the south coast, simply because they can. But Crowley also has a secret errand to run--and, as it turns out, he can't always balance very well in his human form...

All The Lights That Light The Way by FeralTuxedo (8k, E)

On the run from a disastrous work Christmas party, Anthony Crowley encounters an angel singing in the streets of Soho.

Of Love and Lattes by edna_blackadder (9k, G)

A.J. Crowley, part time barista at Madame Tracy's Coffee Shoppe, only wants one thing for Christmas, which is to get through the joyous season without his head exploding. His coworkers are already not helping, and then the proprietor of the bookshop across the street develops an unfortunate addiction to seasonal espresso beverages.

Secret Santa by AppleSeeds (18k, T)

On the advice of his therapist, Crowley signs up to be a 'Secret Santa', an anonymous gift-giver for a community initiative aiming to bring some Christmas joy into the lives of people going through a hard time. He's partnered with Aziraphale, a librarian who has lost his home and bookshop in a fire. Through the power of Christmas Magic, Crowley ends up meeting Aziraphale in person when he takes his nephew to the library and is immediately smitten. He becomes determined to use his expertise and influence to give Aziraphale the only Christmas present that could really make a difference, but are some things too important to be kept secret?

muddle through somehow by curtaincall (27k, T)

Aziraphale Fell runs a successful food blog, Celestial Comestibles, where he shares mouthwatering recipes and heartwarming stories about his happy domestic life in a cottage with his husband and son. As promotion for his upcoming cookbook, his publishers run a contest: one lucky winner will get to spend Christmas with Aziraphale and his family.

What the publishers don't know is that the real Aziraphale Fell is a single city-dweller. And if he wants to keep up his happily married persona, he'll have to acquire a cottage, husband, and son before Christmas.

As it happens, his friend and neighbor Anthony Crowley has his nephew staying with him for the holidays. One fake marriage proposal later, and everything seems tickety-boo--as long as Aziraphale can keep from developing inconveniently real feelings for his pretend husband...

First Class (Hons) Christmas, University of Tadfield. by heloluv (41k, M)

Dr. A.Z. Fell is a renowned literature tutor at the prestigious University of Tadfield. December is upon the University, and Dr. Fell is leading the Christmas Charity Drive. He needs volunteers.

Dr. A.J. Crowley is a skilled plant ecologist who recently began his tenure at UoT. He can't stand Christmas, and nothing at all could ever possibly convince him to partake in "festivities". Until a certain literary expert catches his eye.

A Christmas and New Years fic, in which Aziraphale teaches Crowley how to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.

bonus: The Christmas fic I wrote this year

The Anon Before Christmas by foolishlovers (58k, M)

When Crowley’s friend, blogging buddy and business partner Anathema announces her annual Secret Santa Exchange on Tumblr, she is very adamant Crowley should join this year.

The old-fashioned (but admittedly compassionate) man he gets assigned to send anonymous messages to every day until Christmas sounds awfully similar to the fussy bookseller that his friends adore, yet Crowley tries to avoid at all costs.

But surely his friends would have mentioned if Aziraphale had taken an interest in the Bad Omens fandom as well… right?

Or: An Enemies to Lovers Secret Santa Tumblr AU.

#support so appreciated 💜 #might add some if i read more the next few days!! #good omens #gomens #good omens fic #good omens fic rec #good omens fanfic #good omens fanfiction #aziracrow #aziracrow fic #crowley x aziraphale #good omens christmas #good omens human au #ineffable husbands #ineffable partners #foolish recs #go fic masterpost

[g1rlken]

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Gestures ⊹ ࣪ ˖

「 alex turner x fem!reader 」

word count: 1.3k+

summary: a small fluff Christmasy blurb?

—

In the cozy glow of Christmas lights, Alex Turner's childhood home became a haven of warmth and laughter. It took him a lot of convincing to get y/n to come spend Christmas with his family. They hadn’t been dating for that long which made her slightly hesitant to that idea. Just jump into big steps and meeting new people, first impressions over the holidays seemed to be a bit overwhelming. However Alex reasoned it would make his Christmas really better if she was there and his family would be very appreciative of her addition in his life. She agreed.

Alex's family, aware that he didn't often bring someone he wasn’t particularly serious about home, welcomed Y/N with open arms. His parents, in particular, exuded an inviting charm that put her at ease. The house was adorned with festive decorations, and the aroma of home-cooked meals wafted through the air. Just like Alex had promised to y/n they were all rather appreciative of her addition. Amidst the conversations of childhood stories and familial fun y/n felt very much at home. On Christmas morning, the family gathered around the tree, exchanging gifts and sharing stories. With the festive chaos, Alex's mom presented a beautifully crafted plum cake.She was rather warmed up to y/n and got close as if they were long lost friends , she wanted her to feel very welcome at their family Christmas hoping she would have more Christmases with her. Given how a mother just knows, she knew y/n made Alex truly happy.

Caught off guard, Y/N hesitated for a moment. She knew she was allergic to plums, but the genuine excitement in Alex's mum's eyes made it difficult to decline. With a smile, she accepted the slice, deciding to navigate the potential consequences later. With some Christmas miracle her allergy might just not be that bad. Throughout the day, Y/N savored the holiday festivities, all the while suppressing the subtle tingling on her lips and the slight itchiness in her throat and torso but other than that everything was just fine and overshadowed with all the fun and comfort she had with his family.

As night fell, Alex and Y/N retreated to his bedroom. The air was thick with the remnants of a hearty Christmas feast, and the soft glow of fairy lights cast a magical ever so Christmasy ambiance.

The two settled into bed, the room quiet except for the occasional creaks of the old house settling. However, just as the night seemed to embrace them, Y/N's chest began to burn. In the silent darkness, she couldn't ignore the escalating discomfort. But it wasn’t her first time with this, it was around two in the morning when she got out of the bed to see to the discomfort of her chest. When she went to the bathroom adjoined to Alex’s room, she saw her entire upper torso red which felt burning to touch. “Well fuck” she muttered under her breath, she wasn’t that alarmed or concerned about it having bad past experiences with allergic reactions. She was just disappointed.

"Hey Alex, wake up!" she whispered, gently shaking him from his slumber. “Alex…”

Alex stirred, his eyes bleary with sleep. "What's wrong?" he mumbled, confusion evident in his voice.

“Can you go downstairs and get me some ice cubes?” She asked with absolutely no prior context provided to him, who’d just woken up mid sleep.

“What?” He asked even more confused as he rubbed his eyes and sat up, “what’s going on?”

“My chest is a bit red” she shrugged off like it wasn’t a big deal or something to be concerned about, she surely wasn’t concerned.

“Are you serious?” Worry flashed across Alex's face as he fully woke up, realising the gravity of the situation. “Wait what’s happened love?”

“It’s just a small allergic reaction it’s totally fine just go get me the ice cubes.” she reassured, downplaying the severity to shield his worry.

“Allergic reaction? To what?” He asked furrowing her brows, the fact that she was allergic to plums was rather trivial up until now so it never came up she hadn’t got the chance to enlighten him about it “we need to go to the ER this is serious-“

"It's just a mild reaction Alex. I don't want to make a big deal out of it." She said with a sigh at how much he exaggerated it.

Alex furrowed his brows at how much she downplayed this ordeal which was extremely concerning to him, “let me take a look” he spoke, as she lowered her jumper slightly by her upper torso to reveal the red of her allergy which was evident to the burn it’d be making her feel. “Honey girl, that does not seem mild.”

“I’m the one with the allergy not you, I know what’s mild and what’s not.” She said with an exaggerated shrug and she straightened her jumper. “Just get the ice cubes!”

"I insist on waking up my mum. She might have creams or meds," Alex suggested, genuine concern etched across his face.

Y/N, however, refused, fearing it would create guilt. "Just quietly get the ice cubes. No need to tell anyone when I’m saying it’s not a big deal. Don’t make it a big deal." she insisted.

Given how stubborn she was Alex felt it pointless to reason with her at this moment, trusting her experience with allergy he made up his mind he’d take her to the hospital if the ice didn’t make it remotely better for her because she clearly wasn’t open to listen at the moment. Once the returned with the ice, assisting y/n remove her jumper and T-shirt underneath leaving her in her undershirt. Helping with the ice, on her chest because he took it more ‘seriously’ than she did.

“Why’d you have the cake in the first place when you knew you were allergic?” He asked a bit confused but was focused on applying ice as if he was painting.

“Your mum made it with such love and efforts for me I couldn’t have just refused that.” Y/n replied ever so mildly which cases Alex to pause his movements with ice on her.

“Wait what?” He asked raising brows, he had assumed she’d perhaps forgotten or had undying love for the cakes this was unexpected. “Of course you should have told her! She would understand.”

“What?” she scoffed stifling laughter as if what Alex suggested was inane to her “Say what like ‘I’m so sorry Mrs.Turner I can’t have the plum cake you made for me because I’m allergic?’”

“Yeah?” Alex replied with a mix of concern and affection in his eyes. “Or you could’ve just told me I would’ve told her if it was awkward for you.”

“It’s not about awkwardness I just didn’t want to disappoint her because she seemed so happy about it. Besides I’ve had worse reactions than this one.” Y/n said with a shrug as she held on the ice to her burn as Alex instructed.

Fixing the strand of hair behind her hair he smiled shaking his head at her, “You’re an idiot.” He sighed “but you’re my idiot.” He spoke as his eyes softened at her selflessness and how pure of a soul she was to care about somebody’s else’s feeling to that extent.

“Piss off.” She chuckled playfully nudging him when he brought her close to himself by her hands and kissed her. She was cradled in his arms in a few moments as the kiss lengthened. “I already feel better.”

Despite the pain, the tender moment shared in that dimly lit room felt like a testament to their connection. In the quiet hours of the night, as Alex applied ice cubes to alleviate the allergic reaction, he couldn't help but marvel at how deeply y/n felt and cared about all those she loved and how lucky he felt to have her in his life.

In that vulnerable moment, amidst the soft glow of Christmas lights and the quiet rustle of the old house, their connection deepened. Love, it seemed, was not just about grand gestures but also about enduring discomfort for the sake of someone else's happiness.

—

hiiiiiii this is my first fic on here pls send requests for Alex if you want to <3333

Feedback is always appreciated

#alex turner #alex turner x reader #alex turner fanfic #alex turner x reader fluff #alex turner x you #alex turner x y/n #alex turner imagine

[thatlittleegyptologist]

ok so I'm pretty drunk and I sorta have to get this out before my not drunk self bottles it all back up. (and this is heavy so if you are even remotely not prepared to deal with it, please for the love of god do not read it. I'll delete it shortly anyway when I've pulled myself together. This is, in a way, catharsis.)

I'm not fine. I am so far from fine it's not even funny. Honestly I wish people would stop asking because do you think I'm fine??? No.

My mother is dying. A somewhat slow and painful death from cancer. They stopped treatment in March since there was nothing more they could do after nine years. She has a tumour, attached to the main artery in her neck. It's the size of a cantaloupe melon. It used to be the size of a dough ball. Anyway, that's pulling on her heart. It also bleeds and because it's on an artery, it...sprays and if it does that more than once in a 48 hour period she will die. Twice, since June, we've been told she's got hours to live. I know many of you have never had to prepare for the death of a parent, to guard yourself for the inevitable, but it's A Lot. Then, when she pulls through, by a fucking miracle you can't even grasp at the time, you have to recentre yourself and it's so fucking hard. Two weeks ago we were called in to say our goodbyes to her. She was heavily sedated, when we arrived we thought she was already dead. Arterial spray arched on the walls because it'd happened barely 30 minutes earlier and they thought it was better for us to get in there before she went than to clean up. The image haunts me. She's still with us two weeks later, but she's so doped up on meds she's hallucinating. The room smells like antiseptic and various bodily fluids and I will never get that smell out of my mind. That will stay with me until my own death. Some days she's lucid, and on other days she barely knows who we are. I can't sit there and watch her have to be moved by nurses at the hospice because if she moves herself she could have a bleed. I can't stand trying to have a conversation and then losing her to the morphine. I am tired. I am emotionally wrung out. People expect me to be okay and then can't handle it when I say I'm not. It is zero fucking fun to have people promise to be there for you, but as soon as you say it's too hard they fucking flake. Spending every day barely holding on. I've got nothing left in me and yet every few days I come across another person who knows her who isn't aware of what's happening and I have to go through the whole experience of explaining how she won't make it to christmas and I can't do it anymore. I'm emotionally wrung out from trying to be present for the family and then trying to appear semi normal to everyone else. I cannot take another 'she's got hours to live'. It's been three times since June and I simply cannot anymore.

Next week is my parents 40th wedding anniversary and they're holding it this weekend because the doctors are too scared she won't make it to then. I don't even know if I should get a card or whether it'll not be worth it.

I'm tired. I'm done. I simply cannot take anymore 'I'm so sorry this is the hardest thing you'll ever do' because I know and I can't hear it any longer. I want it to go away because maybe I won't fear my phone ringing. Maybe I'll sleep more than three hours a night. Maybe I'll eat properly again. Maybe I'll be able to get through the day without hospice staff, whose entire job this is, feeling pity because even they know that three months of protracted 'it's any day now' is more than most people deal with there.

I am done. I can't do it anymore.

#cancer tw

[nevieatiny]

Chasing Shadows in Water

Part 2

Ex!Mingi x Reader/ Reader x San

Summary: You had the hottest boyfriend in campus, handsome, captain of the swimming team, tall, but when he takes you for granted you decide to take a break from relationships, winter break helps to recover and focus on yourself again, but what happens when a new student shows up as a christmas miracle, you swore not to get distracted by a boy gain, but maybe life is giving you a new chance and things do happen for a reason.

Word count: 2,337

Genre: Angst / fluff

Being the bullied kid growing up was not easy for Mingi, he hardly had any friends, yes some kids would stick around with him after school, but no one would defend him when someone made fun of his weight or his height, that's when he started to see himself as a monster who would never be loved, because how could someone love him like that?

And being from a small town was not helping him either, no matter how good he was at school, or video games or even basketball, he was never good enough, that was till life gave him a second chance and his dad had to move due to work right after middle school, at first it felt like his world was crumbling , what if no one wanted to be his friend? would kids from the city be even more mean to him?

His mom made sure to let him know each and every time that anyone would be lucky to be his friend, and Mingi got his hopes up, getting excited to start all over in a new place, he packed everything on his bedroom, as quick as posible, getting scolded multiple times by his mom on how messy he was while doing it, he even took that bear that was supposed to be donated to charity, his mom knew about it but she just let it pass, she knew her son was just a kid who liked stuffed animals even if he denied it.

Thats how he said his goodbyes to the rest of his family and left to the big city, the new house was big for just 3 people, but he was happy to have a big back yard, he asked his parents to have a pet, but they said that it was a big responsibility and he would barely have time once school begins, maybe that's why he liked your place, it was cozy, big enough for 2 people, and your cat would always lie down on his lap and let him pat his little head.

Mingi decided that this would be a new beginning, and for that he will have to make an effort and change himself, his aunt told him that swimming could help him to get a scholarship later on, so during the summer he took action and asked his mom to join the swimming team nearby, it was kinda expensive but his mom saw how excited and motivated he was, so she couldn't say no.

And that's how it started for Mingi, he started to lose weight and he discover a whole new world when people started praising him for how good he was for the team, during his fist year of highschool he made one good friend, even if he looked diffrent now he was still a really insecure kid, so when a someone asked him to sit with him during lunch he was thrilled, Yunho would never admit it but he knew that it was because he felt bad for him, watching Mingi eat all by himself, but he's glad he did it anyways.

Yunho was friends with everyone, but he never left mingi's side, he even followed Yunho to college and got a scholarship thanks to the swimming team, everything was going great for him, they even shared a room in campus, at some point his mom thought that he was actually in love with Yunho, she never saw her son with a girl before, that was till he meet you.

Mingi was always there for Yunho when he had a dance performance with the school team and when Yunho started to talk about this new friend he made and how they would get along just fine, Mingi actually started to feel a bit jealous, so after the last performance of the semester he was surprised to see a girl standing beside his best friend "Mings come here, this is Y/n, the friend i've telling you about" as soon as you smiled at him he was gone, and how could he not, and when you made a joke about Yunho finally getting a friend who takes the same amount of time for oxygen to reach his head as him he couldn't stop laughing, you were bold and he liked that.

That's when he decided that he wanted to be good enough to be with someone like you, he put more effort on his looks, he carried himself in a different more confident way whenever he was with you, and Yunho started to notice in no time, he was happy actually to finally see his best friend having a romantic interest in someone for the first time since they meet, but he knew Mingi, he knew that he always had a hard time expressing his feelings and sometimes he lacked empathy and common sense, but what could he do when you also showed interest in him, who was he to tell his friend who they could and couldn't be with.

He still remembers that first time you both hang up without Yunho, it was when you asked him to help you pick a few christmas gifts from the mall, when you met he swore that's how high school girls felt in dramas, of course he tried to play it cool, sadly his little act didn't last long because he felt way to comfortable around you.

Picking clothes was definitely his favorite part, even though you always said you hated picking clothes because it was tedious and boring, but when he put an outfit together for you and asked you to have a little fashion show for him you couldn't say no, even after the fifth outfit, you ended up buying a few of the pieces he picked for you and a jacket that he kept eyeing from now and then without him noticing, after coming up with a (lame) excuse of how cold it was he finally gathered enough courage to hold your hand for a few minutes.

"i guess we can call this a date right?" you asked once you sat down at a Starbucks to take a break form shopping, poor man almost choked with his coffe right there, after offering him a sip from your tea and made sure he was fine you couldn't help but laugh " do you plan to kill me or what? is that your christmas wish?" even if he was trying to look mad he couldn't help but smile when he saw you laughing still "i'm sorry bad timing, but don't avoid my question Song Mingi" "First you ask me about this being a date and now you're threatening me with my full name" you took a piece of his chocolate cake and shrug your shoulders "you say that but you're blushing at the same time, make it made sense" before he had a chance to say something else you cut him off "let's take a picture for Yunho " you grabbed his hand, asking him to make a half heart shape in front of your drinks, changing to a thumbs up at the last moment before taking the picture "you're so annoying i swear" you ignored him, sending the picture to Yunho "he already has good grades, what is he even studying do hard for?" after sending the picture you left your phone at the table, taking another bite from his cake, he didn't complain and just pushed his plate gently towards you " well i'm glad he is, i like spending time with you anyways" truth to be told he begged Yunho to stay at the dorm in case you asked him to tag along, to which he laughed and didn't put too much resistance, he didn't had the heart to do it after seeing his friend taking everything out of his closet to find something appropriate to wear "i also like spending time with you, but it feels weird, i think he just tried to come up with an excuse" He was trying so hard to play it cool, so he just grabbed your drink to take a sip again "would it be so bad?, like just you and me sometimes?" you had to look up, meeting his gaze for a few seconds before he looked away "i guess not, we can't bring him along to our dates all the time anyways" "i didn't say this was a date" you took the last bite before pushing the plate towards him again "but i want it to be, so I say this is a date" "Yes, but it's not a proper date y/n" this time he sounded mad, not actually mad but his tone was more serious, cold "a proper date would be me asking you on a date, and going to a nice place, not just casually running some errands" "but i like running errands with you" that comment made his heart hurt a little, maybe he was creating a misunderstanding and you saw his expression soften, you knew Song Mingi and how sometimes he needed to be aware of his tone, even if he was not trying to be mean on purpose "that's not what i meant, i also like to run errands with you or just doing stuff together, or not doing anything at all, but you deserve a proper first date" you rolled your eyes for a second, brushing it off and taking your stuff "where are you going?" "what do you mean "you"? we still need to buy a few gifts"

It was always hard to say goodbye to you, even if you were gonna see each other the next day, he even asked you to visit a few stores as an excuse to spend more time with you, but it was getting late and he knew he had to let you go at some point, so right after saying goodbye yo left a paper bag on his hands "you better use it Song Mingi" and before he could argue you left, leaving him with the jacket he saw on the store.

════════════════════════════════════════════

It became a habit for him to go to your's and Yunho's performances or for both of you to go to his competitions and grab dinner right after, so when yunho had a family emergency and couldn't go to Mingi's competition you decided to take action, you really liked Mingi, but you also knew he was never gonna take the fist step, deep down you knew it was because of his insecurities even though you made sure to make him feel assured and loved everytime he was with you, so when you showed up with a flower bouquet he felt like crying, that was the first time he ever received flowers "I'm going to be really direct with you, i like you Mingi and i love spending time with you, i don't want to pressure you, i just though i had to tell you how i feel before it was too late, so if y-" and before you knew he was kissing you outside of the indoor pool, so hard that you swore you were about to run out of air " i guess that's a yes" you said after he let you go, his grip still on you waist "yes, i guess you could say that " he smiled before kissing you again, for so long he imagined what would it be like and now that he was experiencing it felt like he was having a dream.

Mingi was ready to put a ring on your finger after 2 weeks, he would pick you up after practice to go to your place, Yunho even said he should just move with you, since you practically lived together, and to be honest he could see this on his future, you and him sharing the same place doing your daily activities, he felt like the most confident man in the would, he managed to pull you up, and he made sure to let everyone know, he even told his mom about you on several occasions, saying that he might take someone home next christmas.

Maybe it was the excitement for a new relationship but he was not scared of skinship at all, hugging you when ever he saw you, grabbing your hand all the time and when the two of you were alone he would make sure to put all his weight on you at least for a few seconds, this man required a lot of attention and assurance, and you gave it to him all the time, expecting the same from him, that's when everything started to go downhill.

You always made sure to let Mingi know that it was ok to let you know that he had practice, and to not feel bad for not being with you all the time, but he took it way too literally, he stoped going to your dance performances, and Yunho assure you that you just needed to ask him to come more often, and you did, on several occasions, but the only thing he said everytime was "i'll try to make it next time" at some point you stopped asking, but you never missed a single competition.

he stopped showing to your dates, calling you an hour later saying that practice took longer than expected and that he was on his way, but after the seventh time you stoped waiting and just head home, you were always the one looking for new places or coming up with date ideas, or any type of plan to go out for a while and spending time with him.

He knew he took you for granted, he was aware of what he was doing, and even after Yunho told him to get his shit togehter before it was too late he did nothing, because how could you possibly break up with him, you were happy with him right?

But how's he going to explain to his mom that he will be going home alone this christmas too.

════════════════════════════════════════════

Hi happy new year, thank you for the support so far :) i'm really excited for the next few parts, honestly i'm not sure of how many more will be, but i would like to know what do you think about it so far :))))))

see you next year <3

#ateez #ateez au #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #ateez imagines #ateez angst #ateez fluff #ateez imagine #ateez mingi #ateez san #ateez x reader #mingi x reader #san x reader

[multifandominfj]

I have watched this movie a total of five times now, and I’m completely enamored and in love with this movie. Ali and Humberly make my cheeks sore every time I’ve watched because all I did was smile and squee with joy watching one of my favorite holiday romance stories of all time.

I’m a sucker for a fake dating trope, it’s one of my favorites. And to see a movie where the two leads already don’t have to come out, not made a big deal of them being lesbians and have a healthy relationship with their parents was an added treat.

Now, for some of my favorite moments.

The first one being the exchange of the gloves. The fact that not only were they MATCHING, but the flirtatious texting had me gushing. That moment was so “Carol” coded, and I’m here for it.

The next one being the work Christmas party and where Amelia walks Daniella to her door. I think that was THE moment in the movie where they both realized they liked each other. “She’s the most unexpected Christmas Miracle.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That was just so cute! Them dancing with each other at the party made my heart are warm and mushy, and where they both happen to gaze between each other’s eyes and lips at Daniella’s door; I was practically shouting “HEY, YOU TWO SHOULD KISS” at my tv.

The last is where both of the family helps with the declaration of love. I want someone to shout their love for me from the rooftops, while showing my photos of our favorite memories. They are beyond adorable when they act shy while telling each other how they feel.

AND THE KISSES ! Not only did we get one with the love declaration, but another at their Christmas dinner. They were perfect.

This movie is perfection, and it’s in my Top 5 favorite Christmas movies of all time. I hope Ali and Humberly know how many holidays they’ve made brighter with this movie. How many people they’ve made feel loved during a time of the year when they feel alone. I know they’ve helped me a great deal. ❤️

#friends and family christmas #hallmark movies #hallmark #humberly gonzalez #ali liebert #ali liebert has got me questioning everything about my sexuality #humberly gonzalez had me blushing the entire time #these movies are for queer girls #queer stories matter #sapphic representation matters #women the sapphics love

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How cable monopolists tricked conservatives into shooting themselves in the face

No matter how hard conservative culture-war cannon-fodder love big business, it will never love them back. Take network policy, where rural turkeys in Red State America keep on voting for Christmas, then profess outrage when Old Farmer Comcast gets to sharpening his ax.

For two years, the FCC has been hamstrung because MAGA Senators refuse to confirm Gigi Sohn, leaving the Commission with only four commissioners. What do the GOP have against Sohn? Well, to hear them tell of it, she’s some kind of radical Marxist who will undermine free enterprise and replace the internet with tin cans and string.

The reality is that Sohn favors policies that will specifically and substantially benefit the rural Americans whose senators who refuse to confirm her. For example, Sohn favors municipal fiber provision, which low-information conservatives have been trained to reflexively reject: “Get your government out of my internet!”

Boy, are they ever wrong. The private sector sucks at providing network connectivity, especially in rural places. The cable companies and phone companies have divided up the USA like the Pope dividing up the “New World,” setting out exclusive, non-competing territories that get worse service than anyone else in the wealthy world. Americans pay some of the highest prices for the lowest speeds of any OECD nation.

For ISPs, bad service is a feature, not a bug. When Frontier went bankrupt in 2020, we got to look at its books, which is how we discovered that the company booked the one rural customers with no alternative as “assets” because they could be charged more for slower, less reliable service:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/frontiers-bankruptcy-reveals-cynical-choice-deny-profitable-fiber-millions

We also learned that Frontier had calculated that it could make an extra billion in profit by bringing fiber to three million households, but chose not to, because it would take a decade to realize those profits, and during that time, executives’ stock options would decline in value as analysts punished them for making long-term bets.

We can bring fiber to rural America, and when we do, amazing things happen. McKee, Kentucky — one of the poorest places in America — used federal grants and its New Deal era rural electrification co-op to bring fiber to every household, using a mule called Ole Bub to run it over difficult mountain passes, and the result was an economic miracle:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

The only Americans who consistently say they like their ISPs are people who live in the 700+ small towns that have run their own fiber, mostly in Red States:

https://muninetworks.org/communitymap

Small wonder that rural Americans prefer muni fiber to commercial ISPs’ offerings. When Trump’s FCC Chair Ajit Pai gave them billions in subsidies to improve rural connectivity, the monopolists spent it pulling new copper lines, not fiber — which would have been thousands of times faster.

Given all that, it takes a lot to convince rural Americans that municipal fiber is bad for them. Specifically, it takes disinformation. More specifically, it takes the lie that municipal fiber would result in “government interference” in users’ communications.

Boy, is this ever wrong. Private companies are free to set their own content moderation policies, and can discriminate against any viewpoint they wish. They can and do remove “lawful but awful” speech like racist diatribes, vaccine denial, election denial, and other conservative fever-dreams.

Contrast that with local governments, who are bound by the First Amendment, and prohibited from practicing “viewpoint discrimination.” This means that if a local government allows one viewpoint on a subject, they are generally required to allow all other viewpoints on that subject. This is how we get the Satanic Temple’s excellent stunts, like demanding that towns that display Christian icons on public lands also display statues of Baphomet right next to them.

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/17/639726472/satanic-temple-protests-ten-commandments-monument-with-goat-headed-statue

When your town government runs 100gb fiber into your basement or garage, it will have a much harder time blocking you from, say, running a Mastodon instance devoted to election denial or GhostGun production than your commercial ISP will. Convincing American conservatives to hate municipal broadband was a gigantic self-own:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/17/turner-diaries-fanfic/#1a-fiber

Even worse is what rural America has been sold instead of municipal fiber: Starlink, the My Pillow of broadband. Starlink sells itself as blazing-fast satellite broadband, but conspicuously fails to talk up the fact that every Starlink user in your neighborhood competes for the same wireless spectrum as you, so the service can only get slower and more expensive over time:

https://www.somebits.com/weblog/tech/bad/starlink-nov-2022-data-caps.html

There’s been a concerted smear campaign against Sohn, and one of the major talking points is that Sohn is anti-cop because she sits on EFF’s board, and EFF wants to place limits on police access to commercial surveillance data. Which is wild, because one of EFF’s demands is limits on geofenced reverse warrants, where cops ask Google to reveal the identity of everyone who was in a specific place at a specific time. If you’ve heard about geofenced warrants lately, it was probably in the context of conservative outrage at their use in rounding up the January 6 insurrectionists.

Now, the primary use of these is to target Black Lives Matter demonstrators and other protestors, and EFF advocates for the normal Fourth Amendment rights that everyone is guaranteed in the Constitution. Conservative pundits didn’t give a damn about geofenced warrants until the J6 affair, and now they do — but they still insist that Sohn should be disqualified from sitting on the FCC because she shares their outrage at the abuse of private surveillance data by law enforcement.

All this raises the question: why have all these Red State senators made it their mission in life to block the appointment of an FCC commissioner who would deliver so many benefits to their constituents? It’s hard to say, of course, but Luke Goldstein has a suggestion in today’s American Prospect:

https://prospect.org/politics/democratic-majority-at-the-fcc-still-blocked/

“A torrent of lobbying money from the telecom industry has flooded Washington to block Sohn’s arrival at the FCC. AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and T-Mobile doled out over $23 million lobbying Washington this year.”

And why would these companies spend millions to block Sohn from sitting on the Commission? Because she would help the Democratic majority pass policies that make broadband cheaper and faster for America, especially rural America where costs are highest and service is worst, and this will limit the telco monopolists’ profits.

There’s a new Democratic senate majority that’ll sit in 2023, so perhaps Sohn will finally be seated and start delivering relief to all Americans, even the turkeys who can’t stop voting for Christmas.

[Image ID: A hunter in camo firing a rifle whose barrel has been bent back to point at his own face. A muzzle flash emerges from the barrel. The hunter wears a MAGA hat. Behind the hunter is a telephone pole with many radiating lines. In the bottom left corner of the image is a 1950s-style illustration of a broadly smiling salesman, pointing at a box that is emblazoned with the logo for ALEC.]

#pluralistic #ripoffs #skylink #frontier #monopoly #dark money #january 6 #geofenced warrants #first amendment #1a #municipal fiber #alec #useful idiots #self-owning . #net neutrality #culture wars #gigi sohn #fcc #turkeys voting for christmas #starlink

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 1B, MATCH 16 OUT OF 16!

*Though I am referring to her as Popelka, her original name in Czech, she is also often referred to as Aschenbrödel, her German name. Additionally, Three Wishes for Cinderella is the English title (with an alternate localized title being Three Gifts for Cinderella). The original Czech title, Tři oříšky pro Popelku, and the German title Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel both are translated as Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella. All names and titles have been tagged. Any local Czech or German speakers feel free to correct me for any mistakes! :)

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Danielle:

This is, imo, the single best retelling of Cinderella out there. She has a great character, her relationship with the prince grows organically rather than happening in a single night, and the scene with the bandits is top tier

The story is told as a historical romance instead of anything supernatural happening. Drew Barrymore is a cute Cinderella, Anjelica Houston is an incredible stepmother, and she's also really nasty to one of the stepsisters too, who ends up taking Danielle (Cinderella)'s side. Also Leonardo da Vinci is hanging around painting a portrait of Danielle at one point.

The Drew Barrymore Cinderella is fantastic. It’s got real history mixed with beautiful whimsy! I absolutely love the butterfly wings and how she spoke up for her step mother and sister at the end (and that they were still punished). I feel like I need to go watch it now.

she’s funny and smart and she’s resourceful (also her outfits are historically accurate!)

Popelka:

She has so much personality. She's funny, smart, kind, has a lot of spunk, and she really does things instead of just waiting for miracles to occur. Also, she's a great rider and has a deadly aim with bow and arrow.

She finds three hazelnuts that grant her wishes by giving the clothes to do what she wants. Beautiful dresses. The prince puts a ring on her finger while she’s in her huntsman’s outfit.

I don't know how it's faring in modern day Czechia, but here in Germany, Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel is still THE (non-Disney) Cinderella adaptation and a yearly rewatch for many, despite literally turning fifty this year. It's just so fairytale and also just... good? And she hangs out in the woods and shoots with a crossbow and saves deer and gives the prince riddles and then the music aaa the music!! I guess this isn't just a submission of this version of the character but this version of the story. For those who don't know: This adaptation is based on a Czech author's retelling of the Grimm version of the story, the film was a co-production of Czechoslovakia and East Germany and it slaps so hard it gets played at least 10 times (usually more) on public german television in and around December every single year. This is not an exaggeration, you can look it up, they even make a special, official info graphic with all the air dates every year that people can (and do!) share on social media. In Germany, the main event of Christmas is the 24th, Christmas eve, and on that day they play it at least 4 times (often more) at different times of the day on different public channels (ALL of which any German with a hooked up tv has access to) so anyone who wants to watch it gets a chance to. And Aschenbrödel herself in the movie STILL holds up as a (within reasonable expectations) feminist character, she's skilled, she's smart, she's witty, she and the prince actually talk and they like each other for their personalities, like... yes, there's a couple of flaws with the movie that time has pointed out, but mostly small, background things or things you simply cannot expect a movie from 1973 to get right. It's SO well made and just plain charming, it has truly stood the test of time and I would be devastated if it weren't included. It's also my mum's favourite movie (she's from East Germany and was born in 1969 so she's had regular access to it basically all her conscious life) so we would actually usually watch it multiple times each year and even record it (first on VHS, later again on DVD) so we could rewatch it any time and yet, I literally never got tired of it. It's just good & magical & I love it. Even my brother, who usually didn't care for fairytale movies at all and would much rather play video games in his room, would come down and sit with us to watch this one, THAT'S how good and magical this movie is.

And if all that hasn't convinced you yet but you speak German, here it is on YouTube, go watch it:

[Link]

(I won't provide a Czech link since I can't vouch for any of them as I don't speak czech)

Anyway, dear tournament runner: Have a pic of Aschenbrödel, in my favourite of her magically provided outfits, for the poll:

[Link]

She is the Cinderella of like eastern central Europe and the Story is a little different (she's no. 1 girlboss, beats the prince in a shooting contest and instead of a fairy she has 3 magic hazelnuts/ a magic owl)

#cinderpoll #round 1 #round 1b #danielle de barbarac #ever after #cinderella #popelka #aschenbrödel #three wishes for cinderella #three gifts for cinderella #three little nuts for cinderella #tři oříšky pro popelku #drei haselnüsse für aschenbrödel #fairytale #poll tournament #poll bracket #character polls #polls