#also there's this really good burger joint 2 minutes from where i live | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Riding High

Ch25: Keep it Simple

Chapter Summary: The events of Boston behind them, Frank, Fliss and Mary look forward to Christmas…and Frank has a big surprise planned.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut…NSFW and NO UNDER 18s!!!

Chapter Pairings: Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: So here it is, the last in the series Riding High. Thank you to everyone who has helped and re-blogged and commended in any way. Do not fear, Frank and Fliss will be back in the next instalment of their adventure Riding On

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 24

If you should ever leave me, thought life would still go on, believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me? God only knows what I’d be without you…

"Mary can you just hold on a second, please!" Frank sighed, grabbing the back of her coat to stop her shooting off into the crowd that streamed down the busy Manhattan sidewalk. "But Frank!" she turned and looked at him, her woollen hat jammed down over her ears "I just wanna see the stall!" "Yeah but you can't just run off!" He grumbled and beside him Fliss gave a chuckle. He turned to look at her "who gets so excited about damned wooden tree ornaments?" "Oh hush!" Fliss leaned up to give him a pack, her cold nose brushing his. In retaliation he pulled the front of her baby blue sparkly bobble hat down over her eye and she shoved him in the chest, laughing. "Fuck you!" "Chance would be a fine thing" he grumbled, taking Fliss’ hand as they headed after Mary. "Awww is that why you're grumpy?" Fliss grinned as they walked "Coz you haven't had any in nearly 3 days?" Frank pouted "No." "Liar..." "Ok, look...Frankie has needs..." he whined "I completely over looked the fact hanging out with an 8 year old in the room would be a cock block." "Always the shower..." Fliss teased and Frank snorted. "Yeah, right. Can you imagine? I give it 3 minutes before she came looking for us." "We go home tomorrow. I'll make it up to you then." Fliss grinned and he sighed. "What?" She laughed. "It’s just...you look so hot in all this winter clothing." Frank grinned. And he meant it. Seeing her wrapped up in a coat, hat and scarf had made her look all cute and cozy...and it had done inappropriate things to him for some odd reason. "Hmmm, you know most men get more turned on the less clothing their girls wear." She teased and he grinned. "Yeah, well, I'm not most men" She gave him a smile which he returned with a soft kiss as they stopped by the stall where Mary instantly dived into looking at the array of ornaments. After a few moments of looking she handed Frank one in the shape of a reindeer stag, and a doe for him and Fliss before selecting a robin for herself. "I think they're so pretty." She looked at the bird in her hand "I saw one at Evelyn's over thanks giving." "Ever heard the saying robins appear when loved ones are near?" Fliss asked. Mary shook her head. "No" "Well, I don't know about here but certainly in England we say it because there is an old belief by some people that a robin is a message from heaven, that a loved one is watching over you." "Do you believe that?" Mary looked at Fliss. Fliss hesitated "Well when my Dad's dad died I was 20 and I remember getting up the morning after he died and there was a robin on the fence of the back garden. Bill told me it was my granddad Alex come to check I was ok." "Do you think it was? Really I mean?" "I dunno sweetheart." Fliss sighed "I'd like it to be true..." "Then you should believe it was." Mary said, looking at her "Because isn't that what faith is? Believing something you want to be true?" Fliss looked at Frank who smiled and gave a small shake of his head. She turned back to Mary, smiling softly as she dropped a hand to the back of her head. This kid was unbelievably wise, but with such an innocence behind it all. "Yeah, I suppose it is." Fliss nodded. "Do you think the robin I saw could have been my mom?" She asked, her eyes wide. Frank at that point stepped in, carefully picking an answer that was ambiguous so as not to say yes, but also not dampening her spirits. "If your mom could I'm sure she would come and see you, make sure you're ok." Mary gave a nod, before she turned back to the stall, her attention back on the ornaments. "We need a dog for Thor, and a cat for Fred oh...and a pony for Monty." "What about Cap and Heidi?" Fliss asked, moving to inspect the selection of decorations. "Oh, yeah!" "This is gonna bankrupt me." Frank grumbled, his hands on Fliss' hips, chin resting on her shoulder as he observed the two of them. "Scrooge" Fliss shot back with a smile "Do you think Verity and Bill will like this one?" Mary held up a snowman. "Absolutely" Fliss nodded. "And can I get one for Evelyn?" She asked, selecting a snowflake. Despite the fact that they were now well into the fifty buck range for fucking tree decorations, Frank couldn't help but want to smile at Marys face. She was so thoughtful, the purity behind it all was, as usual, humbling. So he nodded "Sure she will appreciate it." He smiled. He moved to lift her up so she could hand the ones they had picked over to the guy behind the counter who asked Mary what names she wanted on each one. As she told him, he allowed her to sit up on the edge of the little surface, held in place by Frank to watch as he burnt the names into each ornament before he bagged them up and she took them with a thanks. "Our first family tree stuff!" Mary grinned and Fliss smiled, bending down to give her a hug. They set back off towards the hotel, stopping by a burger joint for dinner before they dumped their bags and returned back out for their final evening in the City. Frank had loved every second of their trip, and so had Mary and Fliss. Seeing Mary's reaction to snow and the Christmas lights had been amazing, along with all the bands on street corners, people walking around dressed up. It was magical and he wasn't afraid to let his inner child come out to play either, as Fliss had just found out. "Whose idea was this again?" He asked as Mary was bouncing up and down in the queue. "Yours!" Fliss scoffed as he took Mary's hand in his right "I seem to recall the very visible horror on your face yesterday when I told you I'd never done it before..." "That’s because it's an abomination that someone who's 34 has never been ice skating." "I was a professional athlete." She shrugged "I was banned from doing anything deemed dangerous " Frank looked at her "What do they consider more dangerous than flying a half tonne animal almost 2 meters into the air?" "Bungee jumping, sky diving, jet skiing, water skiing, ice skating.." Fliss shrugged "just to name 5" Frank shook his head as the queue shuffled forward a little. It wasn't too long now, luckily they had timed it right by arriving 20 minutes or so before the next lot of General Admission to the famous Rockefeller rink opened so there weren't too many people ahead. After another 10 minutes they got to the front and Frank nudged Fliss out of the way as she tried to pay. She scowled at him and he simply rolled his eyes and handed his card over. It wasn't cheap but then, he was in New York. What was? Together they headed onto the ice. Frank, having done it a few times as a kid found his legs fairly quickly and didn't stop himself laughing as Mary's completely went from under her and she landed with a thump on her ass. "Here..." he chuckled, offering her his hand. He pulled her up and moved her in front of him. "Give me your hands..." Mary extended her arms to the side and he took her mitten clad hands in his, holding her in front of him. Fliss was moving tentatively behind him, using the sides for support a little. "Ok slide your right foot forward, like on your roller skates..." Frank said. Mary did as she was told "now left...right...left...right..." He continued his chanting and glanced over his shoulder to see Fliss was concentrating on her feet, her tongue poking out slightly. "You good?" "Yup." She said, raising her hand to give him a thumbs up before she skidded slightly and went down in a tangle of limbs. Letting out a laugh he gently pivoted Mary so she could hold onto the side and offered Fliss his hand. Pulling her up into his arms he held her steady for a moment whilst her laughing subsided. He watched her for a second, her face creasing up into those adorable dimples, eyes crinkled so much they were almost shut and her shoulders shook with the force of her giggles. "I fuckin' love you..." he grinned and she smiled at him. "Back at ya sailor" After another few laps Mary and Fliss had managed to get the hand of it which meant Frank could leave them a little bit as he went off for what he called a proper skate. The girls watched calling him a show off as he crossed his feet and turned, skating backwards a little. Both of them debated sabotaging him and tripping him up but they decided not to, instead they simply pretended they didn't know him, resulting in him grabbing Fliss from behind just beneath the large tree, and spinning her round to face him. "Can I help you?" She teased and he gave a snort. "Yeah, you can... Mary?" He called to her where she was trying to perfect a turn and failing as she almost stumbled again. She looked up and headed over. "Can you take our photo?" "Only if you're gonna kiss..." she replied, making smooching noises. "Well we can’t disappoint her..." Frank shrugged and Fliss grinned, her smile turning into a shriek as Frank quickly grabbed her hips before he took one hand, keeping the other round her back and dipped her so she was bending backwards, planting a sloppy kiss on her lips. She laughed against his mouth as he gave her a wink, before kissing her a little deeper and then setting her upright, his eyes boring into hers which were shining in the Christmas lights surrounding the rink. "Oh that was great!" Mary howled and he turned to face her as she handed his phone back. Frank checked the photo and had to smile, it was a dammed good shot. He showed it to Fliss and she beamed. "A framer?" She asked. "A framer." He agreed. It took them ages to get Mary to finally leave the rink. Even a bribe of hot chocolate, marshmallows and cookies wasn't doing it. Eventually Frank put his foot down and told her it was time to go as it was almost 9pm and they still had that tree to go see before they headed to Central Park for one last walk in the lights. After handing their skates back and retrieving their belongings from the lockers they followed the path to the tree. As they round the corner Mary gasped. "It's huge!" She turned to look at Frank and Fliss, her eyes wide "Oh my God!" Frank smiled kissed Fliss' cheek as Mary walked slightly ahead of them down the walkway that was flanked with smaller trees and the famous lit up trumpeting angels . As they caught her up he slipped his spare hand in his pocket, his fingers curling round the small, leather box inside. The damned thing had been burning a hole in his pocket since he had bought it in Boston just after Thanksgiving. Fliss, Verity and Bill had all stayed for a very pleasant week rounded off with a damned good proper Thanksgiving dinner and the three of them had flown home on the Friday, as Fliss was starting to stress about her business. He and Mary followed on the Sunday after she had been given the all clear to fly after a week’s check up at the Hospital. On his spare afternoon, he'd taken a trip into the city with one goal, and it had been surprisingly easy. The first jeweller he has walked into had a perfect ring, and despite the fact he had visited several others none of them caught his eye like that. So he had gone back and asked the assistant for a closer look. It wasn't a huge rock, white gold and emerald cut with in a pave setting, but everything about it had screamed Fliss. It was delicate and feminine but with a wonderful sparkle just like her. He knew that sounded so lame when he had told the assistant but she has just smiled and told him that if he had that much conviction, it must be right. He had been lost when she asked him what size, but in a sudden inspiration he had remembered the Pandora ring he had bought her when he had gotten his first new pay check as supervisor. He mentioned this to the assistant who beamed and said she could easily size it from that by using a simple conversion chart and told him to come back the following day. His sudden good spirit had fallen as he explained he couldn't do and asked her to see if here was anything she could do, even contemplating taking it and having it sizes back in Florida. But, after the shitty run of events over the last week, his luck was in after she returned 5 minutes later with a slip of paper, informing him it would be ready by the end of the day. When he had told Mary he was going to ask Fliss to marry him, she'd been so excited. She'd asked when, where and when he said he didn’t know she'd given him the most exasperated look on the planet. The only one of his friend who he had confided in, Greg, hadn’t been much help either, simply telling him to do it in a way that meant something to them both. Simply put he just hadn't a fucking clue. He had agonized over how to pop the question. On the boat? Or maybe a sunset on their favourite spot at St Pete's beach? Did he wait for New York? As such, Frank had taken to carrying the ring around with him, waiting for that moment when it felt right. So far it hadn't happened at home and as it stood New York wasn’t faring any better. He had thought about it at the top of the Empire state, but it had been too busy. Then there was a moment in Central Park after they had been snowman building that might have worked...until Fliss had nailed him in the face with a snowball. So they'd had a snowball fight instead. Then when walking over Brooklyn Bridge, the skyline behind them… then when they walked back to the Hotel after seeing the Lion King on Broadway, going the long way round to see the display in Macy's window all lit up...and then that moment before when Mary had taken a picture of them kissing under the tree on the ice rink... but none of it felt right. It didn't feel like the moment for them. But now something stirred in his gut. This could be it. It wasn't too busy, the place was gorgeous, right in front of the tree Fliss had been so desperate to see... Ok Adler, you can do this. Taking a deep breath he pulled the box from his pocket when he heard Mary give a squeal. "Oh...wow! Frankie look..." Fliss' voice was a whisper and she nudged him, pointing to the base of the tree. He followed her gaze to see a blonde haired man down on one knee, presenting a ring to a dark haired woman who had her hands clasped over her mouth. Frank slipped the box back into his pocket and stared at the man as he placed the ring onto his now fiancés finger and did his best to look like he cared when Fliss let out a soft "Awwww" The man looked around excitedly, his eyes falling on the three of them before he asked Frank if he or Fliss would mind taking a photo for them. "Course not buddy, congratulations." Frank smiled. Fucking prick... ***** "It was AMAZING!" Mary gushed to Verity as they walked to the car, Fliss' parents having come to pick them up from the airport. "we saw so much stuff but nowhere near all of it but Frank said we could go back next year in the summer maybe and do a bit more." "Looks like someone else had a good time too." Bill smiled, nodding to Fliss who let out a loud yawn. Frank chuckled "She was up all night, I told her not to have more food so close to bed time." "I wanted a hot dog and a pretzel." Fliss mumbled, "Besides, it's nothing to do with the food...we did a lot of walking." Bill gave a snort "You ride horses for a living, you should be fit enough to walk round New York" "I probably skated about 4 miles too..." Fliss said looking at Mary "Someone wouldn't come off the ice rink" "You been sleeping ok otherwise?" Verity looked at her "I'm fine mum." She smiled "No anxiety?" 'V, she said she's fine so leave it" Bill said gently and Fliss shot a grateful look at her dad. She knew her mum was only concerned but she was fed up of assuring people she was fine. After the attack from John she had suffered a bout of delayed shock which had manifested in a few panic attacks, nightmares, and restlessness at night and on one occasion nausea. Luckily Frank had been brilliant at keeping calm when she had an episode, helping her work through it and the last incident she had suffered had been over a week ago. Once they were all in the car, Frank took the passenger seat after Verity offered it to him, Mary continued to chat all the drive home about New York, Fliss and Frank butting in here and there. They arrived home little after 30 minutes later and Fliss headed up the steps with Mary, Thor almost sending the pair of them flying when they opened the door. "Oh puppy I missed you!" Fliss smiled as she gave him plenty of attention and he kept licking her face, whining and emitting quiet little barks. "Did you miss me? Did you?" "Yerress" Frank did his best Scooby Doo impression as he walked past and Fliss let out a laugh, as she stood up and headed into the living room behind Mary, bumping into the girl as she stopped dead, giving a squeal as she saw the Christmas Tree in the corner. "Mum, Dad?" Fliss called, smiling "I take it you did this?" Frank appeared behind them both, smiling as Fliss and Mary exchanged a glance before they all turned to Bill and Verity who were stood in the doorway. "Well we know how much you like to get your tree up as early as you can and, well we were picking one up for ourselves so we got you one. You don’t mind do you?" Verity, looked at Fliss then Frank. "No, of course not!" Fliss grinned. "Saved me a job." Frank nodded "Thanks guys." "Can we decorate it tonight?" Mary asked "Pleeeeeeeaaaasssseee Frank!" Frank glanced at his watch before giving a sigh, he knew she wouldn't go to bed if he said no anyway so what was the point? Plus she was at the University tomorrow which didn’t start until 10 so... "Ok, but if you so much as grumble tomorrow morning when I get you up you'll be in deep trouble." He looked at her sternly as she stooped to pick Fred up. "Cross my heart, hope to die, we all know Fred's got one eye..." she chanted off, nodding. "We brought your box of decorations from the annex." Verity smiled at Fliss, nodding to the box on the floor. "We thought you could pick what you want to keep now you're combining."

“Speaking of decorations…” Frank said, looking at Mary.

“Oh…yeah…hang on…” She said, running to the sofa where she had dumped her little pink rucksack. She fished out the paper bag they had gotten from the stall and found the Snowman they had bought. With a smile she handed it to Verity who looked down at it, her face curling into a smile as her eyes started to prick with tears.

“Fliss said you wouldn’t mind the names Mary wanted on them.” Frank said, watching carefully.

“Of course we don’t mind!” Bill smiled, picking Mary up to give her a hug “We are Nanny V and Poppa B ain’t that right kiddo?” “Yep!” she grinned, hugging him.

“We’ll save it to hang tomorrow when you come over after school.” Verity said as Bill set Mary on the floor and she hugged her tightly.

After a little more chat Verity and Bill left and Frank instructed Mary to change into her Pyjamas before they did the tree. Deciding that was a good idea, Fliss did the same and before long they were all in the living room. Fliss and Mary going through the boxes of decorations, Frank wrestling with the tangle of fairy lights. How they managed to get so fucking knotted up after simply being in a box for 12 months was beyond him.

He had just about managed it when Thor came over to inspect what he was doing, and dropped straight onto his back on top of the string.

“Thor…get out of it…” he grumbled, pushing the dog who simply rolled over, taking half the lights with him, tangling them round his legs and his tails. “Jesus Christ…stand still…for fucks sake…”

Thinking this was a huge game, Thor started to bounce around, barking, and Frank shook his head. “Fliss, sort this mutt out….” Fliss gave a laugh and dropped off the sofa, calling Thor to her. He sat down, allowing Frank to remove the lights before he stood up, shaking them out. Together the 3 of them wound them round the tree before they made a start on the decorations.

“Frank got me this for my first Christmas.” Mary said, hanging a red bauble which had her name on it. “The glitter has all fallen off it now.”

“We can add more if you want.” Fliss looked at her and Mary shrugged.

“I kinda like it.” It didn’t take them long, and their wooden trinkets from New York were the last ones they hung, Mary ensuring they took pride of place. Frank then lifted her up so she could place the star at the top before they stood back.

“Ready for the big turn on?” Frank asked, grinning. Mary and Fliss cheered and began a countdown from 5. When they hit 1 Frank hit the switch and the lights on the tree came to life. He stepped back, looking up at it, his arm curling round Fliss’ shoulder, his other dropping to Mary as she grinned.

“Best Tree ever.” she smiled.

“Yeah, and now it’s time for the best bed ever…” he looked at her.

“Seriously?” Mary complained

“No moaning, remember?” Frank instructed her. “That was in the morning.”

“Well I just extended it to now as well.” he said, shrugging “Because I can, so get…” “Fine, fine, I’m going…” she grumbled. “Night Fliss.” “Night sweetie.” Fliss dropped a kiss to her head before Mary shot a filthy look at Frank who met her with a passive one of his own.

“I’ll be in in a second.” Frank shot after her, watching as she headed down to the hallway. He turned back to Fliss who was watching the tree, a smile on her face.

“Not exactly up to Macey’s standards…” Frank chuckled and she shook her head.

“I love it.” “It looks like an Elf threw up on it.”

“All trees should be like that.” Fliss shrugged, before she gave his cheek a peck. “Now, you go sort Mary and I’ll get us both a beer.” “Actually…” he said, looping his arms round her waist. “I believe there was something else you promised me tonight…” “Oh, yes, of course, Frankie has needs…” she replied with an almost uncanny impersonation, which made him snort. “Does that mean no beer?”

“No beer.” “You want me to wait in bed.” “Yes I do.” he nodded “Go, I’ll let Thor out and lock up.”

Grinning she accepted his kiss and smiled as she turned around, casting him a quite frankly sinful look over her shoulder which almost had him hard right there and then. Not wanting to wait a moment longer he sorted the dog, locked the door, poked his head into Mary’s room to wish her goodnight, and headed into their bedroom. Fliss was hanging her jeans in the closet after having simply discarded them on the bed earlier, and wasting no time Frank pulled off his T-shirt, tossing it to the side before he stepped up behind her, spinning her round to face him. He pressed his lips to hers, deepening the kiss as he slid his hands down to cup her ass and she smirked into the kiss.

“I like your ass.” he muttered. “I like yours too” she said back, “And your arms”

He laughed and pulled back to look down at her as her fingers trailed up his biceps. “My arms?”

“Yeah, your big, strong arms, and your big, broad shoulders and your stupid, handsome face…” she muttered, pulling him back down to her. In between the dizzying kisses Frank steered her towards the bed, and as her legs collided with the edge he stopped to gently trail kisses across her bare collar bone. His lips found her jaw and then, with a wicked quirk of his eyebrow he reached down for her thighs, and grabbing them he pulled them forwards, causing her to fall backwards as he pitched them both onto the bed. As she laughed he chuckled slightly before he kissed her again, and then it was a scramble to get out of his clothes as fast as he could before he fell back on top of his girl, his hands pulling up her camisole top, lips kissing at the spot just below her ear before he slid down her shorts, his mouth gently kissing a trail up from her belly through the middle of her breasts, up her neck and finally back to her mouth.

Fliss was utterly lost now, in the usual whirl of love, and lust and passion and kissed him back, hard as his hand gently dropped between her legs and he felt her slick against the tips of his fingers as he gently coaxed at her clit, continuing until she was nothing short of a writhing mess clawing at his back, aching for him. They locked eyes as he took her left hand in his, and slowly worked into her, both moaning simultaneously at the sensation, Fliss’s eyes rolling back at the exquisite stretch inside. Frank began to move his hips slowly, deeply, his thrusts weren’t measured in the slightest despite the fact he was absolutely aching for her. He wanted to take it slow, end what had been an amazing trip in the same mood it had started in, absolute pure love.

His mouth moved back to Fliss’s neck, nipping gently at her skin and she let out low moan as he picked up the pace ever so slightly, his spare hand kept hold of her hip, keeping her as close to him as she could possibly be.

“Fuck, Frank, right there…” she groaned as he hit her spot and he smirked slightly, he loved the way she got like this with him, ever so demanding at times, such a far cry from the timid woman he had fallen for the previous year.

“Yeah?” he panted as she gave a soft cry, her body tensing underneath him “Good.” “So good…” she moaned, arching her back. His mouth found hers again and his hand slid from her hip to gently tease her nipple and she rolled her hips to grind up against him, changing the angle slightly causing him to go deeper.

“Lissy…” he panted as he drove into her deeply, slowly, and then again and again, his pace increasing ever so slightly. Every single sense Frank possessed was on fire and he broke the long, lazy kiss that they were sharing to stifle a moan against her cheek when he felt her clench around him, a tell-tale sign she was nearing her release. The sheets rustled underneath and around them both as his hips pushed up against hers, and Frank saw Fliss’ head tip back, her throat bared to him in utter bliss as she came hard, her moans soft and breathy into his ear. Frank picked up his pace slightly, chasing his own end as he pushed her through hers, and when he felt that snake in his belly beginning to unravel, he gave a low grunt which morphed into a gasp as he clung to Fliss, spilling himself into her, his hips slowing to a stop as he collapsed forward. Fliss gave a soft chuckle as her hands gently slid up his back and into his hair, as she moved and pressed a soft kiss to his head.

“I know I keep saying it but I really do fuckin’ love you Cowgirl.” he said, voice muffled as his face pressed into her neck.

Fliss gave a chuckle “I’ll never tire of hearing it Sailor. “

He moved to look at her, flashing her a grin before he caught her mouth in a sweet kiss. **** "You still not managed it?" Greg asked as they stood at the bar, waiting for their drinks. Frank sighed and glanced at Fliss who was sat with Bonnie in the booth, the pair of them sniggering at something. "Do you see a ring on her finger?" He looked at Greg. "No" "Well there's your answer." "What's the hold up, man?" Greg frowned. "Nothing has felt right." Frank sighed "she won’t want a huge fuss in front of people so that basically ruled out all of New York...bar one moment when I thought it was time, in front of the tree at Rockefeller...and then some douchebag went and beat me to it, proposing to his girl whilst we watched..." "You're over thinking it." Greg said, looking at Frank "Take a step back. When are the pair of you at your best? The time you enjoy most, I mean" "Honestly?" Frank shrugged "at night when Mary's gone to bed and we finally sit down and just watch TV or joke around." "Well there you go." Greg shrugged "What, at home?" Frank frowned "Why not?" Greg looked at him "the point isn't to be showy or flashy but to show her you wanna spend the rest of your life with her." Frank pondered this for a moment. Greg has a point. They were at their happiest doing the simple things, spending quiet time together, being fucking normal. Fliss loved it when they curled up and Frank would simply cuddle her close and kiss her head, easy signs of affection that she had craved all through her wreck of a marriage. And Frank loved it too, because it made him feel grounded, time for him to simply be Frank in his own right, the very thing he used to use his Friday night drinking sessions for. Now he could feel it every night, thanks to Lissy…

And then, suddenly an idea came to him, out of nowhere.

Oh, it was perfect! "Greg..." he smiled, slapping the man on the back "you are a genius." "Glad I could be of service." Greg smirked "This means I get best man duty, right?"

Frank smirked at him, shrugging, not giving anything away. His eyes flicked back to Fliss who had now stood up, Simon having returned to the table sliding in next to Bonnie. Frank’s eyes travelled up her bare legs, from her high-heels up to the short little pink playsuit she was wearing, which was printed with black palm trees and other patterns, the small straps settling on her tanned shoulders, the front showing him just enough cleavage. She was wearing a black butterfly necklace that she had bought in New York and her hair was loose, falling over her shoulders in soft curls. Her brown eyes locked onto his and he smiled as he remembered the last Circle Of Truth Christmas outing the previous year, when he had told her he loved her for the first time. And here they were, now 5 days away from their second Christmas together.

“Hey beautiful” he smiled as she reached his side. His arm curled round her and he pressed a kiss to her cheek “You ok?” “Yeah, just thirsty.” she smiled. “Can I get a water as well as my gin please?”

“Sure…” he turned to look at the bar tender who was pulling their drinks together. Once he had attracted his attention and added a bottle of water to the order he turned back to her as Greg spoke up.

“Frank said you enjoyed New York.” “Oh, it was fantastic.” she smiled “Every bit as magical as I thought it was going to be.”

“Good, I’m glad you all had a good time.” Greg smiled “You deserved it after everything that went down.” “Yeah well, he’s banged up now. His brother is going to go down for Endangerment or whatever it is you call it, its’ done, it’s over.” Fliss smiled, “We got the rest of our lives ahead of us now.” “Well, if that doesn’t call for shots then I don’t know what does…” Greg smirked as the bar tender placed their drinks in front of them.

“No, Greg…” Fliss started to protest but Greg cut her off.

“Yes Greg!” he smirked, turning to the bar tender, “Can I get a bottle of Tequila pal and 8 glasses.” Fliss groaned “I’m teaching at 9 am!”

“Dumbass…” Greg looked at her and Frank gave a snort.

“I told you to switch them out…”

“I can’t!” she pouted “I already did for Boston and New York…” “Well…” Greg smirked as the bar tender set the bottle and glasses down in front of him “Looks like you’re doing it with a hangover honey.” “Fuck my life…” **** Fuck my life indeed. Fliss spent the following morning throwing up, groaning once more that she was never drinking tequila EVER again. Frank reminded her of how many times she had said that over the time he had known her and she’d simply let out a huge fake sob and thrown herself face down on the bed again declaring that she didn’t want to adult anymore as it sucked.

The days before Christmas passed in the usual chaos. Presents were wrapped and stashed under the tree, more drinks were had with Friends. Evelyn visited for a few days, which had actually almost pleased Frank a little. She wasn’t staying for Christmas, her arrangements having already been made, but she had hinted that maybe next year she could, to which Frank and Fliss had both agreed. She had been taken with Mary’s gift to her and had laughed out loud when Bill and Verity had presented her with a case of Malbec, the same Malbec she’d smashed a bottle of over John’s head. Her gifts to them both had been a substantial chunk of money, in the thousands, and when Frank had protested at the amount on the cheque she had waved it off as 8 years of owed presents. Mary’s was wrapped so it was placed under the tree for Christmas morning. Evelyn headed back to Boston on the morning of Christmas Eve, Frank and Mary driving her to the airport instead of her driver, where they had both bid her a Happy Christmas and waved her goodbye as she headed off to spend it with her friends in Newton.

After the final preparations were made Frank, Fliss and Mary collapsed onto the sofa for a Marathon of Christmas Films. Mary was, as usual, excited and the copious amounts of chocolate and candy she was shovelling down weren’t helping either, but what the hell, it was Christmas after all.

"You ok?" Frank glanced at Fliss as she sat on the other side of the couch. Love Actually was playing, the final film of the evening before Mary went to bed. Fliss, however didn't look like she was paying attention. "Huh?" She looked at him, blinking. "I said are you ok? You look like you were miles away"

“Yeah, sorry, I was errr…just running through things in my head, making sure nothing was forgotten.” Frank smiled. They were hosting Verity and Bill tomorrow as Steven and his family were at his wife’s parents for this year, flying out instead of the 28th to spend New Year’s with them all. Fliss had asked Frank if they could host, as she’d never had the chance to do that before and of course he had agreed, not least because of the excited look on her face when she had asked.

“The table is set, food and everything is ready to go…” he chuckled, looking at her “Just relax…”

He reached round Mary, his hand gently rubbing at Fliss’ back and she smiled at him, turning her attention to the TV.

20 minutes or so later the film finished and Mary jumped up, grabbing Frank’s hand to make him dance to God Only Knows as the final closing scenes played out. He smiled and picked her up, resting her on his hip as he twirled her round to the song, the pair of them laughing before he eventually dropped her down and told her it was bed time. She scooted off, Fred trotting behind her, his tail swishing as she skipped and Frank headed in about 5 minutes later to tuck her in, before he came back to the living room.

“She wants you to go and say goodnight.” he smiled,

Fliss nodded and stood up.

“You sure you’re ok?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, honestly, I’m just tired.” she assured him. Giving him a kiss she headed up the hall and Frank watched her go before he smiled to himself, and set about quickly putting the last touches to his plan.

She came back about 10 minutes later and he smiled at her as she walked into the room.

“OK, now she’s out of the way…I got something for you...” Frank smiled.

Fliss looked at him before she shook her head, chuckling a little “I got something for you too…Frank, I have-” “Me first.” Frank cut her off.

She looked at him for a second, his bright blue eyes were shining as he grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine…” she smiled, “Ok, you first.” He grinned and then folded his arms “You gotta find it.” “What?”

“It’s hidden, on the tree, and you gotta find it.” Her face lit up as she gave a laugh “You are such a dork!” “Yeah, I know…” Narrowing her eyes playfully she moved to the tree, glancing at it. “Ok so it’s not very big then, seeing as I can’t see it straight away.” Frank shrugged as she continued her search.

“I haven’t put it high up, seeing as you’re a short ass…” “I’m perfectly average for a woman thank you.” “Trust me baby girl, nothing about you is average.” he winked and she let out a snort.

“Charmer.” she grinned, turning back to the tree.

“Ok, you’re miles off…” he said, and she moved to her right “Gettin’ warmer…warmer…ok, yep, nearly there…” Fliss continued to search, and then something caught her eye. There was something shiny handing from the nose of her Doe ornament. She stepped forward slightly, and when she realised what it was her right hand flew to her mouth. Frank’s breath caught in his throat as she spun to face him, her eyes wide.

"You, me and Mary have been hanging out together since August last year now...” he said, clearing his throat slightly “How do you feel about hanging with us forever?" He watched, holding his breath as Fliss' chest heaved with emotion as she looked at him, those brown eyes he could happily stare at all day were full of tears, the hand which had flown to her mouth in surprise was now shaking as it slid to the spot beneath her throat, that dip in her neck that he could nuzzle at forever. "I'll hang with you for as long as you'll have me..." she whispered, taking a deep breath. "Is that a yes?" Frank inhaled sharply and a watery laugh burst through her tears. "Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes!" Frank's face split into a huge grin "shit..." he sputtered before she threw herself into his arms and he lifted her up easily, her legs wrapping around his waist as he held her close, kissing her neck. She pulled back and placed a kiss to his lips, long and short pecks being shared as she laughed and he laughed, the pair of them simply lost in the moment until eventually he set her down and with a shaking hand he reached out to retrieve the ring from where it was hanging. Taking her left hand in his, with a deep breath he slipped the diamond onto her finger.

Fliss looked at it, admiring the way the delicate band sat underneath her knuckle, the beautiful diamond twinkling in the lights of the tree.

"Oh Frankie...it’s gorgeous..." she whispered, before she looked at him, taking his face in both his hands and pulling him down for a deep kiss. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He smiled, kissing her again before he pulled away, his hands linking behind her back.

"I err, got us some champagne." He smiled, "I know it was presumptive of me but figured we could have it tomorrow if you turned me down." Fliss looked up at him, blinking before she took a deep breath “First I need to get you…just wait here…” He released her from his hold and she turned and headed out of the room, Frank watched her go, blinking for a moment before he shrugged and headed to the fridge, the smile still plastered on his face. She said yes!

Not that he had doubted she would, not really, but there had always been that little bit of fright she may have done. But that was all gone now. As he popped the cork on the bottle he found himself thinking about how he would be doing that soon enough on his wedding day. He poured 2 glassed and headed into the living room with them wondering if maybe a late Autumn wedding next year would be nice, October perhaps when it started to cool off slightly. They could do the beach wedding she always wanted, hire a marquee... Lost in his thoughts completely he jumped a little when Fliss spoke his name and turned to look at her as she stood in front of him, the back of his thighs brushing against the sofa slightly. He noticed her hand was in her pocket, clutching something. Playfully he nodded towards it “I assume that’s not a spanner." He chuckled, referencing the joke they often shared and Fliss shook her head, biting her lip. "No it’s a bit bigger than that" With a shaky hand she pulled out a small, white stick of plastic and held it towards him. It took Frank a moment to understand what it was and as soon as he did his eyes widened and he looked at her, then it, then back again.

"You're...we're...no!." he stuttered, reaching out to take it from her. "I found out this morning." Fliss whispered, watching his reaction carefully "I suspected last week but thought it might all be down to stress and stuff but..." "How, I mean..." "I should have started a new pill packet when we went to Boston but I forgot to take it with me. I thought I'd be ok if I started as soon as I got back but..." "There's a baby in there?" Frank cut her off as he stumbled over his words, nodding to her stomach "Yeah" Fliss nodded. "You put it there." Frank's legs grew shaky and he dropped onto the sofa, staring down at the test in his hands.

2 blue lines. 2 blue lines that had just changed his world forever. "I'm sorry, I know this is sudden and I should have been more careful..." Fliss took a tentative step towards him and he reached out, his hands on either side of her hips, gently pulling her t-shirt up. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to her belly, his forehead resting just above her navel. "I'm gonna be a dad." he pulled back, his eyes watering. "Frankie, you already are." Fliss said, her own tears once more springing forth. "I know you hate it when I say that about Mary but it's true." He looked at her, a dazed smile split his face into two as he pulled her onto his lap, where she straddled him, and he kissed her, hard, leaving her slightly breathless before he rest his forehead against hers. "Fuck, Lissy." he whispered, his eyes closed "You're cooking a little person..." She spluttered a laugh, nodding, her forehead brushing his as she did. "Was it made in Boston...is that the right word?" He pulled back to look at her and she laughed, brushing her hand through his fluffy hair as his gently reached out to rest against her stomach. "Yeah and most likely." "It's a little Boston Bean" he grinned and she laughed again, pressing her lips to his. "You're ok with it then? I know it's probably not what you would have planned but..." "Ok? Of course I'm ok!" He smiled "I love you and the thought of us making a little person that's half me, half you...fuck, it's amazing." She smiled and nodded, her voice a whisper "I know..."

"There is one problem." Franks said, his arms wrapping tightly around her. "What?" "You just ruined Christmas forever...because nothing is ever gonna live up to this ever again."

****** Fliss, Frank and Mary’s adventure continues in RIDING ON

#riding high #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

78 notes · View notes

airis-paris14 · 3 years

Text

Starlight 4

Summary: Amani is an orphaned heiress who’s spent most of her life raising her younger sister. T’Challa is a widowed King and Father. Neither of them is expecting much from their night at the Lotus. But the coming months have many milestones in store for these young adults. Will becoming a family be one of them?

1 || 2 || 3 || 4

“Sis, you are killing my dating life,” Madiyson whined as she and Amani cleaned the glasses at the bar. “I’m killing your dating life? It has to exist for me to kill it.” Amani murmured.

“Haha.” Madiyson threw her rag at the other waitress. “Look, you go to all these fancy parties, with rich eligible men, and you never invite me. Girl, you’re holding me back from my husband.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to go to those parties. All the men are old and boring, and they all want something from you.” Amani sighed and began hanging the wine glasses on the rack. “Yeah, some good lovin’.” Madiyson shimmied her way around the bar laughing.

“Oh my god.”

“So you’ve never met any young attractive guy at these parties?”

“Well….”

“Well?”

“Well, He’s the exception to the rule.” Amani sassed.

“See, I’m just asking for one chance. One party.”

“Fine fine,” Amani placed the last glass on the shelf. “Amare won’t be home for another month so you can go to the next party.”

“She’s not coming home for spring break?” Madiyson frowned.

“Nope, engineering conference with her school. In France.” Amani pouted.

“Yeah, I’d choose France over you too.” Madiyson teased.

“Shut up,” Amani pushed her. “This isn’t how you get the invite to this gala.”

“Now, you know I’m just messing with you girlie.” Madiyson hugged her friend.

“I know, but sometimes it just feels like she doesn’t need me anymore.”

“That’s a good thing! You’re not her mother, and you’re young. One day you’ll have kids and get to go through it all again. Except they’ll be infants this time and you won’t be in college.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Amani smiled.

“Aren’t I always? Now, tell me all about this exception to the rule guy.”

“What do you want to know?” It’d been three months since Amani had heard from T’Challa. Not even a text or letter. “Tell me anything,” Madiyson shrugged. “Well, he was attending our yearly investor gallery. He saved me from a boring conversation and we sat out on the balcony and talked all night.”

“That’s it.”

“That’s it.” Amani turned back to putting the dishes away. “There’s something you’re not telling me,” Madiyson accused.

“No, I told you everything that happened,” she fought to hold back a smile. “At the party at least,” Amani added. “Okay, so what happened after the party?” Madiyson prodded. “Well, before the party-”

“Before the party!” Madiyson exclaimed moving closer to her friend as a couple of guests looked over at the outburst. “Yes, before the party. You remember that table I handled for you when I got into work?”

“The one with the father? He’s the dude from the party?!”

“Yeah, his name is T’Challa.” Amani blushed. “Did he recognize you?” Madiyson bubbled, pulling Amani to sit in the break room with her. “Yes, and his daughter asked that I hang out with him the next day.”

“So y’all spent the day together?”

“And they both stayed the night.” Amani blushed. “Sis-” Madiyson started. “Then me and his daughter made breakfast and we went to the park.Then he asked me on a date, and they spent the night again.”

Madiyson stared open mouthed, “This was all a few months ago and you didn’t tell us?”

“Tell us what?” Sakura interjected as she walked into the breakroom from finishing her last table. “That she has a boyfriend who spent the night.” Madiyson smirked.

“He’s not my boyfriend, and his daughter was there too.” Sakura raised an eyebrow at Amani’s rebuttal. “Besides, there’s nothing to tell, I haven’t heard from him since they left.”

Sakura frowned, “They left?”

“They went back home, out of the country.” Amani explained. “That’s good news, he may just not know how to get intouch with you from his home country.” Madiyson offered. “I guess, but he still could have sent a letter or something.”

“Just give him a chance to explain himself,” Sakura encouraged. “Yeah, I just wish I knew something,” Amani sighed. “If you never hear from him again that’s his loss sis,” Madiyson hugged Amani.

After hustling through the rest of her shift, Amani finished cleaning her tables, hugged Madiyson and Sakura goodbye, and headed to pick up some dinner from her favorite burger joint. She hopped in line and placed her order. She had just pulled out her phone to pass time when a familiar voice invaded her senses. “Is that the heiress I see?” The king chuckled.

“Your majesty,” Amani bowed smiling in return, “You're back stateside.”

“Yep, Ada and I got in earlier this morning.” The king smiled. “Cool,” Amani smiled back before turning back to the pick up counter. “I also had a special someone that I promised to take out on a date.”

Amani raised an eyebrow, “She must be real special.” T’Challa smiled oblivious to her sarcasm, “You could say that.”

“I wonder if you called her like you didn’t call me,” Amani sassed. “T’Challa’s mouth dropped open slightly. Just as he went to respond one of the worker’s called Amani’s name. She walked away from him to grab her food. The king hurried after her, “Amani, I didn’t realize until we got home that I didn’t know how to reach you from out of the country.”

“And you couldn’t write a letter? Or call someone at the company that I own and ask for it?”Amani deadpanned as she walked towards the door, not stopping until T’Challa gently grabbed her wrist. “Amani, I am sorry. I didn’t think and that is obviously not an excuse, but I would still like to hang out with you.” Amani calmed slightly as she heard the sincerity coating his voice. “Please? Let me make it up to you?”

Amani nodded in response. “Great, are you free friday? At 8:00?”

The heiress smiled, “Yeah, I am.” T’Challa beamed, “I’ll pick you up?”

“Sounds like a date,” Amani winked, “I should let you get back to Ada.” The king glanced at the bag of food in his hands. “Why, don’t you join us for dinner tonight? She’s asked about you.”

“Oh, um..” Amani tried to quiet the leaping of her heart. T’Challa grabbed her hand, “We would both really enjoy your company Amani,” the king’s thumb traced soft circles on her wrist. “I’d love to,” Amani smiled back, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks, grateful that it wasn’t too noticeable on her skin. “Great, I can give you a ride or?”

“Oh, no I drove my own car. If you give me the address, I’m pretty sure I can find my way there.” Amani smiled, pulling out her phone. T’Challa gave her the address and they hurried off to their cars. Amani smiled as she noticed what hotel they were staying at. “St. Regis huh,” Amani chuckled as she pulled off. Along the way she stopped to grab something to drink, and a box of cookies from her favorite bakery, she text T’Challa that she was on her way before beginning the drive to the hotel. Within 25 minutes, She pulled up to the valet counter and handed over her keys. Amani walked into the lobby juggling her food, the cookies and a drink. She walked towards the elevator before realizing she didn’t know where she was going. Amani sighed and gingerly reached for her phone in her pocket. Just as she went to dial the king’s number, his name flashed across her screen. ROOM 1009. She chuckled knowing he’d read her mind.

Amani used the edge of her iphone to call for the elevator and began her ascent to the 10th floor. She hummed lightly to herself and prayed that she had read the room number right. The door dinged open and she walked out into the carpeted hallway. Her sneakers padded along the floor as she read the door numbers, relieved that she had gotten off at the right floor. She made her way down to the ninth and final door. She knocked and smiled to herself when she heard the rapid pattering of feet approach the door. T’Challa laughed, “Well, are you going to let me open the door for Ms. Amani or not princess?”

“Sorry baba,” Ada replied, her bouncing feet still audible through the door. The door handle clicked and Amani was welcomed into their penthouse suite. “I brought cookies!” The older sister grinned. The former prince shook his head as his daughter cheered beside him. T’Challa grabbed the cookie box from her hand and Amani followed them into the kitchen.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take her home with me if she’s too hyper,” Amani jokes slightly. “T’Challa smiled before grabbing her a plate from the cabinet. “Where’s my hug princess Ada,” Amani grinned scooping the little girl in her arms. “Hi, Mani!” the little girl squealed.

“How are you?” Amani asked, placing the little girl back on her feet. “I’m good, I missed you.”

“I missed you too princess,” Amani reached for her own food. “I’ll warm it up for you.” T’Challa offered. “Thanks.” The two adults smiled at each other before Ada pulled Amani into the living room.

T’Challa’s heart melted at the sight in his living room. In just a few seconds Ada had pulled out all of her dolls for Amani to see. Amani sat on the floor in front of the couch greeting the doll princess Tiana. T’Challa cleared his throat, “I hope your royal highnesses do not mind my interruption, but I think that Ms. Okeke would like to eat her dinner.” Amani thanked the king as he handed her a plate with her burger and her drink.

“It’s okay baba, we were just going dress shopping for the ball,” Ada explained “The ball?” The king grinned, bending down to his daughter’s eye level. “Yeah, like the one we went to with Auntie Shuri and umakhulu.” Ada nodded excitedly. “Okay then,” the father sat back into the couch, “have fun.”

Amani took a bite out of her burger as the little girl collected her dolls and ran off. “Her first royal ball huh?”

The king nodded and sighed, “She grew up so fast. She got tired of being left out of ‘all the fun’.” Amani finished chewing before pulling herself up to sit on the couch. “You got any pictures?” The waitress finished her burger while the king scrolled through his phone. He held the phone up to her face once she was done.

“She looks adorable!” Amani squealed. “Her dress is so pretty!” On the phone, Ada was standing next to her father a smile stretching across her face. She and the king were matching in their black and gold. She wore a black halter-neck ball gown. The black silk was covered in delicate gold brocade and embellishments. Her hair was braided around the crown of her head, with a large gold halo tucked into her braids. “She’s so precious!”

“I know, she looks just like her mother,” the king smiled, Amani squeezed his hand. “You look pretty good too,” Amani playfully nudged his shoulder. “Thank you,” the king smiled putting away his phone.

“You want a cookie?” the heiress asked getting up from the soft couch. “Sure,” the king followed her into the kitchen. Amani popped open the box grabbing two chocolate chip cookies before popping the box in the oven.

“Did you work today?” The king bit into the warm cookie. “Yeah, unfortunately,”Amani groaned.

“You don’t like the work?” The king frowned. “I mean, the people are great, it's just tiring like anything.” Amani explained, finishing off her cookie. “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you work? I am assuming your parent’s set you up well enough to thrive without a job?”

The king watched as Amani grabbed the cardboard box of cookies out of the oven once more. “They did, but I’ve always been independent. I used the money to pay off bills for the foreseeable future. We already owned the house here in Atlanta and I kept our vacation homes in South Carolina,Florida, Savannah, New Orleans, and LA. Used the money to continue paying the staff’s salary and put away money for Amare to go to school and start a life. Then I got a job to pay for youtubing equipment, travel, my car, and clothes.” Amani took all but four cookies out of the box and placed them on one of the white plates from the cabinet.

The king nodded, “You don’t have a passion job you’d like to start? Instead of waitressing at a job you don’t really like.”

“I mean, I’ve thought about starting my own luxury event planning company. You know, weddings, gala’s, balls, birthday parties, sleepovers, any event you can think of really.”

“What’s stopping you?” The king stole another cookie from the plate. “Nothing hypothetically, but I enjoy doing that stuff for fun. I think I’d want to throw my own event first. Kind of build up my own brand and relationship with contractors instead of just popping up out of the blue like that.”

“I think you should go for it. Get a job as an event planner for a company, work your way up or start as an independent contractor.” The king smiled. Amani tapped her fingers on the white marble countertops. “You’ve got this all figured out don’t you?”

“That is what the king does, solve problems.”

“What about you? Aren’t you very busy as a king?”

“I am,” the father replied, finishing off his cookie. “Isn’t it a little hard taking care of Ada and going about kingly duties? Doesn’t she have to have like a tutor and a nanny or something?”

“I only bring her on trips when I know I can take her with me to meetings. Not all of the kingly duties are boring. Like the ball, or charity appearances. That is most of my work this trip and she was on spring break, I believe it is called here.” T’Challa explained. “Oh, she’s in school?”

“Yes, she attends a very prestigious boarding school back in Wakanda.”

Amani looked up “ You send her away for school? Isn’t she just barely 5?”

“It is how things must be, her mother is no longer here to take care of her.”

Amani frowned, I think the nanny is a better option, don’t you think she misses her father while she is at school? A school with all these strangers?”

“She is fine Amani-”

“Have you ever asked her if she is fine, or if she likes it?”

“No, why should I have to. I am her father!”

“Because I was her T’Challa. My parents shipped me off to boarding school as soon as I was old enough to leave. Then they sent Amare right behind me!” I spent less that 5 years of time with my parents face to face before they died. Now they are gone.” Amani confessed, tears brewing in her eyes.

“I- I am sorry. I did not know that,” the king started. “I know you didn’t. I apologize for getting upset with you. I am not her parent, but as someone who grew up in that life, talk to her, come and see her. Make sure there isn’t another way for her to stay home. It would truly be for the best.” Amani sighed.

Silence choked the room, “I think I should go,” Amani stood up from the counter. “It is getting late, we have an extra guest room. You should spend the night here.” T’Challa offered.

“It’s only ten o’clock your majesty, I think I will make it home alright.” Amani teased. “Very well, at least, let me walk you downstairs. I’ll put Ada to sleep and come back out.”

Amani nodded her consent before taking a seat on the couch. Her phone lit up as T’Challa headed into Ada’s room. She pulled out the device and saw a new message from Madiyson.

Madiyson: Whatever you’re about to say no to, say yes sis!

Madiyson: Just thought you might need to hear that.

Amani: How’d you know I was making a decision?

Madiyson: Ohh so I was right?

Madiyson: What’s going on? Don’t keep me out of the loop!

Amani: I’ll tell you in the morning.

Madiyson: In the morning!

Madiyson: Girl who you gon be with in the morning!

Madiyson: You’re finally letting someone love you down!

Madiyson: Ohh sis! Tell me!

Amani smiled and put away her purse and set off down the hall to where T’Challa had gone. She peeked into a doorway where she found the king, conversing with his daughter. Amani stepped closer to the door and inadvertently pushed it open. Ada’s eyes shot up and a grin took over her face. “Mani! Baba is trying to make me go to bed but I’m not sleepy.” T’Challa looked up in surprise at her figure. “Well princess, if you don’t go to sleep, tomorrow won’t come and then we can’t hangout more.” Amani pouted. “Really?” Ada sighed.

“Really princess. Sleep makes the clock go faster and faster and speeds everything up so that tomorrow can come earlier.”

Ada looked to her father for confirmation. The king nodded his head and she sighed. “Okay. Thank you Mani.”

“No problem princess, just count backwards from the biggest number you can think of.”

“Goodnight Ada Ade,” T’Challa pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead. “Good night baba,” the young princess smiled back. As the king led Amani out of the room Ada called out once more, “Good night Mani.”

“Good night princess.”

The king led Amani out of the room gently before shutting the door behind them. “I hope you don’t mind me staying, I-”

“I am glad you decided to stay,”The king reassured her. “Good, I figured I couldn’t really get to know you if one of us is always having to leave,” Amani chuckled, “even after an awkward conversation… I want to apologize again for what I said, I had no right to criticize how you choose to raise your daughter.”

“Please, do not apologize. I am glad you said what you said. People are normally too afraid to criticize any personal decisions I make. I am glad you stood up for what you thought was in her best interest and I will definitely be giving the matter more consideration.” The king promised.

“Oh, good.”

“Well, the night is still young. Would you like to watch a movie or something?” The king offered, clearing his throat and moving closer to the heiress. “Umm sure, I should probably run home and grab some clothes for tomorrow. I’m just a few minutes away.”

“Okay. I will set up a movie and order some more cookies or something,” the king replied.

“Cool,” Amani jogged down the hall and to the couch, “I’ll be right back,” she smiled before heading out the door.

Taglist: @almostpurelysmut @blackbypurpose @nyneebee @hutchj @tchoking @sisterwifeudaku @wikiwakanda @royallyprincesslilly @90sinspiredgirl @strictlyashley @afraiddreamingandloving @thedelightfulone @autumn242 @purple-apricots @kumkaniudaku @queertrex @kaciidubs @halfrican-heat @skysynclair19 @dramaqueenamby @gorjiss @leahnicole1219 @kreolemami @mzbritt @yoyolovesbucky @derangedcupcake @builtalongthewayside @ilcb7 @chaneajoyyy @lalapalooza718 @ororowrites @leahnicole1219 @dopegalkk @sarcastic-sunshines @sarahboseman @shesakillerkween @waitingonafriend @faatassbitch @lady-love-and-glitter-roses @cxnismajcr

#tchalla fanfiction #tchalla #tchalla imagine #tchalla x reader #blackpantherimagines #tchalla x black! reader #tchalla x oc #tchalla x black!oc #apbpfics #tchalla x you #starlightfic #t'challa x reader #tchalla fanfic #tchalla black panther #black panther #blackpanther #t'challa #t'challa x oc #aafics

19 notes · View notes

what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

Riding High Ch 25: Keep It Simple

Chapter Summary: The events of Boston behind them, Frank, Fliss and Mary look forward to Christmas…and Frank has a big surprise planned.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut…NSFW and NO UNDER 18s!!!

Chapter Pairings: Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

And yes, I know it ain’t Christmas but…well, in my mind it should be Christmas every day!

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter Song: God Only Knows by the Beach Boys

If you should ever leave me, thought life would still go on, believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me? God only knows what I’d be without you…

"Mary can you just hold on a second, please!" Frank sighed, grabbing the back of her coat to stop her shooting off into the crowd that streamed down the busy Manhattan sidewalk. "But Frank!" she turned and looked at him, her woollen hat jammed down over her ears "I just wanna see the stall!" "Yeah but you can't just run off!" He grumbled and besides him Fliss gave a chuckle. He turned to look at her "who gets so excited about damned wooden tree ornaments?" "Oh hush!" Fliss leaned up to give him a pack, her cold nose brushing his. In retaliation he pulled the front of her baby blue sparkly bobble hat down over her eye and she shoved him in the chest, laughing. "Fuck you!" "Chance would be a fine thing" he grumbled, taking Fliss’ hand as they headed after Mary. "Awww is that why you're grumpy?" Fliss grinned as they walked "Coz you haven't had any in nearly 3 days?" Frank pouted "No." "Liar..." "Ok, look...Frankie has needs..." he whined "I completely over looked the fact hanging out with an 8 year old in the room would be a cock block." "Always the shower..." Fliss teased and Frank snorted. "Yeah, right. Can you imagine? I give it 3 minutes before she came looking for us." "We go home tomorrow. I'll make it up to you then." Fliss grinned and he sighed. "What?" She laughed. "It’s just...you look so hot in all this winter clothing." Frank grinned. And he meant it. Seeing her wrapped up in a coat, hat and scarf had made her look all cute and cozy...and it had done inappropriate things to him for some odd reason. "Hmmm, you know most men get more turned on the less clothing their girls wear." She teased and he grinned. "Yeah, well, I'm not most men" She gave him a smile which he returned with a soft kiss as they stopped by the stall where Mary instantly dived into looking at the array of ornaments. After a few moments of looking she handed Frank one in the shape of a reindeer stag, and a doe for him and Fliss before selecting a robin for herself. "I think they're so pretty." She looked at the bird in her hand "I saw one at Evelyn's over thanks giving." "Ever heard the saying robins appear when loved ones are near?" Fliss asked. Mary shook her head. "No" "Well, I don't know about here but certainly in England we say it because there is an old belief by some people that a robin is a message from heaven, that a loved one is watching over you." "Do you believe that?" Mary looked at Fliss. Fliss hesitated "Well when my mum's dad died I was 20 and I remember getting up the morning after he died and there was a robin on the fence of the back garden. Bill told me it was my granddad Alex come to check I was ok." "Do you think it was? Really I mean?" "I dunno sweetheart." Fliss sighed "I'd like it to be true..." "Then you should believe it was." Mary said, looking at her "Because isn't that what faith is? Believing something you want to be true?" Fliss looked at Frank who smiled and gave a small shake of his head. She turned back to Mary, smiling softly as she dropped a hand to the back of her head. This kid was unbelievably wise, but with such an innocence behind it all. "Yeah, I suppose it is." Fliss nodded. "Do you think the robin I saw could have been my mom?" She asked, her eyes wide. Frank at that point stepped in, carefully picking an answer that was ambiguous so as not to say yes, but also not dampening her spirits. "If your mom could I'm sure she would come and see you, make sure you're ok." Mary gave a nod, before she turned back to the stall, her attention back on the ornaments. "We need a dog for Thor, and a cat for Fred oh...and a pony for Monty." "What about Cap and Heidi?" Fliss asked, moving to inspect the selection of decorations. "Oh, yeah!" "This is gonna bankrupt me." Frank grumbled, his hands on Fliss' hips, chin resting on her shoulder as he observed the two of them. "Scrooge" Fliss shot back with a smile "Do you think Verity and Bill will like this one?" Mary held up a snowman. "Absolutely" Fliss nodded. "And can I get one for Evelyn?" She asked, selecting a snowflake. Despite the fact that they were now well into the fifty buck range for fucking tree decorations, Frank couldn't help but want to smile at Marys face. She was so thoughtful, the purity behind it all was as usual humbling. So he nodded "Sure she will appreciate it." He smiled. He moved to lift her up so she could hand the ones they had picked over to the guy behind the counter who asked Mary what names she wanted on each one. As she told him, he allowed her to sit up on the edge of the little surface, held in place by Frank to watch as he burnt the names into each ornament before he bagged them up and she took them with a thanks. "Our first family tree stuff!" Mary grinned and Fliss smiled, bending down to give her a hug. They set back off towards the hotel, stopping by a burger joint for dinner before they dumped their bags and returned back out for their final evening in the City. Frank had loved every second of their trip, and so had Mary and Fliss. Seeing Mary's reaction to snow and the Christmas lights had been amazing, along with all the bands on street corners, people walking around dressed up. It was magical and he wasn't afraid to let his inner child come out to play either, as Fliss had just found out. "Whose idea was this again?" He asked as Mary was bouncing up and down in the queue. "Yours!" Fliss scoffed as he took Mary's hand in his right "I seem to recall the very visible horror on your face yesterday when I told you I'd never done it before..." "That’s because it's an abomination that someone who's 34 has never been ice skating." "I was a professional athlete." She shrugged "I was banned from doing anything deemed dangerous " Frank looked at her "What do they consider more dangerous than flying a half tonne animal almost 2 meters into the air?" "Bungee jumping, sky diving, jet skiing, water skiing, ice skating.." Fliss shrugged "just to name 5" Frank shook his head as the queue shuffled forward a little. It wasn't too long now, luckily they had timed it right by arriving 20 minutes or so before the next lot of General Admission to the famous Rockefeller rink opened so there weren't too many people ahead. After another 10 minutes they got to the front and Frank nudged Fliss out of the way as she tried to pay. She scowled at him and he simply rolled his eyes and handed his card over. It wasn't cheap but then, he was in New York. What was? Together they headed onto the ice. Frank, having done it a few times as a kid found his legs fairly quickly and didn't stop himself laughing as Mary's completely went from under her and she landed with a thump on her ass. "Here..." he chuckled, offering her his hand. He pulled her up and moved her in front of him. "Give me your hands..." Mary extended her arms to the side and he took her mitten clad hands in his, holding her in front of him. Fliss was moving tentatively behind him, using the sides for support a little. "Ok slide your right foot forward, like on your roller skates..." Frank said. Mary did as she was told "now left...right...left...right..." He continued his chanting and glanced over his shoulder to see Fliss was concentrating on her feet, her tongue poking out slightly. "You good?" "Yup." She said, raising her hand to give him a thumbs up before she skidded slightly and went down in a tangle of limbs. Letting out a laugh he gently pivoted Mary so she could hold onto the side and offered Fliss his hand. Pulling her up into his arms he held her steady for a moment whilst her laughing subsided. He watched her for a second, her face creasing up into those adorable dimples, eyes crinkled so much they were almost shut and her shoulders shook with the force of her giggles. "I fuckin' love you..." he grinned and she smiled at him. "Back at ya sailor" After another few laps Mary and Fliss had managed to get the hand of it which meant Frank could leave them a little bit as he went off for what he called a proper skate. The girls watched calling him a show off as he crossed his feet and turned, skating backwards a little. Both of them debated sabotaging him and tripping him up but they decided not to, instead they simply pretended they didn't know him, resulting in him grabbing Fliss from behind just beneath the large tree, and spinning her round to face him. "Can I help you?" She teased and he gave a snort. "Yeah, you can... Mary?" He called to her where she was trying to perfect a turn and failing as she almost stumbled again. She looked up and headed over. "Can you take our photo?" "Only if you're gonna kiss..." she replied, making smooching noises. "Well we can’t disappoint her..." Frank shrugged and Fliss grinned, her smile turning into a shriek as Frank quickly grabbed her hips before he took one hand, keeping the other round her back and dipped her so she was bending backwards, planting a sloppy kiss on her lips. She laughed against his mouth as he gave her a wink, before kissing her a little deeper and then setting her upright, his eyes boring into hers which were shining in the Christmas lights surrounding the rink. "Oh that was great!" Mary howled and he turned to face her as she handed his phone back. Frank checked the photo and had to smile, it was a dammed good shot. He showed it to Fliss and she beamed. "A framer?" She asked. "A framer." He agreed. It took them ages to get Mary to finally leave the rink. Even a bribe of hot chocolate, marshmallows and cookies wasn't doing it. Eventually Frank put his foot down and told her it was time to go as it was almost 9pm and they still had that tree to go see before they headed to Central Park for one last walk in the lights. After handing their skates back and retrieving their belongings from the lockers they followed the path to the tree. As they round the corner Mary gasped. "It's huge!" She turned to look at Frank and Fliss, her eyes wide "Oh my God!" Frank smiled kissed Fliss' cheek as Mary walked slightly ahead of them down the walkway that was flanked with smaller trees and the famous lit up trumpeting angels . As they caught her up he slipped his spare hand in his pocket, his fingers curling round the small, leather box inside. The damned thing had been burning a hole in his pocket since he had bought it in Boston just after Thanksgiving. Fliss, Verity and Bill had all stayed for a very pleasant week rounded off with a damned good proper Thanksgiving dinner and the three of them had flown home on the Friday, as Fliss was starting to stress about her business. He and Mary followed on the Sunday after she had been given the all clear to fly after a week’s check up at the Hospital. On his spare afternoon, he'd taken a trip into the city with one goal, and it had been surprisingly easy. The first jeweller he has walked into had a perfect ring, and despite the fact he had visited several others none of them caught his eye like that. So he had gone back and asked the assistant for a closer look. It wasn't a huge rock, white gold and emerald cut with in a pave setting, but everything about it had screamed Fliss. It was delicate and feminine but with a wonderful sparkle just like her. He knew that sounded so lame when he had told the assistant but she has just smiled and told him that if he had that much conviction, it must be right. He had been lost when she asked him what size, but in a sudden inspiration he had remembered the Pandora ring he had bought her when he had gotten his first new pay check as supervisor. He mentioned this to the assistant who beamed and said she could easily size it from that by using a simple conversion chart and told him to come back the following day. His sudden good spirit had fallen as he explained he couldn't do and asked her to see if here was anything she could do, even contemplating taking it and having it sizes back in Florida. But, after the shitty run of events over the last week, his luck was in after she returned 5 minutes later with a slip of paper, informing him it would be ready by the end of the day. When he had told Mary he was going to ask Fliss to marry him, she'd been so excited. She'd asked when, where and when he said he didn’t know she'd given him the most exasperated look on the planet. The only one of his friend who he had confided in, Greg, hadn’t been much help either, simply telling him to do it in a way that meant something to them both. Simply put he just hadn't a fucking clue. He had agonized over how to pop the question. On the boat? Or maybe a sunset on their favourite spot at St Pete's beach? Did he wait for New York? As such, Frank had taken to carrying the ring around with him, waiting for that moment when it felt right. So far it hadn't happened at home and as it stood New York wasn’t faring any better. He had thought about it at the top of the Empire state, but it had been too busy. Then there was a moment in Central Park after they had been snowman building that might have worked...until Fliss had nailed him in the face with a snowball. So they'd had a snowball fight instead. Then when walking over Brooklyn Bridge, the skyline behind them… then when they walked back to the Hotel after seeing the Lion King on Broadway, going the long way round to see the display in Macy's window all lit up...and then that moment before when Mary had taken a picture of them kissing under the tree on the ice rink... but none of it felt right. It didn't feel like the moment for them. But now something stirred in his gut. This could be it. It wasn't too busy, the place was gorgeous, right in front of the tree Fliss had been so desperate to see... Ok Adler, you can do this. Taking a deep breath he pulled the box from his pocket when he heard Mary give a squeal. "Oh...wow! Frankie look..." Fliss' voice was a whisper and she nudged him, pointing to the base of the tree. He followed her gaze to see a blonde haired man down on one knee, presenting a ring to a dark haired woman who had her hands clasped over her mouth. Frank slipped the box back into his pocket and stared at the man as he placed the ring onto his now fiancés finger and did his best to look like he cared when Fliss let out a soft "Awwww" The man looked around excitedly, his eyes falling on the three of them before he asked Frank if he or Fliss would mind taking a photo for them. "Course not buddy, congratulations." Frank smiled. Fucking prick... ***** "It was AMAZING!" Mary gushed to Verity as they walked to the car, Fliss' parents having come to pick them up from the airport. "we saw so much stuff but nowhere near all of it but Frank said we could go back next year in the summer maybe and do a bit more." "Looks like someone else had a good time too." Bill smiled, nodding to Fliss who let out a loud yawn. Frank chuckled "She was up all night, I told her not to have more food so close to bed time." "I wanted a hot dog and a pretzel." Fliss mumbled, "Besides, it's nothing to do with the food...we did a lot of walking." Bill gave a snort "You ride horses for a living, you should be fit enough to walk round New York" "I probably skated about 4 miles too..." Fliss said looking at Mary "Someone wouldn't come off the ice rink" "You been sleeping ok otherwise?" Verity looked at her "I'm fine mum." She smiled "No anxiety?" 'V, she said she's fine so leave it" Bill said gently and Fliss shot a grateful look at her dad. She knew her mum was only concerned but she was fed up of assuring people she was fine. After the attack from John she had suffered a bout of delayed shock which had manifested in a few panic attacks, nightmares, and restlessness at night and on one occasion nausea. Luckily Frank had been brilliant at keeping calm when she had an episode, helping her work through it and the last incident she had suffered had been over a week ago. Once they were all in the car, Frank took the passenger seat after Verity offered it to him, Mary continued to chat all the drive home about New York, Fliss and Frank butting in here and there. They arrived home little after 30 minutes later and Fliss headed up the steps with Mary, Thor almost sending the pair of them flying when they opened the door. "Oh puppy I missed you!" Fliss smiled as she gave him plenty of attention and he kept licking her face, whining and emitting quiet little barks. "Did you miss me? Did you?" "Yerress" Frank did his best Scooby Doo impression as he walked past and Fliss let out a laugh, as she stood up and headed into the living room behind Mary, bumping into the girl as she stopped dead, giving a squeal as she saw the Christmas Tree in the corner. "Mum, Dad?" Fliss called, smiling "I take it you did this?" Frank appeared behind them both, smiling as Fliss and Mary exchanged a glance before they all turned to Bill and Verity who were stood in the doorway. "Well we know how much you like to get your tree up as early as you can and, well we were picking one up for ourselves so we got you one. You don’t mind do you?" Verity, looked at Fliss then Frank. "No, of course not!" Fliss grinned. "Saved me a job." Frank nodded "Thanks guys." "Can we decorate it tonight?" Mary asked "Pleeeeeeeaaaasssseee Frank!" Frank glanced at his watch before giving a sigh, he knew she wouldn't go to bed if he said no anyway so what was the point? Plus she was at the University tomorrow which didn’t start until 10 so... "Ok, but if you so much as grumble tomorrow morning when I get you up you'll be in deep trouble." He looked at her sternly as she stooped to pick Fred up. "Cross my heart, hope to die, we all know Fred's got one eye..." she chanted off, nodding. "We brought your box of decorations from the annex." Verity smiled at Fliss, nodding to the box on the floor. "We thought you could pick what you want to keep now you're combining."

“Speaking of decorations…” Frank said, looking at Mary.

“Fliss said you wouldn’t mind the names Mary wanted on them.” Frank said, watching carefully.

“Of course we don’t mind!” Bill smiled, picking Mary up to give her a hug “We are Nanny V and Poppa B ain’t that right kiddo?” “Yep!” she grinned, hugging him.

“We’ll save it to hang tomorrow when you come over after school.” Verity said as Bill set Mary on the floor and she hugged her tightly.

He had just about managed it when Thor came over to inspect what he was doing, and dropped straight onto his back on top of the string.

“Frank got me this for my first Christmas.” Mary said, hanging a red bauble which had her name on it. “The glitter has all fallen off it now.”

“We can add more if you want.” Fliss looked at her and Mary shrugged.

“Best Tree ever.” she smiled.

“Yeah, and now it’s time for the best bed ever…” he looked at her.

“Seriously?” Mary complained

“No moaning, remember?” Frank instructed her. “That was in the morning.”

“I’ll be in in a second.” Frank shot after her, watching as she headed down to the hallway. He turned back to Fliss who was watching the tree, a smile on her face.

“Not exactly up to Macey’s standards…” Frank chuckled and she shook her head.

“I love it.” “It looks like an Elf threw up on it.”

“No beer.” “You want me to wait in bed.” “Yes I do.” he nodded “Go, I’ll let Thor out and lock up.”

“I like your ass.” he muttered. “I like yours too” she said back, “And your arms”

He laughed and pulled back to look down at her as her fingers trailed up his biceps. “My arms?”

“I know I keep saying it but I really do fuckin’ love you Cowgirl.” he said, voice muffled as his face pressed into her neck.

Fliss gave a chuckle “I’ll never tire of hearing it Sailor. “

And then, suddenly an idea came to him, out of nowhere.

Oh, it was perfect! "Greg..." he smiled, slapping the man on the back "you are a genius." "Glad I could be of service." Greg smirked "This means I get best man duty, right?"

“Frank said you enjoyed New York.” “Oh, it was fantastic.” she smiled “Every bit as magical as I thought it was going to be.”

“No, Greg…” Fliss started to protest but Greg cut her off.

“Yes Greg!” he smirked, turning to the bar tender, “Can I get a bottle of Tequila pal and 8 glasses.” Fliss groaned “I’m teaching at 9 am!”

“Dumbass…” Greg looked at her and Frank gave a snort.

“I told you to switch them out…”

“The table is set, food and everything is ready to go…” he chuckled, looking at her “Just relax…”

He reached round Mary, his hand gently rubbing at Fliss’ back and she smiled at him, turning her attention to the TV.

“She wants you to go and say goodnight.” he smiled,

Fliss nodded and stood up.

“You sure you’re ok?” Frank asked.

She came back about 10 minutes later and he smiled at her as she walked into the room.

“OK, now she’s out of the way…I got something for you...” Frank smiled.

Fliss looked at him before she shook her head, chuckling a little “I got something for you too…Frank, I have-” “Me first.” Frank cut her off.

She looked at him for a second, his bright blue eyes were shining as he grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine…” she smiled, “Ok, you first.” He grinned and then folded his arms “You gotta find it.” “What?”

“Charmer.” she grinned, turning back to the tree.

Fliss looked at it, admiring the way the delicate band sat underneath her knuckle, the beautiful diamond twinkling in the lights of the tree.

"Oh Frankie...it’s gorgeous..." she whispered, before she looked at him, taking his face in both his hands and pulling him down for a deep kiss. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He smiled, kissing her again before he pulled away, his hands linking behind her back.

Not that he had doubted she would, not really, but there had always been that little bit of fright she may have done. But that was all gone now. As he popped the cork on the bottle he found himself thinking about how he would be doing that soon enough on his wedding day. He poured 2 glassed and headed into the living room with them wondering if maybe a late Autumn wedding next year would be nice, October perhaps when it started to cool off slightly. They could do the beach wedding she always wanted, hire a marquee... Lost in his thoughts completely he jumped a little when Fliss spoke his name and turned to look at her as she stood in front of him, the back of his thighs brushing against the sofa slightly. He noticed her hand was in her pocket, clutching something. Playfully he nodded towards it “I assume that’s not a spanner." He chuckled, referencing the joke they often shared and Fliss shook her head, biting her lip. "No...it’s...a bit bigger than that" With a shaky hand she pulled out a small, white stick of plastic and held it towards him. It took Frank a moment to understand what it was and as soon as he did his eyes widened and he looked at her, then it, then back again.

"You're...we're...no...that's..." he stuttered, reaching out to take it from her. "I found out this morning." Fliss whispered, watching hair reaction carefully "I suspected last week but thought it might all be down to stress and stuff but..." "How, I mean..." "I should have started a new pill packet when we went to Boston but I forgot to take it with me. I thought I'd be ok if I started as soon as I got back but..." "There's a baby in there?" Frank cut her off as he stumbled over his words, nodding to her stomach "Yeah" Fliss nodded. "You put it there." Frank's legs grew shaky and he dropped onto the sofa, staring down at the test in his hands.

2 blue lines.

2 blue lines that had just changed his world forever. "I'm sorry, I know this is sudden and I should have been more careful..." Fliss took a tentative step towards him and he reached out, his hands on either side of her hips, gently pulling her t-shirt up. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to her belly, his forehead resting just above her navel. "I'm gonna be a dad..." he said, pulling back, his eyes watering. "Frankie, you already are..." Fliss said, her own tears once more springing forth. "I know you hate it when I say that about Mary but it's true." He looked at her, a dazed smile split his face into two as he pulled her onto his lap, where she straddled him, and he kissed her, hard, leaving her slightly breathless before he rest his forehead against hers. "Fuck, Lissy..." he whispered, his eyes closed "You're cooking a little person..." She spluttered a laugh, nodding, her forehead brushing his as she did. "Was it made in Boston...is that the right word?" He pulled back to look at her and she laughed, brushing her hand through his fluffy hair as his gently reached out to rest against her stomach. "Yeah and most likely." "It's a little Boston Bean" he grinned and she laughed again, pressing her lips to his. "You're ok with it then? I know it's probably not what you would have planned but..." "Ok? Of course I'm ok!" He smiled "I love you and the thought of us making a little person that's half me, half you...fuck, it's amazing." She smiled and nodded, her voice a whisper "I know..."

"There is one problem." Franks said, his arms wrapping tightly around her. "What?" "You just ruined Christmas forever...because nothing is ever gonna live up to this ever again."

#riding high #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #gifted #gifted fan fic

72 notes · View notes

wondersofdreaming · 4 years

Text

Let’s get the party started!

Characters: Henry Cavill times 26 x female reader

Word count: 2.288

Warnings: Alcohol intake. Drunkenness. Hollering. Catcalling. Lack of confidence-ish. Teasing. A teeny tiny sexual encounter that isn’t written but hinted.

Author’s note: This is somewhat of a prequel to my emotion series. The scoring is pure fiction, so please don’t be offended or think I scored too low on your favourite Henry-character.

You can find my emotion series here: MASTERLIST

I do not own any of the characters in this flash fiction besides the reader, her dog, and friends, who are figments of my imagination.

Tag: @littlefreya @katerka88 @mitzwinchester @hell1129-blog

Feedback is appreciated.

The day started with you waking up to someone knocking hard on your front door. You had been asleep. Your big bear of a fiancé was softly snoring next to you, not hearing a thing.

“I wish I was a deep sleeper like you, love.” You whispered to him, grabbed a robe and walked towards the door with the dogs right behind you.

The knocking got louder, and you could hear yelling on the other side.

“I’m coming, geez, take a chill pill.” You said and opened the door. You were attacked by your future sisters- and brothers-in-law, and a large crowd of your and Henry’s close friends.

“Morning sleepyhead. My key didn’t work, so we had to knock. Where’s Supes?” Jason, a good friend, asked.

“Still sleeping. Wait, you have a key?” You asked pushing at his chest, which was harder than you thought since he was the size of your fiancé.

“Yeah, got one from Supes last year, when he locked himself out.”

Jason moved you and wandered down to your bedroom, where you heard a scream. Jason had jumped on top of Henry, who showed hundreds of emotions in matters of seconds.

“J, what are you doing here?” Henry asked as he managed to push his bearded friend to the floor.

“It’s your bachelor party!” Henry’s older brother declared.

“And your bachelorette party.” Your colleague, Cecilia, told you.

“So, you two take a shower, separately please, get dressed and meet us in the living room in 30 minutes.” Selena, another colleague of yours, said as she walked towards the kitchen.

“We’ll feed the dogs. Dress comfortably.” One of your sisters-in-law yelled from down the hall. Cecilia shoved you into the bedroom and pulled Jason out the room before she closed the door.

You looked confused at Henry.

“What just happened?” You asked and went to sit on the edge of the bed. Henry pulled you into his broad chest and kissed your temple.

“I think we’re having a joined bachelor and bachelorette party in our house, love.” He chuckled.

“Oh boy, I saw at least twenty people out there.”

“Let’s go shower and see who has arrived, don’t stress, darling.”

“We don’t hear any water running!” Another one of your sisters-in-law said through the closed door.

“We’re going!” You yelled, you heard snickering and someone mentioning ‘morning sex’ as they moved away from your bedroom.

You shook your head and leaned into your fiancé’s embrace.

“If we’re quiet, we can shower together and have a little fun,” he whispered into your ear. You scrambled to the master bathroom with Henry right behind you.

40 minutes later you walked into a transformed living room. Your friends and family had attached banners with half-naked men and women on every available wall. Cecilia threw a sash over your head that said ‘Bride-to-be’, while the one she put on Henry said: ‘Groom in training’.

The sofa had been moved to the wall, the coffee table switched with the dining room table, and had been filled with drinks and snacks. You saw beer everywhere and lots of tequila.

“Come on guys, it’s barely noon and you want to do shots now?” You whined.

“No, we’re making lunch first, the tequila is for later,” Selena told you and put a plastic tiara on top of your wet hair.

“I had no idea your hair was curly too, shorty.” Jason teased. He threw an arm over Henry’s shoulders and gave him a tight squeeze, while he pulled you into his chest with the other arm. “You two are my best friends, and I’m so happy you’re getting married to each other.”

“Thanks, J. It means a lot coming from you.” You said.

Your friends had turned the backyard into a party place, lucky for them that the weather was nice and sunny. You all sat down with open-faced sandwiches on rye bread, not the bread made purely of rye flour, no, this was rye bread filled with sunflower seeds, dark and delicious.

“And for those who aren’t into the bride’s rye bread, we have normal sandwiches and the grill is on, so we can make sausages and burgers as well.” Henry’s older brother announced.

“You know that rye bread is healthy for you, right? It boosts your immune system and is low in calories.” You retorted with a smile.

An hour into the backyard party, some of the men had pulled out a projector and a blank white screen. You and Henry were pushed onto the two chairs in the middle of everything. Your loved ones surrounded you as Cecilia went to stand next to the white screen, she had a little black remote in one hand.

“May I have everyone’s attention please?” She started, everyone started quieting down. “Thank you. Well, first of all, thank you all for coming to this joint bachelor and bachelorette party for these two turtledoves.” She motioned towards the two of you. “We decided to join these two parties, as most of us have busy schedules, and this was the only available time you all had. So, let’s get to it. Pass down the drinks, especially towards the bride-to-be, she’s going to need it.”

Cecilia held up her beer and cheered with everyone.

“Now, our beautiful bride-to-be here was born on an island far, far away.” A picture of you as a baby appeared on the screen.

“NO! Where did you find that picture?” You screeched, horrified that people were looking at you as a toddler with your curly hair and a mischievous look in your eyes.

“We called your family, and they were generous enough to send a tonne of photos of you. Now be quiet.” Selena said. You laughed and shook your head, defeated.

“I’m ready for those tequila shots now!” You said and motioned for the bottles of tequila in the living room. Jason laughed and handed you a bottle with a few shot-glasses. You downed two shots before Cecilia continued. Your entire life was shown on the screen, from your toddler days to when you became a teenager, you had a rebellious period, where you wore black, dyed your hair black, wore black nail polish and so forth. Then the pictures changed into your twenties when you met Henry, and the last picture was of when he proposed on the beach.

“And that concludes our bride’s story. Now onto a fun game. The bride and groom are going to have a little contest on which look through the ages is better.”

You groaned, already thinking you knew where this was headed but you were pleasantly surprised. Selena handed you and Henry a mini chalkboard each and some chalk.

“Let’s first, take a drink for the lovely couple!”

“CHEERS!”

“This is Henry in ‘Laguna’ from circa 2001, now give this look a score from zero to five, where five is the best score. These are gifs by the way.”

You squealed.

“Aw, look at you, honey. Baby Henry.” You teased. Henry just huffed as his brothers and friends laughed at him.

You gave it a 5, while Henry gave it a 2.

“Interesting, now onto the next Henry-look. This is from ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ around 2002.”

You gave it another 5, while Henry was still on a score of 2.

“And this is from the series ‘The Inspector Lynley Mysteries’, also 2002.”

Another 5 from you, and 2 from Henry.

“This is from the movie ‘Goodbye, Mr. Chips’, again, 2002.”

You looked long and hard before you just showed your 5, Henry was still on a 2.

“From ‘I Capture the Castle’ in 2003.”

You continued the 5, Henry still on the 2.

“This is from the series ‘Midsomer Murders’, from 2003.”

“You two are definitely going to have very curly-haired babies.” Jason teased from behind you, ruffling your semi-dried hair.

You giggled and showed your number 5, Henry didn’t budge on his 2.

“This movie is called ‘Hellraiser: Hellworld’ from 2005.”

You turned your chalkboard, still, a 5, and Henry showed his 2.

“And this is from ‘Tristan & Isolde’ premiered in 2006.”

You showed another 5, while Henry continuously showed his 2.

“‘Red Riding Hood’ from 2006.”

“Look at those pearly whites.” Another friend howled from the back.

Another 5 from you and another 2 from Henry.

“And here he is with reddish hair in ‘Stardust’ from 2007.”

The entire crowd laughed, even Henry had to release a burst of roaring laughter, where he leaned backwards and grabbed his chest. He dabbed his eyes with his sleeve as tears were about to spill.

You gave that look another 5, while Henry deleted his 2 and changed it to a 1.

“Moving on to ‘Whatever Works’ from 2009.”

You nearly swooned at the smile young Henry was giving you from the screen.You wrote down another 5, while Henry changed his 1 to a 2.

“This is from ‘Blood Creek’ in 2009.”

You showed your 5, which was turning bigger and slobbier the more tequila you drank, while Henry’s score continued to be 2.

“And we move on to ‘The Tudors’ series, there’s going to be a new gif from each season. This is from season 1.”

With the first one, you scored it another 5, while Henry continued his 2. He was being really hard on his own looks. You had to have a stern talking to him when you were sober.

“Season 2.”

You gave it another 5, Henry was still stubborn on his 2.

“Season 3.”

You continued your 5, and Henry continued his 2.

“Season 4.”

“Holy moly!” You let out.

“What?” Henry asked.

“I just forgot how hot you look with a man bun thing and a beard.” You hiccupped, obviously very drunk.

You scored it another 5, and Henry gave it a 3, having gotten a little confidence boost from you.

“This is from the movie ‘Immortals’, premiered in 2011.”

“I love that movie! I love Greek mythology in general.” You slurred and showed your 5, while Henry kept his 3.

“A movie with Bruce Willis, ‘The Cold Light of Day’ from 2012.”

“Babe, your smile is panty-melting.” You giggled.

You kept your 5, while Henry deleted his 3 and wrote down 4.

“And since Henry had three looks in one movie, and he played this character in three movies so far, there’ll be three gifs. This is the first from ‘Man of Steel’ premiered in 2013.”

You sucked in your breath and waved your chalkboard with the 5 on it, Henry deleted the 4 and wrote 3,5.

“Number two.”

You obviously continued with the 5, while Henry stubbornly showed his 3,5.

“Number three.”

Both your scores didn’t change.

“This is from ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ premiered in 2015.”

“My favourite movie so far!” You hollered.

You deleted your 5 and wrote down 6.

“You can’t write 6, 5 is the highest you can score.” Cecilia laughed.

“I don’t care about your rules. I’m the fucking bride, and if I say that Henry’s ‘Napoleon Solo’-look is a freaking 6, then it’s a freaking 6.”

“Whatever the bride wants the bride will get, Napoleon is a 6.”

“Thank you.”

Henry changed his score to a 4. He kissed your temple; happy you loved that movie.

“From ‘Sand Castle’ premiered in 2017.”

You wrote down a 5, which surprised everyone. Henry gave you a shocked look.

“I still love that movie, but the fact that you shaved your head without talking to me about it, pissed me off a little. The beard is a bonus point though.” You giggled and downed another shot. By this time, you had already drunk half a bottle of tequila by yourself, without lime and salt.

Henry wrote down another 4.

“This doesn’t need an introduction but premiered in 2018.”

You almost drooled. You had loved that moustache on him. It had changed the aura around him during filming, but he had still been your goofy boyfriend at the same time.

You wrote 6, Henry wrote 4,5.

“And some know this as ‘Nomis’ other’s as ‘Night Hunter’, it still premiered in 2018.”

You catcalled at the photo, making everyone laugh. You deleted the 6 and wrote 7, while Henry wrote 4.

“And last but not least from the series ‘The Witcher’ from 2019.”

“One million billion trillion…” You cheered and took another shot. The alcohol clearly going to your brain. Everyone laughed, while most of the women awed at the head-tilt Geralt did in the gif.

The rest of the evening was a blur for you. Alcohol was consumed and pizzas were ordered around dinner time. Around midnight you were ready to collapse anywhere, you could have fallen asleep while standing up, you were that drunk. Henry, who could handle his alcohol intake, threw you over his shoulder and carried you into the bedroom.

You were already snoring loudly before your head hit the pillows. Henry removed your clothes and with a little luck, he managed to put you into one of his T-shirts that you loved to sleep in. Your dogs walked in and jumped on the bed, cuddling close to your sleeping body.

“Goodnight, my love,” Henry whispered. He kissed your forehead and walked out to the still ongoing party. Most of the women had gone to sleep in the tents that had been put up in the backyard, and the men had rid the dining table for bottles and snacks and were setting up for what looked like advanced beer pong.

“It’s a fusion game between beer pong and flip cup. Losers have to down a whole can of Guinness.” Jason answered Henry’s confused look.

“Alright, I’m assuming we’re on different teams?” Henry smiled.

“Oh yeah! Let the game begin!”

#Henry Cavill #This man #Henry x reader #Henry x female reader #Henry Cavill x reader #Henry Cavill x female reader #Short Story #Fanfiction #My story #Mine #I need a drink #Henry Cavill times 26 #Let’s get the party started!#henry cavill fanfic

119 notes · View notes

purplesurveys · 3 years

Text

1052

surveys by lets-make-surveys

1 - Who was the last person to knock on your door? Were they there to see you? Nina usually knocks briefly in the evening to let me know it’s time for dinner. Other than my ex in the past, I don’t let anyone stay in my room for long. Knocking and peeking into my room is enough.

2 - Have you left the house yet today? If not, do you have plans to leave the house later on? No, as it’s only 10 in the morning and I don’t really have a reason to be out somewhere this early. I might go out to buy presents for more relatives, but that’s only if I feel productive enough today. We’ll see.

3 - What’s your favourite brand of chocolate? What type of chocolate bar from that brand is your favourite? The older I get the more I feel like gagging from the idea of chocolate bars lol; they’re all just so sweet. These days my top three would be Hershey’s cookies and cream bar, Whittaker’s chocolate peanut butter bar, and Twix bars. I also love Reese’s, but they aren’t bars.

4 - Have you ever met someone in person who you first met on the internet? Do you have plans to do that anytime soon? Yes, I’ve done this before and I’ve recounted the stories on here multiple times. As for the second question, yeah I technically do? I’ve only met my workmates online so far, so I’m constantly looking forward to the opportunity to finally meet them all in real life.

5 - What was the last thing you used a blender for? I’ve never used a blender. We don’t even own a blender.

6 - Have you ever got into an argument with a stranger on social media? Do you remember what it was about? Yeah, but I don’t even remember what it was about anymore...I do know it was this year, and the person deleted the comment that I replied to not long after.

7 - When was the last time you cracked your joints? Is that something you do often? Now that you reminded me, I just did. I do it at least once a day, whenever my fingers start to feel tight and tense.

8 - What time is it right now? If you weren’t doing a survey, what else would you be doing right now? It is 1:52 PM. I’d be heading to the mall to buy more presents, but I don’t feel like getting out of bed yet. I’d also do embroidery, but my online orders are taking a while to arrive :( My online shopping app says I'll be getting them by Jan 3rd, but the shipping tracker says it’s already being shipped from China to here so I’m looking forward to receiving it this week. I hope that’s the case; otherwise it’ll miss the point of being my hobby this Christmas break.

9 - If you had ten minutes to run around an empty supermarket and fill your trolley for free, what’s the first aisle you’d go for? The fancy meat/fish section. Then I’d go to the condiments/spice section, then frozen food, then chips.

10 - Aside from Tumblr, what websites do you visit the most and why? YouTube, because I find videos a soothing distraction; Twitter to keep me updated on local and international news; Reddit for quirky posts; and Wikipedia so I can continue learning trivia I’ll never have to use but want to gain anyway.

11 - Has COVID had any impact on your Christmas plans this year? What’s going to change or be different to normal? My dad is home for Christmas this year, which is one silver lining from Covid. But my relatives living abroad who usually fly back to the Philippines for the holidays obviously won’t be able to this year, so we’re not gonna have a packed family reunion like we normally do. Everything else is the same, but I think the biggest thing about this whole thing is that I can barely feel Christmas coming this year. I think it’s going to feel like such a plain Friday this week; and that makes me a little sad.

12 - What’s your favourite flavour of cake? Are you any good at making that kind of cake? My favorite flavor is chocolate, but my favorite kind of cake (which I enjoy a lot more than general chocolate cake) is cheesecake. I cannot make either, nor can I bake at all.

13 - Do you prefer sweet or sour candy? Sweet. I hate any sour foods with a passion lol especially sour candy; it is my absolute least favorite taste. I don’t find anything enjoyable or fulfilling about it.

14 - What colour is your favourite fruit? Is this a fruit you eat often? Already made my feelings for fruit clear on this blog, haha.

15 - Is your favourite restaurant an independent place or a chain? What is it that you love about it so much? It’s a chain, like most popular restaurants here. Independent places are a little hard to come by, to be honest. They make the best katsu I’ve ever had; and I also like that despite being a chain restaurant, the ambience is still quite sophisticated and date-friendly so I always feel like I’m treating myself whenever I eat there.

16 - Are you genuinely a fan of Starbucks or do you think it’s all hype? I personally enjoy everything about Starbucks. I like their coffees, their Frappes, the ambience in their coffee shops, their playlists, and their line-up of mugs and tumblers. I’ve always felt right at home in their shops and out of all the cafés I’ve been to, it’s always their baristas that have been the nicest.

17 - Do you own a Christmas jumper? What design/pattern does it have on it? No, I don’t.

18 - What’s your favourite fit/style of jeans? I was obsessed with mom jeans throughout 2020.

19 - What was the last non-essential item you spent money on? Overpriced coffee and a sandwich.

20 - Are you currently under any COVID-related restrictions where you live? Are people generally following the rules? Public places are super strict with requiring everyone to wear a face shield and face mask; before entering any establishment, people’s temperatures are taken and everyone’s also required to take a contact tracing form. Anyone under the age of 21 still isn’t allowed to go out for the most part, though I think there are some exceptions now because I see kids younger than me already going on out-of-town trips again. Some places that are big on tourism like Sagada, Batanes, and Baguio are still closed off from the public; those that have since reopened, like Boracay, follow strict protocol and everyone going there is required to undergo a swab test. Everyday Filipinos follow the rules; it’s the politicians and police force who don’t, which feels disgusting to say.

21 - What did you last leave the room you’re in to do? A package arrived for me so I had to pay for it. It was the phone case I ordered for my cousin.

22 - Have you ever read any self-help books? Did you find them useful? No. I don’t really believe in that genre, so I never felt pulled to buy a book.

23 - What’s your favourite programme on the Food Network (if you watch it)? If you don’t get that channel, what’s your favourite food/cookery show in general? All things Gordon Ramsay, man. MasterChef, Hell’s Kitchen, and Kitchen Nightmares are all *chef’s kiss* The Great British Bake Off is also great and something I like watching when I want to wind down :)

24 - Do you still watch cartoons? From time to time.

25 - Who do you know with the most number of siblings? Would you ever want to live in a huge family? My grandpa was one of nine siblings, if I’m not mistaken. I’m not sure if I know a bigger set than that. Unless my family was filthy rich, I would not want to have such a big immediate family.

26 - Are you a fan of garlic bread? Sure. I tend to ask for others’ too, heh.

27 - Do you own any personalised clothing? What’s the reason for getting it? No, not a fan. Two years ago we had a huge family reunion on my dad’s side and we had to wear these cheesy shirts that said “[Last Name] Reunion” with some cheesy motto at the bottom. My parents hated it, which made me feel better about my own feelings about the shirt lol.

28 - Is anyone else in the same room as you right now? What is that person up to? No, it’s just me here.

29 - What colours are you wearing right now? Does your wardrobe contain a lot of those colours? White, maroon, and scarlet. I have a lot of white and maroon; not so much of scarlet as I find the color too bold.

30 - Do you like adding condiments to your food? If so, what are some of your favourites? Yes. My food always needs to have soup, condiments, or sauces; otherwise I tend to feel the dish is too dry. I like mayonnaise, banana ketchup, hot sauce, and lechon sauce.

1 - What have you been up to so far today? Is that a typical thing for you to do on this particular day of the week? I’ve taken a couple of surveys and started binge-watching segments of my newest Korean reality show discovery, 2 Days 1 Night. The breakout actor from Start-Up and the newest love of my life HAHAHA is a cast member on the current season of 2D1N so I’ve been all over the show today. It’s hilarious; I can hardly believe I’m only discovering the show this late.

2 - Did you get a decent night’s sleep last night? How many hour’s sleep do you consider a decent amount? It was around five hours, which isn’t a lot to me. I usually sleep 7-9 hours these days, but I might wreck my body clock during the holiday break because I want to keep being awake and do the things I haven’t been able to do because of work.

3 - What is one silly thing that really gets on your nerves? Seeing pickles in a burger.

4 - Who was the last person you saw who wasn’t family? What did you guys end up doing together? The friendly Starbucks barista from yesterday; her name was Princess. We didn’t do anything lol, she just took my order and was super friendly about it, and she also gave me the Starbucks planner that I chose to redeem.

5 - Do you prefer hot or cold drinks overall? Cold. I avoid hot drinks now haha. Ever since I had that incident with the takoyaki, I’ve been too scared to let any hot food or drink touch my mouth.

6 - Do you own a decent set of waterproofs? If so, what do you use them for the most? If not, do you think that would be something you’d find useful? I don’t know what this is referring to, and I’m too lazy to Google right now. I’ve only ever known this word as an adjective, whoops.

7 - Do you have any plans for the rest of the day? Take more surveys, and maybe have another cup of coffee. I’ll also have to get started on a daily report I submit for work every weekday morning so that my load will be lighter tomorrow. Our office is technically on shutdown until January 4th, but some clients require a daily report every day and I’ll have to shoulder that with another co-associate. It sucks, but at least it’s the only thing I’ll have to do for the next two weeks.

8 - How often do you get your hair cut? When hairdressers were closed due to COVID, did you try cutting it yourself at home? I only go to the salon once a year, and I already did it this 2020 when I chopped off my hair and got bangs. Yeah, whenever my bangs start to get too long I either ask my mom to trim them or I do so myself.

9 - What did you wear the last time you left the house? Is that different to what you’re wearing at the moment? I walked Cooper half an hour ago and I just stayed in the same clothes I’ve been in all day, which was a tank top underneath an oversized hoodie and a pair of shorts.

10 - Would you rather have a relaxing beach holiday or a more active holiday in the mountains? The beach would be perfect right now, but I think my answer changes every time this is asked and I’m pretty sure I picked mountains the last time HAHAHA. I just realized being in the mountains would give me the same cooped-up feeling I’ve been having from staying at home for such a long time, and it might not be the best and healthiest trip for me...the beach definitely sounds more freeing and therapeutic.

11 - Do you know how to tie a tie? Nah, never learned. I’ve never been good at tying anything up, period.

12 - How old were you when you first had a sleepover at someone’s house? Did you miss home? I was 15 or 16; I’m not entirely sure anymore. Not at all, I was so excited to have been allowed to go to my first sleepover.

13 - How often do you spend time with your extended family? Under normal circumstances, we’d visit my grandma and cousins on my mom’s side once every few months or so. It was pretty regular since they’re just a stone’s throw away. But obviously we’ve since had to drastically cut our get-togethers back, and I’ve only seen them around three times since the beginning of the year. My dad’s family lives pretty far south, so I only get to see them once or twice a year even in pre-Covid days; not much of a difference there.

14 - When you get up in the morning, do you have a set routine? No. I just wake up feeling dread and have no choice but to wait for the weight in my chest to subside.

15 - Do you remember the last time you cried? Were they sad or happy tears? Yesterday in my car, in the mall parking lot. Sad tears.

16 - What do you have planned once you finish this survey? Look for another one. I misseddddd taking surveys and I plan on taking a crap ton of them this Christmas break. I may also be called for dinner, so there’s that.

17 - What was the last thing you cooked? Did you cook from scratch or just heat something up? I dunno if it counts as cooking, but I just made the DIY ramen kit that I received as a Christmas gift from the branch I was originally an intern at. Everything was already prepared in the kit and all I needed to do was boil water for the noodles and prepare the broth. Turned out surprisingly good.

18 - Are you a fan of hot chocolate? Do you like it plain or do you prefer to add things like whipped cream or marshmallows? I love hot chocolate and will order it sometimes, but given my aforementioned fear of hot beverages I always wait for it to considerably cool down hahaha. I like my hot chocolate plain.

19 - What caused your last injury? Cooper’s nails.

20 - How many tattoos and piercings do you have? Do any of them have an interesting story behind them? Just a piercing on each of my earlobes. No interesting stories...yet.

21 - What kind of flowers do you like the best? When was the last time someone bought those for you? I like peonies, though I’m not sure if my ex ever gave me a bouquet that included those.

22 - What’s the smallest thing you’ve ended a relationship over? I’ve only been with one person and I dated her twice, but I was never the one who ended the relationship either time so can’t really answer this.

23 - Would you rather order a starter (appetiser) or a dessert? Or would you be able to manage a full three courses? Three-course meal, pls. I’ve only experienced it once, when my parents treated me to dinner during my cruise gift for my 18th birthday; it was great and every dish was made amazingly well.

24 - How do you get most of your news, if you pay attention to it at all? I catch the evening news every weeknight because we keep the telvision turned on during dinner. I also get to read articles on social media.

25 - Have you or a member of your family been diagnosed with COVID yet? None that I know of, thankfully. It’s always been someone that a relative knows, but so far none of us have gotten it.

26 - Are you a vegetarian? If so, what persuaded you to stop eating meat? If not, is it something you’d ever consider? No. I have been considering it for years, but I truthfully don’t know if I could give up meat.

27 - Do you prefer rice or pasta? Rice.

28 - Is anything you’re wearing a gift? Who bought it for you? No.

29 - What’s the dominant colour in the room you’re in at the moment? I guess white, since my walls are white and that’s the first thing you see when entering my room.

30 - Did you do laundry yet today? If not, do you need to do any before you go to bed? Not my chore to do, but it was already done a few days ago.

#survey #surveys #multiple surveysss

2 notes · View notes

lonbergwrites · 4 years

Text

Why they changed it, I can’t say

Istanbul was Constantinople, and the Chili Cheese Burrito was the Chilito. Why they changed it, I can’t say. But it did help me meet the love of my life.

I am a child of the eighties and nineties, and a child of the fast food restaurant. I remember all of the innovations—the McDLT, mom’s favorite, with its pound of Styrofoam to keep the L and the T cold and the burger (D?) hot; the birth of the curly fry; fast food hot dogs; the invention of the wrap; the salad you shake up in the container; the death of the curly fry; the tacos that burger joints shilled and the burgers schlepped by the taco places; pizza showing up where it didn’t belong; every new flavor of shake, and sauce, and spice; the birth of the dollar menu. I remember the failed chains—Rax, more famous for their outlandishly large menus and gigantic salad bars than they were for their roast beef; One Potato Two, an honest-to-God baked potato restaurant; even Wag’s, a restaurant owned and operated by Walgreen’s pharmacies.

McDonald’s had the monopoly on toys, everybody knew that. That’s the place you conned your parents into bringing you. But the fast food chain that got me to open my Velcro wallet and spend my tiny allowance was Taco Bell. Taco Bell made me feel like a king. First off, I could afford to eat the whole menu. It was cheap. But it was also packed with the most flavor. Exotic flavor for a Midwestern kid. Flavor that scared my grandparents. It felt dangerous. All those bright colors and southwestern touches. Hot sauce on demand? Hot sauce on demand! I’d never had hot sauce before.

Oh, the times I had at Taco Bell. And my true Taco Bell love was the Chilito. Don’t remember it? I’m going to have to go Golden Girls’ Sophia on you—picture it, your local Taco Bell, nineteen eighty-I’m-feeling-very-old-these-days. You’ve ordered a magical food item called the Chilito. It is a tortilla lovingly spread with true chili—that means lots of beef and spice and no beans. No beans. That’s important. It is mounded with shredded cheese and melted just-so before being wrapped up into a chubby little burrito, perfect for any and every occasion. Chubby Little Burrito would be my nickname going into high school, and I would not like it. But I digress...

The Chilito got me through high school, but by the time I got to college, the Dark Ages had settled upon America, and Taco Bell had discontinued the Chilito. But I never forgot. Taco Bell and I had an off-again/on-again relationship after that point. It seemed like they just didn’t know what they were doing anymore—where they were going in life. Seafood salad? I mean, seriously? And then they went and took away my dessert. My Cinnamon Crispas. I swear to God, they wanted me to leave them. But I wouldn’t. I couldn’t quit my Taco Bell.

By about the time I got to grad school, the rumblings began. They were quiet at first, but I heard word through something new called The Facebook that there was a new Taco Bell menu item called the Chili Cheese Burrito. Chili. And Cheese. In a Burrito. This sounded a lot like a former friend that had been taken from me too soon, too long ago. I could barely remember its look, its smell, its taste upon my tongue. I headed down to my local Taco Bell at once.

Disaster.

The Chili Cheese Burrito was an optional, regional menu item. And I had chosen my grad school poorly, because my region didn’t buy into that “option.” I was incensed. I nearly quit grad school. I mean, I didn’t. That would be crazy. Though I did know my spring break destination that year—the nearest good Taco Bell. That would turn out to be a three hundred mile road trip away.

But again, I’m getting off track. This was supposed to be a love story. You didn’t think I was the kind of person who fell in love with inanimate objects, did you? Like I’m the guy who’d marry a menu item, just as that one guy tried to tie the knot with the Brooklyn Bridge? I’m sorry, no. That’s not this story.

After grad school I chose my next move from several available job options. The natural, and only real choice, brought me to a sensible metro area, complete with good Taco Bells. I made sure to call around before I took the job offer.

It would have been poetic to have me fall in love with the cashier that sold me that first sweet taste of Chili Cheese Burrito, right? It would have been, but it wasn’t her. But she did lead me to my true love. It was her roommate.

Sure, the cashier—Mary, she had a name—and I hooked up a little when we first met. I was drooling when I stepped into her Taco Bell. I usually drooled at the aroma coming from that place, especially in those days when our relationship was illicit and tenuous. But that day I knew my Chilito had come back to me. Oh, the expectation. The drool must have been a good look. Mary was the one who picked me up. Apparently my new corporate paycheck looked better than my old Velcro wallet, and my new convertible lease and loft apartment spoke to her. I was a little different than a lot of the other men she spent her days around.

But after the first time she took me home, her roommate caught my eye. Mary lived in a cramped little third story walkup in the old part of town. Most of her roommates were cockroaches, but there were two notable exceptions—Julie, and her dog Baxter. Julie and I hit it off right away, and Mary and I knew, honestly, that we weren’t meant to be. Julie and Baxter quickly moved in with me and Mary found a roommate in Daryl, one of the cooks from the Bell. We all hung out. It was cool.

Julie worked in one of those stock-trading-for-the-average-schmo websites and, the business being a startup, she was gone a lot. Baxter and I really bonded. We bonded over the couch, the late night television, and the newly-rebranded Chili Cheese Burrito. You know how they say that people and their pets start to look alike after a while? That wasn’t the case with Baxter and me. But we did begin to smell alike. Two people (ostensibly) and a dog in a loft apartment subsisting on mostly Chili Cheese made for a very ripe atmosphere. Julie was not pleased.

Julie and my relationship really hit the rocks when the lying began. No, I haven’t been feeding Baxter Taco Bell—of course I’d been feeding Baxter Taco Bell. Have you seen that face? He’s a good boy!

Julie, the monster, debated tossing out my Chubby Little Burrito. She thought his weight gain was due to a thyroid condition or something, and the farts—well, he was a dog after all. She thought it would be “humane” to put him down. Little did she know that many of the farts were mine. Hey, I’m no saint; we all blame the dog now and again.

Well I sent her to the farm upstate instead.

You know that silly song by They Might Be Giants? Istanbul was Constantinople? Well the Chili Cheese Burrito was the Chilito. Why they changed it, I can’t say... But I do know that I wouldn’t change a thing about how my life has turned out thus-far. Sure, I hate every minute of my job. But I never regret my decision to take it. No. Because it brought me to the land of the good Taco Bell. It reunited me with my old friend with a new name. It introduced me to my true love—Baxter. What a good boy.

What, did you think I’d been talking about Julie?

-- -- -- --

Why they changed it, I can’t say

by: B. Patrick Lonberg

Originally submitted to Taco Bell Quarterly vol. 3.

[it was rejected, and let’s be honest, where else was I going to submit this? I hope you enjoy reading it here!]

#Author #Short Story #Am Writing #Taco Bell #Writeblr #Writing Community #writers on tumblr #writers #short fiction #humor

4 notes · View notes

floatingpetals · 5 years

Text

Boys in Blue || Pt. 3

Pairings: cop!Stucky x F!Reader

Warnings: none, maybe language

Word Count: 1700+

Summary: (Cop AU) There was just one crappy thing after enough that happened to her. It possibly couldn’t get any worse, or so she thought until she saw the dreaded flashes of red and blue behind her. Could things get any worse?

A/N: This chapter I had to separate because it got way too long. So I have the next part done lol. and yes, the reader likes to name people puns on her phone. I hope you all enjoy! Let me know what you think!

The gifs are not mine, credit to the owner.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Series Masterlist

Y/N woke the next morning to a slight headache, a dry mouth and a nagging feeling she had done something stupid. She couldn’t really remember what exactly, it was all a blur. She remembered drinking, Maria being a pain, and fates idea of humor. It wasn’t until she rolled over and looked at her cellphone that it hit her. She gave her number to Bucky and Steve last night.

Well ‘gave’ was a loose term. She more or less threw it at them before bolting out the bar like a wuss. And staring back at her was a notification from an unknown number and a sweet little message.

(Unknown Number)-Morning, doll. How you feelin’ this morning?

(Unknown Number)-It’s Bucky btw

Staring blearily at the words, Y/N felt a scream bubble up her throat, stopping just short of exploding from her lips. Oh dear God, what did Maddie make her do? Sitting up, she sent a frantic text to Maddie.

(Y/N) -DUDE?!

(Y/N)-WHAT THE HELL?!

(Y/N)-YOU MADE ME GIVE THEM THE NUMBER AND NOW BUCKY’S TEXTING ME!

Maddie was quick to respond, but with less intensity.

(Madaroni 🍝)-The horror. How dare a man attracted to you, that has your number, text you back.

(Madaroni 🍝)- Grow some balls, and text him back.

(Madaroni 🍝)- Who knows, maybe you’ll get to see his.

(Y/N)- Dear god.

(Y/N)- Married life sure has made you a little vulgar, hasn’t it?

(Madaroni 🍝)- Jason likes it. That’s why he married me.

(Madaroni 🍝)- Just text him back. It’s nbd

(Y/N)- … What do I say?

There wasn’t a reply, instead, her phone lit up, Maddie’s name lit up on her screen. Quickly answering the call, Y/N bit her lip.

“Alright. When did you become some a little brat?”

“I just woke up.” Y/N huffed. “You could be nicer.”

“I’d be nicer if you’d stop freaking out over a guy,” Maddie replied drying. In the background, Y/N could make out the soft babbling of baby Lexi. “Listen, they both like you. You have nothing to be worried about. You’ve already yelled at them before they even knew your name, and they still shamelessly flirted with you. Honestly, I’m a little jealous of you.”

“Jealous?” Y/N asked in disbelief.

“Hell yeah!” Maria laughed humorlessly. “I mean, I love Jason. But If I was single and had not one, but two Greek Gods practically salivating over me, I’d never let them go.”

Y/N laughed, rolling her eyes feeling much more relaxed than five minutes ago. Maddie had that way about her. She’d didn’t sugar coat things and called Y/N out for letting her anxiety take over. If it weren’t Maddie, Y/N would probably be a hermit with a handkerchief, a chip and a penny as friends. Or at the very least would have an incredibly boring social life.

“You’re right.” Y/N let out a heavy breath. Maddie laughed.

“Duh. You’d think you’d learn that by now.”

“I know. I know.” Y/N groaned and fell back against her pillows to stare at her ceiling. “I should text him back.”

“Yeah, you should. Just don’t worry too much about it. They’ve seen you at your potential worse, and they still like you enough to stick around at the bar.” Maddie said gently. “You got this.”

“Thanks, Maddie.” Y/N said. “Love you. Give the babies kisses from their Auntie.”

“Love you too, Y/N. I’ll give them all the kisses. And don’t forget to tell me all the details later!”

Y/N giggled and hung up. She opened her messenger app, staring blankly at the message. Letting out a sigh, she started typing.

(Y/N)- Hey! A little fuzzy, but I’m all good.

(Y/N)- Let Steve know, Drunk Y/N listened and put water and pills beside my bed.

(Y/N)- She did not, however, remember to change into pjs.

She winced at how absolutely dorky that sounded, but it was too late now. Bucky didn’t take long, less than a minute later messaged back.

(B.B. Gunn)- Glad you’re doin’ okay. You worried us somethin’ happened last night when you came back.

(B.B. Gunn)- I was a little relieved when it was just to give us your number.

(B.B. Gunn)- Lol gotta give her an ‘a’ for effort. At least she tried.

(Y/N)- Yeah, Maddie kind of held a ride home over my head if I didn’t. And drunk me tried to keep my best interest in mind.

It took him longer this time, making Y/N worried she said something wrong. Decided to get up and at least brush her teeth while she waited, Y/N headed to the bathroom. Right as she [ut her toothbrush in her mouth, Bucky text back.

(B.B. Gunn)- Oh. So you didn’t want us to have your number?

Y/N’s heart skipped a beat. No, that wasn’t it at all! Holding the toothbrush between her back teeth, Y/N furiously text back.

(Y/N)- Oh god! I realize how bad that sounded now.

(Y/N)- Yes, I did want you both to have my number. Maddie knew if she didn’t blackmail me, I’d chicken out and not give it to you.

(B.B. Gunn)- Good. I’m glad.

(B.B. Gunn)- I had fun with you last night. So did Steve.

(Y/N)- I’ve been told I’m quiet pleasant when I’m not screaming at people.

Y/N giggled at her joke, finishing brushing her teeth before heading to her kitchen. Apparently, drunk her even set up her coffee pot to auto start, coffee filter and all. Thank God, she thought, at least I remembered the filter, unlike last time.

(B.B. Gunn)- 😂

(B.B. Gunn)- Yeah, that was a nice change of pace, fs.

(B.B. Gunn)- So Steve told me I was crazy, but I don’t really care.

(Y/N)- You’re seeing dead people, aren’t you? GREAT!

(Y/N)- Can you tell my cat from when I was twelve to stop knocking my stuff off tables?”

(B.B. Gunn)- LOL What?!

(B.B. Gunn)- No! That’s not even remotely close to what I was gonna say.

(Y/N)- Aw damn. It’s really becoming a problem.

(B.B. Gunn)- I do want to come back to that later.

(B.B. Gunn)- What I was GONNA say

(B.B. Gunn)- I know it’s crazy to even text someone the very next morning after you get their number.

(B.B. Gunn)- But I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with Steve and me tonight?

Y/N’s stomach flipped, a giddy smile growing on her face. She set her mug down with a giggle and danced in place. Taking a moment to compose herself, she took a gulp from her drink and turned back to her phone. Today was Saturday, which meant she had nothing planned other than cleaning her house and doing laundry.

(B.B. Gunn)- I totally understand if you don’t want too.

(Y/N)- No! I mean, I would totally love too!

(Y/N)- Sorry, I had to get caffeine in me.

(B.B. Gunn)- I completely understand the need for caffeine.

(B.B. Gunn)- But great. We were going to go to this little burger joint down the street that’s got some great food.

(B.B. Gunn)- They also have vegetarian options too if you don’t eat meat.

(Y/N)- Ooh, that sounds good! I’m down.

(B.B Gunn)- Sweet! I’ll let Steve know. He had to go into the station for a few hours today but should be done by 4.

(B.B. Gunn)- Ish.

(Y/N)- lol cool. Just let me know and I’ll meet you both there.

(Y/N)- I should get dressed. I just looked in the fridge and I desperately need to go to the store.

(B.B. Gunn)- Steve says he’s on board, but I’m still crazy.

(B.B. Gunn)- You should probably go to the store then. I’m about to head to the gym.

(Y/N)- Have fun with that. I’m gonna go get chips and candy to pig out for you.

(B.B. Gunn)- Lol dork. Don’t fill up on that before dinner.

(Y/N)- Thanks, Dad.

Y/N set her phone down on her desk and went to her closet, picking through what little she had left. She made a note to throw her clothes in the wash before she left to the store. But first, a list for the store. She glanced at her phone once she stepped out of her closet. Bucky hadn’t replied yet. Shrugging, Y/N went into the kitchen to start up her list.

Twenty minutes later, she slipped on her shoes and grabbed her purse. Her phone chimed, both a message for Bucky and Maddie. Deciding she’d call Maddie back once at the store, she opened Bucky’s first.

(B.B. Gunn)- I would make a comment, but I don’t think we’re there for that level of jokes yet. 😉

(B.B. Gunn)- I’ll let you know when Steve’s off and then we can meet up.

(Y/N)- Sweet. I’ve gotta drive now, so I’ll text you later.

(Y/N)- Also, what joke?

(B.B. Gunn)- Don’t worry about it. 😘

(B.B. Gunn)- Drive safe! Ttyl

Y/N shook her head and slipped her phone back in her purse. Climbing into her car, she headed off to the store humming a happy tune. Even though she didn’t think this was a date, she had dinner plans with two incredibly handsome men.

It still did strike her as a little odd how Bucky talked about Steve. It was almost like they lived either together, or next door with how up to date he was on Steve’s location. But then again, she was close to Maddie and knew where she was most days, so it could very well just be like that. Either way, Bucky seemed like an easy-going guy with a sense of humor. From what she learned of Steve, he seemed similar to Bucky, just a tad quieter. Y/N wondered if he had her number too. She hadn’t heard from him yet.

Ignoring the slight disappointment, she pulled into the store parking lot. It wasn’t until she started walking the aisle that it hit her, she was going to have dinner with two nice cops that were both incredibly attractive. And she’d made an idiot of herself twice. Maybe they had a weird sense of humor and wanted to see how far she went? No, she reasoned, they were grown ass men. Why’d they waste their time and do that?

Okay, she thought, I’m freaking out for no reason. I need to just chill, get my groceries and go home to get ready. Shaking her head in the produce aisle, Y/N let out a sigh and grabbed a couple apples. Yep, she’s gonna worry about it later and ignore her stupid anxiety. She was going to have a nice time and enjoy her evening with them. She wasn’t going to be an idiot tonight. She hoped.

Perma Tag: (CLOSED)

@dolphinpink310 / @breezy1415 / @hymnofthevalkyrie / @sebbyismyking / @vivideley / @cherrynat / @heelsandfaces / @lovely-geek / @libbymouse / @the-crime-fighting-spider / @dkpink123 / @moderapoppins / @chuckennuggets1213 / @jack4xx / @witchymarvelspacecase / @xxxunluvablexxx / @mannatgalhotra / @kingslaxerpark / @xxashy999xx / @silver-starburst / @cartersbarnes / @thinkwritexpress-official / @feelmyroarrrr/ @m-a-t-91 / @pizzarollpatrol / @sea040561 / @thefridgeismybestie / @sergeantjbuckybarnes / @jasura / @palaiasaurus64 / @teller258316 / @disagreetoagree / @lazinessisalliknow / @palaiasaurus64 / @bfuckjames / @sxdapxpcutis / @doraola / @kkaos15 / @tylerrose931617 / @mummy-woves-you / @claraoswinns / @buckybarneshairpullingkink / @delicatelyherdreams / @thisismysecrethappyplace / @dsakita / @look-to-the-stars-and-wish / @tomhollandtrashtm / @delicatelyherdreams / @cuddle-me-muke / @joyfulzipperpersoneclipse / @lisadickenson / @revenqers / @dannydelay / @musicgirl234 / @iamwarrenspeace / @breathlesspeter / @thebunkerofatlas / @geeksareunique / @ravennightingaleandavatempus / @mcdesij / @unlikelygalaxygiver / @tranquility-or-chaos / @bandbooktvaddict / @mywinterwolf / @piensa-bonito / @nevernotfangirling / @cutie1365 / @harryngtonewithyourshit / @slytherinqueenie / @famouslastlove / @riseandshibe / @blizzbx / @electra-hxart / @lianadelphius / @steebrogurz / @foundthezucchini / @bi-bi-bi-bisexualz / @whileinparis / @for-the-love-of-the-fandom / @delva-stardust / @awkwardfangirl2014 /

(Let me know if I missed you, the strike means I can’t tag you for some reason.)

Boys in Blue Taglist: (CLOSED!!!)

@debgreenleaf / @thorins-queen-of-erebor / @merigoldcaroline / @urbanrights / @taliarosej00 / @stuckysheart / @thenightkillers / @desertrose-saku / @weyheycraicey / @apocalypse-zombiie /

839 notes · View notes

adorkabletodd · 5 years

Text

Red as Ruby (Jason Todd x Reader)

This is part 2 of my first fanfic called Green as Emerald if you’d like to, go ahead and read the first part

I was feeling a little inspired so I decided to sketch my man

Soulmate AU! Whenever you lose something it’ll end up in your soulmate’s hands/possession. You’ll never find it again until you find your soulmate. Things you forgot existed also goes to your soulmate and vice versa.

Warnings: more curse words than before Word count: 1680

---

It’s been 3 days since my encounter with the famous Red Hood, and so far I’ve tried my best to avoid alleyways that reek of mob gangs.

Lately, I’ve been occupying myself with twice the amount of work. I kept telling my brain that it’s for the good of my job but I know deep down it’s just an excuse to make me forget about that stone Red Hood was wearing.

Honestly, I shouldn’t believe that he really is wearing my stone, right? Lots of people probably own the same green emerald that I used to have! Though I couldn’t help but wonder.

Besides my parents, only a few of my friends would confirm that they do believe in the miracles of finding a soulmate but some hadn’t had the opportunity to ever experience them.

...What are the odds of Red Hood being mine?

“You seem to be deep in thought, (Y/N).” I turn my head to the source of that voice and saw Garrick, my co-worker. A good guy, though I wouldn’t say we’re anything more than friends.

“Hey. Sorry, been doing a lot of thinking lately. What’s up?”

“Package just arrived for you in the mail. Sent all the way from Star City by someone named Connor Hawke” Garrick handed me a small packaged.

“Thanks, Garrick,” I gave him a smile as I take the package from his hands. I didn’t think Connor would reach out to me so soon. Connor was one of my closest friends back home, we went to the same high school together and I always find myself comforting him whenever he had trouble with his dad. He in return helped me throughout the loss of my parents. There’s a lot of mystery to that guy after he dropped out of school I rarely get to see him but there are times where he would always find me in the most unexpected times.

Grabbing a scissor from my desk, I rip the package open and was astonished to the remaining things inside. There were a bunch of old pictures of us together back in our high school days, and a note from Connor.

‘ Found these old photos of us when I cleaned your old apartment, I thought you might want it back. Good luck in Gotham (L/N), seriously, you’re gonna need it. Don’t be a stranger.

PS. I also found this little treasure of yours.

- Connor H.‘

One item that stood out was what looked like a tip of a familiar pocket knife buried beneath the photographs. I held my breath once I cleared away the photos.

The pocket knife was a beautiful ruby red with a single black streak printed on the back. The handle still has those rough scratches and a couple of marks that resembles the letter ‘J’ at the bottom. God, I can’t believe I accidentally left this behind. I used to bring this everywhere I go. It became a handy tool though I don’t recall how I gain the possession of it in the first place.

By the time I didn’t realize it was already half past 5 pm. I’ve completed all of my assignments, would love to get an early leave before it gets dark.

---

On my way home I remembered that I haven’t restocked my fridge yet, right on queue: my stomach grumbled. Guess I accidentally skipped lunch again. Just across the street, I saw a fast food restaurant called the Bat Burger.

“…”

Ah hell, why not? I mean it’s not like Red Hood would mindlessly hang out in a food joint named after him and his vigilante group.

When I entered, the place seemed so flashy and colorful. Like straight out of a comic book kind of atmosphere. A lot of pop art style no doubt. Once I finally ordered I made my way near a windowed booth. A sigh of exhaustion escaped my lips, I was ready to dig into my dinner when suddenly a man sat across from me.

Startled, he seemed to be in alert. This man wore a black shirt underneath his dark gray jacket and a red cap. Even though he seems to be hiding his face with that cap, I can see the clear blue of his eyes.

“Um... Can I help you?”

When he noticed my presence, he hunches over his shoulder attempting to hide his face even further. “Sorry, didn’t mean to invade your space but could you pretend like we’re a couple of friends having dinner for just 2 minutes? Then I’ll go and you can just pretend I was never here.” Before I could even question what he meant two other men barge in from the entrance. The man in front of me held his breath waiting for an impasse. I tried my best to avert my gaze away from their peering eyes. Sliding my fries over to him slowly.

The two goons didn’t seem to notice the man in front of me before heading back outside. Once they’re gone the man made a cautious check over his shoulder before exhaling a sigh of relief. “Thanks for playing along.” He was about to reach over my fries and quickly I slap his hands away.

“Just because I helped you doesn’t mean you can actually take my food.”

He raised both of his hands in defense before letting out a soft chuckle. “Well, sliding your fries over to me, I thought you sincerely meant to share me some food.”

“What exactly was all that about?” I found myself saying the question out loud.

“Let’s just say I had a job that I needed to take care of, wasn’t as sneaky as I turned out to be.”

His hand started to fidget on the knot of his jacket string. “This your first time eating here?”

“Oh let me guess, you’re a regular here.”

“My brothers and I always come here to mock our dad, a lot of our... inside jokes came from this place.” The man took off his cap and rake his fingers through his messy hair. I notice the white streak on his jet black hair and the look just made him stood out.

“I’m Jason, by the way. Jason Todd.”

“(Y/N) (L/N).”

Normally I wouldn’t get too comfortable with sketchy guys who came to me for cover. But I gotta admit, this man is ridiculously handsome. “Not that it’s any of my business but, it’s not really safe to be alone at night in Gotham.”

“When isn’t it good time to be safe in Gotham, honestly? And I can take care of myself if that’s what you mean.”

“Oh, I have no doubt about that,” Jason smirked, his eyes gleamed with mischief.

I didn’t know how but the conversation between us continued naturally. It’s rare to find a guy like him to connect with. He’s not like anyone I’ve ever met before and from a glance, you can tell what a sly asshole of guy he can be, weirdly I don’t mind getting to know that part of him. If he’ll let me.

When I finished my burger, I wiped my lips with the napkin and slide the remainings of my french fries left to him. “Here, I’m too full to finish this, you can have the rest.” Jason looked at me doubtingly. “Seriously. Here, you’ve been a good company.”

“Well, it’s nice to know you don’t hate me yet.”

“Keep that annoying face of yours and we’ll see.”

I grab hold of my bag and place my phone inside. “Nice knowing you, Jason.” I gave him a small smile before sliding out of the booth. To my satisfaction, Jason smiled back.

Walking towards the exit, I was about to reach my hand to the door when I heard Jason’s voice.

“(Y/N), wait. You dropped – ...This.”

Turning back I saw Jason lean down grabbing something, in his hand was the red pocket knife Connor sent me.

“Oh! good lord, not again!” I really need to keep an eye on this thing. I don’t want to lose it for the second time. “Thanks. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost this.”

“Does it mean that much to you?”

“Well... Not really, this thing helped me out when I needed a little tinkering. It’s one of those stuff where you can’t really let go when you have it, you know?”

“Yeah... I do.” Jason looked at me, surprised.

He looked at me as if I made him realize something, the way his eyes softens as my fingers traced the small scratches of this red pocket knife.

“You should head back. It’s getting late.” Jason said quietly.

A part of me didn’t want to leave him behind, but another part told me that I should be on my way. “Yeah... Thanks again for this, see you around Jay.”

With that, I made my way out. Urging myself not to look back. Though my eyes couldn’t help but glance back to the restaurant window, I noticed. The time I spent talking with Jason felt like we were the only ones in the room. And we were.

---

The sound of jingling key echoed the empty hallway as I unlock my door. Once I entered I turned the lights on and place my bag on the kitchen island. I made my way to the fridge to grab myself a bottle of water when I suddenly heard a single tap sound from my window.

I became anxious with the thought of someone breaking in. Cautiously I close the fridge and try to reach into my bag to grab the pepper spray. Every second I feel my heart race faster and my eyes scanned on the darker parts of my living room waiting for something to strike.

I came closer, and closer to my bag when suddenly a figure emerges from the shadow.

My mind became blank and the bottle dropped from the numb feeling in my hand.

I was face to face with Red Hood.

“Hello, angel. I believe you have something of mine.”

---

Oof I had to cut that cuz it’s getting way too long.

Hope you enjoyed it and I have a feeling I’ll be writing part 3 to conclude this Soulmate AU.

#jason todd x reader #red hood x reader #dc #jason todd #batfam #x reader #red hood imagine #soulmate au #red hood x you #red hood x y/n

435 notes · View notes

its-clementime · 5 years

Text

That Something : Part 2

Title: That Something: Part 2

Pairing : Clementine x Louis

Word Count: 1897 words

Summary: Clementine has a chill day with AJ until some unexpected news causes her to make a decision.

Previous Part Next Part

A/N yes Lee ughh I love him :)

Part 2:

Clementine woke up to the sound of sirens instead of her alarm. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up in her bed. She saw AJ, still sound asleep. “At least he can get his beauty sleep,” she thought, smiling to herself. She got up and shuffled around the tiny apartment, going to the kitchen. As she was putting toaster waffles in the toaster, she heard a little voice. “Clem?”

She turned around to see AJ, in his disco broccoli pajamas.

“Hey, AJ” She stopped for a second to embrace him and ruffle his lil’ afro. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping in? It’s summer after all.”

“I want to be up with you. Can we go to the park today?” He gazed at Clem

“Hmmm,” Clem faked thinking about it, putting a hand to her chin “I’m not sure.”

“Pleeeaase?” AJ went up on his tippy toes and pouted his lips.

Clementine giggled, “Okay, I’ll ask Lee, and if he says I can we’ll go after you finish your breakfast.” She got a plate and laid out 2 toaster waffles for AJ. “Bon Appetit, Goofball.”

Lee opened the door to his room, “Ya’ll know I can hear you, these doors aren’t that thick.” he took a seat at the tiny table in the kitchen, still in his Janitorial uniform.

“I thought you would’ve been asleep, you had a long shift yesterday.” Clem added.

Lee sighed “Well, I have a longer one today. But you guys enjoy yourselves, go to the park.”

Clem looked to AJ, “Get dressed, we’ll go soon then.”

“Ok!” AJ excitedly went into their room.

Clem looked at Lee. “I’ll make some coffee.” She started scooping coffee grounds.

“Thanks, Sweetpea.”

“Lee,” Clem took a breath, “I know you don’t want me to, but I know I’m old eno-”

“You’re not getting a job.” Lee cut her off, “You’re young, you need to focus on school. And you do have a job, you take care of AJ.”

“AJ is going to school soon. I just want to help out.” Clem admitted, “I feel bad, Lee. You took us off the streets, for no reason! I mean, we’re not related but you cared for us anyway!” She sputtered. “I just want to earn it.”

Lee sighed, “Clem, you deserved to be adopted and you deserve to be cared for. You don’t have to do anything to deserve it.”

Clem hugged Lee, “I guess you’re right. I’m sorry for arguing, it’s just- I wish you wouldn’t be exhausted over us.”

Lee patted her head. “For you, it’s all worth it sweetpea. Go out and enjoy the park.”

Clem smiled at Lee, “I will.” She turned to her and AJ’s room. “AJ! C’mon it’s time to go!”

“Coming! AJ popped out of the room and darted to the front door.

“Let’s go then.” Clem said while ushering AJ through the door, putting her hat on as she stepped out the door. “Bye Lee!”

The city of Galeview was huge. Clementine and AJ lived in the rough side of town, while only a few short miles away, the city’s elite lived in luxury. Galeview was also where Ericson Prep was located.

Clementine loved her city, but since AJ was with her today, she’d stick to the safer streets. Usually, when she was alone after school, Clementine would explore a different part of the city; she’d roam the streets just because she could. Visiting her favorite hole in the wall places, such as a rooftop with an abandoned greenhouse with the best view of the city, or a skate park hidden inside a junkyard. She loved the city because she knew everyone, but was always a stranger. Everyone was going through a struggle, and there was a type of unity with the people in these derelict places.

There was one place that she found where she was actually known, and that was the Garcia Family Restaurant, where she had visited every day after trying their burgers. Eventually she became buds with the staff, the Garcias were just people she genuinely liked (she would secretly work there from time to time, waitressing or flipping burgers). She especially hit off with Gabe, playing cards in the back with him sometimes. They walked past the small, yet well maintained building, Clementine waving to Mariana and Javier who were cleaning the windows.

Eventually, they made it to the richer side of town, where AJ’s favorite park was. It had a nice swing set that even Clem enjoyed using, one in a while.

Clem was pushing AJ on the swings when he asked her, “Clem, is kindergarten fun?”

“Yes, it is AJ, and you’ll get to make new friends.”

“Why do I need new friends? I have you.” He grinned.

Clementine giggled, “AJ, you can have more than one friend. Some people say it’s good for you.”

AJ turned his head, “Clem, do you have a lot of friends?”

Clem stopped pushing AJ, letting gravity do its thing. “I have friends when it matters.” In all honesty, Clem had been a loner until she met AJ, who was for the most part her only friend. It’s not that she couldn’t make friends with people, she just never found it necessary. People at her school were cordial and all, but nobody really made an impression on her. She had other things to focus on anyway.

Clem and AJ walked home, taking a minute to stop inside the Garcia Restaurant. Javier waved them to the bar seating, where he was cleaning glasses. The restaurant was a nice Cuban/American food joint, with burgers and fries plantains and everything in between. The store was a classic diner design with Latin flare, little lights and Cuban flags around the store. A baseball game played on an old-school block tv in the back.

“Hey Clem, AJ. Coming back from the park?” Javier asked, putting his towel over his shoulder

“Yeah, AJ here wanted to see the new tire swings they put in.” Clem replied, helping AJ sit on a stool.

“Wow, must be nice to have improvements in their neighborhood. We have more craters on this street than Mars I’m pretty sure.” Javier pulled out 2 glasses. “You guys want a drink? It’s on the house.”

AJ nodded, and Clem replied, “Thanks.” It was a hot August day and even though the park was fun, it was pretty hot after a while.

Javier poured their drinks, “Apple juice for AJ and classic H2O for Clem.”

Clem asked with a suspicious smile, “Javi, why are you being so particularly kind to us today?”

“Okay, you got me.” Javi admitted, leaning onto the bar “I need a favor, Gabe’s gotten through summer school okay, but he really needs a tutor for math.”

“Oh?” Clem swirled her drink with her straw “Why do you think I’m smart enough to do it?”

“Don’t play dumb, Clem. We know you were in the top 5 percentile in your class. Gabe’s in your class and he sees you getting all those accolades.” Javi replied. He wasn’t wrong, Clem was extremely gifted in math and science. It was something she kept to herself though, she preferred to spend her time skateboarding and exploring instead of doing homework.

Javi added “Gabe’s a good student, and we’ll pay you.”

Clem thought for a minute, “Sure, that sounds pretty cool." This could be a job Lee might be okay with, since its school involved.

AJ, finishing his apple juice, asked Javier “What are accolades?”

“It’s another word for rewards, like trophies and ribbons, you get an accolade when you do something right; like for Clem, she got the highest match score in her class.”

“Oh.” AJ thought “Can I get one?”

Javi smiled, “Yeah, here’s an accolade, just for you.” He turned around and gave AJ a chocolate bar from the register.

Clem smiled “Thanks Javi, get Gabe to text me the tutoring details, but it’s about time me and AJ got home.”

Clem opened the apartment door, AJ running under her arm to their room to go play with his disco Broccoli. She saw Lee at the kitchen table.

“Lee. Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

He looked up to Clem, almost startled. “I stopped by for my lunch break.” He looked confused. “Clementine, did you apply for a scholarship to Ericson Prep?” He showed his hand, holding an envelope with a fancy emblem, addressed from the office of scholarship admissions.

Clem’s jaw dropped, she remembered filling out a little application in her email, but she sure as hell didn’t think it would mean anything. “I totally forgot about that. What does it say?” She didn’t understand why she asked. As if it mattered.

Lee’s hands had a slight shake as he opened the letter, his eyes scanning the paper as he murmured, reading it to himself. Suddenly his eyes opened to the size of dinner plates.

“CLEMENTINE! YOU GOT IN! WITH A FULL SCHOLARSHIP!” Lee yelled, with enthusiasm and vigor Clem hadn’t seen in a long time. AJ peeked out the door from curiosity.

“That’s great, but that doesn’t change anything.” Clem replied nonchalantly

“What do you mean? You’re going to Ericson. Do you know how many doors this opens for you Clementine? You could be able to pursue anything you want!” Lee embraced her. “I’m so proud of you sweetpea, you’ve worked so hard.”

Clem shrugged of Lee’s embrace. “Do you think I could even survive with all those spoiled brats that go to Ericson? I’d be crucified. Plus, I don’t think I could keep up with them.” She had a tightlipped expression. “I’m not a part of that world.”

Lee looked at her seriously, “Clem, this could change your life forever, don’t let reasons like those hold you back.”

AJ came out of his room to find out what was going on. Clem looked at him, she saw his cute little curious expression; she noticed the tears in his jeans and how worn his little shoes were. She then looked around the kitchen, the bleak wooden cabinets, the half-working AC unit in the window, and that’s when she realized.

This wouldn’t just change her life. This would Change AJ’s life, and Lee’s. If she was able to work her way out, she could make it so that AJ could have a Christmas, and Lee could stop working himself to death. Heck, she could finally get a proper haircut instead of having Lee as a stylist.

Clem turned to Lee smiling, “I guess I’m going to Ericson Prep.” she had tears in her eyes after realizing her opportunity.

She hugged Lee and pulled AJ into it too.

AJ looked to Clem with a quizzical expression, “What’s going on?”

She wiped her tears. “We just got the best accolade a person could get. We’re getting a second chance.”

Clem went to her room and pulled a suitcase out from under her bed, it had been a while, almost ten years since she last used it. The same suitcase she had when she finally left her foster home, she was bringing to Ericson.

Clem took a deep breath and pulled out her phone. “Hey, uh Javi? I won’t be able to take that tutoring job after all, I’ll be occupied.” “What will I be doing?” She smiled, putting her hat in the suitcase.

“I just got my second chance.”

A/N Thank you for reading! If you liked it, please reblog! :)

I’ll update soon

#clouis #louistine #fanfiction #twdg #twdg clementine #that something #twdg s4 #twdg aj #twdg hc #twdg season 4 #twdg the final season #clementine cosplay #twdg louis #twdg cosplay #royalty au

95 notes · View notes

chrysolina · 6 years

Text

My eternal love

Summary - The feeling of having, knowing and believing you have a totally unrequited love for someone can often make most people feel undeserving of such a pathetic fantasy in the future - but does everyone share that same view?

Pairings - Chris Evans x reader, Chris Evans x Jenny Slate, Reader x OC!

Warnings - swearing, angst, unexpected happenings

A/N - Here it is! Part 2 of My love! Enjoy! <3

“And that’s it, congratulations again Miss Y/L/N. We’ll see you on Monday,” the audition panel smiled and waved you off once you thanked them graciously and signed on the dotted paper, your signature being the last one they needed to begin filming ‘Practicion’.

You quickly wandered out of the studio hangar, zipped up well into your short tartan trench coat and out onto the forecourt where you were met by the cool LA January air that kissed your cheeks eagerly. Picking up your phone from your coat pocket, 6:13pm, the locksreen read. Jack would be here any minute now to pick you up and take you to dinner.

You scrolled aimelssly through your phone, your boredom quickly taking over. You took a quick glance at the three missed text messages you had and decided it should be wise to text back your sister and manager with whatever they were asking about or for. As if on its own, your thumb scrolled through the messages list and almost accidentally landed on the one name you swore you deleted - Crusty Evans - also known as, Chris Evans.

Your heart, mind and face cringed at the old nickname you had given him ages ago. It had been little over five months since you had last heard from Chris. From what the internet blogs, magazines and paparazzi rumours told you on an unnecessary week-to-week basis was that Jenny and Chris did spilt for a short amount of time but are - apparently - still ‘seeing each other’.

They must’ve been doing pretty well together since according to an inside source, the couple were last seen looking very happy out and around Tribeca, allegedly trying to find an apartment to live in together.

Why they had to come and live so close to where you and your family lived was beyond infuriating for you and your family.

However, your papa dismissed the idea that any of you would ever see them since ‘they are nobody’s to us’. ‘I wish I could believe you papa’ you thought to yourself as the words repeated themselves in your head ‘but they’ll always be someone’s in this world.”

Before your mind could digest the toxic thought of the couple together, a car horn cut through the chilly air and diverted your attention to where the noise came from.

An unmistakable sleek all black range rover was parked idle by the gates, waiting for someone - more specifically, you. Jack’s new car was certainly a beauty alright, wherever he went in it and wherever you saw it, the black luxury car demanded attention from onlookers - sometimes making you squirm in your seat on the days you’d accompany him somewhere.

In many respects, the car was very much like Jack himself.

Your face broke out into a smile as you pulled the the pricey car door open and was met by the charming Scotsman’s classic smirk. “Why good evenin’ m’lady,” Jack tried to charm you with his thickest Scottish accent possible which only made you laugh in return “did ya get the role?” He merely rolled his eyes at your laugh and began to turn the car around. “I sure did, got it with flying colours - apparently,” You squealed and jumped excitedly up and down in your seat and took Jack hand from the gearstick and shook it for effect.

“Alright you,” he pulled his hand away from your grip and focused back on the LA roads ahead of you “so where would you like to eat tonight? Wendy’s? Chick-fil-a? In-and-out?” Your stomach grumbled at the mere names of the fast food joints. “Wherever it is tho, food’s on me; got it? No buts, I insist.” Your lips turned upwards at Jack’s gentlemanly manner of buying you food.

Food, yes, that was what you were deciding on. After a second or two of short-wired thinking, your finally decided on where to eat. “How about we just go for a classic McDonalds, hm?” You watched eagerly as the Scotsman thought it through and twisted his face in (fake) thought. “Alright then, McDonalds it is.”

The rest of the car ride to the drive-thru was pleasantly quiet bar the sound of Jack’s playlist humming from the speakers. You weren’t bothered by that, you were just enjoying the sights of golden windows around you as the city lit up for the night.

“Tell me again Y/N,” Jack broke through the silence peacefully, making you whip your head around to the man before you “who and what is your role in this film?” The film - of course. You had even forgotten yourself considering first auditions were so long ago “Well, I am playing the role of the main romantic interest of her businessman-husband who is also a recovering drug addict. I think..” As hard as it was, you tried to pluck out who you actually were in the film through all the paperwork you had to sign today, scraping it as you did so.

“Hm, well so long as they have good teeth, you’ll be alright with kissing them huh?” Jack smirked at you and ran his tongue over his plush lips. You chuckled at the now-auburney haired Scot as you recalled the horror of your prom date all those years ago and how digusting his teeth looked once you got up close to kiss him. “Fingers crossed, just in case though,” you and Jack laughed again and watched as the Golden Arches of McDonadls came into view.

“So, what would miss Y/L/N like for food tonight hm? Burger? Fries? McFlurry? Or how about..Me?”

“Jack!”

•••••••

As if as the norm lately, your weekend spent up in the reclusive estates of Hollywood in your own little rented place was easy, relaxing and consisted of nothing more than eating your own home cooked meals, binge watching your favourite shows on Netflix, learning the new script as best as you could and sleeping until late.

It was a great way to ease yourself back into the rush of filming and took your mind off other minute things that floated around your mind.

Before you knew it, 9am rolled around quicker than anticipated and you found yourself being walked by an assistant to the main studio you’d just left that Friday before. Your eyes were quick to take everything in again, routes to the trailers, toilets etc - they all needed to be mapped out by yourself in due course.

Trotting through the main doors to the first - of many - sets and waited whilst the assistant went to look for the director and other cast members.

In the meantime, to calm your nerves, you began to smooth out your short black pencil skirt and toyed wth the sleeves of your white and black lined tailored jacket. In all fairness, your looks were definitely matching up to your status in Hollywood - clean, sweet and professional.

Everything most directors looked for in an actor or actress.

“Where is she?!” The booming voice of the director could be heard throughout the building, making you wince at the volume of his gruff voice.

All of a sudden, out of a door in the distance burst out a short, slightly chubby middle aged tanned man with a thick lit cigarette hanging from his seemingly chapped lips - lined by a grey black moustache. His hair was a little scarse, Black and grey in areas and cut very short - but overall, he looked pleasant enough.

“Ah you must be the infamous Y/N Y/L/N! Welcome welcome, it’s an absolute honour to have you here today.” The director began to talk to you but all you could pick up on was his familiar New York- Italian accent - one that you’d most definitely have if it wasn’t for travelling the world.

“Please, sir; the honour’s all mine,” you quickly thanked his graces about you and excused them as silly and unfitting for someone like yourself. “Oh please darlin’, you’re worth all the hype.”

The director winked at you and shot you a genuine smile in return, one you mirrored almost instantly “and don’t worry about the ‘sir’ thing Y/N, just call me Joe,” before you could thank him on the comfort of calling him his real name, Joe shouted out - seemingly - to his PA that stood a few metres away.

“Marie! Darlin, call him back in,” the young lady only nodded and trotted off someone to the side of the set behind a wall to find someone.

“I’ve yet to introduce you to your co-stars haven’t I?” Your voice was a blubber out of the new oncoming embarrassment and only trusted your head to do the talking, nodding in agreement. Your newest crew had evidently caught wind of your arrival were quick inforce to come and see, greet and meet you.

“Sir, I got him. He’s comin’ now,” the PA quickly shouted out from the wall she disappeared from and disappeared around it again.Who were they on about? Was it your other romantic interest - the drug addict businessman? Who knows.

Before your mind festered any more, you could hear the imminent of clicking heels aiming from the wall the PA came from. Surely it couldn’t have been a woman - the footing of his person was too deep and long to be that of someone in heels.

“Y/N, I’d like you to meet your main co-star, the Chris Evans.”

‘Oh shit!’

••••••

Time seemed infinate and everlasting as you sat hunched over in the plush leather chair you were given in your trailer. Judging by your emotionless stare into nowhere specific, anyone looking at you would say you’re just daydreaming, sleepy or even bored - but you were far from any of those things.

Your mind was running at a million miles a minute, every stupidly minute thought you ever pushed aside during the past five months had all resurfaced and were causing your poor brain havoc.

You wished it wasn’t true - no, you prayed in your hands and knees that this was all just some silly joke. He wasn’t really going to be the actor you’d actually have to kiss and be romantic to once the cameras were rolling, was he? He couldn’t have been - why Chris?

He had marvel films and soon-to-be broadway appearances to be dealing with, he shouldn’t really be here in reality. Maybe this was all just a big fat mistake; a joke that everyone will laugh off in a couple of hours, right? Well...one can hope, you supposed.

With your back to your trailer’s door, your mind allowed you to think that the assistant who was getting lunch for everyone had come back and came with food, so without caution you just called out “The door’s open,” and expected the assistant to waltz in on her own accord.

“Hey, I - uh - brought some lunch for you.” That voice - damn that smooth Boston accented voice - it was here, right behind you. Just over a metre away from you stood the (anxious) man of your nightmares these past couple of months. At the mere sound of his voice, you shot up out to the chair you resides in and whipped your head around to look at him dead in the eye.

The look of shock-horror plastered your face like a pantomime mask, you just couldn’t help it. It was agiven reaction and so was Chris’ in all fairness. He was bewildered by the look on your face and only sent his brain further into it’s shell, his anxiety picking up that bit more. With the paper bag in one hand, Chris began rubbing the nape of his neck and shoulder - a habit you found to have stemmed from his anxiety.

“I thought maybe we could - uh - catch up or well, moreso me apologising for..everything.” It wasn’t until the end of his sentence he finally looked back into your eyes, your posture suddenly relaxing that little bit more, understanding that Chris had only good intentions from being here.

Moving away from your armchair, you decided to collect your lunch from Chris and serve it up - Chicken Caesar salad - your new favourite. Chris quickly gave you the paper bag and watched you help yourself to cutlery, bowls and bottles of water from the stylish yet homely mini kitchen.

“Would it be wrong of me to imagine that you have a bit of a grudge against me right now?” There it was - you wondered how long it’d take for the confident, assured Chris to come through again - evidently not long enough.

“No, you’d be bang on the money,” you huffed and began tossing the salad in the ceramic bowl, those blue eyes continuously boring into your uncomfortable frame - just like the did the whole time you met your fellow cast members- Chris got on your heels the whole time.

“Lucky me hmm,” Chris hummed to himself, tucked his hands in his tan jean pockets, making the light blue shirt he wore bulge around his Adonis-like muscles and leant against the dresser. Why this had to feel like some sort of meetup by two ex’s was beyond you but you thought nothing of it as you set your salad, bottle and cutlery down in the space you were intending to eat from. That was until Chris wedged his body into you, preventing you from moving.

“Y/N, we - I can’t keep doing this. This whole avoidance game, I’ve had enough.” His eyes looked down into yours with a heat that you couldn’t stand on a day like today. Much like him, his look was strong and confident and it made you squirm in your spot.

“I don’t think there’s much more I can say to get us out of this limbo, Chris.” You dared not to look into those eyes and tried to turn away from him, but in just one breath of air, his muscular form was now pressed up against you; breasts to chest, stomach to stomach, you were officially toast.

“Oh I beg to differ Y/N. There’s nothing more Jack can say for you but I think you’re a completely different picture. You have a lot more to say, don’t you darlin’..” you watched intently as Chris’ hand slid out from his tan jeans and out to play with the hem of your jacket.

The air between you was palpable, you could feel his short warm breaths tickling the apex of your neck, the way his muscles rippled against your body after every movement he made. The air was choking you and you hated it.

“Perhaps I do, but I think you’ll find my words will have a very similar ring to Jack’s,” a sudden burst of confidences surged through your veins and made you straighten your spine in defiance to this beautiful menace. Your confindence led you to look right where you didn’t want to and only found hunger in return. Chris’ eyes were lit up with an unmentionable hunger that you couldn’t digest, making you quiver even more.

“Tell me something darlin’, are you and that McCallister a thing? Are you two..dating?” You continuously locked eye contact with the actor and winched in pain as his smirk grew wider, deeper and more mischievous by the second.

“N-no. We’re just very - very - good friends. Nothin’ more!” You denied all the claims Chris tried to pin on you feverishly, trying through every means to keep your image of Jack clean as possible. However, it was evident in Chris’ furrowed brows and darkened stare, he wasn’t having it today.

“Not even friends with benefits? ‘Cause I’ve seen plenty of pictures of you and him together and nothin’, not one inch of those pictures tell me that you’re just friends.” How it was even possible that Chris’ tone could drop another two or three octaves was beyond you. The deep rumble of his chest against yours and the bitterness of his tone solidified your thoughts, he was jealous.

Deciding that now might not be the time to push any buttons, you tried your best to put out the fire Chris had started. “I - I think that’s something you’d have to ask Jack himself. I can’t comment for him if he does have feelings for me.”

“Oh,” Chris chided mockingly, his hand stopping all movement on your jacket “So he does have feelings for you? Aren’t I a genius..” still refusing to make even the slightest bit of eye contact, you tried to wriggle out of his imaginative hold - failing miserably as you did so.

At the thought of you wriggling away, Chris’ hand flew to waist and gripped you possessively tight - he just had to know if you had fallen for the Scotsman over him - he had to. “And do you reciprocate these feelings for him? Hm?”

“Maybe in d-due time..” They do say that the heart is very very precious and Chris knew no different.

His heart dropped ten miles underground at your confession and his eyes began to prick with the hot tears of nearing heartbreak. You were refusing to give in to him - something was holding you back from him and he had to find out what or die trying.

“And what about now?” He chided coolly, the change in tone made you look at him scrutinisingly. “Honestly Y/N, do you have feelings for him as of right now?”

“I don’t...” to think such a small sentence could lift his heart was unbelievable to Chris but filled him with internal joy all the same. Instead of easing up on his hold on you, Chris chose to close in on you even further and cage you in his arms - your body stuck between his and the dresser behind.

“And do you have any feelings for anyone in particular right now?” You knew what he wanted to hear right now, hell - you were close to giving him it. But with being so close to him and in the full knowledge that he had a girlfriend - you weren’t so keen to give him what he wanted.

“Not especially, no.” You deadpanned your time and took to looking straight into his eyes again, watching his eyebrows shoot up his face in undeniable shock.

“Not even for someone like..me?” He chided at you again and pressed his body closer to yours, angling you in such a way one could call it erotic - you, however, begged to differ entirely.

“I think you know the answer to that question, Christopher.” You snorted at his high-hopes, hoping and praying he’d just leave you alone to eat your untouched salad.

Your heart and mind were tearing apart by the seams, one half of you wanted to slap, kick and hit him in all the places it’d hurt the most, the other half of you just wanted to jump his bones here and now, give in to himself and indulge your worst thoughts.

But that would never come to be.

“I actually don’t, do please enlighten me on it.” His mischievous smirk had returned again for the worse and cranked up the anger metre in your mind.

“Fine! You win! I did have feelings for you, yes; I was bordering on loving you, yes. But that and everything else were all ruined the day you decided that fucking bitch you still call girlfriend!” You yelped in anger, pain and grief and tried to push Chris away by his chest, failing in doing so entirely. The tears that were stashed away were now making an appearance and began to stream down your clenched face, ruining your mascara and eyeliner in the process.

Chris didn’t know what to do with this information, you had just confessed that you were romantically attracted to the man and here he was, dumbfounded and generally reeling. He didn’t believe Jack’s word on the phone, he thought they were just to dig at him but now - now, god he was so wrong. “W-what girlfriend?”

“Don’t play stupid now Chris, you know who I’m talking about..” your voice wavered and cracked at his stupidity over the situation.

“Oh, we’re talking about Jenny now, are we?” His voice was suddenly pointed, shard and bitterly cold and made you shiver in fear over what’d he’d say next.

“Who fucking else would I be on about, Chris?”

“Considering I’ve been single since December, I’m finding it hard to think about any ‘girlfriend’ I’m with as of right now..” you felt his head tilt upwards and a heave of air rush from his lips. “I’m calling bullshit, Chris.” You winced in memory of seeing the claims all across the internet, Jenny spending Christmas with his family, the house-hunting, all of it, how could it all be a lie?

“You really think I’m bullshitting right now? Really Y/N?” Chris’s chin came to rest upon your head and you felt the familiar hands wrap around your shorter frame, hugging you tenderly close to him, your hands still stuck in shock on his chest. “You’d be surprised..” you sighed into the tender warm hold of the actor, a feeling you dearly missed, feelings or no feelings at all.

“You have no clue how much I’ve been hurting these past months Y/N, I didn’t think I could want anyone as much as Jenny..but fuck, did you screw me over..” chris chucked at the memories of him reeling over the new found feelings he had for you, realising you weren’t with him anymore and no longer share the same feelings. “Is that meant to be a good thing or a bad thing? I’m having a hard time telling right now Chris..” he laughed again at your sarcastic, straight-to-the-point question, your charm never ceases to leave you after all this time.

“It’s a very good thing, well..that’s if you still feel the same way as you did back then.” He remived his hands from your frame and cupped your wet cheeks in his hands to look at you thoroughly. You looked at him with such a look of longing chris just couldn’t help what he did next. He’d be damned if he never did it and would regret it for the rest of his life.

Wordlessly, Chris quickly joined your lips together in a smouldering yet very endearing kiss. His lips moved and slid between your perfectly, like a missing piece of a jigsaw, fitting you perfectly. Your hands froze open on his chest, your eyes forced wide open at the sudden intimate contact.

It wasn’t until Chris began to move his lips slowly against your own that you realised it - you finally realised that no matter how much pain was done, how much you tried to combat your feelings with denial, you still loved the bastard with all your heart - and that was something you could never change.

Before Chris could pull away in heartbreak over your refusal of his love, you yanked in shirt forward into you and kissed him as if it was the last time, your hands running up his neck and found purchase on his prickly hairy cheeks. Your kiss wasn’t anything like Chris’, trepardising in some areas and soft; yours was passionate and fierce, the kind of kiss the two of you would have to fight for dominance over.

Pulling away slowly, the two of you held your stare into each other’s eyes and lost each other in them. You wanted to kiss him again, and again and again but instead, you focused only on him, the man you fell for so stupidly. Instead of holding you for longer, chris decided to take purchase in the plush seat on front of the dresser and sat you in his lap, his eyes never leaving yours as he relished in the feeling of you playing with the ends of his slightly longer than usual hair.

“My god..where have you been my whole life?” Chris whispered and shook his head in bewilderment and listened to the melodic tune of your giggle ring in his ear. “Right under your nose, silly..” you swiped the bottom of his nose with your index finger and ran your fingers through his growing beard. This had to have been a dream, you didn’t believe for one minute that this was happening - you were actually in Chris’ lap stroking his face like a lovesick baby.

“How will I ever make it up to you Y/N?” He whipsered quietly, running his fingers along your tack and up and down your arm in a soothing manner. You smiled warmly at the softness of the question and thought over how he could make it up to you. “Well, I think it’d take an awful lot of hugs, kisses, time and attention just for being such a bad boy..” you smiled like a Cheshire Cat once his eyes fluttered closed at the sensation of your hands soothing his face, a knowing smirk then beginning to grow after you finished talking.

“What?” You laughed at the smirk on those heavenly lips “you do know I’ll always be a bad boy when I’m around you, right?” You sighed and shook your head at Chris’ mark and only embraced his frame, your hands wrapped around the back of his neck. “Not in public you won’t, will you?” You whispered into his neck firmly whilst your lips found their way around his neck, sucking and kissing certain areas.

“For you darlin’, I’ll be your angel and your devil.”

•••••••

A/N - I just wanna thank everyone for reading this little fic going on and hoped everyone enjoyed it as much as I did! <33

Taglist : @dlb113 @coffeebooksandfandom @chrisevans1fan @badtzmarurogers

404 notes · View notes

chaunceyandchumleysdad · 5 years

Photo

Dandy Warhols at Metro Chicago May 11, 2019

This is a post about the show, but also about me, the music I love and what the Dandy Warhols mean to me. This was the seventh time I’ve seen this band live, and the first time I’ve seen them at Metro Chicago since the fist two times I saw them. For the record, these are the shows:

Sept. 6, 2003 @ Metro, Dec. 6, 2005 @ Metro, Sept. 12, 2008 @ Vic Theater, Oct. 30, 2010 @ Vic Theater, June 8, 2013 @ Vic Theater, Sept. 13, 2014 @ Riot Fest, Humboldt Park, Nov. 19, 2015 @ Thalia Hall, May 11, 2019 @ Metro. (There was also a near miss in summer 2015 when my younger son Dylan texted me to let me know they were playing at a street festival in Chicago. A summer storm was rolling in, so I decided not to go. Dylan was there and I think the band played one or two songs before they had to abandon the stage due to the storm.)

I bought my ticket for the recent show a few months ago and as the date got closer, I was kind of regretting it. The Lemonheads and Tommy Stinson were playing at Thalia Hall. Smoking Popes and War On Women were playing at Bottom Lounge. And I was going to see a band I’d seen six times already. As fate would have it, Dylan borrowed my car one night and put a Dandy Warhol’s CD in the car. (Yes, my car is that old that it has not only a CD player, but a cassette player as well.) As I drove around listening to Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia, I began to really look forward to the show and had no regrets about going.

The Metro show in 2003 was a show that really set me on a new course for live music. Having started going to concerts in 1973, all I mostly knew for many years was the big Rock shows at stadiums and arenas. Club or theater shows were few and far between. By the time the 1990’s came along, I was raising a family, focused on my career and doing a lot of business travel. As a result, I was not going to a lot of concerts at that time. It was still pre-streaming music days, so the opportunity to discover new music was mostly limited to radio. (Although traveling to college campuses allowed me to hear some variety on campus radio stations.) In the early 1970’s, I started listening to WXRT, a progressive Rock station that turned me onto a lot of new music. By the year 2000, they had become a station that was a lot more selective and less diverse with what they played. WXRT ignored The Dandy Warhol’s first two albums, but they did play “Bohemian Like You” when the third album came out, The Dandy’s first record on a major label (Capitol). I loved the song, and I bought the CD. It instantly became one of my all-time favorite albums.

I decided I had to see them live, and that led to me attending the 2003 show at The Metro with my wife. I was immediately blown away. The band opened the show with a long shoe-gaze instrumental. They played selections from their new album, Welcome To The Monkey House as well as many of their Psychedelic and Power Pop songs from their first three albums. Courtney with cool vocals and rhythm guitar, Pete playing great licks on the lead guitar, Zia providing the bass and psychedelic sounds with the synthesizers and Brent rounding out the rhythm with a solid, steady back beat. The small theater allowed us a close-up view of the stage from the low balcony where we stood. Fans were dancing, drinking alcohol and passing joints up to the band members. I felt like I was back in a comfortable and exciting atmosphere that I had not experienced in a long time. From that point on, I became fanatical about attending live music shows, particularly at small theaters or clubs. I now rarely attend large stadium or arena shows, with The Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam being my consistent exceptions.

The show on this night (May 11, 2019) was part of their 25th anniversary tour and also served to promote their new album Why You So Crazy. It is their ninth studio album (depending how you are counting), and I think their 12th LP overall. That gives them a lot of music to draw from. Having seen them several times before, I was not bent on getting close to the stage. (In fact, last time I saw them at Thalia Hall, I was resting my arms on the stage the entire show while my son Dylan was kind enough to get me beer so that I did not lose my spot.) This time around, I was a little more chill. I arrived in time to catch the last three songs of opening band, Cosmonauts. I was not familiar with their music, but they sounded good. Not concerned about staking out a place to stand, I spent intermission leaning on a bar rail in the hallway while sipping an IPA and watching Game 1 of the St. Louis-San Jose NHL conference final on my phone. I stood in the back of the theater for the Dandy’s set. It is such a small theater that I still had a great view and easy access to the bar which added to my shoe-gaze enjoyment during the show. (During the show, Zia reminisced about the New Year’s Eve show they played at Metro years ago. I was not there, but I remember watching one of those lame New Year’s Eve shows from local television station where the newscasters stand in as emcees and try to act like they have personalities. I watched it based on the promise that they would be showing the Dandy’s show live from Metro. After waiting over an hour, they aired about 20 seconds of the show. So yes, Zia, I do remember the New Year’s Eve show!)

As usual, Zia closed out the show with some droning synthesizer sounds while chatting with the audience. She always DJ’s an after party, and she mentioned that she would be DJ’ing “next door.” By “next door,” I thought she meant the Smart Bar. Though actually in the basement of Metro Chicago, it is technically “next door” as you must walk out of Metro and enter another door to the south. It turned out she was at GMan Tavern to the north of Metro. I didn’t stay long at Smart Bar, but it was good to see it as I had not been there in decades. There was a stylish young lady in front of me as I was walking down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, we chatted for a minute. I told her I had not been in the Smart Bar since the 80’s. She wanted to know what I wore back then. Never having been a fashion maven, I had to be honest. I said, “I dunno. Probably jeans and a flannel shirt.” I didn’t stay long, and not having eaten since lunch, I decided to leave in search for food.

Over the years, I have exchanged a couple of brief emails with Zia. Last year I met Pete at his merchandise table when his band Pete International Airport opened for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in Milwaukee. Before this show at the Metro, as I was approaching the theater, I see Brent coming out toward me. He stops to light up a cigarette and we exchanged “hellos.” Following the show, when I left Smart Bar, I decided to head across the street to Wrigleyville Dogs for some food. When I walked in, Brent was sitting in there with a friend. I chatted with him for a few minutes as I waited for my food order. I told him that is was the seventh time I’ve seen the Dandy’s. I also told him how much I love the album Anyway by his other band Immigrant Union. He seemed very pleased and proud of that and told me their third album will be out soon. Being an Australian band, I’m not sure Immigrant Union has gotten a lot of attention in the U.S. Brent’s friend commented on what a good restaurant Wrigleyville Dogs is and said he and Brent were going to get some beers and come back later for burgers. When they left, Brent waved to me and said, “I’ll see you in a bit.” I’m not sure if he thought I was going to the after show, or if he expected me to still be sitting in Wrigleyville Dogs when they came back for burgers. But probably it was just a way of saying, “I’ll see you again sometime.” It was an enjoyable meeting and Brent upheld the image I’ve always had of him; a personable and easy-going dude. All-in-all, it was a great evening with the Dandy Warhols and I look forward to seeing them many more times.

Set List:

1. Forever (Why You So Crazy, 2019)

2. Holding Me Up (Odditorium, 2005)

3. STYGGO (Distortland, 2016)

4. We Used to Be Friends (Welcome To The Monkey House, 2003)

5. Crack Cocaine Ranger (The Black Album, 2004)

6. Small Town Girls (Why You So Crazy, 2019)

7. Get Off (Thirteen Tales Form Urban Bohemia, 2000)

8. Highlife (Why You So Crazy, 2019)

9. Plan A (Welcome To The Monkey House, 2003)

10. You Were the Last High (Welcome To The Monkey House, 2003)

11. Well They're Gone (This Machine, 2012)

12. I Love You (…The Dandy Warhols Come Down, 1997)

13. Be Alright (Why You So Crazy, 2019)

14. Mohammed (Thirteen Tales Form Urban Bohemia, 2000)

15. Godless (Thirteen Tales Form Urban Bohemia, 2000)

16. Bohemian Like You (Thirteen Tales Form Urban Bohemia, 2000)

17. Every Day Should Be a Holiday (…The Dandy Warhols Come Down, 1997)

18. Pete International Airport (…The Dandy Warhols Come Down, 1997)

19. Boys Better (…The Dandy Warhols Come Down, 1997)

20. Zia Outro

#dandy warhols #Metro Chicago #chicago #wrigleyville #courtney taylor-taylor #zia mccabe #brent deboer #immigrant union #pete holmstrom #pete international airport #live music #may 11 2019 #setlist.fm

2 notes · View notes

steve0discusses · 6 years

Text

Yugioh S2 Ep 21: Hey, It’s a Party, Lets All Get Kidnapped!

Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve worked on these. I’m back from my cross-country travels, I’ve overcome my food poisoning because of said travels, and I did like 2 Inktobers so I’m officially allowed to quit and then never do Inktober again till the end of the month so now that’s over with, lets get back to Yugioh. Thankfully, Joey is here to recap for us what has been going on so far in the show, via a phone call to his sister where he literally started off the episode saying this line.

It is episode 21, Joey has run out of excuses, and the crew has decided that now is the time to finally find their friend who definitely is being tailed by a murderer with psychic powers.

Because no one wants to ever call the cops on this show.

I can see why Yugi and Grandpa might not, since Pharaoh may have done some criminal nonsense before he reformed at the end of S1 (I mean Season Zero isn’t not NOT canon) and I can see why Joey might not because bro mentioned that he had some sort of dealing with the mini-Yakuza or something in Season Zero (I look forward to that). Tristan already thinks he is a cop so I can see why he doesn’t either. But maybe Tea should call the police. She doesn’t work at the must-be-18-to-work-here-so-it’s-probably-a-stripper-joint-after-10-PM burger place anymore, she’d be fine. Probably.

I mean they did illegally invade a country last season and was complicit in the removal of that country’s leader’s right golden eyeball so like...yeah...

But now that Yugi has the company of three people inside of his head and Kaiba alongside him--who is always communicating with Mokuba on his jacket walkie talkie (like he went out of his way to make a jacket that has solely one function because it clearly doesn’t keep him warm without those arms--and the function is to call up his little brother and complain about the people who are two feet away and can hear him complaining about them), but this means Yugi actually has more people in his 2-person party than the other crew of 4 people. Anyway, he’s certainly not lonely.

But first we gotta throw Tea’s phone around and have some comedy hijinks.

(read more under the cut)

Tea x Cell Phone giving me more energy than Tea x Yugi but that’s actually true of every teenager and their intense relationship with their phone. Accurate. Hell, it’s true of me as an adult.

I also love how they throw this phone in our face just to remind us how neither Yugi has called Tea or how Tea could easily call Kaiba AKA the guy in charge who knows where everyone is, since he’s in their High School phone book, but wtv. We gotta first sort out who’s gonna pick up Serenity from the hospital although her bandages aren’t even off yet.

We’ve already clarified how dangerous this whole tourney is, and the fact that during these finals they might be ground zero for when the world might actually stop functioning entirely, maybe don’t throw your blind sister into the mix? Girl has enough problems right now. Maybe keep her in the hospital preemptively. Y’all are probably going to end up there anyway. She can book you a reservation.

I do appreciate the Tristan stance in this shot.

Anyway, sensing that the crew might actually do something, Bakura decides to show up and make some mad insane nonsense again. Ah, our wild card, Bakura, our Charlie Kelly.

Lol What? His big master plan is to feign an injury? (I’m assuming this is fake? But he’s also sweating a whole lot? Maybe they had a fight club behind the scenes that got edited out?) But you know, if you’re gonna try to sell a broken arm then wouldn’t you want to like...wear an sling?

Wtv, we’ve already learned from last season that literally all these people are the very worst boy scouts and would absolutely die in the woods. Apparently they would also absolutely die if they had to administer actual first aid rather than vague card magic. I was kinda thinking that Marik miiiight be a better scout from all his tomb runs, but from the looks of it he’s too busy being as incompetently evil as possible to learn how to tie a simple bandage.

Nice that Bakura waited until the moment Tristan left to start being shady again. I guess that Bakura also remembers that one time that Tristan hulk-punched him so hard - in the shadow realm where mere mortals should not be able to even move - that God-Mode-Bakura passed out for like 45 minutes.

I’m a little confused at how this at all works with Marik’s plan, since it’s really not that hard to abduct Grandpa, but o well, this was the plan they went with. They ARE teens after all, and teens kind of live by the mantra of “I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” I guess it’s less complicated than making sure he watches a haunted VCR tape.

So off Grandpa goes with Bakura, meaning Gramps is probably going to be a card or some other sort of lifeless husk in a few episodes or so. It was a good run, Gramps.

Honestly, Bakura should just heavily suggest Gramps just go back to work the counter of his Super Gonna Curse You Weasley’s Wizard Wheezly’s, you know, the shop he actually owns. That shop who’s name is canonically “Turtle Game” (good name for a card shop, really gets it across. Great business decision.) And really, it’s been 2 days since he’s stayed open past 9 AM. Does he not pay rent? He seriously might not, we do not know who’s the owner of that house/shop. For all we know it’s Yugi’s Dad who is........somewhere?......

And speaking of missing people, the two most direction-less folks in the universe decided to make this show even longer when they could have easily skipped like 8 episodes if they had just crossed the street. Instead, they’re going to backtrack back to the Shamu exhibit while somehow not overhearing Bakura screaming in his British(?) accent.

Sometimes I’m impressed by all the well placed irony in this show. Here come the two God-characters of the A-team. One has the infinite reaches of technology, the other has the infinite reaches of dark magic. They can do anything except navigate a map and find their friends who are within I assume a 10-block radius.

Now I know, I know, Namu’s an actual name people actually have. Much like Mary Jane. Or AceBluntz420. But forgive me, I am from California.

Also I just went down a rabbit hole of K-pop and the only song I could find that said “tree” enough times was “tree of Sephiroth” which was a pretty good banger but not what I was going for. Again, I’m stymied by my naive, elementary level K-pop education. One day I will be a master of K-pop but I am yet just a newbie with a couple of Black Pink and BTS on my Spotify.

One day I will know enough about Kpop to know which of the songs are about romance and which are about weed but alas, I just like looking at the pretty lights and the pretty colors and the fun dancing like a newborn babe.

But anyway, couldn’t help but notice - THAT’S the name he actually chose for himself, huh?

I mean I looked it up and Namu is also a Buddhism reference in Japanese and that’s probably what the show makers were going for, but safe to say, Marik is clearly not a Buddhist. He is literally in charge of a Pharaoh cult. Well, used to be. It seems like Marik’s just out to destroy his own God. He’d be the hero in really any other anime with motives like that. Hm.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for Marik wanting to vaguely rule the world I’d probably side with him completely, lets be real. Pharaoh is kind of a huge problem. And while I do like Pharaoh now, it took me kind of a while, and if Marik showed up S1 I’d be like “Yes, finally, please kill the already dead insufferable ghost.”

So, Marik decides to become friends with Joey and Tea.

This sure was a lot of work to become friends with Joey and Tea. Did Marik not realize that if they’re also buds with a guy who is possessed by a ghost, they might have low enough standards that he doesn’t need to jump through any hoops?

Marik could have just walked up and said “hey, remember me? From class?” and these two would have been like “yeaaaah” because it’s been so long since they’ve attended that they would have had no idea that he was never enrolled.

Anyways, Pharaoh’s arrived to scream at the top of his lungs about a bomb threat at a theme park.

Bummer that Mako Tsunami finished his act and I guess went back to his home island on the back of another whale he had parked outside the theme park.

Also it says a lot about what this town goes through that Yugi, shouting about how everyone’s going to die, doesn’t seem to perturb a single member of this audience. They’re just like “shaddup, I’m looking at the large dolphin.”

The total amount of time that Marik could handle being friends with Tea and Joey : maybe about 30 seconds.

Which makes you wonder why he even bothered with this charade, but maybe he just wanted to get rid of Bakura because that guys kind of a mess.

And then just when I thought it would never ever actually happen.

It happened.

I don’t recall any era where non flip-phones had little antennae. I think this was kind of before my time. Good. Finally something on this show that I’m too young for.

Jokes on this mook for thinking he could ever crush a Nokia with his shoe. Actually impossible. I’m sure there’s Nokias that have outlived being run over by a Jeep.

Yo my payphones never had digital minute indicators on it. You can even read the numbers on the numpad? And there’s no gum lodged in the coin slot? This is not how I remember payphones.

Yo second thought, maybe those are 33 seconds and not minutes? Eh, what do I know, I’m a millennial, I don’t really remember how those awful things worked. RIP payphones, you were always spooky and the worst. Like honestly if a ghost Pharaoh would live in anything, it would be a payphone. If you ever had to use a payphone with a phone card, then you’d understand that it’s more an unsolvable puzzle than any puzzle pyramid.

And I guess that Mokuba just felt left out, so he decided to leave his brother and just wander off by himself on a rooftop where there’d be no witnesses?

Mokuba, why are you on the roof? How does everyone in Domino have roof access? And is the internet so bad in this town that you must be on a roof to get any signal?

please admire the leg wraps on this guy’s ankles. They’re like high fantasy legwarmers.

*why ever duel with cards when you can freakin fly*

WOW, KIDS SHOW. That sure is dangling a small child off a helicopter!

And like, Mokuba just hangs there for a while--no joke, he’s just hovering in the background of every shot for kicks and I’m just like...how did this kid’s show get made????? The 00′s was a different time.

This past week I’ve been watching my older brother’s 5 kids and so I’ve been watching their TV shows and youknow The Descendants 2 would have been a very different movie with edgy, rogue helicopters in it. Though I will admit Yugioh could do with a couple more dance sequences. (and Yugioh might legit have better fashion than The Descendants 2, why the hell was Cruella DeVil’s son wearing bright red baggy capri shorts to a cotillion ball? Anyway, I’m putting Descendants on my “possibly recap this later” list.)

I get that the intern who was putting this scene together might not have known about the helicopter incident in the shot right before this when they drew in these people just on the street on their cell but mannnnnnn.

I love the implication that this happens so often to children in Domino that no one freakin cares anymore.

Reminder that Kaiba refuses to believe in magic and has no idea wtf is going on. Like he knows there’s some yummy cards he wants--that’s it. He doesn’t think this is the end of the world, he doesn’t think anyone here is magic. He just thinks Yugi is a super weird kid from Spanish class who's voice keeps cracking and that Marik is some sort of weird mafia boss. He was not expecting this tourney to become kidnapping central and I mean no one could have predicted this next part either.

...

So Marik’s plan, lets just walk through it.

These two loose to Kaiba and Yugi, then these two violently pass out, Pharaoh runs over and shakes up the fat one for a little bit, and then Kaiba and Yugi go to a theme park. These two guys intentionally lost and got beat up for no reason?

And then, he sends the same people who have Already Lost back to Yugi and Kaiba, to use a different deck than the one they used the first time?

Why not use this amazing deck they had the entire time the first time? Why are all of Marik’s plans so roundabout?

I mean I guess they had to lure these two to the roof but not really actually--once you beat Yugi in a game then boom the puzzle is yours so you don’t actually have to...whatever, they’re on a roof and and it’s edgy and it’s scenic and it’s gonna get real Jack Baur on us.

oh man this workaround to “but they never actually go splat because they die before they hit the bottom” which is infinitely worse than actually just falling down.

So seeing no other solution, they decide to endanger the lives of hundreds of people and play this exploding rooftop version of Yugioh.

I mean last season we sure did go through a lot of time trying to get Kaiba off a ledge of a tall building and now he’s just...back on that ledge. Well. OK then. These kids and ledges.

Really was a line in the show that Kaiba listed the only two things these guys have done wrong and it’s like--well they used the wrong deck the first time. That was probably actually a really big thing they did wrong. Also they could have kept Pharaoh in an infinite rock-paper-scissors loop but passed up on the opportunity. TBH these guys make a lot of mistakes but we’ve been over this before, Kaiba can only remember 2 things. Weird that this has become canon, but here we are.

I guess Kaiba suddenly remembered he had a grudge.

He forgot for a few episodes, but the grudge is back. He must have written it on the back of his hand “don’t forget you hate Yugi” and then when he went to scratch an itch was like “OMG I can’t believe it, I forgot again!”

That bean.

Anyway, next week, on Yugioh:

Does Kaiba’s helicopters get into a helicopter fight with Marik’s helicopters and keep Mokuba dangling there the entire time? Does Joey get to throw a couple mooks over his shoulder like that time he took on 18 ruffians in a warehouse or will these ruffians be too ruffian even for Jo? Will Tea, after her hearts been consumed by darkness, and she becomes a nobody or a heartless or whatever, realize that she’s dating a dark wizard this entire time so it literally doesn’t matter?

Anyways, I mentioned K-pop so here you go, a moment of happy handsome boy Zen in this overwhelming world.

youtube

52 notes · View notes

cookingwithgath · 5 years

Photo

This is a recipe for.... A GREAT TRIP TO MIAMI BEACH!

There are so many things I could write here but I’m going to keep it as simple as I can so I can get to bed and you can still receive your trip recipe before you take your trip there, Itamar & Dori, before it becomes spring, Auntie Carmela, and before your baby is born, Dave...

Flights/Transportation | just fly to MIA – it should be fairly cheap. Don’t rent a car. All the hotels seem to have a shuttle and parking there is expensive. If you don’t want to wait for the shuttle you can just get a Lyft or something from the airport. There is free transportation in the form of 3 trolley loops up, down, and across Miami Beach all day and night.

Lots of hotels also have bikes for guests. And there’s Citibike. There is a beautiful path between the beach and the hotels for biking and walking. You can pop off to get to the beach but pop back on if you tire of walking in sand or being always in the sun.

Lodging | Search 4 star hotels with guest ratings of 4+ on kayak.com OR just stay where we did... do note: the further south on Miami Beach you are the more of a party scene it is.

We stayed at the Riviera Suites Hotel which I really enjoyed and would recommend. It’s mid-beach and about 2 blocks away from the actual beach so a little more affordable than some spots. It still has a spot with chairs and umbrellas on the actual beach and a rooftop pool and a courtyard pool... it’s just not beachside.

A hotel we spent a fair bit of time at and on the beach in front of was the Broadmoor on North Beach. It’s a “boutique” Art Deco hotel on a sleepy-ish block with a tasty Mexican Restaurant on the first level. It’s not a 4 star hotel but its rates look good and it’s by a great, quiet part of Miami Beach. If you want more lively attractions you can either walk the 4.5 miles down to mid/south beach or take the free trolley down there or back.

Food | Miami is more like Latin America than it is like most of the USA. There is tons of tasty, affordable Cuban food there. They are also having a bit of a vegetarian/vegan revolution there (much-needed, I might add) which was fun to experience.

My favorite spots:

Tropic Beach Cafe for breakfast/lunch: The hotel staff at Hotel Riu recommended this to me and Sue for a quick lunch in 2012. We fell in love with this unpretentious, family-owned joint. You can get a 90 cent Cuban coffee and toast here for $1.50. Lunch is sandwiches in the $6.50 range or rice and beans with meat. Their chicken sandwich is especially good.

Puerto Sagua for any meal. When Christo had Bronchitis there last year he ate the $4 chicken soup here every day. It was definitely made in house. It’s not fancy but it’s absolutely tasty and fine.

L’Artisane Creative Bakery (Thank you, Nicole and Noah for this rec!!) for breakfast/lunch or a teatime snack. This vegan bakery is impeccable! Their croissants are perfect (truly) and they have vegan burgers and quinoa salads, etc. Carmela, you should probably just stay at the Broadmoor and eat every meal here.

Taquiza for their totopos – super thick, hand cut, blue masa chips. WOW! SO GOOD so naughty (thank you also for this rec, Nicole and Noah). I recommend sitting outside at the North Beach location. The South Beach location felt a little like a frat party.

Soul Tavern is one of the new vegetarian/vegan spots. It’s HUGE and lovely and very well done. The outside seating is kind of magical. You and Uncle Lynn would probably really enjoy it, Carmela. It’s about a 20 minute walk west from our hotel. The free trolley goes to it as well.

Happy Hour Cocktails that are actually good are (in my experience) best found at Sweet Liberty on 20th or at Taquiza.

Airport dining is best done on the ceramic plates using metal silverware at La Carreta in Terminal D at MIA. It was a delicious pre-flight, Cuban lunch. The seating was awesome (for the airport). You really don’t feel like you’re at the airport at all there except you’re surrounded by so many pilots dining. THANK YOU for this recommendation, Mark!

I think I’m going to leave it at that for now. I hope you’ll go and have an AMAZING TIME in the sunshine!!!

#vegan

3 notes · View notes

ahntravels · 6 years

Text

Day два.

Day 2. Woke up and completely forgot I was in St. Petersburg for a moment. My bed at home is a queen, and the bed at this hotel is for a tiny person (in fact, I think my bed at ND was larger...) Anyway, I rolled over as per usual, and completely rolled off the bed.

I never would have thought, in my wildest dreams, I would one day wake up in Russia. Here’s to just pulling the trigger and making it happen.

Today, as mentioned yesterday, is Hermitage day. I didn’t know what exactly to expect, except all blogs mentioned to a) buy your ticket in advance (online) and b) get there early. The museum opens at 10, and I had planned on getting there at 10, except halfway through the 20 minute walk I realized I forgot my wallet and visa so I had to go walk back to the hotel and then walk back again, basically adding another 30 minutes to my trip. I arrived around 10:30.

I will say, walking up to the Winter Palace (Hermitage) was surreal. It’s HUGE.

Below is the arch you walk through which reveals the mammoth Palace

I’ve seen Buckingham Palace in London and Versailles in Paris. I will say that they are NOTHING compared to the Hermitage Museum in terms of shear size. It’s kind of crazy that those arches completely conceal the Palace until you start to walk through it. Then you see like...part of the Palace, but it’s not until you walk through the arch that there is this instantaneous reveal. Included in the reveal is the shock of just seeing the Palace in full + the huge size of it spanning your vision across the X-axis + all the blue sky and empty space that just silences you for a moment.

SIDE NOTE: For whatever stupid, immature reason, every time I think of the “reveal”, I think of that scene from Mario 64 when you’re running towards a photo of the Princess and it turns out to be Bowser. No, I’m not drunk, don’t ask me why I think of these things at the most random times. And yes, I did spend 15 minutes searching for this photo collage.

Anyway. I am sure the Winter Palace is GORGEOUS during winter. The acoustics of the space when it’s covered in snow must be like...next level. I’m sure St. Petersburg during the winter is amazing.

If you want a history lesson on the Hermitage, the Hermitage website has a great timeline. Again, as with the other blogs, I’m not going to be going into detail about images of the place or the history of the pieces exhibited. So many other blogs have done it so much better and I’m not going to butcher that. I’ll just mention a few things that stuck out to me, and you can Google around and figure it out.

I will say that if you do visit, I can offer a couple of tips you may want to follow.

1) The map. The map is confusing but not. You’ll just find yourself getting annoyed because, when you know where you are going, the gaggle of tourists and tourist groups will spin you around and suddenly you forget which way is which. Because the museum is HUGE (I saw maybe 1/8th of the museum in 4-5 hours?) you have to prioritize what to see. Keep in mind that, as time elapses, the museum becomes more and more inundated with the dreaded tourist groups, basically making your chances of getting a clear photo of anything nill.

2) Tourists (a.k.a. the “Boos”). See the map below. The Hermitage has 3 floors. Below is a floor plan of probably the most popular floor, thanks to Mr. da Vinci and many of the decorative palace rooms (amongst other exhibits):

The good thing is that the map kind of pulls out the most famous exhibits and shows you what room they are in. This makes your job of figuring out where you need to go to cross out those items from your bucket list easy. The bad part: The enemy (a.k.a. tourists groups a.k.a. “boos”) also know where these pieces are and are racing as well to find them. The good news: the boos are with tourist groups and have to wait until the tour guide guides them to the room with the exhibit. So, you have time to beat them to it and snag the photo if you are quick.

Just like in Mario, as time progresses and you aren’t being proactive, more and more of these guys are going to flood the Museum and follow you and clog up the exhibits. So, how do you win? I suggest getting to the museum first thing, then IMMEDIATELY source those famous exhibits, get your photos, then start at the beginning. Most of the tourists are going to be spending a large portion of their time taking photos of the great hall, which leaves you time to sneak past. Case in point:

The line to da Vinci. It was actually way worse a bit earlier when I came around again. I managed to get there early enough and snagged a decent photo:

In general, just like Versailles, the rooms are huge and ornate and absolutely beautiful. I was standing by a window, looking out into the courtyard from what was probably a ballroom in the palace, and thought to myself who else, years ago, was gazing forlornly (or with happiness, or deep in thought) out this same window.

I think that is the most magical part about these palace museums: people LIVED here. People also died here, were executed, fell in love, gave birth, went mad. And when you see relics of those like ridiculous looking Russian uniforms or weird trinkets from decades past, you have to remember that, no, these weren’t fashioned after film props, but film props fashioned after the real living thing. And the real living thing from 100+ years ago is right in front of you.

It’s pretty spectacular.

Oh, so this was exciting: The were having a temporary exhibit, and it was REMBRANDT!! Mike! I’m sure you have seen most of these because they sourced the pieces from the Leiden collection...maybe you have seen some of these at the Frick?

Anyway, there was NO PHOTOGRAPHY so I couldn’t really snag photos of pieces specifically.

I did find myself in a Jean-Baptiste while lost in the French wing:

I didn’t and couldn’t wander the halls for the full 4-5 hours straight. I took a couple of breaks, grabbing a coffee at the cafe for 15 minutes before trying again. I do suggest you break up your visit to the Hermitage into two days; it really is the only way to not feel like your brain is going to explode.

Afterwards, I took a walk outside by the water behind the Palace.

Gratuitous selfie. That’ll be two hundred rubles.

At this point, I had about 2.5 hours to kill before I needed to make my way to the Mariinsky Theater for the performance. So, I did what anyone should do, and that is wander around and picked up a snack to munch on (sorry, no photo of munchies).

There were people painting on the lawn, and I meant to come back and scope out the progress, but became distracted so I didn’t. I did manage to view a live performance (there are performers EVERYWHERE) and I’ll have to post in a separate blog entry because I still can’t figure out how to take the video from my phone and stick it here.

I stopped at a progressive burger joint (in terms of menu options) for my “snack” (I didn’t eat breakfast despite my large leftovers still sitting in the refrigerator) and ate one of these guys sans burger sauce:

It’s essentially a falafal burger with cucumbers and halved grape tomatoes inside. The bun was my least favorite part (larger in circumference than the patty, which drives me INSANE) so I ditched it angrily. The bun and the burger should be the same size, and the patty should be thicker than each half of the bun. If the top bun is thicker than the patty, the bun is trash. BESIDES THAT ISSUE, the patty was actually really flavorful, and the veggies were (surprise!) slightly pickled. I wasn’t a huge fan of the background of dill I tasted, but that’s fine. The lunch hit the spot and I felt alive again.

I know, call me a hypocrite for yelling about wasting food and here I am ditching a perfectly good bun. Well, arguably it wasn’t perfectly good, but I did take a bite and decided I much preferred the insides. Whatever. To quote Trump, “Who cares, we won!”

ASHLEY SIDE NOTE: It’s actually been great being overseas, because I have been shielded from all the US politics. However, I did catch a headline today and I mistakenly checked out Trump’s interview and wow...glad I am over here.

Eventually, I made my way to the theater via Uber (there is no Lyft here, and taxis are a little...shady. And slow. And expensive). I will have to comment on Russian driving (or, driving in Russia):

1) It’s nuts. Nuttier than cabbies and NYC driving. Nuttier than driving in France. Probably not nuttier than driving in Vietnam or other places where you are competing with scooters and cars, but it’s still pretty nutty.

2) However, I noticed that they do one thing correctly and without anger that we don’t do in America, and that is merging. In Russia, they utilize the “zipper merge” technique quite patiently and diligently, which, after taking 3 Ubers and cursing under my breath at the “assholes” who merged at the last minute, I realized that this was common and drivers didn’t sweat it.

“Those apparently rude drivers are putting more of the roadway to use and thus helping speed things along, in much the same way water flows faster through a funnel than through a straw.”

3) There is no bus lane or real lanes in general (I mean, there are lines painted in the road but people disregard them) and cars are just weaving in and out, trying to avoid buses, bikers, etc. And everyone drives stick, so it can get a little rough at times.

Anyway, I manged to get to the theater at the nick of time (traffic is TERRIBLE) and had decent balcony seating:

The Mariiinsky Theater isn’t huge, but the acoustics are really good. The ballet itself was really interesting. Interesting in the sense that this performance, in terms of skill, seemed to be this mix of gracefulness and like...cirque du soleil. I haven’t seen many ballets, but the ones I have seen did not showcase these magnificent bouts of exaggerated athleticism as performed by these dancers (i.e. 360 degree turns ad infinitum, Labron Jamesesque slam dunk vertical leaps, etc). Don’t get me wrong; these dancers are incredible and it was fun to watch them exhibit their unrelenting strength. However, I felt, where the narrative fell short, the shock and awe carried it through.

I have to be honest and say that I’m not the type to sit through a long, dry opera or ballet, so Le Corsaire broke through any of that fear and was much appreciated. Given we are in the world of #metoo, the plot didn’t really adhere to the moral standard (the narrative is much about the selling of women as slaves, that people of the Middle Eastern ethnicity is less than smart, etc). Yeah, not the best message. However, despite the immature and possibly offensive plot, the artistry was really good...the backgrounds and costumes were beautiful, and the music was moving. I really liked the duo in Act II...I believe it’s the Adagio, but I will have to go back through the soundtrack to figure it out.

Afterwards, I ate a really light and late dinner and came back to the hotel where I am writing this. It’s past midnight, and I am officially 63 years old!*

youtube

Tomorrow, I think i will visit the Faberge museum, then the Anna Akhamatova Museum, then a food market called the Kuznechny Market where I will try to buy some caviar, THEN bday dinner, then I need to hit the hay because I have a 6AM train out of Russia and into Estonia. I am really feeling sad that my stay in Russia is ending, but excited to see two more countries.

Until tomorrow!

*I told the waiter today was my birthday, and he said, “Congratulations”. What a curious response. I suppose living is a task, and becoming a year older is like a life promotion.

1 note · View note