#and what's the deal with this jimmy fella

[lemmetreatya]

In Memory of Me — Eren x fem!reader

Thank you @flamespond for the idea. A real one tbh. Always know ur gonna match my silliness

word count: 2.7k

content: erens a cocky bastard, f! reader, reader has their ears pierced, alcohol, strong language, anal sex, doggy style, unprotected sex, cumshot, idk eren has an obsession with worm earrings (is it a kink for him? idk)

They were so fucking stupid. Like, stupid, stupid.

So stupid, that Eren finds himself with a soured expression as he looks on at you over the rim of his drink. Because honestly, who even wears something like that to the club? Frickin, worm earrings — those frilly skrunkly looking fellas with the strabismus eyes and wiggly bums.

And he thinks he hates them, which isn’t new because Eren hated a lot of things unprovoked, (Read: paper mache, manholes, Jimmy John’s, character shaped plastic weed grinders and more) but either way, he can’t get himself to hate you — which sucks — because you thought wearing worm earrings to the club was cool.

The skittish laugh you made in the bartender’s direction was no help either. He hates to admit it but you were so good looking, and Eren wishes that you weren’t.

He thinks maybe that way it’d be easier to ignore you with your funky jewellery and move on with his night, but no. No, Eren always had to find a pulling towards the weird ones.

“It’s definitely a creative choice.”

That’s what Eren starts with when he decides to indulge you.

You pause mid-conversation and turn in his direction. The music was cheap and the booze was even cheaper, but giving just about anybody your time of day was expensive.

“Sorry, you talking to me?”

An easy shrug graces Eren’s shoulders as he hops them up and down. You had a daring spunk and he likes that more about you than he hates the worm earrings.

With a coupled bite of his bottom lip and a simmering eye hold, the brunette moves closer within your proxemics.

“Well, I mean unless there’s anyone else wearing obnoxious worm earrings then…”

“Obnoxious?” You repeat.

Eren was fast to agree with your reiterated sentence but it was too late when he realises, along with your irked expression, that maybe using his internal opinions about your consciously chosen earrings for a conversation starter, was warped.

Instantly changing his countenance, Eren reels his expression into a fake pout of remorse. This one usually sealed the deal because Eren seemed to have a very ‘I want to forgive you’ face, or so he’s been told .

“I-I’m sorry. I acknowledge that was real rude of me. Forgive me, I don’t do this often.” He says with a hand over the right side of his chest.

That’s a lie; Eren does this often enough to know that a sleazy apology usually does the trick, but apparently it didn’t land too well tonight.

Your eyes analyse him top to bottom. He’s cute, hot even. That, you won’t deny, but before else you had your integrity to hold. With a curled lipped expression, you slowly turn your head away from the brunette.

“Well, when you do this often enough and figure out how to approach me properly, come again.”

Ohh, shivers.

Eren weirdly liked that. From that alone he knows he wants more and that’s not just because his dick jumped at the assertiveness.

At this point, Eren would decide that his pride and ego were too important to be bruised by a mere Club Pickup and so he’d usually throw a very unfeminist, degrading comment and go along his way. But fuck, it’s you with the stupid worm earrings and heck load of self worth — there’s something about you that makes Eren voluntarily deny himself.

“Don’t think I’m willing to wait that long.”

At his words, you direct back in Eren’s direction with a slow turn. Half of you was surprised that he was still within your vicinity but the other part was intrigued to know what was really making him stay.

“For what?” You slowly enunciate.

Eren gives you a look as if what he was saying was simple. Which it was, but there was just something about the man that made everything he said come out sounding imbecilic.

“To figure out how to approach you of course. I can’t do it with calculations or a trial and error. Look at your earrings for shit's sake, you’re unpredictable.”

The brunette wildly gestures in your vague direction. You also notice a tattoo that curiously peaks out from his neck.

Hm. Hot.

Turning towards him more, you wear an amused expression as you ask:

“And so the approach you’ve gone for now — you think that’s working for you?”

It shuts him down for a bit.

You can see the clogs working slowly behind his wide beryl eyes. Even within the darkened club scene, that feature of his was wildly prominent.

But he’s quick though. He rolled said eyes, as if to feign that the answer was obvious, but you couldn’t help but notice the elysian grin that started to sport his lips.

“Right now, we’re taking ten.” He shrugs. “I’m not tryna pick you up at the moment. Well, I am, but not in the forward, proactive way. I just… they’re so fascinating.”

“Me or the earrings?”

Eren smirks.

“The earrings.”

He knows that’s not the answer you were expecting. It was the answer you knew he was leading to but you hoped that by some warped pick up line, he’d divert his answer to you at the last second. But he didn’t.

You let out a delayed huffed at his honest answer and he knows, then, that he’s got you.

This guy was absolutely tactless. You recall that he said he was thinking of a unique way to approach you, per your unconventionality, but you didn’t think he’d be this push and pull.

Still yet, in a very weird, sadly obnoxious way, it was working. So much so that you’re not sure whether to credit him for his stupidity or ingenuity.

Lightly pressing forwards, Eren made a bold move and decided to poke your arm with his index finger.

“C’mon, I’m not being that unreasonable. They’re unusual for a club setting and you know it. I’ve only ever seen someone wear these once in my life and that was on my boy’s kid cousin’s ears because she gave into peer pressure.”

With a humorous air, you raise your eyebrow at the brunette.

“You think I gave into peer pressure to wear these?”

“Nah, I doubt it.”

Eren seemed to really be thinking hard about this. He searched his eyes over your face, irreligious as his watch lingered over your lips.

“I’d say the next best thing is a dare. Most probably a stupid harmless one between friends, but now that I’m thinking about it, you wear them with too much dignity for it to simply be bad luck.”

Cocking your head to the side, you shuffle closer towards the brunette. You offered him a mulling smile.

“Is it really too hard to believe that I wore them of my own volition?”

Eren reels his head back but he doesn’t stay further away for long. He easily nods before edging closer in your direction. He has an unsure look on his face but he decides to be honest.

“Kinda, yes.” He says with a lower voice.

You weren’t offended. No, you were beyond feeling shameful affinity for worm earrings, but you guess in order to entertain this intrigued individual, you’d pertain to his supposed interest.

“So what, you want my earrings? Tryna fuck them or use them to get off?” You quip. “You can have ‘em if you wannem so bad.”

Eren makes a weirded out expression but he doesn’t move away. Something about him made you keen in his direction. Maybe it was how comfortable he seemed.

“What? Noooo, I don’t wanna fuck your earrings, I’m tryna fuck you! Only reason I stepped up to you in the first place.” He pouts.

You raised your eyebrows at him once again but this time it was accompanied with a smirk. Once he noticed your reception, he quickly returned your expression before continuing, his fingers tinkling at your own.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re hot as fuck and I’m honestly reeling just thinking about having you underneath me. Only thing is that you just happen to be wearing the most…”

Eren quickly lets his words die at the back of his throat. If it’s one thing he’s learnt tonight, it was to not finish that sentence.

“Yeah.” He finishes.

Your turn your head so that you can side eye him. Jutting out your bottom lip, you thought for a moment.

“So you’re tryna sleep with me?” You said more to yourself than to him but the sentient was as easily reciprocated by him.

Eren flings his head back in a childish manner. Amusing, as he seems more offended at that question than he did when you offered him worm earrings coitus.

“God—I—" He clasps his hands in a fist in front of his face. "What else do you think I’m talking to you for? I’m literally just tryna give you that fuck-you-to-sleep, forget your name type dick, is that really too much to ask for?

You momentarily pause as you look upwards in faux ponder.

“Is that it?" You ask.

Eren nods.

With a neutral expression, your shoulders perk upwards.

"Oh. Then you should have just said.”

“Waaait a minute.”

The way Eren slowly squints his eyes at you makes you snort and then burst into a fit of public appropriate giggles.

He was genuinely such an interesting individual. You did wonder if he was actually this amusing or if he was simply curating his personality so that he could talk to you better. Either way you weren't too concerned; more than him, you too were just seeing this as an opportunity to get fucked silly.

Eren's eyes joyfully follow you as you continue to bend over in laughter, his own lips quirking upwards at the sides.

“It was that easy, huh?” He jokes in disbelief.

“It was that easy. Didn’t have to mention my earrings or nothing.” You quip back, the glowing embers of joy and alcohol evident in the beam on your face.

Eren cocks his head in your direction, his smile also wide. Although you never remember him being this close. He was practically a hand span away from you.

“Well, whaddya know? Looks like I’ve still got it.”

Playfully scoffing, you lightly push his stomach with the palm of your hand. You noted that it was a lot more taut with muscle than you thought it'd be.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” You chide as you finally allow your eyes to wonder to the plumpness of his lips.

This was so fucking stupid. Like, stupid, stupid.

Because never in your life did you think a self conceited bastard like Eren would ever fuck this good.

You hated that he knew what he was doing; that he didn't need twenty-one plus questions to figure out your reactive spots, guilty pleasures and favourite positions. He was an expert, a god, at how well he knew how to put his dick into play.

"Gonna...gonna, shit, gonna fuck those silly worm earrings right off you. Gonna really...rock your shit up."

You were way too gone to reply.

Ass up, face down and cock continuously hollowing deep into the canals of your ass, yet Eren still found a way to make this about the worm earrings. You even contemplated taking them off considering how viciously they were whacking your face but you didn't care. Who the fuck was caring about worm earrings when you were getting fucked this good?

Clearly, Eren couldn't relate.

"S-stupid worms...stupid fucking silly worms — God, you're so tight — they're so weird!"

Your orgasm still had space to build up but you wanted to reach it quickly. Lolling your hand down between your thighs, you used two fingers to rub at your clit; to give your tea a little bit of honey, just to speed up the process.

"E-Eren..." You moaned out.

Hearing his name be chanted into his duvet, Eren felt his cock twitch.

"Yeah, that's it. Say my name. Say my name with those...with those worms in your ears. Go on, say it."

"Eren! Eren! E’en."

Your chants caused the male to throw his head bag in agonic pleasure. His grip on your hips got tighter as he used the leverage to continuously pull you back onto his slick cock.

"Just like that. Oh yeah, just like that. You feel so good. So so good, worms 'n' all."

Okay, quite frankly, this was getting ridiculous. Surely he couldn't be for real. Like, you've gathered; he likes to be the centre of attention and has difficulty doing that without a joke, laugh or gag, but surely yet, he'd understand that somethings you just kept separate from each other. Like wriggly worm earrings and getting doggied.

Surging backwards to try and meet Eren's thrust made the brunette let out a groan of pure wanton expression. He took one hand to slap the apple of your ass cheek a few times before hunching over you, his chest flush with your back.

“Want me to come inside you?” He salaciously grunts into your ear.

With an indecent moan, you agree.

“Uh huh. Yeah, wan’ you to…to cum inside me, Ren.”

The brunette placed a kiss to your back and then your shoulder as his cock continuously expanded your puckered hole. He then gingerly changed position from kneeling to having one foot sturdy on the bed before bringing a hand up to caress at one of your earrings.

“Since you asked so nicely.”

Eren’s pace began to quicken but his thrust became sloppier.

You were seriously contemplating whether it was okay to finish this orgasm with worms on your mind or pause and ask Eren to behave, but his next words made you think elsewise.

“Every time you wear these earrings, I want you to be reminded of how good it feels to have my hot cum filling up your asshole. How… shit, how well you take my cock, how stupidly wet your pussy is for me.”

The brunette licked a stripe just behind your earlobe before grinning into your skin.

“Whenever you look at these stupid worms, I want you to feel the urge to hollow your asshole out in memory of me — knowing nothing will be as good as me.”

Like a fizz of electricity, adrenaline surged from every part of your body and focused right within the heart of your cunt. With an explosive cry, your orgasm ripped through your body, your legs wanting to involuntarily close shut.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Eren shoves a few more thrusts into you before he’s stilling flush to your back and spilling warm seed into your ass.

You’re still reeling through your orgasm when he cums, his semen lightly tickling that one gooey spot up your ass. The act causes you to keen — a pretty moan squeezing from your throat as your mouth lays slack atop or Eren’s duvet, a wet patch of dribbled saliva surrounding it.

With weak standing, your knees collapse from underneath you, sending both you and Eren flat on top of his bed.

Still inside you and recovering from his orgasm, Eren lets out a stuffed groan.

“Shit…”

He breathes into your ear. The warmness of it post coitus not so inviting anymore.

“Man, that was something else.”

Your head was still spinning, your body buzzing from the cathartic expression of lust but even in the haze that you were in, you had words for the brunette.

“What the absolute fuck is wrong with you?” You mumble.

“Huh?”

What you said was clear. Eren had heard exactly what you said, but the words sounded so unthreatening for what they were that he had to ask — just in case he was hearing things wrong.

“Did you just ask what the fucks wrong with me?”

You hummed to affirm, using that as your initial answer, but it’s when Eren pinched your back for an answer that you relented.

“Worms? During sex, Eren? Really?!”

“It’s your fault for wearing them. They’re so dumb.”

“And yet you just couldn’t keep them outta ya mouth.” You quickly retort.

Eren didn’t like that. You could tell because he made a stupid huffy noise before quickly propping himself up and pulling out of your ass.

That was fun for neither of you as you both moaned in loss of the warmth.

#eren x reader #eren x black reader #eren jeager #eren jeager smut #aot x black reader #eren imagines #eren headcanons

[tiny-minecraft-rabbit]

it must of been the dim twinkling of lights

When a strange bat wiggles his way into the attic during a blizzard Martyn suddenly begins to learn to let someone get close. A fun time at the rats' Christmas celebration ensues.

Words: 3575 CW: Light/Casual Drinking

A gift for @moo9395 for @mcytblrholidayexchange

AO3 here

The Attic was beginning to grow cold, enough so that more of the residents were sleeping away in their cozy nooks more often than not. It was one of those evenings where everyone had long fallen asleep and only a few rats were awake to starve off the cold with slightly too rowdy activities.

Jimmy, Martyn and Oli were playing a riveting game of Red Light Green Light. Martyn was currently it, headband over his eyes to stop from peeking. Oli was well in the lead, though Martyn might have been a bit more lenient on the trash rat than Tim. It wasn’t Martyn’s fault Jimmy’s loud puffing and huffing were just as fun as the game itself. The three had been at this for much longer than any of them cared to admit, the starting line having been pushed back numerous times to increase the difficulty until it was practically halfway across the attic. They had long since stopped caring if they woke anybody up, hoping someone else would join the game, but it had yet to happen.

“Red light!” Martyn shouted, pushing his headband up and nearly off his head as he watched his friends trip to a stop. Jimmy nearly completely titled over, waving his arms to stop himself from face planting. He thought about being mean and calling him out on it to send him back to the starting line, but Oli was one turn away from winning anyway, wouldn’t be any fun to give him the win now. 

“Alright fellas’,” Martyn grinned, a hand above his head to start the final race, “On your mark-”

“Oh, get on with it,” Jimmy cut in with frustration. 

Martyn went slower, wiggling his fingers by his headband, reading to pull it down again, “Get set-”

“This man is ridiculous,” Jimmy sighed as he tensed in anticipation, his paws digging into the hard wood to push off from.

“He’s a rat, not a man,” Oli piped, his New York accent not as thick as usual, not that Martyn would point it out (yet).

“It’s a saying,” Jimmy replied, despite it not really being a saying.

Martyn was just waiting for them to finish at this point, waiting a few extra seconds just to get on their nerves. “GRE-” 

Oli was pitching forward just as something loud thunked on the nearby window. He fell forward, chin hitting the floor after Martyn was cut short. Bit ironic after all the times Tim was waving his arms around to keep balance that it was Oli that was the first to fall. 

Martyn was too focused on the glass pane to do much more than wave off Oli’s soft “owie” as he stepped lightly towards the window. It was pitch black outside, the clouds had long since dotted out the stars, and snow was flurrying down in flakes half as big as them.

He could hear something poke and pry at the window until it was pushed open just a smidge, enough for some critter to crawl through, cold air and snow blowing in like waves.

“Oi! Close the window!” Jimmy shouted, throwing any caution to said wind of what might have opened the window and rushing straight towards it, climbing up to the sill. Some Safety Rat he was. 

Martyn, not wanting his friend to get hurt to his own hastiness, was quickly after him. Oli, not wanting to miss out on anything that could potentially be funny, was quickly after Martyn. 

Jimmy was the first up the sill, having been closest to it, but Martyn wasn’t far after since Jimmy also wasn’t the fastest (Red Light Green Light had proven that). “Now what’s the big deal up here?” Jimmy demanded. 

“Oh!” a voice, a bit posh and soft, said from just under the pane. A bat, big ears, brown fur, wrinkled nose and all, was trying to crawl into the attic. He squirmed now, looking unsure if he should keep trying to come in or push his way back out, “I didn’t know this attic was, er, occupied.” 

“Well it is,” Jimmy crossed his arms, ever the one to try and establish his authority, as if the first impression could ever weigh out his general personality of boisterous incompetence (which Martyn thought with love), “What’s your business here then?”

“Just looking for somewhere warm,” The bat answered, glancing back out the window. The snow was not letting up, and was just about covering the little guy from head to toe. There seemed to be an uncomfortable silence as the bat debated, “I can just go though. Don’t need to worry about me.” 

Yeah, Martyn may not be the nicest or most trusting or the most willing to just go along with anything like some of the other attic residence, but he also wasn’t cruel. Letting his guy back out in the snow, when not even the fluffiest rat was willing to go out earlier today? Letting this guy freeze to death? Marytn didn’t want that on his conscience. 

“Now hold on a minute. It’s too cold for that. We have enough room in here for one more,” he huffed, holding his hand out of the bat to take. 

Jimmy looked skeptical but immediately took a step to force the window open a little more, Oli joining in. The bat took Martyn’s hand and was pulled in. Once he was in Jimmy and Oli threw their weight to get the window back closed, enough of their sparsely warm air had escaped already, best to stop the rest from doing so. 

Standing on two legs the bat was much taller than Martyn had thought, even slouched as he was. Now Jimmy was still a good inch taller than the bloke, but the bat was about 5 inches tall, nearly surpassing Martyn’s height. Average for a rat, sure, but pretty big for a common bat. He was also dressed to the nines in a black suit: jacket, tie, shoes and all. Looked like a proper gentleman. 

“Thanks,” the bat said quickly, head nodding to them and hands fidgeting, “I honestly really didn’t want to go back out there.”

“Don’t blame you! It’s a proper storm out there,” Jimmy replied, taking a step back and brushing snow off his vest. 

“So what is your deal, huh? You’re no kind of rat I’ve ever seen,” Oli drawled, his New York accent dialed all the way up. Martyn vaguely wondered if he was asking stupid questions on purpose or if he really had never seen a bat before. 

The bat looked just as confused as Oli seemed, “I’m not- I’m a bat, mate. I’m not one of you, I- I- um-”

Martyn patted him on the back, silencing him and knocking snow off him in heaps. “We know. How about you just tell us who you are instead?” 

The bat nodded, shaking off the rest of the snow off his limbs, “The name is Mumbo Jumbo, or just Mumbo if you’d like.” 

“Well, Just Mumbo,” Martyn joked as he turned and gestured to the large area of their attic, “Welcome to the Attic! I’m Martyn and this is Jimmy the Safety Rat and Trash Rat Oli. Most everyone is asleep right now, so we’ll give you a tour later, but until then we can hang out. How about a change of clothes though? I’m sure you’re soaked through at this point.”

“Everyone?” Mumbo asked with a hint of nervousness (though to be fair everything he said sounded slightly nervous so far), but he quickly put the question aside at the mention of new clothes, “Do you have anything spare? That would be wonderful.” 

Martyn nodded, “I got you covered, come on, you look about my size and I got a few shirts tucked away.” 

“And I have some spare trousers,” Jimmy added, “Cause, no offense to Martyn, but I don’t think his are long enough for you.”

“He’s my height!” Martyn argued, stepping next to Mumbo and swishing his hand above his and Mumbo’s head, showing they were about the same. 

“His ears make him like an inch taller,” Oli chimed in. 

“Ears don’t count.” 

“He’s also slouching. Mumbo, stand up straight for me, just a moment,” Jimmy added with a grin and, unfortunately for him, Mumbo complied, and he was, if only by a few millimeters, taller than Martyn. Looking down at the bat’s legs– and they were definitely longer than Martyn’s. His spare trousers wouldn’t do. 

“Fine!” He relented, “I’ll grab the shirt and Timmy you grab your trousers. Meet back at the bar. Mumbo with me.” 

Jimmy and Oli headed off to Jimmy’s little corner of the attic to grab some clothes while Martyn took Mumbo to his, pointing out a few homes on the way. The attic wasn’t that big, but it had plenty of room to hold an awful lot of them. He could see Mumbo out of the corner of his eye nodding along to the names as he walked a step behind him. He also noticed Mumbo’s hands twisting in front of him, like he was perpetually shaking water off his hands, but if he turned to look at him then Mumbo’s hands would immediately shift to holding them still in front of his chest, avoiding eye contact. It was kind of like what Tubbo did when he was super excited but a lot more secretive and nervous. Martyn didn’t see why the guy was hiding his nervous jitters, being in a strange place with a lot of strange rats was the most reasonable time to be nervous, but Martyn wasn’t the type to try and show off his nerves either. Not that this guy was any good at hiding his nerves. 

“This is The At-Tick Bar, my pride and joy,” Martyn pointed it out, grinning at the lovely Christmas decorations adorning the front. “I live on the second floor. Come on.” 

Mumbo made no fuss as they walked in, though Martyn couldn’t help but puff up with pride as he could see the growing wonder in the bat’s eyes at all the detail he put into his business. “Quite a place you got here.” 

“Thank you! Just wait right here, I’ll grab you a shirt.” He ascended the stairs and went through his meager things. He didn’t have much and tried his best to grab the shirt with the least amount of holes. He came tromping back down to Mumbo running his hands over one of the decorations. 

Martyn watched for a moment, more just making sure he didn’t break anything, but it was also nice to see the guy start to relax a bit. It was a wonder if he had gone through something or was just naturally this anxious, but either way it wasn’t any of Martyn’s business right now.

“Got you something!” He called, dropping down the last few stairs. 

Mumbo jumped and spun around, hands flapping in indecision before flying behind his back. “Oh! Thank you.” He glanced at the article a moment before reaching out to take it. 

Martyn handed it over, the bat looking it over a moment, hands feeling over the fabric and, upon determining it good enough, started taking off his suit jacket. Martyn watched for just a moment before turning towards and out the door to wait for Oli and Jimmy. 

He could just hear the other two rats racing back, already bickering with one another. Oli just barely made it to the bar first, paw smacking against the door frame and barely missing Martyn.

“Ha! I win!” Oli declared. 

Jimmy barely managed to stop himself from crashing into the two of them, “No fair! You tripped me! As Safety Rat I declare that a hazard and the race completely void.” 

“Gosh you’re such a sore loser, Safety Rat,” Oli grumbled back. 

Martyn just rolled his eyes and snatched the dark-colored trousers from Jimmy. He turned back into the bar- “Hey, catch-” and tossed them at Mumbo, who fumbled to catch them. 

“Thanks,” he said again and barely gave Martyn a second to turn around before he was stripping the wet trousers for the dry ones. 

“Come out when you’re done!” He called, heading out the bar to the two bickering rats. The two of them had resorted to punching and chasing one another around Oli’s trashcan. He sighed and grabbed Jimmy by his high-vis vest, pulling him to a stop. “Oh, would you two knock it off!” 

Oli opened his mouth to argue, something about Jimmy throwing the first punch and not being able to take the heat or something like that, but was talked over by Jimny. “Is the bat alright? You think he’s gonna stay long?”

Martyn shrugged, “He’s nervous, that’s for sure. As for staying? Doubt it. No one stays longer than a few hours. If it wasn’t for the blimming blizzard I wouldn’t have let him in. The moment the sky clears, he’s heading out. If we’re lucky it’ll be before anyone else wakes up.”  __________________________________________________________

It was Christmas. Martyn felt silly as he was handing out presents. He wasn’t used to caring about others, especially not enough to get them gifts no strings attached. He’s certainly never did that for any of his children. Today however, he was dressed head to toe in a big red coat, trousers and hat, sack on his back, and humoring all the younger rats with their earnest belief that he was the real thing. Tubbo especially seemed one thousand percent certain he was the Santa, and seeing the unbridled joy on the kid’s face was just maybe payment enough. (OH boy, these rats were making him soft.)

Once the presents were handed out he made his getaway, waiting till he was fully out of sight of any of the more innocent rats before slipping back into his bar. He sighed as he drifted behind the counter, pulling the beard down under his chin, and going to pour himself a teensy drink before returning to the festivities. 

“Ah, there you are,” A voice spoke from the door and Martyn rushed to pull the fake beard back up. 

“I- er- I was just looking for some milk!” He tried to cover quickly, clearing his throat as he put on the deeper voice. 

Mumbo stood in the doorway, holding back giggles. “It’s alright Martyn, I know it’s you.” 

“Not so loud!” He shouted, waving the bat inside, “Come on in. Close the door. Don’t want anybody who was fooled by my wonderful performance to grow wise, now do we? Can’t be ruining the Christmas magic.” 

“I suppose not,” Mumbo agreed and did as Martyn said, stepping in and shutting the door. His suit was switched out with a red and green christmas sweater and a nice pair of jeans. His black eyes watched him with an almost alarming amount of fondness that Martyn had been ignoring well for the last few days. Here, alone, in his warm bar, it was a little harder not to see that the look was only for him. 

It had been nearly two weeks now since Mumbo climbed through the window and despite all odds, he was still staying in the attic. A few of them had tried to kick him out, Martyn included, but either Mumbo was really bad at picking up cues or very apt at ignoring them. Either way, every attempt to “accidently” push him out a window or helping him pack a suitcase (as in packing his stuff into a bag and pushing it into his hands) or very pointed questions about where he was off to next was met with honest laughter like they were all playing a silly prank on him. Even Scott’s very curt “get out” was met only with a confused chuckle and Mumbo avoiding Scott for several days. Either way, Mumbo never understood that they were trying to kick him out, and since they were all getting along (and Martyn was really starting to like his company) all the rats gave up trying and just decided to become friends with him instead.

Lizzie practically fell in love with him immediately, prone to feeding him treats from her bakery often (when she wasn’t hibernating that is). Tubbo and Jimmy got along with him great these days, pulling him to go on adventures to “help him break out of his shell”, which mostly just led to all three of them screaming as they ran from cats or the humans. Even Owen, who had wanted him gone the moment he saw him had started talking mechanics with him like they were old friends, apparently they both had a knack for it. 

“Did you want a drink?” He asked, taking off the fake beard entirely and setting it aside. He was already pulling out the two glasses. 

Mumbo sat at the bar. “Sure, why not. Whatever you’re having.” 

He nodded and set the glasses down, pouring each with a bit of scotch. He took a slow sip, smiling at the warmth that settled in his stomach. Mumbo copied him, only to choke and sputter, setting the glass down immediately. Martyn laughed at him. 

“That’s strong,” he wheezed. 

“Want water?” 

“No. No. I can handle it,” he tried to wave him off, going to pick his glass back up.

Martyn ignored him and got them both some water, holding the glass directly for Mumbo to take, “It’ll help. Make it taste better too.” 

Mumbo’s hand brushed his as he took the glass, both of them lingering. They both ignored their growing blush as they pulled away. Martyn took a longer sip of his scotch. 

“Y’know, I wasn’t expecting you to stay,” He said softly, swishing his drink side to side. “No one but rats have ever stayed this long.” 

“I didn’t think I was going to stay either,” Mumbo replied, sipping the water, “I wanted to get to know you more. You- You all- I wanted to get to know everyone a bit more. Y’know? Good company you all. Chaotic, reminds me of some old friends.” 

Martyn swallowed, leaning on the bar, “I’m glad you did. I liked getting to know you too. The last few weeks have been really nice, e- especially the time we spent, just the two of us. We should- uh- do that more.” 

He was saying too much. He hadn’t even finished a glass and already had loose lips. It had to be the warm air of the bar, or Mumbo’s ridiculously infectious smile, or the dim twinkling of Christmas lights that was making him say more. (He really had grown soft.)

“You- You look good in that sweater by the way. Red really suits you,” He continued.

“Really? Cause I’m kind of growing partial to the color green these days,” Mumbo said, reaching forward and pushing aside Martyn’s Santa coat a bit to show off his green shirt underneath. The gap between them was growing ever smaller. He rested his arms on the counter, looking up into Martyn’s eyes, “That or the color blue.” 

“Don’t say things like that,” Martyn said, bordering on a whine, carefully leaning closer, “You’re going to make me start thinking things.” 

“What kind of things?” Mumbo asked back. He wasn’t pushing away, though he was looking like he was losing his nerve, “Cause- Cause I was thinking that’d I’d quite like to kiss you.” 

“Well, if that’s the case,” Martyn mumbled as he leaned fully over the bar, eyes slipping shut as Mumbo did the same.

Their lips touched. Martyn could feel Mumbo’s scrunched up nose scrunch even more as he tasted the scotch that lingered on his lips, making him smile into the kiss. Mumbo’s chest shook with the beginning of giggles as he did. 

They pulled apart, just a few inches, a laugh building up in Martyn’s chest, “Should we-” 

“NO WAY!” A voice shouted from the door, making the two of them jump apart. Martyn glanced over just long enough to see it was Tubbo before dropping behind the bar to hide. “Were you- Were you KISSING SANTA?!” 

“Was I-?” Mumbo squeaked, “Now, hold on- Hold on a minute-”

Martyn hurriedly reached for his fake beard, trying to slip it on. Not that he quite had a plan for how to remedy this situation, but he was sure he would think of something.

“You were! You were kissing Santa!” He could hear Tubbo shouting and then, unfortunately, the sound of his paws scurrying away and his voice growing further but nonetheless louder, “RATS! RATS! MUMBO WAS KISSING SANTA!” 

“Oh pants,” Mumbo said, still sitting at the bar. 

Martyn popped his head back up, beard askew on his face, watching the door for a second before looking back to Mumbo. The bat’s whole face was red. He could just barely hear the exclamations of several others outside the bar hearing the news. 

“We’re screwed,” Martyn chuckled, face in his hands to stifle the laughter, “We are so fully screwed.” 

“Pants,” Mumbo repeated, though he was laughing now too, “What are we- What are we going to do, Martyn? They think I’ve gone and kissed Santa!” “We’ll figure it out,” He reassured, once again leaning over the bar, “In the meantime, want to do it again? Kiss Santa?” “Oh, shut it,” He huffed, reaching over to pull the beard down before closing that gap once again. 

The second kiss was just as perfect as the first. 

#martyn inthelittlewood #mumbo jumbo #rats smp #rat martyn #bat mumbo jumbo #rats smp fanfiction #ahasbands #redwood #trafficshipping #mcytblr holiday exchange #mcyt fanfiction #jimmy solidarity #oli orionsound #tubbo #rabbit writes #cw alcohol

[rbbrbikerthorp]

From Work Stressed to Smoking Skinhead

[Initially, I’d intended this to be a one-off story, but the set-up has taken so long that there’s going to have to be a second part. Enjoy!]

I’m Gaz, I’m 31. I’m a skinhead. In the picture you can see what I look like, now that my new m8s have transformed me, and have made me unrecognisable from the person I once was.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Before I forget who I was, let me tell you about how I came to be here. I had a job that some would describe as being a stressful way to earn a living. I was one of those office drones who chased figures every month. As part of my job, I was required to travel, often several times a week; this could be to London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, or where-ever our customers were based. In preference to sitting in traffic on the motorway, taking the train was the stress-free way to travel. It meant I could use the time to check reports or presentations and, on the way, home I’d catch up on any emails that needed dealing with.

So, this one day when my life changed forever, I had a table seat booked on the 6:40am to London, but when I looked at the departure board and saw the word every traveller dreads, ‘cancelled’ was posted against my train. So like dozens of other passengers heading for the capital on that day I was told to catch the next train. When I climbed on board, I realised the train was already very crowded. I’d struggle to get any seat, let alone find a table seat. I walked through three carriages, but there was no empty seats. Just as I was about to accept that I’d be standing in the vestibule, I heard, “Oi, fella...” a voice. Was that aimed at me?

I turned around. “Here fella, the window seat is free”. So, he was talking to me. I was so grateful for the offer of the seat that, other than his shaved head, (which is normal for many guys these days), At this point I hadn’t taken much notice of him. I thanked the shaved headed guy then I got my laptop out of my bag, which I put up on the luggage rack. Then I took off my jacket hung it on the peg next to the window and plonked myself down in the seat. Very quickly I was lost catching up on a report I needed to finish.

As soon as the train departed, I heard the familiar sound of cans being opened and the familiar smell of beer, which wasn’t that appealing at this time of day. “You look really stressed mate. You should have one of these.” 

I looked up watch, it was just after seven in the morning, “er, what?” I asked. It was then that I realised I was looking at a guy with a completely shaved head, wearing what I thought was a black polo shirt and green kind of bomber jacket.

“You heard. Do yer want a can, a beer?” it was a different voice. I looked up from my screen to see another guy with a shaved head. He was holding out a can of beer, one I didn’t recognise. “I’m Sam by the way.” That’s Billy already ‘on the pop’, and this”, pointing at a slightly older looking guy in the other aisle seat, “is Jimmy.”

“Oh, no thanks. I should have been on the earlier train, but it got cancelled. I didn’t think I’d get a seat on this train because it’s so busy. I’ve got a meeting that starts at 9:30 and I’ve got a report to prepare for it.”

Jimmy quickly chirped in, “Come on”, pulling the ring-pull, “that’s over two hours from now, here.” He grabbed my hand and gave me the can.

“No, honestly, it’s very kind of you, but I’ve...”

Sam interrupted, and I looked over at him. “Listen, I can see how stressed you are right now. I can see the sweat on yer top lip. You need to relax or yer gonna blow a fuse. I bet you’ll be talking bollocks all day in the hope of closin’ a sale or summit’. Chill m8, you can surely spare a few minutes to have a beer. And it would show us how much you appreciate us giving you the seat. Now, you know our names, tell us yours.”

Reluctantly, but out of politeness, I accepted the can. and said “Cheers. I’m Gareth  by the way, Gareth Fairburn” Not really sure why I included my surname. They all looked at me as I took my first swig of the beer, and coughed “Wow, that’s got a kick.”

“Yeah, but you’ll get used to it after a few swigs”, said Billy. “I fact I’m pretty sure it’ll be your drink of choice when we’re done with you.”

“You know this is very nice of you...” I said, about to get back to working my report. But before I could look down, I saw Jimmy’s hand reach across and shut the lid on my laptop. I could see letters on the knuckles and there was a bird tattoo on the back of his hand. “C’mon fella, put your work stress aside for a bit and have a natter with us while you sup your beer.” 

Jimmy read me like a book, I was stressed. I was on my way to see a key customer; one that knew how important they were to the business I worked for and would make me jump through hoops to get the contract renewed. I knew I had to finish the report because I’d promised to email it ahead of my meeting. I was thinking about looking for another seat, when Jimmy coughed to get my attention. I looked up at him; He had that rough but good-looking appearance. Until then, I hadn’t noticed the ink on his neck, it looked like some ancient design but I couldn’t really see it properly. It was the first time I noticed the rings in his ears too. He grinned at me. I watched him swig his beer from the can. At that point I knew wasn’t heading off to a stressful meeting. He wouldn’t be selling his soul to get a contract renewed.

Jimmy leaned forward and I could smell his smokey breath. “Right, let me tell you how it’s going to be Gaz, my boi. We’ll take your stress away, but before we can help you need to tell us about who you are and what you do. Got it?” 

Billy belched several times, The belches were so loud and the other people looked up from their laptops and tablets to see where the sound was . He slammed his empty can of beer down on the table in front of me. “So m8 what do you do?”

My heart was pounding; yet suddenly, I felt that a weight lifted from my shoulders. These guys had shown an interest in me. No one normally did that, not my boss, not my customers, not my family. They wanted to help with my stress. So, I took another swig from the can - I wondered whether people really like this taste? Anyway, I began telling them was a commercial development manager.  

“You in sales then Gaz?” Billy interrupted. 

“I guess you could put it that way,” I replied 

“Keep drinking mate, it’ll help yer stress go away for now.” I did as I was told and took another swig from the can Jimmy pulled another one out of the bag and pushed it towards me. “See, we’ve got plenty. And we want to help de-stress our new m8.”

I was about to take another swig of beer when I remember, “...ah, I’ve got to do this report, or I’ll be.”

Sam jumped in. “You’ve got plenty of time.” Like the other two, he had a shaved head, but he also had a gold ring in his nose, when he talked, I could see a stud in his tongue and there were tattoos in multiple places.

“Yeah, Gaz plenty of time to do work boring shit...I bet you work all hours of the day and night. That’s why you get stressed.” 

I was about to say I did, but they spoke first. “Here you are Gaz, you can have another can with us. If you want, we can give you a stress-free life” 

“If only.” I sighed.

“Listen m8, we can make all those worries go away,” Sam was leaning up close to me now. 

I realised I was slurring my speech at this stage, “Please, my name is Gareth. Look, I’ve a lease on my flat, I’ve got car payments to make and I’m running an overdraft right now. I don’t think you can make that go away” I replied, feeling slightly sick at the amount of debt I was funding. 

“Don’t you fret about all of that,” The other two joined in, “let us take charge and your problems will be gone.” 

What could I say to that? So I smiled a knowing smile and thought I’d humour my skinhead m8s. Hemmed in the way I was, I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to. I don’t really remember too much more of the conversation as my three new m8s plied me with beer; but it was me talking and they were listening. At the time I didn’t realise they were that whilst I was taking relatively big gulps of beer, they were only taking small sips from their own cans.

An announcement came on the tannoy to say the next stop would be Doncaster. Jimmy piped up, “Right lads, we’re here. Gaz, get up and we’ll show you how to live stress-free.” Through my haze, I didn’t really know what was going on. Then all of a sudden, I felt someone grab my arm, pulling me out of the seat. I was about to get my stuff when Billy came really close to me and said, “Come on Gaz, we gotta go. Now!” 

“Why do they insist on calling me Gaz?” I wondered

“[Burp] Hang on guys my name’s Gareth, and I’m going to a mee...” I was cut short by Billy again. “You’re meeting has just been cancelled, so you’re gonna be spending the day taking it easy with us. And we’re calling you Gaz, so get used to it. Let’s go.”

“What about my stuff?” I was trying to pull back so that I could grab my bag, coat and laptop. But Billy and Sam pulled me along the carriage. I tried to pull in the opposite direction, the direction of my belongings, but they were too strong for me. I had allowed myself to be marched off the train by two of my three new skinhead m8s who were going to ‘help me’ get rid of all my anxieties. 

Once off the train, I turned around to hear the audible warning that the doors were about to close started, I was watching the train doors slide into the closed position when Jimmy came up to me holding a lit cigarette. 

Blowing the smoke in my face, he spoke with reassured confidence. “The train’s departing and as you watch it leave, think this: with it goes your old life. With it goes all of your stresses and problems.” I watched the train pull out of the station, and he was right, on board were all my possessions, including my wallet and phone. I was about to panic, but Billy and Sam were beside me, holding me. Jimmy offered me a cigarette to which I declined. He came into my face and said, “take it,” he ordered. “It’s the first step to getting rid of all that stress. We’re m8s. If yer m8s smoke, then you smoke!”

I was still under the influence of whatever beer I’d been drinking, so gingerly I took the cigarette, but I didn't know how to hold it. Billy got his lighter out and lit it. “Put it between your lips and start sucking Gaz.” So, I sucked in as the flame touched the end of the cigarette. My fingers, clamped on the little cigarette, which, as you would expect for a novice was poorly positioned in my mouth. The smoke, ashy and light, filled my mouth, made my eyes water. I coughed on every drag, even though I barely inhaled. My three skinhead m8s were beside themselves with laughter. I noticed passengers gathering for the next train, and I heard them comment about smoking being banned in stations, but new m8s didn't care. Once I’d finished the first cigarette, Jimmy handed me another. “Right, here’s what you do. Put the cigarette between your lips. When I light it, gently suck the smoke - nice ‘n’ steady into your lungs.”

I gave it a go and found this time I wasn’t spluttering everywhere. 

Jimmy continued, “now hold the smoke in yer lungs, and breathe in through your mouth.” I did as I was instructed. Jimmy reached into the pocket of his green jacked, as he was pulling out the contents, he said, “these are yours now. If we are going help alleviate you of your work stress you need to get through these. When you’ve finished that one, light up another.”

It wasn’t a request; it was an instruction.

Sam, who’d been talking on his phone during this time chipped in, smiling at me, “nice one m8, you’ll be smoking twenty a day before you know it.” 

I just nodded, not taking much notice of what was going on as I tried to master smoking a cigarette.

Sam turned to the other two skinhead, “Tony said he’s got no appointments this morning and he can be at the studio in ten minutes. It will take us about that long to walk there with Gaz, even in the state he’s in.” 

Hearing my name, piqued my interest in their conversation, “wh... wh. where ere are we going?”

Billy jumped in, “we’re taking you to another m8′s gaff. His work is transformative. In no time at all your work worries will be a faded memory.”

Sam has started sniggering, so had Jimmy, but then he managed to say, “Before we can go to Tony’s studio, we need to stop off with Gaz at the house. Let’s get a move on, we’ve a lot to do.”

#slkinhead #smoking #ranger boots

[my-adhd-gremlin-blog]

JimmyVillainArcJimmyVillainArcJimmyVillain-

I wrote a fic.

It's my time to shine, folks. Nothing makes me happier than to write a bit of angst, and Jimmy's last episode was fuel for my angst fire 🤣.

I think it was in a stream that he said he wanted to fix the gunpowder farm so that he could "blow up the other empires", and you know I just took that and ran with it.

As much as I love Jimmy, though, he's a soggy biscuit and I don't know how well he could pull of a villain arc, so I'm manifesting with this fic, basically🤣.

(I don't usually write fanfiction, let alone share it, it isn't really my style, but Jimmy's villain arc has so much potential for angst that I had to give it a go. It's also been so long since I've been this invested in a fandom, so I actually had fun writing this. Enjoy 😁).

Edit: Whoops! I forgot to put cw: character death/suicide (in the Minecraft sense; they respawn)

____________________________________________

The tiny, mechanical heart thuds in Jimmy's chest as he rises from his bed in Tumble Town. Gem, the pacifist princess, murdered him in cold blood. What made Jimmy a target? Why were they out to get him? Straightening his hat, Sheriff Jimmy set out across the mesa, heading toward the gunpowder farm that they all so loved to tease him for. As per usual, pickings were slim. No matter, he thought, as that was about to change. Even if it took all night, Jim would get what he needed. Enough was enough; it was time to make everyone pay for making him feel so small.

It's game time.

•

Stratos was first. He and the god may have reconciled, but Jimmy hadn't forgotten who made him this way to begin with. No one was safe, not anymore. If he wanted to prove his point, the whole world had to suffer. It was a sunny morning when the Sheriff decided to pop in to visit God Joel. Early rise, just like he was taught. Joel wasn't alone; the goblin and that traitorous princess were with him, making trade deals and small talk. From the sky, they looked like good friends, catching up on the week's events. Friends. The word left a bitter taste in Jimmy's mouth as he soared lower and lower, just catching the end of Joel's conversation with Gem.

   "...dropped Hermes off with Daddy Sausage in Sanctuary last night. They've started asking questions about where babies come from, little tyke."

Gem laughed delicately. When Jimmy landed, no one payed him any attention. He cleared his throat, and the others looked around, unable to identify the source of the noise. Fwhip spotted him first.

"Oh, hey, little fella," he said, too brightly for Jimmy's liking. He crouched down to the toy Sheriff's level, and continued, "What brings you out of Trouble Town today?"

Jimmy said nothing. He just stood there, staring down the people who he once so desperately sought the approval of, feeling nothing at all. Fwhip stepped back, rising back to his full height. He was smirking like nothing was wrong, but when Jimmy was through with them, no one will be laughing.

"I think the Sheriff has gone shy. What's the matter, Jim, all tuckered out from playing with Andy?"

Joel chuckled. "Be careful, Fwhip. You don't want to be on the receiving end of Jimmy's short temper."

"Come on, guys, leave him alone," protested Gem. "It's a long journey to Stratos for a guy so small."

Still, Jimmy did not speak. Instead, he smiled. A smile that the others did not recognise. It was not his usual bright and toothy grin. This smile was cold and emotionless. It did not reach his eyes, and looked completely wrong on his face. The others' face changed, too. Gone was the playfulness, replaced with worry, and just a hint of fear.

"Uh... Jim? You doing alright, buddy?" Joel asked nervously.

"You know we're only teasing you, right?" Gem added.

"Yeah, it's just a joke, pal," said Fwhip.

Jimmy sighed. "That's your problem. You think this is all a joke. You think I'm a joke." His voice was rough and gravelly. It cracked from unshed tears. But Jimmy was not going to cry in front of them. He had too much left to say.

Turning to speak directly to Joel, he said, "You ruined my life, and you laughed. Again and again, you've humiliated me. You gave my son away!" Jimmy bowed his head, and took a deep breath. "All I wanted was respect, for someone to see me for me, not this twisted version of me that you turned me into. I wanted someone to stay." He looked at Fwhip as he spoke that last sentence, but he was thinking about Scar. The man who saw passed the stitches and stuffing, who saw the potential in him and his humble Empire. The world felt a little less lonely when Scar was around, but even he chose to leave him. No one wanted to stay with him, not even his rancher, his Tango.

If the world didn't want him, then he would watch it burn. "I'm so tired of being the butt of everyone's jokes. But I'll be the one having the last laugh. Stratos is rigged to blow."

The other leaders were rendered speechless. This was not the Sheriff they had gotten used to walking all over.

"What do you mean, 'blow'?" Joel asked, slowly.

Jimmy laughed lightly. "So glad you asked, poser. You're all familiar with the Tumble Town gunpowder farm? Well, you should be, you've mocked me for it enough times. That 'pathetic farm' has been working overtime, and has produced me enough TNT that when I light it up, this sham of an Empire will be blasted right out of the sky. If I'm lucky, Chromia will be taken as collateral damage."

The god, usually so strong and unshakeable, looked terrified. He dropped to his knees, and began to plead with the monster he'd created.

"Jimmy, please. I thought we were friends, don't do this. There are innocent people down there."

"Do you really think I care? Did you care about anything you put me through? No, I don't think so. Man, if they could see their god now. Trembling before a toy."

Jimmy pushed back his vest, revealing the stick of dynamite in his holster. He lit his flint and steel, touching it to the fuse. It began to spark immediately.

"I'm not a toy, Joel. Do you hear me? Are you all listening?! I - AM - NOT - A - TOY!"

Each word was laced with venom, and by the time Jim had finished speaking, the fuse had burnt out.

Smallishbeans was blown up by SolidarityGaming

fWhip was blown up by SolidarityGaming

GeminiTay was blown up by SolidarityGaming

SolidarityGaming blew up.

•

That tiny, mechanical heart began to beat again. Jimmy sat up in his bed, satisfaction growing as his actions truly began to sink in with the others.

Stratos was gone, and Tumble Town was as quiet as the grave. Its residents were long gone, not knowing what had become of their Sheriff. Not knowing how damaged he truly was.

Joel would be waking up at spawn by now, scrambling to salvage what was left of his Empire. The goblin and the princess would try to help, but there would be nothing left to save.

One down, eleven to go, Jimmy thought. I think Gobland will be next.

____________________________________________

(Notes: I felt like I had to note that Hermes was not in Stratos while this happened. No demigod children were harmed in the making of this fic 🤣. Also, I don't really know what kind of toy I imagine Jimmy as. I guess something similar to Woody, but if he was human before and was turned into a toy, there has to be working organs in there, right? So I imagined his heart as like, a tiny ticking clock, just in case that wasn't clear. Thanks for reading.)

#empires smp #empires season two #empires smp fanfic #empires smp fanfiction #jimmy solidarity #joel smallishbeans #esmp fwhip #goblin fwhip #geminitay #tw character death #tw su1cide

[theobsessiveloser18]

Daniel was finishing getting ready in the locker room when the cobras arrived

“Well Well Well, look we have here fellas, our little friend Danielle”

Dutch said, entering with the others,Little laughs on the part From Jimmy and Tommy ,to Bobby, the scene is a little amusing but he tries to stay out of it,The black hair felt a little intimidated when he saw them but tried to ignore them.

“What's the matter mommy not here to dress ya”

The boy insisted on that. Johnny appeared behind them, but Daniel did not notice, and he made an effort to continue doing his thing. Dutch got impatient and chose to push Daniel.

"Hey i'm talking huh”

Daniel reacted quickly, putting himself in a combat position in case things got worse. Tommy and Jimmy urged that this be the case

“come on come on make a move”

Luckily for the scared but unwilling to back down Daniel, the referee arrived.

“hey save for the ring come on”

“All rigth” Dutch responded, annoyed that his fun was interrupted but cooperative because he didn't want to be banned from breaking necks.

He looked at Daniel with all the rage and sadism that his eyes could reflect and said

“You know points are no points You're death meat” The boy did not abandon his survival position.

“I said out”

Dutch He left walking backwards, looking intensely at the skinny man, he insisted while the referee He put it away

“dead meat”

He gave a sadistic laugh with Tommy congratulating him with amusement

“I'm gonna go i think he's gonna cry”

they finally disappeared from sight, The boy sat down to recover from the situation but a scream startle him.

Meanwhile

Outside

The cobras came out of the locker room when

“Look where...ahahh For the love of demons duck holandés you stepped on me,I set foot in Los Angeles again and I get run over by A little jar of childhood psychopathy ” The girl complained, jumping on one foot, she slapped the boy on the stomach, who left with indifference but shared the surprised look of the others for 2 seconds.

“Your prostitute came to pick up the pieces we will leave of you little boy” He shouted before leaving

“You rot.Ex-convict,At least you have someone to pick up the pieces that you have outside of your lack of oxygen in childbirth”

She screamed at the top of her lungs, in a matter of micro seconds she was practically being carried by Bobby and Jimmy rushed to hug her, even Tommy effusively ruffled her hair as a welcome.

“leave me, leave me” screech

“You arrived just in time” Bobby commented

“Yes, but to see my boy, it can't be that not even 5 minutes before the competition they can stop flirting with him” They looked at you indignantly “Don't make those faces at me,I'm glad to see you but there are priorities” you said, feigning indifference, but halfway there you couldn't bear it and you went back to hug the short blondes.

“No mercy guys...oh and in case Daniel finds out, I never said that I'm glad to see you."

said walking back saying goodbye and when you were sad because you were missing one of your favorites you bumped into him.

They both smiled enthusiastically, you nodded in greeting and he spoke a little shyly.

“hey”

“Isn't there a hug for me? You asked, opening your arms. He smiled tenderly.

“A special one was saved for you.” They hugged for long seconds. When he finished, they looked into each other's eyes.

“I can't believe you're here”

“I wouldn't miss any of my favorite boys events even if they are rivals, and I may have to fill buckets with several kilos of blood”

“it's not that big of a deal”

“You say?"

“Well,” looking down a little guiltily, he leaned from one side to the other with his hands in his pockets. He looked really adorable.

“Hey, as much as I adore you, there's someone inside That he deserves to be greeted, you understand, right?” He sighed tiredly.

“No, but I accept it.”

“That's enough for me.” You stood on your tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Remember, I love you. Give those fans an injury!!!.”

“ 'Your boy' is part of them,” he said half seriously and half jokingly

“then forget what I just said”

“I'll stick with 'I love you' ” You smiled at him before disappearing through the locker room.

...

Where is my favorite yersey?”

You asked, seeing him on a bench in the background, his eyes shone, he smiled in disbelief and he ran to hug you, he even made you spin around in the air.

“They're going to break his arms from so many hugs.”

“Who else will you Hug?" You laughed innocently

“well Ali and Mr Miyagi, skinny guy.”

They talked for a few minutes, long enough for the bad taste from a while ago to disappear, they called the competitors through the microphone, before you left he asked you

“If I heard your voice in the hallway, why did it take you so long to show up?”

“It's easy to get lost among so many idiots, crazy-onic,”

you teased him, and finally left the dressing room with a single thought.'Pinocchio was stupid next to you' they pulled you to a door and closed it

"I could have screamed, great muscle"

"but how did you not do it, everything is going according to plan" you rolled your eyes His shined “I have a question”

“You should be there by now”

“If you answer quickly I can leave quickly” he replied, amused

“well, I don't want you to be disqualified without having been able to leave black eyes”

“How long are you leaving to stay?”

“Not much, I'll most likely leave tomorrow at noon, so I'll stay the night with the loser(s) and the morning with the winner(s)”

“You should“You should stay with the winner most of the time” you gave him your offended expression that always made him laugh

“a bit arrogant gentleman” he raised his shoulders with a guilty smile .“Actually I wanted to stay longer but…”

“You were late, I know”

“You know me” you said, feigning surprise, he came closer, staying centimeters from your face.

“I do, thank you for coming even for a few hours, you are just what I needed to ensure my Victory” He held your hips and kissed you. You placed your arms on his neck.

"I hope you're not thinking of me as a lucky charm because I hate that."

"Don't worry, baby."He grabbed you by the waist and spun you around, you both enjoyed the moment, you took him by the hand and you managed to get him out of the closet

“I love you too y/n”

he said before going to the boys and their sensei, You snuck into the stands, he looked at you one last time before it was the cobras' turn, you gave him your best smile.

-He didn't know it at the time, but maybe later he would regret suggesting that you would spend most of your time with the winner.-

Someone give me the cobra closet

Curio Data

Y/N calls Dutch 'Duck Holandés' Because dutch is similar to duck (I once called him that by accident and it amused him how angry he got) and in Spanish Dutch means holandes (It has nothing to do with it but it seems striking)

Crazy-noid is a combination of crazy and paranoid to refer to Daniel in a short way.

Pd:I wanted to put Johnny's gif in 'headcanons trying to study being Johnny Lawrence's girlfriend' but I couldn't find it and it wasn't until now that I put Dutch's gif in cobra Kai to Place the gif in the dressing rooms, which appeared to me

Status: Offended

#karate kid 1984 #daniel larusso #Johnny Lawrence #Daniel larusso young #young johnny lawrence #Dutch karate kid #bobby brown #Bobby Brown karate kid #Tommy Karate Kid #jimmy karate kid #mencion Mr Miyagi #mencion ali Mills #Please ignore a teenager's obsession with being with Johnny Lawrence

[popculturebuffet]

Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space Retrospective: Moai Better Blues (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy freelance police and welcome back to my look at the sam and max telltale games! We're onto season 2 episode 2. After a little christmas in august we're having a science fiction double feature for halloween as this review ended up behind due to a new member of the family.

This is Maddie. She's 5, she's precious, she's very loud , and she's very attached to me.

But even new fluffy good girls with spangly collars can't stop the march of sam and max.

Following up from our heroes adventures in the north pole, this ep finds our heroes dealing with an adventure that's weird even by sam and max standards. And I want to let that sink in because we spent last season stopping a child star hynosis crime ring, starring in a one episode sitcom with a british chicken don knotts, inflitrating a mafia chuck e cheese, running for president against a horny lincoln memorial, murdering the internet and finally facing down with a sentient plankton colony via psychic powers and magic tricks on the moon. And that's not even getting into that guy who would never put his hands down. What was his deal?

So what lies in the greatest mountain of sam and max madness? Stoned Moai, triangular portals, sea monkeys, ghost godlfish, baby jimmy hoffa and horny statue love triangles. So join me under the cut for the madness.

We open with our heroes returning from the North Pole a month after the previous game, with it now snowing, providing a nice atmosphere to things. Before they can get back to the usual banter some fresh nonsense comes in: A triangle chasing their beloved friend Sybil.

It has a neat design too, red, pulsating with lines... it's an excellent triangle all things considered. B+

At any rate we need to stop it, so we go to the wisest sage for weird shit there is: Bosco. It's a nice way to keep him still useful while not having him be one of your item guys. Bosco is getting ready to bunker down from T.H.E.M.

But tells our hero their new foe is a bermuda triangle, an eldtirch shape that sucks people up to another place, and can only be stopped with most of the shapes. Most.. never come into play and are just for a good joke, like blue polyheadrons making them really want to roll them dice and maybe start a live play with a dungeon master with long hair and the voice of god.

The important one is red hexagons stop them.. and the game was REALLY unhelpful with this one. I did have my hints flavor blasted up to the maximum max could do without bursting a kidney.. but he just kept saying the shape and outright told me to go back to the office.. where it entirely wasn't. WE do have a new trophy though, boxing betty. So.. that's nice?

The solution lies in Stinky's diner, where i'd gone earlier since the Cops can't do buisness over the sound of screaming. Amateurs. Stinky can though even with the racket outisde and gives us a granite sandwitch that i'm pretty sure just.. sat in my inventory all chapter. Seriously you don't relaly use it for anything even when you think it'd be obvious like replacing a stone max's ear, and it's more just to set up getting a basalt sandwich from her later. It's on the kid's menu only though.

She is useful in that she has a stop sign for you and with some spray paint from your headquaters, you can make it deep red. Before we go though another beloved supporting character makes a cameo: Flint Paper. I just love how despite being grizzly and willing to beat up random strangers for money, as are we, Flint just.. cheerfully greets our heroes with a hey fellas every time. He's just so happy to see our heroes and they have a deep genuine admiration for him. Like with Sybil in the first episodes, it's nice to see someone our heroes actually like and unlike Sybil, it's nice to see there's at least one person they haven't traumtized. Yet. He's watching Bosco for Bosco's Mom who'se understandably worried about her son because you know, his whole deal.

For now though we go to stop the triangle in the name of love... only for hilariously this all to be mostly pointless as once Sybil stops, Abe shows up , gets sucked in and she goes after him. It's off to Easter Island!

Turns out Sybil and Lincoln are fine and are just enjoying the nice weather. Once again.. this is a dead end puzzle wise as the two are just there to move their subplot along. Unlike the sandwich though, it's at least entertaning.. and mildly creepy as Abe perves on one of the moai present.

Why the bermuda triangle lead to easter island.. is not something we'll be getting into here. What matters is the moai see sam and max as their savior. Well the middle one, a kindly lady moai abe's creeping ion, is. The left one has half his face buried and is contstantly upset, projecting storm clouds when pissed off that are naturally useful, and the right one is

And is largely useless, mostly just sniping at you.

Each has a power of the elements: Rain for the buried one, wind for the nice one and earth for the pedantic douchebag. The fire one was sadly was scattered to the winds long ago, but he did leave behind a son at least to carry on his legacy

At any rate before we can use the powers of nature itself for fun and profit, we have some problems: As it turns out the nearbye volcano is about to erupt and murder them all due to some understandable but tragic errors

Problem is someone's guarding his lair... and if you haven't played the game yourself, I warn you: You are not remotely ready. I sure wasn't. So whose in our heroes way? Why it's Jimmy HOffa in the body of a baby!

Yeah... look I love Sam and Max for being so gloriously weird. Weird as hell is one of my faviorite kinds of humor as long as their's direction behind the chaos. But It's still easily the biggest what the fuck moment the franchise has thrown me so far and that's with this happening last chapter

Granted I got spoiled there is some sort of payoff to the Mariachis via a thumbnail, and there is some actual logic behind this.. but even for this franchise "Jimmy Hoffa whose in the body of an infant because he drank too much from the fountain of youth pointing a gun at yoU" is a bit much. And more to the point they NEVER explain why he's working for the episodes big bad.

I.. can't help but love it though BECAUSE it's such a uniquely stupid swing: they had this idea, found a way to have it logically make sense and then put it in the game in full, all while giving us a ton of great jokes as Sam cannot ressit teasing him on the fact he's a baby.

We'll deal with this teamster later, for now we meet the other rugrats on this island: Amelia Earheart, DB Cooper, and The LIndburgh Baby... .

Their mostly here to set up a surfboarding mini game which frustrated me. It's not the game itself, it's a fun enough little distraction if fairly hard to get the analogue controls down on my switch version. It felt like the kind of browser game i'd play as a kid.

My annoyance.. is that the game dosne't tell you that you get nothing for it until you've triggered the right story event. So I went through the whole thing for nothing. Thankfully I also enabled mini game skipping.... I still will TRY not to use it often as these are part of the game and thus need to be evaluated as much as the point and click parts, but in this case i'd already done the actual task so when it asked me to again. As for why again, the trick to getting rid of our little friend involves serving him a drink, using a tiki glass you can pick up at the bar those dumb babies are at. But he'll only take union waitstaff, so you have to play the game to get cerfitied by him. IT makes about as much sense as it sounds. Ah back to normal for this franchise.

To actually do anything though we need some fountain of youth water unfortunately there's something in it

So to take care of them we have to complete a few other tasks

First is the COPS. As i'm guessing is standard for every chapter,we have another driving VR Game from them, this time a fun rythum based one with the beats going as you drive on them. THey thought it'd change the world.. those poor dumb bastards. It's clearly a jab at guitar hero, but it's a decent challenge while still being a lot of fun.

With that we get a car horn and that's the key to our next puzzle: We need to help Glenn Miller, a wwII era band leader whose also now a baby, stage his comback by giving him that new sound he's been looking for. Since the horn plays i've been workin on the railroad, it's just the ticket. He just needs a whistle sound, which you easily get by dumping some gasoline disguised as a drink into a nearbye fire, setting off a tea kettle. He gives you a conch with the single recorded on it. Apparently The Bermuda Triangles also visited skypeia.

Using the dial, we can finally solve our pirahana puzzle.. in theory. In practice it's utterly frustrating if you can't figure out the trick, not helped by Max CONSITENTLY telling me to use the thunder storm moai.

Breaking it down: using the glen miller dial conch, you play it for the nice moai, which gets her whistling. Now when you tick off her half buried friend next to you, which naturally max does with ease and maybe too much glee.. in fact i'm starting a " Going to Hell For This" counter, for each time we ruin someone's life, torture them or what have you to progress, or just for funzies, as we did it a LOT last season and so far have done it a lot. Now I"ll make acceptions for say outright villians or people who deserve it. And even then it'/s about proportions. For example, pelting the soda poppers with urine and bleach? Acceptable, their the soda poppers. Need I say more. But even if Jimmy Two Teeth sucks a LOTTT, nearly driving him to unalive himself is a bit much, not helped by Max's reaction essentially being

He certainly thought it hard enough. So we'll count that one, still keeping leonard hostage after almost a year, sending santa to hell (even if he was possesed), and not bothering to actually help save christmas. So going into this episode we have

Things We're Going To To Hell For: 4 And we can add from this episode taunting that poor moai.

Things We're Going to Hell Fort: 5

So I assumed both from the hint ONLY mentoing the moai , who creates a little storm cloud when uspet and the wind we were supposed to blow it at jimmy hoffa. Instead... it does nothing. It just dissipates if blown too far and never gets near him. Instead we use the portals, which are frustrating as the game makes it clear the two near the entrance are connected.. but dosen't make it clear EVERY portal is connected this way.

The solution is to open one by the fountain of youth, then open another next to the underground moai, have the good moai blow the cloud and boom, a LOT of dead pirhanas and a free fountain of youth. Also

Things We're Going To Hell For: 6

And with that we can use the glass to scoop some up, give it to hoffa... and blink him out of existance. THings We're Going To Hell For: Still 6 (He Deserved It Yo) It's REALLY sad when killing someone by making them age themselves out of existance isn't the worst thing we've done today. Or even this month.

This event also moves along Sybil's subplot for the season and who boy. Strap yourselves in because I haven't seen a character nosedive this fast in many moons. So the whole episode, Abe and Sybil have been picnicking, only doing that on Abe's suggestion.. and only so he can oggle the middle good moai. Yeah after several episodes of at worst being out of touch and mildly annoying.. abe's somehow lept straight to the bottom and is perving on someone right in front of his girlfriend and THEN asks her to have plastic surgery to look more like the moai.

Sybil runs off in tears.. and SOMEHOW, SOMEHOW, this gets worse... as Abe THEN tries to hit on the moai. To her credit she shoots him down fast and we get a great response out of him, a casual "that's fair". So he's still funny he's just WAY more of an asshat. I mean granted we just committed two murders in a row, so i'd SAY we can't judge.. but those murders were to save a LOT of lives from death and were of a bunch of fish and a murderous infant man.

Anyways with this we enter our final puzzle set, continuing from the formula laid out last time. Sadly.. they also fall into a fairly trite, terrible stereotype. It's forgivable enough for the time.. but it's still pretty tone deaf. I can't blame them for fixing it as unlike the various lines corrected for save the world, this is a large part of the plot and thus really coudn't be futzed with.. but it's still not great.

Okay so for our final stretch our heroes run into your standard tone deaf "the natives are stupid and belivie anything is their god" plot only this time it's sea monkeys.

Yeah.. they.. really coudl've thought this one out a bit more. We have to convince them max is their god/chosen one/whatever instead, in order to replace an old advesary: Mr. Spatula, sam and max's goldfish whose mad he's died and thus is willing to take an island with him. Now you may recall, even if I didn't name him last time, he died. And he did. THIS IS HIS GHOST.

So to prove ourselves we have to do three tasks. The first is easy and I stumbled into accidently: We have to make the water into BANANG!, an energy drink powder bosco happens to have a lot of.

To get it away from him, we have to torment him.. again. This time we simply radio in, claim to be THEM

And Bosco goes deeper underground, there's too much panic in this town. So we got the powder.. but we also traumtized a friend for life so

Things We're Going To Hell For: 7

Next is adding an ear to a rock formation that looks like max. Once again the sandwitch is useless.. except as a clue. We finally need that basalt sandwitch for kidz, so it's time to use the fountain of youth water on ourselves.. and ONCE AGAIN the game gets frustrating as you transform back very fast from drinking it. The trick is to use a gong I honestly forgot about in Stinky's diner max reminded me of. I can't tell if I just suck at adventure games or this is poor level design.

Anyways we get the Basalt and get a really funnys equence with douchecanoe moai as it turns out dude just needed to blaze it and basalt gets moai REALLY good and fucked up. With that he casually laughs and dislodges a stalctite we use to finish the max.

We then finish this section. The stone feet of the buried moai are needed to anoit us. Also yes they have hands and arms stuck in there. We simply use the shell again, this time on a portal next to the best moai , she whistles, he taps his toes and we win. Kinda.

Problem is the island's still errupting with Mr Spatula planning to take us with it. The only way to stop it? Some clever puzzlery. We get a high preist medallion from the Sea Monkeys, dip it in some red slime, then shoot the triangle, using the portals to send the red triangle through it , eating the lava.. and presumibly murdering someone but we won't worry about that. Our ride home is gone though but Abe offers a lift while the moai celebrate.. before being sad they can't move. Then their abducted by what seems to be aliens!

Moai Better Blues... is a very mixed bag. The writing as usual is hilarious, and while it's a very

Sort of chapter, it's a FUNNY sort of what the fuck is this, from the various babies, to the black comedy shenanigans as usual, to our heroes riding out on Lincoln's head. It continues episode 1's mean streak, but the weirder setting and more over the top weird black comedy bits like unexistinsing hoffa help it feel far less opressive than last time. The deaths and what we do to bosco are way more over the top. Even abe and sybil's breakup, acompained by the mysterious maraichi's, is more funny than genuinely sad. I DO feel bad for Sybil, but abe is such a dick and he gets karmically punished for it as the moai lady SHARPLY rejects him, multiple times if you want, and he looses Sybil.

Gameplay wise.. it's a lot more obtuse. A lot more relying either on memory (Which isn't good for me but is at least fair) or hoping you figure it out and with most of the max clues being way less helpful. It's a pretty meh chapter all things considered and hopefully as we get spooky next time, we also get back to our quality. Speaking of which

Next Time: VAMPIRES! Just in time for the season. And since it's the 2000's their angsty emo eurotrash vampires! Oh BoY! Thanks for reading!

#sam and max #sam and max beyond time and space #sam x ma #sybil pandemik #abraham lincoln #jimmy hoffa #db cooper #amelia earhart #bosco #c.o.p.s. #video games #telltale games #skunkape games

[empires-au-ideas]

Main Sausage’s Tavern people:

Sausage: Ran away from his village after the king went mad, he found a place to build and built a place where people could go if they needed to.

Jimmy: Was trying to find a place to re-build after the last server he was in got blown up by a criminal, he swore to protect those who come to live in the town.

Shelby: Got lost on her way to where she was sent by the Witches Academy and found Sausage’s Tavern. She decided that since her Academy was incredibly corrupt, she’d stay and build here. Her shop, Magical Makes, is Sausage’s Tavern’s supplier for magical items.

Katherine: Got exiled by her home SMP, Glimmergrove, when she turned of age so she could survive in her own due to her being cursed. She goes adventuring from time-to-time, but mostly works as a seamstress for anybody who needs it.

Scott: Just a wandering fella who decided to settle down after he caught feelings for a certain bartender and Sheriff.

Fwhip: Goblin who looks up to the Sheriff… a lot. Unfortunately, in this AU, goblins have weird ways of showing that they look up to people. Like shrines. Fwhip has  a shrine underground his house for the Sheriff, which is a little concerning but hey! Nobodies found it yet!

Gem: The younger sibling to a corrupt now-queen who exiled her. She’s still in denial so she likes to be called Princess Gem and tried to build a castle but Sausage wouldn’t allow that so she settled for a house. She tends to animals :)

False: Fell through the roof of Sausage’s Tavern with zero memory of where she came from. She attempted to pay for damages done to the roof but Sausage wouldn’t let her and said “Accidents happen, no big deal!” False is very confused.

Joel: A god who is smitten with Sausage and enjoys toying (No pun intended) with Jimmy / the Sheriff.

Lizzie: A cat-human on the run from hybrid hunters. Sausage’s Tavern is the only place she feels comfortable enough to take off her human disguise.

Joey: Got stranded after his ship got destroyed from a fight and his left arm had to be amputated, reluctantly built a house due to not being able to set sail until he gets a water-proof prosthetic arm.

Pixlriffs: Archeologist who was exploring for a place to live, settled near Sausage’s Tavern.

Oli: Much like False, he fell through Sausage’s Tavern’s roof. He didn’t know how he has gotten there but that’s all he had forgotten. Sausage told him he’s probably a dimension hopper and then asked if he needed anything to eat or drink. He lives in one of the Tavern’s rooms as he’s still building his house.

That’s all! Any more questions about this AU?

Sausage after two people fall through his roof: this is fine.

This is so cool! I really like Gem and Joey's story. And oh GOSH what happened to Jimmy's server. Like hello????

I love close knit communities in fiction, love this au already! Is it just shenanigans or is it plot?

#empires smp s2 #sausages tavern au #ask: au add on #poppygirlytreb00t

[energylifeamazon]

Mary j blige be without you lyrics and video

Amazon MP3 Download Bonus Track) Whole Lotta Love (From Re-release International Edition) Each Tear (feat. Amazon MP3 Download Bonus Track) Gonna Make It (U.S. (buy at ) Tonight The One Said And Done Good Love I Feel Good I Am Each Tear I Love U (Yes I Du) We Got Hood Love Kitchen In The Morning Color (From "Precious" Soundtrack) Stay (U.S. Wrong Why Love A Woman Irreversible (US Deluxe Edition Bonus Track) Empty Prayers Need Someone The Living Proof (From "The Help" Soundtrack) Miss Me With That (US Deluxe Edition Bonus Track) Someone To Love Me (MJB Naked Remix) (US/UK Deluxe Edition Bonus Track) Get It Right (US/UK iTunes Store Bonus Track) You Want This (UK Edition Additional Track) From the Album Stronger with Each Tear (2009)

(buy at ) Feel Inside Next Level Ain't Nobody 25/8 Don't Mind No Condition Mr. (buy at ) Little Drummer Boy Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas My Favorite Things This Christmas The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer When You Wish Upon A Star Mary, Did You Know Do You Hear What I Hear? Petit Papa Noël The First Noel Noche De Paz (Silent Night) From the Album My Life II: The Journey Continues (2011) (buy at ) A Night To Remember Vegas Nights Moment Of Love See That Boy Again Wonderful Kiss And Make Up Suitcase All Fun And Games Propose From the Album A Mary Christmas (2013) That was a great one-two punch in the history of R&B.Therapy Doubt Not Loving You When You're Gone Right Now My Loving Long Hard Look Whole Damn Year Nobody But You Pick Me Up Follow Worth My Time From the Soundtrack Think Like A Man Too (2014) “Be Without You” came right on the heels as Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” was dying down, so I’m proud of that accomplishment. And of course, the Grammy wins were just icing on the cake. When she hit that note at the end, it’s like “Woah, we got one!” It came out crazy and the rest was history! I knew it was going to be a hit, but not at the level that it went on to become. I wasn’t in the studio with her, but I remember hearing it for the first time. He went in to do additional touch-ups and produced Mary’s vocals. But I remember hearing the stories about Ron Fair vouching for the record.

I don’t think Jimmy Iovine was sure about putting the record out as a single. I hate saying all my hits came quick, but “Be Without You” was like a 20 minute session. I got a question for ya (See, I already know the answer) But still I wanna ask you, will you lie? (No) Make me cry? (No) Do somethin' behind my back and then try to cover it up? Well, neither would I, baby My love is on the up and up (Yes) I'll be faithful (Yes) I'm for real (Yes) And with us you'll always know the deal We've been too strong for too long And I can't be without you, baby (Oh) And I'll be waitin' up until you get home 'Cause I can't sleep without you, baby (Oh, oh) If anybody who's ever loved you know just what I feel Too hard to fake it, nothin' can replace it Call the radio if you just can't be without your baby, yeah See, this is real talk, I'ma always stay (No matter what) Good or bad (Thick and thin) Right or wrong (All day, every day, hey) Now if you're down on love or don't believe this ain't for you (No, this ain't for you) And if you got it deep in your heart And deep down you know that it's true (Come on, come on, come on) Well, let me see you put your hands up (Hands up) Fellas, tell your lady she's the one Fellas, tell your lady she's the one Oh, put your hands up (Hands up) Ladies, let him know he's got you locked Look him right in his eyes and tell himĪgain, Chris Higgs made a connection with her husband Kendu Isaacs at the time.

#Mary j blige be without you lyrics and video

[dreaminginsteadofsleeping42]

I just watched the episode of Downton Abbey where my favourite character dies with the knowledge that my OTHER favourite character dies a few episodes later. Why

#downton abbey #katie come hold me #and what's the deal with this jimmy fella

[riacte]

Dogwarts / 3rd Life Cheat Sheet for MCC 15 Purple Pandas

Ren and Martyn were buddies in Season 1 of the 3rd Life SMP and they are an alliance known as the Renchanting duo/ Kingdom of Dogwarts. Now they’re finally teamed up, and the 3rd Life SMP members have a habit of referring to 3rd Life in MCC. The Ren-Martyn fandom also talks about Dogwarts a lot. If you have no idea what is a Dogwarts and why people love them, no fear! This post will try to explain it in simple terms.

3rd Life SMP is a SMP started by Grian. Season 1 has 14 members (roughly half are hermits, other half are friends of the hermits. You can find the full list in the description of Ren’s 3rd Life videos.) Everyone on the server has three lives— the first life symbolised by green names, second by yellow names, third by red names. If you lose all three lives, you permadie. Green names and yellow names are not allowed to be hostile unless they were attacked first, but the goal of red names is to kill everyone on the server. The three lives are also symbolised by three hearts, like this:

(Fun fact: Because of the green-yellow-red colours, the subtwt for 3rd Life is called traffictwt after traffic lights. The 3rd Life tumblr fandom is occasionally referred to as trafficblr.)

3rd Lifers record every week for three hours at the same time with proximity chat. The server has a small border to encourage interaction. They are eight sessions in total, and they’re all cut into YouTube episodes (no streams!), so it’s fairly bingeable.

So what’s the deal with Martyn and Ren?

Ren decided to set up an enchanting shop during the first session. Martyn was wandering around and having fun scaring people with creeper noises until he came to Ren’s enchanting shop. Martyn then used Ren’s enchanting service without paying (essentially a robbery), but Ren let Martyn go on the condition Martyn would act as a walking free advertisement. Martyn agreed, and they became business partners. Martyn actually coined the name Renchanting and its motto “Don’t be a Dog, be a God”. Ren named Martyn as his “marketing manager” (which sounds a little like Martynmanager).

True to his word, Martyn went around and spread the good news of Renchanting to everyone. Martyn brought business to Renchanting, and when Ren was being threatened by customers (who harassed Ren into lower his prices/ giving out enchantments for free), Martyn acted defensive of Ren and even said Ren was being “bullied”. Ren was being taken advantage of because he was too nice. (Martyn did do some stuff not related to Ren, but since this is a Dogwarts cheat sheet I won’t be mentioning that.)

Then came GoodTimesWithScar. The main “villain” to Renchanting, if you will.

Basically, Scar was playing the role of a cartoon villain. He scammed people out of their armour and possessions, and eventually found his way to Renchanting. At that point, Martyn and Ren were loyal to each other. Scar asked for Ren’s enchanting table. In return, when Scar turned red, he would not kill Ren and Martyn. Ren appeared to be torn, but due to Martyn depending on him and the business, he refused Scar’s offer (“you can’t take the enchanting out of Renchanting!”). Scar also acted condescending to Martyn (Martyn was seen as Ren’s “minion”). So Ren and Martyn were officially on Scar’s kill list, but Ren did not regret it.

At some point, Ren got tired of people walking into his store and stepping all over him, so he built high walls around the Renchanting building. Everyone (including Renchanting themselves) broke through the walls, and this was a running gag. Ren declared himself king by wearing the crown he got from MCC9 Blue Bats.

Note: Ren was kind, and it was the cruel world that forced Ren to be defensive. Other POVs paint them as the villain but Dogwarts enthusiasts will say that is not the case AT ALL.

Time passed. Scar turned red. He and his buddy Grian set up traps at Renchanting, and one blew up Ren and a bunch of other people. Ren, now a yellow name, was furious, but could not get his revenge because yellow names were not allowed to hurt other players. So naturally, Ren decided to become a red.

Ren renamed an axe to “RED WINTER IS COMING” and gave it to Martyn to chop his head off. (There’s some dramatic roleplay here, highly recommend a watch.) Martyn painfully did, and the message “Red Winter is Coming” was shown in the chat, which told everyone that Ren meant business. To test Martyn’s loyalty, Ren told Martyn he could kill him if he wanted to. Ren, freshly respawned and without armour, punched Martyn. Martyn, as a green name, could attack Ren due to Ren attacking first. However, Martyn did not kill Ren, and dramatically declared Ren was the one who showed him life, and thus he would return the favour.

So Ren was known as the Red King (with grey skin, bloodied MCC crown, and a Scottish/pirate accent). Martyn became known as the King’s Hand, and called Ren “my lord” “my liege”. Later, Martyn acquired an outfit with a cloak and a red hand on the back of the cloak, which is now used to symbolise Martyn.

They established the Kingdom of Dogwarts (after Hogwarts and the enchanting/magic gimmick) to find more allies (notable ones include Ethoslab and Skizzleman). Allies could stick a Red Banner in their base to show loyalty, members were called Red Knights / Red Army.

A Red Banner (the design is supposed to be blood dripping down):

Without spoiling too much, Ren and Martyn remained loyal to each other till the very end. They were very dramatic (even jokingly called homoerotic by some lmao) and had many hardcore quotes, and are highly beloved. They are the most dramatic and RP intensive group on the server. So people want Dogwarts, the king and his hand, together again.

A small sample of quotes that might be referenced:

I think going red next week is in my fate. It’s in my cards. There will be blood, for this. A king cannot be king without war. (Ren)

I won’t do it! You took me in when I was a lowly traveller, goin’ across the lands, searchin’ the four corners of this world. I learned that there was nothing in this world for me. Nothing but walls, corners, edges. And you know what? You showed me life. As much as I’ve taken it from you, you gave it back to me in bucket fulls. and I just- I’m with you. This is us now. This is us. (Martyn)

If we're going to survive the Red Winter, we gotta do it together, laddies. Hand in hand. Rotten hand in hand of the living. To the end! (Ren)

It’s just the world versus us. (Martyn)

(Note: Dogwarts refers to the group of people allied with Ren and Martyn, including Etho and Skizzleman. Renchanting duo refers to Ren and Martyn ONLY)

Other references:

Joel notably screamed “THE RED KING DIES TONIGHT, FELLAS!” with a crowd of wolves following him

Dogwarts killed Grian and Scar’s llama Pizza because Scar stole a Red Banner

Jimmy and Scott were flower husbands. Jimmy thought Renchanting was going to sacrifice Scott.

Everyone else in MCC (Grian, Scott, Jimmy, Joel) were enemies with Dogwarts

The 3rd Lifers reference 3rd Life a lot despite it being over. Martyn even fought for Dogwarts in MCC14 and MCCP but failed. Haha.

The fandom commonly refers to Purple15 as King (Ren), Queen (False), Ace (Illumina), and Joker/Hand (Martyn) after playing cards.

This is it, I am tired, this is probably too long but I feel I skipped a lot of details. If anyone has anything to add or correct, feel free to do so. Also, I’m pretty certain this won’t appear in the tags, so please reblog! Thank you, and Red Winter is Coming.

(I might add a reblog detailing False’s very much fanon involvement in Dogwarts, and why everyone was so hyped for Renchanting + False.)

#3rd life smp #3rdlifesmp #mcyt #mcc #purple pandas #falsesymmetry #rendog #illuminahd #inthelittlewood #ria.txt #dogwarts #renchanting #long post #pls rb im sure this isnt in the tags lol

[tatestripedsweater]

How the Evan’s react to you getting them a puppy/dog - Requested by Anon

Tate isn’t a dog person as he prefers the calmness that kittens bring, but if you got him a puppy it would most likely be a breed that is known for its calm personality and not a hyper one. You would peep in on him and find Tate talking to the dog about all of his worries, it being like a sort of therapy to him that helps him get his emotions out without hurting anything or anyone. 

Kit hasn’t ever had a dog before, not even as a child so when he saw you walk in the house with one his inner child came out. He has always wanted a dog and Kit would spend every moment of his day with the animal, you can 100% guarantee that he would take the dog to work for company and would give the dog his own toy wrench to act as if he was a ‘worker’ there. 

Pre-Death Kyle would honestly cry as soon as the puppy poked its little head out of the box, holding the puppy in his hands he wouldn’t be able to stop smiling. You’d find the puppy fast asleep on his chest a few hours later, Kyle had nodded off as well, so you ended up putting a blanket over the both of them. Post-Death/Franken Kyle wouldn’t know how to even react, due to what happened with the other dog you had to be careful. You or anyone else wouldn’t leave him alone with the dog just for the safety of the animal. 

You would most likely get Jimmy a dog with some sort of deformity that no one wanted to adopt at the shelter, but Jimmy loved the dog no matter what and would even include the dog in his juggling act, teaching them to catch the balls in midair to get more people to buy the tickets to the Freak show. 

James treated his hotel like his own child so as soon as you placed the dog into his arms he wouldn’t know how to react to the situation, as soon as the dog licked his face a look of shock was on his face due to him not experiencing something like this before. He would tell you his worries about the dog soiling the carpet and walls of the hotel but when you gave him the puppy dog eyes he gave in, you caught the dog sitting behind James as he was killing someone and in the moment he called the dog ‘little fella’. 

As a small joke you would end up getting him a red haired dog, so the two were ‘matching’, Rory would show off the dog on social media and even end up making a social media account for them. He would bring the dog with him when he was away filming for a series or film, the dog even got a few parts in the filming itself. 

Edward isn’t an animal person so as soon as he saw the dog run into the house panic would set in on if he had locked the door to his art room, he wouldn’t be too happy with having a dog in the house, and he would most likely get someone to build an outdoor kennel or even keep the dog on a chain outside. That was until you sneaked the dog inside, and he found the two of you curled up in the bed, him complaining there were no dog hairs on the sheets. 

Kai would try to show he wasn’t that bothered with you buying him a dog but in actual fact inside he was screaming with excitement, the dog would most likely come to him to campaigns or rallies. Kai would also end up teaching the dog to attack his enemies or anyone that would disrespect him or you with one command word. ‘Attack’’ 

Gallant would already have so many dogs in his house that he almost didn’t recognize the new addition until he started counting the dogs to make sure they were all safe inside and the numbers didn’t add up. He is the type of guy to adopt all the dogs in the shelter, not caring about the mess, that was his own Nan’s problem to deal with anyway.  

Peter is a hyper dog so when he saw the puppy run into his room the sound he made wasn’t even human, it sounded like an inhuman squeak which ended up making the dog jump. He is the type of guy to get the dog a matching silver jacket, you’d walk in on Peter with the dog with matching outfits on to which he would call the dog his sidekick.

#American horror story #x men #tate langdon #kit walker #Kyle Spencer #Jimmy darling #james march #rory monahan #Edward Mott #kai anderson #Peter Maximoff

[tightlaces]

Fire Hazards: Chapter 2

Fic Summary: Eren gets involved with a sketchy crowd, so Mikasa swoops in to save him, yet again. At least…that’s what she thinks she’s doing.

Genre: Modern grunge AU

Pairings: Mikasa/Annie, Mikasa/Eren

Chapter Summary: Mikasa meets Eren’s new friends.

Chapter Warnings: None

Chapter Word Count: 1,100

(<---previous chapter)

In this house, they didn’t so much eat dinner together as scavenge with increasing intensity as the night grew later. Mikasa watched from her perch on the arm of a couch that had seen better days as Bertholdt whipped up something, bustling around the kitchen and living room to fish ingredients out of unlikely locations like behind a stack of art supplies piled on the floor. Eren munched on an assortment of chips stowed around the house.

Bertholdt was indeed very nice, but difficult to hold a conversation with. Mikasa attempted to ask the typical getting-to-know-you questions, but Bertholdt reacted with surprise and apparent shyness. Instead, they didn’t talk, which was perfectly fine with Mikasa.

“Don’t worry,” Eren said. “He’s better when Reiner’s around.”

True enough, when Reiner came home around 11 PM, Bertholdt brightened up and relaxed. They watched music videos together, and Bertholdt soon brought out a steaming pot of chicken soup, placing it directly on the coffee table with no protection.

“Enjoy!” announced Bertholdt. “It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, and all organic.”

Eren poured Mikasa a bowl, which did indeed smell delicious and comforting, and also…

“Oh, I should have said!” said Bertholdt. “That has weed in it. Like, a large amount.”

“This smells so good, but I don’t think I can,” said Mikasa, putting the bowl down. “I get drug tested at work.”

“Bertholdt does too,” Reiner chimed in. “He’ll get fired if he doesn’t have enough marijuana in his system.”

“Pretty much,” said Bertholdt, laughing. “It’s in the Jimmy’s mission statement.”

Mikasa knew Jimmy’s, a sandwich shop tucked into an alleyway off a busy street downtown. The sandwiches were actually very good, but she never felt comfortable lingering in the alley.

“That’s right, Mikasa,” said Eren. “We know a Jimmy’s man now. Start thinking of what you want to order.”

“We really made it, huh?” Reiner reflected, letting out a satisfied sigh and propping his feet up on an orphaned end table with only two-and-a-half legs. “Got the Jimmy’s connect. Might as well retire.”

“Hey, hey,” said Bertholdt, blushing. “Guys…”

“Jimmy’s is great,” Mikasa affirmed, settling back to play spectator to friendly banter.

Although the house was clearly unsafe and unclean, and she could never approve of it as an environment for Eren, Mikasa had to admit the guys were very nice and welcoming. After nearly a week of staying with them, she could see that Reiner and Bertholdt were clearly supportive of one another, maybe even too supportive.

Although she still did not understand how Reiner, the ambitious young businessman she’d met a year ago, came to be here. He worked in transportation logistics for an importer, down by the port, and spent a good deal of time networking on the side. His oft-reiterated dream was to transition into a sector with high growth, and eventually start his own company. Mikasa thought he must have the financial resources and connections to live somewhere...well, better.

“Mikasa,” said Reiner, slinging a friendly hand over her shoulder to give her a hearty pat. “It’s been good to see you again. Remind me, how long do we have the pleasure for?”

“Just another two weeks,” Mikasa said, giving Eren a regretful glance. “I’m using my annual leave to see Eren before his school year starts.” And to make sure it starts, she thought.

“Then back to, what, fighting wildfires?” asked Reiner.

“Wow!” exclaimed Bertholdt.

“Cleaning up after them,” said Mikasa lightly and vaguely, hoping to avoid taking the topic further. The gruesome details didn’t bother her, but she tried to avoid sharing them with normal people.

“So you, like, evacuate the bodies?” asked Bertholdt.

Mikasa was caught off guard for a moment by his unabashed interest, her eyes widening, but recovered quickly. “Yes. For wildfires, we have a separate team of firefighters. My team goes in after the fire is cleared. We flag down paramedics for anyone that is still alive, and we also try to get a mortality count.”

“That’s cool,” said Reiner. “You ever get caught in a surprise fire situation?”

“Yes,” said Mikasa. Memories of what should have been panic came to her, panic that was tamped down by years of training and transformed into cold, lightning-quick analysis. The sudden heat flaring up out of nowhere, making her skin crackle. Running so fast and so urgently, it felt like she was standing still while the world rotated beneath her.

“How’d you get into that job?” asked Bertholdt. “I’m thinking of leaving Jimmy’s.” Reiner and Eren shared a pointed look, which Mikasa inferred to mean that Bertholdt had been thinking of leaving Jimmy’s for a long time.

“You can do it a lot of ways, but I served in the military,” Mikasa answered. Reiner reacted to that information, his gaze on her sharpening, but Mikasa could not quite identify why. Maybe he had been in the military, too; it would make sense with his build and self-presentation. Mikasa was about to ask more, when -

“Hey,” said Annie, appearing in the entryway between the kitchen and the living room. Unlike Eren’s other two housemates, Mikasa had not gotten to know Annie at all, only catching glimpses of the blonde woman coming and going. Annie spent a lot of time either out of the house, or alone in her room; since her room was attached to the back door, it was impossible to tell which.

“Annie!” said Bertholdt happily.

“To what do we owe the pleasure?” asked Reiner, then commenting to Mikasa, “Annie’s like Santa: she shows up once a year, eats our food, and leaves.”

“Bullshit,” Annie retorted, sitting on the second couch, catty-corner to Mikasa. She gestured to the half-empty six-pack on the table. “Is the beer for sharing?”

“Uh, Annie,” said Eren nervously, handing her a bottle. “This is Mikasa, my girlfriend. I mentioned she’s staying for a couple of weeks.”

“Oh,” said Annie, her gaze falling on Mikasa for the first time, uninterested. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” said Mikasa, not meaning it.

“So, fellas,” said Annie. The room went quiet when she spoke, just as all eyes had turned to her when she made her entrance. Annie seemed to be the kind of person who commanded charisma without doing anything in particular, perhaps even more so when she was unfriendly. Annie grabbed the remote. “What’ll it be tonight? Soccer replays? Music videos? Movie reviews?”

Annie’s eyes fell on Mikasa again. “Mikasa, right? You’re the guest. What do you want?” It should have been welcoming, even polite, but instead, Annie’s words felt like a challenge.

Mikasa shrugged, looking at Eren. “Soccer,” Eren said, so they settled in to watch soccer.

#fanfic #fanfiction #snk #shingeki no kyokin #shingeki no kyoujin #attack on titan #aot #mikaanie #mikannie #mikasa akerman #annie leonhart

[shadoedseptmbr]

silly holiday prompt

This is a series of very specific in jokes for my Shepard and her background and I very much doubt anyone else is gonna think it’s funny but I have amused myself -thoroughly- in the writing. Holiday Fluff Prompt: Carols

Sing Along

Considering...Well everything, it had been surprising when, as competitive as she was, Shepard could keep up with them on the “Who Knew Which Christmas Carol” game they idly started tossing back and forth as the fire drew them into the living room and the evening got quieter.  

More than half the crew didn’t celebrate, of course, but a few old songs had jumped the threshold and become popular winter background music, even in Citadel space.  EDI was, of course, disqualified but Joker had known a number of fairly unusual songs, thanks to a dedication to scanning the old broadcast waves that they came across, now and again. Jack, James, and Steve had given up six songs in and were competitively tossing cards into a green sculpture and critiquing the various singing abilities. 

But Aedan knew all of them -some with multiple verses- and some Kaidan was positive people were making up to throw her. 

Finally, Garrus tossed out, after scanning the extranet somewhat desperately, “Let All Mortal Flesh? That can’t be a real song about a celebration, seriously.” And Kaidan had to agree with him, there was no way that was a real song...

“Sure…” She hummed a minute and sang the first six lines, in her low, rich alto and Glyph picked up the tune and played on as she continued to hum along.  “Okay, I have to admit, don’t remember the whole thing.  Wasn’t that popular with the Sisters.”

Miranda, who had been quite happily into her third sparkly red drink, looked up, startled.

“Shepard…?”

“Hmm?” Something in the look on Miranda’s face made Aedan grin, sharkishly and Kaidan focused in on it. “Yeah, Miranda?”

“Are...Are you Catholic?” 

Kaidan could feel her shaking with repressed laughter, tucked in against him. “I mean, I haven’t been to confession since I was twelve, but yeah.  Raised in a Roman Catholic orphanage, did my first Communion in the little white dress and all.”

Miranda’s lovely eyes were huge and she wobbled a little as she stood up and dramatically waved her glass, sloshing some of the concoction onto the wood look flooring. “Oh, my god.”  

“I mean, technically MY god, but- yeah?”

“OH, my god.”

Aedan was absolutely cackling. 

Kaidan wondered what exactly was in that cocktail but he knew perfectly well that Aedan wasn’t drunk on a beer and half a highball of pie flavored whisky EDI had insisted they all try. Maybe it was a mission thing, but a glance at the other crew members from the Collector mission told him they were just as baffled. “What…Okay, let the rest of us in on the joke?” 

After a breath or two, Aedan calmed down enough to explain. “It’s not actually funny. It’s just...Cerberus assassinated a pope- the head of the religion, kind of a big deal,” she explained to Garrus and Tali.  “Specifically, the pope who was seated when I was Catholic.”

Jacob groaned and Jack showered them with a flurry of cards as the others laughed.

Miranda had flopped down to the sofa and was covering her face with her hands.  “I cannot believe...did we do anything right with you?”

“Aw, Miri.  Well, I mean...this works pretty well.” Aedan waved a hand at her body. “That one freckle is still off to the left a little, but other than that I’m not complaining.”  She crooked a half grin at Kaidan, “You don’t seem to mind the freckle, anyway.”

“I had not actually noticed said freckle but I’m not gonna complain either.”

“You always were the smartest fella.”  She winked at him as she sipped her beer.

“Lola…”

“You’re fine, Jimmy.”  She rolled her eyes.  “Anyway. I win. Unless one of you can sing more than one verse of “Resonet in Laudibus.”

#sept writes #holiday fluff prompts #carols #aedan shepard

[deadlynightshade-and-hyacinth]

I’m Gonna Crawl

Chapter 3  

The limo took us to Boston Garden. Peter and I entered the building through the back door to avoid the small and ever-increasing crowd already gathering at the front of the venue for tonight’s concert. We padded through the corridor, reaching the heart of the concert hall where a staggering number of roadies stood going over tonight’s agenda.  

I searched the crowd, looking for familiar faces and spotted Robert in the middle of the group looking slightly puzzled. He met my gaze and grinned, waving the roadies off, he bounded toward me.  

“My darling girl, California.” He bared his teeth in a goofy smile. “May I call you that?” He reminded me of an overly friendly puppy, tail wagging, eyes wide and excited.  

“You know, Cali is short for something else.” I hadn’t used my full name in years. Most people didn’t know it, not even Daniel. I wasn’t a fan of my name, everyone since birth had called me Cali for short and who was I to stop them.  

“Do tell.” He said charmingly.  

I smiled. “You know it’s been so long I can’t seem to remember.” I teased.  

He raised an eyebrow and I gave him a condescending smile to let him know I wasn’t going to fold. He opened his mouth to ask but I shook my head so he gave up and changed the subject. “I heard you got Pagey quite drunk.” He nudged my arm playfully.  

“I believe Mr. Page was drunk before I met with him.” I stated to which he gave me a look that implied he had figured as much. “He’s quite the handful.” I added.  

“Ah, well yes, he can be. Don’t judge too harshly though.” His brows furrowed. “We’ve been touring awhile. Gets harder the longer we go. He’s usually rather quite shy actually.” He shrugged.  

“He didn’t seem shy to me.” I raised my eyebrows.  

Robert laughed. “The liquor. It gives him confidence.”  

“Confidence is one word for it. I’d say it makes him act like a cocky little asshole.”  

He let out a boisterous howl. “Yes, I can agree. But to be truthful, if that’s okay?” I nodded. “Hair of the dog.” He paused. “He’s drunk because he doesn’t want to deal with the inevitable hangover and you caught him off guard and at the wrong time. That drunk fool you’ve seen isn’t all he is.” He laughed once. “Alcohol and a beautiful woman are all it takes to drudge that pesky little demon you’ve met out of him.” He pinched one of my runaway hairs and tucked it behind my ear. “A very beautiful woman.”  

“Are you coming on to me, Robert?” I teased.  

His toothy grin beamed. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He looked back over at the group of people surrounding the couches. “James has been brooding in the corner since he got here. I know his moods and what brings them on. So, no I’m not and will not be coming onto you… No matter how much I want to.” He winked.  

“You ready Robert?” Jonesy padded his way over to us. “Cali” He nodded softly; his smile timid.  

“California.” Robert corrected him with a goofy grin.  

Jonesy raised his eyebrows, panic and blush rising in his Adonis face. “Is that your name? I’m terribly sorry. I must have misheard you earlier.”  

“No Jones.” Robert rolled his eyes. “It’s her new nickname.” He stated with childlike pride.  

“Aren’t nicknames supposed to be shorter than the person’s actual name?” Jonesy raised an eyebrow.  

“I don’t know John. Isn’t your nickname longer than your real name? Even Bonzo’s is longer.” Robert said matter-of-factly.  

“Touché.” Jones agreed. “Jimmy’s getting restless.” He pointed his thumb behind him. “Why is he sulking?”  

Robert gave a hearty laugh. “A pretty bird has his panties in a twist.” He winked at me.  

I looked over and saw that Jimmy was watching us, a sharp look in his eye.  

“Aye, you’re ‘ere!” Bonzo came bounding behind me, scooped me up in his bear-like embrace.

I gasped, “John! You scared me.”  

“I like this one. Heard you gave the princess a run for his money.” His deafening laugh boomed in my ear. He set me back down and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Say, you got any of that Mary-Jane you were smoking earlier?” He wagged his eyebrows.  

“I’m afraid I left it in my luggage. You can certainly have your way with it when we get back to the plane.” I looked up into his eyes and suddenly felt at peace. “You know you’re a very warm person.” I smiled up at him.  

“Uh-oh Page better buckle up or Bonzo here’s gonna steal his woman.” Robert mocked.  

I shook my head at him and looked down at my feet. “I’m sorry to break it to you boys but I’m already taken.” I regretted saying it the moment the words left my lips, it felt like a lie. When I looked back up Jimmy was standing behind Robert and Jonesy, his gaze on me, something dark flickering in his eyes.  

“That’s a terrible shame for us!” Robert beamed. “He’s a lucky fella.”  

“Let’s go.” Jimmy muttered impatiently before turning around and heading for the stage.  

“Jesus!” Bonzo breathed. He dropped his arm from my shoulders and gave me a face like he was in trouble. “Duty calls.”  

They all waved, Robert pecked my cheek then followed Jimmy. Peter was standing with the roadies who weren’t busy and motioned for me to join him. “Gentleman, this is Cali. She’ll be working with us for the next week or so. Don’t bother her, don’t pester her, be gentlemen.” He gave them a look that indicated what would happen if he were disobeyed. “Now get to work, for fuck sake.”  

“Aye, Peter!” A man wrapped in cords by the stage called for him.  

“Excuse me, Cali.” Peter sighed, irritated and left.  

“So, you’re Cali.” A tall domineering man came up to me. “Richard.” He held his hand out to meet mine. “I’m the road manager. I take care of the boys and make sure they get everything they want.”  

“Pleased to meet you.” I forced a smile despite the eerie feeling I got from him.  

“Peter has asked me to make sure you’re comfortable and have everything you need.” He seemed occupied with something else. “Anything you need?”  

“Actually, I was wondering if there was a phone I could use.”  

His eyes flashed with something I couldn’t quite catch. “Follow me.” He turned and sauntered down a hall passing by multiple dressing room doors. He finally stopped at one and opened the door. “There’s a phone in there you can use. Don’t be too long. The boys shouldn’t be long with rehearsal.”  

He turned on his heels and sauntered back down the corridor. I closed the door behind me, fumbling to find the light switch. I looked over the room, it was obviously in use by one of the band members. Hanging in an open-faced closet was a black velvet suit. I fingered the material, curious. Patches and sequins placed in precarious places creating flowers, dragons, planets, – Saturn to be precise – and odd embroidered symbols. Instantly Jimmy’s face flashed in my mind like a parasite.  

I shook him out of my head and padded toward the phone. I picked it off the receiver and held it to my ear. I took a deep breath and dialed the number. It rang twice before someone answered.  

“Hello?” It wasn’t Daniel. It was his roommate, Craig. I internally cringed. Craig had always given off a creepy vibe. He was almost always around and always had the urge to put his opinion into conversations he wasn’t supposed to be a part of.  

“Hey, Craig.” I sighed. “Is Daniel there?”  

“Cali! So, you finally decided to call. Daniel’s not very happy with you. You know–”  

“Is he there?” I cut him off. He always tried to insert himself and it pissed me off.  

“No.” Was all he said.  

“Well can you tell me when he will be there?”  

“Well I could, or you could just leave a message for him and I’ll have him call you when he’s available.”  

I leaned against the counter the phone cradle resided on and exhaled a long breath, closing my eyes. “Just tell him I’ll call later.”  

“You know he’s been hurting.” He pressed.  

“Hurting?” My tone was incredulous. “You’re kidding me, right?”  

“Hey, hey. No need to shoot the messenger.”  

“Tell Daniel I’ll try him later. I’m busy.” I gave up.  

“Busy huh?” He made an unnecessary noise with his lips. “He told me what you’re doing… Shame, shame.”  

“Oh, fuck off, Craig.” I slammed the phone back on its cradle. “Fuck!” I yelled.  

“Now whose panties are in a twist?” I whirred around, frightened by the unexpected voice and there he was, leaning in the doorway, his eyes full of wonder but his lips smirking.  

“I don’t have the patience for you right now, Mr. Page.” I pushed myself off the counter.  

He narrowed his eyes at me and folded his arms against his chest. “You’re in my room.”  

“My apologies.” I mimicked his grimace and pushed past him through the doorway.  

He grabbed a hold of my wrist and pulled me with force into him until his lips were brushing against my ear. My skin danced with electricity where he touched me. “I find you back in here and I won’t be such a gentleman.” He moved his lips away and supported my eyes with his. The deep emerald of his iris’s stunning.  

I opened my mouth to speak but before I could he let go of my wrist and disappeared into the dressing room, closing the door in my face.  

“What the fuck?’ I breathed.  

*

“What’s on your mind?” Jonesy lightly touched my forearm bringing me out of my reverie.  

“It’s nothing.” I shook my head and smiled at him.  

Robert, Jonesy and I had taken one of the limos back to the plane for an early supper before the show. I hadn’t seen Jimmy since he had closed the dressing room door in my face but I couldn’t stop thinking about his fingers wrapped around my wrist. I touched my arm where they once were and sighed.  

“You haven’t touched your food.” Robert pressed. “Are you sure it’s nothing?”  

I looked up at him and forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m sorry, my mind is just elsewhere at the moment.”  

“Aye California! You ready to break into the good stuff?” John yelled from the doorway of the dining room wagging his eyebrows. He entered the room, Jimmy trailing along behind him, a dark cloud over his head.  

“Yes! I almost forgot.” I jumped up from my seat and padded into the other room where My luggage had been left. As I rummaged through my clothes, I overheard the boys in the other room.

“What did you do, Jimmy?” Robert murmured.  

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Per-.” Jimmy answered, his voice raw.  

“She was fine until-” Robert started.

“I didn’t do anything.” Jimmy cut him off. “Her phone call must have set her off. She left the room after she hung up.”  

“Shh.” I heard Jonesy. “You’re both acting like school girls.”  

I grabbed the cigarette box that held a handful of pre-rolled joints and joined the boys in the other room. “Here you go, John.”  

“Bonzo.” He corrected me. He opened the case and passed me a joint. “Ladies first.”  

I took the joint and placed it between my lips, running my hands over my pockets looking for my lighter.

“Here.”  

I looked up and Jimmy was standing in front of me, his lighter lit under the joint. He watched me as I inhaled, his eyes burning into mine. He dropped his gaze and a shiver went down my spine. I exhaled the smoke and looked at him. “Thanks.” He nodded in response. I passed the joint to Bonzo and excused myself.  

Feeling slightly dazed by Jimmy's oddly kind gesture, I walked out of the plane and descended the steps. When I was on solid ground I looked up to the sky and closed my eyes. I took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled.  

“Am I under your skin yet?” He breathed in my ear; I hadn’t heard him approach me.  

My eyes shot open and I turned. Jimmy swiftly stepped back and smiled; his eyes blank.  

“No.” I said too quickly.  

His face twisted into an amused leer. He bit his lower lip and looked me up and down. “Come.” He closed the space between us until our chests were nearly touching, his hand hovering over my hip, sending electric shocks through every inch of my skin. “Take the car with me.” He nodded toward the limo behind me, his eyes never leaving mine.  

His chaotic charm had me frozen. I opened my mouth but couldn’t - to his delight - form words. He bit his lip again then grinned. “Breathe, love.” He winked and pressed his hand on my hip, wrapping his fingers around me firmly.  

I took in a breath. “Jame-”  

“Aye, California!” Bonzo yelled.  

Jimmy took his hand off my hip and took a firm step back just as Bonzo exited the plane door.  

“This is some amazing shit!” He bounded down the stairs. “Why’d you leave?”  

“Just needed some air.” I smiled.  

“You too, Pagey boy?” He wagged his eyebrows at Jimmy.  

Jimmy gave Bonzo an unimpressed look. “I’m heading to the venue. Cali agreed to come with me.” He smiled slyly. “Didn’t you?” He shot me a look. Just as I was about to protest, he added. “To use the phone there of course. You did say you needed to call… Daniel… was it?”  

How much of my conversation with Craig did he hear? I narrowed my eyes slightly and faked a smile. “Of course. I’ll see you there.” I nodded to Bonzo and turned on my heels. Jimmy ran ahead of me and held the car door open for me. I hopped in and scooched to the farthest seat. Jimmy got in and closed the door.  

“Do you have a clinical issue with mood swings or are you just deranged?” I was exasperated by the three different personalities of his that seemed to pop up unannounced.  

He rolled his eyes and ignored my question. “Boston Garden.” He murmured to the driver. As the car started moving, he slid across the seat until his shoulder touched mine. He turned his head toward me, his eyes staring forward. “I will have you.” He stated quietly.  

I sighed loudly, irritated. “You won’t.” I looked beside him and nodded my head. “There’s a whole seat beside you, please move.”  

“You’re suddenly so sure of yourself.” His hand moved to my knee.  

“I’m still sure of myself.” His hand started moving up, his fingers soft as feathers along the inside of my thigh. “Remove your hand.” My breath hitched to his amusement.  

He turned his face now to look at me. “Are you sure?” His fingers stopped moving and pressed the pads of his fingers into my skin. He leaned in closer, his lips brushed against my cheek, a finger on his other hand pulling my chin toward him until his lips hovered over mine. “Should I stop?” His warm breath made me tremble. I started to turn my face away but he traced a finger along my jaw and pulled me back into his gaze. “Tell me you want me.” He whispered.  

It felt like my body was trying to jump out of my skin and latch onto him. I could feel my core throbbing but fought the urge to plunge into him. “I can’t.” I breathed, barely audible. “No.”  

The car came to a stop. Startled out of his trance I looked out the window, we were outside the stadium. I turned back to Jimmy who grabbed my chin softly and held me in his gaze once more. He brushed his thumb along my lower lip. His eyes were suddenly warm, his gaze almost somber. “I…” He trailed off, staring at my lips. He leaned in once more to kiss me.  

I backed away from him. He looked up into my eyes, his, filled with the harsh sting of rejection. “No.” I whispered before leaving the vehicle and disappearing into the venue without him.  

I raced through the halls, my head swimming, my lungs unable to hold the air I breathed. When I had run far enough away, I stopped and leaned my back against the wall. I slid down and sat on the floor clutching my head in my hands.  

My head was loud and aching. I couldn’t fathom my slight attraction to the man who so clearly was childlike in pursuit of someone who didn’t want him, someone who turned him down. Rejection must be something he rarely experienced. I was more irritated with myself than him. People are who they are. You can’t expect someone to be a fictionalized version you created. You have to let people be who they choose to be, however much you may not approve of their choice.  

But why if I clearly had a distaste for his multiple personalities, was I electrically charged when he touched me, why did I want his lips so close to mine. I sighed heavily, my head growing louder and overwhelmingly hard to keep quiet.  

“God, I need a drink.” I whispered to myself.  

“I can help you with that.” I opened my eyes and Richard was looking down at me with a big grin. “Come.” He held his hand out to me. I extended mine to his and let him pull me off the floor.  

“Thanks.” I followed him down the hall to the backstage that Peter had brought me to earlier that day. Richard guided me to the bar and poured me a glass of whisky.  

“Jimmy said you liked it.” He held the glass out to me.  

I could feel my cheeks starting to flush at his name and internally kicked myself for letting him get me worked up. I was here to do a job and that’s all I wanted out of this adventure. Richard noticed my blush and the corner of his lips twitched. “Be careful.” He murmured ominously before turning and vanishing into a new crowd of people.  

I sighed laboriously before I tipped the glass to my lips and took a sip. The burning liquid felt warm and soothing going down. I smiled against the glass and took another sip.  

“Not chugging the bottle this time?” Jimmy bumped my shoulder as he coldly walked by. I watched him walk toward a group of young girls who immediately started fawning over him and to the surprise of a thin brunette he grabbed her hip, turned his head in my direction, making eye contact with me, he gave me a hard condescending smile before taking the girl toward the dressing rooms.  

“Classy.” I shook my head. As I watched him recede from view, my heart fell into my stomach and I hated myself for having the feeling. I clenched my jaw and shook my head. I looked down at the glass in my hand, “Fuck it.” I shrugged and consumed the contents in the glass before pouring another one. I drank the whole glass again, feeling it swirling in my blood and twirling in my head.  

“Whoa slow down, little girl.” Robert gave me a worried smile. “Did you get a hold of your man?” He shimmied his shoulders as he said it.  

“No, I haven’t tried yet. It’s not a big deal. It can wait.” I swayed slightly on my feet but balanced myself out again.    

Robert noticed and took the empty glass from my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me.  

“Come with me, little lady.” His voice was light and playful. He brought me down the same hallway Jimmy had taken the other girl down. I could feel my body tightening up, my muscles trying to make me run in the other direction.  

We stopped in front of the dressing room door right beside Jimmy’s. As I looked at the closed door my legs started to give out. “Whoa, California.” Robert said loudly, startled as he caught me and pulled me back up. He held me so our chests were touching, his arms firmly around my waist. I looked up at his face, his warm smile so sweet and his blue eyes deeper than the ocean.  

“You’re very beautiful, did you know that?” I slightly slurred. Robert’s laugh chimed like a melody.  

Suddenly the other dressing room door flung open and Jimmy came out beaming until he saw us. He stood there silently, his mouth agape, brows furrowed.  

The alcohol rippled in my veins with confidence. I smiled and put my hand on Robert’s dressing room door knob. “Excuse us.” I opened the door and pulled Robert’s confused face into the room, closing the door behind us and locking it. I leaned against the door; my eyes widened in horror at what I had just done. It was childish and petty to say the least. “I’m so sorry.” I whispered to Robert.  

“He’s going to think we’re in here having a quick shag. He’s going to have my head, you know that, right?” Robert chided me but a guilty smile played on the edges of his lips. “The look on his face was quite funny though.” He sat down on the couch and patted to the spot next to him. “I suppose I don’t need to ask what’s going on now. I believe I know what’s been plaguing you.”  

I sat beside him and rested my head on his arm. “I don’t know if I can do this.” I admitted. “It’s been less than a day and I’m already a disaster.”  

“Don’t give up now.” He started petting my hair. “Give your man a ring, it will make you feel better.”

“I think it might make everything worse.” I confessed.  

“How so, love?” He turned his head to look at me.  

I sat up and closed my eyes, unable to meet his gaze. “A week ago, I caught Daniel with another woman. And I haven’t had a real or peaceful conversation with him since. I haven’t even had a real or peaceful day since it happened. I let it muddle everything up.”  

“Is your love with Daniel real?” He asked.  

I was taken aback. I took a moment to ponder his question. “I don’t know anymore.” I sighed. “I guess we never really had a great relationship. Most of the time we hated each other but I can’t seem to let go, even though a big part of me really wants to. Needs to.”  

Robert nodded his head, taking everything in. “Maybe this job is what you need.  

This time away from everything and everyone to really see where your priorities and your heart should be.” He took a deep breath. “And Jimmy, obviously you have an attraction to him otherwise you wouldn’t be in here with me trying to make the bastard go mad… my advice on that would be, my darling, to either ignore him, keep him far in the back of your mind… or to let nature take its course.” He pinched my chin between his finger and thumb.  

“Beautiful man.” I smiled gratefully at him.  

“You flatter me.” He feigned modesty.  

A thunderous bang on the door made both of us jump. “Let’s go, Plant.” Jimmy growled.  

Robert looked at me wide-eyed and laughed. “You gonna be alright, love?”  

I smiled. “I think so.”  

“Good.” He took my hand and pulled me out of the dressing room. The hall was empty. “I guess Jimmy left. Despite your efforts to make him believe you were going to have your way with me, for the sake of my friendship I think I need to tell him I didn’t shag his girl.”

I laughed. “Not his girl. But yes, go save yourself. I’ll make my way there eventually.”  

He smiled sweetly, kissed my cheek and disappeared down the hall.  

I stood in the hall for a moment in front of Jimmy’s door. Without control of my actions I turned the knob and slowly opened the door. I peeked inside, the room was empty except for his clothes strewn across the couch, his black velvet suit still hanging in the closet.  

“Show time.” I took a deep breath, gathered my emotions and threw them into the depths of myself and walked away. I spun around to leave and there he was, standing in the doorway again, clad in white wide-legged pants and a tight black t-shirt, the words ‘Rock N’ Roll’ written across his chest, his demeanor different, supercilious and uplifted.  

“I told you if I found you in here again, I wouldn��t be a gentleman.” He smirked at me, having obviously been informed by Robert that nothing had happened between us.  

“Honestly, I don’t believe you could be a gentleman if you tried.” I attempted to stride past him but he grabbed my hand roughly. “No.” I pulled my hand back as hard as I could, my skin where his fingers were burned as where his tight grip was. I kept walking, not daring to look back.

“You’ll come back.” He yelled behind me.  

I kept walking until I reached the bar table. I could feel his presence in the room. I peeked over and watched him take his guitar from a roadie and head to the stage. I foolishly focused all of my attention on him as he wandered by and elicited a wink from him before he disappeared on to the blackened stage.  

I turned to the liquor and started pouring myself a drink.  

“He just sat there. Wouldn’t even look at me. He just sat there and stared at the door.” I looked over and the brunette James had hauled away to his dressing room was sobbing into a handkerchief. “He heard someone in the hall, went out to see and then came back in and kicked me out. I don’t know what I did wrong.” She sobbed louder.  

I couldn’t help myself. “It’s for the best,” I murmured to the girl and patted her shoulder as I walked by. “the man’s got a nasty disease… trust me you don’t want it.” The girls all made disgusted faces. As I walked away, I fought a smile and turned and headed for the side of the stage.  

I leaned myself against an amp, drink in hand and gazed at the stage.  

“Cali.” Richard nodded, watching the band. “You seem to be in better spirits.” He remarked, still looking forward.  

“I am.” I smiled. I watched the men onstage, collecting as much insight on them as I could. They seemed to be themselves onstage, Robert, graceful, poised, gallant and wise, Jonesy, quiet, shy and unbelievably warm, Bonzo, loud and chaotic and James, a mysterious, cunning and ominous enigma. There was something dark about him, not just his moods, not the odd chunk of his personality I had been exposed to but something else, something I couldn’t figure out.  

#jimmy page #led zeppelin #robert plant #john bonham #john paul jones #jimjam #how-many-more-times-blog #jimmy page fanfiction #led zeppelin fanfiction #jimmy page fan fic #jimmy page fanfic #led zeppelin fanfic #im gonna crawl #chapter 3

[namfine]

Motherlode | Namjoon x Reader | Gold Rush AU | Part 1

❂ pairing: Kim Namjoon x Reader

❂ word count: 5k

❂ summary: Following the death of your father in 1849, you travel across the United States in search of finding gold in California. There you stumble upon a young geology professor eager to find his way in the world as well. 

❂ tags: 18+, smut, virgin reader, first time sex, oral sex (fem receiving), foreplay, light dirty talk, falling in love, mutual feelings, gold rush au, time period au, alternate universe, outdoor sex? (they’re in a tent so?), smut with plot

❂ part: 1 of 2

Part 2

❂ a/n: Hello everyone, Admin Zesty here! This is the first in a two part series of a new alternate universe set in the California Gold Rush with our dearest Namjoon. I’ll update this and post the next chapter when it’s finished. Hope you enjoy!

- ☆.｡.:* Zesty .｡.:*☆

The sunrises out here really were beautiful. That gave you something to look forward to each day, at least. You urged your horse forward, eager to catch up to the rest of the caravan. It was just a few more miles until you reached the border of California and then a bit more to reach the American River. You had made it. For the first time in a long time, you felt a glimmer of hope.

The trek across America had been harder than you expected. You had been so overcome with grief from the death of your father that you had leapt at the opportunity to find riches in the unexplored west after James Marshall found that massive gold nugget. New York had nothing for you now, it’s only purpose serving as a stark reminder that you had no one left in the world to look out for you. Only mean neighbors who trusted your bookshop owning father on his peculiar way of raising a young lady.

“I do oppose young ladies learning how to read, it’s quite unbecoming.”

“If you keep encouraging those debates, Mr. Y/L/N, you’re going to raise her to have a mind of her own!”

“Ugh, did you see what Y/N was wearing around the store the other evening? Pantaloons!”

You shoved down the memories. Yes, leaving New York after the death of your father had been surprisingly easy.

The sun finally tipped over the horizon and flashed in your eyes. You pulled down your cap, careful to keep your hair tucked under it in an effort to block the sun. It was dangerous for a single young lady without a male relative or husband to travel alone. With no known family left, you had done the only thing you knew to avoid it: became a boy.

As a boy you were inconspicuous, you could easily slide under the radar. Men stopped paying attention to you and the streets were safer at night. Your last night in New York all it took was a pair of scissors and a quick raid of your father’s closet and you were ready to go. But now, five months into the journey, your hair was starting to get long again and you knew your face well enough to know that if you didn’t pin your hair, it would soon be easy to tell. You had lost your knife a few months back and sorely felt the loss.

“How are the pains?” A soft voice drew you from your thoughts and you turned to see the minister’s wife astride her sorrel mare beside you. As one of the few women in the group, she had the ability to move quietly when she needed to. She was older than you and had a kind face. Her and her husband were heading to California to spread the gospel of the lord and had been kind enough to let you tag along with their group on the journey. Most of which were practicers of religion or men hoping to find riches for their families. The caravan totaled to about 25 people and of them all, she was the only one that knew you were a girl.

She’d figured it out quickly, given the fact that your period the first month on the road had been brutal. She had recognized your pain, offered you some herbs, and didn’t ask any questions.

When you offered an explanation later, stating how you wanted the opportunity and safety only a man’s appearance could offer, she said you didn’t need to explain. That your reasonings were your own and she understood what would happen if you were discovered. Of the freedom that could be taken from you and the things that could be forced upon you in an instant.

And that was that. Your companionship had grown from there, simple but welcomed.

“They’re better,” you respond. “Thank you for the herbs.”

The woman smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Have you figured out what you’re going to do when you get there?”

You tightened your resolve and flashed her a smile. “I’m gonna kick the West’s ass.”

***

It turns out, the West’s ass didn’t want to be kicked. By the time you had reached the base on the American River parts of your group had dwindled down. The minister and his wife stayed with you and the other panners for a few days before continuing on their journey to San Francisco leaving you, for the first time on this journey, completely and utterly alone.

The base was huge, an expedition set up by a mean old man who called himself The Warden. What his real name was, no one knew. You had that in common with him at least, having kept your true name secret to all who you’d encountered.

It was now, standing in his massive tent surrounded by his men, that the sinking feeling of being a woman in disguise in a camp filled with rascals settled in. If any one were to discover you, god knows what would happen.

“How old are you anyway, boy?” The warden asked. He was standing behind his desk. On it was a map of the American with circles indicating where gold had been found. “You’re a scrawny fella.”

“Sixteen, sir.” 23. But tall, for a girl and well past marriageable age in your neighbors opinions.

The older man scoffed, stroking his mustache. “And you out here searchin’ for riches, son? Gonna blow it all on hookers and booze, I betcha.” The men around him laughed. You kept your face neutral.

“Something like that, sir.”

“Well,” he took a swig from the metal mug. “All walks of life are welcome here. We’re all runnin’ from somethin’ and searchin’ for the-” he held up a finger “-one thing that will help us escape.” He put down the mug and grabbed a piece of paper from his desk, careful to avoid smudging the ink on the map. “Sign here and you can start tomorrow.”

You looked at the paper. Lucky for you, your father had believed that everyone, regardless of gender should be taught to read. You couldn’t say the same for the parents of other girls your age. He had also taught you to be wary of a contract. “What is it?”

“An agreement, boy. You sign away 60 days of honest work to me, panning for gold and helping assemble my mine. After that, I’ll let you pan here for free. Anything you find, you keep.”

Seems fair.

“What if I find something before my days are up?”

He looked at you. “Then it’s mine. I’m letting you sleep here and eat our food, I gotta pay for it all somehow and aren’t we all in this for profit?”

Touche.

“Deal.”

***

The days were long and the work was hard. Regardless, you found yourself quickly settling into a routine at the camp. You started most mornings down by the river, panning for gold. The cool water managed to balance out the hot sun and compared to the noisy streets of New York, you were loving the sounds of the birds and the wind.

In the afternoons you would sometimes continue panning or they would send you into the mines to help clear paths. You hated it down there. There was something unnerving about going deep into the earth and digging into her crevices. The air smelled damp and the only light was the lanterns that were hung haphazardly along the walls. You tried to avoid this work as much as possible.

On the eighth day of your sentence your routine was broken by a disturbance on the outskirts of the main base. A young professor had arrived a few days earlier and you had paid him little mind, as did most of the other miners. Still, it seemed his time of going unnoticed was over.

“What did you say about my gold?” An angry man had the lanky professor by his collar and up against a tree, two of his friends closing in on either side.

The professor waved his arms in surrender, trying desperately to fix whatever it was he seemed to have started. You stopped along the path along with a few other panners to observe and a small crowd gathered shortly.

“I merely spoke the truth,” The professor said, his voice even and calm. “What you have there isn’t gold at all. It’s pyrite. You trading it for time off his sentence seems hardly fair considering it's pretty much worthless.”

You shook your head at his honesty in such a compromising position. What an idiot.

“Look,” The panner said, tightening his grip on the professor's collar. “ I may not have some fancy degree from some big college but I’ve been working these waters a lot longer than you, boy, and I know gold when I see it.”

“It’s an easy mistake to make, when you don’t know the differences. I hardly blame you.”

Your mouth dropped open. The men around you shifted on their feet, sensing a scuffle.

The man fumed. “Are you calling me a liar?”

The professor looked down at his collar at the spot where the man gripped his collar before tracing the man’s arm with his eyes slowly back to his face.

Oh god, you thought. Please don’t say it.

“I don’t think you’re a liar,” the professor stated.

Oh, good. He has some sense at least.

“Just an idiot.”

Here we go.

The man pulled back his other fist, his friends egging him on, ready to throw the punch. The professor shot another one of his goofy grins and this time you could have sworn it was in your direction. You stared at him in abject confusion.

“Stop!” A shout rang out across the group and everyone froze. “What’s going on here?”

You turned to see the warden fast approaching, his usual squad hot on his heels. “Men, release the professor and explain!”

The man holding the professor’s collar dropped it and the professor brushed off his shirt, giving him another small smile. “This here smart guy,” the assailant started. “Was accusin’ me of lyin’. Sayin’ that I was rippin’ ole Jimmy off with a piece of . . . uh. . .” he looked at the professor.

The professor leaned forward. “Pyrite,” he supplied.

“Ah, yeah,” the man continued. “Pyrite! He said I was rippin’ Jimmy off with a piece of this here Pyrite!”

The warden looked up at the heaven’s like he was hoping today would be his last day on earth. “Could I see the mineral in question?”

The man supplied the gem out of his pocket and handed it to the warden. The crowd stood on their tiptoes as he examined it, eager to see the verdict. The professor didn’t show any emotion, merely crossed his arms in quiet confidence. You studied his movements.  

The warden turned the piece over in his hands, examining the mineral before bringing it to his mouth and biting down. When he was satisfied he turned toward the assailant.

“The professor accused you of lyin’ not because he thought you were,” the warden began, startlingly calm. “But because he knew you were a FUCKING IDIOT!” The warden threw the stone against the tree, mere inches past the assailants head who cowered at the tone. “That is pyrite you imbecile!”

The crowd burst into conversation. Some laughed and others stated their opinions on the matter but your eyes stayed  glued to the young professor. He watched you for a minute in response before turning to address the warden who was explaining his position to his lackeys. You moved closer so you could hear better, eager to learn more about the strange man who had appeared on the base. You had to admit, he was handsome but the pretty ones always brought trouble.

“Gentlemen, this is Professor Kim,” the warden introduced the young man to his group. They all nodded and introduced themselves in return but you didn’t bother to remember their names. “He is visitin’ us from a University overseas. Here to assist in discoverin’ where to best find the most valuable of Earth’s metals. He’s a . . . uhh. . . geographer or somethin’,” the warden explained. “Studies dirt and the like.”

“Geologist,” Professor Kim corrected. “A mining geologist to be specific. I study the  extractions of mineral resources from the Earth.”

The group stared at him.

“Rocks,” he sighed, defeated. “I study rocks.”

A chorus of ‘Ahh’s’ broke out amongst the men. You stifled a laugh. You may not have traveled much but growing up in your father’s bookshop you had read a lot and even you knew what a geologist was.

“Regardless,” the warden continued, casting a dismissive hand in the Professor’s direction. “The higher ups seem hell bent on makin’ sure he makes progress in his work and comes out with as few - er - scratches as possible.”

Professor Kim tilted his head. “I would also very much appreciate that.”

“That being said,” the warden turned around looking over the crowd. “You there, boy!” The warden pointed in your direction. Surprised, you looked behind you. No one was there. You looked back at him, pointing at yourself.

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” the warden spat. “You’re to assist the professor during his time here. Make sure he has everythin’ he needs and most of all, make sure he stays out of trouble.”

The warden turned on his heel to leave, clearly believing the matter to be settled.

You chased after him, as the crowd began to disperse, struggling to maintain your composure and keep your cool. “Sir, with all due respect I need to be on the rive-”

“Look, boy, I don’t have time to deal with this. You heard my command,” He turned lowering himself closer to your face. He reeked of body odor and whiskey and you struggled not to cover your nose. “-and my command is law. You signed that there contract, you work for me. And I say: you’re to be assistin’ the professor for the rest of his time here, and that’s that.” He spun on his heel and was gone. In a few short minutes the crowd was fully gone, leaving only you and the young professor.

Defeated, you cursed under your breath, not sure what you had done to deserve this. You were supposed to be out here finding gold, getting rich, and starting a new life far away from your troubles in the East and now you were supposed to babysit some yippy foreign professor because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

You finally turned to face Professor Kim. He raised an eyebrow in your direction and flashed a big smile, unaware the damage he was causing to your patience. He was tall, wearing a simple loose long sleeved white shirt tucked into snug pants. He had enough sense, it seemed, to leave behind the suit jacket and hat but had chosen to keep the suspenders. You fought the urge to roll your eyes. Ever the gentleman.

“Look,” you addressed him directly for the first time. “I don’t have time to be your  babysitter. I need to find some gold and get the hell out of this shithole. So, I’d appreciate it if you could keep yourself out of trouble.”

He sized you up, eyeing your garb with an intelligence that was completely different  from the bumbling professor he had been mere minutes before. He  raised his eyes to meet your own and you struggled to not falter under his gaze.  His eyebrow quirked again, a sly smile on his lips. “You have quite the dirty mouth for a lady.”

You froze, fighting the urge to touch your cap. It’s still there, you’re okay. You could feel the wrappings on your chest and knew that they were intact as well. How did he . . .?

“I don’t know to what you are referring,” you kept your tone calm and cool.

“Don’t fret,” he responded, brushing off your glare. “I don’t think anyone else here has noticed.”

That did it. You grabbed his arm and pulled him along behind you, dodging the panners and workers that flitted about searching for the one thing that could make their lives less miserable. Finding a quiet alley between two tents you pushed him against the wall. The professor put his hands up in surrender, his eyes wide in surprise.

“Okay, talk,” you whispered. You were surrounded by chaos but who knew who may overhear. “How did you figure it out? Did someone tell you?” The minister’s wife?

He laughed, shaking his head. “No, no one told me. It’s just-”

You shook his shoulders, your brow furrowed. Here he was laughing when your future was literally at stake. “It’s just what?!”

He stopped laughing and looked at you. Really looked at you, his expression serious. “It’s just . . . you’re too pretty to be a boy. I could tell right away.”

Shocked, you released his arms and took a step back.

“It’s a miracle no one else has figured it out, really,” he continued. “Your walk is all wrong. You still walk like a lady, pretending there’s an invisible string that holds you up from your head. If you want to be believable, you have to walk pelvis first-” he demonstrated pushing his pelvis out and bending his knees before motioning at his stance “-like this.”

You snorted. “Well, it’s gotten me this far.”

“Well,” he replied, straightening himself up and brushing some dirt off his pants. It didn’t really help, he was still covered. “To be fair, you’re surrounded by idiots.”

You laughed. He was right there.

The professor held out his hand. “You can call me Namjoon.”

You looked at his outstretched hand for a second before relunctantly shaking it back.

“Y/N”

***

“So what is it you even do?” You asked bright and early the next morning. You had reported to Namjoon’s tent, as commanded, and stood there watching as he shoved some strange looking tools into his bag.

“My job,” he began, holding up a paintbrush. “Is to discover what minerals exactly are in the area around here and to learn as much about gold and how to find it as possible in the next few weeks.”

“And how,” you asked, watching him toss a few shovels into his bag. “Are you going to do that?”

“Well, my dear little guardian,” he tightened the latches on the bag and threw it over his shoulder, “why don’t you come along to find out?”

You followed him to a spot on the southern tip of a branch in the American river. From here the base appeared tiny and peaceful, the tents gently swaying in the breeze. It was another perfectly sunny day and you readjusted your cap to wipe the sweat off your brow  as you struggled to keep up. The professor may have appeared slim and studious but clearly, the man had some muscle on his bones because he was booking it up the trail.

Namjoon stopped when he reached a curve in the river far away from the other panners and plopped his bag on the ground.

“What do you know about gold, Y/N?” he asked, unlatching the bag to pull out a pan.

“That you can sell it and get a lot of money.”

Namjoon laughed. It was a pleasant sound that held none of the malicious intent you sometimes heard in the laughter of other men. Namjoon’s laugh was carefree and seemed to convey true joy. You liked it.

“Aye, yeah. You can indeed sell it and get a lot of money. Especially nowadays.” He dipped the pan into the running water, scooping up some of the grit down at the bottom and beginning to sift through it. “I was hoping you could tell me a bit more about gold. Like, where it comes from?”

“Isn’t that your job?” You remarked, sitting on a rock beside him, careful to avoid wet spots. He was mesmerizing to watch, the way his hands dipped in and out of the water, his long fingers searching through the grit when he thought he saw something that caught his eye.

“Come on, Y/N, give me something to work with here.”

You sighed, giving in. “A lot of gold is found in water. It’s malleable, hence why the warden bit the stone yesterday to prove that it wasn’t gold. Uhhh . . . it’s yellow?”

Namjoon chuckled as he made a selection from his pan. He held it up so that you could see the reflective deep yellow surface. The sun bounced off the metal making it hard to look anywhere but the gold that Namjoon had found in literally ten minutes.

“This,” Namjoon began. “Is true gold. Do you know how I can tell?”

You shook your head. Namjoon turned the rock over in his hands.

“One, as you already said, hardness.” He took a nail and flecked off a piece of the small rock. “See how it just scraped off there? That’s a telltale sign.”

“Second, smell. Pyrite sometimes has a slight sulfur smell when rubbed. Gold will not.” He handed you the gold. You turned it over in your hands before bringing it to your nose and inhaling. Nothing.

You met Namjoon’s eyes. “Nothing.”

“Third,” he continued. “Shape. Gold, as you can see is a small malleable lump. Pyrite, like the one yesterday, is larger and more cube-like in structure. More impressive to look at but, less money when sold.”

You nodded and handed the gold back to Namjoon. “How much would you estimate that piece to be worth? If you had to take your best guess?”

“Well,” Namjoon began. “I’m no jeweler. I’m better at finding the minerals than pricing them but if I had to hazard a guess . . . .huh. . . It’s quite a few ounces, at least. Honestly, quite a nifty little chunk there. I’d say possibly upwards of $500?”

Your jaw dropped open. “$500?”

Namjoon shrugged. “I mean, it’s a guess.”

“Holy shit!” That was more money than your father made in three months. You would know, you helped with the books.

“Well, anyway, that’s gold.” Namjoon shoved the gem in his pocket and stood up.

You darted up after him. “Wait, a second! That’s it! What are you going to do with that? Give it to the warden?”

Namjoon smirked at you. “I don’t work for the warden. I’m going to keep it. I need it for research anyway, that’s why I brought you here. Now, we study it.”

You stared at him. Shocked that he could care so little for the fiscal amount of the stone in his pocket. Namjoon, oblivious as normal, merely scooped his belongings into his bag and motioned for you to follow. “Come along, Y/N. We have a long day of documenting ahead of us.”

***

Life as Namjoon’s assistant wasn’t the worst thing ever. Most days would start with you both checking specific points around the river for gold, pyrite, and other expensive minerals. He would bring along a sketchbook and draw the most interesting ones or make a list of the scenarios in which they were found. You followed suit and eventually took over this part of the job for him, since your drawing was exponentially better.

If you were being honest with yourself, it was fun work. Namjoon was great company and always had a variety of fun stories to tell. You couldn’t believe the places he’d been, the environment in which he had grown up, and the people he had met along the way.

“Y’know,” he said one day after finishing a story about a strange magician he had met on the streets of Singapore. He  was bent over his desk, scribbling notes into a leather bound book. You were on the opposite side of the room, drawing some of the gold specimens you had gathered that day. The candles were low and the sun setting, providing a warm, evening glow inside the tent. You looked over at him, ink smudged on his chin and hair tousled from his messing. “You’ve had miraculous adventures yourself. Growing up in New York City? Traveling across the entire continent of North America, essentially alone, in search of a new future?” He looked up from his notebook, meeting your eyes from across the room. “It’s pretty impressive stuff.”

You shrugged, breaking eye contact to continue your sketch. “Not really. It was just survival.”

“That’s all adventures are, really,” he murmured, returning to his work. “Surviving.”

***

It was late one evening and the camp had finally quieted down. Namjoon had fallen asleep hours ago covered in a blanket in his favorite chair  next to the crackling fire while reading through some manuscripts. You were still awake, concentrating hard on a drawing you had started on a piece of pyrite the two of you had unearthed earlier. You were trying to get the cube like structure of the crystals perfect and it just wasn’t working.

Frustrated, you pressed too hard on your graphite snapping the tip. You flung it across the room with a noise of exasperation and nearly jumped out of your chair at the deep rumble of laughter that followed.

Your head turned to find Namjoon staring at you from across the room, his eyes half lidded with sleep and his hair in it’s permanently mussed state. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

He shook his head. “I’ve been up for awhile.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? I could have brought you some tea.”

“I like watching you work. It’s . . .” he seemed to be searching for the right word. “Mesmerizing.”

You averted your eyes to the floor struggling to keep the blush that had crept up into your cheeks from his view. You hoped he wouldn’t notice in the dim lighting. “I can’t imagine it’s all that interesting.”

“Believe me, it is.”

You met his eyes again and struggled to calm the rapid pace of your heart. When did Namjoon become so handsome? And why was he saying such things?

“Anyway,” you started, standing up from the desk. “It’s getting late and I should be getting to bed.”

“Would you like me to walk you back?” he asked, making to move.

You laughed. “Wouldn’t people find it strange that you’re walking your young male apprentice back to his tent late at night? Don’t want people to think you’re out here doing anything scandalous.”

He smiled at you. “Oh, I’m already a scoundrel in many ways, Y/N.”

You didn’t answer him but hid the smile it caused as you packed up your belongings and bid him farewell.

You pondered your relationship with him the entire walk across camp to your meager tent. With Namjoon, you could be yourself. He didn’t reprimand you for your use of ‘unladylike language’ or tell you to cross your legs when you sat. He also didn’t mind that you wore men's clothes or could outread him in a flat out race. He respected you enough to keep your secret and didn’t treat you any different when the two of you were alone in his tent, allowing you to assist in the work just as much as he.

It was amazing how fast acquaintances turned to friends in the West.

***

“I’m going into the mines today,” Namjoon announced one day, taking a long sip of his tea. He sat in a chair by his desk, flipping through one of his journals. You weren’t sure exactly what it was he was doing but you would be willing to bet money he was searching for some image of a cool rock you sketched a week ago.

“Why on earth would you willingly go into that shithole?”

Namjoon shot you a look before resuming his search. “That shithole, as you so eloquently put it, has apparently yielded some strange stone that the warden wants me to inspect. See if it’s worth any money.

You scoffed. Of course, the warden was searching for a profit, as usual. “Do you want me to come?”

Namjoon laughed. “Want? Yes. Need? No. You stay up here and keep checking the rivers for more pyrite or gold. See if you can find any more samples on the American. I won’t be long, and then I’ll join you.”

***

The hours passed slowly without Namjoon’s conversation. You didn’t think you would ever miss his incessant chatter about rocks and whatever cool facts he could spout on command, yet here you were. You were almost done checking the southernmost point of the American for any recent discoveries from the panners when the earth began to quiver.

You quickly gripped a nearby tree as the shaking intensified, small cracks breaking through the surface nearby. Men screamed as the earth let out another massive quake, and in the distance you could see the  tents swaying back and forth. You had felt some minor earthquakes on your journey over, but nothing as huge as this.

In a few seconds the earth settled, resuming her quiet existence, and you let out a breath you hadn’t known you were holding. You couldn’t wait to see Namjoon later and listen to him ramble on about tectonic plates and the earth’s molten core and whatever other nonsense you had grown fond of.

You stopped in your tracks. When had you grown fond of anything that ridiculous man did?

The realization of your feelings hit you like a wall and you barely moved out of the way in time as a group of men ran towards the camp.

“Hurry!” One of them shouts at you. “Pull yourself together, boy! The mine is collapsing! We need to get those people out!”

You blink, coming out of your stupor. The mine is collapsing?

Your eyes widened.

Namjoon is in the mine.

#bts smut #namjoon smut #namjoon x reader #bts fanfiction #bts #namfine #series #kim namjoon #Admin Zesty #alternate universe #gold rush #motherlode

[slash-em-up]

A Second Chance: A Logger Fic

Ben gets a second chance to make a life for himself.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1951

Ben grimaced at his shabby reflection in the store window.

Despite his best efforts to clean himself up in the river earlier today he still looked more like a bear than a man.

His beard was patchy and uneven; having been cut with a knife and the reflection of his small hand-mirror instead of a proper razor and scissors. He probably should have done away with it altogether; but the recollection of the men in the logging camps calling him ‘baby-face’ and ‘sweet’ stayed his hand. His brown hair was overgrown and hung in shaggy curtains over his ears; and the single spare outfit he was currently wearing looked like it had spent the day being beaten against a rock and sun-dried.

Probably because it had.

But after… three, maybe four weeks in the woods it was the closest to sane he could make himself look.

Only slightly rabid… Still, more likely to be arrested for loitering than not.

He pulled his coat tighter and shivered against the chill night air. His legs and back ached from the weeks of near constant travel. His best guess was that he was about a hundred miles from the site of his massacre, and he hoped that was far enough. The heavy pack over his shoulder was readjusted, and the tall man continued down the street.

The small Washington town was one he vaguely remembered having traveled through on his way to Seattle once or twice. Not much more than a main road and a handful of cookie-cutter suburban homes. A clinging relic of the past centuries mining operations and the last decades of logging.

Ben thought it was charming, in the way that most people unfamiliar with small-town living often do.

A vending machine filled with the local newspaper caught Ben’s eye, and he made his way over - quickly scanning the front page for anything pertinent to his search for information.

Nothing. No article or mention of anything untoward in the state besides the usual problems that came hand-in-hand with society.

This allowed the man a sliver of hope; but reason told him that nearly a month past in a small town miles and miles away might not be the best temperature check for his situation.

The sound of a heavy door opening brought Ben back to the present, and he involuntarily tensed as a pair of drunk-looking men stumbled out of a building across the street then shambled down the sidewalk.

Now there was a thought.

Swiveling his head from side-to-side, Ben stepped into the street and crossed. He glanced at the neon-sign covered window displaying a multitude of alcoholic beverage names as he approached the building the men had just exited.

The large wooden bar doors had an enjoyable weight to them, Ben thought as he stepped into the dark interior of the building… and upon inspection, he found that was about the nicest thing he could say about the place. A man sitting beside the door - assumedly the bouncer, although the three other patrons in the open room seemed far too drunk to offer any resistance if they were to be escorted out - gave Ben a once-over as he moved further into the bar before flicking his magazine back open and continuing to peruse the pages.

The walls were a mess of more neon interspersed sporadically with posters of scantily clad women drinking one of the advertised beverages. A dart board near the back of the room hung sadly askew against a ply-board wall.

Ben grimaced at the feel of his boots sticking to the cheap carpet covering the floor.

An old rifle sat entwined in the antlers of a mounted deer’s head over the back wall behind the bar; and Ben raised a brow at what looked like a pipe stuffed in the poor animals’ mouth.

An older man in a stain-covered apron approached Ben as he took a seat at the bar, jacket catching on the rough wood covering the top.

He didn’t seem the least bit concerned at Ben’s raggedy appearance, and silently the younger man concluded that he probably wasn’t the first odd ball to cross his path tonight.

“Evening. What can I get ya?”

Ben dug around in his jacket pocket, producing a crumbled $5 bill, which he placed on the counter before answering.

“Whatever whiskey’s on well. Double. Neat.”

The bartender nodded, grabbing the money from the bar and moving with practiced ease to pull a slightly cloudy glass and a bottle from behind the bar; pouring the alcohol before returning to place it in front of Ben.

The logger sipped the glass silently, contemplating how to frame his inquiry to the bartender before he jerked back as a massive grey head popped up over the bar and barked straight in his face.

“Roosevelt!! DOWN, god dammit!!”

With a whine and a sad look, the gigantic dog dropped his paws off the bar and trotted around the structure; coming to a halt beside Ben’s stool and sniffing him curiously.

Ben’s lips twitched in a small smile as he offered the large animal his hand to smell.

The bartender looked exasperated as he returned to the loggers’ side.

“Sorry about him. He’s friendly, just doesn’t know when to stop being a pest to customers.”

“Not a problem…” Ben murmured, clearing his throat before continuing, a bit louder this time. “… Nothing wrong with a friendly dog.”

He scratched Roosevelt behind his floppy ears, making the dog close its eyes in bliss as its long pink tongue lolled out.

Smiling, the bartender refilled Ben’s glass, which had sloshed across the bar when he’d jerked away from the sudden canine appearance.

“What brings you to town?”

Ben paused, thinking through the question, before deciding that as close to the truth as he could get would be the best way to play this.

“Passing through. Looking for a place to settle for a bit.”

The older man chuckled.

“Well, congratulations on finding us. It’s a little remote up here unless you’re moving through to Spokane.”

“Seems like a nice town.”

The man nodded.

“It is, it is… Been on the decline over the last few years as the mines started to close; but the logging keeps us afloat.”

Ben contemplated his next question.

“… Any problems with the loggers? Looked pretty quiet coming in; but you hear stories…”

Another chuckle.

“I don’t think a big fella like you has anything to worry about; but no. Generally, they only come down on the weekends looking for a drink. Otherwise the town’s mostly left to its own devices.”

Roosevelt huffed and placed his head on Ben’s thigh. The grey-haired man smiled down at the dog as Ben continued to slowly rub his soft ears.

So, nothing, that was surprising… and good… it wasn’t exactly a fool-proof inquest; but if the bartender didn’t know anything about the killings, Ben didn’t want to be the one to bring it up.

“He likes you… Yup, we’re just a couple of old men tryin’ to keep the bar afloat. Ain’t fancy; but it’s honest work. Right, Roosevelt?”

The dog’s ears perked at the sound of his name and he let out a small ‘whuff’ against the fabric of Ben’s pants.

Ben laughed lowly at the dog’s antics, then lifted his gaze to grin at the older man.

“Sounds pretty good to me.”

The bartender extended a hand over the expanse of the bar.

“I’m James; but most folks around here call me Jimmy.”

Smile growing a bit wider, Ben reached over and shook the man’s hand.

“Ben.”

Jimmy released Ben’s hand and set his own firmly against the bartop.

“Well, Ben, let me be the first to officially welcome you to town.”

“I appreciate that, Jimmy… You wouldn’t happen to know where I could get a bed for the night, would you?”

Jimmy huffed, looking vaguely annoyed before nodding.

“I do. There’s a little hotel a few blocks down… but I’m gonna tell you right now, looking like you do, Arlene - the lady who runs the place - won’t let you in the door much less rent you a room.”

Ben hummed. He thought that might become a problem at some point.

“That’s alright. Just have to wait and visit the barber tomorrow…”

Hopefully the rain would hold off until the morning so he could get a dry night’s sleep. One more night in the forest wouldn’t kill him.

Jimmy’s mouth pressed into a line and he seemed to be contemplating something as he stared at Ben.

“Am I right in assuming you’re gonna be looking for work around town?”

Ben blinked.

“Yeah…?”

The older man tapped his fingers a few times against the bar as he continued to watch the younger man.

“Alright. Here’s the deal. I need a hand doing the heavy lifting around here - I’m not getting’ any younger - and in exchange I’ll let you crash in the back room until you find a place of your own. Sound good?”

Ben straightened up, looking seriously at the man.

“…What’s the catch? That sounds a bit too good…”

Jimmy laughed.

“Trust me, it ain’t. The back’s colder than an ice-chest and the hours are long… but like I said, it’s honest work. I’m puttin’ an awful lot of faith in you that you won’t just get drunk and bolt once I close up.”

Ben’s brow furrowed.

“Why? You don’t know me.”

“Roosevelt likes you… and sometimes you gotta have a little faith in people. Let ‘em surprise you.”

The logger’s mouth opened, ready to let the man know that was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard before he paused. A memory of his mother, back before she’d gotten sick, surfaced in his mind. He recalled her telling him something similar - that was something she’d always tried to instill in him, even as a child… Faith in people.

Ben clenched his fists under the bar.

The last decade had done a number on any modicum of ‘faith’ the young man had. Death and loss and violence were what he saw. Faith was for the blind. But maybe… once more… for Rebecca…

“Alright. Deal.”

Jimmy smiled broadly, slapping his wrinkled hands against the bar.

“Good! Glad to have you on, Ben.”

The brunette nodded, letting a small grin slid over his lips as Roosevelt began to thump his tail loudly against the thin carpet.

Maybe this would work out after all.

#jessica writes #the logger #ben sullivan #slasher oc