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luci-in-trenchcoats · 4 years

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Won’t You Stay (Part 5)

Summary: The reader has dinner with her family and Jensen and the pair finally make a decision on their friendship...

Masterlist

Pairing: Jensen x Director!reader

Word Count: 2,900ish

Warnings: language

A/N: Please enjoy!

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Saturday Night

“Should I ask Marcus to winter formal?” asked Ella, pacing around her room nonstop. You raised an eyebrow at her from where you lay on her bed, Anthony shaking his head from the other side. “I was asking Y/N, not the guy that won’t even go with his boyfriend.”

“Ella,” you said, hanging your head off the edge of her bed. “If Anthony doesn’t want to go broadcast something he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t have to. Also, you don’t need a date. Go with your friends. It’s more fun anyways.”

“Yeah but Marcus is cute and all my friends have boyfriends,” she said, sighing as she stood in front of her closet and held up her dress.

“Don’t have a boyfriend because your friends do, Ella. It is so not worth the aggravation,” you said. “Boys are never worth the aggravation.”

“Agreed,” they both said, a tiny smile on your face.

“Why’d you break up with Logan again?” asked Anthony. You sighed and let out a long groan. “He was good looking.”

“Being attractive has nothing to do with having a good relationship,” you said.

“Yeah, but like even mom and dad don’t know what happened between you-” said Ella, cutting herself off when you sat up with a glare.

“I thought I asked you two to never bring him up again,” you said. “It’s over and that’s it.”

“Did he cheat on you?” asked Ella. You scoffed and closed your eyes. “If he cheated-”

“Mind your own fucking business,” you snapped. She stared at you, a little misty eyed and you squeezed yours shut. You’d never swore at her before and knew she’d beat herself up about it if you didn’t nip it in the bud. “El, I’m sorry. Logan...he broke my heart. It hurt. A lot. I thought he was the person I was going to end up with. He wasn’t the person I thought he was though. Obviously it’s still a sensitive subject for me. I don’t want to talk about him anymore.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled. She went over to her window seat and plopped down, turning her head to look out the dark window.

“Ella bear,” you said, standing up and walking over, sitting next to her and pulling her into a hug. “I love you.”

“When I broke up with Brady, you told me it wasn’t the end of the world and it felt like it,” she said, looking up at you. “Why’s Logan different?”

“Things are different when you’re older, when you’re in a long term relationship and it ends,” you said. “Forgive me?”

“Yeah. Sorry,” she said, giving you back a hug before she set her sights on Anthony. “So what’s the deal with you and Nolan?”

“He kinda wants to tell his parents about us and I don’t want to do that until mom and dad know and I’m not ready to tell them,” he said, tossing his baseball up and down. “Y/N, what do you think?”

“Well it’s a personal thing. You should tell them when you’re ready. If Nolan’s ready that’s his choice but he should respect yours too,” you said. “Honestly if you two are going to keep having sex though, maybe-”

“Y/N,” he groaned. “I thought I told you not to talk about that stuff with Ella here.”

“I took health class too, idiot,” she said.

“I’m not talking about sex with my little sister,” he said.

“She’s sixteen. She knows what it is,” you said. “If you can’t talk about it, you shouldn’t be doing it.”

“I don’t get the big deal in telling mom and dad you have a boyfriend,” said Ella. “They wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

“I’m just not ready, El. Forget I said anything,” said Anthony, tossing his ball one more time before you caught it.

“Don’t let Nolan pressure you into saying something either, okay?” you asked. Anthony smiled and nodded.

“He wouldn’t. We’ll just wait until we’re both ready to tell them,” he said. You tossed his ball back, the doorbell ringing in the distance.

“Kids! Our guest is here!” shouted your dad from downstairs.

“Guest? God, is it another stupid studio executive?” groaned Ella as she stood up. “I hate those guys.”

“It’s dad’s costar. Jensen Ackles,” you said, waving them both to follow you. “He’s nice. You’ll like him.”

“What’s he been in?” asked Anthony. “He sounds vaguely familiar.”

“Some of those teenage shows you like. He was on some horror show for a few years and stuff before that,” you said. “Come on you two.”

Anthony typed away on his phone as they dragged their feet down the hall, freezing and getting a sigh from you.

“Oh wow,” said Anthony, holding up his phone for Ella to see. “He’s hot.”

“Oh, move over Gil Nicholas,” said Ella. “He is so much better looking. He’s taller too.”

“Guys. Behave,” you said as you walked towards the top of the stairs. You headed downstairs with them on your tail, Jensen handing over his coat to your mom in the foyer. “Hey, Jay.”

“Hey,” he said, smoothing out his light blue button up. He had a pair of nice jeans on, some red and blue socks on his feet, a pair of boots tucked away on the mat by the closet door. “You must be Ella and Anthony.”

“Well hello,” said Ella, pausing at the bottom of the stairs, looking him up and down. You rolled your eyes and smacked her arm.

“Ella. Stop staring at him like he’s meat,” you said. “Excuse her. She’s normally not such an idiot.”

“What? He’s hot,” she said as your mom stepped back over and tilted her head.

“Ella, that’s rude. I’m sorry for my daughter,” said your mom to Jensen. “Ella apologize.”

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

“It’s okay,” said Jensen with a chuckle. “I heard someone had a rough volleyball game yesterday and someone else had an even rougher AP History test.”

“Uh yeah,” said Anthony. “How’d you know that?”

“Your dad likes to brag about you guys,” said Jensen with a smile. “A lot.”

“Guys, please go set the table,” said your mom, shooing them out of the foyer. They both headed for the dining room, Jensen standing there with you looking around.

“Your house is beautiful, Mrs. Y/L/N,” said Jensen, tilting his head up to look at the beams going up across the two story foyer area. “And massive.”

“Thank you and it’s Dani, Jensen,” said your mom, offering him a friendly smile. “Y/N. Entertain Jensen for a moment. We’re running a few minutes late with dinner.”

She went back towards the kitchen, Jensen walking slowly with you down the main hall, looking at a few pictures hung on the wall.

“Aw, that’s adorable,” he said, pointing at a picture of you and your dad from your first day of kindergarten. He didn’t look too much different nowadays, maybe a little less boyish but you’d seen him wear the same shirt on Tuesday to work. You had on a tonka truck shirt and purple shorts, hair pulled back in a high pony. You rolled your eyes and he let out a laugh. “You look cute.”

“Dad tried his best. Fashion has never been his expertise,” you said.

“When did your mom come into the picture?”

“I was ten. It all happened very quickly. They got married and started having kids soon after that,” you said. “Anthony and then Ella.”

“Even the perfect people’s lives aren’t as perfect as they seem,” he said, looking at one of you behind a film camera when you were little. “You’re lucky to have a dad like him.”

“I know I am,” you said. He smiled and walked down the hall some more, stopping at a few pictures, smirking at one in particular. “Oh shut up, Ackles.”

“That is a perfect picture if I do say so,” said Jensen with a laugh.

“I fully agree,” said your dad as he popped out from the kitchen. “She’s got a hell of a mess of bed head. Still does.”

“I can see,” he said, giving you a shit eating grin.

“I so love it when we have guests over,” you said, your dad pushing you both into the kitchen.

“What’s your poison, Jensen?” asked your dad, holding up a bottle of red wine. Jensen spun around in circles, taking in the space and the open family room. “Kid.”

“I’ll have a glass of whatever’s open,” said Jensen, returning his attention to your parents.

“I can get behind that. Y/N,” said your dad, sliding the bottle over to you. You hummed and poured four glasses, handing one to Jensen. “The house isn’t that nice.”

“You should see my apartment,” mumbled Jensen.

“You’re over in Sunrise Ridge, right?” he asked. Your ears perked up and your dad laughed. “I’m surprised you remember.”

“I remember the pool,” you said.

“You guys lived over there?” asked Jensen. Your dad nodded and took a drink. “Seriously?”

“We all start from somewhere,” said your dad. “Someday soon maybe you can get in a nicer place.”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t mind it,” he said.

“How are you feeling, Jensen? Ethan said you were hurt on set this week,” said your mom as she worked on the other side of the island.

“Oh, I’m okay. A few bandages and I’m good as new,” said Jensen. “Y/N’s actually the one that made sure I didn’t get hurt worse. I think she got in a bit of trouble over it.”

“Yeah well, that’s my job,” you said as you sipped on your glass.

“Y/N was almost a nurse actually before she worked in an office for a few years. She likes helping people,” said your mom. “We were a little surprised she followed her dad’s footsteps.”

“Well stories help people,” said Jensen. “They can be hopeful or inspiring. I mean, the story Y/N wrote was very inspiring. That helps people.”

Your parents glanced at one another and shared a look.

“I like him,” said your mom, Jensen chuckling. “Do you have a girlfriend, Jensen?”

“Uh, no. I’m on my own at the moment,” he said.

“Enjoy being single,” said your dad. “Both of you.”

“Well the girls will be fawning over you once the movie comes out,” said your mom. “May need to look into a bodyguard.”

Jensen laughed but no one else did, his face quickly frowning.

“Wait, you’re serious?” he asked.

“Uncle Brody hangs out sometimes with dad or us,” you said, Jensen raising an eyebrow. “Uncle Brody is dad’s bodyguard if you didn’t catch that.”

“Being famous has its occasional flaws,” said your dad. “If this thing blows up though, which odds are it might, let me know and we’ll get you hooked up with someone. It’s not an all the time thing, I promise.”

“Here I thought I was just playing a character,” said Jensen.

“Are you playing Lyle?” asked Anthony as he walked in with Ella. Jensen spun around with a smile and hummed. “Wow, he’s even got green eyes like him too.”

“Don’t you hate when those pesky authors throw out specific character traits,” chuckled your dad. You gave him a look, your mom handing a few dishes to the other guys to carry into the dining room.

“I was willing to compromise on the eye color when it came to the actor I recall,” you said.

“Mhm. I recall that going a tad different,” he hummed, flipping something over in the pan. “Go on and take Jensen to the dining room. Dinner will be out in a few minutes.”

“It’s a little funny,” said Jensen as you headed out with him around the corner, finding a seat for him in there. “Seeing you not at work I mean. You’re always so in charge there. With your family you’re a lot more laid back.”

“If I’m being honest, it makes me horribly uncomfortable to be in charge like that,” you said.

“Why do it then?” he asked.

“Sometimes you have to do scary things for stuff you care about. They wanted to shred my book apart and make it a summer blockbuster,” you said. “They wanted to make Hale the bad guy at the end if you can believe it.”

“It would have ruined it,” said Jensen with a scoff. “What idiot came up with that? It’s so stupid. It would have made everything pointless.”

“I know. I fought to be director to save it and I won. Now I hope I don’t ruin it,” you said.

“You’ll be great,” said Jensen as he pulled out your chair for you. You sat down with a smile, Jensen taking the one across from you. “I promise.”

“Dinner was delicious,” said Jensen as he headed out a few hours later. “Thank you for having me over.”

“We’ll do it again sometime,” said your dad as your mom handed him his coat. “A home cooked meal is good now and then. I know your family isn’t around here. Stop over every once in a while. Dani knows how to cook a mean prime rib.”

“I may take you up on that,” said Jensen as he pulled on his jacket.

“Well and the kids adored you which they rarely do with their father’s guests. We’d much rather have you over than Gil Nicholas. He’s such a little douchebag,” said your mom. You smirked, Jensen chuckling.

“I’ve heard the rumors,” said Jensen. “Next time I’ll be sure to bring a dish over. My mom always said don’t come empty handed to a dinner party.”

“Your mother taught you very good manners,” said your mom.

“Sure you don’t want to stick around for another drink?” asked your dad.

“I would but I have to drive,” said Jensen. “I appreciate the offer though. Another time for sure.”

“I understand. Well have a good rest of your weekend, Jensen. Try to take a little time to relax. We got another long week ahead of us,” said your dad.

“I think I’m going to head home too, try to catch up on sleep,” you said.

“Alright. You young guns go home. Y/N, text us when you get there,” he said.

“Mhm. Night,” you said, heading outside, walking with Jensen down the front steps. “Hey, hold up a second.”

“Yes?” he asked, following you to your car. You opened the passenger seat and pulled out a small bag, handing it over to him. He tilted his head as he opened it up, smiling wide as he reached inside and pulled out his gift. “A first edition copy of The Dark Woods. I love it. You didn’t have to do that Y/N.”

“I even signed it for you,” you said, Jensen flipping open the front cover and glancing at you.

“Did you just ask me out through a book?” he asked.

“Did it work?” you asked, Jensen smirking. “You had a point yesterday. I don’t think anyone is ever ready for a relationship or the timing is right. But I like you and you’re sweet and I haven’t liked anyone in years.”

“Do you want to go grab some dessert?” he asked with a big smile.

“Is this a date?”

“Maybe,” he teased.

“Oh, well if you’re gonna tease, I can do that too,” you said, turning back into the car and pulling out another bag. He stared at it before he tore into it, wide eyed and looking over at you.

“The Dark Night. A Lyle Sullivan story,” he said, staring at the plain black covered book. “What-”

“It’s the second book. That’s an unpublished copy of the first edition. Only about ten people have read it so far but I figured you might really enjoy it,” you said.

“This is literally the coolest gift I have ever gotten,” he said, looking the book over, already flipping through it.

“Okay, fanboy. Let’s grab some dessert and then you can spend all day tomorrow nose deep in that thing,” you said.

“Tomorrow? I’m staying up and reading this tonight!” he said with a laugh. “This is awesome. I can’t wait to check it out. After dessert of course.”

“After you, Ackles.”

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A/N: Read Part 6 here!

#supernatural #spn #jensen x reader #jensen ackles #supernatural series #supernatural reader insert #jensen ackles x reader #spn reader insert #jensen reader insert #jensen x #jensen ackles x you

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annasvinyl · 3 years

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thank you @headfirrstforhalos for tagging me! 💜

rules: share your 12 favorite songs from this year (one from each month or just your favorites overall) and tag 12 people!

okay! so instead of choosing my favs that were super popular last year anyway, i’m gonna draw some attention to some generally lesser known gems i found while browsing and ended up listening to on repeat because i have Too Many fav songs that include absolutely everything out there so djdjd

linnea - layne

venus - weslee

circle the drain - soccer mommy

pretending - orla gartland

i love you - laureline

somebody - dagny

love me less? - maple st.

1,000,000 x better - griff, honne

pink pony club - chappell roan

sucker - broods

this is how u feel - loote

right way round - saint raymond

i’m tagging @elisacifuentes, @starklys , @villaenelle , @niccolos , @jjks01, @yennciri, @nolanisms, @jjskiaras, @vibrantbloom , @niteskies, @duchessdaphne, @bitrek

#sorry if i'm being annoying by constantly tagging the same mutuals btw 🤐🤦🏻‍♀️ feel free to ignore these!!#tag game

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alexandralyman · 4 years

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project neverland

Inspired by Colin’s upcoming role on The Right Stuff, I wrote a little 1960s CS test pilot/early NASA AU one shot. I didn’t aim for historical accuracy with this one, it’s more about the feel of the era instead of a literal depiction of the Mercury 7 and their missions.

Summary: Test pilot Captain Killian Jones always liked to go too fast. When he gets asked to join the elite group Colonel David Nolan of NASA has formed to be the first men to fly into space it's all he ever wanted...until he meets his CO's daughter, the beautiful and headstrong Emma Nolan.

Read on ff.net here and on AO3 here

Killian Jones always liked to go too fast.

In fast cars.

In fast planes.

(with fast women)

The NASA shrinks said it was because he had to grow up too quickly, too young when his father finally took off for good and his absence sent Killian hurtling recklessly into adulthood too soon with only his older brother left to try to keep him tethered to Earth. They almost didn't clear him to join Project Neverland, the internal code name given to the mission when someone made a late night crack after one too many pots of coffee about throwing out all the charts and just taking the second star to the right to reach the moon, but he was a hell of a pilot and after rising star Captain Arthur Pendragon, given the call sign "King" because everyone expected him to lead the mission, literally crashed and burned out of training in the Excalibur prototype and actually broke the damn thing clear in half, Colonel David Nolan publicly decided to give Captain Killian "Hook" Jones a second chance to join the team and be the hero.

Alongside a more private warning for Killian to clean up his act if he really wanted to reach the stars.

Killian knew the man wasn't kidding, so he took it to heart and stopped drinking (hard liquor, at least), stopped sleeping around (he'd been given the call sign "Hook" for his ability to hook up with any woman he wanted, including a general's wife, the bold and brash Milah Gold), he cut his hair short and shaved twice a day to keep within NASA's strict grooming requirements for its elite group of test pilots, he wore a suit and tie and smiled politely for the photographers whenever he was told to, doing the whole dog and pony show for the press without a single word of complaint. He wanted to fly to the stars, wanted it more than anything, he wanted to go faster, higher, than any man had gone before and bring home honour and glory for the name Jones.

Dr. Hopper scribbled furiously in his little notebook during their mandatory sessions and went on and on about his clear "father issues" and his "tendency to overcompensate" while Killian tuned him out, thinking instead about the feel of the wind in his hair when he drove with the top down on his 'Vette, rock 'n' roll blaring on the radio and putting the pedal to the metal up and down the Florida coast, or the exhilaration of taking off in one of the sleek new jets, feeling the lift and drag of the wind under the wings as delicate and powerful as a lover's touch along his skin when he aimed straight for the clouds above and pierced the sky fast enough to break the sound barrier. He agreed with whatever the doc said every week just to get out his office, lighting up a cigarette as soon as the door closed and taking a deep inhale to deal with his nerves instead.

Killian was keeping to the straight and narrow as best he could, but he couldn't stop himself from driving way over the limit in the early morning when the roads around the base were clear and empty as far as the eye could see, or taking his boat out just before sunset after a long day of NASA eggheads telling him what he could and couldn't do and blowing off steam by opening up the throttle as far as it would go to ride the waves so fast that the hull barely touched the water. Giving up booze and unhappily married women were one thing, he'd already almost ruined his career more than once over both and he'd learned his lesson the hard way, but the bone-deep need within him to push just a little bit harder, go a little bit faster, always chasing something that lingered just beyond his reach, well, what NASA didn't know couldn't hurt them.

Captain Killian Jones did everything too fast, but when Miss Emma Nolan grabbed the collar of his leather aviator jacket and kissed the smirk right off his face he wanted nothing more than to take it slow for once, since the only thing more off-limits than a superior officer's wife was a superior officer's daughter and Colonel Nolan wasn't just Emma's father, he was Killian's CO, with the power to ground him for good if he knew that his princess had been sneaking out to meet Killian at the underground drag races and after-hours nightclubs in Cocoa Beach. She wore dangerously short miniskirts and pale, frosted lipstick, all the men assigned to Project Neverland were half in love with her and she was the cause of every grey hair on her mother's elegantly coiffed head. Colonel Nolan's illustrious career had taken the family all over, although not always together. Emma had been sent to live with relatives in Boston while her parents were overseas on a remote posting that didn't allow children, reuniting several years later and then taking assignments at several different bases across America until he was handpicked for the most coveted position of them all and the Nolans moved again to Florida.

Emma recited the long list of former addresses without looking at him, staring out at the horizon instead while she sat with her legs folded Indian-style on the beach blanket he kept in the trunk of his car.

"It must have been hard, moving around so much," he offered. Military life was tough on families and tougher on marriages, which was one of the reasons why it had been all too easy to fall into bed with Milah Gold, despite both the ring on her finger and her husband's rank and a bigger reason why he had never followed that track.

"Yeah," she agreed, letting the clean white sand run through her fingers. "If I wanted friends I had to make them quickly, and then as soon as you really got to know someone new orders would come in and either we'd be leaving in a week, or they were shipping out, and sometimes you didn't even get that much notice. Sometimes...sometimes someone you thought you were really close to would leave one night and just never come back."

She said in a way that Killian knew she was referring to someone in particular, someone who'd done just that, walked out of her life one night and broken her heart in the process. But before he could say anything she stood up and took off, sprinting away from the memory on those long legs that looked so fantastic in white go-go boots and that he privately thought would look even better wrapped around his hips instead. She headed straight for the ocean and came to a halt right at the water's edge, waves just licking her toes and lapping at her ankles before rolling back out into the sea. Her hesitance confused Killian at first, Emma was like him, always leaping before she looked, but then she peeled off her lime green two-piece and dropped both halves into the sand, plunging straight into the crashing surf as naked and carefree as any flower child.

Killian Jones was one of the seven best pilots in the entire country, his reflexes were literally off the charts...and yet it took him an embarrassingly long time to pick up his jaw from where it had dropped somewhere around his knees and reach for the knot in his own swim trunks. Turned out there was something that could get his heart beating faster than the sight of the sleek vessel he was slated to fly into space sitting in the hanger at Cape Canaveral, and for the first time in a long time, he didn't look up into the sky when the sun set and the stars appeared.

But a late night skinny dip at a secluded little cove aside, Killian did his damndest to be a gentleman to Emma Nolan, and it wasn't because it was rumoured that the sword her father had mounted to the wall in his office wasn't just ceremonial. It would be easy to fall into bed with Emma, easy for this thing between them to be nothing more than another meaningless fling, but maybe he had been listening more than he realized while Dr. Hopper droned on about how lost boys either grew up and became men, or just grew older and which did he want to be? So he checked his speed and drove much more carefully when she was in his car and didn't let his hands wander when they danced no matter how dark it was in the hole-in-the-wall bars far from the country clubs frequented by his fellow officers and their wives. He made sure to have her home at a reasonable hour afterwards, even though he had to park around the corner and she was going to climb the tree next to her bedroom window and sneak back in anyway.

They got caught one afternoon, not by Colonel Nolan (although there had been a couple of close calls in that regard) but by one of those Florida downpours that came without warning, a sudden and shocking deluge that plastered the clothes to their bodies and ruined Emma's bouffant in a heartbeat before Killian could get his jacket off to serve as a makeshift umbrella. She clung to him while he held it over their heads, cursing a blue streak that would make a sailor blush and her mother faint while he laughed and did his best to shield her with his body. Raindrops slid down her neck and lingered in the little dip of her collarbones when she tilted her head up to the sky, mapping a course on her skin that he longed to follow with his lips until he'd charted every square inch. For someone who was about to take off at speeds men could only dream of a few short years ago and touch the stars, everything he'd ever wanted and more, Killian wished for nothing more now than to make these quiet moments last, for the song to never end when they danced and for the rain to keep falling, to keep them grounded in the here and now.

"You're leaving soon," she said in barely more than a whisper, a statement instead of a question. Suddenly everything was moving too fast, the mission date was measured in days instead of years now and their time together was growing short. The rain stopped, the afternoon showers were heavy but they never lasted long and it ended as abruptly as if someone had turned off a spigot, leaving wet pavement steaming in the sun and nothing to hinder Emma's return to her own car, the cheerful little yellow thing her parents had bought her.

"Yes...but not a day will go by where I won't think of you."

Emma looked at him and he wondered if the dampness on her face was from the rain or from something else. Her lips quirked in a half-smile that made his chest ache.

"Good."

Killian watched while she walked away and got into her car, putting it in gear and driving off. Slowly, at first, until it started to pick up speed. He knew, intellectually, that it couldn't go nearly as fast as his own V8, but it didn't feel that way when she was driving away from him.

He stood completely still until she was gone.

...

The little beach house that he'd rented when he first arrived to join the program went unused, Killian had to cram in his flight hours to stay mission ready after falling behind thanks to a certain blonde distraction, and he was going out daily in the jet that had been nicknamed the Jolly Roger and staying on base at night with other members of the crew. It seemed that whatever he'd had with Emma was over completely, she used to come by on a regular basis to visit her father and once she'd left the colonel's office there were all sorts of storage closets and empty stairwells to hold a more clandestine meeting afterwards. They'd neck frantically against the wall until Killian had to tear himself away to return to the daily physicals and calisthenics and whatever else the brass had scheduled for him, with the waxy taste of Emma's lipstick lingering in his mouth for hours afterwards and his uniform rumpled. But now it was Mrs. Nolan who came to base instead, with her lacquered helmet of dark hair and impeccable manners she was the Jackie Kennedy of NASA, always with a smile and a gracious word for the men under her husband's command.

It would be much more colourful if she knew exactly what her free-spirited daughter had gotten up to with one of them, even though he hadn't crossed that line. They'd come close, too close, moving too fast, too soon, the way Killian did everything else in his life.

Perhaps breaking up before one of them inevitably got broken was for the best.

Life magazine devoted an entire issue to Project Neverland and the men carrying the hopes and dreams of the nation on their shoulders, with each member of the flight crew getting their own double page spread. Captain Graham "Huntsman" Humbert was unsmiling and stoic in his photograph, described as, "the serious, single-minded leader of the elite group and devoted husband to his wife Ruby, as stunning and statuesque as any high-fashion model" while Captain Will "Knave" Scarlet was, "the practical joker, unofficial jester and class clown and a newlywed to boot, to former school librarian Belle, as pretty as her name suggests."

Killian posed alone in his flight suit, with no sweet-faced wife in hat and gloves like the others to stand by his side he was, "the swinging bachelor with the rock 'n' roll attitude and the looks to match, with eyes even bluer than Paul Newman's fixed firmly on the prize."

They were all inundated with fan mail after that, everything from children's crayon masterpieces of themselves meeting little green aliens on the moon to letters from senior citizens who remembered Kitty Hawk and man's first flight, but Killian in particular received a lot of perfumed envelopes decorated with lipstick prints and marked SWAK. Infatuated schoolgirls wrote him mash notes that Scarlet stole and read aloud to the rest of the crew in a high-pitched squeal, suburban housewives offered home-cooked meals with themselves served for dessert, and a Playboy Playmate even sent a few photos too racy to publish with her phone number scrawled on the back.

"Have you rung up Miss November yet, Hook?" Scarlet asked with a wink and a nudge, his caterpillar eyebrows practically doing the Twist on his forehead at the prospect. "Maybe we should start calling you Hef instead."

"Knock it off, Knave," Killian replied around the cigarette in his mouth, trying to snatch the picture back. Scarlet was shorter than he was, but he kept dancing just out of his reach with that smug grin while he continued to make jokes about Killian trading his flight suit for a smoking jacket. Finally, Humbert intervened, smacking Scarlet in the back of the head with one hand and grabbing Miss November away from him with the other.

"Ow! Watch the goods, it's property of Uncle Sam now, you know."

Humbert rolled his eyes. "We all are, dummy, which is why Captain Jones here isn't going to risk catching the clap and getting grounded. Are you, Hook?"

Killian met his expectant look. "Sir, no sir," he said, giving a mock salute and taking the photo delicately between his fingers. He left them to their bickering and headed outside, where he lit another cigarette and then held Miss November over the little flame, bidding her a silent farewell as she turned to ash on the wind before sliding the Zippo back into his pocket. Maybe he would have given her a call, once upon a time, risked a venereal disease and a shot of penicillin in the ass just for the story alone. But Humbert was right, there was too much at stake now. They all had to stay squeaky clean, in more ways than one. He wasn't even supposed to smoke in public anymore, which was even more of a pain when he had to deal with the press. Thankfully access to the base was highly restricted, and the wide swath of tarmac was completely deserted save for him and the line of sleek jets parked in neat rows, under a clouded sky.

The clouds drifted and the moon appeared, just as she had to the ancient sailors who set off in search of riches across Homer's wine-dark sea of old. They'd plotted a course into the unknown with only the stars to guide them and he was about to do the same, on a ship of a different kind but a ship nonetheless, with titanium wings instead of canvas sails to carry them across an ink-black sky, navigate by the stars and then follow them back home.

It wasn't his empty cottage that Killian pictured when he thought of home now, closing his eyes and letting the cigarette burn out untouched, breathing in the clean night air instead and hearing the faint crash of the waves against the distant shore.

...

A decision was made to hold a party at the base a few days before they had to enter pre-mission quarantine, a full on soiree with politicians flown in from Washington to see for themselves where their constituents tax dollars had gone, four star generals, celebrities and the cream of Florida society, and as the guests of honour, the flight crew in full dress uniforms with their brand new commendations pinned over their hearts. Colonel Nolan would lead them in to the fanfare of a naval brass band, each man with his wife displayed proudly on his arm. As the only unmarried one, Killian would escort one of the single women who'd been invited so he wouldn't have to walk alone.

Emma Nolan.

She arrived with her parents, stepping out of the car in a red cocktail dress that matched her red lipstick and drew him straight to her like a beacon.

Ot a warning light.

Maybe it was both.

"Miss Nolan."

"Captain Jones."

He proffered his arm and she accepted, her gloved hand resting lightly on his sleeve. His eyesight was as keen as the rest of his senses and yet everyone else seemed to fade into nothing more than a blur in the background, as far removed as the Earth would be once they broke through the atmosphere and went where none had gone before. The only one he could see clearly as the flashbulbs popped and the band started to play was Emma.

They weren't seated together at the dinner, much to Killian's chagrin while he made polite small talk with the senator's wife on his left and tried not to let his gaze drift too much in her direction. When the floor was cleared for dancing he took a turn with Ruby and one with Belle (neatly evading the rather overzealous senator's wife, a tall redhead from Kansas) and even danced with Mrs. Nolan herself, feeling his back straighten even more under her scrutiny. Her husband might be the one wearing the silver stripes, but she had the bearing of a queen in her golden dress.

"You look lovely this evening, ma'am," Killian said, his posture still stiff and formal despite the modern bossa nova the band was currently playing.

"Thank you, Captain. At ease."

He did relax a fraction at that while her stern expression melted into a smile. Over her shoulder he caught a flash of red and saw that Emma was dancing with her father, on the next pass Mrs. Nolan saw them as well and her face softened even more.

"Part of me is glad he's not twenty years younger or he'd be the one leading this mission instead of overseeing it. As exciting as this all is, don't forget about those of us back down on the ground waiting for you to come back."

Humbert drifted by with Ruby, her arm wrapped tight around his neck and her cheek resting against his chest. The wedding ring on his hand shone under the lights, his fingers splayed across her slim back and looking like there was nowhere on Earth or beyond that he'd rather be.

"I'll bring them all back safe and sound, ma'am, I promise."

Mrs. Nolan's eyes were a lot like her daughter's, a deep gemstone green that reminded him of distant galaxies they'd only caught the faintest glimpse of from Earth. They fixed him in place for a long moment, making his step falter and lose the beat while everyone else continued to dance.

"Not just them, Killian. You come back safe and sound. That's an order."

She had no real authority over him, but as the song ended and she patted him affectionately on the cheek, Killian was tempted to salute her as neatly as he would a general. He settled for giving a respectful dip of his chin instead, wondering as she walked back to her family if maybe, perhaps, his relationship with Emma hadn't been nearly as secret as he thought it was.

"Yes ma'am," he whispered, even though she was too far away to hear.

A few (or several) champagne toasts later everyone was invited into the hanger to view the spacecraft itself up close. Killian hung back, he'd already seen it, after all, more times than he could count, and as tipsy politicians eagerly followed the NASA eggheads through the doors to gape and gawk at what had built in this little corner of the world for the glory of all mankind, he noticed a familiar woman in a red dress with a bottle of champagne dangling from her fingers, heading the other way.

He went after her instead.

"You know, if you mean to christen the vessel with that, love, it's actually that way."

"Hmm," Emma mused, her red lips pursing as she appeared to contemplate the thought. "It's for good luck, right?"

Killian took it from her and swigged right from the bottle, feeling the bubbles pop on his tongue. "For luck," he said, and he was lucky that it didn't break or tip over when he set it down, blindly thanks to the woman in his arms, her mouth hot under his and her fingers fumbling with the buttons on his jacket. She got it open just as he hefted her up in his arms, fingers splaying over his heart while her legs went around his waist and a shoe hit the floor with a thump. They were in a darkened conference room, the walls strewn with maps and schematics of the most modern undertaking ever dreamed while the most ancient and primal of needs clawed at his belly, and he carried her to the couch in the corner that had seen many a hastily-snatched catnap during the late nights of the Project, but never an assignation quite like this one. For all the optimism and hope that they all professed publicly, privately everyone knew that the mission was dangerous, and there was a more than infinitesimal chance that none of them would make it back. Humbert knew it, Scarlet, despite the juvenile sense of humour, knew it, Colonel Nolan knew it and Killian did as well. The fierce claim in Emma's kiss as he fumbled with his belt told him that she was more than aware of that grim possibility, the squeeze of her thighs around his hips was an anchor, one he would remember later once gravity faded and he was floating free. As dangerous as this was it was more than worth the risk, and when he crossed that final barrier it was like both braving the unknown and coming home in one fell swoop, his face pressed to her neck to muffle his groan and her nails digging into his shoulders. The little half-moons she left in his skin had faded by morning, when all of NASA was hung over except for Captain Killian Jones and Miss Emma Nolan had gone home with a pilfered bottle of champagne and without her girdle.

She still cut quite the figure in her dress, even if it was wrinkled just a tad.

They were each allowed to bring one small personal item with them on the mission, something Dr. Hopper had said was to remind them of whatever it was they held most dear. A photo of a loved one, perhaps, or a symbol of their faith, the choice was up to them. The shrink had nodded approvingly when Killian had shown him what he'd finally decided to bring in their last session, leaving his little notebook closed for once. It didn't weigh very much, it couldn't, since it cost a literal fortune for every pound of weight being sent into orbit, and tucked easily into the little zippered pocket on his flight suit set aside for the purpose.

It was therefore the most expensive engagement ring in all of history.

Maybe he was moving too fast, but when he caught sight of Emma on the other side of the glass, come with her mother and the wives to say their final goodbyes on the morning he was going to leave the Earth and take the second star to the right, he knew he'd finally found what he'd been chasing for so long.

#cs ff #cs fic #my fic #cs au fic #project neverland

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enixamyram · 4 years

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Hope’s Party

Summary: When Robin discovers that Hope has invited everyone but Alice to her birthday party, she takes it upon herself to stand up for the other girl. And to right a wrong concerning a certain ‘magical pony’ along the way.

Emma Swan-Jones was by no means a bad person. She just honestly wanted her daughter to have the very best time for her sixth birthday.

She had been planning it for months in advance. They had rented the field in the best park in town, gotten there the day before to get it decorated and ready, hired the dwarves to help prepare things, gotten Elsa to have a snow cone station at the ready, Ariel giving swimming lessons in the portable pool David had brought and set up for them, had Cinderella doing everyone’s face paints and even hired Granny and Ruby to prepare all the sweets and treats that were sure to give everyone a sugar high. They had even managed to get Anton and Snow’s help to include a pair of regular horses from the Nolan farm to pull along a carriage as well as the best surprise of all. It hadn’t been easy but Emma had finally managed to get her daughter an actual unicorn (or as Hope called it, a magical pony). They were fairly rare as of late and this one was still young and perfect – a light purple hint to its white coat with bright blue eyes and a light pink mane that rolled down the back of her neck and around the crystal white and sparkling horn sticking out just above her eyes.

The unicorn was the crowning achievement on the perfect party. Snow hadn’t been very sure when Emma explained that Hope would be keeping her as a pet after the party was over, but as Emma explained, the unicorn was going to be hunted by dark magic users for her horn anyway. At least this way Emma and everyone else could keep it safe. It would live a good long life with Hope. Emma would make sure of it.

So everything was set, planned, ready and waiting.

It was all perfect…

… Except for one thing.

Alice Jones.

Alice was Emma’s niece in law (it was actually much more complicated but everyone had adjusted to thinking of Rogers and Killian as brothers so that’s what everyone went with now) and she happened to be the same age as Hope and in the same class as her in school. She also happened to be the only person in the whole of the class that Hope did not want at her birthday party.

“She’s weird, mum!” Hope had whined, stomping her pink sandal foot on the floor of their kitchen. “She does all this weird stuff! No one even likes her! She always goes and plays by herself and talks to the school hamster and says weird things about him! He can’t talk back to her but she pretends he does! I don’t want her ruining my party! It’s my party!”

Well… It was her party. As mean as it might seem, it wasn’t right to force Hope to invite someone she didn’t want to be there. The whole day was meant to be about her and what did it even matter if Alice apparently didn’t have any friends? No one would notice her not being there and she probably wouldn’t even know what she was missing. Emma had seen Alice’s ‘weird’ behavior for herself the few times Rogers had asked her and Killian to babysit (though he only asked them if Rumple and Tiana were both busy). She did have a habit of talking to things – animals, plants, pictures – as if they could understand her and as if they responded. No wonder Hope was so upset with her being there. She’d probably spend the whole time having an endless conversation with the horses or the unicorn and take up the time from everyone else.

In the end Emma gave Hope permission to not invite Alice.

“But you need to send the invites by mail so as not to hurt Alice’s feelings,” Emma began explaining.

“I will!” Hope said, not really listening and skipping out of the room, much happier now.

*O*U*A*T*

The day of Hope’s party, Robin Hood-Mills was doing her absolute best to be as slow as possible getting ready and heading down the street. And it wasn’t just because her mother was forcing her into a lime green frock that had more frills on it than a dog did fur. She insisted on wearing her brown shorts and white vest underneath – fully planning on ditching the dress the second her mother turned her back – and pulled on a pair of brown boots so late that her mother finally gave in arguing with her about them in order to finally get her out the house. Zelena desperately needed Robin to go to this party, even if they ended up being late for it. Her daughter had been spending far too much time with her brother and the Merry Men in the woods and didn’t have any real friends at school. Zelena was determined to change that, whether Robin wanted to or not.

So despite Robin’s best efforts, she soon found herself trudging down the street with a fat pouting scowl on her lips, kicking every loose object that happened to be lying down in front of her. Zelena kept telling her off, telling her to stop slouching, to smile, to stop pulling at the green ribbons she had put in Robin’s pig tailed hair, but she might as well have been talking to the pavement for all the good it did her. About halfway there she gave up trying, letting Robin sulk and instead focusing on rushing her fast enough that they didn’t make such a disastrous entrance by being too late to even sing happy birthday over the birthday candles.

Halfway there, Robin happened to glance up and caught sight of a familiar face sitting by herself on one of the local street benches with a thick red book settled in her lap. It was Alice. Robin had seen Alice a lot in school but had always been hesitant to approach her. She always seemed to be enjoying whatever game she was playing and Robin felt very self conscious about interrupting her in case she wanted to be left alone. And while she didn’t want to interrupt her reading, she also saw another perfect opportunity to once again put off going to Hope’s party.

“Be right back!” Robin declared, darting away before Zelena could stop her and rushing up to Alice.

Zelena started to call her back, then hesitated and stopped as she saw where she was going. Her daughter was willingly approaching another girl her own age without Zelena prodding her back with encouragement the whole time. There was no way Zelena was going to ruin that!

“Alice!” Robin said, coming to a stop in front of her. “Are you on your way to the party?”

Alice looked up and smiled widely right up until Robin mentioned the party. At that she dropped her eyes back to her book and shrugged. “No.”

Robin blinked. “You’re not? How come?” Had Alice found a way out of it? Could she get Robin out of it too?

“I wasn’t invited.” Alice shrugged, ducking her head further down into her book so her messy blonde hair fell down and hid her face.

“What?” Robin frowned. “Everyone was invited!”

Alice shrugged again.

“Why weren’t you invited?” Robin pushed.

Alice finally looked up again. “Hope didn’t want me. She told me. She said she asked her mum if she could not invite me and she said yes.” She looked back down. “She said I’m weird.”

Robin’s frown turned into a scowl. “Well who needs her dumb party!”

“You don’t wanna go?” Alice blinked, surprised.

“No!” Robin pulled a face and stuck out her tongue. “Hope’s annoying! And her party sounds boring!”

“Even with the magic pony?” Alice said, wide eyed.

“Roland told me it’s just a unicorn.” Robin shrugged. “And anyway. It shouldn’t be at a party. It should be free in the woods. Roland says it’s cruel to use it as a…” She paused. “I can’t remember what he said. But he said it was bad.”

Alice glanced down at her book. “I wish I was there so I could set it free to run in the woods.”

Robin glanced back at her mother, who suddenly was no longer in a great hurry to get Robin to the party now she was talking with Alice. Instead she seemed more interested in fixing her hair and clothes casually across the street. She looked back at Alice and smiled. “I gotta go to the party. Roland there already. But wait here for me, ‘kay? I’ll be real quick.”

“Why?” Alice asked.

“So we can play!” Robin said happily.

She was already turning away when Alice called after her. “You don’t think I’m weird?”

Robin looked back over her shoulder and grinned. “Yeah! That’s why I wanna play! Weird is fun!”

*O*U*A*T*

When Robin and Zelena finally arrived, they were more than late. But despite Zelena’s fears that everyone would stare and point at them, the party was such a loud and busy event that no one even noticed their arrival. They slipped onto the field and made their way towards the table where all Hope’s presents were stacked one on top of another. Zelena quickly set down the gift she had brought for her (a cheap coloring set) before she turned to push Robin’s shoulder, meaning to nudge her towards the other kids. However she didn’t get the chance as she was already rushing off towards Hope, Alexandra and all the other girls crowded around a miniature toy car that Emma had enchanted to ride around passing out pink frosted cupcakes to everyone. Zelena smiled, proud that Robin was making a real effort to make other friends, before she turned to find Regina and the other adults hanging around the tables.

Zelena had faded from view just as Robin reached the girls. She ignored all of them focused instead on Hope. It wasn’t hard to find her. She was dressed in a bright sunshine yellow frock with pink patterns swirling around the skirt and white flowers on the torso, and was the only girl who had a ridiculously large silver tiara balanced in her bright blonde hair. She also happened to have a birthday girl balloon in one hand and a plastic light up wand in the other that she was using to wave so enthusiastically, she nearly took Alexandra’s eye out twice before Robin had even reached them.

As Robin got close enough she didn’t slow her pace. In fact she sped up, reaching her hands out and charging straight into Hope’s back. Her hands hit her shoulders and threw her forward and with her hands full, she failed to catch herself and hit the ground hard, narrowly missing the toy car whizzing around. The balloon slipped from her fingers, drifting towards the sky and her tiara slipped into a crocked position on her head.

Robin then stood with her hands on her hips, frowning as Hope spluttered and gasped in shock, rolling and jumping back onto her feet. She rounded on Robin and immediately stepped up onto her toes so as to seem taller than the other girl she was normally nose to nose with.

“You pushed me!” Hope accused.

Robin responded by lifting her hands and pushing her again. Hope saw it coming, yet still was unable to stay on her feet, falling back down to the ground for a second time. “Yeah, I did!” Robin snapped, glaring down at her.

Hope stared up at Robin, sat on the ground for a moment of surprise before her blue eyes began to bubble over. A moment later she threw her head back and screamed and howled loud enough to be heard by all the parents standing by the dinner table. Within seconds they all rushed over, Emma at the lead with Snow, Regina and Zelena following closely behind.

“Honey! Are you okay?” Emma gasped, ducking and tucking her hands under Hope’s arms, helping her back onto her feet.

“What happened, sweetie?” Snow asked, leaning over Emma’s shoulder.

“SHHHHHHEEEEEEEE! PUSHED! MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Hope screamed, pointing the wand at Robin.

“What?” Regina rounded sharply on her niece.

“She did!” One of the girls said immediately. “We saw. She pushed her.”

“Robin, is that true?” Zelena demanded.

“She’s horrid!” Robin snapped, pointing back at Hope. “She’s awful and horrid and dumb!”

“Robin!” Regina shouted angrily.

“You apologies right now,” Emma said, frowning at Robin while her hand dusted the grass blades off of Hope’s dress.

“She should say sorry!” Robin snapped. “She made Alice feel bad!”

“Alice?” Snow blinked. “Alice isn’t even here, is she?” She glanced around like she might spot the messy blonde running in amongst everyone else.

“No! She’s not!” Robin snapped. “Cause Hope didn’t let her come! She said she wasn’t invited!”

There was a brief pause. “Hope.” Emma groaned. “I thought we said we wouldn’t tell Alice so not to hurt her feelings.”

“Hold up.” Regina said, turning her frown onto Emma. “I’m confused. Why wasn’t Alice invited? I thought the whole class was coming.”

“It’s a long story,” Emma said quickly.

“She said Alice is weird so she wasn’t invited!” Robin shouted, fighting to break out of the grip Zelena now had on her to keep her from propelling herself on Hope a third time.

“Emma?” Snow asked, frowning at her daughter. “I thought you said you were going to have Hope invite either all the girls or the whole class? Why did you let her not include Alice?”

“It’s her party, okay.” Emma sighed. “She doesn’t get on with Alice very well.”

“Last time I checked, all or none means all or none.” Zelena snorted.

“Let’s not change the subject now!” Emma snapped, scowling at Zelena now. “Which is that your daughter was attacking mine!”

“I was standing up for Alice! My daddy says always stand up for people!” Robin snapped.

“Your daddy’s dead!” Hope snapped through her tears.

“HOPE CHLOE SWAN-JONES!” Regina shouted.

By this point, Emma just looked embarrassed and quickly reached down, scooping Hope into her arms. “I’m gonna go get her cleaned up.” She said.

She started to walk away and Snow hurried after her. “Emma, seriously! What kind of lesson are you teaching your daughter? That it’s okay to exclude people if you call them names? You can’t let Hope invite everyone but Alice! How do you think the poor girl feels?”

“Mum, with all due respect, Hope is my daughter and I’ll raise her how I want.” Emma said sharply. “This is Hope’s party and she’s going to have what she wants and invite who she wants.”

Snow crossed her arms. “And say what she wants as well?” She challenged.

Emma turned to Hope, still crying softly in her arms and frowned. “No. She will apologies for that.”

At that, Hope began crying hard all over again. This was her party and now she was in trouble after Robin had pushed her down! It wasn’t fair!

Meanwhile Zelena and Regina were in a heated discussion of their own back in the middle of the field. The vice like grip that Zelena had on her daughters arm had loosened slightly, allowing Robin to finally slip free and now she hovered, looking up as Zelena became outraged that Regina would even suggest Robin’s violent behavior was from her parenting.

“You’re in trouble…” Someone suddenly sang into Robin’s ear.

She jumped and spun around, then grinned at the sight of her older brother. “Yup!” She said cheerfully.

“What did you do?” Roland asked.

“Pushed Hope over.”

Roland snorted and covered his mouth to smother a laugh, then reached over and ruffled Robin’s hair, causing one of her ribbons to become half undone. “Good girl. Anyway, I’ll see you later, okay?”

“You leaving?” Robin said, her smile dropping hard.

“This party’s boring.” Roland shrugged. “Gonna go into the woods and shoot some arrows.”

Robin glanced up at her mother; still so busy arguing about just how much she lets Robin get away with at home that neither she nor Regina had even noticed Roland’s arrival. She looked back at him and grinned when she caught sight of something over his shoulder. “Wait for me. I need to change and I’ll pick you up!”

Before Roland could ask what she meant by that, Robin had rushed passed him to the nearest flower bed. He looked at Zelena and Regina, then awkwardly began to shuffle away before they noticed him.

While everyone continued to either party, argue, or hover around, Robin quickly stripped off the dress and threw it carelessly onto the bench. Then she broke into a hard run and dashed across the field as fast as her little legs could take her. She ran straight for the unicorn where it was drifting in amongst greedy children that were pulling poking and prodding its mane, sides and tail greedily. A few were even trying to jump up and grab its horn like it was a game rather than a piece of its body. Robin nearly stopped to push each of them over but knew she only had so long before her mother caught on to wha she was doing. Once she realized that, she would definitely get Regina or someone else to use their magic and drag Robin back to them before she could get away.

So instead, Robin simply pushed those closest out of her way and jumped up. She managed to grab onto her back and slide her body around into a sitting position on top of her, reaching down and untying the loose rope around her neck that was being used to keep her from running off in the middle of the party. Once she was free, Robin lightly grabbed a hold of some of her long soft hair (it felt like feathers in between her fingers) and leaned forward. She then carefully nudged the unicorn’s sides with her knees and turned her around, directing her around and away from the kids and for the streets.

Roland had drifted over to the present table, probably seeing if there was anything he could sneak into his pockets without getting caught, and Robin directed the unicorn straight towards him. She wasn’t much of a rider, so had a feeling the creature understood that they were escaping, since she immediately followed every direction and rushed straight over to the table. A few people were shouting after them and Robin heard more than one person scream her name (one or two might have even been adults) but ignored all of them.

“ROLAND!” She called.

Roland glanced up in time to see her and immediately jumped onto the table, kicking and scattering presents onto the grass around them. He trampled on a few parcels, no doubt breaking a couple under his heavy stomps, and was laughing when he reached out a hand and caught Robin’s. He jumped and landed on the unicorns back easily and the three of them jumped over the food table ahead of them, ducked around the people rushing around in their way, and shot out of the field and onto the streets.

“Did they just…” Zelena said, her mouth falling open speechless as she watched their shape disappearing down the road.

“Yes they did.” Regina nodded slowly.

Zelena’s body tensed and felt her lips purse furiously. “That. Girl. Is-”

“Just like her father,” Regina chuckled.

Zelena blinked, turning to look at Regina for a moment. Then sighed and shook her head, but was unable to stop the smile pulling at the corners. A moment later the two sisters burst out laughing at the mess the Hood siblings had managed to cause after less than five minutes of arriving at the party.

*O*U*A*T*

Alice was still reading her book on the bench where Robin had left her. She had slipped out the house so her papa wouldn’t see her sad face and ask her what was wrong but now she was even more lonely than if she had stayed inside. It had been nice when Robin had stopped to talk to her, but she’d gone to the party. And even though she said she wasn’t interested in going, she obviously had changed her mind after getting there. Alice had heard about all the things Hope was having and couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy at all the fun everyone else was having there.

Just then an odd sound reached Alice’s ears. Like a clopping sound on concrete. She glanced up and her eyes widened at the shape that quickly grew larger as it approached. Within seconds she realized it was the magical pony that Hope had been bragging about (though now Alice could see it was definitely just a normal unicorn) and riding on its back was a boy Alice vaguely recognized and… Robin!

“I’m back!” Robin called, pulling the unicorn to a stop in front of her.

“Hope gave you her unicorn?” Alice gasped, her book completely forgotten as it slid off her lap and onto the floor as Alice climbed to her feet.

Roland snorted loudly and Robin elbowed him. “Not exactly. But anyway! Who cares how! We’re gonna go set her free! Wanna come?”

“Can I?” Alice beamed.

“Duh! It was your idea!” Robin grinned.

“Okay but we better go soon before Emma or Killian come chasing after us,” Roland laughed.

Alice stepped forward and gently stroked the unicorn’s face, moving her fingers over her soft features with care the rest of the kids at the party hadn’t even been capable of. Smile smiled at the creature softly as she did. After a moment, she began whispering and leaning her forehead against the creatures face intimately.

Roland frowned down at her. “What are you doing?”

Alice glanced up and blushed slightly, remembering what Hope had said. “Uh. I’m just talking to her.”

“You talk to animals?” Roland blinked.

Alice hesitated, then nodded.

“That’s awesome!” Roland beamed.

“Told ya she was cool!” Robin said, grinning proudly.

Alice was surprised by their enthusiasm but quickly found herself grinning back at them. “You think it’s cool?”

“Hell yeah!” Roland said. “So what is she saying?”

Alice paused, putting her ear near the unicorn’s mouth for a moment and listening to what Roland would describe as rumbles and huffs of breath. After a moment Alice looked shyly back up at them. “She’d like you to get off her now. She doesn’t really like people riding her.”

“Oh! Sorry!” Robin and Roland rushed to climb off, each moving around to gently stroke her face and apologies in turn.

“I’m serious though,” Roland said, glancing nervously behind them. “We should get going. Come on, I know a short cut to the woods.”

With Roland leading the way, Robin and Alice stood on either side of the unicorn by her head and they began walking and guiding her along together. They moved quickly, very aware that there would be a number of people chasing after them by now, but Roland ducked them in and out of alley ways and behind buildings that kept them off the main street and shortened what would have been a much longer walk.

“So does she have a name?” Robin asked, looking around the unicorn at Alice.

Alice muttered to the unicorn, stroking her while she spoke then paused to listen. She looked up and shrugged. “She doesn’t have one.”

“Should we give her one?” Robin asked.

“Well you got to call her something!” Roland called back. “Can’t keep referring her as ‘The Unicorn’. What about Blaze?!”

“Ugh, no! That’s a boy’s name.”

“It can be a girl’s name.” Roland shrugged.

“Well it’s not her name.” Robin turned back to Alice. “What do you think?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you!” Robin laughed.

Alice fell quiet, watching the unicorn closely for a moment as they walked the long way around the back of the Nolan farm, closing in on the woods. She concentrated so hard on a name that she began frowning and wasn’t quite looking where she was going, causing her to stumble a couple of times, although even that didn’t stop her from thinking hard about names and she barely reacted as she straightened herself back up and kept going. Robin resisted the urge to giggle and instead waited with uncharacteristic patients.

“I know!” Alice said finally. “Frou-Frou!”

“Frou-Frou?” Robin asked, testing the name out. She reached up and stroked the unicorn. “What do you say, girl? You like Frou-Frou?”

In response she gently rubbed the side of her head against Robin and Alice in turn, giving Alice an extra lick along her ear and making her giggle. “I think she likes it!” Alice laughed.

“Frou-Frou it is!” Robin grinned, rubbing the unicorn face.

A moment later they had reached the edge of the wood. Roland paused, unhooking an old waterskin one of the Merry Men had given him from his belt. It belonged to his father and now he rarely went anywhere without it. He turned it up and let Frou-Frou have a long drink from it. He didn’t know when the last time she had any water was but no doubt would need some soon. She was in for a long run once she was free to head as far into the woods as she could get. She was smart, and would probably want to get far enough away to avoid any more run ins with anyone who might once again mistake her for a child’s pet.

“I’m kind of sad to see her go,” Robin said, hugging Frou-Frou around the neck.

“She’ll be fine,” Roland shrugged.

“We can always visit!” Alice said excitedly.

“That’d be fun.” Robin said, then reached over and took Alice’s hand in her own. “Let’s promise! Every day we’ll come here, after school, and see if she’s nearby. And every week we’ll go into the woods and look for her! Roland can help!”

“Sure, Roland doesn’t mind wasting his weekends.” Roland said, rolling his eyes but Robin ignored him.

“Okay!” Alice beamed.

“You gotta promise!” Robin said immediately.

“I promise.” Alice said firmly.

“A proper promise!” Robin said suddenly.

“What’s a proper promise?” Alice blinked.

“We gotta kiss.” Robin nodded.

“We do?”

“Yeah. Cause boys spit on their hands and shake when they make promises. But I don’t wanna spit on my hand. So we can lick our lips and then it’s basically the same thing.” Robin said seriously.

Roland bit his tongue to keep from laughing or correcting her. Little John had told him off for not letting his sister “have her fun” as he put it and in the end, this was a story he could happily file away for when Robin was older and more easily embarrassed.

“Okay!” Alice nodded. The two made a point of sticking their tongues out and wetting their lips dramatically. “I promise!” Alice stated with Robin repeating after her before they leaned in and quickly pecked each other’s lips.

“It’s a forever promise now,” Robin nodded seriously. “We can’t ever break it.”

“Never ever.” Alice agreed.

After they were finished, they watched Frou-Frou run off ahead of them, her beautiful light shaded body fading into the dark shadows of the safety of the woods. Roland was already bored, turning his attention towards the town to see if he could spot anyone chasing after them (almost hoping they would be so they could have an exciting chase) but Alice and Robin watched Frou-Frou go right until the moment she disappeared. Their forever promise to visit her often cemented in their newfound friendship.

A friendship which might one day grow into something more…

#Once Upon A Time #Alice Jones #Robin Mills #Roland Hood #OUAT Fanfiction #Curious Archer

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indigozap · 5 years

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introduction post or whateva

hi i’m miles and i’m kind of new to this hockey tumblr thing, i kind of joined on a whim yesterday. my family’s pretty big on basketball, and i went to a bruins game once when i was like 13 since we’re from boston and we’re loyal af but the flyers be lookin kinda 👀👀 anyways i’m 17, unapologetically gay and sports aren’t my forte but i’ll try my damned hardest to look like ik wtf im talking abt skskfjskfkskfkd this is so weird i’m rambling but if you wanna follow me on my main feel free its @waterbluenewworld, im into the love live! anime/idol franchise so be prepared to see a lot of that over there, and also a lot of boys because that’s my defining personality trait, how much i talk abt men. i’m also rlly into shawn mendes and the my little pony spinoff show equestria girls. yeah idk what this was supposed to be but yeah give me a warm welcome because i am so fucking confused right now

also i love nolan patrick and nico hischier so there’s that

#hockey #what the hell am i doing #nico hischier #nolan patrick #new to this so #i dont know wtf to tag shit as #but pls follow me im desperate

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mrsarnasdelicious · 6 years

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Stucky Headcanons

A/N: Hooo boi, this ship

They have always loved each other

They held hands when they were just wee lads

Bucky would always look after Steve

Bc les be reel, Steve has always been trouble prone

And astmathic and just overall smol and vulnerable

But Bucky loves him anyway

And Steve loves Bucky just as much

They just don’t know it is mutual

It is terrible to behold

Especially when they grow a little older

Steve gets into more and more trouble

And Bucky has to nanny him

Because his scrawny ass crush gets himself beaten up almost weekly now

And Bucky can’t do anything to make him stop

Except keep Steve in the house with loads of cuddles

They cuddled a lot back then

AND THEN STEEB GETS HIS FLU SHOTS

Hoo boi is he hot now

To Bucky it is like Steve’s golden heart shines through his skin now

But yeah he is hot as fuck as well

But there is no time to give in to feelings

Because the war must be fought

And Steve is first used as a prancing pony

But when they see each other again, where the fight is thick, they look each other in the eye and they know home is where they are together

That is where they realize it might be mutual

But just when they both plan to confess, the train accident happens

Steve griefs

And freezes

For a long time

And then, when he sees Bucky back, he has to pinch himself

Lords does it grief him when Bucky is revealed to be not himself

He really needs some therapy for that

Fortunately Stark pays

Steve spends a lot of his time looking for Bucky

Setting up spy plans with Nat and Clint

And then he finds him and retrieves him

AND PISSES OFF TONY IN THE PROCESS

Not that Steve gives damn

Bc he has his Bucky back

Bucky is brought to Wakanda

And they say goodbye with an I love you

Steve is left to ponder on it while Bucky is in cryo

But Steve is on the run and returns to Wakanda often

And one day Bucky is awake from Cryo

Steve and him have a talk then

And they are cute and in love from then on

Yes, Steve has to leave for missions, a lot

But he now comes home to Bucky

WHOM HE OF COURSE GETS BACK AFTER INFINITY WAR

And they have a nice place in Wakanda

And get married

And attend Tony’s wedding

And get a second place in the US so they can train new hero’s

And they adopt a young mutant named Nolan

And absolutely dote on him

And five years later make the mistake of taking Loki up on his offer to surrogate of them

And become biological father to a twin

They are called Matthew and Amelia

Steve fears Matthew might be infused with some of Loki’s magic

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER

AS FOR TWO VANILLA BOYS

They just want to be near each other

They only kink they do is body worship

Because those bods are worthy of all the worship

They are moderately versatile

Although Steve is more often the bottom

But he knows how to give it just as well

#Stucky #Steve Rogers #captain america #James Buchenan Barnes #The Winter soldier

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nightcoremoon · 3 years

Text

I can't say I'm the biggest fan of action movies

most of them are... not good

but with that being said

sometimes action movies can be really good

I grew up on indiana jones, star wars, and lord of the rings, but those aren't just boring empty testosterone, they have personality, charm, lore, and emotionally charged storylines. and being a dumb kid with bad taste I also liked rush hour and i robot (I still like them shut up).

when I was a bit older, double digits, I was then deemed allowed to watch die hard whenever my dad's side of the family played it every year for christmas. because it's a christmas movie. no I don't take criticism. anyway. the matrix, the terminator, 300, and kill bill soon joined the list, and chris nolan's batman. then more recently I got into aliens, predator, bruce lee, john rambo, jason bourne, and went to see fury road in the theater with my dad (whose favorite movies include the original mad max films).

so I do like some action films, mostly the ones that have substance underneath just the style. practical effects, cultural significance, humor, cinematic mastery, cool story beats, emotions, the works. not just "pew pew pew! bang bang! kaboom!!! one-liner." like they've sorta become.

anyway I'm a fan of the russian rock band biting elbows and especially enjoy the music video for bad motherfucker (the gopro one). so here I am looking at netflix finding something to put on in the background and lo and behold oh my god it's the movie NnbR Hañwynnep (I don't have a cyrillic keyboard but it's Ilya Naishuller) aka the guy from biting elbows directed. so it's called hardcore henry. I watched it.

dear god it's actually really really good wtf

it's clearly an homage to several video games, especially mirror's edge and modern warfare 2 from what I personally noticed on a first watch.

the camera work and editing was phenomenal. there were weird cuts here and there but they only cut the stuff where nothing was happening or they had very good plot reasons since you're a robot. or, well, the main character. okay look it's a second person film. or... first person. it's confusing to explain but it makes sense when you watch it, and it's unique and original. it could have been gimmicky but it felt natural. and the little touches the actor put in really did well to help humanize Y/N aka the cameraman, especially with hand gestures. the music did a lot of good work too but that's to be expected from a team that includes serj fucking tankian.

the story was good too but I was mostly sold on the jimmy subplot. that was probably the best B-story in any action films I've ever seen so far. plot twist was obvious but still pretty well done.

oh also there were lots of titties in the strip club scene but it was refreshing to see the absence of a male gaze in that the focus of the scene was on the cyborg recharging his literal battery.

the firefights and melee scuffles were all well choreographed, and really easy to follow even though shakey camera was employed. and oh so satisfying. props to the effects team, they kept it subdued and realistic but still visceral and gritty, and tinged here and there with dark humor. they clearly are no one trick ponies as each scene flowed differently from the last, all the way to the last moments before the credits.

and the scene where it started playing queen's don't stop me now? cinematic excellence. 😘

of course the climactic showdown with the big bad had one of the most brutal and M E T A L finishers I think I've ever seen even in horror.

all in all it was an enjoyable watch.

I'll probably watch it again one day

0 notes

gojaimas · 6 years

Text

Chapter 38 Comments

public utility: “This is the Ben/Gwen/Lucy threesome fic that Gojaimas refered to: [insert link here].��Gojaimas, you're a pervy LOL”

Also no, that isn’t the one I was talking about. It was a Ben/Lucy thing, not a threesome thing. And jeez, that fic had a lot of spelling errors. I know it’s just porn, but take a little pride in your work for god’s sake. I mean, I didn’t read it. I mean, it was for research I swear. I mean, oh boy...

Guest: “Reading your responses is as engaging as a new chapter. Creating a fanbase is pretty crucial because it can end up being cancer sometimes but yours seem to be awesome, going beyond just Bwen and you deserve it all. Are your social circles aware of your little E-fame or are you too embarrassed to reveal it to em?”

Thank you! Yeah, I’ve been lucky so far with my small fanbase. I haven’t told anyone I’ve been writing this fanfiction, although I do have one friend who knows I ship Ben and Gwen.

Guest: “Lucy having feelings for Gwen is where I kinda can’t put my finger across. I know Gwen doesn’t know or think much about Lucy’s sexuality since her mind is now haunted by Ben and you even mentioned “she vaguely notices it” in one of those our responses. The issue for me here is, you’ve set up Lucy teasing Ben slowly blooming into becoming the real deal from the start, you took 30 chapters for Gwen to come to terms with her feelings and about 15-20 for them to become best friends in the first place. Lucy and Gwen’s friendship always had the sisterly vibe to it and if there was some sort of sexual tension between them then I could buy it but you did it brilliantly with Ben and Lucy and gave the Bency fandom more exposure which I was waiting forever for while simultaneously topping the game of the Bwen fanbase. The first romantic tease I could sense was when Lucy was lying on Gwen’s shoulder on the beach and she jokingly said something along the lines of “you know, with this sunset, this is actually kind of romantic” which lead Gwen to push her off leaving Lucy giggling in the ground and that gained a giggles from me too but those didn’t seem legitimate to me. I mean girls call each other “babe” all the time, compliment each other’s looks, kiss each other on the cheeks, they even grope breasts in anime often but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re into girls. Lucy being that Friend you can share certain things with and always count on even though they can annoy the hell out of you is what seemed liked the bond Lucy and Gwen had. Her now developing feelings for her out of the blue seems unconvincing”

I think the problem you’re having is you’re seeing Lucy’s teasing of Ben differenly than her teasing of Gwen, and you shouldn’t be. Yes, I know girls compliment each other’s looks and whatnot without necessarily being into girls. That’s why Gwen doesn’t really think anything of it and why I didn’t expect my readers to think anything of it either until I let them hear some of Lucy’s thoughts. But now we’ve already heard Lucy say that just because she’s messing with people doesn’t mean she isn’t also serious. If you can accept that her teasing Ben was her way of expressing her growing feelings for him while concealing how serious she was, why can’t you accept that she was doing the same to Gwen? When you think of it that way, it doesn’t seem so out of the blue. I was hoping for it to be somewhat of a surprise, especially since I didn’t think her liking Ben would be surprising to anyone, but I guess I didn’t do that great a job of it.

Gwen and Lucy definitely have that sisterly, “you can tell me anything,” best friend type of relationship right now, and Lucy finds that very important. She’s actually quite afraid of losing that, which is one of the reasons she’s still keeping her feelings a secret. But just because she cares for her one way doesn’t mean she can’t also care for her another way.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your criticism. I can’t exactly go back and sprinkle in more hints for it now, but I hope my explanation will at least help a little.

Robotic Lizard: “Z U C C” Robotic Lizard: “ing*” Robotic Lizard: “ZUCCing*”

Should this mean something to me? Is this a Mark Zuckerberg joke?

Guest: “The title “I wanted what I saw that day” to me as a reader refers to an update.”

Well then I have some good news for you.

Guest: “Despacito Quiero respirar tu cuello despacito Deja que te diga cosas al oído Para que te acuerdes si no estás conmigo Despacito Quiero desnudarte a besos despacito Firmo en las paredes de tu laberinto Y hacer de tu cuerpo todo un manuscrito (sube, sube, sube) (Sube, sube)”

Guest: “It’s intriguing that Gwen is self concisious about her butt considering a certain episode known as “Forge of Creation” in Ultimate Alien. They run into ten 10 year old Ben through a timeloop or something and as you can tell, 10 years old can be hard to handle. Even 15 Ben acknowledges it and asks “did I used to be this obnoxious?” to which Gwen’s “you have no idea”. At one point, he tries to annoy Gwen by pointing out her butt is huge and the context of the way he said it was an insult although I’d take that as a compliment. Cartoon Network would censor the shit out of it if was aired now”

Hahaha, yeah, I’m familiar with that scene. It was a minor inspiration for Gwen having a complex about that.

Guest: “Gojaimas all I gotta say is gozaimasu”

Arigatou!

Guest: “Since they’re supposed to be 14 now and that means on the transition of puberty, you said we should imagine Ben talking with his Yuri lowethal’s voice then does that mean we gotta imagine Gwen having longer hair, a pony tail? Might sound a little pervy with the way I put it but with a more mature body and most importantly, should we imagine her voice associated with Ashley Johnson instead of Meagan Smith? Meagan Smith was a classic but Ashley did great voice work as Gwen in AF and the sequels, she’s still smart but she’s more calm and composed instead of can’t helping herself from getting aggressive because Ben know exactly how to spruk her nerves and Meagan Smith portrayed that perfectly”

Gwen’s hair is a little bit longer now, but not as long as it was in the sequel series and she still keeps it in the same style, not in a ponytail. Her body has matured more by now, and so has Ben’s. And you should be imagining her with her Ashley Johnson voice, which I pointed out by Lucy saying she sounds just like Ellie from The Last of Us. I still love Meagan Smith’s voice and I think it’s perfect for preteen Gwen, but I think Ashley Johnson’s voice is great as well and it fits better for teenage Gwen.

Guest: “Speaking of voice actor, Troy Baker is the real MVP right up there with Nolan North with voicing Joel and them both giving life to the Drake brothers in Uncharted. I mean, hell, his young Joker voice in Arkham Origins and in Asassult of Arkham (The animated suicide squad movie, still better than the live action one) is the closest resemblance I could see to Mark Hamill’s iconic established voice.”

Oh absolutely, those two are real pros. Although my favorite male voice actor is still probably Dee Bradley Baker. His range is incredible and I got to meet him at Blizzcon a few years ago. He’s a really great guy.

Guest: “Everytime Gwen puked or gagged which she normally would when she saw Ben mockingly but this time because she’s in love with him, all I could think about was the ROBLOX death sound. Yeah please pull a bullet in my mouth. OOF”

That’s rough, buddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f49ELvryhao

Guest: “Man this new few chapter made me feelin’ like waiting for Infinity War. A part of me loves Marvel and a part of me wants to disintegrate them for killing off our favourite characters, this isn’t a spoiler, we all were expecting someone to die while walking in but all good things come to an end.”

> implying superhero deaths are ever permanent

Guest: “This better end well, in quality,which I’m confident it will so far by your writing skill analysis not necessarily in favour of the characters but I can’t help but say if poor Gwen or Lucy ends up in the doghouse, Gojaimas, I’ll have you know that my dad owns Microsoft so he can ban your club penguin account.”

Joke’s on you. I’ve been banned from Club Penguin since 2012.

#Comments

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killiansbutt · 7 years

Text

Type (CS ff, 1/1)

summary: Emma discovers that she has no qualms with a blind date if the blind date meets all her requirements. Such as handsome and living on a boat. words: ~900 rating: T idk a/n: dedicated to @goddesswan as a pick-me-up. ♥ typos galore, i’m sure, because I typed this in like half an hour.

Emma scowled. The better part of an hour had passed and yet she couldn’t see any sign of Mary Margaret nor did she receive a response to the numerous texts that Emma had sent in the past hour. The restaurant looked like the type of place someone might go to celebrate, but from an outside appearance, it didn’t look much different than any other restaurant in downtown Storybrooke.

Storybrooke wasn’t even that large, there was absolutely no reason that Mary Margaret wasn’t waiting for her already, especially since Emma had taken fifteen minutes longer than normal to show up. Deputy Booth wasn’t the fastest man in the world, she half thought his body was made of wood from the slowness of his movements when it came to switching shifts.

Funnily enough, it only showed up when he was arriving at work and yet his hitherto unknown relationship to fast moving superheroes seemed more prominent when his shifted ended for the evening.

Familial relationships to fictional characters aside, Emma wanted nothing more than to head home and snuggle in her bed, but a promise was a promise, no matter how drunk Emma might have been when she made it.

(The answer was very, but it was Mary Margaret’s bachelorette party and Emma hadn’t expected her to remember something that occurred over five months ago).

She tapped her fingers on the wheel of her bug and, right as she considered leaving, her phone buzzed at her side.

06:27pm. New message. Mary Margaret Nolan. Sorry Emma I didn’t hear my phone. Come inside!

… There was no way that Mary Margaret had been inside the entire time. No way at all.

And yet Emma climbed out of her car anyway, grumbling while she made her way to the door of the restaurant. Her eyes narrowed. It wasn’t very fancy looking, the type of place that welcome riff-raff like Emma as a teen and exhausted, overworked Emma of the present without any qualms, and yet the heavenly smell of cheeseburgers nearly made her drool.

“Nolan,” Emma ventured when someone finally questioned her.

The hostess’ eyes flashed with knowledge – Emma suddenly didn’t trust that look and regretted more than ever that she hadn’t just called Mary Margaret to meet her outside – and then gestured for her to follow. Another woman lead her to the back of the room, to a private secluded section. Emma’s brain screamed set up with every step and her words were only confirmed when the hostess gestured her into a booth containing a dark-haired person.

A dark-haired man and definitely not the dark-haired woman that Emma had been expecting.

“Don’t tell me,” said Emma, pinching her nose as the woman left them alone with a sly wink. To whom, Emma didn’t know. “You’re Killian, right?”

“Guilty.” He grinned, absently spinning an empty glass on the table with one hand. “So, I take it my mate isn’t here to complain about the woos of marriage already?”

“And I take it my mate isn’t here to gush about the beauty of her new home,” Emma said as a reply.

“Afraid I’ve owned my home for a few years, but I can certainly exclaim over the Jolly Roger’s magnificence to any ear that wishes to listen.”

“Flatterer,” she said dryly. “Your house is named after Captain Hook’s ship?”

“My ship is named after Captain Hook’s ship.”

“…You live on a ship?” In her weaker moments, Emma considered buying a boat and living off one too, but that seemed foolish when her car worked in a pinch. Now she could afford the crummy apartment she called her home.

“Indeed! She’s a marvel.”

“We’re still talking about your ship, right?” Emma found herself sitting, but only because a server needed to get by and not for any other reason, thank you very much.

“Doubt me? I can show you.”

Despite herself, she laughed.

He blinked and then smiled. “I will claim that was a planned question from the start, but in a hypothetical situation, I would say I only meant to show you pictures.”

“I’ll call bullshit either way so let’s see it,” she said, curious and she leaned across the booth to examine the phone as he held it up to her. In retrospect, she could have just taken the phone from him to see it, but Emma hadn’t been thinking of that in the slightest.

No, she wasn’t thinking of whether his eyes were really that blue or if it was the trick of the light. No, she wasn’t thinking about the way his hair fell in his eyes. No, Emma was not thinking about Killian Jones like that in the slightest, no matter what Mary Margaret spouted about him being just her type.

Emma didn’t have a type.

Except she did.

And he hit every tick on the list and then some.

His lips twitched as though he knew and she certainly couldn’t know that he was thinking the same of her curly, pony-tail strewn hair, the flecks of amber in her green eyes, or the strange little half-smile that he definitely wanted to see as a full-blown smile.

No, she definitely didn’t know that, as they debated on the merits of ships versus cars for sleeping arrangements (read as: ships are roomy, but cars are portable), that he thought David’s wife was very right about Emma Swan.

She was definitely his type.

(She texted Mary Margaret an hour later with a threat about fixing her up with anyone ever again).

(The next day, she sent her a thanks and a winky face and left it at that).

#cs ff #captain swan #captain swan ff #captain swan fanfiction #goddesswan #friends ♥#mine #my fic #cs drabble

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sass-and-stilettos · 7 years

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“Small Town Politics - A Regal Believer Tale”

the-mayors-kid

@sass-and-stilettos

(Romantic Snow Queen backstory)

Emma had told Regina that Henry was working in the stables that Saturday. After the incident with Daniel he’d gotten kind of spooked but he still wanted to learn how to ride. But he was still terribly awkward around the horse he felt like he barely knew which end was which.

sass-and-stilettos

Regina entered the stables, the familiar scent of horses and hay, leather tack and sweet grain was like a welcome home. She really should get out here more often. It was just that so many memories of stables were still wrapped up with Daniel.

Ambling down the aisle between stalls, she paused to pet curious muzzles until she came to the place where Henry was working. He had a brush in his hand and he was tentatively stroking it over the piebald horse’s side.

“You can use a little more pressure on the brush, Dear. He won’t object.”

the-mayors-kid

He was still not that convinced that this stable cleaning and brushing was how to ride and that maybe the adults were playing some sort of practical joke on him, he stopped brushing for a moment…

“Mom…?”

He looked at her surprised she was there but after a moment he started brushing again a little harder as she suggested.”

sass-and-stilettos

“Hello, Henry.” She smiled at him. “Try this…” Walking over, she took his hand and guided it to give the horse firm, short strokes with a little flick of the wrist at the end.

When he had the hang of it, she let him go, watching with approval. “That’s it. You’ve got it.”

the-mayors-kid

“You know about horses?”

Somehow he couldn’t picture her doing any of this. Or actiony stuff. Didn’t she just … smoke cloud places?

“Why are you here?”

Still he tried to stroke like she’d shown him.

sass-and-stilettos

Regina chuckled. “As a matter of fact I do. Believe it or not, there was a time I was considered quite the horsewoman. If you don’t believe me, you should ask your grandmother.”

Which was why she was there. Suddenly she was nervous. “Emma told me that you’d be here,” she said by way of explaining her presence. “I wanted to see how you are.”

the-mayors-kid

“I’m okay. I think they’re playing some sort of joke on me. I told Grandpa I wanted to learn how to ride and all I’ve been doing was cleaning stables for weeks.”

He frowned in the way he did when he thought adults were talking down to him. But he didn’t want to take his grumpiness about it out on his mom. “Is that why there is all the horse stuff around the house and your office?”

sass-and-stilettos

“Yes, Henry, that’s the reason. I haven’t ridden in years though.” She ran her hand over the horse’s neck, casting a critical eye over the animal. It turned it’s head toward her and pushed her back a half-step, lipping at her overcoat pocket. Regina laughed and pulled the apple out and held it so the horse could take a bite.

“He’s a sweetheart.” A calm, schooling horse that would be perfect for her son. “I can only assume David has set you to doing chores so that you can learn to be comfortable with the animals, and vice versa.”

the-mayors-kid

His eyes got big as he watched her, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you relaxed with anyone…” but me.

He shrugged, “He said something like that. I just thought learning to ride would involve more… riding?” He said the last with a kind of sheepishness.

He was tentatively starting to accept that there were maybe parts of his mom he didn’t know and the book didn’t say. “You like horses. Why didn’t you ride when I was younger?”

sass-and-stilettos

“Horses and I get along rather well. Most will do whatever you ask of them and are loyal as long as they’re well treated. Especially if you bring apples,” she said the last like she was confiding a secret.

“ normally it would involve a lot more riding. I’m sure that he just wants to ease you into everything. Learning how to take care of the horse is as important as riding. Though of course we had stable boys for that.”

Daniel. She sighed softly. “There never seemed to be enough time.”

the-mayors-kid

“Would you go riding with me? When… I actually get to ride?”

He added. He took her explanation but still was a bit grumpy. Though for once not grumpy at her. “I thought when the curse broke there would be more… sword fighting and adventure and stuff. Less school and chores.”

sass-and-stilettos

“I would be honoured.” The fact that he’d asked overjoyed her. “Maybe I can give you a lesson myself. I can bring it up with Emma.”

She laughed when he talked about adventure and sword fighting. “Oh Henry, even without the curse, this is not the Enchanted Forest.”

the-mayors-kid

“Emma and Mary Margaret got to go there…”

He said grumpily.

But he shrugged, “I’d like that. If you’d give me a lesson. You would actually get to the riding part.”

His mom never held back on the fun part if he finished his homework and did his chores.

sass-and-stilettos

The old Regina would have chided him for whining about that, but she let it pass with an amused sniff.

“Then I will ask Emma about it when I see her next.”

That avenue of conversation exhausted, she found herself trying to figure out the best way of broaching the subject of her and Snow. She figured direct and diplomatic would work best. Henry was like his birth mother in some ways.

“Henry, I have something I need to talk to you about.”

the-mayors-kid

“Okay.”

He said it carefully because he’d been mad at her for lying so he didn’t want her not to tell him things. But he kept working the brush now doing much better with the pony.

sass-and-stilettos

“Well, it has to do with the situation between your grandparents. I’m sure that you’ve also heard everyone saying that it must be my fault?” Damn, this was difficult.

the-mayors-kid

“I’ve heard that…” He said carefully. “And you are kind of a good suspect. You have to admit.”

But he didn’t want her to think he was accusing her. “I mean they’re true love and broke curses it doesn’t make sense that Grandma wants a divorce. And you did kind of announce to like a billion people that you wanted to destroy their happiness…”

sass-and-stilettos

“That’s true. Everything you’ve just said is true, except I don’t think the true love part holds anymore.”

She took a deep breath and let it out, choosing her next words with care. “It is my fault that your grandmother filed for divorce, but it’s not because I cursed her. It’s because I fell in love with her, and she with me.”

the-mayors-kid

He fumbled and dropped the brush.

“Wait … what?”

He kept trying to think about everything he knew. “Wait… what?”

But none of it made sense. Particularly his mom admitting to something like this and telling him the truth. Because this is a strange lie to tell. “Are you her …?”

sass-and-stilettos

Well, at least he hadn’t run away or started yelling at her…yet. That was a start.

“Am I her what, Henry?” Better to answer his questions than just volunteering random information at this point, she thought.

the-mayors-kid

“Aren’t you her stepmother?”

He said awkwardly. “And don’t you hate her… like a lot? I mean you tried to frame her for murdering Mrs. Nolan to keep her and David apart…”

He picked up the brush but attending to the horse was a bit forgotten.

sass-and-stilettos

Ah, yes, she’d expected someone to bring that up at some point. “I was, but even though we haven’t physically aged during the curse, that was a long time ago. I was never a very good mother figure for her anyway.” It was hard to be a good mother figure when you wanted your step-daughter dead. And that brought her to his next question.

“I used to hate her,” she admitted, “but all of that has changed. I don’t expect you to understand it all, because I don’t understand it all myself. I just wanted to make sure that you heard about all of this from me instead of anyone else. She and I have been talking about letting everyone know, but we won’t do that if you don’t want us to.”

the-mayors-kid

He stepped out of the stall and looked at her skeptically, folding his arms and not realizing that he looked a bit like a mini version of her. “But you tried to frame her for murder… not that long ago.”

He furled his brow. “How can you be in love with her?”

He didn’t ask how she could be in love with his mom. His grandmother had a big heart and he loved his mom too. The idea of her being unlovable wasn’t a question.

sass-and-stilettos

She laughed softly at the picture he made, standing like that and giving her that look. “It may not have been that long ago, but I’m a different person now. I told you that I would try to change for you, right?” When he nodded, she went on.

“Your grandmother didn’t believe it for an instant. She tried baiting me to get me to crack, but I didn’t.” Well, that wasn’t quite true, but he was too young to hear about the ways that she had. “Even so, she was convinced that I was still the evil queen, just that I was pretending to be good for you. It turns out that she’d had feelings for me for a long time and she was sad that I’d never changed for her. We started talking more and I began to teach her about city government. Feelings grew from there.” That about summed it up for the G-rated version.

the-mayors-kid

He accepted the story she was telling except he still didn’t understand something.

“But isn’t true love forever?”

It was the thing he didn’t understand when Emma told him her parents were getting a divorce. But Emma hadn’t had the answer.

“I love grandma … I don’t want you to hurt her.”

If this was some sort of trick.

sass-and-stilettos

“Under normal circumstances, I believe it is. Both parties have to feel that way though, and Snow doesn’t feel that way about David anymore. Believe me, Henry, I don’t want to hurt her either.”

He was taking all of this so well and asking intelligent questions. Regina was proud of him.

the-mayors-kid

He pressed his lips together and kept trying to think about it. “Will you be hurt if I tell you I… don’t entirely believe you don’t want to hurt her? It’s … kind of your thing.”

sass-and-stilettos

Regina shook her head. “It’s not my thing anymore, Henry. You can ask her if you won’t take my word for it.” She really wanted him to believe her though.

the-mayors-kid

He tried to think about why he shouldn’t believe her because he knew she lied to him before. Instead he looked around and than sat down on a hey bail. “Why do you love her? When you hated her …”

He was trying to understand. He wanted to believe her.

sass-and-stilettos

When he sat down on the bale of hay, she walked over and sat beside him. “That’s a really complicated question to answer, Henry. Why does any person fall in love?” She thought about it for a moment. “Hatred is a really strong emotion. It happens when a person feeds it because they are mad, or hurt, or sad. When they stop feeding it, it can start to fade away. That’s what happened. I didn’t know it was love right away…I only realised it after I realised Snow loved me.”

the-mayors-kid

“No…” he shook his head, “Why do you love her?”

He wanted to see her say it so he could look into her eyes and decide of she was lying or not.

sass-and-stilettos

Regina frowned. “The specific reasons, you mean?”

the-mayors-kid

“Yeah. If you love her you should be able to tell me why.”

He looked at her, “I want to believe you. You’ve changed so much.”

Help me believe you.

sass-and-stilettos

She met Henry’s eyes, a shimmer of unshed tears suddenly in hers. “I have. I promise. I love your grandmother because she lets me be who I am. She doesn’t want me to play a role or pretend to be a certain way. Snow understands me. She knew me before I became the queen, and she still loves me despite it all. What’s not to love about that?”

the-mayors-kid

He nodded.

“That is a good reason to love someone.” He tilted his head, “Thank you for telling me. You wouldn’t have before.”

Not lying mattered most to him after what had happened with the curse.

sass-and-stilettos

“I know I wouldn’t have, but this is important. You are important and I love you. Which leads me to the question…do you want your grandmother and I to keep all of this secret, if we can? I don’t want you to be teased about it or have mean things said to you.”

the-mayors-kid

He thought about that for a long time, “I think… that it’s wrong to ask people to hide that they are in love. Love is supposed to be a good thing.”

He looked at her to see if he got that right. “It wouldn’t be okay for me to ask you to hide who you are I don’t think.”

Besides no one dared tease or say mean things to him at school now that people knew who his mother was.

sass-and-stilettos

She gave him a grateful smile and pulled him into a hug against her side. “Thank you, Henry. That is a wonderful way to think about it. I just hope your other mother thinks the same thing.” She wasn’t about to hold her breath for that to happen.

#small town politics #regal believer #side story #vault post

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ventrue-rosary · 7 years

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#tumblr ask meme All the hella cute questions (or as many as you can/want) ;)

1 - 7 answered here!

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

My bf Alex. You can assume he’s on my mind 80% of the time

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

Hella yes I’m awkward and shy as hell

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

My friend Zoe. She’s been an amazing friend lately (she always has been but we haven’t been friends for a while). Been there for me during some troubles

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

‘We will in a bit since we are going to go bed soon’. In response to room-switching with my brother for a night since Alex was staying over for comic con the following day and we both wouldn’t fit in my room

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

I’ll link the youtube videos–you should listen to them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdVtm_ewHys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9a-EkU3YoM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0afsn_W5rk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QslJYDX3o8s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWxL8fmPpfk

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?

I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooove it!

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

Well luck maybe, even though I hardly get any good luck. Miracles? Not so sure

15. What good thing happened this summer?

Built my gaming PC

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

Since it was Alex, yes, of course

17. Do you think there is life on other planets?

Definitely!!! Millions of galaxies out there and people honestly believe we are the only species ever to exist? Come off it

18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

19. Do you like bubble baths?

Yh but I find them too time-consuming to bother with

20. Do you like your neighbors?

My neighbors on both sides are a pain in the ass, the ones on the right side moreso though. At least the left-hand ones are polite

21. What are you bad habits?

Over-thinking, being very forgetful, having to ask people to repeat something they already told me multiple times, getting sad over things that don’t matter or haven’t even happened, begging for attention, overeating or eating nothing at all

22. Where would you like to travel?

Scotland, Ireland, America, New Zealand, Italy, France, Iceland and Japan

23. Do you have trust issues?

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOO definitely

24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?

All of it

26. What do you do when you wake up?

Go back to sleep, or if I have to be somewhere begrudgingly get up and think about how tired I am

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?

Well my skin is so pale I have trouble finding good concealer and foundation that matches, so if I could get darker to the stage I can find good makeup I’d love that

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

Probably Alex. I’m always a tad uncomfortable around people though because of my anxiety

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?

No, only had one ex and we ended on ok terms and we’d only been dating for like a day

30. Do you ever want to get married?

I’d love to

31. Is your hair long enough for a pony tail?

Yup

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?

I’d never be comfortable having a threesome

33. Spell your name with your chin.

asmnjytyt. Was supposed to say Amy. I tried

34. Do you play sports? What sports?

Nope, not athletic and I hate sports

35. Would you rather live without TV or music?

TV. I don’t really watch it tbh

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

Yup

37. What do you say during awkward silences?

Usually nothing I’m pretty ok with silence

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

One word: Alex

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?

I like Quiggins, this alternative fashion store in my town, and Worlds Apart–the only good things about my city lol. GAME, HMV, Forbidden Planet and Primark I frequent too. Tons of other places online but we’d be here all day if I listed them

40. What do you want to do after high school?

Graduated 3 years ago

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

No. Some people are beyond forgiveness

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean?

I’m usually pretty quiet anyways so its just me being me

43. Do you smile at strangers?

Hell no thats weird

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

Responsibilities and anxiety teaming up on me

46. What are you paranoid about?

Everything that could possibly go wrong rn

47. Have you ever been high?

48. Have you ever been drunk?

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

Don’t think so

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore?

Black

51. Ever wished you were someone else?

All the time

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?

EVERYTHING

53. Favourite makeup brand?

Don’t really wear it

54. Favourite store?

Oooooooh. Can’t decide

55. Favourite blog?

Follow too many good ones

56. Favourite colour?

Black, blue, red, white and purple

57. Favourite food?

Pizza, pasta, cake, chocolate, cheesecake and sushi

58. Last thing you ate?

Shreddies with sugar on top

59. First thing you ate this morning?

Shreddies with sugar on to[

60. Ever won a competition? For what?

Uhh on this cook-off we had on school where we had to prepare a three-course meal and my dessert won. I made green tea ice cream and everyone loved it

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?

No, I kept my nose clean in school

62. Been arrested? For what?

Never

63. Ever been in love?

Yup, and I still am

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss?

It was when I was 18. Had a party at my friends house to celebrate us finishing school. She lived pretty far from the rest of us so we stayed over. She lived ina pretty big house but a lot of us had to share beds and the like. I shared one with my new boyfriend, who ad literally asked me out like three hours ago. I wanted to sleep but I think he wanted something else. We kissed, he slipped me the tongue and started pulling at my clothes. I pulled away and asked him what he was doing. He said he didn’t know. Then we just lay down and tried to sleep. He slept easily, I didn’t get any lol

65. Are you hungry right now?

No I just ate

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?

I guess??

67. Facebook or Twitter?

Twitter

68. Twitter or Tumblr?

Tumblr

69. Are you watching tv right now?

70. Names of your bestfriends?

(^:

71. Craving something? What?

Too not be tired constantly. To know I am loved and wanted. A cat

72. What colour are your towels?

We have a wide range of colours, mostly blue though

72. How many pillows do you sleep with?

Two

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

I have a load by my pillow

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

7/8. Either way not enough

75. Favourite animal?

Cats, dogs, pandas, red pandas, raccoons, sugar gliders, hamsters, rabbits, japanese flying dwarf squirrels, bearded dragons, geckos, budgies, owls, harvest mice, lemmings, wolves and foxes

76. What colour is your underwear?

Black

77. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate

78. Favourite ice cream flavour?

Chocolate fudge brownie

79. What colour shirt are you wearing?

Not wearing one rn

80. What colour pants?

Not wearing pants either

81. Favourite tv show?

Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, FMA, PMMM, Mob Psycho 100, Boku no Hero Academia, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, RWBY and One Punch Man

82. Favourite movie?

You Name, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Ju-On, Ringu, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Nolan’ Batman trilogy and more I can’t really remember now…

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?

Haven’t even seen the second one

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?

Mean Girls I guess

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls?

Whats with all the mean girls question? I was really never that invested in that movie lol

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo?

Wouldn’t say I have one thetyy were all pretty forgettable

87. First person you talked to today?

My mum

88. Last person you talked to today?

Its only 11am

89. Name a person you hate?

I don’t exactly hate anyone who I know directly

90. Name a person you love?

Alex and all my friends!

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?

Lord Dampnut

92. In a fight with someone?

93. How many sweatpants do you have?

None

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?

At least 8 hoodies, I think

95. Last movie you watched?

Doctor Strange

96. Favourite actress?

Don’t have one

97. Favourite actor?

Don’t have one

98. Do you tan a lot?

No I just burn

99. Have any pets?

One dog

100. How are you feeling?

Tired, a lil nauseous. Thats the norm when you live with chronic fatigue syndrome though

101. Do you type fast?

102. Do you regret anything from your past?

I wish I stood up for myself more, and didn’t take shit from anyone, no matter who they were

103. Can you spell well?

I know how to spell pretty well but I still make an appalling amount of typos. Thats just more to do with my garbage-tier typing skills though

104. Do you miss anyone from your past?

I guess? I’m learning to live without them though

105. Ever been to a bonfire party?

No but I’ve always kinda wanted to

106. Ever broken someone’s heart?

Don’t think so

107. Have you ever been on a horse?

108. What should you be doing?

Coursework

109. Is something irritating you right now?

The bm-ing bastards on hearthstone

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?

Yup

111. Do you have trust issues?

Haven’t I already answered this?

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of?

My family when I went to my uncle’s funeral

113. What was your childhood nickname?

I didn’t really have one

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?

Yup, for holidays

115. Do you play the Wii?

Used to

116. Are you listening to music right now?

My fire playlist on youtube. Mostly weeby shit

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup?

Its aight

118. Do you like Chinese food?

YES119. Favourite book?

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, Game of Thrones, and Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events

120. Are you afraid of the dark?

Kinda. I think I read somwhere that every human is engineered to be wary of the dark

121. Are you mean?

122. Is cheating ever okay?

123. Can you keep white shoes clean?

I can’t even keep black shoes clean so probs not

124. Do you believe in love at first sight?

125. Do you believe in true love?

Yes

126. Are you currently bored?

Not really. I have enough to keep me occupied

127. What makes you happy?

Cute animals, video games, music, good food and good company

128. Would you change your name?

Probably not

129. What your zodiac sign?

Aries

130. Do you like subway?

Yes

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

Idk. Try to be respectful of their feelings and try not to alienate them or make them feel weird

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

Again this question has been repeated

133. Favourite lyrics right now?

I was raised in a deep dark hole,

A prisoner with no parole.

They locked me up and took my soul

(Ashamed of what they made)

134. Can you count to one million?

Yes but I’m not going to. What a complete waste of time

135. Dumbest lie you ever told?

Idk I say a lot of dumb shit

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed?

Closed

137. How tall are you?

5′9″

138. Curly or Straight hair?

I have wavy hair but I usually straighten it. I prefer curly hair though, I just can’t get my hair to cooperate

139. Brunette or Blonde?

Brunette

140. Summer or Winter?

Winter I guess

141. Night or Day?

Night

142. Favourite month?

October

143. Are you a vegetarian?

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate?

Gotta be milk

145. Tea or Coffee?

Tea

146. Was today a good day?

Its only started!

147. Mars or Snickers?

Snickers. I do love me some nuts

148. What’s your favourite quote?

Don’t have one

149. Do you believe in ghosts?

Yes. After the weird shit from last year, yes.

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? (via tchitsnathan)

I actually moved all my books downstairs and I’m too lazy to go get one -__-

#anonymous #ask and ye shall receive

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