#but leave michael out of this hes got plenty of other problems you can yell at him for

[glitchbirds]

halloween kills spoilers

“michael myers in halloween kills is homophobic” listen. in 11 movies i have never seen michael be so nice to two of his victims before. he set their corpses up so they were sharing a romantic moment together like in their photos and he picked out a record and played romantic music for them. AFTER he already ignored them and gave them ample time to just leave when he first broke back into the house. they honestly couldve left unscathed but they made the conscious decision to stay and look for the serial killer loose in their home. they got themselves killed by choosing to stay and then michael still decided to let them keep being in love in death instead of stringing up their corpses like halloween decorations. this is coming from a man who hollowed out a cop’s skull and turned it into a lit jack o lantern earlier that same night. this is literally the nicest thing he has ever done to people he’s killed and you want to slander him like this?

#this is only half serious please do not throw things at me. #i know most people are also joking w/ the homophobic comments i dont actually care #now whether or not killing them was homophobic from like a writing/out of universe perspective is another story #id argue its not really bury your gays in part because this movie buries fucking Everybody indiscriminately #but the fact that they do very much make a stupid fucking decision that gets them killed #when the scene was written so they couldve just left and been a few of the only survivors- does bother me somewhat #but leave michael out of this hes got plenty of other problems you can yell at him for #txt #halloween #halloween kills #halloween kills spoilers #michael myers #to clarify now that this is getting notes. the only part of this that im REALLY serious about is that the writing really does frame #this whole incident as something that couldve been completely avoided if the couple had just left #and that michael playing romantic music for two dead bodies is particularly ridiculous even for him #i did not think i had to specify that i do not actually think this is a lovewins moment. #i assumed that was implied by the fact that i am literally discussing a man using corpses as props #like i am not mad at all im just mildly baffled #final edit: michael IS gay though i agree. but thats unrelated probably #media

[redrobbingabank]

The Kids are Not Alright

Tommy was in his house when the sirens started. He’d been visiting Shroud. It was a good day. Now, cold, indescribable terror is flooding through him as he sits on the floor, head pressed between his knees. Rocking back and forth, Tommy drags in breath after breath and never registers the oxygen. 

Dream escaped. Dream escaped. Holy fucking shit, Dream escaped.

Sam had promised. He’d promised that wouldn’t happen. Pandora’s Vault was the most secure place on the server, the only place Dream couldn’t get out of. He’d been so sure of it that he’d been willing to let Tommy rot inside to protect its integrity.

He should have known it wasn’t true. 

He needed to get up. He couldn’t get up. He needed to run. He could hardly breathe. He had to get Tubbo and Ranboo out. He didn’t know where they were. The sirens were still screaming, screaming, screaming.

There were tears on his cheeks. “No, no no no no no no no,” Tommy murmured, finally bringing himself to look up at Shroud. The spider was unaffected, watching him from the ceiling. He focused on Shroud, and slowly, slowly, his breathing evened. 

He had to get Tubbo. Dream was probably looking for him oh god Dream was probably already looking for him breathe breathe breathe, he had to get Tubbo and Ranboo and Wilbur thought Dream was good run far, far away.

He shoved himself to his feet, turned on his heel, and ran at full tilt for the tunnel to Snowchester. They had to get away this time. They had to. He couldn’t survive it again.

Las Nevadas was quiet, for a casino town. Tubbo served plenty of burgers, for sure, but today it was empty except for the inhabitants, eating lunch alone despite knowing each other for months. It looked a bit stupid to him, everyone sitting alone at a table with nothing to occupy them but their food, silence reigning.

The exception was Fundy. He sat at the bar, holding a drink Tubbo wasn’t entirely sure he was old enough to serve and ignoring his burger. 

“So you’ve been here for like… what, three weeks?” he asked Tubbo. There were massive bags under his eyes. Tubbo didn’t think he’d ever seen his old colleague look so bad. Well, he guessed they were colleagues again.

“Yeah.” Tubbo shrugged and stole a fry. Quackity wasn’t there to yell at him. “You?”

“Few months.” Fundy sounded like he had to drag every word out of his mouth, slumping to prop his head up with a hand. “I don’t even know how he found me. I was living pretty far away.”

Tubbo nodded silently. He glanced over at the table in the corner, where Purpled was definitely eavesdropping. He was too tense, his head turned a little too far to be normal for someone minding their own business. 

The doors slammed open so hard the glass cracked. Tubbo whipped around, half expecting DreamXD himself to enter, but it was only Quackity. 

Maybe not only. Tubbo’s friend’s face was wild, a maniacal smile fixed on his mouth that reminded Tubbo of that day on the mountain with Dream. He took half a step back. Fundy, who’d flinched at the noise, was eyeing the counter like he had half a mind to jump over it to hide.

“Everyone’s in here, right?” Quackity looked around, doing a quick headcount. “Great.” A scarily gleeful laugh bubbled up. “Team meeting, everyone! Gather round, everyone!”

Fundy, Foolish, and Slime all complied pretty quickly, with varying degrees of bounciness. Purpled and Tubbo took a few moments longer, giving Quackity wary glances before slowly moving towards the center table. Tubbo pulled off his apron and left it on the counter. His hand itched to hold his sword.

Hair had come out of Quackity’s beanie, now resting only halfway on his head. He ran a hand through it, looking around at them all. “So, I don’t know if you’ve noticed––” His voice rang out, echoing off the diner’s walls “––But Dream’s escaped.”

He kept talking, but Tubbo didn’t hear, frozen and listening. His ears were always ringing, ever since the festival. It was an ever-present reminder of the explosions. But as he focused, letting himself hear all of it, the sounds separated. 

There was the ringing that was always there, electric and loud. Then there was the quieter, more distant, more urgent ring of the Vault’s sirens.

Ranboo. Tommy. Michael. Snowchester. 

Quackity must have been too absorbed in his rant, because he didn’t stop Tubbo as he walked, trancelike, out of the diner. The sun hit him hard. He blinked in the direction of the burger van. Empty. Ranboo usually visited Michael around this time. Snowchester it was, then.

It wasn’t hard to leave Las Nevadas behind. Tubbo had never gotten anything from it past a paycheck. It felt empty, a cooperation where L’Manberg had been a family. 

His family wasn’t here. Tubbo needed to make sure they were safe

There was dust on Ranboo’s armor. It was always like that after a mining trip. He’d have to clean it soon, but at the moment he was too tired, and it was time to visit Michael. 

The snow in the Arctic Commune reflected sunlight directly into his eyes as he stepped outside, but Ranboo was used to it. He was not used to the people who greeted him. Techno and Phil stood on the bridge between their houses. Techno and Phil. It had been months since Techno left, and the worry that had been accumulating broke away like a chunk of ice. Ranboo dropped the grass block he’d been messing with.

“Techno!” he called, running through the snow to reach them. His legs sank down to the shins in the drifts.

Techno turned around at the decidedly clumsy approach. He looked like he hadn’t seen the sun in weeks, but when he saw Ranboo, he grinned. “Hello,” he called back. 

Ranboo dashed up the steps and stopped in front of him. “Where were you, man?” he asked, slightly out of breath.

Phil and Techno exchanged a look. “I’ve been gathering intel,” Techno said finally. “I’m gonna tell everyone about it, but we need to get Niki here so everyone can hear.”

“Oh. Alright.” Ranboo started to move back in the direction of the portal. “I’ve got some stuff I need to take care of in the SMP, so, uh…” he glanced at Phil, who knew where he was really going, and finger-gunned in the portal’s direction. “I’m gonna head out.”

“Cool. Oh, wait, Ranboo!” Techno said quickly.

“Yeah.”

“Just, uh. You’ve got problems with Dream, right?” 

Instantly, Ranboo’s skin started crawling. He dragged his thoughts away from the panic room, from Mellohi, from the voice that wasn’t Dream, and the visit Sam said he made. He nodded slightly. “Yeah?”

“Right. Uh, I’m gonna need you to trust me here, dude. When you get to the SMP, someone might tell you Dream’s out of the prison.” Phil looked sharply at him. Ranboo stopped breathing, and Techno held up his hands quickly. “Woah, woah, calm down, it’s fine. He’s not actually out. They just think he is, I promise. I saw him in there myself, okay?”

Did the world feel like it was collapsing in on itself? Yes. But did Ranboo trust Techno to tell him the truth? Yes. 

Ranboo backed down the stairs and picked up a grass block from beneath the snow. He held it close to his chest. “You promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die, Ranboo.” Techno looked him dead in the eye. “Dream is still in the prison.”

“Then I trust you.” Ranboo turned towards Snowchester. “I really have to go now, though.” He had to find Tubbo and Tommy and make sure they were safe. He had to tell them it wasn’t real. “See you.”

Nerves battled with determination as Ranboo started the trek through the snow, then decided it would take too long and pulled out his ender pearls. Techno would explain, but until then, he’d probably stay away from the prison. He didn’t know what the sirens would do if he heard them.

#dream smp #dreamsmp #dsmp #dream smp fanfiction #dream smp fic #dsmp fic #dsmp fanfic #tommyinnit #tubbo #ranboo #pandoras vault #bench trio #quackity #fundy #technoblade #philza #foolish gamers #purpled #las nevadas #snowchester #dream #awesamdude

[mcustorm]

In Defense of a Black Cyclops

In case my username didn’t make it clear, the single most anticipated visual project for me is the MCU’s interpretation of the X-Men, which hasn’t even been announced yet [officially]. And ladies and gents, I have found your Cyclops:

Good ol’ Alfred Enoch, who we all know from Harry Potter and How to Get Away With Murder. If you’re not familiar with HTGAWM, know that his character goes from the de facto leader of the ragtag (murderers) and most cherished protege of Viola Davis’ Professor X to taking more of a grimdark turn after his girlfriend’s death. Sound at least somewhat familiar?

Enoch also embodies the physicality of the character well, seeing as to how he’s “slim”, 6′4(!!), black, and notoriously lanky. Wait, one of these isn’t like the others.

In general I hate fancasting. Everyone generally picks from the same pool of about 30 actors (Peeps, neither Taron nor Daniel is a good Wolverine choice. Argue with your mother!), and most all of it is based on physicality, except when it absolutely should be (like say, choosing a ~5′10 dark-skinned black woman for Storm).

And I think there’s some malarkey afoot. I think there needs to be some serious consideration on part of fancasters and actual casting agents alike to rethink race when it comes to the [white] X-Men, especially since they’re the X-Men of all teams. So I’ll make the case for a black Cyclops: 

1. There is no quota on Black X-Men: There’s a bug in your ear that’s been whispering lies to you for years, it says something to the effect of “We need a black person on the team for diversity. How bout Storm?” And you’ve gotten complacent. Storm does not have to be the only black person on your X-Men roster.

2. The X-Men represent diversity: Iceman is gay, Cyclops and Prof. X are disabled (sorta), there are plenty of women, oh and everybody except Storm is white. Of the A-List X-Men, there is only *one* POC character. I’d argue that an MCU X-Men needs to champion diversity like never before.

3. The X-Men represent minority struggle while being mostly white: There’s a cognitive dissonance in the metaphor that has always been there, and for the most part, nobody cares. To appeal to the white readers of the 60′s, the X-Men were all initially white. That way, the message of the mutants could be related to the audience with a familiar face. We don’t need to approach the problem that way in 202?

4. Just because that’s the way it’s always been, doesn’t mean that’s the way it should be: The first line of defense. Sorry, that will never be a good justification for literally any idea. It’s time for some more critical thinking.

5. We don’t all want to be Bishop: So say you’re white and you have a kid who for his birthday having a costume party. You’ve bought some X-Men costumes and you want each kid to pick one. 9 white kids and one black kid show up to your house. As the kids deliberate who gets what costume, be it Cyke or Wolvie or whatever, you yell at everybody to “STOP!”, point to the one black kid and tell him “You’re gonna be Bishop. That’s it, end of story!” 

We don’t all want to be Bishop. The black child could have the best Cyclops interpretation within him, but you’ll never know if you don’t let him try. And that’s no different from the Black actors of Hollywood. There’s no reason why all of the black talent should *have* to compete for the role of Bishop or Storm, which I’ve discussed, while Joe Schmo can walk up and audition for literally anybody he wants.          

Jharrel Jerome is 23 and has an Emmy to his name. He needs to be in the MCU in some capacity, period. Stephan James is another. How bout Damson Idris. Ashton Sanders. But no, no, let’s fancast Dacre Montgomery or Ansel or Joe Keery again as [Human Torch, Wolverine, Iceman, Angel, I’ve literally seen it all.]

6. Nobody wants to see the B-team if it comes down to it. The next line of defense from your racebending naysayers after “That’s the way it’s always been!” is “Well, what about Psylocke, Bishop, Forge and Jubilee?” who are otherwise known as B-tier X-Men. The problem is, we’ve got limited time and limited spots.

So since the X-Men is all about wonky metaphors that make half sense, let me give you another: Let’s say somebody approaches you and says “Hey buddy, I got two free concert tickets for ya! You can either see Michael Jackson Sings the Blues, or you can go see Justin Timberlake. Free of charge!”

Now, are you used to MJ singing the blues? No! Do you have a problem with going to see Justin Timberlake? No, he’s fine on a Wednesday! He had that one little diddy we liked that one time. We’d love to see him eventually! But are you gonna say, “fuck that, I’m going to see MJ Sings the Blues” regardless? Hell yes, because that’s still Michael Jackson. He’s gonna give the same amazing performance he always does, it’s just gonna be the blues. And speaking of blues...

7. Black is not Blue, Brown is not Blue: Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard this one: “I don’t care if you’re black, white, purple, or green, I’m going to treat you all the same!” I will not say all have this intention, but some fancasters have noticed that the racial diversity is kinda low within the A-List X-Men, so they oh-so-generously give the following roles to a black or brown person: Iceman, Nightcrawler, Beast. 

Notice the pattern? It’s a microaggression, and it’s bullshit. What these fancasters are implicitly telling you is that, yes the actors will be black or brown, but when the action starts we can ignore that. They’ll be blue by then. In other words, you in fact do care if they’re purple or green. Nobody will cry foul if Dev Patel gets to play Nightcrawler (because that’s a common one I see), but should Anna Diop be Starfire or Michael B. Jordan be Human Torch, I bet there’d be backlash. Oh wait. If that’s you, please stop acting like you actually value diversity. You don’t want to see black or brown skin, period. Unless of course, it’s Storm (refer to point #1).

But wait, there’s more! When brown characters get whitewashed in these movies, it’s crickets! So eventually it’s revealed implicitly that proclaimers of point #4 only care about it one way.

8. Professor X should not be black if you’re not willing to change anyone else: The next line of defense is that some people say the professor should be black, if anybody HAS to be racebent. Something something MLK Jr., Civil Rights or some shit. Number one, I’m not reducing Professor X to being a magical negro for 9 white people (and Storm!) who for all intents and purposes get to have all the action. Number 2, the Professor X/MLK/Magneto/Malcolm X comparison is an oversimplifying disservice to ALL FOUR of those people. I hate that line whenever I see it, please watch a documentary my friends. 

9. The Candidates for Racebending: For me, the A-List X-Men are Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, Beast, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde. Now, who should be exempt from the racebending? Storm, she’s our designated minority. Gambit, he’s Cajun and they’re white (generally speaking, that’s a fun bit of research). Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler, because their nationality/ethnicity was the whole point of the Giant-Size premise in the first place. Angel, because his character embodies a privileged white male. Beast and Iceman, I don’t care one way or another (Point #7).

That leaves Cyclops, Rogue, Jean Grey, and Kitty Pryde. Now Jean Grey is a redhead, and we all know that every time a redhead is racebent people sharpen their pitchforks (Mary Jane, Wally West, Iris West), so I will cede the ground on Jean if only so that my ginger friends can get their rep. Kitty Pryde is Jewish, but Jews of color exist. Rogue is from the South. And Cyclops is, well, just Cyclops. That makes those three characters good options for more diversity. But allow me to make the case for Cyclops, specifically.

10. It’s not just diversity for diversity’s sake: If you had to pick who the main character of the X-Men is supposed to be, most would say Cyclops. And so in a series that highlights racial discrimination in society, it makes sense that our main character be black. While changing Cyclops’ skin color should not change who he is as a character, it *should* recontextualize it. Now, as an eventual increasingly radical leader of the X-Men, Cyclops would evoke real life figures such as Colin Kaepernick or, shall I say, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Not that most X-Men fans and writers truly think about what it means to be black anyways. Storm’s minority status is almost always put through the lens of her being a mutant and not her being a black woman. In other words, you can’t argue that making a character black will fundamentally change his or her character when you haven’t even analyzed the racial context of the black character(s) you already have. Another concept that the MCU X-Men should tackle: intersectionality.

11. Representation matters: I have to say it: Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther hit different. And now he is tragically gone. At the end of the day, the MCU moving forward is down its most prominent black male superhero. Which has implications beyond just the movies themselves.

The women are in good hands. Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia are badasses in Wakanda, Valkyrie is ruling Asgard, Storm is almost assuredly on the way, RiRi Williams has already been cast, and Monica Rambeau is here and she’s not even at her most glorious yet. That doesn’t even include variable Δ, or the number of characters who can and will be racebent. And I’ll note again that to me, Gamora doesn’t count, because she’s green (#7 really pisses me off because it’s so blatant. I hate it). Of course from a behind the camera perspective we love black women getting work.

The men are a completely different story. Imma just go out and say it, I can’t stand Falcon and War Machine [in the MCU] because they’re not characters, they’re just two of a slew of MCU minority sidekicks who have essentially been at the beck and call of Captain America and Iron Man, respectively. You cannot tell Falcon’s story without mentioning Cap. The reverse is not true. There’s a whole essay that could be and have been written on “Minorities in the MCU, pre-Black Panther”. Remember, there’s a reason BP made so much noise in the first place.

So excluding those two we have, let’s see, M’Baku, Blade, and Fury who aren’t exactly the most superheroic superheroes, Eli Bradley is proooobably coming, I doubt Miles Morales is coming (because he’s just Peter Parker in the MCU), Luke Cage(?) Bishop(??), Sunspot(???), Blue Marvel(????). Not only are they not A-List, I would not put money on any of them being in the MCU any time soon.

Cyclops is thee Captain America of the X-Men. He’s the frontman. He’s the poster boy. He’s the “boy scout”, which in other words means he’s the hero, if there has to be one. It would mean a lot right now, and specifically *right now*, if he were to be black. The MCU needs it. It NEEDS it.

12. The X-Men is the Summers Story: I’ll even make the case that if just one character needs to racebent, then it should be Cyclops, because that of course implies that other related characters need to be black because half of the X-Men universe is in fact a part of the Summers family. 

So now Cable is black. Corsair is black. Havok is black. And one of the most central stories in the X-Men mythos, the Summers family drama, is now a black family drama set in space or the future or where the fuck ever. The concept is boundary pushing. When white families have drama in the media, it gets to be Game of Thrones or Star Wars, while when black families have drama in the media, it has to be black people arguing in a kitchen or living room about their various earthly traumas (I’m @’ing you, Mr. Perry). I mean, that’s all fine and good often times, but I want my black family drama in space, dammit.

And again, this is the X-Men, the series that’s all about *minorities* and their struggle, so again, why not?

Oh, and I’ll even throw out a Havok fancast for you: How bout Jharrel Jerome?

#cyclops #scott summers #the mutants #monica rambeau #X-men #xmen #marvel #MCU #fancast #jharrel would actually be a better sunspot #but you get the point #my man would have OPTIONS

[suchalonelysunflower]

Merry Crisis (a.i)

Pairing: Ashton Irwin (ft.5SOS) X Fem!reader (Dad!Ash)

Summary: Shopping is always stressful, but when you have a baby on the way... it can become a chaos, especially when you have 3 crazy best friends with you.

Warnings: Language. Fluff and some crackhead moments. Reader uses she/her pronouns. Mentions of Birth. Some grammar mistakes (English is not my first language, sorry)

Word count: 4.5 k

Author’s note: Hello! This is my first Holiday fic with 5SOS and it’s Ashton’s turn to shine (even tho each boy gets their moment) This was so fun to write, I did it on my sociology class (so maybe it’s not that perfect) and I love it very much and I hope you do too! Reblogs, feedback and comments are always welcome and encouraged! Support your writers! ❤️ Hope you like it and Happy Reading 🦋❤️

My materialist // wanna be on my tag list?

Twas the evening before Christmas, the streets were filled with Christmas lights and the chill air of Los Angeles made everything cozier as families gathered around the fireplace and enjoyed the most peaceful of times…

This statement does not apply to our favorite band, tho.

Our four Australians were not enjoying a cup of hot cocoa with their families as they were supposed to, oh no. They were doing the most dreadful thing a person could think of doing the night before dear Santa came to visit: They were Christmas shopping.

In their defense - or at least Calum’s, Michael’s and Luke’s defense, this was all Ashton’s fault for he was the one that dragged them to the crowded mall in the middle of one of the busiest days of the year. And, in Ashton’s defense, it was not his fault that the store had called him in the middle of a recording session to tell him that they finally had the only thing he wanted for Christmas: A music box.

He just had to get it before everyone else.

“Why did we come all over here for a little music box?” Asked Michael as they stood at the end of the line for the register. How could they only have one register open? It’s Christmas for fucks sake! but then again, it’s Christmas for fucks sake, so they know that people should be with their families instead of working a poorly paid job.

“It was the last one!” Ashton claimed, admiring the little circular box in his hand “It’s a limited edition and I just had to get it for Y/N and for the baby”

His eyes lit up when your name escaped his lips. Not even a year ago did he officially make you his wife, but now you were carrying his child! People might think it was rushed, but for Ashton it was the complete opposite. He had his life made when he met you, knowing that he will marry you as soon as he could… he had to wait a few more years to do that, but he was extremely happy, more so now that your little family was expanding. He loved you and your child with all his heart, and the boys all knew that so they can't even be mad about it, even if he kidnapped them to the mall with the promise of some cinnabuns later.

“She had one of these when she was little” Ashton continued as he admired the little hand painted details of the box “It always played a little lullaby to help her sleep. But it broke a few years ago and she always complained about not having one like this for her kids one day… But now she will!” The black haired man smiled.

“Shit, that’s actually pretty sweet” Michael commented “Okay, you’re forgiven”

“I don’t know if I want to hug you for being the perfect husband, or to kick you in the balls for being the perfect husband and making the rest of us feel bad” Luke chuckled.

The four boys laughed at the comment and started talking about their plans for the Holidays as they waited for the line to move. The problem was, it has been fifteen minutes and the line has only moved once.

“How long is this line anyway?” Calum said, peeking over the side, furrowing his eyebrows as he noticed at least thirty more people waiting in front of them “Shit, this is going to take a while. That man has at least twenty plushies and eleven race cars”

“I don’t know how people could leave this kind of stuff for the last minute” Ashton huffed, earning a death glare from each of his friends “This one is different, tho! It was the last one!”

“I’ll give you a hundred bucks for that!” Someone said behind Luke, making him jump at the sudden surprise.

“What the-” Luke said, placing a hand over his heart.

It was a short man in a trench coat who pointed to the music box in Ashton’s hand.

Ashton furrowed his eyebrows and said to the man “Uh, not a chance mate”

“Two hundred?”

“Nope”

“Five hundred?” The man would just not cave and Ashton was getting fed up with it, luckily Calum noticed and hurried to say something before his friend started a scene.

“Hey, mr. Devito wannabe. He said no, so just go bother someone else. Okay?”

The man scoffed and turned his face to the side, stating that he was offended. The four Australians rolled their eyes and turned their backs to him once again.

Another fifteen minutes passed and the line barely moved. The guys were not talking anymore, running out of things to say past the twenty minute mark. Each of them were bored out of their minds, well all but Ashton at least, he was still gleaming with pride as he looked at the music box and created scenarios in his head and thought about the joy that would be mirrored in your eyes once you open it tomorrow morning.

After a few more minutes of silence, Luke was the first one to break it “I think I’m just gonna get a coffee and wait in the car. These boots are killing me today” He looked at Ashton as if to ask permission, but the dark haired man just shrugged and nodded, asking him to buy one for him as well and to leave it in the car.

Michael then added “Yeah, I think I’m gonna go and check the electronics this store has. I think I saw a new camera that would be perfect for my streams”

And that only left Calum and Ashton waiting in line. But about five seconds later, Calum opened his mouth.

“Yes, you can go explore, too” Ashton said with a sigh before Calum even got a chance to ask.

“Cool” The curly man said, patting Ashton on the back before muttering a ‘I’ll be right back’ Leaving him alone with the music box.

Ashton didn’t mind. In fact, he kind of enjoyed this time alone. It gave him plenty of opportunities to imagine a new future for the both of you next to your little baby boy or girl. He catched a glimpse of families walking around the mall, buying gifts or eating a snack as they smiled at each other. He couldn’t wait for that to be his new normal.

He remembered the time when you told him you were pregnant. You gifted him a special baby bodysuit that said “My daddy is the best drummer in the world and there is nothing you can do about it” next to your positive pregnancy test. Ashton always wanted to start a family, especially if it was with you, but he never expected it to be so soon. Yet, once he held the test in his trembling hands, he knew that this was the best thing it could’ve happened to him. He remembers how tearful he got the second his brain processes the information, quickly running up to you and pressing an earth shattering kiss to your lips, promising you and your baby that he would be the best father in the world.

And, as he held the little object in his hand, he already thought he was doing a pretty good job. He smiled to himself and thought about calling you. Not only did he want to hear your voice at this moment, but also because he wanted to check up on you. You were having tea with your best friend at the moment, but the pregnancy hormones were hitting pretty hard lately and he wanted to make sure you were doing alright.

But as soon as he got his phone out of his pocket, your name started glowing on the screen.

“Baby! I was just about to call you” Ashton said with a smile, loving this little coincidence.

“Ashton, is coming!” You said in an alarming tone. Ashton, however, did not understand what you meant.

“Yeah? I’m coming home soon, why are-?”

“No!” You cut him off “The baby, Ash! The baby is coming!”

Ashton laughed “Ha, ha very funny Y/N. But the baby isn’t due until three weeks from now”

“ASHTON FLETCHER IRWIN” You yelled through the phone, making Ashton pull away from the phone for a second “MY WATER BROKE AND THE BABY IS COMING NOW. SO GET YOUR ASS TO THE HOSPITAL BEFORE I-” A sharp pain ran through you as you were experiencing the contractions. Ashton could hear your distant groan and immediately went pale.

The baby was coming and he wasn’t ready.

“Ash, hello?” Your friend’s calm voice came from the other end “I’m gonna take Y/N to the hospital right now. I need you to meet us there, okay?”

“Fuck, okay. I’m on my way” He rushed to say before he ended the call.

“Hey, dude. What’s going-?” Michael said as he approached the black haired man who looked like he might throw up.

“The baby’s coming!” He said, trying to concentrate on his breathing before he hyperventilates.

“What?!”

“Hey, Mike, is everything-?” Calum came next, worried about his friends’ weird behavior.

“THE BABY IS COMING”

Michael.

The guitarist started wandering the electronics and new technologies hall. He was secretly glad he got away from waiting in line for what it looked like another hour, but at the same time he was glad he decided to accompany Ashton in his little quest.

The moment he knew you were pregnant he set himself to be the best uncle that little kid will have. He already knew that you and Ashton were going to be great parents, with the way in which you love each other it was hard to think otherwise. Michael was always up for anything you guys wanted to do for each other, from secret dates or help you sneak out after a concert, or even to plan gifts! He always took pride to know that he was part of your epic love story, even if it was with just a little favor.

Michael stepped into the videogame aisle like he usually does, but this time he went directly to the kid’s section, knowing that eventually your baby will want to play videogames with uncle Mikey and he will have to be ready with the most family friendly games he could find.

He started grabbing a few of them and reading the little summaries they had on the back, eventually deciding that he did not understand anything about children’s games and that he might have to ask around in order to find the best ones.

He went back to the electronics aisle and something caught his attention.

“Is that a real megaphone?” He asked one of the workers there “I haven’t seen one since 2014” He said, remembering the last time the boys ever let him play with one of those in the Good Girls video.

“Yeah! It’s the new model” Said the teenage boy that was in charge of that seccion that day “Wanna try it out?”

“Before that, can I go and show it to my mates? I won’t be gone for long, they are just down the checkout line”

“Sure!” The young man smiled and gave him the megaphone.

Michael had a big smile on his face as he started walking towards Ashton to show him what he found. But his smile dropped the minute he saw Ashton’s face grew a thousand times paler.

He carefully walked up to him and asked “Hey, dude. What 's going-?”

“The baby’s coming!” Ashton said, trying to catch his breath.

“What?!”

Calum.

He hated the mall. He really did. There were always too many people, too much noise and the prices were always exaggerated. But he knew that he was here today for a good cause. Calum was not going to let his best mate down.

Ever since you came into Ashton’s life - and the boys’ life for that matter - he could tell that you were special. Not only because of the way Ashton talked about you all the damn time, but because of your energy, your passion, your kindness and obviously your undenying love for the drummer.

Calum was always the protective friend, always keeping his guard up for any new companion they boys might have. But with you it was different. The first time you two met was the day you instantly became best friends. He knew he could trust you to keep Ashton’s heart safe, and he knew that if Ashton ever broke your heart that he was going to have to kick his ass for being that stupid. Luckily, he wasn’t.

He was the first person (after Ashton, of course) to know about your pregnancy. He swore to himself that he would not let anything happen to his future godson/goddaughter. That baby was going to be the perfect mixture of his best friends, there was nothing in the world that could stop him from loving them just as much as he loves all of you. He even got them toys so they could play with Duke when they’re older! Needless to say that he was very, very excited.

As he wandered through the halls of the store he noticed a commotion next to the toys section.

A line of kids accompanied by their parents awaited in front of a huge chair decorated with fake snow and candy canes. Santa Claus was going to be there.

“Oh my god” A female voice said behind him “You are Calum Hood!”

Calum turned around and was faced with a young girl dressed as an elf looking at him like he hung the moon or something.

“That I am” He said with a smile “Hello, nice to meet you!”

“M-my name’s Lizza” The girl blushed “I’m a huge fan! Is it okay if- I mean, could I get a picture? Please?”

Calum smiled “Sure!”

Lizza squealed “Omg, okay. But, can we do it over there? The kids aren’t supposed to see me yet” She said, pointing to a corner with a curtain and some costumes, presumably Santa’s and his elves'.

Calum nodded and followed the girl, catching a glimpse of the Santa Claus outfit “Do you think I can wear that for the picture?” He asked. Honestly, he just wanted to know how it would feel like to dress up as Santa, knowing he would one day have to do it for your child.

“Of course!” The girl said, taking her phone from her purse and giving it to another elf so he could take the picture.

Once the picture was done, he started to strip off the big red coat, the white beard and the hat when suddenly he had an idea “Is it okay if I borrow this for a while? Maybe five minutes? I wanna prank some friends that are at the check out”

“Uhh”

“I’ll give it back, I promise,” He said with a smile.

Lizza sighed “Sure! We have another one for emergencies”

“Cool, thanks Lizza”

Calum walked away with the fake beard, the warm coat and the hat, feeling cheeky as he approached the line.

“What?!” He heard Michael yell. And although Michael always yells, this one seemed important as his voice sounded concerned.

“Hey, Mike, is everything-?” Calum said, approaching his friends with a very confused face. But before he could even finish the question, Ashton looked at him with fear in his eyes.

“THE BABY IS COMING”

Ashton.

This was not good. Not good at all. His wife is at the hospital about to give birth and he is still in the line of the fucking mall.

“Oh shit!” Calum said, looking frantically over the line that was still too long “OH SHIT”

“Okay calm dow- Is that a Santa costume?” Michael asked.

“Calm down?!” Calum said, panicking “My best friend is having a baby and you tell me to CALM DOWN?!”

“I’m having a baby…” Ashton said in a whisper, not really paying attention to what was going on around him “I’m having a baby”

“Not you!” Said Calum “Well... also you but I meant Y/N! She’s the one pushing it mate” But Ashton did not listen.

His whole world paused in that moment. Too many thoughts were running through his head as he tried to formulate a plan, any plan that would get him the quickest to you.

He thought he was doing a good job, he thought that he was going to be the best dad ever and now he was going to miss the birth of his first child because the line wasn’t fucking moving.

“Ash?” Michael called, but he wasn’t listening.

How could he screw this up so early in the game? Your baby wasn’t even born yet but he swore he could already feel their disappointment.

“Ash..”

And you! How could you ever forgive him?! You will surely file for divorce once the baby is born.

“Ashton!”

“What?!” He yelled, looking at Michael who was shaking him by the shoulders.

“Fucking breathe man! You almost turn purple there”

Michael started breathing at an even pace, motioning Ashton to breathe with him and so he did “It’s going to be okay, don’t worry about it”

“How can you say that?!” Ashton almost cried “I’m not even a dad yet and I’m already screwing up! Who doesn’t show up to the birth of his child?”

Michael rolled his eyes, knowing his friend was just talking out of fear than out of reason, and shook him by the shoulders again “Listen to me, you are already a great dad! You were a dad even before Y/N got pregnant and you are not going to miss the birth of my nephew or niece. I won’t allow it. But first I need you to calm the fuck down!”

Ashton looked at Michael and swallowed the lump in his throat “What if I’m not ready? What if we’re not ready?”

Michael chuckled “You asked me the same question when you were about to walk down the aisle a year ago. You were ready even before you knew you were and this is not different”

But before Ashton could say something, Calum walked up to them again.

“There are fourteen people ahead of us” Said Calum, who had just run up to the start of the line “If we asked them to move, we might get there in time”

“Or maybe you could leave the music box to me…” The man with the weird vibe intervened.

“Fuck off DeVito!” The three Australians yelled.

Suddenly, a lightbulb got turned on on Michael’s head “I got an idea!”

A panicked Calum dressed as Santa and a very panicked Ashton watched as Michael ran out of the store for a second, only to come back pushing a Target cart “Get in!” He said jumping in the cart and motioning to Ashton to follow him.

Ashton jumped inside without asking any questions, not even when Calum started pushing the car or when Michael turned on his… was that a megaphone?!

“Attention ladies and gentlemen” Michael said through the megaphone, making every single person turn their heads towards them, as if two large Australians standing inside of a shopping cart being pushed by a very tattooed Santa Claus wasn’t stiking enough “We have a man that’s going to become a father at any moment now while his wife is in the hospital! Please let us through!”

Ashton does not know if it was the weird scene they caused, his desperate face or Christmas magic that made everyone on the line take a step back as Calum pushed them through the checkout.

Once they got there, the cashier took his money, too shocked to say anything else as Ashton yelled “Keep the change!” As they rushed through the doors and towards the parking lot with Calum pushing the cart at a great speed with all of his energy as all the other customers looked at them and wondered what the hell was going on.

“Mommy?” A confused random kid asked “Why was Santa pushing those men on the cart?”

Luke.

His favorite Christmas playlist was playing in the car. He loved the holidays, but he hated Christmas shopping with his life. So he was very thankful that Ashton could understand this and let him wait in the car.

As he hummed through the song “His Favorite Christmas Story” he thought about the gift he got to your little unborn baby. As soon as he found out you were pregnant, he knew he had to spoil that kid rotten. Well, not that he knew he had to, but he wanted to. You and Ashton were the best people he has ever met, and he knew your little baby was not going to be different, so what’s wrong with giving that child the world they deserve?

A few months ago he talked to a friend of his that made customized presents made of crochet, so he asked if they could make a baby mobile to put over the crib. He also made sure to ask that the animals that were to adorn the mobile were your’s and Ashton’s favorites, and also throwing a little kangaroo in honor of their father’s homeland and a little penguin in honor of their future favorite uncle.

He smiled to himself as he thought he couldn’t wait to meet the little pal and how he couldn’t wait to start a family of his own. But his daydreaming got cut short when he heard a commotion coming from the mall’s doors.

Sirens were ringing and a lot of people stood and watched at whatever was causing the disturbance. He even had to take a double look because he thought he just saw Calum dressed as Santa Claus pushing a shopping cart with Ashton and Michael inside, the latter speaking with a megaphone in his hand. And indeed that is what he saw.

“LUKE START THE CAR” Michael yelled from his megaphone. And Luke, being the smart man that he is, did not ask questions as he did just that.

Soon enough, Calum Santa Claus was jumping inside of the car, followed by Michael and Ashton, who just sat in the front seat.

“What is-?” Luke tried to ask, but his three friends were quicker as they all said at the same time:

“The baby is coming!” “We needed to get the music box” “The line was too fucking long”

“Hurry up, dude!” Calum said, giving Luke a pat on his shoulder as he stared at them, very confused.

“Why didn’t you just leave the music box with one of them?” He said, motioning to his friends in the back “I could’ve come back for them after I dropped you off…”

The three Australians all looked at eachother like they were the most stupid people on the planet. Until Micahel turned on the megaphone again and said with a defeated voice: “Just drive”

The ride to the hospital was silent as Luke drove through the streets of LA at full speed. Michael even turned on the siren of the megaphone to make way across the traffic jam. How the hell they didn’t end up in jail? A Christmas miracle if you ask me.

Once they got there, Ashton was the first one to jump off the car, followed by his best friends as they ran through the hospital’s floors.

“Irwin!” He said, once they got to the maternity wing “Y/N Irwin! My Wife-”

Luke followed, almost knocking down Ashton as his boots slipped on the floor “His wife!” He said, almost out of breath.

“His baby!” Calum added, almost falling to the floor as he tripped over his foot.

And last but not least came a small “Help?” From Michael who was completely out of breath as he sat on one of the chairs in the waiting room.

The nurse, apparently not taken aback at the sudden outburst of three grown man and a Santa Claus in her waiting room, just smiled at Ashton and said: “Over here, Mr. Irwin. You are just in time, she just started dilating…”

But Ashton didn’t hear much as he walked behind her, anxious to see you and see your baby. Breathing heavily as he tried to calm his nerves before he got to your room. He gave one last look to his friends and smiled at them.

“You can do it man!” Michael said, giving him the thumbs up.

“You go Poppa!” Luke cheered.

“We will be here!” Calum said, feeling tears of pride gather up in his eyes as he watched Ashton turn into another hallway, ready to become the dad he always knew he could be.

“Did you actually steal a Santa costume?” Michael said as the other two sat down next to him.

“And you stole a cart and a megaphone so shut up”

A new family.

You watched with tired eyes as your husband held your baby girl in his arms.

“She is so tiny…” He said with fresh happy tears falling rolling down his cheeks. Ashton started crying as soon as he saw her little face and heard his heart shattering cry.

You almost thought that he wasn’t going to make it in time, afraid that you were going to have to get through the birth of your child all alone. But he came through the doors just in time and he did not let go of your hand for a second, even when you knew you were crushing it as you pushed.

“I love you so much” He said, just as he’s been saying for the past hours since he got here “I love you so much and I love her so much I- Thank you”

“Why are you thanking me, love?”

“For giving me the best gift of all” Ashton said as he laid next to you with your daughter curled up on his chest “You gave me the family I always dreamed of. I could never thank you enough for it”

He slowly lowered his head and pressed his lips to yours, showing you all the love that he could in only one simple kiss.

“Well, it’s not like you didn’t help on making this, you know?” You teased, making him chuckle “I should be thanking you, Ash.You and her are the best thing that has ever happened to me, I love you”

“I love you” He said, capturing your lips in another kiss as you let the music box play in the background, filling the room with the notes of your favorite lullaby.

“Should I let the boys in?” He asked as he passed your daughter back to you. You just nodded, not wanting to let your friends wait a second longer to meet your baby. “Oh, and just a heads up, Calum is dressed as Santa Claus and we might never be allowed on the mall again”

You laughed “I can’t wait to hear that story”

Ashton smiled as he got out of the room and walked towards where the boys were sitting. Once they saw him walk up to them, they immediately got up, all of them smiling proudly at the new - official, father of the band.

“Boys, come and meet our baby girl: Jane Elizabeth Irwin”

Tags: @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @talksoprettyjjx @mystic-232

#ashton irwin #5 seconds of summer #5sos #ashton irwin fanfiction #ashton irwin fic #fanfic #suchalonelysunflower #dad!ashton #calum hood #michael clifford #luke hemmings #ashton 5sos #ashton irwin imagine #ashton fletcher irwin #5 seconds of summer fanfiction #calum 5SOS #luke 5sos #michael 5sos #superbloom #ashton x reader #ashton x you #Christmas Ashton #holiday! ashton #crack fic #merry crisis #5 sos fic #5sos imagine #ashton 5 seconds of summer #5sos fanfiction

[votederpycausemufins]

The next chapter is going to be the last chapter. It’ll mostly end on a happy note, though there will be something at the end :3

@petrichormeraki @helleborusangel

Grian was glad to finally finish sorting through all the paperwork, narrowly missing Lynn arriving with another Watcher to discuss his kids. He dragged Grifter along with him and made a portal back to his base, glad that it seemed everything would be calm for a while. Until Grifter screamed.

Grian was sure it was just going to be a chicken left over from Hermit Challenges since those always seemed to appear at the worst times. Maybe someone wearing a chicken head who happened to be around. But instead, there was actually someone standing there. Someone Grian ever so vaguely recognized.

“H-hi there person I haven’t seen before. I’m Grian and that’s Grian and we cloned oursel-” Grifter quickly tried to say, but then freaked out as a chicken appeared next to him.

“Don’t lie. I already know what’s going on. I don’t like it, but you’ll get out mostly scott free. This time.”

“Ha ha ha... “ Grifter weakly laughed, glancing at the chicken to his side. “Hey, so is Mini-”

“Go home before I change my mind Ze.”

“Um, I actually changed it to-” Grifter started to speak before the chicken next to him hissed, making him jump and then make a portal back to helscraft.

Grian looked away from where his copy stood to where Punch was floating. As a Watcher, Grian could feel the death magic radiating off of the man. The man signaled to the chicken which hopped over to him and fluttered its way up to his lap where he pet it like a villain would their cat. “So. Xel I presume?”

After seeing how Punch had responded to Grifter correcting him, Grian just nodded. “Yeah.”

For a moment, the man just stared at Grian before smiling. “Well I’m sure you’re much better than my nephew. It’s a shame that your guide ignored you all those years ago.”

Grian had no clue what was being talked about. “Guide? What guide?”

“Something that could be discussed another time. You have more things to worry about. I’m sure your mother won’t be happy about me sticking around here too long, so I’ll leave you with a gift.” The man looked down to his chicken. “Kokatori, why not stay with Xelqua for a bit?” The chicken clucked once before hopping back down to the ground and standing next to Grian. “If anyone asks, you got it from a guy named Pablo.”

Punch looked like he was about to leave, but then at the last moment to turn back. “Oh, and by the way, I’d check your calendar if I were you. It’s currently May.”

Grian was left puzzled for a few moments as Punch disappeared. May? What did it currently being May have to do with anything. The only thing going on was closer to the end and- Grian pulled his comm out and checked the date. They had been so focused on the mess of the past week that Grian barely registered the days were actually passing. “I NEED TO FIND MUMBO!”

.

.

.

Mumbo watched as Grian was using Watcher magic to multitask. He had explained everything that happened while Grian was gone to him, and the builder was glad to be filled in, but before Mumbo could ask much, Grian pulled out a calendar, his communicator, a book, and also a lead which he put his new chicken on. “Grian, are you doing okay?”

“NO!” Grian stressfully shouted at Mumbo, making him take a step back. Had something happened? Was someone hurt again? Was it the boys? “I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF GRUM CAN EAT CAKE!”

“I’m… sorry what are you talking about?” Mumbo asked, a bit calmer but much more confused.

Grian thrust the calendar into Mumbo’s face. “It’s currently May 21st! We have less than a week to get everything ready!”

“Ready for…?”

“Are you- GRUM’S FIRST BIRTHDAY!”

Mumbo’s eyes widened at Grian answer. “Oh my word! That really is just around the corner, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I already had some plans in place of course but now it’s basically all out the window since there’s more family and friends involved to invite. Right now the only thing taken care of is presents!”

“Right, and did it get delivered?”

“Of course it did! I hid it in a por- I HID IT IN A PORTAL! THE BOYS COULD ACTUALLY GET THERE NOW!” Grian yelled, freaking out.

“Okay, calm down. It’s going to be fine. If we need to, we can hide it somewhere else. And I’m sure even if we don’t move it, it’s going to be perfectly fine. I doubt either of the boys will manage to get in there.” Mumbo did his best to calm Grian. “I know the boys wanted some people to visit today. Possibly you can get those people to come and we can find time to ask them more about who else the boys might have gotten close to and get a guest list that way.”

Grian was glad to finally finish sorting through all the paperwork, narrowly missing Lynn arriving with another Watcher to discuss his kids

Grian snapped his fingers at the idea before putting almost everything away. “That’s a great idea. Let me message Tommy on the change of plans. You said they wanted Fundy and Michael?”

“And Michael’s parent since he’s young. Parents? I’m not completely sure, I’m sure all those time problems didn’t help.”

“I’m sure they didn’t.” Grian remarked as he finished sending a message. “There. Now I guess we wait for Tommy to respond.” And he didn’t need to wait long as a message arrived. “Okay! He says I can pick them all up, though I might need to search a little for Fundy. But I’m sure he’ll want to visit Iskall at the very least.”

“Oh, that’s right! There’s one thing I forgot to mention.” Mumbo spoke up, making Grian’s head whip in his direction. “It’s maybe a little concerning, but I’m sure it will be fine. It… it just looks like Grum might be skittish around Iskall again. It makes sense after everything that happened of course, but better I remember to tell you now and not let you find out yourself.”

“I guess you’re right about it making sense. It sort of was like he got… void he got brainwashed again.”

“Hey, he managed to do well on his own. Might not be the best way to take after you, but it’s still good he took after your survival skills.”

“Oh ha ha. I don’t have survival skills.” Grian rolled his eyes. “The amount of times I’ve dive bombed or exploded myself. I mean, You know how many times I died testing my minigame mister ‘Watch This’.”

Mumbo chuckled for a moment. “Not one of my finer moments. But I meant about when you were growing up. I know it’s not your favorite time, but you made it through that part of your life. Grum was able to do the same.”

“I wish he didn’t have to. I wish neither of them got stuck there.”

“I’m sure no one did. But they did and got through it, and that’s what matters. So let’s just work on making sure they know everything’s fine now. Go pick up Tommy and the others.”

“Alright. And thanks for the talk Mumbo.”

“Always.”

.

.

.

Jrum was practically bouncing off the walls when he saw Michael. Grum was a bit more reserved, but was also pretty excited. It seemed Michael was a little nervous being in such a new place, but Jrum was quickly at the ziglin’s side to reassure him. To the side, Fundy was currently admiring the marvel that was the spawn area. Since Jrum had gone with their friend, Grum made his way to the hybrid. “Um, hi Fundy.”

“Wh- Oh hey Grum! How’re you doing?”

Grum rubbed his arm. “Better. Thank you for helping me out when everything was happening. You didn’t need to.”

“Of course I did. You’re a kid and what Dream was doing was seriously fucked up.” He got a look from Grum. “Well, okay. Maybe I wouldn’t have normally, but he kept getting me involved and Iskall knew you, so it was kind of different.”

“Well, thank you very much for that.” Grum said, hugging Fundy. “Well, I bet you want to see Iskall’s tree.”

“Oh hell yeah! Where’s the Omega Tree?”

Immediately Jrum was back next to them. “I can take him there! I’ll also see if Iskall is there or can get there soon! You can play with Michael while we’re gone!”

Grum nodded and looked to Michael. “Do you think that your parents will let you follow me through the nether to a place to play? I know a safe path and Dad assured me if something were to happen, you would absolutely safely respawn.”

Michael snorted before running over to Tubbo and Ranboo, interrupting their conversation with Tommy. Grum followed him over to elaborate on whatever he would say, or just translate in general. When they were told of the idea, Ranboo and Tubbo weren’t entirely sure about it, but Tommy put in a good word. “C’mon, Grian and Mumbo let the bots run around on their own all the time. This place is safe, so he’ll be fine.”

“I guess… but only if you two stick to the overworld. The nether might be faster, but it’s also dangerous.” Tubbo relented.

Grum thought it over. They would need to take a boat over to where they were going, and there would be a bit of a trek through the jungle, but there was a path they could take. “Of course! We will do what we can to stay as safe as possible. Now…” Grum pointed to the bubble elevator. “Up the tube!”

Michael followed behind Grum to get to the surface and the bot crafted up a boat for the two of them. As Grum rowed, Michael looked around at everything around them. Though there wasn’t too terribly much in the ocean in the direction they were headed, there were enough large builds that could still be seen to keep Michael in awe.

Eventually they landed and Grum led them through the jungle. “The best place to play is in Uncle Scar’s village. It's got plenty of buildings to work with and the style is perfect for games! And then nearbyish is Larry the snail and the magic arrow.”

Michael oinked a quick question and Grum elaborated as they walked. When they finally reached the village, Michael quickly ran into it and started exploring, Grum quickly following behind the ziglin. Though the buildings themselves were interesting, Michael decided the best thing were the small mushrooms that had built along the path.

“Yeah! My Daddy really likes those too. He also found a haunted bed when he owned the place for a bit. I wonder if it’s still haunted. Ooo!” Michael pretended to be scared before laughing, and then the two went off to play in the village together.

Back at spawn, Tommy was still chatting with Tubbo and Ranboo when Grian arrived. “Hey, have you guys seen my boys?”

“Yeah, Jrum took Fundy to Iskall’s and Grum went with Michael to play.” Tommy answered. “Why, is something wrong?”

“No, I was actually making sure they weren’t around.” Grian looked to Ranboo and Tubbo. “Are you two willing to come back with Michael in like five days? It’s going to be Grum’s birthday and maybe Michael can be one of the guests?”

“Oh hell yeah, you two need to come. It’ll be so pog!” Tommy said, hoping they would agree to visiting again.

“I guess we probably can, but it’ll also depend on how today goes.” Ranboo answered, Tubbo agreeing with him.

“Okay good.” Grian nodded, writing something down. He then looked over to Ranboo. “Do you have any idea some of the people the boys were close to when they were stuck over there?”

“Sometimes I barely remember my name.”

“Hmm, alright I guess I’ll have to ask Fundy.”

“Hey, I do know one thing.” Tommy piped up. “Or maybe two. Wil’s also a big music lover, so there might be something there. The other bit you probably aren’t going to like though.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. What is it?”

“Pretty sure Grum’s favorite uncle is Techno now.”

Grian was just silent as he contemplated the answer. Tommy nervously glanced at his friends before taking a slight step back, worried about how exactly Grian would react. When the avian’s wings started puffing up, Tommy was sure they would need to run, but instead Grian just took a deep breath. “Alright. Fine. I was already planning to invite him since he’s family and all. Yep. It’s fine. Totally fine.”

“It doesn’t sound fine.” Tubbo spoke up, and Grian quickly looked at them with a glare, though he was still smiling.

“Nope. It’s absolutely completely fine.” Then Grian sighed. “Well, I guess I’m going to find Fundy and ask him some questions. If you think of anything else, just message me.”

Tommy agreed before the avian flew off and then looked to his friends. “Alright, so this is probably the best excuse to show you around the shopping district since I’m going to need to pick something up. And if you guys want to buy something, just say the word, I can spare some diamonds.”

“Are you sure? We could get our own-” Ranboo started to speak up, but got stopped by Tommy.

“Nah, don’t worry. I’ll probably earn back whatever I spend in like a week. Probably from one of the redstoners.” Then Tommy led them to the bubble column. “Now let’s go. Oh, and Ranboo, if you need some armor to help with the water, just grab one from one of the stands. That’s what they’re there for.”

“You mean… the full netherite armor?”

“Yep.”

“Something tells me even I won’t have trouble forgetting all of this.”

#hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #hc x dsmp #grian #watcher!grian #grian xelqua #avian!Grian #hels!grian #mystery character #the watchers (evo) #mumbo jumbo #grumbot #jrumbot #tommyinnit #tubbo #michael_beloved #michael underscore beloved #itsfundy

[lambourngb]

If you are still doing this, to make it through (with hearts and wrists intact)

combining the wip ask with WIP Wednesday ! Alright, so there’s two remix challenges going on right now, but I didn’t sign up for either of them because I have enormous anxiety about deadlines and I’m also kind of a control freak about my work. I do love the concept, so I decided to remix my own work.

to make it through (with hearts and wrists intact) is a remix of Last Years Wishes. It is completely the fault of @haloud who mused aloud about what if Jesse got to use the shed on Michael. You guys remember what I did to the shed in LYW right? Yeah. Poor Michael. So while Alex is waiting at the Airstream, talking to agents Ross and Rollins, this is how Michael’s day is going....

[warnings: canon divergent within 1x13, mention of Michael’s feelings for Maria, but nothing happens past the discovery of Rosa’s body in the cave ]

“Old man, you are calling me on my day off,” Michael yelled into the receiver of his cell phone speaker over the rushing sound of air after picking up the call. 

The windows were down because his AC in his truck went on the frizz again sometime during when Max had stolen-borrowed it to drive Liz home from Texas, leaving him behind to share a long awkward ride with Maria in her classic Chevy. Awkward because he had been buzzing from the encounter in the desert. He hadn’t slept with anyone in weeks, not since Alex, and that had been a ridiculous attempt for him to pine in celibacy considering just how little the other man had missed him. Some things end in a whimper.

Texas had been about hope, about maybe finding someone who was connected to him on a species level. He hadn’t realized how deeply Max’s enthusiasm had sunk into him until the fraud had been revealed and disappointment had set in. Between Alex’s brusque brush off and realizing they really were alone on this planet, Michael hadn’t thought he could feel even lower with the weight of Isobel’s salvation fully on his shoulders (and Liz’s). Then shining like a bright star in the night sky, he had found Maria. 

She had effectively chased away the touch starved ghouls that had haunted his skin that night, he could still barely believe they had dropped right to the rocky ground and scratchy blanket to fuck. It was the type of raw passion he had with- no, in that particular moment he hadn’t thought about Alex but afterwards? He couldn’t avoid the connection the next morning, particularly when she had sworn him to secrecy, and then had reinforced it when she had fully kicked him out in the cold after he had returned her repaired necklace. 

It was unfortunate for her that he was already wired to enjoy a push-pull hot-cold dynamic.

Ten years of Alex Manes meant Michael had learned to read past a blustering denial to see the real truth. She really liked him, she just didn’t want to admit it, and good god, if that wasn’t a déjà vu moment for Michael, he didn’t know what was. Maybe it was stupid to believe it would work out any better with her than it had with Alex, but with Noah dead, his m- his reason for building his ship gone, what did it hurt to try again?

His healed hand curled around the grip on the steering wheel with a shiver of disorientation at the new flexibility, but he pushed it down to concentrate on that meager bubble of hope of what was ahead for him. Maria. Normalcy. When he had offered to leave her alone at the gala, she had refused to take him up on it. That's the problem, I never do. 

It had felt good to hear that, that he was wanted, even as he heard the conflict in her voice over what she desired versus what she thought she deserved to have. That was also painfully familiar to Michael as well.

Caulfield had seeped into his skin, three layers deep in the worst type of burn. That brief moment of his mother, wrapping around his mind with her love and sorrow and hope, and then she was gone. The screaming, that he had heard from outside the chain link fence, suddenly disappeared as the explosion moved outward in a shockwave. For a few minutes he had stood on solid ground in that prison, for the first time since a sweet boy had returned his kiss at seventeen under a galaxy of plastic foam planets, and then it was over. His mother was gone, and in her stead, he had Alex telling him that -

Michael forcefully pushed that thought away and returned his attention back to the cranky drawl of Walt Sanders, “I know kid, but I’m already out with the wrecker in the other ass-end direction, so I need you to go help this cry baby who can’t change a flat. Help me make some money, so I can afford to keep your ass employed.” 

“Fine, tell me the location, but this is holiday pay, not overtime.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sanders muttered, before rattling off the mile marker and the highway. “It’s a Lincoln sedan, black. Probably some old geezer out on a drive to church who ran into trouble.”

“You calling someone else a geezer is funny to me, I hope you know that,” Michael replied, hitting his turn signal to make a left to pick up the state road. It wasn’t as if he had a planned time to see Maria, the lunch hour and official opening of the bar was still an hour away. A little delay that made him some extra cash was doable. 

“Shut the hell up kid, and get going,” Sanders griped good-naturedly, before hanging up on Michael. 

The sun was bright overhead, the storm from the night before having washed the land and sky clean of clouds. Across the pavement ahead, the heat and the brightness, cast a mirage of dark shimmering water that creeped just out of reach as he drove toward his new destination. His mind ticked over the set of priorities ahead, to make a little money with a tire change, then to drop in on Maria to make his case, and finally, he knew he needed to swing by Isobel’s to check on her in the aftermath of Noah’s betrayal. Somewhere in all of that, he knew he would need to make it home to see Alex for that promised talk, but there was plenty of time for that because Alex rarely came by during the day to see him.

“I’m still fighting his battles, not mine.”

Michael flexed his hands on the steering wheel again and pushed down the heaviness in his heart that accompanied thinking about Alex. Ten long years of waiting and wanting him. If Michael cared to count up all of the trips to Roswell that Alex had made on leave, the two weeks together after the class reunion that frankly felt like a hallucination to Michael, all of those hours spent together would add up to a month. A month that stretched out over ten years, 520 weeks, or 3,650 days.

Counting the distance to the nearest star was in light years, but when it came to counting the distance between the stash of wedding rings he had purchased for Alex over the years and what he had been actually allowed to have with Alex, well, that was a calculation beyond the redshift spectrum. It would take energy to transverse that distance one more time, and Michael had nothing left inside to fuel that journey. He couldn’t afford to be lost in the black again, not with Isobel in free-fall from Noah’s years of manipulations, not with the prospect of telling Liz they had found Rosa’s body on the horizon. It was just too hard to believe that this time, with Alex calling him family, with Alex throwing back the closest declaration to love that he had ever made, actually meant he was ready to move toward Michael and work to cut the distance between them on his own.

It was better to head forward in a new direction, than to look back like Max had said. Besides, every other time he had failed to be enough of a reason to help Alex bridge his own chasm between what he wanted and what he had allowed himself to have. What could have changed? Caulfield had just cemented the complications for them both. 

A dark shadow in the distance, parked just off the road caught Michael’s attention. He glanced down at the odometer to mark the mileage and started to ease up on the gas. That must be the motorist Sanders had fielded a call from earlier, he realized. The ‘old geezer’ in the black Lincoln with a flat tire. He glanced in the rearview mirror to check for traffic but the road behind him was devoid of other vehicles. 

Michael hit the turn signal and hazard lights on his truck, turning briefly to the side to check that he had some spare water bottles for the customer and his toolbox within reach and then turned onto the shoulder of the highway. Mentally he was already five steps ahead of himself as he stepped out of the truck to approach the car, thinking about the size of socket to fit over the lug nuts for the Lincoln’s wheels, whether his torque wrench was even in his box, or if he would have to camouflage his telekinetic efforts to change out the tire, that it took a moment to realize the tires on the Lincoln were whole and unharmed on the driver’s side.

Puzzled, Michael slowed his approach, and started toward the passenger side of the car. The windows were rolled up and dark, the tint was straddling the threshold of legal for New Mexico. There was still no sign of defect in the tires, he noticed as he was halfway around the passenger fender. Faulty tire gauge, he mused before he noticed the engine was rumbling almost inaudibly. Fucking hybrid, which meant whatever issue it had been definitely beyond the parts available at Sanders.

It was a little odd that the driver hadn’t stepped out to greet Michael, but not terribly unusual when it came to elderly customers who seemed to have a healthy paranoia about everyone they encountered. Still, Michael pasted a smile on his face and tapped on the window. 

The automatic window slipped downward in an expensive whisper, but it wasn’t a helpless old man on his way to church at the wheel. 

Jesse Manes smiled at Michael flashing his teeth, “Surprise.” Before Michael could do more than step backward, Jesse lifted a large gun-shaped object and fired. Yellow particulate matter exploded into the air, enveloping Michael completely. Pulling his arm to his mouth to attempt to block the pollen, did little good as he felt the sedating effects almost immediately.

He coughed into the open air, scrambling back toward his truck on weak legs as he tried to clear his lungs of the fast-acting poison. Behind him, he heard the car door open, and the crunch of boots on the loose gravel from the road’s shoulder as Jesse approached him. Though his powers were gone and his strength was waning fast, Michael had never backed down from a fight in life.

Certainly, not a fight for his life.

Swinging with all of his might, he hurled his heavy toolbox at Jesse blindly. There was a thump and a curse, but the footsteps kept coming. Animal-like terror set in as Michael crawled now on his knees toward the cab of his truck. He had to move, he had to live, he wasn’t going to die here on the side of the damn road- Suddenly a black boot came down on his hand, pinning him place and lighting up a fierce agony of pain in its wake.

“I like the fight, Guerin, I do,” Jesse remarked with a quiet menace. “Shall I make this hand match your other-” 

It was on the tip of Michael’s tongue to point out the obvious, but then Jesse saw it for himself. His left hand, healed and pristine, clutching at the hot blacktop surface. 

“I see.” He barked out a laugh that chilled Michael. “I knew it. I knew you weren’t the only one in Roswell. I thought about killing you right here you know, but now, you might finally serve a purpose in your useless life. You thought you could use my son in your perverted schemes? Well now it’s your turn to be bait.” 

Michael’s vision was already fading into blindness with the pollen taking hold, but he managed to spit out between numb lips, “Go fuck yourself.”

“Not today. You’re the one who is fucked.” A hand grabbed a tight hold of Michael’s hair, wrenching him backward, and then it was merciful darkness. 

*** 

#malex fic #wip wednesday #last years wishes universe #wip meme #michael guerin #jesse manes is his own warning #Anonymous

[everamazingfe]

The Kumbaya Approach

Fic Summary: Trevor is the captain of his own ship and is in need of a new pilot when his old one abandons the crew. Fortunately, his trusty engineer Gavin knows of a good one. Unfortunately, the cargo he brings along with him is a little more dangerous than they anticipated. 

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Words: 15113 Pairings: Michael/Jeremy, Trevor/Alfredo Warnings: Mild descriptions of violence and blood

Notes: This was written for the Secret Springfairy fic exchange in the @rtwritingcommunity discord for @doolray! This was a ton of fun to write, I hope you enjoy, and big thanks to @fornhaus for proofreading/editing! Check the source for a link to read it on A 0 3!

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“What do you mean you quit?” 

“I mean I quit. I’m done with this bucket of bolts. Every day there’s a new problem, a new critical failure, a new busted part, and I’m sick of it! What kind of commander can’t get a handle on his own ship?”

“Hey! Those problems aren’t my fault, it’s the-”

“-The ship’s AI, right. Heard that one a thousand times. But they’re part of the crew, too. Which means they’re your responsibility. And if you can’t keep them under control and keep your ship in shape, I’m out of here at the next port.” 

The arguments had gone on like this for several days, nearly a week now, and it was the same thing every time. Jeremy would yell about how he was sick of being on the ship and lay down blame for its problems, and Trevor would defend himself against the barrage of insults instead of trying to change the other’s mind. He knew that was a futile effort, and he knew better than to fight losing battles.

The pair were silent for a long time, staring each other down. Jeremy was looking for a reason to get more wound up, to start yelling all over again. Telling off his commander for mistakes that everyone had seemingly let slide for far too long felt really good, and he wanted to keep going. Meanwhile, Trevor was calming down and calculating his next move very carefully. It was fine if his crew wanted to question his authority, they did it plenty and he never took it personally. But as far as he was concerned, Jeremy was no longer crew and no longer privy to that same mercy. After all, he’d quit.

“Fine. You can empty your quarters out and sleep in the observation deck, then. You’re no longer a member of this crew, so you no longer get to stay in crew cabins,” he stated after a few long moments, his tone cold. 

Jeremy blinked in surprise, not expecting Trevor to actually do anything about it. “Wait, what?”

“You heard me. You don’t get a room anymore, those are reserved for the crew. If you’re unhappy with that arrangement, I can tell Lindsay to get the airlock open for you.” 

“You know... If I leave, Michael’s gonna go with me. He goes where I go,” he reminded, though he was no longer yelling confidently. He was stumbling and faltering. Trevor had called his bluff effectively, and it was hard to keep up steam. 

“Then you can help each other clean out your quarters and keep each other warm on the deck,” he responded, shrugging casually. “Finding a new science officer will be just as easy as finding a new pilot.”

“And just how do you expect to get to the next port safely?”

Trevor chuckled softly, smiling. “Lindsay is more than equipped with satisfactory navigational skills, isn’t that right Linds?”

The comms system beeped to life, and a cheerful voice was heard over the speakers. “That’s right, Commander! Jack’s charting us a course as we speak. We’ll be on our way shortly.”

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There was some truth to Lindsay’s words. They were equipped with the best-in-the-market autopilot functionality, but Jack was not charting a course. The entirety of the crew was gathered around a large monitor in the communications bay, watching the whole ordeal unfold through Lindsay’s eyes. There were bets on how it would end. Most of the money was on it ending in blows at this point. 

“Like hell I’m going with him!” Michael shouted, waving his hands and scoffing in disbelief as he looked at the screen. “I’m not idiot enough to throw away a good job when I’ve got it. I mean, sure the place is a shithole, no offense Linds-” 

“None taken.”

“-But like… It’s not like we have to do anything. If I try and find another crew, they may make me do actual work! Can you imagine? I am not going anywhere.”

“I don’t think he’s going to give you a choice,” Jack said from beside him, the others all nodding in agreement. “I think you’re gonna have to go with him.” 

Michael huffed, rolling his eyes and turning up the volume on the terminal. “If there’s one thing you fuckers should’ve learned about me right now, it’s this: I don’t have to do shit. Especially not for my boyfriend.” 

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Jeremy grumbled to himself as he packed up his things. Michael was, of course, no help. He just stood in the doorway and spectated, making snide remarks when he saw fit. 

“You know, I’d really appreciate it if you could be on my side with this,” Jeremy said, balling up a shirt and throwing it at him. “Or at the very least, help me pack.”

Michael laughed, knocking away the shirt before it hit him in the face. “Fuck no, you dug this hole yourself. I’m not the moron who quit.”

“This place is a shithole and you know it.”

“Yeah, but you never have to fix any of it! You just have to sit there in your comfy pilot chair and wait for Gavin to do it.” Had Michael always been a little jealous of his boyfriend’s job? A little bit. The med bay was cold and unwelcoming, but the cockpit was cushy and warm. Plus, with Lindsay on board, the pilot didn’t really have to do much at all unless their systems went down. Which, to be fair, did happen a lot. “You pilots are always so snooty. You knew what you were getting into when you took this gig, you can’t expect it to be like the Ritz now.”

“Just fucking go,” Jeremy muttered, swiping up the last of his clothes from the floor. “Don’t even bother visiting, either.” The comment hurt them both, but that didn’t make him mean it any less. He didn’t want Michael to visit, he wanted him to stay at the port with him. 

The other just laughed heartily and shook his head, turning on his heel to leave. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

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The observation deck was, as it always was, cold and lonely. The warm blankets and fluffy pillows that were on his bed were technically part of the quarters he had previously taken residence in, so all Jeremy had to sleep on was the metal floor, cushioned by his clothing and a few other soft belongings. The things that he owned that were unfit for laying on were stacked around him. The observation deck’s window was huge, and as he laid there unable to sleep, the vastness of space no longer brought him the same comfort it had when he was in the pilot’s seat. 

“Hey, Lindsay?”

The comms beeped to life once more. “Yes, Jeremy?”

“Am I making a mistake?” He asked, sitting up and leaning back against the stack. 

There were a few long seconds of contemplative silence before they spoke again. “Yeah, you are. A huge one, I’d say.”

“That’s not really comforting... I don’t suppose Trevor would be willing to… Reconsider?”

“No, I don’t think so. You insulted the ship. The commander takes that personally.” Lindsay did too, but they figured that Jeremy already felt guilty enough without them piling on as well. 

“C’mon, you know I didn’t mean it.” 

“Do I, though? Because I really don’t think I do,” they stated. Maybe Jeremy didn’t feel as guilty as they had hoped, so their politeness parameters were temporarily suspended. “This is a ship made from stolen parts, what do you expect? For everything to run perfectly all the time? If you wanted that, you should’ve signed up for one of the legal spacefarers out there,” they quipped. If they had eyes, they would have rolled them. 

Jeremy sighed heavily, sinking down the wall and burying his face in his hands. Maybe it wasn’t too late to take Trevor up on that airlock offer, he was sure he’d be happy to oblige.

“Is Michael going with you?” Lindsay asked after a few minutes, breaking the silence and sounding innocent enough. Jeremy couldn’t tell whether they wanted a yes or a no, but there was no use lying to them. They’d seen Jeremy packing alone, his quarters empty while Michael’s were still very much full. 

“No,” he responded, shaking his head, “No, he’s not. He’s gonna be staying on board.”

“Oh, good. I like him. I’d be sad if he left.”

“But you’re not sad that I’m leaving?” There was no response to his words, just the comms beeping to signal that Lindsay wouldn’t be answering more of his questions. Jeremy sighed again and lowered his hands, staring back out at the stars. “I don’t even think that Michael’s sad that I’m leaving,” he muttered to himself, laying back down in his pile of clothes and shoving an old jacket under his head for a makeshift pillow.

He couldn’t exactly blame him for it, either. Maybe he could’ve been a better boyfriend, maybe he should’ve just bitten his tongue and held back whatever criticisms he had of Trevor and the ship. But part of this felt like it was inevitable, like he was always going to blow up like this. The worst part was that he didn’t even feel guilty about any of it, he was only sorry that speaking up had the consequences that it had. It was hard to have any regrets about it when he fully believed he was doing the right thing, though.

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It only took them another week to reach the nearest spaceport, some podunk trading and tourist hub located pretty centrally to all the bigger colonies. Trevor liked it because they’d be able to stock up on supplies without having to scrounge or overpay. That was something that desperately needed doing, the last few ports had single rations sold for thousands of credits or reasonably priced ones that were nearly a century past date. Plus, they’d have pretty good odds at finding a replacement pilot there too. Jeremy liked it because it didn’t seem like the worst place to be booted onto, he could find work with another crew or in the port pretty easily. Everyone else liked it because being at port meant a few days of rest. Lindsay didn’t have to worry about some of the more power-hungry systems that came with flying a ship, which meant that Gavin didn’t have to run around making patchwork repairs at every hour of the day. But for some, their work didn’t stop. Matt always had to keep his ear to the radio for any incoming transmissions, and Michael and Fiona could only leave their experiments and samples unattended for so long before there were catastrophic results.

Reaching port this time was different this time around, though. They’d never had to say goodbye to one of their own before. Jeremy had been permitted one last night on the ship, but in the morning he’d have to go. To honor that last night, Gavin and Michael decided to organize a going away party for their fellow lad, complete with drinks and proper food (not just freeze-dried rations that pretended to be edible) and parting gifts. 

It made Jeremy feel better about going when he saw how sad everyone seemed to be, how sincere they were in expressing how much they would miss him. He’d convinced himself that they all hated him for speaking out the way that he had, no one had come to speak to him in the observation deck and the only time he saw anyone was when he was brought his rations, but the party was a good indication that they didn’t hate him: they just pitied him. 

Michael was certainly the most upset, despite the fact that he’d pretended to be unbothered only a week prior. Even if they had to do it from lightyears away, they promised each other they’d find a way to make things work. The communication technology was there, they’d still be able to talk. Michael was just glad that he wouldn’t have to worry too much about Jeremy while he was gone. It was a busy port, there’d be plenty of people around looking to hire a skilled pilot. And even if he couldn’t find work right away, it was safe enough that he could stay there for a while without running into any trouble unless he went looking. 

Despite all the fun of the festivities, Trevor’s absence was hard to miss. Jeremy had to admit that he’d been foolish for expecting it, but not getting a final goodbye from his former commander stung. 

However, Trevor had decided that his day was best spent working instead of partying, arranging for fresh shipments of supplies to be loaded into the cargo bay and beginning his search for a new pilot. The first task was successful, the latter one… Not so much. No one was really giving him the time of day, not believing him when he told them he captained his own ship and could afford to pay handsomely for work. Or they simply weren’t interested in the cargo that would need to be transported. After he was fed a lot of bullshit from people who clearly didn’t know anything trying to weasel their way onto his ship, he reached his limit and returned to the ship, thoroughly disheartened by the end of the night.

Trevor spent the evening in his quarters, agonizing over the situation for a few hours. There were a few solid candidates when he looked past all their unfavorable qualities, but he still wasn’t thrilled about any of them. Everyone was busy partying with Jeremy, he was grateful for the peace while he tried to work something out. The only thing that pulled him out of his thoughts was Lindsay’s chime. Usually that signaled that he’d been working for too long and it was time to get some rest, so he began to stand up, stretching his arms out over his head to ease away the stiffness.

“Commander, Gavin’s outside the door. Should I let him in?” They asked, sending a feed to his terminal of the lad standing outside the doors. He sat back down slowly, squinting as he looked at the grainy footage on the screen. 

“Does he look like he’s carrying any stink bombs? I can’t tell.” 

There were a few moments of silent examination before the comms beeped to life again. “Nope, he’s clear.” 

Trevor waved in approval then, twisting around in his chair to face the door. “Let him in, then.” 

The doors slid open to reveal Gavin standing there, fortunately empty-handed, with a smile on his face. “Commander! Missed you at the party, you should’ve been there! I saved you a bev, if you want it.” 

“No thanks. Some of us had actual work to do, y’know.” He paused, looking the other up and down. It was always hard to read Gavin, he was always brimming with so much energy, it was hard to tell if his fidgeting was excited stimming or covering up for anxious nerves. There was no telling what he wanted to share. “I really hope you didn’t come here just to chastise me for not going to a party for someone who couldn’t stop insulting the ship every chance he got.”

“Nah, I get it. No one insults our Lindsay and gets away with it. But… I do think I can help with some of your problems.” Trevor arched an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to continue. “I know a pilot at this port. He’s one of the best. Well, actually, he is the best. And! He owes me a favor! So he’ll definitely be taking the job.”

“If he’s the best, how can you be sure he’s not currently in a crew?”

Gavin laughed at that, and Trevor’s face turned to one of confusion. “He’s rather picky about the jobs he takes. And, like I said: He owes me.”

He was quiet for a few moments, biting his lip as he thought it over. Gavin hadn’t led him astray before, it was how they’d ended up with Michael and Fiona on the crew, but it all felt a little too good to be true. Coincidences made him uneasy, but what choice did he have? “How soon can I meet him?”

“Tomorrow, if you’d like.”

“I’d like to, yeah. After breakfast. Lindsay, set an alarm for the engineering bay to make sure Gavin wakes up in time.”

“Yes, commander.”

“Hey!”

Trevor grinned as the other pouted. “Anything else, Gav?”

Gavin flipped him off before breaking out into a grin of his own. “Nope! That’s it. I should get back to the engines ‘case they bust again, but I’m happy to be of service. See you tomorrow, Trev.”

“See you tomorrow, Gavin. Get some rest, don’t stay up too late pestering Matt.”

“Will do, won’t do, goodnight!”

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The next morning came soon enough, the crew having breakfast together for a change since Michael had been kind enough to grab some fresh ingredients and cook them a nice meal. It was refreshing to have real food, not just the usual freeze-dried rations or nutrient slurries they normally relied on. And real coffee was always a treat, though no one would dare insult Fiona’s synthesized seaweed coffee replacement for fear of losing the one caffeine source they had between stops. 

After the meal, Gavin and Trevor set out as planned. They had a pilot to search for, and the lad wouldn’t stop ranting and raving about how great this guy was supposed to be. Trevor just hoped that he was going to live up to all the hype.

“When you said this guy is picky about the jobs he takes, just how picky did you mean?” He asked as they searched through the first hotspot. There were a few places this mysterious pilot liked to hang out in apparently, and there was no telling which one he’d be at. 

Gavin chuckled softly, glancing over at Trevor with a smile until he realized he was being serious. Then, he just shrugged a shoulder. “I dunno. He won’t complain about the ship, if that’s what you mean.”

“Kind of. I just want to make sure he’s not too high class to run the sort of jobs we run.”

“Oh, trust me. He’s not. He is exactly low class enough to run these sort of jobs. But, y’know, like everyone else he wants to make sure the money’s real, and that he’s not gonna end up space dust.” 

“Fair enough.” Those were reasonable requests, and ones that were easy enough for Trevor to guarantee. No one on his crew ever ran out of credits, and no one had gotten seriously injured on a job. The ‘on the job’ part was the most important part of that sentence, because injuries did still happen around the ship, despite everyone’s best efforts. 

Spots two and three were as equally bust as the first one, but Gavin was just as determined as he’d been at breakfast. Trevor, not so much. It was well past mid-day by the time they reached the fifth spot, some sort of hotel and lounge for people to catch their breath and put their feet up. 

The moment they stepped in the door, there was a big beaming grin on Gavin’s face. “Fredo!” He shouted, raising his arms as he cheered. “Took us long enough to find you!”

The man in question was seated casually on a sofa, nose buried in a magazine, though his attention was broken by Gavin’s shouting cutting through the ambiance. “Gavin?” He asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion as he set his magazine aside and stood. “What the hell are you doing so far out?”

“Ah, well, that’s a bit of a long story,” he said, waving a hand to dismiss the question as he walked up to the man and wrapped an arm around him. He dragged him over to Trevor, still beaming. “Trevor, this is Alfredo. Best pilot on this side of the universe. On both sides, probably, but he doesn’t like to brag. And Alfredo, this is Trevor. He’s the big boss of the Morrigan.”

“I, uh… Yeah, that’s me. I’m the cap- The commander.”

“Cat got your tongue, Commander?” Alfredo asked, smirking as the other’s face tinted red. “C’mon, let’s go somewhere else and chat. There’s way too many people listening in out here.”

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They ended up in Alfredo’s room, crowded around the small table underneath a dim light. However, Trevor didn’t need a lot of light to get a read on someone, and he noticed a lot of things about their potential new pilot in a short time. He didn’t fidget like Gavin did, each movement seemed like it was with purpose, but sometimes he’d flex his fingers and roll his wrists. It told him that he was as experienced as Gavin said, because Jeremy had started to do the same thing after a long time behind the helm. His jacket was well worn, the red still bright in some spots but faded in others, and patched in places where it’d been damaged. That told him that Alfredo wasn’t afraid of a fight, and he was resourceful enough to not let good things go to waste. All good things, in his book. 

“So, what’s your offer?” Alfredo asked, breaking the silence once they’d all gotten settled around the table. 

“My… Offer?” 

“Yeah. If I work for you, what do I get?”

Trevor and Gavin looked at each other for a moment, the latter stunned by the bluntness of the question, but the former was used to unprofessionalism like that. In fact, he preferred it. “Well, for starters, a spot on the ship. You get your own private quarters. However, you really are there as a backup to our ship’s computer in case things get extra… Challenging. They’re good, but there’s limits to every AI.”

Alfredo’s eyebrows raised at that. He’d never been on a ship that had a computer like that on it before. “Sounds like a fancy ship.”

Gavin snorted out a laugh, shaking his head quickly. “Trust me, it’s not. It’s all cobbled together, and the only reason we ended up with Lindsay was because their system was gonna be salvage otherwise.” 

“Right…” He cleared his throat, looking back to Trevor. “What about money?”

“We all get an equal cut of the credits. We’re all important on the Morrigan, no one gets more or less than anyone else.” Everyone put in a lot of work to keep the ship running smoothly, sometimes Trevor felt like he wasn’t doing enough in comparison. Every now and then, he’d take less from his own cut to give everyone else a little more. It felt fair. “And we kind of just go wherever when we’re not running jobs.”

Alfredo was quiet for a few moments, thinking things over. He knew he owed Gavin a favor, but at the same time this whole deal seemed too good to be true. No commander was ever this reasonable, this good to his crew. “Can you go wait outside for a minute? I’d like to talk to Gavin,” he said finally, and Trevor was happy to oblige. He didn’t take his eyes off the other man until the door closing forced him too, then they were fixed on Gavin. “This smells like bullshit.”

“I’m telling you Fredy, it’s not. We all get an equal cut, the rooms are pretty damn lush, and the jobs are alright. I don’t do much but patch up the ship after them, but we haven’t had any major hull breaches yet.” He seemed quite proud of himself for that, but deflated when Alfredo didn’t respond in kind. 

“Yeah, but what about your last pilot? What happened to them? No one just leaves a gig this good.”

“Ah, well… Actually, some do. There were a few… Disagreements. He wasn’t happy on the ship, and Trevor doesn’t like when people insult the Morrigan, or Lindsay,” he explained, choosing his words carefully. He wasn’t sure either of the men involved would be happy if the story started to get spread. “But it’s a good ship, a good crew, and Trevor’s a good man. Plus, you owe me.”

“I know, and that’s the worst part!” He groaned, slumping forward with his face in his hands. “I hate owing you, you always make people pay you back in the worst possible ways!”

“Oi! I’m getting you a job!”

“Yeah, and it all sounds shady as shit! I know you’re smugglers, but damn. Trevor’s cold.”

Gavin just chuckled softly, because he couldn’t exactly disagree with him. The commander had his moments, but didn’t everyone? “Look, Fredo. You need this, and we need you. So just… Take the job, would you?” 

Alfredo chewed the inside his lip as he thought it over, letting out a long sigh after a minute. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear,” Gavin said with a grin, clapping Alfredo on the shoulder before yelling for Trevor to come back inside. 

He genuinely couldn’t guess what they had been talking about in there, but judging by the look on Gavin’s face it was something good. “You’ve decided, then?” He asked Alfredo as he took his seat again.

“He has! He said that he’d joi-“

“-Gavin, dude. Let me talk,” he said, swatting at the other man to get him to shut up. “I’ll join your crew, on one condition…” He trailed off, wanting to gauge the other’s response before he continued.

“And that is?” Trevor asked, arching an eyebrow and waiting for him to go on. 

“I have some cargo I need to get off this asteroid. It’ll be a win/win for the both of us: You get to see how good I fly, I get this job off my back, and you, me, and your crew get to split the money.”

It’d be a good reason to get out of the spaceport faster too. Trevor wasn’t planning on leaving until they had a job anyway and now one had fallen right into their laps with a new pilot in hand. “Sounds like a deal to me,” he said, reaching a hand out for Alfredo to shake and smiling across the table at him. It was a genuine smile, the facade of the stern negotiator falling away. 

Alfredo grinned right back at him, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. “Hell yes.”

“We can get into the details of the job back on the ship, but I wanna introduce you to your new crew first.”

“Oh, you’re gonna love them, Fredo. They’re all brilliant.” 

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

The Morrigan welcomed its commander back onto the ship with a cheerful musical tone, the doors sliding open as he approached with Gavin and Alfredo in tow. 

“Oh, now who’s this?” Lindsay asked, curious about the new arrival. If they were being honest, they hadn’t expected Gavin to be telling the truth about knowing a pilot, or for Trevor to be convincing enough to get him to join. Their expectations weren’t pessimistic, just realistic. They knew their crew.

“Lindsay! Hey there, perfect timing,” Trevor said with a grin as Gavin scurried off to go gather the rest of the crew. “This is Alfredo, he’s gonna be our new pilot! And Alfredo, this is Lindsay, our ship's computer, and your co-pilot. If you have any questions about the ship, they’ll be the one to ask.”

“That’s right!” They chirped, “Not to brag or anything, but I know more about this ship than anyone, except maybe Gavin. We’re about equal, but don’t tell him I said that!”

Alfredo chuckled, amused by just how much personality this supposed AI had. “Are you sure there’s not a person on the other side of those comms, commander?”

Trevor simply shook his head. “Nope, just a Lindsay!” He answered, motioning for Alfredo to follow him as he led him further into the ship. Doors opened and shut behind them automatically as they went, which meant that Lindsay was keeping a close eye on them. They’d really taken Jeremy’s comments about the ship to heart, and they had to make sure the new guy wasn’t going to say the same thing. 

“No offense, but… How does a ship like this afford a computer like that? I know how much these jobs make, and how much those things cost, and… The math just isn’t adding up.”

The speakers beeped to life with a gentle tone, and Lindsay spoke up for themselves. “I was a rejected version of an even more advanced system, but because of how advanced I still was, they couldn’t just shut me down and wipe out all my data. So, they put me up for sale instead.”

“We got a pretty good deal on them, actually. No one really wants a buggy AI, too much of a risk or whatever, but for a smuggling crew who doesn’t care about perfection, they’re perfect.” The bugs that the programmers had rejected Lindsay for were hardly even bugs in Trevor’s eyes, they were just things that made them too hard to control. There was no speech filter, no way to control them or make them do whatever you wanted, which is why they’d been rejected. You had to treat them like a person, and their programmers had hated that. 

Alfredo was genuinely impressed by the state of the ship, and how smoothly things seemed to run on the surface. Lindsay gave him a quick brief on the engine the ship was powered by and some tips for when he was at the controls to help work around some of its quirks. By the time their spiel was done, they’d reached the bridge where everyone had been gathered so they could get introductions out of the way all at once instead of hunting people down one by one.

The Morrigan was no small ship, and its crew matched it. It was, by far, the largest smuggling ship that Alfredo had ever stepped foot in. Probably the happiest as well. Every role had a person to fill it, and none of them seemed to have many complaints either. 

The first person to speak up and introduce herself was Jack, the ship’s navigations officer. She worked with Lindsay to chart their courses, keeping in mind everything that they’d have to avoid ranging from rogue space debris to the ever annoying authorities. The three of them would be working very closely together, so Alfredo was glad that she spoke up first. 

Michael and Fiona introduced themselves next, the former being the ship’s medical officer and physician while the latter was a scientist. She had her own experiments to run, but she also spent a lot of time helping Michael keep everyone on board the ship healthy. It was a much more difficult task than one would expect, apparently. Alfredo asked Fiona what she was doing on the ship, but she refused to say anything more than “nunya business,” and Trevor insisted that it was better if he didn’t know, so he dropped the subject. 

The communications officer introduced himself after that. Matt was more quiet and reserved than everyone else seemed to be, but he still seemed quite content in his role. It seemed like there wasn’t much to do - there were no aliens trying to make contact, or even that many other ships for that matter - so he spent a lot of his time misusing the comms to catch up on radio shows from Earth or the other space outposts. 

“Alright! Well, feel free to hang out with everyone for a bit,” Trevor said, noticeably relieved that everyone seemed to like Alfredo, and vice-versa. It was a good first step. Gavin was usually a pretty good judge of character, but one could never be too careful. 

“You’re not gonna stick around?” Alfredo asked, frowning a little. “You can’t just leave me alone with these guys.” That comment was hushed, he didn’t want anyone else to hear. 

“Sure I can. I’ve got some work to do, and besides, they don’t bite.” He looked pointedly at Michael. “Usually.” Alfredo whirled around to follow Trevor’s gaze, eyes going wide as Michael snarled at him. The pair broke out into laughter, making Alfredo huff in displeasure.

“That’s not funny, man.”

“Sorry, sorry, couldn’t resist. Just… Relax.” He put his hands on the other’s shoulders, giving him a little shake. “Everyone here is great, they’re the nicest people on this side of the galaxy. You’re gonna have to get to know them eventually, so you might as well start now. I got some work I gotta do to get us loaded up, but come up to my quarters later. We need to hammer out the details of that job so we can get outta here soon.”

Alfredo nodded slowly, mumbling a confirmation and watching as Trevor turned on his heel and walked out of the room. Michael and Gavin slammed a hand down onto each of his shoulders, snapping him out of his trance as they whirled him around. 

“C’mon, Alfredo! We’ve still got some booze leftover from Jeremy’s going away party,” Michael told him with a wicked grin, “Jack makes the best drinks, you gotta try one.”

“I dunno... I just joined, is that really smart?”

“Is what smart?” 

“Drinking.”

“Nah,” Gavin scoffed, shaking his head quickly. “Drinking’s always smart, trust me.”

Alfredo rolled his eyes. He knew firsthand that trusting Gavin was a bad idea when it came to alcohol, but on the other hand… Maybe it’d be a good way to get more comfortable around everyone. He was still a little wary, and a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of the crew, some help feeling more at ease was definitely welcome. It was called liquid courage for a reason. 

And after a few drinks, he certainly felt more at ease. At the same time, it was weird being accepted so quickly. Sometimes he was stuck on his own, even when he was on a crew. Space had a tendency to be a very lonely and isolating place, it seemed like these people were well aware of the fact, and worked hard to make sure no one fell victim to its clutches. Fiona saw him standing off to the side, trying to edge away from all the excitement, and dragged him right into it. Jack gave him drinks when she spotted an empty cup, alternating between alcoholic and not to make sure he didn’t end up too far gone. And Michael and Gavin were something else entirely, wasting no time in filling him in on the latest ship gossip and ongoing pranks. Ultimately, he decided that he’d made a good choice in trusting Gavin and joining the Morrigan. 

When the festivities died down and everyone began to clean up and retreat to their quarters, Alfredo took it as his sign to go and find Trevor and discuss the job with him. Finding his quarters was easy enough, but he hesitated outside. 

“He already knows you’re there, you know,” Lindsay piped up, giggling when they saw Alfredo jump and search around for the source of their voice. It was all around them, coming through every speaker in that part of the hall. “He’s got a video feed that shows the hall outside of his door. Put it in after Gavin pranked him a few too many times,” they added, this time only speaking from the nearest speaker. 

“Yeah, Gavin’s always been one for pranks.” He stepped closer to the door, but still didn’t go in.

They hummed softly, some sensors whirring in a far off room of the Morrigan. “Why are you hesitating?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because!” Alfredo gestured in exasperation, activating the door’s motion sensor. He jumped again as it slid open, staring through it and making eye contact with Trevor, who was seated at his desk and smiling knowingly. 

“Thank you, Lindsay.”

“Any time, commander! That trick never fails.”

Alfredo looked at Trevor with wide eyes, stammering out an excuse that was immediately waved off. “Just come on in, there’s no use putting it off,” he told him. “The sooner we get things sorted, the sooner we can get out of the port.”

“Why the rush?” He asked as he stepped inside, the door sliding shut behind him with a loud thunk. “It’s pretty nice, as far as spaceports go.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got a disgruntled former pilot hanging around here now, and I really don’t want him deciding that he wants to get revenge.”

“Fair enough.” Alfredo sat down in the chair across from Trevor, watching him from across the desk. When the other didn’t speak right away, he took it as an opportunity to do so instead. “So, the job. It’s several crates of cargo, will you have enough space in the hold for all of that?”

“How many is several, exactly?”

“About ten, all pretty decently sized. A yard or two each way, at least.”

Trevor chuckled, nodding as he made a note. “Oh yeah, we’ll have plenty of room. I’ve got some supplies getting loaded up tomorrow, if you talk to a man named Geoff at the mercantile he’ll be sure to slip ‘em in, make sure no one suspects anything.”

Alfredo raised his eyebrows, impressed. “That’s it? No questions about the cargo?”

Trevor let out a long sigh at that, lifting his eyes from his notebook to look at him. “Usually, I don’t want to know. It’s not my business to know. I’m not paid to know,” he explained, waiting until the other nodded in understanding to carry on. “But, since you brought it up, I feel like I should ask… Is it alive?”

“Uh… Yeah, it is.”

“Is it people? Cause I don’t do that shit.”

“What? No. No! It’s… Well, it’s-“

“Is it gonna break out of the crates and kill us in our sleep?”

Alfredo didn’t have an immediate answer to that one. Trevor didn’t find that comforting. 

“Probably not?”

They stared at each other for a few moments, gauging each other’s reactions until Trevor broke the silence. “Works for me! Like I said, talk to Geoff at the mercantile, let him know where you keep everything, he’ll get it all worked out.” He extended his hand, offering it to Alfredo for him to shake. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Alfredo.”

“Likewise,” the other man said, reaching out and giving Trevor’s hand a firm shake. “The Morrigan seems like a real nice ship, I can’t wait to see how they fly.”

With that, Alfredo took his leave, but Trevor kept his eyes on the door long after he walked out. 

The comms beeped to life, and Lindsay spoke from a speaker on Trevor’s desk. “I like him already.”

“Yeah, I do too,” he said whimsically before shaking his head to clear the thoughts from his mind and pointing a finger at the speaker. “I never said that. You didn’t hear that.”

“Of course, Commander. I heard nothing.”

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

The cargo was loaded up without issue the following day. All Alfredo had to do was give the boxes a small mark once they were in the hold, that way they’d know what was the smuggled cargo, but that was an easy enough task. They spent a few more hours at the port, letting everyone do a small tour around for some shopping and giving Michael a chance to say some goodbyes to Jeremy before they set out. 

“Alright, let’s see how this baby flies,” Alfredo said with a grin once he was in the pilot’s seat, cracking his knuckles. This was the one place where he truly felt confident and in his element, and it was so good to be back where he belonged. “Jack, we got a course set?”

“Yup, Lindsay’s got all the info, and there should be a copy of it there on your terminal,” Jack said from her station, turning in her seat to look at Alfredo and give him a thumbs up. She grinned as she got one in return. 

“Sweet. Lindsay, you ready to take off?” 

A few melodic beeps came through the speakers as they checked in with Gavin to make sure the engines were all in working order, then they spoke. “I am! Gavin’s on standby in case anything goes wrong, too.”

“Perfect, start the launch sequence for me, please?”

“Ooh, how polite! I like this one,” they hummed, and Jack laughed softly from her station at the way Alfredo’s cheeks tinged pink. “Sure thing, Fredo. One launch sequence, coming right up!”

The Morrigan shook and creaked as the engines fired up, groaning with effort as the sound roared through the engineering bay and echoed around the spaceport. It was a big ship that required a lot of power to get going, even more so to break away from the gravitational field surrounding the port, and every time they took the crew was terrified that it would come apart at the seams under the pressure. But, like it did every time before, it pulled through, and it wasn’t long until they were up in the atmosphere and out into space. 

“Wow,” Alfredo breathed, slumping back in his chair once things had stabilized. He hadn’t even realized he’d been holding his breath. “Is it always like that?”

Trevor chuckled from behind him, smiling and nodding. “Yeah, pretty much.” He walked up and patted Alfredo on the shoulder, making eye contact with him in the window’s reflection before looking past it at the stars. “Get used to it, buddy.” The clanking of the ship he’d long since learned to tune out, but seeing the stars? It never got old to him. They were just as beautiful every time he saw them, and it was easy to get lost looking at them as they went by. 

“Guess I’m gonna have to.” It was clear that Trevor was lost in thought, so Alfredo just nudged his hand from his shoulder and leaned to look around him at Jack. “How we lookin’? Smooth sailing?”

“Smooth sailing. No asteroids, no authorities, no other ships if we’re lucky. I’ll let you know if that changes, though. It’ll take us a while to get to our next stop, few days at the most.”

“Can this thing handle lightspeed?”

Jack and Lindsay both broke out into laughter, and even Trevor snapped out of his trance to join in. 

“Absolutely not,” Lindsay told him, laughing brightly. They took great pride in the Morrigan, but even they knew its limits. “We’ve been trying to get our hands on a new warp drive for a while now, but no such luck. We’re stuck inside this solar system for the time being, unfortunately.”

“Put my cut from the job towards one, then.” Trevor’s eyebrows shot up, and he met Alfredo’s eyes through the reflection once more. “I’m serious. The further you can travel, the better jobs you can get.” And even for short distances, Alfredo wasn’t really one for travelling at a space snail’s pace. “The better jobs you get, the more money you make.” 

Trevor couldn’t disagree with that logic, so he simply just nodded in approval. “I’ll start putting my cut towards one too, then.” 

“Seriously?” Jack piped up, “like Gavin doesn’t have enough to fix around here?”

The commander turned towards her, arching an eyebrow. “Everyone’s free to spend their cut on whatever they like, and that’s how Alfredo and I are choosing to use ours. Do I say anything when you spend it on baseball cards just cause Geoff and Gav talked about ‘em?”

“No…”

“No, I don’t. So, you mind your business, and I’ll mind mine.” Trevor could take a ribbing as good as the rest of the ship’s crew, but there were some things he just wouldn’t take. The ship was still a very sore subject for him. Jack let out a long sigh but nodded, knowing that there was no use in pushing the matter further. “So, Alfredo. You don’t have to stay here all the time, Lindsay’ll put an alarm out if there’s any immediate threats you’re needed for. I don’t expect you to be sitting here all day, every day. That’d just be mean.”

Alfredo nodded in understanding, spinning around in the chair to get a look at Trevor. “I’ll probably hang out here most of the day, though. Nice view, y’know? Plus I wouldn’t want Lindsay and Jack to get bored,” he joked, cracking a smile. 

“Good plan.” Trevor nodded in approval before he spun around to leave, though he lingered just out of sight. Alfredo was agreeable, almost too agreeable. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the guy, or that he cared if he was a troublemaker, but it was certainly an oddity to have a crewmember that actually wanted to do their job. There had to be a catch. There was always a catch. 

Jack scoffed from her seat once she thought Trevor was gone, glancing over at Alfredo from her terminal. “You let him walk all over you, dude.”

“He’s the boss, I’m gonna listen to him,” he responded simply, looking to her for barely a second before his eyes were back on the stars. 

“Yeah, but you can push back a little, he’s not gonna bite your head off for it.”

“He gets enough of that from the rest of you assholes.”

“Whoa, okay. Just trying to help.” 

Alfredo turned in his chair then, meeting Jack’s eyes. “I don’t need your help. Did you hear what Trevor said? ‘You mind your business, I’ll mind mine?’ That goes for me too.” He’d put up with enough bullshit from the other crews he’d been a part of and jobs he’d taken, and he wasn’t going to let this be like the rest of them. He knew the difference between letting himself get pushed over and keeping his head below the fenceline so he didn’t end up losing it. 

They stared each other down for a few long moments, sizing each other up. Jack realized then that she’d misjudged Alfredo. He wasn’t some rookie pilot pulled off the streets, he was the real deal, and he wasn’t going to take any shit from anyone. On the other hand, Alfredo realized that he’d judged Jack correctly, and he didn’t like antagonists much. He knew he’d warm up to her eventually, he had to if he didn’t want this whole thing to fall through, but that was an awfully bad start. 

Lindsay couldn’t stand the tension that was building in the room, making the air so thick that the vent system was having a hard time sucking it up for purification. So they did the only thing they could to break it: Sound a station-wide alarm. Trevor had to come out of his hiding spot then, running up to the main console to check the system. 

“Lindsay, what the hell’s going on?!” He asked, having to shout over the blaring alarm. 

“I don’t know, the alarm just started going off!” They shouted back, sounding panicked, although it was all an act. They pretended to flounder for a moment, making sure that there was enough time for the tension to fade entirely and that Alfredo and Jack had forgotten about their spat before they killed the alarm. “There! All sorted, I think it was just a crossed wire or something. Crazy, huh?” They could tell that Trevor didn’t quite believe them, but at least Jack and Alfredo had gotten back to work. “Maybe you should stick around for a bit, commander. Just to make sure nothing like that happens again.”

“Hm.” He hummed as he took a seat in the commander’s chair, kicking his feet up onto the console in front of him. There was no way to tell what they were playing at, but keeping an eye on the new recruit wasn’t exactly a bad idea, especially if Jack was going to be giving him trouble. “I think you’re right, Lindsay. Can’t be having any trouble on the bridge now, can we? Good call.”

“No commander, we can’t. And thank you.”

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

Things were quiet for a few days. Too quiet. There were the usual pranks and fights and other nonsense, but there were no large scale problems. Any commander would be happy about that and proud of their crew for avoiding disaster, but not Trevor. On the Morrigan, that meant there was a ticking time bomb hidden somewhere on the ship, and it was only a matter of time until it blew. He allowed himself to sleep, but only for a few hours at a time, and when he was awake he was on constant patrol. The previous longest record for going without a major incident was about three days, and it was now encroaching on a week. He wasn’t counting the detour they’d had to make to avoid some random authorities patrolling the system as a major incident, just a minor setback, so they were still due for something. 

When it hit a week since their last incident, he was almost convinced that he could relax, that he could let his guard down and accept that there was nothing waiting just around the bend for him. Almost. Barely a second after that thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps quickly approaching from behind him.

“Hey, Trevor-boy!” Gavin called out for him, making him spin on his heels. “So, got a bit of a problem for you.” It was weird seeing someone relieved to learn there was a problem, but Trevor certainly looked that way. “There’s a lot of uh… Banging, coming from the storage deck.”

“Have you gone down there to check it out?” He asked, already knowing the answer before he even asked. 

“Absolutely not! Are you insane? Michael won’t go either, before you ask, you’re gonna have to go down there and look,” he informed him, and Trevor pinched the bridge of his nose. “Hey, don’t give me that! We don’t know what Alfredo brought on board, and I’m not trying to get eaten.”

“He promised me it wouldn’t kill us in our sleep.”

“That doesn’t mean it won’t kill us when we’re awake, though.”

Trevor sucked in a breath, holding it for a moment as he thought his next words over carefully. “Lindsay?” He called, his attention no longer on Gavin as he began to walk

The speaker system chimed to life, and Lindsay greeted the two of them cheerfully. “Yes, commander?”

“Where’s Alfredo?” 

There was a beat of silence as they checked all of their ocular systems. “He’s in the bridge, why?”

“Have him meet me down by the storage bay, would you? And have Michael bring down a few weapons, I don’t know what we’re dealing with. Can you tell if anything’s started moving down there?”

“There is a lot of movement down there, but I think whatever it is, it’s still in the crates.” The comms system buzzed as they went quiet, searching the cargo bay to make sure they weren’t sending their crew down into certain death. “Yeah, no, it’s definitely still contained.” There was a beat of silence before they whispered, “for now.”

That brought some relief, at least. Still, he didn’t want to go in there with nothing, just in case. At least they managed to hit a new record. He’d have to mark it on his calendar when he got back up to his quarters. 

He let Gavin get back to work somewhere along the way down to the bottom of the ship, waiting outside the door to the hold and tapping his foot as he waited for Alfredo and Michael to join him. As he opened his mouth to ask Lindsay to let them know he was waiting, he heard the telltale sound of yelling that signalled Michael’s approach. Alfredo was much quieter, but he had no doubt that he was in tow.

Still, he was impatient. Trevor always was when it came to the safety of his crew. If there was anything that had the potential to harm them, he wanted it dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible. There was no room for wasting time. He already had his hand out as Michael rounded the corner, and he didn’t lower it until he felt the weight of a gun settled in it. 

“Gave you your usual rifle, boss. Figured you’d want something reliable,” he explained, watching as Trevor inspected the rifle to make sure it was up to his standards. “Gave Fredo the harpoon gun, figured it might be handy and he said he’s used one of those before. Plus pistols for the both of you. Try not to miss your shots, though. Gavin’ll be pissed if he has to do a hull repair.” 

“Thank you, Michael. We’ll take it from here, but…” He trailed off, noticing that Michael himself was also armed with a variety of weapons. “Standby out here, just in case. Lindsay’ll let you know if we run into trouble.” They nodded at each other in understanding, the doors to the cargo bay sliding open in front of them. “Let’s go.”

Alfredo could only give a tiny nod himself, following behind the commander as they stepped into the hold. It was bright, the lights at full blast to make sure there weren’t any shadows to hide in. But that wasn’t enough to stop him from being nervous. His hands didn’t shake, but he was chewing on his bottom lip so much that it was starting to bleed, and every little noise made him raise the harpoon gun and aim. 

“You wanna tell me what’s in those crates?” Trevor asked as they worked their way towards the center of the hold, checking every nook and cranny as Lindsay kept them updated on any movement around them that was out of the ordinary. “I was fine with not knowing before, but-“ He was cut off by the sound of wood scraping against metal, dull thuds as whatever was inside of them grew restless. “But because of things like that, I can’t let things slide anymore.”

The other man hesitated, continuing to bite at his lip, but Trevor’s gaze was piercing and it made his blood run cold against his tongue. Nothing got past the commander, even the smallest of lies. “Plants. It’s plants.”

“Plants don’t move like that,” Trevor pointed out, and Alfredo couldn’t exactly refute his claim. “Now, what the hell is actually in these crates?”

“I’m being serious. It’s plants.” A beat of silence, more piercing stares, before he continued. “Mutant plants that were definitely overfed a ton of fertilizer and who only knows what else, but… Yeah. Plants.”

“Mutant… Plants?” The words fell slowly off of Trevor’s tongue, processing what they meant at the same time they left his mouth. “Just how mutant, exactly?”

“Depends. Some of ‘em are still pretty plant-like, but… Others are getting pretty close to Audrey II territory.” 

“As much as I appreciate the comparison, I’d appreciate a little more seriousness even more.” Alfredo murmured an apology, but Trevor’s silence made it clear that the time for talking was over. 

After a few more paces they reached the crates, specially marked to make it stand out from all of the other similar crates, but only to the trained eye. Sure enough, there was some banging coming from inside the crate, as well as some angry hissing, but it wasn’t exactly loud enough to be heard from the engineering deck, especially not over the roar of the engines either. If Gavin was able to hear it, it had to be something much bigger, much louder. 

They began to inspect the crates one by one, making sure each one was intact and tightening whatever screws had started to get knocked loose by the thrashing within. All the noise and movement had Trevor on edge, his heart racing and normally steady hands shaking each time he had to touch one of the boxes. 

“That’s all of them. Nine crates, all secure.”

Alfredo frowned, eyebrows furrowed together as his eyes flicked from crate to crate. “There should be ten here.” They both counted, and re-counted, and counted one last time for good measure. Sure enough, there were only nine crates with no sign of a tenth. 

“Lindsay, double-check the manifest for me?” They did, which only confirmed that there was a crate missing. Trevor’s face mirrored the pilot’s then, concern etched deep into their features. “Alfredo? Any explanations?” 

“Alright, this isn’t my fault.”

“I’m not saying it is, but I would still like an explanation. Or at least some way to make sense of… This.”

Alfredo shifted, uncomfortable under Trevor’s gaze. “Well… Best guess is that… Either Geoff miscounted or left one off the ship, or-“

“-Which is pretty likely-“

“-Or one of the plants escaped. Which is also pretty likely. Maybe even more likely.”

“Well. Shit.” They both hoisted up their weapons simultaneously, knowing that they couldn’t afford to get caught off guard by anything. “Lindsay, lock down the cargo bay! Nothing gets in or out of here, not even the two of us. If anything starts moving other than us or those crates, you tell us immediately, got it?”

“Sure thing, commander. There’s just… One teensy-tiny problem.”

Trevor groaned loudly, looking up at the speaker. “And that is what, exactly?”

“Well, you see… There’s so much movement in those crates that… I kinda can’t see any movement anywhere else in the ship, and especially not in the cargo bay. It throws my whole system off, I can’t see anything.”

He whirled around to look at Alfredo upon hearing that, rifle still raised, and for a second he thought that the commander was going to shoot him right where he stood. The thought crossed Trevor’s mind, he wasn’t going to lie about that, but he decided that it would be unwise. He needed someone to watch his back, even if that someone was the one who got him into this mess. Turning back around and marching on, he let out a very slow, very shaky breath as he tried to control his anger. 

“Alfredo?”

“Yes, sir?”

“You and I are going to stay in here and keep watch on the rest of these crates to make sure no more of these…” He trailed off, glaring back at the crates before his gaze was back on Alfredo. “Things escape before we reach our destination. Michael and Jack are going to be patrolling the rest of the ship to keep everyone else safe. I don’t know what the hell these things are capable of, and I’m assuming you don’t either, so we need to be on high alert. Got it?” 

Alfredo nodded quickly. “Yes sir.”

“Good. Now… Lindsay, how far away are we?”

“We’re about a day out. I’ll try and push the engines so we can get there faster but-”

“Don’t bother, I’d rather not blow the ship. Alfredo and I are just going to have to find some way to keep ourselves occupied.” 

A day stuck in the cargo hold with the commander, who was very armed and very angry, really wasn’t ideal for Alfredo, but he acknowledged that there were worse punishments he could be given. He was just glad that he’d already opted to put his cut towards the ship, because there was no way he’d be given all of it after this. 

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

“Got any sevens?”

“No, go fish. Got any threes?”

“Nope, go fishin’! Got any… Got any aces?”

There was a long moment of silence, and then: “This would be easier with cards. I don’t remember what I have or don’t have anymore.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

It had been several hours since the start of the cargo bay lockdown, and they were already running out of things to do. They’d searched the hold over and over until they found scrapes in the floor that lead to a splintered crate at the far end, but nothing that told them where the plant monster had run off to. Then, they reinforced all the remaining crates, doing what they could to make sure nothing else would try to escape and end up succeeding in their attempt. After that, they’d sort of run out of things to do to keep busy. “Imaginary Go Fish” was only entertaining the first time (though Trevor would disagree), and Lindsay had shut off all their sensors in the hold in an attempt to get everything else back in working order so they could help Michael and Jack. Not only were they cut off from the rest of the crew, but they were alone for the next twenty or so hours. 

“At least we’re down here with the supplies so we don’t starve,” Alfredo muttered, trying to find any possible brightside to the situation. 

Trevor hummed in agreement, standing up and shaking out his arms. “Yeah, at least we won’t starve,” he agreed, the slightest hint of mockery in his tone. He had yet to outright voice his displeasure, but he was sure Alfredo could put the pieces together. After stretching, he checked his watch. “Time for another walk around. You stay put.” 

Slumping against a crate, Alfredo nodded, making sure he had his own weapon in hand as Trevor readied his own and walked off. They did this every half hour or so. Trevor made him do the first few, but he must’ve gotten tired of sitting around because it was the first time he’d offered to go. 

His footsteps echoed off the thick metal walls of the hold, and Alfredo listened intently to them. The only other sounds were the dull thuds of the contained plant monsters and the usual creaks and groans of the Morrigan itself, but those were easy to tune out once they droned on long enough. When the footsteps stopped, it was like the hold went completely silent. 

He was immediately on edge, standing up quickly and hoisting the harpoon gun up as he went. “Trevor?” he called, taking a few hesitant steps forward. When there wasn’t an immediate response, he took a few more, heading towards where he’d last heard the other’s footsteps come from. 

“I’m fine,” Trevor called back after a minute, “Just stay there, everything’s fine!”

“You don’t sound too sure,” was the response he got, and he just let out a huff. 

It was true, he wasn’t too sure, because in a corner Alfredo had surely overlooked on his previous patrols, the plant had taken over. Its thorny vines stretched across the floors and up the walls, writhing and squirming as it supported the weight of what looked like a giant flower bud but… Flowers weren’t supposed to have teeth. That was the one thing that had been consistent across the planets he’d been to. Plants didn’t have teeth. “I’m not,” he muttered to himself, wondering why the hell he’d agreed to take this job in the first place. You needed a pilot, he reminded himself as he took slow, careful steps back in an effort not to startle the thing. But I don’t think we needed one this badly.

“What’s going on? I’m coming over there.”

Trevor turned around slowly, carefully, just in time to see Alfredo running up. “No, don’t!” he shouted, putting a hand up to stop him, but something stopped him instead. 

A vine wrapped itself tight around his arm, the thorns digging in deep and latching on. It had been resting peacefully before, able to slumber without being disturbed by the occasional movement and noise from the two men, but Trevor’s sudden shouting had woken it up. And it was not pleased. 

He cried out in pain, instinctively trying to pull his arm free, but it only made the vine hold on even tighter. It reminded him of those finger traps Jeremy had brought on board one time: the more he pulled, the more it constricted his arm. But unlike those finger traps, it had no intentions of letting go once Trevor relaxed. 

Alfredo stood there in shock, eyes wide and frozen in place until the commander barked out an order. He didn’t even register the words, just that he needed to move, and he needed to move now. Gavin was going to kill him for the damage later, but there was no time to aim the harpoon gun properly before he was pulling the trigger. Though it missed the bud by a few feet, the harpoon did manage to sever a few of its tendrils. The plant monster let out an ear-piercing shriek, untangling itself from Trevor in order to start scaling the wall and worming its way into an air vent. The metal of the grate covering it bent and snapped from the force, and the ends of several vines hung out through the remaining slats. 

“Nice work,” Trevor managed through gritted teeth, trying to pretend like his arm wasn’t bleeding as badly as it was and didn’t hurt nearly as much as it did. Alfredo saw through the act in less than a second, retrieving the harpoon before dropping the gun and approaching Trevor. 

“That looks… Bad. I should’ve given you my jacket,” he muttered, pushing his sleeve up to get a better look at the damage. Bruises were already starting to form where the vine itself had been, and there were several grisly cuts from the thorns, all bleeding pretty badly. “Fuck… Lindsay! We need Michael down here, now!”

Trevor pushed Alfredo’s hands off him before sinking to his knees and gripping his arm, trying to cover at least one of the cuts in an effort to stop the flow of blood. Whatever wasn’t soaked up by his shirt dripped down to the floor, creating a pretty sizable puddle beneath him that began to soak into the knees of his pants as well. “They can’t hear you… They shut down all their sensors for this room, remember?” There were a lot of flaws in their plan, he saw that now. But at least he knew that the beast was for sure in the cargo bay, not that there was anything that could be done about that right then. “There’s… There may be some emergency supplies by the door, Michael makes sure there’s some in every room.” Accidents happened everywhere, and the lad hated having to run all the way back to the medbay for a bandage every time someone got hurt. 

Once Alfredo had retrieved the medkit, he helped Trevor to his feet and guided him back to their makeshift campsite. The further they were from that vent, the better off they were, though the plant monster would easily be able to follow the trail of blood Trevor left behind right to them. They sat down together there, Trevor still clutching his arm as he leaned back against the crates with a soft groan. He was feeling a bit woozy, 

“I’m gonna… I’m gonna bandage this up for now, hopefully that stops the bleeding, or at least slows it,” Alfredo murmured, popping the kit open and breathing out an audible sigh of relief when he saw that it was fully stocked. “Thank the stars,” he breathed, almost smiling as he grabbed a roll of gauze and began to wrap up Trevor’s arm. He was silent as he worked, faltering when the other spoke up. 

“Can we please talk?” he asked softly, eyes meeting Alfredo’s when he looked up. “I’d really like something else to focus on other than the pain.” 

“I thought you were mad at me?”

“I was… I am, but… I’d still rather talk than sit in silence.”

“Oh.” He continued to wrap his arm, securing it with some tape once he was done. “What would you like to talk about?”

“Anything. Something. I really don’t care.” He held his arm to his chest, cradling it in an effort to soothe the pain. 

“Well, how’d you become in charge of your own ship?” Alfredo asked, settling in beside him and leaning against the crate as he began to rummage through the medkit. 

Trevor chuckled quietly, turning his head to look over at the other. “Now that is a very long story, but… I guess we’ve got the time.” He checked his watch, taking a deep breath. “I worked on a lot of ships that treated their crews like shit. Treated their ships like shit too, honestly. I bailed on one before my contract was up once I had enough credits saved up, hid at one of the starports until they stopped searching for me, and then… I bought a ship of my own. It was small at first, real small. Couldn’t do much with it, couldn’t really go anywhere with it either, but I managed to swing a few small jobs.” He stared off into the distance as he spoke, looking out the small port windows at the stars outside the ship. It had been a while since he’d thought about any of this, even longer since he’d talked about it, but there was a fond smile as he did. “I don’t miss any of the bullshit at the start.”

Alfredo listened intently, a small stack of things from the kit forming in front of him. More gauze, disinfectant, rags, a suture and thread. He wasn’t really thrilled about the prospect of stitching up Trevor, but those wounds were so deep that something more needed to be done. “I don’t think anyone here misses the bullshit at the start. I sure had my fair share.” 

“How did you get started, then?”

“I used to be a pilot back on Earth. I was good at my job, really good, so they bumped me up to piloting shuttles between the colonies. After a while, I guess I got sick of seeing the same places over and over again,” he explained, letting out a soft ‘a ha!’ as he pulled a bottle of painkillers from the bottom of the kit. “Lotta ships need good pilots, and they paid better than the other gig, so I jumped ship, so to speak.” Shaking out a few pills, he passed them to Trevor who swallowed them down dry with a grimace. Anything to help the pain. “Never really wanted to own my ship, seemed like too much work, but… I was cool with piloting them. I get paid to see space, how cool is that?”

“It is a lot of work,” he agreed, still trying to get the pills down. “Sometimes, it’s too much work. But at the end of the day, it’s all worth it.” 

Alfredo was quiet for a few long moments, the silence hanging heavy between them. “Will this be worth it?” 

“Yes.” Trevor didn’t need to think about his answer as much as Alfredo had needed to think about his question. “Absolutely. You seem surprised.”

“But you got hurt. That thing could have killed you!”

“But it’s still in the cargo bay, and it didn’t hurt anyone in my crew. Better me than anyone else.” His crew was his family, and if he had to get hurt to keep them safe, so be it. It was a small price he was willing to pay. 

Alfredo scoffed and shook his head. “I don’t get you.”

“What?”

“No commander gives this much of a shit about their crew.” No captain gave their crew an equal cut, they always took more for themselves. No captain would sacrifice themself for their crew, they always forced their crew to do the sacrificing for them. No captain would adopt a broken AI like one would a stray cat. It just didn’t happen. “Not a single one. I’ve been trying to figure out your game from the start, and I just… I can’t.” The laughing only added to his confusion. 

“I know. No other commander does, but I do. And you’re gonna have to get used to it, Alfredo. All those assholes on the other side of the door are my family, and I’d sooner die for them than let anything bad happen to them,” he stated firmly, making sure the other was looking at him and meeting his eyes as he spoke. “There’s no game, no ulterior motive. You’re part of that family now too, so you’re just gonna have to learn to live with it.”

It had been a long time since Alfredo had been a part of any family, since anyone had accepted him so completely so quickly. While he didn’t fully trust Trevor just yet, he trusted him more than he had a few minutes ago. “Alright. I’ll learn to live with it.”

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

Alfredo was silent as he worked to stitch up Trevor’s arm, hands steady as he did so. He’d spent some time cleaning up the now dried blood, disinfecting the wounds and getting a better look at them. Some of the cuts were only surface wounds, already scabbed over and barely noticeable, but others were pretty gruesome. He didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to freak Trevor out, but he was pretty sure that he could see bone in a few of them. “Michael’s gonna have to redo these, but they’ll hold for now,” he murmured, tying off the last one and bandaging him up again before things got too bloody again. 

“How bad am I, doc? Am I gonna make it?” Trevor asked, really glad that he’d taken some more painkillers because he couldn’t imagine all of those stitches would feel great in a few minutes. 

“Yeah,” Alfredo said with a soft smile, taping down the end of the gauze. “You’ll make it.” I hope. 

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

As hour six rolled around, the comms hissed with static and a few musical beeps, surprising Alfredo and making him lift his head. He and Trevor had decided that sleeping was a pretty good way to kill time, so the commander had ended up fast asleep and slumped with his head on Alfredo’s shoulder. The other man hadn’t been so lucky, wide awake and checking every few minutes to make sure that he hadn’t gone and died on him. 

“Lindsay?” he asked softly, hoping they’d see the situation and match his tone. 

“Alfredo! What the hell happened?” They could see everything the second their cameras were back online: The broken vent grate, the vines coming out of the grate, the severed tendrils on the floor, the puddle and trail of brown dried blood leading to Alfredo and a very injured Trevor. “Is he… He’s not dead, is he?”

“No, he’s alive. We found the plant, and it… It got him good,” he explained, tipping his head forward to make sure Trevor was still asleep. “I patched him up, but… He’s gonna need a lot more than some stitches.”

“I’ll get Michael to come down-”

“No,” he stated, and Lindsay let out a soft scoff of indignation. “No one else comes down here. If you lift the lockdown, that thing’ll get free run of the station through the vents. We’ll be fine… We’ve got food and water, this kit’s got enough supplies to last us, and… I think as long as we leave it alone, it’ll leave us alone.” 

Lindsay hummed as they scanned the room. The plants in the crates had calmed down a little bit, and as far as they could tell the one in the vents was perfectly still, only shifting every now and then but not making any grand movements. “What should we do, then?”

“Make sure everyone else evacuates the ship the second we touch down and send Michael down here with a flamethrower. We’ll take a bit of a hit to our pay because we’ll be short a crate, but I don’t care. I want that thing dead.” 

“I’m sure the commander feels the same way… Are you sure he’s gonna be okay?” They asked, dimming the lights a little. If it was dark, the plants would probably stay calmer. It would make sleeping a little easier for the pair as well. 

Alfredo bit his lip, shrugging a shoulder before shaking his head. “No, but I’m trying to be optimistic.” He leaned his head back against the crate and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief he’d been holding for far too long. With Lindsay back, it meant he wasn’t alone. There was a buffer between him and the commander, someone to help fill the silence. 

They were quiet for a few minutes as they relayed information to the rest of the crew, before the comms crackled in the hold once more. “You should try and sleep too, ‘Fredo. Now that we know where it is, I can keep an eye on it.” 

“No, I gotta make sure he’s still breathing.”

“I can keep an eye on him too. The crates are quiet, so all my sensors are in working order. His heart rate is normal, if a bit weak, but he’s breathing fine. You should rest.”

He didn’t really have the energy to argue with them further, so he relented. “Wake us in a few hours. I’m gonna have to change his bandages and clean those wounds. Michael’ll kill me if I let those get infected.”

“Yes, he will.”

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

As hour twelve rolled around, Lindsay brightened the lights slowly and chimed softly to wake the pilot and the commander. They hoped that the plants wouldn’t be disturbed as well, but considering how long it took the pair to wake up, they weren’t really too concerned. 

“Trevor,” Alfredo said softly, jostling him gently with his shoulder. His ass and his neck ached from sleeping on the hard metal floor in such an awkward position, and he was sure that the other man would need another round of painkillers too. “Trevor, c’mon man. Wake up.” 

He did so with great reluctance, groaning softly as he registered several different aches and pains. “Was this really necessary?”

“Yeah, it was. Gotta change your bandages so Michael won’t have to cut off your arm,” he said, encouraging him to sit up before reaching for the supplies in front of him. “Or my head.”

Trevor laughed softly, starting to stretch his arms out over his head before he stopped short, wincing and clutching his bandaged arm to his chest. “Fuck… I thought that was a dream,” he muttered, eyes squeezed shut. 

“I wish it was,” Alfredo sighed, “But while you were sleeping, we got Lindsay back. So that’s good, at least. Told them everything. They wanted to send Michael down here, but I told them not to.”

“And why the hell did you do that?” Trevor winced as Alfredo started to unwrap the gauze. Despite how careful he was being, it still pulled at the cuts uncomfortably. 

“Because,” he started, murmuring an apology when he saw him wince and trying to go slower. “If the lockdown gets lifted, that thing can go through the vents and go anywhere it wants, which is bad.”

Trevor hummed in agreement, but it was reluctant. He didn’t like knowing Alfredo had been giving orders while he’d been asleep, even if they were the same ones he would’ve given. “What’d you tell them to do, then?”

“Keep the lockdown going, evacuate everyone once we land, and then send Michael down here. With a flamethrower.”

“Good thinking.”

“Why, thank you.” 

They fell into a comfortable silence then, Alfredo removing the last of the gauze and cleaning up his arm. The bleeding had stopped, thankfully, so now it was just a focus on preventing infection, which he hoped would be easy enough. It would be even easier once they got back on solid ground, when Michael could actually get in here and kill the thing. Bullets probably wouldn’t do the trick, they’d just piss Gavin off by causing damage to the ship, but fire was pretty damn effective in every circumstance. 

“Lindsay?” Trevor called softly, feeling instantly comforted when he heard their voice over the speakers. “Where is the thing? Still in the vent?”

“Yep. Still in the vent. It’s almost cute like this, even if it did try to eat you.”

“It didn’t… It didn’t try to eat me.”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say, commander. Oh, and Matt would like me to tell you that he thinks it’s hilarious you got your ass kicked by a plant.”

Trevor huffed, rolling his eyes and sinking back against the crates. Even when he was isolated from his crew, they still found a way to pester him. 

Beside him, Alfredo shrugged off his jacket, flipping it inside out so the soft lining was visible before balling it up. “You should get some more rest,” he said as he held it out to Trevor. “It’s not much, but it’ll be better for your neck than the crate.”

He hesitated a moment before taking it, sinking right down to the floor to lay flat since he had a pillow now. “It’s weird seeing you without your jacket on.” Alfredo had been wearing it from the moment he’d met him until now, he hadn’t seen him with it off once. 

“He even wears it to bed,” Lindsay piped up, laughing as Alfredo’s face went as red as the leather. 

“I do not!” He shouted defensively, glaring up at the ceiling.  “It’s just part of my style, that’s all.” 

“Relax,” Trevor chuckled, reaching out blindly to pat Alfredo’s arm. He missed and hit leg instead, but neither of them said anything. “I wasn’t making fun of you. It’s a good style, I like it.” He turned his head, looking up at Alfredo with a small smile. 

The other couldn’t help but smile back, getting comfortable against the box behind him. He didn’t know why that compliment made him feel so warm, but he was lucky that his face was already red from Lindsay’s teasing so it didn’t give him away. “Thanks, Trev.”

“Anytime, Fredo.” 

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

The hours rolled by easily, the pair spending most of them asleep because there wasn’t much else to do. They woke up a few times so Alfredo could change the bandages, munching on some rations at one point since the last meal they’d had was breakfast that morning. Chatting with Lindsay was another good way to pass the time, too. They were able to keep the crew updated on the situation down in the hold, and keep the commander updated on things going on on the other side of the door. There wasn’t much going on, just a lot of worry, but Trevor still didn’t want to be out of the loop. 

Once they’d slept as much as they could and talked to Lindsay until there was nothing more to talk about, they decided to do the only thing they could to pass the final few hours before the ship landed: Talk to each other. 

“You said you used to work on Earth. What was that like?” Trevor asked, looking down at Alfredo. They swapped who got to use the jacket-pillow every couple of hours, and since they weren’t going to be sleeping anymore Trevor had decided to surrender it back to its original owner (even though it was still technically his turn for another thirty minutes). 

“You’ve never been?” he asked, sticking an arm beneath his head to prop himself up as he looked back at the commander, who shook his head. “I mean, it was fine? I guess? Kinda boring compared to space. The sky was always the same, and there were way too many people. Have you seriously never been to Earth?”

“No, I grew up out in the Terra 2 colony. Then I got sucked up into a spacer crew, and that was it. Never saw any reason to go once I got the Morrigan, and now without a warp drive we’re too far out.”

“I’m shocked a job hasn’t taken you there, people there are always looking for stuff smuggled in from the far reaches,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. Customs was a bitch to get by, but he still had a few buddies down there who’d be willing to let them through. He was sure of it. “Once we get that drive, we’ll pick up a few jobs that’ll take us there.”

“Whatever you say, man. But you didn’t exactly make it sound worth the hype.”

“Oh, it’s absolutely not, but still. I can’t believe you’ve never been!” 

Talking to Trevor was a lot easier than it had been before. He wasn’t as scared of him, and a lot of the distrust had faded. The feeling was mutual, as well. The commander wasn’t angry at Alfredo anymore, because ultimately, none of this was his fault. He was the one who hadn’t checked in on the cargo sooner, he was the one who’d startled the monster, all of this fell on his shoulders because it was his ship and he was responsible for everything that happened on it.

“I’m sorry,” Trevor said out of nowhere, almost startling Alfredo with the suddenness of it. “I’m sorry I blamed all this on you.”

“It’s fine.” He hadn’t been expecting an apology from the commander. Maybe a month or two on bathroom cleaning duty, sure, but not an apology. “We both had our fuckups in this mess.”

“We did, but it’s unfair to blame the whole thing on you. Most of it, sure?” Alfredo cut him a look, and he just laughed. “Kidding. I’m kidding! Don’t give me that. It’s really more like… Fifty/fifty.”

“Sixty/forty. You’re the sixty.”

“Yeah, okay. Fair enough.” 

They grinned at each other, oblivious to the way the ship began to creak and groan around them as Lindsay initiated the landing sequence. The plants in the crates kicked up again, but the one in the vents was still. 

“You know what? You’re alright, Fredo. Gavin was right about you.” 

Alfredo’s face matched his jacket all over again, and he had to fight hard to get the words out despite how flustered he was. Trevor hadn’t called him by any sort of nickname until now, it made him feel good to know that the commander was finally warming up to him. “What… What did he say about me, exactly?”

“That you were the best of the best. And he was right. Normally he’s not right about these things, but… He nailed it with you.”

“You sure you’re not still woozy from blood loss?” Alfredo asked, arching an eyebrow as he sat up, meeting Trevor’s eyes. “Because I know we just did that whole heartfelt apology thing, but… I definitely almost got you killed.”

He shook his head fervently. “No, you didn’t. You saved my life.” 

“Well, I wasn’t going to let you die.” 

“And I owe you big time for that.”

The ship jostled as it landed on uneven earth, and Alfredo grabbed onto Trevor quickly to prevent him from sliding around with the crates around them. Even as things settled, he didn’t let go, hearing something hiss in annoyance from the far end of the cargo hold. 

“Lindsay… Please tell us Michael’s on his way,” Trevor said, sinking back into the pilot in an effort to hide as he scrambled to grab the harpoon gun. 

“He’s outside the door, we’re just waiting for everyone to be off the ship so I can lift the lockdown. I suggest staying out of his way… He’s been wanting to use that thing for the last eighteen hours, and I don’t think anything’s gonna get in his way.”

“If he dies, Alfredo’s the new medical officer.”

“Noted.”

Using a flamethrower while they were in flight was unwise because of the oxygen rich environment, but back on terra firma it was the perfect weapon for dealing with unruly plant monsters. Michael’s cackles of delight echoed off the walls, mixing with the roar of the weapon and the shrieks of the plant as it burned. The noises kicked off another escape attempt in the other crates, but the reinforcements they’d made held firm. Only a few crates of supplies got caught up in the crossfire, and Michael was relatively unharmed aside from the ash staining his lab coat. 

Alfredo let the harpoon drop from his hands once he realized he wouldn’t be needing it, instead helping Trevor to his feet and keeping him steady as they made their way to the bay doors. “Michael,” he said, watching as the man kept scorching the charred remains. “Michael!” He stopped firing quickly, whirling around with wide eyes. “Stop dicking around, Trevor needs help.” 

“A thank you would’ve been nice,” Michael muttered as he dropped the weapon, knowing he’d need his hands free to help Trevor. 

“Thank you, Michael. Now help him, please?”

“Yeah, yeah. Lindsay told me that you were trying to steal my job, I just hope you didn’t make things worse,” he said as he swapped places with Alfredo, supporting Trevor’s weight to make sure he wouldn’t fall. “Alright, Trevor-boy, let’s get you to the infirmary.” He started to lead him out of the cargo hold, and Alfredo watched them go for a second before turning to start cleaning the mess they’d left behind up. 

Trevor stopped after a few paces, glancing over his shoulder. “You’re not coming?” he asked, the smallest hint of a frown etched into his features. 

“Uh.” Alfredo blinked, not sure how to answer. “No?”

“Yes, you are. C’mon.”

“Why?”

“I need someone there for moral support. Michael’s not as gentle as you are and I need someone’s hand to hold while he patches me up.” Trevor cracked a grin despite the fact that he wasn’t telling a joke, and Alfredo mirrored the expression after a moment to process exactly what he’d said. “Come on, I don’t have all day,” he insisted, holding out his hand towards him as Michael began to pull him along. 

Alfredo jogged to catch up to them, abandoning the task at hand in favor of taking Trevor’s hand. He was happy to have escaped the cargo bay alive, and even happier to know that he was back in the commander’s good graces. Their relationship was different, stronger and a lot friendlier than it had been now that they were no longer wary of each other. Trevor couldn’t think of a single member of the crew that he would’ve rather gone through that ordeal with, either. 

“Thanks for not letting the boss die, Fredo,” Michael said, cutting into the silence once they reached the infirmary. 

“Yeah, thanks for not letting me die, Fredo,” Trevor agreed, smiling kindly at him and giving his hand a squeeze. 

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

#ragehappy #secret springfairy #rt writers #jeremichael #alfreyco #i hope those are the right ship names i have no clue #space au #oneshot #fic #fanfic #my fic #my writing #everamazingfe

[sapphicmsmarvel]

JJ: Dear Sister

TW: drug abuse, mentions of depression and anxiety and mentions of sexual assault. Under the cut. 

im really proud of this one, I actually created a story! like with a plot and motive, I really like it! 

Being in the BAU and being away from your family was both a blessing and a curse, you were away from your mom and dad, your hometown and hometown friends. But the plus was, you were away from your sister. 

Your half-sister was a full on piece of shit, now she wasn’t a piece of shit because she’s an addict (which is what most people assume when you say you don’t like your sister because then they find out she’s an addict and are like “well she needs your support”). Being an addict does not make her a shitty person because you know it’s a mental illness and these people need help.

Your sister is just a piece of shit, because her personality sucks. Not because of the drugs. 

(a little author's note because I have Anxiety, addicts deserve all the help they can get and should never be put down for their mental illness. This sister just sucks, she is not a bad human being because of her being addicted to drugs. Okay continue)

You sister, Molly, used your father for his money to the point where even you had to intervene. She abandoned her kids to run off with some guy then had your dad come get her out of trouble, she has been arrested multiple times. She never takes responsibility for her actions and blames everyone else.

Part of recovery is taking responsibility and righting your wrongs. She on the other hand makes the wrongs worse by acting like a child when she is 30 years old.  

So to escape her nagging and just the horrible mental space you get in whenever she’s around, you moved out to D.C. You went to the FBI academy, went back home to celebrate (which she didn’t come to when she was invited) and then you went back to work at Quantico. 

All your anxieties about her left pretty soon after starting at your job. You knew she wouldn’t call you for help anymore considering you worked for the FBI, also met some amazing people.

Including your wonderful, beautiful girlfriend, JJ. 

JJ had just gotten divorced when she met you, she was apprehensive at the thought of dating someone so soon, especially a girl, she’s always been bi but never dated a girl. But she woman’d up and asked you out. 

Years flew by of you two dating, the kids loved you so much, JJ was shocked at how good you were with kids when to her knowledge, you were an only child. But, you felt guilt curdle in your gut for not telling her. So one night when the boys were finally in bed, you told her everything. From being the youngest, to dealing with your sister's addiction, your assault, your depression and anxiety, you told her the complete story. Every. Single. Chapter. 

She had barely seen you cry, but she saw you bawl at this. She held you and calmed you down, you explained your fear of being judged for Molly’s actions because people might think you are the same to her just because you are half-sisters. You apologized for keeping it from her for years into your relationship.

“Yes, I wish you would have told me but not because I ‘deserve’ to know everything about your past. Because you were suffering in silence, part of being girlfriends is talking about things and getting support from each other. I love you, Y/N. That’ll never change.” She explained. “Also I want to meet your family, I want to meet the strong daughters of hers and be a part of their lives just like you are a part of Henry and Michaels.” 

The next week you two scheduled a visit out there with the kids, you flew back to your home state, legs bouncing anxiously the entire time, she held your hand the whole way. 

The visit went really well, your nieces were obviously protective of you because you were their mother figure while Molly was in rehab and countless relapses. You took care of them and they were very protective over their aunt. 

But, they loved JJ and the boys, as did your entire family. 

When you two went back to work, Morgan speculated that you eloped because of how glowy and light you two seemed. JJ explained that the two of you were just happy and got a mental break to yourselves. 

Your nieces flew out to visit the next year, then JJ proposed the next week. Life was going great, until you got a call from one of Molly’s friends, “what’s wrong?” You answered, JJ looking up from the dining room table worriedly. 

“Molly is with the FBI,” she whispered as if the FBI was listening. 

Your stomach sank, “what do you mean?” 

“..I shouldn’t be telling you.” “You called me Katy!” You yelled, your father's anger coming out. “What did she do that got the FBI involved?” Your phone buzzed again which meant you were getting another call, unfortunately this one was more important. You looked to see JJ on the phone. 

Your thoughts went to the worse, Molly is at Quantico. But JJ was probably just talking to her mom. Her mom called a lot, yeah, that had to be it. 

“She was running a drug scheme and got busted as well as several felonies.” 

“Shit.” You sighed, “do you know where the bureau she’s located at is?” 

“Some place called Quantico.” 

No. No. No. No. 

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

The drive to Quantico was awful and anxiety ridden, JJ held your hand as she drove, the boys were at Will’s. You were calling your dad, telling him not to tell the girls until you know more  because they lived with him. JJ explained that the phone call was Hotch saying the interrogation with your sister was happening and they wanted two of their best agents there. The buzzing during the phone call was Rossi. They didn’t know it was your sister, your last name was common, you’ve run into plenty of people in your line of work with your last name. 

But you were told that you two looked similar, and they’re all smart but you know Reid will put it together before anyone else. Hell, he probably already has. 

You pulled up to the building, there were a bunch of cop cars as well as other Agent vehicles. JJ didn’t hold your hand on the way up to where they all were, she didn’t want it to be obvious that you were in emotional turmoil. 

You met them right before the interrogation room, you looked into the window, she looked horrible. Obviously, she was using again, she had all the signs, every memory from high school came back. Seeing her so skinny and malnourished from the drugs. Her hair was lackluster, it was flat and dull in color, her skin was deathly pale and had many skin breakouts due to how shot her entire system is. 

Garcia filled all of you in everything she’s done. You already knew this though, Hotch gave you a weird look because you wouldn’t stop staring off into space (which showed your anxiety was spiraling bad). You also didn’t chime to help, you just shut down. 

Hotch moved to behind you and touched your back lightly, “can I see you for a moment?” You two slipped out without making it obvious, you were sure none of them noticed but Hotch knows you like a daughter. 

He shut the door to his office, “what’s going on, Y/N?”

You shrugged, “nothing.” 

“I know you’re lying, did you and JJ have a fight that’s distracting you? Is your mental health acting up again?”

“No, God, No. And You know if we have problems we let them go at work to get things done.” You said defensively. 

“Well, both of you are pretty closed off right now, usually you two never leave each other's sides during cases. You aren’t being attentive and aren’t chiming in. If it’s not your mental health or JJ, what is it?” 

You bit your lip nervously, “that woman in there, she’s my half-sister.” 

Well, it was clear he wasn’t expecting that, “It’s not in your file that you have siblings.” “That part was optional, I left it blank for a reason.” 

“What happened?” He asked gently. 

“She chose that life over her family, over her children. We paid for so many facilities and got her help multiple times. She threw it all away. I can’t forgive her for that.” 

He nodded, “think you can go back in there?”

“I want that bitch locked away, Hotch. If you allow me to have that personal vendetta, then yes I want to go back there.” You said, determined. The fire in you igniting more. You would make sure she never saw her kids again. 

He nodded and gestured towards the door, “lead the way.” -------------------------------------------

“I want to go in there to interrogate her.” You spoke, your voice void of any emotion, you got really good at hiding your emotions. Especially around her. 

Rossi nodded, oblivious to the looks JJ was giving you, “sounds like a plan to me, you are the toughest I feel like right next to Hotch and Morgan.” 

You smiled in response, it was light praise to you. 

“Hey Y/N?” Reid asked. 

“Yeah?” You looked at him, pushing a stray hair that fell in your face back. 

“She looks a lot like you, and has the same last name.” He said gently. 

“Yes, she’s my half-sister, Reid.” You said, looking at the entire team's reactions. 

To say they were shocked would be an understatement. 

“Are you sure you should go in there then?” Morgan asked. 

You nodded, “I can do it. I don’t really care if she gets locked away. In fact, I think everyone in my family will be better off.” 

Nobody said anything at your words, then Emily spoke, “go get the confession.” 

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

You stood outside the door, JJ came up and gave you a kiss, “you got this, babygirl.” 

You blushed, then groaned, “great now I’m gonna be all flustered.” 

She laughed, it made your heart lighter, “I love you.”

“I love you.” You said back, she kissed you again and walked away.

You waited a few moments to open the door, you could do this.

When you opened it, she looked up to see who it was, she saw you and gave you a confused look, “Y/N? What are you doing here?”

“If you came to my graduation party, you would know this is where I worked.” You said, like she was stupid. 

“I knew you were in the FBI at least.” “Considering all the laws you’ve broken, I wouldn’t have thought so.” You threw the file on the table, “I’ve already told them about everything you did to my family, to your children. They aren’t so happy and everybody here is dedicated to locking you away. You can’t play the victim card anymore.” You spoke gently, trying to keep nerves out of your voice. 

“Traitor.” She hissed. 

“Hm, you knew you had a relative in the FBI yet you still kept doing bad things, you also have two kids you left for a crime ring so I don't think I’m the traitor here.” You said sitting across from her, you ignored the anxiety in your veins, you wanted to fiddle with your engagement ring but didn’t really wanna talk about JJ with this woman. 

“Tell me what happened,” You leveled her with a look, that same look that your father would give her, the ‘i’m disappointed’ look, she had some feelings, and that look usually worked. “Why would I tell you?” You shrugged, “I don’t know, you bragged about getting kidnapped before so I wonder what you’ll brag about now, maybe seeing the inside of Quantico, maybe how they tried to break you and you resisted.”

“They sent my baby sister in to intimidate me,” she scoffed, “pathetic.” 

“Oh that isn’t my job.” You smiled, you were going to enjoy this. 

“Whose job is it?” She deadpanned, not having any of your shit, but you didn’t care. It was too much fun. 

“The prison guard outside who’s waiting to guide you to prison.” You shrugged.You could feel the ‘Hotch’ look through the glass for telling her so much. 

But you knew how to scare her, how to make her feel like shit. Guilt tripping was the best, hearing her lies, it was almost comical at how ridiculous they were. 

“Your daughters are doing great by the way, they stayed here with me for a week.” It was a great week, Hotch granted you and JJ time off to spend time with them and the boys. JJ even asked for their permission to marry you, she proposed the next week on your anniversary.

She sighed and looked at the mirror, it was like she was staring down your team on the other side. 

You sat in silence for a few minutes, before she spoke. “I’m sorry.” “No.” You simply said, shaking your head. 

“No?” She asked. 

“Don’t say you’re sorry just to say it, I don’t want some apology, you’re going to prison no matter what.” You shrugged. You forbade your emotions getting involved right now. JJ and the team were working overtime to get this confession out in time. 

“Bullshit, I am not.” She insisted, her voice going up a couple octaves. She was nervous. 

“What? You think you’re just gonna walk out of here? You have several federal offenses.” You opened her file, “carjacking, credit card fraud and identity theft alone are going to be up to 30 years in prison.” 

“There’s no proof.” She was just spitting stuff out at this point, she was getting frazzled. Her eyes, eyes that you both shared from your father, were wide and full of fear. 

“There are countless video files as well as credit card traces and millions of other traces. You’ve been on the list for years it seems.” You said, your eyes scanning over everything, every single mugshot, or street camera shot. All the proof was in the folder, you just needed a confession. 

“I know you deal, so just confess and we can both get out of this awkward family reunion.” You spoke, your head resting against your hand.

Her eyes caught on the diamond, “you married?”

“Engaged.” You said calmly. 

“What’s his name?” You rolled your eyes. “You know I’m gay, why do you keep insisiting that I’m into men?” “Oh yeah because you were assaulted, got it.” She acted like she just solved the greatest mystery. 

Your stomach sank even further, “Your ignorance is baffling.”

“Ignorance?”

“Yup, you criticize other people's lives and then once someone throws it back at you, you get offended. You are the queen of hypocrites.” you paused, “that’s what your drug lord name should’ve been.”

“..What?”

“The Hypocrite Queen, has a bite to it, doesn’t it?” You tilted your head, feeling her vibes out. 

“What?” She asked, her voice trembling. She was scared. 

Good. A dark part of you whispered. 

“Sure it doesn’t have as much fire as The Bite. But it’ll do.” You said, nonchalant. As if discussing paint colors. 

“How do you know about any of this?”

You smiled, enjoying her fear and the fact that you’re winning. “You know, I wonder what Adam Davis would think about all of this, or Betty Walsh, Allie Simmers, Jaden Carsdale, Julia Brewermen.” You named off just a few of the people her drugs killed. 

“I don’t know who those people are.” Her voice was barely above a whisper and she couldn’t make eye contact. 

You nodded, “those are the people you killed.” “Drugs killed them.” She clarified without thinking. 

The door behind you opened, you turned to see JJ, “we need you in Garcia’s office.” It was a horrible lie, but you knew it was all done. You nodded, you started getting up when you heard Molly speak. 

“What about family, sissy?”

“That’s rich coming from you, you are the same woman who abandoned her children for some dude you met two days before you left.”

“That was the addiction.”

“No it wasn’t, you did the same thing when you were fifteen, with a twenty six year old might I add; right before you got pregnant with your first born. You weren’t addicted then, so don't blame an addiction you use as a crutch to get through life. Being an addict doesn’t mean you are automatically pardoned from everything you ‘ve done, to me, to dad, to your two kids who are fifteen years old and already know that they never want to see you again.”

“What have I done to you?” She had the nerve to look heartbroken.

Manipulative bitch

“Tried to manipulate me to say I took dads alcohol when I was fourteen, I told you I was gay and you asked if I was gay because I was assaulted. You used my mom and your dad for money, you lied to us, multiple times about so many things that I’ve lost count. You hurt people for your own gain, you are the most selfish person I’ve ever met. You know, I went into a career where I deal with horrible people and now I know why I’m so good at it, because I grew up dealing with a horrible person that was close to me. Someone who hurt multiple people that I love-” “I get it, I hurt people-” “I’m not done! You’ve judged me my entire life and treated me poorly and now, I get to enjoy the fact that I get to watch you get put behind bars forever. You will never see your children again, you will never use our family for money, and people will no longer pity you.” 

You walked out without another word, JJ was right there, she gripped your hand because she knew you needed the support. 

With Molly locked away, you could finally breathe and feel free from her problems. You made all the necessary phone calls to your dad. Booked a flight to go and explain everything to your nieces. 

JJ would be by your side through it all.

#criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #jennifer jareau #jennifer jareau x reader #derek morgan #spencer reid #jj x reader #jennifer jareau x you #aaron hotchner #david rossi #emily prentiss

[ma-gic-gay]

Five times.

Five times she had woken up that night, thinking she was with Cyrus. Five times, she'd been screaming for him to help her. Five times, he'd reassured her she's in the hospital and that Cyrus is in a jail cell, where he'll be for the rest of his (very short if he had anything to say about it) life. Five times, she had felt completely helpless. Five times, she'd thought she was back in that little room above Jake's, with Cyrus. Five times, Jason had considered killing the ponytail clad mobster.

Five more times, they'd kissed.

That was something they'd have to talk about later. When she'd recovered from this, when they'd had time to actually think as opposed to just reacting and acting on whatever impulse they felt.

All night, he'd thought of his life's romances. The main ones were with Robin, Elizabeth and Sam.

Robin, who'd been his first love as Jason Morgan. It was still hard for him to fully forgive her for revealing that secret about Michael- no matter how much time passes, he couldn't help but be curious about what would've happened if they'd ended up keeping it secret for at least another year. There was the unlikely possibilty they would've made it, lasted through everything, but he doubts it. After all, as Carly once put it, if she wanted something, Robin would run to Europe as opposed to just telling him. It was exhausting.

There was then the possibility that him and Carly would've gotten together, raised Michael. Been a happy family. A tad bit dysfunctional, but happy.

Then there was his romance with Elizabeth. That one was, by far, one of the most bizarre things, now that he thinks about it. They were so different; it was doomed from the start. As much as he hates to admit it, Carly was right about that one. There was no chance of that relationship lasting.

And of course, there was him and Sam. Their end, their downfall, had been the same one he'd had with Elizabeth: she wasn't able to deal with the mob. But if he was being honest with himself, he knew that it was more than that; it was because, as Sam had said repeatedly, "I don't know if your first allegiance is to Carly or to me." To be honest, neither did he.

Sam would always question his relationship with Carly. It caused a fight everytime she brought it up, and when Sam had learned of their past, her head had nearly flew off her body. She hadn't exactly taken the news that her lover's best friend was also someone who he'd been in love with at one point well. The fact she'd been in love with him too didn't help matters.

As she'd tactfully put it one argument, "You'd die for her in less than a second and you're always going to her defenses! If anyone dares to speak a word against her, suddenly she's a fucking saint who's never wronged a soul! Carly, the same woman who wrecks your life at every chance and ruins all of your relationships! This is the same woman who you drop everything to help time and time again, even me! Carly doesn't feel bad when she comes in here, constantly, with all of her problems and needs you to solve all of them! Whatever the fuck it is you're feeling for her isn't friendly or familial."

That wasn't a fun fight for them to have whenever she'd brought it up. It always ended up with both of them fighting dirty before they'd inevitably forgive each other. It pissed him off that she'd question what he felt for Carly, that she'd try and make him admit something he didn't feel. She felt mad because of jealousy, feeling jealous of how much he cared for the blonde. Hell, they'd broken up because of his loyalty to her.

There was one common denominator in all of his breakups: Carly.

Whether or not he'd realized it at the time, she'd been the reason for all of them. Robin and him because he agreed to be Michael's father as a favor to Carly, Elizabeth and him because she didn't like the mob or his best friend, Sam because she didn't like his allegiance being to Carly.

He's surprisingly okay with that, considering everything. Shockingly, he's not pissed at her for, as Sam said, "Ruining all of his relationships every chance she got." The reason is because he knows she didn't mean to. She may have hated some of them, but so long as they didn't want to punch her, she remained civil. Truly, she just wanted him to be happy. Because he knew that, he's fine with the fact that she had caused their destruction.

All night, he'd stayed up thinking of his memories with Carly, trying to put her in a box in his brain. As usual, she refused. Even in his brain, she was too stubborn for her own good. Her name kept jumping from box to box until finally he gave up trying to categorize her and simply indulged in a bit of nostalgia.

Flashback

It was a cold day outside, even for New York's winter. She'd finally gotten around to letting the boys play in the snow and insisted he join.

"Jason, make a snowball with me!" Morgan had yelled, still too young to really make one properly.

Of course, he'd obliged his best friend's youngest and gotten in a snowball fight with Michael, who had a surprising knack for snowball making.

"I give up!" Michael shouted when Morgan flat out tackled him, covering him with snow in the process and earning a loud laugh out of both Carly and Jason. "Morgan, get off of me! I'm cold!"

"We won, right, Jason?" Morgan asks, smiling widely.

"Yes we did, buddy. Which means, we get a prize. What are you thinking?"

"Hot cocoa!"

"I want hot cocoa too!" Michael pouts, getting out of the snow.

"Morgan, how about we get you a new toy sometime this week? We'll go to the toy store and get you whatever toy you want," Jason bargains.

"Do I get hot cocoa too?"

Laughing, Carly says, "Yes, Morgan, you and your brother get hot cocoa. Why don't you go inside and have Leticia get you some?"

"Yay!" Morgan claps, going in the house with a soaked Michael following him.

"Can we come back out here after our hot cocoa and sled?"

"Sure," Jason answers before Carly, getting a smile out of a shivering Michael. "But you two have to be warned up first and the sun can't be setting in ten minutes."

"Deal." Michael agrees, heading inside. "Morgan! Let's sit by the fire!"

Carly playfully shoves his shoulder, "Now they're going to get freezing cold all over again. Thanks."

"Hey, the kid lost a bet. I'm keeping him from getting even more emotionally wounded. Besides, the sun'll set before they're warmed up."

"Mhm. This has nothing to do with the fact you feel bad for not seeing them when they're with Sonny." Bringing up his name darkens the mood, but he nods his agreement.

"It's better for them if I don't see Sonny right now. I know they know something's up with us and I don't want them picking a side-"

"Too late. My boys are always on your side."

"He's their father."

"You're their Jason," Carly counters, smiling.

"Big difference there, Carly."

"No, not really. Look, Sonny's being a pissy bitch because he knows you're right and he knows that I'm on your side. My boys are too, you know that. They know he fucked up and they know that you didn't. So while he's having a tantrum, you're helping me raise them like you always do."

"They're you two's kids, I don't want them getting caught up in all of this."

"To hell with my ex husband, Jason! He's throwing a tantrum and ignoring them. He doesn't give a damn about what they think about it either; he's just mad. They may be his kids, but you clearly care more about them," the blonde argues.

"He's upset because of me! He's ignoring the boys because of me, Carly! Don't you get that?" Jason exclaims, clearly battling himself mentally. "I caused it."

"You didn't do anything wrong!"

"That's not how Sonny sees it!"

"It's how I see it. It's how the boys see it. It's how anyone with half a braincell sees it, Jason! Don't you get it? We're on your side here, no matter what, because you're always, always on ours."

New flashback

"Give me my divorce, Jax!" Carly insists, begging him to sign the papers while Jason simply glares at her soon-to-be ex-husband.

"No!"

"Just give her the divorce. Hasn't she suffered enough?" Jason inquires, breaking his silence and putting an arm around his friend.

"Why, so you two can run off together? No," Jax answers defiantly. "What the hell are you doing here anyways?"

"To make sure you don't intimidate my friend into staying in a marriage she doesn't want to."

"I can't believe this," the Australian chuckles madly, "you really have him here for intimidation? What's Jason gonna go, shoot me? Good luck with that, buddy. Why don't you go leave my marriage and my family alone?'

"I am his family," Carly says, glaring at him. "And he's mine. Always has been, always will be. You knew that when we got married, that my first allegiance is to my children and Jason. If I were you, I'd suggest that you shut up and sign the damn papers."

"And give up my family?"

"Josslyn will always be your daughter and I like our custody agreement for her. She'll always be your family. But as for me and my boys, we're not," the blonde tells him, encouraged by the fact that Jax genuinely looks a little frightened.

"Fine," he relents, signing the papers and storming out of the office.

She feels a tear go down her face and Jason wipe it away. "Why are you crying? Isn't this what you wanted, a divorce from him?"

A chuckle escapes her, "Of course it is. But now, it's really over. I wasn't expecting to feel like this. I was expecting to feel happy or something, and I do, I feel relief, but now I also feel scared. I'm not even sure where I'll be living."

"You guys can stay at the penthouse, if you want. There's plenty of room and besides, it's quiet since Sam moved out." Jason offers and she smiles widely at him.

"Yet another thing I'll never be able to repay you for," Carly smiles, hugging him. "You sure you can handle two kids, a rebellious Michael, and me all at the same time?"

"Yeah," he answers quickly. "You're family."

"Thank you, for being there for me and them through everything that's happened. I love you."

"I love you too."

"It's nice to hear it."

"Yeah yeah, I think you've got to go tell the boys they're coming to the penthouse for a little while."

"They're going to be over the moon about this! Maybe Michael will finally stop being an angsty teenager." Carly squeals excitedly.

"I doubt living with me will change that," he says. "You sure Sonny's going to be okay with this?"

"I couldn't give less shit's if I tried about what Sonny thinks if I'm being completely honest with you, Jason, so don't you dare tell me that you're revoking your offer," she threatens loosely, knowing he'd never do that to her, to their family.

"Never. Just saying, it might be better if you're on good terms with your ex husband-"

"Well, I don't care. The boys, Josslyn, and I are going to be fine, living with you."

Back to reality

"Jason! Help!" She calls again, waking him from his memories and snapping him back into action.

"Carly, you're at GH. Cyrus is in police custody. I'm here, you're safe," he promises. "Nothing's going to happen to you. I promise."

It slowly sinks in and she breathes normally again before asking, "How's work stuff? Did Florence get home safe?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't you be at the office or something?"

"No, I'm supposed to be here, making sure you're healing properly and nagging you," he quips, getting a smile. "Besides, nothing interesting is going on today. You're what's important here, not the business."

"The business is important too," she argues.

"Not as important as you."

A smile breaks out on her face at that, "Thanks."

"I'd say anytime, but I'm afraid it'd become a habit."

"When did you become so funny?"

"I've always been funny, you just haven't been paying attention."

"Sure. You're always so serious, walking around so stoic and never showing emotion until you're at your breaking point. Or think you're gonna die. It's sad, really. I mean, I love you and I know you love me, but it's sad you feel like you can't show emotion."

"I show emotion."

"Mhm."

"Sometimes. When I feel like it."

"Sure."

"You see my emotions more than anyone else."

"I know," Carly smiles. "That's just because I'm an amazing person and friend."

"You're also a tad bit overconfident."

"She wasn't last night," a sinister voice says from behind them. A voice belonging to Cyrus Renault.

To be continued after I pass out on my bed and don't wake up until school

@ryleighjosephine im not listening to school

[angelaiswriting]

Family Problems | Michael Gray

[Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels]

✏️ Pairing: Michael Gray x wife!reader

✏️ Summary: She doesn’t want children: to Polly and the family, this is a problem. (Requested by anonymous)

✏️ A/N: this was so hard to write because I want plenty of kids, but hopefully, I did it justice! Also, hopefully this can be considered fluff.

✏️ Warnings: none I can think of

✏️ Word-count: 2,547

Consider supporting my work by sharing it 💛

The thought had been scary at first―what would Michael’s mother say? It was almost as though Y/N owed her a team of grandkids. Polly had been robbed of her own children, after all, and she had never seen them grow and mature―let alone die, when Michael’s sister left this world. It was almost a non-said knowledge: Mrs Elizabeth Gray wanted grandchildren, and Y/N had to comply.

The truth was, though, she didn’t want any―or, at least, she didn’t want kids of her own. Motherhood simply didn’t appeal to her―the hormones, the changes her body would have to go through, the mood swings, the cravings, the delivery… She had assisted Lizzie throughout her pregnancy; she had been by her side day in and day out―out of sheer friendship, that is―and her conviction had only become stronger the more the months passed.

She didn’t want kids of her own.

It had almost been a nightmare at first, to tell her husband―what will he think? What will he say? Will he leave me behind like I never meant anything to him? She knew he would love to become a father one day, to try and not be like the one he never got to know, and to not want something he so clearly desired almost felt selfish.

But he had understood. Adoption is always an option, he had said, hope clear in the tone of his voice and even in his eyes. She had nodded that day, coffee in one hand and cigarette in the other. She had nodded and she had smiled. Yes, she had told herself, adoption is an option.

It probably still was, but she never thought of it―it simply never came up. Between one thing and another, with what she did for the Shelby Company Ltd. and her own father’s shipping company down in London, there was never enough time to conjure up some thoughts and half-projects about a possible future parenthood. Whenever she turned around, she had her father’s numbers to revise, a Shelby meeting she had to attend to, Ada to help with the preparations of some mundane occasion to showcase the Shelbys’ benevolence. And above, below and around anything business-related, she had her own marriage and family to nurture and love and care about; a husband that never came home like he left it; acquired cousins that would come visit literally whenever; a mother-in-law always way too willing to help around the house with things that were clearly not her business.

That day was different, though.

Halloween had just passed. November had finally begun and was now more ready than ever to bring on new financial and economical agreements between her father’s company and some manufacturers on the other side of the channel. She had a trip to Paris scheduled for the second half of the month and another in Belgium at the beginning of December. Then, as Christmas rolled around, she could bid her wishes for the festivities and the new year to her father and colleagues, and retire in some hotel room Michael would take her to as a way to escape his family for a couple of days.

But it had been too good a month to be true―with his father’s business running smoothly and the Shelbys keeping to themselves and not bothering her―that something just had to go wrong. And south it went when that night Y/N came back home after work just to find Polly Gray sitting in her living room.

She didn’t boast a history of being a psychic, but she had felt the tense, almost irony air heaving down the atmosphere of the living room. And when her husband came over to kiss her on the lips like he usually did and offered her an unexpected glass of Shelby gin―not her favourite, but her father was helping his in-laws selling their alcohol so that had to do it until it was all gone―, she knew things were about to downhill―and then down a little more.

She should have known better than to hope, she told herself as she plastered a fake smile on her lips and sipped on her gin as she would poison. Her eyes were glaring at Michael, almost wishing they could be able to pry the truth out of him―his mother never came to visit unannounced, after all, she just couldn’t bring herself to like who her son had married―and all he could muster was an apologetic look before he pressed a kiss to her temple.

Sweet, soft lips against her cooling skin―it was something she usually loved. But right now, as her mother-in-law glanced up from her cup of tea and stared at her, she couldn’t help but wish Michael would just kick her out of their house so that they could discuss whatever matter in private.

“It’s quite late, isn’t it?”

Y/N knew what direction Polly was trying to take as soon as the words left her lips. She had already been accused of being an adulterer by her, after all, and despite the fact that the only opinion that mattered was her husband’s―who knew she only had eyes for him―, she couldn’t help but grit her teeth and down half of the content of her tumbler in the vain attempt to keep her mouth shut and her tongue behind gritted teeth.

“A woman quite like you shouldn’t work until this hour of the night.

“It’s okay, I was on my second job,” she grinned, eyes as cold as stone as Michael sighed against the side of her face, his lips still pressed to her left temple. “Sucking cocks,” she added with a wink, “I thought you knew. I had the feeling like you had walked down that lane back when you could have been considered young.”

There was a moment of silence, then, and the tension was so thick that even the blind could have cut through it with a sewing thread. And as the two women stared at each other, with Michael still hugging her wife’s waist with an arm and looking at the wall behind her hoping the torture would soon end, time seemed to dilate endlessly.

The logwood cracked and moaned in the fireplace and if one listened closely enough, one would hear the soft sounds coming from the kitchen and fighting for attention against the ticking of the huge pendulum clock at the end of the hall.

Then, before anyone had the time to say anything, Michael cleared his throat and turned around to face his mother.

It was clear on his face that he had spent the last two and a half hours conjuring up the courage to do this move―he should have probably followed through much earlier, shouldn’t have let his wife go through this.

“It’s time for you to leave, mum.”

Each and every word stung, pierced the air like arrows as Polly’s face fell and Y/N heaved a silent sigh, closing her eyes for a moment before allowing herself to finish her gin.

Polly didn’t stand and with all the calm in the world, Y/N spoke: “You heard my husband.”

‘Husband’ was a powerful word, or at least it had always been in the Grays’ house. While Polly had barely followed her husband’s orders while he had been alive, she knew Michael was different. Was it because of his more bourgeois upbringing or because of the time he had spent in America, nobody knew and probably nobody would ever be sure. The only certainty was, you had to obey when he gave an order. And while veiled under the pretence of courtesy, that was still the meaning behind his words.

“I thought we could have a chat before I left.”

Michael had changed―America had changed him and above that, Tommy had done the majority of the dirty work, moulding the young Mr Gray into a man you don’t want to mess with. If Polly could have got away with it in the past, she wasn’t this lucky anymore. “It’s time for you to leave,” he repeated, voice calm and words slow, calculated.

His mother was slow at standing from the burgundy couch imported from Italy, and Y/N stared with her breath caught in her lungs as the woman did what Michael had to order twice.

There could have been a billion and one things her mother-in-law could have wanted to talk about, but somehow she knew the topic would have been that. Children, motherhood, pregnancy, an army of tiny Grays swarming the streets of Birmingham―little did Polly know Michael had been planning to move to London as soon as this deal with New York City Tommy was working on was done and over.

We’ll be closer to your father, was the excuse he always adduced when Y/N asked him if he was sure. But the truth was, he wanted to leave his family behind his back―to forget anything and everything about them once and for all―or as much as he could while still keep on working for them from afar.

“I trust you know what to tell her.” When Polly spoke, standing almost toe-to-toe with her son, it was almost as though Y/N wasn’t truly there, but was a mere ghost, the reflection of something the older woman was forced to stand for the sake of everything she loved. “We have a place in this world and we should keep it.”

Her eyes set on him, Y/N saw her husband refrain himself from rolling his eyes as his right hand slipped into the front pocket of his trousers. She wondered whether she’d see him explode, yell in his mother’s face as he did back in June, over something she had already forgotten all about. It wasn’t like she cared about Polly, not if the kind of love her mother-in-law felt for her could be an indication of how she reciprocated―she was an annoying fly she would stand for the love of her husband, but nothing more, nothing less.

“I won’t settle for anything less, remember that, Michael,” she went on. “You’re a Gray, and half a Shelby. We are your family.”

*

It was only that night, lying in bed awake and avoiding the topic, that Y/N mustered up the guts to ask Michael what all that fuss had been about. Her initial plan had been to steer away from what she thought could be the matter and wait for her husband to prove her wrong, but hoping for a lie was worse than the sting the slap of the truth would leave behind.

“How did she find out?” She turned on her side under silky sheets and in the warmth of the room, she found herself shivering as chills crawled up her legs, pulling at her skin.

Michael was reading―he had recently got his eyes checked up and had been given a pair of glasses to wear any time he had to read. The polished surface of their tortoiseshell frames seemed to glint in the light of his bedside-table lamp as she looked up at him, breathed in the smoke of his cigarette.

When Tommy had started to fall sick with that persistent cough of his, she had stopped smoking. The cousin of a cousin had doomed his lungs with all the cigars he had smoked, back in Australia, and Y/N still remembered seeing his dead body while she had been there on holiday: she had turned eight just a few days later and the image had forever been impressed in her mind. She had never cared, never consciously thought about what could happen if you smoked too much, but Michael’s cousin had brought the memory back.

“One of the maids snitched,” he muttered, turning the page. He read a couple of lines, dragged another puff from his cig and extended his arm out to his right to let the ash fall into the ashtray. “Polly didn’t like it, came here to say she expects us to have at least three. To keep the business going, you know.” He smirked at her, handed her his cigarette but took it back when she shook her head no. “I fired the maid.”

“Why didn’t you send her away sooner?”

He shrugged. “I thought she’d change her mind when you talked to her, or that she could see it from our perspective.”

Y/N snorted, moving up on the bed and taking her husband’s book from his hands. A glance at the cover and she knew it was the thriller he had bought in Detroit two years ago. It almost made her chuckle, the fact that he still had to finish it when she had devoured it in a couple of days. It was one of the little things about him that she loved the most. “It’s your mother we’re talking about. Polly Gray never changes her mind.”

She stared as he chuckled, his head thrown back against the pillows as smoke left his lips and went up towards the ceiling. He was beautiful―and she found herself thinking about it for the thousandth time that week. His freckled, the line of his jaw, the tip of his nose and those lips of his stretched into a smile. And then, when he turned to look at her, the twinkle in his eyes, behind the lenses of his glasses.

If there was one thing she wanted to do right at that moment, it was to kiss him. Softly, almost worried she’d break him―or that she’d break herself.

“I don’t give a fuck about children.” And he was serious. He wanted them, that was for sure, but the way he’d come to have them held no importance to him. “Fuck my mother, fuck her family. I was treated like shit and what’s worse is that they’ve treated you like shit, too. To hell with their fucking name!”

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?” She thought back to her life in America, when she had first met him. He had been displeased by how his family had sent him away, but they still held some kind of importance in his eyes; it was almost scary to see that feeling gone, now. “Not for me.”

“I love you,” he said, taking his glasses off his nose and put them down on his bedside table. “I’m married to you, not to them. They don’t get to dictate my life, nor yours. If you ever want a child of our own one day, I’ll be happy to give you one, but if you never will, I won’t force it upon you.”

There was silence―sweet, comfortable silence as he pulled her into him and she breathed him in―cigarette and smoke and the faint but still pleasant smell of his soap and eau de cologne. It meant more to her than anything else ever could and she found herself basking in her husband’s warmth, soaking in it until it was all that existed.

“I can’t wait to move to London, start anew,” she whispered against his neck after a while.

“London is just the first step.” He was drowsy, sleep was winning him over. “I plan on taking us as far away from my venomous family as I can.”

Thoughts and feedback on this fic? Help me get better at what I do by leaving a message!

TAGS (to be added to or to be removed from any list, shoot me an ask)

Everything: @idhrenniel @saibh29 @fuckthatfeeling @aya-fay @pebblesz892  @mblaqgi​ @becs-bunker

Peaky Blinders: @whimsylavender​ @thethyri​ @friendleyneighbourhoodvillain  @flowers-in-your-hayr @oddsnendsfanfics @medievalfangirl @inforapound @niamhmaria @why-am-i-sad-and-sleepy

#michael gray #michael gray imagine #michael gray x reader #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders x reader #angelaiswriting

[ava-jones]

Practice Challenge. Part 1

“Fuck him! Fuck his shitty new album! Fuck his ‘playboy’ reputation! I’m not going to lie about my life to fix a shitty situation he put himself in!” Ava screamed in the hallway a few feet down from her agents office. 

“Babe it’s not like I’m asking you to get married. Just go on a few photo-opt dates, then after Ethan’s album has been out for a few months you can quietly call it off.” Carolyn, the publicist being berated, argued. 

“That’s exactly the problem! It’s not like he’s some dude I’m actually interested in long term. I. don’t. Like. lying.” Ava huffed and leaned against the wall crossing her arms and glaring at Carolyn. 

“Don’t think of it as lying just as acting.” She tried to purswade. 

Ava just glared and chewed on the inside of her cheek as she tried to find some way to get out of this. 

“Common Ava, remember what I said to you when you were a kid, ‘sometimes you have to bend a little.’” She pressured. 

“Bend a little! I moved to Angeles! I changed my name! I rewrote Heart Full of Scars! I did your playboy magazine! I’ve done every single thing that you’ve told me too!” She screamed now getting some looks from other agents. One of them would likely let this outburst slip out soon, another ‘snobby two throwing a tantrum’ she could already see the headlines “Has Ava Jones gotten too used to the rich life? Illeans sweetheart has rotted.’ Probably something shorter but that was why Ava was not a journalist.

“You absolutely have not! You turned down the chance to speak with Scooter Burnt on his show! You barely got to the playboy thing and I had to convince you for days before you’d go! You’ve refused modeling opportunities and went against me and released ‘Do You’!” 

“And it fucking slaps! It got us 65.2 million views within 24 hours! Sometimes you’re wrong!” She yelled and turned to leave. 

“Where are you going?” Carolyn asked, running after her. 

“Home.” She huffed and put her hands in her pockets turning to take the stairs out. 

“Angeles or Sumner?” 

“Sumner!” She yelled back as Carolyn started falling behind. 

“For how long?” 

“Till you get me out of this mess!” She yelled back, turning the corner to the front door of her agents studio. Suddenly he bombarded her. 

“Please wait! Ava!” Ethan yelled chasing after her before grabbing her arm. 

She spun on him, “What! You tricked me into thinking we were friends then told the press I slept with you, why do you think I should give you another second of my time?” 

“Don’t you want to?” He asked with a raised eyebrow more than a little to calm for Ava’s anger.

“To what?” She asked, genuinely confused.

“Sleep with me?” 

Suddenly, Ethan wasn’t smiling anymore, in fact he was on the ground, a red slap mark across his face, security moving to stop Ava but hesitating, they wouldn't want to hurt Illea’s darling. 

“You whore!” Ethan yelled and lunged at her, the guards were much less hesitant with him. After all he was a has-been lunging at a will-always-be. Suddenly the door to the building swung open, the guards stopped, Ethan stood quickly and wrapped a hand around Ava’s waist. As much as she wanted to shove him off and make the sides of his face symmetrical she didn’t want to deal with even more bad press.  

He leaned down to her ear, “behave or I will fucking destroy you.” he whispered. 

“Yeah right, like you can.” She grumbled back through gritted teeth as a paparazzi tried to act hidden, wandering around like he was looking for a room as he held a camera close to his body, attempting to keep it under his bag. 

“Calm down, sweetheart. You’re the one escalating this.” He whispered as they shuffled together to the door trying to make their way out to their private parking deck. Ava quickly scanned her ID for the building and they slipped out of sight. 

As soon as the door closed behind them she shoved him off and down to the ground, “Never touch me again. I’m not the one escalating this, you’re the one who told the press I was ‘cute’ in bed, what the hell does that even mean? I am reacting. I am allowed to react to you being the shittiest person alive,” She rushed to her car and pulled away. 

She was never supposed to drive herself, just like she wasn’t supposed to hit other celebrities, or yell in hallways, or put up a fight. But lately she was feeling so tired. 

She pulled into an empty church parking lot and sat there for a moment, the air conditioning on as cold as possible, and she almost let it out. She almost let her lips quiver, she almost felt her tears pouring over, she almost called her Carolyn and pleaded for ‘out’. Out of singing, out of performances, out of autographs, out of stalkers, out of lies, out of men thinking that because she is a she in a position of power they can take it from her. Out of letting them. 

But, she didn't. She held onto her steering wheel, she popped open her glove compartment and took out a small cigarette box. Of course she would never risk hurting her voice. Instead inside was a picture of herself as a young girl with a boy. The two of them were about thirteen, they were having a picnic on a farm, drinking sparkling apple juice out of two champagne flutes, feeling so adult. Inside there was a small swatch of fabric. She held it closed and breathed it in, and the warmth took over and she was okay. 

She picked up her phone and called one of her top numbers, “Hey Ms. Rosado! I’m coming home for a while tonight. Do you mind if I swing by the house?” 

“Of course not! You know you’re welcome any time, baby.” The now elderly woman eased. 

****************************************************************

Sumner was always Ava’s heaven. It’s where she wasn’t Ava Jones at all. She was Avery Jacoby. Her family was from very rural Sumner. There were about 800 people in her town, mostly fours and lower. Her family had been fours for years until she bought their way into the two castes. The Rosado’s were a family of sevens who worked on their poultry farm. Angeles was loud, full of screaming cars, and people. All she had to hear at home was the chickens and cows. She pulled up on the dirt road which led not to her house, but to the Rosados. It had been un-lived in for the last six years. 

Untouched, Ms. Rosado couldn’t be in it anymore so she had moved in with Ava’s family. She couldn’t stand the silence, where her little boy had once run around with Ava, playing monsters vs heroes. Hearing Michael play guitar along with Ava’s singing. It made her think of his body, falling to the ground, the final seizure taking him at fifteen, it lasted for eight minutes before he passed on. 

Ava laid down in his childhood bed. Her best friend, her soul mate's bed. His smell surrounded her as she looked up at the stars painted on his ceiling, “Mike.” She called out softly covering her eyes with her arm. She knew he couldn't see her. She didn’t believe in all that “they’re watching from above shit. Why would he waste his time in heaven on that. 

“I don’t want this anymore.” She breathed out. 

“But I’m not giving up on us. We said it, we were gonna make it one day, you’re the asshole who made me promise I wouldn’t give up no matter what. Well now what? I’ve made it I think, but there always seems to be more to do. When is it enough? I need you to tell me. Why were you so shitty with your deathbed wishes. What does it even mean? Make it to your debut album? Check. Make it to your first sold out concert? Check! Have billions of fans worldwide? Done and done. But now what do you want me to become a triple threat take on acting and modeling? Do you want me to keep performing? I did all this for you after all! Pretty rude of you to leave me hanging here!” 

“Well do you still like singing?” She shot up at the response. Not from some magical ghost but from her younger sister, Katy.

“What are you doing here?” She asked defensively about her sister's eavesdropping. 

“Aitana said you were stopping by. I figured you needed saving before you turned into-” she paused and gestured to her sister, a crying mess in a child’s bed, “-that.” 

She paused for a moment and sat down next to her, “you know, we’d never want for money again. You’ve made enough for us and ms. Rosado to live like kings for the rest of our lives. Probably your kids too and grandkids. You don’t have to keep doing this, that is, if you don’t like it.” 

Ava sighed looking back up to the painted night sky, “I love singing, I’ll always love singing.” She mumbled. 

“But?”

“But, I hate the performing, I hate being watched, I hate being told who to date, who to talk to, what to wear, what I’m permitted to eat, how much to work out, scripted for in interviews.” 

Katy made a dramatic gasp, “Scripted? You? I thought you just really loved Nike shoes all the sudden.” she joked. 

Ava couldn’t help but laugh and lightly hit her arm. “You bitch, I worked hard to deliver those lines.” She grinned ear to ear. Being apart from Katy was one of the worst things about being in Angeles. 

“Seriously though, you look like shit. You don’t seem happy anymore. You know he wouldn’t want this. He didn’t care about fame he just thought it was what you wanted and wanted you to be happy. Clearly, you’re not, so quit.” She sighed before standing up. “It’s simple, just stop working.” She stood up. 

“You didn’t know him like I did.” Ava mumbled looking down at her hands, knowing her sister was right, but also remembering his eyes and how they lit up dreaming about their future together. 

“Whatever, I’m not going to argue with you about that. Mama’s making stew for dinner, we have to get back before she gives it to the pigs.”

*******************************************************************************************

A few weeks passed on missed calls, then a few months of avoided visits. The press panicked for a moment that Ava hadn’t been literally seen in awhile, but Carolyn released a statement that she was taking a vacation, fortunately for them the present is planned in the past so Carolyn had plenty of unreleased photos to put out, and even a few unreleased songs which she had previously called, “garbage” but was turning to in desperation.

Ava felt clean. She felt safe in the hills of Sumner, the sun healed her, her family was close, and the world was quiet. Until the letter came, then Katy was screaming. 

“Our selection letters came!” 

“Our what came?” I asked munching on my bowl of corn flakes. 

“Selection, duh- oh right you’re doing that “off the grid or social media cleanse.’” She said doing air quotes.

“How very Angeles of you.” My mom chimed in. 

“I’m not trying to be hip, I'm just taking a break!” I defended myself. 

“Well- to fill you in, Prince Arin is holding a selection! I thought he never would since he and that chick seemed so close to getting married. They were even engaged three months ago.” She gushed. The cereal fell off my spoon, 

“Months?” 

Katy looked confused for a moment, “Yeah months, not every mourns for years.” 

“Yeah no. No way in hell is he over that. He’s looking for a royal rebound.” I chuckled and went back to my food. 

“So you’re not going to apply?” 

“No I’m not going to apply, and you shouldn’t either. You’ll get your heart broken joining that.” 

“Well maybe I’m not going in it for my heart.” She replied. 

“What? Have I not been giving you enough money?” 

“More like there aren’t enough men in this town. I’m itching to have some fun.” She complained. 

“And I’m out!” Our mom said rushing off as Katy began to complain about how dry her sex life had been lately. 

“Well, I’m taking the drive to the post office this afternoon. Decide if you want to join by then.” 

“I’ve decided, no thanks.” 

A few hours later Ava sat in bed reading one of her old favorite books, she was enjoying some peace until her phone was buzzing over and over again in her drawer. She would shut it off but it was a burner phone that Carolyn had given her. It was an ‘when you want to get off the grid but I still need to reach you for an emergency phone.’ She groaned and pulled it out, 

“You better be dying.” 

“No but I’m going to put you in your grave if you don’t come back here and participate in the selection.” 

“Nope sorry I told you, I’m home until I say so. If that’s all I’ll see you someda-”

“I’ll let you out of your contract with Rainbow Companion Records!” Ava bit her bottom lip. RCR had signed her when she was just fifteen. She didn’t know better so she agreed to a 10 year lease with them. Getting out would really help her quit.

“Why would you do that?” She asked, there would be no advantage for Carolyn. Everyone was playing a game with each other at this level and she needed to know her angle. 

“You’re not going to quit. I’ve known you for years, you’ll take a break but ultimately come back. People like yo- like us are simple, we need the attention. After a while you’ll ask them to take you back. I know you’re too stubborn to accept that that’s what will happen, so you’ll agree to this because you want to ‘quit’ right now. It’s happened to so many of my clients.” She explained being shockingly transparent. 

“You really don’t know me at all.” She mumbled and thought for a moment. She was afraid, afraid that what Carolyn said was true. That she’d miss all that noise. But if it wasn’t she’d finally be free.” 

“What if I don’t get in?” Ava asked, needing to know the details. 

“Sweetheart, if you want it you’re as good as already in. I know people.”

“Okay I’ll do it.” 

“Great! I’ll send someone over in three days to fill out your appli-” She shut the phone. ‘No way in hell someone is doing that for me.’ 

“Katy! Do you have my letter?” She yelled in the hallway. 

*******************************************************

Just like that, Angeles flew in and popped my bubble. "We've hired some good photographers and journalists to wait at the airport. Just smile and say you're excited. I've also got some new sponsors for you, RCR really fucked me over on those negotiations so we need a bit more big billion bucks." Carolyn said as Aileen, my makeup artist, worked on lining my lips. 

Carolyn pulled a paper out of her purse and handed it over to her, mostly it was a list of brands with a few lines they wanted her to say, nothing unusual. She normally put up a fight over promotional work but if it was her ticket to a life without lying and screaming, she’d take it. 

“Now I set up the studio for that song that you sent me. It’s going to be a hit! We’ll release it a few hours before the selected announcements come out so the popularity boost from being announced on national television will bring everyone, even people who aren’t your fans, to your new video.” She explained. 

As soon as Ava’s jet landed in Angeles it was back to her old life. Back to the quick interview, “I was taking a break to be with family but I’m back now better than ever.” with a few ads thrown in there for the money. 

The night of the announcement she laid in the bath. She normally hated how alone she was in her Angeles apartment, but being able to bathe in peace was a nice perk. She pulled up the count down for her own video and waited. She didn’t like to watch them until they were released. In the past she had tried to help with the editing process but she was apparently too much of a backseat driver. She just had to trust that Jack knew her vision and would stick to it. 

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

She had decided to write this mostly due to her pure rage at Ethan, her director went a little off though making it into a whole scheming theme but overall she was satisfied. Next she switched to the channel with the selected announcement and waited. One named caught her eye ‘Emily Rose White’. She groaned and pulled up her phone, 

“You told her I was joining?”

“No that must have been actual luck, or she just wants to compete.” Carolyn responded. 

**************************************************

#practice challenge 1 #Selectionoc #Selectionoc6

[justlightlysedated]

14. what if the love you deserve is love you never find & Malex pls darling

14. what if the love you deserve is love you never find?

"Can we talk?" Alex asks with a serious expression that immediately puts Michael on the defensive.

Michael had been looking for some peace and quiet away from the reception in the living room, even though it had been plenty quiet in there. The silence had been so oppressing that Michael had needed some air.

But of course, he should've known better, Alex has been looking for an excuse to get him alone the whole day, and Michael just didn't feel like dealing with whatever Alex wanted to talk about, on top of dealing with the fact that all of Isobel's guests are mourning for a murderer, and not for the one who saved them all.

Michael exhales roughly, and looks at Alex, quirking an eyebrow and raising one hand in the air before letting it drop back down on his lap.

"If you're here to talk about Maria-"

Alex cuts him off.

"You're the last person that I would talk about Maria with," Alex says, voice like a machine, words precise and said with enough disdain to put Michael in his place. "This has nothing to do with that."

Michael doesn't say anything as he swallows hard and looks away.

Alex doesn't wait for him to respond.

"I came here to support you," he says, voice still maddeningly calm, but the words tear at Michael's already tattered grip on his anger. "But also, I'm going to need you to check up on the files at the Project Shepherd bunker, because I'm going to be out of town for a few days."

Michael's gaze snaps back to Alex's at that, but before he can ask him where he's going, Alex keeps talking.

"It's not a big thing, just once it goes through a file, it will send a message to your phone, if the file has any of the information I flagged in the code then it will send a call, you just have to go to the bunker and check it out to see if it's something that we can use. If you need me to walk you through it just call me."

Michael thinks that there are lots of problems with that plan, but the immediate one has to be addressed first.

"I don't even have a phone," Michael says, slowly. "I lost mine."

More like he threw it out of the window after hearing the multitude of messages that Isobel had left while he'd been in Caulfield.

Alex doesn't miss a beat as he slides his hands into his pocket and pulls out a phone that looks more expensive than the sum cost of the entirety of Michael's belongings.

The only reason that Michael knows that the phone isn't Alex's is because Alex's phone has a protective cover.

He places the phone down on the tailgate right beside Michael's leg.

Michael doesn't touch the phone as he continues to look at Alex.

"Where are you going?"

Alex inhales deeply, eyes closing, and then he looks back at Michael the mask on his face is impenetrable and Michael wishes more than anything that Alex didn't have to hide himself in order to have a conversation with him.

"Washington, I have to get through a performance review, and then an evaluation to see if I'm fit to re-enlist."

Michael feels suddenly as though the whole world, just slipped away from beneath his feet, and even though he's sitting on the tailgate of his truck, he feels like he's free falling in slow motion.

"You're going to re-enlist," he says, and hates the way his voice sounds, like he's not getting enough air, when Alex sounds like this is all just an inconvenience that he has to get through.

Alex doesn't say anything, looking at Michael like nothing is going to get through to him, but tough luck for him, Michael knows exactly what buttons to push to get a reaction out of Alex, especially when he's fighting so hard not to give him one.

Michael clears his throat and then scoffs. "Of course you are. I really don't know what else I expected. Things are getting difficult here, so of course you're going to run away. Say hi to your Daddy for me when you see him at your new post."

Alex's eyes flare, and Michael feels a stab of satisfaction in his stomach.

"I'm doing this for you," he snaps, and his voice shakes, and Michael's expression melts from the cocky look he'd painted on to piss Alex off more to a slightly shocked expression, eyes a little wide, lips parted slightly.

"If I'm not a member of the service then I don't have the clearance necessary to be able to get the information that we need. Project Shepherd goes deeper than just a vendetta that my father has. And for your information, my father is in a coma, at the hospital, and the only reason I'm not leaving Kyle with the responsibility of checking the files is because he has too much on his plate right now."

He inhales deeply, breath shuddering and Michael can't find any words to say to anything that Alex just said.

"It's only going to be a couple of days," Alex says, and he sounds tired, and the more that Michael stares and really looks, he can see how exhausted Alex is.

"You might not even get a call. I'm just trying to cover all of my bases, and at the moment you're the only one that I trust with this."

Michael swallows hard and nods his head once before he puts his hand over the phone.

"Okay," he says, "I'll keep an eye on it."

Alex exhales in relief and nods his head sharply once, and then turns like he's about to walk away without even really saying goodbye.

"You're really doing this for me?"

Alex stops in his tracks and Michael sees the way his shoulders move as he breathes deeply a few times before turning to look back at Michael.

"Yes," he says shortly.

"Why?" He asks, because he wants to know, wants to see if Alex will tell him the truth.

Alex's brow furrows, and he looks at Michael like he can't believe that Michael is actually asking him that.

Alex scoffs and shakes his head. "Isn't it bad enough that my family is trying to build a bomb to perform mass genocide on your entire species?"

Michael shakes his head, "That's not what I asked."

Alex's brow furrows in confusion this time, and Michael sees it when Alex realizes what Michael is really asking.

He licks his lips and looks away, like he's searching for the answer, before he looks back at Michael with a decisive expression.

"I love you," he says, and once again Michael feels like he's free falling. "But it doesn't matter. It's not enough when compared to the damage that my family has done to yours."

Michael looks at Alex, and Alex's eyes are wide and honest. He looks like he actually believes that.

"And when it comes to me, I've hurt you too many times, and I get it, okay?"

Michael's brow furrows, and Alex shakes his head a little, taking a deep breath, and stares at him with a determined expression.

"I still want to be a part of your life," he continues. "If you want me to. I meant what I told you. I want to get to know you. And that doesn't really work if we act like strangers. So just think about it while I'm gone, okay?"

Michael finds himself nodding before he can actually think about it, feeling a little bit like he's got whiplash.

Alex gives him a brief smile, and points towards the phone. "Don't toss that one out of the window, okay?"

Michael rolls his eyes, but he still feels a little bit like the ground is going to fall if he tries to stand up.

The whole conversation has him feeling like he's on a rollercoaster, which is normal when it comes to having a conversation with Alex.

Alex nods his head once again and starts to walk, "I'll see you in a few days."

He takes a few backward steps as though he's waiting for an answer, and Michael sends him a mock salute.

Alex rolls his eyes and turns around, walking away, and Michael just sits and watches until he rounds the corner of the house and disappears from sight. 

Michael exhales long and low, and picks his new phone up. He presses a button and the lock screen pops up, and there's a picture of him and Isobel and Max, with their arms wrapped around each other, taken back when Michael had first gotten to Roswell.

Michael feels the tears stinging behind his eyelids, and he puts the phone down, and looks down at the ground sightlessly.

Michael is incredibly angry with Max for many things, but he misses him so much, and especially the boy that he was when Michael had found his way back to him and Isobel.

It would be just like Alex to know something like that.

Michael feels like screaming and tearing his hair out, and begging someone to please tell him why the person that he loves the most is the descendant of the people who have hurt him the most.

It's a sick sort of irony that Alex is nothing like his family, and yet he's hurt Michael in ways that no one ever has.

Michael doesn't notice Isobel until she sits down beside him.

"Hey," he says, and looks at her as she turns to look at him, giving him a sad small smile.

"Hey," she says back. "I'm so tired of receiving condolences for my loss, when I actually want to yell that I'm free from the rooftops, so I figured I'd come find you."

Michael nods his head once and turns back towards the front, watching the lights of the town in the distance.

"You got a new phone," she says grabbing it before Michael can stop her. 

She looks at the picture on the lockscreen and Michael stares at her, holding his breath.

"I remember this day," she says voice soft. "I could feel you the moment you crossed into the town lines. Max didn't believe me until you got even closer, and then he could feel you too. It wasn't that hard to find you after that. The social worker was a bit taken aback at our reaction to each other, but she was the one who offered to take the picture."

Michael nods his head, because he remembers all of that too, and how Max had dragged them both to the Crashdown because Michael had never had a milkshake in his life, and he had to try the best.

Sometimes Michael can still feel the tight grip of Max's hand from that day, as though he was afraid to let go of Michael.

"We're going to get him back," Isobel says after a moment of silence. "We're going to train and unlock all of our potential and we're going to get him back."

Michael turns back towards her, and looks at her determined expression.

Michael just nods his head, and Isobel slides her hand into his, holding on to his hand tightly.

"We're going to get him back," he repeats, and she squeezes his fingers tighter, like she's afraid that she'll lose him if she lets go.

Michael squeezes back just as tight.

#malex fic #malexprompts #idek what this is #i wrote it at like 2am and then promptly fell asleep

[blasphemous-lies-and-deceit]

FLUFF 12 OMGOMG FLUFF 12 FLUFF 12!!!! :3

"Am I on your lockscreen?" "You weren't supposed to see that."

~*~

"Hey Vagabud, look here."

Ryan turned his head, caught sight of what was facing him, and whipped his head back around before the fake shutter noise sounded. "What the HELL is your problem?" he snapped as he shot to his feet. His photo assailant, Ramsey's sniper, fell off the couch with a laugh, like he hadn't just violated his number one taboo. "Give me that."

"Dude, relax, it's blurry anyway." The sniper made no move to stop him from grabbing the phone from his hand. "You should smile next time."

"Not gonna be a 'next time'," Ryan growled, deleting the evidence from the phone. "No pictures."

"Pfft." The younger guy was clearly unimpressed, even when Ryan dropped the phone to the floor and smashed the screen with the heel of his boot. "Ya know that wasn't my phone, right? That's Gavin's."

"I don't care whose phone it is-"

"Clearly, Mister Wanton Destruction of Property."

"-you try shit like that again I'll strangle you with my bare hands."

"Kinky."

Ryan had no answer for that. So he walked away. The job was done, evidence destroyed, he was NEVER working with this crew again...there was no reason to get worked up.

~*~

"RAY YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD!"

Cackling like an idiot, Ray took off across the runway, phone held out and away from him. Ryan took off in hot pursuit, wrench still in his hand. He'd been bent over, helping Jack fix something on the landing gear, and heard that unmistakable shutter snap again. He'd turned, found Ray clearly posing with his bent-over ass, and that led to the current situation. Once again getting after Ray over a sneaky photo.

"Sneaky" was actually a bit of a stretch. Ray was never subtle about what he was doing. Hell, most of the time he asked Ryan to pose or smile for him, or enlisted Gavin and Michael who were even less subtle than he was. It was stupid, it was childish, and despite his best threats (and carrying out a few less-harmful ones) Ray still persisted. It was almost enough to make him want to wear the mask again.

He caught up with Ray when he tripped over a hole in the desert, following him down to pin him in the dirt. "Give it," he growled, scrambling for Ray's phone to delete the footage. Again.

"Fucking make me." Ray was more squirmy and determined this time. It must have been a good picture.

"You little- Shit!" A very close jab had nearly gotten him somewhere sensitive. Ryan got his arm around Ray's neck, using his weight to hold him down. "You're not getting away with this."

"Sure I'm not." Ray sounded breathless, and not like he'd been sprinting across the desert minutes ago. It occurred to Ryan, suddenly, what position they were in, and he lunged back abruptly. Ray clearly hadn't expected that, because he collapsed with a shocked gasp. Ryan took the opportunity, snatching up his phone.

"Damnit." The screen was locked already. "Give me your thumb."

"Gotta wrestle me again for it," Ray taunted. His grin faded when Ryan got right back into his space, right in his face, close enough to smell the dust and sweat on his hoodie.

"Unlock it or I'll leave your corpse out here for the buzzards."

Ray shivered. "Flirt," he accused, before offering up his thumb. Ryan swiped the phone across it, catching sight of his lockscreen, a stupid collage of pot leafs and 420s, before it vanished to reveal the picture.

It was...actually a pretty good shot of his ass. Except for Ray making a chef's kiss in the foreground. Ryan dispassionately deleted it away.

"When you guys are done making out over there, we're ready to go." Jack's yell broke them apart. Ryan was sure Ray's face wasn't the only one red.

"Keep trying, you little shit," he called over his shoulder.

"Oh I will!" Ray gleefully answered back.

~*~

The first thing Ryan was aware of was the steady, annoying beeping. The next was how damn much he hurt.

His groan triggered a scramble of noise to his right. "Hey babe," he heard, and groaned again. "How ya feelin?"

"'m not your babe," he grumbled

"Yeah but they wouldn't let me come with you unless we were married, so?" He could almost hear Ray's shrug. "The doctors say you're stable, so that's good enough for me, we can keep you alive from there. Soon as you can be vertical we're out of here."

Ryan cracked an eye. Ray actually looked the part of a concerned spouse, deep bags under his eyes like he'd stayed awake for too long waiting for him. A thought occurred to him. "My facepaint..."

"Uh, yeah." Ray looked away. "Don't worry, I've got a memory like a goldfish, forget what you look like soon as I look away. And Gav's already hacked the security, he'll scramble it as soon as we're out of here."

"And what about any other pictures of me?" It was hard to sound threatening with stitches all up his chest and three IVs in his arm, but Ray flicked a glance back and away again.

"I'm not a fucking creep, dude. You're not that pretty passed out." A quick smile graced his lips. "'Sides, that's not a challenge."

"Asshole," Ryan weakly accused, settling back in his bed. All things considered, he would really rather have Ray pretend to be his fake husband than one of the other crew members. And he felt like he could really trust him not to have any voyeuristic pictures on his phone. This time.

~*~

"Fucking...hell." Ryan was deeply gratified to hear the breathlessness in Ray's voice where it was smushed against his neck. "Why'd we take so long to do that?"

"You were an annoying asshole," Ryan reminded him, running his fingers up and down his bare spine. Ray fit so stupidly good in his arms. It really was a tragedy it'd taken so long to get into bed together.

"And you're a stoic prick," Ray shot back, before pressing a lighter kiss to his collarbone. One that wouldn't leave a mark, unlike the rest he'd deposited there. "Pretty sure if you'd've stopped running off every time I winked at you-"

"I seem to remember running after you plenty."

"Yeah to delete my hard-earned gratuity pics. Speaking of-" Ray uprooted his hand to gesture over to his abandoned pants. "Gimmie my phone. Gotta have evidence I banged your ass."

Ryan groaned. "You're the fucking worst," he said, even as he obligingly fished the phone out.

"The words 'fucking' and 'worst' don't belong in this bed together with us." Ray took his phone and swiped his thumb to open it, but not before Ryan caught sight of the new lockscreen.

"Am I on your lockscreen?"

Ray looked guilty for all of two seconds before sighing. "You weren't supposed to see that."

"I thought I got them all?"

"Nah, I managed to copy that picture of your ass before you deleted it. That one had to be saved, that's fucking art." Ray activated the camera, holding his phone out at arm's length, getting them both in the frame. "Say 'Just fucked!'"

"You're fucked if this goes anywhere besides your lockscreen." His words were cut off by the shutter noise.

[ourloveisforthelovely]

Rocking the Boat 16

Supernatural 

Chapter 15 link 

Words: 2,467

Pairings: Gabriel x Reader/Dean x Cas 

______

Dean watched your storm down the hallway with a shrug. He sat down and took a sip of the beer that he had brought with him from the kitchen. 

“Gotta love those hormones.” 

He muttered. Dean let himself think back when your mother was pregnant with you and shivered. That was not a fun time in his nor anyone else that lived in the bunker's lives.

“Haha, no one loves those.”

Dean added with a chuckle as Gabriel walked in. It took all Dean had not to laugh at the slightly nervous expression on Gabriel’s face. Heaven’s most deadly weapon was scared to death of his pregnant girlfriend! This was the most amusing thing that Dean had seen in some time! 

“Did you talk to her?”

Gabriel asked. The last thing that he really wanted to do was to tell you that he was going to be out of town for a bit. Since you had found out about your condition you had been a basket of hormones that Gabriel couldn’t even help. He rolled his eyes at the thought himself. Gabriel wouldn’t admit it (possibly out of fear of you stabbing him) but he wasn’t looking forward to this whole baby thing. This wasn’t supposed to happen to him. Lucifer was the one that ran off and fucked that whole angels aren’t supposed to have children concept up. Now Chuck wanted to make Gabriel’s life hell too! 

The thought of Chuck made Gabriel’s blood boil! Just because Chuck was bat shit crazy didn’t mean that everyone else wanted to go down crazy train drive with him! 

Dean leaned back on the couch with a shrug. 

“Yeah, she kind of screamed at me. Told me to tell you to find yourself a better attorney. Sorry dude. She’s pissed. I tried.” 

Gabriel groaned as Dean took another sip of his beer. Dean didn’t seem the least bit upset about being screamed at either. He acted like nothing new had happened. 

  “Jeez thanks. I better go talk to her.”

Dean smiled as Gabriel walked out of the room muttering to himself. 

“Good luck to you! Good thing that you are an archangel. She can’t kill you that easily. If she does stab you, it's been nice knowing you pal!”

Meanwhile, 

You sat in your room typing away on your laptop. Ever since losing your shit on your father, you decided that it was time to chat with Jody. If someone could calm you down it was her! She knew everything to say at the worst of times. 

`The conversation was interrupted when Gabriel walked in. For a moment, you didn’t bother looking up. It was probably best that you didn’t say anything for a few moments. Gabriel was lucky that you hadn’t thrown the bedside lamp at him! You continued to message Jody until Gabriel snapped his fingers and turned the device off. You looked up with a frown. 

“What?”

Gabriel didn’t bat an eye at the venom oozing out of your mouth. He acted like it was just another day and that nothing big was happening. 

“I want to talk to you.”

You snorted. 

“About what? I figured that you would send my dad in. Oh wait, that went down in flames. Maybe Jack is the person to try. I won’t yell at him after all.” 

Gabriel waited a moment to speak. If you weren’t in a delicate state he probably would have said something totally snarky right back to you. 

“Y/n...look, I understand that you are mad because I’m leaving for a bit...I will be back. I wouldn’t leave if I didn’t have to...Cas...” 

Your frown intensified if possible. Your rational said that you weren’t mad because Gabriel was leaving. You were mad because he didn’t have the balls to tell you himself! Your irrational pregnancy hormone side said another thing. You were mad at him for leaving! You wanted him there with you. After all, he put you in this mess (with your help of course). He should want to be there with you too! 

Thankfully, you decided to go with the rational side….

“I am mad about that but I am more angry about the fact that you couldn’t tell me yourself.” 

Gabriel sighed. 

“Well, I didn’t want to have something thrown at me. Sorry sugar, but you are mean right now.” 

“I wonder why.”

You muttered coldly. Gabriel sighed again. You know that he was losing his patience with you which was odd. It normally took a lot for Gabriel to get mad at you. If he got mad, he typically took it out on someone else and blamed them for the problem. 

“Y/n, look, I am not thrilled about any of this either! I didn’t ask for Chuck to do this to us! Cas needs me too. I can’t let Cas just go out there all alone looking for someone that can make sense of this totally back shit weird situation.” 

Gabriel immediately regretted his choice of words when your face went from annoyed to depressed. 

“It's good to know how you feel about us having a baby.” 

Gabriel internally began to panic. He realized that he told you everything that he wanted to keep to himself! 

“Sugar, I….”

You held a hand up. 

“Just get away from me.” 

Gabriel didn’t move for a moment. His golden eyes were locked on you with an expression of total remorse. Normally, this would have gotten him off of the hook. This time, however, it wasn’t going to happen.

“Maybe I could get Lucifer or Michael to go with Cas. Raphael needs to stay here where we can keep an eye on him and he can keep an eye on you.” 

You stood up and went toward your bathroom. 

“Yes, let’s send Michael and his cozy socks to help Cas! That will make such wonderful sense! Just go, Gabriel. I don’t want to deal with you right now. If you don’t want to have this kid, don’t bother coming back. I don’t need you to do this. Stupid me, thought that you actually cared about me and the kid.” 

Gabriel began to tremble. This was his worst nightmare! 

“Y/n, I….”

“GET LOST!”

You snapped. Gabriel turned and walked from the room without another word. 

When he stepped out, he almost ran right into Sam and Dean. Gabriel frowned looking at the two with a displeased expression. 

“I guess you two heard all of that.” 

Sam nodded. 

“I’ll talk to her. It will be okay.”

Gabriel laughed bitterly. 

“Yeah, right.”

The following few months passed without much excitement. You still weren’t talking that much to Gabriel. He was still away and couldn’t give you any form of an idea when he would be back for good. As much as you wanted to play the tough gal and act like you didn’t care...you couldn't. 

When Gabriel would call to check on you it seemed to be the same conversation. He would always ask how you were feeling and if you needed anything. You would say a simple fine and no. If you needed anything there were plenty of people in the bunker that could do something for you. You knew that Sam and Dean were keeping Gabriel informed about all of the other things.  

Thankfully after month 6, the morning sickness began to fade away. This made you even happier and put you in a better mood. Raphael had been keeping a close watch on your condition and in turn, you were keeping an eye on him to make sure that he wasn’t up to any funny business. 

One morning you stood in the kitchen while Lucifer sat trying to bore you to death with a story about how great he was. Someone was always in whatever room you were in. You had a feeling that this was Gabriel’s doing. He probably set this up to drive you nuts. 

“Y/n, if you keep eating like that the kid is never going to want to leave.” 

Lucifer commented. You help up your middle finger earning a chuckle from the archangel. 

“I do enjoy your sense of humor. I am also thankful that we aren’t having a kid together. Whatever you said to Gabriel scared him to death.” 

You put down the knife that you were holding and turned to face Lucifer. That was one of the last things that you wanted to hear! 

“He chose to leave. I had nothing to do with it. Now, why don’t you shut your trap and help me wash dishes or something.” 

Lucifer shrugged and picked up a dishtowel. After a  few moments of silence, he looked over at you. Lucifer normally didn’t feel sorry for people. In fact, he claimed that he didn’t know how to but here you were causing him feelings! 

You didn’t ask for Gabriel to leave. It didn’t Lucifer being a supernatural being to know that! He read your mind several times and knew exactly what happened between Gabriel and yourself. 

“Hey, Y/n, I’m sorry...that was kind of a jerky thing to say. I know that you didn’t ask for my idiot brother to leave.” 

You looked up from the pan that you were trying to shove in a shelf but couldn’t reach. 

“Lucifer, I know you very well now. I didn’t take it personally.” 

Lucifer grinned.

“I am glad to see that you are starting to be your old self. I was making you cry about everything. For what it's worth, my brother is an idiot.” 

“That’s rude.” 

You froze hearing that voice! Both Lucifer and yourself turned to see Gabriel in the doorway with Dean and Cas behind him. Lucifer immediately laughed. This was the best possible outcome of the whole situation to him. 

“Hey the idiot decided to come home! I am glad to see that you remembered where this place was. I was about to send out a possy. We thought you may have gotten lost again.” 

Lucifer was clearly pleased with his comment. Gabriel glared at his brother for a moment before focusing his attention on you. You weren’t smiling or looking the least bit happy to see him. In fact, you looked like you didn’t give a good god damn about anything. Gabriel sighed. This wasn’t you. You were always happy when he was in a room. In the beginning, when the two of you were apart for however long, you were in his arms the moment that you were together again. 

Gabriel knew that you were really mad at him! He really fucked up! Gabriel never meant to stay away as long as he had but things happened. Things that he and Cas never expected. Now he missed most of your pregnancy. With each and every day that passed, Gabriel knew that coming home would be harder. 

You, meanwhile, tried to keep your eyes from drifting to your boyfriend. Gabriel was looking at you with those poor pathetic “please love me” eyes that broke your heart. Today, however, he wasn’t getting away so easily. 

Your brooding was interrupted by a sharp pain shooting through your body. With a whimper, you gripped the edge of the counter. 

“Honey?”

He said nervously. You held a hand up waving him off while waiting for the sharp pain to edge off. After a moment, you were able to stand back up. Lucifer was glancing over his shoulder at you. 

“You good?”

He asked. You nodded. 

“I’m fine.” 

Lucifer shrugged and went to leave the kitchen. He stopped once he was behind Gabriel and shoved him to you.  

Gabriel glared back at his brother and muttered “asshole” before turning his attention back to you. 

“Hi sweetheart.” 

It didn’t matter how mad at Gabriel you may have been; you still missed him. You had missed him more than words could possibly say! 

“Hey.” 

You stood quietly for a moment before wrapping your arms around his shoulders. Gabriel was afraid that you were going to smack him or something for a moment. He relaxed when your face nuzzled against his neck 

“Damn, I have missed you.” 

Gabriel said softly before tilting your face to his. He kissed you softly for a moment before deepening the kiss. 

You were the first to pull away. Gabriel's arms were still locked around you almost as if he was going to lose you forever. 

“I’ve missed you too.” 

You replied. This time you meant it! You had missed him! It was time to put away your tough girl act. 

“How are you feeling?” 

Gabriel asked tentatively. You sighed miserably. 

“I’m fine, I guess.” 

Gabriel shook his head. 

“Tell me the truth.” 

You were silent for a moment before speaking. 

“I feel horrible. I am so sick of being pregnant. My back hurts, my feet hurt, I have parts of me that I didn’t know existed hurt. LUCIFER, stop fucking breathing down the back of my neck, you pervert!” 

Lucifer frowned from his place at the table. 

“I am over here, thank you. If it's any consolation, we are all sick of you being pregnant too.” 

Gabriel looked at his brother with a clearly displeased expression. 

“Lucifer, leave.” 

Lucifer stood with a shrug and walked out of the room without further comment. Gabriel turned his attention back to you. Your face had resumed that expression on pain from a moment or two before. 

“Sugar, should we be worried?”

You wrapped your hands around Gabriel’s upper arms and waited for the pain to pass. 

“I think that I’m fine.” 

Gabriel didn’t look too trusting in your response. 

“Yeah, I’m not buying that.” 

You winced as another pain washed over you. 

“I think you picked a hell of a day to come back home because I think these may be contractions. Oh my god, dad was right. Sex is bad.” 

Gabriel couldn’t help but laugh about that one. 

“I didn’t hear you complaining when we were doing it.” 

You winced. 

“You are going to be lucky if I ever let you touch me again.” 

Gabriel quickly picked you up and carried you back to the bedroom. 

“We have plenty of time to talk about that later. I better go find Raphael. I am really glad that my dad designated him as the healer. This is freaking me out.” 

You smiled sheepishly. 

“You should see things from where I am sitting. You aren’t pushing something the size of a small turkey out of you.” 

Gabriel winced. 

“I’ll just go get my brother.” 

________

@brokencasbutt67-writer

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@supernaturalways

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#Supernatural #Gabriel #Dean Winchester #Cas #Sam Winchester #Michael #raphael #gabriel x reader #reader x Gabriel #cas x dean #dean x cas #Supernatural Fan Fiction #supernatural reader insert

[fantasiesxwritten]

Cuming Clean

“Ooookay, but you’re wifin’ up a fucking stripper, Ty! Like, please explain to me what you expected? No better yet, explain to me why you’re surprised everytime ya’ll shit goes south?” I stood with my arms crossed, waiting for the explanation I know he would once again fail to be able to give to me. Ty chuckled bitingly, plopping himself down on his king sized bed and scrolling through his texts before replying back to me. “Where’s your man at, ‘Brina? Oh that’s right - you don’t have one. Get you one and then give me some mufuckin’ relationship advice, aight?” He shot at me, looking up from his phone now.

“Oh word? So you’re going there again? You know what Michael? Keep runnin’ back to that shakin’ it for dollars ass BITCH! And keep gettin’ cheated on, manipulated-” Tyga cut me off, “Nah. Don’t get mad now because some truth is thrown back at your ass again. It be all good until a nigga remind you that you’re still single, right?” He threw his phone off to the side of him on the bed now, getting hype and using his hands to talk for him. Michael and I had been best friends since high school and we have had these arguments on and off ever since he started dating Chyna. She was this known stripper in our city where we lived; because of that fact, I expected him to drop her like a bad habit the first time she fucked up. But no, Michael continued to go back and forth with her and up and down; their relationship was a turbulent roller coaster. I only argued with him and gave him a piece of my mind because I loved him and refused to sit back and watch a fucking golddiggin’ bitch treat my best friend any kind of way. Ty deserved everything and more, what he really deserved was me. I stopped dropping hints about us being together after he got with Chyna because the fact that he would even be interested in a chick like that, when he had a best friend like me around. It disgusted me to my core, I was au naturale while she was plumped, siliconed out and paid for with cash. I couldn’t stand that shit and so everytime he came running to me with their problems and he always did, I made it a point to tell him how I really felt about it. Honesty was always our motto, except when it came to me telling Ty straight up that I wanted him for myself. That’s why I hadn’t kept a boyfriend long enough or attempted to have one within 6 months or so, I wanted Ty and no one else. I felt my blood boiling immediately; I couldn’t stand it when he took it there. We equally would start to take jabs at each other, until one or both of us leaves and don’t call each other until we’ve calmed down; both apologizing. I swear this bitch has brought on a see-saw friendship between us and I was tired of being dizzy from our up and down. “I’d rather be single any-fucking-day of the week than do what you’re doing! Dating a fucking bitch who probably fucks and sucks niggas in the VIP room for extra dollars so she can buy some fuckin’ Red Bottoms. Low life ass bitch. And since you’re with her, that makes you a low life ass nigga.” I spat at him, my face all frowned up from disdain. My arms were crossed underneath my breasts and I shot looks of daggers in Tyga’s direction. He shot up from the bed, pointing his finger all in my face now, “YO! Watch your fuckin’ mouth, Sabrina. I’m not playing with your ass right now. You not about to straight disrespect me in my house.” He warned. “Fuck you! I see somebody else doesn’t like hearing the truth either, do they?” I laughed cynically and knocked his fingers down from out of my face. “Nah, fuck YOU! You don’t even know what the fuck you talking about.” He bit his lip, breathing hard through his nose and glaring at me before he began to pace around the room a little. “If I’m not right, then why are you so upset then, Ty? Huh? Huh? Calm your ass down if I’m not right.” I spoke just under a yell. He paced some more before he came back to stand in front of me, he was actually shaking a little from how angry he was right now. I’d never seen him this angry before, even with all the times we argued combined. “Sabrina, like I said - you don’t know shit of what you’re talking about. So just shut the fu-” I interjected, “I know that I want you!” I divulged suddenly. I couldn’t even believe I let those words slip from my mouth. Ty’s jaws untightened as he looked me in my eyes; his breathing still rough though. “You what? What did you just say?” I hesitated before I repeated myself, stammering over my once spoken words. “I-I-I said I want you.” Our eyes locked for a minute and for that minute, it seemed that the world around us just stopped with my confession. “I want you, too.” Tyga admitted abruptly. I thought it was a sick joke on me at first. Before my mind could even comprehend and absorb what he’d just said, he was grabbing my face in his hands and pressing his lips into mine. Our lips were slipping and sliding off of one anothers roughly before I slid my tongue into his mouth, searching for his; sucking his tongue hard and slow when our tongues met. Our kiss began to turn very hot and heavy, with me pulling his body in closer to mine. I sucked his tongue down to the tip, before pulling back and pecking his lips; both of us breathing slightly hard from that kiss. Ty continued to look at me for a moment, I think we were both in shock that this was happening. I didn’t even know he felt the same way I had all this time. He grabbed the bottom of my tank top and lifted it up my torso, making me lift my arms up so he could pull it all the way off of me, throwing it. I did the same for him with his wife beater, lifting it up his body and over his head. Ty licked his lips, examining my body because he had never seen me in this light before. He grabbed me by my skirt, playing around with the waistline for a few before he started to pull it down over my hips and watched it fall the rest of the way down. I bit my lip softly, as I moved my hands over to his jeans, unbuttoning and unzipping them and tugging them down his body. We both stepped out of our bottoms, as my hands ran up his small but muscular arms, fire and anticipation coursing through my body. “Ty…” I whispered to him, my hands making their way from his arms over to his chest. Tracing his tattoos with my fingers. “Whassup?” He bit his lip from the way my gentle touch was breaking him out in goosebumps. I could feel them growing on him. “I want you to-” I began to elaborate on what I wanted him to do and how. I should have known he was going to do things his way. I’d known this man for years now, he hated being told what to do, and everytime he was told; he’d always do it opposite or put his own spin on it. “Shhhh.” He put his finger up to my lips. “Follow my lead, 'Brina.” He said my name with so much passion, I’d never heard him call it out like that before. He brought his finger down from my lips and climbed onto the bed, sliding to the middle of it; his bed looked so big compared to him. He grabbed one of his pillows and placed it behind his head comfortably, motioning for me to come join him. I climbed up onto the bed, sliding up his legs and stopping right at his boxers. They had to go; I pulled them down from the waistband, my eyes widening at the sight before them. Ty’s dick was more than I expected, now I knew why Chyna wouldn’t leave him alone; hell who would? I slid them further down as I moved up his legs some more, pulling his boxers off and letting them hit the floor. I went to grab his dick in my hands and wake him all the way up when Ty grabbed my other arm and pulled me up towards his face. “Nah nah, 'Brina. You’ll have plenty of time for that, but first.” His voice got low and deep. “I want that all in my face.” He looked down my body and then back up to my face. I got the hint. I moved my body up his slowly, straddling him the entire way up until I reached his face. Ty slid his hands up under my thighs and pulled me closer to his mouth now, feeling his breath up against me and making my clit throb out for him. He pulled me completely onto his face, his juicy lips covering my clit and his tongue flicking against it slowly at first. “Oooh shit..” I instantly moaned out, his warm tongue flicking up against my clit was heaven. I hadn’t felt a mans touch in a very long time. Ty pressed his tongue flat up against my clit, moving it up and down now; letting it slide down to slip inside of me fast and taste me. He groaned out against my pussy, sending vibrations throughout as he brought his tongue right back up to my clit to suck on it softly. I grabbed onto his head with both hands, rocking my hips against his tongue, only making him slide right back inside of me. I bit my bottom lip hard, throwing my head back as I rolled constantly into him, loving the way his tongue was stroking me. He would curve his long tongue upward so that it was hitting my g-spot and sending crazy moans rolling off of my lips. “Ahhhh fuck. Yes yes yes, right there..” I moaned out to him loudly through clenched teeth, only picking up my pace against his tongue, bouncing slightly now. His tongue was working wonders inside of me as I pulled back a little, making his tongue travel back up to my clit where I rolled myself against him hard; his tongue swirling around my clit effortlessly. Constantly moving against his tongue and the way he was working me was making me feel like I was about to cum. That feeling was growing and it was getting stronger, with every stroke his tongue made on my clit. He’d alternate afterwords and slip his tongue back down inside of me, making it stiff and sliding in and out of me. I began to grind against his tongue harder now, gripping his head tighter in my hands; thrusting myself into his tongue completely and rolling my hips so his tongue was making small circles around my clit while he sucked on it. “Tyyyyyy. Fuckk me.” I whined out to him, as my breathing began to pick up. That feeling that seemed to spread out across my whole body and make my toes curl up was coming in and it was coming in strong. I think Ty could tell I was about to explode all over him, so he dipped his tongue inside of me one last time, gripping my ass tight in his hands and forcing me to bounce on his tongue. A few long strokes of his tongue inside of me and I was cumming all over it; non-stop until I stopped shaking profusely and grabbing his head all types of hard. I slid back off of his mouth and looked behind me as I made my way down his body, leaving a trail of my juices all the way down. His dick stood straight up in the air, awaiting my pussys arrival as I grabbed it in my hand and slid back further; situating it for my opening. My hand gripped the base of his dick as I slowly slid myself down onto him, hearing Ty groan out from my tight warmth covering him. I too gasped and moaned out as he filled me up all the way. “Oh my Goddd.” I whispered as I began to rock myself on top of him, pulling his dick with my pussy in and out of me, but still gripping him tightly. I almost came instantly from the way he fit inside of me and was rubbing up against my g-spot. “Shittt.” I hissed out at him. Ty grabbed my hips, pulling me forward repeatedly onto him, making me rock harder; his dick slipping out of me just enough. I loved the way it felt when he’d slip out slightly and then I slammed back down on him. “Goddamn, Sabrina.” Ty moaned out; thrusting himself up inside of me harder now. “Take this dick..” He instructed. The harder he slammed into me, the harder I came back down on him. We were fucking the shit out of each other; I began to bounce on his dick hard while squeezing my muscles around him. “Ahh, I’M.TAKING.THIS.DICK! Fuuuuuck!” I screamed out in between breaths, as Ty went even harder inside of me, bouncing me hard. I rolled my hips as he bounced me on his dick, making him rock in and out of me harder than ever and feeling my walls begin to tighten around him. “Fuck, 'Bri, you gonna cum on this dick?” He grunted out, never slowing down his thrusts upward into me. “Make me cum on this dick.” I growled down at him, looking right into his eyes. Ty bit his bottom lip so hard, gripping a hold of my hips even tighter now, literally slamming me back down on his dick. Everytime he’d slam me down, I rolled my hips fast against him, feeling my orgasm building up quickly. “Yessssss, Tyyy.” I yelped out to him, causing him to smirk and roll his hips along with me, thrusting repeatedly into me. “Cum with me, 'Brina… fuuuuck, cum with me. I’m about to c-cum.” He spoke low, with his jaw clenched as he focused his last few strokes into me. As soon as I felt his dick swelling inside of my pussy, it was what sent me over the egde and into my orgasm. The last time I came down on his dick was when I busted all over him, rolling my hips still as I came. Ty came all inside of me, his warmness filling me up only made my orgasm prolonged; I loved the way he felt inside of me. “YESSSSSS, SHIT! SHIT! FUCKKK.” I screamed out, planting my hands on his chest hard as I continued to roll myself onto him, watching Ty’s facial expressions change from his eyes rolling back in his head to him watching me still cumming for him. I slowed down on top of him as my orgasm came to an end, but my breathing was still uneven, as I leaned into him with my hands, pulling him in and out of me slowly. “Daaaaamn, 'Brina.” Ty chuckled, licking his lips slowly. “What?” I giggled, blushing now that it was all said and done. “Nothin’. Just damnnn.” He smirked up at me, pulling me by my hands and making me fall into him. “So where does this leave us? Because after sex like that, ain’t no way we can still be just friends.” “I mean, you clearly know now what I want and have been wanting all this time.” I confessed for a second time today. “Honestly, I been wantin’ the same thing. Just didn’t know how to approach you about it, because I thought you never looked at a nigga that way.” I gave him a face, sucking my teeth. “Ty, I’ve wanted you since high school. Don’t play.” “Forreal? Then I’m mad at both of us. This should not have been the first time I tasted that pussy… goddamn.” He bit his bottom lip as I felt him growing again inside of me. “Mmmm. Show me how mad you are.” I teased him, ready for round two now.

Author | Kierra Posted | May 2012

#fantasiesxwritten #tyga #original story #smut #tyga smut

[dailyaudiobible]

03/03/2020 DAB Transcript

Leviticus 27:14- Numbers 1:54, Mark 11:1-26, Psalms 46:1-11, Proverbs 10:23

Today is the 3rd day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian and I’m faking like I'm not tired. But safely back in the rolling hills of Tennessee. So, good to be home. But, yeah, you leave parts of yourself behind…like things have to catch up. And, so, jet lag can be so disorienting. But right now these hours are a good time. So, it's great to be here with you and to move forward in the Scriptures. And today we will conclude the book of Leviticus, and I then we will begin the book of Numbers and we’ll talk about that we get there. But first, Leviticus 27 verse 14 through 34.

Introduction to the book of Numbers:

Okay. So, that concludes the book of Leviticus, which brings us to the opening pages of the book of Numbers. And as we go into the book of Numbers we’ll encounter like review and it might feel redundant. It might be like, “haven't we just…like didn’t we hear this already?” And, so, that can be tedious, but there's something going on underneath this that's important because we’re now switching from the first generation of…of Hebrew slaves that came out of Egypt and moving toward an emerging generation of people. And much…much has happened under Moses leadership. So, they’ve seen God show up miraculously in their midst and His…His mighty power is among them, and then they received the law, but now they have to actually live the law because…because God's giving the order. It's time to move out. It's time for them to move into the Promise Land. Like now they have the law, now they've established themselves, now it's go time. It's time to go to the Promise Land. And, so, we we’ll see in the book of Numbers, spies that are sent into the land and kind of get this first glimpse of what this land of promise might look like. And we’ll also watch…watch this generation completely disqualify themselves from the promise. And there's plenty of parallels for our lives. So, let's…let’s just dive in to the third book of the Old Testament, the book of Numbers chapter 1.

Commentary:

Okay. In the book of Mark, Jesus has entered Jerusalem. This is His final visit. This…He has not been arrested yet, but we’re in that story. An it’s so weird because it's like just a couple days ago…just a couple days ago we were like walking the path that we were reading out of the gospel of Mark. So, it's like immediately poignant…poignant to me in spite of being jetlagged and everything. It’s like very, very immediate. And one thing I want to point out as we’re going through the story this time is the cleansing of the temple. And we can make a theological statement about the cleansing of the temple but let’s just make a practical statement about cleansing the temple. Let’s just imagine what's happening here because a lot of times we can read through these stories…like when I read them…I've heard this story of Jesus…I mean this is a flannel board Sunday school story for me. And, so, I always thought like, “of course, Jesus, you know, he would, you know, tip over the money changers. Like, of course He would cleanse the temple, and everybody should get on board and there’s no problem.” Now on the flannel boards it was always like a really small thing. You know, like he let some birds go and he tipped over a table with coins and they fell out on the ground. It was like a small thing. That’s not the story. So, like…and I’m thinking like, “what kind…how could we do this?” Let’s picture…let’s picture our local courthouse, okay? And if we’re in a big city, then there's probably like a, you know, a larger courthouse made out of stone and there's big stairs and you go up into it and these are the halls of justice. And maybe your famous, maybe you're not. Maybe if…maybe people…you’re well-known. Jesus had become well known. So, maybe you’re kind of well-known, but you don't go to that courthouse to stand outside on the sidewalk with a sign as you're permitted to do because you have a disagreement with a case or with the justice system or whatever. Your protesting, which is your right but instead you actually walk up those stairs, go in, go through security, go in and start disrupting inside in the different courtrooms, you start throwing things around and you start yelling, “this is all corrupt. This whole system is not what it was intended to be.” Like you’re saying these things and you’re throwing things around. That's kind of similar to the scenario we have going here. So, it's almost as if Jesus is provoking this. Doing what I just said in a courthouse would have you more than arrested, more than quickly. What Jesus was doing would have been considered vandalism at best and profaning the temple. So, things that would get Him arrested and it’s like He almost purposely pulled the last straw because at this point, they are determined to destroy Jesus.

Prayer:

Jesus, we thank You for the opportunity as we read through the Scriptures that we can encounter this story a number of times and see it from a number of perspectives and explore it thoroughly because this is the story of why we are here and why there is hope. And, so, we thank You for allowing us to just peer into the story and have context and be able to visualize it and we ask that You open the eyes of our heart. Give us eyes to see we ask in Your precious name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

What is going on around here? I don't know. What's going on around here is I'm trying to figure out where I’m at. That’s how jet lag works. Every year I get back I know I'm back. Everything looks like how I left it. It’s…it's my house. Like it's…this is…this is where I live, but it also feels foreign because I've been on such a…such a journey that has some much emotion and heart locked into it that it's almost as if part of me is still there taking the next flight and all of me has not assembled yet. That takes a couple of days to kinda get switched back over and start feeling like your feet are on the ground again. I doubt that I am the only one who has ever experienced this. I doubt that I'm the only one experiencing this now for all of us who have…or who are returning from our pilgrimage to Israel. So, hang in there. I've done this a lot of times. It gets better. It just takes a couple of days. Take it easy. It's fascinating how much got poured into us, how much knowledge and how much heart, just how much we were rooted in that story. And it’s just way, way, way, way, way too much to comprehend. And I said all that at the beginning of the journey when we are having our opening dinner. And it’s just way, way…but it's all there. Like all the experiences that we have and all things that we see, we may not be able to consciously bring them up but they’re there. And over the next month’s they'll just continue to seep into our lives and keep informing us so. It’s good, good, good to be home and that's kind of what's going on around here. So, thank you for your prayers as we make this transition back.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage and I…I am grateful beyond words for those of you who have clicked that link. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, you can just hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today on Brian. I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Dear heavenly Father I just want to come to You today Lord and lift up all the stay at home parents, the moms the dads the grandparents Lord that stay at home with her children. God, I pray right now that You would give them extra energy Lord extra comfort. God, I know it times it…it feels for…for me I feel isolated or lonely Lord Jesus like no one understands but God I know that’s just the enemy. And God I pray right now if there’s anyone that feels like that, that stays at home with their kids on a consistent basis Lord that You would uplift them, that You would know that what they are doing matters Lord, that they are sowing seeds into the next generations coming up behind them. God, I ask that You would drown out the noise of the enemy, that they would know that they are precious in Your sight Lord Jesus, what they are doing. God these children are such a precious gift from You. Lord You say in Your word that children are gifts from the Lord. And God I believe that, and I thank You. Thank You from my children Lord. Thank You for all these other DAB family members Lord who get to pour into their kids every day. Thank You Lord that I get to see them throughout the day, for the ones I get to send them off to school, for the ones that come home from school, I’m here and I thank You that is a privilege I don’t take lightly. But God I know sometimes I feel so by myself God. So, fill me today, fill others today. For those who are struggling Lord Jesus just give them a new fresh awakening, a fresh touch from You. May Your Holy Spirit overflow in their lives and the joy of the Lord be upon them. We pray all these things in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Truly Thankful Taylor from the DFW Metroplex. Love You guys blessings in Jesus Christ. Have a wonderful day. Bye-bye.

Good morning this is Wanda Manning from Kansas City. I guess you could call me Sword for the Lord from KC. I just wanted to tell Michael Davis that I got your message this morning. I’m listening to the 23rd so I’m about a day behind but I wanted to let you know how encouraging it was to hear from you and hear how well you and your brother are doing. And I’m so grateful to God that your auntie and your cousin are taking great care of you guys. Man what a voice of encouragement to come across the virtual lines this morning because to hear from you I’m sure just like myself you have encouraged so many others with just the…the joy that’s in your voice and just to hear that you’re pressing forward and that you’re continuing to believe God for all His goodness and all His great grace and mercy for you and your family. So, I’m just so encouraged by your call this morning, so encouraged by your words this morning and so thankful that you chose to share with us again an update on how you and your brother are doing. I’ll continue to keep you guys lifted up in prayer. Thank you again for sharing. Sword for the Lord in KC. Bye for now.

Hey family it’s Jesse in Washington. I’ve been meaning to call for a week or so. I need prayers from my marriage. It’s just been so hard the last few months and it’s like the more blessings we get the harder our relationships…our relationship gets. And it’s clearly, you know, a spiritual attack, but I just wish there was a break from it, you know. It’s just…it seems like it’s one thing after another and getting so burnt out on my efforts bearing so little fruit. And I know that’s the game but it’s super frustrating. I’m…I’m tired of feeling lonely. I’m tired of not having anyone to talk to or no one that will listen to me. I just have this like weight on my heart and I don’t know what to do. I mean, keep moving forward obviously. It just doesn’t seem like it gets easier. It seems like every time we make progress it just steps that bar up and now, we have to fight even harder. And I guess maybe that’s part of…part of the game too but it’s just hard. I’m tired of my heart feeling so heavy, you know? And I’m tired of apologizing for…I guess perceived wrongs or putting myself in the grave for other people’s offenses. And I…I…I’m not perfect at all. I’m just…it’s getting…

Hi DAB family it’s Carla from Las Vegas. I am driving around in Las Vegas today and listening to the community prayer from last Saturday and wanted to pray for a few people. Carrie from Utah I heard your request for prayers about your marriage. I am praying for your marriage. Dustin you were leaving the hospital, you’re in pain. I am praying for you my brother. Arielle, I heard lots of prayers for you and I just want you to know that I joined everybody in praying for you. Harold, I was hooping it up when I heard you praying for other people because we’ve been praying for you and the gift goes on. His little Cherry from Canada, yes, you have been missed. I actually remember the mud pie story and I actually remember what I was doing when I heard your initial call about the mud pie. I was mowing my lawn with my earbuds in. So, yes, you are somebody that’s very precious to our community. Praying for the Israel trip. I’m watching all the pictures you’re posting and I’m thankful for all of those. Michael, thank you for calling in to let us know how you and Elijah are doing. You continue to be in my players. Charisse, I am still praying for you. I pray that you are out of the hospital now and with your children. Julie, thank you…Julie from Texas thank you for calling about the twins being home and healed. Thank you, Jesus. I’m asking for prayer. I’m still looking for a job. I’m actually on my way to a job interview right now. I have started dating my ex-husband. He’s pretty sick. And, so, I’m asking for healing for him. It’s chronic illness and…and it’s been ongoing. So, it’s…it’s kind of all-consuming. I am leaving tomorrow to go visit my granddaughter in Colorado. She’s five months old. I can’t wait. And just a reminder that Lent is…Lent starts today and it’s a season where we, leading up to Easter, where we can love more and more deeply. I love you all. Have a great day. Bye.

Hi family this is Terry from Southern California. Today I was listening to the podcast and I heard Tina, a brand-new listener and she was calling to just let everybody know that she’s enjoying the podcast and that she’s also found a little church and how she didn’t grow up, you know, with the word of God. And, you know, Tina when you are talking you kind of reminded me of myself. I’m much older than you are now, I’m in my 50s but I too didn’t get to know the Lord until I was in my 20s. And _ the church at all and I’ve been on this journey now for over 30 years…about 30 years. And, so, I just want to just applaud you and just say a blessing over you that you have made the best choice ever and that you just continue on this pathway. I used to say if I could __ ride that Disney land used to offer but it will be an adventure, it will just help out some rocky places but the most beautiful thing about it is you won’t go it alone knowing that you’ll have the DABber family, you’ll have the church family and you will have people praying for you all the time. And I just want to encourage you Tina to stay on the journey, never take your hand out of God’s unchanging hand. I’m so grateful that God changes not. He’s the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And, so, God bless you and we will be lifting you up in prayer. Thank you for calling in. I look forward to hearing your…your praise reports and your prayer requests as well. And to all the DABber family, always know I’m lifting everybody up in prayer. Continue to lift by family up in prayers too. I have teenagers and as you guys know I trade off __ and I continue to put him on the altar because, you know, he’s a young man making…

Hey DAB family Broken Tony here, here with my beautiful wife __ . You want to say hi? Hi everyone. We just wanted to call in and say thank you for everyone for all the prayers that you prayed and to give thanks to God right where it belongs for the healings that He’s bringing to our family and the blessings that He brings to our family. Want to…just be so grateful for the DAB family. Listen, call in. If you haven’t called in, call in when you have a need. Get on the DAB friends on Facebook. Put your needs down. You have an incredible community, one of the greatest church communities that exists out there. Use it, that’s wat we’re here for. Prayers work. It worked for us. Guys, we love you so much. Thanks again.

Good morning DABber’s it is 4 AM in Florida this is Florida Charlie Oscar Poppa giving a hello. I’m reaching out to the DABber family because I need prayer. I need prayer for my family, prayer for my parents and my siblings. Some days you try to, I guess, kinda do everything on our own and try to help and do as much as you can to help your family members and do things right but it’s just some days it gets too much. So, if you guys just could keep me in prayer. I’m here right now working, getting ready to get off shift. Had a busy night. And also, if you could keep the law enforcement family in prayer. These…these…these cities really need Jesus. When you go out and about and you patrol your area and see the hardships that people are going through, the demonic strongholds, it really takes a toll on you. But I know God is faithful. And, so, just keep me in prayer, keep my family in prayer and pray for our nation. Thank you. Love you all. Look forward to hearing you all on the prayer line. God bless. Bye-bye.