#by season 7 she doesn’t give a fuck though

[ifwebefriends]

Fluttershy hitting up Rarity at 3am circa season 4: umm,,,if I started dating Discord would you and the rest be weird about it???? be honest 🥺🥺🥺

#I feel like around that time she would need reassurance #by season 7 she doesn’t give a fuck though #and they were cool with discord by like season 6 #fluttercord #fluttershy #discord #mlp discord #mlp fim #mlp friendship is magic #mlp #mlp g4 #mlp: fim #mlpfim #rarity #the mane six #my little pony #my little pony friendship is magic

[makncheese12]

Top Shelf

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Jenna Ortega x fem!reader

Masterlist

Summary: being the kid of a well-known book store owner was easy, so was running into famous people. But being book smart doesn’t make everyone people smart.

Warnings: my writing, language(bad words😯), my attempt at being funny, mention of gun shots and head shots, mentions of my favorite book(literally love Ruta Sepetys sm omg.

A/N: part 2? I am going to make you all suffer through the most oblivious slow burn. R if going to be so dumb/oblivious it’ll hurt you all🫶🏻

Word count - 3.6k

Credits: @novmoth (my friend from school who feeds into my delusions and gives me more ideas for this story🫶🏻)

(bare with me English is not my first language🥲 I’m getting help from my friend to edit it)

You were born to it.

The books. The films. The music and video games.

It was your life, literally. With your parents being owners of the infamous establishment called ‘top shelf’, you had no choice but to.

And you wouldn’t ever change.

Books upon books, movie after movie, games old and new and music that could last you weeks. Who would want to change such a life?

Your father was the first to start it.

He was poor man in Washington but had just enough money to buy it from the man who owned the small movie shop before he retired. He slowly started added book shelves and video games to the mix. Getting few customers but enough to survive day to day during the time of his early years

Your mother was a wealthy run away. Wanting something different and new in her life when she met your father. The man was playing on his game boy behind the counter before he saw her.

The poor boy and his run away wife, a classic really.

The rest after that is history.

As soon as they found out your mother was pregnant with you, they used the rest of her money they saved and went to New York where they bought the huge abandoned apartment complex.

They broke all the insides down and built what you now know as your second home. Hundreds of video games, films and music in one section and thousands of books in another.

Thus, Top Shelf was born only two weeks after you.

You met many friends there in the comfort section where students and business people worked as you all goofed off.

Your had also met your small friend group during your younger years, the four of you all never letting your father have the peace he wanted and dragging him all over New York.

With the thousands of books and hundreds of video games and films your parents sold, you had money. Lots of it.

But your mother made sure you never let that get the best of you, never. It went against everything she went for when she ran away.

She would make sure you would work for and earn everything you got, always.

She never let you have too much online activity, in case her family found you and made sure you were both street smart and book smart.

Your neighbors made sure you were street smart more than anything but you still gave her credit for trying.

Though, the book store was beautiful in every season. Winter was a favorite and when it was busiest. It was too your favorite.

Your father lighting the public fire place, your mother setting soft seasonal music, hell even the cheesy Christmas cartoons on the TV’s set the mood for the perfect bookstore vibe.

The lights dim just enough to where it almost felt like dark academy yet the plants that grew down the upstairs railing made the entire place feel more alive.

————

“Bullshit!” You yell out as you throw your head back onto the head rest of your chair, groaning loudly as the photo sound of your death snapped in your ears.

“Man, he’s fucking using cheats!” Dru calls out through the mic before his name pops up above to yours in dark red on the screen as you respawn.

“Of course he is, he’s a pussy.” Mj says, as her name, too, pops up on the screen.

“Oh come on, guys!” Lyle says through his staticky mic. “You all just suck.” He laughs

“Now I know your cheating, dude. Your mic is acting up again, just like last time!” Dru says, the sound of his voice booming louder than needed and you roll my eyes.

“DD, just because you like to replay games without using cheats doesn’t mean the rest of us do.” Lyle says in a matter-of-fact tone.

“It’s multiplayer, stupid! It’s meant to be fair for everyone!” Dru says making you snort. “Says the guy who chases around little kids and steals their horses making them cry.” Mj says making Dru blow into his mic making loud, unnecessary noises.

“Quit that!” You say taking one head phone off your ear. “Tsk tsk tsk,” Lyle starts. “Such a sore loser.”

“I’ll show you sore loser, get on Elden ring and we’ll test your irritation.” Dru says, mic now muffled by his own spit.

“Your tank build is not enough to stop me, comet azur will always save the day.” He says in a sing-song voice.

“And you call me a try hard, yet you’re the one always using a broken spell.” Dru complains. “Theres nothing I have to try hard at when I can just hold a simple button.” The sound of Dru’s groans become louder as his spit clears out from his Mic. “Same thing!”

You laugh once again before picking up your phone and looking at the time.

“Shit!” Your eyes go wide at the sight, 8:48 AM.

You quickly throw the head set off and push yourself out of the chair, opening your closet grabbing a quick pair of jeans and a hoodie before rushing to put it all on.

Your cat skids across the floor, startled by your sudden movements before a crashing in the your pile of books and out the door.

“Shit, shit, shit,” you mumble as you jump up and down to put on your shoes, failing at not falling and race toward the door. “Sorry!” You call to your cat who yells at you next to his food bowl.

You grab your keys and rush out the door before slamming it shut and locking it.

“Ay, y/n!” Your neighbor, Rosa, shouts from beside her door. “Quiet will you! I just put Nona to sleep!” She yells raising her news paper tapping your head with it.

“Sorry! sorry, Señora Rosa.” You whisper yell as you try to push her weaponized hand away. “I’m just a little late.”

“And I just got a moment of peace! Quiet!” She says giving you one last wack making you try and shrink away from her as you rush toward the stairs.

“You got your pepper spray, right?” She calls and you raise your key chain to show her the attached small can. “¡Buena niña!”

You rush down the stairs and push passed the glass door, almost slipping on the ice before running down the street.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket making you quickly take it out.

“Hello?” You ask without knowing who it was.

“Arthur Morgan would be very disappointed at your sudden disappearance from an important mission.” Lyle says before sighing.

“It’s multiplayer, there are no main missions.” You say, trying to avoid the ice on the ground before stopping at the red hand across the street. “Plus, we were in the middle of four way 1v1. He’d be more upset that we were going against each other.”

“Loyalty is everything in such a game,” he says, sarcasm in his voice and you imagine him shaking his head. “Of course he would be upset at my bullet in DD’s head.”

“Why’d you call me exactly?” You ask watching the hand turn into a green man walking before taking off again.

“Well, you just yelled ‘shit!’ Before disappearing on us, had to make sure someone didn’t break in and kill you.” He replies casually as if he knew that weren’t the case. “But after hearing you continue on your ‘shit’ rant and the door slam I figured it was okay, just had to call and make sure, y’know?”

“Ever heard of a text, loser?” You ask, barley missing a man walking and looking down at his phone. “Gross,” he says before making a gagging noise. “why waste such time typing when I can simply just hit one button?”

“You’re so lazy.” You laugh out loud as you run across another street. “Work smarter not harder, Y/N. You should know this with that big brain of yours.”

“What if I want to work both smarter and harder?” You ask, running up to the glass window to see the books lined up. “Well, then your just weird.” You roll your eyes.

“Just kidding. I guess you can do both, I just personally prefer the alternative.” He says as the sound of guns shooting fills the phone. “Yeah, also sorry about leaving.” You say pushing into the store being greeting with the familiar smell of books and the warm smile of my mother.

“I forgot I had to get ready for work.”

“You’re at top shelf?” He ask and you reply with a ‘mhm’. “I might stop by later to say hello actually, I need a new game anyway.” He laughs as the sound of Dru yelling in the back ground becomes more prominent.

“Sounds good, see you loser” You say as you take your sweat shirt off, leaving you in your tank top you hand before leaving. “Later,” you hear him say before hanging up.

“Good morning,” you hear your mother say as you pull the staff sweat shirt over your head and pull up your sleeves. “Mornin’,” you reply before kissing her cheek.

“Wheres dad?” You ask looking around before your eyes setting on the woman stack a pile of books into one pile.

“He’s going to be out of town for a few days,” she says carrying the pile to the check back station. “A vacation, I insisted as I continue your training.” She says making you smile.

“We both know he needs it, he’s getting older.” She says and your smile fades as you nod. “So are you.” You mumble and she, too, nods.

“You know him getting old is different from me getting old.” She states, sighing quietly.

“What’s todays task?” You ask, quickly changing the subject at the sight of her sad frown. She looks at you for a moment before smiling once again.

She moves to storage closet and unlocks it, allowing you to see the boxes upon boxes along with stacks of different other things.

“To be a good store owner, you have to know your customers.” She says returning with a large box that you quickly take from her.

“Just put it on that table — and to know your customers, you must socialize and help them throughout the store.” She finishes as you take the box to the table noticing the label romance written across it.

“That also means having to work while helping the customers, so you’ll be on stock duty as well.” She says with a smile.

Yes.

You mentally say to yourself. Stock duty required work of you finding the places of different books, movies and games which also meant finding new things you didn’t know about before.

“One more thing,” you mother says as she walks behind the counter to finish opening up the store. “No head phones.” Your eyes go wide.

“But ma!” You call out to the lady who switches the sign from closed to open. “What else am I supposed to do when I stock!” You call, holding onto the white cords and swinging them around.

“Help the customers and socialize.” She laughs out making you frown. “I should call CPS.” You mumble carrying the box to the sorted area before hearing the woman’s laugh.

“Sure, call ahead but don’t be disappointed when they decline a twenty year old.”

You roll your eyes before continuing down the aisle.

“And after you sort those, get the others out of the storage closet!” You huff quietly as you glance back with a small playful glare on your face.

“If I wanted to work out, I would have gone to the gym.” You say and she rolls her eyes. “You’ll be just as sore in the morning, trust me.”

————

Hours hand passed, since you last seen the romance box having moved on to the horror section of the films.

You search through their placement areas, looking at all the old cinematic master pieces, the many Dracula films placed neatly next to each other, in order of both year and name.

Horror was one of the favorites when coming here, your father being a collected through his years he had many people couldn’t get their hands on.

Sure you could watch it online now but where’s the fun in that when you have a real copy with the static noises and written voices on screen. Some people still had some class left in them.

You hear a book hit the floor making the library echo as heads turned toward the cause of the sudden interruption of their silence.

“Shit—” You hear someone say quietly, making you roll your eyes as you place the rest of the CD’s in their rightful places before making your way toward the aisle the noise came from.

You subtly make your way toward the aisle while acting like your checking the books before taking a peek around the corner.

You see a rather short girl — shorter than the third shelf — craning her neck to look up at all the books in front of her.

Just to your luck, your mother placed a box for that genre next to the end of the shelf and you picked it up.

You make your way down the aisle and set the box toward the middle before looking up the girl who was already staring, and boy was she something.

Freckles littered across her tan skin, strands of her short hair fell from her half up half down style, her eyes — damn her eyes — they were the prettiest brown you’ve ever seen.

You smile lightly before picking up the first book and reading both the authors name and the title while trying to slow down your racing heart.

Who was this girl? Matter of fact, what was she? She wasn’t a regular, that’s for sure but you always get random people coming in so it didn’t exactly matter.

After putting away a few books, you glance up to see the girl a few feet away and on her tippy toes, reaching for a book on the fifth or sixth shelf.

You snorted quietly catching the girls attention making you quickly look away to keep yourself from laughing.

“You think this is funny?” She asks and you begin shaking in quiet laughter.

After a few moments, you compose yourself and stand shaking your head.

“No, not at all. Would you like some help?” You ask taking step toward her. She narrows her eyes. “Are you making fun of me right now?” She asks, both amusement and annoyance in her voice.

“Why would I do that? It’s poor customer service.” You say with a smile before watching her own smile grow.

“It’s poor customer service to laugh at a customer.” She mumbles before stepping back. “Please.” You walk up and grab the book.

“Look how easy that was.” She says, taking the book you held out for her. “Being six-foot-two does have its perks.” She says looking over the back of the book.

You roll your eyes but your smile only grows. Looking down at the book you nod and raise your eye brows, “that’s a good one, read it a few years back.” You say, making your way back to box of books.

“I’d hope so, for all the work I had to do to try and get it.” She mumbles making you smile and shake your head. “Anything else good?” She asks, looking down to you.

“You’re asking me if there’s anything else good in here when there’s just by the look of it thousands of books here?” You ask, smirking at her when she rubs the back of her neck.

“Yes, there is, I’ve read more than I can count. My recommendation board is up by the front desk if you want to check it out.” You say before placing crave by Tracy Wolff into the slot.

“You must have come here a lot before working then? If you’ve read so many books from here.” She asks, following hot on your trail with the book tucked between her arm. “Oh, for sure,” you say nodding. “The owners and I are real close, we were together a whole nine months before I was born.”

Her eyes widen slightly at the information. “You’re parents own this place?” She asks, gesturing to the entire book store and you nod, smiling.

It felt like you were a teenage boy, flaunting his muscles to a girl he finds attractive.

“Wow,” she says looking around once again. Book still tucked tightly into her arm as she did so. “Just wow. Your parents have taste.”

“More like their people pleasers.” You say shaking your head. The real other reason why horror is so popular in the movie section is because of their request.

Every week they check their request list and buy everything people ask for. New books, new movies, new music and games, there’s always something new. You’re surprised there’s still room, then again the place would be as big you supposed.

“They like having their customers choice their number one priority. It’s good business.” You say looking up to the girl who had a look of wonder in her eyes as she stared down at you but there was also something else. Something you couldn’t quite place.

She stares at you for another moment before speaking again, “do you.. know who I am?” She asks and your furrow your eye brows in question.

“Should I?” You ask tilting your head. She stares for another moment again, eyes scanning your face and it’s features as if searching for something.

Her smile then grows, as she shakes her head. “You shouldn’t, or rather shouldn’t have to. It’s just a surprise.” She says, tucking her hair behind her ear.

You knit your eye brows together in confusion.

She walks out of the aisle and you catch the light smile on her face as she does.

What the hell? You wonder to yourself as you place the last few books away.

You were pretty sure that was the last section, unless your mother put out some more stuff you didn’t notice. You’d just check out the to-do list.

Your mother and father always had one for both you and their own sake. Adding things so no one would forget.

As you made your way to check out, you see the girl walking in the general distraction as well.

“All set?” You ask, placing the box inside the others, moving past the small door attached to the low counter.

“Yep,” she says once again staring at you.

You take the book you got for her earlier along with another you recognize almost immediately. “Between shades of gray?” You ask, looking at her as if she were serious.

“Your description seemed trust worthy enough to make me interested.” You glance over to see your board clearly flipped through before nodding.

You scan both books. “Careful, it’s sad, dark and traumatic. It’s one of my favorites though.” You say looking up at her, she pauses for a moment, staring at you once again and just smiles and shakes her head.

“I think I can deal with a few of those.”

“Bartering or buying?” You ask. “Bartering,” she replies and you nod. “Good, I need to get a review on what you think.” You say with a smirk and you see a glint of something in her eyes.

“Name?” You ask and she looks at you a little confused. “We have to know whose using our books, how else do you think we send emails threatening to charge or get them back?” You snort.

“Oh, your totally right.” she says quietly before taking out her credit card.

“Jenna Ortega..” she says and you nod, typing in the name before reaching for the credit. Her grip on the card tightens at your lack of response.

You pull the card gently but her grip is to hard for you to take.

“Can I… get the card?” You ask, looking around slightly uncomfortably with the stone like stare she was giving you.

“Are you sure you don’t know who I am?” She asks letting go allowing you to swipe the card.

“Again, should I?”

You both stare at each other, both confused and entrapped by the other.

You find is strange how she thinks you know who she is or why you don’t know her.

Maybe she was some big deal somewhere off and you still have yet to hear about her.

Her name did ring a bell but you weren’t sure. Was she a person you knew from your child hood? An old friend trying to reconnect? Maybe some relative on your moms sent by the older ones to investigate if it was really you.

“Miss Ortega?” You’re both broken out of your thoughts as two large men stand behind her. “Time to go.” he says gesturing to a few people who were standing and staring in your general direction.

One grabs the bag off the counter before quickly walking towards the door.

“Looks like I gotta go,” she says, smile now suddenly shy with others watching. “Don’t worry, I’ll return your book Y/N.” She says before walking toward the door, one of the men right behind her.

“Yeah, you bet-“ you pause after the the realization hits you. “Wait, how’d you-?” You begin to ask before watching her gesture to her chest.

You knit your eyebrows together, you look down to see the name tag right under the library symbol.

She was strange.. cute.. but strange

Read next sort here!

A/N : Some parts once again rushed🧍🏽‍♀️This is just an introduction I suppose, the details will get better I tried my hardest🥲

#jenna ortega #jenna ortega x reader #celebrity x reader #top shelf #book store #book store owner #scream #Wednesday Addams #Vada Cavell #tara carpenter #scream 5 #scream 6 #jenna ortega imagine #jenna ortega fanfic #jenna ortega x you

[s-brant]

okay for my steve girlies i’m just having some thoughts abt him as a boyfriend rn that i cannot get out of my head so you’ll have to put up with this.

as a partner i feel like he’d be the most touchy person on the face of the earth. constantly having his hands on you in a casual way whether it be holding hands, pulling you onto his lap to sit there even when there’s a spot open right next to him, standing behind you with an arm wrapped around you, playing with your hair/clothes/jewelry, and so on. he’s probably very touch-starved so i feel like he would be on you 24/7 and very shameless in terms of PDA because he’s just dying to have someone to love. robin and dustin would fake gag in the background but he could care less. also he gives me the vibes of someone who is just constantly warm. like the human incarnation of a furnace, so cozy and inviting in terms of cuddling.

boyfriend steve in season two was very cute to me (i.e: him coming to apologize with flowers even though he literally didn’t even know what he was sorry for because she was the one who hurt him, trying to cut her off when she was drinking too much/take care of her) so i can only imagine he’d be an even sweeter boyfriend in the later seasons with his character growth. i picture him being chivalrous for some reason, like always opening the car door for you, wordlessly taking off his jacket to put it over your shoulders when it’s cold and you stubbornly didn’t wear one, and not wanting you to pay for dinner even though his salary at family video is probably not that great. long story short he is a simp and very romantic. i feel like that’s just canon at this point but i digress.

anyway for the sexy stuff you’re gonna have to go under the cut

okay here we GO

i personally feel, despite my love for the kinkier fics, that steve is pretty vanilla in bed. at least, until he’s exposed to something new by a partner? like i feel that he would be open to trying certain things with you because duh you’re you and he loves you and why wouldn’t he wanna try slightly freaky shit with you, but it’s not something he just thinks up himself if that makes sense? but that doesn’t mean he can’t rock your world, let’s be 100% clear on that. this man eats pussy like it’s a five course meal and i will die on that hill. he’d get so into it, his eyes would close and he’d make soft little noises into you every time you pull on his hair UGH. you sitting on his face is probably his favorite thing you two have ever done because, honestly, suffocation between your thighs is a great way to go as far as he’s concerned.

also, it’s canon at this point that he’s hung right? did that originate from joe keery’s bulge in those tight ass vintage levi’s? probably, but it’s a steve thing now and i wholeheartedly agree with the fandom’s unanimous decision that he has unparalleled big dick energy. that being said, i also feel like he knows how to use it. a lot of well endowed guys aren’t that great because they’re like “oh i have big dick so sex with me is good already and i don’t need to do anything” but steve is a ladies man. he knows what he’s doing, and he doesn’t even need the buffer of kinks and shit to fuck you stupid. and he would be soooo cocky about it. i feel like he would be into degradation and dumbification a bit. he loves the fact that you are basically rendered useless when he’s fucking you open with his thick cock, caging you in with his arms by your head and cooing at you while the room is filled with the wet sound of him pounding into you. the filthiest he gets is whispering stuff like, “look at you. hardly even fucked you yet and you’re already a dumb little slut for me, huh?” like he can get nasty but i feel like it wouldn’t go far beyond dirty talk like that.

then there comes the hopeless romantic in him that cannot resist the opportunity to make love to you. i fully believe he is one of the people who seeks out that type of intimacy more often than the type in the paragraph above simply because he is so needy to be loved. his parents literally have never been in the show and never seem to care, he hasn’t had a steady girlfriend since nancy, and he doesn’t exactly get affection from other people in his life, so he would be absolutely insatiable with you.

his favorite kind of lovemaking is that slow, barely conscious morning sex when the two of you wake up right as the sun’s rising and he is faced with the realization of how much he loves you in those quiet moments. he’d be so sleepy, most of his weight would be let go if he’s on top of you, but you don’t even care because you’re caught on that hazy line between being asleep and awake as well, and the pleasure of him fucking you is heightened by it. it’d be full of sloppy kisses and heavy-lidded eye contact, both of your noses brushing with every deep thrust he makes into you. sometimes you’re on top though, and for those times he’ll just wrap his arms around your back to pull you down so you’re chest to chest while you do the work, albeit very lazily, and enjoy the sight of you. his favorite position for this lazy morning sex is when he’s spooning you tho. it happens the most often anyway, when he wakes up hard and naturally starts grinding into you from behind, which then escalates as normal. he’d keep a hand on your face to keep it turned for him to kiss your mouth and cheek though. just because he’s behind you doesn’t mean he won’t long to see your face and kiss you during.

i also feel like there would be a natural dominance to him that’s unrelated to any actual bdsm or dom/sub thing but rather his default disposition with you. he could definitely get down with being in a more submissive position sometimes and allow you to take care of/worship him—which would probably leave him with teary eyes by the end because of how overwhelming it is—but he gives me a lot of casually dominant energy. he loves sneaking into your bedroom in the middle of the night and fucking you with a hand over your mouth right across the hall from where your parents are sleeping, whispering to you that you have to be quiet and good. he also loves manhandling you, it turns him on unlike anything else to just toss you down on his bed and rip your clothes off because he can hardly wait to be inside of you. it’s also little sfw things like knowing what you like from your favorite take out place so he just orders for you or stopping to tie your shoe when it comes undone because he just loves taking care of his girl in the most innocent ways as well as a sexually.

he has a breeding kink by the way. it’s not something he acknowledges as a kink officially or even fully realizes, but considering that the man wants six children in canon, i feel like the idea of getting you pregnant, or even just coming inside of you whether or not you’re on a contraceptive, definitely gets him going. and if you are pregnant eventually once/if you two decide it’s what you want, forget about it. my god, he would be on you all the time. he’d love having you ride him with your breasts bouncing and a bit fuller from the hormones, your belly protruding with a bump as an undeniable piece of evidence that you’re his. it just checks all the boxes for him. i also believe that his chivalrous behavior would increase tenfold when you’re pregnant. in the later months, you physically cannot tie your shoes so he is right there to help you. he’s always extending his hand to hold while you walk, walking with his body closest to the street and yours closer to where it’s safer, and in general being even more of a simp than usual. if you thought he was a gentleman before, when he knows his baby is inside of you, he’s literally trying to do anything and everything he can for you.

now don’t even get me started on him as a dad. this has gone on long enough.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington smut #fem reader

[nyikondlovu]

Chefs Kiss (Sydcarmy) fans stay with me, Chefs!

I’m not taking anything Ayo, Jeremy and Christopher say against sydcarmy, aka Chefs Kiss, seriously.

They purposefully kept Carmen and Sydney as separate as possible this season, which is a big mistake in my opinion.

The show is about the characters and their relationships with each other. Food is a part of it, but it’s mostly the relationship each character has with one another that makes the show.

The writers trying to dispel the rumours by keeping what I would call our male and female leads apart is nuts because Jeremy and Ayo play so well off of each other but by separating them Jeremy gave his weakest acting (which is still very good) during Carmy/Claire scenes?

They keep saying The Bear doesn’t need romance then give Carmen a whole relationship that was so boring to watch for like 7 episodes and felt like watching paint dry because Claire isn’t engaging.

I’m expected to care about her, what she supposedly means to Carmen and hear about how great she is but don’t get to see it? She’s an ER resident for gods sake and she’s running around town giggling every 5 minutes without a semblance of the hard work and exhaustion that comes with being a doctor.

And for the reason stated above, I believe she’s a manic pixie dream girl. She’s there to change Carmen’s view on life, be different and quirky and the one who got away when in reality Carmy forgot who she was and had to be reminded which took him a whole 5 seconds to remember the supposed love of his life, purposefully gives her the wrong number and she says “You’re the Bear, of course I remember.”

No one was gonna take her seriously as the person to keep up with Carmy and help keep him sane.

Meanwhile Sydney does. She anchors him, she keeps up with him and she calls him out on his shit. Sydney isn’t perfect. She’s terrible at stating what she needs at that moment, she slightly short tempered and she is passive aggressive.

She also is working on her impatience and passive aggression. She eventually tells Carmy she needs his attention as her partner. She speaks up for herself to her dad and she’s not letting her ambition be treated like a bad thing anymore.

Carmen and Sydney would make sense because they are flawed. Carmy stops going to group therapy as soon as he starts dating Claire because she’s ‘fixed’ him and they don’t work because of that.

Sydney has ‘levelled up’ in her professional life, she’s more assertive and willing to listen and has just grown as a person and that type of continuous strive for self growth is what Carmen needs to see in order to do the same HIMSELF.

Sydney isn’t there to fix Carmy, she’s someone who he can grow alongside.

Claire was used as a kids bandaid to a gaping wound; the wound being Michael. Claire represents a life where Mikey was alive and Carm’s fucked up family was as whole and happy as it’s gonna be. She represents the past and everyone PUSHED him to want to date her in the past.

There is too much between our two chefs for simply business partners:

S1 shows Carmen scrubbing the floor of the restaurant when in turmoil while Sydney does the same in S2;

She’s spliced into the montage of Carmy and Claire as though she’s a silent part of their relationship;

She has the three dagger heart tattoo which typically represents romantic heartbreak and turbulence;

Carmen remembers her interest in his whites from three months prior even though she didn’t say anything and gets her her own custom whites;

The imagery from their conversation under the table? Him asking her to screw the other side and “say more, please” as he holds up the table (and Sydney) while she finally shares her fears;

“You’re not alone.” “Neither are you.”;

The memories of Sydney being what calms him from his panic attack;

During said panic attack, the song that was Claire and Carmen’s plays in reverse and any flashes of her are accompanied by memories of his dysfunctional family while the moment he thinks of Sydney? The song starts playing correctly. He calms and flashes of his family (and Claire) disappear;

Them constantly cooling an argument with the ‘I’m sorry’ gesture;

Him constantly being in tune with her emotions and body language.

Sydney represents a new beginning. The chance to build a healthy family with the staff of The Bear, Sydney, Natalie and Richie. She represents a future. She represents good change.

I’m fully convinced Ayo and Jeremy are just doing what all actors do with a ship that’s not yet canon: downplaying or dismissing it.

C’mon if you’ve been in The High School Musical The Musical The Series fandom and shipped Rina from the beginning, you know how it feels to be persecuted and gaslit by other fans and the actors for seasons.

TL:DR, Chefs Kiss is literally a super slow burn and no one of the team will confirm it until it actually happens.

Also, never let your girlfriend (Claire) stop you (Carmen) from opening a restaurant with the love of your life (Sydney)

And if you think they should “stay platonic”, ask yourself WHY every swirl ship with a white male lead and black female is hated by fandoms and the argument is “they’re best friends” or “they’re like siblings”. WHY can’t black women be desired? Because you can’t self insert? Check yourself before claiming a character who was so underwhelming I skipped so many scenes is a better match than the character who has seen him at his worst and told him he cannot and will not talk to her like that. The first person he thought to open a restaurant, that means so much to him, with

#sydney x carmy #syd x carmy #carmen x sydney #sydney adamu #carmen berzatto #the bear #claire the bear #the bear s2 #the bear fx #the bear hulu #chefs kiss #I’ve seen this film before #I never lose with my ships #trust me #y’all platonic bitches so transparent you might as well be a window #the category is: hating when black women are in the spotlight #fandom racism #different fandom same shit

[resisteverything]

I.M.P. are pathetic.

Let’s count all the episodes and who resolves what conflict, more specifically who beats one villain. Beating a villain counts for half, doing something that stops their plans but doesn’t beat them half counts. Resolving a conflict with no attached antagonist, or beating an unimportant villain, those half count.

1. Murder family: Blitz shoots Murder Mom.

2. Loo Loo Land: Blitz kills Robo-Fizz but it doesn’t actually matter.

3. Spring broken: Millie kills the fish but that’s not revelant and the actual conflict ends on a draw.

4. C.H.E.R.U.B.: The plot ends in a slapstick joke rather than any character doing any one thing to resolve the conflict:

5. Harvest moon festival: Striker is defeated by no one and gets away in the end.

6. Truth seekers: The plot is resolved by Stolas. Millie and Loona were partially helpful but the ending negated all that and made it entirely Stolas’s doing.

7-10. No villain to speak of. For four episodes. Of this action series about killing people. Season one was 8 episodes, this is four episodes straight. Brilliant.

11. Exes and Oohs: Millie rescues Moxie from Crimson.

12. Western energy: Moxie and Millie defeat striker as a team. Finally an ending where Moxie beats a villain, except it was also with Millie who delivers the striking blow.

13. Unhappy campers: The guy is killed by a stray rocket which had nothing to do with the conflict, and the guy in question is just an excuse for the real conflict to occur.

14. Oops!: Fizz and Blitz break themselves out and Blitz beats Striker.

15. Mammons mid season who gives a fuck: Blitz kills the stalker but he’s not relevant, and Ozzie stops mammon by revealing his secret.

Let’s count:

Blitz beats the main villain in 3 of these episodes, and in 1 of them that villain isn’t a real villain but some guy Blitz picked a stupid fight with, half a point. He saves himself with the help of Fizz which is another half. He gets the stalker but he was not a real villain so no extra pointsso his final score is:

3 wins

Millie does it one and a half times, the fish being an extra half adding up to two times.

Her score is 2 wins.

Moxie has claim to literally half a villain takedown.

His score is .5 wins.

Now random coincidence scores a 3 for Verosika, Barbie Wire’s grooming victim, and the Cherubs… which is the same score as Blitzo.

This does not count the incidental goons from truth seekers because fighting those accomplished nothing in the end.

Stolas resolves stops Dhorks so his score is a one, higher than Moxie even though he’s not part of IMP.

Fizz helps Blitz escape a deadly situation, that’s a half. He scores the same as Moxie, which is deranged since he’s a side character in his first major appearance.

Ozzie defeats mammon which would be a full point because mammon was about to kill Fizz, except he does it super easy without any violence so that’s a half point. Once again the same score as Moxie.

Also we have Non combat episodes, if you count them you’d say Millie hitting Fizz was a victory because he was a relevant antagonist, so half a point for her putting her at 2.5 because he was the conflict but not a villain. Loona resolved the conflict of Queen bee by driving Blitz home which I am not counting because that was just the situation ending, like it would have anyway. But I will count that she was the one who actually found Octavia because that was the point of seeing stars. So that’s half a point for her actually, because there was no villain but she did solve the problem. And I gives stolas has half a point for the divorce, one and a half points higher than Moxie. A lot of half points.

Let’s compare this to a real show, Avatar, with its first fifteen episodes:

1. Boy in the iceberg: Aang turns himself in and gets Zuko to leave.

2. The avatar returns: Aang escapes the ship and takes down Zuko, Katara takes down the guards.

3. The southern air temple: Zuko defeats Zhao in a fight during his subplot. He counts.

4. Warriors of Kyoshi: Aang beats Zuko and puts out the fire in the village.

5. King of Omashu: Aang wins Bumi’s challenges.

6. Imprisoned: Katara does the prison break.

7. Winter solstice part one: Aang gets Hei Bai to choose peace by reminding him that the forest can heal.

8. Winter solstice part two: Katara’s plan is what gets them through the door, and Avatar Roku saves them.

9. The water bending scroll: Sokka gets the villains fighting amongst themselves so they can escape with Aang and Katara’s water bending.

10. Jet: Katara takes down Jet and Sokka saves everyone.

11. Great Divide: Aang stops the sand crawlers.

12. The storm: No villain this episode.

13. The Blue spirit: Zuko saves Aang from the Yuyan archers.

14. The fortuneteller: No villain but Sokka does get to be useful guiding the village to make a wall and Aang lavabends the lava.

15. Sokka uses the perfumes to incapacitate the mole monster. That victory was entirely his idea and his doing.

So in the end:

Aang has six full victories and two that i’m half counting.

7 Win points.

Katara has 3 proper victories and two that half count,

4 win points.

Sokka has one solo victory and three things that i’m half counting.

2.5 win points.

Zuko scores two victories.

2 victory points.

Roku has one. He is the only person to save the heroes for them and he’s technically the same person as Aang so that’s not even what that is.

And only one episode fully lacks an antagonistic force.

Also if we balance it out on the fact Avatar is different, Team Avatar would score even higher because fifteen episodes to Avatar is six episodes to Helluva boss, since the shows lengths are different.

Also plot wise, team Avatar is new to the whole Hero business, But IMP are pretty experienced in killing.

While you could say it might be unfair to compare Helluva boss to Avatar… sue me.

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss #helluva boss criticism #helluva boss critique #helluva boss neg #helluva critical

[xcaptain-winterx]

Shiny Tree

dad!lloyd Hansen x reader

summary: Lloyd decides to show junior their big Christmas tree

warnings: fluff, baby, swearing, Lloyd

a/n: English is not my first language, meaning you will probably find a lot of misspelling etc.

Main Masterlist Daddy Sociopath Masterlist

Lloyd has never been a fan of Christmas, there’s music 24/7, stores are full of people buying stuff for their family, old men dressed up as Santa begging for money. Everybody is acting all nice, smiling during Christmas dinner with their family, all for gifts. The parents gift their kids toy cars, dolls, pets and fucking Christmas sweaters that you will never wear. He never had something like that, no one ever gifted him something when he was a kid, never. Every families were celebrating Christmas and got a tree while he sat alone in his room. Lloyd had to see all these happy families, wishing he was part of them. Once he grew up and started his business he made sure to ban everything that has to do with Christmas, no Christmas stuff will get near him. All that changed though, when he met sunshine.

The first Christmas together, sunshine gifted him a painting of the sunset in Paris where Lloyd took her for their first date. She did it for him, she took her time painting it with every single detail, just for him. In this moment he realized that he needs to propose sooner than he had already planned.

This Christmas will be especially special because it’s LJs first one, Lloyd made sure that everything is perfect, but it seems that LJ is only interested in one thing.

“Look, that’s our Christmas tree”, Lloyd says as he walks in the big living room with high ceilings, holding LJ. The huge tree decorated with gold and green ornaments stood tall at 16 feet compared to the 22 feet walls of the mansion. There was no way to overlook it. “Made sure that its perfect” he speaks, looking at the tree before turning around, on his way to show his son the rest of the decorated mansion.

A whine and some quite hard kicks stop him “hey, remember we don’t hit daddy”, LJ doesn’t stop though, even letting go of Mr. Mustache to continue kicking his dads stomach and chest. “LJ” Lloyd says in a stern voice, giving his son a glare, “stop that or I put you down for a nap”, he picks Mr. Mustache up and puts him under his arm. LJ turns his head to the tree, letting out a high pitch scream, “Mister, my patience is running thin, stop it, this is my last warning”. Lloyd doesn’t understand what’s making his son throw a tantrum. Maybe LJ is starting to show his dads genes.

He looks at his dad with a scrunched expression . Lloyd sees that and sighs “Don’t, son”, that’s all it takes for LJ to start screaming at the top of his lungs. LJ trashes around in Lloyds arms, tears escaping his eyes, wanting to look at the tree again.

“WHAT IS WRONG”, Lloyd is so done at this point but he’s still trying to stay calm. LJ reaches up to his face and pulls on his dads mustache. “AHHHH LLOYD JUNIOR”, Lloyd tries to pull his hand away, which only results in LJ pulling harder. Baby fists are stronger than anything else.

LJ pulls his fist in the direction again, Lloyds face following, “you got to fudging kidding me, the tree?”. He just almost got his mustache pulled out because of this tree. Taking a deep breath he remembers it’s the Christmas season, he needs to stay calm, it’s Juniors first Christmas.

“Ok, if you let daddy’s mustache go we can go back to the tree, deal?”, LJ may not understand everything but whatever his dad is saying sound like it’s a good thing. He lets go of his dads mustache and claps in his hands. Lloyd turns LJ, so that his small back is against Lloyds chest, facing the tree. He walks over to the big tree, making sure that Mr. Mustache is still secured under his arms. His sons eyes go wide when they get closer to the tree, the shiny lights almost hypnotizing him. Lloyd is now directly in front of the tree, so that his son can touch it. LJ reaches for the lights, touching them and looking at how the light can disappear in his hands when he closes his fist. It’s funny how LJ like the lights more than about 89% of all the toys that he owns.

Lloyd looks at his sons face, seeing the Christmas lights making his sons eyes sparkle, “do you like the tree, I know it’s shiny, right?” he says, not taking his eyes away from his son. LJ smiles and looks away from the lights when something else spicks his interest, the gold ornaments. Lloyd sees that and carefully brings LJ a bit closer to the ornament his son been eyeing.

“Careful, junior” Lloyd says, when LJ touches the ornament.

He knows that the ornaments are quite heavy because he obviously made sure that they are real gold ornaments, so he puts one of his hands under the ornament to support it.

The more he looks at the tree the more he realizes that something is missing, every year they had a ‘classic’ Christmas tree with no special ornaments but this year is different, he’s now a parent. The tree needs something….cute.

He looks at his son again, thinking what he would like. His son likes for his few months of existing already some things, lights, mama, Mr. Mustache, dropping stuff, music boxes, food- he can put candy canes in it!

LJ is definitely not allowed and able to eat them yet but it’s something that’s cute.

He calls for the staff and not five seconds later they arrive, “get green candy canes and put them in the tree”

“Oh, uhm, are you sure?”

Lloyd looks at them, “Yes, I’m fucking sure that I want some in the tree”

“It’s just that it took almost a day to get this tree decorated and putting the candy canes in would take-“

“Get some fucking candy canes before I hang you up the fireplace and don’t drop any ornaments while you put them on!” Lloyd demands, trying to not lose his temper in front of his son, though, LJ doesn’t even seem to care whatever is going on.

“Yes, s-sir, we get some a-and won’t drop something” the staff says before running away. Lloyd can’t believe that the fucking staff just told him that they don’t want to do it because they don’t want to work, it’s their job to work. They will definitely not be at home during Christmas.

A evil smirk appears on his face, making him look like the Grinch. Lloyd looks down at his son, “Junior, do you want the staff to get in trouble?” he says in a dorky voice, knowing that LJ will want it, just because his voice sounds funny. LJ claps in his hands, smiling from ear to ear.

Lloyd stops supporting the ornament, which he did for safety so that the ornament doesn’t fall, and says “throw it”

Without Lloyd supporting the ornaments LJ finally has the ability to touch the shiny thing without something stopping him.

It doesn’t take long before the ornament drops and shatters into pieces. Junior looks up at his dad, scared that he did something wrong.

Lloyd makes a funny expression that says ‘oh no’ in a mocking way, “Looks like the staff is in big trouble now.” he kisses his forehead before smiling “We should drop some more, so that the staff gets in more trouble”LJ gives his dad a smile when Lloyd takes an ornament and drops it.

“Don’t worry, mini me, we will get even more shiny ornaments to put in the tree”

#chris evans #lloyd hansen x you #lloyd hansen x reader #lloyd hansen x y/n #lloyd hansen #dad!lloyd hansen #the gray man lloyd #chris evans character x reader #chris evans character #chris evans character fanfiction #daddy sociopath

[officialgleamstar]

Personal DnDads Pride Headcanons

some of these are simple but most are paragraphs long because of who I am as a person (incapable of saying things concisely), so they're going under a readmore. vaguely organized by age group.

one quick note: feel free to cheer on or rag on any of these that you please, variety in opinion is the spice of fandom life! everyone's headcanons are so real and valid to me, i am a strong believer in having as many contradicting fandom opinions as you want. for this list, i just went with everything that is "default" to my fan content. others' transfem sparrow is shaking hands with my gnc sparrow and yes, i'm listing that one on purpose, because if you make fun of transfem sparrow, you are getting hit by my bat. be fucking nice.

please enjoy!

Season 1 Dads and Spouses

Carol is a lesbian. This is simply canon to me. It’s important that this is first and visible to everyone.

Bi/pan polyamorous Henry and Mercedes is also simply canon to me. Honestly that one might be fully canon based on some of the things that happen in Odyssey

Henry is unlabeled but in the sense that he calls himself ‘queer’, ‘bisexual’, ‘gay’, or ‘pansexual’, fully depending on his mood and the conversation happening

Ron is also unlabeled but in the sense that he has never thought about it in his life and isn’t intending to now

Glenn is bisexual but never talks about it unless someone else mentions it first, and he tries really really hard to never think about his gender once in his life. The queer angst I give Glenn could be a whole post of its own but just know he has issues. He does fuck men though

Darryl still isn’t really sure on his sexuality and probably never will be, but he’s actually explored it a bit, so that’s better than whatever the fuck was going on with him before the show started. Henry likes giving him subtle bear pride flag accessories because Darryl actually wears them a lot. His favorite color is brown, after all.

Jodie, Nicky, and Taylor all are bisexual with a preference for women. Sexuality isn’t genetic but it is for them specifically.

Morgan is also bisexual. Literally none of the season 1 parents are straight except maybe Samantha and even with her, my opinion fully matters on the day and how I’m feeling.

Henry and Lark have definitely had an exchange at some point where Lark asked him how it was to ‘experience twink death’, to which Henry just went ‘get back to me in a few years on that, kid.’ and Lark spent the rest of the week furiously moping because clearly, he’s a twunk, Father- (words of a man who did not take care of himself well enough from the ages of 18-25 to ever be a twunk)

This is my little shipper brain but Jodie only realized he liked men after being stuffed into the Odyssey and being around Ron 24/7 for months on end (and the demon stuff, but he didn’t know that yet for obvious reasons). In his timeline, he had a whole arc about it and now he’s persistently attracted to strange men who don’t make sense as well as women light-years out of his league. He’s still a little miffed that Henry doesn’t remember the very long conversations they had about it, but him and Nicky get to wear matching bi pride bracelets now, so he guesses it’s fine.

Kiddads and Spouses

Lark is bisexual. He has known this since kindergarten when his parents explained what the flag all over their house was and has never thought about it since.

Lark also helped Rebecca realize she was bisexual because she would ask him about it in a class they shared in high school

This is utterly unrelated to LGBT headcanons but I think Veronica and Rebecca grew up in San Dimas with the kiddads, and were friends with them in high school. It just makes sense to me

Unlabeled Terry Junior is something that can be so personal to me. In a general sense, he likes everyone romantically, and identifies enough with the asexual spectrum to wear an ace ring, but he doesn’t really see the point in putting a name on it. He’s just Terry Junior and he’s happy with that.

Him, Lark, and Nicky did have a group chat called ‘bisexuals with an agenda’ in high school though, where they would make plans for pranking or otherwise harassing their fathers during group outings. Terry loves Ron but that does not mean he is above ruining his day. It’s done with affection.

My thoughts on Sparrow could be a full fanfiction but gonna try to keep it simple (retroactive edit: did not keep it simple). Sparrow is the token cishet of the kiddads, but in the queerest way possible. He’s an Oak-Garcia, of course he’s explored himself very thoroughly. At current, he identifies as gender non-confirming cis man, but he has had periods of his life where he transitioned and then detransitioned. In early high school, he identified as non-binary. From senior year up until just before Hero was born, he lived as a trans lesbian. He doesn’t see these periods as phases, just as his identity changing over time. Currently he’s perfectly happy identifying as a man, but wouldn’t be wholly shocked if he transitioned again. Calls himself “cis but gender is obviously, massively, a social construct and so it feels unfair to expect myself to fit into these boxes when identity can be so fluid and-”

Rebecca still calls him her wife, and also a granola lesbian or MILF from time to time because it makes him laugh, and while Nicky was still in his life, he would send Sparrow trans memes a lot. Sparrow also has always liked being seen as non-binary, he sees it as ‘winning at being androgynous’. Competitive to the sense of nonsensical Sparrow my beloved

Sparrow always wears women’s clothing but that’s for autistic reasons. They just fit nicer for his brain. It helps the gender(tm) thing though, he near exclusively wore hand-me-downs from Mercedes throughout all of high school

Sorry for talking so much about Sparrow. He’s my favorite character so he is the focus of many of my thoughts. Anyways

Never been a huge fan of the ‘Grant was outed by his crush in the Forgotten Realms’ headcanon, I think Grant came out about a year beforehand. Long enough where everything about it has settled but it’s still new enough that Darryl forgot for a split second and thought Grant might have a crush on Killa during the Four Knight arc. He’d known he liked boys a while before that, and also his parents kind of figured he was gay most of his life since he had 95% girl friends

Marco is pansexual! He met Grant in college because he worked the front desk of their dorm building and would always wear a bunch of pride pins

Nicky was Grant’s first good friend who was a boy, I like to think that they were childhood friends. Grant announced this to his dad at the age of 10 by going “Nick Close is transgender now, so that means you don’t have to worry about me only talking to girls because he’s a boy.” and Darryl went “…Alright?” and then googled what ‘transgender’ means

Speaking of, Nicky realized he was trans because of Mulan. Both Glenn and Jodie, in their respective timelines, googled ‘How do I know if my daughter is a lesbian’ before he came out because Nicky would rewatch the reflection song so often and also the tomboy-isms. Everyone felt very stupid for being surprised when he cut all of his hair off, cried, and asked to change his name

T4T Nicky and Cassandra is canon and they rubbed it into everyone's faces when they were together, Anthony is just afraid of the truth

Cassandra is trans het. I love trans het people more than anything and I love her so this makes sense to me.

Veronica is non-binary, in the sense of “girl but to the left”. They/she pronouns, calls themself a girlie and a mom but not a woman, dresses in a kickass pantsuit at formal events. I’m also in love with her

Season 2 Teens and Friends

Hero and Normal are both trans. When Hero came out, Sparrow sat Normal down to explain why Hero was now a sister instead of a brother and Normal responded with “Well, that’s not fair. How come Hero can be a girl but I can’t be a boy?!” and Sparrow just stared at him for a really long time before going “You can be a boy, honey.” and they went thrift shopping as a family for new clothes the next day

Normal is stealth trans, mostly because Hero is the same way and he copies her, but also because it doesn’t really occur to him that he passes. He just figures that people knows even though he is on testosterone and binds and presents masculine. It helps that his family presents pretty gender-neutral as a whole, so most people assume he had long hair as a kid because his parents are hippies. They had a son and daughter, both with long hair. They now have a daughter and a son, both with short hair. To the general populace, nothing has changed, they just misremembered which kid was older.

Taylor is a demi-boy and spends every year growing more and more feminine. Definitely calls their gender something like ‘boy with a dash of girl on the side’ with their friends. Growing out his hair was a newer thing and he regrets cutting it, even if it was a super cool sequence and he looked like an anime protagonist, because he liked how it framed his face.

Cassandra has always maintained an openness about her trans identity, so Taylor’s the same way. He’s always got the he/they pronoun pin on (I figure this is normalized by the time of season 2, but he’s just very pleased about it), he has a variety of trans and non-binary pride pins that he cycles through, and they like painting their nails because it’s an easy way for them to feel a little more feminine.

Cassandra’s living room is decorated with a massive trans pride flag and LED lights. The first time the teens walk into Taylor’s home, Scary says “it looks like a Twitch stream in here” at the same time that Normal says “it looks like my sister’s room in here” and they high-five while Taylor yells at them to be nice.

Hermie is genderfluid and uses any pronouns. This is real to me. He has my own teenage trait of gender shifting every three hours and never knowing what to do about it and he will be suffering with this until he exits puberty, at which point he gives up and just sees what gender other people choose for him.

Hermie is also pan/ace! No further thoughts here. She just is.

Erica just goes by queer because she doesn’t think the common passerby deserves to know her rich inner life and she’s right, they don’t

I tend to say a lot that all of the S2 kids are bisexual, and I represent them as such, but I truly believe that Lincoln and Normal both have no idea what’s going on with their sexualities. They say they’re bisexual for bisexual teen squad reasons but Normal is going through a constant crisis of “Am I gay or bisexual?” and Lincoln looks up the definition of aro/ace on a weekly basis. Neither of them will ever express this until Scary goes “maybe I’m not bisexual, actually.”

On that note, Scary is a lesbian but she’s not going to realize that until college. For now, she’s rocking with the bisexuality and pretends it’s not weird that her ‘crushes’ on boys feel wildly different than her crushes on girls. Yes I am projecting. This is not a secret. We project onto Scary here.

#mine #dndads #dungeons and daddies #happy pride! #im just gonna drop this and go shower. sorry it is so fucking long LMAO

[annabethy]

aurora // a 'tis the damn season au

Percy and Annabeth had something real. They fell in love somewhere between bookstore kittens and vintage novels with pages tinted yellow with time, and they were happy. It's rare, finding the type of love they did. It's even more rare making it last. (Chapter 7/8) | Read on AO3

“Fuck.”

Of course this is her luck. 

Annabeth wiggles the doorknob again, and when it doesn’t give, a few more choice words slip from her mouth. She’d be more concerned if there was anyone around to actually hear it, but there isn’t. That’s the exact predicament she finds herself in. 

It’s cold outside, which isn’t unusual, but after twenty minutes standing locked out of her own father’s house, it starts to slowly burn, like dry ice on bare skin. It’s not so late that it would be unusual for a family to still be awake, especially during the holidays when people are traveling all over, so she’s half convinced they’re watching her through the security cameras and laughing at her. 

Annabeth wipes her nose on the sleeve of her coat, pushing the discomfort of the raw skin to the back of her mind, and thinks, yeah, this was definitely intentional. 

She’d try to pinpoint why she’d be intentionally locked out, but the reality is that it could’ve been any number of things. The reality is also that it probably isn’t actually intentional because even her family, twisted as they are, wouldn’t want a premeditated murder hanging over their heads. She’s just bitter enough, though, to pretend they are that bad, and she decides that tonight’s predicament is entirely because they found out she spent the night with Percy after ditching the Christmas party. 

It’s also entirely possible that the door was locked the night before too, and she just hadn’t noticed. 

She’ll give herself a pass if that had been the case, because spending time with Percy was definitely worth it. It had been… just like old times. She hadn’t expected it to feel that way while she sat in his passenger seat and followed him through the neighborhood stores for discount lights and cheap chocolate flavored candy. 

They’d parted ways hours before, Annabeth choosing to spend some time with Piper. She’d promised herself she’d give him some space, as fun as the day was, because it wasn’t fair to keep bothering him and letting him steal kisses between the tinsel and candy canes when she’d be leaving soon enough, putting them in the exact same situation they experienced before. She chose to lean upon the memories of the past few days for company instead of making new plans, but now the cold is freezing her to the core, and it’s not like her own parents are going to be the ones to save her when she rings the doorbell for the sixth time.

Her eyes lock onto the front door. From the outside, it would look like she was examining the intricate designs on the surface, but the reality is she’s wondering just how humiliated she’s going to be calling Percy again so soon in the middle of the night to help her out.

The answer is: a lot.

“You’re definitely the only person I would do this for,” Percy says as he unlocks the bookstore for her.

There’s a lot that goes unsaid in that sentence, and a lot that’s implied. Words are louder than actions though, so when he’d picked up on the fourth ring and hadn’t hesitated to haul himself out of bed to come get her, he didn’t need to say anything for her to read between the lines. 

Annabeth slips through the door quietly, eyes adjusting to the darkness as she awkwardly slides off her coat. He flicks the light on, and it takes a few more uncomfortable blinks for her eyes to stop burning. 

A bout of deja vu slams into her as she remembers the last time they were here after hours. It had been forever ago, back when they were still in high school. She’d decided to accompany him to work after classes ended, and it was soon after she gave the cat a home in the bookstore, so she was perfectly content to stay there the entire night. Turns out when there’s a pretty girl and no parental supervision, he was perfectly content too. They lost track of time, and when midnight rolled around and the alarms still hadn’t been set for the night, Percy’s mother had figured she better roll around to see what was up.

Poor girl showed up to find them in quite a predicament, fooling around in the back rooms. 

She wonders if Sally ever recovered from that. Annabeth should’ve gifted her bleach that Christmas. 

“You okay?”

Percy’s voice is gentle, and it reminds her of a breeze at night, soft and slow as though to not startle her. Airy as the snow lining the ground at dawn.

“Yeah,” she breathes, turning to him. “Just remembered something kind of funny.”

“Well, don’t keep it to yourself.”

“I am not telling you,” she says, but the slight smile gives away the general direction of her thoughts. “No way.”

“What else are we supposed to do? Who knows when your dad is going to let you back in.”

“Could be all night,” she says seriously. 

“I’m really hoping not.”

“You’re telling me you’re not cherishing this time?”

“If it weren’t the middle of the night, sure. I’m tired.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes and chooses that moment to move further in and set her coat onto the wooden countertop. It’s loud in the silence, just like the unsaid words. “Go home. I’ll be fine by myself.”

“Not a chance.”

“Because you’re just so heartwarming and kind, right?” Her voice falls flat.

“More like I don’t trust you won’t rob this place dry.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

“It’s the lit major in you.” He laughs at his own words like it’s the funniest joke he’s heard in a bit. “I’d bring you back with me so you could get some sleep, but it’s been a long night with Estelle, and I’d feel bad not asking my mom first—”

“You don’t have to explain,” she says. “This is more than enough.”

He joins her at the counter, putting his weight onto his elbows. They’re close, but not close enough for it to be considered intimate, which is for the best. From the moment she saw him, she’d been unable to forget the warmth of his embrace and the feeling of his lips on her skin. Any closer and they might find themselves in a similar situation to the past. “It’s not a bad thing, though. This is practically your dream.”

“Being locked out of my house with no company except you.”

“You could be less disgusted about the me part.”

“I really can’t.”

Percy snorts. “Alright.”

“You’re right about the book part, though. It’s not the worst.”

“Are you still a poetry type?”

“It’s not my focus, but I still love it.” He doesn’t wait for her to stop talking before he’s already weaving between the aisles. She watches in amusement as he almost trips over the cat they dropped off between errands who darts out from beneath a shelf, and when he’s analyzing a few books before picking one out, she asks, “Why?”

“Well,” he starts as he turns back toward her, waving an unfamiliar book at her. “Since you left, I’ve gotten more into poetry myself. It’s not that bad once you really get into it.”

“I’ve been telling you that since we’ve met.”

“Yeah, well, I was stubborn.” He shrugs and comes back to her to place the book in front of her. It’s a collection of poetry, which isn’t unusual. The book, though, seems old but in good condition, like it’s been carefully preserved for years, waiting for the right person to come along and run the ridges of their fingers over each individual page, to get to know the experiences of the poets before them. 

“Any suggestions?” she asks as he turns to a specific page. 

“I’ve been more into Robert Frost since you left,” he says, looking up at her for a moment. “Have you read Out, out? It’s kind of tied into Shakespeare too.”

Annabeth kind of wants to kiss him. Of course he’d get more into poetry after she’s gone, but she also wouldn’t doubt he did it because she was gone. It makes her smile, and she’d kiss him for real, if his attention hadn’t returned to the book, reminding her of the situation at hand. They’re only here because she has nowhere to go. 

She’s definitely read that poem before when she was, like, five, but to humor him, she tells him she hasn’t. 

“You’ve done your homework,” she comments.

He flips to another page. “I’ve had six years.”

The way he says it makes her feel like he always intended to tell her about poetry after she left. Like he always intended for her to return home to him, if only for a weekend. Like he had this waiting, preserved for her because he somehow knew she would come back before even she knew. 

A moment of guilt takes over thinking of Percy holding onto that for her, no end in sight but hoping he’d find a way to give it to her. It reminds her of a child waiting hopelessly for something that would never come.

“Anyway,” he says, and he’s onto another page. “I’d recommend this one, if you ever get the time.”

“How much is it?”

He gives her a bored look that reads, Really?

“What?”

“It’s insulting you think I would make you pay for it.”

Half of Annabeth wants to argue.

There’s a smaller part of her that thinks there’s meaning behind it.

“Do you just give out books to all the girls who walk in?”

“Only the ones that deserve it.”

“And are there a lot of those?”

Percy winks. “A few.”

Annabeth smiles and snatches the book from him. “Give me that.”

“I don’t actually give books away unless it’s for a little kid without money or something, but the other day, Drew of all people walked in. I half thought she couldn’t read, so imagine my surprise when she tried to flirt with me to get me to give her a few free books.”

“Did it work?”

“I mean. I did give her the books just to get her off my back, but the flirting? Not so much.”

“She’s just going to come back for more now.”

“That’s when I hide.”

Annabeth shakes her head at him, biting her lower lip. She wishes she could analyze him like she does everything else in life, pastel highlighters streaking across the important points, writing in the margins the things she loves. “Look at you. A neighborhood gossip.”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re above a little gossip.”

“Depends on who it’s about.”

“Anyone you want. I have the scoop on just about everyone we went to high school with.”

“God.”

“You mean you don’t want to hear about the adventures of Drew Tanaka?”

“I can never escape her, can I?”

“Probably not,” he agrees. “I swear for as much as she says she hates you, she tries so hard to be you.”

Annabeth laughs. “Does she really?”

“She does! She acts like she’s obsessed with books and poetry, but I know for a fact that she hasn’t opened a single one of those books she stole from me.”

“You said you gave them to her,” she points out.

“Against my will,” he says. “I was flirted with.”

“Seemed voluntary to me.”

“You would do it too if Drew was five inches from your face.”

Annabeth stifles a laugh into a cough. 

“But seriously, she’s obsessed with you. You become a writer, and suddenly she’s a writer. She’s been trying to hop on me ever since we broke up too.”

“Should’ve taken her up on it.”

“Funny.”

“Anything else happen with Tanaka?”

“She’s just insufferable as always,” he says. “Sure you saw that a few days ago.”

“I definitely did.”

“Someone did start a rumor that she was pregnant, though. Says they saw her with a big ol’ bump and that she’s hiding the baby in the basement for the child support money.”

“That’s…” Annabeth blinks. “Wow.”

“I know. Crazy, right?” Percy straightens with a smirk on his face, like this whole situation amuses him. “Anyway, I’d get a restraining order against her before she tries to peel your skin from you and step inside it.”

“Have you considered that she might enjoy poetry?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Annabeth, no one enjoys poetry.”

“I thought you did.”

He smiles. “Did I say that?” 

Annabeth laughs. “Any more gossip for me?”

“Leo from chemistry went to jail because he started a fire. Heard rumors that Jason’s dead.” 

“That can’t be true. Piper would’ve said so.” 

They trail into silence, and she lets herself look him over, any shame lost to the late hours. She really must’ve pulled him out of bed, and she’d feel bad, really, if it weren’t for the look on his face like there’s nowhere he’d rather be.

“What about you?” The green of his eyes seem darker. “Any gossip for me?”

“Just a bit,” she says, and for a moment, it doesn’t hurt as much when she thinks of where she came from. She’s not sure what’s changed. “You know, in LA, I have a friend. Connor. He’s kind of like Drew.”

Percy snickers. “Uh-oh.”

“Not like that,” she laughs. “He tried to be something that wasn’t really him. He hated poetry, but he used to research poems anyway and try to make sense of it. He was awful at it—he’d be a terrible poet—but it was sweet.”

It hurts less. 

Something tells her it’s because of the person standing next to her.

He’s silent, analyzing her face, and she thinks he recognizes the name. She’d never admitted it to him, but it was never a secret. He’s smart enough to ask around, to know where she’s been, who she’s been with. His gentle eyes tell her he knows.

“What happened with that, anyway?”

“With what?”

He tilts his head, and the dim lights seem to get darker. It’s like teetering on a tightrope, only one direction to go. The thing is…she wants to go there. She wants to tell him what she never thought she could tell the person she once loved. The person she still loves. She just doesn’t know how.

He smiles, and it’s not hurt that flashes in his eyes. 

“I think we both know Connor was more than a friend.”

Somehow, when he’s the one to say it, it’s more difficult to look him in the eyes. It’s like she’s done something wrong, even if she didn’t. She thinks it’s because they took a path they weren’t supposed to. Her and Connor were never supposed to happen, just as she was never meant to leave. 

What happened to that?

He proposed. She said no. She said she wasn’t ready, and maybe it had been the truth. At the time, she thought it was. She’s not so sure anymore.

Now, in the bookstore with a cat hiding in the shadows, with Annabeth standing painfully in his line of sight, she can’t admit the real reason she said no.

“He wanted a wife. I just wasn’t ready.”

He doesn’t believe her. 

She sees it in his stance, in the tension in his shoulders, in the look of disappointment flashes through him, in the way he doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, the way he doesn’t do anything at all, except stare directly at her. 

His fingers find their way to the book, tracing over the leather spine. He feels the dip of the letters, the divots and creases, and it feels a lot like his fingers are on her, turning her in circles, analyzing her every move like he’s the poet and she’s the muse. He picks apart what she says, what she doesn’t say, what’s true, and what isn’t. 

“You have something to say,” Annabeth challenges. Her fingers twitch towards the book, but she lets him have it. “Say it.”

“I don’t have anything to say.”

But he does. 

There are six years worth of words to say. It’s a question of who’s going to say those words first.

“Yes, you do,” Annabeth says, frustrated. “Say it.”

“Annabeth, please.”

Her name, her name— 

His lips, and her name. That’s how they belong. 

Percy sighs and catches her eyes. “The way you talk about Connor. You say that you weren’t ready to marry him, and that’s why you broke up.”

“It was,” but she knows that’s not the truth. 

The truth is something complex, lying on the road not taken. 

His eyes dart around the room, like he’s scared to look at her now, or like he’s scared of what she’s going to say next. Eventually, they find their way back to her, and he looks her up and down in the dim light in a way he hasn’t done since long before she left, when they were still in love, when they didn’t know that they’d be here six years later, familiar as strangers. 

“You say that, but you’re sitting here in my bookstore telling me about how great he was, and how he read you poetry he couldn’t understand just because he was doing it for you.”

She swallows.

“You’re telling me he did everything right.”

“He did.”

“It just makes me wonder,” he says, walking the tightrope.

As always, he’s always known her better than she’s known herself.

“Did you break up because you weren’t ready to be a wife, or because you weren’t ready to be his wife?”

#literally cringing the first word is bad im sorry that's so disgusting #my writing #percy jackson #percabeth #annabeth chase

[englishstrawbie]

Station 19 6x18

I’d call it a decent finale which set up a lot for season 7. 

Of all the times I’ve lamented Carina being written out-of-character... you cannot convince me that she doesn’t have a ball-appropriate dress in her wardrobe. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Or that she would wear a bridesmaid dress like that, even if it was for a friend’s wedding - she would drag that friend right back to the dress shop. 

Finally the OBGYN talks about IVF. Maybe this will now push the story forwards? Because they really do need to decide what they want this story to be and commit to it. When the pregnant waitress first started talking about putting her baby up for adoption, I wondered if that was going to be the start of an adoption storyline for Maya and Carina - but it didn’t go anywhere once the baby was born. (They’ve also just done a similar storyline on GA with Jo and Luna, so I’m not sure they’d repeat it?) 

One thing about this finale is that I wish the floor collapse had happened earlier in the episode, so that they had more time to set up these storylines a bit better. It felt like it ended abruptly. Plus, I’d have liked a bit more action. 

Anyway, Maya and Carina looked hot once they got to the ball. 🔥 I loved seeing them dancing and having fun together. I like that they ended the season being happy and light, considering all that they’ve been through this year.

I’m so glad Chief Ross picked Andy as Captain. My wish for season 7 (and beyond) is that the captain’s race is over. I don’t care for it. Let Andy be captain and let her thrive, please! 🤞🏻

I want to have more sympathy for Theo, but the way he attacked Vic in this episode was horrible. Hooking up with Kate felt predictable. From what Barrett said, it seems like that relationship is over so I wonder how Vic will react if/when she finds out - but I guess we’ll see what the writers come up with for season 7.

Fuck Bob. The way he acts so entitled over the captain’s job annoys me so much. Dumping Natasha because she didn’t give him what he wanted - and then that dramatic reconciliation at the end. 🙄 She is so much better with out him. (So is Andy. Fuck Bob.)

Bye Dick! 👋🏻 I can’t say I had any emotions over Dixon’s death, even though Travis was upset. 

I want Jack to live because I want to see him find a family and be happy. He just got his foster sister back. He’s slowly getting to know his bio family. Why don’t the writers let anyone in this show be happy?????

Well, that’s another season over - and what a great season it’s been! It’s been a hard watch at times, but the angst has been amazing and I’ve had fun. Thanks for the company, I appreciate this corner of the fandom so much. 😊

#station 19 #maya bishop #carina deluca #my rambles

[dreamed-for-not]

Hazbin Hotel theory under the cut, feel free to ignore.

So we know Viv said one of the “main 6” is going to die, and I want to talk about who I think it is and isn’t going to be and why. Also where I think the next season is going.

Charlie - No. She’s our main character and the whole plot revolves around her. In episode 1 they also said that hell born were immune to the extermination because Lucifer rigged it that way. I do think Adam/Lute would ignore that clause because they hate Charlie so much, but again, main character.

Vaggie - Probably not. We just learned that she’s an angel, which theoretically makes her exempt for extermination as well. I would also assume, though we have no outright proof from the show itself, that angels can’t be killed by other angels. The only reason I could see it being her is that she sacrifices herself for Charlie, but it feels unlikely to me.

Alastor - No. He’s the most well known character from the show, even when I had no interest in Hazbin Hotel I still knew him on sight. It would be really stupid to kill him off so early in the show when we’ve barely explored his story and he hasn’t gone through any kind of arc yet. Also his beef with Vox has been pretty built up and I doubt it’s going to be resolved in the next 2 episodes. There’s also the question of who has him on a leash and that he’s been gone for 7 years, just like Lilith.

Angel - Probably not. Another well known and liked character, with 2 massive songs in episode 4. We haven’t seen him escape Val and heal from that yet. It would really cut the effectiveness of the Vs getting taken out in the plot. He was also the one used as the example in heaven, showing that sinners can change.

Husker - Maybe. Personally, I’m going to be big fucking mad if it is Husker, but I could see it being possible. He’s not as integral to the plot as everyone above, and mostly serves as a lackey for Alastor. I’m just a HuskerDuster shipper now and I want these 2 to be happy OKAY????

The sixth position is what’s really up for debate here, because we have 2 possible options. it could either be Nifty or Sir Pentious, I’m going to give my reasoning for both.

Nifty - Possibly. Nifty doesn’t have a ton of plot relevance, even if I think she’s fun. I put here on the same level as the cat or Razzle and Dazzle almost, background fluff to make the world seem more alive. I’ve seen people saying that Nifty is a physical manifestation of the hotel, in which case it might make sense for it to be her and the loss of their home base in the next extermination. It gives the right amount of upping the stakes for season 2.

Sir Pentious - Most Likely. I like Sir P, he’s goofy and ya know, voiced by My Boy but I think he’s the most likely to die. He’s only at the hotel because he was blackmailed into going in the first place and if he left would be killed by the Vs. He’s just hanging around, not doing much but is very prominently featured in the promo art and generally heavily advertised, but has not so far had a Major Song. The only thing we got from him is Starts With Sorry which is my lowest ranked song so far.

But there’s a whole separate reason I think it’s gong to be the Snake Boy. Alex Brightman voices both him and Adam and I think Adam is about to fall/get betrayed by heaven.

Hear me out on this one. Adam isn’t an angel, he’s described as “the first human soul in heaven” and people are categorized into either “sinners” (hell) or “winners” (heaven) when they die. But does he look like any of the other winners we saw? With his dark color palette, sharp teeth and horns? Not one bit, he looks more like the demons he hates so much. The only other characters of heaven origin that look like him are Lute, Vaggie and presumably other exterminators. Which were very possibly created to look a lot like him, if the fact that he named Vaggie is anything to go off of.

In the court scenes we find out that Adam came up with the whole extermination plan and it is not known throughout heaven that it happens at all. But Adam has now let that cat out of the bag and the others didn’t seem to be happy with the whole situation. I think the other angels are going to go to Sara and make her put an end to extermination, and Sara is going to banish Adam (and possibly Lute) to hell for everything they’ve done.

This goes into my season 2 and later predictions, where Adam and Charlie team up to take down heaven and equalize the system for everyone. Adam is a vindictive douche and would do anything to get payback, and though he hates Charlie will be happy to use her for his own ends. And I think there’d be a lot of comedic gold in having Charlie, Vaggie, Adam and Lute stuck together. And that’s not even talking about Adam and Lilith being forced neck into the same room together when she gets back into the picture.

After this I think there’s several places it could go, like a double backstab on Adam’s part by using the uprising he helped to create as proof that he was right all along and the exterminations were necessary. Or possibly them winning and breaking the cycle for all. I think the second option would tie into the themes of determination, forgiveness, redemption and found family that the show appears to be aiming for.

But that’s all up to Viv and Amazon.

Tagging @love-is-all-you-need-13 because they’re the ones who encouraged me to share. Thank you!

[buckybarnesss]

on fire: a teen wolf novel chapters 14-16 chapters 10-13 here chapters 7-9 here chapters 4-6 here chapters 1-3 here

annnndddd i'm back with another installment of on fire. we're in the home stretch now as the next three chapters will cover the end of the novel.

this section took me some time because 1. i do not care that the whittermores were robbed and 2. there's two long, detailed flashbacks with kate and derek that i found difficult to get through.

speaking of.

as always kate argent is her own warning but just in case i will be talking about those flashbacks so warnings for grooming and rape.

me this entire chapter:

we open this chapter back on lydia. who is now tied up by Thing One and Thing Two. she specifies she’s tied to a Louis XIV gilt wooden chair.  now lydia says it's antique but pssft mrs. whittermore totally got a reproduction because she's new money trying to pretentiously pretend she has class. the whittermores always give "his wife covered the house in chintz so to keep it real i fuck him on the floor" energy. 

lydia goes on to describe the robbery and look, i don’t really care about this. let them get robbed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

lydia also gets to have her own little flow chart to show just how smart she is:

we move from lydia being a hostage to hunter gramm (we learn this is not his real name. his real name is bailey) plotting how to dispose of jackson. cassie doesn't want jackson to get hurt so she pleads for him to just dump jackson somewhere and escape to mexico like they had planned. bailey isn't listening though because he gets a phone call.

cassie is trying very hard to keep jackson’s dumbass alive as they listen to bailey have a conversation with one of the goons back at the house. he realizes they have lydia and he’s afraid for her. chich is sweet. honestly their behavior and thoughts towards each other throughout the book have been very in line with their toxicity in the show. caring is not a weakness, oof.

we’re back in hell -- oops -- i mean another flashback to six years ago with kate and derek.

remember i read this so you don’t have to. 🤮🤮

kate gave derek something to eat or drink i think was laced with something that makes him sick to his stomach and he goes to throw up in her bathroom. 

i just want to wrap derek up in bubble wrap and keep kate away from him forever and ever. 

derek’s a ball of anxiety throughout all this. he wants to appear grown up for kate and impress her. he doesn’t want her to see him like the child he actually is.

derek spends about a paragraph waxing poetic about werewolves. he calls his pack his “moonborn family” and i like that sentiment actually.

what I don’t like is “like wolves, werewolves mate for life.”  this may be a Me Thing but i’ve never been overly fond of the whole mate concept within fandom. i just thank my lucky stars it's not canon.

there’s a moment when derek’s about to leave kate’s apartment where she moves to kiss him and GIRL HE THREW UP. YOU KNEW HE DID. YOU SET HIM UP FOR IT. YOU NASTY.

derek leaves and he’s just swimming in anxiety and insecurity over the “date” with kate. he feels like a loser because he wants to be Grown Up and have sex. he physically starts to jog away from her place. it’s like his body knows what his mind isn’t even entertaining. that she's a predator and he shouldn't be doing anything with her in private.

derek runs and ends up outside of beacon hills hospital where he sees the stilinskis. little stiles, his father and the unnamed claudia stilinski. i couldn’t make this up if i tried. this is such a classic trope. 

of course in canon by the time of the hale fire claudia had been deceased for a year but we don't find that out until season 3 so it can be forgiven.

he observes them. holder gives a clear reference to what a lot of fandom assumed before it was revealed that mrs. stilinski actually had FTD and went with the idea that she had cancer referencing remission. he notices how nervous stiles is and how it reflects his own nerves. 

this brings derek to the idea that humans can get sick, they decay and die. it freaks him out. which, okay, i guess since this version of derek doesn’t spend a lot of time around humans so he’s not used to the concept of mortality of others or himself.

this new fixation drives derek back to kate’s as he's overcome with worry for her. he's become a ball of confused hormones but when he arrives he overhears her talking to someone. it's clearly another hunter but only the audience knows that and derek's uncurious ass accepts it's not his business as he regains himself and turns to go but he bumps into a trash can making noise. this of course brings kate out. she's wearing a satin robe 🤮 and she puts on her concerned face and offers to let him shower and says she has an extra tooth brush. god, i hate her.

this chapter ends with the words: “and ms. argent shut the night out, and brought him into her den.” rage. what i feel is rage.

the next chapter comes back to the present day with lydia being rescued by danny and damon. the pair had gotten danny’s lacrosse gear and broke a window. lydia took her chance and ran out. 

man, that was actually an awesome utilization of danny. smart, clever and quick. wish we could’ve seen something like this in the show. jeff.

it cuts back to jackson who is listening to cassie try to bargain with bailey to leave jackson alive. bailey doesn’t want to leave any loose ends. like, my guy. the plan has fallen apart and you want to catch a murder charge too?

jackson just can’t catch a break this entire time. cassie and jackson attempt at an escape from the van when bailey is distracted. it ends as you’d expect. cassie gets shot because bailey is a fucking idiot, the van crashes. it’s a mess. glass everywhere, the smell of smoke and gas. jackson’s still handcuffed and cassie is in terrible shape. 

in the midst of this lydia has called 911 and is speaking to a dispatcher who's trying to help them. it's helpful but not helpful enough.

in the middle of THIS chaos holder sends us six years into the past again ---  well. i think we can guess what’s coming, can’t we? 

while I appreciate the world building that holder does as she tries to at least give some ritual and culture to the werewolves that’s specific to them. i cannot help but laugh at how she makes it french in connection when really the argents get the emphasis on their french origins. hell, even a quick google search gives up some results on the origin of the surname hale. i find the connection to st edmund interesting (he is the patron saint of torture victims, wolves and protection from the plague. jeff davis i see you.)

peter has a motorcycle that he lets derek borrow???? this feels incorrect. i cannot imagine peter sharing his toys.

i loathe laura’s characterization and it's such a shame this is really the only character she gets that is connected even tenuously to canon. laura is depicted as being aware of derek’s involvement with kate. she's a bit hesitant but not disapproving or overly concerned. she's kept it a secret. derek and laura have a discussion about the possibility of kate receiving the bite and laura even says, “maybe she’s doing a cougar on you.” like, this is just deeply fucked and bothers me so damn much. not only did canonically laura never knew about kate and derek's relationship but i hate how she's just acting like this is something normal.

derek mentions he gave kate a ring as a token of affection that he bought with money peter gave him in exchange for doing a few errands.

derek goes on to describe going home with kate and he’s so, so blinded by his affection for her that i just feel sick reading this.

the important part of this scene is derek whispers that he loves her while she’s asleep and goes to leave after showing but he forgot his backpack. he goes back and creeps back inside her bedroom. like he’s fucking edward cullen or some shit.

SHE IS A RAPIST AND THIS ALL MAKES ME UPSET.

though i have questions about what the fuck this means “he wanted to make love to her as a werewolf.” what in the furry hell?

#my blog #thoughts on teen wolf #teen wolf #on fire: a teen wolf novel #heather reads

[variousqueerthings]

Regency England. Bit more black than they show in the movies.

it's "thin ice," which is personally the episode to me that cements some of this season's (perhaps some of this era's?) ethos. it's also the one that people often bring up about twelve-as-the-doctor, and I do appreciate it. I've had critique of twelve's writing throughout most of s8 and a faaair bit of s9, and I think the twelve that people fondly remember is mainly s10 (with a dash of s9 and a few choice scenes in s8 -- it's not all bad) but I am happy that capaldi was able to give the doctor real nuance bit by bit until we got to this point and can sort of feed that back down the line, even though I'm not convinced that the beginning of writing him knew what it was doing entirely

also this episode has a really big fish in it. and the fish... is people! (sort of, it's an animal, but animals are people!)

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 7/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 7/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 8/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 7/10

FULL RATING: 77/100 (if I can count….)

imagine if we'd had this the whole time...

OBJECTIFICATION: Bill wears this really cute regency fit, the Doctor's swaggering about in a top hat he then gives to a homeless kid, looks upon looks

PLOT-POINT: Bill and the Doctor unexpectedly land in the past (no doubt because the Tardis doesn't want to end things just yet), and she navigates everything from being Black to the Doctor's morality. it's a very clear trajectory from episode one (the wonder, but with some personal sadness), episode two (the danger, but with the feeling of doing good) -- in episode three, Bill realises that things aren't so clearcut, and that the Doctor is, despite being her professor, a bit of an enigma to her

it's not as big of a Thing as back with Rose in s1 or Clara in s8, where they were both really wondering whether the Doctor wasn't a bit fucking unhinged (I'd say Martha as well, but her unhinged Doctor flavour was... unique RIP), but it's a bit of that

of course the Doctor has had their own character growth by now so is sort of more able to not fall to pieces on the whole + isn't the kind to seemingly ignore suffering for the sake of the bigger picture, which I don't think would have been on with Bill at all. yes the Doctor speaks about the bigger picture, but it's about protecting the kids

also I think Bill witnessing the Doctor standing up for her was good for her belief in him, as well as her own worth

COMPLEXITY: it's quite a simple plot. a child just fully dies relatively early on, and I don't know why that's shocking but it just is. I think because the plot is on the whole a tad on the sillier side, but then the villain is truly vile, and the the heart is very much in the right place (what if orphan kids were people! what if big fish trapped in the Thames was people!) so it becomes very Doctor Who

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: there's not technically much Big plot advancement, but Bill and the Doctor feel like they advance a lot in their understandings and trust of one another

at the end of it there's a bit of spooky banging on the door, and it's the Master we know this. knowing it's the Master makes me wonder a bit about how the various hints work out. I need to rewatch the bits where the Master is properly revealed, because yes they're bored and frustrated, but how do they really feel about the Doctor seemingly ignoring them/moving on at this point. banging on the door and all that, but that feels more for effect. idk what I'm saying here, it's not actually critique, I think I'm just wondering about a fic from the Master's perspective while locked up

COMPANIONS MATTER: yeah Bill is both emotionally and practically important in this! it's been more than a week so some of the details are hazy, but she definitely Participates. I think a little less on her own steam than in some others, but definitely doing some Stuff

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: as far as I remember there's nothing egregious in this episode beyond the fact that the Doctor takes charge most of the time and there aren't any really distinguishable single-episode characters who carry some of that side of things. there's the bad guy and the kids, and youknow... hypocritical perhaps, considering how often I've felt like this era has had kids who were kind of superfluous to plot and often unfortunately not good actors, but I'd have liked to have seen more of these kids beyond the Idea of them, if that makes any sense

they're introduced very strongly with the pick-pocketing and the death and finding out where they live, but for the main gist they fall a bit on the wayside

maybe this is the wrong point to be talking about that -- my point is, if the episode had been able to make the kids make more choices in the plot, then the Doctor could have been leading it slightly less

it's not a big thing, it's just a thing

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: the Doctor's been to the frost fair a few times, which is very funny to me and gets a mention. otherwise this isn't much of a referencing episode, and that's fine

“SEXINESS”: can we cross this one off the list for good? (almost, but there's ooone episode I just wanna talk about... well, and then I don't remember if it gets really bad near the end, it's a bit of a risk, as much as I'm so into Gomez!Master, sometimes she does still get the bad dialogue + with the sexism Type that they write the first doctor as at the end of the season... we'll see...)

INTERNAL WORLD: it's the frost fair of 1814. there's circus. there's orphans. there's an evil rich man. there's the Thames. there's the big fish under the Thames. I mean, what more do you need tbh

POLITICS: this is the episode that's famous for the Doctor punching a racist in the face. I cannot say if anyone would have preferred it to be Bill or for it to not have happened at all or... personally I think it's pretty great and of course feels a bit like a direct answer to critique no doubt gotten for some of Martha-in-the-past episodes, where the Doctor never stood up for her and she never really had her worries/fears taken seriously

in this episode you've got a very similar beginning (stepping out of the Tardis and getting nervous because it is 1814), the Doctor allaying those fears in a way that I think was pretty acknowledging of them, while also giving us Black people 1814, as youknow... there were Black people in 1814. including one of the single-episode main characters, so it's not just background characters and Bill

and then the Doctor loses his cool because of racism, which is both admirable and unhelpful to their situation, as it does get them captured. but youknow. you wanted the Doctor to stand up for Martha and this feels like a long time coming -- I don't think it needed to be subtle, I think a bit in-your-face was very needed. now the question ofc is whether we think Ryan and Yaz in chibnall!era are able to continue that... I don't remember

and the next question of course is whether the fifteenth Doctor adds even more layers to the story as a Black character (Ncuti Gatwa at least has said that he thinks so, which is exciting). as a whole though, it's interesting watching this from the perspective of where we are now. Freema Agyeman as Martha shouldered a lot of weight and while I think her character was fantastic and her arc was interesting and nuanced, we know they didn't (and the fandom certainly didn't) give proper space for her to be a Black woman and also just... didn't give her space, in various ways -- however one might have seen it, gracious read is that they "wanted her to be like any other (white) companion, without being singled out," or "they were afraid of writing race," or or or... we know it can be done better (and that if Martha were to come back, say, right now.............) Bill was a very different character to Martha, and after her Ryan joined the team, and since then Rose (Noble), and the fifteenth Doctor are now a part of a much bigger, more exciting (or maybe I should say less depressing) analysis of writing Black characters on Doctor Who, which will only grow as the character roster grows

and the thing is, this season isn't just "important because we need to support Black characters in scifi" in the sense that it's badly written and we're kiiind of gritting our teeth through it, it's... it's quite good. it's not perfect, and I think others could give a much more in-depth analysis of that than I can (specifically in terms of race), but as a trajectory both for writing Black women, for writing marginalised main characters generally, for writing queerness -- which is more my wheelhouse to critique and I do -- for writing the twelfth Doctor's character arc, for the end of this particular era of the show... I think it deserves that kudos. sometimes. someone's gotta punch a racist in the face. and a Black woman can know that her white buddy has got her back. and the two of you can save a big fish and a bunch of homeless orphans and get said racist eaten (or drowned, I forget if the fish got him)

that's good political theory

I want to also note the orphan kids. I mentioned I wish they'd been more fleshed out after the first act/been more heavily involved in the plot, so that the ending really pinpointed how it wasn't just good because homeless kids is... bad... but specifically also from a character standpoint. this especially because one of them died at the beginning, and I feel like it didn't quite sit through the rest of the story -- that being said ofc, the ending is neat. good on you Bill for getting this through and confirming it happened

FULL RATING: 77/100 (if I can count….)

I feel like I did a good summary in the above point. solid stuff. big fish

Just realised "thin ice" obviously also refers to someone who is metaphorically on thin ice- we talking the Doctor taking Bill out even though he's not supposed to? the Doctor and Bill's relationship having a tense moment? the Doctor generally getting "bored" and needing to do something? perhaps and yes, and also ooh big fish

#im watching nu!who #im watching capaldi who #episode thin ice #the measurement

[chlos-dead]

You Are so Beautiful,

carl grimes (Part Two)

Carl Grimes x Fem!Reader (she/her)

A/N: Part two to You Are so Beautiful. I hoped you enjoyed the first part and if you’re just now seeing this, you should go read part one. (Again, credits to @cosmic-flwers !!)

warnings: “borderline” smut (no actual sex just getting there ig), a few season 7 spoilers!!

Season 7 Carl Grimes so he’s around 17-18, Y/N is the same age as Carl and is Negan’s daughter. Told from first person P.O.V. (Y/N’s P.O.V.)

!! proof read !!

Summary for part one: While on a walk Y/N heard a scream coming from Carl and Judith crying. She went to their house and saw Carl covering his wound with his hand. (context — Carl was trying to get Judith to go take a nap, she refused and scratched his wound causing him to scream.) Y/N bribed Judith with candy, she soon fell asleep, and Y/N offered to clean up Carl’s wound and give him a new bandage.

Y/N: purple

Carl: blue

Rick: green

Negan: orange

Enjoy!

—

“Is your dad here or is it just you and Judy?” I asked Carl.

“My dad has been out for a bit but he never told me when he’d be back.” He replied.

“Then we better make this quick.” I said, Carl not hesitating to toss his flannel and shirt to the ground. Once that was out of the way he helped me take my top off, biting his lip as the fabric lifted. He grabbed my hips and pulled me closer, allowing me to straddle him. He placed soft kisses on my neck and collarbone, leaving a few, bright, plum marks on my skin. (those were going to be hard to hide) The feeling of his soft hands against every inch of my waist felt amazing. He placed a firm hand on my jaw to kiss me. His lips were so fucking soft, along with his tongue that managed to sneak into my mouth; though, I can’t complain.

It hadn’t been long before us giving each other, “soft kisses” became a full blown “make out session.”

Carl’s belligerent kisses caused a piercing moan to slip away from my lips.

“Be quiet.” He ordered, “Judith is still asleep, remember?”

“I can’t help it!” I said panting, practically gasping for air. My body shuddered with pleasure when I felt him growing beneath me. He gave me one last, gentle, kiss and looked up at me, tucking my hair behind my ear.

“You sure you wanna do this?” My pussy began to throb after hearing his words. Asking for a girl’s consent is such a simple yet hot think for a guy to do, especially during the apocalypse since the law “doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Yeah-Yes. I’m sure.” I said, eager for him to fuck me. I slid my shoes and socks off as he unbuttoned my pants. I stood up so they could simply fal to the ground, doing the same for my bra. I snapped my fingers in Carl’s face after noticing he was getting a bit distracted. I began to unbutton his jeans but before he could take them off we heard a door open from far away, jumping at the sound of Rick’s voice.

“Carl?” Rick yelled from the living room.

“Shit.” I gave Carl a “we’re fucked” kind of look.

“One second, Dad!” He buttoned his jeans and put his shirt on. I put my top on and tried to pull my pants up as quick as I could after hearing foot steps coming closer to the bathroom door.

“Carl-Carl?! Y/N?!” I looked like a deer in headlights when I saw Rick’s eyes watching his son’s hands as he buttoned my pants.

“I-I should probably get-going…” I stuttered, trying to get passed Rick.

“Hey, you’re forgetting your uhm…” Rick pointed at my bra that was on the floor. I turned around and let out a loud, annoyed, groan.

“You stupid slut.” I mumbled to myself.

“How about you two get… Decent and then come downstairs. We’re having a talk.” Rick slammed the bathroom door shut.

“I’m so fucking screwed.” Carl told me the minute his dad was gone.

“Me too.” I laughed.

“Not as much as me, you won’t get in trouble by your dad.” He assumed.

“And how do you know that?”

“Well, first off, your dad actually likes me and second, he’s an asshole but seems to be a lot cooler than my dad is.”

“Wait, your dad doesn’t like me?”

“It’s not that he doesn’t like you…He doesn’t-Trust you.”

“That doesn’t make it any better!” I pouted. We walked outside of the bathroom and downstairs into the living room, when me and Carl sat one the couch at trembled at the sight of Rick’s “death stare.”

“You two have got to understand why having sex isn’t the best idea with how everything is right now.” I sighed in relief, maybe we weren’t as fucked as we thought we were.

“Dad, I know but… We’ll be fine.” I nodded in response to Carl’s comment.

It didn’t make much sense to me since, from my knowledge, there isn’t any access to condoms nor birth control with how the world is right now.

“With what condoms?” It was as if Rick was reading my mind.

“Well, I found some in-In your room plus, Glenn was stocked up so… Yeah.” Carl gave a light chuckle regretting bringing up the dead member.

“Not trying to be selfish or anything like that but… You won’t tell my dad, will you? He doesn’t even know I’m here right now.” I blurted out.

“You know… Now that you’re bringing it up, I will. I’m sure he’d love to hear that you’re causing trouble.” I was quite annoyed by the cocky smile on Rick’s face, I did nothing to him to deserve his wishes upon my downfall. “Where is he right now?”

“Grab Judith, she’s asleep in her room, I’ll show you.” I said, looking at Carl with an ashamed look on my face. Rick grabbed Judith and the three of them followed me back to my dad who was still outside “working.”

“Finally, you’re back! Wait-What are they doing with you?” My dad asked me.

“Y/N and C-”

“Oh! I asked her. Not you.”

“Actually-Rick was needing to talk to you about… Something.”

“Well then, go ahead.”

“Your daughter and my son were, about to, have sex before I stopped em’. I just thought you should know that since I know how protective you are of her.” My body was full of annoyance, Rick was making such a big deal out of nothing and for no reason!

“Okay.” My dad shrugged.

“Okay?” Rick laughed in shock.

“Do you think I actually would have given a single fuck about Y/N•N having sex? And anyway, if she’s going to have sex with anyone I’m perfectly fine with it being your son.” It’s not that my dad doesn’t care about my own health or safety, he just knows that it’s stupid to get all worked up over something like this.

“Are you being serious?” Me and Carl began to laugh at Rick’s dramatic reaction.

“They’re horny teenagers, they probably barely ever seen anyone that’s they’re age. So yes, I am being serious because, once again, our kids having sex is the least of anyone’s problems right now.”

“Told you that your dad was cool.” Carl looked at me with an annoyingly cute smirk.

“Shut up.”

#chlos-dead #aesthetic #fanfic #fanfics #fanfiction #wattpad #spotify #twd #twd imagine #the walking dead #the walking dead imagine #carl grimes #carl grimes imagine #chandler riggs #scenario

[the-vibes-are-off]

The Stormlight Archive Volume 1: The Way of Kings’ Review: Chapters 5-8

link to contents page - https://at.tumblr.com/the-vibes-are-off/hey-hey/96xd9ohihrzs

Right, well, you know how I said in my previous post that my COVID test was negative? Yeah so I was swiftly clowned and I am now SICK right on essay season. I have dug out crusty dusty old HP Pavilion to do work but I’m essentially only using it for Tumblr so. My partner is officially in another country now (I know you’re going to read this so pls come back I am dying) so I cant even be babied 24/7 due to the time difference. On season 4 of Criminal Minds already tho so ....

In terms of reading, I am officially back and LOVING it. I am limiting myself to 4 chapters in one setting because that’s how much I want my review sections to cover and writing this takes longer than I thought it would tbh. Lets get to it! 

Spoiler Free Zone:

The split narrative is like definitely managing my problems with maintaining my attention. I will say that since Kaladin’s story line, although definitely interesting don’t get me wrong, would probably get boring if it was all I was reading. I’m more a magic and lore and pretty women fantasy enjoyer than a grr fight fantasy enjoyer since my like gritty lit enjoyment comes from different genres.

Loving the direction that Shallan’s plot line is going in, I’m glad Brandon doesn’t just give the characters what they want straight away and there is at least the illusion that they’re working for something even though its obvious they’ll achieve it eventually.

Mostly, I’m just loving the characters they’re introducing in Shallan’s story, maybe not so much SOME people (a certain person specifically I dislike is beginning, BEGINNING to grow on me) as they’re just so lovely and cute and nice and ugh we love to see it.

*** SPOILERS INCOMING ***

Spoiler Zone:

I’m saying it now, I did initially think Jasnah was just a bitch tbh like I get she’s all important and up her own ass or whatever but she doesn’t appreciate art??? I get Shallan like couldnt just get what she wanted but like .... come on. I was so mad when she just started shouting n shit when Shallan was waiting in the alcove like get a grip pls. However.... turning a boulder to smoke? I had to tab that as cool, like that was just a smart idea to clear it and a cool fckn power to have 

Shallan wanting to steal tho? I love her, a true icon as she should steal from the bitch. I literally just tabbed it love this bc ? Slay like what else could I do. I’d steal it too 

aaaaaaaaand then were back to Kaladin actually just getting fucking shit on at every turn yet again. mf has to carry a bridge?? and then get shot at with arrows?? my goodness give this man a break 

The spren getting a name tho like Syl is acc like carrying Kaladin’s arc for me I want to know what is going on there I am trying so hard not to spoil it for myself

From an arts and humanities student standpoint, I did tab Shallan describing how she views her art and the process of creation as like fleshy and human. Like in both studying and writing poetry I relate to capturing a person or a place or a moment on paper 

And then 2 cuties that I simply had to draw attention to in Brother Kabsal and Yalb. They are iconic and I adore them the end :*

Tab Count:

Cute: 2

Fights: 1

Sad: 1 

Death: 0

Cool: 0 

Wtf wow: 1

Wtf why: 0 

Slay Quotes: 0 

Love this: 2

Hate this: 0

Tab Total:

Cute: 3

Fights: 4

Sad: 1

Death: 2

Cool: 4

Wtf wow: 2

Wtf why: 1

Slay Quotes: 3

Love this: 5

Hate this: 1

PS: If anyone actually reads this far down comment (or post me if you’re feeling generous) your fave tea to drink when you’re sick because I’m going through maybe 10 cups a day and I am swiftly running out....

#brandon sanderson #the way of kings #stormlight archive #kaladin stormblessed #kaladin #shallan #shallan davar #jasnah kholin #book #books #books and reading #book review #fantasy #high fantasy #book tabbing #book annotations #english literature #literature #literature review

[candy-corn-slut]

I’ve been saying a lot that the show is not going to have a great first season bc tv shows rarely do. It takes time for the writers to find their footing, the actors to settle into the characters, the set design and all the various pieces to start to come together and be incredible. However. I believe the shows ability to improve will rely on the writers ability to take (good faith) criticism and make improvements. Whether the next seasons are better depends on a few things:

1. Timing, the kids already look much older than they did during the filming of season 1, if they put it off too long, the show runs the risk of stranger things-ing, a phenomenon where child actors become adult actors before their child characters become adult characters. We need walker to not be 25 when the last Olympian films (if it films). Disney will have to move quickly to renew and start filming season 2 to avoid this

2. Pacing. Maybe Disney will see the complaints about length and give the future seasons more/longer episodes. If not, the writers have got to account for that and they have got to be willing to make sacrifices. No one wants to see plot points dropped, but it’s not much (if at all) better to see all the plot points poorly carried out. The audience needs time to breathe. We need time for the points to sit. We cannot maintain this agonizingly quick pacing whereby one thing happens and we move on immediately to the next. It kills tension!

3. Tension. This show lacked tension badly. Almost every reveal was disappointing (when, as someone who has read the books so many times I can practically recite them from memory, in the books they are not). They are figuring things out so. quickly. And for what? To immediately move on to the next thing. Obviously there is credence for them knowing about the myths, percy being taught by his mom, annabeth studying this stuff since she was 7, but the tension in the books isn’t from a lack of knowledge, it’s an inability to immediately identify the danger because it looks different in the modern era than it was in the original stories. The lotus island was an island, it wasn’t a casino, it should have been harder to spot (even with the name), Procrustus (or however it’s spelled) wasn’t a fucking bed salesman. There is nuance. That’s part of why the books are so magical. They reframe old stories for the modern world. This is so lost in the show.

4. Characterization. Annabeth is so stoic. Percy isn’t very quippy. Grover is so sure of himself. None of these things are true in the books. Annabeth is geeky, percy is sassy (all the time, not just occasionally, I need more seaweed brain moments, him trying to place the myth), Grover has been badly burned by the ordeal of taking annabeth, luke, and Thalia to camp; by losing Thalia. The council doesn’t trust him, he sees himself as a screwup. His growth comes in the form of forgiving himself and becoming more confident. More willing to stand up for himself and his friends. (If you can’t tell I’m the most irritated by Grover’s thing). Sally has these moments where she (obv accidentally) makes percy believe she doesn’t want him??? Percy is so loved by sally, he has never once doubted that his mom cherishes him, even though he often believes he doesn’t deserve that, because he wasn’t a “good kid” (by his own metric)

If the writers are willing to tackle these (and other) issues, I think the show could be really great, even if it won’t be a beat for beat recreation of the books. But if the writers (Rick) stick their heads in the sand and insist that they know best and that every critic is unreasonable? The show won’t improve. It’ll be mediocre, and I doubt I’ll watch it.

#I can’t wait to reread the first book again #seriously #ugh it’s gonna be so good #percy jackson #pjo spoilers #kinda

[2nd2ndalto]

When I Get Home to You

Chapter Ten

*this chapter rated mature/explicit, be warned*

Only one more chapter after this, yay!

___

Chapter 9

Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Nico wakes earlier than he’d intended the next morning.

He takes his time returning fully to consciousness, soothed by the comforting sound of Will’s steady breath next to him. It’s rare for him to wake before Will, and once he does manage to open his eyes, he takes the opportunity to drink in the sight of the man lying next to him, lips parted, his brow creased just slightly, dark blonde lashes feathered against his cheekbones. In the quiet and peace of their bedroom, and with nothing at all planned for today, Nico feels calm and whole. Grateful to be waking in his cozy house with his beautiful husband next to him.

Sticks must have heard him wake, though, because the dog noses her way into the bedroom and lets out a soft whine. Careful not to disturb Will, Nico climbs reluctantly out of the warm bed and pads quietly to the back door. He’s leaning against the door frame, absently waiting for Sticks to return, when he notices the dog worrying at something near the hammock. Shit.

Grabbing a fleece from the hook by the back door, Nico hurries out into the yard. The damp grass is icy on his bare feet.

“Sticks? Drop it.”

The dog turns to gaze at him, looking guilty, clearly hiding something in her jowls. There’s something sticking out from between her teeth that looks suspiciously like the arm of Will’s glasses.

“Sticks,” he says, more threateningly. “Drop it, girl.”

She doesn’t, but Nico’s still quick on his feet, and he makes a grab for the dog’s collar before she can abscond with the glasses the way she clearly wants to. He sighs, prying her jaws open and gently extricating the glasses. He gives Sticks a stern look, for all the good it will do.

Luckily, she hasn’t done any damage, and Nico sits down on a low rock near the windmill palm to carefully clean the dirt, slobber and dew from the glasses with the hem of his t-shirt. He hooks them over his collar and leans forward, elbows on his knees, closing his eyes. It’s quiet, still. There’s a fresh crispness to the air that nudges with the reminder of the change of seasons, chills the tip of his nose and ears. Then suddenly there’s a whine and a sharp swipe at his face, and Nico startles, opening his eyes.

“Sticks, what the fuck?” he squeaks, putting his hand to his cheek and pulling it away, checking for blood. Sticks lifts a paw to bat at him again, thankfully only making contact with his arm this time and Nico grumbles, scratching Sticks’ ears like she clearly wants.

Nico’s gaze sweeps across the yard and - oh right. He rises, walking back to the hammock and gingerly picking up last night’s discarded t-shirt from the dew-wet grass, heading inside to drop the stiff garment into the laundry.

___

Nico’s just about to head to the shower when he meets his husband in the hallway. “Morning, sunshine,” he says. But when Will’s eyes rise to meet Nico’s, his gaze shows immediate concern.

“Shit, Nico, you look like you were in a fist fight.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Nico steps into the bathroom and flicks on the light, peering into the mirror. And yes, sure enough, he looks a bit battered - a nick on his chin, a trio of red scratches across his right cheek, his lower lip bluish and a bit swollen on one side, and… three small purpling bruises, one on his jaw and two on his throat.

Nico laughs in recognition. “Well, I cut myself shaving yesterday,” he taps his chin, “the scratches are from Sticks - she was getting a little… aggressively affectionate, you know.” He shrugs, turning to Will, who looks pale and pained.

“What?” he frowns. “Will, it’s not a big deal.”

“Your lip?” Will says quietly, reaching out a tentative finger, not quite touching.

“Well...”

“Is that from… me getting a little aggressively affectionate?” Will sounds embarrassed.

“It wasn’t just you. It was both of us.”

Will nods, looking worried.

“Will, I don’t mind. Hey,” Nico wraps his fingers around Will’s chin as Will glances down.

“Sorry,” Will sighs.

“For what? You didn’t hurt me. We just got a little… frantic. It was completely consensual, and I liked it. A lot.” Nico dips his head, trying to get Will to meet his gaze. “Hey, I’ll give you a big fucking hickey right now if it’ll make you feel better.”

A small smile pulls at Will’s lips, and he finally looks up. “I wasn’t trying to leave marks.”

“I know.”

“I’m over-reacting.”

“No, you’re just reacting. It was a rough weekend. Come here.” He wraps his arms around his husband, who dips his head to rest it on Nico’s shoulder, arms rising to wrap around Nico’s waist, slide up under his shirt and press against the bare skin of his back.

“Will it make you feel better if you heal me?”

“Can I?”

“Of course, if you want to.”

Will pulls away a fraction, his gaze still pained. Nico’s eyes linger on his husband’s face as Will’s fingers carefully trace his cheeks, his chin, his throat, his lips. Warmth tingles across Nico’s face and coils low in his stomach, though he’s fairly sure that’s not the vibe Will is intending, and he tries to ignore it.

Will sighs as he drops his hands, looking a little more relaxed.

“You okay?” Nico asks.

“Yeah. I am.” Will pauses, then nods. “I am, really. Mostly. I woke up feeling really relaxed. Sorry, just -” he gestures to Nico’s face, shakes his head. “It kind of hit me unexpectedly. The way these things do.”

Nico nods. He knows. He has a litany of his own triggers. They’ve gotten easier to deal with over time, and with work. But he understands very well how everything is harder when something’s already thrown him off-track.

Will frowns, diverted. “Are those my glasses?”

“Oh! Yes.” Nico pulls the glasses off his collar, and ignoring Will’s outstretched hand, carefully places them on his husband’s face, using his index finger to push them up the bridge of Will’s nose. Will blinks, smiles. “I pulled them from the jaws of that beast,” he nods towards Sticks, now lying in the hallway. “She found them in the backyard.”

“Oh gods,” Will’s eyes go wide. “Shit. Thanks for that.”

“Any time.” Nico’s gaze lingers on Will’s face, his mouth slowly pulling into a sly smile.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he says softly. “You’re just adorable in your glasses. You look like a hot young professor.” Nico lets his eyes flick to Will’s mouth.

Will rolls his eyes, but at least he’s smiling. “Young-ish.”

“Hot,” Nico murmurs, slowly leaning in to press his lips to Will’s. He lingers there for a moment, pressure and heat, before pulling back. Will’s eyes flutter open. He takes a deep breath.

“Love you,” Will murmurs.

“I love you too.”

Will smiles at him fondly. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know. Just for being you.”

Nico kisses him again, then winds his arms around Will’s waist, tucking his head under his husband’s chin. Will sighs, rubbing Nico’s back. “I need coffee,” he murmurs after a moment.

Nico laughs, pulling away. “‘Kay. I’m going to have a shower.”

___

“Hey.”

Nico’s just stepped out of the bathroom, hair damp and messy, towel wrapped around his waist.

“Hey yourself,” he tells his husband. Will looks more collected now, his eyes bright.

Will steps closer, winds his arms around Nico’s waist to whisper in his ear, “don’t get dressed yet.”

Nico laughs as Will begins walking him backwards towards their bedroom, grinning like an idiot the whole time.

“Why not?”

“Three guesses. First two don’t count,” Will laughs as Nico’s legs bump against the bed and Will yanks the towel from his waist and captures his mouth in a kiss in one fluid movement.

Nico sighs contentedly, draping his arms around his husband’s neck.

“This isn’t really fair,” he murmurs as Will begins lightly kissing down his neck, hands sliding lower on Nico’s back.

“No? How come?”

“You ambushed me.”

Will giggles.

“And you’re wearing way too many clothes.” Nico lets his hands slide up under Will’s shirt, smooth over warm skin, skate up his ribs. He reaches for the hem of the Will's shirt and pulls it carefully over his head when Will steps back. Will raises his hands to take his glasses off. Which honestly always gives Nico a little jolt of pleasure in this context, but -

“You could leave the glasses on?”

Will laughs. “No way. These poor glasses have been through enough.” He turns to carefully place them on the dresser and then immediately turns his attention back to his naked husband.

Will kisses him deliciously slowly and thoroughly in a way that makes Nico want to melt into a puddle. He breaks away to press kisses to Nico’s eyelids, his cheeks.

“You’re so beautiful,” Will murmurs.

Nico laughs.

“What?” Will pulls back, flushed and happy.

“I changed my mind, I like you with the glasses off.” Nico leans in to kiss him again.

Will laughs. “I tell you you’re beautiful all the time. Even when you’re not blurry.”

“Yeah, because you’re such a dork, you -”

Whatever Nico had been about to say dissolves into a sigh, into the heat building between them as Will’s hands sink lower, fingers brushing against his length.

“Who’s the dork now,” Will whispers against his cheek, and before Nico can retort, Will sinks lower too, to his knees, and oh, that’s very very nice and Nico’s not sure how he’s still upright except that Will’s got him very pleasantly pinned against the bed, secured between his hands cupping Nico’s ass and his hot, wet mouth.

Another moment of sharp suction and Nico’s head is spinning. His hands come to rest gently against Will’s head, steadying himself. Just when he’s positive his knees are going to give out, Will stands again, kisses Nico on the mouth, on the cheek, nips at his earlobe. He gives Nico a gentle shove in the chest. “Lie down,” Will murmurs.

“Bossy,” Nico breathes. He complies, a little less gracefully than he intended to.

Will grins. “You love it.” And then he’s crawling over Nico to lie on top of him, fitting arms and legs and mouths together like they’ve done a thousand times.

“Pants… off,” Nico manages when Will pulls back for a breath, and Will giggles, wiggling cooperatively as Nico shoves at his waistband.

Will sighs at the contact once they’re both fully undressed, and Nico runs his hands everywhere he can reach, the curve of Will’s shoulders, the line of his spine, the dip of his lower back, all warm and familiar and home. “You feel so good,” he murmurs as Will presses into him.

“Mmm, you too.” Will drops a kiss to the tip of Nico’s nose before his mouth presses to Nico’s neck, lingering to lick along his collarbones. Nico moans softly, tipping his head back into the pillow, eyes closed, lost in the dizzy, building heat. Then Will’s mouth is on his chest, his stomach, his hips, warm and soft, and Nico can feel his breath coming quicker. He presses his lips together, trying not to squirm too much under the gentle pressure of Will’s lips, the heat of his breath.

Will’s tongue circles around the jut of his hip bone, then he kisses lower. He skates over where Nico wants him most, pressing only quick, gentle kisses to Nico’s swollen cock, then moving lower to nuzzle against the inside of his thigh. Nico has a feeling he knows where this is heading now, and he has absolutely no objections.

There’s light suction and warm breath and the gentle scratch of Will’s beard on the inside of one thigh and then the other, and Nico’s suddenly feeling a great need to anchor himself to something. His hands fist in the sheets next to him and he’s only a little embarrassed to realize he’s panting, lost in the feeling of Will’s lips and Will’s tongue and gentle fingers delicately tracing his erection. Then his husband murmurs, “spread your legs for me, love?” and Nico whimpers.

Will laughs under his breath, but he’s entitled, honestly, and he helps, gently guiding Nico’s knees up. More soft suction on sensitive skin and then closer, closer, and Nico can feel Will’s fingers against him and then his tongue, lapping at his rim, and all he can do is keep taking short, sharp breaths, lost in pleasure.

The vulnerability, the sharp intimacy of this act always sends Nico reeling. Heat sparks and flares and leaves him shattered, breathless, and by the time Will draws away and speaks again, there’s a lag of several seconds before Nico realizes he hasn’t even understood what his husband said.

“Can you pass me the lube?” Will repeats, grinning up from between Nico’s legs. Nico takes a shuddering breath, managing to get his jumbled body to cooperate enough to roll to the side and fish blindly in the bedside table, nearly knocking a lamp over. He passes the tube to Will, who flashes him another smile, flushed, eyes bright. Maybe looking a little too pleased with himself, but Nico will allow it.

It used to terrify him, once upon a time, losing control this way. The way Will could so easily take him apart, pull him apart to his essence. But Will catches him, too. Holds him and reassembles the pieces, and now he craves the way they fall together.

Will’s fingers slide and press and stroke and curl and Nico tries to remember to keep breathing. He thinks he might be talking, mumbling something the whole time, but he’d be hard pressed to repeat if anyone asked, not actually sure if he’s making any sense at all. He whines too loudly at the loss when warm fingers suddenly slide out. But then a second later Will’s voice is at his ear, warm breath against the side of his head. “Can I please be inside you?” he whispers.

Nico makes a noise that he hopes Will will interpret as affirmative, pulling his husband back in to kiss him, messy and uncoordinated, reaching between their bodies to wrap his fingers around Will’s erection. Will gasps, reaching for the bedside table.

“No, don’t use a condom,” Nico mumbles against his husband’s mouth, eyes closed.

“No?”

“No, want to feel you.” The condoms are really only for convenience, and maybe it doesn’t make that much difference, sensation-wise, but it’s just the thought of it, the closeness. And right now he wants Will, all of him. Wants the heat and the mess and the pleasant ache in his body lingering into tomorrow.

“Want me to pull out?” Will murmurs, already fumbling with the lube again.

Nico shakes his head.

“‘Kay.”

And then Will moves back to line himself up and Nico watches, breathing hard, gathering his husband back in at the first opportunity, pressing his heels behind Will’s thighs to pull him deeper. He thinks he might actually spontaneously combust once they’re pressed together, Will all the way inside. It’s so good, so much, and in these moments he doesn’t feel like he’ll ever be able to get enough. They still for a moment, chests rising and falling together.

“Okay?” Will whispers, and Nico nods, fast. And then they’re moving, and somehow the familiar comfort in the way they wrap around each other and the simmering heat of the movement is everywhere, everything, it’s perfect. A moment later, Will fumbles between their bodies to stroke him, but Nico shoves his husband’s hand away, shaking his head.

“No, ‘m too close.”

“‘Kay.” Will readjusts, moving in slow, deep strokes that make Nico want to sob with pleasure. “Sorry. Figured I’d pushed - ah,” Will shivers, his eyes falling shut, “- figured I’d pushed you too far once you started speaking Italian,” he manages.

Nico blinks, diverted. “Did I?”

Will laughs, breathless. “Mmm. When I was fingering you.”

“Huh.”

He grins. “It was hot.”

“‘M always hot,” Nico retorts, but the last word is lost in a moan as his husband thrusts just a bit harder, and Will lets out a gasping giggle.

“Fuck,” Nico whimpers, rocked back by another hard thrust, and by the glint in Will’s eye, he’s quite sure that one was very deliberate. “You’re the worst,” he groans.

“Love you too,” Will laughs.

And soon there’s not really enough breath for conversation, nor does Nico think he’s retained abilities in any language at all. There’s just heat, and intensifying pleasure, and Will muttering breathless, broken endearments in his ear. And then Will’s breath starts to come rougher against Nico’s skin, and he pulls back for more leverage, sharp, quick, thrusts.

Nico forces his eyes open, needing to see Will’s face. Will’s brow is creased, eyes shut tight, lips parted, and the beautiful sight of him chasing his own release is almost enough to push Nico over the edge. He tries to pull Will closer any way he can, clinging with arms and legs. Will breathes in, quick and ragged, and a second later he shifts, reaching between their bodies again, and this time Nico doesn’t stop him, so very ready for them to fall together.

Will’s grip on his cock is firm, but his rhythm is unsteady, understandably. It leaves Nico hanging exquisitely near the edge for seconds that feel like an eternity, every muscle in his body trembling in anticipation. When he finally topples over with Will’s last, frantic thrusts, it’s with a shout that leaves his own ears ringing.

Will collapses on top of his husband, both breathless, bodies heaving together in a sweaty, shattered heap. Nico keeps his arms wrapped around Will’s shoulders, torn between trying to get enough air into his lungs and absolutely not wanting his husband to move away just yet.

It might be several minutes later - honestly it’s impossible to say - when Will manages to shift, slipping out and making Nico gasp. Will sits back on his knees for a moment, somehow finding the wherewithal to grab the previously-discarded towel and wipe both of their stomachs before crawling up to the head of the bed to press his forehead against Nico’s.

“Holy fuck, Will,” Nico breathes, his hands over his face.

Will giggles. “Good?”

“Oh my god.”

Will presses a kiss to the back of each of Nico’s hands, and flops down beside him.

“I don’t think I can move my legs.”

Will snorts. Then, a beat later, only a little worriedly, “you’re mostly kidding, right?”

Nico considers. “Ask me again in a few minutes.”

“Kay,” and he can hear the laughter bubbling in Will’s voice. “Don’t go anywhere,” he tells Nico. “I’m going to get us cleaned up and then I’ll come right back to cuddle you.”

“Mmph,” Nico manages.

Will’s weight disappears from the bed, and a moment later Nico hears water running in the bathroom, Will singing to himself. Nico smiles. He slowly drops his hands and manages to roll himself over, face pressed into the pillow. Will gives an appreciative whistle as he comes back into the bedroom. He bounces onto the bed, directly over Nico, supporting his weight on elbows and knees.

“Can you move your legs now?”

“Can but don’t want to,” Nico mumbles.

HIs husband laughs, crawling off of him. He pats Nico on the ass, maybe a little harder than necessary.

“Here, help me a bit.”

Nico groans, but helps Will shift his legs enough to clean him up. A moment later Will is back, smelling of soap and mouthwash and pulling the blankets up over both of them. He half-drapes himself over Nico’s shoulders, nudges their heads next to each other.

“You’re falling asleep,” Will teases.

“‘M not,” Nico mumbles, as he falls asleep.

The last thing he’s aware of is Will’s soft, pleased laughter, his lips on Nico’s forehead.

#percy jackson and the heroes of olympus #older nico di angelo #older will solace #nico di angelo #solangelo #fluff and angst #my writing #multi chapter #will solace #older percy jackson #hazel levesque #mrs o'leary #rated m #smut #frank zhang