#he is both the coolest and the hottest and he’s allowed to be that because he has The Range

[parkermunson]

Celebrating october with eddie in '85 (historically accurate)

This is a bit long but cute! [1k] Divider by @firefly-graphics

Moodboard // Spotify Playlist (not historically accurate lol)

eddie's been waiting MONTHS for fall. october is his favorite month and no one's going to ruin it for him– not even that asshole jason.

week one: you take him to a pumpkin patch.

you're surrounded by parents with their kids but eddie's having the time of his life. he picks up a pumpkin, turns to you, and says "imagine a devil face on this guy! so metal!" you laugh and add it to the little wagon.

you buy each person in your life a pumpkin. his pumpkin has a bunch of curls hanging off the stem to resemble his hair. wayne's pumpkin is the most beautiful one you could find– no bumps/bruises, perfectly round and smooth. your parents and siblings each got a pumpkin too.

2 days later, you invite eddie over to your house for dinner with your family. you all ate, then sat at the table while some cheesy Halloween cartoon plays on the television. you're carving your pumpkin and eddie's helping when your arms get tired. he also helps your family.

during the weekend, you go to eddie's trailer. wayne's wearing the one Halloween shirt he has– a bright orange tee with a pumpkin face on it. "used to be eddie's favorite as a kid," he said.

eddie and wayne carved their pumpkins while one of wayne's old records played in the background. wayne went with a classic toothy smiley face. eddie attempted the devil face, but got upset when it wasn't working. you helped him fix it. it wasn't great but eddie loved it simply because you helped.

week two: you went to two haunted houses.

the first one wasn't scary at all, definitely meant for kids, but eddie held your hand the entire time.

the second one was terrifying. actors jumping out at all corners, getting in your space. eddie kept making jokes which calmed you down. at one point he looked at one of the actors covered in fake blood and said "you got something on your face." the actor broke character and laughed.

week three: you went shopping for costumes.

you agreed on a couple's costume, as you'd be spending the whole day together, but finding one you could both agree on proved to be difficult. eddie wanted to be something scary, but you didn't wantsomething too over the top. not to mention no horror movie had a duo that wasn't childish.

eddie chose to be Freddy Krueger, you chose Elvira (aka the hottest costumes of the early 80s).

that night, you went on a walk around the neighborhood to look at the decorations. not many people decorated in eddie's trailer park, so you stuck to your side of town. eddie kept pointing out the stuff he found cool. he kept a mental note of the coolest ideas for when he got his own place (but forgot them all an hour later).

week four: you had a group movie marathon.

the entire group gathered at Mike's, as it was the only place big enough. it took a lot of convincing, but eventually nancy, steve, and robin gave in and joined.

dustin was adamant Ghostbusters play first. eddie complained until Nightmare on Elm Street was played sometime during the night.

you ate so much popcorn and candy, you left with the worst stomach ache of your life. eddie laughed about his ability to eat whatever he could get his hands on without ever getting sick.

the last week: you went to a costume party.

a friend of yours invited you to a party the night before halloween. she was hesitant to allow Eddie, but you made it clear you wouldn't go without him.

the party was on a tuesday night at your friend's house. you showed up at 10pm and it was already a bit crowded with teenagers standing around the front lawn. the idea was to show up 'early' before it gets out of hand (for eddie's sake)

by 11pm, the party was in full swing. the music so loud you could barely hear yourself, the room so crowded you had to elbow your way around. it was a costume party. not wanting to risk beer ruining it, you saved Elvira for tomorrow. you went as Nancy to eddie's Freddy Krueger.

the night was spent dancing, drinking, and being stupid. eddie was only called out a few times, but the guys were too drunk to pursue a fight. eddie and you left in giggles only an hour later, realizing it wasn't really your scene.

Halloween: was on a Wednesday so eddie still had to go to school. you spent the day baking halloween cookies at your place.

an hour before eddie got out of school, you started getting your elvira costume on. the dress looked amazing but the wig was uneven and never sat right. you left it off until trick-or-treating time.

eddie walked in as you were pulling the last batch of cookies out of the oven. his jaw dropped upon seeing you. you barely turned the oven off before he had you over his shoulder leading you to the bedroom.

the first knock on your door came at 4pm. you barely had your dress shoved back in place by the time eddie got the door open. it was a little superman. eddie gave him a fistbump and a giant candybar before the small hero hopped back down the stairs to the next house.

eddie and you sat on your front steps eating cookies and handing out candy to the kids. it didn't get crowded until 5, and stayed like that until 7pm.

your parents came by at 7:30 and sent you and eddie away, promising they could handle the trick-or-treaters the rest of the night.

eddie and you spent some time walking around and looking at the costumes. anytime he saw another freddy, he would fistbump them.

you hopped in the van and headed to eddie's trailer to bring wayne some cookies, but he wasn't there. leaving them in tinfoil on the counter, you changed into a pair of jeans you left at eddie's and one of his sweatshirts to go to a bonfire the trailer park residents were having.

you spent the night curled up with eddie, roasting marshmallows, eating smores, and listening to ghost stories.

#eddie munson #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson headcanons #eddie munson hc #stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things headcanons #stranger things hc #halloween #eddie munson x you #eddie stranger things #mandi writes #parkermunson

[angelz-dust]

heatwave (jason todd x gender neutral!reader)

summary: extreme heat leads to a little accident with your popsicle and jason finds a way to rectify the problem.

warnings: 18+ content (minors dni) - smut, unprotected sex (no condom, no pulling out - pls wrap it up y’all), shower sex, mild food play (popsicle), mild choking. 

minors/ageless blogs who interact will be blocked - read rules before interacting

the sun shone through the window of your bedroom, the rays of light dancing against your sweaty skin as the wind from your fan made the blinds shake. you laid out on your bed, which had been stripped of its comforter, in only your underwear. you were about ready to peel those off of yourself, too. you weakly grabbed at your phone, checking the weather. 77 degrees.

77 degrees, your ass. it felt like 90. 

as much as you enjoyed reaping the consequences of a depleting ozone layer, you felt like it was time to do something to control the temperature in your apartment. you weren't sure how much longer you'd be able to handle breathing in air that felt thick enough to chew. slowly, you sat up, having to peel your sheet off of your sweaty back. you were going to have to do the laundry at some point because going back to sleep in drenched sheets was just as disgusting as it sounded. that was a problem for 3pm you, though. 11am you needed water. desperately.

waddling your way to the kitchen, you opened the refrigerator door and you let out a loud moan of satisfaction. the bright white lights invited you inside its cold confines and you could've swore you saw a dead relative or two beckoning you in. you didn't want to leave the door open for too long, so you quickly grabbed the last water bottle and shut it. you wasted no time swallowing down the cold liquid, ignoring how it made your teeth hurt and froze your throat. you didn't even care that some of it had spilled down the front of your body, down your chest and to the band of your underwear. you welcomed the cold droplets onto your burning hot skin. 

“fuuuuuuck,” you breathed out, your body going limp as it pressed itself against the metal refrigerator door. you could feel your perspiration creating a suction between it and your skin. it was fine, though. you had no intention of moving anyway.

had it not been for your brain taking a few minutes to power itself off, you would've heard the familiar jingle of keys unlocking the front door and you would've turned to see jason coming in with the desserts you requested. 

“what the hell are you doing?” you heard him say and you slightly turned towards him, a dazed look on your face. he was already stripping out of his clothes before he even asked.

“dying,” you responded, opening the freezer for him as he threw in some ice cream and multiple boxes of popsicles.

jason put his hand on your clammy shoulder, slowly ripping you off of the fridge. he turned you towards him, holding some contraption in his hand, which appeared to be a cross between a spray bottle and a fan. without saying anything, he turned it on and began spraying you down like a misbehaving cat, only you didn't flinch. no, you relished in the feeling of the mist on your face.

“here. i got one for myself, too,” he said, handing you the fan. you smiled happily as you started spraying and fanning yourself all over. 

“i hope whoever invented this is getting bomb ass head right now,” you breathed out, starting to feel some relief.

“what about the guy who bought it for you? what does he get?” jason asked, starting his fan up and spraying his chest, it now glistening with both sweat and tap water. 

“absolutely nothing until the temperature drops,” you smiled at him. “what flavors did you get?”

jason’s lips puckered slightly as he leaned back against the kitchen counter. “strawberry, pineapple, and this caribbean mix with a bunch of flavors in it. you might wanna wait on eating them, though. they’ll probably melt fast.”

“it's a risk i'm willing to take,” you said, going and grabbing a popsicle for yourself. you unwrapped it and hummed happily at the flavor against your tongue. the brand jason bought was a little more expensive but it was definitely worth it. the real fruit juices and chunks were much more satisfying to taste than the artificial flavoring of the other brands.

“is it good?” jason asked, a small smile on his lips. despite being uncomfortably hot, seeing you happy made it bearable. the fact that he was able to provide you with the things you needed, even if it was something as simple as your favorite popsicle, made him feel good.

“mhm,” you nodded, some of the juices starting to trickle down your chin and onto your chest. you looked down and frowned a little. you started spraying your chest, trying to get the stickiness to go away. 

jason watched you desperately try to lick up the juices that were now sliding down the stick and getting on your hands. it just wouldn't stop and it was making a huge mess, just as he had warned you it would. 

“sweetheart, there's more popsicle on your chest than there is in your mouth,” he commented condescendingly and you glared at him.

“maybe that's how i like eating it, jason,” you said, his name coming out of your mouth like venom. 

“you know what? i like eating it that way, too,” he nodded in agreement, stepping towards you and dipping his head down to lick at your collarbone and move down the valley of your chest. 

your breath hitched at the unexpected contact and the added body heat to your personal bubble. jason had come back up, giving you a soft kiss and licking the remnants of your most recent bite off of your lips. as badly as you wanted to melt into the kiss, you pulled away. you grabbed your fan and started spraying him in the face. 

“down, boy,” you scolded him playfully, little giggles coming from him as he flinched his punishment. “i'm trying to eat.”

“so am i,” he smirked, taking the popsicle from you and taking a bite out of it. he looked around the room, whistling as he not so subtly let the popsicle fall against your chest and dragging it down some, watching as it dripped down your abdomen. you gasped out as the contrasting temperatures, your back hitting the fridge. 

“oh wow. i'm so sorry,” his fake apology rang against your ears. he took the dessert off of your skin, handing it back to you. “i'll get that for you.”

his lips and tongue fell upon your skin again, dragging over the stains. he found himself at your nipples, despite not getting anything on them. he swirled his tongue around the quickly hardening buds, managing to get a pleasant sound from you. he got on his knees, collecting the sweetness that was threatening to make it way to your underwear. he eagerly lapped it all up before it got to that point, firmly holding your hips against the door to prevent you from moving away.

“jason, it's too hot,” you sighed as he planted kisses up your naval, looking up at you with playful eyes.

“i know. this is really sexy, isn't it?” he spoke against your body, which got himself sprayed again by you. this time, he saw it as encouragement instead of a punishment. how thoughtful of you to help keep him cool while he focused on making you feel good. 

you kept spraying him until he eventually let up, laughing again as he got off of his knees. “fine, fine. if you won't indulge me in my sexy popsicle fantasy, can we at least go take a shower?”

“only to get the juice off. no other reason,” you said coyly and he smirked at you, giving you a firm nod.

“of course. what other reason would there be?” he asked as the two of you headed to the bathroom, touching at each other and giggling your entire way there, taking what little clothes you both had off of each other. by the time the water started running, the little act had dropped and you were all over each other. it was freezing, which put your bodies into a slight shock as you panted heavily in between feverish kisses. 

jason’s favorite thing to do was hoist you up, with your legs wrapped around his waist. he liked showing you how strong he was and feeling your body flush against his own. he made sure to position you high enough against the tile wall so you wouldn't have water violently hitting your face, but close enough to where you could still feel it everywhere else. he never allowed himself to be blinded by lust at the expense of your comfort. 

his hips rolled into yours and his face found its way back to your chest, peppering it with kisses. you carded your fingers through his wet hair, tugging at it just how he liked. even though you were doing a very physically taxing activity, this was the coolest you had felt all day. you wasted no time giving jason’s plump lips the kisses they had deserved earlier, your boyfriend more than happy to reciprocate. as much as you didn't want to part from him again, he pulled away and began suckling at your neck. normally you would object to being marked in such a visible location but you gave him a pass this one time. after all, he was the guy who bought you the spray fan. 

your feet touched the ground again and he turned you around, pressing you against the wall and grinding softly into your backside. it didn't take him long to pull your leg up and slowly insert himself inside of you. you started seeing stars and that's when your legs became like jelly, causing you to lose your balance. jason quickly reacted, your hearts pounding as you tried to stay vertical.

“are you alright?” he asked, his nose rubbing the shell of your ear. 

“yeah, i just got dizzy,” you explained, grabbing his hand with an embarrassed smile. “i'm okay.”

“so clumsy,” he grinned, kissing your temple as his slow thrusting began. his hand trailed down your side and landed on your ass, using it as leverage.

you moaned his name as he started going deeper and slower. he was teasing you now, which was to be expected. even on the hottest of days, in one of the least comfortable locations, he didn't pass up the opportunity. jason treating this like any other love making session and not just a quickie turned you on even more. he never let you question his dedication to making you unravel beneath him.

“jason, please. stop teasing me,” you begged him, knowing that was the only way he would stop. closed mouths don't get fed, as he would say. 

“only because you asked so nicely,” he responded smugly, picking up the pace now. the sounds of slapping skin and breathy moans were amplified by the acoustics of the room. you began feeling a slight ache; a result of jason’s girth and length inside of you. a normal person would’ve asked for a break, but not you. it fueled you to continued, fucking back against him and squeezing around the very thing that was causing you mild pain. 

“it feels good, doesn’t it?” he asked you and you didn't respond. you hated how he always knew exactly what you were doing. “tell me it does, sweetheart. i wanna hear you say it.”

you ignored him again, moving against him a little faster now. his hands quickly went to your hips, holding you still. “answer me,” he whispered in your ear and you whimpered in defeat.

“it feels good,” you mumbled, trying to move again, but to no avail. 

“sorry, i didn’t catch that.”

“it feels good, jason.”

“i'm glad. i want you to feel good,” he smiled, letting you go. you continued to try and reach your high, doing most of the work now while jason watched. his hands caressed your body, encouraging you to continue. 

“does it feel good for you?” you asked him and he nodded. 

“it always does, sweetheart. i feel amazing whenever i’m with you,” he told you, starting to meet you half way with his thrusts. “doesn't matter if i'm inside you or not.”

you felt your face heat up at his words. you hated how he had that effect on you. you felt yourself slip against the wet tile again and he caught you, pulling you back against him. 

“would you stop doing that?” the two of you laughed together, taking a quick breather. “i need you to not die in the middle of me fucking you, okay?”

“okay, i'm sorry,” you giggled as jason helped you get back into position. “i'm sorry.”

“it's alright, don't worry,” he reassured you, slipping his hand up your front and around your throat. “is this okay?”

you nodded, feeling more secure in this modified position. despite your little interruption, you still felt as needy as ever. his grip on you was so gentle that you could almost be convinced you’d slip again, but jason knew your body like the back of his hand. he knew what he needed to do to keep you safe and not hurt you in the process. 

“let’s finish up,” jason’s tone was comforting and you hummed in agreement, picking up right where the two of you left off. it didn't take long, either. you could feel the pressure building up inside of you, waiting to wash over you. once you felt his tip pressing against that sweet spot he was so good at exploiting, you knew there was no going back now. 

you both started getting sloppy, jason’s thrusts being less methodical and your movements no longer matching with his. jason’s broken gasps and moans send you over the edge, sending you spiraling in euphoria. his grip on your throat tightened very slightly as he filled you up, his face resting in the crook of your neck. you let out a sigh as he slipped out of you, feeling his cheek pressing against you, silently urging you to turn around. you complied, your noses grazing each other before your lips met again with little kisses.

“we can take a real shower now,” he smiled against your lips, kissing you again. “no more sexy fantasies. i promise.”

“no more sexy fantasies during a heatwave,” you corrected him, grabbing your wash cloth and wiping away some of the sweat forming at his hairline. “any other time, they will be greatly accepted and expected.”

“good to know.”

#jason todd x reader #red hood x reader #jason todd smut #red hood smut #dc x reader

[theotherackerman]

My Mind Turns Your Life Into Folklore

My Mind Turns Your Life Into Folklore

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Any recognizable elements belong to Attack on Titan.

NOTES:

Flashback: Mikasa, age 21 Current time: Wednesday January 20th

chapter twenty-three: the story of us

One year ago, Mikasa did not handle her upcoming father’s birthday very well.

She had gotten drunk.

More drunk than she had ever been.

The room was spinning, couldn’t feel anything sort of drunk.

If it worked for Eren, it could work for her.

She didn’t want to feel.

She didn’t want to think.

Every change of the minute brought her father’s birthday closer.

She had tried to call Eren but Ymir had snatched her phone away.

So Mikasa didn’t call Eren.

Instead, she wandered off into the backyard where Levi found her.

She sat down in the snow, not really feeling the cold.

“I know. You’re hurting. You have been, whether you want to admit it or not. You’re having issues because you’re not allowing the pain you feel to be felt. You’ve been through a lot, Mikasa. Give yourself a break,” Levi said as he offered his hand out to Mikasa.

After a moment, Mikasa took Levi’s hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

Ymir came out of the house moments later and helped lead Mikasa back into the house.

“She okay?” Ymir asked.

“No, but she will be,” Levi replied.

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

Eren woke up with his limbs tangled with Mikasa’s. He was unsure how he was going back to not sleeping with her every night. He loved waking up to her in the morning. She was sound asleep as he had woken up before his alarm had gone off. He watched her peacefully sleeping in his arms. He was still so in love with her.

His alarm went off. He swiped it away.

Mikasa mumbled something under his breath that he couldn’t make out before she was nuzzling into his chest, trying to go back to sleep.

“I’m going to shower,” he told her as he began to move.

There was some sort of noise of protest as she held onto him.

“Unless you want to join me,” he whispered into her ear.

She gave him a gentle shove.

“That’s what I thought,” he laughed as he stood up.

It was a strange little morning routine that they had already fallen into. He took his pills and then made his way towards the bathroom.

Eren noticed after he had returned to the bedroom after his shower that something was off about Mikasa. He remembered the whole reason he was here was because of her dad’s birthday looming ever so close.

She was always off on that day.

On her mom’s birthday, it was even worse.

No matter how happy of a day they all tried to make it, Mikasa still had the same feelings.

Eren didn’t blame her, couldn’t blame her. He knew how his mom’s death had affected him. He knew her birthday was also looming closer every day. With the towel still wrapped around his waist, he sat down on her bed.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked as he reached out and touched her face.

Mikasa nodded.

“You’re still a shitty liar,” he told her.

“I know,” she muttered as she looked down.

His thumb caressed her cheek. “We’ll make it through today and tomorrow...then we’ll go from there. One day at time, right?”

Mikasa nodded again, still not looking up at him.

Eren leaned in and briefly pressed his lips to hers. A gesture that he was still there, he still loved her, and that he wanted her.

If Eren was being completely honest, he had never wanted anyone else and he wouldn’t ever want anyone else. He had resigned himself to a life free of any romance after he had left her.

She kissed him back right before he pulled away.

He had left her.

She had gone through this without him last year.

And he had known it would be bad.

It was bad every year.

What kind of fucked up person would do that?

Eren wasn’t fully aware of the fact that he had grabbed Mikasa and pulled her into a hug until she was squeezing him back.

So he just held her.

After a moment, Mikasa finally spoke.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Always here for you,” he muttered as he rested his head on top of hers.

“Did you use my shampoo?” she asked.

“Yeah…..”

“You smell good though. It’s fine. Your hair is so much longer now.”

“Is that bad?”

“No, I like it. Is this scar new?” she asked as she traced a mark on his chest.

Eren nodded.

“Car accident?” she asked.

“Probably. There’s a small one on my neck too,” he said before he took her hand, he used her hand to trace the small scar on his neck. “That was from glass. I was unconscious when they took it out.”

“Luck you. I got to feel your dad pull the glass out of my face,” she muttered as she traced the scar on his neck.

“I’m sure he was at least trying to be gentle. The doctors were pretty mad at me for drinking and driving.”

“Good,” Mikasa said before she pulled out of his embrace.

“Hey! Well, you’re right. I kind of deserved it back then.”

“I’m going to go take a shower,” she said as she stood up.

“I mean you could have joined me…”

Mikasa tackled him, causing him to fall backwards onto the bed. He tried to wrestle out of her grip but even with him working out, she was still stronger. He also became very aware of the fact that he was still just wearing a towel. Mikasa quickly pinned both of Eren’s hands above his head.

Eren’s eyes met hers again.

“I’m going to take a page out of Niccolo’s book and say this is pretty much the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” he told her.

“Thought you were stronger now,” she replied simply. No blush flooded her cheeks like Eren had hoped for.

“I just let you win.”

Mikasa rolled her eyes as she released his wrists.

“You really shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why?”

Eren’s only answer was to grab her and flip them so he was hovering over her. He could feel his towel slipping but it did stay in place. He knew another move like that and it would fall.

Mikasa biting her lip and refusing to look him in his eyes did not escape his notice. He stood up as he held onto his towel. He secured it as Mikasa got off of her bed.

“Told you I’ve gotten stronger,” he teased her.

“Yeah, yeah. So you’ve said. I’m going to go shower by myself.”

“Don’t sound so sad about it.”

Mikasa didn’t even bother to respond to him.

Eren waited until he heard Mikasa’s footsteps disappear before he sighed.

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

Jean had no idea what to expect from Pieck. The woman was a constant surprise when it came to what she did.

So when she had shown up with takeout and wine, he had been surprised.

“Figured Connie would probably still be here so I decided to keep it PG tonight,” Pieck said as came into the apartment. “And I brought a bottle of whiskey for him.”

“Did I hear whiskey?” Connie asked as he came out of his room.

“You did. New brand. Thought the bottle was cool,” Pieck shrugged.

“Pieck, this is why you’re the coolest girl he’s ever brought home,” Connie said as he took the bottle from her.

“Does he bring many girls home?” Pieck smirked.

“Yes,” Jean said.

“No,” Connie replied at the same time.

Jean glared at Connie which just caused Pieck to laugh.

“He always seemed to get shot down at galas. So I think I’m going to believe Connie,” Pieck smirked.

“See? Coolest girl. Alright, I’m going to get hammered and then write this essay,” Connie said before moving the bottle in a small toast before going back to his room.

“Let me guess, you thought it would be something much more sexy that I was going to bring you for stress relief,” Pieck said before she sat the bag of food down on the table.

“Very domestic of you,” Jean smirked as he sat down at the tiny kitchen table.

“Shut up, don’t get used to it. I had a good shoot today so here I am. Plus this place has the best tacos around and it happens to be two blocks away from here.”

“Best tacos, huh? Just look like normal tacos to me."

Pieck rolled her eyes before she sat across from him. "You're the man who thought a twenty dollar wine was expensive. So maybe I don't trust your judgement when it comes to food."

"Well excuse me. I didn't have my mom take me to a winery."

"Maybe she should have."

Jean rolled his eyes before taking a bite of his taco. His eyes lit up.

"Told you. World's best tacos."

"Alright, fine. You win this one."

"I told you."

"...you got any more tacos?" Connie's voice called from down the hall.

"Yes, come get some," Pieck replied.

Their conversation slowed as they continued their meal. Pieck found herself liking being here in Jean and Connie's company. Besides the talk of exams and essays, Pieck would sometimes forget they weren't in the same age group as her.

And despite how much she tried to avoid it, Pieck really did like Jean. Once she got through that cocky, asshole persona he used, she found herself really enjoying her company.

But she wouldn't tell him or anybody else for that matter that.

They would all tease her about it.

This all should have been a red flag for her.

Evidence that she was getting in far too deep with Jean. Here she was bringing him food and alcohol because he had had an exam.

After dinner, Pieck found herself sitting on the couch with Jean watching some cheesy sci-fi movie he had found.

"Saturday there's this frat party Marco and I are going to. I'm not staying long," he said casually.

"Okay?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Why would she care?

"So uh..if you wanted to like…"

"Spit out, Jean."

"I mean this is kind of becoming a routine thing and if you know you were expecting for us to…"

She reached up and grabbed his face. "You're cute when you're embarrassed," she teased him before she let go. "Go get drunk. Party. Whatever. I'm keeping my weekly date with Porco and Marcel anyway. But if it isn't past your bedtime, maybe I'll swing by."

"I won't be asleep," Jean said as he leaned back against the couch.

"Hmmm...will Connie be here?"

"Shouldn't be. He's got a thing with Ruth. He spent an hour on the phone with Sasha trying to pick out the perfect gift."

"What for?"

"I don't know. He likes to spoil his girlfriend and get them gifts for no reason. He's always been like that."

"Huh."

The talk of a relationship was making Pieck uncomfortable. Did Jean want that from her? She couldn't give that to him. It just wasn't something she was capable of. Maybe she should break this whole thing off.

"He's right though," Jean said after a moment.

"About what?" She was clearly confused.

"You are the coolest girl I've brought home."

Pieck held back a laugh, "I've never been cool in my life."

"But you are. I mean you have a studio, you're a working artist. You can play multiple instruments. There's no way you're not cool."

"I'm also unbelievably boring."

"I doubt that."

"I am. I go home, I have a glass of wine, I watch TV, and I go to bed."

"Better than what I do. Just study all the time."

"Oh please. Aren't you going to save the world or something?"

"Just because I'm a political science major doesn't mean I'm going to save the world."

"Hmmm...somehow I doubt that. You seem like the type."

"What type?"

"The type to do something stupid. I should go. It's getting late," she said as she stood up.

"Or you could always stay," Jean muttered.

She stopped and looked back at him. "Why do you want me to stay? You feeling alright?"

"Just a stressful day. That's all," he shrugged.

"Okay, well, I've got a shoot in the morning."

"Right. Yeah, I'll see you later."

Pieck nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

Jean groaned once she was gone.

"Dude, you're so screwed," Connie said from the other room.

"Tell me something I don't know," Jean muttered as he sat down on the couch.

"So Sasha and Niccolo aren't talking."

"Why's that?"

"Guess he flipped because we're still friends and exes. It's not like I didn't grow up next door to her."

"Weird. So is he out of the group?"

"Not yet. Ymir is waiting for the word to take him out though."

"I'll help her hide the body."

"Are you going to talk to Pieck about everything?"

"You know she's the first girl since Mikasa that I actually like to be around? I mean the other girls I've been with have been good for a fling but Pieck is…"

"Someone you want to wife up?"

"Yes! I mean no. I don't know. She's just different."

"Then you should tell her. I'm pretty sure she feels the same."

"I hope so."

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

Her friends were very good at getting Mikasa to not think about the fact that her dad’s birthday was the next day.

At least until it was time to sleep.

She tossed and turned. Eren held onto her, never complaining.

Eren pulled her close to him. She turned over so she was facing him.

“You’re okay,” he assured her, wrapping his other arm around her.

She didn’t feel okay. She felt like she was breaking all over again.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Eren said.

The door opened, Annie stepped in first. She was wrapped in her comforter.

“Scoot over,” the blonde said. Eren pulled himself and Mikasa over to the other side of the bed. Annie plopped down on the open space just as Armin was coming in with his own blanket. He climbed into the bed and sat down next to Eren.

“Armin?” Mikasa questioned. “When did you get here?”

“About twenty minutes ago. My classes are canceled tomorrow,” he explained.

“So we’re having a sleepover in your room tonight because fuck being alone. None of that shit here,” Ymir added as she came into the room with her own blanket. She turned Mikasa’s tv on with the remote. “No one kick me,” she warned as she lay horizontally across the end foot of the bed.

Historia came into the room next, dragging a blanket with her.

“Annie, let me use you as a pillow,” Historia remarked as she climbed into bed. She rested her head on Annie’s shoulder.

“Ymir, can I use you as a pillow?” Sasha asked as she climbed over Ymir so she was the opposite way with her feet towards Mikasa’s pillows.

“I don’t care. Just don’t poke me with your boney elbow,” Ymir said.

“Anyone squished?” Eren asked after a moment.

“I’m good. Toss me a pillow,” Ymir said as she held her hand out.

Eren reached back and grabbed a pillow. He tossed it to her and Ymir caught it.

“You know it’s a good thing you have a giant bed,” Ymir laughed as she put her head down on the pillow.

“Probably a good thing we don’t have more friends too,” Annie added as she rested her head on top of Mikasa’s.

Mikasa twisted so she could see the tv.

“Alright, so we will find the worst thing possible on tv,” Ymir informed them before turning up the volume.

“Give me that or we’re going to end up watching Hallmark movies forever!” Historia proclaimed.

“They’re horrible!”

“That’s the point but they are a form of torture I will not endure. Sasha, snatch the remote away.”

“Uh, no. Ymir is my pillow.”

Mikasa laughed a bit as her friends argued.

This was an improvement from last year.

#mmtylif #my writing

[toshis-puppycat]

Hello Again

Part Two

A/n: I think this is gonna be my go to gif for this fic (mainly bcs I can't art or create any form of art other than writing and even then I'll probably argue against it) but wow here's part two for Hello Again. I'm very excited to be posting all of this bcs I adore Toshinori, hes a sunflower in need of love. But this chapter doesn't explicitly go in line with him. Endeavor is the focus of today. I hope I got him at least a little, I've never actually written anything for him before. I didn’t explain it with the last part but the reader and Endeavor were good friends before she supposedly passed away. Uh kind of a RIP to him tbh. But I hope y'all enjoy.

Summary: Enji Todoroki recalls a lot of things over the years to get to where he is now. The memories of you are bitter, and it hurt. Whats going to happen now that your back though?

Pairing: Toshinori Yagi (All Might) x Reader, Enji Todoroki (Endeavor) x Reader

☆☆☆☆☆

Enji Todoroki was a simple man, one who wanted to be the best of anyone there ever was. To be the number one hero on his terms by his own merit. And he could do it. He had you on his side, his best friend. You two would take the hero world by storm when you both became official. And well, you would become partners too, opening up an agency together and get all the good sidekicks. All he had to do was ask at this point. Besides, you two had been in each others lives for years, from that accidental meeting as kids to now. You made the suggestion first anyways, he only scoffed at the time because you suggested it first. Bright eyed, all smiles screaming that you two would be the coolest duo to exist. You were the cool balm he needed for the harshness he was given by his parents (he'd never admit that though because admitting that would make him weak and he was not weak). You were strategic and fast, he could vaguely recall the first time you showed that. It was when his powers had just came in. He was four, and his hellflames were out of control. Luckily for him, you happened to be running around in that moment screaming in glee at the water you could manipulate, you saw him and quickly drenched him, cutting off any flame he could create for a while and exclaimed he had the coolest quirk. You decided in that split second you could see him screaming in panic at the fire around him, that you could use your quirk to help him and make sure nothing else caught of fire, which was not a major worry for him. But then he heard your kind voice say it was so cool because his quirk couldn't even hurt him, you saw that in all the chaos at four. Even in his mind something registered as not right. And as you two got older it became a bright red warning for him. When you were finally pushed out of that at 8, you were at an orphanage. He visited everyday despite any punishment that his parents could give him for not trying his hardest. You always told him they were being too harsh. But when they found out you were aiming to be a hero, they loved you after that. You were strong, and you were fast. Even if you couldn't beat him at this moment, you were impressive because no matter what you could wipe out any flame he could create. Or well they believed it was just water manipulation, you actually ended up having siren like qualities overall. You were just too embarrassed to admit it. When the two of you were accepted into U.A., well at that point you were unstoppable. Already in the stages of planning for your own agency, for when you could create it (and with his family's money he could do it soon he thought), he could guess that's also when everything went wrong. You were tired of sparing with him at this point, of course you always assured him that it wasn't actually him. It was because the two of you were used to each others moves, which he could understand. It was when you literally started walking over to Yagi that he got upset, his flames reaching a new terrifying height as you asked him to spar with you, all smiles and laughing as the boys face turned a bright shade of red. And when Yagi actually beat you, he almost burnt the student he was sparing with, furious beyond belief because how dare Yagi beat you. But then he heard you laugh and saw how your eyes started to sparkle with wonder and you quickly began asking him about his quirk as he blushed and stuttered answers out to you. You were fine of course, your quick also allowed quick healing something you always took advantage of. But after that you started dragging Yagi everywhere with you. Quickly exclaiming he was going to sit with the two of you and not allowing any input from him. He very quietly simmered in anger, he couldn't command tell you to stop hanging around Yagi. You'd definitely get upset with him. So he just settled for underhanded jabs at the other student and made sure he would spar with him instead of you. You pouted of course, but then you were all smiles and so proud of him for being willing to work with another student without any hassle. He almost burned Yagi after that. God how obvious did he have to be!

☆☆☆☆☆

Apparently the answer was to be incredibly blunt, he figured that out by their second year. He tried his best to flirt with you subtly, even Yagi picked up that he was doing it! So why didn't you? He got his answer when he overheard some "girl talk" when they asked you about him, like "what is it like being associated with the hottest guy in our year?" When he heard your shy reply of "He's my best friend and don't sexualize him" it kinda hit him that you really were oblivious to the world of crushes and maybe a little romance. He tried being more obvious that he was interested in you as more than the regular partnership you two previously thought of, still it was taking a while. In your third year it would be the perfect time to reveal everything to you! But then you came into school walking hand in hand with Yagi. And his whole world crashed, he almost actively tried killing him when they spared that day. Only stopping when you doused him in water, then furiously walking away, only vaguely hearing you ask him if everything was okay. Yagi took everything away. He took away the top spot at the school, he took away all the good sponsorships and now… he just took you. When you ended up pulling him aside later, Enji couldn't be upset with you. Because when you looked up at him with tears in your eyes while clutching at his uniform, he couldn't be anywhere near upset with you. Not when you looked happy and he was the one to change it. So he reluctantly pushed away any negative feeling he had about you being with Yagi and apologized for worrying you so much. 

"Family had just been too stressful this summer y/n. I'm sorry I worried you." He still hated Yagi though, and when he heard Yagi would be leaving for America of all places, as far away from you as possible since he knew you were staying in Japan. That hatred festered, he decided to date you just so he could leave? That soon after you already told him you saw a future with Yagi? And he knew that you felt like that? He started burning down his room, fortunately his parents invested in some strong fire systems to take care of any outburst he ever had (and to make sure he didn't embarrass them through any weak actions he made). He hated this, he hated Yagi. But seeing you smile, he couldn't hate that. You invited him, when Yagi was leaving. He wanted to be furious, he wanted to know why. Why weren't you upset, but then he saw it. That tiny glimpse of what you were actually feeling in the moment, a part you would hide most of the time.

"I want him happy, Enji. I can wait a little longer if it gets us both to the point where we want to be in our lives." You said, you were smiling, but he could see it. You didn't want Yagi to go anywhere, but you'd never hold him back. You were like that. You weren't selfish, you weren't rude. You were just kind, always putting others before yourself. He didn't see Yagi off, but he knew the moment he left you were going to need your best friend. He could do that.

☆☆☆☆☆

He decided to focus on marrying someone, a quirk marriage. Someone with a powerful quirk to match his and they could have incredibly powerful children. You weren't going to do marry him. That as a harsh fact he had to see. You had a powerful quirk and he actually liked you, but you were unavailable for a number of reasons. So he decided on Yukikae Rei, she had a powerful enough ice quirk. One that if combined with his hellflame, would create some powerful offspring. When you found out when he was married you were furious, (not for what he thought selfishly for a split second) he never mentioned that he was even seeing someone in the first place, and he went an absolute hush hush path, like he was ashamed about marrying her (he wasn't but if you ever found out he married Rei for her quirk you'd kill him, if the public found out there would go any chance he had at becoming number one and that was something he need to be more than anything to not be a failure). He assured you that he just really (not really) wanted to marry Rei. You had hesitantly accepted what he said. He still never told you. 

☆☆☆☆☆

You were both young, very talented heros. Rei wondered who you were, he knew. He could practically feel her questioning curious stares whenever they were in the same room, but she never asked him. She wished she did, that she met the woman who had her 'husband's' heart. He told her the moment he was able to that he'd most likely never love her because of someone else but he would treat her appropriately. She really wish she asked before she read the newspaper the day after your death. 

Young Pro-Hero Siren dies at age 22

Pro-hero Siren, dies at age 22 today on xx, xxxx she was thrown from a building by a building after switching places with a student of Aldera Junior High who was in the custody of a villain. The villain in question has been taken into custody. 

"She saved me and I never got to thank her."- Teen says

"She was a brave hero. A wonderful sidekick. We'll never forget her. "- Pro-hero Crimson Riot says.

"We lost a great hero in the making today. A true tragedy."- says bystander at the scene

Endeavor beat her for the first time that night.

As the years went by, life got worse. She had her children, then he would train them and when they inevitably failed him he would shove them back into her arms. Snarling that they had to try again. Three children were classified as failures to him. She hoped he'd give up. This was killing her. The pressure was too much. Then she had Shoto, and he ended up getting her ice quirk and Endeavors flames. She wished you married Endeavor instead, but you were dead. And she wasn't sure she could even blame you for what was happening now. It didn't seem very fair. When she had her breakdown, it solidified something within her. She despised her husband, and the only good things he'd ever given her were her children, children she'd never see outside of a hospital. 

☆☆☆☆☆

Endeavor was furious, the years went by after you passed away but his anger never left. And when "All Might" came into the picture again it was like another slap in the face. He didn't do anything against him, but he was still furious. He should've just stayed in America. He wished he could feel something other than pity when he found out he was told about your death, but he could understand the mourning he was going through. He kept away from All Might after that, and focused on training his son. One showed much promise, his flames were powerful, along with the fact he shared his wife's ice quirk. He would mold him into what he wanted to become the new number one hero. To best All Might. Whatever the cost.

☆☆☆☆☆

His son was finally going to U.A. He wished you could see it. He wouldn't let you see anything he's done but you would've been involved with his children's lives, perhaps as their godmother. They go through so much, fighting against the League of Villains and later on during the internship the Hero Killer. He was furious for being forced to take the credit for the latter of the two, and then his son had to leave for that summer training camp. Then a student and a Pro-hero were kidnapped from said summer training camp. Then they finally saved the brat and an A class villain showed up and revealed All Mights "true form." He screamed at him "Stand up and show them why you're better!" Then All for One asked All Might if he remembered the pretty girl that he was seeing, and he should have made her suffer more and he knew. He knew that Villain was talking about you. You died because of your connection to All Might. You were killed for it. All he could think in that moment was All Might better kill this villain, he better be able to capture him. He better avenge your death.

☆☆☆☆☆

He became the number one hero after that. An insulting, demeaning promotion for him. Then Shoto was moved into the newly made dorms afterwards so he couldn't continue his rigorous training, it didn't even matter now though he was number one now. His daughter was, hovering. Checking in on him constantly. Like she knew it wasn't just him being upset with the fact of how he became number one. He never told them about you, and now it was too late to explain it and he didn’t think he’d ever be able to talk about you. Then he got a call from U.A. and he had to deal with his rebellious son. 

☆☆☆☆☆

It was… annoying. Being at U.A so soon again. The rodent called all parents though. For some reason, that escaped him. But it was infuriating. Like he was calling him to rub in something, the sadistic bastard. He could vaguely hear him talking, thanking all of them for being there and he scoffed. 'You better be grateful.' Was his only thought. But then he said something that finally caught his attention after droning on about the new security measures that they already explained to them. 

"We are attempting to allow a new staff member into U.A, however it was decided that this new staff member be introduced to the parents of our beloved students. So that you may include your own opinions on this matter." Nezu said. 

He narrowed his eyes. 'What game was he playing?' Was the only question in his mind. 

"Miss. Y/l/n please come out and introduce yourself."

'What?' 

Then you walked out from behind the curtains, ones he didn't even notice when he came in. He could hear the other parents murmuring. 

"Principle, while my husband and I agree it's… nice to be meeting this faculty member personally, why are we being introduced to her though?" He heard another parent ask, who was it? That child's parents. The one who beat his Shoto at the festival. What was his name? Bakugou Katsuki? He was attempting to brush this off, it couldn't be you. It couldn't. You died, you died over 20 years ago. There was no way it could be you. But then you said something.

"We felt that its best that the parents be informed-" you began, but it was drowned out because it hit him. It… it was really you. Then his hellflames suddenly burst out of control and he felt water drenching him. As quickly his flames appeared, you put them out and left him sputtering in shock. He barely heard your shocked gasp and yell of his name. You were alive, and you looked exactly as he last saw you. What happened? Was his first thought, but seeing your wide grin the only other thought he was was 'Hello again. I've missed you.''

☆☆☆☆☆

Taglist: @saratour, @yukiimanic, @theygottheircages, @itsallmightbitch, @toobsessedsstuff, @quirkyfandoms, @anxious-cat-with-cheesesticks​, @traqicalromance​

#Toshinori Yagi (All Might) x Reader #All Might #reader insert #Todoroki Enji (Endeavor) x Reader #bnha fanfiction #bnha x reader #pining #one-sided pining #Tiny bit of angst

[suits-of-woe]

this is so typical of me but for the ask game, could you do edmund and/or the lear sisters?

YES I absolutely can, this is as much my brand as yours. Sorry for the delay in posting, I had a change of plans yesterday :)

EDMUND

Sexuality Headcanon: Only really attracted to women but if it was somehow useful to sleep with a man he probably would and probably wouldn’t mind it too much. Also, I HC him as relying way too much on sex to fulfill his need for affection. Also also, a sub, I will die on that hill. Gender Headcanon: Male in the canon but I have a huge soft spot for female!Edmund too so either works for me. Probably cis but I’ve seen some people post about trans Edmund so maybe? A ship I have with said character: Edmund/Goneril is my TRASH because it’s such a mess but it could be so good. Started off as kind of a joke/speculation for one particular fic and now I have a lot of feelings about it. A BROTP I have with said character: Edmund and Edgar!! Let! Them! Be Brothers! Especiallly pre-canon :((( Also not sure exactly what the Edmund and Cornwall dynamic is, possibly it falls under BROTP but it’s definitely interesting. A NOTP I have with said character: I’ve seen like one fic of Edgar/Edmund as a romantic pairing and. No. Just stop. A random headcanon: Has gorgeous handwriting. He’s obviously great at forgery, but I imagine his own writing is just lovely. As opposed to Edgar, who probably has a very messy scrawl. General Opinion over said character: Actual love of my life, more than is justified. He’s objectively terrible, but he’s also so sympathetic and so self-aware that it makes me love him even more. Imho, hottest character in the canon.

GONERIL

Sexuality Headcanon: I guess straight in canon? See I really like the idea of lesbian Goneril in the female!Edmund AU and I feel like...she probably has some sort of equivalent hangups around sex in the canon-verse too, but she clearly likes men so...not entirely sure? At the very least she’s definitely not at ALL attracted to Albany. Gender Headcanon: Definitely a cis woman, since that’s tied to a lot of her experiences and especially how Lear treats her. A ship I have with said character: As I said before, Edmund/Goneril is terrible but also great and has a special place in my heart. A BROTP I have with said character: Her and Regan before Shit Went Down. It was probably always a little rocky, but that scene where Regan takes her hand and they stand up against Lear together? Excellent. A NOTP I have with said character: She and Albany just have an objectively terrible relationship that makes both of them miserable. I don’t think that’s controversial, but yeah, definitely a bad ship. A random headcanon: Less of a headcanon and more a question but: where did she get that poison that she used on Regan? Unlike in a lot of plays, there’s no mention of that. I wonder if she had it for awhile, planning it for something, maybe Albany, maybe herself, maybe something entirely different. General Opinion over said character: She used to be my least favourite sister and boy was I wrong! I find her very weirdly sympathetic and I think she’s a deeply sad and desperate person with a uniquely tragic position in the fucked up world of that play, but also, a very cool evil lady.

REGAN

Sexuality Headcanon: I think of her as bi; don’t really have textual evidence for that but oh well. Definitely into some WEIRD SHIT as far as BDSM (emphasis on the S) taken wayyyyyyy too far. Gender Headcanon: Probably a cis woman, not really anything to suggest otherwise. A ship I have with said character: Regan/Cornwall is the power couple for the ages! So equal in their dynamics, so passionate, so fun and evil and tragic in a weird way at the end. A BROTP I have with said character: As I said, her and Goneril! Also her scene with Oswald is very...interesting idk, I haven’t thought about it much but I wonder if they ever had a weird sort of friendship. A NOTP I have with said character: Regan/Edmund isn’t a NOTP exactly because it’s definitely canon and definitely interesting but I think it’s just bad for both of them and not what they actually want. A random headcanon: Sometimes in production she’s dressed in every Dark Evil Villain Outfits, but I actually imagine her wearing very colourful, ostentatious clothing a lot of the time. Probably very quick to change out of her mourning clothes too... General Opinion over said character: The least sympathetic sister, but also by far the coolest. PEAK villain stanning material, and one of Shakespeare’s female villains who’s allowed to get most in-touch with her brutality in a super fascinating way.

CORDELIA

Sexuality Headcanon: Probably straight cause I’m not sure why she wouldn’t be I guess? Gender Headcanon: Probably a cis woman but in a staging where Cordelia is actually the fool I think it could be really interesting to consider as a pants role/exploration of her gender. Especially in terms of her only being able to get Lear to listen to her while she’s dressed as a boy. Maybe not an actual reflection of her identity, but still much to play with. A ship I have with said character: Ugh it really depends on the AU for her, @princess-of-france​ has such a great Edmund/Cordelia dynamic in her work, @harry-leroy​ opened my mind to Edgar/Cordelia too, but I have such a hard time choosing one just for the canon play. But Cordelia and France are adorable in every universe, so I’ll go with that! A BROTP I have with said character: Her and Edgar! I’m on the fence about them romantically but I love the idea of them being close before the play. I would have loved to see one last conversation between them at the end. A NOTP I have with said character: I don’t know that people SHIP this but the Lear/Cordelia as an incestuous relationship discourse is YIKES. A random headcanon: Way wittier than she tends to get credit for. She canonically had some connection with the fool, and I wonder if she had a similar relationship with Lear before everything, able to quietly question him in clever ways without him taking offense. She might not have realized that her defiance in front of everyone would be a step too far. General Opinion over said character: I’ve definitely moved past seeing her as the boring good angelic daughter, thank god. She’s a wonderful character! I talk about her less than the other two mostly because I don’t think I need to be in her defense squad as much, and I love villains, but she’s fantastic.

#asks #mine #king lear #edmund #goneril #regan #cordelia

[tagsecretsanta]

From Gumnut

to @scattergraph

I don’t own this, full credit to the author above

Title: We’ll be home for Christmas

Prologue: ‘Twas the week before Christmas

Author: Gumnut

8 Dec 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: The boys can’t fly home for Christmas, so they have to find another way.

Word count: 1437 

Spoilers & warnings: language and so, so much fluff. Minor various ships, mostly background.

Timeline: Christmas Season 3, I have also kinda ignored the main storyline of Season 3. The boys needed a break, so I gave them one. Post season 3B, before Season 3C cos we haven’t seen it yet.

Author’s note: This is my 2019 TAG Secret Santa fic and it is a big one ::headdesk:: I hope you enjoy it. I know I have thoroughly enjoyed researching a gorgeous corner of this planet. 

My prompts were:

TAG Christmas pudding contest, points awarded for taste, originality and flammability.

“I don’t care if it’s Christmas…you ARE NOT bringing THAT back to the Island!”

Driving home for Christmas.

I’ll let you work out which I managed to include in this :D

Many thanks to @vegetacide and @scribbles97 for cheering me on and their wonderful support through this craziness. And to @onereyofstarlight for geeking out with me over the setting.

And as always, thank you all for creating such a fantastic fandom. Thundernerds rock! I hope you all have a wonderful festive season. Thank you all so much for everything.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

Looking back, it really could have happened to any of them. Hell, now it had happened once, it was even more likely it could happen to any of the rest of them, but of course it had to be Virgil and, of course, it had to happen a week before Christmas.

Fortunately, not only Gordon and Alan, but also John was aboard Thunderbird Two when her pilot folded in half with a groan. The great green behemoth responded to his touch and for a second there, the whole ship tipped sideways.

Alan lost his hard-earned sandwich, and Gordon, who had been half asleep in the co-pilot’s chair, despite the coffee he had consumed not five minutes ago, received an adrenalin spike that was well used in the next half an hour or so.

It had been a hard week. Australia was on fire. Every year the drought dried continent suffered and every year International Rescue did all it could to help. Brains had even designed some specialised equipment, deployed through Tracy Industries to help dampen the eucalypt fuel load, but the change of climate over the last hundred odd years had done its damage and the ecosystem suffered for it.

It was painful to watch.

And tiring to fight.

John had taken to coming down not only for Christmas, but for the fires. He had developed a communications network, tied into TB5, to help coordinate the fire services of the country and pin point the hot spots. At the end of the last outbreak, Gordon had been gobsmacked to find his usually reclusive brother sprawled in a chair beside the Australian Fire Defense Network chief, beer in hand, swapping stories.

It had helped that the chief was the middle of five himself and a communications specialist pushed into management. There was much commiseration.

But none of the past really foretold this little hiccup.

Later when Gordon referred to said incident as a ‘hiccup’, Virgil’s eyebrows had frowned so much, they’d physically climbed off his head and slapped Gordon around his.

Or it could have been Virgil’s hand. Gordon was too busy ducking to really identity the body parts his brother was using.

So, with three brothers aboard, Virgil had plenty of back up.

Gordon was fully awake and stabilising Two before he had even had a chance to draw in a breath. They were halfway across the Tasman Sea, finally on the way home for a well-deserved break.

“Virgil?” John was out of his seat and moving towards the pilot.

“Uh, I’m okay.” The man straightened, still in his silver firefighting suit, minus the helmet. A quick look in his brother’s direction and Gordon could see it was all a lie. Even through the soot on Virgil’s face, his brother’s complexion was pale, almost green. “Just a stitch.”

“Doesn’t look like one from here, bro.” Gordon frowned as John gently nudged Virgil back in his seat. The pilot closed his eyes and lay back, his shoulders dropping just a little. John reached over to the console and flicked a couple of switches. Virgil’s vitals sprang up in all their holographic glory.

Even Gordon could see something was seriously wrong. “You have a fever. What the hell, Virg?”

His brother stared at his stats and frowned. “Just thought I was hot.”

No surprise considering the conditions they were working in.

John sighed. “Your suit has active refrigeration, Virgil, you know that. You should be the coolest of all of us.”

If it had been a different situation, Gordon would have then started a ‘discussion’ on who exactly was the coolest or the hottest of the brothers. As it was, another groan from his engineer brother killed all conversation other than medical concern.

“What is it?” John disengaged Virgil’s seat from the dash, pulling it back and giving him access to his older brother.

“My side.” Virgil’s eyes were squeezed shut.

His lower right side.

Five minutes later and Gordon was beelining Two to the nearest hospital, which turned out to be Auckland near the northern tip of New Zealand.

Less than an hour later, Virgil had his very angry appendix removed.

Of all things.

For the past three days, it had been a mixture of firefly pod and fire exo-suit. His brother had been tossing about massive hoses, shifting huge amounts of timber, excavating firebreaks and water bombing from Two.

Apparently, all while suffering from appendicitis.

When Scott arrived on scene, he was a walking facepalm.

When Virgil woke up, it was all kind words for the first hour or so while he recovered from the anaesthetic, but after that, the tongue lashing Scott delivered was enough to strip the paint off the walls of Virgil’s hospital room.

Grandma ended up dragging the man from the room.

Everyone was quiet after that.

No one liked it when Scott got scared.

Least of all Scott.

But even Gordon had to agree that his eldest brother had a point. Appendicitis wasn’t something that didn’t come with symptoms. Virgil admitted that he had noted some pain, but he had been busy. There had been more important things.

Scott’s response to that was only suitable for mature audiences.

Gordon couldn’t help but agree after having to watch his brother writhe in pain on one of his own hover stretchers while they had been on approach to Auckland.

But it had happened when it had happened and everyone was safe, Virgil included. There were much worse scenarios available considering their occupations and the entire family was grateful it had turned out best it could.

Scott was still livid, though, likely because the man was exhausted. They were all exhausted.

Grandma eyed all of them in turn, cornering each of them in their hotel rooms. It didn’t take her more than half a day to conclude that International Rescue needed a well-earned break. Virgil’s illness made a great excuse and her meeting with Scott was short, sharp and to the point.

The Commander of International Rescue contacted the GDF not long after, advising their aunt that their organisation would not be available for the next week. Eos was tasked with redirecting emergency calls after Grandma grabbed John by the scruff of his neck and with an equally sharp word in his ear, grounded the spaceman beside his brothers.

Virgil received a few glares, but the tired man just rolled over awkwardly and went back to sleep. Apparently, he agreed with Grandma.

Always did, the big Grandma softie.

Except perhaps with her cooking, but that led Virgil to being the biggest victim in that department because despite his incapacity to lie, he would do anything for the woman.

Virgil was released from the hospital a day after his surgery and they helped him back to their hotel rooms and set him up with the holoprojector and an appropriate stash of snacks and engineering journals. Kayo even bought him a sketchbook and an array of art materials.

For two days, the brothers hung out with him or darted out to the shops for convenience’s sake. Copious amounts of takeout were consumed, a treat they were often denied on the Island. But ultimately five usually very active men got very bored very quickly.

They couldn’t go home, because Virgil wasn’t allowed to fly. His operation excluded air travel for at least seven days, which meant, to add insult to injury, they would be stuck on the mainland for Christmas Day.

Their first Christmas off in who knew how many years, and they couldn’t even share it at home.

John distracted himself by linking in with Eos and helping out with emergency calls...until Grandma discovered him and rounded on both him and Eos with the ire Scott had managed to inherit.

Both father and daughter behaved after that, Eos a little stunned at the power of the eldest Tracy.

Alan dove into his computer games and hermitized. Gordon could only swim so much, so resorted to pranking Alan, which ended up in the brawl of the century and half the penthouse draped in toilet paper.

Scott turned to Tracy Industries and began phone calls that lasted hours. Virgil sent Gordon to chase him down.

Scott quite frankly ignored him, which led to Virgil hauling himself off the couch and doing the chasing himself.

That led to a screaming match that ended with both men pale when Virgil twisted angrily and groaned as he pulled at his stitches.

The atmosphere plummeted after that and the whole penthouse floor deteriorated into a sullen gloom.

It was shaping up to be an ass of a Christmas.

Until Gordon had an idea.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2015 #tag team secret santa #secret santa 2019 #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #Gordon Tracy #alan tracy

[cadenlucca]

welcome back to gallagher academy, CADEN LUCCA! according to their records, they’re a SECOND year, specializing in DRIVER’S ED + SEDUCTION & FLIRTATION; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (messy brown hair, the slightest bit of stubble, and eyes glazing over in the classroom). when it’s the (leo)’s birthday on 8/15/1996, they always request LOBSTER TAIL WITH BUTTER from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. 

NAME: Caden Mateo Lucca

KNOWN AS: Caden

BIRTHDATE:  August 15, 1996

ASTROLOGY:  Leo sun / Virgo moon / Aries rising

HOMETOWN: Virginia Beach, VA

RESIDENCE: Philadelphia, PA & Washington DC

GENDER:  Cis male  ( he/him )

SEXUAL ORIENTATION:  Heterosexual

HEIGHT:  6'1"

HAIR COLOR:  Dark Brown

EYE COLOR:  Dark Brown

TATTOOS:  Latin quote in illegible cursive on his chest; Wolf's head on his calf; Sword with the name Amelia in the center on his forearm

KNOWN LANGUAGES:  English, Spanish, Russian, and a handful of others at a beginner's level

IMMEDIATE FAMILY:

Rodrigo Lucca (formerly Lopez):  Father, Senator of Pennsylvania 

Charlotte Lucca née Blythe:  Mother, former Gallagher Academy alum, housewife 

BACKGROUND.

Rodrigo Lucca had come from somewhat humble beginnings, moving to Pennsylvania from Venezuela when he was ten years old. A career in politics had always been the end goal for him, which is why he changed his last name from Lopez to Lucca at age eighteen  ( knowing people are far too racist to willingly vote for a Rodrigo Lopez ) .  He had met Caden's mother when he was a law student at Georgetown University. Charlotte had come from old money, and her family's money coupled with Rodrigo's political ambitions helped them make a comfortable home for themselves in Philadelphia.  

It was there that Caden was born, a few years into his father's law career, leaving him busy and often out of the house.  Though Caden wouldn't remember, his first few years were spent just him and his mother, with baby Caden refusing to be held or spend time with anyone else unless Charlotte was in the same room. It wasn't until Caden was six and his father joined the House of Representatives for the state of Pennsylvania that the care of the Lucca child was thrown to nannies.  They moved into a bigger house, and Rodrigo hired housekeepers and chefs to take care of it all, so his wife could become a socialite among the other politician's wives. It worked for a few years, but by the time teenage Caden would come home for the holidays, he'd find that his mother barely left her bedroom. 

The Lucca household had been a lonely one to grow up in, so when the opportunity arose for Caden to go to boarding school in middle school, he jumped at the chance.  His father had found him one in Washington DC, not far from the family's second home, so his parents could occasionally visit.  But they never did come, and boarding school turned out to be worse than having a house to himself.  It was an all boy's school full of sons of other politicians and dignitaries, and Caden didn't get along with any of them.  He begged his parents to let him go home, but after calling them every day for a week straight, his father told him the truth:  it was easier without him around.  Rodrigo had promised if Caden could get through the next year and a half at this school, they could find him a better alternative for high school.  So Caden learned how to play nice, developing an easygoing personality that helped him gain friends for the rest of his time there. In return, his father sent him to another boarding school for high school, without consulting his son about it.

By the time high school rolled around, the boy's rebellious side had started to grow. He was angry at his dad for lying to him yet again, so he took it out on the schools he was sent to. Caden threw parties on school property, snuck off campus, and willingly let himself get caught with drugs and alcohol.  But when his usual antics didn't work  ( because by the third or fourth school, his father strived to make sure his son didn't get kicked out anywhere else ) ,   he had to work a little harder.  He destroyed school property, keyed faculty cars, was caught having sex in public places. Grades weren't an issue for Caden, who was naturally bright and didn't need to try in any of his classes.  But it took him five years to graduate high school, and by the end of it he had been to seven different boarding schools from all over the country. 

The last thing both Caden and his parents wanted was for him to move back home with them, so he took the opportunity to take his father's credit card and travel the world for almost two years.  Though he was always on his own, Caden rarely traveled alone, either meeting up with an old friend or making new ones at the hostels and cities he stayed at. These years were spent mostly in bars and nightclubs, and always drunk, and he had convinced himself life couldn't get any better.  But it all came crashing down on his twenty-first birthday, when he went to buy himself a generous present and found his card had been declined. Rather than calling to wish their son a happy birthday, his parents had gifted Caden with cutting him off. His father said it was time for Caden to grow up, and until he did, he wouldn't have any part of his lifestyle.

Despite having very little options, his own pride refused to let him move back home and have his parents win.  Instead Caden spent almost a year couch hopping between friends, mooching off them as long as he could.  He tried working any odd job he could get his hands on, but a rich boy with no experience didn't have much to offer employers.  Jobs never lasted long with him, and he was beginning to lose friends because of his couch-hopping ways.  So Caden eventually moved back to Washington DC -- where his dad was now the Pennsylvania Senator for the Democratic party -- and swallowed his pride long enough to beg him for a job. The two Luccas working together lasted a whopping five months before Rodrigo approached his son with the option of Gallagher Academy.  Never had Caden planned on going back to school, but he had been so miserable working in politics, he couldn't complain;  for him, Gallagher was just another school he was bound to be kicked out of.

GALLAGHER ACADEMY.

It wasn't until he stepped foot in Gallagher Academy that Caden learned it was more than just a school for Exceptional Young People, but for future spies of America. He took the information unsurprisingly lightly, mostly because he preferred to think of it as a former all girl's school  ( women, women everywhere ) .   Caden had started out with an undeclared major, but throughout his first semester he actually found himself genuinely interested in the new world around him.  He had taken the initiative to find a tutor in combat -- a girl tutor -- and after the first semester, Caden decided to declare not one but two majors: seduction and flirtation, and driver's ed.  For a man who had expected to not last a full semester of college, he had actually found himself invested in his education.

It didn't hurt that Gallagher put him in touch with many people from his past, especially those he never thought he would see again.  Caden's always been a lady's man, especially throughout his travels, but meeting Amelia Taylor in Ireland when he was nineteen had been another story. He had always had a habit of falling for girls too similar to himself, but he hadn't realized how true that was until being reunited with Amelia at Gallagher.  Though they started a no strings relationship, Caden had wanted more, which Amelia didn't reciprocate… and Caden didn't appreciate. Spring semester had been spent mad at the blonde, until Amelia had been murdered on Valentine's Day. 

Caden turned to sex and alcohol to cope with his problems, per usual. It didn't help that Caden had learned that one of the Gallagher alums on campus was his cousin from his mother's side, a cousin he never knew he even had.  He had always assumed he had been accepted into Gallagher because his father was family friends with the Suttons, and as a Senator he had connections  ( though he didn't talk to his parents very often, so the jury was still out on whether Rodrigo Lucca knew if it was a spy school or not ) ,  not because he was a legacy.  Had his cousin not shown him a picture of his mother as a Gallagher student, Caden never would've believed that Charlotte Lucca had ever been anything other than the cheating, alcoholic housewife she was now. 

After one shocking death and one life-aftering secret being revealed, it took the rest of the semester and start of Caden's summer to carry on. A romance with a witness protection student helped, as well as breaking into where Amelia's found killer was held on campus and beating him to near death  ( Caden still doesn't know if they actually killed Cecil or not, nor does he care ) .   When the semester ended, Caden also had the pleasure of meeting his mother's side of the family that he had never been told about, and in return was given a glimmer of hope at the prospect of having a real family.  ( More information can be found here. )  He still has a long way to go, having not spoken to his parents since Christmas, but Caden isn't the same man he was a year ago -- and for once, he actually likes having direction in his life.

PERSONALITY.

Caden is extremely charismatic, very obviously the son of a politician.  He's a grade-A conversationalist from years of experience campaigning for his father and making new friends wherever he goes, but most opportunities never allowed for relationships to become more than skin deep. Back in high school, he developed a talent for arriving onto a new campus mid-semester and immediately surrounding himself with the coolest guys and hottest girls. While social media has made it easy to keep up with all these friends of his, usually once he'd leave a place, the friendship would cease to exist  ( unless he needed a place to crash ) ,   so lifelong friends aren't really something Caden has much experience with.

Not only is he good at charming his way into friendships, but Caden is also known to be well-versed in the ladies department.  He's an obvious, shameless flirt, and for whatever reason women seem to love him.  Monogamous relationships are few and far between, and tend to not be healthy or long-term. Friends with benefits are more his speed, setting boundaries right away so nobody can get mad at him for intentionally breaking their heart in the process -- though it's happened a few times anyway.

Though arrogant and sometimes smarmy, generally Caden is pretty easy to get along with and doesn't go out of his way to be an asshole.  Every so often his idea of a joke and the way he roasts his friends can go too far, but when it comes down to it he would do anything for the people he cares about.

Caden's no stranger to vices, but drinking is certainly his biggest; I put this under personality because he acts like enjoying alcohol is a personality trait. He's always down for a good time, which tends to be his detriment. 

MORE INFORMATION / HEADCANONS:

Caden knows fluent Spanish from growing up with it in the house, both because his father spoke it and because his parents made sure to only hire nannies who would speak Spanish to him. He doesn't like speaking it though, because it reminds him of his father.

His first tattoo ever is a Latin quote on his chest, which he had gotten specifically because his father had told him NOT to get a tattoo when he turned eighteen. Caden had been drunk when he got it, so the translation is completely wrong; thankfully he had chosen such a heinous cursive font that it's impossible to read, and he'll never tell anyone what it's supposed to mean.

Thanks to Mommy and Daddy he's not great with expressing his feelings;  his way of caring is shown through flexing his credit cards and doing something special for the important people in his life.  Expect ridiculously lavish birthday and Christmas presents.

Some of his favorite travel destinations include Tokyo, Reykjavík, Amsterdam, New York City, and Ireland.

During his boarding school days he was known for being a notorious prankster, though he retired the title once he graduated.  His favorite prank had been filling a teacher's office with condom balloon animals.  ( Okay I never said he was amazing, he was a sixteen year old boy. )

His seven boarding schools had been in Maine, Kansas, California, Washington, Michigan, and two in Pennsylvania.

Though he's not a movie buff, Caden is a slut for a good John Hughes move.  The Breakfast Club is his favorite of all time.

Caden's a closet Potterhead and 100% a Gryffindor.

TL;DR:  Caden is the son of the Pennsylvania Senator who he doesn't get along with  ( daddy issues hello )  and has spent most of his life acting out through getting kicked out of boarding schools, traveling the world instead of working, and finally landing on coming to Gallagher rather than working. His mother was a Gallagher Girl but didn't find out until recently. He's essentially a fuckboy with a heart of gold.

CURRENT & WANTED CONNECTIONS HERE

#gallagher:intro #like this or react on discord and ill attack ya #hes a dummy yall

[truthbeetoldmedia]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6x03 “The Tattler” Review

If last week’s episode was Hitchcock and Scully’s origin story, then this week’s episode is Jake and Gina’s. We’ve known since the beginning of the series that Jake and Gina grew up together (their friendship is little-boy-holding-little-girl’s-hand) and that Jake got Gina her job at the Nine-Nine, but in “The Tattler” we see deeper into that relationship than we ever have before, as they attend their twenty year high school reunion.

They were the only two members of the DDC (Dope Denim Crew)! They both had long hair and an earring! They were in a ska band together! They were best friends!

For Gina, the reunion is an opportunity for her to make up a new story about what she’s been up to for everyone she meets (“It’s going to be Fib City, population: Gina Clooney”), but Jake worries that a nickname that ruined his entire senior year will come back to haunt him twenty years later. And he’s right; despite his awesome job and super-smart wife, everyone still remembers him as “the Tattler.”

You see, in Jake’s junior year he was becoming friends with the coolest, hottest kid in school, Brandon Bliss. Brandon asked Jake to skip school with him and his friends, steal a van, and get drunk at his parents’ cabin, but the day they were supposed to leave someone tattled on Brandon, he got suspended, and the whole school believed it was Jake who had told.

Jake is obviously still bothered by the fact that everyone remembers him for something he didn’t do twenty years ago, so Amy suggests they find out who the tattler really was and clear Jake’s name. This leads to the two of them breaking into admin and looking up old class schedules to figure out which member of the football team shared third period with Brandon Bliss and could have told him that Jake was the tattler, all while Gina sells an app she just made up (“Todddddler”, Tinder for toddlers) to an old classmate who has become a tech mogul.

Jake and Amy successfully track down the only football player who could have started the rumour, and are told that he did see Jake tattling on Brandon to the principal. Or at least, he saw someone with Jake’s long hair, earring, and denim jacket talking to the principal.

Realizing that Gina was the one who ruined his senior year, Jake confronts her. Although he’s rightfully angry that his best friend would betray him and then lie about it for two decades, Gina soon makes him see that what she did was for his own good; he was heading down a dark path with Brandon, and if he had gotten in trouble for stealing a van, or worse, he never would have been able to become a cop.

Gina was Jake’s origin story (the radioactive spider to his Spiderman) and in return, Jake wants to be hers (the dead parents to her Batman). Gina’s attempt at pitching Todddddler didn’t end well, mostly because their old classmate was also lying about what he’d been doing since graduating, but it did make her realize that building her own business is something she’s always wanted to pursue, she just doesn’t have time between working at the Nine-Nine and raising her baby.

So Jake tells her that maybe it’s time for her to move on. He was the one who got her the job at the Nine-Nine, and he’s the one giving the support she needs to leave it. We’ve known for several months now that Chelsea Peretti was leaving the show and that Gina would have to be written off, and I think they chose the perfect way to do it: with a story that focuses on hers and Jake’s origins, as Gina looks towards a new beginning.

Back at the Nine-Nine, Rosa approaches Charles about her dating issues; she’s been seeing two people, both of whom she really likes, but they found out about each other and now she has to decide which one she wants to pursue.

(I love how Rosa has slowly started opening up to the squad over the last couple of years, but is still a deeply private person; Charles’ flabbergasted expression as she dumps a bunch of previously unknown information on him is priceless.)

Charles probably isn’t the best person to approach when you need help making a decision — or maybe he’s the perfect person, as he has an entire binder dedicated to choosing between two things. Rosa remains undecided through all of Charles’ strategies, including answering a 312-question questionnaire and hanging from the ceiling like a bat, only to have the decision made for her when one of the people she’s dating texts her to break it off, because she took too long to respond.

And thus we learn Charles’ true strategy: to avoid actively making any decision and allow the universe to make them for you. “That way you never make the wrong choice.”

Isn’t it cool how Charles and Rosa’s relationship has developed from him having a creepy, unreciprocated crush on her in Season 1 to him being the one she goes to first about dating problems? Although this subplot didn’t have much going on (it would have ended the exact same way whether Rosa had gone to Charles for help or not), I love watching these two together; despite her stoic exterior, Rosa often plays along with Charles’ quirks in a way no one else does, and despite needing to know everything about everyone, Charles respects Rosa’s boundaries.

Footnotes:

It’s been awhile since Gina was in the main plot of an episode, I’d forgotten how much she can bring to the show — and how well she and Jake play off of each other. Nice of them to remind me right before she leaves.

Seeing Amy back in a high school environment was an absolute delight.

Was anyone else surprised and then not-so-surprised at Jake’s perfect attendance record and community service? Despite his cavalier attitude towards some things, there’s a reason Jake’s a really good cop.

Holt’s attitude towards the radio contest reminds me of how he is during the Halloween heists, AKA “it’s not fun and games until there’s a competition to be won.” (Also, I used to attempt to win that exact same type of radio contest with my coworkers. We never were able to guess the sound.)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.

Sam’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

#Brooklyn Nine-Nine #The Tattler #Gina Linetti #Chelsea Peretti

[candidcreature-blog1]

Unexpected Goodbye

Billy Hargrove x Female Reader

Summary: What could you have done differently? What could you have said to change the outcome? Was this all your fault? Looking back on your relationship with Billy, you try to pinpoint where it all went wrong. You try to pinpoint exactly where you lost him.

Warnings: swearing, mentions of sex

Word count: 5.3k

Read: Prologue

a/n: i can’t believe the first chapter is done. i feel like it took me forever. i read over it a million times, i’m happy to finally be posting it, lol. sorry it’s kinda long in this story, the reader likes to write and sketch, so i wanted to include some billy art i’ve found on tumblr that i love. the digital painting below is by @teenmomsteve. the original post is here. also you should check out her new etsy account. show her some love with a like and a reblog!!! ♥

—Chapter 1—

The day that Billy Hargrove arrived in Indiana, Hawkins was never the same. Hawkins High could talk of absolutely nothing else. All you heard walking down the halls that day was Billy this, and Billy that. The topic of him completely empowered any discussion at lunch. Doodles of his name cluttered the corners of all the girls’ notebooks. There was an eruption of giggles whenever he would walk by and wink at a group of girls. He was handsome. He was charming. He was mysterious. Every guy wanted to be him and every girl wanted to be with him. And everyone was asking the same questions about him. Where did he come from? Why did he move? How long would he stay? But most importantly, who would he date?

Steve and Billy’s big fight was almost a hotter topic than Billy himself. Of course, you heard about it. Everyone heard. The problem is, you didn’t really know how it happened. Everyone told the story differently. However, in every version of the story, Billy won. You assumed that that was probably the truth, given the condition of Steve’s face when he finally showed up at school. But the most amusing version of the story you heard was where Steve pulled a gun on Billy and pulled the trigger. Luckily, with Billy’s excellently swift feet, and his black belt in karate to prepare him for such a moment, he was able to dodge the bullet and seize the gun, getting it far out of Steve’s reach. After which, he pummeled Steve’s face in. That was a bit of a stretch, but you got a good laugh out of it.

The boy quickly rose to the top of the food chain as the King of Hawkins High. Surrounded by the coolest boys at school, people were practically jumping out of their way as they walked the halls together, making a ruckus all the way down. Girls made every attempt to get his attention. Guys puffed out their chests for the sake of their own dignity. But you, knowing that nothing good could come of giving in to Billy, had decided to keep your distance. When you saw him coming down the hall, you would walk the other way. When he made jokes in class, you would be the only one not to laugh.

You deemed yourself successful in all of your efforts to avoid him. But there was one, cold, December morning, that stuck out in your memory, where you had failed.

You were going about your daily routine, nothing out of the ordinary. Your best friend walked by your side as the two of you headed to your homeroom class. It was hard to remember exactly what you were discussing, but you remember laughing and shaking your head at her. The laughter must have let your guard down because you didn’t see him up ahead. You turned your head just far enough to the right to lock eyes with his. He was leaned against his locker, hands in his jean pockets. Surprisingly, this time, he wasn’t surrounded by his usual posse, he wasn’t flirting with everything that had boobs, and he wasn’t making all the noise in the world, trying to draw attention to himself. But what surprised you the most was that he didn’t look away. Neither did you. The intangible contact hit you like a ton of bricks, but still, you held it. You felt an uncomfortable twinge in your chest. You were taken back to the night of the Halloween party.

The memories flooded your mind.

“That boy is something else,” she said as she shook her head in disbelief, biting her lip. Elaine Thompson was mesmerized by his glistening abdomen underneath the black leather jacket. You and she had been dancing since the party started and were taking a break near the punch bowl in the kitchen. All she could do was openly ogle at him from afar. You glanced over at him as he danced amidst the sweaty bodies in the living room. His chest really was mesmerizing… But you pretended not to care. You knew if you stared too long, it would be dangerously difficult to look away. You took a sip of punch and decided to purposefully look absolutely anywhere else.

Elaine took notice of your intentionality and looks over at you. “You know, it really wouldn’t kill you to admire the view. I mean, everyone else is.”

You smile and poke fun at her. “Don’t you know, it’s impolite to stare.”

“Oh, whatever!” She hits you playfully. “Besides,” she added with a wink, “You look hot. He’d be lucky to catch you staring at him.”

You decided to dress up as Alex Owens from Flashdance. The costume would be fairly laid back, and you already had most of what you needed in your closet. You chose a long, heather gray sweatshirt that landed just above your mid thigh. It hung in such a way that enticingly exposed your left shoulder. You wore the perfect red pointed heels and had to wear tights to cover your legs in the cold weather. You accessorized with a bangle and earrings that dangled. For your lips, you chose a soft red color and teased your hair to match hers. You had to admit: You looked good, and you felt even better.

“I guess, I do look pretty good.” You both giggle. “But I’m sure Billy has a hundred other girls on his radar. There’s no way he would notice little ol’ me.” You say this with a feigned air of innocence that made Elaine roll her eyes and reach for more punch. “Plus, I don’t think I would catch his eye, standing next to you anyway.”

Elaine didn’t put much thought into her costume this year. But still wanting to turn heads, she did just that. She wore a black leotard with fishnet tights and a black coat to keep her warm. Atop her head were a pair of bunny ears, and below her back, a bunny’s tail. Make-up simply done, her curls flowed freely beside her face.

She looks down at her costume, and then back at yours. “Fair point.” Your gaping mouth made her laugh. She places her hand on her hip and jokingly says, “I guess, I should leave then.”

Elaine sips her drink and turns to walk away, but something stops her. She looks over in Billy’s direction and freezes, the cup still up to her mouth. “Oh my god. Don’t look now, but he’s staring at you.”

You froze. You couldn’t believe your ears. Was Billy staring at you? Maybe you weren’t hearing her correctly. She was talking with a cup in her mouth after all.

“What?”

“You heard me! He’s staring at you! He’s staring right at you!” She continues to muffle into the cup, then quickly glances down so as to not give the two of you away.

“There’s no way he’s looking at me.”

Elaine sneaks a glance back at him and lets out a sigh. “Okay, he’s not looking anymore.”

You sigh of relief as well and try to dismiss the topic. “I’m sure he was looking at the girl behind me or something.”

As if on cue, you hear a sound behind you that makes both of you cringe. The two of you slowly turn around. Jessica Miller was bent over the kitchen sink, clutching her stomach, hurling everything she had eaten and drank that night.

“Yeah. He was definitely looking at the girl behind you,” Elaine remarks.

As soon as she whips back around, she lets out a small gasp. “He’s looking at you again!” She cocks her head to the side a bit and chuckles. “And he is not being shy about it.”

You try to look busy by pretending to be intensely interested in your cup, trying to move your lips as little as possible, lest he thinks you’re having a conversation with your beverage. You desperately ask your friend what you should do.

“Look back at him!”

Glancing down at your hands, fidgeting with them, you contemplate taking her advice. Of course, you wanted to look back at him. The hottest boy in Hawkins was looking you up and down. All of the girls were vying for his affection, and he was looking at you. If this was any other girl, they would probably be in his arms right now. What was holding you back?

What did you have to lose?

Maybe it was this thought—and everything you had to drink that night—that gave you the confidence to look up.

You shoot your eyes up to meet his. You smile, matching his own.

And after that moment, the rest of the night felt like a dream.

As you and Billy danced, not a second went by where he didn’t have his hands on your hips or an arm around your shoulder. When he won a round of beer pong, for the eighth time in a row, it was you that he drunkenly grabbed to share a messy, celebratory kiss. The night was sprinkled with short, heated make-out sessions until Tommy dragged him away and off to win another party game. There was a moment when he hoisted you up on his shoulder as the crowd of people chanted his name. The smile on your face couldn’t be wider as you laughed, and you couldn’t be happier. You were also really drunk.

Toward the end of the night, you two were on the makeshift dance floor again when Billy started to get a little handsy. He pressed himself against your backside and let his hands wander. Normally, you wouldn’t allow behavior like that, but you were having too much fun, so you let it slide. After a minute or two, he leaned down to whisper in your ear. His voice was rough, deep, enticing. He suggested you two continue the party at his place.

Alone.

Your heart did black flips. You turn around to face him, biting your lip and nodding, giving him the answer he wanted.

You excuse yourself to use the restroom, but instead, run to find your best friend. When you found her, she was in a corner in the dining room, making out with Eric, one of the Johnson twins. Not sure of what to say, you grab her arm and yank her away, earning a disappointed look from him. Elaine just laughed. Her words came out in a slur. “That is the second twin I’ve made out with tonight!”

Oh, good. She was hammered too.

“You made out with Evan too?”

“Yeah… I think…” She looks back at Eric, squinting her eyes. She seemed as if she was thinking really hard about something. “I keep getting them confused.”

When she looks back at you, the two of you burst out into laughter. Trying to regain composure, you were dying to tell her what Billy just asked of you. Once you finally got the words out, she let out the most dramatic gasp, but then brought her words down to a whisper. “You’re going to give up your flower?” She seemed so shocked. “And with King Bad Boy. You’re a dirty girl.” Her eyebrows danced as she said this.

“Don’t call it that!” You scolded, although you couldn’t help a small chuckle from escaping your lips. “And don’t call him that.”

“What happened to all that talk about ‘waiting for the right one’ or ‘my prince will come, one day!’” Elaine had always made fun of you for that. She lost her virginity in eighth grade to Drew Davis, the class clown. He was cute. At the time.

You rolled your eyes, acting frustrated. “I might as well get it over with. I’m probably the only junior in school who hasn’t had sex yet. Plus, when am I going to have another opportunity like this? I mean, this is Billy we’re talking about!” If you were completely sober, you weren’t sure if you would go for this. But right now, you weren’t sober, and you wanted to go for it.

Elaine let out a throaty groan, “Ugh, I’ll bet he’s amazing in bed. Fuck, I am so jealous of you right now.”

“So… you think I should go?”

“Of course, I think you should go! Go, get your man!” Elaine gives you an encouraging shove and you smile. She began scanning the crowd, looking for Eric—or Evan—again. Walking away, she shouts, “You better not be too drunk to give me the details tomorrow!”

Your smile widened. This was unbelievable. You were going home with Billy Hargrove. Billy fucking Hargrove.

You run to the restroom to check your makeup before heading back to the spot where you left him. With every step you took, chills went up and down your spine. Your heart was beating faster and faster. You couldn’t tell if you were sweating because of all the dancing you’d done, or because of how nervous and excited you were. You finally arrive at your destination.

But Billy was nowhere to be seen.

Confused, you look around at the crowd, but you didn’t spot him. You ask people nearby, but everyone just shrugged and kept dancing. You decide to take a look through the house. You check the kitchen, the dining room, the restroom, the backyard, the front yard but you didn’t find him anywhere.

Spotting Tommy outside, you run over to him. He had his arm around Carol, laughing with a group of guys. If anyone knew where Billy was, it would be him.

“Figured he was with you.” He just smiled and winked. “You two have been attached at the hip all night. Didn’t think Billy was the type to get hooked so quickly, but maybe you’re special or something.” He took another drink of his beer like he hadn’t just said something that rocked your world, and turned his attention back to the guys. Immediately, you start beaming, and then Carol piped in.

“Actually, I saw him head upstairs earlier.” She wore a wide grin. “Maybe he just couldn’t wait to get you home.” Was she ever not chewing gum? Motioning her head to an upstairs window, she said, “You should head up there. I bet he’s waiting for you right now.”

Your heart still beating and your stomach in knots, you stared at the mountain before you. Who knew stairs could look like such an obstacle? You stumbled a bit as you climbed, having to hold the railing to make it to the stop safely, leaving the party behind you. On your right, you saw a restroom and the door to a bedroom. The door was ajar. It was wide enough to peer inside without moving too far. No Billy. On your left, there was a short hallway with three doors, two on the right, and one at the end.

You open the first door to reveal an office and no Billy. You open the second door that leads to a storage room and no Billy. It must be the last door. You step slowly toward the door. With your hand on the doorknob, you take a deep breath and turn it clockwise. Before you can open the door, you hear something that brings your world crashing down.

“Oh, Billy.”

You freeze. Pressing your ear to the door, you hear the unmistakable sounds of the creaking of a bed and a headboard slamming against the wall. And the continuous moans of one Jessica Miller. Incapable of hearing anymore, you turn away. Not sure of how to think or feel, you rush down the stairs and out the front door, desperate for fresh air. Looking up at the sky, you release a breath you didn’t even realize you were holding.

Honestly, what did you expect? He’s a bad boy. This is what bad boys do. They make you feel beautiful, wanted, and special. They bring you to the top of the world, just to bring you crashing down. They put you on a pedestal and make you feel like their one and only, and for what? Just to get in your pants? Unless of course, you’re not quick enough. Then he’ll just fuck the next girl in line.

You almost gag as you remember watching Jessica puking into the kitchen sink.

Looking back at the house, you see that the party inside is still alive. You should go back in and enjoy yourself. You shouldn’t let a boy ruin your whole night. But if you were being honest with yourself, all you wanted now was to be home.

Elaine was definitely too intoxicated to drive, and probably making out with one of the twins in the backseat of someone’s car anyway. Not in the mood to search for a ride, you head inside to grab your coat and begin the walk home. You barely make it fifteen minutes before taking your heels off. You shiver as your feet hit the icy sidewalk.

Almost frozen solid when you arrive home, you silently crept up the stairs so as to not wake your brother. Your parents were heavy sleepers. Your brother was the one you were really worried about.

You close the door to your bedroom behind you, toss your heels to the side, and crawl under the covers. It took you a second to realize you still had your coat on. Still shivering from the night, you decide to leave it on.

As you lay there, the highlights of the night replayed in your head. Dancing with Elaine. Locking eyes with Billy. Never leaving his side. Jessica moaning his name.

She probably puked again after that.

Your chest tightened as you felt embarrassment wash over you. You had fallen for that bad boy act that your parents had raised you to beware. Not to mention, just about the entire high school watched as you followed Billy around like a lost puppy. They all probably saw him take Jessica upstairs too, seemingly tossing you aside.

You heaved a heavy sigh and cleared your mind, grateful that sleep came fast and quick.

As you passed him in the hall, your eyes land on the floor. Then, you quickly turned to Elaine to see if she noticed. She was still continuing the previous conversation the two of you were having.

Just as you were about to turn the corner, you snuck a peek back at him. You watched the back of his denim jacket as he walked in the opposite direction.

After that day, you didn’t really see much of him anymore.

The rest of the school year was a blur filled with excessive studying and frequent visits to the library. Rumors and stories about Billy getting into fights or taking another girl home would still circle back to you, but they died down a few months before June. Elaine couldn’t stop talking about how excited she was for summer. She wanted to take a road trip up to Michigan City with you and Eric, to visit her grandparents for a week.

After the Halloween party, Eric and Elaine really hit it off. At first, you thought it was strange how comfortable Eric was with the fact that she made out with him and his brother. But as it turns out, he was the only twin she was with that night. Evan was sick at home with the flu. Now, they were dating. He treated her well, and you could tell that she was really happy.

You accompanied Elaine to the graduation ceremony to watch Eric walk across the stage. The ceremony was held in the gymnasium and there was no stage. But Elaine deemed it more formal to say “My boyfriend will be walking across the stage” than “My boyfriend will be walking across the gym.” While she was at it, she crowned you the designated picture taker. You didn’t mind. You actually found it to be a lot of fun. But if it weren’t for her, you wouldn’t have come. You weren’t too keen on seeing Billy walk across the stage to receive his diploma. Seeing him still made your heart flutter a bit, which annoyed you very much. You wondered if every other girl in Hawkins High felt that way when they saw him.

When his name was finally called, you watched him stand up from the front row of bleachers and walk toward the center to shake hands with the dean and receive his diploma. Strangely enough, there was no pep in his step as he walked. You thought about this for a moment, but then quickly brushed it off.

You wondered what was next for Billy Hargrove. There was no chance in hell he was going to stay in Hawkins. That boy was meant for the big city, not a small town. Everyone figured he would move back to California the day after he graduated. He probably already had everything packed and couldn’t wait to get out of Hawkins.

After the ceremony, you made sure to take plenty of photos of Eric and Elaine. She must have posed a hundred times before she was satisfied with all the silly photos of her and her boyfriend. The three of decided to celebrate at Bo’s Diner, inviting a few extra friends to tag along. You made sure to take more pictures there, per request of Elaine.

“You have a better eye for pictures than I do!” She exclaimed.

“I feel like you’re just telling me that so you can be in all the photos.”

She giggled but didn’t deny it.

Over the summer, Elaine’s plans to visit her grandparents came to fruition. Eric offered to use his car and Evan came along for the ride too. It was supposed to be some sort of double date thing that Elaine planned. You were open to the idea. Why not? However, Evan seemed a bit reluctant to go, and you quickly realized why. He was extremely shy. You could barely get the guy to open up. He would use one or two-word sentences as answers, so a conversation with him barely lasted a few minutes. It’s not like you were asking him about his deepest darkest secrets. You asked him about his hobbies or plans for the future. Occasionally, you would receive a shrug for an answer. After a while, you stopped trying, grateful that you had brought a book to keep you company on the four-hour drive. Needless to say, it wasn’t going to work out.

You remember writing a poem about how awkward you had felt.

As far as the actual trip went, you had a blast. You’d known Elaine since seventh grade but had never gotten the chance to come up here when she visited. She always came back with souvenirs for you and stories to tell. The day finally came for you to meet her grandparents and they were amazing. Her grandmother’s cooking was to die for, and her grandfather had intense stories to tell about the war that had everyone’s interest peaked. Everyone but Elaine. She’d already heard them a million times.

They owned a home right on the edge of Lake Michigan. The three of you spent a lot of time on the beach, building sandcastles or taking a swim. You remember some late nights where Elaine would pop popcorn for movie watching and an early morning when you had stepped outside to sketch the view. One of the days, the four of you took the hour drive to Chicago to explore the city. It was truly an unforgettable experience. You had only hoped Evan enjoyed it as much as you did.

Compared to the trip, the rest of the summer was pretty mundane. You got a summer job at a Mama Mia’s Pizza, where you worked mornings and sometimes mid-day. It wasn’t the best job, tips weren’t that great, and getting to work was a pain. Most days you would ride your bike, or your brother would give you rides on his days off. But watching your sixth college fund jar fill up, little by little, is what gave you the motivation to get up every morning. You would have more, but your parents insisted you only work during the summers, so you could focus wholeheartedly on your studies during the school year. You would have put up more of a fight about this, but they had been setting aside money for college for years now, so you obliged.

Elaine spent most of her summer days with Eric. He would leave for Purdue University at the end of the summer to study engineering. It was only a couple hours out of town, and she told you they were going to try long-distance. Since she was otherwise occupied, you spent most of your nights reading a book, drawing up another sketch, or dozing off in front of the television. Or writing poetry if you were otherwise inspired.

One night, you were sitting in your usual spot in front of the television. NBC was playing re-runs of Cheers. You weren’t really watching anymore though. Somewhere in the middle of the episode, your mind had started to wander and you thought of Billy. You wondered what he could be doing at that moment. Then you figured, he was probably soaking up the California sun by day and partying hard by night.

You knew that there must be more to him than just that pretty face. He must have goals and plans for the future. You wondered, what were his dreams and aspirations? What college did he want to attend? What motivated him to get up every morning? You wished you had gotten the chance to ask him these questions, just out of curiosity.

When school started up again, everything seemed to be quiet again, back to the way it was before Billy showed up. You hated to admit it, but school had seemed a bit boring. Although he did cause a lot of trouble, Billy brought a lot of excitement to this small town as well. You had almost missed hearing the stories and rumors about him and the gang vandalizing property. Or hearing the smart remarks he made in class that sometimes ended in a visit to the dean’s office. Or rolling your eyes at his hooting and hollering down the halls of the school.

You tried to push him out of your mind. It’s not like he was in California missing you, or anything.

Elaine practically slammed her lunch tray in front of you, thrilled to tell you the rumor she heard that day.

“Did you hear about Billy?” The day you tried to forget him is the day that Elaine brought him up.

“No.” You attempted to sound disinterested, playing with your food instead.

“He’s still in Hawkins!”

This made you stop, mid-chew, and glance up from the watered down macaroni and cheese. She continued. “Heather told me she saw him at Bert’s yesterday. He works there!”

Confused, you asked, “Bert’s Auto Repair? What was Heather doing there?”

“Her parents bought her a car at the end of the summer. Needed some fixing up, so she took it in,” she said dismissively with a wave of her hand. “Who cares? Billy Hargrove is still in Hawkins! Isn’t that crazy?”

Yes. It was very crazy. You, and probably the rest of the school, were sure he would have gotten out of here as soon as graduation day.

What on earth was Billy Hargrove still doing in Indiana?

Billy occupied your thoughts for the rest of that school day. So much for forgetting about him.

With your studies as an adequate distraction, you tried not to think of Billy. More importantly, you were focused on making sure you were acing every class, like always. Since Eric was at Purdue, you and Elaine spent more time together. During the first week of school, you two had made a few new friends as well. Your mom even allowed you to babysit occasionally, as long as it didn’t get in the way of schoolwork, which meant more money going into the college fund.

Before you knew it, a month flew by, and it was already September.

You remember the day. It was Friday, September 6, 1985. You had decided to bike to the library.

During the school year, visiting the library on Fridays is something you did fairly often. Most kids made plans on Friday afternoons and evenings, using the earlier days in the week for studying. This ensured the library wouldn’t be busy and you would be able to have some time to yourself. It was a good place to sketch or write without worry of being disturbed. You hadn’t gotten a chance to since school started, so you were eager to get going.

There was plenty of room in the library for reading or working on homework, but you had a favorite spot. It was a table in the back, a bit secluded from the group of tables in the center. It was a simple corner with a small table and two chairs to match. A window sat beside it. There wasn’t much of a view. All that was visible through it was the road to the library and the grass leading up to it. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that whenever you sat in that seat, sketchpad or notebook stretched before you, the creative juices would flow more easily to you. You would say that some of your best work was done there, and you couldn’t quite explain why. Maybe it was the way the sun shone through the window straight onto the table top. Maybe it was the old, rustic look of the table that made you think of faraway places. Whatever the reason, it had kept you coming back for so long.

It was a place where you felt comfortable, at ease. It was somewhere you could escape and be alone with your thoughts. It was a safe haven, a sort of a refuge, hidden from the world.

After chaining your bike up, you walked up the steps and through the front doors. You said hello to the librarian’s friendly face that you knew so well. She had seen you come in too many times to count. She greeted you as she usually did, with a wide smile.

You walked in the direction of your corner, stopping by the section that contained books on art. You had combed through these a million times, but snatched a rather large one titled “Learn to Draw Eyes in a Week.” You needed to practice those anyway. You crossed your arms, hugging the book to your chest.

Turning around the bookshelf, you were surprised to find that you weren’t greeted by an empty chair.

Having not yet noticed your presence, you watched as his dirty blonde curly head looked out the window. He was slouched in his chair, legs extended before him with one ankle crossed over the other. His arms were crossed against his chest, and he wore a navy blue mechanic coverall suit. His hair seemed to have grown since the last time you saw him. Was it possible that he had gotten buffer?

It was such a beautiful picture. He seemed at peace. You longed to sit back and draw up a sketch but thought about how awkward it might be if he caught you. Instead, you silently crept back with the intention of turning the corner and leaving him be.

You were almost there when you attempted to rush around the corner, but the book you held caught on the edge of the shelf and launched out of your hands. It landed with a loud thud. He whipped his head around at the same time your face turned a deep shade of red.

You scrambled to retrieve the book, and when you looked up, Billy Hargrove’s startled eyes bore into you.

chapter 2 coming soon! eventually let me know what you think! xoxo

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[nicolasmartinez-88]

How to Incorporate Dog Training Into Dog Play and Exercise!

Much the same as individuals, dogs need work out. How much exercise relies upon the canine's variety and state of being. Canines reproduced to group or chase are solid varieties with extraordinary endurance requiring great, every day exercises. The more intellectually ready and dynamic your canine, the more exercise and additionally recess he'll probably require.

Because your canine is out practicing and having a good time doesn't imply that they don't need to be faithful. While practicing your canine, you should utilize a portion of this opportunity to rehearse your canine preparing.

A canine getting almost no activity can get apathetic and overweight and create medical conditions; or irritable, focused and despondent, and oppose preparing.

It very well may be perilous to take care of your canine previously or after exercise. Try not to take care of your canine for in any event 4 hours before exercise and stand by at any rate one hour after exercise for your canine to settle down prior to taking care of.

Here are some significant canine preparing tips for canine play and exercise:

When preparing a canine, select a variety fit to your activity level. In the event that you chase, climb or run, you'll deal with a high-energy canine better than if actually practice for you is going after the TV distant. In the event that you get a canine to up your own activity level, start gradually and don't exaggerate. Walk more limited distances a couple of times each prior day gradually increasing your distance. Long strolls are ideal for greater canines; more limited, more successive excursions suit little canines.

Exercise, when preparing your doggy, ought to be kept to short eruptions of 10 minutes. Little dog Obedience is a type of activity for pups since they're focusing on you and your orders. As your canine learns compliance and experts the preparation abilities, a greater amount of his activity will come as recess, strolling and running.

One the best types of activity is basically strolling your canine around your zone. A 30-to hour long stroll around the roads of your area is incredible exercise for both you and your canine. Your canine will likewise appreciate all the various scents and visual incitement of vehicles, individuals and different creatures. This is likewise an extraordinary chance to work on getting your canine to stroll with a free lead close to you and to sit. I cause my canines to sit at each kerb before we go across the street. At the point when you're strolling it is an extraordinary chance to prepare your canine since you are working on everything in the midst of interruptions and in an alternate climate.

A fretful canine will react decidedly to both mental and actual work. They need to be involved, and on the off chance that you don't give appropriate exercises, you may not be content with their decisions! Giving them a riddle, for example, finding concealed treats (if the canine won't annihilate rooms looking for them) or cheeses or frozen canine food pressed inside a toy like a Kong can involve them for a decent time. Bones including rawhide that require hours to chew are likewise approaches to keep them steadily involved. You can even practice your canine preparing in the present circumstance by essentially causing your canine to sit and stand by until you're prepared to give him the Kong or rawhide. Continuously get the Kong and put it far off when your canine is done with it to show him that you are the big cheese and in charge.

Games similarly keep your canine fit. Throwing a Frisbee, tossing a ball, and pursuing him in the yard are extraordinary. A few canines revel in tearing past you while you rush to get them. Not exclusively will your canine get an extraordinary exercise from pursuing a ball or Frisbee yet this is an incredible chance to rehearse some canine preparing and furthermore show your canine that you are big enchilada. Canine preparing strategies that you can join into this game are:

cause your canine to sit and stand by before you toss the ball. At the point when he restores the ball to you, have him sit and set the ball in your grasp when you request it.

cause your canine to sit and remain while you leave him and afterward toss the ball. (This is a further developed preparing stunt.) Continue to make him stay after the ball has been tossed. He should stand by until you state he can go. This is incredible on the grounds that you're rehearsing the sit and stay order while superseding his craving to pursue the ball, which shows extraordinary power over your canine.

Toward the finish of play, you should take the ball and set it out of your canine's scope. This discloses to him you are big cheese since you control when you get it done.

In the event that you play pursue with your canine, you can fuse canine preparing toward the end by loosening up your stance and disposition and being noticeably quiet. At the point when you are without a care in the world, bring your canine over, cause him to sit and give him a pat. This will tell your canine that recess is finished and that you are back in charge.

In the event that climate keeps you inside, utilize your canine's most loved toys to have some good times. Canines that like back-and-forth, for example, can maybe have a most loved pull toy attached to a steady metal railing to pull when you are occupied. Fuse canine preparing here by allowing your canine to begin pulling and when he is done, you eliminate the pull toy and put it far off. This tells your canine the game is finished and that you are boss. A further developed form is requesting that your canine leave the pull toy while playing and afterward providing the order to start pulling. In the event that you can do this you have fantastic power over your canine. (Significant Note: prevailing canines or those you've not fortified with well may turn and tear into you in the present circumstance, so be cautious while doing this activity.)

Utilize presence of mind when climate conditions are outrageous. In the event that you abhor effort when it's fiercely hot and moist, it's almost guaranteed that your canine doesn't all things considered. Pick the coolest piece of the day during blistering climate and the hottest piece of the day during chilly climate, to maintain a strategic distance from unexpected problems.

Wearing him out doesn't need tiring yourself. Take your canine to a region where he can securely run free and hit a tennis ball to recover. Ball-dispatching toys are an extraordinary method to prepare your canine to get. This is a definitive exercise for a canine who appreciates this sort of play, and an incredible chance to rehearse your canine preparing strategies. Strolling your canine to the recreation center and hitting a tennis ball for him to pursue is so acceptable in light of the fact that you can work on strolling on a free lead alongside you in transit, and afterward you can rehearse sit at every kerb before you go across the street. When at the recreation center, cause him to sit and remain before you hit the ball and afterward cause him to sit before he gives you the ball back. Another explanation this activity and preparing routine is so successful is on the grounds that you start the activity with a warm-up walk, and progress into more concentrated exercise, with the canine running out after the ball and afterward running back. This can be rehashed commonly. When completed, there is a warm-down stroll back to your home. Be ready for indications of sluggishness or fatigue while doing this activity, for example, when the canine jeans, the tongue hangs down farther than expected and the rib confine moves all the more quickly.

[gospelmusic]

Great Exploits Through Excellence - Seeds Of Destiny SOD Devotional 4 January 2021 By Pastor Paul Enenche

God is ready to make you a person of excellence and distinction in your generation. God wants to distinguish your life in your generation. SCRIPTURE: 

Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 

Daniel 6:3.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: 

Daniel was a man of great exploits because he embraced the lifestyle of excellence. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Previously, we saw that Our God is in search of people of excellence who would display His character of excellence to the world (Matthew 5:14-16). We also saw that God found Daniel as a person of excellence, and Daniel distinguished himself in his generation. Beloved, through the vehicle of excellence, God lifted Daniel to a realm of relevance in both the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of men (Daniel 5:11-31). Through excellence, Daniel became a man of perpetual relevance who outlived four kings(Daniel 1:21, Daniel 6:28). Daniel made great impact; he changed the law of the land and made the king and the entire Babylonian Empire to recognize the living God (Daniel 6:25-27). The angels of God shut up the mouths of the lions; God did not allow the enemies of Daniel to prevail over him even when they threw him into the lion’s den(Daniel 6:21-24). Daniel was a man of great exploits because he embraced the lifestyle of excellence. Excellence is a key to great exploits in life. God is ready to make you a person of excellence and distinction in your generation. God wants to distinguish your life in your generation. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); My counsel is, embrace the lifestyle of excellence and distinction. Refuse to be a nonentity; have nothing to do with mediocrity. Remember this: Daniel was a man of great exploits because he embraced the lifestyle of excellence.

ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Crave for existence in excellence and distinction. 2. Ask God for the fresh baptism of the Spirit of excellence. 

PRAYER: 

O Lord, I ask that You baptise me afresh with the Spirit of excellence in Jesus’ Name.  FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: THE PATHWAY OF EXCELLENCE (PART 1).

QUOTE: 

The way of excellence, at any moment, is higher than the way of mediocrity. It will produce greater opportunities, prosperity, possibilities, security and authority than compromise. Culled from “WHO ARE YOU?” by Dr Paul Enenche. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

DAILY READING: 

Genesis 16-20.

AMAZING FACT: 

A dog’s shoulder blades are unattached to the rest of the skeleton to allow greater flexibility for running.

PROPHETIC DECLARATION/WORD: 

Flow in the new year with the spirit of excellence in Jesus’ Name.

Please help spread the gospel. Share our posts on social media using the share buttons. He who wins a soul is wise. God bless you abundantly! 

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Click here to take a look at our��posts on gospel music download

or click this link to see all posts that include gospel music lyrics

You may also like our gospel worship songs page which contains, the best, coolest and hottest Nigerian Gospel Songs, and Foreign Gospel Songs. Whatsoever is the mood, we've got you covered. Do you feel like dancing, rejoicing, shouting, screaming, or you're filled with jubilation because of the Mighty things the Lord has done? Then look no further, cos our gospel praise songs page, containing the hottest Nigerian and foreign praise songs collection, was prepared specifically for you. Peradventure you need the lyrics of the songs you are downloading now, just downloaded, or have downloaded before, our lyrics page is the best place to look. What more could be more helpful and entertaining than seeing the lyrics of your most favourite  song before you, as the music unfolds unto the climax. Hey we've been there before, and still encounter it from time to time when the vocals get lost in the cloud of heavy orchestration.

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Are You a Classical Music lover, our classical music page, contains the best of classical songs, composed and written by composers like G. F Handel, Bach, Joseph Haydn, etc. As you listen to your best gospel song, you may also want to get some more insight and knowledge about the word of God, from eBooks written by God's servants, or you may want to learn something new or build yourself up in some way. Then our eBook Page is the right place to look. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); You may be in need of entertainment, and probably want to watch a video too. We understand that as well. You can get entertaining video downloads from our video downloads page.

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[fallen029]

Timing

To be fair, his decision to break it off was rooted mostly in the fact that Mirajane, for the most part, worked seven days a week, open to close, at the guild hall as the head barmaid. That really didn't leave much time for Laxus. Which was only pushed even further to extremes by the fact that, as an S-Class wizard, Laxus frequently left on high risk jobs that took forever to finish or at least travel back and forth from.

Life was just too complex for the two of them to ever honestly get any free time together. It strained their relationship in almost every way and, really, at times Laxus wondered if there was one or not. All it really meant to him was that he wasn't allowed to spend time with other women which sucked, but wouldn't be so bad had he at least been able to spend that time with Mirajane. Honestly, one day out of a month wasn't working out for him. For either of them, he was sure. Which is why, after a year of toying around, he figured it was time to face the facts.

They just weren't going to work out.

Not that their relationship didn't have it's good qualities, because it certainly did. Laxus really liked being around Mirajane. She made him feel comfortable. They could just sit around on the few times they got to spend together, just laying around in bed, talking about nothing and he was content. Or when he got her some time off the bar to go out on an actual date, that was even better. They didn't have tons of things in common, but she always told him that that was okay; it just meant that they completed one another. She brought a bubbly bliss to his life that he rarely had. And he allowed her to be dark and angry and just vent. She finally really had someone to vent to.

But a friend could solve both those problems for one another. She could be his friend and bring joy to his life while he could just listen to her sometimes, up at the bar, complain about life, and they could both actually find relationships with people that were beneficial to their lifestyles.

Because Laxus liked Mirajane. A lot. And she liked him. A lot. But they'd both had better significant others and, fine, the sex wasn't bad, but it definitely was rushed, most of the time, because she had to get to work or he was going to go train or something else was coming up, and then the amount of time between it was just…

In short, things were too hard for the two of them to be together.

Laxus dreaded the entire time, having to break it off. He wasn't exactly sure how to do it. Most of them women he dated, he didn't care so much about (and certainly didn't have to around ever again) them, and therefore he'd kinda just either avoid them until they got the message or tell them flat out that the wasn't interest in the whole monogamy thing and if they still wanted to, like, hook up, he was chill with that.

It resulted in a lot of pissed off women. Which was a good thing he was a traveling mage and met lots of other women. Else he'd have worked through the list of all the women he knew by then and probably had to die alone.

Or try harder at relationships.

Both sounded equally as horrible.

When it came to Mirajane though (and one other woman that he'd been really serious about, when he was nineteen, that he had to actually put thought into breaking up with or trying to work thing out; you know, because things like that seem to be the most serious at nineteen), Laxus actually had to take some time out to think things over. Mirajane, as stated before, worked mostly up at the bar. And he definitely couldn't do it there.

But at the same time, he didn't want to do it on one of her off days. They were extremely rare and, if she took one off just to be with him, he'd feel like a complete and utter ass if he broke up with her when she took a day off, just to be with him.

So it had to be an organic time in which Mirajane wasn't at work, but she also wasn't off, and Laxus hadn't promised to take her somewhere or made ti seem like they were going to be doing something with one another that day.

The only time he could think of in which that would work was when he knew Mira had breakfast, every Friday, at this little restaurant, all on her own. She called it her time to reflect and think, but Laxus and her siblings knew it was mostly just the time when she was able to get away from everyone and the others all knew to leave her alone for a bit. Considering her life was either spent up at the bar full of people, taking care of the ailing Makarov, or hanging around her house with her siblings/sleeping over at Laxus', just an hour to herself before she had to get down to work, where she could drink coffee and eat breakfast in peace was far less than what Mirajane deserved.

And Laxus was so sorry that he was going to ruin that, mar that time Mirajane had by not only impeding on her alone time, but most importantly ruining the relationship that, while he was sure she realized too wasn't working, she had no concept of possibly ending.

"Dragon!" She was really happy to see him too as he approached her in the back of the tiny restaurant, immediately taking a seat at her table. "What are you doing here?"

Mirajane, at the moment, was eating her favorite, pancakes with chocolate chips and a whipped cream smiley face (Laxus would make it at his place too, for her, the few times he made breakfast instead of her) along with a glass of orange juice. Laxus figured, when it was over, he'd go ahead and pay her bill. You know, to make amends for...breaking her heart or whatever. If that's what he was doing.

He honestly wasn't too sure.

"Hey, demon." Laxus scratched at the back of his head. "I just, uh, came to see you. To talk to you."

"Ooh. Talk, huh?" Mirajane even giggled before nodding down at her plate. "You want some-"

"It's not...funny, Mira. Or fun. Or… I have something serious I want to talk about."

That got her to blink, grin fading as she stared only at him. They were the only customers in the place, other than an old man on the other side of the restaurant, sitting alone and reading the paper. Laxus didn't feel as if Mirajane was the type to make a big scene of things, but if she was, at least it would be somewhere like that.

"Serious," Mirajane repeated slowly, setting her fork down. "What-"

"You know, Mira, that I really do care about you. Honestly. And I...sorta wrote this all down, if you don't mind, so just let me glance at this-"

"Laxus, what are you doing?" she asked as he reached into his pocket to pull out a little sheet of paper. At her words though, he realized how lame that was and finally hung his head with a sigh.

"I don't… Um...I just… We're not working out, Mirajane, and it's not your fault or my fault and I'm not trying to-"

"Are you...breaking up with me?"

"Well that's a really harsh way of-"

"Over breakfast?"

"It's not like dinner or lunch would have been any bet-"

"Laxus, I can't… What even-"

"Nothing happened," he assured her and he was trying really hard to continue staring her in the eyes, but was fearful, extremely, of tears. Because he knew Mirajane. Even a simple insult could send her into hysterics. He was nearly certain that a break up would definitely bring about some sort of crying. "And that's just it. I can't...do this anymore, Mirajane."

"Do what? What have we been-"

"Doing nothing. We don't see one another frequently and I've been...I haven't cheated on you or anything, but if we kept going I-"

"Okay, Laxus. Just-"

"No, I'm not trying to make this-"

"I said okay." But she wasn't. And, shaking her head, Mirajane got to her feet, refusing to look at him. Laxus didn't really know what to do (comforting her would seem kind of pointless, considering he was the one that was hurting her, but ignoring her seemed extremely callous which is what he'd been trying to avoid), so he only sat there, watching as she started to leave some jewels on the table, but he only shook his head.

"I'll pay," he told her softly. "I-"

"I don't want you to."

"Mirajane-"

"If you want to break up, Laxus, fine. Just go." She glanced up from her tiny purse then to give him the deadest stare she could pull off. "I don't care. It stupid to try and be together anyways."

Which he couldn't be too mad about. It was stupid. He'd said as much himself, hadn't he? And it was stupid, regardless what either of them thought. They both lived very busy lives that, while intertwined in a very basic way, were also extremely independent of one another. And that wasn't going to be changing any time soon, so if he wanted more time with someone, it was going to have to be someone other than Mirajane. And that was just that.

But he didn't leave. Just sat there as, finally, in a huff, Mirajane tossed some jewels down on the table and walked off. There it was. What everyone had warned Laxus about the second he and Mirajane got involved. For so long, he'd been just a neutral part of Fairy Tail, but it was back to the bad guy. The villain. A role he'd worked so hard to wash clean of himself, only to somehow find himself tangled up with Fairy Tail's sweetheart which inevitably lead to breaking said heart.

Because, you know, that was the story of Laxus' life. Have a mother and father? Lose them both permanently from your life while he's young. Have a grandfather that's the Master of the coolest guild ever in existence? Forever be on his bad side and never be trustworthy in his eyes again by trying to take over said guildhall. Land the hottest woman in, once more, that same guild? Jump into things too soon and ruin it before it really had a chance to get off the ground.

So he didn't go back to Fairy Tail for a bit. Stayed for away from Magnolia for a good three days. Went out. Drank. Tried to hookup with women, but felt a bit like shit for it, so backed out of it each time before things went too far.

About a week of that and he was pretty much ready to go home and get a job. He was hoping against hope that maybe Mira wouldn't be working when he got to the hall (they'd dated for over a year and he still didn't fully know her schedule, it changed that much), but of course that couldn't be the case, because if it were, what would be the point of anything? Huh? If life just let you have small victories at times? What would be the point?

Heh.

The thing was, however, that Mirajane, who happened to be the only one working (even Gramps wasn't around), didn't yell at him. Avoid him. Or even do anything that might hint to the fact that they had been dating very seriously up until seven days ago, when he broke up with her suddenly during her alone time.

Her breakfast alone time.

The horror.

"Hi, Laxus," she greeted before he even fully approached the bar. The man's eyes were wide then and, slowly, he came to stand in front of her.

"Uh, hey, Mirajane." Scratching at the back of his neck, he tried, "Look, I-"

"Some new S-Class jobs were just posted," she said, bouncing just a bit. "So you better snatch them up before Erza does. Or even me."

"Yeah, that's great, but-"

"Did you want something to eat? Or drink? Should I start you a tab?"

"N-No, I just-"

"Well, I'm the only one on the job right now, so if you need anything, just tell me, huh?" She bounced, just a bit then, before moving to walk away from the bar. Across the hall, Macao was waving her over, holding an empty mug up in the air as he continued to laugh along at some story Romeo was telling him about a recent job. "Coming, Macao," she called before, glancing at Laxus and saying, "Talk to you later, Laxus."

And that was it. The big first meeting after the break up.

Huh. He kinda felt cheated.

None of the Thunder Legion seemed to be around, so Laxus only headed over to the board to pick out a job before he got roped into a conversation with someone. And, when he took it to Mirajane, she was back over at the bar, whipping up a drink for someone, but took the job from him with a bright smile.

"Alright, Laxus," she said after glancing it over. "I'll file it immediately. Have a safe trip."

"Thanks. But Mirajane-"

"Laxus." Her tone was still so upbeat too as she handed him the flier back. "I'm trying to be mature and diplomatic about this. If you can't do that, then please, just walk away. We both have to a part of this guild; if this is the consequence of things going awry, so be it. But don't keep poking at something you don't want clean up the mess of."

And what could he say to that? Only a mumbled, "Alright. See you then," before turning to walk off. He could feel Mirajane's eyes on him as he did so, but didn't turn back to glance at her.

Then he left on a very long and tedious job. It helped keep his mind off things, and he did sort of need the jewels, anyhow. And the long walk back home after it (he never used the train on the way home and very rarely on the way there; motion sickness was no joke), Laxus had a good chance to review all that had gone down.

It hadn't been a spur of the moment thing. Not in any regard. He'd thought about it for awhile, whether it was just always in the back of his mind or he was honestly considering it. He and Mirajane were good together, fine, in a lot of ways. Very good. But in the important ones, such as the time they were able to spend together, they just weren't. And it wasn't fair to her, for him to be gone all the time, leaving her to be lonely and in the face of everyone else's budding (in her mind) romances, anymore than it was fair to him, to have to travel and be away from her and alone, constantly in the face of temptation.

Timing. That was what it was. The timing was just all off. Skewed. Most of Mirajane's life was filled with staying in Magnolia, where she was helping the ailing Makarov deal with the guildhall, while Laxus was filled with fun and adventure and intrigue. The parts were opposite, but the timing in which they could be put together was just off.

Now, that didn't mean that one day, maybe, if they never got with anyone else, that Laxus couldn't see he and Mirajane… Because he could. Honest, they had gotten along very well. Extremely well. Should he somehow find himself around more or her find herself less grounded in Magnolia and Fairy Tail, then...maybe something could…

But at the moment, it just needed to be put on a hold. All of it. And he was ready to believe that.

Until, you know, while he was camping out one night on his way home when Freed connected with him through the lacrima to inform him that Makarov was officially handing down the hall to Erza Scarlet.

Which was fine! It was great! It was grand! Laxus wasn't jealous. No, seriously, no sarcasm. He didn't want to be the Master anymore. He just didn't. It was something that he wanted in his youth, but he was growing up. He had grown up. And, honestly, if he wanted to be a master, he'd start his own damn guild and run it the way he wanted.

Fairy Tail was something that had to be handled in a certain way. It had a legacy. A legacy that, should Laxus inherit, could possibly be construed as just being handed over to him.

No. Laxus didn't want Fairy Tail. He loved Fairy Tail, thought the world of it, and would hate to one day have to leave it, but ultimately knew, when he was finally ready to settle down, it would be in an unknown town and to start his own dynasty, his own way, where the name Dreyar meant nothing and he could build his reputation through prowess and leadership alone.

The odd thing was, however, when he arrived in Magnolia, he found out that Mirajane was apparently having the exact same thoughts. Only, her intention was to get things started a hell of a lot sooner.

"What do you mean you won't serve me?" he complained as Lisanna, who was behind the bar when he arrived, flatly told him with a slight glare that he would be getting no beer as long as she was on duty.

"It's your fault that Mirajane's running off."

"What are you talking about? Running off where?" And, even though over a month had passed then since the break up, Laxus still felt a ping of jealousy. "And with who?"

"With no one, dummy," the youngest Strauss complained, still giving him such a heavy glare that Laxus almost felt as if he wasn't dealing with Lisanna at all. The two had had a very good relationship during the course of he and Mirajane's and, fine, he figured that they wouldn't have as tight a bond after he broke up with her sister, but the overwhelming hostility, when Mira clearly felt none, was a bit much. "She's leaving the guild and going to start her music career."

Which was the first Laxus had heard of that. "Music what?"

Lisanna only narrowed her eyes before glaring off and refusing to say another word.

Which is what everyone in the hall seemed to be doing to him. Other than the Thunder Legion who ushered him over to their table and immediately took to explaining. Ever, for obvious reasons (though she pretended as if they didn't exist; err, rather, her very extensive relationship with a certain male Strauss didn't exist), was very much so in the know.

Mirajane was rather doleful over the break up, as would be expected, and complained to both Lucy and Lisanna frequently that it just didn't make sense. Sure, she and Laxus didn't spend a lot of time together, but they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the time that they did get. They fought, of course, but never anything vicious. And he seemed to be very interested in her. What could have gone wrong?

The longer Mirajane had to mope about it though, without him being around to question (though he had a feeling it wouldn't have mattered either way; Mira was going to pretend like everything was alright until she finally imploded), which led to her thinking about many other things.

Including, of course, the fact that years were wasting away and she was still nothing more than a stupid barmaid. And no matter how much Elf, Lisanna, or Lucy tried to tell her otherwise, it didn't matter. Because if that was the way she felt, that was just the way she was going to feel.

Evergreen didn't know, of course, because Elfman didn't know about it and therefore couldn't tell her, but it was actually a rare and very intense conversation that Mirajane had with Cana that spurred on the thoughts that Mira was having.

"I mean," the drunkard said one day as Mirajane was closing up the place and they were the last two in there, "if you feel like you're not doing something here, you should move on. I know I would."

"It's not that simple."

"It is that simple."

"No."

"Yes."

"Cana-"

"I'm not saying it's easy," she clarified, staring forlornly down at her empty beer mug. "Nothing's every easy. It wasn't easy for me to talk to Gildarts. Or for you to come back here after Lisanna… And Master's never had it easy, all the time he's had to rebuild the guildhall. So why would it be any easier for you to leave?"

"The questions wasn't easy. It was whether or not it's simple. And how sober are you?"

Cana gave her a look from where she was seated, at the bar, before saying, "I got here late, remember? Just got in from a job."

"Not enough time then, to get drunk."

"Not for me, anyways."

They both shared a grin, at that, before Mirajane, who was busy sweeping, only said, "I can't leave Lisanna and Elf. I-"

"Why not? It's not like you're all kids anymore. And it wouldn't be forever; you could just take your guitar and try to go make it for a few months, in Fiore. If it all blows up, then fine, come back home. And if not, you could still come back home, just to visit. Or even tend bar every now and then. Whatever. But you don't wanna spend forever thinking about something and never doing it. Fairy Tail's not going anywhere. But your chance of actually pulling off being a singer definitely is."

Mira only blinked. Then, with a slight grin, she leaned on the broom as she stared over at the other woman.

"Whatever amount it is that you've drank tonight, Cana," she remarked, "must have been the perfect balance."

"Really?" Cana seemed to be the more depressive one then as she only shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I feel as if I haven't drank near enough."

"And therein lies the key."

But it wasn't like Cana was the only one pushing her to go. Lucy, as well, had a rather small hand in it, as she didn't right out tell Mirajane that, if she was dissatisfied with her current state, to go try something drastically new, but she did mention that she too wanted something for herself. She wanted to be a Fairy Tail mage and, admittedly through some pure coincidences (though arguably fate), she found herself achieving such a thing. But it wasn't in her comfort zone that she got there.

Fairy Tail was a safety net for Mirajane, fine, and it would always be that, but if she was ready to stretch her boundaries a bit, who could really blame her? Honestly?

All Evergreen knew of the story, however, was that Mirajane had been thinking for a long time of, at the very least, taking some time off from the hall and exploring Magnolia for a bit, her guitar and hopefully playing it a part of that, of course.

Laxus was a bit floored at that and, still a bit dazed over not only Erza taking command of the hall, but also the idea that he might have played a bigger role in Mirajane leaving than the others realized.

What if she decided that they couldn't stay at the same guild together? And that she had to leave because, like, she couldn't see him out, living his life, while she was miserable because she honestly thought they had something great? Because, again, it was great. The timing was just off.

If that made sense.

But the thing was, Laxus didn't know what to do about the whole thing. It wasn't as if he could just go to Mirajane and flat out ask her if the reason she was making such a drastic change in her life was because he'd broken up with her. If that didn't sound like a complete and utter narcissistic thing to say, then Laxus didn't know what did.

So he said nothing. To Mirajane, anyways. Knowing how flighty the woman was (even before their year of dating, he'd known), he figured that bothering with her would get him nowhere. Rather, he'd go to the only other person besides her siblings that could possibly get Mirajane to stay.

"What do you mean you told her to go?"

"What else do you want me to say, boy?" Makarov griped as he and his grandson had tea out on the back patio of his house. "I told her to go."

"Why," Laxus grumbled, "would you tell her that? Huh? If anyone, you should want her here."

"And why should I want that?"

"Because she takes care of you, Gramps!"

"Does she?" He gave his grandson a hard look. "Last I checked, she took care of my guild. Which, with Erza in control of now, needs far less overseeing by a young set of eyes."

"She fucking feeds you, Gramps," his grandson said through ground teeth, trying his hardest not to yell. "And cleans your house. And waters all these damn plants!"

He gestured that time, around the patio, where an assortment of potted plants and a garden sat out in the yard. Makarov looked around at them with a slight shrug.

"I never rightly liked them to begin with."

"W-What?"

"And surely my adoring grandson can come over and keep me company."

"What are you-"

"Clean my house."

"No way! I-"

"Bring me my dinner."

"That is not happening."

"Why not?" Makarov lifted his tea up to his mouth. "It's you that ran off my woman."

Narrowing his eyes then, Laxus said, "First off, she was mine-"

"Mine first."

"That's gross. She was a child to you first."

"Oh, shut up, Laxus." Huffing, Makarov said simply, "It's bad enough that you've run Mirajane off-"

"You told her to go!"

"Well, I couldn't very well tell a woman that I'm not related to that I want her to put her life on hold even longer than she has to care for me in my ailing days." Makarov held his head up higher. "Besides, I just let Mirajane care for me because it means that I get to spend time with her."

"You know, you can't perv on my girlfriend."

"You," Makarov remarked with a frown, "told her that you were through with her."

"Yeah, well, apparently now so have you."

"No." And his grandfather seemed pretty earnest about that. "I did not. She expressed to me that she wished to move on with her life and I shared the same sentiment. Then I said that I was considering handing over the hall to Erza and, that if I did that, she could do what she wished to do. She is an S-Class mage, Laxus; if she wishes to travel, the rest of you do all the time. Why should Mirajane be confined to Magnolia?"

"I never said she should," he grumbled. "I just meant that… She's not thinking. She-"

"You do not wished to be blamed," Makarov clarified before taking a sip of tea. After, he shrugged once more. "What difference would it make to you if you were or if you weren't? And believe me, I can assure you, it has nothing to do with you."

"It had somethin' to do with me," Laxus grumbled, looking around at the plants once more, though that time it was just so that he didn't have to keep looking at his grandfather. "She would have never brought it up if we were still dating. Ergo, I have something to do-"

"Ear go where?"

"What?"

"What?"

Their eyes met again as the two men only stared at one another. With a roll of his eyes finally, Laxus took a long sip from his drink before grumbling something under his breath about how annoying the man was.

No debate.

But then again, Makarov thought the same thing about him.

"I just don't want Mirajane to go off on this...adventure and something go wrong and me have to deal with, like, the guilt or whatever."

"If you want to hold her back from doing something," Makarov tsked, "because of your fear of your own guilt, then perhaps you' should really think about if you care about Mirajane at all."

Well, that was no help. But then again, Laxus never expected the man to be much of that. He seemed to help and advise every single young guild member except his own damn grandson. It was so aggravating!

But anyways, Laxus didn't have forever and a day to dwell on that. Mirajane, as he found out, was leaving in two days and, well, he only had that long to figure out just what he was going to do about it. So he thought. And thought. And worked out. Slept. Ate. Thought some more. About other things. Then about Mirajane again. And, somehow, all that time passed over to the day that Mira was leaving and, well, Laxus hadn't really figured anything out yet.

So he went over to the Strauss house to see if maybe he could speak to Mirajane before she left and maybe absolve any and all guilt by wiping his hands of the whole thing. If she went after he talked to her, then fine; it was her fault. Not his. She chose to go. Didn't feel forced or anything of the sort.

"Go fuck yourself."

Instead, he was greeted at the door by, quite possibly, the first curse word Lisanna had ever uttered. At the very least, it was certainly the first she'd ever said in his presence. Laxus was so shocked that when the door was just shut in his face, he only stood there.

What had just happened?

"Lisanna, who was that?" he heard Mirajane call from somewhere in the house.

"Wrong address."

"Well, considering I heard what you said to them, I'd sure hope not."

Meh.

Laxus knocked again. Then waited, hands clasped behind his back, until, that time, Mirajane answered the door.

She wasn't surprised to see him, it seemed, though he figured Lisanna's attitude had been a pretty big tip off.

"I'm busy, Laxus," she said, not even offering him a chance to come in. "I'm about to-"

"Leave. I know." Then he shrugged. "Can I just have a minute?"

Mira hesitated, just for a moment, before slowly backing up. "Sure, let's-"

"Away from your sister." Laxus tried hard not to look off. "Please."

Slowly, the woman came to step out on the front porch, pulling the door shut behind her.

"Come on," she said, walking passed Laxus, being sure not to touch him. "I want to go see if I can find my dog to say goodbye anyways."

Which meant they had to walk up and down the alleyways, calling out for old Alexandria to show his ugly mug. After a good minute of that, Laxus finally found his voice and spoke.

"You know, Mirajane, I wanted to talk to you before you, uh, left because I've been...concerned about a few things."

"Is that so?" She hardly seemed to be listening to him though, focused rather on the searching behind every trash bin and anything else that the animal could be hiding under.

"Yeah, I just… Mirajane, you aren't...doing this whole thing on a whim, are you?"

"What whole thing?"

"Mira-"

"You mean the leaving thing?"

He tried hard not to roll his eyes. It didn't work. "Yes, Mirajane. The leaving thing. The...being a singer thing. I mean, what is that? Didn't you grow out of that?"

"Laxus, I've told you about it before, when we were still…" She glanced up at him. "I've always wanted to go travel around Fiore and try and play bars and get a following and… It's just my dream. And I want to do it. I don't have anything holding me here. At all. Things are peaceful and I just… What difference does it make?" She even shrugged. "We are broken up, you know."

"I know. I just-"

"What difference does it make to-"

"I still care about you, woman. It wasn't a lie, when I would say that," he assured her. "I love you, Mirajane."

"Laxus, don't-"

"I do. I really do. I've told you that before. Why are you-"

"Because we're-"

"Just because it's over doesn't mean that I didn't love you. Or that I don't love you now." He kicked at the ground. "And that's why I want to make sure that you've really thought this through. That you're not just some woman to me, you know. I want to still, you know, be close. Or at least friendly. I-"

"It's not me, it's you, and you still want to be friends? Come on, Laxus, be for real. What's next? You just don't want to hold me back?"

"Well, I don't, but-"

"You're really full of it, you know that?"

"I'm only trying to-"

"Oh! Alexandria!"

And there was the stupid mutt, reared on on his back haunches as he stuck his snout in an open trashcan. At the sound of Mirajane's voice, however, the wiry old pooch jumped back and rushed right over, skidding to a stop as Mirajane knelt down to wrap her arms around the filthy beast.

Yuck.

"Oh, sweetie, I just wanted to tell you that I love you and that I care about you and that even if you don't see me for awhile, it's okay, because I'll be home soon."

When Laxus closed his eyes, he was able to pretend she was saying all that to him. Only the ever present stench of, erm, Alexandria, was a kind of a fantasy ruiner, but whatever.

"And Elf promised me that he'd feed you," Mirajane went on, "and put water in that little bowl for you. Oh, Alex, I wish I could take you with me, but I can't. I just have to go try something on my own for awhile. And I know you'll be fine here. You're always fine with here. With or without me. We just both wish that it could be with me, huh?"

Mmmm. If only the stench wasn't there (and she would stop using the dog's name). If only.

Clearing his throat loudly, Laxus got Mirajane to stare up at him before saying, "There's something that I, uh, have to say, Mira."

"You've been saying a whole lot, honestly, Lax, but-"

"I just… You know, you ran off before I got to tell you, really, why we were breaking up. I mean, really tell you. And I just… Hear me out, huh? Before you leave?"

She was still down on her knees, petting Alexandria, but did nod at him slightly, as if signaling for him to continue.

"It's just that I… The reason I broke up with you was all timing. You're always working and I'm always gone and we never get a chance to be together. Once or twice a month is just not cutting it for me anymore. And even if I took time off, you'd still be up at the bar, working and that just wouldn't do anything. We're great for one another in every way, but that."

"I wouldn't say great, but-"

"You know, woman, you aren't making this easy."

"I'm sorry, Laxus, but you're the one that broke up with me. Remember?" She went back to her dog. "That's not something that you can just pretend didn't happen. I was really caught off guard. I never thought you'd-"

"I didn't want to hurt you. I just-"

"Oh, please." Mira rolled her own eyes that time. "You didn't hurt me."

"You don't have to be strong for me, you know. I-"

"I've been broken up with before, Laxus. Not to mention I have sort of lost my parents and sister before, so I think feeling hurt about a silly little relationship-"

"Why are you being like this?" he complained. "Huh? I came over here to make amends or something and you're acting like nothing's wrong. We broke up, Mirajane. After being very serious about one another. So I just don't get what you're gaining by acting indifferent towards that fact."

Not a lot, honestly. It was rather hard too. But she could kind of tell what Laxus was attempting to do. He was trying to work his way back in as a friend or something of the like. Maybe even still someone that he could sleep with on occasion. She knew he did that with women at times, when things didn't work out.

But Mirajane didn't want that. At all. She honestly had felt something deep for the man and for him to (in her mind) so callously just end it (again, over breakfast, no less, like the rest of her day wouldn't be screwed because of that) without out warning, only to come back and ask to be friends was just a slap in the face, really. If he didn't care enough about her to work through their 'timing' issues, or at least just bring them up to her in a serious way then, maybe, they could work through them, then why should she care?

To just dump her over it, when he claimed that they were so 'great' together was unbelievable to the woman.

Which is why she just wasn't going to put up with it. At all.

Laxus' issue, however, was that she wasn't listening. Or at least not understanding. Maybe he wasn't explaining correctly? Either way, what he wanted her to know just wasn't coming out right.

He was trying to tell her that, yes, time had been why he broke up with her, but he didn't feel as if it needed to be permanent. There would come a time, he was certain, when she would have more time to spend with him and he with her, and if something better hadn't happened in either of their lives when that time rolled around, then maybe they could entertain the idea of getting back together.

And yeah, sure, late night urges and occasionally hooking up between those periods would be nice, but not expected.

Desired heavily, but…

"I'm," Mirajane said as she got to her feet and, realizing she didn't have food, Alexandria went back on his search for some (that trashcan over there looked promising), "not doing anything, Laxus. At all. Other than getting ready to take off. So if there's something you have to say to me, something real, say it now because-"

"We broke up over time, Mirajane, and now you're going to have a lot of it on your hands and-"

"Oh, Laxus, please tell me you're not-"

"-and I just don't want you to be doing this to try and get back with me or something because that's just dumb."

"-going to ask me to get back together are you?"

And then they both just stared at one another. Blushing, Mirajane looked off first as Laxus only coughed.

"I have to-"

"Mira, no, wait, I-"

"For what? Huh? What could I possibly-"

"I'm not saying let's not get back together. I just don't want you to be doing this so that we can," he complained as she only glared at him. "I mean, hey, if the whole thing was over time and you actually did just want to get away from the hall and now can spend more time with me, then-"

"So basically," Mira began, voice taking that tone with him (he hated that tone), "you've gone out now, done whatever it is you wanted to do with whoever it is that you wanted to while we were broken up and now want to come back to me and-"

"What? No. I just told you this is about time. Solely. I didn't break up with you to...sleep with someone else. I-"

"Don't lie, Laxus."

"I'm not."

That time her roll eye was her angry one. "Oh, whatever."

"I haven't. Seriously-"

"Laxus, just tell me. Because we can get over that."

"I didn't-"

"Or at least talk about it. Because that's kind of a low thing to-"

"Mira, I'm telling you that I didn't-"

"It's not that serious. I mean, I've slept with someone since-"

"You've what?" Laxus didn't care then that they were in the alley or that other people were around to hear. Mira had missed her chance to make a scene, but he was going to be taking his. "When? What are you-"

"Oh, shut up, Laxus. Like you didn't sleep with-"

"I'm telling you, woman, that I didn't."

Mira blinked. "Honestly?"

"Honestly!"

"Oh." Her arms, which had become crossed, fell to her sides then. "W-Well-"

"Who did you sleep with?"

"Laxus-"

"It's only been a month!"

"It's been a lot more then a month."

"Hardly!"

"It wouldn't matter if it had been a day, Laxus," she reminded with a frown. "You're the one that broke up with me, remember? Not the other way around. Not even close."

He deflated a bit. Then, lips stuck out as if he were pouting, he said, "Do I know him?"

"What difference-"

"I do, don't I?"

"Lax-"

"Does it go to the guild? Who was it? Who?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Just tell me-"

"We're broken up." She gave him a harsh look then. "Per your decision. So you don't get to know things like that, Lax. I'm sorry."

"Oh, now you're sorry? After going out and sleeping with someone-"

"Which I have a right to do, you know."

She most definitely did. No denying it. None.

However, Laxus didn't have to like it. He could respect it. Couldn't do anything to stop it. And would even admit that it had to happen sometime, so why not then? But that didn't mean he couldn't feel a bit of a tug of possessiveness.

"I have to go, Laxus," Mirajane said after they both just stood there for a moment, silently. He didn't want to let her go, but if she was that done with him, then what could he say?

He didn't even raise a hand to wave goodbye when she did before turning to walk off, back for her home, leaving him in that alleyway, mostly alone, although Alexandria was still lingering around, searching out a tasty treat.

So he went home. And Mirajane went...wherever she was going. Huh. Not only had he dropped the ball on getting her to stay, he also forgot to ask where she was headed.

Not that things would have worked anyhow, he reminded himself frequently. Mirajane wasn't just taking time off from the bar; she was leaving indefinitely to go start another time consuming thing that just wouldn't mesh well with a traveling S-Class wizard.

The only thing for Laxus to do was to let Mirajane go, both physically and mentally. So he did. Heard random tidbits about her up at the hall or from Evergreen and, when he and Lisanna finally made a shaky amends, it was her about six months later that told him that Mirajane would be back in town in the coming days.

"Honestly?" He was holding a job flier which she was waiting to take from his hands, so that she could process it, but Laxus wasn't giving it up then.

"Yep," Lisanna said with the nod of her head as she continued to hold her hand out, waiting for him to give her the request form. He still didn't.

"Well, do you know the actual day she says she'll be back here?" He glanced down at the job before back at her. "Or-"

"I really doubt she wants to see you, Laxus."

"What?" Then he snarled at her, just enough to get the youngest Strauss to giggle. He always liked making Lisanna giggle. When she'd been mad at him was worse than breaking up with Mirajane. He didn't know Lisanna well when she they were young, but when she'd died… He just enjoyed having her back too much to ever fight with her. "I didn't say nothin' about seein' your filthy sister."

"She's only filthy because she slept with you."

"Hey-"

Giggling even more, Lisanna finally snatched the job, though it was to go tack it back up then. With a grin, she said, "Guess who she's taking with her when she leaves?"

Laxus leaned against the bar, staring into the deep blues that Lisanna shared with her sister, though not to nearly the same intensity.

"I'm guessin' since your brother's still being jerked around by Evergreen, Cana's a drunk, Erza's the Master, Gramps is too old, Lucy comes with the baggage a la Natsu and Happy, and Mirajane's out of close friends after that, I'm guessin'...her dog?"

"Laxus-"

"You?" he asked seriously that time. Adding a snort, he said, "What good would you do for Mirajane, out on the road?"

"She's actually doing very well, thank you very much, with her music." Then Lisanna grinned down at the job request. "Or at least she's getting some bars to let her play frequently."

"Mmmm."

"And she wants someone there with her. You know, someone she knows. Really knows. And I'm tired of playing barmaid."

"Already?" he asked. "After your sister put in so many good years?"

"I'm not like Mirajane. This place bores me to tears." Lisanna glanced down at herself then before mumbling, "And I don't pull in nearly as many tips as Sis."

Reaching out, Laxus tapped her on the head before straightening up. "Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll be a good person to keep her safe on the road. You know, the person that's scariest transformation is a giant bunny-"

"I'll have you know that my feline takeover is very threatening."

So, even though he'd been planning on getting out of town for awhile, Laxus hunkered down in Magnolia and waited for Mirajane to come strolling on through. And then he waited three more days, after finding out she was there because, hey, he wasn't desperate.

Just lonely. Sort of. Even six months out from their relationship, Laxus had to admit that things were still kind of falling back into place. For over a year his life had been structured around being with Mirajane and the little things that they would do together. He'd thought that without her, he'd be able to get right back to what he'd done before her, but it just wasn't true.

Mirajane really took care of Laxus in a way that he didn't realize until it was all over. Yeah, sure, fine, they didn't get to spend a lot of time alone together. At all. But up at the hall, when he'd come in, she'd always spend her breaks with him. Knew his drink order by heart. Cooked his steak just right. Never burnt his bacon the way the others did because she realized just what 'extra crispy' meant when it came to him.

And man if she didn't take care of his apartment for him while he was away. His fridge would be stocked when he got in and his sheets were changed far more regularly with her staying over there. She made sure his clothes actually made it into the closet and dresser, made sure his mail got taken care of while he was out, and always was over, even when she worked all night, when he came in to rub his back because it had been getting tight as of late, when he wasn't out on a job.

Which yeah, pretty much sounded like extremely shallow reasons to miss someone, but it wasn't like that. Not really. It was more of her understanding just what he needed when he was home and doing it, without being asked, because she enjoyed that. Taking care of others. Of him. She always had. And he appreciated it. All of it.

He just appreciated it even more when it was, you know, gone. And she was gone.

Laxus missed other stuff about Mirajane too, of course. Just being around her relaxed him, for some reason, which he desperately needed in his life. And she listened to him. Fully. Listened when he griped about how annoying others were and, unlike the Thunder Legion, would actually talk him through his feelings.

Just why did it piss him off when the others were goofing off? Or when one of the lowly members came back unsuccessful from a job? What made him so upset at the sight of Natsu and his cohorts breaking things in the hall? What difference did it make to him if Makarov was being too lenient on the others?

Or even things away from the hall. Like, why was it that he had such a hard time saying it? That he loved her? When he kept insisting he did, but would sort of choke on the words as they came out? And that time when he got really upset, on the anniversary of his mother's death, when she took off just so that they could sit around and not talk at all about it until the very end, when she got him to open up about a lot of shit that he'd never tell anyone else.

And then suddenly, without even considering what losing all that might mean to the daily flow of his life, he just cut it out, because they weren't getting enough time together. Actual time. Dates. Free days where neither of them had anything to do.

Six months out, he felt a tad foolish for that. Hearing that Mirajane was doing so well on her side of the break up didn't help him feel any better either. Maybe less guilty, but no less regretful.

Not that things were miserable for him. He kinda did regain some of his freedom. Came and went as he pleased, answered to no one, slept around again without any concern. That was all great.

Just...not having someone there for him, waiting back at home, no matter what, kinda...sucked.

In a major way.

All of that was in mind when he showed up to the Strauss house that day Mirajane was in town. Only, when he did arrive, he found that he wasn't the only one there. Rather, the last people on the face of Earthland that he wanted to see were.

"Hey, Laxus! You come to send Lisanna off by fighting me?"

Natsu. His cat. Lucy. Yep. Last people. Not even exaggerating.

Laxus didn't have time to focus on them though. Rather, his attention turned to Lisanna, who was standing out there with them, a duffel bag at her feet, clearly packed to head out.

"You're leaving today?" was all he asked, quite dumbly. "You and Mira?"

Lisanna was actually trying to soak up the last few Natsu moments she was getting then and only frowned as he walked across their front lawn and over to the porch. It was bad enough that she was having to share those moments with Lucy and Happy (who, don't get her wrong, she was going to miss a whole bunch too, but still; Natsu was Natsu), but now Laxus too?

"Mirajane's inside, Laxus," she tried hard not to snap as she said. "So-"

"Nope." The front door opened. "Now I'm out here too."

"Mira." Laxus coughed then, just from the sight of her, into his hand and Happy, who had secretly been hoping for some sort of love triangle to finally come to its head between Lisanna, Lucy, and Natsu (he'd been hoping for this for a long time yet still wasn't sure how he'd weather the aftermath), quickly abandoned ship and turned his attention into the next best thing; whatever the hell was about to go down between the eldest Strauss and Laxus. "There you are."

She walked right down the steps, bypassing the others to go stand in front of him. "Here I am."

"You look...nice."

And she did. Honest. Time off had done Mirajane a world of good. Her smile didn't seem so plastered on, her hair was down in that way that Laxus thought was so hot, and when she looked him in the eyes, there were no signs of tiredness at all. He had no idea how much this had to do with just being home for a week or if traveling as a musician was somehow less stressful than running (because, honestly, Makarov hadn't run it in far longer than anyone was willing to admit) a guildhall.

"Thank you," Mirajane giggled, smiling brightly up at him.

A beat passed in which they both heard Lisanna begin, once more, her long goodbyes to Natsu (who was kinda over the whole thing at that point, honestly), and Mirajane and Laxus both looked off, both contemplating if they should start theirs.

Or were they still on hello?

"Did you...come by for something? Was it to see Lisanna off?" Mira glanced over her shoulder at her sister. "Because I really don't think you're the slayer she wanted to-"

"You weren't going to come by my place? Before you left?"

"Well, considering you didn't come by mine-"

"What do you consider this?"

"Um, I'm not sure because you haven't been ultra clear yet what you're doing."

He'd get back to her on that. You know, when he figured it out.

"I just...figured I'd come say hi." He looked off. "I thought you'd be here longer, is all."

"You've never been on this side of it, have you?"

"What?"

"Being left for a job?"

Mira meant that to be cheeky, but the way Laxus' eyes clouded over, she knew she'd spoken without thinking of his past.

"Yeah, Mira, I have. But I really don't want to get into that right now."

Which made an awkward moment all the more gauche. Neither could look at the other then and, even though Lisanna was more than keeping the three on the porch busy, they couldn't help to feel even worse with an audience and, ugh, why did he come there again?

"Um, well," Mira began after a moment. "If you just wanted to say hi, then-"

"N-No, I actually, uh… How's, you know, your little singing thing been going?"

"It's not little, but-"

"That's not what I meant. I-"

"It's going fine. Thanks." Mira was being very cordial with him. Not at all how his nostalgia had played her back on those cold nights where he was alone in bed and just couldn't stop thinking about her. "And you've been fine? On your jobs? No...accidents or-"

"Never."

"Good." That grin was forced then as Mirajane held out an arm and gave him the stiffest hug of all time. Against his chest, where her head was awkwardly resting, she said, "Well, I'll see you next-"

"I should come with you."

And that got Mira to freeze. Completely.

"W-What?" Pulling back, she could only stare. "Laxus?"

His words caught him off guard too (sorta; he'd been thinking them since he found out she was back in town, but held them in) and he only stood there for a moment before figuring if his subconscious slipped them out, then he might as well push forwards with it.

"You know." He looked off. "As your...roadie or whatever. You and Lisanna, out on your own, bumbling around Fiore, that just spells trouble. You need a-"

"Real man to go with them?"

Oh shit.

"I've been saying that since the beginning," came the voice of Elfman as he came out of the house, eyes bloodshot from crying for, oh, ever. The only reason he heard them was because, after Laxus' outburst, Lisanna and the others stopped talking just to stare over at the couple (well, the others did; Natsu really didn't care what happened between Mirajane and Laxus, literally at all), leaving the muscular man, who was in the house, to overhear just what was said. "But the two of them don't think that I should come along. That I might-"

"Elfman, are you talking or are you planning?"

"And Ever's here too," Laxus grumbled from the sound of her in the house.

Right. Because if Lisanna and Mira were both officially out of the Strauss house then Evergreen could unofficially move in. Which would require planning. In which she no doubt meant she was going to completely redo the house without Mira's permission (or with it; women were weird and territorial at times, but even weirder sometimes and not at all, so Laxus wasn't really sure which way that was going) while she was gone.

"Oh, Laxus!" Evergreen was rushing out onto the porch as well then too. "What are you doing here?"

"Being a man," Elfman informed her though his girlfriend ignored that, still staring expectantly over at her idol for an explanation.

"He's, like, being super desperate and weird," Lisanna remarked as Lucy took a step behind Natsu for protection, no doubt predicting a large lightning strike to soon wipe out the entire porch. "So knock it off, Laxus."

"Oh, right," Ever remarked, glancing over at Lisanna before at Natsu. "He's the one being weird."

"What is that supposed to-"

"I'm trying," Laxus growled, glaring at all of them, "to have a conversation with Mirajane over here. So if you'd all kindly-"

"L-Laxus, what did you mean?" Mirajane had taken a few steps back. "Come with me? Why would you-"

"Because, Mira," he began as it was clear the two of them weren't getting any privacy any time soon, "you need a...man-"

"A real man!" Elfman called.

"-to be with you. Not because you're, like, weak or whatever. I would never say that."

"Better not," Lisanna remarked.

"But," he went on, "other people might try to take advantage of you. I'm sure they have already. And I-"

"Oh, Mira uses things to her advantage too."

That time, at Lisanna's words, Laxus turned his attention to her. "What?"

"Lis-" Mira tried, but her sister only shrugged.

"You know," she said as Happy, who was about blissed out from his position atop Lucy's head, could hardly contain his giddiness over the whole situation, "Mira uses certain assets to her advantage."

"Assets?" Natsu scratched at his head. "Like what?"

Lucy's face was beyond red as she only put a hand over her face and mumbled to him, "Let's just let this one die, huh?"

"Oh my, Mirajane," Evergreen remarked as Elfman, who had been pumped over the whole man thing, turned a bit green and looked rather sick. "Tell me you're not sleeping around to get to play at these bars? Perhaps I should go too. Because I would love to see just what assets you're-"

"More like ass and tits. Instead of assets? Am I right?"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Laxus complained as Bickslow came bounding out of the house as well, babies trailing along behind him. "I mean, seriously?"

"Oy, boss," the seith complained, pushing up his visor to stare over at him. "I was helpin' Evergreen move in."

"I'm not moving in." The stone mage looked off. "I'm just...moving...things in."

"Nice cover," Lisanna mumbled which only got her a thankfully behind glasses glare.

"Uh, N-Natsu, I really feel like this is where we should probably depart," Lucy spoke up from behind him where she was still blushing heavily and also hiding, just in case Laxus did decide to strike someone down. "Or-"

"No, wait!" Lisanna quickly dropped tormenting her sister then, turning back to stare at Natsu. "I didn't finish saying goodbye."

"Why should I even give you a chance to?" Natsu went back to glaring off. "Takin' off like this, with no warning."

"I've told you for a month I was leaving."

"Well, I forgot, okay? Before Lucy drug me over here today-"

"A thankless job, I might add," the celestial mage complained as Happy bounced off her head to go land in Lisanna's arms. "Just saying."

"I'll miss you, Lisanna," Happy offered up. "And I remembered you were leaving. Here, look in my pack. I got a fish just for you!"

"Uh, w-well, Happy, that's really nice, but-"

"You don't want it? Great." He grinned. As if he was ever planning on her taking it anyways. "Thought that counts, I guess."

Natsu only snorted. "Don't get why everyone has to be moving away and leaving. Now Laxus is too? This is really something."

"Laxus isn't-" Mira started, but her sister cut her off.

"You left for a year! Without even telling anyone! At all! And-"

"And?"

"If you don't see the correlation in that, then I don't even know what we're talking about!"

Laxus blinked, out there in the yard. Then he glanced back at Mirajane.

"I really don't care about teenage drama hour up there," he told her simply before moving to grab her arm. "C'mere. Please. I want to talk to you. Seriously."

"L-Laxus-"

"If I fix your sister will you walk with me?" He glanced back up at the porch. "Hey, flame retardant; she wants you to ask her to fucking stay. Idiot."

"Shut up, Laxus," Lisanna hissed as Evergreen only giggled into her hand. But he was already dragging Mirajane off by the arm who went more willingly than she'd like to admit.

That time they didn't walk around in the alleyways. Instead, they set off down the road and, only when they were far enough from the house, Laxus slowly released her arm.

"You weren't being serious back there," she said simply. "You couldn't have been."

"Well, I'm not expert on stupid love stories, but yeah, I think your sister's just building up to Natsu begging for her to stay or something, which he isn't going to do. Or Happy's trying to build that up. Maybe. Whatever. I really don't care-"

"Not that, Laxus." She gave him a look before rolling her eyes. "About going with me."

"Oh." He took a deep breath then. "I really don't… It just kind of tumbled out."

"I figured."

"But I have missed you, Mirajane." He glanced down at her. "A lot. And I just… I dunno. I've been thinking."

"I'm sure."

"And this entire time, I kept thinking about how your shit was getting in the way of us. Your job was screwing up our timing and then you leaving did and… But what if it's me? I mean, my schedule isn't easy to work around."

"It's really not, considering it's not a schedule at all."

He nodded. "That's my point. Maybe it was...me. And… You made far more time for me than I ever did you. I-"

"Laxus, it's been, like, six months. Just-"

"For you, that might seem like forever," he said, glancing down at her. "But for me, that's just been four very long jobs. No time at all. And I've had a lot of time to think about you and what you've been doing… Granted, I didn't think you were just out sleeping with all of Fiore for gigs-"

"She was exaggerating and you know it," Mira hissed, glaring up at him. Laxus only gave her a slight nod.

"I know."

"I mean, I never slept with someone for a chance to play anywhere," Mirajane went on. "I might have flirted a little. And yeah, I did sleep with a few people-"

"I really don't want to talk about this. At all."

"You sleep around all the time," she complained, giving him a look. Laxus nodded.

"I also don't want to talk about that either though."

"Then-"

"I don't...have to take jobs, Mirajane," he told her simply. "I mean, I do, for jewels, and because I love it, but it doesn't have to be such a constant thing. Not really. I haven't put a lot of thought into this, but… I could have Freed read me to the S-Class jobs, back at home, over a lacrima, take them, go out and get them done while you're busy with your shit-"

"What are you saying? That you'd be-"

"Be with you. On your little- sorry, not little, but your thing, your singing thing. I could go with you and take jobs on the side and help your income and we can just be together. I know you'll be busy and shit, but it would be like-"

"L-Laxus-"

"I just...I dunno. Never mind. I just… I really liked being with you. And maybe I'm not remembering things right or I'm just trying to cram everything I want to say into this single moment and it's just not all coming out right, but I… You know, I still care about you. And I… If you don't want to be in Magnolia anymore, then fine; I don't really like being here much either. And if we could get the timing better now, with us not being in Mag-"

"But it was never about timing for me, Laxus." And Mirajane meant that. "At all. It was for you and, yeah, sometimes it bugged me too, but I was willing to work through that. You weren't."

"But I was willing to get back together," he argued. "When time did work itself out. And now look; it has! So why-"

"I've enjoyed myself, this six months, Laxus." She glanced up at him. "A lot. And...I don't...want to be in a relationship right now."

That got him to stop walking. He just stood there, forcing her to stop too and stare at him.

"It's true," she insisted. "The best thing you did was end our relationship. It gave me a chance to go out and try something that I've wanted for so long and I'm really enjoying it. And I think I'll enjoy it even more with Lisanna coming with me. But...with you being there it would be… I love you too, Laxus. A lot. And you wanted me to wait, remember, for when timing was better? Well, now you get a chance to do that for yourself. I mean...I'm sorry, Lax, but...I don't want to be with you right now."

Which he couldn't be too mad about. Right? Right. Right? Sure. Whatever. 'cause, you know, it was basically the same thing he did to her. Right? When she felt like things were going perfectly and he just ruined everything? Now here he was, ready to bear his soul to her, only for her to claim that she wasn't down with that.

No hurt feelings.

None what so ever.

Heh.

Laxus didn't go back to Mirajane's place with her. Didn't even talk to her. Just grumbled out something about how if she felt that way, fine; go fuck around some more in hopes of one day becoming a mediocre singer, see if he cared.

Which, admittedly, was not the right thing to say. And also contributed to why, when they ran into one another a few months later in some far off town, neither wanted to speak to the other.

But Lisanna, who was in love with life and being away from Natsu's immaturity and traveling and being away from Natsu's ignorance to her love and meeting new people and being even further away from Natsu's apparent desire to not to be her boyfriend, definitely had more than a few things to say to the slayer.

"Oh my gosh, Laxus!" She was practically bouncing in her seat, at the sight of him passing their table out on some patio cafe. Mirajane, however, was refusing to even glance his way. "I can't believe you're here! What are the chances?" Then she was jumping up to go grab his arm and pull him over. "You have to eat with us! Right now! Are you on a job? No? Eat with us!"

"L-Lisanna," he tried as she drug him right over. "I really don't think-"

"I haven't seen someone from Magnolia in forever, much less someone from Fairy Tail." She sat him down right between she and Mirajane. Still, the former model refused to meet his eyes. It was rather easy too, given the fancy sunglasses she was wearing. "And I'm super glad that it was you that I ran into!"

"Why are you yelling?" he grumbled as she only giggled "Have you been drinking?"

Mira, finally, spoke up at that, though it was just to quip, "Lisanna's become pretty good at that."

Grinning, the youngest Strauss only asked, "What are you doing here, Laxus? Something fun? Or are you on a job?"

"I just was passing through," he said, arms folded over his chest as he stared at her. "I'm on my way back home after finishing a j-"

"So you can stay in town tonight and come see Mirajane preform?"

"What?" Mira glared over at her sister. "Lisanna-"

"I really don't think-" the slayer tried, but Lisanna was having none of it. Only spoke over both of them.

"So it's settled. Great! Now let me tell you all about what we've been doing since we last saw you."

Which, for a completely Natsu-less story, his name sure came up a lot. Every time Lisanna mentioned a guy that she went out with on their misadventure (or slept with; Laxus had a feeling she was mostly just enjoying that part of freedom from Magnolia more than anything else), somehow she'd mention something about stupid Fairy Tail and inevitably Natsu and ugh, Laxus was glad she didn't directly ask him something about the other slayer because he might have barfed.

Mirajane seemed pissed at Laxus for not finding some excuse to leave (or maybe her sister for even inviting him over in the first place), but kept quiet. As did Laxus, save the few times that Lisanna asked him a question or required a response. And though he didn't really like the idea of her drinking so much (and definitely hated that she was, apparently, seeing all these men because, as much as he hated the stupid Salamander, at least he was safe and, well, not responsible, but not completely inept either when it came to looking out for Lisanna), she seemed really...happy. A lot of times Laxus kind of felt bad for Lisanna. Back at home, Mirajane was the most important Strauss, Elfman was the loudest one, and she was kind of just the one that pined after Natsu and did her sister's bidding. You know, if you just didn't want to classify her as the one that should have died.

He knew a lot of people just thought of her in that way.

If she'd found herself (or at least something) on her and Mirajane's trip around Fiore, then good for her.

His demon, on the other hand, he did not like the idea of 'finding herself' anywhere other than back at home where he knew the people in the guildhall were smart enough to know better than to even think about putting the moves on his woman, relationship over or not.

Laxus found himself drifting his gaze over to her a lot during Lisanna's stories.

"So you'll come, right?" Lisanna asked when, finally, she'd finished her drink and Mirajane whatever dessert had been on her plate. "Laxus? Tonight? Please?"

"I really don't-"

"Oh, just come, Laxus," Mirajane complained, giving him a look. He only stared back at her though. "Or else Lisanna will blame me for it."

Wow. Okay, so Mirajane wasn't even going to try and pretend to be perky for him? Laxus wasn't sure if that meant he was so far off her radar that he didn't matter or he should be honored that he was the only one she wouldn't put on an act for, pissed off or not.

"Alright," he said, a bit uneasy then as he got to his feet. "Where is-"

"Yay!" Lisanna launched herself at him then and, damn, fine, they'd had an okay relationship when he and Mirajane were dating, but they were never that close.

Just how much had she been drinking?

"Okay, Lisanna," Mirajane finally said as Laxus didn't move to hug her, but wasn't too sure if he should push her away or not. "Calm down."

Another giggle. And then she told Laxus where Mirajane would be preforming that night and, with a grumble about how he really hadn't planned on paying a cover charge just to have fun that night, he agreed to be there.

And he was. That night. There. Only, Lisanna was sorta shocked to see him.

"Oh, wow, Laxus, I didn't think you'd actually show up," she remarked as he approached her in the bar that night. She was at a table with a these two guys that Laxus definitely didn't want anywhere near her, just from the looks of them (and from the way she was hanging off one). Making a face, he only sat down, much to the annoyance of the other men.

"You told me to come," he pointed out. "You insisted."

"Yeah, but I never thought you'd listen to me."

"If you want me to leave-"

"No." Lisanna even grinned, staring across the table at him before glancing up at the tiny stage on the other end of the bar. "Sis'll be on soon. And she won't say it, but I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."

Yeah, well, Laxus wasn't too glad to be around the new Lisanna too long, so he only went over to the bar to order a drink and find somewhere else to sit for awhile. And suffer through Mirajane's set.

It wasn't so much that he didn't think Mirajane had a nice voice. Because she did. And it wasn't that he thought she wasn't talented on her guitar. Because she was. It was more of the songs that Mira sang that bothered him.

They were all about past relationships. Good ones, bad ones, anything and everything. He'd never liked hearing her sing her own songs when they were dating. Rather, he'd have her sing covers of songs that he listened to in his headphones and, with giggles, Mirajane would typically comply because Laxus was just so cute.

With her preforming at the bar, however, this, of course, did not occur.

Still, it had been a long time since Laxus had heard Mirajane sing. A very long time. And he wouldn't admit it, but sometimes, late at night, he'd wished that he'd recorded her, once or twice, singing him some of his songs, just the way he liked them. And though he didn't hear any covers like he would have liked, just the sound of Mirajane's voice was rather calming. Relaxing.

Almost as if they were spending that year together again, when they were still together, and on rare nights she'd sing him to sleep, playing softly on her guitar.

"Did you like that song?"

Lisanna came to join him up at the bar eventually, grinning at him. Laxus had been listening to Mira sing up there, head down, staring into his beer mug, but glanced at her when she sat down.

"Hmmm?"

"That song's about you, silly."

"W-What? No."

"Mmmhmm."

"Was not."

"How do you know?"

He flicked her forehead with a frown. "Because she's been singing that one for years, dummy."

"Awe." Lisanna giggled, reaching up to rub at her head. "I thought I'd trick you. Make you nervous."

"Why would I care if she wrote something about me?" He went back to staring into his mug. "Literally at all?"

Lisanna glanced up at the stage, where Mira was still strumming away and had the rapt attention of most the men in the room. To Laxus she asked, "Where are you headed next?"

"Home. Whatever towns are in the way of that," he said simply. "You?"

"We're here for awhile. Mira and the bar management have a pretty good thing going and a few other bars in close by towns. I guess this is kinda home base for the moment." Grinning, she said, "But we're going home soon. To Magnolia. Well, soon as in, like, two months or three or so."

Laxus shrugged a bit. "Yeah, well, I'm sure Gramps and the others'll be glad to see you."

"It's still a long way away though. Even though it's soon. You know?"

"You seem to be having a pretty grand time out here," he remarked, glancing over his shoulder to find where those guys had gotten off to. Nowhere. Just sitting over there arguing from the looks of it. Laxus could only hope that it wasn't over Lisanna.

Seriously, if he could go back, he would have never teased her or made fun of her about Natsu. Would have just let that damn thing happen and not made a big fuss over it. If only.

Laxus got ditched by Lisanna eventually and just sat alone, up at the bar, drinking until Mirajane finished her set. He wasn't expecting much after it from her, but was pleasantly (in someways) surprised when she came over to him eventually.

"If you don't buy me a drink soon," she said as she came to claim the empty seat beside him, "then I'm going to be too drunk off other guys' drinks to enjoy it."

Glancing down at her, he asked, "What makes you think I'll buy you a drink?"

"Because you're just going to, so get over it."

"Do I have to talk to you? Along with this drink?"

"Nope."

Laxus held up a hand to wave over the bartender. "Perfect."

A drink turned into two and no conversation turned into Mirajane telling him about what she'd been doing since they last spoke as he sat there awkwardly, trying hard not to let on that he really didn't care.

Because seriously, he just didn't.

Mira's stories, unlike Lisanna's, seemed to involve a lot less guys, but Laxus was certain he was only hearing the censored versions. Just like how if she were to ask him of what he'd been up to since they'd last seen one another, the last thing he'd tell her that he was so down at one point that he drowned himself in booze and women until he didn't feel so bad.

It had taken awhile.

"So I guess things are still turning out okay," Mirajane went on as Laxus hardly listened. "I mean, sure, I'm not, like, doing some insane amount of gigs or anything, but I'm doing enough. And I am sort of supporting Lisanna-"

"And her drinking habit?"

"It's not as bad as it seems," Mira told him with a frown. "She just met a new guy last week, is all."

"Right." Laxus glanced around for her, but she seemed to be gone then, as well as those two guys. "Was that the dark haired one with glasses or-"

"He's back again?" Mira made a face before staring down at her empty glass. "i should have never let her leave Magnolia."

Laxus had to concur, but kept quiet, as it wasn't his place to say so.

"Everyone gets to taste freedom once," he remarked simply. "Some of us just like it more than others."

"And some of us," Mirajane quipped in what he was sure was a slight to him, "just don't know what they have till it's gone."

"Is it that obvious?" he mumbled, in that weird drunk place that he wasn't out of it, in any regard, but was definitely a bit looser around the tongue. "That I-"

"I mean, surely she sees that flirting around the edge with Natsu is more than these stupid guys that don't care about her at all ever will be?"

"-still have been thinking a lot about you and how I fucked up and shit, I'm sorry, Mira."

Silence.

Then, suddenly, their gauche moment was ruined as someone threw their arms around around both of them, giggling the entire time.

"Mirajane," Lisanna sang, breath smelling strongly of liquor. "I'm gonna go, huh? So you get home okay, alright?"

"Go where?" Mirajane sat up then, glancing at her sister. "Lisanna-"

"Just somewhere." She dropped her arm around Laxus to hug her sister from behind. "Bye! And Laxus said he'd pay my tab."

"Laxus said what?" The slayer sat up at that. "Because whatever he said, it definitely wasn't-"

"Bye, Laxus." He got a hug too. A tight one. He wasn't happy with Lisanna any longer though and actually shoved her off. Still, she only giggled and said, "I'll see you around, okay? You should come see Mira play again some time."

When he was having so much more fun embarrassing himself in front of the woman instead?

"She's definitely come alive," the slayer complain to Mirajane after Lisanna left, hand in hand with some guy. "Out here."

"She's just getting to do what we all did, when we were kids and used to go out on jobs," Mirajane remarked with a sigh. "I guess. I mean, we actually had to work and put in effort to get the jewels to blow on partying and hanging out, but after all she's been through-"

"Been through? You mean getting a second shot at life?"

"Laxus-"

"Your brother would have a heart attack."

"Yeah, well," she sighed, "that's why we left him back in Magnolia, isn't it?"

Sighing himself, Laxus started, "Hey, Mirajane, about before-"

"You wanna get out of here? Laxus?"

He blinked. Then he frowned. Then he stared down at her. "If this is because I'm paying your sister's tab, don't feel the need to pay me back; I'm going to just have Ever steal some stuff from you guys' place and pawn it for me."

"Just shut up."

He could do that. He preferred to do that.

What Laxus didn't get, of course, was that Mirajane, in fact, wasn't having as great a time as Lisanna. Sure, she loved playing her music and the attention she was getting from it, as well as meeting new people and seeing new places, but she was also extremely homesick. She wanted to be around someone in Fairy Tail other than her sister who was looking less and less like her old self by the minute (give Mira's own transformation at that age, she couldn't bitch too much). If Laxus hadn't just apologized (and sort of drunkenly admitted that he was still into her) though, she still might not have done much.

But he did say what he did. And she did feel the way that she did.

So why not just go for it? If he was going back home and she wouldn't be there for months? It might be one of the only times they'd see one another for a long time. Why waste it if they both wanted it?

"You getting used to the hotel life?" Laxus asked her when they arrived at the tiny one she and Lisanna were currently staying at. "I know you said you hated them that time we went on vacation together."

"We had time for a vacation?"

"Don't ruin this, Mira."

"This," she said as he shut the door behind himself, "isn't really anything until I make it something."

Alrighty then.

Mira felt icky, she claimed, after her show and excused herself into the bathroom while Laxus only went to sit on the end of one of the beds, waiting. He had a lot of time to think. And realize that Mirajane was probably drunk too. And lonely, like him.

He got that way, on long jobs or sabbaticals. Even before Mirajane. It was hard, being away for so long from home. Even when he didn't like being in Magnolia or any of his Fairy Tall members, it was still better to be there than away for extended periods of time.

It crossed his mind about then, that maybe he should turn Mirajane down, be a good guy and tell her that she'd been drinking and that was no good and that, hey, if she was still in to him the next day, when they'd both had a good chance to get associated with one another again...

But then he remembered that Mirajane wasn't just some random; she was his demon and the reason they were there then, in that motel room, wasn't just because they were associates, but because they were...whatever they were, and he wanted to have that back. Even if it was just for an hour or so.

It helped too that when he was teetering between either leaving or staying that Mirajane opened the bathroom door and strode out there in next to nothing.

That helped the decision making a lot.

"I missed you here," he mumbled when she came to claim her place on his lap, Laxus leaning back, hands rested on her hips as he stared up at her. "Demon."

"Mmmm." She wouldn't look him in the eyes. "I missed being called that."

"Yeah?"

Sort of. Mostly just anything other than just Mirajane or Mira. Something special. That only someone who truly knew her would be able to get away with.

"Yeah."

"Then I'll say it more." He leaned forwards once more so that he could nuzzle his head in between her neck and shoulder. "Demon."

"Mmmm."

Laxus had to admit, being with someone he had a history with was good for him as well. Mira knew about how there was a certain part of his tummy that he liked for her to press against and that he hated the feeling of nails against his flesh (it was a turnoff to him, big time, and really ruined the moment), but at the same time he very much so enjoyed teeth (don't ask). Kinda like how he knew how she hated eye contact (at any point during) and was not a big fan of snuggling (which he thought was odd, but never made a complaint because, hey, whatever).

It was just those sorts of things that you get to know after a year that can't be made up for by the thrill of a short fling. And, when it was all said and done, Laxus was glad that he hadn't tried to force himself to walk out because of 'moral reasons' or whatever, as just lying there with Mira felt more right than most things had recently.

"Laxus?"

"Mmmm?"

"Please tell me you don't have a girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"Good."

"That happen a lot to you?"

"Only once." She shifted on the bed, giving him her back. "But a long time ago. Before we ever dated. I usually ask before I… But with you, I just figured..."

"Oh what? That I'm not boyfriend material?"

"That you've still not gotten the timing right for anyone."

"I had it right for you, but-"

"Come off it."

"No."

Sighing, Mirajane said, "It's beyond late, I felt like my whole set was junk-"

"It wasn't." He wiggled his toes. "I liked it."

"Shut up."

"No."

Mira glanced over her shoulder at him, but he didn't move in the slightest. Only laid there, eyes nearly shut.

"Are you staying?"

"I did buy a hotel room for the night and my stuff's there, but… It's not going to be weird, is it? For Lisanna? You guys are sharing a room, right?"

"She won't be back tonight."

"Oh." Laxus blinked. Then frowned. "Please don't tell me about anything like that again."

"I won't have time to. You're leaving in the morning, right?" When she was answered with silence, she repeated, "Right?"

"Well… If today wasn't a great set-"

"Laxus-"

"I should get," he complained, "to see a great set."

"Hear."

"Whatever."

Pushing up, Mirajane shifted again, so that she was on her back as well, before saying, "It won't be tomorrow."

"That's fine. I have some things to do in town, apparently, until then."

"Which are?"

"Well, you, obviously."

"Laxus-"

"And I have some unmanly men to show what a real man is."

"Do what?"

"I might not like your brother, Mirajane," he grumbled as, that time, he gave her his back, "but I can't just let this all go down without extracting some form of revenge for him."

"And what sort of revenge were you thinking?"

"I dunno yet. Leaning towards telling all of those guys that Lisanna's mine and therefore not theirs and completely ruining her social life-"

"Belonging to you seems like it could make a social life in some circles, but go on."

"-but that would be too weird. For you. Us. Right?"

"I dunno. As long as you, like, aren't actually attracted to my sister-"

"Gross. She's like twelve."

"Not even close."

"Feels like it."

"Uh-huh."

"Or," he went on loudly, wishing to leave that portion of the conversation, "I could, you know, just have a talk with Lisanna."

"That sounds interesting."

"About how she should have a talk with you and calm the hell down."

"Less interesting."

Relaxing into the bed, he changed his mind then as he said, "She seems really happy, anyways."

"She is."

"And who am I to judge?"

"Not very pure yourself."

"And, I mean, I'm sure I'm just catching her on a bad night."

"Kind of."

"But mostly, I think I still see her as a little kid."

"Yeah."

"And as my girlfriend's little sister."

"Probably."

"And I really just don't want her to, like, turn into Cana or something."

"Or something."

"And how can a kid grow up in a bar, only to become a drunk when they leave it?"

"Maybe it was influential in the early years and now she's realized her true calling as a Fairy Tail Mage; to drink a lot and bog me down with requests and never ending needs."

"Well, you are good at filling requests. All kinds."

"Hmmm." Mira paused for a moment before saying, "How long are we going to talk around us and pretend to really be that interested in Lisanna?"

"I figured as long as you'd let us."

Letting out a breath, she said, "I don't think that we're ready to date again."

"I am."

"No. You're ready to sleep with me again."

"Well, I already did that and am still intrigued by you, so-"

"It's different, Laxus, when you've dated before. There's certain expectations. On both of us. And right now-"

"If you don't think you can be monogamous, Mirajane," he chided, taking that tone with her (for, like, the first time over), "then you shouldn't have led me on."

There it was. Finally. After so long, in that moment, Laxus actually got Mirajane to giggle. Rather loudly and for a good minute, she just laid there, laughing. He didn't turn to look at her, for fear of ruining the moment, but did smile softly to himself, staring towards the window. Even though the curtains were shut, he could see moonlight peaking through the sides.

"I fucked up, Mira," he sighed. "A while ago. Breaking up with you. And I've tried a couple of times to fix it now and you just won't let me. If you don't want me, that's fine. But I want you. I...love you, you know. And I shouldn't have ever broken up with you. I should have thought of another way. But I did, you know, give it a lot of thought. I don't think I ever told you that. But I did. I thought about it a lot. And I felt like shit."

"You ruined my morning-"

"Breakfasts, yeah, I remember. But I'm saying now it was a mistake. And-"

"Lax, if you couldn't take me working up at the guildhall all the time, there's no way that you could possibly take me being-"

"But I told you that last time we saw one another that I want to travel with you."

They could both hear it in his voice though. When he'd said that before, back in Magnolia, it had been out of desperation. After months of contemplation, he knew that solution just wasn't going to cut it and he really didn't want to do it. At all.

Mira could tell too as she only said, "You know that wouldn't work."

"Yeah." Laxus let out a slow breath. "I know."

"You love taking jobs constantly."

"I do."

"And you couldn't just sit around and watch me do something while you do nothing at all."

"I definitely couldn't."

"You'd grow bored. We'd have so much time that you'd be bored."

"Yeah."

"So..."

"Why can't we just go back before I ever brought up the stupid timing shit? Huh? And just see one another when we see one another? You're doing your own thing now, and that's fine, you like it, and I'll go back to doing my thing, which I love, and we can see one another when we get a chance. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing." Mirajane shut her eyes. "Had you not-"

"And now I'm saying let's ignore that I ever did that. And just try again. Try harder to be around one another. Because damn, Mira, it's been over a year now and I still miss you. Doesn't that mean something? If you miss me too?"

But Mirajane didn't answer. And, even though he knew she wasn't really asleep, he left it at that.

"Oh, no, gross, did you guys sleep together?"

Until Lisanna woke them up bright and early the next morning, stumbling around in the dark room, as the blinds were still drawn. Mirajane sat up a bit, but Laxus only laid there, eyes shut, praying that he too could pretend to be asleep.

"That's, like, a rule, Mira. That we can't bring guys back to the shared space."

"Laxus isn't just a guy."

"Neither is-"

"Yes. Whoever you're going to say, yes, he is."

Heh.

"So," he heard after a moment, "are we going to talk about what happened? To lead to...this?"

"Wh- Not with him right here!"

"He's sleeping."

"He's not a sleep," Mira complained. "He's faking."

"No way."

"He's even peeking his eyes open. You're not tricking anyone, Laxus."

"He's tricking me."

Groaning, Laxus rolled onto his stomach before, against the pillow, grumbling out, "Mira and I fucked because we always fuck because we're in love. That's the story. Now go away."

That got him a hit to the side by Mirajane and a lot of laughter from Lisanna before she rushed off to the bathroom, leaving them alone again.

"You're bad," Mirajane chided because, you know, that was a horrible thing to be, when you were Mirajane. "Laxus."

"You're the one that hit me," he pointed out through a yawn. "That's really bad."

"I was only bad because you were bad."

"Don't be such a follower then."

Slowly, Mirajane relaxed into the bed when she heard Lisanna turn on the shower in the bathroom. Then she softly whispered, "You think I love you, Laxus?"

"I know you do."

"That's silly."

"You took me home, Mira, before I even tried schmoozing you into it. And then you wanted me to stay the night-"

"I asked if you wanted to. I didn't-"

"You wouldn't have asked if you didn't want me to. And you haven't kicked me out yet even though I just told your sister that we love fucking each other-"

"Yeah, well, the more you say it, the closer you are to getting kicked out, so-"

"I missed you." Laxus, still on his back, tossed an arm out, which fell across Mirajane. "And everything about you."

"Not everything," she said, trying to shove his arm off. "And you know it."

"I don't know it. Might be true, but don't know it."

When he refused to lift up his arm, Mirajane eventually gave up and, very timidly moved to run her hand up and down it. Once Laxus let out a content sigh, she seemed to relax as well and even shifted so that she could kiss his bicep.

They'd figure out some way to make it work that time. Laxus just knew it.

"He, like, sleeps all day."

"Coming from you, Lisanna, I think that's saying something."

That was what Laxus awoke to sometime after noon, as well as the sound of a soft strumming as Mirajane tried out a new chord progression. She and her sister were over on the other bed, from the sound of it, while Laxus was still on his, face buried in the pillow and arms folded up above his head.

"Are you guys, like, back on or-"

"I don't know, Lisanna." Her strumming stopped, if only for the moment. "We haven't… I guess. Sort of. But…'

"You know you still like him."

"Of course I do. I've never said I haven't."

"I like having him around, anyways," Lisanna giggled. "Very much."

"You would like anyone from the guild to hang out with."

"Well...yeah. But Laxus is good."

At the moment, anyways. When he tried to break up whatever it was that she had going on with those guys, she would actually hate his guts. But Lisanna didn't know that just yet, so she couldn't be mad at the slayer.

"He's awake, you know."

"What?" Laxus heard Lisanna shift on the bed. "How can you tell? This time I'm calling your bluff, Mira. There's no way-"

"Aren't you, dragon?"

He was frozen then, hearing that monicker for the first time in a long time and only laid there for a moment before grumbling out, "Would you two can it? I'm tryin' to get some rest over here."

"You are good," Lisanna complimented her sister. "Maybe you guys are meant to be together."

Yeah. Maybe. But definitely not for that reason alone.

Lisanna didn't want to eat lunch (or an early dinner; whatever) with them when Laxus and Mirajane finally left the hotel room sometime later. She said she had plans. Which was for the best. Laxus and Mirajane more or less just wanted to spend that meal discussing where they were headed next.

For him, it was rather simple.

"Home," he told her. "In a few days. Then another job. And then I'll get you on the lacrima, figure out where you're at, and come see you. Repeat."

"Surely you wouldn't enjoy all that."

"Surely," he argued, "I would."

"And there's still, at least, a month passing between when we get together. And even then you'll be tired and I'll be busy and, Lax, what about the..."

"The what?" He glanced up from cutting into his steak. "Demon?"

She glanced around the restaurant before back at him with a slight frown. "I'm assuming that you...see people. Like I see people. And...I just want to know if we're…gonna...not see other people. Like, is this real or are we just-"

"I don't know about you," he said slowly then, still just staring at her, "but everything I know about...open relationships is that they usually don't turn out too well for one person. Usually the more emotional one. So-"

"You're afraid of me hurting you?"

"Ha ha. I'm trying to save you here, woman."

"I'm not more emotionally attached to you than you are to me." Mira gave him a look. "You stalked me here, remember?"

"Oh, bull. I was just passing through."

"Likely story."

"You're the one that had your little sister drag me into-"

"Never happened."

"Did so."

"Liar."

"Demon."

"Dragon."

Then they just stared before, finally, with a grin, he said, "I wouldn't want to think of you as sleeping with other people anyways. I don't like the idea of it now, actually."

"You're so immature," Mira said, sitting up taller. "That's what Lisanna would say. That no one owns anyone and the whole world's free and-"

"What did you do to her? Taking her out here with you?"

Mira only hummed. "Unleashed her inner self, apparently."

"Yeah, well, me and you must be...whatever the opposite of unleashed is. Inleashed?"

"I think it would just be leashed, dragon."

Nodding, he said, "Then I'm leashed. Or I want to be, anyways."

"You sure are more open, Laxus," she said simply, glancing down at her own plate, "with this than you ever were the entire time we were together."

"Well, yeah," he complained. "I had something I really liked and now I got a chance at getting it again. Why wouldn't I give it my all?"

Truth be told, it was more of a tradeoff than anything else. He was being as open as he ever would be about his feelings and hopes for her and them, while Mirajane was the most reserved she'd ever been about such a thing. It was clear that he'd hurt her, back then, and he knew it would take a while to get them back on their normal tracks, when she'd be comfortable in that he cared about her and he'd be content enough that she wasn't going to try to pull what he did on her and leave him.

"You're just coming on a bit strong, is all. If not desperate."

"I'm not hearing you hate it."

"Oh, I certainly would on someone else," she assured him before glancing up with a slight grin. "But coming from you, I dunno, it's almost...cute."

Laxus wasn't cute. And usually wouldn't enjoy being called it. But at the moment it only made him sit up straight and clear his throat.

"Yeah, well, I try."

"You do?"

"For you."

And they shared a smile then, if only for a moment, before looking off. It wasn't lost on either of them that the core reason they separated the first time was still ever present, if not more so, with her on the road as well as him then. They also both were very aware of the fact that, really, they should be taking things a lot slower than they were, maybe not even having the conversation they had so far about their relationship, as it shouldn't even be called that yet.

They should just be dating. At best. And see where things went. Because too much riding on something too early would only lead to disaster. They were both old enough to know better, after all.

And yet…

"It could be worse," Laxus told Makarov when he got back to Magnolia a few days later only for the old man to carp at him when, while telling him about his travels (Laxus came by every time he finished a job to, as much as he hated it, water those damn plants and pick up around the place, ugh), somehow he let it slip that he and Mirajane were back on. "I mean, we could have gotten drunk and then married."

Makarov, who hadn't even thought that the two of them would end up at the alter back when they were dating previously, had to set down his teacup at that, frowning over at his grandson. And, with a long sigh, he said, "Yes, it could have been much worse, I suppose."

"And if that's all you need here, Gramps," the man said as he water the last plant, there on the back patio of the man's house, "I have a demon to get on the lacrima. And a certain Salamander to bribe."

"A what now?"

But Laxus only shook his head, too fearful to speak his plan of getting (or tricking) Natsu into talking to Lisanna over a lacrima or writing her or something only to beg her to come back home, which would effectively end (he hoped) her little soiree into adult life and send her back into her dorky existence where she was mostly ignored, but certainly safe back home.

Because, you know, that was just important to him too. Not as important as being with Mirajane, but definitely up there.

Even when he found out that bribing Natsu with a fight (which worked), had the adverse effect in which Lisanna flat out told Natsu that she wasn't thinking about coming back to Fairy Tail for a few months and she'd just see him then, Laxus couldn't be too mad.

Beating the crap out of Natsu (who enjoyed every second of it, the little freak) and getting the demon back, all in one week? Losing Lisanna to the dark side (if one considered that the dark side) was sort of just a moot point.

#Miraxus #Mirajane #Laxus #Lisanna #Natsu #Cana Alberona #lucy heartfilia #Makarov

[carlos-penavega]

It had been a while since Oliver had broken it off with Connor. It was the right thing to do, right? Connor had slept with Thomas, the one guy who /actually/ liked Oliver until he admitted he was positive, just out of spite, just to get back at Oliver, just to hurt him. I mean, what a fuckin’ low blow. So it was definitely the right decision; it was and it still is. It took a while for Oliver to get over it because he truly and deeply cared and even loved Connor, but their relationship was just too fucked up...too full of lies and miscommunication; they were always missing each other’s points.

“Ollie, are we still on for drinks after work?” Upon hearing that familiar voice, Oliver’s lips curled into a smile as he lifted his head up and saw Simon standing at the doorway of the office room.

“Yeah! Maybe after we can play Catan while drunk and you can attempt your best to try and beat me.” He teased the man, referring to their other night where Simon drunkenly swore he’d never leave until he could beat Oliver at the game, but truth be told Simon had other meanings behind his words; he couldn’t and wouldn’t leave Oliver. Not for another man, not for another friend...that’s how hard he crushed on the man. Oliver just understood him in a way no one else did and god, when Oliver spoke it made Simon’s heart flutter.

“Wow! You’re gonna be /that/ way, huh? You’re on, then!” Simon shot back, but his lips had tugged into a wide grin to indicate he was only playing along before he pushed himself away from the door and headed back to work.

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

After work, the both of them headed off to the bar where they casually sat at the counter chatting about whatever came to mind and drinking; of course they had one rule and that was that they were never allowed to speak of work while they were out of the office and it was a mutual agreement from the beginning...after all, they both found it stressful and annoying at times and didn’t want that to ruin their time off from it.

“Hey, I really enjoy spending time with you, Ollie.” Simon confessed, his heart beating 100 miles per minute in his chest. Oliver took a sip of his drink and slowly lowered it after listening to what Simon had just said.

“Aw. I really enjoy spending time with you too.” He replied casually, almost clueless to what Simon was hinting at.

“Oliver...” Simon began speaking again, but fuck, now he was extremely nervous. Opening his mouth again, he attempted to speak once more.

“...I mean I like you a lot. I-” Closing his eyes for a second then reopening them, Simon tried to gather his thoughts. Why was this so god damn hard?! This was Oliver he was talking to, the man who never judged him for anything he said or did. The man who laughed at all his stupid jokes and reassured him that he was amazing whenever he doubted himself. But now he felt so tongue-tied around the man; worried he’d lose his best friend if he confessed, but he needed to know...he /had/ to know.

“-I’ve had a crush on you since we first met. I know that sounds crazy, but it was just this feeling I had inside me. All those dumb comments I made towards your ex, that was just because I was jealous...I don’t even really hate the guy, if I’m being honest.” Fuck, now he was just rambling and why the hell did he even have to bring up Connor? This had nothing to do with him. They had clearly broken up for good and Oliver had seemed to have moved on, not to mention Simon /did/ hate the guy; after all those long hours of listening to Oliver ranting about the dude and how he broke Oliver’s heart, he truly didn’t understand how Oliver could just forgive someone so easily, but that was something he really admired about him.  But the look on Oliver’s face made this even harder because the man just looked confused or maybe shocked; Simon couldn’t tell. He didn’t know what else to say, he knew if he opened his mouth again more word vomit would come out and he wouldn’t know how to stop it.

Oliver sat there for a moment absorbing all that had been said, he didn’t believe it for a second that someone as amazing as Simon would have a crush on him from day one; Oliver’s insecurities about his looks were still there. He never found himself “sexy” or the “best looking” in the room. But he knew Simon wasn’t the type to just lie to his face just to get into his pants. However, he still had to make sure Simon had been serious and not just messing with him.

“A-Are you drunk already?” He nervously asked with a slight awkward laugh which almost startled Simon because his voice had came out of nowhere from the silence that surrounded them for a while.

“No! No, Ollie. I’m not drunk. I’m finally telling you how I really feel, please don’t think it’s because I’m drunk.” Oliver swallowed hard at Simon’s truth and allowed for his eyes to meet the other man’s. Silence surrounded them for a brief second once again and those seconds felt like an eternity to Simon; what was Oliver going to say or what was he going to do? Was he just going to get up and storm out or tell him he wasn’t into him? This was torture. But before Simon could think of a backup plan to this, he suddenly felt something pushing against his lips; they were Oliver’s lips...soft and light, it was perfect. Of course it only lasted a moment and Simon didn’t have a chance to kiss back because Oliver had pulled away and glanced over at the bottle that rested on the counter.

“I like you too, Simon.../a lot/. I have for a long time now. I-I just didn’t know if the feelings were mutual. I mean, I’m not exactly the coolest or hottest person.” Oliver finally confessed, his cheeks turning a shade of red as he said this, his eyes still averted from Simon’s. Hearing Oliver’s confession made Simon release a sigh of relief. He was glad Oliver felt the same way he did, but the other part hurt him; he really hated knowing how insecure Oliver felt about himself. Reaching a hand over, Simon cupped Oliver’s cheek and turned his head gently so they could meet eye-to-eye. “You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever met, Oliver Hampton. Don’t you dare say that about yourself again. You’re hot and sexy and funny and smart...should I go on?” Simon laughed some which made Oliver give a sheepish smile.

“You’re the coolest person I know.” Simon added in before pushing himself forward and this time he let himself kiss Oliver on the lips and let it linger long enough for Oliver to kiss him back.

#Oliver Hampton #Simon Drake #HTGAWM #Soliver #Simon x Oliver #D;LKFJADSL;KFJ;AKD #I TOTALLY DIDN'T JUST TAKE LIKE AN HOUR TO TYPE THIS #JUST BECAUSE I SAW SOMEONE ASKING FOR SOLIVER DRABBLE THINGY #pfffttttt #and this is inspired by Meg #cause she tweeted about this scene #going a different direction #I tried #sorry it's bad #my prompt #not really a prompt but whatever #bye

[toriashappy]

Marketing in the 21st Century

Today, i’d like to take everyone through something i’m passionate about: marketing. I’m in my final year at my business school and though i’ve learned so much from my classes and professors, it’s important to consider the information we’re taught in a bigger context. It can be helpful to not only know what to do, but to see examples of what to do in action with the contrast of marketing that did not go as planned and needs to be learned from in order to improve in the future. So please read on to enjoy the contrast of two companies with marketing as a huge part of their business: Fyre Media Inc. (behind the 2017 Fyre Festival) and L’Oreal (behind many of the most popular cosmetics, skin care, nail care and hair care brands). 

Introduction

For my project, I have chosen two companies which I think representation both my marketing major and interests. I wanted a way to pursue my interest in business and my creativity at the same time, which is why I chose marketing as my concentration. One day, I’d love to have both my marketing world and performing interests collide so I can have a career pursuing both of those interests. I don’t have a selected marketing career in mind, but I’m interested in working in industries like entertainment, cosmetics, mental health, music or publishing. So, the two companies I chose reflect two of those interests, a company based in the entertainment industry and another that is a dominant force in the cosmetics world.

As my unethical company of choice, I have chosen to discuss Fyre Media Inc. Fyre Media Inc. was behind the infamous Fyre Festival in 2017 which was promoted as a “luxurious music festival” that promised, “the full VIP experience” with tickets ranging from $500 - $25,000 per person (Hanbury, 2019). Their main marketing of the event involved many prominent influencers like Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber and Bella Hadid partying on a Pablo Escobar’s private island in the Bahamas where the festival was set to take place (Hanbury, 2019). However, when festivalgoers arrived, they were greeted with school bus transportation, crowded hurricane tent accommodation and cheese sandwiches for dinner (Hanbury, 2019). The aftermath of the event included a $100 million-dollar lawsuit and their 27-year-old CEO Billy McFarland faced a six-year prison sentence for allegedly defrauding investors (Hanbury, 2019). I chose Fyre Media Inc. to study as I believe Fyre Festival is a good example of what unethical and misleading marketing looks like in the 21st century. McFarland illustrates some unethical leadership concepts caused by bases of power, shadows of power, personality disorders, the romance of leadership, faulty decision making and more. I think it is important to understand that having a marketing career means that you need to have a good understanding of proper practices when advertising your product to the consumer and that the image that a company chooses to project can eventually hurt them if they present themselves in an untruthful light and don’t fulfil what they promised.

The organization I have selected as my ethical organization is L’Oréal. L’Oréal is a house of brands and owns over 30 cosmetic, haircare and skincare companies such as Urban Decay, Clarisonic, Maybelline New York and Lancôme. The brands that L’Oréal owns are sold in high-end stores like Sephora and drugstore brands that are in Shoppers Drug Mart. L’Oréal has been recognized by Ethisphere Institute as one of the most ethical companies in the world nine times (L’Oréal, 2018a). L’Oréal prides itself on being one of the only companies in the world with a “Chief Ethics Officer” (L'Oréal, 2018a). L’Oréal identifies four core ethical principles it works to abide by which are trust, integrity, courage and transparency (L’Oréal, 2018a). Not only was L’Oréal named one of the most ethical companies, but it was also in the top 10 for the diversity and inclusion index. (L’Oréal, 2018b). I chose L’Oréal because I want to dig deeper into how it upholds its core principles through avenues like communication of expectations, proactive influence tactics, commitment, consistency and the Caux principles.

Before I start, it is important to consider that no company is ever perfect. Every company, no matter how successful they are can always strive to better themselves as there’s always something to learn about the world and processes that could be tweaked. And it’s now more important than ever before to recognize that marketing a company truthfully to the consumer is critical in the 21st century.

Overview of Fyre Media Inc.

Fyre Festival was posed to be one of the coolest events the world has ever seen. The purpose of the festival, however, seemed to get lost in the actual execution of it. Before Fyre Festival was born, in 2013 McFarland had released his first viral company called Magnises (Bloomberg, 2017). Magnises was marketed specifically to millennials as an exclusive black card, which turns the user’s current credit card into a sleek metal rectangle so they can “swipe in style” (Bloomberg, 2017). The duplicate card gave its members access to exclusive workshops, wine tastings, hotels, fashion shows and even a clubhouse where members could go to socialize with other millennials (Bloomberg, 2017). McFarland stated that Magnises had 100,000 cardholders by 2016 but crowd funder Wefunder (who brings startups and investors together) only listed 10,000 members, a tenth of what Billy indicated (Bloomberg, 2017). Unfortunately, Magnises also had its problems including a $100,000 lawsuit after the clubhouse they rented out was completely trashed (Bloomberg, 2017). Many of its millennial customers indicated they were not happy with their experience as they would purchase tickets for events but wouldn’t receive the tickets or they would be cancelled at the last second (Bloomberg, 2017).

While Magnises was taking off McFarland decided to put his attention into launching a new company with hip hop artist Ja Rule called Fyre Media (Gabai et al., 2019). Fyre was supposed to be an online marketplace where customers could go to book celebrities for their events such as birthday parties and weddings (Gabai et al., 2019). When McFarlane’s team was developing the marketing plan for the app, one of the Fyre employees MDavid Low suggested they host a kickoff festival with some of the talents that could be found on the app (Gabai et al., 2019). What started as a small concert, grew into what is now known as Fyre Festival. Once McFarland bought Pablo Escobar’s (an infamous drug lord) former island to host the festival on, McFarland and Rule immediately decided to create a promotional video to create a buzz on social media, without the actual logistics of the festival planned out yet (Gabai et al., 2019).

McFarland paid over four million dollars to get the most famous supermodels on the planet to participate in the video and then post about the festival on social media (Gabai et al., 2019). The video shoot ended up being more of a party than a marketing tactic as 90% of the footage was not marketing friendly and the talent didn’t understand what they were there to do (Gabai et. al., 2019). Before the video was released over 200 influencers posted an orange tile in what McFarland described would be the “best coordinated social influencer campaign ever” (Gabai et. al., 2019). When the teaser was released it was not clear to many people what the purpose was of the festival or who the target market was, as many consumers didn’t realize that this was to support the marketplace (Gabai et. al., 2019). When the campaign went live, McFarland immediately lost Escobar’s island as they were not allowed to mention him in the promotion, which they unfortunately did. The Fyre team scrambled to find a new island and moved the festival to the Great Exuma Island and only had about 100 days to pull it off (Gabai et. al., 2019). Though the Fyre team promised a luxurious experience in a cabana, partying with the hottest celebrities and being treated like a VIP the 100 days of development was not enough time to make a dent into seeing McFarland’s vision go through (Gabai et. al., 2019). The experience began with school bus transportation to a camp that was covered with hurricane tents for the attendees to sleep in which made so many people furious and began the disastrous public fallout for McFarland and his team members (Gabai et. al., 2019).

A few days after Fyre, a few dozen of the attendees banned together to get their lawyers in court to go after McFarland for $100 million in compensation for their experiences and he was soon afterwards arrested (Gabai et al., 2019). As the district did not have too much evidence yet, McFarland was released on a $300,000 bail but instead of laying low he went back to his old ways (Amato et al., 2019). A few weeks after the festival former attendees started to receive emails from a Frank Tribble at NYC VIP Access offering tickets to the Met Gala, The Victoria Secret Fashion Show, Beyoncé concerts and even Coachella VIP passes (Amato et al., 2019). As people would not recognize Tribble’s voice, McFarland wrote Tribble a script to follow when calling each customer about buying tickets (Amato et al., 2019). However, the tickets were determined to be a scam as individuals can only receive a personal invitation from Anna Wintour to attend the Met Gala and Coachella passes were not yet on sale (Amato et al., 2019). McFarland was later rearrested and plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud, which meant his unethical behaviour was finally catching up with him (Gabai et al., 2019).

Overview of L'Oréal

           L’Oréal’s mission can be described in three words “Beauty for All” but its strategy is one word: universalization (L’Oréal, 2018b). L’Oréal has over 86,000 employees that support their 36 brands and distributes its products to 150 countries around the world, grossing over forty billion dollars last year (L’Oréal, 2018b).  L’Oréal has a global vision where they are striving to deliver the best products globally that are not only made with the highest of quality and safety in mind but that L’Oréal “captures, understands and respects differences” (L’Oréal, 2018b). Not only is L’Oréal committed to delivering amazing products, but they have committed themselves to not only delivering financially but actively encouraging its team to be committed corporate citizens (L’Oréal, 2018b).

“In the 21st century, only companies that have integrated ethics in their culture, strategy and day-to-day practices will be sustainable” was said by the CEO of L'Oréal Jean-Paul Agon as the forward for their 40-page code of ethics report (L'Oréal, 2015). Agon is right, now more than ever companies need to think of sustainability as the most important part of their business plan which helps establish a healthy workplace creates mutual respect between superiors and their followers and reinforces the best practices for conduct in both personal and professional lives (L'Oréal, 2015). L'Oréal has four main ethical principles it guides its team with which include courage, transparency, respect and integrity (L'Oréal, 2015, p. 3). L’Oréal knows that consumers trust their brands, so they have tried to operate themselves with transparency so that consumers know exactly what is put into their products (L’Oréal, 2018b).  L’Oréal is focused on maintaining both an in-store presence, growing its online presence and broadening its technological capabilities by experimenting with virtual reality, artificial intelligence and data processing (L’Oréal, 2018b). The people behind a company can make it or break it so L’Oréal only hires the most passionate and committed people to make sure their brand is of the utmost excellence (L’Oréal, 2018b).  

Analysis of Fyre Media Inc.

Bases of Power

Two of the bases of power you can see reflected in McFarland’s leadership is expert power and referent power. Expert power is the influence that comes from having valuable skills or knowledge in a specific area (Busch & Wilson, 1976, p. 3). One of the reason’s McFarland had expert power was because he was viewed as trustworthy and credible by his followers (Lunenburg, 2012, p. 4). Billy’s credentials from him practically being an entrepreneur since he was 9 years old which built up his expertise and made others believe he had gained the necessary credentials since he did end up starting Fyre in the first place (Lunenburg, 2012, p. 4).

The second base of power McFarland possessed is referent power which comes from being viewed as a role model who is deeply beloved by his followers (Busch & Wilson, 1976, p. 3). As McFarland was viewed as a very talented salesman, he often turned his followers into admires of his outward traits such as his “compassion has no bounds” or that “Billy was and still is a visionary” (Amato et al., 2019). When McFarland needed character references during his trial, many people praised him for his kindness, creativity, talent and one even said that “He is the most inspiring and motivating person I have ever met aside from my mother” (Amato et al., 2019). So, because Billy was highly admired, many people respected his decision to proceed with the festival as many thought he knew better since he had a good reputation and was very charismatic (Lundenberg, 2012, p. 4).

The Shadows of Power

Arguably, the shadow that counted for McFarland’s downfall was the shadow of mismanaged information. Mismanaging information involves choosing between hiding the truth or lying (Johnson, 2018, p. 14). Leaders may keep information a secret, so they avoid certain questions or delay any repercussions (Johnson, 2018, p. 14). Not only does mismanaging information involve lying, but it also includes fudging the numbers, so they look more attractive than they actually are (Johnson, 2018, p. 15). McFarland often inflated the numbers he told his employees and even the public about so that he could gain the necessary investment and trust necessary to keep his schemes operating (Gabai et al., 2019). When McFarland was arrested the FBI was able to find discrepancies between what he said to investors and the truth (Gabai et al., 2019). For instance, McFarland told investors he owned over 2 million shares of Facebook when in actuality he owned about 1000 shares (Gabai et al., 2019). McFarland also indicated in a spreadsheet that the Fyre team paid over 34 million dollars for talent when they only paid 1.5 million dollars (Gabai et. al, 2019). If employees knew about the Facebook shares, they may have been resistant to spending more money, which would have affected McFarland’s vision and investors may have pulled out if McFarland didn’t get the talent, he said he would hence his delay of the truth. Not only did he spend less than he indicated but he charged some of his bills to his employee’s personal credit cards, charging as much as $150,000 (Gabai et al., 2019). In the Hulu documentary (the only interview he was willing to do if he was paid) McFarland stayed resistant to releasing any truth as his responses would involve using the line “I cannot legally discuss this”, even though legally he could (Amato et al., 2019). When McFarland was called out for allegedly lying, he asked the interviewer to let him know of one thing he said that wasn’t true, which they were able to prove more than just one time (Amato et al., 2019). McFarland engaged in an ongoing practice of impression management, so he could create an ideal image called a prototype in his followers’ minds (Johnson, 2018, p. 16). McFarland took the societal ideal of an entrepreneur like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs so that people would accept his influence (Johnson, 2018, p. 16). The issue with impression management is that it can be difficult to tell if a person is acting as a character or as themselves (Johnson, 2018, p. 17).

Personality Disorders

           Not only did McFarland have bad leader traits, but he also appears to have had aspects of all three of the personality disorders outlined by Johnson. McFarland did appear very narcissist, especially when he refused to alter his grand festival vision and he did have “a very unrealistic sense of what he could accomplish” (Johnson, 2018, p. 40). His obliviousness to the limits of his vision was seen when he refuted failure claims with the unwavering belief that he’d handle everything and that all everyone had to do was stay positive (Gabai et al., 2019). McFarland’s narcissism projected traits like confidence, not being afraid to think big and appearing as inspirational to followers, but those traits also made it more likely that he would partake in unethical practices (Johnson, 2018, p. 40). As a narcissist he was not afraid to abuse his power so he could meet his personal interest of greed, claiming special privileges like excessive partying and had an lead in an autocratic capacity where what he said goes and any feedback from others would be ignored as he believed they did not know better than him (Johnson, 2018, p. 40). McFarland’s vision was impossible to implement as not only did he have a tight timeline but he fired the caterer a few days before the festival, the island was practically a construction site and he did not allow any of his team members to alert any of his investors that everything was going wrong (Gabai et al., 2019). McFarland kept his methods of getting more money or more investors close to his chest so he did not have his employees believe he was untruthful and so they kept doing their jobs (Johnston, p. 43, 2018).

           McFarland also possessed Machiavellianism, which is described as the ability to manipulate everyone while maintaining a highly virtuous image, even if it meant he was upkeeping his image by engaging in unethical practices (Johnson, 2018, p. 42). When everything was bursting at the seams, McFarland tried to think of every twist he could implement to get more money such as offering a $25,000 yacht party with Kendall Jenner or listing a $50,000 cabana on the website, even though both of those offers did not exist yet and most likely wouldn’t come to fruition (Gabai et al., 2019). McFarland wanted to successfully execute his vision even if it meant he scammed investors, customers and even his own employees (Gabai et al., 2019). People who are highly Machiavellian often remain cold and emotionless (Johnson, 2018, p. 42). McFarland remained stoic when he was asked about things that would make most people very emotional like his close mentor passing away and if he had any remorse for what he did (Amato, 2019).

           The final personality disorder McFarland demonstrated was psychopathy. Psychopaths are not remorseful and use their charm to rise the ranks with the goal of prestige and wealth (Johnson, 2018, p. 43). McFarland took advantage of the fact that the people he was closely working with were very inexperienced such as his marketing director didn’t have any previous event experience and the talent booker was 22 years old and had never booked talent in his life (Gabai, 2019). Instead of hiring more workers when he realized more work needed to be done, he kept increasing the workload of his employees which disheartened his workforce and made them no longer enjoy the place they worked (Johnson, 2018, p. 44). McFarland was focused on the short-term gain of wealth and did not seem to consider how he would pay back his investors in the future or the shame his employees would feel if his event was a failure (Johnston, 2018, p. 44). When more problems started to pile up during the festival, McFarland was often absent and just drove around on his scooter and completely disappeared when the backlash started to leave his team to pick up the pieces (Gabai et al., 2019). And of course, psychopaths are the ones we are most likely to engage in fraud which is what McFarland was later arrested and plead guilty for (Gabai et. al, 2019).

Faulty Decision Making

           Faulty decision making also played a large role in McFarland’s downfall as a leader. McFarland did not have a realistic view of how the world works as he did not consider how other parties could be affected, that his unethical behaviour could be exposed to the public or that the decisions he made could cause long term consequences to his future (Johnson, 2018, p. 44). Even when the festival was over and McFarland was out on a $300,000 bail, he lived in a penthouse and continued to live his life as if we were still at the top of the pyramid (Gabai et al., 2019). McFarland may have seen his unethical behaviour as his way to save the festival and protect Fyre Media so he could justify his actions (Johnson, 2018, p. 46). McFarland was not very sensitive to any moral issues and options, as shown in the failure of moral imagination. McFarland did not care that he offered packages that did not exist for thousands of dollars which drove people to sell everything they owned just so they could go (Gabai et. al., 2019). His failure is further proven when he introduced the Fyreband which was an RFE bracelet each attendee could add their money to so they could pay wirelessly (Gabai et. al, 2019). McFarland failed to take into consideration the impact the bracelet would have on others, some attendees added up to $800,000 to their bracelets and he was happy to take all of their money even when he knew the bracelets would be worthless at the end (Gabai et. al, 2019).  McFarland even had some of his employees call attendees to pressure them into adding more money to the bracelet, which further demonstrated that he was not ashamed about what he was doing (Gabai et. al, 2019).

The Romance of Leadership

One of the most important things to consider is that McFarland alone is not responsible for the downfall of Fyre Media or the Fyre Festival. The press added to this illusion that he was responsible by normally including his name and Fyre Festival in the same headline. In fact, McFarland’s counterpart Rule was barely mentioned in the news headlines. In Meindl and Ehrlich’s essay on the romance of leadership, they found that leaders were most likely to be mentioned if results of the company were either a complete failure or a total success (Meindl & Enrlich, 1985). So, if things were at the extreme ends of the spectrum of failure to success, the executives were the ones in the spotlight and the impact from other lower level employees were not considered (Meindl & Enrlich, 1985). The time period of the festival was also only a few months after the tumultuous election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which meant that more people were interested in learning about leadership as many citizens felt like they were in a downturn and were more likely to ignore other contributors (Meindl & Enrlich, 1985).

Another individual the Fyre staff wanted removed from the company was the marketing director at Fyre named Grant Margolin. Margolin was described as very hardworking, but he had no prior experience with advertising festivals or events in general, so he did not have the expert power needed to be a good leader (Gabai et al., 2019). Many of the workers cited Margolin as abusive and that he caused a lot of problems, although that matter was not further elaborated on (Amato et al., 2019). McFarland’s counterpart Ja Rule seemed to be more interested in not doing any work and instead party all the time but still get the credit (Gabai et al., 2019). One of the clearest moments that it’s apparent Ja Rule didn’t take things seriously was during a toast “here’s to living like movie stars, partying like rock stars and f**king like porn stars” (Amato et al., 2019). Though McFarland hired the best of the best to help him with his marketing and social media reach, another issue was that the groups worked in different offices, so each team couldn’t get the full picture of what was going on which meant none of them were clear on what the festival was actually becoming (Gabai et al., 2019). The social media company McFarland hired Jerry Media, said it felt an overwhelming sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) since the festival to them looked so great, but they never set foot on the island until the real event (Gabai et. al., 2019).  

Seeking Forgiveness

           In the aftermath of the festival, McFarland did not apologize to the public and would not take responsibility for his actions. Many attendees with access to the internet posted photos of the now infamous cheese sandwich, the barbaric experience of everyone fighting for tents and the loud music that played while trying to quiet everyone’s complaining (Gabai et al., 2019). When McFarland was informed about the negative posts, he had his lawyers send cease and desist letters to each account and threatened to pursue legal action (Gabai et al., 2019). He made many excuses in interviews including that someone stole the key box to the 250 villas he rented on the island and that the rain the evening prior was to blame and refused to take personal responsibility (Amato et al., 2019).  It wasn’t until he was a month into his six-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud that he released a public apology from prison (Keating, 2018). McFarland seemed to realize that apologies are critical in rebuilding or repairing relationships and that he has to say more than just sorry to start repairing his image (Kadar, 2009, p. 3).

In McFarland’s apology he shared with the magazine PEOPLE he seems to follow some aspects from Kadar’s 5-R model for apologizing (Johnson, 2018, p. 124). The first step is recognition, he did not list every wrong he committed but said overall “I am incredibly sorry for my collective actions and will right the wrongs I have delivered” (Keating, 2018). He then took responsibility for his actions and did not place blame on anyone else using “I made many wrong and immature decisions along the way and caused agony” (Keating, 2018). He used remorse at the beginning of his statement with “I am incredibly sorry” (Keating, 2018). Following his apology, McFarlane took restitution and spoke about trying to aid the people he has hurt “I’ve lived every day in prison with pain, and I will continue to do so until I am able to make up for some of this harm through work and actions that society finds respectable” (Keating, 2018). He finalizes his statement with repetition to show that he will not repeat his behaviour with “I’m devastated, but accepting, and I’ll use this opportunity to live my apology and become the family member, friend, business person and good citizen I should have been all along” (Keating, 2018).

Analysis of L’Oréal

Proactive Influence Tactics

L’Oréal has a lot of great things going for their corporation. L’Oréal’s leadership team demonstrates four proactive influence tactics to help motivate its workforce in the right direction. The first tactic is rational persuasion which uses logical arguments or explanations that will help tackle company objectives (Johnson, 2018, p. 212). One example of rational persuasion is seen in L’Oréal’s code of ethics where they put a lot of money into research and development so they can deliver consumer products that are “innovative, highly effective, practical and pleasant to use and which are manufactured to the most demanding standards of quality and safety” (L’Oréal, 2015, p. 3). The second tactic is apprising which acts to explain the benefits of complying with someone’s wishes (Johnson, 2018, p. 212). At L’Oréal apprising is a common tactic used especially in areas of social responsibility, which employees and investors may not understand on how it benefits them. For instance, L’Oréal shows the benefits to why potential job seekers would like to join “L’Oréal has already – thanks to its initiatives and the positions it has taken – managed to establish its position as an opinion leader and driver of change in a number of areas in the beauty industry” (L’Oréal, 2015, p. 3). The third tactic is inspirational appeals, which are clearly demonstrated when L’Oréal communicates it’s corporate responsibility passion with “We want to make a positive contribution to the countries and communities in which we are present, and respect local cultures and sensitivities” (L’Oréal, 2015, p. 3). The fourth tactic is consultation, so that management can create a conversation within the workplace so that they can constantly improve the business (Johnson, 2018, p. 212). To make sure consultation can occur L’Oréal encourages “an atmosphere of openness, courage, generosity and respect, so that all our employees feel free to come forward with their questions, ideas and concerns” (L’Oréal, 2015, p. 3).

Communication of Expectations

Because L’Oréal is such a large company, they’ve set strict standards and targets that they want to achieve so they can be the best company possible. L’Oréal has taken the practice of communicating its expectations so that company wide performance is consistent (Johnson, 2018, p. 215). The L’Oréal team realizes that goals cannot be accomplished overnight or even within a year, so they’ve set targets that they believe are possible for hot issues like climate change or labour (L’Oréal, 2018b. Not only have they laid out their goals, but they’ve added benchmarks that define what success means for them and how they will know they’re closing to their goal (L’Oréal, 2018b). Even though L’Oréal is not 100% emissions free or completely green, they celebrate how far they’ve come with stats like their emissions have been reduced by 77% and that 88% of their brands have assessed their social or environmental impact (L’Oréal, 2018b).  L’Oréal uses three of the channels that signal high or low expectancies. Climate is the environment leaders have created for their followers and in most of L’Oréal’s materials they have raved about their award-winning diversity movement as well as how flexible their work schedule is (L’Oréal, 2018b). Feedback may occur internally, but it is also reflected in L’Oréal’s annual reports which provide detailed feedback on how they are doing and describes the performance of each division (Johnson, 2018, p. 215). The third channel is input, which is how leader’s may give challenging projects to their workers to help advance their careers so that they are encouraged to stay motivated and perform positively (Johnson, 2018, p. 215). L’Oréal uses its company website to showcase what each division is doing and will even spotlight select employees on their website when they have made big accomplishments (L’Oréal, 2018).

Commitment and Consistency

           One of L’Oréal’s biggest strengths currently is its unwavering commitment and consistency towards its vision. L’Oréal hired their ethical leader in 2007, where the world wasn’t that aware to issues like climate change, child labour or animal testing which to many investors at the time, could have been viewed as a risky choice. L’Oréal was committed to being more than just a makeup company, they wanted to change lives (L’Oréal, 2018b). But as mentioned by Johnston, once we as individual’s or as a company take a clear stance, we will experience pressures to behave according to what we’ve promised (Johnston, 2018, p. 229). And when a company like L’Oréal commits to end its emissions, they become way less likely to abandon that vision because of the public pressure (Johnston, 2018, p. 229).

The Caux Principles

           Some of the principles that seem integral to L’Oréal’s commitment to corporate citizenship are the Caux Principles. The first principle is that corporations must go beyond what concerns their shareholders even if it means they sacrifice some profit (Johnston, 2018, p. 394). L’Oréal has clearly followed their own vision, as they have taken on environmental initiatives that cost them money to change which would take money out of shareholders pockets (L’Oréal, 2018b). The second principle is that corporations need to recognize the impact they can have in society moving forward so they can enrich the lives of others (Johnston, 2018, p. 394). L’Oréal is already thinking towards the future which is shown by its adoption and research put towards technology so that they will make the most innovative products and keep up with the growth of technology (L’Oréal, 2018b). The third principle is that businesses need to promote a culture that is transparent and honest (Johnston, 2018, p. 394). L’Oréal’s commitment to the third principle is shown by having an established code of ethics that is made available in every language and contains pertinent information for each business unit (L’Oréal, 2015). The fourth principle is that international rules must be respected, which must be the case since L’Oréal has expanded into 150 countries (Johnston, 2018, p. 394). The sixth principle is that companies have a duty to protect the environment through sustainable development (Johnston, 2018, p. 395). It’s quite well known that L’Oréal has an established environment program where they are committed to reducing their carbon footprint and finding more environmentally friendly ways to develop its products (L’Oréal, 2018b). And the final principle is the companies need to conduct themselves ethically and should not engage in illegal activities (Johnston, 2018, p. 395). Luckily, L’Oréal has ethics lines available to workers so that if they are suspicious of any activities happening at the company, the concerns can be communicated safely (L’Oréal, 2015, p. 7).

Recommendations

           When caught in a sticky situation, to save the company’s reputation there needs to be apologizing not just to the public, but individually to the people he has hurt. Not only did McFarland need to apologize but he should demonstrate “a commitment to move that desire into practice” (Kadar, 2009, p. 15). The next step McFarland should take is getting into contact with the people’s he’s hurt individually to show that he has accepted responsibility and does express remorse for the pain he has caused (Kadar, 2009, p. 15). McFarland should not ask for forgiveness but to recognize the consequences he caused by his actions and should not make the other party feel guilty for him (Kadar, 2009, p. 17). It’s important that McFarland realizes that his apology cannot undo the pain he’s caused or suddenly make everything better, but “transformational leadership can sometimes get close” to restoring the relationship (Kadar, 2009, p. 19). If McFarland can make his way into the working world again, there are a few things he should keep in mind to help fix his leadership issues. One area he could work on is temperance which is “enjoying life’s pleasures but not being controlled by them” (Johnson, 2018, p. 74). McFarland is shown to have an overwhelming desire for more wealth, so he needs to learn how to control his impulses by acknowledging them and understanding the pain that they can cause (Johnson, 2018, p. 75).  McFarland needs to understand what issues or trigger points may push him towards wanting more wealth like social pressure from others to keep doing great things (Johnson, 2018, p. 75). To avoid having the pressure placed on himself to make decisions, McFarland should also seek to practice wisdom and prudence (Johnston, 2018, p. 76). McFarland should let employees ask more questions about the work they do and be willing to work collaboratively with them so they can mitigate problems together (Johnston, 2018, p. 76). McFarland should always think in the long term and contemplate what decisions he makes today could affect him or others around him in the future (Johnston, 2018, p. 76).

           For L’Oréal to expand into new countries they need to have a good understanding of the four value orientations and how they can be applied to each culture so that their products sell. The first orientation is power distance which is a culture’s preference for unequally distributed power and status which is decided by both leaders and the followers (Hofstede, 2011, p. 9). For instance, one culture may expect a tier of roles for convenience and the other may have a separation of roles just based on spreading the status of members (Hofstede, 2011, p. 9). This could affect L’Oréal if they try to move into a country that is against makeup and does not let any women wear it, which would be a big problem for L’Oréal’s operations. Uncertainty avoidance is how a culture responds to uncertainty which is based on three indicators; anxiety level, employment stability and rule attitude (Hofstede, 2011, p. 10). For L’Oréal uncertainty avoidance could mean that some places will not be appropriate to launch new products unless the culture is familiar with what they are. The third value is regarding the attitudes about gender roles in a culture which is called masculinity versus femininity (Hofstede, 2011, p. 12). Gender roles may be the most important consideration L’Oréal can make if they decided to release a campaign that just had men wearing makeup, but it’s released in a country that dislikes breaking gender norms and would receive lots of backlash. The fourth and final value is individualism versus collectivism, where the former is based on each individual’s needs and desires and the former is based on the collective needs of society (Hofstede, 2011, p. 11). An issue L’Oréal could run into is if the message of the campaigns is “makeup for everyone” or “makeup to help you stand out”, depending on if they like to be joint or separate. Therefore, it is important that L’Oréal keeps these programmed value patterns in mind if they decide to expand to more unfamiliar or underdeveloped countries.  

Conclusion

We live in a day and age where everyone’s appearances can be carefully manipulated in both good and bad ways. Even if you don’t join a company, everyone has their own individual brand that they need to protect and learn how to best operate in the society. Marketing is the act of showcasing the vision of your brand and often in the best way possible, but it was important for me to pick a company where marketing blinded the behind the scenes chaos and how a company should conduct itself especially in the marketing world. It was important for me to get across that McFarland’s manipulativeness & unethical conduct did not start or end with Fyre Festival. His deception is still ongoing and it’s difficult to imagine McFarland recovering from this incident and ever having the same power he did before, especially since he is banned from serving as a CEO or director for the rest of his life (Amato et al., 2019). Many of the team members admitted that if they knew how things were going to end, of course they wouldn’t have gone through with helping him (Gabai et al., 2019). I also want to point out that Jerry Media produced the Netflix documentary I refer to in the case, so there could be some bias or more blame shifted onto McFarland that he doesn’t deserve and may just be a self-preservation tactic of Jerry Media. And though L'Oréal is my ethical example it’s important to note that no single company in the world is perfect and they all have more room to improve their strengths and work on their weaknesses. And hopefully when I’m out in the real-world next year, I can find a way to positively impact those around me with the most ethical marketing possible.

References

Amato, J., Barkin L., Freedman A., Gandhi S., Gasparro M., Miller D., Zwickel J. (Producer), Furst J., Willoughby Nason J. (Director). (2019, January 14). Fyre Fraud [Documentary]. United States: Hulu.

Bloomberg. (2017, August 30). How a Black Card for Millennials Went Down in Flames. Retrieved from https://fortune.com/2017/08/30/fyre-festival-billy-mcfarland-magnises/.

Busch, P., & Wilson, D. T. (1976). An Experimental Analysis of a Salesman’s Expert and Referent Bases of Social Power in the Buyer-Seller Dyad. Journal of Marketing Research, 13(1), 3–11. doi:10.1177/002224377601300102

Gabai, D., Purzycki, M. (Producer), Smith, C. (Director). (2019, January 18). FYRE: The Greatest Festival That Never Happened [Documentary]. United States: Netflix.

Hanbury, M. (2019, January 19). These photos reveal why the 27-year-old organizer of the disastrous Fyre Festival has been sentenced to 6 years in prison. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/fyre-festival-expectations-vs-reality-2017-4#fans-were-expecting-to-see-blink-182-perform-14.

Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014

Johnson, C. (2018). Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications, ISBN-13: 978- 1506321639

Kador, J. (2009). Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Keating, C. (2018, November 6). Fyre Festival Founder Apologizes from Prison: 'I've Made Many Wrong and Immature Decisions'. Retrieved from https://people.com/music/fyre-festival-founder-billy-mcfarland-prison-apology/.

L’Oréal. (2015, November 20). Code of Ethics - The Way We Work. Retrieved from https://www.loreal.com/group/governance/acting-ethically/code-of-ethics-and-speak-up-policy/code/list.

L’Oréal. (2018a, December 2). L'Oréal named as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute for the 9th time - L'Oréal Group: World Leader in Beauty: Official Website. Retrieved from https://www.loreal.com/media/news/2018/feb/2018-wme.

L'Oréal. (2018b). L'Oréal Finance: Annual Report 2018. Retrieved from https://www.loreal-finance.com/en/annual-report-2018.

L’Oréal. (2019). Frequently Asked Questions - L'Oréal Group: World Leader in Beauty: Official Website. Retrieved from https://www.loreal.com/sustainability/l'oréal-answers/the-question-of-animal-testing/frequently-asked-questions.

Lunenburg, F. C. (2012). Power and leadership: an influence process. International journal of management, business, and administration, 15(1), 1-9.

Meindl, J., & Ehrlich, S. (1987). The Romance of Leadership and the Evaluation of Organizational Performance. The Academy of Management Journal, 30(1), 91-109. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/255897.

PETA. (2010, July 7). L'Oréal is included on PETA's "do test" list. What does that mean? Retrieved from https://www.peta.org/about-peta/faq/is-loreal-cruelty-free/.

[dancingalone21]

Vulnerable

Summary: Dean meets the reader at a party and he finds out something about her that he doesn’t expect.

Prompt: “Will you for once stop thinking with your dick!”

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Requested: @blackcherrywhiskey

~

“Damn she’s fine.” Dean growls under his breath, practically eye fucking you as you stroll into the frat party.

“That’s Y/N. She’s cool. And a law major too so we have a good amount of classes together.” Sam explains before polishing  off his beer and chucking the empty can into the trash.

“Her friend is pretty good looking too. Let’s get on that and do a double date, man. I get Y/N though. You get…”

“Kelly. She’s Y/N’s girlfriend.” Sam finishes with an amused smirk followed by a full on snicker. Dean doesn’t catch on at first making his younger brother  laugh even harder.

“Like girlfriend. They’re dating.” Dean’s face instantly drops, his smug expression now long gone.

His head snaps in your direction so fast it makes his eyes blurry. Talk about being fucking unlucky. He literally finds the hottest woman alive and you’re a lesbian?! Son of a bitch.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” The older Winchester snarls quietly towards Sam.

“Sorry, dude. She’s still awesome ya know. Go talk to her.”

“Why? Do you think she’ll still hook up with me?” Dean wonders with a flash of hope appearing on his face.

“Will you for once stop thinking with your dick!” Sam exclaims garnering an eye roll from Dean, also drawing immediate attention from fellow party goers.

“I’m just saying that Y/N’s awesome. I think you’d get along. Can’t hurt right?”

Dean barely mumbles in response with a full pout on his lips, he’s completely and totally agitated. Sam chuckles knowingly, giving his brother a pat on the back before disappearing into the crowd of drunk college kids.

Scowling like a pro, Dean decides to seek out some much needed hard alcohol. He inwardly groans, spotting you right next to the plethora of booze on the kitchen counter. Whatever. He needs whiskey. Now.

“Ew! Fucking gross.” You scrunch your cute face up in disgust, about to puke at the poison you just subjected your body to.

“Not big on liquor, huh?” You look to your left and notice that a tall Winchester is standing next to you. You’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Dean but you know he is Sam’s handsome older brother.

“I tried mixing a drink. I failed.” You sigh adorably, glaring at your drink like it’s the enemy.

“Can’t be that bad.” He replies, snatching your red solo cup and then knocking some back.

“Fuck! You’d be the worst bartender ever.” Dean moans dumping the rest of it into the sink, earning a giggle from your lips.

Dean exhales loudly then gets to work, mixing a very yummy drink for the both of you. To your surprise, you and Dean have similar personalities that compliment each other.

The exciting topic of favorite television shows is being discussed but it’s soon interrupted by Kelly.

“Hey. Ya know the hot redhead I pointed out earlier? We’re gonna get out of here. You good?” She asks with a wink, slightly slurring her words.

“Yup I’m good. Have fun.” You pull her in for a quick hug, then watch as she bolts out of the kitchen.

“Uh…you’re either the coolest girlfriend ever or you’re not that bright, sweetheart.” Dean retorts with a suspicious quirk of his eyebrow.

“We broke up. Decided we were better as friends.” You shrug half halfheartedly, not caring enough to explain further.

“Gotcha. Well anyways…I just started Shameless. It’s pretty good so far.”

“Oh! I’ve been wanting to see that.” You gasp loudly, or at least you think it’s loud. The alcohol is fucking with your perception.

“This party is kinda lame. Wanna go watch it in my dorm?” Dean suggests already moving backwards towards the doorway.

“Hell yeah.” You clap your hands excitedly, trailing behind him as you both leave the party.

The chilly walk to Dean’s dorm room sobers the two of you up a little, allowing for a more interesting interaction.

His dorm room is actually pretty clean considering a twenty year old male is occupying it. Grabbing a couple of beers out of the mini fridge and a bag of chips, Dean proceeds to start Shameless.

“Ok. I don’t like that guy.” You declare narrowing your eyes at a character named Kevin.

“He looks like an ex.” You cringe visibly  thinking about the man child with commitment issues. Dean laughs out loud at your reaction but he suddenly grows quiet before pausing the show.

“Wait…I thought you were a lesbian?”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“Sam texted me after we left the party.” You swipe through your iPhone, then hold it out so he can read the message.

Dean thinks you’re a lesbian FYI. Lol.

“So….you’re…bi….” Dean inquires slowly, he’s not quite sure how to interact with you now that is information has come to light.

“Yup. Is that a problem? Because you’re being all weird now.” You comment, his body language doing a complete 180 from about two seconds ago.

“N-No. Nah.”

Dean feels his stomach drop, his jaw tightens automatically over this unsettling news. He completely let his guard down, thinking that you were solely into chicks.

Whether he wants to admit it or not, it was nice being around a gorgeous girl without the feeling like he needed to be “on” all the time.

Now that the truth has been revealed, Dean’s wall has instantly been built back up. It usually takes time for him to be comfortable around a girl, for her to witness the true Dean. Completely aware that he’s acting strange, he tries his best to not let it show.

Dean tries and fails, making it painfully obvious that he’s out of his comfort zone. You were hoping he’d get over the shock and be happy but instead the poor guy is panicking.

“Yeah you’re being all awkward now. I’m gonna go.” You tell him jumping up off of the futon. Instantly pissed that he doesn’t try to stop you, you speed walk out of his dorm in a huff. Dumb ass.

“God dammit, Sammy.” Dean groans to himself rubbing his face in aggravation, knowing he just let an amazing girl walk away.

~

#2.5 followers oneshot #2.5 followers drabble #sam winchester #sam winchester au #superaturalfic #jared padalecki #dean winchester #dean winchester au #dean winchester x reader #dean x reader #supernatural #supernatural au #spn reader insert #SPN #Jensen Ackles #supernatural fanfic

[transssexualheart]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllll

1- what images do you have set for your desktop/cell phone wallpaper?my phone has pictures of my friends and my desktop is still dan avidan i keep forgetting to change it

2- have you ever had a crush on a teacher?no

3- what as your last text message?sent? it was “me too”

4- what do you see yourself doing in ten years?probably dying

5- if you could be anywhere else right now, where would you be?in someone’s arms

6- what was your coolest halloween costume?uhh probably last years even tho it wasn’t that great bc i made it myself and had a styled wig and everything

7- what was your favorite 90s show?i was not alive in the 90s

8- who was your last kiss?still zee

9- have you ever been stood up?no

10- favorite ice cream flavor?strawberry or cotton candy

11- have you ever been to las vegas?no

12- your favorite pair of shoes?probably my pink ones they’re soft and have tiny one inch platforms

13- honestly, have you ever cheated on a significant other?no

14- what is your favorite fruit?watermelon or strawberry

15- have you ever talked to anyone on tumblr that your could see yourself dating/having sex with? if possible?well i mean one of my exes i met over tumblr so it’s not a wild concept to me but currently i’m not like,,, interested in others

16- are you into hookups? short or long term relationships?long term

17- do you smoke? if so, what?no

18- what do you do to get over your anger?rant about it on this blog or sometimes to a friend i guess

19- do you believe in god?idk man

20- does the person you’re in love with know it?yeah

21- favorite position?sleeping

22- what’s your horoscope sign?leo

23- your fears?being abandoned, myself sometimes, everyone secretly hating me, never being loved, etc

24- how many pets do you have? what kind?three, a cat and two fish

25- what never fails to turn you on?uhhhhhh

26- your idea of a perfect first date?idk uh,, get food maybe hold hands a little 

27- what is something most people don’t know about you?idk,, i guess most people don’t know what i look like during a full on breakdown that i’m not trying to disguise

28- what makes you feel the happiest?hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

29- what store do you shop at most often?i dont shop a lot

30- how do you feel about oral? giving and or receiving? never gave or received, both sound good to me tho

31- do you believe in karma?idk

32- are you single?yeah

33- do you think flowers or candy are a better way to apologize? the best way to apologize is to mean it and not expect forgiveness if you really fucked up and to be genuine and honest and if you do those things it shouldn’t really matter whether you choose flowers or candy

34- are you a good swimmer?i mean,, i won’t drown

35- coffee or tea?tea

36- online shopping or shopping in person?i do both

37- would you rather be older or younger than your current age?i’d prefer to keep my age so i don’t fuck up the timeline of my life thank u very much

38- cats or dogs?how can i choose

39- are you a competitive person?i don’t think so

40- do you believe in aliens?yes

41- do you like dancing?don’t really do it much 

42- what kind of music do you listen to?many kinds, mostly anything but country

43- what is your favorite cartoon character?how can i choose just one

44- where are you from?albany

45- eat at home or eat out?eat out

46- how much more social are you when you’re drunk?i’ve never been drunk

47- what was the last thing you bought for yourself?i don’t remember

48- why do you think your followers follow you?idk actually why do u guys follow me

49- how many hours do you sleep at night?it varies, sometimes like ten sometimes none

50- what worries you most about the future?i pretty much rely on the fact that i’ll probably die before it matters but if i don’t die i’ll have no idea what i’m doing

51- if you had a friend that spoke to you the same way you speak to yourself, how long would you be friends?not very, i’m not friends with myself tho so

52- are you happy with yourself?no, never really have been

53- what do you wish you didn’t know?i don’t know

54- what big lesson could people learn from your life?i guess,, not to take people for granted 

55- if you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be?what

56- what’s your favorite website?i visit this hellsite most often i guess

57- what’s the habit your proudest of breaking?the only habit i could think of that i broke was biting my nails

58- what was your most recent trip of over 50 miles?idk how many miles i travel bc i don’t drive

59- what’s the best bargain you’ve ever found at a garage sale or thrift store?idk

60- what do you order when you eat chinese food?sweet and sour chicken and white rice 

61- if you had to be names after one of the fifty states what would it be?no

62- if you had to teach a subject to a class, what would it be?alright so there are three things that i feel like i’m able to do well those three things are draw, write, and play pokemon and i’m a failure at everything else i do so probably an art class or creative writing class

63- favorite kind of chips?i like doritos

64- favorite kind of sandwich?grilled cheese

65- which do you use more often, dictionary or thesaurus?dictionary

66- have you ever been stung by a bee?yeah, only once, and i have a history of not fucking eating for whole days and that was one of those days and i guess the sting just triggered the dehydration and all that and i got really dizzy and my legs gave out and my mom had to carry me home

67- what’s your favorite form of exercise?my what now

68- are you afraid of heights?more afraid of what i’d do to myself than the height itself

69- what’s the most memorable class you’ve ever taken?eight grade science, i had a bunch of friends in that class and we hated the teacher at the time and the shit he did and we were constantly like going insane and here’s the main reason: my mom went to school with that teacher and she managed to find a fuckin. story that he wrote in 11th grade and she showed it to me and my god it was so bad and the main character was such a self insert and i was like “oh my god this is amazing” and you know what i fuckin did? u know what i did? i decided to make c o p i e s of the story so i could bring it into school and show my friends. so i had like ten copies and we gave one to my friend kevin however. we gave it to him DURING science class. so instead of doing his work kevin is sitting back there reading this story and laughing at it and the teacher is like “what are you doing kevin?” and kevin, instead of putting it away and being like “my work”, was like “oh i’m reading your 11th grade story” and at this point i’m like “oh fuck” and then the teacher asked where he got it and he points to me and i’m like “OH FUCK” so he comes over and asks where i got it and i’m like “surprise my mom went to school with you” and he’s like “i haven’t seen this story in years” and guess who’s like “DO U WANT A COPY” and reaches over me and into my backpack to pull out a fuckin copied version :^) anyway that day was wild some girl i never talk to who didn’t even know my dead name let alone my actual name came up to me asking for a copy

70- what’s your favorite breakfast?pancakes or waffles

71- do you like guacamole?no

72- have you ever been in a physical fight?no

73- what/who are you thinking about right now?um

74- do you like cuddling?yes

75- are you holding onto something you need to let go of?can we not have this conversation over tumblr’s ask system thanks

76- have you ever experienced one of your biggest fears?i live with myself every day lmao

77- favorite city you’ve been to?nyc!!

78- would you break the law to save a family member?probably

79- talk about an embarrassing moment?me, as a person

80- are there any causes you strongly believe in?idk

81- what’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?not sure

82- fav day of the week?none

83- do you consider yourself sexually open minded?idk what that means

84- how do you feel about porn?i don’t watch it really, but if that’s your thing then it’s your thing

85- which living celebrity would you like to know?idk

86- who was your hottest ex?it’s hard for me to like,, determine that because my sexual attraction to someone usually isn’t there until i start liking them romantically (in most cases, there’s people i never liked romatically but found attractive or people i found attractive before i liked them but that’s not the case with anyone i actually dated) and it disappears when i don’t like them romantically anymore so ???? also rude question especially considering at least two of my exes follow me here

87- do you want/have kids?don’t have them, might have them but that’s dependent on whether or not my partner is able to take care of kids i’m not gonna have kids if i know that my partner can’t be a good parent to them. also still not sure if i want them myself

88- has anyone ever told you that they wanted to marry you?no

89- do you get easily distracted?hell yeah

90- ass or titties?why… choose…..

91- what is your favorite word?to use in writing, probably “gentle”. to use in speech, probably “fuckin”

92- how do you feel about tattoos?i want a lot, i have two

93- do you have any pets?this was already a question?

94- how tall are you? 5′5

95- how old are you?14

96- 3 physical features you get complimented on a lot?i don’t get complimented on specifics, the most i get it usually like “you look nice today” or sometimes ppl say they like my makeup but that’s not a physical feature of mine

97- is there anything you’re really passionate about?i love,, the jims and the piano

98- do you have trust issues?idk, i don’t let most people see me cry or see me having a breakdown and i only really trust a few people with most stuff and it’s usually because there was something that happened in the past that allowed them to already know stuff like that and they were good about it and i was like “oh, then they’ll be alright about it and i don’t have to explain myself to them because they already know” but?????

99- do you believe in love at first sight?god no, what if they’re a dick?? u can’t judge a book by it’s cover. also i think that now i’ll have to know someone pretty well to start liking them because of past and current events

100- what are some words that you live by? why? i don’t have a specific quote or anything but. if you love someone tell them. i’ve said this before, and i don’t mean specifically romantically in fact in some cases you should keep that to yourself so no one is made uncomfortable but like. tell your mom or your best friend or your dad or your grandma that you love them because they could be gone real soon or you could be gone real soon and they should know that you love them before that happens

thank u for asking

#ask tag