#it takes three episodes for someone to realize the typo but by then there’s a new plague of nerds playing G&G on every available surface

[dcbbw]

The Odd Couples

Hi, tumblrs! I’m back with yet another AU of one of my favorite AUs: it’s the DC gang, paired differently.  

(I know I haven’t written anything DC AU-related in a long ass five minutes, and I swear Chapter 6 of the original series is practically ready to post, just needs a deep-dive edit)  

So, this story is the product of two separate ideas: First, what if I hadn’t followed canon/fanon/personal head canons when pairing the couples up/off?  And the second idea comes from the What If episode of Friends where that gang ends up with someone different (Phoebe x Ross, Monica x Joey, Rachel x Chandler).  

Side note: Using throwback DC crew (Liam, Riley, Max, Leo, Liv, Drake, Madeleine, and Penelope). Also, check out the link to Leo’s shirt (if you make it that far). It’s the Leo-est shirt ever IMHO) 

Side Note 2: Mixing the pairings up means I have/will be writing pairings that others write/have written and are generally associated with said writer(s). While I am fully aware that no one owns ships, I realize this is a fandom and strive to be mindful of those who write rareships and respect their pairings.  

This is simply my take on my version of these characters when coupled differently in my world. 

To those who read over this story in parcels, pieces, and in whole ...THANK YOU!  

For those who do read this fic, THANK YOU! Your likes, comments, and/or reblogs are appreciated more than you realize. 

 Please excuse any and all typos, missing/extraneous words, and/or grammatical errors. Microsoft Editor rates this piece as 99% error free.  

I’ll be back sooner rather than later with a submission for Hana Lee Appreciation Week, an angsty Driam/Riley love triangle, and some Stormholt.  

Song Inspo: Moments We Live For (Acoustic Version), In Paradise 

Word Count:  4,099

Pairings: SGL x Olivia; Drake x Madeleine; Leo x Riley B; Max x Penelope 

Rating: M for Mature themes 

SGL x Liv 

Liam Rys tipsily followed Olivia Nervakis into the hotel room, hip-checking the door to shut it while Olivia occasionally paused her steps to turn on table lamps. Her black stiletto heels made no noise against the carpet; however, the swish of her highly starched black and white polka-dotted dress sounded scratchy in the silent room.  

“Do you have to turn on every light?” Liam complained as he fastened the deadbolt. 

“It’s not every light, and not our electric bill,” his girlfriend responded tartly as she flipped yet another switch.  

The couple was in Baltimore for the weekend, attending a costume party thrown by Liv’s employer. There had been a buffet; an open bar; and a prize for the best costume, which Liam and Olivia did not win. Carlos Santiago, a member of the Environmental Services team, and his wife and three children came costumed as The Birds and The Bees and won the prize.  

Liam and Liv were The Ricardos: Olivia’s red hair was done up in Lucy’s signature poodle hairstyle, and her dress was a dead ringer for the world’s most famous housewife’s iconic frock. He had wanted to wear a tuxedo and carry a conga drum but settled for Ricky’s purple, polka dot silk smoking jacket with shawl collar, black pants, and black velvet slippers.  

“I can’t believe we didn’t win!” Liam muttered beneath his breath as he came behind Olivia, arms encircling her waist; his palms splayed against her flat, toned stomach. She responded by leaning against him, her back pressed against his chest.  

“Don’t hate!” she admonished. “With those Korean features and Boston accent, no way were you a convincing Cuban band leader. Besides, you have to admit Carlos had a pretty creative idea.” 

“Not more creative than my SOCK GAME! I mean, Liv … you gotta admit, it’s damn good tonight!” 

He was wearing black, knee-length socks with red hearts inscribed with “I Love Lucy” scattered all over. Olivia rolled her eyes in exasperation at the mention of his sock game. 

This man and his socks! Liam thought his sock game could cure cancer and bring about world peace. 

 “You’re sock game is great as it always is, darling. But it was a costume contest,” Olivia placated in a soothing tone as his fingers began removing bobby pins from her hair.  

She spun around, facing her boyfriend as her hair fell in soft curls that framed her face. Her green eyes twinkled as she pressed a quick kiss against his lips.  

“You big, spoiled baby,” she teased. “Wanna smoke, take the edge off? I brought a couple of blunts along.” 

He quickly shook his head. “No way am I going to be in BALTIMORE off some loud.” 

Olivia grabbed the lapels of Liam’s smoking jacket, pulling him closer to her. The tip of her tongue swiped his lower lip. “Makes sense,” she agreed. 

Liam pressed his palms against her ass cheeks; he sang softly in her ear as he swayed his hips against hers.  

And life is heaven, you see  'Cause I love Lucy, yes  I love Lucy  And Lucy  Loves me! 

“My name’s Liv”, Olivia corrected with a giggle as she gently wriggled out of Liam’s embrace. “C’mon, let’s get ready for bed,” she urged as she headed for the bathroom.  

Liam stuck out his tongue at her retreating back before glancing around the room. It was a typical hotel room, nothing really standing out or making it different from any other room. 

The door that led to the balcony was all glass with a brass doorknob; the hotel promised a 360◦ view of the city’s famed Harbor from the patio. The couple planned to have breakfast there in the morning. 

There was a workstation; a large, wall-mounted television; coffee maker and microwave; and the bed: queen-sized, four-poster, and centered against the back wall.  

His eyes widened when he saw the wall to the side of the bed. It was covered floor to ceiling, and side to side with a … mirror.  

Well, that was different.  

Liam approached the bed, kicking off his slippers as he went; he stared curiously at his reflection before climbing atop the bed and resting on his haunches. He then lay on his back, turning his head to continue staring at his reflection.  

He impatiently pushed his hair off his forehead before rolling over onto his stomach; pressing his palms against the bedcovers, Liam pushed himself up with his arms, still watching himself. He imagined Liv beneath him, her pale legs scissored across his back as they watched themselves. 

This could be fun.  

“LIVVY!” he yelled excitedly over the sound of water running in the sink. “There’s a MIRROR! On the WALL! By the BED!” 

The water turned off; Olivia sauntered into the room; her face was scrubbed clean of makeup, damp ends of her hair curling, and wearing a red lace bra with matching panties. A sultry smirk curved her lips.  

 Liam caught sight of her in the mirror’s reflection, and visibly gulped. Liv only wore matching underwear when they were going to have sex.  

“Ai yi yi yi”, he muttered as he bounded off the bed and hastily divested himself of the smoking jacket.  

Olivia was now standing directly in front of Liam; after guiding him to the other side of the bed, directly against the wall so he could see them both in the mirror, her red-tipped fingernails trailed a path from his throat to his belt buckle before unfastening the belt. She slid to her knees, pulling the pants zipper down with her teeth. Her eyes looked up at Liam.  

“Care to hear me do some ‘splaining?” she purred as her hand reached inside the opening and pulled his cock out.  

Liam never answered; he was too busy staring at Liv’s reflection as her mouth swallowed his manhood. 

Drake x Madeleine 

“Open your mouth, and stick out your tongue,” Madeleine demanded.  

Drake’s chocolate brown eyes stared up at her before raking over her body, his gaze settling on her chest. “Take off your shirt,” he countered.  

Madeleine exhaled a frustrated sigh that fluttered her bangs as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Damnit, Drake! You’re sick, and I need to take your temperature to make sure the meds are working.” 

Quickly covering his mouth, Drake Walker let out a series of deep, wet coughs that rattled the congestion in his chest.  

“They aren't”, he rasped as he wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “Tits would help. For sure.” 

With a horrified look, Madeleine hastily grabbed and thrusted a bottle of hand sanitizer in his face. “WIPE!” 

Rolling his eyes, Drake took the bottle; he then complied with his girlfriend’s first request. He slathered the disinfectant over his hands while Madeleine inserted a thermometer under his tongue.  

His temperature was 102◦; two degrees lower than it had been three hours ago. Uneasy relief washed over Madeleine’s features.  

“You should take the meds on a full stomach. You hungry?” 

Drake turned onto his side, adjusting the pillows beneath his head as he did so. “Not really, but we both know you’re gonna harp on it until I give in. I think I have some canned soup in one of the kitchen cabinets.” 

Madeleine nodded absently as she stepped into the bathroom to run the instrument under hot water in an attempt to kill the cooties her boyfriend more than likely transferred onto it. She heard Drake’s question when she turned the water off. 

“When are you giving up that broom closet you’re living in to move in with me?” 

“Don’t start,” Madeleine warned with a shake of her head as she re-entered the bedroom.  

“Start what? You’re paying $1300 a month to RENT A ROOM! You could move in here with me and pay HALF that and it would be a whole ass apartment! You could start saving, pay down that credit card debt of yours …” 

“I prefer to have my own, Drake!” 

Madeleine’s boyfriend rolled his eyes. “You HAVE your own RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!  Clothes! Shoes! Makeup! Oat milk! And if we’re talking preferences, I prefer to wake up with you in my bed every morning. I prefer to glare and glower at you from across the room when we argue instead of sitting on the phone in awkward silence. I prefer to not have to wait for make-up sex!” 

Madeleine shifted uncomfortably, scuffing the toe of her sneaker against the carpet. Her green eyes peeked up to sneak a glance at Drake, whose bleary eyes stared at her with a mixture of frustration and hopefulness. His fingers idly played in his chest hair. 

“Why won’t you just accept this greatness?” he huffed accusingly.  

Madeleine rolled her eyes in a here we go again way. 

She and Drake were in love with each other. They were the odd couple of the group: The WASP and the Blue-Collar Worker, but they fit each other like a glove. Most of the time.  

Cohabitation should have been the next logical step in their relationship. 

Madeleine found it nice to come to his U Street apartment after work and find him cooking them dinner while she mixed killer cocktails to help them unwind from their day.  

Or for her to be the first one awake and cook them breakfast, making sure to prepare the thick-cut bacon he liked, and brew the dark-roast coffee that was his favorite before sharing morning-breath kisses. 

Drake making sure Madeleine had the apricot and cream body wash that cost a small fortune, and high thread count Egyptian cotton towels she insisted upon for her showers. 

While their relationship was highly sexual, it was not sexually based. There were debates and discussions covering a gambit from international events and politics to cooking meats with mustard. The only thing they could never agree on was music: Madeleine was a Swiftie, and Drake was 70s rock and country. They shared a love of exercise and the outdoors; weekends usually found them taking day trips to Shenandoah to hike the trails, snacking on the beef jerky Drake loved and Madeleine tolerated. 

But people broke up all the time … over the most minute and ridiculous things. And Madeleine knew she could be an anal-retentive pill most of the time. She wasn’t going to be heartbroken and house hunting if things went south with Drake.  

Madeleine had been instilled from an early age that God blessed the child that had their own. 

“I’m not going to be that chick if we don’t work out," she stated in a small but firm voice as she sat at the foot of the bed; close enough to show support and comfort, far enough away to maybe being in a germ-free zone.  

“You’re saying that after I just asked you to move in with me for the 100th time?” Drake huffed before another coughing fit overtook him.  

While Drake hacked up a lung, Madeleine looked around the bedroom, wondering if he had any masks around. The couple locked eyes briefly, chocolate fastened on emerald. 

 “You could dump me at Target or something!” she countered as she alternated between awkwardly patting his back and scooting further away from him. 

When the coughing subsided, Drake pointed to the nightstand on Madeleine’s side of the bed.  

“Masks. Bottom drawer.” 

Drake knew her. 

“As for dumping you, you don’t shop at Target; it’d have to be Macy’s.” 

So well.  

Leo x Riley B. 

Leo Rys hefted an oversized, too-full sriracha red snapper taco in both hands before greedily biting into it. He let out a low grunt of satisfaction as flavors and spices exploded over his tongue and crumbles of taco shell fell onto his plate.  

Saturday afternoons couldn’t get much better than this: wearing his most comfortable shirt; hanging with his girlfriend Riley Brooks, who was his favorite person in the world; and lunch at his new favorite eatery, Tia Maria Tacos. Bonus: they had scored an upstairs window booth that overlooked the Potomac River. 

Normally for the pair, Saturdays were for sleeping in and being lazy; 24 hours of partial nudity and horizontal positions suited them just fine after clocking out of work on a Friday afternoon. Especially if they had worked a full week.  

But Riley had been in a funk lately; she had been to five job interviews over the past month; good interviews, where she had been a top-two contender. However, that hadn’t been good enough. Riley had been passed over every time, for each job.  

Requests for feedback had not been helpful; hiring managers told her they couldn’t go wrong regardless of who they chose for the position. Riley’s ego was bruised, her esteem low. Despite her having a job that she had worked for the past 10 years ... a job she did damn well ... she was now comparing herself to Penelope, for Chrissakes.  

Leo knew he had to do something, so he planned Date Day.  

They began at Lincoln’s Waffle House for breakfast followed by a couples’ massage in Cleveland Park. Riley wanted to visit a tarot shop; Leo was agreeable. They both got readings, and she purchased a deck of tarot cards along with a strand of chakra beads.  

From there they went to Georgetown, navigating the crowds and perusing shops. A French bakery was offering a European tea meal; Riley looked at Leo with hopeful eyes that quickly filled with dismay at his emphatic refusal. An hour later, laden with bags from a vintage clothing shop, a sex store, and a spice-filled storefront, they decided they were hungry; Leo suggested tacos.  

He took a long swallow from his bottle of beer, his gaze fixed on Riley who had a plate filled key lime shrimp, Korean BBQ, and spicy chicken tacos, along with a serving of nacho fries. She felt his gaze and looked up to smile at him before taking a healthy bite of the shrimp taco. 

Her eyes widened with surprise before closing in bliss. 

“Hmmmmmm, this is soooooo good, Leo! I mean, it ain’t Chinese food but still like, hella good! Thank you for suggesting this place!” she said around a mouthful of food.  

“Anytime, boo,” he replied with a wink as he reached into her plate for fries covered in nacho cheese and seasoned ground beef.  

“And thank you for cheering me up today. It’s the reminder I needed that the Universe is just doing what it does, and all those hiring managers are just bitches and heifers.” 

Leo dragged his fork through seasoned beans and rice. “They weren’t the jobs for you,” he assured her.  “YOU are smart, funny, kind, and the greatest asset any person or job can have, and the right organization will recognize that. Not to mention you’re fucking gorgeous, and do you have any idea how hot you are?” 

Riley bit into the spicy chicken taco, and quickly took a sip of her Sierra Mist with lemon. She nodded at Leo. “How hot I am? Yeah, I know ...  and the answer is not very.” 

Leo chuckled as he shook his head. This woman.  

He and Riley were the couple that were never supposed to be. Both had had extremely bad luck with love, resulting in deeply rooted trust issues; the issues were more prevalent on Riley’s end than Leo’s.  

They were both ambiverts, which loosely translated meant that there was no guarantee that plans made at 10am would still be in effect at 5pm. And you couldn’t be angry about it. 

Physically, neither was the other’s type. Leo was a touch too lanky and fit for the buxom Riley; for Leo, Riley had a few too many inches in height, and was a tad curvier than he was used to. They met via Tinder, and it was supposed to be a one-night stand. 

But their chemistry was off the charts.  

But the sex was too good.  

But their pillow talk left them curious to know more about each other while fully clothed.  

Long story short … she kept him wild, and he kept her safe.  

Before Leo could reassure his girlfriend that she was indeed VERY hot, her eyes trained on someone at a table near the back wall; they narrowed in anger as she tossed her food onto her plate while muttering, “What the actual FUCK?” 

Leo looked around puzzled, wondering WHO happened. Because with Riley, it was never a what.  If he could change two things about his woman, it would be her incredible grudge-holding talents and her penchant for public confrontation.  

Only one table in the far corner was occupied.  A Latina, facing them, was excitedly showing off one of her purchases to her male companion; Leo squinted, determining that the girl was proudly displaying a pair of earrings.  

He swung back around, a look of confusion on his face. “Who are we hating on here?” 

Riley dramatically pointed her index finger at the Latina. “HER! She told me I was a SHOO-IN for that freaking job!! AND THEN WENT WITH SOMEONE ELSE!” 

Leo looked even more confused. “Which job? There were five of them!” 

Riley didn’t answer. She was too busy scowling at the woman across the room while alternating between shaking her fist and making symbols with her fingers.  

“Babe, what are you doing?”  

“Throwing gang signs!” 

“DC DOESN’T HAVE GANGS!” Leo argued. 

“IT DOES NOW!!” 

So much for a peaceful outing and letting the Universe do its thing. 

Maxwell x Penelope 

 “I cannot believe you right now, Pen!” Maxwell Beaumont seethed as he rubbed the heels of his hands against his closed eyes.  

The Communications and Marketing Director inhaled and exhaled deeply, slowly. It was rare that anyone or anything upset Maxwell, much less angered him; but if anyone could knock him off his equilibrium, for certain it was his girlfriend, Penelope.  

His girlfriend stared at him with her wide, pansy-blue eyes before quickly licking her pink-glossed lips. She ran slender, pale fingers through her black hair, then tightened the belt of her pink silk robe. Penelope outstretched her arm, her fingertips grazing the fabric of her boyfriend’s shirt; at his look of frustrated rage, she quickly pulled her hand back.   

“Max,” she began in her breathy voice, “I know you’re upset with me, but I HAD to leave that godawful job! The commute sucked and who knew data entry was so … exacting? It’s a miracle I lasted as long as I did!” 

By the time she finished her explanation, her hands were gesticulating wildly about, and her tone of voice had become a shriek.  

Maxwell turned his back on Penelope to go into their kitchen; still hot Italian food sat on the stove, wrapped in plastic bags. He hollered at her while he began unpacking what was supposed to be a celebratory dinner for Penelope’s new job.  

“IT WAS A TELEWORK POSITION! That you were LATE for BOTH DAYS you worked! And it was MAIL MERGE, NOT DATA ENTRY!” He turned to glare daggers at her. “I don’t know what’s worse, the fact you put forth entirely ZERO effort into at least TRYING to become a member of the working class, or that you lied to me the entire week about still having the damn job!” 

An angry retort sprang to her lips; Penelope debated continuing the argument but thought better of it.  She had known the lie would catch up with her, but she had been hoping it would have been after the dinner. Carmine’s had the most amazing food, and Penelope was in love with their broiled Lobster Oreganata, Porterhouse Pizzaiola, and pasta with meatballs and sausage.  

With Maxwell’s back facing her, Penelope quietly tiptoed into the kitchen, trying to neither be seen nor heard. She peered over her potentially ex-boyfriend's shoulder, salivating at the sight and smells of containers filled with pastas, meats, and sauces.  

Maxwell felt his girlfriend’s eyes on him and exhaled a silent breath. He should have known from their first meeting that Penelope was not relationship material.  

They met at 9:30am on the elevator at the office building Max worked in; it was Penelope’s first day at a company occupying the entire third floor. At 11am, Max was back on the elevator hellbent on a Starbucks run; the elevator stopped at the third floor and Penelope entered, her blue eyes filled with tears.  

She had been let go from her new job in less than 90 minutes. 

Max was a sucker for a damsel in distress. He dried Penelope’s tears, treated her to a coffee, and offered to take her out on a date. That had been over two years ago, and if the woman had worked a cumulative 40-hour work week since, he knew nothing about it.  

He had asked the gang if their companies were hiring; Liam laughed so hard, his drink came out of his nose. Riley, who worked with Max, rolled her eyes as she muttered, “You already know.” Everyone else shook their heads vigorously. 

For a brief period, he had even let her be a stay-at-home girlfriend, but that definitely didn’t work out; Penelope couldn’t cook and had no concept of housekeeping. He had to pull from his savings to replace his wardrobe when she tossed his lights, darks and half a bottle of bleach into the washing machine. She was asleep when he left for work, and asleep when he returned home.  

Irresponsible was too inadequate of a word to describe his girlfriend. She was a money pit in addition to being careless, thoughtless, and an emotional vampire. 

But Maxwell Beaumont loved Penelope Ebrim. She could be sweet, buying him small gifts that brought a smile to his face. She mixed mean cocktails, had a killer sense of humor, and was a terrific dancer. She just needed to find her way.  

Apparently, God had chosen Max to help her do so.  

“Pen, you have GOT to find and keep a job!” Max stated in a firm tone that brooked no argument as he prepared her a plate of lobster, pasta with garlic and oil, and shrimp parmigiana.  

When Penelope saw Maxwell piling a plate with Italian yumminess, she had moved to the cabinets to grab a bottle of wine and two glasses. She was setting them on the dinette table as she debated coming clean in her reply. 

“I may have found something; I’m supposed to have an interview Monday.” 

Max set the serving spoon down as be swung his head to look at his girlfriend in surprise. “Why didn’t you tell me this?” 

“I was waiting until afterwards so I could surprise you!” Penelope crowed happily.  

“Well, where? With who?” Max’s smile covered his entire face as he resumed plating food. 

Maybe things were looking up.  

Penelope expertly removed the wine bottle’s cork and began pouring sparkling merlot into the glasses.  

“The interview is at The Greene Turtle, and it’s with a temp agency called Daddy’s Little Girl. Basically, I would be having lunches and meetings at hotels with older men for an hourly rate.” 

Maxwell had plates in both hands, which he slowly lowered onto the kitchen counter; his every movement displayed his disbelief. There was no way his girlfriend had applied for a job as an escort.  

No.Way.  

“You’re going to be a prostitute?” he choked out.  

Penelope had just taken her seat. She looked up at Maxwell in horror at his words.  

“NO!! Why would you say THAT?  How could you even THINK THAT of me??’ It’s like lunch meetings or something!” 

“NAKED LUNCH! Pen, NO ONE is paying a woman … a PRETTY WOMAN … to just “have lunch”!! And meetings in HOTEL ROOMS? What the ACTUAL fuck?” 

“It’s working lunches, sometimes dinners, with out-of-town business entrepreneurs who need someone to take dictation!” 

Max’s face dropped into his open palm.  

“The going rate is $150 an hour! I was told with my looks and appearance, I could be in huge demand,” Penelope argued.  

“WHEN DID THEY SEE YOU?” Max yelled as he threateningly shook a plastic spatula in Penelope’s direction. 

“I saw the ad on Craigslist and called the number in the listing, then did a Zoom with the manager.” 

Maxwell Beaumont stared at his girlfriend for a long, silent moment before exiting the kitchen and heading for their bedroom.  

“MAX! Where are you going??” 

“To have a talk with God.” 

Penelope stared at his retreating back with a furrowed brow before shrugging and rising to fetch her dinner.  

“Tell Him I said heyyyy.” 

Max’s response was to slam the bedroom door. 

Tagging: @ao719 @jared2612 @marietrinmimi @indiacater @kingliam2019 @bebepac @mom2000aggie @liamxs-world @liamrhysstalker2020 @twinkleallnight @umccall71 @superharriet @busywoman @beezm @gabesmommie1130 @tessa-liam @gardeningourmet @mainstreetreader @angelasscribbles @emkay512 @princessleac1 @charlotteg234 @alj4890 @lovingchoices14 @lady-calypso @walkerdrakewalker @queenjilian @kristinamae093 @choicesficwriterscreations

#dcbbw writes #trr dc au fanfiction #sock game liam #hint of lemon #writer on tumblr

[hamcakevaletguy]

RPF Angela headcanons/scenarios with a pinch of angst because I’m procrastinating on my actual fics

(Feel free to use any of these as prompts)

(Also, sorry in advance for over explaining)

Platonic/General

Angela found out her love language is being known and being roasted for things that are unique to her (Tiny Car mukbang). She loves when people make fun of her and actively tries to make it easy for everyone to recognize her (ex: continuing to give Anthony chances to guess her on his “guess who slapped me” even after he felt her cast and didn’t know it was her, most of her top threes in Shayne guesses having joke answers to make it obvious that it’s her) because she’s not confident that any of them actually know her enough

Angela gets annoyed at how unoriginal some comments can be (in Pit Theater videos only referring to her voice or verbal typos that she makes because of her natural lack of filter/dyslexia) but still making jokes in the same strain because she knows everyone will laugh at it (ex: making typos on purpose in Patently Stupid, but also sometimes doing it on accident because she’s dyslexic) putting other people’s enjoyment over her own discomfort

Angela always laughs/apologizes after she “insults” anyone no matter how obvious it is that it’s a joke because she doesn’t want to be thought of as mean. She also spirals/immediately takes it back when she thinks she hurt someone (ex: Ian’s style in the Hot Ones: Truth or Dab video & telling Shayne he dances like a towel in the Black Beopardy stream)

Angela immediately refusing to “yes, and” bits about her not liking her coworkers (ex: staring contest stream, Shayne “she doesn’t laugh at my jokes” “omg, no! that’s so sad” & April fools smoshcast “it’s not funny to joke about” when Chanse says Amanda doesn’t like Angela) because even the idea of it makes her sick

Angela doesn’t want to just be herself on camera sometimes (her episode of Perfect Person Podcast) because it’s fine if people don’t like her characters, she can change those at the drop of a hat, but if people don’t like her as a person…

Angela’s busy all the time working on Smosh, Starkid, several sketch/improv teams, producing and starring in short films, making time to still see her friends, and has almost no time for self care. She’s constantly loading herself with caffeine to stay up because people need her (she’s a people pleaser, she can’t help it). One particularly busy month, she gets more and more tired as the days go on and no one notices until she passes out mid shoot

Romantic

(Anyone) Angela falls in love with one of her close friends/co-workers, but decides not to pursue it/speak about it at all because she wants to keep their friendship above all else (from the infamous Agree to Disagree video: friendship breakups are hard for her; she’d rather have them stay in her life as a friend than risk losing them for a chance at something more)

(Anyone) Angela’s not good at recognizing when someone’s flirting with her. She’s also not aware of when she’s flirting most times (she says a lot of things before her brain can process and fully catch up) She’s the type to not realize her feelings before it’s too late and the other person has already moved on

Sub-headcanon: At some point, most people she’s come in contact with (that’s attracted to women) have had a tiny crush on her. Her winning prom queen in high school (1, 2 Switch) wasn’t just because she was the one who organized prom; it’s because 90% of the student body was in love with her. (She was in a performing arts middle school and high school. Most of them were probably bi theater kids. You’re telling me that the most popular kid at that school wouldn’t be Angela? The same Angela who was part of the student council, is an incredible performer, very friendly and enthusiastic about everything, and attractive to boot?)

#angela giarratana #smosh rpf #rpf #might do another one of these instead of actually working on my 90% complete fics

[lee-hakhyun]

582 + 583

with these two chapters, episode 5 is complete! summaries for both into one post because i completely forgot yesterday ^^;

so, killer king and literature girl are poisoned, and lhh is alone against the three ratmen he uses incite, and talks to the plague-calling rat constellation, saying he's a villain too and bargaining killer king for the treasure trove's loot

the second time he has disappointed someone by acting like a villain

he manages to distract the constellation up until he reveals he's cheon inho, where the constellation immediately orders the ratmen to kill him lol however, he's able to buy enough time to grab a torch with black ether and throw it over to the downed dark keeper, which revives it

the constellation tried to intervene, but the dark keeper called for it's master.. which is asmodeus

asmodeus, predictably, destroys the rat and when he turns to look at lhh

incite really is an interesting skill however, due to this asmodeus has an interest in lhh now and the dark keeper leaving, after saying something with ■s

the dark keeper leaving clears the sub scenario, and the scenario rewards are stolen from killer king, gaining lhh 8k coins + 1k additional coins from jophiel.

lhh uses the horn of the rhinoceros he took from the corpse that yjh killed as an antidote to the poison, and lhh learns what ohdokhyup is

i do ask that everyone that reads my edited mtl buys the side stories!! i signed up for munpia with a naver email and then google translated the webpage to navigate it, every chapter is 100 won which is EXTREMELY cheap for now, feel free to message me for my edited mtl until there's an official eng translation

lhh checks the comments killer king has made.. and..

i am yoo joonghyuk

when splitting the loot between lhh's group and killer king's group, lhh lets king take the random item box.. later revealing that yjh already used it. we have another SCAMMER (good for him!)

before king leaves the dark root, he does ask lhh who he is, and he reveals that he's cheon inho killer king uses [eye of sin] again on lhh,

what does this mean. lee hakhyun has done NOTHING other than accidentally(?) killing 19 people they do part amicably, though king will not be happy when he realizes the random item box is useless now ^^

for the other items, the old iron shield that lee hyunsung originally used went to kyung sein, and lee dansu got the magic power recovery bracelet

the stuff that lee hakhyun wrote but never put in orv continue to show up.. and with that, he goes back to where the random item box used to be and starts digging down

there's a second random item box..

(these summaries take me so long because i keep getting distracted looking at fan art haha.. at least i can catch some typos while checking over the screenshots)

#orv side story #orv #orv spoilers #side story rambles

[terichii]

Stalking | Haitani

Warnings: clumsy english text, typos

Can I just write something before I see these beautiful boys in the new episode?

Ran

You knew for sure that you had already seen this guy. By a stupid accident, one day he helped you collect your things that were scattered all over the street. Since then, he surprisingly often began to catch your eye. You noticed him on the way to and from work when you went to the store or just walked around the city. Sometimes he was passing by you and smile, which was confusing, but sometimes you noticed how he was watching from afar. In the end, it was like being paranoid. It seemed that you were about to see these two braids that callused your eyes, sitting on the sofa in your living room.

And you've come to terms with it. Almost. Until something happened.

"You've been finishing up pretty late lately."

"Eh?...",- the familiar voice sent shivers down your spine. You froze, unable to move. But you didn't want to turn your head because you probably knew it was him. Now it was just like a terrible dream that did not want to let you go.

"Do you need a ride?"

Swallowing, you turned around. Yes, it was him. That creepy guy with those stupid braids that you hated. Leaning on the steering wheel of the bike and propping his chin on his hand, he looked at you with a narrowed eye and a grin.

"Uh...n-no, thank you, I'm not far here...", - but you're lying and it seems that he understands this. The time was really late, and you live far away. But right now you were thinking about how to escape from him. You walked further along the street, periodically glancing at him and speeding up your pace. If you had the opportunity, you would have run with all your might now, but you knew that this opportunity was not there. You definitely can't overtake a bike.

The guy caught up with you, looking right into your face, the grin became even wider when he realized what was going on, it seemed that he felt you too well, - "Are you afraid of me?"

"What?? Of course not", - the words, full of indignation, literally burst out of you. No, you weren't afraid of him, you were already sick of seeing him. Isn't that right? Right? ...

From your harsh words, he looked thoughtfully somewhere up into the night sky, before turning back to you, - "That's how...but…"

But you're already gone.

Pausing in mid-sentence, Ran began to look around, peering into the depths of the dark streets. He pursed his lips when he realized where you went – to a remote alley. The place is not the safest.

Your rapid footsteps echoed hollowly from the concrete walls of the narrow alleys. Hoping to take a shortcut and get out of here as soon as possible, you wound through unfamiliar courtyards until you once again came to a dead end.

"Damn",- your thoughts began to get confused again, a tight lump rose somewhere in your throat, you felt panic. If you go back, he will be there. But you're tired of looking for a way out.

"Hey, baby, are you lost?"

Lost in your thoughts, you did not notice how three criminal-looking guys turned out to be nearby. One of them came up to you with an imposing gait, unceremoniously grabbing you by the waist, the disgusting type pulled you closer to him.

"Why are you so tense, relax, we can help you with this, right, guys?", - the guy looked at his friends and laughed, they also took up his initiative.

Unpleasant laughter causes a headache, for a second you thought that you could just give up, that this is not happening to you and it has gone too far.

"Take your hands off!!", - pushing him away from you with a sharp jerk, you jumped back a couple of steps.

The guy staggered, but stood on his feet, although an unpleasant aching pain spread over his chest, which caused his cheerful mood to instantly evaporate, giving way to anger, - "Catch this bitch."

After these words, you immediately slipped back into the narrow alley along which you came, when the others ran after you. Out of the corner of your ear, you heard threats flying after you. You ran, running out of strength until you found an even narrower alley with containers behind which you could hide.

Footsteps and voices echoed past your shelter, sweat broke out on your face, and your legs were buzzing because of the heavy load, but you were still sitting stiffly on the cold, dirty asphalt, unable to move and breathe calmly.

But the panic again covered you when the steps were approaching in your direction, and the shadow fell on the wall of the building opposite. But you breathed a sigh of relief when you saw the tall figure of a guy you already know. It seems that for the first time you were happy to see him.

"Are you okay?", - an excited expression appeared on his face as he looked you up and down and held out his hand to help you up.

"Yes, I was just a little scared...", - you accepted the help and got up on your numb legs, brushing off your clothes from the dirt, - "Thank you for...oh...you have blood on your cheek", - you didn't understand why you were worried about him, seeing only a small scratch on his face, but...from this angle, you noted that your pursuer was very cute, which made your cheeks turn pink.

"Hmm?", - passing his hand over his cheek, he looked at his fingers, which really had smeared blood on them, but..- "It's not mine", - the guy smiled gently, which caused you confusion, but you were calm.

"Do you see how many problems there are just because you didn't agree to my offer?", - a light chuckle eased the tension between the two of you as he held out his hand to you again, - "So can I give you a ride?"

Confused, even more, you looked uncertainly into his eyes and, not seeing the danger, carefully put your hand in his, - "I think...yes."

Rindou

"I think it's starting to rain...", - a familiar voice drawled thoughtfully to your's right, while you were standing at the intersection and was waiting for the green light.

From surprise, you turned around and shuddered – in the crowd of people waiting for the signal, there was him - a guy with blond hair and a very ordinary sharp face. The purple eyes shine a little, brazenly looking at your's face. Without turning around, he opens his umbrella right at the moment when the first thunderclap sounds somewhere in the distance.

"Aren't you afraid of getting wet?", - It became obvious that this guy was talking to you, taking a light step past those standing around.

"No", - you whisper, taking a step back.

Suddenly, a beep is heard behind him. The cars on the road freeze, and the flow of people rushes forward, carrying you away. Your thoughts were confused as your legs desperately carried you somewhere ahead. You had already passed the crossing, but something made you turn around. Your heart stopped for a moment, then began to pound wildly – you saw him among the huge mass of heads. His blond, disheveled hair shone like the sun from under a black umbrella. It seems that he also noticed you – a friendly smile appeared on his face. Lifting his umbrella, he waved vigorously at you with his free hand.

This innocent gesture caused a wave of icy goosebumps to run down your back, and you hurried to escape from a crowded place to some courtyards.

You ran for a long time, ragged breath coming out of your mouth until the strength left you, and you stopped. You needed to catch your breath. The rain was beating harder and harder on your head. Your hair and clothes were soaked through

"You'll catch a cold if you keep running like this," - he suddenly heard very close to your ear.

You jumped on the spot and turned around. It's him again! And how does he manage to catch up with you, while maintaining an absolutely calm appearance?..

The guy came closer, taking advantage of your confusion. He held out his hand. Cold…

His angular hand slid onto your forearm and, moving up, pulled uncomfortably on your wet sleeve.

"What do you want from me?...", - you whispered very softly. Your voice was hoarse, frightened. You were shaking all over.

A real hurricane of thoughts was spinning in your head. The first meeting was on a clear evening, a sweet, promising conversation. When did everything go wrong? Now he was following your constantly. At first, he seemed unobtrusive and courteous – he met you, accompany you through dangerous streets to the house. But...after one of the meetings, everything changed. Or not?

"I just want to walk you home", - as always, he smiled warmly with his simple smile, as if he did not understand how creepy he looks now, in their "accidental" meeting. - "Yes, and this rain is so not at the right time. And I see you don't take an umbrella…"

"Fuck off already!", - you screamed and started running again, leaving the frightening interlocutor in slight confusion.

The rain was falling harder and harder, blurring the view with a solid wall. Where did you run to? You didn't care anymore. A straight section, a turn, another turn, a wide street that you run diagonally, ignoring the indignant shouts in the back. The lights of the signs and windows dance around you. Everything merges into a strange nightmare, where bright colors are just decorations. Your heart continues to pound wildly, the noise of blood in your ears is deafening.

That's when you bump into someone's thick carcass. An elastic blow throws you to the wet asphalt. Your hands are burning with pain, and you finally come to your senses.

You were now sitting in some dark alley, where neither lonely windows nor the black doors of various eateries do not go out.

A moment of confusion.

"S-sorry", - you rise, leaning on a skinned palm. It stings. – "I just…"

"Are you lost, beautiful?" - A high-pitched adult voice was heard.

You lookup. In front of you is a heavy man significantly exceeding you in height. He chuckles slightly as he looks at you. And now he was reaching out to you

"Let me examine your hands...", - a hard grip shackles your right wrist, pulls forward.

You are overwhelmed by panic, you can't resist it, are absolutely tired. From despair and pain, you began to howl softly.

"Well, well", - the man encouraged you, smiling maliciously, continuing to pull you to him. – "There's nothing terrible here, dear, now I'll help you get rid of the pain…"

The other hand was also close to your body. It seemed that something irreparable was about to happen.

"Don't...please let me go!", - you whimpered and squeezed your eyes shut in a fit of hopelessness.

And then something happened.

You opened one eye, unable to restrain a strange curiosity. The man let go of your hand, and all his attention was now focused on the guy standing almost between them. With one hand he continued to squeeze the umbrella, the water from which was just trickling down the rough man's neck, and with the other, he was squeezing his fat wrist.

"I think they told you to let go," - he said seriously, looking straight into the small, surprising beady eyes.

"What?", - that's all the boar said, after which he tried to crush the stranger with his mass, stepping forward.

What happened next, you remembered vaguely. More precisely, you just didn't have time to remember exactly what happened. The guy only smiled rapaciously at the fat man's movement, after which he made several blows so fast that you simply did not catch them all. Just sharp shadows under the light of a lone lantern suddenly crashed into a thick carcass. The pig didn't even say anything, just fell back, collapsing on the garbage bags against the wall.

Realizing that it was all over, you turned her gaze to your pursuer and were amazed. He stood there, absolutely calm, smiling affably and holding out his hand to her.

"It's dangerous to go home alone. Can I walk you out?"

A lump rose in your throat, but you immediately overcame herself and took the stranger by the hand. - "Yes, I think I should agree"

You smiled sweetly back at him, then obediently stood under a wide umbrella, and together you moved to the exit of the alley.

#tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers scenarios #tokyo revengers x reader #haitani ran #ran haitani #ran #haitani #ran x reader #ran scenario #ran haitani x reader #haitani rindou #rindou haitani #rindou #rindou x reader #rindou scenario #rindou haitani x reader

[ddaengyoonmin]

-Hotel For Demons- (Intro)

Pairing: eventual ot7 x reader; the first few chapters are very Yoongi x reader centric.

Warnings/tags:  Stripping, teasing, gambling, mentions of some dark/mob activity

( eventual )Smut-angst-fluff

Summary:  You work as a stripper at an extremely secretive casino resort that caters to people of a dark nature.  You are used to strange and ignoring your fears.  Yet one night a man, more scary and more intriguing than any other seems to grow fond of you while you dance.  You play a game with him that takes you away from everything you’ve known and into an even darker world than you’d ever known...and now he’s calling you his wife.

a/n: (this is very unedited sry for typos and things if they appear) taken some inspiration from the anime ‘Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits.’  It starts out a bit dark but it's going to be a lot more lighthearted in some chapters.  Once I get the initial set up to the story, this fic will just be a bunch of short episode like stories with y/n having different moments with each member or a few members, not always directly connected to future chapters or the chapter before, just set in the same world.  Let me know what you think!!

------

It felt to the men in the crowd like they were hypnotized watching you.

You were the one hypnotized though, by the music, and by the thudding of the bass in rap song you’d picked for your dance vibrating through the club.

You could feel it in your chest, each thump pushing your hips forward as you grinded against the pole, sticking your ass out as you jumped onto the pole and spun.  You swore you heard one man in the crowd gasp as you did.

The purple stage lights flashed to blue as the song hit a slower beat.  You slid down the pole slowly, your hands gently moving down to the floor with the rest of your body.

As you continued on with your floor work you could practically feel the eyes of one man in particular sitting on you with an almost unblinking stare.

You could only see his eyes, the lower half of his face was covered by a black mask with a pattern that made it look like blood was dripping all over it in a very cartoonish way.

It wasn’t uncommon for people to wear masks like that here, but his was quite an interesting choice.

You could see bits of black hair peeking through his black jacket’s hood, which was also strange.  He seemed so secretive with his appearance.  Maybe that's what was giving him the confidence to stare at you so obviously.  

Most men tended to get shy when you stared them down.

 No...maybe he really hadn’t blinked once…

You realized you’d been focusing on him a bit too long and quickly danced your way to facing away from him.

Though you couldn’t escape the powerful gaze that you felt on your backside the entire time.

You knew the ending of your song was coming up and you took to the pole again to finish the dance.

It might have been obvious to everyone in the club that whether it was intentional or subconscious, you had started dancing for him.  

When you ended your dance, the last step you took had you facing right at him, chest heaving from putting a bit of extra effort into your moves than usual.

You weren’t sure why, it didn’t make sense.  You never usually got this worked up over someone in the audience, but his attention was exciting.

Some men clapped, and a few threw some money on the stage.  You gave a twinkle wave to no one in general as you turned to walk back to the dressing rooms behind the stage.

The girl that would come out and collect your money off the stage for you squeezed your shoulder as you walked by and gave you a smile.

“I haven’t seen you perform like that in forever!” she praised loudly over the song that was playing while they set up for the next dancer.

You mouthed a thank you and from the corner of your eye you caught the mysterious man standing up from the table and leaving.

Your heart dropped a little bit.  You had a second song still later that a part of you had hoped he’d have stuck around for.  He hadn’t even paid you.  He paid the entry fee to enter the strip club area of the casino resort, bought one drink, watched just your song, and left.

It was strange.

You were used to odd people.  Sometimes even dangerous people.  The casino you worked at catered to a very particular crowd of very rich men.

They weren’t the type of rich men you’d see on the news or in magazines.  They were all a very secretive type.  You were told when you’d been hired two years ago that you weren’t ever to ask the men about what they did for a living.  

It always made you wonder, but it never bothered you.  The amount of money in their wallets was enough to make you not need to read too deeply into any of it.  Why mess up a good thing.

It's not that you only cared about money...but everyone has their amount.  Everyone has a number to where they’ll turn their eyes the other way.

At least that's what your boss had told you the first time he’d sat you down in his office and handed you a blank check with his name already signed on it.

The day that you’d seen something that you never want to think about again.

Now you don’t have to.  

Aside from the anomaly that was that man today, the diamonds on your wrists that would dance while you did were enough of a distraction from the things you’d seen.

With some of the things you’d witnessed go down in this casino you were glad that your number was as high as it was.

When it was well past 3 in the morning and your shift was done you put on your coat and began to walk towards the main entrance of the building to leave.  Almost everyone besides those who worked there had left for the night, either returning to their hotel rooms or getting up to some business you’d rather not think about.

Just before you’d walked past the last of the blackjack tables you heard a voice call out to you.

“y/n right?”

A chill ran down your spine.  You never used your real name at the club, it was a rule that you’d never tell customers your real name.

Your head whipped around to see that same man from earlier sat down alone at the table, shuffling through a deck of cards.

On closer look the cards were definitely not ones from your casino, almost as if he’d brought his own with him, another rule broken.

“No…” You lied. “You must be confused.”

You heard a chuckle from behind the mask. “I’m never confused.  Sit down.”

He spoke so sternly and with a low gravel that spiked some fear into your body.

But you sat anyway.  Maybe it was fear of what he’d do if you said no, but more likely it was that you were still wildly intrigued by this strange man.

“How do you know me?” You spoke as you sat down in the seat across from where he sat in the dealers chair.

“That's not important right now.” He muttered. “Want to play a game?” He spoke those words with such a smooth and beautiful compelling tone.  

“Why not.” You decided, shifting in your seat and trying to get a better eye on the cards he was still shuffling through.

You wished you could see behind his mask, but all you could see was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

He laid out three cards in front of you face down.  They were black with the images of blood dripping down them, the same as his mask.

“Pick one.” He demanded.

“Shouldn’t I know the rules first?” You cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Rules don’t really matter here do they. Surely you know that better than anyone.” He replied.

“There are some rules that matter.” You debated.  “Like you calling me by my real name.”

“Not to me.” He then tapped on the table in front of him with a closed fist. “Pick a card.”

You sighed and figured ‘What's the worst that could happen.’

You stared at the cards in front of you, not sure if it even made a difference which one you’d pick, but still, you studied them before finally pointing to the one in the middle.

He then reached out and flipped the card, revealing a very detailed drawing of two golden rings intertwined together.

He seemed to sigh a big exhale of relief.  

“Good.” he muttered.

“That's good? For me, or you? What game are we playing here!” You were starting to get frustrated.

He then flipped over the other two cards, revealing one that was a painting of a gravestone, and one that was a painting of flames.

“Good for both of us.” You could almost hear the smile in his voice, though you were only growing more confused.

“Pick up your card.  Don’t touch the other ones.” He ordered.  

With a small huff you listened to him, grabbing the card with the rings on it.

“In both hands.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.” he seemed to growl in an almost inhuman way.

Your fear now made your blood run cold, you didn’t want to anger him so you did as he said instantly.

As soon as you did, you felt a rush of wind hit you from behind.  It was so strong the other two cards flew off the table.  The man stood there with his arms crossed and started laughing a maniacal laugh.

The whole table then seemed to start to spin, you wanted to grip onto something but your hands seemed to be glued to the card you held.

Everything got faster and more blurry, everything except him.  Before you could comprehend how, it seemed that the whole place you’d been in was starting to fade away into a bright white light.

As the spinning movements quickened you squeezed your eyes shut tightly and let out a small scream.

It only lasted a few more seconds before you felt everything still.

“Open your eyes.” His voice spoke to you much softer.

Slowly you did, opening up to a sight you were not expecting to see.

You were now in a large room with wooden floors and a wooden ceiling.  Lots of art and architecture that seemed to be at least a thousand years before your own. It was very decorative and ornate, it seemed almost like a palace.

“Welcome to your home my wife.”

#yoongi x reader #yoongi fanfic #ot7 x reader #yoongi angst #yoongi smut #yoongi fluff #ot7 smut #bts x reader #bts fanfic #bts angst #bts smut #bts fluff #bts fantasy #jungkook x reader #taehyung x reader #jimin x reader #namjoon x reader #hoseok x reader #seokjin x reader #bts imagines #bts series #yoongi x you #bts x you #bts x y/n #yoongi x y/n

[sleepywinchester]

Fool For You Pt. 7

Summary:  You are back in your hometown Freeridge to take care of your sister Jasmine and your father after being away for six years. You left Freeridge looking for a better life but in that process you had to let go of someone you loved. But you’re back and things are not the same but they sure feel like it.

Words: 2K+

Warnings: N/A

A/N: Hola!!!! Hope everyone is safe at home! This continues the story as a some sort of a series re-write. It won’t be something of all the episodes but the main ones of where Spooky appears. Hope you guys like this and always feel free to leave some feedback is so appreciated it. 

 | MESSAGE BOX | HAPPY READING!!!

(english is not my first language, might be some typos around)

Title: every day and every night.

Chapters: Uno - Dos - Tres - Cuatro - Cinco - Seis

Your nerves grew with every second that went by, all the scenarios of how Oscar and Cesar were in trouble or dead traveled your mind. It was 11:50am and you could feel how slow every second went by. It was like the clock stayed still and it was killing you softly. The news channel was on, reporting how Santos territory kept expanding. You had it on just in case something caught the news before the gang could know, before anyone could tell you the horrible news.

“Madre de misericordia, Maestra del sacrificio escondido y silencioso, a ti, que sales al encuentro de nosotros,” you stopped praying for a second when the name Santos was spoken on the TV once again. Your eyes went back to the front door after the reporter continued with non important details about the tags. “los pecadores, te consagramos en este día todos nuestro ser y todo nuestro amor. Te consagramos también nuestra vida, nuestros trabajos, nuestras alegrías, nuestras enfermedades y nuestros dolores” 

At this moment in time praying was the only thing you could do that brought you peace and serenity. Asking for a higher force was giving you hope that Oscar and Cesar were going to walk from that front door at any moment. 

Your body stood up the second the door squeaked, revealing Oscar’s tired yet victorious aura. It was like you could breathe again knowing he was okay and untouched from his enemies. Leaving the rosary on the couch, you jumped on his arms, thighs wrapped around his waist. He hold you tight to his body. 

“You’re alive,” you sighed with relief, “I thought-”

“-hey,” he smirked, “I’m good.” Oscar put you down on your feet, looking next to him was Cesar giving you a small smile. “Estamos bien.”

He knew how hard it must have been for you to wait here until he came back. This could have turned very badly but it didn’t and you guys were thankful for that.

You brushed your fingers through your hair, pushing it backwards and breathing heavily yet smiling at both of them. “I am so happy you guys are back. Estaba preocupada.” 

Oscar kissed your forehead before walking into the hallway and disappearing inside the bathroom. You looked at Cesar who was holding his backpack, his eyes roaming around the house. It was obvious that he instantly saw how different it looked yet how familiar still felt. 

“Like what I’ve done with the place?” You asked him with a smirk. 

Cesar nodded, “Looks different but feels the same.”

With a chuckle you shrugged and grabbed your rosary from the sofa, “I didn’t want to change too much, this is your home but it definitely needed some woman’s touch. I just cleaned it up a little bit and added things that needed to be added. I hope that’s ok?”

“It is,” he replied, “thanks for everything.”

You caressed his cheek, “Anytime, kid. Now go, take a nap on your bed.”

“It’s been a while,” he murmured to himself.

“I know,” you said before leaving him to be and going in Oscar’s room.

Once inside you watched him how he was taking off his flannel and throwing it over the chair. He looked exhausted yet relieved to have his brother home.

“Can you promise me something?” You told him to close the door. His eyes met yours, he was curious about what you were going to ask him. You reached him, gazing at his hazel with green eyes. “If something ever goes sideways or….” 

Oscar’s eyebrows furrowed full of worry, “Y/N-.”

“You are in a gang, Oscar,” you didn’t let him finish. “Anything can happen at any giving time. I know you are smarter than that but anything can happen and I-,” your voice broke, he caressed your chin, “I would hate to not be able to say goodbye.”

“Where is this coming from?”

“Today… I couldn’t keep my eyes off the front door. I thought in all the ways you could have died. All the ways your homies or the cops would tell me you’re dead. And all I wanted to do is to be able to speak to you… even if it was one last time.” You hugged him, his chin rested on top of your head. “I don’t want to feel like that… ever again but I know with your life I just have to deal with how to cope with this feeling every time you have to handle business but just- find a way… ¿Por favor?

When both eyes met, you noticed how soft and worried his look was. He wasn’t a man of much words but those eyes spoke a thousand words if you really knew how to listen. 

“I promise,” he said kissing your lips. 

/ / /

Later that day once Cesar got settled, Oscar decided to cook Ceviche for his brother's friends as a thank you for helping out with his brother. They were eager to know how they made the plan against the Prophet$ work. Jamal and Ruby were extremely surprised when Oscar’s plan worked, leaving Cesar safe and able to be back home. 

“You gave our money away!” Jamal shouted.

Your eyes rolled out of habit as you took a sip from your beer. These kids were loyal and brave but those qualities didn’t take the big amount of annoying out of them. 

“No, I gave them the marked ones from the Freeridge savings robbery.” Oscar told him. 

Jamal sighed with relief, “Oh thank God for a second I thought you gave our money away.”

Oscar laughed with him as he squeezed a fresh lemon on top of the ceviche bowl. “No… I didn’t give your money away, you gave your money away and now it is mine.”

Both of the teenagers' relief turned into realization of what they have done. Monse was on the facetime call at the moment demanding to be moved around the table to speak with Oscar. You felt Jamal’s stare at you and you reciprocated the stare.

“What?” You cocked an eyebrow.

His eyes were wide open, “You are not going to say nothing? Aren’t you supposed to be on our side? Teacher’s pledge?”

You scoffed with amusement, “I am not your teacher anymore and you two messed up by giving your money in the first place. It was brave and loyal but shit, that was dumb now live with that consecuence. Besides what are you going to tell your parents if they see that kind of money around?”

“Lottery,” both of them spoke in unison. 

Shaking your head you took another sip of the beer not believing these kids. Jamal once again began to bicker about the money and you could see how Oscar temperament was wearing thin. Everytime he began to get more and more mad his jaw would clench and shoulders began to look extremely tense. You gave him a smirk when your eyes met his, the kids were annoying but they were funny when they got pissed after realizing what a stupid move they made. 

They continued to yell and complain until Jamal had it and stormed out of the house dragging Ruby with him. You couldn’t help but laugh at the over dramatic scene. 

“Who wants more beer?’ you stood up and listened to how the two brothers called for one.

You grabbed two and turned to the table, looking at Cesar with your ‘mom’ eyes. “Just because we are celebrating but don’t get used to it, kid.”

Cesar gave you a smile holding the beer kind of liking how motherly you were towards him. He hasn’t had that in a while and it was nice to have someone that would treat him this way. Oscar observed how you treated his brother and smirked also liking your motherhood side. 

“Thanks, mom,” he joked, making you and Oscar laugh.

This was the closest thing the three of you had to a family dinner in years. It was a feeling you haven’t felt since you left after High School thinking of looking for a better life. You missed this feeling on Christmas, New Years and all the holidays no matter how small they were. At this moment your boyfriend wasn’t in a gang, his little brother wasn’t thrown out for not killing someone and you weren’t part of anything. This felt like a family.

After lunch Oscar and you did the dishes letting Cesar get settled back. As you cleaned the dishes you kept your silence, you had something to say but you didn’t know how to say it. The last couple weeks have been extremely good, you liked living with him but now it was different. Cesar was back and you didn’t know if leaving or even if staying was an option. 

“So,” you and Oscar said at the same time and chuckled afterwards.

“You first,” he said leaning against the counter and crossing his arms onto his chest giving you his full attention. 

“I- I’m happy Cesar is back home where he belongs.” Oscar nodded not saying he was glad but you saw it in the spark coming from his eyes. “Now that he is back... I’m moving back to my place.”

His eyes went from happy to confused in a matter of seconds. “Why?” He asked.

“It was only temporary…” you said, “We talked about this, I was just making sure Cesar had a place to stay for a little while now he is back and-,”

“-you want to leave, again,” Oscar words made you unwell. “Why do you always leave?”

Standing in front of him you tried to decipher his eyes but this was something you couldn’t just figure out by not sharing words. “What do you mean? I’m leaving because I think you would want me gone now that your brother is back.”

“Well I don’t,” he said without flinching, “I want you here, every day and every night.”

This man was never a gracious talker but he always went straight to the point and that is why you loved him. Oscar's tone was sure and steady there was no doubt of what he wanted. 

“I still need to make sure I am taking care of my dad and sister,” you told him.

Oscar grabbed the band of your jeans pulling you closer, “Somos vecinos for fucks sake. They’ll be alright, I promise.” 

When you were about to kiss him the high noise of rap coming from Cesar bedroom startled you. “Goodbye quietness,” you told him.

“We can still go to your place from time to time,” Oscar smirked, kissing your lips. 

You chuckled against his plump lips, “Hell yes.” 

NEXT CHAPTER

tags are open: just comment or send me a message ;)

@flamingweasley @dolanackles @lcandothisallday @mmelissarenee @donnaintx @blckgrl-sunflower @jayankles​

#oscar spooky diaz #on my block #oscar diaz x reader #omb s3 #on my block season 3 #fool for you #elsie writes

[pleasejustfuckinghugme]

Forever

episode three (word count: 1,981)

jacobs!oc x fezco

warnings: references to drugs, language, sexual references, typos and mediocre writing

wowowow thank you so much for all of the support. it may not seem like a lot but i really didn’t expect anyone to find my work so this is pretty fucking cool. i’m sorry for going on a bit of a hiatus, but i hope you enjoy this chapter. literally thank you so so much for reading. this is super cool

Nancy had created a habit of meeting with Fez at his gas station. He would always be sitting in the same chair right outside. The first time she had come to see him, she plopped down on the ground beside him and gave him a small smile.

“I can go get you a chair if ya want,” he had told her, laughing.

She looked down, embarrassed but still shook her head. “You don’t have to do that.”

He scoffed at that. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” He stood and got up before turning to her again. “What kinda candy you like?”

“M&Ms?” she replied.

“Regular?”

“Sure.”

He came back with a camping chair and sat it next to his own before tossing M&Ms her way. They sat quietly for a moment, Nancy eating her candy, before Fez finally spoke.

“How is Rue?”

“She’s good, yeah,” Nancy assured, nodding her head. “She’s spending a lot of time with Jules. They’re good for each other.”

“Word,” he commented, watching Nancy closely.

Nancy smiled, giggling to herself. “Yeah, but Rue has been complaining about how addicted to Jules has been to her phone,” she snorted. “I swear to God, she sounds like my dad.” She looked up at Fez, who was staring right back at her. He chuckled softly. 

“It’s just fucking weird though,” Nancy continued. “My brother’s been texting someone nonstop all week. Maddy even asked me about it.”

“They datin’ right?”

“Yeah,” Nancy sighed. “I mean, I had no idea what to tell her. But Kat has been on her phone nonstop too.”

“She came in ta talk ta Ash today,” Fez told her. Nancy’s head perked up in surprise.

“Really? Why?”

Fezco shrugged. “Came in askin’ about Bitcoin.”

“Bitcoin?” Nancy’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why was she asking Ashtray about Bitcoin?”

“I don’t know,” he replied coolly. “But we told her we’d help her with everythin’ ‘cept human trafficking.”

Nancy snorted, “Well of course she’s not messing with human trafficking.”

“Aye we didn’t know,” he defended himself. “We was jus’ makin’ sure.”

They both smiled at each other and laughed. They talked for the rest of the evening before Nancy had to go home for dinner. They texted all that night, talking about everything from TV shows to Nancy’s weird family drama. But even when she had seen his name pop up so many times before, she still felt butterflies in her stomach when he texted her goodnight.

A couple days later, Nancy was at Cassie’s house. She was there to help her pack for her weekend in college with Mckay, but had ended up at the foot of Lexi’s bed, helping her with homework. Maddy and Cassie were on one side of the room, debating on what Cassie should wear, while Kat sat on the loveseat across from Lexi and Nancy, her face buried in her phone.

A soft scoff from Kat caused Lexi to speak up. “What are you looking at?” she asked. Curiosity filled both of the girls’ eyes.

“Nothing. Just this, um, article,” Kat stuttered.

Nancy eyed her suspiciously while Lexi responded, “About what?”

“Um… you know, like, uh…” she paused for a moment. “The Holocaust.”

“Oh. Cool,” Lexi replied, not convinced. She and Nancy looked at each other before Nancy turned back to Kat.

“Had to think about that one, didn’t you?” she teased, a soft smile on her face.

Kat rolled her eyes, smiling. “Shut up.”

Nancy turned back to Lexi and whispered, “Do you think she’s got a secret boyfriend?”

“It’s got to be that cute boy in her chemistry class, right?” Lexi replied.

“I can hear you, you know?” Kat called, before the three broke into laughter, Nancy mockingly holding up her hands in defense.

“Lex? Nance?” Cassie called, grabbing the two’s attention. She held up a blue blouse in front of her, a questioning look on her face.

“It’s cute,” Lexi nodded, before turning back to her work.

“And Mckay’s gonna love it,” Nancy confirmed, wiggling her eyebrows.

Maddy sighed, “I wish I had your collarbones.”

The door opened then, revealing Cassie’s mom. “I’m putting a lot of trust in you,” she deadpanned, looking at her daughter with pursed lips.

“Yeah, Cassie. Don’t get pregnant,” Kat joked, looking up at the girl.

“That’s not funny, Kat,” her mom replied, waltzing in the room with a glass of wine in hand. “But don’t you dare get pregnant.”

“Relax, mom. He has a roommate,” Cassie smirked, looking at her mom with knowing eyes. 

As Nancy listened to Cassie’s mom lay out all of her rules for the night, she couldn’t help but wish she had a relationship like that with her mother. She knew that their relationship wasn’t the best, not by a long run, but it still seemed better than the stark silence between Nancy and her mom. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had spoken to her mom.

When Mckay had finally arrived, the four girls and Cassie’s mom followed her out the front door.

“No funny business, Christopher!” her mother called. Meanwhile, Nancy and Lexi laughed silently at Maddy and Kat as they reenacted what would probably be Cassie and Mckay that night.

The next day Nancy went with Kat to Fez’s gas station so that Kat could talk to Ashtray. Fezco sat outside, as usual, and smiled at her as they walked up.

“What’s up?” Kat said coolly, before walking into the store.

“What’s up, Kat?” he replied, watching her as she walked by.

Nancy smiled and waved after Kat had gone inside.

“Hey,” Fez said softly, standing up beside her.

She looked up at him. “Hi.”

“You know what she’s up to?” he asked, a small smile on his face.

“No idea,” Nancy laughed. “But it was an excuse to come see you. How’s business?” she teased.

He chuckled, “Slow.”

A comfortable silence came over them before he spoke again, prompting a smile to take over Nancy’s face and butterflies to flood into her stomach. “You wanna come to my place tomorrow? Since you know where it is?”

And that’s exactly where she found herself the next day after school. They had spent most of the afternoon on his couch, watching a movie and snacking on some popcorn he had made. They were laying together on the couch, and when the movie ended they both looked at each other. It was then when Nancy realized how close they really were.

“You liked it?” he asked, looking straight into her eyes.

“Of course,” she smirked. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” 

She saw his eyes flicker down to her lips, and she smiled. As they leaned closer to each other, Nancy's heart was beating in her chest so hard she could hear it too. She silently hoped that he couldn’t, heat flooding her cheeks. He had placed his hand gently on her waist, and just as their noses touched, there was banging on the door. They jumped away from each other, startled by the sudden noise.

Fezco cursed under his breath, letting out a quick apology. “Stay there,” he told her, before walking to the door. “Who is it?” he asked.

“It’s me. Open the door.” Rue’s voice was muffled, but Nancy recognized it, her eyes widening. Fezco looked at her for a moment before swinging the door open.

“Not today, Rue. Sorry,” Nancy heard him say.

“Come on, man. Don’t be a dick,” Rue scoffed, causing Nancy’s eyebrows to furrow, confused.

“Nah, I’m serious. You can’t come in.”

“Look, man. All I-- all I need is just, like, a few OCs,” she stuttered.

“Sorry. I can’t help y--”

“Fez!” she interrupted. “Fez, I’ve had a really fucked up day, alright? It’s been a really really fucked up day, okay? So I need you to open up the door for me, okay? Can you open the door? Please?”

“I’m not gonna help you kill yourself, Rue,” Fez said softly.

Nancy stood up from the couch and began to quietly make her way around it.

“I’m sorry,” he continued. “But you can’t be comin’ over here no more. Jus’ go home.” He backed away and put his hand on the door.

“Don’t!” Rue began to yell. “Fez! Don’t close the d--Fuck!”

He shut the door, and there was another loud bang.

“Fez! Open the fucking door please!” Rue yelled from the other side. “I’m begging you! Just open the door!”

Nancy watched as Fez leaned his forehead against the door. She slowly walked towards him.

“Fez! You’re full of shit, man,” Rue accused. “You know you make your living off of selling drugs to teenagers? And now all the sudden you wanna have a fucking moral high ground?”

He turned to Nancy with tired eyes. She came closer to him, a look of concern washed over her face. He leaned up against the door, continuing to listen to Rue’s words.

“You’re a fucking drop-out drug dealer!” she screamed, causing Nancy to shake her head. “You know that? You’re a fucking drop-out drug dealer with seven functioning fucking brain cells!”

Nancy was in front of him now, and she grabbed his arm gently, looking deep into his eyes. He looked at her too, and she shook her head, trying to tell him Rue’s words weren’t true. He turned away.

“Open the door!” Rue screamed, banging on the door. Nancy jumped back, startled, but Fezco stayed still. “Fuck you!” Rue continued. “Fuck you, Fez! Okay? Are you doing this because you care about me? If you gave a shit about me, you wouldn’t have sold me the fucking drugs in the first place! But you did! You fucking did! So open the goddamn door!” She hit it again. “Open the door!”

Fezco leaned off of the door and walked forward for a moment before turning around. “I can’t do it, Rue. I’m sorry,” he called, but she continued to scream at him from the other side. He glanced at Nancy, who was trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to escape. “Sorry,” he whispered quietly to the door, before walking over to Nancy.

“You shouldn’t be here right now. You should go,” he said quietly. Rue’s cries still flooded the room. 

Nancy shook her head violently. “You know it’s not true, right? What she’s saying?”

He frowned and looked down at the ground, “It is.”

 “No,” Nancy said firmly. “It’s not she’s just trying to make you feel bad so you’ll--”

“Nancy, go. Now,” he interrupted her, looking straight into her eyes again. “Leave.”

Nancy looked at him, hurt shining in her eyes before she walked away and grabbed her backpack. She quickly made her way to the door, vigorously wiping the tears off her face. Without looking at Fezco, she swung the front door open and saw Rue, who stood at the door, completely broken.

“What are you doing here?” the frizzy-haired girl sobbed. 

Nancy said nothing as she squeezed through the door, making sure Rue wouldn’t be able to get inside. She looked at Rue with wide eyes before stuttering, “I-- I don’t--”

“Were you fucking him?” Rue’s cruel words smacked Nancy in the face.

“No,” Nancy snapped. “That’s a really fucked up thing to say.”

“You know this is your fault too?” Rue continued. “You never did anything to help me before I went to rehab.”

Nancy shook her head, ashamed. “Rue I--”

“And what are you doing now, huh?”

Nancy’s eyes burned viciously, and tears started to fall down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice shaking. She brushed past the girl and climbed onto her bike. 

“You’re sorry?” she heard Rue yell.. “Well that’s just great! You hear that Fez? Nancy said she’s fucking sorry!”

And as Nancy sped away on her bike, away from the man who she had started to truly care about a lot, she hoped he knew that she really was sorry.

#fezco #fezco euphoria #fezco fanfic #fezco-euphoria #fezco x oc #nate jacobs euphoria #nate jacobs #Rue Bennett #rue bennet euphoria #my OC

[thatesqcrush]

Neighbors, Pt. 4

Rafael Barba x Reader. CW: angst, gun violence, language. Episode references: Nationwide Manhunt (SVU) & The Song of Gregory William Yates (CPD). WC: 1200 (1454)

AN: Another non-smut chapter? Who am I? Forgive me for typos.

AN2: I am starting off with a tiny snippet of ch.3′s ending only because it’s been awhile since I updated, hence the word count difference noted above.

--

The next morning, Rafael knocked on your hotel door, hoping to check in on you. You opened the door, clad in nothing but an oversized t-shirt, that barely skimmed the tops of your thighs. Rafael swallowed hard.

“Hey – “ Rafael began. His voice trailed as he looked past your shoulder, watching Adam walk in the background.

“What’s up? I told Liv I’d be down in 20. Has there been an update?”

“Um, yeah – overnight Carisi and Rollins apprehended Rudnick. He was discovered hiding in a docked boat by Caroga Lake. Rudnick suffered multiple injuries.” Rafael replied. Adam joined from behind, tugging on his shirt. Rafael ignored him, focusing on you.

“I'm not shedding any tears.” You replied, as you crossed your arms.

“Yates hobbled him - broke both his knees, his ankles, pierced his eardrum. Just left him to die.” Rafael continued.

“Is he talking yet?”

“Only to Carisi, and he's in and out of consciousness. He did indicate the plan was to cross the border at the Saint Lawrence River.”

You pushed past Adam and grabbed your jeans, which were laying on a heap on the floor. “Come on – lets go.”

“What are you going to do?” Rafael asked.

You holstered your gun. “What I should have done a long time ago.”

“Olivia…”

“Olivia nothing. Now, Rafael – just get out of my way.”

Rafael looked at Adam. “You’re going to let her just go after a serial killer?” Adam scoffed. “No. I’ll go with her. Now we’ll see you at the church.”

--

Rafael followed you to the elevator bank, basically nipping at your heels. “Y/N – don’t be foolish. This is exactly what Yates would want you to do.”

You ignored Rafael and pressed the down button repeatedly, as if doing so were to make the elevator arrive more quickly. “Y/N! Just stop!” Rafael put a hand on your shoulder. You spun, coming chest to chest with the prosecutor.

“Rafael, this is not your battle! Back off!” You snapped. The elevator dinged, signaling its arrival. Rafael moved to follow you and Adam stepped in front of you, blocking Rafael.

“Let her go man.” Adam replied sternly, outstretching his arm on the elevator side portal, preventing the door from closing.

Rafael looked past Adam’s shoulder, to you. “Y/N.”

You met his eyes, which like yours, were wet with unshed tears. “Rafael. Try to understand.”

Adam stepped aside and the door began to slowly shut. Rafael tried pressing the call button to prevent it from closing, but it was too late. Rafael swore loudly and took out his phone, making a call to Liv.

--

Back at the church, Rafael pushed past through the cornucopia of law enforcement, in hopes of spotting you. He spotted Liv and made way towards her.

“Liv!”

“I can't get a hold of Y/N.” The brunette lieutenant replied with worry etched on her face. She spotted Adam walking over in the distance.

“Adam!”

“Where’s Y/N?” Rafael asked angrily.

“Wait – she’s not here?” Adam asked as he placed his hands on his hips.

“I thought she was with you.” Rafael replied. “You two left together.”

“No. We split up. I followed a dead end. She followed another. Where’s Lindsay?”

“She’s not here either.” Liv replied, frowning. “Did Lindsay know Yates was headed north?”

“I guess... Dodds put an APB out on a pickup truck he hot-wired.” 

“They’re both going after him.” Rafael replied. “I might have let out that Rudnick mentioned that the plan was to cross the border at the Saint Lawrence River.” Rafael replied, before letting out a slew of curse words in Spanish.

Amanda jogged over. “Liv, I just got word that Dodds is with Lindsey and Y/N.”

Liv grabbed her police radio. “Dodds, this is Liv – you need to turn around. Now.”

--

“Copy that, Lieutenant. Liv wants us to come back.” Mike replied, as he began to turn the car around.

“Yeah, I'm not doing that.” You replied. Lindsey nodded, as she leaned forward from the middle backseat. “I’m with Y/N on this.”

“Detectives, I know he killed someone close to you, but this isn't us anymore.” Mike reasoned.

Lindsey shook her head and from her peripheral vision, spotted an abandoned police car. “What the hell is that? There's been no radio traffic. Pull over.”

Mike brought the car to a stop. It had started to rain hard, coming down in sheets making the ground muddy and slippery with wet leaves. The three of you each drew out your guns and carefully canvassed the area. Lindsey spotted the body of the trooper.

“I got a trooper down!”

“Is he –” you asked, knowing full well the answer.

“He's gone. So's his gun!” Lindsey shouted as realization hit her.

The sound of gunshots filled the air. You all ran to take cover, but it was too late for Mike, as a bullet tore through his shoulder.

“Dodds!” You screamed.

Mike groaned as he made way behind the car. “Stay down. Take cover!” He reached for his radio. “This is Sergeant Dodds. Shots fired; two officers down. Suspect is armed and in flight. Requesting immediate backup. I repeat, immediate backup!”  Mike groaned leaning against the car.

“Dodds, are you okay?” Lindsey asked rushing over.

“I'm fine. Just stay down.” You noticed a dark figure in the trees and you took off in hot pursuit.

“Detective, what are you doing? Detective, stay down!” Mike shouted.

Lindsey whipped her head around and took off after you. “Get back here! Wait for backup! Get back here! Detective!” Mike continued to shout.

You pursued Yates, firing your gun as you did so. Your lungs burned as you ran at full speed. Suddenly you were hit with searing pain at the knee. “Fuck!” You screamed. Your leg immediately buckled and you fell to the ground, your hands bracing against the wet ground. You leaned up slightly, but before you could do anything more, you were hit with another bullet, this time to your shoulder. You collapsed in pain, unable to move. The rain was cold but your shoulder and leg were warm as blood seeped through. Shakily you touched your shoulder, wincing as you touched the wound. You brought your hand to your face, seeing your fingertips coated in your blood.

“Y/N! Y/N – are you okay?” You looked up and saw Lindsey above you.

“Yates…” You gritted. “Go get the bastard.”

Lindsey nodded. “I’m coming back for you; I promise.” Then Lindsey took off.

Her footsteps trailed off and you focused your attention to the sky above you. You watched the rain fell; deep throbbing pain began to radiate through you. You were soaked to the bone and you began to shiver. You felt sleepy and your eyes fluttered close. The last image you had in your head was of Rafael at the elevator from earlier. Your face was wet – you could no longer tell what was rain and what were your tears. You forced your eyes to remain open, willing yourself to stay awake. It was too much and you felt yourself giving in. 

‘Rafael – I am so sorry.’

--

Your eyes fluttered open, voices above you shouted nonsensical things; you could make out an intense bright light, but it was fuzzy. You could hear the urgency in the voices around you. Your brain made out the words – “subclavian artery” and “the one in the knee wasn’t through and through.” It took too much energy to stay awake; it was so much easier to give in to the darkness.

--

Rafael knocked gently on the door to your room. He carried a bouquet of orange roses. He winced, seeing you in bed, your shoulder in a sling as well as your leg. Adam looked up at him. “Hey.”

“How – how is she?” Rafael asked, as he made his way in.

Adam frowned. “She – she developed compartment syndrome. So they had to do another surgery. But they said with time, PT – lots of PT, she should be okay.”

“Another surgery? Jesus, fuck.” Rafael let out a long exhale. 

Adam scratched his chin, eyeing Rafael up and down. He took a deep breath before talking. “You know, she talks about you. Non-stop.”

Rafael looked at the young detective in surprise. “She talks about me?”

Adam nodded. “Ever since she moved to New York. Her pain in the ass neighbor who she works with. Look, she and I…. what we had… at the time, it was great. It was great until it wasn’t. So yeah, she talks about you. Take that for what it is worth.”

Rafael let out another exhale. “Okay.”

Adam’s phone buzzed and he looked at it. “I gotta go, Yates is back in Chicago – but… but having been in this spot myself - when you're waking up, it’s better when there is someone is there. You shouldn’t be alone. It’s good that you are here.”

Rafael shook Adam’s hand. “Good luck.”

“Thanks. Take care of our girl.”

Rafael nodded and turned his attention back to you. He felt incredibly helpless seeing you. You seemed so small and fragile in the large hospital bed. He took out his phone and played your favorite Bach cantata. And when he was certain that Adam was gone – he dropped his head into his hands and cried.

Tag list: @madpanda75 @ @mgarner1227 @beardedmccoy @tropes-and-tales @youreverycolor @neely1177 @the-baby-bookworm @mrsrafaelbarba @skittle479 @ottosuricato @delia26 @sass-and-suspenders @mommakat32 @dreila03 @beccabarba @garturbo @lovebennycolon @imjustreallynosy @sweetsummertime99 @whyissvuruiningmylovelife @annabelleb49 @scarletsoldierrr @cesarofangirl78 @redlipstickandplaid @redlipstickandblacktea @zoeykaytesmom @differentshadesofgray @misssirenlove @esparza-army @bananas-pajamas @mishaissocoolike @thefanficfaerie @theenchantedgalleryofstories @catnip987 @choppedgalaxynerd @pieceofshittytitty @ktiz90 @evee87 @itsjustmyfantasyroom @blk0912 @detective-giggles @rampantmuses @jazzyjoi @caked-crusader @rachelxwayne @prurientpuddlejumper 

#rafael barba x reader #barba and reader #svu x cpd crossover imagine

[literaila]

which of your fics?

i got tagged by @bitchyreid​ @goldentournesol​ @prettyboy-reid​

thank you for tagging me! sorry its taken me a minute 

Which of your fics... 

...got a better reaction than you expected? 

flick flick burn actually.. i was trying to blow through this request (i know im sorry!!!!) because i wanted to get through to another one and.... something good just came out of it. it was my first big fic and everyone really seemed to love it. it put me in kind of a ‘praise’ high for a couple of days so that was nice :D

..did you think would get a bigger reaction/audience than it got? 

all of my series really.. but remember me? definetly because it was actually really fun to write and i just figured it would be one of those adventures people would stay interested in... but it was a very slow start so 

...is your funniest? 

i think its probably we dont wake up enough just because its super short and sweet and its about not wanting to get up in the morning sooo... 

...is your darkest or angstiest? 

umm... probably hand me the heartbreak because its really sad... and it definetly took some of my energy out of my soul for a while.. 

oh! oh! i forgot about these memories live with me ! that one is so sad, its so very sad, but I LOVE THE WAY I WROTE IT OH MY GOSH i completely forgot about it! 

..is your absolute favorite? 

i think right now its this vast empty space because i really like the way i wrote it, and i kinda forgot about it for a while so i’m reintroducing myself to it! or these memories live with me if my previous answer tells you anything.. 

..is your least favorite? 

pretty much any of my recents.. definetly sweet sweet relief because i just feel like its so dumb and i totally messed up that request big time. 

...was the easiest to write? 

probably one two three peek because it was super short and i knew what was going to happen and there was nothing big i had to include so... very nice and simple 

....was the hardest to write? 

literally any of the fics based off of episodes.. it takes me so long to figure out what actually happened in the episode not just based off my memory.. i look up scripts online just so i know how everyone is feeling. but tear me apart was suuuper hard because i had to add in a whole different plot including the one that was already in there and phew.. im stressed just thinking about it 

...has your favorite lines/ exhange/ paragraph... 

hmm... i write a lot of overwhelming things... but i definetly think this section from flick flick burn illistrates the turmoil in her head.. and really my entire style 

“She paused. She paused because she didn’t know what to say, didn’t understand why it hurt her so much to talk to him, didn’t understand why she couldn’t just say the words, why it was so difficult for her to tell him, she didn’t understand why she was talking at all.

She didn’t understand why she was burning alive.

She heard Spencer say something behind her. Something that sounded like encouragement to go on. She didn’t realize that he was standing in front of her, she didn’t look up to see him, he was standing in front of her, staring at her, wondering what was wrong.

“You were looking at her,” flick “looking at her.” higher “like you look.” and “like you look at me.” higher.

The fire had reached her brain, had scarred her entire body, had devoured her whole, had left her with no mercy.

Burn, baby, burn.”

...have you reread the most? 

probably flick flick burn (again) because i was obsessed with it when it came out and there was so many typos i had to go fix.. and thats the one i shared with my family (with some edits) 

...would you recommend to someone reading your work for the first time? 

definetly flick flick burn.. and maybe one two three peek because those fics show two completely different sides of me and give a big insight into how i like to write 

...are you most proud of? 

actually.. space. its not my best fic but because that was my first ever fic on here. and immedietly everyone loved it. it was an amazing confidence boost and really led me back into writing which is something i’d been struggling with for years. so yeah. starting to write again was a huge milestone, and im so thankful to everyone who convinced me to continue  

and ive got no one to tag :D

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x y/n

[bran-who-writes-theoretically]

Julie and the Phantoms

~What I want~

-Y’all didn’t ask for this but guess what here are my thoughts anyway. They are based in nothing and are solely what I want. So here’s everything (I hope) in no particular order.

1. Let’s talk about Juke just to get it ~out of the way. TBH I cannot get around the age gap between Madison and Charlie. It’s so hard for me to see past it. I’m only a few months younger than Charlie and I literally could not imagine dating someone who was even in high school at all. I understand they wanted the guys to look the same age through the series so they had to cast older but.... eh. The only way I could really accept Juke would be if they kissed in the series finale just before the guys moved on. But really? I’d love to see them realize that they can’t be together because he’s dead. It would be SO interesting to see that, them having to stomp out the crush because it could only end in hurt for them both. I’d love to see them become super close/best friends. They have a connection, it just doesn’t have to be romantic. Also I’d really like to see her maybe end up with Flynn??? That would be so refreshing. You almost never see queer leads for kids shows and that would be awesome (P.S. even though it’s fine to ship Juke, even though I personally don’t, do NOTTTTTTTTT. I repeat NOT! Ship Madison and Charlie. I’ve seen other actors in older fandoms stop talking to each other because of fans shipping them. Please don’t do this to anyone. Remember he’s 21, and she’s 16).

2. Ghosts. They need to stay ghosts. Trust me, I want them to come back to life as much as y’all, but I don’t think there are any ways that they can bring them back that doesn’t feel like a cheat. Plus, I really really want the heartfelt goodbye from the guys in the last episode before they move on. What can I say? I love my bittersweet endings. Could you imagine the material they could give us? They could even bring Julies mom in to help the boys cross over.

3. I NEED to see more of the guys in the 90’s. I have a ton of questions. Some of which are: was Bobby always kinda to the side? How long was Luke gone? I want to see Reggie and Alex’s life. Who’s house was the studio at? (We can cross out Luke and Reggie, we’ve seen their houses/where they were.) but I have my own theory that it was Alex’s house before Julie’s family solely based on the reason that that’s why the guys were in there and why Alex lingers. But then that poses the reason why did his parents leave the house? Maybe because it was too hard to live there when they lived there with their son? But then that poses the question if they “forgave” him for being gay?

4. Reggie, I know he wasn’t intended to be, especially since I heard the “that was pretty hot!” scene was improvised, but I need him to be bi so bad. I am not sure I’m right, but I only have seen three (?) canonically bisexual characters on screen in my twenty years of life. And that’s Cheryl from Riverdale (😒) and my personal fav, Eleanor from The Good Place, and we also have a sprinkle of Korra in there. I literally cannot think of another. But lookie here! They’re all women, where are my bi guys (if you know any male bi characters? Send them my way👀). But seriously, Reggie has such potential to be great Bi rep! If I had seen a character like him I might have realized and accepted my sexuality way before I did. Because ironically I had a sexuality crisis at seventeen because a guy friend grabbed me by the shoulder and asked for my help not too different from Luke singing to Reggie lol!

5. Hollywood Ghost Club. I would really love to see more about it. I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on, Caleb most likely made a deal with the devil. But I’d love to see the guys and Julie help free all of the other trapped spirits he’s lured into the club. Also, on the topic of ghosts as a whole, I wonder if there’s any negative effects on a ghost staying non earth too long. It happens a lot in movies/books. They almost turn into a wraith, a darker version, only a shadow of themselves. I wonder if it applies here too.

6. Oh dang, CASPER. As per my previous posts as I was writing this, I was backhanded with memories of one of my favorite childhood movies, which I just recently watched again. Above I say maybe Julies mom could help them cross over. But remember how Luke promises to talk to Julies mom once they cross over? What if they do just that. A line that struck a chord while watching the movie was from the mother’s scene when she comes back: “let’s just say you know three crazy ghosts that kept their word.” And y’all, when she said that line not gonna lie I nearly cried thinking about that for the show. She also mentions that because her family loved her so much, she doesn’t have any unfinished business. I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t have any unfinished business either. Casper came out in.... you guessed it.... 1995. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they got some inspiration from it. Not to mention that it’s also a kids movie that has some pretty serious moments that kinda shocked me with how sad they were rewatching as an adult. I guess that’s why I loved it so much.

7. Carrie. I really want to learn more about Carrie and Julies dynamic. We know they were friends (I’m assuming with Flynn too?) and had a falling out. But why? And in the last episode she’s clearly proud of Julie after the performance, so I really want them to make up and have her be part of the group again. And maybe learn the truth about the guys?

8. Willie and Alex, god I want them to be together so bad. Of course, Caleb owns willies soul, so that’s not great, so I’d definitely love that subplot of the group trying to free the ghosts of the HGC. We didn’t see Willie too much this season, so I hope we do get more time with him. Also, I absolutely need a big musical number like Perfect Harmony between Alex and Willie. The only time I’ve ever seen a scene like that between gay characters has been in Rock of Ages (an adult musical) with “can’t fight this feeling” and it was hilarious and I need something like it for this show because it would be super cute 🥺.

9. Not particularly a theory but I’m really wondering how long Caleb is going to be in Nick. Julie has already stated that she’s kinda over him, and that it would be unfair to lead him on... so what happens when he realizes she probably won’t take the bait. Other than that, I really hope Sasha has fun playing Caleb through Nick, it has the potential to be great.

10. I’m not exactly sure what their unfinished business is going to be, but I’m almost certain it has to deal with Julie somehow. But the ending absolutely has to be the guys moving on. The ending has to be big though. They have to play somewhere awesome and then they find out... they’re done here. I’d honestly like a whole episode just dedicated to their goodbye. The way I see it, the second to last episode can end with them smiling after the performance and then that smile fading just a little bit, because that was when they realized. Then the final episode will be then telling Julie (and anyone else who knows about them by then) and finally moving on. Here I’m torn. I’ve mentioned both above but let me get more in depth. Version one: the one I originally came up with. This dealt with when the guys are ready to move on, Julies mom would come and help guide them into crossing over. I really liked this idea for a while, until I watched Casper again. Version two: the one I now like better(?) is the guys moving on, and after they do, Julies mom comes back (where even Ray and Carlos can see her) because “let’s just say you know three crazy ghosts who kept their word.” Could you IMAGINE??? It would absolutely reduce me to bawling I want it right now. The reason I like this one a little more is because we can skip to a little while after everything, and she gets a sign from them (just like her mom sending her the flower in the S1 finale) to show that they are still watching over her. And then we fade to black.

So that’s most of my thoughts on this show, if there’s typos in this I absolutely don’t care at all I wrote this instead of doing college work.

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #julie molina #luke patterson #alex #reggie #sorry this is so long lol #I have a lot of thoughts and this was originally for myself but why not burden y’all with it

[prairiedust]

Gimme Shelter livewatch under the cut.... I was on my phone when I wrote it so apologies for the typos

“Patchwork Community Center: Care Given to All” with a huge, lurid heart. Hmmm.... patchwork having two meanings here.....

Pastor (?) has 2 Timothy 2:22 tattooed on his arm! “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” (NIV) Are we looking at growth and found family in this episode?!?

Oh that’s the alleyway!

Hitting mythology themes— Connor is an Anglicized version of an Irish name— Conchobar mac Nessa is maybe the most famous bearer of the name, from Irish mythology— he’s the king who lusted after Deirdre and had her locked up until she came of age, which is probably neither here nor there as far as this poor Connor is concerned...

That thing has a big lurid heart on his overalls better run lol— Oh shit it’s an evil Teddy Ruxpin!!!! Thanks Davy Perez!!!!

That’s the thing animal control uses to manage aggressive animals??? Is this saying something about the Patchwork people?

And that’s it for the cold open.

——

The uh, the mcfuckin what, the Camelot Palace Casino? Is this a tour of the legends of Ireland and Britain all of a sudden? What’s with hitting this theme so hard so fast?

Uh-oh the whole Highway to Heaven reference has me side-eyeing Dean’s suggestion for Cas snd Jack to leave the bunker... Dabb even “spoiled” that line in a tweet lol... in that show the cop and the angel got their (vague) assignments from the big guy.......

Oh SHIT “we’re standing in what I call ‘the trap zone’” Perez is coming for my whole life with this episode!!!! And they’re doing highkey “season one totally-normal Winchester investigation questions script” I love it!!!!

“Slasher flick” Oh we’re revisiting Mint Condition. This is fine.

AND TOMBSTONE THIS IS NOT FINE DAVY! We’re running the good times backwards what did I say about this being the flipside of Last Holiday!

H2H again but this time it’s sus... plus I’m with Zack, I totally want the cozy murder spinoff I imagined Adam and Michael doing plz

Oh the Cas and Jack dynamic here is so sweet.

Pastor just leaving his door open like there’s no such thing as a thief bless his heart. They must be torn up about Connor but Pastor was the last one to talk to him so he’s sus I don’t make the rules.

Oh no Red’s a THIEF!!! Who ever would have guessed. Okay I did NOT expect that jumpscare because of the way Connor’s murder primed me, that was masterfully done.

That’s vaguely an Ohio Star quilt square on the sign behind her except um I forget what that tilted square in the center turns it into? It’s chiming with something... I’ll have to look that up later.

“Divide and conquer” no never split up in a slasher movie that’s how you get murders use the buddy system!

Gonna stop a sec because I just realized that Zack is two-faced. The British dandy was an act. The killer is wearing a Cinderella mask. Ok I’m gonna make a prediction that Zack is actually the killer, a la the demon in Repo Man...

Okay there was definitely a beat after Dean said “Glad soneone’s taking charge” [ofHell] and the focus shifted to Sam. Hm.

“We’ve got to set her up for her own death” so meta, these writers are gonna shred us.

I love being shown how much Castiel has changed throughe Jack not understanding the Kool-Aid reference. And the cats line lol. That’s both amazing and poignant.

That’s a log cabin pattern in the cafeteria. Home. Makes me think back on other quilts we’ve seen this season and if “weaving” is the right metaphor for writing lol. I mean, the action of “patching” is synonymous with “mending” or even healing, but patchwork is also a craft with a long, long history in America (idk if quiltmaking is called patchwork everywhere) of taking a few often mismatched fabrics and cutting and sewing into something beautiful. There are generally two kinds of quilt tops— patterns, like we’ve seen so far in this season, which are carefully planned and involve precise measurements, and “crazy quilts” which also require skill but are often more freeform and piecemeal. But both aspire to be beautiful. That’s an interesting way to conceptualize a serial text... as both creating and mending....

That prayer was sweet and not at all what I was expecting.

I get the finger-cutting for Valerie (stealing=sticky fingers) but not for Connor? Tenuous connection still betw lying and writing? It’s evocative of Se7en but the killer seems to have the same MO for all the killings (I attended CSI for a while.)

Snow White is making me uneasy. Oh she’s the preacher’s daughter... we’ve seen that in early days, too.... oh.... oh....

It’s not the AV guy despite having seen all the AV equipment around Valerie. That’s too easy.

“A saint is a sinner who keeps trying-“ no scroll back, the important part was “we all have to take care of each other.” That’s a theme in the series.

She’s all in pink....

dean and amara on the same wavelength about food lol

Ha ha inversion of “oh you’re a fan of religion? name all seven gods then.”

Castiel’s testimony just wrecked me.

“Members serve the gift of food” hmmm the signs in this episode are tip-top

Gonna just watch for a while.

Oh crap “each is a finger” oh it’s about the sins of the father— No Cas no, you’ve fallen for the misdirection!

Oh okay good, Chuck’s not done snuffing worlds. That had me REALLY WORKED UP ha ha because Amara has no reason to lie right?

That was a really good conversation.... and implying that Former Death bent the truth...

Oh fuck I’m gonna cry “I wanted younto see that your mother was just a person” YES! DISMANTLE THIS MYTHOLOGY AMARA!!! Name it!

THE MYTH THAT YOU’D HELD ON TO FOR SO LONG did they just— THEY DID

rigging the game— ftfoh with the casino metaphors already we know the house always wins except when it doesn’t

Lying, lying, lying,

Do we even know Snow White’s name yet? And why was Connor a liar? Because I think we can make a guess at this point.... ah ha ha her name is sylvia— “forest spirit” she’s Mrs Butters— and she’s after hypocrites— but the killing isn’t supernatural, just churchy?

Oh shit SHE IS A DEAN MIRROR IF SHE STABS JACK I’LL FLIP A DAMN TABLE

....

....

prairiedust.exe has encountered an error and must be restarted

....

....

Okay so “Dad” steps in and stops Sylvia’s attack on Jack...

Why is that Zack? What????

“I’ve been lying to you” oh here we go

Oh it would be death #3, remember what Dabb said about threes a long time ago, two attempts that are unsuccessful and one that satisfies the parameters— but no he’s a jack :((((

I have to stop watching for a while.

Okay I finished it. Holy cats do I have some Thoughts about this episode.

What I loved: Revisiting Dean’s anger, BUT the parental mirror here (in retrospect, at least for me) was a John mirror-- all the mothers (exc for Rowena) in this episode are dead. And Pastor Joe didn’t apparently embrace his wife’s faith until she had died, and then his vision was radically different than his wife’s was-- much like John’s reasons for becoming a hunter were vastly different from Mary’s... but much like “patching” this subtext was possibly even more “healing” than having John back in the 300th ep... This was... looking at a child’s anger when they’re in the middle of their own family mythology. Am I implying that Dean’s anger is immaturity? Eh, it’s... unripeness. I have an old meta in my drafts about the heroine’s journey and why Mary’s story conformed to it while feeling totally unfulfilling in her actual character arc and I’m so glad I sat down and examined that rather than finish it. I have a lot I want to say about Cas’ testimony too, but that has to sit a while. ALSO also, Cas has already thrown away his shot by making the Empty deal, right?....

LANGUAGE! Cas saying “I found myself lost” is a bonkers sentence, right? It’s like when people say someone “turned up missing”-- AND it does not have the same meaning as “I realized I was lost”-- you get a double whammy of the connotation “to search for.” I loved loved loved how language was such a big deal in Last Holiday and then again here, I need to rewatch while paying closer attention to Sylvia and things she says... but these two were sister episodes in so many ways, that when I said there was a “lack of narrative mirrors” in Last Holiday, that’s only because the lens for that kind of reading is Gimme Shelter. That is not the first time spn has played with a “coin” or paired structure-- I think the first time I noticed it was Fan Fiction/Ask Jeeves but I was a transfer student from another fandom at the time lol. But of course, we get a huge truth bomb at the end of the episode, and again that splashy cymbal all over lying...

What I got wrong-- Zack wasn’t the killer but he’s fishy as hell-- he stole Sylvia! Is this part of Rowena’s “people generally end up where they deserve to be” except she’s built in an express lane? “Do you need a driver” is that his actual job now? Taking unripe souls to Hell Orientation? What’s up with him being there... the other shoe did not drop. So there is a third episode out there somewhere where this might get wrapped up? The conversation between Dean and Cas can easily be something that happens offscreen, and I don’t think that it would be the first time we miss an “important” conversation, especially since we know roughly what will be said and how it will wrap up-- it’s an “open text” of a sort. Maybe a fanfiction gap lol, I can’t wait for the codas.

Also, the fingers thing being Sylvia’s father’s favorite analogy is where she got her MO, something that I definitely didn’t see, although it fits right in with her father’s slightly pithy character. I think it’s interesting again how we’re playing with threes and fours. Three fingers got cut off but it was apparent that Valerie (valorious one) wouldn’t die until finger #4.... Jack really seems to be our last hope.

#the folklore of supernatural #the mythology of supernatural #mary winchester #davy perez #the second timothy of supernatural #gimme shelter #season 15 #my mom gave me the family baby name book when i was about eleven and so i had an obsession with names #all of my characters in all of my stories had Important Symbolic Names LOL #it amused my father who told me I needed to read herman melville #and there's a little bit of my own family mythos. #now i harangue my own kid to write and stuff ha ha ha except instead of a baby name book i gave him watership down #same effect #more rabbit fighting

[zombriekid]

The Devil Takes Care of His Own 3/?? [Alastor/Gender Neutral Reader]

Series: Hazbin Hotel

Chapter Name: Checking In?

Chapter Summary: you’re faced with a dilemma as the happy hotel opens its doors to you

Text from: The Boss

“WHAT. THE FUCK. DID YOU DO, NEWBIE?”

Oh no...

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Fuck... oh fuck, oh god no, please.

“WHY ARE SO MANY OF MY CLIENTS COMPLAINING ABOUT YOU?!”

The drop of your stomach echoes with a fluttering impression, while a surge of heat, abrupt and uncomfortable, licks at the lining of your throat all the way up to your jaw and it bleeds into your ears; the burgundy walls all around you begin to shrink.

“SOWBELLY SAYS YOU BROKE SOME SHOT!”

“*shit you broke some shit”

“AND THAT COFFEE SMELLIN HIPSTER FUCK SAYS-”

With a resounding clack, your phone slips from your grip and plummets to the sturdy countertop below, a noise that makes the three people around you flinch (you notice distantly), but your brain- your outermost awareness- doesn’t even bother. Because your entire world is now summing up to the blurbs of rapid fire notifications assaulting the LCD screen. Message after heated text message just filled to the brim with expletives and threats and perpetual capslock until this massive wall of verbal abuse blurs your vision; makes your head throb in sync with the increasing thump-thump of your heart.

The device vibrates against the bar and its screen lights up with another message alert, this one demanding your immediate response before declaring you a “useless piece of shit”, and then not long after comes a voice mail about a minute in length.

You’re not gonna listen to it though, you’re gonna grovel.

A tap from your right middle finger brings the digital keyboard to the glass, and your digits begin dancing across the letters to formulate what you consider to be a heartfelt apology, and you beg forgiveness for your transgressions as a lowly delivery person.

But three paragraphs in your hand forces a sudden stop; typos in need of amending due to the constant use of the backspace key, an entire sentence underlined by red squiggly lines with no break between the nonsense letters, and without realizing it at some point you accidentally pulled up the emoji list and now thirty percent of your sniveling is made up of a bunch of cartoons. It’s an odd sensation, you think as you stare back at the jargon, a backlog of muscle memory for modern technology yet you can’t even design coherent text messages in order to save face.

In order to save your fucking job.

All because your goddamn useless hands won’t stop fucking shaking.

Suppose it’s a futile effort at this point- your ass is one hundred percent absolutely and totally fired now.

Meaning no money for bills, no money for food, for utilities, for clothes... Here comes your eviction notice- goodbye lumpy mattress, and a fine greeting to the filthy streets of Pentagram City. A steep price for your compulsive philanthropy, go figure that that’s how things operate down here. How bass ackwards.

But that’s alright, that’s okay, you’ve been through worse you think- you’ve been- you’ve...

You’ve suffered through worse before. Homelessness? Ha, nothing compared to the shit you’ve seen willingly, a temporary setback, maybe a coworker will let you sleep on their couch. The new girl, what was her name? Stacy? Yeah, she’s pretty eager she’ll let you crash with her- it’ll give her more of an excuse to “befriend” you but that’s alright. Sacrifice comfort for survival, right?

“Newbie.”

Not the first time, definitely won’t be the last; life in a concrete jungle is such a fickle bitch, especially here in-

“Newbie!”

-here in Pentagram City.

Present time. Post death. Hell. The here and now.

Impossibly small hands are pulling the apples of your cheeks into fleshy bulbs, folding your lips as a pout, and the darkened corners of your vision dim until Niffty’s lone ocular takes precedence in sight; a triad of quick blinks help anchor your focus.

Oh. How wonderful. Yet another episode... how many does that make today? Certainly way more than usual.

You blame the stress.

“Newbie, you okay?” Niffty asks with a tight throat, and a bob of your head delivers your response.

“Just havin’ a... moment. But I’m alright now.”

She glances down to her right in the direction of your phone, still glaring at you from the grainy surface of the bar, and it’s as if you can literally see the gears in her brain start to rotate. You’re fairly certain that she’s about to put two and two together and get four.

“That’s just my own bossman, Mr. Terry. Well, pretty sure he’s my former boss now.”

“Is it cause of today? When you helped me?”

Your knee-jerk reaction is to mindlessly blurt out a response that would confirm her suspicions, but luckily whatever humanity remains in tact notices her pitch- not necessarily concern rather something akin to it paints the undertone- and it clamps your mouth shut with an audible click of your teeth. Because what you were about to do, what you were about to say, be it directly or indirectly that was going to shift at least some of the blame on to her, and that would be completely unfair. The fault doesn’t lie with her. It’s entirely your own. First off the little lady didn’t even ask for your help, she didn’t beckon to you she didn’t plead for interception, you swooping in to “save the day” was your body’s reflexive need to act, to just do something instead of perpetuating the stereotype of morbidly curious bystander. Second, the manner of which how you saved her was incredibly, stupidly sloppy- a path of damage shadowing your trek and all you left behind was a substantial cost of repairs and replacements. Since when was charging through a line of stores ever a good idea?!

No, you made the decision to do something about Niffty’s situation, so you could’ve found a better way to engage it- actually you should’ve found a better way, but your lapse in judgment cost some people tools, resources, products, and even some clientele, thus costing you practically everything, and now Hell is demanding its pound of flesh from someone’s hide.

Don’t let her believe that it may come from her.

“Nah, I accidentally pissed off some clients recently,” you say as you gently take hold of her hands and remove them from your face. “No need to worry about it, kiddo.” Which none of that is a lie in any capacity, sometimes your cleverness does in fact shine through.

Niffty doesn’t seem to think so, though obviously there’s no way for her to know without some form of mind reading, regardless her face falls into a displeased frown complete with round, bulgy cheeks. “I’m not a kid, Newb. Besides you’re younger than me!”

Oh, she’s so friggin precious, you’re gonna miss this youngen. “In terms of dates, sure. But my, uhh, ‘departure time’ so to speak-” you decorate this with air quotes “-gives me some years on ya.”

“Yeah, by a few at most.”

... No? By, like, ten-ish years? Are you missing something?

“Dude I’m pretty sure I died somewhere in my twenties.”

“Okay? And?”

Okay, yeah, you’re definitely missing something. The tingles on the back of your neck prove this.

She’s not a child, is she?

“... Niffty, how old were you when you bought the farm?”

“Twenty two.”

Alright, okay, that’s dope- how long until the next extermination? That’s a thing you’ve heard about, and you’d really love to volunteer yourself to be first in line right about now. The sooner the better, really.

From pit in his stomach comes an eruption of raucous glee, such an intense reaction that it forces Angel Dust- long forgotten until now- to bend until he’s bracing himself with two hands on his knees, the other pair clutching around his heaving abdomen, as he cry-laughs at your expense.

Meanwhile, the feathered feline fellow manning the bar makes a sound in the back of his throat loud enough to reach your ears, and when you give him your attention he deems the conversation relevant enough to glimpse at you from the corner of his amber eyes; there’s a deep green bottle entrapped in his massive paws and with a tip of the neck he takes a hearty swig before he finally mutters whatever is on his mind. You catch a whiff of the unmistakeable odor of bitter, cheap booze.

“Didja really think Niff’s a kid?”

...

Ten minutes.

Ten whole arduous minutes spent enduring rigorous taunting and not-so-light-hearted ribbing from all three demonic compatriots; statements such as “not so bright are ya, smooth talka?” ala Angel and “no wonder you’re so weird” courtesy of Niffty force the tips of your ears to sear with your cheeks quickly following the same trend.

In your defense, Niffty’s rather small stature and youthful disposition makes her seem much younger than she actually (apparently) is, and sincerest apologies to the court but she’s the most humanoid individual you’ve encountered downside- other than Charlie, of course- so how were you to know that she wasn’t a child in danger solely based on the information you were given? It’s not like you had the time to stop and ask!

And if this trio of assholes would take a few moments to consider your perspective then maybe they wouldn’t be so quick to jump straight to mockery, so until they do they can just suck your bits.

____________________________________

Some time passes, you’re unclear on how much for you refuse to even so much as think of your phone right now, and though you’ve yet to receive anything further from Mr. Terry- no more text messages, no more voice mails, no more notifications- and though the hotel’s three residents have retired from their cruelty and are seeking entertainment elsewhere- Niffty on a dusty painting, Husk at the bottom of a bottle, and Angel Dust... doing whatever in another room- still you find no peace.

No respite from this fuster cluck of a situatio.

And you don’t know what you’re going to do about it.

But you gotta do something, can’t let this continue to fester, so take a deep breath: one, two, three, four- and let it out: five, six, seven, eight- and repeat. Clear your head. Think about this logically.

The first step should be an apology, of course, but your gut tells you that a simple “I’m sorry, didn’t mean to, won’t happen again” just wouldn’t suffice- not for a group of pissed off demons at least. And your employment with Mr. Terry is a measly two weeks young, nowhere near enough to build up some sort of history of positive work ethic, so starting with him is practically a fool’s errand already.

After all, your enigmatic boss isn’t known for his mercy.

... maybe...

Maybe you’re on to something with that assessment.

Maybe you shouldn’t apologize to him first but rather save him for last. Work up the list of priorities instead of down.

Starting with the demon you pissed off first: Mrs. Sowbelly.

Two pokes at your back.

A delicate, graceful exclamation of “FUCK!” comes bellowing out of your mouth as the abrupt shock nearly sends your ass careening to the floor, your hands scrambling upon the bar in order to hook stability.

Mere seconds later and you find Charlie over the slope of your shoulder with her right index finger pointed in your direction; the look on her face suggests that your squawking startled her. In this moment your mouth works much faster than your brain and an apology is already leaping off your tongue... that is until you notice the person standing next to her.

Now, not to be rude about it, but there’s nothing inherently striking about this individual; gray tinted skin, long white hair pouring down the length of her spine, a few inches shorter than the blonde at her side, and a large pink eye staring straight at you with something like irritation. For the most part, she looks human- not humanoid like Charlie and Niffty, but like you.

Human.

And that’s why she’s stealing your attention.

“Hey Newbie, I want to introduce you to the Happy Hotel’s manager and my partner, Vaggie.” Charlie says with a somewhat forced smile, likely residual from your outburst.

With your eyes trained on the gal in question, you blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “Howdy, pleasure to meet you.”

Vaggie doesn’t say anything back.

Luckily, however, Charlie keeps the conversation rolling.

“The two of us actually wanted to talk to you about something important. Is... is that okay?”

For your anxiety? Anything that even remotely parallels “we need to talk” is a near guarantee to sending your heart to the racetrack, so no it’s not okay in that regard. That being said, given her response earlier, before Mr. Terry battered you with derisive texts, and the fact that she called the manager/her girlfriend over is... well, you’d be lying if you said that you aren’t intrigued. Skeptical, maybe even paranoid, but intrigued. So you give your consent.

“Cool beans! So, umm, I think I’m just going to cut to the chase here,” she clears her throat, “we want you to stay here. At the Happy Hotel. To be rehabilitated.”

...

....

“I’m sorry, fucking what?”

The question is out before the rest of your body has time to process Charlie’s words, but even when you fully digest the information you’re still left feeling perplexed. What does she mean “rehabilitation”, what all does that entail, why did she have to call her girlfriend for this?

And, oh, how her patience seems to know no bounds for the smile that curls on her lips is soft, and her brow pulls together in what you can only call generosity. Like she understands your confusion; makes you wonder how often she goes through this schtick.

“Allow me to explain our predicament since you’re still new.”

And she does, in great detail, weaving a copper-scented tapestry with threads dyed the shades of suffering and heinous sin. In less pretentious terms, she regurgitates material you’ve only heard in passing. Hell is bursting at the seams with its substantial over population issue, one that only grows more exacerbated with each newcomer, and with limited real estate and even more limited resources the powers that be reached the conclusion long ago that a percentage just... has to go. Enter the exterminators, a team set out from the tippy topside whose sole purpose is to literally slash some numbers in half once a year.

Charlie doesn’t like this, in fact her exact words are “it kills me inside knowing that my people are being systematically annihilated” and honestly they kinda make you equate this to that of a speech from some representative- an authority figure, someone with power, which makes sense if this is her hotel. It’s pretty, the way she feels about the annual genocide, but you’ve yet to hear her alternative solution if she has any to begin with.

As the saying goes, actions do speak louder than words.

That’s when she genuinely explains the hotel’s purpose: to purge the demons of their vices, purify their souls, make right their wrong doings from when they were alive so that they can walk through the pearly gates as a reborn person, faultless and whole. Redemption. Rehabilitation. Because a hotel is only a temporary pitstop between two destinations.

The idea... makes enough sense, you guess.

“I mean, that’s neat, super admirable, and the whole idea of reforming demons instead of just- ya know- offing them sounds way better in comparison. But uhh- what does this have to do with me?”

“Well,” Charlie looks over at Vaggie before advancing her explanation, “you’re new. You haven’t regained your memories yet, your body hasn’t adapted yet, you still have your humanity- I mean you helped Niffty out of a tight spot without any expectation of a reward!”

“Nah, I just did what felt like the right thing at the time.”

“Exactly! We need someone like that here!”

Ah.

Now the picture has clarity.

What Charlie said earlier, “... if I can help just one demon find redemption here then everyone else will believe too!” that was merely another way of saying “we haven’t succeeded yet.” And judging by the way the hotel’s current residents, this motley crew of friends(?), they’ve been trying with people who have been here a lot longer than you have- you, a newbie that hasn’t gone through “the Change” yet, hasn’t full acclimated or been assimilated into the disgusting system of eternal suffering. Like they have. If redemption can be had here it’s more likely to be found with a newcomer like you, and if you can be saved then it’ll prove possible for anyone else.

At least that’s what you’ve surmised from the situation.

It doesn’t sit right with you though.

You did something topside to warrant your arrival here, or maybe you did a lot of things, or maybe you didn’t do enough, you don’t know and that’s the point. You don’t remember. There could be a mountain of skeletons shoved into your closet that you’re completely unaware of and until further notice that’s where they’re going to remain if they even exist.

You. Don’t. Know.

There are way too many unknown variables regarding your past- no, you’re very identity, and though you’ve been reassured on numerous occasions that that’s actually the standard here for newcomers... that doesn’t mean you deserve a second chance. Because who you were may not deserve it.

So don’t waste the room on a potential lost cause, is what you tell them.

“All the more reason to try it now before your memories can influence you.” Vaggie says in a firm voice, the very first you’ve heard her speak. 

And admittedly the logic is sound, you’re not trying to dispute that, it’s just... 

Not you- a clattering racket against the bar top- anyone else may deserve this opportunity- disrupts the conversation- but not you- and it takes all of two seconds to determine the source. It’s your phone, probably Mr. Terry announcing you officially dead to his business.

“Do you have a place to stay?” Still Vaggie.

As of right now, no, you really don’t.

“Residents can board here for free, you just have to stay clean- no sinning, at least as best you can.”

That’s not too bad, you think. Maybe you should-

No! No, one “good deed” doesn’t merit a shot at atonement. It’s not going to negate whatever it is you did to topside to leave you downside.

...but you’re more than likely out of a job now, one that barely paid enough to cover expenses to begin with, and losing your apartment is trailing not that far behind.

“What do you say, Newbie?”

“I-” the sudden dryness in your throat drags forth a minor coughing fit. “I don’t know if I deserve it.”

“Only one way to find out.”

Sacrifice comfort for survival, right?

You take a deep breath. “O-okay. Where’s the check-in sheet?”

____________________________________

a/u: mental health has been a bitch to deal with so i’m sorry that this took longer than i expected. i have half a mind to scrap this and redo it again but i’ma do this funky fresh thing where i stop overanalyzing it and put it out there for y’all to read. still no beta, and still no al yet, but we’re definitely getting c l o s e r, got this bitch all planned out and everything. y’all know the deal by now: like, reblog, and comment; the engagement makes my lil queer kokoro go doki doki

tagged: @kryptum-one @itz-kira @peachesandkats (i’m in love with all three of y’all, just letting you know)

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel alastor x reader #hazbin hotel alastor x you #alastor x reader #alastor x you #alastor the radio demon #hazbin hotel fanfiction #hazbin hotel fanfic #writing

[junietc]

not just a friend - steve rogers

steve rogers x reader

pairing: steve rogers/captain america x reader

word count: 7213

summary: friday nights used to be lazy nights but maybe helping steve finish his pop culture list instead wouldn’t be all that bad

warnings: swearing, maybe some sex relate jokes but all in all just a fluffy one shot

a/n: this is a reallllll long one haha. for our lovely captain, steve rogers, we have a not so short one shot i’ve been working on for the past few weeks. please leave requests and remember to show some love :)) 

hope you enjoy ~

Friday night meant a lazy night in Y/n's eyes.

It meant staying at the Avengers compound in her favourite pajamas, either reading a book or watching some new Netflix movie Tony was raving about.

It also meant she finally would get some peace and quiet seeing as Friday night was when Tony and Pepper went on their date night, Steve went out with Bucky and Sam to explore the modern world, and Clint and Natasha dragged Bruce out of the lab to have some fun.

Of course, it wasn’t that she wasn't invited to join them, (asides from Tony and Pepper's date night) but she always chose to stay at home.

Say it’s because she wanted a day to let her feet rest or say she just wanted to enjoy the couple hours she had to herself without any obnoxious shouting being tossed around the compound. 

Whatever the reason was, Y/n was used to being alone on Friday night.

So, you could only imagine her surprise when she saw a certain blue-eyed captain plop down, right next to her on the couch. 

Raising a brow, she turned her head towards the super soldier. "Steve? What are you still doing here?” pausing slightly, she winced at her choice of words.  “Sorry, that sounded really harsh. Aren't you supposed to be out? You know, fraternizing with the modern world with your little trio?" she heard him laugh before shaking his head.  

"Yes actually. But I had some extra work to do, so I told Buck and Sam that they could go out on their own," Y/n nodded, unsure of what to say. She saw him let out a wistful sigh, more than enough evidence to tell her that he wished he could be with them. 

Pausing the movie that was playing on the screen, she crossed her legs and turned to face him. "What do you guys do when you go out?" he looked at her surprised.

"Oh! Well, I try to check off my pop culture "to do" list. I've had it for a while and all the things are pretty stupid but I guess I just really want to finish it,” he told her, pulling out the small notebook from his back pocket.

Peering down and scanning through the list quickly, she noticed he still had more than half to check off. Y/n pursed her lips, looking down at her comfy over sized t-shirt and sighed slightly. I suppose now is a better time than ever to become closer to Steve. Allowing any possibilities of a peaceful evening to leave her mind she shook her and flashed him a grin. "Well than, get that American ass up and dressed because we're checking another thing off this list!" she announced enthusiastically standing up.

"What do you mean?" Steve chuckled watching her point at his notebook.

"I mean we're doing at least one of these. Lemme see, ooh! Are you hungry? I'm sure I could eat. Let's go get some Thai food! We could go to this restaurant that does takeout and then, hmm, 'I love Lucy'? I haven’t seen that show in ages, we could watch it when we get back at the tower," she looked up and saw Steve staring at her, a grin etched on his face. "What are you staring at? Let’s go!" she ushered Steve off the couch, making him laugh as she ran into her own room.

Changing out of her pajamas’ and into a simple t-shirt and jeans, she undid her messy ponytail and fumbled with her hair until she felt presentable.

She got out of the room and met up with Steve, who was had threw on a pair of jeans and his leather jacket over his shirt. The two took off and headed into the elevator. "The place isn't that far so we could walk there if that's alright with you," she told him.

"Sounds good," she smiled at him and they headed out to the restaurant. The walk was short as she had anticipated, the two chatting among themselves about their day and miscellaneous stories about their teammates.

They ordered their takeout before quickly heading back to the tower, the walk back filled with Y/n complaining about how cold it had suddenly gotten. Once they had gotten back to the tower, Y/n fired up the television and put on the first episode of "I Love Lucy" as the two changed into some comfier clothes.

"Alright, Thai food and I love Lucy. Lucky you Rogers, you've got yourself one of the best combinations in life," Y/n joked as she snuggled into the couch and started to eat some Pad Thai. Steve smiled at the girl, happy that someone cared this much to cancel their plans just for him. (Though her plans were hardly anything that needed canceling)

"I suppose I am lucky aren't I," he winked at her as she snorted in response.

The night trailed on, and it had been closing in on two hours of watching when the two had realized that it was getting late and they should be getting some sleep. They cleaned up and Y/n was about to retire to bed when Steve stopped her. "Hey, Y/n?"

She turned around and leaned against the door frame of her room. "Mhm?" she hummed in response.

"Thank you for tonight. It was nice of you to go out of your way to help me check off my list. It means a lot to me," he sent her a warm smile.

She smiled back, "it's no problem." He nodded before bidding her a goodnight. Before he could leave, Y/n’s voice stopped him. “Hey, I just had an idea. Why don't I help you check off your entire list? Anytime we're free we'll try and do another thing on your list. How's that sound Captain?"

A wide and goofy grin emerged on Steve's face. "That sounds perfect."

******

Nearly two weeks had passed, due to a rouge mission, before Y/n and Steve finally had another day off.

It was Saturday morning and Y/n was brain dead. Her thoughts were dispersed throughout her brain, trying to figure out where the next spot the criminal they were trying to catch would be. Not to mention she was running off seven cups of coffee and two hours of sleep so you could only imagine the chaos that was her mind.

She took a pause from her frantic typing and eyed the numerous tabs she had opened and papers that were scattered across her desk. Under her breath she cursed at how little progress she had made before returning to her laptop.

After an hour of dead ends and two more cups of coffee, Y/n decided it was pointless. “Who am I kidding. I should just give this case to someone at S.H.I.E.L.D," she stretched her neck and ran her fingers through her hair. A nap sounded like a nice idea at the time, but her plans were interrupted by a sudden knock on her wall.

Looking up from her work she saw Steve leaning against the door frame, a concerned look on his face. She threw her hand up in attempts to greet him. "Hey Cap, what's up?"

"Just checking up on you. Everything alright? You looked stressed," he questioned, concern laced in his voice. He walked over and examined her workspace. "You know you have the day off, right? You really should be relaxing. Working everyday isn't good for you.”

She scoffed, shaking her head, "Is Steve I-Need-To-Solve-This-Problem-Right-Now-Or-I-Will-Never-Forgive-Myself Rogers telling me to relax?” noticing his eyes roll she smiled. “Hey, I get what you mean. I guess I just though if did some more work I’d be able to help some more. But now all I’ve got to show for it is my Word doc with a billion typos and dead ends,” a sad laugh escaping her mouth.

"Don't say that," he spoke sternly. She raised an eyebrow at him as he picked up one of her lists, "There's a ton of good ideas here Y/n. You're just missing a few things and that’s probably just because you’re half asleep. You know what would help with that?" Y/n cocked a brow as he shook her slightly. "Taking a break."

Y/n broke into a grin when he pulled out the small notebook. "Are you just trying to get me to help you check off this list?" he grinned cheekily.

"Maybe."

*******

The two agreed that they needed to get some air, so Y/n suggested that they go to the planetarium. Maybe Steve could learn a thing or two about what recently happened in the solar system within the last seventy years he had been frozen.

When they got in, Steve was surprised to see a large dome with dozens of seats all lined up in a semicircle. Y/n grabbed his hand and dragged him over to sit down. "Trust me. Just watch," before he knew it, the lights switched off and various projections started to appear on the ceiling above them.

The patterns arranged themselves into different planets and stars and a deep voice began to play from a speaker. The two watched the whole show and listened intently, Steve occasionally chuckling due to Y/n whispering a few stupid jokes every so often.

After a solid hour or so, the two had to leave and head back to Avengers headquarter for training.

They walked in a comfortable silence, admiring the scenery and laughing at dumb jokes from time to time. Heading closer to the tower, they noticed a pair of figures being Sam and Bucky, waiting and chatting at the front entrance. "Hey Buck! Sam," Steve greeted the two men. Y/n sent a wave which they returned with soft smiles. The three of them chatted and Y/n noticed she was fourth wheeling, so she decided to bid the men a goodbye as she went in to change for her sparring with Nat.

Slipping into a tank top and her old pair of gym shorts, she grabbed a bag filled with simple necessities and headed into the elevator.

She made her way down to the training room, seeing Natasha talking to Clint who was practicing his shots. Quickly tying up her hair, she made her way over towards the two. "Hey, you ready for sparring?" Natasha greeted her, motioning towards the already set up mat.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

*******

After what felt like years of sparring, practicing her aim in the shooting range and weapon practice, Y/n was exhausted. She made her way over to the break station where Clint and Natasha were drinking water and cooling down.

"I swear I come out of training with a new body part broken each week,” she groaned, her muscles sore and her body sweaty. The pair chuckled as Y/n collapsed onto the chair in front of them.

"I noticed you and Steve have been hanging out quite a bit this past month. What have you been doing?" Clint remarked, throwing a towel towards Y/n, which she easily caught and used to wipe the sweat off her face.

"Well, I've been helping him do everything on his checklist since he's had it for a while," she replied simply, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and taking a large gulp of the icy cold liquid. Natasha smirked slightly, raising an eyebrow.

"And you’re saying that’s the only thing happening during all this, one on one time?" Y/n nearly spat out the water she was drinking before turning to the ex-assassin. Clint, who had been trying to keep his laughter in check, looked at Y/n's face and completely lost it. "Well?"

"Nat!" Y/n exclaimed in a hush tone, looking around to see if anyone heard her. Turning back, she sent a glare. "Are you serious?" Natasha crossed her arms, the look on her face telling her that she wouldn’t stop if Y/n didn’t answer the question. Y/n sighed, "no. There are you happy? We're just friends alright? That's all that we are, all that we'll ever be. Jeez." Breathing heavily, Y/n shook her head.

Can’t believe her. Why would she think Steve and I would ever – no way that could happen.

Nat and Clint shared a look with each other before shrugging and changing topics. Noticing that they weren't talking about her anymore, she casually grabbed an apple and bit into it. She watched Steve sparring with Bucky and smiled as his eyes met hers.

Her stomach did that weird thing again, that caused her to feel all giddy inside and her heart seemed to be beating faster than usual. Confused, she looked down wondering what was going on in her body.

It's probably just from sparring for so long.

It was obvious to any outsider that she was incredibly wrong.

*******

A few days had passed, and Steve and Y/n had hung out a few times, grabbing lunch together or merely just chatting in the compound.

Y/n was minding her own business, when a sudden realization had struck. Getting up from her comfortable spot on her bed, she made her way to the living room where Steve was seated, watching an old re-run of a television show.

"You know what Rogers? I've realized that I've been helping you do what everyone else wants you, yet I haven't added anything to your list. We're going to change that," Y/n randomly announced, plopping down onto the couch next to him.

He looked over at her, her face in full concentration, trying to find the perfect thing to add to his list. Laughing he cocked an eyebrow at her, "Oh really? And what is something so revolutionary that I just have to add to my list."

Thinking deeply, her eyes lit up before smiling widely at him. "Snicker doodles."

*******

"Steve! You're supposed to save the cinnamon for rolling the cookies in! Not for putting it inside the batter!" Y/n was laughing, as she tried to stop Steve from screwing up the recipe and mixing the wet ingredients.

"Well you said dry ingredients. Unless something has changed in the past seventy years, I'm fairly certain that cinnamon is dry," he retorted, watching her roll her eyes at him.

The two were trying to bake snicker doodles, Steve making quite hard too, as the Trouble man Soundtrack was playing in the background. Y/n made the snarky remark that since Steve still hasn't listen to it since Sam hadn't shut up about it.

When 'Trouble Man' played, Y/n smiled to herself. Dancing, as she mixed the bowl, she swayed to the melody and made her way towards Steve. Humming along to the song, she started to sing. "I come up hard baby, but now I'm cool. I didn't make it sugar, playin' by the rules. I come up hard baby, but now I'm fine," Y/n removed the whisk from his hand and replaced it with her own hand. "Dance with me?"

Steve looked at her and smiled brightly. The two swayed together in sync. Y/n placed her hands on his shoulders before placing her face into his chest. Steve looked slightly shocked before smiling and placing his hands on her waist. "I'm checkin' trouble-"

"-sugar, movin' down the line" Steve interrupted, causing Y/n to snap her head up and stare at him incredulously.

"I thought you hadn't heard this yet?"

"Sam manages to sneak this song on every time we're in a car," smiling and laughing, the two look down to realize that the flour on Steve's shirt had transferred to Y/n's hair. "You'd better clean that out, here let me help."

Steve shoots his hand out to ruffle her hair but Y/n ducks down fast enough. "Not so fast old man. I may lack braincells, but I do have eyes and I can see that your hands are clearly covered in flower,” she pointed an accusing finger at him. "Alright, now that you're done throwing flour everywhere. We can start making balls of dough and covering them in the cinnamon sugar," the two shared giggles before grabbing small handfuls of dough and rolling them in between their hands.

After covering the last few cookies, it was time to throw them in the oven. Y/n was holding the tray and Steve opened the oven. A breeze of hot air blew across her face, causing her to scrunch up her nose before placing the tray in the middle of the rack. "You said how long until they're done?" Steve asked her.

"Approximately 10 minutes, so at 6:36," she replied, closing the oven and punching in the numbers. She turned around to face him. "Meaning we should clean up the mess we made before the others come and see what we've been up to all day."

They started cleaning up the mess they had created, throwing most of the utensils and bowls into the dishwasher and putting away all the leftover ingredients. Realizing that the soundtrack had played through, she made her way over to her phone and opened the music. "Which band was it that you also needed to listen too?" she asked Steve, who opened his small notebook. 

"This band named Nirvana?" Y/n's eyes sparkled at the mention. Steve chuckled watching her facial expression turn excited and enthusiastic. "What? Do you know them or something?"

She looked over her shoulder and stared at him incredulously. "Know them? I love them! How have you never listened to – you know what? I'm just going to play it," she pressed shuffle on her phone before placing it down and heading over to clean up the last few things.

Grabbing a towel, she started to dry a few of the plates and placing them away. Music played, and Y/n sung along, dancing without a care in the world.

"Ooh! This is my favourite song!" Y/n dropped the towel in her hand and grabbed the spoon from the counter, bringing it up to her mouth. "Come as you are, as you were. As I want you to be. As a friend, as a friend. As a known enemy," she danced around the room, pretending she was on a stage, singing her heart out. Steve watched her sing and point at him, laughing to himself at how adorable she looked. "Take your time, hurry up. The choice is yours, don't be late. Take a rest as a friend. As an old-" she climbed onto the counter and used her free hand to dramatize her performance.

"Memoria, memoria, memoria, memoria." Once the lyrics finished, she danced around to the music and hopped off the counter. Panting slightly, she brushed the stray hairs out of her face before interlocking eyes with Steve and smiling goofily.

"Now that was a performance," Steve applauded her as she jokingly curtsied while laughing. The two shared a smile before cleaning up again and singing along to the songs.

Steve admired the girl, throwing a glance towards her every so often. His stomach seemed to be doing flips and he soon realized -

He was falling in love.

*******

About a month or so had passed and the subject of whether Steve and Y/n were dating was a frequently brought up topic. Many of the team members believed that it was all a secret and they were hiding their relationship, such as Tony, Clint and Sam. On the other end, a few of them thought that they were too pussy to go up and ask the other on a date such as Natasha and Bucky.

Of course, Bruce decided to stay out of all of this, but he did have his hopes that their relationship would soon evolve into something more than friendship.

To be completely honest, Y/n and Steve themselves had no clue what was going on.

The two liked each other tremendously.

Well that was obvious.

But they never truly acted on it, aside from Y/n's flirty remarks, but that was just her usual behavior, and remained friends.

It was quiet Friday night when Y/n was bored out of her mind. Dangling upside down from her bed, her eyes bore a stare into the wall.

A minute had passed before she decided that she was thirsty and headed down to the kitchen for something to drink. "Where's something to do when you need it?" she murmured, her fingers running through her hair as a yawn escaped her lips.

Once she opened her eyes, she saw a tall, dark haired figure standing in the kitchen. I mean I wouldn't mind doing him but – “Y/n?" her head snapped up.

"Oh, hey Bucky. What's up?" she asked as she made her way to the cabinets, grabbing a glass.

"Not much," she nodded before pouring water from the pitcher. "You know I was just talking to Natasha about your current love life," she looked at him, confused at why he was bringing this subject up, but nodded, taking a sip from her glass. "And I was wondering whether or not you and Steve were ever going to date."

Spitting out the water in her mouth, she looked up at the ex-assassin, her eyes nearly bulging out their sockets. "What?" she questioned, as sly smile started creeping its way on to his face.

"All that I'm saying is that you guys have chemistry. You've been hanging out a lot and-"

"I'm just helping him finish everything on that to do list of his," she interjected, wiping the excess water from the side of her face.

"Yeah and you're probably the last thing on it," Bucky grumbled quietly, making sure she didn't hear him. "What I was saying, is that you both should at least try and go on a date. I know Steve hasn't had something remotely close to a relationship in the last seventy years so I'm sure a date could fix him right up."

Y/n scoffed, rolling her eyes at his suggestion. "Why don't you go on a date with him then? He basically sacrificed his whole friendship with Tony for you. I smell a movie idea," she mocked in a sing-song voice. Bucky sighed before turning around to face the girl.

"I'm being serious Y/n."

She stared at him dead eye and crossed her arms. "And so am I. So, understand when I say that nothing will ever happen between me and Steve. He's just a friend," with that she walked out of the kitchen, grumbling to herself that she was hungry as Bucky rolled his eyes. “Also tell Natasha to stop blabbering about my love life to everyone!”

"They're even more perfect for each other than I thought. Stupidly oblivious though," he face-palmed before rubbing his eyes in annoyance. "God, I swear if I’m not Steve's man of honour when they get married."

*******

"I still can't believe you haven't seen any of the Star Trek movies. I thought you would've at least watched one with Sam or someone," Y/n rolled her eyes, settling down with popcorn next to Steve.

He chuckled slightly as he spread the blanket over top of the two of them. "Hey, at least I watched the Star-Wars movies. Tony wouldn't shut up about them until he made me watch every single one," Y/n laughed remembering the one time that Tony had barged into the meeting yelling about how Steve hadn't watched Star-Wars.

"I think you struck the most luck when you heard AC/DC early on. Tony nearly killed me when I said I only listened to one of their songs and it was Highway to Hell," she snorted, turning on the television.

About halfway into the third movie, Y/n stifled a yawn and started to lean on Steve's shoulder. She felt him tense for a second before loosening up.

The two were much too engrossed in the movie to have noticed the elevator doors opening revealing Tony and Natasha. The two of them walked into the living room and stopped when they saw Y/n and Steve together on the couch, Y/n's head on his shoulder. The two superheroes looked at each other and smirked. Tony let out a wolf whistle.

"Wow! Didn't know you still had it in you Capsicle. Especially not with our lovely Y/n! congrats," he teased, clapping his hands as they snapped their heads to look at them and Y/n rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shut it Stark. We're just watching a movie," she snapped, before turning back to face the screen.

Natasha snorted before curtsying in a mocking manner. "Oh, forgive us. Come on Stark, the lovely couple would like their privacy," Steve groaned as they snickered before making their way out of the room.

Y/n cursed something under her breath, before focusing her attention on the movie. "You know, a few days ago Bucky asked me if we were going to date."

Steve looked at her incredulously, her face blank as she shoved popcorn into her mouth. "What?" he asked her.

"He asked if we were going to date," she turned to face the shocked looking man. "I said no, don't worry. I told him we were just friends anyways," her voice quieter towards the end, chest clenching.

"Oh," Steve nodded, regaining his posture. "Just friends," his heart sunk to his stomach, as he shuffled around uncomfortably in his seat. "Right."

*******

The two had binged through the next few movies, probably landing on the ninth or tenth when Y/n started falling asleep.

Steve allowed the girl to take a nap, his eyes trailing from the screen to her.

He smiled as Y/n was snoozing softly on his shoulder. He checked on his watch and realized it was closing in on 3 am in the morning. He moved her, so she was leaning against the couch for a second before standing up and carrying her in his arms.

He walked over to her room as he walked into his Bucky eyeing him. "You and L/n have been hanging out a lot these past few weeks. You sure there's nothing going on Steve?" he teased his friend. Steve rolled his eyes before looking down at Y/n who had her face snuggled up against his chest.

"I wish I knew what it was Buck but I’m just not sure what it is," he looked down at the sleeping girl, a soft smile appearing on his face. With that he bid his goodnight before heading off.

Bucky watched his friend bring the girl into her room as he rolled his eyes. "Not sure what it is my ass. That punk knows he's in love with her."

Steve opened up the door and laid Y/n on her bed. He pressed a chaste kiss on her temple before sitting up from the bed. "'Night Y/n."

Before he could leave, he felt a hand grab onto his forearm. He saw Y/n, her eyelids only half open and her breath raspy. "Stay?" she pleaded. Steve looked at her slightly shocked. He saw her pout and gave in almost immediately.

"Alright," he laid down next to her as she turned and placed her face in his chest. He sucked on his breath, looking at the tired girl and wrapped his arm around her.

*******

Mmmm, warmth.

Y/n hummed in content as she woke up. She felt something hard pressed up against her head and opened her eyes to see Steve sleeping next to her. Her eyes widened immediately. Her first reaction to jump away before realizing that it would be too hard since his arm was wrapped around her.

Inhaling sharply, panic struck across her face. Steve's sleeping next to me. The love of my life is sleeping next to me. What am I supposed to do?

Steve's eyes blinked open, his head turning to face Y/n's embarrassed one. He smiled softly at her before murmuring a quiet 'good morning' in a low, raspy voice. Blinking slightly, makings sure this wasn't a dream, she smiled awkwardly.

"H-Hi," tucking a strand of hair behind her ear in attempt to reduce her embarrassment (which it didn't), she greeted him. "Morning. Remind me, but – er, why are you here? In bed. With me?"

Just realizing she was unsure what was going on, Steve apologized profusely. "Oh my god, I am so sorry! I didn't realize that you didn't know what was happening and you were probably extremely confused and I- "

God damnit Y/n. You just totally stressed out Cap for being nice. "– Steve?" stopping abruptly, he looked at her, worry in his eyes. "I'm not upset. It was sweet of you to bring me to my room. I just wondered why you chose to stay the night with me?"

Chuckling slightly, he scratched the back of his neck. "Actually, you asked me to stay the night."

"I what."

"Yeah you kind of begged for me to stay with you last night after I dropped you off in bed," he responded nervously. Due to her shock, her eyes widened as she watched the blue-eyed man start to laugh. "Hey don't worry. I don't mind. You were really cute when you were tired, so I couldn't say no," as soon as the words had escaped his mouth, Y/n's brain started to malfunction.

Did Steven Grant Roger, aka Captain America, aka my biggest crush ever just call me cute?

"Oh?" she exclaimed; her voice uncharacteristically high. "Really now?"

Steve looked at her oddly until he realized the words he had said earlier. "Oh, oh! Sorry I didn't mean it to say that you're cute – ah! Not saying you're not, I mean you're gorgeous, prettiest girl I've ever met but – damnit! I mean –" Y/n started smiling uncontrollably, laughter tumbling off her lips. Groaning Steve cursed under his breath. "Shit."

"Steve, what are you trying to say?" she asked the super soldier, who was currently hiding his face in his hands. Smothering a laugh, she tried to move his hands away from his head. "Steve?"

"Y/n, I have to tell you something," surprised at his sudden outburst, Y/n looked at him shocked.

"Oh! Well, what is it?" her mind trailed off, wondering what he wished to talk to her about.

Fumbling around his fingers, he bit his bottom lip before looking into her eyes. "Y/n, I really like –"

"Meeting in five minutes Y/n – oh! Steve? What are you doing in Y/n's room?" Natasha interrupted glancing at the two, a smirk tugging at her lips. "You two already slept together? I mean I knew it was going to happen, but I at least expected a date or –"

Y/n started to panic, launching a pillow at the red head's direction. "Natasha! Are you serious? Get out!" the ex-assassin laughed before shutting the door.

"Fury wants us there in five minutes!" her voice trailed off as she left. Y/n rubbed her temples at the actions of her friend. Turning to face Steve, whose face was prominently red now, she tried to get him to tell her what he was going to say before they were rudely interrupted.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?"

"I – nothing. Never mind. We should get going, don't want to leave Fury waiting," getting up and out of the bed, Y/n watched as he prepared to leave the room.

Disappointed, she replied, "oh, I get it. Tell me later?" Steve turned to face her with an unsure face.

"Sure."

*******

"They were in the same room?" Tony exclaimed loudly as Natasha shushed him with a glare. "Well sorry. I'm just asking to make sure you weren't seeing things?" he questioned, sipping some of the hot liquid in his mug.

Rolling her eyes at his distrust in her, she crossed her arms. "I'm sure Tony. I saw him when I went to call Y/n. They were deep in conversation and I'm pretty sure I wasn't just seeing things. He might've just popped into her room in the morning though. I'm not –"

Bucky, who had been quiet for most of the conversation had finally spoken up, "I saw him bring Y/n back into her room last night and he never came back out," Sam turned to face him and cocked a brow.

"And how do you know he never got out? Were you stalking him?" Clint snickered at the question, watching the soldier scoff and roll his eyes.

"That doesn't matter Wilson. The two definitely at least slept in the same room. But now to the question of whether they fu –"

Y/n's head popped in from the door and the rest of the team turned towards her, slightly surprised. "What are you guys up to?"

"Working on some tests," Bruce quickly replied, snatching random papers that were scattered on the table.

Clint rose his mug and took a sip, "snacking."

"Talking about whether or not you and Steve fucked each other last night," Natasha replied casually, watching Bruce choke on his coffee. Bucky snorted slightly, watching the h/c haired girl's face distort into shock.

Tony started laughing manically. "So, tell us Y/n? What'd the two of you do in the same room? Anything I'd like to get in the middle of?" glaring, she made a disgusted face at Tony's statement.

"Very funny Stark. We didn't do anything last night, alright? We were just watching movies and I fell asleep and Steve was a gentleman and brought me to my room," walking into the room, she grabbed a cookie from the plate on the table and munched on it.

Clint furrowed his brows before asking the next question, "but why did he stay the night? I didn't know that was a part of being a gentleman," Y/n pursed her lips, cursing under her breath. "Unless there's something you didn't mention, Y/n?" Turning around and crossing her arms she huffed.

"I might've asked him to stay," she mumbled under her breath quickly, not wishing for anyone to hear her. Bucky, who was closest to her, overheard her mutters and rose his eyebrows. Before he could say anything, Y/n cleared her throat and walked out of the room. "Now if you'll excuse me, Steve and I are heading out for lunch," seeing everyone's looks at her, she narrowed her eyes and stated, "as friends."

Bucky shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged his shoulders. "I mean sure it might start with being friends but a quick mouth to mouth action really can get it going for the two of you. Steve's just a little shy and won't initiate it but if you try hard enough–"

"Bucky we're not kissing."

"I never said kissing," smirking slightly he flashed a wolfish grin. "You two could always make-out instead," Y/n groaned loudly, watching the rest of the team burst in to laughs, even Bruce betraying her with his fit of giggles.

"You guys are honestly the worst. Steve doesn't like me in that way, and I don't like him in that way so there's no possible way for the two of us to date," Natasha started cackling and slammed her fist onto the table as her laughing intensified. Crossing her arms, Y/n asked, "what's so funny now Nat?"

Wiping a tear from her eye she looked at the girl and shook her head. "Alright if you and Steve aren't madly in love with each other than I guess that I wasn’t a previous assassin," Tony grinned before chiming in as well.

"And I suppose that I'm not a billionaire."

Sam chuckled before joining with the two, "and I'm not the best-looking guy on the team," everyone turned to look at him. "What?" Y/n shook her head, before looking down at her phone.

"I've got to go now. I don't want to keep Steve waiting. We'll be back in an hour or so," saying her goodbyes, she headed out for the door only getting stopped by the sound of Bucky's voice.

"That's right. No need to keep your future husband waiting to long," Y/n resisted the urge to smack him across the face but turned around and glared.

The laughter died down as she narrowed her eyes intensely, "would you please, stop?" Bucky scoffed but waved goodbye as she turned back around.

"Alright but for the wedding, can I be –"

"Oh my god you guys are so annoying!"

******

The crisp autumn air blew through Y/n's hair as she walked side by side with Steve, headed for a coffee shop downtown. This wasn't one of the things that Steve needed to do but Y/n was in the mood for a warm drink to calm her down from all the events that had occurred. Like sleeping with her massive crush.

Stopping in front of a quaint little café, Y/n opened the door and allowed Steve in. "After you, kind sir," she mocked, bow down as he chuckled.

"Well thank you doll," the slight word choice was enough for Y/n's cheeks to turn pink and for butterflies to start fluttering around in her stomach. After purchasing their drinks (and a slight banter between the two on who was paying. Y/n ended winning by swiping her card while they were arguing), the two set out for a casual stroll down the streets of New York.

They walked in a peaceful silence, enjoying the background noises of the busy streets and sipping on the drinks every so often. Y/n looked around, her eyes meeting back with his. She smiled warmly at him, her nose scrunching up as she giggled suddenly. "What's so funny?" he asked with a playful smile.

"Oh nothing," she waved him off. "I'm just remembering what the team said earlier. They were talking about us sleeping together or something dumb like that," she scoffed thinking about how dumb that idea was. Not that she wouldn't want to. God knows she does, but Steve didn't need to know that.

Not yet at least.

Steve placed one of his hands in his pocket, nodding slightly. "Oh. Yeah, Bucky was asking me about that earlier. I don't know what's gotten into them,"

"Yeah. They even joked about you liking me and whatnot. It was really weird," as soon as the words had left her mouth, Steve nodded awkwardly. Noticing something was up she turned to face the super soldier. "Everything alright?"

He nodded his head at first, "yeah, yeah don't worry about it," she nodded, going back to her original position facing forwards. It was only a few seconds after when Steve started shaking his head violently and sighing. "You know what? It's not alright," Y/n looked at him in shock.

"What do you mean? Is something wrong? Did I do something to upset you? Is – "

"I'm in love with you," pausing afterwards, he began to be extremely infatuated with his shoes, not taking his eyes off them. "I'm in love with you, Y/n L/n. And I have been for a while."

Y/n's face was red. Extremely red. "O-Oh," she could feel the blood rising to her cheeks, his sentence came outs so suddenly she hardly had time to react. Steve realized she hadn't responded and shook his head.

"You know what, I'm really sorry that was a lot to put on you and I didn't mean to just drop the bomb like that. I had a whole plan too –" Y/n pulled on his arm and leaned him downwards as she sealed his mouth with a kiss.

He tasted like the minty gum they had earlier and fresh coffee, his scent intoxicating her, sending her emotions haywire. They pulled apart, lips slightly parted, heavy breaths colliding with one another. Y/n smiled softly, once their eyes had met. "This is going to sound cliché, but you were talking way too much."

A bright grin had erupted on his face as he pulled her closer to him and pressed another kiss on her lips. His arms found their way around her waist as hers rested on his arms. Smiling once they broke apart, he said, "I suppose that was the best way to shut me up."

********

(One Year Later)

Steve never really was good at secrets. It seemed that everything he wanted to hide from his beloved girlfriend was impossible to do. Perhaps he was terrible at keeping them, but he liked to say it was because she was just so smart.

Fumbling around with the last few touches he quickly ran over to the couch and waited for Y/n too walk through the door. Jingle of the keys were heard, and a smile found its way to Steve face. "Hey babe, how are you doing?" Y/n asked as she walked in.

"I'm good," she placed a kiss on his cheek as she walked by, throwing her bag by the kitchen table. "Hey, do you mind grabbing my glasses for me in the bedroom?" he asked as she nodded, throwing her hair up into a ponytail.

Calling out to him as she headed to the room she said, "where are they?"

"They should be in the drawer next to the bed."

"Alright," she nodded as she opened the door into the room. Opening the drawer, her eyes were surprised to find a small velvet box sitting in the middle of the drawer, rose petals scattered around it. "Steve? What's all of –"

Picking up the box she turned around when she saw Steve down on one knee, a shiny diamond ring in his hand. "Y/n, doll. I know we've only been dating for a year, but I know you make me a better person and I know I love you with every single piece of my heart. You've sacrificed your time for me and your lazy Fridays," Y/n laughed as tears glistened in her eyes. "But I just want you to know I love you so much, would you do the honour of making me the happiest man in the world?"

Sobbing as tears cascaded down her cheeks she nodded aggressively. "Yes! A million times yes Steve. I love you so much," placing the ring on her finger he smiled as he took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately.

The two walked out of the room and loud cheers could be heard. "I knew she would say yes! What else could she have said?" Bucky shouted, hugging his friend who laughed.

Giggling she headed over to Natasha and Tony who hugged her tightly. "You know Steve was hiding all six of us in your bathroom? It was terribly tight. But I'm proud of you girl," Tony laughed before agreeing and ruffling her hair.

Bruce and Clint congratulated her and after harassing Steve, so did Bucky and Sam. They popped open some of Tony's celebratory alcohol and cheered. As soon as all the commotion had settled down Bucky cleared his throat. "Can I just say I predicted this like a year ago?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Honey, we all predicted this. Don't act like you were the only one," everyone laughed before they all held a toast.

"To our two favourite blind love idiots who took way too long to date but the right amount of time to get engaged!" Clint announced as everyone chorused; "To Y/n and Steve!"

Sipping their drinks, the newly engaged couple smiled at the other and kissed deeply. "I love you Y/n," Steve said as she kissed his cheek.

"I love you too, Steven Grant Rogers."

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

#Steve Rogers #steve #captain america #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers imagines #steve rogers one shot #x reader #avengers x reader #marvel #avengers #natasha romanoff #tony stark #iron man #captain america imagine #captain america x reader #captain america imagines #captain america oneshot #love #romance #endgame #marvel x reader #imagines #one shot

[psyga315]

Prelude

With Volume 7 just beyond the horizon, I figured to look back at my thoughts for Volume 5 and, through more cooled down eyes, boil down why I consider it to be the worst volume of RWBY. When I wrote my review of Volume 5, it was literally the night the episode premiered, so I was boiling. But now? I’m going to look through the review with fresher eyes and clarify what sort of problems I had with RWBY.

First, a bit of backstory. There was an interview made during the summer in between Volumes 4 & 5 that had the cast say what sort of themes one could expect for Volume 5. Among these were stuff like “building yourself back up again”, “shouting ‘we’re not done here!’”, “solving problems on your own”, and lastly, from Barbara herself, “Strength” and “Growth”. For someone who was just starting to realize why people were turned off by the darkness of Volume 3, this was uplifting to say the least…

Shorts

The Character Shorts kinda hyped the Volume, though they sunk in their own way. Weiss’s Character Short effectively foreshadowed her loss to Vernal. This tough and talented girl gets her ass stomped rather quickly and needed to be bailed out. Winter’s line about how she “won’t be around to save her” was foreshadowing to her not actually being in the season, but when I first heard it, I thought she meant “Hey, I’m going to die this volume, lol!” and that’s without bringing up how the trailer fails to hype Weiss up like the other trailers did.

Blake’s Trailer was alright, especially in taking steps to address a problem regarding Menagerie, but it felt more like Ilia given the backstory dump we got that feels all the more like mandatory reading. The problem is that, and it’s perhaps the very first problem I’ve heard about RWBY, is that the trailers (and by extension, anything that’s a spin off of RWBY like World of Remnant) feel more like you need to watch this rather than you can watch this. It’s confusing, but let’s use Blake’s Short as an example.

Ilia talks about her backstory as it is contrasted with a chase between Blake and a random dude we never see again. Assuming you’ve never watched the trailer, you’d just get the truncated version of “MUH PARENTS ARE DEEEAAAD!” and not the bits where she was forced to resent her own race because it was easier to blend in to her surroundings, like a chameleon. It’s ironic, since RWBY would do the reverse problem with Adam, where his trailer isn’t mandatory but we barely get a backstory for him beyond “I got branded, but everyone will speculate that it’s because I did something bad and not that it drove me to do bad things”.

Lastly, there’s Yang’s short, which had the minor hiccup of contrasting what an interview said about running out of Aura means you can’t use your Semblance. The Aura thing is something that can be discussed for another day, but the basics you should take away from this is that, for some time, people didn’t know how running out of Aura is symbolized. Most people take the flickering as the signal as the next hit on those guys are usually the one that does them in. As such, you had this huge debate on what kind of flickering means Aura broken and what just meant Aura is low, which, personally, could have been avoided if the writers and/or animators just utilized that Aura dust thing (seen prominently in the Bumblebee vs Adam fight) as their definitive “aura broken” animation instead of just using it some of the time.

First Episode

The first episode proper promised a lot. In fact, a good chunk of the first half promised a lot. However, it became much clear in a second viewing that a lot of it was just padding at worst and showing us where the characters are at best. But what I think was done dirty the most in this episode was introducing Mistral. We were hyped in Volume 4 (thanks to World of Remnant) that Mistral was this dichotomy of rich, cultural people and the seedy underbelly of criminals and that, at least one of the elements would be utilized in Volume 5. Unfortunately, all we got were a few mat paintings that contrast what Lionheart was saying in regards to Mistral being in chaos.

And so, the most we get out of Mistral are those mat paintings and a perpetually raining downtown that we don’t see much of, even when it gets briefly revisited in Volume 6. We’re supposed to be invested in the city and yet all we get are empty rooms and 2D art. They took great steps to improve this in Volume 6 with Argus, though, so if there’s any consolation, it’s that they learned from their mistakes here.

But we now get into the biggest problem of why Volume 5 is disliked. Because of the situation, the group are left to basically wait until Lionheart convinces the council to get them some Huntsmen. The heroes. Wait. In a volume where the writers were talking about the themes of improving yourself and pulling through with your own strength.

Do you guys see the problem here? I know people have bitched about Volume 5 to hell and back and you’ve probably heard the complaints to high noon, but this entire issue is what rots Volume 5 to the core the most. Not the piss poor fight scenes, not the inconsistent characterizations, it’s that the plotting decides to take a back seat when the volume was meant to be about taking action.

As the episode goes on, you see the problem unfold. Ruby and friends hit a dead end until Oscar appears and has Ozpin exposit things to them, Weiss is denied a chance to save people and fight the Grimm until the Grimm come to her, Blake is hit with the dead end of the Albains deflecting blame, and Yang had the chance encounter with Bakugou where he knows the hideout of her mom.

The closest person who is taking action here is Yang, who established that she is actively looking for Ruby (technically Raven, but as we see later on, moot point). Blake’s situation is being handled by her dad, Weiss is sitting in the plane until the Grimm come for her, and Ruby is sitting on the couch that I’m pretty sure has her grooves molded into the cushion with how many times she’s sat there.

Episode 2

A minor complaint before we go to Episode 2, we had the Stinger repeat itself because the crew thought that people wouldn’t see the stingers. This is the show, mind you, that makes a point to include scenes at the end of every volume, regardless of how long they are or what point they serve in hyping the next Volume. Hell, one of the major complaints about Volume 2 was about the stinger not mattering. So why did they suddenly decide that the viewers might not see the stinger in a culture where the MCU exists?

Alright, cooling things down, we have three major scenes in Episode 2. Salem’s chat with Lionheart was meh at best and wtf at worst. I get the idea of Salem using different approaches to get people to do what she wants, but the cool aspect of Salem was that her approach was not what a villain would normally be. Instead of berating or choking her minions should they fail or talk back, Salem instead talks people down like she’s a mother to them. Even when Tyrian fails, she doesn’t hurt him, but rather tell him that he disappointed her. So, having her choke Lionheart, even when in hindsight it made some sense, is kinda an odd thing to do.

But not as odd as Salem’s whole “Not you, Arthur” bit. A lot of people drew points to that and the best I can explain is that it’s either a typo (she’s meant to say not yet or not now) or Arthur and Watts are some sort of Jekyll & Hyde thing. Unfortunately, it seems Watts is more a parallel to Watson rather than Jekyll, so that brings me to believe that it’s a typo and so, rather than have an easy explanation for a problem, we just have a compounded problem. One of many.

And there’s something funny to be said about Salem warning Cinder about Silver Eyes when Ruby barely learns about it this Volume. And also that she wants to speak with Tyrian but we never see what comes of it. At all.

I only have one new thing about Weiss vs. the Bees. Originally, the pilot was supposed to be gay, but held off on it because they’d be killing off their first revealed gay character, something that wouldn’t look good to the fanbase. Now, while I understand the reason behind it, I have to question the logic behind why they think it isn’t okay for their first LGBT character to be offed, but instead be someone who seemed okay with murdering her crush’s parents while sending said crush to her abuser.

But more on that later, we have Sienna to discuss. Now, there’s a lot to dissect. For one, RT has obviously realized that they’ve messed up and brought Sienna back for a bit (while taking the heat for “if she’s so badass, why did she go out like a chump”). However, in hindsight, what purpose did she actually serve outside of some cute nod to Shere Khan?

All she did was tell Adam that he’s going too far and that’s it. And really, it just seems hypocritical for the leader of the White Fang to effectively restructure the organization into a terrorist group, murder tons of people, and then suddenly back away and say “woah, too much” when Adam proceeded to help torch Beacon. It’s to the point where one question most people want to ask at cons is “did Sienna order the hit out on the SDC”, since we don’t actually know and that it could be a radical leader of that quadrant like Adam.

It felt more like Sienna should have been just the leader of Mistral’s White Fang faction instead of ruling over all the White Fang, which would make more sense as Adam would need permission to attack a kingdom that isn’t his stomping ground. Then there’s the introduction of Hazel, who at first is presented to be a pretty decent character, not wanting to kill people if he had no choice, but as time goes on, is basically your stock “big soft guy with a secret hulk side” character.

Unfortunately, this episode didn’t help enforce the theme of taking action when it’s the villains who are doing it and seeming to be two if not twenty steps ahead of the heroes.

Episode 3

Episode 3 has that whole speech thing I overlooked. Barring Ghira’s speech that the crew said is based off Obama’s “we killed Osama” speech (which, if it is, paints the whole situation of Sienna’s death in a rather dark light) before Ilia interferes. Now, I actually liked that Menagerie is hesitant to stand up for Haven. After all, humans hated their guts so much that the island was originally planned to be a place where people could dump Faunus on. There were lynchings and enslavements that are still going on to this day, just in subtler forms, Of course the Faunus wouldn’t want to fight.

Then Ilia swoops in and robs Blake of any agency she has with the scene. If RT wanted to not let Blake convince the people until three quarters to the end, they should have cut the subtlety and have some annoying kid go “IT’S TOO EARLY IN THE PLOT TO DO YOUR SPEECH!”. Hell, let Blake tell her story about her team, but the audience balks at the fact that she’s not only friends with a Schnee, but also a human who crippled a guy on live television. Remember that plot point?

We then cut to Oscar and this is perhaps the reason I decided to do this revisit of Volume 5. The way Ozpin talks of action and resolve, it felt like we’re going to the root of the themes of taking action. No more being subject to the events of the plot like in previous Volumes. Now? Now is the time to fight back! And that built up to… what? One training scene and Ruby learning headbutt?

Granted, we see later on that there was a bit more to the plan, but for the most part, it seemed like an excuse for “character growth” as opposed to actual character growth. A training arc isn’t just some short scenes of a person lifting weights and jogging up stairs. Its meant to be a sort of means of growth for the character. There’s a reason most training montages have the character suck at first, but then get better by the time the montage ends. It’s because it’s the quickest way to show growth. But even without that, you could get some serious mileage for a pulled off training arc.

Rocky IV and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back have some good examples of it. Rocky IV had the titular hero train and work out in the middle of a cold, mountainous range, while his opponent is simply given steroids. It shows the dichotomy between the two and how they view their eventual fight. Empire, on the other hand, had that masterful scene with Luke in the cave, where he has a huge moment of both foreshadowing and character growth.

Here? We just have Ruby learn headbutt like she’s nothing more than a Pokemon. There could have been a lot more done with it, like having Ruby put a lot more force in her punches, causing others to realize she’s extremely angry about what happened to Pyrrha and Penny, or, if the need to exposit about Semblances is needed, bring something new to the table that isn’t going to confuse the fuck out of people… Something like:

“Your Semblance might not reveal itself until you need it most” or something like that. Not “A semblance is someone’s personality, but not. Wow! Exposition!” or “Hey, remember how we said Aura was passive? Welp, not anymore!”

Not to mention that Jaune is seemingly cool with Ozpin suddenly coming back from the dead. Here’s the thing, last Volume had him upset with Ozpin about what happened to Pyrrha, something that didn’t seemed to resolve itself. Keep in mind that, for all rights and merits, Jaune believed Ozpin to have died. In fact, it was that confirmation that Ozpin had lost against Cinder that convinced Pyrrha to kill herself. Now here he is, seemingly stuck in the body of another kid and he just outright said this is a normal thing for him.

You’d expect him to have something more than “golly!”. The fact that he didn’t seem to have any aggression towards Ozpin until after he ran to his hidey hole in Volume 6 seems rather odd given that his entire character is that he’s angsting about Pyrrha and angry at Cinder for what she did. The group seem rather content to just sit back and let the plot happen, which is the opposite of what the crew was trying to convey with their themes.

Episode 4 and Episode 5

I still stand by what I said regarding how Episode 4 was a good episode, finally having a reunion between two members of Team RWBY, but it’s perhaps one of the last good things about RWBY we’ll ever see in Volume 5. Because Raven’s promise to tell Yang “the whole truth” turns out to just be regurgitated exposition at worst.

But first, we need to have Blake, the woman who doesn’t want her race to be labeled, turn out to have labels for her friends. Okay, granted, it’s not that dumb but it is kinda patronizing that we need to have a character tell us what another character is. While the rest of her speech is pretty effective in defining Blake’s character, making her perhaps the only character these themes of growth and strength actually apply to, it still is annoying that the most we take away out of this is her boiling down every character to a single word, then bringing up how Adam is going to ruin everything for the Faunus. You’ll see why this is a problem later. I liked the setting of Menagerie’s Shallow Sea marketplace thing and felt like Menagerie is wasted potential.

Ruby’s whole speech still feels like damage control, but with the added complaint of Ruby deciding to blame Salem for something Cinder did. Now, I heard the common excuse a lot: “Salem told Cinder to do it so it’s all her fault”, but that problem with that? Cinder told Emerald to kill Penny. So… Yeah. It is her fault. Hell, I wouldn’t have minded this if Ruby didn’t word it like Salem personally killed Penny and Pyrrha. Like as in, she just up and appeared out of nowhere and shot both Penny and Pyrrha in the head.

It still doesn’t fix the fact that Ruby is basically “hey, remember how I’m supposed to be upset?”

Lastly for Episode 5, we have the White Fang do the brilliant plant of murdering the chieftain who just spoke out against them. It’s dumb. Extremely dumb. What the hell do they think will happen after they murder the chieftain in cold blood? Menagerie is just gonna magically bend over and obey the White Fang? But perhaps the biggest waste is the White Fang in general.

You have these two sneaky fox brothers who seemingly oversee everything and even state that they’re only letting Adam do what he wants until he’s no longer of use to them, a buff bat dude, and a spider-lady… And they’re never seen again after this Volume. I get the idea, because RT is trying to wrap up the Faunus subplot as quickly as possible, but the problem that you can’t exactly introduce new characters or hidden depths if you’re just gonna throw them out with the bath water.

If they wanted to end the subplot, why did they put all the effort in some random characters that are just gonna be defeated off screen with a tea tray? Then again, this is a problem endemic to RWBY. Introduce this character, then quickly shoo them away before you’re committed to writing a plot for them. If you know you were going to half-ass the White Fang conclusion, why bother with stuff like more White Fang members or the SDC brand? In fact, why bother with the White Fang to begin with if you’re going to do so little with them?

Episode 6

Moving on before I lose my cool, we have Qrow aimlessly walking around downtown Mistral. Now, the crew said that Maria was supposed to be here… But… Why? What purpose would she serve? If she’s just gonna be a “hey, look, cameo to foreshadow Volume 6”, then that’s a horrible purpose. You know how most Cinematic Universes tanked because they spent more time hyping the next twenty movies when they should focus on their pilot? That’s what she would have been like.

Not to mention that she would have been caught in the crossfire of why Volume 5 was bad. “So here we have this random old lady who doesn’t matter at all to the plot so why is she even there” and then “Oh wow, she’s a SEW. They’re doing damage control to justify her unneeded presence in Volume 5”. And, don’t get me wrong, Maria is a fun lady and all that, but there needs to be a reason she was there beyond “hype for next Volume”.

What makes the problem worse was that they’re planning to include Maria so as to have a sort of Yoda to teach Ruby. This makes the complaint of “why didn’t Ruby ask about the Silver Eyes” even more of a complaint because now it seems like they decided “hey, we’re going to address it next volume, so let’s not bother bringing it up here”. Which is even worse than “hey, people noticed we didn’t address this so let’s completely invent this character for the sole purpose of addressing it!”

And then there’s Raven who is all “lol, I know more than you realize but I’m not actually gonna answer anything trolololololol” AARHG!

Okay. Okay. Before I completely lose my marbles, there’s one thing about the scene with Raven that’s stupid.

It’s the “there’s no such thing as magic” thing.

Okay. I get it. Turning into a bird is something that, in the world of RWBY, seems impossible. But there’s a ton of problems with this:

What makes summoning dead Grimm to fight for you so much more different than magic?

You’re willing to believe in magic rocks that augment your fighting style and are in fact part of a company that profits off magic rocks, yet turning into a bird is the messed up thing?

The guy who gave her this ability is currently inhabiting the body of a young boy and has said to basically devour his soul in due time, as well as create the magic that’s responsible for torching your school and your friend… And the BIRD is the most messed up thing!?

“But Raven made it sound like she was forced into it”. She didn’t seem to have any fucking problem with it though. Not only that, but it didn’t seem like a big dark secret that Ozpin wouldn’t want uncovered. In fact, he even said he gave Qrow and Raven the ability to turn into birds in an amused way.

Even more so when everyone but Yang seemed to respond to it with disbelief rather than outright anger. There’s a reason this whole bird issue was made fun of in Jello’s “So This is Basically RWBY” video.

Also, before we move onto Episode 7, I wanna bring up that the scene where Qrow visits the Shields is perhaps the reason why I hold Ozpin’s censorship of Lionheart’s role in the Battle of Haven to be one of the most scumbag moves he could have made. “Your mom’s dead, but don’t worry, the guy who sold her out is a hero!”

Episodes 7-10

Right, back to Episode 7. Okay, I’ll admit, it was a nice reunion scene all things considered, albeit with some rather unnerving things like Yang asking Weiss if she let the Boarbatusk skewer the trophy wife or even the dumb, patronizing “we haven’t made character arcs for us to go through so I’ll just say we had some”, since they had the great idea to use Ren, who is voiced by Monty’s brother, as the mouthpiece for that.

Unfortunately, this is the episode I always think back to when I think of Volume 5. The perfect epitome of a slow, monotonous Volume. The problem I have is that, yeah, it’s meant to be this breather episode, a calm before the storm, but this just feels like a long lull that’s made even more insulting with the cliffhanger. All it has is people dumping exposition that viewers have either figured out or weren’t even burning questions and I think the awkward silence that followed Ozpin saying how he was the wizard that gave the Maidens his power is the perfect epitome for just how boring the volume is. The dude just revealed a massive plot twist and it’s treated as nothing more than a “did you know” factoid.

While I liked how they addressed that Blake leaving Yang would have had some serious negative emotions in Yang, it felt rather half-assed that they basically resolved it with “hey, my mom’s drunk, so shut up and accept Blake the moment she comes back”, especially since it comes from Weiss, who told Blake at the end of Volume 1 that if she ever runs away again, she best let RWBY know. If they wanted to ship Bumblebee so badly, this would have been a great hurdle for them to come across instead of just “hey, let me resolve this plot for you”.

Now, the whole thing with Ilia… Let’s get the elephant out of the way. The way they revealed her sexuality, I feel, could have been done better. “You wanna know why I’m gonna kill your parents and bring you to your abuser? Because I wanted you to look at me like a lover!” There’s a reason why some fans label her as a “psycho lesbian”.

However, I want to bring up that Rooster Teeth did an excellent job at building tension during the climax of the Menagerie Arc. Sure, the cliffhangers were tiresome, but you couldn’t help but admit you were at the edge of your seat and it even did a good job at subversion. Even if they allegedly didn’t even intend for it to happen.

The constant dryness of exposition and dialogue exchanges is what made Episode 10 so much better than the other episodes. Not just because it’s action-orientated, but because it finally tries to get back to the themes that it was originally supposed to tell. Throughout the entirety of the middle portion of Volume 5, the group basically took a backseat and allowed characters and plots to happen to them rather than advocate for themselves. The closest thing we got to the theme of “building yourself back up” is Weiss talking to Yang about Blake.

In fact, the only actual characters taking action are the villains. Constantly roadblocking the cast, setting them in for a trap, and even aiming to screw each other over. These guys have more advocacy and agency than the main characters. The most any of them did was…

Burn down their own house and blamed everyone else for it, all while saying that the house is the message Adam wants to send.

Use a girl’s unrequited feelings towards them to their advantage, straddle them, and guilt tripped her enough for her to consider switching sides.

Cry about how things are not going their way until their hands start magically glowing.

Yelling at someone until they cry bitch tears and then have them run away without even bothering to close the door leading to the dangerous artifact everyone had been working so hard to keep out of enemy hands.

In the volume where the theme is “solving problems on our own”. Just because Yang drops the word strength a few times when bitching out at Raven doesn’t mean that the theme had been accomplished. In fact, they do nothing of their own accord and just follow a script. Even Ozpin, the supposed smartest guy in all of Remnant, doesn’t even bother to figure out a way to counter the trap. Just instead walk in. Hell, if Yang didn’t spot Raven, they’d be mulched.

But, back on track. Episode 9 was an entire waste that failed to pay off the expectations of what we had with the cliffhanger set up in Episode 7. “But it subverted your ex-” NO. There’s a good way to subvert expectations and being promised a fight after episodes of bland exposition only to have it be “lol, no, it’s just gonna be more talking” is not a good subversion.

No. Here’s a better way. Set up the cliffhanger like normal, but don’t show Cinder’s dragged out negotiation with Raven. Instead, have her “allying” with Cinder be a twist. That way, people’s expectations for what happened are actually, you know, subverted?

The Battle of Haven

But, you know where this is leading to… The Battle of Haven. Really, I don’t think I can say anything that hasn’t been covered by someone else. We all know it makes all the Vytal fights look like masterpieces by comparison, we all know the jokes about useless Weiss or Lionheart hogging the staircase, or even the plot holes of Raven knowing Cinder’s arm being Grimm but doing nothing about it or Blake, despite spending the past volume saying how Adam must be stopped, suddenly doesn’t care about him…

So let me cut it simply:

The reason this battle sucks might have to do with the crunch.

We don’t know how long this issue with Rooster Teeth had been going on for, but if it is indeed what people say it is and that animators don’t get paid for the last quarter or third of their work, then that might explain all the cut corners animators and writers made. Why the fights are broken up into one on ones or why fights are cut out entirely. Maybe they weren’t getting paid enough and thus, the quality of RWBY suffered as a result of it.

And that’s perhaps the shittiest thing about the Battle of Haven. It could have been this epic fight that would have made up for all the boring, drawn out scenes of exposition and chatting, but because Rooster Teeth got too greedy or even because of our own impatience (which, again, isn’t helped by the aforementioned long, drawn out scenes), we are treated to a final battle so broken and tiresome that the Battle of Winterfell manages to be a better final battle, with the only thing holding it back being that Haven had a better identity twist.

And if, for whatever reason, it isn’t due to crunch issues, then we have another problem. This was meant to be this hyped up rematch between the heroes and villains, who haven’t seen each other since the latter ruined the lives of the former. This would have been excellent to see how the killers of Jaune and Ruby’s friends would interact with them, how Yang would react to the person who framed her, even how the group had grown since their last battle…

But… if crunch wasn’t to blame for the quality dip and the writers intended for the fight to go the way it went… I have to say… What the fuck were they thinking!? So many moments could have been brought up here and yet they decided that they weren’t important enough to focus on! And now, with this battle over and done with, those moments lost their luster. If they decide to bring them up, it’d be too little, too late at best and “why the fuck are you bringing this up now” at worst.

I’ll deal with one commonly used example to get what I mean. Adam was established in Volume 3 to be a threat only made strong because he uses Blake’s emotions against her and has a Semblance that lets him dish out aura-breaking damage. Blake easily defeats Adam and has him on the ropes, only to let him run with a few excuses that some people have debated to death and back, when it would have been much easier for Blake to have to choose between apprehending Adam and helping Yang. Then, when he inevitably returns to haunt Blake next volume, suddenly he’s a threat that Blake is afraid of again despite Blake having “grown” to oppose him.

They wanted that “triumph” over him, but realize that by doing so, they’ve burned that opportunity to have the triumph be meaningful. Same goes with Emerald and Mercury. They had a good opportunity for Ruby to effectively call them out for their crimes like how Jaune did to Cinder, but instead she just headbutts Mercury. Yang had at least some closure on her arc with Mercury, but it was meh.

The Point in All of This

Hell, speaking of wasted opportunities, the reunion of Team RWBY, something that the opening had hyped and one that the fans had been waiting for since Volume 3 ended, is nothing more than an afterthought. They couldn’t even be assed to show Blake’s first fight back with Ruby and Weiss. That’s how little they cared. It’s like everyone was just wanting to get that paycheck but they needed to rush that final episode out the door and also need to make room for Gen:Lock and Nomad trailers. They didn’t even care about the stinger, as they basically ignored any sort of information relating to the stinger.

Perhaps the biggest reason why Volume 5 sucked so hard was that it was running off the heels of Volume 3. Everyone basically accepted that Volume 4 was meant to be a breather Volume, with lower stakes and lower drama (with the exception of possible death flags for Ren and Nora), but the moment they made Volume 5 the grudge match everyone wanted, then the stakes got raised back to the heights of the third Volume, only for it to fail to live up to the expectations. Sorry, I think I mean to say “subvert the expectations” in this day and age.

Though, I think the huge problem with all of this, and perhaps the biggest bottom line I can say, is that it might be due to Volume 3 going too over the edge. By killing important characters and even dividing the team, the villains had raised stakes up so high, that people began to take the show more seriously. When characters were vaguely hinted to die, be it through threats from the villains or even flashbacks, people fretted that they would die. When the villains go back to striking distance with the heroes, people desired a grand battle. When the show tried to deal with the ramifications that happened with RWBY separating, people wanted to know what was going through the characters’ heads.

And when Volume 5 failed to deliver/“subverted their expectations”, people considered it a bad volume.

But worst of all, it failed to live up to its own themes. Jaune was the only person to build himself back up again through deus ex hands, and we saw next Volume that it needed a statue for him to feel better. No one was in a position of giving up only to be defiant and shout “we’re not done here”, but instead cry “it wasn’t supposed to be like this!”. The big problem of Volume 5, make sure the relic is secure, is only solved because two characters had a catfight in the basement and the survivor didn’t bother to lock up because their daughter was too busy bitching at her. No one really grew or strengthened their resolve. The triumph… wasn’t theirs to have.

Although, it seems Rooster Teeth had learned from their mistakes, with Volume 6 being leaps and bounds better than Volume 5, regardless of what you thought of the latter half. Best of all, the themes promised in Volume 5 were shown prominently in Volume 6, albeit some of the scenes capitalizing on those themes feeling more like a child is having a tantrum because they couldn’t have the airplane.

To close out this rather long winded discussion, and to give people a tl;dr on the whole matter, Volume 5 failed to address the themes it had presented and instead just padded itself out, expecting people to accept it because it’s RWBY.

#RWDE #RWBY #Volume 5

[evalinkatrineberg]

Family

A/N: In which @arin-schreave meets the Bergs. Only 10k words this time. Includes bad hand puns because Anna made a typo that I thought was intention. In conclusion, I am a dumbass.

It was almost too easy to be swept back into old family rhythms as we chatted at the reception. Half the time, it felt like I had never even left, like I had just been away for a night or two, sleeping over at a friend’s house, but at the same time, it felt like I was meeting my family for the first time, as if they had just adopted me, and were filling me in on the family secrets.

“You’ve missed a lot,” Lydia informed me, her face dead serious, but filled with energy as she looked at me. Behind her, our mother nodded, folding her hands in front of her as she looked around the room at the other families. There was an interesting mix of people in the room, I had to admit, though it seemed like most families were keeping to themselves, just as we were now.

“So, fill me in,” I instructed, rocking back and forth on my feet from my heels to my toes once as I looked at my sister again.

“Okay, well,” she began, pointing at our father, “we know it’s early, but Father packed some birthday presents for you, so don’t let us forget that!”

I narrowed my eyes at my father, who stood to my side, completely straight faced. “You didn’t have to do that!” I knew that more likely than not, I was still going to be here for my birthday, but there was always the chance I would be sent home before then. I was painfully aware of that, especially with Christina bringing back more and more rumors about the other girls’ relationships with Arin each time she came to my room. Somebody saw him kissing Lady Jen last night. Well, I heard that he and Lady Clemence were pretty cozy today. Do you see the way that Lady Leana looks at him? Somebody saw Lady Regina in his office earlier. I still can’t believe that Lady Idalia touched his face at the ball. Did you hear that he and Lady Melissa kissed? I haven’t seen him with Lady Octavia recently.

Every time she said something, I couldn’t help but look at my phone. I was beginning to wonder if asking for his number had been a bad idea. I was so used to being the one to leave others on read, that having his number, but him not starting any conversations felt like a complete turn of the table to me. Maybe we really were never going to be more than friends. I’d have to accept that and move on, if that was the case.

Yet, that kiss we had shared last week, before I had attempted to sleep again, hadn’t felt like something between friends. That had been something more, something careful, something intimate. I had never kissed someone like that, and then called them a friend, and nothing more. I didn’t think I had ever kissed anyone with that level of emotion tied to the kiss itself, either.

I was in so fricking deep over my head.

Lydia forged on, completely unaware of my internal turmoil. Waving a hand through the air, she fixed her brown eyes on me, cocking her head to the side. “What, like we’d leave you presentless on your birthday? No way!”

“Presents aren’t everything, Lydia,” I sighed, offering her a small smile despite myself. She meant well, and I knew it.

“No,” she agreed, “but we put a lot of thought into these, so at least take two seconds to open them, will you?”

“Speaking of your birthday,” Gabriel chimed in, looking over at me from where he stood a bit off to the side, next to Sam, “I’ll be here for it, if you want to do anything.”

“That was my next piece of news. Thanks for spoiling it!” Lydia rolled her eyes at Gabriel, crossing her arms as she turned her body to face him more. I raised an eyebrow at the both of them, waiting for their staring match to end, and their explanation to come. Family week would have ended long before my birthday, so there had to be a pretty good reason as to why he’d still be in Angeles three weeks later.

It was Lydia who broke first, turning back to me as she pointed a finger at Gabriel. “He got that job he applied for, at the chemical testing facility here, in Angeles.”

“I won’t be returning to Knoxville with everyone else, once family week is over,” he confirmed with a nod. “I just need to finish furnishing my apartment, and then I am good to go.”

“Gabriel!” How was this only the first I was hearing of this? I knew he had applied for the job - he had done it while we were all still home in May - but nobody had bothered to tell me that he had heard back, or was even looking in to moving out to Angeles. “Congratulations!”

My oldest brother simply nodded, keeping his same neutral expression, despite the great news he had just told me about. Having Gabriel close by would be very nice indeed, if our schedules ever lined up in a way that would allow us to see each other. He was like a piece of home away from home, steady and constant no matter the conditions, like a boulder breaking up the rapids of a river.

Still, there were logistics to consider, even if we were close by, that had me shaking my head. “My birthday is on a Wednesday, though. You’ll be busy with your new job, and I’ll have classwork.”

He rolled his eyes at me, flashing a frown in my direction. “You’re not doing homework on your birthday. I’m sorry, but I won’t allow it.”

“And who put you in charge?” I raised an eyebrow back at him.

“Anyway,” Lydia interjected, now pointing her finger at Randall. I dropped Gabriel’s stare, and turned instead towards my younger brother, who was looking around the room, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Randall has a solo in his competition a capella group’s lineup this year, and is competing for music scholarships!”

“Randall!” I whirled around to look at my younger brother, holding my hands up in my excitement. “That’s amazing news! Congratulations!”

“He’s not actually going to pursue a career in music,” my mother chimed in from where she stood behind Lydia. Her eyes narrowed at Randall.

Lydia frowned for a moment, but then turned back to me, smiling once more. “Now, onto the biggest news - me!”

I rolled my eyes, watching still as my mother came to stand behind Lydia, placing one hand on each of Lydia’s shoulders. As she did that, Lydia thrust her hand out towards me, the ring on her finger catching and reflecting the light from the room. “I’m engaged!”

“To whom?” She hadn’t even had a boyfriend when I had left Carolina! I reached forward, grabbing her hand in mine. I was by no means an expert on wedding rings, but I was pretty sure this was a big one. Whoever he was, he must have a good deal of money, and a lot of charm to boot, to woo my sister in such a short period of time.

“Devon Judge,” was her answer.

My eyes went wide. “Devon Judge? The one who plays for the Braves? That Devon Judge?” A professional baseball player - a Two. The size of her ring was beginning to make sense to me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned my head around to see my father standing behind me, nodding. Holy crap. This was happening. This wasn’t an episode of Pranked! or an elaborate joke of Lydia’s. My sister was engaged, to a professional baseball player, after having known him for a maximum of three months.

“Congratulations,” I finally managed to stutter out, still staring at her hand like a fool.

There was another tap on my arm before I could say anything more. I flinched a little at first, startled, and looked up. Arin. I couldn’t contain the smile that spread across my face as I looked at him, taking in his own smile. “Arin! How are you?”

Around me, the chatter of the rest of my family members ceased, and they turned to face Arin, various degrees of curiosity evident on each of their faces. My father and older brothers kept their expressions pretty neutral, the most reactive being Gabriel, who simply raised his eyebrows. My sister, on the other hand, was now looking at Arin like she was at the supermarket, and he was an apple she was inspecting for bruises. Randall only glanced at Arin for a second before something else caught his eye and his attention wandered. My mother just smiled, ever the polite, well-mannered woman of the house.

Arin glanced at each of them in turn, still smiling as he did. “I’m doing well. I came over to check on you, and say hi.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” I replied, still smiling as I gestured towards my family members, where they stood around me. “Let me introduce you to my family.”

Here goes nothing. I pointed to each of my family members in turn as I spoke, making sure Arin knew who was who before moving on to the next person. “This is my father, and my mother.”

My mother offered him a polite smile, while my father kept his face expressionless, simply nodding at Arin before I moved on. So far, so good. It was still early, though. There was plenty of time for someone to say something stupid, or for an argument to break out.

“This is my sister, Lydia. She’s the oldest.”

Lydia had withdrawn her hand, folding both of her hands together in front of her, and fixing Arin with a smile that looked a little too falsely saccharine for my own comfort. I had known going into this that Lydia was going to be the hardest for Arin to win over. The two of us had always told each other everything, and Lydia was also incredibly stubborn when it came to holding grudges. Already, she’d made multiple jokes about Arin’s behavior on our roller skating date, and she hadn’t even been at the palace for a full twenty-four hours. I doubted she would say anything outright, though. She was the queen of passive aggressive comments and backhanded compliments, her sweet words often so false in situations like these that they gave a new meaning to killing someone with kindness.

I moved on, not letting myself linger on my worries. Lydia would behave, especially with our parents around. I wondered if her new fiance could handle her as well as we had all learned to. He must have been able to, or else they wouldn’t have gotten engaged, right? I felt a pang of sadness as the realization of just how much I had missed at home while I was here washed over me like a wave, drowning out the rest of my senses for a brief moment.

I had been enjoying myself in Angeles, though. There would always come a point in life in which I would have to move on, and live without my family at my side every waking second. It was for the better that it had come sooner, rather than later.

I gestured towards my two older brothers, who stood a little farther away from my sister, my parents, and I, still facing each other, their heads turned towards Arin. “Then there’s Gabriel, and Sam.” Both just nodded once, their expressions almost a carbon copy of my father’s. Gabriel might be older than Sam by almost two years, but he still stood a full inch shorter than Sam and my father. Something about his build, the way he carried himself, still made it clear to me that he was the older brother, though. I knew it wasn’t something I had imagined, either. Many people often confused Gabriel for being the oldest out of all five of us, despite Lydia actually holding that title.

“And this is my younger brother, Randall.” I pointed over to the other side of my mother, where Randall stood, his head turned upwards as he analyzed something on the ceiling with apparent interest, seemingly having blocked out everything else that was happening around him. At seventeen, he was already a good four inches taller than me, and based on the broadness of his shoulders, which he hadn’t grown into yet, he still had a good few more inches to go. At the sound of his name, he looked over towards me, his eyes wide with confusion. Upon noticing Arin, he offered the prince a small wave, before turning back to whatever had captivated his attention before.

“Don’t worry if you don’t get all of our names right away.” By my side, Lydia inclined her head, smiling at Arin as if she was a lion sizing up her prey. “There’s a lot of us.”

I cut her a glance, but kept my mouth shut. Was this an insult - a jab at him, for having taken a while to remember my name, or where I was from, or anything about me, for that matter? If it was, she was being unnecessarily ridiculous. It had been months since I’d complained to her about that. Holding a grudge for that long couldn’t be healthy, and yet, I knew she’d hold on to all of his mistakes for as long as it took for him to own up to and apologize for them in front of her. Even then, she wouldn’t forget about them. Being the oldest hadn’t left her with the sense of responsibility and duty that many oldest siblings seemed to display, but it had made her extremely protective and defensive of the rest of us. It was a blessing, and a curse.

Arin didn’t waver under Lydia’s gaze. Instead, he kept his smile in place, extending his hand towards my mother. “Holly, right?” As the words left his mouth, he glanced at me for a split second, the question flickering in his eyes.

I offered him a small but encouraging nod, along with a smile. Where he had learned my parents’ names, I wasn’t sure, but at that moment, I couldn’t care less. He was going to make a good impression on them, at this rate. That was a good sign.

Lydia’s expression flickered towards one of surprise, her eyebrows darting up and down her forehead, but it didn’t last. As quickly as her expression had changed, it had returned back to normal, her sickly sweet smile finding its home on her face once more. A quick look at the rest of my family revealed that Gabriel was frowning, more at Lydia than anyone else.

My mother, bless her, commanded Arin’s full attention at the moment, the smile she was giving him genuinely pleased. “Yes,” she answered as she shook his hand, the motion light and delicate on her behalf. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I knew what her hands felt like without even having to touch them. Those were the hands that had held mine when I was young, cold yet soft to to the touch. Those were the fingertips, calloused from years of playing the violin, that had wiped away my tears when I was hurt. It almost seemed odd, now - the little details that stuck with me, despite being apart from her for so long.

I felt my father remove his hand from my shoulder, and I looked back up at him to see him wrap his arm around my mother’s shoulder, smiling down at her, his eyes alight with contentment, before he turned to look at Arin.

Arin inclined his head, turning his attention to my father and extending his hand to him. “Harald.”

I watched their interaction like a hawk, noting the way my father nodded once at Arin, and then shook his hand, his grip clearly firm. I couldn’t believe I was thinking it, but Arin almost looked kind of short, next to my father. Then again, who didn’t? I always felt like I was tall, in comparison to many of the people around me on a daily basis outside of my house, but I was still the shortest one in my family by a good two inches. Giants, they were.

I caught my mother as she attempted to subtly elbow my father in the side, as if that would prompt him to say something. My father must have taken the hint, because within seconds, he pulled his hand away, replying, “Pleasure. I got your phone call to my work phone, the other day.” His tone was almost curious, like he wasn’t entirely sure how Arin would respond to that fact.

“Ah, yes.” Arin cut me a glance, before turning his gaze back to my father. “Sorry that I missed you.”

I shook my head at Arin, frowning as I considered what my father had said. Had Lukas told him about the call, or had he been there the entire time? Why hadn’t he mentioned it to me, either? The morning after Arin had called him, I realized that I had three missed calls from my father, but he had never left a message, so I hadn’t really thought much of it, figuring that if it had been so important, he would have at least sent me a text, asking me to call him back. I set my gaze on my father then, raising an eyebrow. We were owed an explanation, just for his last comment to Arin, at the very least.

“All calls to the landline are recorded for quality assurance,” he explained, fixing me with a frown. “I thought you actually read your contract when you got your internship.”

Did anybody actually read those contracts? I blushed a bit, answering, “I guess I skimmed over that part.”

“You? Not being thorough about something?” Gabriel’s tone was amused as he took a few steps towards where my parents, Lydia, and I stood with Arin. He shook his head, grinning ever so slightly as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Unheard of.”

My father turned his attention back to Arin, paying no mind to what Gabriel had said. “Sorry about Mr. Bernhardsen.”

It was almost odd, hearing him refer to Lukas by his last name. I knew that my father hadn’t been overly fond of him since day one, simply claiming that he felt something was off about Lukas, but he had never been outwardly rude, or even cold, towards Lukas, whenever he had been over at our house with me and June. He had always called Lukas by his name, or simply by, “young man.”

Looking back at it now, it was almost comical how right my father’s initial impression of Lukas had been, without him even realizing it. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, after all.

“If you’d like to file a complaint for the way he spoke to you, I could make sure it gets processed quickly,” my father offered, keeping his face carefully expressionless, not revealing how he felt one way or the other. I knew him well, though, and could hear the faint note or urging in his tone. He wanted Arin to do this.

Had he really disliked Lukas that much? He had said that he never liked him, after he had watched me push him off our front porch the night before I left for Angeles, but I supposed I had never really considered to what extent he felt that way. Why did he feel that way? My father was generally good at reading people, so perhaps it was just a vibe he had picked up from Lukas, but he normally didn’t develop feelings this strong off of something so small.

Arin was silent for a moment, looking as lost in thought as I was. Knowing what I had told him, what I was still trying to process myself, I couldn’t blame him. I swallowed, watching as he turned his head to look over at me, and murmured my name, the sound soft, but still loud enough that my family members could hear.

Where was this going? A quick glance at my family members revealed that their thoughts probably held the same question as mine, or something very similar, as they looked between Arin and my father, question marks written in all of their expressions. Gabriel’s grip on my shoulder tightened, and when I looked up at him, I noticed his jaw was clenched, his eyes focused only on Arin. What had set him off? Was it the way Arin had murmured my name? This was a mess, already, and we’d all barely said more than a sentence apiece.

I bit my lip, hesitating for a couple of seconds before swallowing my apprehension. “Yes, Arin?”

He stiffened, but his voice was soft - almost distracted - when he spoke. “It’s nothing.”

It didn’t take a genius to realize that it clearly wasn’t nothing. He probably just didn’t want to say anything in front of my family. I didn’t know why that made me feel as relieved as it did.

I reached out, my fingertips lightly grazing his arm, my voice barely louder than a whisper, so that only he would hear. “Tell me later?”

He didn’t reply, so I forged ahead, a little louder this time. “I only heard half the conversation, so it’s your call.” Shaking my head, I looked from my father back to Arin, narrowing my eyes at both of them in turn. “Did he say anything bad?”

“He was pretty rude - not that that’s a surprise,” my father admitted, shaking his head a bit. “I don’t think many people would miss his presence in the lab.”

He did have a point there. Lukas has never exactly been popular amongst our fellow interns, but then again, neither had I, really. The professors and other staff had always seemed to like him well enough, though. How many times had they joked that he and I should get together, and become a couple? I swallowed as I thought back on it, coming to the realization that their seemingly innocent comments must have fed into his own desires. The lab’s Christmas party, the kiss under the mistletoe, stood out in my memory. Had he asked them to help orchestrate that? My father had been away for a conference in Waverly that week, meaning he wouldn’t have been able to put a stop to such nonsense. It was no secret in the lab that he was fairly protective of me, but I didn’t think anybody knew of his dislike for Lukas. They had probably seen it as an innocent, romantic gesture.

My mother’s voice snapped me back into the present moment, dragging me out of my thoughts before they could consume me whole. I had never been so grateful to see her glaring at my father. “This is no place for conversations about work politics, Harald.”

“I’d think this is the perfect place to talk about the political,” Randall argued, looking at the ceiling as he spoke, smirking.

Arin paid them no attention, instead glancing down at my hand, and then back to my father. “If it's alright with you, I'd like to think on it.”

“Of course,” my father replied, his eyes steely as they flashed towards me, and then towards the hand I had on Arin’s arm. I waited with baited breath for him to say something about it, but he only nodded. “You know where to reach me.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised that it was my mother who made the first comment on my gesture. Her smile was polite, but there was something weary in her expression as she looked at my father. It vanished when she turned her attention to Arin, though, as if her curiosity about me placing my hand on his arm invigorated her. “It seems like you and Evalin have grown pretty close, over these months.” There was no malice in her tone, only genuine joy, as far as I could tell.

Arin had passed my mother’s test. That was the easiest one, though.

Lydia’s expression hadn’t changed throughout this entire conversation, and the smile that dripped with poisoned honey wasn’t going anywhere now. “Yes, it seems there’s been a big change of tune since your first date.”

“Lydia!” My mother frowned, and I couldn’t help but agree. Of course she would bring this up. Lydia would forgive, eventually, maybe, but she wouldn’t forget. Right now, she had yet to do either, on my behalf. I loved my sister dearly, with all my heart, and would be forever grateful to her for everything she had done for me, but it was times like this that I just wished she’d choose her own battles.

She looked over at our mother, her eyes wide, the picture of innocence. “What?”

I really hoped Devon Judge knew what he had gotten himself into.

A quick look upwards revealed that Gabriel was now frowning at Arin, as if he, too, was holding a grudge over this date that had happened months ago.

Was I going to make it through family week without losing my mind? I was skeptical. I shot Arin an apologetic smile, unsure of what to even say to smooth things over. Sorry for telling my sister about our horrible date, I was really upset at the time! I had a feeling that wouldn’t do anything.

His back stiffened again, but he still smiled at all of us. “Many things have changed over the last few months.”

“That’s good to hear,” Lydia replied, her voice lacking any ounce of genuineness.

“I’m sure it’s been a wild ride for you, as well,” my mother offered, looking at Arin with a polite smile.

Randall frowned, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. “It’s been quiet without Evalin - the opposite of a wild ride.” I could only imagine that it had been quiet, for him. The two of us were the last kids at home, and much of our time had been spent with each other, while our parents worked. There had been quite a few nights that we had stayed awake together, talking about everything from our worries about the future, to topics as simple as which childhood cartoon had been more entertaining. To have the house entirely to himself, now, when our parents were at work couldn’t be as fun as it sounded, I was sure.

“I hope there’s been some moments you’ve actually enjoyed,” Gabriel stated, his grip on my shoulder loosening a bit, though he kept his hand where it was.

Arin cut me a glance. “I can only speak to my experience.”

“I think it’s definitely been full of good experiences,” I offered with a reassuring smile, unsure as to whether in doing so I was saving him from my family’s questions, or setting him up for more. It was hard to tell, with my family. With there being so many of us, with very different personalities, it was easy for us to pull the conversation in separate directions, rather than working as a unit to move it down one path.

My mother beamed as she looked over at me. “Well, I’m glad to hear it, but -” She turned to Arin, her smile a little more subdued now. I had seen her use that look before, when a student was arguing with her over whether or not they deserved points off on a test, and she didn’t want to upset them by just outright saying that they did. “We are quite interested in hearing what you have to say. We would like to get to know you better.”

“Yes!” Lydia echoed, nodding enthusiastically. “Of course we’ve heard the stories, but seldom do stories do reality justice.”  

My mother frowned at Lydia, and I was inclined to do the same. Before either of us could say anything, though, my father swept in, turning to Arin. “Evalin’s told us almost exclusively good things. The only negative word I heard from her was after your first date, but well -” he cast a nostalgic look at my mother, and I knew immediately what story he was about to launch into “- I wouldn’t worry about that. Holly called me a Three with a savior complex when I first asked her out, and we’ve been married for thirty-two years now.”

He really had brought up marriage, after meeting Arin for the first time. Was this some kind of test that my father was giving him, to see what his true intentions were? The possibility didn’t seem unlikely, to me. I had never thought I’d be envious of a chameleon, but I wouldn’t have minded having the ability to fade away into the background of this room, camouflaging myself from both my own family and from Arin until I could escape this conversation, right about then. Lydia might be ready to talk marriage after three months, but Arin and I? We weren’t even close to that point.

Once again, Arin stiffened, glancing over at me. “I guess only time will tell.” It was a non-answer, sure, but it was one of his better ones, if I was being honest. It wasn't entirely untrue, either. Only time would tell if he was going to send me home, or if I was here for the long haul.

I felt my brother’s grip on my shoulder tighten once more, and looked up to seem him grimace, before he met my gaze. After a second, he looked over at Arin, pausing again before offering, “You survived a conversation with Lukas without yelling, it sounds like. Kudos.” With that, he nodded, as if that fact alone was enough for him to accept Arin into our family.

I had suspected that Gabriel wasn’t too fond of Lukas, but we had moved past that part of the conversation. I narrowed my eyes, furrowing my brows as I kept my gaze on him. I had expected more resistance, more push-back, from him, if I was being honest, especially given the comments he had made to me before I had left for Angeles. He had been the one to warn me not to be, “the royal rebound,” after all. Why the sudden change of heart?

“So.” Lydia’s voice dragged my attention to her. She was frowning, looking at Gabriel out of the corner of her eyes as well, a hint of betrayal tinging her expression. She must have expected the same level of antipathy towards Arin from Gabriel that I had, then.

Despite that, she turned back to Arin, her smile genuinely curious now. “What else have you and Evalin talked about, or done? Someone -” she narrowed her eyes at me, pouring every ounce of accusation she could muster up into that one word “- has been a bit too busy to call often, lately.”

I narrowed my eyes right back at her, a snappy comment already on the tip of my tongue, but the look on my mother’s face stopped me. I knew that expression. It wasn’t quite a death glare, but it was as close as you could get to one while still maintaining a pleasant, polite air. It was better for me not to start an argument with Lydia here, anyway. We were a family, a unit. We put each other before all else, even if we did tease each other incessantly, and bicker amongst ourselves often.

“Books, mostly,” I answered, doing my best to soften my expression, despite the frustration I felt coursing through me. “He also took me to the ballet -” I shot Arin a teasing smile “- and lived to tell the tale.”

He looked between my sister and I. “We did go to the ballet, and I survived - which I actually have some experience with.” He paused again, and then added, “But I’d say Evalin had been fairly busy with school.”

With a roll of her eyes, Lydia turned her attention to me, placing her hands on her hips. “Of course you would come all the way here, and choose to focus on school. Would it kill you to take a break?”

I elected to ignore her comment, opting simply to elbow her in the side instead. Turning to Arin, I raised an eyebrow. “You have experience with the ballet? You never mentioned that.” He had seemed rather familiar with the layout of the theater, now that I thought about it, though. I supposed that would come from experience, rather than anything else.

“Ah, so you appreciate the arts!” My mother beamed at him, and I knew that she meant to take this as a golden opportunity to brag about all five of her children. “I made sure all of my children were involved in at least one music program when they were in high school!”

Arin turned to me first. “It never came up,” he said, his voice soft.

Never came up? We were literally at the ballet!

I kept my mouth shut, though, as he smiled at my mother and said, “I appreciate them, but not as much as I could. My sisters are more into the arts than I am.” He motioned to some of the paintings around the room, which my mother looked at as if she was seeing them for the first time.

“What are you into, then?” Randall furrowed his brows, looking first at the ground, and then at Arin.

I couldn’t keep from snickering at his comment - something I’d often wondered myself, when I had first been getting to know Arin - though upon seeing the glare my mother shot Randall’s way, I covered my mouth with my hand. Behind us, Sam sighed, and then walked over to Randall, ruffling his hair a bit when he reached him.

“I’m interested in reading, when I have time,” Arin answered, looking at Randall. He paused for a brief moment, and then added, “and running.”

“Oh,” Randall responded, looking over at me. “You’ve found a new running partner, then.”

I frowned. I hadn’t even known that Arin liked to run, and I definitely had never seen him out running in the mornings, when I usually ran. It was pretty empty in general around that time, which was kind of nice. We could all use a little reprieve from the hustle and bustle of palace life, sometimes.

“Randall, I doubt anyone is awake when she runs,” Lydia argued, as if she could read my thoughts just by looking at me. “Miss I’ll-Wake-Up-Before-The-Sun.”

“Yeah, I tend to run alone, these days. We have talked about reading, though,” I admitted, turning to look at my father. “I gave him the journals I published under Proctor.”

That seemed to pique my father’s interest. He hummed thoughtfully, turning his gaze to Arin once more, and raising an eyebrow. “Any thoughts on that?”

I had never seen Arin look so in need of a rescue. Either he had never read them, or he had tried to, but couldn’t understand what they were about. I really couldn’t blame him either way.

“Would you mind walking with me for a moment?” I asked, looking at him. I saw my father raise an eyebrow at me from where he stood, but he kept silent.

Arin shot me a confused look, but nodded nonetheless, motioning off to the side of the room. “Sure.”

I turned to smile at him as we walked, before casting a look over my shoulder at my family. They had formed a huddle of sorts, chatting with each other in a small circle, with little gesturing or animation. It was like watching a jury deliberate. They had to be talking about Arin, I was sure of that, but part of me would have killed to know what they were saying. At the same time, I was kind of glad I wasn’t close enough to hear, as if any negative opinions of theirs would taint the rest of my time here.

“Sorry,” I began, turning my attention back to Arin after watching Lydia and Gabriel leave my family’s huddle, walking off to the other side of the room. I pushed my curiosity about their actions out of my mind, wanting to focus solely on Arin. “I just needed to get away from them for a moment. They can’t be a lot.”

Arin simply shrugged. “I’ve experienced worse. They’re not that bad.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, I felt someone link their arm through mine.

“Good,” Lydia declared, looking over at Arin from where she now stood beside me. She must have snuck up behind us by taking the long way around the perimeter of the room, allowing her to avoid our direct attention. It had been a foolish mistake on my part for me to stop watching her. “Because as the oldest, and as Evalin’s only sister, I’m not done with you yet.”

“Lydia,” I sighed. I didn’t need a protector. I could handle Arin just fine on my own. I had been these past three months, with my family on the other side of the country. This display of hers was dramatic, unnecessary, and wholly in character, and I was beginning to get really fed up with it.

“Hush up, it's my job!” She elbowed me in the side, and then turned to her victim. I relented, giving her the silent permission to make her own bed, hoping that she was prepared to lay in it, too.  “Now, Arin, I’m not going to give you the whole, ‘if you hurt her, I’ll kill you,’ spiel, but -”

“Lydia, leave them alone.” Footsteps and a loud male voice sounded behind us, and I knew it could only be one person. I looked over my shoulder only to see Gabriel, his face a mix of apologetic and disappointed as he took in the scene before him.

Arin raised his eyebrows at my sister. “Then what are you going to give me?”

This time, I wasn’t going to give her the chance to respond. She’d done enough damage, as it was. “She’s going to give you nothing because she’s coming with me,” I grumbled, shaking my head and shooting one last look Arin’s way. “Sorry.”

Lydia rolled her eyes at me as I led her back towards where the rest of our family - minus Gabriel, now - stood. “He’s not good enough for you. You know that, right?”

“I could bring home a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and you would still say that he wasn’t good enough for me,” I argued with a sigh. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate Lydia’s concern, but I was getting fed up with the way she was treating me as if I was a little kid who didn’t know what was good for her, or what she wanted.

“I’m just saying,” she began, coming to a stop in besides my mother. “You need someone who will help you lighten up, who will bring out that goofy side of you that we get to see when you’re with us. Arin -” she poked me in the side, looking over her shoulder at Arin, who was now deep in conversation with Gabriel “- is so uptight, and tense. Yes, you’re like two peas in a pod, but neither of you is going to help the other relax.”

I frowned, my eyebrows knitting together as I considered what she said. There had been moments with Arin, though, where we had joked around - like in the car, after the ballet. There was a more relaxed side to him, it just took some time for it to come out. How was she supposed to know that, though, without simply taking my word for it?

“Two things,” I decided, looking up from the ground to meet her gaze, “the first being that maybe, he was so uptight because you were about to threaten him.”

My mother’s eyes went wide, her hand coming to rest atop her chest. “Lydia Reidun!”

“The second thing, and you’re going to have to take my word for this, is that there is a more relaxed side to him. Even then, though, I wouldn’t be able to live the rest of my days with someone who was all play, and no work.” I shook my head. “I need someone who understands what it's like to devote yourself to your work, and above all else, I need someone who is going to make me happy.”

“Does he?” Sam asked, his face expressionless. “Make you happy, I mean.”

I nodded, looking over at where he and Gabriel stood once more. A part of my was tempted to walk over there and drag Gabriel away, but something held me back from doing that. He and Arin were around the same age - only a month apart, actually. Maybe they would become friends.

I turned back to Sam, nodding. “Yes.”

“Then he’s good in my book,” Randall decided with a shrug.

The rest of my family exchanged glances, shrugging intermittently as they did, as if they were all reaching the same conclusion telepathically. Only Lydia refused to join in, still glaring in Arin’s direction. “There’s more to him than he’s letting on, in more ways than one.” She shook her head, looking down at me. “Mark my words.”

--

Gabriel watched his sisters go, tempted to follow after them. He didn’t know the man before him - the prince - and he wasn’t fond of the power the monarchy held as a whole, which only made him more uncomfortable as he forced himself to stay put. There was a long list of things he should have done differently these past few months. There was an even longer list of things he would have liked to change about the past year. Having this conversation, as rough as he predicted it would be, was only the beginning to making things better for the future.

“Sorry about that,” he sighed, not looking at the prince as he spoke. “Lydia is just a little protective. We all are.”

He cleared his throat, stalling for time as he figured out how to best phrase his next words. It felt like he was talking to someone much younger than him, even though he himself was only about a month older than the prince. It likely had something to do with the fact that it was his younger sister that the prince was dating, for lack of a better word. Even then, though, Evalin was only two years and nine months younger than he was. It wasn’t as if she was a child.

Mistake Number One: not trying harder to persuade Evalin not to apply for the Selection.

“Evalin seems to trust you a lot, and she’s a good judge of character, so I don’t want to think you’d do anything, but…” he trailed off, grimacing at his own inability to effectively voice his thoughts without potentially offending the prince. He was his father’s son, through and through, his grandparents often reminded him. He didn’t know how to mince his words, and his temper had run hot for all his life so far. His father must have learned to hide it better than Gabriel had, though, because Gabriel was of the conclusion that his father’s temper ran as cold as ice. That didn’t mean that either of them was better than the other. They both still had tempers.

Mistake Number Two: letting Evalin go to that fraternity’s Halloween party last fall.

“You’ve spoken to Lukas. He’s…” Gabriel trailed off again, not for lack of trying. He had a feeling he was going to have to add this conversation to his list of mistakes sooner rather than later. “He did something bad, with Ev, last fall, and I don’t even think she remembers it, but Lydia, our father, and I were the ones who saw her after, and just seeing her like that…”

Their entire family had been home that weekend, for one of Randall’s concerts. His group had been competing for the regional title that weekend. Gabriel couldn’t even remember whether they had won or lost. All he remembered from that weekend was Evalin, sobbing, almost incoherent as he had put his arm under her shoulders, practically carrying her up the stairs. He knew objectively she wasn’t tiny, but in that moment, she had felt like the smallest child in his arms.

Mistake Number Three: Not being there for any of his siblings when they needed him.

He shook his head. “I think it broke all of us, a little bit. I guess what I’m trying to say is, we never want to see her like that again.” Another shake of his head, and then he took a step back.

Lydia had been the only one really capable of calming Evalin down long enough for her to fall asleep that night. Then Lydia had come downstairs, and unraveled in front of him and their father. Gabriel hadn’t been able to sew the pieces back together. Lydia had done that herself.

The prince was silent, his gaze locked in on Evalin, where she stood with the rest of Gabriel’s family, shaking her head at something one of them had just said.

“Evalin remembers,” the prince said, finally. “She told me what happened.”

Mistake Number Four: Never talking about that night, again. Until now.

He blew out a breath, running his hand through his hair. He watched his younger sister throw her head back in laughter, the look so full of freedom, of light, as if she didn't have a care in the world. She jumped up, reaching for something that Sam was now holding over his head. What it was, Gabriel couldn’t tell. He was too focused on the fact that Evalin, Lydia, all of them - they all looked as if they had never known any darkness or suffering.

She remembers.

“Shit,” he sighed out, not knowing what else to say. “Okay. We…The next day, she told her friend June - who had driven her home, that night - that she didn’t remember anything from that night, so we assumed…” He trailed off, shaking his head. That was where they had gone wrong. They had made assumptions, instead of gathering all of the possible evidence and data, and then drawing a conclusion.

Mistake Number Five: doubting his younger sister’s sense of judgement, despite knowing how good it generally was.

“Thanks for letting me know. The fact that she opened up to you like that…” Evalin told him, but not us. Why? “She trusts you a lot. More than I thought she did.”

It hurt him to admit. That his own sister wouldn’t come to him with her troubles, and instead had confided in someone she had only recently met, stung, but he could understand why that was. He wasn’t a warm person. He didn’t offer solutions. He was terrible at giving advice, and was quicker to anger than he was to hug.

He was beginning to see the prince - Arin - in a new light.

Arin swallowed, his gaze still locked on Evalin. It was clear to Gabriel that Arin cared about his sister quite a bit, though whether or not he thought of her as a friend or something more, Gabriel was unsure. He didn’t really care to ask, either. That wasn’t his business.

“I didn’t realize,” was all Arin said by way of reply.

Gabriel raised his eyebrows, looking at Arin as he spoke for the first time since they had started this conversation. “Did you think she would tell you something like that if she didn’t trust you?”

“I -” Arin paused. “I just didn’t know that she hadn’t told anyone else.”

Oh.

“So I guess I realize a bit more, now.”

Mistake Number Six: hiding his knowledge of that night from his sister.

Gabriel hesitated for a moment, almost not wanting to admit what he knew had to come next. “I’m not sure she knows that any of us know. She was in pretty bad shape, and it’s not exactly something you can bring up in conversation easily.” How did you even bring up a repressed memory to your little sister - the one who you were supposed to protect? Did you mention it around the dinner table? Did you sit her down after she had excitedly told you about her new project, or the A she had just gotten on one of her assignments? Did you wait until it was late at night and you were both still awake, reminiscing about childhood memories?

He exhaled through his nose, pressing his lips in a line and shifting his gaze back to the rest of his family. None of them had been able to answer that question. He, Lydia, and their father had lived with Evalin’s secret, and none of the others had been any the wiser. “I don’t know how our father manages to see him at work every day without doing anything.”

Mistake Number Seven: lying - often.

He knew how his father managed. His temper ran cold, icy, always latent. It made him a patient man.

Arin frowned, his gaze shifting to Gabriel’s father now. “He knows?”

Hadn’t they already been over this? Arin’s memory must not be stellar.

“Yes,” Gabriel answered, matching Arin’s frown with one of his own. “I did say that it was me, him, and Lydia who saw Evalin after, didn’t I?”

He shook his head, looking back at his family, at his father, who stood there, ever calm, ever quiet. Gabriel wasn't the only one guilty of lying, whether it was outright, or by omission.

“I think he almost can’t bear to tell her - like he can’t handle the thought of her being upset.” Evalin had been their father’s baby since the day she had been born. Their father loved all of his children, yes, but there had always been a little extra spark in his eyes when he looked at Evalin. It was the same spark their mother reserved for Lydia, and their grandfather for Sam. Gabriel and Lydia had always assumed that Evalin would remain the youngest, for that reason. Randall had been a surprise, though definitely not an unwelcome one. “It’s hard to be certain, though. He’s a very private man.”

Mistake Number Eight: not dealing with Lukas himself.

Arin pursed his lips. “And why is Lukas still around?”

It was a valid question, though it still left Gabriel frowning. “Let’s say, hypothetically, we filed a report. The victim tells her story when she’s highly intoxicated, and then doesn’t remember anything about it the next morning, and still actively wants to be friends with the alleged perpetrator. She’s not going to make a statement against him. I’m no lawyer, but a case like that doesn’t exactly sound like it’s going to hold up.”

There were other options, though, and he knew it. Gabriel sighed. “Alternatively, let’s say my father and I pursued a less legal route, and dealt with Lukas ourself. Where does that leave us? Jobless? Imprisoned? Plus, Evalin still liked Lukas as a friend, so she would be upset.”

A lot of it did come down to Evalin still keeping in contact with Lukas, as if nothing had happened. Despite being a sweet girl, she had never had many friends. She had always been a little peculiar. That was likely why. Still, that fact alone had left him hesitant to rip away the veil of friendship, to pull the rug right out from underneath her.

“In another scenario, let’s say we tried to tell her what she told us. Ev is stupidly stubborn, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, and her mind was clearly repressing the memory for a reason. Either telling her breaks her, or she doesn’t believe us.”

Mistake Number Nine: not doing anything.

Gabriel pursed his lips, looking at Arin once more. “Believe me, I may be the world’s shittiest older brother, but I’ve given this issue a lot of thought.”

“But she already knows,” Arin argued, his frown deepening with each word that left his mouth, “and how can you know what she wants if you never talk to her about it?”

Mistake Number Ten: knowing he was in the wrong, but not allowing anybody but himself to tell him that.

He raised his eyebrows at the prince. “This is the first time I’m hearing that she actually remembers anything from that night. None of us knew that she remembered. You asked why Lukas was still around. That’s why. I think the fact that she continued their friendship after that night is proof enough that she didn’t remember until recently.”

The prince just nodded. “Okay.”

It wasn’t. Gabriel didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that Arin knew that, too, but he was tired of arguing. He had done his job, and said his bit. He could make peace with that, whether or not Arin agreed with him. He had never been there for the prince. He was only there for the girl now walking their way, a small grin on her face. He was only there for his sister.

--

I was beginning to think that I had left Arin and Gabriel alone for just a little too long, judging by the frowns on both of their faces. It was almost comical watching them talk, though, even if I hated to admit it. The moment one made a facial expression, the other mirrored it, going back and forth for as long as I dared to keep sneaking glances at them.

“Hold on,” I whispered to my father, inclining my head towards the pair chatting by the wall, “let me go retrieve Gabriel.”

It didn’t take me long to make my way to them, grinning as I looked at their identical frowns. They were more similar than I had ever dared to consider, I realized, now that I actually allowed myself to ponder the thought.

I raised an eyebrow at Gabriel as I got closer. “Everything okay over here? It looked like you were having a pretty intense conversation.”

It took everything in me not to laugh at the tight smile Arin gave me as he nodded. “Your brother and I were just swapping opinions.”

Oh, how I would have killed to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

I narrowed my eyes at the pair, looking from Arin to Gabriel, taking note of the details as I did. Arin’s answer was a bit vague, as per usual, his smile one of the most uncomfortable I’d seen from him in a while. Gabriel had on his pensive face, from what I could tell, his lips pressed in a thin line, and his eyes somewhere far away.

“Well,” I began, looking at Arin as I motioned to my brother by inclining my head in his direction. “Lord only knows he’s got a lot of them.”

There was no shift in my brother’s expression as he nodded. “Guilty as charged.” He began walking past me then, patting me on the shoulder along the way. With one last glance back at Arin, he nodded, and concluded, “Nice talking to you.”

I waited until I was sure that he had rejoined my family before turning to Arin, channeling all my self control into keeping myself from laughing at his facial expression.

“Are you enjoying your family being here?”

I nodded, placing my hand on his arm. “Yes, but that look on your face says you might not feel the same.” I shook my head, casting a quick look in my family’s direction, before flashing Arin an amused smile again.

When I looked back, his gaze was focused only on my hand. “I’m fine.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, grinning a little. “This looking-at-my-hand-whenever-I-touch-you thing is becoming a trend - and just when you’d stopped staring at me.” I shook my head, my curiosity getting the better of me. One of these days, I was going to have to formulate a list of all of the things about him that still mystified me, and go through it one by one.

On second thought, maybe that’s a bit too much.

He raised his eyebrows at me. “I hadn't noticed.”

I raised an eyebrow right back at him, the perfect pun popping into my head at that moment. “I guess you could say you’re a little out of touch.”

My joke landed on deaf ears, I realized, as his look turned to one of confusion. “Am I?”

Sometimes when talking to him, I couldn’t help but wonder how it was possible for someone to be so clueless. Laughing a little, I explained, “You seem not to notice a lot of things.”

In the silence that followed, it hit me, that my words might have been a little harsh. He had had the same reaction to my touch the night before, after I had told him about Lukas. Was he uncomfortable with having physical contact with me, now? No, that was absurd. We had kissed later that very same night, for crying out loud!

Still, it was only right that I ask. I hesitated for another second, then decided to go for it, keeping my voice as quiet as I could. “Does me touching your arm or hand make you uncomfortable? Is that it? You were so kind and understanding the other night, and I don’t want to mess this up either.”

“It's fine,” he reassured me, giving me a smile. “I promise.”

I promise. I didn’t take the weight of those words lightly.

I offered him a smile in return. “It was refreshing to talk as openly as we did then. Though, I -” I pressed my lips together “- I have questions, but now’s probably not the time or place.” A pause, and another smile, and then, “But thank you, for being a little more open with me, that night, and for handling my family.” I inclined my head towards them, laughing lightly for a second.

“No problem. It's what I do.” He followed my gaze towards my family, nodding once before adding, “and we can talk later.”

“I'd like that,” I admitted, smiling and nodding once, before inclining my head towards my family again, laughing a bit. “I should probably get back to them. You know, despite Lydia's thinly veiled threats, this is the most open I've ever seen them be towards anyone any of us have introduced them to.” There weren’t many precedents, but that didn’t make the statement any less true, or the sentiment any less real.

The news seemed to cheer him up a bit, as a small smile, genuine this time, flickered across his face. “Well, that's a good sign. I'm glad I made at least somewhat of a good impression.”

“You made a very good impression, I think. Not an easy feat, with that lot.” I chuckled. My family was big, and opinionated, and filled with strong personalities, but they were good people, truly. I could only hope Arin saw that too.

He chuckled a bit, as well. “You should see my family at Christmas.”

“That’s always the biggest holiday in our house,” came my immediate reply, accompanied with a smile as I thought about Christmases past. “It’s basically a month long affair - my grandparents always come over, and make enough Swendish Christmas cookies to feed an army, and Gabriel’s birthday is the day after Christmas, so that always becomes a celebration. My mother’s parents always used to come too, before…” I trailed off, wanting to stop at the happy memories. There was no need to dwell on the negative today. It was a good day. We were surrounded by good people.

“Some people are starting to stare I think,” he murmured, chuckling as he glanced around the room.

“Oh,” I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, even as I took a few steps back, folding my hands in front of me. “Sorry, I hadn’t noticed. I’d love to hear what your Christmases were like, at some point, though.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured me, nodding towards my family. “You should go be with them.”

I hated the way he phrased that. He wasn’t going anywhere, of course not. This was his home. Me, on the other hand - well, he could force me out anytime he wanted to, maybe even after this week.

I didn’t let myself linger too long on the thought, nodding instead, and beginning to walk towards my family. “I’ll see you around, then.”

I hope.

#selectionoc

[helenarasmussen87]

Writing Asks

This the post where I know no one is going to ask me anyway.

1. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

Something that is like a “Oh hey, what happens if we do THIS!” and go from there. Usually ends up having loads of emotions, comfort, angst, introspection, loads of kitchen sink dialogues, not too much action. Families, happy endings.

2. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Fluffy stuff and humourous stuff. I am a little too serious for either one and my humour is drier than the desert and very odd. So no.

3. Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

Teacher and Student relationships. Necrophilia, abuse of all sorts, underage. Just not my thing. I’ve gotten unable to stomach a lot of grimdark and super dark stuff as I get older so I won’t write it. But go ahead if that’s your thing.

4. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Two, since I can’t have more than two on the burner. Learned THAT early on and they’re Terror AU’s One is a fixit, but with health complications and angst. The other is a Modern Day AU which has two professors falling in love after one gets injured and the other worked as an EMT and helps to take care of him and they fall in love.

5. Share one of your strengths.

I can offer insights on what flows and what doesn’t. I can also happily shred my own drafts if they don’t work. 

6. Share one of your weaknesses.

Action. I work at it, but it’s not my favourite. Or war writing. 

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“Danny had to turn his head away to hide his smile, because he knew that it was a legitimate concern for Jose. Most of the time, he had jumped into bed with his partners first and then did the mating dance. 

Although extremely smart in other aspects, dating and social interactions were always a bit skewed, because he was always second-guessing himself and nervous as hell.

“That’s actually how things work out in these situations. At least it did for me and my ex and for me and Claude.” Danny explained calmly, making Jose nod and take another pull of his slurpee.

“So what do I do? Like is there a time when I bring up the possibility of us sleeping together?” Jose asked, the words slightly mumbled as he chewed on the straw.

“You don’t bring it up. You’ll just know when the time is right for it to happen. Sex isn’t what a relationship should be built on. Yes, it’s nice and it’s part of it, but it’s not the end all to be all. Trust me on this. It will happen if it’s meant to happen.” Danny explained, hoping that he had put it all in the plainest and simplest terms he could for his friend.

I am proud of this because it was majorly borrowing from life and I can see the difference from earlier writing. 

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“Sergio laughed shortly. “I’ve already done enough of that, and look at where it’s gotten you. Yeah, legally I hold claim over you. I could make the club buy out your contract and sit at home all day, having litter after litter.”

Iker’s blood froze at that and he turned to look at Sergio to see if he really meant it, but Sergio’s face gave nothing away.

“Or I could sign your rights to the club and let them sell you wherever or to whomever. Take you out of Spain, or sell you to Getafe or Malaga. All of these things I could do. The club actually did bring it up at that meeting you didn’t show up for.”

Iker blinked, his hands going numb as Sergio’s wickedly honed words hit home.

“I’m not telling you this to hurt you. Or make you feel indebted. I’m telling this to you because you’re this close to losing your spot and that’s the last thing I want for you. But there’s only so much I can do for you.”

He sighed and looked at Iker dead in the eyes.

“I miss him too, Iker. I miss Antonio every fucking day. And I miss you.”

Iker swallowed hard as Sergio abruptly turned and left, slamming the front door and freeing him from the command so suddenly that Iker fell onto the couch and curled up in it.

He had no energy to do anything else. Not when he was all too aware he’d fucked up and fucked up big and needed to fix it.

Borrowed from life again and it was more of a dialogue that needed to be had when you finally realize how much you fucked up and how much you need to stop coasting and make it right. 

9. Which fic has been the hardest to write?

ALL OF THEM! Kidding. I want to say the one I’m working on right now. I was lucky enough I got a ton of help fleshing it out. I can see the end of the 1st chapter and I am having a hell of a time writing Goodsir’s chunk. He’s turned out more emo and romantic than I was expecting. 

10. Which fic has been the easiest to write?

The QuiObi prompts for the prompt week. Took me like two hours to knock them off and post. 

11. Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby?

Its a passion and a hobby. It helped me through a lot of rough patches and keeps me sane. 

12. Is there an episode above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?

Mostly music or a change in life. I tend to write when everything is in flux with me.

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Just write. Worry about editing later. Once you have something on the paper, fixing it up becomes easier. 

14. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Edit as you write. You don’t get anything done.

15. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

Oooh. I think it’s a toss up between my Qui-Gon/Jango fic in a pastoral setting where they have put their pasts behind and are farmers on Concord Dawn. Or the Werewolf fic I wrote during my RPF phase.

16. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

Bloody hard. I would have to say Fitzier (Commander Fitzjames/Captain Crozier)

17. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

Depends. Sometimes I go straight from beginning to end and sometimes I end up writing the middle and not figuring it out until later.

18. Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?

Outlines. I have notebooks I jot down point form notes about the characters and the plot.

18. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?

Mine is a librarian or an alchemist trying to figure out answers and how things fit in.

19. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

A good playlist. Alone, in my room.

20. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

I revise it along the way when I sit down to write. Then before I post, I give it a once over to make sure it flows and makes sense. 

21. Choose a passage from one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style. (Person sending the ask is free to make suggestions).

All my old fics are honestly gone so I’m skipping this one. 

22. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?

Honestly? The Duo and Heero one I wrote about them being in an abusive relationship where they split up, then got back together again. I was again writing from life, and I have seen couples who did overcome it, but looking back, I think I should have written it that they separated and went their own ways. 

Keep in mind I was very young when I wrote this, and I was in an abusive relationship myself and didn’t realise it at the time. He hit me once, apologised and never did it again. But he did end up manipulating me, gaslighting me, and emotionally abusing me until I finally had enough and left. 

23. Have you ever deleted one of your published fics?

Yes. Loads of them due to me not wanting to finish them. Or the hosting sites going under. 

24. What do you look for in a beta?

Someone who is honest, someone who knows the way I write, and has suggestions to fix those said things. But someone who is themselves is the best. Because they know what they want. Same here. 

25. Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you?

I do, simply due to lack of steady betas. Flow and story telling, but I also look for syntax and formatting as well as grammar. I will miss typos, so I run spell-check too. I mostly use a mental rubric. Teacher training.

26. How do you feel about collaborations?

I haven’t had a successful one due to the second person always deciding that they can’t follow through or up and disappearing. So I don’t do them.

27. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

Oh my God! I read so much and so many different people that I can’t pinpoint three. I usually end up reading a fic or two, so I can’t say why I read the author.

28. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

I haven’t done that. I do admit to having inspired by fics. I wouldn’t ever presume to do that. It just feels like a snub.

29. Do you accept prompts?

Not really. I can’t tailor write stuff consistently. 

30. Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?

Oh always! I end up liking the characters that somehow never make it until the end. And in the Terror, unless you want to write angst all the time, you HAVE to ignore canon. And I mean BOTH the book and the show, since the book is nasty. The show is amazing, but oh my god is it depressing.

31. How do you feel about smut?

Yes damned please!

32. How do you feel about crack?

Depends on how well it’s done. Sometimes it is needed. Sometimes it’s like “Why?”

33. What are your thoughts on non-con and dub-con?

A bit tricky. I don’t mind non-con, but it has to be handled well. Dub-con, especially in A/B/O happens within context and it is usually dealt with. So I can tolerate that more than the first. Outright abuse, no.

34. Would you ever kill off a canon character?

Yes. Not often thought. But yes. I usually try and keep as many alive as I can though.

35. Which is your favorite site to post fic?

AO3, its a wild place and I love it for that reason.

36. Talk about your current wips.

It’s an AU where two professors that live in the same building and work in different faculties get thrown together and start to get to know each other. Due to circumstance, one gets injured and the other kind of volunteers to help take care of him, where they fall in love. The others in the vicinity do also. There’s Canadian shenanigans and baking. 

37. Talk about a review that made your day.

That they really liked how I wrote Frank Randall and would like to see more with his son, an OC I created for the story.

38. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

I either delete, or give a generic reply and leave it. I’ve got stuff to do.

40. Write an alternative ending to [insert fic title] (or just the summary of one).

Nope. It just doesn’t work for me.

*somewhere I fucked up on the number but here you are*

Whoever wants to do this.

#about the author #asks #memes