#it was a good day despite the 40 something guy who walked up to me at the park then faked fear when i looked up at him and just went

[zepskies]

Take Me Home - Part 1

Pairing: Beau Arlen x F. Reader 

Summary: You are another lost soul at Sunny Day Excursions. You’re aiming to settle in Helena, Montana, where Beau Arlen is the new sheriff in town. But you’ve both got a past you’re running from. 

AN: Welcome to my first ever Big Sky series! I’ve been wanting to get to this for a while now. I’m so glad I finally get to start sharing this with you! I truly hope you enjoy the ride. (Note: This is set towards the beginning of season 3.)

Song Inspo: “Fly Away” by John Denver. And remember, you can listen to the full Take Me Home Playlist ⬅️ here.

Word Count: 4,400

Tags/Warnings: A bit of angst, a bit of setup, “Glamper Girl,” and a side helping of cops enjoying baked goods…

❤️ Series Masterlist

Part 1: All of Her Days

“This really feels like cheating,” you mused.

Yet again, you surveyed the sheer size and luxury of this tent you were supposed to be “camping” in.

Between the giant king-sized bed with crème and burgundy comforters, a two-seater dining table, a dresser (with a vanity), and even a small bookshelf, it looked like the Taj Mahal of glamping.

“Can’t you just enjoy it?” your best friend replied, poking a teasing finger into your side. She smirked when you flinched and gave her some playful side-eye. “My parents are the ones footing the bill, anyway.”

“Of which, I intend to pay them back for my half,” you said. Mary just rolled her eyes and waved you off. Her parents’ money was something she’d never had a problem spending.

“Come on, they’re getting ready to go on the hike without us,” she said, tossing her little purse over her shoulder. You were a bit more practical with your backpack, filled with a bottle of water, a couple snacks, bug spray, and your sketch pad.

Mary bumped your shoulder with hers as you two walked out of the tent, and you gave her a smile. You were glad she insisted on this little week-long excursion. It gave you exactly five more days to enjoy the fresh air of no responsibilities, before you returned to reality.

“So where are you guys from?” you asked a couple of walking companions on the early-morning hike.

The woods of Helena, Montana were vast and deep, and you found them a bit intimidating. You were a city girl, through and through, but you were learning to appreciate the mountains and the steep trails flanked by dense trees. You were also grateful that you weren’t alone. 

Emily seemed to be a nice girl around sixteen, while her stepfather Avery was a lightly graying man in his 40s. You pegged his accent as English, the “casual posh” kind. On a scale from Dame Maggie Smith to Dick Van Dyke's attempt at cockney, you’d put Avery on a Benedict Cumberbatch level.

“Well, I met her mother in Houston,” Avery replied, nodding at the girl beside you. “She and Emily joined me here in Helena after we were married this past spring.”

Emily confirmed with a nod. “Yep, starting school here in a few months.”

At that, you could smile. “Me too, actually.”

Emily gave you a confused look while she fiddled with an app on her phone.

“What? You’re still in school?” she asked.

“No,” you laughed. “I’m—”

“She’s a college professor,” Mary tacked on. “AKA: a giant nerd.”

Emily tried not to smile at your expense. You just shook your head at your friend.

“Thanks,” you said wryly, despite your amusement. “We can’t all be personal trainers. One can only take so much Spandex.”

Mary rolled her eyes and prepared to fire back a retort, but your attention shifted back to Emily, who seemed to be debating whether to press a red button on her phone. You thought it looked like a voice recording app.

You followed her line of vision and saw Paige and Luke up ahead—a young “happy couple” here at Sunny Day Excursions. They were whisper-yelling at each other, sniping something about Luke’s birthday. Apparently, he had a problem with getting another year older.

Don’t we all, you thought, with no small amount of sarcasm. The guy had been a sour apple since the start of this trip, and to be honest, he was starting to get on your damn nerves.

“This is like, prime time stuff for my podcast,” Emily whispered.

You looked over at her. “Oh yeah? What’s your podcast about?”

“Relationships, lies, that sort of thing,” she replied.

You almost grimaced. Good luck finding willing subjects for that one.

Mary snickered on your other side. She leaned close to your ear so only you would hear.

“God, Paige’s voice is so effing annoying. Like a chipmunk on helium,” she said. “I feel sorry for him.”

You shot her a dry look. “He’s the one asking for it, if you ask me. But they’ve been going at it the whole time. Makes me feel sorry for both of them.”

You shook your head and kept walking on the trail. Mary sobered as she stared back at you. She was reminded of why you two were really here, and what you’d been through this past year…

What you all had been through.

You and Mary fell behind Avery and Emily on the trail, giving Mary the opportunity to touch your arm and stop you in the middle of the trail.

“Do you really plan to stay here?” she asked. “In dusty-ass Montana? With the snakes and the bears and the old hicks?”

“Well, I got the key to my apartment before we got here,” you said. And she knew that. “My aunt is letting me crash with her until the rest of my things ship over in a couple of weeks, and I start a new job in the fall. So yeah, I’m staying.”

Mary’s lips pursed. She gave you a long look, but you held your ground. You even popped your Airpods in for good measure. You were done with this conversation.

She huffed and kept walking.

You watched your friend go in annoyance. You knew she would try to talk you out of your decision at some point on this trip, but you hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

Heaving a sigh, you looked up at the clear sky above you, filtered through the tall trees. You took a moment to collect yourself in this great big no man’s land, where you could finally let yourself slow down for a minute, and breathe.

You raised the volume in your Airpods when a particular song came through.

“All of her days have gone soft and cloudy. All of her dreams have gone dry,” crooned the soft melody. You nodded to the rhythm of the mellow notes, but all the while, you tried to blink through the sting of tears.

“All of her nights have gone sad and shady. She's getting ready to fly…”

You rubbed your left hand, where you still had the tan line of the ring you used to wear.

“It’s really okay, sweetie,” Mary tried to console you, rubbing her hand between your shoulders.

After the hike, you all had returned to camp and sat down to brunch. It was an amazing spread, with waffles and muffins and Danishes, eggs done three different ways, toast with jam, assorted sandwiches, coffee and orange juice (and sparkling wine for the adults).

But even with a huge plate of appetizing food in front of you, you were sulking a bit. You had your face covered by your hands as you rested your elbows on the table.

“One of my only goals on this trip was to ride a damn horse, and I couldn’t even do that,” you said.

Sunny Barnes and her husband Buck were the heads and hosts of this whole trip. And after the hike, their son, Cormack, had tried to help you onto the nice chestnut mare the handler had brought out of the stable for you. But your entire body had locked up in fear at the prospect of being vaulted onto the horse.

In fairness, she was huge. And you were both afraid of heights, and animals that could buck you off its back and trample you.

You hadn’t been able to speak. You just shook your head vigorously every time Cormack asked you if you were okay.

So he’d graciously patted your back and gave the mare to Emily instead.

“I’ve never been able to ride a horse either,” Avery offered in commiseration. You lowered your hands and gave him a wan smile.

Emily was carving an apple with an impressive (and somewhat scary) looking pocketknife. She shrugged.

“It’s not so hard,” she said. But, perhaps realizing how she sounded, she looked up and gave you an apologetic look. “Sorry. I mean, I’m sure you’ll get it! It’s hard in the beginning, but once you get used to it, it’s like riding a bike.”

Right. A bike with hooves, you thought, ripping a piece of bread from your egg and cheese sandwich.

Mary bumped your shoulder with a teasing smile. “You just got showed up by a high schooler. Again.”

You pursed your lips in amusement. You tossed the piece of bread. It hit her dead between the eyes. You giggled at the way she jumped with a start.

“Real mature,” she shot back.

“Yeah,” you replied, taking a giant bite of your sandwich for good measure. “I learned from you.”

Even Emily snickered, making Mary roll her eyes in amusement.

Shortly after, Avery and his stepdaughter were finished with brunch and got up to get back to their tents.

You glanced over and noticed that Emily had left her knife on the table, now closed in its sheath.

Sheriff Beau Arlen may have still been relatively new in town, but he considered himself a consummate professional.

He’d agreed to accompany Cassie, the local private investigator (and his friend), up to this mountain pass to look for a missing backpacker. Questioning Buck and Sunny Barnes and their crew was just good old-fashioned, thorough police work.

But if it also gave Beau a chance to check on his daughter up here “glamping” with her half-baked stepfather, then he couldn’t pass up on that opportunity, now could he?

After talking to Buck and Sunny, who hadn’t seen hide or hair of the backpacker, Beau let Cassie take care of questioning Cormack Barnes while Beau found his daughter outside her tent. After giving her a big hug and inspecting her “tent” (Really? he thought. Looks more like a hotel room than a tent.), he asked her how her trip was going so far.

“Good, Dad. But you really didn’t have to come all the way out here just to check up on me,” Emily said. She was amused, but no longer surprised to see him.

“No, no, no. I didn’t, okay?” Beau refuted. Though at the look on her face, he knew he wasn’t fooling her. She was a sharp kid. “All right, maybe not the only reason. We had to talk to Sunny about a missing backpacker. It’s something Cassie’s investigating.”

Emily’s amusement faded into surprise, and then concern.

“Wait, what?” she said.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. Just, you know…parents probably didn’t get the memo that ‘off-the-grid’ was part of the deal,” he said, giving her a meaningful raise of his brows. Maybe his daughter didn’t have to screen so many of his calls while she was on this trip.

“Overprotective parents, huh?” Emily dryly remarked.

“The worst,” Beau agreed, shaking his head.

But he smiled. Just seeing her made his whole week better…and it alleviated some of the hurt in his heart. Not getting to be with her on a trip like this stung. And knowing Avery was the one who got to be there for her grated on him.

Beau was already missing too much of his daughter’s life, and he still wasn’t too sure on how to deal with that.

Speak of the devil, he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Avery approaching. Beau forced himself to look as close to pleasant as he could get around his ex-wife’s husband.

While Mary went back to the tent to freshen up, you grabbed Emily’s pocketknife and went to look for her so you could return it. It had a wood-carved hilt and had her initials, E. A., engraved on the side. The knife looked special, not the kind of thing you wanted to lose.

You found her outside her tent with her stepfather, and a man you didn’t know. He had broad shoulders and short brown hair that swept above his brow. When he turned to look at you, the first thing you noticed was the cut of his bearded chin, and then the green of his eyes.

You didn’t realize it, but your insides stilled, just for a moment. Then you remembered to smile.

Avery looked a bit tense, as did the newcomer. You sensed you were interrupting a tete-a-tete. 

“Uh, hi. I’m sorry,” you said, and extended the sheathed knife toward Emily. “Just wanted to get this back to you. You left it at the table.”

“Oh! Thanks,” Emily said gratefully.

“Well, hi there,” said the new guy. He was tall, you noted, wearing a beige jacket over a buttoned-down shirt, some jeans, and boots. It was a casual look, but all worked very well for him…in a rugged cowboy sense.

“This is my dad,” Emily supplied.

“Sheriff Beau Arlen, ma’am,” he said, giving you a more friendly smile that you matched in kind when you shook his hand. You also gave him your name to go along with it.

“You here for a little belated vacation, Sheriff?” you added.

“No. Matter of fact, I’m here on police business,” he replied. That concerned you, but he was quick to wave a dismissive hand. “Everything’s okay here. Just checking on a missing backpacker. But it looks like we’ll have to continue our search for him elsewhere.”

You hummed at that in concern. “Well, I hope you find him.”

“I do too,” he agreed with a nod.

Then, Emily took the slight pause in the conversation as her chance to escape.

“Okay, Dad, well, we’re gonna go hike down to the lake,” she said, gesturing at Avery. “But as you can see, I’m fine. We’re fine.”

Beau’s smile became a bit tight, but he nodded in understanding. He gave her a big hug, and you could see he was reluctant to let her go. Avery stood behind them. He held tension in his shoulders. You felt a bit awkward yourself, being in the midst of what was clearly an uneasy family dynamic.

Beau released his daughter. After she took off with Avery following close behind, Beau turned to you next. You tried not to blush at the sight of his handsome face.

“Sorry, again,” you said, raising a placating hand. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

His lips twitched upward, and he shook his head. “You’re fine. Though you don’t look like a local. You from outta town?”

I could say the same thing about you, cowboy, you thought. There was a slight southern drawl in his voice that sounded like Alabama. Maybe Texas?

“You got me,” you nodded. “I’m from Chicago originally, but…I’ve actually just moved here to Helena.”

“Ahh, a city girl,” he remarked. “Small world. I just got here a few months ago myself. Houston, Texas.”

Your smile brightened. Right on the money.

“Yeah, I figured,” you couldn’t help teasing him a little. His grin kicked up in the corner.

“How’re the mountains and fresh air treating you then?” he asked. “Better than that blanket a’ smog in Chicago.”

“We do not have smog…or, well, not that much,” you laughed, “but yes, I’m actually really liking it here so far. I mean, I just got here about a week ago. I’m still learning. Though Emily actually tried to help me ride a horse today.”

“Yeah?” His brows raised. “How’d that go?”

You had to laugh. A kind of self-deprecating laugh that had you half-covering your face to stem off your blush.

“Not well,” you admitted.

Beau ducked his head with a smile. He met your eyes in amusement, but not without kindness.

“Well, here’s a tip for ya,” he said. He planted his feet, held his hands up into lightly clenched fists. “The trick is in the legs. Grip tight, but not too tight. He’ll think you’re rarin’ to go.”

You blinked a bit wider. Was that just honest advice…or was he sort of flirting with you?

It made you blush in earnest.

“Ah. Good to know,” you said with a laugh. He treated you with a tip of his imaginary hat.

“Hey,” someone called out.

Both of your heads turned to a tall black woman with long curly hair. She gave you a polite smile before she nodded up at Beau.

“You ready to go?” she asked.

“Ah, yep,” Beau nodded. He gave you an apologetic look. “Sorry, gotta get back to the station.”

“Oh, of course,” you said. But you held up a finger. “Wait, just a sec.”

You hastened back over to the table of confections from brunch and offered them a chocolate chip muffin each for the road. Cassie politely declined, but Beau gladly took his.

“Although, are you trying to stereotype me or somethin’?” he teased.

Your brows furrowed in confusion, but after a moment, it hit you. You’d just given a cop a baked good.  

“At least it wasn’t a donut,” you quipped, despite your embarrassment. Beau still looked bemused, but he let you off the hook.

“That’s okay. I’ve never been known to turn down free food,” he assured.

“He really doesn’t,” Cassie confirmed. You noticed how she was waiting, arms crossed.

“Well, there you go! Sorry for keeping you,” you said.

“Not at all, darlin’,” said Beau. His smile had a charming gleam. “Nice to meet you.”

You quirked a smile back. “Wow, you are from Texas.”

You didn’t think you’d ever been called darlin’ in your life.

Beau’s good humor shifted into slight embarrassment himself.

“Sorry. I’ve been told to stop doing that,” he said. When he chuckled, you did along with him. You weren’t offended by it, just surprised by the old-fashioned endearment.

“It’s okay,” you said. “Nice to meet you too, Sheriff.”

You raised a hand in goodbye, and Beau returned it, watching you go. Meanwhile, Cassie watched him with a small smirk. He stepped down from the short platform in front of Emily’s tent to meet her.

“Were you just checking out Glamper Girl? In front of your daughter, no less,” Cassie remarked.

Beau shot her a look of denial. “I did no such thing. I’m a professional. And a gentleman, mind you.”

Cassie rose a brow at him. It stirred up a bit of his defensiveness. 

“But, I’ll have you know that Em had already moved on when I had a friendly conversation with the glamper,” he said.

Cassie rolled her eyes. Right.

That afternoon, you decided to bring your sketchpad and your modest collection of paints to the lake. You sat on the bank and tried to paint, while Mary joined the others in swimming.

“That looks nice,” Emily’s voice startled you from behind.

You twisted to look at her, and she gave you an apologetic look. She was dressed to go for a swim in a one-piece bathing suit and some shorts. She seemed more of a conservative dresser than typical high school girls her age. Maybe that had something to do with a policeman being her father, or maybe that was just her personality.

“Sorry,” she said, raising her hands.

“It’s okay.” You waved it off and gestured for her to sit beside you if she wanted. She did so, admiring your work over your shoulder. You felt a little embarrassed by it, but you didn’t mind her watching you try to paint ripples of light on the water.

“Are you an artist?” she asked.

You shot her a smile. “You’re very sweet, but no. I just started this year.”

You’d just Googled some therapeutic techniques instead of, you know, going to therapy. You just knew that if you did, your aunt would probably tell your parents, who would never let you hear the end of it. Specifically, why it was a waste of time. Your father especially would have something to say.

But one of the sources you found suggested trying out some creative outlets to calm the mind and think productively, but not create more stress for yourself. You’d tried a few different things, but landed on painting. It was working for you so far, even if you didn’t think you were that good.

“How do you like Montana so far?” you asked your companion. “Your dad told me you guys just moved here too, a few months ago.”

“Yeah, when my mom got remarried, my dad moved to stay close to me,” Emily explained.

Your brows raised. Your painting hand paused with the brush near the page.

“Well, that’s a good father,” you said. You smiled at the thought of Beau Arlen. The way he hugged his daughter before, like she was his entire world, and the fact that he’d moved entire states just to stay with her, told you a great deal about the town’s new sheriff.

Emily nodded, but her lips were pressed. “He’s a bit overprotective.”

“Well, he is a cop,” You said, smiling. “I assume that’s just part of the package.”

“I get that,” she said. “It’s just…a bit much sometimes.”

You gave her a sympathetic look. “I understand. My dad can be like that too. He’s got his soft moments, but he can be a real tough nut too… He’s a retired fireman.”

“Wow, that’s cool,” Emily said. She looked impressed. “Did you ever want to be a firefighter?”

You chuckled. “No, and he never wanted me to. It just wasn’t my beat, anyway.”

In the many years before your father had risen in the ranks to firehouse chief, your mother had often worried about him when he was on shift. Being a firefighter in inner-city Chicago had brought some hard and dangerous calls.

But you had always been more bookish, and both your parents were grateful for that.

You sighed. Your paintbrush made a stroke of deep green on the page, creating darker shades in the bottom of the lake.

“I did end up dating one though. Almost married him too,” you muttered, before you could stop yourself. You forgot you were talking to an insatiably curious girl.

“Really? What happened?” she asked. You looked over at her, and she was staring at you with her full attention. You remembered then that her podcast was supposed to be about relationships, but you had no desire to be a subject.

“It didn’t work out,” you said at last, and with difficulty.

“Why?” Emily asked.

Your internal struggle kept you quiet. It gave time for Emily to really see the withdrawn, almost pained look on your face, the slight hunch of your shoulders. She deflated guiltily.

“Uh, sorry,” she said.

You offered a small smile. “It’s okay, honey.”

“I’ll uh, just let you get back to painting,” she said. You waved her goodbye after she got up and left, giving you one last look before she joined her stepfather in the lake.

You let out a deep breath. The teen was tenacious, and naturally curious. That in itself wasn’t such a bad thing. But as you watched her splash at Avery, laughing that weightless laugh that kids got to have, you realized how much you missed being that young and free in your heart.

Again, out of habit, you set down your brush and rubbed at your empty left ring finger.

Mary finally joined you back in your shared tent after a long night of socializing by the fire. You had kept to the tent, reading Much Ado About Nothing for one of your classes that would start in the fall. It wasn’t your first time reading the Shakespeare play, by any means, but you did want to brush up on it.

“You know, you’re actually supposed to be vacationing on this vacation,” Mary pointed out. She started changing into her pajamas for bed. You were already cozy in one of your old college hoodies and some shorts, not to mention snuggled under the warm blankets.

“I am,” you said defensively. “I hiked, I painted, I ate no less than one burger, a basket of fries, and three smores, and now I’m reading.”

“Yeah, for school,” she pointed out. “I may not be as smart as you, but I know homework when I see it.”

You shot her a smile. “You’re plenty smart, M.”

She snorted and slipped into bed beside you. It felt like the sleepovers you two used to have in college, years ago, when she’d come to crash in your dorm, or you in hers. She’d been a philosophy major (despite not giving two shits about Socrates), forced to attend college by her parents. You were an English major, working three part-time jobs just to get you through until graduation.

“Hey,” she said, laying a hand on your shoulder. You turned to her in question. She seemed more serious than usual.

“I’m worried about you,” she said. “And I’m not the only one.”

You sighed. Lowering your book, you leaned back against your pillows and stared up at the tent’s fairy lights.

“I know,” you replied. “But you don’t need to be.”

“Yeah you keep saying that, but you know the real reason I’m here, right?” Mary asked. Her insistent hand on your arm made you meet her eyes.

“You don’t have to do this," she said. "You don’t have to move out here and leave everything behind. You should just come home with me. Your parents, our friends—everyone wants to be there for you, like we have all year.”

Your lips pursed, and you shook your head.

“I’m not going to change my mind. So if that’s really why you’re here, and not to just spend some time with me, as my friend, then you should just go home,” you said. “I’ll leave here and go to my aunt’s house. I’m sure your parents can negotiate some kind of refund.”

Mary got angry and huffy, just like you thought she would. You weren’t playing around though. This was your life, and your decision.

If your friends and your family couldn’t be happy for you, or at least understanding, then they could at least respect you. You just weren’t sure when they’d get the hint that this was real.

You were moving to Montana, permanently.

On the drive back into town from the camping site, Beau ate his chocolate chip muffin and tried his best to listen to Cassie—to her theories on where the backpacker might’ve gone, and how best to tell the parents to keep her on this investigation.

A good part of him was still thinking about his daughter, wishing he could be there with her right now. 

And maybe, his mind occasionally wandered…thinking about the pretty shade of your eyes when you smiled at him.

AN: And there we have it, Part 1 of a new series! If you liked it, please let me know! 🥰

And a special Happy Birthday to @jackles010378! 💖 I was going to say we're both Aries (mine is next month) but forgot Pisces comes first lol. ♓

Next Time:

The trees were tall and dark now. The moon was filtering through them like the sun had during other day hikes, but it was much more ominous at night.

“Shit,” you muttered. You gripped your flashlight in worry as panic started to well up in your chest.

Now you were lost.

You jumped with a start when the hoot of a bird passed by overhead.

Shiiiit. This was very bad.

You kept moving forward on what you thought was the trail. That was all you could do, keep moving forward. You made a few turns around some trees, occasionally calling out for Sunny, or Mary, or anyone to hear you.

▶️ Keep Reading: Part 2

Ko-Fi Me ☕

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Babysitter

Kinktober Day 19- Breeding Kink

au created in part by @fuckmyskywalker 🫶

warnings: trailer trash!anakin, dub con, mentions of housewife kink, mentions of breeding kind, dry humping, no smut, this is bad tbh im sorry, 18+ minors dni

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You never minded doing your neighbor Anakin favors. He is a single dad with three adult children and a grandchild, despite his young age. You don't know many people who become grandparents in their 40s, but Anakin's son had gotten a girl pregnant and she left him to take care of the baby.

Anakin's son isn't the best parent. He's still a kid himself but he's been working long hours to make enough money to support his child. During the day when he's at work, you come over to take care of the baby.

They don't pay you much but the baby, Eddie, is the sweetest little boy in the entire world. You work nights at the diner, so spending time at Anakin's trailer during the day is no issue at all, especially when you're so close to your own home.

Anakin's hours at the mechanic's shop change all the time. Sometimes he goes in before sunrise and gets home at 3 pm, and other times he hasn't woken up for the day by the time you get there to watch Eddie.

Today is one of the days he got home early. You were folding laundry on the couch when he walked in, sweaty and grimy from the day. He froze in the doorway when he saw you.

"Hi, Mr. Skywalker," you greet with a smile.

"You don't have to call me that," he chuckles as he kicks off his boots by the door. "How's the baby been?"

"Oh, just perfect," you smile. "He's down for a nap right now."

Anakin nods as he walks over to the kitchen sink to wash his hands. He watches you continue to fold the laundry and he thinks to himself that you would make a good housewife. You're responsible, pretty, and young enough to handle young kids.

Anakin drys his hands on the towel on the counter, then walks over to where you sit on the couch. You look up at him but you find it hard to maintain eye contact when he's looking at you so intensely. You've always been a bit intimidated by Anakin, but you know it's all in your head. He's a nice guy and you're just a girl with a stupid crush.

"Need any help?" he asks.

"No, it's okay," you smile.

"Are you sure?" he insists.

You look down at the full laundry basket of folded clothes. "Well, you could bring that to the bedroom for me if you want," you say.

With a charming smile, Anakin bends down to pick up the basket and starts off down the hall before turning around, waiting for you to follow him.

Anakin places the basket on the bed and stands back as you begin to place the clothes in his drawers. When you bend down to put some paired socks in the bottom drawer, Anakin looks shamelessly at your ass.

Putting on the charm and playing the nice guy has never been hard for Anakin. What's difficult is keeping his true nature hidden when no one is watching.

He sees how you look at him. You wouldn't babysit Eddie everyday for basically free if something wasn't in it for you. Anakin comes home early from work some days just so he can see your face light up when he walks through the door. You're so cute and innocent; such a sweet girl who has no idea what she's getting herself into.

Licking his lips, Anakin decides he doesn't want to hold off any longer. He steps towards you to place his hands on your hips and he pulls you back against him.

"Anakin!" you gasp, making him chuckle.

"Shh, you'll wake the baby," he says into her ear. "It's alright."

"W-what are you doing?"

The tip of his nose brushes against your ear and you shiver in his arms. "I'm doin' exactly what you want me to do, dollface."

"What-"

"You do all the house work, take care of my baby, greet me when I come home from work. You're pretty much my little housewife already. Why don't we make it official, huh?"

"I don't know what you mean," you say breathlessly.

Anakin's laugh rumbles through his chest. "I'm gonna make you mine, sweetheart. Might even give you a baby of your own."

Anakin's erection pokes your ass and you can't resist from pressing back against it. You have no idea where this is all coming from, but you have been dreaming of this. Anakin coming in and bending you over to claim you for his own, though you never thought it would actually happen.

"You wanna be pregnant with my kid, baby? You'd make such a good mommy. Don't you wanna make me a daddy again?"

Your stomach burns with desire but you know it's wrong. You had no idea he even had interest in you but now he's talking about getting you pregnant? You're brought out of your thoughts by the sound of Eddie crying in the next room. Saved by the bell.

You try to break away from Anakin's hold but he grips your hips tightly.

"But Eddie-"

"Let him cry. This is more important."

#anakin #anakin skywalker #anakin skywalker x reader #trailer trash!anakin #anakin skywalker smut #anakin skywalker fanfiction #anakin skywalker x you #anakin skywalker x female reader #anakin skywalker x f!reader #star wars #star wars smut #kinktober #kinktober 2023

[definitelysel]

I had this set up after seeing how Satoru wears frigfing 250,000 yen shirts- wtf?

synopsis : Gojo Satoru. Someone who is filthy rich with a partner that bargains and demands discounts on every thing. (The inner Asian mom is showing itself.)

additonally: a birthday surprise in the end where yuuji accidentally pops a party popper on satoru's face + lovesick satoru.

a/n : happy late birthday to our favourite sweet consuming demon and dimples guy. ♡

The tension in the room was palpatating.

Satoru watched as you had a stare off with the receptionist at the restaurant he had picked for you two's date.

"Hm...so you are telling me that for a table of two, you guys take ¥ 60,000 per person?" You stared at the guy who assigned seats to the visitors, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

"Yes ma'am, that's right." The man politely nodded despite your rather hostile attitude.

"But you say that kids under 5 eat for free?" You mused, tone softening a bit.

"Yes, that is correct." The receptionist nodded at you with a kind smile.

Silence.

"So you see Satoru right here is actually just 4 years old-" you started.

"Yes, I am- wait what!?" Satoru did a double take and stared at you with his jaw dropped.

Yeah, that's how his life was. Full of life, comedy and fundamentals of bargaining as you would rightfully call it. The number of incidents of you arguing with anyone and everyone for a discount never failed to entertain him.

For example : –

Satoru watched you in awe as you talk- no, argued with a fruit seller over the ridiculous prices.

"I can't believe this! ¥7500 (50 USD) for a single watermelon? What, is this watermelon made of gold or something?" You baffled at the price. That was seriously ridiculous.

"Miss, these are the best of their kind! They won't disappoint." The vendor defended, trying to list out the pros of the fruit.

"Sweets, you should just get it. ¥7500 is nothi-" Satoru was cut off by your stern look.

"Nothing!? That price is just unreasonable! I will not pay anymore than ¥6000." You huffed, crossing your arms in disapproval.

"Haha- miss if I started seeling things for THAT low, I will end up going bankrupt.. how about ¥7200?" The vendor nervously chuckled, not wanting to make you more angry. He also glanced at Satoru, hoping he would save him.

Satoru simply sighed. Messing with you right now would earn him a one way ticket to heaven.

"¥6800 and not a single more."

"...fine." the vendor grumbled, handing the fruit over to you.

You smiled triumphantly and took the watermelon before merrily walking off. Satoru stared at you with an amused expression while trailing you.

Truth be told, Satoru didn't care about bargaining. If he saw something he wanted, he could buy without sparing a glance on the price tag.

However seeing you bargain your way through life was the most amusing thing to him. He had both his heart and his credit card surrendered to you, yet you were adamant on not spending any more than necessary.

He still remembers the day you came home with a beaming smile on your face.

"Satoru guess what!" You chimed, seemingly proud at what you had done.

"What is it sweets?" He looked up from whatever he was doing.

"I got so many clothes for such good price. Hehe those discount vouchers are a gift of God, I tell you!" You grinned and he just laughed.

"Seriously? How much did you save this time?" He chuckled, curious as to how much you saved.

"Well, the salesman was about to tell me the exorbitant price but I whipped out the discount vouchers and got 40% off." You smugly smiled, probably impressed with your own self.

However, when it came to matters such as his birthday...

"Woah, what is this?" Satoru marveled at the sight of the decorations. Everyone was here. Nanami, Shoko, Yaga, the first and second years and you.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" All of you yelled in unison. Yuuji however, was struggling to open up the confetti popper and ended up shaking it so hard that it popped right on Satoru's face.

The man of the hour had confetti, both in his mouth and all over his face. Everyone laughed and some even snagged some pictures.

Satoru stood still for a second before his palm reached up to remove his blindfold which surprise surprise! Also got confetti stuck in it.

"Thanks- Yuuji." He said, blowing confetti out of his mouth, before smiling and chuckling at Yuuji.

Everyone later indulged in talking, eating and hanging out. The atmosphere was uplifting and heart swelling to see all your close ones enjoying themselves.

"So, how much discount did you get yourself on all this preparation?" You heard Satoru ask you. He was smiling brightly, so much so that his blue hues had smile line creases from his bright smile. You could even see his dimples.

Man, God was playing favourites while creating Satoru, that's for sure. Who knew the strongest sorcerer was deep inside just a gentle soul that needed love like everyone else?

"None." You smiled back at him

"Why so?" He asked, awaiting an answer.

"It's your birthday, silly. Price doesn't matter, you do." You booped his nose with you finger. You could see his ears turn red.

Satoru hated you. He hated how you would say such endearing this that would makes a puddle of mess from blushing. Just kidding, he loved you, with all his heart.

"Still..I could've saved so much money." You whined, earning a chuckle from him.

Nevermind. You never changed. He wasn't complaining though.

gosh- me including so many people are in love with this guy. I wanna hold him in my palms.

happy birthday satoru. You are so skrunkly

©definitelysel

not proof read. I wrote it on a whim.

#gojo satoru x reader #gojou satoru x reader #satoru gojo #gojo satoru #gojo x reader #jjk gojo #gojo satoru x y/n #jujustsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen #gojo x you #satoru x reader #satoru fluff #gojo fluff #jjk #jjk fluff #satoru

[ofstarsandvibranium]

My Sweetheart: Part 4

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Summary: You purchase a vintage sweetheart bracelet from an antique store and with it, comes the spirit of the woman who owned it. Through her, you go on an interesting journey to find out what happened to her old lover.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Dot shakes her head in disappointment. It's clear Bucky has gone through a lot, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be happy. He deserves to be happy. She sighs, watching as you run a hand down your face. Though she's been around you for a few days, she knows you're a sweet, kind, and caring person. Bucky seems like he could use someone like you in his life.

____________________

Bucky's in the kitchen downing another beer. Kamala cautiously approaches the man, "Sooo...how'd it go? Did you, uh, help your old girlfriend move on?"

Bucky gulps his beer down and lets out a loud sigh, "Nope. She doesn't want to cross over anymore."

Kamala's brows furrow, "What? Why?"

He shrugs, "She wants to stay to make sure I'm happy."

"Are you happy?" the young Avenger asks.

"I'm content, but that's not good enough for Dot."

"So what're you gonna do?"

"Not my problem. Y/N has to deal with Dot. Not me," he tosses the empty bottles into the recycling.

Kamala frowns, "Isn't the point of being an Avenger supposed to be helping people?"

Bucky snorts, "I'd rather fight another one of Thanos' alien dogs than deal with the ghost of my girlfriend from the 40s." With that, he leaves Kamala in the kitchen.

"Hm..."

_________________

After the day you've ha, you needed a tall glass of wine and a nice bubble bath. So that's exactly what you did.

The bath was hot and ready, you poured yourself a glass, and you played some soft music in the background. As the bathroom filled with steam, Dot wrote on the mirror: Help Bucky.

You snort into your wine glass, "Dot, you heard him, he doesn't want my help. The guy's a dick."

Help. Bucky.

You sigh, sitting up in the bath, "Dot, really, I get you're concerned for him or whatever, but he doesn't want our help. The guy is a lost cause! You just need to accept it and move on!"

Dot huffs, taking your toothbrush and throwing it onto the floor. You don't know, but she walks out.

She looks around the apartment and suddenly wants to get away. She moves to your bedroom window, looking outside. She takes a deep breath and transports herself outside of your apartment.

"Yes!" she cheers and takes a few steps forward but then freezes. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't go any farther. She turns around and sees a string pulling her back. She's then transported back to your apartment and she's glaring at her bracelet.

"Dammit," she murmurs and sits at your desk in discouragement.

_______________

After your bath, you ordered takeout since you weren't in the mood to cook. When you heard the knock at the door, you open it to see-

"You're not my takeout."

Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel, was standing at your door. She gives you a sheepish look, "I mean, technically, I have it here," she holds up the bag, "But I came to help you," she hands you your takeout and enters your apartment.

"Help me?" you close the door behind her and look at her confusedly.

"Yeah! With Bucky and helping his old girlfriend to move on!" she looks at you excitedly.

"Uuuhhh okay?" your brows furrow in confusion, "How come you want to help?"

Kamala shrugs, "It's what Avengers do, besides, I do think that Bucky needs some happiness in his life. All he does is work, ride his motorcycle, and be grumpy."

You snort as you open your takeout and start digging in, "He seems like he's eternally grumpy."

Something falls off your coffee table, startling Kamala, "What was that?"

"Dot, Bucky's old girlfriend. She tends to move things when she wants my attention." You walk over to the table to see your notepad with a new note from her: LET HER HELP.

You hum, "Dot thinks you can help."

"Great!" Kamala claps her hands together, "So we should definitely plan things out. What if," she pauses and gasps, "we can get him a pet!"

"Is he capable of taking care of an animal?" you genuinely ask her.

She shrugs, "Not sure, but he likes to feed any stray cats that are around the Compound. So maybe we should get him a cat!"

"Okay but what if he doesn't want the cat? You guys are left with a cat."

Kamala shrugs again, "I don't mind. I love cats. As long as I don't bring it home to my parents, we should be fine."

You shake your head, "I'm sorry, kid-"

"Kamala."

"Kamala. I get that you're trying to help you're, uh, fellow Avenger, but it doesn't seem like he wants help. Also, as someone who works at an animal shelter, I don't like the idea of giving someone a pet without knowing whether they want one or can care for one."

The young Avenger's eyes widen, "You work at an animal shelter?! Can I visit your work?!"

You can't help but chuckle at the teen's enthusiasm, "I mean, we're always looking for volunteers. If you or any of your Avenger friends want to come by and help, that'd be great.

Kamala is furiously nodding, "I know a bunch who would love to help! Are you working tomorrow?"

You shake your head, "Nope. The day after though. You can swing by and pick up volunteer papers for you and your friends to fill out."

She salutes you, "Sounds like a plan!" she sees herself out with a wave and you're hoping that this will be the end of her wanting to help you to help Bucky to help Dot.

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #bucky barnes imagine

[meowmeowmeowmeow4x]

Dark Blue Moon and the Suffering Sun Chapter 31

MASTAPOST

big thanks to brekitten for betaing this chapter, and HAPPY MERMAY TO EVERYONE YAYAYYAYAYA

Here’s a fun fact, Danny noted, as he sat in the driver’s seat of the GiW truck they’d stolen GTA style from the government. Despite having a father whose driving may be more dangerous than the sirens that he hunts, and parents who built a tank that can float…

Danny did not know how to drive.

But luckily, Damian did! Thank goodness. Guess that rich kid education was paying off.

The issue, though? Damian didn’t have legs at this moment.

Which meant that Danny was the one stepping on the gas, while Damian took the wheel, sitting in Danny’s lap.

Here’s a fun fact. Whenever Danny’s dad drove, he always used to think that it was the scariest thing in the world. The G-forces turning you into a ragdoll. The screaming and car horns from other people. The uncertainty of whether you’ll make it to see the next day.

On this clear summer day, Danny learned that there was something far, far scarier.

To have all of that happen, and you were the one at the driver’s seat.

“Step on it!” Damian shouted. Danny could only comply. Stray shots blasted past the windows, but the armored vehicle stood firm. Another blockade was up ahead, a blockade that was very quickly becoming vacant as agents scattered to the side.

Damian cackled maniacally. His howling trills filled the air and mixed with the screams of the agents.

“Should I slow down?”

“Negative!” Damian yelled. Danny was seriously regretting following this plan. Why couldn’t they have just walked and snuck around the barriers?!

The blockade smashed into pieces. The truck rammed through the gates signs like they were wet tissue paper. Well that went slightly better than they’d expected. But there was still the issue of the very large tail of vehicles pursuing them.

Danny looked back and forth nervously. “Please tell me you have a plan for those guys.”

“Shoot them.”

“What?!”

“With your ice. Give them a frozen tire or two.”

Danny gulped. He was used to a little fighting, but this was getting ridiculous!

Then again, it was the GiW. Yeah, go on then. Danny poked his head out the window. Damian had torn up part of his shirt (rude!) and forced Danny to wear it like a mask. He’d also put some mucus in his hear to make it white. It was a challenge to twist his body to keep pressure on the gas pedal while also looking behind him, but some siren flexibility helped.

There. A GiW car lead the chase behind him. One of the agents glared at him with all the hatred she could muster (so the same amount that he usually received from glares), and fired a beam that missed him by about 40 degrees. Yeah. Good luck with that aim. Danny returned by icing over the road. His powers created a right-facing ramp right in front of the car. The car could not brake in time and flung itself to the side. Then an armored SUV took its place in the front.

Danny grinned mercilessly. Maybe Damian had a point.

He narrowed his glowing eyes. His target was small, but its relative position was pretty constant. Just a little to the left… and that was just perfect. Danny flung an ice beam. It hit its mark perfectly. The tire of the SUV leading the chase froze completely. The vehicle skidded out of control. Then the truck right behind it failed to brake in time. Like dominos the entourage crashed into each other like a perfectly programmed sequence. The sound of car alarms and clanging metal filled the air like music as the boys sped away in their getaway vehicle.

That was not the end of it, however. Danny spotted more and more vehicles assembling from the side roads. Danny flung ice like a kid in a snowball fight, but he’d burnt most of the energy from the tamales earlier. He needed more food.

“Save your strength,” Damian called out. “We are almost at our destination.”

Before long, the countryside roads gave way to tall buildings and crowds of tourists. With the vehicles hot on their tails, Damian yelled at him to slam the brakes. At the same time, the kid swung the steering wheel hard left. The truck drifted on its side for a few heart-stopping seconds before coming to a halt.

Danny kicked the doors open. He and Damian were out in seconds, invisibly slipping into the gathering crowd of onlookers. He bumped a shoulder or two, and more than one person waved their hands over their noses, making a disgusted comment in another language, but the crowd meant more than one kind of invisibility.

The agents filed out of their vehicles in quick succession, looking to muscle through the civilians. However, a matching crowd of police officers met them, engaging in heated argument. Danny had the distinct feeling Damian absolutely intended this.

They walked through the streets of the town. Further away from the truck, the crowd became sparser, but it was still very busy. American brands lined the storefronts, and local street food venders populated the sidewalks. From the corner of his eye, Danny spied a prime opportunity.

He casually sidestepped the sleeping security guard on his way to a suitcase and backpack store. Damian side eyed him, or at least he felt he did. “Relax Damian, this will make things much easier on us.”

Did he feel bad about stuffing Damian into a waterproof backpack? Maybe. But look, keeping invisibility on for hours at a time was hard! He needed a little respite. Besides, the GiW were probably looking for a white-haired scaly menace, for all that he was careful never to show his fully human form to them.

And Damian wasn’t even gonna overheat and die of heat stroke! He’d been very careful to ice over the lining of the backpack to keep the kid cool. Now if only he’d stop complaining.

“I would like to put it on the record that this is an awful idea.” Damian punctuated his fifth complaint with a sharp jab into Danny’s soft human spine. Ouch.

“Dude, I am literally undetectable right now. What more do you want?”

“You look like a vagrant with a very, very clearly stolen back pack.”

Maybe Damian had a point. People were staring, and covering their noses. Perhaps he had miscalculated. Danny ducked into an alleyway and camouflaged himself again, even if it made his stomach churn. “Look, their scanners are pretty close ranged, but I’m using my powers, it’s way easier for them to detect us.”

“Tut. Very well, but you still need a better disguise. Move quickly. I can smell them filing into town even from here,” His passenger chittered. And move quickly he did. Danny ducked into a clothes store and yanked the first articles he could see. He was half-tempted to reject the clean clothes to spite Damian, but spiting the GiW by not dying seemed much more attractive of an option. Then he borrowed some food from a convenience store.

It was necessary for his survival, even if it made him ill.

With his slightly less homeless-looking clothes, Danny was finally able to show his face without looking like a street rat. Well honestly he still looked like a street rat. The kind of things salt water and four days of not showering will do to your hair. But he at least looked like a decently-dressed street rat.

The agents had already swarmed the town. Thank goodness the sun had dried his hair again, or he’d be clocked in a blink. They patrolled around the streets in pairs and harassed innocent bystanders about the siren menace, all the while an official-looking police guy yelled at an official-looking GiW guy.

“We are close to the shore. Keep calm.” Damian whispered.

Just keep calm as the people who want to dissect you look you right in the eye. Thank you Damian for the encouragement. Danny forcibly slackened his shoulders, and slouched his back. Just a normal teenager. Nothing to see here.

The edge of the town was just ahead, maybe a hundred meters. Just needed to avoid suspicion for a few minutes more.

Danny walked through the human-shaped landmine, suddenly distinctly aware he had no shoes on. Only three meters away, an agent scanned over a young man, then attempted to pat him down, only for the man to shout at him and pull away. Then two more agents showed up and held his arms down. Danny shuddered, but he forced himself to continue. Danny hid himself between two adults walking past. He held his head low. It was just like high school, avoiding Dash, he told himself. Just like high school.

He was inches away from leaving the outer bounds of the area when an agent called out right to him. “Hey you!”

What does he do. What does he do, what does he do what does he do?! Sweat pooled on his neck. Just play natural. Yeah. Put all the hours of Spanish lessons to good use!

Danny turned around, and with his most casual smile possible, said.

“¿Yo no hablo ingles?”

Even he cringed at how bad that sounded. Adrenaline pooled in his still legs. The agent rattled off some excuse the government was peddling, and then pulled out a scanner. Danny’s eyes widened. If he stayed, Damian would get detected. If he ran, he’d be outed as a sympathizer at the best. If he fought, then the whole world would know Danny Fenton was a freak of nature.

Danny’s brain moved a mile a minute, but his muscles locked in place. What could he do. What could he do.

His eyes locked on a pair of Panamanian policemen behind him, with grim looks on their face. He scrambled together the last vestiges of the Spanish class he’d barely been passing.

Danny sucked in a breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“¡AYUDAME!” He shouted. Danny crossed his arms over his groin, and put on a pained expression. “¡LOS GRINGOS ME TOCARON!”

The agent blinked in puzzlement, like a deer in the headlights. His dumbfounded expression contrasted with the thunderous look that came over the Panamanians. Thank you Jazz for forcing him to actually study. Maybe foreign language classes weren’t all that bad.

Danny took the distraction and speed walked away from the premises, as verbal fireworks and fists flew.

The beach was in sight. Just a couple more minutes, and the GiW would never be able to catch them. Danny sprinted for the water. This close, the urban roads transitioned back to foliage and dirt again. He ducked underneath low branches, and jumped over fallen debris.

Then the air buzzed. The familiar scent of ozone permeated the space. Skulker.

His nose picked up the rocket. Danny lunged to the ground. A tree exploded into dozens of splinters behind. The shockwave threw him further away and slammed him into a rock. His vision shifted nauseously.  

“Put your mask on and run!” Damian shouted, having emerged from the backpack. Danny didn’t need to be told twice. He slicked his hair and booked it. Without his lateral line above water, Danny was forced to rely on Damian spotting for him. Skulker’s missiles exploded in mid-air as his friend took to intercepting them with his shots. More came through, forcing Danny to duck and weave through the storm.

“Where is he?!” Damian shouted. “I cannot get a visual on him.”

“He keeps flying into different spots to shoot at us. We need to get to an open field.”

Then came the machine blasters. The shots tore through leaves like they weren’t even there. Danny threw up an icy shield that deflected the shots away. Heavier blasts pelted the shield and forced him to reinforce it even more, straining his body.

Skulker’s voice cried out somewhere to his flank. “Over there!” Damian cried out. Danny threw an ice spear in the blink of any eye. It flew through the dense tree top. Seconds later, metal tore open in a screech. A smoking Gatling gun fell to the dirt.

Danny sprinted through the remaining thicket, and burst on to the beach. “Quickly, Danny!” Damian shouted. Stray gunshots blasted sand high into the air. Danny jumped behind an upturned wooden boat, ducked and rolled. The boat exploded into splinters, but otherwise shielded him from the blast. Danny tramped over seaweed and sandcastles alike, a mad dash for the water where he’d be in his element.

A net collided into his body from the side. The boys were thrown to the sand. The force sent Danny’s mask flying off his eyes, right as he spotted two familiar figures just off the beach.

His blood turned to ice. “Damian. Hide in the backpack.”

“What are you talking about-” Damian sucked in a breath.

“Get in now!”

In the water, standing on a jet ski, his mother lowered her binoculars, and suddenly she was racing towards the shore line at breakneck pace. Skulker laughed in the air. Danny threw off the net, dashing back into the jungle. He couldn’t get caught. Not now. His vision flashed with bright lights and glowing gun barrels.

“Don’t think you can simply run away from the mighty Skulker, whelp!” Skulker charged up another salvo. Just then, a blue shot tore through his arm cannon.

“Do not touch my baby!” His mother roared. She front-flipped off the jet ski and landed soundlessly on the sand. She charged for Danny, arms outstretched. “Danny!”

His foot landed on a patch of sand that didn’t sink slightly inwards like he’d thought it would. Danny’s blood turned to ice.

Sand erupted in a plume of yellow and white. His ears rang like high-pitched white noise. Danny barely registered the backpack being torn off his arms, Damian’s screeching becoming further, and further. The last he saw of Damian was in the clutches of Skulker, who shot him a metallic smirk as the man retreated into the sky. He smelled his mother and Bruce Wayne running up the beach. He nearly passed out turning invisible, aided by Skulker’s sand smokescreen. It was all he could concentrate on.

Danny stumbled behind his mother and Bruce’s backs, even as she yelled “Danny! Danny! Baby boy, where are you?!” into the empty beach. He stripped wordlessly in the water, turning skin to scales. But it was the lack of that familiar weight over his shoulder that made him feel more naked than anything else.

#dpxdc #danny fenton #damian wayne #dcxdp #merman #merboy #mermaid au #angst #GiW #Guys in White #Mermay #mermay 2024 #sirens #monstrous mers

[cryptidorchid]

The other day I read the-somwthing’s life series analysis of the Scott-Joel rivalry. And so I decided to write my own analysis on Scott’s view of Joel, which was inspired by “I think [Scott] sees Joel as some sort of embodiment of senseless murder” from the-somwthing’s analysis

Scott Pretty Consistently Thinks the Worst of Joel

From the very start, in Third Life, Scott sees Joel as a force of destruction mostly.

Third Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 6 - 40:09-40:14 After they find out Joel burned their wall and tried to kill Scott Jimmy: We need a reason why he’s done it Scott: The reason is just because it’s Joel. I don’t know what you expect.

After Joel burns down his wall and tries to kill him, Scott explains Joel’s behavior as just an inherent fact of Joel. Joel causes chaos and destruction. That is just who Joel is to Scott.

This perception of Joel never changes throughout the Life Series.

It shows up in Limited Life.

Limited Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 7 - 26:42-27:05 Scott and Pearl walk upon Joel fighting the Clockers Scott: Hi, Pearl Pearl: Hello! Scott: We’re just watching this? Pearl: Yep Death messages appear saying Joel killed Grian and Scar Scott: Oh, Grian was slain by Jo- gasp Joel: Oh, no! Gosh! Scott starts shooting at Joel Scott: Joel, you killed Grian? Joel: Guys, guys, guys, guys! Scott: Joel! Scott lands the killing shot against Joel Pearl: Joel’s about to be out of the season. That’s why he killed Grian Scott: Oh

In this case, Scott assumes that Joel killing a teammate was a betrayal and joins the fight against Joel at least partially because of that. Scott is like the king of self-sacrifice plays but he didn’t even consider that Joel’s situation could be the same. This implies to me that Scott still doesn’t think Joel can be trusted not to attack the people around him, no matter how close with him you are.

It comes up in Secret Life too.

Secret Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 8 - 6:32-6:40 Joel: I’m good, I’m good, not up to anything mischievous in any way whatsoever Scott: See, the thing is: Even if you weren’t red, you always are up to something mischievous. Nothing has changed

Scott literally says nothing has changed! I could not make this up! Scott is just constantly suspicious of Joel and always has been.

And this manifests in an interesting way in Double Life.

In Double Life, Joel and Etho die while playing a fishing rod game with Grian, Pearl, and Impulse. Scott goes to collect their stuff and put it in a chest.

Double Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 4 - 24:25-24:32 Pearl: It wasn’t intentional! It wasn’t intentional! Grian: I’m sure they’ll understand Scott: You’ve met Joel and Etho, right?

Scott saying this, combined with him collecting Joel and Etho’s stuff for them, paints a picture of Scott trying to appease Joel.

For one thing, him collecting Joel and Etho’s stuff is incredibly strange for Double Life. When Ren and BigB died near Scott, Scott ran over to steal their stuff, not give it back. When Joel and Etho died the first time, Scott laughed about it because they had been “gloating so much and stealing from everyone.” But now that they’re red, he’s suddenly quite helpful to them specifically.

For another, Scott must think Joel is especially unreasonable since Joel has no reason to be mad at Scott here. Scott was totally uninvolved with the fishing rod game. In fact, he was the one person (as far as I remember) arguing against it. So, the fact that despite all that, he still felt the need to appease Joel and Etho, really implies that Scott sees Joel as both unreasonable and violent and that he’s scared of that.

(He also said Etho but I don’t know that Scott has enough negative interactions with Etho to make that judgement so I think he’s just lumping Etho in with Joel, especially since I can’t remember him ever talking about Etho this way outside of associations with Joel)

This leads me to my next section:

Scott used to be Scared of Joel

Scott's reaction to Joel and Etho going red implies that, by Double Life, Scott is scared of Joel. Honestly, that tracks.

In Last Life, it is so clear that Joel, specifically Third Life Joel, is Scott’s image of a scary red name. For one thing, Scott has an intense aversion to the idea of red names having dogs.

Last Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 5 - 17:38-17:47 Scott: Oh, there’s a dog here. Whose dog [...?]? Do we kill the dog? Pearl: I don’t wanna kill the doggy. The doggy hasn’t done nothing wrong. Scott: But what if it’s, like, Joel’s? Or Grian’s?

He finds one (1) tamed dog in the wild and wants to kill it just in case it’s Joel’s or Grian’s. Pearl convinces him not to in this instance, but when he finds a pack of dogs in a bunker, he kills those. He doesn’t even know either of the red names have dogs at this point.

Last Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 5 - 25:50-26:07 Scott: We also stumbled across Grian’s secret bunker that had about 40 wolves. There should now be about 4 because I burnt them all alive. Martyn: Good job Mumbo: That's good Scott: Some of them tp’ed to him, so he does have some. I'm trying to find when they're not at their base, so I can go in and finish the job

He’s so insistent in this killing all the red names’ dogs thing that even after killing a bunch of them, he wants to go back and take out the rest. Granted, dogs have attacked people a lot over the course of the Life series; you might think this response is reasonable, until you remember that in Third Life, Joel’s dogs (and Joel for that matter) killed no one. They were totally ineffective. This is not the most logical fear to have.

(Also, I find it funny that the amount of dogs has increased from the last time he told this story to Lizzie, when there was only 30 dogs)

More than that, Scott is unusually gung ho about the whole murdering dogs thing. No one is as insistent about it as him and most people will show some guilt or disgust about burning dogs alive.

The second thing Scott seems to be worried about a lot is someone coming to burn down his walls.

Last Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 2 - 4:32-4:35 Scott: I won't use a wooden wall. I learned my mistake last time

Last Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 2 - 17:27-17:31 Scott: Jimmy, did you not learn last time not to do wooden walls? Like, I want to burn these down for the sake of it

And to be fair, unlike the dogs, Joel burning his wall actually had an appreciable negative effect. It makes sense that Scott would be wary of having to rebuild his wall again just because someone had a flint and steel. But he never stops bringing it up, even after Last Life.

Double Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 3 - 16:57-17:01 Scott: I know you're probably thinking, Scott, what are you going to build the wall out of? It has to be something strong and not flammable. No, I'm building it out of wood. Is it a smart idea? Probably not, but I'm still doing it.

Secret Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 1 - 23:21-23:26 Scott: Anytime I build anything out of wood, I just imagine Joel coming and burning it down

So, Scott worries about red names having wolves and coming to set his base on fire, both things that Joel did in Third Life. I could talk about why this is: Joel was the first person to try to kill Scott or attack his base in Third Life. Joel was again the first person to attack him in Last Life and, this time, succeeded right before becoming the first red name. And then Joel stayed a red name for nearly the entirety of Last Life. It makes sense for Joel to seem like the largest threat for the whole of Last Life.

So, it makes sense that, going into Double Life, Scott would be wary of Joel coming after him again. And in Double Life, Scott was basically proven right because Joel is the only person who murders him (one of them was by killing Pearl but same difference).

And Joel managed to kill Scott by chasing him down. Which becomes a bit of a pattern. Joel kills Pearl (and Scott by proxy) by chasing her down. Joel chases Scott and Pearl across the server twice before eventually killing Scott. And then when Limited Life happens, Joel starts chasing Scott to try to kill him again.

In Limited Life, Scott basically admits that he’s scared of Joel specifically.

Limited Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 6 - 23:40-23:49 Scott: The way I currently stand is the only person I’m really scared of is Joel. Joel is the unhinged one who will just kill me. Pearl and BigB, I feel like I can just kind of run away from.

He specifically says he’s only scared of Joel. To be fair, he’s naming Joel out of a list of, like, three people that he thinks might be a threat. Because he’s on good terms with the Clockers and TIES, he has a deal with Jimmy, and Grian is still yellow, which leaves three people.

But I do think that his explanation sheds some light on why Scott is scared of Joel specifically. Joel’s “unhinged.” Joel could attack at any moment. Joel will “just kill.” Other people hesitate to kill. Other people feel guilty. Other people can be persuaded to stop. Other people can be avoided when they try to kill him. Other people Scott can just “run away from.”

Which I feel was exemplified best when Joel killed Pearl in Double Life (which is ironic that it’s not even one of the times Joel killed Scott directly but honestly, I feel like that makes the moment even more potent for Scott because Scott was totally helpless in this situation, he could not have avoided that death), because Pearl went to give Joel back the chestplates she stole and he kills her without hesitation and later yells,”You think YOU’RE UNHINGED, PEARL?” Joel neither hesitated nor felt guilty about killing Pearl, even when a lot of people would hesitate to kill someone just over stolen items, especially if the person was trying to give the items back. And I think that’s what really scared Scott about Joel, a fight with Joel was very hard to avoid.

In Limited Life, Nosy Neighbors weren’t particularly violent so as long as Scott didn’t start it, a fight with them was easily avoidable. Scott eventually struck a deal with Jimmy so Jimmy can clearly be persuaded. Team TIES were hard to avoid a fight with but even after killing Scott, they let him join them in their attack on Bad Boys and Scott made the time back up in kills, so they’re not hard to work with (Honestly, even when they were trying to kill Scott, they were kind of apologetic about it). Even Grian was easier to avoid a fight with than Joel, because Grian relied on traps and tnt, meaning if you avoided walking into one of his traps/under him when he was on Skynet, his threat level diminished by a lot and you could basically walk up to him without much fear. Meanwhile, Joel often attacks Scott on sight, chases him down, and won’t be deterred. Joel being out to get Scott specifically and unrepentantly violent about it made him scary.

However, I think Limited Life killed a lot of that fear when Scott killed Joel 5 times and Joel killed Scott 0 times.

And sure, Scott has killed Joel before. He took Joel out of the series in Last Life, but even when Scott permakilled Joel, it wasn’t triumphant so much as it was stressful.

Last Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 9 - 32:24-32:27 Right after killing Joel Ren: Yeah, well, that was just carnage all around Scott: That was scary

Limited Life was different, because for the first time, Scott had fun killing Joel.

Limited Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 7 - 22:41-22:56 Joel is walking up a hill while Bdubs and Scott approach from the top of the hill Bdubs: Hey, Joel! Joel: Oh! Hey, guys! How’s it going? Joel turns and runs back the way he came. Scott laughs. Scott: Hi, Joel! Good! How are you, Joel? Joel: Just fine, fine, fine. Just fine Scott: You sure? You’re feeling fine, Joel? Scott starts shooting at Joel Joel: I’m feeling fine Scott: You feeling great? You sure? Bdubs: Are we killing him? Scott: I kind of want to after everything he’s done Bdubs: Let’s do it! Okay!

In this kill, it immediately starts off with Scott taunting Joel and then he and Bdubs only start chasing Joel because Scott wants to. This kill is purely for fun and while chasing him, Scott continues to taunt him (“There’s pufferfish around here! Be careful\~”) and after killing him, reiterates that this was for personal satisfaction (“That felt good!”).

And when it came to his other kills on Joel, he seemed fairly happy about those as well. In all of these kills, Scott never seemed scared or worried. Joel tried to kill Scott multiple times and never succeeded. Scott tried to kill him and succeeded 5 different times (There's also the fun role reversal of now Scott's the one chasing Joel in a couple of these kills). It’s hard to be scared of Joel after that. Ultimately, Limited Life changed the game for Scott because fighting with Joel became less scary and more fun.

Which leads into Secret Life, where Scott isn’t as scared of Joel anymore so he feels comfortable acknowledging the fact that Joel has it out for him personally.

Secret Life - Scott’s POV - Episode 9 - 7:00-7:03 When Gem brings up an alliance with the Mounders Scott: I mean my main issue was Joel so if Joel's going to choose not to go for me...

It’s easier to accept a rival/nemesis when it doesn’t feel like a constant threat on his life, but rather something that he can handle easily. Which is where they are now: Scott’s just not that scared of Joel anymore.

#cryptid speaks #block thoughts #trafficblr #life series #life series scott #smajor1995 #I don't know why I felt the need to cite my sources #argued my case like I was bringing this to court #this was originally going to be way longer #but then I realized I was going off on weird tangents #so I cut it down into these two sections #might put the other stuff in a different post #scott smajor

[pumpkin-stars]

A lizard dog, a banana boat, and a cassette tape

Eddie Munson/Reader/Steve Harrington

A part two that’s also a prequel to At Least it’s Not Rabies so the boys will eventually get bitey but for now they’re just normal :)

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings/Content: set in s3, flashbacks to s2, Steve and Reader are pining for each other but Eddie’s cute too... Mews’ death is discussed a bit. no pronouns are used for reader, reader is called Sweetheart. Reader eats strawberry ice cream.

i finished this a while ago but i finally got around to editing it (while i procrastinate writing something else). Enjoy! x

30th June 1985

“Tell me, please tell me that you’re not the one who picks what they play in here?” You look up from the stack of cassettes you’re trying to organise, smiling softly when you see the guy who’s been coming into the store every day for the past week. “You don’t like Top 40?”

“Day in, day out?” He drawls, “Nahhh…” He makes his way to the counter, leaning on it right beside the tapes, eyes narrowing as he observes you, “You don’t like it either, do you?”

Your eyes are drawn to his rings as they catch the light, his hands clasped in front of his chin, one finger pointing accusingly at you.

“Uh… some of it’s okay.” You snap out of it, meeting his eyes instead, “Queen’s pretty good.”

He nods, “riiiight, but not if you listen over and over every day.”

“Right.” You smile, laughing softly as the song changes and Freddie Mercury’s voice comes through the speakers. Perfect timing.

“So you don’t pick the music,” He concludes, pushing himself up off the counter suddenly, swinging his arms around as he looks at the posters stuck to the wall behind you, all shitty boybands who sing about their perfect pretty girl…

“Store policy,” You smile, “Manager makes the mix tapes.”

“And forces you to listen,” he winces, “That’s tough.”

“I sneak my own in sometimes.” You admit, “When it’s quiet.”

“It’s quiet now.” He grins, looking around the store, pacing in a circle, his white trainers squeaking on the linoleum.

He’s right, despite it being the middle of summer, it’s quiet. He’s the only customer within the three walls of the store, even when all of Starcourt beyond the line on the floor that marks the ‘entrance’ is crowded with people, their conversations and laughter drowned out by your enforced soundtrack. You’re a little surprised that only this guy is in here, but you’ve seen the stuff he buys (on the one occasion he came in to do more than talk to you, exchanging a crumpled bill for some heavy metal), so maybe the rest of the town is scared to come in… looking inside to find a denim jacket and a mess of hair is clearly a terrifying experience.

“It could get busy soon.” You shrug, “I don’t wanna inflict my taste on potential customers.”

He hums, rapping his knuckles on the counter, “but you are inflicting the greatest drags of pop radio on your current customer.”

“What do you suggest?”

He grins, pointing at you, “Wait right there.”

You bite your lip, aware of your cheeks getting hot, looking back at the stack of cassettes and trying to do your job - unable to stop yourself from glancing over to where he ambles around the store, his hands stroking over shelves as he searches for whatever he wants.

“Ah ha!” He grins, picking a tape up with a flourish, holding it victoriously above his head, “play this.”

Your smile grows as he returns to you, handing you the tape. You’re pleasantly surprised. “Dio, huh?”

“Heard of ‘em?”

You laugh, “You certainly made sure of it.”

“Me?”

“You bought this five days ago, and the album cover is all over your back. Subliminal messaging.” You accuse.

He laughs loudly, “You been watching me walk away, huh? You like the view?”

If you weren’t flustered already, you certainly would be now.

Your breath catches in your throat, and you turn away, coughing a little as you move to the stereo beside the door to the storeroom, switching tapes, the sound of fast guitars quickly filling the store.

“Good choice.” You turn back to him, smiling softly, unable to look him in the eye.

“Shit…” he mutters, “I’m sorry, I made you uncomfortable. Forget I said that.”

“It’s okay,” You assure, “I um… It’s a nice view.”

He beams, turning around to show you his back, denim jacket hugging his figure, the monster on his tricep staring at you as he turns his head to look over his shoulder, “Yeah?”

“Mhm,” You nod.

“And the music?” He checks, “You do like it, right?”

“You saved me from the seventh repeat of Madonna today.” You nod, “I’d like anything.”

He laughs softly, “You’re very welcome, sweetheart.”

You tell him your name, blurt it out, really, making sure he knows it. You’re not sure if you could handle another sweetheart.

He grins, repeating it softly, “Yeah… Thought I recognised you. I’m Eddie.”

“I know, from- from school. Thanks for saving me, Eddie.” You bite your lip, laughing lightly as you say: “You’re my hero.”

His cheeks go pink, “Nahhh… I’m- I’m just… corrupting the youth with guitars and shit.”

“So I’m aiding and abetting?”

He grins. “Right you are, Sweetheart.”

~~~~~

“One banana boat, two spoons.” Steve grins at you as he sets the ice cream down, sliding into the booth, sailor’s hat discarded on the seat beside him with a huff.

“Busy day?” You smile, taking a spoon from him, making a beeline for the scoop of strawberry.

“Yeah, y’know, it’s hot out. AC only does so much to cool you down.” He grins, “You?”

“Not so much,” You shrug, “I definitely got the better gig in the job department.”

“Yeah?”

“I mean,” you glance behind the counter, able to see Robin’s whiteboard through the little window in the backroom, “I’m not striking out when I flirt with customers.”

“Yeah,” he blushes, digging into the peanut butter swirl, free hand running through his flattened hair, “At least I try. It’s the hat’s fault, anyway.” And the fact his heart’s not in it… he’s only flirting for something to do, to break the monotony of working in the service industry… there’s only one person he actually wants to date, and he’s too much of a coward to say it to your face.

You hum, taking another spoonful, “I tried.”

“You did?” He looks up from the bowl, “You- you flirted?”

“I think so…” You smile.

“You get a date?” He hopes not. He really really hopes not…

“No.”

Yes! The pressure around his heart releases. He really needs to get his head out of his ass and work up the courage to ask you himself.

“So you did strike out.” He speaks around his spoon.

“I wasn’t trying to get a date, so no, I did not.”

“Why were you flirting if you didn’t want a date?” He frowns.

“My god, Steve, not everyone wants to date all the time.” You smile, “Some people enjoy being single, you should try it sometime.”

“They do?” He acts surprised, like it’s inconceivable. You suppose, to him, it might be… if only he realised there was someone who’d say yes right in front of him.

You laugh, “Yeah, Stevie. And some people like to get to know people beyond looks before they date.”

“How do you get to know them if you’re not dating?” He scoffs.

“You got to know me, didn’t you?”

“That’s different.” He excuses. He wanted to date you, still wants to. But you’re his friend now… He got to know you as a friend… “We- we fought demodogs together, that’s…”

“An unbreakable bond,” You grin, “I know.”

2nd-3rd November 1984

A normal day. That’s all you wanted. A nice Friday evening free of stress, where you could relax and enjoy a cup of hot cocoa on the porch beneath a blanket, watch the sunset, and put off doing homework til Sunday night. Diamonds are made under pressure, and all that.

Not quite the attitude you should have in your senior year, but your grades were good enough that you weren’t especially worried about handing in something a little sub-par in the fall term.

Needless to say, stepping out onto your porch into the cool Indiana air and finding some sort of weird lizard dog eating the neighbour’s cat ten feet away was not on your list of things that happen on normal days.

You’d retreated into the house, slowly, carefully, quietly, not wanting to get that thing’s attention, hoping it takes the cat off your lawn. It’s not something you want your parents to find, or to have to explain to Mrs Henderson.

“Oh yeah, sorry about Mews, some lizard dog that looks like it’s come straight out of John Hurt’s chest cavity ate it last night while you were watching General Hospital reruns.”

Not gonna happen.

With all the weird shit that happened a year ago, the poor woman’s had enough stress - her son’s best friend disappearing like that… you don’t wanna be the one to break the news about her beloved pet.

As far as you’re concerned, there’s nothing going on on your porch at all.

~~~~

You groan as you open your curtains the next morning, almost afternoon. No cat on the porch, thankfully, but… - “the fuck-?” - there is a trail of bologna leading from the Henderson house to their Storm Cellar.

You check the driveway - your parents are out, and by the looks of things Mrs Henderson is too, probably looking for Mews or something.

Your heart jumps as you see Dustin, in protective Hockey gear, rushing out of his back door and into the little shed… only to gasp in surprise as the lizard dog - larger than last night - ambles out after him, eating up the bologna on the way.

You hold your breath, realising the boy’s out there alone trying to catch this monster, but you’re frozen in place, wishing you’d said something last night to stop this from happening. Shit, what if he gets himself killed!? Fuck…

You’re running to get dressed in another moment, throwing on the first thing your hands land on, buttoning your jeans as you rush downstairs, slipping on the shoes you’d left by the door, watching from the window as Dustin yells, slamming the cellar door shut.

You run out, grabbing his discarded hockey stick, and sliding it through the door’s handles, staring at the kid. “What the fuck is that thing!?”

“What thing?” He stares at you.

“The fucking lizard dog thing, what is that!?” You point to the door, “It ate your fucking cat, Dustin!”

“Shit…” he whispers, “Fuck. I- I’m not supposed to tell people who don’t already know.”

You sit beside him on the grass, “Well I know that thing exists, so… say I know. Tell me the rest. What the fuck is going on?”

~~~~

After hearing the most insane story of your life, you and Dustin started cleaning up, the kid grabbing his walkie talkie every other minute to yell Code Red all call for help as you helped him dig a grave for his poor cat.

“I feel so bad,” You whisper, “I saw him eat her and I did nothing…”

“It’s okay,” Dustin assures, “He could’ve eaten you instead and that would be wayyyy worse to deal with.”

“Yeah.” You nod, “Yeah, sure, great. That’s great.”

“You got any combat experience?” He wonders suddenly.

“Combat-?”

“Guns? Axes? Baseball bats? Anything?”

“Wh- why do I need that?”

“To help me deal with D’Art.”

“You named it!?”

“I thought he was a lizard! But he’s a Demogorgon… A Demodog.” He protests, “Sue me!”

“Fuck…” you whisper, “We need help, Dustin, I’m- Fuck…. I should’ve stayed inside…”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Duh, you’re a fucking child trying to fight a fucking--”

“Demodog.”

“A fucking demodog!” You huff, “shit. We gotta get help.”

“Code red.” He nods, grabbing his walkie again, “HELLO?? Code Red, does anyone copy!?”

~~~~

You’d looked everywhere for his friends, for the other people who knew anything about the… Upside Down… ending up at the Wheelers and asking Mike’s dad if he knew where his kids were. A guaranteed dead end, as far as you were concerned, but you’d bumped into Steve Harrington on the way to wherever Dustin thought they could be next.

Steve Harrington. The King of Hawkins High… is involved in this shit. And has a baseball bat with nails in it in the trunk of his car? Jesus…

“Is there anyone who doesn’t know about this, Dustin?”

“Sorry, who are you, again?” Steve looks at you in the rearview mirror of his car, “How do you know about this? You’re not supposed-” he turns to Dustin, “We’re not supposed to tell people about this.”

You huff, telling him your name, “We literally have half our classes together.”

“We do?” He frowns.

“You ask me for a pen pretty much every week.” You nod. “What do you do with them? Loose them in your hair or something?”

“Not the time, guys!” Dustin protests, “We need to get back to D’Art.”

“I dunno man, are you sure it’s not just some lizard?”

“His face opened up and he ate my cat.”

“Right.” Steve nods, “Okay. Right.”

1st July 1985

An unbreakable bond was formed that day, when the sun had set and you’d stood back to back with Steve in a field of old cars, facing down four demodogs with a baseball bat and a rusty axe. You’d never been more terrified, but you had managed to get a good hit on one of them, swinging the axe into its leg as it roared at you. Steve had grabbed you, pulled you to the relative safety of the old bus Dustin, Lucas, and Max were hiding in, the two of you falling over each other in your haste to shut the door tight.

Your crush had started then, for sure.

Something about a guy in tight jeans really gets you, even when you’re scared shitless and wishing you’d slept in just a little longer.

But it did mean Steve noticed you… the rest of the school year, he’d made an effort to say hi, and returned all your pens to you… including several he’d found stuffed in the back of his locker. He still asked to borrow one during first period, but whatever your last class of the day was saw him giving it back. He’d even split his breakfast bagel with you after a late night studying together in the library.

It seemed… hanging out with a group of middle schoolers made him realise that being King wasn’t all it was cracked up to be… plus, of course, there was Billy Hargrove stealing his crown.

It was odd… suddenly becoming his friend over a weekend. The popular crowd certainly thought so.

There was more attention on you than before, girls trying to work out how to get Steve’s attention the way you had, guys trying to get into your pants the way Steve ‘clearly’ must have done. None of them realising that saving the world together with a group of kids was the cause of your sudden friendship.

Only the other ‘freaks’ had really left you alone, Jonathan Byers occasionally smiled at you in thanks for protecting his brother’s friends, the other nerds you’d previously sat with at lunch didn’t want much to do with you (turning your back on your fellow weirdos at the first smile from a jock… some bullshit like that), and Eddie Munson… well… you’d caught him looking at you curiously once or twice in the library after school, when you were buried in textbooks and he was buried in notepaper covered in doodles of fantasy creatures and scribbles of stories. You’d lent him a couple of pens too that year, but he’d never made conversation, never introduced himself, just… poked your back and whispered a request for a pen.

It took months, it took until summer for him to pick up the nerve, totally by accident.

The opening of Starcourt had closed loads of small businesses in town, including the little music store that sold the best merch outside of Indianapolis. Which meant Eddie had no choice but to conform to Capitalist America’s latest idea- the small town mall. He’d avoided it as much as possible - the brightly lit shops and high-tech CCTV weren’t exactly conducive to his usual back-alley dealings, but sometimes a guy accidentally sits on his favourite tape and needs a replacement ASAP…

He hadn’t expected you to be working there, but it was a pleasant surprise. It just… took him a week to actually speak to you. A week of coming in every day, getting a little more courage, then a little more, going more insane as the same songs played over and over.

But he did it.

He flirted with you, made sure you remembered him from school, and came back the next day…  just to ask…

“Do you wanna go to Enzo’s with me?”

Your eyes snap up from behind the counter, where you’re crouched and stocking the latest walkman delivery in the glass-front. “What?”

“Umm,” Eddie smiles, “Enzo’s. You and me? Uh- tomorrow night?”

You stand slowly, “You- you’re asking me out?”

“If you want,” he nods, “I mean…” he sways back and forth, “You can say no, I don’t mind. I know I’m a ‘freak’ or whatever.”

“You’re not a freak.” You smile, “I just… Nobody’s… I mean, I… I’ve never been on a date before.”

“Seriously?” He frowns, “What about Harrington?”

“Steve?” You blink, “We- we’re just friends.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” You nod, “I… Yeah. Enzo’s. Tomorrow night.”

“Awesome.” He grins, “W- should I pick you up? Or meet you there, or-?”

“You can pick me up.” You smile, “Do you- I go on break in ten minutes if you wanna grab ice cream now?  We can iron out the details?”

“Yeah?” He smiles, “Sure. Yeah.”

~~~~

You pull the shutter down at the front of the store, locking up for the thirty minutes you’re allowed, leading Eddie through the back and into the stark white corridors that lead you all over the place.

“Woah,” he laughs, “I had no idea this was here.”

“Really?” You grin, “How’d you think everywhere gets its supplies in?”

“I dunno. Dumbwaiters?”

You lock the back door, laughing again, “Really?”

“I’m repeating senior year for the third time in a couple months, I’m allowed to be a dumbass.”

You shake your head, “You’re not a dumbass, Eddie.”

“I know several teachers  who would disagree.”

“I’ve seen you in the library, Eddie. Just cause you’re not good at standardised tests doesn’t mean you’re dumb. You write all those DnD campaigns… that’s hard. It took me like a month to make a character.”

“You play?” He frowns.

“I uh… my friend Dustin, he’ll be a freshman this year, he and his buddies play. I babysat them through a campaign once… it’s pretty cool.”

“Pretty cool…” he hums, “And you like metal music…  Are you real?” He pokes your cheek gently.

You laugh again, “It’s not that unusual, is it? Hargrove likes Metallica, he’s way more popular than me. It’s not just the ‘freaks’ who like cool stuff.”

“I just didn’t expect the prettiest face in Hawkins to be into the same stuff as me.”

Your step falters, “The- the prettiest?”

“You heard right, sweetheart.” He nods.

You’re flustered all the way to Scoops, never having thought Eddie would be so… flirty. Loud and exaggerated, yeah, but… flirty? And with you? It feels good��� for a cute guy to notice you, to flirt with you, to just… interact with you as more than friends. Despite what you’d said to Steve yesterday, you’d grown pretty tired of being single. And tired of waiting for your best friend to make a move… There’s nothing wrong with going on a date with someone else, especially when he’s cute.

“Here,” you knock on Scoops’ door, grinning as Robin opens it. “Hey! Could I get two cones?”

“Two?” She blinks, a little surprised when Eddie appears at your shoulder. “Uh, yeah, sure. Two cones.”

“Steve here?” You wonder.

“With… um… Henderson? They’re out front. How many kids are you guys friends with?”

You grin, “They’re alright when you get to know them.”

“Sure.” She drawls, “Strawberry?”

“Please.” You nod, “Eds?”

“You got Blue Raspberry?”

“Sure.” Robin nods, “Be right back.”

You slip back into the hallway, smiling at Eddie as he leans against the wall.

“Work perks?” He grins.

“Friend perks.” You clarify, “Free lunch. Not entirely healthy, but-”

“It’s strawberry, that’s fruit.” He laughs.

“Exactly,” You beam at him, nodding, “So, um… tomorrow… Seven?”

“Seven,” He nods, “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

~~~~

Thank you for reading! Reblogs and comments are greatly appreciated :)

#eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader #eddie munson fic #steve harrington fic #eddie munson/reader #steve harrington/reader #eddie munson x reader x steve harrington #steve harrington x reader x eddie munson #steve harrington/reader/eddie munson #eddie munson/reader/steve harrington #eddie munson x you #steve harrington x y #stuffiwrote

[abracazabka]

You. 🫵 Top 5 Moments in The Karate Kid Novelization

OHHHHHOHOHOHO

so for anyone who wants to read a lot of bits and pieces of the Karate Kid novelization, click the read more bc I uhhh. Well I went kind of crazy on this ask. Sorry, friend lmfao

1. Well I made a post about it before but CAN'T FUCKING FIND IT. But anyway, you and I both know the top moment is when we see what goes through Daniel's head as Mr. Miyagi gives him a bonsai and urges him to picture a tree:

"He saw it. It stood, a cypress on a cliff by an ocean, beaten and shaped by the harsh wind and salt air. Its branches withstood the environment and reached bravely for nourishment and survival. It was lonely and beautiful" (Hiller 39-40).

I love this moment bc it resonates with the theme of healing yourself and obtaining strong roots through reaching for help and connection from other people, and not falling to anger, bitterness, etc. Wounds can be healed, y'know? And Daniel is stronger than he looks, and not alone anymore. (Also how you mentioned it coincidentally reminds you of the bonsai in KK3?? INSANE!!)

2. Next would be all the moments that clue you in to how kind and considerate Daniel is toward his mother. He has his pissy teenage boy moments, but he loves his mom so much, and wants a good life for both of them, even at the expense of himself. A couple examples:

[After he is beat by Johnny on the beach]

"'Oh, Daniel! What happened?'

Daniel wanted to tell her something she could believe. She had enough worries of her own and he didn't want her to have to worry about him, too" (18).

Very very sweet. But Daniel, she's your mother!! She will worry, and you gotta be honest </3

[After The Cobras ran him off the road]

"'I'm sorry doesn't help, Ma. I want to go home. I don't understand the rules here.'

'You know, hon. I'm not so sure I understand them myself. It's been a little rocky here for me, too, though I've made it through three days without getting a black eye.' Daniel caught the twinkle in her eye and smiled despite himself.

... 'Let's get you cleaned up and we'll see if we can't figure out the rules together.' She put her arm around Daniel's shoulders and they began to walk to the apartment together" (37).

I love this moment!!! Lucille lets Daniel know they are in this together. They are able to share their hardship with one another, and bounce back from it not just to soldier on, but to be there for each other!!

3. Honestly, I thought it was cheesey at first, but from a literary standpoint, the Garden of Eden allusion/motif. Some examples:

[At first he sarcastically/bitterly thinks of "the Garden of Eden" his mother calls California. This is as he ponders about insecurities about Ali, then distracts himself with thoughts of his tree.]

"He thought of his bonsai tree and how he had pruned it and clipped it so that it almost looked like the picture in his mind ー the one thing that flourished in this Garden of Eden" (44).

I love the way he thinks back to his bonsai and what Mr. Miyagi has given him, but this passage is kind of saddening as much as it scratches my brain

[The last line of the novel presents the phrase very differently (positively). It is pretty cheesy, but it's grown on me. Context within the quote.]

"How can I go wrong, he thought, with a terrific man like Mr. Miyagi for a friend, the most beautiful ... girlfriend ... a mother who will spring for lobsters every time I win the All Valley ...

A guy could really turn on to a Garden of Eden like this" (131).

I'm happy for him! This is how the ending should always be! The joy!!

4. Bobby's moments make me fucking INSANE. I think it was handled pretty well, all things considered. So: Bobby Brown renouncing Cobra Kai.

[After being commanded by Kreese to take Daniel out of commission, then beginning his match with Daniel]

"Bobby stood still, his eyes locked with Kreese's. Daniel couldn't understand what was happening as he observed a battle of wills between Bobby and Kreese ...

Once again [Bobby's] eyes shifted to Kreese, then back to Daniel ...

From the stretcher, [Daniel] watched Bobby exit the ring to catcalls from the audience. Bobby stopped just long enough to untie and discard his belt at Kreese's feet and walk out, shattered.

The Cobra, it seemed, could be poisoned by its own venom" (119-120).

THE COBRA POISONED BY ITS OWN VENOM? SHATTERED??? yeah I'm insane about this. Bobby...Bobby...

5. Lastly, bc who cares about these gay bitches (me, I do), all the moments that could be associated with lawrusso if you squint:

"As their eyes measured each other, Johnny's body moved, catlike, into a karate stance ...

Johnny and his gang mounted their dirt bikes" (16).

Cat-like, huh...mounted you say...this is some strange description, Daniel

"[Ali] smiled at him one more time and rushed off, almost bumping into Johnny. Daniel realized that Johnny had witnessed his entire conversation with Ali" (20-21).

Why are you so close, so transfixed, Johnny...

"Calmly, [Daniel] smeared the gob of blueberry gunk on Johnny's shirt. Mayhem erupted" (30) ...

"Johnny just stared at him ... Silently, Johnny brushed Daniel's bicycle to the limit" (34).

:( The bullying moments ... PIE!!! PIE!!! I love what a little shit Daniel is there. This moment doesn't have the sensuality of the deleted scene though. But I do like Johnny's STARE in the next part

"So, he learned Johnny's class schedule and avoided him" (43).

I get it but also. Hmm. Okay...🏳️‍🌈

"Johnny stood in front of him, soaking wet. He put his hands on his hips" (49).

This is just hilarious cuz a lot of us like to call Johnny a Wet Beast for Daniel. Also hands on his hips is just a funny and endearing moment, what a shit lol

"Daniel carefully evaded Johnny's grasp, but realized it was going to be a losing battle. Johnny was bigger" (66-67).

THE EMPHASIS...HUH. I GET IT. BUT ALSO. OKAY...🏳️‍🌈

"For there, on the dance floor, was Ali ー dancing with Johnny. Johnny's eyes met Daniel's" (88).

Gayass

"He'd have to ... meet Johnny at the tournament, completing the battle they'd begun that first day on the beach" (96) ...

[After Daniel returns to the arena, and Johnny meets his eyes] "Daniel wondered for an instant if there was a slight flicker of relief in those stony eyes, but rejected the thought" (123) ...

"Daniel and Johnny circled, each looking for a point of attack, each oblivious to the rest of the rest of the world" (124).

The tournament! I love the phrases...the battle that begun on the beach...Johnny's recognition of and buried hope for Daniel...their eyes only for each other, for this fight...

[After the tournament] "Daniel had won the crowd's respect; he'd won Johnny's respect; most important, however, he'd won his own self-respect" (125) ...

"Finally, Daniel stood next to Johnny. They bowed. Their eyes met in genuine respect" (126).

I love Daniel's journey toward his self-respect, that is so important to me. But also Johnny's HEHEH....Cobra Kai take notes.

ANYWAY UH YEAH. THERE YOU GO. THIS LITERALLY TOOK ME LIKE AN HOUR (PROBABLY MORE). LOL...

#asks #ask game #ask games #top 5 #the karate kid #karate kid #the karate kid novelization

[askstevella]

Take Me Back To The Start

Her eyes shot open, waking up in a bedroom across the other building. She was curled up in a set of sheets, as she sat up and rolled up the window.

There were street cars rolling across the sideway, calls of New Yorkers running around back and forth, women dressed to go to work and men rushing into buildings.

Last thing was being tossed in a room at Avengers Tower, the young heroes were messing around in a lab as a blast hit..

..and here she was.

She had no idea if she was alone or not in this time. The signs outside her window said otherwise as she step out the door to grab some breakfast from the dinner.

It looked cozy, colorful in a sense, and warm. She was more than welcomed, despite her all black and brown outfit. Her hair wasn't pinned up, but let down to her shoulders as she ate the stake of pancakes she had in front of her.

She tried contacting Rick, Liane and Rei, who were the ones who mess around with the experiment in the first place. But no answer, she wondered if they ended up in this timeline as well?

She wondered around the corner after breakfast, going in and out of store hoping to not waste in money she had in her pocket and--

-she heard a voice.

She sipped her soda, whipping her head around hearing a voice that sounded familiar yet so forgiven to her. Along with a voice she didn't recall at all. She turned the corner to find two young men in an ally. Correcting they were fighting!

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" Yelled the voice.

"I can do this all day." Said the other voice.

Holy shit...it can't be..can it?

She saw the man punch the other one, as he fell onto the ground. Something kicked into Stella's head rushing over in her kitten heels as she yelled, "Hey!"

By the time she said that, the blonde was already up from the ground holding up his fist as the jerk glared at her.

"Get lost princess." Yelled the jerk.

She scoffed, "With that mouth, no wonder you use your fist."

"I outta use my fist to push you over."

"You won't do that.."

Just as the jerk was about to say something else, the blonde took the lid of the trash can and hit him with it. The jerk him back and turn to the girl, but Stella swung him hard causing the young man to stumble back then walk away grumbling.

She help the blonde stand up from being against the wall, as she finally got a good look at him. Blonde hair, blue eyes, beauty mark and skinny features.

"Thank you." He said.

And the voice. Holy crap she was in 1944, right before the war.

"Are you alright miss...?" He asked, taking in her soft features with a soft smile.

She cleared her throat and nodded, "Yeah..just a little shaken up..I mean, uh I punched the guy..are you okay?"

"Ah well, nothing a little water and an ice pack for later can't fix."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself.."

"Yeah well, this isn't my first fight."

"..and it won't be your last.." She muttered.

"What was that?" He questioned pushing his bangs out of his face.

"Nothin'..just looked like you get beaten up a lot.."

"Funny. I always get into fights, don't like bullies. Uh, where you headed off to?"

"Uh, just getting walk in the park and back to my apartment building.."

"I can talk you home if you like?"

Stella looked stunned, according to stories he was never go with women in the first place, until meeting Peggy Carter who he falls for shortly after. She didn't know to reject him or not..

Steve looked at her with wishful blue eyes, hoping he can get a chance to repay the women who saved him. Bucky was out on a date with Connie today until midnight tonight. He was mostly alone for the rest of the day.

She smiled, "Um, sure. Yeah, I'll like that. I'm Elle Romano.."

"Steve Rogers." He said returning the smile leading the way out of the alley into the park.

Maybe being stuck in the 40s won't be so bad? As they walked into the park, Stella looked over her shoulder to see a fire escape that held a sign in front of it, glimmered with a bouncing energy.

She was a women who studied magic, she can see glimpses of elements everywhere. And according to Thor, science was just magic people don't truly understand yet.

She read stories about this. All someone was supposed to do was climb up the lonely fire escape and jump though the sign into hopefully where they came.

That was her way out of here..

--------

Where do we got to next? The 90s-2000s to see young!Stella? The part of her relationship with Cap? Time with her brothers? She meet Sarah Rogers? Join in on the fun with your own tales of time travel if you like.

Tags: Tags: @missstrawbs2001 @purpleprincessonfyre @meiramel @gcthvile @rickb-chaos @gaminggirlsstuff @wizzzardofoz @cherrysft @luna-d-marsh@sherloquestea @rooster-84 and etc

#story event #event story #steve rogers x oc #ask the super spouses #askstevella #time travel

[the-heartstring-chronicles]

This is a bit long, but is something that has weighed on my mind since I watched the episode last night. I come from a place of being a physically disabled from birth Trekkie who has watched episodes of TNG/all of Trek since she was 8, thirty years ago. I touched on this a little in my review last night, but here is my full analysis on a problem I saw with the episode that goes beyond which villain is behind door number 3

Some vague Spoilers ahead for Star Trek Picard s3 episode 9 but no way to avoid them if I am to discuss this topic.

In 2023, apparently, we still have issues in Star Trek of all places, with coping with disability and difference.''

And what bothers me most is those issues are issues had by my two favorite characters in all of Trek about their own progeny.

This progeny has a genetic issue inherited from their father, as a result of a trauma the father suffered that altered his DNA.

The progeny has the potential to be dangerous because of what they've inherited, like world ending dangerous. But so far, they had seemed until last night, to be kindhearted, smart, sensitive, fun, like their folks. And to only use their potentially dangerous differences to take out bad guys, to protect people they care about and to try to save the day.

And yet, the minute, the dad finds out what the cause of the issue is, his first solution is to put his progeny in an institution, no joke, the calmest, gentlest guy in the history of Trek is like, you know , we'll just put you there, you'll be fine. And when his progeny asks what Star Trek's biggest moral leader sees when he looks at his progeny, basically either a choice between saying whether he sees his child or a monster, he says nothing.

And the mother of this child, the character who usually is a cross between the world's best at her position, the most accepting person ever and funny as heck, says to her progeny, that they can fix this/ deal with it. Not I love you, not I see you, none of her normal character stuff, just an allegory for how some parents might deal with this stuff in the real world. Not an example of how to do better

And the parents refuse to talk to each other about any of it, to even comfort each other. Despite being the Star Trek pairing known for talking to each other about everything, they won't even soothe each other, even as friends or parents.

So basically in stuff set in 2403, the writers went with disability/difference can be potentially dangerous and we should fear before we love and panic before we think and say really ablestic crap, because trauma and/or training overrides who characters were written to be for 40 years prior. And makes for good drama

I'm hoping the last episode next week has the writers making them believe they acted like jerkholes, but if not, I will maybe consider long and hard about writing to both the new producer and to both actors (They are both big advocates for justice and inclusion of all in Trek media, at conventions and in the actual world ie politics and organizations. And have spoken up about how to handle plots on screen and issues off screen many times) and I'm disheartened that no one nixed this plot or at least this handling of it.

A big name creator also pointed out on youtube that this could be an allegory for how some parents reject their LGBT+ children too and the issues with that plot, i have to say it's possible as well.

Which doesn't make again, for pleasant or safe viewing for a generation of folks of all different walks of life who just wanted to see characters they trusted as a distraction or as validation of their real struggles, the way Star Trek has always been, not a mirror of injustices and pain for drama.

#star trek picard #picard spoilers #jean luc picard #beverly crusher #jack crusher #ableism #allegory #Do better Star Trek please #disability

[fruit-salad-ship]

Only Wanted My Diary.

Patreons are sweet and give me some confidence in making things, thanks guys! This all stemmed from some doodles, and turned into a little draft.

It is unedited, unchecked, and I am not a writer by any means, so take it with a pinch of salt.

Premise: Before the trio were a thing, there was a lot of tension. A stolen diary brings about an opportunity for change.

Very mild smut, suggestive stuff, yadda yadda, you've been warned.

Peach is working out in the fields, Greys in his workshop, Plum comes over to his place to have lunch, something they do regularly, being good friends now, and enjoying each others company. 

Peach has the same thought, being close to Greys lab, and heads over, mildly irked that Plums there, but glad for a break, field work is hard. Plum eventually leaves, back to her job, glaring at Peach and smiling to Grey on the way out, normal. But she leaves behind one thing, a book, teal coloured and seemingly without any words on it. Peach can't not look in it, see if it’s important enough for her to run over and return it.

It is plums personal diary. A horrible no good mean grin spreads over the professors face, as she shows Grey immediately. He joins in peering over a random page, but tells her they should stop (despite turning the page himself). They get three Entries in before Plum reappears at the door, realising she forgot it. She walks in on them pouring over this little book, and is utterly devastated. 

Peach of course, being the dick she is, keeps reading, but holds it up high enough that Plum has no chance of reaching it, this time reciting an entry out loud, an extract expressing how cute a visitor looked from her office window, and how angry she had been over her brothers visit that morning. Plums frustrations get larger, but nothing she can do right now will help get it back. The professor mocks her for being so soft and so needy, before leaving *with the book*

"You better find a way to get this back before I read more then, brat." A tease, as peach throws the book to Val, who vanishes with it. No chance of catching up for Plum.

Knowing the diary isn't on her person, Plum resorts to snooping through her things, back at the house. A space she's not all that familiar with, with a fair number of bugs hanging out in it. While searching, she considers all possible hiding places, but only gets about 40 minutes into the hunt before she hears the front door open. Panic follows. If its Grey she's fine, he'd understand, but if it’s Peach, she'll be in a lot of trouble, and have to tolerate more teasing and mocking. From the sounds of it, it’s both of them. Her only instinct is to dive into a closet, and hope they’re just stopping in, maybe she can make a break for the big double doors across the room, that lead into the garden, if they sit in the kitchen for a bit, or give her a couple seconds time to attempt an escape. This however is not the case. She can’t really see anything, just a peak through the crack between the doors, but can certainly hear. Plum quickly realises she is stuck in this closet, a small slice of the room, and those two are quickly losing clothes and things are getting hot and heavy out there. 

With no sign of her book, a quickly worsening problem of being stuck in the closet, and the professors outside where she’s hiding, there’s no choice. She just has to pretend she’s on a beach, vacationing away from this, not here, anywhere but here…Her mind returns to the diary. How many times has she had vivid dreams about being up close and personal with the pair, or longed to be important enough for them to pay attention to her, not out of hostility, and not fuelled by anger. Somehow even the friendship felt worse some days. Grey was always kind and of course didn’t mean to make her feel bad, but it kind of stung to be on the outside of their radar, considering how many times Plum had caught women leaving their home in the morning. Why didn’t they consider her? She’d probably never live to see Peach stop being her stubborn, irritating self either, wondering how someone so cold and harsh could find it so easy to convince others to come back to their place. Outside she could just see them on the bed, down to underwear at this point. A weird nervousness welled up, her feet backing up to try and sink down and at least sit for a bit, but she wasn’t as coordinated as she thought, knocking a box off another, hearing it topple to the floor. From where she stood, a silence resonated outside, followed by ‘did you hear that?’ From the woman. 

Her heart raced, she was going to get caught, no questions as she heard footsteps move closer. Did she just run the second that door opened? Or Try to…lie? There was no easy way to do this. The closet doors flung open, a set of very intense eyes peering down at the Ranger, who could not push away the embarrassment, the blush creeping onto her face harder than before. Peach, no shirt, glaring harshly down at her, sneers. Plum desperately searches for words, but none of them are logical or useful, babbling nonsense about how this isn’t her apartment.

“What are you doing here plum?” She has to do everything possible to not look down at the professors chest, just eyes up, do not waver, do not give her that satisfaction, or she’d never hear the end of it. She however would be lying if she said she didn’t want to reach out and just put her hand on skin, run a finger over a scar, feel a muscle, anything. How was the option so close and yet so far?

“Would you believe me if I said I got lost?” “No.” Its at this point that Grey recognises the voice, and says hi to the ranger, as if this is all fine and dandy, not unusual at all. The pair clearly have little to no shame about the situation. Peach puts a hand on her hip, considering what to do with this all.

“Honey, she’s so nervous, don’t be mean.” Grey, ever the calm and considerate individual, picks up on plums energy, feeling bad despite how funny this all is. “Look she’s even trying not to look at your boobs, it’s cute.” This causes Plum to go even redder, eyes focusing on anything else, a pattern on a shirt she was pressed up against would do, trying to sink back into the closet and pray it’d lead her to some magical alternate world, away from this nightmare.

Peach evaluates the situation, quietly stood with her arms folded, weighing options, before sighing.

“Get out of here then. You obviously came snooping for your book, nice try but you got more than you bargained for. Unless you plan on joining in, I’d leave.” She turns, heads back to the bed, disinterested in wasting time on the ranger, of course she’d go. Seeing her stood as far in the closet as possible, back against the wall, more embarrassed than Peach had ever seen her, there was no way Plum would stay, she was too proud and proper for that. From the corner of her eye she watched the smallest of the three move to the door, pausing with her hand on the handle. Seconds ticked by, she didn’t move, seemingly thinking it all over.

“Just go already.” The words that turned the tide, Plums hand removed itself from the handle, shakily, turning to face them both again. She didn’t know what to say, but had a weak determined look on her face, past the nerves and the embarrassment, she looked driven. This earns a raised eyebrow from Peach, sat on the edge of the bed, watching this little thing defy expectations. “You…want to stay? Really?” Grey asks, equally as shocked, trying to play it down. He wasn’t blind, saw the way the ranger looked at them both sometimes, but never thought she’d do anything about it, and they weren’t in a position to do so either. Technically they were her boss, it’d be unfair to put her in that position, or propose any kind of relations outside of friendship. That coupled with Peach’s clear denial-fuelled dislike for her, meant it never really crossed their minds. It was more of a joke mentioning to leave or join in, neither thought it’d be the latter. 

Plum nods, still not sure about words, giving the professors a moment to look to each other, saying nothing, instead exchanging looks that were worth a thousand words. Peach gives a small shrug, it could be mildly fun to toy with her. Grey didn’t mind, considering the lecture Theo would give them if she found out. “Are you sure? This is not something you’ll be able to undo. Consider all your options before you answer.” Peach, weirdly diplomatic, watched as the ranger fidgeted on the spot, noticing every little glance and tick, she may have been bad at facial recognition, but body language? Fluent. The questions asked where to make sure this new addition was a good decision. Despite the jittery disposition, she did not shift away, in fact she got a step closer, Peach could see the goosebumps on her arm, noticed the little lip bite, hand tightly pulled into a fist, she was being brave. “I’m sure.” The first words Plum could get out in a while. The professors grinned, one more devious than the other of course, shifting focus. This wasn’t exactly what they’d thought would happen when they got home, but neither of them were complaining. 

With a new plan in mind, Peach got up, a hand catching her wrist before she moved out of range, looking back to Grey out of surprise, his expression serious for a moment, a change in tone. “Be nice.” He was never usually this stern, probably expected the worst from his companion, knew what she was capable of given the opportunity. Peach smiled, a grin that made him somehow more nervous, her hands held up as if to try and ease his concern, to slow his accusations, stepping backwards for a few paces before turning on her heels to face the new addition.

Plum at this point was internally screaming, trying to be as calm and collected as possible on the outside, finding it increasingly difficult as the larger woman encroached on her space. Despite wanting to fight, her body did not move fast enough, unresponsive with the sheer overload of information currently. The taller woman did not give her time to think, quietly revelling in the opportunity to finally do this again, a joy she would not allow others to know about any time soon. Their lips collided, Peach pushing one step at a time until Plum’s back was flat against the door she probably should have left from, feeling hands start to undo the buttons on her shirt with surprising dexterity. The shock of what was happening seemed to stun the ranger briefly, shirt slipping off one shoulder, skin exposed. She felt a tough hand hold hers, putting it on the professors side, an invite, one Plum wanted. She was free to explore, manicured digits getting to run along muscle, feeling little movements, the odd noticeable dent from a scar pulling her focus briefly. Peach’s hands found their way to her lower back, pulling her as close as possible, deepening the kiss. She felt the rangers hands twitch a little, nails subconsciously digging in for a brief moment.   

The shirt fell to the floor as Peach picked the little woman up, turning towards the bed, giving Grey a ‘see I was nice’ look before throwing the ranger down onto the covers. He had been busy figuring out some music to put on, picking a very cheesy song that filled the air, both girls recognising it. Plum laughed, couldn’t help it, the song paired with Grey and his dumb grin, and the nerves of the whole situation. It was kind of nice to laugh though, put her a little more at ease. He had stayed reclined, perched up on an elbow trying to be casual, despite keeping a close eye on the new addition. This was a risky move, he was enjoying the friendship he shared with Plum, the last thing he wanted was to mess that all up now.

“Ok, ok, maybe something less distracting.” He changed the song once more, throwing his phone to one side, focusing on his company. His beard tickled, but it was kind of nice, Plum didn’t mind it, had daydreamed about Grey many a time, alone in her office. The kisses however did not distract her from the very obvious thing going on in his boxers. From the looks of things, he was pretty proportionate, a thought that made her whole face burn up. Her gaze shifted to Peach who had watched that entire thought process play out, a knowing smirk across her face, totally conscious of the size difference going on between those two.

Hands started to undo the button on her jeans, zip down, feeling Peach peel them off with ease, tossing them to one side. Admittedly, the larger of the women took a moment to appreciate the moment. Kneeled beside the scene, watching Grey enjoying himself, seeing Plum laid out in her cute underwear. Weird turn of events that day, who’d have seen that coming. Considering how long this may go on for, it was no doubt wise to go easy on the little ranger, so Peach took time to run little pecks all over her body, along her waist, inner thighs, hips. Grey’s hand slinked around to unhook the Lacey little bra, throwing it behind him. 

Plum only came here for her diary.

#brainrot #fruit salad #long post #text post

[photogirl894]

(Wow, this is actually pretty cool! Though some things I'm not surprised about at all, like my most used tags and such 😜)

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#5

oh my...could be 3 and 12? or just 3 if you have to choose, for Tech?

I can definitely do that! This should be fun! Thanks, anon! 💜

"Terrible Liars"

3. “I’m not jealous.”

12. “Say it!”

Pairing: Tech x fem reader

***

You were a waitress at 79's, the Clone bar on Coruscant, during the Clone Wars. So that meant a lot of the Clone soldiers came in pretty frequently, usually after missions or before going on leave elsewhere. It was usually easy getting to tell a lot of them apart, despite them all having pretty much the same face. They all had different hairstyles, tattoos, scars or sometimes even different voices or accents.

Then things changed when the Bad Batch first showed up.

You almost didn't think these guys were Clones at first, but after taking a good look at a couple of them, you realized they were. They just had much different appearances. They were nice and tipped well and you found their company rather enjoyable.

Especially the goggled one named Tech.

Something about his sophisticated appearance and demeanor really stuck out to you and you thought he was cute and sweet. Secretly, you'd fill his drink just a little higher than the others. You'd catch his eye sometimes and give him a little wave, which he would return. He even held a brief conversation with you a time or two before just before he and his squad would leave the bar. Though, sometimes you wondered if he even knew you were flirting with him.

One day, you were working and one Clone who'd had a little too much to drink sidled up next to you at the bar as you were returning a tray with some empty cups.

"Hey cutie, when do you get off tonight?" he asked you, leaning against you.

You simply chuckled and replied, "Too late for you, I'm afraid, because I think it's time you head home. You've had a bit too much tonight."

"Oh, I'm just fine," he replied, his words slightly slurred.

"Mmm-hmm, sure," you hummed sarcastically, putting the cups on the bar.

You heard the door to the building open and saw the Bad Batch walking in. Seeing Tech in the back of the group made you smile. He caught your eye and went to wave, but then his hand faltered a little at seeing the other Clone now almost draped over you.

"Help me," you mouthed to him, hoping he could help get this guy away from you.

Tech noticed right away and you watched him get Wrecker's attention, whisper something to him while pointing in your direction and Wrecker gave a nod. The two of them came over and Wrecker put his arm around the drunk Clone's shoulder.

"Hey, reg, why don't you get outside and get some air? You look like you could use it," Wrecker said as he started leading the Clone away, who just incoherently agreed with him as they walked.

With a sigh, you said to Tech, "Thanks, Tech. That guy was pretty drunk and wouldn't lay off."

"Indeed," he agreed. "I did not like how he was practically hanging off of you. It was quite unbecoming."

You shot up an eyebrow. "Tech, were you jealous?" you inquired.

"I'm not jealous," he responded, though you could see a tint of red in his cheeks as he diverted his attention.

"You Clones are terrible liars, you know," you stated as you went around to the other side of the bar to start preparing more drinks.

For a moment, Tech was silent, looking like he was contemplating something. As you turned your back to grab a bottle, you heard him ask, "(Y/N), there is a request I wish to make of you."

"Have you decided what you wanted to order?" you asked back, as you turned around to face him, assuming that's what he'd been thinking about.

"Uh...yes," he answered.

When he didn't tell you what he wanted, you urged him, "Well...say it. What would you like?"

See the full post

76 notes - Posted March 26, 2022

#4

Hi! I love your writing so much! Could I have a fluff/relationship #10 for Hunter please!

Thank you so much, anon! I haven't done these writing requests in a while, but I'm happy to get back into them! 🥰

"Forever Love"

10. “I promised to love you forever, and that is a promise I intend to keep.”

Pairing: Hunter x fem reader

***

You didn't know if you would ever see the Clone Sergeant again.

You'd met Sergeant Hunter of Clone Force 99 while he was on leave on Coruscant with his squad. You had been serving on the medical staff and he'd been brought in after a scuffle with some "reg" Clones as he called them. The two of you had really hit it off rather quickly and, since he was on leave for a little while, he courteously asked you on a date. One date led to second...then to a third...and a few more after that. Perhaps things moved faster than most relationships would, but to the two of you, it still felt right. You felt like you were meant to meet and be together. He made you feel safe and treasured more than anything else in the galaxy. His embrace felt like home. His kisses made you feel warmer than the two Tatooine suns. He was nothing short of perfect.

But all good things must come to an end.

Before leaving Coruscant for another mission, he'd given you a long farewell kiss and promised you that he would love you forever and he would see you soon before heading back to his ship. The ship left and you felt confident he would be back...

...until you heard about Order 66 and the slaughter of the Jedi.

You didn't feel safe on Coruscant anymore, so you fled the planet, devastated at the news and wondering what had happened to Hunter elsewhere in the galaxy. Had he been killed, too, like some of the other Clones? Did he survive? What had happened to him?

You had a friend on Ord Mantell who offered to give you a place to stay for a while. That's where you would go.

Months later, that same friend came home one day to tell you she had seen a group of Clones matching the description of Clone Force 99 going into a parlor. You went that night to the parlor and waited outside in the shadows to see if the rumors were true. Sure enough, at closing time, you saw them leave the building. Hunter was the last one to walk out and you had to use all your strength to remain standing.

Hunter was here! He was alive!

You called out his name from the shadows and he whipped around, startled at hearing someone say his name. You stepped out from the shadows into the light of a street light and lowered your hood, revealing your smiling and now tear-stained face.

"(Y/N)!" he gasped out before striding over and engulfing you in his arms. "How are you here?"

"How are you here?" you asked back.

"That's...a long story," he replied as he pulled back, but still held onto your arms.

You reached up and held his face in your hands, taking in every detail of him you hadn't seen in months. "I can't believe you're alive, Hunter," you whispered. "I've missed you so much and I thought I would never see you again."

He grasped the back of your head and pulled you forward, planting a firm kiss on your forehead. "I've missed you, too...and of course, I'm alive. I promised to love you forever, and that is a promise I intend to keep...so I wasn't going to die easily. Not when I knew you were still out there waiting for me."

Your heart was too full from his words to wait any longer, so you pulled him down to you and smothered his lips with yours, kissing him desperately after missing him and worrying about him for so long. His arms came about you and held you close, just like he had before.

You both were truly home once more and no force in the galaxy was going to keep you apart ever again.

20 Fluff/Relationship prompts

81 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

#3

This is for @lizartgurl / @jedipoodoo , who mentioned wanting from someone a soft Hunter sick fic with him, Omega and a reader to help her feel better during a hard time right now!

I hope this helps, dear! 💜

"Worried Sick"

Pairing: Hunter x fem reader

See the full post

141 notes - Posted September 25, 2022

#2

Yep pretty much 😁😁

176 notes - Posted September 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Bad Batch Headcanons:

Dog Companions

Another conversation I had with the lovely @oneshot-one-kill about what kind of dogs each Bad Batch member would have! 😄

Hunter would definitely have a German Shepard! They are described as:

Highly trained

Sensitive

Loyal

Overprotective of their family

Alert

Stubborn

Confident

See the full post

248 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #false

[renridipity]

loved to my first, but not as my last

memorandum entry 1:

Back in highschool, I had fallen in love with him without knowing. Obviously, at that time we were still young, and dumb teenagers who had dreamt we would be together forever. He believed I was the one, and I had believed he was the one for me. When time had passed while we were together, we had our differences. He was unsure of his future and I wasn’t ready to commit just yet, but that was a lie. I was just afraid of being hurt and heartbroken, and so I let go first, and it was the moment I realized we were bound to hurt each other one way or another. 

Truthfully, looking back, I was the one who inflicted most of the pain for the both of us. I hurt him and myself. It was the look in his eyes that gave everything away, the anger in his words, the desperation in his voice, begging and asking why it had to end this way. Despite leaving him and walking away from us, I still loved him even if there was a thought of having no right to love him. A person can’t help but feel what they feel, and for me it was loving him, despite breaking him. 

09.2019 - 11:34 AM

“We’ll speak as if it’s our last, and we’ll hug each other as if it’s the end of us, and it’s because it was. Our hands will slowly pull away with the yearning of holding on, and we’ll look at each other understanding it was time to let go,” 

People ask how we’re able to determine who our first love is, because your first love is not always your first relationship. This was something people often mistake who their first love was. The first guy I had ever been with, I had assumed he was my first love because he was my first relationship, but it wasn’t until I dated him. I had realized he was my true first love. The amount of love I had felt for him was unbearable, with him or without him, I still loved him.

Everyone has different stories of how they discovered their first love, and for me it was continuously clinging on to the concept of us even when we were broken up, it was the deep affection I had for him with no hatred forming, the thoughts of wishing for his happiness with or without me, and to continue loving him even if the form of love was changing. 

11.2020 - 13:00 PM

“Day and night, past and present, together or not, I will never stop loving you in my world,”

They say when you break someone, or they break you, it’s to never go back and continue to move forward, but feelings are hard. It’s the feeling of being comfortable with that person and unwillingly to move on from that, it’s the time you’ve shared with that person that you can’t take back, it’s the memories you’ve formed both good and bad. The love we both believe we deserved. It’s all the above, everything you both have ever experienced together. Regardless of knowing right from wrong, and understanding what was better for me, I still chose the route of continuing to love him and think of him.

08.2021 - 15:20 PM

“With teary eyes and endearment, understanding you were just a person that left a memory full of love and smiles, you were too good to be true,”

No one ever understands a person's process of how they deal with their break up, if anything, the process of one’s break up is always a blur because we are too scared to look back and relive that moment. Instead we lock it away and feel glad that we’ve moved on from them. The only conclusion that I've always found was that time was everything, but time was suffocating. The constant wonders of how long it would take to get over the break up, the thoughts of when I could stop crying over him, the frustration of wanting to stop thinking of him. The questions of how much more time do I have to sacrifice to stop feeling this way, how much longer until this heartache goes away. The truth is, there is no exact answer of how much time could take away from you. Everyone heals and goes at different paces is what I learned, but the ending factor was healing takes time, and time was everything for the road of recovery. 

09.2022 - 19:40 PM

“Sometimes I’ll miss you, and sometimes I won’t, but I’ll forever look back and remember that you were my first love and the one that got away,”

There was one saying people believed that was true and it was, 

“You can’t be friends with your ex significant other,” 

Although there were some truths to this saying, this statement could still be proven wrong if both parties agreed to be friends and ended on good terms. For me, I believed it was possible to be friends with your ex, it just depends on your relationship with them. But he was different, at one point in time, I could not bring myself to be friends with him, because I was still not over us, but he was. I was still in love with him, but he wasn’t. How could I be friends with someone I was still madly in love with? I couldn’t.

It’s hypocritical of me to continue to be in love with him, because I was the one who let go first, I was the one who was waiting for him to leave first, and in the end he did. These were consequences of my actions that I had to bear and face. 

People tend to hurt themselves because they’re scared of being hurt by others, but what they never realize is that your worst enemy is yourself. We believe that inflicting pain onto ourselves is easier because we’re able to determine how much pain we can be in, but what we never really think about is how much of a monster our minds can become after the pain.

I never realized how much I loved him until he left and moved on, the constant regret, the non-stop tears falling out of my eyes because he was gone, the consistent anger towards myself because of my cowardly actions, but there was nothing I could do but to move on. 

Repressing our emotions, and invalidating our feelings because we belittle ourselves and follow the norm of believing mourning over a breakup is weak and pathetic. We try so hard to pretend and act like we’re fine and follow the saying,

“Fake it, till you make it,”

Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t but we forget that although there is a norm, we’re not obligated to follow the norm, it’s society that forces us, but it is we, ourselves, who have the power to resist and deny the norm. No one ever said it was easy to resist, and no one ever said it was simple. Breakups were hard, and mourning was painful, but without a doubt people made it seem like breakups and mourning over a relationship was negative and bad. 

Truth is, I’ve always thought it was okay to be sad over breakups, it was valid to mourn over a relationship, because after all, you gave a piece of yourself to this person. Whether it be feelings, thoughts, or even something physical, it was something you personally gave to them, and something you could not take back, and something they could not give back. Regardless, if someone were to ever tell you that you’re not allowed to be sad and mourn over a breakup, they are wrong. 

Even if we are our own worst enemy, no one knows us better than ourselves. Which is, we have every right to be sad if we feel sad, we have every right to cry if we want to cry, and we have every right to mourn over a loss of a relationship, a significant other, and a person if we feel like it, or want to. It can be tiring to cry, to exert energy into mourning and being upset, but it will always be better than repressing and invalidating your own feelings. 

I write this out, as if it’s easy and simple, I talk as if I knew this from the very start, but I am just trial and error. All the things I talk about, and write were things I learned the hard way. Falling in love with him, loving him, leaving him, and moving on was never perfect. The concept of having a first love is unforgettable, from realizing he was my first, to accepting he was my first, to lastly having my form of love change for him; from romantically to platonically.

There was a difference between loving him, and the past tense of I loved him. To my present self, I had loved him despite everything that happened between us, but to my past self, loving him was never, not once regrettable. 

11.2022 - 1:31 AM

“He was my first love, but that never meant he was my last love. I’ll love him till the very end of time, but it doesn’t mean we were meant to be together,”

#lost memorandum #first love #like #reblog #follow

[90363462]

Saturday Night Live Recap: Dave Chappelle Takes SNL to a Season High

Photo: NBC/Rosalind O’Connor/NBC

When he first hosted Saturday Night Live in 2016, Dave Chappelle famously said he would give Donald Trump a chance.

That was sort of how I felt about Chappelle when I learned he’d be hosting SNL this weekend.

It was a fairly new feeling. For many years, instead of “a chance,” I would simply give Dave Chappelle my wallet and my heart. In fact, I remember where I was — walking to a work thing in Williamsburg — when I saw a tweet about Chappelle hosting the first SNLafter the 2016 election. It was an instant hit of pure joy, directly into the bloodstream. That election had engulfed all of America, for far too long, in an ominous aura of pervasive dread, like an imminent car crash in slowest possible motion. Everyone wanted it to just be over but it felt like it would never end and it was difficult to imagine life afterward. The announcement of Dave Chappelle’s belated SNL debut, though — alongside A Tribe Called Quest, at that — was a reminder that not only was this grotesque election finally almost over but that good things awaited on the other side, independent of the outcome. And when the day arrived, Chappelle’sEmmy-winning turn ended up being a bright spot in what was, for many people, a very dark time.

Suffice to say, a lot has changed since then — both in America and in Dave Chappelle. That impossibly long election gave way to three chaotic Trump years, culminating in a somehow-even-more-chaotic pandemic election year, followed by even more chaos. Meanwhile, the rare thrill of seeing Chappelle perform stand-up on TV again during his 2016 SNL monologue slowly curdled into routine with his shockingly prolific run of Netflix specials. Comedy is obviously subjective and a lot of people loved each and every one of these, but to your recapper, they started to feel as tossed-off as they were increasingly bitter and combative. Having one’s jokes appear effortless is a stand-up magic trick, and Chappelle is a wizard at it. However, most of these specials were larded with lots of material that just felt low effort. And all of this is before we even get to the elephant in the studio during this SNL episode.

As you may be aware, Chappelle has faced heavy criticism in the past few years over his material about trans people. He’s been boycotted by Netflix employees, excoriated on Twitter, had a live performance canceled, and got tackled at the Hollywood Bowl last May by a guy whose stated motive for the attack so neatly aligns with a caricature of triggered comedy fans as to seem like a psyop. However, in that same span, Chappelle has also sold out venues everywhere, won an Emmy, made a deal to continue his wildly lucrative business relationship with Netflix, post-boycott, and, uh, been welcomed back to host Saturday Night Live. While some fans might call this ongoing success a victory over those who tried to cancel him, others might call it further proof that free speech isn’t quite as endangered as Chappelle constantly makes it out to be since turning his inherent right to make trans jokes into a hill to thrive on.

“The more you say I can’t say something, the more urgent it is for me to say it,” Chappelle said in What’s in a Name, a 40-minute TED Talk–esque quasi-special Netflix released in July. “And it has nothing to do with what you’re saying I can’t say. It has everything to do with my right, my freedom of artistic expression. That is valuable to me.”

It’s a valid point. At the same time, Job One for a comic is being funny, and while there have been many Free-Speech Martyrs in comedy before — and many currently cranking out cranky content about the fear of cancellation — there have seldom been humans as funny as Dave Chappelle. He’s always been somewhat bitter, but Chappelle used to take rascally delight in exploding the racial inequality that seemed to be the source of his bitterness. Recently, though, he doesn’t seem to be having much fun either in his stunt-y trolling of trans people, or his misguided scolding of those who would dare be offended by the wrong thing. Whether you agree that he’s gotten less funny since leaning practically full-time into grievance and controversy-stoking, it’s almost an objective truth that there is little in the world less funny than closing out a comedy special in 2021 by complaining in earnest that Kevin Hart was unfairly thwarted from achieving his dream of hosting the Oscars.

All of this is to say that by late 2022, I’d become indifferent to Dave Chappelle. The idea of wading through another hour of cancellation-themed humor to see if he’d actually be funny while exercising his right to poke the bear seemed like a snoozy chore. When SNL announced a threepeat of his post-election hosting tradition, though, I was willing to give him a chance. I wasn’t expecting him to help deliver by far the most consistently funny episode of the season.

Here are the highlights.

Stand-up Monologue

Clocking in just shy of his 16-minute monologue during the 2020 episode, Chappelle got the crowd roaring right away and seldom let up. Clearly, he went through some “there but for the grace of God go I” in the past month while watching Kanye torpedo both his reputation and his fortune — and thankfully he shared that experience with the rest of us. It was electrifying to watch him get close to the third rail of antisemitism while putting Kanye on blast for outright grabbing it, and explore the space in between. While he covered a lot of other ground in the monologue, his material about Kanye and Jews felt like a smarter and funnier expression of his comedic mission to test boundaries than anything that’s landed him “in trouble” on Netflix.

However, while he appeared to be coming at this material as an experiment in what he could get away with, rather than wanting to normalize antisemitic tropes, the results are largely the same either way. It’s not much of a surprise that the Anti-Defamation League has condemned Chappelle’s monologue.After wisely deciding not to pour gasoline on his previous controversy this outing, it looks like he may have ignited a fresh one.

Potato Hole

The buildup around what a Potato Hole might be goes on for so long, in such intentionally corny fashion, it feels like whatever weird sexual thing it turns out to be will inevitably be a letdown. So, when Chappelle’s bluesman Willie T. Hawkins finally reveals its very real slavery-derived definition, it lands hard. Andrew Dismukes’s anchor slowly putting down Hawkins’s album that he’d been holding up is a perfect punctuation to the main joke in this perfectly timed sketch.

Sarah Sherman Debuts Sarah News

It sorta feels like all that antagonizing of Colin Jost on “Weekend Update” has been leading up to this demented moment. Sarah Sherman fully hijacks the “Update” desk for four howlingly funny minutes of Topical Humor (Sarah’s Version), and I wish she would never give it back.

Heaven Scene

As a premise for a Chappelle sketch, “Black heaven” has a lot of potential. It is far funnier, though, to burn that premise for a fourth-wall-busting bit about Chappelle forcing Mikey Day to star in a sketch about Black heaven for his own devilish amusement. How much fun does the host look like he’s having here, surrounded by Chappelle Showalum Donnell Rawlings and Black Star, enjoying Day’s feigned awkwardness? You really do love to see it.

Please Don’t Destroy — Election Night

I compared Molly Kearney to Melissa McCarthy in a previous recap, but as they appear in more scenes, I’m seeing more shades of Chris Farley. Kearney’s manic desperation here, in trying to avoid becoming the attorney general of Ohio, has the same endearing vulnerability Farley brought to similar silliness. Also, it makes a subtle statement that the final sketch of a show hosted by someone so critical of gender expression ends with Kearney’s pronouns onscreen.

Stray Thoughts

• As a survivor of the year 1999, I appreciated the “Steal My Sunshine” reference in Trump’s rant during the Fox & Friends cold open. (James Austin Johnston’s uncanny mimicry of Trump’s stream-of-consciousness rant style is what got his foot in the door at SNL.) Also, Ainsley Earhardt (Heidi Gardner) wondering whether she was allowed to say “Wakanda Forever” turned out to be a nice tone-setter for the episode, with spiritual echoes in at least three other sketches.

• It’s amazing how long they let this sketchgo on as a House of the Dragon parody before revealing that it’s actually a sequel to the Chappelle Show character bonanza from 2016, which centered on Walking Dead. Also, Tyrone Bigguns using dragon fire to light his crack pipe was an inspired touch.

• I have a feeling that Kenan Thompson’s hair clippers buzzing immediately after a white person says something out of pocket is about to become a meme on TikTok, thanks to this barber-shop sketch.

• Sharp jokes all around on “Weekend Update,” but the visual gag of Tucker Carlson, “seen here trying to make it through No-Nut November,” was the killer line.

• With his debut of unlikely presidential hopeful Jose Suarez, new cast member Marcello Hernández is now two-for-two on “Weekend Update” desk pieces this season.

This recap has been updated.

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[semicharmedliving]

Stunning.

CW/ TW: Crohn’s Diaease, depression, colostomy

Something about that word always stuck with me. I remember it being used to describe women/their outfits/etc. a lot during my childhood. And for as long as I can remember that's what I've wanted to be: stunning. Throughout my life I've had dreams of being an actress, a teacher, a court stenographer, a nail tech, a rock critic… you get it. Nothing ever stuck, and here I am: a 32 year old college dropout who still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up.

Stunning, though, that never went away. To this day, I want to be so gorgeous that I literally turn heads when I walk past a group of people. I want to be noticed. I want to know what it's like to be a pretty girl. The type of girl who knows how to dress and move through a room, who knows what she wants and she gets it. And who would ever deny her anything anyway?

I’m not saying that I’m bad looking. I just. I don’t catch people’s eye. I’m just there. Do you know what an accomplishment it is to be invisible with bright red hair? I know. I know. Fucking shallow. One of my biggest wishes in the world is to be pretty. Well, not just pretty. Stunning. Not like that makes it any different. I'm still a shallow, insecure fuck.

But that ship has sailed so.

This guy that I’d exchanged pictures with before getting really sick/being in the hospital sent me some thirsty messages earlier. At first I had that old feeling, that kind of swooping in my belly and flush in my cheeks, and for a second it felt good. I forgot about how I look now. I forgot that I'm 40 lbs underweight with rapidly thinning hair and a colostomy bag. God I hate this fucking bag. I hated my body before all this, but I was getting a bit better as I got older. I was less bothered when I was a bit bloated or when my hair wouldn’t cooperate, and more hated stuff like Crohn’s Disease and the multitude of issues in my brain. There were still some physical hating days, but there were less than they were in my teens/20’s.

So anyway, after unsuccessfully trying to deflect, I basically said that my body isn’t the same anymore. He thought I meant I’m getting older and tried to be sweet about that, but I just didn't know what to say. For one thing, last I took any kind of pictures was around Halloween, so it's not like I've done a ton of aging in this short period of time, hon. But no, my body has *changed*.

So yeah, now there's this. Now I don't want to be noticed. I want to fade into the background and disappear. People tell me that it'll be fine. That most people won’t be able to tell I have the bag. That there's cute covers to put over them. That someone out there somewhere will still want me despite it.

I know these people aren’t wrong, and many people live happy, healthy lives with ostomies. One of the people telling me these things has one themselves. Beyond that, I know that people live with much worse conditions (condition? Is that what you'd call this?). I would never, ever tell anyone with an ostomy that they are ugly or don't deserve love or anything at all like that. But me? I feel… I don't even know how to explain how I feel.

Going to the beach and swimming used to be two of my favorite things in the world. Now the thought of putting a bathing suit on (even a full coverage one piece) is just bonkers. I can't wear anything too form fitting anymore. I've seen pictures of girls with bags wearing snug clothes and I'm not sure what they're doing but with me you can tell. Even if it's empty it’s still there. And that’s how I feel with clothes on. I can’t stand seeing myself naked; honestly, I barely look in the mirror at all anymore. I used to love showers. Now I actually dread them. So yeah, someone else seeing me? It’s not happening. Not any time soon if ever.

Here I am whining about this. Shallow and selfish. I've said I don't want to live with a bag forever. Multiple doctors have said, "But you’ll be *alive*!” As if I’m gonna be excited about it. I know it’s shitty to say that that's not the greatest consolation prize. My whole head is fucked but also… I mean, have you seen the world lately? I certainly wouldn't be advertising it as first prize in any kind of raffle or whatever. But I'm a pessimistic, depressed lump so maybe I'm not the best judge of that type of thing. And, like I said, I know that the people supporting me are right. People with ostomies move on and live normal lives. Eventually I'll be able to look myself in the mirror, and maybe I'll enjoy showers again someday. Stunning may be out of reach—to be honest, I always knew it was— but acceptance isn't out of the question.

I really didn't mean to make this so depressing. Though it really did feel kinda good to get some of these feelings out. The plan was to write the hard thoughts here and not burden my loved ones with this, but then I turn around and give two of them the URL. So hey guys. Love you and I'm sorry. Xoxoxo

5/10/24

#crohnsdisease #crohn's disease #depression #body image

[fishyfishygrils]

Clear Skies Over Milwaukee Prologue

70 miles out of Milwaukee there is a small town filled with unknown curiosities. Normally in Wisconsin, there aren’t five different conspiracies happening at the same time. The weird is the usual in that small town. The citizens turn a blind eye to anything weird, and blame Satan or the government like any good small town! The 90s were a wild time… They’re not wrong anyways. But, sometimes it’s other stuff,  like aliens or vampires or a bunch of mafia guys. It depends on the day. It’s not like anyone believes the conspiracy theories of a crazy homeless man. Those guys go missing very often, odd… A good thing for trans people though, the citizens always know the other person’s chosen pronouns. Transphobia is somehow physically impossible. I’m not the one who did that. WINK WINK.

Now, you ask me. Deer narrator, how can a town with no name be so special? And I’d say, it’s not and don’t ask why. 

Anyway, Jess was one of these citizens! We’ll hear more about Jess soon don’t worry. She’s the protagonist of this novel so that's obvious. Let’s use her as an example of how life is in this town. We will start at the very beginning. Her parents had a love of technology, and they fell in love in that nameless town. They wanted to work on something that would live on by itself. Something that could thrive even if they died, a living legacy. So, they started a family business, an arcade. Oh, and Jess was born too. I could never forget about that.

Jess had a normal childhood, they know the names of their favorite servers. They go to school and have to survive a second robbery in a single week. The cops question the students at least once a month. Their uncle went missing one day, and the only clue was the excess amount of blood that was left in his room. Yes, he is still considered missing. No, the police did not do anything. 

Let me, your incompetent narrator, present the popular buildings of this small town. To start, I present Minnie’s Dinner—the most popular restaurant in town. From the sky, I’ve seen it get robbed 4 times in a row despite the fact the police station was the restaurant's neighbor.  No matter, people meet up here. It’s the community hot spot. Chatter lights up the diner every day, making it feel constantly alive. The staff is nice too if you want to give the town a visit. Just assume you might never leave, ever. 

Next up, is the already mentioned police station. Would not recommend going there. It is the opposite of the good kind of chaos in the dinner. The police does everything and nothing at the same time. It’s the epiphany of uselessness. Calling the cops is either waiting 40 minutes for one cop to walk 50 meters or one random dude busting in with guns blazing. The receptionist is the only thing keeping that thing open and working. 

Downtown is the big part of town, which includes Minnie’s and The police station. Jess and friends will include other parts of town I will not explain yet like the cinema and the facility. Oh, and also the multiple abandoned buildings on the outskirts of town but those are mostly in the other books

Forgot to mention this is a trilogy. 

This town will always be a beautiful mess. With a population of 900 people, the community learned to support each other in the weird town of Wisconsin. To help their neighbors mourn the loss of a loved one. The people might be in denial of what lurks around the corner, but they will always support one another. The support is one of the only things that help each other survive. The other option is guns. 

Have you learned enough about the town? Do you have the context in that little curving brain of yours? Yeah? Okay, good. Let’s go.

#clear skies over milwaukee #CSOM #writer stuff #writers on tumblr #writing #writeblr #ocs #fanfic #Clear skies over milwaukee fanfiction