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angstyaches · 3 years

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Ooooh you have a delicious writing style- it's so descriptive! I'm afraid I'm quite new so don't know your characters much yet, but if this scenario could fit I bet you'd write it amazingly! Perhaps Character A is down on their luck, longterm or short-term wise, and is walking through town, having not eaten since the morning prior. Suddenly a store window catches their eye, displaying all sorts of amazing baked goods or meat cuts, and they can't help but stare while their hunger pains have them wincing openly. Character B notices them staring before Character A even realises what they're doing.

Agh, what a beautiful prompt. I think this is actually the first hunger fic I've written on request, so thank you, anon! I hope it’s okay that I used fancy pizza; I really wanted to use Payton for this and pizza is one of the few foods they would genuinely go weak over.

Pre-Payton and Autumn Getting Together

CW: hunger, hunger pangs, stomach noises, mentions of character unable to afford (decent) food, stress, overwork (it's Payton, what did we expect?), food mention

___

Payton sighed as they felt the drizzle start to fall around them. They stepped under a deserted bus shelter and stared out, wondering if the rain was going to get worse before it cleared up.

It was a fitting end to the day – or rather, the week – they’d been having. They couldn’t wait to get home and take off the stifling shirt they’d worn to a job interview that morning and then worn all the way through their shift at the café. They just wanted soft clothes and their bed and maybe a podcast to fall asleep to.

It all seemed so far away still, their energy sapping by the second and leaving them stranded five minutes away from the tram stop. Their feet stopped moving, rooting them to the pale grey concrete.

A gorgeous smell turned their head. Frantic interview prep, snooty employers, and stuffy clothes all faded from Payton’s mind. They were stopped across the street from the city’s most expensive food store. Built into a complex from the late 1800s, it was the kind of place where a sandwich cost €12. The kind of place that sold imported goods and “foodstuffs”.

An elaborate window was positioned behind the delicatessen section of the shop, where a chef was artfully piecing together a pizza on top of a copper paddle while another sat in a brick oven. The smell of the crisping dough must have been piped out deliberately onto the street, to entice those with money to burn, and to tease those without.

Payton fell into the latter category lately. With all the time they’d been spending on interview prep and assignments, they’d been taking shorter shifts at the café. Rent was going to clean them out this month. Today’s shift hadn’t even been long enough to warrant a full lunch break; they’d only taken fifteen minutes, and had spent thirteen of them taking a nap at the break room table.

Only now did they feel the twists of hunger in their stomach, the shakiness in their legs. Payton didn’t even realise that they had edged closer to the bus stop so they could sit down on the bench, one hand resting on their belly. Their stomach hurt, and it really was no wonder when they thought about it.

The last thing they’d eaten had been a bowl of cereal at seven a.m., the same cereal they were planning to have for dinner when they got home.

Payton’s stomach groaned unhappily at the prospect, and Payton groaned too; I’m right there with you, they thought miserably, rubbing at their stomach and continuing to watch the pizza chef through the window.

They didn’t know how long they grimaced and gazed across the street before they were interrupted.

“Payton? Hi!”

Payton jumped, head snapping up to see who’d said their name, and their heart skipped a beat.

A navy polka-dot umbrella sat over her shoulder. She was wearing tight leggings and an oversized sweater, her shoulder-length hair thrown into a lazy side-bun. She was wearing no makeup and looked a little sweaty, like she was heading home from the gym or dance practice.

She was a sight to behold, as always, even as she fumbled with her umbrella.

“H-hey,” Payton stammered, stumbling to their feet and trying to appear as though they weren’t so light-headed they were seeing stars.

Autumn glanced across the street, her eyes lingering there for a moment. “Uh, you don’t take this bus, do you?”

“I – no,” Payton admitted, glancing at the timetable and list of stops. “I was just sitting. Long day. Spaced out a bit.”

“Yeah, I could see that,” Autumn said, glancing across the street again. She let out a little laugh, though she seemed to consider holding it in for a moment. “I thought you were going to start drooling.”

“What?”

“The fancy pizzas.”

Payton’s heart dropped. Their face was feeling hot under their bangs. “Oh, I, uh, I didn’t even realise I was… staring.”

“Don’t be embarrassed! I watch them all the time when I’m waiting for the bus,” Autumn laughed.

Payton still blushed deeply, since they’d had no reason to sit down at the bus stop except to stare through the shop window. They were suddenly hyper-aware of their hand resting on their belly. They felt their stomach quiver under their palm, a low growl working its way through.

“You doing okay?” Autumn sat down on the bench, nodding for Payton to join her. She didn’t seem to hear the complaint from Payton’s belly. “Feels like forever since we last talked.”

“Y-yeah, sure does,” Payton half-laughed. Their shaky legs and dizzy head were thankful for the relief as they sank back down, leaving what they hoped was a healthy number of inches between the two of them. “I’ve been, um… I’m okay? I think. And – and you?”

“I’m actually… I’m great,” Autumn grinned, tucking some hair behind her ear. “I, um, I just found out today that I’m going to be Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors.”

“Are you serious?” Payton smiled, their mood genuinely lifting a bit at the sight of Autumn’s proud, shy little smile.

They often envied her for her absolute passion for musicals and acting, since they were failing so spectacularly at finding their place in the film world, but right then Payton was happy just knowing she was happy.

“Yeah! I still can’t really believe it.”

“I can.” Payton extended a long arm to pull Autumn towards them. “You’re brilliant.”

“Agh – ew, P, you don’t want to hug me!” she laughed, pulling her shoulders up tightly. “I’m all sweaty and damp!”

“I don’t care!” Payton wrapped their arms around her and pulled her close, so that their cheeks were just inches apart. “Your news deserves a hug.”

Autumn gave a deep, happy sigh as she leaned into the hug, probably unaware of the fact that the contact was setting Payton’s heart racing. It almost felt selfish, holding her like this when they were clearly getting more out of it than she was. They went to remove their arms from her, their chest fluttering as she buried her face deeper in their shoulder and kept her arms firmly around their waist.

It was lovely.

And yet, for the first time in a while, Payton felt a pang of loneliness, their core aching with the knowledge that they couldn’t hold her like this all the time. Deep in their bones, Payton wanted to kiss her hair, tickle her sides, and whisper happy little declarations of affection in her ear.

They didn’t whisper anything to her, though. They didn’t say anything as they held her. But their empty stomach was still twisting itself into shapes, and it clearly didn’t get the memo on holding Autumn quietly. A sharp growl had Payton wincing and trying to clear their throat (to cover up the noise) all in the same breath.

“Whoa, is that your stomach?” Autumn asked, lifting her head from Payton’s shoulder.

Payton’s body stiffened. “It… might be.”

“Are you okay? You must be starving.”

“I’m… Yeah.” Payton swallowed hard, letting a hand rest on their belly again.

Autumn moved back to give them some space. She was staring like she expected an explanation, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed. Payton’s stomach rumbled under their hand again, bringing a twist of pain, and they didn’t know if they wanted to laugh or to cry.

“I guess I haven’t been taking care of myself too well.” They flinched again at the crack in their own voice.

Lifting her umbrella from where it had been resting against her leg, Autumn got to her feet. “Come on.”

Payton looked up at her, blinking behind their bangs. Exhaustion weighted them to the bench. “Come on where?”

A little hum escaped Autumn’s throat as she jerked her head. Her umbrella popped open and she stepped out of the bus shelter. The rain pattered against the fabric, a little heavier than it had been before.

“We’re gonna go eat pizza. Not – not there,” she clarified, gesturing towards the expensive deli. “I was thinking top floor of the Greene Centre. They sell by the slice and it’s super cheap.”

Payton swallowed again, guilt piling itself on top of the embarrassment. They felt as though they’d somehow coerced Autumn into offering to buy dinner, and the thought made them physically shudder. They got to their feet and moved a little closer to Autumn so she could hear them.

“I probably still can’t afford it,” they mumbled, staring at the ground.

“It’ll be my treat today, okay? You can pay me back by letting me ramble about my show.”

Payton gave her a shaky smile. “Are you sure?”

“Hundred percent.” That shy smile crossed Autumn’s face again. “It’s gonna sound weird, but when I found out I got the part… You were the first person I wanted to tell, Payton.”

“I... Really?” As they chewed their lip, a deep rumble came from Payton’s tummy. They frowned and folded their arms around it, noticing how Autumn's gaze drifted towards it too.

"Come on, I can't listen to your poor belly complain anymore." She lifted her umbrella a little higher with one hand – Payton was a few inches taller than her – and stuck out her elbow for Payton to link their arm through hers. “Shall we go?”

#hunger #hunger fic #OC hunger #stomach ache #stomach ache fic #hunger kink #belly kink #stomach kink #OC fic #stomach noises #Lucyverse #Lucyverse Payton #Lucyverse Autumn #fic #fic length

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luckyblackcloverrr · 3 years

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The Black Bulls and their bullshit in the modern time: jobs I guess – Part. 3

Finally the last part is done! Thanks for following the short series of my cursed imagination until now. Here's more headcanons that weren't supposed to be headcanons :D. I made them a little longer than the previous parts, and I hope you all enjoy the mess that is Charmy's restaurant!

Magna Swing

works at the counter in Charmy’s restaurant

nobody knows how he got that job when he shows up to work looking like a teen delinquent going through puberty

keeps his sunglasses on even in indoors

had to learn how to use the cashier machine for the first time

accidentally repeated the order with the machine too many times and the total came out to a four-digit number

the customer got a discount in the end

there was one time when the machine malfunctioned and they thought they had to buy a new one

Magna came in and gave the thing a big smack, and it miraculously started to work again

Noelle gave him the title 'God of Fixing Things Through Abuse', shortened to 'FTTA God'

and now everybody at work refers to him with that title

he doesn’t like it because he’d rather be referred to as something cooler, but he lets them call him that anyway

has very short temper, will not hesitate to call out rude customers

someone once made an offhanded comment about Secré who was too busy to care and he went OFF

both Noelle and Secré had to work together to calm him down when he threatened to fight them outside of the restaurant

wanted to help out in the kitchen because he thinks he has a “thing” with fire, and Charmy let him try when working hours were over

proceeded to set the whole kitchen on fire and from then on Charmy forbade him from going into the kitchen ever again

convinced Charmy to buy a TV and put it in the restaurant so that he can watch baseball games when working

but he once switched the channel to a cartoon show and lost the remote

now he’s forever stuck on watching Miraculous Ladybug

Luck Voltia

King of Working Part Time Jobs™

works at every single shop known to date and jumps between each shop from time to time

sometimes he’ll be in the boutique:

running around the whole store to help customers look for their needed items because he didn’t memorise where each section was

and proceeds to mess up the folded clothes and now Henry has to fold them again

sometimes he’ll be in the restaurant:

ordering and serving the customers their food, even though he doesn’t remember which order belongs to which table

and also cleaning the tables when the customers finish eating

but it’s the best thing he can do there because absolutely no one trusts him in working in the kitchen

and sometimes he’ll be in the café:

bringing out coffee and dessert orders during rush hour because the others are too busy taking orders and making them

and when the shop clears up after a while he spends time watching Finral and Grey brew the drinks

the other bulls wonder how he hasn’t been fired from any of his jobs yet

but that’s because he surprisingly does well for the roles he was assigned to (and extremely fast too)

the only time he has messed up was when he ran too fast when serving food and he tripped and it spilled all over the place

and he went “oops! hahaha ;P”

Magna watching from the counter: i’m gonna kill him

stole the TV remote from Magna when he wasn’t looking and brought it to the boutique so he couldn’t switch channels

always competes with Magna on who can earn the most money

and it somehow always ends in a draw because Secré earns the most out of all of them

Secré Swallowtail

waitress at Charmy’s restaurant pt. 1

was dragged into working there, doesn’t even know why she’s doing it in the first place

but she works well, and store would have fallen apart if she wasn’t there

unanimously voted Employee of the Month every month

takes part in everything; including cleaning, serving, making drinks, settling payments, calming down crying children, calming down a hyper Luck

you name it, and she probably does it or has done it before for the sake of the restaurant

unlike Noelle and Magna, she's extremely unbothered

doesn’t matter if there’s someone being rude or causing a ruckus, she shrugs it off like it’s nothing and just moves on

she’s focused on doing her job and her job only

will only take action if she is touched physically or if other customers are visibly bothered

was the person who consoled Magna when he found out the TV remote went missing

but didn’t tell him that he could actually switch the channels without using the remote

death stares everyone to work when they are slacking off

the person who forced everyone into practicing fire drills in case of emergencies

hums the opening of Miraculous Ladybug because she has heard it playing too much from the speakers

and also because Magna screams the words of the song every time the show airs

is secretly thankful for Luck whenever he visits for his part-time shift

because he picked up the mechanisms of the restaurant SUPER FAST, and things run surprisingly much smoother with him around

lets Noelle style her hair whenever they have free time

ends up looking like a chicken because Noelle has no prior experience in hairstyling despite showing interest in it

and also because she used too much hair spray

Noella Silva

waitress at Charmy’s restaurant pt. 2

claims that she is too high class for this job

but next thing you know she’s putting on her customer service voice when ordering and serving food

took awhile to learn how to work in a restaurant

she couldn't hold the food tray and walk at the same time

and she kept serving the dishes to the wrong table

blamed it on the customers for confusing her, and Secré showed up afterwards to apologise for her behaviour

definitely had 'How to become a Waitress 101' lessons with Secré

takes absolutely no shit from anyone

doesn’t matter how much authority they have around the area, she will not hesitate to kick them out if they don’t treat others properly

would probably spill water on a customer and blame it on the customer for being in the way

becomes more diligent whenever Asta brings the children he's babysitting to the restaurant

also keeps tabs on his table just in case anyone starts to hit on him

rich, but doesn't take it for granted

because she doesn't understand the importance of money and how much she actually has

treats everyone to ice cream, especially on hot days

sometimes pays for the restaurant's bills because she insists

Magna always complains about her flexing her wealth

he shuts up when he gets the ice cream though

claims that she has absolutely no interest in cartoons and thinks they are childish

but is the person who sits at an empty table complaining about how dense the characters in Miraculous Ladybug are when it isn't rush hour

accidentally set off the fire alarm once

because she got scared when lighting a match and threw the lit match at Magna

payed for his motorcycle repair as an apology

Charmy Pappitson

owner of the most popular restaurant downtown

customers ask for her autograph and a photo with her sometimes

a very talented chef that everybody appreciates and respects

a cute, smiley person when greeting new customers and always keeps up with regulars

offers the most amazing dishes for a very reasonable price

whenever she has the time, she steps out of the kitchen to chat with the customers about food and check up on the other bulls (just in case)

but when it comes to the kitchen OHOHO

she gets VERY serious about cooking

in dire situations, she’ll stay cooped up in the kitchen and won’t come out until she has made the perfect dish

has several other chefs cooking in there with her, but no one has ever met them before

though the food comes out good so nobody questions it

does not trust any of the black bulls to cook food after Magna set the kitchen on fire

there is a framed photo of her hung up in the restaurant where everyone can see it

whenever she’s serving food, she has to hold back from eating it all

Secre and Noelle are her impulse controllers, if not the food will never make it to the customers’ table

makes desserts as a hobby and gives them to the customers for free sometimes as service

also donates some food to the local church every month, and offers more if she sees Marie

once dropped a freshly baked cupcake and cried about it for 2 hours

forgets to pay the workers sometimes

weekly gatherings with all the Black Bulls happen at Charmy’s restaurant

that time is usually when she tries new recipes and ask for everyone’s opinions

literally a whole party goes down every week at her place

there are noise complaints every time, but she ignores them because Finral is probably already apologizing for them

Parts - 1 | 2 | 3

#black clover #black clover headcanons #magna swing #luck voltia #secre swallowtail #noelle silva #charmy pappitson #i finally finished this omg #not magna getting bullied smh #living for luck being a mess everywhere he goes tho #its 3am rn and i have school tmr im gonna regret this #in the middle of editing all the points shuffled and i had to put them all back in place it was HELL #save finral from the black bulls he's suffered too much

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kyloswarstars · 3 years

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ROOMMATES • Part 4

Divergent • College AU • Eric x Reader

ROOMMATES masterlist 💫 Divergent masterlist

You escaped your current living situation by moving in with your friend Christina – and five other college students. Little did you know that one of them was the guy who was your ultimate pain in the neck since your first semester. Now, you had to find a way to not strangle him in his sleep out of pure frustration. Also, you had to find a way to get rid of those weird butterfly feelings for him that slowly grew in your stomach.

Words • 2.3k

Warnings • mentions of drug use and unsettling text messages

The enemies to lovers story no one needed.

/////

In the following weeks you noticed Eric’s drive to make your life extra hard, by going against your opinions, decreased. You got along. Occasionally, your thoughts drifted back to that weird moment in the furniture store. Holding hands. And his fingers trying to intertwine with yours. If that was a deliberate action or an automatic reaction – you couldn’t say. All you knew was that the memory of it made your stomach twist and you didn’t like that.

The number of folded papers in your pockets had increased immensely. They were pulled out under the dinner table when you couldn’t endure Eric’s stares anymore. Or while waiting for the shower to be free. Or right after the ‚GN‘ knock at night when that stupid smile on your lips didn’t want to leave.

It was Friday. Friday was the weekly grocery haul day. It was your second time having to fulfil that task. The first time it had been with Tris who patiently showed you what everyone’s favorite snack was – Eric’s were those little pretzels covered in chocolate – and what kind of vegetables were an ultimate must buy.

It was Friday. And this time you had to go shopping with Eric. In the morning he told you to get read for noon. At noon he told you to get ready for five. At five he tried to push it back once more but you grew impatient.

„If we don’t go now, we don’t have to go at all today. All the fresh stuff will be gone,“ you pointed out, grabbed your backpack and didn’t leave him a choice anymore really. You put on your shoes and left the apartment. Eric was rambling something as he came rushing down the stairs after you.

„Where did you park?“

„Left.“

You walked ahead and tried to spot his car without being able. Further down the road you started to cross a street and suddenly felt a hand around your wrist. Eric nodded behind his back. „This way.“

His hand was immediately gone after telling you to change directions. Still, the spots where his fingertips had touched your skin was burning as if they had left marks. I don’t like that at all.

You were well prepared. After all you had the complete day to brace yourself for the struggle you expected. The shopping list was in your pocket, though not the only paper in there, the community money was in your backpack and you took a drag, or five, of Will’s joint earlier.

The store wasn’t that filled as you thought it would be on a Friday. Good. A lot of people made you nervous.

Eric pushed the cart and already at the first stop, fruit section, he remembered that your last discussion had been a few days ago. Too long. Time to settle for a new one.

„Take the blueberries.“ He pointed to the little containers as if you didn’t know what blueberries were.

„I want apples so I’m getting apples,“ you stated.

„Blueberries are super high on antioxidants, you know.“

„Cool but I don’t want to eat thirty tiny things. I want to eat one thing.“

„Fine. But I want blueberries.“

„Then take them yourself. You’re not decoration, Eric. You have hands to use them.“ You shook your head at how ridiculous he was. You weren’t his personal shopping assistant, this was a team work thing.

The veggie section wasn’t any better. You just tried to work your way through the shopping list and directed Eric on what else to pick. Admittedly, since living with your roommates, your eating got a lot healthier because they actually knew how to cook.

You completed the booze area, cheese heaven and dairy aisle without any further debates and turned into a new aisle. Then took a step back out of it again to look down the hallway.

„What now?“ Eric stopped the cart in time before running you over.

„I thought I saw someone I know.“ No one was there though. And if that person, you that had been there, really was there, you were glad they disappeared. Meeting ghosts from the past was under no circumstances something you wanted to happen while Eric was around.

Snack aisle. You grabbed some nuts for you and also the chocolate pretzels without thinking twice. Which caused another awkward moment when you placed them in the cart. Was life to be full of awkward moments now?

Eric looked at you bluntly, then forced a smile on his lips. You picked out the favorite snacks of your other roommates as well to show that his wasn’t the only one you remembered.

Whenever you turned into a new aisle you nervously checked if there was a ghost from the past. You never found one and were incredibly relieved when you made it through check out and had stored all the groceries in Eric’s trunk. And the backseat.

„Smartie waved at me yesterday,“ Eric said as the car rolled from the parking lot onto the street.

„Are you sure you didn’t imagine that?“

„It was close enough to be counted as a wave,“ he admitted. Though, talking about penguins broke the tense atmosphere. You hadn’t even been on the road for a minute and Eric pulled into another parking lot. He stopped at a diner drive thru window. „Milkshake?“

„Doesn’t look like I can say no now that we’re here.“

He rolled down his window and you were greeted by a waitress. She asked what she could serve you.

„Two milkshakes,“ Eric turned to you. „What flavour do you want?“

You leaned over to the window. „Strawberry, please,“ you smiled at the waitress and found yourself – too close to Eric’s face. Half leaning on his chest he mumbled a ‚for me too‘. Yep. Life would be full of awkward moments from now on.

You saved yourself to the passenger side and tried to hide the heat rising in your face by looking out the window. In fact you rolled it down to get a cool breeze. No chance, though. Chicago didn’t want to help you with that today.

„There you go!“ The waitress handed your milkshakes to Eric and you carefully made sure that this time your fingers wouldn’t touch. You sipped on your milkshake all the way back to the apartment.

The more often you took the way up and down the three flights of stairs, the more your muscles grew used to it. On moving day your legs had trembled so bad. Now, that all the groceries were up in the apartment you didn’t notice a single muscle being impressed by the stairs anymore.

Eric kneeled at the fridge, you handed him all the groceries that had to go in there. When you fished his blueberries out of the bag you couldn’t bite back a remark.

„Here, Eric. May they taste as good as my apples.“

He just shook his head and put them away. Once all the food that had to be cooled was put away, you stole away to sit on the balcony and finish your milkshake. He actually joined you.

„Why do you want to become a doctor?“ That question slipped faster than you had thought it to an end in your head.

„The obvious reason. To help people.“ He sipped as loudly on his milkshake as you did. „Why are you studying math out of all terrible things?“

„Same reason as yours,“ you bluntly stated.

„Yeah?“ Eric had stared at you ever since you sat down on the balcony. You had noticed that out of the corner of your eye. Now you looked at him as well.

„Yes.“ A smile grew on your lips. That was what you hoped you would be able to do one day.

/////

The evening atmosphere on the balcony was relaxing. Will came and joined Eric and you at some point. Then Christina got back home as well. One after the other found a spot on the balcony floor to squeeze in and contributed to a growing conversation.

It was warm instead of hot and Four provided everyone with beer. Tris suggested to head out to the beach all together soon. Everyone was all hyped for her plan and you hoped they wouldn’t notice that your excitement for that was just nonexistent. Nevertheless you enjoyed them making plans for everyone together. Christina didn’t exaggerate when she said, all those weeks ago when she suggested for you to move in, that all the roommates were like family.

Eric got out of one of the two lounge chairs. „Who wants pizza?“ And that question was the most rhetorical question he could’ve asked his roommates. Because everyone wanted pizza.

In this house pizza was made all by hand. So far the only pizza you had eaten here were takeouts someone brought home. The thought of completely self-made pizza sounded too good to be true.

Eric navigated his kitchen ‚staff‘. It seemed that when it came to pizza, he was the chef.

„Tris and Chris, you’re slicing the veggies. The guys can prep the tomato sauce.“ You waited to get a task too but so far he didn’t trust you with anything.

Eric grabbed flour from the shelf, oil and some water and yeast from the fridge. He placed it all in front of you on the countertop and fetched a bowl out of the cupboard. Balancing some sugar and salt down from the shelf, he came to stand right next to you.

„Did you ever make pizza dough yourself?“ He lowered his head a little for you to understand him better with the loud bantering about the vegetables that was going on behind your backs.

„Not really.“ You were a little overwhelmed. Not even cookie dough was within the realm of possibility for you.

„Wanna try?“ Eric’s voice sounded encouraging. He must’ve noticed the look of horror on your face.

„Don’t blame me if it’s gonna be a total mess.“

„No worries,“ he stated and he lowered his face a little more. „I’ll teach you step by step.“ His body came closer as well. It actually closed that little gap between your sides as he reached for the yeast. He crumbled it into lukewarm water and told you to add some salt and sugar. It had to set for ten minutes until you could continue with the flour. And during those ten minutes you realised that his body didn’t accidentally close that gap between your sides. Eric did it on purpose and he held it there. You sensed he gave you the chance to bring some space between you again but… you didn’t want to. You physically couldn’t, just couldn’t break the contact. It was way too intriguing, almost electrifying. And for ten minutes straight, he lowered his upper body to shield your nonchalant conversation about penguins – of course – from the others.

When the yeast-water-mix was ready, his following instructions were only whispers, so you had to keep close to him. Why was he doing that?

He added the mix to the flour, along with some oil, and dug his hands in to start kneading. The way his hands applied pressure, provided by his arms, made you… look. To say the least. To be honest, it turned into a very distracting sight. Eric kneading pizza dough? Come on. You had to give in and admit to yourself that this was something you couldn’t deny being totally sexy. The arm muscle escalation, whenever he flipped the dough and kneaded in once again set off a chain of thoughts you really didn’t want to have in a kitchen full of roommates.

„Wanna try?“ Eric asked with a brief glance in your direction, luckily unaware of your current admiration for his arms.

„Nah,“ you mumbled. In hopes to keep watching his arms. You were able to do so for a few more minutes. And were entirely embarrassed when you turned around to find Christina and Tris look at you with a mischievous grin on their lips. You deserved that.

From then on you kept a good distance between Eric and you. While the dough had to rest some. Later during making the pizzas and baking them. Only twice you met eyes with him during dinner. He probably didn’t even notice. After all, why did your brain make such a big deal about it? You were certainly not playing in Eric’s league nor was there even profound reason to think about that.

You were just roommates. Former enemies going onto maybe being some sort of friends.

And then there was a knocking on your wall again. Long, long, short. Long, short. GN. You turned to your wall and foolishly smiled at it. When you didn’t respond right away, the knocking was repeated.

Just as you wanted to knock good night as well your phone buzzed. For a second your pulse quickened, wondered if it was Eric because you didn’t respond soon enough.

You fished for your phone and unlocked it. It wasn’t Eric.

you were seen today

Your heart stopped for a second and then started beating in light speed all of a sudden. You opened the chat.

was that your new lover? already got someone new whose life you can fuck up?

or did you break up because of him?

The text messages didn’t end. Peter still understood very well how to provoke and intimidate you.

ANSWER ME

Do you think I’m just gonna let that sit???

You left the chat and threw it into your sheets. It bounced with a thud up and against the wall but you didn’t care. You searched hectically for a paper but all the clothes you grabbed were empty. The phone buzzed again. First you didn’t pick it up, scared it was Peter again. Then you rummaged around your sheets to find it because maybe it was Eric this time asking what that sound was. It wasn’t Eric. Again.

you’ll regret it. believe me y/n

/////

Taglist • @longlostinanotherworld • @dosentier • @dhunhdchrih • @coryisagee

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eeveecraft · 3 years

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Personal Log of Going into the Mindscape While Trying to Fall Asleep (Day 2)

This is the log of a tip I gave to people a few days ago to show the effectiveness of this advice. You can find the post about the tip here.

The actual log is below the cut:

Day 2: More building up this penthouse the best I can. By the way, Rylazide kinda just hangs around in the background, as I think he wants to let me work, but he does chime in a lot with idea and we talk while I’m doing my thing.

Anyway, so my next idea was to set up a kitchen proper because... a house needs a kitchen? This was no ordinary kitchen, but something you’d see in a chef’s studio.

You got this whole *row* of counters that took up almost the entire back wall where Rylazide’s orange juice bar was, an island counter with a huge stovetop in the middle; which the burners can be flipped and the stovetop can be turned into a gridle for pancakes, two oven-microwave combos near the entrance to the hallway, the “leftovers” fridge where already made food goes, ingredient fridges in some of the counters for cooking.

As a whole big addition, I added three whole pantries for regular pantry items, frozen items, and then refrigerated items. Each pantry was it’s own door on the right of the fridge next to the juice bar. In these pantries, all the cooking ingredients were stored. In the fridge pantry, you have veggies, fruits, meat, fish, miscellaneous, and dairy as separate ‘lockers,’ where you can access your desired ingredients by either searching for them, or selecting “view mode” where you can just look around.

For the regular pantry, you have staples 1 & 2, drink ingredients, snacks, canned goods, and broths. Regrettably for the freezer pantry, it’s not as developed yet, but I’ll get to it eventually. Maybe the sections for that can be frozen dishes 1 & 2, ice cream/frozen treats, meat, fish, and miscellaneous? Maybe. Guess it’s good to write it down. Each door also has it’s own icon like carrot for fridge pantry, ice cream cone for freezer pantry, and a soup can for regular pantry.

Like I mentioned, all of these have that futuristic:tm: aesthetic as in cyan lighting and circuit-style patterns in the objects, lots of the furniture is curvy instead of angular, and it’s got that sleek look. Oh, but don’t worry, not everything’s white, especially since the grooves in the furniture can change color, but it’s definitely got that feel.

After I set up the basics for the kitchen, I head on over to the bathroom to improve it and play around with the shower, but I work on it further on another day.

Another addition I did was add an L-shaped sofa and a coffee table next to the hot tub and the juice bar by the windows to add more stuff in that room and to just generally fill the floorspace like I would in Sims 4. However with this set, there’s a touch-pad on the left arm of the sofa with a bunch of configuration options.

For one, the sofa can extend like a recliner if you want to kick your feet up, but not only that, but there’s the option to alter the texture of the sofa. There’s three settings: furry for kind of a blanket feel, sleek for that smooth feel almost like leather, then the short setting for couches that have that short, yet fuzzy texture. So if the couch isn’t to your liking, you can just alter it to what feels best.

Oh, and I worked on the second lounge and got a couch, loveseat, and a coffee table set up on this platform. That, and I set up a fireplace, then a light hanging above the coffee table. It didn’t take very long, so I kind of forgot about it for a moment.

I think the last thing I did this day was set up some hanging plants near the windows on the opposite wall of the juice bar to continue to fill that space. One of the flowers I implemented was a “cake flower” where the petals would mimic different cake flavors. The flowers are also edible, too and they taste like the cake flavors the petals mimic.

Another oddity of being in a mindscape is that I have a tendency to ‘teleport’ around most of the time when I work on designing a new object instead of just walking there. It’s a good thing that I inevitably fall asleep because I wouldn’t know when to stop working on things since of course, I do this with my eyes closed to try and fall asleep.

I’m gonna go write the day 3 entry now.

Thanks for reading!

2-4-2021

#mindscape log #mindscape log 2 #log #blog #tulpamancy #mindscape #actuallyplural #plurality

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

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Mushroom Hunting at the End of the World

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While the rest of the country focused on something other than the forest floor, I started foraging for chanterelles

I’d been staring at the ground too long. That’s most of what foraging is, by the way. It’s ignoring the blue sky and the trees to focus your gaze on the dirt. I was walking through cobwebs, surveying the woodland floor for almost an hour, when I finally saw one: a tiny, pale chanterelle mushroom sticking up near the trail’s edge. It looked sickly, or at the very least elderly. Perhaps it was a sign that this section of the woods was untraveled, or maybe nobody had ever thought to pluck it from its habitat.

I peeled it from the ground with my paring knife and placed it into my netted, purple sack, which once housed grocery-store red onions. This lonely mushroom wasn’t the haul, mind you, but rather an indicator. When one chanterelle appears, more will follow. A few steps off the trail and they emerged in droves. Soon, my bag was filled with corpulent, spore-bearing fungi — big chanterelles with deep-orange hues and fantastical shapes, like something a Nintendo animator might draw.

Walking back with my giant bag of wild mushrooms, I ran into a couple, the first people I’d seen that day. We all scrambled to put on our masks at the distant sight of one another. “You get some chanties?” the man said in his familiar, spectacularly unusual Pittsburgh accent. “It’s a gold mine out there,” I said, trying unconsciously to disguise any hints of that same Pennsylvanian elocution. After they disappeared back into the woods, I put my mask in my pocket, where it stayed for the rest of the hike. For about 30 seconds, I was reminded that the rest of the world was focused on something other than the forest floor.

For about 30 seconds, I was reminded that the rest of the world was focused on something other than the forest floor.

A few years back I had tasted some wild mushroom conserva courtesy of my cousin, Andy, during a trip to my hometown in Pennsylvania. Andy is a budding locavore, a self-taught forager, and a mad scientist in the kitchen. His passion is infectious. Eighty percent of the meat he consumes, he hunts himself. He cures venison and butchers whole pigs in his garage.

That first spoonful of Andy’s mushrooms, meaty chanterelles salted in a strainer, then simmered in white vinegar with gothic-looking thyme and peppercorns, is preserved in my mind, so much so that I can access that memory whenever I want. The dim lighting in my parents’ dining room, Andy standing in the kitchen with his arms confidently folded, the sound of the Mason jar lid spinning loose, and the immense joy of my first bite — stocky chanterelle mushrooms, piquant vinegar, gentle aromatics, and then the brilliant opulence of olive oil, used to preserve the mixture.

I asked Andy if I could take a jar of them back home to Los Angeles, and he obliged. Every so often, I unscrewed the lid for a small bite. I would close my eyes and feel the cold air in my hometown. If I listened carefully, I could hear the train whistles in the distance. Those mushrooms became a portal to my hometown, a culinary object so emotionally resonant, so distinct from the food I bought at my grocery store in California, that I always longed to forage and conserve a jar of my own.

I began to miss rural Pennsylvania as the pandemic encroached into summer. Like a lot of people, I felt trapped in the big city, and so in June, I went home. In Pennsylvania, everybody’s houses are set at a distance, but everyone barters home provisions, ranging from venison pastrami to crooked cucumbers to gargantuan zucchini. The summer is when the Amish sell sweet corn, and when the berry farms open their orchards. The old-timey ice cream shops end their winter break, and people start roasting whole pigs and marinated legs of lamb. It was also not lost on me that a hot, wet climate is the ideal condition for chanterelles, and that this would be the perfect time to chase that dragon: the jar of preserved mushrooms.

Once I began mushroom hunting, the calm followed. I embraced foraging, an oft-maligned word after the chef-bro boom of the 2010s. If your reaction is to recoil, you’re not alone. Before my mushroom-hunting days, I usually laughed when I saw the word “foraged” on a menu or in a magazine. Oh, did you really go out foraging, m’Lord?

The first time I went, I rode in the passenger seat of Andy’s car, down the winding rural roads of Amish country. To be honest, I didn’t immediately connect with foraging; the experience felt educational. Of course, when you’re dealing with something that can be either good in a stir-fry, consciousness-expanding, or deadly, education is important. Poisonous mushrooms actually look evil, though, an offer of good faith from Mother Nature. They often have a sinister gray or red color, with warts and scales reminiscent of the toxic fungi in fairy-tale illustrations. Andy made sure to teach me enough that I didn’t end up hallucinating through the woods — or, worse yet, dead.

People in my hometown definitely don’t fall into the stereotype of knuckle-tatted, beanie-wearing “foragers,” but they’re pretty keen on the good mushroom spots. There’s an old Polish woman, for instance, whose stiff, territorial energy I can feel whenever I show up to Gaston Park the day after a rain. Because I didn’t want to move in on another gang’s turf, I had Andy show me a few of his favorite areas. Still, it didn’t feel right: These were his discoveries, not mine. I wanted to make my own way. I wanted that excitement of stumbling across a rare mushroom, of encountering a field of freshly sprouted chanterelles. I wanted to find my own mushroom haven, and so I went to Hell’s Hollow.

daveynin/Flickr

A view from the Hell’s Hollow Trail in McConnells Mill State Park, Pennsylvania

Hell’s Hollow is a national park and trail in New Castle, Pennsylvania, about a mile down the road from my childhood home. Apparently, it’s called Hell’s Hollow because some time ago a man fell asleep in those woods, and when he woke up, he was convinced that the place he was in was actually Hell. Are the woods deep and dark? Sure. Spooky at night? Yeah, of course. But, Hell? As in the place where sinners go and are tormented for eternity? Like, Satan-owned and -operated Hell? I scoff at the idea whenever I pass the old wooden sign for the trail. What kind of idiot would think that the woods is Hell? It’s beautiful out here. I mean look, there’s a flowing river. Why would the Devil keep a freshwater source in an eternity of suffering? Rule No. 1 of Hell must be to stay hydrated. Rule No. 2? No running.

Hell’s Hollow has been a constant throughout my life. When I was a kid, my mom and dad let me splash around the creek trying to catch minnows and small crabs. When I was 10, I gleefully collected rocks and declared that I was going to be a geologist (my family would be disappointed). As teens, my friends and I smoked shag weed and smashed cans of Mountain Dew together like Stone Cold Steve Austin there. The point is, I’ve been wandering around Hell’s Hollow my whole life, and it never dawned on me that I would ever find myself foraging there. But sure enough, it was my spot.

I did not expect hunting for mushrooms to clear my head the way it did. People say that about prep work, by the way. They say that peeling potatoes and kneading dough lets the mind wander and alleviates stress. But, to me, prep work is just that: work. Dicing onions pierces the eyes, lemon juice stings, and I will always associate chopping parsley with the incoming threat of a dinner rush at one of my restaurant jobs. When people say that cooking soothes the mind, they’re not taking into account all the people who do this shit for a living. What are those people supposed to do to get away from themselves? For me, I found that wandering in the woods alone with a sense of purpose was exactly the thing I needed to weather the fire tornado of anxiety the pandemic had produced.

The act of foraging, a completely unchanged activity in a pandemic, possesses the acute ability to make me forget about the state of things entirely. Specifically, it was easy to forget about a global virus. Hunting for mushrooms in the woods alone is already distanced; there are no guidelines to follow. Walk down the street in Los Angeles and you’re immediately reminded that restaurants are shut down and live performance spaces are shuttered. But in the woods? Go ahead — sneeze full force in any direction you please. Let off some steam, pal. You’ve earned it. Sure, I had a mask, but it stayed in my pocket on the off chance that I ran into another human being, though I was more likely to spot a deer.

When I’m hunting for mushrooms it feels like I’m achieving something tangible.

This wasn’t just a way to pass time, mind you. These weren’t nature walks I was taking. There’s a sense of ambition at the core of mushroom hunting. Purpose, the thing so many of us have felt without this year, I suddenly possessed. When there’s purpose, there’s a sense of reward, and when I’m hunting for mushrooms it feels like I’m achieving something tangible. All my energy is focused, my aim clear. Instead of staring at the ceiling in my studio apartment, I found myself scanning the ground for edible treasure. The dopamine you receive from finding a cluster of chanterelle mushrooms in the damp woods is immense, somehow both frivolous and survivalist. There’s a real sense of childlike treasure-hunting tied to foraging.

Take the elusive cauliflower mushroom, Sparassis, which is as rare as mushrooms come. They grow sporadically; their appearance is psychedelic and aquatic. It looks coral in a way, like a living, breathing self-sustaining organism that belongs at the bottom of the ocean. Jarring, then, to find one surrounded by leaves and mossy logs. The mushroom itself is wavy and ethereal, with petals like a flower. It’s so rare that when Andy and I found one, he jumped in the air with excitement. For seven years he had been hunting for a cauliflower mushroom, and he finally got it. His triumph felt like my triumph, and in a way, it was. Later, I fried the petals of the cauliflower mushroom in oil and ate them salted. The texture was outstanding and the flavor delicate, like a homemade noodle but with the specific earthiness of a fungus. “How many people are eating a cauliflower mushroom right now?” I thought.

I felt like jumping in the air like Andy when I spotted that lone, feeble chanterelle in Hell’s Hollow. To reach that first chantie was a hero’s journey, past a path that leads to a dazzling waterfall, down a steep hill, across a stream, and through a tunnel of decaying trees. The air starts to cool down and a trained nose can begin to smell the faint notes of mushrooms in the air. Clusters of chanterelles appear like small towns; they are golden trumpets that politely announce their presence with colorful glee. Oyster mushrooms grow shelf-like on the sides of trees, and chicken of the woods, these endlessly useful and tasty orange half-moons, light up your eyes like a gorgeous sunset. That’s the thing about wild mushrooms — once you see them, you can’t unsee them. After an education in foraging, you’ll be forever scanning your surroundings, trying to manifest treasure.

As I carried back my sack of mushrooms that first time, I thought about that man who woke up in Hell’s Hollow in the night. How must he have felt? Aimless, one would assume. Probably searching for a way out of the darkness. Disoriented, without a clue where he might be in relation to the outside world. Maybe that’s what Hell is. Maybe it’s quite simply feeling lost and alone. The pandemic can feel like that, as though you’re traversing an endless dark wilderness hoping to catch a light in the distance that’ll guide you back to society. But is that a new feeling? Hasn’t it always been that way? Maybe all of life has just been wandering in the dark.

Anyway, I’m glad to be walking through the woods with a purpose.

Danny Palumbo is a comedian and writer living in Los Angeles.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2JUbLZq https://ift.tt/3korg8w

Getty Images

While the rest of the country focused on something other than the forest floor, I started foraging for chanterelles

For about 30 seconds, I was reminded that the rest of the world was focused on something other than the forest floor.

daveynin/Flickr

A view from the Hell’s Hollow Trail in McConnells Mill State Park, Pennsylvania

When I’m hunting for mushrooms it feels like I’m achieving something tangible.

Anyway, I’m glad to be walking through the woods with a purpose.

Danny Palumbo is a comedian and writer living in Los Angeles.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2JUbLZq via Blogger https://ift.tt/38Dk0DK

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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nora-medina · 4 years

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Intro Post

◊ ♫ ◊— look what the cat dragged in! that’s NORA MEDINA and SHE/HER is an around 25-year-old REGULAR to the store, but they’ve been in the neighborhood for FOUR YEARS. I think they are a FOOD COLUMN WRITER and I overheard them listening to NOW I’M IN IT by HAIM and, I dunno man, it seemed pretty fitting. Like, call me shallow but I look at them and think of MONICA BARBARO and FLOUR DUSTED JEANS, CAN’T EAT WITHOUT TAKING A PICTURE FOR THE GRAM, MUSIC ALWAYS DRIFTING OUT FROM THE KITCHEN WINDOW. (ooc info: summer, she/her, est, 25)

Hi all! I’m Summer and this here is my babe Nora. I took a dash of Florence Pugh’s instagram cooking, a 10 season binge of Top Chef during quarantine and a sprinkle of the Bon Appetit test kitchen and made this hustler.

~'Cause now I'm in it ~ But I've been trying to find my way back for a minute ~ And the rain keeps coming down along the ceiling ~ And I can hear it But I can't feel it, oh ~

+ Driven, Hardworking, Creative, Considerate

- Sarcastic, Workaholic, Neurotic

Work: Runs @noraskitchen on instagram, recipe tester and writer for NY Time Out magazine

Tattoos: Inner Right Wrist [x] Inner Left Wrist [x]

Scars: Marks from little nicks cover her hands from cooking, she has a small red scar from a cookie tray burn on the inside of her left arm

Nora grew up in North Jersey and moved to NYC after her senior year of high school to study journalism at NYU

Sophomore year she realized her desired lifestyle far exceeded her meager savings account, so she took a job at a popular coffee shop among students to make some extra cash, showing up at 5 am each morning to assist the baker preparing the daily fresh breads, pastries and bagels.

The job peaked her interest in food, and she began her food instagram her near the end of her sophomore year called @noraskitchen, where she made tasty one pan dinners on a hot plate in her dorm room. Initially her only followers were her overly supportive friends, but by the end of her junior year, the blog videos actually gained some traction on campus, and she had a huge influx of followers from her fellow NYU students.

Senior year she gave up a lot of partying and fun nights with friends to work in a kitchen, picking up a job at a small but popular restaurant in Greenwich Village. The job really helped develop her basic skills and techniques, which all came into play with insta videos. She quote, unquote, went viral right before graduation, when a celebrity found her videos and put one of her videos on their story. The popularity that followed was quite overwhelming.

In her videos she often appears slightly frazzled as she cracks self deprecating jokes in peak millennial humor, always very clearly having a great time with herself while she created delicious and usually uncomplicated food.

After graduation, she began to work and train in the kitchen full time under the same talented chef while she half heartily hunted for a job in journalism. She began to consider doubling down in her insta career when she got a call from Time Out magazine who had seen her instagram, offering her a bi monthly recipe column to follow their restaurant reviews, along with alternating postings in the food & drink section on their online presence. Without hesitating she took the job, leaving the kitchen that trained her to continue the brand of ‘Nora’s Kitchen’.

Now she balances writing for Time Out and putting out daily content on her instagram. She rarely sleeps more than five hours, and is attempting to live that life of having your cake and eating it too. She moved to Crown Heights shortly after quitting the kitchen. She is a hustler who is occasionally manic and often stressed, but she’s always doing her best.

She has an older brother who moved to New York City a few years before she made her own way there. They meet up once a month to take the train to Jersey together for a Sunday dinner at home, and usually end up grabbing lunch together once or twice between trips home.

After sharing her apartment with a "lifestyle blogger” who she met through a self-marketing class for a year, Nora briefly considered leaving Crown Heights because she couldn’t take the gut wrenching guilt of telling the girl should couldn’t bare to resign the lease with her. However “destiny” (a direct quote from Veronica) intervened and her ex-roommate decided to go backpacking and eat pray love her way through Thailand from the gram. Nora dropped Veronica off at JFK with a grin before turning around to go pick up an old friend from college, Julius Rowe, who was going to move into her newly empty room that same night.

She also picks up extra work at the Bean Brew to make some extra cash, baking fresh muffins, scones, pastries and occasionally bagels twice a week.

Wanted Connections

Coming soonish - when I haven’t just gotten off a night shift :)

#fr.intro #this became a summary of her career but oh well #she had to build the brand #i promise to proof read this later

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larkiwrites · 4 years

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“Redemption” Ch 17

AU: Supernatural Title: Redemption Chapter: Seventeen Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Reader, Bobby Singer Word Count: 2,008 Pairing: Getting There…. Warnings: None A/N: This chapter flips between (Y/N)’s POV and more of Dean’s POV(ish). Sorry there’s been a lot of delays lately :-/

Chapter Sixteen | Chapter Eighteen | Masterlist

(Divider graphic by the lovely TalesManiac89)

You awoke to find yourself still lying against Dean in the backseat of the Impala. You nearly jumped as you hurried to sit upright, pulling yourself away from his warmth. He shifted slightly and mumbled something in response to your haste movements. Glancing back toward him you realized that he must have dozed off at some point, as well. You put distance between the two of you as the small backseat allowed.

“Hey, sleep ok?” Sam’s soft voice asked, pulling your attention on Dean. The young Winchester glanced at you through the rear-view mirror.

“Erm, yeah- f, fine,” you stuttered, your face heating up in embarrassment at having fallen asleep on Dean.

“Good,” Sam directed his focus back to the road, leaving you without his prying eyes. You couldn’t tell if he was judging you or not but tried to let it go and simply pretend it hadn’t happened.

“How far are we?” You asked through a yawn.

“About an hour outside of Sioux Falls, so not too much further. We’ve made good time.”

“And we’re going to stay there? At Bobby’s?”

“Yeah, we usually crash at his place for a night or two depending on how much we’ve got going on.”

“Ok,” you nodded, taking it in. You didn’t know Bobby, and in some aspects, you felt you didn’t know Sam or Dean, either. Your eyes found their way to the window. Watching the scenery go by was the only thing that really felt familiar with at this point and it was comforting to stare lazily out at it.

---

Dean woke about ten minutes outside of Bobby’s, looking as confused and groggy as you had felt when you had woken. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and yawned.

“Heya Sammy, where’re we at?”

“Nearly there.”

“Food?”

Sam chuckled, “Yeah, we’ll figure something out when we get there.”

“We’ll have to hit that diner in town, they’ve got—”

“The best cherry pie, I know, I know,” Sam finished his brother’s sentence.

You stifled a laugh. Ok, maybe you knew the brothers at…least a little.

Sam pulled the Impala under an archway that announced “Singer Salvage” in faded letters, into what appeared to be a run-down junkyard. Cars that were clearly out of commission littered the lot, along with random parts and scrap metal. The house that stood on the property was old. The paint on the siding was weathered and chipped, the grand porch leaned slightly, and the roof needed to be patched. Despite the wear and tear, the two-story building looked like it once been a proud building.

Sam led you up the short staircase to the front door while Dean grabbed the bags from the trunk of the car. You waited, your arms folded across your abdomen, as Sam rapped on the sturdy wooden entrance. Dean joined you just as the door was pulled open into the home, revealing a middle-aged man with gray scruff, an old baseball cap, and a faded flannel over-shirt. Feeling a sense of deja-vu rush over you, your eyes darted between him and the two Winchester brothers standing next to you. Each of the two brothers also donned a faded flannel over-shirt with worn blue jeans and boots, looking oddly similar to the man you presumed to be Bobby.

“Well ain’t you a sight for sore eyes, boys,” he smiled and pulled them each into a swift hug. He then turned his watery blue gaze to you, “And who’d you bring with ya?”

“Bobby, this is (Y/N),” Dean answered, nudging his head toward you, “(Y/N), this is Bobby.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” you said, giving him a brief smile.

Bobby returned your smile and opened the weathered door further, allowing the three of you inside. You followed Dean through the entry way and into a room cluttered with stacks of books and papers eye-high on every surface. What little interior you could make out under the endless piles appeared to be just as faded and worn as the exterior of the home.

“C’mon, (Y/N), I’ll show you the spare room,” Sam said from behind you. He took your pillowcase of clothing from Dean and headed up a flight of stairs. The wooden steps creaked under your weight and you found yourself secretly glad that Sam had gone ahead. If the stairs could support him then they could certainly hold you.

The room he led you to was the least-cluttered you had seen so far. The bed looked to be a full or a queen and was adorned with a plain tan quilt. There was an old side table with an antiquated lamp next to the headboard and a chest of drawers on the opposite wall.

“You can sleep here for now,” Sam motioned into the room as he stopped in the doorway. He handed you the pillowcase of clothing as you hesitantly passed by him and entered the modest room. You sat your things on the bed before you turned back to him.

“Where are you and Dean going to sleep?”

“He usually crashes on the couch and I usually fall asleep on a computer,” he shrugged as the two of you began to make your way back down the stairs. You nodded, not sure what to say. The image of Sam asleep on a keyboard seemed more than normal for him, and you found yourself wondering if he had ever drooled onto one before. Would it short-circuit?

“All settled?” Dean asked as you, pulling you from your train of thought as you and Sam joined him and Bobby in the main room. You hummed a yes and nodded in response to him.

“Great!” he clapped his hands together and flashed you and Sam a brilliant smile, “Let’s go hit that diner…”

---

Bobby had declined the offer to join the three of you for dinner, insisting he had some research to work on. You found yourself wondering if he was in the same line of work that the Winchesters were in but didn’t ask, following the boys back to the car instead.

The diner wasn’t too far from the salvage yard, not more than a ten-minute drive, and you were thrilled. You couldn’t remember the last time you ate something substantial, even if it wasn’t a home-cooked meal.

The three of you slid into the seats of a booth, Dean sitting opposite of you and Sam. He ordered a slice of cherry pie the moment the waitress appeared, hardly giving her a chance to even introduce herself. You had to stifle a laugh as Sam rolled his eyes.

“The pie’s really that good?” You asked the boys after the middle-aged woman left to get your drinks.

“Sweetheart, you’ve no idea,” Dean flashed another dazzling grin.

Sweetheart. The first time he had called you that it had been a sarcastic quip and had infuriated you to no end. Then a more recent memory flashed across your mind; one of Dean trying to unhook you from the chain over the river. He had called you sweetheart then, too. It wasn’t facetious that time, however. It was desperate and gentle. Now his tone was that of humor and, maybe even kindness? It didn’t seem to even occur to him that he had once again used the term. Why did you notice? You shook your head, directing your attention back to the menu in front of you. You doubted you would ever unravel the endless mystery of Dean Winchester.

“Know what you want?” Sam’s elbow nudged you as he asked.

You cleared your throat, “No… yes… well; everything. I’m starving, what do you guys recommend?”

Sam suggested the chef salad just as Dean suggested a bacon cheeseburger with fries. The younger Winchester shook his head at his brother, insisting he would die of a heart attack before he hit forty. Dean had rolled his eyes, insisting if that was the case then at least he’d die happy from eating the world’s most delicious food.

The three of you ordered and ate your food in record time. Sam suggested hitting a store to restock supplies before heading back to Bobby’s for the night. Dean navigated the streets, obviously familiar to him, and brought you to the local Wal-Mart. Apparently they were inexpensive and have nearly everything you needed for the moment.

“(Y/N), why don’t you go get some more clothes & stuff?” Sam pointed in the direction you would need to head as you entered the store. You hesitated, you couldn’t argue that you wanted more supplies, but you hated that they paid for everything.

“(Y/N),” Dean spoke up, as if reading your mind, “You earned that fifty, remember? Besides, getting you the few things that you need is the least we can do after—” he trailed off awkwardly before clearing his throat. Sam nodded in agreement, glancing between the two of you. You sighed but assented and headed off on your own while Dean made his way toward the food section and Sam headed for first aid supplies.

You met up with the brothers not long after, having found what you needed. You took the liberty of grabbing some actual body wash, shampoo, and conditioner as well. If you kept doing the bar soap thing, you would die.

Dusk was setting in by the time you reached Bobby’s once more. You took your things upstairs, ecstatic to shower with your new-found prizes. Sam laughed as you took the steps two at a time, not caring to hide your excitement. You didn’t care about anything at this point other than sliding into a hot shower.

---

*Dean’s POV

“Where’s she off to in such a hurry?” Bobby asked the boys as (Y/N) disappeared from view.

“Something about new shampoo,” Sam laughed, shaking his head.

The three men made their way into the kitchen to grab a beer. Sam took a seat at the table, opening his laptop and kicking it on. Dean leaned against the counter, taking a beer from Bobby’s outstretched hand, before the older man moved to offer one to Sam. He sat in the seat opposite of the younger Winchester, cracking the beer open and taking a sip.

“Did you manage to find anything?” Dean questioned after a sip of his own drink.

“Nah, not yet, but I’m still looking. It might take some time to find the bastard, hell, he might not have even left the last place.”

“You think we should head back there?” Sam’s brows raised as he looked to his brother.

Dean ran a hand down his face in exasperation, “Hell if I know, Sammy. Probably- it is possible he stayed put when we left.”

“But he knows that you boys know where he is, now. He could just as easily have taken off when you did,” Bobby chimed in.

“Well, we could wait here and watch for signs, or we could head back and at least try to catch him before he takes off, if he hasn’t yet,” Dean sounded as if it was a no-brainer.

Sam could tell his brother’s mind was made up, “Alright, you want to back at first light …?”

Dean’s piercing green eyes met his brother’s gaze and he shook his head, “No, we should go sooner, rather than later. I don’t want to risk losing him if we can help it.”

“I’ll grab our stuff,” Sam offered, shutting the laptop and packing it up. He headed out of the room while Dean nursed his beer.

“Don’t worry about your girl, she’ll be safe here,” Bobby’s eyes found Dean’s as he spoke. Dean’s jaw clenched before he nodded silently in return. He wasn’t going to argue with the man about (Y/N) being ‘his girl,’ he didn’t care as long as she was safe. He and Sam would take care of the demon that had held her captive and taken over a small town in Ohio. Once they were sure he wouldn’t be able to bother (Y/N) again, they would come back to Bobby’s and explain everything to her.

---

Next Chapter

#larkiwrites #larkiwrites redemption #supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural fanfic #spn fanfiction #spn fanfic #dean winchester #sam winchester #eventual dean x reader #slow burn #reader insert #reader pov #y/n #bobby singer #supernatural au

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all-hail-the-witcher · 4 years

Text

one expensive can of easy cheese

crack head hours my kids

also inspired by a hot guy i saw at walgreens today

the walgreens chaos returns

______

ship: ralbert

genre: crackhead angst

words: who knows, not super long

warnings: mentions of a twine kink, easy cheese, concussions, walgreens, race thinks another guy is hot, uhhh, hot men in scrubs, minor bits of violence, new yorkers been new yorkers, albert is a dumbass, race is more of a dumbass

editing: nah

_____

Race was sat on top of the counter in his and Albert’s apartment, a piece of duct tape over his mouth and his hands tied together with kitchen twine. He sighed against his restraints, resigned to watch his boyfriend make their contribution to this year’s Thanksgiving gathering: mac and cheese.

Now, of course everyone and their mother knew that mac and cheese was not a Traditional Thanksgiving Food. But, Albert had won (best out of three) mario kart yesterday so he had gotten to decide what they would bring to Jack’s house. Had Race known that he had been planning to make mac and fucking cheese, maybe he would have tried a little harder.

Apparently, Albert was not pleased with Race’s reaction to his decision to make mac and cheese, and thought that Race might try to get in the way somehow (which he may or may not have fully intended to do). So he did what any loving boyfriend would: sat him on the counter, put duct tape over his mouth and tied his hands together so he wouldn’t interfere.

Race was beginning to wonder why he had agreed to move in with Albert in the first place.

With a violent shake of his head and one final spat, he was able to dislodge the duct tape.

“Albieeeeee,” he whined, laying down on the counter. “Can you pleaaaaaaaseee let me helllllllllp?”

Albert barely glanced up as he pulled the big wooden spoon out of the pot and gave it a thoughtful lick. “Hmmmmmmm. No.”

“But-!” He wriggled around to give Albert his best puppy dog eyes. “Can I make something else then? Ple-OW!” He glared at the spatula that had been hurled at his arm. “You apologize for that!”

“Nah.” He smirked and went back to stirring his wretched pasta. Well, actually Albert’s mac and cheese was quite good. Race was just salty that he was making it for Thanksgiving when it was very well known that he was the chef of the two and Jack was expecting something good not the mac and cheese Albert famously made at 2am in college when they were all high as hell.

“Can you at least untie me then?”

“No.” Albert even bother considering this time.

“Well.” If logic wasn't going to work on Albert he would have to try another method. “I know you know how to make a guy feel good Albie, but I never expected ropes to be a part of it. What’s next? Handcuffs? Whips? Chains?”

In two seconds flat Race was out of his kitchen twine bonds and flexing his sore wrists.

“Man Albie, who knew you had a twine kink.”

“You know,” Albert began loudly, as if thinking that his loudness would cover up his totally obvious twine kink, “if you want to do something that's actually useful, you could go to Walgreens and buy me another can of Easy Cheese.”

“Is that what you put in your fuckin mac and cheese?” Race swore he actually felt bile rise in the back of his throat when Albert nodded. “That’s it. I’m never eating your mac and cheese again.”

“But-!”

“I’ll eat you though,” Race winked, taking a moment to enjoy the startled, yet somehow pleased look on his boyfriend’s face.

“Not until after we’re done at Jack’s.” Albert said only half jokingly as he dug around in his pocket for a second before throwing a crumpled five at Race. “In the meantime though, be gone thot!”

Race barely managed to catch the bill without falling on the floor, but still blew a kiss to Albert before walking out of the apartment.

Who the fuck puts easy cheese in mac and cheese? He wondered for the millionth time as he stomped the three blocks to Walgreens. Albert claimed that he had chosen his apartment for its proximity to the store, but up until today Race had always assumed that he had been joking. The man did make a lot of mac and cheese and if Easy Cheese was an ingredient well….maybe there was some truth to that story after all.

Race pulled open the door to the Walgreens, pausing briefly to wonder why the absolute fuck it was open on literal Thanksgiving before remembering that it was a fucking Walgreens and why wouldn’t it be open to sell his dumbass boyfriend a can of fucking Easy Cheese.

In order to get to the Easy Cheese, or at least he assumed so because he had never bought a can of Easy Cheese in his whole glorious 25 years of life, Race had to walk past the Pharmacy section of the store. And, it just so happened that there was a guy sitting behind the counter at the Pharmacy. A very attractive guy. With a beard. In scrubs.

Now, of course Race loved Albert and nothing would ever change that, but he could appreciate an attractive man when he saw one. He thanked whatever deity was out there for the bit of man candy that he had been granted and went in search of his Easy Cheese.

“Mac and cheese, velveta cheese, microwaveable mac and cheese, where the fuck is the- oh thank fuck there we go.” He pulled a can of Easy Cheese off of the shelf, tossing it once and catching it before turning to go pay for the horrendous product, happy to finally be done with the whole ordeal when-

“Easy cheese? Really?”

Race whirled around to see Mr. Man Candy himself leaning against the opposite shelf. “Wh- who?”

“Oh,” he dusted his hand off on his scrubbs, “allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brett O’Hare. And you, sir, are a disgrace to society. The very reason why so many Americans are in poor health in this day and age.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“The Easy Cheese!” Brett gestured wildly toward the can in Race’s hand. “Gosh do you even know how many preservatives are in that stuff? And all the cancers that it can cause? It’s terrible. We wouldn’t need free healthcare if people just stopped eating Easy Cheese!”

Race had lived in New York City his whole life, and he had seen some pretty strange things, but never had he seen a pharmacist in a Walgreens lecture anyone about the health benefits of Easy Cheese.

“So let me get this straight,” Race rubbed his head, trying to make sense of the situation. “You go around yelling at people about the ingredients in the things that they are purchasing?”

“Yeah.”

“You do realize that this is a Walgreens, right? Everything in here probably contains some kind of chemical.” New Yorkers never ceased to amaze him.

“All the more reason for me to inform them of their poor eating habits!” Brett pointed a finger at him. “And stop distracting me! You’re the one buying the freaking easy cheese here!”

“It’s not even for me!” Race shouted back. “It’s for my boyfriend’s fucking mac and cheese that he insisted on making for Thanksgiving even though everyone knows that mac and cheese is not a fucking Thanksgiving food and he’s only making it cause he knocked me off the goddamn rainbow road right before the fucking finish line!” Race was fuming but the time that he was done.

“Oh, man I’m so sorry, that's lousy.”

Race looked surprised. Of all the things that he thought he would get out of this Walgreens experience, a therapy session was indeed not on the list. But neither had been hearing a lecture about the preservatives in Easy Cheese from a pharmacist.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re still buying Easy Cheese!” Between one second and the next, Brett had grabbed the can of Easy Cheese out of Race’s hand, wielding it like a brick. “Buy some fucking vegetables!”

And with that, he struck Race over the head with the can of Easy Cheese.

Now, Race had definitely done some questionable things during his life. Once he had slept on the roof of his dorm building in January for a week because he lost his dorm key, and another time he had been tricked into making an entire wedding cake using salt. However, being smacked over the head with a can of Easy Cheese by a health nut in scrubs on Thanksgiving put any and all other situations he had been in to shame.

He opened his eyes, suddenly blinded by the lights, and reached for his phone, muttering curses about man candy and vegetables. Squinting so he didn’t have to look at the screen, he somehow managed to dial Albert.

“Racetrack Higgins, where is my Easy Cheese?”

Race pulled the phone away from his ear and winced at the sound of his boyfriend’s voice. “Um, it may have been used to give me a concussion by a health nut in scrubs?”

Albert let out a loud sigh. “Ah man, did you run into Brett? That guy’s the worst.”

“Wait, you know him?”

“Race, I know every Walgreens employee in Manhattan, of course I know Brett.” There was the jangling of keys in the background. “I thought I told you to go to the one on 4th for this reason, ah, well. I’m on my way. I’ll take you to urgent care. Hang tight.”

Race’s head hurt too much to process what Albert had said except for the words ‘I’m on my way.’ “Okay,” he sighed.

“Love you.”

“Love you too.” Race’s eyes focused on the dented can of Easy Cheese rolling on the floor. “And Al?”

“Yeah?”

“This is going to be one expensive can of Easy Cheese.”

______

that was a ride

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#saphie scribbles #newsies #newsies fic #ralbert #racetrack higgins #albert dasilva #walgreens au #i hate my branding thanks #this actually came out good #im surprises #happy thanksgiving my kids

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talltalesandbedtimestories · 4 years

Text

The Hunter Who Loved Me (Part 1)

Series Page

Characters/Pairing: Dean Winchester, Castiel, Jack Kline, Dean x OFC

Series Summary: Part Three of Some Sunny Day. Dean's trying to balance his new relationship with Julie and his need to hunt. How long can he keep it from her? And can Julie keep her curiosity at bay?

Section Word Count: 6300

Section Content: language, fluff, dirty talk, smut, Domestic!Dean, Slight Dom!Dean

How did I get so lucky? That this was turning into just another day in her life with Dean Winchester made her shake her head. This has to be what it feels like to win the lottery.

Julie sprayed the top of the sliding glass door with a window cleaner. She took time to enjoy all the sexiness on the other side of the glass, the view of Dean in her backyard, while attending to her household chore. A few final touches and Dean would be done with the assembly. Crouched down and bent at the knees, Dean added some utensil hooks to the side of the grill. Unknowing, he was giving her all of that gorgeous, serious profile of his to study. Sunshine streaked through his hair and flamed the fiery orange-red tips incognito most of the time. She wiped away the cleaner slipping over her view.

The grill had been an impromptu purchase on her end the weekend before. She and Dean had gone to, of all places, a home improvement store together. He had noticed a couple things around her house that needed fixing. But he wanted to run the ideas past her and some options before he went ahead and did anything. It was very domestic and thoughtful of him. It brought a huge grin to her face.

He’d snuck a peck on her cheek when they were alone in the garden and patio center, talking about the drop in price of some seasonal stuff. His eyes lit up at a behemoth gas grill. He whistled and spouted off the stats: three burners, one on the side, plus a sear station burner to boot. The sucker could deliver 60,000 BTUs, which according to Dean, was awesome. Those meaty, handy fingers of his glided over the stainless steel top. Julie heated up.

It was decided that since Julie was throwing Brigida a surprise birthday party that following weekend and the October weather was pleasant enough, why not buy a grill and make it an outdoor affair. Most of the guests would end up outside anyway. Would Dean be keen on manning the meat for her? Julie tossed the unintentional innuendo out and had the six foot plus Adonis blushing in the middle of the display floor.

Satisfied with the streak free glass, Julie went out to check on Dean’s status. He leaned up from his work position and smiled. “All good. She’s ready for action. Just lit her up.”

Julie nodded, sighing in relief. “Cutting it close.” A couple hours from now the guests would arrive. And Brigida would definitely be on time, if not earlier, an hour after that.

“Yeah. But, it only took me threatening three store clerks at nine am this morning. Pulled a working igniter out of the floor model to get this baby up and running.” He waved both hands in the air with a flourish. “Now, we’re golden. No more nose crinkles. The meat’s marinating in your fridge.” He cocked a thumb over to Wes and Samuel’s house. “They’ve got the booze covered and some side dishes.”

“You need me to dash out for anything else before I finish up my food and the cookies to go along with the ice cream cake?”

He shook his head and drew her in by the waist, their bodies snug. “You trust me with all that fire power?”

Her hand rubbed over his vintage AC/DC t-shirt right under the collar. Sweat stippled his brow from the running around and grill tweaking. The mix of it with his sharp, clean soap scent got her warm and tingly. God, how does he make sexy so effortless? “You can handle it. I’m no Prometheus. You should worry more about my mom trying to take over the grill once she gets here.”

“Hey, it’s her birthday. If she wants the tongs and spatula, I’ll hand them over and be her sous chef.”

Julie smiled. “She’d probably love that.”

He grinned and bent down to dust her bottom lip with his mouth. “How many we gotta feed again?”

She rattled off the memorized total. “Twenty-two, not including us. Fifteen adults, three kids, two teenagers, and two dogs.”

Dean tipped his head. “Piece of cake.”

Julie smirked. “Not pie?”

His fingers flirted over the denim covering her ass. “Saving your pie for later.” He leaned down again for a deeper kiss.

Julie’s backyard had never seen such activity. Lawn chairs scattered over the freshly mowed lawn. Stacey and Carl’s two older children, Evan, 10, and Rory, 7, played cornhole in the driveway. Brigida had latched onto their youngest boy, two year old Dylan, right after everyone had given her a Happy Birthday surprise welcome. Karen’s boyfriend, Carter, the New York Mergers and Acquisitions lawyer, Wes, and Carl kept Dean company by the grill. He seared chicken, flipped hot dogs, checked and rechecked the pork ribs, sipped his beer, and took doneness requests for the beef burgers.

Samuel chatted under the covered patio with Karen, Stacey, Cat and her partner Sheila, along with the handful of Brigida’s Little Italy neighbors that had made the short trek out of the city to celebrate. Karen’s teenage boys hid most of the time, busy on their phones under the shade of the carport. Julie attempted to involve Karen’s oldest, Khaleel - a sullen 16 who more than likely wanted to be anywhere else - asking if he would man the playlist blaring out of the portable bluetooth speaker. The younger by two years, Kevin, emerged from his cocoon to explain TikTok to Dean. The explanation only furrowed the cook’s brow even more.

Julie caught Dean’s this-is-for-the-guests smile settle into the I’m-actually-kinda-glad-to-see-you version when Cas and Jack finally showed up. Cas had picked up some weekend shifts to make ends meet. Jack was still working his side job as much as he could, balancing school, to save up for his trip to Texas over Winter Break. He was going to MIRL with this fantasy girl if it was the last thing he ever did. At least, that was the confession he had told Julie as the four hung out for a movie and pizza over Dean’s a month back.

Cas took his usual post at Dean’s right side by the grill. Julie glanced over every so often at the comical duo. Somewhere between Abbott and Costello and Martin and Lewis. Dean monitored his friend’s interactions with the new group of men. If Cas needed to pull back on the conversation a bit or shift to another topic, Dean cued him with a slight shake of a head or cough. Cas held his beer in a fierce grip and mimicked Dean when he took a sip. God, there is so much codependency there. What they hell did they go through together? Dean gave Jack a pair of tongs and had him man the second round of dogs. Jack smiled from ear to ear like a teenager getting the keys to the car after passing his driver’s license. And, he’s like a second dad to that kid.

As was always the case in hosting, and determined to not have her mom lift a finger, Julie barely had time to relax or eat for the first hour of the party. She made sure the other food got served when Dean plattered and presented grilled meats. The two of them used a lot of hand gestures and miming to coordinate everything. Dean would every so often switch things up and make Julie blush with a few obscene ones.

Once Dean had been schooled by Cat on Salt and Pepa’s breeds - a Samoyed and Belgian Sheepdog, respectively - he had them eating out of and drooling into his hands for scraps. Cas and Jack procured a frisbee from the outdoor toys and tossed it back and forth with the kids. The dogs played monkey in the middle.

Dean called out to Julie once everyone else was situated and eating. “Jules! Got a medium-well burger with your name on it, ready in a minute.” He winked over. She set the last of the latest round of drinks in front of guests and gave him a thumbs up.

Stacey cooed. “Knows just how you like your meat, does he?”

The old college friends did their share of giggling and cackling. Julie pointed a finger from Samuel to Stacey. “No more of your red wine for this one.”

Carl tapped his wife’s knee. “Take it easy, sweetie.” Stacey gave her husband a slobbery raspberry on the cheek.

“That is a sweet ride.” Carter pointed to Baby in Dean’s driveway as her owner snuck behind Julie. He presented a cheeseburger on a perfectly toasted bun. Julie smiled at the lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles - all her favorites - already on top. The charred meat and fixings smelled divine. Her stomach grumbled. A side glance noted her mom’s own smiling face. Brigida stared over at the both of them while talking to the two older couples.

“Well, you can take a look under the hood later if you want, Carter. Rebuilt her more times than I can count.” He whispered in Julie’s ear. “Eat something before you pass out.”

She grinned, wanting to tease that he sounded like Brigida, but thought better of it. Stacey and the crew were watching their interactions like hungry vultures, ready to pounce on anything too tasty to tease about.

“So, Dean, if the ladies have another girls’ night, maybe we can get us a poker game over at my house.” Carl interjected.

Sheila chimed in, “Only if I can join.”

Julie overheard Cas whisper to Dean in confusion. “Wouldn’t Sheila be a part of girls’ night?”

Dean muttered back, “Not if she has better taste in music than the rest of them.”

Carter shook his head. “Oh, God, you wiped me out last time we played poker Sheila.”

Dean cocked a brow and gave Sheila a lopsided grin. “Some actual competition. Sounds like we gotta make that happen soon.”

Sheila tipped her beer to Dean and gave his frame a thorough inspection.

“My poker skills would benefit from someone new to play with, as well.” Cas nodded to Sheila. “I know all of Dean’s tells at this point. It’s getting rather boring.”

Sheila patted the empty seat next to her. “You might be my new best friend, then, Cas.”

Cas smiled and puffed out his chest.

Dean whispered to Julie, “Should I break the news that he hasn’t a shot in hell?”

Karen helped Julie with some of the kitchen cleanup before dessert. It was really a ruse for alone time and girl talk.

“How was it?” Karen asked in a hushed tone, in case anyone snuck in. She’d known about Julie going on birth control again. Had actually been the one to give her the idea in the first place.

“Which time?” Julie smiled. “We’ve been at it every night since the middle of this week when I surprised him.” She added. “Sometimes two or three times.”

“Jesus. Two or three? Carter’s five years younger than me and two times in one night has never… never happened. Three?” Karen fanned herself over the sink and running water. “How are you handling all that man, Jules?” Her brown eyes widened while she rinsed plates to drop in the dishwasher.

Julie answered by holding her hands apart to approximate Dean’s length.

“Get the fuck out of here!” Karen’s voice raised. She slapped a palm over her mouth at the outburst. Water and suds flew everywhere.

Julie crossed a finger over her chest, blinking at the water that splashed her face. “When have I lied under oath?”

“Be careful or you’re going to get a UTI.” She added in a whisper, “From all that fucking.”

Julie laughed. “I booked a follow up with my gyno as soon as I got the prescription. I see her next week.” She whispered back. “Kar, it was amazing, mind blowing before this. But now, it’s like…” Julie trailed off, daydreaming about her lover in the backyard. Her insides sore, throbbing with the memory of him; a deep and beautiful stoking she couldn’t wait to experience again.

“I think Carter and Carl have crushes on him.” Karen shook her head. “Carter might come in his pants if he gets that car tour.”

“Don’t tell Cat, but I think Sheila might be crushing, too.” Julie giggled.

“We heard that!” Stacey and Cat screamed in unison. Karen and Julie screamed back in shock. Cat, a bit tipsy herself this afternoon, sported a toothy grin. From Julie’s vantage, she was lighter than usual, airy even. One of her arms draped over Stacey’s shoulders as the duo sashayed into the kitchen.

“Only speaking the truth.” Karen raised a hand as the other still clutched her chest at the friendly fright.

Stacey waved a hand. “I get dibs on Dean when Jules is done with him.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

Julie rolled her eyes. “Not planning on it anytime soon, Stace.”

Cat opened her mouth. Her eyes caught the threat Julie’s eyes beamed with an intentional telepathy. Cat snapped her jaw shut before the other ladies noticed.

“Not fair to keep all the juicy details to yourself.” Stacey whined, sliding out from Cat’s grip and into one of the kitchen chairs. She slumped over the table, elbow propped, cradling her chin in a manicured hand. “Some of us have needs.” She sighed.

Cat leaned against a counter, eyes glazed behind her glasses. “I think Brigida’s had one too many.”

Julie was happy for the segway but not pleased with the content. She settled her own glasses against the bridge of her nose in a nervous tick. “Really? A saw her with a glass of wine. But, she usually only has a little.”

“I think Wes and Samuel made her a special birthday cocktail.”

“Ugh.” She wiped both hands down across her face. “Love ‘em but those men and their alcohol.”

Stacey did her best pigeon impression again. “Do you love ‘em as much as Dean?”

A very deep throat clearing had all four ladies turn their head to the hallway. Dean stood there carrying a huge empty platter covered in meat bits and juices. “Am I interrupting something?” Julie blushed at the proud grin on his face. He skimmed past Stacey’s seated frame. Stacey was eye level with the denim hugging his ass and licked her lips. He excused himself again and slid around Cat, lifting the platter over Julie’s head winding past, to end up near Karen by the sink. “This is a nasty one. Let me take care of this, Karen.” He offered.

She shook her head. “Hand it over. Least we can do after you did such a stellar job at the grill. You got Kevin to eat a burger that doesn’t come in a fast food bag.”

“That is high praise. Thanks.” He smiled and gave Julie a once over before asking, “Anything else have to go out?”

“You think I should grab the ice cream cake out of the basement fridge?”

“It might be a good idea soon.” Dean shrugged. “Everyone’s either winding down or is pretty hammered.” He glanced over at Stacey.

Julie nodded and pointed at the counter behind him. “Would you take that tray out with the dessert plates and all the other necessities? Pretty please?”

He winked. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Stacey groaned. “Ugh. Could you two reel in the cuteness?”

Julie ignored the request. “Thank you. Cat.” She turned to ask her friend. “Wanna help me with the cake?”

“Um, sure.” Cat hesitated.

When they got down to the basement, Julie listened to ensure Dean’s heavy steps had made their way out the sliding door and Stacey and Karen were busy talking in the kitchen.

“I’m not the best person to ask to carry a cake upstairs.” Cat mumbled.

“You can spot me.” Her hand rested on the fridge handle. “Speaking of looking out for me…”

“I know. I haven’t reached out much since that last conversation we had.” Cat shrugged. “You sounded happy that night, with him. I figured I should mind my own business for once and stop investigating.”

“Thank you, Cat.” Julie smiled.

“He seems decent, Julie. A good guy, even. Simple. Easy.” Cat waved a hand. “I don’t mean either of those things as a negative.”

Julie laughed. “I know. But, trust me, he’s anything but simple or easy to figure out.” She tilted her head. “I’ve been thinking... would you send me over a couple of those books you found?”

Cat pursed her lips. “I’ll think about it.”

It was ten o’clock by the time Dean and Julie finished with a majority of the clean up from the party. The last dishwasher load had been started, all the guests had gone home, and Brigida was fussing in the kitchen. Dean looked like a very uncomfortable giant next to the birthday lady.

“I don’t need-ah to stay.” Brigida insisted. “Dean-ah can take me home.” Her Italian accent was a lot heavier laced with alcohol.

“No, Dean can’t. None of us should be driving, Ma. We’ve all had a bit too much to drink. You have your extra meds here in your room. You’re going to take them, drink lots of water, and go to bed.”

She waved her hands. “I don’t want to be in the way.”

Julie rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Brigida, we just threw a party for you. How could you think you’re in the way?” Dean asked with true sincerity in his voice.

“Dean-ah.” She clutched his forearm. “I don’t want-ah you to run home. And, I know-ah this one won’t leave me in the house alone-ah. Thinkin’ I won’t be able to walk twenty steps without falling over and knocking myself out-ah.”

Dean shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, I’m pretty tired. Long day.”

“Ma, Dean can stay over if he wants to.” Julie widened her eyes to encourage Dean to play along.

“Ye-yeah. Sure. We’re both exhausted.” He faked a long yawn and stretched out an arm. “Sooo tired. Gonna conk out as soon as my head hits the pillow.”

Brigida grinned. “You are a bad liar.” She tapped his tummy. “Fine. I’ll get myself ready for bed.” She raised both arms at Julie. “Appy?”

“Very happy.” Julie smiled. “Need me to help you with anything?”

“No.” Brigida motioned for Dean to bend down. She gave him a very long mama bear hug and then squeezed a cheek. “Thank you.”

Julie’s heart warmed at the interaction.

His facial features squirmed under Brigida’s vice grip. “Welcome.”

When she retracted her fingers, she announced, “I’ll be up early cleanin’ and makin’ breakfast.” She shuffled out of the kitchen. Her loud voice rang out in the hallway. “Don’t come down here naked in the morning, Dean-ah. Not-ah unless you got plans for me.”

Dean snorted as Julie yelled. “Ma!”

Dean shook his head. “She’s even more of a pistol drunk.” He wrapped arms around Julie when they were alone. “I’ll hang out until she’s in her room and sleeping. I don’t think it’ll take long. Help you clean up some more. Then, I’ll duck out.” His kiss was soft and warm.

Julie hummed. “You heard her. She’s making you breakfast.” She shrugged. “You can stay.”

Dean smiled. “Sweetheart, if I stay, we won’t be sleeping.”

“Good.”

They took turns in the upstairs bathroom. Dean first, as usual, since Julie took longer with her nighttime skin routine. Cleanser, applied to her face in gentle circular motions, wiped away the makeup and sweat from the day. Cool water splashed against her skin. Splashes of moments from the party entered her mind. Her mom’s absolute shock and then subsequent soft crying at the surprise. Stacey wrangled the girl power squad together for a group selfie. It would post onto the social medias before Stacey got well and fully sloshed. Cas pulled her to the side to give her a genuine, heartfelt thank you for the invitation. Jack assisted with the dish clearing without even having to be asked. Mom’s ancient, pudgy neighbor, Lydia, who didn’t move once from her seat under the patio, tugged at Julie’s wrist to tell her she needed to do a better job holding onto this man than the last one.

She patted away most of the wetness with a face towel. This man. She opened the medicine cabinet to put away some items and grab the moisturizer. Everything she disliked about her face on bright display under the bathroom lighting. The pads of her fingers danced over the circles under her eyes and some of the wrinkles forming around her mouth. All those old Italian women and their snarky little comments. Wondering what Dean’s doing with me. Even with all of his secrets and all that she still didn’t know, she still felt that tug of insecurity. Not being good enough. His imperfections, the cracks appearing over the months of infatuation and obsession with this man, were making themselves known. But they were all things she could handle and cast aside at the end of the day. Because all it took was that one second of his eyes locking with hers in that way. That very Dean way. Craving it in that moment, she hurried and worked the cream into her skin.

She entered the dark bedroom. The only illumination was from the television, the volume low and muffled. White light from the screen flashed like lightning over Dean, laid out on the still made bed.

He had slipped on the grey and blue plaid pajama bottoms Julie bought him. She picked them up as an afterthought one Sunday shopping when he’d started staying over a couple times a week. He came across them, folded and waiting, on the unspoken but understood side of Julie’s bed that was now his. A lopsided grin had been given as thanks.

There was a reason I didn’t buy him a shirt. A remote in hand rested on his tummy and that luscious bare chest. He cradled his head atop two pillows with his other palm; his biceps curled, primed, and ready for action. Legs crossed at the ankles and his foot swayed with an ancy rhythm. The image of him stretched out imprinted in her brain under the bright pops of light as if someone were taking lots of polaroids of this magnificent specimen.

He turned to her, smiled, then whispered, “Wanna watch something?” The remote was used as a pointing device toward the floor. “I can’t tell if that’s a chainsaw or your mom snoring.”

Julie nodded. “I told you, you can hear everything in this house.”

“Maybe soundproofing needs to be another project.” He frowned. “This is going to be torture.”

She giggled low and soft, hands on her hips, cinching in her oversized nightshirt. “Why?”

His fingers skirted over the comforter creeping in her direction. “Cause I want to make you moan like the other night.”

That very Dean way. The sexy stare made her smile drop. “Thought you were tired.”

“Come here, sweetheart.” He gave her a chin nod.

Julie sighed and eased onto the bed, aware of every creak and squeak. “Karen was right.”

“‘Bout what?” He opened an arm. His embrace clutched her to his warm chest.

She snuggled in. “You’re going to give me blushing bride syndrome.”

“A blushing what now?”

His lips pressed to hers cut off an immediate response. She nibbled on his chin when he released. “Too much sex. You know, can cause issues down there.”

He pulled back to study her face. “I’m not going to apologize for wanting you.”

“Not asking you to.” She pressed into him.

Mischief lined his lips. “Maybe I should take it easy on you. Give you a break. Since we have to be quiet and all.” He flashed the all-knowing, hot shit grin that stopped her heart. “I mean, we know you can’t keep that dirty little mouth of yours shut when mine’s all over you... or inside you.” His voice was husky and gritty, breathing near her ear.

“Oh, really?” She whispered her retort. “Who was the one panting and groaning last night about how hard he was going to come?”

Dean latched onto one of her knees. The pull dragged a thigh to rest over his hip. His warm hand traveled and danced along her skin. It snuck under the night shirt; pushed it high up past her waist. Fingers clutched at the top of her bare ass and kneaded. He shifted into her more and wedged their bodies tight. “Nah. You couldn’t have heard that. You were too busy screaming my name over and over.”

A jarring motor-like sound drifted up from Brigida’s bedroom for only a second. They froze in place. Dean chuckled. Tangled together, Julie rested a finger on his mouth. “Shhh.” She pressed into the softness of his perfect pout with more force and threw in a nose crinkle for good measure.

“I wasn’t going to say anything…” His lips struggled to release the words under her finger. Julie had learned early on upon their meeting that Dean enjoyed teasing out a variety of reactions from her.

She sighed and relented the tiny attempt at restraint. “What?”

“When you were in the bathroom earlier and I got a good listen of it all. Actually had something to compare it to.” He paused. “You snore like your mom.” His grin spread slow and wide, lips pursed tight.

Julie’s eyes widened on defense. “No, I don’t.”

“Yeah, you do.” He nodded, still grinning, lifting his brow for emphasis. “Get so loud.” A slight, controlled circling of those strong hips began. The motion matched the sensual rhythm of his verbal descriptions. “You start off so nice and quiet. Then it’s up. And up. And up. Like a freight train in here some nights, sweetheart.”

A few more seconds of silence followed. “Shit.” That was the only admission Julie would allow, listening to his description of her inherited sleeping habits while succumbing to the wondrous feel of his body lighting her up. “Don’t compare me to my mother while doing that, Dean.”

Dean laughed and gave her another chin nod in victory. “Still. Proves my point. Can’t help yourself. Way louder and noisier than I could ever be.”

Julie nuzzled close, finding the tunnel under his arm. Firm strokes down the slope of his back relished in the heat vibrating through his body. She ran a thumb back and forth over that plump pillow of a bottom lip. “You were the one that almost broke my headboard. Remember? Talk about noise.” And talk about fucking hot. “White knuckling it to get some leverage, slamming it into the wall.” His mouth parted and a hunger filled his gaze. She grinned at the erection hardening more in the pajamas against her patch of curls. “While you were slamming into me.”

He caught her thumb with a clench of teeth. His tongue flirted along the pad before he sucked at it with a low moan. His lips released it when he whispered back. “That was a memorable fuck, sweetheart. You under me. Letting me ride you so hard. Wish I could pound you like that for days. Wreck us both.”

“Jesus, Dean.” Julie moaned, rocking soft against his clothed cock. “There wouldn’t be anything left of me.”

The hand left her ass, skirted under the shirt. Those meaty fingers landed on the curve of her breast and massaged into bliss. “But what a way to go.” He groaned, then peeled away enough to dip down and mouth a nipple through the shirt. “Shit, got me so hard.” He spoke between licks and sucks. “I wanna fuck you. All. The. Time.” The warmth and wet of his mouth soaked through to the taut nub. “All I could think about today was getting you alone. Here. Like this.” He nudged at the material with his nose to expose the dark, pebbly flesh to the air and his mouth. “Sliding inside you again. Nothin’ but me and you.” He suckled at her tit. When he came up for air and met her gaze, he whispered in that smoke and honey tone. “It feels like home inside you, Jules.”

Dean’s eyes lit up with another flash from the television. Glassy, eager and laser focused with intent. He always downplayed his ability to convey and verbalize feelings. But that confession, those six words - It feels like home inside you - made her whole body shiver. Like the night they’d first had sex. You feel so safe. It had been four little words back then. Not THOSE three little words. But it was pretty damn close.

“I think we should give ourselves a challenge.” The seriousness faded from his face, replaced with that impish grin. “A quiet, well contained, controlled fucking.”

Julie giggled, her body still buzzing from his actions and words. Her hands answered, pulling the pajamas down past his ass. He lifted up from the mattress an inch to assist with the disrobing. The fabric bunched around his knees.

He groaned when she tugged at his cock, free and rigid. She curled toes and peeled the material down far enough so he could shake his feet out the rest of the way. “Turn around, baby.” His voice held an authoritative tone. “Everything. Off.”

In the process of her slow and quiet one-eighty flip she rid herself of the nightshirt. The cool air in the room prickled at hot skin. He moaned at the sight. “That’s not being quiet.” She tisked.

He lassoed her in with a bear hug, onto her side, this time her back sealed along his chest. A haphazard pull at the band released the ponytail. His fingers brushed away strands. Searing lips attacked the exposed flesh of her neck. “Are you gonna be good for me?”

She stifled a moan and nodded.

“Hm.” Fingers slid into the folds, finding the wetness. “Very good so far.” He pushed farther in and searched. Circled her entrance. “All this for me already?” He groaned in her ear. “Goddamn, I wanna get my mouth on that. But we know you really can’t contain yourself when my face is between your legs.” Those fingers ended up at his mouth. She could smell her excitement, inches away. The sound of his lips sucking and his moans stoked her need. “Maybe a challenge for the morning.” He thought aloud.

His body, large and eclipsing, leaned up, shifting. His cock slid between the cheeks of Julie’s ass like a heat seeking missile. She let out a pitiful whine and bit her lip. They hadn’t even talked about that as an option. But every time his cock got tantalizingly close the thought had crossed her mind. She’d never wanted to try, not even with Steve. But Dean. Dean made her want to experience everything.

The sex with Dean had been many things over the past months: fun, playful, sweet, luxuriating, romantic, fast, rough, hard, naughty, and tons of dirty talk. Yet, none of that fifty shades stuff or roleplaying she had anticipated. Almost vanilla sex in comparison from what her mind could conjure up.

Almost, but never vanilla. Not with Dean. It was that French Vanilla ice cream that you’d get at a family owned creamery worth a two hour drive. One made by an artisan, churned by hand. One bursting with flecks of vanilla bean hitting all the taste buds. It was rich, creamy, indulgent, velvety, cool, lolling about on your tongue, savoring the flavor in the moment, crystalizing a memory for wonderful recollections.

Still, there was a palpable restraint by Dean, holding back, in terms of physical limits even if never in vocal declarations. Sometimes she thought she could feel the inner shift in Dean. It could be an imperceptible tell if their bodies weren’t so connected; a retraction of his muscles under that worn skin and the myriad of scars she would cling to in mounting desperation of the most amazing kind. He never out and out stated it. Dean never would. But she felt like the pilot in this jet when it came down to it. He was her trusty co-pilot, offering suggestions but always adhering to the final decision, charting her course, making sure she stayed on track, allowing her control. Allowing her safety.

“No one’s gonna be quiet if we give that a try tonight.” Dean read her mind, again keeping her on track with the original plan. He scooted down, cupping her figure with his. “Any other night, sweetheart, you let me know.” He dotted her back with kisses and wedged a knee between her legs. The motion splayed her bottom half, spreading her. His palm crooked under her knee, bent it just so. “But, this way.” The cock tip pressed at the entrance. “I think we can both get what we need and not wake sleeping beauty.” He licked little patches along her shoulder blade. “What’s that thing you always say?”

Jesus, why is he teasing me now? “When?” She huffed out.

“When you come over and decide to clean up my kitchen.”

“No muss, no fuss?”

He rumbled into her back and began the slide. Inside. “Yeah. That’s it. No Muss. No Fuss.” His large palm grabbed at her breast, latched onto it, thumbed the nipple. She could feel the strength of his hips guiding the wondrous length and girth of his cock. He bottomed into her and stopped. She wanted to feel how tight his ass was clenched in that moment. Sought it out with a hand and squeezed. “Hm.” He approved of the action. “How does that feel, sweetheart?” His voice, low, deep.

“You feel so good inside me Dean. You feel good everywhere.” She moaned when the controlled pistoning switched on.

“Hm. So, the quiet part is gonna be impossible for you, huh?”

She moaned again, softer, she thought. “This is me being quiet.”

“Baby?” He moaned out the question.

“Yeah?”

“Would you be alright if I helped keep you quiet?”

A fire lit up in her belly. “Yeah.”

He groaned. An arm threaded between her rocking body and the mattress. His hand slid up her chest, over her neck, her jaw. Settled over her mouth. “If it’s too much.” He panted. “If I get too carried away, you tap. Okay?”

She tapped his ass cheek to confirm she understood. Listened to his inhales and exhales. His thumb wedged between her upper lip and the underside of her nose. Two massive fingers clamped over her mouth. The other two had a firm grip under her chin, ensuring her lips stayed closed. All while he pumped in and out of her from behind, slow and purposeful.

“Feel so fucking good.” He whispered. His mouth pecked at her back, shoulder, her side, her arm, anywhere it could reach. “Four nights into your ‘I’m on the pill’ surprise.” He panted out his confession. “I’m sure I’m going to come down eventually, Jules. If that gives you some hope. About this blushing bride thing.” A soft growl left his mouth. “I mean, I’m no Superman.” She moaned into his hand when his pace and thrusts picked up. He was still very much in control and not rocking the bed like she knew he could. “But, I am Batman.” His chuckle vibrated into her back.

He shifted, circled, found that spot in her and focused all his energy. More muffled moans erupted from Julie.

“Shhh, sweetheart.” He used more of his palm against her mouth now, pressed harder against the flesh. “Be good for me.”

The subtle restraint was electric, increasing her pleasure tenfold. The sounds of her slick and his rutting inside her only made her more wet.

“I gotta feel you cum.” He begged. His other hand glided over the top of her thigh, rested against the mattress and palmed her pussy. “I’m gonna work you quick, baby. Okay?”

She nodded as much as she could with the hold of his hand.

He parted the folds, found her swollen clit and took no mercy. It was hard, fast. Explosions of light began popping into her brain. Her body jerked with slight tremors. It wouldn’t be long. “Yeah, that’s it. I love it when you come undone. Cum all over my cock.” Dean whispered.

His voice tipped her into the orgasm. She moaned, tightened, while he continued to pump.

“Yeah, right behind you, Julie. Yeah. Fuck.” And, he was, chasing her with his own orgasm. The pulsing of his cock, the spilling of him inside, warm, mingling with her wet he’d produced. His pants and groans against her back. His weight on her body, hand still cupping her mouth. “Man. I give us an A for effort. But, I wasn’t much better than you in the sound department. I might need a damn muzzle.”

Julie smiled into his palm.

“Sorry, baby.” He removed his hand from her mouth. “Should have tapped me. You okay?”

She nodded into the comforter. “Oh, yeah.” Eased onto her back. “Definitely. Can we do more of that?”

He laughed, staring with those beautiful eyes, crinkles extending the gleeful expression on his face. That very Dean way. “Sure.” He shrugged. “Just maybe not tonight?” He kissed her lips, then flashed her an exhausted smile. “I really am pretty beat. Been one helluva long day.”

Julie nodded. “Me too.” She tapped his forearm. “Bathroom again for me and then sleep.”

“Don’t be long.” He collapsed onto his back and closed his eyes.

She smiled, closing the bathroom door. He’d be asleep by the time she slipped back into bed. The sounds of his snores would cover a variety of animals from a grunting pig to a snarling lion. But she wouldn’t tease him in the morning about it. She promised to give him a pass.

Part 2

Series Page

#dean x ofc #spnfanficpond #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester smut #spn fanfics

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lovemesomesurveys · 4 years

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Have you always known what you've wanted to do with your life, career-wise? I thought I did. My freshman year in high school I learned what psychology was after having a health and psychology class and decided then it was something I wanted to pursue. Prior to that I knew I wanted to help people, but I was thinking like a counselor. I was always the friend people came to if they needed advice or just someone to talk to. In middle school I remember going on those AOL teen message boards and offering advice there. I loved trying to help people and being the one to lend an ear. In college I majored in psych and obtained my BA. And then that was it. I have no plans or interest in pursuing anything further, so obviously a psychologist isn’t in the cards anymore. I honestly have no idea what I want to do career wise.

If you found out you couldn't bear children, would you be willing to adopt? I can’t have kids, but I also don’t want any.

Would you stay at a haunted hotel? Nope.

Could you live without the Internet? I mean yeah, the world would keep on spinning, but I quite enjoy my internet and would like to keep it.

Do you always remember to bring a towel? I always set out a towel before getting into the shower.

Spiders: Kill them or let 'em go? Well, I don’t do anything. Noooo way. I get someone else to get rid of them!

How do you feel about Paris Hilton? I don’t care. I very rarely hear about her anymore.

When drunk, are you: violent, crazy, clingy, talkative, or depressed? I got talkative and the word vomit liked to come out. I usually also ended up feeling depressed and lonely by the end of the night.

Do you know who is on the $5000 bill? (yes, it does exist!) James Madison. They don’t make ‘em anymore, though.

What is the best HAND-MADE present you've ever received? A quilt a friend of my grandma’s made for me when I was a kid during one of my hospital stays.

Do you Yahoo? My email is Yahoo.

Have you ever gotten pizza delivered to your house that you didn't order? Nope.

What's the most disgusting thing you've ever encountered while at a hotel? I haven’t had a bad hotel experience, thankfully.

What would you do if Hugh Hefner hit on you? He died a few years ago, but anyway he wouldn’t have been interested in me. Which is perfectly fine haha I don’t want some pervy old man hitting on me.

Is the price always right? No.

Do you smell what the Rock is cookin'!?!? Nope. (And yes I know that was his wrestling tagline or whatever back in the day).

Are you gullible? I’m a pretty skeptical person.

What's the craziest rumor you've heard about Marilyn Manson? That he was the kid from The Wonder Years lol. The friend to Fred Savage��s character. I have no idea how or why that rumor got started.

(Insert random song lyric of your choice here): “Cause I’m one step closer to the edge, and I’m about to break.”

Does unneccessary punctuation annoy you? It’s unnecessary.

Do you know anyone who was born on leap year? Nope.

Do you follow a 5-second rule after dropping food on the floor? Ew, nooo. Once it hits the floor it’s trash.

Do you think that only unclean people get head lice? Nope, major misconception.

Are you skilled with balls? (like basketball or baseball, you perv!) Nope.

Did you take Flintstone vitamins or any others as a child? Blech, yes. Those were so gross.

What types of things do you think the government is hiding from us? I know a lot of people think there’s something going on given current events. I’ve seen those comments.

What would you do if the Kool-Aid man busted through your wall? If something just randomly burst through my wall it would scare the shit out of me omg.

Have you ever been to an art museum? Yeah, a few.

How do you like your soda: Glass bottle is best, followed by fountain soda, but can and plastic bottle are fine, too. I used to love soda, but I don’t drink it anymore apart from when I take my medicine.

Do you recycle? Yeah, we recycle cans and plastic bottles.

Can one person really make a difference? Yes.

Which is worse: elevators or escalators? Well, all I can take are elevators, so. The thought of being stuck in one scares me.

Are you gonna make your momma proud? I feel like such a huge disappointment.

Ring the bell for service or wait patiently for a minute first? I’d wait a bit first.

Boomerang or Cartoon Network? Boomerang is cool cause it shows old stuff from my childhood.

Have you learned anything valuable today? Not so far.

What's your favorite kind of Doritos? Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch. Back when I could eat spicy food; though, I would have picked the Spicy Nacho ones. They have Flamin’ Hot Doritos now, which I’m sad I never got to try.

Do your parents have MySpace pages? No. They weren’t into social media stuff back then. They have a Facebook, though.

If you had a time machine, would you go to the past or to the future? I’ve always wanted to go back in the past, but now there’s a big part of me curious to see past this coronavirus stuff. Like when will it end? Will it? That could also be terrifying, though. The future could end up looking even worse...

What if Darth Vader was YOUR father? So I could be a jedi? Sweet.

Do you honestly know how to play Monopoly or just make up rules as you go? I think I’ve played it the right way. For the most part, anyway.

Be honest...ever peed in the pool? Nooo.

Do you ever fathom the amount of words in the English language? It’s pretty wild.

Have you ever pulled a fire alarm? Nope.

Do brain teasers tickle, confuse, or fascinate your brain? They definitely are often confusing, but I like them.

You're hungry. All there is to eat is stale chips. Eat 'em or not? Mehhh probably not.

Have you had your tonsils removed? No.

If Ashton Kutcher punk'd you, would you feel the need to punch him? No, but depending on the prank I might be upset or pissed off. I loved watching that show back in the day, though. I also had a crush on Ashton Kutcher at the time, ha.

Have you ever fallen off of a treadmill while walking/running? I’ve never been on a treadmill.

Do you drink milk right from the bottle/carton, or pour yourself a glass? I don’t drink milk at all.

Isn't Chef Boyardee awesome? I wouldn’t say it’s awesome, but I do like Spaghetti O’s.

Do you like marshmellows in your hot cocoa? Marshmallows are a must.

What reality show has been taken WAY too far? I’m just wondering why The Bachelor is still on. That’s one I never got into.

If you were going on a trip, would you Mapquest the directions first? I used Mapquest back in the day, like when you still had to print out directions. Now I just use Google Maps on my phone.

Do you hide when Jehovah's Witnesses knock on your door? We just don’t answer the door.

Did you ever think any of your teachers were HOT? Nope.

If you farted in front of your significant other, would he/she care? I’m single.

White Castle: nasty or absolutely yummy?! I’ve never a fresh White Castle from the actual place, just the kind you can get in the frozen food section at the store haha. Those are good, though.

Must you grab a souvenir from almost everywhere you go? Haha I’m a keychain gal. I also like getting a shirt or hoodie.

Have you ever walked out on a movie at the theater? Which one? I remember doing that once, but I don’t remember what the movie was.

Did you enjoy making things out of Play-Doh as a child? Yeah, I loved Play-Doh. If I ever happen to be around Play-Doh and get a whiff of it, it instantly takes me back to childhood. It’s such a nostalgic smell.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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starletwriting · 5 years

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Killervibe Fic Week Day Four: Free Day

Word Count: 5840

Notes: Based off of the popular headcanon that Lia (Nora’s best friend from the 5x18 flashforwards episode) is Killervibe’s adopted daughter, due to the fact that she parallels both Cisco and Caitlin in a lot of ways, has a similar personality to Cisco, and displays a lot of Cisco’s mannerisms, even in just the one episode she appears in. This is also a bit canon divergent, because Barry never disappears in this fic, and Nora gets her powers a lot sooner than she does on the show. This fic honestly ended up being a bit more centered around Lia than it is around Killervibe, but it’s still a Killervibe fic because Caitlin and Cisco are married and they’re raising a kid together.

Warnings: character death (albeit one that was shown in the actual show), mourning, brief mention of a funeral

Tags: @thatkillervibe @shakesqueer-writes @narniasfinestavengingsociopath

~~~

Lia was five.

Cisco held her on his shoulders and walked around the kitchen humming a melody. Lia couldn’t stop giggling. Her dad bounced her around playfully and Lia would shriek with laughter every time. He would twirl around, and she would hold onto him and cheer happily.

“I have to put you down now, sweetie.”

“Aww!” Lia protested. “But this is fun!”

“I’m sorry.” Cisco said, setting her gently on the ground in front of him. “But I have to make dinner, and it’s hard to do that with you on my shoulders.”

“Then I wanna help!”

Cisco smiled. “You’re gonna help me make dinner?”

Lia nodded.

“Well, thank you, kiddo. I appreciate the help.” Cisco ruffled her hair affectionately. “We’re going to need the meat from the freezer. Can you go get that out?”

“Yeah!” She ran over to the fridge and pulled open the freezer door, then she climbed up on the door’s railing to get better leverage, and rummaged through the freezer until she found what she was looking for. She shut the freezer closed and hurried back over to her dad, proudly presenting the meat.

“Good job!”

Lia beamed.

Cisco got out the stuff that was too high for her to reach or too heavy for her to hold, but he let Lia get out everything she could. Before long, they had set out all the ingredients on the counter, and Cisco showed her how to prepare it.

“First, you cut the meat. I’m going to do this because I don’t want you to hurt yourself, but you can watch, and when you’re older you’ll know how to do it.”

“Okay!”

Cisco cut the meat into small sections and tossed them onto the pan to cook. Lia watched intently, sitting on the counter and dangling her legs as she did.

Fifty minutes later, the two of them had prepared a full meal.

Caitlin joined them, commenting on how good it smelled. Cisco made her a plate and Lia presented it to her, beaming with pride.

“Mommy! I helped make dinner!”

“Really? Look at you, being helpful!” Caitlin took a bite of her food and turned back to Lia. “Well, you did good, because it’s delicious.”

“Thank you!” Lia said. “Do you think I could be a chef one day?”

“You can be whatever you want to be, sweetheart.”

Caitlin kissed the top of Lia’s head. Lia grinned, and ran back to Cisco to get her own plate of food.

~~~

Lia was six.

It was Mother’s Day morning. Caitlin woke up to her husband and daughter greeting her with breakfast in bed, something they did for her every Mother’s Day. And, every year, she thanked them with the same amount of surprise she did the year before. There were eggs, bacon, toast, and a yogurt parfait, which was all Caitlin needed.

“Thank you, guys!” Caitlin said. “This looks great.”

Cisco sat on his side of the bed and hoisted Lia up on his lap. “Lia was really excited about helping prepare the eggs this year.”

Lia nodded, as if confirming Cisco’s words. “Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy!”

“Thanks, sweetheart!”

“Mommy, I have something for you!”

“Lia, I thought we were giving her the presents at lunch?” Cisco asked.

“I know, but I just can’t wait! I’m excited!”

“Alright,” Cisco chuckled. “Go bring her your gift.”

Lia hopped off the bed and ran into the other room to get it. When she returned, she was carrying a small pot of flowers and a single paper.

“Daddy took me to the store to pick out flowers for you!” Lia said, handing her the flowers. “He said these are your favorite.”

They were white lilies, placed in a beautiful decorative assortment with some light blue daisies for color. She had always loved lillies, and the white and blue color scheme fit well for her. She turned to Cisco with a warm, grateful smile.

“And then I drew this for you!”

Lia gave Caitlin the paper she had been holding. It was a drawing done in colored pencil, depicting a triangular slice of pie.

“I’m not good at drawing people, but then I remembered that time we made pie together and I drew that!” Lia said.

Caitlin couldn’t help the smile growing on her face. She hugged Lia tight and kissed her forehead.

“Thank you, sweetie. I love it.”

“You’re welcome!” Lia said. “Thanks for being the best Mommy ever.”

“Ever?” Caitlin laughed.

Lia nodded. “The best Mommy in the whole wide world!”

“Well, that’s all because I have the best daughter in the whole wide world.”

Lia giggled. “Thanks, Mommy.”

~~~

Lia was eight.

She groaned because Nora had won Mario Kart for the sixth time in the last hour.

“How are you so good at this?”

Nora shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of practice. I play against my dad a lot.”

“I never knew Uncle Barry was good at Mario Kart.”

“He’s not, really.” Nora leaned forwards and grabbed some chips off of the plate on the table. “I win against him all the time. Uncle Wally is really good, though. I play against him and Aunt Jesse whenever they come to visit. Sometimes Aunt Jenna will play with me, but she’s busy with homework and studying.”

“Let’s play one last round.” Lia said. “I’m bound to win at least one.”

“If you’re sure.” Nora picked up her controller again. “I’ll be Peach.”

Lia selected Rosalina for her character. “I get to pick the course this time. Which means absolutely no Rainbow Road.”

“We’ve done easier courses.” Nora said. “I still won.”

“No need to brag.” Lia scoffed. “Alright, let’s do Yoshi Circuit. I like that one.”

The race started, and Nora took off with the boost at the beginning. Lia sighed. She was already in first place.

Lia picked up every power-up that she could find in hopes of getting something that would help. At one point, she hit Nora with a red shell and pulled into first place, and she cheered at her victory. However, her cheer caused her to lose her place as Nora took the opportunity to hit Lia with a blue shell and reclaim her position.

Inevitably, Nora finished the race in first, and Lia pulled in third.

Lia sighed in resignation and turned the tv off.

“Fine, you win.”

“We can play something else if you want.”

Before Lia could reply to Nora’s offer, the sound of footsteps cut her off and caused the two of them to look at the source of the sound. Cisco walked downstairs, twirling his keys in his hand, and turned to the girls on his living room couch.

“I have a question for you two,” He said. “What would you say to going out and getting Big Belly Burger?”

Their response was simultaneous. “Yes!”

Cisco smiled. “I thought so. C’mon, let’s get in the car.”

Both girls ran into the garage and scrambled to climb into the backseat of Cisco’s car. Cisco followed behind and got in the driver’s seat. When he started the car, he put on the radio so the kids could listen to music.

The kids played rock-paper-scissors in the backseat until Cisco pulled into the drive-thru.

“Okay, tell me your orders one at a time.” Cisco said. “If I can’t hear you, then I can’t order anything for you.”

Lia told him her order, and then Nora. Cisco got the both of them the meals they wanted, and when the food came, he stretched backseat to hand them their food.

“Thanks, Dad!”

“Thanks, Uncle Cisco!”

Lia took a huge bite out of her burger. Nora dug into her fries first, saving her burger for later.

Cisco drove a bit further until he arrived at the park. They brought their food to a picnic table in the shade, and ate there. The kids traded their Happy Meals toys and shared fries, and drank the smoothies they had ordered until they got brain freeze.

“When you’re done with your food, then you can go play.” Cisco gestured towards the playground. “But you have to be done with your food first.”

“Okay!”

The kids wolfed down their food as fast as their eight-year-old mouths could chew. They threw away their trash only after Cisco reminded them to, then raced to the playground. Nora naturally won, which caused Lia to only sigh once more.

“One more time!” Lia insisted. “I’m going to win this time.”

Nora laughed. “If you say so.”

Cisco watched the kids play with a smile on his face, then turned back to his burger.

~~~

Lia was eleven.

She woke up to snow and the news that school had been canceled. For a sixth-grader, there’s no better thing.

Caitlin told her that if she bundled up in winter clothes, then she could go outside. Lia got dressed into her warmest winter coat and furry winter boots, and Caitlin put on a scarf, hat, and mittens.

Lia ran outside and twirled around in the snow until she got dizzy, then she laid on the ground and made snow angels.

Her parents invited the West-Allens over to enjoy their day off school. Barry and Iris stayed inside and talked with Caitlin and Cisco over a cup of hot coffee, while Lia and Nora played around in the snow. They got as much snow together as they could and tried to make a snowman, but it ended up just looking like a deformed pile of snow.

The kids ran inside and convinced their parents to come out and enjoy the weather with them, and eventually the parents gave in. They put on their coats and walked out into the snow, leaving footprints as they did so.

“We tried to make a snowman, but it didn’t work out so well.” Nora sighed.

“You just need to know how to properly make a snowman.” Cisco said. “My brother and I used to make snowmen all the time when we were kids. Here, I’ll show you.”

He began gathering a small round lump of snow and shaped it into a ball as if he was making a snowball. Then, he rolled it against the snow and watched it grow in size.

“You don’t just lump the snow together. There has to be a method to your madness.” He said. “You have to roll it out, like so.”

The two families all joined forces in rolling out the snow and forming it until it looked more like an actual snowman. Once they had the base, then they rolled out another ball of snow for the middle, then they made the head. Lia and Nora went searching for stones that they could use as buttons, and Caitlin went and got a carrot from inside for the nose.

“He’s missing a hat.” Lia said. “Snowmen in the movies all have hats.”

“Well, we don’t have any stereotypical top hats if that’s what you’re looking for.” Caitlin said.

“Mom, can you make one?” Lia asked. “Please?”

“Alright.” Caitlin said. “For you.”

She took her gloves off and handed them to Iris to hold. She concentrated for a second- it only took a second. Her eyes glowed a bright icy white, and her hair changed to match. Snow swirled from her fingertips and clumped together on the top of the snowman’s head to form a nice, perfectly shaped top hat like the one Lia wanted. The second she was done, her eyes reverted to their normal state, and her hair melted back to brown.

“Thank you!”

“There it is,” Nora looked at the snowman with the same pride a mother would look at her child. “Our perfect snowman.”

“He needs a name.” Barry said. “What’re we gonna name him?”

“Hm…” Lia pondered.

“What about Ronald?” Iris suggested. “He looks like a Ronald to me.”

“Ronald the Snowman.” Nora laughed.

“I like it.” Lia said. “Ronald the Snowman it is.”

No one saw it coming. It happened when everyone was distracted by the snowman. They only saw the aftermath.

Barry’s chest had a white puff of snow right in the center. He had felt the impact and looked up at Cisco, who was holding another snowball in his hand and snickering.

“Gotcha.”

“Oh yeah?” Barry smirked. He leaned down and picked up snow off the ground to form his own snowballs for payback. With his speed, he formed four snowballs in no time at all, and sent them all flying at Cisco. “How’s that for payback?”

Cisco brushed the snow off his jacket. “Oh, it’s on, Allen.”

Iris and Caitlin watched the two of them and laughed to themselves.

“I swear, even now they still act so much like kids sometimes.” Iris said.

“You wanna join them?” Caitlin asked.

“Oh, absolutely.” Iris nodded. “Let’s team up so we can win against them.”

“Deal.”

The kids were all too keen on the idea of a snowball fight. They grabbed as much snow as they could carry, and prepared to defend themselves against their parents.

Before long, their snowball fight was an all-out war… but all in good fun. Loyalties shifted throughout the game. Iris ended up allying herself with Barry, and Caitlin with Cisco. The kids joined their parents. Turns out the West-Allens are really good at making snowballs. Iris and Nora were tough competition to beat, but Lia and Cisco managed. With their powers, all bets were off. Caitlin could create new snowballs from thin air and pass them on to her husband and daughter. Cisco could open breaches and drop them on the West-Allens while he stayed a far ways away, safe from any snowballs they might throw in retaliation. Barry and Nora could use their speed to make a bunch of snowballs within seconds, and to attack their opponents before they knew what was happening.

At the end of the day, Caitlin’s endless supply of snowballs and Cisco’s breaches declared the more useful tactic. The Ramon family was declared the winners, and both families went inside for a cup of hot chocolate in front of the fire.

Nora and Lia talked and laughed, sipping their hot chocolate with plenty of marshmallows on top. The adults all chatted with each other and enjoyed their own beverages.

The West-Allens stayed for dinner as well. By the time they went home, Lia was sad to see them go. She hugged Nora tight, despite the fact that she’d see her at school the very next day.

Lia decided then and there that snow days were her favorite.

~~~

Lia was fourteen.

High school hit her hard. The workload was tons more than she was used to, the school was bigger, the teachers were new, and what’s more, Nora went to a different high school, so Lia was alone and friendless.

She found herself tapping her pencil against the kitchen table, trying to will her mind to focus but to no avail. The clock ticked as seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. She groaned and grabbed her hair in her fists, but nothing helped.

There was a math test tomorrow in first period, and yet she understood nothing. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the answers right, and she was doomed to fail.

“Honey?”

Lia looked up to see her mother, looking at her with an expression of concern.

“You okay?” She gently brushed Lia’s hair behind her ear. “Do you need help?”

As much as Lia’s pride urged her to deny the offer, her better judgement said otherwise.

“Yes.” She said. “Desperately.”

“I’ll help, then.” Caitlin pulled up a chair and sat down so that she could better look over Lia’s assignment. “You’re doing math?”

Lia nodded. “It’s confusing, and it’s hard, and I hate it.”

“If you approach it with that attitude, then you won’t learn.” Caitlin’s voice was gentle and guiding. “Here, let’s take it one step at a time.”

“I tried that, I don’t even know where to start!” Lia’s frustration got the better of her, and she snapped. “High school is so much harder than middle school. I wish I could go back to when things were easy, and simple, and I didn’t have to worry about stupid complicated math problems, or kids that think it’s weird that I’m adopted, because apparently that’s a bad thing, or- or-” Lia started to choke up a bit on her words. She felt a lump in her throat forming. As much as she hated it, tears started to well up in her eyes, and there was nothing she could do to stop them. “Or having to feel alone at school because Nora’s going to some fancy charter school that I didn’t get into, and I have to face the fact that I’ve really only had one friend my whole life and that’s because you and Dad have been friends with the West-Allens since before I came along! Eating lunch at school sucks because I have to sit out in the hallway when I don’t know anyone and I just stare at the blank pages of a book I don’t really want to read, just so I look a little less awkward!” Her tears were streaming down her cheeks now, but she didn’t care. “And on top of that, I’m- I’m confused, and I wish I could talk to Nora about it but Nora’s always busy with homework, and I know it’s not her fault, and I’m not angry at her, I just… feel so alone, and lost, and… it’s so complicated.”

“Sweetie,” Caitlin wiped Lia’s tears from her face. “I’m sorry you’re feeling this way. If you were confused, you could’ve just talked to me.”

“No, that’s-” Lia shook her head. “You don’t get it.”

“Then help me understand.”

Lia stayed silent for a long moment. Caitlin wondered if she was ever gonna talk. Lia just cried into her hands, and sniffed, and blew her nose into a tissue. She was conflicted, fighting an inner battle between her emotions and her better judgment. She was pained, that much was clear. Something was troubling her, and she knew that it would hurt to speak it aloud, but she also knew that it was something she had to say.

“I… I think I like girls.” Lia muttered, finally. “And boys. I think? I don’t know. It’s all so confusing, and I just wish I could figure myself out already without all this contemplating nonsense.”

“Oh, honey.” Caitlin hugged her daughter. “There’s no rush to figure yourself out. That’s your journey, and there’s no beginning or end to it. Whoever you are, your dad and I will love you just the same. But you can’t force it. You have to figure yourself out at your own pace.”

Lia sniffed. “Thanks, Mom.”

“I’m sorry you feel alone at school. Would you want to join some clubs to try to meet new people?”

“That sounds scary.” Lia said. “New environment.”

“I get that.” Caitlin said. “Well, how about this? This weekend, you and Nora can go out shopping, see a movie, whatever you’d like, and you’d get to spend some quality time together. I can’t promise that Nora will be free every weekend, but maybe you girls could come up with a plan to get together and have a sleepover maybe once a month, just to catch up. And I’m sure your dad wouldn’t mind hosting dinners with the West-Allens more often.”

Lia smiled through her tears. “That sounds like fun.”

“But for now, let’s just focus on this math problem.” Caitlin said. “I promise, life will work itself out, but you have to take it one step at a time.”

“Okay.” She picked her pencil back up. “I’m ready to try.”

“That’s my girl.”

~~~

Lia was eighteen.

Various packing boxes sat before her. Her college dorm was a lot smaller than she had expected, but from what she heard, that was normal. By some hint of luck, both Lia and Nora had been accepted into Central City University, and their request to be roommates was approved. Nora had finished unpacking in mere seconds. Granted, she used her speed, and Lia unfortunately was left to unpack at a normal human pace.

“The worst part about being adopted,” Lia sighed. “Not inheriting powers.”

“Don’t worry. I gotcha.” In a flurry of yellow and purple lightning, Nora emptied out all of Lia’s boxes and arranged her posters, decorations, and other belongings along her space. She skidded to a halt, and turned to Lia. “How’s that? If you don’t like it, I can undo it.”

“That looks…” Lia looked at her newly decorated space in awe. “Wonderful. Thank you.”

“Anytime.” Nora flopped down onto her bed. “Just one of the perks of having a speedster for a best friend.”

“Another perk is never letting said speedster best friend forget the time she sped-run right into a stop sign.” Lia gently shoved Nora’s shoulder in a friendly-teasing gesture.

Nora groaned at the memory. “That hurt like hell. I had a bruise on my face for three whole days.”

“Hey, three days is not a lot.” Lia sat down next to Nora. “Be glad you have speed-healing.”

“I’d be lost without it.” Nora said. “When I got my powers, the first thing Dad taught me was how to brake. Thank god for that.”

“And yet it only works if you’re paying attention to what’s in front of you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nora chuckled.

“Oh! I wanted to ask.” Lia spoke suddenly, as if it had just occurred to her. “Apparently some other freshman in a dorm not too far from ours are having a movie night tonight. Some girl passed me in the hallway earlier and asked if I’d want to go.”

“Do you wanna go?”

Lia shrugged. “I’ll go if you do. Otherwise, I’ll pass.”

“Well, how about we have a Netflix night tonight, just the two of us?” Nora said. “We can binge more classic tv shows from when our parents were in college, and even better, I’ll run to the store and get snacks. I’ll buy some chocolate for me and some licorice for you.”

“You know me so well.” Lia smiled. “That sounds great.”

“Hey, what’re best friends for?” Nora said. “You get Netflix pulled up. I’ll be back in a sec with snacks.”

She sped out the door, leaving a trail of purple and yellow lightning behind her.

~~~

Lia was twenty.

The steak was warm and well-cooked. Her mom had prepared green beans and mashed potatoes. The West-Allens had brought over some food as well. Barry had prepared it, seeing as how he’s always been better at Iris than cooking. No one would ever admit that to Iris, but they knew it was true. Too many times in Nora and Lia’s youth, Nora would complain that her mom was cooking that night because her dad was busy.

The Christmas tree was lit up and decorated with ornaments. They had decorated it together, both the Ramons and the West-Allens, just earlier that day. After all, Christmas Eve should be spent with family, and the West-Allens were exactly that.

Lia had spent the last few weeks shopping for both her parents, Nora, and Barry and Iris. As a college kid living off of frozen pizzas and ramen, she didn’t have too much to spend on gifts, but she was proud of what she ended up getting, and confident that they would like it.

“I hope the weather’s been treating you well.” Caitlin reached for the gravy.

“Actually, I got a pretty bad cold last week.” Lia said. “It sucked ass, but Nora made me hot tea, which was nice of her.”

Nora shrugged. “It was the least I could do.”

“Colds are the worst.” Caitlin sighed. “I’m glad you’re better now, though.”

“Actually, something exciting happened not too long ago.” Nora turned to Lia. “Tell them, Lia.”

“Oh! Right!” Lia smiled, and turned to everybody else at the table. “Nora and I went to our first pride about two weeks ago! It was Central City’s local pride parade. Nora had this huge lesbian flag that she was wearing as a cape, and I had face makeup with the bi pride colors.”

“That sounds like fun!” Cisco said.

Iris smiled. “I’m glad you girls got to go.”

“I already can’t wait for the next one.” Nora said. “We met all sorts of cool new people.”

“Y’know, Wally and Jesse went to a pride parade on Earth-2 not too long ago.” Barry said. “They had a bi pride flag and everything.”

“Oh, cool!” Lia turned to Nora. “I didn’t know your uncle was bi.”

Nora nodded. “Uncle Wally, Aunt Jesse, and Aunt Jenna. I have a lot of bi relatives.”

“How’s Jenna doing, by the way?”

“She’s doing good.” Nora said. “She loves her new job as a therapist. She says the empath powers really work well for her.”

“I can see why.” Lia said through a bit of mashed potatoes.

The friendly conversation continued until dinner was over. They talked in the living room and watched The Polar Express, one of Lia’s favorite movies from when she was a kid, and when the movie was over, they called it a night.

The next day was Christmas.

Lia didn’t wake up at 5am like she used to do every Christmas morning when she was a kid, but she did wake up when the others did, and the group ate breakfast and admired the Christmas lights. When they decided it was time, they passed around the presents from under the tree and opened them one at a time.

She bought Nora a new pair of sneakers, because she constantly wore down her old ones by speeding everywhere. They were cute, and matched Nora’s style perfectly. Even better, they fit perfectly.

“These are so cute!” Nora grinned. “Thanks!”

“You’re welcome!”

Lia had saved up her money to buy an old vintage movie set. They were the classics, from all the way back before her dad was born. She wrapped it carefully and handed it to her dad, and his face glowed up upon seeing it.

“Oh my god, sweetie, thank you!” Cisco squeezed his daughter tight. “This is amazing.”

“I was thinking sometime we could get Twizzlers and watch an old movie or two together.” Lia said. “Just you and me, like a father-daughter movie night.”

“Count me in.” Cisco grinned. “I can’t think of a better way to spend my afternoons.”

As for her mother, Lia had spent some time knitting her a scarf. It was white and blue, like Frost’s preferred color scheme, and it had little snowflakes across the rim.

“I’m not the best at knitting, but I’ve been learning.” Lia said. “And I figured you’re cold a lot with your powers, so I made that for you.”

Caitlin held it in her hands, rubbing the soft material and tracing the snowflakes with her fingers.

“It’s beautiful.” Caitlin exhaled softly, in awe. “Thank you. I couldn’t ask for a better gift.”

“You’re welcome, Mom.”

As the families talked and shared the holiday together, it started to snow ever so lightly outside. That White Christmas went down in Lia’s memory of one of her favorites.

As the day came to a close, Lia was reminded of exactly how wonderful her family is.

~~~

Lia was twenty-eight.

Twenty-eight short years fulled to the brim with happy memories, only to be cut short so abruptly.

No one expected it. No one could have predicted it.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Lia was supposed to live a long and fulfilling life. She was supposed to get married and give Cisco and Caitlin grandkids. She was supposed to be Aunt Lia to Nora’s kids, and vice versa. She was supposed to spend so many more holidays with her family. Her parents weren’t supposed to outlive her.

But fate had other plans.

On that ill-fated day, Lia interfered with the wrong evil speedster. On that day, Godspeed left her for dead. On that day, Lia Ramon’s life ended.

No more movie nights with her dad. No more pride parades with Nora. No more snow days with her mom.

Lia was gone.

Every sweet moment that she had shared with her loved ones was history. They lived on as memories, but that was all they had left of the girl they knew. The girl that Cisco and Caitlin had raised.

Nora was driven into a rage. It’s always easier to be angry than to be sad. She wanted to be angry, she wanted to yell, she wanted to scream. She wanted to track down Godspeed and make him pay. She wanted someone to blame this on, and she wanted justice.

Except… justice wouldn’t bring Lia back.

Godspeed was sent to jail, and Nora had lost her scapegoat for her anger. Instead, she was left with an emptiness. As if she had lost a part of herself, and now there was just a big hole in its place. She would’ve rather have lost her arm than have lost Lia.

Nora found herself falling into a depression.

Cisco and Caitlin didn’t know how to cope with it at first. They couldn’t go on with their lives like normal, but it hurt too much to face the truth. They left Lia’s stuff untouched, because they knew they couldn’t so much as see it without experiencing the pain that came with it.

Lia’s funeral felt dismal.

Cisco started crying during the eulogy. That’s when it really hit him that his daughter was gone. He sobbed into some tissues that Caitlin had brought, and leaned on Caitlin’s shoulder for support.

After the funeral, Cisco and Caitlin went home and finally mustered up the courage to go through Lia’s old childhood bedroom.

Everything in there was attached to some memory of their daughter, and it stung. It just added salt to the wound, but it needed to be done. They needed to pack up Lia’s stuff, they couldn’t leave it out in her room forever. Besides, Lia needed to be honored, not forgotten.

So, together, Cisco and Caitlin went through her room.

Both of them were crying. Their eyes were red and puffy, and their noses were sore. They had brought tissues along with them, and they were going through them quickly. And yet, they found the strength in them to smile despite their tears. They found sweet, treasured memories in the midst of their pain.

“This was her favorite stuffed animal when she was five.” Caitlin sniffed and held up an old, tattered stuffed animal in the shape of a bunny.

“Mr. Snuggles,” Cisco took it and held it in his hands, looking at it with a certain fondness, mixed with nostalgia, and regret, and pain. “She took it everywhere with her.”

“And then one time she lost it at a Target.”

“We had to search for it in every aisle.” Cisco recalled the memory with a sad smile. “Even some of the employees helped look for it.”

“We found it in the toy section,” Caitlin said. “Next to the Legos.”

Caitlin set the stuffed animal in a box.

“Oh, it’s the old cd player.” Cisco picked it up and dusted off the top. “She’d put cds in here and we’d listen to music and have dance parties to old songs.”

“I remember that.” The memory made Caitlin smile. “I used to love watching you two dancing like you didn’t have a care in the world.”

“There was that one time when I convinced you to join us, remember?” Cisco asked. “The three of us, just dancing together, like time didn’t exist and we were immortal.”

Caitlin nodded. “She was adorable, dancing as a toddler.”

“She was.”

Cisco set the cd player in a box.

“Look at this,” Caitlin held up a pink frilly dress and a matching toy wand. “She used to wear this around the house and say she wanted to be a princess when she grew up.”

“She must’ve been about five then,” Cisco rubbed the dress’s scratchy material in between his fingers. “She wanted to be everything. A princess, a chef, a ballerina, a wizard.”

“Remember when she wanted to go to space?”

Cisco nodded. “We always told her the same thing.”

“You can be anything you want to be.” Caitlin said. “As long as you set your mind to it.”

“When she got her job as a CSI, she made us the proudest parents in the multiverse.” Cisco smiled, thinking about the day he got an excited phone call from Lia telling him about the big news.

“Honey, we were already the proudest parents in the multiverse.”

“That is true.”

Caitlin set the dress in a box.

With each item, a new memory. Each happy memory came with a bittersweet aftertaste, each sad memory came with a twang of regret. But no matter what, they knew they weren’t alone.

Cisco grabbed Caitlin’s hand. He held it gently, rubbing her palm with his thumb comfortingly. He met her tear-stained eyes with a look of compassion, understanding, empathy.

“Hey, I know this is hard.” Cisco said. “It’s going to be hard. This isn’t something we can recover from easily. But… it’s going to be okay. Because we have each other.”

More tears streamed from the corners of Caitlin’s eyes. They followed the same path down her cheeks that her other tears did. She had been crying so much that they formed a visible trail down the sides of her face, but she didn’t care. The warmth in Cisco’s eyes was enough to remind her of how loved she was.

“We’re going to get through this, together.” Cisco wrapped his arms around Caitlin and pressed a kiss to her wet cheek. “One bit at a time. We’ll take things slow. And, with time, life will get better. I promise. I’ll be right here with you, every step of the way.”

“Thank you, Cisco.”

It took them a long time to recover from that loss. But life moves on. And, eventually, they healed. They counted on the other, and they provided the support that their partner needed. With time, they learned how to enjoy life again.

After all, it’s what Lia would have wanted.

#killervibeweek19 #killervibeweek #killervibe #lia nelson #lia ramon #cisco ramon #caitlin snow #nora west allen

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sosayset · 5 years

Text

Better than Tofu

Growing up, my parents had one rule for my sister and myself when it came to dinner; you didn’t have to like everything that was served, but you had to at least try it first. Because of this, I think our family, as a whole, enjoys a wide array of different foods and are pretty open to new ones, too. So rewind to last week. The place where I work announced we would be adding the Beyond Burger patty to our menu as an option for our burgers. If you’re not familiar, Beyond Burger is a product that boasts a ground beef flavored patty made entirely from plant products. And that is how it’s marketed. You will get a real burger flavor from plants.

Veggie burgers are one thing because they are NOTHING like a ground beef patty, but that is and was a bold claim, so I was actually excited to try it for myself and put it to the test. At the very least, it had to be a step up from tofu, because, well, almost anything would have to be. So when it went live on our menu and in our kitchen the other day, I placed my order and had the team make my Beyond Burger. And as the highly influential individual I am </sarcasm>, I decided to report back my thoughts and opinions.

Our kitchen staff had already tried it prior to my order, and let me know their thoughts. More importantly, though, they did do is show me the ingredients. Full disclosure, if you’re going to get something to taste like something it’s not, it will require a lot of...chemistry, for lack of a better term. Yes, every ingredient was plant based, but there are a lot of extracts of this, and oils of that and the like. In our conversation, one of them suggested his own concerns over the processes used to obtain specific extracts and the like. I am less skeptical about that sort of thing, especially in regards to its health concerns, but others are. So while the process of creating a chicken nugget regularly served in fast food establishments is wholly unappetizing to watch, in fairness, getting plants to taste like beef might be similar.

However, that wasn’t a deterrent for me, and honestly, if you have eaten a chicken nugget from anywhere, it shouldn’t be for you, either. Now, I know this is a product that is primarily targeted to the vegetarian and vegan communities, but I am neither. That said, if you’re going to convince me this is like a real burger, I’m ordering it the way I would any other. Bacon made an appearance as did cheese. Sorry, but you should try to eliminate as many variables as possible when it comes to scientific research and product comparisons.

So, how did it do? Very well, actually. Now understand that my grandfather was a butcher and often had choice meats for my mom growing up, my parents are very good cooks, as am I, and I work with a kitchen full of outstanding and talented chefs who have access to high quality food, so I’m not someone who is regularly eating fast food burgers or the like. So when I say that I knew immediately it wasn’t beef, that’s not a harsh criticism. It would be foolish for someone to suggest that someone couldn’t or wouldn’t know the difference, in my opinion. While some might not be able to tell, I think a lot would. If you can tell the difference between a piece of ham and a piece of Spam, you should know the difference between these burgers. All that said, this did taste very similar to beef. And it did so things that are sometimes unappealing about beef, such as excess grease.

The cooks mentioned, and I tend to agree, that the aftertaste was the real giveaway, though. If you were enjoying a soda with your burger (I actually have been on a soda water kick recently and have changed my two daily pitchers of water to soda water) and burped, you would know conclusively you did not just eat a burger made of ground beef. If that’s a deal breaker for anyone, so be it, but I’m skeptical that it would.

Now, I myself am not likely to ever go to a completely vegan or vegetarian diet, and I am not going dive into that debate even slightly, however, this sort of option being available, these sort of products becoming more and more readily available are a good thing, especially if and when they are sold as an alternative, not a specialty item at a higher cost (our burger patties cost the same weather it’s plant based or real ground beef) is a good thing. For anyone who simply wants to consume less meat regularly, items like this provide an alternative that proves it can actually taste good, or at the very least, familiar to what they already know. And it is an option for those people who are vegetarian or vegan, as well.

If you’re looking for a TL;DR summation of everything, I think it occurred to me at the grocery store as I passed by the seafood section. The Beyond Beef patty is like the artificial crab meat that’s sold. Anyone who has had real crab knows the moment they taste the artificial stuff that it is not real. But the artificial crab meat does taste similar, and that seems to be the goal. In fact, I would be willing to bet that the sausage links that are also offered by Beyond Burger (which we currently do not have as a menu option) would likely rival any hot dog or most other meat links on the market since most of that flavor comes from the spices and seasoning used. And given this experience, I think those might actually be able to fool someone into believing they were eating meat.

In any case, those are my thoughts, and I’ll finish with one last one. I’m not saying everyone will like it, but I do think everyone should at least try it, at least once. It is better than tofu.

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maddie-nanjingsemester · 5 years

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春假在北京：Spring Break in Beijing

For the first half of my spring break, I went to Beijing! Before the semester started, when I learned that we were going to have a week-long spring break to do whatever we wanted, I knew immediately that I wanted to use this opportunity to visit some of China’s most famous sites, especially because this was my first time in China and I don’t know the next time I’ll be back. If I’m going to be in China, why not go see the Great Wall and the terra-cotta warriors?

I traveled with three other people from my program, and we decided to rent Airbnb’s instead of staying in hotels. In my opinion, Airbnbs are often more worth your money because you usually have more amenities and space to move around. In Beijing, we stayed in a pretty nice apartment in the Shuangjing Subdistrict (双井街道 – Shuāng jǐng jiēdào) of the broader Chaoyang District (朝阳区 – Zhāoyáng qū). Our Airbnb was also in a gated community, so definitely pretty safe. Our host was very nice and even gave us some nearby restaurant recommendations.

On our first night, we walked around the neighborhood a bit to get a feel for the area and then ate 火锅 (huǒguō – hot pot) for dinner. 火锅 is one of my favorite things to eat in China because I love the communal aspect of it and the variety of foods you can add to it. This time, I tried my first 麻辣火锅 (málà huǒguō –málà pretty much translates to “numbingly spicy”)! It was good but definitely way too spicy to eat very often (at least for me!). Fortunately, we also ordered 番茄火锅 (fānqié huǒguō – tomato hot pot) so I could switch between the two when I needed a break.

On the first full day that we were there, we went to 天安门 (Tiān'ānmén – Tiananmen Square) and 故宫 (Gùgōng – the Forbidden City). It was definitely a strange feeling to be in Tiananmen Square, especially considering that this year is the 30th anniversary of the 1989 protests. I’ve never been in a place with more security cameras than Tiananmen – every single street light pole had 5-10 cameras on it, each pointing in a different direction. It didn’t surprise me considering the contentious history of the site, but it was still jarring. There were also security guards all over. Once you pass through the gate itself, you can head to the Forbidden City, which is just massive! None of us on the trip had any idea how long it was going to take us to walk from one end to the other. While it was wonderful to see this beautiful, ancient architecture, it did get a little tedious after a while, mostly due to the repetition of architectural motifs and the high volume of crowds within the site. Still an incredible visit though! Just a lot of walking.

Afterward, we went to 大栅栏 (Dà zhàlán – Dashilan), which is a famous shopping street. We got to browse the souvenir shops as well as local stores. Then, that night, we went out for 北京烤鸭 (Běijīng kǎoyā – Beijing roast duck), which I’ve only ever had once before in Chicago. We knew that if we were going to be in Beijing, this was a must. We went to one of the restaurants that our Airbnb host recommended to us, which at first we couldn’t find because it was on the second floor. We also wondered if the restaurant didn’t usually get many foreigners, because all of the waitstaff and cooks were very interested in us and kept coming by to watch us eat or give us tips on how to eat it correctly. But we didn’t mind too much, because the duck was absolutely incredible! The chef brings the duck out to the table and slices it right in front of you and then takes the bones and leftover meat away to be made into a soup you can eat at the end of your meal. It was so delicious, and probably one of the best meals I’ve had since being in China.

On the second day, we went to 长城 (Chángchéng – the Great Wall)!! There are numerous sections of the Great Wall that you can visit, and one of the most famous is 八达岭 (Bādálǐng), so we decided not to go there. We chose 慕田峪 (Mù tián yù) instead, which is known for its scenery. 90% of the surrounding environment of Mutianyu is comprised of forest, but since the weather is still cool, most of the trees were still pretty brown. I would love to go back in the summer when everything is green! Fortunately though, because it isn’t summer yet, there were very few tourists there, so it was very quiet and peaceful, much more so than I was expecting. One of my friends and I took a cable car to get up to the top of the wall, which was fast and a great way to see parts of the wall from above. It was absolutely breathtaking to see this ancient wall for the first time after learning about it and seeing pictures of it for pretty much my whole life. The Great Wall is definitely a place that you have to experience for yourself because pictures really can’t replicate how huge it is or the feeling of actually being up on the wall.

The third day there was much more relaxed, and we took some time to just walk around again, both in our neighborhood and beyond. Compared to Nanjing, Beijing definitely feels more like the type of massive Chinese city that I was expecting when I came to China. No matter where I’ve been in Nanjing, it’s always felt very local despite still being a big city, whereas Beijing felt much more modern and busy.

A couple disappointments from this part of our trip:

We wanted to take a bus tour of Beijing on our last day to really see the city, and we found information about a really cool 3-hour tour online that took you around the city at night, but when we got to the location where the tour buses departed, we found out that those tours are only during the summer! It was quite disappointing, especially as we chose not to go on other daytime tours in order to take this one, and because there was no mention of this seasonal restriction online.

I also wanted to go to the 798 Art District, but unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time, which is too bad because I haven’t had the chance to see much contemporary art since I’ve been in China. If I had known that our tour bus situation wasn’t going to work out, I probably would’ve gone there on our last day instead.

But overall, this was a wonderful glimpse of Beijing, and I would love to go back to experience more of the modern city life, especially because we went to so many touristy and historical sites on this particular trip.

xoxo 梅迪～

P.S. If you want more photos of the Great Wall and other places I visited over break, stay tuned because I will have a couple posts up in the near future that will be strictly photos!

#beijing #nanjing semester #study abroad #semester abroad #china

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kinneyhouston46-blog · 5 years

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Much better Effects In The Kitchen Area Using This Advice

Cooking can be Residence-Made Foods Are More healthy And Less costly - Look At The Following Tips To Make The Most Of Your House! for most people that have recently still left enhanced comfort with their parents' preparing food. This article gives a handful of helpful tips towards the rookie chefs who would like to consider their hand without slicing, burning, or maiming them selves in the process. Appropriate process and planning techniques are in depth in to aid inexperienced chefs brave the insidious dangers of the cooking community. In case you have an extremely essential occasion where by you are going to be cooking for an individual that you just love or perhaps your manager, try to stay with a food that you know will prove good. The Best Culinary Advice You May Actually Read is not the time to become striving new stuff as you want to be a number of it comes out correct. Left over vegetable parts shouldn't be wasted. Broccoli shirts, carrot sections and onion peelings can be included in your plant, beef or poultry inventory, to fill it with added flavor. Get Preparing food By Using These Tips to add the stock in your preferred dishes to further improve their flavor and show up being a excellent make in front of your family and friends. Once you period a bit of various meats, try it out before you begin in order to cook all of it. Hamburgers, meatballs and meatloaf all call for some mindful seasoning. After introducing your mixture of seasonings, usually do not prepare the complete section of meats. Prepare a tiny, veteran patty and style the effect. After you have carried this out, you may make a decision if you want to modify the seasoning or prepare food it. Think of purchasing big meat roasts or pork shoulder area to help make while in each of your few days night time. After you have this for dinner, retailer it within your fridge in order that you be able to produce many different types of sandwiches, as the week advances. Optimize your importance and restrict your bills by conserving foods. When food preparation steak, be sure the pan you might be using is actually hot to ensure that it sears the outside the beef and maintains all of the fruit drinks inside. This may cause your steak flavor fantastic, and it also won't be dehydrated out, given that every one of the flavour remains to be closed inside of the meat. Get a quality loaf of a loaf of bread which can be used being a aspect bit to various meals. Loaves of bread should go wonderful with any recipe containing sauce or cheeses, since you can dip it in a range of different toppings. Feature a loaf of Italian or French loaves of bread along with your after that meal. When shaving greens for meals say for example a vinaigrette or a salad, make use of a coarse microplane, also referred to as a grater or zester, to grate them into small items. The tastes of your veggies are genuinely unlocked when grated with all the microplane. For your preparing food prowess will grow, become familiar with to enjoy the versatility of stocks and shares and broths. As an alternative to acquiring these valuable components at the store or wasting your time cooking food them in modest batches, make shares in large quantities. It is possible to retailer excess carry in plastic bags in your fridge, all set for swift use within long term tasty recipes. It does not matter should you just want to come up with a recipe for the loved ones to savor or if you are preparing food for a day, cooking food can be a talent that will constantly come in handy. Every single traditions around the globe takes time to take a seat using their loved ones for the food, discussing the thrill of eating and friendship. If you are using the above mentioned suggestions, you may turn out to be a remarkable prepare and everybody will request you to make for the following big loved ones function.

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sandy-s-d · 6 years

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New Orleans Places in My Fanfic (and a few extras)

People are always asking me where to go in New Orleans, and while I am not a native, I grew up going there for vacation a lot with my family and did get to live there for a year and a hand full of months before Hurricane Katrina hit. Since then, my husband and I have been back. The first time, he took me all the places I missed, including swinging by my old apartment. Super important for healing purposes, you know? Anyway, I’ve loved incorporating New Orleans places into my fanfics, and when @iamoffyourbird asked for a list of places to go, I decided to create a list I can give my RL friends and add in little notes from the fanfics, too. Putting it here for fun.

New Orleans Locations (Some in My Fanfic)

Food: Some people say the better beignets are elsewhere, but I love the ones at Cafe du Monde, and you have to go for the location, the history, and the experience. Buffy and Willow have beignets and frozen café au laits here in A Small Boat in the Ocean. Buffy and Spike have beignets and frozen café au laits here in Hello Goodbye and allude to having them here in A Small Boat in the Ocean. Love chicory coffee! http://www.cafedumonde.com

For the gumbo experience, you have to go to the Gumbo Shop (it's different than the other place with the similar name). I’ve gone here since I was a kid. Buffy and Willow talk about going here in a Small Boat in the Ocean. Fresh French bread is perfect for dipping in the gumbo, and they have their own hot sauce which is yummy. I always buy a couple of bottles to take home. http://www.gumboshop.com

For an out of the Quarter treat, Jacques Imo's is a great place to go. You have to get there right when it's open to get a seat, and when I lived in New Orleans, the owner was known to show up wearing his chef’s coat and boxers. The alligator cheesecake is unique and delicious. Buffy and Spike have a date here in A Small Boat on the Ocean. http://jacques-imos.com

Mr. B's Bistro has delicious pecan pie (and other food). Dawn texts Emily’s Watcher to bring food from here before she gets kidnapped by Illyria in a Small Boat on the Ocean. http://www.mrbsbistro.com

Acme Oyster House has delicious oysters! I don’t like raw oysters, but I adore their baked ones with cheese and other spices. SO good! This is one of Dawn’s favorite places in Hello Goodbye. http://www.acmeoyster.com

Other places I love that aren’t mentioned…yet…

Brennans is excellent for brunch. Funny story: during my intern year, a lady whom my brother and I stood next to during Mardi Gras gave us $100 to go have a nice meal in New Orleans. She knew I was a poor intern, and her husband owned shopping malls. He was grateful we’d kept his wife company while he was gambling at the casino and got stuck there because of the parade. We went to Brennans for brunch. The interesting story is that there is a feud between family members and the one in NOLA and the Brennans in Houston are owned by the feuding family members. lol So they're a bit different but both excellent. https://www.brennansneworleans.com

For jazz brunch, I've heard the one at the Court of Two Sisters is fantastic but have never gotten to go: http://www.courtoftwosisters.com

For breakfast or lunch, you have to at least swing by Mother's...a famous little place outside the Quarter and near the casino. Lots of celebs and presidents have gone here. If you're so inclined, get the roast beef with debris. SO yummy. I wanted to include this place in A Small Boat on the Ocean, but I could never get the location to work in the story. https://www.mothersrestaurant.net

For the muffuletta experience, you have to get one at Central Grocery. There's usually a line out the door and when they run out of sandwich stuff for the day, it's done. Plus, if you like olives, you can buy a jar of their muffuletta spread to take home. https://centralgrocery.com

I'm so bummed but my favorite pralines are no longer in the Jackson Brewery like when I was a kid. They are a bit of a drive, but it's totally worth it to check out their new bigger store. These are hands down my favorite pralines in all of the Quarter (I've tried most of them). I really really wanted to include this place in A Small Boat on the Ocean, but the new location made it difficult, so I made the moveable hellmouth at a praline shop that had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. https://www.bayoucountry.com

https://neworleansschoolofcooking.com You can take a cooking class here. I've always wanted to! They also have delicious pralines – not as good as Bayou Country and also much smaller.

In a Small Boat on the Ocean, Buffy works at this particular CC’s Coffee. It's actually down the street from that haunted condo that we stayed at. While my husband slept, I snuck over here for a latte one morning. The Quarter off of Bourbon St. is really quiet and pretty to walk around in the morning before people are up and going. (CC's is the local coffee company that has tried for years to keep out Starbucks.) http://www.ccscoffee.com/locations/royal-st/

Bars: The Old Absinthe House https://www.ruebourbon.com/oldabsinthehouse/ They have some sort of egg drink here that my husband really wanted to try. Definitely worth a visit but not necessarily for that drink. Lol

Lafitte's http://www.lafittesblacksmithshop.com/Homepage.html I believe it's one of the oldest bars in New Orleans.

The bar at the Bourbon Orleans has good drinks with fresh ingredients. We got a couple of free drink tickets a piece when we stayed there. I was pregnant and they made me the most delicious fresh juice drink (alcohol free of course).

The other bar that's an absolute must in the Quarter is Pat O'Brien's because duh, you have to get a hurricane! This bar is mentioned in Adventures in Vamp-Sitting because Spike and Clem are standing outside it. http://www.patobriens.com/patobriens/default.asp

Head to Frenchman Street for late night stuffs...it's away from the Bourbon crowd which is a must experience but can get old. Spike works at the Spotted Cat in A Small Boat on the Ocean and Adventures in Vamp-Sitting. Spike and Clem sing a song here in Adventures in Vamp-Sitting. Buffy and Spike go on a date to hear Kermit Ruffins play at the Blue Nile in Hello Goodbye. It’s also mentioned in A Small Boat on the Ocean and Adventures in Vamp-Sitting. Snug Harbor is supposed to be amazing, but I’ve never been. http://frenchmenstreetlive.com http://bluenilelive.com

I highly highly recommend going to see Kermit Ruffins play wherever he's playing. It was on our MUST DO list from my training director when we lived there. He was playing at the Blue Nile for the longest but he seems to be all over the place now. https://www.songkick.com/artists/115899-kermit-ruffins About him: https://www.basinstreetrecords.com/artists/kermit-ruffins/

Places to Stay: 734 B Royal St., New Orleans, LA I’m not sure if this place is still for rent, but my husband and I stayed there in 2013. The ghost tour stopped at the door every evening. It’s supposedly haunted by the Octoroon, a young girl who is supposed to be very friendly. Her cat can be heard on the third floor. This place is the second floor. Buffy stays here in Hello Goodbye, and later Buffy and Spike stay here, too, in the same fic. It’s right next to the blue dog museum and the cathedral, and it’s really magical to wake up to the cathedral bells ringing.

We also stayed at the Bourbon Orleans. It’s supposedly haunted on the uppermost floors, but I was too scared to stay up there. http://www.bourbonorleans.com

Also, if you want to stay where I stayed when I was a kid and want the full people watching Bourbon Street experience, stay here. It used to be a Best Western. https://www.neworleans.com/listing/four-points-by-sheraton-french-quarter/672/

Touristy Things

Steamboat Natchez – this is the steamboat I went on with my family as a kid. It’s nice to take a ride up and down the Mississippi River. https://www.steamboatnatchez.com

The French Market is a really great place for shopping, food, and drinks. Buffy goes here at night when it’s closed in Hello Goodbye. https://www.frenchmarket.org

At St. Louis Cathedral, you can go inside and at night, there are all the fortune tellers and musicians outside. Artists are outside during the day, and there is a lovely garden in front of the cathedral. I attended Mass once here during my internship year. Buffy notices the fortune tellers in Hello Goodbye and actually talks Spike into taking her to see one in A Small Boat on the Ocean. http://www.stlouiscathedral.org

You can also take a tour around the Quarter in a horse and buggy...they're stationed near the cathedral and Café du Monde.

The ghost tours are supposed to be really cool.

And cemetery tours are unique because the graves are all above ground. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 would be a good place to tour, and Buffy goes here looking for an easy slay in A Small Boat on the Ocean. This is where Marie Laveau is buried. http://discoverhistoricamericatours.com/new-orleans/historical-locations/st-louis-cemetery-no-1/

If you want, you can take a streetcar, which is kind of fun. I think we used to ride one to the zoo when I was a kid. https://www.neworleansonline.com/tools/transportation/gettingaround/streetcars.html?

Audubon park is gorgeous for the large oaks and is in that beautiful section with the fancy old houses. You could probably pair this with the Columns hotel or Jacques Imo's or the Audubon zoo, which is a lovely zoo. https://audubonnatureinstitute.org/audubon-park

If you go to the park, check out the Columns hotel for happy hour...this is where Willow and Oz get engaged in A Small Boat on the Ocean. They have a jazz brunch, but I’ve never been. https://thecolumns.com

The WWII museum is supposed to be wonderful. https://www.nationalww2museum.org

Hurricane Katrina exhibition appears in Adventures in Vamp-Sitting. I dragged my poor husband here. https://louisianastatemuseum.org/presbytere/exhibit/living-hurricanes-katrina-beyond

And Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo is a must see shop. I’ve gone there every time I’m in New Orleans and it’s always so interesting to visit. https://voodooneworleans.com/

There are plantation home tours and swamp tours. I’ve always wanted to do a swamp tour!

When Anne Rice lived in New Orleans (not sure if she still does...I know she moved back and forth at one point), she had a Halloween party at her house every year. Now, it sounds like the fans have a vampire ball. http://annerice.com/Lestat-TheVampireBall.html

#new orleans #new orleans in fanfic #buffy the vampire slayer #spuffy #a small boat on the ocean #hello goodbye #adventures in vamp-sitting

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