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undreaming-fanfiction · 1 month

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As a crazy cat lady, may I offfer...

Eddie who has always loved cats, how free and soft and elegant they are, how they purr and close their eyes in affection, how they make him forget all his worries and stress. He's loved them ever since a neighbor's cat found him crying behind the trailer after he got bullied for his new haircut, the last gift from his shitty dad before Eddie got whisked away by the social services. The cat ignored his sniffling and jumped in his lap, plopping herself over the bony knees and thin thighs, and when she started rubbing her face against his scraped palm, Eddie felt complete.

He can't adopt one yet because he lives with Wayne who is allergic. Wayne offers to take antihistamines but Eddie refuses, he doesn't want to inconvenience him in his own home. Still, he dreams of one day sometime in the future, a small apartment of his own and at least two cats who will greet him when he comes home.

Eddie finds himself volunteering in a shelter and when a new cat café opens, he jumps at the opportunity. He is hired and spends his days taking of their cat ensemble and preparing delicious coffees. Cats help him be less jittery and more grounded, so it's a win win. Eddie loves this job.

Enter Steve Harrington, an insanely handsome man who stops by to make a reservation. Eddie is his usual flirty self, although he expects Steve will bring a date and that's the end of that. But then Steve leans to Eddie and asks: "Listen, uh...I will need some help."

Suppressing an internal groan, Eddie asks: "what, do you need me to drop an engagement ring into the coffee or something? Because can do, but it needs to be sanitized first."

"Oh no. Not that, no..." Steve runs his fingers through his hair and even though it looks like a nervous gesture, Eddie is seconds away from a cuteness induced nosebleed. "Not at all. I just...I have a little sister, you know? I mean, my adoptive dad is fostering her and she's the kindest girl you've met, but she had it rough in her original family. Apparently there was something involving animals and...she loves cats so much, but is terrified of hurting them. She would never!" he clarifies when he sees a frown forming on Eddie's forehead. "It's just that whenever she showed affection to any animal, her biological father made sure it would get hurt or at least chased away. And that's gone, that man is in jail and I just...I want to show her that it's okay to love animals again. That she can pet a purring cat without worrying about its safety."

Eddie just stares at him with mouth open. "That's...wow," he says. "Sorry. Processing."

Steve does the hair thing again and laughs and Eddie thinks that this man deserves a brother of the year award, yep, he'll ask Gareth to 3D print one right fucking now. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to dump all that on you, but I had to be honest because this is a big deal to her. To me as well. Just...listen, I like cats a lot, but I'm not the best at interpreting what they mean, their body language and all that. And I really need Jane to have someone here that can tell her what to do, when she's doing a good job...someone who will protect the kitties if she messes up. Her words. I know it's a lot to ask, but..."

But Eddie shushes him. "Say no more, big boy. I'll be here and I'll give the young lady the cat experience of a lifetime."

Eddie used to think he couldn't love his job any more. But with Jane's uncertain smile and big eyes, her incredulous squeal when a cat chose her for the first time, when she kept asking Eddie for specifics of each cat in his care - "which one is more shy, which one likes to be picked up, which one is a picky eater?" - he thinks he's finally found his calling. Steve beams at him and comes back the next day with a bag of approved cat treats for the cats and a box of chocolates for Eddie as a thank you, then asks him out for a dinner - "if that is even appropriate, shit, sorry, I don't want you to feel pressured or something, this is your job, I get it, but I just really admire you and you were amazing to Jane, uh, and the stuff you say about cats is so interesting I'd just love to hear more". Eddie's heart flutters like the traitor it is and he thinks - maybe this is someone I could adopt a cat with one day.

And unsurprisingly, he's right.

#steve harrington #eddie munson #eleven stranger things #jane hopper #steddie au #cat cafe au #steddie #steddie drabble #stranger things #THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ONE PARAGRAPH FFS

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leupagus · 3 months

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Guys I Might Have Three Nickels

I've been watching "Agatha Christie's Marple" for the past few days and it's pretty good! Marple adaptations all tend to have a better caliber of actors than a lot of bog-standard mystery shows (looking at you, "Madame Blanc"), and while Joan Hickson's Marple is right up there with David Suchet's Poirot and Jeremy Brett's Holmes as "literally can never be beaten, these are the best anyone's done it," both Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie do a fantastic job as Miss Marple.

Then I got to "The Secret of Chimneys," Season 5 episode 2

and guys

Guys

So there's a murder of a viscount, like there is, and this detective Finch rolls up and immediately spots Miss Marple (in her NIGHTIE! standing at the window like some kind of hussy, honestly Jane) and doffs his cap to her with that little smile that makes you go, "huh."

At this point I've watched a couple dozen Miss Marple episodes where she goes through detectives like wildfire and this guy's supposed to be a "*guru*" so I'm expecting some battle of the egos or something and like, Stephen Dillane is great! But bleh, I might have to skip this one.

Then my dude asks Miss Marple to SHOW HIM THE BODY, with a pleased little smile at her as she goes "uhhhhhhhh but my knitting?" (He even does that thing where you use someone's honorific and wait for them to give you their name, and that's when I was like "ohhh this bitch knows exactly who she is.") What follows is what I can only describe as a meet-cute in the secret passageway where the viscount was shot (and in fact the body is STILL THERE) and where Miss Marple literally asks the police equivalent of "is there a Mrs Finch" and he looks at her like this:

At which point I'm like "ohhh my dude not only knows who she is, he deliberately came here without a sergeant so he could draft her," and sure enough he just starts...handing her pieces of evidence like "hey babe can you decipher this note for me thanks love you" while Miss Marple is like, "this approval and camaraderie coming from a cop... not sure if want."

Next is a series of romantic strolls through the gardens while they discuss murder, during which Finch reveals his undying love I mean his research into Miss Marple and the "dozen case files" of her previous exploits that he's collected like some deranged fanboy. Miss Marple responds to this by BLUSHING LIKE A SCHOOLGIRL and stammering about how pish tosh it's nothing really, and I couldn't find a gif of it but he's staring at her like this:

Yeah I bet u r tempted

He also makes a half-hearted attempt at negging her "amateur sleuth" status, only to then immediately assure her that he makes like, so much money being a big fancy detective and can keep her in all the yarn and garden seed she could ever desire.

There's also a late-night tryst at the compost pile right after Finch has been (mildly) poisoned and Miss Marple is like "men are so weak" as she roots through the garbage for clues.

Not how he wanted their first date to go D:

The next morning there's another murder which: bummer, but also allows the two of them to read love letters together and for Finch to give Miss Marple the following look as she explains how secret assignations among lovers can "quicken the ardor":

Miss Marple then goes onto solve the murders and btw hands over the priceless diamond that's been literally missing for two literal decades that she found in her spare time. The entire scene features Finch looking at her like this:

After the dust settles, Finch and Miss Marple have a lovely moment where he calls himself "another one of your casualties," then super casually mentions that he's probably going to have to go on assignment to use the diamond in a daring international espionage case and I can't decide if he's asking Miss Marple to go with him or simply trying to show her that he is cool and smart and would make an excellent wife, but either way the episode ends with her turning him down and Jane, we need to talk about your priorities.

Anyway I've already written 2K about the subsequent 10-year epistolary romance these two have following this episode because I make poor choices.

#agatha christie's marple #miss marple #julia mckenzie #stephen dillane #special thanks to introvertedpedant for their exceptional gifs #anyway yeah I fully did the 'haha what if I jokingly shipped them' and then 30 minutes later was like 'oh no'#miss marple rhymes with parple #seriously though what's the explanation for these choice #other than dillane reading through the script and saying to mckenzie #'ok so I'm gonna play him like SO SO down bad for you is that cool'#and mckenzie saying 'you jump I jump jack'

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dotster001 · 9 months

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hii i love your works (they way you write is so lovely )! can i request a reader who is ethereal and has a gentle personality?

Summary: Rook/Riddle/Trey/Ruggie/Sebek x gn! Reader

3k followers masterlist

So radiant! So beautiful! He's been searching for you all his life!

You're perfect! That said….Rook is always going to be Rook. And now that he's found the perfect person…

He wants to break you open until he finds a flaw.

It's not that he doesn't love you, it's just, wouldn't it be so beautiful, if you had beautiful flaws?

After a while, he settles for thinking your gentleness is your flaw. He sees you be so nice to others, even those who don't deserve it. But that's okay! He'll protect you and your beautiful flaw! Never you fear!

The first time he sees you, he drops an entire cake on the ground. You can't possibly be real! You look sort of fae…but like, dialed up by one hundred.

He does something very un-Trey like. He avoids you. He can't even handle all the feelings that come just by looking at you. He's so overwhelmed with unnamed feelings, so it's easier just to avoid you.

But you're just too sweet! You're worried that he's sick, or that you did something wrong! So you come looking for him. And then he's forced to be overwhelmed by you, and his urge to press you against himself, just holding you tightly.

It's not until Cater playfully flirts with you, and makes you laugh, that he gets pissed and asks you out. He still gets nervous around you, but he's a quiet dude anyway so it's alright. You'll never know it's because you have such a strong effect over him.

"My mother would certainly approve of you."

That's his first thought when he sees you for the first time. He doesn't say it out loud, but the way his cheeks are burning, he may as well have. Luckily, the only one dumb enough to bring it up is Ace.

He's a perfect gentleman. Holding the door for you, escorting you places with a hand on your lower back, bowing deeply when he enters a room and you happen to be there. It feels like in a Jane Austen book when the dude is clearly courting the main character.

He's so genlte, too. You bring out a soft side of him. If he starts to build back up in his temper, Ace will find you, and shove you into his arms. It's an instant calming effect.

Aw, you're so sweet …. he's gonna rob your ass blind.

At first! these HC's are a lot of at first 😂

Everything changes when he steals half your lunch, and watches you give what's left to Grim. For nothing! Aw man, you definitely need someone street smart to look after you. He can help, for a small fee of course. 😁

Because of the ethereal part of you, you attract a lot of people. This quickly unlocks Ruggie's jealous side.

But we all know he's not a Dom, in any way. So how does he get your attention back? He whines. And if you happen to be sitting, he puts his head in your lap while he whines. And he won't stop until you pet his hair or scratch his ears. That's how he's positive the attention is on him 😁

He thinks you're soft. You must be. How can you afford to be so nice to everyone? Don't you know the weak get squashed without someone like him to protect them?

He thinks that until, one day, when he's yelling, you just gently cup his cheeks, and smile so softly at him. He can't speak, he can't think, he's just enthralled by your eyes that are gazing into his.

He feels his face heat up under your hands, and he realizes that he has someone who he wants to worship even more than Malleus Draconia.

Yeah, everything he does with Malleus? Ten times worse with you. But you can quickly calm him down by cupping his cheeks, humming a little tune, and giving him gentle praises.

When you two become official? His arm will always be around your waist , protectively, his hand on his sword hilt ready to pull it whenever. Luckily for the poor soul who tripped you that one time, you have such a calming effect on Sebek.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #3k followers #rook x reader #rook hunt x reader #rook hunt #riddle rosehearts x reader #riddle x reader #riddle rosehearts #trey x reader #trey clover x reader #trey clover #ruggie bucchi x reader #ruggie bucchi #ruggie x reader #sebek zigvolt x reader #sebek zigvolt #sebek x reader

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books-and-omens · 9 months

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God. I. I absolutely cannot sleep. And it’s nearly morning.

GOD.

Aziraphale, no.

Aziraphale. You are being manipulated. You are being showered with praise and acceptance that you have never received before, not like this. You are being told that you did extremely well, that you are the best of the best. This is *deliberate*. Metatron has never been on your side, he is telling you exactly what you want to hear. What you’ve been craving for the last four years, and for the six thousand years prior.

But they have plans for you, Aziraphale. They want you Upstairs so that you could do exactly what they need.

Aziraphale, stop.

(I’ll have to rewatch this. Have to collect the instances where Aziraphale is looking for approval. Fiercely hoping for approval. Throughout history, yes, and recently, too: those telephone calls after the Armageddon’t where he wanted Crowley to witness the good he’d s been doing. That burning need to tell someone that he did well and to hear it acknowledged.

Oh, Aziraphale is not at all taking his retirement from Heaven well.)

GOD.

You know what, I think Aziraphale is absolutely coming undone by the end. That process is certainly in full swing by the ball.

Because seriously.

The ball. The absolute fabulous madness of it. The drapery. The chandelier. Aziraphale going all-out with the miracles, retreating to the safety of Jane Austen where things go right and love prevails.

(Inviting Crowley to dance, too. Pulling him by the hand.)

Notice, too, Aziraphale’s desperate insistence that things cannot possibly be as bad as Crowley thinks they are. What a level of denial. Everything is fine, he is telling himself. Everything will be fine. I’m setting everything up perfectly to explain the big miracle, to avoid the existential threat we are both facing. We will be fine, nothing will really have to change, and I will still have Crowley.

(Oh, the vehemence. Close your eyes and pretend you are in another century. Don’t open them. Do not open them. Everything is fine.)

And—

Aziraphale is not handling retirement from Heaven well, but that’s only one of the things that are happening, isn’t it.

The danger to both of them is real. Crowley, too, is under existential threat (which Shax has helpfully reminds Aziraphale of, of course she does). They are not safe; they will never be safe while they are exiles, while Heaven and Hell can threaten both of them on a whim, while shining archangels can drop by at any point.

So what Metatron is offering at the very end is the power to do good and be appreciated, but also safety. You can be safe, he promises, your demon can be safe. You can even be with him, just as you are now—except you won’t be powerless against the rest of the world.

You won’t have to be fugitives, not any more. Not like you are now.

(It’s a lie. We know it’s a lie.

And Metatron must know full well that Crowley would never accept the terms as stated.)

They witness another thing, of course. Gabe and Beez. Their happily-ever-after.

There in the moment, Crowley is probably looking at them and thinking: we could do this. We could go off together. Yes?

Except this kind of a happy ending, Gabe and Beez being left alone but exiled, wouldn’t be a happy ending for Aziraphale and Crowley.

They’ve been in this exact place before. “We can go off together!”

And as before, this won’t work.

They have the Earth. They care about the Earth a lot, both of them. Aziraphale wants to win approval, yes, but he also very sincerely wants to make things better, to do what’s right, to be the change. And he wants, too, to win safety for him and Crowley. Wants them to be together, side by side; wants that to be allowed.

Wants them to do the right thing together. To have the power to do the right thing.

And everything they have built together falls apart.

(Angel.

Fucking Hell.

Stop the elevator between the floors. Get out. Get the fuck out. Get back.

Angel. You haven’t even seen what Crowley has seen in Heaven. What they were planning. What they need you for.

Angel.

NOT. LIKE. THAT.)

#good omens season 2 #good omens #good omens season 2 spoilers #GOD #episode 6 #and really all the other episodes #good omens 2

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bethanydelleman · 6 months

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Hello!

I rewatched Pride and Prejudice and it's surprising how my thoughts on it changed over the years 😃

When I was a teenager, Elizabeth Bennet was the plucky heroine that I wanted to be (lol) , now I'm older with a mortgage and responsibilities/bills, I'm like what was her plan in life?

Because she wasn't really educated per se (im thinking about how she answered lady Catherine about what she has to recommend her re:drawing, playing the piano etc) so I guess a 'career'(no matter how little it would be available at that time) was out of the question, but accepting marraige to the (admittedly obsequious) Mr Collins was also out of the question as well as Mr Darcys first proposal (which I get why sge turned it down!) ...I guess I'm asking what Elizabeth's plan for her future.

I've heard this from a lot of people upon re-read, "Why isn't Elizabeth more worried about her future?" I think there are a few things to note.

Early 1800s or not, Elizabeth is 20 years old when the novel begins (the average age of first marriage for women was 23). 27 year old Charlotte is in more of a future panic, but Elizabeth is still young. She has done practical thing like learn to play piano, but like most young people, she's probably just hoping for the best. And it's not like there is much she can actually do, Elizabeth is putting herself out there, she's dancing, she's playing piano, but otherwise she can just hurry up and wait. Her mother's marriage schemes are seen as vulgar and mostly backfire, and we would hardly want Elizabeth to act like Caroline. We read across Austen's novel's that women are largely stationary and it is the men who move in and out of their lives.

Also, I think a big part of Austen's point is that women are in a position where they feel the need to accept any and every proposal, because as Mr. Collins says, they may never receive another, but that this leads to misery (just look at the older couples and how many of them are unhappy!). While somewhat foolish from a financial perspective, Elizabeth is thinking about her long term happiness. She has watched her father turn bitter in an unequal relationship, she does not want that for herself. Elizabeth is choosing possible spinsterhood over being married to a person she knows she could not respect. Marrying for love, or at least on a basis of respect, is a big theme in Austen's novels. Let me add this quote from Mansfield Park to illustrate this point:

“I should have thought,” said Fanny, after a pause of recollection and exertion, “that every woman must have felt the possibility of a man’s not being approved, not being loved by some one of her sex at least, let him be ever so generally agreeable. Let him have all the perfections in the world, I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself.... And, and—we think very differently of the nature of women, if they can imagine a woman so very soon capable of returning an affection as this seems to imply.”

So yes, Elizabeth Bennet isn't being financially prudent but she is being sensible in preserving her happiness. And for realism, we know Austen made this decision herself! She turned down an eligible offer.

Next, Mrs. Bennet is somewhat exaggerating: they are very unlikely to starve or be destitute. While it is never explicitly stated, Mr. Gardiner seems to be doing very well, and would probably very happily take at least Jane and Elizabeth if Mr. Bennet died. Mr. Philips is also doing well for a country attorney, he could take in his sister-in-law and nieces. It is going to suck, the Bennets should have planned better, but it's not the end of the world. We also do not know Mr. Bennet's age, but he may well only be in his late forties. He's no Mr. Woodhouse who may die tomorrow in a stiff breeze.

So what is Elizabeth's plan? She doesn't have one, she's 20. She's hoping life will throw her a man with a decent income that she doesn't hate. It works out in the end, but I don't think she would live to regret either turned down proposal if she had never met Darcy again.

#question response #elizabeth bennet #pride and prejudice #she doesn't have a plan #she's young #she just has staandards

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moonstruckme · 4 months

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hiiii ! im not sure if you take requests but i would LOVE just a small sirius x coquette reader blurb!!! nothing specific just anything!

i just think they would be so opposites and it would be so so cute <3

Hi gorgeous, I do! Thanks for requesting <3

Sirius Black x fem!reader ♡ 810 words

“I feel like I’m smelling smoke,” you say, and Sirius hastily lets the strand of hair fall from the curling wand.

“You’re delusional,” he replies when it doesn’t look totally charred. “I’m a pro at this, sweetheart.”

You hum dubiously. “Well, I appreciate your help. I can never reach the ones in the back, they always end up looking wonky.”

“Yeah, you owe me big,” Sirius lets his voice stretch long and reluctant, as if you don't both know how much he loves getting to play with your hair. “Gonna do a ribbon today?”

“Sure.” You lean forward to apply your lipstick in the mirror.

“Which one?”

“You can pick, Siri.”

He deliberates for a moment, taking the opportunity to let his eyes skim over you under the guise of assessing your outfit, before holding a pink one up in the mirror for your approval. You nod happily, and Sirius begins gathering your hair in his hands.

“Hold still a minute, pretty thing.” He makes sure there’s a couple of ringlets loose in the front like you like them and pins the ribbon in place.

“Is it straight?” you ask, twisting your lipstick shut and capping it.

“Dollface, you wound me.”

“Fine, I’ll trust you.” You roll your eyes with a smile. “Ready to go, love?”

“Actually, let me get ready really quickly.” Sirius peers into the mirror with great concentration and shoves his hands into his hair, shaking it out at the roots until it looks as messy as possible. “Okay, ready.”

“Hilarious.”

“You’re just jealous,” he says, “that my routine is so much easier than yours.”

“Siri, I’ve seen you spend hours cutting the sleeves off of all your t-shirts.” You give him a teasing look, slipping your feet, clad in frilly socks, into your Mary Jane’s while Sirius tugs on his combat boots. “Don’t act like you’re so low-maintenance.”

“You wish you had tattoos this sick to show off.” Sirius feels sort of like a big dog you’ve got on a leash, the way you stroll towards the front door with him on your heels.

“Not really, no. That’s your thing, not mine.”

“Someday,” he says wistfully, following you out the door and shutting it behind him. “Someday I’m going to get you into a tattoo shop, and you’re going to come out looking so punk rock no one will even recognize you.”

You give him a deadpan look, though the effect is made somewhat less intimidating by your sweet face and cutesy outfit. “Sure, love.” Sirius grins at you, straddling his bike and slipping on his helmet. You hesitate. “Can we walk? It’s not far, and I don’t want the wind to mess up my hair.”

“Oh.” A tiny pang of disappointment goes through Sirius, but he understands. Hair is always the priority. “Sure.”

“Actually, wait just a second.” You lean in close to his face, frowning, and Sirius’ eyebrows inch upwards before he realizes you’re using the reflective visor of his helmet to see yourself. You purse your lips.

“I forgot to blot,” you say quietly, almost to yourself. You bring a finger to your mouth, tapping at your bottom lip to remove the excess lipstick. Sirius watches the motion with unchecked awe, your pretty pink lips supple and oscillating under your touch.

“Siri, baby, can I have your hand?”

He gives it to you without hesitation, and you raise it to your lips, stamping pink lipstick onto the backside of his palm. You press your lips together one final time before smiling, satisfied. “Okay, you can take the helmet off now.”

Sirius does, almost in a trance, looking down at the mark you’ve left on his hand. It’s perfectly pressed, the pink a funny-looking contrast against his dark painted nails and the silver rings that adorn his knuckles.

“C’mere, sweet thing,” he says. You look a bit perplexed, but step closer to where he’s still straddling his bike, the dainty floral pattern of your tights brushing his dark jeans. He takes your face in both hands. “You’re so lovely, you know that?”

You’re well used to Sirius’ flirting, but the sincerity in his voice has a pretty blush rising to the apples of your cheeks. The pinkness of it matches nicely, the thinks, with your lipstick and the ribbon in your hair. Sirius pulls you towards him, smushing his lips to yours.

You make a startled sound of protest. “Sirius!” you pull away, raising a hand to hover by your lips. “You’re going to mess it up!”

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, but you’re already picking up his helmet from where he’d set it on the seat, checking your reflection. “It’s more punk rock that way.”

“I told you.” You swipe at a smudged spot of pink at the corner of your lips, giving him a dazzling smile. “That’s your thing, not mine.”

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gloriousburden · 2 months

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personally, i do not ship loki with anyone. but out of genuine curiosity… i’d like to see what the most popular loki ship on here is.

(disclaimer: like i said, i do not ship loki with anyone. if there is a ship you disagree with here, please do not get mad at me simply because i added it as an option. i am just genuinely curious to see who you guys ship loki with, and some of these ships are perhaps… controversial. me putting these ships here does not mean i necessarily endorse/approve of any of them. i don’t really know how tumblr feels about thorki anymore, but i added it simply because i’d like to answers from every side possible. and also because i would like to know how tumblr currently feels about them! i’ve been wondering if it is still the most popular ship here, even though they haven’t been on screen together in so long. or if people think it’s like… really weird and are less tolerant of it now. once again i am not endorsing ANY of these ships. feel more than welcome to state your honest opinions on any of these ships, but please do not harass others for having an opinion that differs from your own.)

also forgive me if i forgot any. i put all the ones i remembered 😭😭😭 please rb for reach

#be respectful please #loki #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki mcu #mcu poll #loki poll #poll #loki ships #loki ship #mcu #marvel #marvel poll

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m1ssunderstanding · 17 days

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You know if even Francie is saying it I'm starting to think old Jim Mac may have been slightly abusive, I don't think that's the right word since what happened it was a different time and place etc. But with the way he treated Paul and Mike, especially after Mary's passing and how he expected so much more when his son was one of the most famous musicians in the world, it's just - his whole family to he fair it's like they never really saw him as human and more akin to a musical monkey

Yeah I would actually call it abuse. I think Jim probably had mostly good intentions and genuinely loved his sons, but that doesn't mean his treatment of them was just or didn't have any affect on them. By my definitions, there's emotional as well as physical abuse going on (Paul was expected and pressured from the time they started to realize how intelligent he was to grow up and save his entire family from poverty; Appearances were everything and emotional needs suppressed; There was no financial security; After Mary's death, Paul was extremely patentified, depended on emotionally and materially by the person who was simultaneously physically abusing him)

About the normalization of the physical abuse specifically for a minute, if it was so normal for the time, why is Paul the only one of the four Beatles to have experienced it? My family has always been working class, and my grandparents who are Paul's age were not subjected to the violence that Paul was. Not saying it wasn't more common then and more accepted, but it's also not something you can just pass off as "that's what everyone did in those days".

Also, I wouldn't be surprised at all if even in that one interview where Paul specifically talked about how he got Jim to stop hitting him, he was downplaying. That's what Paul does. We have no way of knowing. But it does fit with Paul's usual story-telling and framing of events that maybe it was more than what he said.

And yeah, the financial abuse started early and clearly continued far into adulthood, maybe up until Jim's death when Paul cut Angie and Ruth off for selling his birth certificate. Paul was trained as a door-to-door salesman for Jim's club as a nine year old in the literal projects. He figured out how to snatch other people's lunch tickets out of the fire at the inny and pass them off as unused. What are we going to do without her money? He first saw John when he was a paper boy and John was buying chips. As soon as the band started making money, he became the head provider of his family (Jim made 10 pounds a week at the cotton brokers while Paul made 15 a week in Hamburg) and when the band wasn't making money, he found whatever work he could to make up for it. Meanwhile, we have no reason to believe Jim wasn't gambling insatiably. As the child of an addict, I know addictions don't just go away and then resurface when they're affordable again, and Jim was certainly an addict. He gambled so much Paul had to buy his house back for him (that he'd bought for him in the first place while Paul himself was living in an attic room like some kind of starving artist at the same time as the rest of the band was buying their mansions).

Paul clearly loved his dad so much and craved Jim's approval, trying to find a girl Jim would approve of after Jane, trying to be a good family man, trying to stay close to his working class roots. You can even see it in his music, from When I'm 64 to A Walk in the Park with Eloise. (I think the 1920s & 30s influence in much of his music came from him genuinely loving it and also from a desire for his dad to appreciate his talent). But he also had no patience for Jim's frailty toward the end, didn't go to the funeral, and didn't write about Jim's death in MYFN.

I really don't know too much about the extended family, anon, but it does seem the case that part of Paul's role in it, from the beginning, was to be a savior and a cash cow, and no one considered his humanity.

#paul mccartney #the beatles #jim mccartney #thanks for the ask!

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nuttersincorporated · 4 months

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Mickey Mouse does not need your protection

Since Mickey Mouse became public domain, I’ve seen some really wild takes and misinformation going around. Yes, Mickey Mouse is public domain. No, you do not need to protect him. It’s fine if people other than Disney make Mickey Mouse stuff, even if you don’t like the things that are made.

You are not protecting Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse is not real. Even if he was, you STILL wouldn’t be protecting him. You’re just sticking up for a megacorporation. Disney has more money and resources than you will ever have and they horde them. You shouldn’t be trying to help them do it.

Disney is a company that loves using public domain properties to make things. They have just tried their absolute hardest to make sure that nobody else could do the same thing. If you think Mickey Mouse should only be used by Disney, you should be upset that Disney made money off public domain stories like Snow White and Rapunzel.

What about things like Winnie the Pooh? Disney didn’t come up with him but they were happy to make money off him. They bought the rights to him and then didn’t share.

‘Ah!’ I hear you say. ‘But Winnie the Pooh actually helps prove our point! When Disney – that poor poor super rich company that should be protected – lost the exclusive rights, a Winnie the Pooh horror movie was made! That’s not in the spirit of the original character!’

Firstly, you can just ignore that movie if you want. I did. Nobody is making you watch it. You are responsible for your own media consumption.

Secondly, there are nice Winnie the Pooh stories out there that aren’t by Disney or the original author. The Pooh books by Jane Riordan are lovely. Her stories are much more in the spirit of the original character than a lot of the Disney comics were.

This is an official Disney comic with Winnie the Pooh

This is a picture from one of Jane Riordan’s Winnie the Pooh books

One of them is sweet, kind and in the spirit of the original character. The other is Disney owned and approved.

What would the original author A.A. Milne think of the different adaptions and new works? Well, we don’t know because, at the end of the month, he’ll have been dead for 68 years. However, I can quote one of the original Pooh books about sharing,

And really, it wasn’t much good having anything exciting like floods, if you couldn’t share them with somebody.

Thirdly, Disney does not respect authorial intent.

PL Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins books, did not want Disney to make a movie based on her work. She got coerced into letting them make one. She hated the movie and refused to let them make any more.

What happened after she’d died, the ban on them making more Mary Poppies movies ran out and they got their hands on the rights? They made a sequel.

I think you should be more upset that Disney went against the direct wishes of an author than the fact regular people can now use a character that megacorporation uses. PL Travers was a person. Disney is a company. There is a difference.

I love the original Mary Poppins movie. I don’t care about or like the sequel. However, PL Travers died in 1996. People should be able to use the character now, no matter how you or I feel about those newer stories. Again, you can just ignore them if you want.

The original stories are still there.

Royalties are different to public domain. The profits from PL Travers original books go to her descendants and the Cherry Tree Foundation. They will continue to go there for 80 years after her death and then the royalties will be shared out among any decedents who are alive at that time. The money from those books will continue to go there, no matter what new stories with Mary Poppins get made.

You all seem okay with Disney making money off public domain stories and buying the rights to other stories. Why can't you extend that right to other people?

No one has stolen Mickey from Disney. Disney can and will continue to make money off him. All that’s change is that other people can now do that too.

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ven0moir · 1 year

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Byler Analysis: Mike’s phone calls.

This analysis is going over why Mike’s phone calls were, without a doubt, for Will. Bylers have been talking about this for months now, but I’ve compiled all the evidence I could find.

So, to start us off...

Hawkin’s Lab is owned by the ‘Department of Energy’, which according to Mike, Ted has said is Government/The Military.

In S1, the main antagonists in regard to Hawkins Lab were Connie Frazier and Dr. Brenner. However, by the season finale, Connie was killed by Eleven and Dr. Brenner’s status was unknown.

With the two of them out of the way, we are introduced to Dr. Sam Owens in S2.

Now, whether or not Owens is truly trustworthy or not is a whole other can of worms, but for the sake of this analysis, we will follow his introduction as an ally to the Byers-Hoppers. He was the primary doctor looking after Will and investigating what was going on with him when he was possessed by the Mindflayer. S2 concludes by letting us know that Owens has pulled some strings to give Eleven a new identity and thus a new life: that of JANE HOPPER.

Owens recommends to Hopper that Eleven should lay low for about a year before living freely, as a PRECAUTION (since, like he said before, ‘those people’ aka the bad ones, are gone), but overall, things are safe enough that Owens even approves of Hopper letting Eleven go to the Snow Ball.

S3 starts in June 1985, about six months after S2, which means Eleven’s year of laying low isn’t done yet. But since Owens is in charge of the lab, Eleven and Mike can call on the phone. We also see them using walkie-talkies, so I’m assuming that they don’t call that often as a precaution as well, but they can do it as long as it’s not too frequent.

It is important to note that the lab was not the main antagonist in neither S2 nor S3 (It was the Mindflayer & Russians respectively).

Eleven can even afford to go out a couple of times to the mall with Max without consequence at all. It isn’t until things get bad enough with the ‘flesh flayer’ that the military immediately steps in to cover it all up (and despite their best efforts, the town is still suspicious).

Owens is FIRED at the end of S3 as a consequence of the mall “fire”. This is significant because it means that he no longer holds the power to protect Eleven. Still, he managed to use his contacts (which include allies like Ellen, Wallace, and Hamon) to relocate Eleven + the Byers to Lenora and look after them very discretely.

Because of this plan, Eleven is safe in Lenora enough to go out and have a life as Jane Hopper. However, that plan does NOT include calling Hawkins as that would be FAR TOO RISKY.

She cannot call or be called from Hawkins as it is no longer just a precaution, like when Owens recommended Eleven to lay low for a year, just in case. Now, her staying away from Hawkins (which includes calling there since the phone-lines are tapped) is a NECESSITY for her long-term survival since the cover story is that ‘Eleven is dead’.

Powell’s call about Chrissy’s murder is enough to immediately summon Sullivan to investigate and pin the murders on Eleven. He even tells Owens that there are rumors of her being alive and receiving help from the ‘inside’ aka Owens. WHICH IS TRUE. So, they’re onto Owens and ALL OF THEM require to be extra careful with calling to Hawkins.

Mike was likely not able to talk about Eleven/Jane much during his calls with Will either.

THIS is likely why we see a walkie-talkie on Eleven’s Mike box and why Mike spoke about stealing Cerebro from Dustin at the end of S3.

HOWEVER, because the mail system isn’t under surveillance like phone lines are, LETTERS were established as Mike and El’s primary method of communication.

Whether or not Mike truly did steal Cerebro from Dustin to call El a few times, we see Cerebro at the top of Dustin’s house in what seems to be a very permanent set-up. I personally think this implies Cerebro hasn’t been moved, and their communication happened solely through letters.

But even if, say, Mike went to visit Dustin to use Cerebro (which wasn’t established, but is within the realm of possibilities) it doesn’t change the fact that phone calls were off the table, and thus, those were for Will and Will alone.

So, as Will himself explained, the letters were for Eleven, and phone calls were for HIM.

Which means ... this was all about Mike being unable to reach WILL.

Byler is endgame

#byler #byler analysis

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multifandoms27-blog · 3 months

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I tend to never be satisfied with my potrayal of Jeff. I'm going to try to nail it down today though.

Content: Jeff the killer HC's

Warnings: Bullying behavior (cyberbullying), toxic behavior, psychotic episodes, impulsivity, aggression, obsessive behavior

Notes: Inspired by my Toby list and my EJ list, and the song Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge. This one is probably my longest one.

• ───────────────── •

(Art by kawacy on DeviantArt)

❥General

Okay, we should all know the drill by now. Jeff is psychotic, often hurting and humiliating others for his own entertainment. He's the biggest bully in the mansion.

When you join, he will immediately target you. He'll make fun of your appearance, try to cut you or burn you so he can get a sick laugh (normally when he's in an episode)

Why would you ever want to be anything more than acquaintances with him? He doesn't seem trustworthy at all, and he'll likely spill you secrets to BEN, who will then tell everybody online.

He's constantly getting into fights to prove to the others that he's "top dog," and that he isn't scared of anybody. Ironically enough, the only one he doesn't really try is Eyeless Jack. Motherfucker could eat him in like, two bites, so I understand.

Honestly, as much as he bullies you, you will never be as much of a target as Jane is for him. Which is good, that's a good thing.

When he isn't in his psychotic episodes, he'll still be very snarky, but he won't be going around and getting into people's faces anymore. It's during his calmer moments when you'll be able to start befriending him.

• ───────────────── •

❥Romantic

Jeff won't really be receptive to you trying to befriend him for a while. He knows how he treated you, he knows who you are. He doesn't care about you, but he'll stick around while you talk to him about whatever. He's just kinda shocked that you've decided to try to get close to him of all creeps. But he'll come off as indifferent.

Don't trust him with your secrets right away. Even if he's not in an episode, he's still going to tell BEN everything.

Just making an effort to talk to him though, not really attempting to get to know him, will start to make him interested. You know who he is, yet you're not...interested in him? His past or why he looks like this? At all?

That was new for him, considering Jane, Liu, Nina, BEN and Slenderman. In fact, he thinks about it so much that he'll begin to obsess about you when he goes back into a violent episode. He'll rip you away from anyone you're with - if it's not a creep, he's killing them on the spot - and will try to force you into his room.

He'll want to talk to you for hours on end, about you. He wants to know you. Why aren't you interested in his past? What was your past? Why are you here?

He goes from not caring about you, to caring about you way too much. Anything negative he's told BEN, he'll go to him and threaten him to take it off the internet, completely scrub it. BEN is confused, but he does it.

Jeff will use that as evidence to him being good to you. He won't admit that he wants your approval, but its pretty obvious.

He begins to spend less time with BEN and more time with you. He wakes up before you? He's pounding on your bedroom door until you open it so you can be up with him. You want to play a game with another creep? He's either watching or forcing his way into the game.

This guy will eventually try to spend every waking moment with you

He goes from not wanting to be around you to becoming OBSESSED

He wants to know everything about you, but he wants you to tell him when you're alone with him. Others don't deserve to know things about you, especially BEN.

This would be around the time he begins to develop feelings. Now, he's still in an episode, so he'll be impulsive with it. It doesn't matter how long you guys have been friends, he wants you and he's going to have you.

He'll pound on your door and when you open it, he'll kiss you on the lips. No prior notice as to how he feels about you, no warning about the kiss, nothing.

You think he's messing with you and you shut the door in his face. He angrily pounds on your door again until someone else comes to take him away.

He thought that was you rejecting him and he went back to hating you. He told BEN a shit ton of things you told him in confidence and you sobbed as you saw gossip about yourself online, along with rumors that weren't true.

Jeff made you out to be the mansion whore, sleeping with anyone for anything - benefits, food, clothes, whatever. It didn't have to make sense for it to spread.

Your other creepypasta friends came to your aid, which irked Jeff even more. Especially your guy friends

It wasn't until he heard you tell Toby about your feelings for him that he realized how much damage he had caused

This whole time he thought you didn't like him...oh, he fucked up

He takes to the internet to debunk the rumors and fight anyone who kept up with them. He once again told BEN to scrub any evidence, leaving the boy confused.

Jeff will come to your aid, but his heart clenches when he realizes that you don't trust him anymore.

He begs and begs for forgiveness, and finally you give it to him so he'll shut up

He's back to following you around like a puppy, and his feelings resurface. He's not in an episode now, and he wants to handle this delicately

His way of doing it delicately is by...giving you one-liners. Yep.

He'll stalk you on your social medias and check out every account you follow, and get jealous if you follow another guy. He's not even in a relationship with you yet!

Finally, he asks you out while you two were playing a game. You had to pause it to look at him and see if he was even serious

So, the two of you start going out. He goes full blown crazy boyfriend

He forces you to move into his room pretty soon, and he keeps tabs on everything you do

He's super paranoid you'll cheat on him, so he's always hanging around in the mansion. You'll never be alone with your friends again now that you're with him.

You don't dare fight him on it, he's the most unstable one and can be super aggressive at the drop of a hat

Probably installs a tracker on your phone so he can monitor where you go and when you leave the mansion if he can't be there for whatever reason

Knife fights anyone who brings up his past behavior or the rumors from before about you, and always wins. He uses this to get praise from you

He wouldn't trade you for the world - you are his world, and he'll make sure everybody knows it. You will never know peace again, even if you manage to run away from him, leaving a breakup letter behind.

You're stuck with him.

• ───────────────── •

Here is my Masterlist in case you want to request, or look for more of your favorite character!

#jeff the killer #creepypasta #creepypasta jeff the killer #jeff the killer x reader #jeff the killer x you #jeff the killer x y/n #Spotify

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bitterkarella · 3 days

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Midnight Pals: the beard is blue

Anna Biller: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of bluebeard's castle Mary Shelley: sup fuckers? Shelley: you telling a gothic story here? Biller: it's not gothic, it just uses classic story telling elements of gothic Biller: it's its own original thing Shelley: oh yeah yeah i'll be the judge of that Shelley: seein' as i invented gothic and all Biller: it's not gothic, it just uses classic-

Biller: it's not like angela's bluebeard story Biller: very different Biller: but let me explain angela's story in detail Biller: blow by blow Biller: for pages

Biller: this woman goes to a spooky secluded manor Biller: like daphne du maurier's rebecca Biller: with a brooding aristocratic husband Biller: like Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights! Biller: and she has a sweet heavenly voice Biller: like urkel!

Biller: this part of my story is a reference to Jane Eyre Biller: you guys might not have heard of it, its pretty obscure Biller: don't worry, i'll just grind the story to a halt so that i can describe jane eyre Biller: and this bit is a reference to dracula Barker: oh my god its like gothic ernest kline Poe: clive, be nice

Biller: anyway eventually she kinda just putters around until her brooding husband poisons her Biller: and there was nothing she could do to avoid it Biller: real girl boss hours

Shelley: what, she just gets poisoned? Shelley: couldn't be me Shelley: if i was there, i would have shivved that bastard but good Biller: UM no actually Biller: that wouldn't work! Biller: there's a whole concluding chapter about how stupid you, the reader, are for thinking she escape Shelley: rip to her but i'm different

Biller: so what do you think? Mary Shelley: i like the bit where you just repeated angela's version Poe: clive Poe: no wait i mean Poe: mary Angela Carter: no no i can see why she might like that part

Biller: the important thing about my work is to know that women and men should stay in their lanes and follow the strict rules of their gender Patricia Highsmith: poison's a broad's thing Biller: excuse me?! Highsmith: that's how a dame does a murder Highsmith: a real man does a murder with his hands Biller: Highsmith: or a boat oar

Highsmith: see, my ripley- Biller: oh god again with the ripley Biller: always with your OC patricia! we're all tired of hearing about your OC! Shelley: no patricia's right, killing a guy with a boat oar is cool Shelley: poison's sissy shit Shelley: i like how ripley does all those murders Shelley: fucker's got style Highsmith: that's what i've been saying!

Anna Biller: see, Bluebeard's castle is all about how men are men (evil) and women are women (stupid) Biller: as opposed to the love witch, which was about how men are men (stupid) and women are women (evil)

#midnight pals #the midnight society #midnight society #edgar allan poe #clive barker #mary shelley #anna biller #patricia highsmith #angela carter

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kryptonitejelly · 2 years

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Flyboy (Part 1) | Jake Seresin x Reader Top Gun: Maverick - Jake Seresin x Reader Genre: romance; fluff; angst; best friends to lovers Warnings: general hangman being hangman; sexual tension; general cursing; will contain mentions of a break up / previous relationship; general use of pet names; fem!reader; pining; general naval / flying inaccuracies. Length: Mini-series, chaptered - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Epilogue

Summary: Jake gets called back to TOPGUN the same time you’ve been granted a sabbatical from work. He invites you, his purely platonic best friend of years, to live with him for 6 months and you accept. Just two best friends kicking it back for 6 months in San Diego, Fightertown USA, right?

Flyboy | Mini-Series Masterlist

(If you haven’t already seen them - blurbs and asks (one-shots coming soon) are also listed on the Flyboy masterlist!)

Flyboy - Part 1

Approximately 3.2k words

A/N: I know, the pacing for this is a bit slow, but I felt a little scene setting was necessary, we’ll get faster with pacing I promise.

I am taking a sabbatical

You had sent the text off without much thought before chucking your personal phone onto the corner of your desk. It was just a part of the usual routine you had with Jake where you each shot off the regular text update amidst each of your own busy lives, you with corporate America and he with the VFA-151 Vigilantes, the name of the squadron being something you remembered because he had made you memorise it the day he had been assigned.

“Yeah Jane?” You pick up the handset of your desk phone, silencing it after the second ring, your hands dropping from the keyboard of your computer.

“Jake Seresin on the line for you, shall I patch him through?” You eyebrows shoot up slightly in surprise, as you lean back in your chair.

��Yeah go ahead. Thanks Jane.” The dial tone is brief, before the familiar drawl crackles over your line.

“How long?”

“Why are you calling me on my office line Seresin.”

“You weren’t answering your mobile,” a reach for and flip of your personal phone reveals he is right, “how long?”

“6 months.” You exhale out as your fingers tug at the phone cord, attempting to untangle a knot that had formed.

“Any plans?”

“Not yet, thought I would get to planning after it got approved.”

“How does a trip to San Diego sound?”

It had taken a total of two minutes for him to persuade you over the phone to come out with him to San Diego for 6 months, but you had let him think it had been fifteen minutes on the phone plus a day. He had explained to you that TOPGUN had called him, along with the entire batch of aviators from the uranium mission, back to help run a 6 month programme during which they would help out with training a new batch of recruits. He had told you that it was orders from the Admiral after the near disaster of a success they had with the uranium mission. You wouldn’t admit, but you had felt your shoulders sag with tension you hadn’t even known you had been holding once you had learned that his role at TOPGUN this round, was far less dangerous than the usual role he played when TOPGUN came knocking.

The summer heat greets you in full force as you exit the airport, your feet stepping through the automated double doors. You raise a hand to shield your eyes from the glare as you roll your suitcases forward, eyes searching for the familiar light brown, almost blonde head of hair.

“Darlin did you bring the whole of New York here?” His voice cuts through the heat, and you can’t help the smile that slips onto your face as you drop your hand from above your eyes to meet the shaded eyes of Jake Seresin. The last time you had seen him in the flesh had been 5 months ago when he had appeared at your door, bottle of tequila and greasy fast food in hand, after your update that you had broken up with Dan, your boyfriend of three years.

“Thought you weren’t going to show.” You joke as he reaches forward for you, tugging you into a hug. His hands engulfing your shoulders, folding you into his body with ease, your hands twisting themselves around his midsection, your cheek pressed into his chest.

“Missed me?” You can hear the rumble of his voice through his chest, as he teases you, but squeezes tighter.

“Not that much.” You counter, as you breathe in, taking in the familiar scent that is Jake.

You had met Jake in high school, long before he had become Jake “Hangman” Seresin. Jake had always been Jake, confident, hot-headed, and sure of himself, but Jake was also well, Jake - your version of Jake, sweet, caring, and goofy. Your friendship had been an unlikely one, you the new transfer student who had moved during the middle of the school year, and Jake Seresin, the popular brown hair, almost blonde kid with the green eyes.

Your family had moved in next door to the Seresin household, and you, as an uprooted teenager, mad about having to move in the middle of the school year when you only had a year and a half more to go, had spent the late afternoons coming home from school pounding the pavement, running laps around the neighbourhood to take out your frustration. It was, as you had thought, better than sitting at home listening to your mother talk to you about “smiling more, trying to make friends, and make the best of the rest of high school”.

Jake had seen you running each afternoon since you had moved in. You didn’t look it, but you were fast, and getting faster. It had been a sweltering Thursday afternoon when he had laced up his running shoes, and fallen into step beside you as you whizzed past his house, on the third lap of your run around the neighbourhood. He hadn’t know what had possessed him, but he had to know if you were any faster than him. You remember throwing him the side eye, and picking up your pace, music pounding in your ears as you both ran laps around the neighbourhood, him matching your pace, and you keeping his.

You were both winded and drenched in sweat at the end of that run, with you ripping off your headphones to him introducing himself in between pants, with a “I’m Jake. You’re fast.”, and the rest well, the rest was history. You both had gone on to become inseparable throughout high school, even going on to graduate from the same college, before you went your separate ways, him to the Navy, and you falling into your life in corporate America. But you always kept in touch, him flying out to see you in New York, you to him, or both of you back home, when you had the time.

“Lying isn’t a good look for you.” He finally breaks away from you, smirk on his face as he takes over both your suitcases from you.

“I think this is a good look for me.” You reach over, plucking his aviators off his face with ease to slip them onto your face as he squints at the sudden glare of sunlight on his face, his hair - sans gel - flopping across his forehead.

“Not a chance.” He snorts as he tugs your suitcases along with ease, navigating both your way through the crowds and towards his truck where you bend, ready to hoist and load your luggage into the back of his truck, when he cuts in, hand over yours, halting you.

“These aren’t only for show you know.” He says as he flexes an arm in front of you, causing his bicep to bunch beneath the sleeve of his shirt.

“Ever the southern gentleman.” You drawl as you bat your lashes at him. You do it in jest, and he knows, but it still earns you a grin before he loads your suitcases onto his truck.

“Ready?” He asks you as you both shut yourselves into his truck.

“As I’ll ever be.” You nod as you buckle yourself into the seat, a nod of your head lining up with the click of the seatbelt into the clasp. “Fightertown USA, here we come.”

You keep your eyes trained on the road in front of you as you settle back into the seat, your gaze still shielded by the aviators you had earlier stolen. It causes you to miss the look on Jake’s expression before he pulls the car out of park. Soft, a mixture of peace, promise, yearning, excitement and wonderment. He manages to quickly wipe it off his face, replacing the look with his trademark smirk as you turn to glance at him for a second.

“It’s cute.” You say as you step through the threshold of the house, pushing Jake’s aviators to rest on the top of your head.

“It isn’t what you are used to.” He follows behind, your luggages in tow. “No shiny glass and sleek corners.”

“Everything I need a break from.” You say as you peer out of a window that offers you a view into the back of the house which boasts grass and a boundary of white picket fence.

“The rest have houses around too.” He closes the door behind him. “I’ll introduce you tonight.”

Bringing the group back as instructors for 6 months came with perks. The Navy had offered them each a choice of accommodation between staying in dorms on base, or in a Navy owned house situated in a closed off Navy gated community a 20 minute drive away from base, which was another 25 minutes away from town. Needless to say, they had all picked the house.

“Tonight?” You echo, as you dump your purse down on the sofa before collapsing back onto it. “I could have plans.”

The sofa sinks as Jake settles in, throwing himself onto the space beside you. He turns his head, cheek smushed against the back of the sofa as he looks at you, brow raised.

“Oh yeah?” You nod and he continues. “Got a hot date lined up that I don’t know about?”

You place a hand on your chest, pretend gasp coming out of your mouth.

“Are you doubting my pull Seresin?”

“No need to doubt darlin,” he pauses, “I’m not sure you even have pull.” He throws out and reaches forward to pluck his shades off the top of your head to place them on their rightful place, the top of his head.

“No pull?” You huff as you sit up to glare at him. “You aren’t the only only one with pull Seresin.” You roll your eyes as you reach out, to deliver a swat to his chest. “You’ll see, I’ll have muscled flyboy on my arm soon enough.”

You hand connects with hard muscle, and just as you are about to retract your arm, his hand is on yours, a warm palm engulfing your four fingers in a lazy hold.

“Muscled flyboy?”

“Tanned, nice body, flies a plane, you know. We are in Fightertown USA after all.” You let your hand, which is still against his chest, engulfed in his grip, sag. “You know, one of you, but not you.”

It is his turn to let his mouth drop open, fake gasp not dissimilar to yours earlier, falling from his lips.

“An imitation me? How dare you settle for less.”

His reaction makes you laugh, the sound which makes him smile. You attempt to pull your hand out of your his grip, only to be met with resistance as he holds it steady against his chest.

“What would the alternative be Jakey?” You play on his dreaded childhood nickname, one that only his mother used, emphasising the word as the name as it rolls of your tongue. It makes him groan, his nose wrinkling up in distaste. “You?” You ask jokingly, as your eyes narrow in effort as you continue to attempt to tug your hand out of his.

He lifts your hand off his chest, his grip fully wrapping around your fingers as he tugs both your hands sideways. It makes you lurch forward in surprise, your body stumbling forward from the sudden force, body crashing into his. He releases your hand, his hands steadying you by the waist as you stretch your hands out to find balance - one landing on shoulder, the other on his chest.

“What’s wrong with me?” He breathes out, his voice quiet. You take in his features, his hair, eyes, nose, lips, your face inches from him as your breath catches in your throat at the proximity.

“You’re - you’re..” you stammer, your voice barely a murmur as his body, hard and muscled beneath your hands, becomes painfully obvious, his hands on your waist, feeling as if they could burn through your top.

“You’re an asshole.” You manage to wrangle out, voice suddenly loud as you tear yourself away from him, using his body as leverage to push yourself off, twisting out of his grasp. He lets his hands fall away as you stumble to a straightened position, your face burning from the interaction.

“And that,” he winks, “is pull, both literally and figuratively.”

It makes you curse as you flip him off, before quickly spinning on your heel. You dart over to grab one of your suitcases before wheeling it down the short hallway towards the rooms, determined to find yours. His laughter rings out after you and you glorify it with a shout back of “asshole”, but you don’t fail to note, funnily enough, your heart pounding hard in your chest against your ribs.

“What if they all hate me.” You trudge towards The Hard Deck, your sandals crunching over a mixture of gravel and sand.

“They won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Then we’ll ditch them. Boring bunch anyway.” He says dismissively, as he waves a hand in the air.

It makes you chuckle, because if the loud shouts and music coming from the bar a distance away was anything to go buy, boring was something you were sure they were most definitely not.

“Can’t have you ditching the friends you just mended fences with now can we.” You muse, clearly aware that the uranium mission had repaired and made Jake’s relationship with the group of pilots in the bar. It wasn’t hard for you to understand why he hadn’t been the most well liked by the group - Jake had a tendency to be cocky, not the best team player, something he took pride in projecting, but you knew that when push came to shove, when the situation called for it, he would never put himself before the team - something the others had come to realise with the last mission.

“S’alright, why also do you think I brought you along to San Diego?” He slings an arm around your shoulders and it takes all of you not to tense up, the memory from earlier in the day, the proximity of your face to his, and dare you say, the tension, ringing fresh in your mind. His skin is warm against your bare shoulders, the sundress you have on held up by two thin straps.

“I see you wanted me for a stand-in friend.” You hum as he pulls you against him, his laughter now something you can feel with your body against his.

“Got that much right, c’mon stand-in.” He drops his arm from your shoulders as he pulls open the door of The Hard Deck for you, gesturing you in.

As you had predicted, the aviators were most definitely not a boring bunch, and as Jake had predicted, they most certainly did not hate you. You were already informed of their names and call signs, thanks to Jake’s regular updates, and all it had taken was for you to match names and call signs to face, Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, Robert “Bob” Floyd, Reuben “Payback” Fitch, Mickey “Fanboy” Garcia, Javy “Coyote” Machado, Natasha “Pheonix” Trace, and Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

They had welcomed you into the fold as one of their own easily, and even more so after Payback had declared that you were “sweet”, and “didn’t know how you put up with Hangman”. It earned you a round of cheers, and a shot shoved into your hand, which you happily threw down your throat along with the rest of them.

“Oh shut up Bagman.” Phoenix shouts from across the pool table, and it makes you snort with laughter as you echo her words.

“Yeah, Bagman, shut up.” Your echo earns you a hoot from Rooster, and cheers from the rest of the team. You grin, and Jake rolls his eyes, smile on his face.

“Wait till we get in the air Trace. We’ll see who is the one shutting up.” It earns him a boo from Phoenix and you take a swig of beer, shaking your head in amusement. Aviators - they were just like overgrown children when they were together.

“You’re rude Bagman.” You say to Jake as you put your bottle down, the rest of the group’s attention now on Rooster and Fanboy who decided to have an impromptu arm wrestling contest hosted by Maverick, their attention falling off you and Jake who are seated on bar stools, towards the side of the pool table.

“Jake.” He corrects as he looks down at you while casually leaning back against the wall behind him.

“I like Bagman.” You say and you see the small furrow that creases between his brows.

“Jake.” He asserts again and you move to take another swig of beer, only to find your bottle empty.

“You’re so bossy, Bagman.” You slide off your stool into a stand, your intention to retrieve another beer from the bar, when a hand encircles your waist, coming to rest on your front, pulling you into the space between his legs, your back connecting with his front his lips just millimeters away from your ear.

“It’s Jake to you.” His voice rumbles, deep, and you can feel his lips graze your earlobe as he speaks. It raises goosebumps on your flesh immediately and you can’t help the involuntary shudder that runs down your body. The hand that he has pressed against your midsection creates a pressure that goes straight down to your core.

“Jake.” You utter, struggling to keep your voice steady, and he releases you, allowing you to step out from in between his legs.

“Good girl.” He smirks, taking a swig of his own beer, acting as if nothing had happened. You pull on a scowl, to disguise the beating of your heart in your ears, and the thrumming in your core.

“I’m going to get another beer, Jake,” you emphasise his name on purpose, to which he only winks, “want anything?”

“I’m good, still gotta drive you home.”

“Another beer please.”

The bartender, Penny, pops open a bottle before sliding it across the counter to you. You hand over your card, but she shakes her head.

“It’s on the house. Heard from Mav that you’ll be here the whole 6 months?”

“That’s me.” You hum as you offer her a smile of thanks.

“Penny.” She introduces herself, and you return the favour, introducing yourself back to her.

“I also hear you are here with Hangman.” She says, her eyes floating across your head over to Jake, whose gaze, unbeknownst to you, has been trained firmly on you since you walked away from him. “You two got a thing going on?”

Her ask makes the heat rise on your face, the two earlier incidents of the day floating to mind. Jake had always been flirty throughout your friendship, it was just in your character, but this time, something felt different. You shake your head, quickly and furiously, as if to dispel your own thoughts.

“We’re friends,” you assert, half for your own benefit, and half for hers, “been friends since high school.”

“I see.” She takes you in, her gaze kind, as she nods slowly in response. Penny doesn’t comment more, but chooses instead to offer you a warm smile. “Stop by more often will you? I get sick of being around these aviators all the time.”

It earns her a laugh from you, both of you looking to the group you had left as cheers erupt, with Maverick holding up Fanboy’s fist in the air.

“Well I guess we know who won the arm wrestle.” You mumble, and Penny chuckles, ending with a long suffering sigh.

“I guess we do.”

>> PART 2

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