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#let them smile and be happy and kiss in s3 please and thanks
aceedoodles · 1 year
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“no matter what happens to us from now until the end i want you to know that i am certain of you and you can be certain of that” -LVOE. by Atticus
i’ve been thinking about this poem and these two since i first read it. it fits them so much and is the energy i want to see between them in s3 ;;;;
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c-is-for-circinate · 1 year
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On one hand, there's definitely more of this to be written, and possibly even more of this scene.
On the other hand, posting now means it gets posted at all, and I also happen to think that the place where it ends is very, very funny.
In short: Dustin is a smart kid with a lot of good ideas. Unfortunately, he knows this about himself, which is also his greatest flaw. Set somewhere between Stranger Things S3 and S4.
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Dustin shows up at Family Video on a Wednesday night. Steve never works Wednesday nights -- slow enough that Keith can spare him, late enough in the week that most girls are actually wiling to consider it a date night. He's seeing the second Nightmare on Elm Street movie, which Dustin is maybe a little annoyed about because it's only been out for a week and the Party needs Steve to get them into R-rated movies, he knows that. But Steve just said something about horror movies being essential opportunities for girls to cuddle in close so you can protect them, and completely ignored Dustin's totally reasonable comments about how Steve is the one to freak out at jumpscares most of the time when he watches horror movies with them, and went anyway.
Which is so stupid, because there's literally nothing real to protect a girl from in a horror movie. Steve has literally protected Robin from actual Soviet torture, with his actual face. Dustin saw him through that concussion! Dustin knows perfectly well that Steve probably drew the Russians' attention on purpose the whole time he and Robin were in there!
And somehow, he and Robin still aren't dating. If that isn't enough, then Dustin really doesn't see how putting an arm around a girl to save her from Freddy Krueger is going to do any better.
So Dustin bikes his way to Family Video, in the dark because it's November in Indiana, and when he gets there he folds his arms on the counter and gives Robin his brightest, most patient smile. She takes one look at him and rolls her eyes.
"He's not here right now," she informs him. "So if you want to badger him into renting you an R-rated movie, you're going to have to come back tomorrow, I'm not your babysitter and I'm not doing it."
Dustin just keeps grinning at her. Broadly.
"You know, Robin, we never talk," he says. Robin groans.
"Oh god, what now?" she asks. "And get off the counter, Keith's in the back and if he sees you he'll throw a fit."
"Keith is taking a nap back there and we both know it," Dustin scoffs. As if he doesn't know Keith's habits. "He only ever comes out of the back when Steve's working because he likes to make Steve do menial tasks while Keith hits on the hot girls that he thinks come in here because Steve's working."
"Fine, whatever, it's creepy that you know that," Robin sighs. "What do you want?"
"So I've been talking to Steve," Dustin says. "You know, our friend Steve. Pretty face, good hair, excellent reviews on the kissing front."
"Ew," says Robin. "Ew, no, you're twelve, don't talk about Steve kissing. Don't talk about Steve kissing at all!"
"Excuse me, one, I'm fourteen years old, I am in high school, where I just saw you earlier today, so it's not like you're that much older than me," Dustin says. "Two, if we don't talk about kissing Steve, how are we going to get you two over this weird little speedbump you're having where you're somehow not dating yet?"
Robin groans again. It's louder this time, and she also tips her head back to the sky while she does it. Dustin waits patiently.
"I'm not going to date Steve," she says. "Please stop bugging him about this, it's not going to happen. I don't want to talk about it, he doesn't want to talk about it, can you please just let this goooooo." She groans the last word, drawing it out like Mike when his mom tries to make him clean his room.
"Not until I see you two happy," Dustin says firmly, unmoved thanks to many years of being friends with Mike. "Steve is one of my best friends, and not only are you his other best friend, we've been through the heat of battle together, which means you're my friend too. I want both of you to be happy, and clearly there's nothing you like more than spending time together--"
"Yeah, because we're friends, Dustin, that's what friends do," she says, but Dustin has proof.
"Friends don't have to get jobs working at the same retail store even after their old one burned down," he begins.
"We're good coworkers and otherwise he'd have to break in a whole new set of coworkers who haven't had to deal with Dustin Henderson already for months," she says.
"You work well together, you compliment each other, you already get along with his other friends..."
"Not sure if 'getting along' is the right phrase right now," Robin mutters. Dustin ignores her.
"He's always giving you rides places, he's literally left a date to give you rides on multiple occasions --"
"Like he doesn't do the same for you!"
"Robin," Dustin says pityingly. "Leaving a date? When it's not the end of the world?" It's so obvious how much Steve likes her. Dustin's never seen him act like this with anybody since Nancy. Not that it's exactly the same as Steve used to act with Nancy, but clearly that's just because he's had time to grow and mature, and Robin's better than Nancy for him anyway. She keeps him from stressing out too much. "Driving you to school every morning even though he couldn't even get there on time most days when he was a student himself?"
"I don't have a license!"
"You really don't have to worry about it," Dustin says. "I happen to know for a fact that Steve would date you in an instant if you said yes."
Well. A strongly-supported scientific theory, anyway, which is basically the same thing. Anyway, it should be enough to get Robin spilling whatever self-doubt she's bottling up -- she's too nerdy, Steve only dates slutty cheerleader girls, whatever -- so Dustin can explain to her all the ways she's wrong, and they'll finally be taken care of.
"And I happen to know for a fact that he wouldn't, so how about you take the word of the person he's actually not dating and drop it?" Robin demands. She sounds on the verge of actually upset with him.
"But why?" Dustin demands right back. Which is really the crux of it, isn't it? Dustin has been asking the world why at every turn for fourteen solid years, and he has never let it back down without a fight.
"Steve likes you! You're at least as pretty as all those other girls, and it can't just be that you don't think you're cool enough for him, because lest we forget, the last time he was actually in love instead of just being kind of easy for any girl to look his way twice was with Nancy Wheeler, who is by definition a nerd!" Dustin lays his most damning evidence out rapid-fire, taking down Robin's arguments even if she hasn't made them yet. "He's a hot guy! He's kind of a catch! You're a cool girl! You actually like him back! What is the problem here!"
"Not every guy likes every girl just because they're a girl!" Robin fires back at him. "Not every girl is attracted to every guy! And you know, the fact that you think that is insulting and reductive, when some guys and girls don't even like girls or guys at all, and what would Suzie think, Dustin? What would Suzie think if she heard that you think every guy should date every girl he's friends with just because he's friends with her?"
"First of all, Suzie thinks you and Steve are destined to live happily ever after once he saves you in another bold act of heroism," Dustin informs her. Obviously. "Second of all, what do you mean, some guys don't like girls and girls don't like guys?"
And then Robin gets a look on her face. Dustin might have let it go, if Robin hadn't gotten that look on her face.
It's a split second of sheer panic. Robin ducks away from him, turns back to the Family Video checkout computer like she's trying to be casual, but her hands are anxious, picking up a stack of videos just to put them down, and she's not looking at him, and Dustin saw it. Dustin saw.
"It's just a thing, that happens sometimes, right?" Robin asks. "You can't just assume you know what somebody wants, that just because two people are both attractive they're going to want each other. You don't want to date Max, right?"
"Actually, yeah, I had a crush on Max when we first met, and I reconciled myself to her choice of Lucas in favor of slightly strained friendship until I discovered the love of my life in Suzie," Dustin informed her. "Much like Steve reconciled himself to Nancy's choice of Jonathan, until he met you and suddenly started spending all of his time with you. And anyway that's not what you said, you said that some guys don't like girls at all, which sounds like you're talking about gay people, which doesn't even..." Except that Dustin's thoughts are starting to catch up with his words, and he's trailing off, because. Because holy shit.
Steve dates so many girls. So many! He's constantly hitting on them and striking out, almost like he's just going through the motions, like he's not even trying except for appearances' sake. Even when he goes on actual dates they never last more than once or twice. And he's been doing it like that since high school, exactly like that. He's blown off dates to give Robin rides places. He's blown off dates to give Dustin rides places. He once blew off a date to sit in Mike Wheeler's basement and doze off on the couch while the Party spent three hours building D&D characters for their first-ever Hellfire Club campaign.
And Nancy? Nancy Wheeler, who Steve was totally in love with, except that according to Mike they started having problems basically as soon as the very first demogorgon fight was over and didn't stop for the next full year? Nancy who left him for Jonathan, who Steve is still friends with. Steve and Jonathan are better friends now than they were before he and Nancy broke up. Or at least they were before the Byers left for California, anyway, and that's basically the same thing, Jonathan was probably Steve's best friend actually his own age before he met Robin which was really sad, actually, but--
Steve getting super close with Robin after getting dosed with Russian drugs that were meant to make them tell the truth! Robin and Steve acting like they knew a secret that they couldn't tell anybody else or else!! Robin swearing up and down to the ends of the earth that she knows Steve doesn't want to date her for a mysterious reason she can't and won't explain!!!
"What, no, who said anything about gay people?" Robin is babbling, collecting more and more videos in her hands like a nervous D&D player who thinks hoarding dice is going to save them from a red dragon, but Dustin ignores her. "I just meant that attraction is complicated, and--"
"Holy shit," Dustin breathes. "Holy shit, is Steve Harrington gay?"
Robin drops the tapes.
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vole-mon-amour · 1 year
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3x11, part 3. RJK edition.
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Listen. LISTEN. The boy feels so lost & his home is PEOPLE. Roy & Jamie are RIGHT. THERE. I NEED it. I need not only Jamie having vulnerable moments with Roy, I need Roy to be able to talk about it and/or at least hold Jamie and mean it. I need to see Jamie hugging both of them and feeling safe, and loved, and HOME. I need Jamie to know that he belongs, and he's good, and he deserves all the good things only.
This is honestly such a huge topic & I've been thinking about it from time to time. Jamie/happiness please and thank you. And somebody quietly take out his dad so Jamie can process it and let out a sigh of relief. I know it's not that easy, I've been there, still going through it tbh, a lot of trauma and feelings, but still.
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Babe, your hair is beautiful & I love it, don't listen to that.
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Keeley: puts even more pressure on Jamie to the point where Jamie is even more overwhelmed.
She's no better at it than Roy lol. Made it worse somehow.
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"If only I could have a friend who'd stick with me until the end. And walk along beside the sea, share a bit of moon with me."
Those friends:
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I can't get over the fact that Roy acts like a human towards Jamie? Like, it's the most "I care about him A LOT" & humane thing we've ever seen at this point, I think? Especially after that weird string episode that I often just want to ignore?
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"I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly."
I find their reactions so interesting? Keeley is straight up bored and tired. Roy is crying which is even in character, after he watched Love Island with Jamie in it & all those yoga sessions and drinking wine after. Jamie is... one eye red. Jfc, someone hug Jamie and be there for him. Just unite all three already. While Keeley can have her beauty sleep, Roy and Jamie can have spend their time together.
Not sure if I should watch You've got mail, but yeah.
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Are we gonna ignore this? The way Roy looks at Jamie. The theme of Roy being so worried about Jamie that he brings Keeley in and he tries his absolute best to help Jamie and make him feel better. Like, I always shipped them, but right now it feels more than ever justifiable? Not like I imagine it but the way it's RIGHT. THERE. It's not one sided. It's "I care about you, too, and I'm trying to make ti right." Maybe a kiss or two would set it into the right direction, but still. Baby steps (at the end of s3).
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???? Ot3???? Poly canon when???
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"...share a bit of moon with me."
is this the new "Let's get lost"? For ot3 this time? C'mon. How am I supposed to ignore this? It's so romantically coded.
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Roy, you very much can if you don't kiss him and if you keep pretending you and Keeley are not dating again. Like, talk to him. Invite him in. You two are fools. Keeley sees it though.
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There goes "I care about you" again.
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Jamie is such a sweet and gentle boy. Making sure he didn't push either of them.
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Seriously though. He. Him. And his hair (unironically). And his rings.
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Jamie's smile getting wider, heh. The neighborhood he grew up in? Or the neighborhood his mom ran away to from James?
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Jamie is the best sunshine of all the sunshines. Both Jamie and Roy being dressed in black :)) They really are so alike.
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I feel honored to finally meet Jamie's mom. Wow, she and her husband seem so different from James, and you can see why Jamie is the way that he is. I still have questions on why Jamie was abused so much by his dad while his mom is right there & judging by Jamie's words she only wants Jamie to be happy. But then again, maybe he really is like that, "I wanted to tell her, but I knew it would hurt her. So I let it hurt me." Which is heartbreaking, but it is what it is, I guess.
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This episode Trent met Ted's mom, and Roy and Keeley met Jamie's, and "it's lovely to FINALLY meet you BOTH." I am NOT letting this go. Like, Jamie just decided to take his best friends for a ride and introduce them to his mom. Ahhh.
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hello-starlingfics · 11 months
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Happy WW! Please tell me about your favourite flavours of Sam/Dean: a) kissing and b) arguing <3
Happy belated Wincest Wednesday due to time differences!
This is a great question and I hope I do it justice.
This got long and ended up as ficlets. Thank you so much!
Kissing, I like all kinds, but at the moment I’m loving late season first time kisses. One a bit like this:
They’re in the bunker, just back from a hunt. Routine really, nothing notable or odd about it. A standard salt and burn and then out of there. Sam suggests some Netflix, and Dean suggests a beer, and so they’re sitting on Sam’s bed watching a movie. With a bottle each, of course. The movie doesn’t matter to Sam; it’s about winding down and doing something together that doesn’t involve mud, or blood, or death. He lets Dean choose, and he goes for The Lost Boys, again, and Sam smiles fondly.
Their shoulders brush occasionally, at first only when Dean raises his arm to drink his beer, but then every time one of them shifts as they drift closer. Dean’s pretty engrossed in the movie, and it’s only until they’re about halfway through that he glances over at Sam and notices he’s not paying attention to the screen at all. Instead, he’s just looking at Dean, a kind of soft amusement on his face at how his brother can still get so much joy from something he’s seen so many times it must be in the hundreds.
Dean raises his eyebrows at Sam questioningly, and Sam leans in and kisses him, too sure now it’ll be okay to really be impulsive.
It’s their first kiss, but it’s so easy that it could have been for the hundredth time also.
Arguing is a real early seasons love for me. In particular S3, when Sam is so frustrated and resentful at Dean’s attitude to the deal. It plays out kind of like:
They’ve just gone through the back door of the squat they’re staying in that night, no motels in their price range within eighty miles of this town so they have to take what they can. This place is in pretty bad shape, with the wallpaper peeling off in chunks, the floorboards rotted away in the corner of the sitting room furthest from the door, and the entire place reeking of decay. This town was unusually prosperous compared to the places they usually wound up in, some freak economic microclimate in the middle of Iowa, and that meant few derelict properties. They had to take what they could get.
They’d been to a bar that night, trying to find out something about their vics, but it was a wash. Sam ended up staring at Dean, drinking one or two whiskeys more than he should and letting resentment rise in his chest: resentment at Dean’s cavalier attitude to his deal and the clock, his lack of regard for himself, all twisted up with the fear and anxiety that was constantly in the back of Sam’s mind these days. He was also pissed at his lack of regard for Sam, leaving him behind over and over again, like tonight as he flirted his way around the bar, looking for a willing partner for the night. Like he did in every town they went to, like he was desperate to be away from Sam even before his time ran out.
Sam had stared, and he’d brooded, until Dean decided he’d officially struck out that night and elbowed Sam in the shoulder, his cue to get up and leave. He followed Dean out of the bar, sullenly and silently. He didn’t bother to reply to Dean’s questions, or non-sequiturs. He just trailed a couple of steps behind him and let his anger fester.
As soon as the door shuts behind them, Dean turns and starts to speak - ‘Dude, what’s your problem?” - but Sam’s too pissed off at him now, and it bubbles over, and he grabs his brother by the shoulders, slamming him against the wall as hard as he can.
“Shut up.” Sam practically spits the words into Dean’s face, can smell the booze on his own breath as he pushes his forehead against Dean’s, far more aggressive than usually comes naturally to him but he’s just so fucking angry, frustrated, terrified and it all comes out in a rush. “What the fuck is your problem? We’re out here wasting time, and you’re doing nothing to help yourself. What the fuck is your problem?”
“Sammy, I told you there’s no way outta this, I might as well have some fun before-“
This is the worst thing Dean could possibly be saying to him right now. He’s so done with this posturing and burying himself in hedonism schtick Dean’s pulling that he’s somehow even more enraged, an anger that he didn’t think he could achieve. He slams Dean against the wall again, as hard as he can, a twist of satisfaction as his head hits the wall.
“Bullshit. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Dean isn’t fighting back. Sam wishes that he would; it would give him something to throw himself against, vent all his rage and terror into. But Dean just looks at him calmly.
“I keep telling you, you have to accept-“
Sam punches him. Socks him right on the jaw, as hard as he can, a crack reverberating through the room like a ball off a bat. Dean’s head bounces off the wall again, the bruise blooming on his jaw already, Sam’s rage branding him with blood.
Dean doesn’t say anything, or move. He just stares at Sam, their labored breathing the only sounds in their makeshift bedroom.
All the fight drains out of Sam, replaced by a heavy, helpless misery. He’s tried being cautious, optimistic, and now angry, and nothing has changed. He just feels tired.
“No, I don’t have to accept anything.” He steps away from Dean. “I’m going to sleep.”
He curls up in his sleeping bag and blankets on the floor, ignoring the sounds of Dean doing the same thing on the other side of the room.
He doesn’t cry, but he wishes he could.
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stregoniconiconii · 1 year
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kinda love the idea of that one post about vickie being like the home/port in the storm.
and like I've seen some fics with steve taking on that role, at like the end of it, and it can be sweet, but i also feel like it's a bit of a tragic ending for steve, like him being left behind in a way, and i think i feel that way bc it's feels like it wouldn't be his choice, that it would be the consequence of him not being able to move on, him being stuck, at least if it's in hawkins. if it's in another city it feels less like that, but still.
but with vickie i feel like it could work in s5, like actually. and we could have robin/stobin going to her for like a break, or food or just comfort, before going back out in the chaos, and then at the end of it all, (with stobin both alive, i refuse to entertain any other notion, sorry, i just can't deal with either of them dying rn lol) coming back to vickie and just like being able to exhale, finally, (would be p delicious if one of them (steve) did d*e and they break down in vickies arms, BUT I'm NOt thinking about that! NO!)
also i have this view in my head of steve's house being destroyed at the end of s5, idk why exactly, i just do, and i think he would be wherever robin is after that.
and then i have a scene of Something happening so like vickie Knows shit is going down, and when it's over she's out looking for robin, and she sees stobin looking all dusty and bloody/banged up, also they're holding hands (we get a shot at some point of their hands clutched together like in s3, but its a close up and also their hands are like dirty lol), but they're like looking in another direction, and vickie like starts running towards them and they look up and see her, like a parallel to the war zone scene almost, except vickie keeps running and we get a running slam into a reunion first* kiss between robin and vickie, and vickie is like holding robin's face, and robin's one hand is like holding vickie and the other is still holding steve's (bc she can't let go yet) so he's just there, awkwardly looking away to give them privacy, but with that silly little pleased happy smile on his face!
*tbh i would love for their first kiss to be somewhere quiet and sweet in the story, but i can't deny the draw of a dramatic declaration "it was almost too late" kiss yk, but i would love if they kissed before the last episode, and had a moment of peace together in the chaos, (a little bit like willow and tara's first kiss in buffy the vampire slayer, but with a little bit more focus on it)
but i also feel like vickie would work as a port in the storm even after it ends, like she cares for robin (and by extension steve) and she's there for nightmares and panic attacks, and flashbacks. and she was there for all of it, but she wasn't involved, and she's their one safe piece of hawkins, and she Knows but also she doesn't, and that gives them both peace, like here's one person we know who we managed to save, we managed to spare the horror. but also she's there afterwards to enjoy the stobin shenanigans <3 and every time either of them do anything wild/insane/silly they go home (where they all live together, or they call her if stobin lives in another apartment together) and tell vickie about it, and when things happen they go "just wait until i tell vickie!"&"i can't wait to tell vickie!" i just feel like stobin would go on adventures (both Adventures, but also like getting lost in a city and other more every day adventures), maybe not on purpose all the time lol, and I think sometimes vickie would be there, but also sometimes she's not and it's just stobin time <3 idk if i'm explaining my thoughts v well, but i hope u get the vibe.
thanks for listening to me ramble<3
Hii yeah i feel like vickie gets shit on a lot for being boring or something like rn we dont know a huge amount about her but she seems like a kind and non-violent person. So i don’t really see her becoming a monster hunter and maybe that will change in s5! But i dont really think so and im honestly fine with that. It’s like not everyone can be a gryffindor or dauntless..to use silly YA “factions” lol so in the same vein im thinking okay she doesn’t need to be a fighter even if that means she won’t have as much screentime
The reunion scene ur imagining is so sweet im in love with it!! I do like it when he’s just there for robin moments lol like he’s looking over his wlw with pride lol and goddd i so want another stobin hand holding scene i feel like we don’t get them being physically affectionate in canon bc the ST directors are like ummm do friends hold hands?? Lol sucks that the only stobin hand holding was when we were getting straightbaited bc i think they love holding hands <3 besides that i am a big fan of stobin maybe not being the biggest into physical affection but always in each others space anyway parallel play stobin real
Also i’ve definitely imagined steve robin and vickie leading the ppl at the volunteer spot to safety and then like steve dramatically sacrificing himself so that the girls can get out…a robin breakdown in vickie’s arms would work so well there <3
Tbh idk how i would like vickie and robin’s first kiss to go…i’ve mentioned them doing an action hero kiss like right before robin is about to jump into some action, vickie plants one on her but that doesn’t necessarily have to be their first kiss…but im pretty sure we’ll only get one robin/vickie kiss in s5 (cowardssss) so idk which i would prefer…a kiss when they’re alone, finally safe, sounds nice. Mostly just want them to kiss a lot lol
I really really like the idea of steve, robin, and vickie becoming a little trio. Like literally steve and his gang of wlw lol i don’t know what steve will wind up doing in s5 (sooo nervous for the potential stoncy storyline like the thought is giving me stress ulcers lol) but i am hoping he’ll survive. I try not to do too much speculation about s5 tbh because it’s fun to think about but i dont want to get too excited bc i just know the duffers will go a different direction and it will inevitably be a direction i think is stupid rip….idk at this point i really just hope my favourite characters dont have to go through too many stupid storylines lol. I feel confident about robin and vickie getting a couple scenes tho - maybe not as much as i want but i trust that at least. Anyway lol yeah stobickie agenda real i think all three of them will get into some fun adventures <333
When i think somewhat realistically i dont see robin and vickie being super long term just bc im not the biggest fan of high school sweethearts staying together forever. Like it is very sweet but i think the chance of you growing in different directions is very likely and im honestly quite attached to my headcanon of stobin being romantic disasters for decades. But i think the show will at most do a flashforward to them in their 20s or a small timeskip. So both can exist lol
It was fun to read ur rambling <3333
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ghostlynimbus · 2 years
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Could you do a lumax one shot please?
Thanks anon! I hope you like this.
Set post s3. Has some references to things learned in S4 but is not S4 compliant.
CW: References to canon character deaths.
“What do you want, Stalker?” Max demands tiredly, she doesn’t bother turning around or slowing her pace for the boy that’s been following behind her for blocks.
She hears the familiar footsteps behind her pick up the pace, Lucas jogging to catch up with her.
“It’s like three in the morning Max.” Lucas says. “What are you doing out here?”
He’s wearing his pajamas, Max notices when he pulls up to walk beside her. Plaid pants and a long sleeved blue undershirt, with his brand new letterman thrown on over top. 
“I could ask you the same thing.” Max says, refusing to look him in the eyes as she continues walking.
He keeps pace with her easily. 
“Eddie called.” Lucas says, eventually.
“So you’re having your friends spy on me too now?” Max asks, wrapping her arms tighter around herself as a cold breeze blows down the empty road they’re walking along.
“No! No.” Lucas insists, waving his hands around as he speaks. “He just… he saw you leave and he was worried.”
“Well. I’m fine.” Max lies flatly. “So you can head back home now.”
“Max-” Lucas tries again, but all at once Max can’t stand to hear what he has to say.
“No.” She interrupts, stopping in her tracks to glare at him. “No. I don't want to hear it. I don’t need you here so why wont you just leave me alone!”
 Lucas stops walking too, but he gets a few paces ahead of her before he realizes she’s stopped so he has to turn back to face her. Now that she’s looking at his face she can see how exhausted he is, can watch the hurt play out across his expression at her words, and she can see the way he tucks that hurt away to be able to look at her with kindness again.
It hurts. 
She wants to scream at him. She wants him to scream back. She’s being mean and she wants him to push back but she knows he won't.
Not like she wants him to. 
“Max, I love you.” He says. And she wants to punch him or collapse crying into his arms or maybe both. “And I’m here. Whenever you need me, whenever you want me, whenever.”
She ends up doing both.
Punching him on the shoulder and making him wince before collapsing against his chest, silent tears streaming down her face.
She sneaks her arms around his waist under his jacket and he wraps his arms around her shoulders and she feels warm for the first time since she left the trailer an hour ago. Maybe for the first time since summer.
Lucas holds her and lets her get tears and snot all over his shirt and his brand new jacket, swaying them both gently in a soothing way.
“I- I miss him.” Max whispers. “I miss Billy.”
Lucas rubs a broad hand over her back. 
“I know.” He says simply. “I’m sorry.”
Max isn’t sure how long they stand there holding each other in the empty street before she runs out of tears. 
Lucas insists that she wear his jacket as they make the long walk back to the trailer park. Max rolls her eyes but takes the jacket anyway. It’s warm.
When they reach the door to Max’s trailer Lucas doesn’t ask for it back, but Max takes it off and gives it back to him anyway. He doesn’t try to insist this time.
The light is still on in Eddie’s room in the trailer across the street, but the curtains are closed and he doesn’t make an appearance.
“‘Night MadMax.” Lucas says, putting the jacket back on and turning to start the long walk home. 
Max catches his hand before he can get too far. 
He turns back to look at her, patiently waiting for her to say something.
“Good night Stalker.” She says, and the corners of his lips twitch up into a smile at the nickname. “Thanks for being here.”
Max takes a deep breath, gathers her courage, and leans up to press a quick kiss to his mouth.
His eyes are wide and surprised, but the smile on his lips is warm and happy. He rubs his thumb over the back of her hand where they are still holding hands. 
“I love you too or whatever.” Max mutters quickly, a heated blush spreading across her cheeks. “Get home safe.”
Then she turns abruptly and heads inside.
She watches from the window as he leaves until he is out of sight. 
She still hurts, she’s still angry. 
But it doesn’t feel quite so heavy anymore. 
20 notes · View notes
Note
Do you have any fic recs of Sherlock being soft for John and John only.
Hey Nonny! 
Ahhhhhhhh your request had me thinking that yes I do, and I did tag a few fics with “soft Sherlock”, but I’ve never started a list, so here ya go!
SOFT SHERLOCK
See also: Sherlock Soft With Children
Soft. Happy. Content. by inevitably_johnlocked (G, 223 w., 1 Ch. || Sleepy Cuddles, Bed Sharing, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Spooning, Morning After, Sherlock POV) – Sherlock reflects on his state of mind. Part 6 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection
A Perfect Figure by ecb327 (K, 622 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, First Person POV Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Introspection, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Light Angst) – Sherlock build a spot in his mind palace for John.
I Knew You Loved Me by inevitably_johnlocked (T, 743 w., 1 Ch. || Morning Cuddles, Fluff, Clingy Sherlock, Idiots in Love, Slice of Life, Morning After, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Declarations of Love, Pet Name, Bed Sharing, Snuggles) – John and Sherlock share a lie-in the morning after their first time. So fluffy and gross your teeth will fall out. Part 4 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection
Peacock by ClassyGirlsWearPearls (T, 1,189 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Cranky Sherlock, Soft John, Hand Holding, Soft Sherlock) – A study in Sherlock and John.
Mizzle by MrsNoggin (K, 1,233 w., 1 Ch || Friendship, Fluff, Platonic Johnlock, Humour, Slice of Life) – John can't decide if it's raining or not. Sherlock doesn't understand.
And, Usually, He's the One Who GIVES Me a Headache by Cumberbatch Critter (T, 1,315 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, POV John, Cranky John, Headaches, Head Massage) – A migraine is never fun.
Together is What we Have, Together Protects Us by Phantom of the Black Pearl (K+, 1,566 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF, Friendship / Platonic or Slash, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Sherlock, Worried Sherlock, Slice of Life) – After a case one evening in the flat Sherlock voices a concern that causes the pair to consider why they've chosen to stick together after all that's happened
Here to Stay by MockJayPhoenix12 (K, 1,574 w., 1 Ch. || Post Reunion, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Headache, Bed Sharing, Care Taker Sherlock, Hand Holding, Fluff) – On Sherlock's first day home, John wakes with a migraine.
Evermore by SosoHolmesWatson (G, 2,068 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4,  5-Year-Old Rosie, Love Confessions, Song Fic, Parentlock, Oblivious John, Pining Sherlock, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Disney Songs, Beauty and the Beast) – For the past years, John and Sherlock have lived at Baker Street again, raising Rosie together--as friends and nothing more. Ever since the little girl has watched her first Disney movie, she is obsessed with princesses. When John comes home one day, he finds his friend and his daughter in the middle of a reenactment of her current favourite. Part 1 of Made of Music
Let the Sun Fade Out by nothingislittle (E, 2,711 w., 1 Ch. || Fluff & Smut, Praise Kink, PWP, Obsessed Sherlock, Bottomlock, Heart-Tearing Love) – "He could warm the sun itself, Sherlock thinks, could heat their flat with just his presence, could brighten the room with one dazzling smile or just the sparkling in his eyes. John is everything, he’s beautiful and he shines, he’s everything."
Unquantifiable by 221b_hound (M, 2,799 w. 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Sherlock/Sally Friendship, Grumpy John, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Pet Names, Texting, Sweet Sherlock, Princess Bride References) – John remains a terrible and foul-tempered patient, but he does try to make up for it with pet names and text message silliness. In the meantime, Sally Donovan visits Baker Street for a hint about the Milverton case, and has to deal with a Sherlock Holmes who can't find words big enough to thank her for saving John's life at the warehouse. For afters, there's a viewing of The Princess Bride. Part 33 of the Unkissed series
Pillow Talk by 221b_hound (E, 2,925 w., 1 Ch. || Post-HLV, Est. Rel., Preening Sherlock, Limpet Sherlock, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Sex on Furniture, Scent Kink, Masturbation, Fluff, Soft Sherlock,  Sherlock’s Bum) – John gets home late from work and Sherlock is nowhere to be seen. John walks through the flat, distracted by memories of all the excellent sex they've been having, and finally finds Sherlock asleep in the upstairs room - apparently having fallen asleep mid-wank while inhaling the scent of John's pillow. Well, you should always finish what you start, John thinks... Part 3 of Lock and Key
The General Idea by agirlsname (T, 3,022 w., 1 Ch. || Retirement, Promise of Forever / Proposal, POV John, First Kiss, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Soft Sherlock, Idiots in Love, Crying / Emotional Sherlock, Love Confessions) – After twenty years of friendship, John is used to Sherlock acting weirdly. But the news Sherlock finally brings himself to deliver change the carefully built dynamics between them, and John realises it's time to act.
Affirmation by jamlockk (E, 3,096 w., 1 Ch. || First Time, Dev. Rel., PWP, Love Declarations, Emotional/Overwhelmed Sherlock, Comforting/Caring John, Gross Fluff) – "Sunlight dappled John's skin, casting a glow across his spreadeagled form as he dozed among the rumpled sheets. Sherlock knew the expression on his face was hopelessly soft but for once did not care about showing his true feelings so openly. He simply stood there, in the doorway, gazing at the impossibly beautiful man currently snuffling softly in his slumber." Part 8 of All the ways we love
Untouched by KittieHill (E, 3,239 w., 1 Ch. || Kissing, Frottage, Virgin Sherlock, Body Worship, Sherlock’s Scars Mentioned, Masturbation, PWP, Rimming, Multiple Orgasms) – Sherlock leaked a lot. John had never needed lubricant. John loved watching it, had once spent an entire afternoon edging Sherlock so he could watch as the thick precome drip, drip, dripped onto Sherlock's belly.
Morning Sunlight by slashscribe (E, 3,565 w., 1 Ch. || PWP, Morning Sex, Fluff, PWP, Established Rel., Soft Idiots) – A thin band of soft morning light peeks between the curtains and stretches across John’s torso, laying dormant across his forearm, dipping into the space between his arm and his chest, illuminating his right nipple but just brushing the edge of his left, disappearing into his armpit, and reappearing again right over Sherlock’s eyes where his head rests, nestled against John’s shoulder. Sherlock is not annoyed by the light’s intrusion on his sleep, not when it rests so soft and tantalizing on John’s skin, a work of unintentionally erotic art. A PWP with so much emotion.
Living Musical by VeeTheRee (G, 4,149 w. 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Hobbies, Summer, Song Fic, POV Sherlock, Painting, Play Fighting, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Love Declarations, Hair Petting, Promise of Forever) – A one-shot of John and Sherlock being domestic during summer. There is paint, fluff, and music from Imagine Dragons, namely from the album 'Speak To Me', specific song in this one-shot is 'Living Musical'. Part 1 of the Happy Fluffy Johnlock Time series
Date Night by inevitably_johnlocked (G, 4,451 w., 1 Ch. || Anxious / Worried Sherlock, Caring John, Schmoopy Fluff, Fidget Cube, Baking / Cooking, Date Night, Established Relationship, POV Sherlock Holmes, Understanding John, Grumpy Sherlock, John’s Bum, Kisses, Hugs, Domestic Fluff, Touching, Hair Petting, Light Humour) – It's John and Sherlock's first Date Night as an official couple and Sherlock needs it to be PERFECT. Mrs Hudson helps. Part 7 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection
If He Knows by shamelessmash (M, 4,513 w., 1 Ch. || TSo3 Fic, Pining Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Angst, First Person Sherlock POV, Texting, Internal Monologue, Blanket Forts) – I imagine mornings: John handing me a cup of tea, hair sticking out at odd angles. How he would bend down to kiss me, smiling fondly as he pulls away. The way his skin crinkles at the corner of his eyes, the way his skin looks in the morning light. The soft sigh as he sits in his chair with the morning paper, the way his toes curl in the carpet, the way he rolls his shoulders before sinking deeper into his seat. I watch him, how he is when he is content, as it should be. As he deserves. Happy. With me.
all things warm and tender by darcylindbergh (E, 5,177 w., 1 Ch. || PWP, Romantic Fluff, Rimming/Anal/BJ’s, Body Worship) – Grinning and giggling, John slides back down under the sheet and pulls it over his head. He finds Sherlock waiting for him, eyes bright and hair wild, the firelight bleeding through the thin fabric, colouring everything in soft peach and topaz, and in that moment he is so suddenly, unexpectedly, ethereally beautiful that John forgets how to breathe.
Pillow Talk by scullyseviltwin (M, 5,183 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S3, Angsty Fluff, Pillow Talk, Bed Sharing, Worried John, First Time Morning After, Soft Sherlock, Sexuality Discussion, Love Confessions, Kisses and Cuddles) – John has been looking at Sherlock for ages, it feels like.
a very soft epilogue (my love) by darcylindbergh (E, 5,395 w., 3 Ch. || Retirement, Domestic Fluff, Dancing, Dogs, Grumpy Old Men) – Across the pillows, Sherlock shifts and hums, the creases of his face deepening and then smoothing before settling. John watches him wake up, his chest swelling with affection and fondness, and thinks he’ll never get tired of Sherlock in the mornings, sleepy and soft. It’s been some forty-odd years, and John hasn’t gotten tired of it yet. Part 5 of things fairy tales are made of
Naked by sussexbound (E, 6,166 w., 1 Ch. || Frottage, Fluff, Intimacy, First Time, Love Declarations, Trust) – John takes a deep breath, and then lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Sherlock, how would you feel if you were sitting out here doing one of your bloody experiments, and I just waltzed out of the loo and started fixing myself breakfast completely starkers? Hmm…? ”Sherlock’s lips inch up at the corners into a pleased hint of a smile he can’t seem to suppress. Part 2 of Intimacy
Christmas by WhimsicalEthnographies (E, 7,673 w., 1 Ch. || Worried Sherlock, PWP, Drunkeness, Christmas, Est. Relationship, Idiots So In Love) – John feels a lump rise in his throat, and it hits him, again, that this beautiful, infuriating creature is his. Completely, one-hundred percent his.
How To Give Your Boyfriend Who Doesn't Know He's Your Boyfriend the Best Valentine's Day Ever by unicornpoe (T, 9,832 w., 1 Ch. || Valentine’s Day, Fluff and Crack, Soft Sherlock, POV Sherlock) – Sherlock is pretty sure that John Watson is his boyfriend. He's also pretty sure that John doesn't know it. But with a little help from a magazine, some friends, three crepes, five dates, one awesome CD, and a stalker van, John is bound to realize just in time for Valentine's Day.
Someone I Love by hudders-and-hiddles (M, 10,002 w., 2 Ch. || Canon Compliant, HLV-Filler Fic, Pre-Slash, Jealous John, PIning Sherlock, Angst & Fluff, UST/URT, Dog Tags) – John gets married and Sherlock finds comfort in wearing John's identity tags around his wrist.
To be loved by Strange_johnlock (E, 12,436 w., 8 Ch. || Post S3, Established Relationship, First Person POV Sherlock, Pet Names, Soft Sherlock, Mild ADHD, Protective John, Captain Watson, Body Appreciation, Bottomlock, Rough Sex, Travelling for Holidays, Introspection, Sherlock Loves John So Much It Hurts) – John is so deeply integrated into the work, both as my conductor of light, and as a great shot with a vicious right hook who tackles men -and women- no matter their size all in my defense. He protects me with all he can without question, and this loyalty is surely more than I deserve. Or: Sherlock is counting his blessings.
holding steady by darcylindbergh (E, 12,724 w., 4 Ch. || Post S4, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Growing Old, Gone Fishing, Mood without Plot, Soft Sherlock, Caring Sherlock, POV John Third Person, Anxious Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Feeling Old, Sherlock Worship, Crying Sherlock, Cuddles, Comforting, Introspection, Retirement, Hand Holding, Forehead Kisses, Caring John, Bed Sharing, Emotional Love Making) – Sitting on a thick wool blanket at the end of a rickety dock side-by-side, legs dangling over the edge, a styrofoam container of wet, dark dirt between them, they’re fishing. John knows what this is about. This is about finally figuring it out.
On The Fence by BeautifulFiction (T, 13,770 w., 1 Ch. || Fencing, Case Fic, First Kiss, Insecure John, Pining John, Hug, Greg Finds Out) – The murder of the King's College fencing champion leads to revelations about Sherlock's past. Will it be the point that tips them from friends to lovers, or will they remain on the fence?
The Invocation of Saint Margaret by Ewebie (E, 15,831 w., 1 Ch. || POV John,  Crossing Timelines, Light Angst, Fluff, Series 3 John / Series 1 Sherlock, The Matchbox, Mushy Romance, First Time, Bisexual John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Love Confessions, Sensuality, Emotional Love Making, Snippets of Time) – When Sherlock Holmes opens the matchbox from The Sign of Three and John finds himself years in the past, back to that first dinner at Angelo's with a much younger Sherlock Holmes. Is he dreaming?
Division by MrsNoggin (E, 19,542 w., 11 Ch. || Coffee Shop AU || First Kiss/Time, Fluff, Barista Sherlock, Clingy Sherlock, POV John, John’s Limp, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Sleepy Cuddles, Sensuality, Touching, Virgin Sherlock, Insecure John) – John likes mysteries. And every morning he dips into the local independent coffee bar with his newspaper and ponders another... one Sherlock Holmes.
Out of the Woods by SilentAuror (E, 20,471 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Romance, Slow Burn, Flirting, Drunk Sex, Practical Jokes, POV Sherlock, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Pining Sherlock, Frustrated Wanking, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, First Kiss/Time, Virgin Sherlock, Love Confessions, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Bum Appreciation, Hanging out with the Yard) – Sherlock is fairly certain that John has taken to flirting with him of late, but can't be entirely certain of it. At least, not until a case takes them into a forest, along with Lestrade's team and something happens that will change everything about their lives...
How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn, Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.
A Quiet Life by DiscordantWords (M, 25,176 w., 6 Ch. || Post S4, Retirement, POV Sherlock, Awkwardness, Established Relationship, Family Dynamics, Minor Character Death, Questionable Parenting Choices, Non-Linear Narrative, 20 Year Old Rosie, Meddling Mycroft, Pining Sherlock, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Angst, Sherlock Whump) – There had been three days of silence and a funeral. Sherlock had the terrible feeling that whatever happened next would depend, entirely, on him.
How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn, Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.
Deck the Halls by itsalwaysyou_jw (T, 31,018 w., 24 Ch. || Advent Fic / Multiple One-Shots, Assorted Tags) – One Johnlock ficlet for every day leading up to Christmas. Who is ready for pining, first kisses, established Johnlock, and everything in between? This collection of stand-alone ficlets will have it all.
Gold Rush by ShirleyCarlton (E, 71,783 w., 17 Ch. || Post S3 / No Mary, Friends to Lovers, Mentions of Past Sexual Abuse, First Kiss, Case Fic, Slow Burn, Alternating POV, Switchlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Marriage Proposal, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Abduction, Anxious/Insecure Sherlock, Miscommunication, Emotional Lovemaking) – John has divorced Mary and pops round to 221B one evening to find Sherlock in the middle of a case. As Sherlock tries to find the identity of a young woman’s stalker, John realises he can no longer deny his feelings for Sherlock – which then, to their befuddlement, turn out to be mutual. Shy kisses and tentative embraces ensue. But will Sherlock be able to cast off a shadow from his past that he thinks might prevent John from wanting to stay?
Definitions by siennna (T, 101,528 w., 12 of ? Ch. || Dev. Rel., Pining, Fluff and Romance, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Fluff, Cuddles, Girl’s Night, Texting, Virgin Sherlock, Drunk Sherlock, Background Mollstrade, Hair Petting, Laying on Lap) – Sherlock’s journey in defining his flat mate and stumbling through the muddled world of emotion. {{This feels complete; the chapter count is listed as ? but I feel like it is done}}
Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.
166 notes · View notes
pynkhues · 3 years
Note
Please recommend some of your fav Rio fics!
Of course, anon! Since you asked for Rio fics, I'm going to guess you meant Rio POV fics? If not, I'm sorry, haha, because that's what I've collated, but I hope you give these a shot regardless! They're all fics I think are pretty great. ;-)
Below a cut, because this got long.
But when he does reappear at the store—she still doesn't hear him coming, she needs to work on that—she's wearing a fuckin' dress, and he's glad she hasn't seen him yet because he can't stop himself from grinning.
Maybe it ain't for him, but given the fact that he doesn't think he's seen her legs since he came back—aside from that one night at the bar when she was definitely feeling herself—it seems like this is an intentional break in the pattern. Either way, he fuckin' loves the idea that she's been dressing up all week, not sure if he's coming but wanting to be ready if he does.
Now Use Both Hands by ms_scarlet / @mego42 6k words. Explicit. Beth x Rio. S3 canon divergence.
Ooooof, this fic causes me physical pain, but I love it a whole lot. Meg really captures Beth and Rio at their most acidic, their most sharp edged, while also managing to balance that with the feelings they desperately don’t want to have. It’s a bit magic, and the fact that she follows this up with another fave, Listening Through the Air Shaft is *chef’s kiss*.
- - - -
When he wakes, he's in a hospital bed, mouth dry as bone and he can taste blood, stale and metallic, on his tongue. The pain in his chest has been dulled by the drugs, but it still lingers, a persistent ache that spikes with every breath.
By all rights, he's a dead man walking.
Ten hours, they had him in surgery. From the look of his chart, he'd flatlined twice, and he can feel the consequences of that, see it in the bruises on his chest, the exhaustion lining the faces of his family. He'd woken to a little hand in his, Pop's cheeks damp with tears, and shit, it'd been close. Too close.
Bury a Friend by @ejunkiet >1k words. Mature. Beth x Rio S3 canon divergence.
Pivoting from 3.01, this fic is a wonderful, quiet character study that looks at Rio in the aftermath of the shooting before he explodes back into Beth’s life. It pulses with emotion and with the promise of catharsis, and it’s just a really special little fic. The Rio voice is terrific too.
- - - -
He finally gets what he needs one day when Elizabeth’s wearing this tight black sweater with a keyhole that shows off just enough to make Rio’s jaw rock. It’s so out of the ordinary, so unlike her ugly li’l sweaters or her surburban mama button-ups, he does a double take, head whippin’ around so fast that she catches it immediately. Then she catches where his gaze lands, where it keeps landin’ through their whole stilted, irritated conversation, and he sees her chest pinken til he can count her freckles. He sucks his lower lip into his mouth, and her lips fall open just the smallest bit, and then she looks up at him.
Eyes locked on each other, Rio takes a step closer. Elizabeth doesn’t back away.
I Will Collect You and Capture You by @foxmagpie 17k words. Explicit. Beth x Rio S3 canon divergence.
I feel like I've recced this fic 1,200 times at this point, haha, but it really is one of my favourite fics in the fandom. It has this sort of grip on you as a reader that almost embodies Beth's grip on Rio in the story, and the way it builds and builds and releases only to build and build again is really delicious, affecting writing.
- - - -
“Com’n her and her lady friends were shakin’”
“Shakin’ about the lemon on the fuckin’ granite, sure.”
They chuckled as the car rolled on, the suburbs slipping away with the sun.
“Think they’ll pay up?”
There was a groan as Rio shifted in his seat, flexing his fingers along the dash.
“Neighborhood like this? Everybody knows someone who knows someone with a trust fund.”
Mick’s lighter flickered, followed by long, rasping inhale. “And a boat.”
Smoke swirled lazily through the open window up into the purple sky.
“And a boat.” Echoed Rio.
Drivin' through the Suburbs by gangfriend / @00gangfriend00 5k words. Teen+. Mick + Rio friendship, Beth x Rio. Canon compliant.
It takes a lot to make me laugh out loud in a fic, but this one does multiple times. It's just insanely fun, and captures Rio and Mick at their most boyish in a way I find utterly charming. It's really, really delightful.
- - - -
She’s got her crimes wrapped up and categorized in folders with labels and post-its. Wrapped up in gift paper with a big blue bow on it. And she’ll probably ask Turner do you want freshly baked cookies or some shit when they go raiding her kitchen.
Rio should really get it under control. Her, get her under control.
She opens the door and slumps onto the front seat, her eyes set angrily on him. Nineteen voicemails and she’s still got things to say: he sees it in the twitch of her hand, the restless, frustrated pattern. Any minute now she’s going to settle on new words to voice her complaints like he’s here to listen. Like he’s got the time— like he cares. Like he’d better.
It’s a Work Thing by isoldewas >1k words. Mature. Beth x Rio. 2.12 canon divergent.
I'm a bit of a sucker for a good canon divergent fic, and this one pivots the car break up in 2.12 in a smutty way that just works unfairly well. It's such a great little fic that really settles well into Rio's headspace during the messiness of s2, and I love it.
- - - -
They settle in their respective places and Rio takes the opportunity to give Elizabeth the same once over that asshole did. Her ass really does look great in those pants and she could fill out any shirt. Her eyes linger over him too, tracing his skin, the bar tattoos peeking out from under his t-shirt that she’s seen a million times but she devours at every opportunity. Then her eyes meet his and she gives him that small, crooked lil’ smile.
He’s not one for religion, but every so often he takes his mom to Spanish mass. All the viejitos and pious Catholic types think he’s a banger but his ma’s still excited to show him off. He sits with her in the pew and when the priest asks for the congregation to give thanks to God, he says a prayer for the riches that have come to him, the health and brilliance of his son, the vitality of the other little ones in his life now, and Elizabeth. And when he thinks of her in those moments, he sees her in his mind’s eye with this exact look on her face.
A Bit of a Stretch by @septiembrre 5k words. Teen+. Beth x Rio. Established relationship.
Beth and Rio do a yoga class together! There’s such a lived-in feel to this fic that it feels impossible not to fall a bit in love with it – their relationship is explored in a way that feels true to who the characters are, while sanding down the edges to create something that feels sweet in the way they usually aren’t in canon. It's a great fic, but more than that, it really just works in a way that's a lot more complicated than it looks, and it’s all the more charming for it.
- - - -
He’s happy to keep kissing her like this. To savour it. Realises she’s undone the last few buttons of his shirt at some point as she shoves it down his shoulders. Doesn’t have a second to think about his ugly scars pressed to her skin. Can just feel her little hot palms snaking up his back and grippin’ him tight. Refusing to let any light between them as they kiss for what feels like hours.
He realises these are the lips he’s been tasting. Searching for in other women when his night’s got too unbearably quiet, hunting for an echo of the thing he really wanted. Comin’ up short every damn time. Sweet and soft and lethal. Unique to her.
It’s longing in a way he’s never felt. This is the taste of it.
As Good as This by @riosnecktattoo 5k words. Explicit. Beth x Rio. 4.05 canon divergence.
Okay, I know I just said how much I loved canon divergence fics, but it bears repeating – I love canon divergence fics, haha. This is such a great alternate take on how the wire scene in 4.05 goes down, and it simmers with tension from the opening line. The way it escalates as Rio navigates this newest betrayal works really well too, and it results in a pretty sexy and surprisingly emotional sequence. Magic!
- - - -
“Do we have a deal?” She asks.
When he turns to look at her she’s smiling, and that’s when he realizes he’s absolutely fucked. He’d just fucked himself out of almost a quarter of a million dollars. He lets his eyes drop down her body, licks his lips and nods.
“I choose the place,” he says and turns on his side to face her. “You owe me half - with interest,” he says and slides a hand into her hair. She’s damp, the sweat slowly cooling.
“That’s not what - “ she opens her mouth to protest and he takes that opportunity to slide his mouth across hers and lick into her mouth.
Long Nights by zetuslapetus / @querenaxx 2k words. Explicit. Beth x Rio. S3 canon divergence.
Rio and Beth bone while negotiating a deal! What's not to love, haha. This has such a fun checks and balances feel to it which just makes me want to peel my skin off, it's so good. It's exactly the way I like my Beth and Rio - hot and snarky and constantly trying to get a leg over the other, literally and figuratively. It's the best.
- - - -
He should go out and find someone to fuck. Maybe text one of his hookups. See if Jen’s working. He has options.
He knows what he should do.
But it turns out fucking other people is a worse hell than the one they create when they’re together.
And now that he’s yielded to this wicked ecstasy, he knows he’ll do anything to keep sitting in the fire with her.
To Sit in Hell with You by @daydreamstew 2k words. Beth x Rio. Explicit. s4 canon divergence.
Canon-divergent from 4.06 – Beth and Rio keep hooking up after the time at his grandma’s place. It’s fun and sexy while also keeping the complicated push-pull and lack of communication at the heart of them. Deeelightful.
- - - -
“Does it make it easier?” Maddie asks him once they’re spent, maybe emboldened because he has already brought her into their bed. Which may be unfair, because Lee had been in their bed from the beginning.
“What?” He seems lost in his thoughts, his arm behind his head. In a few minutes he’ll get up and get ready to get back to the factory. Like always, she’ll be looking for her keys so she won’t be late for work.
“Getting it out of your system before you see her.”
Rio glances at her. “I don’t always see you when I see her.”
It’s so rare for him to explicitly mention this woman, however tenuously, and Maddie waits for more. Rio’s gotten like this about a few women in his life but it doesn’t happen often.
Sure am Using You by aniara 2k words. Explicit. Rio x OC, Rio x Beth.
It's not for everyone, but I absolutely love fics that feature characters with other people in ways that tell you something about the characters' feelings about somebody else. In this fic, Rio's fucking one of his childhood friends, but it's all about Beth really, and the way both Rio and the OC negotiate that is really compelling writing, and feels so in character for Rio. I really love it.
- - - -
Rio dreams of her that night, again. It’s irritatingly pedestrian – Elizabeth’s kissing him deep and then, ah, suddenly his gun’s in her hand and she shoots him, with a double encore. It’s always variations on the same futile theme. When he wakes it’s not that he’s freaked, unaware of reality or his whereabouts. But he’s been soaked in anger for so long. He can’t think straight, not on her. It’s honestly terrifying. Cos stubbornly keeping his head on right is – that’s him. Maybe her entire raison d’etre is destroying every single one of his attributes though.
He ain’t sure if his subconscious is desperately screaming that he’s made the wrong move, letting her live. Or if it’s the total opposite. Could be fucking neither. It’s not – it’s not getting any easier. And that main reason for not biting the bullet, that he’d be mad as hell for being mad as hell at himself over killing her, it's not smelling any less idiotic.
Climbing up the Walls by s_t_c_s / @sothischickshe 8k words. Explicit. Beth x Rio. S3 canon divergence.
Another canon divergence from 2.13 and an interpretation of how s3 could've gone, and another one I really love. There's a throughline of chaotic frustration to this fic that rings true to Rio's character for me, and the way that that reverberates through his moments not just with Beth, but alone and with other women, feels really textured and interesting and real. It's pretty great.
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Text
Secret Voight Season 3 Part 3 (J. Halstead)
Summary: Its been a year and a few months since Olive showed up announcing that she was pregnant with Justin's kid. You were working on a case that involved Justin. Is Justin back doing the same old things or is it something else?
Words: 3.9k
Requested: Yes
Warnings or A/N: Guys, I appreciate the love and support yall are giving me again with this series but please dont keep asking me over and over again if I'm continuing it. I think there will be at least one more part in season 3 and there will be one more chapter for s3. There also maybe be one more chapter that will be special. Idk yet. Well see.
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You were smiling at your nephew in his high chair while wearing a birthday hat. It was Daniel's first birthday. You, your dad, Olive and Justin were all singing happy birthday to him as Daniel was just looking around and babbling. "Happy birthday, kiddo. Come on, blow out that candle. Ready? One, two..."
Your dad had put the cake on the food tray as Justin walked closer to his son and they both helped Daniel blow out the candle. "Good job,"
You looked from Daniel and then to Olive. "I can't believe he's a year old already,"
Voight nodded and went to grabbed a present. "Ooh, wait. Time for presents. This one is from me,"
Justin reaches over the table and grabbed the bag and opened it up. He pulled out a toy horse that he seemed to recognize. "All these years you kept this?"
"Your mom did. She kept all your baby stuff upstairs in the attic, just, you know, hoping one day she could pass it along,"
Olive puts her hand Justin's back. "Hank, it's perfect,"
"Yeah. Thanks, Pop. I wish Mom was here too,"
You got up from your seat and walked around to where your brother was and placed your hand on his shoulder. "I didn't know Camille but from what I've been told of her. She would be so proud of you,"
----
It had been an hour or so after you were done with giving Daniel his gifts. Justin and Voight were in the living room catching up. You and Olive were still in the kitchen with Daniel cleaning up. "So when are you and Jay getting married?"
Justin and Olive got married about six months ago and ever since then everyone has been up yours and Jay's ass over it too. Or well besides Voight. Voight told you over and over 'to take it slow'. You chuckled as you had a secret but it wasn't an engagement. Jay didn't even know about this either. "Whenever he proposes, I guess,"
"I'm sure, it'll be soon,"
You shrugged. "I'm just going with the tides. In this line of work, its difficult to worry about things like that,"
She nodded. "You guys did move in together right?"
"Yeah, a couple of weeks ago,"
"With two bedrooms right?"
You cocked an eye at her. "Yeah? Why?"
"Just asking. How's it going?"
"It's going good. It's a lot easy on the both of us since Jay would take me to work,"
Voight walked into the kitchen with Justin. "Sorry to break the girl chat up but we got a case. Team is already there,"
You walked over to where Daniel was and kissed him on the top of his head. "Goodnight my sweet boy,"
---
You and Voight drive to the scene separate but arrived at the same time. You saw Kevin and Antonio were waiting for us at the police line which they lifted up when we walked up to it. "Hey, Serge. We got one dead female found in the trunk,"
Antonio looked at his notepad. "A park district employee was closing the gates. He was about to have the car towed when he noticed blood on the rear of the car and called the police,"
You and the others walked up the car, Jay was already there at the car holding up the trunk. "Victim's hands and feet are tied with barbed wire. Throat's cut. Fingernails are gone, too. I'm guessing she fought back against the assailant. He knew there'd be DNA, so he yanked them off,"
"Cartel hit?"
"Or Russians. They've been known to use barbed wire too,"
You got a ping on your phone and looked at it. "Car's registered to the victim. Her name's Melissa Wilds. She's 26 years old. We got an address,"
"All right, call Ruzek and Olinsky. Tell them to go over there and do a knock-and-talk,"
It was the next day and you didn't have much to go on as of yet. Al and Ruzek knocked at the address but no one answered. Her neighbor came by and they found out she had a daughter. You were sitting at you desk while talking about the case. "Melissa Wilds. Her husband was an Army private killed in a training exercise last year at Fort Bragg, along with three others when their chopper went down,"
Antonio took it from there. "She had an associate’s from Roosevelt and worked as a paralegal for the law firm Sawyer & Sawyer,"
Antonio was still in the outs with you. Yeah, its been a year but you still didn't trust him enough to let him back into your life. Jay, on the other hand, just didn't care because no one was gonna tell him what he can or can't do. Ruzek swung around in his chair to look at Antonio. "Yeah, I've seen those commercials. They're just high-profile ambulance chasers,"
"Bigger than that. They do seven-figure class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies or schools with asbestos,"
Jay was looking into Melissa's background and to see if she got any priors. "Except for a few parking tickets, Melissa has zero priors. She's a working, widowed mom, so the more I'm digging here, I can't see any reason why she'd be associated with cartels or any Russians,"
Voight walk to where he was standing in front of everyone. "Well listen. This girl was tortured with barbed wire. That means the killer either wanted something from her, or it was personal. So I want to know where she was before we found her, who she was with- if she was seeing someone new,"
Your phone of your desk rang while Voight was saying what he was saying. "Voight,"
"Roger Simpson is down here. Says he is Melissa's father,"
You pulled the phone away from your mouth and looked up at Voight. "Hey,"
"Hm?"
"Roger Simpson, Melissa's father, is downstairs,"
Voight looked over at Al. "Al?"
"We should start drawing straws,"
It had been about an hour since Al met with Roger and he said that Melissa was acting strange the past few months and that she was asking him to watch Tigan more and more which was no problem but it was hard cause he lived two hours away. He had asked her if something was wrong but she wouldn't tell him. You were engrossed with your digging that you didn't hear Jay walking up to you until he tapped on your desk. You looked away from your computer and up at him. "Hey handsome,"
He slightly smiled before dropping it. That concerned you. "What's wrong?"
"We got Melissa's phone records,"
"And?"
"Follow me,"
Jay started to walk towards Voight's office and you got up from your desk and followed him. "Hey, we got, uh, Melissa Wild's phone records,"
Voight looked at you confused and you just shrugged as you walked into his office. "Okay?"
Jay closed the door and hand a copy to you and Voight. He kept one for himself as well. "She and Justin, um-- they knew each other. Looks like there's maybe 20 phone calls and twice as many texts between the two of them last month. The last phone call she made was a half hour before time of death,"
Voight picked up his personal phone from his desk and started dialing Justin. "He said he was in town to help a friend. Maybe it was her,"
You walked up to Voight's desk. "Where is Justin now?"
"He should be at home with Olive and Daniel,"
Jay looked from you to your dad. "Did he ever mention this girl to you, to either of you?"
"No,"
"Don't you think I would've mentioned it if he did? Straight to voicemail,"
-
You and Voight rush to his house and see that Olive is there with Daniel but no Justin and he looks worried. "Where's Justin?"
"He left over an hour ago,"
"Have you tried calling him?"
"He's not answering. I texted him too. Hank, I'm worried,"
"We'll find him,"
You pulled your phone out of your pocket and dialed Al. "I need you to track the GPS on Justin's car now,"
It took about ten minutes to find the location of Justin car which was parked on the side of the road. You and Voight both jumped out of the car and speed walked to the car. You looked into the car and didn't see anything. You walked around to the trunk where Voight was already opening it up. "Oh, my God,"
You find Justin the same way you found Melissa. Bound with barbed wire. "Justin. He's got a pulse!"
You pulled out your walkie. "Lincoln 5021, emergency. I repeat, emergency,"
Voight was trying to see if he had anymore injuries. "Oh, my God, he's been shot!"
You pushed the button on your walkie again. "I need an ambulance at my current location. We have a gunshot wound victim,"
--
You and Voight ran into Med with Justin and the paramedics when Maggie came into view. "We have incoming. You're with me. Talk to me,"
"It's my son!"
The paramedic started talking to Maggie. "GSW to the neck. GCS 3, tubed in the ambo. Pupils fixed and dilated. Sinus tachy on the monitor. He was bound in the trunk of a car,"
Maggie pointed into a room and started directing them. "Rotate. Get ready to transfer. Three, two, one--transfer,"
Sharon came up to Voight and started to pull Voight away. " Hank, let's step outside,"
"Is he breathing?"
"I need a CT head. Someone call neurosurgery!"
"Is he still breathing?"
"Checking right now, Hank,"
"Come on, let them do their job,"
Voight had called Antonio and told him what happened and the next thing you knew he had brought Olive and Daniel to the ER. Voight didn't look to pleased at Antonio.
Voight looked at you. "GET everyone back to 21,"
"Dad,"
"Now,"
-
You had texted everyone in the unit that if they were at 21st to get there. You couldn't call them because you knew if you called them you'd break down. You stood outside the door of 21st for a few minutes before walking into the precinct and then up the stairs to Intelligence. Jay saw you and walked up to you and pulled you into a hug and whispered into your ear. "It's going to be okay. He's going to be okay,"
You let him hold you for a few minutes before you pushed him away. Antonio looked at everyone in the unit before speaking. "Everybody needs to hold on real tight, and you all know what I mean. If at any point you're not comfortable with something, you come tell me,"
You were all looked at Antonio when Antonio stopped talking when he looked at something. You all turned around and saw Voight standing there with a duffel bag in hand. He throws in on Jay's desk and throw out money. "I want you to put word out to all your C.I.'s. That's 90,000 for any information on who did this to Melissa Wilds and my son,"
Kevin slowly got up and walked towards Voight. "Hey, we got this, Serge. Think you should go to the hospital?"
Voight nodded but didn't say anything for a good minute. "All right, let me be clear. I don't need condolences. I need commitment from each of you. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to find who did this. Anybody not comfortable with that should take the next couple of days off,"
You nodded and walked towards the detail board. While holding back tears, you looked at everyone. "So, turns out Justin went through basic training with Peter Wilds
at Fort Campbell before Peter got shipped to Fort Bragg. That's how they knew each other. They stayed close friends. Melissa started reaching out to Justin about four weeks ago.
"Still doesn't tell us how they were mutual targets,"
Jay who is now sitting on his desk, talked next. "Maybe there's a nexus with her job- the law firm,"
"Check it out,"
Voight had started to leave but you had grabbed him and stopped him. "Hey. You have a grandson now, okay? That is counting on you. Just remember that,"
Voight looked at you for a few seconds before nodding.
-
You were going out of your mind in the car when you and Jay were driving to the law firm. Jay placed a hand on your knee and squeezed it. "It's gonna be okay. Justin is going to wake up and everything will be fine,"
You looked at him and smiled. You appreciated the thought but that's not the biggest thing on your mind. You were worried about what your dad is doing.
Jay pulled up to the law firm and you put everything about your dad and Justin in the back of your mind and put all your focus on the case itself. You walked up to Melissa's boss' office. "Melissa used to be a great employee. Never complained about the hours
or working weekends. But there was definitely something off with her these past few weeks,"
You shifted on your other foot. "How do you mean?"
"Her demeanor. Melissa was always outgoing always had a smile on her face, even after losing her husband, Peter. But lately she'd become withdrawn..distant. To be honest, that's when I started to get suspicious,"
Jay didn't look away from her boss. "Suspicious of what, exactly?"
Her boss didn't answer for a minute thinking about what to say. She held up a finger to signal that she needed a minute. She got up from her desk, shut her office door and then sit back down. "We worked a class action suit last year. Several dozen plaintiffs were awarded mesothelioma cancer pay-outs, all over a million dollars each. three of the plaintiffs were robbed in home invasions, some of them badly injured,"
"Was Melissa the only one with access to this information?"
Her boss shook her head. "Well, no. But the way she was acting, and now what's happened to her, it can't be a coincidence,"
--
As you were leaving the office, Jay called the unit and told them what Melissa's boss, you got in his truck and he got in his truck after he finished the call. You were driving to the precinct when you got a call telling you to meet the team at a location they think Ginger is at and to suit up. Apparently while you were out, the team had learned the suspect's name. You were also texted a picture of him.
Jay parked a little ways down the street and you guys suited up and walked the rest of the way to meet up with the team. Voight saw you and as soon as you got next to him, he started talking. "This one we don't announce. We hit it and we hit it hard,"
You all nodded. Jay grabbed the battering ram and hit the door. Antonio was in first, Al and Ruzek was next, then you, Voight and Jay. You could hear a woman screaming. You saw three males trying to get up and run. You pointed a gun at one of them. "Don't move!"
Jay pointed the gun at the other. "Right there!"
Voight goes past you to point a gun at the three suspect.. "I'll blow your head off! Let me see your hands. Don't move,"
Antonio looked at the girl. "You, get your clothes. Get out of here,"
When everyone was under control you finally looked up at the three suspect and saw that it was Ginger. " You got a warrant?"
"Melissa Wilds,"
"Never heard of her,"
Voight didn't say anything for a minute then didn't take his eye of him but address the team. "The stove. Cover the door,"
Al and Antonio grabbed Ginger and pulled him over to the store as he turned on the store. "Wait a minute,"
"Justin Voight is my son. You shoot him and wrap him in barb wire?"
"No, man, that wasn't me. It was all Kevin!"
"Kevin who?"
"Kevin Bingham, a guy I work with sometimes. He...he used to bang
that girl Melissa when they were younger, started forcing her to give up info on who was getting big pay-outs from her law firm,"
"Yeah, and you did the home invasions.
"I just do the safes, man. He handles the people, then we split it down the middle,"
"Why did he kill her and shoot my son?"
"Melissa wanted out. But Kevin wouldn't let her, so she went to Justin for help. wanted me to meet him at that social club to broker a deal for her safety for five grand. I told him, leave it alone. He had no idea who he was messing with. Kevin knew Melissa was gonna rat him out, so he called Justin to meet to tie up loose ends!"
"Where's Kevin now?"
"I don't know. I swear! He only calls me when there's a job!"
Voight grabbed Ginger's head and forces it down on the hot burner so he could burn his cheek. Ginger screamed out in pain and you looked away in disgust.
Antonio came up to Voight and tried to pull him off of him. "Voight, we can do this at the district!"
Voight shrugged. "We're fine right here. Relax. Relax. Where's Kevin now?"
"Hiding cause he knows you're after him. I swear to God, that's all I know,"
-
It's been about two or so hours since you talked to Ginger. You had finally found some information on Bingham. You printed off a picture of Bingham and what you found on him. You also made copies for the team. "Kevin Bingham. He's been racking up felonies since he was 18, armed robbery, assault, battery, burglary. Five years ago he got popped for attempted murder. A guy spilled his drink at a bar, so Bingham stabbed him 16 time,"
Antonio looked up from the sheet. "Yeah, and he got out of jail three months ago,"
Al who was leaning up against the file cabinet talked next. "Melissa's father said she and Bingham dated six years ago back in high school and after her husband died, he started coming around again,"
Jay pointed at the photo that was sent over. "So these were sent over, all of these are from recent home invasions where the victims were tied up with barbed wire,"
Kevin looked at the phone. "That is definitely something he picked up in prison,"
Ruzek comes into the room with a paper in his hand. "So Bingham's parole officer said he stopped showing up-- violated him, but he's got no LKA. Yeah, so we've been running an extensive check on all his known associates, including those off his prison visiting list. All right, this is Dillon James. visited him all the way up until his parole, putting money into his canteen account. He's got priors for methamphetamine and a thing for stealing UPS trucks and selling the stolen goods,"
Voight turned and looked at him. "Where is he?"
"We got a possible house in Rogers Park,"
Voight nodded. "Let's roll out and suit up. Oh, Antonio. You stay here. Just call us if you get anything,"
-
You hit the house and found his brother but all his brother told you was that Bingham came by last night and took some cash and guns that he was holding for them. He only told him that he needed to get out of town until something blew over.
*Justin was moved to ICU and Sharon will call in an hour with an update*
Dillion: I ain't--I ain't seen him *point the gun at him* All right, he was here! He came by last night. He was picking up some cash I was holding for him and some guns. He also gets a call from Antonio saying Sharon called and told him that Justin came out of surgery and that
You were in the unit for an hour or so when Voight gets a call and goes into his office and he was in there for a few minutes before he comes back out. "I got an address on Bingham. I want everyone rolling there now. First two to arrive, breach. This guy's on the run could be leaving any minute. Let's go,"
You didn’t ride with Jay or anyone else. You rode by yourself so you could have some time by yourself just to think about everything that was happened. You heard your phone go off and you looked down and saw that it was Jay. "Hey, I'm two minutes out,"
"Bingham's not here. No one's here. Not for a while,"
"Is Voight there?"
"Not yet,"
That's when it hit you that Voight sent you to a bogus location and that whoever he was on the phone with, found Bingham and he was at the Silos.
You heard Jay on the line calling for you but you dropped your phone in the seat and as soon as you could turned around. You drove as fast of you could to get to the Silos before your dad could do anything stupid. You drove up and saw that Kevin was digging a hole. You got out of the car and Kevin started talking to you. "Oh, thank God. Thank God. This guy tried to kill me. I didn't do anything,"
You walked up closer to your dad. "Don't do this. Think of your grandson,"
"Get back in your car, Y/N,"
"Do not throw it all away over him,"
"Get back in your car,"
"Dad, please. Justin is still alive and he wouldn't want justice like this,"
"Get out of here,"
"Justin,"
You looked at your dad to Kevin and then back to your dad and knew you couldn't get your dad to think straight. You slowly backed up and got in your car and left. You were halfway down the road when you finally heard the gun go off.
--
You didn't even go the unit after, you went straight to the hospital and you saw Sharon coming out ready to go home. She saw you. "He is in room 12. Say that I allowed it. Talk to him, he can hear you,"
You nodded and said a silent thank you. She placed a hand on your shoulder for a second before removing it. You walked up to the room and no one bothered you. You took a deep breath before opening the door. You opened the door and saw your brother in the hospital unconscious and Olive sitting next to him. She looked at you. "I'll give you two some time together," You walked to the chair and sat down. You finally let go of all the emotion you've been holding on too since you found Justin. You reached out to grab your brother's hand. You sat there and cry until you couldn't let anything else out. When you were finally done crying, you sat there in quiet thinking of what to say. "I don't know if you can hear me, Sharon says that you can. Do you remember when we first met after dad transferred me into Intelligence. We didn't like each other at well. We hated each other at first. Bickered all the time. Yes, we always had bad times but we also had god times and I want...I need more good times with you. I need you to be in my life..."
You trailed off with what you were about to say because you haven’t said it out loud. "Your niece or nephew is gonna need their uncle,"
You put your head on the side of his bed and just sat in quiet once more. "I'm gonna make them my partner in crime,"
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peaceoutofthepieces · 3 years
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Tracing Time
okay, so for this clip you need to know those details from sos I mentioned, in which Jens lives in the flatshare because his dad is homophobic (in sos he finds Lucas with Jens and reacts badly, and Jens eventually moves out). so this is discussed (mostly just alluded to), along with the hate crime in s3, so be aware of that. there are also vague allusions to Sander’s episode in s3. as a final content warning—this clip is also unnecessarily long 😅
Tuesday, 19:47
Songs: David Bowie - Rebel Rebel; The 1975 - Antichrist; EDEN - hertz
Robbe tugs Sander along at a somewhat rapid pace, and Sander complains as he drags his feet. “Robbe, what’s the rush?”
“Nothing,” Robbe says, too quickly, but he slows down and hugs Sander’s arm. “Nothing, sorry. Just, you know Milan, he’s pretty impatient.”
Sander narrows his eyes, but lets his boyfriend press closer and kiss his cheek. He smiles down at Robbe as the boy twines their fingers together, still guiding him down the street at a much more sedate pace.
Robbe had just taken them out for dinner, nothing overly fancy but slightly more expensive than making croques on the grill. They’d tucked themselves into a booth in a quiet cafe, which was fully decorated in shiny wood, cracked leather, and dimly glowing light. It even had an old-fashioned jukebox in the corner that Robbe convinced to play Bowie after a coin and a few prods and light kicks. The food was still cheap and greasy and Robbe’s smile was shy and Sander loved every second of it. They tangled their legs under the table and their hands atop it and it was the most perfect birthday date Sander could have imagined.
He expected to go back to one of their homes to continue the celebrations, but instead he finds himself on his way to the flatshare, apparently at Milan’s demand. It’s not entirely surprising, and fairly sweet, really, and Robbe seems mostly innocent and unfazed. Still, Sander is suspicious. He has a feeling.
Which is why he’s utterly amused and smug when they run into Lucas outside the apartment building.
Or, well, they don’t run into him. They hear him before they see him, and Robbe stiffens and curses under his breath. Then they see him standing outside his father’s car, holding a four-pack of alcohol in one hand and a clinking bag in the other. The closer they get, the easier it is to hear another familiar voice over Lucas’s.
“—just because you and that boyfriend of yours are old enough to drink that stuff, doesn’t mean everyone here is. I will not be responsible for supplying alcohol to minors, alright? I work at a youth center, for Christ’s sake.”
“Dad, literally not even half the people here will need that warning. The others have beer, and juice, it’ll be fine.”
“I don’t care, Luc, I’m trusting you to be trustworthy. That’s your stash, you watch who drinks it.”
Lucas looks towards the sky in exasperation and lets out a sigh. “It’s Jens’s place, Jens’s guests, so he can take responsibility. Why didn’t you give him this speech?”
“Because he’s not my son and he’s not the one using my money to buy alcohol for his friends. He’s your boyfriend, your responsibility.”
Lucas tosses his hands up as well as he can, considering they’re full, and casts a sideways glance this time. Which means he finally catches sight of Robbe and Sander standing a few feet away, both with bemused expressions, and instantly freezes on the spot. Sander gives him a small, pleased wave, and Lucas’s shoulders slump. “Fuck.”
“Language,” Hugo van der Heijden predictably reprimands, before poking his head out the window. Sander salutes him as Robbe gives him a pointed look, and he says, “Ah, shit. Sorry, kiddo.” He directs this at Robbe before turning his kind smile on Sander. “Happy birthday.”
Sander moves closer and tugs Robbe with him, because there’s no point in pretending now. “Thanks,” he says, burying a laugh as Lucas sits on the hood of the car and sets the bag down to cover his face. “This is a nice surprise.”
“Oh, shut up,” Lucas tells him, as Robbe pinches Sander’s arm and he winces away. He huffs and steps forward to meet Lucas as he stands, letting the younger boy envelop him in a one-armed hug. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you,” Sander repeats, before tilting his head at Lucas’s navy-grey button up. “Aw, who thought you’d even try to clean up nice for me.”
Lucas punches his shoulder to nudge him back a step. “You’re an asshole and I don’t know why I like you.” The comment is accompanied with such a fond smile that Sander doesn’t even feel the sting. Instead he just pulls his friend away as Hugo beeps the horn and Lucas almost jumps out of his skin trying to get away. Lucas glares at his father as Robbe giggles behind them.
“Everything I said still goes,” Hugo presses. “Best behavior.”
Sander grins at the man. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after them.”
“No, you have fun. It’s their job to look after themselves, they’re big boys. Now go and act surprised.”
Robbe groans as Sander simply laughs, accepting the orders with a nod. Lucas waves at his father with a lot of clanking and rustling as a result. “Okay, you can go now too, thanks for the lift and the drinks and so on.”
Hugo rolls his eyes. “You either sneak in as quietly as a mouse or be Jens’s problem for the night, understood?”
Lucas salutes him, but inevitably leans down to kiss his cheek before the man gives a final wave and drives off.
Robbe sighs while hugging Sander’s arm to his chest again. “Wanna swap dads?” he asks Lucas.
“Funny that a year ago I probably would’ve said yes,” Lucas shrugs. Then he grimaces. “Sorry, I kind of fucked up the surprise, huh?”
“Irreparably,” Robbe agrees. “Shall we go up anyway?”
“Yes, please, this will be too funny,” Sander says, delighted. The other two share a look and shake their heads and Sander just rocks on his heels and urges them forward. He feels overwhelmingly pleased now, his heart thumping and smile splitting his cheeks, which Robbe squishes together before granting him a soft kiss.
“Okay, at least be nice,” Robbe says. “I know that’s not your style, but, for me.”
Sander sighs heavily and Robbe bites down his grin. “Fine. For you. Even though it’s my birthday.”
Robbe’s grin widens and he kisses Sander’s nose before letting them into the apartment. Sander blinks at the key, and then has to quickly shrug it off as he’s steered through the short hallway and there’s a loud chorus of ‘Surprise!’
The room is fuller than Sander expects, and he actually does startle at the sight. His surprised face is fairly genuine, and there are about a dozen grins beaming back at him, and then Lucas joins in the cheer half a second too late and a dozen faces drop. There is a round of complaints and groans. Milan drops his head back in disappointment. Jens covers his face with a hand.
“Oh, fuck all of you,” Lucas says back, before raising his brows and the alcohol still weighing him down.
There’s a new round of cheers, to which Lucas responds by flipping off the room at large.
Sander is glad of how it worked out, because it’s a big enough break in the tension that everyone immediately moves into action instead of continuing to stare at him. The flat members move forward first, Jens to give Sander a clap on the back before taking the bag from Lucas and disappearing to the kitchen and Milan to engulf Sander in a hug.
“Okay,” the man says as he pulls back, holding Sander’s head in his hands. “Tell me you at least didn’t know about the surprise until Lucas messed it up.”
Sander snorts. “No, I just thought I was coming for my gifts.”
“Ha, cute.” Milan pinches his cheek, then winks. “They’re all over in the corner, but you’ll have to wait until later. Sorry if this isn’t what you expected after your date.” He raises his brows.
“It’s perfect,” Sander assures, serious this time. He glances over at Robbe. “Though maybe not for a Tuesday night?”
Robbe shrugs. “They all have their own free will. If they can’t survive their self-inflicted hangover for a few hours of school, that’s their problem.”
Sander huffs a laugh, and nods his acquiescence. “Still, though, how did you actually get everyone here?” Aside from Milan, the Broerrrs, and Senne and the girls, who Sander would expect Robbe to invite, his other friends are mingled in with the crowd. Adi chats quietly to Senne in the corner; Gilles and Luca are trapped in an animated conversation as Thomas watches on in clear amusement; Emilie is laughing at something Zoë says to her. Everyone, in one place, even the ones he thought Robbe would have no way of contacting.
“Well, I could contact Adi easily, and then I asked him about the others,” Robbe flushes. “Sorry, I hope I didn’t overstep.”
“No, no,” Sander immediately appeases, granting him a soft kiss. “Thank you.”
Robbe smiles brilliantly.
He doesn’t realise someone else has approached him until they clear their throat, and he drags his gaze from Robbe to find Zoë in front of them, her kind smile already in place. “Happy birthday,” she says sweetly, also giving him a quick hug. “Sorry we couldn’t make it more exciting.”
“No, it’s nice,” Sander assures. “I couldn’t have liked how it worked out more.”
Her smile widens and she shakes her head at him. “Of course. I won’t hold you up, I just need to tell you Yasmina isn’t here because Ramadan and she was worried she’d just have to leave right away.”
“Yeah, no, Iftar and everything, that’s fine,” Sander smiles. “She already messaged me to say happy birthday and that hopefully she would see me again soon. I’m sure I’ll see her before the end of the week.”
“Okay, good. And obviously Jana also can’t be here, but they all pitched in on your gifts, so I’m supposed to tell you that. Senne joined me in getting you something, too.”
Sander laughs, nodding. “Okay, thank you. You know none of you had to get me anything, or do all of this.”
Zoë rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling softly. “Of course we do, Sander. This is what you have to deal with as one of us.”
It sends another flood of warmth to his heart, and he’s sure she knows it, that it’s likely the intended effect. It’s a feeling he’s been experiencing a lot today, and he suspects this won’t be the last time during the evening. For now, he gives Zoë the biggest, warmest smile he can muster and thanks her again.
“You’re welcome,” is all she says this time. She gives Robbe’s shoulder a fond squeeze as well before slipping away.
Robbe rests his chin on Sander’s shoulder and gazes up at him through his lashes. “Ready to make a round?”
Sander nods and lets his boyfriend lead the way.
Of course, Gilles latches on to them as soon as they move and raises their arms in a cheer. “Sander! Happy birthday, you beautiful bitch!”
Robbe’s laugh is louder than Sander’s, so of course that means he drags them over and plops down next to Sander’s friend as the others turn to join them. Gilles beams and ruffles Robbe’s hair in greeting, and Sander is finally gratified when Robbe makes an affronted sound and brushes them away. “Lucas helped me with this,” he complains, then flushes as he realises what he’s given away. Sander raises his brows when Robbe peeks a look up at him. Robbe huffs and catches Sander’s wrist, giving a tug so that Sander almost tumbles into his lap.
“Robbe,” he complains, laughing. “I’ll crush you.”
“No you won’t.” Robbe rolls his eyes. Then he softens his gaze, looking up at Sander with his small smile and damn doe eyes. “Come here,” he requests quietly.
Sander shakes his head, cursing internally, but gently lowers himself onto his boyfriend’s lap. He prays the chair won’t falter under their weight, and the creak is slightly worrying, but it holds steady. Robbe makes a pleased hum and winds his arms around him, immediately pressing a kiss to Sander’s shoulder and then resting his cheek there.
“Thank you,” he says, all genuine smiles and happy sighs, and Sander does not melt. He might, however, wind his arm around Robbe’s shoulder and lean into him just a little more.
Gilles makes a somewhat anguished sound, but when Sander turns to look at them they’re still beaming. They’re staring with their face resting in a hand, appearing to be in a state of utter awe. “Where can I find this? Someone give me this.”
From their other side, Luca slaps their arm. “I know, right? Guys, this isn’t fair, at least Jens and I used to have some solidarity but now he’s just as bad.”
“Sorry,” Robbe laughs, not looking even slightly apologetic as he cuddles closer to Sander. “But now you two have solidarity, right?”
Gilles lights up at the realisation, spinning to Luca again with obvious interest. Robbe giggles quietly against Sander’s collarbone, pleased with himself, and Sander ducks his head down to whisper in the boy’s ear. “Does this mean I’ve upheld the deal and actually do know cool gays for Luca?”
“Depends,” Robbe whispers back, amused. “Are you suggesting Gilles is cool?”
Sander makes a face, but doesn’t argue either way. Instead, he checks if his other friends are seeing what he’s seeing. He’s a little anxious, as he looks towards Emilie, but she’s watching Gilles and Luca with an odd consideration as Amber talks her ear off. Thomas is watching the whole thing through wide eyes from behind his glasses, but he gives Sander a subtle, enthusiastic little nod.
“How did you all manage to not mention this to me?” The thought occurs to Sander suddenly, and while he’s looking at Thomas, it’s mostly directed at Gilles.
Adi speaks up and surprises him. He hadn’t seen the older boy coming over. “I wondered that too, honestly.”
“And you’re a sneaky bastard,” Sander tells him.
Adi looks amused. “Why’s that?”
Sander scoffs. “‘Any special birthday plans for tomorrow?’,” he mocks.
“Ah, come on, you really had no idea? He didn’t give nothing away?” Adi gestures at Robbe.
“I thought we were just going to have an...interesting date,” Sander shrugs, making Robbe blush.
Adi laughs. “What, are we boring you?”
“Yes, get out of my sight,” Sander says, deadpan, and Robbe lets out a startled laugh as Adi gapes at him.
“Emilie tried to make sure you wouldn’t notice anything and I tried to keep Gilles as far away from you as possible.” The explanation Thomas gives makes sense, and Robbe extends his arm behind Sander to high-five him, and Gilles is thankfully too busy to notice.
They sit around talking for an indiscernible amount of time before Sander wiggles his way free of Robbe. The boy protests, of course, trying to cling on and pull Sander back towards him, so Sander leans down and grants him a kiss before moving away. No one else tries to stop him from leaving the room, and he’s hopeful he’ll have a straight path to the kitchen. He’s starting to feel antsy, and he needs to move around and take something in, and what’s better than a drink?
When he steps out into the hallway, however, he runs into Milan again, who has just opened the door for Noor.
He panics for a brief moment, eyes flicking around for blonde hair as he debates if he should go on without acknowledging them. But Noor has already caught sight of him and is giving her brilliant smile, and no one pops out of thin air behind her, so Sander roots himself to the spot. “Hey,” he greets, aiming for cheerful. His tone manages, but he’s doubtful of his smile, which he thinks wavers alongside his balance.
“Happy birthday,” she says. She wraps an arm around his shoulders and presses a kiss to his cheek, hopefully not leaving a bright lipstick stain. (She occasionally does it on purpose and waits for the target to notice, and with everyone else in on the game, the unlucky soul is rarely offered any help.) Sander raises a hand to his cheek cautiously and Noor simply laughs in response, shaking her head. “Not on your birthday.”
Sander narrows his eyes, because honestly, it seems like a perfectly innocent birthday prank. He weighs the possibility for a moment before nodding in acceptance and letting his smile widen again. “Thank you.”
She holds up the little bag in her hand and waves it at him. “Milan says there’s a time and place for these, otherwise I’d just pass it over now.” She lowers her arm and hesitates for a moment, smile shifting as she seems to debate if she should tell Sander what she’s thinking or not. “Britt couldn’t make it, but she helped me pick out the gift.”
Sander takes it for the crooked olive branch it is and nods. “Thank you, seriously,” he says. “And you can extend it to Britt?”
“Of course.” Noor smiles again and squeezes his shoulder before going to join the others. Sander looks after her for a moment before finally getting to the kitchen.
This seems to be the most party-like room in the house. The entire counter is littered with snacks and there are rainbow-coloured fairy lights strung along the cupboards. There’s a stack of party hats and a precarious pile of paper plates. The table has pretty much been turned into a mini-bar, with countless alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks spread out, as well as what must be at least five packs of red party cups. It even appears to have a bartender; Moyo stands behind it mixing a drink, flicking and flipping bottles around and bopping his head and hips to the tempo of the music. He doesn’t even look up as Sander makes his way over, just holds up a hand in a signal to wait.
Sander stares at the table. His pulse feels suddenly quicker. The bottles of beer are sitting closest to him, at the edge of the table, and he allows his fingers to brush over the neck of one. It’s not unfamiliar, of course. He doesn’t even know why he’s hesitating.
It’s just that he should be at home right now, working on the assignment he’d messed up. It’s just that he has class tomorrow, and doesn’t really want to suffer through it with a hangover. It’s just that things have been actually going well.
It’s just that, no matter how long it’s been, he remembers feeling suffocated. He remembers going from burning up to drowning in frigid air, from too much to nothing. He remembers feeling everything at top intensity only to drop into a debilitating state of numbness. Even when it blurs, he remembers.
“Hey, man.” Moyo breaks him out of his thoughts. His voice is uncharacteristically soft, and when Sander looks up, his expression is understanding. “Look, it’s your birthday. Robbe’s right there, and Lucas, and plenty of other friends. And if you want to take a drink, none of them are going to stop you. They never do. It’s always chill, you’re fine.”
Sander opens his mouth, then closes it again. He feels awkward and fidgety and he doesn’t actually want to respond to that. He doesn’t want to think about this.
Not now, he pleads silently.
“Or,” Moyo continues, before Sander would have been able to get two words out anyway. “You can let me make you a mocktail.”
He’s grinning, but Sander can only blink. “A mocktail?”
“Yeah. You know, a cocktail, but without the alcohol?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever tried a cocktail.”
Moyo’s grin widens, and he spreads his hands to show off his stash. “It’s your lucky night then. I honestly prefer mocktails, because the alcohol usually just makes them extra sharp and leaves a shitty aftertaste. But don’t tell anyone I said that.”
He points at Sander warningly, and Sander holds his hands up, smiling slightly now as he nods.
“I heard it.”
They both jump at the voice, but it’s just Senne in the doorway. He smirks a little before coming to join them, leaning his hip on the table so his body is twisted slightly towards Sander while he can still keep Moyo in his expectant gaze.
“Alright.” Moyo rubs his hands together, seeming to accept Senne’s presence and entrust him with their secrets. “I’m gonna make you my personal fave, and if you don’t like it or when you finish it, you come back to me for another. Got it? I am your server for the evening.”
“I’m flattered,” Sander admits, and Moyo winks at him before bursting into another flurry of movement. He’s a little apprehensive, unsure if he should really be taking anything Moyo concocts. They don’t actually know each other that well, despite how long it’s been and how frequently they hang out in the same group. Sander thinks this might be the first time they’ve actually interacted one-on-one. But Moyo has never given Sander any reason to distrust him, and the look he’d given him had been knowing. Moyo probably understands better than he thinks.
That thought still feels a little bitter, so he brushes it away and just watches the other work, trying to tune his thoughts out with the sound of the music and sheer determination.
He can enjoy himself. He’d even worked a lot on his assignment today already, knowing he’d be meeting up with Robbe in the evening. Robbe wouldn’t be keeping him away if he didn’t think Sander could manage it, and Sander trusts Robbe’s faith in him. It’s even enough to make him smile as he watches on with apprehension.
“Are you gonna make me one of these too?” Senne asks, head tilted curiously.
“Nope,” Moyo says, without a hint of hesitation. “Special birthday treat. Anyway, don’t pretend you didn’t come looking for alcohol.”
Senne lifts a beer and has the cap off in an instant. He tilts it at Moyo and takes a slug in confirmation, before turning to lean back against the table and giving Sander his full attention. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you,” Sander grins. “How’s blissful married life?”
Senne scoffs at him, but he’s still smirking slightly. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“I’d say it’s going very well,” Sander hums.
Senne’s smirk softens into a smile, and he crosses his arms before casually taking a sip of his beer. “You’re still treating my boy right, then.”
Moyo snorts, barely halting his movements as he raises a brow at Senne. “Your boy?”
“Hey.” Senne presses a finger to his own chest as he looks over his shoulder at Moyo. “I was the hot older guy in his life first.”
Sander and Moyo just burst into laughter. “Yeah, but in like, a teen dad kinda way, right?” Sander muses, squinting as if he’s trying to recall where he got the description.
“A hot dad,” Senne keeps up his argument.
“A DILF,” Moyo offers.
Sander laughs again as Senne points at the boy in agreement. Moyo finally passes him a full cup with a triumphant expression. Sander takes the cup and then a small sip. He lets the liquid coat his tongue, savours it as it slips down his throat. His brows raise, and he holds the cup back out to Moyo in a toast. “You’re good.”
Moyo taps Sander’s cup with his own and cheers.
At some stage, he ends up alone on the couch. The others, by now, are spread out all over the house, but most of them are in here, chatting or dancing. While most are energised by whatever alcohol they’ve consumed, Sander is nursing his second mocktail and beginning to feel the weight of a long day. Still, he tips his head back against the cushions and watches his friends and he feels okay.
Jens joins him, eventually. Sander doesn’t even see him come in, and then he’s dropping wordlessly into the empty space next to him. The silence lingers on for a moment, both of them content in it. The exact reason Sander enjoys Jens’s company.
After a while, he holds his beer bottle out to Sander with a raised brow. It takes Sander a moment to figure out why, and then he bumps his cup against it. Jens nods in approval and takes a gulp, and Sander watches his eager swallows in silent contemplation.
“Enjoying your birthday?” Jens finally breaks the silence, glancing back and forth between Sander and the others dancing.
Sander shrugs, nodding. “It’s a more exciting day than I expected, honestly.”
Jens hums, then takes another sip. He doesn’t say anything else.
It’s strange. Jens isn’t the loudest one of the group, by far, but he’s being oddly quiet. His slouched posture could be his usual chill demeanor, but it seems too tense. Sullen. It’s weirding Sander out, a little, and he wants to understand it so it isn’t quite so freaky, but it still takes a moment to convince himself to ask.
“What’s wrong?”
Jens startles at the question. He looks over at Sander in surprise, eyes a little wide. Just as quickly, he’s looking away again and clearing his throat, sitting up a little straighter before he speaks. “What? Nothing.”
Sander narrows his eyes, but doesn’t prod. If Jens doesn’t want to tell him, that’s fine. They aren’t besties. Sander can just quietly inform Robbe, who will deal with it himself, and then Sander won’t even have to feel guilty. It’s not actually his place. Instead, he just waits.
“I think Luc is pissed at me,” Jens mutters, after all of about five seconds.
Sander huffs, but frowns slightly. He looks out at their friends. It doesn’t take him long to find Lucas—mostly because he’s right next to Robbe. Whereas Robbe is twirling Noor around in a fitting dance to the music, however, Lucas is focused on a more chaotic Milan who seems to be attempting to show him some rather sensual moves. Lucas, equally, does <i>not</i> seem to do his best to follow along, poorly mimicking the moves through hysterical laughter.
“He doesn’t seem pissed,” Sander muses, turning back to Jens with a brow raised pointedly. Jens shrugs and looks down at his beer, tracing his fingertip around the top, and Sander sighs and thinks fuck it. “What’s wrong, Jens?”
Jens glances up at him, and then down again, and then lets out a sigh of his own. “She finally kicked him out.”
Sander blinks, and has to think for a moment. When realisation hits, he decides he probably should not be the one handling this conversation. He has to tread lightly. Maybe he should just pretend he has to pee to escape and then fetch Robbe, instead. But...Jens has trusted him with it.
Dammit.
“Your dad?” he asks quietly.
Jens nods.
“Isn’t that a good thing? What does it have to do with Lucas? I mean...aside from the obvious.”
“Well, because.” Jens pauses to run a hand through his hair, frustrated. “He’s not even gone yet, and Lucas wants me to move home.”
Sander purses his lips in understanding. “You don’t want to.”
“Why would I?” Jens huffs. Then he pulls a face that’s faintly apologetic before shaking his head. Sander realises he’s likely more than a little tipsy, if his rapid but sloppy speech is anything to go by, along with the seemingly senseless hand gestures he’s making. “I do miss my mom, I guess, and Lotte, but still. I go into my room and it’s just...it’s suffocating. And Lucas is pissed about it. Well, I guess he’s more pissed on my behalf. He says that what happened shouldn’t get to control me so much, especially when the asshole’s not even there. That I shouldn’t have to keep making the sacrifice because of it when I have the freedom to go back now.”
This is starting to sound very familiar, and that hits rather close to home.
There suddenly isn’t enough air, and his chest is suddenly tight, breaths just a little too shallow. He flicks his gaze around until it lands on Robbe again. He’s moved onto dancing with Zoë now, her confidently leading his more awkward frame. Some of the tension in Sander eases, and he swallows down the feeling in favour of trying to form a coherent response.
“But that doesn’t mean he’s pissed at you,” Sander says carefully. “It also doesn’t sound unreasonable, and it’s not like he doesn’t understand. He just wants the best and the most for you.” He wants you to have the world. The universe, if possible. He doesn’t want anything to be taken from you, and especially not because of him.
Jens seems to accept this, but still frowns slightly, still makes himself a little smaller. “But I’m happy here. I’m happy. Shouldn’t that be enough?”
Sander swallows. He lets his eyes shift from Robbe to Lucas, and finds his friend staring back at him. Lucas’s expression is mostly blank, but Sander can see the concern etched into his eyes and the pinch of his lips. Sander offers him a hesitant smile and after a moment, he looks away.
“Maybe it’s not enough for him,” he says.
Jens’s face falls.
Sander quickly shakes his head. “No, I mean—maybe it’s because of how it still affects him. He doesn’t want it to control how he feels. He wants to be bigger than it, move past it, but there’s nothing he really can do. Except for helping you. If he’s seeing you deal with it and recover from it, then it makes it easier for him, too.”
The feeling of too much is creeping in. He’s thinking too much, saying too much, feeling too much, giving too much away. It’s an overreaction, maybe. After so long, surely. That event shouldn’t still affect him like this, right? It shouldn’t still feel like a shock to his system. He can only hope it doesn’t appear like one outwardly.
But Jens is just silently contemplative as he takes in what Sander has said, eyes lingering on his boyfriend thoughtfully. When he turns back to Sander, he’s simply curious. “Has he spoken to you about it?”
Sander doesn’t even have to think back. “No. Aside from at the time, he’s never brought it up. I didn’t want to do it and just hurt him, so it wasn’t discussed.”
Jens purses his lips and nods. His smile is self-derogatory. “You just know my best friend and my boyfriend better than me.”
“No,” Sander says again, even though he’s not as sure. He’s fairly sure. The only people he knows who seem as close as Jens and Lucas are Robbe and himself. “I’m just speaking from experience,” he admits quietly.
Now Jens’s gaze sharpens, and he actually looks at Sander. It takes no time, then, for the realisation to set in, and he curses under his breath. “Fuck, man, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be talking about this to you right now, anyway, it’s your birthday.” He rubs his hand over his face and huffs. “Sorry, I swear, sometimes I have no tact. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No, stop.” Sander waves him off. He hesitates only slightly before continuing. “I’m glad. That you’re comfortable enough that you could talk to me about it. I think the universe seriously wants us to be friends, at this point.”
Jens snorts. “I think you’re all seriously weird about your universe stuff.”
Sander grins at him. “The universe stuff will take over you eventually, too. I don’t know how it hasn’t already, how long have you known Robbe?”
This time Jens just rolls his eyes silently, but he’s smiling now too.
“Seriously,” Sander says. “Thank you. It doesn’t matter about the timing, I’m glad you can talk to me.”
Jens’s smile softens, and he gives a small nod. “Maybe we should all be able to talk about it more,” he says quietly.
“Yeah. Maybe.”
They return to a short lapse of silence, and Sander takes a sip of his forgotten drink. The fruity liquid soothes his throat, and the break in the conversation allows more of the pressure to release. His heartbeat feels normal again by the time Jens turns back to him.
“Thanks, though. Seriously. You’re probably right, about Luc. I’ll talk to him.”
Sander just feels pleased as he smiles now, like he accomplished something, said something right. The mood and balance is being restored, and he just needs to accept the segway and lighten things further. “If you want to thank me, I’m sure you can play a pretty piano version of ‘Happy Birthday’.”
“Fuck you,” Jens scoffs, eyes narrowing slightly.
“So you can’t? I thought that would’ve been fairly basic, but okay.” Sander shrugs, taking a casual sip of his drink to strengthen the taunting.
Jens glares hotly at him. “Fuck you. Of course I can play ‘Happy Birthday’.” Jens drags himself to his feet and jabs a finger at him. “Don’t move then.”
Balance immediately restored, Sander thinks amusedly.
Milan pauses Jens as he makes his way through the crowd, and Sander watches as Jens says something in response and Milan beams. He shoots a look at Sander before the two of them are flouncing off, and moments later, Sander is being subjected to a much louder, much further off-key rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’, and more candles.
The keyboard bit is fine, though, he grudgingly admits.
When Jens sets it aside, Lucas is there grabbing his hands and dragging him to his feet as Robbe does the same to Sander. They’re both smiling through their protests, and everyone can see it.
So now, they’re dancing.
It feels more lively, after that. Everyone is gathered on their makeshift dance-floor by now. Sander takes catalogue of them all, marveling at how Gilles has somehow managed to rope Thomas and even Adi into dancing. Emilie is now the one with Luca, both of them laughing as they sway around with their hands joined between them. Noor and Moyo have gravitated towards each other as usual and, instead of huddling close like the others, seem to have a teacher–student method of dancing going on that Noor keeps up with rather well. Milan, Zoë and Senne are dancing in a little circle, and Amber and Aaron have moved on to just standing amidst it all and kissing. Jens and Lucas aren’t dancing anymore, either, but they’re held close. Sander watches until Jens leans down to murmur something in Lucas’s ear and Lucas smiles, leaning into the taller boy as Jens kisses his temple.
Satisfied, Sander is finally able to focus on the boy in his own arms. Robbe is already watching him when Sander catches his gaze, brow slightly furrowed and lips slightly quirked in that adorable questioning expression. Sander draws him closer by the waist and interrupts their step-swaying to catch him in a kiss, and as the music gets louder, his mind quiets.
~^~
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tigerseye46 · 3 years
Note
Thank you for prompts! B17/99 for Spicynoodleshipping, during S3, please!
Of course! You're an amazing writer! ^^
Now here you are!
TW: blood and injury
B17. “I know this isn’t very romantic, but…” B99. “I want you to be happy. You’re worth it.”
What was supposed to be a romantic evening had turned into one of blood and bruises and a chase that led them far away from the others. A surprise attack ordered by the White Bone Spirit had interrupted their date, a date they decided to go on while the ship was under repairs. In the chaos, they had to leave the blanket and basket behind, Red was going to… ugh, that was the least of their problems.
Red held his arm, panting from exhaustion. He glanced at his partner whose pants had ripped holes in them and a gash right in the center of his knee. “Noodle Boy, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Red. What about you?”
“I’m alright. Curse those spiders! I’ll burn them to the ground,” he growled with his teeth bared, he stomped his feet and summoned a flame with his uninjured arm.
MK laughed at his boyfriend. “We should find a way to get help from the others,” he suggested while searching around the forest they were in in an effort to find something useful.
“Do you have your phone on you, Noodle Boy?”
“For?” His boyfriend raised an eyebrow, rolling his eyes and letting out an exasperated sigh. MK looked at him in confusion before snapping his fingers and pulling out his phone with his boyfriend shaking his head in response. The human pressed Pigsy’s contact and waited for him to pick up, freezing when he got nothing then tried again, this time with Tang.
Still nothing. Then he tried again and again, switching between his friends’ contacts. He checked his phone, ohhhh, no signal. “Um, Red…”
His eyes widened when Red threw his own phone at the ground. “Blasted thing! It’s not working.”
“Yea, there’s no signal,” he said, gesturing at the object.
“Curses!” He took a deep breath. “Now we could go to that mountain over there.” He pointed at it. “And see if we can get a signal over there or at least a place to lay low.”
“Alright. Sounds like a plan. We should take care of our injuries.”
He sighed. “Yea…”
“Something wrong, Red?”
“No, nothing, Noodle Boy. Let’s go.”
“Okay…”
They walked together, patching up their injuries with what they had, MK’s bandana was around his knee while Red used the end of his pants to wrap a bandage around his arm. Traveling to the mountain was a slow and steady walk, constantly looking over their shoulders, checking for the possessed spiders.
By the time they arrived at the mountain, the sky was filled with orange and yellow hues with no spiders or their friends in sight. They sat on a rock, MK’s legs swung back and forth, taking his phone out then placing the cell up to his ear to dial Mei.
The demon smiled softly at his partner, grabbing his hand and squeezing it, his smile grew wider when the gesture was returned. He felt around in his pocket for a small box, his grip on it tightened, he was going to give this today, he spent hours making sure it was special for his Noodle Boy but because of the attack, that plan was discarded in a flash.
“Mei,” he heard his boyfriend shout. “Finally!”
“MK, where are you? You’ve been gone for hours!”
“On a mountain. We got chased and went up here. How long until you get here?”
“Soon. The repairs are almost done. Hang on tight, okay?”
“Okay! Bye, Mei.” He turned to Red with a grin. “They should be here soon. Sorry our date got interrupted.”
“Not your fault, Noodle Boy.”
“It’s just…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “We haven’t had a proper date in awhile. I know how much it’s upset you and… I want you to be happy. You’re worth it,” he confessed, a small blush on his cheeks.
The demon’s face lit up red. “Noo- Noodle Boy! I-” He cleared his throat. “I want you to be happy too. In fact, I got something for you.”
“Hm?”
“I know this isn’t very romantic but…” He pulled out the box.
MK gasped, tears pricking his eyes. “Red, are you-?”
“It’s not a… not a wedding ring. Not yet at least,” he muttered. He opened it to reveal a silver ring with a small ruby in the middle, an engraving of the two inside the ring. “It’s a promise ring. I know humans like rings. Do you like it?” He asked shyly, ducking his head a bit.
“Red, it’s beautiful! I love it!”
“You do?”
“Of course I do,” he exclaimed, his eyes sparkled and he wrapped his boyfriend into a hug. They separated and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t get you anything.”
“That’s fine. Didn’t expect you to.”
“Thank you so much. Although there is one thing.” Red’s heart sank like a stone sinking to the bottom of a lake. “I love it, don’t get me wrong but I don’t know if I should have it on my finger, it could get damaged while fighting. Maybe as a necklace?”
“Oh! Already taken care of, Noodle Boy.” He lifted the ring up so the Noodle Boy could see the metal chain.”
“You are the best, Red!”
He smirked. “I know. May I put it on you?”
“Yea!” Red placed it around his partner’s neck. “Thanks! I love it… a lot.”
“I’m… I’m glad you do. Wish it was under better circumstances.”
“The circumstances are perfect. It’s romantic enough for me.” He cupped his face and pressed a soft kiss against his lips, a kiss that Red gladly returned.
When the others found them, the first things they noticed were the bruises, their bodies pressed against each other with their eyelids closed and the glimmering ring.
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aqvarius · 4 years
Note
Top 5 fav hlitf cgs?
thanks for this ask!! ahh it was so hard to narrow it down to 5 but i will try my best (with some bonuses bc... how could i not). i’m not going to include vip room CGs here even tho there are a couple of them that i adore too. also i can’t believe i’m not including the soma coming out of the shower CG that i love enough to have made my icon for a very long time now... but that just goes to show how much i love these ones. 
5. are you bullying my aide?
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okay so i’m cheating right off the bat and decided to group these two in one category bc they’re like conceptually the same CG lmao. i made a post before about loving instructors getting furious at people trying to hurt you in the sunset. and the fact that two of my absolute fave LIs of all time get these gorgeous fury CGs makes me infinitely happy alskdfls. the sad thing is that there’s an error in soma’s route so the CG doesn’t actually appear in-game...  anyway you know i love seeing cool love interests get mad so these two CGs are a perfect depiction of that.
4. i’ll take compensation
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who doesn’t love this scene and CG!! and the in-game version as well where his eyes are open bc he was surprised. i love it so much. that entire ending was so good, with the mc being the Best Senpai Ever? and she tries to blow his socks off with a kiss but then he just grabs her butt and goes in deeper? we stan a tie-grabbing mc. i only wish there was a CG for that elevator kiss too in the sequel(?). 
3. it reminded me of ugly cat
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honestly i love all of goto’s s3 CGs bc they are all just so pretty and i love the one as well where tsugaru is joking about him and usa being a couple and goto gets pissed. but this one is just so... pure and soft???? it’s so rare to see goto all relaxed and smiley and i just love it soooo much. also does anyone else find that his smile in this CG is so similar to chiba’s smiling sprite? ughhh this is so freaking cute i physically can’t look at it for too long otherwise i get overwhelmed with feelings. oh and also that cat is so weird looking lmao
2. please... let me be with you
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one of my favourite moments of all time. look how stunned kaga looks (but also... how pretty is he here... and how pretty is she.... season 3 CGs are so top quality). the fact that she’s hopped up on painkillers but they’re just fading off so she’s already starting to feel pain again and kaga is already kind of angsting over everything that happened on the case and then tsugaru is taking her home while kaga can’t even speak to her bc of office rules. and she just runs back to the office by herself even tho she’s already starting to feel the pain in her gunshot wound and just bursts into the office and yanks his cigarette out of his mouth and kisses him? and says even if you don’t want me, i want to be with you. honestly this whole moment is like freaking kdrama level dramatic and romantic and i love it so much. it’s like... the perfect moment combined with the prettiest CG. kaga’s pov of this scene makes it EVEN BETTER because he’s literally smitten with her, like he wants her so badly and then she just magically appears in front of him and kisses the life out of him, just as he was thinking about how much he needs her. right at the moment when he’s feeling the most empty, the most hollow, like his entire career in public safety amounted to nothing, she comes back to him. and then there’s that line of his, where he talks about love so fierce that he can’t breathe around it filling his chest and honestly it gets me every single time (also bc i can relate to that feeling lmao) but basically kaga/mc is my favourite couple and this moment and CG are just like... exactly what i love the most about them as a pair. ALSO i love her hair and that gold pin hahaha i want it. 
1.5 did i or did i not say you were forbidden from acting rashly?
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how could i not include this one as a bonus? i’ve been in love with this CG from the very first time i laid eyes on it back in 2018. no context (at the time i think soma’s graduation hadn’t even come out in l365 so we hadn’t even seen his short hair sprite in the intl app), no idea what was even happening in this scene, and yet i was immediately struck by the dangerous look in his eye and that little smile, and also just like... getting to see him in a tshirt and hoodie is so rare? i’m p certain that outfit is just recycled ayumu sprite’s casual clothes. anyway, knowing the context behind this CG makes it 10000x better for me. i wrote this in my unpublished review of soma’s battlefield route but i genuinely believe we’re seeing this CG from his mc’s eyes and that’s what tokito really looked like in that moment - with soma’s face, his hair, his expressions, his hands, his voice. our poor, sweet mc had been suffering for so long to the point where even toru and ayumu noticed that she hadn’t smiled in forever and were trying to cheer her up (and momose too later!!). for me, this CG represents the absolutely heartbreaking sense of delusion that soma’s mc feels in this route, and the way that she keeps trying so hard to project soma onto tokito because of her grief. i genuinely felt like in that moment, she physically saw soma coming to her rescue, like her desires manifest into a delusion. also, this CG comes at an absolutely amazing time bc we had been deprived of seeing soma for like 60% of the route and then we get this CG and suddenly everything is better for a short moment, and then everything goes back to normal and you really get a sense of how upsetting life has been for his mc.
1. come now, love. tell me what you desire
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i love this CG. i love it so so so so so much. firstly, i love the look of it. both soma and his mc just look so attractive?? soma’s muscles?? in his shoulders and back especially?! his mc has commented on his shoulderblades and back muscles before which have been honed through kendo practice so i’m very happy to get to see them. the actual text says that the mc is naked but here she’s still wearing a sundress, but she just looks so pretty and like she’s feeling unbelievably good? anyway i scream bc even soma’s hands look good and they still kept that one piece of hair that he has that sticks up lmao what’s gravity anyway? anyway, beyond the sensuality of the image (and also his tongue... and his sweat...), there’s just so much meaning behind it? like yes, it’s very hot and sensual and the dialogue that goes with this scene is unbelievably sexy, but this scene is just super meaningful bc it’s part of their recovery as a couple. they’re on this secret holiday in okinawa and they’re reconnecting after their trauma and idk it’s just so intimate. we really get to see the mc from soma’s eyes and we get to see how he is the only one who can see her weakness behind that strong face of hers, but also how he sees her strength in recovery? the way he describes that scene where she’s in this gorgeous white swimsuit with a sheer coverup and then picks a brown swim float so she can sit atop it on the waves and say “don’t i look like a doughnut?” despite having a literal near-death experience in the sea not too long before honestly had me falling head over heels in love with her, and it really made me understand exactly what he loves about her, and how much he just adores her. anyway this is me gushing over that special story, but what i mean is that the ending of his battlefield in combination with this special story sets up the beginning of soma and his mc’s healing as a couple, and it culminates in this scene. soma is kind of similar to kaga in the sense that they both actually demonstrate their feelings the most honestly through physical means, and here you can just see how palpable the desperation is. they desire each other so intensely and intimately and having this moment for the two of them to share is so significant for their recovery. you can just see how much soma needs to show her that he’s here, he’s really, physically here with her, and he’ll never leave her alone ever again, and he’s so sorry for all the pain she’s had to go through. you can see the way he’s telling her that with his body and with the way he talks to her and is just so himself in bed. there are really parallels between their first night together and this scene (mostly like... him asking her to tell him what she wants lol) and it just makes me so EMOTIONAL. 
YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS THE END? 
no, that was just my top five solo (or li/mc) CGs. i also need to give my top five fave group/multiple character CGs lmao.
in no particular order:
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what can i say? it’s just so beautiful, and every single expression and pose is just so suited for each character i’m in love. 
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frankly no real reason for this one aside from the fact that we get to see goto and subaru in yukata and subaru always looks soooo freaking good in hlitf CGs and also goto’s hand is on subaru’s chest and you know we ship gobaru in this house
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the third anniversary substory CGs are just amazing (you’ll see the full one in a bit and it’s WILD) but honestly i just need everyone to see this one bc it’s just gorgeous. look at ishigami and kaga and look at how inhuman they look, all sweaty and tired from being in panda mascot costumes. kaga with his sleeves rolled up literally has me salivating. look at PRETTY their faces and muscles are... anyway, this CG has me as thirsty as ishigami guzzling that bottle of water.......... 
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i said it was in no particular order but i just need to say that this one is my actual favourite bc it has EVERYONE. and look at how gorgeous they all look.... every single one of them with their hair pushed back ;alskdjfalsk WHO??? WHO LET THIS HAPPEN? NAMBA’S GLOVE? KAGA AND GOTO’S MATCHING SCOWLS? THE ANGLE OF SOMA’S HEAD? TSUGARU’S TONGUE? and also the way his legs are positioned?!?!?! also i love swishy hair ayumu and hide with his leg crossed the other way from kaga and also i’ve never seen toru look this attractive it’s very unfair. 
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the sheer amount of chaotic energy in this one is just wonderful and i love all the details. you all know namba is DAY DRUNK. goto and toru in that signature headlock position, ayumu being a lil shit and putting wasabi in all the cupcakes and ISHIGAMI AND KAGA FALLING FOR IT AND SUFFERING??? LOOK AT THEIR SUFFERING FACES JUST LOOK. and you just KNOW that soma is going to suffer the same fate oh sweet mercy this is like “famous last pictures” level of good. also they’re all wearing new clothes which i love sooooo much. i wanna see ayumu in that orange sweater more often and also army green shirt kaga with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms with that look on his face. have i ever been more in love? no. 
finally, here’s my ultimate favourite favourite group image of all time! not a CG but it’s the header that i use on the mobile version of my blog:
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they’re all looking so happily/fondly over at YOU (hlitf mc who fell asleep) and wondering what you’re dreaming about/saying that you’re dreaming about them. and they all just love and adore you so much. the amount of affection in this one image is unreal and also momose is in it ialskfjsd i just.............. am the SOFTEST for this one. 
anyway sorry that (1) it took so long for me to answer this, bc i had to spend ages thinking about it alongside being busy with life stuff and (2) that i went on for so long and did not pick 5 CGs but rather... 12....... but these are my faves!! thank you so much for the ask! 
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gra-sonas · 3 years
Note
Hey! I hate to ask this, you already do so much for us! But would you mind just a tiny recap of Vlamis’ live from last night? You don’t have to go into a ton of detail or anything, I just saw that it was a half hour long. I have a weird anxiety thing that keeps me from watching lives and stories for the most. Still haven’t even been able to work myself up to watching the vlamburn one as much as I’d love to! 🙁
Either way, thank you for everything!
Okay, nonnie. I went and watched the whole thing again and wrote you a detailed account of what’s been said. I’ll link the live again, then you can watch here if you want to. Or not. Up to you. 🤗 Hope this helps. 💕
youtube
Brushing his teeth and flossing for 3 minutes while talking.
800 new follower lately “where have you been before?”
“Do you do anything to your hair at night?” He adds Moroccan hair oil in the morning, nothing at night.
“What’s your favorite of the drop?” He hasn’t seen everything from the drop (like the COSMIC tie-dye) bc he’s in Santa Fe. He loves the COSMIC and MALEX embroidered things (“so subtle”) bc they are in Vlamburn’s handwriting, he loves the Manesqueeze shirt bc you can make Alex and Michael kiss by putting your wrists together. He *loves* the candle (there’s one burning on his bedside table), the silky PJs are great, but he can’t decide on just one favorite thing.
“How’s Jesa’s sanity?” She needs like 3 weeks of sleep. He explains, that while we *are* the Vlambase, the Vlambase merch company’s just Jesa and Vlamis. Jesa has a team, but all the day-to-day things, ideas, emails/customer service (Jesa), the newsletter (Vlamis). They hadn’t collaborated with anyone before Tyler, so working with him was a new experience. 
One fan mentions how they wanted to buy stuff but couldn’t. Vlamis says that he’s been there, and when he wanted something in the past he couldn’t afford, he started putting away a Dollar a day. 
“Thought on One Direction?” Vlamis is a Harry Styles guy. “Harry Styles’ swagger is next level!”
“What do you think about Russia? Will Vlambase merch be available here?” Talks a bit about how annoying things are with shipping companies, says they wanted to protect themselves for the holidays, and now that the Christmas rush is over, some shipping options have become available again. 
“Who came up with  MANESQUEEZE” He ponders about it, and settles on Jesa. It was Vlamis’s ides to put tiny Alex and tiny Michael on the sleeves so that they can kiss tho. And Tyler came up with the idea to put a “toupee” on his head (in a previous drop, the NEVER LOOK AWAY design had tiny Alex and tiny Michael on the sleeves, but poor Alex was bald) for the design.
Someone got a MALEX pin and the candle. He knows the pin sold out fast, and he feels bad about that. They want everyone to get everything they want, but it’s difficult to make proper calculations how well an item will sell. The pandemic made things even harder. Like the PJ sets. Normally, they would wait until the sale ends and see how many sets were actually ordered, but during the pandemic, stock listings have been changing dramatically from day to day, so they had to pre-order the PJs and robes to make sure they had a certain number at their disposal. He said that they “overshot” on a couple of things, but ultimately sales have been great, and he appreciates that.
“I’m excited to make the MANESQUEEZE doodles kiss bc I do that with the NEVER LOOK AWAY shirt” Vlamis jumps up and shows his closet that’s full of Vlambase merch items.
“Why am I here, it’s almost 3am” He mentions that he’s been staying up until 4 in the past couple of days, but he has to be on set in 7 or 8 hours. 
“Hello, just wanted to let you know that I got a tattoo for you” Vlamis asks for a photo and to be tagged.
“Kyle the packer [Vlamis’s roomie KA, who works in the warehouse when a new drop is ready for shipping]” Vlamis says they’re working him to death.
“Please save this live” He doesn’t know whether he’ll save it. Thinks the one with Tyler was important, but since it’s just him, he doesn’t think it’s important.
“I followed Jesa, Jesa is the real MVP” Vlamis says that Jesa is “a beast, and best in the game”. Quickly explains who Jesa is, and that she’s his partner in the Vlambase merch company. He mentions that she recently called him with an idea for Valentine’s Day, and he was like “Jesa, we need to relax!” But she loved the idea. She’s a big fan of RNM and the characters (and Tyler). “Jesa’s amazing.”
“What about new Soli art [Soli’s the artist who created the Boys Will Be Boys art for a previous drop]?” Vlamis smiles. “What about new Soli art. I like that idea. 😏“
“Your house [in New Mexico] is so cute.” Vlamis says thank you and shows the ceiling of the house (which he likes best). “Santa Fe is dope!”
“I adore your teeth” *shows his teeth* Says he had to wear braces (some even adjustable)
“I could’ve used my birthday money to buy something but I forgot” 🤨 << Vlamis’s face. “How you you forget, man?”
“Back to Twitter after this live” He mentions that he’d just been on Twitter before the live.
He got retweeted by Mountain Dew and loves it.
“I’m from Australia and hope my merch arrives before winter” Vlamis says he hopes shipping will be fast. 
“Love the Valentines” They’re not actually Valentines, hence they’re “Love Notes”.  Vlamis considers doing them not just around Valentine’s Day. 
“You catch any of the CW shows returning this month?” “Might have to” But he knows what he’ll be catching on the 12th. “Prodigal Son, baby!”
“Where did you get the Game Boys?” Those are his Game Boys. He has a Game Boy Advanced and a Game Boy Color. 
“How do you feel about Forlex?” *scoffs* 😒 “Yeah” 
“So excited for the robe!” Vlamis gets excited. “The robes and the PJs are so comfy!” Talks about how it’s a bit weird, bc they don’t make them themselves.
Several people mention that their closet looks like his closet bc of all the merch and he loves that. 
“How do you feel about Forlex” *gets agitated* “Why are you asking me this? Don’t do that to me, alright?” *softer* “Don’t do that.”
“How are you doing?” He’s doing very well. Very relieved that eh sale went well. This drop was like 3-4 months of work, the night before the sale felt like an entire month, too. Jesa and Vlamis Facetimed for more than 5hrs. They set up the website, and that’s how the glitch with the GIVE ME MALEX OR GIVE ME DEATH shirts and poster happened. They made a mistake and only noticed after the website went live. 
“Do you know when S3 will air?” No, he thought it might’ve been sooner, but apparently not.
“I love your poetry from the last drop so why no poems this time?” He writes poems when he’s inspired, he hasn’t written a poem in a while. He’s currently preparing to direct his first movie in June 2021, and he’s been very focused on that. 
“The Meet & Greet day changed.”  Filming schedule changed bc they had snow, the schedule’s changing constantly. He’ll be set all day tomorrow (well, today, Jan 11) from 8am until 8 or 9pm. Sometimes they might even wake up in the morning and learn that the schedule’s been changed. 
 “You could talk about nothing and we’d still watch.” He doesn’t want to talk about nothing, wonders if anyone has any questions about the sale.
“I’m so excited about the robe. I was going to buy more but I’m broke.” He says we should be responsible.
Someone’s still waiting about their Black Friday stuff, but he says it’s the shipping company, not them. 
“Vlamentines" He *loves* that, thinks it’s a good pun. 
“Gotta support Aurora.” Always. 🥰
“Jealous Guerin in S3?” You’ll see, you’ll see.
“I placed 3 orders, last one last night. Give me Malex or give me death.” He loves it. He also mentions, that they’re working hard on figuring out how to combine orders in the future so people don’t have to pay for shipping several times. They just can’t do that logistically at the moment. 
“Real talk, how often do you check your DMs?” He says, that some people might’ve noticed that he occasionally likes random photos on people’s IG pages. When that happens, it’s a sign that he read someone’s DM. He feels bad when he checks his mentions with a delay, and people’s stories have already vanished after 24hours. He sometimes doesn’t get to checking DMs for a week.
“Will we ever get the original pic of the kiss recreation?” *smiles* *waggles his eyebrows* “Maybe in the morning”
“So happy the Trevor Project was chosen for this merch drop!” He’s very happy, too. According to him, it was a no-brainer. Tyler’s worked with them in the past, so it made even more sense. They wanted to make sure that Tyler felt very strongly about wherever they’d be donating. 
People urge him to go to sleep. “You want me to go to bed?” 
“Why is your merch not available in India?” *deep breath* “It should be, it’s ridiculous. Unbelievable.”
“Your poetry was awesome.” He appreciates the praise and promises to write some more poetry. 
Someone asks whether the movie he’ll be directing in June will be a comedy, but he says it’s the opposite. He’s mentioned in the past that Aurora and him will both act in the movie, but apparently he forgot about that. He doesn’t want to jinx the movie and doesn’t know how much he should reveal just yet. Talks a bit about 5 Years Apart. 
Someone mentions that it’s Jeanine’s birthday on January 14th. 
“Do (or don?) a face mask, Vlamis.” He refuses. Mentions his friend and roommate Spencer Waldner, who makes face masks.
“If there’s leftover merch, will you do another sale?” He says that most things are actually sold out bc they use Blank Clo’s blanks and will only make what’s been ordered.  They might try to restock some pins tho, bc they went so quickly. 
“USPS are a joke” He defends them. “They’re a public service, they’re trying hard, guys.”
“You should do a Vlambase drop with the Real Vlamis [a.k.a. Jeanie]” He’s excited and thinks it’s a good idea and asks if anyone’d be interested. 
Someone congratulates him on directing his first movie. He points out that he’s directed before (Making It, a 3-part web series, it’s on YouTube).
 “Would you ever come to Australia Comic Con?” He’d love to. Mentions that he’s supposed to be in Paris in May for a convention, but he’s not sure whether that’s gonna happen considering how things are currently going with the pandemic. 
Some more talk about 5 Years Apart.
Circles back to doing a merch drop with Jeanine. People like the idea. 
“Please save this live.” After an IG update, things have changed and he doesn’t know how to do it. In the past he had the option to save it [for 24hrs], now he can only upload it to IGTV. 
“$30 shipping to Australia hurts my soul but I did it anyway.” He appreciates that and mentions, that he lived in Australia for 6 months in the past.
“Sing some Bright Eyes” He thinks his singing would hurt people’s ears. 
Jesa Joy pops up in the chat and urges him to go to bed. 
“Jesa is yelling at you.” Vlamis says that Jesa’s a “yeller”, and that she has a tattoo that says “Don’t yell tho”. He admits that Jesa often yells for a good reason. “I need to be yelled at sometimes.”
Someone asks him to accept a request to join his live. He says he’s pretty tired. 
He says hello to someone from Germany (not me btw :P) “What’s up, Germany ✌️” 
More people ask him to sing, but he says he cannot sing. He says it’s not like a joke  or him being modest, he straight up can’t sing and is a horrible singer. 
“Will there be a sequel to 5 Years Apart?” Maybe a sequel called “10 Years Apart” (he’s joking and visibly tired)
“Should I buy anything before the sale ends?” Yes.
Jesa Joy’s from Michigan, and Vlamis’s grandma’s from Middlesborough, Kentucky.
“Is Tyler singing again?” He doesn’t know. “I hope so. Love that kid’s voice” (Tyler’s 3.5 years older than Vlamis :P)
He’s getting sleepy and will read a little bit before bed. Considers drinking some Mountain Dew. 
“Do you take design ideas.” Sure. Sometimes he sees design ideas from people they’ve been working on for months, but he’s gonna “steal” an idea from someone, he’ll tell them. He’ll steal it, though. 
“Are you still reading SAGA?” He read the first one and is half-way through the second. He’s currently reading a book called “My First Movie” by Stephen Lowenstein. “How cliché.” Aurora got it for him.
Purple Skittles are his favorite. Purple everything.
“Your girlfriend’s the best girlfriend.” She is, she really is.
Asks Jesa Joy whether he should go to bed now.Even though it’s late, he’s hungry. Considers eating something. People tell him to go to bed.
He asks “Should I get naked and put on the PJs?” *waggles eyebrows* “I’M KIDDING, YOU’RE SICK. YOU’RE ALL DISGUSTING.” xD
“Don’t eat!” He laughs.
Says goodbye and says that Jesa’s posted a surprise picture. 
“Any advice for aspiring actors?” Tells them to make their own stuff bc no one’s gonna hire them. (He’s being sarcastic). “It’s dark, but it’s what you need to hear.”
“Okay, love you guys. Thank you again! It was our best sale yet. Means a lot to me. Means a lot to Tyler. Us doing so well might mean that Tyler will work with us again. So I really appreciate it. Okay, I love you all.”
Jesa promises to post the pic in 4 minutes. He’s excited. “See, I got her to do it! The picture is kind of ridiculous.”
*pretends to take off his shirt, stops halfway through* “Noooooo, noooooo, noooooo!”
*throws kiss* “Love you guys, good night.”
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Text
COSMIC - S3:E1; Chapter One, Suzie, Do You Copy? - PREVIEW
A Will Byers x Reader Series
Summer brings new jobs and budding romance. But the mood shifts when Dustin's radio picks up a Russian broadcast, and Will senses something is wrong.
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A/n: so I've had this part written for a while, most of it at least and it's just been sitting in my drafts while I work on other stuff. It's barely edited and most importantly I'm not sure if I'm happy with some aspects and mannerisms, like Will is kinda very OOC here towards the end so its likely to expect changes later. Also I'm a clueless asexual who has never kissed anyone so I did my best based off stuff I've read in books lmao✌ please spare me
Love yall and hope you enjoy this small preview!
||3rd Person POV||
The faint sound of crickets could barely be heard over the soft music of The Power of Love by Heuy Lewis and The News plays from inside Castle Byers. Soft yellow light spills out from the cracks and slits of the castle from the battery powered lamp where the young couple sat planning a campaign. It was clear that both had done a great deal of growing over the summer, just as their friends had. Will most of all, as he sat now in Castle Byers, he did so with the slightest of hunches seeing as he had sprouted tremendously in height. His shoulders had broadened a bit, and his voice had lowered as much has he had grown.
As for Y/n, the changes in her were more internal than external. Like Will, her physique had changed though not quite as drastically. Her features were far more defined than they had been in previous years, but the biggest change within her was how she held herself. The months since that dreadful night at the cabin, she had dedicated every spare moment to learning about herself... About her powers.
And now more than ever, she's was one with her abilities. With help from El, and the overwhelming support from Will, she exuded a whole new level of strength and confidence in herself. Something that set her apart from her previous attempts in secret the year before. Now with help, she thrived.
"The power of love is a curious thing
Make a one man weep, make another man sing"
"So what if, when they enter the tomb of Kuzatan - the villagers being in danger I'm sure would give them no way to cheat their way out - and then they..." her voice trails off, getting lost in the notes that seep into the air. She quirks a brow at the boy before her. "Will, hon? You listening?"
"Mmm?" Will hummed, torn suddenly from his blissful gaze.
Having been caught staring at Y/n, she realized he had missed the question. She laughed, shaking her head. Butterflies erupted in Will's stomach at the sound, and he realized he may never grow tired of it. He still couldn't believe his luck that she was dating him.
The corners of his lips tugged into a small grin as he mumbled a 'sorry'. Y/n simpered, trying to shake off the the dizziness in her head that always appeared when he made her heart flutter.
She returned to her notes, and he lovingly watched her speak. His eyes would occasionally fall to her lips but he was drawn back to her eyes and the concentration they possessed. All the while the sappy lyrics spilling their way into his subconscious as he listened.
"Don't need money, don't take fame
Don't need no credit card to ride this train"
Just two years ago, the thought of her liking him was a myth in his eyes. Her ever noticing him as more than a friend was a sickly sweet dream that would never see the light of day.
"It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes"
And last year, with the Mind Flayer... He hated the thoughts he had, the feelings he felt when the Mind Flayer took over. The hate and disgust that crept up whenever she was around but he fought it. Though he could never forget the look on her face when the mind flayer spit at her.
"But it might just save your life
That's the power of love"
But now. They were happy. She saved him, and after his recovery, they were finally together.
"Will!" She laughed sharply, reaching over and swatting him lightly on the arm with her notebook.
Will was pulled from his daze yet again, no longer trying to hide the happiness and bliss he felt.
She smiled fondly and shook her head, placing her arm on his shoulder and pulled him in for a kiss. The music playing from the radio she had gifted to him a year before swelled as their lips met in a tender kiss.
"That's the power of love,"
After several moments their lips break apart but their foreheads remained glued together. A light laugh breaks out between them, escaping through the blinding grins carved into their faces. Her eyes travel from the ground to meet with his, only to find he had already been staring at her with the same love sick gaze. It brings the same storm of butterflies in her stomach and sporadic beating of her heart.
Neither Will or Y/n could recall a time either of them felt this happy.
Y/n's gaze flickers back to Will's lips. She flashes a warm grin and gives him one last and swift peck on the lips before sitting back up. She tucks her notes father into her lap and that is when she catches sight of the time displayed on her watch.
"Shit,"
Immediately, Will's mood shifts.
"What? What's wrong?"
Her eyes find his and she quirks a brow, her hands already collecting their campaign papers and stowing them away in safe place.
"We're late."
Out of reflex, Will checks his watch. His eyes widen in a brief flicker before gathering his things, though his movements are not as hasty as hers. He gathers his campaign papers, his eyes glazing over several notes he had made. The smallest bud of unease blooms in his stomach.
"You really think they'll like this campaign?" He asks, his gleeful composure fading for the first time since her visit.
The ache in his voice captures her attention, and quickly she drops what she's doing. She immediately recognizes the uncertainty in his features, and feels a tug on her heart. A sad smile graces her face, and she drops her folder before leaning forward and cupping his face in her palms forcing him to look at her. His wide hazel eyes search hers finding nothing but love and comfort in them.
"They're gonna love it, Will. Cause, it came from you. Remember, " she smirks when his smile begins to return. "I'm just helping out."
Before he can protest she brings his face forward with a small hum, planting a kiss on his nose with a dramatic smack of her lips. His face errupts into a violent shade of scarlet against his wishes. After all this time, Y/n still managed to have this effect on him. She begins to lean away when she knows she's cheered him up, but before she can escape he captures her in another sweet kiss. He can faintly make out the f/f slurpee that lingered from earlier that day. She hums contently and it blends perfectly with the drumming of his heart. He can feel his cheeks grow hot not just from his fluster but the feel of her palms growing warm against his skin.
Like Y/n's laugh, her warmth was something he was certain he would never tire of. It was something he had always seen in her, but after her powers had been discovered, it was only more obvious. Her touch always reminded him of the sun streaming in through the window on a chilly morning; a toasty blanket of light that hit your face just right. And he felt it now on his face as she kissed him. Although it was cut far too short in Will's opinion as she broke apart for air. Her thumb softly strokes his cheek, the pads of her fingers and palm still warm to the touch as sends him one more reassuring smile.
"And even if they don't," she continues, a spark of mischief in her eyes. "I'll blast 'em for ya."
Will chuckles, bringing his hand up to cup hers in thanks, nevermind the fact he didn't want her to let go quite yet. Alas, yet another moment lost to time. Her warm palms leave his face and immediately he feels colder, but he also knows they don't want to miss the movie. He smiles to himself as he packs up the remainder of his things as he thinks about it. His hands were almost always cold, a trait he had long before the Mind Flayer. And had it not been for her powers, Y/n might have been the same. It was yet another reason they fit so well together.
The crunch of a very small twig beneath Y/n's sneakers bring him back to reality for the third time. He looks up at Y/n to find her balanced on her tiptoes, legs folded ready to stand and she extends her palm for him to take.
"Come on, Sir Will," she says through coy smile, her head gesturing behind her towards the cloaked entrance to the castle. "The party awaits."
He brings himself to his knees to match her, ready to stand and duck outside into the night when he takes her hand. His thumb grazes her knuckles before planting a quick kiss on them, bringing a natural heat to her neck and face.
His face quickly contorts into a feigned expression of seriousness, all while dawning a fleeting and silly attitude as he waves his finger in the air. The way he always did as Will the Wise during campaigns.
"Then what are we waiting for, Y/C/N? Let us make haste!"
Will watches triumphantly as her lips press into a firm line that begins to twitch, the tell-tale signs she was fighting a losing battle with a grin as she shook her head. Y/n had yet to get used to this side of Will, though she did enjoy it. Since their time at the Snowball - their first kiss - he had been far more relaxed. To the point where he would be cracking jokes, or surprising her with romantic gestures as such. It rarely came out like this, and when it did it was never around the others. It was something she wished they could see, but Y/n couldn't help the flutter of her heart knowing she was the only one to bring it out in him. She looks down at his soft gaze and humor in his eyes, before rolling her own, rising to her feet and ducking out through the curtain door to avoid being caught with a smile.
"Dork," she laughs, her knuckles tingling from the unexpected gesture.
She hears his soft chuckles from behind her before he joins her side, and the couple falls into a comfortable silence as they grab their bikes of the forest floor and ride off into the night to the infamous Starcourt Mall.
+++
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kilyra · 4 years
Text
You Wanted More
Eric Northman (True Blood) One-Shot
A/N:  Well, absolutely no one directly requested this, but I’m carrying on with the Eric Northman arc because...I wanna - so this is following “You Will”, “You Did, Sweetheart”, “You a Fangbanger, now?”, and “You Shouldn’t Have Come”
Training with Jason Stackhouse leaves you pretty banged up, a fact Eric is not happy about when he shows up to find you on heavy drugs for the pain.
Warnings:  Racy bits kinda, bit of gore I guess, alluding to events in the show. But not out and out spoilers. (I myself am only on S3 or 4, so this is an early Eric style fic…also, please don’t send me any spoilers).
If you want to be on my tag lists, (all or just a character) just let me know! (Credit for this amazing gif goes to @bonniebird​​. Thank you SO much!)
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The pain meds were strong. Knowing Jason got them from Lafayette, you didn't ask many questions so all you really had were the basics – don't drive and don't mix with alcohol. That, and they were guaranteed to let you breathe a little easier without the throbbing and sometimes stabbing pain shooting down your side.
It wasn't until after taking a couple and immediately being hit with a wall of unstoppable drowsiness that you realized just how strong they were. But at least you weren't in pain. You may not be forced to see a doctor after all.
Focusing was impossible, but you didn't mind staring blankly at the TV and zoning out. It was better than flinching every time you moved. As you sank into the couch, letting the waves of relaxation take over, you eventually became aware that something seemed different. A breeze maybe? Did something shift? Not that it really mattered but...
Slowly, your eyes drifted to the couch beside you and you were vaguely aware there was a set of legs. Which was odd. There wasn't usually legs beside you. With effort, you followed the legs up to see Eric Northman perched on the back of your couch, passively staring down at you.
Apparently, the pills were not only strong, but they had completely knocked you out.
“Huh, well I didn't expect that.” Smiling to yourself, you let out a soft chuckle.
Eric's eyebrows creased at your greeting before swiftly falling back into place. His eyes swept over you like he was trying to figure out what he missed, but his features stayed neutral. “Yes, well, I thought it was time to have a talk about what happened at Fangtasia.”
His velvety voice was flat and unimpressed, but your heart still fluttered as it reached your ears. Although some of your dreams have started with conversations, it was a little surprising that he wanted to talk. “Is that what you thought?”
Pulling his gaze away, he focused on his dark pants, absently picking at something that you couldn't see. To be fair, focusing on something as small as a bit of fluff was next to impossible since everything seemed to have blurred edges anyhow.
“Pam did, actually. And I got tired of arguing with her about it.”
There was something oddly sensual about how he pinched at the loose thread, his nimble fingers making short work of what irritated him. Lightly biting your lip, you suddenly wanted those fingers on your skin, skilfully giving your body the attention he was wasting on fabric.
And why not? It was your dream after all.
Lightly humming a reply, you shifted your weight so you were facing the pale vampire. Taking your time, you let your gaze wander over his body. His shirt clung to him so perfectly that you could see his muscular physique almost as clearly as if he were naked. Almost.
As your eyes floated up to his, you saw he was carefully staring at you with a sidelong glance as though he didn't want to bring too much attention to the fact he was watching you. But his ice-cold eyes were so piercing, it was impossible to not be drawn in. Were they that stunning in real life, or was your mind adding that?
Tilting his head, he studied you more obviously and pulled you from your stupor. Offering a lazy smile, you shrugged playfully. “And why would Pam insist on you talking to me, hmm?”
Sighing, he smoothed his hand over the spot he had been picking at and straightened. He broke your eye contact to stare across the room before he spoke. “According to her, ever since you defended me to your roommate I-”
You hadn't expected him to actually continue talking. Normally, in your dreams, he would have responded by sliding off the back of the couch, smoothly claiming your mouth with his as he wrapped his arms around you in an unyielding embrace. Warmth was already spreading through you at the mere thought of him holding you possessively and pressing himself against you as he eased you back onto the cushions...
But instead, he was talking. Still.
Reaching over, you set your hand on his knee and, to your surprise, his words sputtered to a stop.
Clearing his throat, he tried to continue even though you already missed half of what he said. “...And while I don't exactly agree, she mi-”
Running your tongue over your lip, you circled your fingers over the top of his leg and stared up at him through your eyelashes. You couldn't help your smirk when his words suddenly died out again and his eyes darted to your hand.
The corner of his mouth tugged downward in a faint frown as his eyebrows quickly dipped low before settling back into his usual blank expression. “What...are you doing?”
Your dreams had never had so much lead-up before and you had to admit, it was a little fun to toy with him. Using him for support, you pulled yourself forward, getting your legs under you. Easing yourself closer, you were only mildly surprised when his knees opened wider with very little coaxing. Watching you with curious eyes, he gave in to your touch without resistance. You doubted the real Eric would ever let you direct him so easily, allowing you to sit up on your knees between his legs.
Although to be fair, you'd never do anything like that with the real Eric anyhow...
“I'm listening, is what I'm doing. To what I'm sure will be a lecture that I can't seem to escape even in my dreams," you finally replied with an air of smugness as you sidestepped his question.
“A lecture? In your...dreams?” His words were only slightly hesitant as he forced his stare up from your hands to meet your eyes. You thought you saw a heavy swallow, but he gave no other indication of being caught off-guard.
As you spoke, you started massaging your fingers along his thigh, steadily moving them higher. Your fingertips dug into the fabric of his pants and you distantly wondered if he even really felt the pressure. “You know, about how I can't go to Fangtasia like I did. How it's not safe for me there.”
His eyes dropped to your hands one last time before slowly dragging up your body and finally, the ice in his eyes seemed to melt. The slight change in his gaze sent a spark through your chest and down your limbs as you gripped his leg tighter.
A smile slowly etched its way onto his lips as his moment of confusion seemed to pass. When he spoke, there was an undeniable purr to his tone. “Mmm, well I suppose part of that is true. You can't go there, not like you did.”
“Not like I did? And how should I be going there?” Your breath hitched as he seemed to finally get on the same page as you. Letting your wandering hands settle on his hips, your heart jumped as his fingers traced their way along your arms. If this was like any dream before, it would only be seconds until he stopped with the pretenses and pulled you in close. Your whole body hummed in anticipation.
Instead, his hands came to rest on the sides of your shoulders as his eyes narrowed slightly. Leaning forward, his face was inches from yours as his lips curled back in a wicked grin. With a flick of his wrist, his hand shot up from your shoulder to grip your hair, holding you in place. “As mine.”
A sharp gasp ripped from your throat as a cold rush raced through you. But it only added to the flame in your core. Sucking your bottom lip between your teeth, you ran your hands up, under his shirt and let your nails graze his skin as you pulled yourself closer.
Quietly, a dull pain that started swimming in from the edges of your mind protested the movement. But you were far too distracted.
With a growl, he brought his face almost close enough to kiss but paused, his eyes scanning your face as though he were looking for answers. Your hand flexed from the torture of denial, digging your nails into his skin. His grip on your hair tightened and you found yourself pressing your thighs together, trying not to squirm under his grasp. Your eyelids fluttered closed as you nodded. “Yes..y-yours.”
His growl grew deeper as he closed the gap, his lips hungrily seeking you. Within seconds, his tongue dominated yours, not that you put up a fight, your lips willingly parted for him. Moaning into his mouth, you easily gave up any false idea of control, letting yourself fall into the haze of his passionate kiss as he held you in place. Under his shirt, your hand ran up his muscled torso, resting against his solid chest. Taking your hint, he pulled away and quickly yanked his shirt over his head, tossing somewhere in the room before finding your lips again.
As your hand traced further up his body, you quickly nestled your fingers in his hair. Your pulse was racing so wildly you were glad you didn't have to try and stand as you kept your balance by tightly clinging to the Adonis in your arms.
Subtly he shifted, dancing his free hand along the small of your back as he tugged your hair, forcefully breaking the kiss. Gasping, you didn't have time to mourn the loss before he dropped his head to the crook of your neck. His teeth grazed your skin as you felt him sucking a dark mark into you. Had you been awake, you would have been terrified that he was about to bite you but...since it was just a dream...the thought was shamefully exciting. Letting your face nestle against his neck, you relished the idea that, at any second, his teeth could pierce flesh and he would truly claim you as his.
Drawing the moment out, his bites were firm but not enough to break skin, quickly followed by his tongue swirling along your neck. Burrowing your face against him, you quietly moaned, enjoying the cool woodsy scent that seemed to float up around you.
As he tucked you against him, gently devouring your neck, his hand trailed down your body seeking the bare skin of your leg. A deep throbbing turned into an ache and you desperately wanted your legs wrapped around his waist, letting you grind against him for a breath of relief. Like in so many dreams before.
But as his fingers pressed into your leg, screaming pain shot through you with such force, your stomach lurched and black stars danced across your vision.
Crying out, your body went rigid except for the instinctive flinch of your leg in an attempt to pull away. Dropping your hand, you moved to slap him back but as you wrenched yourself, more agony ripped through your torso, completely stealing your breath.
You suspected before that a rib had slipped out of place, but as you were blinded by white bursts from each breath, you realized it might be broken. And the pain meds were already apparently wearing off with the rush of adrenaline.
It didn't occur to you that dreams weren't ever so painful...
Letting your hair loose, Eric continued to cup your scalp as a deep furrow formed in his forehead.
“I'm fine...it's nothing.” It tumbled out through grit teeth before you could even question why you lied.
The muscles along his cheek popped as his jaw clenched. His nose flared slightly, the only warning you had before his hands clenched around the back of your head, holding you in place again. Hissing, you tried to slip out of his grasp, but it only brought more pain as he drew his hand along your leg, pulling up the bottom of your shorts.
It seemed impossible, but his body tensed even more as he exposed the large, deep bruise that covered most of your upper thigh. Pulling them up until they drew tight, it was obvious the bruise went higher than he could see with the shorts still on. As you grimaced from the pressure, he let the fabric slip from his fingers before grasping the edge of your top.
He was determined to see just how high it went.
As he lifted the back of your shirt with surprising gentleness, you focused on your shallow breathing. The last time you looked in the mirror, you saw the bruises that covered most of your side were almost black and accompanied by a long set of deep scrapes starting near your spine and fanning out to the side of your ribcage. And you doubted it looked any better now.
Straightening, he looked deep in your eyes, not masking the quiet fury that laid deep in his stare. “Who did this?”
“No one,” you said quietly, trying not to shrink away.
“Do not make me glamour you.” His stony expression hadn't changed, but his voice dropped dangerously low.
Swallowing heavily, you fought to keep from snapping your eyes shut. Forcing a hard exhale through your nose, you pushed out each word until it got easier. “No one, alright? Jason Stackhouse was there, but I just fell off an obstacle course and hit pretty much every piece of equipment on the way down.”
For a moment, his eyes silently studied your face as though he were trying to decide if you were lying. Finally, his eyebrow flicked upwards in faint quirk. “And what were you two doing on an obstacle course to begin with?”
Immediately, your pulse spiked and you felt heat rush to your cheeks. You didn't owe him an explanation, but you did throw Jason's name out there and that suddenly felt like a bad move. But it had to be better than what you might say if you were glamoured...right?
“You were right, you know...at Fangtasia? There are things I can do to protect myself and I had heard a bit about Jason's time in Dallas so-”
Eric's sudden scoff cut you off cold. When he spoke, there was a new hardness in his tone and you knew you crossed some invisible line. “Right. And those? Did those come from him too?”
Both his eyebrows lifted, gesturing past you and without looking back, you knew he was talking about the painkillers sitting out on the coffee table. Desperately trying to keep your breathing calm as you looked up at him, you shrugged. You didn't want to give him another name. “I don't...know where he got them.”
“I think we both know it's pretty obvious, sweetheart. But what matters is, you should have come to me with this.” He spoke with a dismissive tone as he freed his grip on you.
His mood swing threw your rush of adrenaline into confusion. The bewilderment that dropped over you was so thick, and likely still drug-ladened, that you didn’t even try to move away from him even though he had set his hand down on his knee. There was simply no desire to put space between you and being tucked between his knees somehow made you feel protected. Even if he did scare you.
“I...I should...come to you for pain meds...or...?”
There was no hint of humour on his face as he continued. "Both. I can better teach you to defend yourself against my kind, more so than Stackhouse ever could. But especially for your injuries. I can't have you walking around like this, it's embarrassing.”
“...Embarrassing?” Your eyebrows furrowed as you echoed him, trying to piece together what he was talking about.
“Yes. Since I had to publicly declare you as mine, there is a certain standard to uphold. And having my human limping around, half-broken is simply unacceptable.” His silky voice contrasted the insulting words as he brought his wrist up to his lips.
Your stomach flipped as he snarled, giving you the perfect view as his fangs dropped. Without hesitation, he bit into his own flesh and you were too stunned to back away. But you should have.
Eric's lips were glittering red as he pulled back and ran his tongue over them. Holding his wrist out to you, his speech was slightly different as he spoke through his fangs. “Drink.”
Horrified, you followed his gaze down to his arm and the blood slowly bubbling from his punctures. Finally flinching back, you felt the dull pain of your side roar to life as your heart thudded against your chest.
Before you could back off the couch, his arms were a blur as he grabbed your hair and forced your head to turn. Your repeated chorus of no, meant nothing as his arm wrapped around you and forced you to spin on your knees until you were facing away from him. Soon, you were trapped between his chest and his wrist that he pressed to your mouth.
Keeping your lips tightly closed, you felt them grow slick with his blood. Jerking away, your head met his collarbone and you had nowhere left to go as his arm pressed against you with more pressure. Whimpering a pitiful cry, your hands dug into his thighs as you tried to push yourself away. But all you did was brace your back against his chest. It was useless. He had you clamped against him, utterly immobilized.
“I'm helping you, don't waste it.” His voice carried the weariness of an exhausted parent dealing with a petulant child. As he sighed, he twisted his wrist enough to force an opening between your bruised lips.
As the copper taste flooded your mouth, your gut clenched and trying to take a breath through your nose didn't help.
You were going to vomit.
But just as the warm blood trickled down the back of your throat, something changed. On a primal level, your disgust turned to need. Squeezing Eric's thighs to brace yourself, you tried to process what was happening, but everything was moving too fast. You needed his blood like you needed air and your body greedily gulped it back. On its own, one hand lifted from his knee to clasp around his wrist as if you could hold him there.
“Good girl,” Eric cooed in your ear as he brushed your hair back from your face. A shiver ran down your spine at his praise and you found yourself writhing, trying to grind against him even though you were in too awkward of a position to be successful.
Staring out into the room, you noticed everything grow sharper as your heartbeat steadied. The fog of the painkillers dissipated as a new energy vibrated its way through your chest and yet the pain didn't return. There was a faint hint of discomfort remaining, but you could feel it recede like the tide. It was a renewal like you had never experienced. And you wanted more.
Gently resting his hand on your forehead, he kept you against his chest as he pulled his wrist away. Another whine escaped your throat and was met with a soft chuckle. “No, now trust me, that's enough.”
Twisting around to face him, you frowned, ready to protest more. Before you could, he silenced you with a fleeting smile before he wiped his fingertip along your chin. Holding up his hand, you saw the wasted blood and, without hesitation, you leaned forward and took his fingers in your mouth. His lips parted slightly as he watched you suck and eagerly sweep your tongue over his skin. Keeping your eyes glued to his, you suddenly didn't care what horror had just taken place...you just wanted to pick up where you had left off. You wanted him.
And then your phone rang.
As the loud ringtone cut through the moment, your floating sensation came crashing down around you. What was going on? What had Eric done to you?
Blinking, you retreated, leaving his clean fingers outstretched for a moment until he gripped the back of the couch. A soft frown touched his lips as his eyes darted to the screen phone.
“It seems Stackhouse at least has a conscious about the damage he's done,” Eric said flatly.
Everything was clear. Too clear. The whole evening flashed before you and a growing realization became too loud to ignore. “This...this isn't a dream, is it?”
His eyebrows faintly arched before his face fell. It was slight, but the muscles twitched around the corners of his mouth and his eyes grew dull as they looked past you to settle on the pill bottle. "A...dream. Right. It seems that Lafayette broke out the good stuff."
Pulling your hands to your chest, you didn't stop him as he swung a leg off the back of the couch. As he stood with ease, you were reminded again of just how big he was as he towered over you, but somehow it didn't scare you this time. Blinking rapidly and trying to ignore the sense of loss of that descended as he moved away, you failed to stop your eyes from trailing over his still-bare chest. His sculpted muscles were pale perfection and you couldn't help your stare as he leaned down and smoothly swiped his shirt from the floor.
Once he tugged it down over his head, he nodded towards the phone on the coffee table. “You'd better answer.  You wouldn't want to keep your hero waiting.”
Although he said it lightly, as though he were cracking a joke, your stomach knotted. You knew if you didn't answer, Jason would turn up at the door and you weren't done trying to sort out what just happened. Pinching your lips together in a tight line as another shrill ring broke the silence, you finally glanced down at the phone.
And by the time you looked back up, Eric was gone.
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Hey Steph!!
So I was just wondering what your absolute favourite fic is, because you have friggin AWESOME taste and I would love to read it!
Have an absolutely amazing day!! xx
Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: Hi Steph! I hve the ultimate request. Can you recommend your favourite fic of All Time?
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OOOF you guys must’ve read each other’s minds, LOL. Ahhh, Octopus, this is very high praise, so thank you. I’m pleased that my fave reads are also becoming y’all’s faves!
AHHHH this is such a tough one, because I love so many fics. So to start off, here’s some lists you might enjoy:
Top 20 Fave 40K+ w. Fics (April 2017)
Ten Fave Short Johnlock Fics (Easy Reads April 2018)
25 Fave Johnlock One Shots (April 2018)
Top 10 Fave Fics (September 2018)
Top 20 Bookmarks of 2018 (March 2019)
Another Top 10 Fave Fics (June 2019)
Top 30 Read-Again Fics (March 2019)
Top 30 Read-Again Fics Pt. 2 (Sept. 2019)
Top 25 Fave Non-Ao3 Fics (Nov. 2019)
Top 25 Bookmarks of 2019 (Dec. 29/2019)
I’ve read many fics over the years, but even after all this time, I absolutely still have to say that this one is still currently my fave fic ever:
A Promise Made to Be Broken by PlantsAreNeat (E, 37,018 w., 7 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Pining, Slow Burn, RST, Eventual Relationship, POV Sherlock) – A young John makes an ‘if we’re still single at 40, we’ll get together’ pledge to a woman who ends up all wrong for him. She keeps reminding him of the promise, and won’t let go of it. John asks Sherlock to pose as his boyfriend at a family wedding, so as to dash her hopes permanently. Sherlock, who has at last acknowledged his feelings for John, reluctantly agrees despite knowing how painful it will be to ‘have’ John, but not keep him.
I’ve gone back to this fic so often I can pretty much read it on the back of my eyelids. I love the characterizations, and I love how each chapter starts as a flashback to John’s life. It’s so good. It’s fake relationship from Sherlock’s POV, which are rare already, and just the progression of their relationship feels so natural. 
Plus, Sherlock has a John in his mind palace that he dresses up like a paper doll. I LOVE IT.
So yeah, please check out that fic. It’s one of my fave of all time. It’s silly and cute and JUST the right length, and I often go back to it if I’ve read a string of fics I just couldn’t get into. <3
I’d love to do a comic version of it, but my time management skills are garbage so I doubt it would ever happen, plus I don’t want to take away from the author so yeah. *shrugs*
Actually, another REALLY close contender, one that I’ve also read a tonne, is this one:
Iris by slashscribe (E, 11,948 w., 1 Ch. || Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Post-S3) – Sherlock does his best to make John happy when John comes back to 221B with his new baby after the events of Season 3, but Sherlock has a track record of getting things wrong in this area. This story is an exploration of their gradual shift from friends to lovers, told from Sherlock's perspective, full of a lot of pining and lack of emotional awareness.
It was actually my fave BEFORE I read Promise, so yeah, two great fics if you’re looking for a couple shorter fics to read in a pinch.
Actually, let’s do the history, LOL. Here’s a couple of my fave long fics:
Midnight Blue Serenity by BeautifulFiction (E, 151,907 w., 19 Ch. || Friends to Lovers, Gay Bar / For a Case, Drugs, Pining, Case Fic, UST) – When Sherlock infiltrates a club in order to track down a serial killer, his altered appearance is enough to make John question his assumption that Sherlock is beyond his reach. However, is he the only one who appreciates his flatmate's charms, or is Sherlock at risk of becoming the next victim?
This one was my fave BEFORE Iris, but I also go back to it quite often if I want something longer to wrap comfortably around me. Also this one:
Shatter the Darkness (Let the Light In) by MojoFlower (E, 109,683 w., 23 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Genie/Djinn AU || Magical Realism, Kidnapping, Genie Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Case Fic, H/C, Angst, Clubs, John Whump, Mild DubCon, Hand / Blow Jobs, Torture) – Fairy tales are for those who remember how to dream; not John Watson, broken and hiding from his bleak future in a beige bedsit. But then he discovers a lamp and finds himself in the dangerous riptide of an enigmatic man whose very existence is unbelievable, murder charges against his sister, and the growing pains of feeling alive once more.
The fave fic BEFORE MBS LOL.
AND finally, my VERY FIRST fave Sherlock fic:
The Green Blade by verityburns (T, 72,929 w., 15 Ch. || Casefic, Bromance) – As a serial killer hits the headlines, the police are out of their depth and the next victim is out of time. With faith in Sherlock Holmes at an all time low, this is a case which will push loyalties to the limit...
When I first got into fandom, I read this one IN BETWEEN EVERY FIC I READ. I love it so much. I actually first read it on FFNet. THAT’S how old this one is. I only recently was shown it’s on Ao3 and I was SO happy I was able to have an eBook version of it now! <3
So yeah, check out those fics, LOL. I’ve SO many new faves, honest to goodness, and new fave authors to add to my list, AND I’m CERTAIN that I’ve still to read more of my fics that will be my faves in my 90 pages of MFLs on Ao3 LOL. But yeah, these fics are like coming home to a hot cocoa and warm blankie on a cold night. Not just because of my love for them, but there’s something about a fic that you’ve already ready countless times, and not having to invest too much energy into getting into that world again, but instead just REALLY taking in your favourite parts of those fics and just smiling and feeling all squidgy all over again at your fave parts. <3
That all said, please, authors, never stop writing. I love reading your worlds <3
What’s your fave fics, Lovelies? 
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