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shinymooncolor · 4 years

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It’s Thursday, I’ve got a long weekend - so here’s a new sweater weather chat!

@lumosinlove is the mastermind behind these hilarious characters. I just play around and pretend my life is half as exciting as these guys’ lives are.

@wxlfstxrx and @siriuslyqueer are my best bro’s and always support my crazy ideas with no hesitation. 🙏🏻

If you have prompts - let me know! 👀

Sweater weather chat #4

Dumo panics. Celeste is disappointed. Tyler’s mom is thirsty. Logan has heard too much. Leo is scolded. Kuny is hungover. Nado has been dumped. He is also the king of nicknames. Walker brags. We spend another Sunday in the bat cave. I want to live there now.

———-

Wednesday, 4.32 pm

Nadotheman: @talkiewalkie I’m now at a record 8200 viewers for my live workout. 💪🏻👀

Talkiewalkie: whatever. I’m still more ripped than you.

Russiangod: I read blog. I think old ladies like

Tylerthemighty: my mom asked for your number. 61 y/o divorcee. Her book club wants to come to next match. I gave them tickets 🤓🤓🤓🤓

Eliascookie: 😂 thirsty housewives

Prongstar: nado got them old ladies. Sure you could learn a thing or two!!

Nadotheman: I am epic and my sexual encounters are epic

Russiangod: 5 minutes epic? Americans are strange

Siriously: savage

Nadotheman: fuxk off Evwhiny, Not my fault you’ve struck out for three fucking months. Remmy gotta worry about that wrist of kun(t)y’s

Fruitloops: leave me out. Also @prongstar stop changing my name.

Fruitloops changed their name to remuslupin

Prongstar changed remuslupin to fruitloops

RussianGod: not three month. Ur mom here last week. Show her good time.

Timmyforrealz: 😂😂😂 fucking got you there Nado.

Nadotheman: I hate you all. And he didn’t fuck my mom he’s scared of her. Bitch

DumoDad: language. And fruit loops is cute.

——-

Saturday 11.27 am

Dumodad created a group.

Dumodad named the group: grabby teen boy alert.

Dumodad added: talkiewalkie, newt-leo, carbo’hara, loganTremblayzzz, nado the man, RussianGod

Dumodad: first of all. This group does not exist. You know nothing. Celeste must not know anything.

Newt-leo: dumo you alright?

Dumodad: No! drove Adele to the mall. She said she was going out with friends. When I got home Celeste says it’s a date. She is 14?!?!?! My baby is in the mall with a perverted football player called Chuck? Someone has to go to the mall. NOW. I will give you my 1954 Stanley cup game puck. I cannot leave. Celeste has me under strict supervision.

CarbO’Hara: were already at the mall. @nadotheman got dumped so we’ve gone to watch a movie.

Nadotheman: I was not dumped. I ended things. I don’t get dumped.

RussianGod: she said sex was fine. She not call back. You were dumped also she winked at me when she tied shoes. Also u want buy her stuff. She just using u. Better off no girls. Poor baby Nado.

Nado the man: traitor. I didn’t sleep with that fan you took back to the hotel in philly or tell on you. So what they’re using me? I get more action than the rest of you babies combined. (Not you Dumo, don’t think I haven’t noticed those scratch mArks)

DumoDAD: I married well. Go back to rescuing my girl from that deprived creep. A footballer. Of all the idiots in that school and she chooses a footballer. Merde.

Logantremblayzzz: NO! DONT TALT ABOUT THAT he’s like my dad 😫😫😫

RussianGod: grow up. Where u think 4 baby come from? 🍆🍆🍆

DumoDAD: go back to looking for my daughter and leave my (active) sex life out of it

Talkiewalkie: @russiangod you dog!! Roadie one nighter. I’m so proud. Also go dumo!!!!

Nado the man: she was hot. No idea how he got her. Also @talkiewalkie like you’ve ever had the balls for a one nighter

Talkiewalkie: @nadotheman back off man, you’re just a baby compared to my epic sexual history

Nadotheman: @talkiewalkie huh you didn’t even play the v-card until you were 17

Talkiewalkie: @nadotheman not true. That was my first fan. V-card was my JUNIOR prom with the head cheerleader (she was totally a senior)

Dumodad: @walkietalkie no one cares you lost your virginity in the back of a Buick. My daughter is out there with a BOY. ALONE.

Talkiewalkie: @dumodad wrong username and it was a CAMRY and she was a SENIOR

LoganTremblayzzz: were at the mall. Finn and Leo scouting food hall. I’m covering first floor. @nadotheman any luck on second floor?

RussianGod: someone having sex in the bathroom

Logantremblayzzz: @newt-leo @CarbO’Hara behave. Also don’t leave me out.

Newt-leo: she’s in the food court. Also @russiangod they’re not having sex they’re fighting

Dumodad: IS HE TOUCHITN MY NAB GIRLv

Newt-leo: stress texting? Calm down they’re just talking

Newt-leo: okay he’s got his arm around her

CarbO’Hara: abort abort she saw us

—-

Saturday 11.54 am

Adele: MAMA! Leo and finn and kuny are stalking me. You promised not to tell dad. Charlie is terrified and he wants to leave and he didn’t ask me to prom

Mama: sorry mon Cherie. Your dad is in big trouble. Please call me

——

Saturday 12.01 pm

Carb’OHara: @russiangod just got scolded by guard for sitting without a tray and Adele is yelling at him too 😂😂😂😂😂😂

*pic of kuny sitting looking guilty while tiny Adele is shouting*

Dumodad: gentlemen. Why is my daughter calling me, crying cause you scared off her date? I don’t care what my imbecile of a husband has told you. You are all going home and you are all going to think about this. And NO DESSERT FOR ANY OF YOU. I am sorry you got dumped @nadotheman. @talkiewalkie don’t brag about losing your virginity in a car.

Saturday 2.43 pm

Logantremblayzzz: shit! Celeste is furious. Dumo is def sleeping on the couch. Oh fuck. She’s grounded him 😂 this is hilarious.

RussianGod: 😛

Logantremblayzzz: don’t have to worry about baby #5. He’s in the dog house for a month 😂😂😂

Dumodad: she wasn’t kidding. I’m banished to the couch for the foreseeable future. Don’t think you’re not in trouble, Logan. She wants to talk to you now.

RussianGod: nice knowing u Logan.

DumoDAD: 😬🙏🏻🥺😫

—

Saturday 3.44 pm

Celeste: Leo, I am very disappointed.

I expected this from the others but I thought you were better.

Leo: I’m so sorry!!

——-

Sunday 11.34 am

Kuny: my head hurts. I need food

Nado: it’s your own fault dumbass. Chucking vodka like it’s fucking water. Not gonna feel bad for ya

Kuny: I was homesick. U not feel bad today?

Nado: nah I can handle my liquor, you sad excuse for a Russian. What if I told your fellow countrymen you’re currently whining like a baby...

Kuny: I drink better than u. No one believe that.

Kuny: need water pleas. Also want fries

Kuny: pleas i pay.

Nado: stop texting me, I’m trying to watch a movie. Also you’re disturbing my sexting go away

Kuny: who u sext? Girl from bar? Pretty one or scary one?

Nado: I’m not telling you and maybe it’s both. Also quit texting me. Can’t keep this clever dirty talk up when I have to deal with your whining.

Kuny: I can help

Nado: you’re not helping me fucking sext now go back to sleep you big baby

Kuny: stupid also don’t wank with door open

Nado: then go fucking close it you ungrateful dick. Also you know wank but sergei and I had to sit there and help you fucking answer interview questions. Your little game of pretending not to know English is sad. Also your whole “baby face Russian giant with cute accent” bit is getting old.

Kuny: my accent is cute and I know wank cause walker told Me. Am not ungrateful u are. I not tell team lots of things

Nado: oh don’t even go there.

Kuny: I thought u busy sexting

Nado: u fucking ruined it ok. Are you clothed? I’m coming in there now.

Kuny: not naked also u lie about sexitng girls. He he. now bring me food. And Diet Coke.

Nado: ungrateful fucking hungover Russian waste of space. I hate you.

Kuny: u love me. Bring more blanket for room we can make fort and see Disney. I like little green eye

Nado: ordered some French fries and shakes now. In season. So naughty. Also We’re not watching monsters inc again. You’ve got a weird obsession with that film. Moana or the Scottish one.

Kuny: rude. Ok. Just bring food and blanket.

——

“You’re such an ungrateful roomie, scoot over you big lump. You’re hogging my blanket”

“No am not. U love me - DONT TOUCH MY CURLY FRIES”

“Funny you can speak English when people are stealing your food. Stop yelling. I don’t love you. I tolerate you”

“Shut up. Funny chicken, look like peanut When he drink”

“I’m telling him you said that”

——

Did they build a massive blanket fort in their epic cinema/game room? You bet. Does drunk Leo look like the chicken from Moana? I think he does.

#lumosinlove #sweaterweatherchats #sweaterweather #sweaterweatheroc’s #lumosinlove ocs #bromance #sweaterwestherchatsnr4

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ofcloudsandstars · 4 years

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Celestial Forecast

Week 20-26

Highlights of the week:

Monday the 20th Sun enters Taurus

Wednesday the 22nd New Moon in Taurus as well as Moon conjunct Uranus creating personal changes or changes in the home

Saturday the 25th, Pluto begins retrograde until October 4th

Sunday the 26th, the Sun conjuncts Uranus bringing new changes in our life

THANK THE STARS IT'S FINALLY TAURUS SEASON!!!!!! However this oasis of spring is going to start off with a lot of intense energy. Though we can maybe relax just a little and enjoy 4/20 (I always love how Taurus season starts on 4/20 cause it's fitting), there are a lot of massive energy shifts we need to be ready for. Take note of these days in your journals. We are looking at some huge energy shifts. So get ready!

_________________________

20th

Sun enters Taurus

☾ VOC 12:30AM-8:01AM

☾ Moon enters Aries

☾ Lunar Conjunction with Eros and Chiron in Aries

☾ Lunar Sextile with Saturn in Aquarius

Energy: The energy will feel like a new excitable chapter today as the sun transitions into soothing Taurus and the moon enters excitable Aries. With the sun in Taurus, the general theme of the season is sensuality, taking root, determination and value. With the moon entering Aries we will feel motivated by a strong desire to start fresh. The moon will also form a conjunction with Eros bringing our passions that fuel our drive to the surface of our emotions. What gives you the spark of inspiration that you'd like to focus on in this season? You will most likely feel that answer today. The moon will also conjunct with Chiron that can potentially bring up a moment for us to heal ourselves but can potentially also bring up old wounds and negative feelings of the self. Channel that energy into productivity so you don't need to dwell on the shadow side (unless you use that energy for shadow work). Lastly the moon will make a positive sextile with Saturn in Aquarius giving us the push to take responsibility and get important tasks done. Overall this is a good start to the zodiac season.

Recommendations: Spring cleaning! Banishing, meditating on our passions to form a clear path to our goals, shadow work.

General Aries Moon Magic: Fire based magic, curses (this will be a good time for banishing as the moon is in it's final crescent before the new moon)

Taurus Season Magic: Take this season to explore- Kitchen Witchcraft, Green Witchcraft and Plant Magic, Money and Stability Magic, Or explore tools like - Cannabis and Hemp Magic, plant familiars, charmed crystal jewelry,

_________________________ 21st Sun in Taurus squares Saturn in Aquarius Chiron conjunct Eros in Aries ☾ Lunar Conjunction with Mercury in Aries ☾ Lunar Opposition with Juno rx in Libra ☾ Lunar Sextile with Venus in Gemini and Mars in Aquarius

Energy: Today will feel like a day of trials as the sun forms a square with Saturn in Aquarius. The focus may be on a global scale where we will review our values and see if it's still compatible with a world where we need to care more for the community. (Watch the news to see how this may unveil itself on a grander scale especially with all that's going on). We may be feeling weighed down due to all the pressures that may be put on you especially for those of us that have taken on extra work. You need to show patience, determination and strong work ethic now instead of running away from the pressure or else it could create long term issues. Chiron will also conjunct Eros today which will only add to the tension as we may feel like our passions may be stifled from being expressed. Alternatively this energy can show us how we can still pursue our passions even if we feel like a victim of our current circumstances as chiron is a healing planet. (Alternatively Chiron conjunct Eros means we may have an ability to sexually heal others or ourselves- que Marvin Gaye- but with lock down there may not be that opportunity for all lol).

The moon will help to amplify these moods throughout the day. With it's conjunction with Mercury we may be very aware of our emotions and have a better ability to analyze them which could help our healing process and reviewing our passions due to Chiron and Eros influencing Aries sign. The moon will oppose Juno rx in Libra which will give us a better perspective of where we are placing our energy and devotion. Are we really going about pursuing our passions the right way? That may be clarified today. Additionally the moon opposing Juno rx can help us review our previous romantic relationships and what was and what's not working out. If you are in a close relationship it may come under review today. Lastly the moon will form a positive sextile with Venus in Gemini bringing in an air of friendship and need for romantic connection. (Que the sexual healing soundtrack again). This energy could help partners chat about their relationships to one enough but remember to listen! As the energy in the air can create a tendency to only see our own side and be combative. Additionally the moon will make a positive sextile with Mars in Aquarius which can amplify our sexual expression (Que the sexual healing soundtrack again) and our motivation to get things done. Even if the sun and saturn square may weigh us down, this boost of energy will help push us forward!

Recommendations: Use Hematite and Carnelian as a push to help get things done. Shadow work, cleansing, banishing, sex magic, love magic, centering energy

_________________________

22nd

New Moon! ☾ Lunar Square with Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn ☾ Lunar Sextile with Ceres in Aquarius ☾ VOC 1:31PM-8:35PM ☾ Moon enters Taurus ☾ Lunar Conjunction with Sun in Taurus ☾ Lunar Square with Saturn in Aquarius

Energy: The moon will enter it's new moon phase while it's still in Aries. It will transition into Taurus during it's new moon phase. I feel when the moon does this it encourages us to review everything we went through in the cycle previous (and the cycle from the last Aries new moon was A LOT guys lol). Especially as it transitions it will be void of course so it's not the best time to send out energy but instead take the time to reflect. Before this the moon wrapping up it's transit in Aries will make a square with Jupiter and then Pluto in Capricorn bringing intense deeply buried emotions to the surface. Secrets can be revealed along with power struggles and bigotry. The moon squaring Jupiter could potentially mellow this out or it could do the opposite and expand the situation further. It's a good time to set boundaries, if something is bothering you to BANISH it under the remaining fiery aries waning moon and take care of yourself as the moon will make a positive sextile with Ceres in Aquarius.

The New Moon in Taurus will start a pretty intense cycle. This new moon will be influenced by Saturn making a hard square and Uranus conjunct the moon. Though the moon and Uranus will join tomorrow morning the energy could still be felt this evening. This chapter can create a phase for unexpected change, character reveals and unpleasant surprises until this Sunday the 26th when the Sun and Uranus join creating bigger shifts. With the moon and Uranus joined there will be excitement, unexpected change, rebellion and the need to break free from restrictions. Doing nothing with this electric energy can result in unwanted consequences so be flexible and open-minded to adapt to changing conditions. The New Moon will also square saturn which can suggest that Uranus's influence may not be completely positive. Saturn creates restrictions and delays and if there are changes within it can make it feel worse. Just try to keep responsible, don't procrastinate or get distracted or else the consequences can face you later.

Recommendations: PROTECT YOURSELF the energies are chaotic. If you want to protect something or keep a situation the same that you feel may be targeted by these energies, keep an open mind about it but do some protection magic so the changes can be positive. Self reflection, self love magic, centering and grounding

New Moon Magic: sowing seeds of intention, visualization meditation, vision boards, starting a new craft, creating charms and tools (especially tools relating to Taurean energy like charmed jewelry, kitchen magic tools, plant-based ingredients for magic etc). _________________________

23rd

☾ Moon in Taurus conjunct Uranus in Taurus

Energy: The moon will officially conjunct Uranus in Taurus today creating changes around the emotional state or the home. This day will also be fantastic to broaden your perspectives and take on new eccentric areas of learning such as doing research for your grimoire or doing more research on a niche area of magical study. Psychic talents are being stimulated and flashes of insight should be taken seriously. However this conjunction has the potential to bring up relationship upsets, disputes in the home and some eccentric impulsiveness may not turn out so well. Make sure to protect yourself and your home.

Recommendations: Studying niche areas of magic, changing your home space, protection magic, exploring new fields _________________________

24th

☾ Lunar Square with Mars in Aquarius ☾ Lunar Trine with Pluto in Capricorn ☾ Lunar Sextile with Neptune in Pisces

Energy: Today will feel powerfully emotional with passionate chaotic moods as the moon will square Mars and Trine with Pluto. The moon trine pluto will increase our emotional sensitivity and psychic perception. This will also be boosted when the moon will form a sextile with Neptune in Pisces which can help us channel that emotional energy spiritually and creatively. With our psychic abilities and energy boosted this would be an excellent day for meditation, magic, energy work, art magic and divination. With the moon trine pluto it will also give us a great opportunity for shadow work and it will help to review the intense aspects pluto was triggering earlier this week. With the moon square Mars, hot simmering angry energy has a chance to bubble out but if you choose to channel this energy into something creative where Neptune can help or analyze it in shadow work, positivity can come from it.

Recommendations: Shadow work, meditation, divination, psychic activities, energy work, sex magic, curse and hexing, art magic

_________________________

25th

Pluto retrograde in Capricorn Mercury in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn Ceres moves into Pisces ☾ Lunar Conjunction with Sedna in Taurus ☾ Lunar Trine with Jupiter in Capricorn ☾ VOC 1:42AM-8:35am ☾ Moon enters Gemini ☾ Lunar Square with Ceres in Pisces ☾ Lunar Trine with Juno in Libra Rx and Saturn in Aquarius ☾ Lunar Sextile with Chiron in Aries

Energy: Pluto will retrograde today in Capricorn until October 4th which will bring up a period of self transformation, upheaval, breakdown, purification, revealing shadowy issues and power struggles. On a global scale this will be an intense period as governments and powerful entities will be revealed that have neglected the rest of us. On a personal level we will feel the changes to submerge in our own shadowy underworld and transform from there. It will be an intense time for cardinal signs (which is superb for me cause I literally have a grand cross in all 4 cardinal signs :) ) and those who are resisting change. Mercury will also square Pluto today which can plunge us further into deep thinking and intense interactions with others. This could also create new conspiracies and extremist ideas across the globe. Ceres will also move into Pisces today shifting the nurturing needs to be more sensitive, emotional, empathetic and compassionate towards yourself and others. Remember to draw on this energy if you are feeling too deeply submerged in the dark wave of Pluto's retrograde. Channel your inner shadows and pain into art and connecting with others.

The moon will also be doing a lot today starting off with joining Sedna in Taurus which will highlight ways we can channel the energy of bringing light into darkness and positivily transforming situations to grow and better ourselves. This will be amplified by the moon and jupiter forming a trine which can help us feel more optimistic and channel positivity into the day.

The moon will enter Gemini and make a positive trine with Juno rx in Libra and Saturn in Aquarius. It will help us to figure out where to prioritize our energy and help us take responsibility to face harsh reality. The moon will square Ceres which will give us a strong desire to feel nurtured or care for others. We should turn that energy inward than out as the moon will also sextile with Chiron which will help us to reflect and heal ourselves and turn those lessons into positive advice for helping others.

Recommendations: Shadow work, self love magic, bath magic with the focus of self love or transformation

Gemini Moon Magic: Learning new material, reading books on magic, sound magic such as healing or meditating to binural beats, air based magic, writing magic, (writing spells, freewriting shadow work etc.) _________________________

26th

Mercury in Aries squares Jupiter in Capricorn Sun conjunct Uranus in Taurus ☾ Moon in Gemini ☾ Lunar Conjunction with Venus in Gemini ☾ Lunar Square with Neptune in Pisces ☾ Lunar Trine with Mars in Aquarius ☾ Lunar Sextile with Eros in Aries

Energy: This will be a new official start of the season. The beginning of the week until now were days focused on reviewing yourself, the world, your direction and gaining new perspectives on your reality. However this will feel like a new start as Mercury squares Jupiter and the Sun will conjunct Uranus. With the Sun and Uranus joined the fusion of energies will make the day feel exciting, freeing, bring change and rebelliousness. You should feel a strong urge to break free from routine doing something normal than usual. It's better to be active and look to do something out of the ordinary and not wait for change to happen to you. Sometimes this can bring unexpected changes to your life. Remaining flexible can bring a lot of pleasant surprises or thrilling experiences. Keeping an open mind is key during this transit. Mercury square jupiter creates high hopes for the future and broadens your mind and perspective. This optimism can get out of hand with the jupiter expansion so don't promise yourself too much or overestimate your abilities or else it could be too much to handle. With the two energies combined it's good to review your goals for the future and with a new perspective try to set new goals or achieve them in new ways.

The moon will stimulate the energies bringing in friendly and passionate energies with it's conjunction with Venus and it's positive trine with Mars. It will create a square with Neptune that can make us more prone to paranoia or the need to escape but channel more of the Mars energy to help give you the drive and courage to take on obstacles. There will be a sextile with Eros that will help us connect to our passions and review our feelings around them. It's a good time to take actions on seeds you've sown on the new moon and see how you can apply them in your life.

Recommendations: vision board, acting on your dreams, manifesting positivity, road opening magic

#transits #astrology #witchcraft #witchblr #new moon taurus #this week is going to be wild guys

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glorious-spoon · 5 years

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Break the Dark

Title: Break the Dark Link: On AO3 Rating: Teen Pairing: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Warnings: None Other Tags: Outside POV, Reconciliation, Season 2, Post- 2x08 Summary: The morning after Max's rune party, Maryse finds herself knocking on Magnus Bane's door. She isn't expecting Alec to be there, but maybe what she has to say is something both of them need to hear.

Or: Magnus and Maryse declare a truce, of sorts. Alec is just trying to cook breakfast here.

Maryse imagines that there aren’t many people in the world who have seen the High Warlock of Brooklyn completely nonplussed, and now she can count herself as one of them. Early sunlight streams in through the window at the end of the hall, and her hand is still raised to knock on the door, and Magnus Bane is standing in the entrance of his loft in an embroidered silk dressing robe, magic sparking from his fingertips, blinking at her as if she’s a visitor from another planet.

It’s just for a moment, though, before an expression of polite geniality drops over his features like a mask. He snaps his fingers, banishing the flicker of magic, and says, very pleasantly, “Maryse. What an… unexpected pleasure. How can I help you?”

“I,” she begins, then stops, gripping the strap of her handbag so tightly that her knuckles crack. She’s been thinking about how to approach this the entire way over, but now that she’s here the words don’t want to come. “I was hoping we could--may I come in?”

“Of course,” Magnus says, after a hesitation so brief that she almost doesn’t notice it, and moves aside to let her pass. His wards wash over her in a prickling wave as she steps over the threshold, and she doesn’t quite manage to hide her flinch. They were lowered last night for the party, but now this place is once again every inch the High Warlock’s lair, and his magic is still stinging on her skin. It unnerves her on some visceral level, decades of training whispering that she isn’t safe here, that this man--this half-demon in the shape of a man--is dangerous and can’t be trusted. Her fingers actually twitch for her hidden seraph blade before she can stop herself.

That isn’t what she’s here for. Not at all.

When she looks up, Magnus is watching her calmly. Something about that look makes her feel flayed open and exposed, reminds her abruptly of how very old he really is under his blithe, eccentric exterior. She wonders how Alec stands it, although Magnus probably doesn’t usually look at Alec the way he’s looking at Maryse now. Like she’s a specimen on a pin, and a disappointing one at that. She supposes she can’t blame him.

She clears her throat, looks away. There’s no sign of last night’s catastrophe in here now; the detritus of the festivities and the warlock battle alike has been cleared away and the furniture is arranged in intimate conversational settings, the drapes open to the morning light and a spectacular view of the waterfront. It’s all very luxurious, of course, but it’s not quite the lair of debauchery that Maryse was still, on some level, expecting. It looks like the very nice New York City loft of a wealthy man with impeccable taste, and nothing more.

“You have a lovely home,” she offers.

“Thank you,” Magnus says in that same unreadable tone. “What can I do for you, Maryse? If you’re looking for Jace—”

“He’s at the Institute, I know,” she interrupts. “He and Isabelle are with the team running down leads on Rouse.”

Magnus nods, unperturbed. “I wasn’t sure if you had spoken to him yet.”

“I haven’t,” Maryse says, then snaps her mouth shut. She can’t bring herself to talk about Jace. Not now, not with Magnus Bane. Not after everything that’s happened. “I didn’t--that’s not why I came here.”

“I see.” He tilts his chin, something in his expression shifting. Becoming thoughtful. “Why did you come here?”

“I was hoping we could talk.”

“Ah. If it’s not about Jace, then I imagine it’s about Alec.”

With an effort, she lets go of the strap of her bag, straightens, clasps her hands behind her back. Steadying herself the best way she knows how. “Yes.”

Magnus contemplates her for a moment. “I hope you understand that I have no intention of betraying any confidences.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Maryse retorts, stung.

“I’m glad to hear that. So.” He spreads his hands. “Since we appear to be on the same page, what did you want to talk about?”

And that’s the question, isn’t it? That’s the thing she’s been trying to put into words the entire way over here, that nauseating twist of horror and relief at seeing Alec collapsed on the balcony outside last night with Magnus leaning grimly over him, the Fairchild girl’s frantic babbling coalescing into one meaningful phrase that’s been echoing through her mind ever since: he tried to jump, he tried to jump, he tried to jump.

He tried, and Magnus was the one who caught him.

The gratitude tastes bitter on the back of her tongue, and she doesn’t know how to put it into words. Especially not now, standing in the sun-filled loft in front of Magnus Bane, who even barefoot in a dressing gown looks every inch the otherworldly, intimidating High Warlock. Last night, kneeling over Alec on the balcony, he was desperate and gentle and worried in a way that fractured something inside of her to see, but there’s no sign of that now.

She doesn’t know how long they both stare at each other before a door creaks open somewhere in the loft, breaking their awkward standoff. Maryse glances toward the sound, then back at Magnus in time to catch the faint flicker of unease on his face. It’s enough to make her suddenly aware of who those soft footsteps must belong to, but that doesn’t quite prepare her for the sight of Alec wandering out of what must be Magnus’s bedroom, barefoot and shirtless with his hair sticking up in every direction, rubbing at his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“Magnus,” he yawns as he comes into the room. “I heard you get up, did something—”

He breaks off abruptly when he catches sight of Maryse. She doesn’t know what her face is doing, but Alec’s expression turns from sleepy and soft to flatly wary in the blink of an eye. His posture shifts, his shoulders straightening.

“Mom,” he says, very neutrally.

Maryse twists her wedding ring on her finger, an old nervous habit that does nothing to soothe her now. He spent the night here. Of course he did. He’s a twenty-three year old man, and Magnus is, as he has repeatedly, pointedly reminded her, his boyfriend. She just. She hadn’t thought that things were quite at this stage yet, and there’s something so very unexpected about how he looks in his messy hair and ratty sweatpants, standing in the middle of a warlock’s den like he belongs here. Like he’s comfortable here, or at least like he was until Maryse barged in.

She has a sudden visceral flash of memory: Alec, no more than two years old and probably not even that, clinging to her leg after she got in from a mission and babbling, “Up, Mama, up, up!”

The memory of lifting him onto her hip and pressing a distracted kiss to the top of his head and breathing in the smell of his skin and soft fine hair, his small sticky hands curling into her shirt, and how exactly did this happen? How did Alec turn from that little boy to the stone-faced young man who’s standing in front of her like he’s braced for a blow?

How did Maryse turn into a woman whose children need to steel themselves to speak to her?

She takes a careful breath, and smiles. “Alec. I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

His mouth twists, then flattens. “Is that a problem?”

“Of course not,” she says quickly. Her hands twist behind her back.

Magnus clears his throat, suddenly. Loudly. “Well. In any case, I think this unexpected family reunion could use some refreshments. Maryse, how do you take your coffee?”

“Oh,” she says, startled. “That won’t be--”

“Black, three sugars,” Alec interrupts, moving past her toward the kitchen. She still can’t read his tone, but Magnus’s face does something complicated that indicates that whatever Alec was just trying to communicate, he got the message loud and clear. He sighs, and reaches out as Alec passes, cupping his cheek and drawing him down into a kiss.

It’s brief, soft and chaste, a familiar Saturday morning kind of kiss, but by the look Alec cuts her when he pulls back, there’s no doubt that it was at least halfway for her benefit. She meets his eyes and doesn’t allow her expression to change. It’s easier than she expects.

“Could you see if we have any eggs, darling?” Magnus asks quietly, stroking a thumb soothingly over Alec’s cheek before letting him go. “And perhaps—”

“Yeah, yeah, pancetta, I know,” Alec says, his mouth curling into a smile, and when he kisses Magnus again there’s something much less calculated about it. “Like you’re not just going to summon everything from the deli downstairs anyway.”

“Oh, you know me too well. Anyway, I compensate Mrs. Nassar handsomely for the missing stock.”

“You’re totally messing up her inventory. Which I know, because I had to sit through a ten-minute lecture about it the last time I went in there for a sandwich.”

“Ah. I do apologize, Alexander. I’ll speak to her.”

“Just stop stealing her stuff, and we’ll call it even.”

“It’s not stealing, it’s--oh, never mind.” Magnus waves a hand airily, dismissing the subject. “Have you eaten yet this morning, Maryse?”

She blinks. For a moment, it seemed as though they’d both forgotten she was here. “Oh. I. No, but please don’t feel obligated.”

“Nonsense. I won’t have word getting out to the Clave that I’m remiss in my hospitality.” Magnus gives her a smile that isn’t entirely friendly. “Omelette?”

“Thank you, that would be—”

“She doesn’t like eggs,” Alec interjects, leaning into the fridge. He takes a carton of eggs out, a block of cheese, a small plastic container of something green. Sets them on the counter without looking at Maryse.

“Of course,” Magnus says smoothly, but his mouth twitches a little, like he’s amused. Like he’s charmed by watching Alec pretend he’s never had an etiquette lesson in his life. Maybe he is. Probably he is, considering that Maryse is the target of it. “Well, I’m sure we can come up with something. Maryse, please feel free to have a seat.”

A chair at the cozy breakfast nook slides out invitingly, and after a hesitation she drops into it. Magnus flicks his fingers in her direction, and a steaming mug of coffee appears in front of her in a puff of blue magic that stings her hands when she picks it up. Even so, the heat that bleeds through her palms is welcome, and the coffee smells fantastic. When she sips at it tentatively, it’s the perfect combination of sweet and rich and bitter, and the much-needed caffeine hums down her veins, as bracing as the stamina rune she already activated this morning.

She didn’t sleep much last night.

She hasn’t been sleeping well in a long time, really. Years. But last night was… something else. She still feels fragile and raw, and she can’t quite make herself look away from Alec, moving comfortably around the kitchen in his messy hair and his sleep-soft sweatpants. Her firstborn, her baby boy, her perfect soldier who tried to throw himself off a balcony last night.

Maryse breathes in slowly, swallows around the tightness in her throat.

When the spell finally lifted and Alec’s eyes blinked open he looked, for a moment, terribly lost and terribly young in a way that made her want to stoop down beside him and gather him into her arms like he was still a child and she was the sort of mother who did things like that.

And then he looked past her at Magnus Bane. He let the warlock help him to his feet; he leaned his weight against the man, pushed his face into his shoulder, Magnus’s beringed fingers carding through his hair while Maryse hung back with the Fairchild girl, completely useless. Just a moment of comfort, and then he straightened up, squared his shoulders, became once again the soldier she raised him to be.

A pan clatters in the kitchen, dragging her attention back to the present.

“--think we have enough mix,” Alec is saying, leaning down to peer into the cupboard.

“Alexander, really. I’m not serving pancakes from a box mix to guests in my home. We’ll just--” Magnus breaks off as Alec catches his fingers, stilling his magic with an easy fearlessness that almost makes Maryse wince to see. Like he doesn’t realize that the power in that warlock’s hands could burn him to ashes as easily as breathing, which is of course ridiculous.

Alec knows full well what Magnus Bane is capable of, after all. He just trusts the man not to hurt him.

“No stealing,” he says. “Go sit down. I’ll make breakfast.”

“You’re very bossy,” Magnus says, but he sounds pleased.

“There’s no way you’re surprised by that, now go sit down,” Alec retorts. There’s an oddly shy little smile on his face, at odds with his words. He curls a hand briefly over Magnus’s hip as he passes, a gesture so unconsciously affectionate that it catches at Maryse’s heart, sharp and startled.

She doesn’t ever see them like this. Other than that first outrageous (brave, she thinks) kiss in the middle of Alec’s aborted wedding, the two of them have presented a chastely courteous, if united, front. At least around her. It’s half the reason she’s sometimes wondered if all of this isn’t just about Alec making a point, some kind of elaborate political rebellion that Magnus is facilitating for his own opaque reasons.

Looking at them now, though, she knows that it’s not. They move around each other like they’re used to touching, used to being in each other’s space. Alec isn’t this casually tactile with anyone other than his siblings; she wonders if Magnus Bane understands what that means. What kind of power he holds over her son.

Watching his face as he slips away from Alec’s hands and heads back toward the table, she thinks that maybe he does. He looks… soft, in a way that she never would have expected him to look, and this time the expression doesn’t completely fade when he sits down on the opposite side of the table, conjuring his own cup of coffee in a flash of blue.

It’s that softness that helps her find the words at last.

“I wanted to thank you,” she says quietly. “That’s why I came.”

“Oh, no thanks are necessary. It was my pleasure. Although,” Magnus adds lightly, tapping one blue-lacquered nail against the side of his cup, “clearly my security measures will have to be updated before I attempt another event like that.”

“Not for the party,” she says, and by the stove Alec goes still, his back to them, spatula clutched in one hand. She hadn’t intended to have this conversation with him here, but maybe it’s better that way. Maybe this is something he needs to hear from her as well.

Magnus stills as well. “Ah.”

“Of course I’m grateful for your hospitality as well,” she adds quickly. “And I--apologize for my rudeness, and for Max—”

“Maryse,” Magnus interrupts. His voice is gentle; gentler than she’s ever heard it. His fingers rattle on the tabletop for a moment, and then he reaches over to pat the back of her hand. Some part of her expects to feel the sting of magic again, but it’s just skin, warm and ordinary. “I understand. It’s alright.”

“It’s not,” she says, “but that’s not why I--I wanted to thank you for taking care of Alec. For being there for him when he needed someone. For--” She glances back at Alec again. He’s poking at the griddle, apparently oblivious to what they’re saying, but his head is tilted like he’s listening. “For taking care of him last night. He deserves to have that.”

It’s not everything she wants to say, but it’s enough, she thinks, to get her point across.

“Of course,” Magnus says softly. He squeezes her hand, just a little, an anchoring kind of pressure. “And yes. He does.”

“Thank you,” Maryse whispers again, and she blinks hard, realizes suddenly that the wavering in her vision isn’t exhaustion but unshed tears. She retrieves her hand and wipes her eyes carefully, belatedly embarrassed, and when she glances back at the kitchen, Alec has given up all pretense that he’s not listening. Instead, he’s leaning against the counter and staring at her with an expression she doesn’t think she’s seen on his face since he was a child, one that makes him look young, like the little boy she used to carry on her hip is peering out from under that cool shadowhunter mask.

She doesn’t know how long they stare at each other like that before oil starts to hiss and pop in the pan. Alec jumps slightly, turning back to the stove and clearing his throat.

“Pancakes will be ready in a few minutes,” he says. “Magnus, could you—”

“Of course,” Magnus says, and claps his hands; a moment later, the table is set with gleaming porcelain and polished silver, berries and cut fruit piled high in bowls, three different kinds of syrup in crystal decanters.

“I thought you weren’t stealing anything,” Maryse says before she can stop herself, before she can remember that Magnus is not someone she has any right to tease. They aren’t there yet. They may never be.

He smiles at her, though. A real smile, one that crinkles the corners of his eyes. “Believe it or not, this was all in the pantry.”

“Yeah,” Alec interjects from the kitchen. He’s smiling too, just a little, as he flips a pancake neatly on the griddle. He’s a fairly hopeless cook in general, but he’s always been good at breakfast foods. He used to make waffles for Izzy and Jace back at the Institute, when they all lived together as a family. She hasn’t thought of that in years. “He likes to upstage me.”

“Not at all,” Magnus says. “I just believe in the proper presentation of a good meal.”

“Right,” Alec snorts, and turns back to the stove. Maryse curls her hands around her coffee cup and watches them bicker comfortably, feeling the awful tightness in her chest begin to loosen, just a little. She could leave now; she’s said her piece, after all. But Magnus left a place setting in front of her and the stack of pancakes that Alec is piling up is too much for two people even if one of them is a 23-year-old active-duty shadowhunter, and the way he looks at her when he brings it to the table is… tentative. Hopeful, almost.

It’s not absolution, she thinks. But it’s a start.

#shadowhunters #malec #malec fic #maryse lightwood #my fic

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stunudo · 7 years

Quote

There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.

Napoleon Hill

That Got Away: A Criminal Minds Fan-fiction Part 11

Inspired by: Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away”

Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss”

Featuring: Spencer Reid x Reader Setting: Season 4 Rating: Teen

A/N: Hang on! Warning: 3500+ words xoxo Stu

Warnings: Bodily functions, violence

I do not own any of the characters, quotes, images or lyrics.

Part 1 Part 9 Part 10

Michelle was laughing now, a laugh that made you think about drowned puppies and debased children. You gave in and dry heaved into the corner you had peed in a few hours ago. Captivity was not as pretty as they made it look like on television. She tapped her heeled toe in annoyance.

“I am helping her because I finally get to do this, Y/N!” Michelle kicked your chest with all her strength. The back of your head crashed into the brick wall seconds before your shoulders, knocking the breath from your lungs. Your vision wavered, then you were weightless once more. Through the blackness your ears became clouded and you drifted away from the smells on the cold floor.

Penelope Garcia was ransacking public records like it was a sale on Pop! Figures. She was digging through building plans and notation of purchases on the buildings connected to the hotel and convention center. Her fingers flew and her brain pushed on.

“Greetings my League of Heroes!” Her voice called over speaker phone. “So it turns out that Y/N’s father wasn’t the source of all their wealth. It was from the family of the late wife, her mom. Once she died the businesses and money were run without the family involvement, directly. Apparently our unsub number 1, “Auntie Miriam” was on the board of directors for one of the companies, ‘Prokopios Costa Holdings.’”

“Alright Baby Girl, coming back from behind! How does that give us motive?” Derek pushed the skilled analyst.

“It means, that when Dr. Y/L/N, the first one, died,” Garcia took a pause for effect.”

“Y/N Y/L/N became the majority share holder.” Hotch concluded.

“That’s why you’re the boss, boss!” Garcia agreed.

“So why kill Dr. Y/L/N in the first place?” Spencer asked confused, a nearly disgusted look on his face.

“Maybe she didn’t know until Y/N showed up and spoke with the lawyers?” Rossi mused.

“Uh, guys?” Garcia’s fingers were still flying. “Costa Holdings owns the hotel and the connected storage facility.”

“Of course they do.” Hotch acknowledged. “Good work Garcia.”

We were out on a date in my daddy’s car We hadn’t driven very far There in the road, up straight ahead A car was stalled, the engine was dead

The drive to San Francisco was tedious, causing you to swear often and without direction. Your hands cramped with the amount of tension they had supported through clenched fists. California freeways were perfect avenues for your heartbroken rage to pour out. Driving through up the 280 and branching onto the 1 put you on track to reach Auntie Miriam’s by dinner time.

You had never driven the hills of the city before, your dad always insisted on driving when you had visited for the holidays. The trolley’s added to the anxiety of driving through an unfamiliar street system. You silently wished your dad was behind the wheel, then refuted the wish because your father was a banal dictator.

There was a girl running sprints back and forth between your aunt’s driveway and the neighbor’s. She wore Umbro shorts and a sports bra as if she was in a Gatorade commercial. Her sweaty skin was sinuous, mild offense at her athletic body registered internally. You had enough experience with jocks and scholarship athletes at school to groan at the sight of one in their natural habitat.

You pulled into Miriam’s driveway, honking your arrival because you felt like pissing someone off. Spreading the misery around. You sighed and climbed from the VW, time to face the nunnery.

Miriam’s conditions resonated through Spencer’s mind. No weapons, no tricks and no wires. He could do that, in fact he would do that. While Hotch, Rossi, Morgan and Prentiss were coordinating with Garcia, Detective Change and local SWAT. JJ led Spencer to the hallway she had crawled into the hour before.

“Spence, you know this is going to end badly.” JJ gripped his bicep forcefully. “Whenever we split up one of us gets kidnapped.” Her melancholy laugh a poor attempt to break the apprehension they both were feeling. Spencer looked into the concerned face of his colleague and friend. His lips twitched while he wrestled with how to explain the real reasons he had to save Y/N. How this whole nightmare was his fault and it went back farther than Saturday morning at 1 o’clock when Dr. Y/L/N was murdered.

“I think we’re even now,” Spencer teased, the light not reaching his eyes like it normally would. “JJ, get some rest, I’ve got voluntary confinement to get to anyways.” He wrapped her smaller form in a slight hug as he slid past her into the miserable closet. JJ watched his lean body climb down into the darkness. She shoved the stone hatch back into place, securing it beneath its camouflaging mat once more.

The even spacing of the ladder rungs allowed Spencer to focus on counting. His steps, his breaths, his heart beats. His hip felt lighter from removing his holster. He measured time in his journey to understanding why Y/N had been the target of Miriam and Michelle’s unchecked rage. Revenge for petty unrequited love had past the usual time frame for serial stalkers. Power and money for Miriam were more probable motivators. Though he doubted them, as killing her brother was an illogical way to begin the lengthy legal processes of property transfer.

His seething anger at the damage and fear inflicted upon Y/N was buried. Instead he mentally measured the length of the slope in the small hallway. Spencer’s long legs had walked 207 feet at an incline of roughly 9 degrees. Upon reaching the knob-less door, Spencer noted his surroundings. The walls had fresh paint on them, the fumes lingered. The wooden door had not window nor sight glass. The security camera mounted on the wall showed no signs of power until it whirred to life after he knocked to the old rhythm of “Shave and a Haircut, Two bits.”

I couldn’t stop, so I swerved to the right I’ll never forget the sound that night The screamin’ tires, the bustin’ glass

It was the sixth day of your banishment to your aunt’s Parkside home. You were dusting her second office from the daily list of chores she left for you. Michelle was over because you weren’t sure how to get rid of her, like a reoccurring nightmare or pimple. She was relentless and continually made her presence known.

The week had started off fine. Auntie Miriam had meetings and usual adult weekday work stuff. Unfortunately she was under the impression that your stay was a punishment, so she confiscated your keys. Which was slightly confining, but you could handle it. You had only had the car to yourself for the past year, anyway. When Michelle started hanging around, she was a friendly distraction. You had nothing in common with her besides age and gender; absolutely nothing. You were just so lonely that you made nice.

She asked about school (Ancient Greek was not something worth studying, as if physical therapy was for everyone?) and what you did for fun (listening to rockabilly music and reading were for old people). Eventually your love life came up and you gave in and told her about Spencer. It was hard to talk about him because you were still angry and raw. You may have focused on the romantic stuff, just to impress her. You did not ask nearly as many questions about her life, you only realized after your short stay in San Francisco ended.

It was on that sixth day, the tipping point was reached. She wore her dark hair in a high pony tail and just nosed into ever object left out. “When do you think you’ll be done with the list today?” Her impatient voice asked as she sifted through a stash of paperclips. You had no idea, the lists were becoming more specific and time consuming the longer you were there.

“Probably not until I need to start dinner. Why?” You watched Michelle, her restless body pacing. “Were you planning on me being out of jail today?” You laughed forcibly. Michelle’s arms flopped down in frustration. She huffed.

“Why did you have to get in trouble to visit?” She was really pushing your manners with her accusation. “I mean, we could have had the whole summer and now I just have to watch you clean.”

“One, I didn’t get in trouble. Two, you don’t have to watch me do anything, Michelle.” Your voice was rising now. “I mean, who just hangs out in their neighbor’s house watching their family do chores. Get a clue. I am stuck here for another week and a half: then sayonara !”

Michelle’s gasp told you that you had gone too far, but you didn’t care. She wasn’t anyone important to you. If you were being honest, it felt oddly satisfying to get that off of your chest. She stormed out of the room letting the bird fly at you. When she was presumably out of the house, you went to turn up the radio.

As JJ returned to the conference room and temporary BAU headquarters, the team was strapping on their vests. Rossi and Hotch were conversing with Detective Chang, who was holding blueprints. Morgan caught JJ’s eye, his defined eyebrows umbrellas of questions. She shrugged her shoulders, the lingering feeling of failing Spence twice in one day floating in the back of her mind. Derek felt her dismay, he crossed the room to grab her in a quick hug.

“He’s going to be fine, JJ,” Derek soothed. “That kid is not going to let anything happen down there. Neither are we.” Her blue eyes looked into his dark ones, nodding. The tears gathering in their corners were quickly brushed aside.

“Hotch?” JJ turned. “Mind if I sit at the security station? I am in no shape to go with you guys, but I want to make sure you are covered up here.” Hotch eyed his young agent warily, he nodded, giving permission solemnly.

Rossi patted Derek on the back after the muscular man had holstered his second weapon. Prentiss walked JJ back out into the lobby. She made sure JJ had a seat and could see the monitors that the team had watched her captivity on. “You sure you’re okay watching us? The locals can handle this, JJ. It might be too much right now.”

JJ shook her head, “Emily, I’m fine. I will have Garcia on the line if I need anything. Besides, I will hear everything over the comms either way. Go get Spence and his “lady friend” back.” Her bad joke had both women exchanging awkward grins.

“Never thought I would be hearing that one.” Emily walked back to join the BAU and SWAT, rolling her eyes.

I found the love that I knew I would miss But now she’s gone, even though I hold her tight I lost my love, my life that night

Spencer was trapped in a cliche. There he sat at his kitchen table with crumpled pieces of paper lying in small piles around him. He was attempting to apologize to Y/N for missing her send off. He didn’t feel he could justify his absence. Besides his mother was a person, not an excuse. The words were not forming, thoughts and longings were burying him in guilt. He just missed her.

He decided to start with short, clear, honest sentences. That didn’t work, Spencer began to ramble onto the paper, his abundant thoughts overflowing and clouding his apologies once again. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, trying to remember their last kiss. It was a peck as he leaned back into the VW, his bottom half getting soaked in the downpour. She had grinned at him and he had smiled back without teeth, his eyes dancing in the streetlights.

It wasn’t enough. That shouldn’t be their last kiss, it was a quick goodnight. Not a goodbye. Spencer closed his eyes behind his glasses, shook his head for clarity and began writing his dearest again.

Spencer stepped back to allow the automatic door to open fully before stepping into the next bare, freshly painted hall. He saw the set of desks ahead, just 100 meters to go. Miriam Y/L/N eyed the tall man with quiet amusement; he had barely changed in years. Spencer tucked his hair behind his ear in slight self-consciousness. This woman resembled her late brother with her wide face and imposing presence. But the similarities ended there, Graham’s kind eyes and jovial air were not shared. Her cold stare and disdain kept with the chill of the surrounding brick.

Spencer stood with his hands in his pockets, nodding at his soon-to-be jailer. “Miriam.”

“Dr. Reid, at last!” Miriam stood quickly. “Arms up, young man. I need to check you followed my instructions, for once.”

Suddenly there were strong hands frisking Spencer’s narrow sides. He flinched away, seeing Kurt Hansen, the bellhop, in the flesh. Spencer held back his field training and let the man finish his search. He cleared his throat and calmed his breathing. “Satisfied?” Spencer spat as he glanced between Kurt and Miriam.

“Quite.” Miriam smirked. “Now if you would kindly follow Mr. Hansen, he will show you to your room.”

“Not until I see Y/N.” Spencer crossed his arms in defiance, his head tilting slightly.

“Oh, pish.” Miriam waved at him, “She’s just next door. Let’s all go and see what Michelle and Y/N have gotten into!” Spencer’s eyes popped in surprise, he had not thought she would let him near her niece. Her true target. He followed Kurt as Miriam marched behind them both. The hall was quiet, a small row of doors began, Spencer counted four before a wide metal garage-like door ended the hall.

“After we give you what you want, you’ll just what? Release us?” Spencer asked.

“After I have what I need and am far far away, yes.” Miriam specified. “I swear I will let you and your little minx go.” She nodded to her cohort. Spencer’s instincts were not accepting her vow as trustworthy just yet.

Kurt unlocked the large steal bolt on the first room. The sound reverberated through the small space and rattled Spencer’s bones of hearing. Standing on the other side of the door was Michelle Braxton, with her large hands on her hips. “It’s about time!” She huffed. “Princess over there has been out for five minutes. I thought you forgot about me.” She sounded like a child whining to a spoiling parent for more sweets. Spencer had to hide his instant annoyance.

As Kurt grunted back, “Deal with it, Mickey. We had another guest to attend to.” He held the door wider, baring Spencer to the scene before him. Y/N was laying face down on the damp cement floor, her mouth open and one eye swollen shut. Spencer’s arms flew from his pockets and he rushed to check on her limp body. Kurt and Michelle each grabbed one of his flailing arms, holding him just inside Y/N’s cell.

Miriam cleared her throat behind Spencer, “That’s enough, now let’s get down to business.”

Spencer knew not to argue now, his body walked dejectedly backwards as his eyes remained on the slight movement of Y/N’s torso. She was breathing! Once he was back in the narrow hall, he shook off the strong grips of the suspects. He held his hands up in surrender, following to his own captivity. Miriam was waiting for him in the dank space, almost smiling in anticipation.

“Dr. Reid, as I am sure you have deduced. I need your mind to access my brother’s fortune. I have a series of riddles, puzzles, what-have-yous that Graham designed for you. I also have a set for my impetuous niece. Now I must have both of you complete your parts to get what I deserve.”

Spencer was insulted by the trivial reasoning behind her fratricide. He huffed at her request. “How do you know your errand girl didn’t beat Y/N beyond reasoning? How is she going to complete her part unconsciously? You should let me check on her, ensure she can do what you need her—”

“That’s enough, Dr. Reid.” Miriam interjected. “Y/N will be fine, Michelle knows what she is doing. A brain like Y/N’s tends to prove more resilient than one might hope.” She approached Spencer with a sheet of paper and a simple number 2 pencil. “You may begin.”

The two guards at the door watched Spencer as he stood in the center of the room. Miriam left first, followed by a smirking Michelle and a bored Kurt. The metal lock shuttered into place.

When I woke up, the rain was pourin’ down There were people standing all around Something warm runnin’ in my eyes But somehow I found my baby that night

You arrived on campus just one day before classes started. The VW had handled the trek like a champion, but you were ready to leave her in the student lot for the remainder of the semester. After you had unloaded the last of your boxes, you decided to grab some dinner before the real unpacking was required.

You took your i.d. and keys to check the campus managed mail system on the way to the crowded eating/ studying space. Your box was jammed full. There were notices about x, y and z organizations, a couple of credit card applications and five letters from a certain scrawny guy with ridiculously soft lips. You sighed deeply, ‘Well, at least he’s not dead.’ You thought bitterly. You shoved your haul under your armpit as you headed to the cacophony of the cafeteria.

You quickly skimmed the fliers and advertisements, ripping the debt-magnets in halves. Finally, after your soup had cooled, you opened one of Spencer’s letters. According to the postmarks, they had begun arriving four days after you had left Pasadena. So he was thinking about you while you were gone, but he couldn’t bother to actually send you off. You tried to keep the negative thoughts away, but you were still hurt from his apparent abandonment.

When you shut off your attitude and read his letter, you began to weep. His gentle kindness begged for your forgiveness. Spencer knew facts and figures, but he also knew how to diffuse your temper. His message was simple, yet honest. You didn’t make it to the last paragraph before disregarding your meal tray to return to your room to call him.

“Hey, Sir-sir,” You smiled shyly into your suite phone.

“Y/N? Oh, how are you?” Spencer asked genuinely concerned.

“Better, I got your letters,” You cooed, “I only got through most of the first one before I had to talk to you again. So, it is safe to say you are forgiven.”

“You had every right to be angry,” Spencer admitted. “But know that I would have been there, giving you a more deserving farewell, if I could have. You must know that.”

You nodded your head, holding the lump in your throat as the bittersweet tears began to fall. “I miss you so much, how are we going to do this?”

“Just like this, mon cher.” Spencer’s voice softened at your distress. “As long as we can talk and write, we can do this.”

Spencer read through the riddles on the sheet before him. Why had Graham mentioned Spencer when he devised this seemingly juvenile test?

Why did I divide sin by tan?

Why should the number 288 never be mentioned? AND

What is the difference between a Ph.D. in mathematics and a large pizza? There were seven blanks at the bottom of the page, with the decimal going into the ten thousandths place. After all of this anger, frustration and happenstance: Spencer was sitting cross legged in a cell chuckling at math puns. The gentle hand of grief constricted his throat as he efficiently finished the problem.

201.0966

Spencer stood, clearing the dust from his trousers. He walked calmly to the camera nestled above the doorway. He held the paper to the screen, awaiting his next assignment.

Someone said you had your tattoo removed Saw you downtown singing the Blues It’s time to face the music I’m no longer your muse

The first months of the fall semester flew by as Spencer dove into the new classes he helped facilitate. That with all the lab time to get through for his doctoral level chemistry courses, he was as busy as ever. He made a point to write to Y/N on Tuesdays over lunch, because it was now such a tradition for them. They also tried to have a consistent phone date on Friday mornings. But Y/N decided it was time she get a campus job, therefore the phone calls were usually brief or just short messages left with her suite-mates.

Spencer’s birthday was approaching and he was counting the hours until he could finally be recognized as an adult. This also meant that he would have to finally decide what he should do for his mother. The paperwork from the lawyers, (Diana’s doctors had recommended to Spencer after her incident over the summer) was hidden in his book bag, in a plain manila folder. He felt as if he were carrying thirty pieces of silver around with him at all times.

When his birthday arrived, his mother was lucid. She sat him down and told him his birth story, again. She was so proud of her brilliant boy and at long last here he was, a man. He didn’t have class or lab until the afternoon, so he stayed home and took turns reading and being read to by his mom. It was guilty conscious more than birthday tradition, but she seemed none the wiser. Spencer slowly relaxed for the day.

Y/N called at eight o’clock that night, just before he had to get his mom her night time medications. She sang a boisterous Happy Birthday having somehow convinced the other girls in her suite to sing along. Spencer blushed at the attention, even over the phone and across state lines. “Well, now you’re legal, Dr. Reid. Maybe I won’t get arrested for seducing you after all.” Y/N joked over the phone. They had never gotten to that level of intimacy, it was just her usual banter.

“It’s a good thing, too. Since my mother is very protective of me.” Spencer teased back. “I do need to get going though, Y/N/N. Talk to you on Friday?”

“Can we scoot it up to 9 am?” She suggested evasively.

“Ugh, I suppose, I don’t need sleep or anything.” Spencer chided, his grin fading as his mother called from her room. “I really should go, goodnight mon cher.”

“Nighters!”

Part 12

@sparkle-dinosaur, @dontshootmespence @reiding-and-writing @speedreiding @reid-my-fortune @sapphire1727 @holagubler @cherry-loves-fanfic @lookingforgalifrey @miss-gleek-freak-geek@criminal-minds-fanfiction @reidbyers @sortaathief @imagicana @milkandcookies528

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condormirror35-blog · 5 years

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Bulls Start Strong But Fall To Talented Thunder

We’re heard so much about fighting with these Bulls that you almost wonder if the films they are watching involve Mike Tyson. And then Monday in their 121-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder it moved into the basketball ring, at least with some shoving and glaring, four technical fouls and a bug eyed Robin Lopez eventually ejected.

"To be honest with you, it’s really not that big of a deal,” said Bulls coach Jim Boylen, who did some refereeing duty in holding back provocateur Jerami Grant. “Those things used to happen all the time. Now they happen and it’s like a major deal. It’s not that big a deal. Everybody moved on.”

And the Bulls finally back home after a week on the road in two countries, three cities, more than 4,000 miles and more than a dozen traveling staff cases of, well, some ugly not feeling well.

“We continue as a travel party to kind of fight some type of bug,” Boylen acknowledged in saying that Jabari Parker took sick Monday and was inactive. Of course, the way the rotation has gone he wasn’t playing, anyway. Well, maybe with G-league two-way player Rawle Alkins making his NBA debut in a lineup with Cristiano Felicio and Antonio Blakeney after the Bulls trailed by 30 points with four minutes left.

Yes, it can make you sick, too, though not all that surprising a result considering the Thunder loss in Chicago last week, Zach LaVine still out injured and players perhaps fatigued from the nightly sprints to the toilet.

“I liked our start,” said Boylen (15-10 Bulls lead, though trailing 31-22 by the end of the quarter). “I thought we were in control of the game a little bit. And I felt they made some shots, some tough shots, and we didn’t respond very well. Then, the game got away from us.”

The Bulls were led by Lauri Markkanen and Bobby Portis with 16 points each and Markkanen with 15 rebounds. Kris Dunn had 12 points and seven assists and Cameron Payne with 11 points and six assists. Russell Westbrook had a triple double with 13 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists with five steals. The Bulls committed 25 turnovers, though the Thunder had 20.

But the last half of the second quarter pretty much ended the Bulls hopes with a 25-7 Thunder rumble led by Paul George with 23 points in the first half. That left the Bulls trailing 64-44 at the half — there was no Spurs Saturday night massacre and comeback this time — as the principal second half discussion was the pushing and shoving and Boylen’s headlock on Grant with 4:27 left in the third quarter and the Bulls trailing 82-61.

It hadn’t been a particularly rough or dirty or angry game, though Westbrook always appears a bit unhinged.

This time as Cameron Payne just ahead of him on the sideline was fouling Terrance Ferguson, Westbrook pushed Dunn. Dunn, back for just his fourth game this season and often playing with an angry edge and painted on glare, immediately pushed back.

 “Things just got out of hand,” said Dunn, who has been terse in interviews.

“I was just trying to stand up for KD,” explained Lopez, who also joked, as he is wont to do when not snarling on the court, about the officials misunderstanding his trying to help them when he later drew his second technical foul. “I saw somebody flying out of the corner of my eye from the other side of the floor and I was just trying to stand up for my point guard right there.”

That was the charging Grant, who seemed to come after Dunn and shoved Lopez, the latter who tumbled into the high roller row of seats. Lopez came up gesturing and apparently suggesting something other than the good manners of Jerami’s uncle, Horace. Boylen helped lead Grant away in an embrace.

“Obviously, we don’t want to back down,” said Payne, who previously played for the Thunder. “KD felt like he got pushed, so we got to ride with our team.”

Lopez, historically, wasn’t about to be present for much longer and rode his way out later in the quarter with a well-timed drop of the ball on Grant after a foul with played stopped. Thunder center Steven Adams was getting a good laugh out of it as Boylen escorted Lopez from the game.

“He’s (Lopez) a competitive dude,” said Boylen. “He cares about the team and he’s not going to back down. He’s got a great soul and a great spirit. He’s a Bull. Kris Dunn’s a tough kid. He’s going to stand his ground. He’s a very respectful kid, but everybody has a trigger point. I thought he felt he needed to do that.”

The Thunder, 19-10, led 88-69 after three quarters and then finished off the 7-24 Bulls with Westbrook running back to back fast breaks to close off a 13-4 spurt and 107-81 Thunder lead midway through the fourth quarter.

“We’ve just got to take everything we can and learn and grow,” said Boylen. “We’ve got to continue working on our poise, not turning it over, make simple plays. We’ve got a willing group in there. They want to please. They’re trying to do the right things, and we just need to play better.”

Speaking of those fast breaks, however, is the difference with these Bulls under Boylen. They fell into nine points that way Monday (27 for Oklahoma City), but the Bulls are certainly not trying to very often.

It seems apparent, and perhaps understandable with their best scorer sidelined, that Boylen has opted for a slowdown style of play. Which did work well against the Spurs because it was coupled with aggressive defensive play. Which is why Ryan Arcidiacono remains the starting point guard — Dunn actually is, but sort of starts off the ball — Shaquille Harrison is a regular and Lopez plays more.

It’s not a new theory in the NBA, if not exactly old school.

It’s the thinking that if you don’t have as much talent as the opponent, you slow the game down, walk the ball up, play half court, cut the number of possessions and stay in the game and maybe you can make some shots in the fourth quarter and steal a close game. Then if you defend aggressively, which has been Boylen’s prime directive, you can win some games. Like the way the Bulls turned around the Spurs game in the third quarter with steals.

But it’s challenging to score 100 points that way, and it’s difficult winning games in this more free flowing NBA without scoring 100 points. Plus, a team has to make more tough shots that way because of fewer open court opportunities. And it’s a change from the theories of former coach Fred Hoiberg, who emphasized passing ahead and running out.

Plus, you mostly need someone to break through with a big scoring game, or, at least, timely shots like Dunn did Saturday. There was no one for that against the Thunder, though Portis had a bit of a third quarter run before the commotion.

That’s when a player like LaVine can keep a team in the game now that Parker has been banished. Which is probably why the Bulls have to begin playing through Markkanen more. Markkanen did get 17 shot attempts Monday, but too many were quick perimeter jumpers. Markkanen was effective several times on the boards keeping balls alive and finishing. He has an inside edge being quicker than a big man like Adams and bigger than the backup Nerlens Noel. But the Thunder, like most NBA teams these days, do constant switching. That left smaller players too often on Markkanen. It’s an issue that’s been nothing new for these Bulls.

Markkanen is quicker and stronger than he seems and a better passer. He’s really the one player with LaVine out who draws the most defensive attention. Dunn got off to a quick start with six points and three of four shooting in the first seven minutes. But he attempted just four more shots the rest of the game. Though defenders go under Dunn on screens because of his weak three-point shooting, Dunn has developed a nice knack for his elbow jumper and getting through the defense to the basket. He needs to get to the free throw line more, as well.

But Markkanen has the best overall offensive game among the group with an ability to get his shot off in a crowd and get to the basket. Plus, he’s unselfish and will make a play. Until LaVine returns, he needs to be more in the middle of things.

The Bulls were ahead for a while early behind Dunn. Oklahoma City then had a 12-0 run as the Bulls went to the bench. The Bulls made their last effective run early in the second quarter with some nice moves from Payne to draw within 39-37 with 5:50 left in the half. Then it was the tornado named George who came roaring in for five straight scores, the last a pair of threes and the Bulls were looking for shelter.

Rookie Wendell Carter Jr. had just two fouls in the first half with six points on some nice rolls to the basket on Dunn assists. But Carter drew three fouls in the first five minutes of the third quarter and left the court clearly distraught. He also could be employed more given he’ll finish and has good hands and a nice shooting touch. But he likely been flustered again by the surfeit of fouls.

So the Bulls did push back. But more when the game wasn’t going on this time.

Source: https://www.nba.com/bulls/gameday/bulls-start-strong-fall-talented-thunder

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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littlestarlost · 7 years

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Setting Sun Deleted Scene!

Context: A good few paragraphs of Victor’s POV in chapter 12 was actually written way back in January or February, in this scene. So you’ve read about three and a half paragraphs of it already, but I’m just mainly glad that I got to use any of it! This came about after I went for a long walk in the miserable winter night while listening to Marina and the Diamonds over and over; this scene would have taken place before contact was established in chapter 8, but in the end my beta editor felt it was missing something and I really wanted to wait on Victor’s POV until the Bedroom Hymns scene, so all of this got shelved. For a long while it seemed like I wouldn’t get the chance to use any of it, but I’m glad I did, even if the second-to-last line (a personal favourite) may not ultimately make it into the fic itself.

The temperature has dropped to below freezing again, making neighbourhood sidewalks a hazardous maze of ice interspersed with bare pavement. Victor picks his way across the street as carefully as he can; once he hits the shovelled main road, his pace quickens. The cold has transformed the citizens of St. Petersburg into a crowd of shuffling jackets and scarves, barely recognizable as humans beneath all the layers. Only Victor is bare-faced.

He walks faster, Marina and the Diamonds blasting in his ears loudly enough to drown out the sounds of everyone around him. He passes a bingo parlour, gaudily covered in flashing neon and marquee lights of every colour and pattern which seem to pulse along to the beat of the music:

“I played with your heart And I could treat you better but I’m not that smart”

In a radio DJ booth inside his head, Victor comes close to the microphone: Hello, my name is Victor. This song is called “I’m a Ruin” and I want to dedicate it to my student, because I’m failing him.

Marina twists the knife: “I’ll ruin, yeah, I’ll ruin you... I’ve been doing things I shouldn’t do…”

In retrospect, the decision to keep coaching Yuri Plisetsky was the wrong one. Victor should have handed the reins back to Yakov, choreographed Yurio’s routines, and watched as the Russian Punk shot up through the Grand Prix like an epoch-ending meteor. Victor should have taken the year off, and done…what? Something. Whatever it is that relatively wealthy and internationally recognized 27-year-old athletes do. Be bored, probably. But Victor should have done that.

Maybe he should have gone back to skating. He’d have been a month or so late in terms of starting practice for the season, but he would caught up perfectly fine, and would now be ahead of the pack where he belongs. Every fucking person on the planet has been breathlessly falling over themselves to remind him that this was probably the last year he’d be able to compete seriously. Victor should have accepted this fact and done one last year of skating, even if he wasn’t inspired.

Except, no. Because the real should-have is the most painful truth: he should have stayed in Japan. Victor had already made up his mind before the Hot Springs on Ice tournament had even begun, and he had banked on the results being close enough that he could favour Yuuri Katsuki without much fuss. He’d been so confident that his mere presence had improved the poor guy’s self-confidence. Except Victor had been catastrophically wrong, and by the time all was said and done he had trapped himself in a catch-22 that screwed someone over no matter what. A promise was a promise; Victor had promised to coach the winner of the tournament, and the winner had been Yuri Plisetsky. To renege on the deal and stay in Japan would have tanked Victor’s reputation and enraged the Russian skating community, the people Victor called family. It would have cast a pall on Yurio’s Senior debut, no matter how high he scored; the story would always be tainted by the fact that, right at the start of the season, the Russian Punk had been betrayed by his former rinkmate. Victor had wanted to stay in Japan, to flaunt the rules of the contest he had made, but wouldn’t have been right to be so selfish.

None of this makes Victor feel any better, though, because the plain and simple fact is that he’s struggling to coach Yuri, and people have started to notice. He’s seen the articles and the comments; he knows what people are saying, and he can’t even deny it. Victor is an extremely talented skater and choreographer, and he’s a decent teacher when it comes to imparting advice and instruction; but Yuri is not a student he can truly inspire, and Victor is not the coach that Yuri deserves. Try as he might, he can’t coax the little blonde jerk into that elusive space where athlete stops and artist begins—the je ne sais quoi that makes for a champion. Lilia Baranovskaya has privately taken over a significant portion of Yuri’s training; her icy demeanour is a better match for his personality, but her disgust at Victor’s failure is always clear in her eyes.

It’s not that Victor isn’t trying. But he’s not fully present; he’s distracted, daydreaming, uninspired. He doesn’t want to watch Yuri do quad after quad all day; eventually they all start to look the same, and Victor wants to say “Good enough” and go home.

Victor wants to check his phone, again and again. He wants to call Yuuri Katsuki and scream something ridiculous like “I love you” or “I think I could have loved you” or “I think I really maybe like you a lot but we never got the chance to figure it out oh fuck it never mind” and then fly to Japan or send some flowers or maybe just throw himself off a bridge. Victor wants to do all of this and more, but he can’t; he’s trapped by his own stupid, stupid decisions, and now his decisions will have an impact on Yurio’s future in a major way.

In his ears, the singer keens: “It isn’t fair and it isn’t right, to lead you on like it’s all alright.”

Victor would say this to Yuri Plisetsky, if he thought the teenager would understand. It’s always been easier for Victor to communicate his feelings through music; it’s part of what makes his skating so powerful. Lesser coaches and uninspired skaters often forget that the choice of music will make or break a routine; you can have flawless, crowd-pleasing choreography, but the right piece of music is the thing that will turn those movements into a piece of art. It’s part of what made Victor fall in love with Yuuri Katsuki; Yuuri, like Victor, talks to the world and to himself through music. Lyrics become voice, and melody becomes body—the sacrament of the emotional audiophile. Music bypasses rational thought and taps into something viscerally primal—a well of emotion that can bring you to tears or make you scream to the heavens with joy.

Victor feels about as far from heaven as it’s possible to get right now.

He turns the corner and starts walking through the nightclub district, which is packed with people even despite the cold; there are clumps of smokers and flirting couples on the street as far as he can see. Victor turns up the collar of his coat and stares resolutely at the ground ahead, but keeps walking, and changes the song on his music app to another by the same artist, entitled “Fear and Loathing.” Surrounded by revelers, Victor feels as though he could close his eyes and banish the whole world and walk this street in solitude. The song is certainly helpful in producing a feeling of loneliness.

“I've lived a lot of different lives Been different people many times I live my life in bitterness And fill my heart with emptiness And now I see, I see it for the first time, There is no crime in being kind Not everyone is out to screw you over. Maybe, oh just maybe they just wanna get to know you.”

Oh, Yuuri.

This is Yuuri’s song. It’s so incredibly perfect. Victor imagines holding a gigantic boom box over his head, blasting the music halfway across the world like a deranged Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain John Cusack.

Yuuri Katsuki, the fantasy of a lonely mind. The one who got away. The one who was never caught in the first place.

#setting sun #yuri on ice #victor nikiforov #that boy is lonely

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itsjaybullme · 6 years

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The Trials of Sergio

Per Bernal

DATELINE: SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2017, WESTCHESTER COUNTY CENTER, WHITE PLAINS, NY

It was 10:20 p.m. as Jon Delarosa and Sergio Oliva Jr. stood waiting as the last two men standing—one of them would be declared winner of the 2017 New York Pro. It was Delarosa’s fifth attempt at the event and Oliva’s first. In fact it was the latter’s pro debut, a status earned when he took the super-heavyweight and overall titles at the 2015 NPC Nationals. Because of the inheritance of one of the most famous and lauded names in bodybuilding (his father, Sergio Senior, was three-time Mr. Olympia, 1967–69, and a leading icon of the sport), his debut was under extreme observation. It was like watching Mickey Mantle Jr. getting into the major leagues. Could the kid handle the burden of one of the most famous names in bodybuilding?

In his stentorian “Live from Burbank” TV announcer voice, emcee Bob Cicherillo rasped out the name “Jon Delarosa!” The runner-up slumped forward in disappointment, the winner sank to his knees and held his head in his hands, his body shaking with emotion.

It should have been one of the happiest moments of Oliva’s life; a dream fulfilled, critics answered. Instead it was the culmination of the most miserable and desperate period of his life. Absorbing the win caused a sense of relief to slowly, slowly envelop him. He digested his present position. At that moment of victory, he had hardly any money to his name. A long-standing sponsor had terminated his contract earlier in the year, and then a prospective new sponsor who seemed ready to make a deal pulled out eight weeks before his Big Apple assignment.

Courtesy of Sergio Oliva Jr.

A synchronized double biceps with wife Brooke.

That lack of income led to the domino effect of the power and services in his Venice, Southern California, apartment being switched off, and the reality was he was so broke he didn’t have a return flight ticket home to California. It gets worse. He married his Australian wife, Brooke, in December 2016, and a few weeks into his prep, she had to return Down Under for a family emergency. Once there she ran into an immigration dispute in which there was a snafu in approving her visa to the U.S., so she couldn’t return. And it gets even worse: Arriving in New York for the contest a few days before zero hour, Sergio contracted an infection and could literally not get out of a chair for two days. In apportioning nicknames, don’t call him “Lucky.” The bottom line was some relief came with the knowledge that the $12,000 first-place check would fill some of his needs.

The aforementioned is one of the craziest stories I’ve ever heard about battling contest prep hurdles, and Sergio, who is so refreshingly honest, opened up in a drama-laden interview in which he spoke his mind and revealed just what the hell was going on.

Click "NEXT PAGE" to continue >>

[pagebreak]

Per Bernal

THE BIG LEAP

“Winning the New York Pro was a quantum leap in my career. It was the major step in a journey I had started back in 2003 when, as an 18-year-old, I weighed 140 pounds at 6' and decided to take up bodybuilding. I won the Nationals weighing 240 pounds, so here I am in New York 18 months later, 20 pounds heavier and the leanest I’ve ever been.

“It took me 14 years to get here, and it’s been a helluva journey with plenty of self-inflicted bumps. Mentally, I’ve always been unsure, sort of like the same little kid I had started out as. I was so nervous. I couldn’t get a pump, could barely eat, and was scared to talk to anyone backstage. I even left the hotel without my posing trunks and had my friends run back to get them since the competitors were already doing their routines onstage. It was simply a train-wreck ride toward victory.”

Per Bernal

VALIDATION

“I feel this was validation to everyone else that I had not only arrived but that I’m also here to do more than place at shows and be an average pro bodybuilder or someone who is feeding off the notion that I’m only just my dad’s son. I’m here to not only win pro shows but also to win an Olympia one day. While this win was validation to people in general, it is validation as well that I was right to be confident in myself. And in a topsy-turvy way it proved I had the guts to progress, during the worst contest prep of my life, when everything was falling apart.

“I had to hustle to get a flight to New York, and then Brooke having to remain in Australia just about did me in. I needed her next to me as I trained and prepared, but that wasn’t possible. That hit me hard, real hard. But even from 8,000 miles away she kept me going and on track. Then I had the infection, and I thought that torpedoed everything. When I stood alone with Jon onstage I just felt as if I had put every one of my eggs into the basket that was the New York Pro. Didn’t even have a return ticket to L.A. I thought I might have to do a Kai Greene and do some dancing in Times Square to get a ticket back home. I couldn’t have gambled any more on myself. So I’m now proud of what I achieved. All the sacrifices and trauma ended up being worth it.”

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[pagebreak]

Per Bernal

NAVIGATING THE CONTEST

“I’m quite a historian and there are just too many statistics of pros not winning their pro debut, that it’s difficult to ignore—I wanted to win, of course! Don’t get me wrong. It’s crazy I had to win to save my life and be able to afford an immigration lawyer to get my wife back. So it wasn’t until they brought us three [Morel, Delarosa, and himself] out at the end of pre-judging that I knew for sure I was in the hunt. Then at night they brought just Jon and me out for a comparison, and damn, was I ready.

“The Sergio who appeared at pre-judging and the one in the finals were two different men. I knew after pre-judging I was behind, so I wasn’t going to do the standard post-pre-judging thing: Eat a big burger and fill up on Gatorade. Instead, I didn’t eat or drink even a drop of water and had to put ChapStick on my teeth ’cause my lips kept sticking to my teeth. I could literally taste that win and knew after all I went through, I needed to prove to myself and other up-and-coming young bodybuilders that you can still compete against people with lucrative sponsors and fewer obstacles and still win. Everyone I went against had sponsors, a home, their spouses to go home to, while I didn’t have any of those things, and I couldn’t let stuff like that stop me. I just wanted to show everyone I don’t need any special treatment. Because even with my name I still had to swallow bullets like every other regular up-and-coming bodybuilder.”

Per Bernal

WHY ME?

Don’t say it too loud, but sometimes it’s hard to banish the thought that Sergio maybe thrives on punishment. Like the masochist who loves a cold shower, so he takes a warm one. Hear him.

“Maybe I rise above adversity when things get tough. Maybe my New York experience was just one giant motivator for me. I’ve always been very pessimistic. I always say things like, ‘This always happens to me,’ ‘Bad things only happen to me,’ and ‘Why me?!’ But you know, I’m starting to alter that mindset. One reason is that I had conversations with Flex Lewis, Shawn Rhoden, and Phil Heath. They all told me stories that they’d endured that were way worse than mine. It’s crazy because all three represent what I hope to be one day, so their stories got through to me big time. It was the ultimate light at the end of the tunnel for me: It woke me up. And it’s weird I now am glad all those things happened. It’s like if they didn’t, I wouldn’t have worked as hard as I did. We all lift as if it’s life or death, but this time around I literally trained and did cardio like my life and my wife’s were at stake. So now that I went through that and so many other things people will never know— I’m the most confident I’ve ever been in my life.”

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Per Bernal

NEXT STEP: COLUMBUS

“I decided to not do the 2017 Mr. Olympia. Instead, I need to get my wife back, get a sponsor, and get my personal life back together. I would rather work on resetting my future than keep dieting just to get a third callout at the Olympia. I know my place. It would be a historical first for me to step on the same stage as my father, plus it would be a first for my mom: being the only woman to have a husband and child compete on that stage. But to go in not at my best would be a slap in her face and my father’s. I got the invite to the Arnold Classic in Columbus from Arnold himself, so that is my next show. I’m going to clean my body out, let my system heal from this horribly rough prep, get my rock, Brooke, back, and have a good off-season to get even bigger, and even maybe shock myself and a few other pros in Columbus.

“Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to keep mine and Chris Aceto’s [his contest prep coach] winning streak going. We’re two-for-two, but poor Chris needs a break from my emotional breakdowns. I wouldn’t have been even half the man/competitor I was in New York, if it weren’t for him. He’s more than a dietician to me. I have so many anxieties and issues, and he knows how to deal with me and kept me confident and motivated.”

Courtesy of Weider Health & Fitness

Making his Olympia debut with his dad, Sergio, in 1984.

THE PATIENT IS CURED

“I’ve changed a lot of my thinking since the New York Pro. I keep thinking I got this far with zero help without truly believing 100% in myself. I look at it as if I were on my deathbed for the past 13 years, struggling, not performing at my best, and I still beat guys while I was suffering. And now they found a cure for me. I’m getting out of the hospital a new man. I appreciate life so much more and also now feel unstoppable. I have a winner’s ring on my finger, reminding me I don’t have bad luck. The world isn’t out to get me.

“In fact, I have great luck because not that many people have done what I’ve done. I’m now more grateful for the bad things that happened to me ’cause I see life in a whole new light now and know now that all those horrible things that have happened to me since my first show were all for a reason— and a gateway to a new beginning.”

Postscript: As of Aug. 5, Sergio is sponsored by Old School Labs Supplements, Angry Mills Sinister Labs, Pro Tan, and Body by Eddie Inc. He also has his own clothing line named after his father’s signature pose, VictoryClothing.com. Things are looking up!

FLEX

from Bodybuilding Feed https://www.flexonline.com/ifbb/trials-sergio via http://www.rssmix.com/

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itsjaybullme · 6 years

Text

The Trials of Sergio

Per Bernal

DATELINE: SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2017, WESTCHESTER COUNTY CENTER, WHITE PLAINS, NY

Courtesy of Sergio Oliva Jr.

A synchronized double biceps with wife Brooke.

Click "NEXT PAGE" to continue >>

[pagebreak]

Per Bernal

THE BIG LEAP

Per Bernal

VALIDATION

Click "NEXT PAGE" to continue >>

[pagebreak]

Per Bernal

NAVIGATING THE CONTEST

Per Bernal

WHY ME?

Don’t say it too loud, but sometimes it’s hard to banish the thought that Sergio maybe thrives on punishment. Like the masochist who loves a cold shower, so he takes a warm one. Hear him.

Click "NEXT PAGE" to continue >>

[pagebreak]

Per Bernal

NEXT STEP: COLUMBUS

Courtesy of Weider Health & Fitness

Making his Olympia debut with his dad, Sergio, in 1984.

THE PATIENT IS CURED

FLEX

from Bodybuilding Feed https://www.flexonline.com/ifbb/trials-sergio via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes