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yufloria · 11 months

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Old Roots Pt.1

TASKFORCE141 x Fem!Reader

Summary: Los vaqueros and you were childhood friends and they left without a trace before you entered adulthood.

Sorry if this took a while, testing weeks are a bitch and almost considered dropping and scraping the idea on multiple occasions :/

Also: I tried adding more story/ background and working on my descriptions and details skills!!! Tell me if this is better and feedback is greatly appreciated <3

Word count:6.4k!!! (Get comfy :3)

TW: Blood, gore, violence, CoD type of violence, injured reader

WARNING!!!!! IT MAYBE GRAPHIC TO SOME OF THE READERS

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“Alejandro bajate de allí” you told Alejandro as he was playing on top of a stone hedge. “¡Por favor Ale!” screamed a very panicked Rodolfo while clutching to your arm tightly. “No worries I got this! I just need a little more!” He shouted back. This all happened after pointed out how delicious the red apples look hanging from tree. Alejandro being Alejandro and knowing how much you love red apples he is currently trying to reach from on top of the wall. But the problem was that all 3 of you were (at the time) really short. So, in the mind of a kid, he did the best thing he could ever think of which consisted of jumping off and hopefully getting the juicy treat for you. Growing up with him you knew what he was going to do with just a glint of his eyes. “Alejandro, no lo hagas, for everything I could ever ask of you please don’t do it.” Without a warning he just jumped off and landed on top of Rudy that you didn’t know when he moved but he tried to catch him. Both landed on their back on the rough patchy spot, the only spot without lush grass for some type of cushioning. You ran to reach them as fast as your stubby legs could go. Once you reached them you heard small sniffles, as you got closer Alejandro rolled off Rudy, he first looked at his scratched knee then at you with tear filled eyes and let all the tears loose. You were quick to pull him into a hug as your head rested on Alejandro’s shoulder you saw how Rudy also looked like he was about to burst into tears you knew he was because he was very scared of something bigger that could have happened to Alejandro. You just hold out your arm as in to invite him into a hug he quickly obliged. The three of you enjoyed each other’s presence until it was broken when Alejandro started giggling. The hug disbanded away from Alejandro just for him to turn around with a bright smile and holding out 3 red apples on a branch. “Ay, Alejandro...” You sighed out. Ruffling his hair, you quickly gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, he immediately turned red and shoved the branch in your arm and turned away and pouted. After pulling Alejandro to his feet, you guided them to a river and told Alejandro to wash the knee as well as he could while you washed the apples up stream. Rudy started to wrap a piece of fabric around Alejandro’s knee while you sat a little more behind them. “Gracias Rodolfo,” you praise as you give him a kiss on the check as a thank you. He also turned red and pulled his shoulders up to try and cover his blush. You distributed the apples to them and started eating them while staring out to the bustling town below. “Oye, when you grow up what do you want to do?” You ask out loud. Both Alejandro and Rodolfo hummed and tilted their heads as in thought. Alejandro was the first one to quickly stand up and shout, “¡Parar los tipos malos! And kick them out from here and make them never come back.” “That means joining the military, Alejandro! With the problem of the cartel, they are probably going to kill us just for joining!” countered Rodolfo. “We have to fight back some way or another. ¡Por nuestra familia!” You courage him with a warm smile. “¡Tienes razon! Juntos paráremos a todos ellos!” he shouted with a sudden boost of courage. You smiled fondly at both of them as you ruffled their hair and thought ‘Yes, together we shall stop all of them’!

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The strong relationship between all three of you were building throughout the years started crumbling the moment you started entering your adulthood. You no longer spent that much time together anymore because there was simply no time, your mom fell ill and has been bedridden ever since when you were a teenager, you took the part of taking care of her as your father went out most of the day and always came back after dark completely exhausted. It was a blessing and a curse that you were the only child, a blessing because your parents wouldn't use that much money on food and plain necessities but a curse because you always felt that you must help and work around the house for your parents and take all the load of work. As for Alejandro and Rodolfo? They left without a trace, one day you are catching up on your lives and finding a day where you can enjoy a day like the “good ‘ol times” and the next they were nowhere to be found, you asked around, but all the leads came into a dead end and soon you gave up on looking for them. It was harsh for you to adjust without them and the only thing you knew was they were probably dead but maybe they were alive! But if they were alive, why didn’t they tell you or a letter or the very least a goodbye. A few months passed and your mother unfortunately lost her fight against her illness. Her passing was harsh and taxing on both your father and you.

On your father because he started picking up drinking again after he stopped in order to buy the few medications that your mother needed. But for you, after losing your friends that felt like almost younger brothers to you and now your mother. You felt like you had no one, especially now with an emotionally distant father. His drinking problem slowly started to get the best of him, and he started wasting so much that you could no longer help with your job. After he realized he didn’t have enough to continue feeding his addiction he started asking for loans from the cartel as he knew he had no way of paying them back.

He soon started to take his frustrations out on you which caused you to say out of the house most of the time, sometimes even sleeping in the old hideout all of you built away from the town to hide whenever the 3 of you would do mischief. It was a small house under a huge oak tree the leaves and branches hanging down low enough to hide the scraps and wood you collected to build and resemble a house. It was a paradise, at least when you were younger, it had a small play kitchen with a window that had curtains made if sewn together random fabrics that you found in the garbage. On the windowsill there was a small tin can that you always replace each day when you were play pretend that you had a bakery or sometimes a restaurant, that supposedly that Alejandro and Rodolfo were going to help you build so you could fulfil your dream on opening your own restaurant and so people could enjoy your cooking. You always think about that promise every time you enter the small house.

For that reason, that “playhouse” you built together, was the sole reason you were still alive to this day because one day you were sleeping under the old tree. You were awoken by the smell of smoke and fire you immediately shot up from the makeshift bed and ran outside thinking that the town or the tree must have caught on fire but much to your despair it was your house. Of into the distance on a lonely hill where the house you grew up, played around, and made memories with your loved ones was ablaze with fire that looked like they could reach the sky and smoke that started making it seem like a twilight zone. You immediately started running towards your house. Your legs and lungs slowly started to burn and hurt as you made it on top. The flames produced so much heat that your eyes started to water. The townspeople were already trying their best to quell the fire. There was a human chain system that had water bucket from the nearby river. Your heart rate spiked once you noticed that you hadn't seen your father yet. You frantically started searching for him calling out his name and checking the face any man that seem to be the same age of your dad. Soon ice felt that was coursing through your veins, that the only possible way to find your dad was that he was in the house fire. As you turned to look back at your house, the roof collapsed like your lungs. You once again broke into a sprint to your house once you reached it you tried going in but an older woman no older that your mother caught your wrist. “¡No lo hagas mija!”. In desperation you shook her hand off from your arm and tried to run in but this time you were stopped by two ranchers, the same ones you would buy milk from every Sunday morning for your mom since she never liked her coffee black. This time they managed to hold you back as you tried to claw your way out from their clutches. “¡Suélteme! ¡Mi papá está allí adentro! ¡Por Favor salven a mi papa!” You watched as they slowly pulled you way from the burning house as tears rained down your face and your memories went up in flames.

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You were startled from your dreamless and restless sleep by a knock on the bedroom door. You were taking in your surroundings when the door opened to reveal the same women from yesterday.

Oh Yesterday... Oh yesterday...

The sweet lady was an old friend of your mom's. She always tried to help you with any small thing she could but as the years came; she just couldn’t go up the hill anymore. She must have sensed your sudden change of heart as your face contorted into a frown and grimace as you remembered the events the night prior. “Buenos dias hija. ¿Como Sigues?" she asked with a soft smile present on her face. Her soft hand covered your fidgety hands as your eyes began to get glossy with tears rimming your eyes. “Ay, mija...” she sighed and pulled you into a deep embrace it was probably your emotional distress of your resent events or the fact you haven't felt that type of hug your mother gave you every time you felt bad but this time the embrace had a beating heart. It was like a dam crumbling down and tears burst out has you grabbed fistful of fabric on her back as you let everything out and the sweet lady just stayed put, rubbed your back, and shushed as your tears reduced into small hiccups and sniffles.

The older lady grabbed you hand and gently pulled you up to your feet and with a soft voice she spoke, “Vamos, mija, there is breakfast downstairs.” Both of you sat down at the table and a breakfast plate was already prepared in front of you, it consisted of scrambled eggs with sausage, refried beans, and some freshly made tortillas the same one she used to make when she was well. You stared at the plate for a few minutes before forcing yourself to start eating. The sad tension was broken when a man which face was worn down by the years came in and took off his hat as he entered. “Buenos dias, ¿Como sigue la niña?” He asked his wife before pulling her way into the kitchen and soon it was filled with hushed, rapid whispers.

They emerged from the kitchen once again and stared at you with worry very present to their faces as they didn’t want to tell you something. Shaking his head, the older gentleman sat in front of you and placed his hat on the table. You stared in silence back at him urging him just to spill on what he had talked to his wife. “Mija...” he started but stopped once his voice cracked but continued “We found your father-” right before you could get your hopes up on seeing if your father was okay, he cut you off before you could even ask where he is “-but he isn’t with us anymore.” You deflated as you slumped into the chair and the food long forgotten. “Can you at least take me to him or tell me where he is?” You ask hopelessly.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“Because your father wasn’t there when the fire started, he wasn’t even near when it happened”

“Then what happened?” With that question a tension quickly formed in the room which caused you to panic and tilt your head as in question “What happened” you pressed again. You saw that the couple glanced at each other talking with their eyes as they hesitated to tell you the truth. “TELL ME!” you shouted you couldn’t take it anymore the silence was killing you. At your sudden burst the older man seemed to react he simply stood up take his hat off the table before heading to the door. “Sígueme, por favor.” You walked a few paces behind him, and you took note that his house was barely on the outskirts of the town and the direction you were going was to the heart of the town. You people stop and look at you, men taking of their hat, and the townspeople just walked in a somber silence as you walked by.

You felt the hair behind your neck start to rise the more you walked deeper downtown. A hand was placed abruptly on your chest right before a corner to the church. The man just looked at you with so much sadness and sympathy. He simply pulled you into a quick hug and stated “Lo siento mucho mija.” ‘He is sorry? Sorry about what?’ You thought before you could voice your concerns, he pushed you back and squeezed your shoulders to let you go to see for yourself. To go where your father was. As you rounded the corner your eyes widened in shock, the image before you caused a visceral reaction that made your stomach churn and your skin crawl. You feel frozen, overwhelmed by the disturbing emotions that race through your mind.

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Your father or whatever remained of your father was displayed in the front of the church. He was crucified but it seems that all his limbs were ripped off from the torso they were held up by huge metal stakes. Oh Gosh! His head! His head was staked on the top of the cross. The tip of the cross went up where the neck was supposed to go but worst of all you could see the tip of the stake looked like it was about to come out from his right temple. But it seemed that the eyes were already gauged out before the decapitation and the tongue ripped out and thrown carelessly to the ground. It was a gruesome sight to see. You weren’t squimish on the sight of blood or death, most of the time you always took care of the chickens since that was the only meat that your mom only enjoyed eating so this shouldn’t be new to you. But this time it was your father, your dad, that took care of you, cherished you and raised you nondifferent no matter how much he wished to have a son.

You fell to your knees as you coughed and choked up with your own vomit. It hurt, it felt like your whole skull burn under skin, now the lovely breakfast was now spilled on the side of the street. Your heart felt like it was being crushed as your entire world seemed to shatter into a million pieces. You gasped for air, but the tightness of your chest made it hard to breathe. Your hands shook as the weight of the situation began to sink in as you tried to hold yourself together.

From that moment on, you vowed to eradicate every cartel and ensure they never threaten you or your home again.

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You left your hometown there wasn’t anything for you to stay, you lost everything and everyone you cared about. That’s how you find yourself in this situation trapped in this old, abandoned house, not because the cartel managed to get their hands on you. No, you are better than that just you were in the wrong place at the wrong time you were helping a small group of drunk ladies after a night out and being the only sobber one around you decide to help them reach the nearby inn but taking care of one drunken person was hard you had to deal with three one of them.

You were so preoccupied taking care that they wouldn’t hurt themselves that you didn’t notice men all in black approaching the group until a gruff voice broke out, “Buenas noches, señoritas, how are you in this fine evening tonight.” You head snapped back to the man that spoke and notice that he brought 2 more other men that you could see. You set the girl that was the most wasted down had their arm around your shoulder on a rock. “Buenas noches, gentlemen, is there something I could help you with sir?” You asked innocently you were new in this town, but you been long enough to know that they are not from here and up to no good. “No, but I could ask you the same thing do you need help young lady? Seems that taking care of three drunks proves to be a hassle for you, no?” he noted by closing the healthy distance with his men too. Upon saying that all the alarms of danger came in blaring in your skull as even the ladies who were a little tipsy, holded hands and hid behind.

You could take them on, but they were close enough for you to notice that they were armed, and you just could not let them have their way with the women. You stood your ground has you can now feel his horrid smell of alcohol and terrible oral hygiene fanning over your face. His hand slowly came to reach and hold your cheek caressing it lightly. That kind gesture would be welcomed if it weren’t for the predatory gaze, he had present in his eyes as he tried to grind his knee on you between your legs. Before you could fight back the girls behind you squealed which cause you to turn and see that more men came out of nowhere. The hand being so gentle on your face shocked you as if it turned into a cobra, struck your chin, and forced you to turn back at him. This time you refused his advances by biting his thumb until you felt blood burst inside your mouth then you saw a flash of white and your whole side of the face seemed to burn and throb. You looked up at him on the ground as you felt blood start to seep from your busted lip. “¡Pinche perra!,” he shouted and landed a hard kick in your stomach.

You now know that you couldn’t get out of here without violence. You used your low stance on the ground you advantage. You acted fast lifting your body with your left hand and swung your right leg at the side of his knees as your body twisted right. You felt your leg connect with a satisfying pain that coursed up through your leg but seeing land on his enough for the pain to subside just a little. You launched yourself at him, your right fist connected to his jaw you were about through more before a man behind you wrapped his arm around your throat and squeezed. Your hands immediately flew to scratch him, but he didn’t budge, just squeezed more. You panicked when you started seeing black spots on your vision. You started kicking much harder and slamming the underside of your fists on his thighs. You were about to black out until your left-hand graced what you presume is a knife on his hip; enclosed your hand on the handle ripped it off from its socket and swung back on his thigh and buried it deep enough to his bone. He released you and caused you to fall forward with the knife still in hand. You gently barely hold your throat as you take in huge gulps of air, coughing during the process. The tears barely began to subside then another kick on your back was enough to make you snap back to the situation at hand. You rolled over onto your back, forcing your feet together and kick them out with do much force to send them back a few feet back giving you the opportunity to get back of your feet. You hear a shout coming behind you and head whipped to dodge the knife gracing your cheek, the knife in your hand quickly made home to the stomach. The man just grunted and froze into place as you hold him and pulled the knife back out once then twice and then once more but at the end you twisted the knife and drag it to the side and let the man fall with an ungraceful thud to the ground.

The amount of blood that covered you was frightening but nothing new. The guy that you stabbed on the leg started to crawl away as the first man that started all this also had a knife of his own but unlike the man that it currently bleeding out on the side of the road, he was swinging and failing the knife around with so much speed that nicked you multiple times before you noticed his attack pattern. Swing left, Swing right, then a double step forward. Swing, swing, double step. Again swing, swing and block with the left and push forward and go behind him, grabbed his chin with the same force he had with you and tilted to the side and drive the blade stained with his partner’s blood home on the neck, you struggled to get the blade out once he hit the ground felt the blade slowly come out some audible spirts of blood as you push and pull the blade, you felt yourself getting weaker as the adrenaline slowly subsided within you. As you felt your blade about to get released, then a major force hit your temple, it was strong enough for you to leave the knife embedded in his neck. You landed in your back lightheaded touching the side of your head feeling your blood running down your face and down to the grounds.

There was a loud ringing on your ears as you stare up to the night sky, in your peripheral vision you saw the man that you let live, the on you stabbed in the leg, throw a medium size rock, that’s now covered in small splatters of your blood, to the side. He slowly bend down to get a much bigger rock, heavy enough for him to use both hands and lift it high above his head. You told your body to move, to react or something as he came closer to you with a staggering leg behind. Your vision became black in and out. One side of your brain was screaming at you to force your body to move while the other, stronger, and much louder side just told you to just stay don’t move. Your injuries were just too taxing on your body. Right before he could smash your brain in, multiple shots rang out, his body fell to the ground, but he was already dead before he hit the ground. You heard steps all around you then other male face came in close to yours and smiled with a grin with crooked teeth and a horrible breath, excitedly said to his men as you barely heard, “¡Estás una chulada! Let's take her to EL Sin Nombre, he’ll give us a big prize for this girl that can cause this much damage,” then everything faded to black.

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You woke up with a throbbing around your head it felt like rubber band squeezing eternally. Groaning out as you painfully slowly got up into a sitting position. You raised one of your hands to feel all the dried-up blood caked up on your face and immediately began scratching it off the best you could. You repeatedly open and close your eyes trying to get rid of the dizziness, once settled you took in off your surroundings. It was an abandoned rural house, the windows were caved in but covered in wooden planks, there wasn’t a door, a suspiciously stained deep brown cloth nailed onto the frame. The cloth didn’t do an excellent job of muting the sounds coming from the room next door.

Voices started to arise and slowly made their way towards your direction until finally a man reveal behind the cloth you squint your eyes at until his imagine of the night before appeared in your memory. You are proud to admit that you haven't held hostage too many times before, but you are ashamed to admit that acting like a defenseless and dumb civilian has gotten you out in multiple situations before, so you take your chances and play with that card. You got into character and just stared at him with alarmed doe eyes as he got closer to the makeshift “bed” of you can even call it like that. Before you can play your part, he beat you to it “Cut the crap,” he mocks “I- I mean- We know that you don’t just kill people like that even if it was part of “self-defense”, I saw it in your eyes you have done this more times than you can count,” He grinned out with the same teeth damaged by tobacco and his horrid putrid smell of his breath. “That is why I have you here, alive, so you,” he points at your chest and continues “can work for me, us, for a good pay... for what you do”. “What do you think it is that I do?” You seethe between your teeth. “Simple...” he stats “kill for us. For the cartel.” Acting stupid be damn! You knew that your face gave your true intensions away because before you could even react or voice your opinion. His hand enclosed around your throat squeezing with so much force that it seemed too much from his lanky built. He was smart enough to push himself over you, caging you with a leg on each side of your body and start squeezing with both hands. Your throat must have bruises from the night before because you felt paralyzed by the immense pain for a few seconds before your instincts to survive kicked in, you tried again scratching him on the hands, but nothing seems to work. He squeezed harder and pushed you deeper into the mattress as you tried pushing him away from you or at least scratch his face to know at least you did some damage to this poor bastard.

The weight suddenly vanished, and you felt something wet splattered on your face. The body onto of you slump down to the side with a hole straight through his skull. A sniper. Your blood ran cold as the people on the other side of the room burst out in a commotion when a load of rounds started ringing out by multiple people. Chaos was induced as the paper-thin walls didn’t do anything to stop the bullets and your heart felt like it was about to explode within your chest. Run, run, run! Was the only thing your brain was screaming at you. You stumbled around protecting your head; running and searching for an exit as bits and pieces of debris exploded all around you. Out the back door you heard the person inside had a radio that yelled in English! “Soap, get hold of her she’s the only one who might help us find El Sin Nombre! I’ll keep a look out up here.” They were looking for you in this case, hunting you! That being said you took off as fast as your legs could. A different voice broke through the radio and alerted the man inside once more, “Soap, she running to the blue two-story house southwest from your location!” “Shit!” you cursed out loud as more shots came... above? You look up there was helicopter orbiting the whole neighborhood that you woke up in. You already had a gun that was on the body of a dead man and ran the opposite direction where you first heard the shots and killing two men that had pointed guns in your path clean through the chest. You couldn’t even pat yourself in the back for killing a moving target while you were also in the move that is a first time for you today!

The ground started spewing upwards as bullets crashed into the ground near your feet. A sharp pain in your right calf causes you to stumble forward and crash to the floor with the momentum you had. You look down at your leg and inspect the wound, luckily it grazed your leg not before getting a quarter of a centimeter of your flesh away. You wince at the sight that started to burn and turned to look at the man named “Soap” a silly name if it wasn’t the fact that that he was currently hunting you and closing meter after meter to get you. You swiftly scrambled to get on your feet and limp to the house that had two floors. Some cartel members burst out of the house and paid no attention to you instead to Soap, you were internally grateful they managed to distract him and buy you some time. You bashed the door open with your shoulder and shot where you saw movement you swept the first floor and tried the best you could to run the second which thankfully was empty.

There was empty bookshelf next to the door you quickly rushed in pushing it if front of the door and lodging it with wooden floor lamp stand and tie it around the bookshelf happy with your work you look out the window to find a dense forest out in the outskirts of the town. If you can make it a few yards into the forest, you'll be free. Stomping up the stairs made you snap out of the daydream and raise your gun at the door, he tried the door only to discover it was locked. “Open the door! I don’t want to hurt you!” A thick Scottish accent rang out thought the silence other than your beating heart in your chest. 'Don’t hurt you, my ass!’ you thought as you pulled the trigger without hesitation until it clicks without a bullet. Jesus fucking Christ just your fucking luck! You wasted the last of the bullets on the bastards the floor beneath you and now some crazy ass psychos are after you! Groaning out silence you start looking for another escape route until the was a huge bang at the door behind the bookshelf.

Bastard was launching himself to the door trying to pry it open, not choosing to shoot because he might accidentally hurt you. You only started panicking when you heard splinters come apart at the door, that’s giving in to the repeated force. Out the window it is! Thrusting the butt of the gun to the window it shattered upon impact and chipped off the glass on the windowsill, the noise seems to agitate Soap more because he panically shouted “I know she’s escaping but I’m stuck behind this fecken stupid door! But I’m almost in, the door is about to give up!” True to his word the door did seem like it was 3 hits away of giving in. Bang! You turn to the door, and you saw his gloved hand slip in and take ahold on the side of the door near the doorknob refusing to let the door shut again. The second bang was heard when you were sitting on the windowsill, a leg on each side, and half of his body head included his head could now fit through the crack. His eyes widened as he knew your plan of escape when he saw your position. You knew he was going for the last blow as he retracted his body but this time instead of waiting for the bang when his body slammed to the door, you threw yourself out the window. You couldn’t cushion the fall and crashed to the ground it hurt like a motherfucker, but you couldn’t stop yourself from moving you started crawling and then you go to yourself up and running, limping miserably but running just a few more yards and you be free, you could taste it, tears started forming at the excitement. But then a huge force brought you to the ground once more but this time you couldn’t fight him off you couldn’t even move an inch, the force on top never budged and it was heavy enough to have your lungs struggle to function correctly. The man turned you onto your back and you were met with a horrific picture of a human skull that had deep dark blue eyes staring back at you with an emotion that you couldn’t quite decipher. He proved to be strong enough to hold both of your hands in one of his. The free hand was set the radio on left shoulder and spoke with a British accent “I have secured the running fugitive and we are a few clicks away from the forest Northwest from the location of Soap.” “We have actual visual on you, Ghost, preparing landing to proceed the exfil.” Hearing that Soap was apart a team all hunting you down made your head spin.

Panic once again arose from you as you desperately tried to get of the clutches to this terrifying man, but he didn’t move an inch the frustration got up to you once and just started crying silently as you stared longing at the forest next to you. You were so close and yet so far. Soap meets up with this “Ghost” man on top of you. “What did you do now Ghost? You made another beautiful lady cry again. It was probably because of that ugly mask again,” he teased once he saw your position under Ghost. “Probably if you didn’t do a shit job at capturing her, I wouldn’t be so rough with her but considering she slipped from you two times was the hardest thing to watch through the scope. She was also going to escape from us that third time and I had to take matters into my own hands and here we are, waiting on that helicopter to land and take our asses home with the only person that can help us find answers from El Sin Nombre.” Soap stays quiet but through the silence there was an audible smirk present on Ghost face behind the mask. The helicopter finally landed and Ghost grabbed the front of your shirt to pull you up to your feet and before you could start running, a black plastic zip tie was placed around your wrists by Soap, you could only glare at him as a firm hand was placed behind the base of your neck as a warning to not do any funny business, at least when Ghost was near.

The trio got on the helicopter you were met with two new more faces. An older man that seems to have the warmest smile with crinkled eyes that had a fishing hat that looked impossible to move considering the hat didn’t flinch at the huge gusts of wind the helicopter produced. His name was Price. The other man that seem the youngest of the whole group had darker chocolate skin and had the fullest lips ever on a man with a cap that told the same story as the hat of his older teammate. He introduced himself as Gaz and with the introductions out the way the aircraft lifted itself off the ground and into the sunset sky above.

Almost reaching the 25-minute mark and you have arrived on a small military base. Everyone got off the helicopter and in front of you there were already black SUVs formatted in a line. Everyone started walking towards the car, but you were limping, and Soap was the only one to notice and took your right arm and took off pressure on your wounded leg. Ghost turned around and raised an eyebrow at both of you. Soap simply shrugged and said with a smirk clearly present “What? It’s the least I could do after damaging some fine lady’s leg.” Once you were settled in between Ghost and Soap, even Price as the driver and Gaz the passenger. The car began to move with the help of the rear-view mirror Price made eye contact with you and said “Get yourself comfortable it going to be hours before reaching the location we need you in.” Get comfortable you did! After the stressful two days you had to experience and the amount of adrenaline you had to use took a toll on you because you fell asleep on Soap’s shoulder snoring lightly before the 30-minute mark.

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A/N: Idk why is so graphic but I feel like it fits the story especially if its about the cartel yk yk?

And Pt.2 is in the making :3

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angelatmidnight1 · 4 years

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A Hunter’s Sense of Humor

This is the first story I’ve written so far, hope you guys like it ^^;.

Summary: Octane tickles Bloodhound for ‘teasing’ him during their training.

You’ve got to be kidding me.” Octavio groaned as the arc star he threw barely missed the target, skimming over the top and sinking into the wall behind it. Bloodhound, who was standing to the side of him, remained quiet as they picked up a different arc star and threw it at the same target. Their movements were swift yet precise, and when the arc hit the target in the dead center, they flinched slightly as Octane dropped a slew of Spanish expletives. “The gods favor my aim today.” Bloodhound said quietly as they looked over to the incredulous daredevil and bowed their head. “It was an honor to train with you this morning, Octavio. I look forward to accompanying you in b-”

“No! I want a rematch. I swear you're cheating!”Octane insisted as he crossed his arms, making him look more and more like a sulky child. Bloodhound nodded towards the empty spot at the daredevil’s feet and smirked slightly underneath their mask. The pair had been training for the past two hours and Octane must have used every grenade that he had. Not that he hit any targets.

“I am disappointed that you would question my honor; however, it looks like you have used the last arc star in your possession. I think it would be best if we proceed to weapons training.” Bloodhound replied though Octane pulled out the last arc star from his belt and waved it over his head like a madman. “I have one more! This is the lucky one, I can feel it!” He declared, slightly bouncing in place as he got in position to throw it. Bloodhound offered another nod and leaned against the wall behind them and watched the arc star leave Octane’s hand...and blow up against the wall behind the target. Bloodhound chuckled at the frustrated yell that ripped out of the daredevil, chuckling a bit more as Octane kicked his leg in the air for whatever reason.

“Shall we proceed to weapons training?” Bloodhound asked with the faintest hint of a smile lingering in their voice. The hunter was not making light of Octane’s ability; they had seen his prowess firsthand on the battlefield. However, the daredevil’s wild expressions and verbal disappointment amused them. Octane, hearing the very slight change of pitch in Bloodhound’s voice, whipped around and raised a brow at them.

“Are you laughing at me?” Octane asked only to have Bloodhound shake their head and cross their arms against their chest.

“Not at all. I just find your reactions rather amusing.” Bloodhound offered before clearing their throat to hide what Octane believed to be another chuckle.

This spurred Octane into action and now, forgetting his rather poor throwing performance, he marched towards the hunter with a look that Bloodhound couldn’t place. “You laughed just now! Do you think me whiffing my shots was funny, amigo? Cause if you wanna laugh...oh, I’ll give you something to laugh about.” It was Octane’s turn to smirk as he closed the distance between himself and the hunter at a rapid pace. Bloodhound put up their hands defensively and backpedaled away from the daredevil, growing unnerved by the look of mischief in his eyes. “I apologize, I did not mean to offend you. Though whatever it is that you are planning, I’d advise against it.” They responded in the firmest voice they could muster; though, if anything, Octane marched over to the hunter at an even faster pace. “Oh no, there are no brakes on this Octrain!” He grinned before leaping towards the hunter and tackling them to the ground. The pair wrestled up until Octane finally managed to pin Bloodhound’s arms down underneath his legs and sat on their waist. Bloodhound continued to struggle to free themselves although the daredevil’s metal legs were rather heavy on their arms and when Octane raised his twitchy fingers in the air, they froze. “What are you--”

“Relax compadre, I’m just gonna give you a real reason to laugh. So! Tell me, are you ticklish?” Octane grinned widely as Bloodhound shook their head and visibly tensed up.

“No, I am not. Now please..get off of me.” Bloodhound said quietly as they arched upwards to try and knock Octane off, frowning when they were easily pushed back down with Octane’s body weight.

“¿Por qué? (Why?) If you’re not ticklish, then this won’t bother you!” Octane laughed before bringing his twitching fingers down onto the hunter’s torso. The daredevil had no idea if Bloodhound was ticklish or not and, if they proved not to be, he wasn’t sure whose wrath he was more afraid of. The wrath of the greatest hunter in the Outlands? Or the wrath of Ajay Che, who’d surely give him a throttling of her own after she patched him up for doing something stupid. Octane didn’t have to worry for long; once his fingers started tapping against Bloodhound’s sides, he felt the hunter flinch and heard them exhale sharply through their nose.

“¿Qué pasa? (What’s wrong?) Did I do something funny again or...does this tickle?” Octane smiled as Bloodhound didn’t offer an immediate response; they shivered at the quick yet gentle pokes to their sides and reeled upwards when Octane scratched at their ribs one at a time. The daredevil’s blunt nails scritched along the length of each of their ribs, playing them like a piano. Octavio’s nails went up, down, and even managed to wriggle in between their ribs, and the hunter found the sensation maddening. Bloodhound was very careful about their interactions with their fellow Legends and never thought they’d have to worry about being tickled. They always made sure to keep their distance, to be cordial yet discreet. But now, pinned down on their back, Bloodhound felt the laughter dribbling from their lips and wheezed when Octavio kneaded their upper ribs.

“O-Ohohohctahahavio sthohohohop…” Bloodhound tittered, unable to reel in the giggles that started to come about more freely. Octavio perked up, they were ticklish after all, and he was going to have a field day drawing out the hunter’s laughter.

“Stop what? It’s not like you’re ticklish or anything. Riiiight~?” Octane mused, cocking his head to the side and following Bloodhound’s movements with ease even after they started to squirm with a renewed vigor. Underneath their mask, Bloodhound’s face reddened as they giggled harder and shook their head again.

“Plehehehehease y-yohohuhuhu’ve mahahahahde yohohohur POHOHOHOHINT!” Bloodhound yelped when Octavio reached under their arms and lightly pinched at the hollows, finally prying open the floodgates of their laughter. “AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH!”

“What point was that again? I don’t remember,” Octavio smiled while walking his fingers up their arms before returning to tickle away at their hollows. Bloodhound’s laughter grew louder and they pulled at their trapped arms though they didn’t move an inch.

“I’HIHIHM TIHIHIHIHIHCKLISH!”

“Sí, so you are. But...that also means that you lied to me. Friends don’t lie to friends compadre!”

Octane quipped, giving their armpits a few more pinches before he walked his fingers back down to their sides and clawed at them eagerly. “Now you’re gonna get it…”

Bloodhound cried out before the laughter overtook them, arching their back as Octane mercilessly squeezed and prodded up and down the hunter’s flanks. Octane noticed that they desperately bucked the closer he got to their waist and he started stroking his fingers at the spot, giving it a few playful pokes. “NOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! OCTAHAHAHAVIO IHIH YIHIHIHIHELD!” They yelled with their frame shaking from the intensity of their laughter. Octane couldn’t stop smiling if he wanted to; he’d never heard the hunter shout like this and never witnessed them become so unhinged. Especially not from a couple of tickles.

“I’m still gonna tickle you! This is what you get for lying!” Octane said before plunging his thumbs into their hipbones and kneading them in circular motions. The hunter bucked furiously, this time nearly knocking Octane off of them, before convulsing with wild, heavy laughter.

“NOHOAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!” They cackled and kicked their foot at the ground repeatedly. Their eyes were shut tight underneath their mask and the daredevil laughed along with them as they started scratching at their hips instead.

“¡Dios mío! (My god) I think I hit the jackpot!” Octane cheered as he scratched away at the poor tracker’s hips and kneaded his thumbs back into the bones when he grew bored of the former. Bloodhound was in stitches; they flopped against the floor helplessly as the laughter came out in heaves. When Octane went back to kneading the hip bones, which tickled them terribly, they used what was left of their strength and bucked hard enough to throw him off of their waist. This gave them the opportunity to roll onto their stomach and gulp in air but Octane, who had toppled over on his side, didn’t take long to recover and sprung back up to re-pin the hunter down.

“Going somewhere?” Octane snickered, wiggling all ten of his fingers along Bloodhound’s lower sides and waiting for them to buck so he could slip his hand under and squeeze at their hip. Bloodhound screamed, actually screamed, before howling with laughter and landing back on their stomach, effectively trapping the daredevil’s hand.

“PLEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAAHAHAH! EHOHAHAHAHAHAHAH TAHAHAHAAHAHA!” Bloodhound could barely speak as they fell back into a laughing fit and desperately clawed at the ground. Octane laughed and pinched their hip as best he could, which the hunter responded to by kicking at the ground.

“I’m stuck now, compadre! Roll back over and maybe I’ll stop,” Octane answered while repeatedly pinching their hip bone. Bloodhound hiccuped and tossed their head back with harder laughter and the daredevil raised a brow at them before shrugging and continuing the tickling. “No? Fine then, kitchykitchykitchy~!”

Bloodhound’s laughter had all but fallen silent now and tears streamed down their cheeks as Octane subjected them to his tickle attack. Octane didn’t even let up when the hunter did manage to roll back onto their back; he just squeezed and scratched at the other hip he got access to. Octane stopped tickling them when the only sounds they made were faint squeaks and hiccups and climbed off of them, allowing them to curl into themselves. Bloodhound panted heavily and rubbed the ticklish sensations out of their torso with shaky hands and Octane chuckled.

“Aw, you don’t even look like you had any fun! Lighten up amigo.” Octane said as he poked the hunter’s back which, to his surprise, earned him a faint chuckle.

“Enough tickling, please.” They gasped, recoiling further away from the daredevil.

“I never thought in a million years that you’d be ticklish. This is awesome! We are totally going to add this to our training.” Octane grinned and excitedly hopped to his feet, running off to go and retrieve the weapons needed for their training. Bloodhound groaned and pushed themselves up into a seated position by the time Octavio got back and exhaled deeply.

“Please don’t tickle me again.” They murmured, not having enough energy yet to go join him. Octane looked over his shoulder and grinned at them, excitedly twirling his wingman in his hand.

“Haha, no promises. Now come on, we have some training to do!”

#bloodhound #bloodhound apex legends #bloth hundr #bloth hoondr #ticklish!bloodhound #octane #octane apex legends #octavio silva #first story

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blackpoliglota · 4 years

Text

🎶Música/Musique/音樂🎶

A friend of mine went on Instagram a few weeks ago and asked her mutuals for international music suggestions. Naturally, ya neighborhood Black linguist right here responded immediately... despite seeing the post at about 4am her time in Madrid 😭 After having given my friend the lengthy (... or not-so-lengthy) list of artists I listen to on the daily, I decided to make a post about this! So without further ado, here is my list of artists I listen to, as well as some of my favorite songs by them! Album titles are in parentheses after the song titles. And feel free to click on any song title you’d like to listen to!

SPANISH 🇵🇷🇨🇱🇨🇺

Calle 13 🇵🇷

I first came across Calle 13 through Shakira’s song “Gordita” from her album Sale El Sol waaaaaay back in 2010, but it wouldn’t be until my senior year in college (2019) when I started listening to their stuff. Now I listen to literally ALL of their songs, but some of my favorites are:

“Latinoamerica” Feat. Totó La Momposina, Maria Rita y Susana baca (Entre Los Que Quieran)

“Digo Lo Que Pienso” (Entre Los Que Quieran)

“Muerte en Hawaii” (Entre Los Que Quieran)

“Todo Se Mueve” Feat. Seun Keti (Entre Los Que Quieran)

“El Aguante” (MultiViral)

“Multi_Viral” Feat. Kamilya Jubran, Tom Morello y Julian Assange (MultiViral)

“Cuando los Pies Besan el Piso” (MultiViral)

“Los Idiotas” (MultiViral)

“Perseguido” Feat. Biga Ranx (MultiViral)

“Que Lloren” (Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo)

“Gringo Latin Funk” (Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo)

“La Perla” Feat. Rubén Blades y La Chilinga (Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo)

“Fiesta de Locos” (Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo)

Residente 🇵🇷

One half of the act Calle 13, Residente made his solo career debut in 2017 with his self-titled album, the album that actually reintroduced me to Calle 13 in 2019. Residente also has several released singles here and there, some of which being products of collaborations with Bad Bunny and others. Here are some of my favorites from him:

“Guerra” (Residente)

“Apocalíptico” (Residente)

“Dagombas en Tamale” (Residente)

“Somos Anormales” (Residente)

“El Futuro Es Nuestro” (Residente)

“Bellacoso” Feat. Bad Bunny (Bellacoso - Single)

“Cántalo” w/ Ricky Martin y Bad Bunny (Cántalo - Single)

“René” (René - Single)

Danay Suárez 🇨🇺

In my last semester at my college I took a class called Afro-Latin History, a class I wish I found out about much sooner than I did. That class seriously had me questioning my choice in major... IN MY LAST SEMESTER!!! Seriously, EASILY one of the best classes I’ve taken in my entire life, no exaggeration. ANYWAY (getting of topic, my bad 😅), in one class we were discussing a book called Negro Soy Yo (= Black I Am) in which the author (Marc D. Perry) relates how hip-hop and rap are used to explore Cuba’s racial structure alignment and how it shifts along with the state’s change from a revolutionary socialist state to one functioning under capitalism. Being inspired from such an interesting read, I decided to look for more Afro-Cuban musicians to listen to. Next thing I know, I have Danay Suárez playing in my ear. My favorite songs from her are:

”Closer Now” Feat. The Idan Raichel Project (Palabras Manuales)

“Integridad” Feat. Stephen Marley (Palabras Manuales)

“Yo Aprendi” (Polvo De La Humanidad)

“Las Bala” Feat. El B. (Palabras Manuales)

Ana Tijoux 🇨🇱

It’s thanks to 2 of my college friends that I learned about Ana Tijoux. This Chilean rapera (= rapper) came to Scripps – one of the Claremont colleges; I went to Pomona – to give a talk about how she uses her music to communicate her political views (trash talking capitalism... my kind of political view) and to promote social justice, to keep it short and sweet. These are my favorites from Ana Tijoux:

“1977” (1977)

“Somos Sur” Feat. Shadia Mansour (Vengo)

“Vengo” (Vengo)

“Antipatriarca” (Vengo)

“Creo en Ti” Feat. Juanito Ayala (Vengo)

“Oulala” (1977)

“Cacerolazo” (Cacerolazo - Single)

“Antifa Dance” (Antifa Dance - Single)

Ibeyi 🇨🇺(🇫🇷)

Now discovering Ibeyi happened completely randomly... through a targeted Facebook video placed on my timeline. It was their music video of the song “Me Voy” featuring Mala Rodriguez that appeared. No long story here: I watched it, became intrigued, looked them up to find that they’re *AFRO-CUBAN (and French) artists, became more intrigued, searched for and listened to more of their music, and ultimately fell in love with their sound. The way their voices are so in sync with each other is ethereal; together they sound celestial! Some of my favorites from them are:

“Me Voy” Feat. Mala Rodriguez (Ash)

“I Carried This for Years” (Ash)

“Deathless” Feat. Kamasi Washington (Ash)

“River” (Ibeyi)

“Behind the Curtain” (Ibeyi)

French 🇧🇪

Stromae 🇧🇪

I can’t exactly remember how I came across Stromae... I believe it was through a childhood friend of mine?? I know for a fact that she did mention him to me at some point before I started actually listening to his songs, but I’m not sure if it was via those conversations how I became motivated to give his music a try 🤔 Either way, I ended liking his music enough to listen to it constantly! Here’s what kept me listening to Stromae:

“Papaoutai” (Racine Carrée)

OOOOOOOH I JUST REMEMBERED!!! 😃😃😃 It was through Pentatonix’s arrangement of his song “Papaoutai”! I found myself loving their version and became curious of where they found this song to arrange. Okay, back to the list:

“bâtard” (Racine Carrée)

“tous les mêmes” (Racine Carrée)

“carmen” (Racine Carrée)

“avf” (Racine Carrée)

“Dodo” (Cheese)

“Peace or Violence” (Cheese)

“Je Cours” (Cheese)

Portuguese 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

Flavia Coelho 🇧🇷

I can’t thank God (and app developers) enough for an app like Shazam; if it wasn’t for this magical app, I wouldn’t have found out about Flavia Coelho. By pure circumstance, I heard her song “Na Favela” on the radio while taking an uber to somewhere while back in college (sometime during senior year) in Southern California (MAN do I miss being out there 😭). Fast forward to right after graduation, where I find myself in New York City: I'm out here for my college’s glee club tour, for which we had evening performances and free time during the day. One day, I decided to go running in Central Park, and part of my preparation for any run consists of finding the right music to run to. Normally I go with fast-paced, up-beat, arrogant rap stuff, but decided that I wanted this run to be an easy-going, enjoyable one – a run in which I’m not trying to improve my pace. “What better music to listen to than Flavia Coelho’s,” I think. Plus, it gave me an excuse (and plenty of time) to listen to an artist I recently discovered at the time. Thanks to the run, I found a few favorite songs by her:

“Na favela” (Sonho Real)

“Se ligue” (Sonho Real)

“Paraiso” (Sonho Real)

“Por Cima” (Mundo Meu)

“Quer Vadiar” (Sonho Real)

“Leidi” (Sonho Real)

“Pai de Santo” (Mundo Meu)

I couldn’t find a more aurally-polished version of the song on youtube, so apologies!

“O Dom” (Mundo Meu)

Sergio Mendes 🇧🇷

Ooooh the great Sergio Mendes. To be completely honest, there’s not much I can say about him except that I know he’s one of Brazil’s greatest and world-renown musicians... and that I came across him through the Wii game Samba de Amigos. I couldn’t tell y’all how bad I wanted that game when I was 11... GOOD LORDT, WHEN I was ELEVEN!? GOODNESS, how time passes! 😱 ANYWAY, there was one song I always played on that game called “Magalenha”. At the time I didn’t know it was a Sergio Mendes song – when I looked it up, the artist that kept coming up was someone named Bellini and Mendoça do Rio. So what happens next? Well of course I download the song (FOR FREE and illegally thanks to L*mew*re... rip) and conduct even further research on those two artists I first found. All of this searching would ultimately lead me down a web hole that led me to Sergio Mendes. I admittedly have not listened to enough of his stuff, but here are a few that I currently fancy:

“Fanfarra” Feat. Alceu Do Cavaco (Brasileiro)

“Magalenha” (Brasileiro)

“What is This?” (Brasileiro)

“Simbora” Feat. Carlinhos Brown (Magic)

“Samba de Roda” Feat. Aila Menezes & Gracinha Leporace (Magic)

“One Nation” Feat. Carlinhos Brown (Magic)

“Mas Que Nada” (Mas Que Nada)

Carlinhos Brown 🇧🇷

It’s thanks to Sergio that I came across Carlinhos Brown... now how exactly did I find out about Senhor (=Mr.) Brown through Senhor Mendes, I'm not sure; there were so many opportunities for this to have happened! I mean, if you take a look at all of Sergio’s music, you’ll find LOADS of collaborations between him and Carlinhos Brown. Also, bruh, I thought I loved Sergio’s stuff when I stumbled upon it... sorry Sergio, but my love for you doesn’t hold a candle to my LOVE for Carlinhos Brown! Here are some of my favorites that I still listen to (and futilely try to dance the samba to... can someone teach me please??) on a regular basis:

“Afroascendente” (Marabô)

I couldn’t this song on youtube, so if y’all are subscribed to any music streaming services, look it up on there. Apologies!

“Vidacarnaval” (Marabô)

“Carlito Marron” (Carlinhos Brown E Carlito Marron)

“Fofoqueira” (Mixturada Brasileira)

“Mixturação” Feat. Ivete Sangalo (Mixturada Brasileira)

“Ói Pra Cá” Feat. Filhos de Gandhy (Ói Pra Cá - Single)

“Mulemba Xangóla” in collaboration w/ Bonga & Marisa Monte (Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon)

“Ô Vida” Feat. Nina de Freitas (Rio 2: Music From The Motion Picture)

“Sapo Cai” Feat. Mikael Mutti (Rio: Music From The Motion Picture)

Emicida 🇧🇷

Another Afro-descended artist doing his thing, Emicida is one of my favorite types of artists: a conscious rapper. I know this by looking up translations of his songs... cause ya girl ain’t got NO understanding of Portuguese to be listening to songs and be like “oooh that was clever!” like she does with Calle 13... BUT I’’L GET THERE, THIS I SWEAR!!! Emicida is still fairly new to me; I found his stuff thanks to Ibeyi (from the Spanish section above). Regardless, I still have few songs from him I listen to often:

“Libre” Feat. Ibeyi (AmarElo)

“Principia” Feat. Pastor Henrique Vieira, Fabiana Cozza & Pastoras do Rosário (AmarElo)

“Eminência Parda” Feat. Jé Santiago, Papillon & Dona Onete (AmarElo)

“AmarElo (Sample: Sujeito de Sorte - Belchior)” Feat. Majur & Pablo Vittar (AmarElo)

“Hacia El Amor” Feat. Ibeyi (Hacia El Amor - Single)

Japanese 🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵

OOP, what’s that I hear? It’s ANIME TIME!!! LOL jk... BUT to be fair, I say this because literally all of the Japanese songs that I listen to come from a bunch of anime series I’ve seen throughout the past 10 years. So yeah, get ready to experience a bit of my weeb years, heh heh. I’m gonna categorize the songs by anime series title instead of by artist name:

Fullmetal Alchemist 🦾🙏🏾⚡️

“Melissa” by Porno Graffiti (Porno Graffiti’s Best Blues)

“Ready Steady Go!” by L’arc-En-Ciel (Smile)

“Rewrite” by Asian Kung-Fu Generation (Sol-fa)

“Period” by CHEMISTRY (Chemistry 2001-2011)

“Uso” by SID (SID 10th Anniversary BEST)

“Let It Out” by Miho Fukuhara

“Shunkan SENTIMENTAL” by Scandal (Temptation Box)

Bleach 🗡💀

“*~Asterisk~” by Orange Range (Natural)

��D-tecnoLife” by UVERworld (Neo Sound Best)

“Ichirin no Hana” by High and Mighty Color

“Alones” by Aqua Times (Darekanochijoue)

“After Dark” by Asian Kung-Fu Generation (World World World)

“Chu-Bura” by Kelun (Kelun)

“Shoujo S” by Scandal (Scandal Show)

“Animarossa” by Prono Graffiti (Trigger)

“chAngE” by Miwa

“Ranbu no Melody” by SID (Ranbu No Melody)

“BLUE” by ViViD (INFINITY)

“Harukaze” by Scandal (Scandal)

“Tsumasaki” by ORESKABAND (ORESKABAND)

“Gallop” by Pe’zmoku

“Haruka Kanata” by UNLIMITS

Soul Eater 💀🎃⛓🗡

“Resonance” by T.M. Revolution

“Papermoon” by Tommy heavely6

“I Wanna Be” by Stance Punks

“Bakusou Yume Uta” by Diggy-MO’ (DX 10th Anniversary All This Time 2008-2018)

“Strength.” by Abingdon Boys School (ABINGDON ROAD)

Kill La Kill 🗡✂️👙

“Sirius” by Eir Aoi

“Ambiguous” by GARNiDELiA (Ambiguous - Single)

“Gomen ne, Iiko ja Irarenai” by Miku Sawai

“Sanbika” by Eir Aoi

Annnnd DONE! Congrats on making it through this SUPER long post! Again, this is some of the music in other languages I listen to on a regular basis; you can click on any of the song titles to listen to them in their entirety if you’d like. Also, if any of y’all have any recommendations on what I should listen to – especially if it’s in Mandarin or French, considering a Mandarin section is nonexistent and the French section is just sad compared to the others 😭 –please reach out! I’d love to hear what you guys listen to, so let’s start up a little music exchange, yeah? Cool. Here’s to finally finishing this post that’s taken me EONS to complete!

乾杯 (gān bēi)! 🥂

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mysweetserpentine · 5 years

Text

Choose - Christopher Velez

hello hi everyone! I am back with my first collab. I was so happy when @cncobby and @cncocubanita asked me to be a part of this series. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to post but I wanted to make sure I really nailed Chris’s POV since this was the first time I’ve done one of the boys POVs. Anyways I hope you all enjoy!

Part 1 - Part 2

The searing pain that stung your heart had subsided the next morning. Okay. Maybe you had overreacted. He didn’t call you on time but he did at least try to make it up to you. You lost count of the amount of times he tried to call you, getting tired of having to decline the call.

Deciding to give in and forgive your boyfriend, you pick up your phone to give him a ring. Many notifications flooded your screen, most of them being from Chris. But one stuck out to you in particular. An instagram notification from a friend of yours.

averylayne04 sent you a post by loaizakelsey

Opening the notification, the sadness that you had felt before flooded your body. Staring back at you was a picture of Chris and Kelsey, her beautiful smile almost haunting. The sudden anger that coursed through you blinded your conscious mind, not allowing you to see the look on your boyfriend’s face.

Deciding it was better to turn off your phone, you chunked it onto your bed. Drawing yourself a warm bath, you sunk yourself deep into the water to forget about the pain your heart felt.

The phone calls and texts didn’t stop over the next few days. Missed call after missed call had him worried and you knew it. Texts would follow the calls, wondering why you wouldn’t answer the phone. One word replies and short sentences was all you could muster, most along the lines of being busy with school. This proved to become harder as time went on. On this particular day, you grew tired of having to make excuses to avoid his call. The exhaustion that clouded your brain caused you to make an error in your replies, letting Chris know that you really were ignoring him. Chris: por qué no me contestas? You: i’m in class Chris: amor I know your schedule. you’re not in class. And in came the call you expected. You knew your façade had been exposed. Your ringtone rang loudly through your ears, a picture of you and Chris smiled back at you. You wanted to answer. God you wanted to hear his voice. To hear him say he loves you. But you knew if you did, you would crumble.

The ringing stopped and a few minutes later a notification stating you had a new voicemail popped across your screen. You hesitantly opened the notification, bracing yourself for the hurt you knew would come.

“Hola amor,” his smooth voice greeted. “Yo sé que tú estás triste. I know I fucked up. Please answer and tell me how I can fix this. Te amo mucho,” he said, the recording cutting off with a beep.

As you knew it would, his voice brought back a wave of emotions. The wall you had built crumbled, the tears started streaming down your face and onto your pillow.

All you wanted in that moment was to hug Christopher, to tell him you loved him too. You wanted to forget about the anger and sadness that your heart held. Feeling your eyes become heavy, you let your body succumb to sleep.

CHRIS’S POV

Hanging up the voicemail, I dropped my phone back into my pocket. The monotonous voice of the airline managers rang through my ears, signaling my flight was ready to board. The apprehension set deep in my chest, worried about not only leaving the boys for a few days but also about your reaction when I arrived at your doorstep. Trying to calm my nerves, I thought back to Clara’s advice a few nights back.

“Everything okay, pollito?” Clara asked, moving to stand next to me on the balcony.

As if the dam had broken I spilled everything from the past hours to her, pacing around on the small balcony. Clara had taken a big sister role to me while on the road and I couldn’t be more thankful. “I don’t know what to do,” I confessed, rubbing my eyes from exhaustion.

“Look, give her some time to breathe. Call her tomorrow once you both have cooled down and go from there. After the promo here, you’ll have a few days off before the Miami show. Fly home and surprise her,” she suggested, worry in her eyes as she could tell I hadn’t slept.

As the days went on I spent any free time I had trying to call you. Any breaks between promo I was glued to my phone, hoping for a text or a call. I had even considered asking to guys to at least text you to make sure you were okay. I was worried.

The day I had made the decision to fly home was the worst. Call after call had gone to voicemail. I headed onto Instagram to see if you had posted a story, but was met with something else.

A direct message from a fan came through, which would normally go unanswered but this one caught my eye. I opened the message and read the contents slowly.

‘You might want to see this. I won’t share this with anyone but you but I thought you should know that I saw Y/N with another guy today. I hope everything is okay,’ it read. The picture attached below was you walking with another guy, a smile gracing your features.

Not knowing what to do I quickly called Clara, telling her to book me a flight home as soon as possible. With no questions asked she booked me a flight the next day, with some words of encouragement attached.

‘Go get your girl,’ she sent back with a thumbs up emoji.

And that is exactly what I did. As soon as the plane landed, I got my bags and rushed out of the airport. Calling the closest Uber, I set the destination to your apartment.

The familiar scenery flew by, reminding me of the multiple times you had picked me up from the airport. This time felt obviously different from the rest, but the excitement and nervousness was still there.

Before I knew it, I finally arrived at your apartment complex. Getting out of the car, I quickly grabbed my things and headed towards your apartment building. Every step I took seemed heavier, the nervousness taking over my body.

I pulled the spare key I kept with me out of my backpack, unlocking the door before letting myself in. “Amor?” I yelled through the apartment. I pulled my suitcase into the entryway, setting my things down and slipping my shoes off before wandering around. Walking into the living room, I was met with more silence. The TV that normally had some reality show playing was off.

“Chris?” a quiet voice said, stopping me in my tracks.

Whipping around, I was met with your small frame standing in the doorway of your bedroom. Dressed in one of my hoodies with your hair in a bun, you had never looked more beautiful. I quickly rushed to you, scooping you up in my arms.

“Amor I’m so sorry. I should have called you. I should have let you know she was there. Erick invited her up and when I went to Zabdiel’s room to celebrate she was there. I had no idea she was going to post that picture,” I rambled. Pulling you tighter against me, I started again. “You have to bel-”

Before I could finish, you cut me off with a kiss. Your tiny hands rested on both my cheeks, pouring so much emotion into one kiss it knocked me breathless. Pulling apart I rested my forehead against yours, gasping to catch my breath.

“I believe you,” you said. “I. Believe. You.” Kissing me between each word, you pulled back which allowed me to view the beautiful face I missed everyday.

Grabbing your hand, I led you back into your bedroom. Stripping my shirt off I slid under your covers, lifting the other side for you to crawl into bed with me. I wrapped my arm around your waist as you cuddled up to me, happy to feel you in my arms again.

“I was going to wait until after promo to come home. But a fan sent me a picture of you with another guy and it broke my heart. I knew that was how you felt when you saw the picture of Kelsey and I,” I confessed, squeezing you a little tighter into my side.

Lifting your head off my chest, you gave me a confused look. “You know I would never do that to you, right? He’s in my group for a project in class. It was late and he offered to walk me home because he knew you were gone on tour,” you explained.

Pushing a piece of fallen hair behind your ear, I leaned down to give you a kiss. “I know. I was just so worried,” I said, brushing my fingers across the features of your face. “Now sleep amor. I know how tired we both are after this week.”

In silent agreement you placed a quick kiss on my lips, laying your head back down on my chest. Wrapping my other arm around your body I pulled you close, placing a kiss on the crown of your head.

“Te amo, Chris,” you whispered quietly.

“Te amo más, amor.”

#cnco #cnco imagine #cnco fanfic #christopher velez #zabdiel de jesus #richard camacho #joel pimentel #erick brian colon

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ohmypreciousgirl · 7 years

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My Very Gay To Read List

Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court (a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage (who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward (and spend it)

Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first.

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Loved this book so much: Know Not Why (Know Not Why) by Hannah Johnson

Howie gets a job at Artie Kraft's Arts 'N Crafts hoping to score with his lady coworkers. After all, girls love a sensitive guy, and what's more sensitive than dedicating your life to selling yarn and ... stuff? (Okay, so maybe it'd be a good idea to actually learn what one sells at an arts 'n crafts store.) But things don't go exactly according to plan. Coworker #1 is Cora: tiny, much-pierced, and way too fierce to screw with in any sense. Coworker #2 is Kristy: blonde, bubbly, unattainable perfection. And Coworker #3 is, well, Arthur. It goes without saying that he’s not an option. Right?

… Right?

Yeah, Howie’s life just got straight up confusing.

Pun intended.

How They Met, and Other Stories by David Levithan

Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes a confection from David Levithan that is sure to appeal to fans of Boy Meets Boy. Here are 18 stories, all about love, and about all kinds of love. From the aching for the one you pine for, to standing up and speaking up for the one you love, to pure joy and happiness, these love stories run the gamut of that emotion that at some point has turned every one of us inside out and upside down. What is love? With this original story collection David Levithan proves that love is a many splendored thing, a varied, complicated, addictive, wonderful thing.

Strong Signal by Megan Erickson

I was counting down the months until the end of my deployment. My days were spent working on military vehicles, and I spent my nights playing video games that would distract me until I could leave Staff Sergeant Garrett Reid behind.

That was when I met him: Kai Bannon, a fellow gamer with a famous stream channel.

I never expected to become fixated on someone who'd initially been a rival. And I'd never expected someone who oozed charm to notice me—a guy known for his brutal honesty and scowl. I hadn't planned for our online friendship to turn into something that kept me up at night—hours of chatting evolving into filthy webcam sessions.

But it did. And now I can't stop thinking about him. In my mind, our real life meeting is perfect. We kiss, we fall into bed, and it's love at first sight.

Except, like most things in my life, it doesn't go as planned.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

New York Times bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS.

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other.

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance.

When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right.

Liked this book: Peter Darling by Austin Chant

Ten years ago, Peter Pan left Neverland to grow up, leaving behind his adolescent dreams of boyhood and resigning himself to life as Wendy Darling. Growing up, however, has only made him realize how inescapable his identity as a man is.

But when he returns to Neverland, everything has changed: the Lost Boys have become men, and the war games they once played are now real and deadly. Even more shocking is the attraction Peter never knew he could feel for his old rival, Captain Hook—and the realization that he no longer knows which of them is the real villain.

Lucas e Nicolas by Gabriel Spits

Lucas é um adolescente como qualquer outro: seu corpo cheio de hormônios o enche de desejos e sua cabeça de dúvidas. Na escola, Lucas é considerado um ‘loser’: tímido, péssimo nos esportes e muito inteligente, alvo constante de chacota dos alunos mais ‘populares’ e completamente inábil na arte da conquista amorosa. Mas, no caso de Lucas, algo mais o deixa vulnerável ao assédio dos colegas: ele é gay. E isso faz toda a diferença, principalmente em um ambiente conservador como na pequena cidade do interior paulista onde vive.

A tanto sofrimento, soma-se uma novidade: recém-chegado da capital São Paulo, Nicolas é tudo o que ele não é: bonito, forte e popular. E é, talvez, justamente por isso, ou por algum outro motivo que ele não consegue identificar, que Lucas se apaixona pelo seu oposto – ou pelo seu complemento? Como lidar com isso? Pode-se considerar “Lucas e Nicolas”, lançamento do Fábrica231, um livro necessário. Com habilidade, o autor traça um perfil honesto de Lucas, um menino desprotegido e solitário em suas dúvidas e questionamentos acerca de sua orientação sexual. Sem interlocutores que possam ouvi-lo e orientá-lo, resta-lhe o sentimento de vergonha, deslocamento e medo. Afinal, o mundo parece não perdoar quem é diferente. Por conta disso, sofre toda sorte de agressões, verbais e físicas, numa homofobia que é negada conscientemente por seus perpetradores, mas muito presente na vida diária.

Na impossibilidade de poder expressar seu afeto, Lucas corre para o abrigo da internet, onde faz um amigo, Matheus, gay assumido, mas que nunca viu ao vivo. Matheus é seu confidente e representa aquele jovem homossexual que tem orgulho de ser quem é. Assume seu caráter único e vive com intensidade toda uma cultura gay que se reflete em músicas, filmes e num linguajar muito peculiar. Ao desabafar sobre Nicolas, ele descobre com Matheus uma informação crucial sobre seu objeto de desejo. Nicolas é o típico aluno popular, forte, bonito e atlético. Mas, por trás de tanta fortaleza, esconde-se uma personalidade frágil, um menino com uma família desajustada, que o obriga a amadurecer cedo. Ele vem da capital para o interior, mas tem dificuldade de se adaptar. Sente saudades dos amigos de São Paulo, e de um em especial. Péssimo nos estudos, ele é obrigado a ter aulas particulares com o CDF do colégio: Lucas. E agora?

How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lillis

Eighteen-year-old Castaway Planet fans Brandon and Abel hate bad fan fiction—especially when it pairs their number-one TV crushes of all time, dashing space captain Cadmus and dapper android Sim. As co-runners of the Internet’s third most popular Castaway Planet vlog, they love to spar with the “Cadsim” fangirls who think Cadmus will melt Sim’s mechanical heart by the Season 5 finale. This summer, Brandon and Abel have a mission: hit the road in an RV to follow the traveling Castaway Planet convention, interview the actors and showrunner, and uncover proof that a legit Cadsim romance will NEVER, EVER HAPPEN.

A Brandon and Abel romance: also not happening. Brandon’s sick of his struggle to make “gay and Catholic” compute, so it’s safer to love a TV android. Plus Abel’s got a hot new boyfriend with a phoenix tattoo, and how can Brandon compete with that? But when mysterious messages about them start popping up in the fan community, they make a shocking discovery that slowly forces their real feelings to the surface. Before they get to the last Castaway Planet convention, Brandon’s going to find out the truth: can a mechanical heart be reprogrammed, or will his first shot at love be a full system failure?

The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer

Three thousand years ago, a god told a lie. Now, only a goddess can tell the truth. Persephone has everything a daughter of Zeus could want--except for freedom. She lives on the green earth with her mother, Demeter, growing up beneath the ever-watchful eyes of the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. But when Persephone meets the enigmatic Hades, she experiences something new: choice. Zeus calls Hades "lord" of the dead as a joke. In truth, Hades is the goddess of the underworld, and no friend of Zeus. She offers Persephone sanctuary in her land of the dead, so the young goddess may escape her Olympian destiny. But Persephone finds more than freedom in the underworld. She finds love, and herself.

Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters

With a steady boyfriend, the position of Student Council President, and a chance to go to an Ivy League college, high school life is just fine for Holland Jaeger. At least it seems to be. But when Cece Goddard comes to school, everything changes. Cece and Holland have undeniable feelings for each other, but how will others react to their developing relationship? This moving love story between two girls is a worthy successor to Nancy Garden's classic young adult coming out novel, Annie on My Mind. With her characteristic humor and breezy style, Peters has captured the compelling emotions of young love.

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

This groundbreaking book is the story of two teenage girls whose friendship blossoms into love and who, despite pressures from family and school that threaten their relationship, promise to be true to each other and their feelings. This book is so truthful and honest, it has been banned from many school libraries and even publicly burned in Kansas City.

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

Him (Him #1) by Sarina Bowen

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.

Jamie has waited a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend... and a big one to learn about himself.

Truth in the Dark by Amy Lane

"I am not beautiful..."

Knife's entire existence has been as twisted as his flesh and his face. The only thing beautiful in his life is his sister. When Gwennie is obliged to turn a suitor down because she fears to leave her brother to the brutality of their village, Knife is desperate for anything to ensure her happiness.

Her suitor's cousin offers him a way out, but it won't be easy. Aerie-Smith has been cursed to walk upright in the form of a beast, and his beloved village suffers from the same spell. Aerie-Smith offers Gwen a trousseau and some hope, if only Knife will keep him company on his island for the span of a year and perform one "regrettable task" at year's end.

Knife is unprepared for the form the island's curse takes on his own misshapen body. In one moment of magic, he is given the body of his dreams—and he discovers that where flesh meets spirit and appearance meet reality, sometimes the only place to find truth is in the darkness of a lover's arms.

Luck in the Shadows (Nightrunner #1) by Lynn Flewelling

When young Alec of Kerry is taken prisoner for a crime he didn’t commit, he is certain that his life is at an end. But one thing he never expected was his cellmate. Spy, rogue, thief, and noble, Seregil of Rhiminee is many things–none of them predictable. And when he offers to take on Alec as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine, and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail. But fortune is as unpredictable as Alec’s new mentor, and this time there just might be…Luck in the Shadows.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town's most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept separate but equal.

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

The Diviners (The Diviners #1) by Libba Bray

Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.

Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) by Lev Grossman

Like everyone else, precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater assumes that magic isn't real, until he finds himself admitted to a very secretive and exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. There he indulges in joys of college-friendship, love, sex, and booze- and receives a rigorous education in modern sorcery. But magic doesn't bring the happiness and adventure Quentin thought it would. After graduation, he and his friends stumble upon a secret that sets them on a remarkable journey that may just fulfill Quentin's yearning. But their journey turns out to be darker and more dangerous than they'd imagined.

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.

Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.

At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does…

As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

Deathless (Leningrad Diptych #1) by Catherynne M. Valente

Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century. Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. He only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, whoâ€™s just walked in to his bandâ€™s show. With a new guy. And then, with one kiss, Nick and Norah are off on an adventure set against the backdrop of New York Cityâ€”and smack in the middle of all the joy, anxiety, confusion, and excitement of a first date.

Every Day (Every Day #1) by David Levithan

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

A laugh-out-loud, heartfelt YA romantic comedy, told in alternating perspectives, about two Indian-American teens whose parents have arranged for them to be married.

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab

Kell is one of the last travelers--magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes connected by one magical city.

There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, and with one mad King--George III. Red London, where life and magic are revered--and where Kell was raised alongside Rhy Maresh, the roguish heir to a flourishing empire. White London--a place where people fight to control magic and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London. But no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red traveler, ambassador of the Maresh empire, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

#to read #books

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