#two of the pictures have been in my drafts for ages and it was going to be a much jokier post until I listened to his BtG interview | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tinydeskwriter · 2 years

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BUZZFEED ARTICLE

Warnings: Fluffy💓… this is a famous y/n, actually this was the background draft for a request of a jealous!Jack, and I got carried away and wrote the whole wikipedia of the girl🤦🏻‍♀️ and it ended up becaming an article🤷🏻‍♀️ I liked, so I decided to share with you guys, I would have put pictures, but I didn’t want Y/n to have a face, body type or a race. Just reminding everyone that I'm open to requests.

Part ii- Cosmopolitan Couples Timeline

Buzzfeed Article

Our favorite famous uncomplicated couple (a big compliment in the age of cringe couples) just completed the one-year relationship milestone. There is a lot of moments to sift through to pick the best, despite being private neither are shy to share photos and videos of the other to give us all the content we crave. So, here are our picks:

The 10 Times rapper Jack Harlow and actress Y/n Y/s/n Made Us Believe in Love:

10. Matching Tattoos Are Cool, But This Couple Wears Matching Jewelry

Is unofficial and absolute an assumption. But fans couldn't help but notice the white gold sinet rings worn by the couple. Or the fact that Jack has been wearing an emerald tennis bracelet on his left wrist, emeralds being Y/n's birthday stone. Most obvious maybe is the 'J' chain spotted around Y/n's neck in early March.

9. Those Red Carpets Looks…

And let's not forget the matching outfits Harlow and Y/l/n have been serving us since early 2022, with one half of the couple in the film industry and the other half in the music industry, this couple had a full award season, and we're not complaining. The All-Black Givenchy outfit at the Grammys? Blue Dior at the Academy Awards?

8. Y/N ‘Cheerleader’ Outfit At NBA All Star Game Rooting For 'Her Man'

Y/n has accomplished a feat few women could... and it was taking the male attention away from Megan Fox. In a vintage white Versace look worn on the runway by Kate Moss in 1995, the sweetest detail of the look may be the silk ribbon the actress wore in her ponytail with ‘Harlow’ written on it. The rapper dedicated his 4 pointer to his girl, which, come on, it's sweet. Harlow may have lost the game, but you wouldn't tell from the smile he wore when he left the stadium with his girlfriend in his arms.

7. How They Met

Usually when it comes to famous couples we never know exactly how that first look happened… but not when it comes to internet’s boyfriend Jack-I-have-never-been-in-love-Harlow and America's sweetheart Y/n Y/l/n. This uncomplicated couple met for the first time at the 2021 Met Gala, right on the red carpet, the two were guests to the designer Tommy Hilfiger, and weren't shy about posing together for the cameras giving us all Cinderella and Prince Charming vibes. Rumors have it that the couple spent the evening by each other side, never parting for long, with comedian Pete Davidson, a mutual friend of the couple, joking once that Jack followed Y/n around the whole night like a puppy in love. It comes to no surprise that the two ended up at the same after party. In an interview with Net-a-Porter Y/l/n told how that night Jack gave her a ride back to the hotel after the after party, and on the way they stopped at this lovely hole in the wall pizza place for a few slices of pizza and soda, saying “We have been together from the day that we met, we followed each other around the country.” In a radio interview, Harlow, known for his privacy, commented: “Y/n is the dream girl, man, she was and still is, 'cause no one tops her, my celebrity crush, I wasn't going to sit around waiting, she I was a little reluctant, I was persistent, I basically threw it on my shoulders, caveman style.”

6. Their Song Is Fire on Fire by Sam Smith

“I was in Ireland re-shooting some scenes, it was the early days of our relationship, so Jack came with me—you couldn’t get one without getting the other those early days, we were very attached—, we stayed in this very charming little cottage by the sea, that's where we laid the foundation of our relationship, away from civilization, away from the public eye, all very domestic and ordinary, nothing too glamorous, one night we were making Mac’n’Cheese for dinner, and Fire on Fire played on Spotify, we started dancing around the kitchen and at the end Jack said: This is our song. And it's been our song since that day.” The actress told British Elle in April, in the same interview, the New England beauty revealed that she's hooked her boyfriend on her beauty routine... which involves long bubble baths that they take together.

5. Their GQ Couples Quiz Was #Goals

It is no wonder that it is one of the most viewed Couples Quiz on the channel. In the nearly twenty-minute video, Y/n confessed that their first kiss took a while to happen because she knew it would be the last first kiss of her life. We found out she was 'told' by the rapper that she was now his girlfriend "I felt used, she was getting all the benefits of a relationship and going around saying she wasn't my girlfriend, that hurt," Jack joked making his girlfriend blush. He calls her “doll-face, babygirl, sweetheart, my heart, and Sunshine”, “all the clichés” the actress rolls her eyes, but the smile on her face as she looks at her boyfriend doesn't deny that she likes the nicknames, “she calls me a barbarian” Jack ratted out Y/n “because he is, but he's my barbarian,” she defends herself “I call you angel a lot, love too.” Oh. And they were living together in Los Angeles “in Frank Sinatra former home”. But it's just for now, as they agree that neither of them are LA people. Yep. And apparently their house has 'No Clothes' rules, valid for residents only. To be a fly on the wall.

4. They already talked about babies…

And we are dying…Jack said in a radio interview that the topic of children came up at the very beginning of their relationship, and surprisingly he was the one who came up with the subject, “It was one of the first things I thought of when we first met, Y/n's smile It's beautiful, but when she's truly happy her smile looks like a kid's smile on a Christmas morning, and I remember PD said something, and she gave this smile, and the first thing that came to my mind was: Damn, I want my children to have that smile. Some say we're too young to be so serious about each other, especially so fast, but when you know you know.” Harlow continued “After that we went to Ireland, and the subject came up there, because Y/n's character has kids, and seeing the girl I’am completely crazy about with kids in her arms, and the little girl looked just like her, man, that does things to a man.”

3. The Way Jack’s Hands Never Leave Y/n…

Like, never. They might not be that cringe couple who lick each other's tongues on the red carpet, but Jack Harlow is alway touching his lady, always. Has anyone got over that brief moment on the red carpet at the Grammys where they parted ways for like five seconds and Y/n just stopped and looked over her shoulder, and Jack came to her side in five strides? And how their hand simply intertwined? Let's not forget Jack's 'Hey babygirl' like they've been apart for hours...

2. Their Eyes are Constantly in Each Other

The words eye-fucking don't properly describe the exchange of looks between the two young stars, eye-love-making seems a much more appropriate term.

1.How Jack Always Moves Y/N To The Right Side Of The Sidewalk

Whenever the couple is spotted out and about together, distinctively, Jack is always on the street side of the sidewalk, and on one occasion a fan managed to film the exact moment the 24-year-old rapper not-so-discreetly twirled his giggling movie-star girlfriend to the 'safe' side of the sidewalk, causing millions of hearts to burst in the process. I mean…This is serious just boyfriend goals.

Honorable Mentions:

# This couple takes each other's mom out to lunch... we just can't...

# All those double dates, I mean… Justin and Hailey… Kendall and Devin… Kim and Pete… Zack Bia and whoever that girl was… and there was that one time they took Drake as a third wheel on their Nobu’s date…

# They may be the most romantic sexy couple #couplegoals at the moment, but not everything is serious, they know how to have fun, and they know how to play pranks on each other…

URGENT UPDATE

Ladies and Gents… Jack Harlow and Y/n Y/l/n are no longer a dating couple… they are a ENGAGED couple. And the proposal simply surpassed all the moments listed above.

“It was very domestic. Very us. Very simple, or as simple as J can be. The entire first floor of our house looked like a garden of sunflowers—my favorite flower in the world— initially I thought it was just Jack trying to be romantic because he missed me, there were candles everywhere, and our music was playing on the sound-system, we danced, and he just said: Let's get married. You. Me. And a team of mini us for the rest of our lives. I laughed because I didn't think he was being serious and said he'd have to ask properly, that's when he knelt down and took the box with the ring out of his sweatpants pocket and gave the most romantic speech and here we are…#soontobemrs.” The actress shared with her 93M IG followers.

The rapper shared a photo of the ring in Y/n finger with the caption: “It’s official. We’re using the buddy system for the rest of our lives.”

#jack harlow #jack harlow imagines #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow concepts #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x y/n #jack harlow x you #jack harlow x oc #jackman thomas harlow

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sageprada · 10 months

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cool people. part II

chris pine x musician!reader (slightly oc)

pintrest board

part one

synopsis: a series chronicling the love affair between a famous musician and her actor neighbor

word count : 8.5k

warnings: 18+ ONLY, fluff, slight smut, age gap relationship (reader is late 20’s while chris is 42), lil sub!reader, swearing, explicit descriptions of sexual content, mentions of drugs and alcohol

authors note : i’m back ! it only took a year for me to finally drop part two of cool people. i truly appreciate all the love i’ve received from part one along with my blog in general. truly if people didn’t ask for a part two this would have just sat in my drafts for eternity. so thank you for all the love truly ! y’all are mother fuckin’ best and more chris content to come <3.

Time wasn’t something she was sensitive to. Explicitly, the passage of time as a year seemed to pass by in merely a few months.

Working had always come naturally to her. Her parents' hunger to succeed was an appetite she’d clearly inherited. The need for sleep or spending time with her peers had at one point come second to spending hours in her cramped recording studio converted basement. She wouldn’t allow herself to relish in her achievements because all she could seem to focus on was the next task.

Imposter syndrome had become a major topic between her and her therapist. She’d recently started sharing with her family her experience of waking up in the middle of the night with tight breaths stuck in her throat as she felt like a stranger in her own body.

Her Mom and Dad were extremely worried, with one of them calling or texting her at least once a day to check in. Her younger brother, Wyatt, suggested for the tenth time this year that he could join her in LA and help out. He’d just graduated from high school and successfully convinced their parents to participate in a gap year to really explore his options. Of course, that came with the price of finding a job, and being a dishwasher at Dad’s bakery wasn’t, in his words, cuttin’ it.

Her older brother, Anthony, and his boyfriend politely forced her to join them on a four-day weekend vacation to the Caribbean, where she was forced to take part in the "Double U’s".

"You’ve just got to Unplug and Unwind."

Conveniently, the escape to paradise fell upon the 95th Oscar nomination announcements.

It was her first major motion picture project. She spent months working under numerous conductors in preparation and even bought a membership to the LA Philharmonic because she’d started frequenting concerts for research. She’d often wear the hoodie she bought at the gift shop to rehearsals.

During every part of the process, she had complete creative control. From section leader auditions to picking out what type of mics would be used for recording sessions. Never had she felt more challenged creatively. Yes, at one point she thought she would develop sores on her temples with the constant rubbing away of migraines. She was smoking nonstop due to the stress and anxiety. Her messages were going unread. And while it was unhealthy, at the time she hadn’t been happier.

It was in her contract when she agreed to do the movie's score that she would be submitted for competition. It would be her first time conducting, with most of the members of the orchestra having never done such a big project either. She wanted to make sure she was opening doors for as many people as she could, giving them the shot she had been gracious enough to get herself.

At the very least, she expected a couple film festivals and critics to give her a pat on the back for her efforts. A handful of positive reviews and, at most, one of the best experiences she ever had the privilege of being a part of.

But the movie was a commercial hit, and whispers began to surround her.

So it wasn’t a surprise that her brother crafted this scheme behind her back. They were so close that he always seemed to know what was best for her before she could even figure out what was wrong. However, it took Anthony dunking her into the crystal blue ocean fully clothed for her to admit the escapism was helping immensely.

On the last day, she was abruptly woken up at six in the morning by the sound of tiny confetti cannons going off. Two grown men came barreling in, jumping up and down ceremoniously on her bed while chanting her name. Quickly, an iPad was thrust into her hands, with a bright blue light displaying a Zoom call with family and close friends all congratulating her.

Five years ago, she was a sound engineer for an independent music label and a background vocalist for an experimental R&B group.

She was now an Academy Award nominee. The thirteenth woman and youngest person ever nominated for Best Original Score

Through blurred eyes, riddled with shock and still slightly drowsy, she was full-blown crying while she blabbed during the call. Luckily, her very big family was filled with very BIG personalities, so no one seemed to comment on even notice as they talked over each other. Except one, and she was so grateful to see the man she was missing the most pixilated image gaze at her fondly in the corner of the screen.

Chris was just starting to become a constant in her life during pre-production, even if it felt like he had somehow always been there. In the span of their year together, he wasn’t just helping her by being there; he was helping her grow as a person. He was enriching her life, even if she dreaded the early morning yoga classes he made her go to or the weekly kale smoothies he had her drink. Chris was so in tune with his emotions and so open with her that she started working on herself to do the same. No longer did she feel embarrassed by how often she craved his presence. She constantly ached for his soothing voice, which always seemed to be the perfect remedy for calming her down. His touch was a sweet elixir that made all her worries disappear.

But the consistent praise, reassurance, and love that Chris provided her was the exact reason why she was able to be this open. After all, this was her first serious relationship to any degree.

Everything was looking up until the photos leaked.

LA nights this time of year were a bit brisk, but that did nothing to divert the couple's attention from one another.

They’d just had dinner and were now waiting for the valet to bring Chris’s car around. He’d picked her up from a meeting in West Hollywood earlier that evening and surprised her with a reservation at a new restaurant she’d been wanting to try. He got back from press in England a couple days ago, and they've managed so far to do at least one thing every day together since.

"You smell heavenly." He stood behind her, arms wrapped around her waist, encouraging her to rest her back against his chest. Her white tank top was a little more casual than she’d preferred to wear, but it did nothing to defer her mood with the way he’d been looking at her all night.

"Oh? Maybe it’s cause someone thought I needed a new perfume?" With sarcasm dripping from her voice, she could feel his lips smirking against the skin of her neck. One of Chris’s love languages was gift-giving. He spoiled her beyond comprehension, and it was something she was still getting used to. He was a person so used to luxury that at times she had to remind him she was still ‘new money’.

"I’m telling you, I just couldn’t get the scent out of my head." He pulled away and moved his hand to gently turn your head to face him. He held a serious gaze, and she kept her lips tight to stop herself from snickering. Always dramatic, Chris had already told her this story twice. But he spoke with so much passion and looked at her with so much awe that she didn’t have the heart to stop him from repeating it.

"I thought at first it was just one of a random coffee. Or maybe a poorly advertised flower shop, because I’d at times smell fresh tulips, but the street the hotel was on was honestly, baby, bleek and underwhelming. So, one day we finished early, and I’d just gotten off the phone with you to say goodnight. I went for a walk, and lo and behold, just at the end of the block, guess what I saw."

Looking up at him, she brushed a fallen strand of hair from his face and couldn’t imagine being more in love with anyone at that exact moment.

"No, whatcha see?"

He smiled at her encouragement for him to continue. "Down the same street I’d taken my run just the day before, I'd look to my left , and right there is a quaint little perfume shop. One that had been there for over one hundred years. Now, I felt like there was a reason I hadn’t noticed it till then, and that day the air had a particular sweet scent lingering. One that seemed so familiar, but yet I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I went inside to investigate." At this point, she’d turned her whole body towards Chris to give him her full attention. He kept one arm around her waist; not one inch of space separated their bodies. His other hand was resting on her neck, his thumb lightly gazing at her jaw while he kept eye contact.

"It was obvious the place had history. Filled to the brim with different vials and incense that you’d think would be overwhelming, but it was actually very calming. One scent seemed to stand out amongst the rest—one that reminded me of someone, one that smelled like home."

He allowed his thumb to graze over her bottom lip for a third time; he couldn’t seem to stop himself. "The nice shopkeeper said one of the ingredients is honeycomb that’s derived from a local bee farm in town. So it’s one of a kind, just like you."

She grew shy, diverting her attention to see the valet pulling up next to them. As she watched the young man approach them, she gave him a soft smile but felt Chris eyes still on her. Hands still on her.

"Sir, your keys."

That seemed to knock the older man out of his trance. "Thank you." Chris stepped away to grab his keys and passed the man a tip before leading her to the passenger side of the car, hand dangerously low on her back. It seemed they could never go a few moments together without some sort of physical contact.

"She also said that it had a hint of jasmine, which is a natural aphrodisiac."

He whispered this into her ear while reaching for her seatbelt to buckle her in. It was something he liked to do often—another little trait that always filled her with warmth and made her head fog.

"Wait…" He’d never shared that fact. "You got me a pheromone perfume?"

As he finished bulking her in, he pulled back and gave her a sly wink.

"How else am I going to get you to fall in love with me?"

TMZ had taken their photos at some point without their knowledge. Selling them off to god knows how many entertainment outlets and gossip blogs in less than twelve hours. She woke up to an article link sent by her manager the next morning.

Daily Mail

Neighborly Romance!? Chris Pine and Musician Kapital looked quite comfortable together while grabbing dinner in LA.

Can’t say anyone saw this one coming!

Kapital, the two-time Grammy-winning artist, was seen being embraced by the Dungeons and Dragons star while out enjoying a quiet night at one of LA’s newest restaurants. The actor, 42, was all smiles as the couple stood waiting for a valet. Pine dressed in a classic white button-up and timeless slacks, while Kapital opted for a more relaxed outfit with a long denim skirt paired with a leather jacket.

This news comes just days after the announcement of the Queens-based musician's surprising Academy Award nomination for Best Score, making her the youngest nominee in the category's history.

This isn’t the first time the pair has been seen together, having previously been spotted accompanying one another on walks around their neighborhood in Studio City. However, since living next door to each other since 2020, it’s the first time it's been insinuated that there might be more than just trips to the local coffee shop where their relationship stops.

They weren’t even kissing, but it was obvious from the intimate position they were caught in that it wasn’t just two neighbors grabbing a bite to eat. She read over the article multiple times, squeezing Chris bicep as he slept soundly next to her.

Their little bubble was slowly cracking. They knew with their individual careers that it would eventually happen, but mourning its loss and what was to come from it was a step into the unknown neither of them had yet faced.

Apparently, sunshine is rare this time of year in Berlin. Its appearance was delightful, as it aligned perfectly with her impromptu visit to the city.

With her sternum pressed into the iron railing of the hotel balcony, dozens of hours spent on a plane made her exceptionally appreciative of the fresh air. But, hell, she couldn’t really complain. First class never ceased to surpass her expectations.

She’d never been flown out by someone outside of work-related engagements. Especially during one of the busiest times in her life, and it took multiple people's permission to get her here so quickly. Her manager, Grace, was the hardest to convince. They’d been working together since the very beginning of both of their careers. Being Grace’s first client out of business school, she was the older sister she never had and always cherished both her work and personal opinion.

She raced around her room hastily packing while continuing to glance periodically at her propped phone on her dresser. Grace was seen in her big designer reading glasses while she rubbed her pregnant belly with skepticism on their FaceTime call last night.

"Are you sure about this? I’ll have to call GQ and see if they're willing to reschedule."

"I mean, I’ll be back Sunday afternoon, just in time for the interview Monday. And besides, he already bought the ticket."

She heard the sound of Grace crunching angrily at another Pringle.

"Of course, when I’ve begged you to take a break, you’ve wanted to keep working. But now that we have the literal OSCARS next week, you wanna go off to Europe to be with your DILF boyfriend."

She could hear Grace’s husband off camera telling her to watch her heart rate; she’s notorious for having a bit of a short fuse, and stress was not good for the baby.

"Wait, Chris doesn’t have any kids?"

"Babe, his dog counts."

They both laughed before Grace sighed. "As your manager, I can’t help but not be the biggest fan of this situation; it’s a slight distraction. But as your friend, I’ve seen how he makes you feel. Hell, everyone has. So fuck it, what’s a couple days?" She continued, looking at the younger girl fondly. "Your best interests are always my top priority, even if it means allowing you to go drop your pants for Captain Kirk."

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice the text she had gotten a text until the two minute notification reminder went off. Walking back into the suite, she flopped on one of the luxurious armchairs unlocking her phone.

Chris

On my way up.

She’d just barely arrived, not even twenty minutes ago, delusionally thinking she’d have more time to freshen herself up.

Racing to the master bathroom, she had no time to admire the space before quickly washing her face and brushing her teeth. There was no time to change into the provocative lounge wear she’d originally planned to greet him in, hoping the sweatsuit set wasn’t a complete turnoff.

Just as she walked back into the living room, she was met with the sound of the front door opening.

"Sweets! I’m he-." Chris was adorned in a pale blue suit, soft against his lightly bronzed skin. He’d been outside a lot helping her with her garden as they were approaching spring in LA.

He didn’t finish his exclamation. Instead, he kept his eyes glued on her, as if like a hunter that’d just been noticed by its prey. She stood frozen, only allowing herself to watch him as he moved across the room with calculated steps.

He placed a golden box down on the coffee table, finally reaching her position at the master bedrooms entryway. Chris didn’t want anything to prevent him from grabbing the sides of her face, standing so impossibly close that she was forced to look up at him. Personal space was nonexistent in the couple’s vocabulary.

"Hi," She whispered.

"Hello baby."

Kissing Chris always felt like the first time. The action of him leaning down to capture her lips never failed to make her lightheaded. The dragging of his top lip as it flushed against hers always left her breathless. He’d managed to slightly suck her bottom lip in between his every time, whether it was a chaste peck or a full-on make-out.

Her hands moved to grip his white undershirt tightly, his lean abs prominent under her touch.

God, those yoga classes were paying off.

He didn’t release her until a soft whine escaped from her throat, satisfied at how breathless he’d made her.

"Look at you." Sky-blue eyes shamelessly traveled over her body as she nuzzled her face into his palm. "Was the flight okay? Did you get any rest?"

She scoffed at his worry. "Yes, everything was fine. Short layover in London, so I got some Nando’s. Was practically in a food coma the rest of the way here."

He let out a deep hum in approval, gently caressing the apples of her cheeks with his thumb. "That sounds good, baby. I still want you to be relaxed." She knows he’s referring to his last-minute request for her to be there with him. As soon as he asked her to come, he felt guilty because she had so much going on herself.

"Chris, I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t want to. Missed you too."

That warranted another kiss. She could feel his smile as he cheekily slipped his tongue quickly over hers.

"Wanna take a bath together?" Eyes still closed, she felt him whisper the request against her skin. One of his hands had traveled down to her ass, giving it a soft squeeze as a choked breath left her parted lips. Her previous worries that he wouldn’t be attracted to her casual state flew out the balcony window with all the reassurance in his touch.

She nodded and opened her eyes once she heard him tsk. His nose was pressed against her, minty breath washing over her face.

"Gotta hear it, Sweets."

"Yes please."

He smiled, proud of the verbal confirmation.

"Let me go start the water."

She hated how cold and empty the air got as he left her to head to the bathroom. But she couldn’t resist the urge to watch him walk away as he started to strip out of his clothes in the process.

"Open that box on the table. I think you’ll like it." He insisted.

Slightly dizzy from the kiss, she shook her head and blinked a couple times.

Damn girl, chill.

The box had a soft bow nestled beautifully in its corner. The name Rausch in black cursive text sat in the center.

Various arrays of chocolates greeted her, and she bit her lips happily as she assessed the multiple options. Each was so delicately crafted with intricate designs that she decided Chris and she would just have to split each one to have a chance to try them all. Walking into the bathroom, a sight just as sweet as the chocolate she’d just bit into was awaiting her.

Chris, as naked as the day he was born, was slowly stepping into the deep tub located in the center of the bathroom.

"I don’t mind you looking baby girl, but the waters gonna get cold."

"Right!" She sat the box on the edge of the tub as she quickly started undoing her sweatpants.

No longer was she hesitant to expose herself to Chris; the older man had explored her body inside and out more times than she’d be able to count. But he always looked at her the same way. As if he’d never seen her naked before. Like a child with a present on Christmas, he looked as if he was thinking of all the ways he was going to play with his new toy.

It made her feel incredibly sexy.

Taking another bit of the chocolate she presented him, he playfully nipped her finger as she pulled away. The water was at the perfect temperature; Chris naturally ran hot, and as he rested himself against her between her legs, she couldn't think of how this moment could be any more perfect.

"You have one."

"What makes you say that?" Her voice rose in intrigue. Chris surprised her time and time again with his observational skills.

There was never room for empty conversation, unless she intended it. Over the years, she found fascination in interesting factoids that she somehow was always able to conjure up for anyone willing to hear them. Sometimes, Chris just asked because he liked to get a peek into that fascinating mind of hers.

"Because you always do." His hand pinched her waist, and she swatted his bicep. Taking her wet hand, she pushed back his short blonde salt and pepper hair in thought.

"Well, this hotel is old as shit, so it's got a lot of history. Notoriously, Michael Jackson held his infant son, Prince Michael, over the balcony while paparazzi gathered below. " She glanced at the window that was nestled on the far left wall, smiling because she knew she'd got him with that one.

She feels him go stiff. He turned around slightly to look up at her from his place on her chest and saw her smirk. "No fucking way."

"Yes, way."

"Fuck. That’s a good one."

As she reached for another chocolate, she felt his hand trace over the curve of her breast. Not so much with sexual interest, but more with admiration.

"Why’d you accept my invitation?"

She knew he was being serious by the way his voice dropped an octave. He said her name, her real name, and she dropped the chocolate gently back in the box.

"You sounded like you needed someone."

It was a stretch of the truth. Chris knew that, and he let out a sigh.

"I think we both know I just needed you." He leaned up to turn and face her. She felt slightly exposed in that moment, but of course Chris noticed. He always does. So to ease the tension, he grabbed a piece of chocolate and took the first bite. He leans forward, and she sighs into the sweet kiss before he slips the other half in her mouth. Now it was her turn to nip his finger.

"Yeah, but then that begs the question: why couldn't you just wait 'till you were back in town next week?" She keeps his hand close, holding one in between both of hers. "Knew I wasn’t going to New York until the end of the month; could’ve just waited."

He acknowledged her point with a subtle head tilt.

"I simply enjoy being with you. I enjoy laughing with you, touching you. You make everything I do seem worthwhile. I need you to understand how badly, Sweets, I want to have you in any possible way, either as this version of ourselves or something more; just having you in my life is the best thing I could have ever been gifted."

He let the statement sit for a bit, watching her under the bathroom's pale lighting. He ran his hand over her knee while she sat with what he shared. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t told her before; it was just hard for her to accept at times. These feelings she had for him were intimidating and still pretty new.

Finally looking over at him, he had a soft, patient smile, and she brought her hand to his cheek.

"You got me feeling crazy and that scares me."

He gripped her hand on his face and pulled her close to him. The water surrounding them splashed slightly as he moved her onto his lap, never straying from her focus.

"God, I fucking love you, and I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to make you the happiest woman alive. You're stuck with me until you no longer want me."

Goddamn it, she was in it now.

"Then I guess I’m stuck with ya."

Chris pulled her into a searing kiss. One filled with hope, opportunity, and love.

But, of course, it was short-lived. Chris had made her show him how to set up different ringtones on his newly bought iPhone. Recently, she came to find out he'd paid $1.29 to buy her score's theme song on iTunes and set it to play every time he got a call.

"I think that's your phone."

"Fuck that thing." He was lost in her, moving his lips down to her neck and slowly beginning to suck on the sweet spot below her jaw. Sucking in a quick breath as his teeth skimmed her wet nipple.

"Chris." They were already pushing it with having her here; she didn’t want to get him into any trouble even if she was the invited intrusion to his press tour.

"Stay here." He kissed her tits, making his way out of the tub. She giggled at hearing him angrily grumble under his breath, forcefully grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist.

Perching her jaw on the edge of the tub, she watched as Chris pulled his phone out of his discarded suit pocket.

"Hey man, what’s up?"

It was a couple moments of silence, with Chris listening to the person on the other end of the line.

"Um…" He bit at the pad of his thumb, sparing a glance in her direction. She looked at him with a pointed brow, curious about what he seemed to be contemplating.

"Yeah, we can meet you in the lobby at eight."

We? As in him and her?

As he ended the call, she waited for him to come back to the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the tub and let out a sigh as he took in the sight of her wet, bare body.

"Welp, my plans to fuck you in this very spacious tub are going to have to be postponed. We’ve got other plans tonight."

"Plans?"

"Hugh Grant has requested that we both join him and his wife for dinner."

The restaurant was very busy. She wasn’t as taken aback by the mass of people since Chris forewarned her on the drive over about how in high demand the place was.

"There will probably be a couple paparazzi and fans outside after dinner when news gets out that we are all here. So just make sure you just stay close to me, baby." Chris had switched into a tan linen jacket and matching pants. He kept the white undershirt, and his golden pendant necklace was in its usual place in the middle of his chest.

The Le Labo cologne she watched him spray on his wrists still lingered on his skin.

Along with the expensive wine, her fluffy blue sweater was keeping her warm. Chris would slyly slide his hand underneath its seams, gently holding her wrist while his thumb rubbed slow circles over her pulse.

She was nervous as fuck.

No matter how many famous people she finds herself around, her palms got slightly sweaty in their company. Her Mom was going to have a cow when she saw the texts she’d sent her. And the voice message she’d nervously word vomited into during her trip to the bathroom.

Chris said Hugh was a tad pretentious, his dry humor not helping in the slightest with some feeling slightly offended by the seasoned actor at first.

She thinks she got on his good side when he asked if she’d ever seen any of his movies.

"Oh, for sure. Florence Foster Jenkins— I watched that on a flight with my Mom. She teared up, and she didn’t even do that while giving birth to my younger brother." She wanted to crawl into a hole after her failed attempt at being cheeky, wincing slightly in embarrassment. But he and his wife both laughed, and that was before the waiter had even taken their orders.

"It’s so fun doing these little press junkets because you completely forget about the movie you’ve worked on since it was damn near a year ago. But you get to reconnect with all these people you spent months working your bum off with. Even recall some of the wacky events that occurred." Hugh wiggled his eyebrows as he looked at everyone around the table. She noted Hugh’s quirky vocabulary got more eccentric after each sip of his glass of merlot.

"Now, darling." They'd just gotten their meals, and so far she’d been successful in not being the topic of conversation. She was content to be a fly on the wall, watching as Chris interacted with his coworker. Instinctually, she sat up straighter as everyone fixated on her.

"First, congratulations are most certainly in order. Chris here has expressed much interest in your work; dare I say he has gone as far as to show a few of us videos of you composing?"

Hugh’s admission was shocking; she was ready to go into great depth on her career and why the hell she might even be there.

She’d only met a few of Chris close friends and vice versa, wanting to keep a level of privacy in their relationship that very few people got access to. It was better that way for the both of them. Some reasons being more obvious than others.

However, ever since the first set of pictures with them came out, more and more were published in the press. With the amount of time they spent together it was inevitable. She’d noticed how Chris was now more inclined to share her with people outside their circle. He was less withholding of PDA, not that he was really trying before.

He wants people to know she’s his.

That thought sparked something deep in her chest, accompanied by a warm feeling in between her legs. In some sick way, she liked him establishing this claim on her. Because, at the end of the day, it was her allowing him to do so. If she displayed any sort of disdain for the situation and expressed it, she knew he’d stop in a heartbeat.

"I’ve just got to know how this talented young lady came to be."

She cleared her throat and glanced over at Chris, whose undivided attention was completely on her. The dim lighting added to the facade of intimacy, and the busting room filled with chatter from other patrons conversations. But hell, they might as well have been the only two people in the room.

"I, uh, grew up in New York. My mom's an adjunct professor at NYU but volunteers when she can. My Dad’s owned this bakery like a block from where I grew up since before I was born. They really wanted to push my brothers and me to follow our passions just as long as we could make a suitable living doing so." She giggled to herself at that. "Never, uh, was really that good in school, but music stuck pretty naturally. I learned how to play like fourteen instruments by the time I was twelve."

"Oh my, so you were a prodigy?" Anna, Hugh’s wife, expressed. The couple looking at her impressed.

"I guess so? Never got tested or nothing. Just recorded some music and samples on my parents iMac and uploaded them online. It’s pretty much how I got discovered."

She feels a hand squeeze her upper thigh, looking over at Chris, who was gazing at her in admiration. She sheepishly smiled back before looking down at her plate.

"Well, I for one think that should qualify as a prodigy, especially for being nominated for such a prestigious award so early in your career." Anna smiled at the younger woman, and she replied with a soft but appreciative thank you.

The topic flows easily throughout the remainder of the evening, and just as Hugh and Chris finished arguing about who’d fit the bill (Hugh did), they began talking about plans for tomorrow.

"Oh, you're going to love the movie, dear; it’s a heap of fun." Hugh exclaimed, looking between her and his wife.

"Yeah, it looks great. Can’t wait to see it." She'd already ordered a couple tickets in advance to see it opening weekend back in LA. Few of her friends excited to see her hot, daddy boyfriend in action.

Their words, not hers.

"Now I don’t know where you plan on sitting, but you're more than welcome to join Anna and me."

"Huh?" She was confused, looking over to Chris, whose jaw had clenched as he slowly finished his wine.

"Well, at the preimere, it'll be so bus-"

"I hadn’t really had a chance to bring it up, Hugh." He placed his glass down while glaring at the man across from him.

"Oh." Hugh looked nervously at the young woman and back to his wife before letting out a guilty chuckle and saying, "Silly me."

Anna quickly began to change the subject allowing her to try and connect the dots. Departing goodbyes and future plans were made as they all made their way out of the restaurant. Following Anna towards the exit, with Chris close behind her, she whispered behind her shoulder.

"Chris?" She knew he’d understand what she was asking, but she didn't really love being out of the loop.

"Let’s get you outside to the car first, Sweets, then we'll talk."

As soon as the doors opened, multiple camera flashes started blinding her.

She'll say one thing about being in the music industry: she wasn't a stranger to crowds or people. Yet it still made her slightly uncomfortable when strangers invaded her personal space. She pulled her Prada sunglasses out her purse and slid them over her eyes. Instinctively grabbing Chris’s hand as he guided her to their car. The chauffeur was already standing outside holding the door, and she gave him a quick thanks in appreciation while quickly getting in the back seat.

Once it was quiet, with only the sound of soft German music imitating from the radio, she allowed herself to slip off her sunglasses.

Chris was already looking at her; he’d slid his hand across the middle seat to rest it on her upper thigh.

"Good?" His eyes held a bit of worry.

She nodded. "Good." Then her eyes became daggers. "Now, what the fuck is going on tomorrow?"

"I wanted to ask you tonight after dinner. No photo ops, no red carpet. You’ll ride with Sarah and me to the theater. I'll do my rounds and then join you both for the screening."

Her head was spinning. A million thoughts raced to the front of her mind. The first one that left her mouth was the least important.

"I-I don’t even have anything to wear."

"Baby girl, you're telling me you don’t have one outfit?" He cocked a brow towards her, and she groaned. Of course she did; she’s an overpacker, and with Chris’s classic spontaneity, she always made sure she was prepared for anything. Still, she wasn’t able to just pull out a custom gown from her ass.

"No photos or press?

He barked out a laugh, bringing her hand to his lips to give it a warm kiss. He knew he had won her over.

"Just want you by my side, scouts honor."

She wanted to scoot over the middle console to be closer to him, but the little wine left in her system wasn’t enough to cloud her judgment to do so, and she didn’t want the driver to be uncomfortable.

"You owe me big time. Like huge, just FYI."

He brought up two fingers and gestured for her to lean in closer to him. Chris softly cupped her jaw and angled her head so he could whisper in her ear.

"I hope you got enough rest on that plane. We’ve got a long night ahead of us."

When Chris fucked her, she could only successfully compare it to a premeditated game of chess. Always seeming to know how he, the knight, would take down his opponent.

He held back from touching her the entire ride back to the hotel. Minimal words were shared between the couple as they let the tension speak for itself. Her skin was cold; goosebumps were visible, and in the elevator, she stuffed her hand in her pockets to prevent reaching out towards him.

He needed to make the first move.

It wasn’t until she took a seat on the plush sofa that he knelt down in front of her. Eyes gazing up as if she’d built the entire world around them all her own.

"Will you let me undress you?"

"Please."

His touch was like a live wire while his hands ever so gently gripped her left ankle, undoing her heels clasp. It took everything in her to hold back a whimper.

Once he’d discarded her other shoe, he pushed up her pants leg till it bunched at her knee. Slowly following an invisible trail up her now exposed leg with his rose-colored lips. They were tinted a dark shade from the wine, and an embarrassingly loud whine left her lips as his tongue slowly dragged up her calf.

It quickly turned into a yelp as the man’s teeth nipped at her shin. "Keep those eyes on me." Chris always required her attention, knowing how often her mind wonders.

"Yo-you got it."

A smile appeared. Rewarding her with a lick over the nicked skin and sweetening it with another kiss

They both watched his hands let the pants leg fall, dragging them over the fabric that covered her thighs as he reached for the button of her pants.

"I know you said I owe you, and trust me, this isn’t me cashing that in. I’ve just been craving your fucking pussy since California."

It wasn’t anything she didn’t already know. Chris was a pleaser; he got easily riled up just by knowing he was the only person who could ever make her feel this good. He'd told her himself.

Nodding her head with fervor, she aided in helping him take off her pants, wiggling her hips off the couch as the garment fell to her ankles along with her pink panties. An obvious patch of arousal was on the crotch. "You always takin’ good care of me."

He hummed in agreement, but his focus had gone to her cunt. Slowly, he raised her legs to rest on his shoulders; her pants wrapped around her ankles, trapping him in between her thighs. Delving into her, the man raised an expectant hand to her lips. She knew exactly what he wanted her to do, and as soon as his broad tongue dragged against her slit, she shoved his middle and ring fingers into her mouth.

A groan escaped him right as his mouth dragged along her clit, the stimulation causing her to slightly drool on his fingers.

"No wine in the world can compare to how goddamn good you taste." Chris other hand squeezed her hip where it rested, locking eyes with his lust-blown pupils. She could confidently claim that no one had ever looked at her like this until him. That no one has ever made her feel like this. It seemed so foreign yet so familiar, like meeting a totally stranger and instantly hitting it off.

Eating out someone like this should be considered a war crime. It seemed irrational that Chris could delve into her like a starving man when they just had dinner. How he lapped at her bundle of nerves like it was a bountiful oasis after traveling miles through treacherous terrain.

His tongue caught on the edge of her entrance, and a sharp "Fuck!" left her lips. His fingers slipped from her mouth, soaked with her saliva. The hand resting on her hip punished her with a quick slap. Her head fell back further into the couch, taking all of her energy not to close her eyes.

"Language."

Being from the city meant she had a mouth on her. It was ingrained in her DNA, and it was something Chris always loved about her. But in the bedroom, good girls never curse.

"Sorry." He accepted her apology by rewarding her with a kiss on her thigh.

One hand gripped the top of his head while the other gripped the decorative pillows next to her. She was so focused on how he was making her feel that he used it to his advantage, slipping two fingers slicked with her spit inside her.

"Oh my god!" He went slow, pushing his fingers all the way to the last knuckle until he even attempted to curl his fingers inside her.

"Do you miss having my fingers inside you, baby girl? Know how hard it is for you to reach this deep." Chris tapped at her g-spot, and a high-pitched yelp left her mouth.

Her eyelids kept fluttering as they both watched his fingers move in and out of her. His thumb was coming up to her clit and she knew If she bit her lip any harder, she’d draw blood.

Chris slowly rose to his knees to rest his upper body against hers, his half-lidded eyes looking down at her. She didn’t even recall him fully taking her pants off until he gently nudged her left leg to rest her foot on the couch, bending it. The new position let him finger her even deeper, and fuck, if she wasn’t wet now, she was gushing.

"I think you can take three fingers, Sweets. Wanna try for three?"

She might be too far gone to confirm if the wet spot on the crotch of his pants was real or not, but she didn’t question the feeling of him bucking his hips against her right leg and the sofa. Just as he was adding his third finger to the mix, it was enough to send her over the edge.

Immediately, a flash of white filled her vision as her eyes rolled in the back of her head. A long moan leaving her lips while Chris worked her through her orgasm.

"There you go."

He kept fingering her until she opened her eyes and looked back at him. She had a wide smile across her face, and Chris mirrored it, placing a long kiss on her forehead.

"I haven’t come that hard in so long." Giggles escaped her, and she knew the high from cumming was still flowing through her. "Well, at least since you left me all alone."

Chris hands started pulling at her sweater to take it off of her. She hadn’t worn a bra under it; the sweater was so oversized and fluffy that it wasn’t even noticeable.

"Oh? Well, maybe I’ll have to show you how to do it right then, huh?" He was kissing all over her cheeks, slowly making his way down her neck. "Make sure you don’t suffer for too long while I’m away." Mumbling into her skin.

"Don’t think I could ever make myself feel this good."

He nipped her collarbone and faced her, their noses almost touching.

"Damn straight." Capturing her lips in a kiss, she began pulling at the back of his jacket to undress him. Chris quickly caught on and stood before her to start stripping. Pulling her legs on the couch, she bit the tip of her thumb to help suppress her smile at the show.

His solid upper body, rippled with pure muscle crafted by numerous hours spent in the gym, had her hypnotized. As Chris stood up to undo his trousers, he couldn’t contain a smug grin. Looking down at her debauched figure, slightly vibrating in anticipation, did a number on the older man.

Just waiting within arm's reach was his exposed cock. It was bigger than anyone she’d ever taken, and her first time she had to cum twice from him stretching her out until he finally fucked her. It was long, and its width something that never failed to take her aback. Whenever she rubbed him off, she couldn't even fit her full fist around him.

"Let me take you to the bedroom you deserve a good fuck."

Tipping her chin to flick her gaze at him, he scoupped her naked body up into his arms. A squeal rang throughout the suite, legs wrapping around his slender waist. Arms around his neck as he cupped her ass. She took advantage of him guiding them safely to the bed, fingers dragging through his hair as a content sigh released out of her nose.

Placing her in the center of the bed, the Egyptian cotton petted her skin. Chris body pressed against hers, and she embraced how he basically engulfed her. Body weight making her sink deeper into the white comforter.

"I’ll give you the world and then some, baby. Just tell me what you want me to do."

Giant hands cradled her head, and carnivorous eyes bore into her soul.

"Need you to make love to me."

From the tips of her fingers to the bottoms of her feet, the feeling of being so fucking saturated in one another was indescribable.

An infinite kiss, in which lips contently rested on top of one another, sealed the deal.

Toned thighs moved to spread hers apart, positioning her instinctively. A distracting slip of his tongue into her mouth, simultaneous with his cock shoving into her cunt. Her mind went blank, a haze washing over her as her mouth fell open in a silent scream.

"Shit." The swear came from deep within him. Chris forehead pressed against hers as their noses bumped into one another. His breath was warm, and the air around her was hot as it grew thick with the smell of sex.

Gripping her cheek tightly, squeezing until her lips puckered open. He let out a deep groan, obviously enjoying the view. Well, that and the way he tried to be subtly with a shallow thrust to her g spot.

"Do you believe me now?" He was referring back to their conversation earlier in the tub.

"How I feel about you?"

"What your very fucking-" She had to close her eyes as her body was completely engulfed in all of him. The faint feeling of his hand traveling down to the back of her neck, tightly cupping it. Tightening his hold on the back of her neck, forcing her head to hit the goose feathered pillow. "existence does to me?"

Her eyes snapped open when his pelvis casually dragged against her clit after a deep thrust.

"Yes! Fu-god, I get it!"

When they locked eyes, she felt a twitch in Chris’s left leg. The one resting against her right thigh.

"Good."

It was swift. His hand gripped her waist as he flipped her on her stomach. A wide hand slapped against her chest to flush her back against his firm chest.

Thighs resting on thighs, with both of them on their knees, she was positioned comfortably on his lap. Another hand was resting on her hipbone holding it up to prevent her from sinking down on him. Spit-soaked lips pressed right on the shell of her ear.

"Now I can fuck you how you deserve."

They groaned in unison once Chris finally let them reconnect. Hand once on her waist, traveling down to rub her clit as she grinds her ass against his pelvis to try and accommodate him inside her again.

It was a slow tempo, pushing deep into her from behind so she could really feel him. All of him. He’d moved the hand on her chest to rest on her neck. Fingers dancing around the bare planes of her collarbone

"I think I need to get you a pretty little necklace." Thrust. "Make sure everyone knows who fucking cunt this is. " Thrust. "Get something for you to play with when I can’t get my cock in your mouth." Two fingers turned into three to slap at her clit.

"I’m-" She hiccuped while trying to blabber out the rest of her sentence. A dark chuckle warm on her ear. "I’m def-initely gonna cum."

"Baby’s got manners tonight, huh?" A quick slap to the side of her ass almost had her whine out but he returned his hand to her clit to continue. "Now are you asking me or telling me?"

Nibbling her ear, she could feel the stutters of his thrust beginning. He was close. Touch more desperate and harsh against her skin than the last buck of his hips.

"Asking!"

He forced them to remain still, with no movement except his fingers abusing her clit and his dick pulsing inside her. Even the city around them grew silent, waiting.

"Go ahead and cum for me then."

Each orgasm Chris gave her was never the same, but they all made her feel nothing less than euphoric. It reminded her of a hot summer day, finishing off a blunt while relaxing in the sun. All the stress and anxiety that filled her washing away, similar to the silk dripping down his dick.

"There you go. Fuck there, you fucking go, baby girl." And whenever he came inside her, god she felt limitless. No experience in the world could be shared between two souls could equal this primal connection.

Her head had fallen against his shoulder, enjoying the electrical currents of ecstasy traveling through her as his hips continued to push his cum into her.

Kisses traveled up and down her sweaty skin as Chris shoved his face into her neck. He was humming out a breath subconsciously to a random tune while soaking in the moment.

What came next was always the worst part. The inevitable of him having to pull out of her. Both of them groan while he lifts her off his softening dick to tuck her in the bed.

"Thank you." It was the first thing said as they basked in the aftermath of their lovemaking. He had her tucked under his arm, arms and legs intertwined. He kissed her temple whispering the words like a secret.

"Feel like I should be the one sayin’ that." Lips grazed her skin as he nodded his head no at her claim.

The moon was seeping through the curtains, painting their naked skin a blue hue. She doesn’t know if she’s seen or felt something so beautiful. So filled with warmth and passion.

"I fuckin’ love you." It was the first time she had said it first. Always relying on confirmation from him whenever they exchange vows.

Chris smile was brighter than the top of the Berliner Fernsehturm. Eyes sparkling. He immersed her in his hold, shoving her face into his chest, almost shielding her from anything that could penetrate their bubble.

"And I love you."

#chris pine #chris pine x musician!reader #chris and sweets #chris pine x reader #famous!reader #cool people #chris pine fanfiction #smut #fluff #about damn time !#daddy af #imagine #oc #poc reader #chris pine imagine

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hugheswritetr · 3 months

Text

Unforgettable

MASTERLIST

Heartbeat | Jack Hughes

Author’s note: my fav chapter so far;)

Song: Unforgettable- French Montana

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Thalia’s POV

The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and i finally found the comfortable position to tan.

I haven’t got much time to tan during this summer, always running around, spending time with family or Luke.

I try to fill my free time with them as much as possible, knowing that once the summer ends, I am returning to Switzerland for my last year of boarding school.

But back to my tanning, If you didn’t notice, I am really enjoying the time for myself.

I just wish the process was faster, because I want the tan lines right now . Oh how I love being a girl.

My mom is cooking lunch with Ellen, so the Hughes family is over. Luke finally returned from his tournament, and it couldn’t be more perfect. The only two people who can’t share my enthusiasm are Quinn and Mattheo.

They are groaning few feet from me, laying on the outdoor sofa with ice packs on their heads. Thats what underage drinking does to you, my friend.

I can faintly hear Luke and Jack shouting at eachother as they play football, the ball nearly hit me a few times, but because of how good I feel right now, I can’t imagine myself caring.

After my mini breakdown I endured yesterday, today is a perfect calming day. My nerves settled down a bit after the talk with Jack, and I feel lighter.

Sure, I still have some anxiety left but I know I have a lot of time to figure it out. Nobody has it figured out at the age I am at, and I know that by then I will be calm and collected.

I hope.

My train of thoughts is stopped when I suddenly do not feel the sun on my face. I open my eyes and see Jack standing over me. I would start cussing him out, but today is a great day, so I choose not to.

But the words he says take me by surprise.

“Scoot over” he instructs me, and I free some space for him on the towel. “What do you want, Jack?” I suspiciously ask.

“Just want to spend some time with my friend, is that a crime ?” he chuckles. I look at him, and see no sarcasm in his eyes. He settles down beside me, the skin contact making me shiver. Why is he wearing no shirt? Thank god he isn’t tho, at least I have something to look at.

I stare, no shame in that. The hard ridges of his abs on the tanned skin are making it impossible not to. “Take a picture, it will last longer”he says, noticing my stare. Okay, I feel shame now, but I do not regret it, the sight was pleasant, not going to lie. So sue a girl for looking.

I am sure I look like an apple right now, and the embarrassment surges through me. “ I wasn’t looking” I say, trying to save at least a bit of dignity I have left.

“Please, Lils, let’s stop lying to ourselves “ he laughs and I scoff at the cocky asshole. He knows what he is doing.

We once again settle into comfortable silence, just sitting beside eachother.

He is one of the few people I actually enjoy spending time with in silence, just soaking up him and his energy.

“So tell me about the girlfriend” I suddenly ask, circling back to the words he said to me at the draft, even though a long time passed since that, it’s still on my mind.

It pains me, but I know that Jack Hughes will always be here for me to admire, not to have. I just hope he finds someone who understands his soul and his body, the way he deserves to be understood.

“Avery? What about her?” he confusedly replies, waiting for me to clarify. “You told me about her at the draft” I recall.

“Oh, yeah, sorry I forgot” he apologises, but continues “She’s great, we have been together since my birthday, so I think we’re doing good” the smile on his face when he is talking about her making my heart break more and more.

“I’m happy for you Jack, you deserve all the best” when I turn to look at him, he’s already looking at me, smiling. “Thank you Lils” he softly smiles and throws his arm around me.

I’m grateful that there are no powers that allow others to read my mind, because all I can think about is wanting him to speak about me. I know it’s dumb, but the charm of Jack Hughes has still not left me. I don’t even think it will leave , ever.

I think about Avery, already feeling the distaste for her, but deep down I know it’s just jealousy. Jealousy about her having him, and not me. She may be a great girl, but I can’t help myself.

That is something I will have to get used to by having Jack in my life, I mean, how can you NOT fall for him? I don’t think that is possible. And if it is, I need a tutorial right now.

There is no possibility that anyone who hears his voice, sees his smile, and gets to know his character will not feel love for him. And once again, if you don’t, please pull me out of this misery and tell me how.

I still remember the first summer living in Michigan, the first time I met him. The second I saw those ocean eyes, I knew I was goner.

The second I felt my hands on his skin, making them tingle, I knew he would be forever imprinted on my mind.

The second his signature toothy smile made appearance on his face, I knew I would do everything possible to be cause of it.

He stole my heart, and I don’t think I will get it back. I also think i’m fine with that, part of my heart being a small price to pay for his presence in my life.

I notice Luke walking up to us, he left to check on the dinner, the teenage boy appetite making him already hungry. I like to tease him about it, but that’s another thing im jealous of, non stop eating and not gaining a pound. If I even breathed the amount he eats, I would be ten pounds heavier.

Okay, I’m lying, I eat the same amount, especially when I’m having mental breakdown about the latest show I’m obsessing over.

Luke plops down next to us “What are you talking about?” curisously asking. “My girlfriend” Luke scoffs, I look strangely at him, and he rolls his eyes. I’m definitely going to ask him questions.

Jack notices his reaction, and scoffs too “I don’t get why you don’t like her, she’s been nothing but nice to you” he says, defending her, making the ache in my chest present again.

“Yeah, sure” Luke answers him, not wanting to talk about her for minute more. Okay, now I’m definitely curious.

I shift the conversation, not wanting to feel the uncomfortable silence longer “Luke, do you want to play volleyball?” I say, actually hoping to press him for details, but I forget that Jacks needs to be centre for everything.

“ No invite for me?” he frowns. Luke and me answer at the same time “No”, “Sure, but I want Luke on my team” . The answer I give him making him gain attitude “I’m much better player than Luke”

I answer him with laugh as I leave to get the ball “Sure Jack, hope you enjoy living in delusions”. Let me tell you a secret, he is better player than Luke, but I love annoying him.

He shouts after me, but I just laugh.

I stay in the supply room a little longer, needing to cool down my blushing cheeks, but the cause of my blushing problem once again appears.

“Having trouble finding the ball?” he asks, stepping into the room with me. “Not at all” I turn around about to reach for it, but he decides to do the same, and closes the proximity between us by pressing his front into my back.

I instantly pull away, the blush I originally had, and I don’t even know how it’s possible, worsening even more.

Why am I still blushing? Seriously, my face needs to get it together. Man up, we can’t embarrass ourselves more, I internally speak to myself and my face.

Yeah, I know these are the signs of starting insanity, but we are going to ignore it for now.

Jack coughs beside me, making me pull myself from my thoughts. “Went to Wonderland?” he teasingly asks.

I dismiss him with a shake of the head and leave the room.

When I return to Luke, he suspiciously looks at me, and then at Jack trailing behind me.

,,What took you two so long?” he asks, suspicion evident in his voice.

,,Nothing, let’s play” I say, hoping to stop his thoughts from wandering too much.

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I always considered myself great at volleyball, but how embarrasingly we are losing right now to Jack is almost making me rethink that statement.

But I’m not a quitter, and Luke isn’t one either, and we know that we are going to win this.

Because if not, this is going to get embarrassing real fast. But it won’t, because I wouldn’t let Jack’s ego rise more. Someone needs to seriously humble that man, and that someone is going to be me.

That is one of the main reasons I’m sweating like a pig right now, because there is no chance he is going to win, and if he is, it’s going to be over my dead body.

I don’t know what was I thinking wanting to play volleyball with two hockey players, because their stamina is much better than mine, hell, they didn’t even break a sweat yet.

I’m aware of how unattractive I look right now, but I don’t even care, the sole goal is to win the game and then shower.

“Wishing you chose me, huh Lils?” Jack chirps from the other side in a true hockey boy nature.

“Not at all” I answer him, one thing I’m not going to admit is me being wrong. My competitivness matches Jack’s own one and I think if volleyball scouts were here, they would choose us on the spot.

My poor Luke is in the middle of our ego match, I feel bad about screaming at him about every mistake he makes, but I will not lose to Jack. Luke will get his apology later.

The only boy matching my screams is the one infront of me, screaming obscenities at the poor ball whenever something doesn’t go his way.

I think today the universe is on my side, because when I do the winning move, my ego rises a few feet.

“Ha!” I laugh at Jack sitting defeatedly on his knees, between catching my breaths.

Luke does not even stay to clap me on my back, I’m sure he is going to Ellen for her to comfort him about how we were yelling at him. He’s SUCH a mamas boy (don’t tell him I said that).

Suddenly there’s a hand stretched infront of me, Jack’s hand to be particular. I don’t take it, smirking as I stand up even though I have about two cramps in each leg, but he doesn’t know that.

I’m certainly not going to shorten my ego even by millimetre, duh.

He laughs at me, then he hughs me.

“Congrats on winning, not sure you would win without Luke, but I’m going to let it slide” he says, that asshole. He knows damn well that I carried the team.

I don’t even answer him, my heart set on the shower I’m going to take.

What I don’t know is that by the time I was collecting things in my room for the shower. He beat me to it. In my own house.

But I’m not going to be mad, he deserves at least one win today. I laugh at my thoughts. I always knew I was funny.

If someone finds out what’s up with men and their long showers, let me know. I’m pounding on the door of the bathroom, because I honestly can’t wait no more.

I don’t even get my second pound in at the door, and hes opening them.

Once again, he knows what he is doing. Because he is standing there in all of his bare-chested glory.

Suddenly, my mind is a bottomless pit and my mouth stopped functioning, because I can’t even form and speak one word.

”Cat got your tongue?” he knowingly asks, getting second ego victory that day, dork.

I spare one last look at his chest, of course I’m not going to leave without looking. When he already catched me, I don’t have to hide it.

I push past him for the second time that day. Why does this keep happening to me? Entering the bathroom, I release a sigh.

But when I notice the familiar scent of the bathroom, I know that he used my bodywash, making a smile appear on my face.

He is going to be falling asleep with my scent today. I hope he enjoys thinking about me.

I know I called him delusional today, but I’m starting to think I should have been reflecting that one on myself.

Shutting down my thoughts, I step into the shower, the warm water calming my aching muscles.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

When I step out of shower and I notice the tan I gained, I smile from joy because that was the original plan for today.

The cooling lotion on my skin feels great, and I almost fall asleep from the relaxing effect it has.

Until I smell the scent of the food from downstairs, my stomach now agressively grumbling.

I put on some sundress I fish out from my closet, not even caring what I put on, I just want to fill the void in my stomach.

I braid my drying hair, not wanting to have a side of them with my meal. Men have it so easy with their short hair.

As I sit beside my now hungover-free brother, who is finally not complaining anymore, I notice the happiness radiating from the people around the table, making me smile.

The food is great ( shotout to my mom and Ellen ). Everyone is laughing and I’m winning again, beating Jack once again in our private kicking tournament under the table.

I laugh at him and stick my tongue out, making him smile. At least he is not a sore loser, because that would be sad for him.

He takes all these losses like champ and I think I found my new hobby, winning.

Everything is perfect right now.

#jack hughes #jack hughes fic #jack hughes imagine #jack hughes x reader #luke hughes #new jersey devils #nhl #hockey fic #jack hughes blurb #jack hughes fanfiction #nj devils #jack hughes x oc

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seonghwanotes · 7 months

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new years eve | jeong yunho

pairing: yunho x reader

genre: fluff

word count: 953

a/n: this was originally a collab but i completed the ending bc the writer i collabed with had closed her acc so yeah, this had me thinking for a lil bit. ALSO THE GIF 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 im getting bias wrecked big time, i cannot imagine being yunhonotes 😭 (21 Aug 2021)

a/n: as i write this, it is 28th sept 2023 😭 had this in my drafts for a while, did not proofread at all so will just post this up for now x

It was finally the most awaited week of the whole year, Christmas week. It was a family tradition for everyone to start preparing for Christmas when December came by but this year round, you were away from your family and you were spending it with Yunho and his friends. Considering that everyone was busy with their own schedules and you finally got a break till New Years, you began your preparation a little later than usual.

But as usual, Christmas went by in a blink of an eye. Right after you had taken down the Christmas tree all by yourself, you let out a loud sigh, feeling a little sad. It certainly felt a little different since it was something you’d do together with your family members but it didn’t feel as lonely since you were with your loving boyfriend.

You grabbed your phone off the couch and took a picture of the now dismantled tree, sending it to Yunho who was at practice with the boys. Not even a second passed, he had seen your message and immediately called you.

“Oh, hello?”

“Y/N, how can you take down the tree without me helping you out? It must have been hard, especially with the upper part of the tree.” He scolded you, making you chuckle.

“Yunho, it’s fine. I was gonna do it by today anyway and I was free after you left so I just got it done. You would be home later anyway. I used a chair in case you were wondering.” You replied back, earning a sigh from him. You didn’t need to be next to him to see his pout and know that he was upset for not helping you out.

You waited for a bit as you sat down, grabbing your gifts you got for Yunho along with the gift wrapper. You set your call on speaker mode and put your phone down. You could only hear some of the boys whispering to each other but it wasn’t too audible since the background music was blocking their voices out.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry I didn’t wait till you came home but tomorrow’s New Years eve! You know I don’t like keeping the tree up for longer than 3 days. Anyway, I’m going to the supermarket soon to get some stuff for our dinner tomorrow.” You told him, still not getting a response back. “Should I get champagne too?”

You and Yunho spent a homely Christmas together as everyone was with their family except for the two of you. It was not much but work has definitely made your lives much more busier, causing you two to not get presents for each other in time that you were doing it pretty late. Not that it mattered to you at this age but you felt bad for not carrying out a simple task.

You started wrapping your presents, occasionally glancing at your phone to see if he was about to end the call since he wasn’t answering you back. There was some light bickering among the boys but you couldn’t hear what they were talking about. “Jeong Yunho, If you wanted to help me out so badly, do me a favour and ask the boys what they would want for gifts or I’m wrapping vegetables for all 8 of you.”

Your threat seemed to slightly work as you heard Mingi chime at the other side of the call, “Ya, I don’t want vegetables this year. You better ask her for her size or I’m asking her myself!”

Size? Your size for what? You were about to voice out but Yunho cut you to it. “Well, that sounds fine. Go ahead, baby.”

“So you want me to get vegetables for them?” You questioned, earning a yell from Jongho.

“Y/N! Don’t listen to hyung! Get us what you feel like getting us except vegetables… what? Oh, no mint chocolate for Hongjoong hyung and Seonghwa hyung. We love you!” He yelled, making you laugh. These boys were enough to make you feel like you were at home.

“Not sure why I’m on speaker mode but okay.” You answered back, hearing someone getting a hard smack. You were about to end the call but stopped when Yunho called out. “Baby, wait! One more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Your hand is almost the same as San’s right?” The question almost came out as a whisper, Yunho knowing you would get agitated at that question since your hands were the size of a child compared to his delicate giant ones.

“You know the answer already. Why are you even asking this? Are you getting me a bracelet from Pandora or what?” You asked him, sealing the gift wrapper with a ribbon on top for Yunho’s gift, which was a Rolex watch and matching rings that you’ve been eyeing for a while now.

A silence was heard initially, then a voice followed along. “Yeah, would rose gold do?”

Your cheeks flushed, “Ah, um, yeah. See you later then. Tell the boys to be early tomorrow. Oh, I’ll get 3 bottles of champagne then, okay?”

“Okay, sure thing. Yes, 3 is fine. I love you.” Yunho replied, sending a kiss through the call.

“Love you too.” You responded and ended the call.

One gift wrapped and there was more to go. You sighed, pushing them away for awhile and opened your laptop to surf the internet, making a list on what to buy for the boys, wanting it to be meaningful as well. Even if Christmas wasn’t as joyful as you wanted it to be, New Years was going to be the most memorable holiday you had in a while and you couldn’t wait for it to arrive.

#ateez #ateez imagines #ateez scenarios #ateez fluff #kpop #writing #jeong yunho au #yunho imagines #yunho fanfic #yunho au #jeong yunho #ateez yunho #yunho x reader #new years day

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pastelcheckereddreams · 4 months

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Four Seasons Manor (四季山庄): Set Layout, Part Three!

This is the third and final post detailing my set sleuthing adventure, looking for the sets that make up Word of Honor's Siji Manor. If you're stumbling over this post in the wild - hi! I draw architectural drafts of cdrama sets, as accurately to the show as I can. A huge amount of research goes into creating my art, and so far no set location has been as elusive as this one.

Split across two sets - one located in Hengdian World Studio's Spring and Autumn Tang Park, and the other in Hengdian's Huaxia film studio - this post is the final part uncovering the layout of Siji Manor. (And nothing will make sense if you read this post first, go back to part one and part two!!)

A reminder, before we dive right back into the breakdown of my completed birdseye view, that this last part will cover the main courtyard of what I have dubbed the "interior" Siji set, highlighted in red below:

Let's dive in!

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The Main Courtyard

The main hall (6), the largest building in this set, is what I and @minnarr, who shares my brainrot 🙏 and has been a great help in this process, have been calling "Everlasting."

This is because sign over the entrance reads, "萬古長青" (wàn gǔ cháng qīng), which to my layman's knowledge translates as "Everlasting and Evergreen," an idiom that can be extrapolated to mean "forever green throughout the ages," which describes a noble spirit or deep friendship that will last forever, like an eternal Springtime:

In the above screenshots, you can see that Chengling's training area (9) is set up in front of this main hall, and over his head in the third picture, you can just about see the moon window that is a feature of WKX's room.

Importantly, the pavilion (10) just about seen behind Chengling's training area, marks a de facto boundary for this set as it appears in WOH, as the camera angles of these episodes never never stray past it. For a long time - until I began to watch Mysterious Lotus Casebook and Heroes, which handed me the final puzzle pieces to rule out this set as part of the film parks - I thought the entire set must finish just to the right of the pavilion.

That is not so. If I pull up some screenshots from MLC and reintroduce the scant few photographs I've found of the "Mansion Scene" Huaxia set itself from part two, you can see this main courtyard in full:

In these photos and screenshots, we can now see the main courtyard almost in full: the main building with its projecting entrance (I'm unsure if the term portico applies to Asian architecture); the pavillion to its left, standing opposite Building 8 which we will come to in a moment; and Building 11 at the end of what, in MLC, is a central pathway - but that I have interpreted in my own drawing to be a path of scattered stepping stones like the rest of the set, considering the smaller courtyard (5) - as discussed in part two - appears to be taking on the role of a more formal courtyard.

'Everlasting' and 'Gentle Winds'

For a moment, though, I need to draw us back to the main building. This building - Everlasting - is very important as, by vehicle of drama magic, this is where the two Siji sets conflate.

In episode 24 we cut from a shot of the main building in the exterior Siji set, whose sign reads "風輕雲淡" (fēng qīng yún dàn), or "Gentle Winds and Light Clouds," to this interior shot of Everlasting:

And to confirm that this interior shot is Everlasting, or building 6, we return to MLC, where we are treated to an outside-to-inside shot of the build, whose inset floor matches that of WOH's Everlasting building, seen clearest in episode 24, above, and episode 28:

(I do have more screenshots that I may add in later, but right now I'm running out of steam, please just take my word for it. 😂)

Cold River Room

Now, unfortunately I've been unable to place the medicine room, in which ZZS grinds herbs, in what photo resources I have of this film studio. Likewise for the room I've taken to calling the "infirmary" (where WKX takes a healing bath after his confrontation with YBY). Equally as unhelpful, there's simply no discernible exterior details seen from inside these two rooms that I can dig my research claws into and try to identify a placement or orientation for them:

The room they spend their first night at Siji Manor in, however, is a different story. That room - dubbed as the "Cold River Room" by Minna - is Building 8.

This was quite easy to place, thanks to this screenshot of a behind the scenes video (that I've since long lost the link to, unfortunately - if you have a link, I'd be very grateful if you share it with me so that I may add the source). Here, we can see the column inscriptions on Everlasting through the window:

So I can confirm this building to be the room they spend their first night as Siji in, seen here behind Chengling as well as in a MLC screenshot - showing its place across from the pavilion clearly:

The Pond

The last part of the main courtyard - and of this set breakdown overall - is the pond and Building 11:

I had suspected their was some kind of water trough or strip of pond between the seating area (4) and the pavilion (10) for a while, but never had the resources to confirm it. I still can't. However, a film studio's entire purpose is to shapeshift from one design brief to another. Sometimes, there is a pond and sometimes there isn't, as these two images show:

The left image is a photograph from the article about Hengdian's film studios linked above, taken from the seating area (4), while the right image is a screenshot from Heroes episode 13, the camera positioned in front of Building 11. I simply decided that I liked the pond there, so I included it in my Siji layout.

As an aside, in this scene in Heroes, with the camera panning just a bit further right, we get a lovely clear shot of the archway from the formal courtyard (5) to this one:

Finally, we come to Building 11. You'll notice that I called the courtyard of the QHZ snow scene in WOH a "formal" courtyard (5), on account of the clearly defined, linear paving.

However, it doesn't have the large gate of a main courtyard:

This courtyard, the one with Everlasting, does. The winding steppingstones used as paving in the Siji set dressing of this location takes away from the formality of this courtyard that, once you see it in its entirety in shows such as MLC or Heroes, it certainly has. To that point, Building 11 - or rather, structure 11, as may be more appropriate to call it now - is actually a large gateway. This is easiest seen in Heroes, episode 13:

Of course, that doesn't mean we have to designate it as a gateway in the Siji layout. I don't think it's meant to have that identity, based on the above - well, it's not meant to have an identity at all. It's never seen in the show. But, given the Siji set dressing and the resemblance it bears to Building 8, the Cold River Room, I might consider giving it the identity of one of the rooms I've been unable to locate - the infirmary, or the medicine room.

Let me hear your thoughts!

I'd like to hear your suggestions and thoughts on that. On all of it! Because despite all of this research, I am still left with the gargantuan task of drafting it all into a finished piece. And as such, I am still faced with the dilemma I began to outline months ago in part one:

How could I merge these two very different sets together? Should I merge them together?

I have rambled ideas at friends about presenting an architecture draft that is simply reportage - showing both sets, and summarizing the information I've given you all here before making suggestions on how they could combine into "one true set".

But on the other hand, do I draft the Siji I see emerging in the crossover of these two sets - the one I can feel starting to take shape in my brain? And then simply offer this research up as the facts.

There's still a long way to go, but thank you for being here! As always, if you'd like to support my research madness and help fuel my many artistic endeavors, please consider donating to my kofi or checking out my print shop:

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And happy new year! I hope 2024 brings you happiness and opportunity in all that you wish ✨

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

#nikkidraws #四季山庄 #山河令 #four seasons manor #word of honor #shan he ling #shl meta #woh meta #word of honor meta #woh set design #shl set design #set design #yeeting this from me now it's taken two days to do both of these posts at the same time 😭#i hope this last post makes sense i'm so tiiiiired

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universitypenguin · 9 months

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Chapter 18 - Part II

The Princess & The Lawyer Chapter XVIII - Part II

Summary: Lloyd is rattled by unexpected news from Elliot that sends him into an emotional spiral and delays his return. Aiden is arrested for a shocking crime and Landon gives a profile of the stalker.

Word Count: 6,670

Masterlist

Warnings: Physical violence, strangulation, attempted drowning. References to stalking, the U.S. military draft process, war and military service, drug addiction, family estrangement, international adoption, murder, and death.

Author’s Note: I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. I was planning to finish it sooner, but I had a virus of some kind for the past week.

Chapter XVIII - Part II

The engine of the Mercury purred like the big cat it was named after as Lloyd exited I-15 and rolled to a stop at the light. He admired the way the hood gleamed in the afternoon sun.

“You did a great job on the body work,” Lloyd said.

“Thanks,” Elliot replied.

Ahead of them, the light was stubbornly red. Lloyd drummed his fingers on the wheel.

“I was shocked how many people showed up to the funeral,” he said.

“They weren’t there for him, they came for us.”

“I know. Can you believe Mrs. Wilcox stepped foot in a Catholic church? Do you think she’ll have to repent before the Baptists take her back?”

Elliot laughed. “No, they have a new pastor. He’s not as hardline as the old one.”

“Oh, man. I bet she hates that.”

“She stopped going to church for a month when he took over.”

Lloyd tried to imagine Mrs. Wilcox without picturing her going to church three times a week and couldn’t quite fill in the picture. The light turned green and he rolled through the intersection.

“What ticked her off?”

“The new preacher didn’t condemn drinking alcohol.”

“Ah… that makes sense. The no alcohol thing is one of her favorite rules. Did you notice she only played Baptist hymns during the service? I was sure she’d pick a classic for the finale, like ‘Amazing Grace’ but she went with ‘The Gate Ajar.’”

“She’s probably hoping to draw some converts to the Baptist with better music.”

“Hey, if the Baptists can drink now, she’s got a fighting chance.”

Elliot snickered. Lloyd scanned ahead for the turn off to the rehab facility.

“Did you know Uncle Joe served in the Marines? I didn’t.”

“Yeah,” Lloyd said. “I knew he’d been in the corps, but only because I found his draft papers in the basement when I was a kid.”

“Draft papers? He was drafted?”

“His card got pulled in ‘69 and he did two tours. We never talked about it. I knew better than to ask. Eventually, it just sort of faded from my mind because he never brought it up.”

“Isn’t that weird?” Elliot asked.

Lloyd shrugged.

“Do you think that’s why he was… the way he was?”

The way he was. Lloyd contemplated the phrase. How was Joe? The first word that came to mind was quite simply: mean. The stern demeanor, thirst for vengeance, and his desperate need for control might have had roots in his time overseas. Who knew what effect the brutality of guerrilla warfare would’ve had on Joe as an eighteen year old. Lloyd wondered if his father had been in a similar state of mind as he’d found himself in at that age. Perhaps the simmering rage had been hardened into something more deadly by the explosive violence of those two years in the jungle.

“I don’t know. Maybe, but no one can know for sure. Even if it did, Joe wouldn’t have admitted it.”

Lloyd turned in at the rehab facility and parked near the front doors. Elliot checked in with the admissions clerk, who took his luggage and disappeared down the hall, giving them a moment to say goodbye.

“Were you serious about staying in touch?” Elliot asked.

“Yeah. I haven’t decided about the ranch yet, but we’ll need to coordinate on that when the time comes.”

Elliot stared at him. “Coordinate?”

“Joe left you half the ranch.”

“Come again?”

Lloyd clapped his cousin on the shoulder. “I’ll have the lawyer send you a copy of the will, okay? We’re business partners now. That is, unless you’d rather sell.”

Elliot looked dumbstruck. “Uh-huh. Yeah… I don’t know. Do you want to?”

“I haven’t decided. How about we wait six months to make a final determination? It’ll give you time to get back on your feet and I can think things over. But if you need cash now, I can arrange a sale.”

“We should talk about that… later.” Elliot glanced over his shoulder to the desk, where the nurse was working on her computer. “Hang on a second, will you?”

Lloyd watched as Elliot approached the nurse, then accepted a small green notepad and pen. He scribbled something down and ripped off the page before handing it back to her.

“Here. Since you were serious about staying in touch, don’t limit yourself to just me, okay?”

Lloyd looked at the paper. There were two unfamiliar addresses written down, one nearby in Park City and the other in Denver. He looked at Elliot. “What’s this?”

His cousin shoved his hands in his pockets, rolling his shoulders.

“I know you’ve never gotten in contact, which, you know… uh… speaks for itself… but I think you should have that. Just in case you change your mind.”

Lloyd studied the addresses and then Elliot’s anxious expression.

“If you’re still angry-” he broke off, sighing. “You can’t blame them for something that was out of their control.”

“Blame who? For what?” Lloyd asked, losing patience as Elliot skirted around the point without explanation.

“Ingrid and Josephine. They’re your family, too.”

Words died on Lloyd’s tongue, stolen by the impact of the revelation. He re-read the addresses and cemented them into his memory.

“Will you say something?” Elliot said, annoyed.

“I thought they were dead.”

“Dead? Why? You couldn’t find them?” Elliot asked.

Lloyd shook his head, “I never looked… because I thought… I figured…”

“Why would you think they were dead?”

“Joe always settled his debts. Always. If she ran away, that meant…”

He couldn’t finish the thought, but saw understanding flash in Elliot’s eyes.

“They’re alive, and they’d be thrilled to hear from you.”

“Thank you, Elliot.”

They didn’t hug goodbye, just nodded at each other. Then he watched his cousin walk through the double doors that led to a long hallway. Lloyd slid on his sunglasses and headed out to the parking lot. The note in his hand felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. He shoved the paper into his wallet and climbed behind the wheel in a daze. He didn’t remember the drive from Salt Lake into Wyoming, but the next thing he knew, he was filling up with gas in Rock Springs.

He’d planned to drop off the Mercury in Salt Lake and have it shipped to D.C. Lloyd checked his watch and realized that appointment, as well as his flight, had long passed. There were a dozen missed calls on his phone. He wondered why he’d driven east, when he could’ve headed to Park City and seen Josie just as easily. It wasn’t too late to swing down to Denver and look up Ingrid; the stop wouldn’t be too far out of his way.

What would he say? After all those years of assuming the worst, he'd been wrong. He had to reach out to them and that terrified him.

They’d want to know why he hadn’t contacted them, why he’d let them go so easily, and ignored their existence for the past twenty years. How could he explain that the risk had outweighed the reward? Denial and avoidance and selfishness had cost him the most important people in his life. He cursed himself for it now and saw the stark truth - he’d given up on his sisters without a shred of factual evidence, leaning on emotional reasoning designed and tailored to protect himself.

He couldn’t explain that, not in his current state of mind, so he turned back onto I-80 and headed home.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You heard footsteps and jerked around so fast you nearly fell off your chair. The unexpected sight of the man behind you stole the breath from your lungs.

“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“Easy, Princess. It’s just me.”

Jake raised his arms in mock surrender as you pressed a hand to your racing heart and inhaled through your nose.

“Zach let me in,” he explained.

“Sorry. I’m still on edge from last night. What are you doing here?”

He grimaced. Your pulse, which had just begun to slow, galloped in response to the expression.

“Did something happen with the case? To Lloyd? Is he okay?”

“Nothing happened with the case - as far as I know - and Lloyd… I have no idea. He called me at six-thirty this morning and threatened to rip me apart limb by limb. I’ve been ducking his calls ever since.”

You frowned. “I’m sorry. I tried to tell him about Aiden last night, but I chickened out at the last minute.”

Jake quirked an eyebrow. “Well, that explains the phone call. Come on, Diskant is waiting.”

He led you through the kitchen and dining room, into the living area.

Zach lounged in the ornate Fauteuil chair on the far side of the room, his right ankle hooked over his left knee. The perfect stillness of his posture belied his casual bearing. The frozen, statue-like demeanor made your heart sink, as your attention shifted to the tall man who rose from the couch to greet you.

“Good afternoon,” Diskant said, extending his hand.

You greeted him and settled on the loveseat with Jake, directly across from the sofa.

“I’m sorry to inform you of this, but early this morning, Aiden LeDoux was arrested for attempting to break into your apartment.”

The words hit you like a trap door opening under your feet. You didn’t know if you should celebrate or shudder.

“When? How was he caught?”

Diskant glanced at Jake, who shifted nervously beside you.

“I asked Jake to trail Aiden,” Zach said.

“Starting when?” you asked.

“Saturday morning,” Jake said. “I’ve been following him all weekend.”

Diskant spoke. “He found Aiden trying to pick the lock of your apartment door. Jake contacted building security and took video of the act, so we have clear evidence of the attempted break-in.”

Your arms squeezed around your midsection. “And? Where is he now?”

“Jail, but we expect him to make bail soon.”

“Right.”

Detective Diskant glanced at Jake before meeting your eyes.

“There’s something else… While investigating the break in attempt, Jake located something unusual. We found a hidden camera in the hallway. It was tucked behind the welcome wreath on your across-the-hall neighbor’s door. The camera was pointed at your apartment and was live-streaming to an unknown IP address.”

- - -

For the next two hours you reviewed every detail of your case with Diskant. You seized a throw pillow and hugged it to your torso, digging your fingers into its softness for comfort. The detective’s pen scratched on the page as he scribbled in his journal.

Landon had joined your meeting an hour ago, since his shift tailing Aiden became a moot point when his bail hearing was pushed to Tuesday morning. You felt Landon’s perceptive eyes on you, taking in every detail of your reactions.

“Remind me what initially caused you to suspect Aiden when you realized you were being stalked?” Diskant asked.

“No one else made sense. Aiden was the only person I’d upset recently, and he’d just gone through a stressful event, losing his job.”

Diskant frowned. Zach leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees.

“I think we should consider other suspects,” he said.

“What leads you to that conclusion?” Diskant asked.

“Last night, when someone tried to turn us into road kill, Aiden was playing basketball with friends on the other side of town - Jake witnessed it himself. The initial contact from the stalker where he quoted: “Don’t ask who’s there…” that’s a line from Scream, which was released in ’96. In other messages I found more references to horror movies. He quotes Misery and Candyman verbatim in some of the threats. It’s hard to tell if the quotes were deliberate or if the phrases were naturally absorbed into his lexicon. The movies he’s referencing are from the 90s, well before Aiden started watching horror flicks.”

Diskant nodded. You noticed he didn’t take any notes.

Zach sighed and glanced at you, then continued. “The third factor is Aiden’s personality. I made it a point to talk to him a couple times while he was dating Princess. In my opinion, he’s extremely passive aggressive, which isn’t compatible with the increasing level of confrontation we’re seeing from the stalker.”

“What comments did he make that you considered passive aggressive?” Diskant asked.

“He was too good at the art of a backhanded compliment. When I first spoke to him he claimed to appreciate Princess’ independence in one breath and undermined it in the next with, ‘not everyone can handle things on their own, like she tries to.’ There were less specific things too, but overall, he just had a way of taking an innocent sounding statement and giving it a whiff of contempt that set my teeth on edge.”

Diskant clicked his pen and tucked it in his jacket. “I’ve been mulling over the possibility of other suspects myself. The main problem with that theory is the phone call Yvette received last night. Have you considered that Aiden might be working with a partner?”

Zach raised his chin. “Do you have a line on a potential partner?”

“Not yet, but putting together the timeline of last night’s events, Aiden called Yvette before going to the park for his basketball game, prior to the hit-and-run attempt. The phone call where he asked if you were home might have been geared towards finding out the exact opposite. I think it’s just as likely that he was trying to find out if you weren’t at home.”

“If he put up a camera in the hallway and saw that no one was coming and going from your apartment, that might explain him contacting Yvette,” Jake said.

“Once he knew the apartment was unoccupied, he could have sent his partner to distract you with the hit-and-run. We reviewed the security tapes, and it seems that the driver veered away at the last second. I don’t think they were trying to kill you, just frighten and maim.”

You squeezed the pillow tight.

“Landon, have you finished profiling the suspect?” Zach asked.

“Male, 45 to 55, highly intelligent, strategic, with organized behavioral patterns. Some texts seem pre-scripted and sent on a schedule. There are three main patterns of delivery: rapid fire, cluster attacks with intentional pauses, and a steady trickle.”

Diskant nodded. “I noticed the intervals, and the scheduled messages. He probably has a full-time job that keeps him occupied from 9 to 5.”

Landon inclined his head. “Agreed. His writing style shows the marks of higher education, which makes me think he works in a white-collar occupation. It would also explain the need for regular hours. The occasions where he’s made contact - the nephew’s birthday party, in the park on Friday night, and then the incident yesterday - they all occurred in the evening.”

“Consistent with the profile,” Zach said.

“His emotional tone shows that he suppresses enormous amounts of rage. I’m inclined to think he can’t contain it all the time, which would’ve led to court-ordered therapy, probably on a non-voluntary basis.”

“What about the fact that he hasn’t identified himself in the texts?” Zach asked.

“That’s why I’m not ruling Aiden out yet,” Landon said. “The coyness allows him to feign innocence. He’s being secretive and not taking ownership of his actions. That fits Aiden to a tee. Factoring the technological aspect of the hidden camera Jake found in the hallway, there’s a strong possibility Aiden is involved in the stalking even if he isn’t the driving force behind it.”

You swallowed hard, disturbed by the description.

“Does the profile ring any bells?” Jake asked.

You shook your head and plucked at the upholstery of the pillow.

“My questions about the stalker’s identity began from the texts as well,” Diskant said. “These messages don’t read like they’re from a romantically obsessed stalker who’s trying to win back their victim’s affection.”

“The primary motivation behind the messages is clear,” Landon said.

Zach snorted. “Yeah. He’s trying to terrorize her.”

“The person writing the texts is an emotional sadist. They’re motivated by the enjoyment of the hunt and provoking a response.”

Diskant was nodding before Landon finished speaking. “The movie obsession in the subtext of his messages isn’t based around enjoying the adrenaline rush of fear, like a normal person would. He’s identifying with the antagonists, like Ghostface and Patrick Bateman.”

“And our current theory is that Aiden is involved with this person?” you asked, fingers clenching in the pillow’s stuffing.

“It’s one possibility,” Diskant said. “I spoke with Aiden’s father this morning. He mentioned he searched Aiden’s phone for evidence of the messages after you spoke with him. However, after going through his son’s phone, he realized it wasn’t the only device he’d seen Aiden using.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mr. Ledoux reports Aiden has a second phone. He thought it was for work, but he’s seen it several times since Aiden was let go from his employer. His father’s theory is that he wasn’t using his personal device to send the texts.”

Jake leaned in. “Do you have a search warrant for the house yet?”

“We didn’t need one. Mr. LeDoux owns the house, all we needed was his permission. We searched his room from top to bottom and couldn’t find a second phone. A team is searching the rest of the house as we speak.”

“Why is Mr. LeDoux being so cooperative?” Zach asked. “Is it possible he might be Aiden’s partner?”

Your jaw dropped. For a second you were shocked, then horrified. “Mr. LeDoux is too old for the profile and I only met him one time. He has no reason to stalk me!”

Landon spoke. “I went through Aiden’s publicly available writings when I was analyzing the text messages and compared them. Because of his proximity to the case, I also reviewed Mr. LeDoux’s writing and I doubt either of them authored the messages. But given the information Yvette provided us with, I’m still concerned that Aiden has something to do with the harassment.”

“When do you plan to interrogate Aiden?” Zach asked.

“I’m not allowing you to speak with the subject,” Diskant said.

“Why not?” Landon demanded.

“You’re emotionally invested in the case - that’s a recipe for disaster.”

After Diskant left, Zach and Jake headed to the office, while Landon stayed behind as your minder. You retreated to your work station in the conservatory where you stared blankly at your laptop for a few minutes before laying your head down on the desk.

“Are you okay?” Landon’s voice cut through your misery.

You glanced back and saw him standing at the threshold between the kitchen and the conservatory, sunlight glinting off his dark brown hair.

“No. Would you be?”

“Nope.” He crossed to the table and pulled up a chair, swinging it around to straddle as he folded his arms over the backrest. “Tell me where your head’s at.”

“Zach and Lloyd might go into overprotective mode. The minute I realized I was being stalked, I was worried about Lloyd’s reaction. After watching Zach’s response to Diskant’s theory…” you shook your head.

“Zach’s incredibly loyal,” Landon said.

“That’s why I’m worried!”

“Jake and I will handle them, okay? Bishop already suggested locking Lloyd away before we fill him in. We could always shove Zach in too.”

“Got a dungeon?”

Landon snorted. “Not one that will hold them. Listen. This is temporary. The stalking can’t go on forever. It won’t go on forever.”

“If Lloyd and Zach have their way it will be over quickly and violently. The latter part worries me. I want this resolved but I don’t want them going to jail on my behalf. Just thinking about it makes me sick.”

Landon’s lips pursed. “Can you think of any reason, other than stalking you, for Aiden to want access to your apartment while you were away?”

“No. I have no clue.”

“If he planted the camera in the hallway, I’m inclined to think it was placed to make sure you weren’t home. It’s straight out of the intelligence handbook to ensure you’re in and out of a target’s home while they’re gone. Given that Aiden’s father was an FBI agent, he’d know that much about tradecraft.”

You rubbed your temple. “I don’t understand why he’d do this.”

“There were no weapons on him when he was arrested. I don’t buy him as your stalker, but the evidence points to his involvement.”

“It doesn’t make sense. Nothing adds up.”

Landon ran his fingers through his hair, tousling it from its carefully gelled style. “You’re right. And until we get more evidence, it probably won’t. What are you doing in the meantime?”

“Searching for missing persons reports.”

“Okay then. Shall we divide and conquer?”

The next few hours flew by, filled with research and notes. Daylight slipped away but your eyes remained focused on the screen without pause. You pulled up another report and a moment later, elbowed Landon.

“Hey. Look at this. Li Wei Chapman, age 23, vanished in 1999 from Virginia.”

Landon looked over your shoulder. “Her last known location was at a bible camp her family owned in Fredericksburg.”

“Is that too far away from Harmony?”

“It’s only forty minutes by car. The serial killer was most active closer to D.C., but that alone doesn’t exclude this victim. She disappeared on June 14th - right in the middle of his active period.”

“Look at the notes,” you said, scrolling down. “Her daughter, Zoe Chapman, also went missing on the same day. She was two years old.”

“If she was his first victim, he might have chosen a location he knew well. Maybe he spent time at the bible camp and was familiar with the terrain,” Landon said. “Fredericksburg has a lot of wooded areas that could be used for cover.”

“How do you know so much about the geography of Fredericksburg?” you asked.

“It’s on the way to Latimer’s hometown. We use his uncle’s farm for our team reunion every year. This is good. It’s the first mother-daughter abduction we’ve found that matches the details of our victim.”

“Wait. Marco Latimer? He’s from Virginia?”

Landon arched a brow. “Yeah. Why?”

“His accent. I couldn’t quite place it. Where’s he from?”

“Kilmarnock. His accent is Virginia Tidewater, but it’s stronger than most because he grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere.”

He re-focused his attention on the missing persons report and was about to say something when the doorbell rang. Your head snapped up.

“I’ll get it,” Landon said.

You trailed after him, but stayed out of sight as he opened the door. A woman in her mid-sixties with ash blonde hair worn in a blunt bob waited on the other side.

“Hello, I’m Judy Lange. I’m looking for Lloyd’s house sitter. Is she here?”

“Yeah.”

Landon motioned you forward. Mrs. Lange’s eyes glinted in recognition when she saw you.

“Here are the pool keys, for Mr. Hansen. I apologize for interrupting your evening, but I promised I’d have them back before he returned,” she said, handing them over.

“Thank you, I’ll make sure he gets them.”

“Excellent. And if you need anything, we’re just two doors down.”

You thanked her for the keys and when she was gone, placed the keys in the bowl on the foyer table. Realizing how late it was you checked the time and frowned.

“When does Lloyd’s flight land? Shouldn’t we have picked him up already?”

“He’s driving back,” Landon said.

“What?! All the way across the country?”

“He’s bringing back a car, at least that’s what Zach said.”

Your heart sank. You’d confessed your love, and now Lloyd was taking his sweet time returning.

“What’s wrong?” Landon asked.

“I told Lloyd I loved him last night.”

His eyebrows rose sharply. “Damn. That took guts. Lloyd’s the most emotionally repressed person I’ve ever met.”

You groaned and sank down on the couch, head in your hands.

“What was I thinking?!”

“Maybe your confession wasn’t such a bad thing,” Landon said.

“Why do you say that?”

“Lloyd is skittish about sharing his emotions, but under the right conditions he’s made progress before.”

You rubbed your neck. “I’m worried that he might never say it back. If this relationship keeps going, I’m going to need the words, but I don’t know if Lloyd is capable of saying them… ever.”

“I think the real question here is, how long are you willing to wait to hear him say it?”

“I don’t know. I love him, but I hate the way it feels to be left hanging like this. Either I get over myself and accept his limitations or… we break up.”

“Perhaps there’s a third option,” Landon said.

“What’s the third option?”

“Give it time. Lloyd is capable of changing. Don’t forget that.”

“What am I going to say to him when he comes home?” you asked, running a hand over your hair.

“I’d wait and see if he brings it up on his own. But remember - talking about his feelings is his most underdeveloped skillset. If you don’t remember that, you’re going to be hurt when he fumbles the pass.”

“I can handle fumbling. What I’m worried about is the possibility that he might never try.”

Landon gave you a crooked smile. “Give him a minute to work things out on his own. Lloyd makes his best progress when he can move at his own pace. He’ll test the waters before he dives in. That’s why I think your confession might be a good thing.”

You groaned. “It wasn’t a good thing. I humiliated myself.”

“Or you made him feel secure. Lloyd’s always taking one step forward and two steps back with emotional processing. If he knows where he stands with you, that might serve as an anchor. He’ll never be one for eloquent declarations of love, but a blind man could see how he treats you. I doubt the words will come easy, but he’ll find his voice when he’s ready.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It wouldn’t have been accurate to say that Lloyd spent the rest of the drive across the country chewing on the idea of reconnecting with his sisters. Rather, it was the idea that spent the rest of the drive chewing on him. Thoughts of Ingrid and Josie took center stage and refused to let him look away. By the time he was approaching the outskirts of Rockville, he was exhausted and sick of spinning through the same thoughts over and over.

By the time he parked the Mercury on the tree lined street outside of his townhouse complex, it was approaching midnight, and he felt like a zombie. His back ached and the bruise on his thigh from where Charlene kicked him throbbed. He felt every twinge of sore muscle from the explosion at Holbrook’s stash house as he unloaded his bags. When he stepped inside, the sight of Zach drinking whiskey on his living room sofa took him by surprise. It took a minute before his mind switched on and the details of the conversation on Sunday night came flooding back.

“Shit,” he hissed.

“How was the drive?”

“Miserable. I… stuff came up. I didn’t mean to take so long. How is she?”

Zach shrugged.

“I called Jake this morning, but he hung up on me, twice.” Lloyd crossed the living room and reached for the decanter of whiskey to pour himself a glass.

“Tell me what's going on,” he commanded.

Zach snorted. “Fuck, no. I’m not touching that subject with a ten-foot pole, that’s on Princess. But I’m glad you’re back. Shit’s gotten weird the last few days.”

“Explain.”

“You look like death warmed over, Lloyd. Go get some sleep. I’ll stay through tomorrow and then I’m clearing out so you and Princess can talk.”

He felt like death warmed over, too, which led him to climb the stairs without too much protest. Whatever you needed to share would probably go over better if he had a full night’s sleep before hearing it. Lloyd slipped silently into the bedroom and found you curled up on the far side of the bed. He stripped to his boxers and crawled in next to you.

When the mattress dipped, your lashes fluttered. For a moment, you opened your eyes, but they didn’t focus. He eased closer and you reached out to press a hand to his chest. Lloyd took that as a welcoming sign and closed the distance between you.

He pressed his lips to your forehead and whispered, “I’m home. I missed you.”

You blinked sleepily, trying to wake up, but failing to cast off the chains of slumber.

“Lloyd… home…” you slurred the words as you struggled to open your eyes.

“I’m here now,” he murmured, smoothing a hand down your back. You cuddled into his chest with a breathy sigh that made his heart skip a beat. He kissed your hair.

“I’m sorry it took me so long.”

“S’okay. Glad… you’re back…”

Lloyd smiled, squeezing you gently as the weight of his worries melted away. You were happy to see him and he was holding you again. Everything would work out. Whatever challenge was lurking around the corner could be dealt with in the morning. As long as he could bask in the feeling of holding the woman he loved for the night, he’d meet the trouble head-on tomorrow.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In the morning, you curled against Lloyd and watched him sleep, enjoying the peaceful expression on his face. You were happy he was home, but dread clawed at the pit of your stomach. The conversation you’d put off was hours away and his reaction loomed large. Sighing, you showered and dressed before making your way downstairs.

Zach was at the stove, stirring a pan of scrambled eggs.

“Morning Princess,” he said, with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

You forced a smile in return and opened a cabinet to grab plates. As Zach finished cooking, you set two places at the breakfast bar. You ate in silence with the approaching conversation weighing heavily on your mind.

“So, have you decided what to say?”

“Kind of. I’m planning on starting with the reasons behind my decision before I tell him the details.”

“If he explodes, don’t take it too personally. He’s been known to say things in the heat of the moment that he doesn’t mean.”

“It’s the uncertainty about the stalker’s identity that I’m worried about explaining. This was bad enough when I thought I knew who was behind it. Not knowing makes it even harder.”

“I’m meeting with Mr. LeDoux this morning. He kept a log of Aiden’s comings and goings for the past week and he’s willing to share it with me.”

“That’s good.”

“We’ll sort this out, okay? As for Lloyd, just bite the bullet and get it over with. He’ll come around once he calms down,” Zach said, and patted your shoulder.

You tried to take comfort in his words when your phone rang, interrupting your thoughts. Annabeth’s name popped up on the caller ID. You answered on speaker phone.

“Hey Annabeth. I’m here with Zach Hightower. Did you find something?”

“I have good news: you were right. The unidentified victim isn’t Julia’s sister!”

“Really? What did you find out?”

“There was an error in the initial comparison, which probably came about because of insufficient reference material. Julia came from a semi-isolated community that’s lived on an island for generations, her DNA is harder to interpret. With a deeper analysis, it became clear that Julia and the unknown victim weren’t sisters - they’re actually third cousins.”

“So the error was on Julia’s sample?”

“It can be difficult to interpret the genetics of a person with Julia’s background,” Annabeth said. “While China recognizes the Miao as an official minority, there's limited representation of her ethnicity in genetic databases, which is why the crime lab made a mistake.”

“Do you have a match on the unknown victim?” you asked.

“Based on ancestry DNA, the unknown victim is Li Wei Chapman. She was adopted by Frida and Lyle Chapman from Taiwan in 1977 and lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia.”

“Thank you so much, Annabeth. This is a tremendous help.”

“Glad I could assist. I’ve emailed you the full genetic analysis, but it might take a minute to download. The file is huge.”

“I can drop it off this afternoon,” Zach said.

You downloaded and printed the reports for him, but once he was gone, the anxiety returned. To occupy yourself, you returned to the missing persons reports, pulling up everything on Li Wei Chapman. The breakthrough opened up a whole new realm of possibilities - you hardly knew where to begin. An hour ticked by and you were struggling to focus. Lloyd was still asleep. You felt trapped within the four walls of the house.

It was too quiet. You were bubbling with energy as your mind raced with thoughts of what to say when Lloyd woke up and the possibilities for the investigation now that the unknown victim was identified. You tried to busy yourself by cleaning the kitchen and re-organizing your paperwork, but anxiety was gnawing a hole in your stomach and the attempts to stay occupied only amplified the restlessness. As you paced around the house, your eyes landed on the keys to the pool. They were still on the foyer table where you’d put them last night.

Weighing the risk, you decided that the pool wasn’t too exposed. It was in a fenced enclosure behind the townhouses, which meant there’d be a row of three story tall brick buildings and a courtyard with an eight foot high wall between you and the nearest street. Locked gates prevented visitors from entering the recreational area behind the townhouses except by passing through a home. Plus, Lloyd’s back gate was only ten feet away from the pool enclosure.

You found your regular one-piece suit in the front pocket of your suitcase, which you’d stored in Lloyd’s laundry room. After changing, you took the keys and made your way through the backyard, closing the wrought iron gate behind you, and dove into the glistening blue water of the lap pool. The coolness enveloped you, washing away the smothering anxiety that had been simmering all morning. With each stroke down the length of the pool, you felt the stress falling away.

- - -

Hidden in the shadows, a figure watched you splash through the water.

He’d spent all weekend figuring out where you’d disappeared to. Finding you and Zach at the Emerald Harp on Sunday night had been an incredible stroke of luck. Since then, he’d been waiting for the ex-SEAL to leave so he could approach you alone. His heart pounded with anticipation as he watched, obscured by a neighbor’s arbor. The structure was overflowing with the thriving yellow blossoms of a Carolina Jessamine that offered sufficient cover from the security cameras.

He’d been planning this for months, even before he’d begun messaging you. He’d learned your routines and watched you, waiting for the opportunity to get close enough. Slipping the balaclava over his face he moved through the pool enclosure gate on silent feet, reveling in the rush of being so close to his ultimate goal.

You swam to the end of the pool, your back to him, unaware of the danger you were in. Wanting to prolong the thrill of being invisible, he stayed out of your line of vision as you swam toward the end of the pool. You reached the wall and surfaced with a gasp, treading water for a moment before reaching for the ladder. Unaware of him, you climbed out and collected your towel from a nearby chair. Adrenaline thrummed in his veins, pulsing through every capillary, and sharpening his senses. He bided his time and relied on the crepe soles of shoes to mask the sound of his footsteps as he drew closer.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lloyd woke up, feeling well-rested and content. Beside him your spot was empty, and the sheets were cool to the touch. He listened but didn’t hear anyone else moving around in the house. A glance at the clock showed it was past ten-thirty. It surprised him to have slept for so long. Usually he didn’t sleep more than six or seven hours in a single stretch. He showered and brushed his teeth before descending the stairs, looking forward to seeing you.

As his foot landed on the bottom step, a blood-curdling scream pierced the air.

Adrenaline surged, and without hesitation, he sprinted to the backyard, where the scream had originated. Another scream guided him towards the pool enclosure. He crossed the yard in four strides and didn’t bother opening the garden gate, just leapt over it and pivoted toward the pool enclosure, nearly losing his footing as the loose gravel shifted under his bare feet.

You were locked in a struggle with a masked figure who had you by the throat. The masked man looked up and saw Lloyd barreling towards him. He threw you down on the concrete and seized a handful of your hair, then shoved your head under the water.

Lloyd charged. He slammed into the assailant and they tumbled across the hot cement, exchanging a barrage of punches and kicks. The masked man was stronger and more competent a fighter than he’d expected. An elbow to the jaw sent Lloyd’s head snapping back, and he cracked the crown of his head on cement. For a second his grip slackened, and the intruder broke free. Lloyd was on his feet in an instant, ready to chase after him, when he saw you unconscious on the ground.

The intruder was already disappearing around the corner into the courtyard. Lloyd knelt and pressed his fingers to your throat, feeling for a pulse. Your skin was ashen and your breathing shallow. Kneeling down, he cradled your head to his chest and stroked your cheek.

“Princess? Wake up… come on, honey…”

You didn’t stir. His hands trembled as he found his phone in the pocket of his chinos and dialed for an ambulance.

- - -

He paced in the waiting area, bubbling with tension as the doctors took their sweet time scanning you in radiology, where he hadn’t been allowed to follow. The door opened, and he spun around.

“What happened?” Zach asked.

“Someone tried to drown her in the swimming pool. I got there just in time.”

“You look like you need a bandaid yourself.”

“I’m fine,” Lloyd said.

“Princess?”

“A concussion for sure, they’re scanning for other injuries now.”

Worry lined Zach’s face. He crossed his arms and before Lloyd could question him further, the waiting room door opened again to admit Jake and Landon.

“What happened?” Jake demanded.

Lloyd gave him the run down and noted that Landon didn’t seem as surprised by the description of events.

“I stopped by your place and spoke to Mrs. Lange,” the dark haired man said. “She gave me a copy of the security tapes from the pool complex. I haven’t had the chance to look at it yet.”

Jake was already pulling out his laptop. They huddled around the screen and watched as the technical specialist reviewed the footage. The assailant had done a good job of avoiding being captured on his way in, but the frames taken after his fight with Lloyd showed clear images of him fleeing through the courtyard.

“Let me try this,” Jake muttered.

His fingers flew over the keys as he applied measurements to various objects in the footage, giving the software a frame of reference. The program calculated and analyzed for a minute as he isolated the figure of the assailant.

Jake read the result and took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Shit.”

“What?” Lloyd growled.

“The attacker is only 5 '9, which means Aiden is six inches taller than the man who attacked Princess. It’s possible to make yourself taller, but six inches shorter? There’s no way he’s the assailant. We’ve been looking at the wrong guy all along.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Next - Part XIX

Behind the Scenes: Lloyd’s post-chapter reaction

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Masterlist

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

@denisemarieangelina

@before-we-get-started

@buckysteveloki-me

@patzammit

@badassbaker

@meetmeatyourworst

@whiskeytangofoxtrot555

@thiskindahotkindamusic

@jesgisborne

@charmingprinces

@amiets2

@seitmai

@elle14-blog1

@chaoticsteverogers

@kaleidoscopepov

@fangirl-and-doctor-help

@terry2227

@jesevans

@openup-yourmind

@kandierteveilchen

@adoreyouusugar

@awkwardgiraffe726

@pono-pura-vida

@mysweetlittledesire

@liecastillo

@marantha

@literaturelove

@babyevansblog

@lizzzaaaaaaaaaaa

@thegirlnextdoorssister

@ladygrey03

@cynic-spirit

@rosedpetal

@jeremyrennermakesmesmile

@bambamwolf87

@yiiiikesmish

@calwitch

@peachiestevie

@texmexdarling

@here4thefanfics

@rogersbarber

@spikeluv84

@dear-fifi

@crayongirl-linz

@bigcreatorwombatdreamer

#lloyd hansen x reader #lloyd hansen x princess #lloyd x princess #the princess & the lawyer #the princess and the lawyer #series: the princess and the lawyer #lloyd hansen x you #lloyd hansen x y/n #lloyd hansen fanfic #lloyd hansen au #chris evans characters #chris evans character fanfic #the gray man fanfic #lloyd hansen x female reader

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londonknights · 4 months

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Hi! My friend and I are getting into hockey and we’re kind of wondering what the vibe on Max Domi is?? I’m kind of seeing mixed messages about him so we were wondering why you like him so we can figure out what his deal is and if we should try to pay attention to him more on the leafs. Thanks!

hi anon!! just wanna say before i get going that i’m in love with this ask and you by extension for asking, and i’m sorry this took me so long!

now on to the propaganda (this is long i’m not sorry)

i’m obligated to preface this by saying i’m hugely biased as a Leafs fan who grew up in Southern Ontario. my dad has always been a pretty big Tie Domi fan, so liking Max just seemed like a natural continuation of that.

baby Max with Mats Sundin, then-captain of the Leafs. he’s just a little guy,,

born March 2nd, 1995, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, one month before Tie was traded (back) to the Leafs, Max spent his childhood in Mississauga, Ontario, roughly half an hour west of Toronto. at the age of 12, following some health complications at a hockey tournament in Detroit, blood work revealed that Max had type 1 diabetes and celiac disease.

not the end of the world, clearly, but a pretty significant shock for a kid with aspirations of greatness. of course, he was able to manage it, with time, and when i finally read his book i’ll tell y’all more about it i promise.

these pictures make me emotional,, a couple of Domis, a couple of decades apart,,, except Max looks about 200% cuntier

anyway

scored a hatty in his OHL debut (slay). won consecutive OHL championships with the London Knights in 2012 and 2013 (double slay). selected 12th overall by the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes, and signed a three year ELC (!). won gold with Team Canada at the 2015 WJC, and was named the tournament’s best forward (huge W). traded to the Montréal Canadiens in 2018, to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2020, to the Carolina Hurricanes (via the Florida Panthers) at the trade deadline of March 31st 2022, to the Chicago Blackhawks in July of 2022, to the Dallas Stars in March 2023, and finally signed as a free agent to our beloved Toronto Maple Leafs on July 2nd 2023. he’s been on seven different NHL teams since he was drafted.

sadly, as i’ve only been a hockey fan for one calendar year, i cannot provide much insight into his time with NHL teams other than the Leafs. i have ordered and am waiting for his book to come in so i can better rotate him in my mind, but i encourage anyone who knows more about his other teams’ lore to add to this post or send me what you know, so i can share it with the world. (pls i wanna know everything about him ever)

what i can say is that him and Mitch Marner were teammates on the London Knights for two seasons, (13-14 and 14-15), the second of which saw Max as captain and Mitch as an alternate captain. the season after, Mitch was named captain in Max’s stead. seeing them back together on the Leafs brings joy to my little London Knights heart.

now back to him as a Leaf.

the current Leafs points leaders, as of December 30th, are as follows:

William Nylander - 48P (17G 31A)

Auston Matthews - 44P (29G 15A)

Mitch Marner - 38P (14G 24A)

John Tavares - 31P (11G 20A)

Morgan Rielly - 27P (4G 23A)

Max Domi - 21P (3G 18A)

the first five of these are pretty much to be expected, but there’s my close good friend Max Domi right there too :) he’s doing his part, and even if he’s not the biggest scorer, assists are just as important and valuable :) if i have to kill y’all with positivity for this i will :) i love him dearly :)

also, he currently sits at 389 career points, and he’s nowhere near done, while Tie Domi earned 245 points in his entire career of 1020 games. nobody can say shit to me about him not living up to his dad’s legacy (Note: Tie also sits at third in NHL history for penalty minutes with 3515, but that’s a stat nobody will ever surpass. ever. the current PIM leader in the NHL is Corey Perry, and he only has 1392.)

and now i’m not about to sit here and pretend i know how to quantify the skills of an NHL player, let alone describe them in great detail. i do not. however, what i do know is that i love watching him play and make plays. in my eyes, he is a good player, and this is the Max Domi Propaganda Blog so if you want something less biased i can’t help you, sorry :’)

this love began in a preseason game against the Habs, on Oct 2nd. his first game as a Leaf in Toronto, he scores a tip-in against his former team, and he shrugs it off like NBD. for those of you who were following me at the time, you know i was not normal about it then and i am not normal about it now. i think about that celly every goddamn day.

much to my great sorrow, they Leafed this game up and lost in OT 5-4. but either way, this was the moment that definitively kicked off the Rick eastoncowan Domishka era.

and the only time Max ever seems to get a scoring chance, it’s either on a breakaway or from a spot that would have been absolutely NASTY if it went in. my mans only wants sexy goals, which is a stance i respect immensely.

his first regular season goal… didn’t give him any points. it was beautiful, and a game winner, but since it happened in a shootout, it didn’t count towards his points totals. personally, i think this is bullshit, but now is neither the time nor the place for me to get into my issues with some of the NHL’s rules. (Nov 10, 2023, Flames @ Leafs)

Domishka bardownski SO winner,,, you were so beautiful and so unappreciated but i will never forget you </3

now.

Max’s first real goal as a Leaf.

for those of you who followed me at the time, you may recall this post:

a post that the Hockey Gods took to heart

and obviously i followed through. what do you think i am, some kind of quitter?

and, again, unfortunately, we Leafed that one up, too. we lost it in OT again, so still no Domi belt pic for Rick :(

now i’m not going to go back and gif all 18 of his assists, because i don’t think y’all care quite that much about Visual Proof of all of them. for your convenience, though, i did go back and track down whose goals he had assisted on, and the results aren’t super surprising IMO

Calle Järnkrok, Nick Robertson (assisted on 5 each)

Matthew Knies (assisted on 4)

William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Mitch Marner, Timothy Liljegren (assisted on 1 each)

anyway, now for what is quite possibly my favourite game that i didn’t actually get to watch live.

December 16, 2023, Penguins @ Leafs, a decisive 7-0 victory.

it was also a 3 point night for Max, two of which helped to complete Matthew Knies’ Gordie Howe hat trick, the first since Daniel Winnik in 2015. but a goal and an assist are only two parts of it, the third being a fight. a fight which Knies initiated against John Ludvig after he knocked out yet another of Max’s front teeth with his stick. a fight which was Knies’ first ever. i’m still mad i didn’t see this happen live, but i’ve rewatched the game in its entirety twice, and the highlights too many times to count. this game sparked my undying love for the 23-11-16 line, which is a line i still pray keefe will bring back.

and so, we have a goal and a fight, and we have an assist to finish off the hat trick, and none of it would have happened without Max :)

and speaking of fights, Max has had a couple of em himself in his time as a Leaf so far. granted, if you ask hockeyfights dot com, he didn’t win either of them, but that’s not what matters. what matters is that he looked beautiful doing it, whether it was against Ian Cole (VAN) or Sam Bennett (FLA), especially with the fun added bonus of him flexing his full head of hair at Bennett’s bald dome. as an aside, i fucking hate Sam Bennett, so Max trying to fight him was… well it made me feel things. all i’m gonna say.

max’s third goal was also gorgeous. stunning. amazing. another beautiful bardown, the sound of which lives on in my dreams.

this is getting far longer than it really needs to be, so i’ll take a step back and give you my true, honest thoughts.

Max Domi has been a very helpful player for the Leafs since he got here. he obviously has the drive to play here and to play well here, and 21 points is nothing to be ashamed of. you know who else has 21 points as of me writing this? Alex Ovechkin. and now i’m not saying they are players of the same caliber, but Max is 6th on the Leafs in points, and Ovi is tied for first on the Caps. 21 points is still 21 points, no matter where in the standings someone is. Max was born to be a Leaf, and nothing makes me happier than to see him here and thriving on the team he’s loved since he was a kid. he takes shots, blocks shots, defends his boys and is defended right back in turn.

and i would not be Rick eastoncowan if i didn’t mention that i think he is hot. like stupid hot. especially without his teeth. fuck, the heart wants what the heart wants, and damn if my heart doesn’t want this tiny toothless idiot.

#ask #anonymous #toronto maple leafs #max domi #rick's gifs #domi primer #this took me far too long #but finally it is here #the 1600+ word max domi primer #heavily biased because this is my writing #and y'all have to expect that from me at this point #anyway please enjoy #i made gifs special #this was made with so much love

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generalllimaginesss · 3 months

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Hatton Carlisle head cannon

Everything Hatton Carlisle is here!!

I’ll probably add stuff throughout the series to this that make me think of who Hatton is, so feel free to keep checking back :)) anyways…let’s get to know our girl and her relationship with everybody! Feel free to request things based on her and I’d love to write it for you!

Jim and her dad (Roger) played college hockey together and had been inseparable ever since. They bought their first houses next to each other so that they could drink as much as they wanted and not have to drive home. That stuck and where one goes, the other goes as well.

Her birthday is July 7th, 2001

Everybody calls her Hattie unless something is wrong or they’re mad at her or vice versa

Trevor tried to call her “Hattie Cake” one time and she fought him

Girl’s girl raised amongst a pack of boys

Her parents are Roger and Tara Carlisle and they’re a year younger than Jim and Ellen.

Her older brother’s name is Corey Carlisle and he’s a year older than Quinn. He was projected to get drafted after college at UMich, but his injuries hindered him severely. He’s now an extremely successful real estate agent in New York.

The families celebrate holidays together

Jack and Hatton learning to skate together

Jim and Roger teaching them together

Jack and Hatton once made a pact that if they were both single at the age of 35 that they would get married. Trevor wouldn’t talk to Jack for a day because of that.

Quinn loves Hatton because she’s the female version of him and is unproblematic.

When they were little and Jack did something he wasn’t supposed to, Hatton would put him in time out and then snitch to Ellen about whatever it was that he did.

Jack didn’t dare move when Hatton put him in time out.

When Trevor came into the picture, Hatton felt like Jack was trying to replace her with him.

Trevor and Jack snuck off to the lake house one summer without her when they first met and this pissed Hatton off to no end.

Jim and Ellen definitely found out from a “little bird” and drove there to pick them up.

Hatton was sitting in the backseat waiting for them with a shit eating grin

It took a while for Trevor to figure his feelings out for her, but once he did there was no looking back

Trevor definitely used to buy her gifts for her birthday/christmas/etc.

Hatton tried to go on a date one time and Trevor, Jack, Alex, and Cole showed up at the movies and sat in the row in front of her and her date.

Caufield is like a less intense version of Trevor.

Hatton loves Luke, but isn’t as close to him as she is Quinn.

Quinn and Hatton’s brother are best friends.

Jack pissing Hatton off and Hatton letting him have it

“Hatton, you’re such a bitch” “I’d rather be bitch than be somebody’s bitch”

Ellen had to make a rule when Jack, Hatton, and Trevor were in high school that Hatton could only complain about Trevor 2 days out of the week for 20 minutes.

Quinn would shove a pillow over Trevor’s face anytime he mentioned her more than once.

Quinn loving Hatton like a younger sister

Hatton has always been way more mature than her age, so she gets along with all of the parents at the hockey games.

Trevor and Cole were always Hatton’s partners when they would go tubing on the lake.

Quinn would be the main driver, but would let Jack absolutely wreck his friends

Hatton has seasonal depression, but only Jack knows. He makes it a point to call and check on her almost everyday during hockey season.

One of her strong suits is her ability to read people. She’s very observant of tiny details that normally go unnoticed.

Jack and Hatton getting absolutely wasted one night when their parents went on a vacation together and Quinn having to hide the evidence because they were all underage.

Almost every friend of Jack’s either had a crush on Hatton at some point, or wanted the two of them to date.

“I could never date him. He’s my brother.”

Hatton is a totally different person when drinking. She’s loud, outgoing, and open to try just about anything. The boys know this well, but only sometimes do they take advantage of it by making her do embarrassing dares or coax information out of her.

Hatton has a toothbrush at Luke and Jack’s apartment that stays in Jack’s bathroom no matter what. There have been several girls ask about this throughout the years, but it stays right in its place.

Hatton used to give Jack pep talks the night before his games stretching as far back as middle school.

“No excuses. 100% for 60 minutes. Understand, mister?” “Nothing less, ma’am.”

Alex Turcotte has a special place in Hatton Carlisle’s heart.

Alex was convinced he’d marry Hatton, but when he heard the way Trevor started talking about her he knew he couldn’t take that away from him.

Hatton and Nico once blew all of Jack’s condoms up like they were balloons before he brought a date home.

Jack cussed them out for a solid hour and then went to his room to pout for the rest of the night.

Nico and Hatton are an absolute MENACE when together. Like worse than Zegras, Caufield, and Jacky boy when they’re together.

Nico is the only one that manages to get Hatton to let loose without the help of alcohol.

Luke subtly asking Hatton for dating advice

Hatton making Luke take her out on a date so she can teach him what to do

When everybody is at the lakehouse Hatton and Quinn are the voice of reasons

“No trevor, you can not try to do a backflip off the boat while we’re going 30 mph. There’s gotta be some clause in your contract against that.”

“Jack, sit your ass down.”

Cuddling with them all on the couch after being outside on the water all day long (Hatton’s personal favorite because she loves when the boys are all in one place)

Cole teasing Trevor to no end about Hatton and Trevor always wearing the biggest smile anytime her name gets brought up.

Jack used to try to set up blind dates between Trevor and Hatton, but Hatton always left as soon she saw him.

Her walking home one time because she refused to ride alone in a car with Trevor, but Trevor followed behind her at a distance to make sure she was safe (she didn’t know about this)

The boys offering Hatton unsolicited help with homework even though not a single one finished college

“We didn’t need to know what a Bell curve was to make it to the NHL…”

Her trying to get the boys to take a serious picture with/of her and them always making it the most difficult task

“Hattie you have like 3 followers..” “ooo work it girl” “do these shorts make my butt look big…at least bigger than Hattie’s…”

Jack and Hatton definitely have friendship bracelets that they made each other when they were 10 and they somehow haven’t fallen apart.

“Ok, Jack…what do we say to someone that wants us to take our bracelets off?” “You’ve gotta pry it from my cold, dead fingers..” “good job”

Jack FaceTimes Hatton everyday as soon as he finishes talking to Quinn on the phone. It’s like clockwork at this point.

Jamie feels like he’s known Hatton for as long as he’s known Trevor because Trevor DOES. NOT. SHUT UP ABOUT HER!!!

Hatton steals every one of Jack’s hoodies so he just buys 2 now.

Hatton is the epitome of sass

She had to develop thick skin to survive with the Hughes brothers, but she is naturally sensitive. Not a lot of people see this side of her.

#nhl imagine #nhl fic #jack hughes #nhl fanfiction #quinn hughes #trevor zegras #alex turcotte #cole caufield #jack hughes imagines #nico hischier #tz11 #Hatton Carlisle #au #Hatton x Trevor #hockey fic #anaheim ducks #nj devils

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kynmoonlight · 8 months

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Bard's Broken Heart

I present: 1 motif of what I’m calling “Bard’s Broken Heart Lace”

OK, not quite, but still a cool design. Inspired by this post from Tumblr user @loki-is-my-kink-awakening https://www.tumblr.com/loki-is-my-kink-awakening/723753602720661504/oh-my-gods-are-these-the-hearts-hidden-on?source=share Who noticed that the trim on Jaskier’s shirt in Season 3 Netflix Witcher is little hearts! And a reply (sorry OP, I can’t find it now) noted that they’re very symbolically, hearts that are divided!

So anyway, I got crafting-obsessed and had to try to figure out how it was made and attempt to recreate it.

Which lead to research on historical lace-making and needlework.

[Disclaimers: this is all my best guesses as an amateur crafter, not a historical expert. I know my stitching is uneven, especially the pin-picots, which I just learned last week]

by the way, crafters or fic writers looking for historical fibercraft reference, check out Project Gutenberg’s (free!) The Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/20776/pg20776-images.html SO much fascinating stuff!

First, based on the clearest photos I can find (ie not very) I’m guessing the actual trim was machine-made, because a) the stitching is really even and smooth and tiny, b) handmade lace would be extremely expensive, and c) TV/Movie costuming needs multiples of every garment, especially for something like a delicate chemise Jaskier wears running all around the continent for a whole season.

My first guess and attempt was crochet, which wasn’t it, then thought it might be tatting or bobbin lace, which also weren’t right once I looked up images.

I finally settled on whitework cut-work embroidery with some needle lace techniques for the edging. Which I think gave me a kind of close facsimile. This one is about 1-½ x the size of what he wears (because that’s the limit of my aging hand steadiness, crafting magnifiers, and the materials I had.)

This one motif took me probably two hours, including many screwups and tangles. Not including drafting, blocking and snapshots. With the right materials and one done for practice (as it was only my second project in whitework and first try at needle lace!) one heart would take around an hour. For someone whose lifelong job, all day every day, was embroidering lace trim, they’d probably manage a meter/yard or two of the actual size trim, which I’m guessing is how much is on that shirt.

So in-universe, this still wouldn’t be a cheap piece of clothing, with at least a full day of skilled craftswomen wages for just the lace, plus finely woven, printed fabric that (I think, historically, that would have been block printed by hand), and additional seamster time to make it up. Modern-day equivalent would probably be easily USD $1000 if not 2x that. Our boy is making good money as a now-famous bard! (I suppose in a universe with magic, it could have been magiked, or magically duplicated after an expert created a template, but I suspect that would cost as much as handcrafting anyhow)

If I get bored and the crafting bug hits me again, I might try to make a whole edging this, maybe on a handkerchief.

Now, what do I do with one lace heart? I settled on starching it and attaching a safety pin back, so I guess if I ever go to a convention I can wear it as a pin so fellow Witchercrafters and Jaskier fans know how much of a nerd I really am.

I could write up direx with step by step pictures if anyone else really wants to try it.

#the witcher #fanart #fan crafts #netflix the witcher #witcher season 3 #needle crafts #costume details #lacemaking #witchercraft #jaskier

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lemonisntreal · 1 year

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IT'S THE BOYYYY, MY [deceased ;-;] BOY-

My heart hurts whenever I write about him I'm gonna cry but he's so perfect to me you have no idea

Ok, so, I have written so much on this man because of how overly complicated I made Buster's entire family situation. But I can't. Share. A single. Crumb. Of. It. And it's killing me. Guys, I'm dying. I'm simply gonna perish if I don't write about him. So. I'm gonna headcanon dump, heehee :> [gonna do this with a bunch of other characters once I get art for them going ~_~] [I look at my drafts and weep-]

TD!Charley:

Age: 47 [deceased] Height: 3' 02" [96cm] Male - He/Him Sexuality: Aroace Build: H A T

The name is a headcanon in itself. Charley. He was never given a real canon name for whatever reason.

It just felt like it fit

Oh boy,

Ok, heavy lore time-

TW: Mentions of religious trauma and [briefly] kidnapping

[there's a fluff tab if you're wanting to skip all that]

So for a quick lore-dump, there was a HUGE war between the different animals [mammals, reptiles, and birds being the most prominent groups] that lasted from 1903-1955, before finally cutting off because a bunch of animals had practically gone extinct

Koalas being one of them

And Charley was born in late 1956, right after the war had ended, so yeah. Generational trauma's real rough-

Plus his hometown [all Koalas btw] was extremely religious and controlling over him, and he wasn't even allowed to buy his own clothes until he started to carve out his own life in Calatonia

The only thing they let him do was play music, usually with the idea that he'd be playing for the church band

[which he never did]

He was set up on arranged dates, made to feel like he was wrong for not wanting a relationship, and ridiculed for his desire to have a different life in the city- along with a lot of other things I probably couldn't fit into this post

He has a sister, Holly Moon, who is 4 years younger than him, who was seen as a golden child because she always listened and did everything their parents asked

[Parents being Darrick and Kara, for more TD lore]

He had a horrible family life before sprinting away at age 18 to Calatonia to hopefully make it big

This is where he met animals who weren't Koalas for the first time

Let me reiterate that- first time

[he'd read about other animals and seen what a few of them looked like in pictures, but never the real thing]

He learned the true meaning behind the words his family always spoke

"Make a family, there aren't many of us left"

Yeah, he was the only Koala in Calatonia for a good minute

Which kinda sent him spiraling-

Imaging you growing up in a small gated community, where you're a human around other humans, and then you leave and find out that there aren't any humans left and the rest of the world has been populated by aliens or something

He was very curious at first, which got him into some trouble

He met Harry after almost getting poached/getting ganged up on and almost kidnapped. Harry saved him, took him to calm down at his restaurant for the night, and the two quickly became friends

Ok, fluff time

Meeting Harry for the first time, the thing he offered Charley was a sandwich, which would start Charley's "give sandwich = I care about you" thing

Like his go-to way of making friends after this encounter would be to meet somewhere for sandwiches

It became a comfort food, and an introduction into other flavors besides the basic food groups + eucalyptus

This little quirk got passed down to Buster

Amazing cook

Like, he invented a couple of the recipes on the menu at Harry's Bar [despite having a diet of mostly eucalyptus, which is poisonous]

Even back in his hometown with his limited ingredients, he was fantastic, but after learning that there were other foods, he got a little obsessed

He has a cookbook he put together [which got passed down to Buster, who cannot cook for the life of him lmao]

Harry tried to get him to go to culinary school or something, but Charley always insisted on loving his little bundle of odd jobs in Calatonia [including the carwash, which was his baby]

After coming to Calatonia, making his home in a shady little apartment complex [which he ABSOLUTELY ADORED], getting a job, and finally getting his first-ever paycheck, he immediately went thrifting

Which is where he got his raggedy hat and patchy coat

And learned what a turtleneck was

He taught Buster the art of thrifting too :D

He dresses like he's homeless by choice [mostly]

[money's always tight]

Back to the odd jobs that he got instead of getting a real job- Charley always hated "luxurious" things if that makes sense. Not only did it remind him of home, but he's just a minimalist in general

If he doesn't need it, he won't take it

Modest guy [opposite to his entire family ~_~]

The hat is kinda a symbol of his independence and freedom in a way, so that's a little sweet

He never takes his hat or coat off really, even in the hot summer days in Calatonia

Harry always has to remind him to drink water [woah, Koala moment]

Oh yeah, Koala stuff-

Harry ends up helping out Charley with the complete lack of Eucalyptus products in Calatonia by ordering it in with his usual imported restaurant food, and then just giving it to him

Harry insists on paying for it all, despite Charley's objections

Charley always gives monstrous tips when eating at Harry's to balance things out

He's actually pretty tall for a Koala

He made good friends with all of the waiters and staff and musicians at Harry's, and was always there for the music nights where Harry'd get someone to play atmospheric stuff on stage

You see this in the first movie

Charley's actually really great on the guitar, and has a very nice voice [I don't have a voice claim yet ;-;;;;;] so he was eventually given the offer to try playing in front of a crowd at Harry's. Which he took

[And Harry made him take money for it, of course]

Had no intention to have kids, but ended up taking in Buster due to family drama and strange circumstances [later explained in Tone Deaf] [also why they have different funky patterns btw! :DDD]

Please, it's so complicated-

He quickly fell in love with the idea of show business after seeing some street performers, and eventually got over his discomfort with doing illegal things [the idea of it being a sin really had him in a chokehold for a while-] and grew into his true personality of "very chill and very shady charlatan" after a few years away from his hometown

Actually, it was his urge to steal a ticket to see a show at the theater that drove him to get over it all

Learned how to pick locks and pockets to scrounge around enough money to get by

Charley and Harry were best friends. Practically brothers

To the point of Harry being called "uncle Harry" by young Buster

Charley was the best man at Harry's wedding to his Panda wife, Claire. Buster was given the honor of being both the flower boy and ring bearer lmao [he pulled it off]

Claire definitely mothered both Charley and Buster quite a bit

Back to Charley living in the apartment complex, he made good friends with an old Lizard who lived next door-

Yeah, Miss Crawley [Irene Crawley]

After Harry realized that Buster was an absolute demon child, Charley tried asking her to babysit instead

She must've had the magic touch or something, because he was perfectly behaved with her

Harry was speechless

Buster was absolutely a problem child, and Charley would frequently get calls from school about him [especially in elementary]

[half of the trouble he got into was due to bullies, but this ain't about him 🤭]

Charley taught Buster how to commit crime, and play guitar

And when he got older, the two would duet together at Harry's

[I'm crying it's so sweet]

Crawley would always bring homemade candies around to give to Buster when she came over to visit with Charley, specifically Turkish Delight

She eventually taught him [with lots of hand-holding] how to make the candy himself. If left alone, he'd just set things on fire and eat the chocolate chips plain though :D

She lost her lover in the war, and even before that, struggled with infertility problems [they were different species- working with the idea of a Gila Monster] so she never had any of the children she had wanted before the war basically ruined her life

She adored that child and never accepted pay

[she was paid by the government anyway since she was a war vet]

All of the money that Charley would slip into her pocket, she'd either secretly give right back, or spend it all on Buster

She was like a mother to him

Still is

She offered to help with the theater after Charley realized that the place didn't just come with staff

Charley and Buster's bond was basically unbreakable

Charley would always stand up to the school system whenever they treated Buster unjustly

[Trust me, there was a lot of prejudice against Koalas and other endangered species, no matter how small or harmless they seemed. People fear what they don't know, and to say Koalas are an oddity would be an understatement-]

[Like even irl, they're Marsupials, sure- but they're so different that they've been given a classification all to themselves called Phascolarctidae. They're so alone in the animal kingdom, it's not even funny. Their closest "relative" is the Wombat, and even then barely]

[Give me another animal that's even remotely similar to Koalas appearance-wise. Their facial structure, the double-thumbs, massive ears, the fact that they can only eat one thing, and it's poisonous [catch me writing Buster poisoning someone with eucalyptus >:D]- yeah, they're super interesting to work with. And of course, I give them hardships for it ~_~]

[Everyone that saw Buster and Charley just immediately knew they were endangered just because of how alien they looked]

["freaks"]

[They just rolled with it]

[Well, Buster was always bothered by it, but Charley was always there to tell him that it should be something to be proud of. Didn't always work all the way]

[I'll talk about Buster later, don't you worry]

[Ok enough with the gushing about Koala facts in brackets-]

Buster would also stand up for Charley during family gatherings [which they eventually just stopped going to entirely] because Charley would just freeze up and not say anything whenever people started fighting with him

✨trauma✨

The two protected each other is my point pretty much

Ok, for a rough timeline:

[1903 - 1955] - Great War [1956] - Charley was born [1960] - Holly was born [1974] - Charley ran away to Calatonia [1980] - Buster was born [1988] - Charley took Buster in [1990] - Harry meets Claire [1994] - Harry and Claire get married [1997] - Theater was sold to Charley and quickly opened [2003] - Charley is killed

It's fucking tragic how he dies

Like, him and Buster were literally in the middle of planning the show when Buster got the call

Late too

He couldn't get to the landline at first because he was busy with set design, and actually saw it a LOT later, which- yeah. Cue horrific amounts of stress as he bikes as fast as he can to the ER

"Where's dad!??" he's in the hospital bucko

Why must I kill all the characters I love-

Charley'd just gone out to get some supplies from like, home depot or something, and then yeah. Dead

Buster could never finish the show, so it sits collecting dust in the attic now

Grief made him unable to write much, which is how he eventually went into debt too

The whole thing with them is absolutely tragic, oh boy-

Can't wait to draw the funeral scene

Ok, so I keep forgetting what's been posted and what's still a draft, so sorry if something just- absolutely jumps out of nowhere here. I think I've mentioned the war before? And Poachers- I hope I at least mentioned Poachers-

Well, if you didn't know before, you do now ''':D

Thanks for reading

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