#1) my brother is in his mid 20s and as far as i know does not care for stuffed animals. it's literally just for the joke

[mrsjellymunson]

S.A.N.T.A. BABY

[A.KA. Stupid And Nasty Tinsel-Related Activities]

A Festive 5+1 Eddie Munson Fic

Summary: 5+1. Five times reader embarrasses herself in front of Eddie, and one time she doesn’t.

Pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!reader

WC: ~10.5k (oops)

CW: 🔞 18+ MDNI!, SMUT, NSFW. Strangers to sort-of-enemies to lovers. Drinking, smoking, Eddie and reader call each other nicknames, loads of embarrassing situations, swearing, suggestive language, implied birth control, description of and discussion about a sex toy, flagrant and unnecessary use of the number 69, reader has a tattoo but it’s not essential to the story so you can ignore it if you want, bondage fantasy involving fairy lights, lap riding/dry humping, Eddie has tattoos and intimate piercings, fingering, unprotected p-in-v (always wrap it irl!), aftercare, fluff, the Upside Down hasn’t happened. I imagine reader & Eddie to be mid-late 20s and it might be the 90s, but hopefully I left it ambiguous enough that you can choose. I tried to keep reader’s appearance neutral, though I’m still new at this and I may have missed things - let me know if you spot anything (likewise typos or missed tags, etc). The elf outfit in the pic is for costume illustration only and does not indicate reader’s ethnicity or appearance.

A/N: Written for @bettyfrommars’ & @allthingsjoeq’s festive prompt party (thank you, guys!); I decided to smoosh five prompts 6, 8, 12, 14 & 15 together to create… whateverthehellthismutantthingis 😆 It’s my first 5+1, and my first festive fic, please let me know how I did! 🎄 I’ve taken artistic license with the format - if I’ve understood it, it’s way too long for a standard 5+1, and I don’t think they usually have 4+k of unnecessary smut at the end (‘What do you mean, Kittie? Smut is always necessary!’). I couldn’t bring myself to cut it because I’m a deviant and to paraphrase the song, it’s my fic and I’ll add what I want to 😂 Enjoy! 🥂🍷🎁

Christmas was never your favourite time of year. You suppose that your early Christmasses were probably happy, but once your parents split and family politics came into play, the season just became less enjoyable all round. These days your mom and stepdad tended to use the extended break to visit your brother in California, and this year will be the third in a row that you’ve been left to your own devices. Not that you couldn’t go with them, but you just felt a little out of place and in the way, him with his scrapbook-perfect family and kids, you with your alternative interests and a dress sense that your stepdad once described as, “Far too much black for a family dinner. We’re not the Addams Family, you know”.

This year, though, you were optimistic. It’s your first year away at college in Indianapolis, and your roommate, Robin, who you get on outrageously well with, has invited you to spend the holidays not too far away in her home town, Hawkins.

Plus, Robin has taken it upon herself to, in her words, ‘“Christmas Carol the shit out of you”, after you’d told her about your disdain for the holiday season and that Santa stood for ‘Stupid And Nasty Tinsel-related Activities’. She’d declared that this year you’d have the “Best. Christmas. EVERRR!”, and she’s making good on it, despite the promise being made months ago when you were both soaked in tequila at the end of orientation week.

It’s going fairly well so far. You’ve met a couple of Robin’s friends, a nice girl called Nancy and Robin’s ex Vickie, and together you’ve had a shopping trip, a lunch out and a girls’ night in. You’re optimistic that the rest of her friends will be just as friendly and welcoming. Next on the ‘Best Christmas Ever’ agenda? Seeing a local band at a local bar…

“Honestly, they’re, like, really, really good!”

“Really, Robs? This band that your friends started in high school are so good that they’re still playing dive bars in their home town?”

The bar is dingy and grubby, but it’s packed, Robin insisting it’s because the band is great, but you suspect it has more to do with the cheap beer prices.

You’re not averse to live entertainment, you just prefer places with a bit more space. More ambience, less… sweat? Ambiguous stickiness??

Half a beer in, you make the excuse that you need some air, not admitting you’re actually hoping to find someone to bum a cigarette off outside, feeling your most recent attempt at quitting is already on seriously shaky ground.

There’s already a couple of guys around the side of the building when you exit the front door, one in a torn flannel and another, his back to you, in a heavier-looking jacket.

You recognise Flannel as the bartender, a lanky, but not unattractive, somewhat worried-looking guy with a grungy haircut and ripped Clash t-shirt, who’s just finishing his cigarette and flicking it to the floor. As he leaves to go back inside he offers a cheery half-salute to his smoking partner and a, “See you inside, dude.” You assume the other guy must be a regular, and from the subtle glimpses you get as he flicks his ash, he’s about halfway through his cigarette.

Whilst he’s not looking you sneakily take in the view (your excuse being that you are a tourist here, after all). He’s tall, dressed all in black, with broad shoulders draped in worn-in black leather, long dark curls falling about them. You can’t determine the exact colour in the poor lighting of the bar’s neon sign, but they look shiny and well cared for, rather than lank and grimy like so many of your college buddies seem to think is the fashionable way to do it these days (ugh).

Trailing your eyes down his back, you see the hem of his jacket half-obscures a black leather belt that’s just visible sitting on his slim hips. It’s studded with silver rivets and adorned with a variety of draping silver chains that jingle at the slightest movement.

Well-fitting, dark black jeans cover his legs, and a scruffy pair of heavy black combat boots complete the look. They're unlaced at the top and casually flare out, his jeans crumpling, effortlessly stylishly, in the tops.

The belt chains catch your attention again as he shifts from one foot to the other, making them swing, drawing your eyes to the seat of his jeans and showcasing a cute, tight, rounded pair of butto-oh! He’s turning around! Shit, shit, okay, be cool, and definitely don’t look like you were just checking out his ass…

He looks at you with surprise, he obviously hadn’t heard you come out. He’s taken slightly aback, but manages to greet you with a quick, “Hey.”

You reply, eloquently, “Hey.”

Smooth.

Leather Jacket gets out his lighter.

“You, uh, smokin’?”

“I was kinda hoping to bum one, actually. I’m supposed to be quitting, but you know how it is when you get around bars and booze.”

You shrug a little, suddenly feeling sheepish, and more than a little selfish when you realise your presumption.

“Oh yeah, I sure do. Think I’ve tried quitting about, what, five times now?”

He chuckles a little, shaking a stick out of the packet he retrieves from inside his jacket, offering it to you.

“You need a light?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, thanks.”

He leans in to spark his lighter, and you’re briefly engulfed by the scent of him. Old leather, hints of a musky, spicy cologne, whiskey, clean sweat, and, of course, cigarette smoke. It feels like a warm hug, but something else too, something more primal, enticing.

You notice his hands as he holds his lighter close to your face. They’re big, strong-looking and veined, his fingers adorned with chunky silver rings that glint and twinkle in the faint neon glow.

It all catches you off guard. You pull back quickly once your cigarette is lit, not ready to explore that kind of sensation right now.

He’s turned sideways to you again, leaning his back against the side wall of the bar. He smirks in your direction, a dimple popping in the cheek nearest to you, and you feel a little heat rise up your neck.

His gaze flows over your form, taking you in from top to bottom. Is he checking you out?

“I, uh, I like your boots.” He nods down towards your feet, flicking a little ash from his cigarette off to the side furthest from you.

You automatically glance down, like some kind of idiot who didn’t dress themselves less than an hour ago.

Sheesh, way to make an impression on the locals…

“Oh, thanks!”

You smile, genuinely pleased. You’re wearing your favourite pair, laced and buckled black leather New Rocks with a chunky, steel-coloured metal heel. You know the style doesn’t have universal appeal, which is of course part of the reason you love them, but it’s nice to have your taste appreciated by someone as cu- erm, as friendly as he is.

“I haven’t seen you around here before. You new in town or sumthin’?”

“Yeah, kinda passing through, I guess. I’m just here for the holidays, hookin’ up with a friend.”

He nods in acknowledgment, curls bouncing softly around his face.

You continue, “Apparently I’ve been promised the ‘best Christmas ever’, and they think they’re going to achieve that by bringing me to this divey bar to see some schoolfriend in a lame-ass metal cover band. I mean, god, no offence, but this town is hardly Seattle. I can’t imagine they’re gonna be Nirvana-quality, right?”

The guy snorts through his nose and then genuinely laughs. “Yeah, they probably are shit. Towns like this are full of wannabe rockstars straight outta high school, y’know?” You don’t notice how his lips purse as he suppresses a grin, as he continues, “Singers are the worst, always such assholes. Second only to guitarists, of course.”

You answer with an enthusiastic, “I know, right?!”, thinking back to the musicians you’ve dated since high school and how they were all convinced they were destined to be the next Eddie Van Halen or Steven Tyler. Thinking of a couple of guys in particular as you take a drag of your cigarette, as you exhale you mutter, “Christ, guitarists really are the pits.”

He snorts, smiling again, then drops his finished cigarette to the ground, crushing it out with the sole of his heavy boot. “At least with all their equipment and shit it makes them easy to spot.”

You gift him a smile and a small nod. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

“I’m heading back inside. Maybe I’ll see you later?” He quirks an eyebrow at his last comment.

“Yeah, maybe.” As he moves to open the door you add, ”Hey, thanks for the smoke!”

He turns back to you, his distractingly broad grin now fully on display, half-shouting back as he moves through the doorway into the bustling interior, “No problem, all you have to do is ask. I’ll see you later, Boots!”

You finish your smoke and get inside just in time to get to your seat, a tall stool opposite Robin around a high table, your back to the stage, as the band start up.

There’s a few complicated beats from the drums as the guy behind them warms up, and the bass and rhythm guitars thrum a few notes, garnering whistles and cheers from the crowd.

You wait for the cliché of the singer coming up to the mic and introducing the band, but what you actually hear is a low, self-assured, somewhat recognisable voice, that’s both commanding and sultry, that drawls, “You know who we are.”

Suddenly there’s a burst of impressive guitar work and drums, and the crowd erupts as the room is saturated with the opening chords to Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’.

You’re impressed, and intrigued. This isn’t the ‘dodgy 80’s covers schoolkid band’ you were expecting. These guys sound… accomplished.

You turn on your stool, and notice a subtly familiar form at the mic. Less bulky as he’s no longer wearing the leather jacket, a ripped band tee now showing off his pale arms and clavicles, and black ink that you can’t make out adorning solid biceps and veined forearms. Guitar in hand, confident, brash, cute. Chains dangling from a studded belt, silver rings glinting, hair flying as he flicks his head, commanding the stage, readying himself to sing the first lines…

Oh shit…

The band’s cover of ‘War Pigs’ is faster than the original, and they give it their own twist, making it heavier and grittier. After the (irritatingly brilliant) guitar solo Leather Jacket Band Guy even throws in a few lines from Deck The Halls, the audience going wild, and joining in enthusiastically when the ‘Oh Lord yeah’ is replaced with a ‘Fa-la-la’.

The rest of their set is a mix of covers and originals, all in a similar, heavy style, and as they finish to a rapturous throng you realise, flustered, that you couldn’t tear your eyes from the stage the whole time. Robin totally notices. You even let her get in a cheery, “Told ya so!”, as you reluctantly admit they weren’t completely terrible.

You spot the frontman (singer and guitarist, cue internal facepalm) jump down off the low stage, and you feel a little uneasy as you see him start heading in your direction.

You’re at peak embarrassment and can’t bear the thought of having to face him after what you said outside. You hadn’t even heard them play and you dissed the fuck out of them, him specifically. What makes it worse is that they were actually really good. The last thing you need is to have that thrown back in your face, in front of Robin, by their cocky lead guy.

Suddenly you want Spontaneous Human Combustion to be a real thing, turn you to ash so your only presence would be scuffed up on those heavy, unlaced combat boots, going unnoticed and carried out on everyone’s soles into the chilly night. But science and physics are apparently not willing to defy themselves for you this evening. Bastards.

Quickly, you get off your stool, mumbling something about needing the bathroom, and head off in a random direction, in your haste to escape not even asking where it is.

You chance a glance over one shoulder. Oh god, he’s heading straight for you…

As you stumble about in the crowd, you notice a free seat next to a guy at the bar. You hardly register that his coiffed hair and polo shirt don’t quite fit the vibe of the place, so desperate are you to build an alternative narrative that doesn’t involve the guy whose band you just dissed coming to talk to you. You’d said you were visiting a friend, he’s not to know it wasn’t a boyfriend, right? If he sees you with someone he’ll back off and leave you alone, right?? Surely he wouldn’t confront you with a potential Defending Your Honour™️ fight on the table. Right???

So, that’s the plan.

A really good, foolproof one? Um, no. But Band Guy is moving through the crowd, and you’ve gotta do something, fast.

You reach the bar.

“Hey, could you do me a favour real quick? A creepy guy’s been hitting on me, and I need to give him the message that I’m not interested. If I buy you a drink, will you act like you’re my boyfriend for, like, the next 30 seconds?”

He turns to you, and you notice his features. Golden skin, chiselled jaw, stunning hazel eyes, hair to rival the hottest supermodels’, a scattering of moles that look like constellations. Goddamn, he’s pretty. What is it with this bar? Is everyone inside it cute? Why have you never been to Hawkins before??

You give him a pleading look, and tentatively hold out one hand towards where his is resting on his thigh, hoping he’ll take it.

“Well, for a sweet thing like you, how could I say no to that tempting double offer?”

He smiles then, full and beaming, and you almost slip off your stool. A warm palm comes to cup over yours, and you manage to blurt out an order to the barman, saying, “Two of whatever he’s having.”

Just then, Band Guy reaches you. You do your best to swoon at Polo Shirt as your drinks get delivered, lifting yours and clinking it against his with a, “Hey, sweetheart, thanks for bringing me here”.

“Oh, I didn’t realise you were here with someone tonight.”

“Yeah, this is the friend I was telling you about. We’re spending the holidays together. Isn’t that right, sweets?”

Band Guy purses his lips, you hope in consternation, but it’s whatever, you just want him to leave you alone to stew in your mortification.

He backs up half a step, saying, “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it then.”

Success!

Just as you think your devious plan has worked, Band Guy turns to Polo Shirt, slaps his open palm against his shoulder a couple of times, and saunters off, with a, “Nice to see you, Steve-o. Just checkin’ you're wanting a lift back in the van with the guys, like usual?”

Oh. Oh god. They know each other?!

He turns away, smirking back briefly in your direction to fling a casual, “I’ll see you around, Boots”, before continuing his path to the other end of the bar. You see him greet Flannel with a high five followed by a bro handshake, the latter making exaggerated air guitar movements and clearly congratulating him on a great performance.

If cringing caused bodily trauma you’d be in the ER by now, most likely on life support. What are the chances of embarrassing yourself all to hell in front of a cute guy you’ve only just met, twice in one night?

Also, wait, you totally didn’t just admit that you find him cute. Nope. No siree. Nah. Niet. Definitely not.

Stupid Robin convinced you to take this stupid job in the stupid mall and now you’re stuck here smiling this stupid smile at all the stupid local kids in this stupid elf costume.

Stupid striped tights, stupid short skirt, stupid tight green tunic, stupid fluffy collar.

And yeah, okay, stupid self-induced hangover from stupid drinks last night thanks to stupid Robin’s stupid friends. Actually, they were all really nice, especially ‘Steve-o’ and the barman, Jonathon, neither of whom mentioned your embarrassing faux pas with Band Guy, which makes them total heroes in your book. Plus, Band Guy mercifully gave you a wide berth for the rest of the night by doing Band Stuff™️, so that was a win too.

At least the dress code for this gig stated ‘black footwear’, so you could wear your own boots. You’d never admit it out loud, but you think the combination of the red and white striped tights with your chunky, alternative boots actually looks kinda cute. It’s just as well, because you’d packed light (you and Robin joking that so long as you had your ”Pills and panties” you were good to go), and hadn’t brought any alternatives.

You’ve been at this for a couple of days already, beaming artificially at the kids as you try to corral them into some semblance of an organised line, and handing out stickers and treat bags for the ones who’ve seen Santa, putting your best singsong voice on as you ask for what feels like the millionth time, “So, what did you ask Santa for?”, and, “Have you been good this year?”

Your face has begun to ache with the effort of all the smiling, although the cheery mall Santa (a big, friendly guy called John? Jack?) takes up most of the slack, with a voice deep and gravelly enough to control even the worst-behaved little shits. You hope his day job uses it, it would be a shame for a voice like that to go to waste. He should probably be in sports, or acting, or law enforcement or something.

You can’t deny the money is coming in handy though. It’s reliably supporting your holiday booze habit, and you’ve even treated yourself to a couple of Christmas treats, some silver skull jewellery from a surprisingly well-stocked accessory shop, and something more, um, personal from the ‘specialist interest’ shop you’d found hidden away at the back of the mall’s upper level. The nice lady who worked there, Karen, even kindly offered to drop off your purchase at your staff locker later today.

You’re on the later shift, so Santa’s already here, and as you make your way out to the grotto area (which is essentially just a few old stage props surrounded by a few giant polystyrene candy canes; you surmise this might be one of the first years they’ve done this) you’re greeted by a predictable, “Ho ho ho!”. But today it’s a different voice than usual. Still deep, still booming, but not the one you’re used to.

As you round the glittery candy cane on the corner, the deep baritone gives way to a much higher, cheekier pitch.

“Ho, ho- hoooooly shiiit, I’d recognise those boots anywhere!”

Oh no… It can’t be…

“Heeey, Boots! I didn’t know you’d be one of my little helpers today!”

Even behind the fake beard you can see the smugness spread across his face.

You stop in your tracks, hands coming up to your face in a vain attempt to shield your embarrassed self from the impending, and, you’ll admit, completely justified, teasing.

Realising you can’t hide from it, you huff out a breath and amble over to him. He looks way too comfortable sitting on that ornate throne, like he’s used to such a position, somehow…

As you move closer you see that even beneath the tacky acrylic costuming, he still looks cute (damn him). He’s foregone the white wig and opted to display his own locks, chestnut curls cascading over his shoulders, and the white faux fur of his hat and beard create a subtle frame around his eyes. You observe their colour properly for the first time, and even in the harsh fluorescent lights of the mall they look like swirling pools of liquid cacao, and you don’t think you’ve ever seen anything quite like them before. They’re fixed on you as you walk to him.

You plonk down on a fabric-covered hay bale next to the throne. There’s no line of kids waiting as yet, and you’re relieved you can get this next part done without too much of an audience. Deep breath, pull off the bandaid, or whatever that stupid phrase is.

“Listen, about last night. I’m really sorry. I not only stole your smokes but also dissed your band before I’d even heard you, and that wasn’t cool. And that thing with Steve at the bar? God, you must think I’m such a loser. And, I know you probably couldn’t give two pebbly shits about what I think right now, but you guys are actually really good.”

He turns to you, looking down his nose and through his lashes at you.

“Hey, don’t sweat it, sweets. I did kinda bait you into that first part. And at the bar? That was… creative. I actually thought it was pretty funny.” Smirking, nodding and turning his face to the front again, he continues, “And for the record, we do play other places, not just this so-not-Seattle town.”

You risk a glance at him. The Santa suit is obviously too big for him, the collar wide enough to show off his pale throat for a moment before he turns back to you and the comically-fluffy beard obscures it again. You can see the outline of his taut, muscular thighs under the loose faux velvet of his pants, and his boots (those boots) are worn just like they were last night, unlaced at the top, casually stylish, the red fabric pooling around the calf and ankle. And to finish it off, there’s what appears to be a large throw cushion stuffed down his front.

It turns out he’s covering for (Jim!) Hopper, who’s apparently the local police chief (nailed it) and has been called out to check on some weird occurrences at an old research facility on the other side of town.

Band Guy Santa continues, sarcastically, “Pfft. Providing the town of Hawkins with security and safety instead of performing the frankly, essential, public service of dicking about in a Santa suit. Inconsiderate, right?”

“Yeah, totally”, you giggle.

“The organisers heard from Hop that I was somewhat… theatrical, so they asked me to fill in.”

You remember how theatrical he looked whilst on stage, and you feel your throat heat up, hoping he won’t notice you subtly pulling at your collar with a finger, or see the perspiration appearing on your décolletage.

“So, you may wreak your revenge now, sweetheart. I’m not exactly in a position to defend my sartorial choices right now, am I?”, he says as he gestures to himself, sweeping a palm up and down his garb. “Gimme your worst.”

You’d feel pretty bad if you laid into him now, not only considering your own current garb but especially with what you’d said last night outside the bar. However, he is giving you an opportunity to even the score for his manipulation, and it would be a shame not to take it. You decide upon a combination of cheekiness and diplomacy. (And not flirty. Definitely not flirty.)

“I dunno, that beard covers most of your face, which obviously does you some favours. But don’t do yourself down, you look… good in red.”

He swallows as you stand to move away from him, and you hardly realise that you’ve rendered him speechless, as you joke, poking at the obvious cushion by his middle,

“Although, I’m totally not buying this padding, you know,”

Suddenly a party of schoolchildren appears from nowhere, and before they get between you and you get too far away to hear, he stammers out, “Uh, I’m Eddie, by the way.”

You half-yell your own name back, adding with a smile,

“It’s nice to meet you. Have fun today, Santa.”

It’s late afternoon and Santa Eddie is on his regulation break. You’re doing your best to herd the over-sugared, post-school crowd into some kind of order, when Mrs Santa (a lovely lady called Claudia) calls your name and says you can go on your break now too, if you want, and to please tell Santa that he needs to get back here and start doling out Christmas wishes.

You jump at the chance for even just a few minutes away from the diminutive hoards (though you could listen to Erica, one kid you do like, diss commercialism and the ethics of lying to kids en masse all afternoon), and make your way to the locker room.

Eddie’s still there, sitting on the central bench, beard pulled down under his chin, and he appears to be holding a package in his hands, though from the look on his face you don’t think it was one he was expecting. As you move closer and peer into the box, you spy the contents, and a bright red, glittery shape becomes visible.

Oh god, no. No-no-noooo…

It’s the order you placed from the shop at the back of the mall, but Karen’s obviously dropped it off next to the wrong locker - Eddie’s is number 69 and yours is 96.

It’s a dildo (of course it is). A Christmas-themed, flexible, long, thick, glittery, red dildo, with a gold lamé ribbon tied artfully around the base.

Eddie’s face is a picture of surprise as he turns to look up at you, eyes and mouth wide and eyebrows practically disappearing into his hairline. He’s holding the packaging, your name visible on the wrapping, nixing any hope you’d had of feigning innocence and pretending you knew nothing about it.

“Uh, I think this is yours. I’m so sorry. I-it was left by my locker and I opened it assuming it was for me, and then I saw your name on it, but by then it was too late…”

He sees you slump down into the bench a few feet away from him, face in your hands. You don’t know him well, but you decide to let him get whatever he wants to say out of his system rather than potentially make everything worse by trying to get him to shut the hell up.

His tone is mocking, but not exactly mean, as he continues,

“It’s a pretty one, really. Y’know, festive. I admire your choice of aesthetics and commitment to the season.

But you know, Boots, if you wanted to feel special inside this Christmas, all you had to do was ask.

Wait, do you also have an Easter-themed one? Is it a rabbit?”

He’s turned to face you now, far too pleased with himself for that final quip. Arrogant bastard.

The tears come in a wave, and you fold in on yourself, trying to hide your face even more. The heat in your cheeks feels about the same temperature as the colour of that fucking dildo.

“Hey, hey. I was only kidding.” He scootches closer to you on the bench. ”Look, there’s nothing wrong with it. Everyone deserves pleasure, it’s healthy. And I get it, Boots, it can be hard for girls to find a guy who actually knows what the fuck they’re doing. And, maybe you don’t even want or need a guy, you just want some special time by yourself, right?”

There’s a short pause, like he could be considering his next choice of words.

“And anyway, I actually think it’s kinda hot…”

This surprises you. You’ve never met any guy who didn’t take the presence of your toy collection as a personal insult.

You risk a glance in his direction, hoping your wet and stinging eyes don’t look as red as they feel. “You really think so?”

“Oh yeah”, he responds, crossing his legs as subtly as he can, shielding his lap. “The one you chose? It’s… sophisticated. The glitter gives it a real nice touch. And,” he drops his voice a little, continuing in an almost-whisper, “I’d love to see what you do with it.” He clears his throat and looks away, finding a convenient patch of plain wall to focus his gaze upon.

Confused, upset, and unable to fathom exactly what’s going on (is this just banter? Or is he flirting? Wait, does he like you??) you grab the box from him and move to stuff it in your locker. Trying to hide the crack in your voice, you call over your shoulder, “Claudia says your break’s over and to get your jolly ass back out there, pronto.”

Oh shit… shitshitSHIT…

Stupid collar, stupid faux fur, stupid cheap zips! Goddammit!

You’re at your locker - the one that should’ve secretly contained your special Xmas gift to yourself - trying to get out of your stupid elf costume, but the zip won’t budge. The top of it is enmeshed amongst the stupid faux fur of your collar, and your frustrated, unsighted and fumbling ministrations appear to be making it worse.

You need help. An empathic soul to come to your aid and diligently untangle you from this costuming hell. But there’s only one other person here, and, even though your last encounter ended better than it could have, he’s still the last person you want to see right now.

Why tonight? Of all nights? How could this happen on the one night where the literal only person left in the entire fucking building is him??

You can only assume you’re on the real Santa’s shit list. Were you really that naughty this year?

Your brain rewards you with a brief, but telling, synopsis of your year so far: smoking blunts behind the library with Robin during study breaks, skinny dipping in a freezing lake on a dare, all that tequila, that brief foray in the back of a Camaro with that guy (Bobby? Billy?). Okay, you were no saint, but this? Come on…

Dejectedly, you drop your chin to your chest and let out a frustrated huff.

Looking miserable, and literally dragging your heels, you shuffle back out to the grotto, steeling yourself for whatever mocking banter Eddie will subject you to this time.

He’s leisurely rearranging the grotto area, and fiddling with the fairy lights behind.

“Hey, Boots. What’re you still doing here?”

Still not looking up, and flicking your eyes everywhere but in his direction, you mumble,

“I, uh, I need your help.”

“What is it? C’mon, you can tell me. We’re quite intimately acquainted now, wouldn’t you say?“

You can hear the smirk in his voice and you want to slap it right off his face. Your response comes out in a rush.

“MyzipisstuckandIcan’tgetoutofthisfuckingcostume, okay?”

“Well, honestly, if you want me to undress you, all you have to do is ask…”

There’s annoyance in your voice as you spit out, “For fuck’s sake Eddie, are you gonna help me or not?”

“Of course, Boots, I’m just messin’ with ya.” His voice drops to an almost-rumble as he instructs, “Turn around for me, yeah?”

His voice is commanding, yet soft and velvety. Parts of your brain turn to marshmallow, and you consider that you’d do almost anything he asked, if he asked you like that.

You do as he requests, your back facing him. You tilt your head down slightly, allowing him better access to the top of the zip, inadvertently also exposing the back of your neck.

He exhales (is it a bit shaky?), and you feel the heat of his breath on your nape, the sensation raising goosebumps along your spine and worrying your legs a little. It’s all you can do to not drop to your knees right there and then. You let out a tiny gasp and try to cover it with a deep swallow.

Eddie works gently on the collar of your garment, fiddling with the fur and disentangling what he can. As he works you continue to feel his breath on your neck, and you wonder if he has any idea what it’s doing to you.

Seemingly satisfied he won’t make it any worse than it already is, Eddie grasps the tag with his fingertips and places the palm of his other hand on your shoulder blade, the heat of it radiating through you so intensely that you have to scrunch your eyes closed and try to ground yourself.

With a quiet, “You ready?”, Eddie begins to slowly lower the zip.

It dislodges under his delicate touch, and although the zip is now completely free-moving he continues to pull it downwards ever so slowly. You feel another frisson of excitement, and even though you could at this stage probably quite easily take over and get out of the garment yourself, you don’t move away.

As the opening reaches your shoulder blades, you feel something else. It’s featherlight, barely there, but you think you can feel the knuckle of one of Eddie’s bent fingers brushing the skin of your back as he pulls the zipper slowly downwards.

Part of you thinks you should be freaked, after all an almost-complete stranger is touching you without your consent, but somehow it doesn’t feel weird. It feels… nice. Safe. Right.

The lower the zip goes the more of Eddie’s breath you feel on your back, and as the sides separate the edges of the colourful tattoo on your shoulder blade become visible.

Eddie's breath stutters at the sight, and as his knuckle passes over your bra strap and connects again with your lower spine you abruptly shake yourself out of your reverie.

Clutching the front of your tunic to your body, you move quickly away from him, stumbling back towards the locker room and mumbling, “I’ll take it from here. Thanks Eddie, you’re a lifesaver.”

Plonking yourself down on the bench in front of your open locker, you take a few deep breaths, trying to centre yourself before you get changed and wondering how on earth you’re going to be able to face him again tomorrow, the (yes, you’ll admit it now) hottest Santa you’ve ever seen...

Back in your own clothes (black, wide-gauge fishnets, an old tee from a punk band that no longer exists, and a flared black skirt - much better) you’re about to scurry out with your head down when you hear muffled grunts and groans from the main floor. What on earth is going on out there?

You amble back out to the grotto area, trying to appear nonchalant and like this is your usual route out of the building.

You see Eddie’s combat boots sticking out from behind a pile of fake snowballs. They seem to be twitching.

You move closer until you can see his entire form. He’s lying on his back, immobile, completely tangled in fairy lights. You can’t help but start to giggle, not least because for the first time since meeting him it’s he who’s the one in a compromising position.

He’s struggling, likely making it worse, and he starts as he sees you, barking out, “Oh god, Boots, you scared me! Well, laugh it up, fuzzball, I guess it’s your turn to rag on me now.”

“What on earth happened? Are you hurt?”

“I said I’d help rearrange these lights, so I was up that ladder, moving them around, when the rung gave way. The lights were the only thing I could grab for when I span, fell, and, well, here we are!”

He gives you a broad but sarcastic grin, realising the absurdity of his predicament, trying to spread out his palms in a jazz hands kind of illustration but only managing to do it with one, the other trapped at his belt line by a string of dazzling pink lights.

“Um, you need a hand?”

“Uh, yes please.”

You take a moment to appraise the situation. You see the broken ladder, the tangled piles of lights, scuffed-up fake grass and unruly piles of snowballs.

As for Eddie, he seems unharmed, if a little bruised in the ego (and, perhaps, the elbows). He’s still wearing the Santa suit. Well, most of it. He still has on the hat for some reason, and the trousers, but he’s discarded the beard and jacket, presumably for reasons of temperature regulation or ease of movement, and his ‘belly’ cushion is nowhere to be seen.

And his top half? Well, his top half is now adorned only in a tight, white tank top.

You swallow as you take in his torso. He looked good on stage that night at the bar, but you never really got to see him this close up. Or this well lit.

His skin is almost as pale as the fake snow that litters the area, but there’s a creaminess to it that just makes him look, well, edible is the only word you can think of. Apart from ’lickable’. Yep, that would work too…

He’s solid, well defined, but he’s not stocky. You imagine that years of carrying amps and band equipment around has toned his muscles rather than bulked them.

And the tattoos… Oh. God.

You’ve always had a thing for people with alternative tastes, but this guy takes the cake. Swirling black ink in a variety of designs and styles covers his pecs and biceps, with smaller but no less elaborate designs adorning his forearms.

You notice a subtle glint under the colourful strings of lights that enwrap him, and spot that one of his nipples is pierced, the ring of metal just barely visible through the taut fabric.

Your eyes drift to his hands (those same hands that entranced you that first night), and although there’s no rings tonight (you guess ‘Badass Santa’ wasn’t the version on the mall’s wish list) his hands are no less attractive, still strong-looking and veiny, and you spot a number of small finger tats that you hadn’t been aware of before.

His position and the fact that he’s still struggling mean his abs are tensed, with his forearms are in front of him, making them, and his shoulders, really pop.

Jeezus.

Your thighs clench and you feel a heat bloom in your core.

He notices you staring, and for a moment seems to revel in it, but eventually breaks you out of your trance, asking, “You gonna help me get out of this, or what?”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course, um, lemme just…”

You decide to start at his feet, reasoning that’s where the tangles are the least bad, and at least if his feet are free he’ll be able to sit up.

That decision has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you’d like to see him sitting, bound, tied up for you, naked…

Shit. Fuck. Concentrate…

Eventually you free him from the majority of his confines, your fingertips and the backs of your hands brushing his skin and the fabric of his clothes occasionally. As he’s able to sit up, his hair tickles you as you work, his scent invades you all over again, and the two of you share glances and timid little chuckles as you move around him, both aware that you’re closer than you’ve been before.

Eventually he’s completely freed, and as he stands and steps out of the final loop of lights he flops exhaustedly backwards into his golden throne, eyeing the pile of entangled lights and running a hand over his face, mumbling, “Shit, there’s no hope for them tonight. I’ll deal with it all in the morning.”

You stand to the side of the throne, wanting to check he’s ok, and in a bold move that you weren’t expecting he lifts one arm and takes the tips of your first two fingers in his, gently raising your hand in a silent instruction to come closer.

Mirroring your earlier comment, he says, “Thanks, Boots. You’re a real lifesaver”, adding, with a hand against his forehead, “I would’ve been here all night, could’ve starved to death. They'd've found my mummified remains in the morning.”

You find yourself stepping towards him, and with your free hand try to give his pec a playful slap, murmuring, “You’re so dramatic. No, wait, theatrical!”

The slap fails though, as he rapidly brings his other hand up to the back of yours, trapping your palm against his chest. You can feel the heat of his skin, the slight sheen of sweat just noticeable as your fingertips breach the low neckline of his top, the heavy thud of his heartbeat.

You don’t realise how close you’ve become, and you gasp as your knees touch the side of his. He gently grabs the hand that’s on his chest and pulls it to his side, and to stop yourself from toppling forwards you have to step around him, ending up standing astride his legs.

Your eyes lock, and something changes. For a long moment neither of you move, and you feel your breathing rate speed up.

Not breaking eye contact, Eddie slowly moves your arm up to his shoulder, and you find yourself climbing onto the throne with him, straddling his thighs.

He breaks out that low, rumbling voice again, as he murmurs,

“That’s it, Boots, come sit on Santa’s lap.”

As you lower down onto him, you feel the heat of his thighs through your thin tights, and then the contrast of the chill of your metal-coated heels against the backs of yours.

You also feel something bloom in the pit of your stomach. And further down. A warmth, heat, need.

Eddie moves one hand to hold the back of your waist, pulling you gently, moving you further up his lap towards him.

You feel the unmistakable bulge of his arousal between your thighs, and as he moves you closer you gasp as you feel it nudge your mound.

You look at each other for another long moment, aware that this is very new territory. His eyes flick between your eyes and your lips, as he asks, quietly, “Is- is this okay?”

It’s all too much and simultaneously not enough. You definitely weren’t expecting any of this, but at the same time you find yourself desperately nodding, needing more of him, of Eddie.

You answer by slowly rolling your hips lightly against him, your lips parting slightly.

The few layers of fabric between you aren’t enough to dull the sensation of his cock pushing against your centre, and you feel it gradually pressing between your folds, your growing slick making the movements easier.

Suddenly, his bulge nudges your sensitive bud.

You gasp again at the sensation, making Eddie exhale a long low, warm breath over your torso, before he speaks again.

“Boots, can I kiss you?”

You take a breath, considering how this could all go. You could walk away now (albeit with shaky legs and damp thighs) and leave any possible awkwardness or complicated entanglement in favour of a simple, uncomplicated holiday with your friend.

But then you look into his eyes again, as his hips gently buck and nudge you once more, and your decision is made.

Breathing out, you reply,

“Fuck yeah, Santa.”

Wearing a soft, sly smile, he gently brings one hand to the back of your head, bringing you to him as he moves forwards, chocolate eyes roaming your face, scanning your eyes and lips.

Noses bumping and lips millimetres apart, he pauses for a moment before closing the gap, pressing his soft, plush lips to yours. They feel divine, soft and velvety, and this close you can smell everything him now, with the subtle addition of something faintly minty.

You kiss him back, and then you both press forward harder, parting your lips at the same moment, the tips of your tongues touching and dancing before sliding past each other and deepening the kiss, your teeth bumping gently and hot breaths mingling.

It’s wet, hot and needy, your hands grasping his shoulders, and his arms pulling you closer to him.

The rolling of your hips gradually becomes stronger and more forceful, and he bucks harder up into you. You need more. Breaking the kiss for air, you take a couple of lungfuls, toying with the drawstring on his red pants before asking, bold and more than a little cheeky,

“How are you feeling? Still entangled? Do you need a hand getting out of these, too?”

“Yeah, fuck, I’m feeling very… entrapped, kinda claustrophobic. Might be in shock from such a traumatic experience. I might need to loosen my clothing a bit, y’know, for medical reasons.”

You give him a smirk, and untie the cords. Raising up on your knees slightly, you slide your thumbs hands into the waistband of those and his fitted, black boxers (fuck, is there anything about this guy that isn’t sexy?). He quickly takes the hint, lifting his hips off of the throne and allowing you to move his garments down to his thighs.

As you work his member gets caught on the elastic of his boxers, and as it releases from the fabric it springs back onto his abdomen with an audible slap. You can’t help but look, and you’re not disappointed. It’s pleasantly, but not overly, big, thick and veiny, curved slightly and with a large flared head. The tip is shiny and pinky-red, and as you stare it twitches away from his body and a tiny bead of precum leaks from the tip. You’re surprised, but also delighted, to spot a shining pair of steel balls decorating a frenum piercing, and that there’s a few pretty dot and line work tattoos near the base.

It’s beautiful. You want to tell him so, but he grabs you and pulls you in for another deep, passionate kiss, his length trapped between your bodies, hot and pulsing.

You melt into the kiss, tongues slipping and sliding, lips rubbing, noses smooshed against each other and enjoying it for as long as you can both do without air.

Needing another deep inhale, and also wanting to get your hands on his delightful cock, you sit up again, slipping one hand between you and grasping at his length. Eddie hisses, then moans,

“Oh, Boots, you’re gonna fucking kill me.”

You enjoy the feeling of him in your hand for a few moments, relishing the heat and hardness, before you position the palm of your hand behind his cock and push your centre towards him again, trapping his length between your hand and belly.

More thrusts of his hips moves him between you, your slightly adjusted position now pressing him firmly between your clothed folds, his cock dragging the fabric across your clit. You can’t help but let out a high whine, and you feel his cock twitch again.

“Too much fabric. Wanna feel you.”

His voice is gruff, desperate, wanting.

You lean back a little, resting one hand on the arm of the throne, keeping your other hand wrapped around his cock. You’re not sure you ever want to let it go.

His hands move from your ass to your thighs, running over them and squeezing. When he reaches the part exposed by your lifted skirt he growls, feeling the skin of your hips and belly through the mesh of your tights.

Suddenly, his chin dips and he gives you an almost evil grin. His eyes remain connected with yours as the tip of his tongue peeks out of the corner of his mouth as he pushes some of his fingertips through the holes, grabs tightly and pulls.

You freeze as the sound of snapping fabric echoes around the grotto, cool air now gracing your belly and inner thighs. You gasp, not only at his actions but because you packed light and don’t have any other tights with you. But as Eddie’s thumbs trace up to the crease of your thighs, dangerously close to your heated core, all thoughts of packing and capsule wardrobes are erased. You want, no, need him to touch you.

With a smirk, you say, “Please touch me, Santa. I promise I’ve been such a good girl this year.”

His jaw goes slack and he looks at you in awe. You notice how black his eyes have become, the beautiful chocolate hues all but obscured.

He flicks his gaze to your core, black satin panties with lace edging fully on display. He runs one thumb pad up your very centre, feeling the smooth, silky fabric, your heat, the dampness that’s already apparent.

“Christ, baby, is this all for me?”

“All for you, Santa. I’m pretty sure you’ve been a bad boy this year, but you deserve a treat anyway.”

His eyes flick to yours again briefly, his lips curling into a lascivious smirk, before returning to the beautiful display between your legs. He hooks his thumb around one lace edge and, much more gently than he handled your tights, moves the soaked satin to one side.

With a tenderness and reverence that you’ve never experienced before, Eddie parts your folds with his thumb and runs it delicately from your wet lips all the way up to your clit. His eyes are fixed there, jaw slack, and you genuinely think he might drool.

As he connects with your sensitive bud you keen above him, eyes closing and head rolling back.

“That’s the spot, huh?”

You come back to look at him, and manage to breathe out, with a lilting giggle, “Fuck, yes.”

He moves his thumb in a small circle, and your mouth falls open in an O, your brows furrowing slightly.

“You want me to keep going, Boots? All you have to do is ask…”

You’re lost, gone, away in space, and you don’t have the capacity to chide him for his cheek. All you can manage is a breathy, “Please Eddie, please keep going.”

His thumb speeds up slightly and he gradually and gently increases the pressure, and you can feel the coil in your belly tightening already. Fuck, he’s good at this.

Your hand remains clamped around his dick, squeezing it occasionally, his hips rutting up into your fist at a leisurely pace as he watches you fall apart on his lap.

He moves his other hand from where it’s been resting on your hip, and, widening his thighs slightly to create space beneath you, brings the tips of his index and middle fingers to your hole. You’re sopping wet and swollen, lips almost sucking him in just from the slightest touch.

He looks to your face again as he asks, “Is this okay?”

You manage a rapid, shallow head nod and a, “M-hm”, and he slowly plunges two fingers into you, scissoring them and generating a low groan from you, which in turn causes a harsher snap from his hips.

“Jeezus, Boots, you make the most delicious sounds, wish I could record them, listen to them on a loop. Fucking hell.”

“Maybe you can, you’re a musician after a-all…”

That’s the last thing you can say for a while, the combination of Eddie’s smirk, his talented fingers pumping in and out of you, his glorious thumb movements, the feel of his cock in your hand and his hips bucking beneath you all conspire to bring you to your peak.

You grip the arm of the throne hard, nails denting the pile on the velvety fabric. Your eyes close and your vision goes black before becoming a thousand tiny fairy lights, a firework igniting in your core and spreading throughout your body in the most delicious waves as you spasm around Eddie’s fingers.

You don’t notice you’ve been groaning until your senses return, and you feel a slight roughness in your throat. Eddie continues his movements, though slower, and helps you ride out your aftershocks as you pant on his lap.

Only when you start to twitch in discomfort does he remove his thumb from your clit. He slowly pulls his fingers from inside you, and to your surprise brings them up to his lips, pushing them fully inside his mouth and sucking greedily, closing his eyes and humming at your taste. Popping them out with a wet smack, he says,

“My god, Boots. You taste better than sugar cookies and cotton candy combined.”

Your arms feel suddenly weak, and you flop forwards, forehead on Eddie’s collarbone. You feel his warm, broad palm on your back, rubbing gently, soothing you.

“Y’okay there, sweetheart?”

You manage a little squeak, and mumble a tiny, “Mmph, yeaaah…”, as he chuckles lightly.

After a few moments you sit up a little, gazing into Eddie’s blown chocolate eyes through an endorphin haze, and you notice your cheeks are tense, in what must be, given Eddie’s somewhat lovesick expression, a goofy smile.

You realise you’re still holding on to his dick, and give it an experimental squeeze, to test whether your muscles are responding to signals from your brain (yeah, that’s definitely the only reason…). Eddie’s hips buck up, and you sneak a look down to see more precum leaking from the tip. You gather some with your thumb, circling it gently over his slit.

Eddie inhales with a hiss. His strong arm around your back goes to pull you in for another kiss, as his other hand reaches up to the hat atop his head, pulling it off and discarding it amongst the tangled fairy lights.

You move towards him for a deep kiss, releasing the grip on his member and running your hands around his (surprisingly muscular and delicious) neck and into the hair at the base of his skull, tangling your fingers into the curls and tugging gently, earning you another moan.

Shifting your hips along his thighs, you press your soaking folds against Eddie’s turgid cock, and the combination of sensations causes Eddie to break the kiss and emit a loud, low groan. His arms tighten around your torso and he moves his warm mouth down your jaw and neck with wet kisses, then lightly bites the top of your shoulder.

You sigh, knowing what you want.

“You ever fuck an elf, Santa?”

Eddies still mouthing at your collarbone as he mutters into your warm skin,

“Goddammit, you’re incredible.”

You move backwards slightly and Eddie takes the opportunity to reach behind him, grabbing the back of his tank top and dragging it off, dropping it carelessly to the side of the throne to join the lights and his hat.

Fuck, his chest is glorious too.

Bringing a little of your lower lip between your teeth, you run your palms down his solid torso. You want the opportunity to play with that nipple ring and examine each and every one of his tattoos, but right now there are more pressing desires on your mind.

He lets out a shaky breath as you brush his abs with your fingertips, shift your position and line up his swollen head with your eagerly awaiting hole.

“You sure about this, Boots?”

You look up at him, at his blown dark eyes and pink, kiss-bitten, shiny lips, and quirk an eyebrow as you run your fingers into his hair and murmur, “Oh yeah, Eddie. I want you to make me feel… special inside.”

He gasps as you angle your hips and sink down, pushing the head of his cock inside of you, gradually taking his thick length.

He kisses your lips once more, humming, as you acclimatise to his girth, then grins lasciviously as he thrusts his hips upwards, filling you completely. You’re close enough that the moans you let out mingle together and your breaths become shared, eyes locked and mouths agape.

You roll your hips, sliding Eddie’s length in and out of you at a gentle pace. You can feel every ridge and vein as he enters and pulls out, and you’re sure you can feel his frenum piercing dragging against your walls.

You can tell he’s holding back, consciously stilling his own hips and allowing you to set the pace. But this doesn’t last long.

Voice gravelly and ragged with lust, Eddie mumbles,

“Shit, baby, I gotta move. I wanna fuck you so bad, Boots. You gonna let me fuck you?”

Mouth close to his ear, you breathe out a small, “Please”.

It’s all he needs.

Grabbing your ass and squeezing hard but not harshly, Eddie pulls you down onto him as he thrusts up from below. His pace is ruthless as he lifts and drops you, matching his rhythm as he grunts and mumbles incoherent curses. You can’t make out much, but you do hear,

“Fuck, baby, you feel so divine, taking me so well, Jeezus Christ.”

Fuck, he feels amazing.

You remember his cock tattoos, and imagine how they might look, shiny and covered with your slick, disappearing in and out of your glossy lips.

This image, combined with a particularly hard snap of Eddie’s hips causing him to angle slightly differently and start to nudge that special place inside of you, causes you to let out a loud gasp, and your mouth drops open as you try to form a sentence.

“Oh fuck Eddie, I’m- I’m…”

“You gonna cum all over Santa, pretty girl?”

He continues thrusting at that delicious angle and you feel your legs start to tremble.

“Fuck! Y-yes, ye-ess!”

Heat building in your core, you just about hear Eddie mumbling,

“Shit, you’re squeezin’ me so tight, I’m not gonna last much longer. Where do you want…?”

Before he can even finish you’re blurting out,

“Inside me Eddie, please.”

You bounce on Eddie’s lap as his thrusts become deeper, faster, and then harsher and less rhythmic. You grind down onto his pelvis, your clit rubbing against his pubic bone and his thick, dark pubic hair, as his cock continues to bully your most sensitive spot.

Suddenly your muscles tense, thighs clamping around him, your forehead pressing hard into his, as his hips slam up into you. You let out a low whine as you peak again, vision blackening, all your muscles tensing as your walls clench around him.

Eddie follows almost immediately, thrusting harshly upwards and pulling your hips down onto him, and you feel rushes of warmth as he groans and empties himself inside your fluttering cunt.

There’s quiet for a moment, and all you can hear is your panting breaths and the sound of your own heartbeat in your ears.

You sit in silence for a few minutes, foreheads feasting against each other, heartbeats slowing and breathing becoming more regular.

Breathlessly, and without full clarity, you sit up slightly and mumble “Fuck, Eddie, that was…”

Eddie chews a little on the inside of his lower lip, and with the widest, sexiest smile you’ve ever seen, replies softly,

“Merry Christmas, Boots.”

After a few moments spent pecking kisses on various parts of your face, making you giggle, Eddie eventually helps you to lift off his slowly softening cock. He leans over to retrieve his discarded tank top and uses it to help clean the mess you both made between your legs.

You unpeel yourselves from the golden throne, feeling sure the heels of your boots have left marks in your ass, and he aids your passage back to the locker room on wobbly legs, helping you wash and making sure you’re ok.

As you gather your things he changes into his street clothes. They’re not dissimilar to last night, though he’s foregone the chain belt and has chosen a somewhat more fully intact shirt, and he watches you as he slings on his leather jacket.

Almost ready, you look down forlornly at your gaping tights, the hole barely covered by the hem of your skirt. Eddie chuckles, and tries to lighten your hosiery-related mood.

“Perhaps I could buy you a new pair? Maybe at lunch tomorrow we could go visit your favourite shop, and you could pick out something nice?”

The image of Santa and one of his elves nonchalantly browsing the displays in a sex shop amuses you greatly, and you tell him so, but he insists he would totally do it, if you wanted to.

There’s a pause as you retrieve your coat and go to put it on, and as you do he adds,

“Well, I’d call it a Christmas gift, but… I’d actually prefer to get you something a little nicer. If you’re around. And you’d let me, of course.”

You’re surprised by Eddie’s unexpected tenderness, and the implication that he might want to continue… whateverthisis. You don’t want to presume anything, but there’s certainly a little tingle in your belly at the thought.

You reply, sardonically, “Sure, I guess. So long as it’s not red and glittery, I think I've had enough things like that to last me for a little while.”

You both snort-laugh at this.

As you start to walk together to the staff exit at the back of the mall, Eddie offers to take your bag so you can fasten your coat and put on your hat and gloves.

Trying to sound casual, he asks, “Sooo, how’re you gettin’ back to Robin’s?”

“I was gonna take the bus, like usual.”

Eddie looks at you sideways, slightly bashful.

“Could I, maybe, give you a ride? We can stop at Benny’s on the way, if you’re hungry. It's a diner”, he clarifies, remembering that you’re not from around here.

Your tummy flips, and not just from the thought of a milkshake and fries.

“Yeah, sure, I’d like that.”

Eddie smiles that wide smile again, and you see his cheeks turn a little pink. It’s odd, him being all shy and self-conscious after what you two have just done, but somehow it’s also incredibly endearing.

As he walks you through the parking lot, still carrying your bag and toying with a stray piece of tinsel that he found in his pocket, he says,

“Y’know, I’d still really like to see what you do with that Christmas dildo.”

Thinking back to how he looked all tangled up, you smirk back at him as you think of how you’d quite like a redo of him tied up for you.

As you reach his van, you lean against the passenger door and coyly look at him.

“Well, maybe I could show you. Could we, maybe, do something after work tomorrow?”

With the sweetest dimpled smile you think you’ve ever seen, Eddie cocks his head to one side and lifts a hand to run the tip of one forefinger along your jawline, as he replies in that low rumble,

“Oh, Boots, you should know by now. All you have to do is ask.”

🎄You may not yet be completely sold on the whole idea of The Holidays™️, but you’ll have to admit to Robin that this might well be the start of your Best. Christmas. Ever.🎄

Thanks so much for reading! ILY 🥰

Please support your content creators by not only liking but also commenting and reblogging - it’s so important. If you liked this there’s a good chance others will too, and comments and reblogs are the only way posts get seen. Consider it a Christmas gift to your writers and followers 😍🎅🏼 Thank you, and Happy Holidays, however you celebrate!

Resources: Proof that Deck The Halls can be sung to the tune of War Pigs (and vice versa), plus the ‘Fa la la’ 😊🎄

#prompt party #Santa!eddie munson #come sit on Santa’s lap #festive fic #promptparty #festive smut #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson #stranger things #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #5+1 #5+1 fic #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #Christmas fiction #best christmas ever #Eddie munson fan fiction #Eddie munson fanfic #Christmas smut #rockstar!eddie #strangers to lovers #steve harrington #robin buckley #S.A.N.T.A. BABY #boots #joseph quinn

[kennahjune]

HI HI HI

I need Lesbian couple Ronance with their skater daughter Max and Gay couple Steddie with their autistic son Dustin who are all neighbors and it’s really awkward because Steve and Nancy are exes and Max is technically Steve’s legal daughter as well.

The thing is— Nancy and Steve aren’t just exes, they’re ex-wife and ex-husband. Divorced. Out of each other’s lives other than Max.

Max knew 100% that they were moving next door to Steve (her dad) and chose to stay silent about it because 1) she lives for drama and 2) it means she doesn’t have to go so far to see him and can spend more time seeing him.

Of course Dustin is 100% aware of this and enables it fully.

I was trying to think of a way to include Mike in this cause he’s Nancy’s younger brother and as funny as it would be for Mike to technically be Max’s (and Dustin’s) uncle I think I’m just going to have him be Robin and Nancy’s legal child because Madwheeler siblings is a must.

Dustin and Max know each other from Max’s weekend and Holiday visits. Mike and Dustin know each other from school and are ofc really close friends but don’t know about their “parent situation”.

Robin and Steve are still best friends but Nancy has no idea that Robin’s precious “Evie” is is her ex-husband and Steve knows that Robin is Nancy’s new fiancé but doesn’t say anything because he assumes that Robin knows about their history already. (She does know but she doesn’t realize that Steve is /that/ Steve.)

Eddie’s just kind of there— but I really want him and Nancy to meet while Eddie is working on her car (mechanic Eddie my beloved) and Eddie takes a moment but goes “omg your my husband’s ex-wife!” in typical Eddie fashion and Nancy has no idea what to do with this new information.

None of the kids call Steve, Eddie, Robin and Nancy mom or dad (just cause that feels weird to write outside of it being a bit). They’ve all agreed on first names— considering that both couples are only in their mid-late 20s (maybe early 30s??).

Will, El and Lucas are ofc mentioned— all having their normal canon families (with Wonder Twins). They are also 100% in on the “parent situation” and are also fully enabling it cause it’s funny as hell and Will and El’s favorite movie is The Parent Trap.

Mike is also in on the “parent situation” but he doesn’t know that he is also part of the situation (being Ronance’s legal child). He knows Dustin’s parents ofc, but it never clicks that Steve is /that/ Steve (like Robin lol). He only really figures it out when he goes over after school and Max is there and Mike’s like “why tf are u here?” and Dustin’s like “Mike that’s my sister” and Mike’s like “no that’s MY sister” and Max is watching the entire thing unfold because she knew the entire time.

I love how this sounds so far and I am absolutely planning on making it happen. Prolly gonna call it The Parent Trap For Morons.

#stranger things #steve harrington #dustin henderson #mike wheeler #robin buckley #eddie munson #will byers #el hopper #found family #max mayfield #nancy wheeler #lucas sinclair #steddie #ronance

[annabtg]

I have to ask why is the marauders fandom so obsessed with Sirius and his looks? You guys act like he’s this Casanova but there’s no proof of it. Yes, he’s mentioned to be good looking but I’ve met my fair share of pretty boys who turn me off as soon as they open their mouths. Everything around Sirius is always made so sexual… it’s either Wolfstar or Jilypad. It’s like you guys can’t get over this looks and dig deeper into his personality, family history, and his life story. There’s so much material and stories that could be told but everyone focuses on his looks and it’s so condescending. If you guys do tell his story it’s like 20% his story 80% of everyone trying to shag him. I can’t find one story that actually does a great job of telling the brotherhood between the marauders, without turning it into some story of how everyone is obsessed with Sirius’ looks. James and Sirius were brothers in every way but in blood. We don’t know much about Lily and Sirius but with the letter sent she obviously cared enough to reach out to him because James missed his best friend and was having a hard time at the cottage. Remus and Sirius relationship is tragic and isn’t talked about enough. The guy was willing to become an animagus to help him but didn’t trust him enough to think I he was working against the order? Then there’s Peter who is by far the most underrated marauder and fooled them all, and got Sirius sentenced to Azkaban for 12 years. There’s so much more to Sirius then his looks and making up sexual relationships with the marauders. I used to love marauder fandom but the new writers have ruined everything and turned it into stories of everyone wanting to shag Sirius. There’s no plot, no story line, only the whole wizarding world fawning over how gorgeous Sirius is.

My poor dear anon,

What shallow, misguided corners of the fandom have you found yourself into?

I don't know if you found me through my writing or my latest shitpost. Probably the latter, because if you'd spent any time around here, you'd know that Sirius, for me, is so much more than someone to fawn over and shag - he's one of the most intelligent, most loyal, most characters and I'm fascinated by so many more of his facets than his indubitable handsomeness. (I do love to thirst over good artwork of him, but that's not exclusive to him.) I don't really have much tolerance for people who view Sirius as the person you describe and I don't engage with them.

But let's take a look at some definitions before we proceed.

1. The Marauders fandom. These days this is a term that hardly means anything, as it's been liberally adopted by anyone who focuses on any HP character who was alive sometime before Halloween 1981. Wolfstar shippers and Jilypad shippers, for instance, are two different groups with very little overlap, in my experience.

2. Sexualization. Sexualization means to reduce someone to their physical attractiveness and sexual potential and ignore their other qualities and characteristics. It does not mean being in a romantic relationship and/or having sex.

So, anon, I believe one of two things is what's at play here:

Possibility #1: You found yourself in some corner of the fandom that does sexualize Sirius. I don't know where that might be - I think even Wolfstar doesn't do that (it seems to me that they have the opposite problem these days, sexualizing Remus instead!). My main ship is Jily, though, and I find that overall people here have great appreciation for Sirius.

Come to the dark side. We have cookies biscuits, we appreciate Sirius as a friend to James and Lily (oh look, a whole fic fest dedicated to Sirius's friendship with Lily!), and while himbo Casanova Sirius used to be a popular trope in the mid-00s, I haven't seen it in fic since I got back into fandom two years ago.

(Disclaimer: There are always going to be thirsty fics. Prongsfoot, Lilypad and Jilypad, which I delve into, are not devoid of that either. And sometimes you just acknowledge that Sirius is one of the hottest characters in HP and just want to see him in action. Those fics are E-rated and usually pretty easy to avoid, and do not, in my experience, constitute the norm of how Sirius is treated within these fandoms.)

Possibility #2: You just don't like shippy fic at all; you want to read gen instead. That's completely valid, and I understand that completely non-shippy fic is hard to find. Especially with Jily being canon, so if you have to explore Sirius in a canon context there's probably going to at least be a side of Jily - that people always tag, because ships make or break fics for lots of readers, and it's recommended to tag for even minor presence or mention of a ship.

It does seem to me that the Marauders fandom now is more ship-focused than it used to be, I agree with you. I feel like gen fic back then was easier to find. I'd attribute that to a lot of us being older now and more interested in more "adult" situations, where some sort of romance is usually present, compared to the mostly teenaged fandom of 20 years ago that was more concerned with friendship and teenage shenanigans. But there are still people interested in Sirius and his non-romantic relationships with others - like those of us who wrote for Blackevans BFF fest (linked previously) and the people writing for @goodgodfathersiriusblack.

Bottomline: Do you want good quality Sirius content, or do you want Sirius content exactly how you want it? I can help with the first - stick around for posts, fics and recs. For the second, you'll have to be the change you want to see in the world.

#sirius black #rude anon #answered ask

[robynlilyblack]

Something sweet

Part 1

bodyguard! James x fem! maid! reader

Summary: James lands a new long term position for a rich family in the countryside, however he gets lost on his way there and has to ask directions from a mystery girl and her dog, little does he know he'll be working closely with her in the near future

Warnings: swearing, strangers to coworkers to eventual lovers, mentions of past relationships, cheating (neither james or reader), dangerous work environment, eating, food, and sex, first meetings, mutual pining, Alex being his iconic self, Bruce being the best boy

A/n: 4.2k words, day three of my advent calendar is part one of my bodyguard james fic! part 2 may or not be a later day ;) this is all set in a muggle au, James is in his mid 20s and reader her early 20s

Navigation | James Potter Masterlist

James was stopped at the side of the road, engine turned off to save fuel, eyebrows pinched as he checked the directions he was given against the map. He was certain he had gone the right way; he’d never gotten lost for a job…although this job was a little different than the others. 

Usually he was only hired for a few months, a year or two tops, but this one would likely be indefinitely. He wasn’t complaining, though he was never without work he was without a permanent address. You would think seeing the world would be magical, that thrill of seeing something new every day would be exciting, but living in hotels and never settling had slowly taken its toll.

That thrill he once found in it had an expiration date, life became boring as he was never in one place long enough to form any real connections. He still wrote to friends, attended a few of their weddings a year prior, and always made sure to see them every couple of months. Yet it wasn’t enough, hearing them talk about having children and starting families had him earning for it too. He’d tried it twice before but they ended the same, the distance pulling them apart and, on top of that, back then he didn’t exactly take the safest jobs, leading both of his former partners to be in constant worry

They were both married now, he still phoned Lily from time to time and of course he saw Regulus being Sirius’ brother and all. There was no bad blood, the feelings had dissipated yet he envied them just a little for finding their someone, something he’d give anything to have now

“I went down here…and then I remember seeing that school because it was creepy as all feck…so if I go down here…” he extends the syllables as his finger traces the road “...wait” his eyebrows furrow deeper, looking out of his window to see any kind of landmark that can help 

Looking around there was deep forestry on his left, some branches at the bottom still coated in snow as the sun hadn’t melted it just yet, lining the road for as far as he could see and ahead there was a bend that seemed to lead him off towards another deep treeline that looked a lot older, which was promising considering he was told the estate was established in the 15th century. He then turned to his right, seeing a small wall running down the opposite side of the road, it was crumpled in places, the gaps revealing more of the lush frost dew field behind it, shining 

He reaches down the side of the door, rolling the window down gently, it was a crisp morning, but exaggerated by the cars heater making soft wisps appear as its heat hits the outside air. He pokes his head out a little further, trying to spot anyone he could ask for help in order to save himself returning to the farmer from earlier, who despite being a lovely gent was completely incomprehensible with how thick his accent was

Just as he was about to give up, he hears a giggle, hears perking up at the sweet sound, so much, he jolts his head up to see whoever it was over the wall, only to whack it on the doors roof

“Fuck” he groans, rubbing the top of his head, blinking quickly to ensure he didn’t knock out one of his contacts before he quickly scrambles out of the car and across the tarmac, stopping half way to curse again as he runs back over, dipping in the window to grab the map

“Hey!” he waves at the figure as he turns back towards them, jogging across the road and onto the grass verge, gently leaning over the wall

That catches the figure's attention and they turn around to look at him, that's when he sees you. You looked a little shocked to see him, which he’s not surprised at; he hadn't seen any other cars pass by in the time he’d spent stewing away with his map nor the drive up the road. 

The next thing he notices is the dog that companies you eyeing him then looking to you for what he assumes is a command. James figures some farmers daughter, or maybe the daughter of whose estate he was headed too. He hopes for the former as you draw closer, the dogs tail beginning to wag as it follows on behind, gaining a treat on the way for good behaviour

“Can you help me?” he asks, holding up the map “I appear to be a tad lost” he chuckles trying to lighten the mood and let you know he isn’t some weirdo

You still seem nervous yet your shoulders have relaxed, the dog looking more excited now he’s no longer a potential threat. He drinks in your figure as you approach the wall, you look sweet, perfect even in your little bobble hat and scarf, sturdy looking boots at least a size too big adored with thick brown socks poking out at the top, battered jeans littered with old and new paw prints, and finally a woolly jumper under a chunky green parka

“I’m looking for the Roseberry Estate?” he asks when you don’t say anything, trying his best not to smile too much when he looks over the wall and sees your companion staring up at him fondly with big grey eyes that reminded him of an old friend

“Umm” you whisper and he barely hears it, watching as you awkwardly take the map from his hands and shift to the side so he can see it “You’re here” you point to the road and James smiles a little funny, thankful he’s on the right road yet confused as to how he overshot it “You started from the city?” you wonder and he nods, catching your eye for a brief moment before you shy away again towards the map “You’ve accidently taken the long way around, but it’s no harm done, just keep going you’ll find water on your left and look out for the sign, it’ll be on your right. Oh, and if you can’t see the water anymore you’ve gone too far” you tell him quietly with the most charming giggle escaping your lips at the end

He smiles gently re-taking the map, but not folding it up just yet as he traces over the intersection, he made a wrong turn at “So what you’re saying is I managed to get so lost I still ended up where I needed to be” he barks a laugh, thinking of how Remus would dub this with the famous Potter luck as he folds up the map and shoves the map into his back pocket. 

As the paper slips in he feels his suspenders shift, laying uncomfortably on his shoulder, however as he fixes it, he misses the way your eyes fixate on his movements, on his hands, but particularly on the slight reveal of his holster under his fleece lined jacket

“I…umm” his eyes drift back to you, noticing you seem a little flustered and wonders if its for the reasons he’s finding himself hoping for “I need to get going” you slowly step backwards, trying to retreat in such a way he wouldn’t notice and it’s kind of adorable

“Of course, thank you for the help” he smiles and you give him a little nod back “Have a lovely day sweetheart” he adds, earning the smallest of smiles back and an even smaller ‘you too’ before you turn away and walk through the field and up the makeshift path, your dog following along behind, tail wagging happily

James smirks, turning around and checking the road before jogging back to the car quickly. He was freezing, only masking the shivers so he would look tough in front of you that seemed used to this kind of weather. He himself should have been, hell he went to a private school little ways south of here in his youth but years of jet setting from hot country to hotter country had left him shuddering now

After rolling up the window and getting warm again he presses his foot to the clutch and begins to the turn the ignition but stops and curses “Shit, her name” he scolds himself for forgetting “Always ask the pretty girl their name…fuck and the dog…dammit why didn’t we pet the dog” he scolds further, knowing his next letter to Sirius was going to earn a chide reply for the latter

You took your time walking back to the estate, breathing in the mid-morning air and enjoying your down time as you would be working again this afternoon. The ground crunched beneath you, the morning sun hadn’t quite hit the trail just yet and thawed the mud, making it easier to traverse. Not that you nor Bruce would ever complain, he was living his best life, so much that you honestly feared his tail would break with how hard it was wagging

He stops about 40 yards ahead at the corner of the path, turning back to wait on you catching up before going again. You smile at that, giving him a signal as you draw closer, causing him to patter up to your right side, around behind you to slow and walk at your pace on your left side

“Good boy”

Dipping into your pocket you grab a treat, gifting it to him and he takes it sweetly, tongue lapping it up before he picks up his pace and wanders out in front of you again. You adored mornings like this, just you and him, but as you reached the home stretch nerves filled you as you thought of the man you met earlier

He was beyond handsome, too handsome to live around here, a pretty face like his should be seen by the world and not the 50 or so people that lived near or in the estate grounds. He dressed like a tourist too, his shoes too nice for the mud, jacket that was quite clearly bought at the store everyone went to when they first got off the plane, and of course, the car that had no place on roads like this during winter

You weren’t surprised when he asked you where the house was, but the thing that did surprise you was the holster. You assumed he must have been one of the family's friends, as there was a dinner later this evening you would be waiting at. So, it was a shock to realise he must be the new bodyguard, the one other staff were raving about. He just looked too sweet. Sure, he was built like a rugby player with broad shoulders and clear muscles, tall too, but his face, hair, eyes, they were all too kind and soft to be in such a profession

“Happy to be home, boy?” You ask Bruce, scratching his ear as he circles you gleefully and of course he is, as the moment he’s in he gets breakfast

You were happy too, over your time working and living on the estate it had become your home, the fellow staff, your family, however as of this afternoon you would no longer be the new girl, despite holding it for the last 3 years, that would go to that handsome stranger

“Y/n!” Your head shoots up to see your best friend, Alex, waving at you before being greeted by Bruce “Sorry boy, hello to you too” chuckling he crouch’s down to give Bruce a proper hello

“Hey” you say softly as you approach, taking off your scarf and hat as you feel yourself heating up again as you approach the side door “He’s just sucking up so he can get extra you know that right?” you remind your friend and he gives you a pointed look before chuckling

“Let me live in my fantasy sunshine, where I pretend, he loves me and not yesterday's leftover beef, okay?” he pleads and you put your hands up, giggling yourself as you head in, but still making sure to kick the frost and mud from your boots off on the last step before entering

“Was it today the new bodyguard is coming?” you check as you take a seat on one of the small chairs just inside, looking up through the double doors of the smaller east wing kitchen as Bruce comes to sit on the floor in front of you, waiting patiently for Alex to return with food as he wasn’t allowed in there

“Yeah” he confirms, coming back out with two dog bowls, one with food, the other water “You think he’ll last longer than the previous one?” He chuckles, placing the bowls down “Good boy” he grants Bruce permission to feast, which he does so promptly

“Hopefully” you giggle

The position for a new bodyguard has been a cursed one, not for any dangerous reason but for the fact one of the family’s children had a rather scandalous habit of cheating on her husband with every bodyguard they had ever hired. Funnily enough your job had the same curse with one of the families’ sons, however you never let anything happen, simply refusing his advances and he never again passed normal flirting which gained him your respect, and yourself that of the families. 

“I think I met him” you say removing your shoes and fluffy socks, revealing your tight clad feet underneath

“Seriously?” Alex’s eyes light up, smirking as you stand and slip off your coat, humming in confirmation “What’s he like?”

“Handsome” you feel your cheeks heat bending down to pick up the empty food bowl and half drank water bowl before carrying them through into the servants break room “Too handsome” you giggle, placing the water bowl back down with the food one underneath for now

“For real? You sure it wasn’t one of the investors they invited for dinner?” Alex asks, taking a seat on the bench facing away from your locker

“No, I thought that too until I saw his holster” you say, opening your locker and softly taking your freshly pressed uniform out

“Is he prettier than the last ones?” Alex inquires as he begins petting Bruce “Hey bud”

You feel yourself flush “By a mile, younger too, probably mid to late twenties?” you reply smiling as you see Bruce's leg kicks at Alex’s scratches before slipping off your jeans and jumper

“Yeah?” you hum in agreement “You know I can feel the heat from your cheeks…hey!” he chuckles as you shove him gently “You fancy him” he states

“I barely know him; we spoke for all of one minute” you needless defend as you shimmy into your skirt

“That wasn’t a no…oi…she’s such a meany isn’t she Brucey” he earns another playful hit but his attempts to sway Bruce only earn in a funny look “Wow you’ve got him wrapped around your finger” he notes

“I do” you slid your hands into the sleeves of your blouse “Don’t I boy” you lean over Alex’ shoulder to pat Bruce's head, causing him to yip and shuffle foot to foot, arse wiggling excitedly “He…” you climb over the bench and join your friend, beginning to button your shirt as you do “...he called me sweetheart”

“Sweetheart, eh?” he nudges his nose with Bruce’s “You hear that boy? Your gal might have found a new favourite” he says, making the dogs head tilt 

“No” you leave the last few buttons and cup Bruce's face, steering him towards you instead “No one can replace my favourite boy, not even the handsome stranger”

“You replacing me darlin?” 

Yours, Alex and Bruce's heads shoot up to see Patrick Roseberry, the family’s youngest son, ages with you, and your main boss, along with…the handsome stranger from earlier

“Sir” you stand bowing your head a little, cheeks feeling hot as the stranger tilts his head, clearly connecting the dots “No sir I mean…sorry sir” you cringe, cheeks on fire now while Patrick just waves it off with a small chuckle

“Mornin’” Alex nods his head with a small finger salute, standing up casually and earring an amused eyebrow raise from Mr Handsome

“Oh hey there Brucey” Patrick kneels down, petting the dog as he approaches “Y/n and Alex taking good care of you boy?” he wonders

You smile at that; Bruce was originally raised to be a gun dog but never quite had the same drive for the hunt as his brothers and sisters. You still remember the day they realised it wasn’t meant to be; you were helping move new produce into the kitchen while they were out training when a small group of hares ran by. Every dog started to chase them while Bruce sat just watched them, not caring in the slightest, Patrick didn’t want to give him up so he gifted him to yours and Alex’s care 

“Is that his name?” the stranger finally speaks, drawing your eyes and earning a small smirk from him before he kneels down to pet Bruce, who seems very happy to see him again and gain some ear scratches this time now there was no wall in the way

“Oh” Patrick chuckles, standing back up and looking towards you and Alex “This is James Potter, the new bodyguard, I’m giving him the grand tour” 

James? It suits him, you think with a small smile, rocking on your feet as your hands clasp behind your back

“Hi” James looks up, catching your eye once more as he greets you but those fine eyes soon travel down like they did earlier, his smirk widening as he stands up and you suddenly remember the last few buttons

“Sorry” you quickly do them up, turning away slightly as you do

Patrick lets out a small laugh “Sorry darlin, should have knocked first” he cringes, rubbing the back of his neck while his cheeks tint a little while you whisper a small ‘it’s okay’ “We should keep the tour going though, the dinner is in a few hours and I’m sure you wish to get settled and unpack” he tells James as he walks further into the room 

“Sounds good…see ya boy” James whispers the last part to Bruce, giving him one last clap before he watches the dog return to your side 

“This is the staff break room, you’ll spend most of your down time here. Y/n, Alex or one of our older maids will prepare your clothes in the morning so you never need to worry about what to wear, except for our balls, we outsource labour for those so the staff can join in, my grandmother set it up you see…” 

Patrick goes on for a while, explaining some house rules, etiquette, locker assignment and meal times. Alex takes this time to sit back down and pet Bruce before yours and his shift starts and Bruce has to be left on his own. You do the same, your movement catching James’ attention briefly, before he returns to listening and you pull your formal black pumps out from under the bench, slipping them on your feet as you try not to stare too long at James’ arse, those trousers are…snug

“Pervert” Alex whispers and you gasp quietly, gladly not attracting much attention

“Shut up” you hiss back “You’re looking too” you mumble

“Course I am, if he wasn’t already making eyes at you, you don’t think I wouldn’t” he wiggles his eyebrows

“We aren’t making eyes…like I said we literally just met” you defend yourself whilst still stealing glances, eyes a little higher this time, melting at the way the shirt is just that little bit too tight around his biceps and shoulders, the man was perfection

“Exactly, just met and the chemistry is flying…” he whispers back, earning another nudge but that doesn’t stop him or you from continuing to chatter about it whilst you get your little cleaning cart ready 

James notices the bickering, eyes flicking quickly over to you, smiling at the interaction. If he hadn’t heard your statement coming into the room, he might have read yours and Alex’s relationship differently. His pride was a bit higher now than you thought him handsome, more so that you felt the need to tell your friend about it to such a degree you had to assure Bruce he was still your favourite boy

“If you follow me, I’ll show you the security room” his attention is pulled back to Patrick, who’s moving towards the single exit door on the other side 

“Course” James starts to follow but turns back to say goodbye “See you three around” he gives you, Bruce and Alex a wave, but his eyes linger on you a little longer and flashes you a smirk 

As he follows Patrick out, he replays the little smile and nose scrunch that took over your features before you shied away, it was same one from earlier

“I’m glad we ran into Alex and Y/n, you’ll be working with them quite often” Patrick smiles, and James finds himself doing the same “They are based in the east wing, as will you be” 

James hums, eyes tracing over all the portraits and random pieces of decor that were most likely worth more than he’d make in a lifetime, he does avert his eyes at the mounted antlers though, for some reason those always gave him the creeps

“Have they been with you long?” he makes light chit chat, returning his eyes to the man before him

“Alex has been here for about 5 years, he’s ages with you…oh sorry Linsey…on you go” Patrick starts, pushing open one of the large double doors and accidentally startling an older woman, adorned in similar clothing to yourself

James gives the women a small smile, which she returns before giving a small ‘thank you’ to Patrick for holding the door as she passes by before they do the same

“Sorry, what was I saying?” Patrick asks himself, turning back to James before his eyes light up “Oh yeah…Alex is great, you need anything go to him”

“Noted” James nods “What about the girl? Y/n” he prompts casually, trying not to seem too eager

Patrick’s smile widens “Y/n was the last person we hired for a permanent position before you, about…hell, three years ago now” he chuckles “Just down these stairs” he directs and James hums “She’s wonderful, treats everyone, especially Bruce well, beautiful too” he rambles a little and James feels just a twinge of jealousy

“Yeah?” he gives him a look, smirk playing on his lips as Patricks turns back to look at him, palm on the door

His cheeks tint, delaying walking through “I may have fancied her a fair bit in my youth” he confesses taking his hand off of the door, stepping to the side to glance back up the stairwell to check no one was there before continuing “When I was 18, we had a flurry of new maids because I well…” he scratches the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle “...you can imagine, young rich bachelor and all that”

“Course” James nods, remembering a certain friend being the same once upon a time “So why did y/n stick?” he wonders, hoping he wasn’t about to be told you and Patrick were secretly an item back in the day

“She got the job despite having no experience since they assumed she wouldn’t last. I, of course, flirted and she’d get all shy but after I tried to kiss her she…recoiled, then she gave me the sweetest and cutest rejection you’d ever seen” he chuckles, his face clear of any malice as he recalls the memory, in fact James could say the man spoke of it like it was a fond one

James joins him “Speaking of openings, I was surprised there was one going” he gently changes the subject as he had wondered why such a position would be available and on such short notice “What happened to the last one?”

Patrick cringes “As I used to have a thing for the maids, my sister has a thing for the bodyguards” he admits and James’ eyes widen

“Oh” he lets out a nervous laugh “Should I be worried?” he asks warily

“Are you going to sleep with my older sister?” Patrick crosses his arms, an amused smirk on his face

James barks a laugh “Nah, not my type” he winks causing Patrick to laugh as well

“You’ll be fine then” he presses hand to the door again “Any other sensitive questions? Ask now or…wait till we’re in another stairwell” 

James laughs, thinking for a second “How does the family feel about staff dating…fellow staff members?” he asks a little untoward, hands finding his back pockets

Patricks head tilts “My sister and brother don’t approve, but my parents and myself don’t mind as long as it doesn’t create any security risks or effect the quality of your work, and you disclose it of course” he explains before smirking “The handsome stranger she mentioned when we walked in…he was you, right?” 

James chuckles “Hope so, either that or there was another one gallivanting about this morning” he jests but his face soon softens “There just something…”

“...sweet about her” Patrick answers for him with a slight smile and James nods

“Yeah, something sweet”

Thank you for reading ♡

#james potter and reader #james potter x reader #james potter x you #james potter x y/n #james potter and you #james potter and y/n #james potter fluff #james potter fanfiction #james potter #james and reader #james x reader #james potter fic #bodyguard!james #bodyguard!au #marauders fic #robbiesadventcalendar

[waveridden]

just remembered the time my dad got my brother a bear from build-a-bear that looks like spock specifically because he realized they had the little music box things that played the star wars theme. apparently several very concerned build-a-bear employees kept going “you know that’s a different series, right?”

#waveridden.txt #important context: #1) my brother is in his mid 20s and as far as i know does not care for stuffed animals. it's literally just for the joke #2) my dad is the kind of person who makes fun of *other* people for not knowing the difference between star wars/star trek #3) i'm PISSED that he didn't get this for ME that's exactly the kind of thing i think is funny

[pierregasly]

Nikita Mazepin: the Russian Oligarchy’s Infiltration of F1

I suppose it’s my turn to speak on the Nikita to Haas situation. In my years involved with F1 I’ve never been so disgusted by a choice of driver. There have already been numerous posts about his violence, obvious disregard for women and rich-boy mentality. While all these are horrendous, I want to speak on something that enrages most of all. Please reblog. 

I live in Ukraine. I don’t know how large the community of F1 people living in Eastern Europe is on Tumblr. I have seen a few EE people/those living in EE countries but not very many. What I am going to speak on is very familiar to those who know of the human rights violations that are consistently committed in Russia. 

To provide some context, within Russia there is a group of extremely power, rich men who are under the wing of their dictator Putin. This group of men are referred to as “oligarchs.” While many drone on about how the top 1% of the USA owns 20% of the total wealth, in Russia is a far worse. These oligarchs, of whom make up LESS than 1% of the population, own roughly 80% of the total wealth of the nation. 

The conditions in Russia are quite horrendous. There’s the lack of ability to protest, lack of rights for women, murders committed against LBTQ+ individuals, wealth disparity, violence committed by the police, people who disappear, and individuals who can use their money in positions of power in order to sway things their way. Obviously there are far more violations I can speak on (this is a brief summary). Every single country has it’s issues, no country is perfect, but Russia... in Russia it’s far worse than I believe a lot of people on this platform ever care to know about. 

For example, the brother of my ex-step mother was riding his motorcycle in Russia and the police chief of St. Petersburg’s wife hit him with her car. He spent many months in the hospital and now their family struggles heavily because he cannot work. The police chief’s wife came off scot-free simply due to her husband’s influence. Were the brother of my ex-step mother to complain, he and his family would be in serious threat of disappearing or being murdered. This is very common place in Russia. People are very often murdered, assassinated etc if they threaten those in positions of power or speak out against the government. 

I am sure you guys do not want a history lesson and are here for the drama (a little sad, but it’s realistic). Back to Nikita. Nikita Mazapin comes from an extremely wealthy, prominent family in Russia. His father, Dmitry Mazapin, is a billionaire oligarch. Society and government is still drenched in the aftermath of the Soviet Union and Putin’s reign from 2001. In Russia, unless you are under the wing of the Putin, any large amount of money you are able to secure will and has been taken by the government. It is impossible to earn any surmountable amount of wealth AND stay in the country. You will have it all taken and you will be threatened with your life. Oftentimes journalists who speak out against Russia are assassinated foreignly. Car bombs in Ukraine... toxic gas in the UK. All this stuff is very common. 

When I was living in Czech Republic for four years my family came to know a family from Russia who had fled with their wealth. In Russia, this is the only option. You must escape the country and live elsewhere if you wish to keep your wealth. This is similar to what Daniil Kvyat and his family did. Daniil came from a small Russian town and was not from a wealthy family. His father ultimately managed to amount enough wealth and his family fled to Italy around Daniil’s mid-late teens from my recollection. 

In summary, I understand that Nikita is a disgusting human being. However, what is more troubling to me is the Nikita’s entrance into F1 marks the Russian oligarchy’s infiltration of F1. It is easy to criticize people such as Lance Stroll for utilizing their wealth in order to benefit their lives. However, Lance and Nikita are on far, far differing levels. Lawrence Stroll is extremely wealthy but his wealth does not tie him to a dictator. If Nikita and his father are billionaires, Russian and have ties to the Russian government this is very, very dangerous. In Russia, these men are completely and utterly unstoppable. They can do whatever they want, whenever they want, and to whomever they want. If they are able to stay in Russia and be this wealthy, Nikita’s family is in ties with a dictator government who murder, cheat, steal and defile the people of their nation. 

Daniil doesn’t speak often on being from Russia. In fact, he does not live there nor hardly mentions it. Nikita and his father are proudly, proudly Russian. Any form of extreme patriotism is dangerous but patriotism enough you are in cahoots with a dictator? Horrible. I will try to close this off. In Russia, as I stated, oligarchs can do anything they please (as long as it is not against Putin). Nikita already believes he can get away with anything that he wants. Therefore, what trend does this set up?

An oligarch kid coming into F1 coming from a corrupt family. His family is one of the men who owns 80% of the total wealth of an extremely powerful, wealthy nation. This is dangerous. Vitaly Petrov’s father was recently assassinated. What comes next? It all makes me sick. This is why it enrages me that absolutely NO one is speaking about this. Yes, I understand Nikita is an awful guy who assaults women, punches his rivals and shoves other drivers off track. However, I hope what I have written has shone some light on another important and disgusting aspect of Nikita being in F1. 

Thank you. 

#these are my thoughts about nikita #I #nikita mazepin #formula 1 #f1 #pressles musing #2020s #2020 #2021 #formula 2 #f2

[fa-by]

official to get together with Ty. I mean, what?? Who does something like that if they were truly in love?// about this part technically they only became "official" publicly at that time because they never gave us an actual date as to when L and LV got together or even broke up and what makes it more confusing is that LV and L looked like they ended on good terms but then a few weeks later they unfollowed each other and LV was throwing shade at L and now they're not even friends.

Still here, not a hater nor a shipper Anon? I see that the first two times weren’t enough for you. Okay. Suit yourself.

“they never gave us an actual date as to when L and LV got together or even broke up”. Actually, we may not have specific day dates, but we do have dates to calculate everything.

As I’ve already explained, Lucy returned to Lauren’s life after she had a car accident on May 17, 2015:

“She came back into my life when I was 18. I was on tour and I was in my room in a hotel somewhere and she called me”, and, according to their narrative, Lauren decided they would be together “all in” and “now we’re gonna be in this relationship” from that moment on. The last public interaction between the two of them occurred on January 12, 2017 with that post for Lucy’s birthday (which is actually Jan 11):

And by January 21, 2017, they had already broken up since they were at the same Women’s March but with other people. While Lauren ‘was still together with’ Lucy, Ty tweeted “LMJ” on January 4, 2017:

He canceled it right away, and on February 12, 2017, Tyren made their first appearance as a ‘couple’ at the Grammys after-party (picture posted by L two days later):

If you calculate from mid-May 2015 to mid-January 2017, it’s 1 year and 8 months. And of that year and 8 months, 2 months were public due to the wedding pictures.

Lauren was already with Ty after less than a month. In fact, if you want to calculate from January 21 to February 12, it’s only 9 days. So, as you can see, we have dates on which base ourselves.

“Um let’s be realistic this literally happens all the time in real life”. Oh yeah? To who? To those who weren’t really in love and didn’t care about their exes maybe, but not to those who claimed to have been in love with their best friend since adolescence. You continue to be contradictory, Anon. Even in your own thoughts. Because if you believe in the Laucy narrative, then you’re supposed to believe that Lauren was in love with Lucy for five years (from when she was 15 to when she was 20). And if you believe that, then how can you think she fell out of love with her in less than a month? How can you think that’s realistic? Do you really give your fave so little credit? As I’ve already said, I don’t know you, so either you’ve never been in love and that’s why you think it’s realistic, or you do give Laur so little credit for real.

I’m gonna copy and paste the entire piece that you copied incompletely now: “How can you have been in love with someone for so many years, broke up with them because they were a toxic person, and immediately get together with an even more toxic person without having the proper time to heal? Without taking the time for yourself to lick your wounds, grow up, be ready again to throw yourself out there, and eventually find a better person to be in a relationship with? How? Simple. Because they were both fake relationships. The timing they wanted to tell is not credible. None of what they’ve said is believable, and luckily, there’s also enough evidence to prove it so these are not opinions and theories”.

When you love someone, Anon, when you really love someone and you’re not with them anymore, you need time. You really need some time before you can move on. Less than a month is not enough to fall out of love after 5 years and start another relationship by declaring to be in love with this other person every five seconds. I really don’t understand how you can think it’s realistic, and most of all, I really don’t understand how you don’t see it was all fake.

“and who says Ty was a toxic person cause so far L has never said anything bad about him and he treated her right from what we have seen, also the fact that their ‘split’ was peaceful so how was he toxic for her?”. So, let me get this straight. Someone who thinks that ‘the women only serve to be in the kitchen’, that ‘the lesbians only are confused girls’, that:

and that he’s:

is not a toxic person? Someone who’s been in a gang (like his brother who’s still in jail) since he was a teenage boy and has a long list of felonies on his record for infractions, assaults, and possession of various drugs, isn’t toxic? Someone who lies about his age and is disrespectful in the lyrics in his songs and when he speaks in general with phrases in which he had no respect for either women or homosexuality, is not toxic? Someone for whom it’s normal to punch and kick another celebrity in the head just because he refused to leave and free for him the VIP room of a club he was occupying, is not toxic? Someone who wanted to make a blind woman move who was sitting behind him with her guide dog, claiming to be allergic to the fur that was making him sneeze, and despite the fact that the plane staff offered him another seat in the back, which he refused because ‘he had paid extra to be in the one he was sitting in’, and the blind woman even offered him an allergy pill, he refused AGAIN with the excuse that he ‘had to perform’ a few hours later at the Escapade Music Festival (the woman obviously had priority over her seat and wasn’t moved, so they all stayed in their seats in the end), is not toxic?

Are you for real?? Do you really think Lauren could actually have been with a person like that? Someone who represented exactly what she always despised? Do you really think so low of her? You say she’s your fave, but do you know her at all? Because you’re basically insulting her as a person and her intellect. When will you learn to distinguish reality from fiction? When are you gonna open your eyes? If Lauren were to tell you that Santa’s real, then you’d believe it just because the words came out of her mouth? Come on now! Just because she was forced to say that she loved him and how a good person he was, DOESN’T MAKE IT TRUE. Not to mention that we’ve witnessed several times how uncomfortable she was when they had to look intimate for pictures:

And how inappropriate he was:

https://youtu.be/g3D_FMHy4ho

Don’t you see how she tried to move his hand and how uncomfortable she was? And these are just two examples, but there are so many of them. Wake up and learn to recognize the distinction between script-following Laur and authentic Laur. I already told you this.

No, I’m the one who’s sorry here. Because as I said, you can’t distinguish when something is fake and when it’s real. I was there. You seem to have forgotten this. I saw every post, every picture, and every live they did together. They were together. They obviously couldn’t say it because Lucy ‘was together’ with Laur, but they were together. It wasn’t a serious relationship like the one with Nicole, but they still had something. They stayed together until February and then Lucy got together with Nicole in March.

---

I hope this can also answer your ask, dear Anon 😄 and hi to you too 👋🏼

---

Back to you, not a hater nor a shipper Anon. Keep blaming CS and believing every single thing your faves say if you want, but do yourself a favor: stop trying to change someone’s mind (with empty proofs) and try to convince them to think like you. It’s useless. As I already told you in that post: “You can come back here a hundred more times, but you won’t change my mind”. Just accept it. Just accept the fact that we think differently because we believe in different things. Follow the blogs that think like you if you want, create your own blog with your own opinions or whatever, but don’t go to CS ones like mine because you wouldn’t come out as a winner, as you could see all three times. It’s one thing to go to another blog to express your opinion, and another is to go there multiple times and insist on changing their minds. Unlike you, I don’t go bothering other blogs to convince them to believe in what I believe. In fact, if that’s why, I don’t really care to change their minds precisely because, as I already told you, everyone is free to think what they want and have their own ideas. I accept the fact  that not everyone thinks the same way. Embrace this idea too, trust me, you'll live better. Find your community and be happy there.

I hope I’ve been even clearer than the previous times. Take care, not a hater nor a shipper Anon, and have a good day. I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for.

[unspeakable3]

First Lines

(i’ve not been tagged in this but i saw @pennygalleon reblog @maesterchill and couldn’t resist doing my own!)

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have fewer than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag some people to take part.

1. The steam twisted around him, winding into shimmering emerald spirals. (Stars Shine Darkly)

2. “Master Regulus!” (is this hell?)

3. He’d never meant for it to happen like this. (The Cave)

4. Sirius sits back on his heels, folds his arms, and inspects his handiwork. (The End of the Line)

5. The first round of banging at the front door didn’t alarm Regulus. (He Can’t Hurt You if You’re Already Dead)

6. Regulus woke mid-gasp. (do you want to know a secret?)

7. Every care has been taken to ensure that the information supplied for this volume is correct. (The Pure-Blood Directory)

8. The vase slipped through her fingers. (exit, pursued by a lupin)

9. Regulus took off his prefect’s badge and reaffixed it to a more prominent position on his robes. (it’s not my birthday but i’ll cry if i want to)

10. Sirius yawns widely and feels his boy-jaw crack. (Dog-Star and Lion-Heart)

11. Orion Black died a fortnight ago. (she dreamt of him)

12. Regulus shifted his weight from foot to foot and wrapped his thick winter cloak tighter around his shoulders. (are we the bad guys?)

13. “I’m ready,” he insists. (Brother)

14. As he sat in the window seat of his parents’ bedroom, watching his mother brush her long blonde hair, Draco couldn’t help but wonder whether she hadn’t wished that he had been born a girl. (sweet prince)

15. The passage of time concerns the living far more than it does the dead. (A Transient and Embarrassed Phantom)

16. The first word that drifted to the forefront of Regulus’s mind as he came slowly, fitfully, to consciousness was petrichor. (Unknell’d)

17. The sun was shining in the sky but Peter didn’t care that it was turning his skin pink. (Mr Blue Sky)

18. The moon shone brightly, this late February night. (A Rotten Apple)

19. Tom strolled through the dungeons, hands clasped loosely behind his back, and considered, not for the first time, what a deluded moron Slughorn was. (Heir of Slytherin)

20. Mother forced me to watch her remove you from the tapestry yesterday. (Acerba Sunt Bella Fratrum)

Pattern: i suppose i rarely start with dialogue. it’s usually mid-action, sometimes scene-setting, occasionally introspective. 

Favourite Line: it’s got to be either ASBF (Mother forced me to watch her remove you from the tapestry yesterday) or ATAEP (The passage of time concerns the living far more than it does the dead) but I’m also quite fond of the directness of SDOH’s Orion Black died a fortnight ago. 

If you’re reading this and you write I’m tagging YOU. 

#tag game

[kanmom51]

JM JK timeline - my observations how they grew over the years

JM JK timeline.- my observations how they grew over the years

 Disclaimer: these are my own opinions and conclusions.  Feel free to disagree, but hate or aggression will be unacceptable.

This is coming out so much longer than I anticipated, so please accept my apology in advance, I will have to post this in several parts (not sure yet how many).

Part 1

I have been wanting to tackle this for a while now.  

I have read many post on this matter.  Many believe their relationship started during the 2017 trip to Tokyo - that they ‘decided to become boyfriends’ during that trip.  I may be the unpopular vote here, but I tend to disagree on the matter.

While the 2017 trip did cement the relationship and strengthen it (I mean they finally got to have a few days of total privacy, being themselves alone with each other, with no outside interference), in my opinion, it most definitely was not the start of the romantic relationship between them. It was not a catalyst that brought them to the decision to have a full blown relationship.  

I find it  hard to make analogies to dating stages when it comes to JK and JM, because I believe we actually can’t in this case.  It’s so different.  These are two young men that spent their formative years together.  For JK Jimin was there throughout his defining teenage years, both of them becoming young adults living under the same roof, being together almost 24/7, going through all the hardships in the early years together.  Sharing all the highs and lows together.  You can’t compare that to someone that meets and starts dating, gets to know each other and so forth.  There is no comparison what so ever.  

Another misconception, in my opinion, is that JK didn’t like JM at the start, some even going so far as to say he hated him.  I don’t want to come out rude, but bollox.  JK was very young when he joined BTS, just at the start of his defining puberty years.  He was the youngest in the group and he struggled with finding his place, struggled with defining who he was, what he actually wanted to do, what he wanted for himself.  He found an older brother in Jin.  He found someone to look up to in RM.  He found someone to fool around with in Tae.  He looked up to Hobi and Suga, and they also tried to help him and guide him through his struggles. Fans saw these connections.  The fans also saw Jimin being super friendly, maybe over friendly, with JK, constantly saying how cute he is and how much he likes JK.  They saw what they perceived as a tug of war with Jimin, when Jimin is pushing onto JK and JK looks like he is pushing him back, like he wasn’t interested what so ever.  But this was mainly due to tendentiously edited clips.

Before writing these lines I made sure to go over chronological footage.  Starting with pre debut.  Seeing all this raw, unedited footage, and reading members interviews they gave just reinforced my disagreement with the ‘JK hated Jimin’ concept. It can’t be further than the truth. 

Jimin to JK was sort of a fresh breath of air from home.  Both of them from the same hometown.  JK having an older brother and JM missing his younger brother.  They both loved dancing.  They both worked their butts off.  It was an instant connection.  From the get go Jimin was a rock for JK, someone JK could talk to, rely on, practice with, someone that had a great influence on JK.  

JK was a shy introvert teenager, he didn’t know how to show vulnerability, he didn’t know how to show affection, and also I think Jimin’s level of openness and true affection towards him may have overwhelmed him.  In a later interview JK tells how he used to feel he had to wear a mask, not being able to be himself.  Not knowing how to behave in social environments, what was expected of him as ‘a man’ (when writing this the ‘men shouldn’t check their selfies’ conversation with Jimin comes to mind) .  So, he may have pushed back on occasions. Jimin’s affection and openness overwhelmed him.  But Jimin was the one to comfort him when he missed his parents, and cried at night.  Jimin was the one he spoke to when he was questioning his career decisions .  

It was hard for him to say or show Jimin that he liked him, that he needed his attention and friendship, but he did.  The most telling was when JM on Rookie King Ep. 4 (starting 23.07min) got up and sounded his frustration with the way JK was treating him.  I think he was actually caught off guard when JK, being honest, replied to Jimin tirade that he behaves the way he does because he likes him too much. That was certainly an eye opener. 

The episode was aired in May 2014!!! I keep saying over and over again: Listen to what they are saying!!!

Establishing the fact that JK and JM were close from the get go, I will move on to another conclusion I made that is a base for my timeline, another reason why I feel some of the timelines out there are incorrect.   

JK and JM’s love story is not one of “love at first sight” or physical attraction that leads to dating, getting to know one another and finally love.  It is my belief that JM and JK loved each other before they started exploring their physical attraction.  The closest analogy I can make is a romantic relationship that buds out of a great friendship.  When someone is your best friend, when you love them for who they are, when you know them in and out for all they are, including their faults, before you realise that you are physically attracted to them, that’s when love is so strong that there is almost nothing that can break it.  I believe that is the nature of JK and JM’s love, and that is why my timeline doesn’t fit other timelines out there.  There wasn’t a flirting period, a dating period, a relationship period etc.  Their relationship doesn’t fit those moulds. Yes there was flirting.  Yes there was hesitance moving forward once they realised they actually liked each other on a different level.  But it wasn’t within those ‘relationship moulds’ that are referred to in different posts.

Also, we need to remember that they weren’t going through all of this in a vacuum.  Both boys were in a boy band of 7 members.  All seven members very close to each other and love each other in their own ways.  Anything JM and JK did, any step they made towards each other could have a rippling effect on their friends, on their band, on their careers.  Add to that the fact that it was a ‘forbidden’ relationship, that not only is it a gay relationship frowned upon in SK society (frowned upon is putting it very lightly.  Being in a gay relationship could be so risky for them both.  Risky not only to their careers but also for their physical safety), but also, as idols, romantic relationships were a big no no. And what about their families? How would they take it? Will they accept them? They were young men that had to deal with all these issues, all while finding their way to each other.

 So, where do I stand when it comes to defining this love story’s timeline?

It’s hard to tell.  

That was a truly shitty answer, I know. LOL

We will never really know the accurate timeline, not unless JM and JK decide to share it with us one day.

But I’m not going to chicken out, not now.

I am going to tell you what I believe is more or less the timeline of progression in the relationship.

Saying that, I’m not going to get into too many details because that’s just wrong.  It feels too voyeur to me.

And here we go:

From re-watching old content,  I see a shift in JK towards the end of 2014 (maybe even mid 2014 during American Hustle Life).  He becomes ‘nicer’, in a way, towards Jimin, doesn’t stop teasing him though (sometimes as a guise to seek Jimin’s attention though, rather than laugh at him). He also becomes clingier.  Almost every shot taken he is by JM’s side, behind him or in his close vicinity.  He is seeking out JM’s attention.

20 Nov 2014 there is another ‘Looks ranking’ (during the Pops in Seoul War of hormone interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4JO1GxTKXI starting from 2.39min).  I find this one interesting.  Once again, JK ranks Jimin last, while ranking himself 6th. Jimin is evidently hurt by the ranking. You can see it on his face.  It felt like he was truly disappointed and hurt by what JK did.  I tried to find remorse on JK’s part, but couldn’t.  He finds it funny, or so it seems.  Did he rank JM last because he was the easiest to appease later? Did he do it to hide his growing attraction? We will never know.  I don’t think that he wants to hurt Jimin, I don’t even think he is aware just how badly he did hurt him. What is evident to me, in any case, is that at this point he still lacks the empathy and sensitivity towards Jimin and his feelings.  This is something that will develop later on in JK’s behaviour towards him.

This leads into the beginning of 2015.  Remember JM’s Bangtan bomb from January 2015, seeking out JK for an interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2JphzsaTIE )? How Jimin is adamant he is seeking out JK, who is avoiding him, and Tae’s teasing repetitively: “avoids?”.  Tae repeats this laughingly 4 times.  After a couple of times Jimin says it’s a joke, but after the fourth he actually turns sharply towards Tae, as if to wack him, saying again it’s a joke, making Tae giggle and say “sorry, sorry”.  From their interaction it’s totally clear that JK far from avoids Jimin.  The teasing way Tae repeats it 4 times shows us quite the contrary.  Not only doesn’t JK avoid JM, he seeks him out.  And what we can see from the clips around that time just strengthen that conclusion.  JK is constantly around Jimin.  He is the one that is seeking out JM’s closeness.  

Something else I noticed from this clip is how JK doesn’t flinch at the end when Jimin asks for a kiss and goes in for the kill.  I think Jimin was expecting JK to push back immediately, but that doesn’t happen.  After a couple of seconds JK does flinch, but not at the beginning.  It could be because he was surprised by JM’s move, but JM did say he wanted a kiss, and it wasn’t the first time he pulled a stunt like that.  JK also laughs at the end, after pushing back, unlike previous reactions, when he just seemed annoyed.  JK’s reaction just seemed different to me. This is only a nuance, and I might be wrong.

Next jump is towards mid 2015.  During this period between the start and mid of 2015 JK’s attraction to JM really shows. He just can’t keep his eyes or hands off him. He is most obviously attracted to him. Has he come to terms with it? I think he is still in turmoil at this point.  Not clear with himself what this is he is feeling, is it ok to feel this, and are his feelings going to be reciprocated.  Thinking about the situation he is in, how isolated he probably thought he was, is heartbreaking. It’s not that he had any one he could confide in within the group (not about that). He had to work it all out by himself. The person that he usually confided in, the one that he allowed to see him in his weaknesses was the person he had these feelings for.

  Some examples:  BTS Bomb after KBS music bank 1st place 9 May 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV3vIYdTNIU from 4.36min) – moody JK when he’s eyeing Jimin interacting with Hobi and Jin, also the way JK averts his eyes when Jimin looks his way. He’s not happy. Mood changes when Jimin pays him attention pulling him by his shirt.  

BTS Yeoeuido Fansign 4th July -  2015.  https://twitter.com/i/status/775127718409150464   Very well known clip.  JK outright getting pissed off when RM puts his arm around Jimin and pulls him closer. Jimin calls out to JK several times, and JK ignores him, until Jimin asks the fans if they want to see JK send them a heart.  JK, with straight face, not a hint of a smile on his face, does the heart.  RM’s reaction also quite peculiar, removing his hand from Jimin after seeing JK’s reaction.  I recommend to watch the whole clip.  JK’s facial expression changes immediately after turning and watching Hobi, but then becomes solemn again when turning back looking at RM and JM, staring at JM as he gets up.

I bring up this example again, because I feel like this is a transition stage, when JK is finding it hard to come to terms with what he is feeling, but it is effecting his surroundings, that are becoming aware there might be something going on with him.  I don’t think that at this point JM is fully understands what is going on with JK, why he is acting all hot and cold.  I mean, like the other members, he might suspect that something is  going on, but feelings have not been made clear yet.

Somewhere between then and 29 Aug 2015 I think something changes.  I know the theory is that JK was shocked by Jimin fainting during their Osaka fan meeting on the 20th August 2015 and decided to make his move, referencing to the 20th Aug fanmeeting, JK stopping by Jimin’s side singing the lyrics of the song to him.  Jimin does seem pleased by it, but still I can’t say if that is actually the case.

Saying that, I do see a shift during the HK concert on 29th Aug 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPta9bGWmG8 .  During the performance of ‘Pretty woman’ (from 0.34min) there is a pretty intense, even sultry, staring moment that just feels is different.  The way they are looking at each other is just telling.  Following we can see Jimin checking out JK a couple of times, so much so that Tae notices it at some point.  That is the moment that I saw that something has changed.

To be continued...

#jikook timeline #jikook are real #jikook love #jk #jungkook #jimin #jm #jikook #jikook are together #JK and JM choose to share a car #jk and jm young love #why i believe in jk and jm's love

[poison--ivory]

Uninviting Cataclysm(Alastor x Reader) Chapter 1

Daily routine isn't always good

(You call the old couple mom and dad) *Also sorry I didn't mention until now that you have really curly hair and your biracial(so you can decide what your skin color is)* •You were also raised up north and still kind of speak with that dialect• 

June 6, 1915 Age: 20

  The morning sun pushing through the curtains along with the sound of dogs barking slowly woke you up. Forcing yourself up and managing to bear from the comfort of your bed and it's still warm sheets. First, tidying your bed spread neat before mom could scold you.

  Making your way to the wardrobe to gather clothes for today's venture, you grabbed a (f/c) V-neck, short flutter sleeve dress that hits mid thigh. With matching flats to best match your dress. Oncing over the choice for today you thought it was best enough. Setting them on the bed and quickly making your way out of your room and into the hallway.

 Swiftly moving down corridor to the bathroom to freshen up before breakfast. Seeing that your old mom already set a nice bath for you. Letting your gown carelessly fall off your frame and removing your undergarments. Mindlessly going into deep thought about your day.

  You usually go to the library to read or grab a book. Maybe chat with the sweet old lady and her seven year old grandson who run the place. Then, possibly taking a stroll around the fair that just open for the summer. By that time your already bringing your twin something for lunch.

  Later, you either stop by the market to pick up groceries or you help your mom take care of wealthy white kids. Their parents pay mom a great deal to care for their children. She does literally everything for them from making meals to sewing dresses or little suits. But, some clients left after my brother and I showed up I guess they didn't want their children to be near a person of color for too long. The ones that stayed seem nice enough. My personal favorite being a middle aged man, Henry Bourgeois, who always said, 'hello' and gave me small tips for caring for his daughter Sally.

  Your skin started to prune sitting in the water for too long. Stepping out of the tub and snatching a towel from the rack you started to dry off. Starting with hair and slowly making your way down to your toes.

  Wrapping the towel around your womanly frame you crept back to your bedroom and got dressed.

__________________________

Once downstairs the smell of bacon and spices hit your nose and triggering your mouth to salivate. Walking into the kitchen you found your mom just about done with her last plate to place at the table with the two others. You greeted her with a warm hug and a 'Good Morning, Mom'. She smiled back and gave your cheek a quick peck. Then went to sit in your chair and wait for your plate.

"Good Mornin', sweetheart. How'd sleep?" She asked, turning back around to slide the eggs on the plate.

"Better than yesterday I can tell you that for sure. The dream I had was so realistic with the flames of hell melting my flesh. I could of sworn that my eyes busted through my soc-" You were cut off by a plate slamming down in front of. Looking up mom had a stern look to her aged face.

"Now ya need ta stop talking 'bout ya dreams like that. Really unladylike especially in public," She spoke with a slight authoritative tone. Lightly limping to her chair she spoke again, "it's just a dame should stay in her own lane. Not that I don't wancha to get a little fire on me now. Men just don't like that talk ya know."

Nodding to her response she took the answer and went on her to turn up the radio for the daily news.

Good Morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to the radio show.

   Staring your favorite radio host, I Alastor, to brighten up your morning with a few songs, but let me darken your day for just a minute with such sad news. Another body was found by an egg last night floating down the bayou.

  Coppers have yet to capture this Button man. This tallies up to over twenty people in a span of two years.  Now what most of you fine folk want to listen to here we have, Mr. Artie Matthew's play the 'Weary Blues'

The piano playing filled in the silence that would have been forks hitting plates trying to pick up flimsy fried egg.

 The killings haven't been new and have been the norm for awhile. You can hear people talking about it at every street, alleyway and bar.

 The coppers haven't caught the guy yet and it puts lots of people on edge. Especially people with families.

 Nearly shoving food in my face causing mom to tell you to slow down. But, hardly listening you shove the rest of the bacon into your mouth and make your way to the sink to scrub your plate and placed it on the drying rack.

"Bye, mama. I'll be back before you know it!" You yelled from the front door way and before you could venture outside she yelled back.

"Pick up some milk and bread before ya get home, would ya?"

"I will, mama."

"Have a safe trip and the cabbage on the table for ya." She slightly limped over and gave both of your cheeks kisses.

Checking the table you hurriedly snatched the money and skipped out the door. Slamming it shut behind you.

Walking down the curvy road that leads into the city. The walk leads you through a small, little wood patch and into a small clearing that slowly shows small businesses and shops. The library is located near the school which is pretty far off from other buildings.

Reaching your destination, the library stairs are long wide, and white cemented staircase with two pillars on each side with the big doors that lead into the actually building. Pushing pass them you nearly run into a little boy, Joseph Bonnefoy.

"Oh, where are in such a rush to?" Smoothing out your dress asked in a slight taunting tone.

"Granny said I could go out for a short break. I'm getting myself a few chocolates as a snack." The words rushed out of his tiny mouth. Hardly catching his breath when he was finished.

"Well aren't you grown now, Joseph. Next thing you'll tell me your getting old enough to get your own house." Jokingly ruffling his hair, he smiled and waved off vanishing from sight once down the incline.

Sauntering into the building you noticed that Claire Bonnefoy wasn't at the front desk where she usually was. Probably in the back.

Making your way down the aisles of books you traveled around for a good five minutes passing books you didn't find interesting or they didn't have good covers. Coming across a couple of good ones you touched 'The Good Solider' reading the summary you decide to give it a try. °°It's set just before World War I and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham, the soldier to whom the title refers, and his seemingly perfect marriage plus that of his two American friends.°°

Strolling around the aisle for a bit more you grace yourself with some dark writing. Traipsing on to some dark fiction you grabbed a fairytale book of the 'Grimm work original fairy tales'. Walking back to the front, Mrs. Claire was already their and ready for me. Smiling I greeted her and handed the books over. Smiling she rung them up and complimented the choice for this week.

" How have you been, Mrs. Claire. Not to intrude on your personal life, but is it true that the last person who died lived close to you." You questioned.

"Sadly, yes 'n I've been thinkin' of sendin' little Joseph up state with his aunt 'n uncle in Arkansas for awhile 'til this calms down." Her shaky hand clenched around the book harshly, "Or if they finally catch the bastard whose doin' all of this maybe mah little boy can stay. 'Til then mah old joints can't move like they use tah."

" Lititle Jo 's gonna feel so sad, he really likes New Orleans."

"Yes, I know dear. But, I'd sleep betta at night if he was somewhere safa." She slide the books in a paper bag and handed them over. A melancholy smile on her sweet face. "Been saving up on a train ticket for some time now. Most folk don't come by tah rent out books anymore. So, it took some time 'n hard work tah earn the money."

The killings have did put everyone at alert. Well, most people still hang out past sun fall just to watch the city come to life. Which I won't lie it is gorgeous to witness the night come to life. But, for old bims like Mrs. Claire she's dang plum tire and could use the time to calm her nerves. Maybe I should visit more once Joseph''s left.

"Thank ya, Miss. (Y/n). I'll see ya next week or so."

"The pleasure's all mine and I'll give these books back in no time."

Waving to the old bim you make your way back out the library and on tour way to your next destination.

    Making your way back to the house to fetch Issacs's lunch you had to maneuver your way through the crowd of busy people scrambling around to get out of the sweltering heat and catching up with friends.

 Your brother works at a boiler repair shop. Fixing cars and getting scraps of cabbage to make up for the bills that weren't paid. He's always been a hard working guy, he's selfless and protective. I still remember when we were kids and father used to hit him, so hard, but came to my defense whenever I was in trouble.

 Traveling down the dusty road you made it to the repair shop where two boobs stood out front. One was always silent and the other was a continuous flirt whenever you came around.

As soon as they could hear your shoes hitting pavement the flirt Clay shot up to welcome you.

"How are doing this afternoon, (y/n)." His hand went out to grab your, which you quickly pulled back, "you know that offer still stands that if you wanna get tonight."

"I would, but I'm pretty sure your wife would raise all hell." Walking past him to look further into the garage. "Where is my brother, is he not here?"

Floyd spoke up, which startled you. His voice is pretty deep and gravely for a man only four years older than yourself. Blowing the smoke from his mouth he tapped the ash upon the ground to stare at you.

"He left early to go out with his dame. Told us to tell ya not to worry too much and that he'll be back home later tonight." He stole another drag from the cigarette.

"He could at least gave me heads up before I came all the way out here. What I'm supposed to do with this now." Dangling the bag of food from side to side.

"I'll take it off ya hands for ya." Clay swooning in to steal the bag and retreat back to standing next to Floyd. "Wish my wife could cook like your ma."

  Huffing you said your good byes to them both with a very excited 'see ya' from Clay and a small wave from Floyd.

  Once far away enough you groaned louder to reduce some irritation of making this heart felt trip. Pulling on your face to stop tears from forming you sighed and kept walking to your next venture.

 The scratch mom gave you was enough for bread and milk. But, she also gave you enough to get something special from you little trip. You decided on a cup of coffee at the nearest restaurant with a beignet. It sounds so good right now and with more pep in your step you made it to the store in no time.

  The corner store was full of people that day bustling around to grab what they need and storm out. You being the small self you are you tried to cram your way in and failed miserably. You tried this process several times and came out with the same results. Someone bumped into your small frame and sent you falling backwards. Gloved hands snatched you up before you could hit the ground.

You were in a state of shock before being knocked out of your stooper by a young man who you realized pulled you off to the side. With eyes wide you tried to make conversation, but no words would come out the only thing you could look at was his face.

"T-Thanks for helping me." You tried to mustard a smile, but it came out weird.

"You look like you were in quite the pickle their, my dear." Hands still on your waist he motioned with his head down the street. "You know there's a nice restaurant around here that serves the best venison. I think you would just adore it. Could possibly calm your nerves my treat."

Mouth still dry you tried to speak, "I don't want to impose on your lunch regimen." Shaking your head and slowly moving backwards.

"Oh, but I insist my dear I did invite you didn't I." Pulling you closer by the hip, your face heated up more than normal. Now following the man who you didn't even pick up the name you two made your way around the corner and down the street.

  Stepping inside the small business you noticed only about six or eight people in here. Nicely decorated with bar stools and five booths along the wall and a bathroom across from the front entrance. But, it did smell really delicious in here maybe it won't be,  so bad to have just a bite to eat. He did say he was paying. He lead us to a small booth in the back and waited for me sit down first before taking his seat across from me.

 "Why did you bring me here I barely know you, sir?" Playing with your fingers to ease your nerves by making your fingers stretch and squeeze together.

 His eyes looked off to the side in deep thought before he shrugged. "You looked interesting, my dear." Reaching over he scratched under your chin and his smiled covered more of his face. "Smile my dear you know your never fully dressed without one."

 Making a smile fall upon your lips you smiled back. His eyes slightly narowed and his smirk stretched a bit. Suddenly, a very curvy and thick lady stood in front of our booth.

"Oh, Al are here to hear me sing again tonight. If you are your way too early, hun." She giggled.

"Oh no my dear, Mimzy. I'm here with a new friend of mine. She's going to have seasoned venison." His arm motion towards me and I froze on the spot.

Sticking your hand out for handshake, "HI, my name's (y/n). Nice to meet you."

She stared you up and down before slowly taking your hand and managing a small smile on her face. "You must be a fan, Al here, right. A lot of dumb dora fall head over heels for this man."

 I guess she read the confused look on your face and answered for you. "Alastor, the radio man of New Orleans."

"Oh, sorry I guess I didn't notice." Turning your attention to Alastor, "sorry I didn't recognize a popular figure like yourself."

"It's fine dear a lot of people don't recognize the voice with the look." I'm guessing he's talking the creole look. To be honest a lot of people don't sound like the ethnicity on the phone until you see their face. But, I can't really judge I get turned down in person more than on the phone looking for a job.

"Well I'll go tell the servers the usual for you, Al." She looked you over, again. "What will you have?"

"She'll be having the same as me, mim." Alastor strong smile had her face painted in a light pink. She straighten her posture and cleared her throat and told us it it'll come out in no time. Once she gone I asked how long they've known each other.

"Mimzy and I go way back when she was a small singer. Know she travels from time to time to spread that lovely voice of hers." You just took noticed he speaks with hands a lot more than most people. But, you seem to like that.

 Smiling back you told him that really amazing. It was you mothers goal before she stated using. He asked you about your occupation.

"Well, I really wanted to be a baker, but no plots are open, too expansive or I'm not the right skin tone for this establishment." Looking up for just a second you could have sworn the smile on his face fell and quickly went back into place.

"Isn't that just dreadful." He focused up at the ceiling for awhile and shot his head down to smirk at me, "How would like to work for me for a fair price a hour?"

"What?"

#alastor x reader #hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #1920s #human alastor #hazbin hotel mimzy #toxic family #foster family #alastor being a jerk #period typical racism #hazbin hotel au

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom season 2, eps 1-5 thoughts! opening the new season with episodes like these kinda blew me away. we had multiple serious episodes INCLUDING a two parter!! also, valerie :)

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-I don't know what I expected s2 to open with. but danny portal incident in more detail was not it. (also, I hate to break it to you, sam, but danny's parent's bigass ghost hunting rv def chugs more gas than those vehicles, lmao. unless it runs on ectoplasm or something...)

-WHY WAS DESIREE IN THE SEWER? HAVING TEA WITH IT DOWN THERE?? Her making the giant cow come alive is a boss move, we've almost had all of my fav animals as ghosts now <3 I also don't like how sam was expecting danny to just, haunt the place so the cars wouldn't get sold? I KNOWWW I know she's 14 (and I had a very annoying phase like this, I think I mentioned in a previous post, I GET IT) but they're HIS powers, and messing with (1) dealership will not really put a dent in sales overall because they can just move the cars to another sales lot, and it certainly wont change the industry anyway, it's more of a minor annoyance for (1) location. Also, usually people who work at car sales places work on commission, so if they dont make a sale, they don't have money to pay bills, or eat. sam baby if u wanna be an activist you need to like, actually look into these things. with as much money as her parents have, she could be doing a lot..more useful things for causes she cares about? it's frustrating to see someone with resources who doesn't know how to use them. but shes 14 so again. cannot be really upset :/

-IS THIS A PREDATOR VS TERMINATOR VS FREDDY KRUEGER MOVIE BUT THEYRE ALL WOMEN?? you know, sam is so right to be excited about this. /I/ want to see this movie. that rules

-paulina inviting danny and friends to her quinceañera, aw! even if it is just to get phantom to show up :') and there'll be a meteor shower, and we KNOW danny wants to be an astronaut!! there's not a meteor shower every night!! the tickets are non-refundable, but..she's rich? like. gotta agree with danny, they never get invited!! I KNOW it's the principle of keeping promises, but if she was that upset, she should've said something. directly. I hated how she was like, passive aggressive about it through the episode, like you SAID IT WAS FINE, THAT YOU'D GO TO THE PARTY TOO. MOVIES SHOW FOR A FEW WEEKS IN THEATERS. IF YOU HAD A REAL PROBLEM YOU NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT. WE'VE HAD THIS PROBLEM BEFORE, SAM. YOUR FRIENDS. ARE NOT. MIND READERS.

-MR. LANCER GOING AFTER THE GHOST WITH THE FIRE EXTINGISHER LMAO

-this outfit is everything . anytime the show does an over the top cutesty pink outfit i WANT IT. it looks like shit I wear JKASDHF I HAVE a bow like that and a pink sweater. I need leg warmers </3

-SAMS GOTTA RE-HALF-KILL HIM??? thats fucked up. but also, he finally got his logo!! it took until s2!!! this episode was lowkey very fucked and I felt like it glossed over a lot. does sam have guilt about like. kinda KILLING HIM?? I know, he also agreed and walked into the portal. but. she made the choice to redo it SO quickly (even if it was because someone had to beat desiree) and danny, during their fight, brought up a lot of stuff sam's done in the past, meaning he was holding onto those memories and resentment was building. (I KEEP SAYING HE LOWKEY NEEDS THERAPY, BUT I THINK MOST EVERYONE IN THIS SHOW KINDA DOES) which...is a red flag? and then they didnt even GO to the party URGH I know she tried to make up for it, but it really felt like Sam fucked up and barely faced any consequences and got everything she wanted in the end. I KNOW it's a kids show obv they aren't going to go too in depth, and she undid the damage, kinda, but...I DUNNO how to articulate it but it rubbed me the wrong way.

-but on a note about desiree, her powers of wishes were STRONG ENOUGH TO ERASE NOT JUST THEIR MEMORIES, BUT DANNY'S POWERS?! fuck, if I was danny I'd be like, trying to make friends with her. I know they always have horrible side effects as most genie-granted wishes do, but...c'mon, I'd at least TRY to be like 'I wish no ghosts would hurt anyone in my town' or 'I wish vlad would lose his ghost powers forever no matter What and also forget about my mom' LIKE. SHIT DESIREE IS SO POWERFUL. rewriting reality powerful, basically!! appreciate her. respect her.

-aww, sam helping tucker pass the nurse's office so he wouldn't see because he's afraid of medical stuff? very sweet. I also don't like medical stuff, I've gotten a lot better at handling it tho. but seeing blood and needles still makes me feel lightheaded x_x

-FOLEY, BY TUCKER FOLEY. I want to make my own perfume, that's so cool. even if his first attempt isn't good, he's pretty consistently shown to have an inventor/entrepreneur streak in the show, so like. I can see him inventing or making something (or several somethings) that make him $$$ when he grows up :) proud of my creative son

-I know the 'creepy abandoned hospital on the edge of town' is a joke and the creepy hospital trope is so Worn Out, but in my town we actually DO have a hospital like that! my dad was born in it, but its not in use and hasn't been for, like, 20 years! it needs to be torn down but I think the city doesn't wanna pay the money. the inside is horrible, spray painted and broken glass and shit everywhere. but there's still like, rusty equipment and fucking DOLLS all over the place. the cops drive by it pretty frequently to make sure no one is like, breaking in. (because of water damage, some of the areas really aren't safe. also, asbestos, but people still go in anyway) but also, some of my town was used in a filming for a stephen king show. So it's lowkey spooky all over. just a fun personal tidbit :) to lead into saying, any hospital abandoned for any period of time is NOT safe to quarantine these kids in JKSAHDKF like I KNOW it's a ghost trying to do this, but NONE of these parents are even like, 'well, why dont we keep them in the regular, working hospital'....YIKES. this hospital looks pretty accurate to the one in town. grungy and spooky.

-fentons are tax evaders confirmed by jack's fear of being audited, lol no one is surprised

-ghost sickness via ghost bugs. horrifying concept. I actually expected it to be a new villain, not dr. spectra again! this is a very elaborate scheme. her new form rules, love the new costume. the way none of the bg kids seem to recognize her as their old school councilor. did we just forget about that completely?

-dash watching romance movies in the fucked up ghost hospital. same.

-'oh please, you're ghosts, do you have any idea what YOU smell like?' no, tucker, what DO ghosts smell like? I genuinely didn't know they would even have a smell, I actually want to know now.

-it feels like a while since we've seen jazz!! i was happy to see her again, even if she was a head in a jar for most the episode. I want another jazz-focused ep!!

-we finally see danny doing space-related stuff!! him and his friends stargazing to open ep 3 of s2. cute :) until, GHOST PIRATES!!!!! ...ghost pirate captain is a small child?? VOICED BY TAYLOR LAUTNER???

-oh, the easy listening is ember's song instrumental slowed. 'vapor drone' THEY VAPORWAVED HER!!! ember in a pirate outfit tho >>>>. and the cruise being called m.bersback JKASDHJK. ember adopting a little pirate brother is also pretty cute. concerning this teen and little kid have such bad opinions of adults, like, who hurt you?? (how did you DIE ALSO?? im always lowkey curious about that. we know desiree died at an old age, but her ghost form is young, probably mid-20s, so I wonder how that sort of thing works...its a more mental thing, isn't it?) but ghost team-ups are always cool to see, even if ember bailed after danny took her guitar. I guess she probably thinks youngblood can handle it (which, he's been owning danny this far in the ep, so...fair)

-tucker got that sponsorship from nasty burger for their radio!!! again, opportunistic money maker king, love to see it!!!

-danny taking control of the kids SO FAST. he makes a pretty great leader. no one is surprised, im pretty sure I said I think he's the most mature of the trio, once again, correct, because he's taken on so much responsibility already. all the teens suiting up in the jumpsuits to go save the adults and taking the ship over with a BLIMP. OKAY LETS GO. this feels like it should be a mid finale or straight up finale.

-...speaking of finales. why is ep 4-5 of s2 combined into a 50 minute episode? I havent even clicked play and im concerned. weird placement, like, this season JUST started and we're getting a two parter? okay...why are the episodes placed like this? why not put this at episode 10 or something, for a mid-season thing?

-this is also a cute dress. possibly my fav dress so far. can her parents give ME cute dresses, I'LL wear them.

-it turns out the castle fright knight was in is called pariah's keep and there's something worse than fright knight in there! lovely! fuck off vlad wtf are you doing <3 your hubris <3 is going to literally get you killed <3 'ring of rage' and 'crown of fire' are great names tho. ...vlad turning into a super polite guy when he was scared of mr. pariah was hilarious. and fright knight doing the same...I mean, it makes sense, he's a knight, he serves a king? happy to see fright knight again either way :) vlad telling him to call him tho, lmfao. you WISH HE WOULD. (I wish hed call me, too. 😔)

-so...jack being genuinely concerned about vlad...maddie really didn't tell him what happened at the cabin, did she. damn. if I was her id immediately come home and be like 'YOU WONT BELIEVE THIS SHITTTT THIS CREEPY GUY--' like, I feel like that stuff you need to tell your partner!!! I know she didnt want Jack to think she was an irresponsible parent putting danny in danger at that time, but STILLLL. maddie spilling boiling tea on him. get his ass. how is jack this oblivious to his wife's discomfort with vlad!! ughhh

-fenton wipe (tm). trademarked toilet paper.

-DANNY AND VALERIE BEING FRIENDS??? :D that was a cute moment. 'hey val <3' and 'if you like him like him, make a move, or someone else will ;)' at sam...damn!! I love her. valerie go for it girl!!! I hate how sam and tucker treat val also, like I GET IT YOURE PROTECTIVE AND DONT TRUST but if anything him befriending valerie will help when she finds out or he tells her like I feel like she'll be more understanding that they think! ALSO I feel like her reason for not liking ghosts is valid, like you haven't really explained the full story to her anyway! she doesn't seem to have any other friends after being booted from the a-listers so im like :( but seeing them kick butt together again was nice <3

-the ghosts all RUNNING FROM PARIAH DARK IS NOT GOOD, I thought he sent them to attack or something, but no. why doesn't someone just tell desiree 'hey i wish pariah dark would die' lol. once again I think she can solve every problem <3 but seeing all the enemies in one place, being civil and hiding together? love it.

-you just know danny's gonna have to clean up vlad's stupid mess. also, jack being willing to put on the ectoskeleton pants to help maddie, as soon as vlad heard it could kill him, he suggested jack do it instead of helping maddie himself? this is why jack got the girl, my man.

-ghost skeletons. how do you end up as a skeleton ghost in your afterlife instead of a humanoid like most the ones we've seen? lmao

-the ghosts just making new homes in various stores. I'd totally be setting up in an expensive clothing store if I was a ghost.

-valerie's dad is possibly the most useful adult so far, with that ghost shield expansion!!! and valerie saving vlad and danny, even tho shes been thru it already, shes still so good!!! this family rules.

-danny: *gently caresses valerie* :)

-*then he immediately TELLS HER DAD ON HER. and his first response is 'are you okay?' :'( such a good dad...

-*me every time fright knight breathes* youre doing SO great sweetie :)

-the fenton suit thing is so silly looking. does anyone take this thing seriously

-ALL THE GHOSTS FIGHTING WITH DANNY <3 AAAAA. and the fact that pariah isn't perma-defeated, but just locked away again. yikes. he'll probably get out again, won't he? it wasn't too clear, but if vlad DID make a pact with fright knight, I am rabid. I will beat vlad to death with the fenton bat (tm). YOU DONT DESERVE A COOL KNIGHT.

-valerie being direct with sam and challenging her? kinda love that, even tho I normally don't like 'catfight' type situations. because sam has been very passive aggressive about it which is annoying. valerie knows wtf she wants and wasn't even embarrassed to tell sam, but she did tell her, giving sam time to make her own move! and sam denied it and got embarrassed/mad! and sam did have a chance when danny was about to go off and fight, and she hesitated and didn't tell him. I feel like she's hesitating because they're friends and it might make it weird between the trio (poor tucker would be third-wheeling) but if u snooze u lose, u gotta GO after what u WANT girl. smh this is a No Tsundere Zone. 😤

#sanchoyorambles #dp thoughts #danny phantom

[accidental-spice]

Solo Command re-read part one.

Spoilers, naturally.

1. 'Naval Lieutenant Jart Eyan looked rested and cheerful. The fact that he had only twelve minutes to live would have changed his disposition, but he dud not possess that knowledge.' What an entrance, Allston.

2. And Piggy thwarts an assassination. And he does it really awesomely, too. Reminds me a bit of one of the half dozen Sherlock episodes I've ever seen.

3. So, one of the best parts about this book is the fact that one of my favorite platonic relationships, and one of my favorite romantic relationships, both come to fruition. Firstly, the platonic one: Face and Lara. I'll probably elaborate later, but they're cool. I'll definitely elaborate later on the romantic one, Myn and Lara.

4. Oh. Great. A replacement medic. Just great.

5."Elassar Targon, master of the universe, reporting for duty!" Wedge: oh, great, another maniac.

6. Face becomes the leader of the squad. When I started this series for the first time, I had no idea that Face was gonna end up Wraith One. Unexpected, but not unwelcome.

7. Wedge is analyzing the other lieutenants to see how they feel about their new squad leader, and all seems well thus far.' That left Myn Donos, a lieutenant with more years and more experience than Face. He looked serious and contemplative. But then, serious was merely a step up from his usual expression, that of dour intensity.' Yep, Myn's facial expressions are pretty much limited to intense and...... More intense.

8. Wedge is going on a da-ate. According to Hobbie, "He smells like a fresh spring breeze ". Bet it's with Iella. Speaking of OTPs...

9. 'Dia Passik, the female Twi'lek, said, "He (Face) insisted that he wasn't feeling well." Lara Notsil smiled over her shoulder at them. "He lied. He lies all the time, you know." "I know. But he seemed so genuine." "He does that all the time, too. This is the right thing to do. Myn, Elassar, back me up. " For context, they're going convincing him to go for a night out with the four of them. See? BROTHER.

10. "I've often suspected that you sometimes put on disguises just to go to the refresher. "

11. Oh, look, someone mistook Lara for their old student, Edalia Monotheer. Bet that won't come back to bite us...................................................

12. And Zsinj calls up the ship Han's on, and Chewie answers. "It's, ah, Chewbacca, isn't it? Please put your owner on." Zsinj, Han doesn't own Chewie. It's actually probably the other way around.

13. Tyria just called Face "chief". Hallelujah.

14. It's amusing to realize that Wraith and Rogue Squadron are assisting Wedge in his 'I refuse to become a general' scheme. Because they are.

15. So apparently, Corran and Han have never been in the same room together during this trip, so there's a baseless conspiracy theory that they're the same person. Hilarious.

16. Piggy's fresh out of the bacta tank, and the Wraiths are here to greet him. And troll him, naturally. 'Shalla said, "Kell and I worked up an instructional manual for you. It's called, *How to Dodge*." Piggy mopped away at his damp skin and allowed himself a slight smile. It was good to be home.' *gets bowled over by found family feels*

17. *mentions Phanan* Me: AGONY! PAIN! MISERY! VARYING LEVELS OF AMUSEMENT!

18. Donos will now commence to initiate a conversation with a young woman he likes. *eyebrow wiggle* Hopefully, he asks her to do an activity together. That'll sell..

19. He does not ask her to do an activity together.

20. Which is probably why its doesn't go THAT well.

21. "I'm going to be a tremendous embarrassment to the Wraiths." Lara, honey, Wraith Squadron can't afford to get embarrassed. They're already an embarrassment. (Affectionate)

22. Tyria is getting better at the Force. Knew you could do it, Tyria.

23. 'Shalla said, "You're getting weird, Tyria." This is good. When things start to get weird like this, that's a good thing.

24. Elassar is eating candy mid-mission. Okay, he's growing on me. I do have a slight prejudice against him because he's the new medic. And I really really miss the old one....

25. I retract my weird-means-good statement, they are in an incinerator.

26. Well, that could have been worse.

27. "By the way, I'm putting in a commendation for Kell for his initiative, and one for Lieutenant Janson for bravery." "Like he needs another one." "Maybe he can build a little fort out of them."

28. "Get the Wraiths together," Wedge said. "We're going to conduct one of their insane speculation and planning sessions. " Yeah, this line just amuses me.

29. So, they're having a dance, and Donos and Lara are flirting, and Dia and Face are flirting by watching them flirting and basically competing over who can read their body language better. It's weird and adorable.

30. Well, Facebis gonna do some research on Lara and Edalia Monotheer. Bet we won't live to regret that............................................

31. Okay, Solo's gone off the deep end. "Without her (Leia), I don't have a place. I'm just a drifter with an irresistible dose of roguish charm. And someday she'll get tired of the charm and there won't be anything else for me to offer her." "You know," Wedge said, "I can't do it myself, because you're my superior officer. But I could call Chewie down here, and tell him what you've just said, and then he'd beat you nearly to death with a hydrospanner." Stars, Han. Anyone knows that Leia needs you. It's so obvious, even a blind man could see it.

32. So, Wedge is giving everyone the night off, unofficially. Including the astromech droids. Also, he's not Wedge. After all, Commander Wedge Antilles would be wearing proper rank insignia.

33. The book calls it 'Wedge's mutiny of anonymity,' and I really can't do it justice. It's hilarious.

Pretty much sure that's half the book done, then. Later!

#wraith squadron #solo command #star wars legends spoilers #star wars legends #wedge antilles #han solo #face loran #voort sabinring #dia passik #shalla nelprin #lara notsil #myn donos #kell tainer #tyria sarkin #wes janson #runt ekwesh #Elassar targon

[reynie-muldoons]

'Depends on the Wagon' liveblog!

I saw someone do timestamps in their liveblog and it was absolutely lovely, so I think I'll try that too

1:55 why does Curtain sound like an mlm ceo LMAO

2:07 WOW ASSHOLE 😂😂 waving off your own teacher when he was complimenting you is not the vibe

2:17 so Dr. Curtian is only available through chain emails. Got it.

2:27 he seems like the kind of asshole to say that people on welfare are lazy and exploitave but then like, not pay his taxes

2:42 I DON'T LIKE HOW HE SAID THAT, THAT WAS CREEPY

2:47 oooooh Constance, always asking the right questions

3:05 Kate, why are you yelling, it's literally past curfew 😂

3:35 oh hai Jackson.. gtfo

4:22 oh yeah, the best way out is through the hallway that Jackson just entered. Good plane, babe.

4:25 soooo Kate Depending On Friends arc :)

4:59 AYYY HI RHONDA!!

5:13 why do I kinda fucking love then all deciphering the Morse code together

5:20 so the kids use the gemini riddle? Not the adults???

5:36 his face when he figures it out 😭😭😭

5:46 Nathaniel? Guess that's Dr. Curtain's name now. Less ridiculous than Ledroptha, but you dont get the badass Let Drop the Curtain reference

6:53 okay so no one knew he had a brother? But he did???

7:21 his faaaace 🥺

7:29 AWWW HE COULDNT BRING HIMSELF TO SHARE 😭😭😭 okay I'm kinda on board with the change if they can make it work in the long-haul

7:42 hi Milligan, good timing 😂

7:56 "not the time.........I'll take a dozen" Number Two my LOVE

8:23 interesting. I dont think Mr. Benedict was adopted in the books? He certainly didn't let Violet's family, the Hopefields, because he knew their financial troubles would be even worse. So who?

8:54 ohhhh dear, stages of grief at work. Maybe don't do that

9:05 I talked about this in the MBS discord server, but I think the show is really nailing Mr. Benedict's feelings. He's always been an emotional person, but he has to be so careful. Bottling up your feelings only leads to bigger feelings later. It makes so much sense for Mr. Benedict to be a whirlpool of strong, repressed emotions.

9:11 MILLIGAN'S FACE JAHAHS

9:34 RHONDA'S FACE HAGSKDGDJ

9:40 Mr. Benedict, sweetheart 🥺❤

10:01 "brothers stick together" why does it sound like he's talking about Reynie here 😭😭😭😭

10:12 that is a good ass point, Mr. Benedict already lied to them once

10:21 it makes sense for Sticky to be the one questioning the most because of his anxiety, but damn

10:46 AWWWWWW

10:56 KATE MAKING A BED FORT KATE MAKING A BED FORT KATE MAKING A BED FORT

11:00 I dont like how aggressive Kate is but it makes sense considering she's been in the circus for years, taking care of herself for far longer than she hasn't. She's not good at depending on people, and she's not good with difficult people.

11:10 Yeahh, Constance gets it!

11:40 Yeahhh, Constance gets it

12:55 that teacher seemed pretty nice last episode, nice to see that they're not what they seem just the same as Dr. Curtain lol

13:28 CONSTANCE I LOVE YOU 😂😂

14:00 "check again" okay so Krista from the tests and Martina give off the same vibe.. perfect 😂

14:16 "yeah......hang in there :D"

15:05 all of the apologies to the general class.. he's such an anxious sweetheart. He's really reading as autistic to me.

My sister just called me 😑 it's like 8 am, I answered her like "did you ever consider that you might be waking me up?" She did not consider that 😂

15:22 Martina's face just growing more and more annoyed and disgruntled HAHA

15:29 that was CORRECT?? WHAAAA

15:51 throwback to when I compared Dr. Curtain to an mlm ceo.. definitely like a cult

16:44 ohhhh Martina

17:30 CONSTANCE HEARING VOICES HELLOOOOO

18:22 ayyyyyy helper man

18:40 he seems too cheery to be a helper .-. The helpers all being super sad made [redacted]'s story make a whole lot more sense

19:35 aaaand now we get to it. You know, it really does seem a lot more cultish on screen than in the book

19:53 WAIT CONSTANCE GOOD JOB PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER 😂😂😂😂

19:53 that cut to Milligan making that exact face was INCREDIBLE

20:05 was he tryna leave? Yeah, good fuckin luck bucko

20:10 "critical papers at home" my ass, they packed everything up

20:24 the stages of grief back at it. 🥺

20:38 their relationship >>>>

21:00 "located in the..?" *description of envelope* "located in the....?" *more description* "located in the????" 😂😂😂😂

21:34 ohhhhh Thursday must be the student ranking day

21:56 Martina seems like the kind to throw out "pick a god and pray" as a crit quote 😂

22:07 I don't see any of the Society'a names on the list. Maybe they havent been there long enough

22:17 OH SHIT JK THERE THEY ARE

22:25 ohh Kate and Constance

22:55 the combination of the ferry horn and the bell makes it weirdly grim

23:55 them bringing Kate up and reminding her that she's needed 😌✨

24:29 hi Milligan bb ilyyyy

24:35 real good lookout guys, y'all are so well hidden

24:52 AYY HE'S DOING IT KATE STYLE

26:31 "visionary" is a word for it

26:31 I really kinda love that Number Two and Rhonda are going to such depths to try and help Mr. Benedict figure this out for sure

26:56 Mr. Benedict fully walking away while they talk about his brothers accomplishments 😂 I'm laughing, but poor guy

27:08 his FACE 🥺

27:28 HERE'S THAT TANTRUM FROM THE TRAILER

27:28 take your guesses how many times will he fall asleep

27:50 "he just has to work through some things" you dont fuckin say

27:55 you mean to tell me he had a full blown meltdown and they didn't show him falling asleep once??

28:35 like father like daughter 😌✨

29:10 ayyyy secret desk compartment

29:19 honestly I'm surprised there were actually papers he needed and it wasnt an excuse to go confront Dr. Curtain

29:32 oh shit, how'd they manage to get that far inside? No one was there to guard it, but the maze itself is a security measure

29:42 KATE STYLE STRIKES AGAIN

29:47 ooooh I like Dr. Curtain's office

30:01 WAS THAT SQ AND DID HE JUST CALL DR. CURTAIN HIS DAD

30:41 birds have careers. Got it 😂

30:50 JOURNAAAL

31:02 the fox?? Reynard the fox???

31:27 ohhh here we go, Dr. Curtain sees himself in Reynie only to resent it later

31:37 Mr. Benedict called Reynie a leader once too.. the parallels have ✨begun✨

32:12 is this the "keep your enemies close" conversation??

32:15 I'm honestly surprised he called him Sticky and not George

32:42 IT IS SQ IT IS SQ IT IS SQ

32:59 sooo that starts by not letting his caution down with you

33:11 Dr. Curtain congratulating himself mid-conversation on saying something deep is so in character

33:20 "I was betrayed by someone very close to me" so that was Mr. Benedict. Who the fuck else would it be

33:23 WHAT DID I SAAAAY

33:31 oh noooo Reynie starts doubting Mr. Benedict here? Is that the move?

33:43 that transition was so pretty stoppp

33:53 again how hasn't he fallen asleep

34:55 ayyyy journal snooping

35:05 Constance, my love, you are cut throat

35:11 Milligan is in the DRYWALL? ohh buddy be careful

35:21 omfg are they talking about water polo 😂 I love that that's the sport of choice

35:51 ayyyy they put the Milligan dots together too. Shame the guy's not with them rn

36:36 so Mr. Benedict brings up cheating first? I really like how we get to see the adults riddling out what to send back, we didn't get that at all in the books

37:46 I LOVE THAT THEY KEPT "don't get caught"

38:51 Kate riddling out the island schematics engineer style is so like her

39:07 they're just walking out the door?? Huh???

39:29 babe... turn off your flashlight

39:33 AND THAT'S WHY

39:58 is that the precursor to chuckroot?

40:38 the papers were from his orphanage 🥺🥺🥺

41:14 why does that break my heart

41:19 Dr. Curtain and SQ doing shit together it just.. so heartwarming

42:00 HAHA

42:16 okay, so show!Curtain is a kissass 😂

42:35 wait wait wait so Dr. Curtain is actively trying to contain his brother? That would explain why the Recruiters were looking for him and weirdly not the kids

43:25 "power wants to be free" sounds more like a personal mantra than a conversation between engineers

43:41 YES A LETTER TO MISS PERUMAL

44:02 more voices. Poor Connie girl 🥺

44:36 he loves her so much 😭😭😭

44:45 SHE TRIED TO SEND HIM A CARE PACKAGE

45:13 WORRIED MOM TIMEEE

#mbs liveblog #mbs disney+ #depends on the wagon #mysterious benedict society #charity's talkies

[minecraftrelatedrandomness]

Aqua’s Live Reactions: “Quackity Confronts Wilbur and George”

As a follow-up to the post reacting to Quackity’s last stream, I am now reacting to his newest stream as of now. Link to the vod here for anyone following along with me as you read.

Once again, a few things before we begin:

I already roughly know what happens and have watched a small snippet or two from the stream already.

I didn’t watch this yesterday because I had a dictation today and I had to study, and also because I was tired.

Like last time, if there are any ads, you’re going to have to suffer through them with me.

This whole post is within the context of the SMP, so /rp and /dsmp applies to everything under the cut.

0:00 – 20 seconds of ads later (including one that is 15s long and unskippable), we are finally able to begin and get this show on the road. Woo!

0:16 – Just got jumpscared by the loud sound--

0:38 – Okay, very loud horse riding sounds, I heard this was a linkage back to Fundy’s March 30th stream, but I haven’t watched that, so I don’t know for sure.

0:56 – Figures in black hoods?

1:02 – There’s three of them!

1:05 – Was that a skeleton horse just now?! *checks back* Yeah, 1 second ago, that’s definitely a skeleton horse

1:12 – Las Nevadas(?) looking really cool from this angle. Not the full picture, but does it look a bit like... some medieval citadel? Castle?

1:13 – Lots of lights. Lots of torches. Bright shining lights in the darkness of shaders

1:21 – In the middle of a cinematic opening and we have a fuckin’ Kinder ad. Typical YouTube, can’t ever let us watch a vid on their platform for a minute and a half without putting an ad in

1:24 – The three mysterious black figures. Yeah, that’s definitely a skeleton horse. But it did look like a regular white steed when I first saw it, before I noticed the white was from bones and not hair

1:26 – The figures have swords! Enchanted... netherite swords.

1:44 – “Las Nevadas, Episode 2″... funny how it’s mostly a prequel episode

1:49 – Why are there sirens ringing?

1:57 – I knew I recognized those notes from somewhere! Classical music time!

2:24 – Is that implying that... it snows in March/April in the Dream SMP? How far north does it have to be for that to happen? *looks it up* So apparently it does snow far north at the latitude where I estimate the DSMP to be in the real world. But at a climate where redwood trees can grow? I... I’m thinking too deep into this, aren’t I?

2:33 – IT’S COLD ENOUGH FOR THE WHOLE LAKE OR WHATEVER TO BE FROZEN OVER?? I might have to adjust my personal timeline then... because it would imply that it snows in September/October at my current version of the timeline. *spends several minutes rationalizing and adjusting the timeline*

2:51 – He signed the book!

3:07 – Who’s in spectator mode filming these? This is awesome! The perspective!

3:21 – Is he saying hi... no, wait, is he... panicking?! 

3:31 – He’s been doing this for TWENTY-NINE DAYS?!!? Dedication awards!

3:35 – Sword, axe, shears/pliers, POTATO?! YESSSSS KNIGHT TEMPLAR BIG BROTHER IMPLICATIONS!!!! TREAT OTHERS LIKE HOW YOU WANT TO BE TREATED AND NOW YOU REAP THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE GOLDEN RULE, BABY!

3:42 – Can’t believe such pretty music is set to a torture montage of all things...

3:57 – “Rewind, wind, wind... Rewind, wind, wind...” *starts singing Satisfied from Hamilton*

4:22 – Music change!

4:39 – Chapter 1... it’s an island...

4:51 – “72 hours before The Visit”... can’t believe it’s capitalized

5:07 – It’s probably just me seeing things, but the effects? The colour changes? Of the sky... it looks like Quackity, but upside down... like one of my doodles but more sophisticated...

5:16 – My heart...

5:46 – The RP is just about to start and there’s gonna be an ad in 3 seconds?!!? Not again!

5:48 – At least they had the decency not to cut it off mid-conversation and did it before it started...

6:02 – It begins! Back to normal Minecraft! And it’s him! It’s our boy!

6:05 – Ooh, look, turtle island! There’s a turtle!

6:10 – There’s... a diamond... in his hot bar?

6:12 – And a lone grass block? I don’t know about you, but those aren’t things you put in your hot bar normally, or things that normally come in stacks of one

6:30 – His facecam is blurry? And... is that a dark blue shirt? As in dress shirt kind of shirt?

6:54 – But how did he know where to find Sam? It’s a very good question, you know...

7:15 – He’s right, you know, that’s very small for a Minecraft farm, or even... a real farm. Come to think of it, in realistic Minecraft, if that island is in the middle of an ocean, from what I have learnt from Cast Away, freshwater usable for farming isn’t easy to come by... then again, this is Minecraft. I shouldn’t worry about this too much

8:37 – Yeah...... RIP

9:24 – He blames himself... someone please give Sam a hug, because he’s spiralling. They’re both spiralling, from what we’ve seen on streams since The Visit

9:48 – Wait, was that where he got the idea of using the manipulation guilt tripping thing as leverage to get his way? Three days before it? 

9:56 – Of the many angsty factors of this stream, these turtles bring a smile to my face

10:20 – Heheheh, there’s a horse in the ocean

11:06 – I think there might not be anything in those chests, when we speak of the small island as a set, like from a meta perspective, there’s nothing in the chests, I theorize

12:45 – Basically “you could have killed the motherfucker dead”... I think Dream would have preferred that fate over what happened in our canon

[is forced to study by my father, a break, and one long and taxingly one-sided conversation about my grades with my mother later, I’m back]

13:33 – Clearly that plan failed, because Dream’s still alive to be visited and tortured on the daily for the next month

14:07 – Secret passageway! Put a smile on my face after that very taxing conversation, can’t believe I’m relying on block men for happy chemicals... what’s the exact one? Whatever...

14:28 – There are shears on the wall... futureshadowing, or...? Wait, they’re enchanted too?!

15:22 – This isn’t very notable, but hearing content creators be happy and enthusiastic makes me feel lighter inside as well. Guess I needed some contagious happiness after... well, you know

16:43 – Watching these two conspire a murder (that didn’t work, as we know, but whatever) makes me so happy, I just had to say it again, I felt that surge of happiness through my blood vessels and I just had to :D

18:37 – The music suddenly dropped in pitch... is the Warden persona getting in the way, which caused this plan to fail and the Visit stream to happen?!

19:44 – He’s right, you know! Tommy wants him dead! Guess we should have gone through with the plan, or there wouldn’t be such a mess now

20:15 – If they’re talking through all that, does it mean that they still thought Tommy was dead? *checks the page* But actually no? Why are they talking like he’s still dead? I’m so confused

20:42 – There’s this sound but I don’t think it’s a nether portal sound... it sounds like a heartbeat. A pulse. What’s that sound? Is it the portal??

21:52 – Futureshadowing! Someone needs to teach the teletubby a lesson, and it’s happening in 72 hours!

23:04 – Las Nevadas has no place for emotions or personal feelings... except the city is literally built on emotions and personal feelings, how ironic

23:18 – FUCKIN’ 15 SECOND KINDER AD! (sorry)

23:41 – 48 hours! Chapter 2 mark! Woo! Eggpire business time!

24:52 – He’s narrating but it’s still on the Chapter 2 title screen?

25:16 – “You cannot tell anyone about it.” IS HE ADDRESSING US?! Or... is it someone else?

25:35 – Sounds like there’s someone helping him from the shadows that we don’t know the straight-up identity of, since they didn’t reveal their voice... do we narrow down the suspects? A secret benefactor...

25:51 – He’s holding the grass block... sus. Also the tower... it’s not covered in Blood Vines yet. Interesting... is it in the aftermath of this incident here that the tower is crawling with the Crimson?

26:11 – HE HAS A SILK TOUCH PICK

26:19 – Ugh, Olay ad ruining the mood...

26:21 – Ominous music... suspenseful music...

26:47 – Oh god, that’s nether brick. Red... crimson nether brick. We’re here...

27:08 – He’s got armour! And what is that clinking sound... is that the sound of walking in diamond boots or something else? Idk...

27:21 – This looks vaguely like the inside of a nether fortress, actually

27:41 – Three stacks of TNT... and he is gonna blow it all up... wait, is that a Manburg banner in his ender chest?!!? And it’s smack in the central slot too... does this mean anything?

28:00 – I’ve never visited the Crimson room in my entire life and oh my god, that’s an infestation. A pest infestation. Someone better call pest control-- oh wait... Q, are you the pest control?

28:44 – Having a visible reaction to the magma blocks made me flinch because doing so is... you know, it makes it clear about feelings?? Ouch

28:59 – Madlad is literally covering an Alien Kudzu in TNT!!

29:38 – “If I get rid of this stupid thing, then Bad will stop being annoying” AYYYYYYYYYYY FRIENDSHIP?!

30:32 – CAUGHT IN THE ACT! By the Egg guards! Please go away, we just want you to stop running a cult on this geopolitical server

33:12 – Neither are gonna back down, so... unstoppable force meets immovable object? But who is which in this scenario?

33:19 – “I’m doing this for you.” MY HEART RIGHT HERE

33:22 – RAT IS CANON CONFIRMED

33:46 – SIRENS GOING OFF?!

[Previously I had a vent spiel that I should really be telling my school counselor and social worker instead of you guys, so I left it out and transferred it elsewhere.]

[Considering I'm feeling super drained right now, I'm going to have to complete this post tomorrow afternoon, I feel, so… time skip? To 15 April!]

33:49 – The intense music is playing! Also... an ad in 2 seconds? Really?

33:51 – Fuckin’ 20 seconds of ads again... anyway, was Punz loading his crossbow just now?

34:04 – “I’m doing this for your own good, Bad. I’m doing this for your own good.” I’m pretty sure it failed, but it’s the thought that counts.

34:57 – “I’m quite literally trying to save you--” AHHHHHHHHHH

35:12 – ANOTHER AD?! THE LAST ONE WAS JUST OVER 2 MINUTES AGO

36:31 – DID THE TNT START GOING OFF BEFORE HE PLACED DOWN THE TORCH? BECAUSE IT STARTED IN THE DISTANCE... PUNZ? WHAT WERE YOU DOING BACK THERE THAT WE DIDN’T SEE? (I’m also imagining Rat to be part of the lore and that Rat’s being possessed by the Egg as well... might gonna go think about life for a bit.)

36:49 – Did the Egg... just get turned into obsidian?!

37:08 – Random dark cut...

37:11 – Okay, very shrill sound, like a super high pitched tuner playing a sound for you to tune an overly high-pitched version of the violin... sounds that can make people uncomfortable checklist! (At this rate, I should check Does the Dog Die and make a post about the DSMP about the triggers over there...)

37:16 – VERY BLURRY, VERY RED--

37:47 – VERY INTENSE MUSIC, Q IS ON ONE HEART OR LESS, AND OMG IS THE EGG TALKING

37:57 – Did I just see status effect particles? Nausea? Q? You okay over there?

38:04 – Was there just a random dark figure there that we passed or is it just me?

38:24 – Low-pitched siren, it’s Chapter 3 time, baby! Oh no, it’s time for the fiances angst...

39:05 – Did his voice sound echo-y just now? And it’s the prison!

39:19 – GEORGE!!

39:32 – THE HAPPINESS IN THEIR VOICES I JUST-- *holds gently*

39:58 – THE SCAR IS FROM THE CANON DEATH AGAINST TECHNO CONFIRMED

40:14 – He renamed the horse!

40:18 – “It’s bones in Latin” I KNEW IT WHEN I SAW IT TWO DAYS AGO

41:10 – He’s so happy about it... I- I just know later... *heart breaks again*

41:41 – He cares about them... I love this... but I know...

41:49 – Oh schist... it’s the Kingdom...

42:27 – They didn’t tell him... I don’t recall... oh no... I hate it here... miscommunication breaking our hearts...

42:35 – “Karl said he told you about it” THE MEMORY LOSS NOOOOOOOOO IT’S KICKING IN FINALLY... AND IT STARTS INTERFERING IMMEDIATELY...

43:43 – oh no the heartbreak

43:55 – the literal heartbreak in his voice i can’t do this

44:44 – you can pinpoint the very moment where you can hear his heart break and i can’t i just can’t nooooo

45:11  – “...and I wanted to pr-- no no no” WHAT ELSE STARTS WITH “PR” AND I-- I CAN’T DO THIS I CAN’T I CAN’T (y’all have read the posts about Q’s trauma affecting him, right? yeah, this is one of those cases that... no... I... my heart... no......)

45:27 – The way that he directly jumped to the acceptance stage of grieving on the apparent... I can’t take this, it’s the trauma thing again, I can’t... this is just straight-up abandonment issues here, man

46:19 – The immediate jump to the acceptance stage has got to be a front, right? Right?

46:15 – The comparison of not making progress vs making progress... I wonder if it touched a nerve there. What if he thought he was the reason why El Rapids wasn’t making progress, and why Kinoko is developing pretty big? No, no, I can’t, I’m just making myself sad at this point.

46:49 – “yeah, no, that’s-- that’s fine” it sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself that it’s fine than convincing george, i feel...

48:24 – I can definitely imagine what he’s feeling... it’s more resigned acceptance than anything else... I-I can’t, I have to go study now, but you know what? I-- I might go look up the fanfics tonight...

48:54 – There’s music, there’s a sunrise... what is this?

49:06 – Goddamn Grammarly ad, thank god it’s skippable

49:28 – Hey, that’s spawn, isn’t it? I briefly saw part of Q’s first DSMP stream, that’s honestly the only reason I know

49:42 – Do my eyes deceive me, or is that... L’Manburg? Is that you?

50:02 – I haven’t watched that stream, but is that the Presidential debate?

50:05 – Is it just me, or is that Karl’s initial eyesore of a skin?

50:36 – WILBUR!!!

53:55 – The flashbacks... the ideological debates... the whole trope with the Jade-Colored Glasses... *tears up* Who’s going to add these quotes to TV Tropes?

54:49 – It’s sunset... does it mean the end of... the two’s idealism?

54:50 – I hear Schlatt... it’s the White House being destroyed, I think

54:58 – I knew I’ve watched that scene too many times to recognize that scene, and yes it was that scene, and Q shot him, didn’t he? That’s him... trying to start showing his dark side? I suppose? He’s been spiraling the “show your dark side” path for so long and legitimately following his advice to gain power to do good, but at the same time, his diplomacy didn’t work... and now he’s turning to darker and darker methods...

55:02 – I don’t recognize this scene, but is it about El Rapids?

55:11 – It is proto-El Rapids!

55:17 – The sunset, I think, represents Q’s loss of idealism and descent into cynicism, as the sun descends below the horizon... and during the meeting, at the start, it was during the day... symbolism, y’all

55:19 – Oh boy, it’s the Toothpick duel. The infamous duel that is literally on Techno’s list of Minecraft achievements on Wikitubia (no, I’m not kidding about this at all)

55:41 – “Right now, you are the biggest enemy on the SMP right now” I DON’T KNOW THE CONTEXT HELP BUT DREAM IS HERE IS IT ABOUT EL RAPIDS AGAIN IDEK

56:07 – It’s... Wilbur’s... monument? Ouch, my heart...

56:12 – “Present Day” “An ad will play in 4 seconds” GODDAMMIT YOUTUBE YOU HAD TO RUIN THE MOMENT DIDN’T YOU

56:20 – Q? And... Ossium?

56:34 – Oh god, it’s a straight-up memorial and grave there... I heard the attempted revival occurred there as well but this is as good as one... there’s TNT, and potions (for the drug empire thing? Or something?), and there’s a L’Manburg flag and it’s made of blue blocks... like the Blue that Ghostbur gives out... *screams into the void*

56:58 – A final message... *screams again*

57:29 – Dark figure rides a skeleton horse... Q, where did your colours go? Are you wearing a cloak for concealment? Or... is it a metaphor for something else?

57:52 – It’s... ending. Even the siren sounds. Why are there siren sounds anyway? I’m not very familiar with them... but anyway...

58:22 – “And that marks the end of this episode” YOU CALL IT AN EPISODE, I CALL IT A FUCKIN’ CINAMETIC MASTERPIECE RIGHT THERE

#me irl #my post #dream smp #long post #my thoughts #aqua live reacts #quackity #pandoras vault #las nevadas #kinoko kingdom #georgenotfound #karlnapity #awesamdude #wilbur soot #lmanburg #cw mental health #tw toxic relationship mention #cw swearing #the eggpire #badboyhalo #punz #dream smp analysis #14 april 2021 #15 april 2021 #tw death mention #tw torture mention

[maprron]

Crush Culture

Chapter 2

chapter 1

Summary: Lucy is your average teenage girl... but she's not, it's complicated but not in a "OH I'm actually a supernatural being" but in a "OH I have to get married as soon as I turn 18" type of way. Problem #1 she doesn't like anyone and problem #2 she might have to marry her dad's friend's son... yay

Disclaimer: This story was created mainly for my friend and has no romance but they are gay so...  also I did read over this a bunch but if something doesn’t make sense blame my dyslexia... okay let’s continue

Two things kept Lucy from absolutely despising this town: her friends and the kids she babysits 

She loved kids and hoped that one that she herself would be a mother many years from now; however, the way her father decides to control the big aspects of her life it may be sooner than hoped. 

Lucy held her coat close to her body as she walked up the snow covered driveway to an unfamiliar house. She dreaded today’s job for two reasons, the first one being the events from the night prior. 

She couldn’t believe that she willingly went to Erza’s party knowing she had a job the next morning. Luckily she wasn’t dealing with a hangover however she was running on only about 4 hours of sleep thanks to her lovely friends. She didn’t leave the party till long past 3am all because Levy didn’t want to go home, Lisanna didn’t want to leave without Levy, Mira didn’t want to leave without her sister, and Lucy’s ride was Mira. 

There was a small part of her that wanted to ask Natsu and Gray to drive her back to Levy’s house, where she was staying for the night to avoid her father’s questions, as she watched them leave the party at midnight. Her mind unfortunately pushed that idea to the side, she wanted to avoid Natsu for the rest of her life if she could.

Besides it was for the best that she stayed, there was no need in worrying her friends considering they were now almost all phoneless as a very drunk Levy started tossing random phones down the staircase including her own. So Lucy hung around.

The other reason is that the child apparently belonged to one of her father’s friends. 

The worst children are the ones that belong to her father’s friends.

Well that’s what she deemed 3 years ago when she first babysat one. The kids were so bratty and disrespectful, Lucy knew kids can be bad sometimes but these kids are over the top.

Lucy was glad that while her mother was alive she showed her love and affection, something these kids unfortunately have probably never experienced. 

She felt bad for these on that aspect but she knew these children act that way usually due to their parents neglect

Lucy knocked on the front door and patiently waited for the door to open. Soon she heard shoes clicking against the wooden floors on the inside of the home. As the door opened Lucy was surprised that instead of a 40 something businessman she was greeted by a young woman that was probably in her mid to late 20s. And instead of the frown that is usually present upon these people’s faces Lucy was graced by the warm, big smile on her face. And instead of the usual medium length, fried hair the women she met commonly had from years of damaging their hair from products, this woman had fluffy, long, healthy looking white hair that went past her knees. And instead of the tired looking eyes Lucy was used to, for once she was met with pretty blue eyes.

The woman was dressed in a white sweater, a tan trench coat, matching dress pants and white heels. Her expensive looking purse was hanging from her left shoulder. She was dressed similarly to the others yet she looked like a model showing it off for a new designer brand rather than a woman going to a meeting in a rush and leaving their child with the first teen they could find.

“You must be Lucy” she looked Lucy up and down with non judgemental eyes. Something Lucy had only seen a few times in her life.

It took Lucy a moment to process the words that the lady had said to her as she still took in her appearance. Lucy thought she was beautiful. “OH uh yeah… sorry- sorry about that” she laughed nervously at her embarrassment 

“No need to worry dear, I am Grandeeny” she reached a hand out towards Lucy who quickly accepted her hand shake. “Please come in dear, it must be freezing out there” the woman quickly moved out of the way, allowing Lucy access inside the home.

Home was the right word because this one felt warm instead of cold, by just walking inside Lucy could tell that it was full of love.

Lucy took in the beautiful home in front of her. There was a chandelier hanging in the foyer above her head. To the left of her sat a shoe rack that had the shoes neatly stacked on the rack, the only thing giving away that a child lived here were the smaller shoes. Before walking any further into the home Lucy took off her snow covered boots and placed them next to the shoes on the rack.

“I’ll go get my daughter, I’ll be right back” She heard Grandeeny say as Lucy slowly walked deeper into the home.

As she looked around she was impressed with the neatness of the place. Most homes she had been in with young children tended to be cluttered with toys all over the place, even the homes with maids, yet if someone was to tell her that there was not a single speck of dirt in the house she would have believed it.

“Lucy, this is my daughter Wendy” Grandeeny said as she made way back down the stairs, this time with a little girl following behind her.

“Wendy, honey say hello” she said once she got to the bottom as she crouched down beside the girl

“Hello” the little girl waved as she simultaneously twirled a strand of hair around her finger. 

The little girl was by far the most well dressed kid she had ever seen outside of a formal setting. She currently wore a white button up with a yellow sweater vest over it and a white skirt. Her hair was fluffy, similar to her mother’s, yet unlike her mother she had dark blue hair that was short.

Lucy couldn’t imagine what she dressed like when she left the home. 

“Alright Wendy,” Grandeeny spoke finally “I know you will but please be nice to Miss Lucy while I’m gone” 

“Will you be back tonight?” Wendy’s eyebrows furrowed together as she looked up at her mom with big brown eyes

“Unfortunately not honey but don’t worry, later one of your cousins will come by and they will take you anywhere you want, now I gotta go be good” she smiled to her daughter, ruffling her hair a little before she stood back up “Lucy, my number is on the table in the kitchen if you need it, one of my nephews should be by later, 5 maybe, please let me know if they aren’t here around then okay? Okay I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow Wendy.”

“Bye mama” she reached out her arms and pulled Grandeeny’s leg into a hug. Grandeeny smiled at her daughter. Lucy had seen that smile before. She missed it 

And before she knew it Grandeeny was gone. But not the gone that Lucy was used to. A gone with a promise to return the next day. It wasn’t empty promises. Lucy missed that too.

“So,” Lucy finally said after a few moments of silence “what do you want to do?” She smiled at the girl as her eyes lit up with excitement 

~~~~

“Hey, Miss Lucy?” Wendy said as she painted Lucy’s nails 

“Hm?” Lucy looked up from her nails towards the girl in front of her 

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Wendy giggled almost as if she was laughing at herself for asking the question 

“No I don’t” Lucy replied to the kid in a calm tone, not phased by these types of questions

“Oh… do you have a girlfriend?” This question was the one that caught Lucy off guard, she wasn’t use to kids asking about that

“No- no not that either” Lucy stuttered out 

“Aww, why not you’re really pretty” 

“Thank you honey but I guess I just don’t like anyone in that way” the information was odd even to Lucy because her whole life she had never felt that way about anyone. She wanted to, she really did but she couldn’t 

“Does it feel strange?” Wendy asked another question as she continued to paint Lucy’s nails

“Sometimes…” the little girl only nodded at the comment, still focused 

“You talk a lot,” Lucy laughed, Wendy blushed probably from embarrassment Lucy concluded “it makes it sound like you like someone yourself” Lucy watched as Wendy’s face became even more flushed with red than it was and she finally stopped painting

“I…I do” she looked down at her plush rug that the two girls sat on top of “but they don’t like me”

“How do you know?” Lucy felt the need to ask. She wasn’t sure why she was talking about this with a child though

“Because…” Wendy paused and took in a deep breath then with a big huff let out “we’re both girls” Lucy kept quiet at the comment. “Also she is 9 and I’m 7… I think you might see the problem.” Lucy assumed that the problem was that 7 and 9 feel so far from each other even though they are only 2 years apart in age. 

“You’re smart,” Lucy commented. Wendy looked at her with confusion evident in her face. “You know these things yet you are so young… most kids don’t talk to me about these things or even think about these types of things.”

“Blame it on my mama I guess.” she shrugged. “She talks to me a lot about… things. She doesn’t have anyone else to talk about things with so she talks to her daughter.”

“You talk mature too” Lucy noted

“Yeah, people tell me how I remind them of mama especially in my speech,” she giggled a little “I guess it is from listening to mama over the years”

Without a doubt Wendy was an intelligent kid, she almost reminded Lucy of herself at that age. Later Lucy would find out that the reason Grandeeny talks to her daughter so much about things was she almost had no one else. All but her brothers stopped talking to her after she got pregnant because she was only seventeen and Wendy’s father wasn’t in the picture. Lucy doesn’t know how or why her dad is friends with Grandeeny considering her past and his odd values. Lucy did know however that Grandeeny was rich and successful so maybe her father just wasn’t familiar with her past but she would never be sure. 

“Hey you want to meet my cat?” The earlier conversation had long come to a close and they had finished painting each other's nails, the ones Wendy did might look better Lucy giggled about it to herself.

“Sure” Lucy smiled as Wendy got up from the rug to go fetch her cat. Soon she returns from the other room with a fluffy, white cat in her arms and a big smile plastered on her face.

“Miss Lucy this is Carla, Carla this is Lucy” she introduced the two, waving one of the cat’s paws at Lucy. 

Then there is a knock at the door and with a huff Wendy stomped off out of her room towards the front door. Lucy quickly jumped up from the floor and ran after the girl. 

The little girl opened the door as soon as Lucy reached the bottom of the stairs and the face that she was greeted with on the other side of the door was one she knew very well yet was the last one she wanted to see anytime soon.

“Natsu! I was just showing her Carla, couldn't you show up at another time.” Wendy whined with the cat still in her arms.

“Sorry Wendy” he chuckled as he made eye contact with Lucy.

Of course it was Natsu Dragneel

#make Nia happy again #or something #idk Nia you better marry me or something #fairy tail #lucy heartfilia #Wendy Marvell #grandeeny #natsu dragneel

[ashintheairlikesnow]

WIP Wednesday: Whumptober Previews, Take 2

I still have a few more to go, but I am in the final stretch for writing my @whumptober2020​ pieces! I already posted one preview of what I have so far (you can see Days 1-12 here), so here are previews for the rest of what I have written - and sneak peeks at what’s planned out but not written yet! 

Whumptober starts tomorrow - we’ll see how you feel about my work this go-round! Last year, Whumptober Day 1 introduced Daniel Michaelson. This year... it starts with Danny, too.

Day 13:

“Vanni, they thought he was you.”

“I know, Ridley!” Rossi never snapped at Ridley, but here it was, and Connor forced in a hitching, shaky inhale around the tremendous, inescapable weight pressing down on him, determined to keep breathing long enough to understand. “I know they did.”

“And they fucking poisoned him and then dumped him to fucking die-”

“I know!” The two men went silent for a second, Ridley staring with shock at Rossi and Rossi glaring furious towards the window without looking back. Connor’s breath, rattling in his struggling lungs, was the only sound in the room.

Day 14:

Peter glanced over his shoulder, back towards the house. The thermometer had climbed a little more, reading 98.5 degrees Farenheit now, and Peter blinked as he shivered again, swallowing without any saliva. His mouth felt dry, and strange. Why was he shivering - how did he have goosebumps - if it was almost one hundred degrees?

As if he’d heard Peter’s thoughts, the side door opened and Micheal came out, wearing his weekend outfit of slim black slacks and a pale heathered gray t-shirt, what Madam allowed him to wear. He was carrying a glass of water with ice and a little striped straw stuck in the top. The black shock collar he was never allowed to remove - not yet, Madam said, not until Micheal learned how to be silent without needing encouragement, to her satisfaction - cut a wide band across his neck, the black box small and nearly perfectly blended in at the back. 

“Peter,” He said in a low voice - not quite a whisper, but just as quiet. “I brought you a drink, I-” He looked up, squinting towards the sky. “It’s hot. Should you be out here?”

Day 15:

He drops back to the ground, groaning, eyes fluttering open and shut, before he reaches out to grip onto Ora’s arm again. He turns to look at them, and his eyes are glowing so brightly he can see the reflected light on Ora’s face, the flicker of yellow against their irises. There are things that move beneath the light in Ryan Michaelson’s eyes, and he no longer feels them pushed back under the surface of his skin. 

“I’m so fucking hungry,” He whispers, and his fingernails dig into Ora’s arm until they begin to bleed and whimper, but they don’t - can’t - pull away. Not until he lets them.

They will be lost in his eyes until he decides to let them go.

Day 16:

Count to ten, Tris! One… two...

Her voice is so loud he jumps, but when he looks to the left, nothing’s there. Just the white walls, plain and featureless, white tiles that were smooth under his fingertips back when he was allowed to touch them. 

Everything is cold, and the boy has been shivering for so long that his muscles ache from the constant tense-and-release, tense-and-release, struggling to keep him warm.

Day 17:

She giggles a little, then glances over her shoulder, mouths something at the cameraman. Oliver can guess what. Edit that out.

Kelly Donahue doesn’t want the episode to be aired with her giggling like a schoolgirl at a bit of idle flattery. Well. Everyone has their things they like to hide, don’t they?

She has her giggle. Oliver has a teenage boy locked in his bedroom.

Day 18:

“Your mother,” Patrick interrupted, with gentle violence, “believes that you are squandering an opportunity.”

“An-... a what-”

“We respect your decision - and your brother’s - to refuse interviews, especially at his early date.” Patrick sounded like he’d rehearsed this answer, delivered with the same smooth cadence he had during his speeches before the Board of Directors. “But, considering the effort it took us to find you-”

“The effort it took Nate to find us,” Ryan corrected, ice growing along his veins at the same time it took over his voice. “Nate. It was Nate who watched the videos, it was Nate who talked Abraham into showing him the yard, it was Nate who spent fucking night after fucking night trolling fucking satellite photos to try and find us. Don’t act like the effort came from you. It came from my brother’s goddamn fiance.”

Day 19:

“If this is a trap, I’m going to owe Gavin fifty bucks.” Vera checked and rechecked her handgun, as though it would suddenly be less loaded than it was just a few minutes before. Her jaw was set in a grim line, eyes flashing a kind of damped-down fire, embers ready to spark. Her thick black hair, showing growing hints of gray, was pulled into a tight bun at the nape of her neck, and she wore a pair of black pants and a tucked-in t-shirt, ready for the fight she was definitely expecting. “I don’t want to owe Gavin money, Isaac.”

“It’s not a trap,” Isaac replied, making his own nervous check and recheck of the table and chairs. “I don’t think it is, anyway. My instincts are saying it isn’t.”

“Your instincts-”

“My instincts have been spot-on for a decade, Vera. Just trust me on this. She let us pick the day, the time, the location… she let us give her the location with less than four hours’ notice, even. If this is a trap, she’s piss-poor at setting it.”

Day 20:

He’d been flying, and the fall had been worse than the arrow, at first.

The sudden burst of white-hot pain had stunned him, caught him mid-spin enjoying an early-morning chill, and sent him tumbling to the ground below.

He’d heard his own frantic keens of panic and fear as if from a distance, and then they’d been drowned out when he slammed into the trees, feathers flying all around him as they were ripped free by the branches he smacked into one after another on the way down.

Day 21:

"Mmhmmm. Christopher. Stanton." Nat listens for a long time, then says quietly, "No known health problems. Autistic."

Jake looks up, and Nat calmly looks back at him, while speaking into the phone. "Yes. Yes, I'm confident. He is sensitive to fluorescent lights, scared of needles, and terrified of sedation. Yeah, I realize that I just described the exact environment we’re sending him into.” Chris whimpered, and Nat’s voice went ragged, her eyes closed tightly against the sight of his face pale, sweaty, twisted with pain. “Listen. Just-... just put on the fucking papers that Christopher Stanton is fucking autistic, because that's what my goddamn rescue is - I'll sell someone else's firstborn to fucking Satan if he isn't, mark my fucking words - and we're wasting time while he gets worse!"

Day 22:

Rossi picks the glass up and just as he tilts it up to his lips, Connor rears back and up on his knees and swings one of his hands, the black leather ‘paw’ smacking into the rim of the glass and spilling it in an arc across Rossi’s suit, onto the table, soaking his cards and hitting the next person at the table right in the eyes.

“Connor, what the fuck?!” Rossi’s voice isn’t furious, not yet - he’s too shocked to get beyond the simple surprise.

Day 23:

The drugs in his system weigh him down, he is too exhausted to understand what’s happening or how to begin to fight it. His eyes keep trying to close and stay closed, and he whimpers, forcing them back open.

“Pozhaluysta…” He groans, collapsing forward against the heavy solidity of the man, the soft tailored fabric of his expensive suitjacket, the scent of clove cigarettes that clings to him like a woman’s fingers clutching tightly. “Pozhaluysta, otpusti menya…”

Day 24:

“My name is Melody,” The girl said, nearly extending her hand, but then she realized the creature’s right hand was nothing but wickedly sharp talons, and it was bound in front of him to his left. “Oh, I’m sorry. What’s your name?”

The creature blinked once, twice. Watched her, tense and maybe suspicious, and then shook his head. “No… no name.” He spoke slowly, as though words came only with difficulty but a soft little trill sounded under one voice, layered it with another. “Pet.”

Day 25:

“Wh, where, where, where-where, where am, am I-”

“Sssshhhh.” The person in the dark blue uniform presses a plastic-gloved hand to his shoulder as he tries to sit up, pushing him back down. “Hey no, you gotta stay steady, there. Don’t move.”

“Please-... please, sir, h-hurts-”

“Not sir,” The person says, gently, a bit of auburn hair falling over their forehead. “Can you see?”

“K-Kind... kind of... hurts-”

“Sssshhhh. I know. I know it does. Just hang on. Tori’s going to help me get you some paperwork going. Don’t worry, kiddo.” The person pats him, lightly, and then looks up, brown eyes scanning the hallway outside. “You’re not the first we’ve pulled through this.”

Day 26:

Calon Nie hummed to himself, tapping talons on the floor, watching the boy sit so still, as though stillness could protect him from the dangers of the world. “Good. Failed, you, to keep new eyes. Costs a life, to give something new. Killan Josta, human boy, he fail Calon Nie. He fail the life given, when eyes don’t work. Did not respect sacrifice.”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” The boy said hoarsely, curling in on himself even more, his wings instinctively curling protectively around him. “I… I don’t want anyone to d-die for me. I didn’t mean to-... I didn’t mean to fail. I, I tried to p-pray for them, to stars, to-”

“Paugh! Mysteries do not hear you.”

Day 27:

Jake answers, and on the other side of the door, the old woman stands holding a large cardboard box in her arms, her grandson present, as nearly always, at her side. He holds a large box, too - so big, in fact, that only the top half of his face is visible.

“They’re sayin’ it could be a week before we get power back,” Ruth says, with a world-weary sigh. “A full-on week. We figured we’d bring you some supplies.” 

Day 28:

Ora Collins is hungry.

Day 29:

Jake is a tall man, but the emergency room always made him feel so small. Even now, part of him rehearses the scripted stories. I fell while climbing a tree. I crashed my bike. I tripped going down the stairs.

He has lies to tell today, just like he always has, but today the lies are for Chris, not himself.

He’s my brother. No, different dads, that’s all. His mom lives a few states away, I handle all his medical stuff. 

Day 30:

(AKA Possession, Part 2)

Ryan and Nate take down Abraham Denner.

Day 31:

Danny is left for dead.

#ash does whumptober #whumptober previews #whumptober prep #whump