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cultofdixon · 1 year

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It Takes Two

Daryl Dixon • She/Her Pronouns • Part 2 to “It Takes a Village” • Rick Grimes’ Sister!Reader • You have always been a curious kid. Now so is your kid…and with a certain resident in Alexandria. Who everyone didn’t expect to have a soft side for the young Grimes • ANGST/SFW/NSFW • TW: Anxiety Attacks / Nightmares / Injuries / Mentions of Canon Violence / Mentions of Pregnancy / Depression / Past Abuse • Re-Writing Canon

Requested by: Anon

Winter has started, and Alexandria was fuller than ever. They may not know exactly when the holidays were but it was enough to have their families in the Kingdom and Hilltop come to Alexandria. Meaning a lot of kids. But it was perfect…especially the snow.

A small groan escapes the waking child as he lifts his head from his pillow to look out the window and notice the falling snow. That alone ignited the energy he needed to get out of bed and wake up his mom.

His mom who would much rather stay in bed during a cold morning, but her excited four year old alerted not only the Mal living in the house…but the five year old that belonged to the Hilltop residents taking up her guest room.

“Mama!” Shepherd practically yells but Dog jumped on the bed when he got the door open.

“Shep…it’s early”

“It’s snowing!” He smiles running to her side of the bed gripping her blankets and tugging at them until the tired Y/N sat up. Her playful scowl appearing when Dog started to lick her face to help her wake up. “Dog wants to go too!”

“Let me guess…you woke up Hershel too?”

“He’s getting his mommy and daddy right now!” His face lights up with even more excitement as he knows the second he gets his snow gear on he was going to get his cousins next door.

“Get dressed baby and I’ll meet you downstairs” Y/N smiles watching her happy boy run out and Dog following him. “Don’t forget the gloves and beanie!” She adds hearing an ok yelled back before rolling over to the other side of the bed to address the archer that rolled off once he heard Dog’s collar jingling. “I’m gonna get dressed…and head out with Shep. That’ll give you your window”

Daryl groans upon sitting up from the floor feeling Y/N’s lips meet his temple when she leaned over. “He’s startin’ to get up before me”

“He’s going to find out before we even tell him…”

“I promise yea. We’ll get our day” The archer leaned into her kissing her before letting Y/N get dressed and ready.

The two have always had a bond with one another. But it wasn’t until Shep turned 3 that they took the risk. Daryl always loved her and would’ve waited til the end of his life for her. For her to be ready on her terms, but all she needed was for her small family of two to be secure. Safe. And Y/N knew she was safe with the archer and so was her son. Daryl loves her son as if he was his own even if Shepherd doesn’t know their relationship.

For now they kept it between them, and the priority was always going to be Shepherd.

Glenn was the fastest in getting ready next to the kids as he chases Hershel Jr and Shepherd through the snow for a bit while the rest of the Grimes got dressed for the snow day. Maggie stayed on the porch waiting for Y/N while she got Dog in a sweater before letting him join in the chaos.

“Where’s Daryl?” Maggie asks once Y/N stepped out while getting her gloves on.

“I just told him what we were doing so he should be joining us soon. But he’ll be getting Carol and her family, then Aaron and his daughter”

“Can you believe it?” Maggie smiles looking out to the small crowd for now. “We survived and thrived after all that happened”

“It’s surreal for sure” Y/N smiles watching her son gather a snow ball and pelt Dog making the Mal get excited to play ball.

As Shep made his way more down the street running away from the snowballs that were coming from the Rhees then his cousins, he stopped to hear someone curse because of how cold it was. He made his way to the little vent that looked into the room finding their resident prisoner shivering his ass off.

“Mama!”

Y/N immediately turns to her son seeing his frustrated expression which started to worry her.

“What’s wrong baby?” She walks away from the crowd of adults on Rick’s porch to kneel before her son as he struggled to get his words out.

“Th—uh. Uhm. I’m cold”

“Uncle Rick has the fireplace going, the adults were gonna go inside while Carl watches you little ones out here…you wanna come warm up a bit?”

“No! It’s…uhm. Mama…” Shep’s frustration came out in a whine making Y/N sigh a bit before standing up and extending her hand to the small child.

“Lead the way to what you need”

Shep immediately took her hand and pulled her back to their house. Then upstairs to the hall closet that Y/N kept spare blankets in.

“You can’t bring a blanket out in the snow, baby”

“No! It’s for…” Then the little one held a guilty expression which only confused his mother more.

“Shepherd.”

Daryl steps out of the Grimes’ residence when he didn’t find Y/N in there. Then he spotted her carrying blankets while following her son toward the cell. He quickly picked up his crossbow off the porch and ran over to the two.

“Hey, what’s wrong what are y’all doing?” Daryl stops Y/N while Shepherd proceeded.

“Shep heard Negan complaining that he was cold”

“So what?”

“Daryl. I’m not doing anything outside of the council’s guidelines regarding Negan. I’m simply doing what my son wants” Y/N states, and that want being kind toward their prisoner and giving him extra blankets during the winter. “He’s not going to hurt Shep…or me”

“I’m comin’ then”

“If it makes you less helicopter-y” She jokes making her way downstairs and helping Shepherd with the door.

Their presence sort of startled Negan given the door leading outside was never the quietest and the looming archer on the steps made him feel uneasy. But his attention locked onto the Grimes sister handing the blankets to this small child he’s never met before, and for good reason. Negan wanted to stand up and approach the bars but the way Daryl was glaring at him. He stayed put, until the small child approached the bars holding up the blankets.

“You don’t have to”

Shepherd frowns looking up at his mom while hugging the blankets tightly. “But mama I want to…” he said in a hush whisper as Y/N gently pets his head.

“You tell him, baby. Not me”

The little one went back to the bars of the cell looking up at Negan who approached the bars when he looked at his mother.

“But I want to” Now how can anybody ever be mad at that adorable face of his? Negan extended his hands taking the blankets through the bars watching the little one light up.

“Thanks kid…appreciate it”

The young grimes smiles happily before heading back out and instantly running into Daryl. The archer knew what was bound to happen with the child and that was Shep wanting to be picked up by him.

“Can’t say no to him” Y/N smiles receiving a look from the archer indicating that he’d never say no to him wanting to be picked up. Even if the man groaned picking up Shepherd. “Go on ahead. I’ll be a minute”

“Y/N—-“

“Just go. Please”

Daryl can’t say no to the puppy dog eyes, especially when Shepherd gets it from his mother. He nods before carrying Shep out of there leaving Y/N with Negan for a moment.

“You’ve got a nice kid…”

“I really do huh?” Y/N smiles approaching the bars to Negan’s cell as he suddenly started to feel anxious when her smile remained hit her eyes said it all. “So let me make it clear to you, Negan. If you hurt my boy. With your words or even physically, I’ll be doing everyone a favor and ending your life” She hissed glaring at the man watching him nod before leaving the cell.

All the kids were inside warming up and all the little ones were watching Henry show them how to play cards. Go Fish to be exact. While the adults had a drink and catch up.

“Your turn Shepherd” Henry’s voice snapped the kid out of his thoughts as Shep looks at his cards before setting all his cards down to show that he’s been hogging pairs but more specifically to leave the small table to go to his mom.

“He’s a card shark” Judith states not knowing exactly what that means.

“That’s…used in a different game? But I guess that works here” Henry laughs collecting the cards and shuffling the deck.

“Mama…” Shep whispers to get Y/N’s attention while Rick was telling Maggie about how he and Michonne were thinking of taking a trip. Y/N sets her glass down turning to her son and his upset expression. “I wanna go home…”

“Are you okay?” She whispers back not wanting to cause alarm or interrupt the on going conversation.

“No…” He whines in his whisper hugging Y/N’s leg. He relaxed a little when his mother rubbed circles on his back. “Can we go?”

“Yes, go get your shoes and coat on” Y/N got up from her seat once Shep ran over to where all the shoes were. “I’m turning in guys”

“Really?” Rick frowns, it wasn’t that late. Even for the kids.

“Yeah, Shep’s gettin’ tired and the alcohol isn’t sitting right with me.” Y/N left after saying such to get her coat on and pick up her son who instantly latched onto her.

“We’ll be quiet when we turn in” Maggie makes one last comment watching Y/N smile before stepping out with Dog also joining the two.

While the three made their way home, Shep tugged at Y/N’s coat when her attention was already on him.

“Forget somethi—-“

“Why is he down there, mama?” Shep frowns watching her face soften but also worry for she doesn’t know how to approach that conversation without going too far.

“He did something bad, Shepherd…that’s why he’s down there”

“But I do bad things too…like leave my shoes out for Dog to chew and you get mad…”

“It’s…uh” Y/N frowns setting Shepherd down on their porch to sit as she sat beside him. “You’re too young to understand the kind of bad things he did before you were born…”

“…can you try?”

How do you go telling a four year old about the abuse his mother endured done by that terrible man? Or the abuse Daryl, someone he looks up to, has gone through…the horrors of the Saviors threatening to kill members of their family…

You just. Don’t.

“He hurt people, Shep. In a way I can’t tell you…”

Shepherd frowns bringing himself closer to his mom leaning against her.

“Did he hurt you, mama…?”

Y/N didn’t say another word as she was fighting back tears when thinking about it. All she did was bring her son into his embrace holding onto him like her light depended on it. And part of him knew. Even if he didn’t understand.

Once it was late enough, Daryl came upstairs to check on Y/N thinking Shepherd would be in his room but entering the room he noticed the little one curled up in his mother’s embrace. He still brought himself to sit on the edge of the bed resting his hand on her shoulder watching her turn slowly to him revealing tears in her eyes.

“What happened?” He whispers watching her turn back to her son as Shepherd unconsciously scooted closer in her embrace.

“…I’m triggered D. It’s hard to sleep” She whispers back feeling Shep shift once more, enough to pull away from her and star fish on the rest of her bed. Giving her enough space to turn onto her back looking up at Daryl as he carefully wipes away her tears. “I know they don’t stay little and overwhelmingly kind forever…but I don’t want him taking that away from my baby”

“He won’t. I promise yea” Daryl frowns giving her enough space to sit up and hug him. He held her for as long as she needed.

“Remember, listen to Uncle Rick and stay out of trouble” Y/N tells Shep who didn’t want his mom to go on the hunting trip with Daryl and Carol. “I’ll be back before you know it”

“Why can’t I go with you?”

“You will buddy, when you’re a bit older” Daryl ruffle his hair a bit before Shep latched onto his leg. “Aw come on, bud”

“Please don’t go…”

It was spring, which meant more hunting trips. Shepherd didn’t mind when it was one of the two leaving, but they both were going on this one and he didn’t like it one bit.

“We’ll be back before you know it, Shep. I promise” Y/N knelt down for her son to hug her tightly once more.

Before watching the three go from Rick’s porch.

The agenda for the first day was boring. Or to Shepherd a bit boring. He loves helping when given the chance to but he doesn’t like working on the farm unless it was with his mom. Because they would play “I Spy” while collecting the crops and help him with his counting when putting in new seeds. Rick knew about this and was trying to do it with Shep, but that’s another thing. He only likes doing it with his mom. Otherwise he just helps tug the basket along while Rick cleans up the dead plants and getting the soil ready for new seeds.

“You okay Shep?”

“Can I go get water?”

Rick sighs nodding with a smile. “Be back quick. And get me a glass too”

Shepherd smiles setting the basket down by his uncle before leaving the farm and heading back toward the houses. Except after he got his uncle a canteen instead of a glass, because Michonne stopped him in the middle of her conversation with Siddiq and Gabriel to switch the glass with a canteen since the kid can be clumsy, Shepherd was given a second one for himself but instead of using it for himself.

Negan froze to the sound of said canteen falling onto the concrete floor. It’s sturdy so it didn’t crack or anything. He looks up through the vents to see Shepherd looking back at him before running back to his uncle.

Once the chores Rick had were done and the help of tidying up done by both him and Shepherd, the two made their way back to Rick’s place for dinner and then turning in. Shepherd was set up in the spare in their place which had a grown ups bed and not his low toddler one.

Shep couldn’t sleep, and can’t ever when his mom wasn’t home in any way. She could be standing somewhere else in Alexandria and he’d be able to sleep. He pushed his blankets off of him and maneuvered his body on the edge of the bed so his feet were first to hit the floor but it was still a bit too high that he fell anyway. The little one didn’t want to alert anyone given he went to bed around the same time as his cousins, but the adults could still be awake.

The little one has been spending a lot of time with Daryl.

Because Shepherd managed to get out of the house through the doggy door in the kitchen while the adults (Rick and Michonne) were in the living room. Thank god he was small enough or that would be a very uncomfortable conversation telling Y/N her son got stuck in the doggy door.

The resident prisoner heard footsteps draw closer, followed by a whine that Negan can only connect to Dog. So it must’ve been Daryl but when Shepherd came into view by the vent sitting beside it and Dog laying next to him, Negan only grew more confused.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“How do you know when bedtime is?” Shepherd looks at him confused leaving the man stumped.

“Forget it. Your mom will kill me if she finds you here. Hell even your uncle or whatever Daryl is to yea”

“He uh…uhm. Just Daryl?” The confusion in his tone made Negan a bit curious about the two’s relationship since he thinks Shep probably doesn’t know that his mom and Daryl are seeing each other. He wasn’t about to put them in any way.

“Are you close with Daryl? Like how you are with your uncle Rick?”

“I don’t know”

“What do you mean?” Negan brought himself to sit on the floor against the wall where the vent was as Shepherd sat on the small grass patch by the vent with Dog surrounding him.

“I used to call him Uncle Daryl…but something happened” Shep tugged at the grass while he spoke. “He was there for me when I’m sad. Helped me with my shoelaces. Get my sippy cups from the high shelves. Patch my boo boos. Let me sit with him while he works on his bike. Other things that Uncle Rick doesn’t do with me”

“You see him as a dad?” Negan’s question was met with silence. “What would your old man think?”

“I don’t have a dad”

If he starts crying, better start digging your grave Negan thought as he was prepared for tears but was met with a sigh instead.

“Mama says I never had one. But I always saw Daryl as one” Shepherd frowns as he stops tugging at the grass seeing the damage he has done. “Is that bad?”

“What? Seeing Daryl as your dad?”

“Yeah…”

“Well. He helps with your boo boos. I think that’s pretty much dad material…when I taught PE which was just watching a bunch of kids in a yard to get rid of the energy in’em, some kids would stumble. Cry. Get banged up by either concrete or a plastic bat. I wouldn’t know what to do and pull a teacher move with the whole “go to the nurse” when most nurses in schools back in my day didn’t do a very good job”

“That’s bad”

“Real bad. But I just pawned the problem off to somebody else. Daryl? He takes care of yea. Would do about anythin’ for yea. I don’t see a problem in calling him dad.” Negan shrugs. “But that’s a conversation for your mom. And then Daryl”

Shepherd was about to ask another question when he heard his name being called. Negan heard it as well and rose to his feet going toward the vent to look at Shep.

“You better go back before he gets worried”

“ok, goodnight”

“Night kid” Negan states hearing the tussle of his footsteps and the dog getting up with him before it faded away.

The next morning came and Negan woke to the sound of the outside door opening. Maybe it was confessional day but to his surprise he saw Shepherd coming down the steps with Michonne. Michonne came down for other business while Shepherd carried drawing supplies to distract him from their conversation. But some part of him knew that Negan enjoyed the company.

“Well good mornin’ to y’all”

“Good morning” Shepherd instantly replies back before sitting on the ground and dropping all of his supplies while Michonne took the chair bringing it to the bars of his cell.

“The council is holding a meeting about you soon”

“Oh wonderful” Negan frowns sitting back on his bed leaning against the wall. “What about?”

“Well. One, Y/N thought you should have warmer items in here for the future winters.” Michonne pointed with her eyes to Shepherd as it was really his idea being told through his mom. “Second, we were thinking you could actually do stuff around Alexandria. It won’t mean you’re instantly free. More so—-“

“Community service and I come back here once I’m done for the day? You’re really trustin’ me with that?”

“Why not?” Shepherd chimes in seeing confused looks as Michonne gave Negan a warning one mainly for his words.

“Nobody trusts me, Shep. Which in this case makes sense…but imagine being untrustworthy and being given chores around the other residents” Negan states while approaching the cell bars and sitting on his side across from Shepherd.

“Mama doesn’t trust me around Daryl’s crossbow. Is it like that?”

“Sort of. But your mama must’ve said I’m a bad dude”

“Yeah?”

“That’s why I’m questioning if Michonne here trusts me enough to do chores around the place without causing trouble”

“Can’t he just be watched when he’s not locked up, auntie?” Shep looks up at his aunt with a small smile as Michonne took note of that because it’s not a bad idea.

“You’re not manipulating him to say these things right?” Michonne questions Negan as she watches Shepherd bring himself close with a piece of paper and a few crayons handing one to Negan to play tic tac toe with him. Negan kept a distance but did play with the kid through the bars.

“From the time Y/N lived at the Sanctuary, yeah she was defensive to me but to everybody else who weren’t part of my troop. More like the other residents…she was overwhelmingly kind. Stood up for those who needed it, even if there were consequences…but just. She was too damn kind to everybody in that shitshow—-“

“Language” Both Shepherd and Michonne state hearing Negan apologize before letting Shep win the game.

“This boy has her kind side. It’s all him”

The council decided to let Negan work around Alexandria with a handful of chores each day and at least one day where he’s remaining in his cell. The one watching him changes every day, like it used to be. Unlike when he would be checked in on every other hour when he remained in his cell.

His help was much needed during the summer. And not just for chores.

Judith was playing with Gracie in the gardens while their dads were working on the nearby walls to do the yearly maintenance on the structures. While Shepherd’s mom helped in the actual gardens with Negan, meaning Y/N was on Negan duty and Shep was also around helping. But once he told his mom he was going to ask his cousin if he could play with them, her line of sight was no longer on him for a short time.

“You’re cutting too close to the main stem”

“My bad, hey where’s that rugrat? He said he’d help separate the tomatoes with the good and bad ones”

“He wanted to play with his cousin. I’ll separate them when I wash them once we’re done” Y/N states picking up the full basket and setting it on the table Daryl placed for them.

“Judith his cousin right?” Negan asks hearing a ‘yes’ from the boy’s mom as he turns around to where he knew the girls were playing when they first started harvesting. “Then where is he?”

“What?” Her tone changed instantly as she turns around to look at the two girls. “Where could he have gone…” she tried to remain calm hopefully when she got closer to the two girls that Shepherd would appear in her line of sight but he hasn’t.

“Aunt Y/N?” Judith questions her presence and a sense of regret rose in her. “Uhm. Where’s Shepherd?”

“I should be asking you that Judith.” The sternness made those working around them come to a slow stop. “Shepherd wanted to play with you, but he’s not here. So what did you say to my son?”

“Y/N. Woah, tone it back”

“I’m sorry Rick but I’m not.” Y/N bites. “It’s only been ten minutes and my son hasn’t turned up to my voice. He could’ve gotten out and be lost out there. Or got stuck somewhere here. While you’re handling dangerous stuff.”

“He’ll turn up, sis. He couldn’t have gotten far”

“He wouldn’t have wandered off if your daughter wasn’t mean and told my son he couldn’t play with her!”

“Don’t blame this on Jude. You’re too busy keeping an eye and being nice with the prisoner that it’s your own damn fault for losing sight of your son” Rick snaps back and the regret didn’t set in until Y/N retracted herself away with that same anxious sad look on her face when she was taken by the Saviors. “Shit…”

“Dad…” Judith frowns looking up at her dad. “I told him he couldn’t play with us. I-I didn’t think he would run away”

“He didn’t run away, hun. He’ll turn up” Rick frowns about to ask Aaron to watch the girls when he watched him take his gloves off.

“I’m gonna grab Daryl and help Y/N find Shepherd, Gracie…” Aaron kneels to his daughter. “Stay with these Grimes. Okay?” He smiles when she nods before getting up and heading off.

“Aaron I—-“

“I think you need to sit with what you said to your sister. You’ve done plenty” Aaron gave him a pity smile before going to help his sister.

While the commotion was happening, Negan knew he had to go back to his cell if his watcher wasn’t going to watch him. But to his surprise, he found the currently sobbing child in his open cell knowing it would be the last place his mom would look for him.

“Hey kiddo…” Negan frowns moving to sit on the cot of his bed as Shepherd hid under a blanket right beside it. His little grass stained shoes peeking out gave him away. “Want to tell me what happened up there?”

“No…”

“Mm. You’re gonna have to tell your ma regardless. Just thought you’d want a friend” He states watching the blanket move to show his crying face as he looks over to him.

“Jude told me I couldn’t play with her cause I’m a baby” Shep frowns sniffling. “I’m not a baby, I’m four”

“Practically an adult” Negan states leaning against the wall. “She wasn’t thinkin’”

“She never thinks…Uncle Rick doesn’t either”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Of course there was more to it…

“He talks about mama behind her back…when she’s on her trips that aren’t safe for me” Shepherd frowns curling up as much as he could. “How she was stupid…to have me grow up without a dad…that she shouldn’t do anything without me cause she signed up for that…” the tears kept coming as his lip wobbles. “Am I a mistake…? Did mama make a mistake in having me? Not letting me have a dad?”

“Woah” Negan brought himself up and off the cot bringing himself to sit beside the kid. “I’m gonna be honest with you. If your mama didn’t want you, you wouldn’t be here. And your uncle was only thinking of himself when he said that. Cuz if you were my nephew, I would be stoked to hang out with yea. And this whole dad crap? Is bullshit”

“Language…”

“Whatever. Because you have a village. A huge family. You don’t need a dad. But you have one and we had this discussion before. Besides. Your mom? Loves you so much, hell enough for two parents, even beyond that. When she’d be walking the streets on a late return home, you’re the only thing she’s talking about to whoever she went on the trip with. And hell! You’re one of the greatest things to happen to her that it would have to take knocking her out to have her shut up about how much she loves yea.”

The little one continued to cry but he was smiling and felt a bit better to his words.

“Plus. The whole dad thing? Those guys hover a lot when they’re worried about their kid.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah and I KNOW. FOR A FACT” Negan yells emphasizing who’s eavesdropping. “THAT HES NOT LETTING HIMSELF BE KNOWN RIGHT NOW.”

The sigh didn’t go unnoticed when Daryl made his way down the steps with a worried look on his face. But he also wasn’t accompanied by Y/N, so he heard everything Shepherd said including the part about Rick.

“See? A dad. Don’t matter if he’s blood or not. And between you and me” Negan started to whisper to Shepherd as he leaned in. “You scored on the dad front, already scored with the mom. So double points” his words got a giggle out of the child that rose to his feet ditching the blanket and making his way to Daryl who knelt to be his level. But Shepherd stopped a second turning to Negan.

“Thanks Negan…”

“Anytime kid. Now go find your mom, before she flips Alexandria over just to find yea”

“He’s right on that. She will” Daryl smiles warmly and the warmth grew in his chest when Shepherd wrapped his arms around him making the archer instinctively pick him up. “…thanks” he tells Negan receiving a thumbs up from the guy before heading out with his son.

As the two made their way toward the running worried filled mother that came their way. Y/N started sobbing on sight instantly taking Shepherd into her embrace giving Daryl a thankful look.

“I’m sorry mama”

“No baby it’s okay…you just scared me a little” Y/N cries holding him close as Shep pushes back a bit so that he could wipe away her tears. “You care too much about me, baby”

“I wanna, mama” Shepherd gave a small smile when she kissed his cheek. “Can we go home?”

“Yes, yes we can…we can go home and hang out. Just you and me”

“And dad” Shepherd pointed to Daryl as that was the first time he referred to the archer as such that he tried to compose himself even if Y/N didn’t he bother trying to compose herself.

“Yeah” Y/N smiles through the tears extending her free hand, holding Shep up with her other arm, feeling Daryl instantly take it into his.

And dad.

#cultofdixon #the walking dead #daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #tumblr tries to test my ability for how long I can write these things #daryl dixon fanfiction

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writingsfromhome · 1 year

Text

The Ex-Text

Epilogue: what’s next

A/N: this isn’t so much an epilogue than a part two but it just fit better to call it one lol. But it’s the final instalment in the Ex-Text so make sure you read the first two. As always, ty for reading this far <3

Prologue (text) / Main (ex) / Epilogue (what’s next)

—————————

It was a bit of a wet morning but I was determined to have a good day. And it’s like the world listened because by the time I got my morning coffee the sun had decided to kiss my skin hello. It was a Friday, I had a weekend of bachelorette festivities—our last girls weekend before Taz officially married next weekend. And I was going to a job I loved after changing roles last year, and getting promoted to the position I’d been chasing after.

It had been a year and 7 months since the night I decided to change. It wasn’t linear by any means but I had a better sense of who I was and what I wanted nowadays. I stuck up for myself, and felt less end-of-the-world if someone didn’t like me. I wasn’t perfect all the time, but things were better.

I’m so excited for tomorrow, I read Taz’s text in the lift up. I’d set up a spa day for the bridesmaids, and then a potentially rowdy evening across a few bars with a scavenger hunt. As the maid of honour I took my duties very seriously. I was friends with most of the invitees either from childhood or through Taz—there were a handful of girls from high school that Taz and I were friends with who I hadn’t seen in a while. It was going to be an interesting weekend.

***

“So YN,” Taz’s cousin slides in beside me wiggling her phone. This was our second pub on the list and she had the lead for the scavenger hunt by two. The group had enough drinks that everyone was loud and comfortable even though not everyone knew each other well. “How far along are you?”

“I’m not playing,” I made the game. I tell her that.

“Oh c’mon!” She looks at the girls sitting near us. “You’re just trying to get out of some of these! Like kiss a stranger, or find a way to write your number on someone’s arm? You’re cheeky with these—find someone to do a musical number with—“

“That’s how I know I’m not winning the hunt,” Felicity says. “I’m shite at dancing.”

“No you was so good back in school,” Taz giggles as she catches up. “Dots was even better, remember when she went with that wanker to the year 11 dance and oh what was his name-“

“I heard my name,” Dots pokes her head through. “You lot are loud.”

“Have you heard them?” Taz’s cousin points to the other end of the table. Someone’s getting a shot poured directly into their mouth.

“Taz are you participating in the hunt?” Felicity waves her phone that has the app pulled up.

“I’m getting married in a week so…only the PG ones.”

“No one’s going to say anything if you do number 7,” Dots winks. I smile uncomfortably, remembering the grip the peer pressure these girls had in high school that lead me to some pretty bad decisions.

“Taz is too much of an angel to do anything like that,” I try to swoop in for her.

“Then you should do it for her.” Dots says, her eyes alight with mischief. “Since you’re not playing. That way the bride-to-be has a chance to win.”

“Yeah!” Felicity jumps right into the plan eagerly. “It’s not like you’re dating someone right?”

“I…”

“I don’t need to win that bad,” Taz tries to come to my rescue but the plan is too enticing for these girls.

“Oh yeah YN you never got back on the horse after…Ethan?” Taz’s cousin mouths the word like he was going to appear if she said it too loud.

“No it’s…” I’m tempted to lie. To look good. Everyone leans in to hear the end of my sentence and I blurt out. “It’s complicated.”

“Ooh what’s that mean?” They move in closer and I feel crushed. I avoid Taz’s eye, she knew I hadn’t dated in forever. Not for lack of wanting, but I found opening myself up to new people was more exhausting than it used to be. Being in one long term relationship after the other, then taking a huge break, now dating felt like learning to walk again.

“Um,” I try to backtrack on the lie. “It’s just complicated but technically I’m not dating someone right now!”

“Wait so you’re not bringing a plus one to the wedding?” Someone asks.

“Well I-“

“You should invite the guy! If he comes you know he’s serious and if he doesn’t…”

“Yeah!” Felicity grabs my arm. “Invite him! I want to see Ethan’s rebound that manwhore.”

“It’s not really a rebound when it’s been years,” Taz says. I agree, but I’m also touched by the vehemence in Fel’s voice when she talks about Ethan.

“Well screw the guy. If he’s complicated, you can kiss anyone you want at any bar you want. So?”

“YN,” Taz’s murmur catches my attention. She shoots me a warning, I had to put my foot down. Not give in because I wanted to please. I should but with this many eyes on me I chicken out.

“Fine. But maybe pick number 7 at the next bar, this group looks uni aged.” I feel Taz’s disappointment beside me.

“So? I had a thing with a 21 year old last summer,” Fels shrugs.

“Ew. Didn’t you feel like his mother?” Taz asks and I laugh, a bit of the pent up energy releasing with it.

“No, he was a big boy. He knew how to take care of himself.” She grins. The topic shifts to her and I think I’m forgotten until the hour hits and we decide to move places.

“Okay YN I know you’ve mapped this all out but if we’re trying to get you a good number 7 I know a better place where I used to live. Last summer actually.” Felicity links her arm through mine as we walk out.

“We know how well that went,” Taz’s cousin teases.

“Exactly! May I? Girls! Change of location on the third cuz Taz has to win tonight-“

“I really don’t want the gift card that badly.” Taz says but it’s drowned out by everyone cheering. God we were all well on our way to drunk.

***

“That one,” someone whispers to me. She points to a tall blonde with a cardigan on.

“Mmm too bookish,” someone else says. Somehow the whole group was debriefed on the way over that I was to have the most epic kiss with a stranger for Taz’s sake. Because even though she had three other missing items on her list, doing this would make her win.

“Well that creep over there just bought me shots,” Taz slurs. We look to where she points, it’s a guy who had been a potential kisser. The group crosses him out as well as the line item on her list. Now she was down to 2 to win.

Felicity had led us to her old local area, one I hadn’t spent much time in but sounded familiar. Even though I’d planned the pub crawl to the detail I had to let go of the control and go with the crowd.

“Okay YN you have to do this now,” Dot says. “You can kill two birds, then Taz is free to win.”

“Doesn’t anyone else want to win?” I ask pathetically.

“No!” The group encourages me. “You need this too YN!”

“Him,” Fels points to a guy sitting at the bar. He’s talking with the bartender who’s laughing at whatever he’s saying. “Look, he’s funny and nice enough to talk to the bartender. He’ll give you a nice smooch.” She kisses my cheek with this statement.

“Oh he’s cute,” Taz says and I glare at her.

“You can’t even see his face.” I tell her.

“Yeah but his hair is nice,” she rubs my cheek where Felicity kissed me. “And his shirt stretches nicely over-“

“Okay bride-to-be,” she was such a traitor.

“What? A girl can’t look?” Taz asks. She wraps an arm around my shoulder and leans in. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I know,” but with all these girls waiting on me to I didn’t have another choice. I just had to get over it. Plus I hadn’t kissed someone in over a year so I wasn’t complaining if he was cute. And Taz was right, from the back he was cute. “Fine.”

I step away from the crowd and they all gasp. They get ready for the show and so do I. I clear my throat, push my shoulders back—my cleavage looked great in this dress so I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt, and head over. My stomach drops with nerves but I take a deep breath and tap the bloke on the shoulder.

My lungs deflate like a released balloon when the face looking back at me is Harry. Harry the ex-texter.

He blinks, then blinks some more. Meanwhile I stand there staring.

“YN!?” Harry turns the barstool to face me. His neck must’ve started cramping.

“I-uh,” I glance back at the girls and they’re all pretending not to stare but it’s a bad attempt. They’re staring.

“It’s you-I-“ Harry stands up, it seems like he was going in for a hug but he thinks better of it almost immediately. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi,” I say lamely. I feel the shame of the last time we spoke. That YN feels like someone else. Someone people manipulated easily. Like him.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he laughs nervously and his eyes roam up and down my body. He runs his fingers through his hair and looks back. “I think there’s a massive group of women there staring at us? Have you rounded up a gang to kick my-“

“Ignore them,” I quickly take a seat beside where he was sitting. He takes one last glance at them and sits back down.

“Can I get you a drink?”

“No no,” my mind is occupied. I couldn’t kiss him. This was the worst person in the world to have picked, why was he here damnit?

Then I remember why this area was familiar to me. His address was only a street or so over, this is close to where I’d picked him up that day.

“Actually, I’ll do a a vodka soda.”

He orders for me while I try to sort out my thoughts.

“So are you in a cult? Am I some sort of blood sacrifice?” Harry throws another glance over his shoulder.

I finally look at him. He looked good, of course he did. He’d decided to do something about those razor blades—he’d thrown them out; he sports a mustache and stubble. His hair is styled, nicer than it was when I met him. His eyes are murky waters and I don’t look at them too long. I spot the gym bag by his feet, so that’s why his shirt fit so well…

Omg.

“Actually,” I consider what he’d just said. “You’re not too far off.”

“Wait really?” His eyes bug out. “You’re joking.”

“Well the cult is actually a bridal party,” I say. “And the blood sacrifice is a number on our scavenger hunt.”

“Oh,” it dawns on him. “I’m fresh blood. You already have my number, wait is that why you came up to me?”

“No I actually didn’t even know it was you,” I say honestly. “They picked you out from the crowd.”

“Really?” Harry looks back, now intrigued that this group of women found him fit enough to pick out.

“Don’t let it get to your head,” I roll my eyes. My drink had landed in front of me so I take a sip.

“Well? You have my number right?” When I just nod he laughs. “Wait. You need something more.”

“Well obviously I’m going to lose this scavenger hunt,” I scowl. “Don’t worry.”

He chuckles and looks to the front, meanwhile I try not to squirm. Being around him wasn’t the best feeling, especially on my way to drunk. I felt hot with embarrassment and yet the intrigue of who he really was still stayed with me. And it stays because even now, despite not trusting him or liking him very much I felt like I had room to just be myself. He was an easy presence despite his baggage. Or maybe because of it.

It seems we were good at silences because we drink without saying a word. It’s like our brains are catching up to our sudden run-in.

“How have you been?” Harry asks quietly.

Fine, I’m going to say automatically. But I answer truthfully. “Alright. Life’s been better but also nobody’s tricked me into going to a cheating ex’s wedding so life’s been a lot worse!”

He laughs awkwardly and clinks his bottle against my glass. “Yeah. I deserve that.”

“Yeah. How about you?”

“Better. A lot better.”

“Good to hear,” I say genuinely. Despite my grievances it was nice to hear he was past whatever he’d been in when we first met.

“I think about you often,” he says while still looking forward. Oh god this felt like being in a car with him. I turn my body towards him and tap my knee against his. He looks at me, like we’re having an actual conversation. “I do. About what I did to you…I’m sorry.”

“Yeah you’ve said.”

“Yeah,” he grimaces. I wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily. Being manipulated and lied to like that still stung. It was rock bottom for me in a way. “I was a dick. I’m deeply sorry and I’ve thought about how to make it up to you but I thought I should just stop texting you ever. Trust me that was rock bottom for me and you didn’t deserve to be dragged down with me.”

I try not to look surprised when he says it was his rock bottom, like I was thinking seconds earlier.

“You got one thing right,” I tap at his phone. I wasn’t going to tell him I forgave him, or that I understood even though I did. I didn’t like him very much, I didn’t trust him, but I knew he was sorry when he said it.

I remember the wedding—there was something I wanted to apologize for, “Well now that we’re unloading apologies, I am actually sorry for uhm, slapping you that night? That’s not me. And I don’t know where it came from! I feel bad about that.”

His laugh is quiet, to himself. “You shouldn’t be apologizing for anything. Anything at all YN.”

God, the way he says my name is addictive. He said it like everyone else, but in his voice…

“I know. But that crossed a line…”

“Nah don’t worry. Plus I don’t mind when a woman slaps me around a little,” his face splits into a grin when I give him the reaction he was looking for.

“Harry,” I scold. “You’re teaching children with that mouth?”

“That’s why I’m quitting.”

“You’re quitting!?”

“Yep. Phase 3 of my plan, to live the life I want. I’m finishing the school year and looking for a job in my field over the summer.”

“Wow,” I was impressed. “Wow Harry. Good luck with that.”

“Yeah I’ll need it thanks.” The way he looks at me makes me nervous. I think I’ve been single a bit too long. And right on cue he asks: “So YN how about you? Are you still doing your single thing?”

“I feel like you’re still talking about it like you don’t believe in it,” I tell myself to calm down every time he says my name.

“No I-“ he plays with his bottle. “I believe you. I’ve tried it, it’s been good for me. But I started dating again this year and I found I really love that too.”

“Yeah?” I ask him more about it. He tells me he’s dating knowing what he wants now. What kind of woman he’s looking for.

I felt like focusing on myself has helped me with that too. The only issue is I was finding it hard to open myself up to men again.

“I haven’t been dating much,” at all. “But I’m open to it now.”

“Show anyone your mean side lately?” He jokes but in there is a serious question.

“That’s only reserved for you,” I say, then realize how flirty it sounds and clamp down on my tongue. Maybe I should stop drinking. I didn’t even know Harry very well. But when I peek a glance he looks flushed.

I liked this version of Harry better. I wonder if he was like this before, before he had his heart broken, or even before he started dating Vanessa. But I don’t tell him that, I didn’t want him to think we were friends or anything.

We fall into silence again, not an uncomfortable one though. I look at him, he looked the same but different. Like a change had taken place underneath the surface. I imagine he’s studying me the same way. He smiles and I return it.

A body pushing into the side of me interrupts us. Dots is there with Taz and they wave the bartender down for a drink even though they could’ve ordered from the table. I roll my eyes and turn to them.

“Hi,” I look between them. Dots looks mischievous as usual and Taz seems curious.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us YN?” Dots asks.

“Oh, this is Harry,” I eye Taz when I say it. She’s a bit slow but when I introduce them to Harry it dawns on her. Her face darkens as she pinpoints who he is.

“Harry is it?” Taz asks. “I’ve never met a Harry I liked.”

Dots looks over at her like she’s grown another head, clued out and assuming I was still here to kiss him.

“Oh well…” Harry looks just as confused at her sudden intensity. “I hope I can change your mind about that?”

“Too late for that,” she nearly spits out. I watch his eyes widen and then go to me. I’m biting back a smile.

“Taz, right you’re Taz.” He sounds like he remembers her.

“And I’m Dots,” Dots repeats. Poor girl was clueless. “We’re just doing a bachelorette thing and YN seemed to think you were cute enough to ditch us right?”

“Really?” Harry takes pleasure in playing along.

“Well no I—ow!” Dots interrupts me by smashing her elbow into me. I sigh. “Right. Yeah. You were irresistible, I had to ditch my friends for a man like you.”

“Sarcasm,” Harry says just low enough for me to hear. He’s smiling.

“YN you should come back,” Taz tries to grab my arm but Dots is like a pro as she cuts that off.

“No we’re just doing the same thing back there. Talking and drinking. You two enjoy. You should give him your number here.” She drops a sharpie in my hand. “Let’s go Taz.”

I try to warn Taz with my expression, please don’t tell anyone I know him. None of these girls knew I went to Ethan’s wedding, it was an embarrassing story on my timeline I didn’t need to share. I didn’t want them to know the story of how I knew Harry.

“Your friends are scary.”

“I guess,” I turn back to him. My drink was nearly empty and I did think it was time to go back. “I should go back to them.”

“Oh,” he looks disappointed.

“What?”

“I thought we were having a nice time.”

“Yeah well we were catching up. And now my drink’s finished and I’m-“

“I can buy you another?”

“I think I’ve had enough. This is our third place on our night crawl so…”

“Fair.” Harry looks at me like he has something to say. I stand there and wait but in the end he just sighs and sits back down.

“Oh yeah I’m going to write my number,” I grab his arm and pull his sleeve up. Holy muscles. “on your arm. If that’s alright?”

“Sure,” he smiles and his dimples make an appearance. It’s boyish, like we’re teenagers exchanging numbers.

I write it down even though he had it, cap the marker, and look up. We’re so close; his eyes flit to my mouth and away so quickly I almost miss it.

“I’ll get this tattooed,” Harry jokes.

“I’ll change my number if you do,” I warn him. He just shrugs like he didn’t believe me and I shake my head, turning back to my friends.

I get back to a group of disappointed women. They give me a hard time and tell me how upset they are that I don’t care about Taz winning. They try to tell me how good we looked together, how I looked with him.

“We’re not leaving until you kiss him,” Felicity says.

“Leave her alone! He smelled like bad news,” Taz says. She was well past drunk now so no one listens to her.

“Ethan was bad news,” Fels states. “This guy is just a random man you can kiss and invite as a plus one. Have some fun with him. Get back into the pool where all the fish are. C’mon YN we know your dating life is shite!”

“Remind me to never get drunk with you lot,” I stare at them. They were scary. “I gave him my number, at least Taz can cross that out!”

“Wait! Harry!” Everyone begins to shout his name as they spot him leaving behind me.

I catch him turning with a wary expression. He points to himself. The girls shout “Yes!” and earn some dirty looks from the other patrons.

He walks up to our table like a sacrifice to an ancient ritual. “You ladies need something?”

“Yes,” a few voices say but Felicity is the loudest. She points to Taz who has her head down on the table. I should check on her.

“See this beautiful creature here? She’s getting married! Married! And we have a scavenger hunt. And she can almost win! But she needs to kiss someone at the bar. But she’s getting married! And you look decent enough to help this bride-to-be! So YN her wonderful friend is helping out. And she chickened out up there. So she wants to kiss you. Does she have your permission?”

“Does she?” He turns to me. God I was helpless with the pressure around me. My eyes lock onto Harry and I hope he can read the help etched into them.

“This is silly,” I tell him. “We don’t need to do this. I don’t think Taz even cares.”

“I don’t!” I guess she was conscious because she lifts her head to answer me. But everyone crowds her out, her cousin actually guides her head back down.

“You owe her a kiss,” Dots says proudly.

“I owe her a lot actually,” Harry says to me. My heart races as we look at each other.

I would be lying if I said the idea of kissing him doesn’t intrigue me. He was attractive! And his facial hair made him more so. But I didn’t want to complicate anything.

What’s there to complicate? I ask myself. It’s not like he’s in your life. Plus maybe this will be the push to start dating again. Kisses are nice right?

“Okay whatever,” I take a step towards him. “It’s not like this means anything. It’s just a kiss.”

A cheer goes up with the group.

Harry drops his bag to the floor and takes the other step to me. “It doesn’t mean anything?”

“No,” I say more to myself. “It’s just a kiss with a guy.”

“Just a kiss with a guy,” Harry repeats. “If you say so.”

His hand reaches up to my neck and he pulls me gently to him, with his height I crane my face up and his warm lips come down on mine exactly how I imagined it would feel. That’s when I realize I had imagined how he would feel. But it’s too late by then.

It feels like hearing music live for the first time, I can suddenly hear every atom of the song. I can feel it, taste it, even smell the soundwaves pounding through the room. That’s what the kiss feels like. Ultrasonic and consuming as hell.

He’s gentle but I can tell he’s holding back with the way his hand grips the back of my head tight. And that sends my senses into overdrive. Even though his moustache is a bit tickly, he was a really good kisser.

When we part, I laugh because I’m nervous but also he has lipstick on his face.

“That was hot,” someone in the group says but we can’t take our eyes off of each other. I’m trying to remember how to breathe and it seems like Harry is doing the same.

“You have-“ I laugh nervously again and reach up to wipe the lipstick from the side of his mouth. This close his pupils are blown out and it only confirms to me that he was holding back. Because he looks like a man who can barely contain himself.

“Uhm,” he finally breaks his gaze to look at all the women staring. “I hope that was satisfactory enough.”

“That was movie worthy,” everyone begins shouting scores out. Some of then fan themselves with the menu. Harry clears his throat, picks up his bag, does an awkward half-bow, and stiffly nods to me.

“G’night YN.”

“Yeah…thanks.” I didn’t know what to say after having the most intense kiss of my life. To Harry. The ex-texter.

“I need some water after that,” Felicity climbs over me out of the booth and I slide in by Taz.

“I’m sorry,” she wraps her arms around my shoulder. “We have really shitty friends.”

“You have amazing friends,” Dots says. “We just broke YN’s dry spell. Did you see that? That was chemistry YN. That was wow. I hope you got his number.”

“I have it,” I sigh.

I decide I was going to drink more. I didn’t want to remember this night anymore.

***

It’s the Friday after and I’m at work, it’s a slow day so I’m scrolling through my phone when a notification pops up.

It was Harry.

Hi. I text back. I’d been thinking about him a lot this week, about the kiss, and about dating again. I wouldn’t admit it to my friends but it was a reminder that chemistry existed somewhere out there.

I don’t want our whole relationship to be wedding crashing so I want to run something past you.

???

Your friend Felicity invited me to Taz’s wedding. Tomorrow. She said you knew but you haven’t texted me all week so I think she’s setting you up?

I couldn’t believe it. I text Felicity and she responds immediately with a kissy emoji and a tongue sticking out.

I’m sorry I didn’t know, Fels just confirmed. You don’t need to come she’s just on this mission to get me a date.

She said you have a flaky boyfriend?

Oh my god the lie had spread. So embarassing, I was going to strangle Fels.

Really I’m alright. Sorry about that.

I would like to see you again. Even if it’s at a wedding. But I’ll only go if you invite me.

Wow. I read the message another time then put my phone away. What was I supposed to do?

I take my phone into the toilets and call Taz. She picks up, it sounds like she’s in a car.

“Hi you free?”

“Yeah I’m just getting back from the salon, what’s going on?”

I tell her. I tell her it all, the conversation Harry and I had and how I was feeling and what Felicity did.

“That one does not know how to keep her nose out of people’s businesses.”

“I know,” I groan. “I could not invite him and get a million questions from everyone who knows Fels invited him. And I keep him out of my life. Which is fine because I barely know him (even though that kiss felt like I’ve known him for all of eternity). But if I invite him, I’m telling him I’m okay with what he did to me. That we’re okay.”

“YN listen,” she sighs. She says something to someone on her end and I hear a car door close. “Look—sorry just getting in. You’re not that person anymore. I don’t trust him more than you do but just tell him that. So he knows you’re only taking him to get everyone to shut up. Like…use him as a date like he used you.”

“Hm,” that was a good point. “Yeah. That could actually work?”

“Really? I thought I was just saying shite,” Taz laughs. “Okay I really have to go my in-laws are here. Are you alright?”

“Yeah yeah you focus on your stuff. I’ll be by this evening.”

“Love you, bye!”

I call Harry immediately after. He doesn’t pick up so I go back to my desk and consider what to text him when he calls back.

“YN I was still in class sorry.”

“Oh god sorry I forgot!” I look at the time. “Sorry I just assumed you were free.”

“No it’s alright,” he answers. “Are you calling about tomorrow?”

“Yeah…” my mouth is suddenly parched. I get up and walk away from where people could hear me. “So, the thing is my friends are giving me a hard time because I don’t have a date and all that. So sort of the way you used me as a date at that wedding, I could use you at this one. Like if would be doing me a favour?” I cringe as the words come out.

“Oh. Sure…yeah if you want.” He sounds…offended?

“Like if we’re being honest we’ve not really spoken since that night. And I have no reason to trust you and whatever. So this is just…”

“Returning the favour.” He puts it simply.

“Yeah? Yeah! Right. Exactly.” Why was this coming out so horribly.

“I get it,” he says. “I’m glad we talked. I’d be happy to be your plus one tomorrow.”

“Perfect,” I find myself smiling.

***

Taz’s wedding is a dream. An absolute dream. I tell her a million times after the ceremony and I gush to her how much I love her and am proud of her during speeches. Her bridesmaids give their toast, and every person who was at the bachelorette makes sure to tease me about bringing Harry who had been nothing but supportive tonight. He stuck to himself when I was doing maid-of-honour duties, and squeezed my hand encouragingly before my speech because public speaking was not my favourite thing. I had to admit it was nice to have someone here just for me. It had been a while.

When Taz told me she got engaged a couple years ago I always thought it would be Ethan by my side. It was weird that Harry was here, because of Ethan, but also the way he came to be here.

“Hi!!” I shout at Harry after doing shots with the bridesmaids. I was officially tipsy but most of the major wedding traditions were over. We were waiting for the cake cutting and bouquet toss and the first dance. And then it was all fun.

“Hi,” he holds out an arm to guide me to my seat.

“I hate these heels,” I unstrap my feet and groan when I put my feet on the bare floor. “That feels sooo good.”

“Hi!” A chirpy voice says to my right. I peek an eye open and groan again, Felicity has joined the table.

“Hi, Felicity right?” Harry says.

“Fels,” she nudges me. “You glad he came?”

“Whatever,” I shrug.

“She’s happy you came,” Fels tries to make up for my rudeness. “She’s not usually this rude.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Harry says. I cut him a look.

“Oh no she’s very nice. She’s just a bit grumpy probably all the maid of honour duties,” she tries to convince a Harry that’s just sharing an inside joke with me. It does something to me.

“It’s okay,” I put a hand on Fels’. “He’s teasing. I’m allowed to be rude to him.”

Harry laughs and Felicity realizes too late she was sitting in on two people that didn’t need her help to get along.

“Well I’m going to find my date, play nice!”

“Nice suit,” I tug at Harry’s lapels once she’s gone. It was nicer than what he wore the last time we met.

“I borrowed it from a friend. I only have one suit and…well you’ve seen it.”

“Teachers don’t wear suits to work?” I tease.

“Thank god no.” His eyes roam over my bridesmaid dress, an off the shoulder sage dress that honestly reminded me of a folky tinkerbell. “You look beautiful.”

“Flattery won’t get you extra points.” I say whilst flattered. The dress had also reminded me of the colour of his eyes when he greeted me today. Now his eyes stay on me all evening.

The announcement for cake cutting goes off so I walk with Harry to watch. Taz looked beautiful in her embroidered dress and she glows even while narrowly missing cake all over her face. Everyone toasts and she readies for a bouquet toss.

“You’re standing here,” Taz’s cousin centres me. “Because there’s no way I’m catching that.”

“I don’t even have a boyfriend,” I say but the other girls crowd me so I stay put. The bouquet is tossed high and I don’t make much of an effort but it glances off the hand in front of me and lands on me. I squish it against me to keep it from falling.

“YN!” My friends tease me and I hold it up in mock excitement. Taz laughs from up front and I go up to hug her, I’m handed another flute of champagne and I toss it back with my best friend.

“YN’s next,” one of the bridesmaid says. “Cheers!”

I get another drink and down it with the girls. I can’t stop laughing about it. I try to look out for Harry to see how he feels about the bouquet but he must be in a darker corner. I don’t spot him.

I refuse the next drink pushed my way and move to my seat as the couple gets ready for their first dance. Harry’s not there but he sits down shortly after I do.

“Look!” I show him the bouquet. “I caught it!”

“I saw,” he smells the flowers. “I got a picture of you.”

“Let me see!” I hold my hand out and wait for him to find it.

“Oh my god,” I laugh as I zoom into my face as the flowers hit me. “Look at my face! And look at her! This is a great pic…” the words die on my lips. I’d accidentally swiped to the camera roll zooming out and I see dozens of photos of me.

“Oh,” Harry takes the phone from me. “Is that creepy? Sorry I was taking photos to send you since you’re busy having fun I-“

I feel tears threaten my makeup and I clench my mouth closed. Despite all the drinks I suddenly feel incredibly sobered.

I take his phone back and swipe through, he recorded my speech and took a million photos of me with Taz. My chin trembles.

“Hey I’m sorry,” Harry takes the phone back. “I didn’t mean to upset you I’ll delete-“

“No!” I stop him. “Don’t. I want all of them.”

“Why are you…” his confusion is all over his face. “Are you upset?”

“No,” I blink away any tears. “Sorry. No. I’m okay! I’m alright.”

It was stupid but Ethan never took photos of me. Even on important days like birthdays, Christmas, holidays. I had a million candid photos of him but I had to beg and remind him for photos of me. Harry took so many without even asking, just because he knew I would want to look back on the memories I was making. It was such a basic thing to do but it felt like the world to me in this moment.

“Thank you.” I say when he doesn’t make a move. “Honestly thank you. Sorry, ignore what my face is saying! But make sure you send every single one okay?”

“Yeah I will,” he promises. He swipes a fallen tear with a gentle smile. I draw back from his touch and use a napkin to dab at my eyes instead.

“YN you know I’m really sorry,” he says just as the first song comes on.

“No I’m fine!” I shift my chair to face the dancefloor. I position it slightly ahead of Harry so he leans forward to speak to me.

“I mean about the other wedding we went to.”

“Yeah I-“ he looks serious so I stop what I was saying. I turn slightly so I can look at him. “Can we talk about it later?”

“Yeah,” he shakes his head. “I didn’t mean to…”

“Okay,” I smile and turn back to admire the couple but I can sense the emotional turmoil beside me. I push my chair back enough to be side by side with Harry. I lean my head on his shoulder as I watch the married couple dance the first dances of many. When Harry puts his arm around me, his thumb rubs my shoulder. A finger pokes my arm and Dots face pops in beside me to waggle her eyebrows. Was everyone watching me with Harry tonight?!

When the DJ invites everyone else onto the dancefloor I pull Harry up.

“So what was it you were saying?” I ask as we wrap arms around each other.

“I like you a lot YN. A lot. Even when we first met, I started liking you right when you returned my bullshit with sarcasm. You rolled with all my jokes. It was a breath of fresh air.”

I don’t say anything; he had more to say.

“I wish I didn’t do what I did. I sabotaged everything because I was hung up over the wrong girl. And now I’m just a guy to you. A guy you kissed once, I’m just a favour returned.”

“Why are you telling me this now?” I ask.

“Just in case you felt anything, if you thought we could…”

“Harry you lied to me. Embarrassed me. You weren’t a very nice person.”

“I know-“

“I do like this Harry better.”

“Uhm,” he thinks. “Thanks. It’s old Harry, before my life went to hell. Old Harry mixed with some lessons learned. I’m telling you I was at rock bottom when I did what I did.”

“I believe you.” I did.

He sighs in relief. “Thank you.”

We dance quietly for a bit. Until I speak, “I’m trying not to date losers.”

He flexes his jaw, fixating on a spot behind my shoulder.

“I thought you were one,” I tell him honestly. “But I’m not so sure now. But this feels like asking a lot Harry I…”

“You don’t need to respond now,” he urges. “Just think about it.”

“I can’t,” I was terrified of agreeing to a relationship that would hurt me all over again. “I do like you Harry but I don’t know if I can agree to what you want…”

The truth was that Harry was showing me that the glimpses I’d gotten of him throughout the last week were more telling, more consistent than the guy he was when we first met. I was deathly afraid of getting hurt again, and I’m not sure I was willing to take the risk. If that kiss was any indication, I know Harry was telling the truth on his end but I didn’t want a relationship with a guy who started it off by lying.

“I’m-excuse me,” Harry stops mid-dance and walks away. I feel awful but I let him go, watch him disappear to the lobby, and I sit back in my seat. Dots tries to wave me by but I ignore her. The lump in my throat sits heavily and I feel like shit. Especially when a few dances later Harry returns and announces he was going home early. His face is splotchy and it feels awful.

“Are you sure?” I ask him.

“Yeah,” he holds my arm. “Thank you for tonight, and again I’m really sorry about everything.”

I just pull him into a hug, with no words equivalent to what I should say. He squeezes once and lets go.

“Tell Taz thank you for the invite. I’ll see you around.”

“Okay…bye Harry.”

That’s the last I see of him. I head right to the drinks and drink enough to feel okay. I dance with my friends and get as many pictures as my phone can handle in.

At the end of the night I go home to an empty flat and drunkenly download all the dating apps I swore off of. Swiping through like a catalogue, by the time I wake up the next morning I’m well on my way back to the dating scene.

***

I stare at the man in front of me. His profile on the app was exactly the kind of guy I was looking for. And he’d actually made me laugh a few times tonight which was a bonus. But something feels like it’s missing—they all have this last month as I became a serial dater. I was really putting myself out there but nobody made it past date two.

“So how about heading out?” He asks after the bill.

“Yeah! Sure,” I grab my purse and we walk out. He grabs my hand as we step out.

“Want to share a ride?”

“Are we going to the same place?” I ask.

“If you want,” he pulls my hand and places it on his shoulder. He was cute, I could kiss him.

And I do, but it’s just a kiss. Just two mouths kissing. I don’t feel the spark, or the passion.

“Actually,” I pull away. “I forgot I have an early morning meeting so I think I should behave and head home by myself.”

“Oh,” he looks disappointed. “Well maybe we can do something on Friday?”

“Yeah I’ll text you?”

He pecks my lips, “Sounds good.”

I get a car and as I drive away from the date my hands stray to my lips. I remember another kiss, and then I slam the door shut on it. You can’t keep comparing all your kisses to that one!

Except the thing about telling my mind not to think about something, I do. I think about Harry, and question myself like I have been ever since the wedding if I made the wrong choice. Did I push him away too quickly, out of fear? Am I protecting myself or just scared?

I open the text exchange between us like I do weekly and hover my fingers over the keyboard. What do I say? What could I say?

I scroll to the top of the conversation and find his address and plug it into my phone. I was 18 minutes away.

“Excuse me could I change the drop off?” I ask the taxi driver. “I had a change of plans.”

He asks me where and he knew the area enough to take the left and head in that direction.

That was very impulsive. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that?

Adrenaline courses through my body as I pray that he still lived in the same place. What was I going to say?

My leg bounces up and down as I stare out the window, biting down on my lip. This was stupid, I made him bloody cry the last time I saw him. Then again I cried the time before that. Were we equal? Was I twisted enough to think this could all work?

I nearly jump out of the taxi after paying and walk to the front door. Of course, you needed a key card.

With shaking fingers I call Harry.

“Hello?”

I freeze. He was out, the sounds of people and music give that away.

“YN? Is that you?”

I was so stupid! Why did I do this?

“YN?” Now Harry sounds worried. I take a deep breath.

“Sorry! Wrong number. I meant to call som-“

“YN are you alright? Is everything okay?”

The background noise disappears. He must have stepped out.

“Yes sorry to worry you!” I squeak. “Everything’s fine.”

“Why did you call?” He asks as I ask “What are you doing right now?”

We laugh. Harry tells me, “You first.”

“It was an accident…”

“Oh well…a good accident.” I can hear his smile through the phone. “I was just grading final tests at my local pub.”

His local pub…that meant he was close by. I think. My heart picks up speed. “Oh! Is that something you do often?”

“Yeah some of these papers remind me why I’m quitting this job. So I drink to get through them.”

“Giving up on the youth of tomorrow?” I ask. I spot a bench a little ways away and head to it, next to a bike rack.

“Yes!” Harry laughs. “They’ve given up on me too. They’s all assholes nobody listens to me.”

“I would’ve liked to have you as a teacher,” I go for flirting. “None of my grade school teachers were good looking. I could’ve used a distraction.”

“So you’re admitting that I’m good looking,” Harry says just as I spot him heading to his door.

“Yeah in your grey t-shirt, I think so.”

I watch as he whips his head around and scans the area until he spots me.

“I lied,” I get up and wave at him. “I came by to see you but I was embarrassed when you weren’t home.”

“Why-“ his voice sticks. “Why did you come to see me?”

“Well,” by now we’re close enough that I could shout to him but I still use the phone. “I thought about what I said that night and I think I was too harsh.”

“And?” Harry stares at me as I walk up to him.

“And I want to believe that a second impression can be just as important as a first.”

He’s alight in a second, hope injected into his features. I stop a few feet away from him.

“I’ll take that. I’ll take it.”

“Okay,” I move in closer, lowering my phone. My eyes are on his lips and I don’t care that how badly I want to kiss him is plain as day. Because in the moment he reaches for me I know he wants this just as bad.

My mind is wiped clean when he kisses me—I kind of hate myself of a month ago for denying me of this all this time.

It’s indecent, the way we kiss out there. When my mind returns to my body I push him away, flushed and nervous.

“Should we take this up to your place?”

“Why? Are you getting shy?” He teases.

“Your neighbours are getting free entertainment,” I’m out of breath as I talk and this seems to make Harry smile even harder. He presses a hard kiss to me and then leads me by the hand up to his flat. We’re on each other with every pause we take, it’s gross and unlike me but I’m just too happy to stop. The spark, the passion, everything I’d been looking for is here.

“Can I uh,” Harry closes the door behind us as I continue kissing him, my lips finding any part of him. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Sure,” I watch him unbutton my cardigan. “I’ll take a tall glass of whatever you’re serving.”

He smirks and pulls me back in. I jump when he tells me to and he carries me to wherever his bedroom is. I’m barely in the right state of mind to notice anything as I get lost in us. In the way his hands hold me, and the way his moustache feels on my skin. Maybe it’s been a while or maybe it was him but having this after so long makes it taste sweeter than it ever had.

***

“Happy six months,” Harry wraps his arms around me from behind. I’m making us coffee, we were up especially early because we were making the trip to see Harry’s family for the holidays. Usually this is when I went to Taz’s but this year she’d urged me to spend the time with my boyfriend’s family.

She’d been suspicious when I first told her about Harry. But when she saw how happy I was she’d given it her blessings (and I’m pretty sure threatened Harry with some dismemberment). I hadn’t had a big Christmas in a while, and Harry said he had more family coming into town. I was nervous to meet so many new people, people that meant a lot to Harry. But he assured me everyone would love me.

“Happy six month,” I reach up to peck his lips and settle against him. He hums as he tightens his arms around me. I couldn’t believe this was my life now, I was happier than I ever dared to think I could be. I never knew a relationship could be so complementing, so grounding.

Despite our rocky start, that Harry and I had discussed in depth when we first started dating, we were mostly smooth sailing. The way I saw it we met as two damaged people. Somehow we parted from there and ran like parallel lines until we were straightened out enough to meet again. And now we ran together as a pair of lines.

“I’m so lucky,” Harry presses a kiss to my temple, thinking the same thing I had been. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world YN. You make me the luckiest guy in the world.”

“Then that would make me Mrs. Luckiest-Guy-in-the-World,” I joke as I turn in his embrace.

“I’d like that,” he strokes my cheek. “I’m excited to introduce you to everyone tonight.”

“That makes one of us.”

“YN I promise there’s nothing to be nervous about. They already love you because they know you’re the reason I’ve been so…me.”

I swallow the ball of emotion in my chest. We were both just us around each other. No fuss, no pretending. Just us. It wasn’t something I could share with my own family, they barely knew what I was really like. Harry had met my parents separately when they were in town a couple months ago. They’d liked him, but they also liked Ethan so it wasn’t saying much.

“I trust you,” I hold his face in my hands. “Fine.”

“Good,” his hand rubs my back. He pulls me into his chest, crushing me against him until the coffee goes off.

“Thanks love,” Harry says as I hand him a mug.

We chat about nothing as we take our coffees to the couch where we sit snuggled. I feel safe here, it’s a good feeling, a feeling that felt so overwhelmingly new sometimes that it made me want to cry. Which always made Harry laugh.

“I can’t wait to spend this new year together,” I tell him.

“Me too,” his lips press softly onto my temple. “I’m finally excited about the future. I’m doing a job I like and dating a woman I love.”

“I’m happy for us.” I smile up at him.

We sit snuggled on the couch as we sip our morning coffee. I savour everything about this moment.

With Harry life was stable, it was good. I knew I would never pick up my phone and find a text so life-shattering like the ex-text had done to me; I know it was impossible to predict the future but somehow I could tell you that I had a good feeling about it.

———————————

TAGLIST: @tiaamberxx @cherryshouse

#harry styles fic #writingsfromhome #harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagine #fic #harry styles fluff #harry styles series #harry styles angst #harry stylesxreader #series #i didn’t really know where this one was going lol #but I am also feeling lazy to edit so dont mind #sorry in advance if this isn’t the ending you wanted lol #road trip

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bonobochick · 6 months

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Thoughts on #Elite7

I finished up Elite S7 and I have some thoughts with some gifs. 🥹

Positives:

Rocio got story and screentime. 🎉 I hated seeing her chase after Bilal's worthless ass in S6 cause he didn't even like her & constantly disrespected her yet as soon as he found out her fam is rich, he started singing a different tune. Rocio didn't get as much as I wanted in terms of screentime but enough that she got famliy drama with her mom's illicit activities + romantic drama with Eric. Nico's cousin Eric showed up this season and he's got issues. Rocio & Eric had good chem (much more chem IMO that he has with Chloe) in their attraction to each other.

Eric messes up more than a few times with her yet how he treats her shows care and actual feelings, not just sexual desire. What Elite was building up with Rocio & Eric was love as opposed to what he had with Chloe, which was vices + sex. Sadly, I think this romance with Eric & Rocio will only exist in S7, which is unfortunate with all that good chem and decent build up. 😮‍💨

2) The surprise appearance of Fiks from Blood and Water! I didn't know about the crossover so it was good to see her. I know Ivan will be in S4 of Blood and Water.

3) I like the crew of Nico, Eric, & Rocio. They have a nice vibe together, good times and bad times, I would say more of this in S8 but I've read that Rocio won't be in S8 so I'll have to enjoy the beginnings of a solid crew that I got in S7 since I'm about to get nothing in S8. I thought the scenes with Nico & his cousin re: Eric's mental health issues were absorbing too. Eric wanted to do better but hated how he felt being on meds. As his uncle said, it's about figuring out the right cocktail to help him with the highs and lows but Eric struggled with patience in that because of the side effects.

4) I adore Ivan so I was glad to see him on the mend from the accident. He's still heartbroken over Patrick's exit and the death of Cruz so much of S7 is him trying to move past his grief. He does that in the form of Joel which is in the next section.

Neutral / Indifferent:

1) Omar / Joel / Ivan... I've already admitted I adore Ivan but for full disclosure, I'm BIG on Patrivan so anything else for them with anyone else was always going to be an uphill battle. I also do not like Omar ever since he cheated with Malik and didn't even apologize to Nadia about it. All this said... I didn't hate this story. I thought it was interesting to show Omar's depression from what happened to Samu but the show spent a little bit too much time with all the back and forth in this story. Joel is alright and his chem with both guys is fine. I just wasn't invested in this triangle and all the angst but it's not a bad story. Dalmar is MVP in it.

2) Chloe and Carmen: I wanted Ivan's mother to show up and Carmen did. She also brought along Ivan's half-sister (to which I need to do some age checking cause pregnancies take time!) named Chloe. Carmen is a golddigger and it made sense why Cruz paid her to stay away from Ivan. That doesn't mean that Ivan didn't have a moment where he got to know his mother a little TOO well. ahem. The drama here with Ivan's new family had potential and was messy but I... didn't care for Chloe's everything is sbout sex story, especially with Eric but also with Raul. All it did was make me roll my eyes a lot in annoyance. The strong-arming that Chloe was irresistible / sexy got tired quickly, especially when she was walking around in her school uniform with her bra out as sign of that "sexiness." Come on!

3) All things Didac, Isadora, and their families: a lot going on and a lot of it didn't move me. Didac & Isadora are fine together so that wasn't the issue for me. The Romeo + Juliet story with the warring families didn't quite work for me. Took up lots of screentime too.

What did work? The hottie undercover cop. That was some nice eye candy.

4) Sonia & Nico... I wanted to see more of them after the S6 drama with Ari and they got shafted in terms of story + screentime toghether, particularly after Nico schtupped Chloe.

Negatives:

1) All things Sara and Raul.

I've hated these two characters since they both showed up in S6 but someone has a hard-on for them in the writers room, particularly Sara. I skipped over many of their scenes with each other and with others. Raul won't be in S8. I wish Sara wasn't as well but she'll be their stinking up things. 🗑️

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msfbgraves · 16 days

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What do you think of The Godfather Part 3? I honestly hate most of it, it just feels like poorly written fanfiction lol. I can't decide what's the worst bit: Mary, Mary and Vincent's incestuous relationship (WHY!!), Michael and Kay, Michael being totally OOC (smiling, being jovial), Michael's truly horrible haircut (might be the single worst offender for me OMG)...just a bad film in my opinion. I like to pretend it doesn't exist.

I personally really like Sherlock series 1 and 2, and ignore the existence of the rest of it, pretty much. That works fine. But if you don't mind me feeling differently while understanding where you're coming from, Nonnie - I really like the Godfather Coda, the Death of Michael Corleone. Part III, the first cut, nah, I think we can put that aside. And yes, the difference in Michael is too jarring for the most part. I've watched Pacino in different things, and he seems to prefer playing more extrovert men, and seems to have decided playing Michael that way was what felt best to him. And I could see it - there are some hints of that Michael very early in film 1 with Kay - but they'd need to do a better job bridging that gap visually. I can forgive it, because I do see this film as Don Corleone desperately trying to go back to being a man, Michael Andolini if you will, the man he would have been had he not picked up the mantle of Don, the man he can't ever be. Vito saw the tragedy in his son picking up that mantle, he almost apologised: "There wasn't enough time, Michael." Michael now sees Vincent being hungry for it while he cannot escape how his own choices are eating at him. When he wants his son to join him, he is rebuffed. When he forbids his daughter to join him through Vincent,he is rebuffed. I think the figure of Mary shows very clearly how he has lost all the loves of his life to this crime, in the dancing scenes: Apollonia, Kay, yes, Kay, people, and now the one who yet loves him as a man first - Mary. Connie, too, has been entirely corrupted.

The third Godfather gives us a whole film about this stage of alienation and power slipping from us, while framing the rise of Vincent not as a triumph but as a horror. Vito's rising was mostly triumphant, as he honoured his relationships. Michael's rising was terrible on everyone he loved... and Vincent's rising through Michael's eyes is sleazy. A rotten thing that Michael can't escape.

But most gangster films give that a couple of scenes at most, indeed a coda... but Coppola was like: if you insist on milking this, I refuse to go easy on you. I will not do it, I will give you the wreckage I spent two films building up.

Artistically brave, but a genre break, and a sad thing too that these men can't figure out a way to include a young woman in this action other than through love. Cousins marrying was not totally unheard of in the Sicilian old world, though, I don't think. Small island, few newcomers. These things die out hard. Just another way to show how this old world clashes with the life Michael chases and can never reach - through his own choices! It's a true tragedy! Could he have done differently? Yes, but also no, he is Michael. Who bears the emotional fallout of this, and this I love - the women! The ones who are supposedly so cutoff from all this! Connie gets abused, widowed, and has to submit to her own brother in an effort to save the other and herself. Again, she's lost two siblings and a husband to this violence! Kay lives in terror and still loses a daughter. Mary - poorly acted Mary, I'm sorry, even recut the others outshine her too much - killed by a bullet meant for Michael, and Michael, forced to live with his failure exiled in the Sicily he tried all his life to leave behind... it's tonally a break and not at all what a lot of fans of the first two would have come to the cinema for. But what do I think?

I think despite its flaws it's brave and necessary.

I mean I love that Michael ends this film alone, ashamed and cursedly alive.

#The godfather part iii #The godfather coda #the godfather #The death of michael corleone

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simplysparrow14 · 1 year

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The Lackadaisy Film-Pilot Review

Please note that all opinions are my own. No one is paying me to talk about the film. I'm just a fan with a few opinions.

So I just watched the long anticipated animated film-pilot, based on the massively popular anthropomorphic comic, Lackadiasy.

And it was good. Not perfect, by any means. but good.

As with any independently funded project, there are undoubtably mistakes and problems that, with a professionally backed project, wouldn't be an issue.

The first 5 minutes can be completely cut out. In this scene, the titular character Rocky Rickaby (played by) pronounces an incredibly gawdy, overblown, too-long-for-its-own-good poem about the Mississippi River. From his violin, he spews glitter sparkles and gilded daises. The entirely of that scene could have been cut as it truly doesn't serve anything to the overall plot or character. Its truly a long-drawn sequence that is meant to show off the animation budget, which is mostly squandered since all Rocky does in that scene is prance across the bridge while hanging from the scaffolding beams. It feels as though the film is trying to pad out time. Instead of having this egregious poem play out, the film could have used that 5 minutes to help fully flesh out the overall plot that the film tries to explain.

The plot itself doesnt make itself known naturally. Often times, characters will have to speak a few lines of exposition. (this is scene with the Lackadaisy practiconer, Mitzi May, who monologues about the glory-days of the speakeasy to the giant portrait of her dead husband). We get vague hints that there was a falling out between Mordecai Heller (Played by Songwoo Cho) and the Lackadaisy Speakeasy. We get a vague sense of a rival business' called Marigold, and Mitzi's want of "the good old days" of the lackadaisy. But because the film itself spends a good chunk of its time with very well coreographic action scenes and car chases, we never get a real feel for what the lackadaisy represents to these characters, why its survival is important outside of "i miss the good old days" and "we need money" and why Mitzi is so hell-bent on bringing its corpse back to life. The film itself does a decent job of trying to que newcomers into the story, but truly the film is for the fans.

There were a multitude of scenes where it was too silent for its own good. Multiple scenes were lacking in background music, and as such, a lot of times you could hear nothing but sound effects. While not too egregiously overplayed like Hazbin Hotel, where even the potted plants had sound effects, Lackadaisy keeps it to the minimum. However in scenes where it feels like it should be big bombastic music to put forth a sense of urgency and fear, it's mostly kept quiet and as a result, make several scenes in which there is nothing but slamming doors and shotgun blasts become too common. Because Lackadaisy's is independently funded, there not at the disposal of a orchestra, or the technical capacity for a prominent OST.

Throughout the short film, there were multiple shots where you could see the sketch lines beneath the animation. Often times you could see the face symmetry lines, and as a result, felt jarring for a piece of animated almost 3-4 years in the making. While most likely a stylistic choice, it often makes the film look too unfished, like they didn't have enough time to pass over the animation a second time. This is juxtapose by after-credit sketch animation akin to Fleisher-brothers/Steamboat willie

Some of the voice acting is a little hit and miss. While some VA do beautiful work with their characters (SungWon Cho's Mordechai, Malcom Ray and Benni Latham's Brother-Sister Duo, Serafine and Nicodeme, Belsheber Rusape and Michal Kovach's Chaos Cousins' Freckle and Rocky) others feel a little out of touch (Ashe Wager tries her hardest for a southern accent, but ultimately fails while also giving Mitzi the deepest southern bell voice I've heard in a long time, while Bradley Gareth's cadence for Sedgewick Sable makes him sound just a few steps below a more proud but deep Jimmy Stewart).

However, the animated itself (when you don't see the sketch lines) is beautiful. All of the sound effects feel purposeful and appropriate. The techno-swing jazz music that is played feels in sync with the aesthetic of the whole piece. But truly the action scenes in which Ivy, Freckle and Rocky must outrace Nicodeme, Serefine and Mordecai are truly the best parts. Fun, fast, and exciting!

Overall, for a short film, independent animated it's one of the best, and id still recommend it for anyone who's a fan of the comic as well as newcomers.

#lackadaisy #lackadiasy film

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androidcharles · 10 months

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Rockin' the House Chapter 3

There's a lot crammed into this chapter, so here's a general summary

Ellie has been commissioned by Charles to write lyrics for their music! And she meets up w/ an old friend in the process... And after that the show starts! How well will it go?

Ellie tapped a pencil on her desk as she let out a small sigh, trying to concentrate as she stared at the blank piece of paper. A week ago, Charles had begged her to write lyrics for one of their songs in time for their first performance. Their set list consisted of four songs, three of them covers of songs ancient and modern. It had been a while since she had really written, so writing lyrics for Charles and his band should have been a piece of cake.

However, it seemed like she was having a hard time finding inspiration. It was strange that Charles chose her to write songs for them. He only requested her to do it because his lyrics were a bit dark. She had read over them and didn’t seem to think they weren’t that bad. A bit horrifying in some places, but it didn’t really fit their sound at all.

Charles seemed to like writing somewhat cheerful sounding songs, but dark lyrics wouldn’t really fit with that. But than why did Charles ask her to write the lyrics? Her poems were pretty dark too.

Maybe he thought they were more tame compared to half of the stuff he wrote. She sighed as she glanced over at the clock, realizing it had only been thirty minutes and slammed her head on the desk, letting out a small groan.

“You OK?” Her head popped up and she saw Henry looking at her with a bit of worry.

YOU SHOULDN’T BE OUT OF BED, Henry said, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

“Writing a song for Charles?” Ellie said, “I mean, he asked me to… The cast comes off in about a few days anyway. I might as well get used to moving around anyway.”

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO WRITE, ANYWAY? Henry asked.

“Charles said he wanted something bittersweet,” Ellie said, “I guess that’s what my poems are? That’s a very interesting way of putting it. His friends said his poem was too dark.”

“Bittersweet…” Henry said softly as he glanced at the papers.

“I’ve already heard their songs. They’re pretty good actually. Charles uploaded the recordings onto AudioMist,” Ellie said, “I listened to them to get a good idea of how I should write these lyrics but in all honesty, I’m not sure if I can do something that’ll impress him.”

WELL, DON’T FORCE IT. TRUST ME, WHENEVER I’M MAKING SCULPTURES AND STUFF, I FIND THAT MAKING FROM THE HEART IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN TRYING TO FORCE MYSELF TO MAKE SOMETHING, Henry signed at her, patting her back in reassurance.

“Maybe I should take a walk, just to clear my head,” Ellie said, “Maybe I’ll find something inspiring out in the city.”

CAN I JOIN YOU? Henry asked. Ellie smiled.

“Sure, why not?” Ellie said.

The two of them exited the apartment together as they headed out through the city, taking in the sights as they walked around the block before they finally decided to sit down on a city bench. Ellie was busy scribbling in a notepad as Henry took in the surroundings, doing some sketches of his own.

“I’m actually feeling the inspiration flowing through me a bit. This actually kinda reminds me of how I used to pal around with my older cousin,” Ellie said, “We’d run around Manhatten unsupervised and somehow get into all sorts of trouble. One time we got chased by two… HEY I met the Toppats before I even met them. How funny is that?” Henry giggled as he watched everyone going by.

“Yeah, Jacob was always causing trouble. Then he became a security guard for West Mesa Museum,” Ellie said.

DIDN’T YOU HEAR? HE ACTUALLY GOT FIRED A WHILE BACK, Henry said.

“What? What happened?” Ellie asked.

“Um…” I HAPPENED, Henry said, making a sort of cringey face as he put his fingers together.

“Oh, yeah, you stealing the diamond did that…” Ellie said.

HOW DID YOU KNOW HE WAS WORKING AT THE WEST MESA MUSEUM BEFORE I ROBBED IT? Henry said, I NEVER TOLD YOU.

“I was kinda keeping an eye on him. But when I moved up north, I found it more difficult so I just… gave up on it. I don’t know what he’s up to now,” Ellie said. Henry only shrugged as he glanced at everyone passing by, taking note of everyone and watching them walk by. Ellie suddenly grabbed Henry’s shirt as he flinched, glancing at Ellie with a look of confusion.

“Is that… who I think it is…” Ellie said softly. She looked down the street as Henry glanced around, trying to figure out what she was looking at.

“There, over there!!” Ellie whispered, pointing at a person who was wearing a huge coat and a pair of shades, looking around as he adjusted his hat to cover his face a bit more. He tried to think of where he might have seen him before Ellie shot out of her seat, trying her best to run after the man with her crutch. Henry cautiously followed behind her as they situated themselves in an alleyway near the person in question. He glanced around again, as if he was trying to see if there was anyone watching.

“Jacob… JACOB!” Ellie shout whispered. The mans head bolted up as he flinched, trying to figure out where the voice had come as Ellie waved her hands at him. He tipped his head to the side as he started to head down the alleyway before gasping, seeing Ellie looking at him with wide eyes.

“Jacob?” Ellie whispered. Jacob took off his sunglasses, returning her bewildered look as Henry put his hand over his mouth.

“Ellie?” Jacob said, “Is that really you?” He glanced from side to side and leaned forward.

“This isn’t the best time for us to meet right now.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Ellie asked as they suddenly heard a couple of screams from the street.

“That’s going on right now. Excuse me,” Jacob ran out of the alleyway, shucking off the coat to reveal his clothes and a pin on the pocket of his shirt… a Toppat pin.

“No way…” Ellie said softly as he raced down the street, hearing police sirens. Henry beckoned for Ellie to follow him as they ducked through the alleys to another part of the city, where Ellie slid down against the wall and looked up in shock. Henry tapped her shoulder to communicate with her.

SHOCKED? Was the first thing he asked.

“I mean, I guess? I didn’t think he had it in him though. He was always such a goody two shoes growing up. I thought he would still be looking after our aunt. After the fire…” Ellie started to grip her head as she felt a spike of pain shook up her spine. She took a deep grounding breath before looking at at Henry, who had a great look of concern in his eyes.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ellie said, “I think I’ve had enough fresh air for today…”

“Ellie!” The pair jumped when they heard a shout and turned around to see Jacob running towards them. Ellie backed away as Jacob stared at her, almost ready to run after her before she approached him.

“You should get out of here, you robbed a bank!” Ellie said quietly.

“I just wanted to tell you that we need to meet up. There’s… a lot I wanna talk about…” Jacob said.

“What makes you think I’m not gonna turn you in to the authorities?” Ellie asked.

“Because… I trust you?” Jacob said, “I don’t know, but I gotta run! Please, let’s meet up, I promise it’ll be worth it!” Jacob ran off as Ellie sighed, resting her head against the wall.

“Wanna go home now?” Henry said softly as Ellie nodded her head.

- - - - -

About two days had passed since Ellie’s encounter with Jacob. She had mentioned it to Charles and Charles seemed a bit shocked that he was related to Ellie.

“I thought that Rose was a very common last name!” Charles said, “To think that was your cousin… I can’t believe it.”

Meanwhile, she had managed to write at least one song for the first song Charles had written. Charles loved it a lot and was already practicing it with Amelia, who seemed to have a hard time playing and singing at the same time. However, things were getting better considering the people they were practicing with.

Ellie wanted to write another song with the second song that Charles had written, but she couldn’t seem to think of anything in the moment.

“Don’t worry too much about it!” Charles had told her as he packed his things for band practice, “Even one song is enough! I think we’ll just perform some covers of some other songs.”

“I don’t want your band to devolve into a cover band though. I’ve still got a week, I could probably get something done for you in that time!”

“Don’t worry too much about it. I know the creative process and it sucks sometimes. Just get it out when you can, alright?” Charles said, “Say, how about you come with me?”

“Huh?”

“You wanna meet with your cousin right? Might as well come with me.”

“I’d rather not. You’re pretty welcome over, but the other Toppats might not take too kindly to me.”

“Well, not everyone is nice to me. Our music trainers are still kinda cold towards me and there’s also a couple of Toppats here and there who’ll jeer at me. There’s this one Toppat in the kitchen though, Scottie who’s really nice! Ah, well, that’s just to name a few,” Charles said, “If you want, I can have you stay in the chopper and I’ll ask the Right Hand Man to find Jacob so he can meet you up there.” Elllie pondered this for a second. It had been a while since she had talked to her cousin and it would be nice to catch up once again.

“Alright, fine. I’ll come with you. But only if you promise I’m not gonna be like… taken prisoner or anything.”

“You have my word. If they try anything on you, I’ll give them hell.” Ellie followed Charles out the door, letting Henry know that she was going out and she would be back soon. Charles handed him a slip of paper before heading out, locking the door behind him.

“What was that?” Ellie asked.

“A slip of paper with the coordinates of the Toppat manor. If anything happens, he can come rescue us!” Charles said as he headed up to the roof.

After about an hour of flight, the helicopter landed on top of the manor in the designated location, where Amelia was already waiting for him with Dave. Charles stepped out of the helicopter as Ellie walked towards the pilots area, watching him talk to Amelia and Dave as Amelia tipped her head to the side. Immediately, she ran towards the helicopter’s entrance and rapidly pulled the door open, causing Ellie to jump as she stared at her.

“Hello,” she said, smiling at her.

“Hey… long time no see,” Ellie said, “I wanna talk to my cousin, Jacob Rose. Is that OK?”

“Jacob? Yeah, that’s alright!” Amelia said, “You’re not gonna attack him are you?”

“That really depends on a lot of things,” Ellie said, “Can you just tell him that I’m up here?”

“Sure!” Amelia immediately accessed her messenger app and typed up a message for Jacob.

GlitterToppatGirl: Jacob

RoseRedToppat: what

GlitterToppatGirl: Are you available?

RoseRedToppat: what do you need

GlitterToppatGirl: There’s a girl claiming to be your cousin here right now on the roof. She has red hair, I forgot her name… Elsie or something? …….Hello? HEY

“Geez,” Amelia muttered as she closed her messenger, “I’ve gotta get to practice. There’s a room nearby you can wait in if you want.”

“No thanks I’m good,” Ellie said as she cautiously exited the helicopter, relishing the fresh air out here compared to the more smoggy air in the city. She looked up to see a sea of stars above her, feeling a bit refreshed at it all as Amelia smiled at her.

“Alright, whatever you want,” Amelia said, “Just don’t catch a cold up here.” She followed Charles and Dave as they talked amongst themselves as Ellie sighed, sitting on the edge of the helicopter, making note of anything she can do to ensure her safety when she heard the door burst open. She looked up to see Jacob, his eyes wide as he ran towards her. She jumped off of the helicopter just in time to get barreled down by a huge hug.

“ELLIE! I WAS SO FUCKING WORRIED ABOUT YOU!! When you disappeared after the fire and oh greater ones above, I don’t know what to tell you I don’t know where to start-”

“How about you start by telling me why you became a Toppat?” Ellie asked. Jacob flinched as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

“Well, it was more of a recent development. I got tired of working at this one taco stand and a Toppat approached me and asked me if I wanted to join. So… I did. I know it wasn’t really ethical, but I was sick of bouncing between jobs and living with my mom. She’s gone nuts since last year and I don’t know why. So I took advantage of the free lodging and stuff that’s offered there and I just told her I was going to work freelance somewhere else,” Jacob said.

“Seriously?” Ellie said.

“It was either that or become a streamer and I really couldn’t put up with that,” Jacob said, “I didn’t really want to be a Toppat, but I was miserable before! And you already know how my mom is.”

“That’s true, Aunt Bella was always one screw short of a working brain. But that can’t exactly be helped. Especially considering how the entire family fortune was stolen,” Ellie said.

“That’s true too,” Jacob said. He sat down at the edge of the roof as Ellie joined him, feeling a bit relieved as he turned towards her.

“So, what were you up to before you become a private investigator?” Jacob asked.

“Oh, I was a criminal too. I guess it was pretty hypocritical of me to call you out on your own little criminal thing when I was running around doing that shit myself,” Ellie said, “But there’s like… lots of holes in my memories. There are things I can’t remember and things I can’t. It’s almost scary actually…”

“Oh…” Jacob said, “I’m sorry to hear.”

“It’s alright. It’s my fault mostly. I don’t know what happened, but that woman that was with my dad-” Ellie suddenly gripped the sides of her head as Jacob shot up, gasping as she shook in place, trying to breath.

“Ellie! ELLIE!” Jacob shouted, “Oh greater ones above, what do I do?” Ellie winced as she looked up, tears in her eyes as Jacob felt tears springing up.

“I’m sorry…” Jacob said, “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. I don’t know why I didn’t work harder to try to find you but my mom and the police and all these other things just sort of popped up. I really am sorry.”

“It’s fine. We’re together now and that’s all that matters,” Ellie said, “So I guess now we can start over.”

“Yeah, whatever you want really,” Jacob said, lying down on the roof. Ellie lay down with him, gazing at the multitudes of stars as Jacob sighed.

“I wish I could make it up to you, I really wish I could. But if you’re operating on the right side of the law now, I highly doubt anything I could do for you would be legal,” Jacob said.

“I think meeting with you and getting confirmation that you’re still, you know, OK is good enough for me,” Ellie said.

“Well that’s good to hear,” Jacob said, “It’s nice to see that you’re OK as well. After everything that happened, I was afraid you might have died or something…”

The pair was silent as they stared at the stars above, twinkling endlessly as Jacob sighed.

“I guess that’s it then,” Jacob said, “I’m sorry that things turned out like this. I wonder… what would have happened if that fire didn’t happen.”

“We’d probably be groomed to live richy rich lives. Or playing around with the Toppats. Whatever comes first,” Ellie said.

“Well, I would have been a Toppat no matter what then. I guess nobody wins,” Jacob said. Ellie pondered over this for a second, trying to mull over her thoughts before she was suddenly struck with something. Immediately, she pulled out her phone and started to type away on it, hitting each of the buttons like she was desperate to keep the ideas flowing, like a small creek becoming a mighty river.

“Ellie, what’s wrong?” Jacob asked as Ellie looked up.

“I just… I got inspired, I guess you could say,” Ellie said.

“You’re still writing poetry? That’s good to hear,” Jacob said, “What are you writing?”

“Just something that I think Charles and his band will like,” Ellie said. She kept typing away as she mulled over a few details before saving her progress and sending it to Charles.

Meanwhile, Charles, Amelia, and Dave were practicing in their practice room, sounding better then ever as they finished their song.

“Wow, that was amazing!” Amelia said, “A real rush you know!”

“Amelia, are you sure you’re OK? Your voice sounds a bit… bit crushed lately,” Charles asked.

“Huh? Nah, I’m fine! I just need to practice some more,” Amelia said.

“Don’t overexert yourself sweetheart…” Dave said softly, “I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“I’ll be fine! I’m an android, remember? Let’s do it again from the top!” Amelia said. Charles suddenly heard a ping in his head as he gazed at the message in his messenger.

RoseyRose sent ARoseWithoutThorns.txt RoseyRose: I think you’ll like this. This isn’t the final draft, but take a look at it and see if it’ll fit with your second song.

Charles curiously opened the text file and read over the poem before growing a bit excited.

“What’s wrong Charles?” Amelia asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Charles said, “Hey let’s start practicing the second song a bit. I know we’re cutting it close, but I really want this first set to be perfect.” Amelia bounced a little as Dave nodded his head, clacking his sticks together to count them off as they began to play again.

- - - - -

On the day of CC in the AM’s first performance, it was a bit stormy out. That didn’t stop the multitudes of Toppats (and a couple of people Henry had threatened) from heading out to the live house to see the three perform for the first time ever.

General Galeforce sighed as Rupert stood by his side, a little annoyed at the crowd. They were Toppats, that much was true. And with a full squad, they could probably arrest a few. However, they weren’t on duty technically, so they didn’t want to cause any trouble. Plus Rupert really wanted to support his boyfriend by doing this.

“If this ends up becoming another Toppat bottleneck because of that girl… I swear, Charlie’s really playing with fire here,” General Galeforce said as they entered the live house. Rupert took in the air of the place as it was packed fully with dozens of people. He wondered if Dave was even to sell all the tickets that he was given, but he recognized some of Dave’s coworkers in a small group, all talking amongst each other, glancing warily at the stage as Rupert glared at them.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the good general!” Rupert jumped to see two familiar faces; Reginald Copperbottom and his Right Hand Man, both wearing poor disguises as General Galeforce rolled his eyes.

“I suppose you two are here to see your daughter perform,” General Galeforce said.

“Hm… I suppose so. I just hope she can be honest about… ah well, it’ll be fine! I can only hope I raised her right. You know how it is with android children,” Reginald said. General Galeforce chuckled, feeling himself relate a little bit. He couldn’t even count how many times Charles had lied through his teeth to him as a young android.

“I suppose a temporary truce is in place for now. Is that correct?” Reginald asked.

“You’re lucky I don’t want to cause a ruckus while my son is on stage. I know how bad concert riots can get,” General Galeforce said. Rupert glanced at the general as he gazed at the stage, feeling a bit excited to not only see his best friend, but his boyfriend performing as well.

Meanwhile, backstage Charles was pacing the floor as Dave tapped his foot uncertainly, listening to the crowd.

“Greater ones above, I hope my drums are tuned, I hope I don’t get off beat, I hope there’s no riot, I don’t want my coworkers to laugh at me, I hope-”

“Dave you’re not helping. Geez, where’s Amelia?” Charles said.

GlitterToppatGirl: I’m right here.

Amelia entered the room as Dave jumped up and hugged her tightly. Charles smiled as he clapped his hands together

“Huh? Amelia! Thank goodness you’re here! They’re waiting for us outside, c’mon, you ready to perform?”

GlitterToppatGirl: No. I lost my voice.

Charles blinked as he stared at Amelia, who opened her mouth, the most haunting glitchy sound coming out as she tried to speak before covering it up again.

GlitterToppatGirl: It’s been like that since this morning. Combined with the drivers being out of date slightly and me wearing down my voice box, it’s going to take about a week for a sufficient replacement part to come in. I’m sorry guys, I can’t sing…

“I’ll do it! I’ll sing in her place!” Dave said.

“No you need to concentrate on drumming…” Charles said, “Ah, let’s see… Well, I don’t wanna resort to lip syncing, so I guess I’ll just sing in the meantime. It won’t be the same, but I hope I can manage.”

“CC in the AM? It’s showtime!” Ozwald shouted through the door. The three of them glanced at each other, realizing how real this was before nodding their heads. They headed out, getting ready to perform for a room of over fifty people. The crowd began to cheer as the curtain opened.

xXBold_Action_ManXx: Remember the first song?

GlitterToppatGirl: Sure do. Break a leg. And not a voice box.

Charles smirked as Amelia began to strum her bass guitar and he began to sing. For the first time ever he felt nervous, watching over the crowd as they swayed to the slow song, feeling almost excited. He saw Henry and Ellie standing next to each other, watching him as he strummed his guitar, Jacob was in the crowd as well, next to his cousin bouncing along to the music.

He saw General Galeforce, a twinkle in his eyes as he watched them perform and Rupert, who was staring very intently at the stage in a mode of concentration even he couldn’t understand. Reginald and the Right Hand Man were standing next to them, Reginald bouncing in place as his eyes were fully on Amelia and the Right Hand Man recording her with his camera, a gleam of pride his eyes.

But Charles couldn’t help but notice someone else in the crowd. Someone he hadn’t seen in a while. He tried to confirm, but he had to concentrate on finishing the song. Once he did, there was a stunning amount of applause and cheering as Charles approached the microphone.

“Thank you for listening! We want to thank you all for coming out here tonight to support us. I’m glad that so many people were willing to come out and hear us sing. I’m Charles Calvin, I’m the guitarist of the band, joined by my good friend Amelia C- ah… Just Amelia is fine for her for now. She unfortunately sang too much over the past week and lost her voice. Isn’t that something?” Everyone laughed as Amelia’s inseams steamed slightly.

GlitterToppatGirl: Not cool dude 😡

“Aha, anyway, we also have our drummer back here, Dave Panpa. Dave is a pretty cool dude once you get to know him and despite his shyness he’s actually a really excellent drummer!”

“Shut up!” Dave said, “I’m not that shy!”

“Well, it’s the vibe you kinda give off you know,” Charles said, “Well, either way, I hope you enjoy this next song. It’s another cover, but I think you’ll like it.”

So the set continued as planned, with Charles giving witty banter in between songs and even introducing the two original songs, crediting Ellie for writing the lyrics to them. As the finished the final bar of their last song, the crowd cheered, clapping and waving their hands as Charles glanced over the it, feeling a chill down his artificial spine.

No he wasn’t imagining it. There were two other androids in the crowd… they just left.

“Ah, I want to thank you guys for coming out to hear us perform! Check out my AudioMist profile CCintheAM for more original songs and of course thank you guys for coming out tonight! We love all of you and we hope you have safe travels going home!” The crowd cheered as the curtain closed, Charles glancing at Amelia with a bit of uncertainty.

GlitterToppatGirl: Don’t worry, I saw them too.

xXBold_Action_ManXx: What were they doing out here? Spying maybe? Trying to catch us off guard?

“Are you guys OK?” Dave asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Charles said, “Everything’s alright! We just got through our first set though! High fives all around!” As the three of them exchanged high fives and Dave jumped up to give Amelia a big hug and soft kiss on the lips, Ozwald popped up again, all smiles.

“Great job you three. I was a bit doubtful at first, but you three showed real potential. I guess I can count on you for another performance next month!” he said.

“You bet! Hopefully Amelia has learned a big lesson about over singing, right Amelia?” Charles said.

“Well, clear off the stage,” Ozwald said, “I imagine you need some rest after that.” The three of them nodded their heads as they caught Dave up on the situation.

“There were androids in the crowd? Oh no, you don’t think they’re spying on us, aren’t you?” Dave asked.

“Well, probably. But I don’t know why,” Charles said, “After all, there’s really no benefit to disrupting one of our concerts, so it was probably just to scare us. That’s just disturbing, knowing they were watching us…”

“Maybe they’re planning something!” Dave said, “After all, they wouldn’t be spying if they weren’t really planning anything.”

“We’ve been chasing them around on days where we haven’t practiced. But I don’t know how they found out about us…” Charles said.

“Hey.” the three of them jumped as large man approached the door of the backstage room.

“There’s a group of people claiming to know you. Ellie and Henry their names were?” he said, “There’s also these three mustached dudes and a… living porcupine I think…”

“I’M NOT A PORCUPINE!” Rupert shouted as Charles giggled.

“Let them in,” Charles said, “They’re harmless. Mostly.” The group filed into the room as they extended their congratulations to the three of them. Henry was excitedly signing to Charles as Ellie smiled thoughtfully at him, General Galeforce patting him on the back and giving him praise for his first performance.

Meanwhile, Amelia was being absolutely bombarded with hugs from Reginald as the Right Hand Man very uncharacteristically started to talk very rapidly as he showed Amelia the recorded footage, pointing out his favorite parts as Amelia smiled sheepishly, unable to express her discomfort and embarrassment at the situation.

Rupert was also talking to Dave, telling him how amazing it was that he managed to perform without getting scared or anything as he smiled shyly, telling Rupert about how nervous he was perform but he had to get over that not only for Amelia’s sake, but for his own as well.

After a while, the group finally decided to head to their respective homes, wishing each other a good night as Charles waited for a cab with Henry and Ellie.

“It feels kinda strange to hear something that you’ve written being performed like that…” Ellie said as she stretched, watching Reginald pile into a car with a couple of other Toppats.

“If you want, I can start writing songs so you don’t have to worry about it,” Charles said.

“No, it’s fine, I can keep writing lyrics for you. Just let me know when you need some and I’ll be more then happy to provide,” Ellie said.

IT REALLY WAS GREAT HEARING YOU GUYS PERFORM. I KNEW YOU WERE GOOD WITH MUSIC, CHARLES, BUT TO THINK THAT YOU COULD PLAY THAT WELL… THAT WAS AMAZING, Henry said, smiling at him.

“It was all thanks to our music trainers,” Charles said. The cab approached the curb as they piled in, a bit tired as they headed home, the music from earlier stuck in their heads.

- - - - -

Theodore and CJ were in the alleyway, watching the crowd of people disperse as Theodore sighed.

“I don’t understand. If these androids are not living their ideal life, how come they look happier then us?” CJ asked.

“You know exactly why that’s the answer. I just hope I can convince Daxton of the same thing…” Theodore said, “I’m just scared is all. What if we’re doing this whole Project SAI thing for nothing? What do we even have to gain from it?”

“Money? Power?” CJ said.

“But wouldn’t it better if you could be a little more independent like them?” Theodore said, “Without those obnoxious doctors breathing down your neck?”

“Well, they know what’s best so-”

“So what?” Theodore said, “If they told you to jump off a cliff would you?” CJ shook their head as Theodore sighed.

“I thought so,” Theodore muttered, hearing a ringing in his ears.

Speak of the devils…

“Theodore, report on your findings,” Dr. Daffodil said.

“They were just playing a concert or whatever. Not my kinda scene to be honest. I prefer metal,” Theodore said.

“And the performers were androids?” she asked.

“Only Unit CC and Unit AM. Amelia and Charles as they call themselves,” Theodore said.

“Hmm… interesting. Maybe they’re trying to start this band as a way to garner favor for free will for all androids!” Dr. Daffodil said.

“Or they were just bored and wanted to do something beside fight us!” Theodore said.

“You say that like we’re the bad guys!” Theodore desperately wanted to say that he did feel like, for the first time ever, they really were the bad guys. Stealing all sorts of computer parts, breaking and entering restricted areas, continuing a terrible project under the nose of the government forces was enough to make him feel dirty on the inside.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Theodore said, “I’ll report back to HQ with the video footage and you can see for yourself what this is.”

“Fine, fine. But be quick! You weren’t supposed to be out for this long and who knows who might have seen you and Unit CJ. Daffodil out.” As Dr. Daffodil hung up the phone, Theodore let out a long sigh as CJ looked at him curiously.

“Are we heading out then?” CJ asked.

“Yep, pretty much,” Theodore said. The two of them disappeared into the alleyway, heading back to Site B. But Theodore felt something eating away at him, something that he needed to take care of.

Maybe if I can convince Daxton… maybe… maybe we can scrap this awful idea and move onto something better.

Not just for me, but for them as well.

#the henry stickmin collection #charles calvin #amelia copperbottom #ellie rose #dave panpa #fan fic #fanfiction #the narrators stories

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ninadove · 1 year

Note

For the other ask game: Felix Graham de Vanily=)

My son. Protect this boy at all costs. 💜💙💚

First impression:

A bad one, in all honesty. Felix’s debut episode introduces him as kind of a petty jerk, with no clear motivation and a disregard for consequences. Many people are still (understandably) pissed about the whole trying-to-kiss-Ladybug debacle (which, honestly, is not that surprising given the writers’, uh, WEIRD philosophy of consent), and it’s been detrimental to their appreciation of the character in the long run.

In retrospect, though. That introduction was brilliant in many other ways. I wrote about it here for those interested!

Impression now

A BABY. A baby created specifically to cater to my tastes, might I add. I’ve been wanting to make a list of all the reasons I love him, so here goes:

1. Huuuge Clive Dove vibes (complex antagonist, smartest character in the show, identity fraud enthusiast, willing to tear down oppressive power structures by force — they even share a sense of style)

2. Clear queer metaphor (more on that in another post from yours truly, which never showed up in the tags for some reason — Tumblr is homophobic)

3. (Implied EDIT: not implied anymore) abuse survivor

4. Growth! Between the aforementioned kissing fiasco and his talk with Kagami in Pretention, Felix has learnt to accept and respect boundaries. To me, this is key — the most important aspect of a character is not where they start, but how they evolve as the story progresses.

5. He has a complicated relationship with the adults in his life, but an immense love for his cousin/clone (although he sure has a strange way of showing it)

6. Quick to fall in love with a girl who can and will kick his butt. I mean, is anything more relatable than that?

7. The Greek mythology reference??? Hellooo???

8. Peacocks were my favourite bird growing up. One day I will tell you all the story of how one of them chased my father and I through a park when I was a toddler.

9. I also break into musical numbers in the midst of important tasks, just because I can. Perks of working from home most of the time.

10. Also, PURPLE. Can’t forget the purple.

Favorite moment

Him exchanging Ladybug’s yoyo against the Peacock Miraculous at the end of Strikeback. Her panicking in parallel really sold how monumental of a move this was.

Rule of thumb: if a character is smarter than everyone else in the room — especially if they’re an antagonist or morally grey figure outsmarting an abusive a**hole like Gabriel — there’s a strooong chance they’re going to be my favourite.

(POST-REPRESENTATION EDIT: Scratch that. It’s the lovely little heart on the lovely window to make his lovely girlfriend giggle. Sue me.)

Idea for a story

I’d love to see what Adrien and Felix were like growing up. It’s clear that their relationship means a lot to the both of them, and it would certainly add some depth to the Sentibeing storyline.

Also, if I could change just one aspect of Felix’s arc, it would be to make him explicitely queer (the exact label doesn’t matter that much to me).

EDIT: I lied. This boy is transmasc and demi bi now. Deal with it.

Unpopular opinion

Maybe not exactly "unpopular" but rather "controversial", as the fandom seems to be pretty heavenly split on the matter: I really, really like (EDIT: LOVE ADORE WORSHIP) Feligami as of now.

I was quite worried over how the ship would play into Felix’s arc, but so far it’s been written so well it feels natural: of course the two queer-coded abuse survivors would be perfect for each other! It makes sense from a thematic and character-driven perspective.

Both kids bring something to the table. Felix hands Kagami the keys to her freedom; in turn, she keeps him in check when he’s being a jerk. Because we see them work so well together (and understand why they work so well together) almost immediately, Feligami doesn’t feel rushed like I feared it would; in fact, I find it quite refreshing after 5 seasons of whatever is going on with the Love Square.

Now here’s hoping the writing team keeps building their relationship into a strong, healthy one!

EDIT: AND THEY DID

Favorite relationship

I love Felix and Amelie’s relationship so much. The fact that they both trust each other blindly warms my heart, especially now that we’ve learnt about the implied (EDIT: OH GOD NOT IMPLIED NOT IMPLIED AT ALL) abuse from Colt. They’re each other’s person.

EDIT: While I still love love LOVE Amelie, Feligami and the Senticousins have definitely taken over my brain now. Also, give us some more Felix and Duusu crumbs pleaaaaaaase —

Favorite headcanon

Queer Felix! I especially like trans and ace headcanons.

Thank you @dragongutsixofficial! 💖

For anyone interested, the ask game can be found here.

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hollyjollybaby · 1 year

Text

I maybe need to be talked down? Lmao. So I’m having all this anxiety over her birthday party and I really don’t know why. I mean I know why I’m stressed but not why I’m sooo stressed.

I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned it already but we’re having her party at the gymnastics place where we do open gym. It’s a 90 minute party, staff members are there supervising, and they get the whole gym plus a bounce house to play in.

Firstly, I think I invited too many kids maybe. I made a rookie mistake here by assuming that not everyone I invited would come. So far EVERYONE has said yes 😳 I invited everyone in her class at school so that’s 6 kids, and so far 4 have said yes plus an older sibling. Then there’s her cousin Knox. Then 8 other kids that we’re friends with from various activities 😬 of those 8, 3 are a sister set, another 2 are twins, and 2 are siblings. So lots of group scenarios where I had to invite all these extra kids/big/little siblings. But the moms all said yes which I was like !!! Not expecting, so now I feel overwhelmed by how many people are gonna be at this party! I think the reason why is I feel anxious that I will have to entertain and have lengthy conversations with all these parents since I invited them, and I feel the pressure to entertain/host. But I think some of that is just my anxiety talking? We won’t all just be sitting in a room together for 1.5 hours. The kids will be all over the gym, playing, and the moms will all be chasing after our kids in different directions like we usually are. Conversation will happen organically and scattered like all mom conversations at parks and shit. I just really don’t want all this attention on me 😬

My other point of stress is that’s a lot of people bringing gifts and I sooo wish I had put a line in when I originally invited everyone asking for no gifts. In a cute nice way. But now I feel weird going back and throwing that out there to all the people I invited and I don’t know how to say it. It’s genuinely causing me so much anxiety because our house is FILLED with her stuff and she’s got everything she could possibly need. We just don’t need more STUFF and thinking of bringing a bunch of stuff back here is making me sweat. What do I dooooo?

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spacefinch · 7 months

Text

Incorrect Magic School Bus, pt. ???

All quotes are from “The Happy Hocky Family” and “The Happy Hocky Family Moves to the Country!” by Lane Smith

HOORAY!

Today is Ralphie’s birthday.

LOOK, Ralphie has made a list of the presents he wants.

Ralphie: For my 10th birthday I want:

- A new set of crayons.

- An electric car.

- A black and white pony with a silver saddle.

WHEW!

Today is the day after Ralphie’s birthday.

LOOK, Ralphie has made a list of the presents he wants next year.

Ralphie: For my 10th 11th birthday I want:

- A new set of crayons.

- An electric car.

- A black and white pony with a silver saddle.

Keesha: I like to study nature. I have an ant farm.

Keesha: These ants are my RESPONSIBILITY. “RESPONSIBILITY” is a big word. It means my ants count on me to take care of them.

Keesha: For example, today is a very hot day. My ants have no windows to open. How can I help? It is my responsibility.

Keesha: I know how! *removes the lid from her ant farm*

Keesha: My ants count on me to take care of them.

A few hours later:

Grandma and Grandpa Franklin have remodeled their kitchen.

SEE the white cabinets.

SEE the shiny counters.

SEE the shelves for spices and cereal and sugar.

Pretty kitchen. New kitchen. Clean kitchen.

*cut to view of the newly-remodeled kitchen, but with Keesha’s ants crawling all over the place*

Carlos: Our Abuela has come to visit. Her perfume smells like flowers. LOTS and LOTS of FLOWERS.

Mikey: Abuela, do you hear the Magic Monkey? He is calling us from outside!

Carlos: Open the window so we can hear him, Abuela.

Mikey: OPEN THE WINDOW WIDE!

Mikey: We like our toys. We take CARE of our TOYS. We do not want our toys to become broken. We want to keep our toys for a long time.

Narrator: Cousin Stinky has come over to play. “Where are your toys?” he asks?

Mikey and Carlos: What is “TOYS?” We do not know what that word means.

…

Mikey: Cousin Stinky has left. We like our toys.

Wanda: I am making paper airplanes. SEE the AIRPLANES fly. FLY! FLY! FLY!

Wanda: Dorothy Ann has come into the room. She is upset. She can’t find her homework.

Wanda: I think I will go outside to play now.

Carlos: Wanda is taking a nap. Poor Wanda. She is very tired. She is very tired from chasing me around all day with a dead spider. Poor Wanda. Nap time is good. Nap time is good for Wanda.

Carlos: (holding a plushie version of the Pokémon Archen) Nap time is good for Archen, too. My Archen needs a nap. I will play Archen a lullaby to help her sleep.

Carlos: *plays a single, dissonant note on the trombone*

Wanda: *jolts out of bed*

Wanda: We do not skate down the hill. We do not like BROKEN BONES. We always play SAFE.

Wanda: What does not have bones to break? Plushies do not have bones.

Wanda: *puts Carlos’s Archen plushie on a skateboard and pushes it downhill* LUCKY ARCHEN.

Ralphie: (at a sleepover) Arnold, do you know the story of the MONSTER who comes to STEAL children in the night?

Ralphie: He comes into kids’ bedrooms at twelve midnight. BIG monster. SCARY monster. BAD monster.

Arnold: I will lock the door before we all go to sleep.

Ralphie: You don’t have to worry about that, silly. The monster only comes in through the windows.

Phoebe: I have a candy apple. Do you have a candy apple? I have a candy apple.

Phoebe: My candy apple is crunchy. Is your candy apple crunchy? My candy apple is CRUNCHY.

*CRACK!*

Phoebe: I have a tooth for the Tooth Fairy. Do you have a tooth for the Tooth Fairy? I have a tooth for the Tooth Fairy.

LOOK, Tim is filling his BIRD FEEDER.

He is filling it with a special mix of sunflower seeds for WOODPECKERS and cracked corn for CARDINALS and peanut kernels for CHICKADEES.

Tim: LISTEN. Can you hear them? They are coming already.

A few minutes later: *a bunch of squirrels are seen eating at Tim’s bird feeder.

Phoebe has made a spring bouquet. Pretty bouquet.

Phoebe: Uh oh. ITCHY bouquet.

Carlos: Ha ha! You used POISON IVY. Poison Ivy has three leaves. Can’t you count to three? It’s easy: 1, 2, 3.

Carlos, covered in poison oak rashes: I am MUCH smarter. I have used OAK leaves for mine.

A + B = C

A. Here is the wild bunny.

B. Here is the wild bunny’s BIG belly.

C. Here is where Phoebe’s GARDEN used to be.

Bird Feeder, continued.

Mikey is helping Tim fix his bird feeder.

Tim: It is a lot of work, but it is worth it to have the squirrel problem solved.

Mikey: Listen, here come the birds!

*cut to a bunch of squirrels eating from the supposedly squirrel-proofed bird feeder*

Dorothy Ann is showing Liz how to make a snowman. But Liz is cold. Liz is BORED.

Later, D.A. sees the SNOW LIZARD that Liz has made.

D.A.: What a trickster! You weren’t really bored. You were watching all along, weren’t you, Liz? Liz . . .?

Carlos: Leaves are a part of NATURE. Nature is GOOD.

Mr. Ramon: But leaves must be raked. *hands Carlos a rake*

Several minutes later:

Carlos: *pulling a three bags of leaves through town on a wagon*

Sign at the town dump: No leaves!

Sign at the town hall: RULES— No leaf burning!

Carlos: *takes the leaves back home and scatters them all over the yard*

Carlos: Leaves are a part of NATURE. Nature is GOOD.

#incorrect quotes #magic school bus #the happy Hocky family #ralphie tennelli #arnold perlstein #phoebe terese #Carlos ramon #keesha franklin #Wanda li #Tim wright #Dorothy Ann #Mikey ramon

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bonojour · 8 months

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Movie Asks:

37, 60, 69 :)

37. Movie quote that will always make you laugh?

Honestly the scene from Twister (1996) where Bill and Dusty stand outside of the dinner and Bill's like "Going green" and Dusty just says "Greenage" always cracks me up. There are so many lines in the movie that are trying to actually be funny but this single dialogue always has me chuckling. It's also living in my mind rent free whenever I'm on storm chase and encounter turquoise or green hues in the sky. (but with far less time to ponder over it as it usually means we have to find suitable cover for the incoming hail)

60. Most visually stunning movie you’ve seen?

I've answered this already but I will think of which Crowe movie I specifically like in terms of visuals. [thinking hat] While I do not really like the colouring of Cinderella Man (2005) in every scene, it is one of the movies I am very impressed by when it comes to how they shot things, I suppose. I just really, really like the way they did the fighting scenes. They feel realistic, I love the blurred effects and men covered in blood are just peak cinema. I also just really loved watching the making of of this particular one. It is not a movie I would freezeframe every still of, but purely based on technicality I really like it :)) but there are a lot of pretty movies with Russell in it. <3 69. The main movie you remember from your childhood?

Twister (1996), Dante's Peak (1997), Mrs Doubtfire (1993) and Bean (1997). Maybe this explains why I love 90s movies so much. :^)

and I also have such a distinct memory of watching Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) with my cousin and my brother at my grandparents farm. I can even feel the texture of their carpet and smell the kitchen/living room smell and imagine the fabric from my grandfather's chair. I have not rewatched any HP since the whole JKR thing, but in a way I am not... opposed to reclaiming this large part of my childhood - but just in private. Especially the first two movies have offered me a lot of comfort and my crush on Alan Rickman as Snape was my very first movie crush. (That also explains a lot)

#text #answered #i hope you find some enjoyment in these answers <3

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weirdlizard26 · 9 months

Text

ok im going try to write my initial thoughts on mutant mayhem, MASSIVE TMNTMM SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT obviously!! another note is that a lot of these arent final ofc, just my first reaction! i will def be on the lookout for a closer investigation of these points by people smarter than me, i just need to write these down. ok lets go

ill start with the exceptional positives :-) the animation was STUNNING and the fight scenes and chase sequences??????/ fuckin breathtaking!!! i think the dynamic btwn the turtles was rly fun too :-) and an interesting take on leo's whole leader situation! like that scene where the guys were surprised that hes on board with the hero plan,,, i also rly liked the little nods to other iterations, like when in the end raph said hes glad his brothers are the last thing hes gonna see before dying felt so similar to what 2014 raph said in a very similar situation and it was fun to notice hehe. also i know donnie having a purple hoodie is pretty generic but i like to think it was a callback to rise donnie :-) AND I CRIEDDDD WHEN THE HUMANS STARTED HELPING THEM OUT IN ANY WAY THEY COULD,,, THAT WAS SO SWEET AND I LOVE THIS SORT OF THING IN SUPERHERO MOVIES,,

now as for negatives. not a fan of the milking gag 😬 it just made me kinda uncomfortable tbh. so upset abt baxter dying right off the bat :-( idk if it wouldve been bad for the narrative or whatever but i just wish he survived. and its kinda. weird that the ONLY character to die in this movie was him idk. also not feelin great about all the mutants introduced in the movie being siblings/cousins???? especially since splinter ended up dating the cockroach lady?...... like. superfly's group all consider each other siblings and they consider the turtles their cousins and splinter is the turtles' dad so. like i know its a cartoon and its not that deep but i Do Not Like That. really fucking wish they used literally anything other than ao/t for donnie's anime of interest. come on man. also really wish the puking wasnt. like that. or wasnt there at all. man. maybe its just me idk. and finally! got some mixed feelings on the conclusion with superfly. LIKE. yes obviously the goal of murdering all humans on earth is Bad but ultimately his point was that humans cant accept the existence of mutants. and i mean. his point was kinda proven over and over again throughout the movie? and literally the only reason the mutants (minus superfly) were welcomed into society or whatever was because they helped defeat "a bad mutant". but that. sends a weird message? i think? bc like. so if youre just existing as someone different from others, people can just outcast you and thats totally cool and fine and if you want to be accepted you have to be useful to them in some way? i dont think thats a very good message gdkjfgd,,, idk maybe its not that deep either but it left me feeling kinda. wondering how long this would even last,, which sounds pretty pessimistic but i hope im getting my point across.

thats all i had to say on the matter for now! once again, im looking forward to reading more different opinions on this movie and im hoping someone mentions any of this so i know im not insane <3 ig let me know what u think if u think its important? im always always willing to learn

#wl26 #tmnt #mm #turtleposting #this is so nerve wracking to post kgdfjngd guy who is so anxious #(guy who is just stating his initial reaction to a movie) surely this makes me a bad person

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bard-llama · 9 months

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3. Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

12. Is there an episode above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?

Oooh, good questions! Thanks for asking!

Hmmm. For 3 - I have this pattern where I think I'll never write a trope and then end up taking it as a challenge to write it my way. So... not sure there's actually one I wouldn't touch - but also, feel free to send me trope ideas and I'll see if I can spin them to my liking lol

7 is haaaaaard, so I'll do 12 next XD Honestly... I guess The Blue Spirit episode just for the potential of what it gives us? Like, the realization that this antagonist character who is loud and shouty and fiery can also be this sneaky, stealthy person who HELPS the protagonist... I mean, I'm also an enemies to friends/lovers fan, so this episode gives that some juice. But in general, I enjoy s1 AUs and playing with how things could go differently

(One of) My Favorite Piece(s) of Prose

Okay, so my memory is fleeting and I have a LOT of writing out there (like... 470 published fics between my accounts + a billion WiPs), but an atla fic that I keep coming back to is Wan Shi Tong's Uninvited Guests and I think it's 'cause there's still potential for more even though it's done. But I really like this scene (kind of long, so under a cut) and I think it's because like... it's really the epitome of who Aang is, to want to befriend everyone and bring peace and joy to the world. And also, I love Zuko's dubiousness over the frozen frogs as medicine lol

(oh my god, I despise tumblr and their stupid editor that they force you to use now and I can't make this idented without losing ALL the spacing so.... sorry)

Aang pulled back slightly, not releasing him. “Do you remember when I asked if we could’ve been friends a hundred years ago?”

Zuko was vaguely aware of the Avatar’s friends startling, but all he could do was nod, still baffled by it.

“I meant it,” Aang said. “It’s not a hundred years ago, but we’re friends now. I’ve decided.”

Zuko stared. “I… don’t think that’s how it works?” He wasn’t actually sure, given the only real friend he’d ever had before had been his cousin, Lu Ten. Even Mai and Ty Lee were Azula’s friends before they were his.

“No, it is,” Aang said, not an ounce of uncertainty in his voice. “You’re mine now.”

Sputtering, Zuko tried to find words, but there really were none.

“Aang,” Sokka groaned, slapping a hand against his face. “You are not supposed to adopt the guy trying to capture you.”

“Why not?” Aang asked, genuine. Sokka appeared no more capable than Zuko was of finding the words to explain the absurdity that was the Avatar deciding to befriend Zuko.

There was something kind of flattering about that, but Zuko didn’t understand why. Why would the Avatar care about him!?

“Because I can,” Aang said simply, grey eyes meeting his gaze directly. “Because you deserve to have friends and I want to be one. Because I think you’re interesting and I like you and I want to get to know you.” Aang shrugged, smiling slightly as he concluded, “because you’re Zuko.”

Zuko… had no fucking clue how to react to that, so he kind of just froze.

Aang’s smile widened and the arms around Zuko’s torso tightened. “It’s okay if you’re not ready to respond yet,” Aang said quietly, looking so ridiculously earnest, “but I’m gonna show you what it means to have a friend.”

“You – what – why?”

“Because someone should and I want it to be me,” Aang said.

Zuko blinked rapidly, trying to process that. “...you do remember the part where I chased you all over the world, right?”

“I do,” Aang nodded. “I also remember the part where you saved me.”

“Wait,” Katara and Sokka shared a look, “what!?”

Zuko flushed. “I was helping myself,” he mumbled, embarrassed.

“So?” Aang shrugged. “You still saved me. Even if you do the right thing for the wrong reason, you’re still doing the right thing. That matters.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Twinkletoes?” the new earthbender girl said. Uncle had said her name was… Tough? That didn’t seem quite right.

“It was before we went to the North Pole,” Aang said, not releasing Zuko. “I got captured by Zhao, and Zuko saved me.”

“What!?” Katara sounded worried, but Sokka looked more angry. “Where were we!?”

“You were sick!” Aang said into Zuko’s chest. It was kind of weird to have someone clinging to him who was talking to someone else, but for some reason, Zuko wasn’t struggling to get free. “I had to get frozen frogs for you to suck on to cure you!”

There was a moment’s silence as they all processed that and then Zuko’s face scrunched up in disgust. “Is that what the frogs were about!?”

“Yeah!” Aang nodded vigorously. “They were medicine!”

“...are you sure about that?” Zuko couldn’t help the dubiousness in his voice, but that sounded seriously sketch.

Aang laughed, squeezing his arms around Zuko’s torso for a final time before stepping back. He was smiling brightly and Zuko really didn’t understand why.

“So…” Sokka drawled, “what happens now?”

Zuko sighed heavily, rubbing his face. That was the question, wasn’t it?

He glanced at Aang, but Aang just looked back with a smile, as though totally confident in what Zuko would pick. Why!?

Part of Zuko wanted to attack just to prove him wrong… but really, what was the point? His Father had declared him a traitor and had sent his sister after him to bring him home in chains. Did the terms of his banishment even matter anymore?

And – and if they were right and Father really was wrong… then how could Zuko bring this child who declared friendship with his enemy to the man who would burn him without remorse?

He sighed again. He’d always been a disappointment to his Father, and that wasn’t likely to change soon. But he’d told his Uncle he’d be back, and he tried not to disappoint Uncle. He wasn’t very successful, but…

He had to try. Uncle was all he had left in this world, and he had to try.

“I left my Uncle in the Misty Palms Oasis,” Zuko said quietly, not quite looking at them. The unspoken admission that he was letting them go was heavy in the air between them.

“Okay,” Aang said. “Do you want a ride?”

Zuko blinked and the Avatar’s companions yelped his name. “What?”

“Do you want a ride?” Aang asked. “I guess we could walk, but Appa would be much faster.”

“...what?”

Aang smiled slightly. “I told you. You’re mine now. You’re not getting rid of me.”

Why did that sound vaguely threatening?

“So,” Aang continued, “do you wanna ride on Appa?”

Honestly, he did. He really, really did. But he couldn’t give in that easily.

“Don’t you have Avatar stuff to be doing?” he asked.

“Spreading peace and joy and love,” Aang grinned, “that’s Avatar stuff!”

Zuko had no idea what to say to that.

“C’mon, come try riding Appa!” Aang encouraged, tugging on the rope that still bound them.

Zuko sputtered, feeling like he should protest. But… he didn’t really want to walk across the desert when there was an alternative. And the alternative involved flying.

So he was maybe a little bit excited when he gave in and let Aang drag him up into the saddle.

“Yip yip,” Aang said even though no one was actually steering the bison. Appa lifted from the sand and as they rose upwards, the air around them seemed to cool slightly. The wind blew through Zuko’s hair and he could see around for miles, and while there was nothing to actually see, it was still incredible.

This entire day had been like sailing through a tsunami, but even though Zuko didn’t know what would happen next, it was somehow easy to let himself lean into the wind and allow the tension to uncoil from his spine.

#ask #atla

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spibblex · 9 months

Text

Im Right Here

Word count : 1,749

Pairing: Claire x Richard Jerimovich

Warning: slight angst, ex boyfriend, cheating, heavy detailed sex and cigarettes

Notes: this is My weird continuation of Wake up and tell me what you mean by Imbarelysorry (fpink202) on A03

also I haven’t wrote a fanfic since middle school…I’m in college now LMAOOOO C please bear with me! This was a fun free write <3 Wrote this to Right Here by Chase Atlantic

It’s been a month since Claire jerked him off in his sleep, and they had to break up again because of that. The whole situation made her very insecure about her looks. Is it because I’m too fat? My breasts are too small. Fuck, could it be that I’m getting wrinkles? What was wrong with me? She stood in the mirror. In her bedroom, trying to find a solution to her mind running rampant. Her phone buzzed loudly in her eerily silent room. Was it Carmen? Another redundant apology text? She hoped it was Carmy; a deep part of her was hoping he would talk to her after months of no contact. She turned and leaned on her bed as she reached out for her phone. Carm? No, it’s...Richie?

Rich: Hey Clair bear, I hope you are well."

Me:"Cousin, likewise"

"What’s up with him?" She thought out loud.

Rich: "Can you come to the Bear? I know it might be a lot to ask for."

She rolls her eyes and responds with a thumbs-up emoji, to which Richie responds by hearting it. She gets up and tries to look presentable.

She only threw on her blue and white striped mini dress with her white thigh-high boots.

She’s not trying to impress anyone; she’s lying to herself, of course; she wants that long nose fuck she called her boyfriend way back when from the vixen that has him wrapped around her finger. There's a slight chance that they might end up back together, but it doesn’t hurt to test the theory. Before leaving, She puts on His favorite perfume and leaves. She makes it and waits in the back. Then she heard a voice.

"Good afternoon, m'lady." Richie approached Claire chuckled, "Hello cousin," and he went in for a hug, which she reciprocated. "You look beautiful." "Thank you" He pulls away and takes her tiny hand in his. "Come with me." She follows her into the back of the office; sugar isn’t here, but guess who? "Cousin." Richie said sternly: Carman looked and saw his ex-girlfriend looking as beautiful as ever.

"Claire"

"Carman"

Hearing his name called by her makes his heartache. "I’m sorry"

"Don’t start, please."

"Claire please.."

"I don’t want to hear that shit, Carmen!" She yelled, and He jerked back in his seat.

"Is this some kind of joke, like you got Richie to pull me out of my house just to say that?" Ooohh iM sO sOrrY ClAiRe"

He bites his thumb, trying to figure out what he can say because he’s so shocked. "I-i..." He can’t muster up the words to say anything. She’s near tears. He hasn’t changed from that night of the opening, the night of her using him in his sleep. All the Red flags were there; she was too blind to the fact that he only wants what he wants and doesn’t want her in it.

She turns. "Excuse me" and walks past Richie to go outside. She pulls out a cigarette and lights it, pressing the cigarette against her lips and inhaling. Pulling it out and exhaling. Her tears rolling down her cheeks make the aftertaste of her cigarette worse than how she feels. She sniffles and tries to catch her breath until a large hand touches her shoulder. She turns her head and sees that it’s Richie. She jumps into his arms, bawling her eyes out in silence with only wine and sniffles. Shh, shh, I know, I know." "Why did it have to be like this?" "Because he’s a little weirdo. He doesn’t understand that He was presented with somebody so fucking great." She hums and sniffles in reply.

Look, you’re not the problem; he just doesn’t know what he wants right now. Please don’t let that fuckface get under your skin." Richie brushes her hair to the side and looks at her. He wipes the tears from her face. She looks back, and her stomach starts feeling warm. She never noticed how kind and gentle he was. She knew he was a cool and nice dude, but she had never seen him like this. "You want me to take you home?" Yes, please," she sighed. Okay, let’s go." They get in his car, and he drives her home. She pulls off her heels and curls up. Lying on the leather car seat, in the front, like a passenger princess. He pulls it off without telling anyone, not even Carmen. When they reach her apartment, they pull into the parking lot. "Will you stay over?" Claire asked Richie side-eyed her and lifted one eyebrow. He blinks and says, "Um... I could, of course, if that’s okay?"

She nods her head in response, and he gets out of the car, holding her hand. Claire had an idea for how she could get back at her ex-boyfriend. They enter her building and her apartment, and once inside, Claire pulls Richie onto the couch and kisses him deeply as she pushes him down so that he is lying on top of her. His hands roam all over her body, while hers run through his short but grabbable dark brown hair. They lay there making out for a while before the weight of the situation hit Richie, who got up quickly and asked "W-Wait what are we doing?" Claire whispers, "We’re having sex." Her heart beats faster as she waits for him to kiss her again, but instead, he backs away.

"I-I can’t. It’s wrong"

"Why?" she whimpered. "Sorry, it’s just that I feel horrible if I do, and what about cousin?" Claire rolled her eyes. "It will be fun, and he won’t have to know."

Claire then pulls Richie closer and kisses him on the lips and the neck. He grunts, and she pushes him down again. Richie then kisses Claire passionately; his hands move under her dress and start to fondle her boobs. They stop for a second, and Richie looks at her in the eyes. "Are you sure?" Claire smiles and nods her head. Richie then starts unbuttoning his pants. He pulls down his underwear and reveals his massive cock.

He moves closer and pulls her dress up over her head, revealing her naked body. She looks away in embarrassment, but Richie grabs her by the chin and makes her look into his eyes. "You're so beautiful." He leans down and starts kissing her again. Richie takes his cock and starts rubbing the tip against her slit. The feeling sends shivers down her spine. He looks into her eyes and pushes himself into her entrance. "Oh, God!"

She Cried out as his dick went deeper and deeper into her aching Vag. Richie grunts and groans as he feels her tight pussy wrapped around his cock, giving her every inch of him with so much love. Her body starts to move on its own as she wraps her legs around him and thrusts back into him. Their bodies are sweaty and wet, slapping together like beautiful music.

Her moans grow louder and more sinful as Rich switches his rhythm from regular to two surprise deep strokes. She can feel him going deeper and deeper with each pump. Their bodies are rocking the couch, and Her eyes roll back and her mouth opens wide as the feeling of his peesche pushing against her G-spot overcomes her. Her orgasm is so powerful that her legs begin to shake; it felt like she was shocked by electricity. Her breathing became hard and fast. She felt light-headed, but she didn’t care; she was craving this. This was something Carmen couldn’t give her. Not like this. Richie is grunting and groaning as his dick keeps on hitting her G-spot.

"I'm going to cum!" He cries out, and He pulls out, releasing his seed on her stomach and breasts, whimpering as he finished. They lay there on the couch for a while before Claire gets up and goes to get in the shower. She hops in, and there’s a little dance. Her plan worked! A little too good? She feels a little bit better, but she wants more. She’s craving that man who made her feel like a virgin more. She returns to him in the same spot, still catching his breath. "I think we need to talk about this." Richie says as she comes back. "Yeah. We do. I enjoyed that."

"I did too. But...I feel guilty." Claire rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "I don't care." She climbs back on top of him and starts kissing him again. Richie is caught off guard and lets her push him down on the couch. She begins to kiss his neck and his chest. "Fuck," he says as she starts sucking on his nipples. He can't help but moan as her tongue flicks across his sensitive nubs. She works her way down his chest and stomach, stopping to lick his belly button.

Richie can't believe how much his cock is growing again. He grabs her by her little plump ass and pulls her close to him, and her lips touch the head of his cock. She opens her mouth and wraps her lips around his thick shaft. He cries out as her tongue dances on his still-sensitive cock. Her mouth feels so warm and wet, and He can't believe how intoxicating it is. He groans as her head bobs up and down on his cock. He watches as she swallows the whole thing in one gulp, which makes him gasp and buck up, causing her to gag. It doesn’t affect her; she’s a pro. She looks up at him with her big dark blue-greenish eye like a puppy dog, wanting a treat.

"Oh, God. I'm going to cum again." She hums. Her mouth is sucking and slurping on his cock, and her tongue is doing circles on his sensitive tip. He can't take anymore and releases it inside her mouth, filling His seed in her mouth and running down her chin. He pulls out, and she swallows all of his cum. He says this as he catches his breath. She giggles and wipes her mouth. "We can’t do that again," Richie said sternly, still trying to catch his breath.

"I mean, we can do whatever we want; we’re adults," Claire said, with a straight face, standing up and sitting on the couch. She’s so over Carmen and thinks Richie is a great person, and she could tell he would be a better boyfriend.

#thebear #ao3fic #ao3 author #wrote this instead of sleeping #fanfic #SoundCloud

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