#but describing going to the met and then having ice cream in Central Park and seeing a show on Broadway

[kaylans-imagines]

solare

pairing: peter b. parker x fem! cheerleader! reader

solare: an italian word to describe a person who brightens the room, who is warm, good, and cheerful; who also worries about others. 

Synopsis: in which peter benjamin parker finds the personified version of warmth and happiness.

Peter Parker had endured a lot throughout his life. He had lost his uncle, his life for five years, then he came back, and then lost his mentor. It was a wonder to him and everyone else that he found a way to continue pushing through and fighting the fight for good, even if he at times couldn’t exactly figure out just why he was doing an unpaying job. He would push away those thoughts and remind himself that he did it for the little guy, for the underdog, for the people like him before he got bitten. Still, there were days when the darkness would cloud over his mind, and he would spiral into sadness. 

His Aunt May had suggested he go to a counselling group, someplace where he could express himself without fear of judgement or illwishers. Where he could find people he could relate to and for once have people care for him. He had dismissed that idea by claiming he didn’t have the time to do, too occupied in burying himself with his schoolwork, Spider-Man duties, and keeping up his social life. That was the end of that conversation, but he still couldn’t help but yearn for some type of way to release all the negative emotions that weighed heavily on his mind and his heart. 

He had admittedly been distant from his friends and from his Aunt May, but he couldn’t find it in himself to find something to talk about. He was thrust into a world that he didn’t recognise anymore. It had been five years, and in those five years, people had grown up, and things had changed drastically. Much like the person in the mirror, he didn’t recognise his surroundings when he looked around. He could only hope he wouldn’t drown and get stuck in a flood of uncertainties, in this new time without his mentor to guide him. 

He sighed through his nose as he swung around the lit city, back towards the comfort of his own bedsheets. He couldn’t wait to get lost under the sea of blankets and find comfort in the sounds of the bustling city. Spending all of his life in Queens, he grew accustomed to the yelling, the loud honking of horns, and the busy street life that now offered him solace. A haven. A source of relief he wasn’t able to find elsewhere. The confinements of his blankets and the sounds of New York gave him the ease he needed. 

Assuring his aunt that he was back home and alive, he quickly slipped into his bedroom and snuggled under the covers, relieving himself of the tension he carried. His mind fell into a trance of serenity and easiness as it wandered through happy memories he savoured—recollections of his Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and himself at the beach when he was younger. Uncle Ben and him bonding over ice cream while they walked in Central Park—Peter would point out a dog in the distance, Ben would look at it and then his nephew and chuckle, promising that when they get a bigger home, they will get a dog. He reminded himself of when he helped May with the gardening; it wasn’t much gardening, just a few pots on their balcony, but it was peaceful. 

His life was a routine. Every morning, he would wake up at the same time, have a quick breakfast, kiss his aunt goodbye, and the rush towards the train where he would go to school and meet Ned by his locker. The school day would cease, and he would go to decathlon practise until it was over, then make his way towards Delmar’s, which had re-opened in the five years he was blipped, and then complete the leftover homework he needed to do until he had to go on with his Spider-Man duties. It was the same, except for weekends, every day, and he was okay with that. It helped make his life easier—knowing that there were no surprises or changes in his day-to-day life made it easier for him and helped unburden him from the weight he carried with him. 

The day he met Y/N had been a good day. He hadn’t missed his train that morning; Flash wasn’t up to his usual antics, choosing to ignore him and flirt with an uninterested cheerleader, and he had a good feeling about the History exam in his third period. That was until he stepped into his Physics class and was informed of the new seating chart being projected in front of the class. He and Ned had been able to bypass the seating chart for two quarters already, but they both knew their luck would fizzle out and they would have to be separated. Peter hoped he would get seated with someone he knew, so long as it wasn’t Flash. He would take being a stranger's partner over being Flash’s partner any day. Sighing in relief when he didn’t see his name next to Flash’s, he searched for him on the screen. 

Peter Parker and Y/N Y/L/N, table 08.

Peter wasn’t good at making friends. He tried, but he always came off too strong or not strong enough. He was painfully awkward and stumbled over his words. He would also talk about something no one else was interested in and come off as weird and a ‘nerd’. Over time, he was able to be okay with having one friend, and just recently, his newfound group of friends. To force himself to make small talk with a new person made his stomach churn. He wished he could have May’s social skills and welcoming nature. 

Exhaling to relax the nerves building in his stomach, he made his way towards the table with a paper eight taped on it. It might have been the fact that the window was right beside the table or the fact that Peter hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, but he swore he saw a glow bouncing perfectly off the silhouette seated on the hard stool closest to the window. She was looking out the window, perfectly content on looking at the garden Midtown had decided to grow during the five years half the population was gone. It was a beautiful garden. 

Shuffling on his feet, he dragged himself to the seat next to the seemingly glowing girl with intentions of sitting down without making noise, not to pull her from her gaze, but the universe had other plans. His toe met the stool’s hard metal, making the girl snap out of her daze and look at Peter with mild surprise. He was fully expecting her to lash out at him, to ask him why he needed to make so much noise, and he was fully ready to apologise. But the questioning never came, and neither did his need to apologise. Instead, he was met with a warm smile and concerned eyes.

“Are you okay? That sounded like it hurt,” she spoke with a lightness in her tone he had never heard before. New Yorker’s were usually brash and straight to the point; there was no place for airiness or lightness in voices. They didn’t care about anyone else but themselves and their loved ones. To feign importance in the busy city, one had to speak with importance. She was a breath of fresh air to him, like the feeling of the seaspray on his face when he steps into the ocean. Around her, he felt at peace. 

“I-I’m Parker, no,” he stumbled over his words and mentally cursed himself, “I’m Peter.” This was the part where people would smile at him with fake sincerity, shake his hand, and make some excuse to leave. He was waiting for her to look at him with judgement and refuse to shake his hand. He wasn’t expecting her to take his hand into hers and shake it with a giggle. 

“Next to meet you, Parker Peter. I’m Y/N Y/L/N,” she introduced. She drew him in by the way she stared at him, so deeply and with intrigue, and kept him wanting more of her presence in the way she spoke, with confidence but kindness. He was sure this was someone he needed in his life, someone he had to keep around. She was like the sun, and the sky rolled in one, someone he couldn’t help but stare at. 

They shared shy smiles, sneaking glances now and then. Peter couldn’t focus on his teacher’s rambling, too entranced by the body sitting beside him. From the corner of his eye, he could see her scribbling in her notebook, following along with what the teacher was saying. He could see little drawings on the corner of her paper; small hearts, smiley faces, and infinity signs taking up the corner. The sight of the doodles filled his heart with warmth; they were adolescent like and riddled with innocence. They were endearing, just like her. 

The class seemed to drag on, and Peter was barely able to keep up. His mind was in another world; thoughts of protecting the city after homework to what he would have for dinner. A small part was thinking of the pretty girl who doodled on the corners of her papers. She had drawn a small smiley face on his paper at one point and sent him a smile when he looked at her afterwards. She had made a long class, that usually felt like it dragged on, shorter and yearning for more time. If anything, just to sit there and be in her presence. 

The bell signalled the ending of the class, and Peter slowly stood up. He packed his belongings as slowly as he could. He looked to the side; she put her books into her bag - they were all colourful and decorated with glittery and bubble stickers. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight. She sent him a smile and stood up from her chair, pushing her chair in slowly. 

“Bye, Parker Peter. See you, next class,” she said sweetly with a wave and exited the class, a happy and light bounce to her step. He watched her leave. Her hair bounced and glossed under the school’s fluorescent lights, and her skirt sashayed behind her. He watched as she waved and greeted people before she disappeared from his view. He didn’t stand a chance with the pretty girl in his chemistry class. 

Ned bounded towards him, talking his ear off about what his partner did and how he was so glad he had someone who wouldn’t make him do all the work. Peter, at that moment, felt like a bad friend. He wanted to listen to his best friend, keep a conversation going. But all of him kept him from doing so, instead directing his thoughts towards the popular, bubbly girl who was now surrounded by her loads of friends at her locker. Peter smiled her way, not expecting it to be returned, but to his surprise, she smiled back and raised her hand with a little wave. He took the time to peak into her locker. He could see pictures and magnets lining up the area; permeating the dull grey with life and personality. He also made out the neatly folded cheerleader uniform resting on the top shelf. Of course, he would have to start crushing on an unattainable cheerleader. 

He had no choice but to settle for crushing on her and wanting her from a distance. He figured that simply being an acquaintance to her would be enough. It would be enough. Being in her life would be just fine. It was a sad thought, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t gone through before. The thought made his heart hurt, but that was also coupled with the thoughts he had already harboured—memories of his past, he and his uncle, of Tony. Those kept him up at night and clouded his thinking whenever he swung building to building.

That night was the same; he sat on top of his apartment building, taking in the changing scenery. The lack of stars once brought him comfort, but he found recently that they brought him more pain. Normally, he loved the vastness of the wide space and how little they knew about it. He would let his imagination run wild with possibilities of everything in the unknown. When he was younger, he liked to imagine there were aliens up there, living happily without care. He would divulge in that from time to time, feeding his inner child. He loved the tenacity, the freedom, and the serenity of it all. But the same things made him feel small. It put everything into perspective. It put into perspective how small he was. Sometimes, he couldn’t help but feel as if there was no escape. 

He sat on the edge of the building, taking in all the different personalities the city below him had to offer. Couples cuddled up with one another, walking into their shared homes. Families laughing with one another as they finished their night. Friends walked with one another, whispering in ears and cackling to drown the cars and taxis’ noise. That was the city he loved. The city he grew up in. But that didn’t stop him from wanting an escape. Somewhere far from the city where he could simply sit and think without the distractions. He knew that was wishful thinking, but it didn’t cost a thing to dream.

Choosing to end the night earlier than usual, he stood up from his place and swung forward. Aunt May wouldn’t be home, so dinner wouldn’t be ready until she got there. He considered going to Delmar’s; having one of his sandwiches always made him feel better. Something stopped him, though. Maybe it was the sound of a laugh, one he had heard before, or the familiar satin blue scrunchie that rested on her wrist. He watched her, talking on the phone and laughing and throwing her hands up in the air. He quickly averted his eyes, staring at her for too long was weird even if he was Spider-Man.

That night he slept better than usual. Aunt May had found him asleep on his bed with his arm hanging off the mattress, his body slanted, and his head hanging off to the side with his mouth wide open. While it was an awkward position, she was glad he was sleeping so early in the night. The years had been rough on him, pushing past his limits and stressing him beyond belief. He was overdue for a break, and a long one. But she knew her nephew; he would never take a break. The city of Queens needed him.

While he normally dreaded going to school, not because he had to pay attention, or because it was hard, but because for seven hours, the city of Queens was left defenceless and at mercy. But, this day was different. There was a spring in his step and an easy smile on his face, not even Flash’s taunting got to him. Walking into the chemistry classroom, his eyes roamed the classroom until they landed on his new table. She was already sitting there. Scribbling on her glittery notebook with a blue pen adorned with a fuzzy top. 

Settling down next to her, she sent him a smile, “good morning, Mister Peter,”

He laughed, “Good morning, Miss Y/N,”

Peter was left yearning for more interactions with the gorgeous cheerleader with the fun pens, especially after she gave him a sticker with a golden retriever on it; it was an adorable puppy with its paw out and licking, what he presumed, was glass. She had told him it was because he reminded her of a puppy, most notably a golden retriever puppy. Her words had made him flush and sputter over himself, nearly causing him to injure his hand on the bunsen burner set in front of them. She giggled and gave him another sticker; it was a simple smiley face that he put on his notebook next to the golden retriever. 

She had bitten the bullet one day and invited him to a football game, one against Midtown’s rival school. Peter had been to football games before, having been in marching band, but that was before he was Spider-Man. A high school football game wouldn’t fit in his schedule, but the way she asked him and looked at him with an expectant and hopeful grin had him saying yes. So, he did what any sane person would do, and said yes. She squealed and wrapped her arms around him, taking him but surprise and let go of his neck. She gave him another sticker that day, one with a teddy bear holding a red heart in its centre.

That’s how he found himself sitting in the uncomfortable metal bleachers next to Ned and MJ, who insisted on coming but wasn’t paying attention, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to block out the cold. While Ned was focused on the football game happening before them, and MJ was engrossed in her book, Peter found himself staring at the seemingly glowing cheerleader chanting out cheers and praises. He watched as she threw her pompoms up and waved them around when Midtown presumably made a touchdown and huffed in exasperation when they didn’t.

The final buzzer went off, knocking Peter from his trance. Ned and MJ were getting up from their seats and making their way down the bleachers making Peter scramble to catch up. They waited for him, rather impatiently as Ned was tapping his foot and MJ was patting her book, and he rushed towards them. He stopped when a small body in a blue and gold outfit stood in front of him, a grin on her face and her pompoms resting on her duffle bag. He locked eyes with Ned who gave him a thumbs up and pushed an unimpressed MJ away from the fence. 

“Parker! You came! Did you have fun?” she asked, her words rushed and fast as she could barely contain her excitement. Peter chuckled and nodded his head, wanting nothing more than to hug her. To help her calm down, of course. She took him by surprise, a common theme, by wrapping her arms around him and snuggling into his chest. He was glad she couldn’t hear how fast his heart was beating, but it was in overdrive. He thought that his senses had dialled up to one hundred when he was bitten, but it was nothing compared to how they were at that moment. She had a control over him that he never thought anyone would have. But he was glad it was her and not anyone else.

“What d’ya say Parky? You wanna go on a stroll?” Peter looked down at her and nodded his head. He hadn’t heard a word of what she said, too distracted by her beauty and the way her arms felt around him. She was the warmth on a cold day; hot cocoa under a blanket of snow, and the sunset after a nice day on the beach. She was someone Peter wanted in his life when things got to be too difficult for him to manage, and when he was at his highest because he knew she would only send him to the moon.

He waved goodbye to Ned and MJ, Y/N did too, promising to listen to Ned’s new LEGO purchase the following Monday, and watched as MJ’s car pulled away from the curb. She took his hand into hers and dragged him towards her car. She unlocked it before motioning for him to get in, throwing her bag into the backseat and starting the engine. He couldn’t help but glance around the car. Stickers decorated the dash in front of him; he was sitting in pink seat cover with the letters ‘TPWK’ stitched on it in white, and her steering wheel was decorated with a big sunflower. It was so unapologetically her, and that made Peter smile. 

In the time Y/N drove, Peter texted May and let her know he would be out late. He was met with a ‘good riddance! Stay safe :)’ in response. Peter watched the streetlights pass by as Y/N drove through the city and past city limits. For once in his life, since he was a child, he let himself be free and enjoy the scenery night brought. He was bummed that the city filled the night sky with smog because he really wanted to appreciate the beauty of the stars and the moon. He wanted to see her under the moonlight because he knew without a doubt that she looked even more gorgeous. He had been so distracted by his thoughts, that for once didn’t make him want to hide under a heap of blankets, that he hadn’t noticed she stopped the car. She hadn’t said anything; she just watched him. He was at peace, and that was all she wanted him to be.

Peter opened his eyes and looked ahead. He could see the city in the distance, the lights on in buildings, and with his super hearing, he could hear the city’s faint sounds. She cleared her throat and pointed up, her moon roof was open and exposed the glittering sky above them. He stared at it in awe. He knew they were far from the city, but he hadn’t realised how far, far was until he saw unfamiliar glistening above him. She watched him with soft eyes, smiling at his bafflement and wonder. It didn’t need to be said, but she knew he needed this moment. 

In the months that followed the switching of seats in chemistry class, she noticed things about him. The bags under his eyes that covered his freckles, the tired and subtle yawns, and the rushing of homework that was due the next period. She didn’t know why he was always tired, but something in her told her it was important. The bigger part of her told her that she needed to do something for him, something to distract him and ease his mind. So, she brought him to her spot outside of the city, to do what she did best. She stared at the moon and let her mind run with what it would be like to live in space and reside on the moon.

“You see that pattern up there; I call it the Huntress,” she pointed towards Orion, “stories of the stars are always about men, and the stories about women are always depicted as helpless. It makes me feel better knowing that a woman is the hunter in the stars, even if it is just in my mind.” Peter nodded along. He wanted to hear more. So, she told him her versions on the stars. He let himself get lost in her words, inching closer towards her over the console. She paused her story and motioned up towards the moon roof. He climbed out first and helped her, the two of them settling on top of her car.

She continued her story on the twins, the two of them leaning on one another. Peter felt all his inhibitions and everything holding him back let go and get lost in the night sky. That night he didn’t think of all he lost, of everything he had endured; that night he thought of the sunshine sitting next to him and how he would be okay in the face of peril, so long as he had her by his side. His personal cheerleader. He thought of the way her lips felt on his and the giggle that erupted from her soft lips; about how they tasted like pomegranate. 

In her, he found himself walking on the sun’s rays and being hugged by warmth. For once, he didn’t stare at the sun with anger; instead, he basked in her warmth because the warmth enveloped him. 

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masterlist

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker x cheerleader! reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #tom holland peter parker #peter parker oneshot #peter parker fluff #peter parker fanfiction #marvel #spider-man #spider-man x reader #tom holland #tom holland x reader #mj #michelle jones #ned leeds #midtown tech #spider-man x you #spider-man x y/n #solare

[imaginesmai]

Peter Parker - Fluff Alphabet

This was requested by so, so many people I lost count. After the last Tom Holland Fluff alphabet, you all wanted one about Peter, so here it is! I hope you like it, it’s been quite hard to do.

Affection (PDA, how they are in private…)

Peter isn’t too shy, neither a fan of PDA. At the beginning, he’s hesitant in what boundaries you have and what do you feel comfortable with, so he would let you start any kind of physical contact like taking hands or hugging in public.

He loves brushing his fingers against yours, not really touching but playing this game of who will give up first and take the others hand. If you’re on a date or just walking around, sometimes he just grabs it to pull you closer to him or farther from the driveway, and keeps them that way. He isn’t a huge fan of wrapping his arm around your shoulders, mainly because he isn’t that tall and it’s uncomfortable. Your waist feels too possessive to him, so he is happy with taking your hand.

In private, Peter has conflicted feelings. While in public he always enjoys having you around, because it gives him a sense of comfort, sometimes in private he needs his own space. Maybe that day you’re wearing too much perfume, or your sweater is too itchy on the outside. His senses dial up to eleven some days, and you know to give him his space.

You sit each other on one side of the bed, Peter with his earphones and his eyes closed. You entertain yourself with homework or some show until Peter feels better, trying to do as little noise as you can. Then, when he feels good enough, he’ll crawl closer until laying his head on your lap and burying his face on your stomach, hugging you close. You’ll run your fingers through his hair and, usually, he falls asleep for a while.

Baby (do they want a family?)

On the contrary of popular belief, Peter is mostly against having a family. He knows being Spiderman is hard, and from the relationship he had created with Tony knows that Pepper is constantly in danger.

The part that he hates the most about himself is the one he loves too; being Spiderman. If by any chance it puts you in danger, he will beat himself at night because of it, and will even try to break up with you for your own good.

So, when kids are on the table, he thinks he has his answer pretty clear. He loves you more than anything though, and if you ever bring up the conversation, he would present his hesitation about children as just an opinion, not something definitive. Peter is all about getting settled with you, and he’s not sure if once he has his life sorted out things won’t look different, so as a definitive answer, Peter isn’t sure about kids.

But family is not only about kids, right? Peter Parker likes to imagine himself with you for the long run, in a small but cozy apartment with maybe a cat and a big window to watch sunset together. When he talks about it with you, his eyes light up and his hands move around to motion his excitement.

He guesses he would like any kind of family, as long as you’re with him.

Cuddles (how and when)

Peter is really shy at the beginning, because he’s not sure you want to cuddle as much as he does. He’s kind of touch starved, and not by any means is May’s fault. She hugs him as much as he can – but she works a lot and for a long time, so sometimes he gets lonely and needs physical contact.

You notice how much he loves cuddles when he’s hugging you and rubs his nose in the crook of your neck, wrapping his arms around you for a long time. Or when he doesn’t hesitate to tangle around you when you’re standing close. Then, one day you’re making homework together and he’s so sleepy that he can barely hold his own head up. You’re both sitting on your bed, your back to the wall and him in front of you. When you notice his eyes dropping, you propose laying for a bit. And Peter doesn’t have self-control when he’s tired, so he just lays his head on your chest and snuggle you.

Since then, cuddles is a must do. Lazy make out sessions are his favourite part of you, when you’re just laying on him, lips locked together, and his arms around your waist. His favourite position is when he’s tired from patrolling or life in general and he lays on top with you, face hidden on your neck and one of his legs trapping yours.

Dates (what are dates with him like?)

Dates with Peter aren’t ‘couple dates’, as much as you try. He wants to make it romantic for you, to take you to fancy restaurants or strolls around the parks. But for such a smart boy, he’s sure clueless when it comes to date planning. It’s up to you to plan some cute, romantic dates, because the one he chooses are the chaotic.

One time, he took you to Central Park to eat ice cream, watch people fall with their skateboards and feed the ducks. He chose his cleanest white shirt and some trousers, wanting to impress you but also be comfortable. It went well, for the most part – until one of the ducks got too sassy with him and he decided to chase him away, which only got another ten ducks chasing him around the park. His shirt got ripped from one sleeve and one of the ducks actually rammed its beak on his forehead, which ended in you sitting with him in the hospital waiting room as May laughed from afar.

That’s why he lets you do all the planning, and won’t complain with anything. He loves to try new things – like couple workshop or a new sport. As long as you’re together and there aren’t any ducks around, he’s happy.

Entertainment (how do you spend your free time)

Memes.

There is no other way to describe how you spend your free time, because that’s the only thing you do. Besides doing what any teenager does – homework, endless time of phone and hanging around with his friends – Peter and you spend a lot of time watching shows and films that are interesting for, as Tony would have said, the pop culture.

Peter likes to listen to music while playing board games, and that turned out to be a game of your own. You put a random track on your phone and, just saying the decade of the song and letting him hear the first seconds, he has to guess. You’ll try to beat each other records all the time.

You’re used to doing your homework together. Actually, you have a schedule for it. After leaving high-school, you go to one of your apartments to do your homework or just make out in bed lazily while forgetting about last day assignments. If you’re hooked up to some show, you’ll see a few chapters and then, he’ll walk you home or walk around your apartment for a while, to clear your heads.

It’s not hard to entertain yourselves because Peter is always trying his best to make you happy.

Feelings (when did they know they loved you?) + Love (who says it first, how many times) + Romantic (little details or non-verbal ways of saying I love you)

Peter being Peter, he probably knew from the first moment he met you. He’s a boy who feels too much and too quickly, so he was sure he was in love with him as soon as the first word left your mouth. That didn’t mean he said it out loud, but he could always show you.

It started by simple things, like he waiting for you at the end of the day to walk you to your house, then walking back to his. His apartment was on the other side of Queens, but still he refused to let you walk alone and not hear of how your day had been. On your way, he makes sure you walk on the farther spot from the driveway and lets you talk about whatever you want to.

Peter is not the type of boyfriend who gets mad easily, but as everyone else, there are sometimes where misunderstanding happens and you argue. His only real rule about your relationship is that he won’t go to sleep until you’ve solved everything, even if it means walking to your apartment when you argue at night. He doesn’t have any problems apologising, so usually your arguments aren’t long.

Another little thing he does is to give you flowers every now and then. May raised no granted-idiot, so he’s always making sure you feel appreciated. Once in a month, on Ben’s anniversary, he’ll pick a rose from the flower shop and give it to you or leave it in your locket, with a cute note or just a heart.

So, when did Peter know he loved you? He hasn’t always been good with admitting things, but from the moment he looked into your eyes, he knew he had fallen for you.

Gentle (kind or rough)

So this is about to get a bit sexual, just a fair warning.

Peter Parker is the definition of kind and gentle, always making sure he’s holding back with you and treating you as if you were made of gold. He wouldn’t, by any means, try anything rough with you in bed, because he isn’t sure how good he can measure himself in bed.

But

But

He might not want to try it with you, but with him it’s a different story. It’s hard for him to say it out loud at first, because he has always heard that men are supposed to be the dominant ones and take control in bed. Besides, he’s a superhero; so he thought it would just be wrong to be a sub, because that’s what society tells him.

You learn it one day when you’re making out in the couch and, by pure chance, you grab the back of his hair – which you had been talking about before that was a bit too long – and pull it so that he get his face out of your neck and you can meet his lips again. The sound that leaves Peter’s lips shouldn’t be qualified as human, more like divine.

Since then, Peter is more open about it with you. He likes when you’re kind of rough with him, like straddling his hips and pinning his hands, or grabbing his hair when he’s eating you out. He feels like it’s from having so many responsibilities all the time; Spiderman, the avengers, the patrolling and living with just his aunt. That, sometimes, it’s fine to let someone carry the weight of the things.

But truth is Peter Parker is totally a sub. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Holidays (favourite place)

Peter doesn’t have much money to go on expensive holidays, but he’s a simple guy when it comes to destinations. To him, wherever you can be together is fine; but if he can choose, he’s a montain type of person.

A cabin in the woods, a walk hearing the animals, or just laying in the middle of nowhere looking at the stars. The beach is great, but most of the times it means overcrowding and too much heat. Peter doesn’t do well with neither of those things, because he overwhelms easily and doesn’t like too much the heat. The mountain holidays are quiet and not too hot, and with the possibility of using a river or a pond.

That’s where his favourite part is. Your first holidays together were to a snowed mountain, where you spent a whole week. You skied together, made some snowmen, and drank hot chocolate. One day, you decided to explore on your own and discovered some thermal waters in a private property. After looking around for a bit, you discovered the place was empty and – for the first time in his life, he swears – you jumped over the fence and decided to try the thermal waters.

Since you were in the snow, you didn’t have any swimsuit with you, and when Peter realized he was ready to walk back to the hotel; but then, he looked behind him and saw you strapping off your bra, and he flew out of his clothes. You stayed there until your fingers wrinkled, your back against his chest and his arms around you. The memory was so good that he always forgot the part when the owner of the place appeared and you had to grab your clothes and run naked through the snow.

From that moment, Peter likes to make sure that wherever you’re going has close some safe river or pond to spend a few good hours relaxing there.

Impression (first impression)

Short imagine ahead!

Peter shifted, once more, in his seat. The coffee shop he had chosen to finish his essay was the less crowded in queens, and he knew well enough because it was the sixth coffee shop he tried that afternoon. The place, decorated as if you were in the fifties, wasn’t too big, just ten desks around the counter, which was in the middle of the room. When he had entered, he had thought the best place to concentrate was the corner of the coffee shop, just besides the window and behind the wall, so that no one would disturb him.

He had been working just fine, happy with his decision and with the result of his work; until, of course, he had finally looked away from the 10 pages essay to the lower bar on the screen, and discovered that he could barely see the white bar of the battery. He had blinked, trying to see where it had gone, and when he looked at the clock, he kind of understood.

For more than two hours, he had been camping there, with his creamed coffee and two brownie cookies. As much as he had carefully picked up the place, he hadn’t picked up a seat with a socket. That left him with short two minutes to find one before the computer shut down completely.

Panic rose to his throat when he discovered the coffee shop wasn’t empty anymore, but quite full. Peter emitted a small whine and gripped the end of his plug harder, trying to find a solution to his problem.

So, when he saw one, he didn’t stop to think; just grabbed his bag and ran towards the desk by the other window, where a socket peeked out. He almost crashed against a waitress and stumbled over a desk, and when he finally reached his destination, he was sure everyone was staring at him.

2%

Peter all but threw himself to the ground, only being careful of leaving the computer on a steady surface before crawling under the desk and plugging in. He gave it a few tries until it finally clicked, and he heard the comforting noise of his computer charging.

“Uh, that was close”

The voice above him emitted a small chuckle that reminded Peter that he had sprinted across the coffee shop and that was sprawled in the floor, under a table which was occupied. He wondered if staying there forever, or until the stranger left, would only add to his embarrassment. Peter could already feel his cheeks heating up and a lump on his throat that mean stuttering. Gathering every inch of confidence Peter Parker ever held, he got on his knees and crawled back.

“Yeah, I was doing my last Spanish assignment, and I would have lost the whole thing if the computer shut down” Peter explained as he finally got on his knees. “Sorry for –“

The confidence left as a pile of dust in the wind when he finally saw who was sitting on the desk and where his computer had landed. You were already looking up at him with a small, shy smile, while holding his computer hands and trying not to let it touch your lap, which was covered in whatever was in the now turned over cup on the desk.

“I hope you get a good grade” you said when Peter maintained quiet.

Normally, Peter didn’t do good when a girl was in front of him, unless that girl was MJ or May. Even worse if that girl was cute and had a beautiful smile, that was making Peter’s stomach jump in circles and to his throat. If you add that to having thrown her cup on her lap, and having crawled under her table like a possessed demon, it meant that Peter was no longer a working human being but a ball of anxiety and awkwardness.

“I’m so sorry” Peter rushed suddenly, reaching for the box of napkins on the desk. “I’m so – damn, I didn’t look where I was throwing the computer. I thought – I thought there wasn’t, you know, anything there. This is –“

You barely had time to prop up the computer before Peter was shoving the napkins on your lap, bending down between apologies, and pressing them against the wet patch on your lap. It was hard to interrupt him when he looked at the verge of tears, so you decided to save him from a little embarrassment and said nothing as you held up his computer and he attempted to dry your pants.

Eventually, he decided to follow the wet path with the back lack of pressing his open palm to your right breast. You swore he almost stopped breathing, just looking at you with the most panicked eyes you had ever seen. Instead of throwing him off or screaming at him for being a perv, you just chuckled again.

“I’m Y/N”

Jealous (protective or overprotective)

Peter being Spiderman is protective of you, of course. He’s always worried about something happening because he hasn’t been careful enough into keeping his identity hidden. He makes sure to separate as much as he can his alter ego and you, not wanting you to be involved with anything he has to deal with.

But that’s not the kind of protectiveness we’re talking about.

On the contrary of what people think, Peter Parker is a bit jealous. He tries not to let it show, but he’s like an opening book. If someone gets too close to you, and he sees that they’re just a bit too nice, the pout appears on his mouth. He stares from afar with his arms crossed and furrowing his eyebrows, not doing anything. But no matter how many times he promises himself that you know how to handle things and that you love him; eventually, he just gravitates.

He appears by your side eventually, as if he was a magnet. He doesn’t touch you or say anything, just stands by you looking miserable. If anything, the only thing he manages to you is to grab the end of you tee or the hem of your trousers, listening to the stranger talk.

If they get too aggressive or it’s obvious that you’re not comfortable, he doesn’t have any problem is stepping in and walk away with you, giving glares to who he left behind. If not, Peter will just stay glued to you until they left. And then clingy Peter is awaiting with a whole lot of cuddles and kisses.

Kisses

Like, lot of cute kisses in the nose and small pecks when you’re together just SO CUTE CAN YOU IMAGINE

Love (who says it first, how many times)

Look into Feelings

Memory (favourite memory together)

Peter groaned deeply as the annoying sound of the alarm filled the peaceful silence of the morning. He had been awake for a while, just laying with his eyes closed and enjoying the only time of the day his senses were asleep. That was why, when he reached for the alarm clock, his finger didn’t made contact with the hard surface, but with soft skin.

He opened his eyes, startled for a moment, to be met with your scrunching face. You said something in your sleep and battled his hand away, turning your head towards him and relaxing your face again.

Memories of last night, when you had stayed over for the first time ever and he had, finally, taken the step, took over him. He made sure it hadn’t been all a dream by lifting the covers and looking at his naked body. A smug smile broke into his face and he had to press his hand against his mouth not to giggle out loud.

After almost a year of dating, he had gathered the courage to ask you to spend the night with him. May was out of town and you had been studying until late; with the excuse of being Friday, he had asked you to stay. And one thing had led to another, and now he was waking up with you by his side.

It felt as if his heart was finally mending itself, all the hurt he had received through the years disappearing, making room for the utter and pure love he felt for your sleeping form beside him.

“Stop staring” you muttered, and opened one eye. “It’s creepy”

“Oh” Peter felt his cheeks reddening. “Oh, I didn’t – I’m sorry, uh, I just… I’m sorry, I –“

“I was joking” you chuckled, and turned on your side so you were facing him. You smiled lazily, and he hesitantly returned it. “Mh”

“W-what?”

His insecurities rose up when you just stared at him, not saying anything. Even if you had assured him last night multiple times you wanted it too, he had a hard time believing it was really happening to him; so he was ready for rejection.

“Didn’t think someone could be so handsome in the morning” you said, already drifting off sleep again. You missed how Peter chocked on air and his eyes widened until they almost fell out of its pockets. But you weren’t finished. “Didn’ think I could love someone as much as I l’uv you”

You words were slurred and not even a second later you were asleep again, the morning sun that was seeping through the window not bothering you. Peter actually had to remind himself to breath. All the guilt he had felt for forgetting to turn off the daily alarm last night dissolved when he thought what he got in return. Without thinking much, he bent down and pressed his lips against your forehead.

Peter laid back and closed his eyes too, pulling you close with a smile on his face that wouldn’t go away soon.

NO (something they won’t do in your relationship)

There are the typical things we all know Peter Parker wouldn’t do in a relationship, because he’s a gentleman and a sweetheart. Wouldn’t do anything he thought you wouldn’t like, wouldn’t force you into doing anything he likes, or wouldn’t ever make you stay with him if you were uncomfortable with his identity.

But if there’s something he refuse to do, is to go to your apartment after Spiderman. Even though you understand you’re not equipped to take care of him if he’s hurt, as much as Tony is, there are times when patrol goes smoothly and still he doesn’t end in your apartment.

You face him a few times and the answer is always the same; that he left his backpack on alley that was too far from your home, that he was hurt and needed Tony to help him, or simply that he wanted to check the suit in the Stark Tower. The truth is, Peter is afraid of leading some bad guys to your place; and even when you live together, he makes sure to change in an alley on the other side of town and enter in a different building, in case he’s being followed.

It started when May’s apartment was broken into a few years ago, when neither of them were there. Someone destroyed almost all of their things and moved all the furniture, not stealing anything. Peter had been thankful that he had carried his suit on his backpack, but he still knew why it had happened. May knew it too, so she decided to let Tony take care of the security.

From then, he’s afraid that something bad will happen to you if Spiderman’s is seen in your block. He goes through great lengths to avoid it, and if it means keeping you safe, he’ll walk a few hours more.

Orange (favourite colour and why)

It’s quite obvious, but Peter has three favourite colours. Red and blue are the ones people think about when they ask him this question. But his other favourite colour, less known, is gold.

It reminds him of the day he was saved by Iron Man when he was a kid, how everything he saw was a flash of red and gold who praised him and left. Since then, he had had an obsession with shiny things, and when Tony gave him the new iron spider suit, he swore he could faint.

Gold is also the colour Queens has when the sun is going down, when he’s sitting in the tallest rooftop, watching the view above. It reminds him of happy places, where the world was safe and the only thing Spiderman was needs for was to walk old ladies across the street and rescue lost cats.

There is one special memory that he loves about this colour. When he came back from the snap, he felt like he wasn’t himself. He didn’t sleep, he couldn’t keep up with school and he was reckless when it came to patrolling. Tony’s death haunted him every step he took, so he turned away from everyone and everything.

After a heated argument with you, when you ambushed him in his apartment since he had been avoiding you for two weeks, you decided to take a break. He hadn’t expected it – and it left him crushed; but he didn’t do anything to solve it. For a few days, it was like that, until a patrol gone wrong put him into a hospital bed. He woke up with May, Pepper, Happy, Ned and you watching over him worriedly; so he broke. Peter told you everything he had felt since the snap, how he felt misplaced in a world that had gone without him – even though you were snapped too – and how he couldn’t sleep because he was afraid of the dark.

That night, he was released from the hospital, he went to his bedroom, ready for another sleepless night, when he found a box on the bed.

I’m sorry for not asking you how you were doing sooner. Call me when you’re ready to talk. Luv u.

Peter opened it with wet eyes and discovered a small, star-shaped night light that emitted a low gold glow when it was turned on. Peter didn’t make the same mistake twice – and when he recovered from the emotional tears, he called you and invited you over.

Since then, the gold light was resting on his nightstand, reminding him that no matter how dark the day was, you were there always.

Parents (how is their relationship with your parents)

At the beginning, is bad. Even though Peter tries his best to impress your parents, everything that can go wrong in the first meeting happens.

Your parents were waiting for you in your porch when Peter and you appeared in the driveway in his car. He had refused to take one of Tony’s care, wanting to show your parents how he was able to provide for himself; and it lead to a disaster. The boy was nervous enough to care about his strength, so when he stumbled to your door to open it for you, he ripped it off its hinges. Peter held the piece of metal for a few agonising seconds until your father asked if you had really travelled in that car.  Peter tried to explain how it hadn’t been dangerous, with the door in his hand until you put a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a soft smile.

Once inside, Peter stuttered, sweat, and rambled during lunch, almost blurting out every secret he had. He threw his fork two times because of how bad his hands shook and called your mother ‘sir’ when he thanked her for the food. She ended up thinking he was adorable and chuckled, but your father was a different story.

It took him a few years to finally accept Peter, who every time he saw your father paled and searched for your hand.

Quirks (worst habit they have)

It doesn’t matter how many times you, May, Tony or even Ned tell him, Peter is unable to quit and you’re sure he doesn’t even try anymore.

You noticed for the first time when you were laying on his right, cuddling him as he tried to study. In an attempt to distract him, you grabbed his hand and started playing with him, and discovered that the skin around his fingers was raw. He tried to brush it off saying that it wasn’t that bad, but from that moment on you notice how Peter has too often one of his hands on his mouth, munching on his fingers as if they were a gum.

He does it because he’s always nervous, and because he used to do it with his lips and ended up with some serious problems. You try to stop him as much as you can, but he always manages to sneak a few seconds from your gaze and you catch him biting his thumb while looking into the nothing.

Romantic (little details or non-verbal ways of saying I love you)

Look into Feelings

Sad (how does he cheer you up)

Peter hurts with you. You remember how he told Tony that if May panics he freaks out too? Well, it’s the same.

Highschool can be stressing sometimes, and everyone breaks down because of it eventually. So when Peter opens the door of his apartment one day to you looking miserable, his day crumbles too. He looks at your wet eyes and the only thing he can think of is trying to get you not to cry, by repeating ‘please don’t, please don’t cry’ while tearing up himself. You end up breaking down on the door of his apartment and Peter hugs you without closing it, making some of the neighbours peek out of their own.

When you’re upset, he will cancel anything he has planned, even lab sessions with Iron Man. It’s not like he’ll just drop everything for you – but that’s exactly how it is.

About cheering you up, Peter tries his best to make you happy again with whatever you like, from watching a movie covered in blankets in the couch or dressing up and walking around the city.

Trickster (jokes, pranks…)

Pranks are not his style, because he always feels too bad about them after. Sometimes, he’ll pull a little one on you after overthinking for too long if you would be upset for it. Jokes, however, are a different story.

With just looking at him for more than two seconds, you already know Peter Parker is a dork. He wears t-shirts with science puns and tells the worst jokes on the world. He’ll be sitting in the canteen with Ned, MJ and you and he’ll just blurt something like ‘you know, I might make some horrible science puns, but only periodically’. There is a rank of Peter’s worst science puns that you’re doing with Ned, trying to figure out how long will it go until he stop.

Underestimated (what surprised him the most about you?)

- honestly, I can’t write about this because Peter Parker thinks you have put the sun on the sky and adores you for everything you do, no matter how small it is -

Vaunt (how much do they show you off?)

Too much, but no one can be angry at him, because he does it without noticing. It’s not the typical ‘hey look, that’s my girl and she’s the most beautiful one’. More like ‘I did a test today and Y/N smashed it’.

May had endured enough dinners with him to know he was whipped since the moment he crawled under your desk that day in the coffee shop. Even though he thought he would die while telling her, he spent a good hour describing every little detail of your face and admiring how nice and cool you were. Since always, Peter Parker has rambled his way out of conversations, so he keeps doing it; but just with you.

He could be talking about how he saw a shell at the beach and gave it to you for hours, explaining why and how. If you’re into some club – sports, robotics, decathlon – Peter will be always the first one to be there, on the first row with a bright smile and hands on his lap. Your classmates always tease you because he looks like a excited puppy watching his owner.

If there was a peak of Peter showing you off, was the day of homecoming. It didn’t matter if you wore a fancy dress or some plain pants; he’s shaking with excitement the whole way there, barely keeping his eyes off you. And when you’re in line for the photo, you bet he did the iconic Will Smith pose with his wife, opening his arms and just pointing at you, as if you were the most shinny star in the sky.

Wedding (do they want one and how they want it)

Peter’s decision to marry you wasn’t something planned, as mostly everything that happens on his life. Of course, he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you and that he loved you no matter what, but a wedding was something… not important for him.

That’s until you’re close to finishing college and Peter is hit by the idea of marrying you. Probably, it’s May who puts the idea there, after talking to him about it for ages; but he had always been good at ignoring her. Until you’re sitting on your shared apartment’s couch trying to find something appropriate to wear for your graduation. Peter still has another year in college, since the degree he’s in is a bit longer than yours, so he’s just sitting cross legged and looking at the options you’re showing him.

As much as it pains him, you don’t have enough money to afford a expensive dress, neither you want the help of Pepper Potts, who have threatened to leave an envelop with the money on your mailbox. That’s why you are looking in some second-hand online shop for something cute; and that’s why you see the weeding dress. There are a lot of clothes there, from pyjamas to some erotic underwear, but Peter only has eyes for the dress.

You click on it as a joke, telling him that if you find nothing you wouldn’t mind wearing it. From that moment, Peter can only imagine you wearing that dress and walking down the aisle, with a bouquet of flowers and probably sneakers. He can’t count how many nights he spent looking at the ceiling with a goofy smile on his face, imagining how all of it would be.

So, on the day of your graduation, without any more plans than just the ring on his left pocket, he bent down and popped the question, forgetting to give you the ring until a few hours later.

XX (something you’re the only one to know)

It hurts him to no end that you know it, but there is nothing he can do. You know about his weakness, about his nightmares and about how he can’t sleep when all the lights are out. You knew about his secret the first, about the real version of his trip to Germany and about everything he did on patrols. He had never kept secrets from you; except one, that got discovered on fateful day.

Peter, at your persistence, was teaching you how to put up a computer in his room, guiding you through the steps and not interfering unless it was necessary. He had been sitting on his bed while you were occupying the desk, casually scrolling through his phone while you worked.

It came one point when you needed a part that was on the other side of the room, and since you were holding the thing together, you couldn’t move. You asked Peter to bring it to you and he got up, not missing a beat. What he didn’t expect was the horrendous monster that was resting on it.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise – those things came from the trash, and in there animals were very common. But when Peter faced the spider, he was surprised. So surprised, that he screamed and jumped away, sticking itself to the ceiling in a second.

You turned around in time to see how the poor thing, scared by Peter’s noise, had crawled away. With the back luck to find the wall and deciding to move upwards. You almost laughed when Peter stumbled to the ground in his way away from the spider.

For a week, you kept reminding him how he didn’t hesitate in crawling out the window and leaving you there to kill the spider, finding him thirty minutes later on the top of the building. And he hates it, so much, that you know that Spiderman is afraid of spiders.

You (they talk about you)

Peter was sitting on the familiar grass like every Saturday of every month, his arms wrapped around his knees and a bouquet of flowers on his right. The chilly air of October made him look at the clock once more. Even though it was getting late, Peter looked back to the front and smiled again, returning his line of speech.

“Y/N is, uh – she is, everything you told me. When you talked about Mss Pott, you had this special look in your eyes, and I guess I have the same. You told me that… after Liz and I broke up, you told me that there was someone there for me. I think – Mr Stark, I know she’s the one. She has this – this laugh, it’s so, so beautiful. The best sound I’ve ever heard! She’s just, beautiful, and she’s with me, which is quite amazing. And, she isn’t freaked out by, you know, the whole spider thing – honestly, I think she would support me even if I quit, you know”

He stopped himself and wondered, once more, if the man in front of him would be disappointed with what he was about to say; but only found Mr Stark kind eyes and encouraging smile, and he knew he was taking the right decision.

“I’m thinking about quitting. For a while. I mean, Spiderman would still save the neighbours, you know? But just – sometimes. When needed, not on daily patrols” Peter explained, noticing how there was a familiar, circular weight on his pocket. “I’m gonna ask her to marry me. I know I said I didn’t want family, that we’re too young. But – we’re finishing college, and I don’t want to imagine a world where she’s not besides me… So, tonight, I have everything planned. I hope it goes better than the plan in Europe”

Peter knew his plans didn’t always go like planned. He had thought about it multiple times, and still he had his doubts if it was the right moment, or the right decision. The wind picked up in the lonely cemetery and Peter smiled, feeling as if Tony was really there with him.

“May says Ben would be proud of me, and Pepper says that the proposal would have been a disaster if you were alive, because you would have talked me into doing something really dumb” he chuckled, and looked at the flowers. It was time to go. “I hope she says yes, Mr Stark. I really hope so”

With a last, treacherous tear that always managed to escape, Peter got up and touched for the last time the cold stone of the grave.

Zzz (how do you sleep; probably include a visual)

Want to know more about me? Here is my Masterlist! Feedback is always appreciated!!

Tom Holland/ Peter Parker taglist:

@delicately-important-trash​​

@lexxxistrips​​​​

@smilexcaptainx​​​​

@aikaterrina​​​​

@zalladane​​​

@gypsystuf​​​​ (since you didn’t answer me, I just put you on the general taglist. Let me know if you want to change!)

@nikkixostan​​​

@galaxystern08​

@justifymyfeelings​

#peter parker #peter parker fluff alphabet #peter parker imagine #peter parker one shot #peter parker x reader #fluff alphabet #spiderman #spiderman imagine #spiderman fluff alphabet #spiderman one shot #spiderman x reader #avengers #avengers imagine #avengers one shot #avengers x reader #avengers fluff alphabet #tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland one shot #tom holland x reader #imaginemai #imaginesmai

[lovethepeacehope4love]

Unusual Asks

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? neither, iTunes lol but I guess spotify

is your room messy or clean? clean, I’m a Capricorn 

what color are your eyes? brown

do you like your name? why? yep, it’s unique 

what is your relationship status? newly single...again

describe your personality in 3 words or less determined, curious, sleepy

what color hair do you have? brown 

what kind of car do you drive? color? in my dreams its a black mercedes suv lol

where do you shop? Nordstrom, Rails

how would you describe your style? casual but trendy, warm but soft, a sex dream

favorite social media account? the ‘gram

what size bed do you have? queen

any siblings? yep

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? london because it felt more like home than anywhere else i’ve lived

favorite snapchat filter? do people still snap?

favorite makeup brand(s) marc jacobs, hourglass, nars

how many times a week do you shower? 3

favorite tv show? yes

shoe size? 5

how tall are you? 5′1″

sandals or sneakers? sneakers

do you go to the gym? nah but if soul cycle and other gyms weren't so fucking expensive and donated to trump then lets get cut, but I guess planet fitness will do lol or my living room 

describe your dream date. walking through the met in the late afternoon to watch them observe art, so they could observe art (me) and then walk through central park to the uws and get dinner somewhere delicious, then go to a fun bar like e’s or jacob’s pickles for drinks, then dessert and then a nice make out session

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? like $2 lol

what color socks are you wearing? white with purple

how many pillows do you sleep with? 2

do you have a job? what do you do? real estate agent, professional over thinker, former stage manager

how many friends do you have? like 5 lol

whats the worst thing you have ever done? I could probably think of something that I did when I was like in high school thats stupid now, but when my sister was pregnant, I thought really upsetting thoughts at my unborn nephew because I was jealous and I could sense she was gonna go away and he ends up having special needs and she did go away and sometimes is still away 

whats your favorite candle scent? something with bergamot, cozy af

3 favorite boy names noah, oliver, michael

3 favorite girl names lea, olivia, amelia

favorite actor? evan peters

favorite actress? kerry washington or reese witherspoon

who is your celebrity crush? evan peters

favorite movie? peter pan (2003)

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? yes, but sometimes I forget to. favorite book is probably something by john green lol

money or brains? brains make money

do you have a nickname? what is it? many 

how many times have you been to the hospital? once

top 10 favorite songs stupid love by lady gaga, rolling in the deep by adele, fool by fitz, runaway by mat kearney, adventure of a lifetime by coldplay, thunder by imagine dragons, have it all by jason mraz, you and i by jason mraz, sit next to me by foster the people, and drive by by train

do you take any medications daily? yes

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) combo normal-dry

what is your biggest fear? dying alone or falling off a high surface

how many kids do you want? zero

whats your go to hair style? beach waves

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) medium sized 3-bed apt

who is your role model? a few, but the actresses above who do good for womxn, bipoc and marginalized groups in all areas

what was the last compliment you received? that i looked cute today

what was the last text you sent? “perfect”

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? I think like 5 or 6 when I noticed Santa had the same handwriting as my Dad

what is your dream car? black suv 

opinion on smoking? cigs- nah, weed- ya

do you go to college? sure did

what is your dream job? Broadway / resident PSM at a regional theater

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? the ‘burbs

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? not unless its brand name

do you have freckles? a few

do you smile for pictures? yea

how many pictures do you have on your phone? 871 or somethin

have you ever peed in the woods? yea

do you still watch cartoons? does bob’s burgers count

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? chickie nuggies from wendys

Favorite dipping sauce? ranch

what do you wear to bed? t-shirt/tank with long pj pants but if it’s hot then pj shorts

have you ever won a spelling bee? lol no, never been in one

what are your hobbies? shopping, podcast listening, baby witch things, sleeping, watching tv & movies, youtube makeup videos, makeup

can you draw? lol nope

do you play an instrument? i think I can still play the piano but idk

what was the last concert you saw? lady gaga 

tea or coffee? no

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? depends on what im ordering

do you want to get married? yea

what is your crush’s first and last initial? GM

are you going to change your last name when you get married? maybe, if it sounds good

what color looks best on you? bright colors

do you miss anyone right now? yea

do you sleep with your door open or closed? closed

do you believe in ghosts? yea

what is your biggest pet peeve? tardiness

last person you called? mom

favorite ice cream flavor? chocolate

regular oreos or golden oreos? regular

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? chocolate 

what shirt are you wearing? wearing a dress rn

what is your phone background? colorful dots

are you outgoing or shy? yes

do you like it when people play with your hair? usually

do you like your neighbors? all the old people in this building can be quite rude 

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? yes

have you ever been high? yes

have you ever been drunk? yes

last thing you ate? spaghetti with balsamic tomato somethin-something I made from HelloFresh 

favorite lyrics right now “fooled me for the last time, feels good to be freed”

summer or winter? summer

day or night? day

dark, milk, or white chocolate? milk

favorite month? june

what is your zodiac sign cap

who was the last person you cried in front of? I think my ex as we broke up again? 

#idk bored #itme

[fortheloveoffanfic]

Love; Lost (part 2)

John Wick x Reader (A/n- the only canon thing about this is that John is an assassin with a cute dog.)

Part1

Warnings- (more) Angst, pregnancy (does that need a warning?)

5 years ago To Y/n, fall in New York always went by vastly underrated. Sure, there were some places in the city where you could walk a mile without seeing a single tree, and the sheer volume of people made the air typically seem more humid than necessary, but there were also little sections of the sleepless city that could turn out to be absolute gems. As it turned out, Central Park, while it couldn't really be called a "hidden gem", was actually a cornerstone of New York's autumn experience. The air was cleaner, the surroundings somehow seemed brighter and when the leaves changed, they created the perfect, picturesque scene.

That day, she had really just been scouting for a place that would afford her some good shots. She had recently been hired by a popular fashion house to do their fall shoot and after seeing their sample pieces, Y/n had decided that a natural backdrop would perfectly compliment the line.

By noon, she had been already been at the park for a couple hours, snapping pictures at spots she liked, drawing nearer and nearer to the thick foliage, that had at some point, gone from healthy, lush green to warm orange and red.

Closer to the forests, the crowd was thinner and the scene was beginning to look more conducive to Y/n's upcoming shoot. She could already see it; the models would pose among the trees, the brightly colored leaves perfectly blending with the popping colors of the outfits.

Y/n was just a couple feet into to the thicker part of the forest when she saw him; a dog, no owner in sight. The grey pit-bull sniffed around, shifting leaves around with his nose, apparently searching for something. Curious and a little smitten by the canine a few feet away, Y/n lowered her camera, trying not to make any sudden movements or startling noises as she approached him.

He looked so cute, Y/n thought, not a care in the world, seemingly amused by the the crunch of the fallen leaves. Raising her camera again, and against her better judgment, Y/n took a couple pictures; the light filtering through the canopy created by the tall trees captured his healthy coat wonderfully and he didn't even seem to mind that there was a complete stranger cooing over him.

When a man cleared his throat loudly behind Y/n, she jumped startled. Gasping, she turned around, only to find the definition of "tall, dark and handsome" dressed in a off white Henley standing a couple feet away with his arms folded across his chest. At the sight of him, the dog perked up, trotting over towards him. A little taken aback by his looks, Y/n internally stammered for something to say, "God," she sighed eventually, letting the camera hang freely from her neck, "I'm so sorry," she smiled sheepishly, "I swear I'm not some weirdo taking pictures of your dog; he just looked so cute playing in the leaves, I couldn't help it."

Taking in her words, the man eventually smiled, crouching down to rub the mutt's head affectionately, "It's okay, I'd be lying if I said he doesn't love the camera," the man's smile widened and Y/n could help but feel the slightest tingle in her chest, "Isn't that right boy?" He took the dog's head in his large hands, letting him lick all over his face.

"Well he certainly has every right to, he's very photogenic," she quipped with a bright grin.

Beautiful. That was probably the only word that John could readily think of to describe the woman standing before him. Her hair was effortlessly wind blown and she seemed dressed the part of a born and bred New Yorker in tight jeans, a sky blue button up with a long thick coat over it and ankle boots. John couldn't remember a woman ever having that kind of effect on him; rendering him at a loss for confidence and aching to talk to her, to say something funny, just so he could hear what her laugh sounded like.

Swallowing his nerves, John glanced at Dog and then back at the gorgeous photographer, "Yeah," he chortled softly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "He is, isn't he. I'm John, by the way, sorry about startling you earlier."

Y/n chuckled quietly, blushing despite her brain's orders not to. John had a firm grip, though it felt like was purposely avoiding squeezing her hand too tightly and his palm and stocky fingers were calloused. "It's okay," Y/n breathed, "I'm Y/n." When John released her hand, they still lingered there, kept apart by a just about eight inches. Clearing her throat, Y/n inhaled, trying to fill the new silence, "So you're John, and he is....."

"Dog," John offered bluntly.

Y/n furrowed her brows, "Your dog's name is......Dog? That's actually kind of cute," Y/n giggled.

John chuckled too, "I guess it is." For a minute he wondered if he'd have to let her go. John didn't want too though, something about Y/n was already reeling him in; her musical laugh, her shy smile, something. Maybe that was love at first at first sight felt like. "Would you mind sending me those pictures?" John finally summed up the courage to ask.

Her cheeks and the tips of Y/n’s ears heated up, not sure if John just wanted to spend more time with her or if he actually wanted the pictures. “Sure,” she finally managed, “Just give me your email and I can do that tonight.”

“Great,” John bit his lip. He couldn’t believe himself, he was actually going to do it; he was going to ask Y/n out, even if he had only known her for just over fifteen minutes, “Maybe I could give it to you over coffee.”

Taken aback, Y/n blushed again, “Now?” 

Suddenly nervous, John rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah,” he smiled tentatively, “If it’s good for you.”

Laughing giddily, “Yeah,” Y/n nodded, hoping she didn’t sound too eager, “It’s good for me. Lets get coffee.”

6 Weeks Later Y/n sat on the bed in the guest room of her best friend’s apartment. They had met in collage and had been roommates until graduation, so naturally, when she had left John, Lacy had been the one to suggest that Y/n crash at her place until she’d found something she liked. Y/n had been at Lacy’s little two bedroom apartment in the city for going on six weeks. The first three had been fine, though, tear filled, but as more time passed, Y/n had started to feel off. She couldn’t define it really, but she knew that something was different. Her clothes had started to fit differently, tighter in some areas, an occurrence that Y/n had passed off as a consequence of having ice cream for dinner but there were other things too. Frequent tension headaches, fatigue in the middle of the day and an odd repulsion to coffee, which she usually loved.

When Lacy had first suggested it, Y/n didn’t want to believe it; it couldn’t be, not now. But sitting there on the bed, with the truth staring back at her, Y/n realized that there was no escaping it; this was happening. The only thing she could do was make a decision going forward. “What are you gonna do?” Lacy broke the tense silence.

Y/n’s breath caught as tears welled up in her eyes. What was she going to do? Fumbling for words, she shook her head, tendrils escaping her loose ponytail and falling sadly over her paled face, “I don’t know......this is....” She trailed off, getting lost in her own though. 

Pregnant?

How’d that happen?

Well, she knew how that happened.

But she and John were always careful; Y/n was on the pill. Granted, she’d sometimes forgotten to take it, but that wasn’t often, once, twice tops. “Well, this is just an opinion, but I think you should tell him,” Lacy had always strove to be a voice of reason, even when reasonable wasn’t something that Y/n particularly wanted.

Scoffing, Y/n stood abruptly, tossing the flimsy plastic test to the made sheets, trying to ignore how the two little pink lines mocked her. It sort of felt like a betrayal of her body. She couldn’t be pregnant! A single mother in her late twenties, without even as much as an apartment? Of course, Y/n knew she could afford a decent one, money wasn’t the issue, it was time. Just six weeks after she’d left John, in the midst of her career; where did a kid fit into that? Of course, Lacy was right, telling John was the most viable course of action, no doubt he was the father, but what kind of father could he be? He was an assassin!

Briefly, just for a minute, Y/n’s mind took her back to a time where John would promise to leave the criminal life behind so they could have a normal life, but that was years ago, and he never did it. And now, they weren’t even together. Y/n wasn’t even sure if she wanted kids. “No,” Y/n finally dismissed Lacy’s idea, nervously toying with a loose thread at the hem of her t-shirt, “No,” she repeated, “John is.....”

“A good man,” Lacy stood too, trying to still Y/n’s fidgeting hands, “You said it yourself. And it’s not like you’d be getting back with him, but don’t you think he deserves to know? This is his baby too.”

By then, quiet tears were falling freely, warm on her cheeks, her lips trembling slightly, “I know, I do, it’s just.....” if Y/n went back, she couldn’t trust herself to leave again. 

Emotion overtook her and Y/n finally let a chocked sob escaped her lips. Sighing, Lacy pulled her into a hug, her hands rubbing soothingly over her back, it was nothing like John’s hugs, warm, protecting and consuming, but it was still filled with love from one friend to another. “It’s okay,” she whispered, low and close to Y/n’s ear, “Whatever you decide, I’m here for you, I’ll always be here for you.”

John’s sleep had grown fretful and unsatisfactory in the past six weeks and he’d only recently realized that it was because he had grown used to the security that Y/n offered. Of course, he’d often sleep alone when he was away for work, but it was always with the knowledge that she was at home, awaiting him, and when he’d return, she be there with ready arms and a safe haven, with an embrace that made him feel blissfully normal. Y/n made him feel loved. She made him feel at home, at ease. She made him feel safe. 

Maybe that was why John had squeezed her so tightly, not just to protect her from his life, but because deep, deep down, he know that she was protecting him. Protecting him from the insanity that he always feared loneliness would drive him too, protecting him from himself. John missed her, he needed her and he craved her. 

Scrubbing his hands over his face, John sat up in the bed, sparing a glace to the empty space next to him. For weeks, he’d tried patting the spot to coax Dog into sleeping next to him, but it was if even he knew that the spot closest to the awning window was reserved for only one person. It was hers, even if she no longer wanted it.

Swinging his legs out of bed, John didn’t bother with slippers as he padded out of the room towards the kitchen, Dog close on his heels. In the kitchen, John stood in front of the open fridge, trying to decide if he actually wanted something, or if he just needed a reason to be awake. Despite the late hour, he reached for a beer, though eventually decided against it, opting to go for something stronger; a glass of his preferred bourbon. 

With the bottle in one hand and two fingers of the amber liquid in a crystal glass in the other, John slid into a stool at the kitchen counter. Dog wandered around the room, whining despondently when he neared a shelved table at the corner of room, where the wall of the kitchen and the hallway joined. The top was still littered with things she’d left behind, the kind of things that John assumed blurred the lines of ownership. Some of Dog’s toys, ornaments she’d bought in an attempt to add personality to the place and of course, more pictures. Standing about half foot away from the stand, Dog trotted in his place, whining and John took a lengthy sip before turning to him, “I know boy,” he sympathized, “I miss her too.”

Dog didn’t seem to notice John, and it pained him even more to think that they were both hurting. Y/n had been good to Dog, she adored him and often, he could return home to find them playing together in the backyard or cuddled on the sofa watching television. One of the reasons that John could often leave for work so readily was because he knew, that in his absence, Dog would protect Y/n with his life. 

“Come ‘ere boy,” John called, and seeming to give into him, Dog just hung his head, moving over to lay at John’s feet. Though, the painful silence didn’t last long, because in just a couple minutes, his furry friend was up again, that time hurrying to the front door; barking as if to tell John to follow him, his ears alert. “What?” John grumbled, wondering what the dog could possibly want with outside at nearly one am. 

At the front door, Dog jumped anxiously, barking and begging as John sifted though the keys, looking for the right one, “Alright, calm down,” he shushed, about to slip the right key into the slot when his trained ears heard it; the hum of a car growing closer and eventually parking at the top of his yard, light footsteps approaching the door. 

Thinking the worst, John stepped away from the door; judging from the sound of the footfalls, his uninvited guest was on the lighter side. Not before long, soft knocks hit the heavy wooden door and John figured that the faint taps made the person seem almost afraid to draw his attention. Ignoring John wordless demands to get back, Dog lunged for the door again, barking excitedly, presumably begging John to open it. 

After a debate, where through it, Dog primarily ignored him, John finally succumbed, unlocking the door and pulling it open, gasping quietly when he saw who it was. Swallowing tightly, John licked his lips, not even noticing that Dog had started jumping at her feet. 

Briefly, Y/n bent, scratching between his floppy ears and hugging him quickly, one might have assumed she missed the animal more than she missed John. “Y/n,” even saying her name hurt, “What are you doing here? It’s so late.” Though a huge part of him was happy to see her, hoping it meant that she was coming back, John was also worried; she shouldn’t have been out past midnight alone, anything could happen.

Ignoring his question, Y/n’s fiddled with her fingers nervously and John thought she looked tired and a bit worn out, though still absolutely beautiful, the same woman he wanted to marry, the woman he’d still marry if given the opportunity. “Did I wake you?”

Raking his short nails through his scruff, John shook his head, “No, I uh....” haven’t been sleeping much, “Haven’t gone to bed yet.”

“Oh,” she forced a smile, though her breath shuddered and John could see the first hints of tears in her eyes, “Can we talk? Please?”

“Yeah, sure, of course,” John pulled the door open some more, “Come in,” he huffed, feeling a little strange inviting her in; he had bought the place long before he’d met Y/n, but it was her house too. Their home. 

“Thanks,” she smiled tightly, pulling her thick, woolen cardigan closed as she stepped inside, more out of nervousness than coldness. Awkwardly, she waited for John to lead her towards the familiar kitchen. Immediately, she noticed the glass and the bottle, noting that he’d been drinking, but hoping it wasn’t too much. 

Catching her staring John hesitantly offered, “Can I get you a glass?” 

Y/n shuddered again, she loved whiskey almost as much as John did, learning loads about the drink from her father, who before his passing a couple years ago, was a collector of rare bottles. Even in her young age, Y/n could probably name the more popular labels by just tasting them. It was one of the things that she and John had bonded over in the beginning and before he passed, her father respected John’s refined taste. John and her father; they had become fast friends, Y/n wondered what he’d think now. Y/n also hated thinking that he’d never meet his first grand-kid. 

“No thanks,” Y/n waved off his offer and she could see, even in the low lighting, the furrow in John’s brows. 

“Okay,” John managed, moving the things away, “Should we sit?” He gestured to the stools.

“We should,” Y/n claimed the one next to John’s. Internally, she scolded herself for procrastinating. She had planned the entire thing in her head, yet, from the minute she saw him, all of her courage melted away, probably still in a puddle at the front door. She knew that it wouldn’t have been easy, but it shouldn’t have been that hard either. Absently, Y/n placed a hand at the top of her stomach, trying to quell the nerve included nausea all while slowing her heartbeat.

She hoped he hadn’t noticed, but John knew her better than most and worriedly, he reached out, tentatively resting his hand on her arm, his eyes worried, “You okay? Can I get you something?”

“No,” Y/n breathed, blinking away tears, “I’m fine, I just need to.....umm...” Blurting out seemed a little too brash and suddenly, Y/n was at a loss for the right words.

“Are you sure?” John felt a breath-stealing surge of worry swell in his chest. He hated seeing Y/n even remotely sick, and if he had his way, she’d never be troubled.

Nodding vigorously, Y/n swallowed tightly, “John, I uh.....I have to tell you something,” nonspeaking, John questioned her with his chocolate gaze, licking his lips, “I’m.....I’m pregnant.” 

“Pregnant?” He breathed. In another instance, he’d be overjoyed; it was one of the reasons he’d bought the ring. John had promised Y/n that he’d get out long ago, but lately, he’d finally started seeing a way of doing just that. No longer under the mob, he’d just have a few loose end to tie up before he was done for good and he and Y/n could get married and hopefully, soon start a family. The idea had given John a giddiness and he was over the moon with the prospect of their future. Had things gone as planned, John would have gathered Y/n in his arms from the minute she told him she was carrying their child. Hell, he might have been there when she found out.

But finding out like that; when she no longer lived with him, when she’d made it clear that he wasn’t any good for her, it was confusing. Part of him was still happy, he’d always wanted to be a father, so he could give someone the thing things he’d longed for as an orphaned child. But another part was worried; worried that she was only telling him to be polite, that she was about to follow it up with the admission that she didn’t want a part of him with her like that. Unknowing of how to proceed, John asked what he thought was the most logical, and perhaps impersonal question, “How far along are you?”

“Nine weeks,” Y/n looked down at her lap, before meeting his eyes once again, “I’ve only known for a few days now, so I understand if you’re surprised. I wasn’t expecting this either.”

Nodding, John stood, combing his hands through his hair. Her words had him a little unsettled, “Are you,” he winced at the words, hating how harsh they sounded, “Keeping it?” He’d respect her decision either way, it was her body after all, “Obviously, I wouldn’t want you to feel pressured-”

“I could never....” Y/n shuddered of at the thought; she respected the notion of choice, but she could personally never do it. “I’m keeping it,” shaking her head, Y/n corrected, “I’m keeping the baby,” she couldn’t get her head wrapped around the idea of calling their child an ‘it’ even if she logically knew it was still just a fetus and probably couldn’t even hear her.  

Sighing in relief, John moved to the other side of the counter, all in an effort to put some distance between them and get his emotions under wraps, “Okay,” he dragged his lips between his teeth, “Have you done one of those......DNA test things?” he didn’t know why it mattered, but some part of him screamed that it did.

Scoffing, annoyed Y/n folded her arms, “This baby is obviously yours!”

“I know that,” John stressed, just realizing how insulting the question must have sounded, “I meant,” he searched for the words, though his very finite knowledge on the medical jargon had him stammering, “You know, one of those tests where you find out the gender.”

“Oh,” Y/n frowned, wishing she hadn’t just taken that tone with John. She knew him well enough to know that he trusted her. “No, I haven’t. I wanted to wait,” she smiled sheepishly, though it looked more like a faint frown.

Licking his lips, “Okay.” For a while, they fell into silence. Everything that he thought of saying felt wrong, like he’d be overstepping somehow. It was funny he thought, he’d known Y/n for five years, she was pregnant with their child, yet all it only took was six weeks to put a seemingly unbridgeable space between them. Though, according to Y/n, that distance had existed long before their break-up. 

Courage. That’s what he needed. John typically had it in excess, his job required it. But that night, he seemed severely lacking in that department. His thoughts swam in a pool of confusion and indecision as he debated whether or not he should try to convince her to come back.

In the interim, Dog had made his presence known at Y/n’s side, somehow sensing that his other person needed him more than John did, stationed protectively at her feet. 

Finally summoning some resolve, John reached over the granite, his fingers just barely brushing Y/n’s, “You could come back,” he suggested.

When she pulled her hand away, John had to pretend it didn’t sting and when Y/n stood, Dog did too, on high alert, “That’s not why I came here tonight. We don’t have to be together just because we’re having a baby together.”

“So why did you come?” John folded his arms across his broad chest, “So you could walk out of my life again, but make it hurt more this time?” He grew defensive, hating that she wasn’t willing to change her mind.

“You think I came here to hurt you?” Y/n’s voice rose, “I came here because it was the right thing to do. I don’t need you to....”

“To what Y/n?” John could feel the tension building between them, a long over due fight on the horizon, “To stifle you?”

Y/n chuckled humorlessly, “God, you’re so....” she sighed, ranking a hand through her hair, “No John, I’m more worried about you just popping in and out of this kid’s life. You know, like you did mine.”

“I told you, I only did that to keep you safe,” he managed through gritted teeth.

“And I told you that I didn’t need you to keep me safe!” She yelled. “You know what? Maybe coming here was a mistake,” already, Y/n was swiping her keys off the counter, and starting to walk off.

A few paces behind, John wasn’t ready to let her go so easily that time. He couldn’t let her got, not when she was mad, not when he felt, despite her protests, that it was his job to protect her and their baby, not when there was still so much he had to say, “Oh yeah?” John huffed, “And what were your other options? Hide it, do this on your own and never tell me about our baby?”

“Yeah John. And I was gonna do it too, but I figured that there were already enough secrets between us. Didn’t really feel like adding one more to the pile,” there was a venom in her tone and as they stood at the door John and Y/n both wondered where it came from. How did still loving each other turn into so much anger.?

They both stood there, eyes challenging, something tense flowing between them. Y/n did still love John, but that night wasn’t going the she’d expected it to, though, she wasn’t really sure what she was expecting. Maybe it would have been easier if John had told her he didn’t want the baby, that way she could disappear from his life with a reason to hate him, with an excuse to give their little one someday. But he just had to step up to the plate, be the good man she knew him as, make her love him even more. 

On his end, there was so much John wanted to say; he wanted her to know that he had planned to get out, to commit fully to her and now, to raising their child. But the more she pushed him away, the more defensive he became. Not speaking, he held her gaze, not even knowing if trying to fix things would make them better or worse.

“I’m leaving John,” Y/n’s voice broke and John’s anger cracked. He didn’t want her to go. Y/n didn’t want to stay. His fingers itched to reach out, his heart bled with the desire to beg her to talk things through with him. But John knew Y/n; he knew her will and determination, how hard it was to change her mind when she’d made a decision. So instead of starting another fight, John let her go, just like he had nearly two months ago

That night was different though, there was a new bitterness between them, and something buried deep in the back of their minds told both John and Y/n that things weren’t near over. 

*******

Tagging- @harrisongslimited​

#Keanu reeves #Keanu reeves x reader #Keanu reeves x you #john wick x reader #john wick x you #john wick #ff #fanfic #fanfiction #john wick fanfiction #love lost #john wick fanfic #Keanu reeves fanfic #angst #flasbacks #Keanu reeves fanfiction

[sciencespies]

The True History Behind 'Judas and the Black Messiah'

https://sciencespies.com/history/the-true-history-behind-judas-and-the-black-messiah/

The True History Behind 'Judas and the Black Messiah'

SMITHSONIANMAG.COM | Feb. 11, 2021, 3:15 p.m.

When Chicago lawyer Jeffrey Haas first met Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, he was struck by the 20-year-old activist’s “tremendous amount of energy” and charisma. It was August 1969, and Haas, 26 years old at the time, and his fellow attorneys at the People’s Law Office had just secured Hampton’s release from prison on trumped-up charges of stealing $71 worth of ice cream bars. To mark the occasion, Hampton delivered a speech at a local church, calling on the crowd to raise their right hand and repeat his words: “I am a revolutionary.”

“I couldn’t quite say that, because I thought I was a lawyer for the movement, but not necessarily of the movement,” recalls Haas, who is white. “But as Fred continued saying that, by the third or fourth time, I was shouting ‘I am a revolutionary’ like everyone else.”

Judas and the Black Messiah, a new film directed by Shaka King and co-produced by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, deftly dramatizes this moment, capturing both Hampton’s oratorical prowess and the mounting injustices that led him and his audience to declare themselves revolutionaries. Starring Daniel Kaluuya of Get Out fame as the chairman, the movie chronicles the months preceding Hampton’s assassination in a December 1969 police raid, detailing his contributions to the Chicago community and dedication to the fight for social justice. Central to the narrative is the activist’s relationship with—and subsequent betrayal by—FBI informant William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), who is cast as the Judas to Hampton’s “black messiah.”

“The Black Panthers are the single greatest threat to our national security,” says a fictionalized J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen), echoing an actual assertion made by the FBI director, in the film. “Our counterintelligence program must prevent the rise of a black messiah.”

Here’s what you need to know to separate fact from fiction ahead of Judas and the Black Messiah’s debut in theaters and on HBO Max this Friday, February 12.

Is Judas and the Black Messiah based on a true story?

In short: yes, but with extensive dramatic license, particularly regarding O’Neal. As King tells the Atlantic, he worked with screenwriter Will Berson and comedians Kenny and Keith Lucas to pen a biopic of Hampton in the guise of a psychological thriller. Rather than focusing solely on the chairman, they opted to examine O’Neal—an enigmatic figure who rarely discussed his time as an informant—and his role in the FBI’s broader counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO.

“Fred Hampton came into this world fully realized. He knew what he was doing at a very young age,” says King. “Whereas William O’Neal is in a conflict; he’s confused. And that’s always going to make for a more interesting protagonist.”

Daniel Kaluuya (center) as Fred Hampton

(Glen Wilson / Warner Bros.)

Speaking with Deadline, the filmmaker adds that the crew wanted to move beyond Hampton’s politics into his personal life, including his romance with fellow activist Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback), who now goes by the name Akua Njeri.

“[A] lot of times when we think about these freedom fighters and revolutionaries, we don’t think about them having families … and plans for the future—it was really important to focus on that on the Fred side of things,” King tells Deadline. “On the side of O’Neal, [we wanted] to humanize him as well so that viewers of the film could leave the movie wondering, ‘Is there any of that in me?’”

Who are the film’s two central figures?

Born in a suburb of Chicago in 1948, Hampton demonstrated an appetite for activism at an early age. As Haas, who interviewed members of the Hampton family while researching his book, The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther, explains, “Fred just couldn’t accept injustice anywhere.” At 10 years old, he started hosting weekend breakfasts for other children from the neighborhood, cooking the meals himself in what Haas describes as a precursor to the Panthers’ free breakfast program. And in high school, he led walkouts protesting the exclusion of black students from the race for homecoming queen and calling on officials to hire more black teachers and administrators.

According to William Pretzer, a supervisory curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), the young Hampton was keenly aware of racial injustice in his community. His mother babysat for Emmett Till prior to the 14-year-old’s murder in Mississippi in 1955; ten years after Till’s death, he witnessed white mobs attacking Martin Luther King Jr.’s Chicago crusade firsthand.

“Hampton is really influenced by the desire of the NAACP and King to make change, and the kind of resistance that they encounter,” says Pretzer. “So it’s as early as 1966 that Hampton starts to gravitate toward Malcolm X … [and his] philosophy of self-defense rather than nonviolent direct action.”

Fred Hampton speaks at a rally in Chicago’s Grant Park in September 1969

(Chicago Tribune file photo / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

William O’Neal in a 1973 mugshot

(Fair use via Wikimedia Commons)

After graduating from high school in 1966, Hampton, as president of the local NAACP Youth Chapter, advocated for the establishment of an integrated community pool and recruited upward of 500 new members. In large part due to his proven track record of successful activism, leaders of the burgeoning Black Panther Party recruited Hampton to help launch the movement in Chicago in November 1968. By the time of his death just over a year later, he’d risen to the rank of Illinois chapter chairman and national deputy chairman.

O’Neal, on the other hand, was a habitual criminal with little interest in activism before he infiltrated the Panthers at the behest of FBI agent Roy Mitchell (portrayed in the film by Jesse Plemons). As O’Neal recalled in a 1989 interview, Mitchell offered to overlook the-then teenager’s involvement in a multi-state car theft in exchange for intel on Hampton.

“[A] fast-talking, conniving West Side black kid who thought he knew all the angles,” O’Neal, according to the Chicago Tribune, joined the party and quickly won members’ admiration with his bravado, mechanical and carpentry skills, and willingness to place himself in the thick of the action. By the time of the police raid that killed Hampton, he’d been appointed the Panthers’ chief of security.

“Unlike what we might think of an informer being a quiet person who would appear to be a listener, O’Neal was out there all the time spouting stuff,” says Haas. “People were impressed by that. … He was a ‘go do it’ guy. ‘I can fix this. I can get you money. I can do these kinds of things. And … that had an appeal for a while.”

Why did the FBI target Hampton?

Toward the beginning of Judas and the Black Messiah, Hoover identifies Hampton as a leader “with the potential to unite the Communist, the anti-war, and the New Left movements.” Later, the FBI director tells Mitchell that the black power movement’s success will translate to the loss of “[o]ur entire way of life. Rape, pillage, conquer, do you follow me?”

Once O’Neal is truly embedded within the Panthers, he discovers that the activists are not, in fact, “terrorists.” Instead, the informer finds himself dropped in the midst of a revolution that, in the words of co-founder Bobby Seale, was dedicated to “trying to make change in day-to-day lives” while simultaneously advocating for sweeping legislation aimed at achieving equality.

The Panthers’ ten-point program, penned by Seale and Huey P. Newton in 1966, outlined goals that resonate deeply today (“We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people”) and others that were certain to court controversy (“We want all Black men to be exempt from military service” and “We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails”). As Jeff Greenwald wrote for Smithsonian magazine in 2016, members “didn’t limit themselves to talk.” Taking advantage of California’s open-carry laws, for instance, beret-wearing Panthers responded to the killings of unarmed black Americans by patrolling the streets with rifles—an image that quickly attracted the condemnation of both the FBI and upper-class white Americans.

Fred Hampton (far left) attends an October 1969 rally against the trial of eight people accused of conspiracy to start a riot at the Democratic National Convention.

(Don Casper / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

According to Pretzer, law enforcement viewed the Panthers and similar groups as a threat to the status quo. “They are focused on police harassment, … challenging the authority figures,” he says, “focusing on social activities that everybody thinks the government should be doing something about” but isn’t, like providing health care and ensuring impoverished Americans had enough to eat.

The FBI established COINTELPRO—short for counterintelligence program—in 1956 to investigate, infiltrate and discredit dissident groups ranging from the Communist Party of the United States to the Ku Klux Klan, the Nation of Islam and the Panthers. Of particular interest to Hoover and other top officials were figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Hampton, many of whom endured illegal surveillance, explicit threats and police harassment. Details of the covert program only came to light came to light in 1971, when activists stole confidential files from an FBI office in Pennsylvania and released them to the public.

Though Hampton stated that the Panthers would only resort to violence in self-defense, Hoover interpreted his words as a declaration of militant intentions.

“Because of COINTELPRO, because of the exacerbation, the harassment, the infiltration of these and agent provocateurs that they establish within these organizations, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy from the FBI’s point of view,” Pretzer explains, “[in that] they get the violence they were expecting.”

As Haas and law partner Flint Taylor wrote for Truthout in January, newly released documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request confirm the lawyers’ long-held suspicion that Hoover himself was involved in the plan to assassinate Hampton.

LaKeith Stanfield (left) as William O’Neal and Jesse Plemons (right) as FBI agent Roy Mitchell

(Glen Wilson / Warner Bros.)

What events does Judas and the Black Messiah dramatize?

Set between 1968 and 1969, King’s film spotlights Hampton’s accomplishments during his brief tenure as chapter chairman before delving into the betrayals that resulted in his death. Key to Hampton’s legacy were the Panthers’ survival programs, which sought to provide access to “fundamental elements of life,” per Pretzer. Among other offerings, the organization opened free health clinics, provided free breakfasts for children, and hosted political education classes that emphasized black history and self-sufficiency. (As Hampton said in 1969, “[R]eading is so important for us that a person has to go through six weeks of our political education before we can consider [them] a member.”)

On an average day, Hampton arrived at the Panthers’ headquarters with “a staccato of orders [that] gave energy to everyone around him,” says Haas. “But it wasn’t just what he asked people to do. He was there at 6:30 in the morning, making breakfast, serving the kids, talking to their parents.”

In addition to supporting these community initiatives—one of which, the free breakfast program, paved the way for modern food welfare policies—Hampton spearheaded the Rainbow Coalition, a boundary-crossing alliance between the Panthers, the Latino Young Lords, and the Young Patriots, a group of working-class white Southerners. He also brokered peace between rival Chicago gangs, encouraging them “to focus instead on the true enemy—the government and the police,” whom the Panthers referred to as “pigs,” according to the Village Free Press.

Fred Hampton raises his right hand at an October 11, 1969, rally in Chicago.

(Photo by David Fenton / Getty Images)

Speaking with Craig Phillips of PBS’ “Independent Lens” last year, historian Lilia Fernandez, author of Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago, explained, “The Rainbow Coalition presented a possibility. It gave us a vision for what could be in terms of interracial politics among the urban poor.”

Meanwhile, O’Neal was balancing his duties as an informant with his rising stature within the party. Prone to dramatic tendencies, he once built a fake electric chair intended, ironically, to scare informers. He also pushed the Panthers to take increasingly aggressive steps against the establishment—actions that led “more people, and Fred in particular, [to become] dubious of him,” says Haas.

The months leading up to the December 1969 raid found Hampton embroiled in legal troubles as tensions mounted between police and the Panthers. Falsely accused of theft and assault for the July 1968 ice cream truck robbery, he was denied bail until the People’s Law Office intervened, securing his release in August 1969. Between July and November of that year, authorities repeatedly clashed with the Panthers, engaging in shootouts that resulted in the deaths of multiple party members and police officers.

Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton (far left) and LaKeith Stanfield as William O’Neal (far right)

(Glen Wilson / Warner Bros.)

By late November, the FBI, working off O’Neal’s intel, had convinced Cook County State’s Attorney Edward Hanrahan and the Chicago Police Department to raid Hampton’s home as he and his fiancée Johnson, who was nine months pregnant, slept. Around 4:30 a.m. on December 4, a heavily armed, 14-person raiding party burst into the apartment, firing upward of 90 bullets at the nine Panthers inside. One of the rounds struck and killed Mark Clark, a 22-year-old Panther stationed just past the front door. Though law enforcement later claimed otherwise, the physical evidence suggests that just one shot originated within the apartment.

Johnson and two other men tried to rouse the unconscious 21-year-old Hampton, who’d allegedly been drugged earlier that night—possibly by O’Neal, according to Haas. (O’Neal had also provided the cops with a detailed blueprint of the apartment.) Forced out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, Johnson heard a cop say, “He’s barely alive. He’ll barely make it.” Two shots rang out before she heard another officer declare, “He’s good and dead now.”

What happened after Hampton’s assassination?

Judas and the Black Messiah draws to a close shortly after the raid. In the film’s final scene, a conflicted O’Neal accepts an envelope filled with cash and agrees to continue informing on the Panthers. Superimposed text states that O’Neal remained with the party until the early 1970s, ultimately earning more than $200,000 when adjusted for inflation. After he was identified as the Illinois chapter’s mole in 1973, O’Neal received a new identity through the federal witness protection program. In January 1990, the 40-year-old, who’d by then secretly returned to Chicago, ran into traffic and was struck by a car. Investigators deemed his death a suicide.

“I think he was sorry he did what he did,” O’Neal’s uncle, Ben Heard, told the Chicago Reader after his nephew’s death. “He thought the FBI was only going to raid the house. But the FBI gave [the operation] over to the state’s attorney and that was all Hanrahan wanted. They shot Fred Hampton and made sure he was dead.”

The attempt to uncover the truth about Hampton and Clark’s deaths began on the morning of December 4 and continues to this day. While one of Haas’ law partners went to the morgue to identify Hampton’s body, another took stock of the apartment, which the police had left unsecured. Haas, meanwhile, went to interview the seven survivors, four of whom had been seriously injured.

A floor plan of Fred Hampton’s apartment provided to the FBI by William O’Neal

(People’s Law Office)

Hanrahan claimed that the Panthers had opened fire on the police. But survivor testimony and physical evidence contradicted this version of events. “Bullet holes” ostensibly left by the Panthers’ shots were later identified as nail heads; blood stains found in the apartment suggested that Hampton was dragged out into the hallway after being shot in his bed at point-blank range.

Public outrage over the killings, particularly within the black community, grew as evidence discounting the authorities’ narrative mounted. As one elderly woman who stopped by the apartment to see the crime scene for herself observed, the attack “was nothing but a Northern lynching.”

Following the raid, Hanrahan charged the survivors with attempted murder. Haas and his colleagues secured Johnson’s release early enough to ensure she didn’t give birth to her son, Fred Hampton Jr., in jail, and the criminal charges were eventually dropped. But the attorneys, “not content with getting people off, decided we needed to file a civil suit” alleging a conspiracy to not only murder Hampton, but cover up the circumstances of his death, says Haas.

Over the next 12 years, Haas and his colleagues navigated challenges ranging from racist judges to defendants’ stonewalling, backroom deals between the FBI and local authorities, and even contempt charges brought against the attorneys themselves. Working from limited information, including leaked COINTELPRO documents, the team slowly pieced together the events surrounding the raid, presenting compelling evidence of the FBI’s involvement in the conspiracy.

Hampton’s fiancée, Deborah Johnson (sitting in middle, as portrayed by Dominique Fishback), gave birth to their son, Fred Hampton Jr., 25 days after the raid.

(Glen Wilson / Warner Bros.)

Though a judge dismissed the original case in 1977 following an 18-month trial, Haas and the rest of the team successfully appealed for a new hearing. In 1982, after more than a decade of protracted litigation, the defendants agreed to pay a settlement of $1.85 million to the nine plaintiffs, including Clark’s mother and Hampton’s mother, Iberia.

“I used to describe being in court like going to a dog fight every day,” says Haas. “Everything we would say would be challenged. The [defendants’ lawyers] would tell the jury everything the Panthers had ever been accused of in Chicago and elsewhere, and [the judge] would let them do that, but he wouldn’t let us really cross examine the defendants.”

Hampton’s death dealt a significant blow to the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, frightening members with its demonstration of law enforcement’s reach and depriving the movement of a natural leader.

According to Pretzer, “What comes out is that the the assassination of Hampton is a classic example of law enforcement’s malfeasance and overreach and … provoking of violence.”

Today, says Haas, Hampton “stands as a symbol of young energy, struggle and revolution.”

The chairman, for his part, was keenly aware of how his life would likely end.

As he once predicted in a speech, “I don’t believe I’m going to die slipping on a piece of ice; I don’t believe I’m going to die because I got a bad heart; I don’t believe I’m going to die because of lung cancer. I believe that I’m going to be able to die doing the things I was born for. … I believe that I will be able to die as a revolutionary in the international revolutionary proletarian struggle.”

#History

#History

[enchantingkittengaditor]

Born Into This | 01: Right Now

POV Hayley

“Ms. Atwell, can you please tell us all that you can remember leading up to the events?”

“Ok, it all truly started when TJ found something I can’t begin to explain in the lab after I got her an internship at the police station. Like me, she didn’t want to be apart of the mob world.”

“Hi, I came in to collect my case files, Edna,” I asked the elderly lady behind the front desk showing her my ID.

“Of course Miss. Atwell,” the lady behind the desk smiled at me as she went to go grab my files. While she was in the back I grabbed my phone, checking to see if anything bad had happened or if anyone figured out my past yet.

“Get in the cell, Stan!” one of the officers yelled at a man he was trying to get into a cell.

“Make me.”

“Oh my god,” I mumbled under my breath as I looked up to be met by the eyes of Sebastian Stan, one of the many underbosses of the Downey Mafia. This is great, just the person I didn’t want to see because where theirs a Stan there is always a Chris. And whichever Chris it was I didn’t want to see them here.

“Here you go, dear. It’s a shame isn’t it, all these men getting caught up in crime families it makes you think what their parents think of them doesn’t it. Anyway good luck with some of those cases, you’ll need it,” she said again as I quickly scurried off, still feeling the glare on my back from Sebastian in his cell.

“Watch your back bitch!” He screamed at me before the door slammed shut behind me.

God, I hope no one else noticed that he was talking to me. Let’s try and ignore it and see if Lizzy knows anything but till then I have to pick up TJ.

Me: WHERE ARE YOU? I FORGOT WHERE YOUR INTERNSHIP IS.

TJ: 5TH FLOOR, LAB. HAVE SOMETHING THAT MAY INTEREST YOU. ABOUT SEB & A CASE

Me: SEE YOU IN 5. TELL ME THEN. PHONE NOT SAFE. LIZ WORRIED.

I stepped out of the elevator on to the 5th-floor landing. The 5th floor was split between a state of the art lab and the Lawyer’s office, which makes TJ having her internship so much easier, even if I did forget where it was.

“Hi Anna, I’m here for my niece, the lab intern,” I said to the lady at the front desk inside the lab.

“Hey Aunt Hayley, can you come see this. If that’s alright Anna?” She queried her boss for the past few days.

“That’s fine but be quick your meant to be gone in five minutes,” Anna said from behind her desk.

“Thank you so much, Anna,” TJ responded to her as she led me to her small work station. “Have a look, tell me what you see.” She pointed at the microscope.

“Did you arrange cells to say ‘I love you’?” I asked her.

“Yes. Now Seb?”

“I’ll tell you more later. Then pizza and home to Lizzie,” I said putting my arm around her shoulder as we walked out of the lab.

“Should we bring Lizzie some pizza, she did have a big meeting with the idiot of Chris.”

“Maybe we go with veggie pizza. You know how those meetings can go.”

“That might be a good idea. How was your day? How was Seb?”

“I didn’t see him until I left and got his file. It was good. You?”

“It was so much fun. The science here is incredible, though I still want to be a lawyer like you and get away from the family business. I want to be on the right side of all this,” she said motioning to the police station.

“Good for you. Now pizza.”

“PIZZA!”

“You a weird child, now you still got your subway ticket?”

“Yes let’s go.”

“What happened then?”

“We got pizza and went home, it’s not rocket science,” I sassed at the judge.

“We’re home!” TJ shouted to Lizzie in the kitchen. “And you have red wine, what happened?”

“Chris happened,” she responded.

“Right we have pizza and you have wine, TJ you can either have wine or a coca-cola that’s in the fridge,” I said putting the pizza box on the table.

“I’m going with the coke.”

“For the next two hours, we sat at the table laughing and talking about our day. We also talked to TJ about her new school and everything we’d heard about it.”

“Was there anything else that went on that night?”

“Not that I can recall, though I would like to point out we did drink a few bottles of wine. So I’m sorry that I can’t remember what else happened.”

POV Sebastian

“Mr. Stan, what do you remember from the night of August 28th, 2022?”

“I’d been arrested at about 6 pm that day and I was sitting in the drunk tank glaring at officers while trying to sober up.”

“Is that all?”

“All that I can remember,” I stated back at them.

“Why were you arrested, by the way, Mr. Stan?”

“I was arrested for public intoxication among other things.”

“Congratulations, Stan you have made bail,” one of the officers said unlocking the cell door.

“You really need to get your act together Sebastian,” a voice said to me as I grabbed my things.

“Shut the fuck up Chris, I don’t have time for this. I have to…”

“You don’t have to do anything except explain all of this to Robert.”

“He knows?” I asked already regretting last night.

“Of course he knows. He knows everything that happens in this city, like the fact Hayley Atwell is your court-appointed attorney.”

“Well, that’s going to be fun.”

“You need something to eat. It’ll help sober you up.”

“What I need is to get out of the country.”

“That isn’t the answer.”

“What were the other things?”

“I was in a mob, it’s all in the file that you were given.”

POV TJ

“Ms. Barnes, what do you remember from the night of the 28th of August 2022?”

“I remember going to bed at around 10 pm and reading for a solid hour before turning off and going to bed after texting Millie and Sofia.”

“Why did you text these two people?”

“Because without me reminding them to go to bed they’d stay up 24/7. I’m just a teenage girl who cares about her friends. Contrary to popular belief I’m not a monster, I’m just a normal human being with a crazy family.”

“Normal?”

“Well as normal as one can expect having been brought up by mobsters.”

“Alright, what about the 1st of September?”

“That was the first day of school.”

“And?”

“And as I imagine you remember it was full of misogynistic comments, a rating list and bitchy teenagers and me nearly punching a sexist teacher who thought I couldn’t cope being in AP classes. Other than that and the usual bonding games it was a normal day.”

“I want you to describe it in detail,” The judge said.

“Can you pull in just here, I don’t want anyone to know about the fact I’m getting driven around in a limo,” I told Alfred the driver as Lizzie and Hayley talked business across from me.

“Of course ma’am.”

“Please don’t call me ma’am call me TJ please I will never get used to anyone calling me ma’am,” I told him as I kissed my aunts’ goodbye on the cheeks and got out of the car.

“Have you got your lunch?” Hayley asked.

“Yes, don’t worry I have everything.”

“She even has two best friends,” Millie said from behind me.

“Have a good day you three,” Lizzie said, “I have an appointment at the warehouse but I’ll come to pick you all up and we can get ice cream and walk around central park.”

“Yup,” Sofia squeaked as we headed to the school gates.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I told her before she could ask.

“Yup. So what class do you guys have first?” Millie asked as we tried to find our lockers in the expansive hallways.

“AP English, with a Mr. Holland,” I said looking at my timetable on my phone trying to find the combination to my locker to drop most of my books off.

“Well, congrats we’ve all got the same class,” Millie said finding her combination.

“Wasn’t Holland one of the names on the list of people to avoid that we were all sent by Mr. T?” Sofia asked.

“Let’s see there’s a Tom, Sam, Harry, Dominic and that’s it. Well, all he could find under that name,” I said pinning some photos from London up inside my locker as well as the list of names I’d printed out this morning.

“You printed it out?” Sofia asked.

“Yup because it’s more useful like this than on my phone.”

“But more people can see it,” Millie responded.

“Only if they look in my locker, though,” I said as we walked toward what we hoped was the classroom we were meant to go to.

“This is 120 right?” Millie asked looking at the sign outside the door.

“I believe that does say 120 Millie. Are you sure you should be in AP calc?”

“Shut up,” She said playfully slapping my shoulder.

“Sorry,” two boys said after knocking into me and Millie trying to get into the classroom.

“I guess we should go in,” Sofia stated.

“Here we go,” Millie said.

“Together,” we said in unison walking through the door hand in hand.

“That was dramatic, wasn’t it?” Sofia said when we took a seat together at the front of the classroom.

“Not there,” a man said to us, “There’s a seating chart on the board.”

“Well, I’m in the right spot but you two have to move,” I said to my friends.

“Just remember, see something say something,” Millie said raising her eyebrows at us to emphasize the hidden meaning of the saying we’d been taught since we’d been kids.

“What does that mean?” One of the kids that had bumped into us said looking at where Millie was sitting.

“It means what you’d think it means, it’s just a stupid joke that we’ve told each other since we were kids. Love ya TJ,” Sofia said picking up her books and moving to her desk.

“Bye,” I said to them as they moved across the room pouting at me as I turned back to the boy, “Hi, I’m TJ. And you are?” I said looking him up and down as he sat down.

“Patrick,” he said shaking my hand. “I’m guessing your not from around here.”

“That obvious huh?” I said taking my pencil case out of my bag ready for class.

“The accent gave it away.”

“Thought so. You’ve also got a south-east London accent. How?” I asked with the determination I’d seen Lizzie use in meetings.

“My parents are from London, but I grew up here most of my life,” he told me turning back to the board.

“Hello everyone. Welcome to AP English, I’m Mr. Holland and I’ll be your teacher. To get us started after all the introductions and ‘bonding’ games that I’m sure you’ll do today, I’m going to set you a group project with your desk partner on a historically important book so pick a name out of the hat.”

When I picked a name out of the hat I was elated. “What book did you get?” the teacher asked.

“Little Women, Louisa May Alcott,” I said not even looking back at the little piece of paper.

“Good luck,” he said moving on.

At the end of the class, the three of us met up outside the classroom.

“So if I have ‘A Room Of One’s Own’ and you have ‘Little Women’ how on earth did Millie get ‘The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn’? There is such a difference in those books,” Sofia said to us as we walked to our next class.

“I honestly don’t know. But I’m not mentally ready for that level of sexism and racism,” Millie responded.

“Is that all that happened that day at school?”

“No that’s all that mattered that day at school, it was a normal first day.”

“Alright.”

POV Chris

“Mr. Evans can you explain what happened at your meeting with Ms. Elizabeth Olsen.”

“Of course.”

“Elizabeth,” I said walking into the conference room at the hotel we’d agreed upon for this meeting.

“Christopher,” She said not even looking up from her paperwork.

“So, Robert tells me that you need to leave,” I said sitting down.

“Of course he thinks I need to leave but we’re not going to. We just need you to get him to sign these.” She handed me a folder that I flicked through.

“Why?” I asked her.

“It simply states that we’ll be in a similar relationship to that of any other mob in the city. The others have already signed theirs. It also states that you will be the liaison between us so that we don’t damage each other too much. All we want is to work together and help each other out,” she said smiling and waving her pen around.

“Well I’m sorry to say but we don’t do legal binding. And this is not how Robert roles.” I put down the file and slid it back to her.

“Well, Robert said you did. And agreed to this already so all you have to do is take this to him and get him to sign it. It’s a simple task I imagine you can handle it even with your IQ,” she told me.

“I can except he gave me this for you,” I said pulling out a note from my jacket pocket.

“Well thank you,” she said taking the note.

“I imagine things work differently in England than here,” I stated staring at her as she read the note.

“They do, we like to be more sophisticated in the ways we go into business with each other,” she said still reading the note.

“Get out,” she said quietly after she finished reading the note, “Get out or I will call security on you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Evans that’s all we need to know for now.”

POV Paddy

“Mr. Holland, can you tell us what happened on the first of September?”

“So your dad teamed you up with someone that he thinks is apart of a rival mob that moved here from England. And somehow he thought it would be a good idea for you two to work together. And now not so much?” Finn asked me as we sat down in the cafeteria.

“Yes, but he can’t change the partners without looking suspicious to at least her if she is, in fact, part of a mob.”

“So he’s worried about a teenage girl taking down Robert. Because that makes sense.”

“You haven’t seen what they did in London,” I told him starting to eat my lunch.

“Neither did you,” He told me.

“No, but my brothers and parents did and I’ve heard the stories. If she is a part of that mob she’s going down so is her family. They destroyed mine and so I’m going to help destroy theirs.”

“So you vowed to destroy the Barnes Mafia?”

“Yes but that was an empty threat. It meant nothing more than the ‘bro code’ everyone seems to think we uphold. It was meant as a way to show my dad that I was loyal to him but not mean anything to substantial because helping could just mean getting them cookies.”

“But I take it that’s not how your father saw it?”

“It never is.”

“Your dad said you wanted to help us take down the Barnes family?” the Chrises approached me when I got home from school.

“Maybe I did but I still have school and homework for the time being so if you’ll excuse me,” I told them grabbing an apple from the kitchen and disappearing to my room.

#mob!au #mob au #mob!tom #mcu #marvel #fanfic #fan fic #fan fic writing #writing #My writing #mafia #mob #mob!mcu #mcu cast #sebastian stan #chris evans #hayley atwell #paddy holland #kelli berglund #elizabeth olsen #robert downey jr

[twopedalpushers]

Travel update #5

Ecuador

A lot of events have transpired since I last posted a blog update! I signed off my last post at the border between Colombia and Ecuador. There is a lot to get through and so without further ado, welcome to the fourth country of our travels so far - Ecuador. 

Normally at a border crossing the scenery subtly merged from one country to the next but upon arriving into El Ángel National Park at the Ecuadorian border, we were transported into another world. I don’t know how to describe El Ángel National Park as even the photos that I took are pale in comparison to the experience of being there. We were travelling through the park on a dirt track and there were frailjones (a specific type of Latin American sunflower) as far as the eye could see in every direction. We were the only souls along the entirety of this track and the only sounds were those of our tyres on the dirt. It was surreal. It felt like we were the only people on this strange, desolate new planet. 

We passed through a few different towns before we reached the famous Ottavalo Market. The market is known throughout South America for being the best place to buy alpaca wool goods handcrafted by the indigenous people of Ottavalo. The market was vast, bursting with piles of rugs, jumpers, gloves, hats, toys (to name a few) being sold by charming Ottovaleños. We both bought a jumper each and I’ve pretty much been living in it ever since. 

Probably the nicest thing about Ecuador is the amount of indigenous people wearing traditional dress. In Ecuador, 25% of people define themselves as indigenous - 22% more than in Colombia. More often than not in Ecuador, entire villages will be wearing their own cultural variation of the traditional dress. It was interesting to see how this changed as we crossed the country. Women in the North tended to wear long blue dresses, handmade blue sandals, a white blouse with an ornately embroidered belt. Men wore a blue poncho or shirt and a fedora. Once we travelled South, the women of the highlands now wore extremely bright coloured felt shawls held together with a brooch. They wore knee length bright skirts -usually in a contrasting colour to their shawl, wellington boots and a fedora. The men of the highlands wore striped ponchos and wellingtons. This was the first time I had ever seen so many people dressed traditionally throughout the entirely of a country and it was inspiring to see a culture so rich. 

The capital of Ecuador is in the North, so we reached Quito fairly early into our journey. Out of all of the Latin American capitals we had visited, Quito felt the most European. It had a really relaxed yet quiet and private vibe. People ran in the parks and took their dogs out for walks in the evening. It was extremely civilised but it seemed to lack the intensity, drama and disinhibition of cities in its neighbouring countries. 

The roads after Quito were beautiful. We were cycling through Ecuador’s Volcanic corridor, which took us around Cotopaxi Volcano and ended with the vast and breathtaking Quilatoa Lake. 

The scenery was spectacular but the cycling was becoming extremely difficult. The small roads that we usually cycled on were now cobbled instead of paved or dirt. We had to bump along up hills of extreme gradients. It was rainy season in Ecuador so we frequently found ourselves cycling in dense fog or rain all day. The dampness made cycling uphill on cobbles extremely slippery and dangerous to do, especially on a bike that weighed the same amount as I did! I found myself having to get off the saddle and push my bike up steep hill after steep hill, most of which only 4x4’s were able to drive up.

Ecuadorians seemed to prefer to build roads straight up the mountain rather than having the road switch back a few times to gradually take you up. Because of this, our progress became infuriatingly slow - down from 80km per day in Colombia to 40-50km in good weather. 

Ecuador took us to new heights. Most days we were at an altitude of 3000-4000m. Although thankfully neither of us got altitude sickness, doing such intense physical activity so far above sea level left me incredibly out of puff to the point that I would struggle to catch my breath. 

The picture painted of cycling through Ecuador online and on social media contrasted immensely with the reality of doing so. Cycle-touring blogs and Instagram accounts that I’ve been following whilst on the trip are endlessly positive highlight reels of what it’s like cycling on the best days. Nobody tells you that you will be woken up in the middle of the night with searing pain in your legs from the build up of lactic acid. Nobody tells you that on the worst day of your period you will be biking 2000m of elevation instead of running yourself a hot bath and stuffing your face with chocolate. 

After a while in Ecuador, I started to expect every day to be another bad day, which kickstarted a dangerous spiral of negativity. I would look at Max cycling ahead of me in the distance, conquering each hill much more easily and happily than I could, and I would wonder why I was not able to do the same. I was asking myself why on earth I was putting my mind and body through this every day. It was the first time on the trip that I truly missed home.

Ecuador uses the dollar and is much more expensive than Colombia. Because of this to save money we did a lot more camping than we usually would. However because of the persistent rain we found ourselves needing to camp under shelter, once taking refuge on a volleyball pitch next to the side of the road, other times in hostel courtyards. Not splashing out on a bed in a hostel very often meant that we were tackling the Andes on very little sleep for as long as ten days in a row without a break. 

This has been a pretty negative account (sorry!). However it was not totally miserable in Ecuador. On dry days, we got to camp in some of the most amazing, wild spots that have been better than anywhere else on the trip thus far. We spent time camping next to waterfalls and at the base of volcanoes. Between villages while cycling on dirt roads we were very often the only the people around. We saw lots of llamas and alpacas for the first time on the trip! 

However no amount of cute, fluffy llamas could make up for the difficulty of the cycling and unfortunately my morale was low. The strain of undertaking such an intense physical challenge and spending every minute of the day together began to take a toll on mine and Max’s relationship. We were exhausted and bickering with each other at every opportunity. I was falling out of love with the cycling and in the end we decided that it would be good to take a break from biking and spend some time apart. 

Max and his family were heading to visit him in the Galapagos for ten days, and although I was invited along too I decided to fly to Brazil instead. We were 5 months into the trip and halfway through our time on the continent so it felt like a good moment to rest our bodies and treat ourselves a little bit. 

Our cycle route down the Western side of South America doesn’t take us through Brazil and it has always been a country that I have wanted to visit. I booked my flights to Rio de Janeiro and found out a couple of days later that I was going to be there while it’s Carnival! I really needed to blow off some steam and now had the perfect opportunity to do so - it felt like the stars were aligning! 

So about a week ago, we both left our bikes behind and flew to completely different places. We are going to return to our bikes refreshed, rested and ready to take on the Peruvian section of the Andes! Other cyclists that we have met on this trip rave about Peru being one of the most beautiful countries to cycle through, so I’m pretty excited. More importantly others have said that Peru is far less steep than Ecuador because they thankfully build long, winding hairpins up the mountain at a gradual gradient when possible. Obviously, there will still be hills to climb but after a good rest I’ll be able to take them on with fresh legs and a positive attitude.

I landed in Rio de Janeiro a few days ago and Carnival is every bit as exciting, intense, raucous and dynamic as you would imagine it to be - just times by one hundred. I’ve been at some of the street parties (that seemingly have no start or end) for a few days now. I will save writing about my time in Brazil for my next update. 

Below I’ve posted the full video of our time cycling through Colombia. I’m in the process of putting together the Ecuador video and will upload it in a few days.

Here is the link to track our progress (although we won’t be cycling for a while so you won’t see a lot of progression!) 

http://share.garmin.com/DMB7R

Similarly to my previous post about reaching the end of Colombia, I thought I would write a list of all the interesting things that I noticed while travelling through Ecuador. Again, it’s lifted from my journal so it informally written.

Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream! For a country so cold it’s crazy to see how into ice cream the locals are. On every street there is an ice cream shop. In the North they cover ice cream in cheese (crazy combination I know...) I was intrigued by this but in the end I was too grossed out to give it a try. 

The possibility of taking a hot shower is back- for the first time on the entire trip! Ecuadorians mostly have warm showers, which is nice. They don’t have central heating in their buildings so they use propane tanks to heat their water. Every morning a truck selling gas canisters trawls around every neighbourhood, blaring a song sung by children with shrill voices. It’s the same song in every town we have visited. 

Ecuador has a strangely large amount of Chinese restaurants called “Chifas.”

They’re mad about topiary gardens. In the North every town square had shrubs with peoples faces and animals cut into them. 

Ecuadorians are very quiet, reserved, friendly and humble people.

A very large amount of people drive old school classic VW Beetles. It’s definitely the most common type of classic car you will see in Ecuador. 

[uhbright]

A Reunion//Aaron Hotchner

Helloo! This is for @literallyprentissstwin ’s “angst challenge”. (it was super fun to write ngl ha). 

Word Count~ 2.6k

This is about Aaron, and my prompt was “I’m still not over you”. Idk if I screwed up because technically he didn’t sayyyy it. Well, you’ll see haha :)

mention of alcohol

ok lastly- all my italics got screwed up but I’m too lazy to fix it, so sorry

The soft summer breeze sifted through the grass, the friendly squeak of a worn swing set flowing along with it.

    Aaron watched as Jack kicked his feet back and forth, flying higher and higher into the air, his eyes squeezed shut with a smile spread across his face. Even as a 10-year-old, Jack knew to enjoy the little things.

    Aaron glanced around, still not used to the idea of safety after Peter Lewis’ death and their leaving Witness Protection.

    Just breathe, he told himself, it's all over, everything’s alright.

     He glanced down at his watch- He and Jack were going to visit Haley’s grave before they had to get on a flight to attend the annual “Hotchner Family Reunion”.

    Despite the event being yearly, Aaron hadn’t been since he’d gotten the job at Quantico in the Behavioral Analysis Sector, and Jack had never even gone once.

    —

    Jack sat patiently in the car for his dad to get the last suitcase into the trunk. He could feel the way this time of year affected him- the way he talked, walked, held himself.

   Even though Jack knew it was because his mom had died this time of year, it never affected him the same way it did his dad. He’d be sadder than usual, sure, but it would never keep him awake at nights, make it harder to accomplish day to day activities like it did Aaron.

     All the same they acted as if everything was normal, apart from visiting her grave on the anniversary date.

    —

    They stepped out onto the gloomy, gray ground and navigated their way through headstones. Once they arrived at the one they were looking for, Aaron replaced the few remains of a year-old bouquet with new, fresh flowers that would have to last the next year.

     The father and son stood in silence for a minute, Jack periodically looking up at his dad to see if his expression would change from the blank stare he had on.

     Several more minutes passed and the subtle rustle of Aaron’s sleeve folding to check his watch broke the dreadfully heavy silence. The pair crossed back through the cemetery and into the car.

       The long ride to the airport consisted only of a low-volume “easy-listening radio”, and a few sentences to point out some animals along the side of the road.

    --

    The plane ride was not too long, especially for a sleeping Jack who felt the one and a half hour flight took barely 5 minutes. Finding it difficult to sleep without being awoken by grievous memories, Aaron found comfort in looking out the window at the peaceful clouds, light white, tinted with pink and orange from the sun just beginning to set.

    On the ground again, the father and son duo took off towards the hotel room, the tranquil plane ride seeming to have renewed their energy.

    On the short taxi ride over to their hotel in a small Vermont town, Jack began to talk about his interest in planes and he began to describe the one they had been on to his dad in great detail. Impressed by Jack’s recital of information, Aaron ruffled his son’s hair and promised a stop to an ice cream parlor after they had settled down in the hotel room.

 --

    They began their walk into the central area of the town. Being an inconspicuous area uninterrupted by many tourists, the two were able to quickly find comfort and a congenial sense of joy in the borough.

    At a local, family-owned ice cream parlor, Jack stacked flavor upon flavor into a large waffle cone-bowl, topped with homemade whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Hotch had a small vanilla cone, but gladly took a few bites of Jack’s when he couldn’t manage to finish it all.

    Back at the hotel, Aaron had the two get ready for bed (far too early, according to Jack), so that they would be well rested for the early start of the reunion tomorrow.

 --

    Aaron awoke with the sun and made sure they were all packed for the reunion before waking up Jack so they could go to the car. His sister-in-law’s “famous” coleslaw balanced carefully on top of the passenger seat so it would safely make it to the reunion. After hours of pleading her to make the coleslaw so he could pass it off as his own, Aaron was not about to let it fall victim to the poorly maintained roads of Addison, Vermont.

    Hotch stopped for some coffee on the way there, not lucky enough to get another few minutes of sleep like Jack.

    When they pulled up at his mother’s large house, they parked behind a line of five cars, probably belonging to his brother and several cousins. (More specifically the ones who suck-up to his parents and get there early.) Aaron woke Jack up once more and fixed his bed head, then carried his son and the bowl of coleslaw up to the door.

“Aaron!” A skinny, fragile looking woman pulled open the door, “Jack!”

Her grandson wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a friendly hug, despite being rather unfamiliar with the woman he embraced.

“Mom,” Aaron said lightly, and gave her a hug only to see over her shoulder to get a feel of who had already arrived.

Through the window to the backyard he could see several cousins who he barely remembered, along with some children that he’d never seen before. Basking in lawn chairs were a couple of ancient aunts and uncles he remembered from various Christmases (back when he used to come home for them). In the kitchen, setting out various plates and bowls of foods, was Aaron’s younger brother Sean, accompanied by an unknown woman.

“Where should I put this?” Aaron pulled away from the hug and held up the bowl of coleslaw.

“How ‘bout just on the counter,” She smiled and turned her attention towards Jack, “I have something for you! Follow me.” She began to lead him up a carpeted staircase, leaving Hotch alone in the entry room.

He looked around the pictures scattered about on cabinets, trunks, and bookshelves throughout the room. He saw himself up to the age of 15, before he went off to boarding school, then straight out to the California Police Department, then to the FBI. His brother, however, was pictured from the time he was born to photos probably taken just this last Christmas, only skipped for the year he was away in college.

Aaron turned away from the photos and made his way into the kitchen, where he was greeted with a curt nod from his brother.

“Sean,” the woman said quietly, grabbing onto his arm after a moment of a silence, “Sean, introduce me.”

“Oh sure,” he responded hesitantly, and looked up at Aaron. “Aaron this is…” He looked over at the woman and then back up at Aaron, “This is Hayley.”

A wave of nausea washed over Aaron, and he quickly sat the coleslaw onto the corner of the table before propping himself up beside it.

“Lovely to meet you,” She held out her hand. When Aaron just nodded with a tight smile, she wrapped her extended arm around Sean’s waist instead, “Sean and I have been dating for the past… oh how long has it been?” She looked up sweetly to the younger brother.

“Six months.” Sean brushed a small crumb off the countertop in an attempt to avoid eye contact.

Hayley smiled for a while, looking for a response.

“Okay, what is with you two?” She flopped her arms against her side, “Sean told me that you guys were never close, but this? This is weird.”

“It’s just that-” Sean tried, but couldn’t find a way to continue.

“No I’m happy for you guys,” Aaron tried a smile, quickly turned away, and headed for the living room. He plopped down on the couch and tried a few deep breaths to get rid of the feeling in his stomach. This shouldn’t be affecting you like this, he told himself, it’s just a name. But her hair color reminded him so much of Haley too, along with the confidence she exuded just by standing in the presence of a new person.

Jack came bounding down the stairs, lips buzzing as he held a large toy plane in the air in front of him. Aaron’s mom beaming behind him, “You told me he liked planes.”

Aaron smiled at his son, and opened his arms wide as Jack leaped into them still holding his plane in front of him, admiring it from all different angles.

“Dad! Look, it’s a Boeing 47! You can tell because it says here it’s a model 450!” Jack pointed at the bottom of the plane, and then continued examining it thoroughly.

“I hope it’s okay that I got him something,” Margaret began to sit down next to him on the couch. She looked up at Aaron’s face and her expression changed to concern, “Are you feeling okay? You look so flushed.” Her hand quickly flew to Aaron’s forehead, but he gently moved it away.

“I’m fine, it was just a long day yesterday.”

“Oh, that’s right.” She glanced at Jack, who was now less-enthusiastic about his newly acquired plane as the conversation grew more glum. “And I presume you met…” Her eyes drifted towards the kitchen were Hayley sat on the counter, looking up at Sean who was nervously glancing towards the group on the couch.

Aaron nodded briskly, “A little heads up would’ve been nice.”

“We discussed it,” Margaret placed a hand on his shoulder, “But I was afraid you’d end up skipping again! Everyone wanted to see you.”

Aaron sat for a moment in a silence, “Well I’m going to go say hi to everyone.” He lifted Jack off his lap and stood, leaving Margaret seated and apologetically looking up at him. Jack grabbed hold of his dad’s hand and they made their way out to the back yard.

“Aaron?” One of the old woman sat up from her lawn chair and pushed the sunglasses up to the top of her head. “Aaron is that you?” She attempted to stand but couldn’t straighten her back up after she swung her legs over the side of the chair.

Aaron rushed to her side and gave her a hug from the seated position. Not being able to remember her name, he left with a brief “Nice to see you.” And headed over to some “able-to-get-out-of-a-chair-on-their-own” family members.

“Aaron,” A fellow black-haired man looked up from a toddler bouncing on his knee.

Why does everyone always greet me with my name? Aaron smiled, “Great to see you.” (A safe line in his book.)

“Rodney,” The toddler-balancing man held out his hand.

“Of course,” Hotch lied and returned the handshake. “This is Jack.” His son peered out from behind Aaron’s back and smiled shyly.

“Nice to meet you Jack,” Rodney smiled and introduced his own son as Max.

“Well, we’re going to go meet and greet s’more.” Aaron grabbed Jack’s hand again and they continued walking through the backyard to a larger clump of family members under a large tree.

“Look! It’s Aaron!” A group of women turned away from their conversations and looked at him. “It’s so great that you could join us!” The same woman exclaimed as he approached. “I mean, an FBI agent in our family! How cool is that?”

“Oh, Margaret wasn’t supposed to tell people that,” Hotch looked behind him to see his mom through the kitchen window, continuing to cook for the guests.

“Well, we’re all family!” Another woman smiled and walked closer.

“Besides, you’re retired now I hear?” A third woman asked and looked down at Jack.

“To take care of this one.” Hotch ruffled Jack’s hair again and he wrinkled his nose.

“Especially after everything that’s happened.”

“Bethany!” The first woman exclaimed and Bethany’s eyes widened.

“Oh I’m sorry! I-”

“That’s okay. It’s been a rough couple of years but at least we’re still here.” Aaron squeezed Jack’s hand as he kicked at the mulch beneath them.

The three woman smiled pityingly and then turned the conversation to one another.

“Whaddaya say we go help Grandma in the kitchen?” Aaron looked down at Jack who nodded happily. Hotch swung him onto his back and they walked into the kitchen.

--

The day grew later as Jack and Hotch worked at peeling various veggies and putting sauces into bowls. Eventually everything was put onto three tables in the backyard. More guests must’ve arrived as the two helped get everything ready as there was little space to move around in the once open space.

Jack ran off to play with some younger cousins (one of which also had a love of planes, exclaiming how excited he was to ‘get to play with Jack’s Boeing 47’), leaving Aaron to endure the pitiful looks conversations alone.

As the night event surged on and kids began to grow tired, many parents began taking their children back to their respective hotel rooms. Hotch, quickly realizing he’d consumed a few too many drinks after stumbling back into the house, accepted his mother’s invitation to spend the night back at his family home. Margaret helped Jack wash up and get to bed, letting Aaron sit in his own room from his childhood. His mother hadn’t cleaned it out, although it was never a room you’d expect from a teenage boy- there were no posters on the wall, only 2 bookshelves with several pictures from his childhood and teen years, along with a navy blue comforter on his bed.

He laid down on his bed, feet still hanging off the sides, and closed his eyes. He focused on the darkness of his closed eyelids, trying to keep memories from resurfacing. A soft knock on the door snapped his eyes open.

“Hey, just wanted to make sure you made it up here alright,” Hayley stood nonchalantly in the doorway

“Fine.” Aaron said, still lying down on the bed, “just trying to sleep.”

“You’re still in a shirt and tie,” Hayley chuckled, “here let me help.” She crossed over to him and sat down on the corner of the bed. Hotch closed his eyes again, too tired and intoxicated to keep them open.

Hayley loosened his tie and slipped it over his head. Aaron’s head tipped to the side and he looked at the bookshelf beside him. As Hayley began unbuttoning his shirt, his eyes landed on a framed photograph in the center of the bookshelf. A 15 year old Aaron in a pirate costume stood with his arm around Haley dressed up as the lead in their high school play. An avalanche of weight fell onto Aaron’s chest and he gasped for air, pushing Sean’s girlfriend onto the floor. He continued to fight for air as years of suppressed emotions and a world of pain came flooding back to him.

    “What’s wrong?” Oh my God, are you okay?” Hayley stood and rushed to Aaron’s side.

    “Get away from me,” He swatted at her and continued to take heaving breaths.

    Hayley rushed out of the room and down the stairs, leaving Hotch alone, tears flooding down his cheeks. He grabbed the photo off the shelf and held it in his hands, staring down at his first love. How could it have ended this way? I’m still not over you.

#literallyprentissstwinsangstychallenge #really hope i got that hashtag right #it was a long one #wow a challange #how fun #criminal minds #criminal minds fic #cm fic #aaron hotchner #hotch #aaron #hotchner #what am i doing #someone send help #okay #love you #bye

[secretlessvicki]

December Magic

Here it is. My first work for my CS 12 Days to Christmas.  

Dec 14: Workaholic/ Business Rivals during Christmas

Inspired by: Hallmark’s Magical Christmas Ornaments

Christmas in New York was always said to be magical. Between the holiday lights on every corner, the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, ice skating in Central Park, sipping hot chocolate with cinnamon in the Village, and displays at Macy’s, the holiday season in The Big Apple was just like stepping into a Hallmark Movie. The only problem was that was for everyone but Emma Swan.

Emma had lived in the city for four years and in all that time she had never once been to Rockefeller Center during the season, nor had she been ice skating in Central Park. She didn’t even have a tree in her apartment. She was the ultimate Scrooge. All that mattered was getting the promotion she wanted and the bigger paycheck that came with it.

She went over the pitch in her head the entire way home from dinner with her best friend and co-worker Ruby. And again, as she stopped in the front lobby of her apartment building to check the mail. Why was asking to move to a different department of the company so damn hard? It wasn’t like she didn’t earn it. She had taken every single one of her client’s books and worked her ass off with editing, marketing, and promotions until each was on the New York Times Best Sellers for Nonfiction. It was time she moved on to what she really wanted.

“Regina, I have been working hard the past two years to make the nonfiction department successful. But my passion is stories. I would love to work with fiction and…”

Goddamn it… this was going to be a disaster. There was no way in God’s green Earth that she was going to get that promotion.

“Already got a gift.”

Emma had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even realized she was holding a small box in her arms as she stared at the mailboxes in front of her. Nor did she hear anyone walking up behind her.

“Santa must like you.”

That voice. Holy fuck. That wasn’t an American accent at all. Was it English? Scottish? Irish, maybe? She couldn’t quite tell, but she needed to see whom it belonged to. Maybe her midnight dreams of meeting a Hemsworth brother were coming true.

Shit! She had not been expecting this.

Standing in front of her was a literal Adonis. Sure he was shorter and less muscular than Thor, but his ocean blue eyes and perfect smirk made up for it. His profile picture had to be right next to the tall, dark, and handsome description on Urban Dictionary.

“Santa’s my sister-in-law.” Why did she just say that? God, she was an idiot. Not that she was suddenly trying to impress this mystery guy.

“Oh.”

“Well, I don’t mean literally. I mean my sister-in-law sent me this. How long have you been standing here?

“Not long. Just long enough to know you enjoy stories. Name’s Killian.”

The Irishman (he was definitely Irish) extended out his hand in greeting. But Emma could already feel the heat in the apples of her cheeks and the tips of her ears. This is not what she needed right now. Sure, this guy would probably be a great distraction but right now she needed to focus on her proposal for the morning.

“Emma.” She kept her answer short. No need in extending the conversation.

“I’ve seen you around, lass. It is nice to finally put a name to the face. It’s my first Christmas in New York. You from here?”

The way he tilted his head and gave her a genuine look of interest, gave her pause. She just met him all of thirty seconds ago and he already wanted a full conversation. It was 9pm and she really needed to get to her apartment and hope to God that her neighbor was not already blasting his Bing Crosby Christmas music.

“Not exactly. I’ve moved around.”

“Well, this is my first Christmas in the States. I moved here from Ireland about six months ago. I come from a small town and I am eager to celebrate Christmas in the city.”

“You are in luck, Christmas in New York is magical.”

Emma’s voice was laced with sarcasm. All she wanted was for the elevator doors she was not standing in front of to open so she could end this conversation. But as the doors slid open it did not look like she was going to be so lucky. The sexy Irish chatterbox stepped in right behind her.

“Sounds rather exciting. I’ve always wanted to spend the holidays in a picturesque city. I used to watch Christmas movies and imagine what it would be like.”

Emma watched in annoyance as he pressed the button to the fifth floor. Her floor.

“What about you? What do you want? For Christmas?”

Why does he care? She thought to herself.

“For starters, I would like for my neighbor to stop playing that cheesy Christmas music.”

“Oi, not much in the Christmas spirit, are you?”

“I’m not sure what there is to be in the spirit about.”

*Ding. Ding*

Oh, thank god, saved by the beautiful alert of an incoming email.

“So, I take it you do not know your neighbors much then?” He asked with a pop of his eyebrow.

Damn it. He really wasn’t going to let this conversation go, was he? And why did his eyebrow trick suddenly have her licking her lips? Emma, sighed as they both walked out of the elevator and towards their respected apartments. She stopped in front of her own door and unlocked it, only for the 8 on her door to swing loose. She was really going to need to call and get that fixed. She did not want the postman refusing to deliver her mail because he could not find apartment 508.

“Not really. I am not much of a people person. And it’s a big building.”

“That’s what I miss about small towns, everyone practically knows everyone. Maybe if you took a moment to look up from that phone of yours you could get to know them.” Killian stopped in front of apartment 509. “Oh, and by the way, I don’t think Jingle Bells is cheesy.”

“I’m…I’m…I just… the walls are thin and…” She stammered.

“And you do not enjoy Christmas music?”

“Well after a while it all just starts to sound the same. Maybe you could change it up a little. Play something from after 1960.” Emma shot back.

“If you have any more special requests, feel free to knock on my door, Emma. “

The moment the door closed behind her Emma, leaned her back against it as she thought about her not so new neighbor. How had she never seen him before? Was she really that oblivious to the world lately?

She spent the next five minutes trying to get her mind off Killian and his gorgeous blue eyes as well as his panty-dropping accent. However, she had only been succeeding halfway. Pushing herself off the sturdy door, Emma proceeded to go about her nightly routine. She checked her mail (for real this time), checked her email, closed the curtain to the monstrosity that was considered a Christmas tree in the neighborhood garden across the street, and finished with a mug of spiked hot chocolate. No, the Irish cream was not because of the man she had met an hour ago.

Emma had just changed into her much warmer and cozier pajamas and was preparing to focus on her proposal when she heard the ring of someone wanting to Facetime. There was only one person who would want to talk to her this late. Well maybe two, but she had just had dinner with the second option.

“Oh Emma, is that you?”

The distant portrait of a raven-haired pixie appeared on Emma’s screen along with the left side of a blonde-haired man. Emma couldn’t help the smile that crept upon her lips. Her sister-in-law may be a wonderful reading teacher, but technology would never be her strong suit. It was almost as if she were better suited for the fairytale realms of her son’s favorite books.

“Hello, Mary Margaret. You know if you stopped holding the phone out so far you could actually see me.”

“Well, I wanted to make sure David was in the screen. Did you check your mail?”

“Yeah. Thanks for the gifts.”

“Aren’t you going to open them?”

The urgency in Mary Margaret’s voice had Emma pause.

“Shouldn’t I wait for Christmas?”

“No this is important.”

Emma simply shook her head but agreed to open the presents in front of her sister-in-law and brother. As she retrieved the box from the table near her door, Emma could hear Mary Margaret describing in detail how Emma was still wearing makeup and that her hair was curled. “Maybe she was on a date? She really does need to get out more.” With a roll of her eyes, Emma came back to sit down on the couch in front of her phone and began tearing at the perfect candy cane wrapping paper that adorned the small box.

“You got me an ornament?”

“Yes! And when you finally get a tree she will be your first. Oh, go on read the note.”

                                     An angel from Christmas past

                     hang her high to receive the magic that she casts.

“It’s Holly. David explained that when you two were young you used to swear she was magic.”

“That’s because I swore she was the one to create the Christmas lights in our foster house.”

“Oh, come on, Emma give her a chance. Do it because you love us. And because you know that Mary Margaret is only going to nag you until you agree.” David spoke somewhere off the screen.

“Alright, I will put her up on the shelf. Will that satisfy the both of you?”

“I suppose that will work for now. Oh, we have to go, Miracle on 34th Street is starting. Have a good night Emma.”

Saying a quick goodbye to her brother and sister-in-law as well as a quick wave from Leo (with the help of David), Emma hung up and slumped back further into the cushions of her couch. She had no idea what she was actually going to do with the ornament without a tree but if she knew her sister-in-law, Mary Margaret would know if she did not put Holly somewhere on display.

As promised, Emma set the small angel atop the highest shelf in her living room. She had to admit it felt like the little porcelain ornament was meant to watch over the tiny apartment.

“Alright, Holly. If you have any magic in you at all could you get me that promotion? And maybe send me a sign that happens endings do exist. And not just in fairy tales?” Emma closed her eyes to make her wish final.

But the peaceful moment was suddenly interrupted by the recognizable first notes of Mariah Carrey.

“Oh, and if you could help me with that, it would be fantastic.”

Over the next several days packages continued coming. Each one containing an ornament from David and/or Mary Margaret. On the second day, it was a Swan, because it was the name Emma had chosen for herself before she found a home with David and his mother. The note had read something along the lines that ‘no matter how ugly a situation seemed at the time, with enough hope and faith things would always work out and be prettier in the end’.

The third day consisted of two ornaments. The first was a yellow flower to which Emma could only assume was supposed to be a buttercup. The second was a hand stitched, blue and white ‘As you wish’.  This time the note was written in David’s less than impressive handwriting.

                     Remember the first Christmas you spent with me?

      The night we stayed up hoping to catch Santa climbing down the chimney.

                                         Thanks to a certain tale

                                Our lives changed on a major scale

It was clear that David was not the literary master that his wife was, but it still made her smile just thinking that he had tried.

On the fourth day, Emma received yet another box of ornaments, this time at work. She was starting to wonder where exactly she was supposed to start putting these ornaments. She knew this was her family’s way of getting her to get a tree. She decided to wait until she was home to open the package. Currently, she had a different pressing matter.

Earlier that morning, Emma had a meeting with Regina and was still reeling with the news. Regina had allowed her one shot at proving she could handle working in the fiction department. The assignment was that Emma would have to find an author and book that was worth publishing by the time of the Christmas party. The catch, however, was that the party was in less than a month. And all of this had to be while she continued her work in the nonfiction department.

Setting her package aside, Emma dropped her head to her desk with a loud groan.

“That bad, huh?” Ruby strolled in the doorway to the little office.

“Worse. Regina expects me to do the impossible.”

“Probably because you have done it so many times before. You know they call you the savior of non-fiction for a reason. Numbers have tripled since you took over.”

“Yeah, well, Regina wants me to continue doing that plus trying to find the next J.K. Rowling.” She grumbled as she lifted her head to look at her best friend.

“I suppose that is why I was told to bring these to you.”

Ruby set down a pile of manuscripts on Emma’s desk and gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’ll take you to lunch tomorrow if it will make you feel better.”

“Only if it’s grilled cheese.”

“Of course. With onion rings.”

Emma spent the rest of her day neck deep in manuscripts and drafts of potential books. Yet nothing caught her eye. They were all the same thing. Either someone was trying to bring back the vampire phase, or the dystopian end of the world, and her least favorite the romance novels that were nothing more than a Fifty Shades of Grey knockoff. Not one had the spark she was looking for. Not that she even knew what that spark was.

Needing a break from the monotonous reading, Emma decided a much-needed trip to the coffee shop just down the street was in order. She packed three of the last manuscripts Ruby had brought along with her laptop and began picturing the venti cinnamon white chocolate mocha and chocolate croissant she was going to devour.

It took five minutes to explain to the barista who was more interested in his snapchat story than actually working that yes a cinnamon white chocolate mocha was a thing and that if he didn’t make the damn thing she was going to jump across the counter and do it for him. However, it only took half a second for the perfection in a cup to be spilled across the café floor.

“Hey watch it, pal! You just made me waste a drink that took all of my restraint to order.”

“Hello to you too, neighbor. I would apologize for the utter disaster but seeing as how you were the one to run into me…”

Killian leaned against the counter in a way that screamed swagger for a lack of better word.

“How about you let me replace it.”

“Good luck with that it took that kid ten minutes to make my drink.”

“And what was it you were drinking, Swan?” He asked reading her full name on the side of the bright red disposable cup.

Emma stared in both awe and annoyance as she watched her neighbor charm the young girl that was working alongside the others, into making the drink Emma requested. In no time at all Emma had her replacement and an extra croissant for the trouble. All she wanted to do know was to knock the smirk off Killian Jones’ (as she found out when his name was called) face.

“Sorry about your drink, Emma. And I must also apologize that I have no control over the music at this establishment.” Killian pointed to the ceiling as Silver Bells quietly played in the background.

“I deserve that.” Emma winced at the jab.

“Care to join me and tell me what you are doing on this side of the city? Planning to yell ‘Bah Humbug’ to all the undeserving citizens?”

It took everything in her not to roll her eyes and make a rude comment.

“I work at Mills Publishing and I needed a break from all of the terrible manuscripts I have been reading all day.”

“Oh, do tell.” Killian guided Emma over to a table that was in the far corner where a laptop and a mug of what she thought was some sort of cappuccino sat. Ever the foreign gentleman, Killian pulled out the chair opposite from his own.

She found herself telling this virtual stranger all about the past few days at work. It started out with the absolutely horrendous potential books she was sorting through, then to the reason why she was reading them, and then to explain why she wanted the promotion in the first place. In the past half hour, she had told Killian more about herself than she had to anyone in years.

What she learned in return was that Killian was a former Lieutenant in the British Royal Navy whom after his last tour of duty, went to work with his brother building a company that became known as a premier shipbuilder to the Royal Navy. But after a mishap back home, Killian decided to move to the States and start fresh. So now he was helping manage an international shipping company for a U.S. defense company.

Emma was in the middle of explaining to her new friend why she hadn’t bought a Christmas tree but how her sister-in-law continued to send her ornaments in hopes that it would put her in the Christmas spirit when she noticed she had been away from the office for over an hour. What was meant to be a working break outside of the office ended with her chatting away with a gorgeous guy instead of making a dent in her work. Apologizing for having to leave, to which Jones only teased that he knew where she lived if she wanted to continue their conversation, Emma rushed back to her office hoping Regina was not aware that she had even left.

Later that night, Emma walked up the five flights of stairs to her apartment, because the Thompson twins two floors down had managed to break the elevator yet again. She was ready to get into her warm and comfy bed and finish the last few manuscripts she had for the day. It wasn’t her ideal way to spend the evening, but it could have been worse. That was until she heard the groan and soft thud coming from the direction of her apartment.

“Bloody narrow stairwell. The one time I need a proper working lift.”

The voice was unmistakable as Emma felt herself smiling as she cleared her throat to capture the man’s attention.

“Swan. Sorry, I was planning to leave a note.”

“You bought me a tree?”

“It is a peace offering. You know a preverbally olive branch of sorts. Except this is a little more festive.”

“Wouldn’t a potted plant have been more practical?”

“Aye, but there is no fun in practical, love.” His eyes sparkled as he grinned like a child.

“So, I suppose you want me to keep this?”

“That is the idea.”

“Well, my brother and sister-in-law will be ecstatic.”

“I hope it brings you some Christmas magic as well.”

When Emma opened her package that night she was surprised to find a treasure chest ornament. But what was even more surprising was the note.

            From your favorite stories of swashbuckling pirates and their band,

                             You’d look for buried treasure in the land.

                            But the greatest treasure is not gold or art

                   But the kindness that is always carried in one’s heart

It was Saturday when Emma was once again face timing with her family.

“Did you get the box?”

“What box?”

“David, where did you send the box?”

“To her apartment.”

The bickering that quickly ensued was almost enough to make Emma miss the knock on the door. She let her brother deal with the wrath of his wife and focused on whoever it was continuing to knock on her door.

“Delivery for a Ms. Emma Swan. Seems the postman couldn’t make out the number of your apartment, without the 8.” Killian tapped the empty space. “However, I saved the day and signed for it. Thought I would deliver it personally.”

“You just saved my brother an earful from his wife.”

“I am always happy to be a hero. And am I also correct in assuming that those are ornaments in that box.”

“Hero, sailor, detective…you are just a jack of all trades. What else are you hiding, Jones?”

“I’d be happy to show you, Swan.” Killian looped his thumb through his belt loop and leaned against the doorframe that gave Emma serious Danny Zuko vibes. At least Killian didn’t ruin his hair with awful hair gel. “However, I think I will leave you to decorate your tree. How is it going might I ask?”

“Would you like to come in and see?”

Her tree was bare, save for the few ornaments she had been receiving. There were no tree toppers, colorful Christmas lights or popcorn garland. In fact, the tree sat lopsided up against the one wall big enough for it.

From the moment he saw the tree, Emma could tell that Killian did not approve. He lectured her about how it was bad form to leave a perfectly good tree naked at the holidays and then disappeared to his own home only to show back up a few minutes later with lights, garland, candy canes, and a star.

She had never realized that decorating a Christmas tree could be so much fun. Killian had music blasting from his phone (Today’s Christmas playlist) while they worked together to string the lights around the tree and rehang all the ornaments. Emma made sure to tell the story of each one and found that Killian was genuinely interested.

As they hung the garland, together, Emma found she liked the brush of Killian’s hips against her’s as he would hand off his half of the silvery garland. The way the lights made his eyes twinkle and how he looked absolutely adorable singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” along with Michael Bublé made her heart swell.

Emma didn’t know what had come over her but as Killian was walking out the door after the tree was finally decorated and they watched It’s A Wonderful Life together, she found herself asking him out for coffee again. Sure, she played it off with a sarcastic remark about also treating him to better taste in music, but still, the utterly surprised look that showed on Killian’s face was worth it. But it was Killian’s answer that had left her surprised.

“How about ice skating? I have not been since I was a lad and there is a rink just a few blocks from here. Full warning, there may be Christmas music.” The smile he now sported was starting to become one of Emma’s favorite things.

This is not a date. Emma told herself as she went back to her now more festive apartment.

As she was cleaning up from the decorating, the box from Mary Margaret fell to the floor.

                                David and I first kissed on ice skates,

                            We fell in love as we watched the snowfall,

                          And he proposed to me at the town lighthouse.

                            Remember love can find you anywhere.

Emma hung the three new ornaments at the front of her tree. Were these really some kind of magical ornaments?

Over the next couple of weeks, Emma spent more time with Killian. She would text him when she was bored at work, or the two of them would spend time at each other’s places watching Christmas movies. Killian would be all invested while Emma would make snide comments about how none of this would ever happen in real life.

But the more time she spent with Killian, the more she wished to herself that Christmas love stories were real. Could someone really fall for someone in less than a week? Was she falling for Killian? Sure, he drove her nuts with his extreme love of the holidays, but she liked having someone other than Ruby or David and Mary Margaret to talk to. The not dates to the skating rink or to the Christmas tree lighting in Rockefeller Center, or the carriage ride in Central Park to see the lights, were moments that Emma wanted more of.

It was the night before her Christmas party and Emma was struggling to find a way to ask Killian to be her plus one. Currently, she was sitting on his couch not even paying attention to the special that was on TV, as she tried to think of what to say to him. Would he even want to go with her? Should she just approach it as just friends?

Once the show ended, Emma started the conversation off explaining that she had finally found the author and the book she wanted to use as her first fiction work. She rambled on about the idea of fairy tale characters living in the modern world, each with their own unique story. By the time she was finished she was out of breath and she was sure her face was going to get stuck in a permanent smile.

“Sounds wonderful, Swan. I look forward to reading it. Perhaps a friend and family discount for one of your biggest fans?” Killian asked.

Emma deflated at the use of friend. It seemed she was right that Killian only saw her as nothing more than a friend and neighbor.

“I am just the publisher, Killian. I didn’t write the book, you know that right?”

“Aye, but you have still worked hard on it Emma. I would be happy to be the proud owner of Mills Publishing’s newest director of fiction’s first published book.”

Emma blushed at Killian’s compliment. He always did have a way of making her feel better.

“Oh, that. Do you remember how I told you I had to present this to Regina at the Christmas Party?”

“I believe I do.”

“I was hoping. If you are free tomorrow. Not that you have to or anything. But would you like to be my plus one? It’s just that everyone always brings someone. And for the past two years, Ruby and I have gone together as friends. But this year she is bringing her new girlfriend and I really don’t want to go alone. But if you can’t go I understand. I…”

“Swan, slow down.” Killian braced his hand on Emma’s shoulder. “I am free tomorrow evening. And I would be happy to escort you to your company’s party.”

“Really?”

“That depends. Will there be Christmas music?”

The next day, Emma was putting the finishing touches on her outfit when she heard the familiar knock at her door. On the other side, she found Killian dressed to the nines in a suit and a Santa adorned tie.

“You look?”

“I know.” Killian winked. “As do you, Swan. Shall we head out so you can impress that boss of yours and I can have a drink and possibly a dance with the newest director of publishing?”

“Actually, I have one last thing I need to do.”

It was the last package that Mary Margaret had sent. She had been planning to open it after the party, but something made her feel like she should open it now.

                                       Chapters close and begin,

                              But the story of you will never end,

                                       Keep marching forward,

                   And rolling boulders will turn into stepping stone,

                                 Don’t forget to take a chance

                     You never know when you will find romance.

“A book? Looks as if that promotion is guaranteed now, love,” Killian spoke happily.

The last ornament was hung on the last open spot on her tree. Emma had to admit that despite her initial arguments against having a tree, she loved the darn thing. And just maybe there was something special about those ornaments too.

The pitch to Regina had gone perfectly. The woman loved the idea of the retelling of classic fairytales and gave the position to Emma starting after the new year.

Emma was so ecstatic that she rushed back to the party as fast as she could. All she wanted to do was tell Killian the news and get that drink.

She found Killian near the company Christmas tree talking to none other than Ruby and Dorothy.

“Emma! So, this is Killian? Were you planning to keep him a secret forever?” Ruby pouted.

“She was probably trying to keep you away from him.” Dorothy teased.

“I wasn’t hiding anything, Ruby. I’ve just been busy and I didn’t think I needed to introduce you to my neighbor.”

Emma walked up to the group, a little closer to Killian than she realized.

“You have to forgive her, Swan has been so preoccupied with her potential promotion and renewed Christmas spirit that she has not had the time to properly introduce me to her friends.” His arm wrapped around her waist as Killian tucked her into his side.

“Right, about that. I just talked to Regina. She is going to let me run the fiction department at the start of the new year.”

“Emma that is wonderful.”

“Congratulations.”

It was turning out that this was becoming her best Christmas ever. She had the job she wanted and great friends, new and old, to celebrate with. It was all Emma had ever wanted. The only thing that could make it better was having her brother and sister-in-law there too. There was always next year.

“How about a drink to celebrate?” Killian offered.

Emma agreed. She and Killian promised to find Ruby and Dorothy before they left the party before going across the room in search of the open bar.

The rest of the party went well. Killian mingled well with all of Emma’s co-workers and she wished that there could be more nights like this.

As the evening was winding down Emma and Killian ended up alone off to the side of the room. A Christmas Karaoke had started amongst the party and neither of them wanted to embarrass themselves in public after a few drinks.

“Emma, I just wanted to say that…”

The look in Killian’s eyes sent an overwhelming urge through Emma. She didn’t take the time to speak afraid that she might ruin the moment. Instead, she pulled Killian down to her by the lapels of his coat and kissed him.

The music of the previous song had died down and the recognizable tunes began to play as the two of them slowly broke apart.

“That was…”

“Remember when you asked me what I wanted for Christmas the first night we met?”

“Aye.”

And just like that Emma began to sing along with Mariah Carrey.

“ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS……… IIIIIISSSSSS……… YOUUUUU!”

It was Killian who kissed Emma the second time as the fake snow signaling the end of the party swirled around them.

The next year, Emma was kissing Killian as she sported a new ring on her finger and the lighthouse of his hometown shined brightly in the distance.

#cschristmascountdown #cs ff #cs au #captain swan #cs christmas #cs fic #cs fic rec

[roadkings]

Puerto Rico — July 2019

It seems like ages since I wrote a vacation entry here, and I know Tumblr is out of fashion, but this is an awfully good way to document our travels and share photos, so here we go—

Months (years?) ago, José started talking about visiting Puerto Rico this summer. It has been 22 (!) years since he and I were here. We visited in the summer of 1997 with his parents and his brother German and Teresa. She was pregnant with Christopher at the time, and now he is close to graduating from college. Our kids have never been here. We were overdue for a visit for sure.

We planned to be here for two weeks, one in San Juan including a visit with José’s dad’s family, and one in Aguadilla where José was born including a visit with José’s mom’s family. The rest of the time we would be on our own, exploring the island in our own way. Our family travels so much that we have developed our own habits, likes and dislikes about travel, and expectations, so we were excited to experience the island through our own lens.

After emptying our inboxes and turning off our emails, Ella trying out a new swim team, Alex finishing his Eagle Project (yep, he finished the project, now he just has to write everything up and defend it when we get home—called an “Eagle Board of Review”), and Alex and I finishing our online SCUBA training (more on that later), we arrived in San Juan last Sunday night. We picked up our rental car, complete with our first random chickens in the parking lot which was enchanting for both kids, and headed for our home in a high rise in San Juan. A word about this place, it was amazing, better than the photos; I can’t believe we got to stay there. We felt right at home, and it was so centrally located as to make all out of our outings by foot or car super convenient.

Thanks to our usual sources, Bon Appétit and the NYT, we had a short list of restaurants we wanted to check out. We headed for Lote 23 to meet José’s cousins for dinner. Lote 23 is a food truck lot that became a rallying place to care for and feed people after Hurricane Maria.

A word about the hurricane—

You only have to be here for a minute to see what an impact it made on the island. This beautiful place is now largely in a state of disrepair. While places are open and operating, and many have been restored, there are still many more in need of rebuilding. A lovely home here, a fallen billboard there. A gorgeous piece of street art here, grafitti on an abandoned building there. And the way the people talk about it is similar to how New Yorkers talk about 9/11, “Before the hurricane...” and “After the hurricane...” While the devastation is palpable, so is the care for one another that only crisis can develop. We heard countless stories of how people cared for and provided for one another in the weeks and months without electricity, running water, even food. I can only imagine. It will be a long time before the island is fully restored to its former glory, so don’t think that just because everyone has electricity it is all good and no more help is needed. It will take a lot more time and money to restore the island. I can only think, if this were the mainland, it would not be this way (remember, these are people who pay taxes to the US government).

So, back to Lote 23. What a fun place! It is a gravel lot with lovely landscaping and lights strung overhead and all sorts of yummy food, named for bus stop 23, in Santurce. An area with hipster shops and restaurants and more street art concentrated in a few blocks than I have ever seen, rather like LA with a uniquely Caribbean flair. José’s cousins met us there, two first cousins, Mildred and Mariele, their husbands Papo and José, and Mildred’s daughter Andrea. What fun! We could not have had a more welcoming introduction to the island. The kids enjoyed meeting family they never knew, especially 20 year old Andrea, their second cousin. Everyone was animated and excited for the time together, the food was terrific, and Papo made us promise to never go 20 years without a visit ever again. We agreed!

Monday we made our way to Piñones, a beach to the east of San Juan known for its many, many, many chinchorros. A chinchurro is a little stand/kiosk/shack that prepares and serves food, perhaps a precursor to the food truck. We went to a recommended spot called El Rinconcito and feasted on pastelillos, alcapurria, bacalao, and coco frio—all versions of meat or seafood fried in different forms and a coconut with a hole chopped in the top just big enough for a straw. Nothing says “Puerto Rico” like a chinchorro! From there we had our first beach time, at Isla Verde. Wow! People say the beaches in the west are “so much better” than the beaches in the east, but it is hard to imagine a beach more beautiful than Isla Verde. The water is clear blue, sand soft white, waves gentle, and sun hot, hot, hot. Dinner was at La Terrazza de Bonanza, a chinchorro that features a live band on Monday nights—a 14 piece Bomba and Plena band, a traditional music that is a blend of African and Caribbean music. So fun!

Tuesday we went to Old San Juan. It is more restored than other parts of the city (tourism!) or perhaps it was less damaged by the storm. The buildings are colorful and historic, the streets are narrow (pre-automobile) paved with blue cobblestone (yes, blue), dotted with little plazas throughout, and quite hilly. We had lunch at Café Cortez and ate Mallorcas—a Serrano ham, manchego cheese, guava pressed sandwich—along with their signature iced chocolate frapeé. It was so hot that we only stayed in Old San Juan for a few hours, long enough to see the old city and its two forts (El Morro and San Cristobal), the ‘neighborhood’ outside the city walls called La Perla where former slaves lived since they were not allowed to live in the city walls, and enjoy a lot more street art including Puerto Rican flags painted on doors, walls, and even several continuous rooftops in La Perla. Tuesday night we drove to Fajardo on the east coast to kayak through mangroves into one of three bioluminescent bays in PR (there are only five in the world, three are in PR!). Having visited the one in La Parguera on our last visit (the third is in Vieques), I was so excited to share this unique experience with the kids. Since you aren’t allowed two swim in the bay in Fajardo, the bioluminescence was not as impressive as what I remember from La Parguera, but it was still cool. Perhaps the most unique part of the night was kayaking though a narrow channel in the mangroves with no moon; it was completely dark and quite a challenge, one we all enjoyed. We were also joined by Allie and Jason, friends from Atlanta who now live in Boston and happened to be in PR at the same time; a nice coincidence!

Wednesday we headed to the rain forerest, El Yunque, the only rainforest in the United States. (This is starting to sound like a travel brochure for PR, but perhaps that is because the island is truly so full of natural beauty that isn’t available elsewhere in the states.) We saw waterfalls and hiked to its peak, and loved taking in the sound of the coqui, PR’s favorite little frog with its unique call. Ask any Puerto Rican and they can whistle it for you. The sound is super cute. After coming off the peak, we went to a chinchorro in Luquillo and had arepas. Dinner Wednesday night took us to the one reservation we made well in advance, at a restaurant called Vianda run by a chef formerly from Blue Hill in NYC (see Chef’s Table, season 1 episode 2) and his wife. It did not disappoint. We have had the pleasure of experiencing food at many wonderful, highly lauded restaurants, and Vianda is definitely to be added to that list. I am not a food writer, so I will not try to describe it in any detail at all; many excellent writers have already done that. I will simply say that our family really enjoyed it, every course, and the service was also excellent, a relaxed atmosphere with excellent food. I look forward to returning on that next visit we promised Papo.

Thursday José and I had breakfast at Tostado and walked around that area. It was like a block right out of Venice in LA. Then our family went to the beach in Condado, just a couple of blocks from where we were staying. Again gorgeous, and we all enjoyed the ice cream sellers with carts all along the beach—coconut, pineapple, and mango, so Caribbean! That day was the 4th of July, so though it isn’t a big holiday here, we met the cousins along with Allie and Jason, at a restaurant in La Placita. We really enjoyed seeing so much of the family; that was an unexpected treat.

Friday was the day we would finally see José’s aunts and uncle. We had spent time with his cousins, but had not yet seen their parents. So after a drive around Old San Juan one more time, and a quick spin through the campus of the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, we met everyone for lunch. José loved connecting with them all, and got great photos with everyone. They all spoke Spanish together, so I can’t tell you what they talked about, but I heard lots of laughter and everyone seemed to connect really well after so many years. I was struck by how much Titi Julie looks like José’s dad, her brother—their resemblance was uncanny! Like the two previous meals we shared with cousins, that lunch lasted nearly five hours. The kids remarked about how much fun they had over such long meals. We considered going to a movie Friday night, but we ended up staying in and reading. On this trip, Alex read the 2nd and 3rd Hunger Games books and Lord of the Flies, and Ella read the last three books in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

Saturday we returned to Tostado for breakfast all together before heading out of San Juan. It is only a two hour drive from San Juan to Aguadilla, our next destination and where José was born. However, instead of making the drive in two hours, we took about eight stopping at gorgeous beach after gorgeous beach—Vega Baja, Mar Chiquita and Arecibo. It seems wrong to choose a favorite among such beautiful places, but mine without a doubt is Mar Chiquita. Picture a circle of blue water about 150 yards across, with half of the circle rimmed with white sand beach, and another 40% rimmed with high rock on both sides, leaving a small opening for the ocean to enter the area. I have never seen anything remotely like it, and I can’t wait to get back! We finally arrived in Aguadilla around sunset in time to drop our bags at the house where we stayed, and go out for Mexican food.

Sunday, after months of anticipation including many, many hours of online study and testing, Alex and I were to begin SCUBA certification. We chose to do this with a dive shop called Aquatica, run by the cousin of a dear friend. If anyone is considering certification, I highly recommend them! So, with 51% excitement and 49% nervousness, we arrived at the shop Sunday morning. We went to a beach called Crash Boat, where apparently everyone in PR who dives gets certified, with our instructor, Rai. I will spare the details of the certification and say only that after about 20 hours of online study each, we spent about four hours a day for three days in the water. The first day we were in shallow water learning all the required skills, and the following two days on actual dives in 40’ water. Rai (and Alex) was incredibly patient with me; no such patience was required for Alex. Alex completed every skill straight away, with no hesitation, no mistakes, seemingly no nervousness. I on the other had, had to do skills over and over before I could do them cleanly, but with one small exception I managed all the skills and we both earned our open water certifications! I have wanted to do this since I was at Ga Tech, so I can hardly believe I finally have. Alex isn’t as impressed; for some reason this seems like no big deal to him, but that is consistent with his personality—

“Congratulations on finishing your Eagle Project!” > dismissive head shake.

“Congratulations on earning your open water certification!” > dismissive head shake.

Maybe one day he will feel the appropriate sense of accomplishment; for now, I feel enough for us both! We saw lots of small tropical fish but also sea turtles and two moray eels! Amazing!

While we were diving, José and Ella were exploring the western side of the island including visits to a local surf shop, Rincón, and to see the colored houses in Aguadilla. Their big adventure was to make homemade pastelillos, which they did on Monday. José had never made them before, but I guess watching his mom make them for decades paid off, because they were so good! We also took in an amazing sunset and enjoyed several great meals at places chosen by Ella— Mona for breakfast, Arepas To Go, Uma’s (right on Jobos Beach, good food and perfect location), and La Vista Smokehouse. Since our diving certification was finished in three days, we were able to spend our last day all together visiting several more beaches—Surfer’s Beach, Survival Beach (which is remote and isolated, accessed with a hike from Surfer’s Beach), and Jobos Beach in Isabella (José’s favorite). José and Alex snorkeled at Jobos and saw a sea turtle!

But with the accomplishment of diving and making pastelillos, a highlight of our time in Aguadilla was going to José’s godmother’s house for dinner Tuesday. Gloria is absolutely the sweetest. We all loved seeing her, and she was beside herself with joy at seeing all of us. This is another thing I can’t really describe, she was just so happy. And it was so special for the kids, they were in a house of a person they had never met, but she had baby photos of them on the wall. It was like meeting cousins they never knew; all of a sudden their family was so much larger.

After 12 days here, we are headed back to Atlanta, feeling like we finally know more of this island that has been a part of our lives for so long. We can’t wait to get back!

[jsadiq]

Going Coastal

Perhaps driving a Ford Mustang on Route 66 would have been the best way to travel through the United States of America. But i went coastal the usual way - planes, trains and automobiles.

In three cities and two weeks, I discovered a smidgin of the US and found this to be true, the people are way better than the food. Don’t get me wrong. The food is great, and in greater quantities than home, but not as great as the people. Steaks, burgers, apple pie, soda, beer, ice-cream - great but not wonderful like the people.

You have to know this, as most do, that the US of A is this vast land, the land of the free and home of the brave, and well, yes, that is all true. Also riddled with police, security and a whole lot of that lately because of well, insecurity.

First stop, Washington D.C. - land of politics and more politics and then some more politics. The entire US political landscape is in this quiet town between two rivers.

It is the city of museums and monuments. And also the White House and the Capitol, the legislative part of the US Government. And sometimes, you don’t know whether those two are museums and monuments at the same time.

Didn’t get to meet President Donald J. Trump but I think we went past his motorcade two streets outside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue where the White House is. 

Met some Secret Service men because they wore cloth patches and snapbacks emblazoned with the words Secret Service. Go figure.

Three hours away by train, is New York City. The centre of capitalism, culture and cuisine. Here is what man has wrought out of nature for the finest that the world can offer to humankind - for body and soul.

A city. A metropolis. Gotham if you will. A warren of streets and avenues that have the finest architecture of soaring skyscrapers and bridges that span the rivers that separate the boroughs of this great city.

Here you have the Empire State Building. Here you have Times Square. Here you have Greenwich Village. Central Park, Fifth Avenue. Sixth Avenue and Broadway. Here, New York City - the emporium of all that is real and unreal.

Here, you pause and reflect. And find out that a few days is not enough. A year might be enough to know all of New York City. But to describe it, in words, in pictures, maybe a few years.

So I didn’t quite bother to explore everywhere. I was here for work and had little time to explore beyond pounding the pavements and possibly the subway. But the subway was the fascinating spectrum of people.

The pavement was all that and more. Street food, people, buildings, cars, the famed New York Police Department, the brave Fire Department New York, the street performers of Times Square. So much to see, to know, to feel, to do.

Maybe another time. I did do a quick tour of New York City. I went around to Central Park, past the New York Public Library, the Flat Iron building, Trump Tower but didn’t quite make to the World Trade Center memorial.

Well, because I had an old friend to meet in New Jersey. Had some catching up to do, some home cooked meal too. Good times. Always. And I have yet to send him a family photo I took.

From the eastern seaboard or east coast of the US and to the west coast is a six hour flight across the breadth of the country. To paraphrase President Trump, its yuge. Bigly!

And off I went to the other side, to California. The sunny state, of laid back life and then some, and some more.

San Francisco, famed for the hilly and undulating landscape courtesy of the Great Earthquake and Fires of 1906. Of street trolleys and tram cars. Where people are free, carefree and really free and easy.

The cross-cultural collaborations among the 800,000-strong population - many from Asian and Latin-American countries plus the usual Americans - make for start-ups and partnerships here.

Also the wonderful Mediterranean micro-climate that allows for biking and just plain walking, skating and running around to make it an enjoyable life. I even went sailing around the Bay area.

It was the best time to tour the US of A as it was the early days of summer. But that meant I couldn’t snap that photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge through thick fog as it has some pretty foggy days over in San Francisco.

No matter. There will be other times.

“I will be back” to paraphrase Terminator as acted by Arnold Schwarznegger, one of the many migrants who made it big in the silver screen as well as in politics. He is the American Dream made real.

And America is a dream made real. See you soon, the US of A!

#usa #washington #newyorkcity #sanfrancisco #blackandwhite #monochrome #em1markii #m43

[namingthebadguysismyjam]

Reluctantly

Request:  Can you please do an imagine where the reader ends up in the arrow universe by accident the team has to figure a way to get her back home . Oliver tells Adrian to take care of her until they can figure out a way to do so . The reader is from our universe

A/N: Yes!!! This guy needs more love. I kinda made it sad. Sorta. I’m sorry. But it’s okay. No, this honestly has like the worst ending ever. I hope this is what you kind of wanted! Thank you for requesting. (Yeah I was sad writing this ending.)

Pairing: Adrian Chase x Fem!Reader

Words: 1,150

Summary:  (Y/N) get somehow teleported to the Arrowverse. Oliver asks Adrian to keep an eye on her. While Oliver and the team are figuring out how to get her home, Adrian shows her around and the lighting is right, the moment is there, and it’s perfect. But will  (Y/N) stay or go back home? Even if every fiber of her being tells her otherwise.

Look, (Y/N) didn’t know how it happened, or when for the record, but somehow she ended up in the Arrowverse. She wasn't complaining... at all. So far she's met Team Arrow and it was amazing. Sure, they were shocked cause she appeared out of nowhere in The Arrow Cave...but it was awesome. Regardless of getting almost killed. Besides the point, though. So, after maybe an hour of debating and finishing up a mission it was time to get (Y/N) back home.

“Felicity, Curtis you two find a way to get (Y/N) home.” Oliver gave out orders and turned to (Y/N), “You’re coming with me to city hall.”

(Y/N) had to contain the excitement she felt. She was going to city hall and man oh man- she shook her head and tried to calm herself. Currently, she was sitting in the office with Oliver. This was supposed to be exciting but it was boring. (Y/N) let out a sigh.

“Until they find a way to get you home, you have to be watched,” Oliver explained softly. (Y/N) rolled her eyes.

“Oliver, I’m an adult, I can take of myself. Please just let me explore the city,” she paused for a second, “and Central City.”

“No, you could get someone or yourself hurt. I don’t think you would last long in Star City, anyway,” Oliver shrugged. (Y/N) was about to say more when the door opened. It was Adrian Chase. She felt a blush start to creep because he was way more attractive in person.

“Oliver, you wanted to see me?” Adrian started. (Y/N) stood with Oliver. She tried to keep her thoughts at bay. But he was damn attractive.

“Adrian,” Oliver started, “this is (Y/N), my cousin. From Coast City.”

(Y/N) had to told back a laugh at cousin. Like Kara and Clark, cousins. Unfortunately it was a lie but it was ironic. And funny. Well at least to (Y/N).

“(Y/N), nice to meet you,” Adrian smiled and reached out to shake her hand in which she returned.

She smiled, “Likewise, Adrian.”

“Anyway,” Oliver interjected, “She’s new around Star City, I need you to keep an eye on her. She’s been known to get in some trouble.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. No problem,” Adrian replied. Suddenly Oliver’s phone buzzed causing him to leave. He bid his goodbye before leaving. Adrian turned to (Y/N) before speaking, “There’s this cool ice cream place just down the street, you wanna stop there? Then I can show around, if you like, that is.”

(Y/N) smiled, “Yeah, I would like that.”

It wasn’t long until they had reached the park and were talking. It was weird for (Y/N), she knew his character but he was so different in person. She couldn’t really describe it, but it was different. He was nice, sweet, and how he usually is but... she would figure it out later. She just had to enjoy this. She didn’t know how long she had.

“So, what about you? What do you do?” he asked her. They continued walking having finished their ice cream a few minutes ago.

“Oh you know, office work,” she replied. If she had time, she had to visit Central City. And maybe visit National City.

Adrian chuckled, “Surely you do something, you’re very smart-” he felt a blush start, “from what I can tell.”

“Yeah, but it’s classified,” she laughed. She wanted to tell him that she was from a world where this life was a tv show but she couldn’t. Suddenly, this all felt wrong. She shoved that feeling deep down. She was in one of her favorite universes for crying out loud. (Y/N) couldn’t just be sad, she had to be happy too. Not many people get this chance.

“I can keep a pretty good secret,” he told her with grin.

“I’m sure, but if I told you I’d have to kill you,” she winked. Confidence started to build up in her.

“Ah, classic.” He turned to her. They gazed into each other’s eyes. This felt like the moment. The right time, they were gonna kiss, she could feel it. Just a few more inches and- his phone rang. Adrian pulled his phone out, “I gotta take this.”

(Y/N) internally grumbled as he stepped back a bit. From what she could hear, it was Oliver. Dammit, Oliver. He was always a block. (Y/N) looked away to the ground as if to calm her down. This call meant she’d be going home. Yeah, she liked home but she wanted to see more of this one. She was about to kiss Adrian, she couldn’t leave. She didn’t want to leave.

“It was Oliver, he says he needs you back. A family of emergency,” Adrian told her. He was upset with Oliver’s timing, he was about to kiss a very pretty girl. Screw it, he was going to kiss her. He took her face into one of his hands pulled her into a kiss. It was like fireworks. Explosive and full of light. It felt right. Even if they just met, they both felt fireworks. After a moment or two, he pulled away slightly. He spoke softly, “I’m- I’m, sorry I just-”

He was cut off by her pecking his lips. She bit her lip before she spoke. “It’s okay, I wanted it too.”

They kissed once more before agreeing to go back. She had to. She knew didn’t belong here. Even if the kiss was that explosive. Even if it felt right, she wasn’t meant to be here. This wasn’t her world. Even if every fiber in her being told her otherwise.

Adrian and (Y/N) had reached the doors to Oliver’s office. It was reluctant. Neither of them wanted to say goodbye. They just said hello, literally. Like about two or three hours ago. Adrian pulled out one of his business cards and scribbled on the back. He handed it to her.

“Here’s my personal number, if you’re ever in town again. I’ll take you on a proper date,” He smiled.

“Thank you, I’d really like that,” she accepted the paper with a smile. She kissed him on the cheek before heading into Oliver’s office. She shut the door behind her with a small sigh, shoving the card into her jean pocket, and was greeted by Oliver, Felicity, and Cisco. This was it.

“(Y/N), this is Cisco-” Oliver, started.

“I know. In my world there’s a show with him too,” she said sadly. Cisco gave a questioning look. It wasn’t long until they had discussed and (Y/N) was on her way home.

When she landed in her living room, she reached into her pocket to still have the business card. She looked at it with a small smile. She had to find a way back. And soon.

#namingthebadguysismyjam #namingthebadguysismyjam fic #adrian chase x reader #adrian chase #adrian chase imagine #arrow x reader #arrow imagine

[artseanauti]

The Balkan Experience. A Hidden Eastern European Gem

I’ve been to Eastern Europe three times. It’s actually the only international region I’ve traveled to, and I’m a proud patron and frequenter. I met my husband on Mount Desert Island in Maine. He was a J-1 student who came to work and travel for the summer in 2016 and a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After our first year of dating, some of which was spent long-distance, I decided to take the plunge and go visit him in Bosnia. It was the best decision I have ever made for two reasons: 1. It was an unforgettable and affordable cultural experience. 2. It was the first big step I took in our relationship. Now we are happily married! My first trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina I stayed at Hotel Drina, a 5-star hotel in downtown Bijeljina where my husband and his family are from. Compared to some of our 5-star hotels and resorts in America, it was a more simple elegance, but nonetheless, I was enamored by it all.

For 6 nights in Hotel Drina, I spent $600 USD. An absolute steal if you ask me. One small lesson I learned, however, is that hotels abroad assess a fee for each additional person who stays in your room with you, so that $600 was initially less when I made the reservation, but after all was said and done, that’s what I spent on my luxury stay, and I’m not complaining at all. The room was furnished with a sofa, a writing desk, a TV with cable, maid service, a separate bedroom from the living room, a beautiful view of the city with cathedral windows, a modern bathroom with a garden tub, and breakfast every morning that was included in the cost of the room. I enjoyed sitting in the window every morning and watching the city come to life, and again in the evening as the city seemingly went to sleep with the sun.

My first trip to Bosnia I quickly learned that coffee doesn’t come with ice and it sure as hell isn’t picked up at a drive-thru window. Eastern Europe is all about espresso, and coffee isn’t just a morning ritual, it’s a culture. There are three types of places you will see in abundance there, and that’s cafes, churches, and pharmacies. Balkan people spend an ample amount of time socializing over coffee with their friends. They can make an espresso last for an impressive length of time, and for many of them, their day revolves around getting dressed up and meeting people for coffee. My favorite place to have an espresso, and a piece of kinder cake, is in Gradski Park in Bijeljina.

One of my other favorite places to visit is the farmer’s market in downtown Bijeljina. All of the produce is traditionally farmed and organic. It’s centrally located and open daily which makes it super convenient for one-stop shopping on your way by or through. I also obtained spices from the market that I have and use to this day.

I visited three major cities on my first trip. In addition to receiving the grand tour of Bijeljina, we went to Novi Sad and Belgrade in Serbia. Novi Sad felt more exclusive, but Belgrade is like the New York City of Serbia, a city that never ever sleeps. My first trip happened to coincide with the anniversary of the NATO bombings, so being an American tourist as well as a veteran of the US military made me feel a little uneasy, but despite all of that, people treated me with respect and showed me nothing but kindness.

While in Novi Sad, Nikola and I were able to catch a movie premier at a theater and we visited the Petrovaradin Fortress which was build in 1692 to protect Austrian forces from the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Army. We also indulged in a sweet treat from an ice cream bar. It was also the occasion on which I learned how my name is spelled in Serbian, Adrijana, thanks to a pizzeria we saw.

I’ve been saving the best out of three for last, though I must say Belgrade is also the priciest of all three destinations. Worth every penny though! The experience is so surreal. Artists and musicians line the streets. The fashion is forward and eclectic. The shops and restaurants are elegant and refined. I was truly captivated, entranced, invigorated, mesmerized, and enchanted simultaneously by Belgrade. There are simply not enough expressive words to describe it. We visited the Belgrade Zoo, numerous nightclubs, a rooftop bar, street vendors, a couple restaurants, and of course our friends, Milica and Lidija, who are locals. We sat and had drinks on the Sava River to watch the sunset. Belgrade never disappoints.

#Eastern Europe #Bosnia and Herzegovina #Serbia #Bijeljina #Novi Sad #Belgrade

[kazlifeadventures]

I’m in an Empire State of mind...

These streets will make you feel brand new, Big lights will inspire you...

In New York...

After a being spoiled in the delta one lounge, with a variety of food and drinks (all inclusive), I met a lady from USA who told me she makes an effort to always turn up early enough to eat the food at the lounge as its the best anywhere... good to know, if I ever get the opportunity to travel business again. The flight was amazing, I kind of described it as 8 hrs of drink eat drink eat. My own private chair/reclining to bed area with plenty of room..ahhh bliss! I was set to arrive at about 9pm New York time, and figured border control would take a long time. Amazingly it didn’t, there was no major queues and I think I was out in about 30 mins tops.

After researching and reading reviews for transport from the airport I opted for the classic New York cab as its a fixed rate, and I couldn’t determine if Ubers could come into the airport pick up area. The last thing you want to be doing later at night is searching for a location in an unknown, busy and huge airport! Suffice to say there was no queue for the cabs so I got straight in one, and headed off to my hotel in the downtown Manhattan area, a few blocks from Times Square - perfect location according to all my NY friends - near enough to everything, but in a spot on the street away from the main noise. Hotels in peak season (summer) in New York are not cheap at all, and when I had researched I ended up with what I can only describe as mid range pricing (for this area), paying the little extra for the area I was in and also including breakfast. It is a perfect spot. The hotel is amazing. I am literally a few doors from the subway, walking distance to Times Square, Rockefeller, Empire State, Central Park. Right in the thick of it! In saying that - its kind of nothing to walk from 32nd street to 50th street here... so pretty much everything could be described as ‘walking distance’.😁

My first day was spent wandering in my local area, checking out the Rockerfeller centre, Empire state, the theatre district, Times Square. I tried Shake shack for lunch ( amazing fries!) Then I was done - the time change hit me a little bit I think! My knee was really sore, I had twisted it somehow and pulled some ligaments I think... so I went off to rest it

Next day was awesome. After heading around on a hop on off bus to get me off my knee a bit more, I got a much better orientation of the city. It also helped that later that evening one of my firiends I’d met on the recent tour I did in Azerbaijan, Georgia,Armenia, came and picked me up to go walk the Brooklyn bridge. The bridge is one of the oldest bridges in the United States, (construction was completed in 1893) a hybrid cable stayed/suspension bridge, spanning the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan and an impressive 486.3m span . Lucky she works graveyards, and needed to sleep during that day as the timing was perfect, we were right up on it watching the sunset over the Manhattan skyline. Hanging with a local is always awesome you get to hear the story of an area from someone who has watched it evolve, you get the tips on where to go and what to eat. After walking to Manhattan and then back to Brooklyn, Marife and I kept walking down to the DUMBO area, where she knew there was a lovely water level park area, giving amazing views of Manhattan. Also enroute an Ample ice cream store (apparently a local icon in the ice cream world - I can attest to its amazingness!). Then it was off the another local institution, Garibaldis pizza. This place has queues out the door till all hours of the night! We were there at about 10pm and there was still a wait for a table! They only sell whole pizzas, and they are all made fresh to order. Having locals knowledge was brilliant, as I would never have known the next door “Guiliannas“ pizza, was exactly the same company (so in reality you just pick whichever queue is shorter!) Pizza was delicious, we ordered one ‘small’ one each, only to discover that ‘small’ was not as small as we thought!

Marife then took me over to see the Oculus, an incredible looking structure that housed a mall/shopping centre, and is the main terminal station for public transport in the world trade centre area. The building opened in 2016 and since then has been somewhat of an attraction for visitors to the city. I must say during the evening it looks amazing all lit up, and on a week night, it was really quite empty. An amazing design. Unfortunately the nearby 9/11 water memorials were closed off to the public when we arrived, ( I found out a few days later they close at 9pm). We then headed over to the flatiron building, an early 1900’s triangular 22 story building located in the flatiron district. The building looks a lot like a clothes iron (hence the name), and is one of those cool buildings that you want to somehow be able to go inside to see what shape the rooms are. Again, a very quiet area late at night on a week night - so it was easy to park and head over from some great night time photos. What a night - this was the point where I got it. I understood why so many love NYC, the locals love it, and the infection spreads.

The following day I travelled around on the bus again in the opposite direction and jumped off at Macy’s to go and explore the enormous 11 floor, flagship store in Herald square . By the time I walked out of there, I had no idea where I was. I could not see the landmarks I had identified as I entered - somehow I had come out on another whole street frontage. Anyway I got back to my hotel via a local hot dog store that had been recommended to me - all I can think is I am literally going to turn into a burger or something this stuff is everywhere! I was then ready to go out for a Cuban dinner with a couple I had met back in October during the Italian delights tour. It was fantastic to catch up with them! The restaurant, the food and the atmosphere were amazing. Aldo and Kristen and their two teenagers then took me on a walk through the streets to Hudson Yards to see the “Vessel”, a new installation that opened in March this year (2019), and already an added attraction for the city. It’s an interactive artwork imagined by Thomas Heatherwick comprising of 15 intricately interconnected flights of stairs designed to be climbed and enjoyed by visitors (with some amazing views apparently). It was really cool to see, and to hear Aldos stories about the construction jobs he’s worked on in the city enroute. FYI there is one hotel I will never ever ever stay in due to rats....

More details and photos from NYC to come!

[paulakaymason]

Lost by the Pond in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, was the name of the little cabin we stayed in on our Spring Break adventure to Oklahoma.  It was the perfect little getaway for me and my family of four.

Every year, I try to think of something fun (and simple) to do for Spring Break.  Sometimes, it’s as simple as a visit to the zoo or the arboretum, but sometimes, I like to get out of town for just a few days.

This year, I was ready to get out of town, so as I began looking around, I kept coming back to the cabins that so many people had mentioned to me in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.  Our trip last year to the teepees in New Braunfels was fun and very interesting, but I wasn’t sure I could convince my husband to go anywhere without a concierge this time.

I would’ve happily gone back and reserved another tipi through Reservation on the Guadalupe, but I knew that I would most likely be traveling alone if that is what I chose to do.

I decided to be brave and go for it, so I booked us a cabin in Hochatown, Oklahoma, in a little “resort” area called Friendly Pines Cabins located near Beavers Bend State Park.  I looked through all of the choices they offered, and the cabin called Lost by the Pond sounded like it might be a good fit for us.

Here’s the view of Lost by the Pond, from across the pond! Nice, right?

It was described on the Friendly Pines Cabins Website as “our newest Family Friendly cabin (construction completed Fall 2014).  Indoor Hot Tub. Sleeps six. Two bedrooms, two baths. Two queen beds and one sleeper-sofa. Fully-equipped kitchen. Central heat/air, cathedral ceiling, ceiling fans, hardwood floors, cable tv, and wood burning fireplace.

Private in-room hot tub, which is drained and sanitized after every guest. Outdoor campfire ring, picnic table, and charcoal grill. Enjoy movies and books.  No Pets – Sorry but your furry family members must stay at home.”

I booked our cabin, and did all of my communicating with the owner through the Home Away App.  It was so easy.  I just downloaded the app, and all of the information I needed was right there on my phone, including the contact information for Traci, the owner of the property.

When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by Tracie and Ronnie, the owners.  They met us at our cabin and walked us through the property telling us all the little things we needed to know.  In addition, they told us about lots of local places to eat and things we should be sure to do while we were there.

They were so very friendly and helpful.  We immediately knew we had made a good choice to come stay here.  On Tuesday morning, we were out walking around, and my daughter was pretty tired, and Tracie came out with some hot chocolate packets for her.

Just a small gesture, but it meant the world to my daughter (and to me).  The hot chocolate perked her right up.

Sounds perfect, right?  Right.  It was absolutely perfect for my family.  There are so many things that worked out for us, the most important being the proximity to the pond.  With two kids who love to go fishing with their Daddy, this was the most perfect thing about Lost by the Pond.

The pond was so close, that we could monitor the kids from our porch!

The pond was right outside of our cabin, so I was able to sit on the porch swing and relax with my diet Coke from the EZ Mart down the road, while the kids played with Dad at the pond.  I felt like I was right there with them, while also getting some time to relax.

The weather was a bit colder than we expected, so the plans for swimming did not work out.  There are several swimming holes nearby with a beach-like feel (and look) to them, but it was just too cold.  But…that was not a problem, because there is plenty of other things to do in the area.

I think one of my chidren’s favorite things was just driving to different parts of the lake and the various creeks exploring the area.  We found lots of little “nooks” with cool rocks, sticks, pine cones, and all sorts of “treasures” that always seemed to make their way back to my car!

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Finding places with good skipping rocks was a big hit too!  I can’t tell you how many hours we spent skipping rocks.  I also can’t count how many times I heard “Hey Mom…watch how many times this one skips”!

Just a bit farther down one of the main roads, you will find Beavers Bend State Park.  This was a big hit with our kids, because in this area you can rent Pedal Boats, Kayaks, & Canoes!

And just a bit farther down the road at Beavers Bend Depot, you can rent horses, ride a train, and enjoy some yummy ice cream!

A picture of our sweet little conductor who made us all smile and laugh!

Beavers Bend Depot was lots of fun.  In fact, we spent quite a bit of time in this area.  They have trail rides, a train, a small gift shop, as well as some yummy snacks, including Blue Bell Ice Cream!

To get more information on this area, you can visit the Broken Bow Lake – Beavers Bend Depot & Stables Website.

Beavers Bend Depot is located inside of Beavers Bend State Park off of Highway 259A in the main area of the park.  The train depot and stables have train rides and horseback rides throughout the day.

The train ride is a 15 minute ride around the park through the trees.  We enjoyed this!

The train conductor is a really nice man with lots of funny anecdotes he shares throughout the train ride.  We found him to be quite entertaining, as well as informative.

And be prepared for “Wahoo Hill.”  That was probably my favorite part of the train ride.

We also went on the horseback ride.  It was very “exciting.”  It lasted about an hour, and our horses walked us (very slowly) over a 2.5 mile trail within the park.  It was pretty funny, because the horses we were given seemed to match our personalities.

My daughter, who is chill and not bothered by anything, was on a horse named Ranger.  Ranger was the slowest, most relaxed horse they own!  My son, was on a horse named Champ!

Champ was quite feisty.  He nipped at other horses, and was always trying to pass Ranger.  Very fitting, since my son could also be described at feisty!

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You can also get more information from the  Beavers Bend Depot Facebook page with some details on the trail rides, train schedules, and other things happening.

Overall, the trip was a total success.  Unfortunately, we only booked Lost by the Pond for a few days.  We were being cautious, and didn’t want to stay too long in a place we didn’t like.

Once we got there and got settled, we all found ourselves wishing we had booked it for the entire week.  Now we know for our next visit, when we will for sure be staying a lot longer!

Enjoy your visit to Broken Bow, Oklahoma.  Let me know what cabin you stay in and what you think of it.  Have fun!  Until next time…

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  Lost by the Pond…the Perfect Broken Bow, Oklahoma Getaway for this Family of Four Lost by the Pond in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, was the name of the little cabin we stayed in on our Spring Break adventure to Oklahoma.