#but we don't all gotta be john & mary c'mon

[continent-of-wild-endeavor]

A friend was talking last night about how confusing it is to be named Matt when he has multiple other Matts in all friend groups/activities. Meanwhile, we got a new guy at work who goes by the name Pickles. Nobody's gonna confuse or forget his name!

There should be more guys named Slim, or Catfish, or Jaybird. Ladies, NBs, all other gender variations - y'all get in on it, too. More nicknames all around!

#nicknames #hell you could even give yourself one if your friends are boring #just introduce yourself to new ppl that way and let it build #i realize this is mostly a cis problem #since the rest of y'all get to pick your own name anyway #and can be as weird or boring as YOU personally prefer #but we don't all gotta be john & mary c'mon

[bloodxxandxxspirit]

for @xxgotthedevilinsidexx (Arthur)

"I still can't believe the city voted a bookstore of all things to be added into Blackwater," Uncle complained as he climbed out of the back of the wagon that parked along the newly opened storefront. "If you ask me, they could've easily added another saloon. So sick of getting unfairly tossed out of the ones here. I don't appreciate how they treat the elderly. It's abuse, I tell you, abuse!"

Young Jack Marston, however, shared the opposite of Uncle's sentiments. He was thrilled to have a bookstore close to home. It was difficult to find stores that carried books to begin with. Unless he ordered from a catalog, or Arthur happened to find any during his outings, he often re-read some of his same books over and over again, or wrote his own stories, that he'd read aloud to his family if they were willing to listen.

Jack followed Uncle off the wagon, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he was practically dancing about as if he had ants in his pants.

"C'mon, Uncle Arthur, Aunt Mary, we gotta hurry!" he begged.

Laughing quietly at Jack's impatient behavior, Mary Morgan carefully climbed down the wagon. "Jack, the store isn't going anywhere," she pointed out. "It only opened an hour ago!"

Mary looked forward to the Ladies Home Journal magazine, and being able to pick them up at the store when they first arrive, instead of paying the extra fee to have them delivered at the post office. The book store would also be a great place to find books, pens, and new journals for Arthur, whether it be for birthdays and Christmas presents. Being here with her husband, Jack, and Uncle gave John and Abigail some much-needed time alone together. Lord knew they needed it.

#xxgotthedevilinsidexx #; && Mary Linton (Verse: RDR2) #; && Arthur Morgan & Mary Linton (Verse: RDR2)

[coffee-n-bagels-comic-universe]

Superheroes with Secrets: The Trouble With 'Christmas' (Fic Part 176. Set in 2001)

Around 2000 Words. 18+ in places. Please inform me if you wish to be tagged/untagged from posts.

Tags: @tantamount-treason @piratewithvigor @thedollmaker16

Reference Posts: ‘Giantess’/‘Blacklight Bandit’ Kirby Roussimoff x Shane ’Hurricane’ Helms (Circa 2001)

"Until we give up and just rail each other into oblivion."

"Exactly, and you know how much I love you being rough and passionate."

"That I do."

"So," Kirby pauses to think, leaning against the door frame after getting dresses, "do you like the new dress, mon amour?"

"Holy shit…" he whispers, looking her over.

"I got you some new clothes, but I thought you might want to see me in this first, mon mari."

"You're right on that. You look so damn good."

"You like it a lot?" Kirby asks, gently kissing his neck.

"I really do."

"It's not too much, is it?"

"Definitely not too much."

"You know my tits don't speak, my love, you can stop staring at them."

"If I could, I would."

"Then let me tear your eyes away." Kirby whispers, pulling Helms into a heated kiss.

"I'll never complain about that."

Shannon steps out of the bathroom, "damn, look at that fine ass." He whispers as he walks over to Kirby and grabs a handful of her butt.

"Perfect, isn't it?" Helms grins.

"Juicy, like her pussy." Shannon teases.

"Alright, I have things to do, I can't just get fucked all day." Kirby chuckles softly.

"Okay, okay, we'll leave you be. Wanna give me a hand getting dressed, Shannon?"

"That sounds like fun, getting to make you worked up while your clothes get me wanting to disrobe you."

"Let's get to it and leave Kirby to do her grownup responsibilities." He chuckles, kissing her gently.

Kirby messes with his hair before she walks to the kitchen, setting to work making food.

"Ya know, for a woman double my height, she's pretty agile."

"She works on it a lot harder than you do."

"Oh c'mon man." Shannon murmurs.

"Just teasing. Your slim ass hardly ever needed to train. Kirby's gotta do what you do safely at twice your size."

"I heard from Lita that Kirby blocks out the world when she works out."

"She does. She's passed out a number of times from it."

"Oh fuck, Shane, how do you deal with that?"

"I don't. Whenever she works out, I pretend to join her, but I'm just doing reps with the smallest weights we have to I can watch her like a hawk."

Shannon chucks Shane the shirt Kirby's laid out for him, "so you don't work out fully until you know she's not gonna join you?"

"Late night workouts. Two to three am almost every night."

"Your wife has a weird taste in what she likes you wearing dude." Shannon murmurs as he looks at the rest of the clothes that Kirby laid out, passing Helms the shorts from the pile.

"I get the pants, but I'm with you on the shirt. It's Christmas, not Halloween."

"The other option is this." Shannon chuckles as he holds up the other shirt from the pile.

"Hell, I'll do both and just not button up the Halloween one."

"Ooh, look at her pretty little jewellery boxes, they're so elegant."

"They really are, aren't they?"

"These were the only other thing, but man Kirby has nice stuff." Shannon murmurs as he hands Helms the glasses.

"Almost wish these were yellow so I could be John Lemon."

Shannon chuckles softly, nudging his arm softly.

There's a small crash from the kitchen followed by Kirby's voice, "oh fuck me."

"Gladly." Helms chuckles to Shannon before getting up to go check on her.

Kirby is on her knees, cleaning up the pan of food she's just dropped by accident and mumbling to herself small phrases of self-hate.

"Hey…" Helms murmurs, kneeling down in front of her, "You okay?"

"No, I'm not, I feel like I'm just getting in the way of myself and I just… I don't feel good, right now, I feel useless and disgusted by myself."

"Honey, dropping a pan is not worth hating yourself over. Not at all."

"Maybe to you, but to me it's a sign that things are going to get worse the longer I am in here."

"Do you want some help?"

"No it's fine," Kirby seems to snap into 'people pleaser mode' instantly, "it's okay, I can handle it."

"Honey, look at me," he lifts her head a little, "do you need help?"

Tears prick at the corner of her eyes, it's clear that a moment of remembrance made her drop the pan in the first place, "I… I'm okay… I swear." She stutters.

"Didn't ask that. But I'm starting to think you're not okay…"

"I'm fine… I swear I'm okay, please don't hurt me." Kirby whimpers, unable to shake her mind from the memories.

Helms takes his hands off her slowly, "I'm not going to hurt you, Kirby. It was an accident…"

Kirby buries her head in her hands, sobbing and shaking, her mind too deep in the memories of previous lovers.

"Can I touch you?" He whispers.

"I… I don't know, I want to say yes, but I'm scared of what I might do if you get too close."

"Then I'll let you come to me. Whatever you need to do. I'll just be right here."

"Shane, I know you're a good man, out of everyone I've dated, you're the only angel, but today… today isn't a good day for me, fuck every Christmas day hasn't been good for almost ten years now, I wake up on Christmas and dread being around people because I can't control the memories of before my life was good again, I can't snap out of the flashbacks to a few years ago where the most minor of infractions in how I talked to the people I lived with earned me a slap or a punch or being trapped in a room. I love you, but I don't love Christmas, it brings up the memories, memories which I can't escape."

"Is this you saying you want this to be our only Christmas together? Switch over to celebrating Yule next year?" He offers gently.

"I don't want to take your traditions away from you, but that might help, yes." Kirby nods gently.

"Tell me about it. About your traditions. Tell me about them." He whispers.

"Have you ever heard of 'The Wheel of the Year'?" Kirby asks gently, slowly looking at Helms.

"Never. Tell me about it. To distract yourself."

"You start with Yule, which is the twentieth to twenty-third of December, then Imbolc on the first of February, and after that you have Ostara on the nineteenth to twenty-second of March, and then Beltane on the first of May. After Beltane you have Litha on the nineteenth to twenty-third of June, then Lughnasadh on the first of August. After that there's Mabon on the twenty-first to twenty-fourth of September and then Samhain on the first of November, then you're back at Yule." Kirby explains softly.

"That's a lot of holidays."

"It's easy to remember when you think abut it as a wheel with eight spokes or points, each holiday is a point on the wheel and the year rolls by."

"Wheel of the year, right?"

"Yep, the wheel of the year." Kirby nods gently.

"I like that."

"Yule is a lot like Christmas, but slightly different, traditionally you would offer a sacrifice, be it food and wine for the gods or something a little more… live, but you also would have a big feast, and give gifts, and hang up wreaths of holly or mistletoe, or maybe even Ivy, yew or pine."

"So a lot like Christmas."

"Yes, only much less bright lights… and no tree or mystical man who 'sees you when you're sleeping' because that's not at all creepy."

"Could we… maybe still have some lights when we celebrate?"

"Yes, you may decorate with lights, but please no flashing lights."

"How about twinkling?"

"What's the difference?"

"Flashing makes all the lights turn on and off at the same time. Twinkling is just individual lights dimming slightly then brightening."

"Then twinkling because flashing lights aren't good for me." Kirby whispers, slowly snuggling into Helms.

"I like the twinkling ones. They're like stars. Flashing ones are like… cops…"

"You're my star, mon mari."

"And you're mine."

"Just want to order Chinese food and snuggle on the couch, just me, you and Shannon." Kirby whispers.

"Want me to call the Hardys, tell them to spend the day with their Ma?"

"Yes, please."

"You gonna be okay while I make the call?"

"I'm gonna go lay on the couch and hope my brain doesn't make me hate myself more."

"Shannon's upstairs. You should go lie with him."

Kirby nods, getting up and heading to snuggle with Shannon. Helms cleans up the food on the floor slowly, making sure he gets it all.

"Shannon, snuggle with me please." Kirby murmurs as she goes back to the guest room.

"Of course." He smiles gently, pulling her into his arms.

Kirby sighs as she snuggles into his arms, kissing his neck softly. He strokes her back slowly.

"I like you, I may get jealous at times, but I like you." Kirby whispers.

"I like you too. I'm sorry I get in the way sometimes of you and Shane…"

"That's okay, I'm just terrified of losing him, he's my one true love, ya know?"

"I know exactly what you mean." He sighs softly.

"I never thought I would find someone like him, someone who wouldn't abuse me and say that abuse was love, Helms is different, he's kind to me."

"He's one of the most perfect men I've ever met." He agrees gently.

"I'd be open to letting you live with us as long as you want to, hopefully you won't sneak your way between me and Shane if you stay… that is to say, I want you two to be friends, but I can't handle the thought of him fucking you more than he fucks me."

"I gave up the right to fuck him whenever I want. It was the biggest mistake of my life…" he mumbles, "getting what I have now is more than I deserve."

"I'm not letting you steal mu husband, but I don't want him to lose one of his closest friends. Shannon, you have known him for years, and I've known him for months, I," Kirby's voice falters slightly, "I need you to help me fix myself to be a better woman for him."

He blinks a little and props himself up on an elbow, "fix you how?"

"I'm broken, I… I was abused for a long time, I spent too long expecting to be hit or yelled at for trying to show my love to people. I'm afraid that I'm going backwards in my healing process. I… I asked Shane not to hurt me after he came to check on me because I had a flashback to a couple year ago, my ex-girlfriend made me make her Christmas dinner and when I asked her the question of what exactly she wanted, she grabbed me by the hair and slammed my face into the wall, and… and…" Kirby's breathing hitches as she starts crying from the memory.

"Hey, hey…" he whispers, pulling her into a tight squeeze to ground her.

"I don't want to tell Shane half the things that happened to me because I'm scared it'll just make him feel like he has to be even more cautious around me. Shannon, I'm scared that when Lilith's born I'll be unable to hold her without feeling like she's the only good thing I've ever given the world."

"I've got something to show you. In my bag at the foot of the bed. You good if I go get it?" He murmurs.

Kirby nods, trying to calm herself.

He lets her go quickly, rustling around to find a little scrapbook, "I take a Polaroid of the crowd at each show," he explains, flipping it open to when he began working at the WWF, "look at these girls. The little girls in the front couple rows. Three of them out of every five wear your merch. You inspire them. And they're not too young to remember. You're gonna be their lifelong hero."

#superheroes with secrets #shane hurricane helms #kirby roussimoff #blacklight bandit #orange and green - the perfect team #shannon brian moore #sws #kirby andrea roussimoff #delilah keshet rosenbaum #gregory shane helms #jeffrey nero hardy #matthew moore hardy #lita hardy