#cause tj is so - good kid coded

[lucys-chen]

𝐭𝐣 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 ➣ good kid

gif credit: @peachygifs @sacreddonkey

taglist: @stanshollaand @arrthurpendragon @claryxjackson @endless-oc-creations @daughter-of-melpomene

#hi i’m back #i haven’t really made anything in a while #so i threw this together #cause tj is so - good kid coded #tj barton #fic: teenage tragedies #fic: power rangers; ghosts

[art-i-know-yes]

AHH I'M EXCITED LET'S GO

Spoilers Ep.66

The dEscRiption because like a WHAT to WHAAT WITH GLENNNNN

I'm sorry literally one of the only things I've wanted to see is emotionally open Glenn

not the spotify ads

Darryl plays Matt

Hot Take: Darryl hates the environment

That's an oof, Henry

Biiiiig therapy

Horses vs Henry and Cows vs Ron

oooohhhmygahwdbeth

"I know what you said and I ignored it"

WOOOOOOOOO RON THERAPY

Imagine going to therapy

Awww Ron

I was just high key thinking about them listening outside the door

geeEENETIC TIMELINE

"That's depressing"

Those are liike good rollssssss

mmmnnnnn nevermind

Kinda wanna dig up clams

I-I mean why not

I guess that's a good idea to teach them how to drive huh

"No, that's ok"

WHY'D HE SAY IT LIKE THAT

They're too emotional right now

The keyword they didn't use is HOPEFULLY THEIR DADS SHOOT AT IT

Excuse me too young some countries learned by like 8

Hiiiissss voice

Noooo

"11, that's sounds like it's gonna be sad" "Oooo that tracks for you"

Really!! Glenn followimg laws!!

Kids have these neat abilities called vroom vroom speed vehicle where they get self control

YEEEE KIDS GET TO DRIVE

Ehhh come on Darryl you're making this so depressing

Henry shut up please

"Doooope" "Definitely Lark or Sparrow"

I remember seeing someone call Sparrow a furry

I think that is good idea for flexibility because I did not think if that because if I'm honest I only trust TJ to drive we saw what Lark and Sparrow driving was like

Can TJ still like use magic

THE LAUGHTER THAT THAT CAME OUT OF ME I CAN NOT DESCRIBE NEAR TEARS IM TELLING YOU NEAR TEARS

"I'm sure Grant is gonna be fine, but if ya know, Lark dies or something-" "WHAT THE FVCK DARRYL" DARRYL YOU CAN'T USE THEEEEEM AS AN EXAMPLE

But also my second thought was Nick and I made myself lose it

"Ok so Terry dies-" "NOOOOO-" "Ok fine you have two kids. Let's say Sparrow dies-"

THEY COULD JUST BE INJURED WE DON'T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE WORST SITUATIONS

We should camouflage it again, both of them

Toooo thhhee raaaaaat

A LITTLE CONCERNED

Well I'm already in tears so

Real Nick Jr.? It's just Nick

Don't bring the Lawwrdd into this

Accidentally teaching him to dRIIIVVEEE HE CAN BARELY REACH THE WHEEL LET ALONE THE BRAKE OR GAS

But like literally watch Nick Jr. have to drive and does it perfectly

They are way to into the crab mech

He immediately started yelling-I'm just making noises at this point

Not the escape static I mean USEFUL but like the reverse j-turn is a little later

What did your dad teach you Glenn

This is why they're doing different sections

...I can barely do a regular reverse turn...

"I'M ONLY DOING THIS BECAUSE I WAANT TO FATHER"

Straight cut to "A few quick things in no specific order"

This is about what I expected with Willy as his father

Terry Jr. is having an existential crisis

Roooonnn

Understeer????

GlArK

"My son's name is not Glark" "HAVE YOU BEEN CALLING ME GLARK AND I JUST HAVEN'T NOTICED"

Not quoting the handbook

W-was Ron used as a getaway driver

TJ is big brain

"Use morse code" "Ok anyone wanna teach me morse code"

I just imagine Glenn turning around and like the Office "Quite an imagination on this kid"

"I'm in a dark place" respectable. thanks for being honest.

Honestly that's what I was thinking. Actually very close to that tune.

AWWWWWWW

CYCLISTS

I love you so much Sparrow

"*sniffle* you run 'em over son"

I... am so scared to see who's getting this roll

I desperately hope that twins aren't 1 and 2

This is a competition to them. I know it.

A 23!!!

Awwwwwwww poor baby nonononono

AWWWWW RONNN COMFORTING TJ

I'm not sure if you can tell who's my favorite father-son duo (or characters im general)

Noooooo Terrrryyyy (but like honestly SAME)

A VESPA

HE'S NOT THE DRIVER BUT LIKE STILL I KINDA THINK IT'S THE BEST CHOICE

"I know!"

"I purely know maps I'm the advocate"

CALLOUTS

This is the perfect team up

"And then also Sparrow"

"Idk we can tie them to like a stick or something"

Oh yeah the pillars

Doug is better than literally all philosophers

NONONONO

Is...Ron meta?

Not Elizabeth Warden

OH FVCK

That...doesn't sound good cause like...the underground part

mnnnmmnnnmmmnnn bombssss

"There was this show called Chernobyl" PFFT-

Yesss Bomb shelter beer

Ron's a genius

Hesoundsalittlesalty

"Sounds like somebody cares"

It doesn't sound like we'll make it to ep. 69

The humming is so funny to me

Ron *is* meta

I would LOVE to figure out what Glenn is actually thinking about Nick

YA KNOW WHAT THAT IS A BIG PROBLEM

I don't think mentally I'm ready for what is going to come out

I SCREAMED emotionally i am not recovered from loosing Nick hypothetically I am completely very ok it

*Cooooool*

Just the way he said it Hennrrrryyyyy

"Well, that sounds healthy"

He's really switching this conversation at them

We love Ron-Glenn solidarity

ahhhhh Henry rants

TOLERANT, SORT OF AFFECTION AHHHHAHAHHAHAHAHA

"We are Olive Garden"

Sir, that's a ring of self-sacrifice if you're willing

oooooo that hurts

I..dont know what to say. I'm in shock. My body literally has like tingles all over and my heart dropped. Is Erin ok? How'd he get there? How much does he know? I can't feel anything right now so much and many emotions

~20 minites of sitting in silence and shock later~

I WAS THINKING WHY WOULD THE DRAGON BE AFTER HIM CAUSE HE TOLD RADIOLAB WHAT HE WAS DOING AND WHY AHHH HE MADE HIM ROLL TWICE FOR THAT TO FUKIN WEAKEN HIM I KNEW IT WAS FUKING WEIRD THERE WAS NO WAY GOD

THE GASPS THEY KNEW IT THE MINUTE HE SAID IT

WTFWTFWTF IM SHAKING

CAN YOU HEAL THIS?! NO YOU CAN'T WHAT DO WE DO?! THE COUNTING! THE REMOTE REWIND? THE NEW ITEMS? 15SECONDS15SECONDS15SECONDS. WE CAN NOT LOSE GLENN RIGHT NOW CAN WE PAUSE. CAN WE BREAK THE SPELL LIKE THAT? WHAT IF IT DOESNT WORK? HE SOUNDS SO SERIOUS. IM SO SCARED BUT LIKE FUVK. HE'S GOOD BUT LIKE NOT THAT GOOD RIGHT BECAUSE GLENN WAS ALREADY WHAT 3 LEVELS ABOVE EVERYONE ELSE? YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!!AHHHHHH GLENN! NOOOOOOOO GODDAMIT HE PROBABLY HAS LEGENDARY ACTIONS I FUKIN THOUGHT ABOUT IT! OMGAWWD SLIGHT OF HAND SNEAK ATTACK. AHHHHG MODIFIERS SCARE ME.

I KNEW I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT

FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR YES HAHAHAHAHHA FVCK YOU

OH GAWD HENRY HEALED HIM

YOU FVKING SLVT ANTHONY

they were sooooooooo close

I swear to god we better see Glenn again or I'm killing someone

I'm having a late reaction tears are coming once I fully process.

BUT REALLY *RIGHT* AFTER THE HEART TO HEART

#you could and should absolutely ignore this #random rambling #dndads #dndads spoilers #dungeons and daddies spoilers #dungeons and daddies #AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[cherriesradio]

Poly! SFW alphabet Sero + Denki !!

Credit for the template to @the-coldest-goodbye !!

Warnings: slight angst

Word Count: 1.7k

A = Affection

Sero isn’t TOO affectionate, he like giving you + Denki affection but doesn’t really love getting it himself :/ which is fine, but both of you wanna spoil him SO BAD

Denki is VERY affectionate!!! Whenever he’s walking by he’ll kiss the others cheek/shoulder, and he’ll hug them from behind when their cooking, hold both of your hands in public, unless one of you ask him not too

B = Best Friend

Sero was first friends with Denki but eventually you got into their friendship, and he adored you since the beginning. You were so funny and cute and even if you aren’t smart he doesn’t really care, he’s friends with Denki after all.

Denki was friends with you since you were kids but you transferred to UA in the middle of first year. He introduced you to Sero :) he loves doing “favors” as he puts them, like buy you snacks and will get anything you need from the store if he can afford it (will likely use his whole allowance on you two)

C = Cuddles

Again, Sero isn’t to into getting affection. He’s mostly the big spoon but if he’s feeling bad that day/night/afternoon he’ll ask if he can lay his head on you or Denki’s chest

Denki loves cuddles, at first he would accidentally shock you two because he got to excited. Is often in the middle of all three of you are cuddling. All three of you mostly cuddle at night, most other times it’s just you and Denki, sometimes while Sero does work and play music in the background :)

D = Domestic

Sero cooks the most cause he’s the only one who wasn’t scared to cook with Bakugo. He’s not near as good as him but he can still cook. He hates cleaning but will remind you and Denki when you clean the apartment.

Denki doesn’t mind clean but HATES washing the dishes. If it’s his turn he just shoved everything in the dishwasher that barely works because he broke it ten times and tried (his best) to fix it.

E = Ending

Sero, if he broke it off, would break it off really gently. He would be really nervous and you both would try to hold his hand but he would shake them off, softly mutter “I’m not happy like this anymore.”

Denki would be overwhelmed. He would be fidgety most of the day, he’s the type who gets so comfortable he can’t imagine leaving. So he just keeps it in till you two start noticing that he’s fidgety and nervous a lot and then finally tells you two.

F = Fiancé’s

Sero isn’t very sure. He’s scared of commitment but in the end realizes that he wants to be with you two for his whole life, and that he is a better person because of you both.

Since the start Denki wanted to marry you both, but he thought of it as teenage bliss. But once you were out of college and hero’s, and you were still together, he brought up marriage.

G = Gentle

Sero is often gentle. He can play around really wild but at home when it’s chill he’s really soft and sleepy often times. But he does admit that he once gave Denki a bruise from playing to hard-

Denki is capable of being gentle. If he’s cuddling or comforting one of you, he’s really gentle and soft spoken. But other times he’ll poke your sides and zap you, or play wrestle.

H = Hugs

Even if he’s not too into affection, he’s really good at it. He does that thing where he wraps his arm around your middle and then the other is sat on your head, probably accidentally pushing you into his neck.

Denki loves to pick you two up and spin you around when he’s excited!!! When he’s a little more ~chillax~ he’ll pick you up wrap your legs around his waist and wzhrdkkeasjpifvfwqwonf

I = “I love you two.”

Tbh Sero said dropped L-bombs even when you were just friends. A lot of the time when you made him laugh is would get out and a few years into the relationship he admits that he meant it almost everytime

Denki says it pretty early into the relationship. Not like “we’ve gone on three dates and I’m in love with you” kinda thing but a about two months in he says he thinks he’s in love. You and Sero say that your not sure if your ready to sya it yet, and he’s completely okay with it.

J = Jealous

Neither of them get jealous of each other. There have been times before you all got together when they would get a little mad at other people for checking you out (and you would too lol) and start getting extra clingy but besides that their chill.

K = Kisses

Sero is the one more into on-the-mouth kisses. By that I’m not saying he needs them constantly, I’m saying he likes them more then Denki. He often uses quick pecks as hellos and longing, “you probably lay in bed tonight TJ knowing of it” kisses. If he’s bored he does those Spider-Man kisses, and if your a little to far he’ll use his tape to pull you over.

Denki isn’t as into on-the-mouth kisses. When you were only friends you had a inside joke where he would kiss both of your hands when greeting you both. As I said before he likes kissing your cheeks and foreheads, ADORES the “getting both cheek kissed at the same time” kisses!!!

L = Little Ones

They both LOVE Gravity Falls. There are way to many times they babysat Eri and either played Gravity Falls or sung the karaoke song. Basically their only experiences with kids is Eri???

M = Mornings

Denki and Sero and total bed heads and refuse to get out of bed before like, 9:59. You usually get up before them and make them both coffee, and I love the idea of getting sticky notes and labeling their mugs, a doodling on them. Like with Denki it would be little lightning bolts and with Sero it would be flex tape.

N = Nights

All of you go to bed at a pretty normal time, around 10 or 11, but… Denki. Denki is for sure the type who will not fall asleep in like ten minutes and then would get on his phones cause he “can’t sleep” and wake you and Sero up.

O = Opening up

When you were just friends you all got pretty close. You and Sero knew about Denkis ADHD, you and Denki knew about Sero’s insecurities about his quirk, they knew your past.

But when it turned romantic and even closer is when they really got how every felt, starts ranting for hours about how they felt and how it affects them now.

P = Patience

Neither of them get angry that easy, even if you do something that would upset them they end up thinking it’s a joke :/

Which does become a problem, but you all put effort into talking to each other about problems.

Q = Quizzes

Sero remembers really little things - like what your favorite emoji is and your favorite pop tart flavors - but it’s hard for him to remember bigger stuff like… your parents names :-/

Denki is the opposite. He’ll remember if you like the same thing, but it’s easier for him to remember stuff if you mention it more. Like, around you birthday Sero would remind him every day “hey Y/n’s birthday is in a few days.” So he would remember.

R = Remember

One of your favorite memories is going to this ice cream shop. It’s not like it was the specialist place or gloriously beautiful, but it shows your dynamic well. Denki kept poking you and zapping, and Sero pulled so many jokes and puns. You giggled and then showered them in attention as soon as you got home.

S = Security

Sero is pretty good at protecting you. If he feels a threat, he’ll just wrap his arm around your waist and hold his other arm to where you can clearly recognize him as a hero.

Denki is VERY protective. Because of his ADHD (a headcanon), he once hyper-fixated on how many people get robbed and how many girls get raped and how many poc get killed out on the streets. He used to be more worried about himself but now he gets really scared for you and Sero.

T = Try

Sero usually makes casual dates. Like quick walk before work, or a home cooked dinner. But sometimes he’ll plan out big dates for holidays and anniversaries.

He makes the weirdest excuses for planning big dates. “Its national national cream puff day we need to go to the fancy restaurant down the road and get some.”

U = Ugly

DENKI USES SO MUCH TEXT SPEAK I SWEAR

Sero always does his errands at rush hour???

They both where the ugliest shoes JUST to annoy you.

V = Vanity

Sero does not care to much for his looks. He used to be insecure about his looks as a teen but since then you and Denki shower him in compliments so all of the insecurities died away after a bit.

W = Whole

Sero wouldn’t. He’s become a better persona FB happier because of both of you. He can’t imagine losing you both. He has nightmares sometimes about you two dying or breaking up with him, and it’s breaks him.

Denki wouldn’t either. He thinks he would barely be able to function by himself without you two. He associates you both with his growth and how much you all have improved over the years.

X = Xtra

They randomly get obsessed with random things. One day you’ll come home to them trying to teach themselves the ukulele, or trying to bake but making a huge mess, or trying to code.

Y = Yuck

Sero hates pda. At least involving him. He doesn’t care if you and Denki heckin make out in public, just don’t do it in front of him.

Denki doesn’t like how much work you both have. He can make big hits and break off up to hundreds of people at once, so he didn’t have to stay at work to long. But you and Sero care a bit more than him (he still cares tho) and he hates just sitting at home alone.

Z = Zzzz

Denki stays up late a lot from staying on his phone, but if you and Sero really commit to ~cuddles~ than he’s willing.

Reblogs appreciated!!

#tw robbery mention #tw racism mention #poly mha #mha #sero x reader #denki x reader #Sero x Denki #Denki x Sero x reader #tw rape mention

[maximumsnow]

Glass intro

As soon as the alarms started blaring to indicate a breach, Glass couldn’t help but freeze even as his coworkers jumped into action. There was a protocol they had to follow for their safety, and after the shock wore off, he stood up to join them.

Until he saw Dimitri- no, Bright, break away from the group.

Bright stood out in his plainclothes, but there hadn’t been time between his reappearance and now to insist he follow the dress code. However, the height of the body he was in made it very easy to glance over if you weren’t actively looking for him.

If not for the very real danger they were all in, he would address the pain in his chest when he had to think of the former specialist in past tense and replace his name with someone else’s. The shock of seeing him still alive had been doused in the cold horror of realizing that it was his body being piloted by someone else.

As for Bright, there was a huge feeling of relief and disappointment. On one hand, he had worried over Bright, despite his immortality, but on the other, he had hoped that if Bright had managed to escape, then he wouldn’t come back. He knew Bright hated working here, and he wasn’t sure how much of that hatred existed before The Incident.

The longer he stood there staring, the further Bright got, and in a haze of fear, concern, and curiosity, he tried to follow.

Tried being the operative word.

Bright moved with purpose and in the chaos of trying to dodge around researchers and MTF agents, Glass soon lost sight of his target.

Where the hell is he going?

The question didn’t want to leave, even as an MTF agent shirt-collared him to follow a group. Unwilling to anger one of the trigger happy soldiers, he dutifully followed, even as he kept looking over his shoulder to see if there were any signs of where Bright went.

Then he heard something he had only ever heard during safety drills.

“MASSIVE CONTAINMENT BREACH”

The floor felt like it shook under his feet, and in a blink and miss moment, something was thrown through the ceiling, and even though the object missed him, the near impact knocked him over.

He couldn’t catch his breath enough to call out, and even if he could, the others were running. He knew they wouldn’t come back for him. It was practically written in the rules that you were supposed to take care of yourself and no one else.

Even though this facility was one of the safer ones, everyone knew and followed that rule. Sure, he didn’t like it, but everyone was quick to jump on reminding him about how it didn’t matter if he liked it or not.

At least nothing grabbed him while he recovered from the near miss, but by this point, he wasn’t sure where he could go. Without the cover of gunfire, he was a sitting duck. While he had tried to treat all of his client with kindness, he wouldn’t be surprised if they deemed him an unavoidable casualty.

And the facility carried more than just the Euclid and Safe humanoids. Especially after the Keter facility breach.

The knowledge that he was probably going to die was hovering near the back of his mind as he considered his options.

He heard screaming down the hallway that the others had run, so he promptly turned on his heel and ran in the other direction. The flashing warning lights and distant screams only increased the feeling of impending doom.

Eventually, he made it to where he had lost Bright in the first place, and the direction he had been going finally clicked in his mind.

--

“Bright, why do you keep wanting to work here when you hate it so much?” The question had popped up many times during their sessions, and this was another attempt of many to finally get an answer. This was an impromptu session after an… Awfully convenient death of Bright’s last host.

“Simon.” The use of Glass’s first name startled him. “You work with the kids sometimes, right?”

Bright knew that he could get away with calling the children what they were. While Glass would officially follow the Foundation’s codes when writing his reports down, he had a bad habit of not maintaining them in verbal conversations. He didn’t want to stop thinking of his clients as people even as his coworkers would correct him.

Unsure of where this was going, since Bright should know the answer, he said, “Yes?”

“You haven’t noticed anything,” he paused before waving a hand in an unsure motion, “I dunno, familiar?” “You know I work with a lot of people, and I can’t tell you who, even if you ask.”

Ever unhelpful, Bright simply stated, “Pay more attention when you go to the kid section, then, and you might figure it out.”

The session wasn’t fruitful beyond that, but that command stuck in Glass’s mind for weeks afterwards. It took him a while to finally get the time and clearance to do a little digging, but the answer was incredibly obvious once he knew to look.

TJ Bright.

–

Bright was going to TJ. The brother that had been locked up here sometime before Glass got to this position. The confusion surrounding the breach would be an easy way to cover up the illegal interaction.

Did Bright plan this? This was far too convenient for it to be anything else, and he had seen in the file that Bright was a flight risk if left around his brother for too long.

If this hypothesis was correct, Glass was left with a dilemma. Assuming that Bright was not killed on the way over, Glass had a strong feeling that he was going to break his sibling out.

Was that a bad thing? Despite Jack Bright’s Euclid designation, he was never malicious, and TJ was more likely to be hurt than to cause hurt.

… He knew the answer to that question. He had questioned this many times about his clients, and he was always told the same thing. It’s for the greater good.

Despite seeing all of them slowly degrade mentally as they were tested on and isolated, he was told the same thing.

He knew it shouldn’t be this way, and even started to argue more. And that was before pulling in Dimitri to help with Stella’s neurodivergency.

Dimitri was loud about his opinions on the treatment of the starry-eyed child, but the foundation had thought telling him to shut up would work.

It didn’t. In fact, it had emboldened his attempts at fighting for more humane treatment for the scps.  Glass didn’t know how far Dimitri would go, and the stunt with Iris was almost successful.

And he couldn’t help but feel what happened to Dimitri was also a pointed threat to him.

...

It would be funny if the children Dimitri had fought so hard for escaped as well, wouldn’t it?

Maybe he could catch Bright and convince him to take a few more kids along.

#Scp #Scp Au #Simon Glass #Jack Bright #Dr Glass #Dr Bright #Scp Oc #This is so AU you don't even know #Only one other person has the full context for this #Another has the bare bones context #But Glass demanded 1k words and I thought I'd share with other people #Even if it makes no sense out of context #Side note he's the pov person here so is not fully aware of what's going on #Scp Containment Breach #Technically #The origins of this au started there but it went off the rails oh so quickly #My writing

[miafic]

can you write something about one of the boys saying their safety level is 0?? maybe luke or shane :(

“Okay, gentlemen,” Lucas said as the boys ran down the stairs. “Safety levels?”

“Ten!” came three shouts, but embedded in them was a voice cheerfully saying, “One!”

Lucas froze. “What?” 

The kids piled onto the couches. 

“Morgan, what did you say?” Lucas asked, staring directly at him.

“What?” Morgan muttered, looking guilty. “Nothing?”

“Up, please. Now. Into the office.” Lucas raised his voice but didn’t break eye contact. “Brandon! Zakk!”

“Lucas, I’m fine-” Morgan protested weakly

“Zakk!” Lucas called again. His voice was even, but it was taking all of his focus not to let it tremble. 

Zakk popped into the room with Bran right behind him. 

Lucas tossed the clipboard onto the couch cushion beside himself and stood, just barely glancing away from Morgan. “You remember that there’s laundry in the wash?” he intoned. A code.

“Uh - y-yeah. I’m gonna get it later.” Zakk looked from Lucas to Morgan and back.

“Okay. Keep your ears open.” 

Zakk nodded. 

“Morgan, come on. Office.” 

“I said I’m fine,” Morgan said.

“Now.” 

The other kids were staring, but Morgan sighed dramatically and obeyed. He threw himself onto the couch as Lucas quickly shut the door. 

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“No.” Lucas focused hard on keeping his cool. “A safety level of one is very, very serious.”

“I was just kidding,” Morgan tried, but Lucas could see right through him. 

He shook his head slowly. “Tell me what’s going on.” 

“Nothing.”

“I can’t help you unless I know. And you said it out loud, which means you want help. Some part of you does. So let me help you.” Lucas sat down in the desk chair. He softened his voice. “Morgan, let me help you. Nobody has to know anything.” 

The gentleness was working. Morgan’s expression was already changing from false defiance and carelessness to one of vulnerability. 

“I’m not gonna tell anybody. Not even Zakk if you don’t want.”

“I don’t,” Morgan whispered.

“You don’t want me to tell Zakk?”

Morgan shook his head.

“Okay. I won’t. What you say is just for me to know.” 

Morgan bit his thumbnail and let his eyes go unfocused on the carpet. 

“Do you want to talk freely, or do you want to answer some questions?”

“Questions,” Morgan whispered. 

Lucas nodded. “Okay. If I start going in a direction you don’t like or want, just tell me.” 

Morgan nodded, too.

“A safety level of one means that you have a plan to hurt yourself or somebody else and that you’re not going to tell me before you carry it out,” he stated, his chest tight. “Is that an accurate reflection of how you feel?” 

Morgan was still for a long moment, but he finally muttered, “Yeah.”

“Okay. Thank you for being honest with me. Are you wanting to hurt yourself?”

Another nod. And then came the tears. 

Lucas passed Morgan a box of tissues but otherwise sat still in his chair, watching for the slightest hint of trouble. 

“I don’t want to be here,” Morgan said with a sob. “I want to go home. I want my parents to love me, and they don’t, and it’s not fair. I didn’t even get a goddamn chance to try to live on my own before the cops picked me up.” 

Lucas just listened. 

“I miss my friends. I miss school. I hate saying grace and going to church. I hate having a roommate.” Angrily, he shoved the tissue box onto the floor. “I want to go home!” 

“Our goal is to get you home,” Lucas told him. “But we can’t send you there until we know that it’s safe for you, and right now, we don’t know that.”

“Cause my dad’s a fucking homophobe,” he spat. 

“What about your mom?” 

“She agrees with whatever my dad says.” Morgan wiped at his eyes with his fingers, but the tears were still falling quickly, so there wasn’t really much of a point. 

Lucas sighed sadly. “I’m sorry, Morgan.” 

“I wanna see Chandler and TJ,” he said through his tears. “Forest and Lexi and Paige and Tom…” He turned sideways on the couch and kicked his legs out in front of him. 

“How are you planning to hurt yourself?” 

“I took a knife from the kitchen,” he muttered. 

“Is it on your person?” Lucas asked.

Morgan shook his head. “No. It’s in my room.” 

“Where?”

“Under my bed.”

“Thank you,” Lucas said again. Toward the door, Lucas evenly called, “Zakk!” Back to Morgan, he asked, “And do you want to do with it?” 

Breathlessly, Zakk flung the door open. He took in the scene in front of him, relaxed a bit, and then said, “What’s up?” 

“Come in. Close the door.” 

Morgan was clenching his teeth and staring hard at the wall, but Zakk saw the tears on his face and gave his typical, sad, “Oh, dude…” and went over to give him a hug. Morgan leaned into him and started to cry all over again. 

“Okay, you stay here. I’ll be right back,” Lucas muttered. “Hey,” he said when Zakk didn’t look over. “He just gave me a one on his safety level, so.” 

Zakk nodded, his eyes worried. “Morgan,” he murmured, hugging Morgan tighter.

“I’m sorry,” Morgan sobbed. 

“No, heyyy, it’s okay… What happened, huh?”

Lucas slipped through the door. 

“Is Morgan okay?” Noel asked worriedly. 

“Focus on the meeting, please,” Lucas said, and he crossed the space and walked up the steps, ignoring the feeling of all of their eyes on him.

“Uh, Jordan, did you go yet?” Bran asked awkwardly.

“No…”

Lucas went into the bedroom to the right of the staircase and crouched down beside Morgan’s bed. Teddy’s bed, Beau’s bed, Luke’s bed… He swallowed thickly. Awsten’s bed, he forced himself to continue. Calum’s bed. He thought of Teddy’s green coat, of Beau’s big boots, of Awsten’s light purple hair, of Calum’s signature smirk. With a shaky breath, Lucas knelt down mere feet away from where he’d found Luke sprawled on the floor. He lifted the edge of the quilt and looked beneath it - and there was the cheap silverware. It was too dull to do much of anything, but with the right intent, it could do some serious damage. Not as swiftly as Luke’s pocketknife, but-

“Lucas?” Bran called. “Zakk has a question. He says it’s not urgent.” 

“Alright, just a second!” Lucas called back. He grabbed the knife, stood up, and lifted his shirt. He tucked the cold metal into the waistband of his underwear, right against his hip, where he kept it hidden until he could cross the landing and put it inside his own bedroom. Afterward, he jogged downstairs and went back into the office. Morgan was sitting up, sniffling but no longer crying, and Zakk was going through the file cabinet. 

“Other side,” Lucas said shortly. “Third drawer down.” He paused while Zakk muttered his thanks and moved the chair to face the other side of the desk. Lucas kept an eye on Morgan while Zakk’s back was turned. “You’re looking for a safety contract, right?”

“Yep.” 

“Yeah. Third drawer.”

“You’re the best,” Zakk told him with a grateful smile. 

Lucas just shrugged. “Morgan, how are you doing now?” 

“A little better,” he mumbled.

“Good. Zakk, are you gonna take it from here?” 

“Yeah, if that’s okay with Morgan.” 

“It’s fine.” 

“Okay. I’ll be upstairs then,” Lucas said. He inhaled quietly and then said softly, “I kind of want to go swimming.” 

Zakk nodded. “Of course,” he said, and Lucas nodded back, acknowledging that his code had been understood. He didn’t want to swim; he wanted a break. He was going to lie down. 

“Yell if you need me,” Lucas instructed, and he left without another word. “Bran, can you get them in bed when you’re done?” he asked, not bothering to look at them as he passed. “Gentlemen, behave for Bran. There will be consequences if you don’t.” 

There was a murmur of “okay”s, and then Lucas was up the stairs and in his bedroom, closing the door and sitting shakily down on his bed without bothering to turn on the light. The knife was still sitting on his dresser, so he got up and moved it into the top drawer so it was out of sight before going back to sit on his bed.

He couldn’t stop picturing Luke’s massive gash, and he let out a soft moan of pain. He curled up on his side and shut his eyes, hoping that later, Zakk would come check on him. And after about forty-five minutes, he did.

“Morgan’s asleep,” Zakk reported once he’d let himself in and sat down on the side of Lucas’ bed. “I’m not gonna take him to the emergency room tonight. I think he’ll be okay. It sounds like he was just crying for help.” He sighed. “Which is good. But I can tell that he freaked you the hell out.” 

Lucas didn’t move, didn’t speak. 

Zakk leaned down and hugged him. “How are you doing?” 

“Not good,” Lucas whispered. He rolled onto his back so he could see Zakk. “He took a knife from the kitchen and hid it under his bed.” 

“I know. He told me.”

Lucas gulped. “I haven’t been on the floor in there since…” 

“You hardly even go in anymore,” Zakk agreed in sympathy. 

Lucas turned back onto his side. 

“Go ahead and get some sleep,” Zakk told him. “I’ll take care of the paperwork.” 

“Are you sure?” Lucas asked halfheartedly, but he already knew he wasn’t getting back up. “There’s a lot more now tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” 

He nodded tiredly. 

Zakk leaned back down to embrace him again. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No.” 

Zakk nodded. “Okay.” But he didn’t move.

Lucas was quiet for ten seconds before he asked, “What are you doing?” 

“Making sure you get to sleep.” His tone softened. “I know you really wanted to go swimming.” 

Normally, Lucas would have smiled, but Zakk was right. And honestly, he was glad that Zakk was staying. He closed his eyes. As Zakk started rubbing his arm, Lucas’ heart rate began to slow. 

For a long time, the room was silent. The house was silent. 

It had been silent when Luke had-

Lucas bolted up, sending Zakk tumbling. “What if Morgan-”

“Bran’s sitting right outside the doorway,” Zakk soothed. He took hold of Lucas’ upper arms and gently pressed him back into the pillows. “Everything is taken care of. Go to sleep.” 

“Zakk,” Lucas pleaded.

“Shh…” Zakk draped himself over Lucas yet again. 

It took almost half an hour, but Lucas finally fell into uneasy dreams. 

#lucas #zakk #morgan #luke #tw #p&p #anon #ask Aly

[smartguyreviewed]

1x3 - The Code

Original air date: April 2, 1997

Everyone remember the whole “No Snitching” moment from the early 2000s c/o of Dipset? I remember it being blown up when Cam’ron went on 60 Minutes to let Anderson Cooper know that he would not snitch on his serial killing neighbor next door. Sorry future murder victims, Cam’ron’s consicence lies with the streets!

This is essentially what goes on in this episode, except with no Parental Advisory sticker. The episode begins with Mo and Marcus discussing an upcoming basketball game in the bathroom. Mo begins smoking a cigarette and Marcus clearly disapproves. TJ walks in and is wide-eyed at the thought of someone purposefully doing something that would cause their body harm. When he’s older, he’ll understand. Clink, clink.

The boys leave and TJ is holding the cigarette that Mo just chucked, curious at the little cancer stick. Just as he’s about to toss it, Principal Dowling shows up to bust the culprit. TJ, not wanting to go back to the office and be forced to mingle with more Airheads extras, immediately snitches on Mo. TJ is about to leave when he reminds Dowling of the reason why he came into the men’s bathroom in the first place and she skedaddles, suddenly aware that she just barged into the men’s room and totally could have seen underage peen. 

Meanwhile, across the hall, Marcus is taking a gander at the mural being painted of the Penguins and is not okay with how small his chest looks. Yvette overhears this and walks over to Marcus, telling him that he needs to lift more because he looks like the “Black Gilligan.” 

Mo rushes over and asks about what they’re going to do to TJ since he’s snitched on him for the whole smoking thing. Marcus says he once left TJ in the woods but he located the North star and beat Marcus home. Yep, Marcus abandoned his younger brother once for...reasons. Becuase of TJ’s snitchery, Mo is out of the game. How did he know TJ was the one who gave him up, though? Does Piedmont not have trusted authority figures who can keep secrets when their students desperately need them? No, of course not. They have no IT department and no AP classes, so I guess any promise of confidentiality is out of the window as well. 

Anyhoo, Mo is blaming TJ for his misfortune although Mo shouldn’t have been smoking in the damn bathroom to begin with. He snarls at TJ and says that if he were his age he would have beat the shit out of him. Marcus then explains to TJ what the code is: no snitching. Lester, who will later sexually assault Yvette, but under the pseudonym Ramon, is hovering above TJ while clamoring about how mad he is that someone ratted on Mo. Marcus says he doesn’t know, but if Mo knows who snitched and it got around, shouldn’t he know too? Then again, he does seem a little...odd and that factoid could have gotten lost somewhere. 

He and Mo show up at the Henderson home later to warn Marcus of a planned scoreboard theft. TJ wants to be included, which I honestly have no problem with seeing as Lester is the UBS guy on steroids and would probably fuck everything up, but TJ knows he’s on the outs with the guys. Why even bother to ask? After he gets his feelings hurt, he talks to his pappy, who attempts to get him to open up, but is disappointed to learn TJ is taking this non-snitching doctrine to heart. 

At school, the boys are horrified to learn that their mural has gone from this:

To this:

And while I do commend the amount of time it took Truman to come and do this very elaborate painting, wouldn’t it have been easier to just deface the mural instead?

Dowling warns the boys to not retaliate and they agree until she walks away. Unfortunately, all three of these morons can’t come up with any good revenge plans. Enter TJ, who worms his way back in the clique by bringing up district report card day. He asks the gang, “And what does that mean?” Mo painfully replies, “a whooping?” Ha! Black childhood trauma is funny and relatable. 

TJ’s plan is to lower all of the grades of the best Truman basketball players so that they don’t qualify for the game. Because the Penguins suck so hard that they have to play against other shitty players to even the score. Hey, I guess if you can’t beat them, fight their less competent constituents. 

TJ and the gang meet up at Truman. You already know that somebody is going to fuck something up and blow their cover, but at least it’s fun to watch the mess go down. TJ has a code to open the school’s gate but revels in watching Marcus and Mo attempt to scale the fence. TJ is a petty little asshole. 

After successfully getting into the computer lab, TJ then successfully gives the correct players their terrible grades. Mission accomplished! But then Mo goes and undoes it all by writing about their plan, putting his fucking name on the paper and somehow leaving this note behind during their break-in. Dowling already knows Marcus and Mo are too dumb to have come up with such an elaborate plan. Rather than follow the “code,” they instantly snitch on TJ and give him up as the ringleader. 

Naturally, TJ is confused. How come the code wasn’t applied in this situation? He and Marcus begin saying how they didn’t have choices when their asses were on the line and did what they had to do, just like Henry Hill and Tekashi 6ix9ine. I can’t think of any other famous snitches. Floyd is there to witness the boys duke it out over the code and he gives his Lesson of the Day, that you should speak up when you know something is wrong. 

But TJ can’t just accept that he fucked up and leave it at that. Oh, no! Time to drag a few people down with him, first up being Lester who was in on the plan. Petty, but that makes sense at least because he has proximity to why they’re all there to begin with. Does TJ stop there? Nope! Next up is some kid who cheated on a geometry test. Next is a janitor! Yes, TJ very likely could have gotten some old guy fired from his job for stealing lightbulbs. And last but definitely not least, his sister, who has literally nothing to do with anything that just happened. He outs her for having a fake ID that says she’s 28, and of course, Papa Bear Floyd pounces right on that. Like I said before, TJ is a petty little asshole. This isn’t even the last time he does something shitty to Yvette.

During the end credits, we see everyone, including Yvette, who had literally nothing to do with anything, get their “sentences.” Mo is picking up cigarette butts around school. Marcus gets six weeks of grounding with extra laundry duty and rain gutter detail. TJ gets a month grounding, no snacks, and no recreational education. Yvette is grounded for a month and her fake ID is taken away. Case closed, bring out the dancing lobsters.

Stuff I noticed:

- Yvette’s 90s-does-70s outfit is insane and amazing. Kinda reminds me of Tamera’s outfit in the last episode but better.

- Mo’s dad likes to peep on his neighbor through binoculars at night. 

- TJ outs his sister by saying she has a fake ID listing her age as 28. Essence Atkins was 25 at the time of filming. Close enough!

#smart guy #tahj mowry #tj henderson #essence atkins #omar gooding #jason weaver #john marshall jones #yvette henderson #floyd henderson #mo tibbs #morris tibbs #marcus henderson

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

A Place To Call Home: Vacation

Summary: The Ackles and Padaleckis are heading to the beach for a two week long family vacation. The reader invites TJ along and is surprised to learn someone else may have beat her to the punch…

Masterlist

Pairing: Jensen x foster daughter!reader (with TJ)

Word Count: 10,300ish (whoops)

Warnings: language, little implied smut

A/N: Takes place approximately 2 years after the end of A Place To Call Home and after the reader has finished college...

“Hey guys,” asked your dad quietly, skirting back from first class squatting down in the aisle, looking at both you and TJ. “How’s it going back here?”

“Arrow stole my window seat and Zeppelin insisted TJ watch Transformers with him so...lovely,” you said, shaking your head at TJ who was sandwiched between Zepp and Shep across the aisle.

“Mom and I and the other guys really appreciate you two watching the little guys on the flights for us,” said Jensen, giving you a smile. “So much so we figure before you two go insane back here, we’d let you know that the villa we’re staying in has a separate cottage. We thought maybe you and TJ would want to maybe take that for-”

“Yup,” you said nodding your head. “This is the best flight ever. We’ll even watch ‘em on the way home, won’t we TJ?”

“Yes. A million times yes,” he said with a fast nod, your dad chuckling.

“Didn’t think you two would mind a little privacy,” he said, giving you a smile and raising an eyebrow at TJ. “Appropriate privacy.”

“Of course,” he said. You shook your head, scratching the back of it when your dad looked back to you. He rolled his eyes and smiled as he stood up.

“Alright, we’ll see you guys in a few hours,” he said. “Have fun sibling sitting.”

“Do we have all of ‘em?” asked Jared, yawning as your parents grabbed the rental cars at the airport. “How many kids are there? I forget.”

“Six small, two large,” said Gen. “So, eight total.”

“We’re graduated from college and we still fall in the kids category?” you asked, waving you to you and TJ.

“I think one of the large children is acting up again,” teased Jared.

“I put Jared and Jensen in the large children category, hun,” said Gen, giving Jared a smirk. “Still debating on TJ at the moment although he’s more mature than those two put together.”

“Come to the dark side, TJ. It’s fun here,” said Jared with a nod, watching you scowl at him.

“Yeah but Jensen…you know...” said TJ.

“Fair point,” said Jared, corralling Odette when she started to wander off. “Everyone under 6’ 5” must stay in a ten foot vicinity at all times at the airport, Ms. Odette.”

“Dad, it’s pretty outside,” she grumbled, waving her arms around. “I wanna play. Please?”

“As soon as Uncle Jensen and Aunt De get the cars, we are going to the resort and we can play,” he said. “Promise.”

“So, right now,” said your dad, handing a set of keys to Jared and one to TJ. “Small kids with your parents, luggage goes with the big kids.”

You saw Tom and JJ look at one another, Jensen rolling his eyes.

“Over twenty is a big kid today, kiddos,” he said.

“But I’m ten and Tom’s eleven,” said JJ. “Double digits.”

“It’s cool if they ride with us,” said TJ. “Really.”

“Alright, alright. Let’s just get there so we can relax for minute,” he said.

“Awesome,” you said, TJ smirking the whole time as you put your luggage into the back of the open top jeep, JJ and Tom practically bouncing out of their seats.

“Alright, buckle up and we will be there in about half an hour,” said TJ.

“You two good back there?” you asked. You got hums and a pair of thumbs up, TJ laughing as he pulled your sunglasses down over your face. “Well let’s get going. I am so driving this next time we go out by the way.”

“Might have to fight me for it,” teased TJ. It didn’t take long to get away from the airport and start to smell the ocean in the air and feel the sun on your skin. It hadn’t been hard for your dad to convince you to take this year’s big vacation to the caribbean after last year’s fiasco. It had been his choice to try camping and after one night of roughing it with three bouts of stomach bugs later, you packed up and checked into a hotel not too far down the road and spent the rest of the two weeks relaxing with a nice room to come back to at the end of the day.

Unfortunately TJ hadn’t been able to get the time off with his internship to come with you but now he was working at the firm under the guy that had ironically designed your parents house, and they were very flexible with time off.

“I’m so glad my parents said yes that you could come this year,” you said, glancing over at him as he drove, his left arm hanging on the edge of doorsill, a warm breeze in the air carrying a pretty scent through it.

“I’m glad they invited me,” he said with a smile.

“They invited you?” you asked. “I invited you.”

“Oh. I remember your dad asking me if I wanted to come like a week before you did. I was away for spring break at my parents and he called me up,” he said. “I figured you were excited and wanted to talk about it in person was all.”

“I talked to them about it after...they invited you...now I’m suspicious,” you said, peering over your shoulder at the SUV behind you your dad was driving.

“I’m sure they just wanted to know for planning rooms and stuff,” he said.

“Or he could like...be planning to murder you in foreign country,” you said.

“Seriously?” said TJ. “Your little sister and like cousin are in the car.”

“We watch lifetime movies when Y/N babysits,” said Tom.

“She’s got a point, TJ. The perfect crime,” said JJ.

“These children are going to be vandals when they grow up thanks to you,” said TJ, shaking his head with a smile. “What else does Y/N have you guys watch?”

“I let ‘em watch Supernatural sometimes,” you said, TJ’s jaw dropping. “So what if the rule was like thirteen? They can watch some stuff. Like bloody mary. Ain’t that right JJ? You loved that one.”

You spun around with a smirk, JJ shaking her head, Tom rolling his eyes.

“Or like hookman,” you said, his head dropping back. You laughed and TJ started to giggle.

“Vandals and traumatizing them. Best big sister ever there,” he teased.

“Dude, that stuff’s in the handbook,” you said, reaching back and ruffling both their heads. “They know I love ‘em. It’s our little secret.”

“What about like...the stuff that’s a little more...grown up?” asked TJ.

“No. No. That’s why you watch the show ahead of me now. I can not have another Jared and Gen season 4 couch incident,” you said, shaking yourself out. “Seeing dad was bad enough but that was full on…”

“What?” asked Tom.

“It’s an episode you’ll never see and for good reason,” you said. “You’ll thank me someday.”

“Hey, you know what? You guys are pretty lucky to have Y/N. I’m an only kid. I would have loved having a big brother or sister around. It can get pretty lonely,” said TJ.

“But now you got us!” said JJ. TJ laughed and agreed with her but you only bit your bottom lip. You didn’t realize you were still smiling when you got to the resort, your dad grinning at you when he saw your face.

“Somebody looks like they’re in love,” he said, Arrow taking off with your mom ahead of him.

“Yeah,” you said, grabbing you bag from the back, helping JJ with hers before you gave her a hug. “Pretty awesome little sis right here.”

He was quick to take a picture of you two, nudging you to hold back once everyone started heading inside.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. We were just talking in the car and TJ was talking about siblings and how the kids are lucky to have them and she made a comment like TJ’s part of our family so he’s got ‘em too. I don’t know. I’m…” you said. “Why’d you invite him on vacation?”

“It was a family vacation,” he said. “He’s part of the family.”

“Really?” you asked, your dad nodding with a smile.

“You’ve been best friends with the guy for four years, you’ve been dating for two and he comes over for dinner like six days a week. I think it’s okay if we call him part of the family at this point,” he said. You smiled, getting one in return. “I assumed you wanted him to come.”

“Oh, I did,” you said. “S’nice that you invited him is all.”

“I know. I’m also not going to murder him because yes, I watched that lifetime movie too,” he said.

“Well good cause then it’d be a whole thing to deal with..” you said, getting a chuckle from him.

“It’s why we act and make beer in this family. Whole lot easier,” he teased, tilting his head at you. “Speaking of making beer, mom says she’s creating a new position at the brewery. Full time, Monday to Friday. Someone to help with the business and design side of things, run social media. It comes with benefits, pretty kick ass salary, very flexible time off…”

“I told mom I’m taking it,” you said. “A big part of my duties will also be designing the farmhouse for the new restaurant and getting that up to code. I get to use that degree for something after all looks like.”

“You’re going to be a boss, not just a beer server anymore. You want that?” he asked. “You’ll be making decisions with all the owners.”

“It’s sort of called The Family Business so it makes sense that family runs it,” you said. “I want this.”

“Oh my...it only took you like five years to get that the plan was for the kids to run it someday,” he said with a laugh. “Whew. We were getting nervous for a minute there.”

“You guys were waiting for me to ask about a job?” you said. He shrugged, giving you a smirk.

“There’s always been a job there for you. Duh. Of course we were waiting for you to ask,” he said.

“You two are partially evil you know,” you said.

“But we’re nice evil, kiddo,” he said, giving you a hug, getting a strange look from a guy walking by. “Come on, let’s go be weird inside.”

“I don’t know if it’s possible for you to not be weird that long. You might actually combust from restraining yourself,” you said, smiling at him.

“I learned it from watching you, tall munchkin,” he said. You rolled your eyes and headed inside, handing over your bags to someone before everyone was being led off to your own private corner of the resort.

You parents and the Padaleckis thanked the people that brought your bags, you and TJ watching the kids take off to explore the villa.

“Guys, guys,” said your mom, Gen whistling before they got too far. “You three boys are sharing a room on the right. You three girls are right next door to them. Tom, JJ, us adults will be upstairs, Pads on the left, Ackles on the right. Any problems, come get any one of us, okay?”

“Where are TJ and Y/N going to sleep?” asked Arrow.

“Backyard,” said your dad. The kids scrunched up their faces, Jared nodding. “I know, sucks for them. But they’ll just be sleeping out there so during the day, those guys are still in charge too. Okay now take off you scoundrels. And no going near the pool or the beach without an adult out there.”

All six pairs of heads nodded before they were gone to their rooms and you were tugging TJ outside. You hummed as you both spotted the short path to the cottage off to the side.

“It looks beautiful,” you said, both of you wide eyed as you entered. There was a small kitchen and sitting room in the front of the house, and a huge bathroom and  bedroom with a perfect oceanfront view in the back, your bags already inside. “Wow.”

You stepped outside onto the small deck out there, looking around and seeing nothing but beach.

“This is so private. Isn’t it gorgeous?” you asked, looking back over your shoulder.

“It is,” he said, a hint of pink on his cheeks.

“Are you blushing TJ?” you teased.

“You should see how beautiful you are,” he said, smirking as he stepped out beside you. “That’s a very pretty sundress for a girl that doesn’t like dresses.”

“It’s the caribbean,” you shrugged, TJ humming as he wrapped his arms around you, resting his head on your shoulder as you both stared out. “Want to go swimming?”

“Mmm, for sure,” he said, kissing your cheek before he pulled back. You went inside, digging through your bags for your swim gear, TJ with swim trunks in hand when there was a knock at the door. “Come in.”

“Hey,” said your dad, raising an eyebrow when he walked inside to the bedroom. “Wow, this place is nice. Just wanted to let you guys know we were thinking be ready to go for dinner at six? Little formal, not too formal. You probably need a dress shirt or polo TJ, a dress or nice shirt for you, honey.”

“Sounds good. We were going to go for a quick swim,” you said.

“Alright. Be safe. I think that’s the plan for us too. Oh and try not to spend all your time tucked away in here,” he teased, glancing at you and then your open suitcase. You kicked it shut, turning and looking at a picture on the wall when you saw him realize what he’d seen.

“Isn’t that a great picture?” you said. “That’s a great-”

“It’s a box of condoms. Guess what? You’re not the only one to pack some,” he said. You closed your eyes and shook your head, a loud laughing echoing from him. “Well I know where to come if I run out.”

“Sorry, I think...nope I definitely hear mom calling me right now,” you said, grabbing your phone. “I should totally take this and get away from here asap.”

“Oh so you don’t want to hear that you guys can order whatever you want for room service from here? Like we're paying for everything?” he teased.

“...Continue,” you said.

“Don’t blow our retirement fund but you guys want some wine, late night dinner, go for it. You’re both responsible,” he said. “Okay? Have fun on your swim guys.”

“Alright,” you said, your dad pausing on his way out, turning to TJ before he shook his head, biting back his comment.

“I need a beer,” he sighed. “Six sharp for dinner you two.”

“Gotcha,” you said, groaning when he left. “Oh my god. Never answer the door again.”

“I’m okay with that,” he said, peeling off of his short sleeve henley and shorts, shimmying out of his boxer briefs as he started to pull on his swim trunks.

“Remember the first time we were naked in front of each other?” you asked, leaning against the wall as he pulled up the shorts.

“Yes. I remember a whole lot of avoided eye contact and awkwardness and then I actually looked at you and thought, fuck she is smokin’ hot and beautiful? How’d I land this girl?” he said, walking over, peeling the straps off your dress until it slid off your body.

“You were always hot...then you got all muscly,” you said, patting his arm with a smirk as you grabbed your bikini and started to change.

“Well you do have a thing for big arms apparently,” he teased.

“True. I got a thing for sweet boys too,” you said, spinning around and showing your back to him. “Tie me up?”

“Y/N, you scoundrel,” he fake scoffed as you smacked his chest. He tied the strings together across your back and behind your neck, brushing your hair behind your ear when you spun around. “I love you, dork.”

“I love you, dork,” you said, giving him a peck on the nose.

“No nightmares last night?” he asked. You shook your head, TJ smiling wide. “S’been awhile since you had one. Must be a new record.”

“It is,” you said, resting your head on his chest. “Been feeling pretty good since that meltdown at finals week. I feel...safe.”

“I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you,” he said. You giggled and looked up at him. “S’why I got big and strong you know.”

You raised an eyebrow, TJ shrugging.

“Seriously? I thought you were trying to impress my dad or something which you totally don’t have to. He loves you,” you said.

“I like knowing I make you feel safe,” he said. “I like knowing I can keep you safe if I have to and are you blushing Y/N Ackles?”

“Shut up,” you laughed, grabbing his hand. “Come on, let’s go check out that pool.”

“Honey?” asked your mom from her chair by the pool, TJ showing Zepp how to flip into the water along with your dad at the other end. “Did TJ start working out more recently?”

“Your boyfriend’s like hot, Y/N,” said Gen, your mom whacking her arm. “What? He is! I remember him being smaller.”

“He joined crossfit about six months ago,” you said. “I tease him about being a jock now.”

“I guess we’ll have to see if JJ follows in tradition of choosing a man that goes smaller to strong,” joked Gen. “Always sweet though.”

“She probably will,” said your mom. “I think we got a few more years before boys come into the picture. Let ‘em enjoy being kids.”

Gen hummed and stood up with a stretch.

“True. So glad I got a while before Odette’s dealing with that. It’s getting late. We better get ready,” she said.

“Why don’t you wear that white dress with the little bowtie front?” asked your mom as she stood up. “That’s plenty pretty for the restaurant. I think TJ will like it.”

“He likes everything I wear,” you said. “Like everything.”

“They normally do,” she said. “We’ll meet you out front, okay?”

“Okay. We’ll be there.”

You gave TJ a smile at the table, looking him up and down in his white dress shirt and khaki shorts. You were vaguely listening to the conversation your parents were having, the kids seemingly passed out for the most part after the day of travel.

“I don’t think they’re listening to us,” you heard, your head whipping around, TJ’s doing the same. You saw four pairs of smiles as they were standing up. “We’re going to head back to the house guys.”

“Alright,” you said, some of the kids getting treated to rides back on the walk, Arrow walking over to TJ with a smile.

“You want a ride, pipsqueak?” he asked, bending down and scooping her up. “Did you like dinner?”

“Yeah,” she yawned. “You smell good.”

“It’s cologne,” he said.

“Daddy wears that sometimes,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder as you took his other hand and started the walk back. “TJ?”

“Mhm?”

“Can we build a sandcastle tomorrow?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said. She nodded and started to snore after a minute, TJ chuckling quietly.

“It seems you have a way with the Ackles women,” you said.

“Oh yes. You all fall asleep on me,” he said. “It was a long day for a seven year old.”

“Thanks for carrying her,” you said.

“S’no problem.”

“Thanks guys,” said your dad after you dropped off Arrow in her room. “We were going to have a drink by the pool if you want to join us.”

“Sure,” you said when TJ nodded. “I want to put on something warmer first.”

“No rush,” he said.

The second you sat down on the bed to take off your sandals though, you groaned, TJ doing the same.

“Sleep?” you asked.

“Sleep,” he said.

You grabbed your phone and texted your dad, tucking yourself into TJ’s side before he could even respond.

“Morning,” hummed TJ when you stirred awake. You stretched out, sighing into the sheets. “This bed is amazing.”

“I know,” you said, rolling over to catch the clock. “It’s already ten. We should probably get up.”

“Tomorrow we should get breakfast in bed,” he said.

“I like that plan,” you said. “Let’s go grab something from the resort and then we can head down to the beach.”

“Alright, alright,” said your dad, bending over and putting his hands on his knees. “Dad needs a break.”

“What are you, old, Ackles?” teased Jared, kicking around the soccer ball more with you and JJ.

“Yes and I’m not twisting my ankle two days into this thing,” he said with a huff. “Beer break.”

“I’ll take one of those,” you said.

“Beer, beer, lemonade,” said Jared, pointing at JJ, getting a nod. “Hey, Gen, De! What do you guys want for drinks?”

“We’re a delivery service now?” said your dad.

“Can I get a mojito?” asked your mom.

“I’ll have one too!” said Gen, Odette asking for grape juice.

“Let’s go find a waiter,” asked your dad. You headed more towards the resort area and eventually found one, getting everyone’s orders in as they said they’d send them over for you. You and your dad took a break at the resort bar in the air conditioning, glad to be out of the sun for a minute.

“JJ’s getting good at her dribbling, better than me now,” you said.

“I know. I could handle when you were better but the ten year old kicking my ass makes me question the old man comments,” he said.

“You’re barely 46, dad,” you said.

“Hot 46,” said a pair of women that walked past, giving him a wave.

“I think I threw up in my mouth a little,” you said.

“Hey, I’m hot 46,” he said with a smirk, puffing his chest out.

“You’re something alright,” you said, laughing when the fruitiest and brightest pink drink you’d ever seen was sat down in front of your dad.

“Courtesy Mr. Hanover,” said a waiter appearing from nowhere, a double of whiskey set down in front of you. The waiter questioned himself but you took the whiskey, smiling at your dad as the waiter left.

“Careful. I think TJ might like you,” you teased.

“Hey, mine came with a little umbrella,” he said, plucking it out and sticking it in your hair. “You guys crashed before us last night.”

“We were tired. Mom mentioned bonfire tonight?” you asked.

“Mhm,” he hummed, sucking on the straw until you saw half of it gone in ten seconds. You grabbed it away and asked for some water for him. “Hey, I’m thirsty.”

“What are you? Freshman on her first spring break? That thing has so much alcohol in it,” you said.

“Tastes like kool aid to me,” he said, taking a sip of the water, reaching for his drink again when you pulled it away.

“Do I have to have the talk with you?” you asked. “Pace yourself?”

“To use your words from that conversation, I won’t let the boys take advantage of me,” he deadpanned, cocking his head as wiped the sweat off your face. “So how’s Mr. TJ enjoying himself?”

“He’s good. I think he’s a little awestruck. He forgets we…” you shrugged.

“Have money? Well that’s because we don’t give you guys everything you want,” he said. “And you hate shopping thank god.”

“You gave me what I wanted,” you said, taking a sip of the pink drink, catching the soft smile on his face.

“We could live in a cardboard box and you’d be happy kiddo. You got different wants than most well off twenty somethings,” he said.

“I know,” you said, swinging your feet off the end of the bar stool, one of your flip flops falling off.

“Proud of you,” he said with a smile.

“What’d I do?”

“Just proud of you is all,” he said with a shrug. “You’re getting all grown up.”

“Yeah. Still feel like JJ’s older than me sometimes,” you said, his head cocking. “She doesn’t hesitate. She goes for stuff and I still overthink things so much.”

“Well...first off she’s ten so her problems consist of who sat next to who at lunch and the fact she can’t braid her hair,” he said. “You had slightly different priorities at ten. You missed that phase.”

“I can’t even braid my own hair good,” you mumbled.

“Y/N,” he grumbled.

“I know,” you said.

“Honey. Why do you think we go on big family vacations? We want you to get to have those chances to be a kid. We’re all just big kids. Case and point, you know what we get up to when the little kids aren’t around and someday they’ll get in on the secret too,” he said.

“Just feels funny sometimes,” you said. “I feel like a fake grown up, you know?”

“Yup. One hundred percent yup,” he said, taking his pink drink back. “Fake it til you make it.”

“Okay, I think we get you back to the beach before I have to divulge this new beverage of choice information to Uncle Jared,” you said.

“I will disown you,” he said

“No you won’t,” you said with a smirk, grabbing the drink and chugging the rest of it down.

“Got me there,” he said. “This time, you’re on my team.”

“Hey, Y/N?” asked JJ while you walked up to the house from the fire you were having on the beach that night.

“Mhm,” you hummed, holding open the door for her before she took off to the bathroom. You headed to the kitchen and started to grab some snacks and drinks to bring back down. You were nearly packed up when she came back.

“Can I ask a question about being brave?” she asked. You spun around, giving her a smile.

“Being brave? Isn’t that more dad’s department?” you teased. “Yeah, shoot. Everything okay?”

“Um...well...I didn’t want to come up to the house by myself,” she said. You tilted your head as you headed out the backdoor, JJ a little close as you walked across the deck area. “I don’t like the dark.”

“I don’t like the dark either,” you said. “But I do like nighttime.”

“Isn’t that kind of funny?” she asked.

“A little,” you said, slowing your walk back, stopping when you were halfway between the house and the beach, taking a seat on the step. She sat next to you, lifting her head up when you looked up. “S’quiet at night. Peaceful.”

“Stars are pretty,” she said.

“Yeah, they are,” you said, buming her shoulder. “You know, it’s okay to be scared of the dark, especially places you don’t know. This place is safe though. You don’t have to be scared here.”

“I know. I keep waiting to get older so I’m not scared of stuff, like how mom and dad let you do stuff by yourself and you don’t have to ask permission to sleepover TJ’s,” she said.

“I’m a lot older, JJ,” you said. “It’s part of growing up...and part of that is learning you don’t ever stop being completely scared of stuff. You learn more though so it doesn’t seem so bad.”

“Yeah but how are you brave?” she asked.

“Only time you can be brave is when you’re afraid,” you said. “It’s like how dad used to be afraid of public speaking.”

“No he didn’t,” she scoffed.

“Yeah, he did. But he did it, even though he was scared, and now he has so much fun at conventions. Sometimes it’s just something that takes time, like not being afraid of the dark,” you said, looking around. “Like how it’s pretty dark right now but you don’t seem scared.”

“I guess...I’m not,” she said, looking around, giving you a smile when she turned back.

“See? Nighttime ain’t so bad,” you said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty,” she said with a nod, staring at you, that same look she’d been giving you more and more lately.

“JJ, if you want to ask a question, go ahead,” you said softly.

“If something ever happened to mom and dad...would me and Ro and Zepp go to a foster home like you did?” she asked. You smiled and shook your head, glancing down at the beach.

“No. No. Mom and dad...they have it all squared away so grandma and grandpa would take care of you guys and I would be a guardian along with them,” you said.

“A guardian?” she asked.

“Yeah. It means I’m an adult, not your parent, but I’ll take care of you like a parent would. Before I was adopted, mom and dad were like guardians for me,” you said. “You’d stay at home, same school, all that.”

“You’d take care of us?” she asked.

“I’m your big sister. I’d do anything for you guys,” you said, giving her a hug.

“Why’d your mom and dad not do that for you so you didn’t have to go to foster care?” she asked.

“I didn’t have much for blood relatives. My parents were only kids and my other grandparents were all gone before I was born. But they had a plan, some of their friends said sure if something ever happened to them they would take care of me,” you said.

“They lied?”

“No, I don’t think they lied,” you said, leaning back against the step behind you, propping your elbows up. “They just...weren’t prepared to take care of a kid.”

“So you went to a foster home?” she asked.

“After I got out of the hospital, yeah,” you said with a nod.

“Was it scary?” she asked quietly. “The car crash?”

“I don’t really remember a lot from that night. I hit my head in the accident so stuff is fuzzy. But I remember glimpses from inside the car and yeah, it was scary. It was really scary,” you said.

“Who took care of you?” she asked.

“There was this police officer. Dougie. He was probably Uncle Jared’s age. Big strong guy but super friendly. I crawled out of the car around the time he got there. It was pitch black and raining and I was crying and everything hurt...and he just picked me up, sat me down in the backseat of his car with him and he was just quiet. He put a blanket around me and sat there and held my hand and he never left my side until we got to the hospital and the doctor’s had to look at me. He even came to visit me the next day,” you said. “Other people were there and stitched me up but Dougie took care of me that night. I can remember Dougie.”

“What happened when you got better?” she asked.

“Well I met with some people when I was in the hospital, including Cole,” you said. “They went over some stuff with me. Cole went out of his way to help with all my parents stuff and arrangements and all that. A week after the accident, he took me to my first foster home. There were about eight other kids there,” you said. “I had to share a room with three other girls. All I wanted to do was cry so that’s what I did.”

“But then you got happier?”

“No,” you said, shaking your head. “I didn’t get happier until I came to our house. I didn’t want to admit it but that first day, I knew mom and dad were different and they were good, all you guys were.”

“I remember when I got in trouble that time, when I told you to go away around Christmas?” she said. “Dad said you had mean mom and dads before.”

“You know he wasn’t talking about no hugs and kisses, now, huh,” you said. She nodded, looking over at you. “Someday I’ll tell you more but you’re too young right now for that.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” she said. “Promise.”

“No, kiddo. I get that. I want you to-”

“Mom and dad are good so I’m not afraid,” she said, blinking at you a few times. “Just a little. Please?”

“...I used to be very afraid of touch, from guys, like dad. My first birthday party, when I’d been here a week, he held my hand to try and walk with me to the kitchen and I ripped right out of it because I was afraid...because that’s what I learned in foster care. Not all of them were like that and I do not want you to have the wrong impression. It helps a lot of kids. It helped me with finding mom and dad. But some places are bad and someday you can learn why I ended up in those ones but-”

“If you were in bad ones, why’d you come to us?” she asked.

“Because Cole helped me and when they tried to make me leave, stuff happened and I got to stay home,” you said.

“You were afraid of dad?”

“That was a long, long time ago,” you said, smiling as you heard a whistle from the beach. “But he was slow and gentle when I’d forgotten that’s how you’re supposed to be treated. We have really amazing parents, JJ. Even you helped me way back then.”

“Me? What’d I do?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Just know I love you, squirt,” you said, giving the top of her head a kiss. “You want a piggyback ride?”

She hopped on your back and you nearly stumbled forward, picking up the basket and carrying it down to the beach with a grunt.

“I forgot how heavy she is now,” you breathed out when she climbed off and took a seat. You handed out the drinks, your mom grabbing you when you walked past.

“Everything okay?” she whispered.

“Mhm. Just a little bonding time,” you said. “We’re all good.”

“Never have I ever?” asked Jared, your mom shaking her head. “Oh, they know you guys get up to stuff. We all heard about the couch make out session. Oh, I got it...first time you snuck out and got caught.”

You’d heard both your parents stories before as they told them, Gen patting herself on the shoulder for technically only getting caught by the family dog.

“What about the youngin’s? TJ?” asked Jared.

“Oh come on. It’s TJ. He probably never even snuck out,” said your dad.

“Junior year of high school. Went to the end of year party. Asked out Hallie Knicks. I got completely rejected but I did manage to get drunk and walk home straight through the front door. My parents thought I was playing a prank on ‘em,” said TJ.

“Wait you snuck out, came home drunk, admitted it yourself and got off scot free?” asked Jared.

“Yup,” said TJ.

“Shit. I want your parents,” said Jared. TJ chuckled, everyone turning to you, your parents wearing big smirks. “Out with it, kiddo. When’d you ditch these dorks?”

“No, the game is first time you snuck out and got caught,” said your dad, raising an eyebrow. “Which we never did…”

“I never snuck out at their house,” you said with a shrug. “First time I was ten.”

“Ten? Whoa, don’t be telling JJ that,” said your dad.

“What’d you do? Go to a friends house?” asked Jared.

“Tried to runaway. Didn’t get far. Cop brought me back twenty minutes later,” you said, digging your feet into the sand, letting it fall through your toes. “Not a good night.”

You glanced up, the conversation dying out, your dad squeezing his beer bottle as he narrowed his eyes at the fire.

“Hey mom? How’d you fall in love with dad?” you asked.

“Jensen stole her from the mental ward,” teased Jared.

“At least mine’s not a demon,” he said.

“Demons have more fun,” said Gen.

“Yeah, yeah,” said your dad, your mom rolling he eyes with a smile. “So dad and I got a job on the same movie…”

“Wha?” you mumbled, lifting your head off TJ’s shoulder.

“Come here,” he said quietly, lifting you out of the beach chair, your arms going around the back of his neck. The fire was still going, your dad and Jared sitting there, laughing about something. “Let’s put you to bed.”

“Night, Jared,” you mumbled.

“Night, Y/N.”

“Night, dad,” you breathed into TJ’s neck, half asleep already. “Breakfast.”

“I remember. Breakfast in bed tomorrow,” said TJ. “Let’s get you put away, sweetie.”

He carried you all the way back to the cottage, helping you wash off the sand from your feet before he plucked off your clothes, threw one of his tees on you and threw the covers over you.

“You’re not coming to bed?” you said when he headed back for the door.

“In a little while. I was going to stay up a little more if that’s okay,” he said.

“Mhm. Love you.”

“Love you too, Y/N.”

The next two weeks flew by and you were seriously considering begging that you come back the next year.

“Sucks that we have to fly home tomorrow,” you said, moving slowly to some sweet music after dinner, TJ a far better dancer than he gave himself credit for.

“Yeah,” he said. “This has been nice. More than nice.”

“Want to cross something off the bucket list tonight?” you asked.

“Last time you said that, I was swimming in the ocean butt naked in the middle of the night when a piece of seaweed about gave me a heart attack,” he teased.

“Ah but we have the memory of you squealing like a little girl forever now,” you said, biting your bottom lip to hide your smile.

“What do you got in mind troublemaker?”

“Firewalking? Are you insane?” asked TJ.

“You’ve met my family so it’s quite possible,” you said, pulling him over with you. “It’ll be fun.”

“You are insane, woman,” he said, waving you to go first. You stepped up and put down your foot, feeling the heat but you walked across normally and hopped off into the sand, TJ blinking slowly at you.

“Your turn babe,” you said with a wink.

“Okay, okay, okay,” said TJ, walking a little faster, a bit more of a wince on his face but he made it through, a big huff of air escaping him. “The things you do for love.”

“Loser.”

“Loser,” he said, throwing his arm over your shoulders. “I had a dance to finish with you if I recall correctly.”

“Mind if I cut in?” you heard from behind you an hour later, TJ smiling as he stepped away and headed for your mom across the way. “Having fun tonight?”

“Yes, dad,” you said, moving a bit slower with him. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“I haven’t had a nightmare in over two months,” you said, a big smile on his face. “Well...one of those ones. I keep having this weird cat one though...”

“We’ll take it,” he said, spinning you around. “I’m glad to hear it. You seem happy lately.”

“After that epic meltdown I had finals week a few months ago, I tried to think about what you said and...I’m happy. Maybe not everyday and I know I’m just in this nice sweet spot right now but I’m not so scared of the rest of my life I guess. I got a pretty good one, you know?” you said.

“Yeah. Nice to hear you say it though,” he said as he moved around. “Mom’s already making plans to come back.”

“Oh we are so coming back,” you said.

“Figured you wouldn’t have a problem with that,” he said, looking across the way. “Think TJ will want to come with?”

“Yeah,” you said. “He seems less nervous around you. You guys talk or something?”

“Just guy stuff,” he said. He looked up at the dark sky above you, humming to himself. “I told mom I’m taking the rest of the year off.”

“Really? You’ve been busy since the show ended,” you said.

“I did 15 seasons of the show and then been busy with movies...I think I deserve a little time off,” he said with a smile. “Maybe mom and I’ll take a little time just for us if you wouldn’t mind watching the kids for a little while?”

“Never,” you said.

“Thanks, kiddo,” he said, kissing the top of your head before he broke off. “Go dance with your boyfriend. This is one of those moments you remember when you’re my age.”

“You’re not old dad,” you said.

“Yes! She finally said it!” he said with a fist pump.

“TJ? There’s a senile old man over here I need to get away from,” you said.

“I’ll take him,” said your mom, skirting over to your dad.

“Of course you will,” you said, grabbing TJ’s hand. “Want to head back to the cottage?’

“Yes please.”

“Alright,” said your dad, plopping down on the couch back in Austin the next night. “Kids are finally down.”

“TJ, where’s your sweatshirt?” you asked, rubbing your arms in the ice cold house. “Someone left the AC on.”

“I left it on the couch,” he said, munching on some pizza from the kitchen. The flight home had been long and it was late, everyone in bed and you were secretly just waiting for TJ to get his butt in bed so you could go to sleep too.

You grabbed the sweatshirt and tossed it on, shoving your hands in the pockets to get warm. You felt something odd though and pulled it out, holding up the square object for a few seconds before it clicked what it was.

You spun wide eyed towards the kitchen but TJ was already in front of you, snatching it out of your hands.

“Is that…” you said, swallowing as you looked up at him. He smiled and nodded, starting to bend down when you jumped up and threw your arms around him.

“Not even gonna let me ask, huh?” he teased.

“Sorry,” you said, peeling away for a moment as he got down.

“So...I was totally going to do this down there…” he said, glancing at your sweatshirt. “But I forgot my sweatshirt here.”

“You dork,” you said, smiling hard.

“Your dork for as long as you’ll have me. Would you marry me?” he asked.

“Yes,” you said, TJ standing up and opening the box, slipping on the ring. “Did that really just happen?”

“I think so,” he said. You gave him a big kiss, his hands cupping your cheeks before you were laughing too hard and had to pull back. “Hey now, no take backs.”

“No. Never,” you said, grabbing his hands. “Never.”

“Good,” he said, kissing you again. “Love you.”

“Love you,” you said, biting your bottom lip, getting another hug before you realized your dad was poking his head around the stairs to the TV room, whipping it back around when he saw you. “You can stop hiding dad.”

“Just giving you two your moment,” he said, giving you a smile when he came back in. He smiled and nodded at you both, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll uh...well I’ll see you two in the morning, hm?”

He hummed as he walked past, his smile turning to a smirk as he glanced around the corner back at you.

“He knew, didn’t he,” you said, looking to TJ.

“I asked,” said TJ. “He’s known about two weeks.”

“I’m going to guess it was a yes?” you asked.

“Well-” started TJ, your dad shaking his head. “Just guy stuff really.”

“Yup. Night, kids. We’ll go out to breakfast or something,” said your dad, looking you up and down and then at TJ. “I think you’re in good hands now.”

“Yeah. I am,” you said, grinning back at TJ. “Night dad.”

“Night kiddo.”

Jensen’s POV

“The kids finally going to bed?” asked De when I walked in our room. I hummed and sat on the edge of the mattress, crawling under the covers and hitting off the light. She rolled over and pulled my arm around her shoulders, nuzzling into my right side. She was warm and soft and there was still that little flutter there. “Jensen?”

“Yeah. Everyone’s heading to bed,” I said, giving her a light squeeze. “I love you.”

“I love you, hun,” she said, nestling her head on the pillow, taking a few deep breaths. “He finally did it, didn’t he. You got that look.”

“Yup. We got a son-in-law on the way,” I said, smiling at her.

“What was her reaction? You see it?” she asked.

“I think some of that weight she carries just went away for good. Not all of it but...she was happy. She’s happy,” I said, closing my eyes. “She’s happy.”

“You can cry, Jens,” she said gently.

“I’m happy too,” I said.

“Not every day your oldest girl gets engaged,” she said. “To one of the arguably sweetest men on Earth.”

“He’ll take care of her,” I said. “He already takes care of her.”

“We did good. You did good,” she said. “Set an example of what she deserves.”

“I guess we did, huh? Not too bad for two people who had no idea what they were doing,” I said.

“Eh, we figured it out eventually,” she said. “Let’s sleep. I have to wake up early and make some celebration cupcakes or something now before breakfast burritos.”

“You excited? You got a wedding to plan,” I said.

“Yeah,” she said. “Just wish we got her sooner.”

“You always say that,” I said.

“Still true,” she yawned. “Night. Wake me up if any other life changing developments happen.”

“Eh...maybe,” I teased, earning a playful whack on the chest. “You know I do that on purpose right?”

“Tease me? No. I haven’t figure it out yet,” she deadpanned, leaning up for a moment.

“Night, De,” I said, pecking her lips. She smiled and slid back into bed. Her breath evened out quickly and I started to drift, running over the conversation that’d been playing over and over for weeks now.

“Hey,” I said when TJ came back down to the beach after carrying Y/N to the cottage. “Someone forget a phone?”

“No, wanted to stay and hang out a while longer if that’s cool,” he said. I hummed, Jared looking back and forth between us.

“I’ll uh, give you guys some privacy,” said Jared, patting my shoulder. I almost stopped him but he smirked. “I got some of my own fun to be had.”

“Don’t whine too much for Gen,” I shot back, Jared giving a light punch to my arm as he stood up. TJ stood up and took a seat closer, grabbing another beer and cracking it open, drinking down about half of it before he peeled his eyes away from the fire. “Something wrong?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No. I’ve been having this conversation in my head for...a year and I still don’t know how to start.”

Oh.

Oh.

He…

“You want to marry her, don’t you?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, nodding and giving me a smile. “Yeah, I do. I really fucking do.”

“Well...get to the asking permission part. Worst that could happen is I say no,” I said. He looked like he forgot how to blink.

“If you say no?” he asked.

“Why don’t you ask and find out?” I said. I knew I sounded like an ass but this was important. I knew he didn’t want to screw it up but-

“I’m not asking permission to marry, Y/N, Jensen,” he said. I raised an eyebrow, leaning forward in my seat.

“Well what are you asking?” I said, tilting my head at him.

“Am I good enough for her?” he asked. I scrunched up my face, closing my eyes before I held up a hand. “Am I? I know she can do better but do you think I’m good enough? She would say yes to me?”

“TJ,” I said, sitting back in my seat, running my hand over my mouth. “You know her. I mean really know her. You have her trust and unconditional love. She doesn’t give those out to just anybody. She doesn’t tell just anyone about everything she’s been through. You’re in a very elite club.”

“I don’t...I am asking you, her dad, on this but am I a good enough man for her?” he asked. “Please. Yes or no. That’s all I want.”

“I don’t think you’re good enough,” I said, his gaze dropping to the sand. “I think you’re better. You’re pretty close to perfect for her, probably the most perfect for her if it exists.”

He lifted his eyes up, a little wide, a little hesitant but he quickly gave a short nod.

“TJ...I know I mess with you sometimes. It’s one of the joys of being a father to girls. But...if you wanted to marry Y/N, I’d be pretty happy with that,” I said.

“Okay,” he said quietly, leaning back in his chair. “Okay.”

“Okay,” I said, taking a sip of my beer. “I guess that just happened.”

He let out a quiet laugh, glancing over almost shy like now.

“What?” I asked.

“You know you set a pretty high standard,” he said. “When it comes to Y/N.”

“Ready to keep it up the rest of her life?” I asked.

“If she let’s me,” he said, sitting back in his chair.

“You’re gonna get the hang of this real easy,” I said with a chuckle.

“Jensen,” he said.

“Yeah, kid?”

“Is it normal to fall in love fast?” he asked.

“How fast?”

“Second week of freshman year,” he said. “She wore this yellow tank top and faded shorts and her hair was in this pretty side braid and she was going on about making a study group for Biology and I just thought, fuck me. I love this girl. What the hell are you doing, TJ?”

“Still feel that way?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” he said.

“It don’t go away either,” I said. He smiled and nodded, looking up at the stars for a few minutes. “Ask all your burning questions. Secrets safe with me.”

“Why’d you adopt her?” he asked.

“Cause we loved her,” I said.

“Yeah but...I don’t know,” he said.

“A piece of paper doesn’t make someone family,” I said. “I think you know that.”

“Then why?” he asked.

“A couple reasons. It makes things easier legal wise. It helps for medical reasons, if De and I were ever in an accident, if Y/N was, stuff like that. But we knew what it meant to her and to us,” I said.

“What’s it mean to you? I know her side,” he said.

“She told me for her it meant she couldn’t be thrown away. For me, it meant she couldn’t be taken away,” I said.

“I don’t follow,” said TJ.

“Say you had a kid, a daughter. Best day ever, right? She comes home and you spend the next seven months or so watching her grow, loving her, being a dad to her. That’s your baby girl. You’d do anything for her. I know you know what I mean because of Y/N but kids...kids are even more special. So you got this girl you’d give the world for and she loves you even if she can’t quite say it yet. But she does and you know she does. How do you think you would you feel if someone came to your front door and said they were taking away your baby girl and there was nothing you could do to stop it?”

“I’d say that’s my kid and I’m calling the cops,” he said.

“What if a cop was one of the people there to take her?” I said.

“But it’s my kid and I didn’t do anything wrong. Isn’t that kidnapping?” he asked.

“Felt like it. I never felt more helpless in my life than the day we almost lost her. I was pissed. More than pissed. But technically, they could take her and I had no right to make her stay,” I said.

“That was the stuff with the chick at the office,” he said.

“I hope you never have to know what that feels like, TJ. For a split second, it was even worse because for one little second-“

“She thought you asked them to take her back. I know. She feels guilty about thinking that sometimes,” he said. I gave him a long look, shaking my head when he shrugged. “You know how she is.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“So you adopted her so no one could take her away again?” he asked.

“It shouldn’t have been on her to be the smart one and figure out what had been going on. I got lucky she’s smart and the fact she was ready to get some closure on the accident. If she hadn’t saved her own ass, we wouldn’t be talking right now,” I said.

“Maybe it wasn’t. But she’s not a damsel in distress either,” said TJ.

“No. She’s certainly not one of those,” I said with a smirk. “Still though. I’m her dad. It doesn’t matter how old you get. Your parents still want to protect you.”

“I get that. I get the whole adopting so she’s yours thing too. But I just feel like, say Y/N didn’t know that stuff and she did get taken away...I have a feeling you still would have wound up as her dad,” he said.

“I guess I’m not following now,” I said.

“You’re joking, right?” he asked.

“Nope,” I said.

“Alright. Say your kid gets taken away and you can’t do anything about it. Say you wait until that kid turns eighteen and becomes an adult, you know, has more rights about who they want to speak to and hang out with. You’re telling me that you, super dad over here, wouldn’t try to get in touch with her again?”

“I think I would have fought for her to stay. But even if I lost, doesn’t mean I’m not her dad,” I said. “All that matters is what she thinks and she wanted me so she’s got me. Again, I don’t need a piece of paper to tell me that. All it did was make things a little easier for me. For her, it eased some worries so she can have it.”

“I know there’s this big packet in her closet in this duffel bag she keeps in there. Only thing in it. You gave that to her on her adoption day. Adopting her means more to you than you’re saying,” he said.

“TJ. I love her to death. She’s my daughter and you’re gonna be my son in law so I know you love her to death too. What are you trying to get at?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Just...I guess I wanted to hear that you adopted her not just for her but for you too,” he said.

“Why is that important to you?” I asked.

“Isn’t the point of having kids because you want them? Isn’t that like the selfish part of it?”

“TJ. If we had wanted another kid, there was a far easier and cheaper way to go about it. Being a foster parent and adopting her? Yeah, that’s one of the most selfish things I’ve ever done. I did it for her but I did it for me and our family too,” I said.

“Good,” he said, taking a drink.

“Oh, well glad I got your permission on it,” I laughed. “I got a question for you, Mr. TJ. You gonna take a year to ask her?”

“Shut up,” he said, biting down a smile. “No. I wanted to ask her while we were here. Packed the ring up in my sweatshirt and had it all ready to go cause I was going to put that in my carry on, not risk losing that. Guess who remembered he left his sweatshirt on the back of the couch at your place when we were on the runway?” he said.

“Wow. I bet you had it all planned out, super romantic down here,” I said.

“Yup,” he said, shaking his head. “So there goes that plan.”

“Word of advice. If she loves you, I mean really loves you, it doesn’t really matter how you do it. Try to put in a little effort you know but this is Y/N we’re talking about,” I said.

“I want it to be special. She deserves that,” he said.

“It will be, no matter how it happens. TJ. Since we’re having a moment and all that, can I ask why you went after a girl like Y/N?” I asked.

“She’s my best friend,” he said.

“I mean once you knew about stuff, why didn’t you ever treat her differently?” I asked.

“Because it didn’t matter, it doesn’t,” he said.

“You’re gonna do just fine,” I said, giving him a smile.

“Fine?”

“She asks stuff like that sometimes. Normally at three in the morning but just to be aware,” I said.

“I know. When she stays over-“

“Don’t need to know,” I said.

“Sometimes we talk or just sit in bed and don’t say anything,” he said.

“Good. PG rated cuddling is awesome,” I said with a nod. “Anything else?”

“No. Just can’t wait to ask her,” said TJ. “You tip her off though and you’re dead to me.”

“Hurt her and they’ll never find your body,” I said with a smile.

“That goes for you too,” you said.

“I can agree to that,” I said as I stood up, giving him a smile. “Grab that cooler for me when you head up.”

“I ought to head to bed actually. I got a date in the morning,” he said.

“Well enjoy it,” I said, patting him on the back when he got up. “Night, kiddo.”

“Jensen?” he asked. I hummed, TJ looking down for a moment. “Thanks. For you know...I’ll be good to her, if she lets me.”

“You already are,” I said, giving you a smile. “Goodnight, TJ.”

“We did good,” I said, closing my eyes, rolling over to face Danneel. “We did real good.”

A/N: Check out The Video & The House timestamp here!

#spn #supernatural #jensen x daughter!reader #rpf #au #spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #series #foster daughter!reader #timestamp

[thequeenoffools]

If I said parenting would be easy-  I lied (and I’m not sorry)

CHAPTER 1 (posted 3/3/20)

PG

There are a million things you worry about as a parent. Especially a parent to a young child. Especially a young mutant child.

Sure there are normal things like.. “what if they get hurt”, “What if they get sick” etc etc. Then there’s abnormal shit like “what if they get abducted by a government program”.

As a mutant- it happens more than you’d think it does. On that topic- you can trust me. I’ve had more than enough personal experience.

Thing is- I don’t want to see that happen as a parent. No parent of a mutant does. Especially if that parent spends their life working for ‘the cause’ and ‘saving the world’. Codewords for putting on spandex, fighting the military/police/government, and other people in spandex.

It’s a pretty cool gig. Let’s you meet all kinds of people. Then... well... shit settles down. Shit settles and you start worrying about munchkins. Which on its own is scary as hell.

Parenting? It’s terrifying. See everything’s good when you’re getting married. She loves you-you love her. It’s good. It’s great.

...Until around year two of marriage. That’s when the ‘b’ word comes up.

Maybe she talked to her friends. Maybe she saw a diaper commercial. Who the fuck knows?

Any way you slice it- the idea is now in her head.

And when the ‘baby’ idea gets in a woman’s head? Fuck is she determined. So, she waits. And waits. And waits.

And then she pounces.

“Darling... Kurt and Wanda are having a baby.” She says, looking all sexy- in her underwear at that. That’s entrapment right there.

But that’s old news. Kurt’s my best friend. I’ve known he and Wanda were trying for about a year now. We were all overjoyed when he announced that they conceived.

“Wouldn’t it be lovely if little Tj had a friend to play with?” Yup. That’s how it went.

The “Tj needed a friend’ excuse held up well with Mrs. Wagner. Who in turn told her husband to convince me.

He talked to me- which was really us sitting around with a beer in mostly silence.

Fun night.

She waited until after I ‘talked’ with him. Asked if I changed my mind.

Nope. Told her I shouldn’t be reproducing.

She did some stuff that night that kinda... swayed me. And then... then came the alcohol.

I was drinking- she was drinking- I got sentimental. Drunk Logan thought a baby was a great idea! Drunk Itsu did not help him come to reason. So, the pair of drunks went at it.

Cue the next morning. She’s hungover. I’m fine. We talk it out in greater detail. Then- Kurt and Wanda start doing baby things.

Itsu is so excited. She helps with the nursery, she helps to buy the clothes, she plans the baby shower.

She wants a baby, so, so, so badly.

Thing is- I saw how happy my friends were. I saw how much want she had for a little boy or girl for us to raise. I still had my reservations... but ya know the saying ‘happy wife happy life’?

Itsu really, really, really wanted a baby. For months she told me she wanted a baby. It’s not like we didn’t have the cash. Being a superhero is slightly lucrative. Plus, as a teacher- even if she just works at the institute- she makes a good little bit of coin herself. Wanda gets very, very, pregnant. Like huge. Seven months pregnant to be exact. Itsu was so, so, so excited for them. In that time frame- Scott and Jeanie announced that THEY were having a baby. That?

That was my wife’s final straw. Itsu’s eyes were daring me to say ‘no’. So I didn’t.

I caved. “Alright dear, let’s make a baby.” Were my exact words.

I figured Kurt and Wanda had been trying for about a year... and god knows his line produces a hell of a lot of babies- it would take a while for Itsu to actually get pregnant. A year or two? Time for us to really adjust to the idea.

I’d come to her way of thinking. A little baby would be fun... especially if it was with her. I couldn’t think of a woman I wanted to have a kid with more than Itsu. A little boy or girl to teach. To love. A piece of me and her. It’s not a bad idea.

It’s not like anyone could say we were rushing things- either. So, we started trying.

Itsu did everything she was supposed to do to ensure fertility.

It was a lot of work on her part. In the meantime- I got to enjoy making a baby. It was great. Sex four or five times a day. She’s turned on more, she’s receptive, she’s having fun- it was great.

Two months in- lo and behold she’s pregnant.

I freaked out a little. To be honest- so did she.

We wanted a baby- yea. But we didn’t expect it to happen so fast. We sat at the doctor’s office in shock.

Then we snapped out of it. We celebrated with all of our friends and family members.

Then- it started.

The pregnancy crazy- is what Scott called it. Slim said all women got that way. And that I was lucky my pregnant wife couldn’t read my mind and get pissed about shit I hadn’t even said.

Think he was talking about his own experience there. The pregnancy crazy is a unique thing.

You want to prevent it- but she’s so fucking cute when she’s pregnant, barefooted, and yelling over something stupid. It usually went like this.

3 AM - “Logan I want French fries”

French fries? At 3 AM? I was well stocked. But NOOOOO- they had to be from McDonald’s. That’s the craving part.

She won’t sleep until she gets her fries.

McDonald’s is pretty much open 24/7. It wouldn’t have been a big deal- except it was three in the fucking morning and I’d just got back from a mission in Romania.

But she and our boy- we’d recently found out what the baby was- wanted French fries. So I get my ass in the car, get her fries, come home.

“This is good but it would be better with a frosty.” She said.

Guess what’s closed at 3 AM? Wendy’s. Guess where the only place in the WORLD is that sells frosty’s? Wendy’s.

I improvised. Woke Ice Cube up- had him make her something. He was like seventeen at the time. Couldn’t get a girlfriend to save his life. Couldn’t understand the unique brand of crazy they hold.

Three years later- we kinda figured out why that was. Really shoulda seen that one coming. The ice cream wasn’t as good as a frosty- but it went over okay. Way better than expected.

The pregnancy progresses. Baby boy is taking up so much space. They’re saying this is easily a ten-pound baby. Which started to make Itsu a little nervous- if we’re being honest. Wanda and Jean assured her that the labor was painful- but she would get killer drugs.

We’re near the end and the crazy was upped about five notches. I’m talking maximum hormone endured crazy. I make one little comment about how big she’s gotten- bam. Hit in the face with a flip-flop. Repeatedly.

I got in trouble for saying I made a baby. Told that I did not ‘make a baby’ I made half of a baby. She was doing all the work.

Guess I couldn’t argue with that.

She always apologized after. My sweet wife wasn’t capable of holding a real grudge.

The delivery day gets here- baby’s fine. Mommy’s fine.

We look at our tiny bundle of joy with a sense of awe..and fear.

Little Akihiro came into the world screaming.

Four years now and he hasn’t stopped.

We’re raising him as best as we can- given the circumstances. Kid’s got a personality a mile wide.

He hangs out with Tj- his buddy in crime. A lot like her daddy is for me.

Kurt joked around and said something about marriage. Wanda hit him upside the head and told him not to put that on kids.

IF our lines ever do mix- it’ll be those two. We had to learn A LOT about things we couldn’t begin to understand.

I now know that you can’t leave a wet diaper on a kid, potty training a boy is really hard, and as a parent, you will never eat anything that isn’t from a happy meal or chicken in the shape of something else. (Aki seems to prefer dinosaurs. Don’t know what the difference is- but fuck will he let you know it’s not the same)

In our four years of parenting, I got another kid. A clone. Itsu loved her instantly. There was no way she was going anywhere but with us.

They were going to destroy her. We... couldn’t let them. She was a little one-year-old. The shit they’d already done was horrific. I wasn’t going to tell Itsu until I made up my mind- but Fury (who I think was kinda rooting for the

kid) ‘accidentally’ sent my wife a picture. She was instantly in love.

She said that we had the money, we had the room, and we had enough space in our lives for a poor little girl. So I went to visit where they had the kid- and she was so vibrant. Even after all they put her through. Even at such a young age.

She came home with us that day.

Itsu didn’t even wait for the ink on the adoption papers to dry before picking her up and toting her off to her new life. She’s five now. Laura- our little Laura. Love her to death. She’s a little trooper.

She doesn’t remember much of what happened to her. Thank god.

She just knows that her daddy took her away from somewhere bad and gave her a mommy and a brother.

I didn’t explain it that way- those are Itsu’s words.

Laura and Akihiro are one year apart. And because she’s a clone- there’s no way of denying she’s part of my family. She looks a lot like me. Which makes Itsu love her even more. Even if she had another mother.

Itsu was just made for shit like that. At the same time during those precious few years- Jeanie got pregnant again, Rogue got pregnant (god we don’t know how that happened), and Wanda got pregnant but lost the baby.

Babies are literally everywhere. The x-men are family orientated more than ever.

Fuck even Bobby was talking about adopting with his “Boyfriend”- code word for ‘fiancée’ that ‘no one’ knows about.

Most of us ‘x-parents’ were going through the same shit.

And by shit, I mean ‘x-women getting pregnant’. These women are naturally strong and trained in like fifty million types of hand to hand combat. Try telling a pregnant Rogue that she can’t have the last of the ice cream. Or a pregnant Jean that she can’t take up the bathroom for five hours. You know what you get? Punched. You get punched.

Ororo moved away to Wakanda. T’challa was ‘smitten’ as soon as he laid eyes on her. Think they’re having a kid- now that I think about it.

And I think.. it was a girl. Yea. It’s a girl. We’ve got a trip planned to go see her when the baby gets here. So how do you balance raising a kid and saving the world?

It helps that Itsu is amazing. Truly amazing. She takes care of the home front when I can’t. It’s a lot to put on her... but she handles it well.

She doesn’t get to leave the house much.

And until the kids are in school- she really won’t get to have much of a job. That’s her decision- not mine. I let her do what she thought would be right for her. Her not getting out of the house is a shame though. I love it when we go out

In fact, it’s what lead me to take her to a Gala with me tonight. A night out for her away from the munchkins.

I hate going to these things but Chuck insists that at least one team be there. I drew the short straw.

Some fancy event with everyone dressed up in some stuffy opera house like thing watching a boring play and seeing some shitty art.

Bores the hell out of me. Not as much as the talking afterward, though.

Putting a face on the leading mutant team. Giving the people something they can positively relate to. (Chuck’s words)

Remy and Rogue are here somewhere. I don’t know where.

Knowing them? A night out without their little one? They have a two-year-old. You can bet they’ve snuck away to some random corner of the place to have at it. I offered the same to Itsu. She just raised her eyebrow and smiled.

I don’t think it was a ‘no’ necessarily. But... we’ll have to see. We were talking to this random guy- more her doing the talking than I was. I didn’t know who he was. He commented on how lovely my wife was. I thanked him, she smiled, we did what we were supposed to do. By all intents and purposes, I was on my best behavior.

Even when I saw Remy sneaking off to the parking lot with his very intoxicated wife. I wanted to join but noooo. I stayed. God knows someone had to.

Random guy struck up a conversation with her- asked if she had any kids.

I guess that’s a normal thing to ask a woman in her early thirties. I don’t know. It’s not like you can tell she’s had kids. She’s as fit as ever.

Itsu is so proud of our kids. She told him, quite happily, that we had two. Two amazing little miracles.

The man was all smiles. Said he’d recently become a grandfather and that there was no gift greater than children.

He obviously didn’t see when my ‘gift’ threw my phone in the toilet this morning and ran off giggling.

Whatever. Chuck wheels over and greets the man. Turns out he’s some kind of Prime Minister. Go figure. He’s looking at investing funding in the school- big deal. He asks if he can meet with Itsu and me over dinner to discuss it.

We were happy- we sealed the deal. It was as good as done. We of course agreed. However, as we’re parting, he says “And bring the little ones.” We had a shared moment of sheer panic.

Our kids?

Not well behaved.

Not even decently behaved.

Nowhere near Prime Minister level.

But he’d already walked away.

I turned to Itsu and said we could tell him they were both sick.

She agreed.

Chuck- on the other hand- said we had to bring the kids. The only reason the man was really interested was that we were a family. He liked that. We needed the ‘miracles’.

Fuck.

The dinner is set for two days from now.

And we are royally fucked.

“We’ll bribe them,” Itsu says, gripping my arm as we walk down the many, many concrete steps in front of the building. (Which is some ugly color of red that I can’t begin to identify.)

She’s dressed beautifully in a black silk gown that has a slit up the side that nearly reaches her hip. Strapless, low cut- all of my favorite things. Her hairs pinned up high on her head- which is amazing considering how long it is. At night I like to run my fingers through it. She usually lets Laura brush it before bed- god only knows why- but it’s one of the girl’s favorite things to do.

“Yea?” I pat her hand on my arm. “With what?” I made it a point to not dress as fancy as she did.

One- because I hate these things, and two- because Slim told me to so I have to do the opposite of what he told me.

They’re just lucky I’m not wearing jeans. “Anything.” She says. “Anything their hearts desire.” Her voice is calm and soothing. She’s got a plan. I know that sound anywhere.

“Pretty sure that’s world domination- babe,” I smirk. “Or candy. Who knows with those two?” Itsu sighs and closes her eyes.

“I can’t imagine Aki as a dictator.” She says, carefully reaching the last step. She didn't wear her heels tonight because it makes her a lot taller than me. I didn't mind but... she did. Whatever.

They're her feet. “He’s got too short of an attention span and too much love for his mommy.” I have to chuckle. “Laura could do it,” I say. Itsu nods. “Laura could do it.” Our girl could definitely be running shit some day.

Not that Aki couldn’t... but she likes she said- the boy’s got a very, very, VERY short attention span. I think he’d find it kinda boring. We walk back to our car, stewing on what we’re going to do.

The car is not what we started off with. It's more 'sensible'. Meaning 'boring and slow'. A journey? Who wants to drive a journey?

“We’ll make a list of acceptable things.” She says finally, buckling her seatbelt in our Dodge. She immediately kicks off her flats and pulls her feet under her in the seat. She can only be fancy for so long. I love that about her. “And they’ll follow the list.”

Yea.. that'll happen.

“Aki can’t follow simple directions.” I laugh, pulling out of the crowded parking lot. “How’s he going to follow a list?”

“We’ll bribe him.” She repeats. "There's got to be something he'll behave for."

I laugh again. "Let's see... toys? No. Candy? Not really. We have some luck with pancakes- but he won't eat them that late in the day...."

"We'll find something." She assures. "We have to start with him. Laura will follow suit."

“Hmm.... he’ll be easier than Laura,” I say in thought.

“Laura can be bribed with enough money,” Itsu says.

It’s true. Our girl has a thing for cash. She never uses it on anything- just hoards it. Like a tiny ferocious little dragon.

“So... bribing the kids,” I say. “That’s our plan?” “That’s our plan.” She nods. “No way that can backfire.” I laugh, taking her hand and holding it while I pull out into the road. “Have some faith.” She smiles radiantly. “The kids might surprise you.” I hope so. I doubt it- but I hope so. “You ever thought of making another?” I ask. “Getting a redo?” She shakes her head. “15 hours of labor with Aki. And I’ve still got stretch marks.”

“Barely.” I snort. She glares at me.

“Bribe the children.” She says, still glaring. “We get through an hour-long dinner, say we have to put them to bed, secure funding for the school and call it a night.”

I nod. “Sounds good, babe.”

She returns my nod. “God,” she says. “I won’t be sleeping tonight. I'm so nervous.”

“That makes two of us.” I joke.

She smirks. “Whatever will we do with all this alone adult time?”

I kiss her hand. “I can think of a few things.”

She can bet after all this kid talk we’ll be using a rubber. One Aki is more than enough. Add in one Laura to the mix and well.... it gets a little messy.

Wouldn’t trade it for the world, though. My life was pretty shitty before they came along. I wouldn’t go back if you paid me. That doesn’t mean the dinner’s not going to suck- it is. But... we’ll figure something out. We always do.

#kid fic #aged down characters #non canon compliant #If I said being a parent would be easy- I liked fic #sketzocase writes

[bobbyischill]

My Relationship With Andi Mack

Two years ago, when I was in 10th grade, my GSA advisor was telling me and a friend about a Disney Channel show. She hadn’t watched it yet, but apparently one of the main characters had just come out as gay! I was really happy for Disney and glad that queer kids all over the world had someone like them to look up to. However, I, a 15 year old, a mature teenager, wouldn’t really enjoy a kids show, right? So I went about the rest of my day without giving it a second thought....

Until I went home and opened up Tumblr. One of the first posts I saw was someone giving props to Disney for making such a diverse, inclusive show that was actually GOOD. They said it reminded them of Girl Meets World, except it was a million times better and diverse. Okay fine, I thought. I guess I’ll check out Andi Mack. (BOOYY I HAD A BIG STORM COMING)

I opened up my iPad around 10:30pm and decided to watch an episode or two, depending on how tired I was. After the very first episode, I recognized that this show was special. Like, REALLY special. The characters were fleshed out and unique. There was the “twist” about Bex being Andi’s mom. The friendships and relationships felt real. I knew I was going to binge the whole show that night.

That night, as I continued on with the show, I fell in love with each one of them. They all had their own quirks, they were all nuanced. I fell in love with how competitive, protective to a fault, and caring Buffy was. I fell in love with how awkward and goofy and relatable Cyrus was. I fell in love with how kind and oblivious Jonah was. I fell in love with how hard-working and funny Andi was, and how much she cared about certain things and the people around her. I fell in love with the dynamics between certain characters and how they were always changing. I loved how it tackled racism in school (Buffy had to change her hair or be sent home), how unfair dress codes are to students (especially girls), how you need to take a stand for what you believe in (the prison uniforms), and how stepping out of your comfort zone is a good thing, even if you get hurt (Andi watching a horror movie and being terrified, but not regretting it). This was all in the first season.

This show already meant so much to me. And then Cyrus looked back at Jonah. In the words of Jonah Beck, “I cried”. Just that hint of representation was more than I had ever scene on Disney or any other show marketed to kids.

And then Cyrus came out to Buffy. I, a pansexual who was out to my friends but not any of my family and who still struggled with intense internalized homophobia, burst into tears. I related to how ashamed and afraid Cyrus looked. I needed to hear Buffy’s heartfelt response. “You may be weird, but you’re no different.” That phrase was constantly bouncing through my head for at least the next few days (and if I’m being honest, it still is). I wrote it all over my notes and assignments because it was literally all I could think about for such a long time. I saw the sign on the wall that said “G: for General Audiences.” That showed me that Disney (or at least Terri Minsky, my queen) truly felt that I wasn’t a freak. I didn’t need to hide my identity from anyone if I didn’t want to. My identity wasn’t a mature subject; it was for general audiences. (Also, I just want to add that Sofia and Josh’s acting in this scene was absolutely fantastic. It was so raw and emotional, and it still makes me cry every time I see it.)

And then in that same episode Cyrus and Buffy talked about his crush on Jonah. They did it so casually, and my mind was blown. At this point, I had honestly never seen so much gay representation in a show as this.

That night, I stayed up until 5am. I was rewatched Cyrus’s coming out scene about 10 times. I fangirled about it on Tumblr. I added “Tomorrow Starts Today” to my Spotify playlist. I even wrote a diary entry about it. (I only write in my diary when I’m feeling very intense emotions that I need to write down in order to figure out.)

The next day at school, I told all my Gay Friends about Andi Mack and how amazing it was. A few of them got into it, and it was fun talking to them about it, but after a while I was pretty heavily hyperfixated on it and I needed more. And I felt like I was bothering my followers with constant posts about how much I loved Andi Mack. So I made this blog. @cyrus-made-tshirts. I haven’t changed the name since. That’s how I became an official part of the friendom.

I love this fandom. I don’t even know many people personally or have made many friends through it, but this fandom was everything to me. I loved the posts, the crackhead theories, josh’s account. I loved the crackships, the real ships, the overanalyzing of every line, of every movement, of every promo. I loved watching the reactions on YouTube. I loved making posts about the show and having hundreds of people relate to it or find it funny, especially the gay ones. My very first post to get more than 50 notes was one about how Miranda and Bex would make a cute couple (this was before Miranda was revealed to be a snake.)

For the past year and a half, Andi Mack has been my life. I have survived the many ship wars. I have survived the months-long hiatuses. I have survived the ominous tweets and posts Josh has made and the frenzy of panicking everywhere that followed it. And I have loved every minute of it.

I’ve seen these characters I love grow up before my eyes. They’ve all changed and evolved and matured so much. There’s so much more representation since I started watching the show. There’s a character with a learning disability, characters with anxiety, a homeless character, a deaf character. There’s been multiple episodes celebrating Jewish and Chinese culture. I’ve seen Cyrus go from nervously nodding in agreement that he liked a boy to unprovokingly telling his friend he liked that boy to flat-out telling his ex-crush he is gay to holding hands with his crush in public. I’ve seen all of Cyrus’s friends support him unconditionally. I’ve seen him find his happily ever after (for middle school, at least).

And then the last episode aired. I knew I was never going to be prepared for it, but HOLY SHIT, it’s over. And the finale was like a fanfiction it was so good. I watched it live on Thursday night at midnight. I freaked out about it online for three hours, then watched it on Disney Now. I pulled an all-nighter because I just kept rewatching it online until Friday night, when I watched it air on Disney. The way Cyrus and TJ sang Born This Way with the rest of the characters cured my depression, cleared my skin, and watered my crops. The bench scene was so fucking beautiful and romantic it caused me to hyperventilate. The acting from both Luke and Josh was incredible. Honestly, Luke crushed it the entire time as TJ and the bench scene was the icing on top. This scene meant more to met than some people could ever know.

A couple months ago, I was in a pretty shit place emotionally and mentally. Literally the only thing stopping me from killing myself was the guilt of leaving my friends and family behind. I needed another reason to stay, something to keep me grounded. And that reason became Andi Mack. I promised myself I would live to see the day Tyrus became canon. And I did it. I’m in a much better place now, and I’m not going to do anything stupid now that Tyrus has become canon (TYRUS HAS BECOME CANON!!! AAKDBEISSHSB I STILL HAVENT PROCESSED THAT YET!!!!). But at the time, I really needed Andi Mack to help me keep fighting. And it was there for me. And I will always be indebted to it for my life.

This show has helped me in so many other ways. It’s helped me drastically reduce my internalized homophobia. It’s given me a community of people that understand me. It’s created so many characters that I love. So thank you to Terri Minsky for creating this show and amazing characters that I will love forever. Thank you to Disney for funding it and not completely censoring it. Thank you to the crew for working tirelessly to make this happen. Thank you to Peyton, Emily, Asher, Josh, Luke, Lilan, Trent, Garren, Sofia, and every other actor for pouring their heart into this show. A special thank you to Josh and Luke for making me feel safe and loved and for caring so much about their story arcs. (And their political activism is pretty awesome, too.)

I’m really going to miss screaming about this show with you guys. I really hope that some people keep creating fanart and fanfics and keep making memes and crackships. I hope the friendom never dies. Because every one of you is so special and fun to hang out with online. And I’m really gonna miss it. And now I’m crying, and this is getting WAYYY too long, so I’m gonna stop talking now lmao. But I want to say this show has changed me in so many ways and I’m grateful to every single person involved, including the amazing friendom. I’ll love you all forever. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

#andi mack #thank you #thank you so much andi mack #my relationship with andi mack #personal

[multimetaverse]

Andi Mack 3x13 Review

Mount Rushmore or Less was a gut punch of an ep. Let’s dig in!

Positives: 

The Tyrus scenes in the beginning were very nice. Great callback to the somersault scene and it was nice to see them be so open flirty with each other. That ‘Cyrus my man’ line was pretty telling. It’s clear that TJ isn’t ashamed of his feelings for Cyrus but is afraid of being outed as his crush on Cyrus is becoming obvious enough for someone like Kira to pick up on (and Andi and Buffy on the texts)

I do wonder if matching outfits for Cyrus and a boy is a red line for Disney; they never did let Cyrus wear his Space Otters jersey after all

Some really strong performances tonight. Luke did an excellent job showing TJ’s weariness and sorrow in his last scene. Josh was another mvp tonight

First time TJ has said sorry

The one nice thing I’ll say about Kira is that she really jumped to the top of the Andi Mack villains list. She pretty clearly wanted to get back at Buffy by messing with Cyrus and TJ and is desperate to play on a team again. She picked up on TJ’s crush pretty quickly and knew just the right buttons to press to scare TJ. Now I don’t think the show will actually delve into homophobia and she’ll ultimately be redeemed but it’s going to be very hard to do so in the 3 eps she has remaining especially since Raquel was only on set for one day each in 3x15 and 3x21

I believe that this is the first time we’ve ever seen a secondary character have scenes with a tertiary character without a main character present. It was necessary to give us a peak into TJ’s head but it might also set the stage for Kira to redeem herself by turning into an ally for TJ which is horrifying that TJ might have to rely on her but it may be the only way to redeem Kira

Kira really is an evil Buffy; just the complete opposite of how Buffy has supported Cyrus this whole time in regards to his sexuality

If the show can actually explore TJ’s fear of being outed it would be an amazing story line but I am deeply skeptical that the show will be allowed to do so

Marty is finally back for good. I really liked his re-introduction; they did an excellent job of reintegrating him into Buffy’s life and the show as a whole very quickly, it makes total sense that he’ll be at the wedding. The writers were wise to not ruin Muffy this ep too; they’ll have their ups and downs of course but their dynamic really helped lighten this ep. Glad they mentioned he had a girlfriend upfront but it’s not like Buffy or Marty are letting that stop them

Marty seems written more like Garren now than he was in S1 and S2 with that ‘Yoo’ bit

The contrast between Marty and Buffy having fun in the costume and Andi and Cyrus looking distraught was darkly funny

This ep showcased once again that Buffy is the glue holding the Good Hair Crew together. She was the go between for Cyrus and Andi and got Marty to join as a replacement

Andi and Amber’s friendship wasn’t ruined this ep which is nice

Glad that Buffy understood why Cyrus wanted to match with TJ but I really wish we weren’t still stuck in subtext

I liked the shazam and shrek references tonight

Jonah was very on brand when he didn’t acknowledge Marty being back in the group at all; just like the gun drama it has no bearing on him

I’m glad that Bex and Bowie were upfront with Andi. It’s delusional to think that not getting married won’t have serious long term effects on their family but it’s in character for them

We got a Jandi and Tyrus parallel tonight with both Jonah and TJ disappointing Andi and Cyrus

Glad that they clarified that Jibby is sunk

Negatives:

The show has barely been able to tell Cyrus’ sexuality story line and I really doubt they’ll be able to do TJ’s any justice especially when he has just 3 appearances left. They really need to let TJ look back in ep 15 because the audience needs to know he’s actually gay for this to have any impact. A lot of his arc is going to be off screen and the rest is likely to be very very coded and will probably look more like a peer pressure story line to the kids than anything else

And shouldn’t Cyrus be getting a story line like this? He’s out to his 3 closest friends but not to his parents or the world and we’ve never even caught glimpses of how he feels about that

It’s so funny how they can do anything else with TJ but have him get together with Cyrus. At this point he’s had way more character development than Jonah

Presumably Kira will eventually help Tyrus get together if she’s to be redeemed but what a waste of Tyrus’ story line to have her inserted into it for no real reason; they could easily have kept Tyrus from canoning until the finale by other means

Jonah sucked this episode. His refusing to do the costume came out of nowhere and really just made him look like a bad friend to Andi. He’s like a goldfish, he just keeps making the same mistakes in his various relationships and never learns any lessons

Not a fan of Marty blaming Buffy for him icing her out and her not calling him out. I get that the show doesn’t have time to waste with these two but it’s sloppy. Also not a fan of us never getting actual confirmation that Wuffy is over

Looking Ahead:

I’m sure this ep will age much better once we get the remaining 8 eps but this was an awful ep to enter a hiatus on. The hype for most of the ships and story lines was destroyed tonight and having that angsty shot of Cyrus and Andi looking so sad be the last we’ll see for a while is not going to bring the audience back for 3c

Well now we know why Josh began publicly doubting the endgame after filming ep 13; he never would have doubted that the endgame was TJ but there’s no way they’d get together before the finale after the events of this ep

Buffy fainting next week looks dramatic; we’ll see what comes of it

Raquel confirmed that she’s in 5 eps this season and we already knew about 15 and 21 so there must be a third where she didn’t post from set like she usually did. If she’s going to be shadowing TJ the whole rest of the season she’d show up in ep 19 but if she’s meant to have scenes with Buffy again or even Cyrus she could show up in 16 or 17 as well

It’s a sign of how little we’re going to get of Cyrus and TJ’s story that TJ and Kira only have 3 eps left while Amber has 6 and Marty has at least 4 but possibly 5 with these new reshoots. Ep 15 is likely to be a wash unless we get a look back or Kira realizing the hurt she’s caused but hopefully ep 19 has some good moments

This ep is probably a pretty good template of what the finale will look like in terms of juggling characters and story lines except that it will be even more crowded as Bex and Bowie will have more screentime and Celia likely has some screen time as well (the writers really do seem to act like they’re writing for an hour long show with the 5 or 6 plot lines they juggle each ep)

That Marty never interacted with TJ this ep and given that TJ hasn’t met Amber and they don’t share eps until the finale it’s likely that the Tyrus confession scene is in the last 10 minutes of 3x21 as the party is winding down and with only Buffy and Andi and Jonah knowing that they get together when they return from the backyard into a now empty house (though Kira may have learned off screen that TJ is gay by this point). It seems unlikely that the show will allow TJ and Cyrus to get together and then immediately be out to Marty and Amber and possibly Bex and Bowie when they haven’t had even brief scenes together this season

Well hopefully we don’t have to wait longer than a couple of months for 3c to air and hopefully the re-shoots go smoothly. Pretty wild that we only have 8 eps left; we’re in the home stretch now Ladies and Gentlemen

#Andi Mack #Tyrus #TJ Kippen #Cyrus Goodman #Kira #Muffy #Buffy Driscoll #Marty from the party #Jonah Beck #Bexie #Bex Mack #Bowie Quinn #Andi Mack Reviews #Andi Mack Meta #Andi Mack Season 3

[kai-eastaughffe]

truth or dare; kai eastaughffe

The night already peaked by the time Kai’s turn was up. He had come down off the high off the lip sync battle---gracefully conceeded to Samuel, on the basis that one man sacrificing his dignity to Avril Lavigne should logically outweigh what essentially became a group dance-off with Lady Marmalade, and the excellence of that was in no way Kai’s doing---and he was slumped on the floor half-wasted already by the time he was poked in the ribs and forced back to attention.

He wasn’t looking forward to whatever people had planned for him. There’d already been a few curve balls, and he was, frankly, really worried about Salem, and Cleo. But, he couldn’t very well refuse after making most of the squad do whatever had popped into his head.

from cleo raja —

truth: what’s one thing you would change about everyone here?

dare: consume everything in the minibar, alcohol aside, in five minutes.

He could not afford the contents of the minibar at this point, even not including the alcohol. Nor did he want to. 

“Simple. We’d all have colour-coded or elemental or animal super powers, à la Power Rangers, or Sailor Moon.” He shrugged.

“We have never been, nor can we ever be, a proper friend group, since we don’t have a transformation sequence.” He downed the rest of his drink. Tonight was the first night he was really letting himself consume as much alcohol as he wanted---it seemed fitting. Then he continued, before anyone else could take over.

“See, Salem would be something dark and edgy like a black motif with ice and a panther, Leigh would be like a sassy lion and the colour orange. Danny would be yellow and something that flies, an eagle? TJ would be green with like, an alligator or a snake, Cleo would be red and maybe a badass scorpion or spider or a biker thing going on. Jenny might also be red---I feel like you’d rock the pink outfit, though, and maybe have some secret like you can control time and are the most powerful of us and no one knows it. Skylar would be purple and wind powers, something pretty like a butterfly but like---deceptive, her wingbeats make hurricanes, I dunno. Sam’d be blue, cause it’s like “leader-y”, but he’d have like... sweet water powers or maybe a wolf thing going on... I dunno. Dakota would be white, and his power would be...” Here he blanked. “To perfectly slice a bagel, or he’d turn into an airplane? I don’t know what your deal is these days, I dunno who you are, dude. Jules would be gold and control the sun, probably. Kelley would be silver---not because she’s second best though, silver ‘cause she’d turn into like a thousand knives, or just a fuckin’ tank.”

“And I’d be the, uhhh... Turquoise Ranger. There’s never a Turquoise anything. But it’s cool, ‘cause I’d also have a sloth patronus or whatever, and you guys would still have to bring me along anyway.” He folded his hands and surveyed the circle seriously.

“The defense rests.” Lawyer-talk, bonus points. He mimed sinking a basketball, for good measure.

from dakota harrison —

truth: who do you dislike most out of all of us?

dare: arm wrestle me.

It only took one glance at Kota’s arms before Kai scoffed. “Yeah, right. That’s happening---real suspense in who’d win, you clearly just want to look good. I’ll take truth... Who I dislike most...” He thought about it for a heartbeat, squinting around at the assembled group. Sure, there were some there he could take or leave, but no one he truly, deeply disliked more than... “Myself, obviously. Not that you’re not all terrible in your own special ways.” 

There was a deafening silence, and he glanced around. “What? Too edgy? It’s called a truth for a reason---” Someone helpfully pointed out that answering yourself was against the rules, and he grew slightly more irritated with all of them. But only for a second. “Fuck you guys, let me be the emo one for once.” He sighed. “Whatever, let’s just... give the people what they want.” He rolled up his right sleeve, and leaned forward to plant his arm in the middle of the circle before flashing Dakota a wide smile and saying, “Bring it, Beardface. And I mean it---you throw this out of pity or something and I will destroy you some other way when you least expect it.”

from jenny jordan —

truth: what was the cause of your weirdest boner?

dare: put five ice cubes down your pants and leave them there.

“Saying no to the ice dick, thanks, darlin’.” It was a little hard to look at her longer than a second without remembering what she’d said about his eyes and... all that. He still hadn’t quite recovered from the stuff people had said on their turns. Skylar thinking he had a good personality was... misguided, but okay... Salem’s was intentionally weird (as he’d requested, so that one was probably on him.) But Jenny’s confession had taken him utterly by surprise and he still wasn’t sure whether she’d been entirely serious, or if she’d had some other reason for praising him. 

He cleared his throat. “Weirdest boner? Mr. Fuller’s math class, apropos of trigonometry. Isosceles triangles just do it for me, I guess. Or, it was the hell that is puberty, and a light breeze could have the same effect, so.” He was answering a lot of truths, it turned out. Whether that would grow uncomfortable in the near future, he wasn’t sure, but at least for once it was a game of embarrassment for everyone, not just him.

from julian campbell —

truth: who in the room has hurt your feelings the most, and how?

dare: do your best impression of three people in the room - really commit to it.

Well, he knew he wasn’t gonna touch that truth with a ten foot pole. He’s not certain who he’d answer, anyway. Most of the incidents kind of blurred together, and the ones that really stung weren’t things he was willing to admit under any kind of torture. Which left him eyeing the other individuals for targets.

Of course, the more sensible thing would be to separate the impressions. But once he’d settled on them, a scene was already forming in his mind---and they had a brief stint taking Drama in high school to thank for that, he figured. “Alright, but I need props...” With an effort, he pushed himself up, then travelled around the room collecting what would be most effective---a pair of oversized sunglasses, a phone, a scarf, a pair of big headphones from his own bag tossed in the corner, and... yeah, that’d work. 

He then proceeded to enact a familiar situation to all of them, Jenny and Salem being catty at each other---sunglasses perched artfully on a dismissive smirk when it was her lines, scarf draped around his neck lazily for pretentiousness rather than representing any particular habit of Salem’s, but it worked, and Cleo in the headphones, snapping peevishly at the others as she looked at her phone at intervals.

By the end of five minutes his brain was stretched to capacity, he’d nearly strangled himself twice in headphone cords and the scarf, and the sunglasses were haphazardly pushed into his hair. “...in conclusion, you’re petty assholes who need to handle your issues better, and I don’t know why I love you,” he finished, breathlessly, before collapsing backwards on the floor.

from salem st. ives —

truth: did you cheat to get through law school?

dare: spend the rest of the game blind folded and wear ear plugs under headphones turned full blast (so that any other dares can get done to him and he’ll have no idea who did it).

He wrinkled his nose at the dare. “I would have to be horribly masochistic to be into that, I hope you know that. And I’m only like... maybe lightly masochistic most days, so you’ll just have to be treated to my full presence for the rest of the game.” It was hard to sweep a mocking bow while seated, but he tried to give one to Salem with minimal spillage of his drink.

“And I...” He paused, and covered it by sipping at the medley of alcohol in his cup---was it his? Had he just picked it up? It tasted like sour patch kids, and he was fairly sure he’d had something in the brownish family. “Is this someone else’s drink?” he asked, keeping the suspicion that maybe he was being pranked---extra bonus prank on Kai night, you know---a private one. “Anyway, it’s delicious, so thanks.” The potential prankster could have their laugh, his drink was delightful. “As I was saying, I did not cheat in law school.” It was, he told himself, the absolute truth. He’d never even been in law school---so how could he cheat? His smirk lost some of its pep when he remembered why that wasn’t exactly the triumph it should be. Someone, somewhere, had actually been in law school and not cheated---but it sure as hell wasn’t him. His mouth tasted bitter, and the stolen drink didn’t help any.

from samuel flores —

truth: do you still resent how the squad treated you in high school?

dare: prank call one of your coworkers.

And there it was. The kicker. ‘Cause he didn’t have coworkers to call---unless you counted Jeremy and Yolanda from the sandwich shop. Who would not take kindly to being disturbed---high priced lawyers might shrug that shit off as a laugh. Minimum wage dishwashers, or his manager, would not. And, believe it or not, he actually liked his coworkers. They thought he was good at his job---and he was, obviously, but they treated him like he was. He wasn’t going to subject them to the... Recapturing Lost Youth Squad. Yolanda had three kids, for fuck’s sake.

He swallowed the remains of his cup and studied the bottom. “I wouldn’t say I resent it,” he said, surprisingly calm and serious for the moment. “That makes it seem like I’m out for vengeance on everyone or hate you all. I don’t, at all. I just want... I dunno.” His voice dropped to a mumble. “Respect, maybe? Or... something...” And now, because of his stupid choice to pretend to be something he wasn’t, some of them actually did respect him, but it wasn’t even him, not really. They respected a complete and total fabrication. He’d almost gotten what he wanted, but it felt hollow and fake.

from skylar murphy —

truth: when was the closest you came to truly getting upset with the squad’s jokes on your behalf?

dare: spread a rumor about someone in the squad that really grinds your gears (i.e. whoever pokes fun at you too much from your perspective).

“Uhhh...” He tried to think, this time, of something specific. After a minute, he nodded. “I do remember one time...” Which in hindsight, might’ve been a precursor to things to come, but he hadn’t been too wise about that sort of thing until he started actively looking for them at his therapist’s bidding. “After we saw the Arcade Fire concert in junior year, and everyone had bought merch. Remember, it was like, a status thing? Wearing the shirts the next day if you’d been to the show? Teenagers are trash.” 

“Anyway, they were actually pretty tame as jokes go, just about the shirt and how I had finally made a decent fashion choice, combined with like... the occasional jab about how now I looked like all the other indie pricks at school.” It really had been totally run-of-the-mill day, all things told---except he’d actually loved that shirt, and the concert had been a good memory. And it’d only lasted a day, because of their idiotic taunts, and his skin being surprisingly thin that week. “Went home and burned the thing in the fireplace. Of course, our fireplace wasn’t equipped for synthetics or whatever was on the logo, I dunno... Anyway the house filled up with smoke and I had to evacuate the munchkins to the lawn,” he said, referring to his siblings. “And got in complete shit for it. Never told any of you, but I think that’s the most pissed I ever got.”

from tj powell —

truth: do you like leigh or salem better?

dare: run out into the hall, knock on somebody’s door, and ask to use their bathroom.

He toyed with his lower lip, looking directly at the dimly-aware Salem as he tried to decide. It should be an easy answer, but his drink had been spiked after all---with indecision and philosophizing, apparently, because it occurred to him that for all his resentment of Leigh becoming joined at the hip with Salem instead, there was something that wasn’t quite... It wasn’t jealousy, really, because he also liked Salem. Genuinely. If he’d been in her shoes, he’d have opted to hang out with Salem, too. So he didn’t really blame her, and that’s what made it complicated. Leigh was his oldest friend, probably. They understood each other, and she’d never cut him out---when she could have. They became a trio instead. He eventually realized he’d been silently musing and staring at Salem for quite some time, and shrugged. “Fuck it.” He got shakily to his feet and went out into the hall, made a show of being choosy about which hotel door he was going to disturb before selecting one at random and knocking.

And then knocking at another when the first didn’t answer. Finally, the door was jerked open. A tall man with a handlebar moustache to rival most cowboy movies loomed over him from the doorway. “What do you want.” He snapped.

Kai blinked. “Uh, I---I lost my room key---can I use your bathroom?”

The man stared at him---then down the hall, where he no doubt saw the heads of several onlookers. “No.” 

The door slammed inches from Kai’s nose and blew his hair back with the force of it. He was happy to retreat with his indignity and the thought of ‘I’m twenty eight fucking years old, what am I doing’ echoing shamefully in his head, until he realized he had an ace up his sleeve---or on his hand, rather. He grinned down the hall at his friends, took the bandage off his right palm from the failed blood oath with Cleo, and knocked again.

The door opened. “Fuck off---”

“Please,” he implored, clutching his bloody hand. “I just need to wash off the blood, and then I’ll go...”

The man’s eyes widened. “Shit! Yeah, come on---I know first aid. How’d you manage that, son?” 

Kai followed, face serious. Ten minutes later he came back to the room, freshly bandaged and more or less triumphant. 

#thesquadtask #thesquadevent #finally!! finished the thing :)

[what-if-isimply-didntgive-ashit]

This weeds so sticky (First chapter repost, Tyrus au)

Making friends is hard.

Like seriously it shouldn’t be this hard. It shouldn’t be hard for two people or even a group of people to sit down and begin a friend ship. Especially if they have similar interests.

But of course like everything in life people have complications. Whatever they are they exist. And it seems like Saltwater had an overpopulation of people with the same kinds of complications.

Not really knowing what they were doing with their lives. Thus not knowing how to be welcoming figures in someone else’s.

That’s why we left. By we I mean me and my best friend’s, Lester and Reed. My name’s Tj and when I was 15 I joined a small motorcycle gang. Or well that’s a lie.. I started the gang, don’t tell Reed that though.

You see Reed, Lester, and me all had the same kind of complications, so we fit together like puzzle pieces. We’re the family we’ve never known in other’s. My dad died when I was just a kid, a fire the police had told my family. But for the little bit of time I knew my old man I knew he could trick a blind man into believing he could see.

Basically he could fake his own death easy.

I’ve never seen my mom cry in all the years I’ve been alive and that day had been no different. I remember standing outside her bedroom door on my tiptoes just trying to hear what wasn’t happening. Not a tear from her eyes. She’d been stone faced like she already knew the truth. My dad had left, not died.

Lester had a pretty sad childhood too. When he was four his dad knocked both his front teeth out. He always says he doesn’t remember what he did when asked but everyone knows he’s a liar. His mom had begun the process of divorcing his father which he didn’t take too kindly promptly running over the woman with his car. From there Lester was taken in by his aunt by ruling of the court and his father was put in jail.

But due to the absolute shit that is the Saltwater prison system, he managed to get out which made Lester all the more anxious and pushing, to get out of the little town we’ve reluctantly called “home”.

Reed is the only one out of the three of us who got through childhood pretty unscathed. When he was 15 his mom left his dad for another woman. They drove off into the sunset like newlyweds and his father went into a depression.

Somehow the news managed to pick this up though. Seeing as Saltwater is one of the most boring towns to have ever lived and nothing like this had really ever happened. His dad became the town “joke”. Reed didn’t care about his father’s pain at all honestly. He just hated the way it made him look.

He started getting into more fights and taking blows to what is his fragile cranium, because of moronic children screaming, “Your dad married a gay.” And “Your mom’s real reason for leaving was because your dad’s dick was too little.”

Reed never did like being taunted. He’s been in more fights then all of us. Well… Lester’s a fucking pussy so he’s only really ever been in one fight really.

But regardless we decided we were done with Saltwater life and we packed up, hitching a ride on our motorcycles to find a better life else where. Not like anyone will miss us. We were the only one’s there for each other.

I don’t really know how long we’ve been out here, or for that matter what town or city we plan on stopping in for good but we’re out here, and we have each other and that’s all that really matters.

“Reed you fucking bastard. Why is this weed sticky?!” I almost tossed it to the ground but decided against it.

We’d stopped for a moment behind an old abandoned looking building to smoke, I mean there aren’t really any cars around so it’s not like we’ll get caught. Besides hanging out with Reed for even an hour makes me wanna be high as fuck.

“I told you to carry it..” Lester interjected with a small shake of his head.

“Fuck did you do to it?”

“Bro I had to store it in a special place seeing as I don’t have fucking pockets and my bags full!” Reed announced

“The fuck did you bring?! You don’t have valuables!” Lester retorted gesturing at Reed’s bag.

“You know! Stuff! You never know what kinda stuff we could get into in a new place!”

He really is just the fucking worst.

“Bro why the fuck do you have condoms??!” I hadn’t even noticed Lester had moved until he was standing with a roll of Reed’s condoms plucked between his index finger and thumb.

“Put that back you little bitch!”

If they weren’t basically my brother’s, I’d ditch them here and now.

Reed practically launched himself at Lester in what could only be described as a ballerina type leap, grabbing for the condoms but completely missing as Lester switched hands at the last second. Almost dropping the roll from his carelessness, while pushing Reed away with one hand to the other boy’s chest.

“Will you two fucking stop! Let’s just fucking leave this is fucking garbage.” I remark tossing the sticky weed to the ground and throwing a leg over seating myself on my motorcycle.

“Thanks a lot Reed, now I gotta drive sober cause your ball sweat fucked up the good weed.” Lester commented moving towards his own motorcycle once he’d tossed the roll of condoms back to Reed.

“You suck so much dick, my ball sweat should be something you’re accustomed with.”

I shift my motorcycle out and back onto the road with no real warning driving slow enough that the two morons behind me can keep up even with a slow start.

“Yo Tj! Can we stop for some food! Regardless of not being completely baked I’m fucking hungry.” Lester suggested. He’s the only one out of the three of us stupid enough to ride without a helmet every now and then. Which is hilarious because we hang out with Reed.

I slow down to a point where crashing wouldn’t spill my brains out over the concrete and pull my helmet off my head. Sliding back to be between Reed and Lester.

“Have you seen a restaurant or anything in the last couple miles? Where do you plan on eating? Cause there hasn’t been much of civilization for the longest.”

“Luckily for you two I happen to know how many miles away the next restaurant is from us.” Reed announced, looking smug as shit for someone who didn’t know how to read maps only a year ago.

Lester raised an eyebrow. “You did research?”

“Someone had to. Or else we were going to end up dead before we made it past Saltwater’s fucking area code.”

“The fact that you know what an area code is is baffling.” Lester interjected.

“Shut up.” I said rolling my eyes at Lester. “Where’s our next rest stop?”

“This little place called Peachy keen? At least I think that’s how it was pronounced. That’s how I saw it online.”

“And at no point did you think to print out the map you got this off of?” Lester said, I shook my head squeezing the bridge of my nose with closed eyes.

Stupidity just keeps running off Reed and hitting innocent people.

I put my helmet back on my head, zooming forward thrusting my front wheel up into the air a bit but not before I hear Lester yell, “There are these things called libraries for people without printers!”

***

On my bike everywhere feels so much closer. It’s the only thing I had that I felt free whenever I was near. And alive when I was riding.

But today it felt like a fifteen hour ride just to finally find a place where we could sit down and get a meal. Especially with long intervals of, Reed calling out directions that ended up being completely fucking wrong, Lester arguing with Reed over Reed being completely fucking wrong, and me wanting to shoot my brains out because I’ve never been sober with these two for more than two hours.

Lester parked his bike first rushing in to grab a seat on the stool up front. Despite all their bickering the entire ride up here, Reed immediately joined him. Sitting down on the spinning red stool, promptly taking the menu from the plump waitress behind the counter.

Me. I need a break. A long break. So I sat myself down at a booth completely ignoring Reed and Lester when they called for me to join them.

I don’t need to actually sit with them to know what kind of conversation is gonna transpire. Lester going to probably order the most kiddie meal on the menu because he’s still a sperm cell. And Reed will make fun of him before ordering something he won’t be able to finish. Wasting food because he’s an over privileged moron.

Unlike 95% of Saltwater his family was considered wealthy in what would only be middle class in a good place. Before we left he emptied his dad’s bank account. Doesn’t really matter too much all things considered. His dad had three bank accounts including the one he emptied. That man will be fine with the money he still has left, probably better now that we’ve taken one of his problems away.

The waitresses here are surprisingly fast and nice, I didn’t have to wait too long before I got a menu.

Though it didn’t really help me much once I actually did have one.

I know what I want. What I really want is a burger and fries. But this diner seems to think it’s a good idea to mix in non English words with each option on the menu..

The fuck is a, “sweet petite poisson”

I take in the rest of the diner gazing over people with things, I definitely don’t want on their plates. A curly haired male and what looks like his new girlfriend judging by all the French kissing they’re currently doing sharing a plate of onion rings. A man seated not too far away from Reed who’s currently crying over a plate of mashed potatoes and what looks like steak. And an older man seated as far away from anything else happening in the restaurant as anyone could possibly be. Looking as though he’s plotting a couple murders with the way he’s poking his food with his fork.

I pull my gaze away looking behind me to the next booth where a lone kid sits. He’s wearing a hood that looks more comfy then anything I’ve ever owned back home, with what looks like a blue plaid shirt underneath. He has soft looking brown hair, and his doe eyes are focused on the burger and fries sitting with a very untouched look to them, as if he ordered without realizing he wasn’t hungry.

“Hey. Kid.” I call out and he flinches looking up at me. And suddenly I feel like I accidentally kicked a puppy.

I stand up moving around to sit across from him in the booth. He drops the fork as he takes in what’s happening like he’s witnessing a tornado first hand.

“Sorry to bother you. I just wanted to know how you ordered a burger and fries.” His eyes flicker over my jacket before falling to the table and I almost repeat my question after the long silence. He pushes the plate in front of him away placing the fork he was holding next to his spoon where it lay on a napkin.

“You.. Can have it.. I’m not really hungry..” His eyes flicker up again before falling just as quickly back to the table. He’s so small. And he looks fragile. Kinda like Lester did when we first met.

I stare at the burger in front of me before shaking my head. “Don’t you want it? You ordered it..”

He shook his head so fast I thought he was gonna fly out of the booth. “No, I’m not hungry. Honest. Please just take it.”

If the food didn’t look so untouched and I wasn’t as hungry as I am I might have fought him on it a little harder. Instead I just grabbed the ketchup at the corner of the booth.

“Thanks kid.”

He didn’t nod, didn’t flinch, like he did when I first sat down just continued to stare at the table.

I feel like I’m in too deep to go back to where I was sitting so against everything I’ve ever done in Saltwater I said, “No offense but where are your parents? Or anyone that loves you? You seem really young to be out here in the middle of nowhere like this.”

I say young despite what I really wanted to say which was “babyish”

“It’s not important.” He claims squeezing the fingers he was holding together like he’d just lied to me.

Now I’m definitely more curious. “I mean.. You look like a rich kid. I just assumed someone like you would be surrounded by people you love, who love you.”

He cocked his head up squinting like I’d asked him a personal question. “I’m not a rich kid. This hoodie only costs 75 bucks.”

And yet that’s still more money than my mom has spent on me in a year.

“Besides, I chose to be alone. I don’t want to be with anyone who loves me.” He remarks using air quotes around loves me.

“If you don’t mind me asking why is that?” His hand falls to the zipper on his hood pulling it up and down while his eyes jump back to me from the table. “You don’t have to tell me. But we’re both here, and we’re both strangers.. I have no one to spill your secrets to.”

He raised an eyebrow pointing with his nose to Lester and Reed who were paying no attention to our conversation, idiotically throwing fries at each other.

“I’m not telling them shit. They’re fucking idiots anyway they don’t listen to me.” A hint of a smirk flexed at the ends of his mouth and he turned to me fully.

“Cyrus.”

“Huh?”

“That’s my name!” He said with a playful eye roll.

“Oh. Oh! Tj!” I announce pointing to my chest.

He giggled in the softest way possible and I swear every other noise in the room disappeared.

“Nice to meet you Tj.” Now he was fully smiling and I couldn’t help but grin back. His hand came down from where it was still wrapped around his zipper to fall on the table. “Sorry about that. I just never talk to people about things if I don’t know their name.”

I shrugged, “Don’t worry about it.”

He let out a deep sigh fingering the table. His eyes transfixed on the light brown wood. “I live in the city.” Cyrus began nodding towards the window as he spoke. “Aliayas just a couple miles that way.” He informed me.

I already had an image of the place in my head as though I’d been there prior. It already had beautiful blue lakes and streets so clean you could eat of them. Even if that wasn’t the case any place had to look better then Saltwater.

“I was.. feeling a little stressed out.. what with… Stuff.. happening in my life.”

“Why what happened?” I ask popping a fry into my mouth.

He shakes his head with a smile. “We just met.”

I nod even though for some reason I feel disappointed he won’t tell me. He’s nothing like anyone I’ve ever met before, in a good way.

“You don’t have to tell me.” Cyrus begins, does brown eyes locked onto me. “But.. What happened with you? I mean.. I watched you and your friends pull up here. And I was nervous because of the-” he gestures to my entire body with both hands before reaching up to scratch the back of his head. “You know… I kinda wanna understand.. Pretty much everything.” He finishes with a defeated sigh.

Now I’m laughing in a way I hadn’t since Reed tried to skinny dip in Saltwater Lake after the winter blizzard. “I’m apart of a motorcycle gang.” I explain breaking off to take a bit of the hamburger. “And those two dickheads, are my best friends they have been since we were kids. We all escaped from the absolute nightmare that is the town of Saltwater.”

“Wait.. Is that the town with the gay mom that left her husband?..”

“Shhh!!!” I laugh and so does Cyrus as we both lean closer I whisper, “That was Reed’s mom. Don’t let him know you know about that!”

I’m pretty shocked that news the news was noteworthy enough to travel outside of Saltwater but we live in a time of the Internet so maybe I shouldn’t.

“What’s wrong with having a gay mom?” Cyrus remarks with another soft giggle.

“Absolutely nothing but it’s a long story and Reed doesn’t take it well.”

Cyrus nodded doing the absolute worse job of trying to pull a straight face. “I’m not laughing anymore.” He exclaims covering his mouth with his hand. Once he’s finally gotten himself together he pushes his hands out on the table “So why’re you all the way out here with them? Looking for a break from stress too?”

“Aren’t you asking too many questions for someone who didn’t want to answer me earlier?”

He puts two hands up “Fine, far enough.” I pop another fry into my mouth as he turns his head peering out the surprisingly clean windows. “Which one’s your’s?” He asks pointing to the bikes parked out front.

I tilt my head even though I already know without looking which one belongs to me. “You saw me pull up. Remember.”

“So the one in the middle.”

I don’t know whether he’s sly or perky.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Motorcycles are so dangerous. I mean aren’t you afraid you’ll fall off?”

I smirk at him, “They’re just faster bikes. Have you ever ridden one before.”

His mouth hangs open for a second as he looks from me to my motorcycle parked out front and back to me again. He’s practically standing up where he’s at in the booth. “I.. Mean.. No.. It looks so cool.. But the part of me that likes living prevails over my curiosity.”

I let out a smooth laugh and he plops back down into the booth. “Smart. How about.. I let you ride mine.”

“Wh-wh-”

“Don’t freak out! I know we just met but I wouldn’t let you fall. It’s freeing and easy. And if you don’t let yourself try you’ll never know that feeling.”

He nibbles on his bottom lip before taking in his watch which looks like it costs about the same as my motorcycle. “Oh my god! It’s that late!” He yelps jumping up from the table. I move with him, eyebrows falling as I go. “My god! I’m sorry Tj I gotta go!”

He rushes to the door but not before slapping down a tip of more money then my mom makes in 4 weeks. “If you’re ever in Aliayas. Come find me.” He informs and with that he’s gone.

I take in the sight of him running to a black car just out front and in a couple minutes it’s sliding onto the road smoothly and just out of reach of this diner.

I don’t know how but Reed and Lester managed to sneak up on me. As loud as Reed is in everything that he does it makes me jolt even harder when he comes up directly behind me, with a hand on my shoulder.

“So who’s your boyfriend?”

I barely register if it was Reed or Lester who asked as I reply simply, “Cyrus.”

Reposting the first chapter of This weeds so sticky, you can go read the whole thing here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17198819/chapters/40439861

#tyrus au #tyrus #tj kippen #tj smitten #cyrus goodman #amber kippen #andi mack #andi mack season 3 #reed with the weed #lester andi mack #buffy driscoll #tyrus fanfic #motorcycle au #saltwater

[intothespideyverses]

so I had a season 2b/3 predictions post in my drafts that’s been sitting there since the bar mitzvah episode but now that so many Things have happened I feel like I kinda need to redo it. funnily enough I predicted juffy (but it was one-sided), ham having a midlife crisis (although the midlife crisis was linked to ham having a health scare that caused him to try to ‘live every day like its his last’ and not ham being so Done with his family that he just leaves them for india) and the post also mentions tyrus and g*briel coming back (neither have been been confirmed yet but they’re very likely) so! here’s my New and Improved list of Season 3 Predictions/Ideas:

[Disclaimer: I doubt a lot of this will happen bc my mind automatically goes for the most melodramatic scenario. This is still disney channel and they’re too cowardly to go thru with like half of this tbh. also tw for minor abuse mention!]

The G*briel Plot

-g*be comes back and reminds bex of “””why she can never marry anyone””” just as bowie is about to bring up maybe getting back together again. the reason why they shot a wedding scene and the whole green screen thing is bc bex has a nightmare about marrying bowie but then everyone’s heads turn into gabe’s. the following is literally copy and pasted from the first post and tbh I don’t think things will happen this way anymore (I originally thought miranda wasn’t going to be a snake and that her and bowie would get married, leading bex to run back to g*briel so andi could have a father figure in her life again) but it’s still a p interesting plot I think so: g*be’s an abusive asshole. it’s still disney so I doubt they’d show that much but like…he’s very manipulative and he kisses bex really hard all the time in front of everyone and he’s super possessive, etc. he gives bex the silent treatment every time she hangs out with bowie and thus the whole “ask if they’re mad 3 times” thing and on the third time he always yells at her in front of andi. andi notices all of this and tells bowie but bowie thinks she’s just saying that to break bex/gabe up so she can get back with bowie. that is until he witnesses the tomfoolery himself when the couples are on a double date so bowie takes her aside and starts questioning her but bex lies and this whole ugly thing continues on for several episodes until bex and satan have one last fight that goes too far (he says something about andi probably) thats about to get physical and andi strolls in w/ a phone in her hand like 91 fucking 1 bitch. pack your bags ur going home rat! and he’s finally gone and andi tells bex that she doesn’t need another dad if it means bex puts herself thru that kinda torture. and they have another closure ceremony <3

The Divorce Plot

-ham decides to permanently travel the world. he probably comes back for an episode to get cece to sign them divorce papers. this starts a huge plotline that will probably get ignored after 2 episodes lbr here but we finally see cece SNAP bc the way she’s been behaving lately has definitely been leading up to that

-bex is going off the rails at this. she starts slacking at work and the business that caused the rift in her parents’ marriage in the first place is starting to fall apart. the light bill is going unpaid and bex is crumbling. she doesn’t want anyone to know so she makes andi stay at cece’s while she’s living in darkness. bowie visits one day and is like “tf happened to the lights” and bex has a breakdown. she tells him everything and bowie comforts her and offers to help (how? who the hell knows!). bex is so touched that she admits to having feelings for bowie still. bowie turns her down tho bc she’s in a rly emotional state and doesn’t want to take advantage of her. 

-andi eventually finds out what’s been going on and tells cece. cece is the last person bex wanted to know about cloud ten struggling, as cloud ten was the only thing keeping cece sane. they eventually have a heart-to-heart and bex/andi encourage cece to get some closure from ham

The Wandi Plot/Death of Jandi

-wandi rises. they resolve to just be friends at the end of season 2 but after a lot of things that I’ll mention later, andi realizes walker was the one for her :’). they paint a mural alongside cloud ten and cece makes some offhand comment about them becoming a painting duo, which they LOVE. they go around the town offering to paint on the walls of local businesses and it’s rly cute. god can you imagine the montages?? andi is in puppy love however we have like 5 episodes of her despairing over if walker even LIKES her anymore after months of just being friends. the roles are reversed and she’s the one doing all these things to get his attention. bc he’s not an oblivious Fool like jonah, walker picks up on this relatively fast and wandi is official!!

-that leads us to what will come of jandi? they perish of course. andi starts getting jealous of jonah hanging out with all these high school girls and naturally there’s more and more miscommunication and jonah whines about her friendship with walker etc etc etc just break up already god. andi eventually realizes that she’s just not feeling it and she puts her foot down to bex that he’s just not right for her!! bc tbh at this point the only reason she still fw jonah is bc of bex’s constant encouragement 

The Tyrus Plot

-tyrus happens obviously. if we ever actually get a real apology from tj (which I’m doubting at this point lol) this can happen smoothly. I kinda imagine tj trying to teach cyrus how to swim (swimming is definitely on cyrus’ list of things he can’t do) and the first time it happens tj is SO sure cyrus will be able to do it that he lets him go out on the deep end on his own and uh lmao ya boi almost drowns. buffy’s there and she saves him and she tells tj to stay away from cy bc hello he could’ve McDied and tj, crushed over the fact that cyrus could’ve met a watery grave, actually does what she says. cyrus tells buffy that it was his dumbass decision to go on the deep end tho, and tj didn’t make him do anything he didn’t want to do, so buffy relents. cyrus practices by himself and makes it his goal to learn how to swim in order to impress tj. he invites tj to the neighborhood pool one day as a surprise and he just like...cannonballs into the deep end (but he’s STILL not ready) and again almost fucking dies. tj saves him and he starts yelling at him a la titanic (”you’re SO stupid rose why’d ya do that huh???”) and then tj lets it slip that he would’ve mcfreaking lost it if something ever happened to cyrus bc “you mean a lot to me underdog” or w/e and during this whole rant cyrus realizes that he’s floating!! and he’s like yes bitch i did it im swimming! and tj’s so happy for him that he kisses him and cyrus almost drowns again from shock but it’s all good lol. maybe tj avoids him for a bit after the kiss bc cyrus’ reaction seemed like a rejection, but it wasn’t cyrus was honestly just shook to the core. 

-cyrus lets tj know that he likes him too and they start dating. they definitely keep it a secret from the ghc for a while, probably until the midseason finale. maybe jonah finds out first and that’s how cyrus comes out to him and tells him that he used to have a crush on him too. jonah is flattered and cool w/ it. anyway at first tj doesn’t like going on rly public dates with cyrus, not bc he’s ashamed of him or anything, but bc he doesn’t want anyone to make fun of cyrus (he can take ugly remarks but he’d hulk out if anyone touched a hair on cyrus’ head). cyrus doesn’t care tho and the one time they go on a date, some kids from tj’s school (he’d be in high school by season 3 right?) start messing with them. tj does in fact hulk out but only when one of the demons says something about cyrus. cyrus hauls tj off the creep and they talk in private about not wanting to live in fear but also not wanting to get harassed everywhere they go. when cy tells andi, she tells them that maybe they’d be safer if they went on double dates with her and walker, and so that’s a thing and its cute

The Juffy Plot

-anyway by the season 3b, both wandi and tyrus are thriving. they all hang out a lot leaving buffy to feel like a fifth wheel. she hides it tho bc does she ever express her feelings? she soon finds out that jonah is feeling the same way, and he thinks andi and cyrus don’t rly want to hang out with him anymore. buffy starts inviting jonah to all their outings and anytime the two couples are on a double date or something, buffy and jonah decide to do something else together on their own. cyrus takes note of this and tries to push buffy to ask jonah out since they’re practically dating already but she refuses bc he’s still andi’s ex and that violates girl code or w/e. 

-she goes to bex for advice! but she uses a hypothetical situation instead and changes names. bex, unaware that she’s telling buffy to go after her daughter’s ex, tells her to follow her heart but keep it a secret. meanwhile, jonah is slowly but surely realizing his feelings for buffy, and goes to bowie for advice. bc jonah’s a fool, he doesn’t know buffy has any feelings for him whatsoever, and he asks bowie how he can make her see him That Way. bowie, recycling ideas, tells him to perform a song for her but to do it as if he was just practicing and wanted to see if she thought it was a good song. jonah also doesn’t tell bowie that this is all for buffy lol. 

-so jonah invites buffy to the record store to hang out while wandi and tyrus are doing wandi and tyrus things. he plays some song for her (chemistry perhaps?? i still haven’t heard it yet but if its as good as y’all say...) and buffy is all heart eyes!! until she assumes that he wrote that song for another girl. there’s more unnecessary tiptoeing and drama for an episode until jonah notices that there’s something Up with buffy (she started avoiding him) and demands to know what’s going on. she doesn’t feel like talking about fEeLiNgS so instead he challenges her to arm wrestle. if she wins, she has to fess up. buffy’s like “um?? so all I have to do is let you win” but jonah’s like “like you would ever do that lmao”. she almost lets him win but bc he starts taunting she slams his mf arm into the table!! she fesses up and jonah’s like :D bc duh bitch that song was for you this whole time. they keep it a secret bc of bex’s foolish advice but eventually cyrus finds out and tells them to tell andi. andi’s upset at first but she gets over it. the three couples live in harmony 

The High School Plot

-we see more of the high school now that jonah (and tj?? unless he has to repeat a grade which is seeming likely actually) are there. jonah, who’s used to being the big man on campus, gets bullied for liking frisbee so much and is shamed into doing a “real sport” instead. he hates it and is miserable. he puts on a good face for the ghc bc he doesn’t want them to know he’s struggling. it eventually all comes crashing down when he has another panic attack (the first one in a while after starting therapy WHICH HE BETTER). also we get a look at his home life, I hc that he’s adopted and has a lot of foster siblings that have a lot of their own issues, so he constantly downplays his own bc he doesn’t want to be a “burden” and be abandoned again

-amber becomes a part of the crew and hopefully maybe just maybe is a lesbian. she starts hanging out with a bunch of sapphic baddies. she and jonah become friends and they help each other with their respective mental illnesses 

-through jonah, buffy makes friends with the high school track lesbians <3 they adopt her. one of them tho is Evil and is jealous that some middle schooler is getting all of this attention from the captain so she tries to break buffy’s fucking leg akjhskjdhds I told y’all this was melodramatic 

das it. disney you can send my paycheck to [redacted] within 10-12 business days.

#andi mack #disney PLS let me write ONE episode I keep asking and yet I receive nothing in return #tyrus #all i do is work and churn out plots for a tv show i never will be able to work on #long post

[otnesse]

Analysis on MGS4's ending

Hi. As I alluded to in earlier posts, I mentioned that MGS4's ending really wasn't particularly good or well-written. I've said a few times that sad endings are really overrated regarding realism. Well, I can tell you that MGS4's ending alongside The Matrix Revolution's ending, was so unrealistic that even Disney-style happy endings are a LOT more realistic than them. Might as well cover exactly what the problems with the ending were.

1. Liquid Ocelot's plan and rate of success

The first part of the problem deals largely with the reveal of Liquid Ocelot's true plan, after manipulating Snake into carrying it out for him. See, after Snake shuts down GW (and, inadvertently, the whole AI network), Liquid Ocelot reveals when Snake asked why he didn't stop him that shutting down the AI network was in fact what he planned all along (he had earlier led everyone to believe that he sought to just usurp command via GW, how that would work I don't know since it's technically locked out of the system, so even IF Liquid did indeed try to shoot out JD, he'd still have to contend with AL, TJ, and TR before he can come close to taking over the network). Then he basically gives the history lecture about the Patriots and Outer Heaven's little war between each other before basically gloating about how the world is now "Free from FOXDIE... Free from the System... Free from ID control. Our minds free from their prisons. That is the haven [Liquid Ocelot had] yearned for", and then after a fight basically infers that now with the AIs gone, people will just shoot each other for fun like in the Wild West with full-on anarchy, the complete absence of law and order. Otacon after Liquid Ocelot's death then basically reveals that such didn't come to pass because Sunny "kept the brain stem intact" when writing the code for FOXALIVE, and gives a list of all the elements of society that were preserved to prevent a holocaust that Liquid Ocelot envisioned to free the world from The Patriots.

Here's the problem, though: The stuff Otacon listed as being the vitals of society either wouldn't have been controlled into existence by the Patriots at all (or, heck, even their predecessor organization the Philosophers), or even if they did actually control them, their dismantling would have at worst been a minor inconvenience and not an apocalyptic scenario like the rest of the cast indicated. Here's the list as described by Otacon in the ending:

Otacon: She [Sunny] analyzed Naomi's black box and separated the Patriots' control system from the vital lifelines of society. Water... Air... Electricity... Food... Medicine, communication, transportation...

Let me start by covering each of them and how they would not have even remotely in danger of dying out thanks to the Patriots going away:

A. Water

Water has existed since well before even the Philosophers were founded, let alone the Patriots, so it shouldn't even need to be stated that the Patriots' destruction wouldn't impact water at all (and that's not even getting into rain-clouds). Even if we are to take that to mean water purification for drinking, that's existed since the late 18th century, not to mention made accessible to the public in a practical manner since 1910. There's definitely no way the Patriots would have negatively impacted water unless the Earth was so polluted that water itself was poison, that and maybe a weather-altering device (I guess that might explain why MGSV oddly had Diamond Dogs possessing weather altering technology). On that note, that also would prove to be a problem for citing electricity, which I'll get to in a moment.

B. Air

Like with water, air itself has existed since long before even the Philosophers, let alone the Patriots, were created, as breathable oxygen and also the weather, so their destruction would not have negatively impacted it. I'd expect something like that from Mega Man Zero, where that at least had Harupia being capable of altering the weather as well as his weather station. Probably the only way that would fly is if the Earth had inhospitable weather beforehand (think Fichina before the weather control center was installed in Star Fox Assult).

C. Electricity

One of the first methods of getting electricity involved water mills, and that's not even getting into the Incadescent Lamp (aka, the Light Bulb) that Thomas Edison invented, all of which pre-dated even the Philosophers, let alone the Patriots. And let's not get into Ben Franklin's invention of the electric rod. It's pretty obvious that the Patriots destruction would not destroy that from modern society. And even IF that was meant to imply the Patriots were only able to generate electricity a'la Dr. Weil's having control over all the energy, that only would act as a minor inconvenience, not an apocalyptic scenario. I live in the Branches of Dunwoody, which is rather infamous for being the last place to have restored power in the event of a blackout. No one ends up deciding to just loot and pillage their neighbors via mob rule whenever there was a blackout that occurs. Probably the only time something like that occurred might have been the 1977 blackout, and even THAT had other factors that were being ignored such as the mayor just letting everyone cut loose and not even bothering with enforcing the law.

D. Food

You're kidding right? Food has practically EXISTED since life first existed, which was well before the Patriots or, heck, even the Philosophers were formed. Food was hunted and even grown since time immemoriam, and there were even things known as harvests. The Patriots being destroyed obviously wouldn't hamper food. Not to mention the Food & Drug Administration was formed in 1906, well before the Philosophers were formed, so even doing preventative measures on bad food would not have been severely impacted. At worst, they might do slightly outdated aspects. Even in Weimar Germany during the 1930s, that was more the cause of a loss of money thanks to the Great Depression than an actual lack of food, not to mention in the USSR, that was due to the higher ups adhering to "to each according to his needs, to each according to his will" in a very self-serving manner despite the PR.

E. Medicine

Sure, several cures to diseases that were discovered between, say, 1921 up to 2014 probably would have been hampered if the Patriots were destroyed, but any cures to diseases made prior to that time would have very minimal effect, if any, by the Patriots shutdown. And even there, it would be a minor inconvenience at most, as humanity has managed to survive without modern medicines in the past, and find a way around it.

F. Communication

Probably the only thing I can think of that MIGHT actually be shut down are wireless phones and the internet, which were made by, if not the Patriots, then at a bare minimum the Philosophers. And even THAT would overall be a minor inconvenience at worst. Humanity has communicated by talking face to face, not to mention writing letters, and even the telephone was created during the 19th century by Alexander Graham Bell, so that wouldn't have been impacted much (in fact, I and my family often use dialup as an emergency for a power outage if it knocks out Cell phone usage). So no, communication would not be harmed by the Patriots fall, certainly not to the degree of it being an apocalyptic scenario in any case. Also, combining this with transportation, one of the earliest mail carrier delivery services was the Pony Express, back in the 19th century.

G. Transportation

Other than maybe automobiles or aerial craft, transportation would not be negatively impacted by the Patriots' shutdown. People have used roads since WELL before the Philosophers existed, let alone the Patriots. Not to mention they've used horse buggies and other means of transportation. And since the Ironclad and steamships existed in the 19th century, even the more modern warships wouldn't be negatively impacted. And even regarding cars or airplanes, that would be a minor inconvenience at worst, at least by comparison. Now, that being said, I can sort of understand how that might be bad due to Icepocalypse 2014, but even that didn't result in Armageddon or all of Dunwoody dying (I think there was only one fatality reported from that event).

Overall, the Patriots' total shutdown would not have been even remotely apocalyptic despite what the cast claimed. As such, because of that, Liquid Ocelot's plan, when you get right down to it wouldn't work at all even WITHOUT Sunny's rendition of FOXALIVE preserving everything. It has as much of a chance of happening in reality as revolutions popping up like leprachauns all over the world via what Karl Marx advocated [newsflash guys: other than the USSR, the only other revolutions that occurred were in Germany and Prussia, and even those were put down fairly easily]. It's almost as if Hideo Kojima thought society without the Patriots would have been like what that TV series Revolution depicted.

2. The outcome of Sunny's modifications

So, essentially, thanks to Sunny's modifications, it was supposed to end the Patriots, and avoid Outer Heaven being formed from the dust, leave people "free to choose." There's a small problem with that, however: The people who had those aspects probably would just choose one or the other anyway, and if anything actually makes a neo-Patriots that's arguably even WORSE than the original and/or an Outer Heaven war-torn world all the MORE likely, which could even be seen with Drebin 893's drunken rant to Otacon below:

Drebin           : Yeah, well, it ain't all sunshine and rainbows. Lotta folks lost their entire sense of being the moment SOP went offline. Otacon           : You mean SOPS? I heard some people are going through withdrawals... SOP Syndrome. Drebin           : Yup. SOP kept more than just alcohol under control. Those poor slobs are virtually naked now. Otacon           : From what I hear, over 10 percent are showing symptoms. I guess getting rid of the Patriots won't solve all our problems overnight. Drebin           : You probably already suspected this, but... I'm not actually an employee of AT Security. Otacon           : Huh? Drebin           : The Patriots raised me to be a gun launderer. Otacon    ��      : The Patriots? Drebin           : My earliest memories are of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army)... They kidnapped me... Forced me to fight. Yup. You're staring at a former child soldier. My parents, brothers and sisters... All killed in the war. Guess that makes me what you'd call a war orphan. After that, the Patriots picked me up and brought me into the family business. I was Drebin 893. There's a whole lotta pawns like me all over the world. How you suppose I laundered guns like I did? 'Cause they let me. In fact... I was under strict orders to back you guys from the start. Otacon           : You what? Drebin           : Hey man, don't take it personal. I wasn't the only one under their orders. Otacon           : Huh? Meryl and...? Drebin           : They probably never realized it themselves, but... Rat Patrol Team 01.... Voila! Otacon           : Patriot! Drebin           : Played like a violin. Otacon           : But... Why? Drebin           : Obviously, Liquid's plot was a threat to the Patriots. So they planned to have you guys take care of it. Otacon           : Didn't turn out quite how they planned, though, did it? Drebin           : Yeah, well... I don't think they expected you to crash their System and wipe them out. Otacon           : So does that mean you're out of a job now? Drebin           : Are you kiddin'? I got the DREBINS. All the Drebins in the world are in on it. From now on, we're in business for ourselves. We are pawns no more. Otacon           : Easy there. Drebin           : The White House might've lost its taste for unilateralism... Started to rebuild. But there's a lot of failed states out there that went bankrupt from their PMC habits... And they owe a shit load of money. Now only question is... Who's gonna pick up the tab? I'm sure these new governments will try and keep it under control with PMC corporate reform laws... But it ain't gonna be good enough. They're all sunk up to their eyeballs in the war economy. Might not be a New World Order... But the old order under the war economy's gone for good. I'm guessin' the UN is gonna be more important than ever, what with multilateralism and all. A certain President said it best back during the Cold War... For in the development of this organization rests the only true alternative to war. Then again, the UN itself's just an old 20th-century relic. And if you think about it... When you look at its history... It ain't that different from the Patriots. Otacon           : That's right... The nanomachines used to keep you sober. Drebin           : Crush. Mix. Burn. Repeat.

Based on what Drebin was talking here, there are only two possible outcomes for Sunny's FOXALIVE, neither of which are actually good, in the long run or the short run. On the one hand, you've probably got a booming business for weapons dealers (since the DREBINS, as Drebin 893 pointed out, is a gun laundering group/arms dealer group, and not the legal kind either), which likewise implies that the world is even MORE likely to be at war with each other than before, probably far beyond what even Liquid Ocelot himself envisioned. The other scenario involves the entire world being more broke than Weimar Germany and the United Nations taking over the Patriots role as the NWO organization, arguably being even WORSE than before, meaning the cycle isn't just going to continue, but arguably get even worse, thanks to Sunny, Snake, and Otacon. Put that way, this isn't a bittersweet ending which would indicate at least some positives to the whole thing, it's an outright downer ending with NO ONE winning out, not even Raiden, who has a bone thrown to him for once by letting him actually reunite with his family at long last (in fact, it's about as much of a downer ending as The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson, also The Matrix Revolutions). Actually, if that were the option, letting the Patriots continue to exist and/or having Outer Heaven take over would have been far more preferable options. At least Outer Heaven has a military hierarchy that respects soldiers (and thus really can't qualify as anarchistic since anarchy doesn't allow for any hierarchy, structure, stability, or law and order, viewing such as "oppressive"), and even the Patriots at least attempt to adhere to law and order. Seems like Hideo Kojima just failed to think things through.

Anyways, that's pretty much my two cents on this. There may be more I might think up of later, but for now that covers everything.

[theliterateape]

Fat and Somewhat Happy

RE: Jury awards couple $2 billion in Monsanto Roundup [glyphosate] Cancer Case

It’s pre–apocalyptic grocery shopping: flowers and flatulence and fear of food.

What can I buy that will keep me alive?

Organic is better, but you can settle for BST–free cheese

(if it comes from Wisconsin and not the glowing Pacific Coast).

Look for the BST symbol.

And the Master’s Mark sign

to make sure your kids are not getting that nasty radiation

still leaking from Fukushima

(except when they go out for pizza).

It’s true there’s actually no double-blind fool proof that radiation is bad for you

but it’s hard that it’s hard not to think about Sadako during dinner.

You have to let up when you buy for a party: the taste is the same

no matter what you spend:

and you don’t want to come off like a lunatic

and those people eat that shit anyway

and so do you when you’re at their house.

You can eat what they call conventional avocados,

It being the convention to apply poison first, ask questions later,

most don’t get through

their skins so much thicker than yours.

You can sneak your fingers into the goopy green dip

when you think no one is looking

and lick it off not even bothering to think

about the lesion–and–hemorrhage–inducing

Flavr–Savr Tomatoes with the anti–freeze flounder genes

which have been mercifully discontinued

because they killed the rats that ate ’em.

You do have to skip the tox-alicious chips,

or peek at the bag for or –GMO labels

to avoid the extra layer of poison they spray on the roundup–tolerant corn

• or the glu-FO-sinate–resistant corn

• or the GLY-pho-sate–resistant corn

• or the corn with the Bt bacteria built in—either

—Cry-1-A.105 (MON89034),

—Cry-I-Ab (MON810),

—Cry-I-F (1507),

—Cry-2-Ab (MON89034),

—Cry-3-Bb1 (MON863 and MON88017),

—Cry-34-Ab1 (59122),

—Cry-35-Ab1 (59122),

—Cry-3-A (MIR604),

—or VIP-3-A (MIR162)

which is also in your lovely retro cotton dress

(though that product too may be discontinued

like unsuccessful apparel and dessiccated lords

because the pink bollworm and the Florida army worm are already resistant.

And the Bt killed some more rats. Or some others).

Othering is alive and well these days (Hey! Tom Philpott says

the Obamas

and the Bushes

and the Clintons

and the Romneys

all secretly eat organic foods.

But the Trump glow speaks of a new aesthetic, and

Anyway—so, a few rats have died. Who wants rats

eating our corn? Fuck ‘em. Let ‘em die like the rats they are.”

Who says rats and roaches have to inherit the earth?

They’re not the meek.

But back to the oil (in the chips—remember the chips?

Remember, I told you, you’d have to skip the chips?)

The oil in the chips might be GMO,

so it really is best to use your fingers when no one is looking .

There! A snack! And it’s OK, you’re not that hungry,

and they have organic micro–distilled bourbon and gin on hand.

Of course, the kids can’t drink gin all the time,

even if it makes them smell nice, like Christmas,

So I’m standing as if in supplication, peering at the good old-fashioned ice cream:

is that you, there, churning with

• propylene glycol,

• ethyl acetate,

• yellow dye #5

• and hold the vanilla, but not the vanillin— a very good lice killer, I’m told, vanillin:

I scream / You scream / We all scream for—OK skip it. Skip

the ice cream, but pick up some whole and low–fat and skim and two–percent

(just over a buck at Jewel, if you don’t mind

• the GMO hormones

• that give the cows infections

• that require the antibiotics that are more useless every day)

I limit my angst to four horsemen:

• Jewel for cheaper bread and jam. Except when Mariano’s has a sale.

• TJ’s for bananas, pasta, chips, and apples,

(and just a bite of the samples ‘cause they taste so good).

Pizza, too, though the family hates that kind.

• Caputo’s for produce, wishing it were laced with coke like the watermelon they sold in the 90s.

• Whole Foods for the dry goods: no union but fewer poisons. Whole paycheck? Maybe—but they say we’ve got a choice:

Poorhouse or hospital? Rickets or cancer?

Twenty years from now, when we’re all dying

from a cell tower or silicon disease

we don’t know about yet, will it matter?

No, no one is pure. Not even

Barak, Michelle,

George, Laura,

Bill, Hilary,

Willard and Lenore,

Or Casey Wessel—came down with leukemia today.

Four horsemen—and still no meat to be had.

You can go straight to the farm and inspect it yourself,

unless you want one of those

* USDA self-inspected chickens—

* Racing chickens, speeding along the production line

at 175 birds perminute,

3 per second, like

“We don’t need no stinkin’ inspections.”

Or—Direct from 60 Minutes, compromised but still kickin’—

• The fish we get “from China” (in four–point type).

It feeds directly from the chicken’s ass:

Their crates, arranged in a tiny Chinese Alcatraz,

suspended over a man–made pond.

Yeah, its gross to you and me,

but think of it from the Dante Aligheri fish point of view:

Manna rains down, still warm,

from poultry purgatory up above.

• And the garlic grown in sewage.

• And the cold medicine full of fecal bacteria.

• Silks and that are fresh from chemical baths . . .

Just. Like. You: Your sweet little a carcinogenic soup

Starring formaldehyde (29 names for formaldehyde, and gee she looks well preserved).

And don’t forget A-ZO-di-car-BON-amide—get it while you sleep!

A-ZO-di-car-BON-amide—get it while you sleep!

And just in case you’ haven’t had enough—you can get it for free

in your favorite fast food:

That foam in your mattress so comfy you can eat it up, at

• Subway.

• McDonald’s.

• Arby’s.

• Starbucks, too, except for Starbucks in Europe & Australia, where its not even allowed in their yoga mats or shoes.

• Whatta they afraid of? A little asthma won’t kill ya.

This the poor can’t afford to know. But you know

and you’re getting poorer by the minute, so now you’ll have to forget.

And it’s on to Cassandra’s problem, and Eve’s: How can you un–know it?

• Ignore the Caen study showing cancers in rats?

• It was after all retracted by the journal itself, which is run by

Richard Goodman nee Monsanto. They said it: “No definitive conclusions can be reached.”

The rich though, make it their business to know.

• Their patron, Pandora makes ’em kill the rat.

• Or maybe it’s Hades—who yeah, was a kidnapper and rapist but really did love her. Persephone. Our sister the resister.

It’s time we became resistant, too—followed suit instead of suits. It might be enough

to eat rarely and spare:

• meat once a week

• fish once a month

• rice rarely to sidestep the arsenic still in the soil we spray with new stuff now

• fruit to avoid the acrylamide baked into those

—chips,

—cookies,

—crackers,

—cereal,

—fries.

Another list, but at least this time we know the words.

Is it better, maybe, if the chips are organic

so they only have one kind of poison, or two?

Better if the fish swim in fecal farms

or wild and free

off the hot coast of Japan? )

Anyway

• Organic’s got pesticide drift, curable only if you by a driftcatcher—opposite of a dream catcher— catches garbage where you stand.

• Cassava’s got cyanogenic glucosides,

• Acorns can be toxic in large quantities,

• A pound of greens three times a day means kidney stones and a sluggish thryroid.

• & anyone ever eat too many beans?

Yeah, I know: we’re human and we’re all doomed anyway.

But it’s still gross when Tom’s sinuses swell up

from too much of the weird–ass big–protein in the wheat we invented in ‘71.

Or when Zak throws up after fish from China

and the vomit takes the finish off the hardwood floor.

Or you develop an allergy to eggplant,

which you love so much you keep trying it anyway—

and you’re only sensitive when the eggplant’s non–organic.

That you was me—here I am again.

I know now I can buy three things. And still I shop in the valley of the shadow.

I could thank you,

• Sauget which once was Monsanto, then Syngenta/Pioneer/Dow/BASF/Bayer.

• And AquaBounty/ArborGlen/ArcadiaBioSciences/Mendel/Targeted Growth.

• And lovely suburban City of Wood Dale, thank you more,

for spraying right inside our summer–night windows.

• Thank you Mom, for the color-coded meals, the DDT–laced meat (Grade A: you tried so hard!) But I wish I never wished I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener!

Thank you thank you—there are more—but we’re running out of time.

Thank you thank you thank you all for making it here to the Pre-Apocalypse.

Thank you all for sticking around so we can all go down together, fat

& somewhat happy till the sores set in.

Previously published in “Stubborn” by Sheri Reda, Moria Press 2017.

#food #GMOs #fukishima #roundup #Monsanto #news

[withloveandredlipstick]

15 Under $50 - Fall Haul

It doesn’t feel like fall yet. 

But it’s coming, I promise. I’ve already lit the pumpkin candles and bought the candy corn (don’t judge my love for candy corn). I’ve pulled my sweaters out of storage and come to the annual realization that I need more. Over these past few year, I’ve felt that Fall has been so short, but so sweet. I try to soak up as much of the season before the bitter cold of Winter comes far too soon. So I’m filling my shopping carts with my new Fall Essentials before the temperature even dropped below 70. Let’s get into it. 

1. Chunky Cable Knit Cardigan by DREAMERS BY DEBUT at Nordstrom- $49 with Free Shipping

Fall means layering and neutral layers are the key to putting the comfiest and most stylish outfits together. This chunky sweater is available in all sizes and another trendy fall color, mustard. 

2. Felt Beret by Urban Outfitters - on sale for $15 

So I’m currently in the process of making my Fall/Winter travel plans and I’m buying a beret. In a vague attempt to not jinx where I might be headed for my 22nd birthday, I have been wanting a beret for a while I think that they are the cutest accessory to wear wherever you may end up this Fall fingers crossed I’m under a very specific Parisian Tower

3. 'purity made simple' one-step facial cleanser by philosophy at Nordstrom- $20.40 15% off

I’m going to admit it, I never really had acne. So I’ve lived my life pretty clueless when it came to skincare. I have normal skin, that rarely breaks out, but to keep my skin hydrated and healthy I have used purity face wash since I got the travel size as a free gift from Sephora. It smells amazing and is a 3-in-1 cleanser, so it a huge time saver. It’s an investment, but worth it in a way I can’t describe. 

4. Gale Jacket by O’neill at Nordstrom - $35.70 at 40%

This year’s Fall color palette is to absolute die for. I have worked very hard to build a wardrobe and aesthetic and I have never branched out, but these wine colors make me feel so undeniably fall, y’know? Light jacket weather holds so much potential for Fall activities and this jacket is perfect for the apple picking/pumpkin carving/scarecrow building/pie making... I’m getting carried away. This jacket just makes me excited. 

5. Faux Fur Throw Blankets by Threshold at Target - on sale for $24.49

Home decor on a budget is hard. I fall in love with so many seasonal pieces in department stores and can't justify buying all of them if they are just going to be obsolete in a few months. This faux fur throw from target will definitely add a cozy cabin feel to any home or apartment and it can transition from Fall to Winter. It’s also available in grey and white that can be used year round! 

6. Caramel Apple Halloween Kit from Target - $4.99

Speaking of Fall activities, what a fun way to getting ready for Fall then spending the day trying out new recipes that you can share with your family and friends. This kit at Target has everything you need for a day spent making fall themed caramel apples. Definitely Pinterest worthy, Instagramable moments to be made. 

7. 35O Nature Glow Eyeshadow Palette by Morphe at Ulta - $23.00

The ultimate fall palette. Seriously, 35 fall shades with a mixture of shimmer and matte textures that can be used for so many different looks. I am a huge Morphe eyeshadow fan and think that the shades are super blendable and pigmented. I have also used this palette throughout the year for everyday and glam looks. If you order this palette now, you can also get a free deluxe sized Nars Climax mascara. 

8. Double Duty Beauty The Lip Sculptor Double Ended Lipstick & Gloss from Tarte at Ulta -  $24.00

Of course there is a lipstick fall essential. This Tarte Lip Sculptor is half lipgloss and half lipstick bullet with super hydrating coconut oil. It’s super long wearing and available in neutral and fun shades. How great is it that you can have one go to lip product for 3 different lip looks?

9. Jeffree Grey Plaid Ruffle Mini Skirt from Lulu’s  - $34

Plaid is always on trend throughout fall. This grey mini skirt with the ruffle detail is the perfect combination of girly and chic. Like I said, while we might all be feeling fall, the Mother Nature isn’t exactly following through. This lightweight skirt is the perfect way to feel like fall, but not overheat in the “fall” heat. 

10. Joelle Camel Suade Loafer Slides from Lulu’s -  $25

You’ve got plans this fall! You only have a few short months of that crisp, yet refreshing fall weather to pack your entire fall bucket list into. Slide right into the biggest Fall footwear trend and get to your nearest Farmer’s Market. These slides are available in three different colors, but sizes are running out so just click the link now before you regret it and have to waste time lacing up your booties. 

11. Our Wonderful 1 1/4” Sideways Initial Necklaces in Gold from Zoky Doky - 50% off $24.00

I love these necklaces. I think they look so minimalistic and chic. I was the biggest monogram advocate, but I think I’m just a personalization advocate. Almost every letter looks adorable sideways (Sorry W, X, and L). These are available from different retailers, but I’ve found this site to be great and theres a 15% off code if you sign up from their newsletter. 

12. Pumpkin Pecan Waffles Single Wick Candle from Bath and Body Works -  $8.00 (!!!!)

Are we kidding? $8.00 for the best scented Fall candles. I honestly don’t even feel like I should have to type out why I put this on the list. Fall candles are everything. Pumpkin scented candles are everything. Bath and Body Works is   e v e r y t h i n g. That is all. 

13. Rfid Power Bank Zip Around Wallet by BOC by Born  from TJ. Maxx - $12.99

TJ Maxx has online shopping. This is a fact I found out pretty recently and I am the opposite of mad about it. I love the treasure hunt that is Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Home Goods. It’s the thrill of the good deal and now I can do that through my laptop. The important thing about this Fall Essential is that it charges your phone. Apple orchards don’t have outlets. Football stadiums don’t have outlets. But your clutch will. I think the color combination is perfect for fall and you’ll be able to capture every autumn memory without missing a thing because of low battery. 

14. Cuffed Crop Skinny Jeans by 1822 Denim from Nordstrom - $42.00 with Free Shipping 

Everyone needs good Fall denim. Can’t you just see yourself in these... and the chunky sweater and the loafers... see what I did there? There are certain fall wardrobe staples that I buy more of every year because I know that they will get such good use for the whole season. These are so comfortable and fit true to size. 

15. Wilson Square Frame Sunglasses from Top Shop - $20.00

I don’t spend money on sunglasses. I don’t ask for sunglasses as gifts. I lose, break, step on, sit on, throw out all sunglasses. There is absolute no point in me having expensive shades. These tortoise shells will get me through the few and far between sunny days of fall and won’t cause me to have buyers remorse when they end up on the bottom of my bag or the backseat of my car. 

Feel free to leave a comment below which trends your loving this fall and which fall essentials you picked up for the best season of the year. 

Always, 

#fall #fall essentials #fall fashion #fashion trends #fashion blogging #with love and red lipstick #top shop #Nordstrom #bath and body works #target #accessories #urban outfitters #lifestyle blog #Lifestyle Blogger