#made this for my dad for christmas and forgot to post it so hear it is lol

[ablogformyart]

cross stitch: animals ↳ man fishing & a bass (dec 2021)

#made this for my dad for christmas and forgot to post it so hear it is lol #cross stitch #animals #fishing #bass #art #animal cross stitch #dec 2021

[jessicaslittlelovesickmess]

Stick Season

Pairing: Emily Prentiss x reader, Larissa Weems x reader

Warnings: angst, hints of miscarriage

The team sat drinking in Emily's apartment “Oh and what about that woman you dated! The pretty one” Morgan laughed “Y/n?” She responded confused. “Yeah! What happened to her?” Penelope gasped wide-eyed “Um- she moved away” Emily swallowed.

“She was so pretty” JJ sighed leaning back on the sofa “I still remember her babysitting Henry for me” she smiled “She has talent” JJ tilted her drink. The radio played softly in the background as the group made Emily's ex the main subject "Imagine having to tell people how badly you fumbled" Morgan shook his head.

Penelope hummed along before starting to sing, JJ joined in until Spencer and Morgan hummed too "And I'm terrified of the weather, 'cause I see you when it rains". Emily closed her eyes listening to the music, Hotch and Rossi looked knowingly. This was you.

"Doc told me to travel, but there's COVID on the planes" They all stood to dance not realising the lyrics just yet or maybe they did. "And I love Vermont but it's the season of the sticks" Emily's eyes opened you always wanted to visit Vermont, that's where your mum was from. It had been two years almost since you had broken up "And I saw your mom, she forgot that I existed" Emily wanted to laugh.

"And it's half my fault, but I just like to play the victim" She knew it was partly a dig at her "I'll drink alcohol 'til my friends come home for Christmas". You never drank because your dad was an alcoholic "And I'll dream each night of some version of you!!!" Spencer's voice cracked.

"That I might not have, but I did not lose" Emily quickly stood, on a race to the bathroom, closing the door only making the music seem louder. "No, I am no longer funny 'cause I miss the way you laugh. You once called me forever now you still can't call me back."

She had to find you and it wasn't hard she knew you tried to contact her still Emily watched the phone ring through unable to face she had hurt you. Stick season was the name of your song. It came out a year ago but now you were posting some gorgeous blonde on Instagram,

You were finally doing everything you had always planned, you looked happy Larissa had proposed on your anniversary she seemed nice. The more she scrolled Larissa was a principal for what school it didn't say but your following had boosted. You'd made it just like you spoke about.

There was another picture- a few actually that stood out a picture of a dove but you were scared of birds the caption read Joanne Prentiss. Emily didn't know a Joanne and definitely not one with her last name, it was posted a few months after you broke up. Another picture closer to when you had moved out was two plates but only one set of cutlery. It flew over Emily's head, had you been seeing Larissa longer than the internet said?" she wondered still stalking you.

"I hope this pains just passin' through, but I doubt it" Emily slumped against the bathtub watching the last two years of your life in pictures. Everyone made sure to remind her how she let you go but back then it felt best.

You will marry Larissa who helped you gain your shine back and she'll rot at work, you will continue a family while hers will grow without her. You will be happy and that's all she could hope for until she accidently liked a post from when you moved to Vermont.

"Em? Are you okay?" you messaged not long after but Emily couldn't bring herself to say the truth "I'm great, Penelope was on my phone" she frowned. 'Okay, I'm just checking but it's good to hear you're still alive' Two years for this, Emily still lying. It's the alcohol she tried to pass 'Yeah I guess, I heard your song it's...' Emily typed only to delete it 'Yeah, I'm sorry I wasn't there' No Emily.

'I love you- no' 'yeah I guess so, I see you're well' the song was coming to an end "Now your tire tracks and one pair of shoes. And I'm split in half, but that'll have to do" JJ sang loudly. It took a moment for you to respond 'Yeah it took a while, life was tough but it wasn't anything I hadn't gone through before'.

'Can we be friends?' Emily was quick to text 'I'm not sure, you really hurt me but only time will tell. I have to go now Em, Larissa just got home but please take care'.

#imagine #wlw #emily prentiss x reader #emily prentiss #criminal minds #angst #larissa weems x female reader #larissa weems imagine #larissa weems #larissa x reader #larissa weems x reader #emily prentiss imagine #Wednesday 2022

[greazyfloz]

Bend Til We Break - Chapter 13

previous chapters

Quinn has really been putting in the effort to be my friend and to be a good father. He asks every other day what I need for the nursery at my apartment. Today is December 5th, and I still don’t have cribs for the babies. I took Quinn’s offer to go look at cribs together. 

As I am getting ready my parents sent me a picture of them at the airport. I completely forgot they were going the whole month of December. Being the hormonal mess I am I start to panic, Quinn walks in to my apartment and rushes to my side when he witnesses me walking back and forth fanning my eyes. 

“What happened?” he says urgently

“I’m going to be alone on Christmas” I say trying not to cry

“No you aren’t”

“Yes, my parents booked a trip in the summer for the whole month on December because they thought I was going to your house”

“Well, you can still come home with me”

“Quinn…”

“Just pretend like it’s their first Christmas at dad’s house, then next year mom can have them” Quinn says, making me chuckle. 

“Are you sure?”

“Of course” he says, “we can just do the gender reveal while we are home and Facetime your parents” Quinn suggest

“You wanted your team to be there though”

“I’ll send them pictures, they’re fine” Quinn laughs

“Fine, just a small one then”

We go out looking for cribs and buy way more stuff then needed. Once we get back to my place, Quinn helps me bring everything up to my apartment. He offers to help me set up the cribs, and we both sit out spreading all the parts all over the nursery. 

A couple weeks later I found myself at the Canucks games with Bella, Brock’s girlfriend. At this point I am pregnant enough to look as if I could have a child tomorrow, but I’m having twins so I’m only getting bigger. “Oh my god, you have the cutest bump” Bella says as I show her a picture I made Quinn take of me before the game. 

“I know, It randomly grew overnight. Like I just popped” I laugh

“You need to post that!” Bella says

“You think?”

“Yes, do it”

I take my phone out and upload the picture to Instagram. 

“So Christmas in Michigan?” she asks hesitantly

“Yeah, it’ll be fine”

“You and Quinn are???”

“Just friends” I say sadly

“You sound like you want more with him”

“Of course I do, he just messed up way too bad so I won’t let him back in”

“Well that is a good idea” she says and the final horn goes off. 

Bella and I go downstairs to the ice level and wait for Brock and Quinn. Quinn comes out first and makes his way over. “Hey beautiful” Quinn says

“Quinn..” I say making Bella laugh

“What I was talking to our girl” Quinn says

“A girl?!” Bella exclaims and I give Quinn a look

“Shit oops” Quinn says 

“I won't say anything!! 2 girls or boy and a girl?” she asks

“Boy and a girl”

“So cute, oh my god!” Bella says, making me smile.

“Well we have a flight to catch, I will see you in a couple of days!” I say to Bella giving her a hug before Quinn and I head out. 

Quinn drives us to the airport and we make our way to the hangar as we are flying private to Michigan. We walk up onto the plane and sit in the seat across the small plane from Quinn. “You should get some sleep, It’ll be 7 by the time we get to Canton” Quinn says. I nod and close my eyes before drifting off. 

I am awoken by Quinn stroking my cheek with his hand, “Hey Y/n, we’re landing soon” I hear Quinn say. I sit up a little and look over at him. Quinn is looking at something on his phone and I watch him smile.

“What are you looking at?” I ask

“You’re post” he says as he looks back down to type something in the comment box

Yourusername

Liked by _quinnhughes, jackhughes & others

yourusername 28 weeks & 5 days and I’m still growing #twins

View all 209 comments

_quinnhughes the whole crew😍

Canucks congrats Quinn & Y/n!!!

Fan6549 OMG CONGRATS

We make our way to the parking lot where Ellen is waiting for us. She brings both of us in for a big hug then helps us put our bags in the car. “You are glowing Y/n” she says. I smile and thank her and I hop in the backseat. 

We get to the Hughes’ and I hop out of the back making my way into the house. I bring my bags up to Quinn’s and fall on his bed for a nap. I wake up around 10:30 and open my bag and get my dress and makeup and get ready for the day. 

I make my way downstairs and to the kitchen, and Jack is there eating cereal. He stands up and walks over giving me a hug. “You look amazing,” he says, flashing a smile.

“Thanks Jack” I say and pour some cereal. We chat in the kitchen for a bit about the flight and vancouver until Quinn comes in to tell me that we should start getting ready because most of the guests have arrived. 

I follow Quinn into the living room where everyone was and greeted a bunch of people and thanked them for coming. A lot of people were asking questions about my pregnancy and how I was doing before Ellen caught everyone’s attention. 

“Y/n, Quinn. Each of you get a balloon and a needle. Time to reveal” Ellen says. I smiled at Quinn as I stood up and grabbed a balloon. “Okay, on the count of three” Ellen says

“One… Two… Three!!” everyone yells. On three Quinn and I popped our balloons revealing both pink and blue confetti. Ellen walks over and gives Quinn and big hug while Jack jumps up and quickly gives me a hug whispering “congratulations” in my ear. 

Jack pulls away and Luke comes in giving me a hug after. I talked to a bunch of people for a bit before I get tired again. I sneak off upstairs and into Quinn’s room. “Where are you going?” I hear Jack say from his room. I walk over and lean on his door frame. 

“I need to take this dress off, I feel huge” I say laughing

“You are not huge” Jack says, “I think you look great”

“Thanks Jack” I say and sit on his bed. Jack sits beside me.

“So how are you really?” he asks

“I’m- I’m freaking terrified Jack. Twins. I can’t do this!”

“Stop worrying, you will be fine. You got Quinn, and me” he says resting a hand on my thigh. I look down at his hand “You’re going to do an amazing job rai- oh sorry” he says realizing his hand placement was starting to get a little high as he rubbed my leg. I reach down and put my hand on top of his, stopping him from pulling his hand away. We sit for a second looking in each others eyes until Jack leans in, I meet him halfway and we press our lips together. The kiss becomes deeper and deeper turning into a full makeout session Jack pulls away to take his shirt off then reconnects his lips with mine. “Wait” I say pulling away from Jack, “This is so wrong, I can’t do this right now Jack” I say standing and making my way to Quinn’s room. Leaving Jack there watching me leave.

#quinn hughes #quinn hughes imagine #quinn hughes fic #nhl writing #nhl fic #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagine #hockey imagines

[sleuth2k7]

Christmas deductions - whose wrapping paper is whose?

This post is coming a few days later than I intended, but it is still December! Inspired by @studies-in-the-art-of-deduction's post about deducing presents and @a-study-in-sepia's post deducing presents under her tree.

Each year, my parents randomly choose a different wrapping paper for the seven people in our house. For the past few years, my parents have had my siblings and I guess whose wrapping paper belongs to who - whoever gets the most correct gets to open the first gift. Not important to the post, but I did win this year, buuuut I only got 3 out of 7 of my guesses correct. For this post, I'm focusing on the 3 correct guesses and how I used observations/deductions to get those 3 right. I say both observations and deductions because I'm including information collected in the weeks leading up to Christmas and also physical examination/deducing of wrapped gifts.

--

I get Amazon package notifications on my phone as my family shares one account, and I saw a 3D printer pop up in November. I knew that my Dad had wanted one for years and had been collecting the plastic-y materials for 3D printing for years too. So that's his present: I know from this that one of the larger presents must be a 3D printer. But which box is his? There were four larger presents - 3 different wrapping papers, with one wrapping paper being used twice. Related to that, I remembered a conversation with my Mom in November - she had been excited about a present for Sibling Y and told me about it, referring to it as one of the presents in the stack of four large boxes. She then slipped and mentioned that the item was in two separate boxes. I now know Sibling Y's wrapping paper. So I went to the other two large presents and picked both up: one was light and one was much heavier - 3D printers are heavy, so I know what my Dad's wrapping paper is. (Note: I double checked this deduction by looking at whether that wrapping paper had very few gifts, as my Dad typically has the fewest, and that wrapping paper did.) With the last large present, I did not deduce correctly whose it was - but I know why I didn't so I'll explain. Months ago, I was told how Sibling R's suitcase had been broken and how she would get a new one for Christmas. I forgot this conversation, because if I had remembered I would have known the final large box was a suitcase. Why did I not realize this when I picked the box up? Because of a conversation I remembered in November where my mom had told me she wasn't sure how I'd fly back to my place with my gifts. I swear she said that I had a gift or two that was too "big" but she told me post-Christmas that she had meant too heavy, not big. I had taken it as meaning my wrapping had to be the one the fourth large box was, since that was the only box left that would be too big for a suitcase - which is hilarious to me now because it literally was a suitcase. Oops. Lesson learned though: don't look at physical data through the lens of a conclusion you'd come to before looking at the physical data.

Those deductions were made through a combination of paying attention prior to Christmas and physical observations. The third wrapping paper that I deduced right was Sibling N's - I found two presents, deduced what was inside, and based on that knew which sibling that was. Box #1: I shook this box and could hear a liquid sloshing around inside. In the weeks before Christmas, there had been a lot of talk of body sprays and perfumes from Siblings R and N. Based on how the sloshing sounded, this was not a perfume bottle, since the sloshing was too "big" if that makes sense - I could tell the bottle was bigger and there was more liquid than a perfume bottle. Sibling R uses perfumes and doesn't like body sprays, and Sibling N predominantly uses a body spray - so I deduced that this box had her specific brand of body spray. I marked the wrapping so when she opened it on Christmas day, I could confirm that I was right (I was). Box #2: I picked up a few other boxes with the same wrapping as the body spray, looking for any indication of another gift Sibling N would be likely to get. One was a long (maybe a foot (or 2 hands length), rectangular box. I shook it and based on the sound I thought there was one item inside: similar shape to the box, long and rectangular. I deduced that this was a flat iron or curling iron of some kind, since several of my siblings, including Sibling N are always fighting over/stealing each other's flat irons. I confirmed this deduction on Christmas - she had gotten a flat iron.

I may make a second post that includes where I went wrong with the 4 incorrect guesses, but I will definitely do another post like this one next year - it was fun. :)

#deduction #deductionist #learning deduction #deductive reasoning #sleuth2k7

[curse-04]

Written for @hinnyfest

Prompt 11: Nightmares

A/N: Posting late because I forgot to post yesterday, lmao.

-------

Sirius…

It still felt like a dream sometimes. It was childish, but Harry kept hoping that Sirius would reveal himself from around the corner and start singing some song that would basically amount to 'I got you good, didn't I?'

But he didn't, Harry thought as he sipped his hot chocolate. It had been over a month since Sirius had died, and surely by now, he would have given up the jig, right?

His thoughts were cut off when he heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs. They were light, so it wasn't any of the Weasley brothers, and this person managed to avoid the creaking stairs, which only meant that it could be Ginny.

Sure enough, Ginny stepped into the Living Room of the Burrow, making her way into the Kitchen where Harry was sitting. Her face was blank, and a lot paler than usual, the reason for which Harry knew very well.

She'd had a nightmare.

"Hey, Ginny," Harry said.

She jumped so far back it was all he could do not to burst out laughing. He managed to control himself though.

"Hey," she muttered.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing," she lied, looking away.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked gently, not wanting to scare her away. He didn't know what it was about her, but he felt amazing when he was around her…

"I just said it's nothing," Ginny replied.

"And I know you're lying," Harry sighed.

She looked at him, seemingly trying to find something. "I don't need to tell you anything," she said finally.

Harry nodded. That was fair, especially considering what arse he'd been to her over the years. He didn't even have the decency to start a conversation, and then he forgot about the most traumatising part of her life…

"I'm sorry," Harry said before he could stop himself.

"What for?" She asked, frowning.

"For forgetting," Harry replied. Well, there was no turning back now

"It's alright," she said casually as though he was just apologizing for missing a pass in Quidditch.

"It's not alright, Ginny. I-"

"I'm not mad because you forgot," Ginny said, giving him an odd look that he couldn't figure out. "I just wished that you would have said… I don't know, something after Christmas last year."

His guilt came back in full force, and once again, he felt like the worst piece of ahit on the planet. "I thought that you didn't want to be reminded of it again."

She laughed harshly, a sound he was surprised to hear from her. "I can't forget about it no matter how much I want to. You weren't reminding me of anything I don't keep recalling almost every day."

He swallowed. "I'm sorry for not coming to you then," he said.

"Like I said, I'm not mad at you," she said. "You've got better things to do. I know."

"I don't," Harry said. "Or, well, I didn't at the time."

She shrugged and went to the sofa, seating herself down on the edge near the empty Fireplace. Harry made another hot chocolate and took it to her.

"Here," he said.

She looked up at him, and gave him a small smile as she took the drink. "Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," he replied, sitting down on the armchair near the other end of the sofa.

A good ten minutes passed, both of them peacefully, and quietly sipping their drinks when Ginny spoke. "I dreamt of Dad dying."

Harry blinked and it took him a moment to reply. "What happened in the dream?" He asked, knowing that she probably didn't want another 'I'm sorry'.

"I basically saw what you described," Ginny said. "Except… it wasn't from the eyes of the Snake. I was standing there, unable to move, or even look away."

He hesitantly placed his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze, prompting her to snap her head to him. He didn't have anything to say, though, so he just took another swig of his drink, pleased to see that she hadn't taken her hand back.

"I see Sirius die," Harry said a while later. "It plays like a loop in my head. I'm sick of it."

"Have you tried Dreamless Sleep?" She asked, squeezing his hand this time.

Harry sighed and ran a hand over his face. "It's addictive," he said. "Other sleep Potions are too, and the ones that aren't addictive are ineffective. It just doesn't go both ways."

"Yeah. I thought so too, but still…" Ginny trailed off, looking at the Fireplace.

"What do you usually do when you have a nightmare?" Harry asked after a few minutes.

"Sit in my bed, try to breathe, then I try to sleep again," Ginny said. "If I can't, or don't want to, then I finish my homework, or learn a Spell, basically anything to keep me occupied. You?"

"I just go down to the Common Room and sit there," Harry muttered, feeling a bit stupid now. He had a Dark Lord after him, and this is what he did with his time?

Ginny didn't seem to find it odd though, she just nodded and said, "That's what I used to do. But then… I don't know, I felt like I could do more… so I did."

They sat there for a few more minutes, discussing their nightmares and finishing their drinks. "You know," Ginny said. "You're not bad company. The way Chang said it, you were an absolute Troll."

Harry groaned. "Don't remind me of that, please," he said, making a face.

"That bad?" She asked sympathetically.

"Yeah," Harry said, shuddering. "It was abysmal."

She laughed. "That's my entire relationship with Michael. It's a blessing he was in another year, I swear."

Harry laughed. "I still don't get why you said yes to him. He's such a…" he trailed off, unable to find the words.

"Snob? Cry baby? Ravenclaw?" She listed off, ticking each one on her fingers.

"Yes!" Harry exclaimed, causing them both to burst out laughing.

"You know," Harry began a few minutes later. "If you wanted a… partner or anything, you know, for keeping you company at night… you can come and find me."

"Keeping me company?" Ginny repeated with a smirk. "Is that what you call it?"

Harry furrowed his brow before he understood what she meant. "No!" He cried, causing her to bat his hand and shush him.

"Do you want to wake everyone up?" She hissed. "Merlin, I was just kidding."

"Sorry, sorry," he whispered, grimacing. They waited for a few more minutes but no one seemed to have heard his little outburst.

"They could sleep through a Caterwauling Charm, I swear," she said, causing him to snort.

"Bet the Fat Lady could wake them up with her singing," Harry said.

"Maybe," she admitted. "But then I'd have to hear that too, and I'd rather chew my own foot off," she replied.

They both laughed again, and Harry realized this was the most he'd laughed in… a long time. Ever since Cedric died actually. It felt nice, being able to forget his troubles like that…

"As for your offer… I think I'd like to try it out," Ginny said, cutting off his thoughts. "But only if you promise to come find me if or when you have a nightmare."

She held a fist out, and he bumped it with his own. "Deal," he said with a grin.

Little did he know… that decision might have just been the best one he'd ever made.

#harry potter #harry/ginny #hinny #ginny weasley #harry x ginny #hinnyfest

[rahullkohli]

Hi, Annika. I just saw your last post and I wanted to check in and see if you're doing okay. I am sending you my best.

jesus christ this is two months old, i am so sorry. thank you so much for checking in on me, it's honestly so nice to log in to see. i appreciate it so much. i'll just put explanation under a cut because it's all just a lot. you don't have to read, but at least i can use it to dump my brain for what's been going on, because i don't have anyone to talk to about it.

but ily for caring about me, i truly was scared to log in and find that no one had noticed i was gone and that people just forgot i existed.

so basically, my dad was in the hospital with a blood clot in his eye at the beginning of december, which fucked up his sight a lot. and everything was just so heavy with christmas being the worst time of the year for me, and then on top of that last year was absolute hell for me so i just fell heavy into the depression.

then on january 4th or sth my dad had another blood clot in the brain, which brings us to the ninth blood clot in his brain in about two years. this time around was the worst hit so far, and he now needs so much help. so i'm basically his primary caregiver again. he has a nurse that comes a couple times a week, and social health workers coming every day to make sure he eats, do some cleaning, help with stuff like laundry and such, which is a huge relief. but there's still so many other things he can't help with, and that all falls on me. like going to his hospital appointments with him because his memory and eyes are basically worthless at this point.

on top of that my depression is just getting worse and worse. except for when i go to help my dad, i don't see anyone socially. my dad never asks me about how i'm doing, how my life is, or anything like that, neither does the rest of my family. i only hear from them when they ask about our dad. so i am more or less just a tool for them.

and tumblr just started feeling like such a negative place. most of what i saw was people telling others what they were allowed to like and not like, and if you didn't adhere to those rules you were told you were a monster. and most stuff i saw on my dash seemed to be new things i didn't have the energy to engage with (i still haven't watched wednesday even though i was so excited for it). and it was a lot of all the bad crap happening in the world, and tumblr didn't feel like an escape any longer, it just felt like it was amplifying my depression, and speaking into the catastrophe thinking side of my OCD and anxiety, and it made my intrusive thoughts hit a level i honestly haven't experienced before, and i was genuinely afraid of myself.

and i'm just exhausted. the past three months i have been in bed when i haven't been doing stuff for my dad. the only thing i have for myself to keep me sane atm is running twice a week, yoga once a week, and song lessons once a week. the support person i got switched to after my old one quit is on sick leave now, so i have a temp, but i can't really talk to her because all of my shit is just such a heavy baggage and i don't know where to start, especially since i'm hopefully only seeing her for another month.

i'm just tired. if i didn't have cas to take care of, i think i would have asked my doctors about options for psychiatric hospitals for a while. i feel like a zombie most of the time, and i only keep going because there's not really any other alternative. so i guess that's that.

at least i was able to work things out with my vet bill, and i'll be paying the last installment next month, and cas is strong and healthy as if nothing happened.

also, i'm using pedro pascal to cope.so that too.

#anonymoose #ask #thank you for caring about me anon ily <3 #i hope i can be back now

[twinksintrees]

Please tell more about your playlists! I've been listening to some of them and I'm rll curious about why you put certain songs in playlists and ur anlysises on them!

thank you for the ask!! Bc this ended being way longer than I thought it would be, I’m only going to be focusing on one playlist here, but I will write up similar post for most of my other playlists as well. Today we will be focusing on my Glenn Close playlist.

Edit: a link to the playlist has been added below bc I forgot to put that in when I first posted lmao

Analysis under the cut

Carry on my wayward son: this might be one of the simplest to explain, and its because the cast themselves have joked and talked about how this song fits glenn, even going so far as to make the title to one of the most important glenn centric episodes. It has to be on there imo.

Highway to hell: this one is also simple to explain, glenn became a demon and went through his owm highway to hell, as it were. It also fits into his dad rock theme, as does carry on my wayward son.

I miss having sex but at least i dont want to die anymore: i dont have a real reason for this one honestly, i think i heard this song on a random playlist and it made me think of glenn? I think theres a version of glenn in my head that lives as a human and goes back to the human realm as normal with the other dads and this would be from his pov after he grows and gets older and does some healing i guess?? It doesn’t make a lot of sense ik.

Anna sun: this is one of the songs most closely (heh) associated with glenn in my head. This song makes me think of young glenn, fresh after morgan died, being left with a 7 y/o Nick and no idea how to cope with either of their grief. The chorus of “this house is falling apart” sung with more and more intensity makes me envision a scene where its young glenn, standing in a small, lonely apartment holding a tiny nick in his arms as he looks around, no idea what to do without his wife and best friend here to help him. The lyrics “we got no money, but we got heart” make me think of glenn, failing rockstar, determined to make a way for himself and for his son.

Sickly sweet holidays: i found this one on another glenn playlist, and the christmas theme was perfect, but also, the lyrics “im crying every day, i wish that you were here, when christmas comes this time each year” are so heartbreaking applied to him and morgan if its him singing that after shes gone.

Last christmas: it fit the christmas theme and i just liked the jimmy eat world version lmao.

Home: this song. just breaks me. The pain and the heartbreak and the tragedy of losing someone you care so deeply about just is glenn with morgan. The lyrics “and i got mad when they said that you weren't coming back to me, cause i hate hearing the truth” are crushing in this case especially because glenn does hate hearing the truth. He’s the type of person who avoids his problems until they slap him in the face. He does that with his grief, doesnt acknowledge his or his son’s pain, and it isnt good for him. For either of them.

Ghost of york: this song is on the playlist solely because it slaps and because of the lyrics “and from the corner of my eye/i saw you dressed all in white/i saw you pass right by/maybe i had too much wine/you never said goodbye” for me, this song speaks to a sad, depressed glenn mourning his wife and drowning his pain with drink, wishing he just had the chance to say goodbye one more time.

Afraid: “when i wake i'm afraid somebody else might take my place” i mean, this literally happened with him and jodie. The chorus is glenn talking shit about jodie. “It hurts but i wont fight you” is glenn accepting jodie as Nick’s new father.

Pope is a rockstar: i dont care i dont care if the lyrics are ‘pope is a rockstar’ Glenn sang ‘go little rockstar’ to nick when he was young and you can't change my mind.

Never love an anchor: oooohh boy. Oh boy. Pain. let's go. With the first lyrics alone “on some level i think i always understood/that these hands of mine were clumsy not clever/and i tried to do the best that i could/ but try as i might i could not bring myself to hold you” this is a very glenn song. Glenn Close was not meant to be a father, no matter how much he loved his son. In fact, with the next set of lyrics we’ll be looking at “a ship could never really love an anchor/so i did the only thing that i could/and severed the rope that set you sailing from my harbor” they can be tied directly to him making the choice to let nick go at the trial. “There are times when i still wonder about you/you are someone i have loved but never known” glenn still loves nick, but that's not the same nick he raised. He is someone glenn has loved, but never truly known after the swap with jodie. “You’ll never see the reasons i had/for keeping my claws away when they were close enough to hurt you” nick will never really know the choice, the sacrifice glenn made when he called for the switch. He will never know the pain glenn saved him from losing two parents. “I am selfish i am broken i am cruel” represents all of glenns self hatred and negativity. I think at certain points pf the podcast he genuinely believes all of those things about himself. “I am all the things they might have said to you” is glenn being terrified nick will end up exactly like him and so deeply hoping he doesn't.

The light behind your eyes: this song is from glenn’s pov in prison. “If i could be with you tonight/i would sing you to sleep/never let them take the light behind your eyes” the idea of him being able to get out and sing this for his friends around a campfire, or sing this softly to his son one last time keeps him going. “I failed and lost this fight/never fade in the dark/just remember you will always burn as bright” is glenn literally losing the court case and getting sentenced to the prison, he is the one fading in the dark, and the only thing keeping him going is the memory, the brightness, of his friends and of his son. I also think glenn sang this to nick as a lullaby when he was a little kid.

Death as a fetish: this song also represents glenns incredibly negative internal voice. The repetition of “i will never be good enough” is all of his internal thoughts that he will never open up about or share with anyone.

The soccer journals: read for a better explanation below

Hey there delilah: read the post linked below for an explanation. @that-one-queer-punk pointed this one out to me and actually wrote a fic based on it, and I’ve linked it below if you wanna check it out, it’s good shit.

Cold cold man: this for me is young glenn when he and morgan are just starting to get together. He’s very devoted to her and he truly believes “the only bed worth sleeping’s the one right next to you” he can appear to be smooth, suave guy who sleeps around, but he honestly enjoys a monogamous relationship and would never betray her that way.

Therapy: glenn needs therapy. Plain and simple.

#dndads glenn close #dndads #dungeons and daddies #glenn close #character analysis #if there any spelling mistakes I’m so sorry #just roll with it #if anyone has any follow up questions I’d be more then happy to answer them #the other character playlist breakdowns will take a while to get down with but they are coming so I hope you #enjoy those in the future :D

[siderealscribblings]

I posted 481 times in 2022

187 posts created (39%)

294 posts reblogged (61%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ladyserendipitous

@lilyellowink

@frostedpuffs

@markrial

@ladynoirist

I tagged 120 of my posts in 2022

#writeblogging - 10 posts

#my writing - 10 posts

#mwd - 6 posts

#mending warped designs - 6 posts

#rift wars - 3 posts

#thanks! - 3 posts

#ladynoir fic - 3 posts

#guilt anger and anxiety babyeee - 2 posts

#thank you! - 2 posts

#the rift wars - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 126 characters

#i have been meaning to reply to this with something more profound but i am mentally exhausted from work so gonna keep it brief

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

When you find a promising fic but see “Character Bashing” in the tags

28 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

#4

Sometimes when the burnout is real and I’m fucking sick of writing the same tense, awkward relationship I hand Chloe the mic. 

29 notes - Posted October 20, 2022

#3

Mending Warped Designs: Deconstruction Site

Paris, France

Nino slid a box off the top shelf, kicking the closet door closed as he dragged the box over to his desk in a study he shared with Alya. There were few things that made him nervous these days; being nigh invincible meant that the world was running out of things to seriously hurt him with. But sitting around while Alya was on patrol without him always set his teeth on edge.

Maybe it was just a reminder that his shield had its limits.

"Where the hell did I put that stupid DVD…" Nino muttered, rifling around the box for a movie he promised Chloe he had tucked away somewhere. If he had to go back out to the living room and admit that it would be easier to rent it on the internet, he would never hear the end of it. And the last thing he needed was to give Chloe one more thing to needle him over.

The fact that she was still crashing with them made things all the more complicated.

He liked to think he and Alya were on the same page about the direction their life was going; college, marriage, careers, and kids (maybe). But Chloe, as she always did, seemed to complicate things to the point where the map he had in his head no longer worked for them. Or maybe he was just pushing off responsibility onto Chloe so he didn't need to worry about where he stood with Alya.

Rifling around in the box, Nino paused as his hand landed on a worn newspaper clipping stuck to the underside of a picture frame. He could see his younger self, smiling with his arm wrapped around Rena Rouge on one side with a bony black arm jutting out from behind the frame on the other. Carefully, he tried to tug it out, wriggling his hand gently to avoid ripping it in-

"Did you find it or do you owe me thirty euros plus the cost of Zoolander on streaming services?"

Rip!

Chloe's voice over his shoulder startled Nino and the newspaper came apart in a sudden rip with a Chat Noir's disembodied arm dangling off the corner of the page.

"Ooh, hope that wasn't important," Chloe said with a wince as Nino fished the other half of the picture out of the box. It was an old pic taken around the time they were sixteen, fresh off an Akuma fight and looking happy to be alive. On the other side, Ladybug had her arm wrapped around the waist of a weathered-looking Chat Noir.

"It used to be," Nino said, laying the torn picture on the table and lining it up as best he could. "Hasn't been for a while, I guess."

Read More...

30 notes - Posted February 23, 2022

#2

Just had a thought of Luka and Kagami having a competition on who got told the worst lie back when they were dating Marinette and Adrien

Luka: she told me she had to cancel our date last minute because she had to go christmas shopping with her mom. It was June.

Kagami: he said he couldn't go to my archery competition because he had dinner with his dad.

Luka:...ok you win.

Luka: Marinette once told me that her cat was on fire and I believed her for half an hour

Kagami: Adrien said that he forgot that he was meeting someone for a movie.

Luka: That doesn't sound so-

Kagami: We were at the movies

31 notes - Posted August 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

We stay grinding; we stay winning

35 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[coffeehazard]

HELLO TUMBLR I AM NEW PERSON

Never have posted here before, but I wanted a place for all my work experiences, be it funny, stressed, terrible, or probably normal!

I hope you guys enjoy the first one: My getting started experience!

So back in 2021, I was finally 16, old enough for some simple low paying jobs for part-timers. I thought I was just going to work nights for a couple of hours after school, but that quickly changed after christmas. However, that will be a story for another time.

When I started my job search, I quickly ruled out 3 places, gas stations, mcdonalds, and seasonal hires. (Since I started at the beginning of a new school year, seasonals were out of the question.) So I applied at every restaurant in town, even one of our grocery stores. For a total of, I believe, 18 rejections. Taco Bell was our last place(I was also rejected from Mcdonalds but considered after I was hired for TB). Now Taco Bell had an amazing old man of a manager. He had some kids of his own, and our big boss(his boss) was also super nice and would buy us stuff for some holidays!

Now, at the time of job searching and hiring, I had no idea I had autism. I had been diagnosed early on with ADHD since our dad also has ADD and ADHD. Autism wasn't really on our radar since we didn't know of the varying kinds of Autism. I am a very functioning adult now, and we didn't know of the setbacks not knowing I was autistic was gonna cause.

Before we get too deep, I just wanna say if I repeat too much, it's because this is a loooong story, and I'm trying not to share too much. CARRY ON!

For Taco Bell, I had no resume, but I did have a slip of paper of one of my recommendations from a family friend. (And also other information I forgot about) I was mostly hired as a shot in the dark and turned out to be one of their best employee's. I had worked there for a little over a year before getting a new job for some different experience. Now, with TB I was talked through and shown how to do stuff multiple times to get it in my head so I was mostly independant as I could pick up a skill pretty fast(some I have kept with me all this time).

I was taught how to tie knots in bags with no drawstrings, with one hand. I was taught how to use the headsets in almost every drive through as well as how to use the registers. I also got some food experience that I still have, was never able to use. I was quickly made fun of by some other coworkers and shift leads for being "OCD" (Which I am not, I just like being somewhat organized so on days I don't feel like it I can feel better I did it another day). I was often yelled at for "not listening," which wasn't my fault it was either hard to hear because I can't block out background noise or they were talking too quietly or too loudly.

I had been written up for being "insubordinate" when I was explaining to a manager what a waste of time it would be to mop the floors within 10 minutes of me leaving for the night because I couldn't stay later. That same manager was the worst to me and would single me out and instead of giving me positive reinforcement(which is what I need to continue doing a good job) she would constantly say I need to be better, faster, if (someone who has been there longer than me and cheats around his job) can do it faster I can do it faster. I got so pressed for time that I spilled a whole mop bucket with dirty water across the floor and had to clean it up before someone slipped, so it took me 30 minutes of doing that.

My managers were constantly bickering over me and how I do my job, the store manager would be calling our "mother"(grandmom) to ask why I do something or why I can't do something. I went home crying half the year I worked there because I hated that one manager because she was so contradicting of herself, doing what she was trained to do and not what we were trained to do. Expected of us stuff we did not know about until halfway through the year of working there. I was so torn up about leaving that job early on but decided not to because of one manager. She did end up moving to another store because of her treatment towards who she worked with. Favorites and all.

Anyways that's all for now! Harley clockin' out!

[reblogging4thewin]

while I've gotten used to the fact that if I spend any notable amount of time around my family, I'm bound to hear a slur at some point,

What I wasn't really prepared for was for my dad to bring up a traumatic memory as though it were a funny story.

It's like I forgot that's a thing that could happen and has happened before.

It was just an ice-bucket reminder that my parents don't see children as people with valid feelings and bodily autonomy, but as property with no rights. (The posts that make the property analogy are really spot on. I believe I have them under #parenting or #childhood trauma or something like that.)

While I couldn't come up with a suitable analogy, I had to say something - not picking a fight that isn't worthwhile bc his mind won't be changed on this, but in the sense of not just going off to build up the upset-ness until eventually it explodes. No need to hold that stuff inside. It wasn't an argument. He said he got that I felt violated. He still chuckled about it; that little me being upset was 'cute'. He got what I was saying, but he still doesn't *get* it. Saying something, although it made me cry, did release the tension. So that's healthier for me.

I'm fine; just gotta feel and stew for a min. Typing this out helped.

In case you're wondering what in particular (bc it's something I talked about before a lot in some tags):

Remember the viral post a year or so ago ab the girl whose mom cut her hair off as a punishment?

Well imagine she did it just bc she wanted the girl's hair to be short, despite the girl's tears and protests? Imagine the girl's hair grows really slowly and took years to get back to the length it was (shoulder).

I was 11/12.

Like everything else growing up, my feelings didn't matter to them.

My dad's view of the thing is that at some point I must have realized that hair grows back and got over it. Which, entirely misses the point. (and also no - that's so infantilizing. of course it grows back. but it grows back really slowly. it's the betrayal.)

Developing your self, image, and agency are important at that age. But it's the bodily autonomy of it all - that's what makes this traumatic. It's being treated like a barbie doll rather than a person. That's what makes it a hurt that stains.

And sure, when a kid is teenie tiny and can't speak yet - you can dress them in cute little outfits of your choosing and I can see how that is nice. But as they grow into their own personality and are able to articulate things, respect them as a human being damnit.

At what age did I become a human being to them? I think they *started* to see me as one when I was 21 and I studied abroad. Started to.

Are we fully there yet even now, at 29? I think there's been some progress since I moved out - a little less entitlement from their end that they cannot dictate whether/when I spend my free time with them. But, whooo boy was this little trip down memory lane a reminder of things I'd rather not think about this weekend (or ever, really).

We made it....less than 24 hours before this happened. I was planning to leave either Monday night or Tuesday morning. We'll see how things go. Like I told my bf when he asked, concerned, about the length of time I'd be here - I can always leave early if need be. Nothing is stopping me. I have things to pack up, and of course Christmas festivities themselves always go pretty well, so I don't expect a lot of opportunity for unpleasantries.

Not to mention the fact that my dad *likes* to needle people (he likes to bug my mom - sometimes it's all fun and games, but sometimes it's a little twisted imo - like needling the very thing you've been asked not to do. my ex was like that actually - I didn't find out until after leaving my ex how many ways he was like my dad (neither of them ever hit or anything like that - but both have broken an object in frustration or anger before, for example); my mom and I had some good talks at the time (I was 20). digressing again). My dad didn't upset me on purpose here though - he genuinely thinks my being upset about the haircut is a cute, funny memory. But he does things like this, sometimes on purpose, sometimes bumbles into them like this, and then when I get upset, he says I'm bipolar. He didn't say that today at least. When I was a kid, he called me a cry baby. All of the time. (actually he did literally bully me as a kid bc he said I needed to be prepared for what kids in school would do (not like your home is supposed to be a sanctuary or anything); but, while I was in fact bullied by 90% of my peers up until like 10th grade, when I was a little kid my dad was the worse bully of any of them. Every tangent this post reminds me of actually makes things worse tbh. Like, I don't think about this very often anymore, so being reminded of the sadisticness here is...yikes. I have thought a handful of times that it's insane that I even talk to him, but in short bursts most of the time things are cordial.)

This only happened because I mentioned wanting a trim this evening. (My mom is a talented cosmetologist.) In the heat of the moment of this memory, I had to wonder why I ever let her cut my hair again after I turned 18. But she hasn't cut it different from my requests since then or anything (though she did *deny* a request once, but the alternative we went with actually worked out better - so that was more of a mixture of an expertise thing but also a little homophobia sprinkled in but I digress); I guess at some point I came to trust her with it again. Just right now after that interaction with my dad, the feelings were fresh again, even though that was about 18 years ago.

No one else has ever cut my hair, but maybe it would be good if I change that next year. I really only planned to change that if I decide I do in fact want an undercut - since my mom refused to do that. I live less than an hour away, but maybe convenience is a factor too. Idk.

I feel a lot better now actually. He also just randomly came in the room and we had a normal conversation for two mins about making a snowman out of a bottle. So, we're ok for the moment. The weekend goes on.

#venting #rambles #childhood trauma #wow I'm wordy

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

2022 MOVIE OF THE WEEK #4

the hate u give. i read the angie thomas book this was adapted from in 2018, a few months before the movie came out. though you wouldn’t know it because it took me four years, i’d been looking forward to this movie ever since--the hate u give was by far my favorite book i read that whole year, and i’m sad i still don’t own it (i should’ve put it on my christmas list last year since i did ask for books! but when the subject of books came up i completely forgot i’ve been asking for this one for ages and continue to want it.)

i cried through this whole movie, basically. and literally this whole review is just me saying everything was perfect, so i’ll try to keep it short, lol. but the cast was phenomenal. most of them i knew, even if i didn’t realize they were in this: common was a pleasant surprise, anthony mackie was a beautiful villain, issa rae was there!! and i’m glad i knew going in that my fave sabrina carpenter played the racist friend because even expecting it, it was hard to watch.

occasionally, despite being super gay and also asexual, i watch a movie and am so truly enthralled by an actor’s performance that i leave the movie feeling like ‘now i am a little in love with that man.’ it happened with bob odenkirk when i saw the post in theaters (for some unknown reason, he wasn’t even the point), and now it’s happened again with russell hornsby, because as starr’s dad he was just such a force. i can’t even say he stole the scenes he was in because there was no stealing, he demanded my attention outright and held it.

amandla stenberg was the heart of the movie just like you’d expect, but he was like the backbone: he had to carry the weight of raising a proud black family in a racist world, being a flawed man in many ways while also being sympathetic, and being able to move from powerless to threatening and back. basically, the actor gave the character life as a whole person. i love that.

the music was also very good. i can’t remember the last time a closing credits song really stood out for me, but ‘we won’t move’ by arlissa is on one of my playlists now, because i don’t want that to be the last time i hear it.

as for the plot, it’s not like i wasn’t familiar with it already, but four years later i can’t say what details they might’ve changed for the movie. it was hard to watch (i don’t watch a lot of things involving gun violence anymore it turns out, i’m jumpy now) but i was also impressed by how unflinching the portrayal was--i really wasn’t expecting them to show how much like a war zone a protest can become once police get involved, and they did not hold back.

watching it made me sad, though, and not just in a crying over this fictional story kind of way, but because i kept remembering that the book and movie came out before the george floyd murder and protest summer. it really is a cycle that never ends. in that way it was depressing, but i’m glad i finally watched--the reasons why it made me sad are the same reasons why it was such a good movie, and why i’m grateful this book managed to get made into a film.

#the hate u give #2022 motw #russell hornsby #bob odenkirk #amandla stenberg #sabrina carpenter #anthony mackie #issa rae

[monstersandmaw]

Christmas Dad-fic (kind of) anyone? When I started writing this, 'naga' was winning the poll, but orcs and uruks seem to be in the lead now (by two points). I hope this will suffice anyway! Thank you all for your support, and I wish you all a very safe and merry time. I can't see family this year, but we've got a little family on Discord and Tumblr too, so I don't feel so bad! Thanks for being so consistently wonderful.

Content: penetrative sex (gender and body neutral reader though), brief background mention of a fleetingly missing child, single dad Wordcount: just shy of 6k words

Preview:

The  crash of falling packets and tins that filled aisle three brought  boiling blood to your ears and you just had to stand there, one aisle  over, clenching your jaw and trying not to swear out loud for a long  minute. Retail work at Christmas fucking sucked. A tin can rolled out of  the aisle as you rounded the corner to survey the damage, and you  stooped to pick it up. By the time you’d straightened, you could hear  gentle, hissed cursing emanating from the source of the crash.

There in aisle three, a monstrously thick and long tail coiled up in embarrassment, was a naga,  their warm, tanned skin flushed pink from ears to neck as they began  scrabbling to pick up the remnants of the Christmas display. “I’m so  sorry,” they cringed as you appeared and they took in your uniform.  “Really, it’ssssss… I’m… Gods, I’m so sorry. I’ll clear it all up. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s  fine,” you said, trying to be professional. At least they weren’t  somehow trying to blame you for it, which had been known to happen in  the past when people dropped glass bottles of gross mulled wine or  frothing bottles of beer. “Nothing’s broken…”

“Thank the Godsssss.”

You looked a little more closely at them and had to twitch your mouth into a tiny smile. They really were enormous, even by naga standards. Guessing he was male, from the clothing and general  appearance, you had just opened your mouth to tell him again that he  could leave it to you, when a much smaller voice from behind him  groused, “Oh my Gods! Dad? You’re so embarrassing!” The tiny, reedy  voice drew out the final word into a long and scathing rebuke.

You bit your lips together and fought back the rising urge to laugh as a young naga,  perhaps six or seven, slithered round the other end of the aisle with a  big bottle of orange juice in her hands, which she’d presumably been  tasked with fetching.

“I know, I’m sorry sweetie. Will you help me clean it up?”

“No  way!” she snorted, and dumped the orange juice in the trolley before  bolting as fast as possible from the scene of the crime.

He  let out a long, slow breath through his nose and rubbed his fingertips  between his eyes. You risked a glance up and saw that he looked suddenly  exhausted. He wore his shiny, black hair long, as many naga did, and tied back in a plait that fell most of the way down his back, and he was duffled up in a chunky, dark green cable-knit sweater. From this angle - where  you were stooped on the floor and picking up packets of chestnuts and  ready-made stuffing for Christmas - you were struck by just how  attractive he was.

When he caught you looking at him, he sighed again. “I’m so sssssorry,”  he said. “I just… wasn’t paying attention to what the rest of me was  doing. Really, you don’t have to clear it all up for me. I promise to  put it all back where it came from.”

“It’s fine,” you said, and found that you actually meant it. “You should probably catch up with your daughter…”

His  eyes darted to your name badge and you saw him read it before he smiled  at you. He had thick, slightly pronounced canines and a glimmering  white smile that made your insides swoop. “You’re probably right… Thank  you. I’m so sorry…”

And  with that, he was gone, pushing his shopping trolley around the corner.  Well, his torso disappeared, but it was a while before his massively  long body vanished completely. If he���d lain out flat, he must have been  at least ten metres long from head to tail tip, if not longer.

The  regular, lyrical slithering of his body, the way his muscles bunched  and shifted to propel him forward, also did unexpected things to you,  and you found yourself tingling all over. The diamond plates of his  scales shimmered like patinated bronze - a warm, coffee-brown with  darker, mesmeric spots - and it was clear from his upper half that he  was in really, really good shape. You licked your lips and hoped he  hadn’t noticed your private lusting after him, and turned to the last of  the packets just as your manager appeared.

“What the hell happened?” he asked. “I heard a big old crash. You alright?”

You  laughed. “Yeah,” you sighed, straightening with a grunt, and hand to  your lower back. You eyed his tail too and chuckled. He had to have been  half the width and length of the anaconda naga, and where the latter had moved slowly, with ponderous, undulating movements of his muscle, Osman was a golden-brown viper naga, and twitchy as a bird. “A naga forgot to keep track of the end of his tail, I think. Sideswiped the Christmas display.”

“Ahh,”  Osman sighed melodramatically, clearly relieved that no harm had come  to you, his shop, or to a customer. “Well, we’ve all done it at one  point or another.” He shot a glance up at the speakers in one corner of  the store and glared at them, as if the venom in his gaze would make  them drop off the walls. “And if I have to hear one more rendition of  ‘All I want for Christmas’, I think I might take my own tail to the  Santa display over in aisle four… Could be most satisfying…”

You grinned, and headed off to start restocking the frozen food aisle.

Read the whole thing over on Patreon, and don’t miss your last chance to read everything else on there for just $5 before I mothball it on 31st December 2020!

#exophilia #naga #male naga #monster x reader #monster x gender neutral reader #male monster x gender neutral reader #male monster #dadfic #kinda #read it now before it disappears forever!

[queen-ofsunflowers]

DadWorth AU: Part 2 (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)

More DadWorth AU! And here we finally get into the details of the games, so the parts that remain the same will be briefly touched upon. This is gonna be longer than the last post, so here we go!

 < Part 1  | Part 3 >

Turnabout Sisters

Things actually start a bit before the game does, and its with Kay at age fourteen and ready to start high school. (to me her birthday is in December, so she would be fourteen by the time the school year begins). And she has a certain one in mind.

I’ve mentioned before that Kay ends up idolizing Mia and follows her cases. Being surrounded by law for the past couple of years and wanting to help people (because Kay has yet to learn about the true Yatagarasu), Kay decides that she wants to be a defense attorney like Mia as opposed to a prosecutor like her dad and Miles (I am one of few people that I think subscribe to the idea of Defense Attorney!Kay... but that’s where we’re going here.)

Miles hestiates when he learns that Kay “wants to be a lawyer”, but after pressure from both Franziska and Gumshoe, he agrees to the idea. After studying and working hard, Kay ends up getting accepted to Themis Legal Academy in the defense attorney course -- something she hides from Edgeworth because she’s afraid that he’ll disapprove. But this is something that she really wants to do. i have an idea, shhh--

So, Kay’s first day of school just happens to fall on September 6. If anyone recognizes this date, it means Edgeworth is going to be home late, as he almost always is when he’s working on a new case. Because this is where we hit Turnabout Sisters.

Kay’s first day of school goes pretty well. It’s all getting to know you stuff, so it’s gonna be easy. Everyone tries to keep Kay from finding out about the details of Edgeworth’s newest case throughout the course of the day, but this fails because Miles doesn’t know that Kay looks up to Mia. So he gets very much confused when she gets upset upon learning Mia Fey had been murdered when he goes about their usual conversation about his latest case the next morning.

So, she’s upset and Miles has no idea why. On his side, he finds out the defense attorney for this case is Phoenix Wright. So he’s not doing so well because the past is coming back to bite him in the butt, and Kay goes to school feeling like crap. And things only start to get worse from there when two students in the prosecutors’ course decide its a good idea to mess with one of the students in the defense attorney course.

Enter Sebastian Debeste and Klavier Gavin. (i know klavier’s a good guy, but he still needs the character development to happen) They are not the nicest of people when Kay first encounters them. She’s down, and they decide its a good time to kick her while she’s down.

She confides in this to Ema, who gets super mad about this. She knows that she needs to tell an adult about it, so she somehow manages to tell Gumshoe about this (how they know each other, i’m not sure, probably happened after she met Kay.) And then Gumshoe goes to Miles while they’re investigating the next day and tells him that Kay’s been having a tough time adjusting (Ema had left out the bullying bit, since Kay had made her promise not to tell, thinking it would make things worse.)

Miles takes things into consideration a little bit (he’s too focused on his case), and promises to pick Kay up from school the next day if Gumshoe drops her off (an idea that came up from Gumshoe mentioning it would be a good idea to have someone she trusts there after a bad day.)

The date is September 9, Gumshoe drops Kay off at school as planned while Edgeworth goes to trial. And everything for both of them goes downhill from there. Edgeworth gets his ass handed to him by Phoenix and gets his first loss. Kay’s bullying continues. Too absorbed in his loss and the repercussions of it, Miles forgets about Kay entirely. Kay’s left outside of Themis, heartbroken and her trust in Miles barely even remains. After about an hour or so, she calls Badd to come and get her since she knows he’ll always be there if she needs him.

Miles hears Kay come home, and gets confused when she runs past him and up to her room. Badd explains everything and how Miles is an idiot.

So, Badd’s pissed at Edgeworth. Gumshoe gets mad at Miles when he finds out about what happened with Kay. von Karma is pissed at Edgeworth for losing at case to a rookie of all things. Kay’s upset with him because of what happened. Franziska’s mad at him on both fronts. The media is having a field day with his record being broken. It’s the second worst day of his life.

Turnabout Samurai

So, time goes on since the horrible, no-good very bad day. Miles is trying to deal with everything and everyone being mad at him. He’s becoming emotionally unavailable and Kay’s not helping at all since she’s pulled away from him. Since he forgot about her, she thinks he doesn’t care about her anymore. She just stays out of his way.

Miles is emotionally out of the window and does just what he needs to do to keep Kay happy or so he thinks. He’s too absorbed in his work and stressed out from his previous loss to try and reverse the damage caused to his reputation. Meanwhile, Kay’s bullying at Klavier’s and Sebastian’s hands continues. She doesn’t know what to do about it (even though Ema continually tells her to tell someone, Kay doesn’t want to make things worse.)

Things come to a head for her right around the same time that Edgeworth gets assigned the Steel Samurai case against Phoenix Wright. Kay’s absolutely done with Sebastian’s and Klavier’s treatment of her and remembering Ema’s words, she acts.

Kay ends up punching Klavier in the face when he pushes her over the edge, much to everyone’s surprise. They both get dragged down to the office by a teacher after the fight escalates a little (if it even can be called that, only physical blows traded was Kay’s punch.)

They’re in trouble, they start arguing over who started it, etc. The teacher (who I should note is Courte) puts an end to it, believing that they are both to blame for what happened -- Kay for retaliating the way she did and Klavier for antagonizing her in the first place. With the principal’s agreement, both of them are sent home for the day after their guardians are called.

For Kay, she immediately gets called back by Edgeworth while waiting. Edgeworth is in the middle of the Steel Samurai case, so he can’t do anything. He actually grows irritated over what Kay did, not listening to her explanation over what happened and only saying that they’ll talk about it when he gets home. Kay tries to find someone else who 

Meanwhile, Courte takes Klavier aside and tries to find out what happened to cause the whole mess in the first place. Something got into his head that this was how it was supposed to be with defense attorneys and prosecutors (what this is or who that was that planted it is up for debate). He’s told that he’s wrong. They’re both on the same sides of the law, and they’re both there to find the truth -- not to fight about it until there’s a victor. They are allies. Not enemies.

And then Klavier comes back and overhears Kay’s conversation with Edgeworth with Courte’s words echoing in the back of his mind. Klavier’s just like... “okay, she may be a defense attorney, but i don’t think she’s that different from me at all”. Kristoph is a terrible guardian, but the only one that can take care of Klavier, and he understands a bit of what Kay is going through right now because of that.

And immediately feels like shit for how he treated her prior. So when Kay goes to apologize to him from ya know... punching him, it’s him that starts apologizing. And after a very, very long conversation, they decide to start over and Klavier invites Kay to eat lunch with him and Sebastian the next day and even offers to see if he can get her a ride home. Kay reluctantly agrees.

And so their friendship starts there.

It takes Sebastian a bit longer to warm up to Kay like Klavier has, but eventually takes to her when she doesn’t hesitate to point out the mistakes he makes. She corrects him without missing a beat. Kay’s not hesitant to call him out on bullshit when needed. As a result, Sebastian’s a bit smarter than compared to canon.

So, the chaotic duo of Ema and Kay grows to include Klavier and Sebastian. (ema has no reason to hate klavier yet, that’s not until phoenix is disbarred if my theory is right, but his attitude does tick her off sometimes).

Things are starting to get better for Kay, that’s for sure. Miles, on the other hand... not so much.

We all know what happens with him. Unnecessary feelings, questioning just about everything that you know and who you are, etc. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Kay, who wants to try and do something to help. What that is, though, she doesn’t know yet.

Turnabout Goodbyes

Winter break is coming up, and it’s pretty clear at this point that Sebastian and Klavier (the latter moreso than the former) are in tight with Kay and Ema. Kay wants to do something to fix her relationship with Edgeworth, leading to a suggestion of being honest with him about how she feels. If he listens (unlike their guardians), then that means things could turn around.

Kay declines this idea as the first thing they decide Kay should do is tell Edgeworth that she’s in the defense course. She’s still wary about what he might say or do if he finds out she’s going to be a defense attorney rather than the prosecutor he thinks. She does, eventually, agree to talk to him about how she feels. Confessing to being in defense does still linger in the back of her mind.

Christmas starts to draw nearer and nearer, and the two usually spend it together (a tradition born from the first one they had. As bad as that time of year is for Miles, he tries to not let it show for Kay’s sake. Kay doesn’t know about DL-6 and he wants to keep her as far away from it as possible.) So Kay is confused when he heads out Christmas Eve.

Kay has no idea who to turn to... except for one person. So, Christmas morning, while Gumshoe does his best when it comes to figuring out the truth with the investigation, Kay runs all the way down to Wright & Co. Law Offices. (Edgeworth had talked about Wright before in conversations that Kay overheard. That, and it was talked about that he was the only one who managed to take down Edgeworth at school.)

This is the first time that Kay meets Phoenix face-to-face, so he’s pretty confused about as to why a teenager is banging down his door on Christmas asking for help. But, he’s not someone whose going to say no, so he and Maya head down to the detention center with Kay.

Imagine their shock when they learn that the person Kay was talking about is Miles Edgeworth. Who immediately turns around and refuses their help. At all. Because he wants them as far away from this as possible.

Phoenix and Maya leave with Kay, and two out of three are not about to give up so easily. So, yeah. Kay’s finally part of the main storyline.

She helps Phoenix and Maya on their investigation and in the process does learn about DL-6. And her heart just breaks when she learns that her guardian went through all of this. Which is why Kay is relieved when Miles finally 

In the meantime, Phoenix and Maya are trying to figure out what Kay’s connection to Edgeworth is since neither of them explained. And all they can get Gumshoe to say is that Kay is someone that knows Miles rather well. (something that’s supported with Kay knowing about Edgeworth’s fear of earthquakes.)

Kay’s in the audience during this case, primarily because Miles expresses that he doesn’t want her anywhere near von Karma (especially for something that would technically be her first trial). But she’s also not going to leave, so she just watches. Kay gets excited when Phoenix starts tearing von Karma’s case apart. (at this point, Kay only vaguely knows von Karma from Reminiscence. She knows that he’s Miles’s mentor and nothing more than that.) 

She helps with the DL-6 investigation. The one thing I should note  surprises her the most about it is the date which it takes place. Added angst for this whole case (primarily comes from my headcanon birthday for Kay) -- It’s revealed that Miles was careful on December 28th to not let Kay know what was going on with him since it was also her birthday.

Kay has only known Larry for two days, and he’s already giving her a headache (and making her question how Miles and Phoenix are friends with him a little bit). But she’s super excited that he was able to help in the end. She also finds the story about the class trial super sweet, remarking how it reminds her about how Edgeworth used to be like when they first met.

She ultimately is incredibly worried about Miles as the case goes on. Especially with how he thinks that he killed his father. The man Kay knows would never do that -- even on accident. She wants to help as much as possible, even if she can’t stand with the defense. She also wants to stick it to von Karma after everything he’s done. Especially after the confrontation in the evidence room, where Kay lets loose more information than she should, so von Karma (along with Maya and Phoenix) end up finding out about Kay’s relation to Miles.

Phoenix asks her about this later, and Kay explains everything. She begs him to get Miles a Not Guilty verdict since she doesn’t want to lose yet another father of hers. He promises her that he’ll try.

So we get to the final trial day. Kay thinks that Phoenix calling the parrot as a witness is one of the most hilarious things ever later on, but in the moment, she thinks he’s gone crazy, but it works. Miles is declared innocent and she couldn’t be happier... until he flips the switch and confesses to DL-6 after von Karma brings up

Kay gets so mad and upset about this. She corners him in the defendant’s lobby, which is not a pleasant conversation. She knows that Miles is innocent. They’ve been fighting this whole time and he’s just willing to give up that easily? Kay feels like she’s being left behind all over again. She doesn’t understand why Miles won’t “believe in me, who believe in you”. And she storms out. So there’s a bit more guilt on Miles’s shoulders, and a small bit of incentive for him to actually get a not guilty.

So, it cuts to Kay in the hallway making her way back to the gallery. She’s relaying to what’s going on to her friends over a text conversation (understandably, they’re all pissed) when she bumps into someone on her way back.

Yeah... Kay runs into von Karma again. And knowing what she does about him, Kay’s just fucking pissed. There’s a confrontation between the two where Kay comes to understand why Miles is so afraid of this man. He puts an immense amount of fear into her. She just wants to get away.

Kay hits his shoulder by accident in the process and notices the amount of pain it causes him after she runs off. So, long story short, Kay manages to figure out where the second bullet is before Phoenix does, and the trial concludes similar to how it does in canon, but with Kay’s intervention. She’s beyond relieved that Miles is free and von Karma is arrested.

She also feels horrible about yelling, and decides to take her friends’ advice to heart. She almost lost Miles once, and if that ever happens again, she wants him to know the whole truth.

The first thing Kay does after Miles is declared innocent is confess everything to Miles. She’s stammering and nervous and is barely through it when Miles cuts her off because he already knows Kay’s studying to be a defense attorney. She’s not as slick as she thinks, Gumshoe had mentioned multiple times that Phoenix could be someone Kay could learn a lot from, etc. That, and he is Kay’s guardian. He keeps in contact with the school.

He’s not disappointed in her either, which is the one fear that Kay had. He understands not following in your father’s footsteps. If it makes her happy, then that’s fine with him. He is surprised that she finally told him the truth, though. Kay promises not to keep anymore secrets from him. She wants to trust him again.

Things end well between them... as well as they could be after that whole mess, but their relationship is steadily on the mend and all is right with the world.

...until February.

Rise From the Ashes

IF YOU ALL REMEMBER SOMETHING THAT I MENTIONED IN PART 1, THEN YOU KNOW THAT THIS CASE IS GOING TO GET WORSE FOR ONE MILES EDGEWORTH THAN IT ALREADY IS. 

Kay gets dragged into this one by Ema when she comes by in tears over Lana getting arrested. Kay mentions what happened back in December and says that Phoenix might be able to help, so Ema drags her down there. Phoenix is responsible for two teenagers rather than one. Again.

let’s just pretend that they don’t have school for whatever reason

Not much changes other than Kay’s involvement in SL-9. People keep bringing up the fact that Ema was not alone. And Kay’s thief skills starting to show up a little bit. Again, she won’t discover the truth about the Yatagarasu until later down the line. 

She also wants to kick Gant in the shin more and more as the case progresses.

When it gets to the point where they find out that Miles is going to resign,

It’s only during the last day of the trial that Phoenix (and by extension, everyone else but Maya) finds out about Miles’s connection to Kay when he brings up the fact that there was another witness present when Ema was attacked. And Miles isn’t able to hide who it is any longer.

So, Kay has to testify. And it’s not fun. It all ends with her asking them to leave Edgeworth alone, since he didn’t do anything wrong (or he didn’t know that he was doing anything wrong -- something that is later provable.) So, this case is full of family feels, and Phoenix feels like shit for having to do this.

But in the end, Kay’s memory is a bit more clearer than Ema’s, which leads to Gant’s arrest being a bit easier. Ema still leaves the country to study forensics in Europe, and there’s a tearful goodbye and promises to stay in touch between her and her friends. But the impact that the case leaves on Edgeworth does not change. He feels like he isn’t fit anymore -- as a prosecutor or as a guardian for Kay since he couldn’t protect her.

So, the night of February 25, Kay’s woken up in the middle of the night by Miles. She’s half-asleep, and really doesn’t understand what he’s saying at the moment. He’s saying that he has to leave for a while, and tells her that he cares about her. She’s just like “okay” and ends up falling back asleep.

The next morning, Kay wakes up and the house is just about empty. She can’t find Miles anywhere. She just thinks that he’s busy with a new case that needed him in the office early, or they needed him to help clear up what happened yesterday or something, so she doesn’t think much of it.

That is until Gumshoe picks her up from school early. He never does this. No one really does this without warning, like if its a doctor’s or dentist appointment or something.

Her entire world falls apart when he tells her about the note that they found on Edgeworth’s desk that morning.

Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth Chooses Death. 

And that ends Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Kay doesn’t interact with the story all that much, but we already have Egdeworth’s perspective on the game for the most part. A lot of this takes place from Kay’s POV... including Justice for All. Which I have some... interesting things in mind for.

#ace attorney #ace attorney au #miles edgeworth #kay faraday #ema skye #phoenix wright #maya fey #dick gumshoe #klavier gavin #sebastian debeste #manfred von karma #queen speaks #dadworth au #kay edgeworth au

[perishman]

The Prodigal Son

Hey so this is for @nastyburger and their Dannyverse AU.  Just so you know, it’s an AU that may not make sense without checking them out

Danny B. Fenton snorted, ashen grey smoke erupting from his nose as Dani landed behind him. For the first time in years, he was at Fenton Works for christmas, home of now world famous ghost hunters Maddie and Jack Fenton, as well as their elder child, Jazzy. It was once his home too. He knocked on the door. He didn’t know why, since he was expected. He supposed he just hoped it was Jazzy who opened the door. He was afraid to phase in. His parents might not buy that they “just didn’t hear him come in” when he was the most anticipated part of the holiday. 

After a few seconds of silent waiting, Dani turned to her brother, silently asking if he really wanted to go through with this. And B wasn’t entirely sure he was. But, he’d promised Jazzy he would make an effort. The Fentons were old by now; it was why the elder child had returned home. The door creaked open, violet eyes glancing out before it was thrown open to reveal Madeline Fenton, hunched over with hair more grey than red, her hands rough and boney. Danny’s smile was still half formed when she latched onto him with a hug. Maybe it was his Core that had always caused him so much trouble, but she was cold to the touch. Most humans were. Silently, Maddie waved him and Danielle in. As soon as they crossed the threshold, Danny felt the house take aim at them, reacting to their shared ecto-signature. Danny had once removed its ability to sense him and Dani, but Jack had yelled at him when he’d realized. Danny had pointed out that it could’ve been Jazzy, but the Fenton patriarch had rebuffed that by pointing out Jazzy followed instructions. 

Soon, Jack approached from the tree, a somewhat strained smile on his face as he said, “‘Ello Daneil. It’s good to see you. Same t’ ya Elle.”

Danny nodded, “Hi Ja- Dad. and uh, yeah. Glad to see you both as well. Merry christmas.”

“If yer more comfortable callin’ me Jack, call me Sparrow for all I care. Haven’t been yer father in years,” Jack said gruffly. Danny noticed it sounded more irate than sad. More bitter than apologetic. 

The halfa siblings each raised an eyebrow and held up some bags (Elle had food, B the gifts), to which a younger, less bitter voice rang out from behind, “Food on the counter, presents are hidden in the guestroom.”

Danny hugged Jazzy much tighter than his mother had done to him. He’d been meaning to call her for ages, bur grading and hunting had been eating up his time. Despite not being back here in ages, he didn’t need to ask where the guestroom was, given that there was only one option. When he got up there, he snorted. The bright blue walls still had the fades that came from his posters; it was the same desk, so on and so forth. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it. 

“They didn’t touch it for years, ya know. They were hoping you’d,” Jazzy said with a pause, “come home.”

The redhead ran his hand through his hair and laughed horsley, “Considering how I left? Why don’t I quite believe it was a bilateral decision?”

Jazzy pursed her lips, not having a response to that. There had been a lot of yelling that night. Ancients, it had been Christmas Even then too. For the longest time, the most that Jazzy, Sam or Tucker had heard was that Danny Phantom was more and more active than had been normal. That his fire had been tinted blue. It had been a terse few weeks, and everyone was frightened out of their minds trying to figure out where Fenton was staying. When they found out Vlad had taken him and promised to hide him… It had been a difficult time. Loathe as the Phantom was to admit it, Plasmius had supported his human half in a way no one else could, and Danny was in his debt. 

Looking around the room some, Danny said, “I need to think about some stuff. You mind?”

Silently, Jazzy nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. Danny looked around some more, and eventually found something he hadn’t seen in years. A picture of him with Sam and Tucker at eighteen, with the imprint of Dani in a nearly invisible red spot that almost no one else would see. If Danny had to hazard a guess, he was 19 here, and it was one of the last times he was happy at home. He sighed as he pocketed the picture and walked out. There was nothing more for him in that room, bar whatever present Jazzy had gotten him, he supposed. 

“Look who decided to join ‘is family afta all,'' snorted the old man from the living room. Danni glared at Jack, who snorted. 

Spitefully, Danny glared at his father and blew a smoke ring with his ghost sense. He knew it was childish, but Jack had been nothing but rude the entire time. To his surprise, it was his mother who glared at him with… a contempt usually reserved for Phantom... . Jack, for his part, almost seemed apologetic, before the mask was back on and he scowled. Both Jazzy and Danni rolled their eyes at their brother. 

Sensing the tension bubbling beneath the surface that threatened to lash out, Jazzy turned to Danielle, and asked, “So. Elle? What’ve you been doing lately? Last I saw on instagram you were in, Madrid, right?”

Danni nodded, “Yep. Met a cute girl or two, which was nice. But Spain isn’t for me; not a fan of their food compared to Italian. Actually I spent the last few weeks of my europe trip in Milan. But I guess I forgot to post it…” she shrugged. 

“Ooh, Milan. You have got to tell me all about it,” Jazzy said with a smile before she glanced at the falling snow. 

Danny tried to listen, really. But Danni had already told him about her time in Milan (and the girls she met there in some form.) He felt himself zoning out, before his father jostled his shoulder and led him down to the lab. Danny wasn’t sure what he expected, but the lab was still the best kept part of the house bar hi- bar the guest room. His father had to take an automatic chair to carry him down. The radioactive green of the portal still illuminated the basement, but there was now a glass container that Danny could tell was lined with ectoplasm to prevent phasing. Smart. The eldest fenton offered a beer, which the son silently turned down. But soon Jack had sat the two of them down, like when Danny was a kid. Then, Jack had called them their ‘boys talks,’ but now it was clear what this was. Two broken men, trying to fix themselves by fixing the other. 

“Now, you were always a bit oblivious on your best day. Which this most certainly isn’t. Suppose that’s my fault a bit. But, in case you hadn’t noticed. Your mother hasn’t said a word all day. Why do you think that is?”

Danny knew immediately, “Throat cancer. Jazzy told me a few weeks ago, when I was in Canada with Vlad… I tried calling, but…” 

Jack snorted, whether he believed his son or not being unclear, “Right. Ya know, when you were a tyke, I wanted you t’ meet Vladdie,” a snort, “more than anything in the world. But now? I wish I’d never met ‘im myself. Would’ve saved my family. Would’ve saved him, come to think. Regardless. I want you to tell ‘er. Before she goes. So she knows who you really are.”

The room went cold, as Danny knew exactly what Jack meant, and he tried to force the hurt down in a level tone, before asking, “You knew? For how long?”

“Knew you had powers immediately. Saw you fall through your floor, but you were too comatose from the accident to remember. Didn’t know you were Phantom for a while, but when Vlad won his first term- unanimous votes my ass- I realized somethings about him. Things were cemented when I saw you beat him into transforming back to human. If somethin like that could happen from Vlad’s accident…” he gestured to Danny.

Danny stood, eyes burning with tears and ectoplasm as he snarled, “You knew. You had to know I wasn’t some druggie. And you still let mom send me to rehab? You still wasted weeks of my life. You tore me from my friends. You still sided with Mom in almost every fight. How dare you ask for me to give her my secret now? You don’t care. You just want your guilt off your chest and think I can do that.”

“I’m the reason it was rehab and not the dissection table. Maddie was on to you, you know. By timing alone, and the devices going off. But I lied to my own wife, your mother, for months. I regret what I had to do, but not what I did. I saved my son.”

That gave Danny pause. He wanted to believe it. But years of being alienated from his family made him wary. Part of him screamed that if Jack was being honest with him, he wouldn’t have let Danny risk life and limb with minimal intervention. He wouldn't have shot at him. But the boy that wanted to be a family again ached at the possibility opening up. At being his parents’ son again. 

“Fine. I’ll do it. But after this? I don’t want to hear from you again, You’ll see me at the service, but after that, I’m gone.”

As he walked up the stairs, Jack sighed. Tears streamed down from the old man’s face. It was better Danny was angry at him, than the dying woman who’d nearly convinced him to experiment on his own son when they’d realized what happened. Jack didn’t see the incidents with Danny’s powers, it had been Maddie. And Jack had sent his son to rehab while he tried to talk his wife from the edge. He’d saved Danny, and all it cost him?

 His son. 

#Danny Phantom #dannyverse #danny b fenton #dani phantom #jack fenton #Maddie Fenton

[liquor-and-intellect]

Tis the Damn Season/Dorothea HS AU

I realized I haven’t posted on here in awhile but I couldn’t get this story out of my head. I don’t know if I have anyone who sees my posts anymore, but I hope you like it. Let me know if there should be a part 2.

Inspired by Tis the Damn Season and Dorothea by Taylor Swift. 

Dorothea Riley—or Thea, which she insisted on being called— watched as her breath created a thin film of fog across the window of her Uber. It’s almost like she didn’t want to see the familiar road signs that reminded her she was arriving in her hometown. Sometimes the nostalgia felt too much—too thick in the back of her throat, too heavy on her chest. It reminded her that it had been a full year since she had returned home. One official dizzying trip around the sun since the last time she’d stepped off the plane in that small terminal outside of Tupelo. A year since she’d seen him.

After the driver took the exit off the highway, it was not long before Thea was emerging from the car, boots crunching on the fresh snow as she ascended the stairs that led to her childhood home. The cold wrapped itself around her and bit at her exposed neck but never penetrating the warmth of her luxurious coat.

It stood frozen in time, just like the whole town. The familiarity now creating comfort in her where it had once felt like the bony fingers of suffocation. From the minute she became aware that she wanted to pursue a career in acting, the walls of this town seemed to slowly close in on her. Thea knew she would never land her dream role if she stayed here. Everyone who was successful had to make their own sacrifices—and leaving her hometown and the ones she loved behind, was hers.

Her high school self had felt too big for these streets. She dreamed of bustling cars, the rush of a new city and a fast-paced life. She partly blamed her mother for this. She had used Thea as her little dress up doll for most of her childhood. Even when Thea didn’t want to be a pageant queen, her mother said to stick her chin up and smile. And before she knew it the flash of camera lights from a stage became intoxicatingly addicting. So, she had walked across the creaky stage in the worn-down gymnasium, got her high school diploma, and promptly packed her bags to drive her small Toyota Corolla to L.A. In between acting classes, she’d be offered a role in a fast-paced, high-budget, sci-fi movie and the next four years would become all business with little time to return home or answer phone calls from the people she had left behind.

“Mama,” Thea breathed, letting the stifled southern accent of Mississippi slip into that single word. Her mother’s grin was a breath of fresh air, all white teeth and thinned lips, smile lines at the edges of her eyes. Her hair had more silver in it than the last time she’d seen her, although she thought that it suited her warm complexion.

Her mother pulled her into a warm embrace, nose buried in her dark hair. “It’s so good to have you home, Dorothea.”

The smell of Christmas pine and cookies filled her nose as she joined her parents for dinner. Her dad grunted and nodded while her mother filled her in on all the small-town gossip. It wasn’t unusual in a town like this for a quick trip to the grocery store to become equivalent to logging into Facebook. Her mother knew the status of everyone’s relationship, divorce and child-raising failures.  

“Oh,” her mother said as if she had almost forgot. “The Styles boy went on a date with Augustine—the Johnson’s daughter— a few months back. I think they even went on a second as well.” Her eyes narrowed slightly, watching for a reaction from Thea.

Thea’s heart swelled at his name, although she wouldn’t let it show on her face. Flashes of shifty hands and stolen kisses passed behind her eyes as if she had them filed for moments like this. Augustine? She definitely didn’t seem like his type and it might have been the pang of jealousy rearing its insidious green head but Thea really never cared for Augustine much.

Harry and her had… well, history. A compilation of what-ifs and almosts filled the lines of their pages. They had ran in the same circle of teenagers and every secret party that was worth attending always ended in alcohol-laden kisses in dark corners between the two—sometimes even under bleachers at the football field where they swore that the miserable town would be behind them one day. They never dated officially— as someone else to inevitably leave behind absolutely terrified Thea—but if there was anyone she wanted to kiss on a lonely Friday night… it had always been him.

It wasn’t until last year when she returned home for Christmas—after movie premiers and filming for a new role—that they discovered the old flame was still alive and burning. They had slept together and Thea had felt herself developing feelings for the curly-haired boy faster than she could comprehend. His laughter, his green eyes…

She swallowed and looked out the dark window.

Thea had promised to stay with him for New Year’s Eve before she got word of a large party back in LA. There would be a producer there that was working on a new project that she was keeping her eye on. She used that as the excuse to leave prematurely, although deep down she knew that she was only running away from someone who would just make it harder to leave again. She couldn’t afford the emotional cost she’d have to pay to let herself develop feelings for him. So, as it had been one full year since she had stepped within this town, it had also been one full year since she had talked to Harry. After she declined a few of his calls, he got the hint and left her alone. Radio silence should have made the ache go away but nevertheless the wrench of her heart when his name crossed her mind persisted.

It might have been thoughts of Harry and his warm hands that drove her to accept an invite to the local dive bar that night. Her childhood friends heard she was in town and wanted to grab drinks for old time’s sake. The memories that came with this place were enough to remind her that she deserved a drink or two.

“Is that the movie star, Dorothea Riley?”

“She goes by Thea now, Laura!”

Thea exhaled a breathy laugh at the familiar voices as she entered the bar, warm air hitting her from the biting cold. Laura, her old friend, stood around five foot tall but enveloped her in a hug tighter than her mother had.

“It’s so good to see you again,” Thea hummed into the embrace before following Laura to the table of faces that she frequently sees in reminiscent high school photos. Pictures littered her childhood bedroom of football games, beach trips and secret parties with all these people being a part of those memories.  

“How’s L.A. these days, Thea?” piped John, his arm thrown around his newly wed wife, Anna. They had been together since they hit puberty, so it wasn’t a surprise to hear that they had recently tied the knot. Thea had even received an invitation to the wedding during the summertime. She sent a gift in her place, offering her congratulations in her absence due to a busy filming schedule. “We’d been thinking of taking a trip next year.”

Thea took a seat on the wooden chair facing them, casually crossing her arms across her chest to warm up her body. “Warm,” she breathed. “I forgot how winter felt.”

She didn’t realize the weight of her words at that moment though. It wasn’t until the door to the bar opened and a crisp chill caused an eruption of goosebumps across her arms that she felt a cold that went down to her bones and across the planes of her heart.

Harry brought with him another type of winter that caused even December to falter in its snowy tracks when his gaze met Thea’s from across the room. While they were previously glassy from the wind outside, they had now sharpened, stopping her from even taking a breath. A muscle in his jaw twitched and Thea shivered. Her expensive coat offered no warmth to this type of cold.

She looked down but was very aware of the familiar sound of steps approaching the table that had now gone silent. Thea’s heart contracted with ache as she realized with surprise that she recognized the way his boots sounded on floorboards.

She felt the heavy gazes of her friends shifting back and forth between the two.

“Harry!” Laura greeted within the heavy silence that sat like weights on Thea’s chest. “I’m glad you could make it. I know how busy the music store is this time of the year.”

Instead of deciding whether to be an active participant within the conversation or remain mute, Thea was rescued by the ringing of her phone. She would have taken an out if it had been a telemarketer at this point, but it was actually her agent and she stood gesturing to the buzzing iPhone in her hands in apology.

As she walked out, she passed Harry and for a moment time stilled as they were the closest they had been in a full year. Through the coldness that seeped from him, she couldn’t help but think back on the nights that his warmth had lit a furnace heating her body with touches and soft gasps. It made such a contrast to the way she pulled her coat tighter around her body now within his presence.

Her voice echoed off the brick walls of the alley she slipped into beside the bar as she spoke to her agent about how long she would be visiting her family. Main street was lively tonight as cars slowed and passed one another, the drivers waving through the windows as no one was a stranger in Tupelo. The phone call was brief, and she found herself taking a few deep breaths to encourage her to reenter the bar.

When she turned on her heeled boot to leave the alleyway, she stopped in her tracks at the familiar stature waiting for her at the corner. She couldn’t help the way her heart sped up.

“Didn’t think you could make time to visit with your busy schedule,” he drawled, his voice dipping lower into the syllables like it was wanting to rest there. His accent was a sharp contrast to the southern dialect that plagued this town. Like a hint of world further away that had always attracted Thea.  “Guess I was right.” It was biting… but not too harsh.

Thea swallowed. “I…” she began, trying to find the words to express how much she missed him but failing. “I deserve that.”

He nodded, leaning his shoulder against the bricks. “You never answered my calls, Dorothea.”

She had shortened her name to go along with her step into fame. She had never loved it. She didn’t like the way it sounded cushioned with a southern accent, announced through a pageant speaker, followed with expectations. But hearing it out of Harry’s mouth… it made her almost regret asking to be called Thea if there was a chance someone could say her name with conviction like Harry did and light the flicker of a flame in her gut like he did now. Maybe she wouldn’t be so stuck on him.

“I didn’t know how to.” With all the thoughts running through her mind, these were the only words her mouth could form.

He stared at her, holding her in her place, then said, “I’ve been seeing Augustine.” His green eyes narrowed slightly, analyzing the way she shifted her weight to her other foot.

The ache was briefly subdued as a flash of anger hit her in the gut. Was he trying to torture her?

She had never been known for holding her tongue and the mix of his statement with the biting cold caused an irritation to leak into her voice. “If I wanted to know who you’ve been seeing, I would have asked.”

His eyes danced with some hidden amusement at her rebuttal as the corner of his mouth raised slightly, causing a dimple to form in his cheek. Dorothea didn’t know but Harry had been wanting—craving—a reaction from her. Some hint to confirm the suspicion that she was hurting just the same as he was. The artificial indifference she tried to portray put a bad taste in his mouth. She might have been an award-winning actress… but he knew her.

“What’s so funny?”

“I knew you cared.”

She sucked in a breath, eyes looking to her shoes. “I never said I didn’t.”

The small hint of confession caused Harry to stumble. He had been ready to tear into her, yell at her, make her feel like he had felt for a whole 365 days she had been gone. It was easier to be mad at someone you saw only through a tiny screen, to tell yourself you hated them when you were separated by miles. Now that she was standing in front of him… he just hurt. A dull ache throbbing in his chest as he looked at her. She wasn’t the same person… he knew that. But she had the same hesitant tortured eyes that he remembered begged him to not go to the prom as she wore the prettiest dress he had ever seen.

And he always folded when it came to her. She wanted to piss off her mother, skip the prom that she was supposed to be queen of in the middle of her teenage rebellion. So he did. He turned left at the intersection where he should have turned right and they ran through the park, dirt staining their fancy clothes, seventeen years old and nothing figured out.

It was in the present that he stepped forward and the gap that had separated them warmed slightly. There was a small moment before he grabbed her face and kissed her that Thea wondered if she should stop him. She had been guarding her heart, building a brick wall around the organ for when she returned to Tupelo. She couldn’t make this hurt like it had last time—it had almost destroyed her.

But like everything else when it came to him… she folded. So she let him grab her face and press his wind-chapped lips to hers, warming up her mouth and letting the cold exterior of her chip somewhat. It felt just as passionate as it had the time before a year ago. He kissed her like a man would.

Strikingly enough, she realized that no one in L.A. kissed like Harry did. No other man grabbed her so hungrily, yet so gentle. They didn’t breathe mint into her and caress her cheeks with their long thumbs. Their presence didn’t fill the void spaces of her soul where things didn’t make sense.

It was for those reasons that she eased back slightly, breathing into the space between them, “This doesn’t change anything. I’m still going to leave.”

He knew deep down that she would say that, although it didn’t stop his gut from feeling the punch any less. At the end of the day, she could tear him apart with her bare hands and he’d still support everything she does, watch every movie, every interview, buy every endorsed product. Live his whole life waiting for the brief moments he’d have her like this—with him.

“If it’s all the same to you,” he whispered, pushing a hair back behind her ear. “It’s the same to me.”

He didn’t believe it one bit but he pushed his mouth back to hers anyways.

#Harry Styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles imagine #harry styles ff #harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagines #harry styles au #tis the damn season #dorothea #writing #harry styles writing

[writingletterstothefire]

right where you left me

A/N: So here it is, a full 3 days after I said I’d post it. Things have been pretty crappy, so I apologize if there was anyone out there who actually cared about this fic. The idea came to me while listening to right where you left me by Taylor Swift. I had this image of like, okay, we know about Lorraine, but what if there was someone back in Texas still waiting for Javi, after all this time? And from that thought, came this. it’s not beta-read in the slightest, so I’m so sorry if there’s any typos or sentences that don’t sound right. Thanks, y’all. Enjoy.

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: maybe some language?? abandonment, Javier Peña

Prom night was supposed to be the best night of your high school career. And at first, it really felt like it might be. Your best friend Javier Peña was taking you, and you had picked the perfect dress. You and Javi were going as friends, but you really thought that this might finally be the night that you worked up the courage to tell him how you felt. You’d been dancing around each other for months, and tonight was the night that you’d finally take your friendship to a new level.

At 8pm sharp, there was a knock on your door. Javi was always right on time. You walked down the stairs slowly, like you’d seen girls do in movies, but Javi just smiled up at you and went, “Hey, you actually look like a human instead of a troll today!”

Needless to say, you weren’t exactly ecstatic at the start of the night. By the time you got to the prom, though, you had calmed down and reminded yourself that Javi was prone to sticking his foot in his mouth. He was probably just not used to seeing you dressed up.

“You alright, squirt?” Javi asked as he helped you out of his truck and started to lead you into the school. “You’ve been pretty quiet.”

“No, I’m fine!” You smiled up at him, determined to have a good night. “Ready to force you to dance with me all night.”

Javi laughed at that. “I’ll give you three dances, alright squirt?”

“Deal!” You beamed up at him. Javi’s heart skipped a beat, like it always did when you smiled at him like that.

In the end, you got four and a half dances out of him. He wasn’t happy about it, but he would do anything you asked him to.

After the prom, you both ended up at the diner you worked at part-time, sharing a milkshake and a plate of fries. That was when the bomb dropped.

“I’m leaving,” he suddenly blurted out, halfway through the milkshake.

“Oh, okay, I’ll go get us a box—” you started to offer helpfully.

“No, I…” he grabbed your hand to stop you getting up, “I, uh, I’m going to Quantico. After graduation.”

Quantico was a conversation that had been looming over the two of you for the last three months. Javi wanted to go, and he wanted you to go up to Virginia with him. He begged you to at least apply to the schools in the area. He needed his best friend.

You’d been denied financial aid from the schools that you applied to.You would be staying in Texas. Eventually, with his father’s health declining after catching a bad bit of pneumonia, it had started to look like Javi might be staying in Texas too. But Chucho ended up making a full recovery, and insisted Javi went to Quantico to advance his career.

It seemed he would be taking his father’s advice. He would be leaving you.

But, you realized, the way Javi was telling you, the way his eyes were pleading with you now… It was almost as if he was waiting for you to ask him not to go. Javi would do anything you asked him to. But you couldn’t ask him to give up his future.

“I’m happy for you, Javi,” you managed to get out, tears collecting in your eyes as you smiled. “You’ve worked so hard to get there, you’re going to be amazing.”

Javi looked almost heartbroken. He had been so sure that you were going to yell and scream at him, beg him to please just stay. Yet, here you were, encouraging him to do the one thing he simultaneously wanted more than anything and didn’t want at all.

He just nodded silently and waited for you to finish the milkshake before taking you back home. You had both been anxious on the ride home. You knew it was now or never, because he was leaving in a week. The problem was that you weren’t going with him. Could you do it, knowing you’d be giving him a taste of what would never be?

You didn’t have time to think too hard about it before Javi had your face in his hands and was planting the sweetest kiss on your lips.

Before you could stop yourself, you whispered, “But, you’re leaving…”

The both of you stayed frozen for a few moments, before the tears in your eyes spilled over and you were rushing inside. Javi didn’t chase you, even though he wanted to.

The two of you avoided each other at school the following Monday. And then, a week later, he left.

Five years passed without much more than a few phone calls and a handful of letters passed between the two of you. You both chose to ignore the way that prom night ended. You needed each other too much. Even if it was a distanced friendship now, you chalked it up to growing up. Of course you weren’t going to be best friends forever, and it was foolish of you to consider that the distance wouldn’t change things.

But then, Javi walked into the diner. The same diner where he told you he was leaving. The same diner you still worked at every night, noon to close.

You couldn’t stop yourself from running up to him and grabbing him in a tight hug. He hugged you back, of course, squeezing you tightly and murmuring sweet nothings into your ear about how much he missed you.

“Javi, what are you doing here?! You’re supposed to be working for the DEA!” You squeezed him tighter, despite questioning his presence.

“What, I can’t visit home every once in a while, squirt?” He smirked that trademark smirk of his. You finally pulled back, crossing your arms over your chest and quirking an eyebrow.

“We haven’t seen you here since Christmas four years ago. And even then, only your dad saw you because you were only here for a night.”

“Alright, alright, I get it, I need to visit more,” he grumbled. His energy shifted into a nervous one. “You know, I’m actually here to, uh, give you this. I wanted to give it to you in person.”

He pulled a small slip of paper from his jacket, and you felt the blood leaving your head. You’d seen so many of these in the past two years, but you supposed you were getting to that age now.

“I wanted you to hear it from me,” he said gently, “because you mean more to me than anything. There’s a plus-one, if you, uh, need it.”

His brow furrowed as he said it, as though he was upset at the idea of you having a plus-one, and you were so confused by his expression that you almost forgot to take the paper from him. The invitation. A wedding invitation. Javi, your Javi, was getting married. You could hear a pin drop in the silence of the diner, mostly empty now, save for a few tables quietly eating amongst themselves.

“Congratulations, oh my god,” you finally exclaimed, quickly hugging him quickly so that he wouldn’t see the tears threatening to overflow. You hoped you sounded excited enough to throw off suspicion.

The two of you caught up over a milkshake and a plate of fries, and for a moment you could almost forget that five years had passed. You could almost forget the wedding invitation burning a hole into your apron.

When he asked you about your relationships, you were embarrassed to tell the truth. But you did, because you couldn’t exactly lie to Javi. He was still your best friend, distance and time spent away aside. You told him the truth, that none of the guys you met were the right fit. It was hard to find a good guy in this small town, you had jested. It was true. The best one had left.

Eventually, Javi left with a slip of, “Lorraine’s waiting for me—,” and you cut him off with a pained smile and a, “It’s fine, no it’s totally fine, I have to finish my shift anyways!”

In the end, you couldn’t make yourself go to the wedding. You picked up an extra shift that night, and focused on polishing each piece of silverware until it sparkled.

You’d learn two days later that Javi left her at the altar. Well, that is to say, he never even made it to the altar. He didn’t arrive to the church at all. He simply turned around, and booked a flight back to Quantico, tux and all. He was on the first plane out.

You didn’t know if you wanted to slap him or kiss him. You figured that it didn’t matter. You’d never get the chance to do either one.

———————————————————————

Ten years passed after that. You saw Javi at some Christmases, and you were sure to give him hell for leaving a woman at the altar, but for the better half of ten years, you didn’t see him. When he went down to Columbia, he didn’t come home for holidays. He didn’t want to bring any trouble back up to Texas. It was understandable, but your heart ached every day.

You tried to move on. You’d been trying for fifteen years. But, if you were honest with yourself, there was just no one for you like Javi. No one could compare to him.

You were still working at the diner, but you’d been promoted. The old owner, when he passed away, left the entire thing in your name. He requested that his estate pay off the rest of the mortgage and overdue bills, and you were gifted the diner, completely debt free. You refused to just accept the free money, though. Along with your new duties as the owner, you still worked at the diner five nights per week. If you were honest with yourself, you didn’t really have anything else to do. Your cat had food and water, your plants were watered in the morning, and you didn’t have anyone waiting for you at home. So, every night you helped serve tables, run food, and even bus if it was busy enough. You were happy to work. It kept your mind off of how lonely you were.

You were working on closing up one cold, rainy night, when you heard the door open. You never got any patrons after 11pm, so you immediately grew suspicious. You subtly reached for the baseball bat you kept behind the counter.

“We’re closing up, can I help—,” you froze. Javi was standing in the diner soaking wet and shivering. “Oh my god, Javi?”

“H-Hey squirt,” he managed to get out through his chattering teeth.

You hurried over to him, shoving his jean jacket off his shoulders. “You’re going to make yourself sick in these wet clothes! Come on, I’ve got some stuff in the employee lost and found that might work.”

You quickly locked up the front and ushered a shaking Javi to the back room, shoving the first clothes you found that might fit him into his arms. He started stripping his shirt off before you could turn around, and you felt yourself going bright red. After an embarrassingly long moment of you being frozen in shock, you managed to spin around and hurry out to the front with a, “I’m gonna make you something warm to drink!”

Your shaky hands somehow threw two mugs of tea together, and you set them on a table just as Javi came out of the back dressed in oversized sweats and a tie dye hoodie. You offered a small smile and sat at the booth, before realizing it was the booth that you’d sat at together so many times. This was the booth that you’d sat at the night he told you he was leaving. And the night he’d invited you to his wedding.

He sat at the other side of the booth, his ears a bit pink as he bashfully avoided your eyes.

“T-Thanks for the clothes. I don’t know why I didn’t grab an umbrella as I left,” he ducked his head.

You just gently pushed the mug of tea closer to him. “So, what brings you here? What did I do to be graced with your presence on this fine night?”

You didn’t mean for it to come out sounding so snarky, but you saw Javi flinch at your words. His hands wrapped around the warm mug as he stared into the tea.

“I’m, uh… I’m back from Columbia. For good.”

That wasn’t what you’d expected. In your surprised state, you took a moment to examine Javi. This Javi was rugged and worn out. He had permanent bags under his eyes, worry lines in his forehead, a thick, prominent mustache on his lip where there used to be only peach fuzz. His shoulders were hunched over and tense, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on them. And he was, you realized.

The man in front of you was not the boy you graduated high school with. He wasn’t even the man who left his wife at the altar. This man was seasoned and hard, well aware of the darkest horrors that the world possessed.

“What happened down there, Javi?” You had to ask. You knew from the way his jaw clenched that he didn’t want to talk about it, but you also knew that if he didn’t talk about it with you, then there was no one else who stood a chance.

And so, he told you. He recounted his struggles finding Escobar, and then Escobar’s escape. He told you about Escobar’s death, and then the rise of the Calí cartel. The things he’d thought he had to do for the cause. The things he would never repeat to anyone else for years to come. The nightmares that plagued his mind every night. And you listened to him. You didn’t interrupt, except to reach across the table and grab his hand, squeezing tightly every so often to remind him that you were here.You’d always be here, and you both knew that. Javi left and came back and then left again, and you stayed planted to the spot he left you in, waiting patiently for him to come back.

Javi finally finished recounting the stories from Columbia around two in the morning. You’d sat there, holding hands across the table for nearly three hours. You knew, in your heart, that it was time to tell Javi. If he accepted you, you’d go from there. If he rejected you, it was time to move on and try to find some semblance of happiness while you still had time.

“Javi, I—”

“I love you, squirt.”

You must have been looking at him like he’d just told you he was growing a third leg, because he burst out laughing. You couldn’t form a coherent thought. All that came out was a broken, “W-What?”

Javi just tilted his head at you. “Well… you can’t be all that surprised, can you? After all this time, you don’t know?”

“Javi… Javi, we’ve been friends for thirty years, but I’ve barely seen you for half of them. You were… You almost got married, Javi! To someone who wasn’t me! And you have the nerve to say I can’t be all that surprised?!” You knew the volume of your voice had risen substantially, but you didn’t care. He had no right to come into your diner and act like, after fifteen years, he had any right to spring this on you.

“Squirt, I…” Javi sighed, getting up and coming around to your side of the table. He sat next to you and picked up your hands, clasping them tightly in his own. “I messed up. I know. I thought you were better off without me, that you were going to go on to do bigger and better things, and you have, but I… I’m going to be selfish, squirt, for one more time. I’m going to be selfish and tell you that I love you, and I need you. With Lorraine… I proposed because she expected it. We didn’t even really get along that well. A month after I proposed…,” his head dropped, ashamed as he spoke his next words, “I said your name in bed.”

If you hadn’t already been frozen to your seat with shock, you’re sure you would’ve fallen over.

“I know it was unfair to her. I wish I’d never asked her to marry me. I should have come back for you, told you how much I loved you and how much I needed you. You’ve been so patient with me, I know you have. You’ve been nothing but amazing, even when I was a shitty friend to you. I wanted you to come to Quantico with me, and when you couldn’t, I thought… I thought that it was the universe telling me that it wouldn’t work. But fuck the universe. I am so sorry that I ever left you, squirt. I love you. And, if you’ll have me, I want to be with you. I want to marry you, if you’ll let me.” He kissed the backs of your hands.

You stayed frozen for a moment. You knew that none of this was easy for Javi. Admitting his true feelings, owning up to his mistakes, apologizing. He was coming to you, with his heart on his sleeve, and begging you not to turn him away. And how could you, if you were honest? You’d stayed in this state, in this town, in this diner, all for him. You told yourself it was just stability and familiarity that kept you there, but deep down you had always known that you were waiting for Javi. Staying put, right where he left you, just in case he ever decided to come back. And here he was, asking you to love him.

“Javi, I love you, too.”

You’d never seen Javier cry. The day he left, he came close. When his arms wrapped around you, you’d felt him shudder, just once. When you pulled back, his eyes stayed averted, and he didn’t look at you again. Except when he left, about to board his flight, and his eyes were just a tad shinier than usual.

Now, Javi allowed full tears to stream down his cheeks, as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into him. He spoke no words, he just held you. He never truly thought that he would get to.

You slowly pulled back, reaching up to cup his cheeks and wipe away his tears. “I love you, Javi. And I… I’ll marry you, one day. Let’s see how this goes? I don’t want to spook you by us moving too fast, I can’t lose you.”

Javi shook his head frantically. “No, you’ll never lose me. I’m never leaving you again, I was a fool to have left for all these years.”

You wiped at his cheeks one more time, before leaning up to kiss him. And he kissed you back.

You supposed that, if you finally got to have him, then all of the pain you went through while he was gone was worth it. Your waiting hadn’t been for nothing, you finally had your Javi. He was holding you, right here, right now, in the same place he’d left you. Only, this time, he was here to stay. He was here with you.

#javier peña #javier peña x reader #javi x reader #javier pena x reader #javier x reader #narcos fanfiction #narcos #javier peña x you #javier pena x you #javier pena #my writing