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asterrrific · 7 months

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11:53pm

"Y/N... y/n, wake up." your friend, Chan gently shakes you awake.

You were still in the student council's shared office with the student's technical committee. You were the secretary to the council President who's also your friend, LeeKnow, while on the other hand, your boyfriend, Han, is the chairperson of the tech. committee.

It's an overtime kind of shift today because tomorrow is the start of your university's anniversary week, and as the student leaders, you were placed incharge of the preparations for the grounds where booths and activities for students will be held.

"Mmm? What time is it? Sorry, I dozed off for a bit..." you slurred, as you rubbed at your eyes, willing yourself to wake and get up from your makeshift bed: one of the tarps for tomorrow as your bedding and Han's backpack as your pillow.

"No, it's okay. You did great today. I think you did the most today, together with LeeKnow," Chan explains as he kneels beside you. "I just need to get the tarp, we're gonna put it up now." he adds.

"Oh, right. My bad." you chuckle, feeling your cheeks turn red a little when you realize you've been sleeping on the welcome tarp.

You start gathering your stuff and helped Chan with the huge tarp. The other officers are doing the same with the smaller college banners.

"Where will we be hanging them?" you ask.

"Oh, don't worry. Changbin and I got this big one. You can just come along and check if we've hung it straight or skewed later." Chan offers.

"Oh, but-"

"Don't worry, y/n. Leave it to us." Changbin cuts in, as he gently takes your other end of the rolled tarp.

You let Changbin and Chan do the work as you look around looking for Han. Last you checked, he was in the office, sorting files on his laptop according to the flow of events starting tomorrow.

"You're awake. Thank God." Leeknow dramatically sighs from behind you. You roll your eyes at the sound, feeling a bit more awake now, courtesy of your friend's annoying comment.

"Looking for Han?" Leeknow asks as he passes by, a box filled with flaglets in his arms.

You nod your answer as you feel your pockets for your phone.

"He was outside the office not too long ago. I think he went to the CEO to have the program checked." Leeknow offered.

"Thanks, Pres." you smile a bit sarcastically which Leeknow returns.

You turn on your phone and look for your favorite contact, messaging him an update on your whereabouts within the campus for your next tasks. You sit on the floor, waiting for your message to be noticed, but to no avail.

Feeling like Han is indeed busy, you follow the guys and everyone else as they file outside the office, the midnight wind making you all shiver a little bit, especially you who just got up from a nap.

On your way to the main gate to fulfill your tasks, you finally see Han with some hired lights-and-sounds folks, probably explaining the plan for the lights, speakers, and main sound system.

You wave at him to check up on him, but he was too immersed with whatever they were talking about, so you just shrug it off and jog after the two guys in front of you.

"Y/N, can you check if it's good?" Chan calls out from the ladder as he and Changbin positions the tarp before attaching it to the ropes that will hold it up on the gate.

You do your best to direct them so it won't look skewed, even going as far as assisting Changbin's ladder when it suddenly wobbled a bit because he was leaning back too much when he was checking the tarp as well.

When your task was done, you sit on one of the plant boxes, leaning on to the railings there, watching the your two friends bicker over who ties the rope first and who keeps the tarp level.

There's noise around you, but you're used to it. The noise is filled with life and laughter. Your fellow officers and other student volunteers chattering over their tasks and laughing at the most mundane things. It's one of the most normal things for you. One you feel you can't even live without.

With the cool wind caressing you over the noise, you find yourself feeling sleepy again, so you fight with yourself in order to stay awake.

You force yourself to sit straight, away from the railing. You even try pinching yourself awake, and even bargaining with your brain that you have to stay awake... but to no avail.

"Baby..." a voice pulls you from behind, getting closer.

"There you are," calls the voice again, this time, directly behind you.

As you continue to fight to stay awake, you feel warm arms trapping you in an embrace from behind, doing a good job in keeping a bit of the cold out.

"Baby, you're freezing." Han exclaims as he burries his face on the crook of your neck, still hugging you from behind.

His teasing voice finally does the job of jolting you awake.

"Hannie... where were you?" you ask, voice laced with a hint of sleepiness.

Han turned your around his arms so you are now face to face. He cups your cheeks with his hands, squishing them around, making funny faces with you while his eyes are lit with adoration.

"I had to direct where the lights and speakers will be staying. I would've asked you to come with me earlier, but I saw you fast asleep on the floor beside me." he explains, hands still on your cheeks.

"So your bag..."

"Yeah, I used my bag to turn it into your own pillow because you were literally just sprawled on the floor, my love." He teases. He ruffles your hair a little bit, while his arm drapes around your shoulder.

"Oi! There you are." Chan calls out as he and Changbin approaches. Just as they were nearing you and Han, a loud snap echoed throughout the area, and the flapping sound of the banner falling came next.

"Oh shit." Han curses suddenly, all while suppressing a snort of a laugh.

"I TOLD YOU THE ROPE WASN'T STRONG ENOUGH!" Chan and Changbin say in unison, pointing at each other, daring each person to get the blame.

"Hannie, I gotta break those two off." You laugh, as you try to brush your boyfriend off. He laughs with you, but makes his hold tighter, as he maneuvers you closer to where dumb and dumber were having a debate on who's to blame with the tarp.

"Let's just put it back. Maybe find a thicker rope." You suggest, as you start to pick one corner of the tarp.

Han then stops you, grabbing the tarp instead.

"You go find a place to sit, baby. I'll handle this. And these fools." he winks, eliciting a giggle from you.

You did as you were told, giving in to the fact that you are indeed getting sleepier again, and the ladder may be high, but your height won't still be enough if you dare assist with the replacing of the huge banner.

Han then starts joking with the other two as they help one another in putting back the tarp, making sure it's extra secure this time. You on the other hand, find a spot under one of the big trees lining up the fence that runs along the gate.

As soon as your back hits the trunk, you feel your eyelid getting heavier. So, you decide to get a bit of shuteye while the boys worked.

---

Slowly, you feel yourself get gently shaken awake... and somehow, you feel like floating.

Your eyes flutter open, and then you realize, you are being tickled awake by a bunch of curly hairs on the back of a familiar head. A comforting familiar scent of flowers and coconuts wafting to your nose along with the scent of wet grass caused by fog and dew.

Han was humming along, as he carried you piggyback, unaware that you're already awake.

"Baby..." you whisper in his ear, trying to nuzzle closer to him if that's even possible... trying to make yourself feel warmer despite already wearing his windbreaker over your own sweater this time around.

"Shhh, relax baby. I'm taking you home. You fell asleep while we were going spiderman on the gate." Han jokes, tugging your lips into a smile.

Apparently, Han took the shortcut in the park from your campus to the apartment complex you both stay in. It was an 8 minute walk. "Even if home is miles away?" you follow up. Home is literally miles away from where you're both studying.

Han pauses dramatically in his steps, exaggerating a gasp. "Oh no. I'll be too tired by then!" He exclaims, making you giggle louder. Satisfied, he chuckles low, then resumes his walk.

"Well... home in the apartment, love." He says, stroking your thigh from where his hold was while carrying you.

You tap him on the shoulder, asking to be put down so you could walk beside him instead. He refuses.

"Eyyy, don't. We're almost there anyway." He tsks as the complex takes form in sight.

"You could've just woken me up." You tell him, smacking him gently on the chest from where your arms crossed to hold on to him.

"And wake you from your beauty sleep? No chance." He scoffs.

You reach your complex, and it was only then that he brings you down, just to immediately intertwine your hands together as you took the elevator to your floor. Comfortable and sleepy silence enveloping you both as you started going up.

When you reach your door, Han, being the gentleman that he is, walks in front of you. He punches your lock number and goes in before you do. A routine you've both been doing ever since you moved in to the same complex together.

He turns on your lights and sets down your stuff on your counter. Moving as quietly and swiftly as he could, he moves to your bathroom and prepares a hot bath.

You can't help but sigh as he does his usual stuff. Even after three years of being together, you still get butterflies everytime Han shows you his different love languages with you.

You silently move towards the bathroom, and he points to the sink. Here, he lets you do your skincare while he continues to check on the tub, making sure the temp and bubbles are just right.

"Let me see my baby." He coos once you finished cleaning your face. He gently takes your face in his hands, observing you with love eyes which makes you blush involuntarily.

"Perfect." He says, planting a sudden kiss on your nose.

"Your bath's okay. I'll leave you now. I'll wait for you on the sofa." He says, before stepping out.

"Thanks. You're the best." you hurry and he winks before closing the door.

You take your time with your bath, of course after working for a whole day both in the student center and campus field.

When you were done and changed with pajamas that Han managed to prepare for you, you step out of the bathroom, calling his name.

"Hannie I'm done, you can-" you stop in your tracks when you reach him in the sofa.

Han was already fast asleep while sitting on one end of the sofa. His mouth slightly open due to the hand he used to lean himself on to the arm of the sofa.

You coo at the sight, but you move to grab throw cushions and a blanket for Han. He's just as tired as you are, maybe even more, since he carried you home on his back, so you gently move him with effort so he could lie comfortably instead.

Before you tucked him in, you lean to give him a goodnight kiss on the forehead. But then, he suddenly tackles you so you land on top of him.

"I thought you were asleep!" you whisper shout, trying to wriggle free from his embrace, eyes still closed. He then starts to attack you with tickles on your sides, making you squirm in a fit of giggles.

"I was. But baby, you didn't have to tuck me in. That's my job. Besides, I was just getting shuteye while waiting for you."

You turn to face him, reaching out to pinch his cheek.

"Shuteye? Hannie, you were practically snoring and almost drooling on my sofa." You tease, with which he pretends to be offended.

"I was not!" He gasps, making you laugh for the nth time today.

You both share laughs, and after a few beats of silence, he scoots lower into the sofa to make you the big spoon.

"I'll take a nap for a bit my love. Then I'll go back to mine." He whispers, as he cuddles close to you, inhaling your scent fresh from the bath he prepared specially for you.

"Sure baby. Don't sleep on me." you tease him, knowing damn well that he'll end up sleeping in your place anyway, while he replies with a smirk.

Gently, you start to comb through his locks with your fingers, lulling him to sleep, as you felt his embrace on your middle gradually begin to loosen.

When you were sure he was asleep, you give him a long, lingering kiss on the crown of his head, and you whisper:

"I love you, Han Jisung."

as sincerely as you can, like you always do.

You feel him smile in his sleep against your chest, and that was enough to convince you to fall back to sleep that night again.

-----------------------------

Had fun writing this. Idk but I really really saw this in my head. LeeKnow as council president sounds "WHAT?!"

Also, Han working hard with the tech for the event feels so HIM somehow🥹✊🏻

Anyways, I hope y'all liked it! And as always, please like and reblogso other people could see my works too🥹🩷

Lablab!

#skz han #han jisung au #han jisung fluff #han jisung imagines #han fluff #han imagines #han x reader #han jisung #skz au #skz fanfic #skz fluff #skz imagines #skz scenarios #skz x reader

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lanadelreyvisualaesthetics · 3 months

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If you're a Billie Eilish fan, you won't like what I have to say. I suggest you skip over my post or just stop following me. This is my page and I will speak freely on my own page. If you attack me, you will be blocked, so fuck right off. Go dry hump grass in your backyard.

If you needed further proof that Billie Eilish is an industry plant, don't look further then the fact that she unfairly won her second Oscar last night. First for that James Bond song and now for that stupid Barbie movie. Both songs inferior to the masterpieces Lana wrote for Big Eyes and The Great Gatsby.

Let this sink in. Lana has never been nominated for best song for a film, for either The Golden Globes or The Oscars. Remember how shocked we all were when Young and Beautiful was completely ignored. Even the press stepped in and wrote articles about how fucked up that was.

All Billie has to do is win a Tony award to be a EGOT. She did a red carpet interview yesterday for the Oscars and she was laughing about that. She will eventually win a Tony. She will eventually be an EGOT.

Then there's the Grammy's where Billie beats Lana for every fucking category nominated right along with that other asshole Taylor Swift. Taylor isn't a industry plant but there's speculation that she bribes Grammy voters committee members to keep voting for her. It's something a lot of artists do to win Grammys. That's why the same artists keep winning every year for the top categories. That's why Midnights won AOTY this year over Ocean Blvd and SZA's SOS. None of the songs on Midnights stood out like A&W did. SOS was THAT album. Had SOS won, I wouldn't be bitching right now.

It's a cruel joke by this point because everybody know how desperate Lana wants that Grammy trophy in her hands. She never asked to be forcefully dragged on stage to watch Taylor win over her and then call her a fucking legacy artist.

Last night The Oscars just re-opened up the rage for me. It's not fair that an industry plant with boring songs keep winning all these prestigeous awards and Lana doesn't even get nominated. Let all this sink in.

I feel better letting this anger out. Let me go about my day. 🙄

Go stream Big Eyes and Young and Beautiful all day. 🌹

#rant #lana del rey #grammys #oscars #golden globes #industry plant

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etoileholland · 1 year

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With love, from me to you

Synopsis: when the student government decides to sell Valentine’s Day balloons and cards, both you and Peter have a similar idea.

Warnings: none

Word count: 2k

a/n; happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s a quick thing I wrote last night at midnight (whoops) but I hope you enjoy!

Valentine’s Day: a wonderful day for many, a dreaded day for some. It all depended on whether you had someone to spend the day with, to gift flowers and chocolates too, to write love letters to, and most importantly, to see who can outdo the other. For some, they were able to partake in the festivities, and for others, such as Peter Parker and his friends, they dreaded the holiday altogether.

“It’s honestly just a capitalist racket.” MJ remarked, taking a bite of her sandwich. It was lunchtime, and everyone congregated in the cafeteria. Even though Valentine’s Day wasn’t until the next week, people were already gearing up for the holiday. Roses and balloons with a card attached were available for purchase through student government, and the committee was pushing the event during lunchtime. The trio watched as the valedictorian hung up the poster advertising the event.

“Tell me about it.” Ned replied before stealing a fry off of Peter’s tray. He ignored Peter’s confused face and popped it into his mouth. “It’s a pointless holiday, really. People should be telling they love each other throughout the year, and not just on one day.” MJ shook her head in agreement.

“Exactly.” She answered, “it’s a dumb holiday.”

The trio nodded their heads as they continued eating and watching their classmates hand out flyers for the valentines balloons with cards attached, or “valentines grams” as they were called. The friend group all had the “sour grapes” mentality—they were bitter about the fact that no one gave them valentines.

“It would be nice to receive one, though.” Peter remarked, taking a fry off of Ned’s plate as revenge. “In all our years in high school, we’ve never received one.”

“We could always buy one for each other.” Ned spoke up, but the disapproving looks on MJ’s and Peter’s face shot that idea down quickly. “It was just a suggestion.”

As lunch continued, the three ate and spoke about various topics. At the next table over, you couldn’t help but overhear what the friend group conversed about. In a way, it was surprising to hear that they hadn’t received one. It seemed as though everyone had received at least one during their high school years—even you had received one.

Even if they didn’t think so, the trio were more popular than they realised. They had a solid group of friends, people knew them by name, they all had a lot of talent and were kind. So it was incredibly shocking that no one had gifted them one.

—

“Did you do last night’s homework?” Peter questioned you right as he sat down at the shared table in your chemistry class. “I only did half of it as I was babysitting my little cousin Morgan.” He laughed, setting down his backpack. “She wouldn’t let me do my work because it interrupted her tea party.” His face had a large smile on his face as he recounted his day yesterday. Seeing him happy brought a smile to your own face.

To be honest, when he told you about his days, it made it feel as though he was your friend. Although you secretly wished for more, you were happy with what you got.

“I also didn’t finish my homework, but only because I barely understood it.” You slowly pulled your half completed homework out of your chem folder.

“Oh.” He answered, “I’m sorry.”

You shook your head. “Don’t be sorry about it, it’s not your fault.”

It is my fault, because I’m too nervous to suggest having a study date, he thought to himself.

“Ha, right.” He awkwardly chucked.

Your chemistry teacher walked in from his office with a stack of flyers in his hand. “I was told by the student body to hand out these flyers for the valentine’s grams that are on sale starting today.” He began to walk around the classroom, handing out the flyers to the students. “They’ll be on sale until the 13th at the main office, so make sure you buy one soon.” When he got to your table, he placed a few down and continued walking.

Both you and Peter reached for the stack at the same time, your fingers brushing against his. Electricity coursed through your veins, and you could feel yourself become flustered. You looked up at Peter whose face was the same shade as the pink flyers. He brought one to his face in an attempt to cover his blush.

“So,” his voice came out higher than anticipated, “the valentines grams seem nice this year.”

“Yeah.” You breathed out, “it comes with a balloon and a handwritten card for $5.” What are you, a spokesperson for the grams? You thought to yourself.

“I see.” Peter replied, “it’s a good deal.”

“It is.”

“Alright class, turn to page…”

Your awkward conversation was cut short by the teacher who rambled on about skeleton structures, a subject that began to bore you to death. When you glanced up at Peter, you noticed that he was looking at you instead of the teacher.

“Sorry about that.” Peter whispered to you, his face turning pink again.

“Don’t worry.” You replied as you focused your attention on what your teacher was rambling on about.

—

After school that day, you ran into the main office where the grams were for sale. You hoped that you wouldn’t run into Peter, but when you serendipitously saw him walk into the auditorium, you sped walked to the office.

“I would like to purchase a valentine's gram please.” The secretary handed you a card to fill out, and you handed her the bill.

What should I say?

Maybe, “happy Valentine’s Day?” That’s a bit too average.

Or maybe “be my valentine.” You shook your head. That’s way too forward.

As you racked your brain for what to say, you failed to notice the secretary growing impatient. “Please write something honey. There are people behind you who’d also like to purchase one.”

“Sorry.” You uttered as you moved out of the way. The pressure made it harder to figure out something to say, so you sat down on a chair outside of the principal’s office.

After a few minutes, the perfect response came to you. You handed in the gram and left the office, now feeling excited for Valentine’s Day to come around.

—

“May, can I have $5?” Peter asked when he returned home later that day. He saw his aunt preparing dinner, knowing that she would be more willing to accept his offer while she was preoccupied.

“What for?” She questioned, turning off the stove. The pan almost bubbled over, but this was a normal occurrence when she cooked.

“Um, I owe the lunch lady that money.” Peter lied, hoping that May would believe him.

“Nice try, but I added money to your account today. You have a positive balance, so what’s it really for?” She placed the pan back on the stove. It was spaghetti night, so once she finished draining the pasta, she added in the marinara sauce.

“Is it for the valentine grams that are on sale?” She smirked, “I saw the flyer earlier today, and I happen to know that they’re also $5.”

Shit.

Her response need no reply as Peter’s face turned bright red. “Is it for a girl?” May asked in an enthusiastic tone.

“Yes.” Peter choked out. “There’s someone in my chemistry class that I think is really pretty.”

“Well why didn’t you say so in the first place?” May asked before walking over to her purse. She rifled through her wallet and exclaimed “aha!” when she found a $5 bill. “Now,” she paused, walking over to her nephew, “write something thoughtful on it, yeah? Don’t just say happy Valentine’s Day—give it some thought.”

“I will.” Peter answered confidently, “I promise.”

—

Valentine’s Day came quickly, and the student government announced that they would be delivering the grams during 6th period, which was when you had chem with Peter.

You held your breath when you heard the announcement. Peter would receive the gram, and you would have to sit there watching awkwardly. The gram was addressed to him from you, so he would know you got it for him.

You couldn’t be more mortified.

Peter was feeling just as mortified when he heard the announcement. He too addressed it to you from him, so he would have to watch as you read the gram.

—

When sixth period rolled around, you slinked into class. Your heart rate was through the roof, and you knew this would be the most awkward experience in a long time. What if Peter is repulsed by your valentine? Would he cease to interact with you?

You watched as Peter was the last person to arrive to class before the bell rang. He slumped in his chair and turned away from you, his face beet red.

The teacher began his lecture, and neither one of you could look at each other. The tension was thick enough to cut through, but you tried your hardest to pay attention.

Halfway through class, a few students from the student body burst through the doors, balloons in hand.

“Sorry teach, but we have a special delivery for a select few.” A guy whom you think is named Harry began to search through the balloons that he and his classmate Emily had in their hands. After a minute, they pulled out two balloons with their cards attached on the balloon weights.

“We have two grams here, one of which will go to Peter Parker.” He scanned the room for Peter, and he held his hand up a bit. When Harry saw him, he rushed over to Peter as he placed the balloon in his hand. “And the other goes to…” He glanced down at the card. When he saw it was for you, he passed the balloon to you. “That’s everyone, thanks for allowing us to crash the party.” Harry awkwardly laughed, frowning as no one laughed with him. The two left as quickly as they initially entered.

“I wasn’t expecting a card.” Peter whispered to himself. The teacher continued with his lecture, but both you and Peter were preoccupied.

“Neither was I.” You remarked. The card was attached to the balloon, and with shaky hands, you read the card.

Will you be my valentine? ~Peter

Peter? Peter gave you a card?

Peter reached for his card, and gasped when he read it.

Happy Valentine’s Day Peter. Hope the day is as wonderful as you.

The message was addressed from you, to him. At first, he couldn’t believe you actually gifted him one, but he recognised your handwriting.

He was grinning like an idiot with a bright red face.

You looked over at a blushy Peter, and your heart melted. You would do anything to see him this happy.

When class ended, both you and Peter took your time putting away your school supplies. After a minute of silence, Peter spoke up.

“Thank you for the valentine gram. I loved it.”

“You’re welcome.” You answered, “I loved mine too.”

The two of you were smiling, and you wished you could stay in that moment forever. But when students came in and began to sit in their spots, you moved towards the door. Following you, Peter walked out of the classroom after you. When you stopped near the door, he stopped too.

“Oh, I would love to be your valentine.” You replied softly. Even though the hallway was bustling, he heard you perfectly.

“Yeah?” He asked with a shy smile.

“Yeah.”

“Well that’s good.” Peter reached up to rub the nape of his neck. “Are you busy tonight?”

When you shook your head no, Peter’s face lit up.

“Would you like to go to dinner tonight?” He asked in a hopeful voice.

You smiled back at him, “I would love to.”

He walked you to class, even holding your books on the way to your class. As you both walked through the hallway, you couldn’t have been more grateful for the student government and their valentine gram campaign.

——

a/n; a short one, but I hope you liked it! Requests are open and if you’d like to be added to my taglist, let me know!

#peter parker #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #peter parker fanfic #peter parker fic #peter parker and reader #peter parker and you #Peter Parker fluff #spiderman x y/n #tom holland spiderman #spiderman imagine #tom holland #peter parker one shot #peter parker one shots #mine

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gloombeauty · 4 months

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Lana lost every Grammy she was nominated for. To Taylor, Billie and a stupid band with a stupid name like Boygenius. I guess Lana didn't bribe the Grammy voters committee hard enough. Or didn't buy them $100,000 gifts. She looked so broken trying to fake smile through the whole show. Then Taylor literally dragged her on stage. Lana didn't want that. She looked humiliated and broken up there. Even the way she was dressed looked like she was going to a funeral. I don't think Lana should ever entertain the Grammy's ever again. 💔

Sit down, this will be long.

My love and admiration for Lana Del Rey and Olivia Rodrigo grew even more after what I witnessed at the Grammy's this year.

1 - It's a known fact that the Grammys are trophies that are usually bought by the artists and the labels. They call it "gifts" but it's accurately described as "bribes." That's what it is - bribes. "Gifts" bought for these fucking Grammy committee of voters so that you have a chance to get that Grammy nom and even better - the trophy.

These committees are people straight from the music industry. Usually men. It wasn't so obvious back in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or even in the early 2000's - but by 2009, it was obvious how the game went. Many artists back in the day won by merit and talent. Many are criminally ignored. Led Zeppelin never won a Grammy. They got a Lifetime Achievement award from the Grammys in 2005. That shit doesn't count but whatever. They were ignored for over 30 years. Michael Jackson lost to that guy who sang "Don't Worry Be Happy." Jethro Tull won for best Metal Recording over Metallica.

So, you see -

2 - Look at the artists who keep winning every fucking year. Taylor Swift. Beyonce. Billie Eilish. Adele. Do the math. It's not a coincidence. Billie acting all goofy and shocked when she wins is all an act. She's an industry plant who's been in the industry thanks to her parents. That stupid act she pulls every single time she wins is tiresome and old. The same exact way it's an act when Taylor feigns shock that she won yet another award. You two conniving bitches paid for your award wins. Cut the fake shock/surprised act.

3 - Speaking of Taylor Swift, she is a demon within the industry itself. Even her own fans said Midnights wasn't that great, but here she is winning "Album Of The Year" (again!) over Ocean Blvd and Guts. Both albums being miles better then Midnights.

4 - Speaking of, shout out to Lana and Olivia Rodrigo for their class and dignity. Having to fake smile for hours while Taylor and Billie were swiping all those trophies was hard to watch. Even Olivia, who's usually her sweet cheery self, had moments last night where she looked done. Lana was already done by the time she hit the red carpet. She had lost to Boygenius twice by that time. Phoebe Bridgers was already a Grammy sweetheart having been nominated for several Grammys for her solo work in 2020. She knew how to play the Grammy game this time around.

But the first sickening part of the night was when Olivia Rodrigo was performing Vampire and Taylor Swift was the only person standing and dancing - while Olivia performed. What fucking shit was that? Taylor, being a monstrous egotistical narcissist, had to stand up during Olivia's moment to shine. She had to fucking dance to a song that wasn't even a fucking dance song. For what? Just to show the world "look! no hate between me and Olivia! All is good! No beef! I support all women! look at me! look at me!"

Let me repeat:

Taylor Swift was literally the only asshole dancing while everyone respectfully sat and watched Olivia perform. For what? To steal Olivia's moment. Plain and simple. She's a narcissist after all.

The way Olivia carried herself the whole night is commendable. I saw Olivia having to fake smile her way every time Taylor beat her in some of the nominations. The camera would pan right up to Olivia's face. This girl is so much better then me. I would have just sat there drinking my wine, but Olivia is smart. Any other reaction from her would have had the Swifties sending her death threats online. They are already attacking her on X for not clapping harder when Taylor won. The maniacal delusions of the Swifteys. They are worst then the Barbz and the Beehive.

In the end, Taylor got what she wanted. The camera panning at her as Olivia was on stage singing and then beating Olivia in several of the categories she was nominated for.

5 - Another moment of disgust at the Grammys was Taylor Swift obligating Lana to join her on stage. Like, that was fucking soul crushing to watch. It was bad enough Lana lost to Taylor - but the kick to the stomach was dragging Lana on stage. She didn't want to go on stage. She shook her head, said no and pulled away. Taylor wouldn't have any of that. She grabbed Lana's arm and dragged her on stage. And for what? As a favor for Lana? So Lana can feel what it's like to stand on a Grammy stage? What was the point? All those nice things Taylor said about Lana's legacy could have been easily said while Lana sat in her seat in the audience.

Lana standing on that stage looked defeated. She didn't want to be there. It was written all over her face. She's not as good as Olivia when it comes to faking a smile. That poor woman looked sad, broken and defeated.

Meanwhile, Taylor is up there being a smiley giddy cunt, accepting her award and demanding Lana, Jack and his wife to stand right next to her. That is some insane mindfucking. I have seen some mindfucking in my time, but what Taylor did last night takes the fucking cake.

I'm glad Lana stayed behind and didn't stand next to Taylor. She was holding on to dear life to the guy standing next to her on stage. This was just too cruel and humiliating to watch.

Lana was already heartbroken by the time she hit the red carpet. That thing on stage just broke her even more. Expect in the next few days a revised version of the questioning of the culture. Expect her IG to be deactivated. Expect her to explode, implode and snap. It's coming.

Don't even get me into Taylor completely ignoring Celine Dion. Not a single hug or kiss for our Celine. Nope. Nothing. After everything Celine has been going through this year.

It's telling that Olivia took so many pictures with other artists that were at the Grammys. Not one single picture with Taylor Swift.

Yeah, no beef. Yeah right.

I know Swifteys are like "she was OnLy trying to be NiCe to LaNa you hater!!!" - like, spare me. Pick up a book and learn to observe what is in front of you.

I hope that Lana cut all ties with the Grammys. That she no longer submits albums/songs to their committee. I feel like what happened last night was incredibly cruel and done on purpose. Lana must have pissed off a Grammy voter(s), maybe refusing a date? Perhaps she refused sexual favors? It's not that farfetched. This is the music industry after all - one of the most insidious industries. Just ask Ashanti.

I hope Lana boycotts the Grammys.

I hope she works with a different producer. I'm sick of Jack Antonoff.

I also hope she cut ties with Taylor. That shit she pulled last night was fucked.

That's all I have to say on this subject.

#lana del rey #olivia rodrigo #taylor swift

26 notes · View notes

illuminatedquill · 6 months

Text

Sabine Wren & Ezra Bridger

Hands, Ready To Bleed

Story Summary: Adjusting to living together on Lothal, Sabine and Ezra are finally moving forward with their lives - and their new relationship - during this hard-won era of peace. However, the annual memorial to commemorate the Battle of Lothal approaches, leading to the revelation of a secret that Ezra has long been hiding from Sabine.

"It's just a rehearsal," Sabine Wren said soothingly to her long-time partner, Ezra Bridger. "Nothing to worry about."

The rehearsal was on the main tower of Capital City, held on the platform where the Wall of Heroes was located. Overhead, the skies were a dazzling blue with only small wisps of clouds overhead to pass by. Below, the streets of Capital City were buzzing with life and business, but a few small groups of onlookers were watching the rehearsal for the annual memorial to commemorate the Battle of Lothal with interest.

And for good reason; Ezra Bridger, the legendary hero and Jedi who saved the planet - and defeated Thrawn, twice, a new recent achievement to further add to his renown - was finally attending. It stood to reason that the crowds this year were going to be enormous, people flocking to the city just for a glimpse of their hero.

Ezra smoothed down the front of his outfit for the umpteenth time; through the Force, she could sense his nervousness, coming through in spikes of tense energy. Sabine had opted to dress in casual clothes for the rehearsal; flight jacket, red tunic, combat pants and boots. Ezra was wearing an what Sabine liked to call 'rogues' attire; a dashing scarlet tunic, midnight blue vest, striped military pants, and thigh-high boots that were shined to perfection.

"If you say so," he said with false cheer. He flashed a smile at her, but it didn't reach his eyes. The normally bright, piercing blue eyes of Ezra Bridger were clouded over with worry . . . and something else.

Something darker.

Sabine frowned and probed the edges of Ezra's mind, seeking the truth behind his false cheer -

"Sabine! There you are." It was Governor Azadi, an old friend. He waded through the crowd, resplendent in his politician's attire complete with a dashing cape. "Need you for a moment."

Sabine cast a worried glance at Ezra. "Ezra, if you're not feeling up to this - "

He shook his head. "I'm alright."

Ezra stared ahead at the crowd surrounding them. "I have to be," he muttered.

Sabine reached out and gave Ezra's hand a reassuring squeeze. He squeezed it back and nodded at her. "I'll be right back, okay?" she said.

Azadi led Sabine away and then discreetly nodded towards a corner of the platform. She stole a glance in the direction -

And let out a curse. It was Senator Xiono, idling by himself with a half-empty flute of wine in one hand; he was dressed impeccably, as always, but there was a sleepless look to his face - and there was no mistaking the cold, hard rage radiating from his eyes.

He was staring at Ezra.

Sabine turned to Azadi. "What's he doing here?" she hissed at him.

Azadi held up his hands in a placating gesture, a grimace on his weathered face. "He wasn't invited, I assure you. I just wanted to give you a heads up."

Xiono had long been a pain in the Senate Oversight Committee towards the fledgling New Jedi Order and their allies but that had been exacerbated since Thrawn's re-emergence and subsequent campaign to revive the Empire. Xiono's world had been brutally bombarded by Thrawn's fleets; rumor had it that his wife was still recovering in intensive care, and that his only child, a son named Kaz, had barely escaped, as well.

He had long been suspicious of Ezra's sudden reappearance coinciding with Thrawn's, but the details of his time stranded on Peridea were still kept a secret. Xiono, however, had only amped up his scrutiny of Ezra since Thrawn's defeat; it was clear that he had a personal vendetta against Ezra, whom he believed had abandoned his duty as a Jedi in letting Thrawn live.

"Ryder, he's going to start trouble with Ezra," Sabine warned. "He needs to be kicked out."

Azadi sighed. "I can't just kick out a Senator, Sabine. Look, I've got Jai Kell baby-sitting him for the moment. I'll run interference, too. You and Ezra just do your speeches and then you can high-tail it out of here."

Sabine pursed her lips, thinking of Ezra's unusual mood. She watched Senator Jai Kell talking animatedly with Senator Xiono; the latter was barely responding to the conversation, his eyes still trained on Ezra.

She came to a decision. "Let me talk to Ezra, see what he thinks."

Azadi nodded. "Very well."

Sabine walked back to her partner. "Ezra, Senator Xiono is here."

He was looking at his note-cards, reading over his speech. "What?"

"Look," said Sabine. "If you want to go, no one will blame you, okay? It won't be the first ceremony you missed."

Ezra considered that for a moment. Then he said, "No, I need to do this. The city's been waiting for me. I can't let them down."

His face was composed, but through the Force his thoughts and feelings were all over the place. Sabine grabbed his arm.

"Ezra," she pleaded. "I know you're not feeling up to this. I can sense it."

He shook his arm free. "It doesn't matter what I feel," he responded flatly. "This is what's expected of me."

Azadi called to them. "Ezra! Sabine! It's time to make your speeches."

Sabine and Ezra exchanged a long look. Finally, he shook his head and offered another one of those fake smiles she hated so much and offered his arm to her.

With reluctance, Sabine slid her own through his and they walked up to the stage together.

When the rehearsal finished, they stepped down from the stage; Sabine stayed close to Ezra, keeping an eye on him.

Amazingly, he had done well; his speech had generated quite the applause, with equal parts humor and heart-felt gratitude. However, she could feel that ominous darkness still swirling through her partner's emotions: fear and anxiety blending together and spiking like adrenaline when the fireworks went off at the end.

She watched him close his eyes tight at the blasts. All Sabine could do was just hold his hand with all the strength she could muster.

But he had made it through and she could finally breath a sigh of relief -

A tremor through the Force. Danger, close by -

Sabine moved to place herself in front of Ezra but it was too late. Wine splashed into Ezra's face, thrown from a flute in anger. The crowd gasped.

Senator Xiono stood there, flute empty, his eyes sparkling with glee and malice.

Sabine knocked the flute out of his hands. "I think you've had too much to drink, Xiono," she said coldly.

Azadi came up behind the Senator and grabbed his arm. Two security guards flanked him. "Come with me, Senator," he said. "Let's not make a scene here."

Senator Xiono shrugged free of Azadi's grasp and stepped closer to Sabine and Ezra. "Ten years," he hissed. "You were on that Force-forsaken planet with him for ten years. And you did nothing."

From behind her, Sabine could sense the anxiety spike within Ezra. That ominous cloud of darkness swirling within him began to grow like a thunderhead.

"Traitor!" Senator Xiono bellowed. "My world - my family - bombed to rubble because you abandoned your duty! What use is that power you wield if it's not used to protect the people who need it? The people who are depending on you?"

Sabine shoved him backwards. "That's enough!" she shouted. "Ryder, get him out of here!"

"Guards!" barked Azadi. "Take the Senator away - "

Pain like she had never felt before cleaved into Sabine's head like an ice pick; grief, despair, guilt were forged into the tip. She doubled over, gasping for breath; her heart felt like it was beating a million miles per minute.

Through the corner of her eye, she saw others do the same: crying out in pain, clutching their heads. She heard Azadi yelling something, but couldn't make it out through the howl erupting inside her skull.

It was coming from behind her, she realized.

It's coming from Ezra.

Gritting her teeth, summoning her reserves of energy, she began the daunting task of putting up the mental shields Ahsoka, her master, had taught to protect herself from a psychic attack like this. It was agonizing minutes but, finally, she was shielded enough to stand up and face Ezra.

He was standing still upright, unlike the others; his hands were clutching at his temples. His eyes were shaking, unfocused; Sabine could hear him struggling to regulate his breath, coming in fast, harsh gasps.

In her head, she could hear his thoughts echoing a single word over and over again like a mantra: Starbird.

Starbird. Starbird. Starbird.

Ezra was having a panic attack. His feelings were leaking through the Force and into the surroundings - and the people, also.

Oh, Ezra. Oh, my love.

She staggered towards him and reached trembling hands to his face. "Ezra?" she asked. "Ezra, it's me. It's Sabine. Can you hear me?"

He couldn't see her; his eyes remained unfocused. All around her, the people in attendance were screaming, crying out.

"Ezra! It's Sabine. Please, just focus on me, okay? I'm here. You're safe, it's okay!"

At last, her words broke through. His eyes, still shaking, began to focus on her. "Sabine? S-Sabine? I - I c-can't stop, I'm s-so sorry."

Starbird. Starbird. Starbird.

She took one of his hands and placed it on her heart. "Just breathe, okay? It's okay, just breathe like this." And she breathed, slow and deep, in tune with her heart.

Someone screamed. Ezra's concentration broke, his breathing worsening -

No! Sabine grabbed his face and forced it towards her, pouring all the feelings of calm and peace and love she could muster through their bond in the Force. "Look at my face, Ezra, please. Just focus on me. It's just you and me. Breathe - breathe."

Ezra's breathing began to slow. His eyes began to focus and lose their trembling.

Starbird. Starbird.

"It's okay," she whispered. "It's okay."

"I'm sorry," he whispered back. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He sagged to the floor in exhaustion. Sabine held him close, making sure he didn't outright collapse.

And, all at once, the pounding in her skull disappeared. The crying and screaming around her disappeared in an instant; the audience members began to rouse themselves to their feet, blinking in confusion at what had just occurred.

From behind her, she heard Azadi groan and look towards them.

"Sabine, what - "

"Later," she said curtly. "Get me a medic, now."

Ahsoka arrived hours later to find Sabine pacing in the hallway outside Ezra's hospital room.

"How is he?" asked her former master.

Sabine just hugged her in response. Ahsoka hugged her back, tightly, and then released her.

"That bad, huh?" she asked.

Sabine let out a shaky laugh. "I've never seen him like that," she said. "It scared me so much."

Ahsoka clapped her on the shoulder. "Panic attacks can be like that. You did well, from what I heard."

Sabine sat down on the hallway's bench. "I should never have let him stay there. I knew something was wrong with him."

Ahsoka considered her for a moment. "Has Ezra ever shown signs of this before?"

Sabine cocked her head, thinking. "No, not that I can think of. But we haven't been to the city much since we got back."

Her master raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Just holing up in that watchtower of yours?"

Sabine avoided Ahsoka's knowing gaze, feeling her cheeks begin to heat up. "Yeah, you know . . . just resting. Relaxing."

"Hmmm," said Ahsoka. "Not resting too much, I hope. Keeping up with your training?"

"Of course," replied Sabine innocently. "Ezra and I have a sparring session every day."

Ahsoka peered at her. "Oh, I'm sure you two have plenty of physical activities to keep busy. I'm just not sure it's sparring."

Sabine shrugged. "We're getting a good work-out, regardless."

Ahsoka snorted. "Oh, I have missed you, my Padawan."

Sabine grinned at her, before sobering. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"For taking my mind off this," Sabine said. "I feel much better now."

Ahsoka smiled in reply. Sabine patted the seat next to her, and her master sat down.

After a while, Sabine quietly said, "He's hiding something from me. When he was having his episode, I could hear his thoughts. A single word, repeated over and over again."

"What word?" asked Ahsoka.

Sabine looked at her master. "Starbird."

The older Jedi was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Do you remember all the starbirds we found painted on Peridea?"

"Yeah. There was a ton of them, if I recall. Ezra painted them everywhere."

"It's your personal symbol, Sabine. Do you know why he painted so many?"

She thought about it for a second. "No. No, I don't."

Ahsoka turned to look at her. "Has Ezra ever told you about his time on Peridea?"

Sabine shook her head. "I didn't want to push."

Ahsoka sighed. "I think it's time you both had that talk, then."

Sabine asked, "Did he tell you about it?"

"Some of it."

"Oh," was all Sabine said. "He didn't tell me, though."

"Why do you think that is, Sabine?" asked her master.

"I don't know," replied Sabine, frustrated. "I'm his partner. I love him. We're not supposed to keep secrets from each other."

"Have you told him everything about your life experiences while he was stranded on Peridea?"

Sabine blinked. "Well . . . no. That's not important."

"Was it easy for you?"

Sabine looked down at her hands. "You know it wasn't."

"But you never talked to him about it."

Sabine crossed her arms. "It . . . it never came up."

Ahsoka gazed at her and said softly, "How can you expect Ezra to be open about his hardships if you do not do the same?"

"He never asked," Sabine shot back. "And even if he did, I don't want him to know about all of it."

"Why not?" asked Ahsoka.

"Because - because it would make him feel bad. I don't want him to feel that way, especially because of me; it's clear he's got enough on his plate, as it is."

Ahsoka laughed. "What's so funny?" asked Sabine suspiciously.

She shook her head, shoulders shaking from the mirth. "You two really are quite the pair," she said, eyes sparkling.

Realization dawned in Sabine. "You think he feels the same way," she said.

"I know he does," responded Ahsoka seriously. "He would do anything for you. Just like you would for him."

She looked at her directly. "Including hiding away the pain you feel from each other. Because you would rather suffer alone, instead of - from your point of view - forcing each other to bear that additional pain."

Sabine huffed out a breath and leaned back against the wall. "Great. So we have to talk."

She grimaced. "I'm not good at that. He's hurting, I can tell. How do I get him to open up?"

Ahsoka arched an eyebrow. "How do you get someone to show their scars?"

Sabine nodded.

Her master smiled and said, "By showing yours."

Ahsoka spoke with Ezra for a few minutes, promising to show him special Force techniques to help ward off future panic attacks when he felt better before departing with a nod to Sabine.

The ride home was quiet. Sabine kept sneaking glances at her partner, but Ezra's face didn't betray anything except for exhaustion after his ordeal.

Once inside the watchtower, Ezra flopped onto the couch and leaned his head back, eyes closed.

Sabine busied herself with making drinks: two mugs of hot chocolate, their favorite.

Okay. Time to be brave. For Ezra.

She brought them over and offered one to him before sitting down. Ezra mumbled a thanks and took a sip.

Sabine watched him carefully, fingers tapping on her mug.

"Was anyone hurt?" he asked wearily.

Other than you? she wanted to ask. Instead, she replied, "Nothing serious. Some bumps and scrapes."

Ezra nodded. She reached out and touched his shoulder.

He flinched away from her touch. Sabine set down her mug, braced herself, and gently reached to her partner's face, turning it towards her.

Ezra was crying; tears streamed down his cheeks, glistening in the watchtower's lighting.

She felt her heart twist with grief at the sight. Forcing a steady calm into her voice that Sabine did not feel, she asked, "What's wrong, Ezra? Tell me what's wrong."

He shook his head miserably.

Show him your scars.

Sighing, Sabine stood up and began to take off her shirt.

Ezra's eyes popped open in an almost comical fashion. "Sabine - what are you doing?" he asked.

Blushing furiously, she just said, "Hush. I'm doing a thing. We're going to talk about this."

"Sabine, you drive me mad with desire, but if this is an attempt to cheer me up, then I'm not really in the mood."

The shirt came free and she tossed it onto the floor, her modesty only covered by the sports bra underneath her shirt. Ezra inhaled sharply, taking her in.

Sabine sat back down, grabbed Ezra's hand before he could protest, and placed it over the scar on her abdomen. The one she had gotten from her ill-fated first duel with Shin from what felt like a lifetime ago.

His look became questioning. "Your scar. The one you never talk about."

Grimacing, Sabine said, "Yeah. I'm changing that now. You have questions, ask them."

Ezra blinked at her. "Okay, then - obvious first: where'd you get this from? I always assumed it was during the war."

"It wasn't from the war against the Empire. I received this before I came to get you on Peridea. I had the map to find you; Shin - you remember her - came to take it from me, on orders from her master, Baylon."

Sabine closed her eyes, remembering the events of that night. The giddy elation from finally finding the way to Ezra. The sudden attack from the assassin droids. Shin, cloaked and menacing, advancing on her with a scarlet blade.

"We fought. I lost," she whispered bitterly.

She felt the heavy gaze from Ezra settling on her. "Shin stabbed you," he said softly.

Sabine opened her eyes and looked directly at Ezra. "She didn't just stab me, Ezra. She killed me. I died that night."

"What? But - you're here. You can't have died."

Sabine smiled a little. "Well, yeah, goober. Ahsoka saved me. But I was clinically dead when she arrived."

She shivered, remembering the sensation of dying. "Do you know what it's like to be stabbed by a lightsaber, Ezra?"

"No," he replied.

"The blade is made from pure plasma," Sabine continued. "It's agony at first; a burning like you've never felt before. Like a small sun blooming inside of you. And then - nothing. Because the lightsaber cauterizes the wound."

She placed her hand over Ezra's, still covering her scar. "You can't repair a lightsaber wound. They filled it up with synthetic tissue, but I don't feel anything there anymore. Not even through the Force."

Ezra just looked at her, his eyes unreadable. "There's an emptiness I carry around with me, everyday. It will never go away. All because I got careless," Sabine finished.

"Sabine . . ."

"Do you know what the worst part of it was, Ezra? It wasn't the pain or the dying; it was the guilt. It was the remorse and the feeling that I had failed you. That I wouldn't be able to fulfill my promise in bringing you home."

After a long moment, Ezra asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Sabine drew in a shaky breath. "Because I didn't want to scare you away."

Ezra's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Scare me away?"

"The years without you . . it was rough, okay? You know about some of it. But not everything. I felt that if you saw how messed up I was - I thought you would be disappointed. That I wasn't the Sabine you knew and loved anymore."

Sabine searched Ezra's face for a sign or hint of what he was feeling, but he betrayed nothing.

"Ezra," she said quietly. "Say something. Please."

He let out a breath. "Okay. I guess we're doing this then."

Ezra held up a finger. "First - I would never think that about you, do you understand? Nothing you do would ever change my feelings, Sabine."

Sabine blinked back tears. "Okay."

"Good," he said firmly. "So . . . ask away. Your turn now."

"Starbird," she said at once. "What was that?"

Ezra winced. "Oh, you heard that."

"Hard not to, considering it was being screamed in my head," she replied. "It's my symbol. What does it mean?"

Ezra looked away from her, eyes focused on the ceiling. "Ahsoka talked to you about my time on Peridea?"

"She only mentioned that you spoke about some of it to her," said Sabine, a hint of accusation in her tone. "But you didn't say anything about it to me, your partner. Why?"

"For the same reason you didn't tell me about the origin of your scar," Ezra replied tersely.

Sabine was surprised. "What aren't you telling me, Ezra? You spent all that time hiding from Thrawn, it's nothing to be ashamed about - "

"I wasn't just hiding from Thrawn!" Ezra shouted. "I was working with him!"

Silence hung thickly in the watchtower after that outburst. Sabine stared, in shock.

"You - what? Why?"

Ezra still kept his eyes locked on the ceiling. When he spoke, it was in a small voice, barely more than whisper. "Because I wanted to go home."

He snorted. "Senator Xiono was right. I am a traitor."

Reflexively, Sabine reached out to grab his hand. He didn't yank it away this time; a reassuring sign. "That's not true. I know it isn't."

Ezra finally turned to look at her, his eyes sorrowful. "Isn't it?" he asked. "I collaborated with a known enemy of the New Republic."

"Tell me," Sabine urged. "Tell me everything. I know it's hard, but I need you to be brave for me. Please."

Ezra's eyes widened, his reaction through the Force buzzing with shock and recognition at what she just said. Sabine didn't know why, but her statement had affected him badly on some fundamental level.

Ezra stared at her for what felt like an endless stretch of seconds. Then he closed his eyes and began to speak, each word carefully uttered, as though he were afraid it would break something vital in him . . . or maybe her.

"He came for me, Sabine. Thrawn came for me, in the dead of night. I thought, "This is it. This is how I die.'"

A twisted smile came on his face. "It was so much worse. Dying would have been preferable."

Sabine felt her stomach twist at Ezra's words, but she forced herself to stay still and just listen.

"He knew my weakness. I was cut off, far, far away from home. It's easy to be brave when you have people to be brave for, did you know? I had you, Hera, Zeb, Chopper, and Kanan. All of you propped me up. Gave me purpose. Gave me courage."

"But that was gone now. I survived . . . and so did he. We were trapped, together. And we had nothing but time."

Ezra's voice was soft, toneless, completely empty of humanity. It was awful to hear him talk like that. She never wanted to hear Ezra speak like that ever again.

"I was alone. Alone again. And he offered me a choice: a partnership, to help each other go home. He needed me, and I needed him."

"The Great Mothers," Sabine whispered. "The witches."

Ezra nodded. "He needed a Force user to wake them up. We wake them up, force an alliance, and they get us a connection back in our home galaxy."

"Morgan Elsbeth." The witch who had been a close associate of Thrawn's and single-handedly orchestrated his return.

"I refused him, at first. So much had been sacrificed to ensure that he could never threaten the Rebellion ever again. It was my duty, as a Jedi. That was the choice I made when I left, and I wanted to stick by it until the end. I told him to just shoot me instead."

Ezra went quiet. Sabine, swallowing hard, asked, "What did he do?"

"He did as I asked. He shot me. Oh, not enough to kill me. But enough to hurt. And then he did something strange."

Sabine felt like she was going to be sick. "Strange?" she asked, almost not recognizing her voice; it sounded so weak, so raspy.

He nodded. "Strange. I thought so at first. He healed me. Ordered his men to take me to the med bay. Stuck me in a bacta tank. When I was all fixed, they brought me back to him."

No. Oh, no. She'd heard stories of Imperial interrogations; the torture. Sabine knew where this was heading.

Cold fury seeped into her heart; if if weren't for Thrawn already being dead, she would have flown out right then and there to do the deed herself.

"He asked me again to work with him. I said no. He shot me again. His men took me to the med bay. I healed. And then they brought me to him, again. Rinse and repeat."

"How long?" she asked.

Ezra cocked his head, thinking. "A week, I think. I lost track of the time."

He shrugged. "I accepted his offer. We woke up the Great Mothers."

"Ezra . . ." Sabine was at a loss for words.

"I'm not done, yet," he interrupted. "There's more."

She opened her mouth and then shut it quickly.

"There was a moment, you see. The Great Mothers were, shall we say, grumpy after being awoken from their long nap. They attacked us; used their magicks to turn Thrawn's men against each other. It was a bloodbath. I found myself fighting back to back with the Grand Admiral himself."

"And then they had him. He was going to die, I could see it."

She could feel his anxiety, his panic spiking through the Force. Sabine reached out and grabbed his hand, sending calming, soothing feelings through their bond.

Ezra's breathing, which had been growing labored, began to smooth out. He looked at her and said, "Thanks."

She didn't say anything, not trusting her voice to come out steady.

"What did you do?" Sabine asked, after taking a moment to compose herself.

Ezra smiled bitterly. "I saved his life. The Jedi in me refused to let him die. Even after all that he did."

His eyes were haunted as he continued: "And you want to know how he repaid me? He hunted me down. After saving his life, calming the witches - turns out they wanted to leave Peridea as much as we did. He didn't need me anymore."

"I ran, Sabine. I ran so fast, so far. If the Noti hadn't found me, I would have died from the injuries. That would have been it."

Sabine became conscious that her grip on Ezra's hand was tightening into a vise. She loosened it.

"He took everything from me. My bravery, my belief in my purpose as a Jedi. My family. I had nothing left. Thrawn exposed me for what I really was; just a dumb, scared kid who was in way over his head."

"That's not true." Sabine's voice was heated, saying the words. "You did more than anyone else had accomplished in the Rebellion. You saved everyone on Lothal. You gave us hope!"

Ezra just looked at her, a lop-sided smile appearing on his face. "Gave you all too much hope. Should have saved some for myself."

"You kept fighting, though. You survived the worst of what he had to offer."

"I only made it through because of you, Sabine. Because you told me to keep fighting."

Sabine frowned at him, confused. "I wasn't there though?"

Ezra's smile this time was serene. "You're always with me. Wherever I am."

He pointed at one of the patches on her jacket; the patch with her customized symbol, the one she always wore.

The starbird. Starbird.

Starbird.

"The painted starbirds," realized Sabine. "All over Peridea."

Ezra nodded. "A reminder to myself. You - Sabine Wren - have always been the symbol of victory to me. The symbol of undaunting perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds. I couldn't draw you, though; I don't have your talent. But I could manage your starbird, at the very least."

Sabine said, "Oh."

"On the bad days, I drew the starbirds whenever I could. Partly to annoy Thrawn, who I knew was still watching out for me. But mostly for myself. If I closed my eyes at night, I could imagine you there, telling me to keep fighting. To be brave."

Tell me everything. I know it's hard, but I need you to be brave for me.

"So, I did. I held on. For as long as I could. But I knew Thrawn was still planning to go home. I had to make up for what I failed to do. I could hear his ships, his men, still moving about. Making preparations."

He was shaking now. Coming to the end of his long, sad tale.

"I couldn't wait anymore. I could at least maybe do some serious damage; delay him a little. I made a promise to you - the you in my head, I mean - that I would still be here when you came to find me, but I - I had to make it right. I had to finish what I started. I had to fight, like you were telling me. To be brave."

"It was a suicide mission. But I had to do it. So, one morning, I made my plan and I exited my hut to say good-bye to the Noti."

He let loose a laugh, half-crazed in its sound. "And then you wouldn't believe what I saw."

"What was it?" asked Sabine quietly.

"You," he said. He was looking right at her, his blue eyes piercing. "I saw you standing there. Like a dream, or a vision."

The day I arrived, Sabine realized.

"I thought I was going crazy. I thought it wasn't real or a vision from the Force. I had to say something, anything, to see if you were really there."

I knew I could count on you.

"And then you turned around and you gave me this smile - and I knew it was really you. You had come to save me. Sabine Wren, you crossed galaxies to save me."

Sabine cupped Ezra's cheek gently. "I made you a promise, Ezra Bridger."

He leaned into her touch. "You did. You kept it. I don't know if I kept mine, though. I don't know how much was left of me to save."

Oh, Ezra. Sabine's heart cracked and cracked, seeing Ezra's despair.

She held out her arms and enveloped him into a hug. It was all she could do; all she could think of, in this moment, to keep the person she loved from breaking any further.

"The Sabine in your head," she said softly. "Is she still telling you to fight? To be brave?"

Ezra nodded.

"Then let me tell her to shut up. You've done enough fighting. You can rest now, Ezra. You can rest."

Ezra let out a muffled laugh. "You might want to speak a little louder. She's pretty stubborn."

"Ezra. Stop talking and let me just hug you."

"Okay."

They called Ahsoka the next morning, to tell her of Ezra's decision.

Ahsoka, via hologram, looked at them both, considering their words. "You're certain?" she asked.

Ezra nodded. "If it's alright with you."

The older Jedi smiled. "Of course it is. Take all the time you need, Ezra. You'll be missed, but we'll manage."

Sabine squeezed his hand affectionately and smiled. "Told you she would understand."

After Ezra's break last night, he and Sabine had discussed what was best for him - and for them - late into the night. Finally, they had both come to the same conclusion.

Ezra needed a break. To take time for himself and figure out what he really wanted. For so long, the war and being a Jedi had taken up much of his life. Thrawn had damaged his image, stripped away all that he held dear.

For now, Ezra just wanted to know what it meant to be Ezra Bridger again. Not the Rebel, not the hero, not the Jedi - just Ezra.

And that meant stepping away from all of it.

"I really appreciate it, Ahsoka. And I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "No apologies from you. You've done more than enough. And believe me, I understand what it means to walk away from the Order. Whatever decision you come to, should you return or not, you have my full support."

Ezra looked at Sabine. "Will you be okay without me?"

Sabine patted his head. "I did just fine without you for ten years, goober."

"You got stabbed by Shin and almost died."

Ahsoka snorted. Sabine glared at him. "It was one time," she muttered. "I almost die one time and suddenly everyone gets so protective."

"I'll be fine, Ezra. Galaxy's in good hands, don't you worry. And Ahsoka will be there; it'll be just like old times. Master and apprentice."

Ahsoka eyed her apprehensively. "I hope it won't be too much like old times. Perhaps you'll be actually listening to what I ask of you?"

Sabine shrugged. "Where's the fun in that? Need to keep things lively in your old age."

Ahsoka sighed. "You will be dearly missed, Ezra," she re-stated.

Ezra laughed. Ahsoka smiled and said, "I'll check on you again later, Ezra. May the Force be with you, until we meet again. In better spirits."

Ezra bowed his head at the older Jedi. "May the Force be with you, too, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka nodded at Sabine in farewell and then cut the call.

Ezra stood up, stretched, and held out his hand to Sabine. "Step outside for some fresh air?"

"Sure." She followed him out to the balcony.

The morning was crisp and clear; a gentle breeze sighed through the tall fields of grass. They both leaned against the railing, gazing out at Capital City, glinting brightly in the rising sun.

"What will you do now?" asked Sabine.

Ezra shrugged, smiling a little. "I don't know. Feels kind of nice, not to know what comes next."

He reached out and held her hand. "Promise me you'll stay? You won't leave?"

Sabine, surprised, asked, "Why would I leave?"

"Because . . . because I'm not who I was anymore. The Ezra you loved; the hero, the Jedi. I don't know where he is."

She turned to face him fully. "Ezra. I don't care if he ever comes back. I'm here with you, whoever you decide that is. I crossed galaxies to be with you; you doing some self-reflection isn't going to scare me away."

Any doubts he had cleared away from his eyes when she spoke. He leaned his head against hers. "Thank you, Sabine."

"Anything for you, Ezra."

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Ezra spoke again.

"I'm thinking of trying modeling, you know? Huyang was mentioning the other day that I had 'impeccable' good looks and I have been getting offers in the mail from some big name companies - "

Sabine punched him in the arm. Ezra laughed, rubbing at the spot.

A call came through on Sabine's com-link. She checked; it was Governor Azadi.

She clicked it on. "Sabine?" he asked.

"I'm here. What's up?"

"Just wanting to know the status of you and Ezra for the ceremony?"

Ezra opened his mouth, but Sabine put a finger up to silence him.

"What's the status of Senator Xiono? He still got an invitation?"

Azadi chuckled. "Nope. I chucked his ass on the nearest freighter and sent Senator Organa a message about the stunt he pulled. I suspect she's tearing him a new one right about now."

"Good," Sabine replied firmly. She looked to Ezra.

"Tell him we'll be there," he said.

Sabine felt her eyebrows raise up in surprise. Ezra just shrugged.

"We'll be there," she said to Azadi.

"Excellent! I'll see you there. Azadi out."

Still looking questioningly at Ezra, she asked, "Are you sure?"

He smiled and said, "I can pretend to be the hero for one more day."

Sabine felt her heart squeeze at the sight of his smile. Already, she could she his old spark returning; signs of life and healing.

You're still you, she thought. You and Thrawn thought it had been beaten out of you. But you're both wrong.

She smiled back at him and turned to head inside the watchtower. "Guess we better get ready for the ceremony, then."

"Hang on a minute, Sabine."

She turned back to him. "What is it?"

"I, uh. I had another question for you. If you don't mind."

There was such an awkward earnestness to his expression. Sabine felt her curiosity rise. "Okay. Shoot."

He rubbed the back of his head. "I've been sitting on this one for a while. Since we were kids."

"Uh-huh. And are you going to ask me sometime this year or . . ."

Ezra huffed out a nervous breath. "Just come over here, please."

She obliged, her curiosity reaching its zenith. "Ezra, what is it?"

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small jewelry box, and bent down on one knee.

Sabine's mouth went slack, her heart erupting into overdrive.

Ezra took a deep breath and said, "Like I said. Been wanting to ask you this for a while."

She let out a shaky breath. "Since we were kids?"

He grinned sheepishly at her. "Cheesy, yeah, but true."

She cocked her head at him, unable to stop herself from smiling like a lovestruck school girl. "Well, go on then. Ask me."

"Sabine Wren - will you . . . I mean, if you'll have me, if you still want me after all this, then, will you marry me?"

He popped the ring box open; inside were two silver rings, each embedded with sapphire and amethyst gems.

Under other circumstances, Sabine would have considered herself honor-bound to make him sweat. Just a little.

But not this time.

Sabine knelt down in front of him, ensuring they were on the same level.

"For better or worse," she replied softly. "Thorns and all. Yes, Ezra Bridger. I will marry you."

"show me your thorns and I'll show you hands, ready to bleed" - Aaron O'Hanlon

#sabezra #sabine wren #ezra bridger #ezrabine #sabezra fanfiction #star wars rebels #ahsoka #ahsoka show #natasha liu bordizzo #eman esfandi

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heartsfromia · 2 years

Text

try again — l. seokmin

pairing: non-idol! seokmin x reader

word count: 1,745

genre: fluff, minor angst

warnings: nothing

author's notes: yes i do imagine seokmin looking as fine as the pic set above in this :)

You hated reunions.

Alright, hate might a strong word, but you had an obvious distaste towards events that are just a get-together to show off how much money and assets you have obtained since the last time you had met the people you obviously didn't care about. You found reunions to be a waste of time; it wasn't necessary to have an entire event catered to some sort of "whose life is better" contest.

Don't get it wrong, you weren't a complete outcast in high school, but you had a small circle that if you wanted to meet them, you would. You didn't need a reunion to do that.

However, Mingyu didn't like the idea of you spending your Saturday night alone in your apartment with your kitten, when you could go to your high school reunion after 5 years since your graduation.

"I have better things to do, Mingyu," you tried to convince your best friend. He, however, wasn't convinced with his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at you with a questioning brow, as if to ask "what?". You rubbed at your neck, shrugging, "I planned on rewatching Game of Thrones."

"You can do that some other time, Y/N, come on, don't you miss our friends?"

You scoffed, rolling your eyes. "More like your friends, you were always the more popular one."

Mingyu only rolled his eyes, heading over to your closet to find something representable to wear. The reunion was tomorrow, and without your permission, he already signed you up and even went as far as to pay for your entry ticket since he knew you wouldn't bother to pay for it.

You groaned, rolling onto your back as you watched Mingyu rommage through your things. "I really don't want to go, Mingyu, it's such a waste of time to meet people I don't care about, you know?"

He spun around quickly, locking eyes with you, "Even your ex? Even Seokmin?"

You sprung up from where you lied, turning to Mingyu with your eyebrows knitted together. "Seokmin?"

He nodded, turning back around to pull out a leather jacket from your closet. "Seokmin told me he was considering going—said something about our schedules being too busy, so this might be the only time we get to meet after a while." He walked over to the edge of your bed, dropping an array of clothing pieces.

"'We'?"

"Him, Minghao and I," he stated, eyes not moving from the clothing pieces. "I think red might look good on you, Y/N."

"Are you sure he's going?"

"He's considering, but who knows, his schedule is the most packed, even for weekends," Mingyu explained, before facing you to ask, "wait, do you still keep tabs on him?"

"Pfft… of course not," you lied, avoiding his sharp gaze. Of course he wasn't convinced, but he didn't need an explanation. Of course you kept tabs on the one ex you've had that wasn't a complete psycho. Despite already deactivating your main social media accounts, you used burner accounts to see how Seokmin was doing every once in a while. The midnight stalking hitting worse whenever you break off a relationship with past boyfriends that, in your opinion, were nothing like Seokmin.

He was the perfect boyfriend, after all. You were incredibly grateful to have him as your boyfriend, making your relationship with him that off the books—you were high school sweethearts.

However, much like high school sweethearts, it started in high school and ended in high school.

The terrible part about it, is that you left Seokmin in the dark about the reason why you couldn't continue the relationship. Thus, breaking up with him became your biggest regret, and you knew you had to fix it.

And the only way to do so was to show up at the stupid high school reunion with Mingyu and his annoying grin.

"Don't leave me alone," you remember telling him as the you both arrived at the venue, only for him to proceed to leave you alone as the DJ the committee had rented began. You watched from where you were sat, glaring at the six-foot nuisance as he busts out questionable dance moves on the dance floor.

"Didn't think I'd see you here."

A chill ran up your spine, spinning around to find Seokmin. Your lips stretched into a small smile, reaching your eyes as you greet him, "Hey, Seokmin."

"Did you come alone, Y/N?" You shook your head, before pointing to Mingyu who was now doing the robot. "Ahh… he really hasn't improved."

You laughed, nodding in agreement.

"Do you want to accompany me outside? It's a bit stuffy in here," he invited, and you nodded, quietly following behind him as you both walked out of the ballroom and onto the balcony outside. The committee for the reunion really leveled up with booking a hotel's ballroom on the higher floors—the balcony overlooking to the city skyline.

"So, how are you, Y/N?"

"I am getting on well," you answered, looking over at him. "How about you?"

"I'm doing well, too," he looked over at you, sending you a smile. You felt the atmosphere between the two of you shift, knowing well enough that he had more questions he wanted to ask, but was hesitant. How you both broke up wasn't the most ideal as it left more questions than answers, that you knew you couldn't give him at that moment.

"I'm sorry," you blurted out finally, breaking the silence between you two. He faced you, brows knitted in confusion but didn't say anything, allowing for you to explain.

"I'm sorry I never could tell you the real reason why I broke us up," you began, "I guess… not getting into the school I wanted hit me harder than I thought, and… and well, you… you were got accepted into the school you wanted, and I don't know, I felt like I was being left behind…"

He didn't say anything at first, only stared at the side of your face as you explained.

Seokmin remembered that day, when you decided to end your three year relationship through text. It came all of a sudden, a day after he had told you that he got accepted into his dream school and you were happy for him, even asking if the two of you could go out to celebrate for his acceptance. The break up was out of the blue.

So out of the blue, that Seokmin on that day had drove over to your house after you had stopped responding to his texts of him asking why, what had happened. He was worried.

"Y/N, Y/N, let me in," he knocked on your day, taking note of the absence of your parent's car. "Y/N, please, let's talk about this."

You opened the door, your face swollen from crying the night before. Immediately, he engulfed you into a hug, and you broke down, tears sinking into his shoulder as you let yourself cry. You needed this—a hug, but it still didn't change anything, you still ended it with him.

"So, you broke up with me because you felt like I was leaving you behind?" He asked slowly, choosing his words carefully.

"Dumb, I know," you sighed weakly.

"Yeah," Seokmin couldn't help but agree, "but I understand, Y/N, I just wished you had told me."

"I was too embarrassed, and also, I didn't want to rain on your parade, you were accepted and I wasn't… I didn't want to ruin your mood back then."

"And breaking up with me didn't do that?" he asked, his tone teasing, which only caused you to burn up in shame, turning away in embarrassment. Seokmin reached out, tugging at your arm. "I'm just teasing, Y/N."

His hand slowly ascended down where he had gently grabbed your elbow, the skin in which his had grazed upon had burned beneath his touch. The heat from him trailing up your arm to the apples of your cheek, extending towards the tips of your ears. Even after all these years, he still had the same affect on you as he did before.

"I missed you," you uttered, barely above a whisper, causing his eyes to look up to yours, the corner of his lips tilting upwards into a soft smile.

"Me, too," he replied, looking down at your hands as his fingers slipped between yours, letting the warmth from his palm radiate into yours.

"Did… did you ever move on?" This was the question you've always wanted to ask him, hoping that if he did, then you could move on from him completely. You never attempted to reach out, to confirm your assumption that your high school relationship was only ever to stay in high school, with absolutely no possibility of continuing on as you both grew up.

You were stuck in a loop as you forced yourself to move on, but your taste in men had downgraded after Seokmin, and as cruel as it sounds, no one could ever replace the void that Seokmin had occupied before.

"I never really could find myself in a relationship after you, Y/N, as cheesy as it sounds," he explained, "especially when I had no way of contacting you… finding closure was impossible, but the thing is, I don't want closure for something I never wanted to close."

Seokmin was always pure in your eyes. When the world around you felt dark and cold, no one found anywhere near you, he'd show up and with a single smile, he'd scare off everything you hated away—he was an eternal sunshine in this dark world.

"It's you, Y/N, it has always been," he concludes, encompassing your other hand with his as he pulls you closer, "no matter how hard you try to disappear, I'd always look for you."

You smiled up at him, feeling warmth drip down your cheek and Seokmin reached up, wiping away the tear that you didn't know had formed, but kept his hand against your cheek.

"Let's try again, Y/N, yeah?"

You froze in your spot, glancing between his eyes to find a hint of uncertainty, that he was just caught in the moment of meeting you after so long, but nothing. He's sincere—he means it.

"If we were to end it, then I wished we had ended it in a better way, but if I had to be honest, Y/N." The soft smile grew into a wider smile, although his eyes stayed the same; warm. "I hope we never end it."

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fanficimagery · 2 years

Text

Hello, Welcome Home

When you left Charming all those years ago, you never thought you'd ever be going back. But the Chambers of Commerce reached out, asking if you'd perform for a new festival they were putting on. You were always a sucker for a good festival, especially if there was a carnival involved, and you couldn't say no. Especially since you were hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia and wanted to see a few faces you had left behind.

Words: 7.2K Author's Note: SOA AU! Again, no Clay. Sorry for those who love the man. Reader is also of Spanish descent.

Jax is sitting at the bar, nursing a beer after working a shift in the garage. Ever since he'd taken up the gavel, he'd worked hard to bring peace between the MC's in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. It took several grueling months of arguments and transfers of power to get it done, but eventually everyone else started to want a bit of peace for themselves. There was still plenty of illegal activity going on, but everyone was less hostile if another MC was rolling through their turf so long as they called ahead to let them know.

Nearly done with his beer, Jax's phone rings and he slides it out of his pocket. He checks the name before flipping it open to answer. "Bishop," he greets. "What's going on, brother?"

"Hola, presidente. I got a favor to ask."

"Sure. You guys runnin' some guns through or what?"

"Not that type of favor, compañero. It's actually about the festival Charming is putting on next week."

"Oh yeah? You guys heard about that down in Santo Padre?" He chugs the last of his beer, gesturing for the prospect to grab him another. "My ma's on the committee that's helping out. Everyone's losing their goddamn minds over it."

Bishop chuckles down the line. "I'm pretty sure it's the concert line-up because that's what I'm calling about. Coco's daughter Letty is obsessed with one singer that's going to perform and she would rather pay the thirty-five-dollar entrance fee to see her perform than spend hundreds of dollars on a ticket for an actual concert."

"Ah. Got it," Jax says. "You're calling ahead to see if it's alright to roll up."

"Si."

"Yeah, brother, I don't see any issue with it. We're all gonna be out there as well. My ma's pumped about one of the entertainers too."

Bishop chuckles. "We're gonna scare all your locals, presidente, with so many kuttes walking around."

It's Jax's turn to chuckle. "Nah. We'll be fine. The locals here know what's up. We keep the streets clean and their kids safe. We're fuckin' kings up here."

Bishop and Jax share another laugh before hammering out the details of who'll be making the drive up to Charming for the festival.

The festival that Charming is putting on is anything unlike Jax has ever seen. It's a four-day festival and so far, they've witnessed two of those days. The first day garnered a good size crowd since the entrance fee was free, and a twenty-dollar wristband gave unlimited access to the rides. The second day had a fifteen-dollar entrance fee since the concerts started at noon and lasted up until midnight, and all rides were a dollar each. There were numerous games, arts and crafts vendors, and food booths- food of all kinds that left the entire festival area smelling unlike the Sons had smelled before.

Now it's the third day and the entrance fee has jumped to thirty-five dollars since the entertainment was more well-known than the previous day's entertainment. Today also happens to be the day of the concert that the Mayans were rolling into town for. So, after spending some time with Tara and Thomas, watching Abel get on a few kiddie rides, Jax leads them over to the main stage towards the back of the festival grounds where the concert is to take place.

When he and Tara get to the stage, their eyes widen at the size of the crowd that this performer has garnered. He's about to lead her and his kids to a set of bleachers at the back of the crowd, not willing to risk pushing his way through so many people, when Gemma catches sight of them.

"Heya, Jackson. These are for you." Gemma hands him four neon orange wristbands that are stamped with the letters VIP.

"VIP?" Tara arches an eyebrow at her mother-in-law. "How'd you score these?"

"The performer is YN YLN." She smirks as Jax's eyes widen.

"No shit?"

"Shit." Gemma smirks before she takes in her daughter-in-law's pinched expression, Tara having been filled in about Jax's girl after she had left for college, and then rolls her eyes before slinging an arm around Tara's shoulders. "Don't be like that. YN knows all about you and Jax, and she's happy for you. She actually wants to meet up after she's done."

"You promise you won't stir shit up?" He asks his ma.

"I promise, baby." She smiles, eyes sparkling. "Everyone's all grown up now and she really does just want to catch up. You weren't her only friend here in Charming, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Just didn't think I'd ever see her again. I broke her heart." Jax winces as he recalls said breakup.

"Breaking her heart was the best thing you did for that girl, Jackson. She got out of Charming and made it big in the music industry." Jax slowly smiles then, realizing his mother is right. "Now I gotta go find some Mayans to give them their bracelets. Opie and Juice are already in the VIP section."

Jax chuckles and waves his mother off, he and Tara then putting the bracelets on their kids before helping each other put their own on.

Gemma walks around for twenty minutes before spotting more kuttes in the crowd, smirking as she approaches them. "What are you guys doing way back here?" The three Mayans and the girl all glance at her, one of them tugging the girl a little behind him. Gemma mentally rolls her eyes at that. "Relax. I'm Jax Teller's mother." They seem to relax at that. "My son tells me the girl is a fan of the next performer. I figured you'd wanna be as close as possible."

"Gemma, right?" One man asks. She nods. "I'm Angel, this is EZ, Coco and Letty." She smiles at each of them.

EZ sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "We got here a bit late. Didn't think the crowd would be this big."

Gemma huffs. "You and me both." She glances around the crowd, shaking her head. Then facing the Mayans, she reaches into her back pocket while pulling out more VIP bracelets. "It's a good thing I have these then."

Letty pushes past her father's protective stance, causing Gemma, Angel and EZ to laugh while Coco glares at his daughter. "Are those- are these for us?!"

"'Course, baby. Now come on. Let's see that dainty wrist of yours."

Gemma helps Letty put her bracelet on while passing out the other three to the men.

"How the hell did you swing this?" Coco asks once Gemma's leading them towards the front of the stage, flashing her bracelet smugly to the security guard on shift.

"Believe it or not, YN and Jax used to date."

"The president of the Sons?" Letty asks. "No way!"

"Yes way. She actually grew up here in Charming, you know," Gemma tells her. "Friends with Jax and Opie. Dated Jax when she was nineteen and then left after she turned twenty. I kept in touch with her even though my son broke her heart and she gave me VIP bracelets to pass around as I saw fit."

In front of the stage, the Sons of Anarchy and the Mayans greet each other like brothers that haven't seen each other in a while. Coco introduces his daughter Letty to everyone as Jax introduces his wife Tara to them as well. Abel and Thomas have been outfitted with noise cancellation headphones since they're so close to the stage and speakers, and Opie's doing his best to calm down Juice who is apparently a fan of YN's as well.

In the time that they wait for the mini concert to begin, Letty and Juice bond over their love of YN's music and their awe over the fact that Jax dated her when they were teenagers. And though Tara was uncomfortable in the beginning knowing her husband's ex was the performer they were all waiting for, she couldn't help but find amusement in their situation. Hopefully Gemma wasn't playing them and there was no drama at the end of the night.

The lights on stage suddenly dim and the crowd cheers in anticipation, Letty and Juice included, which makes the other bikers chuckle in amusement. They can see several people taking the stage, settling down behind instruments or taking up a spot behind mic stands to sing backup.

The music suddenly starts, the crowd goes wild, and a lone figure takes center stage. As soon as the first word is spoken, the lights come on full force. "Take a hit, shoot me down, shoot me down. I will never hit the ground, hit the ground. Playing dead, I'll never do. Gotta keep an eye on you."

YN walks to the front of the stage, singing as lights pulse along to the beat behind her. As Jax takes her in, he can't help but realize that she really did grow up. She looks completely at home on stage, letting the crowd amp her up. She grins as she steps up on a long rectangular speaker, voice getting a little louder as she grins behind the mic in her hand.

"Oh, won't wave my white flag, no. This time I won't let go. I'd rather die than give up the fight, give up the fight, give up the fight, give up the fight!"

Jax is surprised that the crowd behind his back sings along, YN feeding off the energy of the crowd as she sings her heart out. The lights pulse brighter, and YN walks up and down the front of the stage, not staying in one spot for too long.

When the song comes to an end, YN is back in the middle of the stage and laughing. There's a stool there with a bottle of water sitting atop of it, and YN takes a hearty gulp from it. Only when the crowd dies down does she address them. "Wow." The crowd chuckles at her awe. "I mean, wow, guys!" She laughs. "When my hometown asked me to perform for this festival, I did not expect this turn out. Holy shi-" She cuts herself off, shaking her head in awe as the crowd cheers yet again, laughing along with her. "For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is YN YLN and I grew up here in Charming. And for those of you who do know who I am.. let's party!"

The beat for the next song starts, and the crowd goes wild yet again. The song then cuts out and YN laughs as their whines.

"I apologize in advance for the foul language, but well.. if you're that worried about it maybe you should put some earmuffs on the little ears like these parents have done up here." YN points right at Jax and Tara, smiling and waving at the two of them. "Kudos to you guys because I drop f-bombs in some of my songs."

Tara chuckles as Jax calls out, "I figured! You dropped f-bombs all throughout high school too!"

YN's jaw drops as she laughs. "Touché, Teller." Then glancing back at the crowd, she says, "If you haven't guessed by now, this next song is called Happier Than Ever. If you know it, I wanna hear you scream it!"

The beat starts again.

"You called me again, drunk in your Benz. Drivin' home under the influence. You scared me to death, but I'm wasting my breath 'cause you only listen to your fuckin' friends." The crowd screams at the f-bomb, Jax and Opie shaking their head at the high school friend. "'Cause I'd never treat me this shitty. You made me hate this city."

The crowd erupts into song, riling themselves up as YN rocks out on stage. Front and center, Letty and Juice scream the lyrics right back at her. "And I don't talk shit about you on the internet. Never told anyone anything bad 'cause that shit's embarrassing. You were my everything, and all that you did was make me fucking sad."

Coco can't believe his daughter is losing her shit over this singer, but he can't deny how happy it makes him to see Letty be so carefree. Even if she is hanging off the shoulder of a Son.

"Hey, 'mano," Angel nudges Jax, "was she this hot in high school too?"

Jax snorts. "You interested?"

Having heard the conversation since they were shouting it, EZ worms his way in between them. "Please," he scoffs. "She's famous. There's no way she'll slum it with a biker from Santo Padre."

"Well, she did slum it with a biker from Charming," Opie muses.

"Will you four knock it off?" Gemma elbows her way between the four men. "Enjoy the show!"

YN sings a few more songs, back-to-back, and by the time she takes a breather she's panting and heaving on stage. The smile hasn't left her face, but it's obvious her set is coming to an end.

Dragging her stool to the very front of the stage and taking a seat in front of the fan blowing air on stage, YN runs her fingers through her hair before fanning herself as if it'll cool her off faster. She exhales roughly, laughing as the crowd is still in titters. "So, I debated how I wanted to end my set and I think I have it all figured out now," she says. The crowd whoops and YN takes a beat to collect her breath. "The night is winding down so I'm gonna go out with a slow song, but not just any 'ol song. The song I'm going to sing was actually written for me by someone who was very close to my heart. I've held onto it for years and I think it's time I share it with the world." YN glances over her shoulder, watching as a man steps forward, dragging his own stool to take a seat and settling his guitar in his lap. Once he's settled, YN nods at him before addressing the crowd once more. "Sorry in advance if I start bawling."

"It's okay! We love you!" Letty screams.

YN hears and chuckles, looking directly at Letty. "Thank you. I love you guys too." She glances at the guitarist then and nods again, and his fingers start plucking the strings to emit a calm tempo.

"Take it," she sings. "If she gives you her heart, don't you break it. Let your arms be a place she feels safe in. She's the best thing that you'll ever have."

Gemma and Jax glance at each other at the same time. "Near and dear?" He muses.

Gemma shrugs. "She never mentioned anybody."

"She loves pop songs and dancing and bad trash TV. There's still a few other things. She loves love notes and babies and likes giving gifts. Has a hard time accepting a good compliment."

"Yep. Sounds like her," Opie mutters.

As YN sings, she sways side to side on her stool, eyes closed. Then as the chorus is sung again, she reaches up with her free hand and quickly swipes under her eyes. Tara glances at Jax and he shrugs, smiling sadly before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and bringing her close to his side. Whoever wrote this song for her must have really loved her and they wonder if she ever got to experience that love.

"Kiss her with passion as much as you can. Run your hands through her hair whenever she's sad. And when she doesn't notice how pretty she is, tell her over and over so she never forgets."

The chorus comes up again and YN's voice cracks, and the backup singers are quick to pick up right away. She pulls the mic away, trying to smile through her heartache and tears. The crowd picks up on her emotional state and cheers for her, but YN quickly pulls herself together to finish the song.

"She'll love you if you love her like that."

As the song comes to an end, the crowd erupts. YN smiles before bursting into tears, setting her mic down on the stool as her guitarist quickly stands to hug her so she can hide her face. The crowd continues to cheer, some wiping tears of their own, and then YN collects herself long enough to take a bow and thank the crowd for coming.

Jax glances at Tara, only to find her wiping her own tears away. He chuckles at her before pressing a kiss to her forehead and then outright laughs when he sees Juice trying to subtly rid himself of his tears as well.

"This was the best night ever," Letty says, tucked under Coco's arm now. "Thanks for letting us roll up, Jax."

He smirks. "Don't even worry about it, kid. I'm glad you got to enjoy the concert from the front row."

"Night's not over, kiddos," Gemma cuts in. "We're VIP. We get to do a meet and greet."

Letty perks right back up and Gemma leads the group towards the back of the stage, opting for all of them to go last since they had a personal connection to YN.

. .

After cleaning yourself up and making yourself presentable, you have a brief meet and greet with those who had scored VIP bracelets. You take pictures with them all, accepting a few gifts here and there, before a large group comes in together. When you see Gemma leading them, you can't help but laugh and rush up to hug her.

"Hey! I'm so glad you could make it."

"Baby, I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Gemma pulls back, looking you up and down before nodding in approval at whatever she sees. "I even brought some old friends and new ones."

"I can see that." You glance up and over her shoulder, smiling at the two troublemakers you remember from your youth. "Jax. Opie."

"YN." Both men step forward, pulling you into a group hug. Though one of the men broke your heart long ago, you feel nothing but platonic love for your blonde ex.

"God, it's good to see you boys." As you pull back, you catch Jax sheepishly smiling at you.

"I, uh, I want you to meet my wife Tara."

As he reaches for someone just behind him, you smile at the pretty brunette. "Ah. So, you're the infamous Tara." Her smile falters and you wink at her, offering her your hand to shake. "It's nice to finally meet you, even though I'm pretty sure we graduated the same year."

"Likewise." Tara grins. "And can I just say, you're a great singer."

"Thanks." Your eyes slide to the boy in her arms and it takes everything not to coo. Your gaze slides down further to the boy who's holding both Tara and Jax's hands. "Jesus, the Teller genes are really strong in those two."

Jax laughs. "This one standing is Abel and the one in Tara's arms is Thomas."

"How the hell did you end up with angels for kids while I birthed the spawn of Satan?"

Nearly everyone in the room snorts with the exception of Gemma who arches an eyebrow at you. "You got a kid?"

"Mommy!"

You wince. "Speak of the devil." Turning around, you bend down and scoop up the dark-haired terror making a beeline for you. "Luna, mi amor!" You hug her, kiss her cheek, and then pull back to playfully narrow your eyes at her. "Why aren't you asleep, young lady?"

"Because you sang my favorite song!"

"All my songs are your favorite songs."

"Mhm."

Your eyes narrow further. "They gave you candy, didn't they?"

Luna's eyes go wide in her excitement. "So much!"

The room's occupants laugh again and you shake your head. Hitching your daughter on your hip, you turn to face everyone. "Everyone, this is Luna. Love of my life, pain in the butt, but all around a pretty decent kid." She giggles as you tickle her stomach. "Luna, these are mommy's friends from school Opie, Jax and Tara. Tara's boys Abel and Thomas, and then Jax's mommy Gemma."

"And what about them?" Luna points out the other individuals in the room you've yet to meet and your eyes go wide.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry! Hi! Hello." You lurch towards the group of five grinning at you. You shake each of their hands. "Thank you for coming. I hope you enjoyed the show."

"Don't even worry about it, hermosa. And we did." You smile at the handsome man, trying not to blush under his gaze. "I'm Angel."

You glance at the man next to him and he smiles, sticking his hand out. "EZ. Or Ezekiel."

"Hi, EZ."

"Coco. And the whole reason why we're down here is because my daughter Letty is a huge fan." He gestures to the petite brunette beneath his arm and you smile at her.

"H-Hi. It's so cool to meet you. I'm a huge fan."

"Hi, Letty. And thank you. It's always nice to hear that someone enjoys the music you put out."

"I'm, uh, I'm Juice," the final person says. "I came with Jax and the others, but kinda didn't wanna interrupt the whole reunion going on."

"You should have." You chuckle. "I don't think anyone would have cared."

"Mommy," Luna suddenly pipes up, suddenly shy. "I need to potty."

"Alright, babe. One more minute." She nods and you kiss the crown of her head. "Mommy duty calls."

"Don't sweat it, baby," Gemma says.

"Hey, uh, if no one is in a rush to head home, is there a place we can hang out? I really would really like if we could catch up."

"Yeah. The clubhouse is free," Jax says. His gaze then slides over to the Mayans. "You guys are more than welcome to come hang too."

Letty perks up, attention snapping to her dad and expression pleading. He groans, and EZ and Angel laugh. Angel agrees for their group and YN promises to meet them at the clubhouse once she tends to Luna.

"I actually need to put the boys down," Tara says. "Sorry."

You smile reassuringly at her. "Don't be. Thanks for coming. It was nice to meet you."

"Same."

As Jax walks his wife out, Opie calls out to the Mayans and tells them he'll take the lead on the way to the clubhouse. You wave off Gemma when she offers you a ride and tell her you'll be there as soon as possible, and to make sure no croweaters are around because Luna will be tagging along. She laughs, but agrees to kick everyone out.

After tending to Luna and making sure she's okay with visiting with the people she had just met, you buckle her into her car seat and wind through the familiar streets of Charming until you're pulling up outside of Teller-Morrow Automotive.

Hand in hand with Luna, you walk into the clubhouse and shake your head in bewilderment. "Wow. This place hasn't changed a bit."

"I do not believe it," a voice rings out. "YN, as I live and breathe." The owner of the voice stands up from where everyone had congregated, and you beam at the man you used to tease about marrying when you were younger. Chibs. "And with a wee lass of her own? Times really have changed."

"Hi, Chibs." You walk forward, hugging him with only one arm as Luna refuses to let your hand go. "It's been a while."

"I'll say." As he steps back to take you in, he crouches in front of your daughter. "Hello, lass. Name's Chibs. I used to bail your mom out of jail."

You kick out at him as your daughter's eyes light up and you mentally groan. You know she'll remember that for the rest of her life. "If she blackmails me with that, you're dead."

"She's a bit young for blackmail, isn't she?" Jax calls out.

You shake your head as you find a seat in the corner of a sofa, pulling Luna down next to you. "It's all the Spanish blood running through her veins. She's a menace."

"Wait, you're Spanish?" Angel asks.

You glance at him, grinning. "Yeah. Could you not tell?"

"Well, I didn't want to assume, querida. In this day and age, people are really sensitive about that stuff."

You open your mouth to retort before snapping it shut. He wasn't wrong.

"So, what the hell have you been up to?" Opie asks.

Settling into your seat, you grin. "After I left Charming, I applied for college. Spent four years in school and in my last year is when I met my husband."

"Yeah? And where is he now?" Gemma asks.

Your smile falters, but before you can answer, Luna does. "Daddy's in Heaven with the other angels." Everyone looks at you in surprise and you shrug. "Mommy, I'm thirsty."

Immediately, Juice stands up. "Hey, kid, come on. I think we got something you can drink in the refrigerator."

Luna looks at you for your direction and you grin at her, nudging her to go. She hops off the sofa and walks towards Juice, reaching for his outstretched hand. You smile gratefully at him and when he disappears behind a door, you say, "Andres had a brain aneurysm. Went to bed one night and never woke up."

"Jesus, baby, I'm so sorry."

You nod at Gemma, smiling softly. "Thank you. I've come to terms with his passing long ago, but sometimes I'll do something or someone will say something and I'll get emotional all over again."

"He's the near and dear person you were talking about when you sang that last song, isn't he?" Letty asks. Everyone looks at her and Coco nudges her. She winces and punches him back. "What? I just- I'm sorry. I just assumed because the lyrics were that of someone truly close to her."

You smile at the teenager. "You assumed correctly. Andres wrote that song and he sang it at our wedding."

"So what are your plans now?" Jax asks, changing the subject. "Luna's at that age where she can start school. You going to homeschool her or..?"

You sigh before admitting, "I want to get her enrolled into a school. I'll have to take a major break from the music industry so she can have a normal childhood, but that's all part of being a parent so.."

"Abel's starting school this year too," Gemma muses. "I'm sure he and Luna can use a familiar face in school when they start."

"A Teller and a YLN?" Opie groans. "The teachers won't know what hit them."

"We'll be called for a parent/teacher conference by the end of the week," you mumble.

The group chuckles and when Luna reappears, a little too bright eyed for having just something to drink, you put Juice on babysitting duty. He happily accepts and it isn't long before Opie, Chibs, Gemma and Jax are regaling the Mayan crew about your youth.

Opie tells them all about your stints in detention because of some chick fight you always seemed to be in, Gemma tells them about you and Jax hotwiring a car during a dare, and Chibs tells them about when he had to bail you out of jail for public indecency.

"I was peeing on the side of the road! It wasn't like I was flashing my kitty cat to the world," you grumble.

As the night continues on, you learn about Jax taking over for the Sons and how he made peace with everyone. You muse about wondering how they were at complete ease with the Mayans because the last you remembered, they were on different sides of a war. Then you end up taking pictures with everyone- Juice and Letty getting their own solo pics with you, but everyone else groups together. Gemma and Chibs stand on either side of you, arms wrapped around your shoulders and waist, for one pic. Opie and Jax for another. And then Angel and Coco stand on either side of you with EZ standing on Coco's other side.

When your time is coming to an end, you're surprised to see your daughter on the lap of a Mayan. Angel looks smug as can be that Luna chose him, sitting sideways on his lap with her forehead pressed to his neck as she's half awake, half asleep.

"Well, it seems that's my cue to go and check into our hotel room," you say, gesturing to your daughter.

"What are your plans for tomorrow?" Gemma asks.

"Luna and I are going to be at the festival. I have loads of food coupons and wristbands for free entrance and unlimited rides."

"Lucky," Juice grumbles.

"I have more than enough if anyone wants to tag along. I wouldn't mind some of you guys coming, actually, to keep the people at bay."

"Sorry, darlin'," Jax slightly frowns. "We got a run tomorrow."

"And I have errands," Gemma mutters.

"I'm not doing anything tomorrow!" Letty immediately perks up.

You glance at her and then at her dad who's shaking his head. "I gotta get back to make a run for Bishop."

"I'm free," EZ says. "I can give Letty a ride back if the Sons are okay with us staying in Charming."

"Yeah. That's not a problem," Jax says.

Letty turns a pleading gaze to his father and he sighs. "Fine. You can stay."

"One call and I'm free," Angel muses. "I doubt my baby brother will be enough to keep anyone at bay all on his lonesome."

"Thanks. I'd appreciate it."

You spend a few more minutes hammering out the details, trading numbers with EZ, Angel and Letty so you can meet up with them tomorrow and give them their wristbands. Jax offers up a few dorms for the Mayans there at the clubhouse so they don't have to worry about booking any rooms anywhere, and then Angel's offering to carry Luna to the car you had rented when you stand up to retrieve her.

You spend a few minutes hugging your old friends, promising Gemma you would be in touch because you were serious about settling down and wanted her help looking into houses. She was more than ecstatic to hear that and promised to start looking around Charming first.

As you're walking towards your vehicle with Angel at your back, you open up the back door for him. He moves to settle Luna into her seat and her hand drags across his beard. "Mommy?" She sleepily calls out.

"Yes, baby?"

"This one's pretty. Can we keep him?"

Both you and Angel snort at her words, and you can only shake your head at your daughter's audacity. "Well, mami, what's it gonna be?" He asks, crossing his arms over his well-toned chest.

"¡Cállate!" You huff a laugh. "We already have un perro, we don't need another."

"Ouch, querida, that hurt." His shoulders shake as he tries not to laugh too loud and disturb your daughter's sleep.

"Just call 'em as I see 'em, guapo." You smile at him, softening your previous words. "Thanks for carrying her. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Buenas noches, hermosa."

You grin at him. "Buenas noches."

You and your daughter Luna sleep in the next day, only waking up when the urge to pee can no longer be ignored. Luna is still dead to the world when you finish up your business and then decide to shower when she won't be fighting for your attention while you're naked.

You're ordering some brunch when she finally wakes and then afterwards you help her through her morning routine so she's awake enough to eat without fuzzy teeth. Then once she's full, you help her bathe and dress, and put her hair up into two buns with the ends of her hair sticking out at the bottom to give it a fun and crazy look.

You somehow end up with the same hairstyle as Luna since it made you look a little different and you hoped it was enough to deter any fans from approaching. Then you put on a pair of Aviator sunglasses that had a blue-ish, purple tint, and grabbed up all the wristbands and food coupons you had left over after distributing some to your tour crew.

When you meet up with your group for the day, Letty squeals over your and Luna's hairstyle and immediately busies herself with your daughter. You laugh, shake your head at her, and then greet Angel and EZ with hugs.

"You boys ready for today?" You ask. You gesture for Angel to raise his hand and he does, and you're quick to wrap two bands- neon green and orange- around his wrist. "Someone better get on the SlingShot with me."

"Count me out." EZ chuckles as he offers you his own wrist so you can wrap two bands around him too. "I'll take Luna when you get on though."

"Gatito," you mutter. The brothers laugh as you move onto Letty and Luna, wrapping wristbands around their wrists as well. Then when you're done, Letty wraps the wristbands around your own wrists. "So," you sigh, addressing the group at large, "the plan is for you guys to follow me so you can park the bikes where no one will mess with them. Letty, if you want, you can ride with me and Luna."

"Hell yes."

Once you get Luna situated back in her car seat and Letty buckles up in your passenger seat, you drive towards the festival grounds. You have access to the private parking in the back and you briefly stop to tell security that the two men on motorcycles are with you.

"Alright." You clap your hands excitedly once you're out of your vehicle and everyone is gathered around once again. "Who's excited for some thrills and the most unhealthiest of foods?"

"Me!" Luna screams.

You divide up a handful of food coupons between you and Letty, the two of you shoving them into your pockets since you had a less chance of losing them with how tight your shorts were. Plans were made so that the adult who didn't get on a ride would hold all the phones and then you were off, Luna holding onto your and Letty's hands while Angel and EZ walked a step behind the three of you.

Luna doesn't waste a second before choosing a ride of her choice, choosing a miniature roller coaster in the shape of a dragon that merely went in a loop with a few hills here and there. You can see the horror on her face at the first small drop, but the cheering from you, Angel, EZ and Letty ends up making her laugh and forget all about it.

She goes on the swings and then the train by herself, and then you and Letty get on the enormous slide and the carousel with her much to Angel's amusement. But then the tables are turned when she wants to get on the spinning pool balls, and asks Angel and EZ to get on with her. You and Letty get on as well, phones at the ready to record the broody Reyes brothers on the cheerful spinning carnival ride.

When Luna starts to be uninterested in getting on rides, you decide to feed her. Everyone eats something small while your daughter stuffs her face, and then she gets her face painted and manages to get the Reyes brothers to compete for one of the large plush unicorns for her. Angel wins it and becomes unbearably smug about it, and then the rest of you decide to hit up the funhouses before opting for a ride since the corndogs and lemonade were still heavy in your stomachs.

You and Letty laugh your heads off in the House of Mirrors when Angel walks into a mirror and hits his forehead pretty hard. In another funhouse that has a few different obstacles to overcome, you and Letty stumble over a conveyor belt hallway that changes direction every few seconds. EZ pokes fun when you stumble out of the spinning tunnel at the end, and then you and Letty urge him to do better.

And better he does not do.

The moment EZ steps onto the conveyor belt and it changes direction, he hits the ground with his knees. The look of surprise on his face has you, Angel and Letty losing your collective shits. The belt jerks forwards and backwards, and EZ curses up a storm as he tries to get his feet beneath him while holding onto the railing. By the time he's stumbling out of the spinning tunnel at the end and glaring at the funhouse operator, you and Angel are practically holding each other up with tears in your eyes.

The Ferris Wheel buckets are enough for all five of you to get on and Letty takes plenty of photos of all you inside the bucket plus an aerial view of the carnival all lit up down below. You drag Letty onto the Zipper and the Fireball with you, and before you decide to eat dinner, you beg Angel to get on the SlingShot with you.

Angel's as confident as can be until he actually sees what the SlingShot is and then you can see his confidence waver. But EZ steps in, calls him a coward, and then Angel's dragging you to the line. There are not too many adrenaline junkies so you make it to the front of the line fairly quickly, and all too soon you're being strapped into the spherical seat.

You have to bite back a laugh when Angel makes absolutely sure the ride operator has him secured in properly, but end up caving when you hear Letty and EZ teasing him from the safety of their positions. And when you glance at them, your heart melts a little to see Luna happily seated on EZ's shoulders as Letty holds onto her unicorn for her.

You and Angel are waiting in your seat when you notice a little red light on the camera in front of you turn on. The spherical seat you're in gets reclined backwards so you're now looking up at the darkened sky and you snort when you see Angel cross himself from the corner of your eye.

Glancing directly at the camera, you wink and completely school your expression. "Hey, Angel?"

"Yeah, hermosa?"

"I think we fucked up. I'm having second thoughts."

"Jesus fuckin'- don't tell me that. I didn't even want to get on this ride to begin with!"

You laugh as he starts to curse and then the ride operator starts a countdown. You can hear EZ and Letty join in as you grip tight to the bars that are sitting over your chest, and then the ride operator green lights the ride. You and Angel shoot upward, your scream of terror soon turning into screams of laughter as Angel curses up a storm next to you.

As your seat continues to bounce, turning this way that way and slowing down, you decide to mess with him some more.

"Angelito?"

"What?"

You smirk at the hint of a bite in his tone. "I think I'm gonna hurl."

"¡Hijo de puta!" He curses and you snort, shaking with suppressed laughter. "You better not, querida. You better lock that shit down right now."

You're still giggling when the ride comes to a complete stop and the ride operator releases you from your restraints. Angel hurriedly stomps off the platform and you rush to a set of TV monitors to see the pictures. They're absolutely hilarious and you quickly shell out money for the pictures and the DVD video of it all.

With your purchases in hand, you finally rejoin your friends and daughter.

"Did you seriously buy all that bullshit?"

"You bet your sweet ass I did," you tell Angel, causing Letty and EZ to laugh some more. "Now who's hungry?"

With Luna on EZ's shoulders, he leads the way to all the food booths. Everyone takes their time figuring out what they want to eat and after waiting in line at a couple different booths, everyone gathers around a picnic table to eat their findings.

And after eating a cheeseburger with chili cheese fries and half a funnel cake, you can barely manage to keep yourself upright. Your elbows are on the table, chin resting on the palms of your hands as you watch Luna eat and exhibit far too much energy than you think she should be capable of right now.

As soon as Angel finishes his last taco, he wipes his hands off with a napkin and stands up just enough to turn in his seat. Now straddling the bench, he pulls you in so you're resting against his chest. You happen to catch EZ's gaze across the table and he wiggles his eyebrows at you. You roll your eyes and practically melt into his brother.

"So, what's the plan now that you've done your obligation to the festival committee?" EZ asks.

You shrug. "Find a house and plant roots, I guess."

"You were really serious about that?" Letty asks. "Would you still be making music?"

"I want to," you admit. "I love writing, but after tonight- after having a normal night of fun with you guys and my daughter, I just want her to have a semi-decent childhood where people aren't crowding us."

"Where are you going to look for a house at?" Angel asks.

"Most likely here in Charming. Gemma wasn't wrong when she said it would be nice for Jax's kid and my kid to have a familiar face with them when we leave them on their own."

"You don't think that'll be weird? Your kid and your ex's kid going on playdates and shit."

"No." You laugh. "While I can admit Teller aged like a fine wine-" Letty snorts across from you, "-I can also admit that there is no longing or what if's when I look at him. I'm happy Jax and Tara found their way back to each other. Luna wouldn't be here if Jax hadn't broken up with me, so for that I'm also kind of grateful. I don't think I can picture my life without that tiny terror."

"So that's that, huh? You're just gonna be a mom now?" Letty arches an eyebrow at you.

"Sort of. I'll still write, but most likely just sell the songs. I have to keep the cash rolling in somehow," you muse. "And when Luna's old enough, then and only then will I think about getting back into a recording studio."

"Well, whatever you decide, querida, we'll support you."

"Yeah? You think you'll still be around that long down the line, huh?"

"Of course. You've got blackmail material on me. I ain't goin' nowhere."

EZ laughs at his brother. "I need to see that video, YN. The boys back in Santo Padre would pay to see it too."

"Fuck that." Angel frowns. "No one's seeing a goddamn thing."

"Little ears, Angel!" Letty glares at him, covering Luna's ears with her hands. "Shut up."

"I'm pretty she's heard worse or have you not heard her ma?"

You smirk and wink at Letty. "I can't wait until I can attend those PTA meetings. These Charming mothers won't know what hit them."

"Yeah?" EZ chuckles. "I've heard stories about Teller's wife. I have a feeling the two of you are going to piss off a lot of these PTA moms."

"Oh, I'm counting on it."

Songs used in this fic are White Flag by Bishop Briggs, Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish, and If You Love Her by Forest Blakk.

#soa gen fic x reader #mayans gen fic x reader #angel reyes imagine #sons of anarchy imagine #mayans imagine #mayans mc imagine #angel reyes #jax teller #ez reyes #letty cruz #sons of anarchy #soa #mayans #mayans mc #gemma teller #opie winston #juice ortiz #tara knowles #angel reyes x reader

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writtengalaxies · 2 years

Text

New Year's

Characters: Head Engineer x GN!Captain

Word Count: 467

Spicy Rating: I...had to write a new year's kiss. I know I should wait until New Year's Eve to post it but...the cute hit me hard.

This was going to be the first big celebration on the new planet.

The terraforming and construction had gone smoothly, as well as adjustments to the new climate and the colonists settling into a new life. It almost feels unreal, how quickly things came into place, and how the elected committee had gotten planning for today, and tomorrow, done.

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of not just finding this home for you all, but the first act of settling down. The first New Year.

Traditions from all over Earth came together here, with everyone starting to share old traditions and create new ones. Even Gunther got roped into the hubbub, discovering they needed his particular skills to help with the fireworks show that was being planned. Parties had been going all day, and you knew it wasn't just at this main settlement, but from the lights you could see in the distance, each of the nearby smaller settlements had their own festivities too.

It was...bittersweet, in a way. It wasn't like anything you had before, but it was new. Special.

And what was this all but a new start?

The parties were too much for you, too loud after a day full of them, and you needed a break. Mark came with you, the two of you just enjoying the quiet company of each other as you stared up towards the night sky. Things, no matter how loud or hectic they got, were always so much easier to handle with him. Then the counting started, loud enough to be heard this far away, meaning nearly everyone was chanting.

10!

You started to laugh, leaning a little more against Mark.

You could feel how he nervously wrapped an arm around your shoulders.

You turned towards him, giving him a smile, watching his nervousness fade.

He gave you that smile, a special one just for you. Soft. Knowing. You loved it.

Maybe this would be the year you tell him.

The settlement was far enough along that you could start to relax.

He deserved to know how much of your heart he held in his hands.

Mark shifted, turning towards you a little more fully.

He looked so handsome haloed by starlight.

He surged forward, catching your lips with his so fast and so lightly, you could have sworn you imagined it. You felt your face slowly heat up, building into a blush that was warming you more than his proximity. No, he...he couldn't have, could he?

"I've always wanted to kiss someone at midnight," Mark whispered, his hand coming up to caress your cheek. "I'm glad it was you, Captain."

You smiled at the squeak he gave as you hauled him forward to kiss him much longer this time.

#space sweetheart #in space with markiplier #head engineer x captain #captaineer #iswm captain #iswm #iswm fanfiction #iswm head engineer #head engineer mark #engineer mark #markiplier egos #markiplier engineer #iswm engineer mark

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preservationofnormalcy · 8 months

Note

Final update about my reflection (hopefully)! I put a mirror in the salt circle, grabbed a notebook and some energy drinks, and stayed up all night watching it.

Around midnight(?) the mirror lifted to face me, and my reflection acted on its own. It looked at me with all 7 eyes, and started writing something on the back page of its notebook. Nothing showed up on my page, but when we both held them up to show each other, I saw writing on the reflected page, and when I rechecked my page it was there. Then the mirror shattered and fell to the ground in the circle.

I can understand the message somehow (no idea how to pronounce it though), so I'll give a localization:

"<To whom it may concern:> Stay on your side, and <I/we> will stay on <mine/ours>. <Capisce?>"

(that last line is a bit of a stretch; it's a whole formal line about "understand and respect this message, or else". like a professional and threatening ultimatum)

I can't take a picture of the writing (camera keeps crashing when I do) so I'll describe it. Written in vertical columns bottom to top, with columns proceeding left to right. Very open glyphs: lots of open half-loops and line segments with sharp angles. None of them are enclosed. Plenty of repetition, so probably an alphabet or syllabary.

My reflection has my normal face now, and I need to sleep. Let me know where to bring the notebook if you want it.

This is a fascinating saga.

We'll send you a shipping box to send us the notebook. We'll want to look at it - there's been a lot of mirror weirdness lately outside your experience so we're forming a committee I think. At least we'll have a linguistics team take a look, see if it's....I dunno, an Outsider script.

This doesn't match anything in our records, not exactly. A little Outsider-ey but not enough to positively ID that way. It's possible this is a first-time intersection of realities. I'm intrigued by it warning you off like this....

There are things we don't know, of course. We're not omniscient. Anything new is worth cataloging. This is great data. Thanks for your work here.

#office for the preservation of normalcy #ask #advice

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eridanidreams · 3 months

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It Can't Happen Here (Actually, It Can)

aka thoughts at midnight

So I was thinking today about the Hugo mess. For those who came in late, the 2023 Hugos were held as part of the Worldcon in China, and the nomination and balloting numbers were released early this year. Now, that's unusual in the first place; the numbers are generally released only a few weeks after a given Worldcon, but this year, they were released pretty much at the last minute they could be released under the Worldcon constitution.

If you want to read the whole thing, an excellent report on the whole situation is here.

And it got me thinking.

Last week I posted a link to a Rolling Stone article about the Cult of AI, and there was a line in it that still gives me chills.

"Among the early adopter set, people couldn’t wait for the chance to hand over more of their agency to a glorified chatbot."

Hand over your agency, hmm? Like, say, American and Canadian administrators enthusiastically censoring nominees without being outright told to, based on half-assed research?

I'm with the people who say that the 2023 Hugo committee had the responsibility to tell the Chengdu Worldcon to go fuck itself. To suspend the award for a year rather than let it be tarnished. But they didn't. And the people that willingly allowed themselves to be complicit are now sitting on a spectrum that ends in banning the dictionary because it might have words that indicate that people have sex.

They gave up their agency.

Chengdu didn't even ask them to do the censorship. They just jumped right to it and did it. And, all of the sudden, something clicked in my brain. Two ideas forged a connection: This is the face of modern fascism.

From the techbros building shitty AI to take away your need to be creative (by stealing it from the work of others, of course), to the "helpers" that want to take control of your life, to the posts trying to convince you that both sides are bad so why bother voting, to the people who want to decide what you read, what you watch, what you think. Orwell had it right, and 1984 is still very relevant. (Though I'm still trying to decide if it would have been on the 2023 hit list...)

This is the face of modern fascism. Convince you to give away your agency. Don't think. Don't complain. Don't protest. We have always been at war with Eastasia.

But consider: they wouldn't be trying so hard to get you to give it away if they thought they could take it by force. And they wouldn't be trying so hard to get you to give it away if it weren't valuable.

So don't do their dirty work for them.

#2023 hugo awards #cult of ai #agency #fascism #anti-fascism #book banning #book bans #censorship #social commentary #anti-ai #ai #ai theft

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popentertainment-moviereviews · 5 months

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THE BOYS IN THE BOAT (2023)

Starring Callum Turner, Joel Edgerton, Jack Mulhern, Sam Strike, Alec Newman, Peter Guinness, Luke Slattery, Thomas Elms, Tom Varey, Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Wil Coban, Hadley Robinson, Courtney Henggeler, James Wolk, Chris Diamantopoulos, Glenn Wrage, Edward Baker-Duly, Adrian Lukis, Dominic Tighe, Alec Newman and Andrew Bridgmont.

Screenplay by Mark L. Smith.

Directed by George Clooney.

Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios. 124 minutes. Rated PG-13.

As a director, George Clooney certainly likes living in the past. Of the nine films that he has helmed, seven of those were period pieces, many of them based on true stories. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind took a look at TV personality Chuck Barris in the 1960s and 1970s. Good Night and Good Luck took place during the McCarthy era of the 1950s. Leatherheads looked at the early days of football in the 1920s. The Monuments Men took place during World War II. Suburbicon was during the 1950s. The Tender Bar was about growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact his two films which did not take place way in the rear-view mirror were The Ides of March (a current-day political thriller) and The Midnight Sky (a post-apocalyptic tale.)

The Boys in the Boat returns the filmmaker to the World War II era – specifically revolving around the leadup to the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. It also is intriguing by looking at the United States in the latter years of the Great Depression. So, in theory, it should be an interesting time capsule.

Perhaps the biggest problem with The Boys in the Boat is simply this – the 1936 US crew team, which did win a Gold Medal and helped to embarrass Adolf Hitler at his own Olympics, isn’t even the most interesting or best-known American athlete during that Olympics. That would be Jesse Owens, who as a character has a few short appearances here, and who has been subject of several biopics of his own which explore this particular crossroads in history.

More to the point, to be perfectly honest, crew may be a fascinating, hard sport to compete in, but it is a pretty dull one to watch. After all, it’s like the old standup comedian said, I don’t want any part of a sport that they used to force slaves to do. And this view of rowing is coming from someone who grew up in a city in which crew is a tradition. In fact, of the four college squads which are shown to have had a chance to go to the Olympics back then, one of them was from my hometown.

In fact, George Clooney acknowledged that part of his motivation in making the film was that he felt there were no films that faithfully and excitingly captured crew as a sport and a pursuit.

Does he remedy that problem? Probably not. But The Boys in the Boat has its moments.

Probably Clooney and his long-time collaborator Grant Heslov and screenwriter Mark L. Smith tossed their net a bit too wide. There were nine members of the crew team being watched in The Boys in the Boat. Then you have to add the coaching staff, friends, families, wives, girlfriends, fellow students, neighbors in their town, opposing teams, opposing coaches, the Olympic committee and more. There are probably like 100 speaking roles, and that’s before they even go to Germany for the Olympics and the cast of characters is multiplied.

That’s a whole lot of characters to fit into a two-hour movie, to the point that many of the characters here are basically given one-dimensional oversimplifications of their roles: The uptight rower, the supportive girlfriend, the unfeeling father, the sexy and sweet coach’s wife. (That character, while often enjoyable, also feels like an anachronism in this film. While I could probably see her acting like this in… say… the 1960s, her open sexuality and confident feminism feels out of place in the 1930s.)

These characters undoubtedly had a lot more room to breathe in Daniel James Brown’s novel of the same title, but too many people here come off as shallow. Of course, the film basically spends much of its time exploring two characters – although they even disappear from the film for chunks of time. These characters are the extremely poor oarsman Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), who has taken on the role on the team as a way of financial survival, and the gruff-but-good-hearted crew coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton), who is doing all in his power to get these talented-but-unmotivated boys into the Olympics.

From the look and the pace and the subject of The Boys in the Boat (and the fact that it is being released on Christmas day), it seems likely that Clooney, et al, were hoping for some award recognition for their film. And perhaps they will, at least in the technical nominations. The film looks spectacular and realistic, from the desperate Washington state streets of the Depression to the tony halls of early academia to the self-consciously grandiose splendor of the Berlin Olympics.

The Boys in the Boat is not as good or important of a film as the filmmakers had hoped it would be, but it’s worth taking a look at.

Jay S. Jacobs

youtube

#The Boys in the Boat #2023 #Movie Review #George Clooney #Joel Edgerton #Jay S. Jacobs #Youtube

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kaechannn · 1 year

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"A wonderful day/noon/evening darlings! I come here with the announcement and a congratulations to the server and to @wolken-himmel as well as to everyone for joining their server, new or old! A happy happy anniversary everyone! As usual, we , the collab planner committee, give you our deep gratitude for joining us once again ! A happy happy anniversary to the server! WOOHOO! 🎆🎉"

And of course! Please visit our lovely participants or get to know them on the server!

@tanuki @Ally <3 @datboredpencil @reireisama @lil uzi vert @Rosequack @lunatako @MOONIE/NOVAA @mlynnuwu @fukusuurots @kimi-twstheadcanons

And now..a special work from one of our lovely darling members..

"Happily Ever After"

Date: April 10, 2023

Halls of NRC were full of its students walking from class to class. Every each one of them is busy with their own lives. Ones were stressed about exams, ones were happy about getting good grades and ones weren't sure what to do with anything that day. One of them was Rei Viorde, a freshman student from Heartslabyul that arrived at this school from another world with zero magic. The girl sat on a bench placed on the outside area of NRC. She watched as her other freshman friends were goofing around, while she was just sitting there without any thought of joining them. The blue haired boy called out to her.

-Hey Rei! Want to go get some drink from Sam's store?- he held his wallet in his hand, smiling softly at her.

-Nah thanks, I think I'll go chill somewhere else. Or take a walk- Rei answered and stood up. Deuce's smile turned into a frown. Still, he only nodded while turning back to Ace and Jack. The 3 of them quickly left in the direction of the said store.

Rei put her headphones on and sighed. Soon she found herself walking towards the Ramshackle Dorm, the abandoned dorm of the school. She looked at the trees around the whole dorm, sitting under one of them. Her head flopped against the trunk with a soft thud. This day was so frustrating to her, she didn't even have energy to go to class. Should she just skip them? Even though she never did that, the idea popped out in her head. She might get scolded by her Housewarden later, but she didn't really care right now. Music was turned up to full volume as Rei straightened her legs and groaned. Now it's just her, music and the wind for the rest of the day... Suddenly, her chill-out was disturbed by a loud ringing coming from her phone. She looked down at it, reading the name of the person calling her. With a soft smile, she picked up. -What's up, Idia?- The voice of her friend was deep and silent when he spoke

. -Uhh Hi! And Happy Birthday! I know I already wished you a happy birthday at midnight but I wanted to say it again- Rei felt a warm feeling inside. Idia was the only one who wished her a happy birthday. It made her feel happy, but sad at the same time.

-Hah thanks bro. Tell me, did you just wake up?- she said with a smirk on her face, already knowing the answer.

-U-Uh! No? What made you think that?- -Your crusty voice?-

-...-He paused and shifted in his bed -Alright, you win. Yes, I did wake up just a second ago. I don't feel like going to classes today- Idia groaned against his pillow while saying the last part.

-Then let's skip because I absolutely feel the same way you do- Rei's face beamed at the thought of spending the day with Idia, playing games or doing karaoke, they both liked that stuff. Rei heard Idia chuckle on the other side. -Okey,I'll change my clothes. You can already walk to my dorm if you don't mind- Wow why was he so nice today? Was it because of her birthday or something? Rei nodded and hung up on him while standing up and running to the portals.

In less than 10 minutes, Rei was already standing behind Idia's door. She didn't even bother to knock, she just barged it.

-Yo- a quick word escaped her lips as Idia gasped in surprise.

-Oh Great Seven! Rei can you knock or something?!- Idia jumped and looked at her with his eyes wide open.

-Pffft, and what possibly you were doing huh?- She folded her arms on her chest with a pout on her face. Idia thought for a second.

-I could've changing my clothes right now!-

-I would enjoy the view-

-Excuse me- Rei started laughing at his reaction. Soon, Idia joined her and laughed along.

-Okey okey, what do you want to do?- He asked her while sitting down on his, surprisingly, made bed. Rei sat down next to him, thinking.

-Why are you asking me?- She tilted her head at him.

-It's your birthday, you choose- Idia already held a controler in his hand, ready for Rei's idea.

-Oh yeah... Uhhh, minecraft?- Idia nodded with a smirk on his face. He quuckly passed her another controled while already turning on his game console.

Idia and Rei spent most of the day playing their favorite games, laughing and joking. When they were about to start another adventure in their square world, Rei's phones started ringing again.

-Oopsie, let me get that- She took the phone into her hand, picking up the call.

-Rei! You need to get back to the dorm! Quickly!- Cater's voice was loud enough that Idia could hear him. Rei narrowed her eyebrows.

-What why?-

-It's Riddle! He's furious!-

-Oh fuck- That's when she understood. If Riddle's angry, she has to go NOW. -Okey, I'll be there in five- She stood up and gathered her things from Idia's room. Cater hung up and she hid her phone.

-Sorry Idia, you know how Riddle is when he's angry- Rei's voice was quiet, almost sad.

-It's alright, I'm not mad or something- Idia grinned and leaned on his bed. Rei smiled, leaving his room and soon the whole dorm.

When she got to Heartslabyul, it was already dark outside. She gulped while standing in front of the door to the lounge. With a couple of deep breaths in, she stepped inside.

-H-Hello?- Rei spoke quietly. The lights were turned off, it was quiet, too quiet. Suddenly she heard footsteps coming from her left. Then a click and the lights were turned on with a loud noise of confetti.

-HAPPY BIRTHDAY REI!- All of Rei's friends yelled out happily, while she screamed out in surprise.

-JESUS CHRIST- She held her hand close to her heart, looking around at everyone, her eyes stopped at Idia's tablet, floating in front of her.

-Idia?! You knew about this!?- Rei yelled at him with her eyes wide open. -Haha, yeah I did- Idia's voice sounded confident, almost as if he's happy about all this.

-Ohh guys...- Rei smiled and hugged the closest person next to her. A deep laugh came out of this person's mouth, he wrapped their arms around Rei the same way she did.

-Alright enough of these hugs you two, let's cut the cake!- Vil's voice rang through the lounge as he stretched his hands up. Everyone yelled out in happiness, stepping closer to the cake.

After a couple of hours of partying, Rei walked outside, feeling the cold wind against her face. She was happy, truly happy that her friends didn't forget about her.

-Do you mind if I join you?- A familiar voice was heard right next to her.

-Not at all, Riddle- Rei looked down at her Housewarden who placed himself close to her.

-Did you like the cake?- He asked whioe looking up at her. Rei nodded quickly.

-Yup! It was amazing- A soft smile appeared on Riddle's face.

-Good, because I made it! With Trey's help of course- Riddle sounded proud and confident. Of course he was, it was about baking after all! Rei gasped and put her arm around Riddle.

-If that's true, then you did a really good job!- She spoke happily while pressing Riddle's body against hers. Riddle wrapped his left arm around her and went silent. They stood there for good 10 minutes, not talking to each other. Finally, Rei broke the silence.

-Thanks for remembering about me- Riddle looked up again, noticing Rei's sad smile.

-I would never forget about your birthday, my queen- This time, Riddle smiled at her. It made Rei's heart flutter in some way. She loves being in the center of attention, even if it was just for one day. She loves spending time with her friends, and Riddle. He was her star in this magical world. The brightest of them all.

#1stWonderland♠️♣️❤️♦️#disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland ocs #twst ocs #twisted wonderland art #twst art #oc #oc art #server collab #THANK U AGAINN LAURIEE FOR MAKING THE SERVER AND WOOHOOO !!#the actual anniversary date is April 3-

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