#sad he pulled out of rome but he deserves some rest

[vacancy90]

🇧🇻 #16 i verden 💪

#world number 16 #wow what an amazing run #i'm bursting with pride! #sad he pulled out of rome but he deserves some rest #after 3! masters semi finals in a row #👏👏👏 #we attack again at rg 🤞💪 #casper ruud #tennis #new career high may 2021

[maneskinrollercoaster]

~ We’re Everything To Each Other That We Ever Needed 3: Being Without You Is Like Being Without Myself ~

Pairing: Ethan Torchio x Chiara Russo (fictional character)

Word count: 4629

Warnings: smut, swearing

Summary: Ethan makes an unexpected decision.

Ethan stormed out of the bathroom and went downstairs to see Damiano sitting on the couch in the living room. When he saw Ethan he immediately stood up.

- Ethan.. fratello.. I’m so sorry.. - Damiano said trying to reach Ethan’s shoulder.

- How dare you call me a brother? Huh? After what you did? - Ethan was furious and nothing would be able to stop him.

- I know I fucked up, but hey, you know I didn’t mean that, I’m sorry - Damiano said clearly feeling guilty.

- You’re not sorry, at least have some balls to fucking admit it. - Ethan stood up in front of him. - You always take everything you want huh? You don’t even care of what other people feel, you just go and grab anything you’d like without any consequences. And you had to do it with Chiara too right? You had to take the only fucking person I truly loved! - Ethan grabbed Damiano’s shirt and it was only a matter of time till he hits his face.

- Ethan I swear I didn’t want that to happen, I was drunk.. - Damiano said trying to stop him.

They were both looking into each other’s eyes, Ethan’s dark from anger, Damiano’s guilty.

- You’re pathetic, I’m not even gonna waste my time on you, you fucking piece of shit! - Ethan let go of Damiano, gave him the last death stare and walked out of the house.

*in the meantime*

Chiara was overwhelmed. She was sitting at the counter for 15 minutes now after Ethan left her alone and stormed out of the bathroom. She was numb. Her cheeks were red and wet from the tears, her eyes puffy. She’s never seen Ethan that angry. He was always calm, quiet and when something bad was happening he always preferred to talk than argue. But Chiara couldn’t blame him. She was the one who betrayed him and broke his heart.

Chiara slowly stepped off the counter, not really knowing what to do with herself. She went out of the bathroom and picked up the T-shirt from the floor. She took off the heels and the dress and she put on a shirt, sitting on the bed. Chiara knew that she has no right to be in Ethan’s room but she didn’t have enough courage to go downstairs after what she did with Damiano.

How could you do this Chiara? How the fuck could you cheat on Ethan, he was so good to you, always so caring and loving, so polite, what the fuck were you thinking!? - she said to herself and closed her watery eyes.

Moments passed and she heard a quiet knock on the door. She said muffled “come in” and a second later she saw Victoria entering the room. Her face was serious like never before. Chiara figured that she knows about everything.

- Damiano told me what happened. - she said coming up to Chiara and sitting next to her on the bed. - Girl, you fucked up.. - she sighed.

- I know.. - Chiara’s voice broke. - I really didn’t mean for that to happen.. - she started crying.

Victoria wrapped her arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a warm hug. Chiara didn’t expect that, she thought Victoria will yell at her.

- I know you didn’t want that, Chi. Damiano is so embarrassed, he talked to Ethan and they fought. Ethan stormed out of the house and Damiano locked himself in his room. - Victoria said stroking Chiara’s back gently, trying to calm her down.

- What the fuck was I thinking, Ethan will never want to speak to me again. - she said covering her face and breaking down even more.

- If you really didn’t mean that, Ethan will understand. I’m not saying he will come back to you but give him some time. He loves you and he’s crazy about you. It’s gonna be all good. - Victoria said resting her head on Chiara’s, still stroking her back.

***

It was evening already and Chiara spent the whole day in Victoria’s room. They talked about what happened and Victoria promised her that she will help her fix everything. Thomas also sat with them for some minutes and told Chiara that even though she fucked up big time, he knows Ethan and he’s sure that they will fix it between each other. Chiara also talked to Damiano which at the beginning was really awkward but then they apologized to each other, hugged and decided to leave it in the past. She also promised him to help him with Giorgia. All that didn’t mean anything though as long as she didn’t fix everything with Ethan, which still didn’t come back home.

Ethan was walking around Rome all day, thinking of what to do. He felt lonely, betrayed and not appreciated at all. He felt like he will never be enough for anyone. He was crying half of the time but had to hide it when some fans were coming up to him to take a picture. He’s never been so broken but after all day wandering around he decided to go back home and have a serious conversation with everyone.

- Can you all come downstairs, per favore? - Ethan said, stepping inside the living room.

Chiara heard his voice and her heart started beating faster, her stomach started hurting really badly. She was stressed and when she looked at Vic, her eyes were full of fear. Victoria took Chiara’s shaking hand and pulled her towards the door. They went downstairs where Ethan was sitting on the couch. When he saw Chiara he was shocked that she was still home. His heartbeat increased and hands started sweating. It’s gonna be a lot harder than I thought - he thought still not letting his eyes off of Chiara.

Girls sat down on the couch opposite Ethan and a minute later Thomas and Damiano joined them and sat next to them. Ethan’s face was serious, without any emotion but inside he felt like he’s gonna explode any minute.

- I have something important to tell all of you. - he said looking at his hands.

They were all looking at him, waiting for the answer when he looked at them one by one.

- I’m leaving the band. And Italy. - he said breathing out all the air he was holding in his lungs for what felt like forever.

- WHAT?! - Victoria raised her voice.

Surprise was un understatement. They were all shocked of what Ethan just told them. Leaving the band? How? Thomas, Vic, Ethan and Damiano were inseparable, when they were arguing it was always temporary because they could never stay mad at each other. But Ethan’s face was serious and they knew he wasn’t joking.

- What do you mean you’re leaving the band? We’re in the middle of the European tour, we have so many festivals arranged for the next months, you can’t just leave Ethan! - Damiano said, deep down knowing he had no right to tell Ethan what to do.

- You see that’s the point! You never care about what I feel, you only think of yourself and what people will say. And I’m always the one left out alone, dealing with everything by myself. You guys don’t give a single fuck about me! You never ask me how I’m doing or if everything is okey! And I’m done, I need a break, from all of you! - Ethan said with his voice raised.

He looked at Chiara.

- Ethan please, don’t leave. It’s all my fault, I know, I’m sorry, but don’t leave them just because of what I did.. - she said pleading.

- It’s not only about what you did, it’s about all of you and they way you treated me like air for the past months. I deserve better.

They didn’t know what to say. Ethan never would have thought himself of leaving the band and when he said those words it sounded so unrealistic. He knew the break will bring Måneskin a lot of problems but he didn’t care, he was proud that for once in his life he stood up for himself and didn’t stay quiet like usual.

- Where are you gonna go? - Thomas said quietly with tears in his eyes.

- I’m gonna fly to Portugal, to my family. - Ethan said and he knew there’s no going back.

- For how long? - asked Victoria with a breaking voice.

- I don’t know yet. For some time.

- But you will come back right? To Italy, to us. - Damiano asked.

- I’m not certain. I just know I need a break, to rest and think about everything. - Ethan said.

- When are you leaving? - Chiara asked with her face all red and wet from tears.

- Tomorrow, I can’t stay here any longer. - Ethan said letting his head down.

They were all sitting in the living room for at least an hour. In silence. None of them had courage to say anything and they were all too overwhelmed with Ethan’s decision. They knew that him leaving will break them more than anything.

*four months later*

It’s been four months since Ethan left Italy and Måneskin house never felt so empty. After the first day without him, Thomas, Victoria and Damiano understood that he was the essence of their band. They knew that Ethan was right, they fucked him up and never paid attention to him and his emotions. The three of them were always the loudest and Ethan was always the one taking care of every situation and now when he wasn’t there they felt like everything fell apart.

Chiara was completely shattered. She locked herself in her apartment and didn’t leave for two weeks after Ethan left. After their conversation in the living room Chiara went with him to his room and apologized so many times, cried and begged him to stay. Ethan told her that he understands but he won’t change his mind. A break was what he needed, and he hoped that they will all finally see how much they’ve broken him for the past few months and how much they didn’t appreciate everything he’s done for them.

It was a sunny morning and Ethan was laying on the grass in the garden. His aunt lived in Lisbon right by the Tag river. The weather was amazing and Ethan found himself spending a lot of time at the beach, swimming or just laying on the sand and reading books. He’s never felt so relaxed. Yesterday he face timed with Chiara for the first time since he left. It felt weird to see her and speak to her after such a long time but Ethan missed her more than he thought. They way she always joked around and made him happy. He could see sadness on her face even though she tried not to show it.

- I miss you.. - she said looking at him through the screen and gaining courage to tell him how she really felt.

Ethan didn’t know if he should say it back or change the topic. He wasn’t sure about anything these days. He loved Chiara, of course it didn’t change. He knew that he is able to give her another chance and try to fix their relationship but until he’s back in Italy he didn’t want to bother himself with that. Not until he saw her face on the screen. She was still beautiful, as always and even though Ethan was still hurt, the corners of his lips uncontrollably went up making him smile at the sight of her gorgeous face. Deep down in his heart he knew that he already forgave her.

*a week later*

Ethan was standing in front of Måneskin house. He was nervous. Two days ago he decided to come back to Rome and fix things between him and Vic, Thomas and Damiano. His heartbeat increased when he knocked at the door. He had the keys but after such a long time he figured it would look stupid to just come in and act like nothing ever happened. After a few minutes he saw the door open and Victoria standing in front of him.

- Ethan! - she shouted happily jumping at him and hugging him tight. - I’m so glad you’re back - she whispered into his ear, not letting go of him.

- I’m glad to be back too, Vic. - he said hugging her back.

They pulled away when Ethan saw Thomas running towards him and jumping on his arms. Thomas’ eyes were watery and they both laughed when he kissed Ethan’s cheek.

- I missed you so much, Edgar! - Thomas said jumping off of Ethan’s arms.

- I missed you too, Toni. - Ethan said poking Thomas’ shoulder and smiling to him.

Damiano came downstairs and looked at Ethan surprised. He came up to them and stood in front of him. Ethan looked at him for a couple of seconds with an emotionless face and Damiano thought he’s still mad at him, but then Ethan pulled him into a warm hug. Damiano sighed with a relief and hugged Ethan back.

- I’m sorry, Ethan. I’m happy you’re back, the house was a mess without you. - Damiano said still hugging Ethan.

- Let’s leave it in the past. - Ethan smiled lightly just like he always did, pulling away from Damiano.

They were all back together. Four rockstars who loved each other more than anything.

- We’re so sorry for every single time we hurt you, it will never happen again. - Victoria said putting her hand on Ethan’s back.

- I know you guys didn’t mean that. But I would much appreciate you to pay more attention to me. - he laughed and along with him Vic, Thomas and Damiano.

***

- Are you gonna meet with her? - Asked Victoria while her and Ethan were sitting at the balcony in her room.

- I don’t know, Vic. I miss her and I really want to see her, I want everything to be back to normal. But she disappointed me and I don’t know if I’m ready yet. - Ethan said. - By the way, how is she? - he asked, looking at Vic.

Chiara wasn’t fine. Even though four months passed and everyone told her that time will help her heal, she found herself thinking of Ethan all the time. She still couldn’t accept the fact that she let him down and she missed him a lot. He was her everything and if she could she would turn back time and change what happened.

- She’s okey, I guess.. She came here yesterday, we invited her for a movie night. She looked fine, but tired. - Vic said.

- Hmm.. She didn’t come here often when I was gone, did she?

- She came here a month after u left. Mainly because she promised Damiano that she will help him get back with Giorgia. After that she came like twice and yesterday. - Vic explained. - She really loves you, Ethan. I know I can’t ask u to talk to her but she really regrets what happened, you’re her everything. - She said, looking back at him.

Ethan knew that he has to meet with Chiara and talk about everything. He wanted to have her back, next to him. He forgave her a long time ago, he loved her too much to be mad at her. But he didn’t know if he’s ready to trust her fully again.

*afternoon, the next day*

“I’m back in Rome, would you want to meet?”. Chiara was looking at the screen of her phone for good 10 minutes, shocked by a message she received from Ethan. She didn’t expect him to text her at all, she thought he won’t speak to her again. Her cheeks turned red and she got nervous. Should I meet him? What am I supposed to do? - she thought still looking at the phone screen. “Yes, I’d love to. When?”. She tapped a message on her phone with shaky hands and let out all the air she’s been holding. “I can come over to you place today. We have to talk about everything”.

Today. She was supposed to meet him today and talk to him after four months without him. She suddenly felt all her breakfast going up her throat. Her face turned red and her stomach started hurting. She felt noxious. She ran to the bathroom and threw up. Her eyes were watery and puffed. After a while spend in front of the toilet puking, Chiara took her phone and texted Ethan. “Sure, see you at 5?” the message said and Chiara couldn’t believe that she will get to see him after such a long time.

***

It was almost 5 and Chiara found herself running around her apartment cleaning everything and preparing for Ethan. She was about to put the water for a coffee when she heard the door bell ringing. Her hands started sweating and she almost pissed her pants. She slowly opened the door and saw him standing there.

He looked stunning. His hair longer than before, he was dressed in a white buttoned up shirt, tight black jeans and black Dr. Martens. He was so handsome. Chiara gasped at the sight of him.

- Ciao, Chi. - he said with a slight smile on his face.

His voice was calm and deep just as always.

- Ciao, Ethan. - she said, still looking into his eyes.

They were standing in front of each other both not knowing what to do.

- Please, come in. - she said but instead he came up to her and wrapped his arms around her pulling her in to a warm, welcoming hug.

Chiara felt all the time stopped. It was only them standing in a tight hug with each other, enjoying each other’s embrace. Ethan missed her scent and the way she always stood on her tip toes to reach him. She was everything he ever needed and when he finally held her in his arms, he felt like everything was back to normal.

- I missed you so much. - Chiara sobbed into his ear and he squeezed her even tighter.

She couldn’t control herself anymore and she bursted in tears holding on to his neck. Ethan knew that Chiara regretted what happened the minute he saw her sad eyes and he couldn’t control himself either, tears falling down his cheeks.

- Shh.. I’m here, Chi. - he said politely, stroking her back to calm her down.

She pulled away and looked into his eyes.

- I.. - she wanted to say something but Ethan stopped her.

- Let’s come in and sit down. - he gestured at the inside of Chiara’s apartment.

- Yes, yes. - she said and they both entered her flat.

Chiara made a coffee for her and Ethan and they both sat down next to each other on the couch in the living room. They stayed silent for a few minutes just staring at each other and smiling slightly.

- How was Portugal? - Chiara broke the silence, taking a sip of her coffee.

- It was good, weather was really nice. I spent most of the time at the beach reading. - he said also sipping his coffee.

Chiara noticed that Ethan looked a bit different. His arms were more muscular , his chest wider and his thighs bigger. He was so insanely attractive.

- Did you start working out? - she asked surprised.

- Yeah, I had to focus on something and my aunt has a little gym in her garage so I just lifted some weights. - he said chuckling. - So you see the difference? I didn’t know it’s that visible.

- Four months is a long time, of course I see the difference. - she said, letting down her head and looking at her cup.

She wanted to jump at him and kiss him and tell him how much he means to her and that she’s so happy that he’s back.

- Listen I’m really-

- Sorry.. I know. - Ethan interrupted her, putting their cups on the coffee table and grabbing Chiara’s hands. - I know you’re sorry and I know you didn’t want any of that to happen. I understand you were drunk. But you hurt me a lot, cazzo.. You broke my heart Chiara. When I saw you with him.. You don’t even know what I felt. I felt like a part of me died. - he said squeezing her hands.

- I know. - she said quietly loosing all the courage to look at him. - I know I hurt you and disappointed you, but I love you, Ethan. I love you more than anyone could ever think and I can’t imagine my life without you. I know I have no right to ask you to forgive me, but believe me, when you left, my whole world shattered. Because being without you is like being without myself. And what am I without myself? Nothing. - she said with tears in her eyes, finally looking at his face.

Ethan couldn’t stop himself. He cupped Chiara’s cheek with his palm and pulled her closer. He stroked her shoulder with his other hand and seconds later she could feel his lips on hers. The kiss was slow, gentle and full of love. They kissed carefully, afraid that one of them will hurt the other. Chiara wrapped her hands around Ethan’s neck and suddenly he pulled her up on his lap. She pulled away and looked at him carefully.

- I forgave you a long time ago. - he said pecking her lips again. - I love you, Chi. And there’s nothing that can change that. - Ethan kissed her again, more passionately this time.

- But.. wait, what does this mean? - she asked, pulling away again.

- I give you another chance. You hurt me but I realized that you didn’t mean it and I’m willing to try again with you. - he said stroking her cheek and looking into her eyes.

Chiara couldn’t have been happier than in this minute. She threw herself on Ethan and hugged him tightly. He leaned his face against her neck and wrapped his arm around her.

- Thank you - she said, kissing his cheek.

- You’re my everything Chi. I can’t live without you. - Ethan said.

He kissed her again and moments later they found themselves in Chiara’s bedroom, making out on her bed. He pulled off her oversized hoodie and she started unbuttoning his shirt. All the fear, sadness and shame disappeared when Ethan kneeled in front of her on the bed, pulling off her shorts along with her panties. Chiara grabbed his belt and after she took it off, Ethan pulled off his jeans and hung over her beautiful naked body. She pulled him closer, grabbing the back of his neck and while running her fingers through his hair, she kissed him with so much desire. She was needy and so was he. They both missed each other’s touch and a feeling of their bodies grinding against each other.

- I love you so much - Chiara said when Ethan kissed her breasts and started trailing his kisses down her stomach.

- You’re all fucking mine. - he said when he reached her thighs.

Ethan spread them apart and the second he laid his lips on her, Chiara let out a loud moan. He started licking her up and she was tugging on his hair. She grabbed the sheets when she felt him licking her entrance and she couldn’t stop moaning his name.

- Ethan.. It feels so good.. - she sighed when he squeezed her hips and looked her in the eyes, still licking her.

At this sight she lost it and a warm feeling spread inside her stomach while she reached her climax. She let out the last moan and a second later Ethan was above her kissing her dry lips.

Chiara wrapped her legs around Ethan’s hips and, looking into her eyes he put his erection inside her, filling her to the last inch. Chiara screamed from pleasure, a familiar feeling of him inside her. He started thrusting slowly. He remembered the way he fucked her in the bathroom and this time he didn’t want to hurt her. Chiara felt different this time. She knew that this sex was like no other. Full of love, reassurance and passion. It was different than any other sex she had with Ethan and she couldn’t get her eyes off of him. His torso was well built, visible muscles on his chest. His arms were stronger and his back was a lot wider than it used to be. His cheek bones were more sharp and Chiara couldn’t stop staring at him while he was pulling inside and out of her.

- Like the view? - he moaned kissing her cheek and his pace went a bit faster.

- Yes.. - she sighed and tugged his hair.

Even though the sex was slower than usual, Ethan and Chiara felt their high coming. He started moving a bit harder and faster but not too fast to enjoy the moment just a bit longer. Chiara felt her walls tightening around Ethan’s erection and she knew she’s gonna cum any second. Ethan grabbed her face and kissed her harshly while hitting every little spot inside her. They were both on the edge when suddenly Ethan’s warm sperm spread inside Chiara and her walls clenched around him. Both screamed each other’s name reaching the climax together.

Ethan fell on Chiara’s body, they were all sweaty and breathing heavily. After a second he pulled out of her and laid next to her, pulling her closer to him, so she could lay on his chest. Chiara leaned her face against Ethan’s neck and put her hand on his chest, stroking I gently.

- I love you, Chi, more than this world has ever seen. - Ethan said and kissed her forehead.

Since then Chiara and Ethan decided to start a proper relationship. They loved each other more than ever and Ethan knew that it was a good decision to give her another chance because Chiara didn’t leave him once, even for a second. She was constantly trying to show him how much he means to her and she was completely crazy about him.

*a few years later*

- I do - Chiara said, smiling.

She was standing in front of Ethan, in a beautiful white long dress, holding his hands. Victoria’s sobbing could be heard in the back.

- Do you Ethan Torchio take Chiara Russo to be your wife, to have and hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until you are parted by death?

Ethan squeezed Chiara’s hands and smiled to her widely.

- I do. - he said and Thomas bursted in tears.

- I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.

Ethan grabbed Chiara’s face with his both hands and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. She wrapped her hands around his neck, kissing him back and smiling. Everyone started cheering, crying and clapping their hands.

Chiara was nothing without Ethan. Ethan was something with Chiara. Together they were everything to each other that they ever needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow, that was long but I was so excited to finish it that I lost the count of words haha!

I hope you enjoyed these 3 parts.

Thank you so much for reading! 😘

Requests are opened if you’d like me to write anything specific ❤️

Tag list [ @teenyweenynightghost , @superchrystaldrug ]

#damiano david #ethan torchio #i wanna be your slave #maneskin #måneskin #thomas raggi #italy #victoria de angelis #zitti e buoni #torna a casa #guitarist #vocalist #drummer #bassist #vent'anni #ethan torchio one shot #ethan torchio smut #ethan torchio fanfiction #fanfic #one shot

[missymurphy1985]

Bella Italia Part 2

Part 1

Three years have passed since your internship at the university in Rome with your father. You're about to embark on your dream career as a concert pianist, when a blast from the past knocks you sideways.

Warning - smut / cheating / language

Features Jim from the Delinquent Season

Taglist @queenshelby @margoo0 @being-worthy @peakyscillian @ntmynouis @janelongxox @elenavampire21 @noctvrnalmoth @ysmmsy @cloudofdisney @lauren-raines-x @namelesslosers

You embraced your parents as you came off stage, beaming. You had just given your debut performance at Dublin's biggest theatre, the first since you graduated with first class honours from the University of Durham in England, to a standing ovation from the crowd. Your father quickly enveloping you in a hug, kissing your cheek, telling you how proud he was of you.

A few of the other performers were waiting off the wings, there was to be a Q&A with some press people and concert attendees after the show and you were expected on the panel. You squeezed your mum's hand and went to freshen up.

Sitting in your seat, you looked out the small crowd - cameras clicking and reporters waiting, you felt a bit like a film star! The director of the performance called silence and introduced you all, before opening the floor for questions.

"I have a question for the pianist..." You froze. That voice... That unmistakeable accent...

"You play with such passion... Such a sincere performance, you can almost feel the pain and sadness - is it from personal experience?" You felt as sick as the day he left you three years ago, and you had to swallow hard to contain your emotions.

"No. No it isn't." Short and sweet. No need for anything more. You weren't actually capable of anything more in all honesty. Jim's voice in the crowd had stunned you. You knew, moving back to Dublin, there was a chance he would be around, but you'd fought so hard to move on... And he'd just undone it all with one simple question. You were grateful for the large tablecloth - your legs were shaking.

Fortunately the Q&A was over quickly, and you didn't hear his voice again but you could almost feel him staring at you throughout. Walking carefully offstage, your father was there waiting for you to take you back home.

"Are you okay y/n?" Your mum asked, seeing the far away look in your eyes.

"What? Oh.. yes mam I'm good.. just tired is all. Looking forward to getting into bed!" Your father glanced behind you and grinned suddenly.

"Jim! How lovely to see you again! How've you been?" Your father welcomed him with a handshake like they'd been friends for years, which only fueled your anger. If only he knew the truth.. your teeth gritted, you turned around and there he was.

"Yeah, good, thanks! Been a while y/n.." he looked to you and you forced a smile.

"Hasn't it just." You grimaced. He looked to the floor, then back up at your Dad.

"Michael, how about we go and have a drink? Been a while since we've been out, one drink won't hurt?" Your mum turned to you dad, earning her a glare from you. She glared back and dragged your father over to the bar, leaving you with Jim.

"Can we talk y/n?" His hand came to rest on your arm.

"Nothing to talk about Jim. You got what you wanted from me, then you fucked back off to be with your wife - what more is there to say?" You seethed, swiping his hand away.

"It wasn't like that y/n.. please let me explain?"

"You've had three years to explain!! You could have explained the day you left, instead of fucking me in the janitor's closet!" You hushed your voice, teeth still gritted, tears threatening to spill over.

"I couldn't face telling you.. okay? I couldn't bring myself to tell you the truth.. please, all I'm asking is a chance to explain. I know I'm 3 years late and I don't deserve it, but please?" You glanced down at his left hand and saw the wedding ring. Decision made.

"Go fuck yourself, Jim."

That weekend, your father had arranged a dinner party for you at home to celebrate you graduating and your successful debut performance. Your mum pulled you to one side as you were finishing getting ready.

"There's something I need to tell you y/n..." You turned to face her before you applied your lipstick, this didn't sound good.

"Your father's added 2 people to the guest list... Jim and Liane..." You stood in shock - why the hell was he inviting them?? They'd only worked together a couple of weeks... Why??

"No... Mam I can't do this! Please! Tell them I'm sick..." Your mum hugged you tight. She was the only one who knew what had happened back in Italy, promising never to tell your father in case he hunted Jim down with a rifle... And now here he was inviting him to dinner!!

"They've been catching up since they saw each other at your performance.. Jim's keen on History, your Dad teaches it.."

"He's just using Dad to get to me mam! And he's bringing his wife?? What the hell??"

"I know... I know... I've only just found out okay? If I'd known before now I'd have called the whole thing off but it's too late.. look at me.... Stand up straight. Smile. Blow it away. YOU, my girl, did nothing wrong. Nothing. HE is the slimeball, HE is the cheat, HE is the asshole. Understand?" You laughed a little, your mum never swore, it was so funny when she did... But she was right. You straighted up, and applied your lipstick, a new mindset forming.

You had your fun in Italy, Jim. It's my turn now.

You heard everyone downstairs, they'd all started to arrive around 30minutes ago. You restyled your hair into loose waves, and slipped into a figure hugging black dress. Walking down the stairs, you spotted him and nearly ran back up the stairs - instead, you held your resolve and walked on. Without even acknowledging him, you walked past him and made your way over to greet everyone. You could feel his eyes burning into the back of your head and couldn't help but smile.

The night was so much fun, you barely had time to acknowledge Jim trying to get your attention. Of course you noticed it - his eyes trying to catch yours, finding his way over to within a few feet of you before you turned your back and walked away - it was hilarious.

You were in the bathroom after saying goodbye to your guests when you heard the window knock.

"Open it y/n." His voice was on the other side. You gasped in shock, how the hell did he know you were in there? He left an hour ago?!

You ignored it, hoping he'd go away, but he was persistent. The knocking getting louder. You relented, worried it would alert your parents, and opened the window.

"What?" You hissed, seeing him outside.

"Will you PLEASE stop ignoring me?"

"I think they call it 'ghosting' Jim. Look it up - should sound familiar. Now, if you don't mind, kindly fuck off." You moved to close the window but he grabbed your arm, stopping you.

"You let me explain first. Then I'll fuck off, and I'll never contact you again. Deal?" You softened, reluctantly. You did deserve an explanation..

"Not here, my parents will be asking where I am..."

"Meet me tomorrow. At 11 - Campbell's cafe in town? Just give me the chance to explain, please?"

He was out of the window and running back to his car across the street before you had chance to respond.

#jim delinquent season x y/n #cillian x fem!reader #cillian murphy #cillian smut #cillian murphy fanfiction

[brothermouse]

I'm just thinking about the first Christmas.

Mary feels a new blister forming and curses under her breath, so quiet Joseph can't hear. She fought too hard to come along on this trip to let him see an ounce of regret. She didn't have to come. Any sane person would tell her to just stay home, especially with how far along the pregnancy was. But she would walk hot, dusty roads and be covered head to toe with blisters for the rest of her life it it meant she didn't have to put up with the other women in the village.

They always seemed ready with some sharp catty comment, some new way to say the obvious without saying the obvious. She had been pregnant longer than she had been married, and everyone knew it. They would excitedly mention how big she was getting, almost as if they knew that she felt like an overstuffed cow. They would causally ask when she was expecting and then ask to be reminded when her wedding was, smugly implying that they had already done the math. It might have been better if they just came out and called her a slut. At least then she could yell at them. Then she could fight back. Then she could run crying into the strong, protective arms of her husband and he'd hold her and tell her that both she and he know the truth, and that's all that matters.

But even Joseph was different. Before all of this, he had been kind, loving, maybe a little clueless and awkward, but she found that part of him cute. But now? Now he seemed cold and distant. He didn't touch her anymore. No hugs and kisses like other newlyweds. He barely held her hand as her ever bulging self waddled about the house. He seemed almost afraid of her, like she was made of fragile glass or was some wild animal, ready to bite his hand off if he got too close. To be fair, some days she did feel like a strange beast, but her wild wrath was always meant for the town gossips. Towards Joseph she only felt sadness and grief for the kind man who seemed to vanish overnight.

Joseph, for his part, wasn't afraid of Mary. He was afraid of that thing growing inside of her. That Messiah. 'What even is a Messiah?' he would ask himself, 'What would it even look like?' Question after question after question filled his head and choked his tongue. Would the Messiah pop out, fully formed and armed for battle, before riding to Rome to behead Caesar, slaughtering heathens and gentiles along the way? Would it be like a rabbi, and call him and his wife to repentance for some yet unknown slight against God? Why does a Messiah need a father?  Does a Messiah need a father? Doubts filled him and crippled him.

He would steal glances at Mary. She was sweaty and dirty and a little angry-looking. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He wanted to grab her, lift the small delightfully plumped woman over his head and tell her all the ways she made him feel. But what if that broke the rules? What if his own uncleanliness some how befouled her? She was a holy vessel, like the Ark of the Covenant, and he was just...Joseph, the guy who cut wood.

Even without the angels and prophesies, Joseph would have felt unsure. Technically he was a grown man. He had lived the appropriate number of years, gone through the right ceremonies, done everything that everyone says make you a man. But still, whenever he saw those broad-chested, thick bearded men who seemed to have all the answers he saw he gap between himself and them. Real men had the answers. Real men knew what to do when their children were born. Real men could manage to say more than three words to their own wives.

Late in the day they arrive in town. Joseph curses himself. He should have known the trip would take longer with Mary. He should have planned ahead. Mary quietly curses again. Seems the baby didn't like all that walking and is kicking her kidneys in rebellion. She looks at Joseph, hoping he can see her pain, hoping he'll at least acknowledge it.

“I'll find an inn. ” He mumbles to her, knowing that a real man would have scooped her up in thick, strong arms and said “Not to worry, my radiant jewel! I'll have a roof over your head before the stars can grow jealous of your beauty!”

The sun dips below the hills and still no inn. Joseph wants to tell his wife that he's sorry. That she deserves better. That she deserves a real man by her side. One who would wrap her up in the finest silks and build a grand palace around her, wherever she wishes. But the most he can manage is rushing to the next inn, and hoping there's room for two.

Mary is growing concerned. What started as the baby rebellion has turned into all out war. Why didn't she just stay home? Why did she want so badly to spend time with a husband who seemed more concerned with chatting with unhelpful innkeepers than his own suffering wife? If she wanted to have a baby and be ignored by Joseph, she could have done that at home! At least at home she had her cousin Elizabeth to talk to. The contractions were getting closer now. Elizabeth had warned her about this. It was only a matter of time before the baby arrived.

As soon as Joseph wandered in arm's reach Mary snatched his robe.

“It's coming.” she says through gritted teeth.

“What is?”

“The baby!” Mary grunts.

Joseph turns pale. A thousand new questions and doubts fill his mind. “Where-”

“Anywhere!” Mary hisses through the pain. “An ally, a hut, a stable! Anywhere that isn't here!”

They enter a stable, a stubborn cow is woken up and moved to make room. Joseph feels remarkably out of his depth. He always though that when this day came, Elizabeth would be there to handle things and he would help by looking after little baby John. Only a few months old, John was a funny kid with an unparalleled knack for getting bugs in his mouth. Joseph liked John. Would a Messiah eat bugs? Joseph shakes his head back to the present. In a panic he asks Mary what he should do.

Mary meets Joseph's eyes. They are big and brown and filled with concern. They are the eyes of the man she loves. She wants to bask in the warm, manly kindness of those eyes forever, but another contraction cruelly pulls her away.

“Water!” she grunts, remembering what she can from Elizabeth's occasional words of advice, “and cloth!”

Joseph scrambles for the needed materials, but the pained screams of his wife tear at his soul. A real man wouldn't need to scramble for scraps with his wife in pain. In his heart he cries to God. He begs for an answer, just one answer to any one of his endless questions.

Mary lies on a pile of hay, eyes filled with tears, body filled with pain, and heart filled with loneliness. So few people could understand the pain of her soul, and the one person who she wanted most to understand, the one person who was physically closest to her was worlds away. She prays between agonized gasps for relief.

Mary screams to high heaven and Joseph's heart shatters. He can't do anything for her. She deserves so much more than he can give, and he can't even bring himself to give her a competent hand.

“I'm sorry” he gasps. And he runs out of the stable into the street. He shouts and screams and cries for help. A city of strangers huddles in their beds and ignores him. He spies a group of men. Desperate, he rushes upon them, grabs their woolly, sheepskin robes and begs them to help. Through childish tears and snot and sobs he explains his predicament.

One of the younger men huffs. He says they have something important to do tonight. One of the oldest men waves a hand and his young companion and claps an arm around Joseph. “We're used to delivering lambs,” he says, patting Joseph on the back, “But I think we can manage a child, just for tonight.”

In the stable, Mary clutches her belly. She's been abandoned. Her only companion now is an irate cow glaring at her from the the corner. Another contraction comes and she clenches her eyes. Suddenly something grabs her hand. She slaps it away, thinking it's the cow, getting impatient. It gabs her hand again. She opens her eyes and sees Joseph. His big, kind, brown eyes filled with tears. She squeezes his hand back. Suddenly she is surrounded by a small army of strangers.

“They're here to help.” Joseph says.

And they do help. With practiced precision each one fills a task. Water is fetched, clean cloth is produced. Shortly a tiny, pink, screaming baby is introduced into the stable. The cow wanders out, giving up getting sleep in this stable on this night.

The strangers hand the baby to Mary. She is tired. She feels like she's been stretched out a mile. She looks at the baby, wondering if she had been screaming this loud a moment ago. She's about to fall asleep. She shakes off the exhaustion and remembers something Elizabeth told her. Wrap the baby up tightly as soon as you can, so he can grow up nice and tall. She tries to calm the baby while fishing for spare cloth.

Meanwhile the strangers are beginning to leave, but Joseph delays them. He wants them to teach him. He wants to know how to be a man, a father, a husband. He stumbles over his words, trying to get the question right. The strangers are insistent, though. They have something important to do tonight.

Mary has finally got the baby wrapped up, and that seems to have calmed him. Exhaustion is pulling at her eyelids like iron weights. The baby needs a place to sleep. A nearby manger has relatively clean hay. She puts her baby there and lies back for her own long sleep.

Joseph is stumbling over his words as the strangers grow more insistent that they have to leave. Suddenly one of the younger men begins to tremble. He tugs at his elder's robes and points to a corner of the stable. The older man looks at the manger and the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and begins to weep. The rest of the strangers follow suit, some weeping, some praying, some just standing and staring in awe. Joseph manages to eek out one more question, “What's wrong?”

The oldest man wipes the tears from his eyes and answers, “Absolutely nothing is wrong. It's just...well...” he scratches his bald head, looking for the words. “Earlier... when we were watching the sheep...there was this...angel.”

Instantly Mary snaps awake, all fatigue dispersing at that one word. “Angel?”

“Yes ma'am.” the old shepherd says sheepishly, “an angel, and-”

“I've seen one, too.” Mary says. “They're incredible!”

“And terrifying.” adds Joseph.

“And beautiful!” the Shepherd

The strange group spends the next few hours trading stories of their visions and the strange coincidences that brought them together.

While the shepherds and Mary are eagerly trying to explain the strange musical quality of an angel's voice the old Shepherd pulls Joseph aside. Joseph tries to ask twelve questions at once, but the shepherd stops him.

“She doesn't need you to have all the answers.” He tells Joseph, “She just needs you to be there.”

“But, how am I supposed to raise-”

“A day at a time. Children, sheep, men. Everything grows a day at a time.”

He gives Joseph a few more specific points of advice. And the begins to gather up his companions. He explains that the mother needs her rest, and they have sheep to feed. Slowly and reluctantly the shepherds are herded out.

Mary now feels more tired than ever. The baby begins to fuss. Joseph steps in and rocks his son.

He lies down next to Mary.

Haltingly, unsure, she moves towards him. His arm wraps around her and draws her in close. She rests her head on his chest and stares at her little baby boy. Her thoughts turn to the catty gossips of Nazareth. Without thinking she voices her fears, “What will they say when we come back home with a baby?”

Joseph squeezes her tighter, “Whatever they want. We know the truth. Besides, if it gets too bad, I'll bet we can get those shepherds to beat them up for us.”

Mary looks at Joseph, her tired mind trying to grasp what he just said. The joke dawns on her and she beings to laugh. Then as the emotional dam begins to burst the laughter turns to tears, and tears eventually fade into sleep. All the while Her husband holds her in his strong, protective arms.

And that's what I think the First Christmas was like; messy, loud, and full of people who had no idea what they were doing. So don’t feel bad if your Christmas is messy, loud and full of doubt. It puts you in good company.

#christmas #jesus #Nativity #tumblrstake #queerstake

[vanillann]

‘tis the damn season (reggie peters x f.reader)

yes i’m 16 and obsessed with a children’s show, what about it?

inspires by “‘tis the damn season” by taylor swift

also i have no clue if i’m going to start writing for jatp or not so...

waring: bad angst and the word damn

word count: 1.6k

“‘tis the season,” Reggie fell back on the couch with the bright red cheeks and little giggles.

Luke looked to Alex, begging with his eyes to smack him but Alex shook his head. The three were waiting for Bobby to grab the sandwiches from the deli and they’d be working on another song, but Reggie had other plans.

“She’ll be here in two days,” Reggie felt the need to give a visible representation, putting up two fingers for all to see.

“Yeah we know, you’ve been reminding us since September,” Luke bite back, looking at Reggie with dangerous eyes.

“Oh Luke, you’re just not in the headspace to understand,” Reggie brushed off, starting at the ceiling above him, laughing to himself as he imagined her face.

“I can’t do this again,” Luke whispered to Alex, looking over. Alex shrugged, the drumstick banging against his leg with a nice little beat that Luke would have to ask him about later.

“It makes Reg happy,” Alex shrugged, looking to the boy in question quickly. He had a dopey look on his face, a little hum of a song on the tip of his tongue.

“Until she leaves to go back home,” Luke mumbled, worried for his friend.

Luke liked (Y/N), I mean he truly believed Reggie and her were soulmates, but every year she came for the holiday and she left a week later.

While Reggie used that week to his advantage, treating others as if they’ve been together for years, they were just two friends as she got back in her car to ride back to the Midwest.

Then Reggie was a heartbroken wreck, mumbling sad songs at practice and missing chords. It happened every time, every year, and Luke didn’t want to watch him wreck himself again.

Alex and Luke both slowly stood up, leaving the boy to look dreamily into the sky. They wander to the other side of the garage, looking over their shoulder every so often.

“Look I get it, she’s great but it’s this holiday fling that Reggie can’t handle.”

Alex understood Luke’s outburst, everyone was thinking it but it wasn’t going to end well if they tried to talk Reggie out of his infatuation. She was perfect for him and it was enough for Reggie to see her once a year.

“I’m back,” Bobby slid in through the garage door, holding bags of sandwiches in his hand as he dropped them to the table.

“Careful with mine,” Luke yelped out, running over to the table and forgot the topic of Reggie's little hometown girl as a whole.

*

Reggie bounced up and down, sitting on the bench by her parent’s house, the cold wind that blew across Reggie's face was odd for California but Reggie didn’t care about that now.

She was coming home for the holidays, that’s all that mattered.

He spotted the red car pulled around the corner of the small street, the one Reggie skated minutes ago with a joyous laugh.

As the car passed by, he spotted her little wave through the window. Her smile was as bright as the sun against a coastline.

Reggie would have to remember that line, Luke would like it.

Once the car was completely parked, the large door swung open. The sound of high heel boots slammed against the pavement with little giggles in-between.

“Reggie!”

“(Y/N)!”

Reggie stood from the bench, laughing as the girl launched herself into Reggie’s leather jacket-clad arms as if it was home. The familiar scent of one another was comforting and perfect, to say the least.

“I’ve missed you,” Reggie whispered into the nape of the poor girl's neck, the goofiest smile sketch across his face as if he was that thing Alex talked about.

Some painted ceiling?

In Rome or something?

“Not as much as I missed you.”

Those words made Reggie forget the question he had, just happy to hear her.

“That’s so not possible.”

*

“When did you learn to ice skate?”

(Y/N) shrugged, her skates leaving little marks in the giant ice. Reggie was thankful when Bobby found this place the other week, the boy enjoyed the people watching and the holiday vibes they got for it.

“I’m just a natural,” Reggie appreciated the way she smiled with her tongue between her teeth, a little goofy shrug as she moved closer to Reggie.

“I’ll teach you,” her hand slipped into his with ease, as if they were made to fit. If you asked Reggie, he’d respond with a “well duh” and continue talking about the girl in front of him.

She pulled him off the rail, smiling as she watched his ankle wobble as soon as she did.

“I got you jeez,” she laughed, reaching over to grab Reggie’s other hand for extra support.

He didn’t even think to look at his skate, too caught up in the girl in front of him. Reggie was watching the way she watched both their skate carefully, worried to let him collapse if she didn’t.

Reggie knew he would write all of Sunset Curves' love songs about her.

Who wouldn’t write love songs about someone who smiled like that?

“You’re staring,” (Y/N) smirks, looking back at their skates as soon as she spoke.

“Well duh.”

*

“How is fashion going?”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes, obviously not happy with how the dream of hers is going.

“I hate it, it doesn’t feel like what I thought it was,” she let her feet rest in Reggie's lap, laying back on the couch as they both waited for the rest of the band.

Reggie was excited to show her how much better he’s gotten at bass, but now he was worried. He never once felt like that about his dream.

“Are you sure you wanna do fashion?”

“Not anymore,” she spoke gently, pulling at the sweater sleeve with a sad little smile.

“I might just give up.”

“That doesn’t sound like you,” Reggie spoke, waiting for the words he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

If she quit fashion she’d come home.

“I don’t know, I just need to figure it out.”

She didn’t say anything, just looking at her shoes that sat in Reggie’s lap.

“You could always take a break, stay here for a while.”

Reggie didn’t want to hold her back, no he would never, but she didn’t seem happy and he couldn’t help think maybe she’d be happy here with him.

“You know I can’t Reg, my parents can’t afford another mouth to feed,” she reached out to brush a piece of the hair that had fallen in his eyes.

“I know,” he wanted to tell her to move in with him, but she didn’t deserve to hear the fighting and he could sell Bobby's garage to her.

“Maybe one day,” she spoke gently, the sound of the doors whipping open didn’t make Reggie feel any better.

“(Y/N)!” Alex pranced to the girl, a goofy smile as he wrapped his long arms around her.

“Alex,” she smiled gently, doing her best to brush the conversation to the side.

She would have stayed, she felt home here with Reggie and his band. Her friends in the city were cold and rude, ready to backstab you when their time was coming. Reggie would be good for her, a new setting and one she needed.

But she couldn’t have it.

So he’d have to stick with calling her babe for a weekend.

*

“Last one,” Reggie stuffed the last bag in the trunk of the car, watching it closely as he thought of what was about to happen.

“Thank you for helping.”

(Y/N) had just finished saying goodbye to her family, slowly walking out to find Reggie had backed every bag that sat outside the car.

“With all your bags you’d think you’d stay longer,” Reggie spoke absentmindedly, looking at the sticker covering it. He smiled when he saw his band logo drawn on the side.

“Time flies when you’re having fun, right?”

Reggie nodded, the emotions already hitting him as he waited. He was going to regret this, but he couldn’t keep doing this.

“Don’t leave,” his voice cracked, which made (Y/N) more nervous to answer.

“I have to Reg-”

“But you hate it there,” Reggie turned to look at her, his boyish charm gone as fast as it would have normally come.

“I can’t stay Reg, this town isn’t for me anymore.”

She knew he meant well, she didn’t want to leave him anymore but her life wasn’t made for this city.

“But I’m in this town,” she could just barely make out his words with how many emotions were in them.

She slowly walked closer, wrapping her arms around his center. He let his hands rub circles on her back, wondering where to go from here.

“We’re going to have to stop, aren’t we?”

Reggie only nodded, knowing neither of them could do this “friends that weren’t friend” thing anymore, not when it only lasted a week a year.

“I’m sorry Reg, I don’t wanna leave-”

“I understand,” Reggie gave his last light-hearted smile, moving from behind the car, opening the driver side door for her.

She said nothing, nodding as slowly sitting in her seat for the next few hours of her drive.

“’tis the season, right?”

Reggie nodded, trying his best not to be broken the last time she saw him.

“’tis the season,” he muttered under his breath, nodding as she started the car when he closed the door. She backed out the driveway with ease, her eyes trained on the road.

“’tis the damn season,” Reggie spoke under his breath.

He knew at that moment, he’d write all of Sunset Curves heartbreak songs about her.

#jatp netflix #japt reggie #reggie peters #reggie peters x reader #luke patterson #julie molina #alex mercer #jatp x reader #julie and the phantoms #reggie x reader

[percyjacksonfan3]

The Last Olympian Thoughts

So because I have absolutely 0 self-control or restraint when it comes to this series and its characters, and for The Last Olympian in particular, I could not put TLO down. Because of this I figured I couldn’t do the usual photo reaction posts I have been so far, because the spam would just be ridiculous, so I am stealing the idea from @yourstrulytaaay​ to do a masterpost instead. (Adding a Read More cause this got ridiculously long)

Fun fact, TLO came out right after i finished reading the series for the first time so it's the first PJO book i bought  and my only hard cover one for the og series. I checked the year and turns out it was published 2009, which means i was actually 9 when i read the series for the first time. I realize this is not really a fun fact but i thought i was older when I first read the series so it's blowing my mind a little ‘cause now I’m 21 and everything hits different and i still have so much love for this series and the characters Okay onto book thoughts: - i was right that this book is gonna destroy me, the first line alone made me so excited and nostalgic it's ridiculous - I love Rachel and Percy sm tbh. Her being a bit of peace and normalcy in his life without always reminding Percy of who and what he is is so good for him. Just a little escape

- of course by the end of the book that's not the case any more but by the end he's lived his prophecy so he doesn't need it as badly, plus he and Annabeth are solid again - Percy saying Annabeth has been hard to be around lately... Ouch my heart. Luke really is the last thing that keeps them from being together and Percy is so jealous and Annabeth so torn and in pain, i feel so bad for them both

- Beckendorf 🥺🥺 - the telkhine with the Lil Demon lunchbox!! I forgot about him. Percy: 'i left him alive, partly because his lunchbox was cool' is one of my absolute favourite lines tbh - Paul taking Percy crabbing and being imperative in helping Percy kill the giant crab 💖 Paul Blofis is important and deserves the world, okay? - aw Percy, you can't save every demigod bb

- 'i had to fight him eventually. Why not now?... What difference would a week make?' Oh Percy you have no idea - real talk tho, the fact Kronos possessed Luke's body would also mess me tf up. Percy keeps forgetting it's not Luke anymore and yeah, that would be so so hard and confusing af, like what another smart little mind game for Kronos to pull on top of everything else - the fact Percy fights Kronos before getting the Achilles Curse and actually doesn't die within seconds is... Astounding. He kicks him in the chest! And yeah Kronos is weaker and still adjusting to Luke's body, but Percy is having trouble fighting Luke cause they used to be friends - Percy breaks Kronos' time magic!! Like?! Boy is POWERFUL.

- OUCH - honestly Luke, Thalia and Annabeth's family breaking the way it did... Don't talk to me. Poor Annabeth, Luke betrayed them, Thalia joined the Hunters because of Luke's betrayal so she's pretty much AWOL all the time and then Luke dies. Like Rick wtf, my heart can't take it? -Percy and Tyson having each others backs when talking to Poseidon in the underwater palace is the brother-brother relationship we love to see - Percy trying to stick a sand dollar in the vending machines at school 🤦🏻‍♀🤦🏻‍♀ - the whole underwater interaction at Poseidon's palace? Perfection. Awkward family drama and all - Connor falling out of the tree when he sees Percy because he's so excited 😂😂

- 😭💖

- k, ik Clarisse isn't perfect but tbh if i was a child of Ares whose father was disrespected and hated by my fellow campers (ares deserves it but still) and that disrespect trickled down to how the other campers treated ME (which if Percy is reliable here, it obviously does) then i would also be irritated at being used for muscle and nothing else? And just expected to fight with the people who act as if they'd rather not have Ares kids around the rest of the time. Like Clarisse isn't totally wrong - Percy reading the prophecy, seeing he's meant to die and just being like 'i do not see it' and refusing to outright think about it makes me so sad for him - (but it taints every action after and he's super reckless afterwards bc of it- including finally breaking and accepting the Achilles Curse) - (also him taking this as the last straw and finally beginning to show Annabeth how he really feels, cause fuck it, he's dying anyway) - Give me more info about Rachel's backstory and family Rick!! -  how did i forget Percy willingly eats chocolates that taste like cardboard because 'i didnt have anything against cardboard' like sir? Ik Silena didn't want them but still? - 'she'd always been cute, but she was starting to be seriously beautiful' STOP, MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT - Percy staring at Annabeth and forgetting what they're talking about cause hes so distracted 👌🏻

- hmm yeah... For some strange reason.... - i forgot how Percy totally bombs this convo bw them and now want to cry 😭 Annabeth is trying to talk about what's important and Percy, you sweet oblivious man, you're shooting her down without even realizing - love that they're both on the same wavelength tho. Percy two lines before, hmm it's cool to date ppl from other cabins, wonder why im thinking that around Annabeth, my best friend in the world, and then Annabeth a beat later, hmm, let me bring up Silena and Beckendorf and how it's important to be with the people you love when you have the chance, no way Percy will miss this huge hint right? - they're the best - k i honestly forgot Percy full on physically intimidates Leneus like that - luke telling his mom if he ran away the monsters wouldnt get her..i can just imagine luke crying when he says good bye before running away because he thinks it's his fault his mom is like that and he cant take care of and protect her anymore because it's too hard - uh oh now i have angsty pre-lightning thief luke fic inspo... Him, Thalia and Annabeth on the run... The ANGST -  Rick holds absolutely nothing back in this book and i am in pain - HESTIA!! 💖💖🥰 - actual loml - i love that Rick titled this book after her and that he wrote such a great series about the importance of family (biological, found or otherwise) and home, and that he said actually Hestia is the most important bc shes the most humble and keeps the peace and knows when to fight and when to yield and you protect what you love, which is your home - i just... Adore Hestia - Grover! Missed you babes - Hades is so so horrible to Nico, always comparing him to Bianca :/ - but i do love Hades, Persephone and Demeter together they make me laugh - oh god the River Styx - Achilles 🥺 - Annabeth being Percy's lifeline is, and continues to be, A Lot™ - 'my name was Percy Jackson. I reached up and took Annabeth's hand.' LOL Why am i crying? - Like the fact there is no Percy without Annabeth, and that remembering her literally reminded him of who he is in his very soul... It's fine im fine - i won't even get into the parallels of her being his lifeline now and then later when Hera takes his memories but leaves the memory of Annabeth for Percy to fight to get back to (anyone who wants to yell about it with me... Feel free to message) - badass Percy is my fav Percy tbh - him defeating Hades?? Like? Hades is arguably the most powerful god, okay - i feel bad for Nico but if i was Percy I'd do the exact same, Nico, sorry man but this is a high stakes time crunch deal and Nico is literally the only hope of persuading Hades and distracted by his own internal stuff - flashbacks to Luke, Thalia and Annabeth hurt, ow - George and Martha are the best - damn i forgot Hermes full on nearly kills Percy here, yikes - Luke stop cockblocking Percabeth challenge

- i love!! Percy's love for New York!! So much!! - Percy leaving to live in New Rome in HoO is a lie and this is all the proof i need for why - the fact the entire last half of the book is the battle and aftermath... Such great buildup and pacing. All the tricks and twists and battles in this War of Manhattan? I would not take out a thing, Rick, you legend - of course then the final battle in hoo with the gods is what? Two pages? Ugh, don’t talk to me about my hatred for BoO and HoO - 'no detours you two' is still the cutest thing!!! - THE HUNTERS!! Thalia i missed you - good job Percy, you finally spent your sand dollar - Minotaur!! - 'dont i get a kiss for luck? Its kind of a tradition right?' Percy finds out he's gonna die and is out of fucks to give and honestly I support him - also Michael just standing beside these two while they're flirting like umm 👀 👀 while a monster army marches towards them, nbd - Annabeth taking Ethan's knife meant for Percy!!! Cause she just knows his weak spot without him even telling her! They literally invented love - Feral Percy is so scary omg, i love how well Rick incorporates the Achilles Curse in this novel, with the whole heightened weaknesses and stuff ans the parallels to Achilles arrogance being what killed him and Percy's loyalty, fierceness and protective instinct being his own heightened weakness - the fact that Percy is the one who inadvertantly kills Michael Yew tho, I'll never recover from that - the fact Hades offers Maria di Angelo a golden palace by the Styx like how Poseidon offers Sally a palace under the sea tho. Let's talk about that parallel - the entire talk with Prometheus is so so good - not me picturing young Luke hiding in the closet to get away from his mom when she has an 'episode' -i love callbacks in stories and all of the callbacks to the rest of the series in this book make me very happy (medusa, minotaur, the underworld, Rainbow!! My baby!!, Daedalus and more) - Percy summoning a wholeass hurricane against Hyperion - the Party Ponies! They're so chaotic, i love it - Dionysus! 😁 I can't help it, i love him - Percy absolutely losing it when he sees Sally and Paul asleep in the car 🥺 - Rachel telling Percy he's not the hero screws with him so much :( poor bb - although i really really love how Rick wrote this, it's so refreshing to not have one chosen one save the world, but a combination of people - the drakon, Silena and Clarisse make me cry - the Patrochilles references, im not okay - Annabeth giving up on Luke after hearing what he did to Silena and Percy telling her that doesn't make him happy 😭 that whole interaction makes my heart ache - Percy giving Hestia Pandora's pithos 🥺 - and Hades, Nico and the others coming for a final attack is so badass, i love it - listen im glad the og trio were the ones to confront Luke on Olympus but the fact Thalia got so close and then pinned by a statue of HERA makes me so sad. Ik her and Luke were finished and she coped by cutting him off completely and giving up all hope but i would pay money to know what they would have said to each other to say goodbye - Ethan 🥺 - Poseidon joining the fight against Typhon is so cool, such a great scene - 'PEANUT BUTTER!' - Annabeth you brilliant badass you - RIP Luke, you werent great but you werent the worst either - the gods just rolling up seconds too late, wondering wtf happened in Olympus and who the dead body is - the chapter where the Olympians meet and give out rewards is one of my absolute favourites (again i am incensed we didn't get anything like this in HoO) - will Percy turning down immortality ever not make me scream in glee? No? Alright then - Annabeth being relieved like Percy was relieved at the end of Titan's Curse tho - oh Hermes :/ - its so hard reading all this and knowing what comes in HoO... Like it's such a cathartic, earned and mostly happy and peaceful ending and then HoO comes along and undermines it all - aww Rick let Paul see Olympus somehow pls, he deserves it, he killed a dracanae - (i would also love to see it) - Percy being more upset Rachel took his pegasus than her going to Camp and possibly dying, lol, priorities dude - i honestly think that Rick had other ideas for the second Great Prophecy and how things would go down in BoO, cause the prophecy like... Barely applies to BoO, Doors of Death are in book four, and explabations of it is all so unclear when Rick is usually pretty good with that stuff - PERCABETH - lol Percy complaining about privacy when he and Annabeth are caught kissing literally in the middle of the very open and public dining pavilion, okay - BEST UNDERWATER KISS OF ALL TIME - that's it and im a glass case of emotion - very happy to say that this series remains my favourite of all time 💖

 If anyone ever wants to come gush about anything Riordanverse related feel free, because as you can see I have a lot of thoughts about it all

#lau rereads pjo #the last olympian is my favourite book for a REASON #honestly every line is killer #so much subtext to read into #the dialogue #the relationships are dialed up to 11 #every character is so on point #the battle strategies too? are just so interesting? #I just adore it #Tay don't read any of this yet cause it's all spoilers #alright I'm gonna go write fic to express these feelings now #tlo #the last olympian #pjo #pjato #percy jackson

[agusvedder]

I DON’T CARE if this doesn’t get any notes. I need to vent.

My name is Agustina, I’m 27 years old. I’m a nonbinary, queer, latinx person, parent of a 4 year old, non-verbal authistic child. I suffer from depression and anxiety.

I’m 9 thousand kilometers away from the woman I love.

I’m not a victim. I am a minority. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

I started watching Supernatural in 2015, you know, being a stay-at-home parent, who dropped her career and her job to live the first years of their child, there wasn’t much I could do in my free time but to watch a show. I caught a few episodes of season 11 on tv and then I decided to start from zero. I always acknowledged how problematic it was in terms of representation, but always saw small threads of light filtering in the message it sent, recognizing how its writers were trying to shed a little light, creating a jenga tower of storylines and new characters, only to be thrown away by poor, useless deaths and the erasure of said characters.

Since my first run on season 1 I related to Dean. I saw myself on him. (I will never be as brave and cool as him tho, never ever, but his personality traits, some of his family issues, his self worth issues, his loneliness, his unaddressed childhood trauma, his growth in a circle of violence, his reticence to address his feelings until he explodes?... Yeah. There are days where my girlfriend makes fun of me saying “Ok Dean”). I kept looking up to Dean in his geekiness, in his way he always put his life on the line to protect the people he loves and put them always first… even in the supernatural side of the storyline, he still was profoundly human and abnegated to the people in his life. Also because I’m deeply in love with Castiel but that’s another subject. Thanks to this show, I’ve found people in my own country who now I recognize as my family beyond SPN, who helped me accept myself the way I am, who are always there for me. My found family, my chosen family. Because family don’t end in blood, because family cares about you, not only for what you can do for them, because that’s what all of us have in common, and why this show resonated as strongly as it did for us. That’s why we found each other and ourselves in the process, in a circle of love, support, non-judgement and willingness to find a family in ourselves when our own blood relatives ignored us, abused us, refused to recognize us. We’ve found love and family. I’ve found the woman with whom I wanna spend the rest of my life with because of this show.

That’s the power of this story. I know my small circle is not the only one who lived this, who continues to live it.

I can talk about this forever, but there’s something I wanna talk about specifically here. When the ending aired.. what I felt was… like a bucket of cold water was thrown over my head. You know when your parents come home, or call you and give you the devastating news that someone you love died? that exact feeling. The adrenaline, the heartbreak, the feeling of loss. 

The whole season 15 and 15 years of storyline were completely overturned. The misogyny the writers tried so hard to erase, it was there again, in a faceless woman who was supposed to represent the person a lead chose to spend the rest of his life with, reduced to a lilac dress, a blurry face and a uterus. We never seen acknowledged the existence of Eileen Leahy, Sam Winchester’s romantic interest since season 11, his perfect partner whose disability wasn’t an obstacle for her to be a badass hunter. (BUT COVID!! <- No. Eileen Leahy appeared in two episodes this season without Shoshannah being on set: Last Holiday and Despair. If they wanted to include her, they would have. They didn’t because they don’t give a FUCK). Sam Winchester is an academic, a witch, a leader, a powerful hunter, a kind human being, and the ending that was given to him was living an unfulfilled life, dying at a ridiculous young age, having a son only to replace his dead brother? It was sad. Sammy deserved better. He always did.

My beloved Dean Winchester, who I love so deeply, who taught me a lot about myself, about life, love, family, about *ejem* VICIOUS CIRCLES and the power of breaking free from them, of learning to embrace one’s self, our real tastes, our real identity, to come out of a shadow of being reduced to someone’s caretaker instead of having an identity of our own, to spend life loving family the healthy amount.. well, he was killed in a ridiculous way, on a milk run of a hunt.  After being eager and ready to kill himself so many times. After all he’s been through, after saying he’s good with who he is, after considering retirement, after standing up to his dad, saying he already has a family, ready to cut the “I’m Okay” bullshit, address his feelings, his trauma, don’t letting those define him. He deserved better. He always wanted a family, he always wanted to break free from the version of himself he was created to be, “daddy’s blunt little instrument” (For fuck’s sake, he even said it in the same show 10’ before dying, man. If we don’t keep living, the sacrifice the people who died for us did, was for nothing). Are you telling me this man really would refuse his brother to call an ambulance? Refused his brother to get the first aid kit even knowing it was more serious than his brother thought? He was ready to live. He CHOSE life, and at the end his choice was stripped away from him. He clearly was a bisexual man and they never explored it.

Cas. The misfit. The fish outside of the water. Ambiguous gender and sexuality. Finally makes a homosexual declaration of love after all he’s been through. After being brainwashed, used, suicidal, isolated. After telling Sam and Dean he loved them more than once, that they meant everything for him. After confessing he’s been in love with Dean since he pulled him out of hell…. Was erased from the story. Erased, literally. Two emotionless mentions aren’t enough for a 12 year old family member who pulled both brothers out of hell, who died for them more than once, who until 2 seasons ago he didn’t even feel like he belonged there ‘cause he was never told he was loved. No one ever told him “I love you” back. Not Jack, not Sam, not Dean, not Mary. No one. Ever. And still, he died for love. And with his death, he was erased from the finale, being that the first finale Castiel wasn’t in since his appearance on the show. He deserved better. 

All roads lead to Rome and you know what we got at the end of that road? a bottomless pit of NOTHING. The building up towards a different end isn’t just in s15. It’s been there for years and years. And if you watch the show, you see it at plain sight.

 

Sam Winchester hurried to die to reunite with his brother in heaven EVEN WHEN HE SPENT 30 MORE YEARS WITH A WIFE AND A KID he only wanted to die to go back to his brother? it’s insane, it’s ridiculous. That’s not what the show has been about for seasons now. SEASONS. The road was paved towards a healthy brotherly bond, each brother living their future the way they wanted, finally breaking free from the curse John dropped on Dean that Sam’s destiny was in his hands. No no. What was that? Did it ever happen? Was it a fever dream? They really destroyed everything in 38 minutes of the finale? 

Stupid. 

Representation is important, stories are important. They change lives. You know how it changed mine? After I saw Jonathan Van Ness coming out as non-binary, I started to realize how I never called myself "a woman, a girl" or anything like that, how my "female presenting" aesthetic changes drastically depending on how I feel when I wake up  how I always called myself a "person", no gender involved. I realized I was a non-binary person even after becoming a parent. Thanks to Jonathan Van Ness. Thanks to seeing a person like her being unapologetically herself. 

Representation matters. 

It matters. 

It helped my mom understand me when I was 13 and had a girlfriend. It helped my dad educate himself about trans identities. It helped my sister understand about her demisexuality. It helps break circles of ignorance and stereotypes. It helps people process what these characters wanna tell, and realize they're human beings above it all. We suffer, we laugh, we grieve. We love. We exist. 

Supernatural missed a chance to be a historical show in terms of representation. And it breaks my heart.  I cant believe they decided to erase Dean's sexuality, to erase Castiel after saying loud and proud he's in love with a man, to erase Eileen whose disability only was a disadvantage when they KILLED HER in the most ableistic way in s11, to never show Charlie and her girlfriend again, that they decided to make God bisexual AND a villain, thay they decided to turn the only regular non-binary character of color into the villain too (Billie).

I'm still grieving.

This is why "a stupid show" is so important for me, and for lot of people like me. Cause representation can change lives. Stories can change lives. It certainly changed mine, and I'm not the only one. 

Don't let anyone tell you you're just a butthurt fan because you're suffering this ending. Every one of us have a story and this is mine. All of us are valid, our feelings are valid. And we'll get through this eventually

#SPN ending #personal experience #castiel #dean winchester #supernatural #sam winchester #Long post #sorry

[writtenfan]

Ah, The Joys of Parenthood, They’re your Whole Underworld ya know?

DisneyHades x Reader

Taking care of the little fire-crackers can be a lot, Hades sure feels that way...

Oh geez, s-settle down, kiddos… No, no. No! No!! I take a call for two seconds! -” he holds up two fingers and waves them in the air looking down at his kids, fussing and running around the room. 

“TWO. Itty bitty SECONDS!, and all of you go Lord of the Flies on me.”

You watch Hades breathing heavily, trying his very very best to keep himself calm tempered but his flames give away how angry he is by their frantic bursts of red between the blue. His internal de-fuming was interrupted by a loud-

 BAM! 

As one of the three kids, tripped over their father’s smoke and onto the rug which made him snap his head to them, grab them by their shoulders with the same smoke they tripped over and pulled them towards him.

They look up at him will a giddy smile and he scrunches up his nose and gives them a closed smile back, which looked absolutely phony.

“Cool it, you little pest, or DADDY’S going to, lose it. Capiche? You don’t like it when daddy goes Koo-Koo! Koo-Koo! Right?!” he hisses through his teeth and your child shakes their head with a worried frown and slowly walks off towards a bunch of books laying on the floor.

“Oy Vey, KIDS! Alright, ok, Calm down Hades. In and out, remember what Hera told you? Oh ho ho, ho…feeling dumb now aren’t ya? How you shoulda thought twice before-” he stops himself and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath in an exhaling hot smoke as he opens his eyes lazily.

His voice turning eerily sweeter, “Ahem. Daddy can only handle sooo MUCH~! Before he decides to take the late abortion, option...

... AND THROWS YOU IN THE STYX!!!”

Well. He Failed at Being Calm.

His fire sparks a dazzling red which causes all of your kids to halt and say their apologies to their father, significantly slowing down in the process, all except one kid. Who seemed to be completely running on adrenaline and just wouldn’t sit still.

“Thank you. You little brats… Geez, and watch your sibling eh? Oy, I shouldn’t have given them those cookies…but they kept bugging me and bugging me. Works for the dog, I give them a treat and badabing! They’re off my back for an hour or two. But this little smutch right here?! Sheesh!” He mocks a buzzer sound. “Wrong answer. Never again, you hear me?!” he points to your child who gives their father a sharp toothed grin.

You lean against the stone door frame and some of the stone crumbles off the wall and his attention shifts to you and the smirk on your face. He sizzles down automatically. 

The blue flames flicker once again on the top of his head. His face turns to this sentimental big-eyed and blushing grin. 

“y/n! sweetheart, the exquisite object of my affection…” he glides his way towards you, and you meet him in the middle of the room. 

Your kids turn their head and smile at you, with a few hi (mommy/daddy’s) but once again become preoccupied with the one child that just wouldn’t stop putting pieces of books into the fire. You tell them to stay away from the breakables with a laugh as you watch the youngest drop the books and run towards a statue while the middle child is just trying to pull the younger one way from it. 

This den had turned into the colosseum pits of Rome more than once and It didn’t help that it was filled with old irreplaceable books and rickety bookshelves crawling with Underworld bugs. (Which Hades uses as a light reading snack ugh). Along with a cluster of breakable glass containers and cylinders holding whatever the hell they held, littering the floor.

This place was a disaster zone. The few screaming statues that stood around the room sure didn’t make it peaceful either and right on cue you watched your oldest accidentally fall into one after tugging with the youngest and you leaped forward as you saw the statue jolt but were greeted with, “Aye aye, I got it, it got iiiit…” As a burst of smoke pushed against the other side of the statue stopping it from falling while picking back up the oldest on their feet and grabbing your youngest by the back of their collar and hovering them over the fireplace, (which had absolutely nothing to prevent a child from falling inside) plopping them down on the huge intricately woven rug made by The Fates. 

Unexpectedly Hades pulls you into him by the waist and spins you around in a circle. “Angel face, Baby. heh, do you think you could? Uh, handle them, for me? For a little bit, of course.”

  You give him a look.

“ Ay heheh...I just have to go to another business meeting, haha yeah. He rests his hands on your waist and isn’t afraid to hold them firmly, oh he knew how to make you soft.  

“You know Echidna right?! Right. Husband Typhon… the mountain guy… you know. 6 weeks ago at the pool party, best Feta Me Meli you ever had? Well. They’ve been impatient recently and I rather not get on her bad side…or have them on mine. So, watch little Cerberus Jr. for me until my meet up is over, cool? Cool.” He gestures to your three kids who have now restrained the youngest who was flickering little bursts of red around their hair. (He collectively calls them Cerberus Jr. Quite often.) Sweat is rolling down Hades’s forehead and sizzling off in steam just as it formed, his face still in complete pleading mode, lips pouted, eyes all big...

“Please?!” he clears his throat.

 “I mean, ha-ha-heh please dearest? I mean, I deserve it! I bet your liking this top-notch parenting your witnessing eh?” He blows hot air on his knuckles and rubs them on his chest as if shining it. “Well, I hope this turns you on… But I’m kinda running a bit low on steam, or should I say, smoke.” he grumbles. 

Your eldest yells from across the room as they're putting all the books on high shelves to stop the youngest from continuing to shred them into the fire. They then say something about how “Dad” gave the youngest some oatmeal cookies that had him bouncing off the walls. 

“You little snitch,” Hades mumbled under his mouth giving his child the eye which made them shudder and look away. You turn to Hades with an eyebrow raised, and he places a hand on your back and turns you around from the kids gilding you towards the door.

“But even though I’m ha top, repeating what you said last night, DILF. Of the Underworld and all-” He chuckled proudly and you laugh and turn your head to the kids, and you catch one rolling their eyes and you give them an ashamed little chortle “-I got to get some work done, that isn’t…this work.”

He grins sheepishly and you roll your eyes and smile. But remind him that you’re not going to be the typical stay at home (mom/dad) that he may want you to be. As you caught him slipping earlier with such an expectation from you. Which made you make him spend time with the kids in the first place.

“Oh YES! GODS. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!” 

He clasps both his hands around yours and shakes them frantically and you start laughing which makes him grin. “I promise boss, I won’t let you down. Overtime even and ill clock in early (ma’am/sir) I'll even stay in late…and help you, liquidate the debt …if you know what I mean…” he wiggles his eyebrows and you are bombarded with little kisses all over your face as he says “Muah” for each one, you try pushing him off you but he turns you around as you do so that his back is now towards the door. He pulls away from you laugh as he gives you a salute, but before slipping through the door he points to the kids.

“If you make your (mother/father) mad or sad or anything but glad! I’ll give you all a worthy punishment for your demi-dis“ass”ter’s got it?” He points to himself and then back at them and they reply in obvious dread and you wave him off but he just gives you few air kisses, “I’ll take ya on a little trip to doom-and-gloomingdales and get you something swanky, we’ll have Pain and Panic watch the kids.” He gives you a wink and clicks his tongue as he leaves and you walk over to your kids. 

Scooping up the youngest who was on a sugar high and watch their little flames of anger die down as you held them from their middle with ease and you smiled as they started laughing as you hoisted them up on your shoulders.

“How’re (mommas/daddy’s) favorite kids doing huh. Driving him mad eh?” you chuckle as you walk over to your other two scamps.

“We’re you only kids…”

“I’m the favorite!!”

“BOW DOWN TINY MORTALS FOR I AM HADES!!”

You smirk up at the one on your shoulders.

“Oh, please don’t copy your father there’s enough of him already.”

#disney hades x reader #disney villains imagine #disney hades imagine #disney hercules imagine #disney imagine #hades x reader

[mangekyuou]

                                             THE FOUNTAIN ━ﾞ

⁺◟   CHARACTERS . . .           caesar zeppeli           fem!reader           mentions of lisa lisa ‘ joseph

⁺◟   GENRE . . .           angst           fluff           oneshot

⁺◟  SYNOPSIS . . .           there was one special marble           fountain in naples that had           brought two people together.           even in tragedy, it serves as           their meeting place.

⁺◟  CONTENT WARNINGS . . .           mentions of death

⁺◟  WORD COUNT . . .           2.2k.

⁺◟  COMMENTARY . . .           i don’t know why i do this to           myself. i cried a total of five           times writing this. it’s not even           that sad, i’m just soft for caesar           because he’s my favorite and           he deserved better.

          ( s/n ) ‘ son’s name

Lonesome she sat on the edge of the marble fountain, her shaking hands rested in her lap, comforted by the warm fabric of the dress she wore. Her head sat just below her shoulders, as tears had begun to form in her eyes.

The lonesome woman, ( y/n ), had a history with this fountain. She had remembered the first day it began working.

She was a poor teenager, walking up and down the sidewalks for any coin she could find, many purse or wallet she could snatch to grab a few banknotes and give them to her family. Though a petty thief, her heart was in the right place.

That day it was no different. The young thief watched a young brunette many years older than her. By his clothes alone, she knew he was pretty well off. Without another thought, she had rushed out in front of him, tripping over her own feet to fall before his.

She had done it many times before. No one could ignore a poor maiden who had fallen, neither could the brunette. He helped her up and asked if she was okay. She had answered yes and hugging him for helping her, allowing her to slip her hand into his pocket and pull out a leather wallet, and hiding it up the sleep of her dress, before leaving. 

But she was not in the clear, a bystander had watched the whole thing.

Before the young thief could get away, the bystander had spoken up, alerting the young man that ( y/n ) had reached into his back pocket and stolen his wallet.

Even before the bystander had finished their statement, she had run, being followed closely behind by the man she had robbed. But she was not fast enough and he had caught up, slamming her much smaller frame against a brick wall, almost knocking the wind out of her. She begged for forgiveness in small barely audible whimpers, as he screamed in her face.

Meters away from them stood a tall blonde with green eyes. On either side of his face, were purple birthmarks that vaguely resembled triangles. She’ll never forget the first words out of his mouth.

“Never put your hands a woman.”

The man didn’t need to be told twice, quickly dropping ( y/n ) to the hard concrete ground, and running away in fear. As he stepped further into the light, she had recognized him.

Caesar Zeppeli from Naples. The blonde-haired thug and the prettiest peridot-colored eyes. Widely feared, because he committed every crime imaginable short of murder.

She stared into his peridot-colored eyes, shaking uncontrollably as he approached her, putting out his hand for her to take. She looked down at his rather large hand, before slowly up his arm and torso up to his face. He had fully come into the light. 

He was breathtakingly beautiful. 

Not only had his face softened but his voice did as well, sending chills down her spine. She simply stared at his hand, hoping he would take the hint that she truly feared him just as anyone else had. And he did take the hint, as he retracted his hand back to his side and left her on the concrete, bidding her a farewell and hope that they will meet once more on better terms.

And they had. Days later, she sat on the edge of the same fountain and she had seen his head of blonde hair walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side of her. Her face began to burn up as his eyes met her unintentionally. Instead of looking away, she kept her eyes on him. 

His feet changed course, now approaching her. Though fear welled inside of her, she stayed put, wanting to give him a chance. The only thought in her mind being that he wouldn’t harm her because she was a woman and because he had saved her days prior.

Bringing her out of her thoughts, the blonde took her hand into his own, kissing it gently, “We meet again, mia cara.”

( y/n ), like several other women, became easily swooned by Caesar. He had it all, the looks, the charms, the personality. He was everything a woman could want and more. Yet he focused most of his attention a petty thief. 

Always having to see her face each night before he retired to his bed. Always needing to hear her soothing voice say his name or bid him a good night and sweet dreams. She had become the only woman he could think about. No, the only person he could think about. With her, he knew he could tell her anything and she would listen and be completely honest with her.

Alongside the death of his father, ( y/n ) was a driving reason why he had left behind his criminal past for something better.

The night before he left for Venice, he met with her at the marble fountain, where he had confessed his eternal love for her and asked her to come with him so they would never have to be without each other. Without another thought, she accepted both his love confession and his invitation to come with him to Rome.

Along the way, she had learned of the weird power that Caesar had, Hamon. She learned more about it from the woman the two had met in Venice.

Lisa Lisa.

As Caesar began training under Lisa Lisa, ( y/n ) worried for him. She worried that something would happen to him and she would lose him. She couldn’t just stick around and watch him die any day now, she had returned to Naples, being followed by the blonde.

There they stood at the fountain once again. Their special fountain, as Caesar called it. 

There he tried his best to reassure her that nothing would happen to him and he had promised that he would return to her in due time. The couple had spent one last night together before the blonde had returned to Rome the next morning without her. But she held onto her hope and waited for him in Naples.

Each day she sat on the edge of their marble fountain, hoping that today would be the day that he would come back to her, hold her and tell her that he loves her.

He never came back to her.

He never came home.

But it never crossed her mind of his fate until a slender woman had approached her. Lisa Lisa. She sat next to her on the fountain, sorrow in her eyes. Why wasn’t Caesar with her? Why did she come alone?

She didn’t have to say a word.

“But...but he promised me. HE PROMISED! WHY DIDN’T YOU SAVE HIM?!”

She cried his name as loud as she could until her voice went hoarse. 

No...he couldn’t be dead. This was a nightmare that should wake up from. But she was awake. He was gone, he wasn’t coming back to her, he couldn’t keep his promise that he made to her.

His funeral was even harder for her, barely anyone had shown. She barely talked to the others there, only wanting to be dead alongside the man she had loved with all of her heart. She silently cried until she couldn’t anymore, no longer having a voice to scream his name. 

( y/n ) was broken and just about anyone could see that.

She didn’t want to be comforted. She didn’t want empty apologies and condolences, she wanted the love of her life back and none of them could give her that.

Days at a time, she would cry at the fountain, hoping that her Caesar heard her cries for him. She swore sometimes she could feel a cold wind brush past her when she called out for him.

There she promised him that she would never open her heart for another. 

But that was a promise she could not keep many months later.

“Mamma!”

The lonesome woman picked her head up, looking to her right to see a small boy no older than 8 years old with a head of blonde hair and peridot-colored eyes that reminded her of him. On the left side of his side, he had a small oddly colored birthmark that looked similar to Caesar’s.

In the boy’s left hand were a bouquet of sunflowers wrapped neatly with an orange bow. Caesar’s favorites.

A small smile formed on ( y/n )’s face, as she looked at the boy.

( s/n ), her son, the last thing she had of Caesar. The small blonde child, ran over to his mother, hugging her tightly, “Mamma, you promised you wouldn’t cry.”

“I know, I know. It’s...it’s just hard.”

“You always cry on Papa’s birthday,” The young boy mentioned, wiping away the stray tears from his mother’s face with his free hand, “Do we need to stop for a second or can we go to Papa’s grave now?”

She pressed a gentle kiss to her son’s forehead, standing up, “We can go now. I’ve been meaning to speak to Caesar.” The young boy took his mother’s shaking hand into his own, hoping to calm her. He looked up at her, with those peridot eyes of his, giving her a sense of comfort.

The young boy and his mother walked to the nearby graveyard, stopping in front of a familiar grave. 

Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli, the stone read.

Silence sounded between the mother and son, unsure of what to say now. ( s/n ) had slowly let go of his mother’s hand, stepping closer to his father’s grave, placing the bouquet of sunflowers on top of it, “Papa, Mamma and I doing okay. It just lonely sometimes and she still feels sad that you’re gone but I do my best to comfort her and protect her just like you used to. I sometimes feel sad that I never got to meet you and I won’t get to grow up with you but then I remember all the cool stories Uncle Jojo told me about you and your cool power! And Uncle Jojo told me that you saved him and I want to grow up to be just like you.”

The young boy sat next to the stone, continuing to talk while his mother had watched in both admiration and sadness. Her heart ached at the sight. That thought running through her head, ‘I should have stopped him that night. He would still be here if I would have stopped him!’

“Mamma!”

The woman was shaken out of her thoughts, she looked to her smiling son, “Yes, ( s/n )?”

“You said you wanted to talk to Papa so I’m going to give you guys some alone time. If you need me, I’ll be at the entrance.”

The woman nodded, as the boy climbed back up to his feet bidding the stone a goodbye, “I’ll see you soon, Papa. I love you. Wait for me and Mamma, okay?” The boy skipped toward the entrance of the graveyard, leaving his mother and the stone.

She kneeled before the grave, putting her hands on her knees, “Caesar...I know I come and say the same thing every year but...I miss you, now more than ever. Having ( s/n ) in the house, it’s like seeing a small young. He looks so much like you. Lisa Lisa said that he looks so much like you because I missed you so much while I was pregnant. I’m not sure if I believe that. I know I’ve asked you all these years now for a sign to show me that you are here and that you are listening but I need to know if you are really still there.”

She was met with silence, a sad expression formed on her face as her head slowly began to fall but she stopped seeing something out of the corner of her eye.

A lonesome bubble.

She looked around to see if there was anyone around blowing bubbles, but there was no one. She looked back to the bubble, watching it float just above Caesar’s grave.

The sign.

A cool breeze flew past her, taking the bubble away. She climbed back to her feet, following the lonesome bubble. ( s/n ) watched his mother follow the bubble in confusion, “Mamma, what are you―” The boy stopped as his eyes widened seeing a tall translucent figure with a head of blonde hair just like his, following behind his mother. Wrapped around the figure’s head was a familiar thin headband, giving the young boy a sense of familiarity.

He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly, opening them once more to see the figure was now gone. “Am I seeing things?”

His mother on the other hand had still followed the bubble, back to the marble fountain. She reached up to touch the bubble, feeling another cool breeze pass her by, this time she felt something wrap around her.

“Are you there, Caesar?”

Though she could not see, there before her was the spirit of the man she had loved with all of her heart. One of his arms was wrapped around her waist, his free hand was in her hand that had reached to touch the bubble.

“I never left, mia cara.”

⁺◟   BACK TO NAVIGATION . . .

#jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyō na bōken #caesar zeppeli #caesar x reader #caesar x y/n #caesar x oc #caesar oneshots #caesar scenarios #caesar imagines #jjba x reader #jjba oneshots #jjba scenarios #jjba imagines #tw ― death #night rather than day ── 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘰. 𓂃 ★☆

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Angst 1 for Jason? I'm feeling like some sad lightning boi I dont know why but ye

Hello darling Anon! Thanks for the prompt and I hope I did you well🥺 dis is hella angsty

Jercy Masterlist

Jason Grace doesn't have enough fingers to list how many things he's done wrong in the last month.

1. Losing his best friend

2.Losing his girlfriend

3.Being unable to help all the demigod's he's promised

4.Letting Reyna down by not coming back to SPQR

5.Dammit he can't even put on his fucking shirt the right way.

Holding in a scream he tugs it off and flips it so the tag is on the inside. He's proud of himself for not ditching clothing altogether, ditching life altogether. There is so much temptation in taking to the skies and floating for the rest of his days. It's not like anyone would miss him, would even notice he was gone. And maybe it's for the best. It certainly wouldn't be unexpected. For years he's wanted to be anonymous, just another one of the Campers. For years he's secretly rejected his titles as Son of Jupiter, Praetor of New Rome, Slayer of the Black Throne. He shouldn't complain now that he's ignored, unwanted.

There's a knock at his cabin that he pulls him out of his self-deprecating pity hour. Checking to make sure he has his pants and shirt on and his head firmly on his neck he grabs his sword and opens the door.

"Jason!" Will Solace gasps, "Please come it's Nico!"

His heart turns to stone, lungs become useless masses, "Let's go." He manages to breathe, "Brief me on the way."

They sprint through the camp, uncaring of the shouts and greetings coming from every side. They don't have time. It seems ever since they had defeated Kronos the clocks spin uncontrollably; hours are seconds and minutes only exist in the afternoon and nobody knows if one week is seven days or three blinks of an eye, if years are twelve months or a century.

"A breach at the west border. Monsters we've never seen before. They just snuck up on us. Nico's been raising the dead to fight but I'm afraid he's not strong enough yet. Not after the war. He'll burn out soon and they'll overwhelm him." Will gasps.

"How many?"

"Twenty maybe twenty five?"

"You call anyone else?"

The Son of Apollo shakes his head as they sprint around the corner, "Percy is in school he only arrives tomorrow. Clarisse is gone to visit her mom and there's so many Campers in the infirmary. The rest are the little ones."

"How fa—" Jason beholds the scene in front of him and every nerve in his body shut down.

There in the middle of skeletal warriors and black shadows is Nico Di Angelo. All around them are scaly four-legged vipers hissing and spitting. One opens its grossly enormous jaw and snaps it around a skeleton with a sickening crunch. Another skeleton pops up in the exact same place and with a rattling, he supposes is a scream, attacks the monster.

"NICO!" Will screams, trying to catch his boyfriend's attention.

The Son of Hades although dangerously powerful is grey and heaving as if the sheer force of his summonings are turning his own body to it's bony structure.

"Go!" Will shouts at him.

With a nod, Jason pulls his sword out and steps into the ring of the dead.

Gods these things are a hundred times more terrifying up close. Sharp teeth and poisoned spikes on their tales and oh gods jagged claws to top it all off. But he's fought armies before and survived. This will not deter him. So with the force of Zeus and the strategies of Jupiter flowing through his muscles he brings his sword down on the first creature.

It shrieks and his ears ring like a bell clanging in his skull. But the head thumps to the ground and the monster crumbles to dust.

Decapitation then.

He sidesteps the swish of a tail, chopping it off as it goes past. First mistake. Three tails grow back and he knows one drop of poison will be enough to end him. He vaults into the air using the wind to push him as high as possible and then he's slamming in the body of the creature and sawing at its head.

His foot slams into the ground as the monster powders underneath him. Second mistake. His ankle is broken and there's three more of these things advancing towards him.

He bites down a scream as he attempts to walk. It's no use. Stand here and fight it is. Summoning as much lightning as he can, blue eyes sparking maliciously, he looks directly into the first of them and slams five thousand volts of electricity into its brain. Before he knows it's dead he's onto the next. This time he bides his time, let's it come closer and when he can hear its ugly breathing and feel its lack of heat he stabs his sword into its neck and watches it bleed black.

The third monster is clever, it's learnt. But Jason doesn't know. So he gathers all his strength and waits for it to pounce. By now Nico is a few meters away, holding his own but pale beyond healthy. The monster shakes its body, scales rippling in the afternoon sun. It takes one step closer. Jason grips his sword, holds the power thrumming in his fingers. The monster moves again and he swears its smiling.

He turns to Nico, "You good?"

Third mistake. The monster let's out a vile screech and slams into them.

"NICO!" Someone screams. It sounds like Percy Jackson. But that can't be right. Percy is in school.

The creature's tail swipes at the Son of Hades.

Jason can't move as it's claws wrap around his throat.

I can't do anything right, he thinks. Those talons pierce his skin. The world goes black.

***

"He's a fucking idiot."

"Lay off. How was he supposed to know?"

"Maybe if he wasn't so caught up in trying to make friends he would have been able to do something."

"Leave him alone."

"Alright you lot, get out of here. I'll call you when he's awake."

Jason tries to open his eyes, tries to say something, anything. But he feels a prick in his neck and reality fades away.

***

"Is he awake?"

"How long does this take?"

"He had a broken ankle and a slit throat. Maybe a little patience is in order?"

"I still think we should send him back."

"That's enough! It wasn't his fault and we will stop acting like it.".

The Son of Jupiter groans, blinking into the world. Everything hurts. Everything. And the light above his head is blinding.

"What the hell happened?" He rasps.

"You almost got Nico killed is what!" Someone snaps.

He blinks trying to find the source of such bitterness. "I what?"

"What the fuck were you trying to do saying hi in the middle of battle?"

The room finally shifts into focus and he sees three faces staring at him intently, varying degrees of anger and relief in their expressions.

"Well?" Hazel looks at him, "What were you trying to accomplish? Were you actively trying to get him killed? I know you didn't trust him but trying to kill him Jason? I thought you got passed that after Cupid. Nico told me he trusted you."

"Hazel!" Percy Jackson glares at her.

"I'm—" He chokes, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. I— I didn't know the monster would try to get both of us." He's crying now, red hot tears spilling onto the white sheets of the infirmary bed.

"That's the problem Grace, you don't think." There is so much pain in her voice.

"Im sorry," He sobs, "Is he okay? Is he— is he—"

"He is fine Jason," Will says softly, "He managed to jump back before the tail swiped him. He's actually really worried about you. We all are."

He doesn't know what to say to that. He doesn't even know if he deserves that. Hazel is right. If he hadn't distracted Nico they wouldn't be in this situation. It was dumb luck that Nico managed to get out of the way. If he hadn't. Oh gods, Jason would have been responsible for killing his friend.

With that though he turns over in his bed and heaves straight into the trashcan.

"Everyone leave us." Percy's voice is soft, but there is an unmistakable command in it.

The buzzing of the infirmary hushes as people file out and Will gently clicks the door behind him.

"I didn't meant to distract him," Jason cries.

The Son of Poseidon clasps their hands together and looks into him, "I know Jase. I know."

He breaks down, sobs wracking his aching body. He can't even keep his head up. And the tears are ever flowing. He can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't do this.

Percy hops onto the bed and takes him into his arms. They sit there for many moments, the sound of his crying disrupting every inch of the silence.

"I can't do this anymore Percy."

He feels the demigod stiffen and he's afraid he said too much, has pushed another person away. But then his head is being tilted up by a soft hand and he's looking into oceans.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"There is no-one left and I cannot do this alone."

Something sparks in those emerald green eyes.

"You have never been alone Jason Grace. When the world is dust and the gods can once again become mortal, you will find that only one thing still exists."

"What— what is that?" He hiccups.

"Love. You cannot be alone if you have love."

His eyes pool with tears, fall to the floor, "Lies. There is no love."

"You have forgotten my friend what it feels like. And that is no one's fault but ours. We should have been there. Should have helped you, seen the signs. I should have known."

"Why you?"

"Because I know what it's like to have everything you've never wanted and bear the burden anyway. And when I left I added to yours. I'm sorry for that. I got selfish, wanted to know what it was like to live. But that meant you suffered."

"It's not your fault. I just thought I was stronger than I am."

"You are strong. You are so strong because you are still here. You took the nature of the gods and made it your own. Took the burden of everyone in these camps and carried it on your shoulders."

"Thank you," He mumbles, getting lost in the seas, "For saying that. When did you get so philosophical and wise?"

Percy cracks a grin at that, "After Tartarus I started going to therapy. I think you should too."

He mulls it over, flips the idea around in his mind, "Okay."

"And maybe..." The black haired boy pauses, "Maybe you should come with me to Montauk for the winter holidays. I think you could use a break from all the hero stuff."

"Really?" His eyes widen, staring at his friend.

"Really. Annabeth is in Cali to spend time with her dad and my mom and Paul are just going to spend some time at home with Estelle. I could use company."

"Won't you dad like blast me for being in his territory?"

"I'll talk to him," He smirked.

"Okay. That would be great!"

Percy gives him another squeeze and then jumps to the floor.

"Rest easy Grace."

"Jackson," He stops the demigod in his tracks, "Thank you for this. I needed it."

"We are alive Grace, and we are enough." Those green eyes are intense, filled with emotion. "Remember that."

Jason nods and when he finally succumbs to sleep once more, his soul takes a deep breathe and exhales a new beginning.

#I just love philosophical self help Percy okay #Let me be #Jason grace #Nico di Angelo #Percy Jackson #Will solace #Hazel Levesque #Baby fanfic #Baby fanfic series #PJSSG fanfic #PJSSG asks #Ciara's Convos #She speaks #Anon requests #not edited

[keishins-ukai]

I’m At Ease When I’m With You

A Bruabba slowdancing in the kitchen fic because I finished part five and I’m sad. here’s a link if you prefer ao3

Not that he had many hobbies, but dancing was one that Leone was sure he’d never understand the appeal of. It was exercise, sure, but it serves no purpose outside of that and Leone liked to use his time efficiently. Running, hurdling, hell even archery made more sense to him than dancing. At least archery made your aim more precise while also improving your arm strength. Not to mention that none of the music he listens to really has a ‘catchy beat’ that you can dance to, and he doesn’t want to listen to music that’s at the top of the charts.

But all of this goes out of the window when he’s asked to dance by Bruno Bucciarati. Bruno didn’t ask to dance often, finding that he simply didn’t have the time for it or that if he tried to ask his vocal cords would seize up and refuse to work. The latter would happen anytime he knew the rest of his crew was around, especially Narancia. It’s not that he didn’t trust his crew, or that they would think any different of the two, but it was that as the aspiring boss of the literal mafia, he couldn’t really been seen to be soft in any way.

He especially wanted to keep Abbacchio away from unnecessary harm, hiding their relationship from everyone but the crew, though that still concerned him. He loved his friends more than he loved himself, but he couldn’t help but worry his boisterous and intense teammates would say something in the wrong place, say something too loud.

However, the aspiring capo found that he wanted to think about literally anything else when he rested his head on the elder’s shoulder, left hand entwined in his right and an arm around his waist. Bruno enjoyed feeling this close to someone, feeling safe and loved unconditionally in someone’s embrace, especially when the warmth he felt was from Leone Abbacchio. Bruno had fallen for him the first day he’d joined the team. The dry, snarky tone with which he would deliver most of his lines, the way his lit up when he spoke about his interests, the way Bruno could tell his heart was still golden.

There was never a specific song that played when they would dance, but Bruno would always put on classical music, knowing that it calmed Leone. Despite his goth aesthetic, dark fashion choices and standoffish personality, the music that played through Leone’s headphones constantly was Mozart, it was Beethoven, it was anything with a beautiful meandering melody on top of a steady beat. He had always found that having background noise increased his concentration, especially in his studies.

Now he didn’t have anything to revise for, he found that it was a good reminder of why he was here, why he agreed to join this gang, it wasn’t because he enjoyed gratuitous violence or confrontation even though that’s what he saw in other branches of the organisation. He’d joined because he saw Bruno, he’d understood what he wanted to do, how they’d still be able to make Rome safer. If Bruno had approached even a single month earlier, Leone was sure he’d have laughed him off, maybe even try to arrest him, but he could see the institution for what it was now.

Even though he’d done everything right, he’d come at the top of his class before joining the police force, he’d cared for the people he’d tried to protect, but because of one impossible situation that had all been lost in an instant. Even if he’d convicted them, the woman would have likely returned to the streets once she was let out, because people with jobs like hers aren’t born from want they’re born from necessity, and being fined or even imprisoned would only put her in a worse position.

How is that protection?

At least while working with the organisation he can be sure that the people they harm deserve it, and the people that need help will be being risen up. He knows that all of this is being done for a fee, but that doesn’t detract from the feeling that he was doing more good here than he could ever do on the force.

It was a bonus when he’d fallen in love with Bucciarati, love always being a second thought to himself, but when he’d realised what Bruno had intended to do with the gang, what he had hoped to achieve if he ever became the boss… well Leone was helpless, he had no choice but to fall for him. In the couple of months they had worked as a duo they had grown close, discussing anything and everything, from the existence of aliens to the best 80’s punk band. They hadn’t officially started their relationship until Narancia had joined the team, joking to each other that they were the dads of the group and these two were their unruly children.

All that being said, there was one place that they could be together, away from everyone and their responsibilities if only for a night. Bruno had bought the rights to his childhood home a year ago when the house had been put on the market, the current owners having believed it was haunted when they’d learned the truth about why the old owners.

The ex-cop had been making them both a when the younger had come up to him and taken his hand, wrapping an arm around his waist and started to sway. Leone had only been gone from the bedroom for two minutes and Bruno had already managed to change from his work clothes into one of his partners oversized band shirts and a pair of shorts. It was impressive how quickly Bruno could go from trauma hardened mafioso to a touch starved twenty-year-old

Using the hand around his waist to stroke his lower back, Leone asks “what’s wrong, Zip?” the nickname had started as a joke, something that was supposed to annoy Bruno, but instead he had laughed and moved on, causing the nickname to stick. Later Bruno would explain that it sent his heart crazy to hear a nickname based on a very intimate and often hidden part of himself come from the man person he adored.

“I know you don’t like being here” the younger explains, hand bunching up in the back of Abbacchio’s shirt “thank you think of my childhood and want to make things different for me…”

Knowing that at least some of that was projection but also knowing that calling him out on it would upset his boyfriend Leone simply says “The only time I’m ever at ease is when I’m with you, Bucciarati”. Leone looks down to the top of his head, his face still buried into the elder’s neck. In spite of the smile on his face, Abbacchio asks “Are you satisfied?”

Even though the goth couldn’t see what he was doing Bruno rolled his eyes and said “Just five more minutes”, enjoying the groan that came from his partner

It was entirely fake, of course. Leone enjoyed the closeness he got to feel with his boyfriend in these moments “This is killing me”. As though trying to prove his contradictory thoughts, his hand moves into Bruno’s hair

This actually made the younger laugh, unconsciously pressing back into his touch “You, Leone Abbacchio, are a terrible liar and for that make it seven minutes”

The small smile that Leone had been wearing almost tripled in size from Bruno’s laugh alone “It makes me feel emasculated?” he tries, more out of stubbornness than from a real desire to stop dancing.

Bruno moves his head from its resting place to look to Leone, the hums as he pretends to think “You’re wearing purple lipstick”

There was a slight blush on the elder’s cheeks, not that either was ready to admit that “Yeah, cause it looks fucking good on me”

“I know, mi amore” Bruno agrees, leaning up to press his lips against the love of his life’s. Once he pulled back he rubs his lips together to spread the lipstick more evenly “how does it look on me?”

#bruabba #bruabba fanfic #bruabba fanfiction #bruno bucciarati #leone abbacchio #bruno x leone #bucciarati x abbacchio #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo part five #golden wind #vento aureo #jojo fanfic

[mugwugian]

Early Mornings in Shitty Apartments

Hello so this is kind of a perspective swap from the scene in chapter 12 of @the-darklings COA, if you haven't read it just do it. But you can read it without reading COA but you might be confused by some things. But I decided to write this when I realized there are zero Gianna and Cassian fics on this website.

Early Mornings in Shitty Apartments

Warnings: death, racism if you read into it, got sad writing it, bad grammar, nobody likes Giovanni

Paring: Gianna D’Antonio x Cassian (I’m the ceo of their relationship )

WC: 1788

Cassian followed orders. That’s what he had always done, that’s how he climbed up the ladder that is Camorra. Gianna assured him that when she became the head that he would never have to follow orders again. The old man was dead and soon Gianna would be the head of Italy's largest crime family, but Cassian still heard the Capo in his head, “If you know what is good for you stay away from my daughter.” Giovanni D’Antonio was dead and good riddance to Gianna told him, but still the old man continued to haunt him.

Gianna’s coronation was flashy, it was everything Giovanni disapproved of.  But still Cassian felt on edge. He had never felt comfortable at Camorra’s functions. When Giovanni was alive they acted as a reminder for everything he wasn’t. He was not the Elites with their unending devotion to Giovanni and Camorra. He wasn’t like Gianna or Santino born into a world of privilege and riches. He wasn’t like the other families that make up Camorra, he has no real power. He is just Gianna's bodyguard. Cassian did not particularly care for Camorra, for it’s history. At first being Gianna’s guard was just another job, but over the years it became so much more. Only Gianna had his loyalty. But still Cassian did not want to be here, all he wanted was to return to that morning in Gianna’s apartment. Where it had been just them, no fathers, no titles, and no Camorra.

Gianna had houses, penthouses, and mansions across the globe but none of them were like the small one bedroom apartment in Rome that she and Cassian shared. Gianna remembered waking up earlier today with the soft feeling of Cassian lightly tracing his fingers down her bare back. The bed was lumpy and everyday Gianna regretted leaving Cassian in charge of decorating, but with the morning sun coming in through the window Gianna felt more at home then she had in years.

She slowly rolled over to face her lover, around them clothes laid strewn over the floor from last night's activities. Gianna stared into her lover’s dark eyes, Gianna could have never guessed that the serious man that her father presented to her as her personal guard would become so much more to her. Their relationship was Camorra’s worst kept secret. Oh Gianna heard the snickers and the snide comments, “The Princess of Camorra and her little pet” they would say. From her elders she saw their disapproving glances and hushed whispering, “The D’Antonio bloodline has truly gone to waste” and “I had hoped that at least she would have found someone more...suitable.” Soon though there would be no more whispering, by tomorrow Gianna would be the head of Camorra and she could have them killed for less.

Last night she whispered to him in the midst of their passion, she would give him everything. Cassian had brushed it off as just another thing that she would whisper to him as she was on top of him, but as she stared into her lover’s eyes her promise still rang true. Cassian did his best to hide it from her, but she knew what her father told him. That they can fuck each other as much as they liked, but this was not real. That At the end of the day she would marry a rich and powerful man, one with devotion not to her, but to Camorra. Her father was wrong, now he is dead and Gianna is Camorra. She smiled up at him at the thought of it.

Cassian looked at her quizzically and asked, “Gia what is it?”

Gianna continued to smile at him and breathe in his scent. Yes, she could get used to this. Waking up in his arms, the morning sun, and his face still tired but for once unguarded.

“It’s nothing Cuore Mio,” she reassured him, “I’m just thinking about tonight”

“You deserve this Gia, this is everything you’ve ever wanted,” he tells her as he brushes a strand of her soft brown hair from her face.

Gianna shakes her head at his words and presses her lips to his temple. He doesn’t understand, but he will one day. One day he will understand just how much she loves him, but today all she wants is his arms around her and the morning sun. They have time, they have the rest of their lives.

Gianna thought of that morning where everything seemed possible, she had the world resting in her finger tips. Even though it was just a few hours ago, it had felt like an eternity since she laid in Cassian’s arms. That is what flashed through her mind as she died. She was dying, she had spent her life surrounded by death, her mother and countless others. People that had died for her and the ones that she had killed. Yet she had never thought of her own death. Gianna knew what she was doing when she sliced into her wrists; maybe at least this way Cassian would not have to battle The Baba Yaga, it would be her last gift to him. She could keep him safe just a little longer.

Gianna began to feel herself fade away, she could barely feel the two people who were holding her hands. It was funny as she died the only people with her where the man tasked to kill her and the girl she had betrayed so long ago. She was so very tired and as she closed her eyes she felt her mother's warm embrace, her little brother’s playful pestering, and her father’s proud smile. Flashes of the happy family she once had before her mother’s death.

Lastly she thought of Cassian, she thought of the future they might have shared and the small apartment that she had so often complained to Cassian. The bed was limps, there was always a cool draft that irritated her, and Cassian had completely failed at property decorating it.  Yet that little apartment was everything to her. It was where she could be with Cassian without fear of her father’s retaliation. It was the place where she began to see the first little cracks in Cassian’s stone demeanor. Images of her and Cassian’s time in that little apartment flash through her mind.  The last thing she sees is Cassian’s face, the sunshine, and their little home.

John Wick is here, John Wick is here, John Wick is here. Cassian’s instinct scream at him, when was the last time he saw Gianna? She had left his sight just 30 minutes ago to go and fix her makeup. Cassian pushes his way through the crowd of people drunkenly dancing to the pounding music. He pushed his way past the two elites who for once were not dressed in their usual dark suits. The part of Cassian that served Camorra told him to stop and fill them in on the situation. After all if the boogeyman was here Camorra would need every man it had, but he walked past them. He didn’t need them, he needed to find Gianna.

Cassian pushed his way out of the crowd and found the entrance of the bathroom that he had left Gianna just 30 minutes ago. She had looked beautiful and Cassian saw no reason for her to fix her makeup, but he had let her go any way. Cassian reached under his jacket and pulled out his gun, the weight felt familiar in his hands and it relieved him to hold it. Slowly he pushed the door open and lifted his gun, ready to take on whatever was inside the bathroom. Except there was nothing, just the quiet sound of water. Cassian slowly put away his gun as he realized that there was no one in the large bathroom. On instinct he searched the room for Gianna and his eyes were grabbed by the pile of clothing left on the floor. Cassian immediately recognized it as Gianna’s. As he approached the pile of clothing another thing caught his eye. It was Gianna’s pin, he remembers that morning as she sat at her vanity carefully putting up her hair with it. Except now it lay there on the ground and the edge of it was red. Cassian knew as soon as he saw the specks of blood on the broach. His hand began to shake as he picked up the broach. It was then that he saw the bath, it was then his worst fears were confirmed.

Lying in the tub of red water was Gianna. Cassian looked at her face because he couldn’t bear to look at her wrists, at the deep cuts that marred her soft skin. If Cassian ignored the blood and the hole in her chest he could almost convince himself that she was just sleeping. That they had never left their little apartment this morning, that she was still in his arms sleeping peacefully.

In his life Cassian had seen so much death, he had killed so many. He had long grown used to the sight of mutilated corpses, but Gianna was different. Gianna was full of life, of passion, of fire. Only a few hours ago she was in his arms, her skin was warm. Just last night she was on top of him whispering softly in italian of all the things she would give him. She was warm then, but now Gianna was cold. He softly held her and pulled her closer to him. His whole life Cassian kept his face blank of emotion, it was something that Gianna had teased him off constantly. “If only they knew, Cuore Mio,” she would say to him, “That you are not as stiff as you pretend to be.”

He felt that stiff wall begin to crack as he stared at the body of his lover. Cassian could not remember the last time he cried, but his eyes began to sting and a ball built up in his throat that made him feel like he could no longer breathe.

“Gia” he whispered quietly.

For a moment he lost all control as he held Gianna in his arms, but then he thought of John Wick. John Wick who had killed her and though it felt like someone was ripping at his chest he let Gianna. He let her body submerge back into the pool of blood red water. John Wick. His hands still shaking, he pulled out his gun. John Wick would pay. He would pay.

#john wick #children of ares #coa #gianna d'antonio #cassian #gianna x cassian #gianna d'antonio x cassian #common #jw2

[flashflashitsash]

Phantom of the Opera 1

Hello!! This is going to be based on this post I made a little bit ago. I was watching the movie and kinda just thought of it. So why not make it an AU? Enjoy!

Also- (Mostly when it comes to costumes.) I will be referencing the live action play, as it’s my favorite version, but I also love the movie! And will reference aspects of it too.

(PART 2-> here)

—

Present time…..

Adrien Agreste perks up at his old age of 70, as the auctioneer describes the musical box his late wife had described in such detail to him.

“ This item, discovered in the vaults of the theatre, still in working order.”

He taps his nurses hand so she could place a bet.

The bidding continues, but Adrien ends up buying the musical box, taking in the details of it as it is placed in his lap. A Papier-mache musical box, in the shape of a barrel-organ. Attached, the figure of a monkey in Persian robes playing the cymbals.

He whispers/sings quietly, half to himself, half to the

box, “ A collector's piece indeed, every detail exactly as she said…. She often spoke of you, my friend, your velvet lining, and your figurine of lead. Will you still play, when all the rest of us are dead?“

The auctioneer clears their throat, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Lot..666, a chandelier in pieces. Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera” they paused, pondering on how to continue, “ A mystery never fully explained. We are told ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier which was in the famous disaster. Our workshops have restored it and fitted up parts of it with wiring for the new electric light, so that we may get a hint of what it may look like when re-assembled. Perhaps we may frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination…..gentlemen?” The auctioneer smirked flipping the switch.

—

Past time.....

Roughly 50+ years ago.

Juleka sighed as Kim messed up his note again, smashing her fingers down onto the piano keys

“Signor ... its ’Rome’ not ’Roma’” she says, frustration in her voice.

Kim rolled his eyes turning his attention to the dark haired girl, wearing a purple dress, hair in an updo but half covering her face in a swoop. “Right right, sorry Madame Couffaine”

Juleka took a deep breath, “Okay..again! Sad to return—“ she groaned silently, getting cut off by the owner of the Opera House, M. Lefevre.

“This way gentlemen! Ahh yes hello ladies and gentlemen. I’m sure you all have met M. Gabriel and M. Andre! “ he beamed gesturing over to the two men.

“I’m sorry Monsieur, But if this could wait until after practice?” Madame Bustier called out coming from behind the ballet dancers. Wearing her usual black gown, hair up and out of her face, staff in hand.

“Oh sorry of course Madame Bustier “ M. Lefevre moves aside letting the rehearsal continue.

The ballet dancers came to center stage,dress in tight dark brown corsets, with light brown fishnet designs dropping off into their legs, hair down and curled to the max. In the mix of all the girls, a brownish/red haired girl stood out from the others.

“Who is that young women?” M. Gabriel asked Lefevre

“Ahh that is Alya Bustier, Madame Bustiers daughter, one of our best and most promising dancers Monsieur!” Lefevre smiled watching the girls but frowned as a raven haired one fell out of step.

Madame Bustier firmly tapped her staff on the stage “Dupain-Cheng! Concentrate! “ Madam Bustier said, eyes the dark haired girl.

“Dupain-Cheng? Curious name..” M. Andre trailed off

“Any relation to the late, famous violinists duo Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng?” M. Gabriel asked curiously

Lefevre sighed “Yes, their shy daughter. Sadly, she always has her head in the clouds and is very clumsy.“

They singers and dancers continue their practice for Hannibal, ending with applause form M. Gabriel, Andre And Lefevre.

“Fantastic! “ M. Andre smiles greeting Kim

“The pleasure is mine signor!” Kim smiles boasting a bit about himself. But as always, Chloe, comes forward making her presence known to those in the room, wearing her royal red gown, detailed in gold.

“Ahh and the magnificent Chloe!” M.Gabriel goes over, kissing the top of her hand. She smiles wide moving her hair from her shoulder, making sure everyone in the rehearsal knew of her popular status.

“Signora! If I remember correctly there is a fabulous solo in act three, if you would, give us a private performance? As long as Madame Couffaine agrees?” M. Andre smiled looking up at Chloe with smiling eyes.

“My manager commands, Maestra? “ Chloe looks over at Juleka demandingly.

“Of course, Will two bars be fine?” She questions making her way back behind the piano.

“That will be sufficient.” Chloé smirked making her way to center stage, taking the scarf from her stage maid, Sabrina. “Maestra!”

Juleka began on the piano playing the introduction of the solo song from act three. The sweet slow sounds filling the room.

Chloe began to sing, “Think of me..think of me fondly,

when we've said goodbye.

Remember me once in a while -

please promise me you'll try.

When you find...that, once again, you long

to take your heart-“ she yelled jumping back as she was cut off by a backdrop falling down onto the stage floor

“It’s him!! The Phantom of the Opera!!” Alya shouts amongst the other dancers. “He’s with us! The ghost!!”

“Chloe, Chloe! Are you alright?! “ Kim questions rushing over to her dramatically.

“Get down here now, Ivan!” Lefevre screams up to walkway above them

“Is no one else worried about our Prima Donna?!” Kim asks frustrated at the lack of attention to the pair. He begins to fan Chloe as she dramatically pretends as if she’s going to faint. Calling for her stage maid Sabrina.

Ivan emerges from the back holding a cut rope, almost looking like a noose. He frowns as he crosses the stage.

“Ivan! What was going on up there?!” Lefevre yells

“Please Monsieur, Do not look at me. As God as my witness, I was not at my post. “ he paused moving closer to the former owner. “There’s no one up there, and if there is...it must have been a ghost!”

Alya makes her way to her mother “I told you! He’s there! The phantom of the opera!! “

“ Mademoiselle please!” Lefevre calls out.

“Madame Chloe, these things do happen..” he trailed off hoping to calm the drama queen.

She hums, scrunching up her nose, shaking her head vigorously, “ Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! Yes! These things do happen. And until you stop these things from happening,” she gestured to herself ”this thing doesn't happen!” she screams making her way off the stage calling out orders. Sabrina following close by.

“Amateurs!” Kim calls out following Chloe out.

“Well gentlemen.. I’ll leave you to it then! If you need me, I’ll be in Frankfurt! “ Lefevre smiles and leaves the stage with quickness. Enjoying the fact this is no longer his mess to take care of.

“Mlle Chloe will be back!” M. Andre states shakily.

“You really think so? Well, I have a message for you Monsieur, It’s from the Opera Ghost. “ Madame Bustier says handing over the letter to the new stage managers. The dancers whispering and twirling around in fear and mischief. Along with the crew behind the curtains, coming forward to hear what the letter says.

“My god! You’re all mad!” M. Gabriel grumbles loudly, taking the note from Andres hands.

Madame Bustier smirks, “He merely welcomes you to his opera house, and commands you to continue to leave Box Five empty for his use…” She points up to the balcony box with her staff. “...and reminds you that his salary is due.” She points to the letter showing them where she is speaking of.

Confused, M. Andre asks “His salary??” He glanced over to the letter in Gabriel’s hands.

“Monsieur Lefevre paid him twenty thousand francs a month. Perhaps you can afford more, with the Vicomte de Chagny as your patron.” She chimed, taking a glance over at the raven haired girl clinging to Alya nervously.

“I wanted to announce that myself, but yes he will be here, in our box. “ M. Gabriel states, rather annoyed his big announcement was spoiled.

“Who is Chloe’s understudy?” M. Andre asks the maestra, hoping to calm the waters.

Juleka rolls her eyes, and said “There is no understudy! The work is new!” She scoffs at their ignorance.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng could sing it sir!” Alya calls out pulling the shy girl with her.

“The chorus girl?” They men say simultaneously, eyeing both of the young women.

“She’s been taking lessons from a great teacher Monsieur,” Alya beamed at Andre, hope in her eyes for her friend to be in the spotlight she deserves.

“From whom Mlle. Dupain-Cheng?” M. Gabriel asks almost coldly.

Marinette pulls on a strand of hair, and nervously says “I-I do not know, s-sir “

Gabriel turns to Andre flustered “Can you believe it!?! A full house and we have to cancel-“

Madame Bustier interjected, “Let her sing for you M. She has been well taught. “

Juleka takes her spot behind the piano smiling at Marinette. “From the beginning of the aria then?” Marinette gives her a small nod. Then glanced over to her best friend Alya, who gives her a nod and smile of support.

She takes a shaky deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves. She could feel her heart race, thumping against her chest so hard and loud. She began to sing—

“Think of me..”

—

Please let me know what you think! Also what could be better? I'm not sure how many parts there will be but I’ll figure it out soon, until the next part!

Tags

@findinglingling

@unabashedbookworm

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged!

#miraculous #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #ml #adrinette #adrienette #lukanette #phantom of the opera au #luka couffaine #juleka couffaine #chloe burgeois #ml fanfic

[crutchie-with-a-y]

The Best Shoes In the World -Modern Newsies

So this is like younger Romeo? Maybe eight or nine? Hope you enjoy! 

“Oh for fucks sake Romeo.” Race slammed his hand against the rack of shoes he was leaning against. The boys had been at Payless for hours looking for shoes for their little Romeo. Since he had recently been bouncing between foster homes, Katherine had offered to buy him a new pair of sneakers when she realized his current ones were much too small and littered with holes. Naturally, all his brothers had come with them. They had arrived at the mall at around four, and as it was nearing eight, everyone was grumpy, hungry, and a pretty frustrated with Romeo, who had painstaikingly tried on every shoe in the kids section, even asking someone to ask the cashier to check for certain ones in his size if he couldn’t find them, only to stack each box of tried shoes in a pile that stretched across the laps of his brothers and over many benches. 

Romeo looked up with innocent but guilty eyes at the rest of the kids, sliding off a pair of bright green Converses and putting them back in their box. 

“What?” he said, tilting his head. Specs let out an exasperated sigh and pushed up his glasses to rub his eyes while Races eyes grew wide. Before he could explode, Davey clamped his hand over his mouth and looked at Romeo and then back at Race. 

“It’s just taking a while for you to chose.” He said, glaring at the exasperated blonde who then licked his hand causing him to whip it off of his mouth wipe it on his pants. 

“What the hell, Race!” Davey exclaimed, Race rolling his eyes with pride. 

“Are you guys sesrious?” Katherine strolled calmly down the aisle toward the group carrying a tray of drinks and her purse, closely followed by Jack, who carried two more trays of drinks and a large bag. 

“And where in the hell have you been?” Mush asked from his spot on the floor, where he sat leaning back on his hands with his legs spread around several shoe boxes. 

“Getting food for you whiny babies.” Jack said, looking at his boys like a general embarassed by his troops. “Stop complaining, Kath’s bought y’all Auntie Anne’s.” The boys perked up. Katherine held her tray up high and flicked her leg into a cheesy pose. 

“Lemonade and soft pretzels anyone?” The boys scrambled up to swarm around Jack as he passed out the treats. Katherine set her tray down, grabbing a straw and lemonade to sit down and hand to Romeo, who sat slouched and alone on the floor, still surrounded by boxes. 

“Alright, Little Guy,” Katherine said as Romeo pounded the straw on the multicolored carpet to get it out of the wrapper. “Are there any shoes that you like?” Romeo looked around as Katherine slipped the straw from his fingers and pushed it out of the wrapper for him and into the cup. He slurped it loudly, looking up at her with big eyes. 

“I’m not sure,” He said, shrugging. 

“Well, Romees,” Jack squatted down on the oppiste side of him from Katherine. “You’ve looked at pretty much all they got.” 

“And then some.” Race called from the bench where he sat with a large pretzel, soon followed by many slaps and slugs from the other older boys. 

“It’s an important decision!” Romeo said adorably deffensively. 

“Oh it is now?” JoJo chuckled with love. 

“Yes!” Romeo nodded eagerly. “I have never been shoe shopping before! And so I better make my first trip worth it! And I can’t say that I bought some dinky ol’ crocs the first time I get shoes from a box instead of a grocery bag of smelly sketchers.They have to be the best shoes...in the WORLD!” 

“Excuse me?” Albert sounded offended. He kicked up his white crocks paired with gray sweater socks with moose on them and slammed them on the bench next to Specs. “I’m sorry but THIS,” He said, waving is hand theatrically arounnd his footwear, “Is fashion.” 

Everyone laughed, but the groups heart still sank at Romeos words. The boys explanation was sad, but he did deserve the world’s best shoes. Crutchie walked over to him and leaned down to ruffle his hair. 

“You’re right! We gotta find you the single best pair of shoes ever created! So why don’t we go through what we have so far and narrow them down to a top say, five?” He said, looking to all the boys and enlisting their help through eye contact. Suddenly a staff member with messy red hair and tired eyes covered expertly in glittery blue eye shadow leaned into the aisle. 

“We’re closing in fifteen.” Romeo looked to Crutchie with terrifyed eyes, as if the the world would end if he didin’t chose in time.

“Aaaaaaaaand we gotta do it quick!” Crutchie stood up and pointed at one stack of boxes. “Alright, Buttons get that stack! Race and Sniper I want you on that one in the back. Uhh, Tommy Boy take that one next to you and ummm Elmer...RACE STOP SCALING THE RACK IT’S GONNA FALL OVER! Ok, Elmer and Jojo you’re manning the ones on that bench...” Crutchie continued to assign stacks and the boys darted to their territory. 

“Ok so what’s our criteria, Romeo?” Spot asked from the bench he had commandeared with Henry. “You want bright colors, dark colors-” 

“Bright colors.” Romeo responded. He grinned. “They make me happy.” The brothers continued, hollering questions down the aisle and holding up shoes for Romeo to veto or approve to move up to final selection. 

“Na,”

“Oh no.”

“I guess those are okay...”

“No those are the same color of that one shirt Davey has with the mice. Gross”

“OooOOh shiny!”

“I like the curly laces.”

“Those are on clearance for a reason, Les.” 

“SEQUINS!!!” 

An exhaustive ten minutes later saw Romeo on his knees staring at seven shoe boxes propped against a bench while the others sat panting or teetering on their tippy-toes to put boxes back. 

“Okay, Romeo,” Jack said from behind small boy, leaning against the rack and biting his straw. “What’s it gonna be?” 

“I’d like to personally cast a vote for the ones with spot...ssss.” Race tapped a box with the side of his cup. Romeo squinted at him. 

“You only like them because they remind you of Spot! I didn’t even say I liked those!” Race scoffed and pushed the box back onto the rack behind him. The rest of the guys rolled their eyes while Spot licked his lips. 

“Well clearly you have to chose the red ones.” Albert pointed with his toe. “Wouldn’t you liked to be reminded of meeeeeeee?” He flashed a dazzling smile and fluffed his own hair. 

“Bitch please.” Finch kicked another box. “These LIGHT. UP.” Colorful lights flashed around the tissue paper in the box has the boys continued to argue over which shoes Romeo should pick. 

“You can’t possibly choose these.” Henry picked up one box like a dirty sock he found under a bed. “It’d be like having a disco ball duck taped to your feet everyday.” 

“And your point is?” JoJo raise a judgemental eyebrow. The arguing continued for awhile before Mush interupted. 

“Holy crap, Jack.” He held up his phone for the group to see. It was open to Jack’s instagram and showed his latest post, that of a stunning painting. “That’s like...woah.” The others flocked around the phone while Jack rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. Romeo, however, was drawn to something else he saw down the aisle. He pulled a box from the shelf and headed back to the group. He stood behind his gawking brothers for a moment before piping up. 

“I picked my shoes!” The friends almost got whiplash from turning to look so fast. They staired with open jaws at the shoes for a minute before someone managed to form words. 

“Well, ah, nice choice.” Crutchie swallowed, blinking quickly. The others did not hide their exasperation as well. 

“Are you fucking me? Romeo we've been here for four and a half hours for those?”

“It took you this long. To pick. Those.” 

“You’ve got to be joking.” 

“I’ve been sitting on this cold-ass bench for four hours waiting for those?”

“I coulda got those on Prime and had them on your feet in a sixteenth of the time we’ve been here.”

“I just don’t understand why it took so damn long to pick-”

“WHITE VANS?”  

Romeo huddled against the rack behind him. 

“I wanted Jack to paint them.” He peeped. He walked sheepishly over to his artistcly inclined brother and held up the plain shoes while lookingly at him with giddy eyes. “Do you think you could paint somethin’ on these shoes, Jack? Please? Like...” He looked around him. “Like a picture of all of us! Together! On the...on here!” He pointed. Everyone in the aisle and even the eavesdropping cashiers who’d been waiting for these customers for many annoying hours melted at the little boy’s request. But nobody was more touched than Jack. 

“Why, of course I can paint those shoes for you, Romeo.” He wrapped his arm around the little boy and whispered, “We’re gonna make those the best shoes in the world.” 

Hope you enjoyed! Just a fun lil fic cuz i was bored! Have a nice day! <3

#newsies #newsies fandom #newsies fanfiction #newsies fanfic #fanfic #jack kelly #jack kelly newsies #jack kelly fanfic #davey jacobs #davey jacobs newsies #davey jacobs fanfic #katherine plumber #katherine plumber newsies #katherine plumber fanfic #katherine pulitzer #race newsies #race fanfic #racetrack higgins #racetrack higgins newsies #racetrack higgins fanfic #romeo #romeo newsies #romeo newsies fanfic #albert dasilva #albert newsies #albert dasilva fanfic #albert dasilva newsies fanfic #specs #specs newsies #specs fanfic newsies

[dolphin-bouillabaisse]

GO-ctober Prompt, 23

Inktober except without the ink, and with drabbles instead.

Prompt #23 - Ancient

(previous | next | beginning)

(find it all on Ao3)

(Note: Guess this is what happens when I write on a bad mental health day - random philosophical waxing and inexplicable random melancholy based on some ruins. Hm.)

A quiet peace laid over the Forum Romanum, empty of its usual bustle of tourists, only the cats roaming between the historic ruins. The view over the area was astonishing. The setting sun illuminated each stone, turned their usual greying white into a deep ochre, almost red in places.

On its very edge, still covered by sunlight, atop one of the highest pillar rows left, sat an angel and a demon in harmony.

“What a view.” Crowley said, quite unnecessarily, but the quiet had gotten to him after an hour or so, had turned into something that felt a bit more unpleasant than it usually did.

Aziraphale did not answer.

“Y'remember how it all looked when it wasn't fallen down?”

A soft 'Mhm' was all he got. Aziraphale seemed contemplative, downtrodden, tired. He'd only taken up the habit of sleeping a short while ago. Maybe weary was a better term.

“Now that was a city. Ancient Rome. What a place.”

“It had to fall.”

Well, at least he was talking now.

“Everything has to end at some point, I suppose. Or change, at least. But look how much is left. And how much they remember.”

(I remember. We changed, and yet we're still the same. Just like we were back then. Sitting together.)

“I know. Sometimes it just feels like it all happens so fast.”

“Too fast?”

“Not for the humans, I suppose. Most of them don't see it change in a lifetime.”

Quiet again. They'd both seen enough change for several hundred lifetimes. A human would go mad.

Maybe an angel was allowed to get a bit weary of it.

“We've been here lots, haven't we?” Crowley put his hand over Aziraphale's on the cooling stone as the sun left them, because he was allowed to do that now. (Because things had changed. Because they'd changed them.)

They'd been here for the romans, the emperors and senators. They'd been here for the popes, for the powerful families, for the artists and inventors. They'd been here for rulers and leaders and many more powerful men, from their rise to their downfall. Constantly changing, constantly the same.

It could wear down even a demon.

“What is the point?” Aziraphale didn't move his hand, but he also didn't hold his. Not like he usually would.

“What do you mean?”

“If it all has to become something different anyway. What was the point of it all? If it ends and changes into something else.”

Crowley thought about that, longer than he usually thought about things. An angel getting philosophical deserved a well-thought out answer.

“Growth.” He concluded after a long while.

“It doesn't always grow.” Aziraphale countered after another endless while. “It doesn't always get better. Why change for the worse?”

“It's not like that.” Crowley's fingers weaved under Aziraphale's palm, lifted it up just a bit from the stone that had gone cold even under his warm hand now. “It's a bit like flying. You don't just go up. You have to follow the currents.”

“It's feels so horrible to see them make the same mistakes again and again. That's not growth.”

“No. That's human.” (That's us, sometimes. That's us, in the past. But even that can change. We proved that, didn't we?)

Aziraphale sighed, and it sounded even more tired, almost resigned.

They'd decided to travel the world, after everything had ended and not really ended, just changed. After it had become clear that the world was still there to travel, and would be there for the foreseeable future, and they would too.

They'd looked up their old haunts, checked in at almost forgotten places, had discovered what was still left of times gone by. They'd exchanged stories, reminisced on memories. Shared their past, shared their present, shared their future.

It hadn't all been good. Crowley had watched the sadness slowly creep over Aziraphale's face. Some memories were not supposed to come back. Some places should not be revisited.

Some things had not changed for the better.

He'd tried to make it better. Found little things to make him laugh. (Did you ever think your silly string of argumentative letters with that art critic would end up in a museum?) Brought him to restaurants that were just right. (Look, they still make them just the same. You can taste the history in these spices. You can taste the memories.) Showed him the places he could never share before. (I spent so many days tempting in these gardens back in 1431. Started talking to the ducks at one point. They seemed smarter than the human clientele. Always thought you'd like it here.)

And it had helped, a little bit. But nothing could really stop the thoughts from seeping in. Sometimes you just had to deal with the bad side of nostalgia. Especially if you had thousands of years to be nostalgic about.

“Do you think we made any difference at all?” Aziraphale looked at him, with that sadness again. “If it's all left to change anyway, did we ever really help? Or hinder, I suppose?”

“On the big scale? Maybe not.” Crowley shrugged. “If it was all according to plan, anyway. Guess we made exactly the difference we were supposed to make.”

“Hm.” Aziraphale sounded neither pleased nor displeased by that. Crowley's hand gripped his tighter, pulled it to his thigh.

“On the small scale, though? Definitely. You changed so many people's life for the better, angel. And I did the same, just in the other direction.”

“I guess that's the best we could hope for.”

(You know you made a difference to me, don't you? You know how you changed me. You know what it meant, you know what it means now. You must know. I have told you, again and again, in so many ways. I will keep telling you.)

“It doesn't do well to dwell on the past, anyway. Not when there's so much to look forward too, now that the world can keep spinning like it always has.”

“Hm.” again, this time with the tiniest of smiles. Crowley felt Aziraphale's fingers thread slowly between his own. “Things really have changed, haven't they? You being so positive, and me all melancholic.”

Crowley echoed his smile. “We've changed each other, at least, then.”

“For the better?”

“Oh, definitely.”

He got up at that point, pulled the angel up with him. The sun had set completely beyond the hills, the ancient ruins covered in shadows. The past laid to rest.

“Come on, then. Let's get out of here. The city hasn't changed that much, I'm sure we can find some place that does marvellous things with oysters.”

Aziraphale laughed at that, finally, and squeezed his hand tight before they stepped down from the pillars on stairs that weren't there. The city was waiting for them in the night's darkness, as it had in the past, only now they didn't have to hide in it anymore. Things had changed, for the better.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #my writing #prompts #october prompts

[tigerlilliz]

“Same Time Next Week”

Hi luvs, 

kk So I was driving home a few weeks ago and thought this up. Pisces + traffic = lots of day dreaming. So I decided to make a story about it just for fun!  It took me a bit to post because I was having trouble creating an external account. :(  So I have to post it without the link this time. I apologize, in advance, if it appears long on the feed. 

Disclaimer: All ACoR characters belong to Pixelberry (excluding Désirée/Desi and Maximus) and I do not claim any ownership of them.

Cassius rarely gets the appreciation he deserves.  He was so well written too!  I just wanted to cover a scene about him. Enjoy <3 PS It’s safe for work ^_^

Summary: A trip to the marketplace turned into the surprise reunion Desi was waiting for.

Desi arrived at the market taking in the heat as the sun hit her face. Caesar was satisfied with her performance as she showed little resistance to his advances. She had him right where she needed him, and he was beginning to trust her. After a few months, he permitted her to venture out during the day time. The market was busy this time of day, merchants were boisterous and flamboyant, displaying an array of talents and flattery to lure in customers.

She stopped at a few vendors, but none caught her eye as much as the on merchant just behind the trees. There sat an elderly woman carving a necklace from gemstones. Desi stood admiring the jewelry and trinkets spread across the table when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hey, would you be alright if I left you alone for a little while?” She had never seen her Maximus as nervous as he was in that moment. He took a deep breath as ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes sparkled as he continued on, “I... uh, I had something I wanted to check out.” Desi peered around him, where she saw another bodyguard fidgeting, pretending to look at dress looking away as soon as her eyes met his. Her eyes returned to Maximus’ who was still staring at the guard. Desi tilted her head to the side, raising her hand slightly as waved at the guard. He blushed and returned her smile, placing a dress back on the table before he started walking over to them.

“I’ll be fine,” Desi asserted, “You should go head. He’s a cute one.”

Maximus couldn’t help but smile as he wrapped his arms around Desi lifting her off the guard in one swoop. “You’re the best,” he exclaimed spinning her around as he giggled in glee. “I’ll meet you back in an hour. I promise!” He rushed over next to the guard playfully punched his shoulder before kissing him on the cheek.

Desi hadn’t known Maximus for long, but he quickly became her best friend and confidant at the villa. He had a rough upbringing and faced a lot of loss too. She enjoyed hearing his stories and sharing hers as well. She remembered the times when she felt butterflies after meeting Syphax and Cassius for the first time. She was happy to give Maximus alone time too.

She continued to glance over the trinkets and figurines laid neatly on the table. One piece, however, took her breath away. It was a carved wooden figurine of an eagle perched on a branch. She couldn’t believe it. What were the odds of her finding another one so similar to the one she lost? Her heart began pounding as she floated into a memory of when she crafted one just like it with Cignerix. It was a rite of passage for the Arnajo (Ar-na-ho) tribe that once someone reached the age of 14, to be assigned a spirit guide. Hers was the eagle, a sacred animal which signified courage, wisdom and strength. She took it everywhere she went along with the dagger given to her by her father. With all worrying she did about Victus and Syphax, she managed to lose the very thing that reminded her of them.

"How much for the eagle?" Desi asked, hoping that she had saved up enough to purchase it. The woman replied, "Oh. I’m sorry child, but that one's not for sale."

It was hard for her to hear those words. She was so close to owning one again and yet she couldn’t have it. She figured maybe it had a special meaning to the woman as well and placed it back down on the table.

Desi turned to walk away as she lady continued. "What I meant was it's not for sale because it belongs to you." She sat the eagle in Desi’s palm closing her hand on top.

"But I don’t understand” Desi stood in disbelief. The woman nudged her to investigate further. As Desi eyes followed the intricate carving, she noticed a small chip on the wing of the eagle. Her eyes lit up as she realized, this was the exact one that she lost. She remembered the day she was running through the woods when she tripped and fell, the eagle chipping as it slammed into the tree in front of her. She'll never forget her father's face when he told her to be more careful for the eagle represented her journey. The eagle and its imperfections taught her to embrace her own.

Desi couldn’t believe this was happening. "How did you…” but before she could finish, the woman told her to look at the note underneath.

Desi flipped the eagle revealing a tiny piece of paper with the words "Turn Around" written on it. She quickly turned to face behind her and to her surprise, Cassius stood holding a single rose. Her eyes flooded with tears as this was the first time she had seen him since being sold to Caesar. His hair was cut shorter and he wore a dark blue tunic, with a green cloak. It was a change from the light colors she normally saw him wear. The deep blue bought out the color in his eyes. She had forgotten just how beautiful his eyes were. A greenish blue with a hint of brown, she easily lost herself in them.

"How? It's really you. You're here and...I" Desi couldn't believe her eyes. She missed him so much. She rehearsed what she would say to him if she ever got the chance to see him again, but nothing prepared her for the flood of emotions she experienced now standing facing him. Cassius lifted his hand to wipe away her tears, landing soft kisses on her cheek where the tears once fell. "I assure you I'm real," Cassius replied pulling her into his embrace. He lips collapsing into hers and without fail, she was overcome with a sense of calmness as all her anxiety melted away.

Cassius exhaled as he began to speak, "I just had to see you for myself. Sabina told me she saw you leave the market last week. If there was even the slightest chance that I would be able to see you again, I'd be a fool not to take it." With his free hand, he picked up the eagle off the table returning it in her hands. He nodded at the merchant slipping her some extra coin as who replied, "He really does know you, huh? I wasn’t sure if you'd come over, but Cassius never gave up hope that you would stop here and find it."

Desi smiled as she realized he still knew her better than most. A look of sadness came over his face as he continued, "After I heard about Antony giving you to Caesar. I blamed myself for a while. Maybe if I had attended the games with you, you would've had another option. I decided to head to the Scholae to offer comfort to Lena and to pack up your belongings. You lost just about everything after the fires in Gaul and I couldn’t let you lose what you accumulated here in Rome too. So I invited Sabina to come with me and we cleaned just about every inch of the place and that's…that's when I saw it." His eyes resting on the carving. "There is was hiding underneath the pillows by Artemis bed this whole time. It may have been thrown in middle of the chaos when Aquila came with his men. Artemis must’ve tried to bury it thinking she would be able to give it back to you the next time she saw you.”

Desi began to choke up, her voice soft as she managed to say, "That was so kind of you to do. I thought I lost it forever. It was one of the few things that I felt truly connected me to Isis."

Cassius held her close, he could feel the wetness of her tears fall on his shoulder. Cassius kissed her forehead as he replied, "I remembered and that's why I had to find a way to return it to you. I'd never forgive myself if you started to lose hope now."

Desi lifted on her toes, her hand behind his head, she pulled him near until her lips met his. "I always considered myself a lucky woman to be in the thoughts of a man so humble and kind."

Cassius smile broaden, his lips remained close to hers. "And I a lucky man to have you to fight for. You changed my life for there is no woman like you who loves as fiercely as she fights for others."

They stood kissing passionately before thanking the woman one more time. The two continued on throughout the market, stopping at a few more vendors here and there. Cassius was carrying a basket slowly filling it with fresh fruits, breads, and cheeses he purchased for Desi to take back with her. He made sure to fill it with a few of her favorite items when she wasn’t looking.

They walk hand in hand, Cassius pace slowly as he eyed a bench near the grassy area. As they approached, Cassius dusted the seat laying his cloak down before encouraging Desi to sit.

He stood taking in how beautiful she looked as she sat under the sun. He wanted to remember this moment because he wasn’t sure when the next time would be until he saw her again. Desi, unknowingly, was doing the same. She watched as Cassius cleared a spot for her, it was something only he would have done.

He joined her resting his hand on her thigh. “You look different” Desi said noticing slight changes in his mannerisms. Her hand running up his arm.

Cassius knew she was also referring to the bulk of his muscles naturally flexed as he rested his arm beside her. “I feel different. I decided it was time to reunite with Brutus. And that means, I have a lot of prepping to do to be ready for what we have planned.”

Desi sat up in curiosity encouraging him to continue.

“Thousands have died while I stayed back in Rome and countless more will lose their lives if we don’t act soon. I lost people who I called my friends. Men whose families are now abandoned as they took their lasts breaths believing their cause was just. They died having plans and goals that will never come to fruition. Dreams of a tomorrow that can only happen if Caesar and Antony’s reign was to end.  And with Brutus by my side, their fight and your time with them would’ve served a purpose.”

She loved seeing the fire in his eyes when he spoke of things he was passionate about. He spoke with such conviction that it would make even the most doubtful want to follow him blindly. She gently squeezed his shoulder before running her fingers through his hair. “Whatever you have planned, I hope I’m there to see it because that look in your eye means you will not fail.”

Cassius leaned into her turning his body to face her. “I don’t plan to. He will pay for what he has done.” His eyes softened as he continued, “So I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about your time spent in the company of Caesar.”

Desi could sense a hint of jealousy though he tried to appear unscathed. She was cautious in her reply. “He is mere a boy in comparison to you. He lacks insight and his judgment is poor. I do what I must to get him to trust me. It’s not a duty that I take lightly, nor do I find solace in. I get no pleasure from being in his company. Every single day, I must talk myself out ending him where he stands. Timing is everything and I can’t afford to act irrationally again for a few minutes of joy only to risk my life, or worse, those I care about because of my negligence and haste. Syphax paid the price for my eagerness before and I promised myself that I can’t let that happen again.”

Cassius’s fingers now intertwined in hers, he squeezed tightly letting her feel his support. “You do what you must to stay strong.”

Desi nodded before replying. “It is the most trying period of my life, Cassius. I’m so close to getting vengeance for the hurt caused to my people, but also to those I’ve come to love in Rome as well. Antony is counting on me to spy for him and, in turn, it allows me to gather pertinent information of those in Caesar’s close circle. With whatever I find, I’d like to know that I can tell you and maybe help your cause for we share the same hatred for Caesar.”

Desi looked down at his hand in hers. “My biggest challenge is that I know it’s not practical or wise to act on my own, but the temptation is far greater the more time I spend by his side. I’ve seduced him to the point where he thinks about me even when he’s awake. He tells others about what he wishes to do to me, and he gets upset if I don’t tell him that I want him in return or resist him in any way. My friend, Maximus, is always telling me the stories he hears Caesar tell around the villa. I have him wrapped around my finger and it feels amazing, but torturous because I cannot yet act on how I feel.”

“And what of your agreement with Antony?” Cassius adjusted himself on the bench. “I may be vocal about my disapproval of how he’s managed things, but I know not to give him a reason to pay closer attention to me. He is a dangerous man if he believes he is being used or misled.”

Desi knew he spoke the truth, but she had seen Antony in a different light. Desi replied, “I’ve grown to like Antony over time. He trusts me and I him. I know the two of you aren’t fond of each other, but it isn’t a reflection of the respect you two share. Antony stood up to Caesar on my behalf a few weeks ago. He noticed that I hadn’t been myself for a while, I was a lot more distant than usual. Caesar wanted to spend every moment with me which angered me more. I didn’t know what path to take next and that wasn’t like me at all. I’ve always had direction. Caesar struck me and Antony did not hesitate to make sure that Caesar knew I was not to be messed with. I must allow Antony more time to see the truth about Caesar that you and I see. That Caesar is not the man of the people Antony thinks he is. He is an evil man and who would betray even Antony if it came down to it. I will not let that happen. Caesar will pay for what he has done. It’s just a matter of whose hands will be stained with his blood.”

Desi looked at Cassius nervously, waiting to see how he would respond. To her surprise, he had that look in his eye again, appreciation for all that she was. "You’re a woman who never ceases to amaze me. I have no doubt that you know what you’re doing and, I guess I owe Antony for watching over you when I cannot be there. I can’t tell you that I would’ve acted much differently seeing you hurting like that. I’ve always loved hearing your perspective and I’m here for you as best as I can be.” He then chuckled to himself, “But to be honest, I’d love you all the same even if you ended up sticking it to Caesar.”

Desi laughed as she was enjoying seeing this side of Cassius. He always accepted her for all that she was, whether bitter or kind. She knew she could tell him the truth and there wasn’t many people whom she could be like that with.

Time went by fast after that. She caught him up on the whereabouts of Syphax and her father while Cassius brought her up to speed about Sabina, Lena, and the rest of the girls.

Maximus rushed over worried that Desi was all alone. He couldn't help but laugh as he was surprised to see Cassius sitting by her. He was a lot hotter than Desi let on. He definitely wasn’t your average senator either. You could tell he worked out regularly. His tunic barely concealing his muscular arms. Cassius had some of the most dreamy eyes and a smile that stopped Maximus right in his tracks. Maximus found himself flustered as he found the courage to address him.

"Senator Cassius! What are you doing here?" Maximus extended his hand noticeably shaky as he went to greet him.  Cassius shook his hand in return firmly, winking at Maximus as he pulled away.

Desi coughed as she noticed Maximus swoon over him looking him up and down. "Ut umm," Desi laughed as Cassius joined her. "We all have our secrets don’t we?" Desi said smiling at her friend who was still blushing.

Cassius stood and helped Desi to her feet. "I better get going and looks like the time has come for you to head back. I'd love to see you again though."

Desi turned to Maximus, and in unison they asked each other, “Same time next week?"

Maximus shook his head laughing, "Well, Obviously!" They couldn't stop smiling as they were like two little children playing off each other. They both had their reasons for wanting to return. He had his man and she had hers.

She hugged Cassius goodbye as he kissed her softly on her cheek before parting ways. Desi smacked Maximus on his arm as she realized his eyes locked on Cassius's back side as he walked away. "You're bad!" Desi laughed. Maximus looking guilty as ever. They left the market and decided to take the long way home. They couldn’t stop smiling, both blushing as they retold stories of what happened during their trip to the market.

@3pawandme Here’s 1 of 2 stories for  ya. hehehe Hope you like it. 

#choices #choices acor #cassius longinus