#he does everything to try and make Jeremy smile again

[centaur-dreaming]

Jean not understanding why Renee saved him until he’s leaving the house in just his helmet and gloves and breaking every speed limit on his way to do exactly the same thing for Jeremy

[jakesimfromstatefarm]

──── I'VE ALWAYS KNOWN . ↳ one shot // also part of the no doubt series !

✎ᝰ .ᐟ aka jake finally says it, even though he’s known it since…well, forever.

── sim jaeyun x f!reader ౨ৎ wc. 676 ⌗ the first 'i love you' :'), fluff, comfort <3

↳ IMPORTANT NOTE .ᐟ ── this is part of my no doubt series ─ a sequel series of short drabbles that take place after the events of my fic no doubt, and show jake & reader's relationship throughout their first year together (& how jake wins her trust & love back hehe) ── THIS CAN BE READ AS A ONE-SHOT, however, there will be some easter eggs if you've read no doubt before!

↳ addie's ✉ .ᐟ ── CHAT I THINK THIS ONE has to be my favorite one thus far...i'm gonna cry jake is so precious and i just love love & i love jakeyn </3 i listened to this is how you fall in love by jeremy zucker & chelsea cutler on repeat while drafting this and those are the vibes im going for...im gonna go cry now

It’s peaceful.

Too peaceful.

Suspiciously peaceful.

Because Jake hasn’t said a word in the last five minutes—which is an actual world record.

You glance to your side.

Jake’s hand is warm in yours.

His mind?

Somewhere else entirely.

It’s quiet. It’s late. The kind of the late where everything feels simpler. Softer. Where the streetlights begin to glow above you, where the river reflects the sky’s first stars. Where the only sound to the distant hum of the city around you is the crunch of your steps synced together.

And Jake is still. Not talking.

“You’re being uncharacteristically quiet,” you tease lightly, elbowing him gently. “Where did my boyfriend go?”

Jake lets out a breathy laugh—barely there—as he turns to you, shaking his head.

“I’m here,” he says, squeezing your hand tighter. “Just…thinking.”

Oh. 

You stop walking.

He stops with you. Looks at you.

Jake's always looking at you.

But this time, it’s charged.

You tilt your head, your voice soft, “Jake.”

And that’s when you see it.

The look in his eyes. It’s familiar—the one he has every time he looks at you. The kind that makes your heart skip and stutter because it’s not just fondness, it’s not just affection—it’s everything.

Everything unsaid wrapped into one glance.

Everything that makes your heart feel like it’s on the edge of something terrifyingly wonderful.

Everything that says every version of his life points straight to you.

Jake blinks, glances over to the river as if the waves might talk him out from what he’s about to do.

It does not.

He lets out one last exhale.

Looks at you again.

“I love you.”

Your heart stops.

Your brain short-circuits. Eyes wide. Stomach drops.

It takes you a full five seconds to process the words, and by the time you do—

Jake is already smiling.

Gentle. Beautiful. Knowing.

Like he expected your reaction.

“It’s okay,” he says quietly before you can even try to respond. “You don’t have to say anything. I just…wanted you to know.”

Your mouth opens. Then closes. Then opens again.

“I’ve known for a long time,” he continues, voice steady, warm, his eyes never leaving yours once. “Like, way before I even deserved to say it.”

He lets out a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. His cheeks are pink. He runs his thumb over your knuckles back and forth as if to ground himself.

“And, honestly, I think you knew a long time ago too.”

You swallow hard.

Because yeah. You did.

Jake has always loved you in the way he softens his voice when he talks to you. In the way he never lets you walk on the side of the road. In the way he shows up, over and over again—no matter how many times you tried to build your walls up.

He lifts your intertwined hands to his lips and kisses your fingers, one by one, like he’s spilling his feelings out again—I love you, I love you, I love you.

“I just—I wanted you to know,” he murmurs, quieter this time. “No pressure. No expectations. Just…it’s yours. My heart. If you want it.”

And god, you break a little.

Because he means it. He means it.

He knows it. You know it.

You look at him—the boy who’s loved you so unapologetically, even when you weren’t sure if you deserved it yet.

And he waits.

Jake waits. Patient. Sure.

Then—you step forward and wrap your arms around his waist, burying your face into his chest, losing yourself completely to his warmth, his comfort, your home.

Jake exhales—something between a laugh and a breath of relief—and melts into you instantly, planting a kiss into your hair as he holds you tight.

When you finally pull away, your eyes meet his—and he’s already smiling. So soft. So tender. 

So yours. 

His eyes crinkle at the corners, full of something that feels like forever.

Jake doesn’t ask for anything more.

Doesn’t push.

He just reaches out, lacing his fingers through yours.

And then he keeps walking.

And you follow.

<< past || no doubt m. list || next >>

tag list! (open ! // bolded couldn't be added!)

@bluxjun @ki2rins @why-did-i-just-do-this @favoritten @lovialymisc @xylatox @vivimura @leehsngs @puma-riki @lezzleeferguson-120 @enhaprettystars @laurradoesloveu @sievenderz @somuchdard @kristynaah @hinryh @ltfirecracker @lov4hoon @taeheexx @niyzu @chunkzdeluluwife @jakeflvrz @fangirl125reader @0429jw @dreamy-carat @yuons @thestarinstarbucks @miszes @llearlert @ppeachyttae @hoomin10 @teddybeartaetae @tanisha2060 @therealmrsbahng @beomgyu-bears @ikeulove @jiyeons-closet @youngheejay @wxnderingthoughts @fuevrois @soobundle1009 @isoobie @enhypenova @zoemeltigloos @lizdevorak @deluluscenarios @bloomiize @hasuyv @ijustwannareadstuff20 @veilstqr @dreamiestay @jakeyyyjakexoxo

[jordiipordii]

the golden raven ☀️ spoilers :

Jean having that convo with Cat about everyone falling in love so easily, having the flashbacks to Kevin, and Jeremy only being mentioned in tiny passing is peak story-telling.

Because Nora could have done what any other author would have and thrown in a comment like “he thought of a sunny smile and dimples” or “he wouldn’t mention his growing feelings for their captain.” But she didn’t.

Instead, she waited until the end of the book to slap us with Jean’s text conversation with Renee. Where Renee had to essentially call him out on his feelings. “3 of every 5 texts are about him” and “I was curious, but…”

Jean refusing to check their messages to prove her wrong. “There is nothing to ask.” Jean having to try seven different responses because he was in such disbelief. Love it. Beautiful.

Because yeah, we saw his jealous moments, his protective moments, and him buying anything and everything blue he could find; him saying his favorite color is brown because of Jeremy’s eyes. Magnificent. Beautiful. Chef’s kiss.

But we had no idea how deep the well was until Nora tossed a quarter in for us and we never heard the splash. Jean didn’t, either.

Boy has been falling in love gradually, but fighting it so desperately that he hasn’t even been able to acknowledge it. And now in the next book we get to see him come to terms with his feelings and accept them.

We’ll get that being in love conversation again with Cat— take 2. He’ll finally let Kevin go.

Wonderful. Absolutely something I’m looking forward to. Nora does such a great job at upping the stakes and making sure we’re left in such intense suspense and I worship her for it.

[rederiss]

renee and jean meet up again and try to figure out what they feel about each other (leave it up to you whatever it happens to be). jeremy gets jealous!!!!!!

This was fun!… and pretty long. PFT I yap… and I yap. This isn’t the best but I had fun writing it!!

The only time Jeremy had met Renee was on the court, though it was through a helmet and they pair did not speak to each other. After that, he seen glimpses of her during after-game interviews, and he knew that Jean still talks with her. Never would he had thought that she would be sitting in the living room. Silence ensued around all of them as they waited for Jean to finish the tea and coffees. Cat helped him, which left Jeremy and Cat with Renee. The first thing he noticed of the Fox was her hair: Platinum blonde with different colors at the end. her hair did not match her rather modest clothes. Renee did not seem to fit with the foxes. If anything, Jeremy couldn’t help but to think she was most like the Trojans.

He understood why Jean seemed so inclined to her.

Jean and Cat finally came back with the mugs, handing them off to each person. Jean sat next to Renee on the couch, seeing as a it was the only spot available for him to sit. Immediately, Jeremy felt a twinge, a thump in his heart. Immediately, he took a sip of his coffee and settled further into his chair. The mug between his hands kept him focused the most, it was better to focus on the mug between his hands than Renee and Jean.

“Thank you, Jean.” Renee said with a sweet smile that seemed so un-fox-like. “It is so nice to meet everyone. Jean told me so much about all of you.” Jeremy heart thumped once more. Renee seemed so sweet, and he hated himself.

Laila spoke first. “He does? Awe Jean. Why haven’t you told us much about her?”

Jean stared at her with an unreadable look on his face. “No relevant point to.” Jeremy questioned why Jean hadn’t mentioned Renee that it never occurred to him that they simply didn’t ask. Was it possible that Jean still wanted to be with her? The thought that he did caused a lump in his throat.

“What brings you to California?” Jeremy blurted out before he drove himself insane.

“We’ve been talking about catching up. I decided this weekend was as good as any, especially before the spring games.” Renee’s smile was so gentle, still so surprising. “The Trojans are doing great. It’s not surprising, isn’t it? Even more so now that Jean is on your team.”

Jeremy smiled, even though he knew it didn’t reach his eyes. “He fits well with us.”

Renee turned to Jean, and the pair began talking. Jeremy didn’t pay attention to the conversation because he allowed his thoughts to travel between different types of emotions. His heart hurt for a multitude of reasons that all ended with him not liking himself. Renee is a sweet person, one who Jean trusts deeply. Jeremy should be happy that Jean found someone to trust after everything he’s been through, yet that deep rooted envy still lingered despite how much Jeremy tried to shove it away.

The pair stood up, pulling Jeremy out of his thoughts. “… you get a motorcycle?” Jeremy blinked, then realized he caught the tail end of the conversation.

“September.” The pair made their way out of the apartment and left the silence encompass the others.

“I like her!” Cat broke the silence, as she does. Jeremy looked at the others then finished the rest of his coffee. He stood up to put the coffee up when Cat said, “She kind of reminds me of you, Jeremy. All smiles and optimism. How is she not your sister? Or… maybe cousin?”

Jeremy pivoted and decided to make another cup of coffee. “I don’t know.” He choked out rather softly. The silence followed so loudly that he almost cringed.

Then, Laila laughed. “No way. Is this jealousy, Jeremy?” Jeremy looked at her and slowly blinked in confusion. “You are a talkative guy, but you were QUIET the moment he sat next to her.”

“Huh?? I am not jealous! Just surprised that he sat next to her, is all.” Was he that obvious? Jeremy doesn’t often get jealous. Though, maybe he was.

“You can’t fake us out, Jere. You two have been THIS close to jumping eachother for the past semester. We all know it.” Laila smiled, Jeremy’s face turned red, she laughed.

When she did, his phone went off almost on cue. Thank god! He checked it to see Cody asking a question about Christmas, a mundane question, but enough for Jeremy to take a chance on it. “Hey. I have to take this.”

As he left to Jean’s room, Laila yelled out, “You can’t run from us forever!”

Once the door closed, Jeremy plopped down on the ground, setting his phone on the ground in front of him and crossing his arms over his chest. His mind wondered off to Jean and Renee… Jeanee? would that be what their name be if they dated? Jeremy could not beat that! What would their name be if they were together? Jeamy? Jerejean? That didn’t sound as cool or cute as Jeanee. He wondered what they were talking about. It has to be more than Jean’s motorcycle, right? Would Rene want to ride on it, unlike Jeremy who became nervous when even thinking about being on that motorcycle! Renee said that Jean and her discussed meeting up before the Spring games, but he didn’t know what that meant for them or for him. He leaned his head back and let out a simple groan over his thoughts.

The doorknob creaked open and Jean stepped in. He furrowed his eyebrows, narrowing his eyes at Jeremy. The glare made him feel much smaller than he is. All he could do was smile and stand up. “Where’s Renee? Did she like your motorcycle?”

Jean crossed his arms over his chest and gave a simple nod. “She is in the living room with Cat and Laila. They told me you are on the phone in here.” His eyes glanced down at the closed phone on the phone. “You did not have a phone call.”

Jeremy’s smile softened, his heart tightened. “You two look good together!” Jeremy blurted out, and immediately cringed. He turned towards his phone and picked it up, not wanting to face Jean. Blood rushed to his face in embarrassment. “You shouldn’t leave her in there for too long, Cat will talk her ear off-“

“Together?” Jean asked, though the tone of his voice was unreadable.

“Is that not why she is visiting? You two are together. Dating. Romantically involved?”

Jean moved where he was in front of him. “Look at me.” Jeremy didn’t at first, not wanting to face him. Embarrassment took over. “Jeremy. Look at me.” The soft tone forced him to look at Jean. Amusement adorned his face. “You are jealous.”

“No!” Jeremy let out a quick laugh. “What do you mean?”

The corner of Jean’s lips curved up the tiniest amount, and somehow Jeremy knew that he was mocking him. “Your jealousy is charming. Renee and I are not… Romantically involved as you say.”

His cheeks began to burn, though from jealousy? From embarrassment? From Jean clocking him? All he knew was that he was delighted Renee and Jean weren’t together, and that made him feel horrible. “Oh! I’m sorry it didn’t work out! Well, we should, uh, go back in there!” Jeremy quickly turned to leave. Unfortunately he was not paying attention to where he was going and slammed straight into the door frame. He took a step back, grabbing onto his face while groaning.

“Jeremy!”

“Is everything okay in there?” Cat’s voice sounded from the living room followed by a giggle.

“Yes! Yeah! I’m fine! Ran into a wall.”

No one said anything for a solid few seconds before Laila yelled out, “I told you so!”

Jeremy was too embarrassed to say shut up, and honestly, he knew Laila was right. Without even looking back at Jean, the both of them made their way into the living room. Jean detoured to the kitchen to fetch an ice pack, then sat next to Jeremy with it. “You hit your head hard. Ice your head.” Jeremy frowned before grabbing the ice pack.

Despite the astounding embarrassment, there was one good thing that came out of this whole event. That thought and Jean being so close to him eased his heart and a smile appeared on his face.

[eclipse-rain]

How does moi imagine the jerejean proposal you ask? well sit down and let me set the scene

Jean waits around a year after same sex marriage was legalised to propose even though Cat and Laila almost proposed to each other on the spot and got married soon after. There's alot to take into consideration with sharing his family name and his contract with the Moriyama's so Jean is against it at first, once again thinking of whats best for them, for their survival, rather than what they want.

They talk about it a few times and he starts warming uo to the idea, that maybe nothing bad will happen, as Jeremy reassures him over again each time. He even asks Kevin and Neil some questions about it (reluctantly but oh the things does for love).

Eventually he decides to propose. They take a trip to Marseilles, one they've been planning for a long time and are finally doing. He proposed here for many reasons. Firstly it's where he was born, where Elodie was born, and he wants to be able to share this beautiful place with Jeremy. Secondly he has bad memories here as well as good and instead of focusing on the bad he can use this as an opportunity to gain a new memory he can look back on when he thinks of the place he was born, a good one this time.

He takes Jeremy to a daffodil field, one that overlooks the sea, like the one from the painting. The one where he remembers a small girl with raven hair standing and looking out to the ocean, where he now sees a man, who reflects the colour of the flowers around him, doing the same.

They set down a small blanket to sit down on and they've been there for a short while. Got comfortable, talked, laughed, smiled, joked, maybe they even had some food. Next thing, Jeremy is looking out at the ocean, arms around his legs, and Jean is looking at Jeremy and this is it. Jean pulls out the ring box from his pocket and Jeremy turns back around to see Jean, on one knee, proposing.

Jeremy doesn't say anything yet, doesn't want to ruin the moment, something he knows Jean must have thought alot about. So he turns to fully face Jean, his hands coming up, in almost a prayer, to rest over his lips just in case. His eyes are already filling with tears, and he's waiting, so patiently. So very patiently but god he thinks his heart is actually going to beat out of his chest.

Jean has come so far that he no longer has to surrender to a master, has to bend to the will of a captain or vice-captain, he can make his own choices now. And he tells Jeremy as much before saying "I choose you. Will you choose me?"

Jeremy just about loses it. Sobbing while saying yes and hugging him and almost forgetting theres a ring he gets to put on to make it official. But eventually when he calms a bit Jean slides it onto his finger, feeling his own rapid heart beat going back to a normal rhythm.

When they go back home and meet up with the Floozies Jeremy says they have a surprise and holds up his and Jean's interlocked hands with the ring on. (Cat and Laila knew about Jean proposing beforehand). The Floozies go batshit, start jumping around them because they know Jean doesn't like to be touched. They're shouting and screaming excitedly, happy chatter ensues and Jeremy is content to indulge them, trying to entertain all of their questions and congratulations.

Jean gets caught off guard by their natural boisterousness and silly antics once again but instead of being uncomfortable like he used to be he's relaxed into it. He glances at Jeremy and catches his smiling eyes in between their friends foolish behaviour and for the first time ever he smiles so very genuinely, without even realising it. Head titled down just a bit, calm and a little reserved with canine teeth showing just slightly. A little disbelieving but content half laugh/half sigh escapes him.

They all just stop and stare at him. They had never thought Jean would be able to smile like that after everything that happened to him. It was so much more than they could have hoped for. Never mind going batshit anymore they're all teary eyed and a few of them are actually crying.

They still end up tackling Jeremy into as many hugs as possible (Cat, Laila and Cody all hug Jean alot less violently) because look how far they've seen them both come from when they first met them and now they have their happy ending.

-

I imagine for wedding rings Jeremy has a gold band and Jean has a silver one and they have either their own or each others initials on them, maybe both. And i think Jeremy's says 'toujour ensemble' (together always) or something sweet like that, curtesy of Jean getting it engraved.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Happy wipw! Could I request more of Demon!Neil or Arson!Neil, whichever gets fewer requests or whichever you're enjoying more? (Really digging the Demon!Neil worldbuilding :)

WIP Wednesday (2/19) | Arsonist Neil / Firefighter Andrew AU (Part 281)

Jeremy's grand idea turned out to be sending 10 a photo of the four of them together.

Since Andrew is a foot shorter than the rest of them, it's difficult to position them all for a selfie. They try crouching behind him, but it doesn't make for a great photo. They just didn't fit that way. Even when Jeremy whipped out a selfie stick— ridiculously useless invention— and attached it to Andrew's phone, it was impossible to get a decent picture. The angles are all wrong. Andrew thinks perhaps short people should not befriend tall ones.

This is proved tenfold when Kevin finally takes it upon himself to hook Andrew under the arms and lift him off the ground. Andrew thrashes and kicks Kevin in the legs.

"Kevin Day, if you don't put me down within three seconds—"

"Just take the photo," Kevin tells him flatly. Andrew glares at him in the screen of his phone, but surprisingly this is working better than literally everything else they'd tried. Jeremy and Jean are both very close to laughter, Andrew can tell. But as he moves his thumb to take the photo, they all pull on their press-smiles. Jean's is stilted as always, but Kevin's and Jeremy's are perfectly dazzling. Andrew allows a slight curve to his own mouth.

After he takes the picture, Kevin finally sets him back on his feet.

"If you ever do that again, I will kill you." Andrew says, stabbing a finger in Kevin's face. Kevin merely shrugs.

"Okay. I have no reason to do it again anyway. Send that to your faceless, nameless man already."

Andrew wanders off into the living room to send the picture in peace. He chooses the nicest looking one— the one where you can't tell he's being held up like Simba's understudy— presses send, then taps out a small message to go with it.

Andrew I have been kidnapped by the Jaguars. Send help.

Andrew doesn't realize he's been followed until it's too late. There's a snicker over his shoulder and he whips his head around to see Jeremy and Jean posted at either of his sides. (Andrew maintains that tall people should not be allowed to befriend short people.) He glares at them.

"What?"

"His name is flame emoji." Jeremy says with a hundred-watt smile. "Does that mean he's hot?"

"Yes." Andrew says quickly. Totally. It means 10 is sexy, totally not that he's a literal arsonist.

"Isn't that so cute?" Jeremy asks Jean. Andrew wants to tell him to fuck off but before he has a chance, the French bastard grabs the phone right out of his hands. Andrew blinks, looking down at his now-empty hands, both shocked and impressed by Jean's daring death wish. Andrew snaps his fingers and holds his phone out in demand, but goes ignored.

"You messaged this man for the first time last night," Jean says, evidently having scrolled through their very short new conversation.

"Moreau, I will break your leg." Andrew says, reaching for his phone. Jean looks down his nose at Andrew before handing it over. "For your information, he got a new phone."

"What does 10 mean?" Jean asks at the same time Jeremy asks, "Did his other phone break?"

Andrew decides to answer the safer question. "His old one was an ancient slider phone. He upgraded so we—" Andrew cuts off.

"So you what?" Kevin asks, suddenly behind him.

"So we could do video calls."

"Oh my god! He got a new phone specifically for you," Jeremy shrieks directly into Andrew's eardrum. He squeals and Andrew doesn't think he was that excited when 10 revealed his new phone last night. Jean shakes his head at Jeremy's hysteria, but Kevin gives Andrew a look.

"Tell me who he is."

"No." Andrew counters.

"Andrew."

"Kevin. You seem to be under the impression that I am part of whatever this is. But I'm not. It's been made perfectly clear over the years that I am not. You're not my partner or my boyfriend or my warden. I am allowed to pursue men you don't know and you have to deal with it." Andrew says, at last shutting him up.

Kevin opens his mouth a couple of times but can't come up with anything apparently. After a moment, he storms off back into the other room with Jean on his heels.

[shelbystales]

Best Aid - Part Nine

Modern Tommy Shelby x Reader - Masterlist

Previous parts: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8

Summary: you are a young doctor in Birmingham. After a crazy incident, Thomas Shelby shows up at your hospital. You don’t know much about the man everyone seems to fear, but you definitely will.

Warning: swearing

A/N:  Comment and interact, tell me what you think! it means a looot. Hi guyss!!!! long time no see hahaha, sorry for the hiatus, needed some time. Can't promise i'll be back 100% posting every week but i'll try for sure! Gotta say i missed writing :)

English is my second language so I apologize in advance for the grammar mistakes.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

A week has passed since your last conversation with Thomas. In that time, you had only seen each other once when he came to pick up John Doe, now also known as Johnny Dogs. This time apart helped you sort out your feelings about everything you had been through in the past few weeks. 

Surprisingly, the week went by like any other. You kept up with your shifts, visited your mom and brother over the weekend, and caught up on your TV series episodes. It felt like everything had returned to how it was before the man with the incredibly blue eyes walked into your emergency room, and you saved him. 

Back to your normal and safe routine.

As soon as your shift ended, you joined Jeremy and his fiancé, Alan, for a pizza night at their place. You spent the evening eating, drinking wine, and gossiping about everything, from the most unrealistic romances at the hospital to Alan’s latest work presentation.

The evening turned out better than you imagined. Being in Jeremy's company is always great; he's a clown, constantly making everyone laugh, even if not intended. 

Alan, on the other hand, has a geekier style and is a bit more reserved, resembling those cute librarians the main character falls for in a classic romantic movie. They were a perfect match.

After dinner, your stomach ached from laughter and overeating. The fact that you spent the past few hours laughing and getting drunk made you feel like things were back on track again. 

You left their place feeling happy and carefree.

The lobby of your hotel was nearly deserted, with only a few employees and scattered guests, which was odd because the hotel restaurant was usually packed at this hour every day.

As you waited for the elevator, the quiet murmur of the lobby was interrupted by two passing employees whispering about the kitchen being closed for maintenance. “An intern messed something up,” the woman said, her voice loud enough for you to catch.

When the elevator doors opened, Thomas stood there, looking effortlessly handsome. Your heart skipped a beat, and your stomach fluttered nervously. When his eyes met yours he gave a small smile. 

You smiled back, hoping your voice wouldn’t betray your nerves. "Heading up?" He nodded, and you stepped into the elevator. The space suddenly felt much smaller. His presence, his warmth, and that cologne mingling with the faint buzz from the wine, made your pulse quicken. "I didn't even know there was a floor below us" you chuckled, trying to ease your nerves. “Well, obviously, there are several negative buttons here," you pointed to the panel awkwardly. “Funny… I never noticed it before.”

"Just a few parking levels," he said in his smooth Birmingham accent, his voice sending a shiver down your spine. "How are you? You seem happy."

"Well, I am," you smiled, butterflies dancing in your stomach. "And also in urgent need of a shower. But I'm good." You leaned against the elevator wall, the weight of your shift and your growing desire for him pressing down on you.

"Had a good night, eh?" he asked, glancing briefly at the notification on his phone.

"Yeah, trying to enjoy myself before next week," you said, "I have 36 consecutive hours on call."

"That's a lot of hours," he said, his eyes flicking back to the screen as new notifications appeared.

"Yeah, but I'm used to it," you smiled. "Is everything ok?” you wondered what was all the fuzz on his phone. 

“Yeah, just having a kitchen mess today” he put his phone back on his back pocket 

“I overheard someone mentiion that it’s closed. A result of some sort of an intern’s lack of care?” you said and watched confused as he frowned 

“Sure. That's what happened” he let out almost as a whisper "you should know that things will start to calm down," he replied, and your smile grew wider. His words gave you a glimmer of hope.

"Good to hear that! What happened?" you asked almost as an impulse.

“I'm not sure you want me answering that Y/n…” he chuckled as he got a cigarette out of his pockets. Will he light it in here? you wondered, but he simply put it to rest between his lips.

“Right…”  You hesitated, your heart pounding, desperate to talk about something else, too afraid to let that subject be the center of your conversation once again. “So, uh, do you have any plans for tonight?” The question slipped out before you could stop yourself, and you immediately regretted it.

Thomas looked at you with a raised eyebrow, a faint smile playing on his lips. His gaze was penetrating, almost as if he could read your thoughts. "Plans?" he echoed, his tone light but curious.

You quickly clarified, feeling heat rise to your cheeks. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that! I was just wondering what you're up to this late at night." You fidgeted with the strap of your bag, trying to appear nonchalant. Begging for the elevator to stop making random stops at almost every floor and finally get to yours, now hating the fact that he gave you one of the top rooms. 

Thomas smiled faintly at your question, his eyes studying you for a moment longer than usual. "Polly is traveling, so I'm checking on things for her and the kitching needs some cleaning up. I'm heading to her room to get the master key"

You nod, trying to hide your slight disappointment at his answer. "Oh, that sounds nice of you," you reply, mentally chiding yourself for asking in the first place. It wasn't like you were inviting him or expecting him to join you, right?. The elevator dinged softly as it reached your floor. “Well, I won't keep you. Have a good night, Thomas."

"You too," he said, his eyes holding yours for a moment longer before you turned and walked down the hallway.

The elevator doors slid shut, leaving you alone with your thoughts. 

Why did you ask that? You mentally scolded yourself again as you walked down the hall to your room as you replayed the encounter in your mind. 

Thomas's presence had a way of unnerving you, yet you couldn't deny the flutter of excitement his proximity brought. As you walked you were already mentally planning your night: a hot shower, maybe some Netflix, and straight to bed. That's all you need right now.

As you settled into your room, the encounter with Thomas replayed in your mind again, like a vivid movie scene. His smile was etched into your memory, and the way he looked at you sparked a warmth deep within. 

Your phone buzzed with a notification, breaking your train of thought. It was a message from Jeremy, asking if you got home okay. You quickly replied, assuring him you were fine and thanking him for the fun evening.

Setting your phone aside, you found yourself unable to shake the lingering thoughts of Thomas. The way his presence seemed to fill the elevator, the scent of his cologne that still lingered in your mind - it all stirred something unfamiliar yet exhilarating.

Suddenly your mind started to play games with you as it imagined his hands on your skin as he kissed you desperately on the elevator. His lips gently caressing your cheek, making his way to the warmth between your legs…His body pressing yours against the cold elevator wall.. fuck! 

You sat on the edge of your bed, a sudden heat spreading through you. You needed a cold shower to cool down and clear your head.

After a refreshing shower that did little to dampen the heat of your thoughts, you settled into the living room, deciding to distract yourself with a Netflix series. The soft glow of the screen and the familiar characters helped ease your mind, at least temporarily. Ozzy nestled at your feet enjoying your presence but trying not to show it, as all cats do. 

The characters on the screen moved and spoke, but your mind kept drifting back to Thomas.The more you thought about him, the harder it was to focus on the TV.

Your mind replayed all the moments you had shared, trying to convince your horny mind that it would be a bad bad idea. But you couldn't deny the pull you felt towards him, a magnetic attraction that left you both excited and unnerved.

You sighed and shifted on the couch, trying to shake off the thoughts. But they kept coming, flooding.Remembering the first time you kissed, how you just felt like ripping his clothes apart.

And just like that, loneliness settled over you like a heavy blanket. The silence was too loud, and the emptiness too vast. You looked around, seeking something to occupy your time, but nothing seemed appealing. The wine you had with Jeremy and Alan had left you with a pleasant buzz, a feeling of warmth and courage that now pushed you towards a decision.

Maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was the loneliness, but suddenly, you found yourself standing up, driven by an impulse you couldn't quite explain. The thought of Thomas dealing with the kitchen mess alone nagged at you. You had nothing better to do, and the idea of being around him again was too tempting to resist.

Without giving yourself time to second-guess, you  grabbed the bottle of whisky you opened a few nights ago and headed to the door. The walk to the elevator felt surreal, your heart pounding with a mix of excitement and nervousness. You pressed the button and waited.

As the elevator doors opened, you took a deep breath and stepped inside. The ride down felt both too quick and agonizingly slow, your thoughts a whirlwind of anticipation. You almost gave up the idea and went back to your room a few times. When the doors opened to the lobby, you made your way towards the kitchen, each step filled with a strange sense of purpose.

You knew it was a bit crazy, but the wine had given you the courage to step out of your comfort zone and yes you needed to fuck, and why the fuck not him? 

You reached the kitchen door and paused, taking a moment to steady your breathing and gather the courage to push open the door. 

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[snailsgoingdowntown]

College au (?)

Dion Agriche x fem! Reader.

Written on mobile.

Tw: possessive behavior/thoughts, toxic behavior (Dion, he's not the standard in this fic), pushy Dion (again, not the standard, should be avoided irl), unsolicited nude pics by third parties (or 2nd, Idk, I'm tired. Don't do this irl please)

NSFW: accidental nude/suggestive pic sent to someone, perverted thoughts (Dion: implied vaginal sex, implied blow job)

Minors/blank blogs (no content/posts) dni.

I do not support or condone any of the harmful behaviors and actions that take place in this piece of fiction.

Dion is completely ooc. It also takes a turn.

===

If Dion had social media he would have one (1) follower. And it's Maria. Because as his mother, she should show some support.

He already blocked her 23 times. And each time she just made a new account. He gave up on the 24th try.

His account is private and his profile picture is the default picture. Sees no point in making one. At some point Jeremy took his phone and made it into an ugly drawing of a duck. So ugly that people think it's cursed.

Dion changed it back after getting his revenge.

Out of curiosity, Roxana changed it to him. A group picture they were forced to take by Lante, zoomed in on his face. She wanted to see if that would change anything.

And oh boy, does she regret it.

So many follow requests. So many people asking her to convince him to accept their request. Mostly women, around their age while some were older. And some were men, usually sending him... Unsavory texts. Ridiculing him, saying he's not hot shit, that he'll be dumped once his hypothetical girlfriend realizes he's poor as fuck.

Some people sent him nudes unprompted. They were blocked.

It got so bad he deleted the account and made a new one.

One of the few times Roxana felt guilty.

Jeremy then proceeded to steal his phone (again) and make that ugly duck drawing his profile picture again. Dion doesn't bother changing it, he's just done.

Thankfully, no one remembers when that was his old profile picture on his now deleted account.

But, some things did change. And one of them was getting your social media.

Granted, he didn't want it and neither did you. But your professor made you partners for the big project of the year and thus, you reluctantly gave your contact info. But he didn't want you to have his phone number and you respected that.

Ah, but things were never stay simple, do they?

Not when you smile so cheerfully at him, genuine with it. When you respect his boundaries, even if they're not said. When you bring coffee, free of charge, tilt your head and ask why you should be weary of him when one of your classmates warn you about him. They didn't have an answer - Dion Agriche, while scary looking, never did anything wrong or bad.

Even when he glared at you, you just laughed, but it was the pure kind. You treated him gently.

Things never stay simple.

Especially when one day, you accidentally sent him a rather... Lewd picture of yourself. That wasn't meant for him.

And for some strange reason, that bothered him. Especially when you immediately deleted it, apologizing over and over again, saying you missclicked, that you meant to send a picture of the rubric to make sure you had everything right.

So unlike himself, Dion was a bit... Excited when he first received it. Surprised at first - you didn't look like the type to send nudes to people you weren't dating - but... After a few seconds his heart skipped a beat. A spark of excitement - was it arousal? Or something akin to... Wanting? Not necessarily in a sexual way despite the type of picture it was, but rather, something that made him want to make you his, something he still doesn't understand.

Like it was a secret to be kept between you two, meant for him and only him which made him feel...

He didn't know how to react. If he should reply, if you expected or even wanted him to save it. If you wanted him to send one back, but he's not comfortable with that, not yet -

Wait. Not yet?

... Why was he okay with receiving this from you? He hated it when other people did it without his consent. But with you, it wasn't... Bad.

Not even a minute later and it was gone. Cue your apologies that would have lasted for hours if he didn't stop you. There was disappointment once you said you didn't mean to send it.

That it was meant for someone else.

... No.

The thought of you with someone else... Showing them stuff like that... Eager to touch them and to be touched by them... Haaa...

Seriously? You can't do that to him. You just sent him a picture, a lewd one that teased the naked contours of your body, stockings that he wanted to feel against his back as you wrap your legs around him, a bra he wants to push up to feel your bare breasts, the garter belt he would have pulled on to make your hips meet his, and while your face was hidden by the phone when you took the picture through the mirror, he wanted to see what it looks like when you drown in pleasure.

What shade of lipstick you were wearing. If you would beg for kisses, if you would gag around his -

𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢, 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝, 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢... 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝o 𝚜𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚜.

... Switch partners? When you're so close to finishing the project?

Oh.

Maybe you're using this as an excuse to get away from him. Did you find him creepy? Or did you want to be paired with someone else?

With another man?

... Ah, he seriously hates you.

He tells you it's fine. That he didn't even see what you sent you, but you both know it's a lie. He acts like it doesn't bother him when you meet up in person for the project.

You look nervous. Guilty. Worried. Scared, even.

Of what? Forcing himself on you? Leaking it to the public? It offends him, the thought of that.

A week passes by without incident. You lower your guard a bit. But Dion just couldn't keep it in anymore, asking -

"So, who was it for?"

You freeze. Drop your pen, the library quiet. Seated across from you, Dion finds your reaction a bit cute. But then it's replaced by something that burns him from the inside. It's unpleasant.

"... That's no concern of yours. Again, I'm sorry, and I will always be. You shouldn't have seen that, I shouldn't have sent it-"

"Right. Right. Just a mistake that involves a man."

Sometimes, you forget that Dion Agriche is still a man. And you ignored the strange looks he started to give you before that picture the longer you worked together. It was your mistake.

You should have nipped it in the bud. Instead you were stupid and let it fester. You didn't mean to. But you did.

You sent something to a man you weren't interested in.

A man that was interested in you but didn't realize it himself.

"... Dion. I'm sorry. But..."

"It wasn't meant for me. And it crossed my boundaries. That's what you were going to say, right?" It's not a mocking tone. A somber one.

Disappointed.

"You would have been right. And maybe you are. But it was still done and it's hard to pretend it didn't happen."

"... What are you implying?"

"That I'm interested. In you. Since before the picture."

He left some details out for obvious reasons, but he decided to indirectly and awkwardly 'ask' for advice from his sister. After all, unfortunately for him, she understands him the best.

She laughed, of course. An annoying sound. But he understood his feelings a bit better. That were there before the incident.

"So tell me if you already have a boyfriend."

"... I do." It's shaky but you said it.

He closes his eyes.

"Right. Does he know?"

"... Obviously, yes."

"And he hasn't talked to me about it?"

"Dion. This isn't funny."

It's not. He hates it. He wishes you were gone. But the thought of you slipping through his fingers like this was...

"I mean it. Really." This isn't like him.

He should stop.

And well... It does, actually.

Why?

Easy. With bleary eyes, the dream comes to an end, sunlight filling the room.

He forgets your face immediately. But the slight 'guilt' he doesn't understand follows him throughout the day. Even when he slaches someone across the chest, the unwelcoming feeling stays, and he doesn't know why.

Not even when he reports to Lante of the day's events.

===

NOTE: just realized this sounds like a cop out. I didn't mean for it to be one, just wrote what was on my mind.

[bqstqnbruin]

Just Friends - Part 6

T-minus 1 week until we're on Christmas break and GOD it can't come soon enough

Read the previous part here!

Warnings: Asshole boyfriends, swearing, family trauma dump

WC: 3269

Enjoy!

___________________________

Jeremy stood outside the girls' door the next morning, wanting to go in to talk to Emeline. Instead, he was frozen, facing the wooden door with his hand raised for him to knock, unable to do it. He was sure that something was about to happen between them that night if Keelan hadn’t called. 

But he couldn’t do that to Emeline. He couldn’t make her choose between him and Keelan. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he was sure that once he saw her, he would know.

Until he could hear Fran yelling on the other side of the door, that Emeline was in love with Jeremy like he was with her. 

Emeline didn’t deny it. 

If she did, it wasn’t loud enough for him to hear it. 

He couldn’t go in now, turning around and bursting back into his apartment, finding Johnny perched on the couch with the TV already on. “Jesus, knock much?”

“I don’t have to knock, my name is on the lease,” he counters, sitting next to Johnny and turning off the TV despite his roommates' protests. “I’m in love with Emeline.”

“Yeah, I told you that months ago.” 

“And I think she’s in love with me.”

“I also told you that months ago.”

“That means she’s not in love with Keelan.”

“I really don’t want to sound like a broken record, here.” Jeremy groans, leaning back on his face while he covers his face with his hands. “You really just need to get laid.” 

“We tried that already with Fran.”

“We can try again with someone who doesn’t sleep a few feet away from where the girl you really want to fuck sleeps.” 

“But I don’t want to try again with someone else. Just because you’re getting fucked by someone you want to sleep with doesn’t mean I want to do it with the next female who walks through the door.” Before Johnny could counter, someone knocks at their door. “Oh that is too easy.”

Johnny laughs, getting up to answer, neither of them expecting anyone. Maddy stands on the other side, Johnny’s eyes going wide as he whips around to Jeremy. “I swear to god if you do anything.”

Jeremy holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m not going to, calm down. What’s up, Maddy.”

“I, uh,” Maddy starts, her face getting noticeably red as she tried to put as much space between herself and Johnny. “I left my bag here last night, I think.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were over,” Jeremy starts, the realization taking too long to hit him. “Last night? Last night! Nickelback!” 

“Don’t,” Johnny starts.

“You and Maddy?” Jeremy yells, Maddy shutting the door behind her before his voice carried through their entire building.  “We fucking knew it.” 

“You didn’t,” Maddy blushes, looking at Johnny.

“You two weren’t subtle. God, John,” Jeremy says, running his hand through his hair, “How did you get the girl next door?” 

Maddy notices Jeremy’s expression fall as he thinks about what that means. Johnny got the girl he never thought to look for while Jeremy can’t get the girl he can’t stop looking at. “Jere.” Maddy didn’t know what to say, Jeremy trying to keep his cool while he stared at his hands. “I think she does love you.” 

“Does it matter? She’s with Keelan.” 

“Eventually, it will. It might just take her some time to realize it. You have to decide whether or not she’s worth the wait.” 

Jeremy and Maddy sit there in silence, Jeremy trying to take in what she just said. 

He had moved in a year ago, seeing Emeline for the first time waiting in the lobby of the building when he was going upstairs with some of his things. He immediately thought she was beautiful, figuring he would never see her again if she wasn’t in one of the apartments upstairs. He saw she was surrounded by papers, the bright green pen in her hand flying down the sheets, checking and crossing out line after line. She looked up from everything, smiled at him, and asked him if he needed any help with his stuff. 

He told her he was fine, he was just moving the last of his stuff in. He asked her what she was doing, putting the box down on the table on top of the papers, when she told him she was grading quizzes she wanted to get back to her students the next day, then asked again if he was sure he didn’t need any help, that she could do her work later if it meant helping him now. 

He had started to fall for her then, seeing her in passing, always doing something or offering to help someone else. Jeremy had wanted to know more about her and get to know her the entire time, laying low because he wasn’t sure what to do. 

He had already been waiting for this long, what was a little longer?

__________________________

“Remind me again where we’re going?” Emeline asks, climbing in the passenger seat next to Jeremy, while Johnny, Fran, and Maddy pile in the back.

“One of the guys has a house right over state lines in Vermont. We normally go up there all together right before Thanksgiving.” 

“So you guys spend every day together and regularly travel the continent together and then still go on vacations together?” Fran asks. 

“Yes,” Johnny says, as if it’s obvious.

Maddy laughs, Jeremy looking in his rearview mirror as he gets settled on the highway, Johnny and Maddy’s hands finding each other in the back seat. They hadn’t officially told Emeline and Fran as far as he knew, the two of them keeping it a secret still for who knows what reason, “You guys are so weird.”

Fran, John, and Maddy fall into a conversation, leaving Emeline and Jeremy with the sound of the radio. “So, how were conferences?” Jeremy asks. The group had to wait to leave until late Monday night because Emeline was locked in her room doing parent/teacher conferences the entire day, and she had to do the same for tomorrow morning, too. He was pretty sure she mentioned it being a ‘light year’ for her, having only thirty sets of parents sign up across the twelve hours they were scheduled for. 

Emeline doesn’t turn from the window, staring at the trees lining the highway he knew she very rarely ventured on. “They were really good this year, actually. But the parents I needed to talk to didn’t show up, so that’ll be an email I have to send on Monday.”

“What do you mean, ‘this year’ they were good?”

Emeline lets out a short laugh. “I had one parent my first year rip me a new asshole,” she says, a smile still on her face that made Jeremy confused. “She was mad that the teacher I replaced was asked to leave and she was taking it out on me. She went on and on about how she didn’t like my teaching style and how the way I taught wasn’t how she taught in an elementary school in Beverly Hills when she was my age.”

“Yeah, because a high school in Boston is the same thing.”

“Exactly. She even said that I should be surprised if I had a contract for the next school. Anderson even agreed with her.”

“Jesus, what?”

“She couldn’t do shit. Anderson couldn’t do shit either. None of the students complained and she was the only parent who ever said anything about me. There’s a teacher shortage, and I’m the only person in the department who has a full chemistry degree along with my teaching degrees. They aren’t going to fire me unless I majorly fuck up.” 

“I wish I had that kind of security.”

“Oh, come on,” Emeline says, finally turning to Jeremy. “If Boston trades you, there will be riots. You think any of your teammates will go down without a fight? Your entire team, and probably the Boston fans, would fully commit a felony for you..”

Jeremy can’t help but laugh. “You’re gonna like the guys.”

“Are they all coming?”

“Yeah, the entire team. They’re all gonna love you.” He almost slipped, adding ‘just like I do,’ catching himself before the rest of the car could mercilessly roast him for it.

“How big is this house?”

“Big enough that somehow everyone fits. Not big enough that the five of us and probably a few others are going to have to share a room.” 

“Wait a second,” Fran interrupts. “No one said anything about sharing rooms.” 

“Fran, the three of us have shared a room before.”

“Yeah, hotel rooms overnight when we were traveling for games. The last time we shared a room was Maryland when we finally won the championship. We haven’t done that since.” 

“You can share a room with us for a few nights, Princess,” Johnny says.

“Call me, ‘Princess,’ again, see what happens to you.” 

“Hey, ok,” Emeline says, her teacher-voice coming out. “Fran, you’re going to be fine. Yes, it’s been a few years, but this is a free trip where we don’t have to wake up, work out, and play for hours before we hop on a bus exhausted still having to do homework. This is better. And Johnny, I highly encourage you not to say anything else condescending because we all know that Fran is capable of killing you and making it look like it was self-defense.”

Jeremy could feel his face getting red, hating that her scolding his roommate was such a turn on to him. God, his mind wandered to some dark places, her taking charge of him if they ever got together. 

“How far away are we?” Maddy asks, changing the subject.

“Um,” Jeremy says, clearing his throat and shifting in his seat, trying to keep the wheel as steady as possible. “It says we’re about twenty minutes away.” 

Jeremy just had to get through Wednesday with Emeline sleeping in the same room as him. He could do that without issue, right?

He glanced quickly at her, trying not to let his vision stray from the road ahead of him for too long. She was pretty much turned around, talking and laughing with the rest of their friends. He loved her smile, how it lit up her entire face. 

‘Fucking, hell,’ he thought to himself, taking the exit off the highway. He really was screwed. 

By the time everyone gets settled in the house, they were in their room that was being shared with a couple of the other single guys. The rest of their teammates and their partners were spread out across the grounds, Fran, Maddy, and Johnny heading off to explore. 

Emeline and Jeremy elected to hang out in what Brad had referred to as the den, despite the fact that the singular room was probably bigger than both of their apartments combined. The couch was big enough that they could both comfortably sleep on it without being in the same time zone as each other, let alone have any worry about brushing up against each other. 

That was good, that was what Jeremy needed. 

Emeline said that she needed a minute to grab something from their room, telling Jeremy to pick something for them to watch while he waited for her.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Keel,” he heard her angrily whisper into her phone as if there was more than just him around to hear her. “There’s a bunch of us, what’s the problem? I’m already spending Thanksgiving alone, not that you seem to care, so why does it matter that I’m going somewhere with my friends before the holiday?”

He couldn’t hear what Keelan was saying, of course, but from Emeline’s reactions, it couldn’t be anything good. “Why don’t you trust me anymore? Why is it ok for you to go away on trips for weeks on end, your friends fine to go with you, Jacklyn from Accounting being in the room right next to you in every hotel you stay in, while I can’t go away with Fran and Maddy and my neighbors without you freaking out?”

She was arguing with Keelan about Jeremy. He muted the TV, trying to hear as much as he could. He shouldn’t be listening, but he had to. He couldn’t help it. 

“For fucks sake, you have been jealous and worried about Jeremy for months now,” she scolds him. “Grow the fuck up.”

She pauses, Keelan so loud on the other end that Jeremy could almost make out what he was saying. “You know what? If there was something going on with me and Jeremy, it serves you right. We haven’t been on the same page for a while, Keelan, and I know you know it, too. You wouldn’t have texted me that if you didn’t.” Emeline lets out a long sigh. “You had ‘no choice?’ If you had no choice, then I’m glad. At least I know you had the decency to wait until after my birthday before you broke up with me, even if we haven’t seen each other in two fuckign weeks. You didn’t even text me ‘happy birthday,’ until you were about to go to bed. The only kind of boyfriend that does that is a shitty ex-boyfriend.”

He was breaking up with her? Keelan actually thought he was the one who should be dumping Emeline, when it was clear to Jeremy, and probably anyone who cared, it should have been the other way around? 

Emeline finally comes over to the couch, throwing her phone on the opposite end and sitting next to Jeremy despite the space. Her eyes were red, her nose running. She looked like a mess. 

And Jeremy still thought she looked perfect.

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“My mom has another family.”

“I meant-” Jeremy starts, quietly, quickly cut off by Emeline.

“I found her on Facebook, right before I was going to start college. She’s never reached out, and I never reached out to her. She had me when she was 21 and I guess she just wasn’t ready to be a mom. But now, she has a husband and three boys in Connecticut. Her oldest is a freshman in college by now, if he went. And I know she loves them. I just wonder why she couldn’t love me. 

“Fran and Maddy don’t even know where she is, that I know where she is. Wethersfield, Connecticut. Literally a two hour ride. Less than that if you took the T to Riverside and drove the rest of the way down. She was so close to me this entire time, literally in our backyard, and never bothered to look. 

“I remember the first time I thought I was in love with Keelan,” she starts, looking down at her hands as she pulled her legs to her chest and changed the subject. “He called me every night to make sure I was ok after my grandmother died. He would bring me a change of clothes to the house and take my dirty ones back to the dorm and throw everything in with his stuff so I didn’t have to add laundry to the never ending list that came with cleaning out and getting rid of my dad and grandmother’s lives. 

“He was the one who helped me arrange for the house to be professionally cleaned, staged, and sold when Maddy and Fran didn’t know what to do. He was there for me when I didn’t know how to tell Fran and Maddy what was going on and what I was feeling. He was the one I went to when I had no one else.

“We were at the house one weekend trying to get the last bits of things laying around sorted into what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to donate, and he had put on Dead Poets Society because he knew it was my favorite movie at the time. The lights were off, we were just sitting on the couch under the blanket together, and I felt overwhelmed by the fact that the house I grew up in was bare, everything of the two most important people in my life getting slowly stripped away while I knew my mother was somewhere out there probably not thinking of me at all. And, I don’t know, he wrapped his arms around me and I felt safe and calm for the first time in what felt like forever. I loved how gentle he was when he kissed the top of my head and just let me cry during the last scene, because of the movie, because of my dad, my grandmother, I think even because of my mom.

“I fell asleep at some point, and I woke up to him making me breakfast, already having more of my grandmother's stuff pulled out and sorted because he knew that I was getting overwhelmed and he wanted to try to help me. He didn’t even know that I was in the kitchen when I saw him, and, I don’t know, I just knew I was in love with him.” 

“Emeline,” Jeremy says, wanting to reach out to hug her. This felt like the other night, her spilling her guts to him while all he could do is sit there and try his best. He wanted to do more for her. His best wasn’t anywhere good enough compared to what she really deserved. 

He thought back to what Fran told him that night in the stairwell, how Keelan wanted to break up with her, all while Emeline was falling in love with him. 

“I wasted seven years on him. I don’t think I’ve loved him for a while. I shouldn’t have loved him for this long if Fran and Maddy hated him so much. I shouldn’t have loved a guy who had the nerve to break up with me over text because I told him I was going away for a few nights with my friends. Why do I care so much about people who don’t want to care about me? Deep down, I still love my mom, even though I never knew her. Or, I guess, I love the idea of who she could have been to me. But Keelan? He was the one who was supposed to last. He was the one who filled in everything when things started to crack.” 

“What can I do?” Jeremy asks. 

Emeline hesitates. Jeremy wanted to just kiss her right there. Doing it now meant it wouldn’t be cheating for her. But that was the last thing he could do, with her sitting next to him, crying over her boyfriend breaking up with her just moments before. “Can we just sit here?”

He nods, unmuting the TV and turning his attention towards the screen. He feels Emeline grabbing the blanket that had been hanging over the back of the couch, nestling herself up against Jeremy as she threw it over the both of them. He put his arm around her, one of her arms resting on his leg. 

Eventually, she fell asleep, the guys shuffling in and around, not noticing them or not saying anything to them. 

He looked at her, her eyes closed with her head against his chest. 

“I think I love you, Emeline,” he whispers, knowing it wasn’t the entire truth, not loud enough for her to hear even if she was awake. 

Now he had a chance, though. He had a chance to be more than her friend.

[musicoftheheart]

Fave Marauders song? ☣️

hi! okay, so im assuming you mean a song i associate with each marauder? (this is a long answer ahaha, i like to talk)

also, if you want me to do more of these for any other characters or any ships, let me know!! this was a lot of fun to think about and write <333

ill start with james. the first song (because i cannot just pick one) would have to be 'peace' by taylor swift. hes a bundle of energy, and he tends to act before he thinks (see: wand left on couch.) "[danger's] just around the corner darling, cause it lives in me. no i could never give you peace." but also hes a lover, and he would do anything for the people he cares for. "im a fire and ill keep your brittle heart warm if your cascade ocean wave blues come" etc. theres still that little bit of uncertainty in him though; "would it be enough if i could never give you peace?" its him.

similarly, though, i think of him when i hear 'epiphany' from the same album. idk if its because i associate it with the first wizarding war and therefore james, but i just- its him. it just is.

i also hc james to have some level of mental health struggles, whether it be anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder. so, in my head, both 'talk too much' (specifically the ramble/bridge) and 'gemini moon' by reneé rapp scream james potter. i think 'gemini moon' would be something he'd try to hide relating to, because in his head hes supposed to be perfect, hes supposed to be a rock for everyone else. hes the golden boy of gryffindor tower, yknow. these also feel more like they relate to the modern/muggle aus i like to read though

on a similar note: 'mirrorball' by taylor swift. hes always putting on this show to make people smile, to help people, to make them laugh. he adapts to be what people need, but when he finally snaps, when everything just becomes too much, he doesnt just break - he shatters. "i know they said the end is near but im still on my tallest tiptoes" this could also relate to the war; he knows voldemort is targeting him, lily, and harry, but hes still trying to keep positive. "they called off the circus, burned the disco down" all the joy from hogwarts is gone because of the war but "im still trying everything to get you laughing at me" he wants to keep people smiling. he wants people to have hope.

also, although im trying to avoid ships, major shoutout to pretty much every jeremy shada song to exist, because theyre so james potter-coded regarding his love life and the way he loves people

alright, imma move onto sirius before i ramble too far. this first song ties a little into james though - 'seven' by taylor swift. specifically, james talking to sirius about his family and inviting him to live with the potters instead. have a listen and youll agree

still on his relationship with his family, sirius is definitely a 'family line' by conan gray sort of guy. he would scream it at the top of his lungs.

furthermore, sticking w conan gray, i love 'found heaven' as a sirius song, too. after spending so much of his life being told all the things wrong with him, only to discover his sexuality - yet another thing i think he'd have issues accepting about himself - he eventually does find that acceptance. "youll never get your mama's wedding ring. father always said you ruined everything. but you prayed, begged and prayed, heart unchanged" "dont be scared little child, you're no demon" "your heart is breaking as you leave that door. you never meant to start this holy war. but youre trapped, pack your bags, dont look back" just all of it. its him.

on a more positive note, though, i see 'boys & girls' by conan gray as his song too. again, im trying to keep away from talking about specific ships and focus on the individuals, but this works even more if you ship wolfstar. imagine remus singing this about sirius. as much as we all like to say remus is a cassanova of gryffindor, hes a lanky nerd covered in scars. he isnt typically/stereotypically "attractive", not like sirius. sirius, who is saught after by many, but never dares to look at his friend like that, because how could he? theyre friends, and thats all. right?

that leads nicely into remus. i dont have as many options to hand for remus as james and sirius, so ill just go through all that i can remember off the top of my head. most obviously: 'the view between villages' by noah kahan. i feel like i dont even need to explain this one. its all him. you could look at it from the beginning of poa when he returns to hogwarts, or you could look at it from when he goes back to hogwarts to fight in the final battle to ultimately die. either way, its him.

god okay i know i said i want to avoid ships but i just have to throw this in here. 'in the kitchen' by reneé rapp is so remus after he loses sirius, either to azkaban or the veil. give it a listen and tell me im wrong.

its a bit of a sad one, but 'the next right thing' from frozen 2 is kinda giving me remus vibes. like, especially after the first war, all his friends are dead, or traitors. and now dumblefuck is asking him to come back to hogwarts to teach his dead friends' son? what else was he to do but drag himself out of his misery and put harry first? he didnt have his friends left to fight for anymore, but he could still make a difference for harry.

'memories' by conan gray is also giving remus. i could see it being about sirius maybe coming to him after he escapes azkaban or after the prank, but i actually see it more as his thoughts after dumblefuck visits him to get him to teach at hogwarts. obv not every line of the song, but the main idea of it. "i wish that you would stay in my memories, but you show up today just to ruin things. i wanna put you in the past cause im traumatised, but youre not letting me do that"

that was... a much smaller amount of songs for remus than i thought i had. does anyone have any suggestions?

for peter, i had to do a little more thinking, honestly. 'i almost do' by taylor swift makes me think of him bc like, do you ever think peter considered trying to reach out to remus at all during those 12 years between james' death and sirius' escape from azkaban? i know it probably would not have gone well for him if he had but like... ive thought about it.

similarly, 'miss you' by conan gray. does peter have regrets about what he did? maybe. is he allowed to miss his friends after what he did? maybe. so much of this song does feel like what peter might have been thinking following the betrayal. "is it wrong to now decide i miss you?" yeah, maybe buddy.

but then maybe he wouldnt have, yknow. so my next thought was 'crossing the line' from tangled the series. its so incredibly peter & james coded (with james as rapunzel)

on a more fanon side of things, i think my answer would be 'bruises' by reneé rapp. if we're going with the whole thing where sirius especially, but the other marauders as a whole treat peter as lesser (i dont think thats canon, and honestly im not a huge fan of the hc either, but its still something i now associate w peter) then 'bruises' really captures how he'd feel. "all my friends make sweet fun of me...sure im down to be the joke, metaphorically though you could flip me inside out and it would show black purple and green" its his song if you hc this

finally, i put forward 'run' by taylor swift and ed sheeran. i want to think that, before turning to voldemort, peter tried to convince his loved ones to just escape the war. leave it for someone else to fight and die in. he wanted to survive, and he wanted his friends to survive too, if he could. ultimately, his friends wanted to stay. james and sirius had been wanting to join the order more than anything after they graduated, and remus felt he owed a debt, if nothing else. they werent going to leave or sacrifice their moral compass to save themselves. so peter ran, alone.

im going to leave it here for now, but again please feel free to ask for more characters or any ships!! i have songs for a couple other characters, i think, and a few ships, so ill do my best to answer what i can <33

[friendlies-af]

Broken phone p3

Did you miss this section? Today my sister Angel (@littleangelblogstuff) and I decided to draw together again. Today's topic suddenly became Mike (and we didn't discuss what we were going to draw in advance!). We drew within the New World!AU.

Jeremy picked out a dress for Puppet, but he's not sure if she'll like it. Mike thinks everything will be fine.

AI: 1boy, 1girl, :3, beanie, blue eyes, brown hair, crossed arms, crossover, dark-skinned male, dark skin, dress, english text, gradient, gradient background, green eyes, hat, jeans, open mouth, orange background, pants, pikachu, pokemon (creature), shirt, short hair, smile, turtleneck.

AI thinks Jeremy is a girl (does it knows something about the 2019 Rebornica's reboot??). Okay, I decided to stick to the “dress” and draw something from the past. I used the fan game "Five Nights of Flirting" as inspiration for Mike's childhood friend. I really liked Ellie, so I wanted to take her into my AU.

AI: 1boy, 1girl, :3, beanie, brown hair, fang, hat, holding, holding animal, holding pokemon, long hair, open mouth, pikachu, pokemon (creature), ponytail, purple shirt, shirt, smile, sunglasses, sweater, vest, yellow background.

Oh no, the sunglasses are missing! 😭 Okay, Ange decided to try the near-lineless style + Rebornica art style. Mike looks happy to have received the rare card.

AI: 1boy, bandaged arm, bandages, blue background, blue shirt, cellphone, closed eyes, crown, gradient, gradient background, hand on hip, holding, holding phone, male focus, phone, pikachu, pokemon (creature), shirt, short sleeves, smartphone, smile, solo, upper body.

“Bandaged Hands” immediately transported me to the present. No, Mike doesn't harm himself (on purpose)! One of my drawings showed Mike playing a game on his phone. I wanted to expand on this topic. "Mike, how often do you donate to this game?", "This is the first time!"

That's where Angie's part ends. I definitely liked it~

I wanted to draw Mike with Ellie's ghost. Due to his head injury, Mike has frequent headaches, and Ellie's presence almost always makes things worse.

AI: 1boy, 1girl, beanie, blue eyes, dark skin, ghost, hat, silhouette, sweatdrop, sweater, transparent background.

I like that the AI was able to see the ghost in the picture. But what I like even more was how Ange was able to draw something completely new! And then there is Ellie in life too!

AI: 1boy, 1girl, bandana, brown hair, closed eyes, covering mouth, flashlight, grin, hand over own mouth, holding, long hair, long sleeves, open mouth, purple shirt, red shirt, shirt, short sleeves, smile, teeth.

I liked the experience of drawing Michael Afton, so I decided to draw something dark again. The 1999 incident, also known as "the bite of '99". Someone had reprogrammed an animatronic dog to attack a boy who stood in his way to perform a ritual (and no, it's not Vincent!). Mike miraculously survived, but Ellie…

AI: 1boy, 1girl, bandana, blood, blood on face, brown hair, knife, red shirt, shirt, short hair, silhouette, weapon.

Back to the present, back to Ellie protecting Mike. She only does this in particularly stressful situations, because she understands that she is harming her friend.

Each time such drawing brings a new experience. I'm glad that so much attention was paid to Mike this time. This section doesn't end, and someday we will bring something more interesting! (Also, I think it's worth leaving the FnoF tag just in case)

[samsonofapollo]

Prompt: Swallow Down the Ichor Location: The Temple, Camp Halfblood Content Warning: Violence, homophobia, slurs, bullying, fire, burns

"‘The healer has the bloodiest hands.’ You cannot treat a wound without knowing how deep it goes. You cannot heal pain by hiding it. You must accept. Accept the blood to make things better."

“How do you know there wasn’t some kind of mistake?”

Samson’s voice cracked under the weight of it. He looked up at the man who claimed to be his Father - Apollo, the radiant god of prophecy and light. But Samson could only think of his father - the man halfway across the world, dragging an oxygen tank across brittle linoleum, lungs failing and still trying to joke through it.

“I’m no hero.”

He was just a boy. Flawed, worn thin, and imperfect in all the ways that mattered.

“I’ll fail them.” A breath caught. A shimmer rimmed his eyes like starlight weeping. “I’m not good enough.”

What if I make the wrong choice? What if someone gets hurt because of me? What if I give everything… and it’s still not enough?

Apollo’s gaze was steady and with it he didn’t offer any empty comfort, only truth.  

“A hero is not the one who wins.  A hero is the one who goes back - again and again - when the flames are highest. Now drink, Samson.”

The chalice was waiting and ambrosia shimmered inside, thick with divine light. Even before it touched his lips, Samson could hear it - an ancient harmony whispering through his ribs, threading itself through every trembling part of him.

The golden thread curled softly between his fingers, humming. It was fate, coiled and waiting. It was memory, ready to unravel.

He brought the cup to his lips and as the ambrosia poured across his tongue, warmth bloomed behind Apollo’s eyes. Twin rivers of sunlight burst forth like gold spun into motion - and Samson’s soul caught flame.

His Heartsong was waking - not with a whisper - but with a symphony.

Samson is seven.

“Sam’s a fag.”

It’s not a stranger that says it, it’s a friend. The others don’t say anything and Samson doesn’t understand the word, not yet. That night, he asks his father and the man’s face tightens as his mother’s lips draw into a line.

Later, Samson notices the back of Harlan’s welcome sign: “You’ll never leave Harlan alive.”

A week later, he tastes rust and blood against chain link. Laughter echoes behind him, and suddenly the wildflower festival feels like a lifetime ago. His mother asks why he doesn’t go play with the others and Samson shrugs before he starts lying.

But he sees it now - what he couldn’t then - threads. Radiant threads, tying them to him. Thin, frayed, and fragile.

On the playground, a brush of fingers during tag turns into gagging, faux retching. “You’ll catch queer,” they laugh. Samson laughs too, because not laughing is worse. Each smile cuts, each chuckle tears.

Music finds him next and his father buys him a violin, then a keyboard, a guitar - anything to keep him busy. It’s not good for a boy to stay inside too long, he says but it’s the cello that stops Samson in his tracks.

Love at first resonance. The sound that comes from it doesn’t mock him. It’s a voice that does not turn away and the strings don’t flinch when Samson touches them - they sing with him.

Samson is eleven when they break a rib and black eyes bloom like ink stains. The nurse doesn’t ask. Neither does the teacher. That same year, Jeremy Roberts and the boys shove a dead frog in his mouth. They shoot bottle rockets at his back as he walks home.

In high school, it’s worse. Cigarette burns above his shoulder blade - a souvenir from a party he wasn’t invited to. Three burns in a constellation of pain. Their laughter winds around his throat like a thread meant to strangle. With it, there is a moment - long and cold - where Samson believes: they will kill me.

They will kill me and no one will stop them.

His mother asks again if he’s okay. His grades are perfect, his playing is better than ever. So Samson smiles, and lies.

Others talk about the mines - the money - and the certainty of employment after high school. Samson stays silent because he’s already planning how to get out. He won’t die under that mountain, his music will save him, maybe medicine - maybe both.

He will leave Harlan alive.

College tastes like air after drowning and Samson lets himself vanish into the crowd. Tries on ease, he parties, and he pretends.

And for a time, someone sees through the mask. One boy, in a crowd of strangers - Merrick.

Their threads tangle, bright as spun sunlight. They tip their foreheads together before goodbye. It’s soft, it’s not meant to be a tragedy so much as a release. This is a good thing, even when it hurts. This is their ending. 

Then comes the phone call, his father is sick. Samson thinks, for one selfish heartbeat, What if I didn’t go back? But he knows because he has always known - he does not choose the easy path.

They say you can always go home, but they never tell you what it’ll cost. At twenty-six, he’s been in the mines for years. Working beside the same boys who broke him. Their jokes are crass and he laughs because now he knows how.

Samson’s no longer tormented - now he’s invisible.

When the fire comes, it’s sudden. Thick black smoke, screams, and heat like the breath of Titans.

Samson goes in.

Once. Twice. Again.

He pulls Jeremy Roberts from the rubble, then Calvin, and then Harold.

They live, thank him, and Samson nods - silent.

He wishes he’d let them burn.

Samson is laid out on the Temple floor, golden light spilling from his lips, threads of fate unraveling from his fingertips. His eyes are no longer just blue, but they swirl with mist, silver poured into sky, clouds moving behind his gaze.

In this divine moment, he sees - 

Jeremy, a child again, tying a bracelet around Samson’s wrist. His hand hovering when they call Samson a slur. The way he doesn’t speak, the way he hesitated to join in. The way it didn't stop him.

Later, in the mines, Jeremy’s face blackened with soot.

“Thanks, Sammy.”

Samson does not forgive him, but he doesn’t need to as the thread between them unwinds. 

Fades.

Apollo kneels as his hands glow with a healer’s light:

“You, my son, were born perfect.”

The golden threads bloom from Samson’s chest, unfurling into the air like starlight spun by mercy. They dance with his Heartsong, mending old wounds and uncovering new ones: 

Of light. Of fate. Of healing.

And when the flames rise again -

Samson will go in.

Because that’s what heroes do.

[gallavich-annise]

Shameless Rewatch Thoughts!

Order Room Service 

This was another great episode, with a surprisingly good Frank subplot. Which, knowing what's coming next episode is understandable... Make him more sympathetic to make the reveal hit harder. But it's not just Frank that hits... Lip's plot is weaker in my eyes, but hits because Jeremy Allen White does an amazing job with it. Emmy Rossum does an absolutely amazing job, and Justin Chatwin even makes me care about the assumed demise of Jimmy Steve. Ian is not given enough screentime for what the episode wanted to do, but Cameron Monaghan nonetheless made it work. 

My point is that this was another strong episode, with some good stories, but I think the performances were stronger than the writing. 

In this episode, Fiona starts to plan for a possible move to Michigan, and gets closer to Mike. Jimmy Steve gets back in trouble with the Brazilian Mafia. Lip helps with Karen when she returns from hospital. Mandy helps prep for Mickey's wedding, and Ian goes to try and stop Mickey from getting married. Carl and Frank go to rob the foster gays.

Once again, Debbie has zero to do in this episode, which is very sad. She goes camping with Fiona and Liam, I guess? But I don't remember her having more than a couple of incidental lines. Nothing with meat.

But! Carl gets a whole plot with Frank that is actually very cute, despite being Frank-centric.

Frank wakes up on the train where he is pushed around by a homeless guy... Aside from showing once again that Frank stinks, the only point of this is to get Frank annoyed enough at his lack of place to sleep to try badgering his family again. 

He finds Carl, who is probably still the most sympathetic Gallagher child, despite everything. Frank "got him through cancer" though. Someone really needs to explain to that child that he never had cancer... Ugh. But no. They don't do that. Anyway, Frank does an impressive rant about how awful Grammy was (and how awful he was as a child... He set her on fire while she was napping?!) but he still looked after her when she was dying. And Carl offers him the van. I don't know if Frank is pretending gratitude or is actually surprised into being grateful, but it's a kinda sweet moment. 

And Carl being Carl it's not the best of dwellings and all he gives him to eat are pizza crusts (Debbie would have got him something better) but Frank ends up getting nostalgic and tells Carl about his first heist with his dad. At which point Carl mentions he has the security codes to his foster gay's house and knows their work schedule. Carl shows a surprising amount of savvy in this scene, and is able to answer Frank's questions smartly... It's funny, but I feel like Frank doesn't ask enough questions. 

(I also have a mild head scratch at the idea that they both work weekends and wonder how that would have worked with kids around, but babysitters exist and maybe they have local family, it's just something my brain latched onto briefly.) 

Anyway, Carl pretending to be sick to get out of the camping trip is funny... Fiona is the most credulous, and... Should Ian and Lip really be leaving a sick ten year old alone? But they do. It's whatever.

Total aside, but the moment when Fiona leaves with Liam and Debbie and Lip goes "nurture nature!" at Liam and Debbie is abso-fucking-lutely adorable and made me smile so hard.

Carl hiding under his covers to draw a floor plan of his foster parents' apartment is very cute. And the heist is pretty fun too! Frank steals a fez and some electronics and silverware. It's all pretty reasonable as small scale robberies go. Then they go back to the van to examine the spoils.

It's all actually really... Well cute is possibly not the right word for larceny, but in terms of the characters it is cute! They give Frank and Carl another nice bonding moment, in a very Frank way.

And then at the end... The police arrest Carl (with no parent or guardian present, which seems super dodgy, but it also seems dodgy that a 10yo was left alone). Lip comes home to see him being pulled into a car and goes APE SHIT, it's so good... Big Brother Lip Activated in the best way, I love him!!! 

Then the moment that makes you stop and question everything... Frank hears and rather than doing his usual Frank thing of rationalising and running ("he's only 10! He'll get juvie time at worst" I could almost hear it) he... Turns himself in. Obviously this kid's an idiot and couldn't have planned this, I made him give me the code. Sold most of the goods already. It's... Beautiful. It's Frank gab used for good! And Frank is dragged off and Lip and Ian and Carl are left gawking. "What happened?" "Hell froze over". It's amazing. Beautiful. I loved it. 

So given that Lip and Ian are in very connected stories, I'm gonna go to Fiona and Jimmy Steve next.

And... Well Fiona does so well at the start of this. She's thinking of how they could move to Ann Arbor with Jimmy for the year, and it's generally being darling and supportive. She does the right things. She's suggesting plans, looking up options, and she's discussing them with Jimmy! She moots it to the kids as a possibility to get them used to the idea. And she tells V... V doesn't have much to do this episode, but her little cameo in this thread was adorable where she grumbles at Jimmy for taking her Fiona. "We're telling people already?" "Not people, just V" "I'm happy for you I'm just sad for me".

Fiona also talks to her boss Mike about the possibility of there being work with the company in Michigan and the sweet sweet man is adorably disappointed about the idea of her moving away. So much so that he invites her camping. "Hey would you like to come join me camping in the woods... No shit, wait, I mean including your man and your siblings and there will be loads of folk from work." It's hilarious and I laughed. He's so cute!! I'd completely forgotten how cute Mike was. 

Meanwhile, Jimmy is fielding pointless calls from Estefania on the 911 line, and he's pissed off with that. He's also lying to Fiona about the fact that he's already enrolled to start classes in January and he's got a credit check on a studio apartment.

Jimmy Steve. You absolute tool. How were you thinking this was gonna go?! Fiona finds out by chance because he left his phone behind, and answers a call that the audience is expecting to be Estefania!! But no. It's not. It's a realtor. So there's that. 

The argument is amazing. It's not a good fight this time... as in it's not productive or airing valid disagreements on both sides and attempting to get to a consensus. This time it's bitchy and absolutely justified and they both get very angry and it's great drama. "I've been living in a slum," "A slum? You made me feel I could depend on you and now it's a slum?" That little incredulous laugh there is perfect. Love it so much. 

And she storms off. Done with his shit. 

And you know that she doesn't really think it's the end. Sure she's pissed off, but you have every expectation based on that fight that they will be able to make up of they both want to. They've fought like that before and come back together!

Next day, Fiona puts a brave face on, lies about having talked to Jimmy about the studio and takes Debbie and Liam camping. Debbie and Liam vanish with the other kids, which is meh... I'd like to see what they make of camping. But all of this is just about getting Fiona and Mike to SMOOCH. because heaven forfend Fiona should have to go more than 16 seconds without a boyfriend. 

That's unfair to the episode, because I do like Mike. I think they have fun chemistry and it's sweet and flirty and adorable and Mike is a way way better prospect than Jimmy for many reasons. The actual scenes work. He's nice to her, clearly interested but not being pushy or rude. And Fiona invites the attention because he's nice, and because she's pissed at Jimmy. It all works. When they eventually kiss, it actually feels earned, and I really liked their little almost-sex scene in his tent where she backs off. Like, he knew she had a boyfriend so it isn't a surprise, and he doesn't get angry. He's drunk, which is possibly why he made the move on the first place... But he immediately goes "yeah you're probably doing this for revenge, not that I mind" and it's sweet! Ugh, I'd forgotten how much I like Mike. 

And their conversation afterwards is just perfect for setting them up as an ongoing thing once Fiona realises Jimmy Steve isn't coming back. He's really sweet about her not having sex with him despite giving every indication that she would (this should be a low bar, but... You know...). She talks about her relationship issues... About how she was trying so hard to make things work that she overlooked Jimmy's lying. Again. Which, yeah... Self-awareness from Fiona there. 

Then she calls Jimmy and leaves a message. I get this. She still wants to make things work with Jimmy despite all the lies. And they clearly love each other, even if the trust is going to be severely damaged. For all that Jimmy makes bizarre choices with the truth, I never really doubt that he loves Fiona. He's just a recreational liar (as my BFF put it when I went on a blorbo ramble). 

It's ironic that Fiona is just starting to learn compromise and negotiating skills. She concedes that moving to Michigan was probably a bit of a reach and maybe they should discuss it more. She reaches out to try and make up. It's sweet and lovely. 

More so because you see Jimmy on the other side of it and what he's going through. 

Now... My bugbear with this plot line is that it only works because Jimmy Steve makes the odd and out-of-character choice to go and crash with his unwilling old med school friend. We catch them in the morning when the doctor friend is on his way to work and I love the scene for his bitching at Jimmy for being a shitty houseguest. And... Like the impression we got is that these were reasonably good friends just reconnecting, so it's not completely out there that he would go to him. But every other time he's had Fiona strife, he went to Estefania.

I can think my way through why he wouldn't, so it does just about hold together. He wants to rant about Fiona, in particular about Fiona and Michigan, and he hasn't told Estefania about that yet. So it's... Okay. But the fact that he doesn't go to Estefania is entirely a plot convenience that just about hangs together, and you will not convince me otherwise. 

Because obviously he ignored that Este call. And now Beto picks him up and her Dad is in town. Nando is... Proper scary. He's a great character and a great threat. And Justin Chatwin does great work with his fear and uncertainty. Everything Nando says is laced with threat and Jimmy is clearly terrified and trying to talk his way out of what he thinks the problem is (that is, that Nando has got wind of the Michigan plan and is upset he hasn't spoken to Estefania about it yet). But the actual problem is that Este has been dragged into INS holding because he ignored her call. 

I don't know how INS actually works... Nando makes clear that they were under extra scrutiny because Nando is wanted. So maybe it's not unreasonable. But the whole system they had was ridiculous and there was a lot of bullshit around it that didn't work and was annoying. 

But here we are, with Jimmy dissembling as Nando explains what happened. She didn't even know his birthday "My birthday is Christmas! We did flashcards!" (I'm kind of with Jimmy on that one... I feel like Estefania also had a role to play and I don't think she did her part...) 

The last scene with Beto and the car "be a man for once and get out of the car" is just... Brilliant. Jimmy is shit-scared and Beto... Beto liked him. He thought he was an idiot, but he liked him. He doesn't want to be asked to kill him. But he'll do it because that's his job. It's really effective, and a really great character moment. I will miss Beto. 

Jimmy's phone is thrown in the lake after he asks to call Fiona. He goes onto the boat. Bye bye Jimmy Steve. 

For all my ups and downs with Jimmy Steve, this is a great dramatic ending. We never see him die so there's hope (and I think even on first watch I'd spoiled myself about his return just by reading Wikipedia cast lists). But otherwise you know he's not coming back. 

So at the end of the Brazilian Mafia/Estefania plot, I am still somewhat annoyed that the thread at the end of season 2 with Marco hitting Estefania was used in one episode for one moment and never mentioned again. I'm not sorry to see it done with, 

I think Jimmy was the most fully realised of Fiona's love interests, with the possible exception of Sean. I liked a lot about him, and wanted to like him more... Thinking about it now, a bit of me wonders what Jimmy Steve might have been with season 4 writing. It's weird... I'm thinking that I didn't like Jimmy Steve, but right now I'm trying to remember if they ever did better with any of Fiona's love interests and I don't think they did. That's kind of sad. 

Anyway. I still have Lip and Karen/Mandy and Ian to go through. 

Lip... Lip has realised what he's in for with Mandy and wants out. And he goes to Kev for advice. That is amazing actually and I love that Kev immediately agrees that it's serious and if he really thinks Mandy is capable of that he needs to get out carefully. Like... I love Mandy, so much, but... She did fully run Karen over and it's valid for Lip to be a bit scared of her for that! 

I even think Kevin's advice is fairly reasonable, all things considered... But Mandy is in too deep with Lip so it's debatable how long that would have taken to work, given how generally indifferent Lip already was for vast portions of their relationship. Sigh. He also advises him not to tell her how he's helping so much with Karen. Which has obviously been a point of jealousy for her already... All through this I just felt so sad for all three of them. Mandy hitched her cart to an emotionally unavailable Lip. Lip was a dick to her and was messed up over Karen. Karen was horrible to him, but it's painful under any circumstances to see someone you loved be changed fundamentally in such a brutal fashion. 

The scenes with Karen are... Hard for me to unpick. I disliked Karen but feel sorry for her. I don't have enough knowledge to critique the depiction of the effects of traumatic brain injury but it doesn't feel totally unrealistic. Lip in those segments was... Heartbreaking. "It's just me now I know you're in there"... It's awful. Because the Karen he knew *isn't* there... Sheila makes a comment about her being nicer, and it makes my skin crawl, even if it's true. Because... "I love you regardless of what happened and who you are now" is one thing. Grieving for the person she was is another. And "actually I think you're better now you're brain damaged" is... Another. 

I do feel like Karen got fridged... Obviously they wanted the character gone, and chose this method to increase Lip's man-pain. But it's also a very Shameless exit for the character. The sweet, forgetful Karen we see in these couple of scenes is a very different person to the snarky girl who could match Lip's wit and banter. She seems much better suited to Jody's quiet and simplicity (not calling him stupid... He's just less complicated and gnarly than Lip in many ways, and that's not a bad thing!)

The decision to move gets made between one casual mention and Lip's next visit. And this version of Karen likes Hymie and wants to play with the baby, and wants Jody. It all made me feel a lot of things, moreso this second time around I think. I think it still bothers me that new Karen is being pushed into a lot of things that old Karen would actively have hated. But... They're not going against her current wishes, just doing what they think is best. I think it's weird that they send Hymie off with her when Mrs Wong was happy to keep him. "He should be with his mother" who hadn't even held him before she got a traumatic brain injury. It's... Weird. But as a way to say goodbye to that whole chunk of story in a way that's somewhat narratively satisfying it not emotionally, it works. I still wish Jody was given more of a voice and agency, because it still feels very much like Sheila sent him back to Karen and he went off like a good puppy, rather than that he actually made a choice. 

The final goodbye doesn't come yet, but... It is all coming to a wrap-up. 

And Mandy and Lip? Lip tries to follow Kev's advice and rebuff Mandy's advances, but she jumps him in the kitchen. It's another of the signature Shameless male rape scenes. And this time it's not acknowledged as such... I guess it only counts if the guy isn't straight?! The inconsistent treatment of this topic, and it's sheer frequency is weird to me, and irritating. Especially as the show sometimes doesn't seem to realise that's what's happened. Like, here I feel like it's framed afterwards as "Lip got turned on and caved"... It's all very icky. And again, people react in different ways... But in Shameless they often pick this way so it's more suss.

Then Lip and Mandy have an argument when Mandy realises he's hiding from her in the bathroom because either the door doesn't have a lock/the lock is broken (plausible) or Lip didn't lock it (stupid but also plausible). And she storms off. It's all very... Very. I don't know what to say about this blow up in particular.

The thing that makes it particularly complicated, of course, is that Mandy is still Ian's best friend. Lip hasn't told Ian what happened, and Ian doesn't even find out in this episode (if ever), because when Lip fully realises that his version of Karen is gone and decides to just rage at Mandy about it, Ian is falling down drunk and mired in his own Milkovich-related misery.

Which brings me to Ian. Ian baby, darling. He's pretending to be sick at the start of the episode, but Lip knows the reason and wants him to stay away from the wedding. Sensible advice, probably... But does Ian follow it?! No. First he helps Mandy set up, and gets a bit more scoop on Svetlana. "Does he love her" "I dunno, but plenty of guys knock a girl up and don't get hitched. Dad's really excited... It's kinda sweet." Oh Mandy, baby. Naive, perhaps? Doesn't want to get involved? Has changed tune a bit from "Mickey's fucking up his life". I dunno... I feel like Mandy is very odd and inconsistent in these moments and I'm not sure if it's intentional or if the writers are just using her as a mouthpiece to feed Ian's worst fears. It's a bit odd. 

And then. And then we have the basement scene. Mickey smoking, agitated. His ill-fitting tux and the blue boutonniere that somehow doesn't even match his eyes. It's so so sad. 

Ian shows up... And I find this scene deeply weird on a narrative level. Because the last we saw them together was "you love me and you're gay" and Mickey kicking Ian's teeth out. But here he just picks up as if they're in the middle of a conversation and both of them know all the context. Maybe we're supposed to assume they've had another conversation. "You call me a punk for wanting a boyfriend" is not a conversation they had on screen and it should have been to reference it like this here! Mickey's response has none of the evasion and retreat that we saw at the abandoned buildings. I can rationalise that in a million ways, but it's so frustrating how little we see on screen. The performances here are incredible. We see it all. The conversation. That Mickey's being forced into this marriage. That Ian is naive to not understand that, and to think that Mickey will suddenly leave with him when the last time they spoke Mickey kicked him in the face rather than admit his feelings. 

The lines are good, even if the connective tissue between them is paper thin. The delivery is perfect. I still get chills at "not everybody gets to just blurt out how they feel every fucking minute." Because Noel Fisher is amazing at this, and Cameron Monaghan is amazing and they have incredible chemistry that makes me eat it all up and believe it even when the script is three random quotes taped on to the back of a takeaway menu. It's truncated and weird and it needed more. So much more. 

I love Mickey's "just because I'm getting hitched doesn't mean we can't still bang" almost because it's such a departure from their previous meeting. Like he's talked himself around. He's thought about it a lot. This will get Terry off his back, they can do it if they hide. And Ian asks him "don't do this" and that kiss in answer! Like it's a language they both understand... Only they don't understand each other. There was a drabble about this that absolutely killed me (I tried to find it but couldn't dig it up or remember who it was by but the last line was something like "because Ian heard 'let's go' and Mickey was saying 'stay' and the difference was just enough to matter." If this was you, I'm sorry and I loved it, please link me!)

And after the angry sex, they realise the miscommunication and... Mandy walks in before they resolve it. And this is possibly the first point where her face shows confusion. 

I love the shot of Mickey's hand holding Svet's with the FUCK on show as Ian walks towards the bar. And the poor baby downs a tonne of booze. Lip shows up to yell at Mandy, and Ian interrupts and blurts their secret out to... Definitely Mandy who didn't know. Maybe Kenyatta, who makes his first appearance here as a not-character. Possibly a lot of other people in the room who shouldn't know Ian's gay, let alone Mickey. I mean I know he's drunk but his self-preservation instincts definitely took the night off. 

It's weird to me that we don't see where Mickey and Svetlana are at this point... There's a panning shot of Terry dancing with a bridesmaid, but maybe Mickey and Svetlana have already gone?! I don't know what to think about that... It means we don't know whether Mickey sees how drunk Ian gets, we don't get any kind of reaction from him after the wedding until the next episode. 

Lip gets Ian out, though, truncating his own argument with Mandy... And that then links up with the Carl arrest and the end of the episode. 

There's so much good in this episode that the moments where it's off stand out more and it's a shame. I don't think there's a wasted scene, but there are truncated ones that needed to breathe more. I loved this episode and the stories are powerful... It just misses the mark in a couple of small areas. 

I think I've said before, though, that that's why I latched on to Shameless as much as I did... I don't create sideblogs or write stupidly long episode meta about shows that I straight up love and think are good. I'm not on here rambling drunkenly about Babylon 5 because even its flaws make more sense than Shameless!

But here I am and here I stay, for at least a little while longer... I haven't decided how far I'm going to rewatch... I'm definitely planning to watch to the end of season 5, but I'm not sure if I'll continue my rambles that far, let alone further. We'll see how I feel. 

I'll definitely be back for 3.12 soon though.

[skeletorsims]

It is late when Jeremy finds Mr. Liu playing chess. Despite the fact they live in the same house, it sometimes seemed they lived in different worlds. They were both not men of means, that was obvious enough by Mr. Liu's clothes and the meager belongings he had brought with him, and yet while Jeremy spent nearly all of his waking hours outdoors doing yardwork and tending to the animals, it seemed sometimes that Mr. Liu had not stepped out of the house at all. Despite the fact that it had been hours, Jeremy was still unable to stop scowling, the anger was still curling in his gut, his hands still clenched. Wei does not notice him until he speaks. "You have nearly everything for your plot, am I right, Mr. Liu?" He is usually left alone, but he manages to keep the surprise off his face as he looks up to see Jeremy Teeth, his expression sour. Wei has to pause for a moment, try and remember if he could be the cause of this poor mood. "I do. I just require the wood material. I, unfortunately, think that will hold me back from moving out this season. I don't have the skill to fell trees yet." Mr. Teeth smiles at this, and Wei can't help but narrow his eyes, attempting to find what would cause this; what his angle for asking could be. People did not often make small talk with him, and Mrs. Hollowbreast (how strange it was to call her that, but she was his only real friend in Mr. Lace's home and she had looked rather upset when he had forgotten) was now very busy with her husband.

Oh, and the child. But Mr. Teeth's smile is charming, better than the scowl, at least. "What is this about?" He asks finally, when there is no reply. "Sorry, I was just thinking. I have all the wood I need and, well, things have become rather unwelcoming for me here. I am sure you have noticed." Wei supposed it would be rather hard not to. He wasn't aware of the reason but it was difficult to ignore the fights, and the unpleasantness at meals. "And what are you getting at?" Wei says with a sigh. "Well, surely you will need some help establishing yourself. Perhaps it would be best to head out sooner with me." "Are you going to make a move, or are we just talking?" Mr. Liu says suddenly. Jeremy blinks at him. "I am not quite sure what you mean, Mr. Liu?" "Do you know how to play?" Wei replies, in a tone suggesting he is clarifying, but still leaving Jeremy confused. "I feel as though I am not quite following, sir, apologies." He says again, brows drawing together. "Chess, Mr. Teeth." Wei clarifies, "I would like to know before we discuss further if it would be alright to play or if you intend to do so as well." Jeremy can't help but smile, relieved; a little amused. "Oh. Well. Can you teach me?" "Yes. And while I do let's speak about this further." All in all, it is a productive conversation.

[nonbigalmari]

[This is a transcript written by me (Mari Diaz) from April 3rd 2024 at 9:00 pm. written in third person.]

[The transcript begins with Mari standing in the middle of a field at night, several cans of Root Beer laying on the floor with a wagon full of fireworks, mostly roman candles, as Mari grabs one out of the pack and flicks a silver lighter open.]

Ma: Let the show begin.

[Mari lights the firework and points it to the sky, after a few seconds multiple balls of light come shooting out with a sound that sounds almost like a whistle. After a few more seconds the light stops, and the wind blows… A groan. It echoes through the forest behind Mari as they pause and look behind them.]

Ma: HELLO? ANYONE THERE?

[No response besides more groaning, Mari sighs looking back over at the roman candles and grabbing two.]

Ma: Oh fuck yeah, forgot I could shoot off two.

[Mari ties the wicks on both roman candles together, before lighting them up and pointing them at the sky. As before balls of light begin flying out of the tubes, whistling by as they shoot off. Mari begins giggling as the fireworks continue.]

Ma: YEAHHHHHHHHH BUDDY! THIS SHIT IS STILL FUN.

[Eventually the fireworks stop, and Mari throws the tubes on the ground. Again another strange noise, this time more groaning, less muffled but still far away. Followed by the crunching of leaves, Mari slowly turns around.]

Ma: Fucking hello? I hear you walking dickhead!

[No response, after this Mari rips off one of their shoes, removes the sock and grabs a soda can, stuffing it into the sock and tying it up.]

Ma: OK ASSHOLE! IF YOU TRY ATTACKING ME LIKE I'M SOME DUMB TEEN IN A SHITTY 80S OR 90S HORROR MOVIE I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS!!!

[The walking stops, Mari smiles.]

Ma: YEAH THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT! FUCK OFF WISH.COM JASON VOORHEES ACTING BITCH!

[Mari wraps the sock around their hand for easy access before grabbing another roman candle, the walking starts back up while Mari lights the candle as does the groaning but now… it sounds like. Screaming?]

?: PUT IT UP!!!! HIGHER!!!!

[Mari screams as something runs at them, they turn around and point the roman candle at the figure as it goes off, shooting the figure with several balls of fire before Mari throws the candle in a bucket of water before running over to the figure.]

Ma: I SWEAR TO GOD! WAIT… H?

Ha: [Muffled.] YES. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. OW.

[H continues rolling around on the grass screaming.]

Ma: What the fuck are you even doing out here?

Ha: [Muffled.] HAVING A BREAKDOWN. WHY ARE YOU OUT HERE.

Ma: Distracting myself from Jeremy being dead, everytime I blink I see his face… or lack thereof. Anyway, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

[H finally sits up, ripping off her mask.]

Ha: WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN?

Ma: YOU SOUNDING LIKE A SERIAL KILLER IN A SHITTY HORROR FLICK. GROANING IN THE FOREST, WALKING SLOWLY, RUNNING AT ME ALL CREEPY AND SHIT.

[H stops, looking at Mari.]

Ha: I was sobbing you dumbass! As for the walking, I have a limp.

Ma: What.

Ha: YEAH! I…

[H looks at her right thigh, duct tape wrapped around it.]

Ha: Nothing

Ma: Damn. Anyway, what happened? Why the breakdown.

Ha: Me and Alexander got into a fight, he said shit… nothing that wasn't right. It just hurts having my fears be proven right.

Ma: Oh… Um… Ok… Are you good?

Ha: Nope! Unless you meant the firework in which case, yep!

[H stands up, dusting herself off looking back at Mari.]

Ha: How are you?

Ma: … Alive.

Ha: Well no shit I see that, I meant how are you with everything that's happened.

Ma: … Ugh. Not great. But it's fine.

Ha: You sure?

Ma: … No. No, I'm not. But it doesn't matter.

Ha: It does… But no point in pushing you to speak about it.

[Mari grabs another can of root beer and opens it, taking a sip before looking back at H.]

Ma: I'm making a transcript out of this. Can I uh… Use two letters from the name you said to Jenny during y'alls fight?

Ha: … No. Use a question mark.

Ma: I already do that for E. Not having two question mark goobers.

Ha: … Fine. Fuck it.

Ma: THANK YOU! GOD DAMN!

Ha: Yeah.

[H grabs the knife that fell when she hit the ground, a bit of brown-ish black-ish blood on the blade. As she stuffs it into her pocket.]

Ha: Welp! I should get going… Um… Enjoy your fireworks… I guess…

Ma: Yep. Later.

[Mari turns around, not taking a second glance at H, H continues looking at Mari, almost looking worried before turning around and slowly limping off. Once the footsteps get quiet Mari begins crying. Throwing the can of soda on the ground before screaming.]

Ma: IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR. WHY HIM. WHY HIM.

[Mari begins kicking more shit over, including the wagon with roman candles. They eventually fall to the ground. Sobbing.]

[End transcript.]

[betatesterjenny]

[This is a transcript from March 26th, 2024. These events happened directly before I wrote this, so… I’m a bit. Shaky. So please bear with me here. Thank you. This will be written in third person so it, uh… looks like the other transcript posts. Yeah.]

[Jenny sits on the couch, uh… (God, I have to be honest.) Jenny sits on the couch, halfway cuddling with Jeremy. She’s on her phone, scrolling endlessly down a tag, while Jeremy is on his own phone, seeming to occasionally answer an ask or two.]

[Just then, the creak of a door is heard followed by footsteps. Someone coughs, looking at Jeremy.]

[Jenny looks up first, then smiles.]

Jenny: Oh, hi Sparrow!

[Jeremy tenses a bit, then glances over a little. His eyes are halfway covered by his hair, slightly messy from Jenny ruffling it a bit earlier.]

Sparrow: Hi mom… Are you two ok?

[Jenny sits up a little bit, picking her head up from where it rested on Jeremy.]

Jenny: Yeah, why? Is something up?

Sparrow: Do you two um… Wanna play monopoly..?

[Jenny nods a bit, repositioning on the couch.]

Jenny: Sure! I don’t really remember how to play very well, but I can figure it out!

[As soon as Jeremy sits up, his eyes are visible, and the light reflects off of them. They’re purple.]

Sparrow: I. No. No. NO. NO. NO.

[Sparrow crouches down, trying to make themselves smaller while looking at Jeremy terrified.]

[Jenny’s face immediately drops to an expression of concern.]

Jenny: Wait, what? What’s wrong?

[Jenny turns to look at Jeremy, and as soon as she sees his eyes as well, she jumps up from the couch, instinctively going towards Sparrow, ready to stand between the two. She puts a bit of space between herself and ‘Jeremy’, anxiety quickly rising and pulsing through her veins.]

Sparrow: PURPLE. WHY ARE THEY PURPLE. I THOUGHT IT WAS OK! I THOUGHT EVERYTHING WAS OK!

[Sparrow goes to hide right behind Jenny, still looking at ‘Jeremy’, their eyes as wide as they could humanly go.]

[Jenny tries her best to level her voice, but it still wavers a bit as she speaks.]

Jenny: What do you want..?

[‘Jeremy’ smiles. It’s unsettling seeing such an expression on a trusted person’s face.]

Jeremy: Oh, come on. Can’t a man teach a lesson in peace?

Jenny: Get out of my house.

Sparrow: Please… Please go away…

[‘Jeremy’ laughs, then leans a bit closer, specifically looking at Sparrow.]

Jeremy: What’s wrong? Scared of your own father?

Sparrow: I… Your eyes… There…

Jenny: Back off.

[‘Jeremy’ stands back up to full height.]

Jeremy: And who are you to stand in my way, really?

[Jenny steps forward, getting closer to him.]

Jenny: Their mother.

[‘Jeremy’ steps forward, unafraid of the threat.]

Jeremy: And so what?

[A harsh slap is heard throughout the room. ‘Jeremy’ stumbles back a bit, surprised at the retaliation.]

[Sparrow flinches a bit at the noise, still looking at ‘Jeremy’.]

Jenny: And so it’s my job to protect them, asshole.

[‘Jeremy’ sways a bit on his feet, as if trying to keep himself upright. He takes a step forward, his whole body shaking from the effort. He looks Sparrow in the eyes, his voice trembling.]

Jeremy: I’m… I’m still here… I’m sorry…

[Sparrow's eyes widen even more, looking at Jeremy. Clearly upset.]

Sparrow: J- Jeremy?

[‘Jeremy’s’ head drops, and he stands up properly again. Jenny steps back in front of Sparrow as he does.]

Jeremy: Stubborn tonight, isn’t he? How admirable of him.

[He looks at Sparrow again.]

Jeremy: He wants nothing more right now than to help you.

Sparrow: I… Please go away… Please…

[Sparrow looks down at the ground, terrified.]

[Jenny offers her hand to Sparrow as ‘Jeremy’ laughs again.]

Jeremy: You want him to leave? Oh, poor guy. He’s working really hard.

Sparrow: I… No… No I didn't mean that!

Jeremy: Oh, too bad… There he goes.

[‘Jeremy’ laughs harsher than before. Jenny reaches to try to hold Sparrow’s hand.]

Sparrow: I didn't want him gone… not Jeremy… y- you…

[Sparrow begins to tear up, still looking at the floor.]

Jeremy: Well, you should’ve been clearer. He’s given up on you… Looks like you’ll just have to get used to me.

Sparrow: You aren't Jeremy. Go away.

[Sparrow begins shaking, terrified.]

Jeremy: New and improved.

[Sparrow is still looking at the floor, not moving.]

Jenny: Don’t you dare imply that you were a better father.

Jeremy: I’ll prove it.

Sparrow: … no…

Jenny: E said your children hated you.

Jeremy: Maybe I’ve improved.

Jenny: Bullshit.

[‘Jeremy’ leans down to Sparrow’s eye level.]

Jeremy: All you have to do is trust me.

[Sparrow looks at ‘Jeremy’ in the eyes, their eyes full of tears.]

Sparrow: YOU AREN'T MY DAD!

[After screaming, Sparrow turns around and runs out of the door. Sobbing. Closing the door with a slam.]

[Jenny’s brave face falls, and she runs to the door, but stops before opening it. She sighs, then looks at ‘Jeremy’.]

[As soon as Jenny makes eye contact, ‘Jeremy’s’ eyes roll back, and he drops to the floor with a loud thud. She yelps, then sprints off to find some way to help him.]

[End of transcript.]