#//Bro I am SO stupid I looked back up at my monitor and for some reason I was like WAIT DID I JUST DRAW MONTY and got super excited OTL

[balloonboyismyson]

Who do you think is the silliest (besides sun and moon) character in sb?? :D

MONTY IS ALWAYS NUMBER ONE

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2022-05-09

Talking to my boss about moving to Czechia and it looks like I should be there by the end of the year unless something gets worse in Europe, which. I mean it's not great odds okay. It's fine though.

Listening: I'm pretty much caught up to all my podcasts except 99pi, and I need to actually pay attention to Revolutions so I can only listen to it while playing particularly mindless video games, so I dropped in Night Vale which is started listening to in University but only got through a hundred or so episodes of. I also have The Magnus Archives downloaded but I'll probably load that up after I'm caught up with 99pi.

Watching: Double Feature!

What's Eating Gilbert Grape, 1993 movie with Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Absolutely fantastic acting from both, and a very interesting movie cinematically, bright, especially daylight lit scenes, can be difficult to shoot in interesting ways, the movie makes good use of long static shots with lots of colour contrast.

Keeping Up With The Kandasamys, a local production that did very well back in 2015 that I'm watching because my parents want me to watch the latest one. Focuses on Indian families in Durban, it's interesting to see people who look and talk like my aunts and cousins in movies, but it's absolutely recognizable as a first effort at cinema. Not bad, but it's reluctant to get in close to actors so a lot of shots are sort of medium-distance with no clear focus, audio is not bad but not fantastic either, and the colour is absolutely forgettable. Funny, made more interesting by the fact that I've met real versions of some of these people.

Reading: Like everyone else I am subscribed to Dracula Daily and anxiously awaiting the arrival of My Favourite Special Boys, The Bros, The Best Friends Club, Various Other Names For A Lord A Doctor And A Cowboy, Who Are So Stupid And So In Love, With Lucy And With Each Other.

Playing: Nothing of note, but this week's Forza challenges had some tricky ones, there was a particularly tight urban time trial that I kept missing by literally hundredths of a second and eventually gave up on.

Making: Nothing of note.

Tools and Equipment: Dual Monitors. My employer sent me a basic 4k monitor as part of my home office kit, but I already had my personal monitor on my desk and I just used my laptop as my second work monitor. There's no room for two big monitors AND a laptop on here. This did however mean I only had one monitor on my desktop, which has remarkably hurt my social life most of all because I can't monitor IRC passively.

I have now elected to just use my work laptop as a source, and hook both monitors up to the dock, as well as my personal desktop. It's nice and 4k is... interesting. Very good for text even if it's an older TN panel, I wouldn't use it for colour work but that's what my personal display is for. I do however need to move to a desktop system where you can do per monitor dpi which will mean finally switching to Wayland, which isn't so bad anymore and is actively good in many ways.

[rustworks]

The Brokowski Files - 4

Brokowski blinked. The Charger had stopped. “So we need to stop at the laundromat now? You crap your pants, bro?”

Fahey shook his head quickly. “No! Next door.”

“The sex shop?”

“The other next door, amigo!”

“A church? Why the hell there?”

Fahey was already out of the car. Brokowski flew after him. “Can we just focus, bro? I need that KB.”

“I told you,” shot back Fahey, rubbing his hands on his jeans nervously. “I almost died and I need some God!”

“Oh, you’re religious now? You never said shit about that before.”

Fahey glanced at the sign outside the church before heading in. Since he didn’t have the car keys, Brokowski had to follow.

It was empty, which wasn’t a surprise this time of day. Brokowski immediately got uncomfortable, as if a lightning bolt was poised to strike.

A voice startled them both. “Can I help you?”

Fahey froze. “Father Gregg Ruled?”

A short middle-aged man in a tan suit stepped out from the shadows. He had a half-eaten donut in his hands. “Gregg Riaz. And I’m not a priest.”

“Wow, that’s a really nice perfume!” Fahey gasped, sniffing at the minister. Brokowski, on the other hand, wanted to throw up from a stench that seemed a combination of flowers and toilet cleaner.

“Sorry to bother you, padre,” Brokowski said. “My friend here got the yips after witnessing a hold-up at the Quik-Mart”

“I saw my life flash before my eyes, Father Ruled!” Fahey got woozy so he slid into the nearest pew.

The minister frowned. He adjusted something on his belt before taking a bite of the donut. “It’s just Gregg Riaz. Tell me about what you saw.”

Fahey threw up his hands. “I saw a light, then Mrs. Fahey! I almost died because of Funyuns.”

Brokowski frowned. “The robber wasn’t after your Funyuns, bro. She was just after Yankee greenbacks.”

“He,” corrected Fahey. “Father Ruled, I haven’t been to church in years. Am I going to hell?”

Riaz smiled patiently. “Of course not. There is no hell. Just focus on being a good person and you’ll one day be with…” He paused, squinting and becoming lost in thought. “With…oh, what was his name?”

Brokowski’s eyes went wide. “Uh…you mean God?”

“Yes, that’s it,” Riaz said, smiling appreciatively. “I made up an expression once that is all you need to follow - love your fellow man as you would yourself.”

“Didn’t Jesus say that, padre?” Brokowski fidgeted, glancing at his watch.

“Jesus? Santos? From the laundromat? Of course not!” Riaz laughed as if the question had been completely stupid.

“Holy hell,” breathed Brokowski. “Look, it wasn’t a near death experience, bros. Plus Detective Mauer’s on it now.”

“Detective Mauer?” Riaz breathed, eyes wide. He quickly smiled. “I’m glad things are better.”

As Riaz finished the donut, Brokowski gestured to his belt. “Say, isn’t that a blood glucose monitor?”

Riaz slowly stood up. “Say, do you still have the Funyuns?”

Fahey laughed. “No way, Father Ruled! Get your own!”

[what-i-call-men]

Jiggle physics

Jeff Pfister x female!reader

Warnings: SMUT, dominant reader, sub Jeff, some degradation towards Jeff, a bit of voyeurism at the end (reader finds out mutt saw the whole thing)

Request: My fic thought for the night (up for grabs) but it’s Jeff pfister. Reader is a dancer/instructor and Jeff studies her for “jiggle physics”. Thought is definitely a smut

One again I am stealing a picture from @copy-of-a-cheeto because I love the icons they make. Thank you!!

Also thank you to @divineruler for proof reading

It was another day for you to begin with. You were working at a small gym in town after your other job hadn't really worked out. You were freshly graduated from college and needed somewhere to work while you looked for other opportunities, a gym was your best option. Now you weren't an avid gym person, but you did enjoy dancing so you ended up instructing a Zumba class. It was more of a hip hop class because your gym was right near a college town, and early 00s Spanish didn't reach college kids as much as hip hop and rap music.

This week you had specifically scheduled a dirty Thursday class, uncensored music and a lot of confidence boosting music. You were doing your last few songs, pushing everyone to their "sexy limits" as you put it. You had stripped off your tank top, now just in your sports bra and leggings. When you were stripping off your top, you had a few of your regulars whistle or cheer, some even joining you as they knew the choreography. You ended your last high energy song and started your cool downs, opting to leave the shirt off as you were definitely sweating right now.

The slow sounds of Just the two of Us by Grover Washington jr played through the speakers as you instructed your class to stretch out. As you faced them, you couldn't help but catch a glance of blonde hair from outside the glass doors to the room. It looked familiar but you couldn't put your finger on it as you continued your instruction. After you finished your cool down, you moved to gather your things as some of the students chatted with you. One of your best friends had walked out to run to the locker room and came back, running up to you and pinching your arm a bit. "You'll never guess who is outside looking for you." She whispered so others wouldn't hear.

Turning to her you rubbed the now pained part of your arm and raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Um I don't know, Ryan Reynolds ready to sweep me off my feet?" You asked and reached down to pick up your gym bag and tank top, choosing to toss it in the bag rather than putting it on. Your friend followed you out of the classroom with the rest of the remaining class. "No, it's fucking Jeff and Mutt from high school." She whispered and nodded to the front desk where they stood, talking to a receptionist. You looked at them for a second.

"And they have those same dumb haircuts from when they were 12." You choked back a quiet laugh as you approached the front desk. Mutt saw you first and then elbowed Jeff to look up at you. "Hey boys, long time no see." You said and walked up to the pair, holding out your membership card to the front desk people to clock you out. "What warrants such an abrupt visit from the resident horny weeb club." You said and led the boys out, your friend keeping a close distance behind the group.

"Hey y/n, can we talk to you alone? We have a job offer for you?" Mutt said and glanced at your friend. You stopped outside the gym and nodded to your friend to go to the car you shared. "What job could you two possibly have for me? Last I heard you guys were just trolling random people online and spam liking my Instagram pictures." You said and crossed your arms. You weren't really friends with the two in high school, but you did have a friendly teasing relationship with them, rather than really making fun of them like others did. You were really only nice because you never knew who'd end up going crazy, and you'd rather not be on someone's shit list.

"We recently ran into... a lot of money. And we wanted to hire you at our robotics company." Jeff said and gestured excitedly at you. He definitely was on something from the way he had a shake to his hands. "Uh... you two know I majored in archeology? I don't know the first thing past how to google." You said and looked mainly at Jeff. God if he didn't have that stupid haircut still, you'd be tempted to say he got hot. He's got a pretty good body and he looked pretty good in comparison to Mutt. It would help him a lot if he didn't still dress and look like he was 12.

"We're aware. It has nothing to do with your degree. Here, this is what you'd make if you come to work for us." Mutt grabbed a card from his pocket and a pen that hung from your bag pocket. When he handed you the paper you had to blink at the numbers for a second. "Annually?" "Weekly" Jeff corrected your question. You stared at the paper for a second. "How do I know you guys aren't just high or something? How'd you even find me?" You asked and Mutt and Jeff looked at each other before Jeff grabbed his keys from his pocket. He clicked the unlock button and a Rolls Royce beeped from where it was parked only a few spots away from where you stood. "If you're interested come pay us a visit." Mutt pointed at the business card he had handed you and the two walked to the car before you could say anything.

When you got home of course you researched the company name on the card. Kineros Robotics had made actual headlines and pictures of the men were on different sites about their sudden influx of money to their company from a generous anonymous donation. You glanced at the card and pursed your lips before pulling up Instagram, going to Jeff's page, glancing at the pictures he's posted and biting your lip. God you could really tell he was either still a virgin or very submissive in some sense. He wasn't like any of the gym bros that hit on you or messaged you. With a small surge of courage, you hit the 'message' button and typed out a quick text.

After messaging back and forth about the job opportunity for about two days, you found yourself standing outside the main entrance to the robotics lab. You walked down the hall to see glass doors and just a buzzer. You buzzed and were quickly let in. "You guys should get a receptionist or someth-" your words were cut off when you saw what was really in the room. There were humanoid robot figures and a lot of latex parts just laying around. A lot of these parts were tits or asses, all different shapes and sizes but there seemed to be something off with all of them.

"Hey I'm glad you made it. You can set yourself up in the room over there." Mutt said as he stared down at his computer. The room was all white, some windows around but pretty much all of them had shade covering them with little to no light peeking through. There was a pile of white powder sitting at each desk. Oh so they were coked out and making sex dolls. What the actual fuck did this have to do with you? "Set my stuff up...?" You asked softly and Jeff stood from his desk to lead you to the room.

"I didn't tell you what you were here for?" He asked as he opened the door to the next room. You shook your head and looked at the hardwood floor and speaker set up. "We need you to be a model. See... our last few latex prints came out... less than desirable- jiggle wise. Our math was way off and we need these to be as real as possible." Jeff said and walked to a small cabinet in the corner of the room. "I need you to put this on so we can monitor your motions to make our robots more realistic." He said and handed you what was barely any cloth. It looked like those dotted suits superheroes wore so their suits could be cgi but instead of a suit it was a bikini top and what is pretty much a skimpy pair of bottoms that were basically bathing suit bottoms with how little they covered.

"Jeff, you didn't mention this." You said and took the clothes slowly as he headed back out to the door. "Just put those on and I'll be back in a few." He said and glanced over your body again quickly before closing the door. You decided to send a quick text to your best friend- just a "here's what I'm doing in case I get murdered" text. After that you slipped the clothes on and stared at yourself in the mirror beside the little cabinet. You could tell this was a makeshift dance room. That was probably what they were looking for. Good thing jiggle physics was your thing in class.

Jeff came back a couple minutes later with a laptop in his hands. He stopped and gulped when he looked over your body in the skimpy outfit, quickly opting to sit on the ground as he monitored the points on the laptop. "Go ahead." He said and positioned the laptop on his lap, having to adjust himself a bit a couple of times. "Jeff... I need music." You said and moved to grab your phone, nodding to the speaker system, him shrugging and letting you do so. As you leaned over the speaker you glanced in the mirror beside you and he was very much staring right at your ass. God if he wasn't such a virgin you'd probably be disgusted. That was probably why they didn't know the right jiggle physics for a woman's body.

You started playing some of your best twerk music, trying to shake off how weird it was to have just Jeff staring at his computer then back to you as you danced. You tried to just close your eyes and get into the choreography as you ignored the awkwardness of Jeff obviously having a boner and you just twerking for him to collect data. You did a few hip swirls and then some quick shakes, glancing at yourself in the mirror. Honestly as you looked you didn't realize you had given Jeff a perfect look of your ass. He ran a hand through his hair as the song began to wrap up. You went to your phone to change the song and decided to strike up a small conversation.

"So… are you getting good data?" You asked and just got a simple nod from Jeff, his stupidly cute bowl cut bobbing back and forth as he nodded. "So you're making sex robots huh?" You asked as you looked through your playlist nonchalantly bending over a bit to give Jeff a good view of your chest. He once again responded with a nod as you started the next song. It was a bit more sexy than the last one. "Why don't you monitor the jiggle physics of sex then?" You asked as you lowered the volume of the song, starting your choreography, which included some moves where you're on the ground, shaking and bouncing as if you were riding someone. "I'm sure they are more accurate than me dancing." You said as you pushed yourself down to the ground chest first with your ass up and facing Jeff.

He adjusted a bit and you moved yourself a bit closer to where he was seated as he chose not to answer you. "If you want more accurate results Jeff, you need the jiggle physics of sex." You stated and gently moved the computer off his lap, placing it on the ground as you gently moved to straddle his legs. "The reason you and Mutt can't get the math right is because you need to really experience a woman's body during sex and neither of you could rope in a girl to fuck you for science. Am I right?" You asked Jeff as you leaned into him, settling yourself on his lap. His face was so red as his eyes kept flicking from your chest to your face. He just nodded silently to your question.

"Jeff, I'm gonna need you to verbally respond to me. I want to hear you say it." You said and ran your hands from his shoulders and down his chest. He took a deep shaky breath. "Fu- I need you to fuck me for science." He said softly and looked up to you as you tutted at him.

"No honey, the other thing." You said and pushed your fingers under the hem of his shirt. He gulped and took in another breath. "I can't get anyone to fuck me. Please y/n I need you." He pretty much whimpered under you as you pushed up to the balls of your feet, leaning forward and beginning to shake your ass a bit from where you sat on his lap. You rolled your hips slowly forwards and pushed your chest against his, leaning up next to his ear. "That's better." You whispered and then left a small wet kiss under his ear. Slowly working down his neck in small wet kisses and sucks.

You could feel his body tense as you reached down between you and gently palmed at him. God you could tell how hard he was without looking. You smirked a bit and continued to suck small hickies on his neck and under his ear as you quickly undid his button and fly, grabbing his dick from his boxers. Wow if you would've known he was packing you probably would've slept with him in high school, but everyone just assumed he wasn't and that was why he didn't get girls. You pumped him slowly and you could hear him let out small moans and whimpers, wanting to stay quiet on the off chance Mutt heard over the music.

As you pumped him you gently bit his earlobe to get his attention. "If you wanna get inside me baby, you gotta help me out." You said quietly and he nodded and willingly let you take his hands and place them on your ass. He gave a small gentle squeeze and you smirked as you felt him twitch in your hand. "God... fuck... holy shit..." he muttered as you rolled your hips against his thighs, wanting to at least stimulate yourself a little bit.

"You wanna make sure my monitoring is ok baby?" You whispered and he glanced over at the laptop, still reading the outfit you wore. You grabbed his cock again, now moving yourself to push your bottoms to the side. Slowly sinking down on to him, you could've sworn Jeff came right then. And he did. But that wasn't going to stop you from helping him out for the 'sake of science'. You grabbed his hands and placed them on your waist so as to not interfere with his readings. Slowly you began to bounce on him, feeling all parts of your body begin to bounce. Jeff was letting out the most sinful noises. Honestly it sounded like he only knew what moaning was from women in porn, but you didn't mind- honestly it was hot to have him be so responsive.

"Oh baby you're gonna be too loud, Mutt might interrupt us and you wouldn't want that would you? Don't want him to find you moaning like a whore for me." You said lowly as you reached up to gently squeeze his throat. He closed his mouth and nodded at you as you continued to bounce on him. God you could tell how close he was to coming again, but lord knows you weren't done with him. His moans got quieter but he still let out small whines from below you. You reached down to rub your own clit as you bounced on top of him. "Fuck baby, you wanna fuck me so bad? How about you get that data you need by pounding me from behind?" You muttered and climbed off of him.

He barely questioned you when you did so, only whining a little at the loss of contact. As you turned around and got on your knees, pushing your ass up in the air, he quickly moved to his own knees, pushing into you and beginning to thrust at a rapid pace. You could definitely tell his knowledge of sex is from video games and porn because he kinda went wild. He pounded hard and you couldn't help but moan out as he grabbed your waist with a tight grip. After he got a hang on his speed, he reached forwards and pulled you up, pushing you against the mirrored wall he had been leaning against, he paused momentarily to undo the bikini top, and as soon as it dropped to the ground he was grabbing your tits from behind.

You pushed back against him, your face now pushed against the foggy mirror as he thrusted into you hard. "Fuck.... fuck y/n." He grunted out quietly as his thrust became more sporadic and sloppy. You could tell he was gonna come again, so you reached behind your head and grabbed his hair firmly. "You're not coming again until I cum. You fucking hear me?" You groaned as he continued to thrust into you. He nodded and reached around in front of you, fumbling for your clit for a moment before you corrected his hand placement and showed him the correct movement. He rubbed quickly and in pace with his thrusts, you could tell from his look in the mirror that he was trying so hard not to cum.

As soon as you finally reached the edge, you let out a loud and pretty pornographic moan of his name mixed with some swearing and praises. "God... fuck Jeff you feel so good in me. I want you to cum baby. I want you to cum in me baby." You thrusted back on him and kept your hand firmly tugging at his hair. It was only seconds before he was coming in you, his own face twisted in pleasure as you looked at him through the mirror. He slowed to a stop and slowly removed himself from you. You only caught your breath for a couple moments before there was a knock on the door.

"Hey those were good readings, we're gonna need you here again tomorrow so we can get some other position readings." Mutt called through the door. You looked at Jeff. "Could he see the reading the whole time?" You asked Jeff quietly. He bit his lips and nodded. "I assumed you knew because you saw this room through the glass when you walked in." Jeff said and pointed to the mirror which was in fact a one way mirror you had seen walking in from the lab, which you falsely assumed was a window because of the shade. "So mutt saw the whole thing?" You asked softly, slowly piecing everything together. Jeff nodded, scared you were gonna be upset. You only shrugged and reached over to gently grab his throat again. "Guess now he knows how good of a whore you are for me then." And god if he hadn't just come, Jeff probably would've come again from that action alone. Damn you were gonna have fun working here.

[krisvfx]

Summoned as a Ghost in another world

Chapter 1 - Woke up in a weird room!

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

My house was in a different location so I had to take a different turn from my friends. As I was walking away from them, I could hear their voices as they were saying goodbye to me.

"Alright Hiroki, I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya Hiroki!"

"See ya bro."

Since I didn't want to act like a tragic character separating from their friends, I turned around and waved at them.  

"Oh, hold on Hiroki!!" One of my friends said as he was coming towards me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Where is my goodbye kiss?" He got near my face and tried kissing me in the lips. 

What the hell is this guy doing?!

"Pffffftt Dude that's gross!!" I immediately backed away from him as I shoved his face away from mine. But even after acting like that, he had a weird expression on his face. 

"No homo." He winked at me as he went back with the other guys. If he suddenly told us that he was gay, I wouldn't be surprised. He's always like that! Making jokes like that. But I didn't mind it since that's how we spent our time at school. Doing stupid stuff and laughing at almost everything. Sometimes we would get in trouble for making noises during class periods or getting caught playing mobile games. I won't lie... I actually enjoy spending my time at school. My grades are pretty good, and I don't have any problems with any subjects. 

While I was walking on my way home, I took my smartphone out of my pocket and started looking at the pictures I had in my gallery. I like taking pictures of stupid moments I do with my friends. I'm not that popular, but all of my classmates seem to enjoy spending time with me. From the popular girls to the quiet guys, I always try to have a conversation with all of them. I always have a specific topic I could talk about since I like doing different stuff.

...

After arriving home, I noticed that no one was there beside me. I took this as a chance to spend some time on my computer since my mother hates the idea of me playing video games instead of studying. Each time she finds me playing on my computer, a vein would pop on her head, and in the end, she would start yelling at me. My grades aren't that bad, so why is she always like that? 

I think my mother said she would be late from work today, so she won't be coming home anytime soon. My brother mentioned that he was spending the night over with his friend. And my father is on a business trip for a week. That means I get to spend a lot of time on my computer! There are a lot of games I haven't played yet. I wonder which one I should play first. I'm so excited! I also have bought some snacks for cases like this!

...

I opened my computer and decided to play the first game I had in mind! There were a lot of mangas I haven't read yet. But I decided on putting them on hold for the moment. For now, I will play this game!!

.

.

.

.

For many hours I spent my time playing video games in front of my computer. My eyes were throbbing from the light my monitor was releasing. And my stomach was aching really bad from all of the junk food I just ate...

This is really bad...

I tried calming down by laying my head over the desk while holding my stomach with my hands. My eyes were getting heavy...

But suddenly, I could feel the pain was going away... Is it finally over? But somehow I couldn't raise my head back up.

I feel sleepy… Maybe taking a rest might be a good idea...

I thought as I continued staying in that position.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

All of the pain and sensation of my body were going away as if I was flying.

Hm? What's happening?

Everything was dark, and I couldn't see anything.

Am I dreaming? Am I inside my dream?

I remember playing videogames and now...? Maybe I should try and wake myself up!

"…" But no matter what I tried my voice didn't come out.

Huh? My voice? It won't come out!!

No, I need to try harder!

I tried concentrating even more in order to let out my voice, but suddenly...

.

──────────

<Hollow voice acquired!>

──────────

.

A window game-like appeared in front of me.

Hollow voice? Am I dreaming about a game? 

That's the first thing that came to mind when I saw that. Anyway, I should be able to talk now. But why am I having this kind of dream? Also, what should I say? Can I even talk in my dream?

"GgGg-G-aAaAammMme!!!!!" But the moment I spoke, a hollow like sound was heard. 

What the fuck!? That my voice? I don't sound like that at all!!

"IiIiIiiiii a-A-amM h-HiiiiiiiiiiirRrok-k-ki!!!" I couldn't talk properly! My voice was cracking, and I couldn't pronounce anything correctly. It was as if I was some kind of zombie character!

..

I shouldn't worry about that right now! If I am dreaming, then that means I can change the place where I'm located. I started thinking about seeing something else instead of a dark place.

.

──────────

<Night vision acquired!>

──────────

.

Oh, another skill from this game-like window! I was in a creepy old room. There were scratches everywhere. Blood splattered everywhere, and broken things were lying around. I also could see spider webs everywhere.

Wait, I thought about going to the beach. Why am I in this place? I never thought about going into a scary-looking room!? Am I having a nightmare right now? But I wasn't scared! I was calm while I was looking around. ...Actually, I don't feel anything at all! I know that in dreams, you could taste and experience touching things. That's why I tried going down and touched a piece of wood that was lying around. But I couldn't touch it even though I could clearly see it.

Huh? My hand is going through? What's going on!? I want to touch that!!! That is what I kept telling myself in order to change my dream. I already am aware that this is a dream, so why can't I touch anything!? Can't I touch things in my dream?! It was as if I didn't have control over my dream! What's going on?

The more I looked around, the more I started thinking that I wasn't in a dream! Maybe if I go into another room… I started going towards the first door I could find. I tried opening the door, but my hand went through it again.

What?!

If my hand goes through like that, maybe my whole body can!! I tried going through the door, but… 

*Thump*

I crashed against the door. I must have looked like an idiot...

I didn't feel pain or any kind of pressure from the crash.Why is this happening? When I looked down, I noticed that my legs were barely visible!

W-wha?!?!

"W-WwaK-k-ke UuUuUu-uU-u-uPpP!!" I wanted to yell so that I could wake up from this dream! But nothing happened!

What happened to me?

.

.

 .

[capricornsims]

Strangetown Mystery: Mother!

The Strangetown Syndrome continued to take over the small town and panic spread as quickly as the infection. The only thing that the government could do to ease the tension was to assure the townsfolk that everything was “under control” and that Buzz Grunt heroically contained the culprit within his bunker. Details were vague but enough to ease the chaos around them, though the conspiracy theorists were skeptical about the General’s scripted speech. 

Buzz: Good afternoon, citizens of Strangetown. I know the struggle that everyone is going through right now, my soldiers are right on the front lines fighting the syndrome as best we can. Our scientists are doing their do-diligence to make sure that this cure will protect everyone from this disease and make sure that this never happens again. I swear on my grave that we are closer to destroying this thing, and it is thanks to our government that we have this under control. Remember your duties as citizens of SimNation and look out for each other in these trying times. On a lighter note, I have captured the traitor that has infected our people and he is currently in our custody. The Alien menace, Pollination Technician # 9 can no longer manipulate and harm you good people of Strangetown, Now that he is gone, you will all be saved! 

At first the crowd was invested in his speech but once the General broke his script and discredited PT9 in front of everyone, they started to murmur. They had no idea that the elderly alien was  the cause of all this havoc. Questions were thrown at the general, asking if it was all true and if they were truly safe. “ This town has a bunch of aliens, how could it just be him?” “ Are there more out there working for him!?” “ Can we really trust the government?” 

Buzz glanced at the Dudes in Black hesitantly before he turned back to his microphone.

Buzz: You must trust the government. 

He left the podium, leaving any more questions to the sheriff and the mayor, making his way back to the underground bunker with the Dudes in Black following behind. 

---------

Erwin: Hey I got your hazmat suit assembled, and that filter you got is more than enough to withstand those spores. 

Pascal: You have no Idea how happy I am, I can finally continue this investigation without any dumb plant spores getting in the way! I’ll be invincible in this suit. It is a pleasure to work with you, Erwin, it’s not every day someone listens to my conspiracies. 

Erwin: It’s no big deal, you were the one crazy enough to start this whole investigation.

Pascal brought the handshake into a hug. He was overwhelmed by emotions, unable to contain his excitement over finding out the truth. With this discovery he could save his sister, cure Strangetown and expose the Dudes in Black for being alien conspirators. Erwin, on the other hand, gave Pascal a few awkward pats on the back before shoving himself away from the unwanted contact. 

Erwin: Alright dude, let’s just get your brothers and go! 

Pascal, Erwin and his brothers made their way to the [ Redacted ] lab, memorizing their steps and making sure to avoid detection by the numerous cameras and traps set around the perimeter. The humming of the machinery around them filled the tense silent atmosphere as they stood outside the backdoors, waiting for Pascal to get into his hazmat suit. Lazlo and Vidcund watched on as their brother fumbled with the neon yellow suit, hiding their disapproval with fake enthusiasm. 

Pascal: Alright gang, we are finally going to break this case wide open! 

Vidcund: Like what you did to the lab doors and let all the spores escape? 

Pascal: That is totally not going to happen again! Geez, the spores are out, nothing can get worse than this. As I was saying, if we find out the source of all these plants, we can give this info to Buzz and he can release our sister. 

Lazlo: Are you sure it’s that easy? The Dudes in Black are covering these plants up for a reason. If we aren’t careful we could end up just like Jenny. 

Pascal: What’s important now, is this investigation. Let’s get it over with. 

The sealed doors of the [Redacted] lab swung open, releasing another cloud of spores into the air before the crew could step inside. After a long coughing fit they trekked down to the sublevel of the lab, gazing around for any more cameras that could catch them snooping around. All they could hear was the beating of their own hearts as they approached the shrouded corridor, beckoning Pascal to go inside. Before he could even step foot into the cloud, Erwin grabbed his arm and yanked him away. 

Erwin: O-okay, before you go in, you gotta know that whatever is in there can get you killed if you aren’t careful. If it’s not a monster, the Dudes in Black will come after you. 

Pascal: Move away, Erwin. I know what I am doing. We have come too far to back away now. I Am Not A Coward. 

Pascal pushed passed him, giving his friend a salute as he stepped into the toxic cloud, disappearing into the great unknown.

Vidcund: Good luck, Pascal! See you on the other side! 

Lazlo: You got this bro!

The purple spores engulfed him as he moved further down the corridor, obscuring his vision. His breathing quickened as he continued on, the beating of his heart matching the rapid pulses of the laboratory's ventilation. What was he thinking? This was stupid, he should be home with his alien baby working on his lab reports and talking to his friend Nervous...oh yeah Nervous was missing! Not only that his sister was in danger, his family was torn apart, the town was in chaos! He had to keep going, he could not let his intrusive thoughts get in the way of this investigation. He needed to solve the Strangetown mystery. 

Beneath the sublevel, behind the pair of sealed doors there was another laboratory. How deep the facility went was a complete mystery, but the large hall of computers and contained bizarre plants revealed that this was the main part of the lab. Whatever this lab contained it was never meant to be found, let alone by a curious lab assistant. Upon investigating the computers and machinery, Pascal found a report from one of the scientists: 

Ħ€Ř Ň€ŞT IŞ ĆŁØUЀРIŇ β€ΔUŦ¥ Ŵ€ ĐØ ŇØT Đ€Ş€ŘV€ Ħ€Ř

β€ΔUŦ¥β€ΔUŦ¥β€ΔUŦ¥β€ΔUŦ¥β€ŁŁΔβ€ΔUŦ¥β€ΔUŦ¥β€ΔUŦ¥β€ΔUŦ¥

ĴØIŇ UŞ ĆØŇŞUΜ€ ŦĦ€ FŘUIŦ ØF ŦĦ€ ΜØŦĦ€Ř ΔŇĐ KŇØŴ P€ΔĆ€

ŦĦ€ ΔŘβØŘ€ΔŁ ΜIŇĐ ĐŘ€ΔΜŞ ŦĦŘØUGĦ ØUŘ FŁ€ŞĦ¥ €¥€Ş

ŁØØK ŦØ ŦĦ€ ŞK¥ IŦ Ŵ€ŁĆØΜ€Ş UŞ ΔŁŁ

ŦĦ€ ΜØŦĦ€Ř ĆΔŁŁŞ ΔŇĐ I ΜUŞŦ Ř€ŞPØŇĐ

ØUŘ €¥€Ş ΔŘ€ ØƤ€Ň

Pascal quickly closed the log and backed away from the monitor, a chill ran down his spine as the floor trembled beneath his feet. He held down whatever fear he had left in his body and shuffled towards the last stretch of hallway. The walls were moving, the vines flinched every time he stepped on them, and the leaves rustled loudly around him as he drew closer to the vault doors. Taking a breath, he carefully retrieved his key card and swiped it.

He reeled back as spores burst into his face and a low growl shook him to the core. The animalistic sounds were nothing he had heard before and  he was not prepared to see what lay behind the doors of the vault. The bizarre plants were scary on their own but the creature before him was beyond comprehension. 

Before him was the Mother, in all of her glory, swaying inside of the electrified fence that attempted to contain her god-like figure. His anxiety went away as he approached it, fascinated by the glowing monstrous plant. His eyes widened as the plant looked down to face him and its pedals opened up to reveal its bone crushing maw. The growls grew louder as the building shook around them, pieces of rubble falling from the ceiling and crashing down on the floor. 

Before Pascal could turn around and run, it grabbed him by the ankles and flung him into the air and slammed him down on the platform! He let out a shrill scream as it thrashed him around, and roared out in anger. Was this the end?! 

Pascal: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH 

Erwin: Did you guys hear a lady screaming? What the heck is all that noise?! 

The men stumbled to grasp their footing as the Earth rumbled and quacked around them. The lights flickered as they yelled out and held onto the crumbling walls. The vast roar of the creature echoed across the crater, making them pray for their lives as they held onto each other

 Suddenly the noise stopped and silence hung over them as they struggled to their feet, sniffling. Lazlo and Vidcund looked at each other and back at Erwin, fearing the worst for their fallen brother.

Vidcund + Lazlo: PASCAL!!

The brothers whipped their heads around when they heard footsteps making a mad dash through the corridor! Pascal was alive and frantically running for his life…or limping for his life. 

Pascal: HOLY MOTHER OF WATCHER WEGOTTAGOTHEREISAMONSTERPLANT ANDIT’SSCAry! 

Erwin: CALM DOWN YOU ARE MAKING ME PANIC 

Pascal: * panting* Mother...plant...big monster..almost...killed. We gotta go! 

Lazlo: You did it ! You found the truth! Heck I didn’t think you’d actually live! 

Pascal: Heh hehe yeah..live. 

Vidcund: What was all that noise? Was there an earthquake?

Pascal: No I just really pissed the Mother plant off and it made that whole lab shake.

Lazlo: That is so cool! We are going to team up and kill this thing! Right Vidcund? 

Vidcund: I don’t know about you but killing big monsters isn’t really my thing...anyways I have a meeting to go to. 

Pascal: See you around Vidcund, the gang is headed to the bunker to run some tests if you want to join later. 

Vidcund: Yeah...see you around…

-----

Pascal stood in the town plaza, feasting his eyes on the raging tempest he had created. The town was a husk of what it was, everyone sheltered within their homes fearing each other and the infection as it spread like wildfire. The disappointment was much greater than the pain he felt in his ankles, all the work he and his team had done had just blown up in their faces. Things were escalating too quickly for Pascal to handle, he needed to find the cure for the syndrome fast and a way to defeat the evil he just awakened.

It was all hopeless. 

[many-gay-magpies]

@honeyseungz @loabivey so that uh. that mini au that you had like a very small rb thread about yesterday (well over a few days ago now that im posting this). well uh. um . actually you know what im just gonna let you read it yourselves

so. heeseung, jay, and sunoo are all brothers. wether its actual brothers or just "brothers" by blood bond or whatever idk. but, regardless, they're brothers. im thinking that like, at first they aren't vampires, theyre just regular dudes yknow? (and just a forewarning, a lot of this isnt gonna be as compliant with the enhaverse theorizing we've done so far, it's just a little brain worm i wanted to play around with, throwing a little bit of enhaverse crumbs in here and there)

but anyway. they're not vampires, im thinking theyre just like... adopted/found family brothers, probably orphans or something. regardless they love each other a lot and its great. personality-wise everything is super different, but just for plot conveniences, heeseung, jay, and sunoo are the yunmeng trio (heeseung as wwx, jay as jc, and sunoo as jyl respectively), and jungwon is lwj.

the three brothers meet jungwon, probably brought together by this Big Fantasy Evil, maybe something involving the vampire queen as a character? idk. there's some big evil shit going down, and the three brothers somehow end up with jungwon and HIS big bro, who im imagining is jake (basically the lan xichen in this situation—very soft, kind, gentle; the vibes are right). both of them are vampires, not that our three orphan bois know that. they get caught up in the danger, and vampire bros jake and jungwon coms to the rescue.

now, a little bit of personality-mapping here: jay is outwardly very loud, fun, temperamental, and sarcastic, generally very much like he is irl; but inside, he's intensely loyal, protective, and loving, with a HUGE soft spot for the people closest to him. sunoo is very sweet, sensitive, and kind—the walking hug of the three brothers, who is certainly not without his bite and wont hesitate to talk back to anyone who hurts them. aggressively and without mercy. also he makes them soup for comfort and is generally best boy. heeseung is very goofy, playful, free-spirited, and bright, but insecure and sensitive underneath it all; generally a loud annoying mess of a boy. pure chaotic neutral and a gremlin if there ever was one. jungwon, on the other hand, is... not. he's nervous, quiet, cautious to a fault and intensely righteous, always standing up for what's right and refusing to waver from his chosen path. very lawful good vibes. he, naturally, is more than a little put off when jay, sunoo, and heeseung's chaotic ass come crashing into he and his brother jake's once-peaceful (ish) lives. and it doesn't help that heeseung is a... huge flirt, and apparently deadset on making jungwon his friend. fuck.

jungwon... doesn't know what to do. and it would all be so much easier if heeseung were dumb or stupid or unattractive or just a total asshole—but he isnt any of those things. he's beautiful, smart, insanely witty with a brain faster than any jungwon's ever seen—he can't help but admire him. but on top of that, he's wreckless as hell, unpredictable, and pushy, and gives jungwon heart attacks way too much for his liking. he doesn't even have a heartbeat. he's fucking dead.

it eventually comes out that jake and jungwon are vampires; the brothers are surprisingly cool with it. not the craziest thing that's happened to them.

the five boys get closer, staying together as they fight their foe (which im becoming increasingly inclined to make the werewolves), and through a series of convoluted events, jungwon learns that heeseung is not only gorgeous, smart, talented, and funny as all get-out, but also sensitive, caring, insecure, and thoughtful... and heeseung, who's only goal had been to break through the nervous and straightforward outer shell of his young dongsaeng, does just that. and jungwon, naturally, starts to fall in love.

somewhere along the line, though, things go wrong—as they were bound to do in an au loosely based off of the untamed. something happens to heeseung; he's fatally wounded after saving jay's life, and disappears, nowhere to be found. his brothers eventually assume the worse; that he's gone forever. but the queen finds him, takes care of him, nurses him back to health. turns him.

when he comes back, nothing's the same. the war is still going, and his brothers thought he was dead—but he isn't. but he's... different. jungwon and jake are quick to realize that he's been turned, how, they dont know—but they talk to him, teach him, try to help him, jungwon especially. of course he does; he's in love. heeseung, of course, is dismissive; doesn't take it seriously. ill be fine, whats so bad about this? or, perhaps, he doesn't let on just how hard he's taking it; fearing vulnerability more than he fears being a vampire.

inevitably, though, heeseung's wrecklessness leads to doom—he lets his bloodlust overtake him, relishes in it, no matter how much jungwon had warned him against it, pleaded with him to take caution. he says it's usefull—says he can help them take out enemies, help them win this war. jungwon warns him that he could end up getting more than he bargained for. heeseung doesn't listen.

heeseung helps them win the war; practically wins it for them. hes happy, bitterly, until he isnt. he's happy, until he sees his brother—sees sunoo. blood-covered, pale-skinned, drained.

no.

heeseung is broken. jay even moreso. jay yells at him; yells and yells and yells and yells. curses him out, tells him he hates him, tells him he's nothing but cruel evil—he doesn't mean it, of course, but no one knows it then, not even him. now he is only angry; so, so angry. heeseung, wrought with guilt and shame and grief, flees—hides himself somewhere secluded, does the closest thing a vampire can possibly do to death, the equivalent of a thousand-year hibernation. none can find him, he's made sure of that. in his guilt and shame and anger he stews, asleep, for hundreds, thousands of years.

after the anger passes, jay is more than anything in mourning—for heeseung as well as for sunoo. he has a realization, that being that, when, inevitably, heeseung comes back, he doesn't want him to be alone: even if he'll have jungwon and jake, it won't be the same as having his brother. so jay pleads, cries, begs for jungwon to turn him—so that they can search for heeseung together, so that when heeseung comes back, he'll have jay waiting for him, too. so, reluctantly, jungwon gives in and turns jay—after which he helps him deal with his newfound immortality and vampiric status—helping him handle his bloodlust and helping him learn how to feed. over the centuries that heeseung is gone, jay, jungwon, and jake grow even closer (j line eyyy), inseparable as they search for heeseung and even outside of that. jungwon and jay are the closest, jay growing a colossal soft spot for the boy and not hesitating to take him under his wing and protect him with all he has (initially, sort of as a replacement for protecting heeseung, but eventually jay's affection for jungwon grows into something all it's own). to be clear, no love triangle bullshit here, only sickening-sweet platonic soulmates jaywon and a jungwon that is still achingly in love with heeseung.

(okay for anyone thats actually watched cql/read mdzs, yes i KNOW lwj and jc did not get along at all and kind of hated each other but. this is my au i do what i want, and if i want to add soft jaywon into the mix then im fucking going to, goddamnit)

OKAY TIME FOR SOME WACKY SIDE-PLOT MADNESS

so. sunghoon. how does he fit into all this? how does he end up being the one to trigger heeseung's "resurrection"? how does heeseung GET resurrected in the first place? well, not to worry, you're about to find out! and i am too because i'm just figuring this out as i go along baybyyyy

sunghoon, im thinking, is a friend of jake's (lets throw some jakehoon in here too bcs why not), either from before everything went to shit and heeseung went and isolated himself, or sometime during the numerous centuries jakewon spent looking for heeseung with jay. either way, sunghoon is this boy who jake is friends with and cares about a lot, and is also maybe kind of in love with. while jaywon spend most of their time looking for heeseung, jake spends his with sunghoon—finding himself often alone, now that his little bother is going off on his own adventures.

in a situation quite similar to heeseung's, sunghoon probably gets fatally injured somehow and is near death, but jake, not wanting him to die, decides to turn him instead. niki is also involved, and it's a sort of package deal, because before meeting jakewon, heeseung, and everyone, they were their own little thing; not unlike jay, heeseung, and sunoo's brother's triad. they were both probably orphans, niki being the much younger one, and as such sunghoon took him under his wing and never looked back. when jake turned sunghoon, niki was basically like "m8 what the fuck" and demanded he be turned too, not wanting his sunghoon-hyung to live on forever while he grew old and died. jake, also having a soft spot for niki, was like "fine alright" and turned him too. so, now their little vampire coven numbered five, and all was (moderately) well.

or not.

the thing was, jake hadn't anticipated how powerful sunghoon would be—there's nothing in life that anyone's found yet that would indicate a person's level of power once turned, so jake had... pretty much no way to see this coming. but, anyway, sunghoon was... really, really powerful. like, insanely powerful. all the abilities vampires were said to have in legends, the likes of which were previously reserved for just legends, he had them; flawless teleportation, mind control, shape-shifting, the whole bit. and on top of that, he was controlled—insanely good at monitoring himself and keeping tabs on his own instincts. one of the most self-sufficient, well-mannered vampires jake had ever seen. it was... frankly insane.

the problem? the queen. this is where she comes in, because she's played a part in all the boys' transformations, albeit indirectly—when jake and jungwon first turned, it was she who turned them. she could sense sunghoon's power, and she wanted it for herself. jake and jungwon had done well at avoiding her, even forgetting about her for a while; but what she wanted, she took, and take she did. it was sunghoon she took: luring him to her in small increments and then all at once, taking control of him, turning him into a mindless puppet. sunghoon had always prided himself in control, and without it, havoc wreaked: bodies dropping left and right, people being killed seemingly at random, their only purpose being to instill fear and paranoia.

now, niki had heard tales, before, from his hyungs but also from regular townspeople to whom the legend had gotten passed down, of heeseung, and how great and terrible he was. heeseung, the townspeoples' folktales said, had been insane, unstoppable: a mad genius far too gone for redemption. niki also knew from his hyungs' fond stories that heeseung, more than evil, was kind and caring; he was loyal, and powerful in his loyalty, and niki thought that if anyone could save his sunghoon-hyung, it was heeseung.

so niki went on a journey. without telling jaywon or anyone else (and thus causing quite the panic), he spent years searching for heeseung, everywhere jaywon had thought to look and everywhere they hadn't, and twice more for good measure. and, by some stroke of luck, either due to his own sheer force of will of something else entirely, niki found him: locked away in an old castle that never quite seemed to stay put, constantly phasing in between realities. it made sense why no one had found him before then—he didn't want to be found. desperately, in fact.

but niki, too, was desperate. he enacted a ritual that was said (by jake, so of course it was to be trusted) to wake any vampire that had gone into hibernation, and, miracles continuing to work for the bitter young boy, it worked. heeseung awoke—startled to find himself staring into the face of a very teary, very angry (visibly) sixteen-year-old.

confusion passed, things and motives were explained, and heeseung (although bitter at having been woken up, and still riddled with enough guilt to last 1500 lifetimes) attempted to patiently tell niki that he had no fucking idea how to help sunghoon whatsoever. niki pretty much said "well you better fucking find a way because you're not going back to sleep now, the world's about to fucking end. also jay and jungwon-hyung have been looking for you for literal centuries, do you know how pissed theyd be if i went out looking for you, found you, then came back empty-handed? really fucking pissed is how much. also sad. did i mention sad?" and heeseung, notoriously weak and also kind of (read: very) in love, is just like "...jungwon? jay?"

so niki brings heeseung back to the others, the return journey taking a long enough time that the two become significantly close to each other, heeseung's long-forgotten big brother instincts (tm) kicking in around the younger vampire. niki has to basically drag heeseung out of the castle by his teeth, because as much as he misses his brother and jungwon, he's still so incredibly guilty, and completely convinced that he isnt worth love or life whatsoever and that jay still hates his guts. and, jungwon... he doesn't even want to think about jungwon. how he failed him. how he let him down. but, niki slowly works through the insecurities, bit by bit: assuring heeseung that, no, even though jay will definitely rip him a new one once he sees him again, he'll also cry and hug him for at least 24 hours because he misses him like hell and heeseungie hyung you have no idea.

they weather a lot together. storms, mental breakdowns, bouts of blood-starvation so severe heeseung thinks he'll lose it again: but they're there for each other. they hunt, talk, keep each other warm, and in it, form an unbreakable bond. niki had heard tales of the legendary lee heeseung, who wiped out entire armies in two seconds flat and comforted his friends when they were sad and annoyed jay to the very ends of the earth: but what he's faced with is a man with more insecurities than niki has hairs on his head—and he has a lot of hairs on his head.

by the time they make it back to the coven's home, heeseung has grown sufficiently attached to the enigma that is niki, and has almost completely but it out of his mind that he's here for his old friends, too. he's only doing this for niki: it's a fact he's comfortable with. so when they reach the front steps he just... freezes.

i have a very clear image of it in my head—jungwon, jay, and jake sense niki's presence, in some weird vampire-y way. it's been around 10, 15 years since he left at this point, so of course they rush out to greet him, ready with scoldings and lashings about how stupid he had been (after, of course, making sure he's unharmed and alright)—but it all dies on their tongues as soon as they see who's with him.

frozen. everything is frozen.

i imagine it's a lot like lulu and artzyy's post. jungwon is the first to move, stepping forward and whimpering out a broken "hyung", and all heeseung's guilt and avoidance is forgotten in favor of cradling jungwon to his chest, holding him close and whispering reassurances into the crown of his head, wonnie, im so sorry, hyung's so sorry; i didn't mean to leave you for so long, i'm here now, its okay. and of course then jay comes in, crying and screaming about how the fuck is it okay, how can it ever be okay, how could you just not mean to leave us alone for 1500 years?! how the fuck do you just expect to waltz back into our lives like nothing ever happened and pretend its all okay?!? and then he hits him, and hurts him, tries to make him feel even an inkling of the hurt he was made to feel for the past fifteen hundred years—but then punching him turns into fisting hands into the back of his shirt and sobbing into his neck and holding him so tight he wouldn't be able to breath if he had the need to and please, please don't leave, why would you leave, you asshole, why did you leave?

so yeah. things happen. reunions are had, tears are shed. some indirect heewon love confessions probably happen later on in the form of very intense devotions of life and self and all that. "walking on the single-log bridge in the dark really isnt so bad" you know the whole shbang. meanwhile jay salty in the background just like "cant you just say you love each other like normal human beings jesus fucking christ"

jayseung's relationship (or the reigniting of it) is, well, rocky. they're both conflicted—jay even more than heeseung. because, the thing is, heeseung killed sunoo. as regretful as he is, that doesn't make it any easier to forget. but he's back, and alive, and in one piece, and he isn't leaving, and jay knows it wasn't really his fault, he wasn't in control—but he killed him. he killed their brother. and it WAS his own stupid fault for losing control in the first place, for not listening to jungwon, so what the hell is jay supposed to think? he flip-flops between being intensely grateful that heeseung is back and okay and finally with them again, and then remembering what he's done, giving him the cold shoulder and not speaking to him for hours on end. and all the while, heeseung is riddled with guilt, and shame, and grief he'd suppressed for far too long; niki's stubbornness combined with jungwon's unwavering support being the only things keeping him from bolting into oblivion all over again. all in all, it's a difficult time—but they get there. eventually.

naturally, they save sunghoon. what else is there to do? they defeat the queen, break her control over their friend—and then jakehoon have their own teary reunion, not unlike heewon's, and sungki have theirs, not unlike jayseung's (although with a... considerable decrease in cursing and conflicted emotions, and a lot more immediate sobbing). they're a mess—sunghoon is traumatized, heeseung is traumatized, jay and niki are traumatized, they're all just fucking traumatized. jayseung will probably take a long time to get back to the way they once were, if it's even possible—there'll always be an empty space there, something gone, something missing, and it's one that can't be filled. jungwon barely lets heeseung out of sight or touch alike, and heeseung isn't much better off. jay's always been the more touchy one out of the three of them; but after years of missing, of longing, there's plenty of time to be made up, and heeseung is just... so, so soft, and warm, and being held by him is the loveliest thing jungwon's ever known.

AND NOW A SUNOO THING, BECAUSE THE IDEA OF ENHA LIVING HAPPILY EVER AFTER AS OT6 WITH SUNOO JUST FUCKING DEAD DOES. NOT WORK FOR ME

so like. sunoo isn't dead, or he doesn't stay dead, or not the soulless-unmoving kind of dead anyway. you know how necromancy and fierce corpses exist in donghua and shit? well they exist here too because fuck you and also i said so. i made myself sad and now im making it happy again goddamnit.

anyway. after he dies, sunoo gets found by the queen, too, and because she's all-powerful and whatnot she fucking necromances him—figures he'll be useful later. as he is, though, he's basically nothing more than a puppet; like wen ning and song lan were when they were being controlled. his soul isn't... gone exactly, just imprisoned, prevented from being able to come forward and command his body.

so. sunoo is still partially alive, and the boys (jay, jake, jungwon, sunghoon, niki, and whatnot)... don't know that. i imagine that for pretty much the entirety of the centuries that heeseung is gone, sunoo's status as a necromanced fierce corpse goes entirely unknown to them, and it's only after heeseung is brought back by niki that he starts to resurface. i imagine they realize it in a sort of tense, action-filled scenario: the boys have gone to investigate another attack, thinking it's sunghoon, but as it turns out the queen has had TWO undead corpses running around doing her dirty work instead of one. and one of them is sunoo.

heeseung and jay, of course, are stunned. they cant believe it's real; it isn't real, it can't be—and yet.

a lot of angsty plot stuff happens—i dont have the energy or enough shits to give to figure out what. the thing is, the queen only kept sunoo this long and brought him out as a tactic to lure heeseung, make him weaker; and it probably worked. in the midst of both fighting against sunghoon and fighting to SAVE sunghoon, heeseung is bent on saving sunoo as well, and there's probably a lot of very angsty talk wherein there are disagreements about who's life, really, is more important in this situation, and if heeseung is just trying to make up for what he did to sunoo. regardless, heeseung ends up saving sunoo and bringing his soul back to the surface. what he doesn't expect is for sunoo to forgive him—fully and wholeheartedly. and it feels wrong, because no, you should be angry with me, you should hate me and want to hurt me like i hurt you; but sunoo is just... happy. happy that he's back, happy that heeseung is back, happy that they're all together again. and its conflicting, to say the least. even moreso because sunoo isnt stupid—he didnt just act like heeseung was an innocent who did no wrong; he knew he had been wreckless, knew he was at fault, and he forgave him still. loved him still. that was something heeseung... hadn't been prepared for.

like i said in the last part, they save sunghoon; how, im not sure, but they save him, probably with a fair bit of sunoo's help, and they're together again. only the tiny difference here is that sunoo is with them too. sunoo is back, and the gang has yet another undead bestie to teach the ropes of being a vampire to. things are awkward, obviously, especially between the original brother's trio of heeseung, sunoo, and jay; because sunoo is his usual sweet and kind self while jay believes that he should be more angry at heeseung for killing him, heeseung agrees, and jay has some very conflicted feelings about how self-depricating his hyung is being (because like... yeah you killed sunoo and im supposed to hate you but you're not supposed to hate yourself, you idiot, what the fuck?)

(also like. if we're gonna take some more crumbs from cql canon here im gonna go ahead and say sunoo's death was at least somewhat self-sacrificial, even if it was heeseung that ended up causing it in the end)

(i kind of love how jiang cheng-y i made enhaverse jay here to be honest)

(okay this has been in my drafts WAY too long because ive been waiting for some miraculous Other Detail i need to add to pop up in my mind, but honestly i can just add anything else i think of in a reblog afterwards, this bitch just needs to see the light of day)

[wangxiandecoded]

Episode 5

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(Spoilers for the whole show ahead!)

Episode 5 is chock full of moments and fun romantic tropes that make it hard to believe this show passed the censorship. 

Wei Ying has already taken Lan Zhan as his soulmate of many lifetimes and started confiding secrets in him. He gets dragged away to copy all the rules he broke but it’s ok Wei Ying, Lan Zhan has to notice the undeniable chemistry you share at some point.  

The Yiling Patriarch Invented Gay Pining 

The sheer amount of pining in this scene.. How did he not burn a hole through the library?

Guy takes a break from admiring the beauty of his crush, starts admiring his calligraphy instead.

The Many Names Wei Ying Calls Him

Calling your beloved by his every name to get his attention. Success! He responds to the name with intimate connotations. But oh no! He actually looked at you! What do you do now? Head empty. Quick! Ask him why he’s ignoring you and subtly remind him that he has the right to express his anger by using your formal name for completely logical reasons. 

I understand Wei Ying's feelings, it must be maddening to meet the love of your life and want to skip to the domestic stages of romance, when he still considers you an unruly stranger who has no business with him.

Can we take a second to appreciate what a pure soul Wei Ying is for wanting to constantly do better and learn what he did for Lan Zhan to hate him so much? He apologizes not once but repeatedly for breaking the rules and assures Lan Zhan he would never attack him with the intention to harm. (Wei Ying sweetie, you did nothing wrong, he just isn't ready to admit you're melting his heart.) 

All he wants is your attention. Just spare him some him, Lan Zhan! I have no clue how someone can say no to Wei Ying when he’s being this cute. Lan Zhan’s self-restraint must really be something else.

This line and Wei Ying's gay ass smile is so damning. I do not know how some Chinese censor officials did not have conniptions over this.. were they too blinded by heteronormativity, perhaps? Even Lan Zhan has had enough and charms him into silence.

Looking At Him When He’s Not Looking

Looking at your bro when you think he isn't aware you're looking at him, but he's actually painting a portrait of you when you aren't looking at him. I’m done with these idiots.

Wei Ying's heartfelt apology is obvious to us but Lan Zhan's definition of sincerity is abiding by the rules, which Wei Ying gives into for him, with a lot of effort. If that’s not love, what is? 

More pining. Wei Ying makes one last attempt at wooing Lan Zhan for the day by giving him a parting gift. (For what exactly? Monitoring him while he carried out his punishment? Love is so irrational, y’all.)

The last touch he gives to Lan Zhan's portrait is adding a flower to his forehead ribbon. This is how Wei Ying really sees Lan Zhan - not as the intimidating Lan Wangji from Gusu Lan clan, but the guy he finds cute when he's lost in concentration. It pains me to see Wei Ying do so much to win his heart.

Lan Zhan Thinks Everything Wei Ying Does Is “Boring”

Wei Ying asks him to say something other than “boring” for a change and this is his reply. What makes their relationship so captivating is their contrasting personalities. Every time Lan Zhan thinks Wei Ying is being ridiculous and goes, “Boring,” I think he actually finds Wei Ying kind of amazing and that’s annoying because it is nothing but a hindrance to the way of life expected from him. It is boring and ridiculous to Lan Zhan that he is starting to get used to Wei Ying’s presence in his life. It is boring that he’s beginning to notice and personally care for a single person instead of the world. It is boring how someone is breaking the seamless silence Lan Zhan has spent most his life wrapped up in and suddenly making it overflow with words - words he does not vocalize but Wei Ying hears anyway. That’s what finding the right person feels like, after all. So it is boring that Wei Ying, with his stupid grin, is so close to coming into his life, throwing out the worldly matters Lan Zhan is supposed to be devoted to and asking him, “Lan Zhan, isn’t it funny that I’m your worldly matter now?” 

I guess Wei Ying does get his wish in the end. Lan Zhan erupts and calls him "Wei Ying" for the first time ever because he made him open an erotic book, more specifically one that features explicit gay art. The production team is so slick, I felt giddy the first time I saw this. But still, I don’t think Lan Zhan was being fair, I’m sure he broke a rule that said it’s a great offense to reject someone’s gift. 

Lan Zhan strikes me as a closeted baby gay raised on ascetic principles, and Wei Ying’s confident chaotic bi energy is predictably sending his poor world for a toss. No wonder he was ready to duel it out with him. What are the implications of this, Wei Ying? You showed a Lan clan member gay erotic art and assured him there is absolutely nothing wrong in enjoying it. Do you want to kill him? 

And remember Wei Ying got this book from Nie Huaisang who has also been queer-coded. After a point, you lose sight of how many characters seem hella gay on this show.

Nonetheless, it is impressive that there is someone who can make the disciplined, detached Hanguang-Jun lose his calm and even get him to swear. Of course it ends up being something for Wei Ying to brag about later. It is indeed an accomplishment that few people can claim as their own.

Can We Buy An Island For Our President Zewu Jun?

Zewu Jun is not even being subtle here. Why is he smiling? Seriously, why?! The fact that his brother called this guy by his formal name which can be used only by people you're close to? The fact that he followed Wei Ying to the secluded part of the Cloud Recesses? Or because he was unable to find the real person since he's fixated on Wei Ying? Knowing our President, it's probably all of the above.

The show's clever usage of Zewu Jun as the emotional compass who points precisely to what Lan Zhan feels is definitely one of my favorite things. We see that Lan Zhan often says one thing about Wei Ying but means another and Zewu Jun is the stand-in for the audience who knows the truth.

We can see the contrast of a speechless Lan Zhan when Zewu Jun confronts him about wanting Wei Ying's company versus the facade he puts on when actually in Wei Ying's company. That's it for today's analysis, folks.

The Aqua Demon Hunt Is The First Testament To Their Chemistry

Wangxian end up sharing a room. (Do we have the President to thank for that?) Lan Zhan being all "Time for me to go meditate in solitude" and Wei Ying being ".... about how we belong together!"

Rewatching these scenes is definitely bad for my heart. The unconcealed disappointment on Wei Ying's face when Lan Zhan turns down his bet to prove their like-mindedness really sends. (Is this the ancient equivalent of a love calculator, Wei Ying? How did the Yiling Patriarch never invent a device like that, I wonder.)

Lan Zhan, did he really deserve this? He just wants to show you what an incredible, unmatchable team you both will make! And he is so good at reading your mind.

Just smiling at the fact that your bro exists for no apparent reason in middle of a hunt. Wei Ying sure has his priorities straight, even if nothing else in his life is.

Wangxian Are The Dream Team

Wei Ying distracting the water ghost and saving Lan Zhan at the same time so effortlessly? A stroke of admirable genius! I probably need to start a separate post to keep track of all the times Wangxian's teamwork puts everyone else to shame. Notice how every time Lan Zhan said "boring" in this episode, it was directed only at Wei Ying’s romantic gestures. 

It's that little shoulder bump that screams "I'm sorry I splashed water at you, I did out of my love for you, okay?"

I'm sorry Wei Ying, he just needs more time to process the fact that you are the unrivalled candidate for a cultivation partner he has ever come across. And if you ever get confused why Zewu Jun is mysteriously smiling at various points in the show, it's probably a "My brother is falling in love, good for him, good for him" smile.

Wei Ying’s little head tilt after they both defeat the water ghost that came for their boat that says, “See? We belong together.” 

When Lan Zhan learns why Suibian is called so and thinks, "My crush is a fucking idiot, love that for me.“ 

Wei Ying always understands what Lan Zhan is thinking or wants to say without him having said a word. Soulmates.

Thank you water ghosts for ensuring they both end up on the same boat and giving them the chance to display their spectacular synchronization. Maybe it’ll help Lan Zhan wake up.

I rejoice every time there is a juxtaposition of Wangxian with the straight couples because it proves our main characters are travelling the same romantic arc the others are.

Saving Him For The First Time

Lan Zhan rescues Wei Ying in the nick of time! Sure, that’s the Right Thing to do but do you see his expression? That’s unbridled shock that Wei Ying is going to die. And the matter of utmost importance to Wei Ying in this life-or-death situation is the fact that Lan Zhan isn't holding his hand after the "intimate" experiences they’ve shared. I cannot.

Ok Lan Zhan.. You don't touch people.. Let’s see who the exception is. But honestly we get it, just swooping in to save him was a lot to handle, holding his hand would have been a gay apocalypse on your heart.

Wei Ying Is Growing On Lan Zhan

Lan Zhan finally admits Wei Ying could be right, because annoying as he is, his deductions are brilliant. 

We learn Lan Zhan is secretly craving loqauts but throws it back when Wei Ying gives him one. Zewu Jun offers to buy loquats for Lan Zhan, again hinting at his repressed feelings for Wei Ying. 

When we hear a vendor selling Emperor's Smile, do we see Lan Zhan's anti-Wei Ying persona begin to crack or am I seeing things? 

The episode ends with someone (Wei Ying) taking two bottles of Emperor's Smile and paying for it. Whatever happens, Wei Ying is going to sneak his misconduct into the Cloud Recesses and his way into Lan Zhan’s unfaltering heart.

All in all, this was an episode that opened the possibility of Lan Zhan maybe starting to accept that Wei Ying is a nuisance he likes having around. At the very least, he wants to live in a world where Wei Ying is alive and being his unbelievable self. He’s a man of few words and many micro expressions so that’s why it’s so golden on the rare occasions he does slip up and show that he cares about Wei Ying, like saving him in this episode. His actions speak louder than his words, and they ring louder still as show progresses and he becomes the main line of defense between Wei Ying and anyone who so much as thinks about harming him.

Episode 5 drives it home that Wangxian have chemistry that is to be envied and worth investing in. We get the sense that these two are going to be together for a long ass time.

[yikesharringrove]

So, I had this idea, but I'm not really good with writing Harringrove, so I thought I could share it with u. A modern au where Steve nd Billy are streamers in L.A. Like, maybe Billys a gaming streamer nd Steve is a v chill streamer nd basically half of their live streams consist of Steve sitting in Billys lap nd the two of them cuddling while just talking nd one day they get a donation question like, "Are the two of u dating wtf" nd they just go "duh" also. femme/nonbinary steve

I love the idea of Steve being jenna marbles-esque, just like sweet and kinda weird and super loved.

And y’all know my love for nb Steve.

Based loosely on this post. Mainly just the gif.

Watch me make up twitter handles lol

This is v soft and includes many of my headcanons for these two living their lovely modern lives.

-

“Bill!”

Steve was yowling like a damn cat out in the kitchen, interrupting Billy’s stream. “Billy!”

“Stevie! I’m streamin’, Baby!” Hear could hear Steve’s feet plodding down the hall. The chat started going crazy as they appeared in the stream behind Billy, wearing a too-big sweater, thick wool socks on those perpetually cold little feet. Their hair was a fucking mess, and they were wearing their glasses, the big ones Billy loved.

They climbed on Billy’s lap, settling their face into his neck.

“What’s up?”

“Just wanted some lovin’.” Steve’s voice was soft, but they always put their face on the side Billy’s headset mic was on and the audience would go wild over the quiet things they said. Billy rubbed their back before going back to his game.

“Everyone welcome Stevie to the stream.”

He kept playing as usual, Steve a warm little puddle in his lap.

“Okay, Babes. I’m signing off for today, Steve is definitely asleep on me right now and I gotta put them to bed. Love you all, stay safe.” He had to awkwardly shuffle Steve around in his lap to turn off the stream, picking them up to take them to the room across the hall.

They had gotten a two bedroom when they were still friends, pretending they weren’t fucking in love with each other. They had moved into the bedroom formerly known as Steve’s, setting up Billy’s old room for streaming and video editing.

Steve snuffled as Billy took off their glasses, sliding into bed behind them.

-

Steve was sitting on the floor, laughing at the monitor.

They had been doing a series of Quarantine Madness videos, doing crafts and silly makeup tutorials.

They were currently trying temporary hairdye, had their hair sticking up in all directions.

“This is so fucking stupid, oh my god.” They had electric pink in their hair, Billy had gotten roped into it with dark blue.

“If you destroy my hair for YouTube hits, I’m gonna cry.” Steve had their thin fingers in his hair, rubbing the dye in.

“Oh, worse comes to worse you get ridda that fucking mullet.”

“You love this mullet. It’s my trademark.” Billy’s hair wasn’t supposed to be a mullet, was originally a shag that had grown in weird, but Billy had become known for it, and he had kinda grown to like it.

“The whole premise of this video is to get you to shave your head.” Billy laughed. “Okay, so we gotta wait like twenty minutes and then we gotta wash it out.” They looked at memes while they waited, figured Steve would edit all this waiting out of the video anyway.

They washed the dye out in the sink, scrubbing at one another’s heads before getting in the shower to clean off the patches on their skin.

They ended up getting a little distracted in the shower.

Steve had blow dried both their hair to see the color. The pink was subtle in Steve’s dark hair, the highlights they had gotten a few weeks before quarantine picking up more of the color.

Billy’s hair was bright fucking blue, and neither of them could stop laughing at it.

“I kinda, kinda love it on you, Bill.” Steve was brushing their fingers through Billy’s hair, making him lean into the touch like a damn cat.

The video ended up being wildly popular.

-

“So, you all tweeted us some questions, and we’re gonna answer them over live stream. We each picked a bunch to pose to one another, so yeah.” Steve shrugged. “Billy, @.DustinHendy wants to know why you’re such a little bitch.” Billy cackled, planting his face into Steve’s shoulder.

“Tell Dustin he’s a little garbage human.” Billy winked at the camera, making the comments along the side of the screen go crazy. “Um, I thought this question was interesting, @.llittlebug says: you two are so touchy. Are you together, or are you just close friends? We’re gal pals, actually.” Steve laughed, loud and bright.

“Two bros chillin’ in the hot tub, five feet apart ‘cause we’re not gay.” Steve sang, making them both crack up.

“Yeah, we’re very much in a relationship, have been for four years now.” Steve was giving him that soft smile Billy loved so much. He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to that sweet little mouth. The chat was going insane, people sending comments along the lines of I knew it! and so happy for you both!

Steve’s cheeks were flushed.

“So, uh @.bigyikes asks, how did you two meet? Well actually, we went to high school together, and fucking hated each other when we first met, got in a big fight, worked our shit out became friends, moved in together, and fell in love like big dumb losers.”

“So bold of you to claim I ever hated you. I literally was fucking in love with them from the first time I ever saw them but I was, uh, going through a lot, and was kind of the worst back then.” Steve’s arm was on his shoulder, playing with the long hair by his neck.

“You’ve gotten so much better. And I’m proud of you.” Billy planted a kiss to their forehead.

“Next question before I fucking cry, @.imaloser wants to know our sexualities and gender expressions. I mean, you’ve been plenty open about all that.”

“Well, yeah. I’m pansexual and agender, which is under the nonbinary umbrella, but I like to typically present femme. And I use they pronouns, most of you know that, of course. I’m pretty open.” They turned big eyes on Billy.

“These days, I just identify as queer. I’ve always identified as a gay man, but I haven’t dated a guy in a long fuckin’ time.” Steve curled into his side.

“It’s been a learning process for both of us. I mean Billy’s the first person I dated seriously after I came out, and there was just a part of me that felt lowkey misgendered every time he said he was gay.”

“Oh, there was a lot of learning in those early days for sure. And I think we’re both still doing that. I hope I am.” Steve poked his stomach.

“You’re good to me, Bill.” There was a slew of sweet comments in the live stream.

“@.folks asks when did you get into makeup?” He turned to Steve.

“Growing up, most of my friends were girls, and I just always loved playing dress up, and getting make overs. When I was like, fourteen I think, I started playing with makeup myself, learning from YouTube tutorials, and just like, messing around with stuff. I always loved just feeling really pretty, so that’s why-” they gestured at themself, one of Billy’s shirts tucked into old worn out jeans, soft white cardigan. They had put on a full face of makeup for the stream.

“I think you’re the prettiest.” Steve laughed, headbutting Billy’s shoulder.

“Okay, so @.imstruggling wants to know who’s a better cook.” Steve turned dramatically to the camera. “Me, bitch!”

[myonechicagoworld]

CHICAGO FIRE – GOD HAS SPOKEN (S01E11)

                                         [background commotion]

Gabby Dawson: [grunts]

                            [grunts]

                            [straining]

                            [pained groan]

                            Shay? [grunts]

                            Shay. 

                            Shay.

                            Hey. Shay, sweetie. Sweetie [groans]

                            Hey. 

                            Shay, Shay.

                            You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay.

                                           [sirens approaching]

Gabby Dawson: [pants] You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna

                            be okay.

                                                  cutscene

Nancy Casey: You look good, you really do. I’m so proud of you.

Matt Casey: Thanks.

Nancy Casey: How’s Hallie?

Matt Casey: We broke up.

Nancy Casey: Oh. But you were together for, what, four years?

Matt Casey: Eight.

Nancy Casey: Well, I never liked her.

                         Do you, uh… do you talk to your sister?

Matt Casey: Not really.

Nancy Casey: Well, the reason I’m asking is, um, my hearing’s

                         coming up.

Matt Casey: I know.

Nancy Casey: And I thought maybe this time… I’ve been thinking

                        about this a lot, Matthew… you could talk to her.

Matt Casey: It’s still hard for her.

Nancy Casey: It’s hard for her?

                         Look, I need to turn the page on this too, you know? 

                         When am I gonna be allowed to do that, stuck in

                         here?

Matt Casey: Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you killed

                      dad.

                      Mom.

                                         [door buzzer sounds]

Man 1 (Orderly): All keys, cell phones, any metal objects must be

                            placed in the basket.

                                                cutscene

Paramedic: BP’s 180 over 100. Pulse of 56. Respirations of ten and

                    irregular.

Gabby Dawson: Her pupils are unequal, but she responded to light

                            on scene. 

ER Doctor: Is she allergic to any medication?

Gabby Dawson: No.

Chief Boden: Gabriela.

                        You okay?

ER Doctor: We’re going to need a blood test, stat… [indistinct 

                    chatter]… order labs, get a CBC… [continues

                    indistinctly]

Gabby Dawson: [sobs]

Chief Boden: She’s gonna be fine.

Gabby Dawson: Yeah.

Chief Boden: Gonna get you looked at, okay? Get you cleaned up.

                       Come on. It’s okay. Go ahead.

Kelly Severide: Is that her? Is that Shay?

Chief Boden: Let them do their job. 

                        Kelly.

                        Kelly!

Kelly Severide: I want to see her.

Chief Boden: Right now, there’s nothing you can do.

Kelly Severide: What are they… what are they talking here? 

                           She’s got a…a head injury? 

                           How bad is it?

Chief Boden: I don’t know.

                                                  - Title -

                                    [indistinct hospital chatter]

Matt Casey: [panting] What have you heard?

Chief Boden: Moderate traumatic brain injury. And they’ve located

                        the brain swelling, so they’re gonna do an MRI,

                         try to determine the extent of the damage.

Mouch: If anybody can find a way to rally, it’s Shay.

Matt Casey: And Dawson’s all right?

Chief Boden: She has a laceration on her leg, but other than that,

                        she’s fine.

                        They’re gonna release her here in a minute.

Matt Casey: The other driver, this tow truck, was he DUI or?

Otis Zvonecek: No. Breathalyser came up negative. 

Peter Mills: Stupid freak thing. Truck blew a tire. 

Matt Casey: What about Shay’s family?

Kelly Severide: Mom’s in Tacoma. Dad’s in Baton Rouge. I left a

                          message for them both.

Chief Boden: Every thought, every prayer needs to be directed

                        down that hallway. 

                       Okay?

                                               cutscene

Christopher Herrmann: This house needs a run, big time.

Mouch: Hey Dawson.

Firefighter: Hey Dawson.

Matt Casey: Hey.

Kelly Severide: Shay?

Gabby Dawson: Uh, she’s still in ICU, but, uh, the brain swelling

                             subsided, and she won’t need surgery or the

                             ICP catheter. They’re hoping she’s out of the 

                             woods.

Chief Boden: Just spoke with Chief Hatcher. In the absence of

                        Shay, Candidate Peter Mills will fill in the vacated

                         post in an EMT capacity.

Gabby Dawson: For how long?

Chief Boden: Till Shay’s back in this house.

Otis Zvonecek: Hey, hey. Finally some good news. Listen to this. 

                           That fire on North Hamlin… guess who the body 

                            was. “The Chicago medical examiner identified

                             it to be that of Manuel ‘Flaco’ Rodriguez,

                             purported leader of the street gang, Insane

                             Kings, wanted for a string of unsolved West 

                              Side murders, said a CPD spokesman.”

Mouch: So long, Flaco. God has spoken.

Christopher Herrmann: I don’t throw the word, karma, around a

                                        lot, but that’s exactly what that is, my

                                        friends, with a capital K.

Matt Casey: Your brother can breathe easy, Cruz. 

                      So can you.

Joe Cruz: Well, you got that right.

                                                     cutscene

Kelly Severide: Hey, Dawson. Hey.

                           What else did the doctors say?

Gabby Dawson: Uh, it’s a head injury. They’re hoping to get a better

                             indication of where she’s at in the next 24.

                             Hey, she looked a little better.

Kelly Severide: You saw her?

Gabby Dawson: Yeah.

Kelly Severide: They told me no visitors.

Gabby Dawson: I wasn’t a visitor. I was… I was getting examined 

                            myself.

Kelly Severide: You’re right. I’m… I’m sorry. Sorry, sorry.

                            How are you doing?

Gabby Dawson: Great, thanks.

Kelly Severide: The thing is, me and Shay had a disagreement right

                            before she went on shift.

Gabby Dawson: Yeah, I know. She asked if she could stay at my

                             place for a while.

Kelly Severide: Yeah. But in the light of things, I think she should

                           come back home after she’s discharged. I’ll take

                            care of her.

Gabby Dawson: I mean, that’s her call to make. But I’m not really

                            worried about that right now.

Kelly Severide: Of course. Yeah. I just want her to be okay.

Gabby Dawson: Yeah, me too.

                                      [locker door swings open]

                                                  cutscene

Leon Cruz: Yo.

Joe Cruz: What are you doing, waving that thing around in here?

Leon Cruz: Yo, did you read this?

Joe Cruz: Yes.

Leon Cruz: I thought you would have been doing cartwheels.

                    Yo, when nobody saw him come out that blaze, there

                     was crazy stories flying everywhere, like he was 

                      hiding out somewhere. 

                      This confirms it, bro. Flaco’s dead.

Joe Cruz: I know, Leon.

Leon Cruz: You did this for me.

                     That’s why you’ve been acting all shook lately, huh?

                     Yo, we take this to the grave, just me and you.

                      Thank you. Thank you!

                      Me salvaste la vida. 

                      So quit trippin’, bro.

                                                    cutscene

Christopher Herrmann: This wedding job I booked, the father of

                                         the bride and I, we hit it off. Anyway,

                                         he’s the CFO of this sewage treatment 

                                         plant.

Chief Boden: Really? You’re into sewage now? 

Christopher Herrmann: No. Anyway, turns out he’s a family guy,

                                        a really good guy. He has some venture

                                         capital that’s burning a hole in his

                                         pocket, says he might be willing to

                                         invest some start-up cash in a

                                         fleet of limos.

Chief Boden: What’s the catch?

Christopher Herrmann: None. The only hitch is that I invited him

                                         here to the firehouse today to hash

                                         things out. But with everything going

                                          on…

Chief Boden: If Shay gets wind that you screwed up this business

                       opportunity ‘cause of her, she will kick you in your

                        nuts.

Christopher Herrmann: Yeah, but…

Chief Boden: Go ahead, take the meeting. We need to get back to

                        normal around here.

Christopher Herrmann: I appreciate it, Chief.

Chief Boden: No catch, huh?

Christopher Herrmann: Not unless he tries paying me with

                                         Monopoly money.

                                    [station alert buzzes & sounds]

(Over PA): Truck 81…

Chief Boden: [sighs]

(Over PA): Squad 3, Ambulance 61. Woman trapped from unknown 

                  cause.

                                  [indistinct chatter in background]

Lady 1: The ground just collapsed.

Kelly Severide: Okay. Get back. Get back.

                           (into radio) We got a sinkhole.

                           Guys, get these cars moved in case of a secondary

                           collapse.

Lady 1: I tried to get close, but the ground started to pour in.

Kelly Severide: She your neighbour?

Lady 1: Our mail lady.

Victim 1 (Mail lady): Help me, please hurry!

                                  Somebody, help me! Help me, please.

Kelly Severide: Lieutenant Kelly Severide, Chicago Fire

                           Department. We’re gonna work on getting

                            you out. What’s your name?

Victim 1 (Mail lady): Sylvia. I need to get out of here. I… It’s getting

                                  hard to breathe [coughs]

Kelly Severide: Hey, air, struts and shoring, right now.

Matt Casey: Call the Chief.

Firefighter: Got it, Lieutenant. 

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): [strained breathing]

                                              Please help me!

Kelly Severide: Is that all we got?

Firefighter: That’s it.

Kelly Severide: That won’t be enough.

                                         [ground collapsing]

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): [screaming & coughing]

Kelly Severide: Get me more boards! 

Matt Casey: Grab anything you can get!

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): Please help me [coughing]

                                          [saw buzzing]

Lady 2 (Resident with Fence): Hey! 

Christopher Herrmann: Sorry ma’am.

                             [indistinct chatter in background]

                                          [ladder raising]

Matt Casey: Come on.

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): [gasping]

Kelly Severide: Hey, Sylvia, put these on to protect your eyes.

Christopher Herrmann: Up on green.

                                         It’s in.

Chief Boden: Okay, go ahead down. Check the shoring.

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): [coughs]

Kelly Severide: All right, Chief, good to go.

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): [gasping] I can’t breathe.

Matt Casey: Got something for you.

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): I can’t feel anything.

Matt Casey: Here, put this on.

                      Deep breaths, Sylvia.

Kelly Severide: [grunting] Good to go.

Joe Cruz: Here’s the line, Lieutenant.

                                 [ground starts to collapse again]

Kelly Severide: Easy.

Matt Casey: Come on.

                      Good.

Kelly Severide: All right, get her out of here.

Chief Boden: Pull her out. Pull her out now.

                                               [men grunting]

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): [cries out]

                                           [ground rumbling]

Kelly Severide: Let’s get out of here! 

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): Oh!

Matt Casey: Let’s move.

Christopher Herrmann: Let her in.

Chief Boden: I got her.

Victim 1 (Mail lady/Sylvia): [crying] Thank you.

Christopher Herrmann: All right.

Chief Boden: Way to go.

                       Good job.

                                                    cutscene

Doctor: Eye, motor, verbal responses have improved steadily in the

              last two hours. We still have to monitor her closely, see

              how she progresses.

Gabby Dawson: Hey.

Leslie Shay: Hey. You’re working?

Gabby Dawson: Well, you know, with you faking it, someone’s got

                             to step up.

                                          [both chuckles lightly]

Gabby Dawson: How you feeling?

Leslie Shay: Oh, a little beat up, but I’m all right. Be a little while

                      before I see the ambo, I guess.

Gabby Dawson: You really scared me, girl. Don’t do it again, okay?

Leslie Shay: So you were telling me, last thing I remember, about

                      your date with Casey. It didn’t go so well or

                      something.

Gabby Dawson: Oh, no. Jeez. The date was a disaster. And Casey

                             kissed me on the cheek.

Leslie Shay: Oh… listen, it’s not too late to switch teams.

Gabby Dawson: You already moved in. Let’s take it slow.

                                         [knocks on door]

Leslie Shay: Hey.

                      Oh. 

Kelly Severide: You’re up.

Leslie Shay: Yeah.

Kelly Severide: [chuckles] 

                                         [kissing sound]

Leslie Shay: Hi. They’re so beautiful. Thank you.

Kelly Severide: Be good to get you home. The place feels really

                           empty without hipster music blasting from your

                            room [laughs]

Leslie Shay: I’m still gonna stay with Dawson, Kelly. I think the way

                     we left it is best.

Kelly Severide: Let me know if you hear any more updates.

Gabby Dawson: Are you high?

Kelly Severide: What?

Gabby Dawson: You’ve got pinpoint pupils.

Kelly Severide: Are you out of your mind?

Gabby Dawson: You didn’t answer the question.

Kelly Severide: I’m worried about Shay. Is that okay with you?

                                                   cutscene

Matt Casey: Herrmann, relax.

Christopher Herrmann: I can’t, okay? I got a lot riding on this.

                                         Me and Cindy, we need 5 grand more to

                                         make the down payment so we can move

                                         the hell out.

Mouch: I thought you got along with your father-in-law.

Christopher Herrmann: You want to drastically alter your

                                         relationship with your father-in-law?

                                         Move in with him. Used to be that I was a

                                         fireman hero. Now he treats me like I’m

                                          Mr. Frickin’ Belvedere.

Matt Casey: You’re putting too much pressure on yourself.

Capp: Herrmann, there’s a Lance Ebbott out front for you.

Christopher Herrmann: He’s punctual. 

                                         Mr. Ebbott.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): Lance, please.

Christopher Herrmann: Lance, good to see you.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): You too.

Christopher Herrmann: Fantastic wedding the other day. 

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): Oh, well, thank you.

Christopher Herrmann: Your daughter looked lovely. So did your

                                         wife.

                                         Not that I was staring or anything.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): [chuckles] You’re very kind to say so.

                                       So uh, I looked it over… or rather, my

                                       business manager did. And it looks good.

                                       Just one last step, and then I’m in.

                                       Take me for a ride after your shift. Show me

                                        how the business operates, or more

                                        importantly, how you operate.

                                        Relationships, trust, loyalty, that’s what’s

                                        important to me.

Christopher Herrmann: As it is with me, sir.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): Lance.

Christopher Herrmann: Lance.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): See you at 7?

Christopher Herrmann: Yes, sir. See you… Lance, see you at 7.

                                         [whisper shouts] Yeah!

                                              cutscene

                            [train horn blowing in distance]

                                [knocking on car window]

Man 2: Can I help you with something?

Joe Cruz: What?

Man 2: Can I help you with something? This is private property.

Joe Cruz: Where am I? What is this place?

Man 2: Gary.

Joe Cruz: Gary?

Man 2: Yes, sir.

Joe Cruz: Indiana?

                                               cutscene

Gabby Dawson: [exhales]

Matt Casey: Hey.

Gabby Dawson: Hey.

Matt Casey: So Shay’s good, huh?

Gabby Dawson: Well, she still got some recovery left to go, but we

                             definitely got lucky.

Matt Casey: What about you? 

                      Should probably have taken a couple days off.

Gabby Dawson: Right. Like you would have.

Matt Casey: Listen, uh… the Christmas party. If I seemed

                      distracted, it’s because… I guess I was. There’s some

                      stuff I’m dealing with, stuff I gotta figure out.

Gabby Dawson: Well, you know you can talk to me anytime you

                             want, right? About any of that…stuff.

                                   [station alarm buzzes & blares]

(Over PA): Ambulance 61, difficulty breathing. 800 East Cottage 

                  Grove.

Gabby Dawson: I hope it works out… whatever it is.

                            If we set a shift record for calls, it’s on you,

                             you know.

Peter Mills: So you’re setting me up to be the firehouse jinx?

Gabby Dawson: I’m just saying I’m counting.

                            I’m not one to shy away from labelling folks.

Peter Mills: [chuckles]

                                          [knocks on door]

Gabby Dawson: CFD. Anybody there?

Peter Mills: Whoa, there’s a woman on the floor in there.

Gabby Dawson: All right, we got to get in. Break it.

Peter Mills: All right.

                                         [glass smashing]

                                  [dog barking & growling]

Peter Mills: All right. Here. Shh, shh.

                                               [barking]

Peter Mills: Okay, good, good… good poochie.

                                               [barking]

Peter Mills: Wait! Wait!

                     [sighs]

Gabby Dawson: [sighs] 

Peter Mills: Oh man.

                                               [barking]

Peter Mills: That woman is in bad shape. We need to get back out

                     there.

Gabby Dawson: (into radio) This is Ambulance 61. We need a

                             company for manpower and CPD.

Dispatcher: Copy that, 61. Sending backup. We’ll notify...

Peter Mills: Here, take this out of the wrapper.

                                     [dog snarling & barking]

Gabby Dawson: What?

Peter Mills: Okay. 

                     Here goes.

                                       [snarling & barking]

Gabby Dawson: [chuckles]

                            [clears throat]

Peter Mills: [sniffing] It smells nice. It’s, like, a… a vanilla candle or

                     something.

Gabby Dawson: Uh, that… that’s my body lotion.

                                             [dog panting]

                                           [dog whimpers]

Peter Mills: Yeah, we’re good.

Gabby Dawson: You got her ID, medical info?

Peter Mills: Yes. We are all good.

Gabby Dawson: Just don’t miss any turns on the way to the ER.

Peter Mills: Ha. Funny.

                                                cutscene

Christie: This thing always catches.

Matt Casey: You should look into getting it fixed.

Christie: Yeah, unfortunately Jim’s dangerous with tools. 

Matt Casey: [chuckles]

Christie: If only I knew a contractor.

Matt Casey: Thanks for having me.

                      I wanted to talk to you about something.

Christie: Let me guess.

Matt Casey: Just wondering if maybe you’d be willing to dial it back

                      this time.

Christie: This coming from you or her?

Matt Casey: From me. She’d be on parole. There would still be

                      restrictions in place.

Christie: [scoffs] She could’ve asked for help. She could’ve moved

                far away from him. But she didn’t. She killed him.

Matt Casey: Yes, I realised that, Christie. I was there. You were in a

                      campus dorm on the other side of the country. I heard

                       all the things he said. I saw him belittle her…

                       break her. 

                       She paid the price.

                       Listen, 15 years ago, I’m not having this conversation.

                       Now I am. 

Christie: Nothing excuses what she did.

Matt Casey: I’m not asking you to forget.

                                                  cutscene

                                            [kissing sounds]

Renee Royce: Mm…

Kelly Severide: Damn, I’m glad you’re back in town.

Renee Royce: Yeah, me too. 

Kelly Severide: [chuckles]

Renee Royce: I was in Madrid.

Kelly Severide: How often do you have to go there?

Renee Royce: This was for an interview, actually, for a, um,

                          promotion.

Kelly Severide: You taking it?

Renee Royce: I am.

Kelly Severide: When?

Renee Royce: They need me there next week.

Kelly Severide: Ah.

Renee Royce: You know, it’s funny, ‘cause we’ve only dated a

                          couple times, but it just feels like longer,

                           doesn’t it?

Kelly Severide: Yeah.

Renee Royce: My stomach’s been in knots just thinking about

                         telling you.

                         [exhales] Do you get any vacation time?

Kelly Severide: A little, here and there.

Renee Royce: So then, would you think about coming out to visit

                         me?

Kelly Severide: Yeah.

Renee Royce: Now my stomach’s back in knots again.

Kelly Severide: Hey…

                                            [kissing sound]

Kelly Severide: Congrats. Seriously.

                          And yes, I will come visit you… when I can.

Renee Royce: You will?

                          So then, should I pop open a bottle of champagne

                           to celebrate?

Kelly Severide: Absolutely.

Renee Royce: Yeah?

Kelly Severide: Yeah.

                                            [kissing sounds]

Renee Royce: Okay.

Kelly Severide: [sighs]

                                                cutscene

                                              [car banging]

Lady 3: Hey, hey, where you… get back here.

              Where you going?

Lady 4: He’s going away.

Lady 3: Yeah, aw.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): This is good. This is good. You good?

Christopher Herrmann: Great.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): This is great. So really great.

Christopher Herrmann: Okay.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): So what I’m thinking is that, once a week or

                                       every two weeks, we go on a run, you

                                       know? We, uh, meet clients, we drum up

                                       new business, and that’ll be our cover

                                       story. And then we, you know, have a

                                       good time.

Christopher Herrmann: Sounds good to me.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): Good. So, uh, give me, like, ten minutes…

Christopher Herrmann: Uh huh.

Man 1 (Lance Ebbott): And then we’ll be out of here, all right?

                                     [indistinct chatter]

                                  [siren in the distance]

                                           cutscene

Gabby Dawson: My family had a German Shepherd. They are great

                            dogs. 

                            I’m not scared of them.

Peter Mills: Please, please. You screamed like a girl.

Gabby Dawson: I am a girl. What’s your excuse?

                            Hey, Cruz, you okay?

Joe Cruz: Yeah.

Gabby Dawson: You sure? You look like you’re gonna throw up.

                                [Mills & Dawson chuckles]

Peter Mills: She literally almost hit the ceiling when the dog lunged

                     at us.

Matt Casey: Oh yeah?

Peter Mills: Yeah.

Gabby Dawson: He… he jumped higher than I did.

Peter Mills: No, I jumped higher to make myself bigger. Like, when

                    you encounter a grizzly bear in the wild, you… you…

Gabby Dawson: That survival tip doesn’t even make any sense.

                             All you’re  doing is, you’re standing there, making

                             yourself a bigger serving size for the bear or

                             whatever. Where I’m from, you haul your ass out

                             of there.

Peter Mills: Oh really?

Dawson & Mills: [laughs]

                                                [knocks on door]

Matt Casey: Hey, Cruz.

Joe Cruz: Lieutenant, I have to talk to you about something.

Matt Casey: Okay.

                                                   [door shuts]

Joe Cruz: My brother, Leon, he might be a screw-up, but he’s got a

                  really good heart, you know?

Matt Casey: Yeah, of course.

Joe Cruz: And… and these… these scumbags, the Insane Kings,

                 you know, he’s nothing like ‘em. But… but they got their

                 hooks in him, and they weren’t gonna let him go.

                 When… when I was in that building, I was checking

                 floors. And there he was, you know, Flaco. He was…

Matt Casey: Let me stop you right there. 

                      If you’re about to say what I think you are, then you

                      and me can walk right out this door, down to the

                      police station. 

                       The second option is, you sleep on this one more

                       time. Think about why you did it or didn’t do it,

                        ‘cause at this point, I have no idea ‘cause you’ve

                         told me nothing.

                        Sure as hell sounds like your brother got a new lease

                         on life.

                        Next shift, come to me. And either we go to the cops,

                        or you shake my hand and say, good morning, and

                        we go about our business. 

                        Understand?

Joe Cruz: I understand.

                                             [door shuts]

                                               cutscene

Christopher Herrmann: I really appreciate it. We’ll speak soon.

                                         Okay. Bye.

Chief Boden: Who’s that?

Christopher Herrmann: The business manager for that, uh, investor

                                         guy.

                                         He’s in.

Chief Boden: You’re kidding me. How much?

Christopher Herrmann: Full boat. 30 grand.

Otis Zvonecek: Dude!

Mouch: Let the ink dry first. Let the ink dry first. These things have a

              way of going south.

Christopher Herrmann: He already wired the money into my bank

                                         account.

Mouch: Well, egg on my face. Congrats.

Chief Boden: You and Cindy can get that house now.

Christopher Herrmann: Looks like it.

Chief Boden: Hey, go on. Show ‘em.

                       Nice little two-storey over in the West Loop.

                        Go ahead, show them.

Gabby Dawson: Oh, man, Herrmann, congratulations.

Otis Zvonecek: Wow.

Gabby Dawson: That’s awesome. 

                                               [cheering]

Gabby Dawson: Cindy’s gonna flip.

Christopher Herrmann: Yep.

Peter Mills: Tray?

Gabby Dawson: [clears throat] 

Kelly Severide: You got a sec?

                            Um… I need help.

Gabby Dawson: You got it.

                                   [station alarm buzzes & blares]

(Over PA): Truck 81, Squad 3, Battalion 25, Ambulance 61. Traffic

                   accident, University Village Marketplace.

                                   [horns honking, sirens blaring]

Man 3: He drove right through… through everything. 

Lady 5 (in hat): He hit that child. Didn’t even stop. 

Crowd: Get him out of there.

              Come on.

Chief Boden: Crowd control, before they kill that man.

                       Severide, get your men on that storefront glass.

Kelly Severide: Hadley, Capp, let’s go.

Joe Cruz: Back up. Back up, please. Back up! 

Matt Casey: Back up. 

Man 4 (In beanie): Come on.

Matt Casey: Sir, you okay?

                                        [glass breaking]

Victim 2 (Guy on ground): [grunts]

Kelly Severide: All right boys. Glass is cleared. Treat the victim.

Gabby Dawson: Here we go. Sit down.

Firefighters: Hey, hey, hey, hey.

                      Hey, hey, get back. Come on.

Victim 3 (Driver): It was a shortcut. It’s the way I always go. I didn’t

                             see ‘em.

Gabby Dawson: Okay.

Victim 3 (Driver): I didn’t see ‘em.

Gabby Dawson: How much did you have to drink today, sir?

Victim 3 (Driver): I think a bottle.

Peter Mills: A bottle?

Man 4 (In beanie): That man is drunk off his ass. Look!

Matt Casey: Stand back and let the paramedics do their job.

Peter Mills: Stay still. Come on, stay still. 

                     Calm down.

Gabby Dawson: Severe ataxia. What did you have to drink in that

                             bottle, sir?

Victim 3 (Driver): Since we were playing football all day at school…

Peter Mills: Playing football at school? You taking us down memory

                     lane?

Victim 3 (Driver): The coach said drink a lot of water, keep up your

                              energy.

                              What’s the score?

Police Officer: We’ll need a sobriety test from the drunk.

Man 4 (In beanie): I cannot believe this, man.

                                         [crowd roaring]

Firefighters: Hey, hey, hey! Hey!

                      Come on, please.

Gabby Dawson: You smell anything on his breath?

Peter Mills: No, nothing.

Gabby Dawson: All right, sir, open your eyes wide for me and track

                            my finger, okay?

Crowd: Nothing but a drunk!

Gabby Dawson: He’s not drunk. He’s having a stroke.

Peter Mills: What? Are you sure? I mean, he’s not slurring.

                     There’s no signs of partial paralysis.

Gabby Dawson: It… it could be at the base of his brain stem.

                            We got to get him to the hospital right now. 

Firefighter: Casey.

Crowd: Let’s kill him!

Matt Casey: Back her up.

Crowd: Why are you helping him for?

Man 4 (In beanie): Why should we move?

Crowd: Yeah, yeah, why?

Matt Casey: Because he needs treatment.

Kelly Severide: All right, everybody, back now!

Man 4 (In beanie): We’re not going anywhere.

Kelly Severide: Back up, or I’ll knock you on your ass.

Matt Casey: Pass me an IV. Sir?

Man 4 (In beanie): What?

Matt Casey: I need your help. We’re short on medics right now.

Man 4 (In beanie): You’re crazy, man.

Matt Casey: Hold this IV bag high in the air to start the flow of

                      saline. We use it to help the victims.

Man 4 (In beanie): You sure? Man, give me this.

                                Like this?

Matt Casey: Perfect. 

                      All right, back up. Let’s give him some room.

Man 4 (In beanie): Yeah, give me some room, people.

Kelly Severide: Back up for the medics.

Man 4 (In beanie): You heard the man, back up for the medics.

Gabby Dawson: Nice.

Matt Casey: Learned that one from you.

                                                cutscene

Leslie Shay: Seriously? I’m a paramedic.

Doctor: You’re a patient. Wheelchair to the door.

Leslie Shay: Hardass.

                     [groans]

Doctor: Take care of yourself.

Leslie Shay: Yeah, you too. 

                      What’s going on? 

Gabby Dawson: We have a great plan. 

                                                   cutscene

Cindy Herrmann: It was gonna be sound of music, but my mom is

                              saying the kids are too young for Nazis. I don’t

                              care if they watch Scarface. They’re occupied,

                              and we’re celebrating.

                              You ready? Christopher, honey?

                               Oh, no. Did the money not go through?

Christopher Herrmann: No. It went through. 

Cindy Herrmann: What’s the matter?

Christopher Herrmann: This guy… he’s not my kind of guy, Cindy. 

Cindy Herrmann: Then we’ll give the money back.

Christopher Herrmann: Then there’s no house. Or I got to find

                                         another schmo to invest 30 grand. 

Cindy Herrmann: Let’s rent.

                              I love you so much for working your ass off to get

                              us a house again, but we just want you home.

                              Margie, from school, they’re gonna have a

                              vacancy in their complex next week. We’ll make

                              it our dream home.

Christopher Herrmann: You’re my girl. You know that?

                                               cutscene

Gabby Dawson: Well, I made it for Shay, but she cancelled. So I

                             figured, why let it go to waste?

Peter Mills: Oh, wow.

Gabby Dawson: And you’re the only friend I have who’d appreciate

                            the work that went into this meal.

                                              [keys clinking]

Peter Mills: Oh, so this is where the magic happens.

Gabby Dawson: You know it.

                             All right. Juniper-braised short ribs.

Peter Mills: Ooh [sniffs]

Gabby Dawson: And roasted asparagus.

Peter Mills: Damn.

Gabby Dawson: The only thing I didn’t make was dessert.

Peter Mills: Oh, hey, well, I’ll whip something up.

Gabby Dawson: Can you make something to follow this meal? 

Peter Mills: Okay, let’s not get too cocky now.

Gabby Dawson: Oh, well, it ain’t being cocky if you can back it up.

                            Oh, didn’t Peter Mills just say that not too long

                             ago?

Peter Mills: Damn straight I did, but you watch and learn. Okay?

Gabby Dawson: [chuckles] Okay.

                                             cutscene

                                      [knocks on door]

Christie: Hi, Matt.

Matt Casey: Hey. 

Christie: Come on in.

Matt Casey: Uh, I just wanted to talk to you about the mom thing

                      first.

Christie: Okay.

Matt Casey: [sighs] I realise that one of our problems is we don’t

                      talk. And I wanted to tell you, whether or not you’re

                      speaking up against mom at the hearing…

Christie: I will be.

Matt Casey: Then so am I. And I’m going to argue that she should

                      be paroled. And I respect you and… and where

                      you’re coming from, and I hope you can do the same

                      with me.

Christie: Can you wait here for a sec?

Matt Casey: Yeah.

Christie: Violet’s school picture. I was going to give it to you after 

                dinner.

                                             [door shuts]

                                               cutscene

Leslie Shay: [laughs] “An epic arctic hurricane, all-time low king

                      crab supply, and two mutinies aboard ship.” 

Shay & Severide: [laughs]

Leslie Shay: Awesome. 

                     See, this is why we’re best friends. Kendra, sweet as

                     she is, she gets me Pride and Prejudice.

Kelly Severide: Nah.

Leslie Shay: Yeah. I mean, get to know me already.

                      What? 

                       And mint chocolate chip ice cream? 

Kelly Severide: [chuckles]

Leslie Shay: I mean, what are we talking about here?

Kelly Severide: Welcome home.

Leslie Shay: You know I’m gonna be with you every step of the way,

                      right, Kelly?

Kelly Severide: I’m meeting with the surgeon next week.

                          They say they can get the whole procedure on the

                           books soon after. And I got to get Boden involved. 

                           And… the painkillers… I’m gonna go cold turkey.

                           But if I feel like I’m gonna slip on a banana peel,

                           the union has an employee assistance program for

                           substance abuse. Dawson looked into it

Leslie Shay: I am so damn proud of you, Kelly. 

                     And if I were straight, I’d throw the biggest hump into

                     you right now [laughs]

Kelly Severide: [sighs] I really don’t know what I would’ve done if

                           anything happened to you.

Leslie Shay: [sighs] I felt the exact same way.

                                         [kissing sounds]

Leslie Shay: All right. 

Kelly Severide: All right, all right. All right. 

Leslie Shay: [sighs]

                                             cutscene

Gabby Dawson: I feel like going to med school’s a way to push

                            myself further, you know? 

Peter Mills: Yeah.

Gabby Dawson: Take it up a notch. 

                             But that’s all on hold until my finances improve.

Peter Mills: See, you… you did take it up a notch today on shift,

                     calling out that stroke. I mean, you take it up every

                      day right where you are, so…

Gabby Dawson: [chuckles] I don’t know. 

                            It’s funny though, the things that… the things that

                            you keep in your head and the things you forget.

Peter Mills: Like what?

Gabby Dawson: [chuckles] Don’t laugh. Sometimes I have a hard

                             time remembering all the bones in the body…

                             basic EMT. 

                                             [both chuckles]

Peter Mills: I don’t think I could name them all either [chuckles]

Gabby Dawson: You don’t have an excuse. It should be fresh in

                             your mind, Peter Mills. 

Peter Mills: Well, let’s find out.

                     Like, what is that?

Gabby Dawson: Uh, radius. 

Peter Mills: And that?

Gabby Dawson: Ulna. Right? Ul… ulna.

Peter Mills: Good. What is that?

Gabby Dawson: Sternum.

Peter Mills: It’s actually more the… costal margin.

                     What about this?

                                          [kissing sounds]

                                      [cell phone vibrating]

                                                 - end -

Definitions:

Respirations of ten = A person’s respiratory rate is the number of breaths you take per minute. A normal respiration rate for an adult at rest is 12 to 20 breaths per minute. A respiration rate under 12 or over 25 breaths per minute while resting is considered abnormal

CBC = A complete blood count (CBC) is a blood test that measures red blood cells, white blood cells, and blood platelets (cells that help your blood clot). It is one of the most common tests ordered by doctors. A CBC can provide a quick snapshot of your overall health.

Moderate traumatic brain injury = A term used when a person experiences changes in brain function for longer than a few minutes following trauma. Traumatic brain injury usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. More serious traumatic brain injury can result in bruising, torn tissues, bleeding and other physical damage to the brain. These injuries can result in long-term complications or death.

MRI = Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves to generate images of the organs in the body.

DUI = Driving under the influence (while impaired by alcohol or other drugs).

ICP catheter = Intracranial Pressure (ICP) monitoring uses a device placed inside the head. The monitor senses the pressure inside the skull and sends measurements to a recording device. The intraventricular catheter is the most accurate monitoring method. To insert an intraventricular catheter, a hole is drilled through the skull. The catheter is inserted through the brain into the lateral ventricle. This area of the brain contains cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF is a liquid that protects the brain and spinal cord. The intraventricular catheter can also be used to drain fluid out through the catheter.

Me salvaste la vida = “You saved my life” in Spanish

CFO = Chief Financial Officer

Air, struts and shoring = Technical rescue teams use a variety of equipment to support collapsed structures or trenches and move heavy debris to gain access to confined void spaces. Rescue struts are commonly used in conjunction with the air bags to support the debris. In a trench rescue situation where one or both sides of the trench have collapsed, the air bags can be used to backfill the void spaces behind the shoring panels as they are being set in place. The shoring panels will be held in place against the air bag by rescue struts to protect the victim and rescuers.

Pinpoint pupils = Pinpoint pupils are pupils that remain very small even in bright light (under normal conditions, pupils change size to let in the right amount of light). They can signify many issues, including drug use, poisoning, haemorrhage, or Horner syndrome (caused by a tumour or stroke or damage to the central trunk of the brain – the brainstem)

Mr. Belvedere = It is an American sitcom where the title character, Mr Belvedere takes a job as a butler with an American family.

Ataxia = Ataxia is a degenerative disease of the nervous system. Many symptoms of Ataxia mimic those of being drunk, such as slurred speech, stumbling, falling, and incoordination. These symptoms are caused by damage to the cerebellum, the part of the brain that is responsible for coordinating movement.

Schmo = A stupid person

EMT = Emergency Medical Technician

Radius = The radius or radial bone is one of the two large bones of the forearm, the other being the ulna. It extends from the lateral side of the elbow to the thumb side of the wrist and runs parallel to the ulna. The radius is thicker than the ulna.

Ulna = The ulna is a long bone (slightly longer than radius) found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. It runs parallel to the radius.

Sternum = The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury.

Costal margin = The costal margin is the lower edge of the chest (thorax) formed by the bottom edge of the rib cage. Sometimes referred to as the costal arch, the costal margin in the medial margin formed by the seventh to tenth ribs.

[windyskyes]

What if Deku was a girl and was AFOs daughter. But she didn’t know that an went to UA like normal. Shiggy, however, loves her and wants to bring her back with him (surprise adoption!) and be a good big bro. I find the interactions of “SISTER! JOIN ME!” And “IDK WHO YOU ARE PLEASE GO AWAY!” Are hilarious. She’s totally convinced that he’s just crazy and try’s to stay away from him. “SISTER! COME BACK WITH ME!” “Who’s that-“ “I don’t know him.” “IZUKU!” “I don’t know him.”

Aw, the idea of Deku as a girl is kind of adorable! I don’t think much would change early on as far as the base story goes, outside of their meeting at USJ as well as how the summer camp arc would go down... also, Shiggy being much more friendly with her at the mall incident lol

I got rather attached to this idea, so here’s that silly one-shot I mentioned based on it. I did this as a warmup between writing sessions for the next chapter of Paradigm Shift lol. (and to be clear, this is its own thing and isn’t an AU to PS :y)

At first, she was afraid when the villains abducted her from the summer camp training exercise. Why another attack, so soon after the first one? Were these villains enemies of All Might’s who had discovered her secret?!

Then, as she was pulled through a rather familiar-looking portal, Izuku finally recognized the man behind her abduction and groaned with despair. “Oh, not you again!”

Shigaraki was there waiting on the other side of the portal, practically bouncing on his barstool at the sight of her. He beamed behind the severed hand covering his face and exclaimed with delight, “Oh well done everyone! Well done! Welcome home, Zucchini-chan~!” Immediately, he spread his arms wide and went in for a crushing bear hug, pressing her face tight to his very distinctly unwashed shirt.

“Ugh, stop it with that stupid nickname! And when was the last time you took a shower?!” She gagged out, hardly able to breathe. This greasy maniac had been stalking and sending unwanted invitations to her asking that she join his merry band of hooligans because she bore some resemblance to their “shadow leader” nonstop since USJ, and now it seemed he had decided to forego asking and graduated to straight up kidnapping! God, why hadn’t she called the cops when she had the chance?!

Izuku flailed and struggled against the overgrown annoyance’s hold as the others quickly secured her hands in some kind of quirk suppression device, and her unwanted big brother finally plonked her down in a nearby chair. “Now, then...” the villain continued, hands on his hips, “What do you want your villain name to be, and what kind of costume design do you want to go for? I’m thinking more black and red, maybe with a killer bunny aesthetic if you wanna keep the hoodie.”

Izuku thudded her head back into the chair behind her as she stared up at the ceiling with a hiss of exasperation through puffed out cheeks, forcing herself to count to 10. This couldn’t be happening... why her, of all people?

With a harsh edge of irritation to her voice, she began to explain for the third time of what she was unfortunately certain would be many, “Okay. For the last time, I am of no relation to your stupid prankster ‘supervillain’ boss. Whoever you think I am, I’m just a normal hero student with a normal background. No secret villain relatives, at all!” When the man continued to look unconvinced, she stomped her foot and snapped, “Ugh, why won’t you leave me alone?! Why are you so obsessed with the idea that I’m some relative of your boss’s? I’ve told you a million times, I already have a loving family!”

Izuku felt some relief at the tears that sprung to Shigaraki’s eyes as he seemed to finally accept the reality of the situation, only for him to sob out, “She does accept us!! She thinks of us as family!”

Wait, what?!

Applause broke out among the assembly of villains, those not on board with the idea grinning maliciously at her discomfort as if it was the funniest slapstick routine in the world. “That settles it, you’re staying here with us from now on. I’m sure your mom won’t mind you staying with your dad for a bit, we’ll just have someone pop in to grab your things when she’s out of the house.” A bubble of panic began to rise in Deku’s chest; they really weren’t going to listen to reason, were they? And just because they’d gone out of their way to cause her no harm didn’t mean she was at all comfortable with one of these loons being in her house or around her mom!

“We’re keeping her?!” The girl who’d excitedly threatened her with a knife earlier squealed with delight, as if she’d just been told that the adorable puppy she’d brought in out of the rain for the night would be joining the family.

“No, no no no! H-Hold on!” Izuku exclaimed, alarm lacing her tone, “My dad’s just a normal salaryman, not a cult leader, honestly!”

“Exactly!” Shigaraki shrieked as he waved his arms, “It’s the perfect cover!”

Deku groaned and nearly broke her nose in an impulsive attempt to face-palm with the restraining device on. This was going to be a long, long night...

Throughout all of this, All For One said nothing on his side of the monitor. As the chaos on the other side of town unfolded, he just pinched the area where the bridge of his nose had once been and let out a tired sigh. From behind him, the doctor patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Maybe adopting Shigaraki had been a mistake, after all.

[heartate-aa]

OK. LAST POST. I SWEAR TO GOD LMAO. i need to stop looking at this doc bc im gonna keep. talking. but. raphael mentioning the may incident with shit out of context and just completely fucking lying about it like. bro.

and then this para referencing the post i made on my lux blog which ??? for some reason?????? pissed them off enough to spam me with 40+ messages and i only capped the last bit of it bc i actually didnt read anything past what i had bc i was so anxious that i just blocked them and closed the chat lol

this set me off and led to me leaving her with a hardline message that we could never be friends. this is because she was playing victim on twitter, saying she needed me in my dms, and saying she was happy to be rid of me publicly, while we were still friends. not to mention, her private twitter was head to toe with her gushing about someone else. my problem was that there was no way to know the truth with her. was she sorry for how she treated me, was she my victim, was she happy to be rid of me, were we going forward on good terms? i felt that it’d be easy for her to manipulate me into forgiving her for the 40th time and staying with her. i also felt that there’s no answer she could’ve gave me that would’ve given me closure.

and this as well like. you’re literally a liar. i dont remember saying that i was happy to be rid of you like ??????????? what????? i literally spent weeks gushing over like, my outlook on life and my circumstances in life getting better and you literally told me that you blocked me because “i didn’t want to hear about how good your life was” and i have screenshots of this btw but i need to edit them to censor people’s names out but that’s it but i have shown people these images and they WILL be able to back me on saying that they are unchanged from before. you are literally. a liar. and the “someone else” i was??? gushing about??????? dude like HELLO im allowed to fucking be happy that i had a friend i really clicked with and was really happy to talk to. YOU LITERALLY. DID THE SAME EXACT THING TO MY FACE ON TWITTER AND IN MY DISCORD DMS. you literally ALWAYS assume that im romantically interested in people despite me telling you NO im not.

you literally got pissed off at me because i befriended instalok and you accused me of trying to date chris. when i got modded for karasmai, you accused me of trying to date him. after you doing that, i literally distanced myself from these people because it made you unhappy. you’re so fucked up lmao. you have always monitored who i spoke to and tried to control my relationships out of your own insecurity and i ALWAYS tried to reassure you and comfort you. i have literally never had feelings for anyone else nor did i entertain that thought. even now i still for some reason have love left for you and i’m not going to be ready to move on for a long long long time, nor will i be able to trust anyone or their intentions. i’m more aroace than anything anyways and i have always told you that you were always my one exception and that’s still true. i loved you so much. i never cared about dating until you and i dont care now. i am going to pull your stupid fucking doc to shreds raphael because it’s so full of shit.

EDIT: RAPHAEL SAYING THAT I THREATENED TO USE CAPS TO DRAG THEM BEFORE “IF THEY LEFT ME” IS A BLATANT FUCKING LIE LMFAO I SWEAR TO GOD IM GONNA DIG THIS SHIT OUT OF THE FESTERING CRACKS. THIS IS SUCH A LIE.

[calypsoff]

Eighty Two. Part 3

Now that Robyn has mentioned it, this was all a joke that Drake and I do say back and forth, but he had to say it on the live “why is he taking shots at you? Because he can’t do it at me so he’s doing it at you?” Now I am pissed off “then deal with it Chris, I keep telling you that your mouth runs. Your jokes are monitored now, you’re married to me Chris. Anything you do and say will affect me, it will look bad on me, you didn’t need to say he is feminine did you? You didn’t even need to react either but here we are, I am being dragged into it. Chris you have to understand that this ain’t no joke anymore, this is my life, my future. Now I am looking like some pawn in y’all argument, you had to drag him into it. And Drake is all besties with you, but he also tried to date me, he also chased me around and asked me for dinner and kept telling me he wanted me, I didn’t want him. Now he’s friends with you, yes I probably picked the wrong idiot but now Rakim is going to be on your ass with his stupid mob” I shrugged in annoyance “why you tell me this about Drake? You’re here telling me drake wanted you, but you declined him, you dislike that I am friends with him anyways and you told me this to piss me off, I’ll take Rakim ass out, I don’t give a fuck. I’ll do it again but don’t ever come to me and stand in front of me and tell me what man wanted you, got it!?” I lost my temper “crying to me saying people assumed you was this and that but you here in my face telling me this, you know we get on and you dislike that but now you telling me he wanted your pussy, you’re telling your husband this? Me!?” Who does she think she is speaking too; I allow her to speak shit but she is doing too much “speak then!? How many people have you actually slept with in Hollywood? Who next, who liked you now. I mean what I fucking said Robyn, watch your mouth when you telling me that shit, now you quiet. Don’t worry I will deal with Rakim but don’t come to me and say that shit to me about Drake liking you when you had all the fucking time in the world to tell me that Robyn! Remember who you’re speaking too!” She walked off, of course she would walk off because that is Robyn all over, she needs to understand she is speaking to her husband and telling me who want her pussy, I am already pissed that Rakim is bringing her into this, I will kill a nigga for her.

Walking back into the living room “where is she?” I asked, “she went upstairs” Rylee is crying and she went upstairs “Chris, why you both arguing?” My mom asked “because she forgets who she is speaking too, she needs to know her place sometimes. I let her get away with everything she says to me, I allow it because I am just that guy, but she is pushing and pushing. I am that nigga and I won’t be pushed over no matter what you both say, fuck that. Why she left Rylee crying for” is she actually being real right now, walking around the couch and my phone started to ring also in my hand it’s of course Drake, now I am not mad at him, I am mad my wife. Stood at the bottom of the steps “Robyn!?” I shouted, answering his call “Ayo” I answered, “I say we roll up on his crew, I mean he didn’t have to mention Rih” now I feel annoyed him speaking on her “one second” muting my speaker “Robyn!” I shouted again, she finally appeared at the top “Rylee is crying, pick her up. Be a mother, you’re constantly running because now I stated something, come down and deal with her” I pointed, unmuting the call “yeah what you saying? I got something for his ass, I beat his ass once I can do it again. The nigga is five foot nothing, fuck him. I need go though, speak soon” disconnecting the call, walking off as Robyn came down, I am just pissed off about everything because she does constantly nag me and demand I can’t do this and that and I take it, but she is pushing me.

I’ve messaged Rocky and I’ll even give him my address because I ain’t taking that shit from him, Robyn doesn’t want it to be public and she wants it to be all low-key so here I am just trying resolve this with him, tapping on his message this nigga sent me his mobile number. I ain’t scared of him so there is that, copying his number and pasting it to call him. The call rang out “I should have known your bitch ass would call ASAP, without an ounce of time wasted nigga” he thinks he’s fucking funny “why wouldn’t I call you? I ain’t scared of a midget, I already beat you my nigga. Come on now, you want another beat down. You are talking about my wife nigga! You are talking about my wife! You fucking want a death wish! You are speaking on my wife” I am so angry “the fucking truth, it happened! You started this shit, I had your wife or whatever she is, call me begging me to not press charges on your ass, please don’t start with me. How you feel that I had your wife begging, ain’t the first and it ain’t the last, I’m just that pretty. She loves me then you came out of nowhere and think you can clown me. I don’t even need to get my hands dirty, I got Harlem on you” I’m gonna hurt him “don’t speak on my wife; I am telling you now. I don’t care what army you got, you pussy that is why you need that shit bro. I don’t need anyone, I just need you to come to me, you scared bro” Rocky laughed down the phone “I ain’t scared, you all mad at facts my nigga, you and that Jew motherfucker thinking y’all funny and now you upset at facts? You looking stupid, I am the same nigga telling your wife I am happy for her, I text her those words and her stupid dumb husband want to talk shit!? No disrespect to my ex but you a clown nigga, I dare you to beat me, I get your ass back in jail and I’ll take your family nigga” throwing my phone across the room, it hit the wall, but I am pissed. He is right I can’t do shit, now I am pissed.

He practically said Robyn still texts him, that is what I heard, and he said that, she never said he told her anything like that or that she has his number, but god forbid that I have a single female in my phone, I am pissed off and I should maybe stay away from Robyn because I am very angry, she got me looking stupid “son, come here. Let’s talk” I am so lost right now, I want to snap on Robyn but then I don’t want too because I know that I have already upset her so I don’t want to say anything to her but I am angry “come on” my dad put his arm around me “let’s talk son” she has his number still “Chris, why are you harassing Rakim. Seriously?” I didn’t need Robyn to be coming down, this is the worst thing to do, pushing my dad’ hand away “why the fuck are you coming to me! About him! Are you fucking real right now, you have been messaging him behind my back and have his number, honestly. Get out of my face until I have calm down” I really don’t need to be in her space and for her to be in mine “come on now!” my dad yanked me “both of you just need to stay away at this moment, no more” my dad is not having it now.

I don’t like to smoke weed in front of my dad so we both just sat outside saying nothing, it’s cold out here too but I am angry “you’re shivering, can we just go in?” shaking my head, I am that angry that I am warm “the thing is right, with Robyn. I let her do what she pleases, I am very easy going with her because I love her dad, she is very headstrong and she tells me off and again, I allow her to be that way. Not like in a way she belittles me but I let her, you get it? I allow her too dad, what pissed me off here is that she started speaking on Drake. Now me and Drake get on, I know Robyn dislikes him, but she mentioned that he used to chase her, that he wanted to be with her. He liked her, how she come out with that shit now dad!? Because I know her, she said it to piss me off and to get me away from him, I am angry and then speaking to her fucking ex, he is telling he has her number. He is happy for her, now her ass comes downstairs and says about Rocky, how does she know? She knows because she is speaking to him, how does that make me feel. I want to kill him dad, I am too angry to be even near Robyn. What gets me is that I let her talk to me as she does, I let her disallow me to go places and do things, but she is here messaging random men” my dad is letting me rant on but I am very pissed off, maybe it’s something that has annoyed me because I do like being my own man and I allowed her to take over that.

Shit is wack but my dad and I went inside because of course it’s cold outside “let’s just speak here, I have listened to you and heard you out Chris, but you do need to realise what you say and your reaction to it really doesn’t look good, what I am saying is that in anger you are shouting, she isn’t shouting so easily the woman becomes the innocent party. You lost control when you shout, you are angry and I understand that son, but you cannot speak to a woman the way you do, you are full of rage. You want to fight; you threw your phone. Your mother and I are not going to come between you both, but you need to speak to her, you need to work together. I am different, I can be quiet for so long and accept your mother and listen to her rants, but we didn’t have things like social media to fuel things. I have had arguments with her, but my tone is never chaotic, that is when I know I have lost control. I think maybe tonight you stay in a different room, have some space and tomorrow you gather yourselves and first you need to apologise, hear me out what I am saying to you. You need to apologise for your tone but not how you feel, you hear what I said? You feel that way and you need to express that, you say how you feel without being rude or mean ok? Get some sleep, get some rest and not get yourself in more trouble. Do not tell a mother how to raise her child either, I made that mistake once” nodding my head.

My dad is a good man, I am not him either. I am a dickhead, and I am pissed off, I want to go to Harlem and beat his ass, I got fucking Robyn speaking to this dude. I didn’t even know she spoke to her ex, she dislikes Seiko and would get at me but she has him there, I get why she wasn’t angered, she was more angry that her pictures of her sucking my dick was aired out, I get it now, I do. My phone is bust, totally too so I have no phone “I came to get some water” looking behind me, it’s Austin “cool” I mumbled “you know what cuz, you can marry the most beautiful woman in the world. They all the same” I snorted laughing at him saying that “women are women, nothing changes that at all. They will be the same and always be on the same shit, it’s ok for them to do something but not the man, and when you raise your tone it’s my bad? Get that shit out of my face, don’t love. Don’t show love, don’t do love, don’t love. Be a player Austin, live your life, don’t get nobody pregnant either, don’t get married but do not love. Major one, especially one that be having more money then you so it’s a power trip” my plot to kill Rocky isn’t going to happen and I hate that for me, I am just fucking annoyed.

[96harmony96]

Chapter 18

Monday mornings could be awesome, when they began with Lauren Jauregui. We rode to work with my back propped against her side and her arm slung over my shoulder so that her fingers could link with mine.

As she toyed with the ring she’d given me, I kicked out my legs and eyed the classic nude heels she’d bought me along with some outfits to wear on the occasions I slept over. To start out the new week, I’d decided on a black pinstriped sheath dress with a thin Emerald green belt that reminded me of her eyes. she had excellent taste; I had to give her that.

Unless she was sending one of her brunette “acquaintances” out on buying sprees…?

I pushed the unpleasant thought aside.

When I’d checked out the drawers she had set aside for me in her bathroom, I found all of my usual cosmetics and toiletries in all my usual shades. I didn’t bother to ask how she knew, which might’ve led to me freaking out. Instead, I chose to look at it as more proof of her attentiveness. she thought of everything.

The highlight of my morning had been helping Lauren dress in one of her seriously sexy pant suits. I’d buttoned her shirt; she’d tucked it into her pants. I’d fastened her fly; she had knotted her tie. she’d shrugged into her vest; I’d smoothed the finely tailored material over her equally fine shirt, amazed to find that it could be just as sexy putting clothes on her as it was to take them off. It was like wrapping my own gift.

The world would see the beauty of the packaging, but only I knew the woman inside it and how precious she was. Her intimate smiles and her deep husky laugh, the gentleness of her touch and the ferocity of her passion were all reserved for me.

The Bentley bounced lightly over a pothole in the road and Lauren tightened her hold. “What’s the plan after work?”

“I get to start my Krav Maga classes today.” I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice.

“Ah, that’s right.” Her lips brushed over my temple. “You know I’m going to have to watch you go through drills. Just thinking about it makes me hard.”

“Didn’t we already establish that everything makes you hard?” I teased, nudging her with my elbow.

“Everything about you. Which is lucky for us, since you’re insatiable. Text me when you’re done and I’ll meet you at your place.”

Digging in my purse, I pulled out my smartphone to see if it still had a charge and saw a message from Cary. I opened it and found a video plus a text; Does X know his bro is a douche? Stay away from CV, baby girl *smooches*

I started the playback but it took me a minute to figure out what I was seeing. When comprehension set in, I froze.

“What is it?” Lauren asked with her lips in my hair. Then she stiffened behind me, which told me she was looking over my shoulder.

Cary had filmed the video at the Vidal’s garden party. From the eight-foot-high hedges in the background, he was in the maze, and from the leaves framing the screen, he was in hiding. The star of the show was a couple locked in a passionate embrace. The woman was beautifully teary, while the man kissed over her frantic words and soothed her with gentle strokes of his hands.

They were talking about me and Lauren , talking about how I was using my body to get my hands on her millions.

“Don’t worry,” Christopher crooned to a distraught Magdalene. “You know Lauren gets bored fast.”

“she’s different with her. I—I think she loves her.”

He kissed her forehead. “She’s not her type.”

The fingers I had linked with Lauren’s tightened.

As we watched, Magdalene’s demeanor slowly changed. She began to nuzzle into Christopher’s touch, her voice softening, her mouth seeking. To an observer, it was clear he knew her body well—where to pet and where to rub. When she responded to his skilled seduction, he lifted her dress and fucked her. That he was taking advantage of her was obvious. It was there in the contemptuously triumphant look on his face as he screwed her until she was limp.

I didn’t recognize the Christopher on the screen. His face, his posture, his voice…it was like he was a different man.

I was grateful when my smartphone battery died and the screen abruptly winked off. Lauren wrapped her arms around me.

“Yuck,” I whispered, snuggling carefully into her so I didn’t get makeup on her lapel. “Majorly creepy. I feel bad for her.”

she exhaled harshly. “That’s Christopher.”

“Asshole. That smug look on his face—Ugh.” I shuddered.

Pressing her lips to my hair, she murmured, “I thought Maggie would be safe from him. Our mothers have known each other for years. I forget how much he hates me.”

“Why?”

I wondered briefly if the nightmares Lauren had were related to Christopher, then I put the thought aside. No way. Lauren was older by several years and tougher all the way around. she’d kick Christopher’s ass.

“He thinks I got all the attention when we were younger,” Lauren said wearily, “because everyone was worried about how I was handling my father’s suicide. So he wants what’s mine. Everything he can get his hands on.”

I turned into her, pushing my arms underneath her jacket to get closer. There was something in her voice that made me hurt for her. Her family home was a place she said haunted her nightmares and she was terribly distant from her family.

she’d never been loved. It was as simple—and as complicated—as that.

“Lauren ?”

“Hmm?”

I pulled back to look at her. Reaching up, I traced the bold arch of her brow. “I love you.”

A violent shudder moved through her, one hard enough to shake me, too.

“I don’t mean to freak you out,” I reassured her quickly, averting my face to give her some privacy. “You don’t have to do anything about it. I just didn’t want another minute to go by without you knowing how I feel. You can tuck it away now.”

One of her hands gripped my nape, the other dug almost painfully into my waist. Lauren held me there, immobile, locked against her as if I might blow away. Her breathing was ragged, her heartbeat pounding. she didn’t say another word the rest of the ride to work, but she didn’t let me go either.

I planned on telling her again one day in the future, but as far as first times went, I thought we’d both done okay.

At ten o’clock sharp, I had two dozen long-stemmed red roses delivered to lauren’s office with the note: In celebration of red dresses and limo rides.

Ten minutes later, I received an interoffice envelope with a note card that read:

Let’s do that again. Soon.

At eleven o’clock, I had a black-and-white calla lily arrangement delivered to her office with the note: In honor of black & white garden party dresses and being dragged into libraries…

Ten minutes later, I received his reply:

I’ll be dragging you to the floor in a minute…

At noon, I went shopping. Ring shopping. I hit six different shops before I found a piece that struck me as being absolutely perfect. Made of platinum engraved and studded with black diamonds, it was an industrial-looking ring that made me think of power and bondage. It was a dominant ring, very bold and masculine. I had to open a new charge account with the store to cover the hefty cost, but I considered the months of payments ahead of me worth it.

I called lauren’s office and talked with Scott, who helped me arrange a fifteen-minute window in Lauren’s packed day for me to stop by.

“Thank you so much for your help, Scott.”

“You’re very welcome. I’ve enjoyed watching her receive your flowers today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile like that.”

A warm rush of love flowed through me. I wanted to make Lauren happy. As she’d said, I lived for it.

I went back to work with a smile of my own. At two o’clock, I had a tiger lily arrangement delivered to Lauren’s office followed by a private note sent via interoffice envelope:

In gratitude for all the jungle sex.

Her reply:

Skip the Krav Maga. I’ll give you a workout.

When three forty rolled around—five minutes before my appointment with Lauren—I got nervous. I stood up from my chair on shaky legs and paced in the elevator on the way up to her floor. Now that the time had come to give her my gift, I worried that maybe she didn’t like rings…after all, she didn’t wear any.

Was it too presumptuous and possessive of me to want her to wear one just because I did?

The redheaded receptionist didn’t give me any trouble getting in and when Scott spotted me emerging from the hallway, he stood from his desk and greeted me with a wide grin. When I stepped into lauren’s office, Scott closed the door behind me.

I was immediately struck by the lovely fragrance of the flowers and the way they warmed the starkly modern office.

Lauren looked up from her monitor, her brows lifting when she saw me. she pushed fluidly to her feet. “Camila. Is something wrong?”

I watched her shift gears from professional to personal, her gaze softening as she looked at me.

“No. It’s just…” I took a deep breath and went to her. “I have something for you.”

“More? Did I forget a special occasion?”

I set the ring box down in the center of her desk. Then I turned away, feeling queasy. I seriously doubted the wisdom of my impetuous gift. It seemed like a stupid idea now.

What could I say to absolve her of guilt for not wanting it? As if it wasn’t bad enough I’d dropped the “L” bomb on her today; then I had to follow it up with a damned ring. she was probably feeling the ball and chain already, dragging after her as she ran. And the noose tightening—

I heard the ring box snap open and Lauren’s sharply drawn breath. “Camila.”

Her voice was dark and dangerous. I turned carefully, wincing at the austerity of her features and the starkness of her gaze. Her hands were white-knuckled on the box.

“Too much?” I asked hoarsely.

“Yes.” she set the box down and rounded the desk. “Too damn much. I can’t sit still, I can’t concentrate. I can’t get you out of my head. I’m fucking restless, and I never am when I’m at work. I’m too busy. But you have me under siege.”

I knew damn well how demanding her work had to be, yet I hadn’t taken that into consideration when the mood to surprise her—again and again—hit me. “I’m sorry,Lauren. I wasn’t thinking.”

she approached with the sexy stride that hinted at how great she was in the sack. “Don’t be sorry. Today has been the best day of my life.”

“Really?” I watched her slide the ring onto her right ring finger. “I wanted to please you. Does it fit? I had to guess…”

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” Lauren caught up my hands and kissed my ring; then watched as I repeated the gesture with her. “What you make me feel, Camila…it hurts.”

My pulse leaped. “Is that bad?”

“It’s wonderful.” she cupped my face, her ring cool against my cheek. she kissed me passionately, her lips demanding against mine, her tongue thrusting with wicked skill into my mouth.

I wanted more, but restrained myself, thinking that I’d already gone overboard enough for one day. Plus, she’d been too distracted by my unexpected appearance to frost the glass wall to give us privacy.

“Tell me again what you said in the car,” she whispered.

“Hmm…I don’t know.” I brushed my free hand over her vest. I was afraid to tell her again that I loved her. she’d taken it hard the first time, and I wasn’t sure she’d fully taken in what it meant for us. For her. “You’re ridiculously handsome, you know. It’s a sucker punch every time I see you. Anyway…I don’t want to risk scaring you away.”

Leaning toward me, she touched hervforehead to mine. “You regret what you said, don’t you? All the flowers, the ring—”

“Do you really like it?” I asked anxiously, pulling back to study her face and see if she was hedging on the truth. “I don’t want you to wear it for me if you hate it.”

Her fingers traced the shell of my ear. “It’s perfect. It’s how you see me. I’m proud to wear it.”

I loved that she got it. Of course, that’s because she got me.

“If you’re trying to soften the blow of taking back what you said—” she began, his gaze betraying a surprising anxiety.

I couldn’t resist the soft plea in her eyes. “I meant every word, Lauren.”

“I’ll make you say it again,” she threatened in a seductive purr. “You’ll scream it by the time I’m done with you.”

I grinned and backed away. “Get back to work, fiend.”

“I’ll give you a lift home at five.” she watched me move to the door. “I want your cunt naked and wet when you come down to the car. If you touch yourself to get there, don’t make yourself come or there will be consequences.”

Consequences. A little shiver moved through me, but it carried a level of fear I could deal with. I trusted Lauren to know just how far to push me. “Will you be hard and ready?”

A wry smile twisted her lips. “When am I not, with you? Thank you for today, Camila. Every minute of it.”

I blew her a kiss and watched her eyes darken. The look on her face stayed with me the rest of the day.

It was six o’clock before I made it back to my apartment in a state of well-fucked dishevelment. I’d known what I was in for when I found lauren’s limousine at the curb after work instead of the Bentley. she’d damn near tackled me as I climbed into the back; then proceeded to demonstrate her phenomenal oral skills before nailing me into the seat with vigorous enthusiasm.

I was grateful that I kept in shape. Otherwise, Lauren’s insatiable sexual appetite combined with her seemingly endless stamina might’ve exhausted me by now. Not that I was complaining. Just an observation.

Clancy was already waiting for me in the lobby of my apartment building when I came rushing in. If he noted my hideously wrinkled dress, flushed cheeks, and messy hair, he didn’t point it out. I changed swiftly upstairs and we took off for Parker’s studio. I hoped the orientation would start out easy because my legs were still a bit jellied from two toe-curling orgasms.

By the time we arrived at the converted warehouse in Brooklyn, I was excited and ready to learn. About a dozen students were engaged in various exercises with Parker overseeing and offering encouragement from the edge of the mats. When he saw me, he came over and directed me to a far corner of the sparring area where we could work one-on-one.

“So…how’s it going?” I asked, to break my own tension.

He smiled, showing off a very interesting and arresting face. “Nervous?”

“A little.”

“We’re going to work on your physical strength and stamina, as well as your awareness. I’m also going to start training you not to freeze or hesitate in unexpected confrontations.”

Before we began, I thought I had pretty good physical strength and stamina, but I learned both could be better. We started out with a brief introduction to the equipment and layout of the space, and then moved on to an explanation of both fighting and neutral/passive stances. We warmed up with basic bodyweight calisthenics; then progressed to “tagging,” where we tried to tag each other’s shoulders and knees while standing face-to-face and blocking countermoves.

Parker was amazing at tagging, of course, but I started to get the hang of it. The majority of the time, however, was spent covering groundwork and I really sunk my teeth into that. I knew very well what it was like to be down and at a disadvantage.

If Parker noted my underlying vehemence, he didn’t comment on it.

When Lauren showed up at my apartment later that evening, she found me soaking my aching body in my bathtub. Although I could tell she was fresh from a shower after her own workout with her personal trainer, she stripped and slid into the bath behind me, cradling me with her arms and legs. I whimpered as she rocked me.

“That good, huh?” She teased, catching my earlobe in her teeth.

“Who knew rolling around for an hour with a hot guy could be so exhausting?” Cary had been right about Krav Maga causing bruises; I could see a few shadows blooming beneath my skin already and we hadn’t even gotten to the hard stuff yet.

“I might be jealous,” Lauren murmured, squeezing my breasts, “if I didn’t know Smith was married with children.”

I snorted at yet another tidbit of knowledge she shouldn’t know. “Do you also know his shoe and hat sizes?”

“Not yet.” she laughed at my exasperated growl and I couldn’t hold back a smile at hearing the rare sound.

One day soon we were going to have to talk about her obsession with information gathering, but today wasn’t the day to get into it. We’d been at odds too much lately and Cary’s warning about making sure we had as much fun as not was ever-present in my mind.

Playing with the ring on lauren’s finger, I told her about the conversation I’d had with my dad on Saturday and how his fellow cops had been ribbing him over the gossip about me dating the Lauren jauregui.

she sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Turning, I faced her. “It’s not your fault you’re news. You can’t help being insanely attractive.”

“One of these days,” she said dryly, “I’ll figure out whether my face is a curse or not.”

“Well, if my opinion counts for anything, I’m rather fond of it.”

Lauren’s lips twitched and she touched my cheek. “Your opinion is the only one that means anything. And your dad’s. I want him to like me,Camila , not think I’m exposing his daughter to invasions of her privacy.”

“You’ll win him over. He just wants me to be safe and happy.”

she visibly relaxed and pulled me closer. “Do I make you happy?”

“Yes.” I rested my cheek over her heart. “I love being with you. When we’re not together, I wish we were.”

“You said you didn’t want to fight anymore,” she murmured in my hair. “It’s been bugging me. Are you getting tired of me fucking up all the time?”

“You do not fuck up all the time. And I’ve screwed up, too. Relationships are hard, Lauren. Most of them don’t have kick-ass sex like we do. I put us in the lucky column.”

she cupped water in her hand and poured in down my back, over and over, soothing me with its sinuous warmth. “I don’t really remember my dad.”

“Oh?” I tried to not tense up and reveal my surprise. Or my agitated excitement and desperate hunger to learn more about her. she’d never talked about her family before. It killed me not to prod with questions, but I didn’t want to push if she wasn’t ready….

Her chest lifted and fell on a deep exhale. There was something in the sound of her sigh that brought my head up and ruined my intention to be cautious.

I ran my hand over her hard pectorals. “Want to talk about what you do remember?”

“Just…impressions. He wasn’t around much. He worked a lot. I guess I get my drive from him.”

“Maybe workaholism—is that a word?—is something you have in common, but that’s it.”

“How would you know?” She shot back, defiant.

Reaching up, I brushed the hair back from her face. “I’m sorry, Lauren, but your father was a fraud who took the easy, selfish way out. You don’t have it in you to be that way.”

“Not that way, no.” she paused. “But I don’t think he ever learned how to connect to people, how to care about anything but his own immediate needs.”

I studied her. “Do you think that describes you?”

“I don’t know,” she answered quietly.

“Well, I know, and it doesn’t.” I pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. “You’re a keeper.”

“I better be.” Her arms tightened around me. “I can’t think about you with someone else,Camila. Just the idea of another man seeing you the way I do, seeing you like this…putting his hands on you…It takes me to a dark place.”

“It’s not going to happen, Lauren.” I knew how she felt. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if she was intimate with another woman.

“You’ve changed everything for me. I couldn’t stand losing you.”

I hugged her. “The feeling’s mutual.”

Tilting my head back, Lauren took my mouth in a fierce kiss.

In moments it became clear we were soon going to be sloshing water all over the floor. I pulled away. “I need to eat if you want to go at it again, fiend.”

“Says the girlfriend rubbing her wet naked body all over me.” she sat back with a sinful smile.

“Let’s order cheap Chinese and eat it out of the box with chopsticks.”

“Let’s order good Chinese and do that.”

[frostedroyaltea]

since I added a lot more and I edited and the format was kinda weird and I am reposting this. enjoy!

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among us - russian mafia bros play among us

A door slammed against the wall, startling Felix from his sleep. He scowled in the direction of the door. “What do you want?”

“Lixa!” He groaned. “Were you asleep?”

“Yes.” He rubbed his eyes and groaned again. “Urg.”

“What?”

“My eyes hurt.”

“Why would they be hurting?”

 “I fell asleep with my contacts again.” Felix swiped at his computer screen. Nothing. He frowned. He tried the power on his computer. Still nothing. Dead. He sighed and plugged it back in.

 “So.” Ivan sat in the chair next to his. “Why is it that whenever I come to visit you’re sleeping? I thought Grisha didn’t like slackers.”

“I was working. I was waiting for some things to download and it was taking too long so I was watching a show… And then forgot about work. Anyway-” Felix spun in the chair to face Ivan “-what do you want?”

 “So there’s this new game-”

 “Vanya I have work,” Felix said and he gestured to the still blank monitor.

 “Hmm.” Ivan peered closer. “Computer still looks dead. So we can play.”

 “Fine. What is it?”

 “It’s called Among Us. It’s people on a spaceship and they get to kill each other and then the other people try to figure out who the murderers are.”

 “Where do I get it?”

 “On your phone.”

 The game was quick to download. As soon as Felix had it up Ivan thrust his own phone at him and told him to put in the code. “So. How do I know if I’m a murderer or not?”

 “If you’re imposter you kill people. If you aren’t you try not to die and try to find out who the imposter is.”

 “Seems simple enough,” Felix said to himself. 

 He died almost immediately. The computer was back and alive and he went back to downloading what Vladimir needed and looking for a way to contact an old ally. The search came up empty and he looked back at the game. The ghosts were currently in the chat yelling at the imposter. Felix felt he could relate.

  “You die yet?” he asked Ivan.

 “Never,” Ivan said in a low voice. “I. Will. Not. Lose.”

 “...You must really like this game.”

 *

 Ivan must’ve introduced the game to some of the others because the next day they were arguing about it when Felix walked in. Grisha was staring from the doorway to his office. “Why,” he said, looking like he was staring off into the distance. He looked at Felix. “How does this always happen?”

 Felix just shrugged and continued his search through the of the internet.

 *

 On their way back to the safehouse a group of, they were kids really, stopped them. There were ten of them to their eight. 

 “Move,” Vladimir barked. 

 “Make us,” own of them taunted. Vladimir glared at him and he faltered under the weight of the stare. “This is Irish territory. Go somewhere else,” he said weakly.

 One of the other, bigger, ones shoved his way forward. “This is why Maeve put  me  in charge.” He puffed his chest out and stared at Vladimir. “You have to go somewhere else! This is irish territory now.” He stuck his chin up and grinned triumphantly.

Vladimir took a step forward. “Since when.”

“Since last week. Now go! Maeve doesn’t want any uhh. Uhh. Gop-”

 “Alright.” Vladimir walked up to their leader and stared down at him. “I’ve had enough. Get out of here. Go home.”

 “Or else  what ?”

 Vladimir narrowed his eyes and glared down at him. “Do you want to find out?” He crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

 The kid eyed him, swallowed and took a step back. “There’s more of us than  you .”

 “Listen kid-”

 Somehow one of them had snuck off without their notice. Ivan yelped and they turned to look at him. He had one of the kids by their hood and was holding a switchblade in his other hand. “Kid tried to stab me,” he said and he shook the kid roughly. The kid look close to tears and they let out a whimper as they tried to sneak away and Ivan tightened his hold.

 “You listen here,” Ivan all but snarled. “You stay out of here. Don’t do shit like this. You can get killed.” Ivan shook them again. “Do you understand?” 

 The kid whimpered a ‘yes’ and scampered away as soon as Ivan relaxed his hold. Most scattered after that, leaving in groups of twos and threes. 

 While their peers left three rather bold, rather stupid, kids still held their ground. They quickly left after being starred down but not before one of them managed to get Felix with his knife. 

 There was a clattering on the fire-escape above them and all of them looked up. Matt was standing there, in his old black attire. “Must you all be getting into fights on my doorstep?”

 “Sorry Motya,” Vladimir said. 

 “Someone’s bleeding. You had better come in. 

 “Through the  door ,” he added after Vladimir made for the fire-escape. “I’ll let you in.”

 “I know,” Ivan said after they had settled on the couches and had been introduced to Matt’s friends and thoroughly threatened not to hurt them, “we could play Among Us.”

 “Your awfully good at that,” Foggy commented, eyeing Piotr stitching the cut on Felix’s chest.

 “Thanks. I work with a bunch of idiots. Can you believe,” he nudged Vladimir with his foot, “this one thought it would be a good idea to dump vodka on an open wound? A bunch of tupitsy all of them.”

 “Rude,” Vladimir said and punched Piotr’s arm.

 Felix yelped when the needle jabbed him painfully. “Sorry,” Piotr soothed. He glared at Vladimir and kicked him. “Don’t  do that. That’s why you get called ‘tupitsa’.”

 “Did you make a game?” Felix asked through gritted teeth. He screwed his eyes shut at a particularly painful stitch. 

 “Yeah.”

 The rest of them, excluding Piotr and Vladimir who was put in a ‘timeout’ by Piotr,  got on, to Ivan and Felix’s surprise. Ivan picked his way through them quickly until the very end when he was inevitably voted out when he was slipping.

 Several games later Matt, Foggy, and Karen were invested in the outcomes of their numerous rounds. They had been given food and drinks and seemed inclined to stay as long they’d be allowed.

 Another game was started after a rather sloppy one that resulted in arguments over what rules should be made specifically for the players involved. Their ‘discussion’ came to no such argument so another game was started. 

 "Vanya," Felix grumbled, "stop following me and do your tasks."

 "I am. I guess they're in the same direction."

 "Uh-huh." Felix looked over at Ivan's phone and narrowed his eyes. "Why is your name red?"

 "Oh Lixa," Ivan said sweetly, "you don't have your glasses on. You must have seen it wrong.” Ivan twisted around and turned the screen away. Felix scowled.

 "I found my contacts liar ." Felix looked back down at his phone and his mouth dropped open as he watched Ivan kill him. It dropped lower when he watched Ivan report it.

 "You see who did it?" Piotr asked.

 "No. I just saw the long tongue thing impale him," Ivan said.

 "That is not- "

 "Shh." Ivan pressed a finger to Felix’s lips and Felix blinked and stared down at him. "You're a ghost so you can't talk."

 "That wasn't a rule when you died last round."

 "Scream into the void," Aslan said. He looked at Felix's phone. "Was that you who died?"

 "Yes. You should know this. It shows our names on screen. Anyway, Ivan is not being fair." 

 "Quit pouting," Piotr chastised. "So the rules changed. It's not that big a deal."

 "You don't think it's suspicious he made that rule after I died and he's the one who reported it?"

 "No. Why?"

 Felix blinked. "Of course not," he grumbled.

 "Someone just killed me!" Anatoly yelled. It seemed only Felix noticed the faint smirk on Ivan's lips. 

 "Now you can't talk Tolya," Piotr said and he smirked. Anatoly scowled.

 "I say we need to do an emergency meeting," Vladimir said. 

 The meeting did not come to a final conclusion and Vladimir found himself gawping at his phone. His character was lying there, beheaded.

 He opened his mouth to say something but Piotr shushed him. "No talking Blondie." 

 Aslan and Sergei shared a look. They looked at Dmitri. Sergei called another meeting.

 While the meeting was going on Anatoly, Felix, and Vladimir raged in the chat about the unfairness of it all. All three came to the conclusion Piotr was very much "sus" as the kids would put it. Very much sus indeed.

 "Hey!" Ivan cried as he watched his character being thrown out of the spaceship. 

 "I knew it!" Felix shouted.

 "Shut up Ghost," Sergei said. "And sit back down. You almost knocked the food and my drink on the floor.

 "Of course you say your drink. What about other people's drinks?"

 "I mentioned the others food didn't I-"

 "Maybe we should be more concerned about the stitches he almost pulled out," Piotr said and he sniffed. "Again. For the third time actually."

 "I'm sorry- "

 "You all are very competitive about this aren't you," Matt said.

 "These people are cheating," Vladimir whined, though he later profusely denied it. "Make them stop."

 "I don't know. Foggy, should I?"

 "Nah. It's pretty entertaining."

 "I'll say," Karen said, and she lifted her drink in their direction.

 "What the hell! Who killed me!?" Dmitri whipped his head around and scowled at the remaining players.

 Piotr stared back nonchalantly. He pointed at Aslan.

 "Rude," Dmitri growled at Aslan. "I thought we were supposed to be teammates!"

 "We are! I didn't kill you!"

 "That's exactly what you'd say if you did kill me!"

"I didn't!"

"I don't know," Piotr drawled. "Seems pretty sus to me."

Ivan let out a drawn out breath. "Please don't say sus. You're too old."

"Sus sus sus sus sus," Sergei chanted and Aslan cuffed him on the head.

"Knock that off. You're the reason we're banned from using internet words."

"That's another reason," Felix said. "You say stuff like that."

"Guys!" Dmitri shouted. "Would you stop fighting already! Piotr has killed you both already!" 

Sergei and Aslan looked down at phones heads and stared in horror at the glowing red 'defeated'. 

Piotr and Ivan both cheered loudly. "Again!" Ivan shouted and he was immediately shot down.

"I've had enough," Vladimir said. "You both always gang up on everyone. Even if you aren't imposter you team up with them and end up voting them off."

"Well you better find yourself a teammate than spoilsport," Piotr said. He patted Vladimir on the shoulder. "You're losing your game Voldoya."

"I'll show you losing your game," Vladimir growled and he lunged at him.

"Hey! Enough of that! Not in the house!"

Vladimir sat back down almost sheepishly. "Sorry, Motya."

"You've really mellowed him," Piotr told Matt and Vladimir stood up again. 

"I'll show you mellowed-"

"How about we call it a night," Foggy said. "I think we've had enough of all-" he waved a hand "-this."

"Foggy," Karen said as she stood, "is right. Good night everyone." She waved goodbye as she left and a chorus of goodbyes followed her as she shut the door.

"Goodnight everyone," Foggy said, and he too left.

Piotr insisted he check Felix's stitches again and Felix let him with a sigh. 

"You all staying or going?" Matt asked.

"Leaving," Aslan, Dmitri, and Sergei all said. They left and said they'd be waiting for Piotr by the car.

"You," Piotr pointed a finger at Felix, "don't leave yet. Wait until Matt or Claire or I says it's fine."

"Fine dad," Felix said with a roll of his eyes. 

"Vanya. Same goes for you."

"But-" Ivan whined.

"No but's. Tolya is going to stay here-"

"Uhh, since when?" Matt asked.

"Why do I have to play babysitter," Anatoly huffed.

"Because I said so and because the rest of you are hopeless at being responsible. Goodnight." He spun on his heels and left before any protests could be made. 

Matt sighed in exasperation. "Let's go, I guess." Vladimir stood and followed him into his room.

 Somehow Ivan ended up curled around Felix on one of two couches. Felix was horrified to realize Ivan was now at least as tall as him.

-

 "Who knew members of the mafia could be so cuddly." Felix cracked an eye open and closed it when he saw it was Foggy.

 "I did," Matt said.

 "Shut up," Vladimir said weakly.

 "I let him do it because he's warm and I'm cold," Felix mumbled.

 The arm around Felix's waist tightened. "No," Ivan mumbled. "You love me."

 "Do I?"

 "Jerk."

 "Brat."

 "You haven't shoved me off yet."

 "You're warm. I'm cold."

 "Mhmm. Deny it all you want. But I know the ~truth~."

 "He isn't wrong Lixa," Anatoly said.

 Traitor," Felix grumbled. "What time is it?"

 "Noon."

 "What!?" He sat off and Ivan fell off the couch with a yelp.

"Relax." Matt walked over and kneeled by the couch. "I should check the stitches." 

Said stitches had not been pulled out or messed up since the night before and Matt happily released the Russians out onto the street. He said they could come back as long as they’d be quieter about playing and arguing.

Foggy said it wasn’t likely to happen. Anatoly sighed in agreement and apologized for the lot of them. Both came to the conclusion something similar was likely to happen in the future and they shouldn’t try to stop it. 

Matt glared and told them to knock it off, and yes, he would kick them out, and do it gladly. It would be deserved so they couldn’t complain he said. Anatoly agreed with that as well.

[gumnut-logic]

We’ll Be Home For Christmas 5.1

Title: We’ll be home for Christmas

Day Five – Here on Tracy Island – Part 1 Prologue | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 5.1

Author: Gumnut

20 Jun 2020

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: The boys can’t fly home for Christmas, so they have to find another way.

Word count: 3313

Spoilers & warnings: language and so, so much fluff. Science!Gordon. Artist!Virgil, Minor various ships, mostly background.

Timeline: Christmas Season 3, I have also kinda ignored the main storyline of Season 3. The boys needed a break, so I gave them one. Post season 3B, before Season 3C cos I started this fic before we saw it.

Author’s note: For @scattergraph​​​​​. This is my 2019 TAG Secret Santa fic :D

No, I haven’t forgotten about this fic, and yes, it hit the six month mark about two weeks ago. I started writing this 8 Dec 2019. I’m nearly there.

Landmark, though. It is now officially my longest Thunderbirds fic, overtaking Gentle Rain today at around 60,000 words, depending on which word processing program it is sitting in. Never expected it to be this long.

This chapter pretty much wrote itself. It is almost like a role call of the five brothers and their states of mind. So a little bit of all the bros in this. I hope you enjoy.

Many thanks to @i-am-chidorixblossom​​​ @scribbles97​​​​​ and @onereyofstarlight​​​​​ for reading through various bits, fielding my many wibblies, and for all their wonderful support.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

Day Five: Here on Tracy Island

Virgil woke late the next morning. It was a pleasant awakening, slipping from deep sleep to doze to a peaceful warmth beneath the covers. His room was dark. Darker than his cabin on A Little Lightning and with decidedly less sway.

He lay there for a while, enjoying the lack of need to get up and do anything and the absence of pain. He had slept the sleep of the dead and was thoroughly rested. There was something to be said about sleeping in your own bed at home that no holiday anywhere could provide.

But honestly, he wasn’t one to sit and do nothing for long, his brain kicking into gear while he lay there, listing off things waiting to be done. A visit to Two to reassure himself she had been checked over and was ready should she be needed. Not that he didn’t trust his family, it was just for his own peace of mind.

He should be able to get away with it so long as he didn’t spend too much time down there.

It took him a full half an hour of random rumination to realise that it was Christmas Day.

Oh shit.

The clock said eleven am.

His family...

He sat up abruptly and was thoroughly reminded of how stupid such a move was.

Oh, for the love of...

He grunted and rolled over until his face was smothered in his pillow.

The medic in his brain listed off the reasons why he shouldn’t have done that and why he needed to be careful and, goddamnit, he was sick of this. It was only an appendix, for crying out loud.

Stupid surgery.

That could have been so much worse.

He was being a spoilt child.

He let out a breath into his pillow, its warmth wrapping around his face. Another week and he would be fine.

But now, it was eleven oh five on Christmas morning and he was holding his family up.

He clambered out of bed with minimal complaint from his body, into the shower, a shave and into his familiar red flannel, jeans and boots.

It was such a comfort to be home.

He blow-dried his hair, gelled it up and made himself presentable.

The man who stared at him from his bathroom mirror was one appendix less and a whole pile of experience more.

He hummed to himself, tasting the notes in his throat. He could feel the soft whale skin under his fingertips, hear the lap of the water, the breeze in his hair...

And the music.

His eyes were closed without permission, the imagery taking over his mind. His fingers tapped against the bathroom vanity marking out the beat and rhythm of what he was trying to say, the pictures warping into abstract and lack of understanding.

Salty and long spoken, the notes repeated.

He didn’t know how long he stood there under the bathroom light, eyes seeing another world somewhere below the ocean surface.

By the time he shook off the haze it was eleven forty-five.

Almost lunchtime.

Alan would be foaming at the bit.

He pushed himself away from the sink and killed the light. Walking carefully across his room, he shook himself, rolling his shoulders. Get it together, Virgil. Your family is waiting for you.

Out through the door, down the corridor and, screw the stairs, he was taking the elevator.

It swallowed him whole.

-o-o-o-

Gordon had been up since before the sun. It was a sign that he was home. A session in the pool brought familiarity into the equation. There was definitely a difference between swimming in the pool versus the ocean and it had nothing to do with water salinity.

The ocean was beautiful and he adored it. But the pool sported no threat, no need to monitor his surroundings beyond the presence of a mischievous brother or two, leaving him to be able to focus on his stroke and let his mind wander.

The pleasant warmth of well used muscles pulling him forward through the water, simple thought processing...and considering the last few days, there were a lot of thoughts awaiting examination.

Some he had managed while piloting A Little Lightning on the home stretch, but there were still more needing answers and tactical decisions.

Sam. Mel. Scott. John. Virgil.

As far as he knew, Scott was still planning on inviting the neighbours over today. That would place Sam within reach of the apparently resistant Virgil.

He understood where both men were coming from. Virgil needed time and Sam was just a ball of eager energy.

Gordon was stuck between the two.

Push came to shove, he would side with Virgil regardless. He had too. But he really didn’t want to be divisive. If Virgil would talk just a little, it would help not only Sam and himself, but it might assuage the ball of worried energy that was Scott.

His arms sliced through water until he reached the end of the lane, his body automatically flipping and turning into the push off surge in the opposite direction. Air, splash and his hands slicing through the water again.

Okay, he would admit that he was worried himself. At first it was just amazing. His brother could sing to whales! A breakthrough. But yesterday he witnessed exactly how spaced Virgil became when singing and everything screamed wary. Humpback whales were beautiful creatures, but so big and so possibly unintentionally dangerous.

He couldn’t let Virgil anywhere near a whale alone. It just wasn’t safe. There was so much they didn’t know and the urge to protect his gentle brother just swelled in his heart.

They needed to investigate further. Find out exactly what was going on. Make sure his brother was safe. That it didn’t affect any water rescues.

They couldn’t afford to have Virgil spacing out in the ocean at random. As it was, Gordon wasn’t going to let Virgil anywhere near the ocean during rescues for the foreseeable future. He could stay up in Two.

Safe.

Whale song could travel around the globe.

His native realm had become a hazard for his big brother and that was unacceptable.

They had to find out what was going on.

John and Eos had made a good start, but Sam and himself needed to investigate further and soon.

Virgil needed to cooperate for his own safety.

Gordon broke his stroke, pushed himself to the side of the pool and rested his head on the concrete a moment, letting his body float randomly.

Blood pumped through his ears, his heart still running at exercise rate.

He needed to convince Virgil.

Somehow.

-o-o-o-

Scott revelled in the early dawn light. His feet pounded on his wonderfully familiar route around the Island. A trek he hadn’t laid eyes on for a week.

His runners crunched volcanic gravel beneath them.

The sun was just rising on Christmas Day, the beautiful weather hanging strong, the sea a stretch of glass disappearing off into the horizon. His current trajectory pointed him directly south where he knew beyond the glass lay Raoul Island. A single spot in a sea of blue, so similar to the even tinier spot that was Tracy Island.

Same sea of blue.

A pokey tree appeared on the side of the track, its red flowers quite glorious in the morning sun, and he found himself grinning. Sure, he knew the correct name of the pōhutukawa tree, but Alan’s name was so much easier to pronounce and it made Mel laugh.

His legs took the strain as he jogged up the rapidly steepening trail.

If he was honest with himself, the whole no strings attached thing was a lie. He found himself thinking about the woman more the longer they were away from Raoul.

And they only left yesterday.

As soon as the sun was high enough in the sky to be polite, he would be contacting Raoul with his invitation to her, Sam and Liam. It wasn’t the only time he had invited people to the Island, they weren’t entirely hermits, but it was rare and the first time in a long time.

And he was so looking forward to it.

Penny and Parker were due after breakfast as was the tradition. As soon as everyone was awake, they would have their present opening party, always a major family event. More for the company and laughter than the presents themselves.

He could almost hear Gordon declaring it ‘Tracy style’ complete with the arm movements to compliment the claim.

But Mel...it was like he was excited to show her the Island, perhaps because he knew she would be very interested in the ecosystem that had developed here since their father had begun repairing it over a decade ago.

And he was staring at it right now as he followed the path around the back of the Island. Pokey trees, palms and ferns were everywhere a foothold was available. Scott knew very little about their ecosystem beyond the need to keep it safe. Gordon and Virgil were the ones who knew most about it among the brothers. Gordon focussed on the sea and Virgil sometimes helped out with animal numbers and photography for the scientific group.

But Mel hadn’t been here since Dad...

He grunted and hurdled a rock he hurdled every morning as the slope inverted and started heading down. The view was stunning.

Despite the glass of the ocean, the swell still crashed on the back cliffs of the Island, jagged volcanic rock resistant to the relentless pounding.

Hopefully she would consent to the visit even though it was late notice.

He did have a Thunderbird, after all.

-o-o-o-

John hadn’t slept much. He never did when something was on his mind. His everything drove him to find a solution, particularly when a brother was involved.

Eos never slept, so she was the perfect insomnia companion.

There was also the factor that he was home, but he really wasn’t.

He was missing Five.

Now he was back on the Island, everything was screaming at him to go home.

Not that he didn’t like the Island, quite the opposite. The Island contained his brothers, his grandmother, Kayo, his family and he adored his family.

But the stars were calling to him. His body ached to feel the release from gravity. He wanted his home.

He ignored it.

His body needed gravity. It was an undeniable fact. It had evolved under the pressure exerted by the planet and while his mind adored the stars and the lack of gravity, nature demanded its return under the ‘use it or lose it’ mandate of life on Earth.

So, tired, but awake anyway as the sun hit the front of the villa, John made his way down to the pool where he found Gordon, as expected, in the water, but unexpectedly, not swimming. His head was lying on one arm at the edge of the pool, his body floating lazily behind.

John dropped his towel on a lounger and, bare footed to the edge next to his brother. Folding himself into a seated position he dropped his feet to dangle in the cool water.

“Gordon?”

“Hmm?” His head rose a little blearily. “Oh, John, hey.”

“Merry Christmas.”

“Huh? What, oh, Merry Christmas, John.”

A frown. “You okay?”

Gordon flexed his shoulders. “Yeah, just thinking.”

“Virgil?”

“Yeah.”

John sighed. “Same. But you do know he’s okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking it through.”

John pushed himself into the water and couldn’t help a relieved sigh as the water took away so many of the effects of gravity, cradling his body. “Swim with me?”

Brown eyes turned to him and John saw a reflection of his own worry in their depths. “Sure.” Gordon pushed off from the edge, his movements graceful despite his distraction.

John moved to the lane next to Gordon’s preferred and lined up beside his fish brother. Gordon shot him a brief but grateful smile before pushing off the end in a careless surge into stroke. He was metres ahead before John had even shifted into form.

Typical.

Show off.

But he couldn’t help but smile as he pushed off the edge himself, automatically moving into a strong but leisurely stroke in warm up.

Swimming denied verbal communication, but it wasn’t needed, the two of them just keeping each other company.

By the fifth lap, John started pushing himself, putting his body through the exercise needed to keep it healthy. He had no delusions of keeping up with Gordon. He just paced himself as his body needed it. Twenty laps in, he eased up a little and checked on his brother.

Gordon was still going. John brought himself to a halt, treading water, muscles pleasantly buzzing.

“Hey, John.” The astronaut startled, turning in place to find Scott standing on the edge of the pool. His running gear appeared well used, sweat stains prominent, and he was still breathing heavily. “Just letting you know that I’m going to be taking One out in about half an hour.”

“You going to get Mel and Sam?” Gordon was suddenly beside him. It was a sign of how tired John actually was that his younger brother startled him almost as much as Scott had a moment earlier.

“Yeah.”

“Can I come with?”

“Don’t you want to be here for when Penny arrives?”

John arched an eyebrow in Gordon’s direction. The fish had been looking forward to Christmas for that very reason. Before Virgil’s illness, it had been Penelope this, Penelope that. Apparently, he had the ‘best’ gift lined up for their first Christmas as a couple. Whether or not that was still going ahead considering recent events, John had no idea. Gordon hadn’t mentioned it since Virgil fell ill.

“I thought you had the fastest plane on the planet, Scotty.”

Their eldest brother snorted. “Plane, yes, younger brother, no.”

“Hey, I can be fast.” A strawberry blond frown. “Regardless, I need to speak to Sam.”

Scott eyed him a moment. “Virgil?”

Gordon sighed. “Yeah, Virgil. Gotta handle this delicately.”

Scott’s lips thinned. “Okay, then you better be ready in thirty because that’s when I’m leaving.”

The fish was already climbing out of the pool. Wet footprints marked the concrete as he strode to his towel.

Blue eyes turned to John. “You okay? You look tired.”

John let water run through his fingers. “I am, but I’ll live.”

Voice quiet. “Virgil?”

A single nod, voice equally quiet. “Virgil. Eos, Gordon and I will work it out. We just need time.” And patience. Admittedly, he didn’t have much of that where his brothers’ health was concerned. He could fake it, but it didn’t mean he felt it.

Scott’s expression was thoughtful. “I know you will do your best. Don’t forget to look after yourself.”

A groan. This was why Virgil was always adamant that he was fine. I single hint of something wrong and their biggest brother was all over them, his concern obvious. “I’m fine, Scott.”

That earned him a grunt and John actually struggled not to smile at his brother’s exasperation. John swam to the pool edge and pushed himself out of the water. A wave in the direction of the rising sun’s reflection. “The pool is all yours, dear brother.”

Scott eyed him. “Thank you.”

The morning breeze cooled John enough to raise goose pimples on his arms. Before he could reach for his towel, Scott was handing it to him.

Ever the big brother. It was John’s turn to eye him back. “Thank you.”

Scott smiled at him, a definite smirk on those lips. He knew exactly what John was thinking and had likely done it on purpose. “Anytime.”

Hmmm. “Merry Christmas, Scott.”

Those blue eyes widened as his big brother obviously realised that despite all the preparations underway, despite the tree they had stacked with presents the night before, he had still managed to forget the significance of the day.

It was John’s turn to smirk.

But Scott recovered quickly, tilting his head, a small smile on his lips. “Merry Christmas, John.”

With that he turned and headed off into the house.

-o-o-o-

Alan loved to sleep in. He shared this love with his second eldest brother. Getting up early sucked big time and he had no coffee addiction to help him.

But there was one day of the year when you could witness the youngest Tracy out of bed, while not early, at least a decent time where breakfast could still be called breakfast and not lunch or even brunch.

Christmas Day.

Alan adored the day. Presents, food and family, what more could a guy ask for?

So, eight am found him stumbling down the stairs to the kitchen in search of the second and third items on the list. He found Grandma at the kitchen table eating her fruit and yoghurt.

Alan made no effort to be quiet, but she didn’t appear to realise he was there, staring out across the lagoon. “Grandma?”

She dropped her spoon with a clatter as it hit the bowl. “Alan!” She clutched her hand to her chest, gasping. “You frightened me. Gave my old heart a kick in the pants.”

“Sorry, Grandma. Are you okay?”

“This time. Though I wouldn’t recommend doing it too often.” She held out an arm. “C’mere and give me a Christmas hug.”

Now that was something he was quite happy to do. Grandma hugs were always appreciated. “Merry Christmas, Grandma.” He held her tight.

“Merry Christmas, honey. Are you hungry?”

Uh, that was always a loaded question and there were important indicators related to that. “Where is everyone?” He had expected to find at least John down here. His space brother would eat his breakfast staring out into the lagoon and follow it with work on his tablet just to be around family in his own way. But not today.

“Scott and Gordon have gone to Raoul to collect Ms Fisher and that scientist friend of Gordon’s.”

“Sam?”

“I guess. They were both in quite a hurry to leave.”

That set Alan grinning. “I think Scott likes Mel.”

An arched eyebrow. “I thought she liked Virgil.”

A snort accompanied the grin. “I don’t think she is Virgil’s kind of girl.”

Of course, that was the very moment Kayo decided to enter the kitchen. She had obviously been on a run, dressed in shorts and a high cut top.

“Who’s Virgil’s kind of girl?”

Alan’s eyes widened. “Um.”

Green narrowed at him. “What are you up to, Alan?”

“Nothing!” He held out his hands. “What did I do?”

“I’m more concerned with what you are going to do.”

“Suspicious, much? I’m going to eat breakfast, that’s what.”

She continued to eye him. “No practical jokes today.”

“I wasn’t planning on it. Gee, you’d think I was Gordy or something.”

“Gordon will be contained by Lady Penelope. You, however, are not.”

“And what? That makes me some kind of prank genius?”

“Genius, no, annoyance, yes.”

“Hey, Merry Christmas, Kayo. How about a little of the spirit?”

She glared and him and grunted before turning away and stalking off.

“What’s up her skirt?”

“Alan!”

“Well, you saw her. I didn’t do anything!”

Grandma was quiet a moment. “She has things on her mind.”

“When doesn’t she?”

“Let her be.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Grandma sighed. “Things will work themselves out for the best.”

Alan stared at his grandmother. What on Earth was going on? Did everyone know something that he didn’t. He sighed. Wouldn’t be the first time. “I’m going grab some breakfast.”

“Yes, dear.” And Grandma was staring out at the lagoon again.

What the-?

Alan grabbed the refrigerator door and flung it open, his eyes raking its contents. Perhaps food would fix things.

A glance at Grandma found that she hadn’t moved.

There was definitely something going on.

-o-o-o-

End Day 5 Part 1