#And I will not be linking it because. Well. 5 year old niece

[writing-until-i-drop]

Wildflowers For A Hangman Ch. 5

Summary:

Daisy, a career novelist, moves in with her college best friend Phoenix who has been permanently assigned to Top Gun with Dagger Squad. She finds herself instantly connected with a cocky pilot who's soft only for her and Jake can't help but want to know everything about her. When the past comes knocking at both of their doors, will they stand together or fall apart?

Or: The Dagger Squad can't cook and Jake falls in love with a woman who makes a mean lasagna while they work their personal trauma.

Jake "Hangman" Seresin x writer!femOC | 18+ (eventually) minors dni. Fluff, smut (eventual), idiots in love, past trauma.

A/N: Everyone but Penny sees the surprise coming and Jake gets a new lock screen wallpaper.

AO3 Link

Previous Chapter

Amelia and I made eye contact over her mom’s head, holding in giggles. Penny was passed out, head back, snoring softly as a woman massaged her feet. Maverick had asked Phoenix to take the girls out for a mani-pedi but we all agreed that I was the less suspicious choice when it came to a girls’ day out. 

“We should get lunch after this,” Amelia pulled out her phone and showed me a vegan place with a clean aesthetic. “What about here?”

“Sounds good to me,” I lied with a smile. “Is there anything else you want to do today?” I had to keep the girls out of the house for at least another hour but Maverick had said the longer the better. Amelia shrugged,

“If Mav’s gonna propose, we should go shopping,” I choked on my spit, and Amelia rolled her eyes. “Seriously? He was sweating buckets this morning and now we’re getting manicures?”

“That’s fair,” Fifteen-year-olds were very perceptive apparently. Penny let out a louder snore and Amelia elbowed her in the ribs, her mom shot awake.

“Yes?”

“We’re getting lunch and then going shopping for matching dresses,” Penny looked at me and I tried to look as enthusiastic as possible. 

“Okay,” And then she nodded off again. From what Amelia and Mav had both said, Penny had had a long night closing up the Hard Deck and then had thrown back shots with her bartenders. Amelia rolled her eyes and then went back to scrolling through Instagram. My phone buzzed.

Jake: Hey, Wildflower. How are things going?

Daisy: Penny’s sound asleep and Amelia saw right through Mav

Jake: Figures, man has no poker face when it comes to her

Daisy: Mav owes me big time, Amelia wants to get vegan food

Jake: I’ll take you for pizza tonight after everything 

Daisy: Deal

I paused, brow furrowing. Did he mean getting pizza as a friend? Or as a date? I shook off the thought, of course, it was as friends. Well…I blushed, it might not have been so bad if Jake wanted to- No. I put the thought away in a locked filing cabinet, the same cabinet where the feeling of his muscled arms beneath my hand was stored. Jake and I were never going to be anything more than friends, even if he was perfect and handsome, and he listened to all of my stories with a smile on his face. Absolutely not. 

Jake: What color did you get your nails?

Daisy: Guess

Jake: Green, the same shade as your bedspread

Daisy: How the hell did you guess that on your first try?

Jake: Because you told me it was your favorite

Jake: And I remember everything you say

I didn’t even know how to respond, so I didn’t. Amelia and I chatted about baking while they painted our toes. She had volunteered to bake for a soccer team bake sale to buy new uniforms for the school year.

“If you need help, just give me a call. I’ll help you bake whatever you need,” Amelia lit up with a smile,

“That would be great! I was planning on using bagged mix but actual homemade stuff would sell so much better.” It felt good to be helpful, Amelia reminded me of my oldest niece, Sarah. Sarah was four and loved soccer, at that age it was mostly just kids running around and screaming excitedly. She had the same blonde hair as Amelia too, always smiling and giving her parents a hard time.

After a very dry and under seasoned lunch that Penny and I managed to grin and bear it through, we ended up at a little boutique. Amelia treated Penny and I like her own personal dress up dolls, having us try on dress after dress until she found one that looked good on all three of us and was up to her standards. 

The dress she settled on for me was a light green made of light, flowy fabric. It cinched at my waist and made my boobs look fantastic. The only negative was that it clung to my stomach a little but I couldn’t stop smiling at how cute I looked and in a moment of giddiness, I snapped a picture in the changing room mirror with an arm around my waist. Then I sent it to Jake. 

“Yo, D, you ready to go?” Amelia shouted and I quickly grabbed the shopping bag filled with my earlier clothes and followed her out to the car. 

Jake: Baby you’re killing me in that dress

Daisy: That was the idea, pretty boy

“Flirting with Hangman?” Penny asked, the pep finally back in her step. “You two are adorable together.” 

“We’re just friends,” 

“Suuuuuuurrreeee,” Amelia patted my shoulder from the back seat, “You keep telling yourself that, D.” 

“You two are horrible, we’re friends!” 

“That man used to go home with a different girl every night and now he doesn’t even look at another woman, even when you’re not at the bar.” Penny shot me a motherly look that had me blushing like a schoolgirl, “In fact, he spends every moment you’re not there on his phone. Would you happen to know what he’s doing?”

“Oh! I know, I know!” Amelia pounds on the back of my seat, “Texting D!” Penny made a dinging noise. “You guys are too cute together, everyone can see it.” 

“I’m not listening,” I plugged my ears with my fingers, “Lalalalalalala.” Penny smacked a hand over my mouth.

“I will bet you a hundred dollars that Hangman’s going to have his hands on you within a minute of us walking through the door.” I was going to lose that bet, I already knew it. 

“You’re on.” I was an idiot.

Penny thought they were celebrating the end of summer, a weak cover story, but Penny was looking forward to it. Especially since Maverick had promised to organize the whole thing so that she didn’t have to lift a finger, me taking them out on a girls’ day on Maverick’s credit card was just the cherry on top. 

“Ready to win, mom?” Amelia asked, the double meaning completely lost on Penny as we strolled through the doors of the Hard Deck. The lights were off inside and it was impressive how quiet the daggers were being before Penny flicked on the lights. Stretched across the rafters was a white and gold banner with the words will you marry me written in cursive and Maverick was on one knee with a ring in his hand.

“Oh my God! Of course!” Penny rushed to Maverick, kissing him soundly as he slid the long overdue ring onto her finger. The daggers came out from the woodwork, hooping and hollering with excitement. I caught sight of Jake who was already beelining towards me with an indiscernible look on his face.

“You’re so losing the bet,” Amelia snorted, showing me a timer that was counting down from a minute. 

“You’re horrible,” Jake swept me into a hug, the bet officially lost. When my feet lifted from the floor I shrieked in equal parts surprise, horror, and delight.

“Jake, put me down!” 

“You look fucking gorgeous, Wildflower.” Jake dropped me gently to my feet but kept his grasp on my waist, holding me at arm's length while he took one long look at me. Amelia walked off, laughing as she went. Jake was looking at me like I was a T-bone steak and he was a starving man, a deep flush working from my cheeks down to my chest under his intense gaze. “I mean it, Daisy. You look beautiful.” 

“Shut up,” I laughed, letting him pull me into his chest. My heart was racing, that stupid fluttery feeling they described in romance books making me a little nauseous. “We’re supposed to be paying attention to Mav and Penny.” 

“I don’t think I can pay attention to anyone but you right now and you, pretty girl, better believe this is Jake talking and not Hangman.” I stopped laughing, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“Well, whoever’s saying it is making me blush,” 

“Well, you made me blush with that picture. It’s only fair.” Jake squeezed my hip, making me blush even harder. I wanted to go up on my toes and press my lips to his but instead, I pushed him away with a laugh, pretending I didn’t believe a word he said like I always did but this time I had doubts that he was joking. “Daisy-”

“Come on, pretty boy. I have to pay the bride.” 

X

Daisy yelped when I lifted her onto the bed of the truck. We stayed at the party for a few hours, Daisy spending most of the time with the girls while I hung around Mav and the guys. Maverick had been over the moon, talking about his plans for a big wedding and an even bigger honeymoon. Then when he was ready to spend time with his fiancee, sweeping her off her feet and taking her to his bike, Amelia having been picked up by a friend earlier in the night, Daisy had gone right to my side and laced her fingers with mine. 

“Stop doing that! You’ll hurt your back.” She protested, smacking my chest.

“And why would I hurt my back, Wildflower? You don’t think I’m strong enough to manhandle my girl?” Her mouth opened and shut a few times, I could tell by the scrunch of her brow that she didn’t know which part of my words to respond to. Did she insist she was too heavy again? Which was total bullshit. Or did she protest that I called her my girl? I tapped her knee, “Scoot your pretty ass back to the pillows while I grab the pizza.” Daisy muttered something under her breath about me being an ass but did what I said. 

She looked as pretty as a picture, leaned back against the pillows in the bed of my truck, her sundress pooled high up on her creamy thighs, staring up at the stars with a soft smile. Lord have mercy, I needed this woman to give my heart a break before it beat so hard it lept from my chest.

“Are you going to keep staring or join me up here?” Daisy snapped without malice, making me grin.

“Actually, darlin, I want a picture to prove I had the prettiest girl in the world in my bed.” 

“You’re an idiot,” She sighed but smiled for the picture that I quickly set as my lock screen before climbing up beside her. “You know, you’re not nearly half as charming as you think you are.” 

“And you’re a horrible liar. Now eat your pizza and look at the stars,” She responded instantly to the stern tone of my voice, and hell if that didn’t make me that much more attracted to her. We ate in silence, staring up at the sky, and when the pizza was gone, Daisy let me wrap her in my arms. 

I wanted to do this every night, lazily tracing patterns on her thigh and kissing her neck while she giggled at me to knock it off. I wanted her to tell me stories about the stars and lace her fingers with mine. I wanted everything she was willing to give me and a little bit more for as long as she would let me have it. Which was hopefully forever. Forever. I’d never thought about forever before, not like this at least. My biggest dream had always been flying and I would let nothing get in the way of that but Daisy had been on my mind every second of the day that I wasn’t in the sky. 

“Hey, Harvey.” I had been so far in thought I hadn’t even heard her phone ring. There was a jealous spark in my chest. Who the hell was Harvey? Some guy from back home?

Daisy must have felt me tense, her free hand resting reassuringly on my thigh. “No, I’m fine. Yes, I’m telling the truth,” She huffed hotly. “Now’s actually not a good time, I’m stargazing.” The tips of her ears went red, “No, I’m not with Tasha. I’m with,” She looked over at me and I was already staring at her. What was she going to say? Friend might kill me, I knew boyfriend was off the table for now. “I’m with a very good friend,” She squeezed my thigh, “His name’s Jake.”

A very good friend? I could work with that. “Yeah, okay, Harv. I love you too,” Just hearing those three words come out of her mouth was enough to stop my heart. She squeezed my thigh again, biting her bottom lip as she stared up at me. “Give my nieces a kiss for me. M’bye.” Nieces. Harvey must have been the brother Phoenix had mentioned in passing. 

“What was that about?” Daisy shook her head, silencing her phone before relaxing back into my side, her hand still on my thigh.

“He’s just checking up on me. I, uh, historically don’t do well with September.” I waited for her to elaborate, to talk my ear off for an hour but no explanation came. 

“Care to explain?” 

“It’ll ruin the night, trust me. I’ll tell you some other time.” 

“I’m going to hold you to that, Daisy. I want to know everything about you, the good, the bad, and the ugly.” She huffed at me and I just knew she was rolling her eyes.

“Can you just hold me for a little bit longer and maybe…” She trailed off with a sigh, fingers tapping on my thigh. “Can you…” 

“Whatever you want, Wildflower. All you ever have to do is ask.” 

“Kiss my hair?” This woman was going to kill me, it was official, and I couldn’t have been happier to be a dead man walking.

“It would be my pleasure, darlin.” I tried to take a picture of this moment in my mind.

I could feel the warmth of her body against mine, making me forget about everything else in the world. Daisy’s hair smelled like vanilla and lavender and as I placed a gentle kiss on her soft, red hair, I couldn’t help but do it again, and again. We sat there until the air became too cold for comfort, even with a blanket, the sky twinkling above us as her fingers gently rubbed my thigh through my jeans. It was the perfect night, I kissed her forehead when I pulled her out of the truck bed, and then her knuckles after I helped her into the passenger seat.

“Such a gentleman, Jake.” She sighed, looking at me like Penny had looked at Mav when she spotted him on one knee. I swallowed hard, mouth going dry thinking about myself down on one knee.

“I’m your gentleman, Wildflower.”

Next Chapter

[attackfish]

5 headcanon for Azula is significantly older than Zuko. What happens when Aang is forced? Obviously Zuko would be too young to be banished. But does something happen to Azula? Does she turn to the Avatar to help protect her brother from their father?

Continued from: [Link], [Link], [Link], and [Link].

I presume you mean when Aang is found?

1. When Ursa leaves, her son is a babe in arms. When Aang is found, that same boy is a six year old, learning his first lessons in firebending, and learning to write his first characters. But something is already apparent. He isn't leaping ahead with the lightning speed of his sister at that same age. And that might not have been remarked upon, if not for something else. Little Zuko is... soft. He gets angry and upset when birds of prey kill turtle-crabs on the beach. He tries to sneek abandoned owl cat chicks under his bed, and is distraught when they don't make it, because they were too young. He puts himself on the side of the weak and vulnerable, and tries to protect them from the powerful and from the uncaring universe. And in doing so, he earns his father's scorn.

2. Azula couldn't tell you if it happened gradually or suddenly. She remembers both a sense of sudden dislocation, and change to a new reality, with new rules, and also a gradual creeping dread, as the world, their father's world, shifted around them. All she knows for sure is that one of her very woest fears has come to pass. Zuko is no longer a little ball of potential that she is being measured against at all times. Now he is weak, and pathetic, and she promised. She promised she would protect him, and teach him what he needed to know, and how can she, when their father is so big, and so powerful, and Zuko doesn't even understand what she's trying to teach him, and it makea her so angry, when he just doesn't get it... And she feels like he must have, the day on the beach, with the turtle-crab and the hawk, and she can't help worry that someday her dad will realize she's pathetic and weak too.

3. When the Avatar is first found, he is Zhao's problem. Azula never thought much of Zhao, but by all reports, the Avatar is a twelve year old child with training in only one element. It doesn't occur to her that Zhao will fail to capture him. But he does. Again and again. And after the debacle at the North Pole, Azula finds herself kneeling at her father's feet, telling her it is her turn. She must find and capture the Avatar.

4. And she must capture, or preferably, in her father's eyes, kill, her uncle. Because her uncle disappeared a less than a month ago, and showed right back up, at the North Pole, helping the Avatar and opposing Zhao. Her father is of course outraged at his brother's treason. Azula's thoughts are more tangled. And more wounded. He would leave to help the Avatar, a stranger and an enemy to her people, when he barely deigned to notice his own niece and nephew. And that's the thing, isn't it? Azula's whole life has been marked by the presence of so many people, so many adults, who either didn't notice what her father did to his children, or just let it happen. Her uncle is just one more. Only her mother ever tried to protect her.

5. Azula has to leave her brother behind, in her father's care. Which is why, for her, the goal isn't just to capture the Avatar and deal with her uncle, it's to do it as fast as possible. Which is why she goes to Mai and Ty Lee. And if she has qualms about threatening Mai's baby brother to remind her of what she has to lose? Well, it's her own baby brother on the line.

[zeldatrashblog]

finished echoes of wisdom

I've been playing Zelda games since Zelda 1, which I only played because it was a shiny gold cartridge in our collection, I don't even remember where we got the game from, in the early 90s when I was 5 years old. I remember even back then thinking "it's kinda messed up that you play as LINK when its called the legend of ZELDA" like so many zelda girlies did when they were young. (I also remember being a teenager in the LATE 90s/early 00s, and thinking, eh, I don't see the big deal (anymore.) Link is a silent protagonist anyway, I have no problem relating to him, and since girls will play as boys, but boys won't play as girls, I guess it makes sense why they do this.)

Now I'm almost 40. I have two nieces under 5 years old.

I am so happy I never have to make the excuses for them. I am SO HAPPY they get to have a different trajectory. Instead of 30 years of "well it's okay you play as a boy because girls can't be main characters, boys don't like them enough and you don't want zelda to be relegated to the realm of GIRL GAMES, visual novels and barbie games and disney spin offs, do you?"

I am so glad they don't have to grow up with this messaging and so passively devaluing themselves and learning how to excuse their own sense of "something isn't right here."

Instead they will grow up with "here's the Legend of Zelda, where link and zelda are primary co-protagonists with equal weight despite their different roles. And here is the history where you can only play as a boy, and isn't that CRAZY it was like this for 30 years? I know! I lived through it! And I'm so glad you don't have to!

I sincerely hope this is the canary in the coal mine for a future of the series with more equal billing, games where you play as both, one or the other, where it isn't assumed which one will be "THE MAIN CHARACTER" because they both always have been. The rest has always been down to narrative choice.

Even in Zelda 1, even in the very first game in the series, with the old trope of "kidnapped princess in the dungeon" -- Zelda STILL had an entire parallel arc to Link! She is the one who took the pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom and hid them behind the boss of every dungeon! She is kidnapped only AFTER she traverses every single dungeon in the Hyrule underground to complete this task!

And don't think that little 5 year old me didn't notice that! Don't think I didn't obsess over it. Don't think it wasn't my saving line of grace through 30 years of "don't worry, she is still doing something important, having her own story, her own arc, her own agency, she is doing something else parallel to Link and equally important... just offscreen."

It was important then that this was true -- I know I'm not the only woman who fell in love with the Legend of Zelda because Zelda was not ONLY a damsel (and how disappointing Zelda 2 was because of this -- where is MY zelda, who traverses every dungeon before the hero without even a sword successfully? who is this one who sleeps the whole game? LOL)

I don't know if my nieces will even ultimately get into games or like the legend of zelda or whatever, and I'm not going to force them, but I'm so glad I get to introduce the things I like with an asterisk that can NOW FINALLY BE QUALIFIED with "...but we are doing better, now, as you can see!" Instead of "but one day, we will do better.... you'll see....."

Huge difference.

I still can't believe Echoes of Wisdom is a full mainline zelda game where Zelda is the fucking protagonist you guys. I seriously can barely fathom it. It came out of nowhere for me. I was so sure even while playing the first parts that somehow it would come out that this was JUST a side story -- or gaiden story treated like a mainline game a la Link's Awakening or Majora's Mask at absolute most, that was my best case scenario! -- I was so sure it would somehow be not as important as the main line games, that it would be limited by its gimmicks (spirit tracks, phantom hourglass) or whatever the fuck, that there would be SOMETHING stupid to signal less value for this game to the Gamers because Link is not the main character.

There is NOTHING you guys. It is joyfully unapologetic about it. Zelda is the main character. It is a main line Zelda game. There are tidbits in this game that recontextualize things that happened in Ocarina of Time (among many others), this game knows its place in the series, it is not afraid to look the player in the eye and say "I am on the same level as the beloved masterpieces that came before me, and that is not diminished because of the gender of my protagonist."

It's a full on beautiful amazing zelda game! It pulls together key lore elements from across the series and treats them seriously in the context of the greater work and feels every bit as incredible to my 40 year old brain today in the 2020s as The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past felt to my 10 year old brain in the 1990s.

So happy for all the video games girlies growing up today. It's so much better than it used to be, it's hard to even think about, let alone explain. I know it's easy to think in today's political climate "things are going backward so fast" but it's not true. Progress creates opposition and the opposition feels so terrible, but progress is progress -- opposition is a sign that you are winning, not losing.

We go forward!

[heartofgoldimagines]

Distant Memories -(John Shelby x Reader) Pt. 1

DISCLAIMER: I don’t not own any GIFs, picture or dividers that I use!

IMPORTANT: This is my first Peaky Blinders imagine, please be kind and provide feedback if you would like. I am from the US and the language may not be correct or historically accurate. If I make more parts the story will not be not be the same as the shows, changes will be made. Please let me know I what you think and if you want more parts. Thank you!

Link for Distant Memories Part Two

Taking a sip of coffee you look through the London paper as soft music plays in the background. You’ve become quite comfortable at your older half sister Evelyn’s home. You’ve been living here for about a year trying to make up for years of missed time. You smile at Evelyn and her husband Albert play fighting as they cook breakfast.

Your smile fades a bit as you think back to the time you spent with the Shelby’s in the kitchen. Well Aunt Pol and Ada, the boys were only there to taste test or steal food. Although, there were many times you and John would have long conversations late at night or while you cooked.

“Y/N are you sure about returning to Birmingham?” Evelyn asks breaking you from your thoughts.

“Yes I am.”

“But there is so much more opportunity here for you here in London.” Evelyn places a stack of pancakes and eggs in the middle of the table.

“I know there is, but I miss Birmingham.”

She smiles at you, “You mean you miss John Shelby.”

You roll your eyes, “I miss ALL the Shelby’s.”

Albert laughs at you two, “Well either way you know you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it, but I plan on leaving next week.”

Your 7 year old niece and 5 year old nephew come rushing downstairs, “We don’t want you to leave!”

Your nephew Lawrence takes a seat on your lap, “Aunt Y/N I’m going to miss you.”

Planting a kiss on his forehead you say, “I’m going to miss you guys too, but you can come visit me.

Abigail’s lights up and smiles, “That would be great!”

“Abby be a dear and got fetch the mail, before we eat.” Evelyn says.

“Yes mother.”

Abigail races out the door as you get up to help set the table. Everyone is at the dining table waiting to eat when Abigail returns. She waves a letter in front of your face, “ Aunt Y/N you got a letter.”

You look at the envelope to see that it’s from Tommy; which worries you because Aunt Pol and Ada are the only ones that write. Quickly opening the letter you feel your heart sink the more you read. A tear trickles down your face and Lawrence asks, “What’s wrong?”

You don’t answer him and Evelyn glances over at her husband. Albert says, “Children why don’t we eat outside in the garden.”

Neither child object and hastily take their plates to the garden. Evelyn takes a seat closer to you and gestures to the letter still in your hand. She takes the letter and she verbally gasps, “John is getting married? He can’t be getting married!”

You stay silent, frozen in complete shock trying to not burst into tears. She looks at you for a few seconds in disbelief that you haven’t said anything. She grabs your hand, “Are you okay?”

Silence.

“Will you say something!” She raises her voice.

You rapidly blink as if you were broken from a trance and stand up from the table. You say in a lower voice, “Well it looks like I’ll be leaving for Birmingham tonight.”

You swiftly walk upstairs and she follows asking, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to get the first train to Birmingham,” You grab your luggage sitting it on the bed, “I’ll have to stop at the shop for a wedding gift on the way.”

Evelyn grabs ahold of the blouse you’re about to pack, “Get a wedding gift?! You’re not actually going to just sit by and let this happen?”

You jerk the blouse from her hand and place it in your luggage, “I have no other choice, you read Tommy’s letter, this wedding needs to happen.”

“So Tommy’s word is law!” She yells at you.

“Evie you don’t understand, things are different in Birmingham than London! This marriage, this alliance needs to happen or it will be war!” You yell back.

All the sudden you see your niece and nephew in the doorway, you must’ve not heard their footsteps over the yelling. Abbigail asks scared, “Why are you guys yelling?”

Albert appears behind them, “Sorry they ran inside before I could stop them.”

You kneel down grabbing each of their hands, “It’s nothing sweethearts, your mother and I are just a little upset because it appears that I have to leave tonight for Birmingham.”

“No!” They say in unison as they hug you.

“It’s okay, like I said you can always come visit me” You give their hands a tiny squeeze, before beginning to pack once more.

Stepping off the train you’re overwhelmed with memories that come flooding back with familiar sights and smells of Birmingham. You start walking towards Watery Lane as your hands begin to burn from carrying your heavy luggage. Luckily you make it rather quickly to the Shelby home before your hands give out. You lightly knock and wait a few seconds, but there is no answer.

You slowly turn the doorknob to enter and be met with silence; which is odd for the Shelby home. Sitting your luggage down you slowly walk around the house and betting shop with a smile. You really have missed this place as crazy as it is you’re happy to back home. Quickly you realize that everyone is at the wedding and you’re going to be late.

As you suspected you missed the wedding ceremony, but a part of you was thankful for this. It would be too difficult for you to see John once again get married, it was hard enough the first time. Your hand tightly grasps your wedding gift bag as you swiftly walk onto the Lee’s family property. Your heart rate races as you hear the commotion of the wedding reception. The closer you get you see people singing, dancing, and drinking. You try to find the Shelby family and Polly is the first one to spot you.

Your heart soars as she smiles and brings you in for a huge embrace, “Oh there’s my lovely Y/N.”

You hug her tightly back, realizing how much you’ve missed her. You see her as a mother figure; she has raised you since you were six years old, “It’s so good to see you Aunt Pol.”

She pulls away keeping a grasp on your shoulders, “How are you?”

Forcing a weak excuse for a smile as you say reluctantly, “I’m fine.”

She raises her eyebrows seeing through your facade as she wraps an arm around you, pulling you closer to the party. “Will talk about it later sweetheart, I know the others will want to see you.”

You smile as you step closer and see Ada dancing in the crowd of people. Although you come to a halt as you feel your heart sinks, smile fades, and tears begin to form as you see John sitting at a table with his new wife, Esme. Polly gently squeezes your shoulder trying to provide comfort. She whispers, “Fix your smile honey.”

Quickly you smile once more and blink your eyes several times to keep from crying. You continue to look at John with a huge smile on his face; he hasn’t noticed you yet. You whisper, “Aunt Pol I can’t do this.”

She pulls you along towards a table with Arthur and Tommy, “Yes you can, be strong.”

Your attention is drawn from Polly once you hear Arthur’s deep booming voice, “Fucking hell, is that Y/N!”

Several people stop what they’re doing and look at Arthur, including John. He is so shocked to see you, especially today of all days that it brings him to his feet. Although, you don’t notice this due to your attention now being focused on his brother. Your smile becomes genuine as Arthur approaches, bringing you into an extremely tight hug, “When did you get here?”

You say through struggled breaths, “Just. Now.”

Tommy walks up behind him, “Arthur you’re squeezing the life out of her.”

You take a deep breath in as he lets go, but before you can take a second breath Ada hugs you. “It’s so good to see you Y/N.”

John makes his way over to you with Esme’s arm wrapped around his. You take a deep breath preparing yourself for an awkward encounter. John is the first to speak, “Hello Y/N.”

“Hello John.” Silence.

Esme nudges him, “Oh Y/N this is Esme…my wife, Esme this Y/N she is uh..a family friend.”

Esme says slurring her words, “I-i-I-it’s very n-n-nice to meet you.”

You force a smile back handing her the gift, “It nice two meet you too, congratulations.” You bite the side of you lip as everyone is quiet once more.

Tommy breaks the silence, “Well we have plenty of time to catch up, this is a party after all. ”

Ada’s smile grows larger as she grabs your hand swinging you towards the dance floor. For the majority of the night you were on the dance floor trying to focus on something else. You didn’t get a chance to relax much because every time you sat down someone would ask you to dance. At times you would look towards John to see him with his arms crossed and jaw clenched. You could tell that he was seething with jealousy every time a man would get too close to you.

Esme is unaware of the glances exchanged throughout the night due to continuing to drink and becoming intoxicated. By the end of the night, John had to carry a passed out Esme to the car. The more you thought about it the you became envious of Esme’s current state. It would have been a lot easier to get through the night drunk, but unfortunately you don’t drink.

You walk into the Shelby home followed by Polly, Tommy, and Arthur. Polly takes off her coat and hat, “Y/N you can take Ada’s old room.”

You take a seat on the living room couch, “Thanks Aunt Pol.”

Polly helps a wobbly Arthur up the stairs, as Tommy sits down in the chair across from you. “You know Y/N it is good to have you home.”

You slightly laugh, “Tommy we both know you were never fond of small talk, what is it really that you wanting to talk about?”

“I just want to make sure that you understood from my letter how important this alliance is to this family.”

His statement causes your brows to furrow, “Of course I do, for gods sakes Finn was almost killed. Why wouldn’t I understand?”

He leans towards you, “Well it’s no secret how you and John feel about each other. Now if there was another way-.”

“Feelings shouldn’t get in the way of matters such as this, you and John are just trying to protect your family I understand. We don’t have to talk about this.” You turn away from Tommy feeling tears start to form and a sniffle slip out.

You hear Tommy stand up and walk towards the stairs, “You’re apart of this family.”

You look at him with a smile as tears continue to fall, “Thanks Tommy.”

Tommy makes his way upstairs and you hear the front door open to see John walk in. You stand up to face away from him trying wipe your tears away the best you can. Although it’s no use because your eyes, nose and cheeks already have a pink hue to them. You say through sniffles, “What are you doing here John?”

His takes his hat and coat off, “I’ve come to talk to you.”

You turn and cross your arms trying to calm your nerves, “Shouldn’t you be with Esme, I mean……it’s your wedding night.” You feel a lump in your throat as you struggle to say the last part.

“Uh she drank a little too much and passed out as soon as I got her home.” He moves closer to you.

Both of you just look at each other for a few seconds, before he breaks the silence by turning on the phonograph. “You know I never did get a chance to dance with you at the party.”

He steps closer to you holding out his left hand. You bite the corner of your lip, “I don’t know if thats a good idea.”

He smiles, “Just one dance?”

You reluctantly take his hand and move closer to wrap your left hand around his neck. He puts his right hand on your side as he says, “I didn’t realize that you were going to be there today.

“For a second I didn’t think I would be.”

Your heart continues to race as you feel his thumb tracing circles on your side. He doesn’t brake eye contact with you, “How are you doing?”

You look down, “It doesn’t matter how I feel, what’s done is done.”

He tilts his head trying to regain eye contact with you, “It matters to me. I need you to know that I didn’t have a choice, I had to go through with the marriage.”

You lift your head up, and his face is inches away from yours. “I know John.”

You’re taken back by the closeness, but he doesn’t seem fazed. “I wish I could change this.”

You shake your head, “There no use in wishing for something that we can’t have.”

John and you dance in silence for about a minute, just enjoying each other’s company. He twirls you away from him and back as he says, “Do you remember when we would dance like this when we were kids?”

Your smile widens, “How could I forget? You always stepped on my toes.”

He laughs, “That didn’t keep you from always following me around though, it use to annoy the hell out of me. You and Ada would be close behind me wherever I went.”

“You would always yelled at us, but every time you would give in and bring us along. Eventually I got older and stopped.”

He leans his forehead against yours, “Yeah but then I started chasing after you.”

You stay silent as he lets out a deep sigh, “I’ve missed this……I’ve missed you.”

His nose brushes up against yours as his lips get closer and closer. You two stop dancing as he lets go of your hand to loop it around your waist as you lock yours around his neck. You close your eyes struggling to keep your breathe steady. His lips gently graze against yours making your heart ache to kiss him. “John don’t……don’t do this. You shouldn’t…..even be here.”

He lightly squeezes your side, “I want to be here, I know you want me here.”

You open your eyes as you slide your hands to his chest and move your head away from him, “Just because we want something doesn’t mean it will happen”

He takes a deep breath, his cheeks and eyes become light pink. You whisper, “John go home and be with your wife.”

He doesn’t budge and continues to stare at you intensely. You grab his hands and release yourself from his grasp. Closing your eyes you mutter, “Please just go.”

Your eyes stay closed to feel his lips press against your forehead. His lip lingers there as you fight the feeling of wanting to reciprocate his affection. “Goodnight Y/N.”

You refuse to open your eyes as he backs away, not wanting to see him walk out the door. You hear the door open and shut, but even then your eyes stay closed. A few seconds pass before you open your eyes to see your all alone.

[legendofmorons]

Wonderland Intro

Concept: After you and the chain separate, you reflect on your time with your found family and your lover. We see their own perspectives on it as well as the reunion.

Reader background: okay so reader is Gender neutral but is a hero like the Links. Except they are their Link's older sibling- when their Link or "Bug" as reader calls him was about 3 Gannon rose. Obviously a 3 year old is not coordinated or old enough to weird a sword.

Their Zelda or 'Zee' as the teen prefers to be called is a family friend and 7th in lime for the throne as the King's niece.

Gannon comes in and kidnaps Bug and Zee when the kid is 3 and Zee is 5, and reader is like 12. Reader takes up the role of hero becuase someone has to and Gannon took their brother. Hylia is so fucked she just has to swap shit around but accepts reader as a hero.

Reader beats Ganon at 13, and again at 18.

At 19 or so, they join the chain and have a real hatred for Darklink specific because the being hated them too.

Format: I'm splitting this series into reader x each individual Link. The Prolouge to each set is This Song fic. (You can enjoy the series without reading the little prolouge. I know not everyone likes song fics.)

Items: gerudo scimitar, dagger, hylian shield, hook shot, sling shot, health potions, phone, pepper spray, lighter, hair spray, axe body spray

[jadekitty777]

The Emotionalist: Chapter 2

Will I write anything else but this this week? Maybe. Probably not.

Prompt for Day 3: Sunset

Rating: T

Word Count: 1K

Summary: Clover Ebi was a huntsman who, like most Atlesian soldiers, hid most of his emotions behind a mask of calm professionalism. That is, unless, one knew where to look. And Qrow looked a lot.

Or, 5 times Qrow learned to read Clover’s mood not from his face, but from his ears. [An adjacent story to Hunting Season Hunting Season; events from Qrow’s POV]

Ao3 Link: Dragging Like the Tide

~

Clover’s office had a very nice couch in it. 

The soldier had admitted he didn’t know where it had come from, just that it had shown up when he had asked for the arrangement years ago. But of course Atlesians wouldn’t just send him any old thing. It was one of those luxury pieces that was probably made by some famous artisan using the finest wood, material and stuffing available, with a plush, deep, forest green exterior and oak accenting along the arm trim and legs. 

Not that Qrow had room to complain as he was currently the one lounging along it like a lazy cat, scroll held aloft as he virtually duked it out with Ruby in Ninja Wars V. Between matches, he would glance back at Clover, somehow finding him buried in more paperwork than when he’d looked last. Not that he needed the visual to know he was still working. With the game music muted, the clack-clack-clack of keyboard keys was the only soundtrack he had.

When he’d first dropped in, Clover had agreed to go for some evening tea with him in the mess hall. Something soothing to wind down with. Maybe they’d even watch the stars from the windows, like they had been from the rooftops for the past few days.

“Just give me five minutes to finish these reports.” Clover had promised.

That had been a half hour ago.

Qrow tapped insistently on his controller for another combo and struck the final blow. The victory screen flashed with ‘Soaring Ninja Wins!’ for the twelve time that night.

He swiped out of the game and pinged his niece, Ready to call it quits?

Just because I am sleepy does not mean I am defeated old man!

But yeah, Weiss is complaining about the noise.

See you tomorrow!

Night kiddo.

His arms dropped, resting his scroll along his stomach as he tipped his head back.

Immediately, he noticed that Clover’s demeanor had changed. Not in his expression - that was still set in deep concentration - but in his ears. They were slanted downwards, tips pointing towards his shoulders.

The last time he’d seen something like that had been shortly after their encounter with Robyn, wherein Clover and Blake started debating the state of Faunus socionomics. In the end, Clover had backed down, ears falling in resigned defeat.

Much like they were now.

Not that Qrow was… keeping a catalog or anything.

“You okay Clubs?” He called.

Clover glanced away from his computer, the unnatural glow of the screen making his skin appear ghastly pale. “Huh? Oh yeah.” He ran a hand down his face, eyes rolling back towards the screen. “Sorry, these reports are taking a lot longer than I thought.”

“Is there something troubling in them?”

“No more than usual, why?”

Why indeed. Qrow knew ‘because you seem upset’ could be taken wrong in too many ways; especially, if that then led to him admitting he was trying to read Clover by the positioning of his ears. 

Qrow was proud to say he wasn’t that stupid.

“No reason. Just figured that was what the hold up was.” He said instead.

There was a distant hum, then Clover shook his head. “No I think I’m just-” He trailed off, raising a hand to his mouth as he yawned widely. As he did, his ears stretched backwards before falling back down where they’d been.

If being cute was illegal, Qrow was pretty sure the other man would have been convicted for unintentional murder twice over by now.

“Mm, well I was gonna say tired, but I guess that’s obvious now.” Clover joked, shooting him a sleepy smile.

Thrice over, his seizing heart corrected.

He rose from the dead just enough to manage, “Maybe it’s time to call it a night?”

“No, no. I’m almost done. I just need-”

“Five more minutes?” Qrow guessed flatly. 

Clover flushed, averting his gaze to the pens lined along his desk. “…Sorry. I didn’t mean to take so long. You can turn in for the night if you want.”

Well now, that just wouldn’t do.

Abandoning all hope on their original plans, he gave a loud, dramatic sigh, before hopping to his feet. “Chamomile or ginger?”

“Huh?”

“Your tea.” He explained patiently, arching a brow. “Which one do you want me to bring back?”

Slowly, realization dawned.

Then Clover gifted him with the sweetest smile, as he replied, “Ginger, please.”

“You got it. I’ll be back before you can miss me.” He accented the words with a wink, purposely sashaying his hips as he headed out of the office.

The second the door swung shut behind him, Qrow lent heavily against it, hand on his chest as he tried to calm his sudden cardiac arrest.

War crimes. He decided on finally. Clover’s cuteness was guilty of actual war crimes on his heart.

Unbeknownst to the metaphorically dying huntsman, on the other side of the door, seen only by his own reflection in the monitor, Clover had buried his blushing face in his hands, squealing quietly to himself.

[emile-hides]

Tears fallin down at the party

I don’t know how many of you saw the Pumpkin head trend on TikTok, but I actually did it last year (and will be again this year), and decided to paint one of my favorite pictures I ended up getting of me and my Niece.

[ebaeschnbliah]

THE  GOVERNOR  AND  HIS  WIFE  -  revisited and expanded

________________________________________________________________

While writing on the ‘Tapestry of Sherlock BBC’ series, I picked up again my previous interpretations regarding the Five Tasks of Sherrinford. The attempt to summarize Eurus’ first task in some short sentences and linking it to the first series of the show, simply wouldn’t work out smoothly. Although I basically still agree with most of this first interpretation, the feeling was undeniable that something (isn’t there always something?) wouldn’t really fit. Therefore I started to mull over that problem in order to reach a more fitting conclusion. Apparently, the distance of several years resulted indeed in some new ideas and perspectives.

TBC below the cut .....

Sherlock BBC is dominated by a ‘pattern of five’, that has been noticed very early on by several people. To name just a view:  Good things come in fives by tjlcisthenewsexy (now @debussy-reverie),  A series of five by @thepineapplering ,  5 Pips by @waitedforgarridebs and @sagestreet​ has connected the Five Tasks of Sherrinford with the four existing series of Sherlock BBC, along with the prospect of a possible fifth and final one. Which would be great and very much appreciated because the story, as it is now, feels quite open-ended. In any case, I couldn’t agree more with @sagestreet regarding the possible relation between five series and five tasks of Sherrinford (although I prefer a slightly different reading of some character mirrors).

As mentioned in previous posts, I tend to view the whole story told in Sherlock BBC on a metaphorical level, as something that happens entirely inside the great detective’s head. In TAB it is mentioned that Sherlock is able to create complex scenarios, even whole worlds, inside his mind palace. It seems only reasonable that he uses this extraordinary gift as a means to understand and solve his clients cases. That he uses the same methods when he tries to solve his very own case - the pink one - would then also be quite plausible. The investigations and deductions, necessary to explore his own persona, could very well happen on - what I like to call it - a mind stage. Like a director Sherlock writes the scripts for his plays and casts different characters for different roles to understand either the motives behind criminal cases, strange mysteries or the workings inside his own mind and body.  In this old post I played with the idea of Sherlock BBC as a metaphhorical prism, created to make the different aspects of Sherlock’s personality visible, like rainbow colours occur when white light is sent through a prism. That actually ‘anyone’ inside this story is Sherlock, or more precisely, represents a certain part of him, is something @sherlockshadow suggested very early on. 

The first task of Sherrinford

A possible interpretation based on metaphorical reading:

SHERRINFORD ISLAND - is a high-security government facility on a prison island and - the way I interpret the story - a metaphor for Sherlock’s innermost core. It represents the deepest part inside his mind, the place where he keeps everything under lock and key what he deems too dangerous or too painful to deal with. This high-security facility is under the supervision of the government, represented in this story by Lady Smallwood, Mycroft and the island’s Governor David (no family name given). It is mentioned that the mysterious Uncle Rudi had been the first one who took care of (his niece) Eurus and brought her to Sherrinford. Later Mycroft thought it best to continue what Uncle Rudi began. It might be of interest that the Hebrew name ‘David’ means ‘beloved’ or ‘uncle’.  

JOHN - he is the central part of the story, the crux of the matter, around whom everything else rotates. In the original story about the Musgrave Ritual one crown and two kings of the same name are involved. This might be another indication that not only cyphers come in pairs. I wrote about that topic in: Two times - John, Faith, Charles, pairs, therapists, John’s stamp. Either way, there are some indications that two versions of John are involved in this story:

Dr John Watson, the century old traditional eternal just-friend, the fixed point in a changing age, who constantly assures in this adaptation that he’s not gay. He represents Sherlock’s supressed and desperately unspoken love for his best friend, an unfulfilled desire that almost kills him. 

John, a changed and new version of this character, openminded and vibrant, a man who is able and excited to become Sherlock’s lover. PILOT-John gives the impression to be ecaxtly the man whom Sherlock desires. 

John in TFP seems to be on a good way to become that man ... not because the character per se has changed. Much more important is that Sherlock’s attitude towards the problem, that the John-character represents, has changed. John - on Sherlock’s mind stage, isn’t a ‘real’ person, like all the other characters he is an imagined ‘actor’ and represents a certain attitude (for lack of a better wording). More pecisely, if the theory of the ‘two Johns’ is correct, two possibilities can be associated with that character ... eternal friend and future lover. And it is Sherlock’s decision to see and to choose, which of the two attitudes he is willing to engage with in real life, outside his mind palace. Because if ‘real’ John is the man he seems to be in PILOT, it will certainly not be him who stands opposed to the ‘lover-attitude’. It will be solely Sherlock’s move to change his own literary history. Will he be bold enough to ‘get involved’ ... or not? One thing is certain, Sherlock has changed enormously from ASIP to TFP and has become a very good man by now. ‘Real-John’ could hardly get a better one ... :)

JIM - the virtual stationmaster and ticking clock of the experiments conducted in Sherrinford is called ‘Eurus’ revenge’ and represents, as he himself says in TRF ‘I’m Mr Sex’. The changeable criminal mastermind is also the one who hides in plain sight as ‘Hamish’ behind the ‘H’ of John’s middle name. When five years ago Eurus noticed Jim’s interest in Sherlock’s activities, Mycroft took a calculated risk and brought Jim to Sherrinford as a Christmas present for Eurus. It turned out that Jim and Eurus - sex and emotions - ‘got on like a house on fire’. And apparently this ‘five minutes conversation, five years ago’ had been THE trigger for everything that happend afterwards ... ‘It took her just five minutes to do all of this to us.’  The way I interpret the story, this can only be the moment when Sherlock laid first eyes on John Watson. Suddenly Mr Sex raises very intrigued his head and the long neglected, disparaged and locked-up Emotions react to that entirely unexpected situation and desire to know more about that ‘special condition’. As a consequence Emotions finally want to break free from their prison ... or, to put it in metaphorical words: “there’s going to be a terror strike on London (Sherlock) - a big one ...”   (And suddenly everything changes   The first time ever I saw your face)

Jim, Mr Sex, has been chosen by E, the ‘avenging sister, to be ‘her revenge’. With so much revenge and avenging on the table - associated with emotions and sex - inevitably the title screen of the Unaired Pilot comes to mind with Anteros (Eros’ brother) at centre stage. In Greek mythology Anteros is the god of requitted love, punisher of those who scorn love and the avenger of unrequitted love. 

So he is in love, but he knows not with whom; he does not understand his own condition and cannot explain it; like one who has caught a disease of the eyes from another, he can give no reason for it; he sees himself in his lover as in a mirror, but is not conscious of the fact. And in the lover’s presence, like him he ceases from his pain, and in his absence, like him he is filled with yearning such as he inspires, and love’s image, requited love [Anteros], dwells within him; but he calls it, and believes it to be, not love, but friendship. (From Cupids: Eros, Anteros, and Greek Interpretations by @fandeadgloves​)​

EURUS - she represents the ‘other one’. Sherlock’s supressed, neglected and almost forgotten emotional other side - locked-up deep down at his innermost core and under the strict surveillance of the government, the brain. I’m going by the assumption that all the criminal gangs, all the terrorist groups as well as TABs 'invisible army, the monstrous regiment’ - established and led by the avenging ghost-bride and faithful sister Emelia - ‘ignored, patronised, disregarded, not allowed so much as a vote’ - that all those opponents actually represent Sherlock’s revolting emotions. In TFP this ‘league of furies’ seems to have been compressed into one single character - Eurus - of which two versions (they always come in pairs) appear in this episode:

The adult woman and high-security prisoner who is incarcerated deep down in Sherrinford, surrounded by an ocean of water, until she breaks free and takes control of the island. 

The frightened little girl high up on a driverless plane, surrounded by sleeping people, who calls for help and is the motivator for Sherlock’s, John’s and Mycroft’s co-operation.

This seems to indicate that Sherlock’s persona is neither united in harmony nor fully developed. While one part of him, although grown up, is locked in a high-security prison cell, vengeful and furious - another part, although flying high up in the sky, is still trapped in childhood, alone, overstrained and terrified. 

MYCROFT - big brother represents Sherlock’s rational side, logic and reason, the mind, just-brain. His immediate superior is Lady Smallwood who also opperates under the code name ‘love’. This could be a possible reason for Mycroft’s janus-facedness regarding his brother - sometimes he’s cold, emotionless, even cruel and then again constantly concerned, protective and caring. While in the previous episode Mycroft, as usual, monitores and controlles everything, this changes noticeable in TFP. Suddenly ‘big brother’ seems to have lost much of his former omnipotence. Now it is Sherlock who sets the pace and leads the way. Maybe the reasons for those changes in Mycroft’s personality have to do with Lady Smallwood’s invitation for a drink (a small shot of chemistry?). She gave Mycroft her number ... one wonders if he ever called her back. The question is, will the chemistry of love overrule the pure rational mind in the end? This conflict could become an important confrontation if the story continues. 

THE GOVERNOR - he is Mycroft’s subordinate and therefore can be viewed as the extended arm of the government ... the brain. Shortly before Sherlock, Mycroft, John and the Governor find themselves locked in Eurus’ former prison cell, the audience learns that the Governor of Sherrinford disobeyed the orders of the government, regarding Eurus. He contacted her, spoke to her, even evaluated her and as a consequence the man got compromised. It is John who notices the Governor’s ‘enslavement’ by Eurus but it is already too late. The red alert goes off and Jim enters the stage via speeker system and TV screen. Metaphorically this seems to indicate that - caused by the yearning for love and sex - a certain ‘subordinate’ part of Sherlock’s mind grew curious. Against orders he took a closer look at the concept of emotions, got compromised and as a consequence started secretly working for the ‘other one’. It turns out that this forbidden involvement has serious consequences for the Governor as well as his Wife. 

THE WIFE - informations about that character are sparce. There are recorded tapes on which Eurus can be heard talking to the Governor about his Wife. Eurus asks him to meet her because 'I can fix her for you’ and she promises to give her right back ‘good as new’ afterwards. The Governor hesitates. He thinks it’s not right what Eurus is proposing. Then Eurus asks the man repeatedly if he really trusts his Wife. The Governor wants her to stop saying these things, which he considers ‘completely inappropriate’. 

In a nutshell:  Eurus wants to ‘change and fix’ the Governor’s Wife. The husband hesitates and fears that such a change could be not right, even completely inappropriate. The man’s trust in his Wife seems also to be of great importance.

As mentioned above, I view the Governor as part of Sherlock’s rational mind, compromised by emotions, resulting from a lack of love and sex. In my opinion, the Wife can then only represent traditional John, who lives in a ‘legal’ relationship - a just-friendship - with Sherlock, thus the marriage. Eurus, Sherlock’s emotional side, wants to change that character - this situation - into something new, something that could still be interpreted by some people as ‘not legal’. The curious and compromised part of Sherlock’s mind fears,that such a change might be not right, even completely inappropriate. What else could that be than a metaphor for Sherlock’s desire to change John from ‘legal’ eternal just-friend to ‘illegal’ lover?

Eurus’ challenge

Imprisoned in Eurus’ former cell, Sherlock, Mycroft, John and the Governor are confronted with the first task. Eurus, Jim and the Governor’s Wife are connected to them via TV screen, the little girl on the plane via audio. The Governor’s Wife can be seen sitting in a chair, handcuffed and gagged, while Eurus announces that she will shoot the woman in about a minute ... unless ...

‘You want to save the Governor’s wife? Choose either Doctor Watson or Mycroft to kill the Governor. You can’t do it, Sherlock. If you do it, it won’t count. I’ll kill her anyway. It has to be your brother or your friend.’

That’s a clear demand. In order to save the Governor’s Wife, the Governor himself has to die and Sherlock must decide who shall kill the man ... Mycroft or John. Without any hesitation the Governor is willing to sacrifice his life for his Wife. Mycroft refuses rigorously to shoot the man. John tries to do it but also fails in the end. In his desperation the Governor takes the gun out of John’s hand and shoots himself. This sacrifice doesn’t save the Governor’s Wife though. Sherlock wasn’t able to accomplish the task as demanded and so Eurus shoots the Governor’s Wife as threatened.

My reading of that task: Sherlock has to decide if the compromised part of his brain should be erased either bei his rational mind or by his supressed desires in order to enable the further existance of the ‘legal’ relationship, the eternal friendship with John. This turns out to be impossible. And so the compromised part chooses to erase himself. But Sherlock’s emotional side doesn’t allow him to back away from this important decision and erases the eternal friendship anyway. 

The first task and Series One

The first task of Sherrinford is definitely linked to Series One. The eloquent and talkative serial killer in A STUDY IN PINK, Jeff Hope, who is sponsored by Jim, persuades Sherlock to follow him. There is a strong motive of curiosity that finally overrules Sherlock’s rational mind and his common sense - the orders of the brain - until he willlingly puts himself in great danger just to understand the WHY and the HOW (’I don’t like not knowing’) ... all of this mirrows the interaction between the Governor and Eurus, who calls herself ‘Jim’s revenge’. 

‘It’s murder, all of them. I don’t know how, but they’re not suicides, they’re killings’ ... the same can be said about the first task of Sherrinford. The Governor kills himself, he commits suicide but actually it's murder. 

’I didn’t kill those people, I spoke to them and they killed themselves’ ... that’s what Jeff Hope tells Sherlock about his victims. The Governor of Sherrinford tells that Eurus once talked to a doctor and as a consequence the man killed himself and his family.

 ‘If I wanted to understand, what would I do?’ - ‘Let me take you for a ride.’ - ‘So you can kill me too?’ - ‘I don’t wanna kill you, Mr. Holmes. I’m gonna talk to you ... and then you’re gonna kill yourself.’  ... apparently the Governor was driven by the same motivation as Sherlock. He got curious about Eurus, wanted to understand her. His curiosity grew stronger than his common sense and then he talked to her. 

But ASIP isn’t the only episdoe of Series One from which certain motives turn up in the first task of Sherrinford. There is also THE BLIND BANKER. This outstanding episode gives the impression to be the user manual for the whole show (About series one). As mentioned in this old post, the showdown in the Black Tramway Dragon Den presents two Johns and two Sherlocks. This happens because of a missunderstanding. General Shan mistakes John for Sherlock and this turns John - for that particular scene - into a Sherlock-mirror while ‘his pretty doctor companion’ Sarah becomes a John-mirror. 

In the Dragon Den John as well as Sarah are bound to a chair and both are threatened to be shot. While Sarah sits in front of a massive crossbow armed with an arrow, General Shan aims her gun at John’s head, even pulls the trigger, but there is no bullet in the chamber.

The way the Governor’s Wife sits bound to a chair in TFP, gagged and threatened to be shot, recalls the showdown in The Blind Banker with John and especially Sarah, who is also gagged. And because of the extraordinary mirroring in that scene both characters represent John (while John is at the same time also a Sherlock-mirror), which means that in this quite similar situation in TBB two Johns happen to sit bound to chairs, threatened to get shot. 

General Shan is quite interesting as well, especially regarding her name (’the clue’s in the name’ says Jim in TGG). The Chinese character ‘shān’ means ‘mountain’ and its pictograph  山 is meant to show a series of mountain peaks (X). Only one quarter turn is required and that pictograph suspiciously looks almost like an E. How much of a coincidence can it be that Sherlock’s secret ghost sister is first introduced as ‘E’? Then she turns into Faith,Elsa/Eliszabeth and later reveals herself to be Eurus before she aims her gun at John and shoots him ... immediately after he stands up from a chair.  

What also comes to mind is the small ‘printing error’ regarding the ‘explosive’ glycerol molecule formula in TRF, which should, correctly written, depict three times ‘OH’ but acutally shows OH-OE-OH (Under the microscope 2). A quite similar letter-turning-game can be played with M&W and there’s also that big E that turns up on a promo shot for S1.  (source)

Beyond Series One

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, linking the first task of Sherrinford to Series One fits perfectly on a first glance. There are clear connections with ASIP and TBB. And yet, that comparison doesn’t work out entirely smoothly because there’s something more contained in Eurus’ fist experiment, something that doesn’t happen in Series One. While ‘Saving John Watson’ is clearly a main theme of the show from the start, there is another very strong theme addressed in the first task of Sherrinford, something that emerges only beyond Series One. I’m refering to the SACRIFICE-MOTIVE that starts playing a main role only in Series Two ... The Reichenbach Fall. On Bart’s roof Sherlock has to choose between his own life and the lives of his friends, above all John’s. 

'Oh, just kill yourself. It’s a lot less effort. … Okay, let me give you a little extra incentive. Your friends will die if you don’t.’ - ‘John.’ ...  this is exactly what the first task of Sherrinford addresses as well. In order to save the life of the Governor’s Wife, the Governor has to die and ultimately he kills himself. 

Like the Governor of Sherrinford in Eurus’ first task, Sherlock too chooses to sacrifice his own life in that scene on Bart’s roof, to save the ones he loves. It is Jim (Eurus’ revenge) who forces that decision on Sherlock by taking his own life first. Both characters manoeuvre themselves in a deadlock position by talking each other into suicide. They are ‘killing with words’. That’s the same method Jeff Hope uses in ASIP and Eurus in TFP. 

Same methods ... and then ‘the Government explodes’

As mentioned above in the character description, Mycroft seems to represent Sherlock’s rational side, logic, reason, the mind - the brain. Applying this metaphor to the story told in Sherlock BBC, some interesting connections and motivations become visible. And it looks like all of them have to do with Sherlock’s fear that - under certain circumstances - he could ‘lose his mind’. There are some characters involved, who decide to end their lives in a very similar way ... by destroying their brains. 

On Bart’s roof, Jim takes a gun to his mouth and shoots himself. He sacrifices his life in order to force Sherlock to do the same, if he wants to save the ones he loves.

Sherlock sacrifices his own life and although he chooses a different method, the outcome is the same - head bashed in and blood on the pavement.

Emelia Ricoletti wants to make her death count. Her suicide in TAB - both fake and real - mirrors Jim’s, Sherlock’s and Irene’s (although in ASIB there are no visuals of the Woman, respectively of her doppelgänger in the morgue). Emelia’s death becomes the birth of the ‘league of avenging brides’ and later of ‘ghost-sister’. 

Blood on the floor, a destroyed brain and a gun beside his hand applies also for the Governor of Sherrinford when he sacrifices his ‘compromised’ life for his wife. 

‘I’m remembering the governor’ ... with these words Sherlock decides to go the same way as David, when he tries to back out of Eurus’ fourth task, because it’s impossible for him to erase either Mycroft (rational mind) or John (his desire for the eternal just-friend). 

And of course, the massive bomb inside the Underground train compartment at Sumatra Road - the station which was closed before it ever opened - the bomb that threatens to destroy the Houses of Parliament in TEH should not be forgotten either. It’s his highly ‘explosive transport’ with which Sherlock is dealing in this adaptation, after all. :)

This imagined explosion - stopped and prevented by Sherlock in the very last second - is mirrored in TST, when Mycroft reminds Sherlock of his old, rewritten childhood story 'Appointment in Sumatra’. The scene ends literally with Mycroft’s head - and the queen’s picture - exploding and shattering into pieces  (And then the government explodes). 

Those pieces then merge into the transition of the shattered plaster bust, owned by Mohandes Hassan. That man’s first name is linked with a winged god of love and lust, armed with arrows, while his family name is linked with an Irish deer. (The plaster bust owners)

All those destroyed brains seem to point at one and the same problem and Sherlock explains that ‘problem’ in quite clear words in The Reichenbach Fall, when he talks about ideas planted in heads and the impossibility to erase them again from that place - the mind:

“You’re gonna have to be strong to resist. You can’t kill an idea, can you? Not once it’s made a home ... there.”

That’s what all those ‘killings’ and sacrifices and shuttered brains are about, in my opinion. Sherlock wants to erase a certain idea from his mind. He is at war with himself over this problem because a part of him considers that idea ‘not right’ maybe even ‘completely inappropriate’ as the Governor puts it when he talks about Eurus’ suggestion ‘to change and fix his wife’. Sherlock is driven by his long neglected emotions to change the traditional relationship with his eternal just-friend into something new. The idea of a romantic and sexual relationship with John has made a home inside his brain and whatever Sherlock tries to do to erase that idea .... it’s completely futile. That particular idea seems to be simply indestructible. If you can’t kill the idea, destroy the head ... before you lose your mind. And that’s a deadlock position in itself. 

The first task and Series Four

From The Reichenbach Fall onwards the SACRIFICE-MOTIVE moves significantly into focus. Saving John Watson, even at the cost of Sherlock’s own life, is the main theme that runs from now on like a scarlet ribbon throughout the story. Though heartbroken, Sherlock marries John and Mary in TSOT to protect his eternal friendship with Dr Watson. He murders Magnussen, the keeper of (his own) secrets and scandals, also to protect eternal friend and facade and he willingly goes away on a suicide mission, never to return. But then in TST Mary (his facade) - who secretly works for Mycroft - throws herself in front of Sherlock to take Norbury’s bullet.  Sherlock’s facade breaks and crumbles and now everything starts to change. Without facade, Eurus, his emotional side, can’t be contained any loger.

‘Save John Watson. Save him, Sherlock. It’s up to you. Save him. The only way to save John ... is to make him save you. Go to Hell, Sherlock. Go right into Hell, and make it look like you mean it. Go and pick a fight with a bad guy. Put yourself in harm’s way. If he thinks you need him, I swear ... he will be there.’

This is Mary’s last advice for Sherlock at the end of TST. Stricktly speaking, one can summarise that whole paragraph in just two words: ‘trust John’. That’s exactly what Eurus wants to know about the Governor’s wife ... ‘do you trust your wife’. And in TLD, the very next episode, Sherlock puts precisely that advice into action. He picks a fight with Culverton Smith, a talkative serial killer who has quite striking teeth. Sherlock lets himself be abducted by that man in order to get killed. John is the ultimate reason for Sherlock’s hazardous plan in the first place. None other than John brings Sherlock into that situation. Using Jim’s words from TAB: ‘Doesn’t this remind you of another case? Hasn’t this all happened before? There’s nothing new under the sun. What was it? What was that case?’  Of course, Jim refers with those words to occurrences in ASIB and TRF. Using them in this context, I want to point to the close connections between the Jeff Hope case in ASIP and the Culverton Smith (father of Faith) case in TLD. It’s hard not to notice those Serial-Killer-Connections that take the story backwards to its beginning ... although the ending of both episodes differs quite interestingly.

In ASIP John shoots and kills Hope, the talkative serial killer who had been sponsored by Jim. 

In TLD John is shot by Eurus, who calls herself ‘Jim’s revenge’ and the talkative serial killer Smith (father of Faith) goes to prison.

Taking all those connections into account it becomes clear that the first task of Sherrinford isn’t linked exclusively with Series One. It stretches across the whole show on to Series Four. And just like S1 & S4 are linked, the first & the fourth task of Sherrinford are linked as well. In both cases the same characters are moved into focus - Mycroft and John - the one represents Sherlock’s rational mind and the other his supressed sexual desire aimed at the best friend. Both tasks end with a slightly different shooting - same as the relevant episodes in S1 & S4 (ASIP&TLD). 

Sherlock has to decide who shall do the shooting ... Mycroft or John.

Sherlock has to decide whom he himself shall shoot ... Mycroft or John.

In the end it turns out that neither of them is able to erase any of the other parts and when Sherlock tries to erase himself (in exactly the same way as the Governor in the first task), Eurus intervenes and catapults Sherlock right away into the Musgrave Riddle ... where the dog lies burried ... wo der Hund begraben liegt ... where the crux of the matter lies. Redbeard, Victor, John in the well. 

Therefore the Musgrave Riddle - Sherlock’s fifth task in Sherrinford - should point to the Fifth Series of Sherlock BBC .....

PS:  

Some musings about ‘living’ and ‘dying’ in Sherlock BBC

‘Each Sherrinford task gives us the same challenge as the corresponding season, but shows us the exact opposite outcome’ ... wrote @sagestreet​ in the above mentioned Sherrinford Meta. That’s what I see as well. For example:

In Series One ASIP John shoots Hope and saves Sherlock’s life and Sherlock rescues John and Sarah (John-mirror) from getting shot by the Black Lotus Gang in TBB. The third episode, TGG, is quite special in itself, because of its five-case structure that, just like the five tasks of Sherrinford, also strongly points to five possible series of the show. Therefore not the last case - John’s abduction by Jim and the following swimming pool showdown, interrupted by Irene’s (the naked truth’s) phonecall - should be taken for a Sherrinford comparison. Instead the fourth case is here the relevant one, the one with the fake Vermeer painting about the exploding supernova and the lost child, who cries for help like little Eurus on the plane and Victor in the well. Sherlock is able to prevent the explosion of the fourth bomb and save the child. Everyone lives, only the blind old lady dies, who might represent love, because ‘love is blind’ the saying goes (Love, actually).

The first task of Sherrinford, on the other hand, ends with the death of both, husband and wife, who represent Sherlock and John. 

The big question now is ... what outcome is the good one and what the bad one? In real life, of course, dying would definitely be the bad thing .... but .... on a metaphorical level, where ‘dying’ and ‘death’ can be translated into ‘fallin in love’ or ‘having sex’ (la petite mort), the same thing would then stand for something good, wouldn’t it? When Jim and Sherlock meet on Bart’s roof, the consulting criminal greets the consulting detective with this words, while ‘Staying alive’ from The Bee Gees plays on the phone in his hand:

"Ah. Here we are at last – you and me, Sherlock, and our problem – the final problem. Stayin’ alive! It’s so boring, isn’t it? It’s just ... staying.”

According to Jim, the final problem is ‘just staying alive’ and this state of being seems to be extremly boring for Jim, who calls himself ‘Mr Sex’. If Sherlock considers sexuality as a copletely unnecessary, while distrubing influence - just dispensable transport - as one would expect from a traditional Holmes interpretation .... how would his neglected sex drive react in case someone gave Mr Sex a voice to express his own view on the matter? What extremely boring existance it must be to play the role of Mr Sex, when Sherlock chooses to live a celibate life, because all that matters to him is the work. Especially when Sherlock is living in close proximity to John Watson. Staying alive under these circumstances must become a real challenge for Mr Sex. No wonder Jim longs for revenge and turns into a criminal mastermind just to get Sherlock out to play a great game with him. And most likely Anteros is also very not amused about such a love and sex scorning behaviour .... :)

Another scene that comes to mind immediately is the one in TLD, in which Culverton Smith tries to suffocate Sherlock. The dark John-mirror can only confess his scandalous secret in the presence of people who are under the influence of a memory inhibitor and not able to remember anything afterwards. Before Smith takes any action he demands from Sherlock to say ‘I don’t want to die’. The way Sherlock utters those words feel entirely honest and heartbreaking. One wonders which version of the great detective is here afraid of dying .... 

the traditional Holmes, who would rather not change anything because he lives in fear to lose his eternal friend forever if he tells the truth or

the modern, liberated Sherlock, who desperately wants to break free from his prison but is still not allowed to and forced again into silence

And which version of John breaks into the hospital room and saves once again Sherlock’s life? It seems to be traditional Dr Watson, who represents Sherlock’s desperately unspoken desire for his eternal friend, the part of him who shys away from any change. That rescue-scene with the fire extinguisher is the counterpart of the one in TRF, in which Jim breaks open the glass cabinet and ‘frees the crown jewels’. Which break-in can be considered positive and which one negative? Is freeing and helping themselves to the ‘crown jewels’ good or bad? Is it good or bad when traditional Dr Watson saves Sherlock’s life again and again and again? 

‘”Liberty in death” – isn’t that the expression? The only true freedom.’

 That’s what Sherlock says in THOB, when he refers to the origin of the HOUND aerosol that triggers fear and terror - in other words: the chemistry of love is in the air. Could therefore a metaphorical ‘death’ be the way to Sherlock’s and John’s final liberation? If there are two versions of John and Sherlock - a traditional, closeted pair & a future, liberated pair - wouldn’t it be only logical to assume that one of those pairs has to die, to enable the existance of the other pair. In that case ‘dying’ is also an ambigious aspect in Sherlock BBC. Good or bad depends solely on what version will die and what version will live. 

.

Thanks for reading that far and thanks @callie-ariane for the scripts.

July, 2022

[martelldoran]

WHAT'S THE CAUSALITY LOOP THEORY

Why Emma, thank you so much for asking. I’m not going to waste time before jumping into this because this is gonna get long so without further ado...

Steve Rogers’ Ending and How Endgame Doesn’t Support a Causality Loop and other such rambles

Last month, I came across a TikTok that proposed that Steve’s ending made sense because it existed within a causality loop. I would link the TikTok but I didn’t save it at the time and trying to find videos on that app is impossible. You think Tumblr’s search function is bad? 🙄 But I digress. The TL;DR of the video is that due to time travel and Steve choosing to go back in time to be Peggy’s husband, it created a causality loop where he was always meant to be her husband because he went back in time and stayed there. The TikToker supported his argument by using Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PoA), another film that uses time travel and has a clearly defined example of a causality loop. However, his argument is fundamentally flawed so I’m going to combine my knowledge of my two biggest fandoms to tell you why.

Continued under the cut because I have no chill. Beware, it's long.

To first tell you how Endgame (EG) doesn’t support a causality loop, we must establish how PoA does establish one and does it successfully. The TikToker specifically mentions the scenes that take place at Hagrid’s Hut surrounding Buckbeak the hippogriff’s execution, so we’ll look at those first. What the film does really well is establish early on that there is something weird going on well before anyone actually goes back in time. There are three things that happen in quick succession during this scene which sets up the causality loop we see later in the film. First, a rock flies through the window and breaks a jar. Second, another rock hits Harry in the back of the head. Third, once outside, Hermione hears a branch snap and thinks she sees ‘something’. There are also two additional moments later on in the film once the Harry, Ron, and Hermione have come out of the Shrieking Shack which should also be noted: a wolf howl that distracts Remus Lupin in werewolf form from attacking the group and somebody casting a full-bodied stag patronus at the edge of the lake to save Harry and Sirius from the Dementors.

Of these occurrences, the first is arguably the most important because it does the most to establish that there is something going on outside of the Trio’s current understanding of their situation. The film makes a point to frame the jar breaking as Important Information the Audience Must Remember because it shows a visibly confused Hermione reacting to it as she picks up the rock for closer inspection and we the audience are given close up of it in her hand. Not only is it framed front and centre in the shot but the rock itself is very distinctive. It’s almost wholly smooth but for a swirl of fossil, thus marking it as not just any rock but An Important Rock To Be Remembered. This was an intentional choice by director Alfonso Curon because he uses this rock to connect this moment to its mirrored scene later on once Harry and Hermione use the Time Turner.

The audience and the characters find out about the causality loop at the same time. There are clearly stated rules of time travel that say that they aren’t to meddle with time but when Harry and Hermione see that Dumbledore, the Minister for Magic, and the executioner are on their way to Hagrid’s hut they panic because their counterparts aren’t leaving. Then, we see Hermione notice something in the pumpkin patch: a distinctive rock, smooth with a swirl of fossil. Again, we see have a close up shot with the rock centred to show its importance. Stylistically, it’s very similar to the shot we saw earlier in the film which gives the audience an emotional pay off for noticing the connection. When Hermione throws the rock and breaks the jar, it sets the causality loop in motion. The jar was always going to break because they went back in time to throw the rock that breaks it.

And it’s the same with all the other instances. Hermione throws the second rock that hits Harry in the back of the head to alert him to the fact they need to get out of the hut. Hermione snaps the branch and is almost seen by her counterpart in the past. Hermione makes the wolf call to distract Lupin from attacking. Harry, and not his father as he had assumed, casts the patronus to save himself and Sirius from the Dementors. But each of these moments are set up clearly in the ‘first run through’ to set up their payoff when the characters realise, ‘Oh, I did these things. They were always meant to happen.’ From a narrative standpoint, these are planned out moments to clue the audience into the fact that there’s something bigger at play. It keeps them ‘in the loop’ as it were.

This doesn’t happen in EG.

To successfully have set up a causality loop that made sense and had the same kind of set up and pay off as we see in PoA, it would have had to have been established as early as 2014 in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (CA:TWS). This does not happen. One of the main themes of CA:TWS is moving on from the past. Peggy Carter herself even says, “I’ve lived my life, my only regret is that you didn’t get to live yours.” Then saying soon after, “Sometimes the best thing we can do is to start over.” Peggy’s character in Captain America: The First Avenger is set up as someone who acts as the backup/back bone of Steve’s own moral compass. When Steve falters at Azzano about what to about the captured 107th, Peggy is there to remind him of what is right. She serves a similar narrative function in CA:TWS. Steve is struggling with life in the present. He’s just seen the helecarriers and argued with Nick Fury about protection vs fear after the botched Lumerian Star mission. Morally, he’s in turmoil and has turned to Peggy for council because he’s trying to find purpose in world where his rigid morality seems to have no place.

From the point of view of creating a causality loop, one would think that this scene in the hospital would be the place where an initial set-up could be made and alert the audience to the long term plan for Steve’s character. Instead, we have Peggy mourning the fact that Steve didn’t get to live his life the way it should have played out, and why would a woman who has supposedly been married to another version of Steve tell him to move on? In addition, when Steve visits the Smithsonian, he watches a video where he sees Peggy talking about how he influenced her life and how during one of his missions, he saved the man that would go on to become her husband. This is the only mention of Peggy’s husband in the entire franchise until Steve reappears as an old man at the end of EG.

Captain America: Civil War (CA:CW) also offers an opportunity to set up the causality loop at Peggy’s funeral but again, this does not happen. The only family we are introduced to is Sharon Carter, Peggy’s grand-niece. When it comes to filmmaking, every choice made is intentional. From the hair and makeup to the clothes, to the music used, everything in a film means something whether it is to further character development, world-building, or the plot. Filmmakers have a limited amount of time to convey a story and anything that doesn’t matter isn’t shown. Therefore, we can conclude from the text of the film that Peggy’s husband doesn’t matter to the narrative. The person in Peggy’s family who matters to the narrative is Sharon Carter which is why she is given prominence during CA:CW’s funeral scene. Had the causality loop been set up here, there would have been a defining moment like in PoA where the audience is clued into the larger story arc. Maybe someone says something, or he meets his older self, but that doesn’t happen. It should also be noted that apart from a small scene in Ant Man, Peggy isn’t mentioned again until EG.

In Endgame itself, the film still fails to set up a causality loop. It could be argued that this is the most important film for the set-up because this is when the audience gets the payoff. The first thing we see after the 5-yer time jump is Steve in a group therapy session for those that survived Thanos’ snap. Survivors share their stories and Steve talks about Peggy, a woman who has been dead in canon for 7-years and who died of old age. It’s incongruous and sticks out because narratively it doesn’t make sense for him to talk about her and not someone he watched disintegrate in front of his eyes. Steve watches his best friend and hundreds of others turn to ash around him and that film ends on his horrified face as he sits by his best friend’s ashes. Narratively, this is the thread that should carry through to EG but instead, he talks about missing his chance with Peggy. However, unlike PoA, there is no indication whether through dialogue or framing that clues the audience into Steve’s eventual ending at the end of the film.

Even when he goes back to the 70s, we see him looking mournfully at Peggy through the blinds in her office and a picture of him, pre-serum, on her desk. Steve and Peggy’s relationship prior to Endgame is supposed to represent the bittersweet loss of the life he could have had had he not sacrificed himself to the cause in CA:TFA. Then, since the audience knows from Steve and Peggy’s conversation in the hospital in CA:TWS that she moved on from Steve to live a happy life, we can assume that this picture is meant as nothing more than a fond memento of someone that meant a lot to her. Once more, there is no indication that Steve is ever meant to be her husband.

It’s impossible to infer a causality loop here in the same way as we saw in PoA. In PoA, there is a payoff for every single unusual or weird moment the story presents the audience before and after the use of time travel but this is something that’s completely absent from Endgame’s narrative. Steve himself doesn’t even vocalise a desire to go back in time at any point in EG nor at any point during the other films he appears in. In fact, when questioned by Tony Stark about the possibility of ‘going home’ in Avengers: Age of Ulton, he says, “The guy who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out.” While it is indicative of his unhappiness in the modern-day, it does indicate a level of acceptance of the fact that this is his life and he has to make his peace with it. He’s taken what Peggy said in CA:TWS on board. He’s starting over and moving on.

With time travel, and Steve choosing to stay in the past came the fan theory that one of the pallbearers carrying Peggy’s casket in CA:CW is Old Man Steve, her husband. When presented with this fan theory, writer Christopher Markus said during an interview with the LA Times at SDCC 2019,

“I would very much like that. There is no set explanation for Cap’s time travel . . .I mean, we’ve had public disagreements with [directors Anthony and Joe Russo] about what it [time travel] necessarily means, but I love the idea of there being two Steve Rogers in the timeline. One who lived a long life with Peggy and is in the background of that funeral scene watching his young self carry his wife’s coffin up. Not just for the time travel mumbo jumbo of it, but for the just weird, personal pain and satisfaction that would be happening between two Steve Rogers there. I kind of love it.” [emphasis mine]

This shows that unlike in PoA there was no intention of creating a causality loop prior to Markus writing EG with his writing partner Stephen McFeely. In fact, it makes clear that the actual rules of time travel were in contention and that even those making the film didn’t have a unified idea of what they wanted to create in the first place. The fact that there is confusion surrounding EG's time travel is due to the fact that the people behind it, didn't seem to know what they were writing or consider the consequences of it.

What all of this shows is that an argument of a PoA style causality loop doesn’t hold water. The film doesn’t support it, nor do any of the previous films, because there aren’t any indicators for the audience to latch onto. There is no moment of the rock breaking the jar, or the patronus chasing away the dementors, no moment where that the audience is told to hold into this information for later because there’s some timey wimey stuff going on. Ultimately, when examined, there is no set-up for a causality loop that supports the theory he was always supposed to go back and be Peggy’s husband, particularly when examined against a film that successfully lays it out from the start.

Right, the more academic (lol) part of this post is done. I just want to address one more TikTok that bothered me because I have opinions and MCU Captain America is my Mastermind specialist subject.

The TL;DR of this one was that Steve’s ending made sense because he got out of the fight and was at peace and that that has been the ultimate goal of his character arc. This person argued that Steve used the Avengers to distract himself from the fact that he’s this man out of time and he can’t find peace without a fight which to some extent, I agree with. I don’t deny that that is a major driving force to his story. We see that in Age of Ultron with his WandaNightmare. I don’t deny that that is key to his character. However, this creator then made a comment at the end of this video to the tune of, ‘bUt BuCkY iS hIs StOrY aRc’ and tried to play it off like this wasn’t true or that people were wrong to think that this is the case.

These two things aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re both true. They’re intertwined. But you cannot say that Bucky Barnes isn’t at the heart of Steve Rogers’ story. Bucky was the catalyst for every single one of Steve’s movies. He becomes CA because of Bucky. He goes against SHIELD because of Bucky. He defies 107 countries and the Sokovia Accords because of Bucky. You take Bucky out of the equation and what do you have? What happens in those films if you take Bucky Barnes out of the equation? Viewing it objectively, and even without shipper goggles on, you simply cannot sit there and claim that Bucky Barnes isn't a defining component to Steve’s story. Steve Rogers is motivated by Bucky Barnes. Steve Rogers is motivated by the depth of their relationship and the fact that Bucky Barnes is one of the few things connecting his new present to his old life.

You can definitely see the fact that Steve is uncomfortable in the modern world. He doesn’t address any of his trauma but he still attempts to move on. However, if they wanted him getting out of the fight and finding life as a civilian to be the natural end to his story arc then there was a way to do it which didn’t require him going back to Peggy. It would have been a better and more satisfying ending if he’d actively chosen to retire because I often see the argument that him going back to Peggy is him finally allowing him to be selfish after shouldering so much over the past decade or more. If Steve chose to retire and put himself first, then that sends a better message. He’s still getting the chance to ‘be selfish’ but he’s not throwing the life he’s built away. At this point in EG, he’s spent a huge portion of his adult life in the modern-day. This isn’t the future for him anymore, it’s the present and he’s lived a life and made real connections with people. The MCU does a piss poor job of showing the interpersonal relationships between the Avengers but he is at least shown to be friends with Sam, Nat, and Bucky.

But he goes back to a delusion. Or an idea of something that was never his in the first place.

When I see people make these videos and share their opinions, I can see their points but it’s like they’re taking EG on its own when that's impossible. Endgame only ‘works’ if you have the context of 10 years’ worth of films. You have to at least be somewhat familiar with the characters, who they are and what they’ve done up until now to be able to make sense of it.

However, in saying that, they wrote and filmed the movie in a way to make you think you didn’t have to take into account anything you’ve seen in the past ten years. If you only watch Endgame, you only see a grieving man mourning the love he never had. You see a man, regretful that he didn’t get to be with woman he loved. So at the end, of course it would make sense that he goes back to her. But you can only do that if you completely divorce Endgame from its ten-year canon and in a franchise like this where they make a big deal about everything being interconnected, it simply doesn’t work. Steve’s story arc in Endgame is incongruous to the narrative arc we’ve been presented in previous films.

Ultimately, Endgame is a movie you’re supposed to watch once and then not think about again. It’s made for that first viewing when everything is shocking and exciting because if you stop to think about it even a little bit, it falls apart under scrutiny.

Finally, I think that the downfall of a lot of these ‘Steve’s ending makes sense’ posts is that made by people who are most certainly MCU fans but not Steve Rogers fans and it shows.

[bad4amficideas]

General Encanto Headcanons

Note: English is not my language, so I hope you will be understanding of any flaws you find.

You are not from the village, your parents set foot on Encanto for the first time on their honeymoon by accident and returned several times after that, until they moved shortly before you were 5 years old.

Your parents are very proud (and may have raised you to feel sorry for the Madrigals) and insist that you accept nothing from the Madrigal gifts.

It's not that you discriminate against the family, but something has rubbed off on you. And you try to be independent them as your parents said to you.

Normally your family acts as a link with the outside world.

Around the age of Mirabel and Camilo. You are Mirabel's best friend.

You're glad Mirabel doesn't have a gift because she can spend more time with you. And you tell her when the mood is right (you know when to shut up about it)

At the beginning of the film, the adults (except Alma, who is in her world, but will join the train soon) literally already adore you for being Mirabel's friend without wanting anything from the Madrigals.

Even Bruno knows you, he has seen you since childhood and in his visions you are always close to his niece (when he leaves, it's a relief for him, knowing that Mirabel will not be alone)

Casita loves you, you even have a guest room made for when you decide to stay for the nights. In the morning Casita wakes you up bringing the smell of breakfast to your window… when Casita can, of course.

And you can see the thought that the family has put into your bedroom. A shelf with books given by Pepa and Luisa, a diary given by Dolores (the only thing that will keep your secrets in this town! She told you) and bookmarks of dried herbs from Julieta, decorated with flowers from Isabela in the window, with cushions embroidered by Mirabel and the old boys' ruanas that you use as shawls to cover yourself at night walks when you're cold. You even have a stuffed black jaguar (at first you thought it was a black kitten) that you don't remember and who gave it to you.

You and Pepa exchange books, you are her “tear dealer”. The only one allowed to make her cry without causing commotion.

Even if you're shy or insecure, or have two left feet, being surrounded by them makes dancing or even singing seem second nature when you're all together. There are no judgements, just an infectious warmth and joy.

You attest that Dolores said that Bruno was within the walls of Casita when he left… and no one believed her. Well, she paraphrased it weird, being a kid, but she said it.

You celebrate the death of Barbie “Bela” and adore the new Isa. You had once asked her before why she didn't relax, but she always told you that she was "perfectly".

Of course you said the same thing to Luisa, so Isabela would surely think that you would ask it to comply and look good with her younger sister.

You usually don't accept Julieta food if you have not collaborated in doing it, so it is normal that you bring your own from home. Partly also because these are recipes from your country of origin. This sometimes hurts Julieta, but she is also grateful that you see her as more than just the cook. Plus you keep her in company these long morning cooking for the whole town.

Camilo doesnt transform into people in front of you, because he feels insecure that "you look for another person in him"

But anyway prefer when Camilo is Camilo with you (and you have learned to distinguish it)

The boy was the first to have a crush on you, if we discount Mirabel herself and Antonio.

Antonio who kept thinking about whether he should marry you or Mirabel or both when he grew up (laughs from the adults)

[nellygwyn]

I thought I would share some portraits/info about notable black men and women who worked and lived in Georgian Britain. This is not an extensive list by any means, and for some figures, portraits are unavailable:

1. Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797) was a writer, abolitionist and former slave. Born into what would become southern Nigeria, he was initially sold into slavery and taken to the Caribbean as a child, but would be sold at least twice more before he bought his freedom in 1766. He decided to settle in London and became involved in the British abolitionist movement in the 1780s. His first-hand account of the horrors of slavery 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano' was published in 1789 and it really drove home the horrors of slavery to the general British public. He also worked tirelessly to support freed slaves like himself who experienced racism and inequality living in Britain's cities. He was a leading member of the Sons of Africa, an abolitionist group, whose members were primarily freed black men (the Sons of Africa has been called the first black political organisation in British history). He married an English woman, Susannah, and when he died in 1797, he left his fortune of roughly £73,000 to his daughter, Joanna. Equiano's World is a great online resource for those interested in his life, his work, and his writings.

2. Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades (he's described as an actor, composer, writer, abolitionist, man-of-letters, and socialite - truly the perfect 18th century gentleman). He was born in the Middle Passage on a slave ship. His mother died not long after they arrived in Venezuela and his father apparently took his own life rather than become a slave. Sancho's owner gave the boy to three sisters living in London c. 1730s (presumably as a sort of pet/servant) but whilst living with them, his wit and intellect impressed the 2nd Duke of Montagu who decided to finance his education. This was the start of Sancho's literary and intellectual career and his association with the elite of London society saw him ascend. He struck up a correspondence with the writer, Laurence Sterne, in the 1760s: Sancho wrote to press Sterne to throw his intellecrual weight behind the cause of abolition. He became active in the early British abolitionist movement and be counted many well-known Georgians amongst his acquaintance. He was also the first black man known to have voted in a British election. He married a West Indian woman and in 1774, opened a grocer's shop in London, that attempted to sell goods that were not produced by slave labour. Despite his popularity in Georgian society, he still recounts many instances of racist abuse he faced on the streets of London in his diaries. He reflected that, although Britain was undoubtedly his home and he had done a lot for the country, he was 'only a lodger and hardly that' in London. His letters, which include discussions of domestic subjects as well as political issues, can be read here.

3. Francis 'Frank' Barber (1742-1801) was born a slave on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. His owner, Richard Bathurst, brought Frank to England when Frank turned 15 and decided to send him to school. The Bathursts knew the writer, Samuel Johnson, and this is how Barber and the famous writer first met (Barber briefly worked as Johnson's valet and found him an outspoken opponent of the slave trade). Richard Bathurst gave Frank his freedom when he died and Frank immediately signed up for the navy (where he apparently developed a taste for smoking pipes). In 1760, he returned permanently to England and decided to work as Samuel Johnson's servant. Johnson paid for Frank to have an expensive education and this meant Frank was able to help Johnson revise his most famous work, 'Dictionary of the English Language.' When Johnson died in 1784, he made Frank his residual heir, bequeathing him around £9000 a year (for which Johnson was criticised in the press - it was thought to be far too much), an expensive gold watch, and most of Johnson's books and papers. Johnson also encouraged Frank to move to Lichfield (where Johnson had been born) after he died: Frank duly did this and opened a draper's shop and a school with his new wife. There, he spent his time 'in fishing, cultivating a few potatoes, and a little reading' until his death in 1801. His descendants still live at a farm in Litchfield today. A biography of Frank can be purchased here. Moreover, here is a plaque erected on the railings outside of Samuel Johnson's house in Gough Square, London, to commemorate Johnson and Barber's friendship.

4. Dido Elizabeth Belle (1764-1801) was born to Maria Belle, a slave living in the West Indies. Her father was Sir John Lindsay, a British naval officer. After Dido's mother's death, Sir John took Dido to England and left her in the care of his uncle, Lord Mansfield. Dido was raised by Lord Mansfield and his wife alongside her cousin, Elizabeth Murray (the two became as close as sisters) and was, more or less, a member of the family. Mansfield was unfortunately criticised for the care and love he evidently felt for his niece - she was educated in most of the accomplishments expected of a young lady at the time, and in later life, she would use this education to act as Lord Mansfield's literary assistant. Mansfield was Lord Chief Justice of England during this period and, in 1772, it was he who ruled that slavery had no precedent in common law in England and had never been authorised. This was a significant win for the abolitionists, and was brought about no doubt in part because of Mansfield's closeness with his great-niece. Before Mansfield died in 1793, he reiterated Dido's freedom (and her right to be free) in his will and made her an heiress by leaving her an annuity. Here is a link to purchase Paula Byrne's biography of Dido, as well as a link to the film about her life (starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Dido).

5. Ottobah Cugoano (1757-sometime after 1791) was born in present-day Ghana and sold into slavery at the age of thirteen. He worked on a plantation in Grenada until 1772, when he was purchased by a British merchant who took him to England, freed him, and paid for his education. Ottobah was employed as a servant by the artists Maria and Richard Cosway in 1784, and his intellect and charisma appealed to their high-society friends. Along with Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah was one of the leading members of the Sons of Africa and a staunch abolitionist. In 1786, he was able to rescue Henry Devane, a free black man living in London who had been kidnapped with the intention of being returned to slavery in the West Indies. In 1787, Ottobah wrote 'Thoughts And Sentiments On The Evil & Wicked Traffic Of The Slavery & Commerce Of The Human Species,' attacking slavery from a moral and Christian stand-point. It became a key text in the British abolition movement, and Ottobah sent a copy to many of England's most influential people. You can read the text here.

6. Ann Duck (1717-1744) was a sex worker, thief and highwaywoman. Her father, John Duck, was black and a teacher of swordmanship in Cheam, Surrey. He married a white woman, Ann Brough, in London c. 1717. One of Ann's brothers, John, was a crew-member of the ill-fated HMS Wager and was apparently sold into slavery after the ship wrecked off the coast of Chile on account of his race. Ann, meanwhile, would be arrested and brought to trial at least nineteen times over the course of her lifetime for various crimes, including petty theft and highway robbery. She was an established member of the Black Boy Alley Gang in Clerkenwell by 1742, and also quite frequently engaged in sex work. In 1744, she was given a guilty verdict at the Old Bailey after being arrested for a robbery: her trial probably wasn't fair as a man named John Forfar was paid off for assisting in her arrest and punishment. She was hanged at Tyburn in 1744. Some have argued that her race appears to have been irrelevant and she experienced no prejudice, but I am inclined to disagree. You can read the transcript of one of Ann Duck's trials (one that resulted in a Not Guilty verdict) here. Also worth noting that Ann Duck is the inspiration behind the character Violet Cross in the TV show 'Harlots.'

7. Bill Richmond (1763-1829) was a prize winning bare-knuckle boxer of the late 18th and early 19th century. He was born a slave in New York (then part of British America) but moved permanently to England in 1777 where he was most likely freed and received an education. His career as a boxer really took of in the early 19th century, and he took on all the prize fighters of the time, including Tom Cribb and the African American fighter, Tom Molineaux. Richmond was a sporting hero, as well as fashionable in his style and incredibly intelligent, making him something of a celebrity and a pseudo-gentleman in his time. He also opened a boxing academy and gave boxing lessons to gentlemen and aristocrats. He would ultimately settle in York to apprentice as a cabinet-maker. Unfortunately, in Yorkshire, he was subject to a lot of racism and insults based on the fact he had married a white woman. You can watch a Channel 4 documentary on Richmond here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

8. William Davidson (1781-1820) was the illegitimate son of the Attorney General of Jamaica and a slave woman. He was sent to Glasgow in Scotland to study law at the age of 14 and from this period until 1819, he moved around Britain and had a number of careers. Following the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, Davidson began to take a serious interest in radical politics, joining several societies in order to read radical and republican texts. He also became a Spencean (radical political group) through his friendship with Arthur Thistlewood and would quickly rise to become a leading member of the group. In 1820, a government provocateur tricked Davidson and other Spenceans, into being drawn into a plot to kill the Earl of Harrowby and other government cabinet officers as they dined at Harrowby's house on the 23rd February. This plot would become known as the Cato Street Conspiracy (named thus because Davidson and the other Spenceans hid in a hayloft in Cato Street whilst they waited to launch their plan). Unfortunately, this was a government set up and eleven men, including Davidson, were arrested and charged with treason. Davidson was one of five of the conspirators to not have his sentence commuted to transportation and was instead sentenced to death. He was hanged and beheaded outside of Newgate Prison in 1820. There is a book about the Cato Street Conspiracy here.

9. Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (1705-1775) was born in the Kingdom of Bornu, now in modern day Nigeria. As the favourite grandson of the king of Zaara, he was a prince. Unfortunately, at the age of 15, he was sold into slavery, passing first to a Dutch captain, then to an American, and then finally to a Calvinist minister named Theodorus Frelinghuysen living in New Jersey. Frelinghuysen educated Gronniosaw and would eventually free him on his deathbed but Gronniosaw later recounted that when he had pleaded with Frelinghuysen to let him return to his family in Bornu, Frelinghuysen refused. Gronniosaw also remembered that he had attempted suicide in his depression. After being freed, Gronniosaw set his sights on travelling to Britain, mainly to meet others who shared his new-found Christian faith. He enlisted in the British army in the West Indies to raise money for his trip, and once he had obtained his discharge, he travelled to England, specifically Portsmouth. For most of his time in England, his financial situation was up and down and he would move from city to city depending on circumstances. He married an English weaver named Betty, and the pair were often helped out financially by Quakers. He began to write his life-story in early 1772 and it would be published later that year (under his adopted anglicised name, James Albert), the first ever work written by an African man to be published in Britain. It was an instant bestseller, no doubt contributing to a rising anti-slavery mood. He is buried in St Oswald's Church, Chester: his grave can still be visited today. His autobiography, A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, as Related by Himself, can be read here.

10. Mary Prince (1788-sometime after 1833) was born into slavery in Bermuda. She was passed between several owners, all of whom very severely mistreated her. Her final owner, John Adams Wood, took Mary to England in 1828, after she requested to be able to travel as the family's servant. Mary knew that it was illegal to transport slaves out of England and thus refused to accompany Adams Wood and his family back to the West Indies. Her main issue, however, was that her husband was still in Antigua: if she returned, she would be back in enslavement, but if she did not, she might never see her husband again. She contacted the Anti-Slavery Society who attempted to help her in any way they could. They found her work (so she could support herself), tried tirelessly to convince Adams Wood to free her, and petitioned parliament to bring her husband to England. Mary successfully remained in England but it is not known whether she was ever reunited with her husband. In 1831, Mary published The History of Mary Prince, an autobiographical account of her experiences as a slave and the first work written by a black woman to be published in England. Unlike other slave narratives, that had been popular and successful in stoking some anti-slavery sentiment, it is believed that Mary's narrative ultimately clinched the goal of convincing the general British population of the necessity of abolishing slavery. Liverpool's Museum of Slavery credits Mary as playing a crucial role in abolition. You can read her narrative here. It is an incredibly powerful read. Mary writes that hearing slavers talk about her and other men and women at a slave market in Bermuda 'felt like cayenne pepper into the fresh wounds of our hearts.'

[attackfish]

If I remember correctly, you had an AU in which Azula's ship crashes because of the tides and she drowns. Could we get five more headcanons for that, please? I am curious at which point the story will seriously diverge from canon. (Ba Sing Se, perhaps?)

You do remember correctly. Continued from: [Link].

1. With one child dead, and one on the run, Ozai finds himself in a most precarious position. He has no heir. He needs a wife, and he needs one fast. And his nobles know it. They start parading out daughters, sisters, and nieces, hoping one will strike his fancy. Some of the nobles who try this find themselves tragically short of female relations of an appropriate age, and so try to fudge. Ukano tries to dangle his fifteen year old daughter in front of the bereaved firelord.

2. Ozai, as it happens, has no interest at all in his late daughter's school friend, but Mai does not wait around to find out. She packs up and sails off on the first merchant ship she can find bound for a colony on the Earth Kingdom coast. This is a scandal that will provide gossip in court circles for years to come. It's as bad as that time that one girl ran off to join the circus. What was her name again?

3. Speaking of Ty Lee, when Mai lands with only a small stash of coins and few marketable skills, she starts asking around for a circus. She is after all a knife thrower. There can't be that many Fire Nation circuses in the colonies. Hopefully she can find Ty Lee. It would be nice to see her, she supposes. If anybody can understand what she's feeling, it's Ty Lee. Mai certainly doesn't.

4. What Mai wants to do is sit down and scream. She doesn't even know why. She doesn't know if it's grief for Azula, or fear, or anger, relief, or just exhaustion so deep it wells up inside her and tries to come out as raw, incoherent noise.

5. But she finds the circus, and she hears about a high wire artist, who is young and pretty and wears a lot of pink, and she knows it has to be Ty Lee. It has to be. She finds out where they will be next performing, buys an ostrich-horse, and sets off south.

[imnotwolverine]

The Accidental Family - Chapter 6

Henry Cavill x OFC - multi-chapter

< Chap 5 | Chap 6 The Birds & The Bees | Chap 7 >

Disclaimer: smut and fluff

Word count: 2.463

Author’s note: This chapter leaves the question of how much Kal knows of the birds and the bees by this point.. enjoy the read! 

(Link to my Masterlist)

--

Phoebe steered the van onto the driveway of the house Henry’s parents currently lived in; a house better described as a mansion, a nice garden wrapping around the back.

A treat to find in the London suburbs.

‘Woa..nice place.’ Henry leaned forward to get a better look at the red shutters that were all opened to show a row of paned windows, no life to be found inside.

‘Yea. You bought them this house short before Sam was born... So they could be close-by.’ Phoebe killed the engine and looked at Henry as she removed her seatbelt. Henry remained seated for a bit, eyebrows furrowing in thought.

‘And I didn’t get..us..a bigger house? Let me guess, I refused to move from my Mews home?’

Phoebe laughed, her hand patting his knee. ‘We BOTH decided to stay, mkay? Cosy living and all.’

They got out of the car and, hearing the cheerful sound of children behind the house, they decided to go for the garden straightaway, arms linked together as Henry followed Phoebe’s lead. He enjoyed her touch - it calmed him.

The garden was just as magical as Henry could have expected from his mother’s green fingers; luscious grass stretched in the back, with a sea of spring green and flowers running around the sides, some small fruit trees having just started to blossom above the excited faces of the children that were running to and fro.

‘HEY BABIESS.’ Phoebe exclaimed, the kids coming hollering at the sound of their mother’s voice.

‘Mommy! MOMMY!’

But, there was one kid missing. Henry looked out to see Sam squat down at the edge of the grass, his little tongue poking out as if he was really focused on some yet-to-be-determined little task, fingers hidden behind the plants. Henry smiled gently, and walked out to greet his oldest, the young boy completely oblivious to his father’s presence as he created a little fist over one of the flowers.

And that was a bad decision.

Within moments a flood of tears burst from the four year old’s eyes, a painful little hand clutching tightly around the dead body of the bee that had stung into his little palm.

Henry could hear Phoebe call out, feet rushing over the grass, but Henry was first to aid, large arms swinging up the little man into a hug, a soft voice soothing the pained cries of poor Sam.

‘Hey, hey..let me help you.’ Henry gently coaxed the child to open his palm, the bee falling into the bushes as Henry regarded the stinger that was stuck right in the middle of the pinkish little palm.

‘Oh, shhhh.’ Henry pulled Sam a little closer to his chest, his large arms forming a little hammock for the kid to hang in, his eyes finding Phoebe, who had now also come over, her hand sweeping through Sam’s chocolate curls.

‘Oh, baby!’ Phoebe pouted, but Sam was inconsolable, big fat tears falling down his cheek. ‘You had ouchy? Let’s get you fixed up.’ She cooed gently, before hinting at Henry they best get inside.

Minutes later they sat in the kitchen, a box of first aid appliances scattered over the kitchen table, Henry’s parents out to entertain the other kids while Henry sat on one of the chairs with a quiet Sam huddled into the warmth of his chest. The stinger had been quite professionally removed by his mother, but even after she had pressed all the kisses to his little hand and face, he wouldn’t leave his father’s embrace.

‘I just tried to help..’ Sam finally mumbled, quietly sniffling into his father’s white T-shirt.

‘Did you now?’ Henry brushed a soothing hand through Sam’s curls, the boy taking a shivery breath.

‘And then he bwit me!’

Henry chuckled ever so quietly, his eyes finding Phoebe who was stacking the first aid materials back in the plastic container. She winked at him and then looked back at Sam, who kept his watery blue eyes aimed at his father’s arm.

‘Well, not really BIT you, I bet. But when bees feel nervous, they can sting with their stinger.’

‘But IT HURT.’

‘Yes, stingers hurt.’ Henry was met by Sam’s confused expression, big blue eyes looking up at him. ‘You see, the bee was probably really scared of you. Because you are SOOO big, and he was only sooo small. It’s better to be extra gentle and careful with such small animals, you see.’ Sam blinked up at his dad, listening quietly. ‘Especially bees.’

Phoebe now squatted back down before Sam, her hand brushing over the hand that was now covered with a cooling pack. ‘Hi sweetie.’

But Sam was not in the mood, his face pulling into a pout before he quickly ducked back into Henry’s chest.

‘Ohhh okay then.’ Phoebe pouted in playful hurt, earning a smile from Henry, his heart swelling at the feeling of making this kid - his kid - feel safe. This wasn’t a nephew or niece. This was HIS kid.

Hoisting Sam up a little higher, Henry pressed his nose in Sam’s curls, his nose inhaling the sweet scent of shampoo and fresh air, Sam’s little voice bringing out a soft hum as his free hand curled into Henry’s shirt.

‘WIEEEEEEEE. I’m a BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.’ Piper came running in, followed by Max, the both of them leaving muddy prints all around the kitchen table as they flailed their arms like little birds.

‘LOOK MOMMY-MOMMY-MOMMY!! FLYING!!’  

‘OI. Piper! Max! What did I tell you about dirty shoes?!’ Marianne came storming after them, little Cole perched on her bony arm.

Sam also looked up, his eyes perking up at the sight of his brother and sister having fun, his sorrows quickly forgotten.

‘Alright, time to get up.’ Henry offered, but Sam remained seated in his lap a moment longer, expecting blues looking up at Henry.

‘Are you still my daddy? Granny said ..eh…’ Sam’s shyness won over as he quickly hid his face behind a hand.

‘Hey..’ Henry pried the hand away with his large paw, a gentle smile curving on his lips. ‘I am. A little bit of a confused daddy, so I WILL need your help. But I am your daddy.’

Sam nodded in understanding and gave a simple: ‘Okay.’ Before climbing off his dad’s lap and joining the other kids who ran back out the backdoor again, thereby leaving yet another trail of muddy shoes all the way through the hallway.

‘OH..dammit.’ Henry bit his lip, making Phoebe laugh aloud.

‘Oh, trust me. That’s nothing yet hahahaha.’

--

‘Ha, that was nice.’ Henry pulled the door closed, Phoebe having walked a little ahead to greet a very excited Kal in the narrow Mews hallway.

‘It was,’ She smiled and shrugged out of her coat, walking back towards the door to put it onto a hanger, only to be halted midway reaching, as Henry twirled her around and offered her one of his big bear hugs. ‘OH..okay.’ She chuckled softly.

‘Hmm,’ He hummed, nuzzling his nose into her hair, his nose sniffing in the scent of her hair and perfume. Not too sweet. A pinch of something woody. And warm. And.. He pulled back ever so slightly and before Phoebe could ask him what was the matter with him, he pressed his smooth warm lips onto hers, earning a delightful little hum from her in return.

‘Mmm, well hello there.’ She chuckled as they shortly broke their kiss for Henry to also shrug off his coat.

‘Hi,’ He grinned, unceremoniously dropping his coat on the floor before he lifted her up in his arms, hands grabbing for her butt.

‘Hen!’ She squealed in delight.

‘What?’ He asked innocently, though his dark eyes completely betrayed where this was going - and it was quite new after what only had been a little fooling around on the couch.

With a gentle brush of her fingers over his cheek, Phoebe let out a little sigh. ‘Are you..you sure? I mean..’

Henry lowered her with a growl, his bodyweight pinning her to the jackets that were hung behind her, their limbs now entangling with the vast pile of scarves and heavy wool. ‘Stop talking.’ And with that he caught her lips in another searing kiss, hands dipping beneath the material of her sweater, hot fingertips blazing a trail until he found the cup of her bra; nothing special, just a T-shirt bra, and yet Henry couldn’t help but let out a hungered whine.

‘You wet for me?’ He whispered in question, pushing his groin into her hip, only to find something truly wet; a dog nose that was pressing in between his legs.

Phoebe gasped in shock, eyes widening at the intimate intruder. ‘KALLLL!! AAHHHHH!’

Kal huffed a gruff sniff before he pulled back and whined a little instead.

‘He needs a walk.’ Phoebe breathed, trying to calm the hot pink that was spreading over her cheeks.

‘He’ll have to wait a moment.’ Henry grumbled, pressing another fierce kiss on her lips as he picked her up, her legs now wrapping around his hip before he started to ascend the staircase next to the jackets. ‘There’s some pressing matters that FIRST need attending.’

‘At least open the backdoor.’ She breathed as he made it to the landing, her fingers grasping into his curls as she pressed a kiss to his lips.

‘Can’t it wait?’

‘Oh no. And neither can I. Now hurry.’

In a flurry of fast moving legs, Henry bolted downstairs, his hand flicking open the backdoor, which Kal eagerly pressed through to do his business, after which Henry clawed his way back up the stairs, feeling slightly out of breath before he got back in the bedroom, finding Phoebe hopping around in an attempt to get out of her jeans.

Henry smirked at the sight of her buttocks jiggling ever so slightly with every hop, his hands catching her hips as he used her awkward position to push his groin into her behind -  like the tease he was.

‘Hen!’ She whined, rolling her eyes at his antics. ‘A little help.’

She fell belly flat onto the bed as he did just that, his fingers freeing her from the obnoxious jeans, followed by the flimsy material of her cotton undies, leaving her in naught but her bra. Looking over her shoulder, cheeks burning red in a mix of arousal and embarrassment, she saw Henry quickly removing his shirt, hands fumbling with his belt which didn’t seem to co-operate.

‘C’mhere,’ Phoebe said, pushing up from the bed to make quick work of the metal and leather obstruction, her palm grazing eagerly over the bulge that stood proud beneath the roughness of his jeans. Looking up from the edge of the bed, her eyes met another pair of blown-out blacks, the both of them panting like they had just ran a marathon.

‘What do you like?’ Henry breathed.

‘Everything. Anything.’ Phoebe unclipped her bra and fell back onto the bed, begging him to crawl on top of her.

But he didn't. Instead he kneeled down on the floor, fingers racing up the insides of her thighs, eyes studying the smooth flesh that jittered beneath his fingertips, his tongue soon to follow, a hot slow pace dancing over her squirming legs.

Henry grinned into her response, her hands gripping for the sheets beneath her, eager little keens and moans escaping her begging lips.

Dipping in closer to her core, he spoke again: ‘And you like this?’ He pushed her legs over his shoulders before he delved in, a honey sweet tongue lapping at her petals.

‘Sto-stop -- HA -- talking.’ She squealed in delight as he made a good show of the things he hadn’t forgotten; he had always been a pleaser, his tongue and fingers alone making her ache for him at any time of the day. How she had missed him all these long months, fearing she’d never get to feel this again. 

‘Okay-okay. Get up here.’ She tugged at his curls.

Obediently he did just that, his large frame crawling atop her, jeans still clinging tightly around his arousal.

‘I want to feel you.’ She breathed, bending forward to undo his buttons, only to clash with Henry’s head as he wanted to do the exact same.

‘Ou-aa.’ Henry grabbed for his forehead, chuckling softly as Phoebe clasped her hand in front of her mouth.

‘OH I’m so sorry. I--’

Henry quickly kicked off his jeans and boxers, head shaking with mirth before he grabbed for her hand, removing it from her face. With his hungry gaze he begged for her attention, their eyes interlocking as he lowered himself on her, noses touching as he shimmied his hips a little, feeling the snugness of her legs wrapping around his hips.

‘Ready?’

Phoebe chuckled, pressing forward to kiss him. ‘Please.’ She whispered into his lips, giving him the one answer he needed before they renewed a union that once started all messy - grabby hands and smeared make-up in a bathroom stall at an after party.

--

‘Oi! We’ve been in the line forever. Would you hurry!’ A fist knocked restlessly on the bathroom door, making two hot faces look up as they fumbled with their buttons and zippers after one very steamy little rendez-vous. 

Henry laughed and shook his head. ‘Now ..Bee, that was...’ 

‘Stop talking.’ Phoebe winked and turned around so he could fix up the long zipper that ran over the back of her silvery mid-length dress. 

With careful fingers, the alcohol making his head buzz, Henry tried his best to not catch any skin as he pulled up the zipper, his left hand pushing away the golden locks that cascaded casually over Phoebe’s shoulder. 

Letting out one more sigh he realised he might have just made a stupid mistake. They had so much fun tonight; from the moment her friend had dragged her through the door - his eye easily catching her, to now, here. Why was he so stupid-stupid-stupid not to wait a little? Be a gentleman. Wine and dine her? Be a ...

‘And: stop thinking.’ Phoebe turned on her high heels and winked at him. ‘I leave first, then you. You’ve got my number..but..don’t feel pressured if...’ A sudden shyness laced her last words as she noticed the slight red lip-shaped smudge of red she had left on his blouse.

Tell him? She pondered it for a moment, but then decided that she might as well leave a little gift for him, since he totally ruined her panties moments earlier. 

‘Ciao.’ She winked, unlocking the door and disappearing into the crowd. 

By the time Henry walked out of the bathroom stall, he was welcomed by some very unwelcome white flashes, eager paparazzi having somehow managed to get into the establishment, ruining what could have been such a good night. 

Again Henry cursed himself; he should have never, ever, ever..UGH.. - Stomping through the wall of photographers he looked out for the golden drop of hair that had lured him in only hours ago. But she was gone. And for a moment he wondered whether it was the alcohol or something else that made his stomach flutter like a butterfly had been caught in his chest. 

'Fuck.’ 

--

Birds do it, bees do it

Even educated fleas do it

Let's do it, let's fall in..

--

Chap 7 >

--

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[oboevallis]

who is he

AU: amelia never told link he was the father of her son

“Amelia, you have to tell him eventually. Especially if he’s asking.” Meredith reprimanded as she stirred in sugar into her coffee. Since Scout was at school age everyone had been telling her he’d be asking questions about his father, and Amelia had been dreading that conversation. He had asked the question last night though, he asked Amelia why he didn’t have a dad present, his friend has two dads, and he could never recall him having one or mention of one.

“There’s nothing to tell him, Mer.” Amelia sighed as she situated her lab coat, and pulled her hair back.

“Well, he has a dad. Who may I add has no idea, that it’s their child.”

“Link made it clear if the baby wasn’t his he wasn’t interested. So when I found out the baby was his I realized, if he can’t love me for me he doesn’t deserve to love my kid. At the end of the day he’s mine.”

“And Link’s kid. It takes two to make a baby.”

“And only takes one to give them sufficient love no matter what.” Amelia sighed, sending a glare towards her sister before leaving the attendings lounge. Since Link left her and she’s had no contact with him, and wasn’t interested in doing so.

_______________________________________

“Mom?” Scout asked as he walked into his mother’s room.

“Yeah babe?” She patted the space in her bed next to her. Scout crawled into bed next to her and passed her a paper.

“We have to do a project about our lives, like where our names come from and our parents and like where we were born and stuff like that.” He pointed to each bullet point that had the criteria.

“Alright.” Amelia smiled, knowing her son he was going to try and find information about his father through this. “Seems simple enough, you want to get started now?”

“Hmm.” Scout seemed to contemplate this. “No, but maybe you can tell me the things I need to know?”

“Okay.” Amelia braced herself and sat up before passing the piece of paper back to him. “What do you need to know?”

“How did you and my dad meet?” Amelia leaned over to see the sheet of paper.

“I don’t see that as a question on the list.” She then pointed to one of the bullets on the list. “Here, we can do the ‘where we’re you born question’.” Amelia chuckled scooting closer to her son and wrapping her arm around her son. “I was in LA that’s in California. It was late at night and I couldn’t sleep, because you were kicking up a storm.”

“Did I hurt you when I would kick.”

“Nope, didn’t hurt a bit. It was just hard to get comfortable. Back to my story, I went outside and sat on the beach, then your Aunt Addison came and sat with me for awhile. It took her a long time to convince me that I needed to go to the hospital.”

“Why didn’t you want to go to the hospital?”

“I was scared.” She forced a smile, thinking about her first son, but she wasn’t going to get into that at the moment. “But then early early early in the morning you came, and I saw your cute little face and you were healthy and perfect. And I wasn’t scared anymore because I had you.” Scout smiled at his mother, before asking the next question.

“Why’d you name me Scout?” Amelia hesitated for a moment. He’d been named Scout because it correlated with his fathers name, and when she told Link it was a boy he’d suggested the name and at first she hated it, but when she saw her son for the first time she knew he was a Scout.

“Your name comes from a character in a book. You’ll get to read it when your a bit older.”

“I don’t have siblings, so can I talk about Zola and bailey and Ellis?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

“So how are they related to us?”

“Well, my brother Derek.”

“My middle name!”

“Yep, he’s the dad of Zola, Bailey, and Ellis. So since Derek and I are siblings his kids are my nieces and nephew, making them your cousins.”

“Do you miss your brother?”

“I do, everyday.” Amelia nodded.

“How about my dad? Do you miss him?”

“Why are you so keen on knowing about your dad?”

“I dunno, it seems like everyone has a dad. And they do things with them, like go to baseball games.”

“Well we’ve talked about how every family looks different. Like your friend has two dads and no mom? Some kids only have a dad, some have two moms. Our family is you and me.” She wrapped her arm around her son allowing him to lean his head on her shoulder. “And we can go to a baseball game if you really want to. We can do all those things.”

“Really? You’ll take me to a baseball game? You always say how dangerous it is.”

“Yeah, but we can go to a game. As long as your not partaking in the game yourself.”

“Deal!” Scout jumped up on the bed, shrieking with laughter. “Can we see the Mariners?” Her heart dropped at the mention of the team.

“Any other team you like?”

“Well yeah, but the Mariners are Seattle’s team. And we do live in Seattle, and I really like their mascot.”

“Okay, we can go to a game.” The neurosurgeon sighed nervously.

“Yay!” Scout jumped on to his mother engulfing her in a hug. “Your the best mommy ever.” Amelia smiled contently, savoring the hug.

_______________________________________

“This is reaaaaaaaaaaally big.” Scout said as they stood near the entrance and he was looking up at the stadium.

“It is isn’t it.” Amelia looked down at her beaming son and smiled, he had the same smile as his father. “Now when we go in, you don’t let go of my hand, okay?”

“Mom I’m 6 years old, I’m a big kid.”

“Yes you are a big kid, but I’m afraid I’m going to get lost so I’m gonna hold your hand.”

“Okay, I’ll protect you mom.”

“I appreciate that.” She squeezed her sons hand, and leaded them to ticket booth. Once they got into the stadium, Scout clung tightly to his mother obviously not used to the amount of people around them. “Want to get some nachos?”

“They have nachos here?” Amelia brightly smiled and nodded, knowing they were her sons favorite. “This is the best place ever!”

“Hmm.” Amelia hummed, she knew her son was over the moon excited, but all she wanted to do was run far away. As they were waiting in the concession line, Scout explained to her who the star players were and how the game worked.

“Is anyone a doctor?” A voice shouted from behind, causing Amelia to turn around abruptly. She took her sons hand and went to the person who was seizing on the floor.

“Don’t move, and watch this watch keep track of the time.” She told her son handing him her watch and left him two feet away. She then moved to move the person onto their side, and took off her jacket putting it under the mans head. “I’m Dr Shepherd. Has he ever had a seizure before?” She asked the woman standing beside the man, obviously distraught.

“No, no this is the first time.”

“Heard there’s a seizure?” Amelia’s heart dropped when she heard the voice. He kneeled across from her, and his face visibly dropped registering who was in front of him. The paramedics were standing next to the two with a stretcher ready for the patient, but the seizure had yet to stop.

“Do guys have lorazepam?” Amelia asked, looking at the paramedics instead of Link who had the medical bag.

“Already on it.” Link salty said as he injected the patient with it. After a couple of seconds the seizure ceased.

“How long was that?” Amelia asked looking back to her son.

“5 minutes aaaaaaand 3 seconds.” Scout said as he watched the watch in his hand.

“Alright, this guys gotta get to the hospital.” Amelia said before helping the paramedics ease the man into the stretcher. She then took her sons hand.

“Grey-Sloan right?” Link asked as he walked with them.

“Yeah we’re gonna take him there, are you coming as well Dr Shepherd?” The paramedic asked, Amelia nodded and picked her son up so they could keep up with the fast pace. “What are you doing Dr Lincoln?” The paramedics asked noticing he was following them.

“I was gonna come.”

“No, you’ve gotta stay here. You know in case one of the players get hurt?” The other paramedic said as they loaded into the ambulance.

“Yeah, right.” Link and Amelia held eye contact as the door was shut. He watched the ambulance drive away and sighed, it had been years since he had seen her. He thought lots of times what he’d say if he saw her again, but failed to get the words out.

_______________________________________

“I’m so sorry we missed the game.” Amelia apologized as she walked into the attendings lounge where he was sitting with Maggie.

“It’s okay.” He sighed, leaning into his mother once she sat down on the couch.

“I promise the next game we’ll go, and I’ll try really hard not to save someone’s life.” She chuckled, kissing the top of her sons head.

“I have a question.”

“And I may have an answer.”

“Who was that doctor? He knew what hospital you worked at.”

“Oh my God, Link?” Maggie asked, abruptly turning around while she was pouring her coffee.

“Who’s Link?” Scout asked.

“Link. Is. No. One.” Amelia glared at her sister.

“Right.” Maggie immediately looked down at the floor, embarrassed. “I’m just gonna go now.”

“Now, they won’t be stadium nachos, but want to go get nachos somewhere?”

“Yes please!” Scout smiled jumping up from the couch.

“Let’s get some nachos.” Amelia smiled standing up, Scout went to get his coat on while Amelia opened up her phone and stared at her former boyfriends contact, before shutting her phone off and taking her sons hand as they walked out of the hospital together. Seeing Link today brought up old feelings but she had to remember she had all she needed, her son. She smiled as he squeezed her hand and it reaffirmed her he was all she needed.

[sarcastic-sunshines]

ABIONA AU - Part 11

Pairing: T’ Challa x Black!Reader

Warning(s): None

Link to ABIONA by @aloevverified

Link to Face claims (2)

Previous Chapter: Part 10

Part 11

Alix carried the energetic baby girl from her crib and into her hands.

“Happy Birthday sweetness. I love you. You are one of my greatest blessings”

She said covering Abiona with kisses. Alix could not believe that a year had gone by. It felt like just yesterday that T’Challa had just shown up at her door offering to be everything she needed him to be. Now they had a year old daughter that they both loved very much. She adored seeing Abiona with her Baba and honestly thought about what their family would be like if they were to have more. Alix pushed the thought away and finished putting Abiona’s socks on before plopping her on her and T’Challa’s bed. It was about time for him to get up and seeing Abiona was his favourite way to wake up, especially after such an emotional night for him. She went to her closet to change out of her robe waiting for Abiona to do her job.

T’Challa felt the gentle tapping of a little hand to his cheek. Very soon the tapping was joined by the sweetest babbling he had ever heard. It was his favourite sound and wasn’t shocked to find the tiny human’s finger going for his eye and pulling it open making herself giggle.

“Good morning beautiful,” he said getting up and grabbing the baby bringing her to his chest.

“Happy birthday princess. I am so happy to have you in my life. You are the best gift Bast could have ever offered me and I am happy to have you in my life. You are growing so fast” He laughed softly as Abiona touched his face and squeezed his cheeks.

“Where is your mama? I know you didn’t get here yourself” Alix rounded the corner and climbed on the bed dressed for the day

“I am right here. Good morning babe” T’Challa kissed her cheek

“Good morning entle, you look beautiful” Alix smiled at the compliment before watching her little family. She gently touched his widow's peak.

“Do you feel better today?” T’Challa nodded

“I got to wake up and see the two people who make me the happiest so I have no choice but to feel better. I can’t believe my princess is one. “

“I know, very soon she will be 16 and sneaking out of here like I used to do”

“Please don’t be like your mother Abiona. You don’t want to give your Baba a heart attack, do you? “ Alix laughed before grabbing Abiona.

“Okay Baba, get dressed. We have a long day ahead of us. I am going to make everyone breakfast so you come to meet us when you are ready.” T’Challa nodded.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk more about last night? Maybe tell me what happened?” T’Challa paused for a second before shaking his head no.

Alix bent down and kissed him softly. “Okay, just know that I love you very much.”

“I love you too entle” She smiled before exiting the room. As the door closed, T’Challa laid back into bed trying to gain strength for the day. Despite it being his daughter’s birthday he didn’t feel that much like smiling. He also did not feel like being in Tolu’s presence but he had to. So the young King mustered all the energy he could and remembered the beautiful little girl he was doing this for as he got ready for the day.

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

Alix looked around at the people in the garden all here for Abiona. The room was full of love. It was a simple party. Alix did not want anything extravagant to avoid stories getting out about her as well as the fact she had not been formally introduced to the council though she has met most of them in passing. Aside from her parents, David and Amelie, T’Challa had invited his childhood friend Akhona and his wife Cebisa with their 2-year-old daughter. She had met them over dinner and they were both lovely people. Cebisa had been kind enough to take her to her favourite stores in the city. Cebisa couldn’t do too much since she is 7 months pregnant but Alix was thankful for the friend during T’Challa’s long days. As well as the ear of someone who could relate, seeing as Akhona was likely to take over from his grandmother as the mining tribe chief very soon. T’Challa had also invited his friend Themba.

T’Challa had also invited Buhle, which Alix was taken aback by seeing as T’Challa did not mention it and she had to hear it from Buhle at school. She had brought her 5 year old niece with her and she got Abiona a beautiful dress as a gift so Alix had decided to not make a big deal out of it. A few other children ran around as Alix tried to keep track of Abiona who was enjoying all the free space to move and the excitement of the other children. She briefly looked at T’Challa who was laughing with his friends yet still seemed a little distant. He had been quiet during breakfast with everyone sensing the awkward air around him and Tolu. It scared her a little as she pushed it out of her mind

“Everything seems to be going well. This garden is very pretty” Alix turned to look at her father who had joined her.

“It is Abiona’s favourite place. She has more than enough room to run around here without me policing her. And she likes the flowers, so it seemed like the perfect spot to do her birthday.”

As she spoke one of the children ran by Abiona too quickly knocking her down. The birthday girl’s face went from fear to hurt as she searched for a parent with a wail about to begin. Alix was about to move, noticing T’Challa was already there to pick her up and comfort her as he warned the other children to be careful around his princess. He kissed the little girl back into a giggle and she was ready to join the fun again. Alix smiled watching the two of them interact as T’Challa joined the children until Abiona forgot he was even there.

“He loves her very much. I can tell with all the pictures he has of her, as well as the way he acts around her.”

“ You didn’t see the pictures he has of me?” Alix turned to face her father.

“What did you say to him yesterday?”

“I didn’t say anything to him Bukola” Alix observed her father for a while.

“Are you sure because after spending the night with you he began to question if I was happy”

“You would think he would know the answer already”

“He did, before last night, and Papa it is no secret how you feel about him. You have refused to let him prove himself to you and it is so sad because he tries so hard. And he tries so hard because of me.” Tolu did not like feeling bombarded especially after Estelle had told him he had been too harsh towards the man when he had asked.

“ He shouldn’t have to try so hard Bukola. Michael did not have to try this hard” Alix closed her eyes and laughed with a strain in her voice.

“ Papa, when I was with Michael, I was not myself. Yes, he was able to wow you, but that is because he wasn’t his true self with you. And honestly, I contributed to that by never complaining because I did not want you to see him as anything other than amazing. I had to hide so much. I don’t have to do that with T’Challa. He allows me to be myself without ever trying to change me or belittle me. He aims to please me as much as himself, sometimes even more. He works so hard to keep me and Abiona happy and never fails to tell us how much space we occupy in his heart. Because of him, I have learned things about myself I wouldn’t have otherwise. Being with him is the happiest I have ever been in a relationship and I wouldn’t want to change that. When I think of home I don’t think of a place I think of him. Because no matter where he is I want to be there too”

Tolu took a second to examine his daughter’s face before turning back to where his granddaughter was playing before making eye contact with T’Challa from across the room. He held eye contact before turning back to his friends. Estelle may have been right. He may be choosing not to see what was in front of him. Tolu turned back to Alix.

“Do you see yourself marrying him?”

Alix froze, before looking at T’Challa who was being pulled away from his friends by Abiona to join her in the middle of the dancefloor. He always looked happiest when with her, and he was always ready to appease her, even if it meant an impromptu dance party.

Since the day he had first mentioned marrying her, it had not left her mind. She had begun to see themselves together, their love growing, raising more children to raise in a home they had made their own. She even saw them growing old the way her parents were. The thought made her smile. She didn’t know why but she always found it hard to admit even to herself. She turned back to her father.

“ If I decide to marry, it will be him. I only see myself marrying him really” She said with a smile.

“I have to go, it is time to cut the cake,” She said, patting her father’s hand before walking over to T’Challa.

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

T’Challa offered his friends the drinks he brought over. He was glad for the distraction. Breakfast had been severely awkward for him. He had to sit right across from Tolu as he tried to avoid eye contact. Alix and Jules had tried to curve the awkwardness but it didn’t work. T’Challa was glad to escape to organize last-minute party activities with Okoye.

T’Challa took a sip of his own drink before putting it down. David tapped him to get his attention.

“How did yesterday go?” T’Challa shook his head

“Horrible. He told me that I am a distraction from the life Alix should be living. He even went as far as saying he wasn’t sure if she was with me out of convenience or if she was actually happy”

“It would have just been better for him to only say no” Akhona said rubbing his friend’s shoulder comfortingly.

“So what now? I know you are not going to give up T” David said.

“I really do not know what else to tell this man to make him feel that I am worthy” T’Challa looked at Abiona running around when she was suddenly knocked down by Akhona’s daughter. He immediately got up to pick her up.

“It is okay, beautiful. No tears. It is your day, only smiles” he said in between kisses.

“You all have to be careful around my princess. She may be one now but she is still little.”

He continued to kiss her until she was giggling and ready to join the children again. He stuck around for a second before heading back to his friends.

“So are you telling me this man doesn’t notice how much of a protective parent you are? Because we all saw and rolled our eyes.” Themba said, causing everyone to laugh at T’Challa’s expense.

“Themba you are one to talk when the last woman who you dated made a blog about how awful you were.” The laughs changed direction with T’Challa joining in. T’Challa looked over at where Alix was standing with Tolu and ended up making eye contact before looking away because his intimidating stare still made him uncomfortable.

“ I don’t know what I will do but today is about the true owner of my heart” on cue Abiona came over reaching for her Baba’s hand as T’Challa bent to offer his hand. She started dragging him to the dance floor. T’Challa happily obliged.

He was just happy to have these moments with her. He would have never known about her existence if he didn’t take a chance. And just like then he wasn’t going to give up. This was just a minor setback and it didn’t change how Alix felt about him and she made sure of that. Most importantly it most definitely did not change how he felt about her. He lets his thoughts rest as he soaked up his time with Abiona in his arms as they swayed back and forth. Alix came up behind him and patted his bum.

“ Um, we are among company Ms. Ajayi. Mind your hands” He joked.

“ Yeah whatever, it is cake cutting time so can I borrow you and the birthday girl please.”

“ Come ‘Ona, mama has cut our dancing time short” He leaned down and kissed Alix

.

“ We are among company Mr. Udaku. What was that for?” She said

“ Nothing, I just love you so much Ms. Ajayi” Alix struggled to hide her goofy smile as she took his free hand and led him to where the cake was.

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

Alix slowly approached their bed as she watched a sleeping T’Challa carry a sleeping Abiona in his hands. They made the same faces when sleeping, making Alix smile.

Alix took a picture before trying to grab their daughter from his hands. T’Challa woke up tightening his grip on Abiona before realizing it was Alix.

“Let me put her in her bed.”

T’Challa shook his head, getting up to do it himself. He came back and stood behind Alix who was looking for something in the bathroom.

“I keep telling you to not let her fall asleep like that because when you are gone there will be no Baba to hold her and I am not doing it.” T’Challa laughed softly.

“Leave us alone. It is her birthday so she can receive whatever she wants” he said as he put his hands around her stomach and lay his head in the crook of her neck. Alix giggled at the intimacy before reaching to touch his curls. He had been extra physical since the party and she was glad to know that he was feeling better.

“ Are you too tired?” T’Challa shook his head no before following Alix to the chair in their room. T’Challa sat behind Alix who passed him a long tooth comb. Together they quietly started taking out the Senegalese twist that Alix had been sporting for a month. They worked silently for a while before Alix cleared her throat.

“So, babe?” she said as she stopped what she was doing

“Yes, Alix,” T’Challa said without stopping his movement.

“If we were to get married, what would my role be?” T’Challa stopped and turned his body to Alix who turned around to face him.

“Is this us having the discussion?” Alix nodded. T’Challa smiled as she turned back around so they could talk as they worked.

“Well, you would rule by my side. Most likely attend court, make decisions with me. Make appearances around the country and the world.”

“Could I still teach, and do my work with the UN?”

“Your work with the UN most definitely. As for the teaching, I am not sure, but seeing how much you enjoy it I can find a way for you to maintain your position. You probably would not receive a paycheck ” T’Challa joked.

“That is okay, my husband would be a very rich man and I have savings” T’Challa laughed and kissed her cheek. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Yeah, that would be the bulk and if at any point you feel it is becoming too much I am here to help you carry your load” Alix smiled

“What about children? Do you still want four?”

“Of course Alixandre, that hasn’t changed. Are you still trying to convince me you will only be the mother of one of them” Alix laughed loudly

“One more couldn’t hurt.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Abiona needs a playmate and it will help me to have more time with you and I wouldn’t have to compete with ‘Ona for her best friend”

“I can work with 2, and slowly convince you for the other two.” Alix rolled her eyes as he laughed.

“You are so full of it”

“Yet you still love me,” He said, taking out the final braid.

“I fell in love with a clown,” She said getting up to return to the bathroom. T’Challa got up and followed.

“I don’t care if you think I am a clown. As long as I can call you my queen. “ T’Challa grabbed her free hand and kissed it. “Just imagine, I get to introduce you as Mrs. Udaku.”

T’Challa pulled her into his arms. “I told you I would be Mrs. Ajayi-Udaku”

“And I told you, I don’t care as long as I get to say you are my wife.” he leaned down to kiss her until Alix pulled away.

“I wouldn’t mind that actually. Being your wife I mean” T’Challa smiled as he bent down to kiss her again. He didn’t know how she managed to make all his worries disappear, but even in moments he could not explain all his thoughts, she always managed to be the calm to his storm.

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

“I cannot believe that the week has passed so quickly”. Estelle said sadly as she held onto Abiona offering her final kisses before going to the ship. “Mémé will miss you so much. But I promise to be back soon.”

“Okay Maman, stop you are making me teary-eyed,” Jules said with an exaggerated pout as he hugged his mother tightly knowing he would miss her more than he led on. Jules and T’Challa began to pull their suitcases out of the door when T’Challa turned to Tolu suddenly.

“Before you go, sir, can I please have a word with you alone” Everyone stopped to turn and look at Tolu. Estelle began to have a conversation with her eyes with Tolu before speaking. She turned to lead everyone else out the door.

“I think that will be good. Mes enfants viens. Let us leave them room to discuss.”

“What do you need to discuss T’Challa?” Alix asked as her mom dragged her out the door.

“Sis you are so nosy. That is an A and B conversation, so C your way out.” Alix rolled her eyes before she reluctantly left with her mother and brother.

T’Challa watched the door close before inviting Tolu to sit on the couch as he paced a little. Tolu opened his mouth to speak before T’Challa put his hands up.

“I am sorry sir but I have to say this before you speak. I love that woman with all my heart. When I think about not being around her for more than a day I feel a sense of sadness that I only associate with her and our child. When she is sad I am sad. If she is angry I am uncomfortable and want to do all I can to make her smile again. I am happiest when I know her and our child are happy. She is my peace and when I think about home I think about her. So sir, when you say you don’t know why she is with me, I can assure you that all the emotions that I have expressed Alixandre feels the exact same. I would not have even asked you the first time if I wasn’t sure of that. No, life was not supposed to resemble what it is but I can assure you that Alix is more than happy where she is and it is because of her that I ask you again for your blessing to ask for Alixandre’s hand in marriage. But know that even if you say no again, I will not stop asking until your answer changes. Alix is worth that much to me and I am willing to move the world to prove that to both you and her.”

T’Challa finished maintaining eye contact with Tolu. “Young man if you would have let me go first, you would have saved yourself that speech, and I would have told you I had changed my mind” T’Challa finally sat down releasing a huge breath.

“What changed your mind?”

“Well, like you suggested I ask Bukola, and her words mirrored yours. She obviously cares for you deeply. And you are a good father to Abiona. As Estelle pointed out to me, my hesitation did not come from you alone. I just wanted to make sure my child was safe and loved and living the life she deserved and worked for. You may not understand now but with a child of your own, you will understand quickly the need to protect your child from the world. But I see now that you do nothing but love Bukola. So all I ask is that you continue to love her and cherish her. She is very special to me and I would hate to have to come back here and see her as anything less than happy. Her name means ‘God has given me wealth’. She is truly one of the greatest fortunes God has ever given me so please treat her as such. “

T’Challa nodded furiously as Tolu extended his hand for T’Challa to shake it. “Of course sir”.

T’Challa could not contain his smile and for once Tolu’s normally cold stare mirrored his smile.

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

Alix sat on the couch as T’Challa joined her and pulled her into his lap covering her with kisses.

“I see you're in a good mood. I guess whatever you and Papa talked about started that” She said rubbing his ears.

“I am still not going to tell you” she rolled her eyes and tried to get off him as he held her tight causing her to giggle.

“You are so nosy and stubborn you know that right”

“Yes but you still love me either way”

“I love you more than you will ever know, entle” Alix found herself smiling widely as he kissed her deeply. Alix reached for his waistband as T’Challa held her hand to stop.

“T’Challa what now? Everyone is gone and Abiona is sleeping!” T’Challa laughed at her whining.

“I just have one question. Can we go to Uganda for our anniversary” Alix frown turned into a smile.

“No Abiona? Just me and you?” T’Challa nodded. “ That is a first. You actually want to leave home. I will not say no to that.”

“Then it is set. You may proceed.” Alix laughed as T’Challa joined her.

“But first, know that I love you so much okay?” She said leaning her head against his.

“I love you too”

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

[btsqualityy]

Scripted: Part 5

Namjoon x Reader; Jimin x Reader

Genre: Angst, fluff, President!Namjoon, Head of Security!Jimin

Warnings: (Reluctant) open relationship, mentions of cheating

Author’s Note: I know that those aren’t the real names of Namjoon’s parents, but the names I came up with are just for the purposes of this story! Enjoy!

About a week later, you were making your way towards the West Wing of the Blue House, heading for Namjoon’s office. Things had been relatively pleasant between the two of you, but you mostly chalked that up to the fact that Namjoon still felt guilty about forgetting your wedding anniversary the week prior.

After he had gotten back from having lunch with his father, Namjoon told you that his father had requested that you come along next time and his father would bring Namjoon’s mother. Like the idiot that you were, you made the mistake of asking when and Namjoon told you that the dinner was already planned for the next week at his parent’s house. 

See, you didn’t have a problem with Namjoon’s mother; in fact, you loved her. She took over the role of the female figure in your life after your own mother (and father) passed away a few months after you started dating Namjoon when the two of you were in your first year of college. Namjoon’s father on the other hand....you definitely preferred to stay away from him.

So that’s why you were headed to the West Wing, which you had found yourself subconsciously avoiding ever since the office incident.

“Hi Mrs. Kim,” you heard someone call your name out and when you looked to your left, you saw Jimin sitting in one of the offices waving towards you.

“Jimin, hi,” you smiled as you stepped over and leaned against the doorway of his office. “And call me Y/N.”

“Sorry Y/N,” Jimin chuckled. “What are you doing here?”

“Namjoon and I are having dinner with his parents tonight,” you replied as you rolled your eyes.

“I take it you don’t like them much?” He guessed from your mannerisms.

“I love his mother, but his father is a piece of work,” you replied honestly, gasping lightly after you realized what you had just said. “Keep that between you and I though?”

“Of course,” Jimin nodded.

“He in there?” You wondered, motioning with your head towards your husband’s office door that was just a little ways down the hall. 

“Yeah, having a meeting with Taehyung-ssi I think,” Jimin told you and you just nodded before taking a second to take a look around his office.

“I see you’ve made yourself at home,” you smiled as you walked further into his office, looking at the pictures that he had hanging up on the wall. 

“Yeah. I learned from being in the Navy that having personal mementos can make you feel more comfortable in a new place so I kind of went crazy,” he admitted.

“Who’s this?” You wondered as you pointed up to a picture of Jimin and a little girl whose smile was vaguely similar to his.

“That’s my niece, Hana. She’s my younger brother’s daughter,” Jimin beamed and you could tell that Hana meant a lot to him just by the look on his face when he said her name. 

“She’s gorgeous,” you complimented before you turned back around to face him. “Speaking of kids, I learned some very interesting information about you yesterday.”

“What’s that?”

“A little birdie told me that you’ve gone back to volunteer at the Children’s Hospital three times in the last week,” you revealed and he immediately looked up at you with a raised brow.

“It was Sooyoung, wasn’t it?” He questioned and you just smirked in reply. “I asked her not to say anything.”

“Jimin, she’s been one of my closest friends since college,” you laughed. “You lost that battle before you even went into it.”

“Well, I couldn’t help myself,” Jimin shrugged. “Those kids have been through so much that the simplest things make them happy and I just...wanted to help, I guess.”

“No need to explain yourself Jimin,” you assured him. “I actually think it’s very admirable of you to go down there on your free time, which I know you don’t get too much of.”

“True. I guess I just saw why you’re so passionate about helping them, you know?” Jimin said and you nodded your head. Suddenly, an idea popped into your head.

“Jimin?” You called.

“Yes?”

“Since you want to help the kids out, why don’t you help Momo and I with the benefit that I plan on throwing for them?” You suggested and Jimin’s eyes lit up.

“A benefit?”

“Sooyoung was telling me about how the hospital could use some extra things and even though I could influence Namjoon to propose some legislation to get them extra funding, I try not to do that and it would take forever anyway so I figured that the next best thing would be to hold a benefit ball,” you explained. “You know, the whole ‘make the wealthy and illustrious members of society feel bad for not helping out more’ type of thing.”

“What would I even do?” Jimin wondered.

“You could help Momo and I plan it,” you said. “And since you’re volunteering with the kids now, you know them and what they need so you could help us make it more...personalized, if that makes sense. Maybe you could even give a speech.”

“That sounds amazing,” Jimin replied honestly. “But with my job title, I’m not sure if that would be a conflict of interests or not.”

“If you weren’t a volunteer at the hospital and I asked you to lie in a speech as a favor to me, then that constitutes a conflict of interests. But you’re doing it because you care, right?”

“Absolutely,” Jimin replied with no hesitation.

“Well then, there you go,” you laughed, making Jimin do the same. “So will you do it?”

“I’d be honored,” Jimin replied and you cheered lightly, clapping your hands. 

“Great! Looking forward to working with you partner,” you beamed as you stuck your hand out towards Jimin for a handshake. 

“You’re hilarious, you know that?” Jimin laughed as he shook his head but he stuck his hand out to meet yours anyways, wrapping his hand around yours. You couldn’t help but to notice how soft his hands were, which you really wouldn’t expect from someone who had been in the Navy for so many years. 

“Hey Y/N-ah,” you heard your husband’s voice and when you turned to look over your shoulder, Namjoon was standing right outside of Jimin’s office door with Taehyung at his side. 

“Oh, hi Joon,” you greeted him, sliding your hand out from Jimin’s and turning towards your husband. “Hi Tae.”

“Hi Y/N,” Taehyung grinned. 

“You almost ready to leave for dinner?” Namjoon asked and you nodded your head. 

“Yeah, I was just talking to Jimin for a few minutes,” you told him. “He’s gonna help Momo and I out with the benefit ball for the Children’s Hospital.”

“That’s great Jimin-ssi,” Namjoon nodded his approval as he looked over at Jimin. “Be warned though, this one can be a little stubborn when it comes to how she wants things.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine Sir,” Jimin chuckled. 

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Namjoon sighed as he handed a a large file of papers over to Taehyung. “You know where I’ll be tonight. If anything absolutely important comes through, let me know.”

“I got it,” Taehyung scoffed playfully. “Go have a good dinner you two.”

“Oh, we’ll try,” you smiled sarcastically, grabbing onto the hand that Namjoon was holding out towards you. 

“Have a good night you two,” Namjoon said, nodding to both Taehyung and Jimin.

“Goodnight Sir, Goodnight Y/N,” Jimin said.

“Night Tae, night Jimin,” you replied, giving them a little wave before you and Namjoon walked off down the hallway together. Jimin moved to get back to work but he couldn’t help but to notice that Taehyung was still standing in his doorway.

“Yes Taehyung-ssi?” Jimin wondered.

“So, Y/N, huh?” Taehyung smirked.

“She told me to call her that,” Jimin shrugged, not understanding what Taehyung was hinting at. 

“Of course. Well, you have a good night Jimin-ssi,” Taehyung smiled before walking away from Jimin’s office. 

...................................

“Oh, it’s so nice to see the two of you!” Namjoon’s mom Mi-sook exclaimed, pulling you into a tight hug as soon as you and Namjoon walked through the front door of his parent’s house. 

“It’s good to see you too,” you giggled, hugging her back just as tightly. “How have you been?”

“Good, good,” Mi-sook replied as she pulled back from the hug to look at your face. “Are you eating? You lost the fullness in your cheeks.”

“Not like she should be,” Namjoon interrupted and you looked next to you to shoot him a small glare, to which he shrugged in response.

“I haven’t been feeding you since you were 18 years old all for you to lose it in a few months,” Mi-sook chuckled. “I’ll make sure to feed you good tonight.”

“I’ve honestly missed your cooking,” you admitted as you linked arms with her as the two of you walked further into the house with Namjoon following closely behind. “So you’ll hear no complaints from me.”

“And you,” Mi-sook said as she turned around to look at her son, only to smack his arm. “You think just because you’re the President of our great country that you don’t have to call your mother anymore?”

“I always tell him that he should call you more,” you spoke up, making Namjoon glare at you and you just smirked at him. 

“I’m sorry eomma, I’ll do better,” he apologized, stepping forward and hugging her.

“Is that my boy?” You heard a deep voice call out and you looked towards the stairs to see Namjoon’s father Sang-hoon descending them.

“Hi appa,” Namjoon greeted him, bowing to his father.

“How’s everything?” Sang-hoon asked and you had to resist the urge to roll your eyes.

“It’s going good,” Namjoon chuckled and his father nodded before turning towards you. 

“Hello Y/N,” Sang-hoon said.

“Hi,” you replied stiffly. 

“Well, no use of us all standing around here,” Mi-sook spoke up. “Let’s go eat.” The four of you walked into the dining room then, Namjoon and his father sitting at the heads of the small table while you and Mi-sook sat on the sides.

“So, how’s life been in the Blue House Y/N?” Mi-sook wondered after everyone had filled their plates up and began eating. 

“It’s been good,” you smiled. “It took a while for us to really settle in, but now it’s just like home.”

“Did you finish decorating?” She asked and you nodded. “That must’ve been a nightmare, given how large it is.”

“Well, since it’s a historical place as well, there were a lot of things that I couldn’t change,” you explained. “So really, the only places I decorated were my office, our private living room, and our bedroom and bathroom.”

“Oh, to be a woman who’s only worry is decorating,” Sang-hoon murmured and you took a deep breath, willing yourself not to say anything reckless.

“I’m sure she does more than just decorating Sang-ah,” Mi-sook chastised. “From one woman of the house to another, I was simply inquiring.”

“You’re right though eomma, Y/N-ah does way more than just decorating,” Namjoon chuckled. “Tell them about the children’s hospital.”

“Oh, so for my official cause that I’ll be supporting as First Lady, I’ve decided to focus on the local children’s hospital,” you said.

“The one that your friend from college Sooyoung runs?” Mi-sook wondered and you nodded your head.

“The hospital houses the largest number of sick kids in our region and I figured, what better cause is there to support? I mean, these kids are going to be the future of our country,” you explained and Mi-sook smiled at you fondly.

“That’s great Y/N-ah,” Mi-sook beamed. “You always have had the biggest heart.”

“She’s organizing a benefit ball to raise money for them and everything,” Namjoon added. “I think it’s going to be great.”

“While this all sounds good and I’m sure that it’s a worthwhile cause,” Sang-hoon spoke up and you looked over at him. “Don’t you think it’s a little odd for you to be supporting a cause for children when you don’t have any of your own?”

“Sang-ah,” Mi-sook gasped.

“No, I don’t think it’s odd at all,” you stated firmly. “You don’t have to have children in order to sympathize with them.”

“I’m just saying, people may start to wonder why our First Lady hasn’t had a child yet when you and Namjoon have been married for five years now,” Sang-hoon noted. “They might even start to gossip about if you’re even able to conceive.”

“Appa, that’s enough,” Namjoon interjected. 

“I’m only thinking of you son,” Sang-hoon shrugged. “Having a baby might help your approval ratings.”

“Do you hear yourself right now?” You chuckled in disbelief. “Namjoon’s approval ratings are fine and even if they weren’t, a baby is not going to make people like him more.”

“Y/N-ah is right,” Namjoon agreed. “And we are not going to use a child as a political weapon.”

“In the world of politics, everything is a political weapon,” Sang-hoon mused as he picked up his glass of wine. “You’ll be wise to remember that, Namjoon-ah.”

“Leave them alone Sang-ah,” Mi-sook tsked. “They are both still young and they have plenty of time.”

“Thank you eomma,” you smiled at her.

“But,” Mi-sook dragged out and you raised an eyebrow at her. “I would like to know when I can expect some little grand babies running around here.” You just looked over to your left at Namjoon, who was already looking at you. The two of you held each other’s gazes for a few seconds, unspoken words passing between your eyes. You then broke the gaze, reaching out to pick up your glass of wine as you looked back to his mother.

“Whenever we’re ready,” you shrugged before taking a sip of your wine. 

...................................

“You know that being around your dad is the most exhausting thing ever, right?” You wondered out loud as you and Namjoon walked into your shared bedroom back at the Blue House. Dinner had been more than a little awkward after Sang-hoon’s whole spiel about the two of you having a baby, and you were more than a little annoyed.

“Imagine being raised by him,” Namjoon sighed as he reached up and unfastened his tie, lifting it up and over his head before throwing it onto the nearby dresser while you took off your heels. You then moved over to your vanity table, sitting down so that you could work on taking off your makeup.

“Thank God for your mom or else you would’ve turned out to be just like him,” you huffed.

“We’re not much different, he and I,” Namjoon muttered as he walked up behind you and set his hands on your shoulders, watching you as you grabbed a makeup wipe and worked on taking off your makeup. “I notice it every time I see him and it’s scary.”

“You’re not that bad Joon,” you assured him and Namjoon just shrugged in response. He stood behind you for a few minutes, watching as you finished taking off your makeup before you moved on to taking off your jewelry.

“You know, I don’t think that he was completely wrong,” Namjoon whispered and you looked at him through the reflection in the mirror on your vanity.

“I thought you supported me working with the children’s hospital,” you huffed.

“What? No, I do,” he shook his head. “That’s not what I was talking about.”

“What then?”

“Y/N-ah, we should have a baby,” Namjoon said and your eyes widened.

“Are you serious?” You chuckled in disbelief and you watched as Namjoon moved from behind you to bend down so that he was face to face with you. 

“Of course I am. You know that I’ve always wanted children with you,” he murmured as he reached out and held one of your hands in both of his. 

“Yeah, I know you used to always say that but that was before,” you replied. 

“Do you not want a baby?” He wondered and you had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes.

“Of course I do. I always have but we have to be realistic about what we would be bringing a baby into,” you said. “Our marriage is literally a marriage in name only and has been for almost a year now. You’re barely home and I have my own commitments as First Lady so the baby would basically be raised by nannies and I don’t want that and you shouldn’t either.”

“You could cancel your commitments if you had a baby and you know that,” Namjoon told you. “As for my job, I can’t just stop that but I’d do my best and you know I’d stop the entire “arrangement” thing.”

“And who would you be stopping it for, me or the baby?” You questioned and Namjoon just sighed before looking away from you. “Look, I hear what you’re saying Joon but I just can’t get the image of you going off and cheating on me again out of my head.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you or the baby,” he promised.

“You’ve done it before!” You shot back, getting angry at how he kept pushing the subject. “Are you telling me that I have to have a fucking baby in order for you to remain faithful to me?”

“That’s not what I’m saying and you know it,” he scoffed as he released your hand that he had been holding. 

“Sure sounds like it.”

“Look,” he sighed as he stood up again and you craned your neck in order to look up at him. “If you don’t wanna have a baby with me, then just say that and we never have to have this conversation again.”

“I don’t wanna have a baby,” you stated. 

“With me,” he pressed.

“Namjoon,-”

“With me,” he growled lowly and you slit your eyes at him, anger coursing through your body.

“With you,” you finished and he nodded curtly before turning around and walking into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. 

...................................

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