#Bix is like: if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all

[imogenkol]

— WIP WHENEVER

tagged by @adelaidedrubman @socially-awkward-skeleton @kyber-infinitygems @inafieldofdaisies @jillvalentinesday @marivenah thank you lovelies 💕💕💕

no pressure tags as always: @sstewyhosseini @jinfromyarikawa @voidika @shegetsburned @jackiesarch @corvosattano @florbelles @aceghosts @shallow-gravy @shellibisshe @roofgeese @theelderhazelnut @shadowglens + anyone else who might want to share!

Got blessed with a short burst of writing for the morning after these two finally give in and decide to become official

Everything felt so… calm and peaceful. In the same way the sky looks before a storm. Imogen should be fleeing for her life or at the very least preparing herself for the inevitable destruction. But she didn’t – she couldn’t. All she managed was to lie in bed beside the woman she fought so hard not to love. The warmth of her body half draped over Imogen’s after a passionate night. It was such a simple thing, to have her beloved’s head rest against her chest and feel their breaths as one, yet she could not recall ever experiencing such contentment.

Destruction might just be worth it.

Bix trailed her fingertips along her bare collarbone which caused Imogen to smile. Her own caress lightly traveled up and down the mechanic’s spine in aimless patterns. It even felt extraordinary to touch her just for the sake of it. 

“I’m starting to believe you actually like waking up next to me,” Bix said in a lighthearted tone.

“I have always desired this,” Imogen admitted softly, tilting her head enough to nuzzle against hers. 

“Meaning you’ve always been afraid of this.”

Imogen tensed. The hard-wired urge to pull away and fiercely deny such an accusation threatened to overcome her, but there was no sense in refuting the truth any longer. Not from Bix. Gradually, the bounty hunter willed her muscles to ease. She wondered how long it would take to train these instincts out of her. “If we… truly commit to one another –”

Bix’s fingers twitched into a fist against Imogen’s skin. “If?”

“No,” Imogen quickly corrected herself. “No more ifs. What I mean to say is… Well, I have a lot to learn.”

“So do I. So does everyone,” Bix stated matter-of-factly. She leaned up on her elbow and met the other woman’s apprehensive expression. “You’re here. You’re trying. That’s all that really matters to me.” 

A strand of dark hair dangled over the mechanic’s cheek. Imogen reached out and delicately tucked it behind her ear. She took in the unobscured beauty of her beloved for a few prolonged beats, her thumb tracing some of those features that left her in awe. 

“I am quite certain there is one thing in this galaxy that I would not be able to bear,” Imogen muttered under her breath – almost to herself. 

Bix moistened her lips as she inched closer. “And what’s that?”

A rhythmic knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Along with a gruff voice that called, “Bix? It’s me.”

Imogen hoped her glare would burn right through the durasteel to strike Cassian down.

“Hang on!” Bix called back. With an exasperated sigh, she slumped down and hid her face in the crook of Imogen’s neck for a beat before she forced herself up. At the sight of the bounty hunter’s less than pleased expression, Bix said “Don’t start anything.”

“He still draws breath, does he not? That is the extent of my manners,” Imogen replied curtly as Bix hastily dressed herself. She, too, summoned a great effort to follow her out of bed and do the same. “Unless he wishes to apologize for aiming a blaster at my heart.”

“You held your lightsaber at his throat.” 

“He drew on me first.”

Bix rolled her eyes, though Imogen caught the upturn at the corner of her mouth before she turned towards the door.  “Come in.” 

The both of them hadn’t quite finished dressing. Cassian entered as Bix fastened the waistband of her pants and Imogen pulled a shirt over her head. He halted mid-step, his gaze shifting between the two women as if a complicated equation did not add up. Though, the scene before him must have been fairly obvious.

“What is it, Cass?” Bix urged. 

“I just… wanted to talk to you.” Cassian’s answer came out distracted. His eyes lingered on the bounty hunter. 

Imogen looked to Bix expectantly and received a nod. A part of her had hoped that she would have been allowed to remain in the room, but she understood why Bix dismissed her. Without another word, Imogen collected her coat in one hand and intended to make her exit when an impulse emerged. She would not have Cassian misinterpret the signs, not if she had any say in it. 

In a few strides, Imogen went to Bix and pulled her in by the back of her neck. While their lips met with intention, it was no less soft or passionate than the kisses they shared in private. Imogen indulged in a few strokes and had to fight not to get lost in the sensations, nearly forgetting the witness she intended to show for. 

Once Imogen pulled away, she gave Bix a parting caress and said “I will come find you later.” 

The mechanic had a knowing glint in her eye, but she nodded again. “Alright.” 

Cassian had not moved and the nature of his continued gaze turned from dumbfounded to outright suspicion. Imogen glared right back at him as she made her way towards the door. He stood far enough into the room that she could have easily maneuvered around him, but she instead shoved her shoulder into his as she walked past. Just to make sure her point came across clearly.

[hungry-tum-stuff]

(spoken to tummy) "Poor thing, they're not feeding you, are they? We'll get you taken care of."

Tahir shuffled back into he and Bix’s shared room at the inn tiredly, ready to collapse into bed after a long day about town. However, he was surprised to see a lantern still lit at the little desk in the room, and Bix sitting at it, poring over books and notes written in his chicken scratch handwriting.

“You’re still awake…?” Tahir mumbled, shuffling over and looking over Bix’s notes. Bix just nodded, and Tahir took his silence as a hint to leave him to his work.

“Alright… Just don’t stay up too late, we have to be out of this room by ten tomorrow morning and I don’t want you dragging your feet.”

Bix nodded again, and Tahir managed to cross the room to the bed. He collapsed into it, as intended, and closed his eyes in the hopes that sleep would come easily.

But as soon as he was comfortable, he heard a little rumbling noise. He had half a mind to brush it off until it came again, not seconds later, this time with a bit more ferocity. Tahir cracked his eyes open tiredly and looked around, and the noise came again, this time a low, hollow-sounding growl. Tahir’s eyes fell on Bix, still hunched over the desk.

“Bix? Have you not eaten?”

The harpy gave no response. His stomach did, however, with a low-pitched whine that droned on for a good few seconds. Tahir frowned and forced himself up out of bed to stand beside Bix and glare at him.

“Bix…”

“Oh my god, no, I haven’t eaten, alright? Now can you leave me alone?” Bix snapped suddenly, causing Tahir to take a step back and hold his hands up innocently.

“Well, are you going to eat?” Tahir asked, putting a hand on his hip.

“I just have to focus on getting this tracking spell right before we ship out tomorrow, okay? I wanna know if we’re going the right way…”

Tahir sighed. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Shut up and go back to bed, how’s that for an answer?” Bix hissed, shooting a glare up at his companion. His stomach rumbled again, but instead of saying anything about it he simply turned back to his work. Tahir sighed and shook his head, but he was determined to get a meal in Bix’s belly before either of them went to bed.

So he leaned down, and put an ear up to Bix’s belly.

It roared at him.

Tahir took his head away quickly. “Ouch, alright… You must really want dinner, hm?”

Bix’s stomach groaned pathetically, and Tahir stole a glance up at the other’s face only to see it was beet red. The prince decided to push his luck a little further and put a hand on Bix’s concave tummy, beginning to gently poke and prod it.

“That sounds like a yes to me. You poor thing… Bix isn’t feeding you at all, is he?”

Bix’s stomach growled, and Tahir was surprised that he was able to feel all the churning and gurgling against his fingertips. But then again, there was hardly any meat between his skin and his noisy stomach.

“Oh I know, you’re starving. Believe me I would like to get you taken care of, filled up nicely with, hm, perhaps some stew, and some fluffy bread to dip in it-“ Bix’s stomach agreed with a pleading moan, and Tahir continued. “Ah, I figured you’d like that idea. But unfortunately it’s out of my hands. Bix is working after all, you should take this up with him, not me.”

Bix’s stomach snarled ferociously, causing the harpy to wince and clutch at his belly. He shot another glare down at Tahir, but as his stomach continued it’s tantrum, Bix’s shoulders loosened as he quickly relented. He wasn’t winning this fight.

“…You’re an asshole.” Bix murmured, pushing his chair out to stand up. Tahir stood up with him.

“What ever could you be talking about? I was just listening to your tummy, you ought to do the same.”

“Yeah yeah I get it. Is there really stew downstairs?” Bix asked eagerly.

“When I walked in the innkeeper was tending to it, I’d imagine so.”

“Well then what the fuck are we standing around for?” Bix rushed out of the room, and Tahir chuckled and shook his head, following his companion out of the room.

[lisannastraussisanangel]

Hi!! I really love your Lisanna & Lucy headcanons, I’m so glad someone else loves their friendship just as much as I do! Thier ‘Little Shit’ headcanons were so much fun to read!

I don’t know if you ship Bixanna, but do you maybe have some headcanons where Lucy plays matchmaker for them? And Lisanna’s reaction to it?

All good if you can’t think of any, though!

Hi! I'm so glad you enjoy! I'm still so sad we don't get a whole lot of interaction between my girlies

I do ship Bixanna! Lucy playing matchmaker is such a good idea! Let's see what I can add:

If Lisanna isn't teaming up with Lucy to cause chaos. She's teamed up with Bickslow

Lucy, of course, notices this and starts paying closer attention to them

It's clear that Bickslow is hitting on Lisanna but when Lucy asks her about it, Lisanna brushes it off and goes "that's just how he is"

Lucy tries telling her that that is def not normal Bix behavior but Lisanna is super dismissive

Lucy goes to Laxus (because she'd do anything to avoid a convo with Bickslow) and asks him if Bix has the hots for Lisanna

Laxus confirms Lucy's suspicion and tells her he wants nothing to do with whatever meddling she's got planned

Turns out Laxus, Ever and Freed have their own plan to hook up Bixanna so it becomes a competition to see who can get them together first

Lucy wins (mostly cause the Raijinshuu are terrible at romance)

Lucy's plan mostly consists of making herself unavailable for awhile to hopefully get the two to realize their feelings

It does not work

Lucy then goes for the straight forward approach and asks Lisanna if she likes Bickslow

Lisanna admits it after several minutes of horrified stuttering

Lucy tries to get Lisanna to just ask him out but she refuses because she swears he doesn't see her that way

Lucy considers knocking some sense into her (literally), but instead opts for the classic trick them both into going on a date

Lucy decides to send them out on a nice romantic dinner

It's easy to get Lisanna to get all dressed up to go out to eat, but Bickslow is a different story. Loke has to get involved to get him into the restaurant

Both Lucy and Loke hide nearby and watch the whole thing unfold

Lisanna figures it out pretty quickly and curses Lucy's name

She eventually bites the bullet and tells Bickslow how she feels

Lisanna mentions that she's not sure if he feels the same or whatever and Bickslow just stares at her and says "I HAVE BEEN FLIRTING WITH YOU FOR MONTHS"

Lucy feeling vindicated cheers and her cover gets compromised

Lisanna attempts to kill Lucy while Bickslow and Loke have a lovely dinner together

[jyndor]

I know most of the fandom agrees with the headcanon that Jyn and Bix would be “friends” but I personally don’t think so. If they met without involving Cassian I think they’d have a nice dynamic and probably be friends but with him involved I think they would not. And don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore them both but their relationships with him wouldn’t allow them to be friends or something. First because it’s pretty clear that Bix still has romantic feelings for Cassian and it’s not over him and also is super protective of him and I feel Jyn would be jealous of their past relationships and of the fact Bix knows him for most of his life and she doesn’t. So well, no way these two could be friends at all.

hmm okay so

I am Tired of the trope that women who have had or have interest in the same man have to be combative or jealous with each other. I think people can and should be grown ups about who their exes love in the future and also who their lovers have been in love with in the past. I am not saying that this isn't a potential area of conflict for them but I really, really hate it and since it's all fanon anyway, why play into that stupid, sexist thing where women feel like we have to compete with each other for some bullshit.

but also:

Bix has complicated feelings for Cassian 5 years before he meets Jyn. I would be shocked if she doesn't move on in that time - if she lives which ugh let's just assume this is an everyone lives au so it doesn't matter if she lives or dies in canon. That would be around the time Jyn has a relationship with Hadder (lol rebel rising) and I'd be shocked if Jyn really is the kind of person who gets weird about her partner's exes. Maybe if Bix doesn't move on or doesn't let Cassian go (which she has) then that might be weird for them all.

But I don't really think Bix thinks she's getting back together with Cassian, in fact I think she probably wants to move on completely - that's what she's been trying to do the whole season (and before it likely).

If anything, I think Bix would be protective of Cassian - and I'm not saying they'd be besties, but I can't see them not being at least friendly with each other. People have exes, people move on, and especially when it's your first love... you want them to be happy and it's like, idk Cassian is a very different person in Rogue One, he's more mature and idk people grow up.

Jyn Erso is not a jealous person, there's no real evidence for that. If anything, I can't even see her being insecure about how beautiful Bix is, like that's just not who she is.

IDK man, Bix is a part of Cassian, she's his first love, and Jyn is the love of his life, and since it's all headcanon anyway (even though ofc they are all alive <3) I prefer not to headcanon conflict between women like that.

[la-galleria-luna-ufficiale]

Benvenuto!

Welcome to the official rotomblr blog for La Galleria Luna. For those who follow PFG tournaments, you may recognise us as the 7th of 9 hotels found on Carmonte Island, headed by PFG Champion Luther Astri. While we are not going to be giving our hotel to whoever can best my wife, we are still a fully operational luxury hotel with stellar dining, spas, and battle spaces.

The Owners

Luther Astri, my wife & co-owner of La Galleria Luna. She is the face of the hotel, managing our other socials. Anyone looking to challenge us to earn a medal (as well as your most expensive meal free) shall be facing her. Good luck ᰔᩚ

Elio Astri, myself & co-owner of La Galleria Luna. I am in charge of staff and this blog. Luther said this one was more my style so asked if I wanted to be in control here; if she does speak on here, it will be stylised as so. I don’t understand PFG or battling or anything like that and I’m happier that way.

Our Pokémon

Bix, Luther’s Sableye (Toxicroak father). His gem-eyes are akin to realgar. To those who know their gemstones & minerals, you may understandably be concerned; to those who do not, the gem contains arsenic. We assure you he is safe to be in the hotel as, like most beings, he doesn’t tend to touch things with his eyes.

Fritz, my Yamper (purebred). He roams the hotel as he pleases — the staff know to look out for him. He is very sociable and will come over to say hello/get affection/beg for treats if he sees you. His collar has everstone studs because if he did evolve finding him would become a fifth of my time.

Comfit, my shiny Minior. Follows me around on my duties out of curiosity. It is nervous around new Pokémon for a short time but it’s inquisitive disposition takes over soon enough.

We hope you enjoy your stay!

{ooc time!}

This is a side blog of @welcometomymaddness, a blog that 3 people use to share interests and keep in contact. 2 of us already have pkmn irl sides. @holonfoil-birthday-cards is by me, the one writing this ooc stuff and the one who will be Luther on here; @betterorreworse is the other one, though they aren’t involved in this side. The third of us doesn’t do this kinda thing.

Well. Until I dragged them into this. They are going to be the main man himself, Elio! I know I said I’d handle this bit but they want to add anything, here it can be: this was a mistake, wasn’t it

{updated ooc!}

This is now solely run by the one “dragged into this”. I’m trying to fit time in to remember this blog exists, so thank you to all who stay even after long pauses. It’s nice to know the other’s idea is successful.

[we-all-have-magic-inside-us]

Hi, this is very random but I'm actually writing a dissertation on Harry Potter Fanfiction and I'm looking for the 'big' fics, i.e. fics that lots of people in the fandom read - the most popular/famous ones that might even have their own sub-fandom (All The Young Dudes for example). Do you know of any Drarry ones like this? Thanks in advance!

What a wonderful topic for a dissertation @realistic-but-optimistic - I would LOVE to read it if you ever publish/want to share. And I definitely have some recs for fics that have their own mini fandom and/or are ‘The Drarry Classics’

What We Pretend We Can't See by @gyzym [131k words]

Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought

This is THE fandom classic almost everyone has read and talks about. It features a redeemed, slightly obsessive, charming Draco. Grimmauld Place plays a huge role in the fic and Ron/Hermione are wonderful. Overall 10/10.

Running on Air by @tinyhistory [75k]

Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.

I genuinely do not know if any fic rec can do justice to this masterpiece. It’s so beautiful and poignant and somehow nostalgic. The language, the plot, the pining and the mystery are all breathtaking. You have to read this one yourself to believe me. This is definitely a major fandom classic.

Tea and No Sympathy [70k] by who_la_hoop

It's Potter's fault, of course, that Draco finds himself trapped in the same twenty-four-hour period, repeating itself over and over again. It's been nearly a year since the unpleasant business at Hogwarts, and Draco's getting on with his life quite nicely, thank you, until Harry sodding Potter steps in and ruins it all, just like always. At first, though, the time loop seems liberating. For the first time in his life, he can do anything, say anything, be anything, without consequence. But the more Draco repeats the day, the more he realises the uncomfortable truth: he's falling head over heels for the speccy git. And suddenly, the time loop feels like a trap. For how can he ever get Harry to love him back when time is, quite literally, against him?

If you like Groundhog Day style fics, this is the winner! It has over 32k kudos on AO3 which is INSANE! It’s super well written and keeps you hooked until the very end. And it’s not just this one, every fic by this author is a classic in its own right. Especially ‘written on the heart.’

Right Hand Red [73k] by @lqtraintracks​

Harry felt Malfoy's breath on his lips as they came together over the bottle, hands firmly planted on the floor as though they each needed their familiar soil, refusing to cross into enemy territory.

Except that Malfoy no longer felt like his enemy.

Malfoy felt inevitable.

No rec list can be complete without an eighth year fic. The fandom is FULL of eighth year fics and they’re perfect for anyone craving a Harry Potter continuation but with Drarry. This is one of my absolute favourite ones. It features a lot of party games and it’s really nice to see Harry and Draco have a chance at a normal school year for once, something they’ve been robbed of for so many years. There’s a lot of pining and healing in this one and I felt all the feels when I read it. 

Away Childish Things [151k] by @letteredlettered

Harry gets de-aged. Malfoy has to help him.

This one. This one. THERE ARE NO WORDS BUT I WILL VALIANTLY ATTEMPT. I love it. It explores Harry’s childhood in a way very few fics have managed to and it really really tugs at the heartstrings. It’s gorgeously written and evokes so many emotions. Please read this one.

Stop All the Clocks (This Is the Last Time I’m Leaving Without You) [44k] by @firethesound

Living with Draco was difficult; living without him is unbearable. But if there’s one thing Harry learned from the war, it’s that even when one life ends, the rest of the world goes right on living.

Full disclosure- I haven’t read this and I don’t know if I ever can. It features MCD (main character death) and I really struggle with reading fics that don’t have a happy ending. Having said that, it is a fandom classic and everyone who has read it, RAVES about it. They say it’s gorgeous and beautiful and devastating. What I can confirm is that firethesound is an amazing author and I have read several other fics by them which could also be considered fandom classics. Especially ‘All Our Secrets Laid Bare’ which is the ultimate Auror partners fic and ‘A Convenient Impracticality’ which is the ultimate fake dating/friends-with-benefits fic. 

Dwelling [83k] by aideomai

Curses, James and Lily Potter ride again, several Ministry balls, a teenage Summer of Love, a grim young adult dystopian winter, a few different Draco Malfoys, secrets and the problems re: not having any, alternate lives, impossible lives, real lives, allusions to Dirty Dancing, and just because it's not called the Mirror of Erised doesn't mean you shouldn't know better.

Oh my goodness, this fic ruined me. In the best possible way. If you want a glimpse into how Harry’s life could have been if his parents had been alive and if Harry and Draco had been friends from the start, this is the one. There's a huge twist which makes the fic EVEN better. I don’t want to spoil too much but this one is worth a read. Another fic by the same author, ‘Far From The Tree’ is also gorgeous. It’s a newer fic so I wouldn’t say it’s a classic yet but the plot is SO unique. It features Harry’s grown up kids coming back into the past and how that could affect Harry/Draco’s relationship. All the characters are super well written and it’s one of my personal favourites!

Other notes:

I made a Drarry rec list when I first got into the fandom. I would say almost all the fics on this list are also classics/very well liked. 

Another great way to find classics are through this link. They are Drarry fics on Ao3 (30k+ words) sorted by the number of kudos they’ve received. I would say all fics on the first five pages can be considered classics. 

Here are three other SUPER adored authors in the Ao3 fandom: Bixgirl, Saras_Girl and GallaPlacidia

All works by Bix and Saras_Girl are considered classics. GallaPlacidia started writing for the fandom only a couple of years back but she has such a knack for writing both these boys, it’s absolutely insane. I’m 100% confident her fics will be considered classics in a few years! Especially ‘The Bucket List’ and ‘Ship of Theseus.’

Enjoy and hope this helps!!

[bixisarusher]

Bix Reviews: Call Me Kat (Season 1, FOX 2021)

I thought a lot about how I feel about this show, and there are lots of words, so it’s gonna go under the cut.

In summary: I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I hoped to, and i discuss why I think that was. BUT there are great things in this remake, and I want to name them as well!

There are two ways to look at Call Me Kat: As it’s own thing, and as a Miranda remake. As a Miranda Hart stan, I’ll have a lot more to say about the latter, so let’s start with the show itself.

On It’s Own

That felt appropriate, nvm me

It’s a cute show. It’s not a groundbreaking concept, and it’s not re-inventing the genre, but it has some really good things going for it:

Kat is happy and confident in her quirks, but doesn’t have it all together - so she has room to grow and is very sympathetic, all the while encouraging the viewer to celebrate their own quirks. Lovely! Also Mayim is a treasure and it’s great to watch her perform.

The show openly discusses “taboo” topics, like using anti-depressants and their side-effects, freezing your eggs, comparing yourself to a hallucinated version of your crush’s ex...  The show isn’t a trailblazer, (partly because there have been many great shows in the last couple years) but I thinks it’s awesome to see them further treading out the ground and normalizing these topics.

It has a nice set of characters that go through their indepent stories, I found myself excited for any new episode and enjoying the varying storylines. (Most of them Randi.)

And, although the last episode dragged it right back into the romantic territory, Kat has a genuine friendship with Max and I value that a lot. Neither of them harbours secret feelings, instead they are open and honest about it. The only thing they overdid here was to have an exchange of “Do you remember, when we were in college together and [blank] happened?” in at least every other episode.

Another thing on the down side: Neither the writers nor Mayim seem to fully know what to do with the fourth wall breaks. I don’t mind the thing, it just doesn’t feel fully rounded out - like how much they want to use it, what purpose it really has, ...

I think it’s due to the circumstances of the filming (pandemic restrictions and all), but more on that later. So much for the show itself.

As a remake

First of all: Do I love Jim Parsons for looking at this absurd british gem of a TV show and deciding “the world needs more stuff like this”? Absolutely! Because I agree! There were two or three moments that leaned on Miranda a little too much for their own good, but overall: it is content inspired by Miranda, but neither correcting, it nor copying it. More power to this concept.

More power to celebrating the silly joys in this live, to celebrate not being normal, more power to amazing friendships and women who find their own path. Call Me Kat does all of these things.

However, it doesn’t quite live up to it’s Mothership. Let me elaborate.

There is a myriad of reasons why Miranda works and I will not attempt to list them. However there’s one thing that does stand out to me in the original, and that I really miss in the adaptation: Miranda didn’t just write “a plot” and salt it with “a few jokes”. She carefully built tensions and different storylines to culminate together. Sometimes it’s a funny word that the character hears in the first act, and later nervously blurts out in the wrong moment. Sometimes it’s a parade of characters she met through the episode that all meet in one spot at the end. Or there is a throw away comment in the beginning of an episode that sets up a revelation toward the end.

I could swarm you with examples, a good one is in 1x03 Job: trying to impress Tilly, trying to deny waitressing, and then: the multiple “You weed in a ball pool?” and Gary in uniform walking in right on time to sell the lie about being an undercover commander. Another one of my personal favorites is in 2x04 A New Low, when Miranda in the end tells Gary that he lost her trust, and he’ll “never get to see her naked sweep” - and then he find’s the portrait Tamara did of Miranda’s “naked sweep”. Just hit’s right.

That is a testament to how well crafted the episodes are. In Call Me Kat? All Nighter and Gym had moments like that, and Double Date very early on set up Kat’s dream to use the sound system, but it just never reached that same level of mastermind.

But, in defense of CMK: Miranda was crafted over ten years with a full of 20 episodes airing (21 if you count the radio series) and the cast worked together a good year before they filmed the first series of 6 episodes. Compared to that, work on Call me Kat started around 2018, the cast was assembled in the first half of 2020 and started shooting in late October. They then shot 13 episodes in their first season. (which is more than half of the total episodes of Miranda, just saying) Sources: english wikipedia articles for Miranda and Call Me Kat, as well as Mayim’s Youtube. (Jep I did research for this.)

Also the CMK episodes were written and directed by a variety of people, while the Miranda episodes have all been at least co-written by Miranda Hart and all except for the last two were directed by Juliet May.

These are - as much as I as a humble consumer with a bit of wikipedia knowledge know - basic differences about how shows are made in the UK vs. in the US, and neither formula is any way of guarantee for the quality of the final product. However I think somewhere in those facts is the reason why the Miranda ship feels a lot more in shape and ... coherent. The pilot that we know and love is the fourth time they recorded the script, and I don’t even want to know how many times the script had been edited in between. The cast knew each other well, the material had been tested in front of multiple audiences. Call Me Kat had neither of these luxuries. On the contrary, CMK has been put together under restrictions due to the pandemic.

So on the one hand, I am majorly grateful that this show even got to see the light of day! That means that a full cast and crew had jobs in these trying times, and it means that we were provided with good entertainement.

On the other hand, the circumstances are showing in the final product. The cast had an awkward chemistry with each other, and the comedic timing, though not horrible, could have been a lot better.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think studio audiences can be a blessing. There is something about the actors having a genuine connection to real time observers that helps me as a screen audience connect to it. And for this staged multicam show that includes glances at the camera? I think a real audience would have grounded the concept. And it would have given the team a direct feedback as to which moments were working comedically and which weren’t.

What I’m trying to say is: they had big shoes to fill, and the odds were not really in their favor, and so it doesn’t really hold up in comparison.

That’s sad. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a horrible show. As I said in the beginning, I love that this show is done in the spirit of Miranda, even if it’s not just as good.

I have no idea how the show’s chances are to get a second season. If they do get renewed - I’ll keep watching.

-----

Now, let me finish with a few gifs that I feel like they can be applied to the whole “they remade Miranda and it went both ok and less then ok but at least the word is being spread, right?”-situation.

because Kat/Max is good but could anything ever be Miranda/Gary?

Not really...

ok that one’s a bit rude. but you thought it, too.

Jim turning in bed at night overthinking if Mayim was the right choice. But she was. Much like Stevie was for Miranda.

Honestly a very good part of the remake is Mayim and Cheyenne performing together! I personally think this moment above is responsible.

Trying to match the CMK characters to the Miranda characters like: I thought Phil is supposed to be the Customer but turns out Phil originally was supposed to a Phillys? So Phil is Stevie, but then who is Randi? Tilly? So many questions.

And with that, dear Caller, back to you.

[eryiss]

Fraxus Week 2020: Day 7 - Casual

Summary: After a crappy post-college first year, Laxus jumped at the opportunity to leave town for a week for a road trip with his friends. He intended it just to be a week away with his friends, but when he meets an unfamiliar stranger, the vacation turns into something much more. [Fraxus Multichapter]

This is the seventh part of my Fraxus Week admissions, hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus​. This year I’ve made the prompts into a single multi-chapter fic. You can see all the chapters in the Masterpost linked below. Hope you enjoy.

You can read this on Fanfiction, Archive of our Own, and under the cut. Read the other chapters from this masterlist.

Chapter Seven – The End of The Week

Laxus realised that he liked driving at night.

He didn't know exactly what time it was, but it was far past midnight; he would guess sometime after two in the morning, but he couldn't be sure. He was the only person in the RV awake, with Evergreen sleeping against the table, Bickslow in the bed again (Laxus had tried and failed to remind him that it was unsafe) and Freed in the passenger side seat slumped over. He had turned the radio on low, some late-night talk show where people were talking about their problems with short jazz breaks between the calls, and it was an overall nice feeling.

Given the days where they'd stopped off when they should have been driving, they had decided that they should attempt to drive through the night to get back in time. Laxus had offered to take the night shift, and had spent the day sleeping while Bickslow drove. He had expected it to be a chore, but he was enjoying it quite a lot.

Perhaps part of that was because he got to see Freed sleeping soundly beside him.

The other man had been asleep when Laxus had woken up in the evening, and the sight was damn endearing. He had an airplane pillow around his neck, and a blanket covering his body. Laxus was almost certain Bickslow and Evergreen were responsible for this.

He would have to thank them later, because it was really fucking nice to see the man bundled up in blankets, sleeping softly and almost snoring. Laxus couldn't stop himself from glancing towards the sleeping man, a soft smile on his own features. It was almost stupid how much Laxus enjoyed the other man's presence even when he was asleep. Laxus wasn't going to think too hard about it, there was no point.

All he had to do was keep driving.

It took about an hour of driving after Bickslow had fallen asleep for Laxus to spy slight movement in Freed's chair. He shifted slightly, let out a tried yawn and then allowed his eyes to open. As the road was empty and straight, Laxus allowed himself to watch the display with a somewhat dopey grin on his face.

"Mornin' sleepyhead," He said with a smile.

"Morning," Freed croaked, looking at the pillow around his neck with confusion; Ever and Bix had been responsible then. "What time is it?"

"Early," Laxus said with a grin. "Go back to sleep, Freed. You'll be exhausted."

"I doubt it," Freed said as he removed the pillow and cracked his back in the seat. "I fell asleep about an hour after you did."

"I didn't realise that you were tired?" Laxus glanced to his side.

"I wasn't really," Freed smiled as he spoke. "I thought you might get bored on your own, and that you might want some company."

Laxus was almost embarrassed by how warm that made him feel inside. He'd never really been with someone who might have done something like that for him, even if all Freed had actually done was go to sleep a little earlier than normal. The fact that Freed had even thought about doing that left the man feeling almost loved. Of course that was ridiculous, given that they'd known each other for less than a week and had been seeing each other for a day and a half.

"That's nice of ya," Laxus admitted, cheeks a little red. "You didn't need to."

"Nonsense," Freed said passively, waving off Laxus' comment. "I rather enjoy spending time awake at night. I think it's peaceful," Freed seemed to think for a moment, then spoke again. "No, that's not right. I do enjoy the night, but I did this because I wanted to spend time with you alone. I enjoy being around you and talking with you."

Laxus glanced at him, frowning slightly. He wondered why Freed had said that.

"Sorry," Freed said, seemingly noticing Laxus' confusion. "Erm, one of the reasons my ex left me, apparently, was that I tended to be emotionally unavailable; his words. But I understand why he thought that, and I don't want you to feel the same way. I feel very… I don't want to mess this up, because I like you a lot. So, I wanted to make a conscious effort to let you know that… I do appreciate you. I'm not particularly good at that, though."

"Hey," Laxus said with a slight laugh, smiling at the man softly. "Never apologise about giving me a compliment. The only time you should feel sorry about that is when you've inflated my ego and made me unsufferable."

"I'll be sure to keep a check on that," Freed said with a laugh.

"Smart," Laxus nodded. "And don't let that asshole get in your head. If you wanna give me compliments then I'm not gonna complain, but don't force yourself to do it. I ain't the kinda guy who needs to be told how great they are every five minutes."

"That's nice of you," Freed said, and he was smiling.

"Don't mention it," Laxus shrugged. "And, I mean, you really think a guy like me needs to be told how great he is," He then grinned, looking over to Freed. He winked, and would have cringed at the stupidity of his action, but Freed laughed at him. "Have you seen me?"

"I have," Freed said with a smirk. "Though I hope to see more of you."

Laxus averted his eyes, and his grip on the wheel tightened as his cheeks reddened. Freed laughed openly at the look of embarrassment, and Laxus silently cursed the other man's ability to be smooth with his ridiculous lines. All he could do was look at the near open road before him and the stars beaming down on them.

"Fucking suave shit," Laxus murmured.

"I'd apologise," Freed said with a smirk. "But I feel as though you might enjoy it more than you let on."

"You've really got a reply for everything, haven't ya," Laxus grinned as he switched lanes to overtake a truck.

"I'm afraid I do," Freed shared Laxus' grin. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"Not at all," Laxus grinned.

After that, they fell into a steady conversation, the tiredness of the night not affecting them. It was an easy-going conversation, focusing on nothing in particular. They flittered from topic to topic, one moment speaking of their favourite albums and why they liked them, and discussing their high school life the next. On that topic, Laxus again had requested a picture of what Freed looked like as a teenager, and the other man had outright said no. He was blushing when he did it, so Laxus was pretty sure it was embarrassing.

He would have to work on that.

As the conversation turned to their favoured type of fast food, Laxus was struck by how casual this was. After becoming… less than platonic, they hadn't had time to relax as just the two of them. On the roof of the RV, overlooking the canyon, they had both been riding the high of their kiss. The next day, they had essentially been on their first date, and as easy as that was, it wasn't devoid of some anxiety.

But this was just the two of them, sitting together on their own (essentially) and talking. And it was nice. There was something comforting about it all and Laxus found himself enjoying this just as much as he enjoyed their stupid competition at the carnival yesterday.

He enjoyed them for different reasons, but enjoyed them both equally.

And when time passed, and they were given an unhindered view of the sun rising in front of them, Laxus felt almost weak with emotion. And, for perhaps the firsts time since meeting Freed, he didn't care that they had only known each other for a short time. Because Laxus was feeling what he was feeling, and at that moment he was thinking that Freed could be something special.

That was a great feeling.

~~~

"Did you kids have a nice time?"

Laxus didn't know how long Makarov had been waiting outside of their house, but he was ready to greet them all as the RV drove up his street. The short man waved at the group as they approached, and Laxus couldn't help but groan in embarrassment; the old man loved making a spectacle to annoy his grandson. Bickslow playfully chastised him, stating he should respect his elders. All Laxus could do was glare at him.

"Yeah we did," Bickslow grinned, leaning out of the window. "We went to a big dry hole. It was like Christmas for the amount of innuendoes I could make."

"I shouldn't have expected anything less," Makarov laughed. "I expect you haven't eaten any real food since you left, do you all want some lunch? I've got a curry cooking, and more than enough for all of you."

Laxus went to speak, but Ever beat him to it. "That'd be lovely. And you can meet Freed."

Laxus glared at her, climbing out of his seat. Evergreen gave him a smile so cruel it reminded him of just how large a sadist she could be. He would have gotten some sort of revenge on her, but instead looked towards Freed with a slight worried expression.

Given their decision to keep their relationship devoid of labels, he worried that Freed wouldn't be ready to meet Laxus' family. It was one thing to be coerced into going on a date together while they're being casual, it was another thing entirely to have Freed meet his parental figure. But when he looked to Freed, the other man was smiling at him. Apparently he had expected Laxus to have such a reaction.

"We should get better friends," Freed eventually said, smiling.

"Yeah," Laxus agreed. "You okay with this?"

"Of course," Freed nodded. "Although, someone once tried to give me the shovel talk once, and I responded by saying 'I could easily kill you before you kill me.' The man wasn't pleased with that."

"Gramps ain't the shovel talk type of guy," Laxus shrugged. "And if you did say that I think he'd respect ya for it."

Freed chuckled, nodded, and left the RV.

As they walked into Laxus' home, Freed introduced himself to Makarov politely. Thankfully, Ever and Bix seemed to be not entirely evil, as they assisted the introduction by listing off many of Freed's achievements and good traits. He could almost forgive the troublesome bastards, had they not sat at the table in a way that forced Freed to sit between Laxus and his grandfather. He kicked them both, so they knew he was aware of what they were doing.

Makarov was thankfully unaware of their sniggering, Laxus' annoyance and Freed's apparent amusement of the situation. The older man was at the top of his step ladder, spooning curry and rice into bowls for them all. When he turned back around, he was grinning.

"So tell me about your time away, kids," Makarov requested, smiling.

"It was good," Laxus spoke before anyone else. "We had a couple of stops on the way, which is why we're a day later than we said we'd be. But it was fun. Nice to have a break."

"I can imagine," Makarov smiled, taking a seat and looking at Bickslow and Evergreen. "And how has college been. It feels like months since I last saw you?"

"It's good," Bickslow said over a mouthful of rice. "Tougher than I expected. When everyone said that it'd harder than school, I thought that it meant the stuffs not as easy to understand. Not that there's a fuck load more of it."

"Then this break has been well earned then," Makarov claimed with a wide, fatherly smile. "Where did you stop off on your great trip across the country then?"

"A couple of places," Laxus shrugged. "Past a waterpark on the way there, so spent a day there. There was a pretty nasty night, so we slept at a motel. Had a couple meals at truck stops and diners so we didn't have to eat Bickslow's crappy cooking every day," Bickslow let out an exclamation at that. "And we went to a carnival on the way back, which was fun. Played some games, ate crappy fast food, watched a show."

"Someone even managed to get your grandson to see a psychic," Evergreen said, mischief in her tone while looking directly at Freed, who rolled his eyes with a smile.

"They must have been quite convincing," Makarov commented, apparently not noticing how Evergreen had hidden her real intent behind her words. "I remember the time I texted a psychic and Laxus spent a whole day ranting about how it was a waste of money."

"I guess he was pretty convincing," Bickslow said, grinning, and Laxus gave him a warning glare. "Though, he did have an advantage that the rest of us don't."

Even Freed smirked at that, and Laxus practically pouted. He had hoped the other man would be his saviour in some way, and would not enjoy what they were doing. Apparently he had been betrayed even by him.

"What did they say," Makarov asked Laxus. "You going to meet someone tall dark and handsome?"

Evergreen barked out a laugh, Freed raised an eyebrow at Laxus while smirking and Bickslow opened his mouth to say something that would inevitably be some kind of reference to Freed and Laxus' budding relationship. Laxus quickly stamped on the asshole's foot, which caused him to let out a loud and undignified squeak. Makarov looked up at that, looking over the group of people with suspicion. Laxus groaned and leant on his hand.

"What am I missing?" He demanded, and Laxus crumpled.

"I think I can probably explain," Freed was the one to speak first, and Laxus glanced at him form under his hand. "Your grandson and I kissed two days ago, went on a date yesterday, and have basically been flirting since we met," He said it in such a matter of fact voice, and it made Laxus have butterflies in his stomach. It was ridiculous, but he was grinning. "These two seemed to find great joy in seeing how close they could get to angering Laxus to the point where he punches them."

"So, are you my grandson's boyfriend then?" Makarov asked Freed, face enigmatic. Laxus cringed slightly.

"We haven't discussed that yet, but I like to think that I will be soon," Freed said, looking at Laxus with a smile.

"You would?" Laxus asked, a stupid level of hope in his voice.

"Of course I would," Freed said with a nod, and the butterflies in his stomach increased tenfold. "As you yourself said earlier, you're great. Why wouldn't I want to be your boyfriend."

A feeling of giddiness entered Laxus, so much so that he didn't care Freed had revealed the arrogant comment Laxus had made in their morning together. If the two of them were alone, he would have leant over and kissed the hell out of the man. But, as they weren't, he settled for ducking his head in embarrassment and bumping his leg against Freed's in a show of both appreciation and reciprocation. Freed seemed to understand what the gesture meant, as he smiled and nudged Laxus back.

Makarov took a moment to look over the two men, before grinning wide in encouragement. He didn't say anything other than 'well it's nice to meet you' before letting the topic drop and go onto how Evergreen was handling her college course. The old man did smile when he caught his grandson sharing a smile with the object of his affections.

After that, the meal went by without incident. They spoke more in depth about what had happened during their week off, and Bickslow had teased both Freed and Laxus for their unsubtle glances of each other before they got together. Even Makarov had barked out a laugh when Bickslow animatedly explained how ridiculous they had been at the waterpark, sneaking glanced at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. Laxus hadn't kicked him this time, Makarov already knew how much of a disaster he could be around a guy he liked.

Once the meal was finished, the group of them left the kitchen and walked to the truck. Laxus removed his bags from the storage space as Bickslow and Evergreen climbed back into the RV, Evergreen making a comment about giving him and Freed privacy to say goodbye.

"Fuckin hate them," Laxus shook his head.

"Well, I suppose we wouldn't have met without them, so we can't hate them that much," Freed chuckled. "So, will we see each other soon?"

"Yeah, yeah I think so," Laxus nodded, smiling a little. "I mean I lost that bet to ya yesterday. You still have to make me pay for a date."

"That's true," Freed said, smiling also. "You've been annoyingly humble about that loss, I must say."

"I'd rather have to pay for a date then have all my socials be covered in a pic of me scared out of my damn mind," Laxus taunted with a grin, and Freed rolled his eyes.

"Do you ever intent to let that go?" He asked.

"Oh god no. You'll die before I let you forget," Laxus grinned.

"Well, if that's the case then maybe the date I want is to watch you go down that slide time after time for a full twenty-four hours," Freed smirked with crossed arms. "What would you say about that?"

"I'd say you wanna see me in a swimsuit again," Laxus flirted back, raising an eyebrow. Freed chuckled.

"Can you blame me?"

"Guess not," Laxus shook his head. "I mean, Bickslow told me you wear a speedo when you swim for working out, and I wanna see that."

"I will kill him," Freed said with a shake of his head. Laxus chuckled, and they caught each other's eyes again, and smiled. "What about coffee? For our first real date. No pressure or expectations, just something a little casual."

"Coffee sounds great," Laxus nodded.

"Good," Freed nodded. "I should mention that, as you're paying, we'll be going to a five star restaurant and I'm going to buy the most expensive blend and pour it down the toilet about a hundred times, one time for each of those comments you've made about that fucking picture. Is that okay?" He finished with a grin.

"It's a date," Laxus said, matching the expression.

Freed turned to leave, but Laxus grabbed his hand and tugged the man towards him. He tilted his head down and pressed their lips together, kissing him softly and wrapping his arm around Freed's waist. The other man brought his hand to Laxus' cheeks and leant further into the kiss, making Laxus melt into him.

"How does Monday sound?" Laxus asked into the kiss, and Freed chuckled slightly.

"Sounds perfect," Freed replied, leaning further into the kiss and placing a hand on the back of his neck. After a moment, he pulled back, resting their foreheads together while ignoring the wolf whistle from inside the RV. "See you soon, then."

"See ya," Laxus nodded.

They shared a glance and a smirk as they pulled apart. Freed climbed into the RV, leaving Laxus on the driveway with a stupid grin on his face and his bags at his side. Just before he closed the door, Freed gave Laxus a stupid wink in exactly the same way Laxus had done earlier in the morning. It made the blonde's stomach flip.

And it was in that moment that Laxus realised something. Freed was going to be the first man he'd fall in love with.

[spoon-writes]

Ends of the Earth | Chapter 12

Fandom: The Mandalorian

Pairing: Mando x OC

Read on FFN or AO3

Summary: When Sinead's husband is ripped from her, she escapes the Hutt Empire and goes on a quest to find him. Since being a runaway slave in the Outer Rim isn't exactly easy, she makes the Mandalorian an offer he can't refuse and soon they travel across the galaxy, looking for her missing husband.

Chapter index

Chapter 12 - The Mines of Celvalara

It felt like years, not days since they set out from Celvalara, and Din allowed himself a deep breath as the ship touched down on the moon, letting himself feel the exhaustion that weighed on him like a lead blanket, before steeling himself once again. The mission wasn’t over yet.

A cluster of people had already gathered in front of the ship. A shock of red hair moved through the crowd.

The child cooed when Din picked him up. “Glad to be out of there?” Din asked quietly, looking closely at the little green face, the dark eyes that felt like they could penetrate his helmet and see the real him.

The ramp was down when he got down the ladder, Suri and the rebel had already disappeared into the crowd below and Erno stood at the bottom of the ramp talking with Gatt.

Sinead stood by the opening, looking at Mirian who stood with her back against the opposite wall. “You can’t hide in here,” Sinead said. “Just get it over with.”

Mirian squared her shoulders but no amount of determination could hide her trembling hands, and she hurried down the ramp and gave Gatt one frightful look before elbowing her way through the crowd.

Gatt’s blue eyes followed her niece, a vein popping on her temple. Once Din and Sinead had made it down to the ground, she turned her steely eyes on them. “What the fuck happened out there?” Her hands clenched at her side.

Sinead took a small step forward. “Maybe we should take this inside.”

… … … … …

Gatt drew a hand across her face, breathing deeply through her nose. Sinead and Erno had just finished telling her what happened, with little input from Din, who chose to stand at the back of Gatt’s cramped office. The kid nestled into his arm, seemingly content with just quietly watching what was happening.

“How did you not notice a girl in that tiny bucket of rust?”

"She hid under the main motor, with a breath mask," Sinead said.

"Idiot girl.” Gatt pinched her lips together. “My sister and her bleeding heart of a husband coddled her. She doesn’t know anything about the real world. I'll deal with Mirian later."

Sinead shifted. “She was nearly killed, don’t you think that’s punishment enough?”

"I’m not one to let insubordination slide.”

"She's a child, not one of your men. Isn't that why you don’t want her involved?"

Din felt the change in the room as Gatt glowered at Sinead. He was about to step forward, when the door opened and the politician hurried in, nearly knocking into Din. It seemed like he had a knack for interrupting tense situations. "Ah, there you are! I heard you were back." He tripped around the desk and stood beside Gatt, who looked about as pleased to see him as she was of hearing Sinead's remark. "I assume those are for us." He gestured to the stack of datacards sitting in front of Gatt.

"They are," Gatt said between gritted teeth.

"Marvelous!" He beamed across the desk. "I would like to extend to you my most sincere gratitude for your invaluable help in this, our fight against tyranny. Rest assured, your names will not be forgotten as we continue to work towards a brighter future."

That nearly made Din snort. He wondered what Bal-Sul would say if they pointed out that he didn't know their names, and would like to keep it that way. He'd probably flounder for a bit before trying to change the subject. Politicians.

"I do believe it's time for you to uphold your end of the bargain," Sinead said once Sul-Bal was done with his spiel.

"Right," Gatt sighed, and got up from her desk. She went to the door and bellowed down the corridor. "Sedabb!"

The Sullustan appeared in the doorway, wiping his brow with a trembling hand. "Yes, Commander?"

"Escort these two down to the archive." She looked directly at Sinead. "Do not take them anywhere else. Once they're done, take them to their ship. Do not let them wander, ya hear?"

"Y-yes, Commander." Sedabb's jowls trembled.

"You stay here, Erno," Gatt said, moving back to sit behind the desk. “We’re not done yet.”

Din was glad when the door shut to Gatt's office and he'd be even gladder to leave the moon, but they still had work to do.

Sinead seemed to walk faster as they followed Sedabb into the mine, her eyes shining in the harsh light even as they turned red and irritated from the hot gusts of wind. Din felt the heat too, how it snuck under his armor and made beads of sweat break out on his brow. He couldn't wait to get a moment alone so he could remove his helmet; it felt like he'd lived in his armor for weeks.

They came to an old lift that led further into the depths. It was nothing more than a platform held in place by two cables suspended over a void, no railing of any kind to keep anyone from falling into the deep. Din subconsciously held the child closer.

"It doesn't look like much, but I promise you it's safe," Sedabb said, scuffing the ground with his foot. "Lurian craftsmanship always holds up.” He grabbed a rusty lantern from a hook on the wall and handed it to Sinead.

"I guess we have to take your word for it," Sinead said and stepped into the lift, the movement sending a shudder through the cables.

Din went after her and felt how the platform wobbled with every movement. The child craned his neck to see into the deep.

Sedabb hit a small lever set into the wall and jumped on before the platform started to descend, the movement sending it swinging. Din's heart jumped in his chest and his hand shot out and grabbed Sinead’s shoulder before she lost her balance. On his other arm, the child giggled.

"Sorry about that," Sedabb squeaked. "There’s supposed to be someone manning the lever at all times, but now it’s just me.”

"A little warning next time." Sinead's voice was higher than normal.

"Sorry ..."

Din's hand fell away the second he was sure she wasn't about to slide over the edge. She flashed him a small grateful smile before clearing her throat and looking at the child. "At least he’s having fun."

Carefully, Sedabb picked his way across the platform. "What is it?" He asked and peered at the child in Din's arms, who fought the instinct to shield him from view.

He rolled his shoulders in irritation, about to tell the Sullustan to mind his own business when Sinead jumped in.

"He’s a baby Jawa."

"W-what?"

"That's how they look under their robes. You didn't think they sprang out fully cloaked, did you?"

Din grinned under his helmet.

"Really?" Sedabb stared at the child, his mouth open. "But his eyes aren't yellow."

"They don't start turning yellow before adolescence, see. It's still just a Youngling." Sinead's smirk was visible even in the gloom.

"Why -uh ... why'd you have it?"

"We found him-" she seemed to catch Din's look even through his helmet- "on, uh, Tatooine. Abandoned."

"Oh," Sedabb took off his soft cap and dabbed some sweat from his brow. "That was nice of you to keep him."

The lift moved at a snail's pace. Every gust of wind made it rock on the cable which creaked in the darkness above them and the lamp cast a weak circle of light that barely lit the platform. It grew hotter and a sharp stink of sulfur and rot filled the air.

At long last, the lift touched ground and Sedabb was the first to skitter off the platform and onto uneven ground. "We're here," he said and threw out an arm to gesture at their surroundings. From what could be seen in the low light it looked like more of the same uneven tunnels as before, although the stench of sulfur was much stronger.

Sinead got off the platform and turned on her heel. “Lovely place you got here.” Her voice echoed down the tunnel.

The Sullustan smiled shyly at the ground. “I-I’m the only one who comes down here, really, and Bix of course. You’ll meet him in a bit.”

A small wave of relief went through Din once his feet were once again planted on uneven, but secure, ground. He looked up at the impenetrable darkness above. “You don’t use the tunnels for anything?”

“Um, not really, no. The risk of cave-ins is too big.” He caught Sinead’s expression. “I-I mean most folks can’t navigate this place alone, they’ll wander into an unstable tunnel and boom.” He wiped his forehead again.

“Well, consider me reassured.”

Sedabb wrung his hands. “It’s not far, honestly. There’s nothing to worry about.” He led them down a small tunnel that seemed to be going in a straight line, and it didn’t take long before Din lost all sense of direction in the darkness. Thousands of feet had worn down the ground to a smooth surface.

“You sure you don’t need the light?” Sinead’s voice echoed through the tunnel.

Sedabb was nothing but a silhouette in the darkness. “Oh no, we Sullustan’s evolved underground. Having a light in my eyes would only slow me down to tell you the truth.”

They came to a junction of sorts, a small chamber where more tunnels led farther into the mine. The light revealed old signs in Aurebesh that Din couldn't read in the low light. Apparently, Sedabb didn't need them, because he made his way to one unremarkable tunnel and gestured for them to follow.

“You know what they mined down here?" Sinead ducked under a spiderweb that hung suspended between two rusty beams that Sedabb had somehow avoided.

"Bix knows more about it than I do, really, I mostly map the caves and such. He found some records the other day, about a project they were working on."

"Who's they?" Din asked. His cloak fluttered in the hot wind.

"Oh, um, it was the Empire. They showed up years ago, started up the old mines even though it was too dangerous. Celvalara's structure is already weak, you know, but they just kept on digging. Celvalara's more mine than moon at this point, I always say." He sent a smile over his shoulder.

"What were they looking for? Spice?" Sinead asked.

"Goodness no, we don't have anything like that here. It's hard to say, on account of the Empire leaving in such a hurry. I think- I mean, Bix thinks that they were building some big station called Eclipse.”

“What kinda name is that?”

“Codename, probably.”

Something skittered across the rock and high-pitched squeaks echoed through the tunnel. An upturned cart lay across the passage spilling dirt and rocks on the ground.

"Why would anyone ever abandon a place like this," Sinead said as she skirted around the cart.”

"Haha, yes,” Sedabb said nervously. "It's just through here." He stopped by the same kind of door that led to Gatt's office. This one was propped open by a wrench and warm light spilled out of the gap and it groaned when Sedabb forced it open.

It looked like the room’s original purpose had been an observation deck and not an archive; one of the walls was made up entirely of a thick window looking out into total blackness, and along the opposite wall ran a control panel that stretched all the way up to the tall ceiling. The new occupants of the room had filled it to the brim with stuff;  mining tools and equipment, broken data discs, machinery parts spilling foul-smelling oil on the floor, and broken stormtrooper armor was all thrown in a pile in the middle of the room or stacked on every available surface. The fluorescent lights that lined the room had long since died so it was lit solely by flickering lanterns placed wherever there was room on the floor.

A low clicking sound sent a spike of adrenaline down Din’s spine. A creature dislodged itself from the ceiling and landed between the heaps of junk, toppling over a stack of flimsi. Its bulbous eyes narrowed as it looked from Din to Sinead.

Din turned his body to shield the child while grabbing his blaster in a fluid motion.

Sedabb let out a squeak and skittered into Din’s vision. “Don’t shoot! He’s a friend. It’s Bix!”

The Geonosian made a long string of clicks and beat his wings in aggravation. Din sneered under his helmet. He’d only met a Geonosian once years before and he had heard rumors that the Empire had wiped most of them out. Despite everything, he felt a small stab of sympathy.

“Oh, um, Gatt ordered me to bring them down here. They’re looking for someone.”

Bix let out a guttural scream, and the kid hid his face in Din’s arm.

“I’m sorry,” Sedabb winced. “He … doesn’t really like people in his space.”

“You understand him?” Sinead slowly let her hand fall from her blaster.

“Um, yes. It’s not that hard really once you get the hang of it. It’s a bit like binary.”

“Right,” she muttered. Her brow furrowed when she looked around the room. “You found all of this in the mine?”

“You won’t believe how much stuff the Empire left just lying around."

Bix sat down on the only surface not occupied by useless crap, still clicking a long string of nonsensical sounds. The bad lighting cast strange shadows over his twig-like body.

"You know what happened down here to make the Empire clear out?" Sinead crouched down to get a better look at the Stormtrooper armor. She reached out for the nearest helmet, and Bix erupted in a shrill scream. The child cried out and Din drew his blaster.

Sedabb jumped between them again. "Wait! He doesn't like anyone touching his things!"

Getting to her feet, Sinead sneered at the Geonosian. "You don't say!"

Sedabb looked imploringly at Din. "Please just put your blaster down and tell him what you need to find."

Slowly, Din lowered his blaster but kept it at hand just in case the Geonosian went off again. The child made a soft noise and Din held him a little closer while trying to relax his tense shoulders.

“Okay.” Sinead folded her arms across her chest. “Okay, let’s get this over with.” She looked at the Geonosian. “I’m looking for someone by the name of Kyen Beck. He came here along with other slaves from the Hutt Empire, I’m not sure exactly when.”

Bix stopped his clacking and jumped down from his seat, hobbling over to a stack of datacards hidden under a stained stormtrooper chest plate. He started going through them, replacing each one carefully when he was done peering at the name.

“Why, uh, why do you need to find a former slave?” Sedabb’s voice wobbled as he spoke.

“I have my reasons.” Sinead’s eyes followed the Geonosian’s every move.

Din recognized the look Sedabb gave him, he’d seen it countless times before in the faces of his bounties or whoever was stupid enough to hide them. Fear, disgust, anger. The child felt heavy in his arms.

To everyone’s surprise, Sedabb took a deep breath and stood up straight, his entire body trembling with indignation. “Now I-I don’t … I don’t think I can just let you d-do that.”

“We’re not here to-“ Din said before really realizing what he was doing. “I mean … he’s not-“ He stopped short, he’d never before cared what some stranger thought of him so why now?

Sinead tore her gaze away from Bix, her brows furrowed before she caught on. “We’re not trying to bring him back, I swear. I, um, knew him. From the Hutts.”

Her last statement hung in the air.

“Oh. Oh!” Sedabb cast his eyes down on the cluttered ground. “I didn’t know that.”

“So can we maybe …” Sinead gestured to the datapads.

“Ah, yes, right!” Sedabb said and turned to Bix. “Found anything yet?”

The Geonosian made a noise Din assumed meant yes and went over to the control panel that lined the wall where he shoved a collection of metal plates off the console to reveal a dusty screen with a big crack running along the bottom which flickered on with a small pop. Bix slotted the datacard into the console and a row of names appeared on the screen. Sinead rushed forward and Bix screeched again, shielding the screen with his body.

"Alright, fine!" Sinead threw up her hands in defeat. "Just look for Kyen Beck."

Bix warbled something under his breath and turned back to the screen while blocking as much of it as he could with his thin body.

While they waited, Din went over to a hollowed-out astromech propped up in the corner, taking care not to touch anything. Neither Sedabb nor the lone Geonosian was any real threat to him, but every minute staying on this godforsaken moon wound him even tighter with anxiety.

Sinead didn't move a muscle and stared a hole into the Geonosian's back, her face carefully neutral.

Something glinted in the glow from the lamps half-hidden by a moth-eaten uniform of undeterminable origin, and Din pulled it away without thinking and grabbed the small metal disc which shoved two crossed force pikes.

Bix clacked loudly and flapped his wings so hard he lifted a foot off the ground.

"He says that there's no record of a Kyen Beck working here," Sedabb squeaked. "Sorry."

"What?" Sinead strode to the screen and pushed Bix out of the way under loud clacking protest. "He must've been here! Check it again!"

Sedabb raised his voice over the indignant Bix. "I'm sorry, but I did say that some of the records are missing."

"So what? We risked our lives for nothing?"

Din looked down at the emblem. "Maybe not."

Sinead stopped mid-rant. "What do you mean?"

"This." He threw the disc to Sinead. "You heard about Loovria? Used to be a slave hub during the Empire."

She ignored Bix’s angry screams. "Unfortunately, yes." She jabbed the emblem at Sedabb. "Where did you find this?"

"Let me see." Sedabb gingerly took the emblem and peered at it. "I'm not really sure, it could've come from a lot of places."

"But are you sure you found it here in the mine?"

"Oh yes, it's definitely from here."

Din breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe now they could finally leave. "If the Empire dealt with Loovria, he could have been sent there or somebody there might know him.”

Sinead bit her lower lip and looked back at the screen.

"Best lead we got."

"Alright," she grunted, and Sedabb handed her the emblem back, under loud protests from Bix.

"C'mon Bix, it's not like we need it. You didn't even know it was there in the first place!"

Sinead joined Din at the door where she offered Sedabb a weak smile. Din noticed how she drew her thumb across the emblem in an almost trance-like way.

"Thank you," Din said to Sedabb who shuffled a bit on the spot.

"Don't mention it," he said. "We're just happy to help. I hope you find him."

"I do too." Sinead closed her hand around the emblem.

Finally, they could get out of here.

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

They were still here.

A surly dug had informed them as they arrived outside, that he’d been asked to fill the ship with fuel and now Din had nothing to do but wait for him to be done. The child toddled around in the trampled grass on the lookout for anything to examine or eat. Din followed behind him but otherwise left him to his own devices since it wouldn't be long before he was cooped up in a ship again.

Sinead had been quiet on the way back and she had disappeared as soon as they came out of the mine.

The kid tried to climb up a power converter that was connected to half a dozen starships and Din grabbed him before he could electrocute himself. He was about to return to the ship when he heard a familiar voice over the sound of the base.

"I'm glad I caught you before we leave," Sinead said, her voice coming from behind a starfighter.

"I don't wanna talk to you,” Mirian mumbled.

"That's fine, I'll talk at you and you can choose whether or not to listen." There was a slight pause. "I know it feels like you're alone in all of this, but almost getting killed isn't the answer. I honestly don't know if you wanted to help or you were trying to kill yourself, but you can't drag other people down with you: You get that, right? You're not the first one to be trapped against your will and you won't be the last but dying isn't the only way out."

Din knew he should go, but his feet were frozen to the ground.

"A wise woman once told me that no matter what they do to you, as long as you keep breathing, they haven't won. Ever. No matter how much you want to scream and fight back, you keep your head down until you find a moment to strike. I promise it's coming, someday you get to fight back on your own terms."

"And what happens if I can't just sit here?" Mirian's voice was thick with tears.

"You have to. No matter how much it hurts you keep on breathing. And if the urge to stow away on a ship ever gets too strong, find some small rebellion to tide you over. I used to steal, although I have to advise you against taking anything too important. You want to show you're still living, not tank the whole operation."

Mirian made a sound like she was stifling a laugh.

The seemed to snap Din out of whatever kept him there and he hurried back to the ship and tried to tamp down on the uneasy feeling that made his chest feel tight.

Sinead showed up just as the dug hobbled away, and she sent Din a smile that made him look away.

"You ready to go?" She asked.

"Mhm."

"How do you know about Loovria? Been there before?"

"Was there for a bounty."

"Oh."

"A bail jumper hiding out in the capital city. You heard about it too?"

"We all knew about Loovria. No matter how bad we had it, someone always had it worse." She looked down at the emblem still in her hands. “Luria, Loovria. As long as it doesn’t end with us running for our lives.”

"Right." Din grabbed the ladder. "Let's go before they find something else they need us to do.”

<- Previous chapter - Next chapter ->

[kpop-imagines-247]

Wished you were a better man (BI x reader and Zico x reader) 1/2

A/n: This starts off as I BI x reader but it leads into Zico x reader really fast. Don’t worry there is a part 2 that is already in the works I promise.~zero

Part 2 

word count: 1699

pairing: Zico x reader undertones of Bix reader

warrings: Curse words?? Mentions of cheating and being beaten up

Date posted: July 15, 2019

Hanbin and I have been dating for a very long time now, I think he first took me out on a date when I was about twelve. The early years of our relationship were amazing, he always made me feel like I was the only girl in the world. Until things started to change for the worst; about six months ago. He started going out more, staying out from ungodly hours of the night some times he didn’t even come home at all. He completely stopped sleeping with me, he hardly ever talks to me and when he has to it is always short one-word answers like he is mad at me. He hasn’t told me he loved me for five months, I am starting to question this whole relationship. During this time I started to confide in my best friend Jiho. We have been friends since my older brother Hyoseob introduced us about 4 years ago.

  Tonight is the night of Penomeco’s birthday party, so naturally, I was invited by my older brother and Jiho. Me being the nice girlfriend I was invited Hanbin, but just like every other time I asked him to go out he was busy and couldn’t come. I love how he follows his dreams but at this point, it is starting to become a curse.

Sighing I get dressed into my white wrap around crop top, some mint green skinny jeans, and my favorite pair of white strappy heels. When I finally get downstairs I see Jiho waiting for me in all white. “How did you get in?” I ask 

“Y/n/n you still haven’t changed the code, it’s been the same for four years.” He says with a chuckle.

“Duh, I keep forgetting to change it,” I say while putting my phone in my purse.

“Y/n/n you look beautiful,” he says while looking at my outfit and then meets my shocked gaze.

“T-thank you Jiho, you don’t look bad yourself.” 

“Y/n, when was the last time someone called you beautiful?” he asks while checking the time.

“It has been a while,” I say then continue. “We don’t want to be late so shall we be off,”  I say while looping my arm with his failing to see his look of disappointment. 

“We shall you weirdo.” He says while walking me out to his car. 

Once at the club, we get through the line very quick and easily. This is a very special club it is only for idols and their close friends, you can’t even get in unless you are accompanied by an idol or if they pre-call and have your name on a list. 

Our next mission is weaving through the sweaty bodies of idols on the dance floor to reach where the birthday boys table. “Happy Birthday Wookie!!” I exclaim while pulling the older male into a hug.

“Y/n/n I am glad you could make it.” He says while pulling away for the hug.

“Oppa, I would miss it for the world.”

“Hey, Y/n/n I am going to get drinks, what would you like?” Jiho ask me.

“It feels so weird being asked that now,” I pause and everyone at the table laughs “Um, just surprise me Jiho,” I say while making brief eye contact with Jiho.

 After he leaves I turn towards Millic at his DJ booth. “Hey, Millic how are things tonight,” I ask

“They’re actually really good. Um hey, Y/n/n I hate to be the barrier of bad news and bring this up but isn’t that your man.” He says while pointing to the far left corner. Looking where his finger is pointing my eyes widen while tears filled my eyes at what I see. I can’t say I am surprised but it still hurt like a bitch to have to see what I saw. 

“He told me he was at the studio too busy to hang out with me but clearly he was lying about that too.”  when I finish my sentence Jiho come walking over with our drinks, and just in time may I add.

“What’s wrong y/n/n?” He asks with concern in his voice as he hands me my drink.

Not replying I just start to down my drink hoping it will take that disgusting sight out of my mind. “Hey, hey, hey Hun slow down, you’ll throw up if you keep on drinking at this rate,” Jiho says while taking the drink away from my lips.

I go to reach for my drink again, but instead, he hands my drink off to Dean who was watching this whole event play out, and he asks me again. “Y/n/n talk to me, I can’t help make it better if you don’t tell me what is wrong.”  I just could not stop a few tears from slipping from my eyes while I pull him into a hug with my head buried in his shoulder.

Once he arms are around me I hear him start to question Millic with a slight edge in his voice. “Dude, what the hell did you do?” 

Millic responds with “ hey man I didn’t do anything but that guy over in the far left corner did.” 

I feel Jiho pull away, with a dangerous look written on his face he says, “Dean, Millic, you two  come with me, Crush take you sister to one of the upstairs rooms, we will be up soon.” 

“Jiho, I thought you didn’t like or tolerate violence?” I ask before my brother can take me to one of the rooms.

“I do now! No one, not even Hanbin will get away with treating you the way he has been. “ He says while starting to walk toward my boyfriend who still has his tongue down some random girls throat.

“Come on love,” My brother says while grabbing my drink in one hand and my hand in the other leading me to one of the VIP rooms. 

Once upstairs in the safety of the enclosed room, I finally burst into a teary sobbing mess. “Aww sis come here, lay your head on my shoulder. Let it all out.” My brother says while pulling me into his lap on one of the couches. 

Gently rocking us back and forth while holding the back of my head with one hand he starts to sing like when we were children and I would scrape my knee on the concrete. “I see you hurt, I see you suffering.”

“You're not alone, in case you’re wondering, you can come to me.” By the end of the song, I had calmed down enough to tell my brother what exactly is going on and why I was so upset. ( A/N: Crush happen to show up just in time for Jiho to tell him to get you upstairs.) 

Just after I finished my whole story the boys come upstairs with a bloody and bruised Hanbin. Jiho then sets him down on his knees in front of where I sat, Jiho holds him up by his shoulders so he doesn’t fall on his bruised face.

“Y/n/n I am so so-” Hanbin starts “Save it, you are not sorry if you where you would not have done this in the first place, you are only sorry that you have gotten caught B.I” I interrupt him

“B.I I can’t do this for any longer, I can’t play this game anymore! Did you even love me at all.” I ask while he flinches at the sound of his stage name coming out of my mouth, He has never been B.I to me always just Hanbin. 

When he doesn’t even try to answer I get all the information I needed. Shaking my head I say “I hate you B.I, I hate how you played me for a fool, I want you out of my house by next week, you can live at the dorm! Considering you Hardly ever come home to me anyway.” Then I walk past him to Dongwook who is standing by the door looking a B.I with a look of hatred.

 “I am sorry your birthday was ruined,” I say to him then give him a hug. 

“Sweetpea, it wasn’t ruined, why don’t you and Hyung go home okay. I will come by and see you two tomorrow.” He says while rubbing my back then he pulls away.

After a short quite journey to my home, we finally reach the comforting atmosphere. I break down into tears again this time falling into the comforting arms of Jiho. “I-i’m sorry I probably look so weak right now,” I say with my voice wavering from the tears and muffled by his white shirt.  

“Y/n/n just let me hold you. It is not a bad thing to cry, in fact, I think it makes a person so much stronger.” He says while rubbing slow soft circles on my back.

Now that I have calmed down enough I let Jiho lead me to the couch where he sits down beside me close enough to me in case I need to cry on his shoulder. 

“Y/n I know you are going to need time to heal from this, I just want you to know that I love you with all my heart, I always have and I always will love you. I hope when you are ready that you’ll allow me to give you the world and do all the things that B.I should have done from the start. I want to treat you like the queen you are.” He says while taking my hand is his and moving his thumb gently back and forth on the back of my hand. 

“Thank you so much Jiho, I just want you to know how much I appreciate you and all that you are doing for me. It will take time for me to trust and love again but just knowing that you will be there waiting for me will make it a lot easier.” I reply while softly putting my head on his shoulder cuddling myself into his side.

[imaginationstimulation]

I recently read A Visit From the Goon Squad written by Jennifer Egan.

This novel reads more like a collection of short stories about different characters who are almost inconsequentially related to various degrees. 

One obvious theme is about the interconnectedness of all people. 

More deeply, the book is a reflection on time and the endlessness of growing up; how our values and, more seriously, our identities change--or don’t--with time. 

These are the lines and excerpts I highlighted as I read: 

“I’m always happy,” Sasha said. “Sometimes I just forget.” (Chapter 1).

“She could tell that he was in excellent shape, not from going to the gym but from being young enough that his body was still imprinted with whatever sports he’d played in high school and college.”

“...something more than relief: a blessed indifference, as if the very idea of feeling pain over such a thing were baffling.”

“In fact the whole apartment, which six years ago had seemed like a way station to some better place, had ended up solidifying around Sasha, gathering mass and weight, until she felt both mired in it and lucky to have it—as if she not only couldn’t move on but didn’t want to.” 

“She wanted badly to please him, to say something like, It was a turning point everything feels different now, or I called Lizzie and we made up finally, or I’ve picked up the harp again, or just I’m changing I’m changing I’m changing: I’ve changed! Redemption, transformation--God how she wanted these things. Every day, every minute. Didn’t everyone?”

“Bennie knew that what he was bringing into the world was shit. Too clear, too clean. The problem was precision, perfection; the problem was digitization, which sucked the life out of everything that got smeared through its microscopic mesh. Film, photography, music: dead. An aesthetic holocaust! Bennie knew better than to say this stuff aloud.” (Chapter 2).

“an urge to confess the malapropism to his fourth grader.”

“As he sipped, a sensation of pleasure filled his whole torso the way a snowfall fills up a sky. Jesus, he felt good.”

“Hearing the music get made, that was the thing: people and instruments and beaten-looking equipment aligning abruptly into a single structure of sound, flexible and alive.”

“The baby he and Stephanie had nuzzled and kissed—now this painful, mysterious presence.”

“He remembered his mentor, Lou Kline, telling him in the nineties that rock and roll had peaked at Monterey Pop. They’d been in Lou’s house in LA with its waterfalls, the pretty girls Lou always had, his car collection out front, and Bennie had looked into his idol’s famous face and thought, You’re finished. Nostalgia was the end—everyone knew that.”

“Rich people like to hostess, so they can show off their nice stuff.“ (Chapter 3). 

“Hey, Lou goes. He leans down so our faces are together, and stares straight into my eyes. He looks tired, like someone walked on his skin and left footprints. He goes, The world is full of shitheads, Rhea. Don’t listen to them—listen to me. And I know that Lou is one of those shitheads. But I listen.”

“I can’t tell if she’s actually real, or if she’s stopped caring if she’s real or not. Or is not caring what makes a person real?”

“Lou is one of those men whose restless charm has generated a contrail of personal upheaval that is practically visible behind him:” (Chapter 4, [My favorite chapter]).

“Structural Resentment: The adolescent daughter of a twice-divorced male will be unable to tolerate the presence of his new girlfriend, and will do everything in her limited power to distract him from said girlfriend’s presence, her own mascent sexuality being her chief weapon.”

“Structural Affection: A twice-divorced male’s preadolescent son (and favorite child) will embrace and accept his father’s new girlfriend because he hasn’t yet learned to separate his father’s loves and desires from his own. In a sense, he, too, will love and desire her, and she will feel maternal toward him...” 

“Structural Desire: The much younger temporary female mate of a powerful male will be inexorably drawn to the single male within range who disdains her mate’s power.”  

“These four are locked in a visceral animal-sighting competition. (Structural Fixation: A collective, contextually induced obsession that becomes a temporary locus of greed, competition, and envy.)”

“The members of Ramsey’s safari have gained a story they’ll tell for the rest of their lives. It will prompt some of them, years from now, to search for each other on Google and Facebook, unable to resist the wish-fulfillment fantasy these portals offer: What ever happened to...? In a few cases, they’ll meet again to reminisce and marvel at one another’s physical transformations, which will seem to melt away with the minutes.” 

“Structural Dissatisfaction: Returning to circumstances that once pleased you, having experienced a more thrilling or opulent way of life, and finding that you can no longer tolerate them.”

“My questions all seem wrong: How did you get so old? Was it all at once, in a day, or did you peter out bit by bit? When did you stop having parties? Did everyone else get old too, or was it just you?“ (Chapter 5).

“Your desultory twenties,” my mother calls my lost time, trying to make it sound reasonable and fun, but it started before I was twenty and lasted much longer.”

“The TV is new, flat and long, and its basketball game has a nervous sharpness that makes the room and even us look smudged.“

“Seventeen, hitchhiking. He was driving a red Mercedes. In 1979, that could be the beginning of an exciting story, a story where anything might happen. Now it’s a punch line.”

“...how better to mark success than by going to a place where you didn’t belong?“ (Chapter 7).

“I don’t want to fade away, I want to flame away.” 

“It felt impossible, as if Jules’s excitement were being siphoned from inside her, leaving Stephanie drained to the exact degree that he was invigorated.“

“All that can be said for sure is that in the presence of Kitty Jackson, the rest of us become entagled by our sheer awareness that we ourselves are not Kitty Jackson, a fact so brusquely unifying that it temporarily wipes out all distinctions betwen us--our tendency to cry inexplicably during parades, or the fact that we never learned French, or have a fear of insects that we do our best to conceal from women, or liked to eat construction paper as a child--in the presence of Kitty Jackson, we no longer are in possession of these traits; indeed, so indistinguishable are we from every other non–Kitty Jackson in our vicinity that when one of us sees her, the rest simultaneously react.” (Chapter 9.)

“At what precise moment did you tip just slightly out of alignment with the relatively normal life you had been enjoying theretofore, cant infinitesimally to the left or the right and thus embark upon the trajectory that ultimately delivered you to your present whereabouts—in my case, Rikers Island Correctional Facility?”

“Bix and Lizzie’s apartment is tiny, like a dollhouse, full of plants and the smell of plants (wet and planty), because Lizzie loves plants.” (Chapter 10).

“It’s okay,” she says, and you know you should leave it there—it’s fine, leave it alone, but some crazy engine inside you won’t let you stop:”

“He has an optimist’s attraction to everything new—a faith that it will enrich him, not hurt him.“

“The two of you reel away from her. Hilarity keeps you busy for several blocks, but there’s a sickness to it, like an itch that if you keep on scratching, will grind straight through skin and muscle and bone, shredding your heart.”

“We’re going to meet again in a different place,” Bix says. “Everyone we’ve lost, we’ll find. Or they’ll find us.” “Where? How?” Drew asks. Bix hesitates, like he’s held this secret so long he’s afraid of what will happen when he releases it into the air. “I picture it like Judgment Day,” he says finally, his eyes on the water. “We’ll rise up out of our bodies and find each other again in spirit form. We’ll meet in that new place, all of us together, and first it’ll seem strange, and pretty soon it’ll seem strange that you could ever lose someone, or get lost.”

“Sunsan was baffled at first, then distraught. [...] But eventually a sort of amnesia had overtaken Susan; her rebellion and hurt had melted away, deliquesced into a sweet, eternal sunniness that was terrible in the way that life would be terrible, Ted supposed, without death to give it gravitas and shape.” (Chapter 11).

“...all of this bolstered his awe at the gymnastic adaptability of the human mind.”

“...a fibrillating excitement such as he hadn’t felt for years in response to a work of art, compounded by further excitement that such excitement was still possible.” 

“A feeling,” Bennie said, rousing himself slightly from his deep recline. “That we have some history together that hasn’t happened yet.” (Chapter 13).

“Her confidence seemed more drastic than the outcome of a happy childhood; it was cellular confidence, as if Lulu were a queen in disguise, without need or wish to be recognized.”

“There are so many ways to go wrong,” Lulu said. “All we’ve got are metaphors, and they’re never exactly right. You can’t ever just Say. The. Thing.”

“They could meander indefinitely, these conversations...” 

[renee-writer]

Redemption Chapter 60 Christmas

Gabriella set her alarm for 5 Christmas morning. She has get everything set up before Evie wakes. Eli is bringing her bike by at 5:30. She expects Evie up by 6.

“First things first,” she thinks to herself,” gotta get the ingredients for hot cocoa.” Hot cocoa flavored by candy canes, is a Christmas morning tradition. She sits out three mugs, mix, candy canes, and a kettle of hot water. She carries it to the living room. Three mugs instead of two. The thought makes her smile. It would’ve been four but Jade begged off this morning. She would stop by this afternoon.

Jade always comes by Christmas morning. This year she said she had to visit her sister. She shrugs. Jade isn't the priority today. Showing Eli a family Christmas and giving Evie a good Christmas is.

Last Christmas, the first after their parent’s death had been real hard. She is determined to make this one better. There is a soft knock on the door.

“Merry Christmas baby.”

“Merry Christmas Eli.” The sight of him reminds her of the other thing she is looking forward to today, an answer to the secrets. She leads him and the bike in.

“Looks like I got here just in time. Evie isn't up yet?”

“Nope, but should be soon. Thank you for hiding it.”

“My pleasure. Where do you want me to place it?”

“Behind the tree, I think, otherwise she won't pay attention to anything else.”

“Good thinking.” He places the bike behind the tree and out of sight. She looks him up and down. He is dressed in kaki pants and a tight fitting ivory sweater.

“I feel a bit underdressed.” She is wearing her usual Christmas morning outfit of flannel PJ's and Christmas socks.

“You are lovely.” He assures her.

“Gabby! Eli! It is Christmas!” They hear her before they see her. She runs downstairs in her own flannel pj's that match her sisters. Her hair is unbound and flies behind her.

“Merry Christmas Evie.” Eli greets her with a big smile and open arms. She runs into them and he lifts her up and spins her around.

“Merry Christmas Eli. Look at all those presents.”

“Yes, Santa and Gabby did good, didn't they?”

“Really really good. Merry Christmas Gabby.” Eli hands her over.

“Merry Christmas Evie.”

“Look at you two. You look like twins today.”

“Yes. We match.” Evie says.

“Yes you do. I must get you guy's picture.” Eli pulls out his phone and takes a few.

“Ready for hot cocoa and presents.” Gabriella asks.

“Yes!” she yells out.

“Our tradition, Gabby explains to Eli, gesturing to the tray. They take seats on the couch and Gabriella prepares for all of them.

“You have to dip the candy cane in the cocoa.” Evie explains to Eli. “That's what makes it Christmas morning cocoa.”

He smiles and copies her and Gabriella. He takes a sip. “Wow. You are right Evie.”

“We have a cup of Christmas cocoa and then we open presents.

“Where's Aunt Jade?”

“She went to see her sister this morning. She will be here this afternoon.”

“But, she always comes for cocoa and presents.”

“I know. It is weird. But I am here and Eli. It will be okay.”

“I guess.” Eli feels a bit bad. He knows why Jade isn't here. She didn't want to intrude on what she knows he is going to do.

“How about I start handing out presents?” he offers.

“Yah!” Evie is completely distracted. He takes a seat beside the tree.

“Hmm, who do I give a gift to first?” Eli teases as his fingers one of the boxes.

“Me, me, me.” Evie still seats on the couch but is bouncing up and down.

“Well okay.” He pretends reluctance and then, with a smile, hands it her. He then digs around to find one to give her. His presents for them he intends to give them last.

“Oh. She is pretty! Gabriella thanks.”

Eli had found a small, strangely wrapped present from Evie, for both of them. He takes them out then looks up to see what doll she held. It is the sweet baby doll with the realistic soft skin and weighted arms.

“What will you name her?” Gabby asks.

“I don't know yet. Have to think.”

“Gabriella.” When she looks up, he tosses her her present from Evie.

“Oh. That is from me. Eli got one too.”

“Yes. Right here.”

“This is the secret that you and Jade were working on?”

“Yep,” She cradles the doll still in her box and watches them with anticipation.

“Okay Gabriella let's open them.” They do together.

“Oh Evie. Did you do this all by yourself?” Gabriella holds the handkerchief. It has pink stitching all around it with her initials stitched in the corner.

“Yes.” She says with pride. “Aunt Jade showed me but I did all the stitching, on both of them.”

“Both?” She looks up to see Eli also holds the same, only his initials and stitching are in blue.

“Thank you Evie. This is absolutely perfect. And to know you made it,” Eli swallows hard. He knew it would be an emotional day. He just didn’t expect this.

“Evie, we love it.” Gabriella finishes for him, pulling her into a tight hug.

“Do you want me to take your dolly out of her bix?” Eli recovers enough to ask.

“Yes thanks.” She hands the box over. He takes the doll out of the box and cuts the plastic clamps holding her in. He then hands her to Evie.

“Her head is so heavy.” Evie marvels.

“Yes, new baby's heads are so hers is.” Her sister explains.

“Cool.”

“Ready for another present?”

She is. He slowly hands them out, giving her time to appreciate each one. She loves everything. She flips over the doll that is almost her height. She, being the girly girl she is, also loves the shoes and clothes as much as the dolls.

He hands her the last box while standing in front of the bike. As he waits for her to unwrap it, giving her time to appreciate her new coat, he looks to make sure he had missed nothing. He stacks the presents marked for Jade, to the side. He finds a small box, addressed to himself, from Gabriella. He looks up meeting her eyes.

“Open it.” She says with a smile. He does while still standing in front of the bike. “ I saw it and it said you.” She continues as he lifts the lid.

Inside is a watch. It's face is a cross. It's band is covered in crosses. He looks up at her. “Gabby! I love it.”

“I wasn’t sure.”

“It's great. I do wear watches. I own one. It just needs a new battery. That is why you haven’t seen me wear it. But, it isn’t nearly this nice.”

“Oh good. I wanted to get you something you would like.”

“You succeeded.” He walks towards her and Evie looks up and sees the bike. Her squeal stops him in his tracks.

“A bike!” she jumps off the couch and runs over to it. “Oh! It is perfect!” she continues to squeal as she pushes it out from behind the tree.

“Ah Evie. I am glad.” Gabby smiles.

She slips the helmet on and climbs on the bike. She happily rides in circles.

“You nailed it.” Eli joins her on the couch.

“Yep.” She is satisfied. Eli feels his heart speed up and his hands get sweaty. He is so ready but gives Evie a few minutes to enjoy her bike. He takes out his phone and takes a few pictures and a video of her riding in circles.

“Ah Evie. Can you come here a minute?” She starts to protest then seem to remember. She stops and jumps off and joins them on the couch.

“I have something for you guys.”

“Oh yes. The other secret.” She feels both anticipation and nervous energy. He sits Evie beside Gabby and stands up.

“Gabby first. Okay Evie?”

“Yes.” She is excited for her sister.

He hands them both boxes and watches as Gabriella opens it. He sees Evie watching too with a deep smile. She reveals the gold box and looks up at him.

“Now,” he thinks and drops to one knee. She gasps when she sees the ring and finds him on one knee. Unable to speak, she just stares at him through a film of tears.

“Gabriella Olivia Grant, I was drawn to you from the first moment I saw you. I feel on love with you before it made sense. It makes sense now. God brought us together so I could bring you to Him. I felt my life was complete, that I had everything I could want. Then there was you. I can't see my life without you in it. A future that doesn’t include you. I love you Gabby. I love your commitment to Evie. I love your compassion for Beth and Kim. I love your enthusiasm with the youth. I love your ambition and want to help you finish college. I want to see Evie in her first formal gown for her first dance, I want to see her graduate. I want to see our child in your arms. I want to grow old with you.” He stops and takes a deep breath keeping eye contact. “Gabriella, will you do me the incredible honor of marrying me, of being my wife?” He hears Evie squeal beside them but doesn’t look over.

“Oh Eli. Yes. Yes I will!” He let his breath out and, taking the ring out of the box he slips it on her hand, over her shaken finger.

“You guys are getting married?”

“Yes,” Gabby tells her through her tears.

“Yah!”

“Evie open up your present now.” He stays on his knees, watching her. She sees the pink box and opens it. Both, she and Gabby catch their breath.

“Is it real?” Gabriella asks.

“Yes,” he answers her,” Evie I want you to know that I am not just marrying Gabby. I am choosing you too. I promise to be the big brother you need. I promise to protect you. I promise to interview any boy that wants to go out with you and make sure he is good enough. I promise to be their to walk you down the aisle at your own wedding. Evie Ruth Grant will you take me as your big brother?” his eyes are on Evie but he feels Gabby crying beside her.

“Yes Eli. I love you. You will be a great big brother.”

“Thank you,” he softly says,” Can I put the necklace on you?”

“Yes.” She senses the importance of this moment and tempers her natural exuberance. He takes it and places it around her neck.

“So pretty.” She whispers when he is done.

“Yes it is,” Gabby agrees.

“Was it worth the wait?” Eli asks her.

“Oh yes! Evie we are going to kiss now.” She warns her.

“That's okay. Go ahead.” They do.

[mdelpin]

Natsu Smiles - Chapter 2

Gratsu Bingo 2019 Prompt: Glass(es) AO3 | FF.Net | Tumblr: Ch1

Chapter 2

Gray slammed the door behind him, throwing his gear on the floor and pacing across the room.

Lyon opened the door more carefully and put his gear down. “Dude, chill. There was nothing you could have done,” he ran his fingers through his hair in a nervous gesture. “You heard the Coach, Bix is gonna be fine. Besides, you don’t even know if it’s true, doing something would only have put you at risk.”

Gray turned towards his roommate, glaring at him in a way that made Lyon take a step back and raise his hands up in a placating gesture. “For fuck’s sake, I’m just trying to help here.”

“You don’t get it.”

“You’re right, I don’t, so explain it to me.”

“That could have been me.”

Ever since school had started, Gray hadn’t really had a lot of time to make any friends. There was weight training in the morning, courses during the day, and team practice at night, followed by hours of homework. His teammates were pretty much his entire social life outside of talking to Natsu on Discord a couple of times a week.

There were four other freshmen on the hockey team: Lyon, Hibiki, Loke, and Bickslow, and they all got along reasonably well. They ate their meals together, and if they had any free time, they usually spent it playing online games while chatting on their Discord server.

“You wouldn’t have done something that stupid, “ Lyon protested, still trying to calm his friend down.

“Don’t you get it? Neither did Bix, Invel was just being an asshole cause Bix didn’t stop that goal in the second period.”

Lyon seemed to think that over as Gray continued, “Bix has a scholarship too, he can’t afford this shit.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re reacting this way,” Lyon’s brows were furrowed as he tried to follow what Gray was getting at.

“Just forget about it,” Gray threw himself on his bed covering his face with his hand. He felt like shit, and he was worried. They had taken Bickslow away in an ambulance, and despite their coach’s assurances, in his heart, Gray knew this wasn’t over.

No, it was just getting started.

He heard a beeping noise coming from his desk and got up to check it out. He had the beginnings of a smile as he saw it was a call from Natsu, although it quickly turned into a frown when he saw there were notifications for 5 missed calls.

He plopped on his chair and answered, happy to hear from his boyfriend right when he was so upset and needed to talk to someone who would understand. He knew Lyon was trying his best, but he saw the world differently.

Natsu’s face came into focus, and Gray studied it for a moment. It looked like something was bothering him, his expression fragile, like a sheet of glass that could shatter at any moment. But Gray’s face must have shown something of what he was feeling because in the blink of an eye Natsu’s face molded into a smile, making Gray wonder if what he’d seen had been nothing more than a trick of the light.

Natsu’s smile was dimmer than what Gray was used to, but for once, he decided not to question it as Natsu immediately began asking him what was wrong.

“Am I glad to see you!” Gray sighed dramatically, “You have no idea the day I’ve had.”

“Are you okay?” Natsu leaned forward in his chair, “You look really upset.”

“Today was our first game, and it didn’t go so well,” Gray began to explain, “We lost 3-2.”

“That sucks, but it’s not like you to be that upset about a loss. Did you make a mistake or something?”

Gray snorted, “My freshman ass never even made it onto the ice, we might have won if I had.”

Natsu rolled his eyes, “Nice to see your confidence hasn’t suffered.”

“Anyway, the coach was pissed, and he made us run drills for an hour after the game,” Gray started to tense up again, “We were all in the locker room when all of a sudden this junior accused my friend Bix of checking him out when he was changing, and when Bix denied it all hell broke loose. They took Bix off to the hospital in an ambulance.”

“Oh, crap,” Natsu commiserated, peering closer “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not. I didn’t do anything, Natsu. I just stood there frozen,” Gray slammed his fist on his desk making Natsu jump, ” I should have said something at least, but when I saw the way some of the guys reacted I just panicked.”

“Is he gay?”

“I have no idea, but that’s not the point.”

“I know,” Natsu closed his eyes briefly, opening them a few minutes later to stare at Gray intently, “I take it they don’t know you’re gay?”

“Only Lyon knows, I haven’t told anyone else. They do know I have someone back home, “Gray hurried to add, not wanting Natsu to think that he had denied him or something.

Natsu blushed slightly, “You didn’t have to tell them anything, I would have understood.”

“Yeah, I did,” Gray said with determination, “You’re important to me, and I don’t want anything to come in the way of our relationship.”

“Were you worried about your scholarship? Is that why you didn’t say anything?”

“I don’t know, I just saw the way the guys were reacting to Bix when they just thought he might be gay and it brought back a bunch of memories.”

“I don’t get it, Babe, it wasn’t exactly a secret at school, no one ever messed with you,” Natsu puzzled.

“That wasn’t the first school I went to, I came in as a transfer student sophomore year,” Gray reminded him, “Plus we were openly in a relationship for the last two years, so no one felt threatened.”

“You were a year ahead of me, I guess I assumed you’d always been there.”

“I don’t like to remember it,” Gray sighed, “Something like that happened to me, except I was doing what they said. I was fourteen, I didn’t think he’d notice. They made my life a living hell after that until I transferred out.”

“And now you feel bad cause you didn’t stand up for your friend?”

“Yeah, I should have done something, but now I’m also worried because I can’t afford to lose my scholarship.”

“I don’t get it. Why would you lose it?”

“Because people like that don’t ever let up. They tease, and they taunt and pretend it’s all in good fun while they tear you apart in front of everyone, until you finally snap and fight back. If I got kicked off the team, I’d lose my scholarship.”

“If you feel that badly, why don’t you just go to the hospital and check on your friend? If he is gay, he might appreciate having a friend who understands what he’s going through, and if you guys have other supportive friends, maybe you can band together. People don’t have to be gay to be a friend, there are plenty of allies out there. At least that’s what Lucy tells me.”

Gray thought it odd for Natsu to say that, but he wasn’t thinking about his boyfriend at the moment, only his earlier words.

“I’m sorry, Gray,” Gray’s thoughts were interrupted by Lyon, “I’m sorry I didn’t get what this could mean for Bix. Natsu’s right, and you can count on me to side with you guys.”

Natsu smiled at Lyon, who waved at him, a little embarrassed to admit he’d been listening in on their conversation.

“It’s fine,” Gray shrugged it off.

“No, I shouldn’t have just looked at it from my perspective, I’ll go to the hospital with you if you want. It’s still early.”

“Yeah, okay,” he replied, “Just give me a few minutes.”

Lyon took the hint and told him he’d wait outside.

“Thank you for listening,” Gray placed his hand on his screen, something he no longer minded and smiled when Natsu did the same.

“No problem, I know you do better when you have a plan of action,” Natsu smiled, and even though this one rang a bit truer, it was still a far cry from his usual smile.

“Did you want to talk to me about something?” Gray asked, “I saw there were a bunch of missed calls.”

“Nah, it’s not important, I just wanted to see you,” Natsu looked down at something on his desk, “You should go to the hospital while the buses are still running.”

“God, what did I ever do to deserve you?” Gray wondered, wishing he could hug him. “I love you so much, I’ll call you when I get back, okay?”

Natsu nodded, “I love you too. Good luck!”

They said their goodbyes and hung up, but Gray couldn’t help but feel like he’d missed something important. He went outside to meet Lyon, and they headed out to the bus stop.

O-o

Lyon and Gray approached the information desk, and after being told what room Bickslow was in, they barged in. It’s what they were used to, and they never considered acting any differently.

Which is why they walked in on Bickslow kissing a man with very long green hair, which was tied back in a low ponytail.

“Sorry!” Lyon spluttered before looking away uncomfortably.

“If you’re here to start something I’ll have you know I’m an A-rated Fencer,” the green-haired man threatened as he turned to look at them. He glared, his arm reaching for something to his side, his expression switching to surprise when he came up empty.

Bickslow started to laugh, although it seemed to pain him to do so, “Seriously Freed, that wouldn’t intimidate a schoolgirl. No one knows what the hell fencing ratings mean. Relax, these guys are my buddies.”

Bickslow’s expression remained outwardly friendly, but his eyes watched them warily, especially as they got closer to Freed.

Gray immediately recognized the look, he was sure he’d worn it many times himself. It screamed you can fuck with me all you want, but if you try to hurt him, you will discover what real pain is.

“Hey, man, how bad is it?” Gray greeted, not sure what to make of Bickslow’s welcome.

“I’ll live, I just wish I’d gotten that asshole harder,” Bickslow cracked his knuckles earning him a disapproving stare from his boyfriend.

“Oh right, this is my boyfriend Freed Justine, he goes to MU too.”

Freed gave them a shy wave.

“These are my teammates Gray Fullbuster and Lyon Vastia, they’re two of the guys I’ve been telling you about.”

“Hey,” Gray smiled at Freed as he shook his hand, “I wish I could say Bix had told us about you, but he’s a jerk.”

Freed gave him a tentative smile, still not sure what to make of him given the night’s events.

Lyon waved and managed a “Nice to meet you” from the corner where he was trying to collect himself from his earlier embarrassment.

“For God’s sake Lyon, it was just a kiss,” Gray remarked, “Stop acting like you walked in on your parents fucking. What are you gonna do when Natsu comes to visit? We kiss a lot. Like, I can’t keep my hands off him,” Gray teased his roommate, enjoying riling him up.

“Fuck you, Gray.”

Gray laughed, ruffling Lyon’s hair good-naturedly.

“Him?” Bickslow raised an eyebrow, a playful smile on his lips.

Gray nodded, getting his phone out and looking for a picture of him and Natsu. Finding one he liked, he handed his phone over to Bix.

“I’m sorry, Bix, I should have done something,” Gray hung his head in shame, “Especially when I know exactly how you feel.”

“Nah, man, it’s cool. I get it,” Bickslow shrugged it off, “You didn’t have to come down here and confess your sins. Although your boy is quite cute,” he said, showing the picture to Freed who nodded in agreement. “Been together long?”

“A little over two years, he’s got a year of high school left, we’re hoping he can come here next year.”

Bickslow handed Gray his phone back and looked over at Lyon. “So Gray is fine with this, how about you?”

“I’m on your side, man. Just tell me what you need.”

Bickslow smiled widely, “Thanks, guys. I feel a little better, knowing I won’t have to deal with this alone.”

“What happened anyway? I know you weren’t doing what he said,” Gray asked curiously.

“Invel saw us at the mall last weekend, I should have known he was up to something when he didn’t say anything right away. Homophobic dick.”

“We’ve got your back, Bix. From now on, he’ll have to deal with the three of us,” Lyon assured him, “Loke and Hibiki are cool too, I bet they’ll be on your side.”

“Maybe,” Bickslow agreed, but he didn’t look convinced, and Gray understood just how he felt. Once the whole gay thing came out, it could be difficult to tell who your real friends were and who just didn’t want to appear homophobic.

All three of their phones went off, and they looked down to read a text from their coach, calling a mandatory meeting for the whole team the following morning to discuss what had happened. He sounded pissed.

Bix groaned, “I won’t be able to make it, they’re not letting me out until sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

“You might want to text him, he sounds like he’s on a rampage,” Gray suggested, “We’ll let you know what happens.”

They said their goodbyes, and as they opened the door, Bickslow called out, “Hey Gray, thanks for trusting me. I won’t tell anyone.”

Gray nodded and waved, walking out with Lyon and catching the last bus back to campus. Now that he felt a little better, he started to think about Natsu, wondering what it was he’d wanted to talk to him about.

He tried calling him from the bus, but the call went straight to voice mail. He left a message and hung up. He had a nagging feeling that he should have pushed harder earlier.

When they got back to his room he checked Natsu’s Discord status, and as it showed him online he tried video calling him but once again received no answer, so he figured Natsu must have fallen asleep and forgotten to log out.

He got a PM from Bickslow asking if he and Natsu would like to go on a double date with him and Freed sometime since Freed had a car. Gray told him he'd have to ask Natsu when he talked to him, but he was excited about the possibility of being able to see his boyfriend soon. He thought it might be just what they both needed.

Unsure of what else he could do, he decided to check if Natsu had published anything new. And that’s when he saw it. Some jerk had left a comment as a guest reviewer, not insulting the story but Natsu himself. It was full of malice, calling him all sorts of nasty slurs for pairing the characters in his stories and telling him he should do everyone a favor and go kill himself.

He looked through Natsu’s other stories and saw that the same Guest had left variations of the same message on all of them. He quickly realized that must have been why Natsu was calling him.

Gray was consumed with rage, but he didn’t know what to do with it besides lash out at the person, and although he was tempted, he couldn’t be sure the person would ever read it. All it would accomplish would be to upset Natsu further.

Damn it! He really should have pushed harder, instead of letting Natsu take care of him. Gray did the only thing he could that he knew would reach Natsu this night. He read all of Natsu’s stories he’d missed and made sure to leave long gushing comments to every single one, trying to fight the hatred with his love.

[jiminspjm]

Affinity - K. Namjoon

Jimin x Reader ft. Yoongi & Guk

Genre: Fluff, (It get’s a bix smexy)

Warnings: None!

Word Count: 3k

NOTE: I know this is a Joon blurb but I wanted to post it on here just incase y’all don’t follow my side blog @jhopejoon ;) I will keep this up until like next week around my birthday ishhh? Also this is based on a personal experience but I twisted it a bit so I can have it fit the context hehe.

Dedicated to @guksthighs who is an amazing person and writer! go check her out and her ‘rapunzuel’ story which she is posting today! it’s a Taehyung one uwuw, I love u keke <<<3 (also moodboard is by meee hehe)

Lazily, you twirled the plastic straw in your daiquiri- the substance was practically watered down now due to you neglecting it. Sighing, you rested your hand in your palm as you looked at the guests mingling around the wedding reception. Everyone was already a bit tipsy- you could hear your aunt loudly talking over the music. The autumn air blew a bit, making the lace of your dress swish by your ankles.

“Sweetie, why don’t you come to the photo booth and take some pictures?” you laughed at your mother’s wine drunk state, as she leaned into you. You could smell the pungent odor of the overly expensive alcohol linger on her breath.

“Nah, mom maybe later. I already went twice with Yoongi and Guk.” you sighed, referring to your Older Brother and Cousin. Your mom hummed behind you leaning into kiss your cheek.

“Okay dear,” she sing-songed as she sauntered away, stumbling slightly in the grass. You wiped away the residue of lip gloss that was left on your cheek, and groaned a bit. Pulling out your phone from your clutch the time read 5:53 pm.

I’ll go back to the room at 6. You thought to yourself as you downed the last of your drink.

“Whoa there sis, don’t you think it’s a bit early to be getting drunk?” a deep voice chuckled behind you. Grunting, you put the glass down on the table a bit hard.

“Yoongi, if you don’t shut the fu-,” Yoongi squished your cheeks with his hands making your mouth form the resemblance of a fish. He hummed and grinned at you, the bitch was mocking you.  

“Now now,” the platinum blonde chided, releasing your cheeks and sitting back into the chair, “I know damn well, you have been eyeing Namjoon like you want to choke on his big, thick coc-”

“Yoongi!” you shouted at him, cheeks blazing with pink. He leaned back in his seat, circling the rim of his wine glass grinning at you. He clinked his engagement ring along the ring on his thumb and ‘tsked’ at you. Scowling at him you stuffed your face with the rolls that were in the basket on the table.

“__, it’s okay you know,” Yoongi said looking at you with teasing eyes. You glared at him through puffed cheeks filled with fluffy dough, swallowing a bit roughly before speaking.

“It’s not Yoongs, mom and dad are practically begging me to be in a relationship, I mean I am only 22 for Christ’s sake,” you vented to him picking at pearls that laced the linen table cloth. Yoongi eyed you, and you knew why. It’s not that your older brother pitied you, he just knows that you’ve always been insecure when it came to relationships.

“Sis, I don’t know why you’re scared to date you aren’t that ugly-,” he yawned bringing the wine glass to his mouth. You threw a half eaten roll at him as he brought the glass down from his mouth. He caught it with ease, “Thanks I was getting hungry,” he winked at you shoving the entire roll in his mouth.

“Don’t be a dick,” you hissed stealing his wine glass and taking a sip. He barked a laugh, the silver in his ears tinked together softly. He chewed the roll in his mouth about to steal his glass back when someone interrupted you.

“Min Yoongi! Can you please stop harassing your sister or I will personally chop your dick off!” You looked behind you to see your best friend Jess- in all white. She held a wine glass in her manicured fingers, her wedding band tinking against the glass as she slapped Yoongi on the head with her shawl.

“Yah!! Woman! Stop hitting me- Ow!” Jess, continued her assault as you sat there and continued to drink.

“Yoongs, what did you do for my wife to hate you?” as you once again turned around to see your cousin Jungkook saunter up behind you. He grinned at you and leaned down to peck your forehead. You swatted him away as you downed Yoongi’s wine.

“Hey, Jess, darling, can you please not assault my best friend?” Jungkook said after taking a swig out of his beer bottle. Jess looked up from hitting Yoongi, rolling her eyes she stopped and shuffled over to you. Yoongi rubbed his head whispering something between crazy bitch.

“__! As much as I hate to agree with your idiotic brother, he’s right. You have been looking at Namjoon for awhile now.” Your best friend consoled you as she sat down in the chair on your left.

Wincing upon hearing his name again you sighed. You looked up discreetly to see Namjoon laughing with some of the guests. Ironically enough- you were both part of Jess and Jungkook’s wedding party. You two even walked down the aisle together. But you never had the guts to ask him out or anything. Thinking that he was way out of your league. His dark brown hair looked soft, and the richness of his tan skin made him stand out in his grey tux. The silver hoops moved with his head as he laughed- dimples out and everything.

“Jess you do know I am me, and Namjoon is.. Namjoon?” you spoke with wide eyes leaning towards your friend. Jess rolled her eyes and looked at Jeon and Yoongi. Looking at them as if she was saying c’mon guys help me out?

“Uhhh,” Yoongi crooned, as he swatted Jungkook on the back of the head making him choke on the beer he swallowed.

“Wow! Would you look at that duck, it’s such a nice color! Guk, let’s go look at it!” Yoongi said dragging the younger man by the collar of his tux. Jungkook whined but complied as he was dragged away.

“Idiots,” Jess mumbled into her wine glass. You snorted leaning back into your chair.

“Tell me about it,” you said rolling your eyes. Jess eyed you from the rim of her glass, bringing it down from her mouth she was quiet for a second.

“__, not to be that person, but Joon has been eyeing you since the ceremony. Also he has asked me about you a few times.” Jess said smirking at you while smoothing out the lace in her wedding dress. You looked down at your manicured nails and sighed.

“I know Jess, I think he’s cute and I want to get to know him, but like I said he’s Namjoon and I’m-” Jess squished your cheeks in the same manor Yoongi did.

“Hey stop it you brat, Namjoon would be an idiot if he didn’t ask you out.” Jess said sincerely, you looked her in the eye and rolled your eyes once again.

“I bon’t bow,” you attempted to say through puckered lips. Jess grinned at you and released your cheeks.

“You won’t know until you try, and you could either find out and something good happens- or never find out and never know, and in this case I don’t think finding out could be a bad thing,” she said taking your hand in hers.

A small ‘tch’ came out of your mouth, the words of advice given from her- were what your uncle always told you. She patted your hand and stood up, the dress swishing by her ankles. Winking at you she sauntered away, and leaning in to give your cheek a quick peck.

You tapped your nails on the table inquisitively, and thought to yourself as you eyed Namjoon again.

I hope you’re right Jess.  

+

+

A few hours passed and you still haven’t talked to Namjoon-- besides the few glances that you stole from each other when one wasn’t  looking. The reception now moved inside the quaint pub due to the Autumn weather dropping the temperatures, also being close to the ocean. Sighing for what seemed the one hundredth time, you looked at the time once again. 7:32 pm. Stuffing you finished your water and got up from the secluded table to go tell Yoongi you were leaving.

As you tried to maneuver your way through the drunk guests, your dress caught under someone’s shoe causing you to stumble forward. Squeaking as you tried to move a bit to prevent yourself from toppling onto people you already ran into a firm chest. Large hands caught your waist, as you stumbled forward into their grasp. Cinnamon and pine enveloped your body as you began to apologize.

“I am so sorr-,” Your words came out in a garbled mess as you looked up at your savior. Oh fuck. Namjoon grinned from above you, his dimples more prominent now that you were up close. Your mouth was slightly parted resembling a dead fish, at least that’s what Yoongi said.

“It’s all good love, are you alright?” His voice was rich, as if someone was dragging their body through honey. You blinked up at him, cheeks probably the same shade as Jungkook’s hair.

“I-I um,” Namjoon chuckled as he pulled you closer to him to prevent you from stumbling into anyone else. Large palm sliding against your bare back- curse Jess for making you; the maid of honor, wear a backless dress. You could feel the coolness of his rings glide up your back, to rest right above the swell of your butt.

“I am so sorry Namjoon,” you spoke without hesitating for once. Your hands were on his chest as you tried to maintain eye contact. His deep brown eyes looked so warm and inviting. His laugh was deep, he took a hand away from your waist and gestured you to the counter at the bar. He guided you through the sweaty bodies -- a palm placed over your bare back. Your cheeks were ablaze as you made eye contact with Jess who lifted up a champagne glass as she mouthed, Cheers.

You were about to flip the bird, when Namjoon’s voice caught you out of your thoughts.

“Did you say something love?” Namjoon asked as you sat down on a cushioned stool. Your eyes widened as you looked up at him, shaking your head furiously you closed your lips. You felt a bit awkward under his stare, the low bass of the music wasn’t helping much either. Looking up at him again he smiled at you and took a seat next to you, leaning his elbows behind him on the counter.

“Namjoon thank you for helping me, and I am also sorry-,” He turned his head to look at you -- his deep eyes melted into yours, as if he was saying it’s okay. You smiled at him, and turned your attention back towards the abundance of sweaty bodies dancing. After a few seconds Namjoon cleared his throat and began to stand up. You felt embarrassed that you weren’t able to talk to him without getting flustered -- and you thought he was leaving. About to get up and leave, Namjoon stood infront of you, a shy smile on his face as he held a hand out for you.

“Dance with me?” He asked with a hopeful voice. You parted your lips a bit, and smiled at him nodding. Pulling up the train of your dress, you placed your smaller hand in his warm palm as he guided you to the dance floor. A slower song began to play -- ironically. Veering a bit to the edge of the dance floor where less people were centered, he placed both his hands on your hips, surprising you a bit. Looking up at him, he had his full lip caught between his upper teeth. Cheeks burning - you placed your hands on his strong shoulders feeling the rigid muscles beneath his suit jacket. The music was loud, and made the blood in your ears thump.

Namjoon guided you through the beat, his palm sliding between the planes of your back, setting fire to the smooth surface. He kept eye contact with you as he pulled your body impossibly close to his firm body, your hips aligning slightly below his. Your hips hurt from the constant movements to keep up with the rhythm of the music. Resting his forehead against yours he licked his plush bottom lip as he swayed you from side to side.

Your breathing to erratic, as he slowly spun you so that your back was facing his- he guided his hands along the lace of your dress. You could feel his warm hands mingle with the coolness of his rings, as his hands settled on your hips and pulled you back to him. You gasped quietly and gripped his hands that held your waist.

You felt his mouth trail the side of your neck and up to your jawline, his plush lips were soft against your skin. Eyes widened you held your breath, as you melted into his touch. He hummed in your ear, as he continued to move you to the beat of the song.

“You know love,” he said in a low voice against the shell of your ear, “We did walk down the aisle together, so I have no idea why you are so shy,” breath hitching a bit you stuttered to find your words.

“I-I uh,” having no clue how to answer him, Namjoon chuckled and pulled away from your ear. Pulling you against him again, he pulled your hips side-to-side in a swaying motion, snaking his palm down the front of your taut stomach. You might as well just had sex with him right there. Tilting your head back on his chest, you got the courage to snake a hand up to his neck-- feeling his pulse and the slight stubble on his prominent jaw.

“__,” your ears perked up to the sound of Namjoon saying your name for the first time. Turning your head up to look at him, he smiled and spun you to face your body towards him. The dance floor was getting crowded -- noticing Namjoon guided you outside to the deck of the pub.

The cool air nipped through the fabric of your dress- shivering you pulled your hands to your arms as Namjoon and you walked along the cobblestone road. Namjoon stopped walking and removed his hand from your back, you stalled and turned around to look at him.

The full moon shone on his stature, illuminating the grin he gave you. You smiled at him, as you walked closer to him and unwrapped your hands from your body. Grabbing the lapels of his suit you pulled yourself on your tiptoes and pecked the corner of his mouth.

“Thank you for asking me to dance,” you murmured against his mouth. As you pulled back you could taste peppermint on your cupids bow, and the smell of pine enveloped you again. Looking up at him through your lashes, he gave you a toothy smile, his dimple winking at you. Taking a deep breath you smiled for what felt like the tenth time, shivering again you bowed a bit to him.

“Goodnight Joon,” you said quietly, looking at him one more time before stepping back to return to your room.

Before you could turn all the way around to leave, warm fingertips wrapped around your wrist and pulled you back.

 “Wait,” Namjoon said a bit loudly. Startled, you looked back at him. Releasing your arm, he looked at you for a few seconds before he began to take off his suit jacket. Confused you stood there as the cool air nipped at your flushed cheeks.

“Take my jacket you look cold,” Namjoon spoke as he came closer to you.

“Joon it’s okay-,” He shook his head as he threw the slate grey material over your shoulders, and adjusted it. The jacket swamped your slightly smaller figure, he held onto the sleeves and looked at you.

“Perfect.” he said lowly. You were sure, you could have passed out right there and then if it weren’t for Namjoon pressing his lips against yours.

Gasping a bit, he tested the waters by pecking your lips gently. His full lips were soft, and warm. He pecked you again, pulling your hips into his as you gripped his shoulders. Namjoon’s free hand cupped the back of your neck and twisted the curled hair at the nape. His thumb rubbed your pulse and over your jaw.

You mewled and let your body seep into his, he sucked your bottom lip into his mouth and then went back to consume you. And oh did you let him. You shuddered against his hold as he sneaked his tongue to probe at the roof of your mouth. Nipping and sucking the plush skin of your mouth, you tried to keep up but he was overwhelming, intoxicating.

He slowed the ministrations on your mouth, as you whined. Pulling your bottom lip back once more, as he placed a final peck to your mouth. Breathing a bit heavy, Namjoon pulled away. The moon illuminated his flushed cheeks and swollen mouth. Forehead leaned against yours he breathed into your skin, as you tried to catch your breath.

“Goodnight love,” Namjoon whispered releasing you. Letting go of your body, he winked at you and walked back in the direction of his room. You stood there dumb-founded, and mouth tingling.

“What the..” you were confused as you sat down on the bench next to where you and Namjoon had your ‘moment’.

Pulling the jacket tighter to your body, you felt something crinkle in the inside pocket of the jacket. Furrowing your brows you stuck your fingers in the pocket and wriggled out a small piece of paper. In clean handwriting there was a note:

I’m gonna need that suit jacket back, love, in the meantime use it to keep you warm -- I’ll see you at brunch tomorrow, and hopefully after that as well. :)

xxx-xxx-xxxx (In case you miss me too much before tomorrow) ;)

K.N xx

You laughed to yourself, holding the paper in your palms.

“Kim Namjoon,” you whispered, cheeks warm.

“Kim fucking Namjoon,” you said again with a smile on your face.

[justdrarryme]

Do you have any fic recs that when you first read them, they seemed interesting, but when you finished they were way better than you thought they would be? Sorry if that’s incredibly vague, but thank you if you choose to answer it!!!

I kind of don’t want to say that a fic was better than I thought it would be because I honestly go into reading every fic expecting it to be brilliant. Having said that though there are some fics that I went into reading expecting them to be great but then they just absolutely blew me away. This mostly happens when there isn’t a lot of tags on the work or the summary is kind of a bit vague and I just have no idea what to expect. Does that make sense? It’s been a long day, I hope it does.

I think that this has happened with every Saras_Girl fic that I’ve ever read. Like Turn, how vague is that Summary? I had NO idea what to expect with that one and it’s one of my all time favourites. Or sometimes the Summary etc is pretty informative and I know it’s going to be great but then it just goes above and fucking beyond, you know? Here are some more that were kind of like that for me.

Bond by AnnaFugazzi (Mature, 173 K)

I read this one pretty early on in my Drarry days and it was also the first bond fic that I ever read so add that to the Summary and the not many tags, I went into it not really having any idea what to expect. This is such an AMAZING fic, man.Summary: I started to write this before HBP came out, and crossed my fingers that HBP wouldn’t make it totally non-canon. No such luck, I’m afraid. This, therefore, is an AU story, where (SPOILER) still teaches (SPOILER), (SPOILER) didn’t try to (SPOILER), (SPOILER) didn’t succeed in (SPOILER), (SPOILER) never dated (SPOILER), and most importantly, (MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS) never happened.

The Price of Valour by orphan_account, RomanyWalker, wench_fics (WeasleyWench) (Explicit, 406 K)

This fic was just like, woah. I was not expecting to get so invested in it honestly but I totally did. I suggest downloaded from one of their included links instead of Ao3, just a more edited version pretty much.Summary: What happens when someone you hate needs you more than anything else? When it’s life or death, either battle to the end, or die trying. DH compliant, but ignores the Epilogue. 

The Claiming of Grimmauld Place by bixgirl1 (Explicit, 74 K)

So, we all now that Bix is amazing, right? Well this was the first of her fics that I ever read and I hadn’t yet been informed of her amazingness. Also, this fic was just fucking hilarious and I hadn’t quite been expecting that. I laughed so hard when I read this it’s just brilliant.Summary: When Grimmauld Place begins fighting against Harry’s ownership of it, he decides he needs help to train the historic home — but little does he expect that it’ll be Malfoy who’s most suitable for the challenge. However, as Malfoy and Harry get closer, Harry comes to understand that expectations aren’t always the best path by which to guide his heart — and in the process learns just what is needed to make a house a home.

Lumos by birdsofshore (Explicit, 41 K)

I knew that this was going to be a good one, I mean, just look at the summary. But holy shit, I wasn’t quite expecting that level of pure amazingness.Summary: Harry never expected to spend eighth year listening to Draco Malfoy wanking.

Embers by shiftylinguini (Explicit, 41 K)

I’m adding this one just because I’m not usually super into Werewolf fics. It’s just not my most favourite trope is all. But I read this one anyway because I’ve loved everything else that I’ve read by this Author. This was definitely no exception. I was blown away. I have been converted, I am now totally into this whole Werewolf thing.Summary: Werewolf Alphas aren’t meant to be alone, or to suppress their ruts indefinitely like Draco has been since he was bitten eight years ago. He needs company, companionship, to knot ― he needs an Omega Heat Companion. At least, that’s what the Healers say, and even Draco can admit contacting the person they’ve referred him to might be nice.

Of course it turns out to be bloody Potter.

I really hope that I kind of answered your ask right. I’m not sure if I did to be honest, lol. I hope you enjoy all of these amazing fics anyway though. 

Love to you Xxx

[consultingundergroundrainbow]

Life Changes (ch 1)

(Aged up) Peter Parker is living his dream on Broadway and catches the eye of famous doctor Tony Stark

Tony looked around the theatre. It was nice. Of course it was, it was Broadway, after all.

"Do we have to go see Hairspray of all things?" He complains. "It's so girly. I don't do girly musicals. Hell I don't do musicals. It's not my thing. Can't I just go back to work?"

Pepper swats his arm. "It's a good musical. And no. You need time off. You're overworking yourself again."

"It's not my fault being a surgeon is time consuming." Tony sasses back. She was right, as always but still. Tony loved his job, He loved helping people get better.

"You need to relax Tony." "And I couldn't do that at home? With a drink?"

"No. Now we need to get seated. I got us good seats so shut up and enjoy it. It's the last performance of this cast and I heard it's really good."

"Fine. But you owe me one." Tony pouts.

"Alright you big baby." Pepper rolls her eyes and grabs his arm, dragging him into the theatre.

Tony complains but lets himself be pulled. Pepper had gotten them seat in the middle of the third row. He sits, crossing one leg over the other and opening the play bill. He scanned the cast names, recognizing a few.

-----.-----

Backstage was full of sounds of warming up and tap tag of people running back and forth, and dancing. Peter leans forward towards the mirror as he works at getting his hair into place. He had some time before he went out. He finally gets his hair settles and smiles, spinning around and winking at the mirror. He looks over at his best friend, Ned. Ned worked backstage with tech.

"Okay guys I have big news." Ned announces, setting his clipboard down as the cast members gathered around him. "We have some pretty big guests in the audience. Kristin Chenoweth is here and so is the renowned surgeon Tony Stark."

Peter, who usually didn't nervous on show nights, felt panic rising. His Broadway idol and Tony freakin Stark were in the audience. The cast members around him started talking over each other until Ned blew a whistle he kept with him and they shut up.

"That means we have to put on the best show of our lives tonight. Her opinion could make or break everyone's career. We go on in five so get ready. Bring it in."

The cast all put their hands in a circle and sing half a scale before shouting "Showtime". Peter smooths his jacket and does his best to calm his heart. He had to put his best foot forward and he couldn't very well do that if he threw up from nerves.

As his stage time slowly crept closer, Peter started to feel better. He loved the rush of performing. He rolls his shoulders back and stepped out for his first number. As soon as his feet hit the stage, he was okay.

-----.-----

Tony was only half paying attention , his mind elsewhere. He didn't understand what the big deal about Baltimore was. Personally he hated the city. The people were rude and it smelt bad. He had almost dozed off when a cocky sounding man started to speak. He was talking-then singing- about some nice kids. Tony rolls his eyes. There was no such thing as 'nice kids'. Especially in high school. The song was slightly racist but that was the time period.

"R-r-r-roll call!"

Tony started to tick off on his fingers. Amber, bitch. Brad, try hard. Tammy, fake. Fender, stoner. Brenda, teen mom. Sketch, dequlient. Shelly, annoying. IQ, junkie. Lou Ann, church girl. Joey, car obsessed. Mickey, jock. Vicki, cheerleader. Becky, slut. Bix, debate team. Jess, band nerd. Darla, single mom. Pauly, cat lady. Noreen and Doreen, know it alls. Then a new voice joined the cast.

"-And I'm......Link." The dark haired boy smirks and fixes his tie.

The audience went crazy when "Link" winks. Tony sits forward, intrigued now. He had a cute innocent face but wore the sexy look well. Tony had to admit the actor was pretty attractive, He was a bit young but after hearing his voice it's no wonder he's on Broadway. Tony is mesmerized, no matter how weird a name Link was. What kind of mother names their kid Link? He opens his playbill and scans the list of cast members. His name was Peter Parker. Tony made a mental note to look him up later.

Now that this boy caught his attention, Tony was actually paying attention to the musical. He'd deny it on his life if anyone asked, but he was actually enjoying himself. He felt a little more than he had in a while and it was nice. If he had to choose a favorite song from the musical, it would have to be 'It Takes Two' because of this Peter's beautiful voice or 'I Know Where I've Been' because it reminded him of his own life.

When the musical ended, Tony stands and stretches, carefully cradling the roses he bought during intermission. Pepper had told him she was dragging him to the cast party. He rolls his eyes playfully and follows.

"You liked it!" Pepper grins.

"I don't know what you mean." Tony banters playfully.

"You liked it. You don't smile for just anything, I know you. You liked the musical." She smirks. "Or was it the actor? Peter Parker?"

"You know me. You tell me." Tony laughs, following her outside.

-----.-----

Peter grins as he bows, feeling a rush of pride at an amazing performance. He was breathing hard and his face was pink with excitement. He follows the line of cast members off stage to change. He exchanges the blue suit for his own tux, running his hand over the fabric. He would miss this cast and show. It had been his favorite so far. The crew were amazing and super nice. They all got along instantly.

"Hurry up Peter! We gotta go!" One of the company member, Elimie calls.

"Coming coming!" Peter fixes his tie and joins her. The cast broke off into groups and ducked into the waiting limos.

The cast party was held at the Prince George Ballroom. Peter had only seen it once. It was beautiful. Once they got there, Peter gets out and is immediately swarmed by reporters. He takes a breath and laughs under his breath.He didn't mind the press but sometimes it was rather annoying. He answers the questions with a smile.

"Mr. Parker!" One reporter calls. "What is your next show going to be?"

Peter thinks for a moment. "Well I've always wanted to be in Something Rotten. I think I'll audition for that next." With that, he ducks inside. He makes his way to the bar and orders a champagne. He thanks the bartender and looks around before walking around to mingle. He sees the director beckon him over and Peter obeys. It wasn't until he got over there that he realized just who his director was talking to.

"Hi sweetheart. Peter right?"

Peter was speechless Kristin freaking Chenoweth knew his name and was talking to him. He stood with his mouth slightly open before snapping it shut.

"Y-yeah. Sorry. Yes I'm Peter." He gives a shaky smile. "I'm sorry. But I just have to say, you have been a huge inspiration for me. The first musical I ever saw was Wicked and I loved you in Glee and Strange Magic was amazing.." Peter realized he was babbling and he trails off with a sheepish smile. "Sorry. It's just my dream to be like you."

Kristin smiles softly. "Well it's my pleasure. I'm proud to inspire young talent. Keep going, you're gonna be amazing doll."

Peter blushes lightly. If he was dreaming he never wanted to wake up.

"Oh. It looks like someone else wants your attention." Kristin says with a smile.

Peter turns and nearly fainted. Tony Stark stood there, with a patient smile on his face.

"I'll leave you to it." She pats his shoulder and walks away.

"H-hi." Peter stammers.

Tony couldn't help but smile. He was adorable when he was embarrassed.

"These are for you." He offers the flowers.

Peter looked up with surprise in his already large eyes.

"W-why?"

Tony almost laughs. "Because you did a good job? I find it hard to believe you don't compliments. Especially after a show like that?"

Peter flushed deeper. "O-oh of course. Thank you." He accepts the flowers.

"So how does it feel knowing you took my Broadway virginity?" Tony smirks.

Peter's mouth dropped open as he tried to answer and Pepper comes up and smacks his arm.

"Tony what did you do to him?"

"I only said that he took my Broadway virginity." Tony says with an innocent look. Pepper rolls her eyes.

"Tony!"

"What?"

"You can't just say things like that!"

"It's okay Miss." Peter speaks up. "I've heard weirder."

Tony smiles. "See, it wasn't that weird." He turns back to Peter.

"Can I have your autograph?"

"I feel like I should be asking you that." Tony laughs. "How about we trade?" He suggests, handing over his playbill.

Tony watches as Peter signs the playbill and finds a clean napkin and scribbles down his name and phone number before handing it over. Peter looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Use it and let me find out if you taste as good as you sound." Tony winks before his pager went off. He looks down and swears softly. "I have to go but I mean it. Call me." He winks and takes off.